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pinkarachnia · 2 years ago

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Lesbian Anime Review #1 - Adachi & Shimamura

I have a lot of feelings about this show.

This is a story about two gay people. In my brain, one of them is autistic and the other one has ADHD. This makes it more relatable for me, an ADHD lesbian in a relationship with an autistic lesbian. The show opens pretty strong IMO. It takes a few episodes for one of the two protagonists to accept the fact that she’s developed romantic feelings for her friend, but I was happy for her once she did.

The central tension is around one character, Adachi, who is trying to push herself to speak up about her feelings for her friend Shimamura, all the while constantly feeling doubt about whether the other girl likes her at all, while the object of her affections has her own internal struggle about not wanting to get too close with anyone because she finds it suffocating.

I find Adachi relatable in a really sad kind of way. I know what it’s like to be very much into someone and feel like you’re getting mixed messages about whether your feelings are reciprocated.

Shimamura has her own struggles, but it’s more about her reflecting on her attitudes towards relationships. She generally doesn’t like anyone enough to be more than acquaintances with them, but starts feeling like those feelings of suffocation that she gets from most people don’t apply when she spends time with Adachi.

At times the show seems to be implying that Shimamura would never contemplate a romantic relationship with her friend, but I think she’s feeling that more generally, and not specifically thinking about being gay or not. Like I said, I think everyone here is gay.

One issue I have with the plot is that it feels to me like there was a point where Shimamura figures out what Adachi was feeling, but willingly ignores it. I think this happens around the half way point. But instead of moving towards a natural conclusion, the show just keeps going.

I feel like I watched the same loop of “I guess I have real romantic feelings” to “I have to tell her how I feel” and then they have an awkward hug instead of a conversation. Next episode.

It bugs me that Shimamura continues to let her friend suffer like this. Adachi will continue to push the bounds of their relationship into romantic territory, like wanting to hold hands when they're hanging out or going on valentine's dates, but when she wants to broach the topic of where the two of them are at relationship-wise, the response is some brand of, “what are you talking about”. I could forgive it for a while but the anime seems to imply that she's aware of Adachi's feelings to some extent, so it just felt unkind to me.

But this happened over and over until the anime ended, and there was no real conclusion.

This show could have concluded with half as many episodes and it failed to have a conclusion at all with the 12 they had. It reeks of light novel adaption made to promote an ongoing series where they never had the intention of animating the whole thing. Go buy the books if you want to see what happens next, I guess.

(note that English fan translations for the novels are available. At the moment they've translated all 11 that have been released, and volume 12 may be the last one according to the author's afterword in volume 10.)

It’s so sad to me because I feel like this kind of show is so rare. They made a romance show about two girls and it feels genuine for a lot of it. There’s so much gay yearning here, but there’s no payoff. Anyway I’ll be watching more gay anime until I find the best one. Stay tuned for more reviews. I’ve started another one last night and it’s uhhhhh, well, there’s gonna be a review for sure.

Pros:

feels like slice of life without the queerbait

the cast aren't gratuitously sexualised (it's a low bar, I know)

I liked it when the characters got to have different outfits

the side plot with the two friend characters who are also gay was cute

Cons:

high school setting (minor point deduction because this is so common)

plot goes nowhere and stays nowhere

absolute nothing ending

And I'm giving this one a 6/10

[Edit]

Thanks for reading my first review. I don't know if my anime commentary ever improves.

I'm adding to this older review I wrote up months ago because at this point I've read most of the books that have been released to follow up this series, which has changed my overall feelings about it.

As I noted earlier, the novels have almost concluded at this point and right now I'm on the 11th translated volume. The series has been a solid "okay" overall, and I don't think I'd change my 6/10 rating with the knowledge I now have, but there are a few things that I have different thoughts on.

The novels are much slower paced than the anime and the characters both have a constant internal monologue that helps you to see why they do the things that they do. They do this thing where they're always waxing philosophical about the nature of relationships and it makes the characters seem weird and inhuman at times.

Something that wasn't abundantly clear in the anime is that Shimamura is just kind of a dumbass. Like the reason she came across as unkind to me in the show is actually because she takes everything at face value, and all the times it seems like she's clocked her friend as gay she just thinks, "nah probably not", and moves on immediately.

I'm going to get into light spoiler territory here, so consider yourself warned.

They do eventually progress the story to the point where the main characters get to have a romantic relationship but it took way too long in my opinion. They don't get there until around volume 8 of the books, and the anime adapted the first 4.

That said, there are still several novels after 8. In one of the late volume afterwords, the author writes that the story effectively ends at volume 8 and everything else is like and extended epilogue. It's a very "light novel" mindset that the romance story ends the moment the relationship comes into being, but I'm also not opposed to the girls getting a 4 book victory lap. Good for them!

I'm glad I got to experience the rest of the story because I feel like I got more closure than the anime was willing to provide me.

I might come back to this after the 12th book is out. I might not.

#lesbian anime review

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moonsmultimusings · 2 years ago

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sleeplesswork:

Hearing Hero reassure her about Sunny caused some of Maris’ worry to die down. While the male would never be able to understand her bother the way she once did he probably had a better guess than their mom. She used to think he was sad while happy and other things of the sort. Though it wasn’t all her mothers fault, she’d always been busy with work and Sunny had grown distant. Hopefully they’d grown closer over the past couple of years. If they weren’t close and their little friend group fell apart that meant Sunny had probably spent these years by himself, that thought made her worry. He’d never been good at making friends and talking to new people, maybe that had changed while in high school ?

Mari was taken away from her worries as Hero’s hand rested against hers. She often forgot when other people were in the room with her, most of the last week felt like a dream. It was nice to know he was here, touching her, and not just another dream. ❝ I know ❞ She whispered, even if she knew it wasn’t her fault she still blamed herself for some of it. Hero probably knew that, since she didn’t think she sounded all that convincing.

‘But maybe they haven’t heard yet…?’ She hoped not. If they knew and decided not to come it would hurt more than anything. Sunny knew and didn’t come, since he was upset with her. She hoped Aubrey and Basil weren’t, she’d never known Basil to hold a grudge and she’d never had Aubrey be angry with her. Though if they were both mad she’d give them their space, when they came back—if they did—she’s apologies and try to make this up to them. ❝ That would be nice…even if they don’t want to come I just want to know how their doing… ❞ That was the most important thing, as long as everyone was happy and healthy in their new lives she could also find a way to be happy.

It was just like Mari, to blame herself for something that was out of her control. She was a perfectionist in all aspects of her life, and he was aware of this. A small mistake or slip-up would be cause to blame herself, even if it was an unreasonable conclusion to jump to. This was why he had offered her the reassurance he had. This wasn't her fault. Any hypocrisy borne of blaming himself for the group's falling out was beyond him. He should have done more to help everyone stick together after what had happened, but... He was too torn up about it.

The worry that she could have died from her injuries and the loneliness that came from visiting her often with no chance to speak to her made for a difficult combination to hold his own against. He wanted to act as if nothing had changed, to continue to be there for his friends, but it wasn't easy. Not when Sunny was so determined to withdraw from everyone, and Hero's parents pushed him towards studying harder to graduate with honors. A first step towards getting into a good pre-med program, as they would argue. He didn't have the energy to push back too much against that. If anything, becoming a doctor could mean that he could assist Mari. To do more for her in helping her recover.

“I need to talk to them again anyway. It's been a while since I've had the chance to see them.” School was busy enough, but there was also a new addition to their family. He supposed that might be a positive conversation topic to bring up. “Oh, did Kel mention when he was here? We have a new baby sister! She's kept us pretty occupied.” That sounded a bit better than, 'I've been swamped with assignments for the program I told you I didn't want to pursue, and coming home feels like a chore if I don't stop by to see you,' didn't it?

#´ ･ . ✶muse; 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘳 ⦅ HERO ⦆#sleeplesswork

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c4ndyy-apple · 2 years ago

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Subtle

Summary: Juvia comes to the conclusion that Gray is much more subtle about his feelings than she is.

Also on FF.net and AO3

______________

“There, there.” Levy rubbed Juvia’s back as he lay with her forehead pressed against the wooden table. “I’m sure he really was just busy this time.”

“Maybe,” Juvia said pathetically, her arms loose at her sides. “He did seem to be in a hurry with Natsu.”

“See, the time will be right for guys one day soon. Maybe even sooner than you think.” Levy grabbed both of Juvia’s shoulders and sat her up straight again. “Just be as patient as you always have been. It’ll pay off one of these days, I just know it.”

“Patience,” Juvia let out a breath. “I’ve been patient about it. I was promised an answer from him a year ago and now look, he’s finished the 100 years quest and came back like nothing new happened.”

Levy gave her an awkward smile and rubbed up and down her arm in comfort. Juvia looked at her with a sad look in her eyes before looking down at her lap.

“Should I just give up? At this point he’d have to be pretending to not know that I’m right here waiting on him doing something,” she fiddled with her fingers, feeling heart broken by her own suggestion of giving up on waiting around for an answer.

“Oh Juvia, no,” Levy said back, tilting her head to get a better look at the water mage’s face. “He made sure you knew he was at least thinking about you, right? The ball is in his court now, and he’s the one who put it there.”

“Maybe,” Juvia said again, which seemed to be her favorite word during the conversation. “I guess my expectations for our reunion were just too high.”

“Hey, it was still super sweet. He even caught you when you jumped at him, that’s a good sign.” Levy was clearly grasping at straws to make her feel better about the whole situation.

Juvia gave her a small smile, and placed a hand over one hers. “Thank you, Levy. You’re too kind.”

“Well, ain’t this romantic,” Cana crashed onto the bench opposite Levy and Juvia’s table. “Never would have guessed, congratulations.”

She laughed out loud as both girls went red and stared at her in shock. Levy placed both hands on her now swollen belly and mumbled under her breath at the remark.

“She’s been dying to come over here and say that,” Lucy said as she approached. “I tried to hold her off, looked like you guys needed a minute.”

“Thanks Lucy,” Juvia smiled at the two girls who had joined them. “I thought you would be on a job today.”

“Nope,” she said and stretched her arms out with a big smile. “Natsu wanted to go fishing today and I didn’t feel like getting that awful salty smell all over my clothes.”

“Yeah, well you should tell him to take more care of his fishing rod,” a voice said from behind them. “He just forced me to make him two extra ones.”

Gray slid into the booth beside Juvia and ran a hand through his hair. Juvia stiffened up and moved to grab Levy’s hand under the table for support. Levy simply smiled and winked at her friend before shifting to stand up.

“I think I’m gonna get some air, crowded booths really get me stuffy these days,” Levy said and rubbed her stomach fondly. “Not for long though.”

The group bid Levy goodbye and continued their mindless chatter. Juvia attempted to keep up but couldn’t help feeling insecure at how Gray joked with Cana Lucy. They were able to make him laugh and bring out his wittiness while he was always so stoic towards Juvia when they talked.

She lifted her arms to rest them on the table and consequently knocked off a candle holder in her way. Without thinking she leaned over to grab it, feeling something soft against her arm on the way down and up again instead of the table's edge. When she was upright again she saw Gray’s hand retracted from the corner where she had just brushed against.

She blushed, deciding in her mind that Levy could’ve been right afterall. He did let her know he was thinking about her, just through his actions and not his words. She just needed to keep being patient.

___________

The door creaked closed behind them as Gray and Juvia walked out of the Guildhall, the evening air brushing against their skin.

“I swear, I’m not even kidding,” he spoke as she laughed at him. “Cana has not let me live that down, I thought everyone did that kind of stuff.”

She covered her mouth and looked up at him, “so, you just assumed she got naked and rubber cards on her body?”

“Well, I wasn’t that naïve, but you never know with Cana,” he mumbled as she giggled at him before linking her arm with his as they walked towards their respective apartments.

“That’s true,” Juvia hummed. “She was joking about Levy and I dating before you joined us earlier. I think Gajeel would have killed all three of us if he heard her.”

“Nah, he wouldn’t touch Levy,” Gray said with confidence. “He would definitely kill Cana though.”

“Plus, you would have to be Juvia’s knight in shining armor and save her from him,” she had hearts in her eyes as she fantasized about Gray sticking up for her openly in the guildhall, dressed as a prince of course.

“Right,” he snorted. “Be honest. Do you know about it? You do, don’t you.”

“Do I know what?” Juvia looked up at him, noting his curious gaze.

“That I like you back.” He said as if it was obvious.

“You what?” Juvia stopped walking and looked up at him with wide eyes and her mouth slightly ajar.

“Well, yeah. I had this whole thing that after the 100 Year Quest was over I was gonna make you mine, no matter what.” He smiled confidently down at her. “I was trying to figure out how to actually catch you in a romantic moment to just tell you how I felt, and I’ve been trying to keep my feelings to myself in the meantime, but we keep ending up like this.”

He referred to their attached arms and his cheeks gained a slight pink colour as he rubbed the back of his neck. He kept looking at her though, not breaking their eye contact. For once, she was the one that looked overwhelmed while she was the one struggling to keep up, even though Gray was being so calm.

“I- I don’t know what to say.” Juvia managed, still staring up at him. “I thought I was never getting an answer out loud.”

“Out loud?” He frowned at her. “What- Of course I was planning to tell you, I promised after all.”

“You did,” she finally took a deep breath and gave him a small smile. “But, you also show me. I mean, protecting me from something as small as a table’s corner speaks volumes, you know.”

“Yeah, I guess I just can’t help it sometimes,” he chuckled and continued to walk again, their arms still linked. “I was hoping to make my confession a little more of a big surprise or something, but it’s just so natural to be close to you, sorry.”

“No, this was perfect,” Juvia sighed and rested her head on his shoulder.

Gray hummed and they continued to walk in a comfortable silence until they reached the start of the path leading to Fairy Hills, where they would usually part.

“Do you mind if I love you?” Gray said in a rush and then shook his head. “I mean, do you mind if I kiss you?”

Juvia giggled as she watched him mentally kick himself for the slip up, but she took it as her perfect opportunity to flirt with him.

