#i got the spotify notification this morning and i was like have i missed something lmao
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ikjun · 3 months ago
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WORLD PAUSE i get new sunmi music and it’s an ost from the judge from hell ??????
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delicatebarness · 8 months ago
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cry baby | chapter seven
Summary: Baby, bye bye bye?
Warning: Mentions of John Walker.
Word Count: 1252
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A/N: The NSYNC gif tho. I love Sam Wilson. Please feel free to leave feedback or let me know where and how you want the story to continue, this is just as much yours as it is mine. - B
Tags: @buckys0whore | @thezombieprostitute | @lanabuckybarnes | @mishkatelwarriorgoddess | @softieekayy | @noonespecial90 | @hello-therree | @randomawesomeperson102 | @whoreforbarnes | @thejutvtsupport | @somnorvos | @thetorturedbuckydepartment
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By the time Sunday evening came, you felt rejuvenated. Thanks to your family and friends, and some relaxation, has worked wonders on your frayed nerves. 
Yet, as Monday approached, the familiar anxiety crept back. You knew you had to face him again. The thought gnawed at the edges of your peace, like a shadow lingering in the background. 
The office was gradually coming to life with the hum of morning conversations and the clacking of keyboards. Settling at your desk, you took a deep breath to steady yourself. A mix of anticipation and uncase grew as the minutes ticked by. Your gaze kept darting to the entrance, waiting for his inevitable arrival.
But, as the clock struck 9:00 AM, he had not walked through the doors. By 9:30, whispers began to ripple through the conference room as your colleagues glanced at each other. Puzzled by his absence, catching snippets of their conversations - questions about his whereabouts, if anyone had heard from him.
You couldn’t help but feel relieved, but, you couldn’t help but wonder: had something happened? Was this just temporary? Was someone more intense to come?
As the morning dragged on, his absence was both a blessing and a cause of concern. The office turned into full-blown speculation by lunchtime. Theories were being exchanged in hush tones, their curiosity spiking. You tried to focus on your mind, yet your mind kept drifting back to him, especially after the mumbled accusations aimed at your brother. 
~
It wasn’t until late that afternoon that you finally got some answers. Your phone buzzed with a notification from the local news app. Out of habit, you took a glance at the screen, your heart stopping as you read the headline: Police department asks for help in locating a missing man. 
Your pulse quickened as you clicked the notification, bringing up the article. The picture accompanying the story confirmed your speculations - it was John. According to the report, his wife reported him missing after not being seen or heard from since Saturday evening. 
The article mentioned the police were investigating, specifically, Officer Fury would be leading the case. He was appealing to the public for any information. Your mind began to race with questions. Had he simply vanished? Despite everything he had put you through, the news of his disappearance left you with an uncomfortable mix of emotions. 
Sitting back in your chair, you tried to process the revelation. As the office continued to buzz with the news, you decided to share the article in the Avengers group chat: Have you heard about this? - you asked, with the link attached. 
Within minutes, you received replies:
Nat: “Why am I not surprised he was a cheater too?”
Wanda: “Yeah, it just came on the news at the bar. Everyone is talking about it.”
Sam: “*NSYNC ‘Bye bye bye’ GIF*”
Stevie: “Sam, no! 🤣 Yeah, I’m with Wanda and EVERYONE is talking about it, had to tell them at least 10 times we had nothing to do with it.”
Bucky ❤️‍🩹 : “Good.”
~
The usual office chatter was overshadowed by the unfolding mystery as the rest of the day passed. Whispers in corners, and gazes fixed on his empty cubicle. As much as you tried to focus on your new project, your thoughts kept returning to him and the article. 
By the time you returned home, the sky darkened, and a cool breeze swept through the city streets. Unlocking your apartment door, you felt a shiver run down your spine. The weight of the day pressed down on you as you settled on your couch, your thoughts drifting back to Saturday morning, cuddling with Bucky.
Turning on the TV, you caught the last few moments of another news report about him, the anchor repeating details you already knew. Seeing it on the screen made it feel even more real. Leaning back, your mind swirled with possibilities. 
The buzz of your phone interrupted your thoughts. Glancing at the screen, you expected another report about John, but instead, it was a message from Bucky: “Want some company? I’ve got pizza… and cola.” 
You felt your cheeks flush as you smiled down at your phone. “You know the way to my heart. Doors open for you,” you replied as you stood from the couch, heading to your apartment door to unlock the latch. 
Within minutes, the door opened, and your gaze snapped to it. You managed a smile as you watched Bucky enter your apartment with a pizza box and a small crate of cola bottles. You noticed the first thing he did after closing the door was put the latch back into lock. 
“I don’t like you having that unlocked, even for me,” he mumbled as he set the food and drink aside on the dining table. 
~
After dinner, the two of you settled on the couch, the aroma of takeout filling the apartment. Bucky had kept the conversation light throughout the early evening, you recounted funny stories from the bar and shared the latest gossip from your friend's lives. He was a welcomed and comfortable distraction. 
The TV played in the background, and the same news article from earlier began to play once again, snapping you out of your Bucky-induced haze. His jaw tensed as he reached for the remote, swiftly turning it off just as they showed a photo of John. Bucky turned to you, his expression serious. “How are you feeling about all this?” 
Sighing, you put your cola back on the coffee table. “It’s strange,” you admitted as you brought your knees up to your chest. “I should be relieved that he’s not, you know, around, but instead, I feel… unsettled.” 
Bucky nodded, his eyes thoughtful. “I get that, Sweetheart, it’s hard for you to switch off your feelings,” he reached out, wiping a tear you hadn’t realized had spilled. “Even if the person who caused them was… well, him.” He sighed, pulling you into him. 
A sniffle escaped as you rested your forehead against his, “Thank you, Bucky. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.” you mumbled, trying to steady your breathing. 
He smiled, his thumb still wiping the tears. “You don’t have to find out.” 
~
Bucky stood in your doorway, making sure you were truly asleep before, he glanced down at his phone, dialing a number. Once he was positive you weren’t going to wake up, he closed your bedroom door and quietly slipped back into the living room. 
Keeping his voice low, “Fury,” he said as the line connected. “Yeah, she’s asleep,”
There was a pause as Fury spoke on the other end of the line. Bucky’s jaw tensed as he listened intently. “She’s doing alright,” he continued, keeping his voice steady. Another pause, during which Bucky glanced toward your bedroom again, ensuring you were still asleep. “You got any updates?” 
Bucky nodded slightly at Fury’s response, keeping a calm demeanor. Listening as Fury outlined the state of the investigation his responses were brief and measured as he reached for another slice of pizza.
“Got it. I’ll keep an ear out,” he spoke before giving Fury another moment to speak, his eyes narrowed. “Sure, I get it.”
Bucky ended the call, finishing the pizza. He turned the TV back on, the news report still covering John’s disappearance, the same details they’d had all day replaying. 
Sitting back on the couch, his thoughts churned, the weight of the situation pressing down. Yet, his resolve to protect you was tireless.
---
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soju-thebottle · 2 years ago
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Twitter ~ A Hwi fanfiction
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Summary: Being in a long distance relationship with a Kpop idol can be hard sometimes. Today, you miss him more than you usually do but here’s the catch, you’re waiting for him to post on Twitter as he promised you something special….
Type: Soft, kind of cliche, Genderless Y/N, Bf goal Hwi, social media au, long-distance relationship, idol life, music.
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It’s Saturday, just after noon, you’re right in the middle of the vacation and have nothing to do. You spoke with your boyfriend for a bit this morning but not that much because he had a big schedule, as usual. You understood, being in a relationship with an Idol isn’t as cool as it may seem. Hwi is the best guy but sometimes you wish that you weren’t a long distance couple that has to go through the social status of your boyfriend.
However, he told you he was going to post a pic on twitter today, “A special tweet for my special girl” or at least that’s what he said. You were waiting for it with excitement, knowing that even if Hwi’s fangirls got that one, you have like ten times more pictures of him so one more is nothing but a blessing to you. But you couldn’t stop wondering what was going to be special with that one tho.
Since he didn’t post for a long time, and that today you were quite in a bad mood, you decided to just lay on your bed, full covers on and you’d watch Hwi’s last interview. You missed him today, I mean way more than you usually did. Nostalgic of the times you actually could be in his arms, as many times as you have fingers since you two lived far away, you just couldn’t stop the spleen from hitting you hard. So you decided to send him a simple text, craving for a bit of attention.
From you: Hiii baby, today I miss you more than usual, when are you planning to post that pic? I wanna see your face 🫣
And then you waited, he probably couldn’t answer either because he’d be on his studio writing the next banger or on a set somewhere for the new comeback.
As you started to loose your hope to see an answer from him anytime soon, you received a notification. One that made your day…
Hwi posted.
You jumped on your phone, going to Twitter as fast as you could, you needed to see this picture, needed.
When you finally saw it, you started to sob, Hwi was the best at giving you hidden messages through his posts.
On the tweet, the caption said:
You must listen to this song. What an amazing day THX, I love you ❤️ . Song recommendation: All day - GIRIBOY
You knew that beside the part about the day, everything was about you and that’s why you were sobbing, Hwi always knew what to say to make you feel great.
As he said in his tweet, you took your laptop and went to Spotify in order to put the music. Music was always a way for you and Hwi to connect, beside the fact that he’s a musician, it’s also and mostly because that’s how he confessed his love for you (with the music: Sorry I love you by Stray Kids) and obviously you answered with another song (Fall in love with you by BoyWithUke) so it kinda became your thing. And you often talk through songs.
As soon as the music started you searched the lyrics on internet, you weren’t the best at Korean so it was needed.
At the time you were reading the lines :
“All day long with you, hugging each other so tightly
our ribs almost break
I want to have you soon
What should I do?”
You heard your phone ringing, it was pretty much unexpected and you weren’t in a good mood and you were honestly looking like a mess since you cried for at least two hours, so you weren’t going to answer but curiosity made you look at who was calling. If you weren’t answering, at least you should know who called, right?
When you see the Id you answered as fast as you could.
“You called? You called me, omg !”
Yes, it is Hwi, he decided to FaceTime you as soon as he saw that you liked his tweet.
“Of course I called you baby, look at you all sad and crying. Ugh, I hate to see you like that and to know that I can not hug you. Please stop crying.
-I…I..I can’t, I was just so sad and then I needed you and I thought you wouldn’t see my text and I cried and then you tweeted and i love you, I love you so so so much.
-it’s okay baby, I’m here, I love you, I’m here, I’m here look. Okay? No problems. We have the whole night baby, don’t worry, I’m here and I love you. “
You slowly stopped your sobbing, he is here, he loves you and he is on a call with you. He called you as soon as he saw your text, he really loves you.
“You’re so beautiful, ugh so bad you can’t really see your face, the mirrors will never reflect the whole beauty of your face and I’m so sad for that.
-Stop lying you dumbass. I cried, I look like a mess, my hair is ugly and my face is red and puffy and ewks ! My face is just Ewks!
-Tsk! You think I’m lying? Me? Your handsome Idol boyfriend? Lying to you? Tsk. I could never. I swear for real. Tstststs, stop trying to deny your beauty. I know you need some comfort so go put on the sweatshirt I send you last week, it should be here now is it?
-OMG ! THAT WAS THE MAIL I GOT ?? WHY DIDN’T YOU USED YOUR REAL NAME I DIDN’T EVEN OPENED IT !!
-Ahh… Baby, you’re such a mess, I love you. Bahahah. Anyway, GO PUT ON MY SWEATSHIRT. I kinda want to see you in it.
-You do huh…”
You make a sly face, the mood changed in about 2 seconds and from crying you went to teasing. That’s how much Hwi helps you in life.
“Yay! That’s the Y/n I like, that’s the Y/n I wanna see. Go baby ! Go baby! Go!
-Shut up you stupid”
But he got you here, you’re smiling, he make you smile.
A bit of time passed, you had to put on his sweatshirt, a white one, with the olympic logo on it, you saw it in one of his interview and you remember telling him about it for almost a week. And he send it to you, it’s now on your back. It smells like him, a wood like with a touch of citrus, the bestest smell ever. His smell.
“Okay, so now that you look even more pretty, and emphasis on the pretty, with my sweatshirt on you. I planned a karaoke night, eheh!”
And that’s actually when you notice that he is in his studio, with his little lights and his Pokemon legos, that you bought together, you got a piplup, your favourite.
“Omg, no. You know so damn well that I don’t like to sing in front of you! You’re an Idol bro? I…
-Don’t call me bro, and stop trying to convince me, it won’t work. Now since All day is still playing background, by the way, happy to know that you understood my message “ he winks to you “let’s start with this one!”
And then he started to sing, he sang the all night to be honest and you joined him at less than two songs. But you will never forget how he looked at you while singing
“I love you so much so much so much I love you so much so much so much so I love you” from All day.
Since that Phone call, you decided that All day was now your song, the song of you and Hwi. And that’s how you fall asleep, still on FaceTime with Hwi still singing ballads to make you sleep, he looked at you sleeping like the stalker he was, and you were still in his hoodie, dreaming about the next time you’ll be able to see him.
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I hope you liked it!!
You can request a story if you’d like !! With any tnx, skz, cravity, Enhypen and bts members you’d like or ship !!
Have a good day/ night / anything
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pinkczennie · 4 years ago
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Strip Tease | Ten (m)
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Requested by: @unknown5tar​ (Thank you for being patient with me and ngl I was really nervous while writing this because I really hope you like this! I couldn’t help but add some smut cuz ya kno LOL and I’m such a sucker for enemies/friends to lovers au) 
Summary: Ten is a fucking tease.
Pairings: best friend!Ten x female reader
Genre: best friends to lovers!au, suggestive, smut
Word Count: 8.1k
Warnings: a tiny bit of angst (breakup), sexually explicit content, mature language 
You and Ten first met at the start of university. You were both dance majors, so you would often see each other in class and on campus in the same department buildings. You had a lot in common with Ten, such as a similar sense of humor, being excellent dancers, and an appreciation for art. Along the way, the friendship gradually went from just friends to best friends, developing into a teasing friendship that was borderline flirting, but it was always just playful. 
Once you both graduated university, you both applied to work at the same dance studio and got hired to teach classes there together. Ten teaches b-boying and you teach hip hop. By day, you and Ten were both dance instructors at a dance studio. By night, you were both dancers at a popular club. 
The club was widely known for their good-looking waiters and talented dancers. Ten was one of the very few male dancers at the club so he garnered many female customers and even some male customers. He even has some regulars that would come every so often on a weekend night to see Ten dance because the male would occasionally come up with choreographies to make his performances more different and unique. 
His performances were quite a sight, to say the least. On Halloween night, he dressed up as a devil and danced, what he calls his piece, “devils”, where he bent his body backwards in a demonic way that left the audience gasping. He sure knew how to move his body in ways unimaginable. His stunning visuals adds to it as well because many have tried to hit on him before. 
One night, as you both are heading to the club, Ten informs you that has a new choreographed performance that he is going to unveil tonight, so you tell him that you’ll be in the audience watching. That night, instead of sitting in the waiting room with the other dancers like you usually do, you sat towards the front of the stage, so you got front row seats to see Ten’s new piece. 
The audience erupted into loud cheers when the DJ announced that Ten will be the next performer.
Loud upbeat R&B music began blasting on the stereos and bright colorful LED lights flash the room as Ten’s figure suddenly emerges from the red, silk curtains and all the female customers began to cheer loudly. He was wearing a black leather jacket that was zipped up all the way, along with matching black jeans and a belt. 
Ten makes his way to the center and sways his body to the music. Nobody knew what to expect from the dancer’s performance today, so your eyes widen when you see him start to slowly unbuckle his belt with one hand. He takes his time removing the belt from his waist before tossing it to the sidelines once it’s off. 
Next, he unzips his leather jacket at a snail’s pace to reveal that he wasn’t wearing anything underneath the jacket and practically everyone’s jaw drops. After teasing the audience with parts of his exposed skin, he begins to sensually take off the jacket at a teasingly slow pace. The jacket begins to slip from his shoulders and then his biceps. Once it’s completely off his body, he spots you in the front row of the stage and discards his jacket by throwing it into your hands, knowing you’ll keep it safe for him. You see the flying jacket coming your way and you quickly catch it with both hands. 
The audience hollers and whistles at the dancer’s exposed upper body. He was toned and there was body oil rubbed all over his stomach, accentuating the lines of his abs. 
Ten lays on his back against the floor and thrusts up into the air, causing the audience to roar and paper bills come flying his way on stage. He slides against the floor on his knees and picks up the money, bringing the bills in between his fingers and stuffing it into his jean pockets.
Once the song is over, the dancer sends a wink to the audience and all the women swoon. You included. 
You were honestly really surprised by his performance, in a good way. Your mouth was hanging open during the entire performance, but your lips were sticking up into a smile because that was absolutely amazing. You’ve seen the way Ten moves, but you’ve never seen him do that before.
Once the song is over, the lights dim down and the stage becomes dark. You quickly rush back to the dancer’s waiting room, where Ten probably left to once his performance was over. You barge open the door and look around and spot Ten by the corner taking out all the money from his pockets that he received during the performance and putting it into his wallet. It’s thick with cash.
“Holy shit. That performance was incredible, Ten!” you praise as you make your way over to Ten. 
“Go on,” he encourages, basing in the glory of your praise. “I know, it was amazing.”
“The thing you did with your belt and jacket-”
He chuckles, “It’s called strip teasing. I was working on it in private for a few days.”
“You have to teach me how to strip tease!” you excitedly say while handing his jacket back to him. “Maybe I could use it for one of my performances too.”
Ten takes his jacket back. “Sure, I’ll teach you on our day off.”
“You’re the best,” you say as you link arms with him.
Once all the performances were over, it was time for the club to close for the night, or day since they opened until 4 in the morning, so after cleaning up the place, you and Ten both headed home together.
You and Ten were living together and rented a place that was relatively close to both the workplaces so it would be an easier commute. Plus, it was nice getting to live with a good friend. Ten even adopted two cats, named Louis and Leon, which you did not oppose because it was nice to have pets in the house. 
The next day, you both didn’t have any work so it was a good time for Ten to teach you how to strip tease. You sport some comfortable dance wear like a loose, cropped t-shirt and shorts while Ten is in a sleeveless shirt and sweatpants. The living room couches are pushed back and the coffee table is temporarily moved to the kitchen so there was enough dance space. 
“Strip teasing is pretty easy, to be honest. All you have to do is slowly undress in a sexy way,” Ten states. “Let’s start off doing something simple and easy. Can you go grab a jacket of yours and put it on?”
You nod and rush off to your room to retrieve a jacket as instructed.
While you left to do as told, Ten searches on his Spotify for some fitting music and starts to play some upbeat R&B music from his playlist to set the mood. After setting it to the highest volume level, he takes a seat on the couch with the phone placed to his side and gets comfortable on the furniture. 
Soon, you emerge from your room with a light blue denim jean jacket on. 
“First, you want to start off with a sexy dance,” Ten instructs. “Just feel yourself with the music.”
You nod and, thankfully, it was a song you frequently listen to, so it was pretty easy to think of a simple choreography for it on the spot. You throw in some body rolls and slowly run your hands down your body from your chest to your waist down to your ass as you sway your hips, all while keeping eye contact with Ten. 
You and Ten are both comfortable with each other so it’s not awkward to make eye contact like that. Besides, it’s good practice to get rid of shyness since you’re both dancers so facial expression is very important.  
“Yes! Look at you feeling yourself like that,” Ten compliments with a proud smile to hype you up. 
You get a little bold as you do a slut drop, where you squat down quickly and immediately pop back up, when the beat drops, throw your ass back, twerk, and even strut over to Ten to take a seat on his lap while your legs rest bent on the sofa. 
He looks up at you with a raised eyebrow and one side of his lips curled up to a smirk while you smile innocently at him. 
“What’s next?” you innocently ask.  
“Next, slowly take off your jacket,” Ten replies, emphasizing the word ‘slowly’.
You take hold of your jacket and begin to strip it off of your body at a snail’s pace, revealing your shoulders and then your arms. Once the jacket is off of your body, you discard it to the other side of the couch. 
“How was that?” you ask.
“Very sexy,” Ten praises with a nod. “Especially when you sat on my lap like that.”
“What can I say? I have a great teacher,” you compliment back. 
“I know. I’m amazing,” he boasts and you playfully slap his arm for letting your compliment feed his ego. Ten winces from the hit but laughs and wraps his arms around your waist. “But you already got the basics of how to strip tease down. We can watch some tutorials from other professional dancers that I used for reference if you want.” 
“Sure,” you nod.
“Alright, now get off of my lap.” Ten playfully smacks your butt and you giggle as you remove yourself from his lap.
Ten gets up from the couch and walks into his room to retrieve his laptop.
As you wait for him, you check on your phone to see you received a notification. It was a text message from your boyfriend.
Boyfriend: I miss you. Are you free today for dinner and movies at my place?
You smile widely as you rapidly type a reply back to him. 
You: Of course! I’m in the middle of something right now and I’ll need to change and get ready afterwards so give me a couple of hours? 
Boyfriend: Sure thing! Can’t wait to see you later <3 
You: I’ll text you when I’m on my way! See you in a bit <3
“Hey, can we end this in an hour or so?” you ask Ten when he emerges from his room with a laptop tucked in his arm.
“Sure. Did something come up?” 
“Yeah, I’m going to see Taeyong in a bit,” you reply as you continue to text Taeyong. 
You and Taeyong first met at a party during your last year in university and took an interest in each other. After exchanging numbers, chatting over the phone, and a few dates, you and Taeyong have been together for almost a year now. 
“Oh, I see,” Ten nods as he sits on the couch, opening his laptop to pull up the reference videos he bookmarked.  
After watching a few videos on Ten’s laptop for references on how to strip tease by other dancers, you decided it was enough for the day. You changed clothes, texted Taeyong that you are on your way, and headed out to his place. You knock on his apartment door when you arrive and wait for a few seconds before you hear footsteps approaching the door. Taeyong opens the door and smiles upon seeing your face.
“Hey, babe,” he greets, wrapping his arms around your waist.
“Hi, bubu,” you smile with your arms wrapped around his neck. 
“Hungry? I already ordered the pizza for us. I got us your favorite toppings.”
“Yes! You’re the best,” you say and plant a kiss on his cheek.
Taeyong guides you inside his place and the pizza is already set up on the coffee table along with a movie ready on the television screen. 
After devouring the pizza, you and Taeyong continued to watch the remainder of the movie. Some time during the movie, one thing leads to another and next thing you know, the movie is long forgotten about as you fall onto Taeyong’s bed with his lips on yours and his body on top of yours. Your hands are wrapped around his neck to pull him in closer while his hands roam around your waist.  
As you continue to kiss, an idea pops into your head when you feel Taeyong’s fingers wrapped around your shirt, trying to strip you of your clothing but you remove his hands from your shirt. Taeyong removes himself from your lips, worried because of your actions, but you shush him by switching the positions so Taeyong is now laying on the bed and you are hovering over him instead. The movie begins to play sensual music in the background, which was a perfect chance for you to slowly remove your own shirt, teasing your boyfriend with only peaks of your skin.
Taeyong can feel his dick, still in his boxers, slowly harden as he watches you give him a show. Once your shirt is off and tossed to the other side of the bed, Taeyong marvels at your lacy, pink bra.
“Wow, you look so hot doing that. Who taught you how to strip tease like that?” Taeyong smirks as he stares lustfully at your half naked body.
“Ten taught me.” You reply as you bring your hands behind your back to begin unhooking your bra.
“Wait- Ten?” Taeyong’s eyebrows knit together. 
You suddenly stop your actions and your smile slowly drops when you notice the shift in the atmosphere. Taeyong almost seemed...upset at the fact that Ten was the one who taught you how to strip tease.
“Yeah. Why? Is something wrong?” You get off from his body and sit to the side of his bed.
Taeyong sighs, avoiding eye contact with you. He always suspected that there was something going on between you two, but he took your word for it when you said Ten was just a good friend. Taeyong trusts you, he really does, so he tried not to show his jealousy. However, he was always worried knowing that you two live together and how close you two were, so this new fact caused him to snap.
“Y/n, what would you do if I asked you to stop being friends with Ten?”
Your eyes widen at Taeyong’s question. “Taeyong...I can’t just stop being friends with Ten. He’s my best friend.”
“You can’t or you won’t?” Taeyong fires back.
You pause. 
Ten is your best friend, so to suddenly be asked to end your friendship with him for your significant other was so shocking that you were left speechless. You really did not want to lose Ten, so who should you choose? You don’t know because you don’t want to make the wrong decision.
Taeyong sighs at your silence. “Y/n...I think we should break up.”
Your eyes widen and you feel your heart drop as you stare at your boyfriend in shock. 
“I’m really sorry, y/n. I love you, I really do. But...I don’t think I can be with someone who has another man in her heart. You two are too close for comfort and I can’t help but think that there’s something going between you two, especially since you can’t-or won't- stop being friends with him for me,” Taeyong explains.
You didn’t respond back because you were at a loss for words. Is it really that wrong for a woman to have a comfortable friendship with another man that isn’t her significant other?
After redressing in awkward silence, you trudge back home, feeling numb from the breakup and your brain keeps repeating Taeyong’s words. 
When you arrived home and opened the door, Ten was there in the living room, laying on the couch while scrolling through his phone. He looks up to see you staring at him in silence by the door and immediately jumps up from the couch to approach you when he notices the tears on your face as you stare at him with wet eyes.
“What’s wrong?” he asks, his voice laced with concern as he cups your face and gently wipes away your tears from your cheeks with his thumbs. “Why are you crying?”
You wanted to just push Taeyong’s words aside for the night because all you wanted was someone to comfort you right now, so you wrap your arms around Ten’s body and shove your face into his neck.
“Taeyong broke up with me,” you confess.
“What?” You hear him shout, a vibration ringing through his chest. “Why?”
“I-I don’t want to talk about it right now. Can you just...please hold me?” you plead with a cracked voice.
“Of course. I got you,” Ten says as he brings you into a tighter embrace. 
You’ll tell him what happened once you’re ready. 
That night, Ten laid in your bed beside you with a thick blanket thrown over your bodies for warmth while you quietly sob your eyes out. He strokes comforting circles on your back. 
Eventually, you stop crying as tiredness overtakes your body. You glance up to see that Ten’s eyes were closed and his movements have stopped, meaning he probably fell asleep without you noticing. It was pretty late right now, considering it felt like hours since you were crying, so you don’t blame him for drifting off to sleep. 
Taeyong’s words today kept ringing in your head as you continue to stare at Ten’s facial features, like the mole under his left eye and then his long eyelashes. You must admit that Ten is a very attractive person, but who wouldn’t think that?
Taeyong is right about being very close because you and Ten are practically cuddling on your bed. 
You bring Ten into a tight embrace and fall asleep with your limbs wrapped around his body and your face tucked into his chest. You’re glad you still have him by your side. 
The next morning, you woke up with swollen eyes from all the crying last night and Ten was no longer by your side in bed. The smell of food and a sizzling sound lingers in the air, which you assume means that he probably woke up before you did to cook breakfast. 
You lightly trudge your feet to the kitchen, the sound of your slippers sliding against the hardwood floor echoing in the hallway. You see Ten in a yellow apron scooping the cooked food from the pan onto two plates with a spatula.
“Morning,” Ten greets with a smile when he spots your awakened figure. “I woke up earlier to make us some breakfast before we go to work later. Come sit down and eat with me.”
You walk into the kitchen and take a seat on the kitchen counter right in front of the plate that Ten just loaded with food. 
Your heart softens. Despite being your sassy best friend, he knew when to be sweet and thoughtful whenever you were having a bad day. 
“Are you okay to go to work today or do you want to call in sick to have the day off?” Ten worriedly asks.
You shake your head. “I’m okay. I can go to work today.” 
Besides, it was better to distract your mind temporarily with work instead of staying home and wallowing in sorrow. You pick up your fork and start to dig into the breakfast Ten prepared for you. 
“Thanks, Ten,” you smile, grateful for having such a great friend. 
“You can thank me with a kiss,” he jokes as he points his index finger to his extended cheek.
You snort and roll your eyes at him before smacking his arm and you both break out into laughter, which lightens up the mood.
You go through your day with a heavy heart, but you’re thankful that Ten doesn’t ask about what happened yesterday. You do want to tell him, someday, but just not today.
---
A few months have passed since the breakup and you’re back to your usual self again. You still never spoke to Ten about the incident with Taeyong, but you’re not sure if he’s forgotten about it or not. Nothing has changed between you and Ten, your friendship being stronger than ever. You acted the same but you felt weird around Ten now.
The atmosphere felt...different.
You’re not sure if you’re just imagining things but you think Ten is teasing you more than before. There were more lingering touches that sent electricity jolting through your body and sexual jokes thrown every here and there that left you slightly flustered. 
It’s probably because of what Taeyong said to you that night that has been making you more hyper aware of Ten’s actions. 
Of course you still let him do it and try your best to not let it visibly show that it affected you in any way because that’s just how Ten always has been. 
Like just the other day, Ten finished his dance lessons for the day but stayed behind and waited for you to finish so you two could go back home together. You would be done soon, so he decided to kill some time by practicing his choreography. 
Once your last session was over, you packed up your stuff and headed to Ten’s dance room which was right next door. Music was blasting in the studio and when the door opens you are greeted with Ten dancing shirtless. He was wearing a cap to capture his hair and his upper body was covered in sweat.
You didn’t say anything because you assumed he noticed you enter the room but wanted to finish before stopping, so you didn’t want to interrupt and just stared at Ten while he danced. The way his body moves around so quickly during the song was very alluring that you couldn’t look away from his captivating performance.
“Enjoying the view?” he smirks. 
“No, you just seemed focused so I didn’t want to interrupt.” 
“Really? Because my eyes are up here.” He brings out his index finger and middle finger to point each finger at each of his eyes and then points each extended finger at each of your eyes.
You swat his fingers away. “You wish I was staring at you like that.”
“I’m just kidding, baby,” he chuckles before wrapping an arm around your neck.
“Ew, you’re all sweaty!” you squeal as you squirm away from his hold.
“You’re sweaty too. Come here,” he says and chases you around the room with his arms wide open and you run away while screaming.
He manages to trap you against the wall with your head in between his arm and you catch his eyes, staring down at you. 
You gulp at the small distance between your bodies because Ten was just mere inches away from your face. You see him leaning his face closer to yours and you await his next move as you feel your heart beating against your ribcage. Is he really going to kiss you right now in the middle of the dance room where anyone could come in at any moment? However, you don’t make any movements to run away, waiting for what’s to come next.
“Gotcha,” he whispers and pulls away with a chuckle. “Let’s go home. I’m hungry.”
Well you weren’t expecting that at all. Thankfully, he has his back towards you while he goes to retrieve his bag or else he would have seen your face slowly heating up.
And there was another time, where you were doing the laundry by folding your clean clothes on the living room couch. Suddenly, Ten emerges from his room and you see him walking over to you from the corner of your eye. 
“Wow, you wear some racy underwear,” you hear Ten say.
You look up and gasp with wide eyes because you see your black lace panties dangling from his fingers.
“Ten, don’t look at that!” you shout, embarrassed. 
You get up to snatch your article of clothing out of his hands but he’s quick and lifts it higher in the air so it is out of your reach.
“Give it back!” You jump with your arm extended, trying to reach for your panties.
“Try to come get it then,” Ten mocks.
Curse him for using his height against you even though he’s just a bit taller than you. 
You frown as you get on your tip-toes to reach for it but Ten continues to back up. However, Ten wasn’t paying attention to his surroundings and ends up backing up so far that the back of his leg hits the couch, so the male falls backwards and you fall along with him.
“Oof.” With eyes closed, Ten lands backwards on the couch while your body falls on top of Ten’s. 
You get up on your arms and look down to see the position you two were in: Ten under you while you were on top of him. No words were spoken as you stay still in your awkward spots with wide eyes staring at each other.
“Oh, was this your plan all along?” he cheekily grins. “How naughty.”
You whack his chest and quickly grab your underwear back from Ten with burning cheeks.
---
Ten has been teasing you way too much lately so you decide it’s time to get back at him by playing fire with fire.
You look at yourself in the mirror and grin. Currently, you were wearing one of Ten’s t-shirts that you managed to snatch from his closet when you snuck into his room one day while he was in the bathroom.
It was a bit big on you, but you liked it because it smelled like Ten and he will for sure notice it’s his because it’s one of his favorites.
You weren’t wearing anything underneath, except a bra and matching pair of panties which were covered by the oversized shirt. 
From behind your closed door, you hear him outside in the living room playing with one of the cats, because he was cooing at the cat to get his attention so you decided it was time to spring into action.
You exit your room and notice from the corner of your eye that he was sitting on the couch with his attention on Leon. You pretend to grab a drink from the kitchen, making sure your presence was noticed by humming a song. 
“Hey, have you seen my-” you hear him say but you pretend to be searching for something in the fridge.
“Uh, is that my shirt?” he asks.
“Hm?” You blinked innocently at him.
“You’re wearing my shirt,” he states, pointing at you.
“Oh is it? I didn’t notice,” you look down at the shirt and shrug.
