#i get the impression he’s just going to grow the blonde out so… frosted tips in a few months it is

[stardustravens]

I think everyone needs to come to terms with the fact that, by about halfway through TSC 2, Jeremy Knox is definitely going to have frosted tips.

[this-is-my-procrastination]

Obey Me Hair HCs

hiii, new writing blog here! i just wrote a bunch of hair hcs for the seven demon brothers, from haircuts to dyes to if mc really loves playing with their hair. 

Lucifer:

he would def go for a more sophisticated look

i could see him with an undercut

the type to keep his hair short to maybe medium length

if he dyed his hair it’d probably be subtle

he’s already got a black to grey ombre situation, but also it only shows in certain lighting so idk what his hair color is anymore ??

but black to grey suits his personality v well cause he’s got big reiji sakamaki energy

to change it up though, I could see him going for a dark brown dye

or white highlights (although that’s going into belphie territory)

if he did his hair so its like spiky then i’d love to see frosted tips but he’d hate that for sure

he’s the type to use gel since he likes to be clean and maintain his appearance

i feel like he’s protective of his hair so i don’t think he’d let you touch it easily

like he would feel very soothed if you run your hand through his hair

but he has to be super relaxed to let it happen because he usually has to be on alert in case diavolo needs him

Mammon:

ok Mammon’s a scruffy dude so i can’t see him putting too much effort into styling his hair

that or he tries too hard bc he wants to impress you

the type to run his hand through his hair often (he thinks it’s cool shhh)

to fit his color scheme i could see him dying part of his hair yellow, but ehhh

maybe a honey or strawberry blond would look good on him

for haircuts, i feel like he’d look good with anything

i could see him getting a messy fringe with a low fade

it just suits his nerdy, lovable messiness so well

would also be fine with a quiff

it is CANON this guy loves his head to be touched

head rubs + pats for daysss

will be tsundere about it at first bc he’s mammon, but don’t fall for it !

the minute your fingers make contact with his head, he is soft baby and all yours

melts into your hand like wow

will miss it when you stop, but he also doesn’t want to show it so he’ll just sit there pouting until you restart

Leviathan:

this boy has to take care of his hair

i mean have you seen it? it’s smooth af and very cute

he usually wears wigs when cosplaying, but I’m sure he’s dyed his hair before to match a character

i could see an ocean blue fitting well if he dyed his hair, it’d also match his eyes because blue and yellow are soo pretty together

his normal hairstyle fits him, but i think he’d be down for anything

if it’s for the sake of an accurate cosplay, he’ll do it bro

would probs be jealous of mammon for having white hair since he could dye it so many different colors

wow i can see levi with a textured crop top fade

or if he curled his bangs

his natural hair is straight, but if he musses it up a little and adds some texture it would look so nice

another head pat simp

would love for you to comb your fingers through his hair

c’mon his hair is SO smooth why would you ever refuse

he will think he’s bothering you, but pls reassure him that you do it because you want to

he’ll give in almost immediately because it feels so comforting for him

will shyly ask for more

Satan:

this dude is class with a side of savage/petty but i don’t think he pays much attention to his hair

i think he’d rather read books than worry about his appearance

he’ll leave that for lucifer to worry about lol

so he’d probably have medium, messy-ish hair

if he did a different haircut, maybe a low fade with sideswept hair on top

also not the type to dye his hair, but i could possibly see him dying it the ugliest color to make luci angry

maybe an ugly green or a brassy red

is satan that petty?

yep

if you tried to run your hands through this guy’s hair, i don’t think he’d necessarily mind, BUT

if he sees it coming and knows you want it, he would def avoid your hand just to watch you pout at him

this man’s a tease, i say

but yea he wouldn’t mind, but he would hold it over your head and tease you about it so try to play with his hair at your own risk

he would genuinely enjoy it if you did it just absentmindedly while reading, like that would make him blush at first but then he’d calm down and just appreciate the moment as y’all read together

Asmodeus:

oh boy

i mean this guy loves to experiment with skincare and makeup so he’d love to test stuff on his hair too, right?

wrong

i think he’d be really picky about the products he uses on his hair

his hair is fluffy to the max and he’d want to keep his hair lookin’ light and touchable

i think he’d love to curl his hair every so often

might even cut it into the eboy haircut because he would def love tiktok

i don’t think he’d dye his hair just because he wants to keep his hair as healthy as possible

but he might cave just for the experience every now and then, and dye some lighter brown shades into parts of his hair

i can’t really see him dying his whole head a different color though

even though he’s picky about hair products, this boi loves touching (obviously lol)

pls touch his hair, this is the reason he keeps it so fluffy (also the aesthetic)

would love for you to just shower him with attention

not just his hair, but other places on his body too ;)

Beelzebub:

this boi is baby or whateva

doesn’t care about his hair very much

but tell me why i cant get the thought of a beel w/ a man bun out of my head

he works out a lot and if he’s not exercising he’s probs eating, so he doesn’t want hair that needs a lot of upkeep

the type to cut it super short but then just let it grow and grow until-

man bun :)

that or a messy quiff dude

like i said before, this man really could not care less as long as he’s getting food so if you wanna touch his head, i don’t think he’d mind

if you can reach, that is

he’s a mountain so it’d be difficult, but he’s our benevolent savior so he’d lean down a teeny bit so you can just barely reach his head

that or you’d sit on the couch with him sitting on the floor between your legs eating snacks, and you’ll just play with his hair

he’ll enjoy the feeling of your fingers givin’ him a head massage

comfy, full, and being cuddled

that’s all beel wants in life tbh

Belphegor:

bedhead ftw

he’s got some white ends in his hair already so he’s ahead of the game

i can’t see him putting in too much effort to change his look

i mean he literally let his hair grow over his right eye so he can’t even see out of it

that just goes to show this dude be lazy

cannot be bothered with any fancy haircuts

would have a long fringe for sure

i think he just prefers having longer hair because it’s more comfy for him

also more hair = softer = better sleeps

also also it’s just convenient

i don’t think he’d like having a fade or any kind of comb over

he’d prefer just a tousled, fluffy look that’d look presentable even if he just got out of bed (literally)

cause when he gets ready in the morning i can’t see him doing more to his hair than maybe combing through it once lol

def would adore you for running your fingers through his hair

he thinks it’s very soothing as he falls asleep

squeezes you even tighter if y’all are cuddling when you start doing it

he’ll be confused at first but grow to like it very quickly, even demanding it at certain points

[explororshy]

New Year {Bakugou Katsuki x Reader}

(A/N): Sooo, this is one of my fics on DA, but it’s the first one I’m gonna be uploading on Tumblr! It’s pretty old, but I thought I’ll start with this here :) A fluffy one for Katsu 

I really hope you all like it!! Please let me know what you thought of it, I would be happy to take constructive criticism <3 

also, this fic is dedicated to the lovely @annoy-ng-draws​ <33 she’s my number one supporter lol luv ya baby xx

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

Genre: Fluff 

Time Period: Third year of highschool 

Warnings: none apart from it being super fluffy!

Word count: 1.1k words 

P.S.  I tried to incorporate some Japanese traditions and beliefs I'm aware of in this, I apologise if I got them or the words wrong in this, please let me know if I did! (also req are open for BNHA!)

Enjoy!!

You grabbed the woolen-knit scarf draped over your desk chair and wrapped it around your neck. Slinging your bag over your shoulder, you walked out of your dorm room, glad that the central heating was working again. 

A cold New Year's eve was as bad as it sounds, but luckily your class 3-A partied the night away, too wild to notice.

A small smile made it's way onto your face knowing that your boyfriend had gone to sleep way earlier than what is legal on New Year's eve. Your smile widened slightly when you saw him leaning against the front door, nose buried in his own red scarf which you had knit for him as a Christmas present.

"Katsuki," You said softly, placing your hand comfortably in his.

"What took you so long, idiot?" He muttered, finally walking out into the cold, his hand leading your's. Sighing, you said a quiet apology, knowing how much you both had been looking forward to this day.

January 1. Your first New Year shrine visit as a couple.

A shrine visit was something Katsuki never liked to do, much less as a couple. Earlier it used to be just a hassle for him, but he agreed to go with you without hesitation. There was something very calming and mundane about it, which he won't ever admit. 

