#i am fiercely glad is a big mood

[puyoupuyou]

average experience talking with your in-laws

[rosazoldyckk]

-Yandere Killua X Reader X Yandere Illumi-

⚠️warning⚠️ mentions of obsessive and possessive thinking

Fandom: Hunter X Hunter Character(s): Illumi Zoldyck, Killua Zoldyck

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You were the sole butler in the entire Zoldyck mansion allowed to touch master Killua.

When he was younger, Killua had many different servants who touched him, whether it was to tend to his wounds after Zoldyck training or to coddle him as he ventured around the mountain. But these days only you out of all the servants were allowed that close to him, the only one he wanted close to him. And when you had arrived in the mansion moments ago, it had turned out that you being close to him was exactly what Killua wanted. Grabbing your hand, he told you to 'hang out' with him.

It was a common enough order from Killua, one that you were used to carrying out, especially before he was sent out on his mission by his father. But he had always given that order either outside the mansion or in his bedroom, never before had he asked you to do such a thing in the mansion where anyone else could see. You wondered at his sudden desire to have you administer to him infront of his family but did not dare venture to ask him. You had enough experience with his fierce moods to know it was better not to make such an inquiry.

"You know," came Killua's voice, cold and clear, "out of all of the comforts from home that I missed while I was away, I believe I missed this most of all." Though he did not say it aloud, you knew that what he truly meant was that he missed you most of all. Killua would probably never admit it though.

"I am glad to hear it, Master Killua."

"Tell me, did you happen to miss me while I'm away?"

"Of course, Master Killua," you reassured him. "I wait eagerly for your return each day."

Killua smirked in satisfaction at your answer, closing his eyes as you both relaxed underneath the trees. Once the sound of familiar footsteps reached his ears though, he opened his eyes to see Illumi standing before the both if you.

Breath hitching in your throat, you shot up and greeted the assassin, so great was your shock at seeing Master Illumi so suddenly. Though you knew that he had a tendency to show up unannounced from time to time, you had not actually seen him until this moment. Illumi, however, had seen you, watching you from the shadows and hidden alcoves of the palace. Even though Illumi had not seen you since the last time you were in the Zoldyck mansion, his obsession for you had not faded at all. In fact, being parted from you had only made his feelings grow stronger. But that meant that when he entered the Forrest to see you with his brother, it took all of his restraint to withhold the rage crackling in his veins.

"Oh hey big brother," Killua sighed as he stretched. "I don't suppose you remember Y/N? Our butler?" Illumi's eyes slid over to Killua at his taunting, taking a moment to briefly glare at him before returning his possessive gaze to you. Forgetting you had never even been a possibility, had not even been something Illumi had wanted to be a possibility. Killua knew that for himself, for he too had been unable to forget you while he was away. Even before he ran away from home, in the early days of your training as a Zoldyck butler, the two siblings had fought over your services and attention, each of them wanting you to themselves. Once Illumi had been distracted by his upcoming missions, Killua had relished the opportunity to take you for himself, certain that he had won. Now that Illumi had finally come home, he was more than ready to make up for lost time.

"I need you," Illumi said to you, ignoring Killua entirely.

Not sure what you should do, you simply continued to stare at Illumi. Out of the two assassin siblings, you were more afraid of Illumi than you were of Killua, knowing that he would be far more willing to hurt you in order to get his way. Yet Killua was the next in line to head the Zoldyck family, and as such you were duty-bound to serve him above all others except the current head of the family. Illumi seemed to understand your hesitancy though, his blank coal eyes softening at the sight of you so unsure.

"I'm afraid that I have to steal them from you," he told his brother.

"Well, who am I to deny my big brother, the eldest can do what he wants?" Although Killua certainly did not want you leaving his side, especially for you to join his brother, he knew when to pick his battles and when to wait for the best moment to strike.

"I promise to take good care of them."

"Oh, I know you will," Killua answered, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Well?" Illumi asked, once more turning to you. "Are you coming?"

"Yes, Master Illumi," you said, quickly leaving Killua's sight as you followed Illumi.

It only took mere seconds for you to end up pinned against the brick wall behind the mansion. Illumi took one step towards you, finally closing the distance between your bodies, so that your chests were practically pressed against each other.

It was a split second decision when you lifted your head up to capture his lips this time, pouring all the emotion you possibly could into the act in an attempt to appeal to whatever amount of sanity remained in his body.

His reaction was almost immediate.

Illumi let out a noise somewhere between a possessive growl and a hum of approval as he kissed you back harder than before. He had the faintest blush of pink across his cheeks, a few of the shorter strands of his hair were falling in front of his face - which would occasionally be caught in the kiss, not that he cared. He wasn't out of breath, but his breathing was heavy. He had transferred both your hands to one of his own, his free hand Resting behind your head gently pushing you deeper into the kiss.

And the look on his face... The pure hunger that was there before he took you away was gone. He was positively ravenous for you now.

He pulled back very suddenly, the slight sweat that had been shared between your two bodies leaving you unexpectedly cold and confused; whatever was left of your mind desperately trying to understand why he would stop so abruptly. Your answer was given when Illumi pulled you into his body. Holding you possessively as you continued to gasp for air.

"I missed you every day that I was gone," Illumi murmured possessively. "Did you know that?"

"I know."

[prideofcelestia]

❝when you ask him to be your roommate❞

« characters - satan, simeon, solomon, diavolo »

« gender neutral reader »

« headcanons »

SATAN

He was so happy that he could hardly maintain his cool expression for long. Having decided that he would privately tell you how grateful and excited he was, he sufficed with throwing Lucifer a smug smile and then walking out of the House of Lamentation with you.

Once in the confines of the house that you two were to share, he suddenly hugged you fiercely, as the sound of his laughter quickly filled the air. You had heard Satan laugh before - quite often in the presence of feline companions actually - but the voice that now whispered in your ears was filled with such tenderness that it made you smile in unison.

SIMEON

Simeon was already in the kitchen, planning the confectioneries he would be baking for the housewarming party. Luke would definitely come with him, but that's a bonus you adore. Luke and Simeon were so excited that Solomon felt a little left out, but with his charm, the angel with sinful shoulders managed to make the sorcerer's mood better. Being sneaky behind the angelic expression, every time Simeon accompanied you to meet everyone, you two could be spotted in matching clothes, almost as if you two were a couple. And perhaps that's what you were. Nobody could tell, not even you, after getting so close to him while sharing the same living space.

SOLOMON

After so many years of being alone, Solomon had started believing that he was destined to stay that way till the end of time. When he got to live with the angels, he got a taste of companionship, and feared losing it again. Despite throwing himself into his work, he still craved emotional bonds at the end of the day. So when you asked him to be your roommate, he couldn't control his joy.

With a soft blush gracing his cheeks, he looked at you with gleaming eyes.

"Yo-You really took me by surprise. Are you sure about this? It's a big decision, you know? I am glad to know that you thought of me. Living together with you will be a dream come true."

DIAVOLO

A huge smile graced his lips. It was an opportunity to bond with you in an informal way, and to have an experience that he would otherwise fail to gain because of his birth. Surely, nobody would object to the exchange student living with the prince himself. It was his responsibility to look after your safety and well-being after all. Barbatos would often be found sighing when his master daydreamed about the days to come. He would often chuckle on seeing Diavolo laughing like a child, and wondering what kind of food you would like to eat. The Royal Palace could provide you all the luxuries you could dream of, and Diavolo could give you beyond that.

[tired-beholding-bitch]

I'm in a yearning mood today so maybe......... 30. grabbing onto their arm from touches and 4. lips barely touching from kisses?

thank you so much for the request anon! indeed, yearning is Much Appreciated in this household

(also, as a side note: feel free to request specific pairings/people if you'd like to see something in particular! was kind of going with jonmartin as default even before anon sent another ask to clarify but. yes, if you have a preference just add it I’d be glad to write almost anything really 💙)

here you go, I hope you’ll enjoy it! 🌺

-

It’s too early in the morning to be awake. Martin is sitting at the kitchen table nonetheless, shivering a little in the chilly air of the room.

The darkened windows aren’t letting in any light yet, showing him only his own reflection, staring back at him from the eerie quiet of the Scottish countryside. On the stove, he can hear the water for the tea start to simmer.

They do have a kettle, old-fashioned and clearly one Daisy salvaged from a thrift store somehow, but Jon is still sleeping, for once. It’s too early to risk waking him up, on a rare occasion in which he’s actually resting.

While he waits for it to reach a full boil, the cup with its teabag already sitting in front of him, he picks absent-mindendly at a hangnail right on his thumb. He does it over and over again, until he can feel it sting in protest, pulling a bit. When he looks down, brows furrowing, it’s bleeding – it stains the skin around it red, a drop of blood rolling down his finger, and when he brings it to his mouth, the coppery, unpleasant taste of it on his tongue makes him grimace.

The water bubbles. He gets up to pour it in his mug, only narrowly managing not to burn himself as it splashes from the sides. He sits down again. He forgot the sugar, but the thought of getting up to rummage through the cabinets to find it is unappealing, so he doesn’t.

His breathing hasn’t gone back to normal yet.

Surpisingly, given the pattern of his dreams these days, the nightmare wasn’t about the Lonely.

In a way, it would have been easier – he has developed all kinds of tricks and reassurances to deal with the white, heavy fog that still curls around his ankles on occasion, to fight off the alluring silence of a place shrouded in mist. The comfort of not seeing past the wall of grey, silhouettes blurred and so far away they could never hurt him.

It would have been better if it was about the worms, even, despite how daft he feels every time he wakes up gasping from the echoing of Prentiss’ knocking, after so much worse has happened to all of them, really, in the years between then and now.

Instead, the dream was about his mum.

It wasn’t even a nightmare, not in the actual meaning of the word – more like a memory, something he had quite forgotten, dredged up by his subconscious for some reason or another.

He doesn’t remember exactly what it was about. He doesn’t have to, for the image of his mother’s face – that expression he never quite wanted to give a name to, because if he had it would have to be something less than annoyance and closer to disgust or contempt or loathing – to linger clear as day behind his eyelids every time he blinks.

Martin stares down into his tea, and tries to slow the rhythm of his breaths to something manageable.

He’s so focused on it – on trying to not fall apart at 4 am in the morning sitting in a still unfamiliar kitchen, tea slowly growing cold and too bitter to drink in his hands – that he almost jumps out of his skin when he feels something touching his arm.

Jon makes a startled noise of surprise in return, reeling back immediately to give him space.

He looks… rumpled, really, is probably the best word for it. He’s squinting something fierce – he must have abandoned his glasses who-knows-where –, and Martin can tell he’s biting back a yawn by the way he scrunches up his nose, forehead creasing in concentration. The shirt he’s wearing is way too big on him, slipping down his shoulder to reveal a very endearing clavicle.

It makes his heart constrict almost painfully with tenderness, a sweet, lingering ache blossoming at the base of his throat.

Once he meets his eyes, Jon tries again, tentatively settling his hand on Martin’s arm. He squeezes once, twice, in a casual display of affection that helps none with the lump of feelings knotted at the centre of his chest. He doesn’t let go even as he drags the other chair next to his, sitting down so close to him he’s almost leaning his whole body against him.

The weight of his fingers on his forearm, the thin skin of his wrist warm against Martin’s own. The gentle, firm grip that keeps him anchored, somehow, much better than the tea had managed to do.

Jon doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t ask – he never asks, and sometimes Martin tells him anyway. He doesn’t, this time, but he knows it’s alright all the same.

They sit in silence for what feels like a long time.

He eventually lets go of the cup, and Jon starts rubbing soothing circles on his inner forearm, almost distractedly, and smiles against his shoulder when Martin’s breath eases as he follows the motion.

There is something to be said about how momentous it can feel, to be touched so casually.

Even more so when Jon looks up at him, after an undefinable amount of time has passed them by, his eyes coffee-dark and tired but full of something so warm that almost makes him want to cry, and tilts his head just so that their lips barely brush in a kiss.

It doesn’t linger, stays feather-light and familiar, and his mouth tingles with it.

He smiles without realising, and Jon smiles back, and this time he doesn’t bother hiding the yawn that takes him after, his free hand barely managing to cover his mouth.

«Let’s go back to bed?» he asks, his tone just a little teasing.

He’s still smiling, as Jon tugs him to his feet with scarcely concealed impatience, mumbling something under his breath that could be yes please before the birds start just as well as unintellegible gibberish.

They sleep until the afternoon, and Martin doesn’t dream again.

[just-jordie-things]

The Crown - Steve Harrington

word count: 4462 warnings: dedicated to @high-functioning-fangirl02 <3

You’d give your life to protect these kids.  

These kids you’ve known since you started babysitting them in the sixth grade.  Back when Mrs Henderson hired you to watch Dustin.  Which essentially meant that you’d watch all of them.  But that was alright, over the past seven years of being their designated babysitter, you’d grown to love them all.

Mike Wheeler, the snarky little love-struck shit that you spent grieving with since losing Eleven.  Lucas Sinclair, the sweet boy with the occasional attitude whom you helped construct his Ghostbusters costume. Will Byers, the full time sweetheart that made you cookies for Valentine’s Day after hearing you complain about being dateless.  And of course Dustin, cute little button nosed Dusty with a trash mouthing tendency, whom looked up to you like a role model.

Hell, you were their role model.  Driving them to and from school, covering for them on late nights so they could finish their D&D tournaments.  Fiercely protecting them a year ago when Hawkins was Demogorgon infested.  Standing up for them when you’d see some upperclassmen picking on them.

Those who dared glance the wrong way towards The Party in your presence, were rumored to run home crying with a bleeding nose and terrified shriek.  You never put down the rumors… because maybe it had happened once or twice…

Over time The Party was no longer just a band of middle schoolers.  It had opened up to their babysitter, being you, a senior girl who had not many other friends.  Nancy Wheeler, Jonathan Byers, which the boys always claimed was strictly because of family relations.  Not because Dustin was still harbouring a crush for Mike’s older sister.  The town Sheriff, Jim Hopper, who’d proved himself not to be an asshole, and turned out an alright guy.  Joyce Byers, whom you loved like a mother and whom treated you like her own daughter.  You’d frequently been titled ‘the daughter she wished to have had’ which always raised a snarky response from her sons.  Maxine (just Max.  Never Maxine) Hargrove, a high spirited and not your typical girl that you grew fond of easily.  Especially since she was nothing like her big brother.

And then there was Steve Harrington.  Who… really just was at the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up getting roped into the mess that Hawkins Lab had created.  King Steve, as you’d known him before you’d officially met last year by fluke accident, was always the popular boy that had a pretty girl hanging off his arm.  You weren’t sure why that changed so quickly, why he didn’t put himself out there as much as he used to, didn’t party hard anymore, wasn’t bragging about the new girl he was with that week like he was known for.  Maybe that day, when he walked into the Wheeler’s house right as you Nancy and Jonathan were awaiting the Demogorgon’s arrival, maybe he changed then.

Or maybe it was after he’d been sucked into… whatever this all was… and he changed to keep the secret.  Or maybe it was after Nancy had broken up with him, around the same time he started growing closer to Dustin.

But right now as you watched him directing the kids, you were more aware that he wasn’t King Steve anymore, that you had been before.  Sure, you’d realized somewhere along the way he was different.  But it wasn’t until now that you noticed it completely as it was.

“No listen you little shits, no one, is going anywhere” Steve ordered, holding a wash rag in his hand and pointing it between each of the boys, and girl, that stood in front of him.

“Friggin’ pointless just staying here” Dustin grumbled, walking out of the room whilst still muttering.  Mike groaned loudly, dramatically, and left to the living room with Max and Lucas.  You knew that he was still plotting you get out there tonight.  Consequences and dangers be damned.

You looked to Steve with a sigh, a lazy smile on your lips as you walked past him to go after Dustin.  He watched you go, letting out a breath as well as he put his hands on his hips and standing alone in the hall with his thoughts.

He’d give his life to protect these kids.

“Dusty?” You called gently as you walked into the kitchen, seeing Dustin sitting on the floor against the dishwasher.  Your brows furrowed as you sat across from him by the cabinets.  “You alright kiddo?”

“Would I be sitting in here brooding if I was?” He quipped, though you knew he meant well.

“Sweetheart you’re too adorable to be a brooder” You laughed softly, pulling your knees up slightly.  “A pouter maybe, but not a brooder”

“Thanks y/n” He responded dryly.  You rolled your eyes in response to his sarcasm.

“Come on kid, open up a little.  It’s me” Your words were soft, which did prompt Dustin to consider explaining to you his thoughts.  “Please? If we make it out of this alive I’ll take you to the arcade.  I’ve got a big jar full of quarters I’ve saved up-”

“Okay okay I’ll take the bribe” Dustin caved with a laugh that made your mood lighten.  “Look it’s gonna sound lame and cheesy but… everyone else is helping.  Jonathan and Nance and Mrs Byers and Hopper and Elle, but what am I doing?”

“You’re staying safe” Your answer came out instantly, but it didn’t seem to be the one the boy was looking for.

“No I’m not, I’m sitting on the sidelines, watching everyone else go be heroes and getting hurt.  I’m not doing a damn thing!”

“Hey” You hummed softly, and scooted over closer to put your head on his shoulder.  “You’re a hero Dustin.  Don’t tell yourself any differently.  All of you are, Mike too, and Lucas, and Max, and-”

“Steve?” Dustin offered, and you nodded, looking at him confusedly by the strange tone of voice he used.

“Of course, why’re you looking at me like that?”

“No reason” Dustin shrugged nonchalantly, brushing off the uncomfortable air between you both.

“Alright well, you should believe me” You continued.  “Even if you don’t think so, you’re all my heroes, got it Henderson?” The boy smiled and nodded, prompting you to push the cap of his hat down playfully before he could get up and leave the room.

“Mike’s probably still planning his attack” He told you, but you shrugged and waved a hand.

“Let him plot and brood” You said, and Dustin’s mouth fell open.

“How come Mike can brood but I can’t?” You rolled your eyes, still waving your hand for him to get out of here.

“Just go plot with him, I know you’re itching to” You said, and he grinned wide at you, glad you were letting him go plan their escape and attack.

“Thanks y/n!” He called, already racing out of the room.  “You’re the best!” You laughed, shaking your head as you stood back up and dusted off the pants of your overalls.  Steve came in a few moments later, watching you almost suspiciously.

“What?” You questioned, and he shrugged, shaking his head.

“Nothing.  Just wondering why you’re permitting them to conspire against us” He said.

“They’re not conspiring, they’re just discussing.  No harm in that”

“Um, every harm in that.  As in all of us, being harmed, because of that” He said, but you didn’t really seem to care what he thought about it.

“They’re fine, we’re all fine, don’t freak out so much mom” You said, walking out towards the kids and seeing them all circled up and discussing their big plan.

“I’m not a mom” Steve argued, and you chuckled, turning to see him, his dish rag on his shoulder, hands on hips.  It only made you laugh more.

“Mhm, alright.  Well then what would you call yourself?” You replied sarcastically, nodding towards his own stance, and making Steve second guess himself.

“This- you-! Alright whatever just stay away from the windows and go be safe somewhere” He muttered, walking into the living room where the kids were.  You rolled your eyes again, but couldn’t help the smile on your lips.

Perhaps, you thought, King Steve was the king of something else now.

You watched as he was waving his rag at the kids again, yelling at them for plotting behind his back, and reminding them that no one was going anywhere.  But even as Dustin pouted, Steve was rubbing his hand over the thirteen year old’s head.  Almost soothingly, like he felt bad for ending their little meeting.

“What a mom” You mumbled, and headed back into the kitchen for something to eat.

You used to resent Steve, back when he was the king of school and didn’t care about anything more than he cared about his popularity and his hair.  Back when he didn’t give a shit about pretty much anything.  And looking at him now and seeing him watch over these kids, you could physically feel your heart swelling.  If that isn’t character development, you weren’t sure what was.

You weren’t sure why it made you feel so bubbly either.

“Listen runts, we’re staying here, we’re staying safe, and we’re not dying!” Steve said, for what felt like the fifth time.  But Mike kept arguing back at him.

“Everyone else is out there!”

“Everyone else knows how to fight all that shit!” Steve retorted.  “We are staying, here” He repeated slowly, waving his rag between each word.  “You got that?”

“You’re just saying that cause y/n’s here.  If she wasn’t here, we’d all be getting in your car and going!” Lucas spoke up.  Your brows furrowed at that.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You asked, ignoring your search for food and now strutting into the room where everyone else was.  “Am I dragging you down?” You asked, almost sarcastic, but wondering what he’d actually meant by his announcement.  Were you dragging them down?

“No, Steve would just protect your ass over our asses” Max shrugged, and the others nodded.

“What the hell? Everyone here is protecting their own asses, I’m not getting killed for a bunch of kids!” Steve said, making flustered and jerky movements.  You brushed off their newly sprung argument over where Steve’s bat is swinging and who it’s swinging for.

Apparently, The Party was certain that he’d die for you, rather die for them.  But you didn’t care much about what they thought.  They’d always thought that you and Steve were meant to be some power couple, but you supposed it was just cause you were the same age and the kids only ever saw you two together.  There was no real evidence (as far as they showed) towards the ‘chemistry’ you and Steve supposedly had.

You wandered to the window, curiously looking out it with your arms wrapped around yourself.

“Will you just shut up?” Mike’s yelling made you jump a little, and you turned to see your friends all still arguing with each other.  You smiled slightly, meeting Steve’s eyes as he gave you a bored look.  You just laughed a little bit back at him.  Steve’s expression softened into a small smile.  Your face flushed with heat, and you nervously turned away from him to look back out the window again.

A light blinded you almost instantly, making you squint your eyes and put a hand over them to try and clear your vision.

“What the hell?” You muttered, leaning closer to the glass to see what was going on.  Headlights, there was a car here.  Someone was here.  “Steve?” You called, not turning away from the window.  He came over right away, looking outside to see a familiar Camaro parked in the driveway.

“Shit” He grumbled, walking towards the front door.

“What- where are you going? Who is it?” You asked, following quickly after him, but Steve quickly turned to make you stay back.

“Just stay in here-”

“Sinclair!” A voice hollered from outside, and you jumped, eyes widening as you recognized it.  “I know you’re in there!”

“Billy?” You whispered to Steve, who nodded.  You stepped backwards, eyes never leaving Steve’s.  “What’s he doing here?” Your voice was quiet.

Billy Hargrove, was the most vile, horrible person you’d ever met.  And his wicked ways of bending people to his will, shook you intensely to your core.  It was no secret to the others that Billy not only terrified you, but would seductively torture you every day.  Sure, you’d been picked on before, but this was different.  Every day he’d come to you, hoping to get something out of you, just to mess with you.

“Come on babe, a little kiss, just a little one, we can discuss the rest later”

“You don’t want to get a ride home with me and have some fun?”

“When’re you finally gonna give this up and just put out?”

You shuddered slightly, practically feeling his hot breath against your skin just thinking about the things he’s said to you.  Stopping you in the hallways, finding you at your locker, approaching you while you waited at Steve’s car for a ride home.

“I know you’re in there you little pig! Come out here or I’ll have to go in!” His voice was dangerous, threatening.  And you felt a legitimate fear for your life, and the kids’.

“It’s fine, you’re fine, I promise” Steve said quietly, out of earshot of the others.  “All of you stay here, stay away from the windows” He ordered, giving you one last look before you turned and went to The Party.  They needed you right now, all huddled around Lucas and Max to make sure if Billy were to look inside, he wouldn’t see them.

“Come on guys” You said softly, ushering them as far away from the window as you could.  Steve, on the other hand, opened the door and stepped outside.

Instead of hiding in a room, completely out of sight of the maniac, you all ducked under the windowsill to see what was happening.

“Am I dreaming or is that really you Harrington?” You felt your entire body quivering upon hearing Billy’s voice.  Dustin, who was crouched next to you, turned and gave you a worried look, but your eyes were dead set on the outside.

“Yeah it’s me, don’t cream your pants” Steve responded, walking out towards him as he pulled off his leather jacket.

“What’re you doing here amigo?” Billy asked, the cigarette hanging off his lips moving as he spoke.

“I could ask you the same thing” Steve responded, void of emotion.  “Amigo”

“Lookin’ for my step sister.  Little birdie told me she was here”

“Huh, that’s weird I don’t know her” Steve lied easily, and convincingly.  You prayed to God that Billy believed him.

“Small? Redhead?” Billy replied disbelievingly.  “Bit of a bitch?”