Ten gets up from the living room couch and makes his way over to you as Leon skimmers away. He places an outstretched arm onto the fridge and the other one on his hip. “Why are you wearing my shirt?”
“I like it. It’s comfortable.”
“Take it off,” he demands.
“Pervert,” you gasp, covering your chest with your arms.
“You’re the one prancing in here with no pants on and wearing my shirt,” he states matter-of-factly. 
“This isn’t the first time you’ve seen me in just a shirt and no pants,” you retort.
“Not in my shirt though,” he raises an eyebrow at you. “Give it back.”
You lean in close to his face and say, “make me.”
You weren’t sure what to expect to happen next but the next thing you know is that he’s throwing you over his shoulder and walking away from the kitchen and into his room. He uses his foot to close the door shut and flips you onto his bed. 
Honestly, you were pretty surprised by everything that just happened right now so your heart is pounding when he removes you from his shoulder and you land on the mattress. 
Ten hovers over your body and peers down at you with his hands by your head and his legs trapping yours. You suddenly lost all that confidence you had to tease Ten back, because right now you feel intimidated by his gaze and slightly turned on?
Suddenly, Ten brings his hands to your sides and begins tickling you. You erupt into a fit of laughter and squirm as you try to get out of his hold.
“Ten, stop! Ah!” you squeal in between laughs. “You know I’m ticklish!”
“Are you going to give me back my shirt?”
“Yes! Okay, I’ll give it back!” 
Ten stops tickling you and you continue to lay in his bed while trying to catch your breath. You are both still a giggling mess but once you’ve calmed down you just stare up at Ten who was still on top of you by the way.
“I’ll go change now and give it back to you,” you state meekly, your eyes avoiding his.
“Nah, you can keep it. Besides, you look cute in my clothes,” he winks and gets off of you.
Well so much for teasing Ten this time because he made you flustered in the end. You think it’s best to not tease Ten because it looks like you won’t be able to win against him in this game.
---
You and Ten were invited to a mutual friend’s birthday party held at the birthday boy’s house, so you both make your way over to the party after work. When you knock on the door, you and Ten are greeted by the birthday boy, Kun, as he gestures for you both to come inside. There were quite a few people there already, so you both mingle with some friends you know at the party while taking a couple of shorts. 
After a while, you excuse yourself from the conversation to go to the kitchen to grab some food, when suddenly you hear a male voice calling your name.
“Y/nnnn!” You turn your head to the source of the voice and see Donghyuck running towards you with open arms, along with Mark trailing behind him. 
An oof leaves your mouth when the younger male’s body collides against yours into a bone crushing hug, knocking the air out of your lungs. 
“I missed you, y/n,” Donghyuck coos. 
“I missed you too, Donghyuck. Hi, Mark.” 
“Hey, how have you been? I saw that you and Taeyong aren’t together anymore because you deleted all his photos from your Instagram,” Mark says as Donghyuck releases you from his hold. 
“Yeah, I’m fine now,” you reply.
“Did you guys break up because of Ten?” Donghyuck asks, leaning in his body towards yours.
Your brows knit together at Donghyuck’s question. “How...did you know?”
“Seriously? I can’t believe I got it right,” Donghyuck laughs, “But it was pretty obvious.”
You lean against the wall and cross your arms with a raised eyebrow. “How so? Explain.”
“I always thought there was something going on between you and Ten. Almost everyone did,” The male states. “He would always flirt with you and was super touchy like you’re a couple. I can’t tell if he’s trying to get with you or fuck you.” 
Your eyes widen and you even turn to Mark for confirmation and he nods in return, indicating that he agrees with Donghyuck’s statement.
“Well, now that you and Taeyong aren’t together anymore, are you going to do something about the tension between you and Ten?” Mark asks.
Honestly, you didn’t know how to respond. What are you even supposed to do, let alone bring up the topic to Ten without making it awkward?
“Hey Donghyuck, Mark, come help Lucas. The guy is a little drunk!” you hear someone shout before the conversation could continue and the two rush to their aid when they see the giant look like he was about to puke. 
After Donghyuck and Mark left, you decided you needed a moment by yourself to think about everything. You’re sitting alone in the balcony of Kun’s room staring up into the sky, thinking about Donghyuck and Taeyong’s words. 
Now, you weren’t disgusted by the thought of being with Ten, romantically or sexually. In fact, you have thought about it before and, honestly, Ten knows you better than anymore just as well as you know him. Heck, you even know how to pronounce his full Thai name correctly, which apparently not a lot of people can do. 
You and Ten have even made an agreement beforehand that if you two were still single by the time you’re both 30 years old, you would just date each other. The thought of being with your best friend didn’t sound all that bad.
Suddenly, you hear someone walk into the room and you turn your head to the door. 
“Hey, what are you doing sitting here all alone?” Ten asks by the door with his hand on the doorknob. “I was looking for you.”
“Oh...I just needed some air,” you reply. “It was kind of stuffy with all the people there. Did you need something?”
“Yeah, it’s almost time to sing and cut the cake,” Ten informs. “Come on, let’s go.” 
“Okay, I’m coming.” You close the balcony door and follow Ten out of Kun’s room. 
---
Ten went out to do a couple of errands for the day while you stayed behind at home and situated yourself on your bed to watch a movie on your laptop to pass some time. You picked a mature-rated romance. The door of your room was left only partially closed in case any of the cats wanted to come in. 
Nothing ever happened after Kun’s birthday party and things were the same as usual. You’re not sure if you should say something because honestly you’ve been thinking about that night ever since. 
Half way into the movie there was a sex scene. You didn’t expect how uncensored the scene was, but you continued to watch in silence. However, it left you feeling aroused, watching the main female character getting fucked unprotected by the main male character.
It has been a while since you’ve had sex too, so you couldn’t help but slowly move your hands down into your shorts, past your panties, and begin to rub two fingers against your folds as you continue to watch the movie. Even though the volume was relatively high, you still bit your bottom lip to prevent any noise as you shove two fingers into your entrance.
Your heart was beating like crazy as your fingers thrust in and out of your core. Your fingers felt good but it wasn’t enough. You needed something bigger.
You spot Ten’s shirt hanging from the edge of your bed and you pause your fingers to grab it with your free hand. You bring it up to your nose and it still smells like the cologne he wears.
You closed your eyes, thinking of Ten and what it would be like if it was his fingers inside of you right now instead of yours. Even better, something else. The thought just turned you on more so you sped up your fingers.
A careless whimper of Ten’s name escapes your lips along with light panting as your fingers brush against your walls. You should have closed the door but you never expected he would come home so fast, so you didn’t hear Ten entering the house. His ears picked up the sound of his name coming from your room.
You push your fingers deeper to find your g-spot, when suddenly the door swung open and your eyes widened in shock when you looked up and locked eyes with the man that was on your mind, standing before you with shock all over his face.
He looks at you and sees his shirt in your hand and your other hand down your pants in between your legs. 
The room is extremely quiet, except for the noises coming from your laptop of the movie still playing. To make it even more awkward, the actress in the movie just announced her orgasm. 
“Are you using my shirt to masturbate?” Ten asks after a silent pause. 
Shit. You just want a hole to appear and eat you up alive because you are so embarrassed you could die right now. 
You can feel your blood running cold after getting caught in this awkward situation. 
“Ten, I-” You were speechless. 
You didn’t know what to say because your mind was completely blank right now. What do you say to someone when you just got caught doing something inappropriate and even worse using their article of clothing to get off? You quickly retract your fingers from your core. 
You thought Ten would make fun of you or be grossed out by your actions. But instead, he walks into your room, slamming the door shut, gets on to your bed, and hovers over you. It happened so fast that your mind couldn’t comprehend it quick enough that you just froze in place.
Your eyes widened at the dangerous proximity and you felt your heart racing as you peered up into Ten’s cat-like eyes to see that he was staring down at you with such intensity that you’re starting to get a little nervous. 
He grabs the wrist of your hand that you just used to get off with his hand and puts your fingers in his mouth, sucking up your juices. He releases your fingers from his mouth with a pop and your eyes are as wide as saucers now at Ten. 
For once, you felt it. The sexual tension that everyone constantly mentions between you two. You can actually feel it in the air. You no longer see Ten, your best friend, but a man, standing before you with a dark look in his eyes.
“You taste so good.” He licks his lips to pick up any excess off his mouth. 
Ten’s gaze falls from your eyes to your lips and your eyes do the same after you notice his eyes were no longer on yours, but something else.��
“If you don’t want this, push me away right now and I’ll stop,” Ten whispers before slowly closing the distance between his face from yours.
But you don’t stop him. You want this just as badly as he does.
When Ten sees no sign of you rejecting his advances, he closes his eyes before he cups your face with one hand and crashes his soft lips against yours. You close your eyes and return the kiss with your hands clinging on his shoulders for support. Ten’s other hands snake around your waist to bring your figure closer to his, so you’re body to body. Teeth and tongue clashed against each other in a rough, hungry kiss, full of passion. 
He releases himself from your lips to start stripping you of your clothes in a rush that he practically wanted to tear them off your skin if he could. 
Once fully naked, he begins to remove his own clothes and tosses them on the floor. His lips latch back on to your lips again as his hands begin to roam your body, touching your skin, which sends tingles throughout your body from his warm touch. 
The male stops the kiss to allow a moment to breathe. However, that doesn’t last long when Ten begins to leave open mouth kisses on your neck and you shiver as he nips a sensitive spot. Then, he sucks hickies all over your collarbone and chests, marking you with purple bruises. 
Your back arches off the bed when you feel a warm mouth sucking one of your nipples while the other one is being played with between his fingers.
“Ten,” you whimper.
He releases his mouth from your nipple at the sound of his name escaping your lips and runs two fingers against your folds causing you to shiver.
“Fuck, you’re so wet already.” Ten breaths as he pumps his hardening cock in his other hand. “I wanted to take my time with you, but I want you so badly right now that I can’t wait.”
The statement made you even more wet because you have been craving Ten’s touch for a while now. You want to feel his cock inside of you.
“Hang on, let me go get a condom in my ro-,'' Ten informs you but you stop him by reaching into your bedside table and grabbing a condom from your drawer to hand to him. 
You still had a bunch leftover because of your ex. Ten raises an eyebrow at you but decides to ask questions later and to start opening the packet now.
Ten rips the plastic open with his teeth and rolls the condom onto his length. Your pussy was throbbing in anticipation as you stared at Ten’s cock. Once he’s fully sheathed, he tosses the wrapper into your trashcan and positions himself in front of your entrance with your legs planted on his shoulders. Slowly, he enters you and your fingernails dig into his back at the stretch of his length around your wet cavern.  
“Fuck, you feel so good around me,” Ten groans as he bottoms out of you.
You felt so full as his cock throbs inside of you from the feeling of your warm walls. You and Ten have never been so intimate before, being skin against skin. You can’t believe this is actually happening and neither can Ten. 
Ten waits for you to get used to his size by staring at the place where you two were connected. As soon as he heard from you that it was okay to move, he takes his length out and then slams his cock back deep inside of you. You both moan as he begins to find a steady and hard pace to fuck you into your mattress.
“Tell me, why were you using my shirt to help you get off?” he asks as he continues to thrust inside of you. 
Honestly, you were so embarrassed that you got caught by him that you really did not want to tell him, but suddenly, he stops and you stare at him with pleading eyes, asking him why did you stop? with your eyes.
“Answer me,” he hisses, gritting his teeth. 
His length was still inside of you but he holds your hips down with an iron grip so you don’t make any movements to pleasure yourself until you answer his question. 
“I-I was thinking about you,” you choke out, face heating up. 
“You were thinking about me while playing with yourself? How dirty,” he whispers, nipping your ear. 
Satisfied with your reply, he begins pistoning inside of you at a speed that made your breasts bounce along with the thrusts. 
“It’s because you’ve been teasing me so much lately- saying I look cute in your clothes- throwing me on your bed-”
“-and your reactions were so cute. God, I wanted to just take you right then and there,” Ten pants between each thrust. “Did I make you feel some type of way?”
“Yes,” you whimper.
“Good.” Ten readjusts his positions and hits your g-spot dead on, causing you to see stars as pleasure courses through your whole body. You're a moaning mess and your toes curl as he continues to ram that spot with harsh thrusts. 
Your walls begin to convulse around his length and Ten throws his head back at the squeeze. You were close, so Ten picks up the pace. 
The movie was still playing, mixed with the sound of moans and your juices squelching with every thrust.
“Ten, I’m about to come,” you announce.
“Me too,” Ten groans as his thrusts become sloppier and uneven. “Cum for me.” 
With a few more thrusts, the knot in your lower stomach bursts and you come around his length. Soon afterwards, Ten shoots his seeds into the condom. You are both a panting mess trying to come down from your orgasms. You are both covered in sweat, there were scratch marks all over Ten’s back, and the room smells like must and sex. 
After a minute, Ten pulls out from your pussy, removes the condom from his cock, and tosses it into your trash bin. 
You and Ten have officially crossed the line from best friend territory. 
“Hey,” Ten speaks, catching your attention. “Do you regret what we just did?” Ten asks, concern laced in his voice.
You stared at your best friend, his eyes filled with fear at the possibility that you might have regretted what just happened. But you don’t regret it at all, so you shake your head. 
“No,” you reply. 
“Good, because me neither,” he happily smiles and brings you into his embrace. 
“I-uh...overheard your conversation with Donghyuck and Mark during the party. Is it true that you and Taeyong broke up because of me?” he meekly informs you.
You groan, “Ten, I’m so sorry. I meant to tell you eventually but-”
“It’s okay. I’m not mad. The truth is I never wanted to say anything in case you didn’t feel the same way and ruin our friendship. At first, I was so mad at myself when you started going on with Taeyong because I felt like I just lost my chance. But after what we just did, I need to tell you how I feel so I don’t lose you again,” Ten confesses. “I really like you, y/n.”
You feel your heart swell with joy and a blush creeps up your face. “I really like you too, Ten.”
Now it’s his turn to feel his heart swell with joy because the person he likes reciprocates his feelings. 
He lays down beside you in your bed and stares lovingly into your eyes as he uses one arm to support his head while the other strokes a strand of hair away from your face. 
“Ten...what’s going to happen to us now?” you ask.
Ten softens. “Nothing has to change. I will always be your best friend, but I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing where this goes.”
A smile slowly spreads on your face at Ten’s words. “Me neither.” 
---
Tonight, you wanted to showcase your new performance at the club. You asked the DJ to shoutout Ten during your introduction for helping you with the moves, and to add “my boyfriend” after saying his name which made said boyfriend sitting in the front seat glee with joy.
Loud R&B music began to play and the crowd started cheering when your figure emerged from behind the curtains in an oversized black, thin knit sweater that was long enough to cover part of your thighs and black high heels. 
You walk to the center and put your hands on the pole that was securely placed in the middle of the stage. You grind against the pole before lifting yourself off from the floor to do some impressive spins. 
Once the music is reaching the chorus, you carefully get on your knees before getting into a fetal position. Then, you lift your ass up in the air, giving it a wiggle and allowing your top to slowly fall. Next, you quickly sit on your knees and your arms wrap around the opposite ends with your fingers grasp the ends of your top and slowly begin to lift it up, revealing something interesting underneath. The shirt began to expose your skin-tight, long sleeve, red bodysuit that you were wearing underneath this whole time. 
You’ve never worn it before, so today is your first day wearing it because you recently bought it and wanted to show off in front of the crowd. 
The crowd goes wild and Ten’s bites his thumbs trying to hide his wide grin. 
You toss the black oversized shirt to the side of the stage and get back up off our knees to strut over to the stage pole again, swaying your hips side to side. The dance continues again and you hope Ten was impressed by your strip tease.  
Oh, he definitely liked it because as soon as Ten found you after your performance ended, he pinned you against the wall and attacked your lips into a passionate kiss. 
“You were so hot up there. Watching my girlfriend strut like that turned me on so much,” Ten confesses as his dark eyes raked your entire figure while his hands roam your body.
“Turned on enough to fuck me here in the waiting room?” you raise an eyebrow at him.
“Fuck yeah.”
Before anything could progress, you both stopped because there was a banging noise coming from the door that startled you both.
“You two better not be fucking in there!” a voice screams from the other side of the door.
You and Ten looked at each other before bursting out into a fit of laughter at your coworker’s words. 
“Sorry, Jongin!”
266 notes · View notes
penisman420-69 · 4 years ago
Note
A gentle glow from the computer screen washes over the dark desk, colors flickering in rapid motion. The monitor whirs in self defense of the growing heat. The ceiling fan lays mockingly silent in the stifling air. Reclined in his seat, Dream's head is tilted back to watch the wooden slats for the slightest tremor.
Betrayal.
Beads of sweat collect near his hairline. He tugs absently on the sticky plastic of his headphones, where they rest around his neck. The small light on the exterior blinks green.
"Dream?" He hears George say faintly.
"Wait, did he leave?" Sapnap asks.
"It says he's on the call, still." George's voice slowly grows closer. Dream begins to detach his eyes from the fan. "Dream?"
The concern in his voice makes Dream sit up. He pushes his headphones back on and wipes his face. "Yes, yes, hello, sorry. I zoned out for a sec." He blinks to register what's on his screen, seeing green grass blocks and Sapnap's avatar crouching in front of him. "Shoot, did you end the stream?" He quickly tabs out just in time to see George laugh.
"No, but I'm about to. Couldn't end it without you saying bye," George says. The small considerate act is enough to bloom a warmth in Dream's chest.
He smiles. "Oh, alright. Bye stream!"
"Bye!" Sapnap yells.
George waves to the camera. "Bye you guys, thank you so much. Also, pray for Dream's air conditioning."
"And my broken fan," Dream adds.
"Bye bye," George repeats, then disappears from Dream's view. This stream has ended. A familiar feeling creeps into Dream's chest whenever that message appears post-stream; disappointment clouded with confusion. Today, it is accompanied by trickles of regret.
He frowns. "Sorry I spent so much of your stream complaining about the weather," he says, clicking back to the server. Sapnap has placed an oak sign before him that reads: wee waa dream can't take the heat. He rolls his eyes and breaks it.
"It's fine, really. I just feel bad for you," George says. His avatar bounds over and starts placing doors on the ground. "Any idea when it'll be fixed?"
"Soon, I hope," Dream answers with a huff, opening and closing the doors to appease George. "I don't think I can take much more of this." They'd been playing for the past three hours, meaning Dream had been accumulating enough sweat in his boxers to stick to his chair for much longer than any man should. Physical comfort was a key component for him to stay mellow, and not much could distract him from itchy tags and blistering heat. Not much, that is, besides gaming. "Seeing you was nice, though, something about your cheerful face distracts me from my agony," he confesses, words leaving his mouth before he can attempt to filter. He cringes. What was that?
"Oh my god, shut up," George says. He sounds embarrassed.
Sapnap coos. "Maybe I should stream with my camera on too."
Dream laughs, running away from the two of them to ease his sudden spike in nervousness. "That would keep my attention."
"Oh yeah, are my streams not interesting enough for you Dream?" George says, flying after him.
"What?" Dream says, feeling a pang of guilt. "What makes you think that? I love your streams."
George continues to act offended. "If you loved them you wouldn't zone out randomly."
"I didn't mean to," Dream whines, which only makes the other two laugh. "I just got distracted by my misery, and tried to airbend a breeze in here."
"Yeah right," Sapnap says, "you couldn't have been doing just that for ten minutes."
"Ten minutes?" Dream repeats, bewildered. He didn't feel it had been that long; he was exploring the map and then clicked onto George's stream to see where he was, and of course George was smiling and yelling, but somehow so full of energy and spirit, and the hot air started to seep into Dream's soul—
"You were AFK for a while," George says, "we were still talking to you though and thought you'd muted yourself or something. Chat thought it was embarrassing."
"Oh," Dream says.
"Hold on, did you mean to mute yourself?" Sapnap asks, laughing as his own words leave his mouth. "Lil too excited watching George?"
Both Dream and George explode in disgusted yells. Good lord, Sapnap.
"Sapnap!" George sends a series of hits raining down onto his avatar. "You are so inappropriate off-stream."
"You're gross," Dream says with a laugh, but it's feeble and half-hearted. His pulse is rapidly drumming inside his skull. He is not lost to the strange dilemma of why he faded from their call for so long to stare at his George-less ceiling. Why did George have anything to do with it? Envy, perhaps, of his friend's ability to be wearing a hoodie in the middle of summer. He brushes it off. "It's true, though. George's face does get me excited."
George groans, making Sapnap and Dream laugh. "Now you're just trying to make me uncomfortable."
"Flustered, you mean," Dream inputs quickly.
"Okay, no, I'm sick of you two," George says, immediately exiting their server. "Consider this a rage quit."
GeorgeNotFound has left the game. Dream sends a :( into the chat.
"Noo, Georgie," Sapnap pleads.
"You did a great job today," Dream says, wholeheartedly. "I'm going to re-watch what I missed of it later." George laughs.
"I seriously have to go. I'll talk to you soon," he says, a small sound emitting from Discord signifying he's left the call.
The feeling returns to Dream's chest—it's akin to the cold rush that follows when he removes his hands from a steaming coffee mug. Some nights after their friends have logged off for good, he'll do anything to avoid giving in and going to bed. Twitter, mini-games, coding, creating playlists. His favorite nights, though, are when George wakes up early enough to keep him company. Their conversations radiate with the warmth of both the Florida night and the English sunrise.
So whenever George jokingly becomes angry with him, Dream can't dispel the tiny tremor of worry that maybe he's gone too far. He doesn't like to mull over the thought of them really fighting; it would terrify him like nothing else. He knows George will call again tomorrow, and that he isn't nearly as upset as he lets on. Yet he still finds himself carefully watching the dot next to George's name switch from green to a pale grey.
"I think I'm gonna hop off too," Dream says to Sapnap.
"Alright, seeya."
After disconnecting, he swivels around in his chair to face his bed. The dark comforter has been kicked to the floor, sheets askew. The window above his bed is shut tight to keep out the humid air and insects, but he can see the soft orange streetlights in the distance.
He sighs and wishes for rain.
He remembers running barefoot on his neighborhood streets as a child when storms would roll in from the sea, splashing in gravelly puddles and letting the cool raindrops dampen his hair. That space was always euphoric—a brief temperance from the smoldering air, green palm trees swaying in the wind, the hint of thunder and lightning—but it feels so far from him now. Especially in this dreadful weather.
He turns off his computer and begrudgingly gets in bed. He's nearly grown accustomed to the dark when his phone vibrates, the notification lighting up the room. He squints.
A text from George.
I feel like this song is a good way for me to get back at you, it reads. Dream clicks on the link, opening his Spotify to a new 'Glass Animals' song.
"Heat Waves," he responds, smiling. Very funny.
He'll listen to that in the morning. As he sets his phone back on the nightstand, Dream finds himself warmed by the gesture, even though it was an insult on his behalf. George is a thoughtful guy. Nothing wrong with appreciating that. Not that Dream finds it unnerving that interacting with George has a direct correlation with his general contentment and moods; in fact, it isn't worth the overthinking.
Settled by his own logic, he allows his body to focus on sleep. He slips in and out of shadows, occasionally tossing and turning in irritation at the cotton sheets. The fabric clings to his dampened skin up to the moment he sluggishly kicks it away. Something clatters to the floor, but Dream rolls onto his side.
Eventually, the night cools enough for him to sink deeper, and deeper, until he turns his head from his soft, warm pillow to a cold pile of sand.
Confused, he grasps at the foundation beneath him only for the rocky grains to slip through his fingers.
He sits up rapidly, glancing at the beach now surrounding him. Although the image is narrow, he can tell there is a murky-purple lagoon lapping a few feet before him. The moon ripples across its ominous surface. The night is quiet; a taunting breeze brushing the back of his neck and bringing chills down his spine.
He looks down at his hands, seeing his bright sleeves pushed halfway up his forearms. Bright green.
A sinking feeling begins to rot in his stomach as the familiarity sets in. He's been here before. He shifts his head cautiously, realizing where the shadows at the edge of his vision are coming from, and raises a hand to gently graze the ceramic covering his face. He doesn't need a mirror to know what the mask looks like.
He pulls up his hood, tensing as he anticipates the next subject he'll recognize. At any moment, behind his right shoulder, a voice will call from the edge of the trees that'll say—
"Dream?"
He freezes. That's—that's not right, it isn't supposed to be—
"George?" He asks quietly, turning around with caution. George stands a few feet behind him, goggles perched atop his head and an axe in his hand. He's looking around their location, dazed. The starry sky reflects itself on his lenses.
He walks across the sand towards Dream slowly. "Where...are we?"
"Um." Dream considers curling in on himself, but can't help fighting the comfort of honesty. "My head, I guess." He knows from experience that this place values integrity more than anything. Facing it head on, so to speak. He just doesn't know why he'd let George in here—it isn't safe.
"It's pretty," George says, sitting on the sand next to him.
Dream's heart aches faintly at his remark. Once, he'd thought it was pretty, too. He can't find the words to tell George that after so many years of frantically slipping on the sand, coughing up lung-fulls of the dark water, and running from the woods—it has become a thing of nightmares.
He stares at George. Can he feel the memories here?
"So this is..." George gestures around with his axe vaguely. "Florida?"
Dream cracks a smile. "Yeah, you finally made it," he teases softly. George's grin is bright enough to make him look away. "It's a lagoon I used to come to as a kid."
"You make it sound like that was lifetimes ago."
Something foreign and lost weighs on the tension in Dream's features, forgotten behind the ceramic. "Maybe," he says, "I've had multiple lives here."
George says nothing. He lifts a moon-soaked hand to point at the water. "Do you see those?"
Dream turns his head, and small glowing blobs appear near the shore. Their light blue color is stark against the darkness as they float idly.
"They're moon jellies," Dream says in disbelief. He's never seen them here before. The curling darkness steals all hint of life besides him, his beating heart, and occasional whispers in the wind.
George hums in approval. Dream looks at him again, grateful for the mask covering his own features. Pale moonlight makes George's skin glow a soft porcelain, pink lips pressed together in a delicate brush stroke.
The word bubbles up from deep in Dream's chest, winding into his bloodstream and landing gracefully in his head.
Beautiful.
He wants to back away from it, to shove it deep down. But for once, it feels safe here, safe to admit it to himself without needing an air of humor to skate by on. Here, it isn't a joke.
"Why are we here?" George asks in a murmur, gaze lifting to face Dream. The word here hangs with a heavy lilt, as if he'd meant to say, what brought me? Who pulled me?
Was it you?
In his large brown eyes Dream can see the faded reflection of his sloppy black and white smile.
"I know why I'm here," Dream says carefully, "but I don't know why you are." A brief rustling of leaves and twigs behind them causes him to tense again. "It's dangerous here, George. We should go."
"Why? Don't you want to stay in this memory?"
Dream ignores the comment, and lightly wraps an arm around his shoulders to help him up. George doesn't try to stand. He keeps them rooted to the white shore with a confused frown.
"Nothing is going to hurt us when I'm here," he says.
Dream feels his face grow hot. "Knock it off. This is serious."
George looks at him earnestly. "I'm being serious."
Now that his arm is draped protectively over George's small frame, Dream becomes extremely aware of how close they are. He can sense George's body heat, watch his chest rise and fall, see the goosebumps on his neck. Dream's heart begins to pound. For how long has he wanted to meet him? To hear his voice in person? The fear inside him slowly begins to ebb away into fondness.
The moon jellies rapidly multiply until the lagoon is dappled blue, and gleaming.
George grins. "I told you it's pretty."
"Because of you," Dream says warmly. Even though George rolls his eyes, he means it. They laugh lightly at each other, glowing water and gentle sparks blooming as the moment passes.
George's gaze lingers on Dream for a few heartbeats, before letting go of his axe. He raises his hand to reach for the ceramic mask.
Dream freezes as his eyes follow the motion. His hood falls when George runs his fingers gently through his wavy hair—he can't remember the last time he let someone do this. It feels intimate. It feels terrifying. His eyes shut when George finds the metal clasp on the back of his head, he exhales when he feels the weight of the mask drop from his face.
The breeze is cold on his cheeks. He can smell the nearby saltwater. He opens his eyes, and sees twice as many stars as usual.
"How did you do that? I've never..." He looks at George, who is smiling softly.
"I know honesty is important to you," George says. His hand moves to gently touch Dream's cheekbone.
Dream reaches and delicately takes George's hand in his, slender knuckles and fingers sliding together with timid grace. He feels alive. He leans closer, studying George's eyes until he slips down, further, to his soft lips. His breath is trembling.
"And what if I kissed you right now?" He murmurs, heart racing. "How honest would that be?"
George's eyes grow wide. "I—well, Dream—you—" he stammers, giving Dream exactly what he needs to let go.
Their movements happen nearly all at once—the inclining of George's jaw, the slide of Dream's hand into his hair, the connection of their lips. The kiss is raw with emotion, and gentle. Hot embers rise from Dream's chest to heat his face. The soft presence of George's mouth against his own is surreal, as their senses collectively slip away into the dreamland. His hand rises to softly cup George's jaw. He pulls his face closer, breath hot, heart stuttering. Nervous energy quickly ebbs into a strong hearth of longing, as he kisses George again, and again, and again. George emits a soft noise that makes Dream melt. He can feel George's hands in his hair, then on his neck, then on his chest.
Dream pulls away to capture brief puffs of air. His chest rises and falls rapidly, as he looks at George's flushed cheeks and mouth kissed red. Because of him. A low feeling stirs in the space just below his ribcage, the first flickering of a dangerously hot flame. All of it, all of George, just for him.
Dream parts his lips to say something, anything—and promptly wakes up.
I have heatwaves saved on my computer it doesn't phase me anymore I've read this several times you can't hurt me with this
11 notes · View notes
hockeyboysiguess · 5 years ago
Text
Let’s Fall in Love for the Night
a/n: i listened to this song (let’s fall in love for the night by FINNEAS) and immediately got hit with matty vibes. enjoy! let me know if you wanna see more tkachuk writing!
Let’s fall in love for the night
And forget in the morning
Play me a song you like
You bet I’ll know every line
I’m the boy your boy hoped you’d avoid
Don’t waste your time on jealous guys, fuck that noise
I know better than to call you mine
You slammed the shot glass down on the bar, your face scrunching up as the tequila burned down your throat. You shook your head as the liquid settled in your stomach and then let out a sigh.
“I think I need another one,” you shouted over the music to your friend Jess.
“Whatever you need, babes,” she said, already leaning across the bar to wave down the bartender. “I know you just asked for space, but you need to dump his ass now.”
“I know what you think. You’ve been telling me every fifteen minutes,” you threw back at her, “but it’s not that easy. We’ve been together forever and I don’t really know what my life looks like without him anymore.”
“You get to hang out with me more,” she sang at you as two more shots appeared in front of you. “The biggest thing, babes, is that you deserve better than him on literally every level.”
You took the shot, knowing she was about to continue her rant of trashing your long-time boyfriend that she’d started five minutes before you’d even arrived at her house to pregame together.
“You are smarter than him. You are hotter than him, like look at you!” She gestured to your body and you rolled you eyes. You used her outstretched hand as an opportunity to put her shot in her hand. “Your ass looks killer in those pants and you and I both know it. Where was I? Oh, right! You are the breadwinner in that relationship. He has that lame-ass, poor-paying job and he refuses to get a better one even though you have the same degree. Who the fuck does that? You pretty much pay all of the bills while he does god knows what.”
She found a pause long enough to take her shot, which very clearly did not go down smoothly. She stuck her hand out to indicate she needed antoehr second before she could continue. You took the moment to order a drink, an actual beer instead of another shot.
“Most importantly of all!” Jess drummed her palms on the bar as she worked her way up to something. “He is terrible at sex!” You tried to shush her because she had shouted that loud enough to get the attention of a few interested parties around you, but you had no luck. “I mean, did her ever make you finish once? In three years? God, he sucks so bad and you need to actually for sure dump him and kick him out of the apartment you pretty much pay for by yourself. ”
You sighed, not loving your life choices that led to this moment right now. You were grateful the bartender dropped your beer in front of you so you could hide behind the bottle instead of answering. Part of you knew she was at least a little bit right, but you didn’t know what everything looked like without him and there were some parts of him that you couldn’t let go of, some moments that pulled at your heart when you thought about. He’d been so much worse lately though and you were having a hard time continuing to give him chances because a second chance happened so long ago you might have run out of numbers.
“Any reason a girl who looks this good is looking sad and drinking a pretty shitty beer at a bar on a Saturday night?”
You turned to see who had spoken and were met with piercing blue eyes and a mess of curly hair. Stubble coated his jawline and a smirk played at the corners of his mouth. Objectively attractive. Objectively your type. Objectively trouble.
“I’m Matthew,” he told you. “You are?”
You sighed, debating if you should cut him off with mercy like you were used to doing. Jess cut in before you could, telling him your name and hers before you could back out.
“So, about that terrible beer,” he picked it up and slid it close to the opposite edge of the bar from you, “can I buy you a better one?”
As if he knew, your phone lit up on the bar with your boyfriend’s name flashing across the screen, the hearts on either side of his name mocking you. You sighed and opened the text anyway.
