#i hold hands/hold onto most of my friends when we’re going somewhere for this exact reason

[pansyfemme]

ive been noticing my balance degrading lately but i didnt realize it was this bad jfc

[kasdan]

𝐸𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝐹𝑢𝑟𝑦 {𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝟨}

join the taglist | series masterlist | main masterlist

Summary: frank takes you to a strange place that he insists is safe where you meet another man and they both tell you how they knew about you

Pairing: frank castle x reader

Warnings: ptsd, mentions of torture, blood, gunshot wound, reader ogles frank bc i couldn’t help myself

Word Count: 3.2k

Chapter Song: bury a friend by Billie Eilish

Frank pulls into a narrow area, stops, and turns to look at me.

“I need to know if you’re able to turn your powers off temporarily.” The question comes out of nowhere, and my eyebrows crease and confusion sets on my face.

“What?” Frank closes his eyes briefly and lets out a small sigh before setting his gaze on me again.

“I promise I will explain everything to you when we are not sittin’ ducks out in the open. The people who are after you are tracking your power usage. It’s how they found us at the motel.” I stare at him in shock. How did he know any of this? I open my mouth to ask that exact question, but stop when I see the look he gives me.

I look down at the forgotten bracelet that’s still on my wrist. I twist it around in my hand, wondering if it would be able to disable them like it seemed to have done before. 

It looks the same all the way around, except for a part of it that looks slightly uneven compared to the rest of it. 

I press on that part of the bracelet, and it makes a slight click noise and tightens back on my wrist, not as tightly as before. Immediately, I can feel my body getting lighter and my energy being drained.

I let out a small gasp, and my head falls forward, not being able to be held up completely. I feel pressure on my arm, and I force my head to turn to see a concerned-looking Frank staring back at me.

“You okay?” I go to nod, but end up wincing when my head feels like something is holding it down. I force my head back so it falls against the back of the seat.

“They’re gone. I don’t feel them anymore.” I can no longer feel the dull pressure that was in the back of my mind. My body is no longer being held up by whatever power was coursing through me, and I can feel a heavy burden on my body.

Frank doesn’t ask how I know or how I did it; he just lets out a small confirmation. I close my eyes and feel my fatigued body drift off.

Flashes of blood and screaming cross my mind; gunshots echo in my mind. Everything seems so far away, like I’m witnessing it from across a hallway.

It all gets closer, gunshots getting louder, until everything suddenly stops and my eyes open.

I blink rapidly, trying to focus on my surroundings. It’s dark, and I can tell that we’re not outside anymore. I hear a door close next to me, and footsteps come around to the side I’m at. Frank comes into view through the broken window before he’s opening my door, pieces of glass falling off of it, and helping me get up.

He works to try to avoid the glass the best he can, helping me steady myself when I have to jump down from the ledge in order to get out. I can feel my legs slightly give out under me, and I have to grab onto him so I won’t fall.

He stays there for a little bit, holding me up so I can get my balance. I’m eventually able to move and take in my surroundings, with Frank following close behind me in case I lose my balance again.

The rest of the area doesn’t have that much lighting, and it all looks rundown, like no one’s been there for a while.

“Frank, what are you-“ A man comes out of the middle area that has the most light but stops short of what he’s saying when he sees me. “What is she doing here?” He motions to me, and I instinctively go to take a step back. 

Frank gently grabs both my arms, whispering a quick “it’s okay” to me before walking past me towards the other man in the room.

“You told me to bring her somewhere safe, n that’s what I did.” Frank walks closer to him and stops when there’s just a little space between them.

“Somewhere that isn’t here.” His voice gets quieter as he speaks, as if he thinks I won’t be able to hear him anymore.

“She’s fine; her powers are deactivated; they won’t be able to track her.”

"Okay, but how do you know that, for sure, we can’t take any chances, Frank?"

“You know you’re a terrible whisperer.” I take that as my opportunity to speak up, and Frank chokes out a laugh as the other man looks past Frank at me, a shocked look on his face as if I’ve just shot him.

“Wha- I-” He looks at me but can’t seem to get a full sentence out of his mouth.

“She gotcha there, Lieberman.” Frank walks behind him and pats him on the back, motioning for me to follow him. I move to walk behind him, passing the other person on the way.

"Okay, but she’s your responsibility!” He turns to shout after Frank, his voice getting progressively louder as the sentence goes on, and Frank waves his arm over his head to brush him off as he continues further into the room.

Frank sits down on a long seat in the back of the room, bringing out the same box he used to stitch me before. “C’mon, sit.” He motions to the space next to him, and I close the distance to sit next to him. He gently grabs my arm, inspecting it. There are little cuts scattering it from the glass, but none of them are bad.

Frank moves his arm, and it gives me the angle to see blood dripping down his sleeve. “You’re bleeding.” I go up to touch his arm, but he pulls away from me.

“‘M fine, lemme look at your arm.”

“Lemme look at yours.” I don’t let him look at my arm, and he lets out a heavy sigh, looking up at me with annoyance written on his face.

“I’ll be fine-”

“So will I; it’s just a couple scratches I’ve had worse; you’ve seen it.” I look down at my arm, glancing at the light scrapes on it as I speak. I can see him contemplating what to do before he nods, setting the box down in the space between us.

I attempt to look at the wound, but there was too much fabric in the way for me to actively see it. Frank seems to understand this, as he’s carefully moving his arm to pull the fabric off. 

He lets out a groan, working the sleeve off his hurt arm, and I go up to help him, but he brushes me off, eventually getting the shirt off his body as he places the fabric down on the other side of him.

The area was a lot easier to see now that there was nothing blocking the view. I can now clearly see that it was a graze from a bullet. I think back to earlier, when I was pushed down when gunshots sounded and bullets started spraying. The grunt of pain that he let out right before the glass on his side shattered tells me that one of the bullets grazed his shoulder before it flew out the window.

My hands are shaking as I grip his arm, feeling the warmth of his skin on my hand, and he brings his other hand around to engulf my mind, steadying it. He looks at me with soft eyes before opening his mouth to speak. “There’s a small mattress over there you can lay down on.” I shake my head at his implication that I didn’t have to sit there with him, but I feel like I have to repay him with something for everything that he’s done for me.

“I want to help, please.” I look up at him with pleading eyes, and he gives me a slight smile, hand-squeezing over mine before nodding his head. I look back down at his arm, inspecting the wound further as his other arm returns to his side.

“It’s just a graze-” We both end up speaking at the same time, and I hear him let out a soft, breathy laugh.

“Sorry.” I’m quick to say after, not wanting to upset him by accidentally talking over him; even if it was just an accident, my body reacts on autopilot. I’ve had to learn to behave and abide by the rules set for me while I was in the lab; otherwise, there would be drastic consequences. I hate how bad it is to get tased, and those punishments were one of the tame ones to endure.

A part of me wants to back away from Frank and curl myself up into a ball, thinking that something’s going to happen to me because I broke the rules. But I have to listen to the other part and know that there are no more of those rules out here, and punishments like the ones they gave aren’t going to happen to me anymore. I hope. A small voice echoes in my mind, but it leaves as fast as it came, my mind forcing the negative thoughts back into the depths of my head. I have to tell myself that I’m okay now, and all the things that they’ve done to me and all the rules that they made up don’t apply here.

I reach for the same packet that he did before when cleaning the cut on my arm. I take the small paper-feeling item in my hand to gently wipe at the wound. I get a clearer look at the actual cut once most of the blood around it is cleaned up, and I can see that it’s not that deep, so minimal work was only needed to tend it. There was a brief training once while I was in the lab on how to clean a wound, but the training wasn’t long, and there wasn’t another one after that. They didn’t care enough for me to learn how to effectively clean wounds, and from then on, they pushed me into more and more combat training.

I manage to get the cut wrapped with the help of Frank, who guides me along the way. He thanks me before insisting that I go lay down and rest, not giving me an option otherwise. He stands up from his spot and leans over to pack the things back up in the box. His shirt still lays in the same spot where he put it down earlier, which leaves his skin still showing as he works to put everything back. It’s like I’m in a trance as I watch him work, muscles flexing as he moves. 

He picks up the box and sets it on a shelf next to the seat it was on. He looks over at me, and I realize that I’ve been just staring at him as he cleaned up. I blink rapidly to get my focus back, and I see the corner of his mouth twitch up. I go to apologize, but I stop myself before it can come out. He says nothing as he picks up the bag he brought with them and turns his back to me, walking to a table on the other side of the room. I take this as my opportunity to go try and rest like Frank said to.

I find myself sitting against the wall on top of the mattress that Frank pointed me to. I lean my head back on the wall, trying to get myself to relax. I don’t know how long I’m sitting there for, but I can feel myself starting to drift in and out of consciousness and decide to let my body lay on the mattress. I can hear distant voices talking about something I can’t comprehend before the noise cuts into a low, muffled sound and sleep starts to overtake me.

The peace in my mind doesn’t last long before a loud alarm sounds, and I jump up from my position, forcing myself into the closest corner. The alarm sounds nothing like the one from the lab, but it might as well be the exact same one as images of the lab flash in my mind. My eyes are squeezed shut, and I bring my hands up to cover my ears, trying desperately to drown out the noise.

“DAMMIT LIEBERMAN, TURN IT OFF!” Even with my hands covering my ears, I can hear Frank’s voice through the muffled sound of the siren. I can’t hear what else is being said, but I can vaguely hear the suppressed voices of the two men in the room.

The alarm gets turned off and the place grows quiet again, but I can’t bring myself to take my hands off of my ears yet. My breathing comes out in quick, small breaths as I attempt to get it back to normal and slow my heart rate down. I feel hands grab my wrists softly, as if they were barely touching my skin, and they’re pulled away from my ears. I slowly open my eyes to see Frank in front of me, a concerned look on his face.

“Breathe for me, darlin’.” My breathing has already steadied since he’s been here, and it falls to a steady rhythm, following the rise and fall of his now-clothed chest. “There ya go.” His hands release my wrists, dragging slightly down my forearms before falling off of me.

He stands up to full height, and my head turns up to follow his movement. I look up at him, and he stretches his arm out for me to grab his hand. I place my hand in his, and he pulls me to my feet, helping me get my balance.

“C’mon, wanna show ya somethin’” He walks me over across the room to the big open area in the middle, where the other man sat in a chair. He turns to face me, a smile on his face, though he looks ragged and unkept, like he hasn’t been sleeping.

He holds out his hand towards me, “I’m David.” He takes a quick pause before adding “Lieberman” to the end of it. I give him a small smile before putting my hand in his to shake. 

He spins his chair back around to look at the screen that has some kind of document on it. “You would usually give your name back in that situation, but..." He speaks in a light-joking manner, but Frank still smacks the back of his head with his hand.

“You know she wasn’t given one.” Frank speaks between his teeth with his voice lowered, but I’m still able to hear him.

“It’s called a joke. Ever heard of one before? Jeez.” They start to argue, and I can see my first meeting with Ellie not paying attention to exactly what they are saying.

“Y/n.” I all but whisper the name that I spent countless days trying to remember when Ellie left, repeating it over and over in my cell as if the name was going to leave my memory at any time.