“Ashole” Max muttered to herself inside.

“Doesn’t ring a bell, sorry buddy” Steve replied, still not sounding like he cared even an inkling.  Billy nodded, taking out his cigarette.

“You know… I don’t how this, this whole situation Harrington is um.., it’s giving me the heebie jeebies” Billy said, looking at Steve a little more threateningly.

“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”

“My thirteen year old sister goes missing all day, and then I find her with you” Billy pointed accusatory hands towards Steve, giving him a disgusted look.  “In a strangers house” He continued.  “And you lie to me about it” Steve chuckled bitterly, shaking his head and looking away for a moment.

“Yeah, maybe you were dropped too much as a child or what” Steve said snarkily.  But Billy just grinned his twisted grin and licked his tongue over the front of his teeth.  “I don’t know what you don’t understand about what I just said”

You felt a chill go down your spine as Steve’s protectiveness took over his tone.  Dustin beside you mumbling a quiet, “Holy shit”

“She’s not here” Steve said carefully.  Billy nodded, looking pointedly towards the window where you and The Party were all huddled and looking out of.

“Then who’s that?” He asked, pointing his cigarette towards his sister.

“Down!” You hissed, and the five of you dropped to the floor so fast you all groaned from the impact of the floor.

“Shit!” Dustin cursed.  “Did he see us?”

“Oh shit” Steve grumbled.  “Okay listen-” Billy pushed him to the ground before he could explain anything.  The boy kicked him, before storming up into the house.

“Well well well” Billy smirked, seeing you and The Party standing there together, you in front of all of them.  “y/n l/n, what a lovely little surprise” You grimaced, but he didn’t seem to care.  “And Lucas Sinclair, not so much a surprise at all” You moved over more in front of Lucas, who’s hands grabbed onto your arm out of fear.  “I thought I told you to stay away from him Max”

“Billy, go away” Max retorted, but her voice wavered.

“You disobeyed me” Billy leaned over his step sister tauntingly.  “And you know what happens when you disobey me” He added in a hushed, volatile voice.

“Billy-”

“I break things” He uttered, before pushing you aside, crashing your body into the wall.  Before slamming Lucas up against the cupboards.

“Billy stop!” Max and the others began to yell, Dustin rushing over to help you up, but you were already standing up on your own.

“Get off of me!” Lucas cried.

“Since Maxine won’t listen to me, maybe you will” Billy muttered.  “You stay away from her.  Stay-! Away from her” He yelled awkwardly.  “Do you hear me?”

“I said get off me!” Lucas screamed again, followed by a knee between Billy’s legs.  You gasped, feeling a moment of pride as Billy stumbled back and released him.

“You are so dead Sinclair!” Billy hollered.  “You’re dead-”

“No” Steve grabbed Billy by the shoulder, spinning him around roughly.  “You are” And with that he swung his fist and planted it hard enough against Billy’s jaw to make him topple over.

“Steve!” You yelped out of surprise.  He looked at you for a moment, nodding in reassurance as he shook out his hand.  It’d been a while since he’d hit anybody.  Billy stood back up, laughing menacingly.  “You’re a fucking psycho!” You screeched before you could stop yourself.

“Looks like you got some fire in you after all huh!?” He yelled at Steve.  “I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve everybody’s been telling me so much about” He stepped closer to Steve, glaring at him.

“Get out” Steve muttered, pushing Billy’s chest lightly to move him away from him.  Billy stepped back and stood there for a moment.  And after a few seconds passed you were certain that he was going to stay back.

Until he swung swiftly at Steve, but missed as Steve ducked just in time.  You gasped, clapping your hands over your mouth in terror.  Steve stood back up and swung his fist again, hitting Billy and making him stumble again.

“Yes! Get him Steve!” Dustin cheered, and the others began to as well.  You couldn’t find yourself to say anything, just wince every time a punch was made.  Steve hit him two more times, and Billy ran into the kitchen sink.  Leaning back and wincing in pain.

“Kill him! Kill him!” Mike was yelling.  But Billy grabbed a plate of the counter, smashing it over Steve’s head, and making him fall to the ground.

“Steve!” You screamed now, taking long strides to get over to him, only to be pushed away by Billy.  Who hit Steve as soon as he stood up again.  He grabbed Steve by the shoulders, staring him down.

“No one.  Tells me what to do” He muttered angrily, and threw his head forward hard into Steve’s knocking him down again.

“Fucking hell” You mumbled, tears beginning to prick your eyes in fear that Billy was actually going to kill Steve.  The mullet wearing psycho leapt onto Steve, pinning him down and swinging punch after punch against his face.

“Stop it!” Mike yelled at the top of his lungs, but it did nothing to end Billy’s attack.

“Steve!” Dustin hollered.

You stood frozen, every scene in front of you soundless, and moving slowly.  You could only feel your heart in your chest, sending you into an anxiety attack, you were sure.  But it barely mattered to you in that moment.  You turned away, and your eyes landed on something.

The syringe used on Will earlier.

Sleep… put him to sleep… your thoughts were broken as you reached for it, looking at it in your hands for a few seconds, before stepping forward and slamming the needle into Billy’s neck without a hesitation.  Mike and Dustin gasped, standing back.  Everyone’s eyes stuck on the syringe hanging out of BIlly’s neck now.  A disgust filling them up at the sight.

“Shit y/n” Dustin mumbled, his hand covering his mouth to stop vomit from flowing.

Billy stood up, wobbling slightly as he turned to look at you.  He pulled the needle out of his neck, vision beginning to fail.  “The hell is this?” He asked, trying to step towards you threateningly, but he was wobbling so much you didn’t even move.  No longer afraid of him.

“You’re fucking done Hargrove” You muttered, and before thinking twice to second guess yourself, punching him across the jaw, and sending him back on his ass.  Billy groaned, staying down where he’d fallen against the couch.

“Shit what did you do” He mumbled, growing dizzy from the mix of drug and pain.

A few moments later he completely passed out.

“Fuck” You hissed in pain, putting your bruising knuckles against your mouth.  You didn’t think punching someone would hurt so damn much.

“y/n holy shit”

“Are you okay?”

“That was badass!”

The Party was fussing and cheering for you, but you didn’t respond, kneeling down by Steve next and counting up all the cuts and bruises he was beginning to sport.  He was unconscious, that was for sure.  But he’d be in for a world of hurt when he woke up.

“Come on, help me get him back to Jon’s bed” You called to the kids.

It was difficult moving him, but after ten minutes you’d managed to get him into Jonathan’s room to lie on the bed there.  You were sat next to him, a cold wet rag in your hand, and the open first aid kit on the ground.  It took you awhile to clean off all the blood and apply bandages where you thought they were necessary.  There was a frozen bag of peas you’d put over one of his eyes to stop the swelling, but so far it still looked pretty bad.

The Party had sat with you for what felt like a long time before you told them to go back to the living room and wait for the others to return home.  Dustin put up a small fight about it, but eventually gave in and listened to your order.  And now it was just you kneeling on the ground by Steve, watching over him carefully.  Making sure he was breathing okay, and that nothing would begin to bleed again.

“Well King Steve, you got quite the ass kicking” You mumbled, just to yourself.  Your fingers placed a few stray hairs on his forehead back into place.  “But your crown is still there” You smiled to yourself, fingertips gently brushing his hair.

“y/n?” Your eyes looked back at him as he mumbled, almost incoherently.  “What happened?” The poor boy’s eyes weren’t even open.

“You put up a really good fight” You told him softly.  He winced, the pain probably beginning to settle in.

“Did I win?” He groaned, eyes clenching shut momentarily.  You bit down on your lip and shook your head, even though he couldn’t see you.

“You put up a really good fight” You repeated yourself, playing with his hair again.  Steve sighed, knowing the answer.

“Is he gone?” He asked, eyes finally beginning to flutter open.

“Yeah… yeah he won’t be back any time soon, I’m sure” You answered.  Steve looked up at you, smiling down gently at him.  He smiled back instantly, and moved his arm to push your hair back, but even at it’s slight movement you winced in pain.  “You’re in pretty bad shape” You told him quietly.  “But you’ll heal up alright”

“Are you okay?” He asked, and you nodded.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine” You shrugged slightly.  “We’re all really worried about you.  Dustin thought you were dead” Steve chuckled painfully, shaking his head a little bit.

“Are they alright? Max and Lucas?”

“Yeah, we’re all good Steve” You hummed with a slight nod.  You leaned forward, a little closer to him to check on the eye swelled under the bag of peas.  You frowned, seeing the black and blue bruise that only seemed to be spreading.

“I’m alright, don’t fuss so much” Steve said, putting his hand over the bag and pushing it back against his face.  Your eyes met his for a moment.

“You’re pretty bruised up Harrington” You sighed, taking the wet rag in your hand and dabbing it gently on his bruised cheek.  “There’s not an inch of your face spared”

“It’ll be fine, I’ll heal up”

“Years from now, maybe” You replied sarcastically, and he smiled at you while you carefully pressed the cold cloth to his face.

“You’re beautiful, you know that?” He murmured, and you looked at him for the briefest of seconds before going back to work.  Now is not the time to talk about feelings, you thought to yourself.

“Yeah? Go play hero some more and you’ll never see anything again” You told him, and he shrugged slightly, not having a response to that.

“I just wanted to remind you.  In case you haven’t been told in a while” He said.  You bit on the inside of your cheek to keep from smiling too much.  You looked down at him, your eyes softening slightly.

You leaned over closer to him, pausing for a moment before pressing your lips lightly against his.  It was a chaste kiss, only lasting a few seconds as you didn’t want to hurt him anymore than he already was.  When you pulled back, you smiled nervously at him, and he only smiled back at you.

“You’re lucky you didn’t die Harrington” You said, and got right back to work on pressing the rag to his wounds.

“That I am” He replied cheekily.

You giggled softly, smiling down at him and wondering just when he’d changed so much.

You knew he’d give his life for these kids too, just like you would.

love me some babysitter steve

xoxo ~ jordie

[nightfall-kachiniko]

requesting really any angst with the aot girls 😭 just need some angst i will take any go nuts

ASK FOR ANGST AND YOU SHALL RECIEVE

「 AOT Girls (+hanji) reacting to you dying in their arms 」

Paring : Mikasa x reader, Annie x reader, Pieck x reader, Hanji (she/they) x reader

~ 「 I suggest you listen to this song while reading for a more emotional experience (if you’re in the mood to cry lmao) 」 ~

She cant believe her eyes. All that she can think of is how bad she failed you as you laid in her arms, blooding spilling out your mouth and head. Your arms and legs were gashed in big marks, as you felt the world before you slowly cave in.

“Y/N PLEASE!” Mikasa cried out, holding your hand. You tried to give her a small smile. “PLEASE DONT PLEASE JUST STAY PLEASE!” The woman cried hugging you. “I-I Am so sorry..” she gasped in between her tears, profusely apologizing at not being able to save you.

“you remember when we were kids?” You softly said, looking back on the memories, “Y/N P-PLEASE….p-please… please don’t leave me please please..” her sons became whispers, unable to control her emotions. “When we used to run around like animals,” you softly chuckled. You looked up at the weeping woman that was ontop of you. Slowly reaching out your arm, you placed it on her cheek, “I love you..” you confessed.

“my love..please..” Mikasa cried, her words begging like a prayer. She hiccuped as she grabbed your hand tighter, holding it. “We’ll meet again, I promise.” You said, accepting your fate. “No no.. no! Please y/n just wait a little longer please!” The Raven haired woman cried. “I love you, so much mika,”

“P-please.. please…” she whispered as you kissed her. “Another life my dear,” tears streamed down your cheeks at the sight of the end of you. “Forever and always Mikasa, I’ll always love you..” Mikasa hugged your frail body tighter her teeth gritting as her heart basically pumped out of her chest. “I love.. you to..” she said, holding back anymore tears. “I’ll.. see you.. later…” and as with your final words you took your last breath as the world faded forever around you. “Y/n.. honey..” she said, “y/n..” Mikasa tried shaking you but to no avail.

She weeped as she held your body, screaming at the top of her lungs as she cried. That’s all she could do, for her lover was gone. ‘Another life, we’ll meet again,’ was the words that lingered in her head. She still couldn’t accept the fate of her lover, the one of death.

Zipping through the trees as she rushed over to you, not giving a shit about the titan that just ate another one of your comrades. Annie scrambled to your body as it hit the floor of the forest, blood rushing out of your head as your stomach had been impaled, gash next to your heart and she knew, you weren’t going to make it.

“Y/N!” she screamed coming down from the trees. The sky up above was all you could stare at. You couldn’t move, your body almost on the state of paralysis. “Y/n!” Annie ran to you, kneeling at your side. Your wounds were bad, injuries that even the best doctor in Marley couldn’t even fix. “Honey.. honey hey!” She said, grabbing your hand, “it’s gonna be okay,” the blonde said, tears welting up in her eyes. “A-ah…” you groaned out in pain.

Annie dug through her bag, her hands shaky and panicked, trying to find bandages. “Shit,” she panted as she hurried to take off her jacket. She placed her jacket on your gash, pushing down hard, trying to stop the bleeding. But it just wouldn’t work, blood kept seeping through it, and the now blood soaked jacket was no use.

“annie..” you tried calling out to her as she dug through her bag again, trying to find something, anything, to help. “Annie… hey..” you saw the way she was worried, her panicked expression and tear filled eyes giving you no sign of hope. “W-WHAT!” She yelled at you, jolting her head towards you. “It’s okay..” you tried to give her a reassuring smile, softly trying to grasp her hand but due to your injuries to no effort.

“I- I JUST NEED TO APPLY PRESSURE I-!” you interrupted her unnerved yelling. “It’s okay.. you cant do anything about it …” you tried saying to her. “N-NO! DAMNIT I JUST NEED SOMETHING! ANYTHING!”

“Annie, love..” Your girlfriend broke down crying into her palms, her tears everlasting and her face a bright pink from crying so much. “I’m glad I got to call you my girlfriend..” you lazily smiled, “NO DON’T YOU FUCKING GIVE UP YET!” The blonde screamed at you, tears soaring down her face. “ WHY DIDN’T YOU JUST STAY NEAR ME I COULD’VE…I…”

She wanted to curl up into a ball and die along side you there. She knew she couldn’t do a thing about your fate, and now that it’s approaching sooner than the breaths you take she couldn’t accept it. “You mean the world to me… you know that..?” You told Annie. She tightly grasped onto your hand, holding it close to her face and kissing your fist, sobbing hysterically. “Y/n please you’re my only reason of living..” she whispered, trying to catch her breath. “You’ve got a purpose, more than me.. okay..?” Tears of your own rolled down your cheeks.

“You’re not a lost girl, annie, you’ll find your way..”

Eren jeager’s first attack on Marley at Willy’s speech was a shock to everyone. The chaos all around you had suffered long and far as the titans began their fight, punching, kicking. Laura Tyburs titan emerging and Eren jeager eating it. Your body laid lifelessly on the road. Lights soaring up ahead of you as the sound of ‘three dimensional Maneuver gear’ flew past.

Pieck saw you on the ground, her eyes scared and filled with terror. “POCK! GO KILL EREN!” She demanded, screaming as her titan form hurried to you. Pieck stopped with a thud as she emerged from her titan, seeing you on the ground.

“LOVE!” She screamed at you, her fingers near your neck checking your pulse. “Mmm..” you moaned in pain, as your tired eyes scanned the blurry vision infront of you. “I- I NEED TO GET YOU TO SAFETY I-!” She panicked as she saw one of the scouts fly above you both. Her gaze worried as she tried to lift you up.

“Pieck..”you said. “I- I HAVE TO GET YOU TO A DOCTOR I-!” “Why are you.. yelling..” you said in confusion. Blood trickled down her hands that laid under your back as she picked you up onto her lap. “What’s..happening…?” You said, unknowingly. “I-I’m scared…” you managed to get out in between gasps of air.

“I-it…” The woman stopped in her tracks, “d-dont be scared y/n.. I promise everything’s gonna be okay we”re going to get you to a doctor and they’ll take care of you and by tonight we’ll be in bed together cuddling-“

“I don’t think I’ll make it till tonight..” your tired voice said. “It’s okay though.. I just wanna spend right now.. with y-you…” Tears fell heavily down Pieck’s face as she kissed your cheek, gritting her teeth trying to not make you panic. “No no baby you will, you will I promise love!” She said, brushing your hair with her hands. “PIECK! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” A man running up to Pieck in Marley’s military uniform screamed at her. “GO GET A DOCTOR!” She yelled back, holding your hand tightly. “IT’S Y/N! PLEASE JUST GET HER HELP!”

you groaned in pain, your hands becoming numb as your vision faded from dark to light. “Pieck.. Thank you..” She jolted her head towards you, terror written all over her face. She saw how you lost that glimmer, that spark in your eyes. “W-what y-y/n baby please..” she said desperately.

“I don’t feel anything Pieck,” You said to her. “Y/n we’re getting you help I-I promise!” She wiped her tears. “You know I’ll see you again lovely..” Pieck looked at you in horror, “no love.. no please just hold on.. please,” she cried, her body shaking over yours. Tears falling down onto your wound. “I remember our first date…and I was so awkward….and I fell over with the drinks.. and even the waiter laughed” you recalled, trying to remember happier times.

“Y/n.. oh sweetie oh..” she held her mouth as she sobbed, hysterical. “You know.. you were the best girlfriend I could ask for… peck peck..” calling her by her nickname. “I love you…”

“Please don’t go..” Pieck cried. “Please.. please..y/n… please..”

“How lucky I am… to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard…” You whispered. “Forever.. My Pieck..”

The ground below the section commander scattered with blood.

The titans surrounding the entire wall, trapping you all. The mission to retake wall Maria has failed. Almost all the horses had been crushed. Rock flew in Hanji’s way as they braced themself for impact. In the distance your ODM gear worked faulty and you fell halfway down the wall, rock hitting you as it smashed into your body and then into the wall, inches behind you. You harshly hit the ground, landing on your side. Rock blasted in your rib cage as you screamed in pain. And for a moment your vision blurred and you blacked out.

“Y/N! Y/N!” you heard your lover screaming at you, shaking your body. You slowly opened your eyes to be greeted by Hanji, their eyes watery and filled with tears as they wrapped bandages around your wound. “h-hanji…” you managed to get out, as you looked up at her, their glasses broken and their eye bleeding swell.

She wrapped the bandages around your bleeding wounds as they cried. “Honey..?” You looked at hanji as they looked back. “I did good..right?” You asked her. Hanji gritted their teeth “ no you’re not leaving just yet! I’ll be damned if you do!” They replied fiercely. “Hanji… but I think I’m ready..”

“NO GODDAMNIT!” she snapped at you, their eyes deranged and red, tears still flowing down them. They punches the floor as they gave up in frustration, begging to full on weep. “Baby..” you said, saddened by hanjis expression. “I’ll be okay.. I swear… no matter what..”

“Why Couldnt Erwin just let you stay home!” She cried, gripping their chest as if they were gasping for air. “Hanji.. I promise..” you said to her, blood trickling out your mouth as your eyes lazily focused on the person in front of you, weeping about your soon to be fate. “I had fun..” you said to yourself. “I met you… I love you Hanji..” you said to them.

They looked at you, pain in their eyes as they tightly hugged you, pulling you into their arms. She sat you on top of her lap, hugging your numb body. Blood scattering all over her clothes. You buried your head into their shoulder as they petted your hair, sobbing. “I’m so glad we were put here at the same time.. aren’t you.. my crazy scientist…?”

Hanji couldn’t speak. The feeling of the loss of you overbares them. They couldn’t say anything. They just cried into you, absorbing the last few seconds you have with them. “I love you so fucking much y/n.. I love you… I love you… I love you.. I love you..” they kept repeating, kissing your cheek as they said. “P-please don’t leave me please..”

“I’m never gonna leave you…” you said to her, “I’ll always be right here,” you said, putting your fist to Hanji’s heart.

“I offered my heart….right section commander…?” You asked as they gritted their teeth, trying to not scream from crying. “Please Hanji.. I did good right…?”

“You did… amazing….you gave it your all..” She said,replying to you. “I love you…” they cried.

“I love you more..”

➪ Kachiniko ||♡︎ My Blog ♥︎ || ☾What I write ☽ 08/02/21

[ickle-ronniekins]

tangled up

request: from nonnie! “love those sharing a bed tropes... not saying you should do it but you should definitely do it”

pairing: fred x fem!gryffindor!reader

word count: 2.3k

A/N: ummmmmm love this request, i'm in suuuucch a fred mood lately

warning(s): brief mention of war, ~implied sexual content~ i suppose

tag list: @mintlibri @seppys-return-to-madness @how-do-life-does @fopdoodledane @fredd-weasley @iprobablyshipit91 @semmelsemi @cottageoflove @laneygthememequeen @snakesonaplane-7 @keoghans @dreamer821 @wtfweasleyy @62442-am @the-hufflepuff-of-221b @obsessedwithrandomthings @thoseofgreatambition @harrysweasleys @sleep-i-ness @shadowsinger11 @shadychaoticcollection @haphazardhufflepuff @afriendlyneighborhoodhufflepuff @hood-and-horan @letsfightsomeorcs @theweasleysredhair @purpleskiesstorm @hxfflxpxffs @wand3ringr0s3 @finecole @angelinathebook @highly-acidic @purplefragile @90shermione @zreads @susceptible-but-siriusexual @hollands-weasley @andromedaa-tonks @bbstrawberry0421 @princessof-theuniverse @cappsikle @mytreec @imseeinggred @idont-knowrn @flyingserpxnt @auroraboringalis57 @godricsswords @jejegu @annasofiaearlobe @starlightweasley @alwaysasadaesthetic @thisismysketchbook @izzytheninja @imboredandneedalife @hemmoporro | message me to be added loves!

The cool October air had a bit of a bite to it -- it seemed as though Bill and Fleur’s wedding was ages ago. You wrapped a blanket around your shoulders to reduce the chill in your bones.

Suddenly two redheaded figures appeared with a pop! onto the field outside of your home. By what you could see, they’d apparated just before the line of protective enchantments -- a type of advanced magic only a very intelligent wizard could do.

“Bloody hell -- you’re a life saver, you know that?” George exclaimed as he finally reached you, wrapping you in a warm embrace. “I couldn’t be there for one more moment.”

Fred rolled his eyes and explained, “He means at Auntie Muriel’s. Being a bit overdramatic, are we, George?”

The elder twin shot his younger brother a look of amusement as George dropped his bag onto the floor and ran a hand through his hair. “Overdramatic? Tell me, Fred, would you like to go back?”

Fred then draped an arm across your shoulder and peered at his brother. “And reject our best mate’s offer to spend time at her lovely home? That would be so rude.” George swore he saw his twin shudder a bit, no doubt at the thought of returning to their Auntie Muriel’s to endure more yelling and criticism. George shot him a very sardonic look, and laughed lightly.

“Glad you two decided to come -- it’ll be nice having someone else in the house. I haven’t had a proper night’s sleep in months,” you waved your wand to pull three teacups from the kitchen cupboard and started the kettle. You felt a sense of ease at having your two closest friends here. “Should be alright out here, at least for a while.”

Fred glimpsed around your tiny little house. It was small, but exceptionally tidy with a very cozy feeling to it. It looked much different than the Burrow, but still emanated that feeling of home. “Lovely place you’ve got.”

“Thanks, Freddie,” you replied, handing him a steaming cup of tea. He gingerly took it out of your hands. “Just one problem.”

The twins chorused together, “What?”

“I’ve only got one extra bed.”

If the room hadn’t gone so eerily still at your comment, you never would have noticed the small jab to the hip George gave his twin. Fred grunted a bit and stifled a cough. “Oh, no worry -- George already said he’ll take the floor.”

Fred earned himself an eye roll and another jab.

You waved them both off and blew on your tea. “Don’t be silly! I’ll take the floor. You two’ve just got to battle it out for who gets the bigger bed.”

As if on queue, George immediately hoisted his bag back over his shoulder. He began walking away and pointed toward your very tiny spare bedroom off of the kitchen. “This one here, yeah? Thanks again, Y/N, really appreciate you letting us escape the wrath of our aunt -- I’m absolutely knackered, hope you two don’t mind if I turn in!” and with a quick wave to you and Fred, George closed the door and you both almost immediately heard very loud snoring. You and Fred exchanged a laugh.