I know you’re out with Jess right now and I just wanted to say that I know we’re taking some space right now, but space doesn’t include seeing other people to me. So I’m not gonna do it and I sure hope you’re not.
“Oh my god, give me your phone,” Jess whined from Matt’s opposite side. “I need to throw your phone into a blender. He needs to stop texting you.”
“Boyfriend?” Matthew asked you, an eyebrow raising at the question. “Seems like the jealous type if he’s texted that much.”
Your eyes shifted from your phone to Matthew and back again. He was trying to control you even after you asked for space. You were done just like that. You shot off a quick text to him that simply read ‘We’re done. Get your shit out of my apartment,’ then shoved shoved your phone into your purse, deciding to forget about him and whatever he was about to do next for the rest of the night.
“No, my ex. He still has shit at my apartment and is trying to figure out when he can come get it,” you replied
Jess started freaking out behind you, her fists pumping into the air in wild, uneven movements in her drunken excitement.
“Good,” Matthew smiled at you, “so, about that drink?”
Three more drinks each in an hour and you were stumbling through the front door of Matt’s apartment, his mouth clumsy against yours thanks to the alcohol and his efforts removing his jacket at the same time. You giggled when he cursed against you mouth as he had to pull way to actually get his jacket off. He tossed it somewhere behind you as his mouth reconnected with yours.
His hands were so different compared to your ex. You felt bad comparing them, that your mind was wandering there, but you couldn’t help it. Matthew pulled at different parts of you than he did. His hands on your hips, his teeth nipping at your bottom lip, one of his legs pushing between yours as he guided you so your back was pressed against the nearest wall. One of his hands ran up towards your chest, your shirt riding up with it. 
“Jesus, fuck,” Matthew groaned when he saw move of your body. “You’re so fucking sexy.” 
“Then stop fucking around and fuck me already.”
Your last words came out as a moan as his mouth found your neck. He chuckled against your skin as he travelled down, sinking low so his lips could kiss along the edge of your low cut shirt. His large hands wrapped around the back of your thighs and he suddenly lifted you, drawing a yelp from you as your nails dug into his shoulders for stability. 
“I hope you know what you’re in for.” 
Apparently what you were in for was the best sex you’d ever had. Your chest was steal heaving with your second orgasm when Matt slid off the bed. He stepped into his boxers before grabbing his phone off of the nightstand. 
“Any idea where my purse is?” you asked him. 
“Uh, I think kitchen counter?” He said it like a question, so much so he threw in additional, “Maybe?” 
You sighed and rolled yourself out of his bed, sliding on your panties and bra before heading toward the kitchen. Your purse hadn’t quite made it to the counter, falling short onto the floor. You grabbed your phone and headed back toward’s Matthew’s room. You audibly groaned when you saw the notifications on your phone. 13 missed calls. 7 voicemails. 26 text messages. All from him.
“Jesus,” you mumbled under your breath.
“I know I’m pretty good, but already moving on to god-like compliments?”
Matthew’s joke brought you out of the spiral your brain had started to go down. You scrunched your nose up at him and stuck your tongue out, which made him throw his head back and laugh. 
“So you had a good time then,” he chided you. His phone hanging loose in his hands as he did nothing to hide the fact that his eyes were raking up and down your body right now. “Wanna go again?” 
“Give me like ten minutes,” you mumbled. 
You barely registering what he’d said as you started to scroll through his texts. Each one was crazier then the last. Guaranteed, you had ended a three-year relationship with a guy you lived with over text, but you hadn’t realized quite how unhinged he could sound sometimes. You’d barely gotten a quarter of the way in when your phone was taken from your hands.
“Hey, that’s mine!” you whined. Matt was dangling it above your head, completely out of your reach. “Matthew, give it back.” 
“Mm, nope. It’s mine for tonight and so are you,” he informed you. “Pick a song.” 
He offered his phone out to you instead, Spotify open for you. He wiggled it a little from side to side to try and peak your interest. 
“Let’s forget about that douchebag after I just fucked you way better than he does, okay? You pick a song and then we’ll go again and I’ll fuck you even better. Deal?” 
A smirk pulled at the corner’s of his mouth. He knew you weren’t going to say no before you’d even decided to say yes. You weren’t sure how he’d known it was your ex. You’d probably given it away somehow. Your mom had always told you that you were an open book, begging to be read. You sighed and took his phone, deciding this night you might regret was better than dealing with you current problems.
You played the first thing you could think of. You regretted your choice as the first few chords started and Matt started laughing at your choice. 
“Sorry, that’s super fucking lame,” you mumbled as you began your search for a new song. 
“No, no,” Matt’s hands wrapped over your to stop your movements. “I love this song, even though it’s definitely super fucking lame.” 
You smiled up at him and it made a mirroring smile come across his face. You let go, letting yourself be entirely in this moment tonight. You let yourself forget the texts and voicemails waiting for you. You let yourself forget how horrible it going home tomorrow was going to be. Instead, you let a pair of beautiful blue eyes and a mess of curls distract you. You made him yours for the night, thinking that was all it could be. 
You need a pick-me up?
I’ll be there in twenty-five
I like to push my luck
So take my hand, let’s take a drive
“Are you up?”
Matthew usually texted you. By usually you mean over the past two months where you’d seen him at least three times a week. Fresh off your breakup, he’d become a great regular distraction that made it worth your time to text him instead of trying your chances at the bar again. Apparently he was either drunk or couldn’t read a clock because it was midnight on a Tuesday and he was calling you.
“Well, I answered the phone,” you groaned as you rubbed your eyes with your free hand, trying to wake yourself up a bit. “What’s up, Matt?”
“You didn’t answer my text and I wanna see you tonight,” he told you.
“You’re the worst hook up I’ve ever had for my sleeping schedule,” you mumbled. “Look, Matt, I had a shit day at work and I really just want to sleep and-“”
“Get your shoes on. I’ll be there in like, half an hour.”
He hung up without even bothering to wait for an answer. You tossed your phone down your bed as you let yourself fall back into the blankets. You wanted to let them swallow you up and drag you back to sleep, but you knew Matt was showing up regardless of how you felt about it. You let your feet drop heavily on the floor and let out a sigh before pushing yourself out of bed. You threw your hair up, at least grateful you’d made yourself shower before you went to bed, and grabbed the first clean clothes you could find. The fact that he’d asked you to put on your shoes was odd, but it was Matt. You couldn’t really expect anything because. 
The time flew by and Matthew was knocking on your front door before you could even fully process the situation. How he looked this good with joggers hung low on his hips, and a workout t-shirt at midnight you didn’t really know.
“You’re not wearing shoes,” Matt sang softly. “I thought you knew that part was non-negotiable.”
“You called me after I’d already been asleep for two hours. You should be amazed I’m vertical right now,” you grumbled at him as you slid on the nearest pair of sneakers you could find. “Where are we going?”
“You said you had a bad day.” Matt verbally skated around your question as he stepped into the hallway of your apartment, propping the door open for you. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Not really,” you sighed. It had just been one of those days where there were too many little things that individually all sounded fine, but when put together had made you miserable. “How was your day?”
Matt shook his head at you and tsked softly, “Sharing is caring. And you can’t expect me to share if you don’t.”
“Do you like to try and sound like a kindergarten teacher to piss me off,” you stepped into the hallway and began fussing with the lock on your front door to get it to close, “or do you think it’s a kink for me? Spoiler alert, Matty, the answer is I fucking hate it.”
Matt laughed a full belly laugh and you finally heard the lock click into place. You spun on your heels to face Matthew. He smiled down at you and jutted one of his hands out into the space between you two.
“Let’s go for a drive. If you’re a good girl, I might even throw in some French fries at the end for ya.” A smirk pulled at the corners of his mouth as he added, “And an orgasm or two because I’m feeling generous.”
You rolled your eyes at him, but the smile forming on your lips betrayed you. You practically slapped your hand against his as your grabbed it.
“Careful with the merchandise!” Matthew shouted. You shushed him, knowing your elderly neighbor was already none too thrilled with you since her bedroom wall was shared with yours. “Oh, that old bat has heard worse.”
You couldn’t help but laugh as Matthew dragged you out to his car. Part of you, a part of you that you didn’t want to acknowledge, noted just how boyfriend-like this whole evening was. Or at least, that this isn’t what people who are just hooking up typically do. You pushed that thought aside. You knew this was just how Matthew was. This wasn’t serious and wasn’t on its way to it, but it could be self-contained serious. Each night could be serious. You could fall for him each and every single night you were with him if you wanted to, as long as the feelings were gone by the time the morning came.
I love it when you talk that nerdy shit
We’re in our twenties talking thirties shit
We’re making money but we’re saving it
‘Cause talking shit is cheap and we talk a lot of it
You won’t stay with me, I know
But you can have your way with me ‘til you go
“Okay, okay, try me again,” Matt said slowly, his fingertips tapping slowly on table between you. “I definitely won’t get it this time, but it’s hot when you’re smart.”
You rolled your eyes at him, a frequent occurrence, and shook your head softly. You grabbed your orange juice and took a few swigs of it before trying to explain the intricacies of your problem at work to him. He was cute and he was really good at hockey, but his ability to understand your job was lacking. Matthew still tried to understand though, even though he knew he probably wouldn’t get it. Your ex could understand, you’d gone to school together, but he never tried. It was the morning though, so you couldn’t be in love with Matty right now. That feeling, that temporary love, was reserved for nights in his bed or yours.
“Okay, I still don’t get it,” Matthew sighed, clearly a little frustrated with himself. “But you clearly know what you’re doing and you’re way too smart for me. I hope our babies get your smarts, but my hockey sense. You still can’t figure out offsides.”
“How many babies am I pushing out here, Tkachuk?” You raised an eyebrow at him, but you knew he was just talking shit, trying to get a reaction out of you. “Also, offsides is complicated and I’ve got a college degree taking up space in my brain where you have hockey knowledge.”
“I was thinking three,” Matt told you as he tossed his coffee cup between his hands, sliding it across the table with each toss. “I’ll strap them in skates as soon as they can walk, make them fall in love with hockey before your brains take over and they decide to become doctors or something ridiculous.”
“Yeah, wouldn’t that just be the worst thing if little Matty became a doctor instead of a hockey player?” You lifted your glass to your lips and smiled against the edge. “Absolutely the worst thing that could happy to him.”
“Exactly.” Matthew’s smile was evident in his voice. “Glad you’re on board with this plan.”
“Mm, I think you owe me some jewelry and a big party before I pop out any kids for you, Matt,” you sighed as you set your cup back down on the table.
“You’re so fucking picky. I’m just going to stand there in the jewelry store with a blank check and let you go ape shit,” Matt informed you.
“Thinking about wifing me up, huh?” you joked.
The words came out of your mouth and you knew you’d gone too far. Everything else was just running your mouths, something you both needed to keep things light and non-committal. But that joke was walking dangerously close to asking for a real commitment and a future.
“Do you want me to be thinking about it?”
You had absolutely no idea how your were supposed to feel after hearing his response. He was pushing the issue back on you, trying to get you to admit if your question was a joke that didn’t quite land or if it was serious. The problem was you honestly didn’t know. You knew you weren’t looking for anything. You knew you hadn’t let Matthew take you home the night you met at the bar to start anything. He wasn’t the type of guy you would have ever seen yourself with, but maybe that’s because you’d only ever pictured your future with one specific person.
“Is it okay if I don’t really know?”
The question was risky, because up until that moment everything was completely casual. You were forcing an issue that you weren’t even sure was really what you wanted or not.
“I’m good however you want to be. I just like being around you,” Matthew told you. “Whatever you want that to look like, I’m down for.”
You smiled and took his open ending as an opportunities to change the ton of the conversation with, “What if I wanted to move to the Bahamas and become a scuba instructor with you and our three kids?”
“Give up my hockey career to see you in a bikini everyday? Sign me the fuck up.”
I know better
I know better
I know better than to ever call you mine
It was like that conversation had only happened in your mind. You’d left the diner that day and Matthew acted like everything was exactly the same as it had been when you walked in an hour prior. You pretended too, because what else were you supposed to do?
“Okay so,” Matthew tossed the stress ball from your desk up into the air and paused to ensure he caught it on its journey back down. “I wanted to ask if you’d come to this party thing the team’s having. It’s like, kinda nice, but I promise it’ll be low-key. I’ll even buy you a new dress for it. Well, I’m gonna let one of the guys’ wives do it. Call it a gift for putting up with me for so long.”
You had said yes without even thinking really. Also, you said yes without realizing Matthew was totally lying about how nice the event was. When the dress arrived on your doorstep, you unboxed it, expecting something just on the right side of too revealing. Instead, you found an absolutely stunning right, knee length formal dress.
“Matthew,” you sighed to yourself in your empty apartment, the dress in your hands. “What are you doing here?”
You mentally blocked out more time to get ready than you’d previously been planning, knowing you had to step up your game this time. Still didn’t mean you weren’t rushing to put the last bobby pin in place when Matthew knocked on your door that Friday evening.
“It’s open!” you shouted from your bathroom.
“You know, that’s not really safe!” Matthew shouted back, his voice getting louder as he came toward you, his dress shoes tapping against the floorboards as he walked. “You know I could’ve been- holy fuck.”
You turned to see Matthew standing in the doorway of your bathroom, his eyes raking up and down your body unabashedly. One of his hands gripped the doorframe in support as his eyes lingered at his favorite areas of your body.
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed out. “You look unbelievable.”
“Thank you,” you smiled softly. Your nerves were rising under his intense gaze and you kept fidgeting with a strand of your hair. “Thank you for the dress. And thank whoever picked it out for me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered. “Definitely gonna have to thank her.”
You giggled a little at just how in shock he still was. Guaranteed, he’d never seen you actually try and look this good before. The best you’d probably ever looked for him was the night at the bar where you met.
“Are you ready to go?” Matthew asked after clearing his throat. He finally had collected himself enough.
“Just gotta our the heels on and then yes,” you replied, motioning for him to get out of your way so you could get to your heels in your bedroom across the hall.
You sat down on the edge of your bed and began winding the straps of your heels around your ankle. Jess has picked them out when she saw the dress. They were a little cumbersome to put on, but they looked incredible with Matthew’s gift, so you dealt with the hassle of getting them on.
“Hey um, I wanted to talk to you about something before we go,” Matthew asked, his voice shaky.
For someone who was usually so confident it was almost a turn off, he was practically green when you looked up at him, taking a physical and mental break before putting on your other shoe. His hands were clenching and in clenching at his sides.
“Look uh, I know you’re,” he paused and looked you over again before continuing. “Well, you’re you and I’m me and this is stupid why did I start this?”
He sighed and let his head fall back, his curls flopping back as he gathered his thoughts. He cursed softly before looking back at you.
“I know I said I’d be whatever you wanted in the diner, that it was up to you and anything would be fine with me.” He finally met your eyes. “But I don’t think anything is fine with me. Fuck, I know better than to think you’re mine, but you feel like mine. God, you really, really do.”
He had crossed the room and was standing in front of you before you could process the words coming out of his mouth. Matthew’s hands grabbed yours and he pulled you to your feet, keeping you steady because you were still only wearing one heel.
“I love being around you,” Matthew told you, his baby blues looking into your eyes. You felt like he was looking straight into you, into the parts that made you who you were. “You’re one of my favorite people I’ve ever met. I know I shouldn’t ask. You’re so successful and smart and strong and you deserve so much better than me. I know better than to think you’d want to be with me, but fuck, do you want to be with me? Because that’s what I really want.”
You didn’t even have to think about your answer. You knew it. You steadied yourself against him and pressed your lips to his. His arms wrapped around your waist, lifting you off the ground to eliminate the rockiness from the one heel situation. His mouth felt different against yours, eager, but tender and caring in a way you’d never felt before from him or anyone.
“Mine,” he whispered against your lips, his smile making kissing you too challenging in that moment. “You’re mine now.”
“Kinda already was,” you laughed lightly. “Glad you’re taking the position of boyfriend up officially.”
“Oh shit. Miscommunication. I was promoting myself right to future husband,” Matthew joked. “Guess I gotta earn that promotion now, huh?”
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morningfears · 5 years ago
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Youngblood
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Rating: PG (a few swears, nothing big)
Summary: Someone requested this when Youngblood came out. I wrote it but never posted it. Essentially, listening to Youngblood for the first time as Ash’s girlfriend and giving him your opinion on it.
Word Count: 1.5k
“Ash, is it midnight yet?”
Ashton rolls his eyes playfully as he looks up from his phone and glances over at you. He laughs at the sight of you lying upside down on the couch, your head hanging over the edge and your headphones squishing your cheeks as they hang loosely around your neck. “No,” he hums as he tosses his phone onto the hotel bed and crosses the room to stand behind the couch. You feel his fingers drag along the exposed skin of your shin as he informs you, “Five more minutes.”
“Why can’t I listen now?” you pout as you lift your head just enough to catch sight of him. “I’ve been so patient, I haven’t asked to hear anything early this whole time! It’s killing me, Ashton. Do you want my death on your hands?”
“You’ve waited this long, doll,” he grins as he rounds the couch to take a seat beside you, “you can wait five more minutes. It won’t kill you.”
“But you don’t know that,” you whine as you shift yourself to rest your back against the arm of the couch and stretch your legs over Ashton’s lap, “it could very well send me into some sort of stress-related heart problem. Because my heart literally feels like it’s going to beat out of my chest, I’m so excited.”
Ashton shakes his head at your dramatics as he rubs his fingers over the fuzzy pink socks covering your ankles. “Believe me, doll, I know the feeling. I’m just as excited for you to hear it as you are to hear it. I really want you to hear the stuff we’ve worked so hard on. But I want you to have the full experience.”
“And that full experience includes making me wait until it’s on Spotify, not letting me listen to the copy you have?”
“Exactly,” he nods with a grin before he tugs you closer to him. “Sorry, doll. Just two more minutes and then you can hear all of Youngblood.”
“Can I hear your solo? I know it’s only on the Target one and I honestly don’t think it’ll be on shelves until morning and I literally can’t wait that long so…” you trail off as you settle into his side.
“Yes, dear,” he laughs before he places a kiss to the top of your head, “I’ll play Best Friend for you after you hear the rest of the album. Check your Spotify.”
You grab your phone from the coffee table and grin when you see that only one minute remains until midnight. Your grin grows when you see the notification pop up that new music is available for you. “Holy shit,” you cheer as you turn your headphones on and connect them to your phone, “I’m not listening out loud. I have to be surrounded by this perfection. You can go entertain yourself if you want, I’m gonna be here for a while.”
“I’m sure you’ll be plenty entertaining,” Ashton laughs as he allows you to shift away from him and return to the other end of the couch. “Just settle down, listen to the album. I really, really hope you like it.”
“I’m going to love it,” you assure him before you lean over to press a kiss to his lips, “just like I love you.”
“That was so fucking cheesy,” he teases as he pulls your headphones up and over your ears. “I love you, too. Now, quiet and listen to the album.”
After you settle into your spot on the couch, your feet returning to rest on Ashton’s lap, you hit play on the album. Not wanting to miss out on the full experience, you begin with Youngblood although you’ve heard it far too many times at this point. Ashton grins as he watches you bob your head and mouth the lyrics as he relaxes into the couch and turns his head to face you. He’s calm as you move on to Want You Back, another song you’ve heard multiple times at this point, but he can feel his heart begin to race just a bit as Lie To Me begins.
He tries not to stare at you, tries not to make you feel uncomfortable with his scrutiny, but he can’t help himself as he watches for any flicker of emotion to cross your face. Your opinion is one of the most important to him, he wants you to love the album as much as he does, and he’s excited for you to hear it. But he’s not sure how he can handle waiting for you to finish listening to it.
When you hit pause and nudge his thigh with your foot, Ashton blinks away the thoughts clouding his mind and raises an eyebrow at you. “Do I need tissues for this album?” you question, your eyes wide, “Because Lie to Me was fucking emo and I’m not ready for this. It was so nice, though. I loved it.”
A little bit of his anxiety disappears when you tell him that you love the track and he can read the sincerity in your eyes. “Maybe,” he laughs as he rubs the exposed skin of your shin, “but you can always come cry on my shoulder. I’ve got you, doll.”
“You say I’m the cheesy one,” you huff playfully with a roll of your eyes. “I’m good for right now. Valentine is up next and I know that one. I love it a lot, in case you were wondering. Remind me to tell Michael that I loved his voice in it.”
Ashton rolls his eyes with a laugh as he gestures for you to pull your headphones back up and over your ears. “We don’t have all night. You’re only on track four. Keep going.”
He laughs when you mutter a quiet, “Bossy,” under your breath but you do as your told and power through Valentine to reach Talk Fast.
“Fuck off,” you laugh when the song starts, “this is the 80s synth-pop jam I’ve always wanted. I fucking love this!” Ashton’s grin only grows as he watches you start dancing to the music sounding through your headphones. His heart is feeling lighter by the moment, the butterflies in the pit of his stomach are disappearing, and he’s wondering why he was ever nervous to have you listen to the album.
You’re one of the most genuinely supportive people in his life and he knows that, no matter what, you’re going to be there for him. This album is no different.
He almost wants to ask how you feel about Moving Along when he hears you mutter, “Yes, Cal. It is weird. Put on some fucking pants,” and nearly doubles over in laughter. 
He figures that you won’t keep up the running commentary, he can see you getting lost in the album, so he settles on watching the emotions flicker across your face. You’ve given up trying to hide your reactions from him, you’ve decided to just ignore his scrutiny and enjoy the album, and he can feel his own grin growing as you grin at a tune or frown at a lyric.
An hour later, you’ve run the spectrum of emotions and Ashton can feel the anxiety returning as he watches you turn off your headphones, lock your phone, and pull your legs from his lap. He’s about to ask what you thought of the album, ask what you’re doing, but before he can breathe a word, you’re situating yourself on his lap and wrapping your arms around his neck. His arms come up to wrap around your torso as his hands rub your back.
“You alright?” he questions with a laugh when you bury your face in the crook of his neck but say nothing.
“You guys broke me,” you huff against his skin, “Youngblood is fucking amazing and I hate all of you. I feel so fucking emo right now.”
“I’m sorry, doll,” he laughs as he continues to rub your back, “I’m happy you love it, though.”
“I do,” you nod as you pull away to look at him, “I love it a lot and I’m so, so, so fucking proud of you guys. This album is so good and you guys have grown so much. You took your time and you did it right and I’m so happy for you guys. You’ve grown as people and as artists and I’m so proud to call you my boyfriend and the guys my friends. This album is brilliant and, ugh, I’m just so proud.”
Ashton smiles at the praise you continue to bestow on him and holds you tight against his chest. It means the world to him, knowing that you love it so much, and it makes him happy to have someone like you in his corner. “I love you,” he breathes as he pulls you closer to him to press a kiss to your lips. “Thank you for being here. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“I really want to make a joke and say crash and burn but I can’t. You’re so strong and so amazing that you’d be just fine but I’m really glad to be by your side. It’s a privilege and one that I don’t take lightly,” you assure him as you cup his cheeks and brush your thumbs over his heated skin.  “I love you.”
Ashton knows that he’s lucky to have you in his life and he knows that, regardless of what anyone else thinks, your approval is what truly matters.
__________________________________________________
Author’s Note: I lowkey miss writing super simple, really easy concepts. This was so fun. I love super intricate plots and fun stories but, like, something about a simple one shot, man. Also, can you tell that Talk Fast was my favorite song on the album? It really is the 80s synth pop song I needed. I can’t wait for CALM. I’m finally getting to see them live after being a fan since, like, 2013/2014 and, um. I can’t wait. To whoever requested this, sorry it’s, like. Almost two years late. Yikes. Anyway. Enjoy!
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rikuphobic · 3 years ago
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A gentle glow from the computer screen washes over the dark desk, colors flickering in rapid motion. The monitor whirs in self defense of the growing heat. The ceiling fan lays mockingly silent in the stifling air. Reclined in his seat, Dream's head is tilted back to watch the wooden slats for the slightest tremor.
Betrayal.
Beads of sweat collect near his hairline. He tugs absently on the sticky plastic of his headphones, where they rest around his neck. The small light on the exterior blinks green.
"Dream?" He hears George say faintly.
"Wait, did he leave?" Sapnap asks.
"It says he's on the call, still." George's voice slowly grows closer. Dream begins to detach his eyes from the fan. "Dream?"
The concern in his voice makes Dream sit up. He pushes his headphones back on and wipes his face. "Yes, yes, hello, sorry. I zoned out for a sec." He blinks to register what's on his screen, seeing green grass blocks and Sapnap's avatar crouching in front of him. "Shoot, did you end the stream?" He quickly tabs out just in time to see George laugh.
"No, but I'm about to. Couldn't end it without you saying bye," George says. The small considerate act is enough to bloom a warmth in Dream's chest.
He smiles. "Oh, alright. Bye stream!"
"Bye!" Sapnap yells.
George waves to the camera. "Bye you guys, thank you so much. Also, pray for Dream's air conditioning."
"And my broken fan," Dream adds.
"Bye bye," George repeats, then disappears from Dream's view. This stream has ended. A familiar feeling creeps into Dream's chest whenever that message appears post-stream; disappointment clouded with confusion. Today, it is accompanied by trickles of regret.
He frowns. "Sorry I spent so much of your stream complaining about the weather," he says, clicking back to the server. Sapnap has placed an oak sign before him that reads: wee waa dream can't take the heat. He rolls his eyes and breaks it.
"It's fine, really. I just feel bad for you," George says. His avatar bounds over and starts placing doors on the ground. "Any idea when it'll be fixed?"
"Soon, I hope," Dream answers with a huff, opening and closing the doors to appease George. "I don't think I can take much more of this." They'd been playing for the past three hours, meaning Dream had been accumulating enough sweat in his boxers to stick to his chair for much longer than any man should. Physical comfort was a key component for him to stay mellow, and not much could distract him from itchy tags and blistering heat. Not much, that is, besides gaming. "Seeing you was nice, though, something about your cheerful face distracts me from my agony," he confesses, words leaving his mouth before he can attempt to filter. He cringes. What was that?
"Oh my god, shut up," George says. He sounds embarrassed.
Sapnap coos. "Maybe I should stream with my camera on too."
Dream laughs, running away from the two of them to ease his sudden spike in nervousness. "That would keep my attention."
"Oh yeah, are my streams not interesting enough for you Dream?" George says, flying after him.
"What?" Dream says, feeling a pang of guilt. "What makes you think that? I love your streams."
George continues to act offended. "If you loved them you wouldn't zone out randomly."
"I didn't mean to," Dream whines, which only makes the other two laugh. "I just got distracted by my misery, and tried to airbend a breeze in here."
"Yeah right," Sapnap says, "you couldn't have been doing just that for ten minutes."
"Ten minutes?" Dream repeats, bewildered. He didn't feel it had been that long; he was exploring the map and then clicked onto George's stream to see where he was, and of course George was smiling and yelling, but somehow so full of energy and spirit, and the hot air started to seep into Dream's soul—
"You were AFK for a while," George says, "we were still talking to you though and thought you'd muted yourself or something. Chat thought it was embarrassing."
"Oh," Dream says.
"Hold on, did you mean to mute yourself?" Sapnap asks, laughing as his own words leave his mouth. "Lil too excited watching George?"
Both Dream and George explode in disgusted yells. Good lord, Sapnap.
"Sapnap!" George sends a series of hits raining down onto his avatar. "You are so inappropriate off-stream."
"You're gross," Dream says with a laugh, but it's feeble and half-hearted. His pulse is rapidly drumming inside his skull. He is not lost to the strange dilemma of why he faded from their call for so long to stare at his George-less ceiling. Why did George have anything to do with it? Envy, perhaps, of his friend's ability to be wearing a hoodie in the middle of summer. He brushes it off. "It's true, though. George's face does get me excited."
George groans, making Sapnap and Dream laugh. "Now you're just trying to make me uncomfortable."
"Flustered, you mean," Dream inputs quickly.
"Okay, no, I'm sick of you two," George says, immediately exiting their server. "Consider this a rage quit."
GeorgeNotFound has left the game. Dream sends a :( into the chat.
"Noo, Georgie," Sapnap pleads.
"You did a great job today," Dream says, wholeheartedly. "I'm going to re-watch what I missed of it later." George laughs.
"I seriously have to go. I'll talk to you soon," he says, a small sound emitting from Discord signifying he's left the call.
The feeling returns to Dream's chest—it's akin to the cold rush that follows when he removes his hands from a steaming coffee mug. Some nights after their friends have logged off for good, he'll do anything to avoid giving in and going to bed. Twitter, mini-games, coding, creating playlists. His favorite nights, though, are when George wakes up early enough to keep him company. Their conversations radiate with the warmth of both the Florida night and the English sunrise.
So whenever George jokingly becomes angry with him, Dream can't dispel the tiny tremor of worry that maybe he's gone too far. He doesn't like to mull over the thought of them really fighting; it would terrify him like nothing else. He knows George will call again tomorrow, and that he isn't nearly as upset as he lets on. Yet he still finds himself carefully watching the dot next to George's name switch from green to a pale grey.
"I think I'm gonna hop off too," Dream says to Sapnap.
"Alright, seeya."
After disconnecting, he swivels around in his chair to face his bed. The dark comforter has been kicked to the floor, sheets askew. The window above his bed is shut tight to keep out the humid air and insects, but he can see the soft orange streetlights in the distance.
He sighs and wishes for rain.
He remembers running barefoot on his neighborhood streets as a child when storms would roll in from the sea, splashing in gravelly puddles and letting the cool raindrops dampen his hair. That space was always euphoric—a brief temperance from the smoldering air, green palm trees swaying in the wind, the hint of thunder and lightning—but it feels so far from him now. Especially in this dreadful weather.
He turns off his computer and begrudgingly gets in bed. He's nearly grown accustomed to the dark when his phone vibrates, the notification lighting up the room. He squints.
A text from George.
I feel like this song is a good way for me to get back at you, it reads. Dream clicks on the link, opening his Spotify to a new 'Glass Animals' song.
"Heat Waves," he responds, smiling. Very funny.
He'll listen to that in the morning. As he sets his phone back on the nightstand, Dream finds himself warmed by the gesture, even though it was an insult on his behalf. George is a thoughtful guy. Nothing wrong with appreciating that. Not that Dream finds it unnerving that interacting with George has a direct correlation with his general contentment and moods; in fact, it isn't worth the overthinking.
Settled by his own logic, he allows his body to focus on sleep. He slips in and out of shadows, occasionally tossing and turning in irritation at the cotton sheets. The fabric clings to his dampened skin up to the moment he sluggishly kicks it away. Something clatters to the floor, but Dream rolls onto his side.
Eventually, the night cools enough for him to sink deeper, and deeper, until he turns his head from his soft, warm pillow to a cold pile of sand.
Confused, he grasps at the foundation beneath him only for the rocky grains to slip through his fingers.
He sits up rapidly, glancing at the beach now surrounding him. Although the image is narrow, he can tell there is a murky-purple lagoon lapping a few feet before him. The moon ripples across its ominous surface. The night is quiet; a taunting breeze brushing the back of his neck and bringing chills down his spine.
He looks down at his hands, seeing his bright sleeves pushed halfway up his forearms. Bright green.
A sinking feeling begins to rot in his stomach as the familiarity sets in. He's been here before. He shifts his head cautiously, realizing where the shadows at the edge of his vision are coming from, and raises a hand to gently graze the ceramic covering his face. He doesn't need a mirror to know what the mask looks like.
He pulls up his hood, tensing as he anticipates the next subject he'll recognize. At any moment, behind his right shoulder, a voice will call from the edge of the trees that'll say—
"Dream?"
He freezes. That's—that's not right, it isn't supposed to be—
"George?" He asks quietly, turning around with caution. George stands a few feet behind him, goggles perched atop his head and an axe in his hand. He's looking around their location, dazed. The starry sky reflects itself on his lenses.
He walks across the sand towards Dream slowly. "Where...are we?"
"Um." Dream considers curling in on himself, but can't help fighting the comfort of honesty. "My head, I guess." He knows from experience that this place values integrity more than anything. Facing it head on, so to speak. He just doesn't know why he'd let George in here—it isn't safe.
"It's pretty," George says, sitting on the sand next to him.
Dream's heart aches faintly at his remark. Once, he'd thought it was pretty, too. He can't find the words to tell George that after so many years of frantically slipping on the sand, coughing up lung-fulls of the dark water, and running from the woods—it has become a thing of nightmares.
He stares at George. Can he feel the memories here?
"So this is..." George gestures around with his axe vaguely. "Florida?"
Dream cracks a smile. "Yeah, you finally made it," he teases softly. George's grin is bright enough to make him look away. "It's a lagoon I used to come to as a kid."
"You make it sound like that was lifetimes ago."
Something foreign and lost weighs on the tension in Dream's features, forgotten behind the ceramic. "Maybe," he says, "I've had multiple lives here."
George says nothing. He lifts a moon-soaked hand to point at the water. "Do you see those?"
Dream turns his head, and small glowing blobs appear near the shore. Their light blue color is stark against the darkness as they float idly.
"They're moon jellies," Dream says in disbelief. He's never seen them here before. The curling darkness steals all hint of life besides him, his beating heart, and occasional whispers in the wind.