They stop arguing, looking over at me with confused expressions on their faces. “My name." I swallow, trying to soothe the dryness in my throat. “It’s y/n.” I look up at them to see them just staring at me wordlessly, both glancing at each other before slowly nodding.

Frank smiles before motioning for me to stand next to him, having a better view of the screen on the table. "Alright, darlin’,” he squeezes my shoulder gently, and David rolls the chair he’s on slightly out of the way so he’s not directly in front of the screen. 

I can immediately see the word “CONFIDENTIAL” written out in all red at the top of the page. It’s a word that I’ve seen around the lab so many times before that it’s been engraved in my mind, and I know that it’s not something that just anyone can have access to.

Looking at the rest of the words on the page, I can only make out a few words that I know; “weapon”, “trial”, and “test” were the ones that I could easily make out on the page.

I can feel my eyebrows crease, not understanding most of the words written in front of me, only knowing the words that I’ve seen a lot or that are easy to read. Most times I’m able to sound out the word to figure out what it means, but this time there are too many words, making it overwhelming for me.

“I don’t… I don’t understand.” I shake my head and look over at Frank, who’s still by my side. He quickly licks his lips before speaking.

“We were aware of intel containing information about a secret weapon the military has been workin’ on.” He takes a breath before continuing. “We were tracking the progress of said... weapon." He looks at me when he says weapon, emphasizing the word. “We spent weeks trackin’ it, tryin’ to figure out a way to get ahead of it. Until we saw that they were ready to start trialin’ it. With what we saw, we couldn’t let the trials start; it was too dangerous. So... we made a plan to go destroy it.” At this, I stepped back from him. Destroy it? Were they going to kill me? Everything that they had done—why would they go through that much trouble just to get rid of me? Unless they were trying to make it easier for them.

I reach down to grab the bracelet on my wrist, thinking back to when he said I should turn off my powers, and I can’t help but wonder if it was all just a ploy in order to make me vulnerable. Frank’s eyes grow wide at my moment, and David, who’s looking at him, looks over to me and acquires the same facial expression as Frank does.

“Now, darlin', listen to me,” he says, putting his hands up in a surrender stance as he talks, trying not to set me off any further. “We didn’t know the weapon they were talking about was a person. As soon as the incident was out and the lab was destroyed, we thought they had started the trial, but it went horribly wrong. It wasn’t until we saw the emergency alerts that the experimental subject was out and to do whatever it would take to catch it that we knew there was somethin’ more to it.” I release my grip on the bracelet but keep my hand around the area of my wrist, not entirely letting my guard down but letting enough down so the two men could relax a little more.

“Your signal was sent for a split second through the system with the use of your power, and it would have been overlooked by anyone who wasn’t directly looking for it right away, but Lieberman was able to keep the signal up for longer. That’s how I found you—passed out in the alley. Glad I was able to find ya before anyone else did.” I can see deep sincerity in his eyes and can’t help myself from trusting him, even though there is still a part of me that is reserved.

“I think you can help us.” David says, leaning against the table, hands rubbing over his face.

“Why would I do that?” I look over at him when I speak, and he takes his arms off the table and spins around to look at me.

“Because you might also be able to help yourself.”

@sleeperthelazy @hathay @lunaticgurly @casa-boiardi @mattmurdocksstarlight @stilldreaming666

buy me a coffee ♡

[rafescoke]

Maybank ; Rafe Cameron (Part 2)

Part #2

Read part #1 here

masterlist

Pairing: Rafe Cameron x reader

Summary: Sometimes both sides are in the wrong.

Warnings: More angst, mentions of substance, gaslighting!

A/N: you know the drill. . . send requests!

(Y/N) isn’t one to feel jealous easily.

When she dated a certain boy from her school a few years ago, she wasn’t even phased when she had found him kissing another girl at a party.

She simply didn’t care.

But the aching feeling in her when she saw her current boyfriend sniffing a line on the back of a random girl with the perfect house and the perfect clothes and the-

“(Y/N), do you want to come down to the beach with us?”

(Y/N) finally looks up from her novel in which she wasn’t even reading in the first place. Her mind was somewhere else, and her thoughts weren’t put in the context of the book.

“No. I’m not feeling well.”

JJ sighs, fixing his cap backwards and placing himself beside her. He looks over her lap, reading the first few lines of the book his sister’s reading and sighs. 

“I never read, so I do not understand how this whole novel thing works. But I’m pretty sure reading about getting over a breakup won’t do you any good.”

(Y/N) rolls her eyes, snapping her book with a shut. The last thing she ever wants is for JJ to lecture her. She had enough bawling her eyes the past 2 weeks. 

“What time are you supposed to go again? Go.”

She’s grateful, of course, for JJ. He was there for her the whole 2 weeks when she didn’t feel like eating or taking a shower or anything that involved getting out of the bed.

But she feels better now, her hair perfectly up in a hairdo and the red color of her cheeks returning.

She’s not sad anymore.

The feeling evolves into anger.

Of course, (Y/N).

You’re nothing but a pogue.

If there’s one thing Obx is famous for, that will be the annual bonfire. It’s an excuse for every teenager on the island to let loose and to free themselves after a year of studying.

For (Y/N), it’s just another party for Rafe to ignore her.

But she’s not coming down to the beach with him a few distance away, hell, she doesn’t even know if he’s coming.

“What the fuck! You told me you’re not coming,” JJ laughs, giving his sister a side hug. “You look good. You don’t look pale anymore.”

“I’m gonna be sick if you keep saying nice things to me,” (Y/N) rolls her eyes, though her insides are beaming. JJ has always been her number one supporter, and she loves her brother with all her heart.

“Just don’t go to the other side of the beach, okay? All your friends are here.”

And we’re back to him protecting her.

She gets it, really, but she doesn’t feel like a night full of JJ and his friends becoming some sort of bodyguards to her.

The last thing she ever wants is for Rafe to think she’s still weak.

“J, I know.”

He holds both of his hands up, “I’m just saying. I’m by the fire if you ever need me, okay?”

It’s funny how the boy who cried to her over his scraped knee is the same boy who’s trying his best to protect her. Growing up in a dysfunctional family, all (Y/N) and JJ has is each other. 

(Y/N) walks to the music booth, getting so tired over the same artist being played over and over again. She doesn’t feel like listening to Drake all while trying to forget a certain brunette boy from the back of her head.

“Hey, can I get something different? Play the Euphoria soundtrack if you must. Anything other than the songs you’re playing.”

The DJ looks up to her and gives out the widest grin. (Y/N) tries to look away from the charming smile, but her eyes are glued to a pair of blue ones.

“Not a fan of Drake?”

“Nah.”

“Why? Trying to move on from an ex?”

She gulps, “No. Just have a good taste in music.”

The guy licks his teeth, “Touche. The name’s Nate.”

(Y/N) gives him a small grin, “Hm. Can we change the song now?”

Nate raises a brow because god; no one has ever disregard him. 

There’s something about the girl.

“Is Party In The USA good enough for you, princess?”

Her breath hitches. The last time someone has ever called her princess was probably a few weeks ago. 

This is not helping her to get over him.

“Whatever. You’re the DJ, right?” she answers, turning on her heels. “Oh wait, Nate?”

He smiles at her again, and (Y/N) has the urge to slap the smug look off his face.

“Don’t call me princess. You’re not my boyfriend.”

For the past 40 minutes, no Drake song has been playing. The crowd begins filling the empty space in the middle to dance with each other, and (Y/N) has to look away from the couple getting close and leaving kisses down each other’s necks.

She makes her way down to the drinks counter to get herself a beer because she really doesn’t feel like watching another friend of hers kissing their partners while sober. She decides that if she has to stay for another hour of people making out with each other, it’s better if she’s intoxicated.

“Hey.”

(Y/N) turns her back, expecting to see a drunk friend of hers, but the sight of the same DJ from before greets her.

She rolls her eyes, “I’m not asking you to change the music.”

“I know, I guess I started off wrong just now. Let me reintroduce myself. You deserve to know the real me.”

(Y/N) laughs, because this whole thing sounds like something out of a corny Netflix movie. He’s cute, sure, but she’s just not interested.

He removes the beanie he’s been wearing all night, revealing a blonde buzz cut underneath. (Y/N) tries not to stare.

Okay. Screw cute. He’s handsome. 

“Hi, I’m Nate. I’m from New York, and I just moved here.”

She smiles, finally, because he fits the exact image she has of every male teenager in New York. Blonde buzz cut, an unbuttoned blue shirt with a peak of his toned body underneath, and a pair of red shorts. 

A new kook.

“Nate, your kind and I don’t match. You’re a kook.”

He scrunches his face, “They’ve been telling me that shit since the first week I’ve been here-” he steps closer, and (Y/N) can smell his expensive cologne. It’s not the same one she favors on Rafe, but it’s close. “-don’t tell me you believe that stuff.”

Oh.

She grins, “I’m not rich, Nate.”

“So?”

Oh.

“The name’s (Y/N),” she smiles, extending her hand. Nate beams, because finally, after a whole night of watching her from his booth, she finally expresses the most beautiful smile there is. 

“(Y/N), I feel like we’re going to get closer soon.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“I’m not a Drake’s fan either.”

. . .

(Y/N)’s hesitant. 

She doesn’t believe him in one bit, not even when he flashes her the most charming smile ever. 

But he’s not afraid to show her off. She went on a date with him a few nights ago, and she distanced herself from him upon the entrance of the restaurant.

“What the fuck are you doing? C’mere.”

(Y/N) looked up to him, “You don’t have to stay near with me.”

Nate turned to her with a confused expression. “Why? I’m buying you dinner, remember?”

He held her hands in his, and she let him.

Nate pokes her side and suppresses a giggle when she yelps from the sudden touch. He fails, however, when she falls from his bed onto the floor. 

“You’re too ticklish,” he says and helps her up to her feet. Her eyes wander to the band posters on his wall again, being so amazed and surprised by this boy’s taste in music and movies.

“I don’t even listen to half of the bands you listen to,” she says finally, pulling herself down to the empty space beside him. “Do you know who’s Ariana Grande?”

Nate rolls his eyes, “Ha-ha. No. I don’t. Is she the one who sang Despacito or something?”

(Y/N) laughs and her heart suddenly soars. She feels at ease, and there’s lightness in the air, even when they’re in public.

(Y/N) stands up, taking the full room into view again, and walks to the shelf full of pictures of Nate and his family. There’s a picture of him in a soccer jersey, a picture of him playing the drums and then an electric guitar, and-

“Oh my god, is this your girlfriend?” (Y/N) exclaims, picking up a photo frame with a beautiful brunette girl smiling back at her. “She’s so pretty.”

“(Y/N), put it back,” Nate rolls his eyes, standing up from the comfort of his bed and walking towards her. (Y/N) laughs, liking the way his eyebrows scrunch in distress and hides the photo frame behind her.

“(Y/N). . . I’m not playing.”

“No one is playing, Nate,” she laughs, taking a few steps back as he motions forward. “I can’t believe you have a sweetheart back in NYC, Nate.”

“(Y/N), put it back.”

(Y/N) pulls a confused expression, “Put what back?” she brings the frame forward, and expressed a fake sigh. “Oh, this? I was just checking this out-” Nate charges for her and she squeals, running towards the end of his room and watching as he runs in her direction. She panics, looking around for a place to hide, and as her eyes meet his bed, Nate has the same idea in his head.