You made sure everything was in order for Fred before leading him to your room. But you noticed he hadn’t brought his stuff with him -- you saw his belongings near your front door. With a wave of your wand, you brought it forward.

“I’m really okay to sleep on the couch,” he told you, pointing back toward the front.

“I’m not going to have you sleep on the couch,” you replied, shaking your head. “Besides -- you’re not staying out there. I might be a bit dramatic, but the couch is too close to the windows and the front door, and though I’ve been safe here for a while..” you voice trailed off a bit, and you swallowed down the nerves bubbling up inside of you. “Just -- we never know where the Death Eaters are. You take the bed, I’ll take the couch.”

You patted Fred’s shoulder, ready to head back out to your front room, when he took your wrist in his hand and whirled you back around to face him. “If I’m not allowed to take the couch, neither are you.”

You crossed your arms and swallowed. “Fine,” you replied with a grin. “Have got tons of extra pillows and a massive blanket here somewhere -- let me go and fetch it. Go on then, make yourself comfortable.”

“Merlin, you are being thick today,” Fred chuckled, and you noticed traces of the young boy you grew to love. He caressed small circles on the back of your hand. “Would you just sleep in your own bed?”

“But --” your breath caught in your throat. You glanced at your own bed, easily big enough for two, maybe even three, and went against your better judgement before you could overthink it. “Just share with me, then. Nobody takes the floor.”

A hint of nervousness flashed across his features before twisting into a cheeky grin. You continued on when he stayed silent, “What’s the matter, Freddie? You’ve been my best mate for the better half of the last twenty years. I mean, I’ve seen you in your bunny slippers, for Merlin’s sake --” Fred flinched uncomfortably at the memory of you catching him, late one evening in Gryffindor tower, in bunny slippers his mum had knitted for him as a child. You had never let him forget it.

His grin deepened alongside the crimson red colour of his cheeks. “Listen, woman, they are soft and keep me nice and toasty, alright?”

“Whatever you say,” you replied before sliding yourself underneath your warm blanket. You patted the other side of the bed in an accidental sensual way and realized how that must’ve come across. You quickly cleared your throat and turned off the light before you could see his reaction. “Erm -- there are extra pillows on the couch if you need.”

You felt his body slide in next to yours, and you could still make out some of his facial features from the faint light of the lightning strikes outside. He was definitely still grinning. “I’m fine, really.”

You figured out quite quickly that neither of you were able to sleep, especially because it was only eleven p.m. and because of the wild wind and rain that were howling outside of your window. The words were spilling out of you before you could help it. “Fred?”

He turned on his side to face you. “Yeah?”

You were laying on your back, looking up at your ceiling in the darkness. “Are you afraid?”

When he didn’t answer right away, you turned your head to face him too. Each time the lightning struck it was bright and vibrant, and highlighted his features in a more intimate way than ever before. He threaded his brows together and took a deep breath. “Yeah, I am.”

It was weirdly comforting hearing him say that he was afraid. The man who didn’t have a serious bone in his body was actually scared. It was strange and unnerving and brought a sense of solace to you all at once.

You sucked in a breath, worried that your normal evening anxiety would show solely through the look in your eyes. You turned away to glance toward the ceiling again when you felt Fred brush his fingers gently against yours under the covers. Your breath hitched at the contact.

“I think it’ll be okay though.”

“How can you be sure?”

“I suppose I can’t..” it was so weird, hearing him speak like this. He shifted again. “I just think.. we’re more prepared than before. Think there’s more of us this time. Besides, we’ve done our studying, and we’re all brilliant wizards.”

A smile tugged at the edges of your mouth. “You are kind of brilliant.”

“Wow,” he breathed, and it was almost a whisper. You noticed the way the edges of his eyes crinkled as he smiled. “Can I get that in writing?”

“Care to return the compliment first?”

“Hang on,” he replied, placing his hands behind his head in a bit of a relaxed state. “I need to bask in this for a moment.”

“Oh shove off, you git!”

You playfully swatted him before he retaliated. Soon enough you were both sitting upright, thwacking one another with pillows and laughing into the darkness of the night. Fred fell to the floor with a dull thump, and you stifled lots of giggles and shushed him as he slid back into bed next to you. “You’re going to wake up George!”

You weren’t sure how long the two of you were swatting at one another. It could’ve been hours, or perhaps days. But then the storm grew more fierce, and you found yourself scooting closer to him in bed. Fred always had a way of making you forget about everything going on around you. It was always surprising to you how you’d be able to drown out the rest of the world, as long as you listened to him talk, or as long as you watched him work on his inventions with gentle hands. Even in lessons, back in school, when he’d teasingly wink at you from across the classroom, you were pretty much rendered completely useless for the rest of the day. When it was just you and him, the rest of the world might as well not even exist.

He must’ve noticed how you zoned out, because he asked, “What’s on your mind?”

You turned on your side to face him fully this time. “Just reminiscing.”

“Yeah? About what?”

“Remember when we bumped into one another in the corridors during our fourth year -- I was sneaking sweets up from the kitchens, and you were attempting to sneak into one of the classrooms to finish working on inventions?” You smiled at the memory. “And then Filch was roaming around, and we nearly got caught?”

Fred laughed. You were happy that he remembered. “Never sprinted back to the common room so quickly in my life. That ruddy cat of his was clawing at my ankles.”

“Between the fact that I’d hardly gotten any sleep that night and the adrenaline rush, I was bloody exhausted.”

Fred snorted. “Yeah, you fell asleep in the armchair next to the fire almost immediately when we returned and began to snore rather loudly, if my memory serves me correct.”

You grinned, not skipping a beat. “Yeah, my snoring is almost as embarrassing as those slippers of yours.”

You expected him to groan and throw another pillow in your direction, but instead he just deepened his smile and reached out and placed his hand next to yours on the edge of his pillow, your fingers almost touching. “I dunno -- I thought it was cute.”

You really hoped the steady drumbeat sound of your heart was drowned out by the sounds of the thunder outside. You weren’t so sure though. “Yeah?”

He wet his lips and nodded. “I remember having to wake you up because it was nearly four a.m. -- fire had died out and you looked so uncomfortable in that armchair -- I just wanted to carry you upstairs. Except..” Yeah, jinxes by the professors at each respective staircase. Boys weren’t allowed in the girls dorms, and vice versa. You knew exactly what he was getting at.

You felt a swift surge of confidence overtake you, so you gently moved your fingers a few centimeters before you slowly intertwined them with his. He didn’t flinch. Your voice was softer than you expected. “What else do you remember about that night?”

It was an opening -- you didn’t want to be so blatantly obvious about it, but Fred could always read you like a book. You hoped he still could, after all these years. Luckily for the both of you, nothing had changed. He took the opening. “I remember wanting to kiss you.”

You bit your lip, hoping to suppress the nerves that were bubbling up inside of you like fizzy champagne.

Fred laughed cheekily. “Never got a chance, though.”

Before you could think more on it, you nudged his leg with your toes and scooted closer to him. You could see the steady rise and fall of his chest, you were so close. “Then kiss me now.”

His mouth parted slightly in surprise, but nevertheless he inched forward and caught your lips with his. They were soft -- softer than you ever could have imagined, and so was the kiss itself. He tasted faintly of mint, and and you found yourself breathing in deeper when he trailed one solitary finger across your jawline and down your neck. The feel of him against you warmed up your entire body in a way that the common room fire never could.

He sighed against your lips before reluctantly pulling away. “Mmm we should’ve been doing this the entire time,”

You laughed softly and brought your fingers to your lips, hoping to still feel that electricity. “Yeah, we probably should have.”

All thoughts of the war seemed to subside as he leant in to kiss you again. Somehow, being with him, your limbs entangled together -- it was enough to make you forget about the war on the horizon, everything that was about to happen. As far as you were concerned, as long as Fred was beside you, tangled in the covers of your bed, everything would be alright.

He tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes. His voice was rough and sensual and soft all at the same time as he wiggled his eyebrows at you. “Thanks for inviting me to sleep in your bed.”

You grinned and raked your bottom lip through your teeth. “Yeah, well, like you said -- we should’ve been doing this the entire time. Figured I’d get a jump start on what we’ve missed.”

He laughed and wrapped his arms tightly around your hips. Goosebumps sprouted on your skin as he lazily trailed his fingers up and down your spine and told you, “Knew you were my favorite for a reason.”

[seoloquent]

project: dance, dance, revolution

summary - you hate that ai robots are beginning to take over the entertainment industry, but you have no choice than to help them. but what if it all didn't turn out to be what you thought it was?

pairing - johnny and fem!reader

genre - strangers-to-lovers!au, robot!au, comedy, fluff

word count - 10.101

warnings - cw! food, there might be some grammatical errors... i'm depending on grammarly on this one

author's note - this is for @pastelsicheng's ai project #14320 collab! this was honestly such a challenge for me since i have been in a writing slump for over two years i believe, but i'm glad it gave me the push i need. i am still super rusty, but i think the dialogue is cute, so i'm happy with it! thank you so much emmy for sharing your great idea with everyone, and i hope you all like it!

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

Johnny AI AU - seoloquent

Kun was terrified.

Despite experiencing your various emotions throughout the five years of being your manager, he has never seen you this angry before. But, honestly speaking, he couldn’t blame you. He’d be just as mad if he found out his boss went behind his back and signed a contract with a company he hated. As much as he could sympathize with you though, Kun just couldn’t get himself to understand why you were so upset about working with LSM Incorporated. If he were in your shoes, he’d be doing backflips off the wall! The amount of exposure, and revenue you are potentially going to be receiving… Kun just does not understand what the problem is.

Although your strides were long and strong, Kun was able to keep up with you while making sure he kept his distance, as if a dark cloud followed behind you. As cautious as he was to not have you blow up at him, he still tried to convince you to not make a scene within the conference room by his desperate protests; in which you kindly ignored. Every single word that left his mouth went through one ear and straight out the other as you paid him no mind. You were in a tunnel vision; the only person you wanted to talk to right now was your boss.

Pushing the door open with much force (that Kun had to catch before it slammed onto the wall behind it), you caught the attention of the CEO of your company, as well as Lee Soo Man of LSM Inc. They flashed pleasant smiles your way, completely oblivious of your angry state.

“Y/N, just the person we wanted to se-”

“Are you serious?!” You slammed the contract papers down on the table, your eyes wide and fierce as they stared into your boss’s eyes.

Your emotions were still fresh from when you first received the signed contract papers from Kun about an hour prior. The feelings of betrayal and violation lingered within you, and the uneasiness it caused made you sick. How could someone lack so much human decency that they justified going behind their employee’s back, an employee that has their trust in them at that, and force them into labor; which they have already voiced that they did not want to do? It baffled you, and you were hurt, as you believed that you and your CEO had a great business relationship. But he took that open communication for granted and took advantage of you.

After realizing that you stormed in with anger rather than excitement, he pursed his lips and looked down at the papers, chuckling to himself. “Oh. So you’re still opposed to the idea.”

You couldn’t believe your ears. “Of course I am!” Your voice rose as your eyes grew bigger. “You never talked to me about it again after the first time; what made you think that I changed my mind?”

“Y/N, I have to get you to notice that you are not the only one signed to this company. This will not only be good exposure for you, but for us as well.” He justified. He kept his voice calm, not only to calm you down but also to keep a professional demeanor in front of his newly established business partner.

“Oh, so you’re doing this for yourself?”

“Of course not! This is for the benefit of not only you, not only me, but for the company as a whole.” Your CEO reasoned. Before you could respond, he cleared his throat and turned to Lee Soo Man. “I’m sorry, but will you excuse us for a moment? I don’t feel comfortable having this conversation in front of you as our partner.”

Normally, you would be embarrassed that you presented this side of yourself in front of a potential partner, but embarrassed in front of Lee Soo Man? You care more about a monkey’s opinion about yourself more than his opinion. Besides, it doesn’t seem like he’s phased by your reaction at all. Strangely enough, when you turned toward the founder of LSM Inc., you realized that his arrogant smile had never left his face since the moment you stormed into the conference room. It gave you chills. He seems so artificial that you wouldn’t be surprised if he turned out to be a robot himself.

After Lee Soo Man gave his, “No problem,” your boss stood up from his seat and escorted you both outside the conference room. The moment the door closed, your boss’s true emotion started to show. His eyes grew wide and his fingers grabbed onto his freshly trimmed strands as he breathed out a heavy breath of frustration. Equally as frustrated, if not more, you crossed your arms and made sure your gaze was unwavering; something you needed to learn after being manipulated many times from past experiences with people who work within the entertainment industry. You stepped your metaphoric foot down. Even if your boss had signed a contract without your acknowledgment, you were not going to do the job. That’s not your signature on the papers.

“Are you crazy Y/N?!” He yelled in a hushed tone, careful to not have anyone overhear your conversation. “How could you act like that in front of him?”

“Do I not have a right to be angry? You sold me away to a robot company Jack, a robot company!” You slapped the back of your hand on your other palm, now physically unable to withhold your emotions.

“I didn’t sell you away, you’re getting paid to do this job.” He spat. Now self-aware of how uncivil and unprofessional he was being, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to ease his nerves. You are going to get nowhere if you bickered like this, and if you keep it up, he knows he is going to say something he regrets.

Now keeping his tone soft, he revealed, “I chose you because you’re the best for this job.”

“Aren’t there other artists under this label who could do this? I’m sure they’re more willing to work with LSM than I am.” You matched his tone, hoping that this time you could get through to him.

“Those other artists can’t produce the same product as you can.” Jack shook his head disapprovingly. “Listen Y/N, I don’t want to waste any more of Mr. Lee’s time, so I’m going to make this short. I apologize in advance if you find any offense in this, but business is business.” You stared intently into his eyes, in hopes to understand where he was going with his next sentence, but his expression could not be read.

“If you can’t do this job, then I’m afraid that I’ll have to drop you from this label.”

You never knew what people meant by having their hearts drop down to their stomachs until now. You felt as if the wind was knocked out of you, your breath short and shaky and your knees weak. All these years… all this work you put in to make a name not only for yourself but for this company… it baffled you that all that effort could be thrown away so easily, just because of some AI company.

As much as you wanted to keep standing up for yourself and your role in the company, you knew there was no use. Your boss didn’t seem to give you a choice either, seeing that he walked back into the conference room shortly after his bombshell. The only thing you could find yourself doing is laughing bitterly to yourself while shaking your head. What in the world are you going to do now?

***

Maybe it isn’t such a good idea to go to a bar when you’re in a bad mood. The constant noise of chatter and the clinking of glasses did not soothe your nerves one bit. Rather, it made you even more annoyed, and on the brink of yelling out at everyone to just be quiet. Instead of making a fool of yourself in public though, you sat with your head under your arms, forehead resting on the cool surface of the bar. Kun, your designated moral support, sat next to you, tapping his glass of whiskey as he thought of what to say to you.

“So, what are you gonna do?”

That simple yet oh so effective sentence had you throwing your head back and releasing a loud groan. Your reaction had your manager shrugging, his face reading, ‘What did I do?’ You rested your cheeks on the palms of your hands as you thought: ‘What can I do?’

Gazing off into a space of nothing, you replied: “I dunno.” You shook your head, your hands still on either side of your face as you deadpanned. “I have no idea what I’m gonna do.” After a moment, something clicked in your head, and you set your arms down and turned to Kun. “Do you want to bail on them and start a company with me?”

He snorted at the inquiry. “You know we can’t do that! At least not right now. It’s way too last minute.”

You looked down at your arms with a sad expression and sighed. “You’re right.” Not only would it be an impulsive decision, but you had no motivation in you to own a whole entertainment company. “What am I gonna do?!” You cried out, your hands covering your face to hide your shame.

“Hey, hey, hey! Stop the whining!” Kun took your hands away from your face, revealing the pout on your face. “Everything is going to be fine! I’m sure of it.”

Kun, a big pep-talk kind of man, was always ready to reassure you when you were in doubt. And boy was he good at it. You still remember when you were growing anxious before your first big concert at an arena. The staff ran around the whole place frantically trying to find where you ran off to. Thankfully, your trustee manager was able to find your hiding spot, which was beside a vending machine in an empty hallway. His comforting words found a way to ease your speedy heart rate, and clear up your clogged mind. After that day, you knew you could always go to him when you were feeling down or unsure of yourself. He’s a friend you could always lean on.

“How are you so sure?” You asked, your voice so small that he almost missed the question.

“Think about it,” he set his glass to the side and folded his hands together, “this contract is only valid for six months. It’s not like you’re going to be working there forever.”

You couldn’t help but roll your eyes. “I know that; but still! I don’t want to do it at all!”

“You never know what will happen until you try though! You might end up liking it.” He nudged your elbow as he flashed a convincing smile.

“Me? Liking it?” You scoffed. “Kun, do you even know me?”

He pursed his lips and sighed. This situation was foreign to him since he always knew what to say. But now, it seemed like everything he was saying was making the situation worse. He wanted nothing more than for you to feel comfortable, but that mission is basically impossible knowing how much you oppose the AI industry. But still, Kun is a persistent man. He wasn’t going to back down just yet.

Finally, something clicked.

“Actually, your idea doesn’t sound half bad.” You cocked a curious eyebrow, surprised that he brought up something you spurted out carelessly. “Think about it: you’re still your own person. Even though you’re technically bound by a contract doesn’t mean that you can’t make a decision on your own. He did give you the choice to leave.”

You furrowed your eyebrows. “So you’re saying that I should just leave the company?”

He shook his head. “No. What I’m doing is offering a deal. I want you to try to work with LSM for at least three months. If you try it, you might like it! If not, I will quit with you, and we can try to start a company on our own; which I know we both don’t want. But hey, that might be fun too.”

You thought about the proposal for a moment. It wasn’t too much of a bad idea. It was actually quite reasonable. Yeah, you aren’t looking forward to being surrounded by robots and their arrogant creators, but you guess that it’s worth a try. Just for the experience at least.

“I think we have a deal.” You held your hand out.

He took your hand in his and gave it a firm shake.

“Pleasure doing business with you, partner.”

***

You shivered upon entering the entertainment wing of LSM Inc. You were told that the lab would be a bit chilly, which is why you brought a jacket with you, but the cool air still found a way to nip at your skin through the material. You have to say, the lab was not what you expected it to be. Rather than it being some cold, plain science lab, it was made out to be much more casual. Your eyes settled on what looked like a lounge area for the employees, and you watched carefully as they conversed with one another with soft smiles on their faces. Scanning the place even further, you came across capsule areas, in which you assume where the AI robots stayed. As cool as the dome building seemed, you still couldn’t shake off the grudge you had against the company.

“Oh, you’re here!” A man holding a clipboard exclaimed. He ran over to you and Kun, flashing a bright smile. “Mr. Lee told me that we were to be expecting you both. I was hoping to greet you at the main lobby entrance, but I got caught up in another situation, so I apologize. My name is Kim Doyoung, I’ll be your guide for the day.” He politely held his hand out, and you shook it while replying with a small, “Hello.”

“We’re pleased to have you here with us Ms. Y/N. Please, follow me.” He motioned both of you to follow him. “I must say, I’m a huge fan of your music. I’m really happy that you decided to work with us for the next comeback.”

“Oh. Don’t mention it.” You shook your head while smiling slightly.

As Doyoung lead you to wherever he was leading you, he pointed out different areas to help you grow familiar with the lab. You learned that they have many recording and dance studios like regular companies do. You couldn’t help but wonder why, since they could just be programmed to sing the songs, but you didn’t bother to ask.

Finally, Doyoung stopped at a station, but his bright expression was replaced by a puzzled one. He looked around as if he were looking for someone. You, on the other hand, couldn’t help but stare at what stood before you. The tall human-like… thing, stared right back at you with a neutral expression. It gave you chills how real he seemed; like he could walk past you on the street and you wouldn’t bat an eye. Despite how anxious it made you feel, your curiosity outweighed that emotion, and you inched closer to get a better look.

Your tour guide caught you eyeing the bot, and that smile found its way back onto his face. He heard that you might be a bit opposed to working with the AI’s, so he was glad to find you expressing some sort of interest in their prized possession.

“He’s so human-” As if in a trance, you reached out a hand to touch the robot, but it suddenly stepped back just before you got to it.

“I’m sorry, but physical touch is not allowed unless permitted.” The robot announced before flashing a commercial smile.

Doyoung’s chuckled beside you. “For the safety of our bots, we have prohibited anyone from touching them.” He leaned in to add, “Too many fans at fansigns got touchy-feely.” He shook his head disapprovingly.

“Eager to get a feel of my bot already?” You heard a voice from behind you.

When you turned around, you felt as though you got whiplash. The man standing behind you looked identical to the robot standing before you. The only difference was that the robot had blonde short hair and was styled in fancy clothing whilst the man had long brown hair and didn’t seem to care much about what he had on. He had his hands in the pockets of his gray sweatpants, a sly smirk plastered on his face.

“You’re late.” Doyoung deadpanned.

“I’m not late, I was taking a nap in the Pod, and nobody cared enough to wake me up!” The mystery man shrugged.

Finally, you snapped back into reality, but you still had to verify that what you were seeing was real. When you finally accepted what was going on, you couldn’t help but laugh.

“How cute.” You snickered to yourself.

A puzzled expression masked the mystery man’s face. “What’s cute?”

“What is this? The Man and the Muppet?” Your comment had Kun nudging your arm and shooting you a warning look to which you responded with an apologetic gaze.

Not giving the mystery man any time to respond (merely because he does not have the patience), Doyoung spoke up. “This is Suh Youngho, he’s the head AI Developer of our department. He’s the creator of #S127.” Youngho put his hands behind his back and bowed as his greeting.

“I’m guessing his name is Youngho as well?” You pointed to the robot, still standing expressionless.

“He wishes, but no, we call him Johnny!” Youngho swung an arm over his identical twin of a robot, smiling brightly. “After a long and hard fight for it, he will be releasing his first solo album this year.” He wiped a fake tear from under his eye. “Johnny here is my firstborn, so this is going to be really special.”

“And you’re going to help us make it very special!” Doyoung cheered.

“Actually, speaking of that, what exactly am I supposed to be doing? Wouldn’t it just be easier for me to give you guys a demo and you program him to sing it or something?” You asked.

Doyoung was quick to answer. “That would defeat the purpose of AI robots actually! The thing is, they’re supposed to learn to adapt to certain environments, like we do! So they learn how to sing songs and how to dance complex choreography just like we do.”

This time, Kun was the one to ask a question. “Aren’t you guys just putting more work upon yourself?”

“Yes, and no,” Youngho started, “It’s like a domino effect. The more work we give our bots means more research that needs to be done. The more research that is done, means there’s more data we get. The more data we get means a more refined bot, and then it loops.” Kun opened his mouth in an ‘ah’ shape and nodded his head after the explanation. “Hopefully we can get this bad boy to the point where we don’t have to do any more research and he can be a successful artist on his own.”

Even though this was all very interesting, you still couldn’t help but still be opposed to the thought of helping a robot making it in the entertainment industry. You caught a glimpse of the future as you fell into a daydream: AI’s getting a full sweep in wins at big music award shows, discrediting those who actually put their heart and soul into their work. Robots don’t have a heart, nor do they have a soul. Even if they do seem to “work hard,” they will never be on the same level as a human artist. It just won’t be fair, but what even is fair these days?

“So, to answer your question, we need Johnny to learn what it’s like to be a true singer-slash-songwriter. And to achieve that, he’ll be staying with you for the duration of the six months before his solo debut.” Doyoung’s words snapped you out of your daydream and you turned to him with furrowed brows.

“Oh, so this is going to be like ‘Take your robot to work day’ or something? But just for six months instead?” You questioned.

Doyoung looked up as he thought, nodding and shrugging seconds afterward. “Well, yes, but we were hoping that Johnny could get the full package. We planned for him to stay with you 24/7 so that he could really get a feel of your creative process.”

You did a double-take, eyes wide and mouth agape showcasing your shock.

“E-Excuse me? You mean to say that he will be… living with me?” You spoke low and slow, scared of the obvious answer.

You didn’t see anything about this in the contract papers; not that you read it anyway since you weren’t the one who signed them; but still! You could feel your heart race as you thought of him living in your apartment, those brown soulless eyes studying every move you made. The vision made you shudder.

“Affirmative.” Youngho nodded firmly.

Your heart wanted to burst out of your chest. “I’m sorry, but can you guys excuse us for a moment? I need to speak with my manager in private.” You said just before taking Kun’s hand and dragging him somewhere where the two scientists wouldn’t be able to hear your conversation.