George hums in approval. Dream looks at him again, grateful for the mask covering his own features. Pale moonlight makes George's skin glow a soft porcelain, pink lips pressed together in a delicate brush stroke.
The word bubbles up from deep in Dream's chest, winding into his bloodstream and landing gracefully in his head.
Beautiful.
He wants to back away from it, to shove it deep down. But for once, it feels safe here, safe to admit it to himself without needing an air of humor to skate by on. Here, it isn't a joke.
"Why are we here?" George asks in a murmur, gaze lifting to face Dream. The word here hangs with a heavy lilt, as if he'd meant to say, what brought me? Who pulled me?
Was it you?
In his large brown eyes Dream can see the faded reflection of his sloppy black and white smile.
"I know why I'm here," Dream says carefully, "but I don't know why you are." A brief rustling of leaves and twigs behind them causes him to tense again. "It's dangerous here, George. We should go."
"Why? Don't you want to stay in this memory?"
Dream ignores the comment, and lightly wraps an arm around his shoulders to help him up. George doesn't try to stand. He keeps them rooted to the white shore with a confused frown.
"Nothing is going to hurt us when I'm here," he says.
Dream feels his face grow hot. "Knock it off. This is serious."
George looks at him earnestly. "I'm being serious."
Now that his arm is draped protectively over George's small frame, Dream becomes extremely aware of how close they are. He can sense George's body heat, watch his chest rise and fall, see the goosebumps on his neck. Dream's heart begins to pound. For how long has he wanted to meet him? To hear his voice in person? The fear inside him slowly begins to ebb away into fondness.
The moon jellies rapidly multiply until the lagoon is dappled blue, and gleaming.
George grins. "I told you it's pretty."
"Because of you," Dream says warmly. Even though George rolls his eyes, he means it. They laugh lightly at each other, glowing water and gentle sparks blooming as the moment passes.
George's gaze lingers on Dream for a few heartbeats, before letting go of his axe. He raises his hand to reach for the ceramic mask.
Dream freezes as his eyes follow the motion. His hood falls when George runs his fingers gently through his wavy hair—he can't remember the last time he let someone do this. It feels intimate. It feels terrifying. His eyes shut when George finds the metal clasp on the back of his head, he exhales when he feels the weight of the mask drop from his face.
The breeze is cold on his cheeks. He can smell the nearby saltwater. He opens his eyes, and sees twice as many stars as usual.
"How did you do that? I've never..." He looks at George, who is smiling softly.
"I know honesty is important to you," George says. His hand moves to gently touch Dream's cheekbone.
Dream reaches and delicately takes George's hand in his, slender knuckles and fingers sliding together with timid grace. He feels alive. He leans closer, studying George's eyes until he slips down, further, to his soft lips. His breath is trembling.
"And what if I kissed you right now?" He murmurs, heart racing. "How honest would that be?"
George's eyes grow wide. "I—well, Dream—you—" he stammers, giving Dream exactly what he needs to let go.
Their movements happen nearly all at once—the inclining of George's jaw, the slide of Dream's hand into his hair, the connection of their lips. The kiss is raw with emotion, and gentle. Hot embers rise from Dream's chest to heat his face. The soft presence of George's mouth against his own is surreal, as their senses collectively slip away into the dreamland. His hand rises to softly cup George's jaw. He pulls his face closer, breath hot, heart stuttering. Nervous energy quickly ebbs into a strong hearth of longing, as he kisses George again, and again, and again. George emits a soft noise that makes Dream melt. He can feel George's hands in his hair, then on his neck, then on his chest.
Dream pulls away to capture brief puffs of air. His chest rises and falls rapidly, as he looks at George's flushed cheeks and mouth kissed red. Because of him. A low feeling stirs in the space just below his ribcage, the first flickering of a dangerously hot flame. All of it, all of George, just for him.
Dream parts his lips to say something, anything—and promptly wakes up.
oop there’s the entire first chapter of heatwaves
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snowdice · 4 years ago
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Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 10]
Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!
If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and what I have of Chapter 5 are under the cut.
My Masterpost Part 1
I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.
It’s going to be stop and go for most of the night because a lot of things will interrupt me, but I hope to do a good amount of this today.
Chapter 2
The morning was just as torturous as Janus had expected it would be. He chewed through another pop-tart, this time bothering to actually check and see that it was a cinnamon-sugar one and drank three cups of caffeinated orange juice. Then, he waved his hand through the air and selected the 1st saved location on his device. He popped up directly behind his desk where he’d been standing the night morning before.
Someone, probably Remus, had shut his integrator down. He swiped a finger across the power button, and it flickered back on, scrolling through its morning start up routine.
 The machine scanned through all of the data in the three main system it was connected to and sorted all information into things that concerned him, could concern him, and did not before then sorting the first two categories into order of importance. As it did, he set up his screen reader so he would hopefully not start the day with more of a migraine than he already had. It took about 3 seconds for everything to turn on and settle.
Sitting down in his desk, he dismissed the notification that Remus had finished and submitted the report from their mission the day before.
 A mission had been scheduled for him today, and the details were in his inbox. A piece time travel technology had been accidently dropped by an archology student in the 1890s during a trip. It was an earlier model of emergency time travel given to time travels that would dump them back into the Registration Office in the year they originated. It wasn’t extremely dangerous, but could pose some problems, especially if someone who didn’t know what it was activated it.
Surveillance agents had tracked it down and found that it had been picked up by a local and sold. Though no one from that time had known what it was, they had identified that it was made out of a precious metal and it had been crafted into an expensive necklace. Janus and Remus were supposed to retrieve it today. It had been pinpointed that the most opportune time for the extraction was 1923 during a masquerade ball held by those who had bought the necklace.
 It was a fairly low stakes mission. He wasn’t set to leave for another couple of hours, so he clicked through the rest of the important notifications and then set off to meet his missions coordinator, Rhi, in her office.
Rhi and Janus got along fairly well. She was a well put together woman who took her job incredibly seriously. It was fair as her job was to organize all information and materials from every other department and make sure the agents she was assigned to got and understood all of it. A mistake from her could lead to an agent’s death or something far worse.
 This, of course, made her relationship with Remus… interesting to say the least. Janus could never place whether they were nemesis, frenemies, or mortal enemies, and he doubted he would ever know.
“Okay, but it’s the 1920s America,” Remus was already in her office arguing when Janus arrived. “There were so many gangsters! I could be a gangster. I would make a fantastic gangster! Just give me a gun, a snazzy suit with a white hat, and a buttload of alcohol. I will be running Chicago with Al Capone in five minutes.”
“Al Capone didn’t become a crime boss until 1925 and you are going to 1923,” Rhi said, sounding bored, “you aren’t going to Chicago, and as I have already stated, your cover is already decided.”
 “But-”
“It is nonnegotiable, Agent Clockson,” she said firmly. Remus pouted, but seemingly accepted his fate.
“May I come in?” Janus asked.
“Please do,” Rhi said. “You have been to the 1920s before, correct?” she asked Janus.
“Yes ma’am.”
She tapped the screen on her desk in response. “In the last two years?”
“About two months ago,” he responded. She tapped something else.
“Any blacks, reds, or yellows?” she asked.
“All green.”
“Great. Do you need a refresher course on basic cultural or linguistic procedures?”
“No.”
She pushed one more thing and then swiped the check-in document over to him. He glanced at the report stating he’d had no incidents of any level the last time he visited the 1920s and had opted out of the optional refresher course, and then pressed his finger against the screen to sign it with his fingerprint.
 The document returned to her side of the desk automatically. “Okay,” she said swiping another document from her left over to be in front of her. She twisted her wrist to copy it and slide copies to Janus and Remus. “Here are exact details on the time, place, and event you are going to, as well as details about your cover.” Janus scrolled through his quickly. It wasn’t as detailed as some he’d had considering this was a brief in-and-out missing, but he still took care to memorize everything on the page.
As he and Remus read through their things, Rhi got to her feet and turned to the storage compartments behind her desk.
 She grabbed out two packages and when they’d both signed that they’d read and understood the paperwork, she slid them across the desk to them. “These have everything you need,” she said. “Clothes, money, and an invitation to the party you’re off to attend. You are to get changed now, have a last check in with costuming to make sure everything is in order, and then report to decontamination in 23 minutes. Your set to leave in 38 minutes. Any questions?”
“How much-?” Remus started.
“None, agent,” Rhi said.
“But-”
“No alcohol,” Rhi said. “It is the prohibition era in the United States anyway.”
“Like there’s not going to be alcohol at the rich people party,” Remus said sullenly.
She pressed her lips together. “It is an in-and-out mission,” she said to both of them, and then turned to glare at Remus. “Do not get arrested.”
 “I don’t know,” Remus said joyfully. “I think I still have room for a 1920s mug shot on my wall.”
“Behave,” she said, “or I’ll report you for the cat you smuggled in from the 1800s.”
“You’d never,” Remus said. “You enjoy the cute pictures of Diesel Fuel I send you every day too much, and you know it!”
“Just… don’t get arrested.” She turned to Janus. “Don’t let him get arrested.”
“I’ll do my best,” Janus promised, standing. “Now come on, Remus, we need to get changed.”
“You just want to see me naked,” Remus replied with a wink, but he did stand.
 “If I see you naked one more time in my life Remus, my eyeballs will fall out of their sockets,” Janus said, waving to Rhi as he pulled Remus out of the door.
“Kinky.”
Janus’s eyeballs almost did fall out right then and there with how hard he rolled them.
They got changed quickly, Remus complaining and saying if he couldn’t dress like a gangster, he should at least be allowed to wear a flapper dress. Janus had long ago learned to ignore his ramblings. He did seem enthused about the included mask for the masquerade. It was a silver fox shaped mask with green accents that reminded Janus of the Egyptian God Anubis.
 Janus’s own mask on the other hand, was only designed to take up the left half of his face. It was mostly golden with a black swirled design. Attached to the side there was a plume of golden tipped white feathers. He had to give it to the costuming department, they did have good taste.
Once they were both dressed, they were poked and prodded by one of the costumers to make sure everything was accurate, fit right, and had been put on correctly.
After that, they went to the decontamination area to have themselves and everything they were taking with them sterilized so they didn’t accidently take any pathogens to the 1920s. They also received an oral vaccination to be sure they didn’t pick up anything from the 1920s and bring it back.
Then they were ready to go. The correct time-space coordinates had already been sent to their timepieces. With a push of a button, they were off.
  Inciting Incident
Chapter 3
Janus and Remus both appeared at the same moment a couple of feet apart in what looked like the inside of a garden shed. There was already a man waiting for them a few feet away. “Sup babes,” Remy said, just like he always did. The T-Agent looked their costumes up and down and whistled. “Now that,” he said, “almost makes me want to be one of you time jockeys.”
“They wouldn’t let me have a gun or a canister of moonshine,” Remus pouted.
Remy snorted. “Sorry, babes, but that makes my job a lot easier. If I’ve gotta fish you outta the 1920s criminal justice system, I’d rather it not be because you shot someone on accident ‘cause you don’t know how to use the safety.”
 Remus groaned dramatically. “Everyone is lame.”
Remy just shook his head. “Meet back here when you’ve got the necklace,” he said. “Don’t make a move until after 11:05pm and before 11:17. That’s your window.”
“We know,” Janus said. “See you then.”
“Have fun at the party boys,” Remy said and then lowered his shades to look at Remus, “but not too much fun.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Remus, already towing Janus out of the garden shed. The way had been specifically cleared for them, so they met no other people before they’d rounded the house the party was taking place and had gotten onto the driveway in front of the house.
 Without missing a beat, they strolled up to the front of the house, just as a car pulled into the end of the driveway. Janus rang the doorbell, and a few moments later, a man who was clearly the butler answered the door. They handed over their invitation, and the man immediately let them in.
The party had already started when they slipped into the medium sized ballroom that had been decked out in streamers and other decorations. Janus’s nose immediately wanted to scrunch as the smell of sweat from all the dancing already going on as well as the too strong perfume meant to cover that stench wafted over him. It was by far not the worst smelling time period, but he was pretty sure some people still weren’t aware deodorant had been recently invented.
 He checked his time piece which had been disguised as a fancy wristwatch for this trip. “Okay,” he said. “We have about two hours before we need to make our move. We should…”
Remus’s attention was already being dragged away by a young man who seemed to be providing guests with food. “I’m going to go ‘mingle’,” he said, winking.
“No!” Janus hissed. “Re- Richard! No!”
Yet, he was already disappearing into the horde of stinky bodies, likely to go scandalize a bunch of rich folks, and leaving Janus alone. Janus mumbled a curse under his breath that he was sure no one around him would understand even if they could make it out.
 Unsure what to do with himself, he wandered over towards where the live musicians were playing jazz music, being sure to keep out of the way of the dancers. He was edging around the makeshift dancefloor, when one of said dancers must have misstepped and knocked into another one. The second man stumbled right towards Janus, arms pinwheeling. Janus reached out on instinct to catch the man as he fell.
There was a moment where the two of them just stared at each other, surprise evident on the other man’s face. He was wearing a mask that just covered the area around his eyes and the top of his nose, revealing a smattering of freckles across his cheeks that Janus imagined extended to his nose.
 The mask was a light blue velvet with a flower stuck on the side near his right ear, and a trail of curled golden ribbon bobbed down around his chin. The party continued on around them, a blur of movement and sound.
“Are you alright?” Janus asked.
The man blinked up at him and then tilted his head slightly to the side as though confused, before a smile slowly grew on his face. “Oh, I’m fine Dove.”
“Dove?” Janus asked.
He giggled. “You have dove feathers on your mask,” he explained, reaching up a hand to touch one. His finger brushed the tip of Janus’s ear, “and I don’t know what else I am supposed to call you.”
 “My name is Lee,” he automatically lied.
“Is it?” he asked, sounding amused. “Doesn’t seem to fit you well. I like Dove better.”
“Oh?” asked Janus. “And what’s your name so I can not call you that?”
The man chuckled. “Call me Pat.”
“Hello Pat,” Janus said.
“I thought you didn’t want to call me by my name.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Hmmm,” Pat said, finger tracing idly across Janus’s forearm which was when Janus realized with a start that he was still holding the man in his arms. He quickly went to release him, which Pat allowed with clear amusement.
 Yet, instead of completely stepping away, Pat grabbed Janus’s arm. “What are you doing all the way over here by the way?” he asked. “Don’t you want to dance.”
“Oh,” Janus hesitated. “I don’t really dance.” Or at least not in the way the people around him were. He’d had basic training for this style, but it had been a while and he was a bit rusty.
“Everyone dances Dove,” Pat claimed. “At least if they know the steps and have the right partner.”
“But I don’t know the steps,” Janus said with an eyebrow raise.
He hummed. “Well, I know the dance pretty well by this point,” Pat said. “Why don’t I teach you how it goes.”
 He was agreeing with the soft beseeching tone before he even realized it. Pat pulled him into the middle of the throng of people. He seemed to think, bopping his head to the music playing for a moment, before looking back at Janus. “Heard of James Johnson?”
Janus inclined his head.
“Well, have you heard his new song? Because there’s a dance that goes with it.”
He took a few steps away from Janus and started to dance. Despite his claim to know the steps, he wasn’t particularly good, but he made up for any loss of rhythm with pure enthusiasm.
 Janus found himself smiling at the man, and after a few moments, joined in with the dance. Despite his lack of practice, he ended up having a better natural rhythm than Pat. Pat didn’t seem to mind that he was being outperformed, however. On the contrary, he giggled at himself the couple of times he stumbled.
When he fell into Janus’s arms for the second time that night, Janus decided he’d probably had enough dancing for the moment and pulled him off to the side to get something to drink and cool down a bit.
He watched the man take a snack and some punch from one of servers and thank him happily before turning back to Janus. Pat was easily able to keep Janus’s attention as they chatted. He was bubbly and soft, and Janus found himself enchanted as they talked.
 He was explaining the steps of a different dance, a couples one. “Knowing how to perform the tango will entrance any girl you want,” Pat said, something mischievous sparkling in his eyes. “Assuming you’re that type of fella.”
“As opposed to what?” Janus asked.
Pat leaned in a bit closer. Not too much, but enough that he was definitely in Janus’s space. “A different type of fella,” he said simply, before smiling and leaning back.
Janus let out a shaky exhale and took a sip of punch. He glanced over at Pat. “Tell me about yourself, Pat,” he said.
Pat hummed in contemplation. “Well, I went to France recently.”
 “You did?”
“Oui, c'était amusant, mais j'ai eu des ennuis”
“What kind of trouble?” Janus asked curiously.
“Oh, the kind with a pretty boy and crepes that were way too sweet. Anyway,” he continued. “Other than that, I mostly help out my friend. He’s an inventor.”
“And how do you help him.”
He shrugged, “Running errands mostly, and making sure he gets enough sleep, because otherwise he gets distracted and forgets. And you?”
“I’m a banker,” he said, remembering his cover, but felt compelled to add, “but I like to travel as well.”
“You do look the type?”
“And how is that?”
   Pat shrugged. “I can always tell a wandering spirt from the masses, and you are easy to spot.” Pat looked at him then with a secret smile on his face, and Janus felt suddenly known, like the man in front of him had known him for years even though they’d only just met. Looking at him then, he wanted suddenly for that to be fact and not a flight of fancy.
He was brought firmly back to reality in the next moment. “Lee,” a pointed and familiar voice said. Janus’s head snapped up to see Remus, staring at him. He tapped his wrist. Janus glanced at his own wrist: 10:58pm. He just barely managed not to curse.
 “I,” he said looking up at Pat. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“That’s okay,” Pat said easily. “It is getting rather late.”
“Yes,” Janus agreed. “Well… goodbye.”
Pat, titled his head, a half smile on his face. “I’ll be seeing you around.”
Janus nodded, and turned away from him towards Remus. He didn’t look back as they excited the ballroom. They snuck into a small side closet for coats that wasn’t being used as it was summer.
“So,” Remus said when the door closed behind them.
“Don’t,” warned Janus.
“I’m not one to judge,” Remus said.
“Shut up.” He glanced at his watch. It was 11:02. “We’ll go in 5.”
 “I have to give it to you. He was very cute.”
“We’re not talking about it.”
Remus just laughed joyfully, and Janus did his best to halt the blood rushing to his cheeks.
At 11:07, well into their window, they slipped back out of the closet, and towards the stairs as the party raged on.
Despite how Remus usually never shut up, he was able to be quiet when it counted. They snuck to the master bedroom of the home’s owners in silence. The door was already wide open by the time they got there, and Janus didn’t think anything of it. At least, he didn’t until they entered the bedroom, and there was someone already there.
 He turned from the dresser he’d been standing in front of to face them, sending Janus the same smile he had down in the ballroom. Janus and Remus both froze. “Sorry, sweetie,” Pat said. “Were you here for this too?” he held up the necklace they’d been sent for. He closed his fist around the charm made out of time travel tech.
“What?” Janus said.
Pat giggled and winked. “Unfortunately, I need it a bit more than you at the moment. So, I’m gonna have to go.” Janus stepped forward, not really sure what he was intending to do, but Pat just smiled. “See you some other time, my Turtle Dove.” With a snap of his fingers and loud crack, he disappeared. The mask he’d been wearing fluttered to the ground.
  Arc I: Finding Cinderella
Chapter 4
Janus was frozen in surprise for a few long moments after Pat disappeared. Which had been, admittedly, his mistake, because, while their window had technically been until 11:17pm and it was only 11:10, the loud crack that whatever Pat had been using for time travel made, garnered the attention of someone else.
“Uh oh,” Remus said, likely hearing footsteps. “Hide.”
That snapped Janus into action, but instead of hiding immediately like a sensible human being, he chose to go for the only link to the man who’d just stolen time travel tech and waltzed away, the mask.
Which was why he ended up getting arrested.
 Remy tsked the moment they were all alone in the police car having come to ‘transfer Lee to another facility.’ Remus was already waiting in the front seat, and flashed Janus a smug smile. If Janus wasn’t still handcuffed, he’d slap him.
“Well,” Remy said. “At least you didn’t shoot anybody like I asked. I was joking by the way. I didn’t really want to pick you up from a 1920s police station period.”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
“Mmm, nah, ‘cause Remus managed to not get arrested this time, so you defiantly screwed something up.”
“Oh, he defiantly wanted to screw something all right,” Remus said joyfully.
 “Remus,” Janus hissed.
“What?” he asked. “I’m not the horny one for once. Well, no, that’s a lie, but it didn’t affect the job this time.”
Janus groaned and leaned his head back against the seat.
Remy pulled into a seemingly random garage around 20 minutes later. “Alright,” he said. “Here we are.” He got out of the car and then helped Janus out before uncuffing him. “Here’s your ‘watch,’” Remy handed him the timepiece that had been confiscated when he’d been arrested.
Janus put it on and activated it. “Shit,” he said.
“What?” Remus asked.
“An appointment with cultural outreach has already been downloaded to my calendar for once we get out of decon.”
 “Oof. Going to baby jail,” Remy laughed. Remus was cackling.
“This,” Janus said, “was not a cultural faux pas. I did nothing that indicated that I was not from this time. I am not some rookie.”
“Don’t forget cell phones don’t exist in the 1920s,” Remus sang.
“The real question is whether or not my foot exists in your…” Remus disappeared before he could finish, a smirk on his face. Janus growled. “By Remy,” he gritted out. He selected the decontamination chamber from his queue, ignoring the appointment that came after it for now.
He knew exactly where Remus would be standing when he landed, which was why he stepped forward on reentry to ram into him.
 He yelped in surprise. “Sorry,” Janus said pleasantly. “I must have also forgotten landing procedures.
Remus laughed good naturally. “Aw, come on Jay,” he said, bumping Janus back, albeit much gentler than Janus had been. “It’s not a big deal. You just go talk with some crusty old college professor who is far too interested in spoons and then everything’s fine.”
“It’s the principle of the thing,” he growled. “They’re treating me like I’m an idiot who accidently invented disco in the 1920s when I was conned by some free agent time traveler.”
“‘Conned,’ Remus said. Is that what they’re calling it now?”
 “I know where and when you live Remus,” Janus said.
Remus gave him a dopey smile as the decontamination cycle finished and the door unlocked. Janus’s wrist buzzed telling him that the coordinates to the cultural outreach office were now unlocked. Instead of pulling them up, Janus walked to the door.
“Um,” Remus said, following him. “Aren’t you supposed to be going to your appointment?” Janus just kept walking towards their office. “Uh… Jan?”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I have to go to cultural outreach,” Janus said. “In fact, no one can make me. If they want me to go have a discussion about the definition of ‘bushwa,’ they’re going to have to have me dragged there.”
 “Mmm, I feel like The Boss won’t be too happy about that, and I have a feeling she’d be 100% down to dragging you there herself.”
“Well, then, let her,” Janus said, stalking through the door to his office. “I’m not going to…”
“Ah, Agent Picani,” the woman standing next to his desk, clearly waiting for him, said when he came through the door. “Dr. Picani was informed that there were complications with your last mission and wishes to have a conversation with you and asks that you meet him in his office at the AMO.”
“Oh, um,” Janus said, stumbling a bit before plastering on a regretful half smile. “Unfortunately, I actually have an appointment right now at Cultural Outreach. It’s mandatory and very important, and I have to go now. So, I’ll have to take a raincheck on that.”
 “But-” she started, frowning.
“Remus, work on the report!” Janus said quickly as he waved his hand to bring up his timepiece display and jammed his finger at the glowing appointment card in his queue. A few moments later, Janus was at Cultural Outreach.
Cultural Outreach was not part of the TPI, though it often worked very closely with them. It was a collaboration between the government and multiple universities to help government workers, politicians, and other citizens understand and bridge cultural gaps. It had existed before time travel was invented but had expanded to also teach people who needed to time travel how to behave in unfamiliar times and cultures.
 After it had to be expanded to provide for the TPI, it had been moved to Silver Mountains University. The building had once just been a museum, but it had been thoroughly renovated and there had been add-ons for office space and some classrooms. It was still a museum, however, its purpose had expanded greatly and there were many areas that were off limits to the general public.
One of these areas was the fourth floor, where Janus’s timepiece had dumped him. This was the floor that was almost exclusively for TPI agents and staff of Cultural Outreach who worked with them.
 He immediately turned away from the reception area, hoping that he could escape and go sit on the university’s quad or something of the like for the next hour or so in hopes the woman his brother sent to fetch him would give up and go back to the AMO. Yet, the receptionist apparently saw him.
“Janus Picani?” he asked.
Janus grimaced and turned back towards him. “Yes,” he said.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. “You’re 5 minutes late for your appointment and seem disoriented.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Is your timepiece malfunctioning?”
“No.”
“Uh… okay. Well, if you sign in here, I can take you to your appointment.”
“…Fine.”
 He begrudgingly stepped forward and touched the screen he’d gestured to sign with his fingerprint, and then let the man lead him down the hall.
The door they stopped at was propped open slightly, but he still paused and knocked. “Professor Eran? Your 2:30 is here.”
Janus had just a moment upon hearing the name to think that maybe there was actually some sort of intelligent design of the universe and whatever being of ultimate power had crafted it was a dick.
The door opened and Virgil Eran’s eyes immediately narrowed on him. “Janus.”
“Virgil.”
“I see you’re still late for everything.”
“I see you’re still a bastard.”
 Janus saw the receptionist slowly back away in the direction they’d come.
“Why don’t you come in?” Virgil said faux pleasantly.
Janus did, because he really didn’t have much of a choice at this point unless he wanted to jump out of a window… or push someone out of a window.
Virgil turned back into his office and took a seat behind his desk. Janus unhappily followed him in and sat across from him.
He took his time pulling up whatever the TPI sent him and reading it over. “So, I see you failed your recovery mission and were arrested in 1923.”
 “It wasn’t like that,” Janus said. “I shouldn’t be here.”
Virgil gave him that same suspicious look he used to give Janus whenever Janus claimed to have not eaten his hot pockets out of the freezer in the middle of the night. He’d only been lying 80% of the time. Virgil had a tendency to forget what he’d eaten in a half-conscious state at 3 o’clock in the morning.
“I shouldn’t,” Janus snapped defensively. “Nothing went wrong with anyone from the time period. An illegal time traveler screwed up the mission details.”
“Well, it is still protocol to make sure nothing slipped when agents go off script. You weren’t prepared to be in a jail cell, and it is possible that you screwed something up.”
 “I didn’t screw anything up,” Janus growled.
“Alright,” Virgil said pulling up a document on his desk. “The mission started on July 27th, 1923 at 9:58pm, correct?”
“Oh, god, we’re not really going to fill out a time sheet. I don’t have time for that today.”
“It is protocol and best that the information is documented when it is still fresh in your mind. Besides, your schedule has been cleared for the rest of the workday.” The bastard was enjoying this. He knew how much Janus hated this stuff.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Janus said, “it was the damned illicit time traveler.”
“And I will be the judge of that,” Virgil said. Janus should have just bit the bullet and had coffee with his brother. “If you truly did nothing wrong, your supervisor will see that when I send this to her.”
 Yet, despite the fact that Virgil clearly relished in his suffering, he was charitable enough to do most of the actual filling out of the forms. He’d read out the questions and write down what Janus said instead of making him do it himself. Janus really only had to do a quick quality check and sign it at the end.
He still was an asshole about the details, but really he’d been like that about stupid thing like the settings for the dish washer and how the pantry was organized during their college days before they’d had their falling out, so Janus wasn’t particularly surprised. When they were finally done, Virgil sent it off to get filed by the TPI.
 Then, they were left staring at each other with nothing between them but almost a decade of radio silence and a whole lot of awkwardness.
“I should go,” Janus finally said, standing up.
Virgil tilted his head slightly to the side and gave him a half smile. “Don’t lock the door behind you,” he said. “Not that I’d expect you too.”
Janus took it for the clear attempt at a joke it was intended to be and puffed out a breath of amusement with a head shake. “No risk of that,” he said. Then, he turned and walked out of the office.
 Chapter 5
Janus stepped back into the reception area and booted up his time piece. Instinct said to go back to the office despite the fact that it was late enough that most people had gone home, but he hesitated. Surely Emile had given up by now, but considering he’d sent someone to ambush him in his office, Janus wasn’t sure if he should trust that. He could just go home, but he already knew his mind was racing too much to sleep tonight so he’d probably just end up staring at the lake for the next 6 hours. So, he decided on the only other legitimate option he had. He pulled up Remus’s home coordinates and selected.
 The home that Remus had chosen (after his long line of rejected requests) managed to somehow make no and absolute sense simultaneously to anyone who knew him. It was a small farm in the United States just west of the Mississippi in 1842 in what would be ratified as the state of Iowa in a few years. When asked why he would choose that time and place, Remus always responded with “I thought it was funny,” whatever that meant.
Unlike most time agents who simply used the identities assigned to them by the AMO as a cover, Remus actually lived his part time.
 Janus was… fairly certain he was cheating a bit to get everything done, but he maintained his small farm all on his own, growing most of his own food. The neighbors he had lived very far away, but he still spoke with them far more than Janus did his own.
Janus appeared inside the small home, his eyes already shut. “Are you hear and dressed?” Janus called. Something bumped lightly into his legs.
“I’m in the kitchen!”
Janus peaked his eyes open and squatted to pet the cat at his feet. “That doesn’t answer my question!” he called back to Remus.
 “It’s a surprise!” Remus said.
“Remus.” Diesel Fuel the cat flopped to her side on the ground as Janus continued to pet her ears. He heard Remus’s footsteps, and saw cloth covering his legs, so risked looking up. He was currently not only dressed, but wearing an apron that Janus was fairly sure was not time appropriate judging by the fabric and cat pawprint design. He had a bit of flour on his hands, and it may have been a bit too white for the time and place, but Janus couldn’t be completely sure.
“What’re you doing here?” Remus asked.
 “My day has been an endless series of frustrations,” Janus said. “So, I have come to see the only tolerable being in the history of the universe.”
Remus snorted. “Since I know that isn’t me, I’ll assume you’re talking about the cat.”
“I still don’t understand why you tolerate this creature,” Janus addressed Diesel Fuel. She blinked slowly up at him. “To be fair, he was assigned as my partner. I didn’t have much of a choice in it. You could go always run away and become feral in the woods if you’d like.”
“So could you, technically,” Remus pointed out.
“I’m thinking about it after today.”
 “Would you like some bread?” Remus asked. “That’s all I’ve been making this afternoon. Some fresh should be coming out of the oven in a few minutes.”
“Do you have anything stronger made out of wheat?”
“Ew, no, but I do have vodka.”
“Vodka works.”
“Want me to mix it with something?”
“No.”
“One of those night then,” Remus said, easily. “Let me finish up the bread, so I don’t burn the kitchen down. You can go get the alcohol from the cellar while you wait if you want, or you can just flop down on the couch.”
He was going to just flop down on the couch.
26 notes · View notes
beautifuljetblackheart · 5 years ago
Text
Fight - Sam Holland
A/N: I am back... I had a BIG writers block and COVID really fucked me up, but hopefully I actually update more stories. This was a request from a while ago, I am sorry that it took a while to get it done Summary: Sam was away for about a month and after a while of not hearing from him you began to worry, especially when a big event was coming up and you wanted him there. Warnings: None, just an argument Words: 1894
I played with my thumbs as I waited until it struck seven. The studio had chosen my pictures to present, I looked around to see if Sam had shown up, but nothing, maybe he would show up late. I really want him to show up since he wasn’t able to attend the last two days and today was the last day. Besides that they will leave the pictures up for another week and take them down.
As I presented each picture and what is the meaning behind it. Every chance I got I would search for Sam but nothing. I kept sending him messages if he was going to be dropping by anytime soon but nothing. He hasn't been texting me for almost two weeks. Maybe he lost his phone and forgot my phone number.
A few friends of mine showed up and congratulated me for being lucky to have my pictures shown in the studio. Nikki showed up with Paddy, Tuwaine showed up with Harrison and Tom, the three guys approached me, “these pictures are amazing!” Tuwaine smiled and hugged me
“Thanks, I’m happy you guys came by for my last introduction”
“Is Sam here?” Tom questioned
“No, has he not returned from the trip?”
“Yeah, he got here two days ago,” my heart sunk down
“What? He- got here two days ago?” I started to feel embarrassed, my own boyfriend not telling me he was already here
“He didn’t tell you,” I shook my head no. I felt water filling up my eyes
“I thought he lost his phone because he hasn’t answered any of my text”
“I can call him,” I shook my head again. Does he have his phone?
“No, it's whatever. He wants to be like that let him,” I walked away and to the back room and started to cry. How can he do this to me? Does he want to finish things? Did he find someone else? Why didn’t he just tell me he wanted to end things. I walked to the bathroom to clean myself up.
I took deep breaths before I could walk out of the bathroom. When I got out I walked towards my pictures, “Y/N,” I turned to the side and saw a guy smiling, I would be lying if I said he wasn’t good looking, “I hope those are tears of happiness”
“I wish I could say that,” I let out a forced chuckle, god I hate myself right now
“I really liked your introduction and what the meaning behind each picture meant to you. The stories were quite interesting”
“Thank you”
“I would like to buy five of your pictures,” I was surprised
“You, would? Sorry, yeah, of course, I’ll bring the papers over, I’ll be right back,” I started to walk away but ran into a person, “sorry,” I walked to the back and grabbed the paperwork and went back out to the guy.