You looked around at the frost on bare branches, the snow lying in small heaps on the street lamps, giving off a light ethereal glow. The chilly air swayed the naked branches with a gentle touch, while you glanced at the slightly dark sky. The first day was going to be a busy day, so you two wanted to visit the shrine before it started getting crowded.

"Katsuki?"

"What?"

"What will you wish for?" You asked, wrapping your free hand around his bicep, laying your head on his shoulder. He glanced down at you briefly, seemingly lost in thought. You nudged his jaw with your head waiting for an answer.

He shook his head, placing your intertwined hands in his coat pocket, "If I tell you, it won't come true."

Standing before the torii gate, you both bowed and entered, walking up the steps and veering off towards the temizuya (*water basin at shrines) to rinse your hands. The water was freezing cold, you could feel the numbness spreading when the water splashed against your palm. The huge tree towering above almost seemed alive, its sturdy branches still full with leaves, waving down at you.

Sticking close to Katsuki's side, you felt lucky knowing that your man was so unnaturally warm, it was too good a perk especially during the winter season. The shrine was bathed in early morning light, a few early risers with similar intentions already there. You both dropped a goen (*5 yen) into the coin box, it was a sweet tradition that the coin was supposed to bring good luck. 

The wind was picking up as you two walked inside after taking off your shoes. Standing close, your shoulders were almost touching. The inside was warm with a delicate scent swimming lazily, it relaxed your cold nerves. Bowing twice, you glanced sideways at your boyfriend. 

The serene expression accompanied by a small smile on his face stole your breath away, and as you both clapped twice to make a wish, your mind was flooded with just one word, one person. Katsuki.  

It was like sunlight was flooding through you, filling up every empty space in your body. At that moment, when he turned to look at you, your happiness felt like a sweet flute melody, gentle and comforting. 

Affectionate silence filled the words you two felt, it melded itself into the way Katsuki adjusted your scarf or the way he payed close attention to your feet while walking down the frost covered stone steps.

The wonderful smell of delicious snacks from stalls outside wafted your way as you walked out of the shrine. The two of you bought an omikuji (*fortune, oracle) each. Tying your bad fortune slip to eliminate the bad luck, you groaned as Katsuki wrapped an arm around your waist in comfort.

"This sucks," You pouted, burying your face into his neck, hands loosely linked around his back.

"I know, sucks to be you," He barked out a laugh, though his hands still ran up and down your back in a comforting gesture.

"Katsuki don't be mean in god's house, he'll put you on the naughty list," You glared at him and pulled back, stalking off towards a stall where a few ema (*wooden plaques for wish making) were hanging from hooks. People had now started pouring in waves, the chatter around growing louder.

"That's supposed to be Santa you brat," He rolled his eyes and followed you, accepting a marker the kind old man offered the two of you. Picking up a small wooden plaque, he scribbled something on it. You stood on the tips of your toes trying to get a peek, but Katsuki pushed your face away, turning to the other side to finish writing. 

Huffing, you wrote your own wish, smiling at it while hanging it on the highest hook you could reach on the wooden panel.

"Ne, Katsuki, tell me! What did you wish for?" You asked, eyes shining up at him. He only scoffed, flipping the plaque to the other side before you could see. You whined, trying to grab it from his hands, irritated that he wouldn't show you. He easily placed it on the actual highest hook before you could snatch it, grinning down at you, his height spurt made him tower over you and he loved it. You glared up at him, arms crossed across your chest.

"You brat!" You growled in your best Katsuki impression, face contorting into fake rage - it was way off and not accurate at all. You could see the amusement in his eyes as he lifted up his eyebrows. 

Bending down towards you slightly he wondered loudly, "Haaahhh? What was that? Did you just call me a brat, you brat?"

"S-so what if I did?" You chuckled, nervous at how his lips brushed against yours, sending shivers down your back.

"So this," He said and pressed his lips to your own. Katsuki's kisses were rough most times just like his personality. They were always loving yet charged, with an underlying current like that of a swiftly running river... but this one was different. It was more of a still lake. It was calm, it was loving and it was content. It enveloped you with a sense of safety.

Pulling back, you registered the morning glow around the shrine in a daze, Katsuki grinning at you, eyes closed in this rare smile, his blond hair fluttering very slightly, a small blush on his face.

"Let's go and get some food now to calm your monstrous appetite."

"Katsuki I keep telling you! You gotta stop sayin' stuff that's gonna put you on the naughty list!"

"I told you, that's for Santa, you dumbfuck!"

"Kaaatsuuki!"

Sunlight slowly worked its way up, falling on the stall you both had left behind.

His wish?

I already got her. Just help me keep her happy or whatever. Thanks.

[softlyblues]

The music wraps around the trees, hanging off the branches, playing with the dangling leaves and teasing the sky. It pours down to meet me, hanging off my fingertips, dancing along my shoulders, and the cold heat of it makes me shiver, makes me yelp in fear and discomfort. Something is running to find me, and I am out of breath - I can no longer outrun it.

I don’t know what it is. All I know is that I need to escape it, them, him, her, or I won’t leave the woods alive. 

***

The first impression I get of Ireland is the first impression most people get of Ireland. It is raining and it is cold, and the sun is hidden behind thick grey clouds, and the wet is seeping into my boots and through the strip of fabric between my hood and my neck. My knuckles are blue around the handle of my suitcase, and my thumbs have turned white without circulation. 

“This is the house,” says the man driving the car we’re in, the window-wipers scraping tunefully across the windscreen every half-second to combat the downpour.

He is called Joshua Raleigh, and he’s who I’ve been in contact with over the last year to finalise the purchase of the aforementioned house. Today is the first time I’ve met him, and I’m surprised - my head had conjured a greasy estate agent, red-cheeked and wet-haired, hair dye and cheap suits, and Raleigh is none of those things. He’s young and sandy blonde and he’s wearing an unbranded red polo neck with bleached blue jeans, muddy at the cuffs. A wedding ring on his finger, and a hole in his left ear where a piercing must normally sit. 

Part of our agreement had been that he pick me up at Dublin Airport and drive me the rest of the way to the house, and I’d been dreading small talk with the real estate agent of my nightmares, but the drive has been quite pleasant - weather chat, talk about families, about Ireland, about how much Raleigh enjoys working around the little village I’m moving to. About his wife, his newborn baby. 

“Where?” I ask. All I see outside are trees, turning golden. Toast in the mornings.

Trees, and rain. 

“Through there - the drive is pretty long, but you’ll see it in two seconds,” Raleigh leans forward over the steering wheel and smiles, top teeth sticking out over his bottom lip. “There!”

I copy his pose, peering around the trunk of a peeling tree, curiosity itching out at me. I’ve only seen the house in pictures, and Raleigh’s been more than accommodating with a digital camera and the services of gmail, but seeing it in person is different. The house, the whole reason I’ve uprooted and left without much of a word to anyone. 

He says house, but in truth it’s more of a cottage. Nestled in the woods near the village of Kilnaloe, it stands a little rough and ready, surrounded by hedge plants gone wild, birch trees far taller than the house itself, ivy wrapping around the doorframe like a green embrace. It’s grey stone, and would look a bit forbidding if not for the shiny yellow door, the cheerful square windows, the red bricks squaring off the corners. The leaded roof; the squat chimney. It peers from between the trees like a curious animal, not particularly frightened of us, like it knows it’s stronger than us.

“Is it what you thought?” Raleigh has pulled up on the leafy patch by the door, a place I can imagine parking. He’s smiling across the car at me. 

“Absolutely,” I breathe, my hands fisted in the material of my shirt so as not to do something really stupid, like flail and whack Raleigh in the face. “It looks just like the pictures!”

He laughs softly. “I can give you your key now, if you’d like. You can ring me if you want a lift into town proper - I know you didn’t get that much notice, and if you want to sort something out at the car dealership -”

“I’ll ring you,” I promise. I’ve google-mapped it, and the walk from the cottage into Kilnaloe is just less than an hour, doable if I fancy killing time. Raleigh has already done so much for me, from the pickup at the airport to the endless emails and negotiating on my behalf, and I fancy the idea of a walk through the place I intend to stay in, and finally make home. 

“So you want the keys now?”

“If you don’t mind.”