“I’m living with the robot?!” You whisper yelled, careful to not have anyone nearby hear your anguish.

“In my defense, I had no idea about this.” Kun shook his head with his hands up.

You paced back and forth as you panicked. You lifted your hands, but not knowing what to do with them, you just clenched them into a fist. It seemed like your life was spiraling out of your control. Nothing is going your way, and it is driving you insane. You need to get your life back in order fast. If not, who knows what will happen?

“I swear, if he wasn’t the one paying me, I would kill Jack right now.” You grumbled.

“Hey, it’s not like Johnny is a real guy. I doubt he would try to do anything to hurt you.” Kun tried his best to reassure you, but it was not doing much to help.

“You don’t know that! We don’t know what those guys are capable of!” You pointed toward Doyoung and Youngho. “That Doyoung guy is nice, but I don’t know if I can trust him. And Youngho seems like he’s gonna be a handful.” You stared at the said man as he and Doyoung bickered, probably about him being late again.

Kun turned his head to see the two men bickering, and the only thing he could do was chuckle. “I think they should be the least of your worries.” His comment made you sigh deeply. “You’ll be fine, I promise you!” He put his hands on your arms to steady you, but you avoided his gaze as you stared down at your feet with a pout on your face. “You know I’m always on speed dial if you need me.”

You nodded your head, still avoiding his gaze.

“Hey,” his call made your eyes meet his. “If all goes wrong, we can always dump a bucket of water over ‘em.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the comment. “Yeah, and then we’ll get sued and possibly go to jail.”

Kun smacked his lips and said, “Eh, I’m sure they’ll be able to fix the guy. A little water can’t do that much damage.” He stepped back and shoved his hands into his pockets. After a small moment of silence, he kicked your shoe gently. “So what do you say? You’re still gonna do it, or no?”

A groan erupted from your chest, and you brought your hands down your face out of frustration. You really don’t want to do this, but a deal is a deal.

“Three months. I’m giving three months.”

“That’s my girl!”

***

You found yourself pacing around your apartment in the early morning. It has been about a week since you first spoke with LSM Inc. From this day forward for the next six months (or three months you hoped), Johnny would be shadowing you at all times. You were a nervous wreck since you didn’t know what to expect from living with a robot. What if he suddenly malfunctioned and they blamed it on you? You can’t handle this type of responsibility. Or what if he malfunctioned and started acting violently toward you?

“Snap out of it!” You whisper yelled at yourself, hitting your temple with your knuckles. You always tend to scare yourself when you’re nervous. Everyone you have spoken to about this matter has told you that you had nothing to worry about, so you made it your goal to not worry. But why is it so hard?

DING!

You swore your heart jumped out of your chest when your doorbell suddenly sounded throughout your home. As much as you wanted your heart rate to calm down, it only began to race faster the closer you got to your door. When your hand touched the gold knob, you closed your eyes and took a deep breath, then you finally opened the door.

Two identical men stood before you, flashing the same bright smile.

“Good morning to you!” Youngho greeted you cheerfully, to which you replied with a dazed “Morning,” before allowing them inside.

You eyed the two men as they entered your living room, confused as to why they were the only ones here. “Where is Mr. Kim?”

Youngho cocked an eyebrow before turning around to face you. “Who?”

“Your coworker. Doyoung, I believe his name is?” You answered.

“Oh!” He let out a hearty laugh. “You don’t have to call him that, it makes him sound old. And I’m older than him, so that kind of hurts my feelings.” He joked, but the only thing you could find yourself doing was nodding your head and looking away.

Sensing your discomfort, he cleared his throat before answering your question. “He’s busy back at the lab. I’m here to make sure John is all set before I leave him in your care.” You winced at his words. It only added to the overwhelming weight on your shoulders.

“Why do you ask? Did you grow fond of him already?” He slung his backpack from around his shoulder onto the floor. You peeked inside when he zipped it open, finding wires bunched inside.

“Uh, no, I wouldn’t say that.” You let out a nervous laugh. “I just find it a bit overwhelming with only you two here.”

A smirk grew on his face. “So, you’re overwhelmed by my great looks huh?” He flipped his hair and shrugged as if it was inevitable to be starstruck by him.

“I look exactly like you,” Johnny spoke for the first time since entering your home.

You had to hold back a laugh at the sudden comment, and Youngho’s reaction didn’t make it any easier.

“So? You’re inspired by me, so therefore I take the credit of our looks!” He stuck his nose up in Johnny’s face. When the scientist turned back toward you, he realized you were holding back a laugh as your pursed your lips and looked away. “What? You find this funny?”

You put your hand up and shook your head. “No, no.”

Youngho was happy to find you in a better mood than when you first met. Sure, you’re still on the shy side, but at least you’re laughing instead of frowning like the first time. He heard that you weren’t exactly on board with working with LSM, so he made it his goal to have this be an enjoyable experience for you. He hopes that one day your negative opinions about AI’s would change. They’re as special to him as music is to you.

“I need to set up Johnny’s things. Is it okay if you tell me where he’s allowed to sleep?” Youngho asked.

You tilted your head to the side, a puzzled expression finding its way on your face. “He sleeps?”

“Yeah!” Youngho nodded simply. “It’s like setting your computer on sleep mode. Machines need rest as much as we do. Johnny here is a hardworking man, he deserves to sleep.”

You supposed he was right. He might break easier if his gears were running constantly. Plus, he was made to function as a human, but you didn’t know that it was to this extent. To say the least, you were impressed at the attention to detail.

You motioned the two to your guest bedroom, and immediately Youngho got to work. Johnny stood next to you as the both of you spectated Youngho’s work, but you were shortly distracted by the robot.

You peered up at the tall machine with a curious gaze, and he turned to you with a kind smile.

“So, I’m not sure if this is an inappropriate question or not, but I’m curious.” Johnny nodded for you to go on. “Should I, like… talk to you like Siri? Or can I talk to you like a normal person?”

You were startled to hear Youngho’s loud snort in the corner of the room, but instead of him being the one to answer, Johnny did.

“You can talk to me like a normal person, don’t worry.” Johnny shook his head. “If it makes you comfortable, you can view me as a human if you’d like. I’m not that much different than you actually. We’re just wired differently.”

“Hey,” Youngho’s stern voice caught both of your attention. “Be proud of who you are, whether you are a human or robot. We’ve been through this John.”

Johnny nodded. “Right, right. My apologies.”

Youngho hated it when Johnny tried to tell others to view him as a human. Not because he believed that Johnny was trying to fool people, but because being a robot is his identity, and he should be proud of that. Sure, it’s not likely that Johnny could feel the feeling of pride, but Youngho could tell that Johnny was insecure. It worried him, but he didn’t want to tap into his database to change anything since he wants Johnny to be as authentic as possible. So for now, Youngho is keeping track of Johnny’s growth as an AI person.

Soon, Youngho was finished with setting up Johnny’s station. In the corner of the guestroom stood a white podium with a screen built in the middle of it. He let out a deep breath of satisfaction as he stepped back and dusted his hands off.

Before you could ask what it was, Youngho was already answering your unspoken question. “This is Johnny’s Communication Center. Every night he’ll have to transfer data from his system so that we’ll know what he’s been up to and see if he’s made any improvements. That’s if he’s not with me at the lab.” Suddenly, his face grew serious. “For legal reasons, I have to let you know that this station is strictly off-limits. There’s confidential information in here that belongs to LSM Inc.”

Even though you were curious, the last thing you wanted to do was get involved with the law, so you took note of his warning. Hopefully, it isn’t something regarding the invasion of privacy.

You shook your head before you could scare yourself even further. Positive thoughts. Think positive thoughts.

“Alright, on that note, I think my work here is done!” Youngho announced. “Can I talk with you in private?” He asked suddenly, pointing a finger at you.

“Me?” You had to double-check whether he was really talking to you or not. He chuckled as he nodded his head, confirming your wonders. “Oh, okay.”

You followed the man out of the room, leaving Johnny to check out the place he’ll be living in for the next few months.

After the two of you reached your living room, Youngho began to speak. “Hey, so, I really want to thank you for working with us on this project. I heard that you’re not the biggest fan of AI’s, so I was surprised to hear you signed the contract.”

You held back from rolling your eyes as the memories of your boss came up. “It’s not like I really had a choice.” You smiled softly and shook your head.

He tilted his head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

You tensed up when you realized what you just said. As much as you did not want to do this job, you made it your goal to remain as professional as possible for the sake of your reputation. After working in the entertainment industry for some years, you learned to keep your personal feelings apart from your job. If- no, when you do end up quitting the job after three months, at least LSM won’t be able to say anything negative about you.

Refraining from explaining yourself, you shook your head once more. “Nevermind what I said. Johnny will be safe in my care!”

Youngho pouted, his eyes scanning your face. He wanted you to elaborate, but he had no time to talk further. He needed to get back to the lab.

“Well, I hope so. Call me if you need anything. I need to get going.”

Nodding, you waved goodbye to him before seeing him off. Your feet ended up taking you back to your guest bedroom, where you found Johnny sitting at the end of the bed, staring at the wall in front of him. You caught his attention after you cleared your throat, and instead of staring at you with that lifeless gaze, he smiled brightly.

You mustered up the courage to walk up to him, still stopping some feet away though. Crossing your arms, you tried to think of what to say. While you thought, he examined your face, trying his best to read your expression so he to could come up with something to talk about. The silence was awkward for you, but Johnny never sensed the discomfort. He was happy to be here with you. You are the gold coin on his road to success, so he decided to cherish you.

“So… it’s quite early and I usually don’t head to the studio until the evening. Is there anything you wanted to do?” You asked.

“There isn’t anything I can think of…” he shrugged his shoulders.

Suddenly, your stomach grumbled and your hand covered it as a reflex. You were so nervous this morning that you didn’t have much of an appetite, but hunger was catching up to you now.

“I didn’t have breakfast yet.” You laughed nervously. “Are you… able to eat anything?” You felt weird asking such a question since he’s a robot after all, but who knows what he can and cannot do? Technology is so advanced these days. Besides, isn’t he made to live like a human anyway?

In all truthfulness though, Johnny isn’t allowed to eat-- sometimes. In special cases, he can nibble on a snack, but eating a full course meal was a no-go. But Johnny was aware of your discomfort of being with him, and he was determined to make you feel the opposite. As long as he doesn’t clog his gears, taking the risk should be okay.

“I know of this breakfast house Youngho likes to go to every now and then. Do you want to go there?”

Your face lit up at the suggestion. You were more excited at the thought of being around others rather than eating. Being in the house alone with Johnny was really starting to suffocate you, and you needed out immediately. Maybe some fresh air and being surrounded by humans will make you feel somewhat better.

The two of you were quick to leave the apartment after you accepted the offer. Johnny led the way to the restaurant, and on your way, he let you know that it was not far from your home. Come to find out, it was within walking distance. You wondered how you never noticed the humble breakfast house, but after thinking about it for a while, you realized that you are always on the go. Ever since you moved to your apartment, you never took the time to stop and get to know your surroundings.

“What’s wrong?” Johnny’s question snapped you out of your thoughts.

“Huh? Oh… nothing, just thinking.” Finally, you noticed that you were standing in front of the restaurant. “Let’s head inside.”

Surprisingly, Johnny was easy to talk to. Even though he had somewhat awkward responses to your questions, it was never boring or dry. You got to know about his life in the lab, and even how Youngho decided to grow his hair out because people mistook him for Johnny so many times. His story was so interesting, and it kept you on your toes, itching to hear more. It was beyond what you could ever imagine.

“So what is your goal?” You suddenly asked.

He tilted his head in curiosity. “Can you elaborate for me please?”

“You know, like what’s your goal as a singer? Or even just as a living being?”

He sat back in his seat as he pondered on the simple, yet deep question. It’s something he’s never had time to think about. Actually, it’s something he never considered thinking about. Ever since he was first powered up, he has always been working. But working towards what, is the question he began to ask himself.

“I… honestly don’t know.” He shook his head after moments of thinking.

“Really?” Your eyes grew wide at his response. “If that’s the case, then why do you expect to learn how to write music? You need to have some desire or passion to do so.”

He crossed his arm over his chest and rested his chin on his other hand. “I guess you’re right… But how do I find out what my goal is?”

You shrugged your shoulders. “What are you living for? What’s your purpose? You have to ask yourself these types of questions.”

It worried Johnny that he didn’t have a passion despite calling himself a music artist. But he knew he needed to figure it out fast because he really does want to be successful in this field. But is there anything really to work for being the person he is?

***

The next day, you were back at the lab for Johnny’s first checkup. The first night at the studio was not a success, which wasn’t surprising considering that he had nothing to write about. This was exactly what you were afraid of. No matter how busy he might be, he hasn’t gotten the real human experience, so what really can he write about? Hard drives and wires?

“Hey Babysitter!” Youngho greeted you cheerfully after spotting you and Johnny some feet away.

You furrowed your eyebrows. “Babysitter?”

“Yeah, you are taking care of my kid after all.” He laughed, ruffling Johnny’s hair, to which Johnny slapped his hand away. “How was the first day?”

You sighed deeply, thinking about yesterday’s events. “It went okay, but we made no progress in the studio.”

Youngho smacked his lips. “Well, that’s alright. We still have six months ahead of us. There’s still time left.”

“That’s true.” You nodded your head. “But on the bright side, Johnny treated me to the best breakfast I had in a while! So brownie points for that.”

Your words came out too fast for Johnny to stop you. He froze, his hand slapping his mouth in shock. He is dead meat.

“He didn’t eat with you, did he?” Youngho blinked at you. Sensing the tension in the air, you nodded slowly, but kept your mouth shut. “Oh my-” Youngho stepped back as if he was about to faint.

He clenched his fist against his forehead and squeezed his eyes shut. You felt like you did something wrong, but you just couldn’t figure out what. You were sure Johnny would tell you if you did.

“Johnny, just head to the back, okay?” Youngho said, his eyes still closed.

“Yes sir.” Johnny rushed away without another word.

“Did I do something wrong...?” You asked shyly.

“No you didn’t, don’t worry.” Youngho sighed. “He knows better. If he eats too much he could clog his gears. But mostly, I just hate cleaning him out, it’s so tedious!” He groaned at the thought of all the clumps of food he has to take out.

“Oh my gosh! I wouldn’t have let him if I have known!” You exclaimed.

Youngho shook his head. “It’s okay, you didn’t know. He seems to be functioning well, so he should be fine.”

You were worried at the thought of Johnny breaking while under your supervision. Imagine getting sued by a company that handles AI’s? Your life would be over! You can’t let that happen, you won’t allow it to happen.

“Is there any way for me to know if he’s okay or not? Like does he feel pain or no?” You asked. You needed to know just in case you had to rush back to the lab if anything happens. You’re not going to be the blame for anything.

“Yes, and no.” Youngho went on to explain. “He can feel you if you tap him on the shoulder, but if you punch him, it’ll still feel like a mere tap. But the only time he does feel pain is when something in his system malfunctions.” You tilted your head, still not catching on. He found your expression cute, and he couldn’t hold back a smile. “Just think about it: when you’re using your phone, it can feel your taps as you scroll. But if you drop it on the ground, you don’t hear it screaming out in pain.”

“Ah, I think I get it now!” You nodded your head fervently.

“Right! But we did program him to feel some type of pain just so we will know if something wrong is happening to the important parts.”

“That makes a lot of sense… Man, you guys really have it all laid out huh?” You couldn’t help but be impressed at the amount of thought that went into creating Johnny.

“Yeah, well, it’s nothing much.” Johnny shoved his hands in his pockets as he shrugged nonchalantly. As laid back as he was acting, nothing could hide the blush that crept onto his face. He’s a sucker for people acknowledging his work.

“Well, as much as I want to argue with you about that, I have to get to my schedule! Kun is waiting for me outside and I can’t keep him waiting. I’ll be back soon!” You waved as you began to walk away.

Youngho waved back to you as he watched you exit the lab. He sighed to himself, not knowing what he was going to do with Johnny. But knowing that it is best to get the job done now rather than later, Youngho dragged his feet to the operation room where Johnny would be waiting.

Johnny tensed up once Youngho entered the room, and he avoided eye contact in hopes he wouldn’t blow up at him. Thankfully, Youngho didn’t have the energy to yell.

“Why did you do that?” The scientist asked simply.

“She was uncomfortable and hungry, so it was the only thing I could think of.” Johnny justified his past actions, but Youngho wasn’t having any of it.

“Let’s just get this over with, and then we’ll check your data.” Youngho sighed as he started to prep for the cleanup.

“Wait, wait! I have a question.” Johnny stopped him. “Do you have a goal?”

Youngho was taken aback by the sudden question. “Yes… I think so? I guess it depends on what the goal is for.” He wasn’t very sure if he had a set goal, but he did know that he is satisfied where he is right at this moment. The only thing he is concerned about is making sure #S127 remains on the rise.

“Do you think… I’m able to have a goal?”

“You can have the goal of winning a Grammy!” Youngho suggested.

Johnny scoffed. “Well, yeah, but I’m talking about for myself. Am I able to find a goal or a passion at least for myself?”

Youngho blinked at his robot. He was at a loss for words. It seems like a simple yes or no question, but there are levels to it. The right answer to this question was up in the air somewhere, and Youngho was finding a hard time finding it. What in the world did you do to his bot?

“I’m sure you can if you put your mind to it,” Youngho answered. He grabbed his phone and began texting you, suggesting that the two of you grab coffee when you get back to the lab. He needed to talk to you to figure out the meaning behind Johnny’s words.

Some hours later, you were at a Starbucks near the lab sitting across from Youngho. You were nervous you did something bad after all, but you couldn’t get yourself to figure out what you’ve done. But thankfully, Johnny was the first to speak.

“So, Johnny asked me a question that kind of shocked me. I’m supposing you asked him the same question yesterday.” He began.

“What question are you talking about?” You asked.

“If he has a goal. He’s been thinking about it really hard.”

You felt as if a huge weight was lifted off your shoulders. You thought of something way worse, even though you talked to Johnny a handful of times yesterday, and the conversations the two of you had were never bad or questionable. Your nervousness always found a way to get to you still.

“Well yeah! He needs to have a passion in order to be a real artist. And to have a passion, he needs to have a goal.” You nodded.

“Are you sure he can have a passion? He’s a robot.”

You were surprised at his response. “Aren’t you the one who created him? I thought you would know this! Writing songs isn’t just jotting down words on a piece of paper you know. It’s much more to it than that.”

Youngho sighed. You’re right, and it bothered him. It’s not you that he’s bothered by, but the fact that he really doesn’t have everything figured out. He’s so used to being a genius and having questions answered before people could even ask them, but the fact that he doesn’t have an answer prepared for something as simple as this messed with his head. How did he expect to make a successful idol group if his idols can’t even write music on their own?

“I could always just give you a song to use.” You suggested.

“No, I don’t want that,” Youngho answered quickly. “We do that every comeback. We need to actually make some improvements.”

You took a sip of your coffee as you watched Youngho try to figure out what to do. You knew Johnny writing his own song was too good to be true, but you have to admit, there is a part of you that believes in him. If he can read and understand human emotion, there are chances for him to be able to write a decent song.

“What was your purpose in making Johnny and the other guys in the group?” You asked suddenly.

Youngho frowned at the memories that came up in his mind. “I actually didn’t create Johnny and the others to be idol singers.” You furrowed your eyebrows at the bombshell. “I actually intended for them to be soldiers.”

Your jaw dropped. You would have never thought of #S127 fighting in a war. It’s a complete 180 from what they are doing right now.

“What made you change your mind?!” To say you were shocked would be an understatement.

“I didn’t change my mind.” He laughed. “The government rejected my offer, but they told me about LSM Inc. and now here I am. Lee Soo Man suggested that I use my bots to make an idol group, and I wanted nothing to do with it. But it was either I make a group, or be broke with robots that have no purpose.”

So he was in a similar situation that you’re in right now. It made you feel happy to see that he seems to enjoy his current circumstances, but still, you can’t get yourself to accept that you have to share competition with AIs who can’t even figure out how to write a song on their own. Despite that, you were growing fond of Johnny, and you wanted him to be able to find his passion. He’s the only AI you would allow to win.

“I would have never thought of Johnny being a soldier.” You laughed, shaking your head. “Considering that this is your current circumstance, you need to figure out if they’re able to create their own goals for themselves. I understand the base goal is to win awards at big music shows and hit the charts, but there needs to be a better foundation.”

Youngho couldn’t help but admire you as you gave your advice. Not only are you beautiful, but you’re thoughtful, and the more you spoke, the more it attracted him to you. Where were you when he needed you the most? The company has worked with so many different artists before you, but you’re the only one that is actually helping. He just wanted to take you into his arms and thank you repeatedly at this moment.

From here on out, Youngho was determined to find out what Johnny’s goal is. Whether it is impossible or not, he is going to make sure Johnny becomes the best songwriter there is.

***

The three months had gone by before you knew it, and in all honesty, you didn’t want to quit the job. Johnny and you had grown closer the more you worked together, and you enjoyed seeing his progress as he worked to become a better and more authentic writer. And Youngho and you also hit it off very well, becoming closer friends the more you talked. You also realized that you were catching feelings for the scientist, but you ignored it, believing that it was nothing but a simple crush. ‘It will pass overtime,’ you would tell yourself.

Kun on the other hand did nothing to remind you of the deal that you made with him since he knew you forgot about it. He enjoyed seeing you have fun made him happy, he never liked seeing you in a sour mood. He too has gotten close with Youngho as well after going out drinking with him and Doyoung several times. Just like tonight.

This time, you decided to join the guys tonight for drinks at the bar. Once you found out Kun was hanging out with the two scientists, you felt left out and invited yourself to the next outing. It wasn’t like they minded though since they love your company.

“So, I heard that you don’t really like AI’s Y/N. Can I ask you why that is?” Doyoung asked.

You poked your lip out as you thought. “Well, it’s mainly because nothing they do feels true to me. It’s all programmed. Not only that, but they’re slowly taking over our jobs. I’m not exactly comfortable with that.”

Youngho shook his head. “I get what you’re saying, but that’s not necessarily true. AI’s, at least the ones we make at LSM, is made to function like humans. So everything they do is learned after we establish a little bit of a foundation we put in their program. And there are still significantly more humans who have jobs than AI’s, but I do get your concern.”

What he said had you thinking. You supposed he was right, but you still felt so odd about it. But you figured it’s just something that you’re going to have to learn to accept as time goes on. The only AI you trust is Johnny, and that’s all that matters to you right now.

“You might be right, but it’s going to take me some time to get used to them. I like Johnny at least.” You shrugged.

“And that’s all I need to hear.” Youngho smiled widely.

You giggled at his antics. “Excuse me, I need to go to the bathroom really quickly. I’ll be back. Don’t buy any more drinks without me!”

“No promises!” Kun called after you, laughing afterward.

Youngho tapped his glass, trying to decide whether the question he has is worth asking or not. But he needed to muster up the courage since it’s an important question. For him at least.

“Hey, Kun, I have a question.” Youngho started.

“Hit me.” Kun nodded.

“Do you… like Y/N?”

Kun threw his head back in laughter. “What?! Where did that come from?”

Youngho could only scratch the back of his neck and let out a small laugh. He was embarrassed, but it’s something he has been wondering about forever now.

“He’s been waiting to ask that question for ages!” Doyoung exclaimed. “He wouldn’t stop bugging me about it.”

“Well, to answer your question, no I don’t. She’s like a sister to me.” Kun shook his head simply. “You should ask her out on a date. I’m sure she’d like that.”

Youngho shook his head fervently. “I don’t know if I can do that. Not right now at least.”

“You never know until you do it.” Doyoung sing-songed. Kun couldn’t help but laugh.

“Shut up, she’s coming back!” Youngho whisper yelled.

For the rest of the night, Youngho thought about you as the four of you enjoyed more drinks. He knew he had feelings for you, but he wasn’t sure if you felt the same as he did. For now, he just wanted to take more time to read your actions before he let you know of his feelings. He needs time to muster up the courage.

The four of you decided to end the night after realizing how tipsy you have gotten. Kun realized that you had a packed schedule the next day, so they needed to get you home immediately. He already knew you were going to regret it later on.

Kun had made sure you got up to your apartment safely. You stopped him at the door, saying that you could get in the house yourself, and just go home. He at least opened the door for you before leaving, hoping that you’ll get to bed right away rather than finding things to do around the house.