“I’m Ivan Goodsman, these pictures will be a good collection for my wife. She loves pictures. She loves to know what the mood was and why you took it, a picture can tell you a million words,” I gave him a nod
“I can also email you why I took it in case she actually wants to know”
“That will be perfect,” he handed me the papers back and I wrote down on top of each paper
“2B, 7B, 1C, 4C, and 5C”
“Those are actually my favorite, anyways, I’ll have them sent to the address you write down. You can do the payment either when they arrive or pay now”
“I’ll pay now”
“Cool,” the guy pulled out his checkbook and started to write down the amount. He ripped the check out of the book and handed it to me. “Thank you Mr.Goodsman,” I smiled
“Call me Ivan, I hope to see more of your work”
“Thank you for buying,” he smiled and walked away. I can’t wait to tell- no,I can be petty too. I let out a deep breath and continued walking around. By the end of the night I didn’t see Sam. I went back to my apartment, I took my shoes off and sat on the couch. I grabbed my phone and dialed Harry, as he shared the same interest.
“Hello”
“Hey Harry”
“Dude I saw that you sold some pictures that’s amazing! Who bought it?”
“A guy name Ivan Goodsman”
“Goodsman? As in the Ivan Goodsman? Holy shit they are very well known”
“He told me that his wife enjoyed looking at the pictures because they have many different meanings and stuff”
“Their kids are talented. One is in the soccer team, one is a good golf player, the other one is a popular well known photographer and the last one is a designer”
“Wow. Talented people”
“The mother, she’s also a designer, photography pictures help her get inspired. Maybe her next collection will be inspired by you. The father, he’s the manager of a hotel or something, I don’t know much of him”
“Holy crap”
“Lucky you”
“Anyways, Tom mentioned that Sam arrived a few days ago”
“Oh, yeah”
“I just need to talk to him, can I stop by?”
“He is going to hate me for this but at this moment I don’t care. Come on over,” my heart started to race, I was somewhat hoping he would’ve said no but it’s now or never. I grabbed the keys and out the door I went. 
I stood in front of the Holland's house, I rang the doorbell hearing Tessa barking. The door went wide open and I saw Nikki, she smiled widely as she stepped aside, “Harry told me that you met Ivan Goodsman, how was that?”
“He’s an attractive man”
“Common Nikki she came to see Sam, stop hogging her, that was a very beautiful collection,” Dom went next to Nikki
“Thank you, is Sam in his room?”
“Yes, go right up,” I excused myself and went upstairs to Sam’s room, I let out a sigh and knocked on the door hearing a faint ‘come in,’ I opened the door and stepped inside. Sam’s back was facing me probably on his computer.
“Hi,” he turned around, finally seeing him after three weeks
“Y/N, what are you doing here?” I looked at him confused
“What am I doing here? Seeing my boyfriend that I haven’t seen in three weeks and Tom told me you arrived two days ago. Why didn’t you tell me? Did you lose your phone?
“I needed time to think”
“Sam, what is going on. You have been avoiding me for almost two weeks, you couldn’t send me a message telling me that you arrived or that you needed time to think. You went awol on me, are you mad at me?” I tried staying calm but I was getting furious towards him.
“I just need time to think and figure things out okay, I don’t need to tell you what I’m doing every single time”
“I’m not asking you to, all I wanted you to do was to tell me that you were doing okay and that you arrived home safely”
“Well I arrived safely home”
“I know. Your brother told me and thanks for coming to my opening. Your family was there, even Tuwaine and Harrison, but you weren’t. I wanted you there, since my parents weren’t able to make it”
“Opening for what?” I scoffed
“My gallery, I texted you two weeks before my presentation and you said that you will make it for the last day, I even texted you if you were on your way, thanks for showing up”
“I needed to think okay, what part do you not understand”
“I understand, I just don’t understand why you couldn’t tell me. Just forget about it. I’m going home,” I opened the door and walked downstairs saying a quick goodbye before leaving. Does this mean that we are done? I went back home. I didn’t know what to do or think.
---
I woke up on the couch, I looked at my phone to check the time and hoping Sam would’ve texted me. The only notification I had was an email on Spotify’s newest music release. I guess this means it is over between us. I grabbed my sweater and saw the check, maybe a trip to the bank will be good for me. I got ready and off I went.
After a walk to the bank I walked to the store to buy ice cream, I grabbed my favorite ice cream and headed to the check out. When I was paying I saw the one person I wasn’t expecting to see, Sam smiling with his ex girlfriend, Erica. I grabbed my ice cream and quickly left, the way back home I felt tears streaming down my face.
I ate my ice cream in silence, the tv was off my phone was on do not disturb mode. Half way through my ice cream there was a knock on the door. I got up and opened the door, it was Sam holding flowers. He had a sad face on. “What do you want Sam”
“Can we talk,” I stepped aside. He handed me the flowers and we walked to the living room and set the flowers on the coffee table.
“Y/N, I am sorry. I know what I did was wrong. I was just stressed out and we didn’t have enough time to be on our phones. I know it’s not an excuse. I saw a picture of you and a guy together and you seemed so happy”
“What guy, I haven’t been out. I’ve been working on my pictures for a month”
“I don’t know, someone sent me a picture of you and a guy,” Sam showed me a picture
“I don’t even know who that guy is, and that dress, I haven’t worn that dress for a year. I would never cheat on you”
“I am sorry. My mom came to my room after you left. She knew something was wrong. She told me how you've been working extra hard to have your pictures up and going over on what you would be saying. This morning I stopped by the studio and saw the pictures. I am proud of you and I am so sorry”
“I saw you and Erica at the store”
“I ran into her, she asked how you were doing and I told her that you were doing great since you presented your pictures and had a well known guy buy a few pictures from you. I was smiling because I was happy that you achieved a goal that you’ve had for so long. I honestly believe she was the one that sent me that photo. Y/N, please forgive me,” I let out a sigh.
“You saw my pictures?”
“Yes, they were amazing. My mom even showed me a video she took and showed it to me”
“Okay, I forgive you, but next time you are gone for a month and don’t text me back we are done. Got it?”
“Loud and clear, can we cuddle because I really missed you,” I kissed him and got up, “are we moving this to your room?”
“I am putting my ice cream in the freezer, but let’s go take a nap in my room”
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fuckyeahjonesy · 5 years ago
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THE KISS OF DAWN (16+)
This fanfic is partly based on a true story, which happened in 2012 in Austria, with different names and profession.
Ben Hardy is one of the most popular British stars, but the price for the fame is getting bigger. While everyone else is happily in love around him, he simply can't find his place and it's getting way harder for him to trust someone. Due to the failed dates and failed attempts to get into a relationship, he's feeling lost and hopeless... until the day he receives a mysterious letter... 
PART 1. - THE FIRST SNOW
He woke up for the first snow. Even though it was time for that, he was quite surprised to notice the white flakes falling outside, as he was about to make his morning coffee. He looked out of the window, and his plump lips curled into a smile, as he recalled many sweet, lovely childhood memories regarding the snowy England. His dad would build the tallest snowman in town. And then he lifted up the little boy to let him finish the procedure and place the carrot nose on the head. “We made it again, daddy!” -shouted the little Ben with a big gap between his front teeth (they were expecting a visit from tooth fairy that night), and jumped up to give his father a proud high five. The next step was giving him a name. They always chose a different name for their snowmen, and as long as he stood outside, he belonged to the family. Ben always felt like he got a new brother for a while. Winter was a season full of magic, and for Benjamin Jones the biggest magic was being loved.
The coffee machine beeped loudly, and the sound pulled him back to reality; or back to the emptiness of his flat, to be more exact. He poured the coffee in a mug he got from his mother. “Not a morning person” was written on it, and it said a lot about him. No matter, how many hours he slept, waking up was always a cruel challenge for him. Not even mentioning the mornings after a heavy party night. Ugh, let’s just quickly forget about that.
Ben leaned against the cupboard and started drinking his coffee, while he unlocked his phone to check his e-mails & notifications. His messy, blonde locks were almost long enough to shield his sight. He was wearing an old t-shirt and underwear. Even if the shirt itself was quite loose, the shape of his muscular chest was perfectly visible. The veins on his hands were like wild rivers flooding down the biggest forests, to keep the spirit of nature alive. He was an utterly beautiful creature, someone you could stare at for hours.
After finishing his coffee he set his Spotify playlist on shuffle, and decided to take a quick shower. He was hoping he'd feel refreshed faster by that. He’s working on a movie now, and he doesn’t allow himself to act poorly or make any mistakes. The work continues today and he wants to prove them why he’s there. Thank God, his career was a real blessing lately. His hard work is finally paying off. Big names, legendary directors, talented actors, exciting storylines, positive critics, supportive fans, funny interviews and a fantastic salary with many benefits. Ben has reached a level he has always dreamed of. But there were some lonely nights and quiet mornings, that made him to think about it all. And he always felt like something is missing. He undressed, stepped into the shower cabin and turned the water on. As its temperature got warm enough, he took a deep breath and stood underneath the shower head. His nipples turned immediately hard, as the first hot drops landed on his smooth skin. He put some shower gel on his palm, and started spreading it all over his body. In the meantime, his mind couldn’t stop racing for a single minute.
Almost all of his friends were in a relationship, or engaged, or married… and he never dared to confess it, even to himself, but sometimes he was jealous of their happiness. He was with a girl for 9 years, and took love for granted. And then his relationship ended, but it felt good to taste freedom after such a long time. He loved being a popular man who could get literally anyone.
Yeah, it was a good game for a while, but as the time passed by, he started feeling like he needed a change. He always heard sentences like: “Oh wow, you’re that famous actor, right? What are you doing later?” or “My friend says you’re in a movie, who are you?” or “I saw you in Borhap, you must earn a good money, what kind of car do you have? Would you take me for a ride?” or “You should take me to a restaurant, my friends will never believe who I went out with!”
Nobody on Earth asked him how he feels or what he’s thinking about. They felt so special about hanging out with Ben Hardy, yet nobody cared about what’s going on with Benjamin Jones. He felt like fame was a mask, and most of the people cared only about the fancy part of his life.
And the more famous he became, the harder it was for him to let people closer. He was often insecure, confused, anxious. Failed dates and failed attempts to get into a relationship made it hard for him to generally trust anyone. He didn’t understand why it was happening, but he felt like the problem was himself. And he had no idea how to make it work.
He saw his friends being happy lovebirds, building a future together with the one chosen by their heart. Weddings, kids, the first holiday as a family. And then, there was Ben, who’s about to turn 30, and sometimes he feels like he’d rather be a damn rugby trainer, but at least he had someone by his side, who loves him for who he is, and not for the celebrity who’s harrassed by the awful British media.
He turned off the water, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. Being lonely was like a shadow in his life. Sometimes it was behind him, sometimes it disappeared, but at the end it always returned, like a scary nightmare. He missed cuddling up with someone, experiencing funny moments with someone, falling asleep in the arms of someone, sharing a meal with someone that looked ugly because he cooked it, but at least it was made with love. He missed calling someone at the end of a long workday and telling her all the interesting stuff he did that day for the first time in his life. He missed asking for an advice from someone he can fully trust. He missed having sex with someone he passionately loves and admires from the bottom of his heart, and wasn't just raw fucks from Instagram. He missed the taste of good morning kisses. He missed feeling safe and sound, because someone was by his side.
And what he missed the most was belonging to someone. Just like those snowmen belonged to him, when he was a kid.
He brushed his teeth, dressed, and packed everything in his backpack. He's going to have breakfast with his colleagues before work. He put his winter jacket on, switched the lights off, and stepped out, right into the ass cold winter.
He woke up for the first snow that day. And he had no clue yet, that this day will change his view about the first snow forever.
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darlinrogue · 4 years ago
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Having played hockey for years, Kenny is certainly agile. Having wrestled for years, Kenny, again, is certainly agile—quick and light on his feet. Dancing, however, is something else entirely. Similar to ice skating, but much more precise. Similar to wrestling, but you’re probably not supposed to hurt your partner. But Page had asked him for a dance, and how could Kenny say ‘no?’ “Real romantic, cowboy.” One of his hands intertwining with Page’s, the other at his shoulder. “You lead, then.”
Slow Dancing
|| Adam and Kenny // @ofgrief
The phone screen blurred. A flick of his finger sent text bubbles flying. The group chat brimmed with messages and notifications he wasn’t ever going to read. Adam opened the settings. His thumb hovered over the ‘leave group’ button, scrawled in red text. Instead, he closed the app and opened Spotify. He chose a playlist labelled ‘relaxing.’ Softer country music, more folksy shit, some slower Led Zeppelin. A lot of Bruce Springsteen sounding sad. The work of slower tempos that wouldn’t grate on his nerves. Made an unfamiliar space more his own.
Adam hooked his leg up on the bar stool spindle. He rubbed his hand over his jaw and dragged his fingernails through the beard stubble. The nice lady who did hair and make-up trimmed it for him today. The ice shifted in his drink, two fingers of whiskey. Week-to-week the bars changed. The scenery shifted with the ever traveling road shows of AEW. Some constants remained like the cheap chairs, the bland decor, the warm lights. Every bar had a different style of glass, some taller, some thinner, some clear, and some clouded. After hours, the bar was always the quietest spot as wrestlers escaped the halls for hotels and the production crew packed-up shop. Most important, no one Adam was avoiding ever came to the bar. It was a guaranteed retreat. At least in Jacksonville he could drive home tomorrow morning. Cuddle his dogs and be a homebody for a week. Silence the group chat, put his head phones in, and run until he didn’t know where he was anymore.
The holidays were a brief respite and a greater blessing. Adam returned to his childhood home as a jaded man seeking shelter from the shit storm just off his family property. He drank eggnog with his mom and helped her set up the Christmas tree. Caught-up with his sister and went riding with in the nipping cold of late-December. Shared the traditional whiskey shot with his father by the kitchen sink. Distant relatives filtered by for dinner. Cousins that patted Adam on the back and told him they saw him on TV. Grandparents that just didn’t get why Adam stopped being a teacher, even years later. Grandma made pies for Christmas morning and Adam’s mom got him cool cowboy themed pajamas. For a second Adam forgot about what waited outside the front gate. Then he arrived in Jacksonville, New Year’s Day, and it all came around.
The door opened and Adam glanced over his shoulder. Kenny peaked around the corner, his hair fallen over his shoulders. When he spotted Adam, he smiled, teeth flashing. Kenny walked into the room and closed the door behind him.
“Hey, hey, there you are Pizz!” Kenny greeted, he snapped his fingers rhythmically as he jaunted over to Adam. Kenny slid onto the bar stool and his eyes darted over the room. Kenny wiggled his hips, the leather creaking, as he situated himself in his seat. There was an easy grace to his movements but a tight tension in his shoulders. “Been looking all over for you.”
Sweat stains darkened the fabric across Kenny’s chest and arms. His hair was damp but drying, curls fluffed and unruly. The match earlier left his cheeks flushed from exertion. Kenny sighed as he leaned back against the chair, face tilting to the ceiling and eyes fluttering closed. Adam bet that was the first time he’d sat down all day. Trapped in a ring with Rey Fenix, Pentagon, and PAC, Adam counted it lucky Kenny stumbled-out with all his attached pieces.
“You good?” Adam asked, he tapped the volume down on his phone so the melodramatic singing dropped to a low purr. ‘Drive me—crazy’ “You guys had a good match out there tonight.”
“Yeah, we did, a great start to the year if you ask me,” Kenny said. He looked at Adam and he grinned again. Something flipped in Adam’s stomach. “Can’t ever complain about a mark in the win column, especially against PAC. I feel good, like I’m getting my feet under me.”
To emphasize his improving condition, Kenny shook-out his arms and shoulders. A jitter that extended all the way to his fingers. He interlaced his hands and stretched-out his shoulders with an arch of his back. He settled his grip on the counter edge.  Kenny chewed on his lip and there wasn't anything playful in his eyes.
“You know, it would’ve been nice, if you came and joined us, after?” Kenny admitted. “Matt, Nick, Cody, myself, we all would’ve loved to celebrate with you. You know, like a family. None of us thought AEW would last to the New Year, this was a big deal, a big night. Something we couldn’t have done without you.”
Adam breathed a laugh, shaking his head. He sought the last bit of comfort he could wring from his glass. “You know, I’m just, trying to get some space. Get my shit sorted-out before I hand it all to you guys. I just don’t think— I just didn’t think it’d be a good idea to go down to the ring.”
“Yeah, yeah, I get that,” Kenny said, and Adam doubted it. Because the next thing he said was, “Matt and Nick miss you. I miss you.”
“Yeah, I— I know,” Adam said. He investigated his glass, the intricate pattern of cut crystal and how the light played between the facets. The pale press of his white, scarred knuckles. He attempted to make new friends, to branch-out, hadn’t worked-out too hot. Adam’s glorious single’s run, hadn’t worked-out too hot either. Hell, next week he even had a match with Kenny. So, evidently his bold proclamation that he was leaving the Elite, was not heard. Maybe he hadn’t been loud enough. “Like, I said, I just, need some time.”
“That’s fine, but, Adam? We’re here for you. We’ll always be here for you,” Kenny said.
Adam’s eyes snapped-up to meet Kenny’s gaze. The sound of his name so foreign in Kenny’s mouth. The Bucks called him ‘Hangman’ and the comms ‘Adam Page.’ Kenny favored ‘Page’ or ‘Pizz,’for some reason. The only time Adam heard just his name was when he talked to his mom. Those two syllables, in Kenny’s mouth, set a fire in Adam’s chest. It was a spell. Kenny could ask for literally anything and Adam would say ‘yes.’ A totally unfair advantage. Kenny left Adam helpless and weak; But Adam let Kenny hold all the cards. 
Kenny, unaware of his power, patted Adam’s thigh. His palm rested against Adam’s jean and his nails worked against the fabric. Adam heard his pulse in his throat. “So, whenever you’re ready to come back? We’ll be here, waiting. Don’t think we’re just going to forget about you, or that you’re not welcome. The Elite, us, we’re something special, and it’s always going to mean something. Yeah, we can fight and have our disagreements, but that’s okay. We will always come back together.”
Adam grinned, the corner of his mouth curling. “You have been feeling better, lately, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, I have,” Kenny breathed with a laugh. He patted Adam’s thigh and knee once more before retracting his hand. “I took those first few losses really hard, I’ll admit that, but I’m back! I got my feet underneath me and I’m ready for the new year. I felt it tonight, Kenny Omega, is back, and I think the crowd felt it too. They were a live wire tonight, oh, I could feel it in my toes. Did you see it?”
“You uh, definitely seemed, happier?” Adam managed.
Kenny nodded and smiled approvingly. This Kenny, with his easy grins and ‘Power of Friendship’ speeches was a helluva a lot better than whatever the hell was going on in October. A few months ago he was barely functional. His voice muted and dulled over the phone. Adam wasn’t going to pretend that their way-too-late at night phone calls had anything to do with Kenny’s improvement. Kenny just needed someone to vent to that wasn’t Michael Nakazawa or a Young Buck. So, that left Adam. Adam also wasn’t going to pretend that his willingness to stay-up way past his bedtime wasn’t an act of pure devotion. Any excuse to talk to Kenny. Any excuse to have something special with Kenny.
Even when Adam knew he shouldn’t be talking to the Elite —for their collective good— Adam made an exception for Kenny. What puzzled Adam the most though was Kenny’s willingness to listen back. To hear-out Adam’s side of the story and all his twisted anxieties and fears. About the more wretched parts of Adam he couldn’t even tell his mom about.
For Kenny to hear about the worst aspects of his past and personality, and decide to keep talking to him— that part confused Adam.
“So, uh, about next week, I saw on the graphic we have a match?” Adam interjected. “Against Private Party? When did that happen?”
“Oh, you didn’t know?” Kenny asked, his brow furrowed and creased but it melted off in a heartbeat. He shrugged, “Yeah, TK booked it for us. We got two wins, and in a young company like ours? That’s pretty notable.”
“They’re shitty wins, Kenny,” Adam pointed-out.
Mox and Pac did not qualify as a tag-team. They worked like two Rottweilers shoved in a sack together and then told to get along. All Kenny and Adam had to do was stand back and watch the duo implode. Kip Sabian and Shawn Spears were a mess, in the worst ways. Of course those two flimsy wins, was before Adam factored in their two losses. Both against legitimate tag-teams that knocked Kenny and Adam down a peg. Kenny and Adam may’ve been in the same stable for close to four years, but it’d been that long since Adam shared a corner with him. It absolutely showed too. Adam had watched the tapes back and he bet Kenny didn’t appreciate the bruises from his so called partner.
“But wins, nonetheless,” Kenny retorted. He bunted his knuckles against Adam’s shoulder. “Shitty wins count. We take those.”
“Private Party is a real tag-team,” Adam said, but he shrugged, nonchalant. Smacked the back of his hand against his palm on each word for emphasis. “But I guess I can whoop their asses.”
“That’s the spirit,” Kenny said.“Yeah, Private Party beat the Bucks. They’re good, but not that good, I think we can do it.”
“Mhmm, you have a lot of faith in me,” Adam grunted. He placed his glass down and leaned against the counter. Regarding Kenny with a quick sweep of his eyes.
“Of course, I do, I told you, we got something special, I can feel it.” Kenny smoothed the word feel as long as it would go.
The music changed on Adam’s phone and his mind drifted from Kenny. Kenny launched, undeterred, into theorizing strategy. An Orville Peck song, with gentle string, a soft melody, singing about nostalgia and dreams. Adam grinned to himself, medicated just enough to consider something dangerous. For a guy lovesick with Kenny Omega these thoughts were perilous. It’d been a year now and Adam had sat on his hands like an idiot, pinning away. Hell with it, it was a bad idea but following bad ideas through was his modus operandi these days. Adam hummed low in his throat, cutting Kenny off as he waxed about Mark Quinn’s right leg.
“Dance with me,” Adam murmured, voice soft, barely a whisper. Like his throat was trying to strangle the words before he uttered them. Not at all the gruff confidence he had hoped to seduce Kenny with.
Adam pushed-off the bar stool and offered his hand. He grinned, bashful, feeling as awkward as he had when he was at Junior prom. This wasn’t weird, right? They’d done weirder, this was fine. More than fine when Kenny took Adam’s hand and Adam felt the press of Kenny’s callouses against his.
“Real romantic, cowboy.” Kenny breathed and the last of Adam’s confidence melted. Cowboy, that was new, and Adam liked it. He really liked how Kenny said it. “You lead, then.”
Adam laughed and ducked his chin to his chest. With his free hand he turned the music up on his phone. There was lightning at his finger tips as he ran his palm over Kenny’s hip. Kenny put his hand on Adam’s shoulder and grinned obnoxiously as he obviously felt-up Adam’s bicep. A couple inches between their chests and warmth flushed Adam’s throat. Adam whispered ‘okay,’ and his heart thudded. Kenny had to hear it. Feel Adam’s pulse in their joined hands. Terrible, stupid, perfect idea— when Kenny rejected him for being a lovesick fool it wasn’t going to be so great.
“It’s just some team building.” Adam preempted and placated Kenny. With his hand on Kenny’s hip he nudged the other man to sway with him. Nothing but a little stutter step. “You know, so we’re ready for next week.”
“Ah, yeah, team building,” Kenny chuckled. Adam met his eyes, and swallowed hard. Their noses a hair’s breadth apart. Adam wished he had brushed his teeth so his breath didn’t smell like alcohol. “You slow dance with all your partners?”
“Yeah, actually, Jason and I learned to waltz when we first started tagging,” Adam admitted. Kenny gapped at him. Clearly his question had been rhetorical and now Adam regretted bringing it up. “I mean, for the foot work and all that, it was just a good way to get in sync, you know?”
“Right,” Kenny said, and Adam wondered if his lack of enthusiasm meant something.
Two high fliers like Jason Blade and Adam Page needed immaculate tandem offense. It was a process, to get used to each other’s rhythms. To know when the other had taken too much damage and needed that blind tag. When to slow down, or speed-up, as the match dragged on. It worked, they got used to each other’s rhythms. Eventually they didn’t need the waltz at all, it was just a crutch. Adam had only suggested it as a joke but it did wonders for their footwork. Less so for their teamwork as they quibbled over who would lead.
(Adam eventually got the role because he was better at it than Jason).
Adam lifted his arm and after a second to process, Kenny twirled underneath. Adam pulled Kenny back as Kenny stepped in. A little too much momentum and Kenny stumbled into Adam’s chest. The heel of Kenny’s loafer drove between the two delicate bones on Adam’s big and second toe. If this was skee-ball then Kenny just scored the 100 points. Adam cussed and hissed, jerking away from Kenny. He rubbed the top of his boot over his calf to diminish the pain.
Kenny hissed between his teeth, “Yep, that was my bad. Sorry. You good?”
Adam kicked and shook his leg to return feelings to his toes. “So, was that payback?”
“Maybe,” Kenny teased. “Can we try again though?”
Kenny’s grin was rueful as Adam returned to him. He placed his hand back in Adam’s offered palm. Despite his sore foot, Adam was eager to have Kenny back in his arms. To feel the firm strength of his hip and lat underneath his hand. Back to their awkward little shuffle step and this time, Kenny pulled Adam closer. Chest-to-chest, Kenny rested his chin in the crook of Adam’s shoulder. His nose brushed against the wisps of Adam hair. A soft whisper of Kenny’s breath against Adam’s throat. Adam tried not to stiffen, as if his tension would scare Kenny away. Tried to find Kenny’s heartbeat, his rhythm, but when he did he couldn’t bring himself to fall in lock step. Wondered why he had to follow at all.
Except, Kenny had asked Adam to lead.
Adam experimented and lifted his arm again. This time Kenny unfurled and laughed each step of the way as he twirled underneath. Adam guided Kenny back to him, chuckling as their grip changed and Kenny’s hand flattened against his chest. The song ended without flourish. Gunmetal blue, the details of Kenny’s iris, the crinkles at the corners of his eyes. Shirts rucked, hands joined, and the slight huff of their breath in tandem. The playlist rolled to the next song. Adam and Kenny broke, then stepped away together. Hands lifting to rub at the back of their necks in mirrored gestures. Adam had an apology at the tip of his tongue.
“That was nice, Page,” Kenny said, his voice soft “We should definitely do it again sometime but—”
“You have to go?” Adam guessed.
“Yeah, Cody, the Bucks, and I are going out for a late-dinner,” Kenny admitted. His fingers twisted with the front of his shirt. “I won’t— I won’t ask you to come. I know how you feel, but I wanted you to know we were going out, and that if you wanted to join us? We’ll always save you a seat.”
Adam nodded, his thumb hooking in his belt loop. He licked his lips and studied the floor. “Thanks, Kenny, I appreciate it. I really do.”
“Alright, I’ll see you later,” Kenny said. He walked backwards to the door, chewed on the inside of his mouth. “Do you think— Can we meet early, like a couple days before the match, it’s in Mississippi, right? Maybe we can fly down early, get in the gym, and just, you know, work on stuff? Private Party is a real tag-team, we gotta be ready.”
Adam hesitated, thinking of the phone calls he’d have to make to get his flight changed. Packing early, a couple days less home. Finding someone to take care of his dogs while he was gone. The logistics crowded the forefront of his brain and yet all the back latched-onto was Kenny. His hopeful, shy blue eyes, and his little half smile. It was such a terrible idea, this was going to be beyond inconvenient but, two days with just Kenny, working-out, figuring out this tag-team they were evidently doing, and—
Shit.
“Yeah,” Adam managed, “We can do that.”
“Alright! I’ll see you in Mississippi, then, cowboy,” Kenny cackled. He backed-up and rested his hand on the door handle. He pointed at Adam. “Text you details later. Just you wait until we break-out some tandem offense on Private Party, it’ll all be worth it. Catch ya’ later, Pizz.”
The door closed behind Kenny and in his absence, Adam sighed. He worked his hand over his jaw and wondered if he was going grey early. Somehow, someway, Kenny had slipped the rug out from underneath him and made them a tag-team. Adam had agreed to tag with Kenny versus Mox and PAC because they both needed it, but this had become something more. Something Adam was not prepared for. It was a commitment but also an opportunity.
If they were doing this, Adam realized, he had to commit. He couldn’t half-ass a tag-team with Kenny Fucking Omega. Even if he felt like this was a terrible idea that was going to screw them both sideways. Not now, not even soon, but in a few months, maybe a year, when all of this unraveled and Adam slipped in a pool of his own blood.
“The point BJ, is that when the moment presented itself to him, he did grab it with an iron grip.”
Years of practice, months in the gym, days spent at Jimmy Valiant’s training camp, drilling counters, perfecting the snap of his hips as Adam flipped into a high bridge. Pressing onto his tip-toes, all his weight leveraged down on a bigger opponent. Adam Pearce had two inches and forty pounds on Adam. One opening was all Adam needed, though. The shock in the room on the three count had been palpable. The audience’s collectively gasped and it was a pure adrenaline shot to Adam’s veins. Shock erupted into open cheers. Adam on his knees, grinning with pride and surprise, like he wasn’t even sure he had won. BJ ruffled his hair fondly. He was not supposed to win this match but he did. Jimmy Jacobs, the entire crowd, the commentators, they didn’t believe in Adam Page, but Adam did. Back then that was enough to pull out a miracle.
“He did put a vice around it, BJ! And he won the match!”
Adam Pearce popped Adam Page’s confidence like a balloon. Pearce’s right palm smashed across Adam’s cheek so hard he tasted it. Adam won the match, he won the battle; But Jimmy Jacobs point was clear: he did not win the war. And Adam was at war. This was a no-holds barred beatdown and he was on the curb. Blood in his hair, eyes shot, and fingers shaking. The Bucks at his throat. Kenny with his back to a ledge, grinning at him with unrestrained excitement about a match next week. Next week, against Private Party, a real tag-team. Not the shitty ‘teams’ they had been fighting. Not a fight he could check into for the sake of Kenny or the peace.
“It doesn’t matter, because that was the test you failed.”
Pearce’s finger jabbed into Adam’s face. He went cross eyed trying to look at it. Felt and suppressed the tremble in his bottom lip. When Adam was a little kid he watched wrestling on the TV and felt a bone deep need. A wrestling ring was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He had to get in that ring. Nothing else mattered, and for a time the trampoline in the backyard would do, but that ring called to him. He wanted to feel the give under his step, the flex of the ropes. Smell the sweat and blood that’d seeped into the mats over decades, decades of history, legacy, and war. A written history Adam longed to inscribe his name into. When Adam was a child he didn’t care about belts or titles, if he just got into a wrestling ring, got to stand in one, he’d be happy.
It was a simple, unambitious dream, but for a kid from rural Virginia is was his dream. Well, he got in one, and it was like a drug, he had to do it again, and again, and again, and he got good at it. So good that he won more matches than he lost. He had to feel the thrum of a crowd in his ears. Test himself on an opponent, stretch the limits of his ability. Once, Adam had thought to himself, while running the the apron to a moonsault, pushing off his leading leg, his back arched, and his heart grazing the ceiling,  ‘I wish I was actually this strong.’
That the confidence of Adam Page, professional wrestler, The Hangman, carried over into his day-to-day. That the power of his chops translated to an unflinching voice when he spoke. That the technique of his flip was as impressive as his social prowess. Adam never second guessed himself before a suplex but he did in everything else. It shocked him he had the spine to ever even get in a ring in the first place, to go to Japan, to enter the G1, to join an upstart company like AEW, or to even go outside.
An opportunity was presenting itself to Adam Page. Kenny Omega, the best bout machine and a great visionary, already saw it. Adam saw it too and he suspected its appearance was not accidental, not a luck of the draw. He wanted to call Kenny and tell him to cancel the match. His stomach twisted with the thought. This was a bad, bad idea, to step down a twisting path that he couldn’t see the end of. Going back to tag-teams, tagging with the leader of the group he was trying to leave, and the man he’d been totally lovesick with for over a year. Adam hesitated, his hand hovering over his phone. 
“At some point, the both of you will have seen everything there is to see. Have been able to do everything there is to do, and when the moment presents itself, you won’t hesitate to reach for it. Because you already know that you grabbed it before it presented itself. Time will do that for you.”
Adam’s hand flattened against the bar counter, pinned like a taxidermy bug to the board. He grabbed it when he rolled Adam Pearce through to the bridge. He grabbed it when Matt offered a spot in the Bullet Club. When he hung Chris Sabine and became the Hangman. He grabbed it when he snatched the title from Jay White and held it above his head like it could be his. He grabbed it when he won the battle royale. When he rode a horse to a ring that belonged to a legend to whom he would serve as a footnote. Most of the time, it slipped his fingers, because his grip was slick with sweat, and he was a young man, lacking time. But Adam had never missed, never hesitated, and if he was going to do this—
If he was going to walk into next week, take that match with Kenny and fight Private Party. He was going to commit.