Raleigh gets out of the car and slams the door, and I follow suit, my brown boots crunching the brown leaves into the brown mud, different shades convalescing into one. “Miss Delilah Hale,” he says, jokingly sincere, “It is my utmost pleasure that I, Joshua Raleigh, should present to you the keys of your new estate. My deepest wish is for you to enjoy it as the occupants of the mists of time did before you-”

I hold my hand out, palm up, smiling. “Thanks for the speech.”

When he drops the keys into my hand, already keyringed with a little Raleigh & Simpson Estates fob, I shake them to hear the jingle. “Call me Lilah,” I add, as I’ve already had to remind him once at the airport. “Please.”

“Lilah, then,” he says. “Do you want me to show you around? Check everything is in order? The movers came a bit earlier than we thought, but we got the boxes in all right and there’s no damp in the house.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” I assure him, and although he seems eager to help me I can’t help but notice the way he shifts from foot to foot. It’s been a three hour drive from Dublin, and he must have been up ridiculously early to make the drive on time and collect me. “I can show myself around just fine if you want to go home-”

“But ring me-”

“And I’ll ring you if I need anything,” I finish. “Thank you.”

“You have my number?”

“I have your number,” I wave my phone at him. Joshua Raleigh New House is how he’s saved in my contacts, although there isn’t anyone else I could confuse him with, what with the embarrassingly short length of the list of numbers. “Can I grab my-?”

“Oh, yeah!”

He lifts out my travelling case from his boot, setting it gently in the frosted mud, the airport stickers already peeling and fraying from the curled handle. “Grand?”

“I’ll ring you,” I say again, and he laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his short-shorn hair. In the three hours we’ve spoken in person, he’s come across as friendly to the extreme, careful and wary, and pleased to have finally met me. 

The sound of his car is quick to fade through the woods when he’s finally reassured enough to leave, the trees swallowing the noise whole with their rustling, smoothing it over like disturbed dirt after a funeral. Back to silence. Not quite - back to the noise of the woods, and the trees, growing and whispering and settling in their own pace, taking no notice of me or my case or the cottage or the keys, a world so removed they couldn’t care less. It’s peaceful. 

It’s exactly what I asked for. 

Inside the cottage is just like the pictures I made Raleigh take for me, countless angles and times of day and positions of furniture and so on, from the first time I saw the cottage on his website until just a few weeks before my plane landed in Dublin. Part of the charm was - is - that it comes furnished, and I don’t have to mess around with visits to Ikea and DFS and Argos and the Salvation Army looking for discarded chairs and ugly tables and stupid novelty light fixtures to turn something bare into a home, something I know I don’t have the energy for. 

So. The cottage. Inside the door I kick off my boots, setting them under the little hall table, a place where a landline phone sits off its hook, a little sticky notepad rests dust-covered and half-used, and a mirror hangs over, framed in silver wiring and hardly spotting at all. It’s too dusty to properly see through, though, and I wipe my finger on the surface: Lilah, I write, like a child breathing on a bus window to draw pictures on a cold morning. Through the lettering I see only glimpses of myself; the orange scarf I’m wearing, the red cold of the tip of my nose, the wisps of reddish-brown escaping from the ponytail I tied my hair in this morning.

I move further in. 

Raleigh is right, my moving boxes have arrived before me; they’re strewn halfway up the carpeted stairs, all across the hall, and spill into the two doors on the bottom floor as well. I never thought I had that many things until I had to pack them all away, silly useless collections that come from having been alive for a decade or three, things I couldn’t get rid of. Books and toys and clothes and clutter. 

I pop my head into the dark kitchen, cast my eyes over the oak table, the few chairs scattered around the flagstone floor, the oil cooker nestled in the hearth, ash turned to rock there from years of abandonment. Familiar to me from Raleigh - 

As is the other room on the ground floor, a large wooden-floored living room with seventies sofas spread out in front of the empty fireplace, paintings of muddy cows hanging on the wall, embroidered home samplers framed in their messy hoops, hung on withering strings. Now I’m excited to explore, and now I know I’m properly alone - 

Up the stairs. They creak comfortingly under my socks. Bedroom, bathroom, tiny study, a little storage space for the clutter. Spiders move away from my invasion, my rude disturbance into their home, and I do my best not to knock them from their spaces. There’s a bed, a heavy queen nestled in the crook of the far wall, where the roof slopes most severely, and I’ll need to get sheets and a proper duvet before I can sleep there tonight. Chest of drawers, wardrobe, mirror, carpeted floor, another fireplace with the grate hooked high against the empty space. A bookshelf mostly empty. 

The study is much the same, a sturdy oak desk under a window that gives me a view of the trees outside. Branches tap at the glass, seeking entry. A bookshelf, a few paintings, dark wooden floorboards. It’s pretty and airy all the same, the wallpaper yellow with a pattern of faded pink roses, delightfully seventies. 

Although none of it is really new to me, what with Raleigh’s pictures, it’s enough to make me smile happily, spread my hands over the windowsill burdened with bluebottle corpses. At last I’m here - here to stay. 

__________

so that’s the intro! i’m doing something completely new to me, which is original fiction in first person with a female main character... so i have to keep on brand in the big things. ireland, celtic gods, the woods, you know the drill. i had a lot of fun writing delilah and though she’s a little stiff in these first few parts, she comes into her own! joshua raleigh is also a cool dude. i hope you enjoyed this little excerpt! 

(twitter sweetlyblue) (ao3 softlyblue) (dm for commission details)

[scapegrace74-blog]

Vacationland

A/N  Written for the 50 States of Sex collaboration so brilliantly thought up by @viceversawrites and @softnow.  I picked Maine, since I just visited this summer.  Set during that vague timeframe that is post-Per Manum flashback, pre-Requiem.  A bit of angst, but hopefully just enough to add some depth to what is otherwise pretty much a fluffy PWP.  Rated NC-17, ‘natch.

It was possible that after many years of miscommunication, frustration and upset plans, it was time for Fox Mulder and Logan Airport to call it quits and go their separate ways.

He stared at the digital terminal display, lit up with row after row of on-time departures.   All except the last remaining flight to Bangor, which had been winking a smug fifty minute delay for the past three hours.   Outside their gate, the New England sky was a tint of robin’s egg blue only witnessed in early September when school was back in session.  He remembered it well.

He paced back to where his partner sat, poised and still, staring out the concourse window at nothing.  Her hands were folded in her lap as though in prayer, and he made a mid-second correction in course.

“I don’t think our plane is ever showing up, Scully.  It’s a regional carrier - maybe they only fly when it’s foggy enough.”

She didn’t react to his stand-up routine, so he took matters into his own hands and lifted the handle on her roller bag.  That got her attention.

“Mulder, what the hell?  This is our gate.  When the plane gets here, they’re not going to wait for us.”

“The plane’s not coming, Scully.  Let’s grab a rental car and drive up.  Bangor’s about four hours’ away on the interstate, and four hours in a moving vehicle will feel like heaven, after an afternoon in purgatory at Logan.”

She didn’t acquiesce, but she didn’t stay staring at the blank canvas of the sky either.  He considered that a win.

***

“This isn’t the interstate, Mulder.”

Scully had dozed off somewhere near the New Hampshire border, and he’d taken the next exit to the coast road.   They’d been averaging thirty miles an hour through one white clapboard hamlet after another since then.

“You’re very observant, Scully.  You should consider a career in law enforcement.”

“Very funny.  But seriously, where are we?  It’s 6pm - we should be nearly in Bangor by now.”   

Scully woke up grumpy.  He had years of experience devising counter-measures; everything from grande cups of her favourite dark roast to humorous observations of local law enforcement.  More recently, he’d developed a technique that included plucking her nipples like a harp and then anchoring his head between her thighs until she levitated, but he couldn’t very well do that and still drive.  He handed her a blueberry fritter, still warm in its brown paper bag.

“We’re not nearly in Bangor,” he ventured after she’d inspected the treat.

“I can see that.”  Her tone mellowed as she licked homemade lemon frosting from the tip of each finger.

“We’re actually closer to Wells.  I decided to take the scenic route.  We can grab a room here and still get to Bangor tomorrow in time for our ten o’clock interview.”  

He glanced in her direction, trying to judge how this change in plans was landing.   Scully could usually be counted on to let her strict professionalism lapse when he was the only witness, but she’d gone far inside herself these past few weeks, and he couldn’t blame her.  This was his first attempt to coax her back out of her shell.