“You could always do both,” she took the opportunity to wrap her arms around Gray’s neck and leaned her torso against his, smiling expectantly at him.

“Yeah, I guess I could,” he breathed out as his eyes met hers.

His hands rested on the small of her back as he leaned forward to meet her lips halfway. When their lips finally collided, Juvia completely melted against him and giggled against his lips which disrupted their kiss.

“You good?” Gray asked, teasing her. He had only leaned back a little and was smiling brightly down at her.

“Better than good,” Juvia said before connecting their lips together once again, Gray wasting no time in giving her what she wanted.

Levy was definitely right. Juvia’s patience had definitely paid off.

#trying to get inspo for my wips lol #pls enjoy theyre so cute #gruvia #gruvia fanfic #gruvia fluff #gruvia fanfiction #Gray X Juvia #gray and juvia

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kenphobia · 3 years ago

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KISS ME WITH MY EYES CLOSED!

summary. relationship hcs w/ our favorite gator boy <33

includes. established romantic relationship. gn!reader. fluff, no angst. ( be glad i'm not writing angsty shit today >:[ ) cursing.

relationship/s. reader/monty montgomery

notes. albeit short so sorry for that, i had a lot of ideas for this but i was caught up in my modules and forgot to do this

monty is absolutely smitten when it comes to you. he can be an egoistic asshole at times but all he just needs is a hug and pecks of kisses caressing his face, especially from his s/o.

being the overly confident gator he is, he boasts his achievements to others— and of course, you. some find it endearing with how he tells people about you and the way his eyes sparkle at the mention of you ( i.e glamrock freddy ) , while some find it extremely tiring and wants him to shut up for once but lets him talk on and on, whether it be out of fear or recording the conversation as blackmail material. ( i.e gregory, the staff bots )

monty loves to hear your praises, even from something so simple like helping a kid get back to their parents or pointing a lost person to whereever they were headed. he also likes pats ( on the shoulder or head ) whenever you do, any sort of physical affection going along with praises makes his animatronic / non existent heart flutter.

monty likes to do pda a lot, and by a lot i meant a lot. when you two are a slightly later into the relationship, he would hold your hand for a minute or so and pulling away before he overheats from his own flustering self. although, he starts to be more comfortable and less embarassed by pda as time goes on.

whenever you guys are on a stroll around the pizzaplex, he would— obnoxiously —point at his hand holding yours, raising it up high and boasting it to whoever is around. ( mostly to the staff bots, he has a love-hate relationship with them. )

at times when he's feels a bit agitated with or sad about something, he'll hide from you so you don't see how messed up he is at the moment. sometimes he goes to you and whines for you to comfort him. ( which you do because who can ignore this mf )

as proud and affectionate he is, monty isn't good with expressing his feelings through words, and usually goes for showing his love for you through physical affection and spending time with you. ( whether teaching you to play mini golf or whatever you or him is feeling at the moment )

dates happen within the walls of pizzaplex since, of course he's an animatronic, and monty's gator golf is usually where you two go to. dates usually set after hours due to the fact monty is one of the main animatronics and is busy performing for the guests.

cuddles with monty are often after hours. he likes cuddling you while you sit on his lap and your back is facing his chest or him laying down while you're resting atop of him.

any position where he can hug/cuddle you while you can still breathe and not be crushed by his arms is automatically ok for our favorite gator!

also, he's a bit scared he might hurt you on accident, though he does appreciate it when you try to reassure his nerves and lets him hug you all he wants.

he frozes up sometimes when you hug him first, he's just standing there for a few minutes before gently hugging back and basking in your soft and fuzzy warmth.

AND NICKNAMES— did i mention this mf is a flirt? no? well i just did now

monty is cheesy but sweet when it comes down to teasing, and sometimes it get a little spicy. ( he never goes that far though, especially if it makes you uncomfortable. )

since he has a cajun accent in-game, i figured he calls you in french nicknames or any english nicknames that either makes you want to say 'aww monty !!' or 'monty for the love of god sTOP—' or even both.

in conclusion; monty is a bastard but we all love him. why the fuck can't he be real

#— [ from yours truly. ]#fnaf x reader #monty montgomery x reader

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inkysandwich · 3 years ago

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So...

We know that Mo lives alone after high school. And it's not absurd that a young man would want to move out and live alone after graduating high school. Start his life and whatnot.

But this kid's mom is his reason for getting out of bed every day.

He KNOWS she can't support herself in that house on her own--that's why he works so hard at these bullshit jobs. He wants to do right by her and be a man just like his father, whom he knows she loves. He wouldn't leave her to support herself, and he's too frugal to move out of that home--away from his mom and into a place with basically no kitchen--without good reason. And I can only think of a few reasons that would drive him to do that:

-Mo's dad is released from jail and can now help support the family while Mo can release some of his burdens. How? Who knows. Maybe with some help from some powerful people.

-He finds a promising and decent enough paying job/schooling that's too far to practically commute from home, so he buckles down even further to try and make it all work. I imagine there would be some level of external support if this were the case.

-His mother dies, and he just goes to the cheapest place he can find and starts over from the bottom--both emotionally and financially. But with the knowledge that, even though she's gone, there's still someone somewhere that has his back. This is sad but also on par with the trauma-pornographic life that is Mo Guan Shan.

Do we really think Mo is the only one dealing with the consequences of his father's debts/charges? What good is a kid other than collateral for the wife that can actually repay a debt?

-Something significant happens to put a rift in their relationship. Like a major disagreement on how to handle what was essentially an attempted murder on his life. Or a consistent pattern of lies and/or avoidance at obvious emotional outbreaks or extended hospital stays/serious injuries--paid for by the kid that always seems to be around when things escalate, who never seems to get in trouble, who has a suspiciously perfect record. She's had AT LEAST 10 years to harden herself against these types of people.

Ignoring everything except this weekend (and there's a lot of mood swings, late nights, skipping school, and fighting injuries to unpack there), in the last two days, He Tian has lied about what Mo is doing and omitted his condition; kept Mo out of the hospital while he's burned, bleeding, and coughing up blood; destroyed private property in front of an audience and tempted Mo to to the same before getting apprehended by the police, which I'm sure wouldn't trigger any kind of PTSD for her; ran away from home to stay in a cheap hotel without any money or means (that she's aware of) to get food or medical supplies; and let her bloody and bruised baby boy nap on a playground out in the rain. She has every right as his loving mother to be furious. She’s let Mo live his life as he chose up until now, but he’s still just a kid. She can step in and end this in her own ways. And how would Mo react if that happened? Abide by his mother's rules or follow He Tian's example and run away from them?

So, what if she's the opposite of Mo: soft on the outside but hardened to the core? What if she starts connecting the dots she has available, missing the ones Mo conveniently avoided sharing.

Coming to the conclusion that He Tian is a danger to her son. He Cheng doesn't even have the chance to separate them because she's going into mama bear mode. Or maybe he instigates it like @atomicnebula13 suggested in a different conversation.

What if she's walking home through that park? Would Mo be afraid to be seen then? Would He Tian feel that fear, too, or would he try to sweet talk his way into a warm bed for Sunday night?

Because I could see it going that way, too.

Maybe she sees past the other things and realizes her son trusts this demon child, and he doesn't trust anyone. But that still wouldn't stop He Cheng from giving her his side of things and causing the same disruptions. Or just causing disruptions and letting the rest flow from there.

But what if. What if. Mo tried to be honest with her? Finally tell her the torment he's been through with She Li and with everyone else that doesn't understand him and how that's finally starting to get better because he found people that were kind and loyal and strong enough to pull him back to his feet. Tell her that no matter what it looks like, He Tian is a positive force in his life. And that he wants to keep He Tian around. Keep him safe just like he's done for Mo this whole time. But that would require Mo to be honest--out loud--with himself first.

But since I don't see that last bit of wishful thinking happening, I have to wonder what pushed him to be on his own.

#I usually like to use lots of pictures #but this is basically just a really long rant.#But I needed to get it out because it's all I've been thinking about for a while.#19 days #tianshan #mo guan shan #MGS's Mom

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booksarelife-stuff · 3 years ago

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Dancing With Our Hands Tied-Chapter 4

Jily (James Potter/ Lily Evans)

Excerpt: It shouldn’t be as earth-shattering as it was to hear James just call her Lily, no honorifics, but it was. No Princess. No Your Royal Highness. Lily. Like he saw that there was a clear distinction he saw between who she actually was versus who everyone thought her to be. Could he see through her? Did he like what he saw?

Read on ao3 Previous Chapter Next Chapter Series Master List Master list

Chapter 4- picture of your face in an invisible locket

A new normal formed at an Amner Hall.

Instead of Hannah and Katie waking Lily up every morning, Lily awoke naturally at what she knew was an indecent hour in the late morning. And instead of breakfast being delivered into her room, Lily would die her dressing gown and walk down the stairs to see James flipping pancakes or Minerva making the strongest cup of tea Lily had ever seen.

She still had work to do. Meetings she attended for the charity through video chat, meetings she had with Alice, her stylist through facetime, and so many phone calls that Lily could hardly keep track.

Despite it all, Lily found herself on her sofa arguing about what to watch with James and Minerva while Fitz took turns cuddling with them.

It was nice, peaceful almost, in a way that Lily had never experienced before.

“Wait for the bubbles,” James instructed. “Once this side starts getting little holes, you’re ready to flip.”

Lily nodded, watching the pancake closely in the pan. Lily's kitchen skills were severely lacking so it had been a small goal of James’s to get her to learn some basics. He was very patient with her, more so than Lily thought she deserved.

The bubbles started popping and staying, she looked at James for confirmation and he nodded, a small smile on his face. Lily shoved the spatula under the flipped, only for half of it to fold in on itself. She looked at James, sad.

“So, you made the pancake too big,” James pointed out. “Let’s do a small one next time.”

“Why didn’t you say it was too big when I poured the batter?” Lily asked.

“I wanted you to learn, Princess,” James said, a smirk tugging up at his lips.

“Minerva, can we fire James for setting me up for failure?” Lily asked her equerry, who was sipping tea at the breakfast nook.

“No, Your Highness, but we can if he’s an ass,” Minerva replied dryly.

Lily turned to James, who looked affronted and laughed. “Ha!” she said waving the spatula at him.

“Minnie, I thought you were on my side here!” James said. “After all we’ve been through?”

Minerva rolled her eyes. “I’d suggest you take over, Captain Potter. The Princess has a phone call with Her Majesty in half an hour.”