No more half-assed bullshit. No more ducking away and avoiding a future he dreaded. They were going to do this and it was going to suck, and the effort was probably going to kill him. It’d probably would mean that by the end Kenny hated him. And that would also suck, but Adam wasn’t going to spend his whole life pinning for something he could never have. Not when there was something he could have and it was gold around his waist. An accomplished career that he could die happy with. The Bucks patting his shoulders and arms, telling him he did great, they’re proud.
It was going to suck, it was going to kill him but at least he got to pick his poison.
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bennyboyjones · 5 years ago
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The Getaway (Ben Hardy Fanfic) Chapter Four
A/N: Hi! So, here is chapter 4 to my Ben Hardy AU Fanfic! There are currently several chapters written, which you can find on Wattpad, but I’ve decided to also upload it here as well. It might be a bit behind, but you’ll still get all the chaps eventually.
What it is: basically, a girl from a small town who is bored of her life decides to take a trip to Nice where she runs into ben, who is also running away from some shit and some romance ensues.
Word count: 3.7k
in this chapter: hahahaha just read it pls
WATTPAD LINK IF YOU WANT TO READ AHEAD
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In case you missed it: MASTERLIST
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day four
We were taking a walk up to Jardin des Arènes de Cimiez which was a gorgeous garden with ruins and was where the Cimiez Monastery was located. Ben let me decide what we were doing today after I shot down his idea of café hopping which I was sure he had suggested just to make fun of me.
It was going to be a relatively long walk up to the garden but I didn’t mind since it was a really nice day. We were planning to meet at Brassiere L’Olympia, which was where the place he was renting out was located (well, the place he was staying was above it) at around one in the afternoon.
I had woken up early so I could finally take a trip to the grocery store, had a breakfast that consisted of two coffees and two croissants, and went through at least four outfits before landing on one that was comfortable enough to survive the forty-five minute uphill walk and cute enough that it would make a better impression on Ben than what I had worn the night before. My dress was short, hitting an inch or two above my mid-thigh, it was a-line, only leaving a bit of wiggle room between my lower body and the fabric and had a small ruffle running around the bottom edge. It was white with lemons and green leaves and the top was tight, a small ruffle running at the neckline which showed a little bit of my (almost non-existent) cleavage and the straps were thick, tying into bows on my shoulders. It was sweet, but still a little sexy and matched well with white sneakers. I styled my hair into soft curls even though I knew I was going to end up putting it up at some point and kept my makeup as simple as I did on my first night: a red lip and a little mascara.
I had about an hour until I had to meet him and was a bit surprised he never called or texted to confirm.
Last night, before we parted ways, he personally entered his number into my phone and sent himself a text just to make sure that it worked. We had talked about our plans for today for almost thirty minutes last night, planning the day down to every detail, but I still felt uneasy about the fact that I hadn’t heard from him yet this morning. I knew that just because he didn’t text me or call me to make sure we were still on didn’t mean that we weren’t, because I hadn’t reached out to him either and I was pretty sure of our plans. Still, to settle the nervousness in my stomach, I picked up my phone and shot him a text letting him know I would be heading there soon. If he wanted to cancel, this was his chance.
I was completely lost in the excitement of something new. I called my mom last night, after getting back from the date to tell her about everything. All she did was laugh at me and tell me that I was way too deep into something that had only just begun. I knew she was right, but I didn’t stop myself from concocting romantic scenarios in my head last night about all the things that could happen today. This was my problem: I fell extremely easily. It took almost nothing for me to be completely enchanted by someone. I found myself crushing on guys I passed by once on the street, on guys who simply dressed nice, or wore chains (this really got me). But something about Ben felt different, like it was more than just a crush or infatuation. It felt as if it could really turn into something despite our inevitable doom in the form of my trip being over. When I said this to my mom, she laughed harder, “The amount of times I've heard this same speech while you were abroad…Don’t take my laughter wrong,” she said when she heard my annoyed sigh on the other end, “I’m happy for you, I really am—just slightly worried too.”
I had also texted my friends about him and they were requesting daily updates which I was more than happy to supply. I was in the middle of texting Annie back when I looked at the time and realized that I had to leave in the next five minutes if I wanted to be on time. I also realized that Ben never responded.
I went anyway and waited for him a lot longer than I should’ve. At the point where he was thirty minutes late, I decided to go without him, refusing to let being stood up spoil my day.
I really couldn’t wrap my mind around it; why go through all of that yesterday to stand me up? It didn’t make any sense and I knew that there had to be a good reason. If he genuinely didn’t want to see me or wasn’t interested he could’ve made it so much easier for himself; he didn’t have to speak up when he saw me in the cafe, he didn’t have to sit down or ask me to dinner, he didn’t have to ask me to get a drink, or call it a date, or demand to see me today. The only reasoning that made sense was that something had actually come up, but he could’ve given me a call, or answered my text to at least let me know that he couldn’t make it.
The walk up to the garden was taxing, it had only been fifteen minutes and I felt my breath getting short and my calves start to burn. I had my headphones in, the lady from Google Maps interrupting the voice of Matty Healy every few minutes to tell me where to turn.
I loved the style of the buildings and their colors, I loved the little patches of green and flowers in between car lanes and that heavily trafficked bridge I needed to cross had a footpath. I was about halfway there when my phone ‘dinged’ with a text.
*text pic*
I swiped back to the maps and locked my phone ignoring it, trying to focus on the landmarks I could use to find my way back without Google so I wasn’t costing myself an insane amount in data charges.
It was nice that he was sorry and I knew that I should be nice because he probably did have a good reason, but I was still mad and slightly hurt. Also, he just noticed the time? It was almost two p.m, what was he doing that an entire hour slipped by?
I took a deep breath when I got another notification.
*rest of text pic*
I told myself I wouldn’t go to dinner, that I wouldn’t give in without any kind of fight, but I knew myself better than that. I knew at some point today I would ending listening to his apology and explanation.
I let out a big sigh of relief when I saw the sign for the garden; I was sweating and out of breath and having to face the fact that I was severely out of shape. There were a good amount of people milling around the park that was just on the outside of the garden. There was a family playing some game with large ceramic balls, a few older men playing chess, and a few kids running around while their parents spoke to each other a few feet away.
The garden was filled with ruins, large white buildings falling apart and short walls of stone that may have at one time been tall, creating a grid-like maze over the field of grass. Arches were crumbling and I carefully made my way under them, easily getting lost in the field of stone. There was moss growing between bricks, some sprouting small flower-like weeds. I took pictures to send to my mom and then a few on the disposable, knowing how fairytale-like the garden would look on film, because it was fairytale-like. I could see it in a movie, or as an illustration in a story book. I found myself taking careful steps, afraid of disturbing the peace that seemed to belong there. It was quiet and I was the only one there, wandering around, running my hand along something ancient and beautiful.
I found a set of cement steps that seemed relatively new in comparison to the other paths I had walked and followed them up. There were a lot of steps, which took me further uphill. At the end, there was a large gate made of metal and stone which opened to the monastery. It was the color of copper but lighter, and looked so gothic with its arched windows and sharp spires. The architecture was beautiful, with stone laced over stone, ornate designs covering the entire outside. I moved past it and into its garden which was in full bloom.
I walked under arches covered in green, rows of blue, pink, red, and yellow flowers, bright under the sun and dancing with the breeze that came from our height. I strolled under latticed bowers and thought of Coleridge and his Lime Tree and took a deep breath, trying to make myself relax. I felt a well of emotion inside of me—it was all so beautiful and peaceful. I could hear the wind rustling leaves and whistling as it went through arch ways.
When I finally reached the ledge, I felt my breath get caught in my chest. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen: all of Nice, laid out in front of me like a picture that needed painting. I sat on one of the benches that faced the view and took all of it in. I could see the mountains and the beach, the multicolored buildings filling the space between. I saw trees and patches of parks and gardens. I saw churches and cars the size of my hand.
And I started to cry. I had seen this view before and it had moved me in a way that I couldn’t explain, just as it had done now. There was something in that, being alone, on that hill, seeing everything in the quiet. There was something humbling about being there and seeing everything, having the view of a god.
I closed my eyes and let the breeze brush over my face and wished I could stay there forever. I never wanted that moment to end. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to get that feeling back, but I was reliving it as if it were the first time. It was in moments like that I stopped worrying about the shit that brought me there in the first place and just felt immense gratitude. I felt it weigh heavy on my chest, reminding me how lucky I was to be there, how lucky I was that I got to experience that level of beauty.
I felt someone sit at the other end of the bench causing it to tilt with the welcome of their weight. I opened my eyes and tried to sneakily wipe my tears away so whoever it was didn’t think I was crazy. I didn’t look at them, keeping my eyes trained on the view in front of me.
“I’m sorry I stood you up.”
I looked over at the sound of his voice and saw Ben sitting at the end of the bench. I wasn’t very surprised, since he seemed to have a habit of showing up in places I didn’t expect him to. I didn’t say anything, but stared at him.
“I really wanted to do this with you today. Really, I did—I guess I still kind of am.” He tried out a light laugh but stopped once he saw that I didn’t react. He moved closer to me so we were only a few inches apart. “Seriously, I wanted to be here. I wanted to see it all with you, I did. I just…” He trailed off. When I still didn’t say anything and turned my attention back to the view, he rested one arm on the bench behind me and ran his other hand over his face.
I knew I was being cold and a huge part of me wanted to lean into his side, let him wrap his arm around me and accept his apology without any explanation. That part of me didn’t understand what the big deal was if I was so sure this would only be a fling, if none of this really mattered in the long run. But the part of me that was winning wouldn’t give it up that easy. I didn’t like being stood up and if I just let it slide without putting up a fight at all, what would stop it from happening again?
“I got a call from an ex…fiancé.”
I turned to him, “You were engaged?
“For a really short time, like three months and it ended almost a whole year ago. Calling it off was kind of the start of the reevaluation of my entire life.”
“You called it off?”
“Yeah…I didn’t even want to get married.” He laughed lightly.
I turned my entire body towards him, completely interested in this story, “So why get engaged?”
“We had been dating for two and a half years and I was twenty-six, it just seemed like what I was supposed to do—I don’t even think I was really in it anymore, you know? Like, I wasn’t there because I even wanted to be, but because it was easy.” He shrugged, “I know that sounds awful.”
It was my turn to laugh, “Oh, trust me, I know.” I took a breath, “I’ve been on and off with the same guy for years and I’ve come to realize that it’s been out of comfort and not so much love.”
He furrowed his brow, “So, right now, are you on or off?”
“Definitely off. I broke it off for real before I came here.”
“Oh, so I’m your rebound?”
I hit him lightly in the chest, “You’re not a rebound—well…” I joked.
He lifted his hand off the bench and twirled my hair around the ends of his fingers, “If I am, I’m okay with it.”
We were walking around the garden when I realized I was missing a huge chunk of the story, “Wait, you never told me why she called.”
“Who?” He looked confused before realization dawned on his face, “Oh! Well, obviously, we shared a flat while we were together and she stayed when we broke it off. My name isn’t on the lease anymore, but she still calls me whenever something is wrong as an excuse to talk.”
“Ah, she’s still not over you.”
“She was the one who wanted to get married, who was still in love and…I really hurt her, so I always take the call. She called because my mum told her I was here and was upset that I didn’t let her know about my trip.”
I nodded in understanding.
“It wasn’t a fun conversation to have. Then I called my mum and I lost track of time talking to her. I’m really sorry. I know I’ve said it about seven hundred times, but I’m not going to stop.”
I nudged him with my shoulder and told him he was forgiven.
“So your guy,” he offered his arm to me and I linked mine through, “what exactly am I up against?”
“Not much,” I admitted. “His name is Liam and I met him at school. He’s a business major, never really understood the writing thing, he’s good looking but,” I looked over at Ben; looked at eyes, how blond his lashes were, the way his Adams apple bobbed when he swallowed, the soft sunburn coloring his light skin, the way he pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, “he doesn’t look like you.”
He stopped walking, unlinked our arms and pulled me into a hug, “My ego just sky rocketed!”
“I didn’t know it could go any higher than it already has!” I laughed into his chest—which was broad, and hard, and the feeling of his arms around me left me burning. He pulled away, pretending to look insulted. “What?!”
“Wha-“ he started but I cut him off.
“C’mon, Ben! You have enough confidence for the entire continent of Europe. That night in the restaurant? Drinking out of my cup at the cafe? Showing up here?”
“But it’s sexy right?” He raised his eyebrows and tried to hold in his laugh. I pushed him away and kept walking but not before giving him a dramatic eye roll.
When he caught up to me, it was my turn to ask. “What about me? What’s my competition?”
“Pfft…” he looked at me as if I had to be kidding, “Are you serious?”
“Yes, I want to know!”
“Babe, there is no competition.”
“I hope that means I win.”
“It means you’re fittest girl I’ve ever seen.”
I shrugged and forced myself to act nonchalant, “I’ll take it.”
We walked around the garden a few more times, taking pictures of the view, the flowers, and each other. When I asked him if he was ready to go, he held up his phone, “Not until we get one of us.”
“Us?”
“Yeah, us. I just told you my entire life story, I think that makes us close enough to take a picture together.” I couldn’t argue with a good point. We stood at the edge in front of the view and he held up his phone, snapping several pictures before I was ready. After I complained and demanded retakes, we took ones smiling, making funny faces and a few of him with his arm around me kissing my cheek.
On our way back down, he asked if I wanted to have another picnic on the beach, to make up for last night.
“Make up for it? I don’t need a do-over, I thought it was amazing.”
“Josie, we sat on a bin bag!” He spoke slowly as if I wasn’t understanding his reasoning.
“I know, but it was still really sweet.”
“C’mon, please? I found a perfect spot on my way here. It’ll be great, I swear!”
“Fiiiiine.” I gave in, because it was still gorgeous out and I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to be alone with him. “But,” I started, “I need to go back and change first. I definitely smell and look all melted.”
“I think you look beautiful.” He said before throwing his arm back around me as we made it out of the garden and onto the sidewalk. I rolled my eyes. “Fine,” he said, “but I’m coming with you.”
Despite my half-baked protests the whole walk back about him coming back to the AirBnB, he ended up inside, sprawled out on the bed while I was trying to pick out an outfit. I already knew what I wanted to wear but was trying to stall having to get in the shower with him there. It was a studio, meaning there was no where for me to really hide and although I trusted that he wouldn’t try anything, since he swore it over and over again on the way down and since he still hadn’t tried to kiss me, I was still a little nervous.
I turned to him and held the apartment key out, “Why don’t you go and get the supplies while I get ready. I’ll send you the key code for downstairs.”
He smiled knowingly, “Sure, love. I’ll be back in a bit.” He rose from the bed and left quietly.
I let out a nervous breath, feeling so much more comfortable with him gone. I wanted to kiss him, and definitely fuck him, but him being on the other side of the door while I was in the shower was a level of intimacy I was not ready for.
It felt good to shower, to feel all the sweat and dirt slide off my body. I stepped out and wrapped the towel around my body while checking my phone to see whether or not Ben had gotten back yet. I didn’t see a text from him asking for the code (I was purposely waiting to give it to him so I knew when he was back and it was safe to leave the bathroom) meaning it was safe to step out.
“Oh, wow…” Ben’s eyes locked with mine and I jumped, not expecting him to be sprawled out on the bed as he was before.
“Fuck! Ben, you didn’t tell me you were back!” I pulled the towel tighter around my body.
He sat up, obviously sensing my discomfort and put a hand over his eyes, “I knocked on the door and told you I was back!”
“You didn’t text and ask for the code!”
“Someone was going in when I got back! I didn’t need it!” He stood up, hand still over his eyes, “Sorry,” he pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, “I’m just gonna…” he held them up to me, “just text me when you’re okay with me coming back.”
I stifled a laugh as he backed out of the studio.
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shawnpetermuffins · 5 years ago
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Misery Business (decode 2)
A/n: and the much requested part 2. Part 1 is in my masterlist under my song based fics. This will be the final part.
Summary: Shawn's finally starting to realize what this relationship has done to him.
Warnings: angst, swearing, the usual
Word count: 2.2k
***
I should be happy. My career has never been better, my singles are doing pretty great on the charts, I'm in the top 5 most listened to artists on spotify, and I'm getting loads of publicity hanging with Camila. And don't get me wrong, she's beautiful, hourglass figure that every guy wants, I guess. There's just something wrong and it's this, she's not y/n. I thought our relationship would withstand anything my career threw at us, I really did. But I should have known that she wasn't okay with this. I knew that there was always some kind of underlying territorial battle between her and the girl that's currently holding my arm while we walk down the street, but I ignored it for the sake of a few extra views on a music video, for a few extra streams.
This publicity thing has taken y/n away from me and no one seems to notice, or care, because the songs are doing so good. Since she walked away that night no one has talked about it. No one asked what was the final straw, it was just never brought up. And all that's going around Twitter and Instagram are these God awful, staged photos of me and Camila acting like we're so in love when in reality I am heartbroken and on the verge of a nervous breakdown in most of them. 
"They're looking," she says into my arm. "Kiss me now." She's been telling me to do that a lot more often recently and I'm starting to feel just how wrong it is for us to be doing this. She knows about the breakup, but it seems like she couldn't care less. She parades me around town and follows me on tour, adding a little too much tension between me, Brian and Connor who have barely spoken to me since y/n left. It's clear that they weren't on my side in this situation, but that didn't matter to Camila. She was eating the attention up. She loved knowing that people were talking and that they were talking about her, it apparently didn't matter in what context. 
"Andrew," I grab my manager's attention one night before he goes into his hotel room.
"Yeah, bud?"
I clear my throat, glancing over my shoulder to make sure no one was still out wandering the hall, listening. I lower my voice anyway, "How much longer do Camila and I have to keep up this PR game? The fans are starting to notice it's fake."
"We have to keep it up at least until the stadium show."
"What? What happened to it ending after the VMAs?" 
He shrugs, "Sorry. We need to sell more."
"The stadium's already sold out, what do you mean we need to sell more?!"
"Shawn, you said you were okay with this. What's going on?"
I lost the best thing that's ever happened to me because of this stupid game. That's what's going on. But I just sigh, "Nothing. Nothing, guess I'm just worried. I don't want the fans to lose interest. I can't keep ignoring the question."
"Well you can't talk about it. We're under contract. Now it'll be over before you know it. So for now, just enjoy it. Enjoy the publicity. You need it. Gets people excited for new music."
You know what else gets people excited for new music? Promotion.
---
I'm scrolling through Instagram, seeing all the photos fan accounts are posting of me and Camila, becoming more and more emotionally drained with each passing second. But then I see something that catches my eye. It's a photo of me and y/n, one of the only photos she allowed me to post of us. Except it's split right down the middle. I hurriedly look at the caption.
Fanaccount Is no one going to talk about the fact that we don't know how, why, or WHEN y/n and Shawn broke up??? Did we all just forget that they were together for 2 years?? What happened to our girl? 
Then I start reading the comments, which I shouldn't do, but I can't stop myself.
Fanaccount2 Idk if it's true but someone said she was still on tour with him up until like 2 weeks ago…
Fanaccount2 Do y'all think Camila had something to do with it?
She had everything to do with it.
fanaccount3 Who cares? He's with Camila and she's better.
Fucking liar. 
fanaccount4 I know we don't know what happened, but if it's because of C that's fucked up. Y/n deserves better. Shitty PR to sell a song that's already been at #1 for weeks?? If he lost her to this I feel bad for him. 
     Fanaccount5 But what about her? She had to watch all this go down? It was a really dick move for him to even think it was okay to do this.
   fanaccount6 Okay but look how happy he is with Camila. He clearly doesn't feel bad, so why do you???
Fanaccount4 THEY WERE TOGETHER FOR 2 YEARS! and now he's sucking face with his "best friend" come on. That's shitty and you know it.
I don't even realize that I'm crying until I can hardly catch my breath. I'm panicking. I haven't had to deal with a panic attack alone since y/n came around, but this is the third one I've talked myself out of since she left, and I've had to go back on my medication. I never realized that she was the main thing helping me through.
My phone buzzes with a notification - a message from Andrew. 
It's a screenshot of my spotify account and it reads: #2 baby!!
I want to hurl - my phone or the contents of my stomach, I'm not sure. Maybe both. But I guess, we've got the fans where we want them. 
But like we always do, in true Hollywood bragging, we post the screenshot to our Instagram stories. And Andrew to his feed and twitter. It's all working so well. They're buying it - the relationship, the song, everything. But when I look at my follower count and see I'm down at least 100,000… maybe not everyone is buying it.
---
We're in her hometown and every part of me wants to go see her, wants to make sure she's okay. Because I have the day off and it would be so easy to just drive out to her and make things right. But Camila won't leave my side and I'm going insane.
"Shawn, pay attention to me!"
And I snap. "What do you think I've been doing these past two months, Camila?! I've been paying attention! Jesus, fuck, give me just two minutes of alone time."
"Whoa! What's up your ass?" She crosses her arms over her chest.
"You!" I scoff, throwing my hands up.
"You've been moody all week. Do you want to talk?"
"Not to you," I mumble, but she hears me.
"You're serious? This is about y/n? It's been a month, Shawn. It's time to move on."
"Move on? How am I supposed to move on when she was the literal best thing to happen to me? When I lost her because of this stupid PR move that is in no way helping me anymore, Miss number two!"
"Now I don't deserve to be number two? Really?"
I don't say anything else, I just take my phone and wallet from the coffee table and leave without another word. I don't know where I'm going until I'm there at her doorstep, breathing heavily and running my clammy hands through my already ruffled hair. Before I can talk myself out of it, I knock on the door and wait, my hands in my pocket.
"Can you get that?" I hear her say to someone inside, but I'm not expecting it to be my own best friend.
"Brian?" I say, confused.
"What are you-?"
"Bri, did you? Shawn?"
"Connor?"
"Guys, who's at the…" she stops cold in her tracks when she sees me.
"Y/n," I sigh. I can't read her face. She could be any number of things, but shocked is probably the most accurate.
"Babes, can y'all give us a second?" Her arms cross defensively over her chest while the guys retreat to the kitchen. When she walks further into the living room, I let myself in, closing the door behind me. "What the hell are you doing here, Shawn?" 
"I miss you," I say desperately. "I - I know I fucked up. Severely fucked up. I put my career ahead of you and I said I'd never do that. The numbers became more important and it shouldn't have been that way. I'm so sorry. Just… please give me a second chance. Let me prove to you that you're first. Always."
"A second chance isn't going to do anything for you, Shawn."
"How do you-?"
"Because you're still pretending with her! If you're even pretending at this point! I can't be with you like this because if the numbers were all that mattered two months ago, who's to say they're still not going to matter three years from now? Your entire career revolves around them and I'm not going to be your number two. That isn't what I signed myself up for. Not to mention my Twitter mentions right now are your fans calling me a whore for standing in the way of 'Shawmila's true love!'"
I flinch, "I'll fix it."
"You can't!" She screams and I see the guys slowly make their way into the room. "Jesus, don't you get it? It doesn't matter what you think you can fix because I can't forgive you! I'm done. I'm over it. I don't want this!" She gestures between our bodies. "You don't want me, you want the familiarity. Well, why don't you teach her how to calm down your anxiety attacks. And tell her how you like your eggs in the morning, and how you'll only get out of bed after at least ten minutes of silent cuddling.
"And you go around town acting so fucking innocent, which no one believes, by the way. Teach her how to be your girlfriend, and how to do it right because clearly I wasn't doing it right," her voice cracks at the last part of her sentence and it breaks me in half. When the first year falls, I want nothing more than to take her in my arms, but I hold back, knowing damn well she doesn't want me near her.
"Y/n, it's not the same without you. The concerts aren't as fun, the days between drag on forever. I thought that being seen out would make the numbers rise, and yeah it has, but I'm losing more than im getting."
"That's not my fault. You did that." She wraps her arms around her, holding herself together. Just like I've always known her to. I notice that the tears aren't falling anymore either. She stopped then just as quickly as they started. 
"This isn't how I thought we would turn out."
She bites the inside of her cheek, her clear sign that she's distraught.  "You know, it's funny. It took me so long to realize that I was watching your dreams come true. Selling out arenas and winning awards and putting out awesome music. I watched all of those dreams come true. Not once did you say I was a reason for it. You always avoided the questions about if the songs were about me. I was - I was never part of your dream, Shawn. And I put mine on hold to watch you live yours. It's my turn," she looks at me with some type of fire in her eyes. "Its time for me to go for my dreams and watch them come true. I thought it was you. You were my dream for so long, but that's just not it anymore."
I suck in a shuddery breath, "no. Y/n, baby. Please."
"You need to go."
"Y/n," I reach out for her but I'm stopped quickly by my best friend.
"She told you to go, Shawn."
"I'm not leaving until we fix this."
"Just let it go, man. She doesn't want you anymore." Connor says from his same spot, only this time with y/n in his arms, her head buried deep in his chest. Seeing her in the arms of another makes me crazy and I lunge for him, but Brian pushes me back again. 
"You need to go. I'm not saying it again," he's practically dragging me out the house.
I point an angry finger at Connor, "You're fired."
"That's fine," he says. "Good luck with the rest of the tour." He shoots me a glare and then his attention is back to my sad ex-girlfriend. And I'm out the door before I realize it.
"What am I supposed to do?" I ask aloud because I feel Brian standing behind me, making sure I don't get any ideas to go back inside.
"Sounds to me like you need to reevaluate your priorities. You chose this career, and up until recently you were able to balance love and music. Find that again. Now go back to the hotel. I'll see you for soundcheck tomorrow." The door closes once again. But this time it's closing on everything that was and everything that could've been. I know I'm not getting her back. I chose the music business,  but now it's the misery business and there's no way to get out of it.
***
Tags: @curlyshawny @anamariel2301 @shawns-badreputation @bbellbagel @turtoix @ivegotparticulartaste @tomshufflepuff @dino-16-avocado @sleepybesson @lifeoftheparty74 @shawnssongs @luvluvxx
I hope you enjoyed it. I'm sorry for the angst. Like, reblog, and leave feedback!! 💙💙
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coffee-obsessed-writer · 6 years ago
Text
When You Least Expect It, Part Twelve
Jensen x Musician!Reader
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Masterlist - Contains Chapter Links & Wardrobe Collages
A/N: This is a slow burn fic that I have been working on for a while. Its a story I wrote for myself and just wanted to share with everyone. Yes, the “Dee” in the story is who you think, but there is no intended hate on her or their actual marriage. It is a work of fiction, that is all. Part twelve has parts from Both POVs; though primarily the reader. There is also a playlist to go along with the series.
Spotify Playlist: Songs in this chapter - "Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” [youtube link] cover by Kina Grannis  
Chapter Summary: An acoustic performance at the Brewery to help publicize Brewfest takes a turn, causing Y/N to make a big change in her future plans.
Chapter Warnings: Language, mild violence, mentions of abuse, anxiety
WC: 10.4K **with lyrics. Lyrics NOT written by me in bold, italic.
Beta’d by @closetspngirl
*Banner created by me; pics & gifs found online. Tags are open if you want on, or wanna hop off.
Jensen felt the warmth of the sun touch his skin before his eyes opened. He was dreaming and didn’t want it to end, despite how he knew it would feel to stretch and let his body wake up. The images were fading from his mind’s eye, and he could feel the disappointment begin to set in. The dream was too good to let slip away. 
He dreamt he was laying in bed with Y/N. They had spent the night making love, talking in whispers and finding ways to make the other feel inexplicably wanted and loved. It was everything he’d needed from her since he first kissed her on New Year’s Eve. 
Movement on the bed beside him was the last step in getting him to open his eyes, and when he finally looked to his right, she was there. It wasn’t just a dream after all. Her hair was free of its usual messy bun and was splayed across her pillow. Jensen rolled over and propped himself up on one elbow, then leaned forward leaving a soft kiss on her bare shoulder that peeked out from the sheets. Her skin still smelled like suntan lotion and coconut, and he kissed her again. 
Jensen slipped his hand beneath the sheets and along the length of her body. Flashes from the night before passed through his mind, and he continued kissing the back of her neck as his fingers explored the lines of her body. His arm slowly wrapped around her stomach and gently pulled her back against him. Y/N was beginning to stir. She elongated her neck and hummed as his lips trailed soft, wanting kisses to her ear. 
“Morning,” he rumbled against her ear, just as his hand glided up her abdomen towards her breasts. 
“Morning,” she breathed and let herself gently fall back into him. 
“Sleep well?”
“No,” she giggled and rolled over, so she could see his face. “I don’t believe much sleep happened.”
“Regrets?” he asked softly, brushing away the hair from her face so he could fully appreciate her (y/c) eyes. 
“Only that I waited so long.” She withdrew her gaze and cast them do the small bit of space between them. “I’m sorry, Jensen. I don’t know what I was so scared of.”
“Hey,” he rasped, gently taking her chin and directing her eyes back to his. “Don’t do that. We’re together now, right? That’s what matters. Not how long it took to get here, just that we got here.”
“Are we? Together, I mean?”
“It’s what I want. There’s no one else for me, Y/N.” Jensen was nervous, and even she could hear the barely-there quiver in his voice when he spoke her name. 
Y/N propped herself up and leaned over, hovering above him now, her hair falling down and tickling his cheeks. “You sure you’re up for that? I can be a handful.”
“Good thing I got two hands,” he teased, the crinkles around his eyes deep and the peek-a-boo dimples formed at either side of his wide smile. 
Y/N rolled her eyes and hung her head to his chest. “I hate you,” she laughed and kissed him there. “So much.”
“I guess then, it’s also a good thing that you love me, too. Or I’d be in trouble.”
“Nope, I take it back,” she said, trying to be serious and pulling away from him. “I take it all back. You’re insufferable, Jensen. What was I thinking?”
Jensen grabbed her and turned quickly, making Y/N land on her back as he straddled her legs, pinning her down and dove his mouth to her neck. In less than a second, he was lavishing her neck with attention as her body began to slowly move beneath him.
“See, you don’t play fair, either,” she mewed, rolling her neck to the side so he could have more of her. 
“Never said I did,” he mumbled lowly. “Now what were you saying about taking it back…” his voice was muffled in the crook of her neck, and he felt himself growing hard again at simply the thought of being with her.
From somewhere in the tangle of clothes on the floor, a cell phone began ringing. Jensen growled and picked his head up from her neck. 
“Dammit.” He rolled off her and got up from the bed to locate the intrusion. 
Y/N sat up and watched as he moved around the room, completely naked. “I could get used to this view, ya know.”
He stopped looking for a moment and stared at her with that familiar deadpan gaze. “Seriously? Am I just a good time to you?”
“And then some…” she wiggled her eyebrows and winked playfully, breaking his expression and making him laugh. “Screw the phone, come back to bed.”
“I will. But I know this is Jared. I gotta--” he found his shorts from the night before and retrieved the phone from the pocket. “Hey,” he said swiping up to answer the call. “What’s up?”
“Dude, what the hell? Where did you disappear too?”
“Oh.. yeah. Sorry. Something came up and, uhhh…” Jensen stammered, unsure of how to proceed with telling his best friend he finally got to spend the night with the woman he loved while she was right there in the room.
“Something? Sex? Was it sex, Jensen?” Jared asked, and Jensen could hear the underlying tone of playful accusation. 
“Maybe.”
“I kinda figured,” Jared laughed. “No way you’d leave before the pig roast was ready unless Y/N was involved. You left a ton of shit behind on the boat and took off with one of the rentals. You must have been seriously distracted.”
“Dude,” Jensen chuckled and turned away from her to walk towards the bathroom. “You have no idea.”
“Alright Romeo, I don’t need details. Anyway… get your shit together and be ready in two hours. I’m swinging by to grab you so we can head to the airport. I had the valet company bring your truck back and take the rental with them. Just remember to bring the spare keys so I can drop them off, ok?”
“Yeah, sure. No problem… Wait. Two hours? I thought we didn’t go back ‘til later?”
“Change of plans, brother. Maybe if you didn’t have your head buried elsewhere you would have seen the five text messages I sent you about it this morning.”
“I hate you,” Jensen groaned and pulled the phone away to see all his missed notifications. “Fine, two hours. I’ll be ready.”
“Good. And, please shower. I don’t want to sit on a six-hour trip to Vancouver while you smell like sex.”
“Goodbye, Jared.” Jensen hung up the phone and tossed it back on the floor with the rest of the clothes. 
“Jared busting your chops?” she asked as Jensen crawled back into bed. 
“When isn’t he?” He laid back down and Y/N immediately laid beside him, resting her head in the crook of his shoulder. Jensen wrapped an arm around her and drew her closer. “I do have to get ready to go soon though. And while the last thing I want to do is spoil this morning… we gotta talk about you staying here. Y/N, please, reconsider--”
“I’ll stay,” she said softly, then turned her face up to his. “I’m sorry I gave you a hard time. I was so scared of staying because we hadn’t slept together. Then I panicked and worried about what it would mean if we did…”
“Thank God,” he chuckled softly, running his free hand over his face and sighing deeply. “I didn’t want to fight, but I was prepared to come out swingin’ if it meant you’d agree to just stay here.”
“Here is good. I’ll stay through the festival and then we can figure out what comes next. Sound good?”
“Sounds perfect,” he said and left a loving kiss on her head. “One more question and then I promise, I’ll let it go.”
“Oh boy… what?”
“What are the chances you changed your mind about San Diego, too?”