“A room, Mulder?  A room, singular?  We’re on the clock.”   She was still prickly and resistant, however, and he found it endlessly heartening.   A passive Scully was no Scully at all.

“Well, that clock had us landing in Bangor five hours ago.  Right now, Agent Mulder and Agent Scully are sitting in their adjacent hotel rooms, chastely reviewing their case notes before retiring to their separate beds.   You and I are grabbing a room in Wells.  It’s September.  Any one of these little roadside motels will have a vacancy.”

“A roadside motel?  You really know how to treat a girl, Mulder.” 

He made eye contact and gave her his best attempt at a sexy grin.   He might know next to nothing about how to treat girls, plural, but he was the world’s leading expert on how to treat this one.

***

The little efficiency cottage was basic, but clean.  They changed out of their travelling suits and into casual clothes before walking, hand-in-hand, up the main road through town.

“What exactly are you looking for, Mulder?   These places all serve lobster.”

“Spoken like a true non-Yankee, Scully.   There’s lobster, and then there’s lob-stah.   I’ll know it when I see it.”

The restaurant had been there so long its shingle siding had weathered to a nondescript grey.  You ordered at a take-out window, then ate at a collection of ramshackle picnic tables, spread on a sloping lawn overlooking the estuary.

They sat on the same seat bench, facing the marsh that dimmed into darker and darker shadows of green as the setting sun released the day.  The lobster rolls were fresh and buttery, served with coleslaw and house-made pickles, and washed down by pints of pale blond beer.   It was, in his estimation, the perfect meal.

Scully’s left hand crept over and stole his last pickle.   Her hair was molten copper where the last rays of light caught it.   He took a deep breath of salt air, then exhaled.

***

“I would, Mulder, but I don’t have my bathing suit.   The hotel in Bangor - you know, the one where Agent Scully is staying right now - doesn’t have a pool.”

“Just go in your underwear.  It’s dark out, and I doubt there’ll be anyone else swimming at this hour.  This place empties out after Labour Day.”

He saw her struggle with propriety, and decided to stack the deck in his favour.  He stripped off his shirt and jeans.   He heard the little catch in her breath as he briefly bared his naked backside before donning his swim trunks.  

In the three weeks since the last IVF attempt had ended in a whirlpool of blood and tears, they hadn’t made love.  He was a psychologist, and he knew Scully was dealing with a lot of anger and ambivalence over her body’s failure to provide refuge for even one of their offspring.  He doubted she’d even noticed, but she’d ceased to trim her nails, hadn’t gone to the gym, and her roots were growing in: all signs that she was denying her body loving care in the way it had denied her a child.  So her reaction to his nakedness, no matter how minute, was reassuring.

“Oh, alright.  But if I get arrested for public indecency, I’m taking you and those ridiculous board shorts down with me!”

***

The small fenced pool was tucked between the line of cottages and a copse of pine trees.  You couldn’t see the ocean, but you could make out the dull thrum of its eternal give and take.   A single flood light triggered by a motion sensor lit the shallow end, and the water itself glowed aquamarine from a series of underwater lights.

Scully was wrapped in one of the motel’s scrawny bath towels.   She looked furtively towards the curtained windows that overlooked the pool.  Other than their own, none of the cottages showed signs of habitation, so she slowly released the tuck of the towel and draped it over the fence.

She had lost weight.  He could see it in the sharp nip of her waist and the loose fit of her panties.  Still, she was pale and lovely as the moon, and he was struck anew by the juxtaposition of tenderness and lust she brought out in him.  Thinking a tented swimsuit might betray his intentions, he jumped feet first into the deeper end of the pool, appreciating the coolness against his heated skin.

“How is it?”   Cautious as ever, Scully was descending the steps slowly, and he grieved the slow disappearance of her body until he realized the underwater illumination acted like an aqueous spotlight, lighting her up from below.

“Come over here and find out,” he beckoned her towards the deeper water.

She dove fluidly beneath the surface, re-emerging two feet in front of him like a modern-day naiad, cedar-hued hanks of hair and eyes bluer than the sky that afternoon.

“Mmmm, this was a good idea, Mulder.  Thank you.”  She brushed against him, skin polished and warm, and dropped a chlorine kiss on his lips.   He tried to pull her closer, but she pushed hard against the wall and floated away with a laugh.

They paddled languorously as the curious moon rose above the pines.  The floodlight had long subsided into darkness.   Scully drifted easily on her back, nipples and pubic hair umbra signals to his baser self through the opaque cotton covering.  His cock twitched in the loose confines of his trunks, despite the coolish water.  He could feel the tug of something primeval, dark and instinctual, coming from the endless wilderness to the north.  This is your mate, it said.

As she drifted within reach, he pulled her easily into his embrace, kissing the damp from her eyelashes and cheeks.  She settled her arms over his shoulders, light as a feather in the water’s buoyancy.

“I love kissing you, Scully,” he murmured between pecks.  She chuckled at his juvenile admission.

“Yes, I got that impression.   I love kissing you too, Mulder.”  She licked his chin, to emphasize her point.  He growled and initiated a hungrier kiss, holding her  against him in the the ebb and flow of a subtle current, where she could certainly feel the physical proof that he wasn’t exaggerating.

“Is this okay?” he asked as he made his way down her arched neck, one hand now gripping her ass beneath the clinging fabric of her panties.

“Mmm, very okay.  I missed this.  Even when everything else feels wrong, you’re the only thing that still makes sense, Mulder.”  She gasped out his name as he nipped her earlobe.

“That’s how I know you’re my one in five billion.  You’re the only person who’d ever assert that I make sense,” he teased.

“What I don’t understand is why I make sense to you.  Especially now...”

“Oh, Scully.  Are you serious?  You mean besides the fact that you’re the most stunning woman alive, and you put up with all of my shit?  How about this - you’re the only person who already is what I want my future to be.”

She leaned back and observed him, limpid and wet, as though measuring the truth of his statement.  Then, holding his head very still between her ragged fingernails, she kissed him deeper than all the oceans combined.  

By the time they broke for air, they were mindlessly thrusting together, the surrounding water adding an erotic slickness to their movement.

“God, I want you.  Is it too soon?” he gasped.

“No. I don’t think so.  It’s okay.  Let’s go back to the room.”   She was panting like a frightened animal and pawing at the waist of his shorts.

“Mmm, no.  Here.  God, Scully.”  This as her hands finally worked the knot at his waistband loose and dove inside to grab his cock.

“Mul-derrrrrr, we can’t.  Bacteria, lubrication.  C’mon.” She nodded towards the stairs, trying to encourage him into shallower water.

“I know what I’m doing.  You trust me, don’t you Scully?”

Without waiting for her response, he lifted her even higher in the water, so her crotch rubbed his navel.  He shunted his shorts downwards until they dropped to his ankles and he flicked them away.   Tucking her knees beneath his armpits, he lifted the gusset of her panties out of the way, then slid his aching cock into the tight hot space between cotton and skin.

“Like this.  See?  Like this.  Outside.  Oh shit Scully.”  He was frantic already, the head of his cock sliding up the seam of her body, over her clit and then against the elastic membrane of her underwear.  It felt amazing.

“Jesus, Mulder.  Where did you...? Nevermind.  Just keep, yeah.  Ohmygod yeah.”   She had her elbows braced on the pool deck, her torso leaning away from him to create just the right angle for each exquisite slide.   Her head fell limply backwards, chin tipping towards the night sky as she moaned so deeply he felt it inside his body.

“Fuck, Scully.  So good, baby.  So fucking good.”

He wasn’t going to last at this rate.  He looked into the water to see the obscene bulge of the head of his cock advancing and retreating beneath the cotton’s opaque skin.  Shit, that wasn’t helping.   One hand dove down, pushing himself even deeper into her slit with each thrust, letting the ridge stroke over her hood until she let out a sharp yelp and began thrashing against him in ecstasy, stirring up a tiny tempest of waves between them.

“That’s it, Scully.  Fucking come for me.  Come on me.”

He grasped himself through the material, gave two quick tugs, and released what felt like a thousand lifetimes of fervour onto her skin.  His agonized groan tapered off to a whispery chuckle.

“Fuck, I have the best ideas.”