He pushes her over his bed so she topples over, the frame still in her hands. She yelps, leaving the frame alone and using both of her hands to push his chest away. 

Nate hovers over her, being so close he can smell her sweet scent now, and she looks so good under his yellow lights and in his bed and that goddamn smirk on her face-

“Is she your girlfriend, Nate?”

“None of your concern, princess,” he answers. Her eyes snap down to the cross dangling from his neck, and he can’t do this anymore; not when she looks so pretty under his gaze.

(Y/N) can feel the sudden change in the air now, and the chasing game they’ve been playing suddenly doesn’t look like a chasing game.

He’s like a predator waiting to attack. 

(Y/N)’s eyes look up to him again. “Is she your girlfriend?”

And he connects his lips with her. She gasps from the sudden touch, but after a few seconds, he can feel her kissing him back. 

And for once, she feels okay again. She wraps her arms around him, pulling him close to her and letting his warmth engulfing her.

She feels at peace.

���Rafe,” she whispers, letting the blonde boy trails down to her neck.

Nate pulls away, his lips sore and red after their brief makeout session.

Chest heaving, he steps away. “Rafe?”

(Y/N) sits up, groaning and fixing her hair. “God, I’m so stupid. I don’t mean that, Nate, I’m sorry. Please, don’t go.”

Nate pulls a disgusted face, and it’s the same look Rafe had put in the party a few weeks ago to her and she can feel herself losing again. 

“I’m going out. You can stay here if you want.”

“Nate-”

The door closes behind him, and (Y/N) groans. 

Way to go, (Y/N).

. . .

She hates how bad she feels for Nate.

He has been nothing but a total sweetheart to her, and there she was; moaning another guy’s name and letting him walked out of his own home.

So that’s the core reason as to why she’s standing outside of his house at 10 p.m. on a Friday, letting the heavy rain soaks her whole outfit because of course she would forget to bring an umbrella.

She knocks again, with her fists this time, because she’s certain he hadn’t heard her. For a moment, she’s afraid his father or mother would open the door but after remembering how they’re going to be away for a business trip, she sighs in relief. 

The door opens midway of her banging on the door, revealing a shirtless Nate with nothing but green sweatpants complimenting his legs.

“(Y/N)? What are you doing here?” he groans, tugging her arms in and closing the door after her. (Y/N) attacks him in a tight hug, slightly shivering from the cold rain outside, and after a few seconds, Nate hugs her back.

“You’re okay?”

“Can we talk in your room?”

“Uh, I don’t-”

(Y/N) doesn’t let him give any excuse and she pulls him into the living room, but before she can reach the space, he pulls her to a halt.

“Hey, we can’t go there, I’m kinda, um, doing something. What’s wrong?”

She sighs, “Nate, I’m so sorry, okay? I didn’t mean it when I called you someone else’s name and that’s the stupidest thing I ever did but please don’t go, okay? You’re all I have.”

Nate laughs, “God, you’re really worried about that? I get it, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.”

“It is, really. But tell me one thing, though-” he pulls her arms, and pins her against the wall. (Y/N) smiles, staring into his blue orbs. “Is this Rafe more handsome than me?”

“Hey man, we really can’t wait-” a voice starts from the direction of the living room, and before (Y/N) can move away, the voice rings again. “Ah. Of course.”

Oh my god.

She misses him too much. His hair is messier than ever, his eyes bloodshot and his nose red. (Y/N) wonders how many lines he did, but judging from the distant look in his eyes, she’s guessing a lot.

“Rafe,” she whispers, getting closer to the boy she missed and letting his smell engulf her. 

“Rafe?” Nate quirks a brow because this isn’t making any sense. Why would she called his friend the name-

Of course.

Rafael is Rafe.

So this is the guy.

His childhood friend is ‘the Rafe’ of the girl he’s starting to fall for.

After so many hours of trying to find the Rafe she accidentally called him, he hadn’t thought of his own childhood friend to be the guy all along.

Growing up, he have been told to call him Rafael up until the day he moved to New York. 

He can’t believe it.

“Rafe,” she calls again, this time following Rafe out to the living room. “Rafe, listen to me.”

“You moved on too fast.”

“I haven’t moved on, Rafe, fuck, I swear I haven’t,” she expresses. “Please. Listen to me.”

“You were mad at me for doing a line from some bitch’s back and you’re, you’re o-out here, under my own fucking friend’s arms and- did y’all fucked?”

“What?” she gasps, “God, Rafe, no. No. I will never fuck anyone other than you.”

“Yeah?” Rafe raises a brow and lets out a shrill laugh. “God, I don’t even know if I can trust you.”

“You can, Rafe,” she steps forward, trying to reach his face with her cold fingers. The anger she felt before suddenly dissipates into the thin air because god, she did not realize how much she has been missing this boy more than anything in the world.

Her everything.

Rafe flinches away, “Stop. Do you know how miserable I am the past few weeks without you?”

“Don’t turn this on me now, Rafe.” “And you’re out here with fucking Nate Hamilton. Jesus fucking Christ.”

“Rafe, it’s not like that,” Nate suddenly steps in, and (Y/N) gives him a warning look not to say anything more. He ignores her, “Are we not going to talk about how you disregard her just because of her status on this fucking island?”

“God, always with your equality shit,” Rafe groans. “You guys deserve each other. I can’t believe you will ever do this to me, Nate.”

What hurt Rafe more isn’t the fact that she was all pinned under his arms, but it was because Nate knew about their relationship. Rafe had told him everything about her ever since they first started dating, and he hadn’t just lost her tonight.

He lost his childhood friend too.

“I’m leaving,” he says, rubbing his nose and sniffing. Rafe isn’t sure how many lines he has done, but his mind is getting lighter and lighter and the lights are turning blurry. 

He can’t stand being in the same room as them. He will fucking drive if he has to.

(Y/N) bites her lips, trying to stop herself from bursting into tears. So they know each other? Why won’t Rafe ever tell her about him? Is this still her fault? She wasn’t even cheating on him. They’re not together.

Right?

Are they together?

“Hey, you’re okay?”

(Y/N) pulls her hands away, stepping away from the blonde boy and walking towards the exit. She has to leave this house as soon as possible. The once comforting bright color of the wall seems so dull and suffocating now, and she longs for the familiar blue paint of Rafe’s room.

She wants Rafe. 

No one else.

Just him.

“Just me?” Rafe smiled. “Hey, hey, I got a surprise for you.”

“Rafe, I hate surprises,” (Y/N) groaned, throwing her head back against the headrest. “You bought me a dress before!”

“Look-” he smiled, showing her a gold ring in a small velvet box. “It’s a ring.”

“Oh my god, it looks like yours!” (Y/N) exclaimed, clutching his hand with the ring and comparing the color. 

“Of course it’s the same ring. You’re my wife, I’m not going to buy you a different kind.”

“Wife?”

“What? Am I not your husband?”

(Y/N) wishes for nothing but Rafe. 

She presses on his contact again, turning her phone downside and moving the speaker nearer to her lips.

“Rafe, please call me back. I miss you, and we can fix this, okay? I didn’t know about Nate and I was so, so stupid. I can never replace you, Rafe. You’re mine, remember? Please. Call me back. I miss you.”

She sighs, setting her phone down on her lap and watches as the rain patters down her front windscreen heavily.

Love is a hell of a drug.

-

@okayshoto @joselyn001 @onceuponateenagetrash @dyingsleeping @iwannabeapogue @meaganjm @rafesobxs @flossy2929 @unfortunatekiwitrash @scottybitch @asimpwriter @amaya124 @tommy-tommo @thatshithurted8 @fallincindy @marvelwhor3 @rafeswh0ree @kookap @supernaturallydc-blog @blank-velvet @alaniskauany @kiiim8 @witchywrter @kaitlyn2907 @heyimflo @overcookedpastasause @tsukkiswifeey @spidey-d00d @anonymousobxfan @gotmeinloveagain @chicagoblackhawkslover96 @lexi-writes @classydragonthingknight @belongtoyou-u @badbussylol @savannah-elliott @angelreyesgirl100 @haterpenny @beehappyyy @alwaysclassyeagle @maybankslut @kayleea122 @clearbolts @lovelyxtom @christianaevans @jemimah-b99 @opierdalacz @dangerdolns @wildflowerliv @classygirlything21 @pogueslandia @alwaysclassyeagle @rottenstyx @wxn-drlst

[justauthoring]

Treasure Hunt

Prompt: My treasure to find. A/N: I just watched Goblet of Fire and couldn’t help myself.

Pairing: Cedric Diggory x Reader Word Count: 3,003 Please don’t plagiarize my work!

You were smitten the first second you saw him.

Stood between Hermione and Ginny, your attention had almost instantly been taken by the boy when you saw his charming smile and twinkling lights. Something in your chest had tightened and you felt your cheeks warm, almost on instinct, heart fluttering as he shook hands with Mr. Weasley and his father introduced him as Cedric.

Cedric...

You felt a slight pinch in your side and glancing to your left with a light hiss, your wide eyes found Hermione’s all too knowing ones. She was grinning ear from ear at you, and both embarrassed and appalled at the thought of being caught all but ogling the boy, you turn to Ginny, only to find the almost exact same shit-eating grin on her face.

“Oh, bugger off,” you laugh, shaking your head at the two girls as you quickly move to catch up with the rest. But Hermione and Ginny are right on their tail, and they have no attention of letting this go.

“You totally like him,” Hermione whispers, thankfully so only you and Ginny can hear her. A quick glance at her from the corner of your eye, you can tell she’s laughing and even wiggling her brows a little at you, almost suggestive that makes your cheeks burn even harder then they had before.

“Totally,” Ginny nods, grinning, “though, I can’t blame you. He is...” She doesn’t finish her sentence, but it’s pretty obvious what they mean.

Anxious and determined to get away from their teasing’s, you shoot them a half-hearted glare over your shoulder, picking up the speed in your step so you’re up in the front with the Weasley twins. You were relieved to find out Hermione and Ginny had decided to let it go, for now, but of course, being farther up in the front also meant you were just directly behind Cedric.

And you’re not even really sure what’s wrong with you. You’ve never reacted to some stupid attractive boy before, but for some reason, your heart was hammering madly against your chest. All else seemed to drown to the back of your mind, gaze stuck on the back of Cedric at he laughed along with something his father had said.

He was completely oblivious to you.

Just as you were completely oblivious to the tree root you happen to trip over seconds later. A small yelp leaves your lips as you feel yourself falling forward, mentally prepping yourself for the thud and pain when you hit the ground. However, you never do, and instead, you fall into a pair of arms. You blink, dazed and confused, until you flicker your gaze up to meet Cedric’s own.

Well, he was definitely noticing you now. Maybe just not in the way you wanted.

Your cheeks warmed in embarrassment but Cedric simply just smiled down at you, helping you to your feet. The Weasley twins passed you along the way, and you heard them call out some joke about something being on your mind but you didn’t really have the heart to listen to them. Not with Cedric so close and smiling at you with those warm eyes of his and...

and honestly, what was wrong you? You’d met this boy not five minutes ago.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, yeah,” you breathe, pulling at your shirt to straighten it as you nervously blink up at the much taller boy. “I... I just... just didn’t see the root.”