It was Y/N’s turn to sigh. “Jay… I can’t. In fact, I have to meet with Robbie at some point today or tomorrow about the publicity performance at the brewery this week. I think it's Thursday, which is your first day out there, right? I have to be at the brewery. Rob and Bri are singing. I am filming, mingling, promoting…”
“You work too much.”
“Look who’s talking…”
They held each other’s gaze stubbornly for a moment and Jensen finally relented. “Okay, okay. You made your point. But, I reserve the right to whisk you away at some point and you can’t say no. Deal?”
“I’ll take that deal,” she said and pushed herself up on the bed, to full sitting position.
“Whoa, no, wait. Where are you going?” 
“To shower. Then I’ll go make you breakfast so you can shower and be ready for Jared.”
“First off, shower together, it conserves water. Secondly, you’re gonna cook? For me? Can you cook?”
“Yes, I can cook. Pretty damn well, actually. Also, not showering with you, because we’ll never get out of there and you have to leave soon.”
“We could forget the breakfast, and just go shower. Huh? Right? Way better plan,” Jensen said, trying to pull her back to lay down. 
“Easy, Hollywood,” she purred and let him draw her back in. “I promise you, we will have our chance to make up for all the nights we weren’t together.”
“Swear?” he asked, a touch of some distant concern twinkled in his eyes, but she dismissed it.
Nodding softly, she leaned in and kissed him delicately on the lips. “Scout’s honor.”
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An hour later, Y/N was in the kitchen, scrambling up some eggs and toast, with a fresh pot of coffee waiting for Jensen when he emerged from his shower. When he entered the room he was struck by the differing aromas, shocked at how fragrant the kitchen had become.
“Well aren’t you just full of surprises,” Jensen said as he dropped his duffle bag to the floor and tossed the keys on the counter. “Whatcha makin’?”
“Eggs with peppers and onions, rye toast and there’s fresh coffee over there for you,” Y/N replied without turning from the stove. 
Jensen went to go get a mug for his coffee but stopped just a moment to watch her move around the kitchen and admire how good she looked. She was wearing one of his dress shirts, sleeves rolled up and only loosely buttoned; her hair damp from the shower and her face completely natural. Fighting the urge to distract her from cooking, he continued on with getting his coffee and asked if she wanted a cup as well. 
“Yes, please. Give me all the coffee,” she laughed then flashed him a rueful smile over her shoulder. “Someone kept me up late last night.”
“Well, not much going on today, right? Maybe you can take a day to just sleep, relax. Catch up on some Netflix?”
“Maybe,” she shrugged and turned off the heat on the eggs, plated them, along with the toast and slid it across the counter. “Your breakfast, sir.”
“Whoa.” Jensen pulled the plate closer and grabbed the fork beside it, taking a bite of the eggs and closing his eyes. “Mmmm…” he hummed and swallowed the food. “Baby, these are good.”
“Baby, hm? That’s new.” Y/N mused and turned away, casually strolling to the refrigerator to get the cream for her coffee. 
“Don’t like that one?” Jensen asked, taking another bite of his eggs. 
“Didn’t say that, just… different.”
Jensen’s face slipped into a sly, teasing grin as he leaned forward on his elbows on the counter. “I’ll call you whatever you want me to--” 
“Oh God, don’t say it!” Y/N brought her hand to her face in resignation of what she knew was coming. 
“--as long as I can call you mine,” Jensen continued, giving her a big, exaggerated wink. 
“You are so insufferable…” she poured the cream in her coffee and playfully rolled her eyes. Y/N didn’t get a chance to stir it before Jensen was approaching her, hands on her hips and walking her back to the refrigerator. 
“I’m the fucking worst,” he rasped and pulled her hips closer to him, before bending down and kissing her. 
Y/N slipped her arms up around his neck and kissed him back with purpose. Jensen’s hands slid from her hips, around to her ass and gently lifted her up, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist. He carried her, without breaking their kiss, to the living room and fell backward onto the couch so he was sitting and she was straddling his lap. His kiss deepened on her and through muffled smacks of lips and short breaths of air, she pulled back just enough to speak
“Your breakfast is getting cold,” she laughed and kissed him again. 
“Don’t care.” His fingers dug deeper into her thighs.
She giggled at the feeling of his fingertips ghosting her skin up and under the shirt she wore. “Jared will be here soon.”
“Don’t care. He can wait,” he mumbled, then resumed the business at hand. His hands found their way to her breasts and she couldn’t resist the soft moan that fell from her lips.
“Jay…” she breathed, fighting the urge to take it further. “Unfair…”
“Ok, ok…” he relented and allowed Y/N to sit back as he slowly and regrettably pulled his hands from her shirt. “I’m sorry. It’s just… now that we are here,” he gestured vaguely at their current position, “I just wanna stay here. Hard to walk away from this when it's all I’ve wanted for a really long time now.”
Y/N’s expression softened, and a small, satisfied smirk pulled up the corner of her mouth. “How long?”
Jensen considered it for a moment, running his palms roughly, yet slowly up and down her bare thighs. “Since before New Years, at least. You’re hard to shake, you know.”
She wanted to come back with some smart ass quip, but the way he was looking at her at that moment, she couldn’t. He was wearing too much emotion in that expression for her to be anything other than genuine. 
“Thank you for being patient with me, Jay. For giving me the time to be brave enough to trust someone again.”
Y/N softly caressed his cheek, giving him one last longing kiss on the lips before climbing off his lap. She held out her hand for him to take, and helped pull him up off the couch. 
“Now, please go finish your breakfast that I slaved over. Worked my fingers to the bone…” she whined playfully, unable to hold back the impish smile as he rolled his eyes at her. 
“Now who’s insufferable?” 
“Oh me! Is it me?” she asked sarcastically, followed by a big smile. 
Jensen ignored her and went back to his breakfast, which was still warm and delicious. He finished it quickly, along with his coffee, and was about to help Y/N start to clean up when they heard a knock at the front door, then the distinct creak of it opening and Jared’s voice echoed through the entryway, 
“Hello? Everybody decent?!”
“No! I’m cooking naked in the kitchen. Want some eggs?” she called back, making Jensen snicker and Jared’s face flushed red as he rounded the corner and came into the room.
“Hilarious,” Jared replied, when he saw her wearing only the shirt, he quickly looked away and stammered. “Ho--how’s it going Y/N?” 
“Great, thanks,” she chuckled. “And now that you’re here, I should probably go get dressed for real before you whisk him away. Be right back.” 
Y/N paused as she went by Jensen and kissed him, their gazes locked with the other and let it linger for a moment before she continued on. Once she was gone upstairs, Jared came fully into the kitchen and grabbed a mug, fixing himself a cup of coffee. He sipped at the hot, dark brew, carefully eyeing his best friend over the lip of the mug. 
“So?”
“So, what?” Jensen replied, feigning ignorance. 
“This is for real now?” Jared asked and motioned towards the stairs with his chin. “You and Y/N. No more pinning? No more excuses? You're finally together?”
Jensen was thoughtful for a moment as he reflected on the morning he spent in bed with her. “Yeah, we are,” he said, unable to hide his satisfied grin.
“I’m happy for you, man. Really. I’m glad things are working out. After Dee, then that break-in at Y/N’s place, I thought maybe you would throw in the towel. Too much trouble and all that.”
“Dude, I couldn’t if I wanted too. I am completely, and utterly hooked on this girl, and I wouldn’t care what it took to get to where we are.”
“Damn, Jay. I knew you had a thing for her, but I didn’t realize it went that deep. I’m honestly happy for you both. I like Y/N. She’s good for you.” 
“She is. I think we’re good for each other. Just feels good to finally know, for sure, that she’s just as invested as I am.”
“And you’re sure of that?” Jared asked cautiously, not wanting to rile Jensen up, but he needed to make sure his friend was certain he was giving his heart to someone who would treat it right this time.
“Yeah, Jar. I’m sure.”
Jared was thoughtful for a moment and shrugged. “Then I’m over the moon for you.” He raised his coffee cup in a salute and took a long sip. 
A moment later, Y/N came bouncing down the steps, fully dressed in a pair of ripped jean shorts, her favorite Zeppelin t-shirt and a pair of black converse. Her hair was piled on her head in her signature messy bun, and though very little effort was put into her appearance, Jensen couldn’t take his eyes off her. Jared watched Jensen watching her, and it struck him just how deep his best friend had really fallen. 
“So, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we gotta get going, Jay,” Jared said, leaving the mug in the sink and passing an apologetic smile to Y/N.
Jensen checked his watch and sighed. “Shit, yeah, I guess we do.”
“I’ll grab your bag and take it out. Just don’t take forever saying goodbye to your girlfriend, okay?” He rolled his eyes sarcastically, emphasizing a disgusted sigh as he picked up Jensen’s bag, then threw Y/N a little wink. 
“Love you too, Jared,” she called after him as he exited through the front door. Y/N looked back to Jensen as she slowly approached him, fortifying herself to say goodbye. Wanting to keep it light, she smiled and chuckled. “Girlfriend, huh? Does that mean I have the best friend’s approval?”
“It does,” he grinned and wrapped his arms around her waist. “You alright with that? Girlfriend?”
“More than okay. All joking aside, somehow knowing where things stand with us, makes your leaving a little easier.”
“It does, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah. Still going to miss you like crazy, but I am very much looking forward to when you come home again. Which is when, by the way?”
Jensen considered her question and scrunched his face in disappointment. “Three weeks. At least.”
“Wow, okay. Three weeks it is. Call me when you get in, later?”
“Of course,” he said and leaned in for a kiss and just before their lips touched, from outside, the car horn blew. 
“I guess that’s your cue,” she teased and kissed him again quickly. “Ok, go before I don’t let you leave.” She wiggled from his grasp and pushed him towards the door. 
“Wait,” he said, turning and planting his feet. “Promise me you will be careful, cautious and not go anywhere alone at night. And! Before you object… remember you love me and you want to make me happy? Doing this will make me happy.”
Y/N couldn’t resist his request. “Whatever you want, Hollywood. I promise it.”
“Good. Thank you. I’ll call you later,” he said and opened the front door, feeling the blast of the late morning heat. “I love you, Y/N.”
“Love you too, Jay,” she replied, trying to sound casual but actually vibrating inside from the open admission of feelings. 
She stood at the door and waved to Jared as Jensen made his way to the car and slowly got in. As they drove away, Y/N cautiously looked around outside to see if anyone was watching, then closed the door and went to clean up the kitchen.
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Another blazing hot July day in Texas, but Y/N barely registered the heat as she parked and exited Jensen’s truck in the parking lot of Cuppa. Unknowingly having picked the same place Jensen met Dee the month before, Y/N ventured inside to find Bri waiting for her at a corner table.
“What? Not up for an outside seat?” Y/N teased as she approached the table and opened her arms to embrace a smiling Briana. 
“Are you insane? It’s hotter than Satan’s taint out there, lady. This is an inside kinda day. I will not waste the blessing of air conditioning just for a pretty view.” Bri shook her head and went to embrace Y/N. “Now sit your ass down and start talking. You have some nerve, you know.”
Y/N’s head snapped up in surprise, her finger pointing to her chest. “Me? What did I do?”
“It’s what you didn’t do! You disappear like a fart in the wind from Jared’s party, and I don’t hear boo from you until late last night confirming lunch today! What happened, where did you go? I need details.”
“Oh,” she said, her eyes lowering to the table and her cheeks warm with the memories of leaving the party with Jensen. “That.”
“‘Ooohh, that,’ she says… I swear to God, Y/N. You best start talkin’.” Briana flashed her an admonishing expression. Y/N knew when Bri wore her serious face she better start talking and not keep her in suspense any longer.  
“Okay, okay… I’m sorry. I got wrapped up in things and just--” she trailed off, and felt her expression softened Bri had been there since the start of things with Jensen and she realized how badly she really did want to tell someone about what finally happened between them. “After the bonfire, I told him I loved him and asked him to take me home,” she said, letting it come tumbling out in one long breath
“You did!?” Bri’s whole face ignited in a smile, her hands clasped in front of her face, covering her mouth to try and hold back her excitement. “For reals?”
Y/N threw her head back and laughed heartily, genuinely touched by Bri’s reaction. “Yes. I told him and we’re together now, for reals.”
Bri jumped up from her seat and pounced on Y/N, squeezing her excitedly and releasing her just as quickly than sitting back down. She exhaled a deep breath and then leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, catching Y/N’s gaze and smiling softly.
“How was it? It was good, wasn’t it?”
“Bri!” Y/N laughed and rolled her eyes. “Come on.”
“No. No. You can’t do that. Because you have experienced something that we mere mortals only fantasize about and as one of your closest friends, I demand at least a few details.”
“Ok, fine. I don’t even know where to start… it was amazing. From beginning to end. He’s sweet and generous. And--”
“Aw, talking about me again?” Robbie crooned sweetly, as he approached the table. “It’s okay, keep talking. I love to hear the things you say about me when I’m not around.” Y/N and Bri couldn’t hold back their laughter, as Robbie took a place at the table. “What? I say something funny?”
“No, Robbie, we weren’t talking about you… but you know you’re all those things too, puddin’,” Bri teased him and pinched his beard between her fingers. “Glad you could join us.”
“Yeah, me too,” he sighed, slightly exasperated and sweaty from the day. “Wasn’t sure if I could or not. In fact, the thing on Thursday, I may have to back out. Something you could handle on your own if you needed too, Bri?”
“I mean, yeah, but I wouldn’t have too. Y/N can join me. Right? Would you be down for that?”
“Well, I--”
Y/N was cut off by the server coming to the table and taking their order. Once she collected everyone’s choices and went back towards the kitchen, Y/N continued. 
“I was planning on doing a lot of the PR stuff. Filming, live streams, talking to people about Brewfest. There are going to be a few people there with connections to big-name businesses here in Austin. I was really hoping to get a chance to pitch some things to them.”
“Those are the ones we need to take a few more of these sponsorships,” Robbie added. “But, we can figure this all out later. Just know, I may have to bail and head to San Diego.”
“Ok, fair enough. For now, I’ll bank on you being at the brewery by seven on Thursday, performance to start around eight-ish?”
“Yeah, let’s go with that--”
“Performance? What performance?”
A voice—a familiar voice—cut through the ambient noise of the room and Y/N immediately felt a tight coil of white-hot anger at the intrusion. She didn’t even have to look up to know that Dee was standing there, somewhere on the outskirts of the table between herself and Briana. Robbie was the first to look up and actually see her face. Y/N knew just by the change in his expression that she was right. 
“Dee, hey,” Robbie said, followed quickly by a nervous chuckle. “What brings you here?”
“I’ve been filming in Austin for the last month or so. I come here a lot when I just need a break, you know? Festival planning I take it? Brianna, haven’t seen you in forever, how are you?” 
“Oh, peachy,” Bri replied with a quick glance her way. “Yourself?”
“I’ve been busy, but otherwise great. So what’s this about a performance?”
“Thursday at the brewery, we’re hosting an acoustic show to drum up interest in the festival.”
“Oh, fun!” she exclaimed, the feigned excitement in her voice nulled out by expression that lived on her face. The tension that surrounded the small corner table was palpable. Bri could see Y/N trying not to have a reaction, and that Dee was purposely lingering in order to try and stir up trouble.
“Y/N,” Dee said finally, turning her attention to the quietest member of the group. “How are you?”
Y/N didn’t answer at first. Instead, she twisted slightly in her seat so she was looking up at Dee and smiled. “I’m great. Now that you’ve made the rounds, I think it’s best if you keep moving.”
Dee sighed heavily as if Y/N’s statement bore the weight of the world. “If this is about that phone call, I’m sorry, okay? I should never have done that--” Dee paused when she saw Y/N laugh and stand up from her seat. 
“I couldn’t care less about your unbelievably childish behavior, Dee. I actually find that quite amusing. I just can’t seem to breathe when you’re around. Something about you is so toxic, it poisons the air wherever you are. So, please. For the entire cafe’s sake, keep moving...” The last two words were soft enough that only Dee could hear, followed by a set of intense, narrowed (y/c) eyes.
Dee swallowed thickly, but the rest of her expression felt cold and somewhat calculated. She glanced at Bri and Robbie, who just sat staring at her tentatively, unsure of how she would respond. 
“Well, that felt unnecessary. I just wanted to say hello. No reason to get nasty and cause a scene,” Dee scoffed, giving Y/N a long look of silent accusations. “I honest-to-God don’t understand what Jensen sees in you.” She glanced around Y/N to address Bri and Robbie. “Good luck at the festival. Something tells me you’re gonna need it.”
Dee turned quickly on her heel and left the café in a huff. When she was no longer in sight, Y/N looked at Bri and Robbie and expelled the breath she had been holding. 
“Well, that was fun,” Y/N said as she fell into her chair with an exasperated huff. 
“Way to stand your ground, honey,” Bri chuckled. “That woman’s got a lot of nerve just stoppin’ by for a chat. After what she did?” Bri pursed her lips together, revealing her crater-like dimples and slowly shook her head. “Lots of damn, nerve.”
“I don’t know that she had anything to do with the break-in, Bri. Jensen brought her up only because of the lipstick. They’ve found nothing to indicate she was in the house. I just think she’s a troublemaker and phony as hell. I wasn’t kidding about the toxic thing. She literally just sucks the air out of the room.”
“She didn’t used to be like this though,” Robbie said, pausing when the waitress arrived and placed down everyone’s drink order. “I’ve known Dee for a lot of years. She wasn’t always this… dramatic and petty.” 
“Well, I guess losing a good man on purpose will do that to you,” Bri quipped as she fixed her coffee to her liking. “She did that on purpose, by the way. Just standing here, asking how you are. She wanted to goad you.”
“I know,” Y/N said and ran her hand through her hair, sitting back in her seat and sighing. “I shouldn’t have said anything. I’m just… tired. Why can’t he and I be happy without these lunatics coming out of the woodwork to spoil everything?”
“Wait, what?” Robbie interrupted and leaned forward, his face beaming under a wide smile. “What’s this ‘he and I be happy’ bit? Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Yes! They’re together!” Bri giggled and clapped her hands together, the tension from Dee’s appearance quickly dissipating into the heat of the day. “That’s what we were talking about when you got here.”
“So, it worked?” Robbie asked Bri, catching Y/N’s attention and making her sit up straighter in her chair. 
Y/N cleared her throat to interrupt their quiet celebration. “I’m sorry, what now? Explain yourself, Robert.”
“Hmmm?” he replied disingenuously. “What’s that now?”
“Don’t be cute. What worked?”
“I’m always cute. Can’t help it. It’s the beard.”
Y/N rolled her eyes and inhaled slowly trying to contain her mild frustrations, then turned to Briana. “Briana? Care to explain?” 
Then it hit her; the bonfire. She remembered how calculated it felt that the only open seat had been next to Robbie and Jensen was so perfectly placed right across the flames of the fire. “You set us up at the bonfire. You wanted me to sing, and that’s why you said what you said when you handed me the guitar.”
“Did I say something,” Rob asked, feigning ignorance. “Don’t even remember… that...” he shrugged and trailed off.
“Look, something had to push you to take that last step. Really, what did we do, but make sure you sat in a place where you could really look at each other. Cause you didn’t, ya know. You’d look at him and he’d look away and vice versa. It was exhausting. The best part, it all worked out.”
“Thank you,” Y/N said softly, giving them both a grateful smile. “I’m happy to know that you guys have our backs.”
“Always, honey,” Bri said and covered Y/N’s hand with her own and gave it a squeeze.
After the revealing news and sprinkling of vague details, Rob and Briana shifted the conversation to the songs they could play at the brewery, while Y/N made notes on her phone. As she was typing in a list of items she wanted to bring on that upcoming Thursday night, her phone began to vibrate and the notification popped up that she had a new text from Jensen.
>>Whatcha doing?
<<Having coffee with Rob and Bri.
>>Robbie behaving? Keeping his hands to himself?
<<He’s a perfect gentleman.
>>Good. You have plans tonight?
<<Why, gonna surprise me again?
>>God, I wish. No, wanted to know if you were free to FaceTime later. I miss you.
<<Name the time. I’m there.
>>9? We should be done by then.
<<I’ll be waiting…
>>Naked, I hope.
<<Perv.
“Uhhh, Y/N?” Rob asked and waved his hand in front of her face. “You still here?”
“Oh, sorry,” she chuckled nervously. “One sec.”
<<Gotta run. Robbie’s getting jealous.
>>Don’t let him rope you in with those big blue eyes. Stay strong, Trix.
Y/N tucked her phone away and felt completely content and at ease again. The earlier, brief encounter with Dee couldn’t even damper the absolute high she felt like she was riding. She was working with two amazingly talented people who she also called friends, had a man that loved her and had even found a new city that she was falling in love with and ready to call a permanent home. In that moment, life couldn’t get much better and for a minute she completely forgot about the biggest wild card of them all… Nathan Fowler.
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“I knew this was going to happen,” Y/N groaned and left the hand holding the phone slip from her ear. She took three deep breaths and brought it back up to hear Robbie talking in mid-sentence.
“...really sorry, Y/N. I tried to get out of it, but I gotta go.”
“Its okay Rob, really. I’ll figure it out. I know a few guys that will be working tonight that could do the live stream stuff if I end up playing with Bri. But let me call a few of the local musicians playing the festival. They might be able to come in, and--”
“Y/N… stop. Listen to me. YOU need to get up there. The local Austin bands are fantastic, I mean them no disrespect. But this festival is more yours now, than any of ours. You deserve to get up there, promote the hell out of it, then show those people that the person behind the scenes is just as talented as the ones they will see perform over those three days. Alright?”
Y/N was quiet. Normally, she could combat these bursts of praise from Robbie with a sarcastic quip, but right then, she didn’t have it in her. Instead, she felt nervous. The last time she really performed for a crowd had been at the convention in Chicago, and having the whole band, plus Briana on stage helped quell any nerves that cropped up. The idea of just her and a guitar, in a fully booked, standing room only venue… it was a bit too much right then.
“What--what if I can’t?” she asked, her nerves stripping down her voice to a mere whisper.
“Are you being serious right now? Ok, look. Nerves, they suck. I get it. I feel like I wanna throw up every time I walk out onto a stage; especially at the conventions. But I promise you, Y/N, you got this. Bri is gonna be there, and you two, together… unstoppable.”
Y/N expelled a nervous breath and nodded to herself. “You’re right. I’m sorry, I’m just… it’s been a long week and it’s going to be a long night.”
“Throw out the setlist, play whatever you guys want. I promise to check in when I can, okay?”
“Aye aye, captain,” she teased.
“Go out there and kill it, I know you will. Talk soon.”
“Bye, Robbie,” she said and felt a small smile. 
Talking to Robbie was what she imagined it would be like if she had a real relationship with her big brother. Dave was never going to be supportive, kind, or even give a rat’s ass about her life; but what she had missed out on with him, she found in Robbie. Much the way she had found a new life-long best friend in Briana, and possibly the love of her life, in Jensen. With that kind of love and support around her, Y/N believed that maybe she could pull it off. All of it.
 By the time evening rolled around, she felt the nerves about the performance bouncing between false confidence and utter terror. All she could do was keep a straight face, and try not to let the overwhelming fear of screwing up take over. Briana had spent the day with her, picking out clothes, talking about songs, practicing some harmonies and just trying to keep her focused on the task at hand. Y/N was grateful to have her by her side; especially since Jensen wrapped filming and was in transit to San Diego, making him basically unreachable. 
They arrived at the brewery and were surprised to see the low rise stage already decked out with stools, guitars, mics, and the amps they would need for the show. 
“Holy crap,” Y/N mumbled as she walked into the vast space. “Someone is on their game today.”
“Hey, Y/N, Briana,” a deep voice spoke up from behind them. “Hope that’s okay for you guys.” 
Y/N turned around and recognized Paolo, one of the brewmasters as the owner of the voice. “You got this all done for us?” she asked.
“Yeah, hope that was okay. If there’s anything else you need--”
“No, this is perfect,” she smiled. “Thank you, Paolo.”
“My pleasure. Bossman says, whatever you need, I am to comply.”
Y/N chuckled softly and dropped her oversized backpack onto the floor near the stage. “Well, I will be sure to tell the boss man that you were nothing but helpful.” 
“Anything else you need?”
Y/N looked at Bri, who seemed to understand the question she was asking with her silence. She gave a nod and Y/N turned to the dark-haired man, waiting for a response. 
“Actually, how do you feel about live streaming?”
“I feel great about it,” he laughed. “My girlfriend is always doing them with her makeup tutorials. Sometimes I hold the phone for her.” He shrugged, though it was obvious by his smug grin he was rather proud of himself for that.
“Fantastic!” Y/N exclaimed and went into her duffle and pulled out the spare device she used for just such an occasion. “I am going to do a few posts of Bri, the stage, the brewery, and then I’ll pass it to you--”
“I can handle that. You’re singing too, right? So, you should be in the pictures and videos. The brewery is well staffed tonight, so they won’t miss me. I can be your personal cameraman.” Paolo was near beaming, and Y/N didn’t have the heart to tell him that wasn’t necessary. 
“Ok, sure, that would be awesome. Thanks again, Paolo. I promise to let Jensen know just how helpful you’ve been.”
Paolo gave a slight bow of his head, and when he looked up again, Y/N was touched by how big his smile was. She’d only met him a few times before when she had visited the brewery with Jensen to work on some festival business. But the way he jumped into action that night really endeared him to her and made her feel slightly less nervous that everything would go off without a hitch.
 Around ten minutes after eight that evening, the entire tasting room at the brewery was jam-packed to capacity. The patio doors were open, so the people could wander in and out of the building, and be able to hear the music no matter where they were. 
Y/N and Bri were ready to take the stage, but Paolo first insisted on giving them a proper introduction. When he got the room’s attention, he cleared his throat and spoke into the microphone--a little too close at first--but then with a wide smile, called for them to come out on stage. The room, full of locals and fans of Supernatural, broke into a loud bout of applause, shouts, and whistles as they walked out onto the stage. 
Y/N followed Briana up, and she felt the swell of nerves making her start to sweat. Keeping her eyes straight ahead and fixed on Bri, she was in awe at how effortlessly her friend was able to step up and immediately command the attention of the room. Bri gave her a side-eyed glance, and when she saw that Y/N had gone slightly pale, she took the initiative, got on the microphone and began her dialogue with the audience. 
They fell under Briana’s spell immediately and she barely had to say a word. As she spoke to the audience, engaging them in conversation about the festival and all the ways it was going to benefit the city of Austin, Y/N’s hand trembled as she picked up the guitar. She sat on the stool, positioned it on her lap and wondered if she would even be able to strum and pick at it like she needed too. The agreed upon setlist wasn’t complicated, and the longer that Briana continued to talk to them about the event, the more her anxiety over performing began to wane and she felt her confidence returning. 
Y/N cradled the neck of the guitar; the weight of it comforting and familiar. It wasn’t her guitar, not by any stretch, and the turn of emotion that ignited in her gut at the stark reminder of its absence normally would have been enough to make her seek out the closest corner to sit in and cry. She couldn’t do that, though. Y/N dug deep and remembered what was at stake and did her best to focus on that instead of what she lost. 
Briana finished her introduction and turned her attention to Y/N. 
“And all of this, ALL of it is thanks to this one-woman wrecking ball, [Y/F/N L/N]! She took the original vision of what this could be and created something none of us could even imagine. On top of all that, she’s one of the most talented musicians I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with! I couldn’t be more excited to share the stage with her tonight, so you can revel in the magic of her music right along with me!”
A boisterous round of applause from the audience made Y/N flush warm from a mild case of embarrassment. She flashed Bri a rueful smile and raised a hand to wave at the crowd. In order to avoid having to speak, Y/N just began strumming the guitar and as soon as Briana took the hint that it was time to start singing, she found the melody of the first song on their list. 
As the set played on, Briana sang a mix of covers spanning a varied mix of tempos and genres. The crowd was attentive and engaged, and even Y/N felt calmed by the entire vibe of the evening. Every so often she would look up and notice Paolo in the corner, the camera fixed on the stage. Everything was falling into place just as she had hoped, but when the song ended, Briana turned her attention to Y/N instead of to the audience and it threw her for a bit of a loop.
“I think it’s time that my friend here showed off her pipes! What do you guys say?!”
Despite the rousing response, Y/N couldn’t hear anything but the pounding of her own heart. Where the nerves were coming from, she couldn’t understand entirely; it wasn’t like she had never sung in front of a crowd before. There was something about that night though, that made her anxious about opening her mouth to sing. 
Y/N glanced up at Briana, who was watching her closely. Bri could see the bundle of nerves that lived in her friend’s brow but gave her a wide smile and a slight nod of encouragement. 
“Come on, Y/N… one song for the lovely people! I know you have something special in there to share with them!”
Y/N looked up and scanned the crowd, most of the faces looking back were now shadowed by the dim lighting of the room. But off in the corner, there stood Paolo, the camera pointed right at her and somewhere in the back of her mind, she wondered if maybe Jensen was watching the live stream.
The thought of him--the very simple thought of his smile--caused this slow wash of calm to suddenly flow through her. She gave Bri a little nod and readjusted the guitar on her lap so she could lean in closer to the microphone. Y/N didn’t speak; no need to address the crowd on this one. This song wasn’t for them, it was for him, and she hoped like hell that he would see it.
As her fingers found the frets, and she began to strum, she went through the first few chords of “Can’t Help Falling in Love”. She kept the tempo of the guitar slow and dreamy. With Jensen’s face on her mind, she felt a small smile caress her lips as she began to sing directly to him, some thousand miles away. 
The entire room fell silent as they watched her perform. 
“Wise men say only fools rush in, But I can’t help falling in love with you
Shall I stay? Would it be a sin? If I can’t help falling in love with you
Like a river flows, Surely to the sea Darling so it goes Some things are meant to be....”
Letting the reverberations from the guitar fade out, her hands falling softly from the frets and the strings. Y/N closed her eyes and felt a rush of emotion so strong that she needed a beat to compose herself. When she continued singing, there was no music, just the sound of her voice; airy, thoughtful, and so obviously in love...
“So take my hand, Take my whole life too…”
She began to strum again, finishing the song with the soft melody of the guitar.
“For I can’t help falling in love with you. For I can’t help… falling in love with you…”
 When it faded to an end, she opened her eyes to a crowd absolutely mesmerized and enamored with the ethereal magic they just bore witness to. Even Bri, completely moved to a few stray tears, couldn’t resist the urge to get up from her stool, and drape herself over Y/N’s shoulder in a dramatic embrace for a brief moment. 
“I told you this woman was magic!” she said into the mic when she returned to her stool. “The first time I met her, she was seated at a piano, and just plucked a song out of the air to play. We just had such a blast that night. It was the best damn ‘how-do-you-do” I’ve ever had!”
Y/N shook her head and chuckled softly as she cast her eyes back to the guitar and strummed it absently until her nerves were back under control. When she lifted them up again, she searched the faces in the crowd only to see beaming smiles and hear excited chatter. Paolo was using the camera to scan the crowd as well, and Y/N could see him replying to messages in lightning-fast fashion. As she brought her eyes back to Briana on the stage next to her, off in the opposite corner of where Paolo was, she thought she caught sight of a familiar face. 
Her heart froze. There in the crowd, a head stuck out over the rest and if she hadn’t blinked a few times quickly to refresh her vision, she would have sworn she saw Nathan’s face among the guests. But, when she tried to find him, there was no one there. 
It’s just nerves, she told herself as Briana continued to wax poetic about music and back around to the festival. Y/N tried to remain engaged, but her hackles were up now, despite the residual rush of the song she just sang. 
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“You, my magical musical unicorn, were amazing tonight!” Bri exclaimed as she joined Y/N in the break room at the back of the brewery. She disappeared almost immediately after the performance to change out of the tight jeans and fringed tank top she wore. Now wearing her most comfortable sweat shorts and Louden Swain T-shirt, she leaned her head on Y/N’s shoulder along with one arm and yawned wide. 
“It’s late, ready to go?” Y/N asked with a laugh as Bri exaggerated the yawn with a loud sigh afterward. “Might be past your bedtime ma’am.”
“Oh, it’s way past my bedtime. Yes, I am absolutely ready. Do you have everything?” she asked lifting her head from Y/N’s shoulder and looking around the break room. 
“I think so,” she answered and lifted an armful of files she needed to bring back to Jensen’s house, before slinging the backpack over her shoulder. Let me run this stuff out to the truck. You go grab Paolo and see if he can carry out those cases of beer. I wanted to haul a few back to the house.”
“Absolutely,” Bri said and went off to find their cameraman of the night and ask for his help one last time. 
Y/N gathered the rest of her things and as she made her way towards the rear exit of the brewery, she felt her phone vibrate from her pocket. She juggled a few files and reached in to retrieve it, noticing three new texts from Jensen.
>>How’s it going tonight? Everything set up?
>>Ohhhh live stream! Who’s taping? Is Paolo helping?
>>JFC Trix… you’re killing me. Just caught the live feed and I’m speechless… God I wish I were there.
Y/N felt her heart pounding, and a smile swelled across her lips at knowing he saw her sing. She was in the middle of a reply as she reached the parking lot. With her thoughts on Jensen and her eyes on the phone, she didn’t see the shadowy figure step out from the darkened corner of the parking lot and start walking towards her.