***

Showered and tucked into bed, pink and boneless, he thought Scully was already asleep when she asked,  “Do you really see your future in me, Mulder?  Even now?”

He tightened his hold around her shoulders, tucking the damp crown of her head beneath his chin.

“They say the only thing that can make sense of the past is the future, Scully.  You’re the only answer I want to find.”

[drbtinglecannon]

Visiting hours

The super nice @risedphenix requested a Huwumi fic where Miruko gets hurt and Hawks finds out while he's with Fuyumi.

I haven't posted any fanfics in a month because I haven't been happy with anything I've made and just keep losing inspiration with WIPs. I finally finished this idea and I'm pretty content with it, I really hope you like it! Sorry it took so long to finish!! Read it here on Ao3.

(Hawks is named 'Takasu Tsubasa' until Horikoshi says otherwise which apparently HE WON'T, so.)

---

The loud buzzing of Hawks’ cell phone interrupts Fuyumi’s giggle fit.

She lowers her volume and quickly suppresses the laughter with a hand over her mouth, a look of disappointment in her eyes. Hawks gives her an apologetic smile while leaning back in his seat a little to slip his phone out of his pocket.

When the phone is in his hand he peers down at it, squinting at the screen and racking his mind trying to think who it could be.

“Is it your agency?" Fuyumi asks in a soft voice. This wouldn't be the first movie night Hawks was whisked away during.

“Nah, I actually don't know who it is...maybe I should let it go to voicemail.”

Fuyumi purses her lips for a second, then shakes her head. “I think you should answer, it could be important.”

Hawks meets her eyes with a pout, drawing an affectionate huff from the woman. “I know, 'I’m important too’, but you're a pro hero and you have a duty to help others.” She gently takes his free hand and laces her fingers with his, giving a reassuring squeeze.

“Ok, ok." Hawks agrees. He swipes the call button right and brings the phone up to his ear. “Hello?"

“Hello, is this Takasu-san?" A professional sounding voice greets.

Hawks furrows his brows and shrugs when Fuyumi cocks her head, clearly curious of who was on the other end of the call. “Yes, may I help you?"

“I’m calling with the Mustafa Municipal Hospital, a woman by the name of Usagiyama Rumi was admitted and she has you down as her emergency contact.” The calm voice explains.

“Is she ok?!" Hawks shoots up off the couch so quickly he almost knocked Fuyumi onto the floor.

He holds the receiver away from his face to whisper frantic apologies at her. She hushes him with quiet reassurances that she's fine then points at his phone to continue the call.

“She’s stable, but her injuries will take time to heal.” The voice says tactifully. “If you wish to come visit I would suggest the sooner the better. Visiting hours are until 9pm.”

“Right, yeah, I'm on my way." Hawks hangs up, not sparing a thought on manners, and turns to Fuyumi with his hand extended. “Hospital, Mustafa Municipal, now.”

Fuyumi reaches for the offered hand instantly. "H-hospital?”

"Miruko's hurt.” Hawks elaborates as he pulls her to her feet.

"What??” Fuyumi gasps. "Will she be ok? Is it critical??"

“Said she's stable.” Hawks already rushed over to the balcony door and is shimmying his coat on over his small wings while haphazardly tossing his slippers off. He toes on his boots as the crimson feathers funnel onto his back before he continues. “Visiting hours end in the next hour."

He grabs the handle and is about to pull it open when a hand lands on his shoulder and lightly tugs. “Wait, let's take a moment---"

“We don't have time!” Hawks snaps, whirling around to be face to face with her.

Fuyumi doesn't flinch at his outburst, instead just calming watching as his fully formed wings twitch impatiently in sync with his breathing.

“Tsubasa, the hospital isn't going anywhere. We’re only about fifteen minutes away from the Mustafa Municipal by car, let alone by flight. Let's take a moment to bring her something to help make her more comfortable.” Fuyumi explains in a level-headed tone. She releases his shoulder and wanders back into the apartment, not giving him the chance to argue.

Hawks throws his head back with a noisy groan but drops his hand off the door handle.

He crosses his arms and bounces on his heels, trying to work out some of his tension. There's some noise from further in the apartment, however the hero is too preoccupied with fidgeting by the door so he can dash out the second Fuyumi comes back to go investigating.

Fuyumi returns a moment later (to Hawks, it felt like hours) with a purple sweatshirt draped over her arm and a family sized bag of vegetable chips in hand. “Ok, let me get my shoes on."

“Where did you get those?”

Fuyumi nudges him out of the way so she can take her slippers off and slide on her flats. “Miruko left her hoodie here last week, and I bought some snacks I knew she liked since she drops by so often and always complains about all the junk food you eat.”

“I burn a lot of calories flying! Junk food is cheap, easy, and high in 'em.” He explains defensively and pulls his arms closer around himself.

“I know.” Fuyumi smiles softly at him. “Alright, I'm ready.”

"Thank you, let's go!” Hawks slides the door open and ushers Fuyumi out first, then follows after and slides it back shut.

He places his hands on her back and behind her knees, swings her up into his arms, and leaps into the air. His wings gather wind under them and they soar off towards the hospital. Fuyumi has to direct Hawks to the correct one while they're in the air; there are too many hospitals with the city name in them, plus he's not paying much attention to where he's going, just focusing on moving quickly. The moment they get there he drops her to her feet a little too roughly and drags her by the hand through the entrance.

It feels as if an eternity has passed by the time the two finish checking in, navigating the halls for Miruko's room, and finally knock on her door.

Hawks slowly opens it and pokes his head in. “Hey, you up?"

“Hey..." Miruko weakly mumbles from her bed.

He swings the door open the rest of the way and they walk towards the bed. They share a grimace at the state of the rabbit hero; her right leg is in a cast and hung on a sling, both arms and left leg are completely covered in bandages, and her face has a comically large band-aid slapped on her cheek.

“Geez, the fuck happened to you?" Hawks blurts out while inching closer. He rests his hands on the railing around her bed and Fuyumi moves to stand next to him.

“Villain...burning building. Got kids out, not ceiling-falling-on-you proof, though.” Miruko grits out with a lopsided smirk.

Hawks breathes a muted laugh. Even in her current predicament she can still joke, which allows relief to settle deep in his bones and to the tips of his wings.

He didn't even realize how tight his grip on the railing was until Fuyumi gently patted his hand beside her.

“We brought you your sweatshirt and a snack. Although seeing you now I'm not sure you can eat them.” Fuyumi smiles sympathetically and holds up the two offerings.

Miruko squirms and tries to sit up but ultimately fails. She groans in annoyance, though quickly sports a shit-eating grin on her bruised face. “Veggie chips? Didn't know Hawks had anything...vaguely healthy at his place.”

She pauses a bit to wince, then continues on with her teasing. “You, agh, on a diet? 'Fraid of gettin’ too fat?”

“I can't believe I was worried about you..." Hawks narrows his eyes at her. She laughs as hard as she can, which really isn't a lot.

Fuyumi places the bag and folded hoodie on the bedside table. “Would you like a drink? I can go get you a water or soda?”

Miruko smiles weakly. "Water sounds good."

Fuyumi nods, rubs Hawks’ back for a second, and then leaves the room.

Once she's gone Hawks sinks into the chair by the bed and drops his head on his hands. “Fuck, Miruko. Why didn't you call?"

“I, ugh...had it handled.”

Hawks snaps his head up to stare at her incredulously. “Obviously not, look at you!”

"'S fine. You were with 'Yumi, and I'm ok.” She hisses a little, then amends her statement. "I will be ok."

“What if---" Hawks starts but instantly shuts his mouth when Miruko glares at him harshly.

"I can handle myself. Know you're worried but, I'm a pro too. You're only...three spots higher.” Miruko spits out, making Hawks flinch. “You're such a, ah, sacrificer. Don't need to take all the burden.”

Hawks shallows the lump in his throat as waves of hot shame wash over him.

In his worry for Miruko he was short and condescending with Fuyumi; she may not be a pro herself but she still understands the pain and fear pretty well, given her family and current relationship. “You're right...I'm sorry. I didn't mean---"

“Shut up." Miruko rolls her eyes. “Don't want a speech. Sorry is good.”

He exhales deeply and smiles feebly at her, his grin growing when she smiles back.

“Um, am I interrupting something?”