“Probably not,” he grinned, “especially when you were too busy staring at me.”

He noticed that?

“Pretty hard not to,” Cedric snorted.

You hadn’t even known you’d said that aloud.

Placing a hand to your cheeks, you groan out in embarrassment.

Cedric lets out a laugh. “It’s fine,” he whispers, lowering his voice so you’re the only one who can hear him. He leans closer to him, still holding gently to your arm like he had to catch you, and your breath hitches when he presses his lips directly next to your ear. “I definitely didn’t mind.”

Then he pulls back with a wink, moving to catch up with his father.

You’re stunned still for a moment before Ron and Harry catch up, and the former bumps into you. “What’s up with you?”

They both stare at you, but you don’t reply. A small smile curls onto your lips, eyes stuck on that of Cedric.

-

Later, after the game has finished, Cedric asks if you’d like to hang back with him, explore the grounds a bit more. You’re almost too quick to comply, telling Hermione to let Mr. Weasley know that you’re safe and with him, before rushing off to catch up with him.

Of course, not without Hermione sending a sly wink your way and a call of ‘good luck!’

You spend the entire evening with him, learning more about him. Finding out he went to Hogwarts as well was a surprised to you, and you wonder why you’d never heard of him before; especially because from the look of it, it seemed he was quite popular at the school. You blame on always being so focused in your books and studies.

Yeah, it had to be that.

“You know, I noticed you.”

The statement surprises you. With a blink, lips parting, you glance to your right, looking up at Cedric as he keeps his gaze lower, on his feet. You’re not sure what to say.

“Always with your head in a book,” he laughs lightly, meeting your eyes with a fond look. It catches you by surprise and your cheeks warm lightly in response, stomach fluttering in response. “The only ones who could ever get you to look up were the Weasley Twins. 

With a light, nervous laugh, you shrug; “that’s just because they’re too annoying to ignore.”

“Still,” Cedric laughs, “didn’t make me any less jealous.”

Jealous?

Eyes widening, you turn to Cedric, lips parting to say something but you’re interrupted by the sound of some sort of explosion. It rocks the floor beneath your feet, toppling you over slightly that you fall against Cedric who doesn’t hesitate to help steady you. Frowning, you glance around, eyes widening when you notice fire erupting from somewhere to your left.

It’s then the screaming starts and mass chaos follows. People run madly, without purpose or care for anyone else. Cedric pulls you closer against himself when someone nearly barrels into you and knocks you off your feet.

“What’s happening?” You whisper, turning to Cedric with panicked eyes. 

“We’re under attack,” he mumbles, glancing around, shaking his head. “We’ve got to back to my father or Mr. Weasley. Now.”

He pulls you with him, and you don’t fight his grip, quick to keep up with his pace. You try not to focus too much on the screaming and panic the surrounds you, knowing that it’ll only scared you more; more then it already has. 

Cedric keeps a tight hold of your hand the entire time, not willing to lose you in the crowd. You don’t mind, even if pinches slightly. You don’t want to lose him either.

You catch sight of red and a bout of relief floods you when you find Fred and George. They catch sight of you two, and thus, you also find Ginny and Mr. Weasley. You move to ask where Harry, Hermione and Ron are but suddenly, Fred is grabbing you and pulling you out of Cedric’s grip and between them, urging you to follow them back to the port-key.

“But, wait--” When you turn to find Cedric, he’s already turning back, sending you one last look before rushing off.

Most likely to find his father, still, you can’t help but worry.

-

When you return to Hogwarts for the next year, you don’t expect anything to come out of it.

While you enjoyed that day with Cedric, despite the way it had ended, you didn’t really expect anything to change. You expected life to go back to normal. But from the minute classes started, you found out that in fact was not the case. Cedric seemed to be everywhere you looked. Everywhere.

And it only took him a matter of days before he approached you.

“I’m surprised you even noticed me.” 

He says it with a teasing voice and a bright, grinning smile as he glances down at you. It causes you to roll your eyes lightly, shaking your head as you snort, closing the book in your lap to place your attention fully on him. Cedric takes this as an invitation to sit next to you on the bench, and with a soft blush adorning your cheeks, you let your eyes wander aimlessly across the courtyard.

“It’s hard not to,” you tease lightly, smirking over at him. “You’re everywhere I look now.”

“I told you,” Cedric shrugs, “you were always too busy reading to notice me. We’ve always had classes together.” With that, he reaches forward, snatching the book from your lap to which you react with a soft gasp, shaking your head as he inspects it closely. Brows furrowing, he turns back to you; “a muggle book?”

“They’re a lot more interesting then you’d think,” you huff, snatching the book back and quickly shoving it into your book bag. “Thank you very much.”

Cedric laughs, “i’m only teasing you, you know.”

Meeting his eyes, you smile lightly. “I know,” you nod, voice soft. 

Silence echoes for a moment. Cedric’s shoulder softly touches your own, and you can’t help the way your heart beats erratically against your chest. It’s a comfortable silence, not at all awkward, but you can’t help the way you instinctively react to him being so close.

It’s honestly, unfair.

“I’m going to put my name in .”

And then the silence is interrupted and your heart starts pounding for an entirely different reason.

Turning to look at Cedric, your eyes widen. “What?” You ask softly, voice a whisper.

He meets your gaze with a gentle frown. He knew you’d be concerned, it’s why he had to tell you. “I know it’s dangerous, but...” and then he trails and even though you don’t know him all that well, even though you’ve only really started talking and being friends, you understand what he means. “But i’m going to.”

True to his word, the very next week, you watch as Cedric drops his name into the Goblet of Fire. He’s surrounded by his friends, as they all celebrate with him, their laughter echoing amongst the room. You’re too busy trying to pull a old Fred off of an old George to be able to celebrate with Cedric, even though you do feel his eyes wander on your back.

But you’re sure, even if you could, you don’t know how much you’d be celebrating.

And when his name is pulled, and the chaos of Harry also being chosen has dissipated, you make it your goal to avoid Cedric best you can. Part of you knows you’re being selfish and silly. That you were acting irrationally, but you really did care about Cedric and you were scared to get closer to him knowing what kind of game he was throwing himself into. People died in these tournaments, and stupidly, you thought maybe if you distanced yourself from him, the worry would lessen.

That wasn’t the case at all. In fact, you only worried more but just from the sideline. From a distance. Cedric had tried to approach you a few times leading up to the games, but you’d promptly rushed off the other direction any time he had. You ignored him in class and stuck by your few friends, busying yourself with him.

Then, the first challenge came about. Watching Cedric all but battle a dragon and nearly die more then once made you realize, avoiding him was pointless. You wouldn’t stop worrying no matter what, and you certainly didn’t want to witness his hurt expression any time you walked away from him one more time. It was already breaking your heart.

You found him easily enough after his challenge. Fleur was up next and then Harry, but you found yourself unable to stick around and watch.

You needed to find Cedric.

He was just finishing being patched up and healed from the fight when you came into the tent, the nurse leaving just as you entered. His eyes had snapped up in surprise at the sound of a visitor, but widened even further when he saw the visitor was in fact you.

A bundle of nerves flooded your entire being. You hesitantly stepped into the tent, wringing your hands nervously before yourself, as you slowly made your way over to him. You wordlessly took a seat next to him, and for a moment, silence hung in the air.

Then, you spoke. “I’m glad you’re alright.”

Cedric nodded. “I wasn’t sure you cared all that much anymore.”

His words stung, but you couldn’t blame him for saying them either. “I’m sorry,” you whisper after a moment, finally glancing over to meet his eyes. “I’m sorry for ignoring you. I just... I just couldn’t bear the thought of these challenges taking you away from me, and I didn’t want to ruin your excitement about them either. So I just sort of...--”

“Pretended I didn’t exist?”

“Yeah,” you cringe, “i’m sorry...”

“It’s fine,” Cedric assures and you ease, shoulders falling when you notice a smile curling onto his lips. Your lips part however when he slips his hand into your own, the act intimate and gentle as he squeezes. He doesn’t tear his gaze away from you. “I don’t plan on going anywhere, Y/N. I promise.”

Smiling softly, you squeeze his hand in return; “yeah?”

He nods, without hesitation. “Yeah.”

-

Cedric had asked you to be his date to the Yule Ball. When he had, you felt as if your legs would give out from beneath you.

But now, wrapped up in arms, swaying softly to the tune of the music, you’re so glad you said yes. Even if, in the moment, there had been no doubt that you would, you’d been afraid you wouldn’t be able to force the words out. To physically say yes, you were so star-struck. Yet, you had, and you couldn’t be more happy.

When you lean back to glance up at Cedric, you’re all smiles and twinkling eyes. You realize then, that you’re one of the last two pairs still there and dancing, a lot having gone off to bed. How the time had escaped you, you’re not even sure.

You’d been so round up by Cedric.

Your eyes flutter in response as he uses one hand to brush back a strand of curled hair out of your face, leaning into his touch. The silence that echoes around you is completely comfortable, there’s no need to speak you find. Your actions and gazes are enough to tell each other how the other feels. You hold tight to Cedric, wishing this moment would never end.

When he presses his lips against your own, you’re stunned at first. It takes you about a minute to snap out of your revere and return the kiss. But when you do, it’s full of passion. You curl into him, pressing yourself firmly against him as everything in the background seems to fade to nothingness and all you can focus on is him, is him being so close, is him finally kissing you like you’ve wanted him to since you first saw him.

You pull back breathless, and Cedric settles for letting his forehead rest against your own.

“I’ve been waiting to do that for years.”

-

You wake with a startling gasp. Water spills from your lips as you choke and gasp, trying to find the air you so desperately need. 

Once you do, it’s then you notice the arms holding you. You’re pressed firm against a chest, with a towel wrapped around you to keep you warm. It helps, even though your body shakes lightly in response, and instinctively, you cuddle into the warmth, confused.

Bewildered even.

You catch sight of the lake, and then you remember.

Turning to the right, a smile curls onto your lips as you find Cedric’s gaze. He’s smile at you, solely on you, despite those of his friends and more that cheer around him. A quick glance around tells you what you need to do, and your smile brightens when you realize he’d been the first one up.

He’d won the second challenge.

“It’s all thanks to you.” Cedric grins.

You’d said that aloud too, huh?

“I’m not sure I did all that much,” you shrug, shaking your head. “I was just asleep, really.”

Holding you close and firm, Cedric shakes his head. “You gave me the push I needed.” He whispers, so only that you can hear him. “You’re my treasure. You always have been.”

Your heart flutters again, pounding erratically against your chest. But you don’t shy away, not this time. No, instead, you lean forward, pressing your lips against his own, as cheers erupt madly around you all in response.

They fade with Viktor Krum emerges from the water. But you don’t mind. You’re only focused on Cedric, like you’ve always been.

-

He’d promised...

He’d said...

His fathers screams echo in the back of your mind. The chaos that ensues around is distant, as if somewhere entirely else. All you can see, all you can focus on... as usual, is Cedric. But this time, it’s his laying, lifeless, and limp body that you can’t tear your gaze away from.

He’s... He’s dead.

I’m not going anywhere.