When you entered your home, you began to drag your feet toward your room, that was until Johnny stopped you in the hallway.

He leaned forward and sniffed. “Were you drinking?”

You giggled. “Yeah, I was.”

“You might want to get to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.” Johnny pouted at your condition. Looking at how you were, you for sure were going to experience a hand hangover in the morning.

“Yeah, yeah, I will.” You waved him off. You stepped forward to start going to your room, but you paused and stepped back. You looked up at Johnny and sucked in a sharp breath as you thought. “You look a lot like Youngho.”

Johnny blinked, confused at the sudden revelation. “I am aware of that.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Are you just saying that because you are Youngho? Are you trying to fool me?” You poked your finger into his chest.

“No…” Johnny wasn’t sure how to respond to your absurd words. He’s never been in this situation before.

“Well, Youngho, goodnight. I will see you tomorrow.” You smiled at him. Rather than leaving, you stood there, staring up at who you believed to be Youngho through your heavy eyelids. Suddenly you got on your toes and pecked his lips softly. “Rest well Youngho.”

Johnny stood in shock after you left to your room. What was he going to tell Youngho? He has never allowed this to happen before. The kiss was so unexpected that he couldn’t dodge it! He hoped he wouldn't get in trouble.

The next day, Johnny was at the lab for the daily check-in.

“How was the night at the Babysitter’s?” Youngho asked as he plugged Johnny’s chip into his computer to retrieve yesterday’s data.

“She kissed me.” Johnny found himself blurting.

“She what?!” Youngho squeaked.

“She kissed me.” He repeated.

Youngho couldn’t believe his ears. He shook his head, slapping his hand on his forehead. “Huh?!”

“She kissed me��“

“I heard you the first two times!” Youngho yelled.

Youngho suddenly turned around to his computer and rushed to retrieve any video data if there were any. And there was. The camera hidden behind Johnny’s eyes wasn’t always on, but they only started recording if Johnny felt that he needed to. Youngho played the video, nervous about what he’s about to see. But all that worry washed away after seeing your drunken smile. Seeing you kiss his robot amused him more than he thought, as he couldn’t help but snort and laugh hysterically at what he just watched. It was something he never thought he would see or even hear about.

“She thought I was you,” Johnny revealed, which shut Youngho’s laughter up.

“W-Wait, really?” He was shocked.

“Yeah. She kept calling me Youngho.” Johnny nodded. “I think she likes you.”

A blush crept up Youngho’s neck, and he couldn’t hold back the grin on his face. Knowing that you had the same feelings he currently has sent him over the moon. He just wished you kissed him rather than his lookalike.

Youngho waited until the evening to talk to you so that you were free from all your schedules. The two of you spoke at the convenience store near your apartment, enjoying a canned beverage.

“So… Johnny found out what his goal is,” Youngho revealed.

You gasped, clapping your hand over your mouth. “For real? What is it?” You were slightly disappointed that you didn’t know what it was first since you’re the one that is with him most of the time, but you could care less since the whole point is that he knows what he’s working for now.

“Well, his goal is to gain more of a human understanding. He wants to be able to truly write a song. And he found a passion in… people, to simply put it.” Youngho chuckled. “He talks more and asks more questions than he has ever had before.”

“That’s great! I’m so glad, I was really rooting for him.” You cooed.

“I just want to thank you so much. He has been making so much improvement since he started working with you. You really helped us out. You helped him out.” Youngho smiled softly.

“Oh it’s no biggie. I’m glad I was of some help.” You laughed. “He’s the one who did most of the work, so the credit should go to him.”

“I’m supposing that’s why you kissed him then? Because you’re proud of him?” Youngho asked suddenly, a playful smirk on his face.

“What?” Your eyes grew wide in shock. “I kissed him?”

Youngho’s cackles filled the air. “You don’t remember? Ah, I suppose you wouldn’t since you were so drunk last night. Johnny told me you thought he was I, and you kissed him.”

Your fingertips touched your lips after the memories started coming back to you. “Oh my gosh!” You groaned, dragging your hands down your face. “This is so embarrassing!”

“Don’t be embarrassed! Actually, I’m quite flattered.” Youngho reassured you. “Just be sure to kiss me next time.”

You brought your hands down from your face so you could get a good look at his expression. You had to figure out whether he was joking or not.

And to answer your unspoken question, he cupped your cheek with his hand and placed a soft kiss on your lips.

“Please tell me this feeling is mutual.” You whispered.

Youngho chuckled, poking your nose as he sat back in his seat.

“Don’t worry. I want you to be mine as much as you want me to be yours. You have me baby.”

[mimisempai]

When you kiss me, you speak to my soul

Summary:

5 times when Loki receives an unexpected kiss and once when he gives one. (or more)

______

This story inaugurates a new series.

"Together, for all time, always"

This series is my way out in case our boys don't canonically have a happy ending.Background: After the events of the TV show, all the members of the TVA are aware of their status as variants and decide to work together on a better TVA. The main team is composed of Loki, Mobius, Sylvie and Miss Minute. The rest will come as time goes by. The stories do not necessarily follow each other.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/32203465

3123 words - Rating G

1.

"Okay Loki! You know that in order to get your time travel pass, you have to prove that you know the rules perfectly."

Loki, annoyed, rolled his eyes and sighed,

"Honestly, I'm a rehabilitated variant, god of mischief, who saved the TVA from its slavery, that pass should be granted to me without going through any fucking tests!"

Miss Minutes jumped in front of Loki and pointed her little finger in the direction of Loki's nose, "Ttttt a god don't swear! And when the new TVA administration, of which you are a part, put the rules in place, you all decided to start over. With a new, admittedly less rigid, but still regulated basis that you signed up!  Come on, only two more points to validate!"

Loki grumbled, itching to send the little clock flying.

Unperturbed, Miss Minutes continued, "Tell me the basic rules of time travel? "

Loki began to recite in a bored tone, "Do not interact with yourself, do not interact with your ancestors, do not interact with historical figures. Don't interact with the big events in history even if it means not being able to save everyone. Pay attention to small details and use your time wisely.

"Perfect my little Loki!"

"Hey, a little respect Miss Mimi!"

The little clock coughed and Loki noticed a slight flush on her little cheeks.

"Well, then explain to me the three major paradoxes of time travel."

Loki, keeping the same jaded look on his face, recited again, "The Grandfather Paradox, if you go back in time to kill your grandfather, you effectively kill your father, and therefore yourself. The Predestination Paradox is simply when your past self is the very cause of your need to travel back in time. This creates an endless loop of travel, which is why it is also called a closed causal loop. Finally, the Bootstrap Paradox. It occurs when something is returned, often to the traveler himself, negating the need for its creation in the first place."

The little clock jumped all over Loki's desk, clapping!

"Yay my little Loki! You'll be allowed to get your pass validated!"

Loki, happy but irritated by the little machine, asked him, "So that means I don't need your lessons anymore, right?"

"Absolutely!"

Loki rubbed his hands together as he said, "Perfect."

He began to move his hand, thinking of a spell to cast on the annoying little clock.

A voice whispered in his ear, "Loki... what did we say about spelling those weaker than ourselves?"

Loki turned to Mobius with a pout, "but Mobiuuus, just a little spell!"

Mobius bent down and took the hand with which Loki was about to cast his spell.

He said softly, "These hands do such beautiful magic, it would be such a shame to make them cast second rate spells."

He laid a gentle kiss to the back of Loki's hand and then walked away with a quiet step.

Loki, slightly surprised, touched lightly with his other hand the place where Mobius' lips had lingered.

Then he got up quickly, knocked over his chair and ran behind him.

Miss Minute, who had witnessed the scene, raised her eyes to the sky and returned to her screen.

2.

Mobius was waiting outside the elevator.

"Mobius!"

Mobius turned around, Loki was coming towards him with a quick step. He looked at his watch and said with a slightly reproachful tone, "You'll really have to learn to be on time!"

Loki, with a cheeky grin on his face, replied, "I find I'm making progress, yesterday I was 13 minutes late and today only 11."

Mobius rolled his eyes and was about to answer him when they were interrupted by the voiceover from the elevator.

"The elevator is momentarily out of order, please use the service stairs."

Mobius walked to the door next to the elevator and held it open, waving his hand towards Loki.

"After you."

Loki walked past him and began to descend the stairs.

Almost arriving at the bottom, Mobius, on Loki's heels, put a hand on his shoulder and turned him to face him.

"What's wrong?" Loki asked him, surprised.

"Nothing's wrong. Everything's fine," Mobius replied softly before taking his face in his hands and leaning in to kiss him.

A few moments later, they separated to catch their breath.

Loki gasped slightly, asking Mobius, "I'm not complaining, but what was that for?"

As they finished descending the stairs Mobius replied, "It was the perfect opportunity to reverse the roles, for once I was the one who had to bend over to kiss you."

Loki was still smiling as they walked through the door.

As they passed by the elevator, the door opened to reveal the other members of their team.

"Huh? Is the elevator fixed yet? We took the stairs because they reported that the elevator was momentarily out of order, like... three minutes ago."

"What? But we got on it three minutes ago, four floors higher than you."

Loki looked back at Mobius with a little doubt.

Mobius replied, "Just because you're the god of mischief, doesn't mean you're the only one who can use it."

3.

"Argh, for crying out loud, dates, more dates, always dates!!!"

Loki rubbed his eyes trying to fight the fatigue that was overtaking him.

He stood up, took a few steps to stretch his legs before returning to his seat and continuing to flip through his files.

"Need a helping hand?"

Mobius put his hand on Loki's shoulder and gently squeezed it before sitting down across from him without waiting for an answer.

He continued, "I know this isn't your favorite part of the job, Loki, but it's part of it and I'm glad to see that despite your reluctance, you're not afraid to pitch in.

Loki grunted, "I just don't think it's fair, Sylvie never has to do this kind of work. She's always out there."

"Have you been traveling through time, through all kinds of apocalypses like her for that long?"

"Hmph!Always the voice of wisdom huh?"

Mobius snickered, "Me? No, of course not, but the wiser of the two of us, that I am."

"You prick!" muttered Loki.

"Hey, I heard that!"

They both immersed themselves in the files.

After two hours, Mobius saw Loki get up.

"I'm going to stretch my legs for two minutes."

"Okay."

Five minutes later he saw a small bowl of salad appear in front of his eyes.

Loki said to him as he sat down, "to make up for my bad mood of earlier."

Mobius put his hand on Loki's forearm, "Loki, there is nothing to forgive.  You are allowed to have mood swings. I'm not asking you to be someone else. But thank you for the consideration."

He ate the salad Loki had brought him while the god got back to work.

A little later, he was disturbed in his research by a light snore, he looked up at the familiar sight of Loki asleep, his head on his crossed arms.

He had a fond smile. He knew that this kind of work must seem tedious to someone like Loki and yet, even though he grumbled and acted like a drama queen on a regular basis, it didn't stop him from working seriously.

Looking at the time, he thought they had worked enough for today.

He stood up and whispered in his partner's ear, "Loki, wake up. It's late. We're done for the day."

As Loki slowly opened his eyes, Mobius placed a kiss on the top of his head before getting up and going to put the files away.

Loki straightened up and was stretching again when Mobius returned.

"Was I dreaming or did you kiss me on the head?"

"Unfortunately my sleeping beauty's lips weren't accessible so I had to settle for kissing the top of her head to get her to wake up."

Mobius winked at her and headed for the door.

He turned and said again, "Are we going home?"

Loki, who still hadn't gotten used to the warmth these few words provoked in him, quickened his pace to join him.

4.

When Mobius arrived at the cafeteria, he saw Loki concentrating at the dessert counter.

He joined him, placing his hand on his lower back to signal his presence.

"You look completely absorbed in the contemplation of these desserts. Do you have a favorite?"

Loki turned his head toward him and grumbled, "There's always so much to choose from. And every time there's a new kind. I don't even know what to choose. In Asgard there was fruit and... fruit."

Mobius was amused every time Loki was faced with this kind of problem. He made it an insurmountable challenge. This time, Mobius offered to help him.

"If you want we'll take several and share."

Loki nodded, " You choose, because I don't know what to take."

"Okay, go sit down, I'll pick and join you."

Mobius took a sample of several desserts, located the table Loki was sitting at and joined him.

They spent the next hour sharing the dessert plate. It was just the two of them left in the cafeteria. Loki was finishing the tiramisu while Mobius was bringing a last spoonful of chocolate mousse to his mouth.

"So, have you made your choice? What's your favorite?"

Loki licked his lips and replied, "Undoubtedly the tiramisu."

He put his spoon down and asked Mobius, "What about you?"

Mobius, who was sitting next to him, moved closer and looking at Loki's lips, murmured softly, "I'm hesitating between the chocolate mousse and the tiramisu."

He closed the distance between them and placed his lips on Loki's. Loki parted his lips and let Mobius explore his mouth with his skilled tongue. Mobius finished the fierce kiss with a light bite on Loki's lower lip, soothing him with a final lick. Then he moved back.

"I think in the end, tiramisu is my favorite."

5.

They had just returned from the mission and were in the locker room.

Loki was putting his things away in his locker. As always after a successful mission, he was so excited that he was talking non-stop.

Replaying the events in detail, and because he was Loki, he didn't hesitate to emphasize the moments when he and Mobius had been particularly good.

The rest of the team was used to it and listened with one ear.

Mobius smiled fondly.

Continuing to babble, Loki followed the rest of the team for the post-mission debriefing.

As he walked out the door, he felt himself being pulled back. Then a hand reached into his hair and pulled out the tie that held it together.

He looked back at Mobius who was putting the rubber band in his pocket.

"Mobius?"

Mobius walked over to him.

"Why did you do that?"

Mobius replied with a mischievous smile, "Because when you have your hair tied back, I can't do that."

He raised his hand, and pushed behind Loki's ear the strands of hair that fell over Loki's face, letting his hand linger on the god's neck.

" Neither this."

With his hand on the back of Loki's neck, he ran his fingers through Loki's hair to comb it before gently grabbing it and pulling his head back slightly.

Having cleared with this gesture the throat of Loki, he deposited a rain of butterfly kisses.

Loki sighed, his lips parted, "Mobius..."

Mobius moved back again leaving his hand in Loki's hair.

"Nor this."

He raised his second hand and joined it with the first on the back of Loki's neck, tangling his fingers in the long black strands before pressing gently, forcing the god to tilt his head forward. Their lips were so close that each could feel the other's breath. Mobius pressed his lips to Loki's, his fingers clutching his hair as the god's hands found his waist.

Their kiss was long and slow, and when Mobius pulled back, nipping at Loki's bottom lip, He saw that his eyes were clouded and his mouth wide open.

"That's exactly why I like you better with your hair loose."

With a smile, he kissed Loki briefly on the cheek and headed for the locker room door, the bouncy step of one who has just won a victory, oblivious to Loki's hungry stare.

+1

Loki had had enough.

Mobius obviously enjoyed starting fires with Loki and never extinguished them.

Loki was on edge.

Not that Loki didn't appreciate Mobius' spontaneous displays of affection and kisses, the man was extremely inventive and talented, but he felt like a ball of clay in his hands.

His pride as a god of mischief was at stake!

He had to regain the upper hand, just a little, just a few moments.

"Hoho miss Minutes, looks like someone needs to get laid!"

"Hey Syl! I'm just a pure little watch. I don't want to know anything about your sex lives!"

Sylvie sitting with her feet up on Loki's desk fluttered a paper cutter in the air and snickered back, " Which sex life Mimi?"

The watch returned to the screen and grumbled, "Never mind, Loki and Mobius's love life is none of my business! Hmph!"

Loki with his hands on his hips and a dark look in his eyes, muttered to Sylvie, "Don't you have a job to do instead of gossiping with that piece of junk clock?"

"Hey jerk! I heard you!" Shouted the little voice from the monitor.

"It's so much more interesting to watch you mope about your mustachioed prince."

Loki slumped into the other chair, a sulky look on his face.

"It's not so bad though?" asked Sylvie, studying him, her chin on her hand.

Loki told her everything, from the kiss on his hand to the fiery kiss in the locker room.

"And you dare to complain?!" Sylvie asked him, quite irritated, "You have a man who is completely devoted to you, and full of attention for you.  Do you realize how lucky you are?"

"Wait, Syl! It's not that I don't like it. On the contrary, but... argh" Loki tugged at his hair, "I don't know how to say it, before, the Loki before the TVA, I've always been a hedonist who enjoys the pleasures of life, who takes and throws, but now, even though I'm still a hedonist, I don't just want to consume anymore, I want to give too. And right now I feel like I'm the only one receiving."

"Aw, you're cute you know."

"Hey! Don't make fun of me!"

"But no, well just a little bit, but really Loki, the fact that you're thinking about this, shows how much you've evolved right? Have you even tried talking to Mobius about it?"

Loki shook his head, "You know me, I often talk a lot to mask my insecurities and also because I like to listen to myself talk, but anyway what I mean is that when it's serious I'm unable to express myself properly."

"And show him?"

"How?"

Sylvie rolled her eyes, "Loki, are you the god of mischief or not? You are capable of seducing anyone! Don't embarrass me!"

A few moments later, alone in his office, he thought back to this discussion.

How could he surprise Mobius?

Mobius who knew how to read all his tricks...

Of course! The answer was obvious!

What better way than a direct approach!

He waited for the right moment and went to Mobius' office, sure to find him there.

As he walked through the door, Mobius looked up, a smile blooming on his face as he saw Loki.

"Loki!" He wanted to stand up, Loki stopped him by waving his hand. With one hand he locked the office door and with the other, using a flick of his wrist, he turned Mobius's chair around before walking towards him.

Then, without warning his lover, he straddled Mobius' lap and framed his face with his hands before throwing himself on Mobius' mouth.

Mobius pushed him back slightly and managed to articulate, panting, "Wait, wait, wait Loki! What's the matter with you? Not that I'm against it, but I'm surprised, pleasantly surprised, that you'd take the initiative like this."

Loki with his forehead and lips against Mobius' replied, equally breathless, "The problem is that my lover has been teasing me all week, kissing me everywhere and at any time, and hasn't given me a chance to return the favor, so now you shut up and let me kiss you! It's my turn!"

As Loki resumed the interrupted kiss, Mobius decided, with the last fragment of coherent thought he possessed, that all he had to do was enjoy it. He just ran his hands over Loki's hips pressing him closer until there was no more space between them.

He tried to control the kiss, but Loki would not let him, and finally, after a brief struggle, he gave in to the kiss and the shivers of pleasure that ran down his spine.

He believed to be out of air when Loki moved back slightly and fixed him, the eyes shining with satisfaction, licking his lips like a cat which had just devoured a pot of cream.

They slowly caught their breath and Mobius couldn't help but gently tuck a lock of Loki's hair back behind his ear in a gesture that was becoming more and more familiar.

Loki leaned into Mobius' hand.

"Hey Loki, more seriously," Mobius told him softly, "does it bother you that I'm acting like this? Because you know you can tell me."

Loki sighed, "It doesn't bother me per se, it's just the lack of reciprocity, the fact that I'm receiving a lot and giving nothing."

Mobius shook his head with a smile, "Sweetheart," he couldn't help but notice that Loki seemed to appreciate the endearment, "that's not how it works. When you kissed me just now, did you feel pleasure?"

Loki, indignant, protested, "Yes, of course I-"

Mobius put a finger to his lips.

"It's the same for me, you know. I am aware that in your head the gears are spinning wildly non stop, but in such cases, don't think. Just enjoy it, there's nothing selfish about it."

Loki nodded, then passionately kissed his lover once more, until they were both out of breath again.

Then Loki traced a path of kisses from Mobius' chin to his ear and nibbled on his lobe before whispering, his breath making Mobius shudder, "The rest is for later my love..."

He stood up and headed for the door while swaying his hips, fully aware of the gaze that followed him.

Then before he walked through the door, he threw over his shoulder, with a mischievous smile, "I too can light a fire and make you burn for me."

_________

Not beta'd I hope you enjoyed it 🥰

[calaofnoldor]

Sixth Time’s the Charm [2]

Characters: Sam x F!Reader, Dean

Words: 2,139

Series Summary: All the times Dean has tried to get Sam to admit his feelings for you.

Chapter Summary: You’re injured and Sam is overprotective. Dean gets caught in the middle.

Warnings: protective moose, badass!reader, exasperated squirrel, mutual pining, idiots in love, slow burn, fluff

A/N: thank you for all the love and support on part 1! here's part 2 of a mini series that is essentially an amalgamation of all the jealous/protective tropes lol

← BACK UP | MASTERLIST | SERIES MASTERLIST

The second time was an accident, although that did nothing to lessen Sam’s resulting ire. It was the middle of November and the three of you had been hit with one case after another, giving you no time to recover from injuries and keeping everyone rather keyed up.

A stupid misstep during a wendigo chase had left you with a sprained ankle on the last hunt. Sam, being the modern Prince Charming kinda guy that he was, had carried you back to the car while you protested futilely within his solid arms, eventually giving up in favor of hiding your embarrassment in the crook of his neck, though that only made your foolish heart beat faster.

“Sam, I’m fine, seriously. It’s nothing! A bit of ice and I’ll be good to go. You don’t have to do this,” you had nearly begged after he set you down on your motel room bed. His proximity always made you nervous, but when it was just the two of you and he was taking care of you like this? It set your heart racing and left a bittersweet aftertaste in your soul.

“Y/N, would you just let me look at it?” Sam hadn’t meant to sound so snappy, but he was growing tired of you always pushing him away whenever he got too close. He figured you wanted to keep your distance, keep things platonic, and he could never blame you for protecting yourself, especially given his history with women, but he genuinely wanted to help you. Sam needed to make sure you were all right.

His irritable tone had shut you right up, so you simply nodded in consent. ‘Great, now I’m annoying him,’ you thought with a quiet sigh.

Sam tried to send you an apologetic smile, to show that he was simply worried, but you wouldn’t meet his eyes. ‘Great, now she hates me,’ he thought with a defeated sigh.

Choosing not to dwell on the lump in his throat, Sam quickly got to work, ever so gently removing your boot and then sock before rolling up your pant leg just enough to get a clear look. His capable hands and eyes meticulously examined your swollen ankle, turning it this way and that as you leaned back on your hands and shifted uncomfortably on your bum.

“Well, you were right, I don’t think it’s broken. Probably just a bad sprain. You should stay off it for a while though,” his magical kaleidoscope eyes peered up at you through thick lashes as rays of setting sunlight pierced through the only small window in the room and bounced off his cheekbones in ways that left you speechless once again.

You gulped, finding it impossible not to hold his gaze. “Right, thanks doc,” you whispered awkwardly after a beat, swiftly removing your leg from his hold, and rolling your pants back down.

And that had been that.

Now here you were a week later, discussing your plan for a possible witch hunt.

“So here’s what I’m thinking,” Dean started, “Sammy can go through the back door, and I’ll go in from the front, while Y/N keeps watch on the outside and-”

“Dude, what the hell?!” Sam’s sudden outburst surprised both you and Dean, as he slammed his laptop shut and raised both hands in question.

“What? What do you mean ‘what the hell’?” Dean shot back, completely perplexed.

“Dean! She has a bad ankle!” Sam’s voice was filled with an unrecognizable anger and his darkened eyes bored fiercely into Dean’s.

“Okayyy, and I put her on lookout duty…” the older Winchester repeated slowly, trying to suss out his brother’s mystical problem.

“Which means she’s gonna have to walk back and forth around the place, and if she sees something, she’s gonna have to run!” Sam accused his brother incredulously, gesturing wildly with his big hands.

Dean couldn’t hold back the dramatic eye roll that accompanied his sigh of disbelief. ‘Here we go again,’ he thought, wishing his baby brother would just man up and tell you how he felt instead of throwing these little tantrums.

Your jaw had been slack as you watched the entire exchange in bewilderment. Feeling a little bad for Dean, however, you decided to finally speak up, adjusting your voice to take on a soothing tone, “Sammy, I’m fine. Honestly, it’s feeling a lot better!” While that wasn’t exactly true, you weren’t sure you could handle another round of his huge yet gentle hands caressing your bare skin. “Besides, it’s not exactly unheard of to be on a job while you’re still a little battered and bruised; that’s just part of the life. I mean, you guys do it all the time!”

Sam turned to look at you for the first time since he’d started speaking, trying to ignore the whirl of butterflies that erupted in his stomach when you used the nickname that had been reserved for Dean only up until you came along (it always sounded so sweet coming out of your mouth, he could never find it in himself to correct you), so he could focus on his train of thought. “Yeah, but we don’t do things that’ll make our injuries worse. Y/N, you need to stay off that foot or it’s not gonna heal properly!”