Lily groaned and handed the spatula over to James. So much for a peaceful day.

~~~

Lily jumped from her resting place in her bay window as a black anorak hit her in the face. Lily let out a noise and quickly ripped the jacket off her head to see who would dare toss a jacket at her.

“You’re moping,” James said, hands on hips. He was already dressed for the outside with wellies, straight jeans, an old-looking jumper, and a raincoat. “Let’s go get some fresh air.”

“I’m not moping,” Lily said with a pointed frown, making no move to get up.

“You’re staring out the window like you're waiting for your sweetheart to return from the war,” James fired back.

Lily huffed. “I’m just…introspective right now.”

“Did the phone call with Her Majesty go that bad?” he asked, leaning against the wall in front of her.

She didn’t want to talk about it. The way her mother started out the conversation by reminding her about her duty to the crown. It almost felt like a delayed reprimanding and Lily wondered if Petunia got a call like this. Probably not, Lily knew.

“It’s just… I don’t like getting lectured for no reason,” Lily said evenly.

“There is a reason,” James said, crossing his arms and staring at her with his unrelenting gaze. “I’m so handsome that the media came up with the natural conclusion that you fell in love with me. Can’t say I blame them, any reasonable person would.”

Lily tossed the anorak back at him with a huff, hoping it distracted him from the bright blush on her cheeks. “I’m not in love with you.”

“I said reasonable person which you are far from, Your Highness.”

“Rude,” Lily said, standing up with a sigh. “Fine, but find me an umbrella.”

“Yes, Princess,” James said, with a shallow bow and winning smile on his face. “I’ll get Peter to follow behind us, too.”

It had been three days at Anmer Hall and Lily had no idea how she was going to survive five weeks here with just James and Minerva. There was a small staff and Lily’s security team that was in and out, but they were staying in the staff quarters at Sandringham, leaving the three of them together 24/7 now. Under normal circumstances, Lily would be thrilled at the privacy and fresh air Anmer Hall gave her, but the bitter sting of it being a punishment hadn’t been lost on her.

Lily went up to her room and changed into more outdoor appropriate clothes, taking a quick stop to give some pets to Fitz who was sleeping on her bed and met James at the front hall where he was chatting with Peter, an umbrella in his hand. It was odd to see them out of their three-piece suits, but Lily refused to enforce the dress code on them when they weren’t going to be seen. Lily couldn’t believe that James looked just as good in old jumper jeans as he did in a suit.

James’s attention pulled from Peter and he gave a warm smile to Lily, causing butterflies in her gut. She tried to keep her face neutral, but her lips tilted up in a smile anyway.

“Lead the way, your highness,” James said, opening the door and showing off the grey day that was waiting outside for them.

Anmer Hall was a gorgeous Georgian estate and it was promised to be Lily’s place of residence when she got married, whenever that may be. In the summertime, it was filled with lush gardens and emerald green grasses but with winter fast approaching, it was more of bare trees and the hardy shrubs that remained. It was still beautiful, in Lily’s opinion.

James walked beside her, holding the umbrella over both of them, protecting them from the light drizzle of rain. Their arms kept brushing, causing Lily’s heart rate to climb to new heights. She cleared her throat, breaking the silence as they rounded the corner, leading to the garden at the back of the house. The wind was cold, biting at their cheeks, but it wasn’t unbearable.

“Have you ever been to Norfolk before?” Lily asked, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her coat.

“Yeah, but it’s been a while. There’s a lot of Celtic history out here,” James said, simply.

Lily had known James was a huge history buff since, well, Marlene had stalked him on the internet and found out he had a degree in it, but it always managed to surprise her when he said little things like that. Maybe because Lily had some preconceived notion that people who were into history were either World War II buffs or such loyal monarchists that they were begging her to bring the Empire back to its former glory, not army captains that would inject little odd facts here and there.

“Interested in Celtic history?” Lily asked, glancing at him as she walked through a puddle. “I saw you reading a book about it on the train ride here.”

James hummed in the affirmative. “Yeah, I am,” he said after a moment. “I always wanted to do further research on them.”

“Why haven’t you?”

“Well, postgrad was a bit too expensive when I graduated and, well… I just didn’t know what to do with my life. I enlisted on a whim.”

Lily hummed. It made sense to her, in a way, that this wasn’t what James was passionate about, especially since it tended to contradict the mischief he would tell her about from his younger days. It contradicts the rigid nature of the army.

“Did you want to teach?” Lily asked. They entered the path that was lined with shrubs and led to the tennis courts that were tucked away in the trees.

“Maybe. Or work in museums or something like that. I haven’t put too much thought into it.”

Lily smiled and kept her gaze forward. “I could see you as a lecturer. You got the glasses and jumpers for it.”

“Are you insulting my fashion sense, Princess?”

“No, I’m saying you got the history professor vibe already in the works.”

He lightly elbowed her and they glanced at each other and laughed. Lily could feel her mood already lightening up.

A comfortable silence fell between them as they walked, the only sound was the light rain on the leaves that remained and the patter of it on the pavement.

“I know I teased you inside about moping, but are you okay? Are you truly miserable out here?” James asked, his voice low like he was scared people would hear him.

Lily pondered the question for a second, seeing if she could find a way to tell him what she felt in a way that made sense because the answer was half yes and half no. Or rather it wasn’t the fact that she was here per se.

“I love Anmer,” she began, thinking through her words carefully. “I don’t love being treated like a child, even if my temper did get the best of me.”

She took another deep breath. “I’m not miserable, I just feel…trapped.”

James looked at her, she could feel the heat of the gaze. There was a brief moment of panic in Lily’s mind that he was thinking “rich privileged white girl tears” or something. Before she could say that she understood that her life was easy compared to others, he spoke.

“I see that,” he said, nodding. “For you to leave the palace, I have to get several people’s permission and coordinate a team. You can’t just go and do a Tesco run like other people our age.”

Lily nodded, feeling something painful in her chest. “And I’m not ungrateful for the life I have, but I just…” She trailed off.

“I get it, Princess,” James reassured her, his tone leaving no room for doubt. He sighed deeply. “My brother…isn’t my brother by birth, have I told you that?”

He had mentioned his brother a million times before, but never that. She shot him a look.

“No, you haven’t.”

“Well, Sirius came from an aristocratic family. Or at least, a family who thought themselves to be.”

Lily looked at James, her brow furrowed. She had to spend quite a lot of time learning about all the noble families. She couldn’t remember Sirius being on one of the many lists.

“They didn’t have any titles, at least not anymore,” James added, sensing her confusion. “At least that’s my understanding of it. Sirius doesn’t talk about it often anymore.” He took a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is, I watched Sirius suffer the consequences of having a family who is obsessed with a sense of duty. So, I get it, Princess.”

“Thank you,” Lily whispered, sneaking a glance over at him. He nudged her lightly with his elbow in acknowledgment. Her heart glowed with warmth.

“Do you play tennis?” James asked, changing the subject, nodding towards the tennis court that was in front of them. It was covered with dead leaves and the lines of the court were fading.

“When I was younger, but I had dreadful coordination and was rubbish at it,” she said, with a slight grimace. “This court is leftover from when it was my Great Aunt Princess Katherine’s residence.”

“What were your hobbies as a kid?”

She turned and gave him a look because every detail of her life had splashed on the front covers of newspapers and magazines since she was born.

“You can just find this information on the internet.”

James scoffed. “Why would I do that when I have the direct source?”

“You don’t want to see the archive of all my amazing accomplishments? Like riding horses when I was supposed to or getting prime photo opts with the latest Olympians who were trying to hide their grimaces every time I missed a ball?”

“I don’t want to know what Her Royal Highness the Princess Lily Jane Anne Margaret Elizabeth Evans-Windsor of Edinburgh’s childhood activities were,” James said, ticking her names off with his fingers. “I want to know what Lily’s were.”

It shouldn’t be as earth-shattering as it was to hear James just call her Lily, no honorifics, but it was. No Princess. No Your Royal Highness. Lily. Like he saw that there was a clear distinction he saw between who she actually was versus who everyone thought her to be. Could he see through her? Did he like what he saw?

Clearly, she had been too quiet for a long time because James stopped walking.

“Are you okay, Princess? Am I not allowed to ask that?” he asked, brown eyes searching her face, his brows furrowed in concern. Lily turned to face him automatically, too close to be looking face to face with someone with whom she had specific orders to keep things professional between them.

She shook her head and schooled her features, pushing her thoughts away. “No, you’re fine. I mostly just wanted to read and Minerva would hold my books hostage so I could go to tennis or horseback riding lessons. I played violin, too. I wanted to do karate but got denied.”

“Ah, that’s why you don’t know how to throw a punch,” James said, with a teasing smirk on his face, his dimple popping out in full glory.

“Excuse me,” Lily said, her mouth hanging open. “I know how to throw a punch! I just hit the guy too hard!”

He had the audacity to scoff at her. “Make a fist right now.”

Lily lifted her right hand and made a fist, curling her fingers over her thumb that was tucked nicely against her palm. She presented her fist to James. He looked at it, unimpressed before setting the umbrella down and gently grabbing her wrist.

Lily forgot how to breathe as his fingers circled her wrist, warm despite the chill of the weather and the rain. Her eyes glanced up and he gave her a little smile before speaking again.

“That’s why you broke your thumb—” his other hand came up and brushed gently across her knuckles, leaving a trail of fire on her skin. “—all the force came back on your thumb.”

She never noticed how long his fingers were until they were uncurling her very own, and moving her thumb. There was a drag on a callous of against her palm and she suppressed a shiver from up her spine as he curled her fingers back down.

“This is a proper fist for a punch,” he said, oblivious to the fact that Lily was hardly breathing let alone listening to him. “You want to use the flat part here—” his fingers dragged across her fingers and knuckles. “—or here because you run the risk of breaking all your fingers.”

James finally looked at her and she could have sworn his breath caught and suddenly the air felt charged as he held her gaze, like lightning was about to strike them. She saw his Adam’s apple bob, her eyes drawn to the motion. She released the fist she had been holding and James’s grip on her wrist loosened and then slid up until their palms were together, his fingers towering over hers.

It was when her eyes trailed back up and looked into those endless brown eyes that she realised she was treading in dangerous waters. Not just for her, but for him as well.

She retracted her hand and took a step back, turning her head to look anywhere but him. It took her a second to find her voice.

“Well, hopefully, I’ll never have to punch someone again,” she said.

“Hopefully,” James echoed.

James and Lily went to the kitchen to make some hot tea and found Minerva sitting at the island, typing away on her computer with the speed of light.

“Enjoy your walk?” Minerva asked, not looking at them.

“It was nice to get some fresh air,” Lily replied diplomatically. “Did you get a lot of work done?”

Minerva scoffed. “There is always more work to be done, Your Highness.”

“Amen,” James replied from where he was filling the kettle at the sink.

Lily ignored them, opting to go to the cupboard and get a package of biscuits down, placed on the lowest shelf just for her. There was a little jingling and Fitz made his entrance into the kitchen, meowing loudly. Lily placed the biscuits down and scooped Fitz up, holding him like a baby.

James put the kettle on while Lily smothered Fitz with her love until she jumped violently at the sound of a car door slamming outside. She looked at James and Minerva, her brows furrowed.

“Do we have visitors?” Lily asked.

“Go check,” Minerva said, not looking up. James didn’t say anything.

Lily set Fitz down and walked down the hall to the front entrance. She heard the front door open and two familiar voices. Lily gasped, excited as she heard Marlene’s deep laugh and Mary’s voice.

“What are you guys doing here?” Lily asked, launching herself towards them.

“Surprise!” Marlene and Mary said, throwing up their hands.

“Did you think we’d let you suffer through exile without us?” Marlene asked, hugging Lily tightly.

“Especially five weeks,” Mary tacked on as she made it a group hug.

“How long are you here for?” Lily asked.

“Just a week,” Marlene said, pulling away with a small frown.

It wasn’t anything to frown about though. A week alone with her friends was a luxury she hadn’t been afforded since uni. She would take a weekend with them.

Lily showed them where their rooms were and then they all piled on Lily’s bed to really catch up. Marlene had hilarious stories about the football team she was an assistant coach too. Mary caught Lily up on things at the charity and the preparations to celebrate every holiday around this time for the kids.

They didn’t leave her room until it was dark outside and their stomachs were rumbling. They went downstairs, in hopes of finding Minerva and convincing her to let them get take-away but instead found James in the living room, reading with Fitz curled up on his lap sleeping.

And oh, Lily had been so caught up with Marlene and Mary being here that she forgot James was here. And they almost kissed. And Marlene stalked him extensively online. In fact, the whole concept of Marlene and James meeting made a stab of panic go through her gut because this was surely a one-way ticket for Lily to get embarrassed.

Lily turned around, ready to tell Marlene not to, but her blue eyes were already gleaming with mischief.

“Oi, Potter,” Marlene addressed them like they were old mates. James looked up, mild confusion on his face as Marlene sat on the sofa next to him, her legs crossed and arm on the back of the couch like she was trying to establish dominance. Fitz hopped off his lap and landed on the floor with a solid thump. “I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you yet.”

“No, you haven’t,” James said, looking vaguely amused, setting his book down beside him. “Miss McKinnon, I take it?”

“Just Marlene if you will,” Marlene said, looking indifferent. “I have a few questions for you.”

Oh no, Lily thought. She glanced at Mary to see her looking amused and whispered “traitor” towards her. They planned this on their way here.

“Ask away,” James said, making her causal and dominant look by copying her pose.

“If someone were to attack Lily, what would you do?” Marlene asked. Lily groaned and Mary giggled.

“Attack in what way?” James asked.

“Let’s say she’s walking somewhere and someone charges at her.”

“From the front? Back? Side? Does he have a weapon?”

“Assuming her attacker is male? Interesting, Potter,” Marlene said, raising an eyebrow. “Back.”

“I believe the security team would handle a threat coming from the back by tackling him to the ground,” James replied.

“What if they bypass the team?”

“Marlene, you won’t intimidate him,” Lily called. But she was definitely going to embarrass Lily to the extreme.

“Well, this must be quite a threat if the attacker can bypass a huge security team,” James said.

“It happened before,” Marlene said, deadly serious now. “Or did you forget?”

Now Lily could see the genuine concern coming from Marlene. James saw it too, a softened a bit but still serious.

“I understand the concern,” James said. “I take this job very seriously and I have fixed the errors that went unchecked from the previous team. As long as I’m in charge, nothing like that will happen to the Princess again. You have my word.”

Lily felt frozen, watching James speak so serious about her, about her safety. It felt exactly like the almost kiss, the way she was captivated by him and his earnest face. His eyes flickered towards her and took her breath away.

“Alright,” Marlene said, accepting his answer. “But if you break your word, I will hunt you down.”

James looked back at Marlene and laughed. “Why didn’t they hire you for her security?”

“I’m banned from the palace on Tuesdays,” Marlene said with a shrug. James looked startled.

“Only on Tuesdays?”

Mary snorted. “Oh, that’s a fun story,” she said, going to sit on the sofa next to Marlene. Lily followed her, snapping out of her daze.

“Picture this, Potter,” Marlene’s storytelling voice made an appearance. “I’m 19 and I somehow become mates with a Princess. Said Princess has this brilliant idea to take Mary and me to Buckingham.”

Lily giggled a bit at the memory. Mary held back a laugh. James looked mildly concerned.

“Lily is giving us a tour and Mary and I are stunned by all this art on the walls,” Marlene continued. “You’ve seen it. It’s like every portrait ever made of all the white people in the world. Then suddenly, we see this vase that does not look like it was made by an English person.”

Mary laughed, loudly.

“So, I turned to my beloved mate of a Princess and I say ‘You probably should give that back,’” Marlene paused as James laughed a bit. “And then we hear this old man scoff and we turn around and see the Prime Minister.”

James laughed. “Oh no.”

“So anyway, I’m not allowed in the palace when the Prime Minister is there,” Marlene finished.

“She was completely banned for a while,” Lily piped up. “But I got her sentence reduced.”

“I stand by my crimes,” Marlene said, sticking her nose into the air. “I would do it again.”

“I can’t believe you didn’t threaten her with Bernard,” James said to Lily, smiling. Lily waved him off.

“Bernard is a recent hire.”

“Oh, so you hired him just to be my executioner,” James said, nodding. “I see how it is.”

Lily ignored the pointed stares from her friends. “Anyway, do you fancy getting some takeaway?”

~~~

They stumbled back up to Lily’s room around midnight. A little tipsy from the two bottles of wine they finished between the three of them, still laughing from Marlene telling James that she stalked him extensively on the internet, ending with “Your childhood home had a nice layout.”

Lily flopped down on her bed, startling Fitz, and laughing.

Marlene and Mary flopped down, too, and let Lily’s laughter die down.

“I never did thank Minerva for getting you guys here,” Lily said with a sigh, looking at her friends.

“It wasn’t Minerva,” Marlene said. “James contacted us to see if we could spend some time here.”

James. Of course, it was James. It made her heart swoop in a painful way. “Oh,” Lily said, her voice breaking a bit.

“Spill,” Mary said, reading Lily’s expression.

“Spill what?” Lily asked, looking at her friends in caution.

“You like him,” Marlene pointed out. “More than just a security guard.”

And all at once, all the happiness Lily felt seeped out of her.

“Guys,” she cautioned, sitting up. Mary sighed.

“You’re allowed to have feelings,” Mary said, softly. They had had this conversation a million times before but now it felt too real. This was more than just having a passing fancy for a person in her uni class.

“We almost kissed,” the words left her mouth. “And I… I really wanted it to happen.”

“Why didn’t it?” Marlene asked as if things were that simple. “He obviously likes you, Lily.”