He turns blurry as your eyes water. You curl into yourself, frozen where you’re stood, heart wrenching, body shaking, desperately trying to force yourself to move, to get to him, But you can’t. You just can’t. It feels as if you’re stuck in place, frozen solid.

He can’t... Cedric can’t be dead.

But he is. He is dead.

He’s gone...

-

Let me know what you thought?

[skelelephant]

Hello!! I listened to your Jared Hopworth playlist the other day and really loved it! Was wondering if you share your thoughts on why you picked some songs/how they relate to him. Basically I just want to know how you see him lol Thanks for your time!!

Anon I am holding your hands in my own so earnestly as I say this but THANK YOU for this ask and thank you for enjoying my playlist!!!

You sent this ages ago and I was very excited about it! And then school and life immediately sapped all the energy from my body, BUT—

I am always so very down to talk about my boy he holds a very special place in my heart. Also you said some songs but I’m just. I’m just gonna break down the entire playlist cause now I have an excuse

But I’ll put it under the cut bc I’m going to talk a lot ✨

(also cw for some brief discussions of emotional abuse and general Flesh-related stuff below)

ANYWAY. Onto the brainrot:

1. Dirty Town - Mother Mother

So this one is up first ‘cause it’s a song about being dissatisfied with where you live, wanting to leave and go somewhere else, etc etc. I saw that kind of dissatisfaction in Jared a lot through his statement in MAG 131, where he talks about not doing well in school or really seeing a future for himself, as well as Sebastian’s comment in MAG 17 about Jared thinking Sebastian leaving him there was “something of a betrayal.” (Though I know this song is more small town/country and Chiswick seems like a pretty bustling area lmao so the vibes aren’t exact)

2. Be Nice To Me - The Front Bottoms

So this song is perhaps The Jared Song Ever. It’s just *chefs kiss* perfect. Like the accidental (or purposeful) destruction of self to fit a narrative assigned to you so that you inevitably become a self-fulfilling prophecy?? How that behaviour ends up destroying good relationships and pushing people away but you’re in too deep to really reverse course??? It makes me think about Jared and Sebastian’s friendship breaking down as they grow apart and change as people but still aren’t able to fully rid themselves of like. That childish fondness you still have for your old friends. (You’re gonna find I have a lot of thoughts and feelings about Sebastian Adekoya also)

3. Angel Eyes and Basketball by Foot Ox

Once again I am thinking about Jared becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy of anger and acting out and not being able to stop it.

[ID: a screenshot of lyrics that read “I am calling all of my friend to pull me out from this hole, But they’re so caught up in their own shit, And I’m so caught up in my own shit. End ID.]

This bit in particular reminds me of how Jared said he went through friends pretty fast, and how Sebastian was probably his only true long-lasting friend. But even Sebastian couldn’t stay and try to help him forever.

4. Father - The Front Bottoms

I have a lot of thoughts about Jared’s parents honestly, particularly his dad, most of which are me projecting. I won’t get into too much of that mess however I do think about the bit from MAG 131 where Jared says “But they were scared, and that felt good, even back then. It felt right. My Dad was proud of it too. He was a short man, bully, and watching me loom over people really made him happy.” And I think about Jared simultaneously having a strained relationship with his father while also doing everything he could to make him proud, even if that meant being just as much of a bully as him.

5. Days - The Drums

We’re circling back around to his relationship with Sebastian with this one. I think as dismissive as Jared is when addressing Sebastian in his statement during 131, Jared had kind of grown to depend on him for a lot, emotionally speaking. Kind of the break when you’re talking about someone’s only real friend growing up. The song itself is pretty upbeat so I’m reaching a little, (and I’ll reach pretty far ngl) but I do think about Jared feeling like he’s finally lost the only person that actually cared about him when Sebastian leaves for uni, so now he’s got to go it alone and abandon that childhood friendship.

6. Brave as a Noun - AJJ

Ngl I think about “And God knows I could make amends, But I’ve got an angry heart”, in relation to Jared realizing he’s tearing apart the one good friendship he ever while simultaneously not knowing how to Not Do That so often. I firmly believe that Jared and Sebastian actually legitimately cared about each other, but Jared was heading in a direction Sebastian couldn’t save him from and it ended up destroying their friendship.

[ID: a screenshot of lyrics that read “I could go off the deep end, I could kill all my best friends, I could follow stylish trends, And God knows I could make amends, But I've got an angry heart, Filled with cancers and poppy tarts, If this is how you folks make art it's fucking depressing. End ID.]

7. Bullfighter Jacket - Miniature Tigers

Surprise surprise I am talking to you about Jared and Sebastian’s friendship once again with this one. This ones a bit of a “I’m reaching/it’s really just one lyric” sort of song but I think the vibe is good for them.

[ID: a screenshot of lyrics that read “Now nothing seems to stay the same, I’m terrified to lose you, but more afraid to change (Oh!) End ID.]

This bit in particular makes me think about like. Jared in the process of realizing that the way he’s turned out is driving away his best friend, but he doesn’t have any sort of identity outside of being a general menace. This is all he’s got, and he’s sticking with it, but he also doesn’t want to lose Sebastian. So this turns into him seeking Sebastian out to be a menace to him directly cause it’s the only way he knows how to connect with people anymore.

8. What Can I Do If the Fire Goes Out? - Gang of Youths

This song is part of my agenda to get more people to listen to the rest of this album besides Achilles Come Down (ironically also on this playlist but we’ll get to that later.) Anyway stream Go Farther In Lightness. But REALLY this song is about abandonment, and Jared is just. Rife with abandonment issues. We know this, we love him, maybe go to therapy king <3

Anyway struggling to maintain connections but ultimately losing them or questioning whether or not you really needed them in the first place really fits in well with him I think.

9. Garden Song - Phoebe Bridgers

Ohhhh the passage of time and dwelling on old wounds that are healed over but not forgotten, just made peace with. Plus it’s about gardens and growth and if you’ve read any of my other long winded “I’m very emotional about Jared rn” posts you’ll know I have BIG feelings about Jared’s domain being a garden. I’ll spare you that whole emotional rollercoaster here but personally I think Jared can have,,,, a little healing. Not that I’m projecting very hard onto this monster man or anything but I think the implications of him “growing” things in the end speaks for itself.

10. Misery Fell - Tally Hall

This song is in here for Sebastian! Honestly I’ve fleshed out Sebastian’s character a lot purely based on my own unhinged headcanoning, so this one especially might seem like a reach since it’s mostly based on my own interpretation of a character we only get a single statement from. But I think this song’s story about a town with a unique relationship with books and knowledge and an outside force that changes that relationship very suddenly fits well for him.

11. Bad Habits - FIDLAR

This one is really just what it says on the tin, it’s a song about bad habits and why someone might engage in them, how they can provide comfort despite their unhealthiness and prove themselves to be really hard to break. And it’s got that extra flavour of being scared/uncertain about your future that I think informs a lot of Jared’s character. Plus I think I could see Jared liking this song in-fiction truthfully.

12. I Wanna Get Better - Bleachers

Okay so this song in particular is entirely my very specific interpretation of Jared’s character that is,,, mostly projection. Look, I know what canon says but We’re Not Looking At Canon right now. And in my heart of hearts I think Jared did have the capacity to heal and get better, and because I think writing him off as something purely evil and inhuman does a disservice to the character. So this song is mostly *recognition of self through the other* from one former big angry teenager (me) to another (fictional) former big angry teenager.

13. Trouble - Cage The Elephant

This one is also mostly vibes based but it’s got a weariness to it that I associate a lot with s5 Jared. Like if we think about it— Jared is in his forties or thereabouts by the time MAG171 rolls around. There was a lot of violence and acting out and physicality to most of his earlier appearances that aren’t really reflected in 171. He does threaten to try and get a “few good hits in” when Jon shows up to smite him, but think about how quickly he lets go of that?? I’ve mentioned this in other posts but I genuinely don’t think that earlier seasons Jared would’ve backed down in that situation, even if he knew he’d lose, which just goes to show how much he’s changed by the time s5 rolls around.

14. Skeleton Appreciation Day - Will Wood and the Tapeworms

This one just feels very Fleshcore honestly, both with the focus being on bones and also the theme of body image/intimacy issues. Like I love the butcher aesthetic believe me, (just look at my main TMA oc lmao) but sometimes I think people forget the other areas and fears that the Flesh extends to. But that’s a whole other post honestly I could talk about how reductive the fandom gets with the Flesh just as much as I could talk about how reductive they are with Jared LMAO

15. Body - Mother Mother

Listen. I am not immune to The Flesh Song Ever. I’m just SAYING if the shoe fits HHEHDHFHF

But rlly a lot of the notes from the last song apply here too. One day I’ll write a rambling post about the Flesh itself..... one day

16. Real Men - Mitski

This song was given to me by a mutual (hi Calvin if you’re reading this) and OH the toxic masculinity hurting inward as much as it does outward and how that reflects in Jared’s character is just.... so fitting. Like I think on the surface level most people get that Jared’s character is informed a lot by toxic masculinity and how it’s taught and learned and ultimately rewarded and encouraged. Jared learns from his father that it’s good to be strong and mean, good to put others beneath you. He’s rewarded for being like that to the point where when that strength stops serving him he doesn’t really have any other place in the world, which ultimately makes him a perfect candidate for the Boneturner’s Tale.

17. Achilles Come Down - Gang of Youths

Ik for a few weeks there this was everyone’s blorbo from my shows song (and rightly so, it fucks, once again listen to the whole album I am BEGGING—) but I think it fits Jared well bc of the self-destructive tendencies and hopelessness on display here. Jared said it himself in MAG131, he couldn’t see a future for himself, he was just acting out bc that’s all he had left. The one person who he thought actually cared about him (in his eyes) betrayed him and left him behind too. And I like this song bc it’s being sung from the perspective of someone trying to prevent Achilles from jumping. Makes me think about how Sebastian very well could have done his best to keep Jared on a good path, keep their friendship together, but ultimately there comes a time where the strain is too much, and you have to let a person go.

18. Just Take My Wallet - Jack Stauber’s Micropop

This is. The MAG17 song. This Is It. Jared’s mom is another character I think a lot about, but that shouldn’t be surprising at this point if you’ve actually made it this far into this post. I think she was as much a victim of Jared’s father’s “bullying” as Jared was, and based on Jared’s recollection of her I don’t think she took a very active role in making sure Jared was protected from that. But I think people forget that she was one of— if not the first people we know Jared tested his powers on. And I think often about how she saw what this book was doing to her son and the monster it was turning him into and she STILL somehow managed to get it away from him to return it to the library. She ultimately tried to protect her kid from what the Boneturner’s Tale was doing to him. Also this bit??? This bit at the end??????

[ID: screenshot of lyrics that read “What's the softest way to say, You took away my friend, my buddy? What's the kindest way to say, You took away my friend? What's the kindest way to say, You took away my friend, my buddy? What's the kindest way to say, The end?” End ID.]

Is this Jared talking about Sebastian leaving him? Is this Sebastian in the years that follow Jared’s disappearance wrestling with the guilt of bringing the Boneturner’s Tale to him and hating it for taking his friend away before they could even attempt to reconcile their friendship? Either way I’m distraught!