“Look, Sam, I appreciate the concern. I really do, but I’ll be fine. I’ve had much worse and we need all hands on deck for this case.”

“Well, she ain’t wrong about that. This bitch has been tricky since the start,” Dean chimed in.

Sam flashed his brother a dangerous glare, the muscles in his jaw popping, before he turned back to you, “No. I’m sorry, but I think you’d be more help to us if you just stayed in the car.”

“No?” you questioned him with narrowed eyes. Sure, he was the most gorgeous man you’d ever laid eyes on, but that didn’t mean he could tell you what to do – especially not when it came to hunting, the one thing in which you were fully confident of your abilities.

Dean looked on with an amused smirk, glad he wasn’t the one about to get chewed out anymore.

“Sam, I know you mean well, but you don’t get to make that decision for me. That’s not how this works. I joined you two ‘cause we work well as a team. But that only holds if we all get equal say, if we all respect each other as hunters. I’m telling you that I can do this, and you need trust me.”

Sighing as he rubbed his temples, Sam stayed quiet for a moment while he pondered his response. He knew you were right. You were a total badass and he was painfully aware of it (there were times when a stand-alone part of his body was painfully aware of it as well), but still, he couldn’t resist the urge to protect you. Lately, it was becoming harder.

“I trust you, Y/N/N,” Dean cut in, breaking the silence, and then raising a brow at his brother.

Sam ran a large hand over the lower part of his face, nodding his head without looking at either of you, before rising to his feet and walking out abruptly.

Turning your head to stare after him with furrowed brows, you began uncertainly, “Should I…?” You sent Dean an inquiring glance in lieu of finishing your sentence.

“Nah, I got this. Kid’s probably just cranky after all these hunts. You just stay off that foot for as long as you can, make sure you’re good to go for later.”

You nodded as you watched Dean leave to find Sam. It was only a matter of minutes before you heard their loud voices travelling through the thin walls.

“Yeah, and whose fault is that?” You recognized Sam’s low and enraged voice immediately.

“Well maybe if you just told her!”

“Told her what, Dean?!”

That’s when things got quiet again.

After a moment of pause, you shook it off and went back to reviewing your research for the case in silence. As confused and curious as you were, you weren’t about to let your mood distract you from the perils that laid ahead. Like Dean said, this witch was tricky, and you needed to have the brothers’ backs.

It was two in the morning when the three of you finally managed to kill the bitch. The hunt turned out to be a team effort after all, with you saving the boys’ asses at the last minute. Your chest was heaving and your ankle throbbing, but you were satisfied with the job well done.

Sam watched as you slowly hobbled back to the car. He could tell that your limp had worsened, but he kept his mouth shut since he knew there was no way they could have done it without you. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he and Dean would still be here without you, but seeing you in pain tore at his heart and made him wish things were somehow different, despite the overall positive outcome.

Dean clapped him on the shoulder, interrupting Sam’s thoughts and urging him forward with a tired grunt.

“I don’t know about you kids, but I am beat,” Dean looked over at you and Sam as he cut the engine twenty minutes later, “We good with staying another night and heading back tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that sounds good to me,” you agreed, climbing out the car and retreating to your room after bidding the brothers good night.

“Dude,” Dean’s head rolled heavily to the right when only he and Sam were left in the Impala, “Just go talk to her, will ya? You’re driving me nuts here.” He sent his brother an imploring look, a bit of Winchester telepathy.

There was a light knock on your door moments later. You swiped your gun but lowered it when you saw Sam’s hulking form through the peephole.

“Hey,” you greeted quietly after opening the door, keeping one hand on it to help steady yourself.

“Hey,” he echoed, “I just wanted to check on you.”

“Oh, thanks. I’m fine,” you lied easily, trying not to make it obvious that you were resting all your weight on your good leg.

But of course, Sam was much too shrewd for that, perceptive gaze flickering down to your feet right away, “Can I look at your ankle please?” the words rushed out of his mouth, and he was quick to add more before you had a chance to protest, “I swear, I’m not here to tell you off; I just want to help you. Please.”

It always amazed you how Sam could go from towering, ferocious hunter to bashful, adorable, man-boy so seamlessly. He was really stinking cute when he begged, and you could never say no to those puppy dog eyes, “Yeah, OK,” you muttered while backing up to let him all the way in, too exhausted to offer any form of resistance anyway.

You sat on the edge of your bed obediently, bending over to remove your shoes, but Sam was there kneeling beside you in an instant, waving your hands away. He unzipped your boot and slowly slipped it off your foot, careful not to rattle your ankle in the process, with one hand holding on firmly to your calf.

“I wanted to apologize,” he said as he repeated the process with your sock.

“What for?”

“For making you feel like I don’t respect you as a hunter, for making you believe I don’t trust you.” He was down to the compression wrap he’d picked up for you at a drugstore, with which he took extra care removing, keeping his movements slow and cautious. “None of that’s true; I just didn’t want you to hurt yourself more.”

You studied Sam in the pale light, drunk on the feeling of his hands on your skin, “I saved your ass though, didn’t I?”

That brought a chuckle to Sam’s lips, his hands still supporting the full weight of your lower leg as he prodded lightly at the bloated skin around your foot, “Well, the swelling’s definitely worse, but yeah, you did.”

“Then it was worth it. Your ass will always be worth it.”

Sam looked up at you and found himself getting lost in the truth within your eyes. There was a buzz of raw emotion vibrating through the air between you, and so many words came to his mind, but in the end, he settled on, “Come on, we gotta keep this foot elevated.” He then grabbed your waist and managed to move you up the bed in one smooth motion, “I’ll go get you some ice.”

You immediately missed his fingers and the way they had absentmindedly stroked your calf, staring wantonly at his back as he walked out the door.

→ CARRY ON

thank you so much for reading! feedback is scientifically proven to make me write faster! 💞

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[aalissy]

Secrets

And we have now finished a week of Marichat May woot woot!! Plus, I’ve almost finished all my finals too <3. Lemme know if you like this chapter tho be warned it DOES have spoilers for Gang of Secrets so plzzz watch that episode first :)

AO3

Chat paced atop Marinette’s balcony, running a hand through his blonde hair, messing it up even further. His mind and thoughts were centered solely around the conversation he had earlier tonight with Ladybug. Eventually, he tightened his jaw, determination filling him as he was about to knock on her trapdoor.

Unfortunately for him, though, Marinette swung it up before he could, hitting him directly in the jaw. Her mouth immediately dropped as she raced to him, cradling his face between her warm hands. “Oh my god, kitty, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know that you were up here! How bad does it hurt?”

“I’m fine! I’m fine,” Chat choked out, brushing off her worries with a wave of his gloved hand. His jaw throbbed fiercely but it was nothing compared to some of the injuries he received during akuma attacks.

“If you’re sure,” Marinette muttered, a frown creasing her brow. She narrowed her gaze at him before she tilted her head, looking at him curiously. “But, what were you doing out here? Have you been here long?”

He glanced away from her, rubbing the back of his neck as he blushed a light pink. Chuckling nervously, he said, “No, I just got here.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at that. Instead of replying back to him, she nodded her head, gesturing for him to continue explaining. He took a deep breath, gathering his courage before talking again, “I have something really important to tell you.”

Marinette blinked at his words, her expression a mixture of shock and confusion. She worried on her lower lip as she peered up at him. “Go on.”

“Well,” Chat started with another nervous chuckle. “Ladybug and I had a talk tonight and she mentioned that she told a civilian who she was.”

A knowing look entered her eyes and before he could analyze what that meant, she gasped with shock, placing a hand over her chest. “Did she really? That sounds super dangerous, is everything okay? A-and are you okay? I know you’ve wanted to reveal your identity to her for a while.”

He shook his head, a brush of disappointment welling up inside of him before he pushed it away. There was no time to be too upset about it. She had made her choice and it was over now. Besides, he still needed to make his request to Marinette. With a quiet sigh, Chat murmured, “Yeah, I’m just purrfect... a little disappointed, maybe but I understand why she did it.”

Marinette leaned on the brick wall of her balcony, nodding her head rather solemnly as she crossed her arms. “Well, that’s good. I’m glad you’re not here for a much-deserved rant against her.”

“No, no,” he laughed lightly, shaking his head. “I’m not here to rant. I actually came because I had a favor to ask you.”

Another frown furrowed her brow and she uncrossed her arms, leaving them to hang by her side. “Alright, what do you need?”

Chat sucked in another deep breath before shutting his eyes tightly. Speaking quickly, he blurted out his request. “I want you to be the one to know my secret identity!”

She practically choked at that, shouting, “What?!”

Immediately, he opened his eyes to look at her. Marinette had pushed off of the wall, pulling on her pigtails as she paced back and forth on the small balcony. He watched her angrily mutter to herself for a few moments before he hesitantly called her name, “Marinette?”

Her head whipped to his and she walked closer to him. “Why me?” she whispered quietly, her eyes a mix of desperation and sadness.

Chat cleared his throat, shifting from side to side as he considered her words. “Well, I’m practically always here and you’re one of the most trustworthy people I know. If I was going to reveal my identity to anyone but Ladybug it would be you, Marinette. And, besides, you were pretty pawerful as Multimouse.”

He had thought that his pun would lighten the mood some, but if anything it made it even worse. Marinette looked even more sullen as she gazed down at the floor sadly. She rubbed her eyes before sighing quietly. “I can’t know your secret identity, Chat. I-I’m sorry. I just don’t think it’s a good idea.”

He blinked at her a few times. “Why not? You’re the purrfect choice. You’ve never been akumatized and you’re one of my best friends.”

Marinette peeked back up at him with a soft smile. “Which is exactly why you shouldn’t tell me. What happens if I do get akumatized? Or what if Hawkmoth figures out you come here and realize I know who you are? It’s just too dangerous, kitty. I’m really sorry.”

“Oh,” Chat practically whispered. He looked down as he thought about her words. She was right, of course. Like always. With a quiet sigh, he nodded his head and extended his baton. “You’re right, I’m sorry for bothering you, then.”

Her eyes immediately widened before she reached out to hold onto his wrist tightly. “No, Chaton! You didn’t bother me at all! I’m flattered that you even thought of me to know! I-I just... there’s a really big reason why I can’t know.”

All of a sudden, everything clicked. Why she had panicked. Why she looked so worried now. Marinette was right, there was a big reason she couldn’t know his identity. She was the civilian Ladybug told. Of course, it was her. Marinette was probably the most trustworthy citizen in Paris.

Chat’s bad mood immediately disappeared as a small smirk twitched on his lips. “I get it, purrincess. You really can’t know.”

She froze at that, looking up at him as she got paler. Clearing her throat, she tapped her index fingers together. “W-what do you mean?”

“It’s alright, Mari, I’ll keep your little secret now that the cat’s out of the bag.” He reached forward, tapping her on the nose gently with a quick wink.

Marinette turned even paler as she choked. “W-what?! H-how did you figure it out?!”

“Your reaction kinda gave it away.” Chat shrugged with a rather goofy smile on his face.

“How are you taking this so well?!” she threw her arms in the air almost exasperatedly, “You know you’re not supposed to know I’m Ladybug.”

Now it was his turn to gasp in shock. His jaw fell open as his heart raced quickly in his chest. What in the world was she talking about?! Choking on his tongue, Chat swallowed the large lump in his throat. In a hoarse whisper, he asked, “W-what?”

Marinette immediately slapped a hand to her mouth, her eyes widening. “Oh my god, you hadn’t figured it out. Did you?”

He slowly shook his head and she let out a quiet wail, tugging her pigtails once again. As she buried her head in her hands, Chat hesitantly placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it once. “I-It’s okay... I-I won’t say anything. Cat’s honor.”

She sniffled, looking up at him with a quivering lip. “B-but... if you didn’t figure out my identity. What secret were you talking about?”

Chat gave her a crooked grin, trying to ignore the tingles that were racing up his arm. He was touching Ladybug’s bare shoulder. Ladybug and Marinette were the same person. It was taking all he had not to completely freak out and wrap her in a tight bear hug. Chuckling awkwardly, he glanced away from her big, bright, blue eyes. “I um, actually thought that you were the civilian Ladybug told.”

Marinette groaned, burying her head back in her hands. She then muttered to herself, “That makes so much sense. I’m such an idiot.”

“Hey!” he said rather offendedly. Lifting her chin up, he connected their gazes once again. “You are not an idiot! If anyone’s the idiot, it’s me! I just came to Ladybug’s house to reveal my secret identity!”

She giggled quietly, biting her lip to contain a small smile. Chat’s heart fluttered at seeing her happier and he decided then and there to make certain that Marinette was always smiling. Squeezing her shoulder again, he murmured, “So, is it alright if I reveal my secret identity now?”

“No!” she clenched her eyes shut tight, shaking her head rapidly. “It’s too dangerous that you already know who I am! I can’t know who you are!”

“But, purrincess,” he whined, feeling his shoulders sag with disappointment. This was supposed to be the moment he swept her off her feet. Sure, he was just her dorky classmate but maybe knowing they were always friends would help him.

“No buts, Chaton!” Marinette poked his chest pointedly. “There’s been enough identity reveals lately! We need to be more careful! Especially with Shadowmoth.”

Chat’s lips quirked almost bitterly before he nodded his head. “Alright, I get it purrincess.” Taking his baton, he extended it quickly and gave her one last wink. “I’m looking furward to the next akuma attack, m’lady.”

Not waiting for an answer, he took off into the night. It was much too tempting to be around her and not reveal his identity. Besides, he had already decided to spend as much time as possible with her as Adrien at school tomorrow. Even though he wasn’t tired, he couldn’t wait to go to bed and see her again.

[qqueenofhades]

I am loving all the Fivan fics. Thank you! I feel like we may now need some good old fashion Fivan hook up. If you’re in the “mood.” Get it? Mood? See what I did there? :)

An excellent idea. So let's have some "yay I survived my interview!" smut. Below the cut for sexy, very NSFW reasons.

The moment he locks eyes with his husband across the dusty, noisy courtyard, crowded fit to bursting with otkazat’sya, Heartrenders, Healers, Fabrikators, Durasts, Squallers, Inferni, horses, pack animals, wagons, and the other detritus of the battalions finally returning from six months on the Fjerdan frontlines, Fedyor Kaminsky knows for an unassailable fact that they are not going to make it to the bedroom. He has been going out of his mind, even if he has been diligently focused on the equally important duty (or so he tells himself) of serving as a guard for the Grisha examiners traveling around the country, providing support for the supply lines to Shu Han, and otherwise trying not to think about the fact that this is the longest they have been separated since they got married. Fedyor is a good soldier, and a loyal servant. He has done his job exceptionally well, and so, off in the godforsaken frozen wastes of Tsibeya, has Ivan. But right now, in a crowd of thousands, the only thing the two of them can hear is each other’s heartbeats, and all they can see is their life.

Fedyor raises a hand, as if he actually needs to do this to let Ivan know that he’s there. Ivan glances at him, shucking his fur hat and ripping open the buttons on his black-embroidered red kefta, now that they’re back in the safety of the Little Palace and don’t have to worry about gunfire. Ivan, curse his contrary northern heart, then turns away to discuss something with the equally dusty general, as if Kirigan didn’t have all that damn time on the road. Fedyor wonders how much trouble he would get into, exactly, if he murdered his commanding officer. Or maybe just gave him a minor heart attack.

It probably only takes a few minutes, though it feels like forever to Fedyor. He is, he likes to think, normally a patient man, but not when he hasn’t seen Ivan for six months and is standing a dozen yards away with a hundred other people and not yet able to touch him. Finally he catches Ivan’s eye again, affects a nonchalant shrug, and turns to leave the courtyard, as if to signal that if Ivan would like to catch up, he should really get on it. Nothing to Fedyor himself, though. He has important things to do elsewhere, do svidaniya.

To Fedyor’s entirely unqualified smug delight, it takes barely thirty seconds until he hears the sound of pounding boots running up at full speed behind him, and breathes a strong smell of horse, sweat, and unwashed Heartrender. That part he is less thrilled about, but in the next instant, a pair of fiercely strong arms are around his waist, he is being pushed into the nearest room with a door that closes and locks, and Ivan growls into his mouth, “You are a little bastard, Fedya.”

Fedyor would answer, but he’s currently too busy making out with Ivan like their lives depend on it, their hands pulling and clutching and seizing fistfuls of each other, the usual desperate ritual that they have to perform after a lengthy separation, checking that everything is real and right and good. Ivan only pulls back long enough to start feverishly unbuttoning Fedyor’s kefta, and the reinforced material hits the floor with an authoritative thump. Fedyor then dives in to take his turn, except Ivan clearly thinks he’s going too slowly, and pulls it off over his head himself, which is not as easy as it looks. Underneath, he’s wearing only his linen undertunic, and then he shucks that too.

Fedyor lets his eyes roam luxuriously over the hard muscles of Ivan’s torso, searching for the subterranean lines of new scars. He can always tell when they’re there, even when the Healers have smoothed them away. He shrugs out of his own tunic, as Ivan has already started on the lacing of his trousers. He accomplishes the necessary revisions, then grabs hold of Fedyor and walks him straight to the nearest flat surface, which as it happens is a wall. A nice wall as walls go – it’s covered with a thick, soft tapestry of someone who appears to be Sankt Vladimir, who is about to get one hell of an eyeful that is probably not at all Saint-appropriate – but still a wall. Fedyor bites a grin, then pants, “Really, Vanya? Can’t even make it to a divan?”

“You want to go find a damn divan?” Ivan, distracted from his frenzy of lust just long enough to (barely) form words, looks vastly irritated. “Or do you want me to fuck you now?”

“I wasn’t aware it was an either/or – ah – situation.” Fedyor gets cut off as Ivan lunges in for another growly, possessive kiss, his big, callused hands clamping firm hold of Fedyor’s hips. They make out with luxurious sloppiness for another minute or two, but Fedyor can’t really wait much longer either. He fumbles for the laces of his own breeches, slipping them off his waist and kicking them free of his feet, as Ivan digs in the pocket of his fallen kefta for the small vial of oil he keeps there. (It’s usually for saddle leather, but it does also have additional purposes.) He flicks it expertly open with one thumb, pours in a palmful, and rubs his hands together to warm them up. Then he grabs Fedyor and pulls him close, slicks them both, and murmurs something incoherent against the back of his neck. Asking, as he still does despite the almost-decade they have been together, for permission.

“Saints,” Fedyor pants, pressing himself back against Ivan with desperate, starving need. “What do you think, you utter blockhead?”

He feels Ivan smile, the rough curve of his mouth against the tender nape of Fedyor’s neck, the scratch of the unshaven stubble on his chin. He takes a better grip on Fedyor’s hips, his knees sliding between Fedyor’s thighs to push them apart, and eases into him. Slowly at first, carefully. Then, all at once, almost savagely, to the hilt.

Fedyor hisses, moans, clutching ragged fistfuls of the tapestry in order to keep his balance, as Ivan presses against him and then into him at full length, joining their bodies in raw and naked and utterly intimate communion. Ivan bites the back of Fedyor’s shoulder and swears again, and Fedyor wriggles his hips to ease the fit, as one of Ivan’s oil-slick hands slips down between them to be sure. Then he reaches up again and clamps his hands over Fedyor’s where they grip the tapestry, crushing their knuckles together with almost bruising force. Then he thrusts with his full strength, pinning Fedyor flat against the wall, and both of them gasp.

Their mental connection, their utter attunement to the other’s heartbeat and body and breath and bone and space, doubles the pleasure like an amplifier, so they feel both their own ecstasy and each other’s, shared and reflected back and magnified until it’s no longer possible to tell which sensation belongs to who. Fedyor is himself, with Ivan inside him, and he is also Ivan inside Fedyor, and he is something both and neither, and whatever prayer he is mouthing now is one that even Sankt Vladimir has never heard. It is heat and hardness and madness, soft for a moment or two and then rough again, delightful, claiming, possibly only between two lovers who know each other as intimately and trust each other as thoroughly as they do. Ivan is hitting the sweet spot in him, over and over until Fedyor thinks his own heart will burst sooner than stand it. Then Ivan’s hands let go of his and grab his waist again, dragging him as close as can be managed as they both lose their minds, and then the rest of them. Fedyor loses his grip on the tapestry and slides down it to the floor.

They remain where they are, breathing wildly, entangled, Ivan still halfway inside him, slick with sweat and having utterly desecrated this nice drawing room that some unsuspecting Grisha will walk into later completely oblivious as to what it has just hosted. Then they hear an imperious voice in the corridor outside. “Ivan? Ivan!”

Saints absolutely strike him dead, it is the general. Even in his dazed post-coital haze, Fedyor is perfectly capable of wishing for it. How the hell has Aleksander bloody Kirigan not had enough time to talk to Ivan already? They’ve been on campaign together for half a year!

The footsteps come closer. “Ivan? Are you in here?”

Swearing for a rather different reason, Ivan pulls away from Fedyor, making both of them moan, and scrambles across the floor on all fours, frantically trying to get dressed before Kirigan barges in without knocking, as he has a bad habit of doing. (When you’re the Black General and this entire palace is your personal fiefdom, why would you bother?) Fedyor likewise does his best to grope wildly for his discarded clothing, but has only managed to lace himself back into his breeches and pull on his under-tunic before the door opens. “Ivan! I need you to check the requisitions for that last – ”

At that, Kirigan stops short, taking in their state of barely-habiliment, Fedyor’s mildly murderous smile, and Ivan’s painfully studied nonchalance. His eyes flick them up and down. “Mr. Kaminsky,” he says. “I’m glad to see you’re welcoming Ivan home?”

“Yes, sir,” Fedyor says, his smile now even more fixed. “Absolutely, sir.”

Kirigan’s dark gaze surveys them again, even as his face remains unreadable. Then he clears his throat and coughs delicately. “The requisitions can wait until after supper,” he says. “Presuming that you make it. Good day.”

(Fedyor and Ivan do not, very decidedly, make it to supper.)

[cheri-translates]

Headcanon - When you’re drunk and forget who he is

This work, 醉后不知 “我爱你”, was originally written by 喵小柒吃很少 on Weibo, and she has given me permission to translate it 🌸

[ GAVIN ]

After receiving Minor’s call, Gavin rushes over to the bar, where he finds you drunk out of your wits.

He turns to Minor. “What happened?” 

“Our bid for a big project succeeded. Boss treated everyone to dinner, and we drank a lot...” Minor replies nervously, handing your bag over to him with trembling hands.

After taking the bag from him, Gavin lifts you up from the sofa and leaves the bar.

“...mm?” Your eyes open slightly. “Who are you... why are there two of the same person...”

Gavin seems to be slightly angry. “Why did you drink so much...”

You wrap your arms around his neck, cutting him off. “Today was a wonderful day! Hahahaha I’m so happy!”

“You’re coming along with me even though you don’t know who I am...?” Gavin sighs. “I really have to teach you a lesson.”

“That’s right, you haven’t told me who you are!”

He clears his throat in an unnatural manner. “I’m Gavin, your... boyfriend.”

“Hm?” I... I don’t like Gavin anymore...” You slur.

???

Gavin is utterly confused. Frantic, he asks, “You don’t like me anymore?”

When he sees that you’ve fallen asleep, he leaves a kiss on your forehead. “Next time, I won’t let you get this drunk ever again.”

-

Your eyes flutter open in a hazy state, and you can faintly see the lights from the kitchen. You rub your temples in an attempt to ease the splitting headache. Weren’t you just having drinks with Minor and Willow in the bar? Why are you at home? Were you actually drinking in your dream?!

The series of questions in your head are interrupted by the sound of footsteps. Gavin walks towards you, carrying a bowl of sobering-up tea. Noticing that you’ve regained consciousness, he almost drops it.

“Ahem... you’re awake?” He sets down the tea, giving your head a rub.

You feel puzzled. “How did I return home?”

“Do you finally remember me now?” He smiles, and you can see a mixture of relief and joy in it. But in his heart, he thinks: Does she only remember that I’m Gavin?

Gavin looks at you, as though wanting to extricate an answer from your eyes. “Did you really forget about what happened earlier?”

“Yeah, I’ve forgotten...”

“Earlier, you...” Gavin pauses. “You drank too much, and couldn’t recognise me.” He seems to be at a loss, and his voice carries in it several degrees of despondence.