Lily shook her head. “It can’t happen.”

“Why not?” Marlene asked.

Lily gestured around. “I got punished because the media thought we were together. I don’t imagine Clarence House would be too happy if that was real.”

“Why not?” Mary said this time. “He’s not married or divorced. He has a respectable career. The only thing he’s missing is a fancy title, but I thought that didn’t matter anymore.”

Lily rubbed her temples. “It’s… It’s more complicated than that.”

“How?” Marlene asked.

Lily took a second to find her words. “Sure, maybe my family would approve of him, but that’s the biggest hurdle. I can’t subject him to this life.”

They fell quiet, Mary resting her head on her shoulder. Marlene sighed. They had seen how much this life took from Lily. How could she ever bring someone she truly cared about to be part of this family?

“We just want you to be happy,” Marlene said.

“I know,” Lily said. “But it can’t happen.”

~~~

Surprisingly, the rest of her exile flew by. Inbetween Mary and Marlene, and meetings, mid-December approached quickly.

Lily let herself be happy. She let herself be friendly with James, let walls come down brick by brick. She let herself savor this time because the expiration date was approaching quickly.

And soon enough, her own suitcase was getting packed to be loaded on a train to get to Scotland for the holidays. And James was packing his own to spend Christmas with his family.

He had days off before of course. James wasn’t enslaved to the crown. It had always been a day here or there, but now it was a full week. Selfishly, she going to miss him. Balmoral was stiff and stuffy and the only possible friend she could have there would be gone until Boxing day.

Lily was packing her suitcase when there was a timid knock on her door.

“Come in,” she called, turning around to see James enter her room, a wrapped present in his hand with a bag slung over his shoulder.

“The car’s almost here,” he said, a small nervous smile on his face. “I wanted to say bye.”

“Oh,” Lily said. “I hope you have a happy Christmas.”

“Thanks. You too.”

Lily bit her lip as James took a deep breath and stepped more into the room.

“I… I didn’t know if it was okay to get you something for Christmas,” James began, looking down at the thin wrapped rectangle in his hands. “Minerva said it was a little unprofessional and not done, but I couldn’t resist.”

Lily’s heart jumped into her throat as James handed her the present. She hesitated to take it.

“I didn’t get you anything,” she whispered in response.

“I didn’t expect you to,” he replied, just as soft.

She took the present but didn’t move her eyes from his face. He looked so unsure of himself.

“Thank you, James. It means a lot.”

He gave a nervous laugh. “I wouldn’t say that until you open it.”

“You want me to open it now?”

“If you want,” he said, smiling.

Just as Lily went to rip the paper, a shout came from downstairs. James gave her an apologetic look. He needed to go.

“Open it and tell me thank you on Boxing Day, okay?” he said.

Lily nodded and another voice called down for him.

James leaned in slowly and Lily wanted. She wanted to feel his lips against hers and have him take her breath away for real. She wanted to know what he tasted like, what it felt like to be kissed by him.

She closed her eyes in anticipation only to feel the brush of his lips against her cheek, so far away from where she wanted him.

“Have a happy Christmas, Princess,” James whispered, his breath fanning against her cheek.

She opened her eyes just to watch him leave, holding back words, or the urge to follow him and kiss him.

Once he was gone, Lily sat down on her bed, all thoughts gone except James, hugging the present to her chest.

She opened it with shaky hands and a breathless laugh left her. It was a thin book made for children. Karate for Beginners, the title read with a stock image of a kid doing a pose. She laughed and smiled as she cracked open the book to see messy handwriting on the inside cover.

Princess,

Even if you don’t know how to make a fist, you’re still one of the bravest people I have ever met.

Page 27 shows how to make a fist. I will be testing you after the holidays.

Have a Happy Christmas.

James

Lily stared at it for who knows how long until she made a decision.

She wanted to be happy.

#jily #jily fanfic #jily fanfiction #jily fic #james x lily #James Potter #Lily Evans #Lily Evans Potter #James Potter/Lily Evans #marauders era #hp fanfic #dancing with our hands tied

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nanatsumu · 4 years ago

Text

HIGH SCHOOL!SUKUNA x F!READER

thinking about bad boy itadori sukuna who all the kids at school try to steer clear from because they know he’s bad news and if you get involved with him then you’re bound to be tied with bad luck for as long as he lives. well, that is everyone except for the president of the student council who so happens to be his childhood best friend turned lover.

this is mostly written for my own self indulgence and to project my fantasies of having a boyfriend onto sukuna but feel free to treat this as any other headcanon! ps i am pretty sure canon sukuna would kill a baby at any given situation, but this is going to be a revamped version of sukuna written by yours truly ;) and its a high school au so sukuna won’t be a complete menace to society and will actually have a heart heh

also i didn’t realize how long this was going to be??? this is kind of all over place too because i just wanted to throw all of my thoughts onto this post so there might be some plot holes in this LOL

i feel like sukuna would be the type of bad boy who isn’t necessarily a bad boy but everyone at school just paints him as some kind of delinquent because of all the tattoos and piercings he has.

he actually shows up to school more often than you think he would (but that’s only because you’re in most of his classes so long story short: you’re his only motivation for attending class)

“forgets” to bring his work books to class more than usual (in reality he does this on purpose so he has an excuse to be near you) so he requests to sit next to you the entire class period so he can share with you for the meantime but whenever the teachers not looking he’ll go back to admiring your face.

his older twin brother, itadori yuji, is very fond of you since you three grew up together and you both had your chances of being a victim to his antics!

exhibit a: in middle school when you and yuji were watching tv together, the show you two were watching would keep switching to some wrestling match broadcasting on a sports channel and no matter how many times you turned the tv on and off, it just would not stop. but it wasn’t until you heard snickering from the kitchen that you realized sukuna had a spare remote and was the mastermind behind the whole thing.

exhibit b: sukuna and yuji’s mom was the owner of a bakery so every now and then she would have either one of the twins come deliver freshly baked pastries to your household! oh how wrong was she to trust her youngest. sukuna was now a freshman in high school, and by now you would’ve thought that sukuna would have grown out of his childish phase, but WRONG! sukuna was still a menace in your life even past childhood. so when you bit into one of the macaroons, instead of being hit with the overwhelming taste of [favorite flavor], all you could feel was the burning sensation of wasabi kicking into your tastebuds.

yeah after the whole wasabi macaroon freak accident, you stopped accepting everything sukuna offered to you and opted to only eating pastries out of the boxes that yuji delivered to you. (sukuna eventually caught onto this and was just TEENSY bit upset but he would rather down a whole tube of wasabi than to tell you upfront)

now, how did you two even end up dating??? oh boy now that is a story

you see, yours and sukuna’s dynamic growing up was similar to that of tom and jerry’s— you being jerry and sukuna being 10x worse than tom of course

but it wasn’t until a confession after school behind the cherry blossom tree that was known for bringing good luck to successful confessions that sukuna finally realized that maybe he really did like you just a little lot bit

sukuna overheard the boy who was planning on confessing to you talking to his friend group about how “sweet and caring” you are (although sukuna could argue otherwise, you were a little brat. *LIKE HELLO?!&:&:& YOU WEREN’T THE ONE WHO ATE A MACAROON FILLED WASABI**) and obviously his ears perked up at the mention of your name. he grew up with you after all so naturally he would be interested in a conversation that revolved around you.

but then the boys started going on about how “you looked like an easy catch” and how “your body was bangin’!” yeah no, that’s where he drew the line. sure sukuna was an ass and talked shit about you most of the time (in his defense it wasn’t like he was doing it behind your back) but if he ever caught someone else talking about you like that then he would be sure to give them a hard time.

he hid behind one of the bushes near the cherry blossom tree while the boy was professing his love for you. funnily enough, for a moment sukuna forgot why he was originally there because he was too busy trying to stifle a laugh as he watched the boy stumble over his words.

“okay shows over” sukuna thought as the confession was reaching its conclusion, but just as he was about to step in and give the poor boy a piece of his mind, he stopped in his tracks when he heard you roaring with laughter.

“did you really think that i wouldn’t hear about what you and your friends said about me earlier? you’re really pathetic if you think any girl would be easy enough to fall to her knees for you because news flash! you’re a disgusting pig and you deserve to rot in hell for speaking about a girl’s worth like that.”

“it’s kind of sad too, i thought you were a nice boy and i probably would have given you a chance but it seems like you’re even worse than scum! damn it, to think there was somebody out there who’s even worse than sukuna.”

of course sukuna was not pleased to hear that last bit, but he did have a proud grin forming on his face as he watched the boy run away, flustered from your rejection and the embarrassment he was put through.

“sukuna i know you’re hiding behind the bush.”

“huh? i came here way before you got here, there’s no way you could have seen me.” he said as he stood up to his full height.

“well, your laughter isn’t exactly the quietest, plus i can spot that hair of yours from a mile away.”

lets just say, sukuna was glad you didn’t ask him what he was doing there because he wasn’t sure if he could spare the embarrassment of telling you that he was planning on ruining the confession.

after that whole fiasco happened, sukuna started to feel(!&:&::&) things

like he started to notice how you styled your hair differently one day and how you switched to a new perfume that smelled like spearmint (was that weird? for sukuna probably not. he just excuses it as being highly observant)

you weren’t dumb either, you had a feeling sukuna was there that day of the confession because he too had overheard the conversation between the boy and his friends as well (you knew he was prideful and if you brought it up then he probably would’ve denied it)

so from there on out it was just mutual pining at the point except... well.... not really??

i feel like it was just an unspoken agreement between you two that you guys were “together” but not “together together” because he started to treat you differently than he would before. like for example, he’d carry your bag for you whenever you guys would walk home (yuji was confused by this at first because if anything, it would have made more sense to see sukuna make you carry HIS bag, but he eventually caught on to sukuna’s feelings for you because they were twin brothers after all), he started walking you to class more often even though his class was all the way on the other side of the school (you asked him why but he just shrugged and said he was just “killing time” so that he wouldn’t have to go to class and then you ended up scolding him), and there was also that one time you miraculously found a $20 bill in your backpack after mentioning to sukuna that there was this cute top you saw at the mall the other day but didn’t have enough money at the time to purchase it (you asked him about this but he said it was probably yuji, but you didn’t want to pry any further since you wanted to cherish the fact that sukuna cared that much)

but eventually you got sick of this whole push and pull game that you physically had to tug the collar of his school uniform and pull him in for a kiss (he was visibly shocked at this because he never would’ve imagined you as the assertive type. not that he was complaining though)

“oya? didn’t think you liked me this much kitten.” he said laughing while you rolled your eyes.

“as if, i got tired of you being a wuss so one of us had to wear the pants in the relationship.” you snorted, causing him to irk.

to be honest, your relationship with him is smooth sailing because you both were pretty chill people and you didn’t have to worry about him sneaking behind your back to see other girls because 1. literally all the girls at school are terrified of him and 2. he knew what you were capable of doing to him if you were to ever catch him cheating on you so he wants to stay on your good side

jealous and possessive don’t exist in his dictionary because he is the epitome of those two words. remember what i said about how your relationship is smooth sailing? i kinda lied.

he’s easily jealous like for example: when you were in english class and the teacher had you guys jot down some notes, you realized you forgot to ask for your pencil back when you lent it to your friend last period.

so you asked sukuna to borrow a pencil but instead of giving you a pencil, he called you an idiot for being so forgetful.

this makes you mad so you turn to your male classmate since he was sitting on your opposite side and ask him for a pencil instead.

sukuna was practically fuming the entire class period and once the day ended and you two were back at your place, he made sure to mark you real good. (oh he also went out to buy a pack of mechanical pencils to sneak into your backpack so that next time you forget your pencils, you’ll have 10 extra pencils sitting in your backpack as backup)

he’s not a big fan of pda in public, but on the chances he will show some of it, the most he will do is wrap an arm around your shoulder or waist whenever some dude is trying to hit on you.

BUT IN PRIVATE? better buckle up because your in for a ride wink wink

really likes putting hickeys on you to a fault! but will never put any visible ones on your neck because he doesn’t want your parents to view him as some kind of animal (but he has nothing to worry about because your parents really like him and are grateful for the fact that he’s very loyal to you, and you guys grew up together so it’s only natural that your parents are accepting of him since they already know he has a good heart underneath that tough facade of his)

oh, and yuji starts learning how to knock whenever you come over (or shuts himself in his room for the meantime if he thinks it’s unsafe to step out of his room) because chances are, you’re probably making out with sukuna in his room or smth.

now onto the spicy stuff

when you and sukuna first started dating, the first thing you told him was that you weren’t ready to have sex yet because you were nervous and sukuna understood and told you that he was willing to wait for whenever you were ready.

but when you were ready though, it was kind of spontaneous and you weren’t even wearing a matching pair of bra and underwear that day

you two were chilling in your room watching some stupid (according to sukuna) animal documentary when suddenly you felt his hand on your thigh

dating sukuna and all, it was normal for him to have his hands on some part of your body (whether it be your thigh or your waist) while you two were in bed.

but you were feeling a bit bolder HORNEE than usual so you began to leave a hot trail of kisses starting from his jaw all the way down to his neck.

sukuna obviously got the memo but before those kisses could escalate into something more daring, he asked you once more if you were completely sure you wanted to do it and once you gave him the green light, he was quick to tug his shirt over his head and pounce on you.

he started getting really into it though and accidentally bit your thigh which made you loose your high and scold him for it, but he let out a hearty laugh and muttered a quick apology before getting back into business