19. I Guess It Could Be Looked at as an Escape, or as a Chance to Start Over - Flatsound

So this song doesn’t have any words, but from title and vibes alone I thought it followed song 18 really well. Because if you think about what the Boneturner’s Take offered Jared it *could* be looked at as an escape or a chance to start over. It was the lifeline he needed to escape what he was certain would be a bitter and miserable existence, though of course it didn’t come without cost, so the melancholic and lonely sound of the song itself reflects that really well.

20. Banks - Lincoln

Another song given to me by a mutual! (Hi Hope :3c)

This is a more recent edition and I forgot to actually arrange it in the playlist BUT REGARDLESS this one circles back around to Jared and Sebastian bc I think way too much about the two of them before MAG17. This is once again a lot of wishful thinking a projection that maybe Jared and Sebastian could have worked things out. Theres an AU in my head where they actually manage to talk and sort things out when Sebastian comes back from university

[ID: a screenshot of lyrics that read: I want the catharsis of knowing, something bad’s about to happen, but also knowing that I can’t do anything about it, because your new house just don’t shine, quite like the one you grew up in used to, I wanna come and visit, I wanna see this through, but, I never will because you’re just not what I need, and I am just not what you want, though you’re in everyone I meet and. End ID.]

Also this verse??? I’ll take close friends who drifted apart but still care very deeply for each other on some level for $100

ANYWAY. THATS IT

Once again I am shaking your hand if you’ve read this entire rambling thing, and THANK U AGAIN ANON for giving my an opportunity to talk about how much I care about Jared Hopworth.

[spideyhexx]

take a chance on me - b.b.

here's something I wrote for @buckyblues 4k writing challenge! I've been wanting to get back into writing, so here's my first go at it :)

using the song prompt "take a chance on me by abba." @edenslibrary

be sure to let me know what you think :) reblogs, likes and comments are appreciated 😊

bucky barnes x reader

summary: bucky has a crush on you. he's doubtful of himself, messes up, but turns it around.

WARNINGS: sfw. fluffy. some tiny tiny angst. bucky being self deprecating. huge hate of chekhov. bookstore owner!reader.

word count: 2.3k

Bucky replays his conversation with you a billion times within the couple of minutes it takes for him to walk from the quaint little book shop to his apartment.

After his favorite bookstore closed, Bucky took to finding a new one and stumbled upon the Murky Lime. He thought the name was strange, a little off putting, but as soon as he walked in, Bucky knew he was going to enjoy spending his afternoons there. It always smelled like hazelnut or vanilla, a scent he found so incredibly comforting that he bought a hazelnut scented candle for his home. Although it was a small shop, the shelves were loaded with books and he was able to find a hidden corner to sit down and read for a couple of hours, unbothered.

Not to mention the pretty girl that worked at the main desk and seemed to be the owner. You were there every afternoon that Bucky stopped by. He noticed how you would paint your nails when there weren’t as many customers. How kind your words were to anyone who asked for help. It took him a couple of weeks to work up the courage to ask you to help him find a book, even though he knew exactly where it was.

Bucky remembers when he complimented your bracelet and you smiled, stuttering out a thank you. The first time he saw you nervous. It gave him hope that maybe you were into him, but Bucky pushed away those thoughts as quickly as they came.

He couldn’t fathom how someone would truly want to be with him. Besides, he had enough on his plate, what with helping Sam on whatever mission he called him on and dealing with the occasional nightmare that haunted his mind.

That’s why he keeps on replaying the conversation. And cursing at himself for being so stupid.

…

“Hey Bucky!” Your words were cheerful, causing heat to rise up on his cheeks. You loved how a simple greeting seemed to get him all flustered. He’s still not used to even hearing his name come from your lips.

“How’re you doing, doll?” He lets the endearment slip, hoping he’d get to see you smile, and you do, before turning away and pointing at a box.

“I’m alright! And if you don’t mind, and you can totally say no, but I got a whole new set of Chekhov plays and I need to bring them to the play section, which is the furthest point from here and the box is a bit too heavy and I was going to make multiple trips but now you’re here and-”

“Of course I’ll help,” Bucky responded, chuckling at your babbling. You sighed, secretly hating your rambling habit, but it was hard not to when a handsome man was standing in front of you.

“I thought you hated Chekhov?” Bucky asked, picking up the box and following you to the play section.

“Oh I do, but a customer has been calling in for the last three weeks, asking if we have Chekhov and I thought I should finally put my Chekhov hating ass aside to appease the people who adore him,” you told him.

You couldn’t remember when you told Bucky you hated Chekhov, but you did not necessarily need to say it for someone to understand your distaste for the author.

“Or they could’ve just gone to a different bookstore,” Bucky mumbled, but you heard and let out a laugh. He put the box down and leaned against the opposite book shelf, hoping you would continue talking to him as you put the books away.

“So, I had another question for you,” you said, sneaking one glance at him before looking away.

“Go for it.”

“I was wondering if you wanted to go out sometime? Not sure where but we could just go get some coffee? Or go out to dinner?”

This was it, the penultimate moment Bucky had been dreaming about ever since he laid eyes on you. Yet his mouth began speaking before he could really take it in.

“Um, no,” he said, immediately widening his eyes at your expression. Your mouth dropped to say something, but you weren’t sure what to even say.

“I mean, I don’t know. I don’t think I can, right now, maybe?” You raised an eyebrow at him and smiled softly.

“It’s okay to say no, Bucky.”

“I know that, I know. I think I’m just not ready right now,” he said, his voice quieter as he said the last part. His brain was screaming at him to retract everything he had just said to you and to tell you he would go on a date, but Bucky could not do it. He already felt like he had failed and saw no point in trying.

“That’s okay. But...if you ever change your mind, let me know, I’d still be down,” you said.

You were slightly disappointed, but understood his reasoning even if he didn't give you an exact one.

Ever since he first came to your shop, you knew exactly who the tall, blue eyed man was. It was hard trying to comprehend everything James Bucky Barnes had gone through. You knew asking him out might’ve been a big step from having occasional small talk. A small part of you hoped he would take a chance on you someday.

...

Bucky throws his jacket haphazardly onto the couch as soon as he gets home, not caring that it ends up falling to the floor. He lights the candle on the kitchen counter and collapses onto the couch face first, letting out the sigh that was building up in him ever since he left the Murky Lime.

How could he do that? Was he actually not ready to date? He told himself he wasn’t, that’s why he felt like he had to say no to your date. But god, does Bucky want to go out with you and hold your hand and kiss your cheek. He hasn’t felt this feeling in a long while.

All the therapy sessions with Dr. Raynor flood his mind. The ones where she encouraged him to try dating and finding new friends but he brushed it off, feeling like he was unworthy of it. How could a sweet girl like you see something in him, he simply did not understand it. But you liked him enough to ask him on a date and he fucking said no.

Bucky sends Sam a quick text that’s more like an entire paragraph explaining the situation and what he should do. He throws his phone to the other side of the couch and drops his head into his hands. His phone pings a few seconds later and Bucky scrambles to grab it.

I think you’re just afraid of dating buck. You’re definitely ready, you’ve done so much work to be yourself again and I’ve seen that in you. If you like her AND she mentioned still going out if you changed your mind??? Go get her, man. Take the chance. If it doesn’t work out and you really aren’t ready, then that’s okay too. But it’s clearly eating you up that you said no, so just go to her.

...

You button up your coat and stuff your phone into your pocket, straining your head to the side to double check the time. Closing the store required a particular routine that you perfected, but you did not expect to see Bucky’s face at the front door. He did not notice you looking at him and you see the hesitation in his hands before he opens the door.

“Hey,” he says, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets.

“Hello again.” Bucky gives you a stiff grin and rocks on his feet for a few moments. The silence is deafening and it’s just about too awkward for you to handle.

“Is there uh..something you want?” He glances up and your eyes lock with his pretty blue eyes. You feel like you could gaze into them all day.

“Yeah, if you’re still up for it, I would like to go on that date with you. I’ve been afraid to put myself out there, but you’re so kind and beautiful..” his words trail off and he’s distracted for a moment at how you’re biting your lip nervously.

“I wanted to take a chance, so yes, let’s go on a date.”

“Do you wanna go now?” Bucky raises his brow and nods. You run to the back door to make sure it’s locked. When you come back, you see that Bucky took it upon himself to turn a few of the lights off and he hands you your purse.

“What a gentleman, huh?” He blushes and moves to open the door for you. You lock it up and turn to him.

“Does a walk in the park sound like a good idea?”

“Perfect.”

Since it was almost evening time, the park was not as busy. Bucky prefers it that way, and you do too. He’s so close to you, you can smell the little bit of cologne he must’ve put on. You want to tease him for it but decide not to. Instead, you purposely brush your hand against his own and Bucky immediately takes your hand in his.

“Maybe after this we could get dinner,” Bucky suggests.

“That would be nice. You can pick where.” Bucky thinks for a moment before responding.

“There’s this diner..a couple of blocks from your shop actually. It was there back in….you know.” Now that he’s thinking about it, he wasn’t sure you knew. He doesn’t wear gloves to hide his vibranium arm anymore and it’s an easy google search but you never showed any indication you knew about his past.

“I know about your past, Bucky. I won’t ask anything about it if-”

“No, it’s okay. I can talk about it.”

You nod. You're not planning to scour his brain about the haunting details of his life as the Winter Soldier, but you were curious about his life before that.

“Does it look the same as it did back then? The diner, I mean.”

“For the most part. There’s some newer technology in there and updated furniture but the style is all the same. It’s kind of nice to go somewhere familiar.”

The two of you walk over to an empty bench and take a seat. Your hands are still intertwined, resting on Bucky’s thigh.

“One more question about the 30s and 40s and then we can head on over to the diner,” you say, making Bucky laugh and nod his head at you to continue.

“How were dates back then? Like would you do the same thing we’re doing now or was there anything different?”

“It’s mostly the same,” he tells you. Bucky looks down at your hand, admiring how you rub your thumb against his hand.

“But there were these dances. I haven’t seen anything like them nowadays.”

“I think the closest thing we have to that is nightclubs. I’m gonna assume that is not your scene,” you say, giggling at his disgusted expression.

“It isn’t. I like forties music. I tried to listen to newer stuff and it’s not all terrible, but still not my favorite. I don’t think anyone in a nightclub will play Tommy Dorsey or Dinah Shore.” You ponder that for a moment as he turns to observe what else is going on in the park.

Quickly, you take out your phone.

“What are you doing?” All you do is smile at him, setting your phone down on the bench and standing up in front of him. He raises an eyebrow suspiciously as you hold your hand out.

“Mr. Barnes, can I have this dance?” Bucky takes a look around. There were a few people around who seemed to not take notice of the music coming from your phone.

“Gladly,” he accepted, taking your hand. Bucky placed one hand on your hip and pulled you in closer to him.

“I must admit, I know this was my idea, but I don’t know how to dance,” you whisper to him. Bucky shakes his head, smiling so wide he thought his mouth would start hurting. He slowly moves his feet side to side.

“Just this is fine,” he mutters. He tries not to take his eyes off yours, but you’re so close and Bucky can’t help but look at your lips, slightly parted and letting out deep breaths. He moves your hand rest on his shoulder, both of his own now holding your hips.

You trail your fingers from his shoulder to behind his neck, clasping your hands there.