“Really?” You’re doubtful. “How could I forget my boyfriend~”

When Gavin hears this, his mood finally lifts. He scoops a spoon of sobering-up tea and brings it to your lips. “Mm, open wide.”

You sip the tea while trying to remember how you had behaved earlier, but to no avail.

Gavin’s voice breaks your train of thought. “Since you remember me, then...”

The lights in the room are dim, but you can sense heat radiating from his cheeks. 

“Shouldn’t you make it up to me?”

[ VICTOR ]

Victor leaves his files in the office, driving over to the bar after receiving Anna’s call informing him that you’re drunk.

“She drank a little too much...” Anna explains.

Victor sighs. “Got it.”

He walks over to the sofa and picks up the unconscious you.

“CEO Victor!” Anna stops him before he leaves. “Don’t be too hard on her. The company managed to obtain a big project today because of her hard work.”

“All right.” He’s curt, and doesn’t say more. 

Looks like he’s really angry!

You pull on his tie. “You. Are you CEO Victor...?”

“Who else?”

You nuzzle your head against his chest. “You’re not allowed to scold me... I succeeded in getting a very big project today!”

“I won’t scold you, but you’re not allowed to drink yourself into such a state.” Although Victor isn’t using a fierce tone, you still sense that he’s berating you.

You cover your ears. “I don’t like you anymore!”

“Hm?” Victor’s eyes flit to yours. “Say that again?”

“CEO Victor is such a big dummy! I don’t like you, I don’t like you, I don’t like you!”

“...dummies need to be punished.”

-

The moment your eyes open, you see Victor entering the room with sobering-up tea, donning the pink apron you bought for him.

At that moment, what runs through your mind is: Who am I? Why am I at home? Wasn’t I at the bar just now?

In the next moment, your confusion is dispelled by Victor’s aura. He sits down at your side wordlessly.

“Victor, what are you doing?” You ask weakly. When he wears such a stern expression and doesn’t speak, it really reminds you of the very first time you met him in LFG...

“What should you be calling me?” He arches his brows, dissatisfied.

“Victor... no, CEO Victor?” Your mind isn’t completely clear yet, and you mutter the first thing which comes to your head.

He sighs. “I’ll give you one more chance. Think of who I am.”

“Mm...?” You finally get what he’s driving at. “You’re Victor, my... boyfriend.”

A smile tugs at the corners of his lips, but he suppresses it immediately. Sternly, he says, “It’s rare for you to be so quick-witted. Why didn’t you remember this earlier?”

“I didn’t?” You try poking at your memory, but give up and change the topic. “How did I come back?”

“I think this sobering-up tea isn’t potent enough. A certain dummy is still not clear-headed.” Victor frowns. “First, you forgot who I was, then you called me the dumb one?”

Even more question marks pop into your head. “I did? I wouldn’t dare to call CEO Victor dumb...”

“I’m glad you have some self-awareness.” Victor leans in closer to you. “The punishment from earlier - shouldn’t it be carried out now?”

Punishment? Who’s punishing who? Huh?

[ LUCIEN ]

When Lucien sets down his experiment report and is prepared to head home to his Little Miss, he receives a call from Willow. It turns out that you aren’t at home, but drunk in a bar.

“Professor Lucien, you should hurry over and bring her home.” Willow points at the lump of you on the floor.

“All right.” He walks over, an unreadable expression on his face. Carrying you out of the bar, the coolness from the evening breeze sobers you up slightly. When your eyelids flutter open, the first thing you see are a pair of eyes.

“Who are you? Where are you taking me?”

He tightens his grip on you, a sly smile on his face. “Oh? You really don’t remember who I am?”

“I don’t recognise you...” You slur. “Put me down... I have a boyfriend...”

Amused, Lucien watches you. “Is that so? May I know who your boyfriend is?”

“Forget it. It’s already so late and he hasn’t found me... I don’t like him anymore!”

Hearing this, Lucien leans in closer to you, whispering into your ear. 

“Are you sure about that?”

-

Your head hurts.

Struggling to open your eyes, you get a fright when you see Lucien sitting quietly at the bedside.

“What are you doing here without saying a word?”

“Me?” Lucien responds. “I was thinking about how to make a Silly Girl take back her statement of not liking me.”

Not liking Lucien? What a joke!

“What are you saying?”

With a low chuckle, Lucien continues. “Why did you go out drinking when I wasn’t around, and even said that you no longer like me?”

Your chest tightens. Me? Drinking? Losing my memory? Forget it, what’s most important is self-preservation!

“Haha, did that really happen? How could that be? I like you the most!” Just in case he didn’t believe you, you inject a “Really really!”

He doesn’t seem to be as satisfied as you expected. He simply shifts closer to you, caging you between his body and the bed. 

"First, there’s something I want to know.” Lucien’s voice is soft, and his breath circles your ear. “Who am I to you?”

Although you feel like squirming out of this, you know that it’d be to no avail. “...my b-boyfriend.”

“Hm? Who is your boyfriend?” 

“You. You are.” You surrender.

Lucien is finally satisfied, and he smiles. “Good. Leave the rest to me...”

[ KIRO ]

“Kiro! Your girlfriend has drunk too much!” Kiki shouts from the other end of the call, above the blaring music in the bar.

“What?! Send me the address!” 

After hurrying over, he sees you slumped over the bar counter.

“You’re finally here!” Kiki exclaims in relief when she sees him. “We couldn’t stop her from drinking.”

“Miss Chips, what happened?” He cradles you in his arms, carrying you out of the bar.

Eyes fluttering open, you see a furious Kiro.

“Oh!” You point at him. “You’re the male lead from that new movie! His name is ‘Jia Yang’, right?”

This only makes Kiro even angrier - you actually forgot who he was?!

“Hmph! Miss Chips, that’s going overboard!”

The term of address turns some cogs in your head. “That name... My boyfriend calls me that often...”

“So you still remember that you have a boyfriend...”

“It’s okay! I watched your movie! I really like you! I don’t like him anymore!”

Kiro has reached the limits of his rage. “Miss Chips, you’ll have to remember what you just said! You can’t take it back afterwards...”

-

In your haze, all you can sense is the ticklish sensation on your face. When you finally manage to open your eyes, you vaguely note that Kiro is using a lock of your hair to brush your face.

“Kiro, what are you doing...” You mumble tiredly, turning around so your back is facing him.

Originally wanting to hold a grudge against you for what happened earlier, he hops over to the other side of the bed when he sees that you intend to ignore him.

“Miss Chips! Miss Chips!!!” 

“What do you want... Let me sleep...”

“That’s not allowed. Hmph~ You were on the verge of eloping with Jia Yang - how could I just sit here and do nothing?” He pouts, tousling your hair. “You didn’t recognise me just now... Who am I? Hmm?”

It���s as though a golden retriever is at your side. With absolutely no recollection of what happened earlier, you respond, “You’re Kiro... my superhero celebrity...”

Hearing this title doesn’t appease him.

“No no! That’s not the main point!” He hurriedly shakes you awake by the shoulders. “I’m Miss Chip’s boyfriend!”

“Mm, yes...”

“I command you not to think about Jia Yang!”

“Mm, okay...”

[ SHAW ]

After receiving a call from your colleague, he rushes over from a band rehearsal in Live House.

Shaw bursts into the bar, spotting your wasted self on the sofa. “Mary Sue, what’s wrong with you?!” 

“Hm?” You head lolls upwards to look at him hazily. “Who dares to call me that!”

“Me. Got a problem with that?” Shaw lifts you up, carrying you out of the bar. “Enough nonsense. Come with me. This place isn’t suitable for you, dumb woman.”

“Who are you? And who are you to decide what's suitable for me?!”

“Oh?” Shaw glances at you. “You’re dumb and stupid and now you’re pretending not to recognise me?”

“Stay away from me... I don’t want to go with you...” You mumble.

“Is that so?” Shaw spots a bench on the street and tosses you onto it. “You said it yourself.”

The cold evening breeze sobers you up slightly. Although your vision clears and you finally get a proper look at Shaw’s face, you also recall how he just “threw you away” seconds earlier. 

You huff. “I no longer have a boyfriend! I don’t like you anymore. Go away!”

Shaw is stunned. “What did you say?”

“Go. Away!”

He suddenly closes the distance between the two of you. “Is that what you really want, Sister?”

-

Shaw shakes you awake.

Blinking, you see his resigned expression.

“Stop sleeping!”

“...what are you doing?!”

He shoots you a glare. “I should be the one asking what you were doing!”

You rub the back of your head. “Me? What about me? Wasn’t I drinking?”

The air in the surroundings stills. Then, you hear thunder rumbling outside the window.

“You!” Shaw grabs you from the bed, pinning you against the headboard. “Is this what happens whenever you get drunk? You no longer recognise who I am?”

Oh no, this brat is really angry!

“How could I...” You mutter weakly, patting Shaw’s hair. “How could Sister forget about you~”

After a moment of silence, a faint hue of red paints his cheeks.

“Just now, a stupid woman told me to get lost.”

“How could Sister bear to do that~”

“All right then.” A smile tugs on his lips. “I know what to do now.”

-

More translated and original works: here

–

[ Permission to translate ]

喵小柒吃很少: Hello~ Firstly, I’m really touched that you like them, I feel very honoured~ You can translate the works! If more people who like MLQC can read them, I’m very happy too 💝 Thank you!

[jamiemackenziefraser]

All That Was Fair

Chapter 18: To Go Home

Summary: Jamie and Claire get a little distracted on their way back.

Read on AO3

Read chapter 18 on tumblr below the cut

Previous, master list, next

a/n: A little early update since this chapter is essentially the second half of the last <3

Chapter 18: To Go Home

***

Hand in hand, Jamie and Claire began to walk back toward where he had parked. There was no urgency now as there had been when Jamie dragged her toward the stones, nor the anxiety there had been when he first found her on that hill and decided to take her home. Now, there was only bliss. They walked with a particular laziness— something that came with the certainty that they would be together forever. 

Jamie had been in no rush to face his life of loneliness after leaving Claire on the hill, but now he was in no rush to be anywhere or do anything. So long as Claire was at his side, he was well pleased with their world. 

They were strolling along, holding hands and taking in the beauty of the surroundings and the peace of their newfound intimacy, when all of a sudden, Claire stopped dead in her tracks. Jamie’s heart dropped, and he was gripped by fear that his happiness would be ripped away from him. Was she about to tell him that she’d changed her mind? 

But she didn’t declare that she wanted to go back to the stones, and the world didn’t open up at their feet to swallow him up, Claire just turned sharply and launched herself straight at him. 

He caught her around the waist as her lips landed on his. Laughing breathlessly into the kiss, his anxiety eased instantly. 

“Sorry,” she said between kisses, pecking his mouth before rewarding him with deeper kisses, “I just really— wanted to do this again.” 

They explored each other’s mouths lazily for a minute before Claire broke the kiss to trail her lips down his jaw. Tingles went down his spine as she reached a particularly sensitive spot, and he clutched her more tightly to him as his insides twisted in delight. 

“I’m really never going to have personal space again, am I?” Jamie chuckled to himself, not sure whether to lean in to the tickling sensation or pull away. 

“What was that?” Claire asked, detaching her slightly-puffy lips from his neck and peering up at him with that adorable look of confusion. 

“Only that ye’re a touchy one,” he said playfully, reaching out to grab her around the waist. His hands could span most of it, keeping her solidly in his grip. 

“I like touching you,” she stated matter-of-factly. Her face held the slightest bit of a playful pout, as if she was upset he’d called her out on it. 

“Well that’s verra good,” he said in a low voice, leaning in closer to her, “because I like when ye touch me.” 

He tried to bridge the distance between them and press his lips to Claire’s again, but she leaned back, just out of reach, with her brows raised teasingly. 

Letting out a groan, he let his forehead fall against hers. 

“Dinna torture me, mo nighean donn. I promise ye, one of my favorite things about ye is how tactile ye are. But it made it damned hard for me tae control myself when I was tryin’ verra hard not tae kiss ye.” 

Claire smiled. “Like I said, I very much wanted you to kiss me, but your head was too far down the hare’s hole to do it.” 

“I can do it now,” he breathed in quiet awe, and he took her lips again. 

Kissing her was a drug that he was quickly becoming addicted to. He was aware that they had barely made it a quarter of a mile, so distracted as they were by each other, but he couldn’t seem to care. 

Time was passing, though, and Jamie hadn’t been able to stomach eating anything that morning. His belly let out a rather mood-killing growl, and Claire jerked back. 

She had the same bewildered and concerned expression she’d worn the first time his stomach had growled in front of her, but it was just for a split second before she remembered and her face spread into a smile. 

“We need to get you some food,” she said, emphasizing the last word in a sweet way that clearly said be proud of me for remembering this word.

“I couldna care less about food right now,” he tried to dismiss it, eager to simply enjoy the moment of being with her. He could think of a few other activities for his mouth that he’d rather partake in… maybe something involving Claire’s mouth as well...

“I care. I won’t have you suffering because you can’t keep your lips to yourself,” she said, pushing a wee hand against his chest.  

“Me? Ye’re the one who canna keep any part of herself off me. Ye even sat on my lap in front of my sister, for pete’s sake!” he teased.

The playful mood broke as Claire looked thoughtful. “Why did you say it like that? Like it's wrong?” she asked innocently, looking genuinely curious, “we both love each other.” She ran a hand down his arm for good measure, ending by taking his hand in hers. Then, she added suddenly, “and who is Pete?” 

Jamie couldn't help but laugh. Thankfully, she didn’t seem to take much offense to this. She just gave him time to get it out, waiting patiently for his answer. 

“Weel, firstly, ‘for pete’s sake’ is jes’ a human expression that means… weel, it is an exclamation of exasperation, only I didna mean it in a bad way. And… it’s jes’ that humans dinna show affection so much around others. They leave those things to the privacy of their own homes,” he explained. 

Claire’s brows furrowed and she shook her head in disapproval. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand you humans. You make such a fuss over little things. If I want to touch the one I love, I will.” 

“I appreciate yer sentiment, a nighean,” Jamie laughed, “Also, it’s no’ common for a man and a woman tae hold hands or sit wi’ each other if they arena in a committed relationship,” Jamie added, “so Jenny was a wee bit appalled when ye sat on my lap.” 

His precious faerie’s eyes widened in dismay. “Oh… oh no. I made things worse then, didn’t I?” 

“Nah… dinna fash. I jes’ thought ye should know that, is all,” Jamie reassured, dismissing her worry. 

“Is that why you would blush so much when I touched you? Or went to sleep with you?” Claire asked. 

Jamie nodded with a smile as he thought about holding her body against his in bed, how terrified he’d been. “Yes. But I liked it. Probably too much. It made it nearly impossible for me tae keep ahold of my feelings. I fell hard for ye, and I had tae keep my feelings in check for so long.” He started to lean in, meaning to kiss her, but her question stopped him. 

“Fell?” Claire asked. 

“Ah…” another human expression, “it means felt love.” 

“Oh,” Claire responded, a slight satisfied smile turning up the corners of her mouth, “well if my touching you made you love me, I’m glad I did.” 

Jamie looked down at her, feeling an impossible warmth bubble up in his chest, “I didna fall in love wi’ ye because ye are touchy, lass. I fell in love wi’ ye because… well because all I want tae do for the rest of my life is make ye happy. There’s somethin’ between us, somethin’ I canna explain…” 

“A connection,” Claire breathed, nodding, “I feel it too. The world was trying to bring us together.”

They were both quiet for a minute before Claire asked, “do you think maybe that’s why I came through the stones? I mean… I had never ventured out that far before that day. I just felt like… exploring. And then I heard the buzzing sound, and I was just…. Here. Maybe it was all for a reason. For you and me.”

“Aye,” Jamie agreed, “maybe. Either way, I dinna much care about the reason behind it so long as ye’re wi’ me now. I am grateful, whatever happened tae cause it.” 

They both fell into a comfortable silence again, walking hand in hand. 

“Claire,” he asked abruptly, “will you tell me about what it's like for faeries when they are in love? I ken ye have parents, so I imagine it must no’ be sae different for the fair folk.” 

Jamie had a million questions, but he settled for asking that one, hoping Claire would answer some of those others as she explained. 

“Well…” she said as she played with his fingers, weaving them together over and over and turning her hand over in his as they walked, “we choose who we love, who we want to be with. Some never find someone, and that’s okay too. But if we do… well, we mate for life.” 

She looked up to him at that, her eyes holding an unspoken question. 

Will we mate for life? 

He wanted to tell her yes, to get down on one knee and propose then and there, but they had only just confessed their feelings for each other. He could be patient, give it more time. He didn’t want to rush her before he even knew much about her expectations. 

Continuing on, she said, “some have children and raise them until they can be off on their own.”

“That sounds verra much like humans,” Jamie said, giving her hand a squeeze. 

Claire seemed like she was about to respond, but her mouth fell closed again as she caught sight of the car. 

“We’ll talk more about it later,” Jamie reassured, “we have time now. All the time we need.” 

She nodded, looking pleased. As they reached the car, Jamie went around to her side and let go of her hand to open the door. 

Claire looked disturbed by the loss of contact, and looked up at him with big eyes, staring for a long moment. Something was stirring there, some deep emotion, and it twisted Jamie’s wame. The content expression she had worn moments ago had disappeared from her face. She seemed… distant somehow. Like her head had gone somewhere else. 

“Are ye gettin’ in, lass? Because if it’s the car worryin’ ye we could…” 

“One moment,” she interrupted as she pressed her fingers to Jamie’s lips, halting his speech. “I need—“ 

She didn’t finish her statement but abruptly bridged the distance between them and leaned in toward him. Hearing the choke in her voice, he quickly got with the program and gathered her again into his embrace the second she was near enough. Her face fit into the crook of his neck as her arms went around him, and she clung to him with a mixture between fierceness and certainty of the secure place. He held her tightly for a long time, feeling her shuddering breaths against him and stroking her back in long soothing lines. He didn’t let himself think; He just held her. 

“Talk to me, lass,” he rumbled gently after a long moment. 

“While I was standing on that hill— I thought that you really meant to leave me. That I’d have to face a life without you,” she murmured into the skin of his shoulder, “for a moment just there I.... I could hardly believe that I’m really here with you. Going home.” 

“I’m sorry, mo nighean donn,” he breathed, his heart breaking, “I’m sae sorry, lass. I thought the same. That I’d be facin’ an empty life wi’ out ye. Christ,” he shuddered at the thought of the sorrow and despair that had wrapped him in their darkness only mere minutes ago. How much life can change in an instant. 

He hugged her tighter, feeling the exact same impulse as she did. He wanted to cling to her forever, to feel anchored to her in the drifting sea of emotions. The memories of walking down that hill and leaving her would haunt him forever. If only—

She drew back suddenly and placed a hand on his cheek. It was as if a switch had been flipped and all her sorrow had been pushed to the wayside.  

“It’s okay, Jamie,” she said, her brows furrowed and face serious as she looked at him searchingly, “I’m here. Feel me here? I’m not going anywhere.” 

Jamie felt confused by this sudden shift. 

“What? Why…?” he tried to ask why she had suddenly begun to comfort him, but thankfully he didn’t need to articulate his question. 

“I could feel it… everything you were. You were just thinking about it, weren’t you? Re-living those feelings of leaving me? Well I could feel them coming from you. I could feel how much you hurt.” 

Jamie’s mouth must have been hanging open— and if it wasn’t, it should have been— because his brain had halted completely in its track and was struggling desperately to come to terms with yet another new divulgence. 

“You’re... an empath?” he mustered. 

“Empath… like empathy?” she asked quizzically. 

“Aye. An empath is someone that can feel the emotions of others. It’s no’ real… I mean… humans canna—” Jamie stumbled over his explanations, “canna sense feelings.” 

“You can’t?” Claire asked, surprised.

“You can?” Jamie shot back. 

Both of them stared at each other for a long moment. Jamie was still trying desperately to keep up with everything. He’d known that Claire was very in tune with emotions, astoundingly so, but he’d chalked it up to her making him feel things so strongly that they showed on his face. Either that or the connection that they shared that sometimes seemed so unreal had revealed his feelings. Thinking back, it made perfect sense to him that she’d actually been able to sense his emotions, not just read his face. 

He was also startled by the fact that he’d been living with her for days now, falling in love with her, and he didn’t even know she was an empath. The back of his brain was cursing him, once again, for his foolishness. He’d been so blind these last few days, so caught up in showing Claire his world and not wanting to push her that there were still so many things about her that were a mystery. Even so, they were taking things one step at a time. 

Claire interrupted his scattered thoughts when she spoke, “when I touch you… I can feel what you’re feeling. Not as much as if I were feeling it myself, but I… know.” 

Jamie nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense given the things ye’ve said to me. Humans canna do that. We can look at a person and try tae guess what’s goin’ on in their heads, but we never really ken. You… ye dinna actually know my thoughts, rights?” 

Claire laughed, a bright and beautiful sound. “No,” she shook her head, “definitely not. And I can’t even sense your emotions all the time. I have to really be in tune with you, concentrating. It seems to be getting easier the more time I spend with you, but don’t worry, some things are still a mystery.” She punctuated that last statement with a sly smile. 

Jamie felt slightly relieved. Not that he didn’t want Claire to know what he was feeling, but his heart had been thrumming with mounting embarrassment as he considered whether she had known all the inappropriately forward things he’d been feeling about her the last few days. Only… only he’d told her now that he loved her... 

“So,” he began huskily, ducking his head so that his face drew close to hers, “can ye tell what I’m feelin’ now?” 

She gave him a smile, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath as if concentrating herself. Then, she exaggeratedly placed her hands on either side of his face. 

“I think…” she breathed, cracking one eye open to look at him playfully, “that you are feeling rather sentimental, James Fraser.” 

“Ye really are an empath, my wee one,” he said, dipping his head further to press his lips to hers in a long, drawn out kiss. God help him, he couldn’t stop. 

She didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. Her arms wound around his neck and pulled him closer, making a big ball of warmth grow in his stomach. 

Keeping her lips somehow smushed against his, she spoke in a mumble, “we should— probably go home.” 

“Hold on, I’m kissing my faerie,” Jamie said insistently, sparing barely any time to speak the words in between kisses. 

He wrapped both his arms around her waist, grabbing her to pull her closer, and continued to kiss her without hurry. 

She was laughing by the time he finally had to draw back for breath. 

“Are ye laughin’ at me?” he demanded with answering laughter of his own. 

“Not at all,” she chuckled— clearly lying— “it’s just that you were the one complaining about me never giving you space.” 

“Lass, ye’re mistaken, it was most certainly no’ a complaint.” 

As he spoke, his hands skated down her back and came around her sides to cup her hips. 

With an impish gleam in her eye, Claire swatted at his hands. 

“I’m going to need some space,” she teased. She placed a hand smack in the middle of his chest and pushed, making him stumble back a couple steps until her arm was straight and bracing as if holding him back. 

“And you… a wee thing half my size… think ye can hold me back wi’ only an arm?” he challenged, raising a brow at the appendage she had forced between them. He drew himself to his full height, making to intimidate her with his size. 

Claire seemed delighted to take him up on the challenge and raised her head defiantly, completely unfazed. 

(Some part of Jamie deep inside acknowledged the fact that this playful, defiant side of Claire was a huge indicator of trust. It had only been days ago that she’d trembled at the sight of him. Now, they were playing with each other with the comfort of friends and lovers.) 

“I think you’d be surprised what a ‘wee thing’ like me is capable of. You’re awfully big, I doubt you could run that fast.” Claire looked him up and down appraisingly, her head cocked in a manner that made Jamie want to grab her and kiss the grin right off her face. 

“That sounds like a challenge.”

“It is one.” 

“Maybe I’ll take ye up on it.”

“Maybe I’ll go back to the stones.”

“Not on yer life.” 

With that, Claire tore off at a run. She was so astoundingly swift that a flash of dismay washed over Jamie as he wondered if maybe he couldn’t catch her after all. As he slammed the car door shut and sprinted after her, though, her unnatural fae nimbleness was no match for his long legs. Bless high school track, he thought to himself as he ran. 

He considered very briefly allowing her the satisfaction of evading him for a moment longer, but he couldn’t leave her challenge unmet anymore than he could resist touching her. Bridging the distance left between them, Jamie snagged her around the waist and pulled her sharply to him. She smacked against his chest, laughing breathlessly, and struggled playfully as Jamie held her fast. 