sike i lied, remember what i said about it being spontaneous? yeah, you technically didn’t loose your virginity to him that day because after he finished prepping you, you both came to a realization that you didn’t have a condom.

oh well, there’s always next time!

i think sukuna is a sucker for pet names: his favorite thing to call you is either kitten or princess and that’s it LOL he finds calling you baby or babe is a bit too cheesy for him

but he likes it when you call him baby or babe ;)

date nights consist of either staying in and cuddling in his room, going out for a walk at night (but very very late though. there’s still lamp posts that guide your way through the streets but it gives you the heebie jeebies to be out walking outside so late. sukuna always reminds you that nothing bad will happen as long as he’s right by your side), or just spending time with you and your families.

but if you’re really down to do it, he’ll probably initiate a make out session that’ll lead to y’all fucking one way or another (he only ever does it if he is 100% sure that you’re feeling it because he knows you get easily embarrassed if he asks you straight up)

(this part is mainly written for me because i love the idea of sukuna being over at family functions, but it can be applied as part of the general hc heh) if you took him to any of your family functions as your plus one for the first time, all the aunts and uncles would be a bit wary of him at first due to all of the tattoos and piercings he has (sukuna swears he has never felt so self conscious before) but after they strike up a conversation with him and find out that he’s actually a good guy who knows what he wants to do in the future and is very loyal to you, they start to like him more.

your little cousins adore him and love it when he comes over because sukuna is a very tall high schooler which makes him the perfect candidate as a monkey bar

so when you noticed that all the little ones started to climb on his body and mess around with his hair, you were quick to react because you knew your boyfriend was easily irritable which prompted you to think he hated kids

but there was nothing to worry about because when you saw him playing around with them and even crack a smile, you felt your heart grow fuzzy at the sight and you knew right then and there that you wanted to stick by sukuna’s side for the rest of your life

and in the unfortunate circumstances that sukuna is too busy to make it to one of your functions, the first thing everyone asks is “where’s your boyfriend?” or “where’s ‘kuna? i wanna play with him!”

so you have to facetime him and let him know that everyone is wondering where he is (your phone is dead by the end of the night because after the adults get their turn at saying hi to your boyfriend, the kids snatch your phone and end up talking to him for the rest of the night)

but in conclusion, everyone is waiting for the day he gets on one knee to propose to you and your parents are itching to get to get call sukuna their son-in-law :))

also don’t forget that your parents want two grandchildren: one boy and one girl!

#sukuna #sukuna x reader #sukuna fluff #sukuna hc #ryomensukuna #sukuna x you #sukuna x y/n #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fluff #jujutsu kaisen hc #jjk hc #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jjk x reader #jjk fluff #anime #anime fanfic #jjk

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patchofsunlight · 4 years ago

Text

Back to You | Zuko x Fem!Reader

SUMMARY: Fire Lord Zuko falls in love with one of the Kyoshi Warriors sent to protect him. Thankfully, she falls in love with him too.

WORD COUNT: 5.2k I wanted it to be shorter than Pretty Eyes and succeeded... kind of

WARNINGS: okay so there’s some kissing, some swear words, some obvious mutual pining, some frustration, and that’s it. it’s pure fluff ngl

I hope you all like it! I actually had a lot of fun writing this and I think it came out pretty nice. Also requests are open! Thank you for reading and here we go.

“Hey, Fire Lord, your date is here.”

“Y/N, we’ve talked about this. You can call me Zuko, and it is a diplomatic meeting, not a date.”

“You sure? He’s wearing such nice clothes. I can do your hair real quick if you want, get you ready and cute in like five minutes.”

“No, Y/N, thank you. You can let Ambassador Gamu in.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll be just outside the door if you need me.”

“Of course.”

Zuko tried to ignore the cheeky blink the Kyoshi Warrior sent his way before leaving his office, a teasing grin adorning her painted face. When Suki told him she would bring the most experienced and talented of her warriors alongside her to protect him and serve as his guards, he definitely did not think he would have to deal with someone like Y/N.

He knew she was, for sure, a strong and intelligent fighter, being Suki’s second in command and impressively skillful with every single one of her weapons. He had watched her spar with her companions more than once and seeing Y/N fight never failed to take his breath away until his lungs were filled with only admiration and pride. However, one could call her less than professional, and her treating of the Fire Lord troubled most of the palace’s staff. And yet, to be honest, Zuko found it really hard to pretend he didn’t absolutely adore her.

Y/N felt like a breath of fresh air, like sunshine on a cloudy day, like seabreeze. He loved the way she always teased him and tried to make him laugh, loved the way she seemed to brighten up every room she walked into. Somehow she managed to bring joy to the same place he always associated with sadness and anger — every corner of the palace was happier with her around. That’s why he chose to keep her as his closest guard, even after every single one of his advisors told him time and time again to send the disrespectful Kyoshi Warrior away. Zuko knew he probably should, but he was slowly learning how to accept and cherish the things that made him feel like smiling, and Y/N was undoubtedly on that list.

He refused to admit how in love he was with her. He had convinced himself it was nothing but a crush, some sort of appreciation for her amazing fighting skills, but a small part of him knew that was not true. He had it bad for her and would kill a man to keep a smile on her face any day of the week.

“It is very good to know the Earth Kingdom is so willing to tighten its relationships with the Fire Nation, Ambassador Gamu. I hope I can assist you in every way possible to guarantee a brilliant future for all nations.”

The Earth Kingdom official smiled politely, “thank you very much, Fire Lord Zuko. Nevertheless, it is crucial you are made aware that not all our citizens are happy with the new… Arrangements between our countries. I heard you have had a similar problem here, haven’t you? I truly hope the Kyoshi Warriors have been good servants and protectors, sir.”

Zuko couldn’t help the upwards movement of his lips as he gazed at Y/N’s silhouette through the door crack. “They certainly have,” he watched her look behind her, probably feeling his stare, and grinned when she shot out her tongue at him in an amusing manner, “I am extremely grateful for having them here with me.”

-----

“Hey, Fire Lord, your date is here.”

He glanced up from his desk and furrowed his eyebrows at her, “it’s Zuko, and I don’t have any meetings scheduled for today.”

Y/N beamed and he was sure his heart did a somersault inside his chest, “I know! I was talking about me. I’m your date.”

He lightly blushed, “what?”

“Come on, Fire Lord, you’ve been working for hours on end. You need to take a break,” she scratched the back of her neck in embarrassment and thanked every spirit there was for the white paint hiding her reddened cheeks, “I thought we could take a walk around the palace, y’know? I’ll be beside you doing the whole protecting thing and you can rest a bit from the whole rebuilding the Fire Nation thing.”

Zuko hesitated, “I don’t know, Y/N. I really need to finish this,” he gestured to the awaiting letters and reports in front of him, “I can’t simply leave. I have obligations as Fire Lord and—”

“I’m aware of that,” she bit down on her lower lip teasingly and he couldn’t help but think about the inevitable gasps she would have earned if anyone else heard her interrupt him like that, “but you shouldn’t overwork yourself. Besides, I’m tired of standing around doing nothing. Please? It will be so fast no one will even notice you’re gone!”

He sighed, “Y/N…”

“Please, Zuko?”

It was probably the first time she had ever called him by his name. She knew how much he hated being called Fire Lord, only accepting it during important gatherings, assemblies or introductions, but insisted on calling him by that anyway. Zuko was absolutely sure she only did it to spite him and had to admit it was kind of endearing — he loved the small ways she found of constantly challenging him. However, he quickly learned he loved hearing her say his name a lot more.

He sat up suddenly, “five minutes.”

Y/N grinned so brightly he had to bit back his own smile, “fifteen!”

“This is not a negotiation. Five minutes and then I’ll come back to my duties as a leader.”

“Okay, okay. Ten minutes then.”

“What? No, I didn’t agree to that.”

“Oh? I’m sorry, Fire Lord. Fifteen it is.”

Zuko opened his mouth to oppose when he heard her chuckle in amusement before taking a hold of his arm and pulling him towards the gardens.

“We could feed the turtleducks, but I don’t really think that’s a good idea,” she chattered lightly, somewhat begrudgingly letting him walk arm in arm with her instead of keeping on dragging him around, “I already did that earlier today.”

He wrinkled his nose and stared at her with a silent question in his eyes, “why did you feed the turtleducks? We have people here to do that.”

“I know,” Y/N shrugged her shoulders, “but they are cute so I asked to feed them,” she threw him a smile, “I’m pretty sure they liked me.”

Zuko shook his head cheerfully and smiled back almost instantly, “Of course they did. How could they not?”

She turned her head to look at him so quickly he wondered how she didn’t get whiplash. The Kyoshi Warrior smirked, “are you flirting with me, Fire Lord?”

There was a tingling session going through his body as the color red creeped upon his neck, face and ears. Zuko wanted to say something smooth like “yes, I have been for a while, haven’t you noticed?” or “how could I not flirt with such a pretty lady like you?”, but he only managed to stutter, slightly panic, and then answer in a high-pitched voice, “what? No! What?”

Y/N lifted her free arm in surrender, trying not to laugh at his reaction, “alright, sorry for asking,” she smirked again before muttering, “I wouldn’t mind if you were, though.”

The Fire Lord’s eyes widened in surprise at her words, his tone now back to normal, “what do you mean?”

For some reason, his inquiry seemed to make her self-conscious of their conversation topic. Zuko wished for nothing more than to punch himself in the face. “It’s nothing. I was just joking.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Great. Look, it’s been five minutes already!” she stared at her wrist so confidently he almost didn’t notice the lack of anything to actually check the time there. “You must go back to your Fire Lord things, right, Fire Lord?”

“We can still go see the turtleducks if you want?”

“Don’t worry! We can do that another time, when you’re not busy.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. Hey, that’s Suki! I need to talk to her! Bye!”

“What? Y/N—”

“Bye, Fire Lord!”

Y/N was going absolutely crazy. When Suki first brought her to the Fire Nation to protect the so-called revolutionary and strong new Fire Lord, she had been skeptical. After all her years training and helping people around the nations with the rest of the Kyoshi Warriors, she couldn’t care less about the damn Fire Lord — she had spent a long time locked up after Azula and her stupid gang captured them and no new or old Fire Lord had come to their rescue. In conclusion, the bitch could catch on fire himself and be an On-Fire Lord for all she cared (she had spent too long thinking about that joke but that definitely did not matter), even though Suki had told her she knew the guy and that he was a great person or whatever.

Now she was biting her own tongue and trying to keep from flirting with him. In her defense, though, Zuko was a thousand times more good-looking and a billion times nicer than she expected him to be. She couldn’t help but always look for ways to make him smile, loving all his little quirks and habits, and suddenly found herself by his side a lot more than she needed to. She constantly acted as a personal guard, waiting outside his door during private meetings and accompanying him on walks, assemblies and gatherings in a somewhat intimate manner. She didn’t need to be right beside him the whole time — she could protect him from afar and maintain her distance like the other Kyoshi Warriors had chosen to, but Y/N simply didn’t want that. The stupid feelings she was slowly building towards the Fire Lord were dangerous at worst and annoying at best, constantly distracting her from her duties and responsibilities as Suki’s second in command.

It was infuriating, since love and relationships had never been really the type of stuff Y/N liked to partake in. She was good at fighting and giving witty responses and making jokes, but not at liking someone. Specially not liking Fire Lord Zuko, who was one of the most powerful people in the world and would certainly end up marrying some rich Fire Nation girl to guarantee a great and honorable successor to the throne or something like that.

When she finally went back to her individual palace room after a long day of trying not to embarrass herself in front of Zuko anymore and just all-around avoiding talking with him, she sat down before the mirror and started to take her facepaint off. That part of her routine, alongside putting on the paint in the mornings, had always felt like a ritual of sorts, calming her down and enabling her to let go of any unimportant worries.

Y/N let out a tired sigh, stared at her bare face and grinned. She might have fallen in love with the Fire Lord, but at least living in the palace allowed her to sneak into the kitchens in the middle of the night and steal some fruit tarts. She got up from her spot in front of the mirror and exited the room as quietly as possible, strongly believing that eating something would take her mind off the Fire Lord and his beautiful golden eyes.

-----

After another full hour of fruitlessly waiting for sleep, Zuko decided to put on an old cloak and walk around his palace. Pacing had always made wonders for helping him collect his thoughts and calm down from whatever it was that troubled him that day. It was not the first time he took on that habit and it would not be the last.

He honestly didn’t notice the person creeping up on him until he was pinned to a wall, an arm to his throat not pressing hard enough to hurt him, but enough to quicken his heartbeat. Zuko stared at the one responsible for the assault with confusion shining in his eyes, unable to recognize her without her greasepaint until she blinked and stepped back.

“Fire Lord?”

He widened his eyes, “Y/N? What are you doing here?”

“I was headed for the kitchens. What are you doing here? Did something happen?”

“No. I just couldn’t sleep.”

“I see,” she nodded and yawned, averting her eyes from him, “you shouldn’t be out and about without a guard, tho. You know that.”

“I’m pretty capable of protecting myself, Y/N.”

“Yeah, yeah. Sure.”

He crossed his arms in defense, “what is that supposed to mean?”

“Do you want to go grab some snacks with me?”

“I—” he stared at her, for the first time seeing her blush under his gaze, “okay.”

“Great! Let’s go, Fire Lord.”

Zuko stayed quiet while they walked through the palace. He watched Y/N greet every single night servant they met on their way, earning big smiles and excited waves. For some reason, knowing how loved she was by his workers made his heart swell with pride. She would make an excellent Fire Queen someday. Or Fire Lady. Was there an official name for the Fire Lord’s wife? He couldn’t remember.

Zuko felt all the blood in his body drop to his feet when he noticed where his thoughts had wandered to. He shouldn’t think about Y/N as his wife — she was merely a protector, the help. He was not in love with her and therefore should not deliberate such things, not even by accident.

But he had never seen her bare faced before and he couldn’t help but take note of how alluring she was. He had always considered her pretty, but now he could really see her and she was so much more than just pretty.