The two look over at the to see Fuyumi lingering by the door frame, her hands tightly clutching a water bottle and covering it in a light dusting of frost. Miruko says “Nah" at the same time Hawks starts shaking his head frantically and waving her over.

She smiles and timidly enters the room again, passing Miruko the water only after the hero insisted she can ‘feed herself, dammit’.

Hawks tries to rise from the seat and offer it to her but Fuyumi gently pushes him back into it. “It’s ok, I'll stand.” She reassures him softly.

He pouts, then wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her close against him. Fuyumi chuckles under her breath and gently cards her hand through his messy ash blond hair.

“You two’re gross." Miruko mumbles from the bed with no actual bite behind her words. Fuyumi mutters “sorry” but Hawks just sticks his tongue out at her. “Anyway! Wanna hear about my, ah, impressive heroics?”

“Eh." Hawks shrugs. Fuyumi swats his shoulder lightly with a disapproving look. “Kidding! Yes, please, oh great hero Miruko. Tell us your tale.”

The two listen to Miruko regale the events to them as animatedly as she can until a nurse comes by to inform them visiting hours are done. They say goodbye and promise to drop by again tomorrow when they have time.

Once outside Fuyumi puts her arms around Hawks’ shoulders in preparation for him to scoop her up and fly off. Instead he wraps his arms and warm wings around her and squeezes her tight.

“Oh, hello! Are you ok?" Fuyumi asks, and nuzzles closer when she feels him nods.

"I'm sorry I was such a jackass earlier." Hawks sighs. "You were worried too, and I shouldn't have snapped.”

Fuyumi hums happily. “Thank you for apologizing, but it's ok. Miruko will be fine, she said Recovery Girl agreed to come by and help fix her leg since she's such a high ranking pro. She'll be ok...everything is ok.”

The two stay holding each other right outside the hospital entrance for a few minutes. Eventually Hawks lowers his wings from around Fuyumi and pulls them back behind him, still keeping her in his arms.

“Think we can finish the movie?"

“Yes!" She exclaims. "But I'm also pretty hungry. Want to get something while we're out?”

“Aren't you afraid of me getting fat?” Hawks mumbles grumpily against her hair.

“Oh, shut up!" Fuyumi giggles loudly and squirms out of his arms. She takes his hand and they walk away from the lights pouring from the Hospital doors and windows, and towards the noisy night life and neon signs of downtown Mustafa.

[st-crylo]

Undercover & Undone 4

A/N: Yall I had to hold back bc tbh i was like yall need to kiss but its all good. Anyways sorry for being kinda MIA, I’ve been busy with school so it’s been a little difficult for me to write, but now that I’ve got the hang of things, I should be able to get more content out. Thanks for being patient, hope you guys enjoy!!!

Warnings: None

Word Count: 4.8K

Tagging: @stressedoutkylo

U&U Masterlist

Full Masterlist

You felt stress bubble up inside you as you waited for Matt and Ben to arrive. They were going to wish you good luck before you headed to the Cortenshis Estate. Thinking about how tonight was the night filled you with more anxiety than anything ever had. You kept fiddling with your fingers, unable to stay still as you waited for your two closest friends to arrive before you had to get ready. You couldn’t think of any way that this could go any easier, especially since you were terrified. What would you say? How would he react to seeing you again? Would he be happy or angry? You were making yourself sick just thinking about it. You had to find some sense of relief for your stress before the start of the Gala.

A knock at your door broke your haze of anxiety, causing you to hop up from your place on your loveseat and head over to open the door. Once you did, you were greeted by the smiling face of Matt, his glasses slightly frosted around the edges, and Ben, whose nose was slightly red at the tip from the wind.

“Hey, (y/n)!” Matt said as he walked into your apartment, shaking the snow off of his coat. He pulled you in for a hug, which had you shivering.

“Can you not just wait to hug me until after you take off your coat?” You asked as he pulled away. Ben simply gave you a pat on the back and smiled warmly at you.

“Well I figured that would be pointless since we aren’t staying very long,” Matt noted, sticking out his lower lip in a pout. You let out a light laugh and shook your head at him.

“So, how you feeling kid?” Ben asked, causing you to turn and face him. You grimaced at the question, beginning to twiddle your thumbs.

“I’m pretty nervous, actually,” you said softly, looking down at your hands. You felt a hand placed on your shoulder and looked up, making eye contact with Ben. His eyes seemed to burn with emotion, but what emotion you couldn’t quite distinguish.

“(y/n), you will do fine. I’m sure you’ve got this. We all believe in you,” he said reassuringly, causing you to smile. Hearing that everyone’s confidence was in you made you feel better about the situation as a whole.

“Well, we came to wish you good luck, and we’ve done that,” Matt said, breaking the silence between the three of you. You looked towards the blond and nodded, giving him a smile.

“Yeah, I need to call Luka so he can come pick me up,” you stated, giving the two Solo boys one last hug before they set off again. They both stomped over to the doorway and smiled back at you, waving goodbye before closing the door behind them as you rang up Luka. Knowing they had faith in you felt all the more better about tonight, and your ability to do the job at hand.

Kylo stared down at the black tuxedo laid across his bed. He let out a sigh and ran a hand through his head, scratching as he came to the back of his head. He wanted this night to be over as soon as possible, especially since he didn’t really want to socialize. He just wished he could send Tal and Valerium in his place, but he knew Cortenshis would take offense to something like that.

“Kylo, you in here?” came Phasma’s voice from outside the door, along with the barking of his two dogs.

“Yeah, why?” Kylo asked, walking over to the bedroom door. As soon as he did, the two pitbulls were jumping on him, and he scratched behind their ears before looking up at Phasma.

“I thought you’d like to know that Hux is probably going to start drama. At least, that’s what Mitaka was saying. He’s hoping that if he can get you angry enough, you’ll make a bad impression to Cortenshis,” she stated, a piece of her short blonde hair falling in front of her eyes.

“Of course he is,” Kylo said flatly. If Hux’s men were going to be insulting, Kylo highly doubted any of them could really hold back. Knowing it was deliberate, though, did help. Kylo let out a sigh as he scratched the back of his head. He couldn’t really expect Hux to be civil, could he? Even if he was planning to be civil with Hux, a rare occasion in and of itself.

“Also, Valerium and Tal are downstairs waiting for you. They have some questions about tonight that they want you to answer,” Phasma said before walking away. The dogs stopped wagging their tails as they watched Phasma walk away, and as soon as she was out of sight they returned their attention to Kylo. He leaned down to scratch both of their heads before walking out of his room and heading downstairs.

Valerium and Tal were both in the sitting room, each in their own armchair, both smoking on a cigarette. Valerium was very easily distinguished from Tal, as he sat with his back straights, legs crossed, and pale blond hair parted neatly. He wasn’t as rough as some of the other members of the Knights of Ren, but he was just as fierce. Tal, however, seemed to be more carefree than Valerium. He sat back in a very relaxed manner, his legs parted, and a smug grin on his face. His brown hair was in disarray on top of his head, heading in every which direction, looking blown from the winter wind outside. As Kylo approached, however, both men stood from the armchairs and shook the hand of their leader.

“You ready for tonight?” Tal asked Kylo, who simply shrugged before grabbing a cigarette of his own and taking the lighter from the table. After he took a drag, blowing out the light billowing smoke, he sat down.

“I just want it to be over,” Kylo remarked, taking another drag from his cigarette. The other men also sat down, taking drags themselves and returning to their previous postures.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Valerium responded, looking off into the distance and out of the large diamond pane window.

“It shouldn’t be too bad. If we don’t get bothered by Hux’s assholes, we should have this in the bag,” Tal stated, putting out his cigarette in the ashtray and cracking his knuckles.

“Yes, well, if they try to insult you, remember to keep your cool. We can’t afford to let this go in their favor,” Kylo stated before putting out his own cigarette and standing from his armchair. “I guess it’s time we go get ready.”

You stared at your reflection in Anne’s vanity mirror in awe. She’d made you absolutely gorgeous, and you almost didn’t recognize yourself with how dolled up you were. You couldn’t help but keep your mouth agape as you stared at your own reflection.

“Luka!” Anne called out through your haze of examining yourself. Luka quickly ran into the room, straightening himself up as he stepped beside his mother.

“Yes mom?” He asked, looking her in the eye. She returned a smile to him and then indicated to you.