“Seems I’m no’ so slow, after all,” he bent his head so he could say it right into her ear, his lips brushing teasingly along the shell of it. 

“I was going easy on you because I know you’re just so in love with me that you couldn’t bear to be apart,” she said in a gasp, stilling her struggles. 

“Aye, that’s true,” Jamie admitted, “I’ll thank ye, then.” 

Just as he was beginning to lean in for yet another gratuitous kiss, he felt Claire stiffen. 

Alarmed, he was about to ask her what was wrong when he turned his head in the direction of her gaze and saw two hikers approaching. They were clad in teflon from head to toe, likely day trippers exploring the highlands. 

Even though Jamie knew there was no threat from them, he tucked Claire behind him protectively, out of sight of the couple. 

“Jamie—” Claire started, but Jamie cut her off. 

“Dinna fash, lass, they’re only taking a wee stroll, they’re no’ a danger.” 

“No,” Claire said, tugging at his wrist insistently to get him to pay attention, “tell them to stay away from the stones.”

Jamie turned toward her abruptly. Seeing the fear in her eyes at the mention of the stones and the distress it was causing her to think of others going near them, Jamie was overcome once again by guilt over leaving her on that hill. They scared her terribly, and that was just another reason why depositing her with barely a word was one of Jamie’s biggest regrets. 

“I’ll tell them, lass. Dinna fash,” 

Taking her hand, he brought her out from behind him and began to lead her back in the direction of the car, toward the hikers. Claire stepped cautiously beside him but didn’t seem overly concerned about passing near them. 

“Hi!” Jamie called with a wave of his free hand as soon as they drew close. 

“Hello!” the woman called, returning his wave. 

“Beautiful day, is it no’?” Jamie commented in a friendly manner as the two couples reached each other.

“Verra fine,” the man answered with a nod. 

“Are ye two from around here?” 

“Jus’ here for the weekend, we’re from Edinburgh,” the woman said with a smile. 

“Ah, well I willna keep ye. Jes’ a word of caution from a local, though: dinna get near those stones. It’s a faerie hill, ken?” he said with a wink. 

Both nodded, murmuring appropriate grave assent. Without another word, they passed each other, Claire’s grip nearly bruising Jamie’s hand. 

Once they were out of ear shot, his faerie was fixing him with huge, almost horrified eyes and asking, “you told them about the fair folk?”  

Jamie couldn’t help but laugh. “They dinna actually believe me, but scots are a superstitious lot. They’ll leave it be out of respect even though they dinna really think faeries exist.” 

Claire let out a hum of understanding and bobbed her head, looking relieved that Jamie hadn’t actually just outed the existence and location of the fair folk to two random strangers. 

Walking hand and hand back toward the car, Jamie said, “well, I think now it’s really time to leave. Are ye ready tae go home, lass?” 

His words echoed back to what he’d said earlier that day before he’d taken her to the stones. It made his heart ache with joy to think now he was saying them while referring to his home. Their home. 

“Yes, Jamie… take me home.”

***

Full disclosure, I’ve been waiting for FOREVER to write these fools kissing, so I’m gonna milk it ;)) Thanks so much for reading, lovelies! Your support blows my mind <3

Next

[silverisbestboy]

Sonic Boom x Reader

Requested by @blackace1993: Conversation was accidentally deleted but from what I remeber of it, they wanted hc for the Sonic Boom characters who has a partner who frequently gets into trouble and/or captured by Eggman. They didn't specify which character they wanted so I just did all of them minus Tails. Hope you enjoy!

Sonic:

There's no denying it

Sonic was smitten

The moment you set foot on the island Sonic was taken aback by you

To him, you were drop dead gorgeous with a great personality so I guess you could say it was love at first sight for him

This boy is a fool for you

It's actually quite funny watching him zip across the island at the slightest remark that you need something

"Man, you what? I'm feeling kind of hungry"

"Say no more!" He'll say as he zooms away and reappears seconds later with a chili dog in hand

"Uhhhh"

But, unfortunately for you, being in any sort of relationship with Sonic is not wothout complication

Eggman sees you as a new oppurtunity to best Sonic and ends up taking you hostage on a regular basis

The first time it happens, Sonic all but destroys Eggman's fortress looking for you

But after it continuously happening, it starts getting kinda old

"Greeting Sonic! I see you've come to rescue your little girlfriend"

"Yeah, yeah. Can we just we just get to the part where I clobber you?"

It gets to the point where Sonic starts teaching you how to defend yourself so you can hold your own against Eggman

Not that he doesn't mind rescuing, it's just he can't always be there to protect

With the amount of times they've had to save you, the team are already very familiar with you and consider you apart of their friend group

But as you get better is self-defence, Sonic officially announces you as part of the team and you start joining them on missions

While Sonic does tend to stick to your side more than his other teammates during battle, he's glad to have you fighting alongside them

After all, he's happy to spend as much time with you as possible, even if that means having to bash Eggman's robots to do so

Knuckles:

You're not a bad person

So what if you have anger issues

So what if you get into fights from time to time

So what if you've been in trouble with the cops before

Doesn't mean you're a bad person, it just means you've.... got some issues

One day you're not in the best mood and have already had a pretty shitty day, and you're just a ticking time bomb waiting to explode

So it's no wonder that when a big guy bumps into you and causes you to drop the tray of food you're holding, you go off on him

Unfortunately for you, this guy is huge, a tall red echidna with bulking arms that looks like he could punch you into next week

But you're not one to back down from a fight, you've beaten up guys twice your size before and you're not afraid to do it again

"Woah, hey, sorry about that, didn't see you there."

What, is he dense?! Who does this guy think he is barrelling into anyone he pleases just because he's big? You bet he was just gonna walk off without even helping you. Well, you'd show him!

Without warning, you lunged at the echidna with the intent of knocking him over the same way he almost did to you

But you underestimated his initial strength and reflexes and he caught you midair with your legs kicking and your hands clawing for his face

"Woah, dude chill! I said I was sorry!"

He just kinda holds you up in air at arms length with you kicking and screaming until you eventually tire yourself out

The echidna stares at you cautiously

"Are you good now?"

After a moment, you reluctantly nod, and he gently sets you back on your feet

He then carefully leans down without takong his eyes off you and grabs your burger which is still wrapped in foil and reaches it out to you

"How about we start over? I'm Knuckles."

You thought after that encounter, that was the last you'd see of him

But one day, you've gotten yourself into another fight, and to say you're losing would be an understatement

It's once again, a guy twice your size and he's absolutely beating the crap out of you

But by some miracle, Knuckles happens to be walking by and immediately notices you

He steps in to save you, and the guy you're fighting knows about Knuckles being part of Sonic's team and doesn't even bother attempting to fight him

Knuckles takes your half conscious body to Tails's work shop where they fix you up

After that, Knuckles refuses to leave you alone

Even if you try to leave, he always ends finding you to make sure you don't get into more trouble

He helps you find outlets for your anger by sparring and working out with him

You grow a soft spot for Knuckles that you'd never thought you'd have for anyone

He's your big goofball that somehow always manages to calm you down and get you out of whatever trouble your in

Though it's beyond you why anyone would want to put up with you, eespecially a lovable ray of sunshine like Knuckles, you're so grateful that you have someone like himin your life to keep you in check

A/N: Might make more hcs for that because I absolutely love the idea of big, strong goofball Knuckles having a little ball of pure rage as a partner.

Amy Rose:

Some would say you're a pacifist

Some would say you care too much

Some would say you're too nice

But you like to think that you're just trying to do good in the world

You're definitely the type of person that hates conflict and wants everyone to get along, and you're more often than not a bit of a pushover

You like to give people benefit of the doubt and prefer to see the good in people, although sometimes, this affects you negatively

A kindly looking (or at least in your opinion) wolf with a showman's top hat and a certain glint his eyes one day stops you in your tracks and asks you ever so politely if you would kindly lend him some money to help feed his family

Of course, you're quick to help, but little do you know that this is none other than T.W. Barker himself, and he's been watching you carefully for some time

He notices the way you jump at the oppurtunity to help someone in need, and he being a con man at heart, decides to take advantage of that

But before you can lend the man all the money you have in your pocket, a certain pink hedgehog decides to interfere

"Hey, you leave her alone Barker! Go find your own ATM machine!"

Amy Rose herself stands not far behind you, hammer in hand and ready for trouble

"N-now, now, let's not be too hasty. I was simply accepting a generous donation from this unsuspecting-- I mean self-less young lady."

"Yeah right. Beat it before I hammer you into next Tuesday, punk!"

You're in utter shock as the seeming wolf in sheep's clothing (pun intended) makes his escape

"Gotta look out for scumbags. Seems this village is getting more and more of them everyday. Anyways, I'm Amy, what's your name?"

Since then, Amy keeps a close eye on you to make sure you don't become prey to anymore scam artists

Now Amy will never admit she has anger issues, but she does get... irritated from time to time

On more than one occasion, you're there to help her calm down and have a sleepover planned or a spa day for when things get particularly rough for her

Whenever she needs help choosing which paint to redo her wall with, or which dress she should wear to a party, she calls you up, because no matter what you're interests are or how inconvenient the timing might seem, you're ready to help a friend, even with mundane things

Amy has you become a part of the Sonic family, and while you never do join them in battles, you help keep the peace between the team whenever there's an argument

And Amy always makes sure your overly caring attitude isn't being taken advantage of

No matter the time or the place, Amy knows she can always count on you, and you know she's always got your back

Sticks:

Well this is quite the predicament you've gotten yourself into

A lot of people would descibe you as clumsy, but you knew you just bad luck

And to prove just that, here you were dangling upside from a rope trap after deciding to take a liesure stroll through the forest

What are we, nomads? Who sets out traps in the middle of the woods anymore?!

After about 20 minutes, the blood is rushing to your head and you're starting to feel faint

But just as you think that your bad luck will finally be the end of you, figure bursts from the bushes with a fierce battle cry

It's a badger girl with a boomerang clutched in her paw, ready for a fight

But after a moment she realizes just who's gotten caught up in her trap

"Hey, what's the big idea?! Why're you in my snare?"

"Why am I in your snare? Why did you put out a snare you loon?!"

After about 5 minutes of arguing, Sticks reluctantly cuts you down, begrudgingly explaining that she set out a trap for any woodland monsters

You run into her again on another walk, crossing a small stream before tripping on one of the stepping stones and almost falling in before a furry arm wraps around your waist

"You outta be more careful out here. The wilderness is no place to be a klutz."

"Hey, I'm not a klutz. I just have bad luck is all."

And what more to gain the attention of a superstitious badger than the possibility of supernatural forces at play

"You could've been hexed by a witch. Or worse, there could be a vengeful spirit after you! We gotta get you an exorcist!"

"I'm fine, I'm just unlucky. Always have been always will be."

"We should still burn some sage in your home just to be sure."

You let Sticks do what she wants with you, after all, her superstitious perspective is a nice change from everyone just thinking your clumsy

You think her attempts to "cleanse" you are endearing, she tries something new everyday, and you end up learning a thing or two about survival and the corruptedness of politics from her

Weeks later, her attempts slowly dwindle down, and she just comes to accept she's just gonna have to keep an extra close eye on you, especially when she sets out booby traps

The time y'all have spent together, although it was somewhat motivated by Sticks not wanting to get whatever curse you exposed her to, lead to y'all having a close bond

Everyone has their quirks, she's paranoid and you're clumsy, but you two always manage to work things out

And that's the beauty of a relationship

A/N: Sorry I haven't been that active lately, so take this as an apology. Four hcs for the price of one!

[nctinfo]

[TRANS] Renjun, Jeno & Jaemin’s interview with Arena HOMME+ July 2020 issue!

RENJUN

Do you like the summer weather? I like the feeling of a refreshing drive under the bright sky while looking at the sea. I like summer evenings too. The feeling of the sun fading away and hiding.

Are you sensitive to heat? I am, but when I’m relaxed the heat feels more bearable.

Your face is lovely. Do you like your face? I wish people would love not only their assets but also their flaws. In that aspect I do like myself.

What’s your asset? My pupils are big. When talking to people you look them in the eyes, right? This is when I think I can relay my message better.

People say that Renjun is pure. Haha. I think everyone’s got something innocent about them, it’s just that we view it differently. I often have weird thoughts. I don’t know if it sounds ridiculous, but I think about things like why are people born, why people have children and raise them, why life exists. I think about the universe too, I also like documentaries about the animal world. I am curious and it’s not like anyone can just tell me the answers, right? It’s just fun to ask questions and let your imagination run free.

What have you been imagining lately? Before bed I imagine a place and come up with stories and characters. For example if I was a character in a movie like <Avatar> I imagine what kind of creatures would be there, if I would be able to fly and where I would fly to...

Are you a person who needs alone time? That’s right. I used to want company when I was lonely. But these days I think that alone time is good too. I don’t know what kind of person I was before, but now I think I have to focus on myself. I think I need to be firm with myself to take care of other people.

Why do you want to be firm with yourself? I came to such a big company like SM, there’s so many charming people. At first I always cared about other people’s eyes on me. How do others view me, what do they think of me, what should I do to look good in their eyes. But at one point I couldn’t keep up with others. I wanted to walk my own path only.

Do you have a soft side? Honestly yes. I cry easily and I get emotional a lot. Back in the day I wanted to showcase a strong image of me to hide the tenderness, but right now I’m just focusing on making my heart strong.

What is a strong heart? It’s something of my own. So that people can’t shake me up easily.

Are you soft looking but strong inside? It doesn’t matter whether it’s soft on the outside but tough on the inside, or tough both outside and inside. I don’t have to look strong or weak, I just have to be ‘me’. I like drawing, but whenever I drew something off I would stress over it. I use my brain a lot without even realising, unconsciously. So even when a drawing came out well I would still be stressing over it. Now I’m not restricting myself with only drawing well, I don’t erase anything, I just want to draw happily.

Do you know Renjun as a person now? I think I do a little, since I don’t care what others think and express what I want to express. But I also still don’t. Time and experience will solve it.

You said you didn’t do the MBTI test on purpose? To be honest I tried once. But I only want myself to know. I want to be seen as I am. 

What did you dream of as a child? Becoming a star. Ever since I was little I wanted to become an idol. I enjoyed dancing and singing, it’s like I was shining.

Do you believe in destiny? I do. 

Do you think Renjun coming to Korea was destiny? That’s right. It’s unbelievable to me. I applied for an audition but gave up because I didn’t hear anything back. So I was just eating and received a call and yelled on the spot. I was this happy haha. The next day straight away I bought the tickets to the audition place and participated in the global audition. 

Why did you think you couldn’t make it? I’m the type to be prepared for the worst case scenario. So I’m very happy and thankful I made it this far.

How was adjusting to Korea? It wasn’t as hard as I thought. It was something I wanted.

What are fans to Renjun? I too like kpop and idols, so I know this feeling very well. I know how it feels to think of someone as a person who gives you strength, so I change my position. What would I be feeling if I were a fan? We’re giving strength to each other.

What kind of songs would you like to sing? Pretty fantasy songs like those from Disney movies. I want to sing a cover of the <Frozen> OST ‘For the First Time in Forever’.

That would suit Renjun well. What kind of person do you see as cool? Someone who knows who they are. Someone who is impressive even without talking, someone who doesn’t use perfume but still draws people in as if they smelled good. I want to become a person like this.

In that case is Renjun impressive? Hahaha. Although I like how I am now I need to become even better. 

What is something Renjun dreams of now? Self approval. One day I would also like to spend my life travelling around the world and looking at the beauty of it.

JENO 

What do you usually do in summer? Since debut we usually have a comeback in summer and promote. When I was little, my parents and I would always go to a valley. I like swimming. I even learned the butterfly stroke. I’m fairly good at it.

Your body is more solid than expected. I didn’t mean for it to become like this, but I really like sports. I like to make use of my body. I like going to the gym and because I love cycling I’ll occasionally ride to Han River or Yangpyeong. When I was little, I played table tennis and badminton pretty diligently. I usually remain motionless and use up all my energy at once. I’d rather put all my strength into it and then stay exhausted.

Are you competitive? Very. I think a lot about how to win anything. I feel uncomfortable when losing.

Are you goal-oriented? Having no goal makes you sluggish. I have to have a clear goal in order to systematically work hard towards achieving it. My current goal is showing how much I’ve matured for our next comeback. I monitor my seniors a lot. It’s great motivation. I want to become a person who is really good at one thing at least.

Who do you want to be most alike in fierceness? U-Know Yunho sunbaenim’s passion. It’d be hard to catch up, but I really want to be like him.

It’s surprising your name isn’t a stage name. Imperial “Je”(帝), hard work “No”(努). Do you like it? My maternal grandfather picked it. He named me that so I may receive strength from a higher position. I really like it. It’s not common. Haha. I feel the responsibility of living like my name.

Is your dream big? It’s more than high. It should be high. Since I was little, I liked to be praised and wanted to do things perfectly. Instead of praising myself, I always say, ‘No, you’re not there yet.’ I already receive enough compliments and support from our fans. I don’t even need to praise myself. You have to gain strength and train yourself with that support. 

You have a tall nose and defined jaw. Do you like your face? I’m not dissatisfied. Hahaha. I’ve been liking my tear mole these days. I wasn’t really conscious of it before, but lately I’m glad that I have it. If I didn’t have that tear mole, I think I’d give off too strong of an impression. Doesn’t it look good? Haha.

I remember Jeno from the Angpang Milk ad. He was a child model that everyone would remember when mentioned at the time. Back then, I was scared and cried all the time. When I came on set there were so many strangers, and when I was in front of the camera, I cried because I couldn’t see my mom. Hahaha. It got better once I found out the staff people weren’t scary people.

What were you like off-camera? Rather than going out and playing with friends, I liked studying and reading books. I studied very hard in elementary school. Come to think of it, I seem to really like doing things by myself. I enjoyed reading a series of youth novels, conducting scientific experiments, putting puzzles together, or assembling Lego. A homebody to this day. Haha.

What’s the fun part of creating something? A sense of accomplishment. There’s pride and satisfaction in saying ‘I did it!’ I’m a person for whom a sense of accomplishment is of great importance. I also like this sense of accomplishment when I get to prepare and show a performance.

Did having an early social life help you with promotions? Not being opposed to making eye contact with the camera, also smiling/laughing well. I often hear that I look cold when I’m expressionless, but when we are together, I always laugh and everyone knows the real me. Hahaha.

On the contrary, what was regretful about acting since a very young age? Nothing. I got a good opportunity and experienced a lot. Nothing to regret.

You have a strange sense of stability for your age. I’m not very emotional by nature. I don’t cry much and I rarely have mood swings. With other members being so animated and having so much character it may seem like that. But I’m not as calm as I look. I’m just the type to not show when I get irritated or hurt, I talk quietly after a while. I just unwind on my own and don’t want to make things uncomfortable.

They say you’re an ‘FM’ person who goes by the rules. It’s good to be certain about anything. I try my best to perform my duties properly.

What do the other members think what kind of person Jeno is? A reliable one. When I address important matters within the team, I talk about them naturally. Rather than relying on them, it’s like I’m passing on difficult questions… hahaha.

What kind of person do you think is impressive? Someone who does what they want, someone with room for development. First of all if a person does what they want they are less likely to give up, more than anything a person like this is happy.

Is Jeno impressive? I’m trying my best. But I am doing what I want and because I’m receiving support from so many people I am happy for sure. If 10 means the best (in terms of happiness) then it’s a 10.

You debuted as a teen and now you are 20. Do you think you’ve grown a little? My appearance and skills have grown but my mindset is still that of a kid. Thoughts and personality are the same. 

It’s like you’ve grown with the Dream members together without changing classes. Right. I can’t even imagine not having these friends. I’ve been seeing Jaemin for 7~8 years now though so I’m a little tired of him, hahaha. Kinda like even if we buy one thing, we buy it together. We have our own world.

What is Jeno dreaming of now? To become a cool person while being happy. 

JAEMIN

What do you usually do in the summer? I like sports you can do in the water. Jet skiing or riding a yacht. I can already ride a yacht by myself. Even though the summer is better than a cold winter, my favorite season is autumn.

Pretty with round eyes and a bright smile. What's your favorite thing about your face? I like my eyes the most. The fans caught on some details I didn't even know about, so I became more fond of my eyes.

How did you get the nickname ‘Nana’? It's 'Nana' because my name is Na Jaemin. It's pretty and I like it. It's a nickname that's been used since I was a trainee.

When you look at Jaemin, he seems to be someone who likes people and is full of love for humanity. It's been like that since I was born. There's no need to dislike someone when you meet them for the first time. Hahaha. I think relationships between people and friends are the most important part of life.

How is your relationship with the members? It's very solid. Since we lived together for 7~8 years, it is safe to say that we are family. We know each other so well, and can speak our minds right away without fighting. I can talk about things with my members, I can't tell my mother because I don't want her to worry, and lean on them.

You seem to have a lot of natural aegyo, were you born with it? I'm an only child so I received lots of love. It's not something I do on command, but my body expresses the affection my mom has given me since I was young. I want to be someone who gives back the love I received from the fans. When you have received love, you can now give love.

Are you athletic? My mother made me exercise a lot when I was young. I learned sports like speed skating, inline skating, snowboarding, and it suited me well. Once I started, I did it all day without knowing the passing of time. These days, I usually ride a bicycle with Jeno. If you go to the Hangang you can ride about 30km at a time. 

You seem to have endurance. It's in my personality to see it until the end. If what you want to do doesn't work out, keep going with the best of your abilities.

You seem very bright. The words keep pouring out. When I work I try my best to speak as much as possible, flaunt aegyo and show a bright image, but I don't speak much back at the dorm. I'm the type to pour out everything when I'm outside but will need to recharge when I'm home. My bed is my side battery. Hahaha. At home, I like to listen to songs alone, write or edit pictures.

You drink your coffee overly bitter and eat sweets overly sweet. That's right. It's a bit extreme. Hahaha. I do what I want to do! I dislike what I dislike. I'm that kind of type.

I heard you make Tangfuru for the members? Jisung and Chenle eat it especially well. These days I'm into T-bone steak and think about getting a sous vide machine. The kids like meat.

You look like someone who can take care of different things well I take care [of things/others/dreamies] really well. Hahaha. When they are hungry I will make something they want. When they say things like "Hyung, how to run the washing machine,' 'the boiler is not turned on,' 'the internet is not working,' I try to help as much as I can.

When you shot for <Arena> two years ago you were still a teenager, but now you're an adult. Do you think you've grown? I still have pictures of that time on my phone. Looking at the pictures that were taken today, it seems like I've grown up well. When I read the interview from 2 years ago again, I must've thought I was all grown up back then, hahaha. At 20 years old now, I think I'm still far from being grown up. I'm still young. There's still a lot to learn.

What was your dream when you were young? I never thought of becoming an idol. I was really shy back then. Originally my dream was to become a surgeon. When I was young I saw <Mysteries of the Human Body> and had such dreams. Haha. I wanted to save people!

You were cast while you were volunteering. Even after debuting, you continued to show support. I think I should give back to society as much as I have received. Since I was young my mom has told me "If you receive, you must know how to give back." It's normal for me, I used to donate in my name since I was really young.

What kind of person do you think is impressive? Someone who has more to offer on the inside than outside. Rather than being a flashy person I want to become someone solid with substance. 

What are your interests these days? To be honest I’m slow with trends. I find out about things like half a year later than others. These days we talk with the members about what content to show our fans when we’re inactive [not promoting]. I want to post my own pictures and self-edited videos so I’m teaching myself how to do it. Lately, I’ve been wanting to learn how to use photo editing software properly, but it’s difficult to deal with. 

Jaemin is known for taking good pictures. Hahaha. I uploaded pictures I took of the members yesterday and the fans liked it and told me my skills had improved. Since I'm getting praised I want to keep taking pictures and upload them.

It looks like you like to capture portraits more than landscapes. I love taking portraits. For example, trees always stand in a similar shape in the same place. But as for people, I can make them do whatever I want them to do and see various expressions continuously. I think that's much more attractive. It's fun to capture facial expressions, eyes, nose, and other features.

What kind of dreams do you have now? Dreams should be grand and certain. Always set high goals. My dream is to get many more of our fans who love us. And in order to do that I must work even harder. The pictorial we shot today has a distinct sexy feeling. So I hope you’ll enjoy it. Hahaha. 

Translation: Alex, Myeon, Esmee @ FY! NCT (NCTINFO) | Source: Arena HOMME+ — Do not repost or take out without our permission!