“Come on, Fire Lord. I’m sure they have fruit tarts.”

He smiled as she sneaked inside the door to the kitchens, following soon after. In a matter of minutes they were sat before each other on the ground, sharing a bunch of fruit tarts Y/N had found hidden inside one of the cabinets. There was a comfortable silence surrounding them and Zuko appreciated how easy it was to be near her, without expectations or curious looks. Whenever he was next to the Kyoshi Warrior, he came close to forgetting his titles and obligations, satisfied with being simply who he was.

It felt nice.

“You look good with your hair down,” she announced suddenly, unaware of the thoughtful look on his face, “I like it.”

He felt his cheeks burn, “thank you, Y/N,” the young Fire Lord inhaled deeply to gather the courage necessary to express the response that came to mind, “you look good all the time.”

She stilled her movements with a fruit tart inches from her mouth, eyes blinking in surprise. After a tense moment, she grinned and lowered her arm, “do you really think so or are you just being nice?”

“I mean it, Y/N. You are… You are absolutely beautiful.”

The pair studied each other for a few instants, eyes sparkling with a breathtaking feeling both easily recognized but were not ready just yet to deal with. Y/N beamed at him, her face pink at the compliment. Zuko could feel his heart twist and turn inside his chest, butterflies flying in his stomach. “Why, thank you, Fire Lord. For the record, I have found you beautiful since I first saw you. I was expecting some rude and cranky old guy and there you were, with your pretty eyes and nervous smile. It was pleasant in a very surprising way.”

The Fire Lord was pretty sure she could hear his heartbeat as she leaned in almost subconsciously, her smile brightening up every small spot his eyes could see of the dark kitchen.

He was, indeed, very much in love with her, and there was no use in denying it, not while she averted her gaze to his lips and seemed to get closer and closer until their noses touched. Zuko’s breath hitched inside his throat as her lips ghosted his, eyes fluttering close before a loud bang sent them jumping in opposite directions, searching the source of the noise.

“Y/N? Is that you?”

The Kyoshi Warrior scratched her neck shyly, adamantly avoiding Zuko’s stare, “yes, Izum. How are you?”

The servant walked up to her with crossed arms, “I told you to stop invading the kitchens at night! You’re gonna put an end to our fruit tart stock, young lady.”

The Fire Lord watched the interaction curiously. Y/N and Izum smirked at each other as if they were old friends. “Well, if you don’t want me to steal your fruit tarts, you should maybe stop making the best fruit tarts in the entire universe.”

“Flattery won’t get you anywhere, honey.”

“You sure?”

“Yes! Fire Lord Zuko will be alerted about this.”

“I think he might already know.”

The young man seemed to finally notice Zuko’s presence, widening his eyes in surprise and bowing respectfully, “I’m so sorry, sir. I didn’t see you there, it’s too dark and—”

“It’s fine, Izum, don’t worry. We’ll be off your kitchens in a second. Right, Y/N?”

“Of course,” she brushed the dust off her pants and walked to stand beside the Fire Lord, ignoring her friend’s raised brows, “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“You will,” Izum looked from her to Zuko and then back to her, a teasing smile on his face when he greeted them goodbye, “good night, Y/N. Good night, Fire Lord Zuko.”

“How do you know him?” the Fire Lord asked after they left the kitchen, some sort of discomfort growing inside him at the way the Kyoshi Warrior had interacted with the servant.

“Oh, Izum is a good friend. He regrets deeply telling me where they keep the fruit tarts, but it’s too late now. We met during my first week here.”

“I see.”

“Let me take you back to your room, Fire Lord. It is already very late.”

Despite his unacknowledged jealousy, he wasn’t fast enough to bit back his smirk, “shouldn’t I be the one leading you to your room?”

“I am the guard, Zuko. I am the one taking care of you, not the other way around.”

He chuckled, “right.”

“I can put you to bed if you want, I used to do that to my younger sibling sometimes.”

“Shut up, Y/N.”

She threw her had back in laughter and he grinned.

They didn’t ever talk about what happened (or more accurately didn’t happen) during that dark night in the kitchens. Zuko was progressively busier with meetings and peace treaties, slowly putting the Fire Nation back in good rails. Y/N would routinely force him to take a break every once in a while, be it by leading him outside his office or taking his attention away from work and starting conversation.

Spirits, he was so in love with her.

It was during one of those breaks that one of her fellow Kyoshi Warriors knocked on his workroom’s door and entered with a nervous look on her face, nodding at him in respect before turning her attention to her friend, “Y/N?”

The young warrior smiled, “hey, Naya. Is everything alright?”

“Suki wants to speak with you. Privately.”

Y/N’s expression was instantly filled with worry and concentration. She gripped her katana tightly, walking towards the girl, “I want three warriors guarding the Fire Lord at all times, we are not taking chances regarding his safety. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Y/N.”

“Good,” she turned to Zuko, her stone-cold face easing momentarily. She marched up to him with conviction before planting a kiss on his cheek that made his body burn with surprise and happiness. “Be careful, Fire Lord. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“I—I… I mean… I’m—” he kept on stuttering, unable to form an entire sentence with his feelings all over the place, “You… I—”

She smirked, walking away backwards, “see you, Zuko.”

Naya looked at him with a cheeky smile after Y/N left the room, crossing her arms and staring in a teasing manner. Zuko was still rooted into place, widened eyes and reddened cheeks watching the now closed door. “Are you alright, Fire Lord Zuko?”

“I—yeah. I am. Yes,” his tone was definitely not as certain as he wanted it to be, “of course.”

The girl giggled, “sure.”

The Fire Lord would only see his favorite guard again on the following day. She came to visit him in his office and had a gravity to her eyes that he was unfamiliar with, lips pressed together in determination.

“What happened?” he immediately asked, the letter he was working on quickly forgotten. “Are you okay?”

“There have been attacks to the warriors in Kyoshi Island,” she declared, “not everyone is happy with our new arrangements. People think Earth Kingdom fighters shouldn’t be helping the Fire Nation in any way.”

“Oh,” he managed to answer, anxiety building up inside him at her hardened expression. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Zuko,” she looked away from him, “but we can’t leave our companions to fend for themselves.”

He could feel his heartbeat pick up, “I see.”

“Suki is sending me back to Kyoshi Island,” Y/N confessed, a hint of sadness to her tone, “I’m her second in command and I should be there to help our warriors through this.”

A heavy silence fell upon the room, tension sparkling between the couple. He knew what that piece of information meant, knew what it would cause.

“You’re leaving.”

She softened almost instantly, taking a step closer to him and then hesitating, “no!” he stared and she sighed, “I mean, yes, but I’ll return when it’s over,” she looked at him with some sort of desperation, eagerly searching for something she couldn’t find, “when everything’s done and dealt with, I’ll return.”

Zuko nodded, a disheartening sting running through his chest, “I understand. Leaving is your duty as a leader.”

“I’m not leaving, Zuko,” another step, “I’ll come back. I’ll—” she hesitated, taking a final step towards him and reaching for his hand uncertainly, “I’ll come back to the Fire Nation,” she interlaced their fingers carefully, “I’ll come back to you.”

It was his turn to step closer, bringing his free hand up to her face and sighing when she leaned onto it, hopeful eyes shining at him. When he finally spoke, his voice was a whisper, “will you?”

She chuckled sadly, moving to rest her forehead on his, staining his face with the white paint and rubbing circles alongside the back of his hand with her thumb, “I will. You are not getting rid of me this easily, Fire Lord.”

“Good. I didn’t want to.”

She smiled. On that exact moment, Suki opened the door and studied the scene before her with a bittersweet gaze, “Y/N, it’s time to go.”

His chest clenched in pain and distress, glancing from Suki to Y/N with anguish, “you are going now?”

The Kyoshi Warrior distanced herself from him and Zuko could’ve sworn he felt physical pain at the space between them, “I’ll come back, Zuko. I promise.”

-----

It was like he had a constant sunshine right beside him and now it was gone. He was pretty sure every single person in the palace had noticed the liking he had taken to moping around and staring sadly at the turtleducks, missing the one he had come to love. He thought his feelings for her would subside after her departure, but, oh dear, was he wrong. The deep ache that settled in his chest was enough to constantly remind him of how much he liked her, how much he missed her. Not having her around hurt so much that it became inconvenient, making it difficult to work and complete his responsibilities when he was constantly thinking about her safety and about what could have been if she had stayed just a little longer. Zuko thought they had finally reached the start of something new but she wasn’t here anymore and he would have to wait to find out.

Suki tried to report to him what was going on at Kyoshi Island whenever she could. Y/N was working hard to calm down the conflicts while at the same time training the new and old Kyoshi Warriors as well as possible. Suki told him it would take a while until things were okay enough for Y/N to return to the Fire Nation, but it would happen eventually.

He was so desperately in love it was embarrassing. He craved her presence, her voice, her laugh, her touch. He wondered if she felt the same and concluded that no, probably not. To be honest, however, he would accept anything coming from her, even some second-hand love. He would still be happy if she decided to settle for him after being made aware of his feelings.

The Fire Lord was adamant on telling her everything he felt when she came back — and she would come back, she had promised —, because being away from Y/N made him realize how much happier he was with her and he refused to let her leave again without knowing that he just absolutely adored her.

Meanwhile, Y/N felt incredibly overwhelmed. Between helping train the Kyoshi Warriors and trying to solve any misunderstanding with the Earth Kingdom citizens in a diplomatic way, she found it hard to breathe. It was somehow good, to be honest, because it didn’t leave her with much time to think about him. And, Spirits, did she think about him when she could. She was extremely excited to finally go back to the Fire Nation and just be by his side again.

There was a part of her that worried. Even though they had had multiple moments when she truly believed he felt the same, they never really spoke about it. Zuko didn’t seem the best at communication, and Y/N generally chose to joke around and tease instead of actually voicing her emotions.

“Miss Y/N, you must understand—”

“No, Mung, you and your so-called rebels are the ones who are not understanding. Fire Lord Zuko is trying to rebuild and strengthen the ties with Earth Kingdom in a healthy way for both nations—”

“But Miss Y/N—”

“—and the Kyoshi Warriors are collaborating with that by being a part of the official guard. How, for Spirits’ sake, is you attacking my warriors a good way of achieving anything you might want to achieve?”

The man swallowed harshly while he fidgeted. Y/N had worked hard to get a meeting with the rebels on Kyoshi Island, but was pleasantly surprised to notice how unorganized they were. “The Kyoshi Warriors shouldn’t collaborate with the Fire Nation, Miss Y/N,” a young man guarding the rebel leader’s door interrupted their staring contest, “the Fire Nation has done nothing but cause destruction and suffering. We won’t have our beloved warriors being corrupted by such a horrible mindset as the Fire Nation’s.”

“I appreciate your concern, but Zuko,” she cleared her throat in embarrassment at the verbal slip, “Fire Lord Zuko is different. He cares about people and he seeks redemption for Fire Nation’s wrongdoings. Having a good relationship with him is a great deal for the Earth Kingdom, believe me.”

The two men exchanged a look before returning their gaze to her. She tried to bit back a smile when she noticed the meaningful expression on their faces, signalizing she might finally be able to go home.

She tensed at the thought. Was that what Fire Nation was now? Home?

Or was she ready to admit the real home she had been thinking of was a certain Fire Lord all along?

-----

It was a hot day in the Fire Nation and Zuko was busy with his daily amount of sulking and missing his favorite girl when he heard a commotion going on somewhere near him. He confusedly followed the sound, finding the Kyoshi Warriors gathered around and talking loudly. The Fire Lord furrowed his brows.

“Is everything okay?” his voice quieted them down and he watched while the young fighters exchanged knowing looks. “Did something happen?”

“Yeah, Fire Lord, it did,” his heartbeat picked up immediately and he turned towards the voice he had fallen in love with, finding her dazzling smile. Y/N crossed her arms in a teasing manner, “told you I’d come back.”

Zuko stared at her while the other warriors scrambled towards somewhere else, aiming to leave the couple alone. He smirked, “you did tell me.”

She walked closer to him until they were chest to chest, and he wondered if she could feel his jumping heart against her, “I think I even made a promise.”

“You surely did.”

Y/N grinned, “well, then I guess—”

“I’m in love with you.”

This was not in his plans. He meant to say a lot of things about how he slowly fell for her during the months they spent together, but Zuko simply couldn’t help from blurting a confession out like a dumbass. He had craved being around her so much during these weeks apart and now she was finally there, just within reach. He couldn’t take any more dancing around each other.

She beamed, “that surely makes this less awkward.”

“Wait, what?”

Before he could wrap his head around her words, Y/N took a hold of his collar and pulled him to her, gazing at his lips as their noses touched, just like weeks ago in the kitchens. She smiled softly, eyes fluttering close, “I’m in love with you too, Fire Lord.”

“Oh, thank the fucking Spirits.”

The Kyoshi Warrior laughed against his mouth, sending a tingling sensation down his back. His hands held onto her waist, extinguishing any space between them before he kissed her deeply, relief and happiness flooding his senses all at once. His own personal sunshine was finally next to him again and he revelled from the pure warmth she provided, chasing all insecurities and fears away until only his love remained.

“I missed you,” he mumbled on her lips, so intoxicated by her presence he could have forgotten how to breathe.

He could literally feel her smile between kisses, “I missed you too, Zuko,” she moved slightly away so to be able to stare at his eyes, “but don’t you worry, Fire Lord. I’ll always come back to you.”

Zuko chuckled, “you’re so cheesy.”

“You love it. Can I be even cheesier?”

“Go ahead, pretty girl.”

“Hey, Fire Lord, your new permanent date is here, and she’s not leaving.”

“That was horrible, Y/N. But good to know.”

He attached his lips to hers again and, for the first time, Zuko didn’t have a single worry for the future or for his fate. For better or for worse, he had his favorite guard by his side, and that was enough.

ATLA taglist: @bottledcostcowater @officiallydarkgeek (for some reason I can’t tag you I’m sorry??) and @beifongsss and @azucanela I know you didn’t ask to be tagged but you didn’t seem to mind last time so here I am again?? if you don’t want to be tagged anymore just lmk!!

I hope you liked it!!

#atla #atla x reader #zuko x reader #zuko #zuko imagine #avatar the last airbender #avatar the last airbender x reader #suki #zuko x fem!reader #zuko x f!reader #fire lord zuko #fire lord zuko x reader #suki x reader #kyoshi warriors #kyoshi warrior reader #this was kinda cute wasn't it #i'm lowkey proud of this #ngl

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cipheress-to-k-pop · 4 years ago

Note