“Thank you for this,” Bucky says and he hums along to the song playing, ‘Be Careful, It’s My Heart’ by Frank Sinatra. You smile at it, so he keeps humming. Bucky leans his forehead against yours.

“I know it’s not perfect-”

“Doesn’t matter. It’s with you. And this is...it’s nice.” You feel like your heart is going to burst. His eyes keep flitting down to your lips and Bucky leans in.

As his lips ghost against yours, you move your head, so he ends up kissing your cheek. He pulls back, a confused look on his face.

“Save that for the end of the date, honey,” you tease, leaning up to kiss his cheek. You linger your lips against his skin before moving away from him and his scoff turns into a laugh.

“I’m holding you to that,” he says, biting the inside of his cheek.

“I hope you do” you mumble and Bucky pulls you in close to him, making you squeal. He twirls you and brings you back into his arms, his lips touching the top of your ear.

“Let’s go get some dinner now.” You nod and grab your phone, opting to let the music keep playing. Bucky doesn’t hesitate from telling you random music facts about the artists as you make your way to the diner.

And as you ramble on about your own favorite singer, Bucky thanks the heavens that he took a chance on you and that it was going better than he ever imagined.

[colossal-fallout]

@cursedranger121​ asks;  Mikasa x Male Bodied Reader modern setting. MBR Mikasa at a party. I'll let you pick kinks used, but any possessive elements from Mikasa in it would just be *chefs kiss* perfection.

Male Reader X Mikasa Ackerman - Modern AU 

AN: Sorry if this seems a little rushed. I was half way through earlier and Tumblr decided not to save the draft. It’s not the first time it’s happened either... sigh. 

Warnings: NSFW. 18+ Orgasm denial. Smut. Alcohol consumption. Slight possessiveness. 

Your stomach flutters and churns with eagerness and excitement as you pull up to the booming house, the siren call of a night of fun and debauchery calling your name.  

As you step out of the cab, your name is already called over the music from the people spilled out onto the lawn. You turn your head to see Eren and Jean standing with a beer in hand, raising them at you in a greeting. You begin to walk towards your friends as the cab makes its way back down the long, isolated country lane. Historia’s house is ideal for parties. It’s nestled within the middle of nowhere. No one is to be disturbed and the chance of someone calling the cops for a noise complaint is minimal.  

“What took you so long?” Jean asks before putting the glass bottle to his lips.  

“Work.” You sigh, gladly taking a fresh bottle Eren hands you.

The hiss of the suds is like music to your ears as you finally get to have fun with your friends after a long week. You relish the bubbles and foam that dance on your tongue with a bitter tang, the sound of laughter from within the house already lifting your spirits to a higher place.  

Your attention is pulled when Historia calls your name in a greeting and a wave from the porch as she keeps her farmhand boyfriend company as he sparks up a cigarette.  

The three of you slink over and exchange greetings - Sasha's booming laugh ringing from somewhere inside the house.  

"Mikasa's been looking for you." Historia mutters as Jean and Eren head inside.

Your cock twitches in a hopeful flutter at those words. Your eyebrow arcs as you shrug it off casually.

You and Mikasa had been chatting over the months. You'd even went on a date which had to be cut short because work had called you in. You were sure she'd lost interest until Historia lets out a small giggle.  

"She's been looking forward to you coming."

Maybe you still do have a chance?  

Tampering down your eagerness you nod in thanks for that titbit of information as you follow your best friends into the interior of the Hallway.  

Your memories decided to remind you of the moments your eyes had accidentally rested upon her beautiful chest during a conversation or her peachy ass as you headed up the stairs on your date. Her soft skin, her scent... It drove you wild. Those sweet lips and October sky blues along with that adorable little blush she hued whenever you stared a little too long... you were more than happy to see her again.

An hour went by in the blink of an eye as you caught up with your friends and let loose. Mikasa was indeed happy to see you, greeting you with a warm hug and her smile was evident from across the room. You tried to ignore the sly nudging's from Eren’s elbow and the envious pout from Jean as you chatted with the raven-haired beauty.  

At one point, you were about to take a swig of your drink when Annie purposefully knocked herself into you, your suds soaking the front of your shirt.  

“Ah, shit.” You sigh. “What was that for?”  

“Oh, lighten up.” She beams.  

The pink hue across her cheeks showed she was either drunk or just blushing at your presence; which you seriously doubted.  

“How have you been?” She then asks casually, as if you weren’t now patting your chest dry with your hand fruitlessly.  

“Good thanks. Yourself?”  

Before she can even reply you flinch at the surprisingly soft touch of someone snaking their arm around your waist, followed by a familiar scent.  

“Hey.” Mikasa smiles, giving you a little squeeze.  

Annie’s eyes roll. “Do you mind? We’re kinda in the middle of a conversation.”  

All your mind can focus on in your touch starved state is the feeling of Mikasa’s chest pressing against your arm.  

“Yeah, I do mind.” Mikasa smiles in reply. “He’s with me tonight. Okay?”  

Annie shakes her head and walks away, muttering. “Whatever. Not worth my time anyway.”

The raven-haired beauty pushes her nose against yours, her eyes crossing as they focus on your orbs. “You’re all wet. Come on, let’s get you more comfortable.” She laces her fingers within yours before leading you up the stairs, the building still vibrating under your feet from the thumping music.  

You were expecting her to take you to the bathroom to get dried up. But she’s taken you to one of the spare bedrooms, locking the door behind you and guiding you to sit on the bed. A cool and welcomed breeze rolls over you from the open window, the light drapes floating in the updraft. You weren’t sure why you were focusing on that. Maybe you were nervous, as Mikasa begins to unbutton your wet shirt.  

“We’ll hang it to dry…” she whispers, her eyes enlarging as more of your skin becomes revealed to her. You couldn’t identify why just yet, but as her face came close to yours, all you could think about was that beautiful draft from the damn window. Your head snaps away from hers as she pushes the material down your arms.  

Your mouth becomes dry as her now heavy lidded ocean blues close the gap between you.  

“Mikasa… how much have you had to drink?” you mutter, realizing it was your conscience preventing you to enjoy the moment.  

An etch of crimson sketches across her nose as she shyly glances away. “You’re so sweet. Don’t worry. I’ve only had two drinks all night.”

Her hands then slide up your chest to your shoulders, her slender fingers brushing up and circling your back. “Don’t you want me?”  

Of course, you do.  

You gaze down into her eyes, hopeful with a bittersweet undertone of a fear of rejection. As if you would.  

“YEE YEE!”  

Your heads snap to the window as the sounds of Connie and Sasha heading out into the back yard for air carries up on the breeze above the muffled booms of the bass.  

You both let out a small laugh. You adored your crazy friends.  

Knowing she wasn’t intoxicated; your confidence returns - your hands running through her hair as you firmly pull her gaze to yours.  

“I want you too. You’re so beautiful…”  

Her blush deepens as you press your lips against hers, a small moan already emitting from her throat. By the sounds of it, she’d wanted you for a while now.  

You’re not sure how long you’d made out with her for. You’d pulled her down to lie next to you, your hands palming her breasts, her hair and shape. But however long you had been, she was a flustered mess – her hair dishevelled and face deep red as your lips trail down her neck, leaving sucks and nips, her skin darkening as you mark her.  You could tell she was becoming desperate for more as her hips begin to absent mindedly grind on your thigh, her sex desperate for some friction from you. Your own throbbing cock was an indication of your own yearning as you sit up slightly, pushing her onto her back. Your hands fumble her shirt, quickly removing it - her breasts spilling out pulling out an unintentional groan from your depths of perversion.  

“Fuck...” You gasp at the sight of her squirming under you.  

Your cock is pulsing, begging to be inside of her as you pull down her pants and sighing as the scent of her arousal rolls down with the material. Her pussy is small and pink, neat and gleaming as if weeping for you to touch it.  

Your hands harshly  

Grab the underside of her thighs, pushing her knees to her chest as you begin to sensually kiss her fluttering slit.  

“Ah~!” She gasps, her chest pushing up and her grip tightening on the sheets beneath her.  

Her taste is like copper with a nice, sweet aftertaste, your finger stroking and teasing her entrance as your tongue harshly bats against her clit. Her eyes clamp close as her entire body tenses and trembles, the ignition of your act lighting up the kerosene of her yearning for you.  

You push your finger inside of her, followed by a second before you curl them and beckon at her g-spot as she melts into the palm of your hand in gasps and moans. You can’t actually believe you finally have Mikasa like this, the most vulnerable a person could be as you massage her insides with the pads of your fingers, building her orgasm from the very foundation, each wiggle, each stroke making her more and more hysteric, your name now leaving her parted lips.  

“Do my fingers feel good inside you? Huh?” You breathe onto her slit, her head bobbing in confirmation.  

You return to her nub; flicking and licking, your pace quickening as her wetness starts to splash around onto your wrist, her insides beginning to spasm erratically.  

“Ah, I'm... going to...” She whines, almost shy and embarrassed you were about to see her come undone.  

You slow your pace to a painfully gentle rhythm. “Hold back for me baby... wait for me.”  

Her hands run through her hair as you pull out your cock that’s been begging to be freed for some time now. You grab the base of the shaft, prodding your swollen head at her hole.  

“You ready for me?” You pant.  

“Yes!” She sobs.  

With a long push, you groan loudly as her warm insides embrace your entirety. Each bump and ridge rub you in the exact right way as you slide inside, her walls assisting your movement and pulling you in as she sighs deeply, her nails digging into your arms as you hover over her.  

“Shi~~t...” You hiss. “God, you feel so good.”  

Once you’re at the hilt, you lower yourself to her neck hiding your head into the crook while you begin to slowly dip your hips in and out of her, your moans muffled as you bite and kiss her neck and earlobe whispering all sorts of things. Anything your mind musters up about her.  

“You’re so tight...”  

“Oh baby... fuck... it’s too good...”  

Each slow drag of you, her volume and desperation increase slightly, the wet sounds of her cunt sucking you and pushing you are turning you onto another level while her nails sink into your back, your name leaving her over and over.  

“Please, don’t stop...” She begs, her eyes watering from the intensity of pleasure.  

You rut a little faster, caressing her hair as your cock begins to throb with more violence, the deep feeling in your stomach telling you that your time is almost there.  

“Cum for me...” You whisper. “Let me hear that pretty moan as you cum around me...”  

“y/n... oh my god...” Her walls tighten and clamp you in place as you push her over the edge, her silent scream beyond human perception as your rhythm falters, your thick cream spilling out inside of her as you both unravel into the ether.  

[stardusttkachuk]

Breaking Rules

Pairing: JJ Maybank x Female!Reader

Genre: Smut, fluff

Warnings: smut, fingering, unprotected sex, swearing

Word Count: 1.5k

Summary: The rules are no pogue on pogue mackin’. You and JJ sneak away from John B’s party and find yourself in the old Volkswagen, breaking that rule.

You slide the door to the van open, quickly climbing inside with JJ right behind you. JJ can’t keep his hands off of you; they’re on your lower back as he all but shoves you inside. They find their way to your thigh before he’s even gotten the door closed and then they’re on your cheeks and in your hair as he kisses you. 