“How does she look?”

You looked up at Luka, who instantly smiled when he saw you. His smile made you feel even more confident in yourself.

“You look amazing, (y/n). Wonderful job, Mom,” he said, resting his hand on his chin. You blushed, turning away and back to the vanity mirror.

“Now, we get you in the dress. Luka, go get the dress from the guest bedroom closet,” Anne demanded, holding out a hand to you so you could rise from the seat in front of the vanity.

After Luka retrieved the dress, you quickly got into it, afterwards adding the final touch of a beautiful silver necklace with a cut of aquamarine in the pendant.

“I think this fits very well with your outfit dear. Now, go wait with Luka downstairs. Guests should be arriving any time soon,” Anne said, pushing her blonde hair back as she shooed you out of the room. You softly thanked her before rushing out and then down the grand staircase of the magnificent home. Downstairs, there was a pair of shoes waiting for you by the end of the steps. You slipped them on with ease, growing a couple of inches from the heels, and then you headed to the sitting room where Luka was waiting for you.

To say you were nervous was an understatement, but as each passing second went by, you were filled less with dread and more with excitement. There were no real words to describe how wonderful it would be to see Kylo again after all these years. After all, out of the three Solo brothers, you were always closest to Kylo. Meeting him again was like a dream you’d never expected to become reality.

“You seem excited,” Luka noted as you sat down, flattening your gown as you plopped onto the armchair. You smiled and nodded, looking at the lit fireplace as the firewood crackled in the heat.

“It’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. I never thought I’d see him again,” you said, not looking up from the fire. The expression on your face dropped as anxiety filled you once more.

“You never explained to me how you knew each other,” Luka said, leaning forward in his seat so he could listen to your tale. You knew eventually you had to explain, it wasn’t like your familiarity with Kylo was anything bad, it was just simply something you had put off sharing. You smiled, though, as you thought of all the happy memories from childhood.

“Well, we actually grew up together, in Alderaan. It was me, Poe Dameron, Kylo, and his two brothers, Matt and Ben. I was closest with Kylo though,” you said, smiling fondly as you looked over to Luka. He smiled as well as he watched you, your reminiscent happiness almost contagious. “We used to go out to the lake every Sunday to skip rocks. I was always bad at it, but Kylo was like a master at it. Also, we’d always go to the movies together, sometimes it was all five of us, sometimes it was just me and Kylo.”

“So what happened?” Luka asked, causing the smile on your face to slowly drop. You wrapped an arm around yourself and looked back at the fireplace.

“He wasn’t happy staying in Alderaan anymore. Snoke sought him out because of who his grandfather was, and Kylo was just like Anakin. Even his mother thinks so. The last day I saw him, he said that the only reason he hadn’t gone with Snoke yet was because of me. I told him I didn’t want to be the thing keeping him in a place where he wasn’t happy,” you said, letting out a sigh. You remembered that day very vividly. You also remembered the phone call you’d received the next day from Ben telling you that Kylo had disappeared. Your heart had been broken but you felt at the time he would be happier.

“I’m sorry,” Luka said very softly, also turning to look to the fireplace pensively.

All of the sudden, a loud and resounding knock at the door caused the two of you to snap out of your depressing haze, and caused you to both look up.

“Well, I guess it’s time we make our way to the ballroom,” Luka said, standing from the armchair. You copied him, dusting off your skirt before following Luka out of the sitting room.

The haze of guests packed into the once empty ballroom as people in elegant gowns all crowded within. Kylo pulled lightly on his tie to help relive him from the stuffiness of the room. He looked over at Tal, who always walked with an air of confidence and always seemed to know what to do in social situations. Very much unlike Kylo.

“What’re you looking so anxious about?” Tal asked as he grabbed two flutes of champagne from a butler who walked by and handed Kylo one while he sipped from the other. Kylo frowned before taking a swig from the glass and then sighing.

“Because I don’t normally do this, Tal. You’re the one who does all the socializing,” Kylo said, his baritone voice rumbling deep in his chest. Tal shrugged as he took another sip from his champagne. His eyes wandered around the room, surveying all the guests he could see from where he, Tal, and Valerium were sitting.

“Val, why don’t you have some champagne?” Tal asked, looking past Kylo to see Valerium’s stone cold expression. Valerium frowned at Tal, which was something quite common, and let out a sigh.

“Because, Tal, someone has to be responsible here. Besides, I don’t like champagne,” Valerium stated very matter of factly as he pushed a piece of his silvery-blonde hair behind his ear. Tal threw his head back in a laugh as Kylo continued to shift awkwardly between the two. He was beginning to wonder if he should’ve brought more than just Tal and Valerium.

You scanned the ballroom in search of Kylo, hoping that you could at least catch a glimpse of him. However, with the ballroom beginning to fill up even more with all of Cortenshis’ guests, it was harder to distinguish any one person, so you resigned to eating some of the small snack foods laid out on the table that you and Luka happened to be standing by. Luka saw your resigned look and let out a laugh, taking hold of one of the toothpicks that had some random cheese attached.

“You’ll find him eventually. There’s only so many people here,” Luka assured you as he bit into the cheese. You sighed and turned away, looking out to the magnificent windows that lined the ballroom walls. The snow was falling lightly outside in the night air, riding along the wind wistfully.

The clinking of a spoon on glass had you snapped from your thoughts as you looked to where Lukas Cortenshis was standing, next to the small orchestra he’d hired for the night. Your eyes watched him as he cleared his throat, the ballroom going silent as their attention turned to their host.

“I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight,” Cortenshis started, “It’s always a pleasure to throw this gala every year, and it’s even better to see new faces each time. However, I of course do not do all the preparation alone. I’d like to thank my son Luka for helping organize the food and the guests for this year’s gala.”

Everyone clapped and turned to face Luka. As Kylo did so, he noticed someone next to him, smiling widely at Luka as he accepted all the compliments from the guests surrounding him.

For a moment, Kylo’s world went silent as he realized who it was standing next to Luka. He stopped clapping and simply stared wide eyed at the beautiful face he thought he’d never see again. You looked like a winter goddess in his eyes, the dress you were wearing looked like it was made from the snow falling from the sky and the bright winter sky in midday. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest as he watched you smile, a smile still so radiant it put the stars to shame.

“Kylo?” Tal all but yelled as the clapping died away and the guests returned to their socializing. Kylo turned towards Tal, his brows furrowed in confusion. Why were you here? Was it even you he was seeing, or someone who looked eerily like you? Kylo had to know so he turned towards Tal once more.

“Tal I need you to do me a favor,” Kylo said, running a hand through his jet black hair.

“Yeah, sure boss,” Tal said, standing up straighter next to Kylo. Kylo felt a tightness of anxiety in his chest as he turned back to where you and Luka were standing.

“That woman standing Luka, I need you to find out what her name is,” Kylo said softly, only loud enough for Tal to hear. Tal was confused by Kylo’s request, but nodded and headed towards Luka nonetheless.

You laughed at Luka’s comment about his father’s soon to be drunkenness when you noticed a tall figure approach the two of you. When you looked over, you felt a bit of disappointment seeing that it wasn’t Kylo. However, you did notice that Luka’s grin widened.

“Hello Tal,” Luka said, smirking at the man who’d just appeared.

“Hello Luka. Unfortunately I didn’t come just for you. Your friend here-“ Tal turned to look at you, giving you a warm smile, “has attracted the attention of a very nervous and unsociable man who would like to know her name. So, Madame, what is your name?” You blushed lightly at the thought of someone being too nervous to speak to you, but you still felt disappointed about Kylo, so you simply smiled back at Tal.

“It’s (y/n) (y/l/n),” you stated.

Kylo saw Tal pushing his way through the crowd of elegantly dressed guests and make his way ack to Kylo. Kylo started anxiously fiddling his fingers as Tal stepped closer until his friend was right in front of him.

“So?” Kylo asked, eager to see if it was really you.

“Her name is (y/n) (y/l/n),” Tal stated, a smile on his face. For the second time that night, everything seemed to slow down in Kylo’s world. So it was you, after all these years. You’d somehow manage to weasel your way back into his life, and he was nothing but elated, and yet terrified at the same time.