Hello!! sorry to bother you could write a ben 10 x reader? (the reader is kidnapped by vilgax and ben has to save her, after that ben and the reader has an argument) please, i love your fics!!

Storm Before The Calm

Pairing: Pre-Established; Ben Tennyson x Reader

Warnings: None

Word Count: 3.4k words

A/N: I changed up the request a bit (I figured it shouldn't matter which villain was used here) also I was planning to have this as sort of a damsel in distress situation but after having a chat with some boys pigs I decided a self indulgant badass reader was right up my alley

Additional A/N: I have a math exam on Thursday and I cannot focus for the life of me. So, I decided to finish up one of my drafts. Now hopefully I'll be able to work like a robot for the next week, after satisfying my creative side. Also, this fic was super self indulgant.

"I trust Ben.” You did. With your entire being.

Kevin chuckled from beside you, “Yeah, try saying that without cracking the fillings in your teeth and maybe we’ll believe you.”

His words caused you to relax, only then realizing how hard your jaw was clenched in fury. Gwen sighed in disappointment and for a second you wanted to defend her cousin and your boyfriend. Until you realized that he deserved every bit of unbridled anger coming to him.

“I trust him. Doesn’t mean I’m not mad at him.”

Your hands were balled into tight fists and even though you wanted to take your eyes off the television screen and take a warm bath, you also for some reason couldn’t stop yourself from watching it.

Like you were afraid something would happen when your eyes were off the screen for even a second. Maybe you didn’t trust him.

But honestly how could you, you were currently watching your boyfriend relax in a hot tub with Jennifer Nocturne and the sight was enough to send bile up your throat.

Ben wasn’t returning any of her advances, but he wasn’t stopping her either. And the thought made you sick to your stomach. You knew Ben was faithful and you knew he would never cheat on you but watching how the Hollywood starlet continued to hang off him sent waves of jealousy through you.

Not to mention anger at the fact that he wasn’t doing anything to stop her. When he got back, you were going to wring his neck.

Trusting him was getting harder with Gwen constantly insisting that you dump him.

Honestly, you wondered how that girl even kept a relationship.

When Ben eventually came home, all the entertainment channels were still talking about the two of them and the well-known picture of Jennifer Nocturne kissing him was circulating about. Each time you looked at that image, you wanted to shoot an arrow at the TV.

As time went by, your anger slowly fizzled out. You were unable to maintain your rage at Ben, quickly getting a headache and feeling tired of trying to maintain negative emotions. Even then, you couldn't push down the uneasy feeling in your heart that seized your stomach.

You kept expecting a text message from Ben, an apology call but as the night proceeded you understood that he was having way too much fun with another woman to even think about how you must be feeling.

The thought of that made you want to go back home and crawl underneath the covers, hiding away from the rest of the world.

But Gwen was persistent and any time you tried to wiggle away from the pair of them and go home, she insisted that you stay and make sure Ben knew how upset he made you tonight.

You were more than happy to give your boyfriend the cold shoulder until he apologized rather than have to confront him. That was just how your relationship with Ben worked. Neither of you were the type to lose your tempers and yell and scream at each other.

Although you were worried what would come out of this. Would you be able to peacefully discuss your feelings and then come to some sort of conclusion civilly? Seems too good to be true honestly.

Even then you waited until Ben came home, listening to Gwen and Kevin about how you should rip the band aid off and get everything off your chest rather than ignore him for a couple of days until the two of you got bored.

Usually, the latter would work but you had an inkling that it wouldn't be the solution for this particular argument because if you didn't communicate your emotions then he would never know how you felt about it.

So, even though your stomach filled with anxiety and sadness as the hours passed, you still didn't leave, determined to talk to him about it.

Your jaw was clenched tight when he finally did come back home, utterly relaxed and even happy like he wasn't just curled up against some Hollywood starlet while his girlfriend was watching it on E!

"I'm really upset with you." You ground out when Kevin and Gwen left, not knowing how else to start the conversation.

"What for?"

You didn't reply, picking up the remote and flicking to a gossip channel, then a news channel, then an interview show and all of them had the picture of Ben Tennyson and Jennifer Nocturne locking lips.

Ben winced, "She kissed me! I didn't even return it."

You still refused to look at you, crossing your arms aggressively, "Uh huh and what was today all about?"

"It's just publicity. Jennifer thinks that it'll help with my career."

You scoffed, "What career?"

Ben's back tensed up and he turned to give you a stiff expression, "I'm a superhero. I've saved the universe a thousand times and now that I'm finally getting recognition for it, you want to be petty?"

"Petty? You think I'm being petty? Well forgive me for getting upset after watching my boyfriend curl up to some other woman in a hot tub for the last five hours!" You bit, standing up from the couch.

"It wasn't like that! Stop blowing everything out of proportion!"

"No, you stop pretending like this isn't a big deal! Ever since your secret got out you've been acting like an ass and since meeting that blonde rat it's only gone through your head more!" You shouted, clenching your hands at your sides. How could he not see your side of this?

"Well shouldn't I get to enjoy my life once in a while?! I'm the one saving the planet constantly! I'm the one with constant death threats and near death experiences every other week! Shouldn't I get some attention for it?! God knows I don't get any from you!" He yelled back and you grit your teeth.

"Don't forget that while you were out there risking your life, we were right beside you!"

"Oh, so that's what it is, you're jealous that everyone thinks of you as the sidekick!"

"That is so NOT what this is about!"

"Oh really? Because it sounds like you're jealous because you're not getting attention by mooching off of me!"

Your eyes widened in shock. Mooching? Did he seriously think that you risked your life alongside him every day to help other people and more importantly, keep him safe, for attention?

Your body trembled, outraged and you didn't say another word, leaving his house in a rush and slamming the door behind you.

You needed something to hit.

***

Your body pumped with adrenaline and anger, muscles itching to be used as you sauntered through the old and run-down factory with reckless abandon. You briefly wondered whether you should've told Gwen or Kevin you were going there but then decided against it, pride and anger too great.

Any doubts or hesitation you had disappeared when you saw Vulkanus, standing tall and broad in his metal suit. And as per usual, he had his herd of minions doing his physical labour.

"If it isn't the Plumber's sweetheart." He drawled once he noticed you. You didn't bother with the stealth, leaving the door wide open behind you and letting the sunlight seep in. If he knew what was good for him, then this would be over quick.

"Hello Vulkanus." You greeted politely and he rolled his eyes. Of all people, he knew just how misleading your innocence was.

"Where's the cavalry?"

"Just me today." You answered and for a second you were confused by your own confidence. Maybe you were taking this just a little too easy. Oh well, that was another thing you could blame your pig-headed boyfriend for.

"Well then, this is going to be easier than I thought. Hope you said goodbye to your boyfriend, sweetheart." He rasped out and the corner of your mouth twitched into a smirk. Without another word, you raised your arms, feeling the familiar heat of fire in the palm of your hand before chucking it at him.

Just as you knew he would, he sent his minions towards you first. They were embarrassingly unskilled but the problem came in numbers. They swarmed around you like ants and you felt yourself getting irritated at the clicking sound they were making.

Unfortunately for Vulkanus his make-shift factory was right beside a dam which gave you an endless supply of the elements to work with.

Summoning all the water you could manoeuvre, you pulled it into the factory, shattering the windows along with it and flooding the room. It only took a few flicks of your wrist to create a whirlpool in the centre, knocking all the workers off their feet.

You stiffened your hands, curling in your fingers and the temperature dropped, the water solidifying with each second until all of them were encased in ice. Another flick of the wrist had the path clearing between you and Vulkanus, who was still warm.

"You-You're sparing me?" He asked, confused and a dry laugh left you.

"Not at all," You sang, eyes turning dark, "I'm giving you special treatment."

Vulkanus bounded towards you, holding his mallet high and you swiftly dodged, using water on the floor to slide quickly. He crashed into the engine of one of his machines, the fuel tank exploding and spewing fowl smelling petrol onto the floor.

It floated above the level of water and began surrounding both of you.

He once again came at you, letting out a roar and you used the water to sink through the crevices of his suit, freezing it from within and you heard the satisfying sound of his suit cracking.

Just a little more strength and forcing a gust of air through the cracks had it falling apart and his frail body fell out of its metal encasing.

"You'll pay for this! You big bully!"

"Thanks for the fun time today, Vulkanus." You smiled, strutting to the door just as confidently as you came in. Even though your body was burning from the workout and you could barely breathe, you still couldn't get over the high.

Before leaving the building, you turned around to see him still glaring at you from his place on the floor.

"Oh, I should probably free your minions, right?" You commented, eyes flickering between the ones still encased in ice and the floor that was still flooded with water and petrol.

You let out a fake sigh, "I guess I'll be nice today," You winked at Vulkanus, "Thanks for the playdate, sweetheart."

His eyes widened when you blew a kiss to him, watching in fear as you ignited a flare in your palm and blew it towards him before turning around and using the wind to slam the doors behind you. When you were just a few feet away you heard the place blow apart.

Slowly, the adrenaline began melting and the blood rushing through your ears was much more audible. You were panting, tired from the exercise and the thought of calling Kevin to come and pick you up. Or maybe even Ben. You were calm enough now to have a conversation with him.

When you pulled your phone out of your pocket you felt a hand on your shoulder and spun around to meet eyes with Captain Nemesis. For a brief second you were wondering if he was here to invite you to some inane party or even to tell you that Ben was at one.

Although you hardly looked the part, you were sweating and your face was probably red and blotchy.

"Can I help you?" You asked, taking a step back, he was a little too close to you and the look in his eye freaked you out.

"As a matter of fact, you can." He said, "You see I'm arranging a little stunt for Ben Tennyson. An opportunity if you will, to showcase some of his heroism."

You rolled your eyes, turning away from him. The last thing you wanted to do was feed Ben's ego at the moment.

"With all due respect, I don't really think I'm up for a damsel in distress routine right now, Captain, I'd rather just get home. And If you take another step towards me, I'll kick you where the sun doesn't shine." You snapped and he backed off obediently, raising his hands in a form of surrender.

"That's too bad." He mused and you turned away from him, intent on walking back home or even calling a cab. Anything to get away from this creep faster.

"Too bad you don't really have a choice."

You felt his hand on your bare shoulder again but before you could even react you felt volts of electricity rush through you. You gasped painfully, feeling fire through your veins before everything started to hurt.

White burned in your vision and colours started to blur together as your eyes filled with tears. Your body crumbled, falling forward and Captain Nemesis caught you.

Right before your consciousness slipped away you heard him say something.

"For your sake, you better hope that Ben Tennyson is as great as those gossip channels make him out to be."

***

When you felt yourself regaining consciousness, you could feel your weight pulling down and also couldn't feel the ground. This had your eyes snapping open, regardless of how dizzy you were and how many dots were in your vision.

You hazily made out the venue, Nemesis Tower, before recognize the blonde woman tied up beside you. It didn't take long before you realized she was tied to the other end of the rope, suspended through mid-air just like you.

This was no doubt going to be some sort of deathly choice.

You noticed when Ben came in, turning into Ultimate Humangasaur. He looked furious, like you've never seen him before and you knew it was because Ben was certain he'd teach him a lesson today.

"Where's (Y/N)." He all but growled and your heart soared. You didn't realize how much you missed him until now, everything from before was forgotten.

"Right up there. And so is Jennifer." He replied, still smug despite the way Ben was pining him to the ground by his throat. Ben followed his gaze to meet your eyes and you took a deep breathe, bracing yourself.

A selfish part of you wanted to stay and see what Ben would do, would he save you even though Jennifer was a civilian and world famous?

Even then you figured that you shouldn't risk anyone's life for petty jealousy, so you took a deep breath, blowing it out through your mouth and watching as a gust of wind blew past, the pressure making you swing.

You swung a few feet back, letting your body fall a little before blowing again. Once you gained enough momentum, you looked up to the rope tying the two of you together and spitting fire at it, falling at an angle. You briefly heard Jennifer scream and revelled in her karma for a hot second.

On your way down, you quickly burnt off the rest of the ropes, bringing a pool of water to crystallize into a makeshift slide as you slide on your knees across the floor, just in time to catch Jennifer in your arms.

Your knees stung as they scraped across the concrete and the wind was knocked out of you when the woman fell into your form.

She gasped and her eyes that was screwed shut gently fluttered open. Up close you could understand why everyone was in love with her. Even then you couldn't spare her any concern.

You quickly pushed her out of your arms, noticing Gwen and Kevin staring at you in awe when you stood up. You cracked your knuckles, making your way over to the older man with a scowl.

"For your sake, you better hope that I'm just as weak as you think I am. Spoiler alert, I'm not."

Ben spared a small smile at you but you couldn't feel anything aside from hot fury. You felt water surge beneath your fingers and threw it at him, pulling up a wall of earth to block his blasts.

Your boyfriend immediately began fighting alongside you and your bodies fell into a familiar rhythm. Even though there was a crazed narcissist trying to kill you, you felt safe beside Ben.

It wasn't long before the four of you managed to overpower him, rendering his armour useless until he was defeated, lying pathetically on the ground.

You walked up to him and your lips twisted into an unimpressed frown when you noticed the way he had the audacity to glare at you. Without a second word, you raised your leg and kicked him right between the legs.

"I always keep my promises, Captain."

Kevin began laughing behind you and Ben cringed.

Finally, when you turned to meet Ben, now de-transformed, all the fight left your body and you relaxed. He looked apologetic and you let him approach you.

His arms wrapped around your waist and you leaned into him, breathing the familiar scent of his deodorant and snaking your arms under his jacket to fist his T-shirt.