Just before she reached the truck, she felt it; a large, looming presence stretched out tall before her. Y/N looked up from the phone and jumped when she saw him there. The man’s face was still cloaked in darkness from the baseball cap he wore, but she knew who it was nonetheless. It hadn’t just been nerves earlier in the night, she did see his face in the crowd after all. 
“Hey, Y/N,” Nathan said, his tone calm and yet still unnerving to her ears.
Y/N completely froze; bolts of panic binding her feet to the ground. “N--Nathan? Why are you here?”
“Heard about the show, wanted to come and see you sing. It’s been a while since I have.” Nathan took a few steps closer, and even as he uncomfortably closed the distance between them, her feet still could not be swayed to move. “Want a hand with those?” he asked and pointed to the files she was gripping for dear life.
“No, I’m fine. You shouldn’t be here,” she replied sharply. “You need to go, Nathan.”
She heard him snort through his nose something that resembled a laugh, though completely devoid of actual humor. “Always trying to get rid of me, Y/N. Why? I come to see you, and you just push, and push, and push me away. Every fucking time.”
The closer he got, the more she was able to make of his features and she right away noticed he was falling back into his old ways. His face was drawn and pallid, his eyes sunken and his cheekbones high. He had probably stopped eating, just consuming booze or drugs daily with the bare minimum amount of sustenance to survive. 
“Nathan, you don’t look good. You should go home. Go back to Jersey and see your ma, she--”
“She kicked me out. I’m not welcome there, either. Which is your fault, by the way.”
“Mine?!” Y/N scoffed. “How?”
“After I came to visit you after your boyfriend threw me out on my ass--”
“Not true. You walked out and you’re lucky you did. You’re goddamned lucky that Rob and Jason were there to stop him from hitting you harder.”
Nathan ticked his head to the side, a scowl set into his features as his tongue licked over his top teeth in annoyance. “Noted,” he snapped. “After that, I started drinking again. Now…” he raised his arms up and shrugged, “now I have nothing. Again. Because of you.”
“Then why are you here?” Y/N asked, trying to stay calm and nonchalantly continue the text to Jensen, to let him know what was happening so she wouldn’t be completely alone in it. 
Nathan went to respond and saw her thumb slowly swiping across the screen. In one swift motion, he lunged forward, smacked the phone and subsequent folders from her arms, scattering papers across the parking lot.
“No! We’re talking!” he roared, making her cringe away in fear that he would raise a hand to her next. 
“Alright, Nathan. Then talk. But over there because you’re scaring me,” Y/N said softly, not wanting to provoke him any further.
Nathan took a small step backward and then laughed as the subtle nighttime breeze began to scatter papers around the empty lot. 
“Oops. Sorry. Guess I made a mess again, huh?” he snickered, his eyes growing big and wild. 
Y/N could tell his mood was becoming manic and unpredictable like it did the night he put her in the hospital. 
“What does that mean?” she asked hesitantly, but in her gut, she already knew. 
“Looks a lot like your loft,” he snarled, his eyes affixed to the papers on the ground. A dark, unnerving grin unfurled across his lips as he watched them continue to get further away. When they flickered back up to her, she could see that he was lost in the remnants of the memory. “I made a fucking mess, huh? And your dad’s guitar, woooo boy.” He leaned back, hand on his gut as he cackled with utter joy. “The way that broke in my hands… Look, I was glad I made that stupid bitch happy, but damn that alone was worth doing it for. Felt good shattering the one thing you loved so much...” 
Y/N felt like someone punched her in the chest; her breathing was shallow and the sharp pains of no air coursed through her limbs. The things he was saying… he was admitting into breaking in and trashing the townhouse. A million questions flooded her mind, but the most important thing right then was to get back into the safety of the brewery. Once he was gone, she could take what he said and go call Detective Perkins. 
Nathan shook his head, the unsettling smile still lingering. “You… you just could never be content. Could you? Always looking for something… some grand purpose. Thinking you’re special ‘cause you can play a few instruments. You ain’t special. You’re just like every other piece of trash from the beach with a good pair of tits and a stupid dream. Why should you get it, huh? What makes you better than the rest of us who didn’t get outta there?”
“Nathan… I--I don’t know what you want from me…” Y/N was slowly backing up with small, shuffling movements. “I tried to be nice and welcoming when you showed up that day. We tried rekindling a friendship after everything--”
“Friendship? Jeeeesus Christ,” he moaned and rubbed a hand over his mouth, “I don’t need any more fucking friends, Y/N, I needed you. But you were already fucking him and I can’t compete--”
“Compete?!” Y/N was finding her voice. The fear starting to dissipate and be replaced by a white, hot flash of rage. “I LEFT him because of you, you asshole! On New Years… I had him… we were together and I got all FUCKED UP and ran out because you got into my head!” She was clenching her fist around the strap of the backpack still on her shoulder and trying not to do something stupid. “I tried to be civil to you, Nathan, because of what we had. But you know, I’m glad you showed your true colors. Because of it, I am happier and more in love then I have ever been! Especially more than I could have ever really been with you…”
Nathan’s face contorted into a man prepared to pounce out of anger; his eyes were wild, his nostrils flaring, the veins in his neck pulsating with rage. Y/N saw the intent in his now dark eyes and knew she pushed too far, but she didn’t care. His body was rigid, but when he made his move, it all seemed to unravel in slow motion. 
Nathan’s arms lifted in front of him as his hands shaped into open claws with her throat as their prime target. Y/N felt like she had no control over her body. She screamed at herself to turn and just make a run for the brewery before he was able to get a hold of her, but her feet just wouldn’t move. Her eyes scanned the ground in a panic, looking for the phone he had knocked from her hand, but it just laid there with a darkened, cracked screen and the battery laying beside it. She was able to turn her head just enough to see the rear door to the brewery and the lights on the inside before she felt Nathan’s hands touch her. His fingers curled around her throat, making it difficult to move. Before they tightened completely, Y/N readied herself to fight back and just as she struggled to turn her head around back to Nathan, she was bringing up her leg to his groin with the hardest thrust she could. 
Nathan went spiraling backward with a loud grunt of pain once her knee connected with his balls. As he landed on the dirt, Y/N heard voices from behind her; it was Bri and Paolo heading towards them talking  while pushing the handcart of beer. The second they noticed what was happening, Paolo left the cart and broke out into a sprint, as did Bri, and was at her side in seconds. Bri had her arms on Y/N’s shoulders, turning her and examining her for any injuries, as Paolo went to grab Nathan. Despite the man’s inebriated condition, he scrambled to his feet, still wearing a salacious grin. He turned and ran as fast as he could, easily able to escape the last-ditch effort Paolo made to grab his arm. 
“Are you alright?” Briana asked, still desperately searching Y/N for any sign of physical trauma. “Paolo, call the police, now!”
Paolo nodded, pulled out his cell and began pacing the parking lot as he made the call.
Knowing that she was safe, protected by the presence of Bri and Paolo, Y/N was able to come to terms with what just happened. It started in her knees, the adrenaline that served her so well, now leaving her body in shakes and spurts. She tried to be strong and not let the overwhelming need to scream from the leftover terror in her gut, and if not for Bri holding her upright, she thought she may buckle under it all and fall to her knees. 
Y/N covered Bri’s hands with her own and squeezed them tenderly. “I’m fine,” she lied through a shaky breath. “It’s okay, Bri. I promise. He, uh…” she felt the lump forming in her throat at having to actually say the words, “...he touched me for a second. He put his hand on my throat, and somehow I was able to get my leg up and knee him in the crotch.”
Bri took a closer look at Y/N’s neck and thought the marks there would be enough to at least prove to the cops that he had tried to choke her, but not bad enough they wouldn’t fade in a day or so. 
“Atta girl,” she breathed, a huff of air following from her lips as she sighed in relief and pulled her friend into an embrace. “Where’s your phone? You need to call Jensen, he’ll--”
“No. Do NOT call him,” Y/N vehemently insisted. “You cannot tell him, Briana. Not yet, please.”
Briana drew in a breath to argue a case for complete honesty with Jensen, but then saw the pleading look in her friend’s eyes. Given the intensity of the situation, she didn’t want Y/N to feel anymore unnerved. She nodded softly and reluctantly agreed. “Alright. But I’m telling you if you don’t tell him soon, I will.”
“Fair enough, just… not right now. Right now, I just want to get out of here.”
“Cops are on the way,” Paolo said, rejoining them. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, he just scared me,” she replied unconvincingly. 
“That was your ex, right?”
Y/N nodded slowly, surprised Paolo knew. “Yeah, how…” then the realization dawned on her. “Did the boss man tell you to look out for him?”
“Yeah. He said if he was seen anywhere on the property, call the police immediately.”
“Of course he did,” she muttered. “Please, just let me tell him, okay?”
Paolo looked uneasy and glanced at Briana who nodded slightly in support of Y/N’s request. 
“Alright,” he agreed with a sigh, then looked around the lot at the mess of papers continuing to flutter about. “I’ll call inside, get some of the guys to come out and gather up the papers.” 
“Thanks, Paolo,” Bri said and bent down to pick up the broken phone. “Hope you had it backed up.” She said, trying to make the comment light, but the underlying ache of empathy she felt for Y/N was far louder.
“Thank God for Robbie and his cloud,” Y/N laughed, but then fell quickly silent. She didn’t know what to do next, outside of waiting for the cops to arrive. If she had just gone with Jensen… the thought plagued her. Coupled with her guilt that was attached to Nathan’s general presence, she came to realize that there was really only one place she could go that could even begin to heal the trauma she experienced at Nathan’s hand. 
Briana could tell there was something she needed to say but wanted to give her the space to say it without prodding her along. 
“Bri?”
“Hmm?”
“Can I use your phone? I need to go to San Diego.”
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snowdice · 4 years ago
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Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 8]
Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!
If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. Chapters 2, 3, and what I have of Chapter 4 are under the cut.
My Masterpost Part 1
I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.
My stomach decided to be mean to me for no reason, but I still want to try to get some stuff done. Might get suddenly distracted though so fair warning if I randomly stop posting/answering asks.
Chapter 2
The morning was just as torturous as Janus had expected it would be. He chewed through another pop-tart, this time bothering to actually check and see that it was a cinnamon-sugar one and drank three cups of caffeinated orange juice. Then, he waved his hand through the air and selected the 1st saved location on his device. He popped up directly behind his desk where he’d been standing the night morning before.
Someone, probably Remus, had shut his integrator down. He swiped a finger across the power button, and it flickered back on, scrolling through its morning start up routine.
 The machine scanned through all of the data in the three main system it was connected to and sorted all information into things that concerned him, could concern him, and did not before then sorting the first two categories into order of importance. As it did, he set up his screen reader so he would hopefully not start the day with more of a migraine than he already had. It took about 3 seconds for everything to turn on and settle.
Sitting down in his desk, he dismissed the notification that Remus had finished and submitted the report from their mission the day before.
 A mission had been scheduled for him today, and the details were in his inbox. A piece time travel technology had been accidently dropped by an archology student in the 1890s during a trip. It was an earlier model of emergency time travel given to time travels that would dump them back into the Registration Office in the year they originated. It wasn’t extremely dangerous, but could pose some problems, especially if someone who didn’t know what it was activated it.
Surveillance agents had tracked it down and found that it had been picked up by a local and sold. Though no one from that time had known what it was, they had identified that it was made out of a precious metal and it had been crafted into an expensive necklace. Janus and Remus were supposed to retrieve it today. It had been pinpointed that the most opportune time for the extraction was 1923 during a masquerade ball held by those who had bought the necklace.
 It was a fairly low stakes mission. He wasn’t set to leave for another couple of hours, so he clicked through the rest of the important notifications and then set off to meet his missions coordinator, Rhi, in her office.
Rhi and Janus got along fairly well. She was a well put together woman who took her job incredibly seriously. It was fair as her job was to organize all information and materials from every other department and make sure the agents she was assigned to got and understood all of it. A mistake from her could lead to an agent’s death or something far worse.
 This, of course, made her relationship with Remus… interesting to say the least. Janus could never place whether they were nemesis, frenemies, or mortal enemies, and he doubted he would ever know.
“Okay, but it’s the 1920s America,” Remus was already in her office arguing when Janus arrived. “There were so many gangsters! I could be a gangster. I would make a fantastic gangster! Just give me a gun, a snazzy suit with a white hat, and a buttload of alcohol. I will be running Chicago with Al Capone in five minutes.”
“Al Capone didn’t become a crime boss until 1925 and you are going to 1923,” Rhi said, sounding bored, “you aren’t going to Chicago, and as I have already stated, your cover is already decided.”
 “But-”
“It is nonnegotiable, Agent Clockson,” she said firmly. Remus pouted, but seemingly accepted his fate.
“May I come in?” Janus asked.
“Please do,” Rhi said. “You have been to the 1920s before, correct?” she asked Janus.
“Yes ma’am.”
She tapped the screen on her desk in response. “In the last two years?”
“About two months ago,” he responded. She tapped something else.
“Any blacks, reds, or yellows?” she asked.
“All green.”
“Great. Do you need a refresher course on basic cultural or linguistic procedures?”
“No.”
She pushed one more thing and then swiped the check-in document over to him. He glanced at the report stating he’d had no incidents of any level the last time he visited the 1920s and had opted out of the optional refresher course, and then pressed his finger against the screen to sign it with his fingerprint.
 The document returned to her side of the desk automatically. “Okay,” she said swiping another document from her left over to be in front of her. She twisted her wrist to copy it and slide copies to Janus and Remus. “Here are exact details on the time, place, and event you are going to, as well as details about your cover.” Janus scrolled through his quickly. It wasn’t as detailed as some he’d had considering this was a brief in-and-out missing, but he still took care to memorize everything on the page.
As he and Remus read through their things, Rhi got to her feet and turned to the storage compartments behind her desk.
 She grabbed out two packages and when they’d both signed that they’d read and understood the paperwork, she slid them across the desk to them. “These have everything you need,” she said. “Clothes, money, and an invitation to the party you’re off to attend. You are to get changed now, have a last check in with costuming to make sure everything is in order, and then report to decontamination in 23 minutes. Your set to leave in 38 minutes. Any questions?”
“How much-?” Remus started.
“None, agent,” Rhi said.
“But-”
“No alcohol,” Rhi said. “It is the prohibition era in the United States anyway.”
“Like there’s not going to be alcohol at the rich people party,” Remus said sullenly.
She pressed her lips together. “It is an in-and-out mission,” she said to both of them, and then turned to glare at Remus. “Do not get arrested.”
 “I don’t know,” Remus said joyfully. “I think I still have room for a 1920s mug shot on my wall.”
“Behave,” she said, “or I’ll report you for the cat you smuggled in from the 1800s.”
“You’d never,” Remus said. “You enjoy the cute pictures of Diesel Fuel I send you every day too much, and you know it!”
“Just… don’t get arrested.” She turned to Janus. “Don’t let him get arrested.”
“I’ll do my best,” Janus promised, standing. “Now come on, Remus, we need to get changed.”
“You just want to see me naked,” Remus replied with a wink, but he did stand.
 “If I see you naked one more time in my life Remus, my eyeballs will fall out of their sockets,” Janus said, waving to Rhi as he pulled Remus out of the door.
“Kinky.”
Janus’s eyeballs almost did fall out right then and there with how hard he rolled them.
They got changed quickly, Remus complaining and saying if he couldn’t dress like a gangster, he should at least be allowed to wear a flapper dress. Janus had long ago learned to ignore his ramblings. He did seem enthused about the included mask for the masquerade. It was a silver fox shaped mask with green accents that reminded Janus of the Egyptian God Anubis.
 Janus’s own mask on the other hand, was only designed to take up the left half of his face. It was mostly golden with a black swirled design. Attached to the side there was a plume of golden tipped white feathers. He had to give it to the costuming department, they did have good taste.
Once they were both dressed, they were poked and prodded by one of the costumers to make sure everything was accurate, fit right, and had been put on correctly.
After that, they went to the decontamination area to have themselves and everything they were taking with them sterilized so they didn’t accidently take any pathogens to the 1920s. They also received an oral vaccination to be sure they didn’t pick up anything from the 1920s and bring it back.
Then they were ready to go. The correct time-space coordinates had already been sent to their timepieces. With a push of a button, they were off.
  Inciting Incident
Chapter 3
Janus and Remus both appeared at the same moment a couple of feet apart in what looked like the inside of a garden shed. There was already a man waiting for them a few feet away. “Sup babes,” Remy said, just like he always did. The T-Agent looked their costumes up and down and whistled. “Now that,” he said, “almost makes me want to be one of you time jockeys.”
“They wouldn’t let me have a gun or a canister of moonshine,” Remus pouted.
Remy snorted. “Sorry, babes, but that makes my job a lot easier. If I’ve gotta fish you outta the 1920s criminal justice system, I’d rather it not be because you shot someone on accident ‘cause you don’t know how to use the safety.”
 Remus groaned dramatically. “Everyone is lame.”
Remy just shook his head. “Meet back here when you’ve got the necklace,” he said. “Don’t make a move until after 11:05pm and before 11:17. That’s your window.”
“We know,” Janus said. “See you then.”
“Have fun at the party boys,” Remy said and then lowered his shades to look at Remus, “but not too much fun.”
“Yeah, yeah,” said Remus, already towing Janus out of the garden shed. The way had been specifically cleared for them, so they met no other people before they’d rounded the house the party was taking place and had gotten onto the driveway in front of the house.
 Without missing a beat, they strolled up to the front of the house, just as a car pulled into the end of the driveway. Janus rang the doorbell, and a few moments later, a man who was clearly the butler answered the door. They handed over their invitation, and the man immediately let them in.
The party had already started when they slipped into the medium sized ballroom that had been decked out in streamers and other decorations. Janus’s nose immediately wanted to scrunch as the smell of sweat from all the dancing already going on as well as the too strong perfume meant to cover that stench wafted over him. It was by far not the worst smelling time period, but he was pretty sure some people still weren’t aware deodorant had been recently invented.
 He checked his time piece which had been disguised as a fancy wristwatch for this trip. “Okay,” he said. “We have about two hours before we need to make our move. We should…”
Remus’s attention was already being dragged away by a young man who seemed to be providing guests with food. “I’m going to go ‘mingle’,” he said, winking.
“No!” Janus hissed. “Re- Richard! No!”
Yet, he was already disappearing into the horde of stinky bodies, likely to go scandalize a bunch of rich folks, and leaving Janus alone. Janus mumbled a curse under his breath that he was sure no one around him would understand even if they could make it out.
 Unsure what to do with himself, he wandered over towards where the live musicians were playing jazz music, being sure to keep out of the way of the dancers. He was edging around the makeshift dancefloor, when one of said dancers must have misstepped and knocked into another one. The second man stumbled right towards Janus, arms pinwheeling. Janus reached out on instinct to catch the man as he fell.
There was a moment where the two of them just stared at each other, surprise evident on the other man’s face. He was wearing a mask that just covered the area around his eyes and the top of his nose, revealing a smattering of freckles across his cheeks that Janus imagined extended to his nose.
 The mask was a light blue velvet with a flower stuck on the side near his right ear, and a trail of curled golden ribbon bobbed down around his chin. The party continued on around them, a blur of movement and sound.
“Are you alright?” Janus asked.
The man blinked up at him and then tilted his head slightly to the side as though confused, before a smile slowly grew on his face. “Oh, I’m fine Dove.”
“Dove?” Janus asked.
He giggled. “You have dove feathers on your mask,” he explained, reaching up a hand to touch one. His finger brushed the tip of Janus’s ear, “and I don’t know what else I am supposed to call you.”
 “My name is Lee,” he automatically lied.
“Is it?” he asked, sounding amused. “Doesn’t seem to fit you well. I like Dove better.”
“Oh?” asked Janus. “And what’s your name so I can not call you that?”
The man chuckled. “Call me Pat.”
“Hello Pat,” Janus said.
“I thought you didn’t want to call me by my name.”
“I changed my mind.”
“Hmmm,” Pat said, finger tracing idly across Janus’s forearm which was when Janus realized with a start that he was still holding the man in his arms. He quickly went to release him, which Pat allowed with clear amusement.
 Yet, instead of completely stepping away, Pat grabbed Janus’s arm. “What are you doing all the way over here by the way?” he asked. “Don’t you want to dance.”
“Oh,” Janus hesitated. “I don’t really dance.” Or at least not in the way the people around him were. He’d had basic training for this style, but it had been a while and he was a bit rusty.
“Everyone dances Dove,” Pat claimed. “At least if they know the steps and have the right partner.”
“But I don’t know the steps,” Janus said with an eyebrow raise.
He hummed. “Well, I know the dance pretty well by this point,” Pat said. “Why don’t I teach you how it goes.”
 He was agreeing with the soft beseeching tone before he even realized it. Pat pulled him into the middle of the throng of people. He seemed to think, bopping his head to the music playing for a moment, before looking back at Janus. “Heard of James Johnson?”
Janus inclined his head.
“Well, have you heard his new song? Because there’s a dance that goes with it.”
He took a few steps away from Janus and started to dance. Despite his claim to know the steps, he wasn’t particularly good, but he made up for any loss of rhythm with pure enthusiasm.
 Janus found himself smiling at the man, and after a few moments, joined in with the dance. Despite his lack of practice, he ended up having a better natural rhythm than Pat. Pat didn’t seem to mind that he was being outperformed, however. On the contrary, he giggled at himself the couple of times he stumbled.
When he fell into Janus’s arms for the second time that night, Janus decided he’d probably had enough dancing for the moment and pulled him off to the side to get something to drink and cool down a bit.
He watched the man take a snack and some punch from one of servers and thank him happily before turning back to Janus. Pat was easily able to keep Janus’s attention as they chatted. He was bubbly and soft, and Janus found himself enchanted as they talked.
 He was explaining the steps of a different dance, a couples one. “Knowing how to perform the tango will entrance any girl you want,” Pat said, something mischievous sparkling in his eyes. “Assuming you’re that type of fella.”
“As opposed to what?” Janus asked.
Pat leaned in a bit closer. Not too much, but enough that he was definitely in Janus’s space. “A different type of fella,” he said simply, before smiling and leaning back.
Janus let out a shaky exhale and took a sip of punch. He glanced over at Pat. “Tell me about yourself, Pat,” he said.
Pat hummed in contemplation. “Well, I went to France recently.”
 “You did?”
“Oui, c'était amusant, mais j'ai eu des ennuis”
“What kind of trouble?” Janus asked curiously.
“Oh, the kind with a pretty boy and crepes that were way too sweet. Anyway,” he continued. “Other than that, I mostly help out my friend. He’s an inventor.”
“And how do you help him.”
He shrugged, “Running errands mostly, and making sure he gets enough sleep, because otherwise he gets distracted and forgets. And you?”
“I’m a banker,” he said, remembering his cover, but felt compelled to add, “but I like to travel as well.”
“You do look the type?”
“And how is that?”
   Pat shrugged. “I can always tell a wandering spirt from the masses, and you are easy to spot.” Pat looked at him then with a secret smile on his face, and Janus felt suddenly known, like the man in front of him had known him for years even though they’d only just met. Looking at him then, he wanted suddenly for that to be fact and not a flight of fancy.
He was brought firmly back to reality in the next moment. “Lee,” a pointed and familiar voice said. Janus’s head snapped up to see Remus, staring at him. He tapped his wrist. Janus glanced at his own wrist: 10:58pm. He just barely managed not to curse.
 “I,” he said looking up at Pat. “I’m sorry, but I have to go.”
“That’s okay,” Pat said easily. “It is getting rather late.”
“Yes,” Janus agreed. “Well… goodbye.”
Pat, titled his head, a half smile on his face. “I’ll be seeing you around.”
Janus nodded, and turned away from him towards Remus. He didn’t look back as they excited the ballroom. They snuck into a small side closet for coats that wasn’t being used as it was summer.
“So,” Remus said when the door closed behind them.
“Don’t,” warned Janus.
“I’m not one to judge,” Remus said.
“Shut up.” He glanced at his watch. It was 11:02. “We’ll go in 5.”
 “I have to give it to you. He was very cute.”
“We’re not talking about it.”
Remus just laughed joyfully, and Janus did his best to halt the blood rushing to his cheeks.
At 11:07, well into their window, they slipped back out of the closet, and towards the stairs as the party raged on.
Despite how Remus usually never shut up, he was able to be quiet when it counted. They snuck to the master bedroom of the home’s owners in silence. The door was already wide open by the time they got there, and Janus didn’t think anything of it. At least, he didn’t until they entered the bedroom, and there was someone already there.
 He turned from the dresser he’d been standing in front of to face them, sending Janus the same smile he had down in the ballroom. Janus and Remus both froze. “Sorry, sweetie,” Pat said. “Were you here for this too?” he held up the necklace they’d been sent for. He closed his fist around the charm made out of time travel tech.
“What?” Janus said.
Pat giggled and winked. “Unfortunately, I need it a bit more than you at the moment. So, I’m gonna have to go.” Janus stepped forward, not really sure what he was intending to do, but Pat just smiled. “See you some other time, my Turtle Dove.” With a snap of his fingers and loud crack, he disappeared. The mask he’d been wearing fluttered to the ground.
  Arc I: Finding Cinderella
Chapter 4
Janus was frozen in surprise for a few long moments after Pat disappeared. Which had been, admittedly, his mistake, because, while their window had technically been until 11:17pm and it was only 11:10, the loud crack that whatever Pat had been using for time travel made, garnered the attention of someone else.
“Uh oh,” Remus said, likely hearing footsteps. “Hide.”
That snapped Janus into action, but instead of hiding immediately like a sensible human being, he chose to go for the only link to the man who’d just stolen time travel tech and waltzed away, the mask.
Which was why he ended up getting arrested.
 Remy tsked the moment they were all alone in the police car having come to ‘transfer Lee to another facility.’ Remus was already waiting in the front seat, and flashed Janus a smug smile. If Janus wasn’t still handcuffed, he’d slap him.
“Well,” Remy said. “At least you didn’t shoot anybody like I asked. I was joking by the way. I didn’t really want to pick you up from a 1920s police station period.”
“It wasn’t my fault.”
“Mmm, nah, ‘cause Remus managed to not get arrested this time, so you defiantly screwed something up.”
“Oh, he defiantly wanted to screw something all right,” Remus said joyfully.
 “Remus,” Janus hissed.
“What?” he asked. “I’m not the horny one for once. Well, no, that’s a lie, but it didn’t affect the job this time.”
Janus groaned and leaned his head back against the seat.
Remy pulled into a seemingly random garage around 20 minutes later. “Alright,” he said. “Here we are.” He got out of the car and then helped Janus out before uncuffing him. “Here’s your ‘watch,’” Remy handed him the timepiece that had been confiscated when he’d been arrested.
Janus put it on and activated it. “Shit,” he said.
“What?” Remus asked.
“An appointment with cultural outreach has already been downloaded to my calendar for once we get out of decon.”
 “Oof. Going to baby jail,” Remy laughed. Remus was cackling.
“This,” Janus said, “was not a cultural faux pas. I did nothing that indicated that I was not from this time. I am not some rookie.”
“Don’t forget cell phones don’t exist in the 1920s,” Remus sang.
“The real question is whether or not my foot exists in your…” Remus disappeared before he could finish, a smirk on his face. Janus growled. “By Remy,” he gritted out. He selected the decontamination chamber from his queue, ignoring the appointment that came after it for now.
He knew exactly where Remus would be standing when he landed, which was why he stepped forward on reentry to ram into him.
 He yelped in surprise. “Sorry,” Janus said pleasantly. “I must have also forgotten landing procedures.
Remus laughed good naturally. “Aw, come on Jay,” he said, bumping Janus back, albeit much gentler than Janus had been. “It’s not a big deal. You just go talk with some crusty old college professor who is far too interested in spoons and then everything’s fine.”
“It’s the principle of the thing,” he growled. “They’re treating me like I’m an idiot who accidently invented disco in the 1920s when I was conned by some free agent time traveler.”
“‘Conned,’ Remus said. Is that what they’re calling it now?”
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“I know where and when you live Remus,” Janus said.
Remus gave him a dopey smile as the decontamination cycle finished and the door unlocked. Janus’s wrist buzzed telling him that the coordinates to the cultural outreach office were now unlocked. Instead of pulling them up, Janus walked to the door.
“Um,” Remus said, following him. “Aren’t you supposed to be going to your appointment?” Janus just kept walking towards their office. “Uh… Jan?”
“It’s absolutely ridiculous that I have to go to cultural outreach,” Janus said. “In fact, no one can make me. If they want me to go have a discussion about the definition of ‘bushwa,’ they’re going to have to have me dragged there.”
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“Mmm, I feel like The Boss won’t be too happy about that, and I have a feeling she’d be 100% down to dragging you there herself.”
“Well, then, let her,” Janus said, stalking through the door to his office. “I’m not going to…”
“Ah, Agent Picani,” the woman standing next to his desk, clearly waiting for him, said when he came through the door. “Dr. Picani was informed that there were complications with your last mission and wishes to have a conversation with you and asks that you meet him in his office at the AMO.”
“Oh, um,” Janus said, stumbling a bit before plastering on a regretful half smile. “Unfortunately, I actually have an appointment right now at Cultural Outreach. It’s mandatory and very important, and I have to go now. So, I’ll have to take a raincheck on that.”
 “But-” she started, frowning.
“Remus, work on the report!” Janus said quickly as he waved his hand to bring up his timepiece display and jammed his finger at the glowing appointment card in his queue. A few moments later, Janus was at Cultural Outreach.
Cultural Outreach was not part of the TPI, though it often worked very closely with them. It was a collaboration between the government and multiple universities to help government workers, politicians, and other citizens understand and bridge cultural gaps. It had existed before time travel was invented but had expanded to also teach people who needed to time travel how to behave in unfamiliar times and cultures.
 After it had to be expanded to provide for the TPI, it had been moved to Silver Mountains University. The building had once just been a museum, but it had been thoroughly renovated and there had been add-ons for office space and some classrooms. It was still a museum, however, its purpose had expanded greatly and there were many areas that were off limits to the general public.
One of these areas was the fourth floor, where Janus’s timepiece had dumped him. This was the floor that was almost exclusively for TPI agents and staff of Cultural Outreach who worked with them.
 He immediately turned away from the reception area, hoping that he could escape and go sit on the university’s quad or something of the like for the next hour or so in hopes the woman his brother sent to fetch him would give up and go back to the AMO. Yet, the receptionist apparently saw him.
“Janus Picani?” he asked.
Janus grimaced and turned back towards him. “Yes,” he said.
“Is something wrong?” he asked. “You’re 5 minutes late for your appointment and seem disoriented.
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Is your timepiece malfunctioning?”
“No.”
“Uh… okay. Well, if you sign in here, I can take you to your appointment.”
“…Fine.”
 He begrudgingly stepped forward and touched the screen he’d gestured to sign with his fingerprint, and then let the man lead him down the hall.
The door they stopped at was propped open slightly, but he still paused and knocked. “Professor Eran? Your 2:30 is here.”
Janus had just a moment upon hearing the name to think that maybe there was actually some sort of intelligent design of the universe and whatever being of ultimate power had crafted it was a dick.
The door opened and Virgil Eran’s eyes immediately narrowed on him. “Janus.”
“Virgil.”
“I see you’re still late for everything.”
“I see you’re still a bastard.”
 Janus saw the receptionist slowly back away in the direction they’d come.
“Why don’t you come in?” Virgil said faux pleasantly.
Janus did, because he really didn’t have much of a choice at this point unless he wanted to jump out of a window… or push someone out of a window.
Virgil turned back into his office and took a seat behind his desk. Janus unhappily followed him in and sat across from him.
He took his time pulling up whatever the TPI sent him and reading it over. “So, I see you failed your recovery mission and were arrested in 1923.”
 “It wasn’t like that,” Janus said. “I shouldn’t be here.”
Virgil gave him that same suspicious look he used to give Janus whenever Janus claimed to have not eaten his hot pockets out of the freezer in the middle of the night. He’d only been lying 80% of the time. Virgil had a tendency to forget what he’d eaten in a half-conscious state at 3 o’clock in the morning.
“I shouldn’t,” Janus snapped defensively. “Nothing went wrong with anyone from the time period. An illegal time traveler screwed up the mission details.”
“Well, it is still protocol to make sure nothing slipped when agents go off script. You weren’t prepared to be in a jail cell, and it is possible that you screwed something up.”
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“I didn’t screw anything up,” Janus growled.
“Alright,” Virgil said pulling up a document on his desk. “The mission started on July 27th, 1923 at 9:58pm, correct?”
“Oh, god, we’re not really going to fill out a time sheet. I don’t have time for that today.”
“It is protocol and best that the information is documented when it is still fresh in your mind. Besides, your schedule has been cleared for the rest of the workday.” The bastard was enjoying this. He knew how much Janus hated this stuff.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” Janus said, “it was the damned illicit time traveler.”
“And I will be the judge of that,” Virgil said. Janus should have just bit the bullet and had coffee with his brother. “If you truly did nothing wrong, your supervisor will see that when I send this to her.”
23 notes · View notes