Kylo started walking towards you, ready to finally hear your voice again after all this time. It was too good to be true though, when he was stopped by a strong arm wrapped around his shoulder, causing him to be pulled back. Kylo let out a frustrated sigh as he looked down at the drunken face of Lukas Cortenshis. Suddenly, he was reminded of why he was even here in the first place, so he turned to Cortenshis with as much of a smile as he could muster.

“Kylo, my lad. I was beginning to worry you hadn’t come! So, how are you doing?” Cortenshis said, his cheeks rosy from the heat of the room and the alcohol combined. Kylo kept his forced smile on his face as he thought only about meeting up with you again.

“I’ve been good, Lukas. This really is a wonderful gala,” Kylo noted, trying to butter his way into Cortenshis’ favor so that he could slip away quickly.

“That’s damn good! Well, I know I’m being sought out by my wife somewhere, so I’ll speak with you later,” Cortenshis leaned in and lowered his voice. Kylo also leaned towards him so that he could hear the older man better. “I want to meet you and Hux in my office after most of the guests have left.” Kylo nodded and then watched as Cortenshis walked away, parting the crowd of people all socializing and dancing.

Kylo let out a sigh of relief as he turned back to head towards you…except you were no longer there. Kylo let out a groan of frustration as he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned and saw Tal smirking at him.

“Follow me boss,” he said, indicating for Kylo to follow him.

You shivered as you felt the cold wind hit your bare shoulders on the balcony that you and Luka had just gone to in order to escape the crowd within the ballroom. Though the garden from the view of the balcony was gorgeous, bushes of evergreen topped in snow, the cobblestone path through the garden cleared of all the snow, making the atmosphere surreal, you couldn’t help but still be a little anxious. You still hadn’t seen any trace of Kylo, and you doubted that he would find you out here on the balcony.

“Don’t worry, he’ll come soon enough,” Luka said, as if reading your thoughts. He was seated on the stone bench by the railing, his ankles crossed as he stretched his legs out. You frowned as you moved to sit next to him.

“How can you be so sure?” You asked with a sigh, threading your fingers together and placing them down on the skirt of your dress. You heard Luka let out a chuckle from beside you.

“Because I told Tal to come here, remember? Tal is Kylo’s right hand man,” Luka stated, causing you to perk up. So it was Kylo who had asked about your name earlier. The thought alone had a blush rising to your cheeks. You couldn’t wait until Luka brought him around.

As if on cue, the door to the balcony suddenly opened, revealing two men in black tuxedos walking out. You recognized Tal as soon as he stepped out, as he was the first of the two to join Luka and yourself on the balcony. As soon as you laid eyes on the second man, though, you slowly stood, watching him in awe.

He was slightly taller than when you’d last seen him, his hair longer as well. His overall appearance was more rugged, but in a way, you loved it, and it made him even more handsome. He had the same expression on his face that you did as he stared back at you, equally in awe of the situation.

For a moment, you forgot about everything, your shitty apartment, less than perfect job, or the task that Ben, Matt, and Poe had given you. The only thing you could focus on was Kylo, and you didn’t even notice yourself walking towards him until you found yourself wrapping your arms around him, burying your face into his chest.

He was shocked at first, after all part of him was convinced you’d never really wanted him, but after a few moments, he slowly wrapped his arms around you, pressing his cheek against the top of your head. He couldn’t really describe what he was feeling, he was simply overwhelmed with emotion.

“Luka, let’s leave them be,” Tal said to his lover as he pulled on the young man who was staring at you and Kylo with a dreamy expression on his face. Once the two of you were alone on the balcony, you looked up at Kylo’s face, taking him in as if he were merely a figment of your imagination, one that would blow away with the winter wind.

“Why are you here? Of all places, here, at Cortenshis’ winter gala?” Kylo asked, a bit of a chuckle in his voice as he looked down at you. You laughed as well, pushing a stray piece of hair behind your ear.

“Because I’ve been friends with Luka for about a month now. He invited me. Of course, his father thinks I might make his interest in men go away, but I doubt that will ever happen,” you said, letting out a laugh. You felt your cheeks heat up slightly as you watched Kylo’s expression.

The rest of the gala was spent talking to each other endlessly, catching up after all the years the two of you had gone without seeing each other, and also occasionally dancing together, causing other people to leave room for the two of you in the ballroom. Everyone watched in awe, trying to get a look at the girl who had all of Kylo Ren’s attention. You couldn’t give them any thought though, you were just happy to be with Kylo again.

“And to think that I’ll be working at this awful diner until I can find something better is driving me insane,” you ranted as the two of you stood by the food table, sipping on champagne as Kylo listened to your ramblings intently. It was something you’d always appreciated about him, his ability to listen attentively.

Suddenly, you heard someone clearing their throat beside the two of you. You looked up at a man who was almost as tall as Kylo, but not quite, his blue eyes seeming cold, and his silvery blonde hair slicked back neatly.

“Ren, Cortenshis is looking for us,” he stated, looking at Kylo and purposely keeping his gaze away from you. You frowned at this man’s behavior. What had you done to him?

“Of course, thanks Valerium. (y/n), you should wait until I’m done speaking with Cortenshis. There’s something I want to ask you when I’m done,” he said, giving you a smirk that made your heart leap in your chest. As Kylo walked away, the man called Valerium gave you a once over, and a flash of disgust appeared on his face before he followed Kylo. You frowned as you watched the two of them walk away.

After a few seconds, Luka appeared next to you, his hair in disarray and a smirk on his face.

“I suppose your job was easier than everyone was making it seem, huh?” he asked as he leaned against the table containing the last of the food in the now emptying ballroom. Your frowned deepened at his words as everything you were meant to be doing came back to you.

“Yeah, I guess so. It’s amazing what missing a person can do,” you noted, your eyes scanning the ballroom for nothing in particular.

“Are you talking about you or him?” You frowned as you looked up at Luka, confused by his question.

“What do you mean?” you asked, crossing your arms and furrowing your brows as you leaned against the table as well.

“C’mon, (y/n), it’s obvious you missed him, and that you care for him. The question is though, do you care for him enough to not do the job that Dameron expects of you?”

You thought a bit about his question before letting out a sigh. In a way, he had a point, not that you would ever admit it to anyone other than Luka. However, no, you didn’t think you cared enough about Kylo to completely omit the friends who had been by your side since childhood.

After a while of you and Luka waiting for Kylo and Tal, the two men finally walked into the ballroom, Kylo expressionless, but Tal holding the widest grin you’d ever seen in your life. You turned to Kylo who seemed a bit nervous as he looked down at you before giving you a small smirk.

“Will you come with me really quick?” he asked, holding out his hand for you to take. You felt your heart flip again, but then you remembered. I have a job to do, I can’t let him charm me like he used to. You took his hand and he lead you back out to the balcony, the winds now calmed from earlier, and snow no longer falling from the sky.

“I just, uh, wanted to know if, um, you aren’t busy on Tuesday, if you would want to get dinner,” he said, looking down at his feet as he asked. You felt a blush creep up on your cheeks and you mentally cursed yourself for feeling anything for him.

“I would love to,” you said softly, smiling up at him. His face came up to look at yours, searching it as if to make sure he had heard you right, and that he was looking for any indication otherwise. After he realized that he had indeed heard you right, the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile.

“Great! Do you want me to take you home tonight? I’m sure my driver wouldn’t mind,” he said, running a hand through his black hair.

“Thanks for the offer, but Luka is gonna take me home tonight. I’ll give you my telephone number though, so you can call me and I’ll tell you my address,” you said. He grimaced and nodded, following you inside so that you could give him your telephone number. Once you’d done so, the two of you exchanged your goodbyes for the night. Kylo brought you in for a quick hug and looked over you once more as if to assure himself that you were real.

“I’ll call you,” he said with a smile before turning towards Tal and Valerium, both of which were holding completely opposite expressions.

After everyone had gone, you got undressed and then back into the clothes in which you arrived. As soon as you went down the stairs, Luka was waiting for you, the keys to his Cadillac in hand.

Once you had gotten home, you changed into a nightgown and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling as you thought about the night you’d just had. With a sigh, you kept thinking back to Kylo’s face when he first saw you. With a frown, you scowled at yourself for being attracted to him, but deep down you knew there was no real way to stop it. The connection between you had always been there, and it seemed that even the years apart couldn’t break that bond.