He sighed into your hair, arms tightening around your body, "I'm sorry. For being an ass to you and saying all those horrible things, I was being an idiot and you deserve an apology."

You didn't move, not pulling away from the way your forehead was pressed against the length of his neck, "Thank you for coming to save me."

"Didn't look like you needed much help." He chuckled and you felt happy hearing the pride in his voice.

"I missed you." You murmured, holding him a little tighter and he turned his head to kiss your forehead gently. And just like that, everything was right in the world. Just as long as you were in each other's arms.

"I love you."

You heard the click of a camera and your head snapped up to see a herd of cameramen and reporters along with a couple of police cars. Ben laughed nervously beside you, "I guess we won't have to worry about another actress coming between us."

You gave him an unimpressed frown and he just smiled, leaning to peck your lips and you heard the crowd of reporters’ gasp and heard the shutters of cameras before they began shouting questions at you.

You pulled away from him when you saw Jennifer Nocturne make her way towards you. You figured she wanted to snuggle up to Ben now that the cameras were filming.

Instead, she walked right up to you, hugging you tightly and your arms flailed pathetically beside her, unsure of what to do, "You saved my life! I don't know how to thank you!"

She pulled away for just a second before pressing a kiss to your lips. Your eyes widened in alarm and the shutters began once again and flashes practically blinded you.

"Huh, so that's what that feels like." Ben murmured when she pulled away from you. Kevin was smirking beside him, satisfied that he got a taste of his own medicine and Gwen was just in shock.

Ben felt his stomach turn at the sight of Jennifer’s lipstick on your mouth and you were unsure whether you should feel repulsed or cocky.

But as you wiped the pigment off your lips and curled back into Ben's side you couldn't feel anything other than your burning muscles and your drooping eyelids.

You squinted because of the bright lights, feeling a headache grow as the exhaustion from before crept up on you again. After 2 fights and a kidnapping today, there was nothing more you wanted than a nap.

"Wanna go home?" Your ever observant boyfriend asked just as the nausea started to kick in. You nodded and he guided you away from the reporters to his car.

He gently placed you into the front seat, shielding your head as you got in to prevent you from hitting it against the hood before buckling your seatbelt, watching carefully as you drifted into a sound sleep.

Ben heard everyone behind him swoon as he lovingly placed a kiss to your knuckles and then climbed into the seat beside you, sparing you one last warm glance before starting the car and driving away.

He'd definitely notice the shy smile on your face when you saw that Ben kissing you was on the front page of a magazine.

And you'd notice the jealous scowl he'd have when he saw that Jennifer kissing you was on the front page of another.

#ben ten omniverse #ben tennyson #ben ten alien force #ben ten ultimate alien #ben 10 #ben 10 uaf #ben 10 ultimate alien #ben 10 original series #ben 10 fanfiction #ben 10 omniverse #ben 10 x reader #ben tennyson x reader #ben tennyson imagines #ben 10 alien force #ben ten #ben tennyson imagine

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tinisprout · 3 years ago

Text

A Kiss to Remember

Pairing: Hyunjae x gn!Reader

Genre: Fluff, mutual pinning

Warnings: profanities like a lot, alcohol consumption, jokes of killing

Word count: 2.4k

Summary: After a kiss you spend a month of trying to figure out your own feeling you come to the conclusion that you like Hyunjae. You wonder how to deal with these feelings, especially when he doesn't feel that way about you, at least that's what you think.

a/n: Happy birthday Hyunjae Im a little late y'all don't mind that.

When you have been friends for so long is it better to just stay as such? Should I just bury these budding feelings before, it becomes something I can’t handle? I look at my hand, the one that casually reached out to him and had been reached out to by him many times before. It was only recently that holding him like that made my heart tickle. After today there is no denying my feelings, I like Hyunjae.

“So do I just cut them off or…,” I bite my lip struggling with a decision. How would I even go about stopping these feelings?! “Ugh, why does he suddenly have to be so appealing.” around a month ago after one of our nights out drinking, we somehow ended up making out. Sure we always lightly flirted with each other, but that’s just how we are, nothing was ever taken seriously like there was a line we knew that shouldn’t be crossed.

That night it was crossed, but I’m the only one that has any recollection of it happening. Hyunjae remembers nothing of that night and I’m left to deal with these complicated feelings. I didn’t tell him cause, whatever, it’s not like we have feelings for each other anyways. It’s just something that happened, I don’t have to make a big deal of it. That’s what I thought at first, then I noticed how my eyes started to linger on him.

For this past month, I’ve been trying to gauge these feelings for him, to say I like him after one measly kiss is too much. Now I know for sure, but what do I do now? How he acts towards me now is no different from how he’s always treated me, so it’s not like he looks at me in that way.

“No, this is not what I should be thinking about right now! I have to get ready, gotta go soon.”

Hyunjae’s birthday party is tonight, I can’t make today about me. I’ll just act like normal today, he’ll never know the difference.

***

Walking into the designated lounge room for Hyunjae’s party I was greeted by a few familiar faces and some unfamiliar. I was given a wave and nod by some of my friends before almost being knocked off my feet.

“Y/N! You’re finally here, I’ve been waiting for you!” Hyunjae throws himself into my arms giving me a tight squeeze. I freeze up and then remind myself that I should act naturally.

“And a hello to you too. Drunk already I see birthday boy,” I say tapping his back with one hand trying to not get too close. Jacob comes up offering a smile in greeting and I smile back.

“You need to control yourself,” Jacob says then pulling Hyunjae off me falling into his arms, and I thank him with a nod. Hyunjae struggles in Jacob’s hold wanting to break free, then Jacob whispers something in Hyunjae’s ears and he stops struggling, instead, slumping in his arms letting himself be dragged away back to his seat. Looking back to the rest of the table I see my best friend Sunwoo waving me over the free spot next to him. I take a seat and Sunwoo pulls me in giving me a side hug and I reciprocate, doing the same.

“So you want to tell me what that was all about?” He leans in whispering to me.

“What are you talking about?”

“Seriously? I saw the way you blushed like a schoolgirl that was told they are cute by their crush when Hyunjae hugged you.”

“No way!” In shock, I pull away from Sunwoo rubbing at my forehead. I pretend I don’t see the eyes of everyone else go to me at my outburst, and get closer to Sunwoo, whispering again. “Was I that obvious?”

“So you’re admitting that there was something going on there?” He gives a sly smirk and I realize I’ve been had.

“You’re the worst.”

“Yeah yeah, but why am I only hearing about this today?”

“Because I’ve only acknowledged it myself today.”

“Acknowledged it? Just how long have I been out of the loop and does that mean that the two of you are…?” He trailed off letting me fill in the blank.

“Nothing. This is all just one-sided, he should have no idea.”

“You’re fucking kidding me right?”

“What?” Sunwoo sighs at my words and wraps his arms around my shoulder again.

“I’m your bestie, right? I’m also Hyunjae’s friend, correct?”

“Yes, and?”

“Exactly. Now, look at Hyunjae. If anyone else was in my position with you, he would not be looking at us, like a sad frog, but glaring at the person in my place. You get it?” Hyunjae did have his stupid-looking frog face on display, but no, that probably cause he was reprimanded by Jacob.

“No, Hyunjae doesn’t see me like that.”

“Sure maybe at the start of your friendship he didn’t, but the way I see it is, there is a -2% chance that he doesn’t see you that way.”

“And the way I see it is that I shouldn’t even be thinking about this tonight. I just want to get through tonight without a problem, have some fun. I can figure out everything else later.”

"Okay, whatever. My friends are a bunch of oblivious morons." He mumbles the last part knowing damn well I can still hear him.

"Say that again mother fucker. I'll kill you.” I playfully shove Sunwoo and he pretends to be hurt.

“Yo chill!” The both of us laugh out loud and then there is the slamming of shot glasses by the two of us. I turn to see it was Hyunjae, he looks at me with a pout but doesn’t say anything.

“There is a drinking rule. Every time someone joins the party we gotta take a shot,” Jacob explains in Hyunjae’s place.

“Oh, so that’s why he is already smashed.” There was still a deal more empty seats left… is Hyunjae going to survive tonight? Everyone pours themselves a drink, the ones that got here were first looking a little sick while the rest of us were fine, we all down the drinks. The night continues with good vibes, till the last guest arrives with a plus one. Both are unfamiliar faces to me.

“Sorry I’m late, Hyunjae. Also thanks for letting me bring my sister, she really wanted to meet my friends.” The man and his sister wish Hyunjae a happy birthday and take the only seats left available which just so happened to be next to the birthday man himself. With the arrival of two new guests, everyone takes the mandatory shot. I could feel a little more than a buzz, but overall still fine.

The conversation was flowing as normal as everyone was having a good time. A few more drinks in when everyone was a little drunker, open, and comfortable things got a little more handsy. Whatever that’s what people do when they’re drunk, but I couldn’t notice just how handsy that new girl was getting with Hyunjae.

“Good lord, Y/N. Are you trying to kill her with your eyes?” Snapping out of it, I look to sunwoo how was laughing his ass off.

“I might be,” getting mad at myself for the silly words, I rub roughly at my forehead. “So stupid. I don’t have any right to be mad. He isn’t my boyfriend or anything.” The girl tries to casually grab for Hyunjae’s hand and I quickly look up groaning, “That should be me.”

“Damn, you’re down bad.”

“You’re right!” I pour myself another drink, downing it as fast as I can. “I hope I get so shwasted that I forget everything!”

“I take no responsibility for whatever happens tonight, but hell yeah!” Sunwoo takes another shot. The night continues smoothly and everything is jovial except for every time I see her take an advance toward Hyunjae. The party started to slow down and eventually, everyone came to the decision that they could handle no more, so that party came to an end after a few good hours of drinking. After everyone except Hyunjae split the bill, one by one the people started leaving the lounge.

“Jacob I require your assistance home!” Sunwoo shouts to his friend and neighbor. Jacob nods, ready to leave, getting drunk was never his favorite thing. Sunwoo gets up slinging his arm around Jacob for support, and the two boys say goodbye to their friends. “Get home safe loser and get some dick while you’re at it.”

“Fuck off!” Sunwoo laughs as he walks away with Jacob. Only me, the brother-sister pair, and Hyunjae were left. I sure as hell wasn’t about to leave while they were still here, I want to hang out more. The brother as if hearing my wish says it’s time they head home.

The two get up to leave and the girl looks visibly sad while I do a little dance in my head. I walk up to Hyunjae and he looks at me then stands up like he was waiting for me. When I hear them walk out the door I can feel a smile grow on my face. Finally, no more people.

“Ready to go back home?” I ask him.

“You’re going to walk me back? How romantic.”

“We live one apartment building away from each other, stop being dramatic.”

“But still I’m ha-” my eye dart towards the sound of the lounge room door opening and see the familiar girl closing the door behind her. I cover Hyunjae’s mouth with my hand while I use my other one, taking the back of his neck and pulling him closer to me. Our lips only separated by my hand. Surely it looked like we were kissing right now, Hyunjae’s body should cover up the fact that we aren’t. Just let your mind fill in the blanks girl.

A few seconds after I can hear the sound of the door opening and closing again and a high-pitched, “I’m sorry.” from the girl. I’m sorry too… actually no I’m not. I pull away from Hyunjae and he looks stunned.

“Did we just kiss?”

“No, we didn’t. You kiss my hand.”

“Oh.” My eyes were certainly deceiving me cause it looked like he was a little disappointed by my answer.

“Well, let go.” He hums in response and we walk out of the establishment. Suddenly he wraps his arm around me. This isn’t much of a surprise since he was a clingy drunk. The walk was quiet, which was unusual for Hyunjae, maybe he is tired

“Where is my present?”

“You realize that your present was the party bill, right? Do you know just how much you drank compared to everyone else? That shit wasn’t cheap.”

“Hehe, yeah that’s why I drank so much. You know as a broke college student free drinks taste a lot better than anything you pay for!”

“As a broke college student, you would know after that I wouldn’t be able to afford a normal present, so don’t complain.”

“Who said you had to buy the present? Even something small, as long as it’s from you.”

“Why are you like this?” This is really the man I’ve come to like. “Fine, I will do any one thing for you.” He is quiet for a while.

“Two.”

“One.”

“Two!”

“Okay, fine two!” he is silent again.

“Really anything?”

“Anything within reason. If you have a body hidden in your closet right now, I would go help you bury it.”

“Then… can I be your boyfriend for a day. If not then just for the rest of the day or just an hour...” I’m so dumbfounded by his words that I stop walking.

“Do you even know what you’re saying?” He pulls away from me.

“Is that a no then?”

“I… Hyunjae, do you… like me?” He nods. “As a friend?”

“Yes, but more than that. I want to hold you all the time, kiss, and more.” He brings his hand up to his face trying to hide his embarrassment. It did nothing to hide how red his ears became.

“I like you too.” Hyunjae perked up at my words. Now I was feeling embarrassed.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll accept your request.” He hugs me again as he did back at the party.

“Then my other request, can we go back to my place?”

“Are we going to do the “and more” stuff you were talking about?” He thinks for a moment and then goes red in the face.

“No! It’s too soon and I’m way too shit-faced right now anyway. I just want to hold you.”

“Good answer.”

***

In the apartment I was oh so familiar with, I lay in Hyunjae’s bed with his arms wrapped around me. My heart was pounding at first but I soon calmed, getting used to the new situation. The lights were off and we were ready to sleep. It was peaceful, but I had this one lingering question and worry in my head.

“Hyunjae?”

“Hmm?”

“Will you remember this in the morning?”

“Of course why would I forget?”

“Because you forgot that we kissed already.” Shocked by my words he shot up in his spot.

“We what?!”

“It was like a month ago. It’s whatever since you don’t remember.”

“...I’m sorry… was I good?”

“Shut up.” I pinch his side and he yelps.

“Okay jeez, I’m just joking. But is that when you started to like me?”

“Not exactly, but it did all develop from then. Why?”

“I’ve liked you for a long time and have been trying for almost a year to get you to notice me in that way. I didn’t expect you to say you liked me back, so I wanted to know when it changed. Ah, I’m glad I never gave up.” He laid back down, hugging me close again.

“Alright don’t kill me now,” he loosens his grip on me in response.

“Can I kiss you again? I promise I won’t forget this time.”

“Hmm, I think you’re fresh out of requests.” He pouts, which is just the look I wanted to see from him.

“I’m messing with you, but just a little bit. If you really remember when you wake up them I’ll let you kiss me more, as my real boyfriend.”

“I’m going to remember and then I’m going to kiss you so much you’ll get sick of my affection!”

“Uh-huh, let’s just see if you can keep your word.” We both lean into each other and kiss, soft and passionate.

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