He tastes a little bit like weed, but mostly of mint. Spearmint to be exact, a taste you’ve gotten used to when kissing his lips. Five and a half months ago the kisses were short and sweet and not much to savor, but now every chance you had it was hot makeouts that lead to more.

Nobody could know though. There was a strict rule of no pogue on pogue macking, one that everyone had agreed to follow when the rules first came about. So for the last five months, you and JJ had been sneaking around. You shared kisses behind your friends back and snuck off together whenever you had the chance. Tonight was no different. The party that John B was hosting at his place was the perfect opportunity for a getaway. The old Volkswagen was questionable as the most private spot, but it was far enough away from the house, and offered shelter and warmth. And who was going to come looking in the van? John B wasn’t going anywhere, and from past experience you knew Pope and Kiara would be spending the night too. The van was all yours for the evening.

JJ grabs a blanket from the front seat and spreads it out on the floor of the back. It isn't much more comfortable but at least it’s softer and warmer than the hardwood that covered the back of the Volkswagen. 

JJ sits on the blanket with his back against the bench seat and pulls you into his lap. Your knees are on either side of his legs and you’ve got his face in your hands as your makeout session continues. JJ slips his hands under your shirt, cupping around your breasts. He’s got you moaning at his touch already. 

He pulls away from the kiss just enough to rid you of your shirt and bra, tossing them to the side. You follow suit and pull his over his head, throwing it somewhere behind you, long forgotten as his lips are on yours again.

JJ unbuttons your shorts, slipping his hand down the front of them and into your panties. His fingers glide over your clit, rubbing circles against the sensitive bud. You moan which makes JJ attach his lips to yours to quiet you down. 

“We’re gonna get caught,” he whispers.

“Well if you’d stop fucking teasing me,” you start, only for JJ to lie you down on your back and kiss you again. 

Your shorts and panties join your shirt somewhere in the old van as JJ pulls them off. His fingers return to your clit and move down until his middle finger is teasing your entrance. It isn’t long before he’s got two fingers inside you, crooking them against your g-spot and watching you writhe beneath him. 

JJ loves foreplay. He’ll prolong sex as long as possible, always wanting to see how many times he can get you to fall apart. He’s good at it too. He knows exactly where to touch you and which spots have you moaning and begging for more. He knows how to make you cum before he’s even entered you, and he loves making you cum. 

“JJ,” you moan, hand gripping onto his bicep. You’re already close, and the sounds you’re making are keeping JJ going, faster now, letting you chase your release.

His fingers are soaked when he pulls them out. He hungrily sucks them into his mouth, licking them clean. He does it every time, practically fawning over the way you taste. If you had more time, you’d happily let him eat you out, but you know the rest of the pogues will realize your guys’ absence and come looking for you soon.

JJ’s cock is hard and tenting the board shorts he’s wearing. You slip them down just past his hips, watching his member spring up, precum leaking out of the tip. He sits down again with his back against the bench seat and pulls you onto his lap. He lowers you onto his cock, biting his lip to silence the moans he desperately wants to let out.

The new position felt amazing. A lot of the time you’ve settled for standard missionary, or JJ lying down and you on top. Sometimes you’d have a quickie in the shower, pressed up against the tile wall. But sitting on his lap like this was new. It felt closer than you just riding him. You were literally face to face, chest to chest, and it allowed a new, much deeper angle. It was harder to keep quiet.

You took the lead and slowly lifted yourself up before sinking back down on him. His head tipped back, hands finding your waist as he aided in the lifting and dropping. You took the opportunity to nip at his neck, carelessly sucking a mark into his skin, right under his jaw where you knew he loved it the most. The others would point it out later and would congratulate him on getting some, then ask who it was. You took pride in knowing it was all your doing.

JJ was a mess of moans. His fingers were digging half moon shapes into the skin on your hips. Your name would fall from his lips every time you changed speed or rocked against him in a new way. The best part of it was how close you were. He didn’t need to be loud - although he wasn’t exactly quiet - you could hear each whispered plea, feel his hot breath against your skin as it picked up from your activities. There was sweat dripping off of each of you, but neither of you cared, far too lost in the moment with each other.

You were so close to cumming again and you knew by the sound of JJ’s voice that he was too. Your movements became sloppy. JJ tried to make it consistent, bouncing you faster on his cock, making you drop down harder, even lifting his own hips up, chasing after his orgasm. 

“Fuck,” JJ cursed, forehead pressed against yours. He kissed your lips, drowning out the sounds of you both tipping over the edge. It was the first time you had ever come at the same time, and damn did it feel amazing. You were on cloud nine until you heard the familiar voices nearing the van.

“JJ! Y/N!” Pope called.

You scrambled off of JJ’s lap, searching around desperately for your shorts. JJ pulled up his bottoms, quickly resituating himself against the bench seat. He grabbed a pre rolled joint that was stuffed under one of the bags in the back, lighting it quickly and placing it between his lips.

You had managed to throw on your shorts and JJ’s shirt in the dark, sitting across from him and leaning against the backs of the front seats. “Gimme a hit,” you say, reaching out for the joint.

“No. Get your own!” JJ retorts.

“I hear them!” It’s Kie’s voice this time, and then it’s the sound of footsteps approaching the beaten up Volks.

She slides open the side door, the back suddenly illuminating with the interior light. “Where have you guys been?”

“Out here. Hot boxing the van,” JJ answers smoothly.

Kiara’s eyes dart towards you. “Why are you wearing JJ’s shirt?”

“I spilled beer all over mine,” you lie, holding up your own shirt that’s bunched up in your hands. “So, JJ lent me his.”

“John B’s freaking out looking for you guys,” Pope pipes up. 

“Why?”

“Someone said there was a car accident like 10 miles away. He couldn’t find you guys anywhere and neither of you were answering your phones,” Pope explains.

“Shit. Mine’s on silent,” you say. 

“I never even heard mine ring,” JJ adds. 

“You are pretty faded. Maybe you shouldn’t be smoking that one,” you tease, grabbing the joint from his fingers. After a quick puff yourself you extinguish the end of it, still saving plenty for another time.

“Hey!” JJ yells. “First you’re gonna take my shirt and now my weed?”

“Yes. Now let’s go, so John B stops freaking out.”

You climb out of the back of the van with JJ right behind you. Pope stops JJ though, as you and Kiara walk in front of them and back up to the chateau. 

“Nice hickey, J,” you hear him say. 

You can feel the heat rising in your cheeks. Kie must notice the red tint to them because her jaw drops. “You are not screwing JJ,” she says through gritted teeth. “And in the back of the van too!?”

You put a finger to your lips, shushing her. “I will tell you everything if you just promise not to tell anyone else.”

“You broke pogue rules,” she whispers.

You glance back at JJ, who is flaunting the hickey to Pope who is completely oblivious to the fact that you gave it to him. “We’ve been breaking them for almost six months now.”

“And how long are you planning on keeping this a secret?”

JJ’s eyes catch yours and he shakes his head, grinning from ear to ear. “As long as we can.”

[isthisthingeven0n]

not so secret santa : j.w

with natalie’s help, jeff is your secret santa this year and proves to be the perfect opportunity to tell you how he feels (1.7k) 

all of my links 

requested: yes, by anon - thanks for the idea angel! warnings: none 

(everything on my blog is my own writing. if it is shared on another page or website know it hasn’t been approved me unless specified. all rights reserved. - i have to start doing this as I had some shit on my other blog with plagiarism)

DO NOT STEAL MY WORK - IT IS ALL MY OWN WRITING

“Come on, I’m not asking for much.” Jeff pleads as Natalie remains silent, scrolling through her phone. “Please, Nat.”

Glancing up from her phone, Natalie can’t ignore the puppy dog look Jeff is presenting. A heavy sigh leaves her lips as she lowers her phone. “You better have a good gift in mind, I’m not sacrificing my secret Santa just for you to fuck up.” Natalie states.

Smiling brightly, Jeff launches onto Natalie as he hugs her tightly. “Thanks, Natalie. I’ve got the perfect thing in mind.”

“I’ve got conditions to it though.” Natalie muffles through Jeff’s arms as he leans back, allowing Natalie to breathe. “You have to get her this,” Holding her phone up, Natalie watches as Jeff’s brows furrow together. “and, tell her how you feel. As I know I’m not the only one who can’t stand you tiptoeing around her anymore.”

“She’s got a point.” David chimes in as he wanders into the living room as Ilya files behind him, nodding in agreement.

“Oh come on, guys. It’s not that bad.” Jeff shrugs his shoulder, but the looks exchanged between his friends says otherwise.

“Dude, Scott was filming the other day and recorded you looking at Y/n in awe as she worked out.” Ilya comments and Jeff knows there isn’t any point denying it, he just can’t help himself when you’re around.

“She’s got a good body and strength.” Jeff comments confidently. “Besides, Y/n doesn’t see me that way, she has said plenty of times how much I mean to her as a friend.” Jeff reminds the others as his heart sinks back in his chest, remembering just last week when he went over to yours.

“What was so urgent?” Jeff asks with wide eyes as he pants lightly whilst you stand in your doorway, wearing your pyjamas as you rub your tired eyes.

“Oh, sorry,” You laugh innocently. “I didn’t mean to scare you, Jeff. I just, I needed help making Christmas cookies.”

Resting his hand against your door frame, Jeff exhales deeply. “You texted me, stating you had an emergency at 10pm, just to make Christmas cookies?”

Nodding in response, you hold your door open further. “So is that a yes you’ll help?” Your smile starts to grow as Jeff steps into your apartment, rolling the sleeves of his hoodie up.

“Where do you wanna start?” He asks, admitting defeat as you happily clap behind him, a spring in your step as you follow him into your kitchen.

“Thank you, thank you, Jeff! You’re the best, my Mom will adore these knowing they’re from her favourite of my friends.” You comment, missing the way Jeff’s smile drops for a second before standing beside him in the kitchen as you gather the ingredients, prepping your kitchen knowing the mess that is about to follow.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Taylor sings as all eyes turn to her. “I’m just saying.” Taylor holds her hands up as Ella nods in agreement.

“It’s not too late to back down from being her secret Santa, Jeff.” Natalie nudges him, but Jeff shakes his head.

“I’m not backing down and like I said, I’ve got the perfect gift.”

*

“So we’re actually organised this time?” You ask, looking around at everyone sat in David’s living room whilst David sits beside one of the many Christmas trees in his house.

Across the room, Jeff tries to remain composed as Natalie sends him a reassuring smile, knowing two of those gifts under the tree have your name on it and a confession to follow.

“For the first time, it seems so.” David chuckles as he rubs his hands together, scanning over the various presents underneath the tree. “So, how do you guys wanna do this?”

Scott rises to his feet, adorning his Santa hat as he remains dressed as Mrs Claus from recording his music video earlier today. “I’ll hand them out.” He suggests and everyone agrees.

Jeff watches as Scott hands out presents to everyone, the joy radiating in the room as Christmas songs play faintly in the background.

“And this one is for Y/n.” Scott walks over to you, handing you the soft present wrapped neatly with a ribbon and perfectly tied bow on top.

“Wow, who paid for gift wrap?” You chuckle, looking around at everyone as they remain silent, no one admitting who their secret Santa was just yet.

Watching in earnest, Jeff is distracted as he’s handed his present, quickly catching your smile as you look away from him.

“Okay, go ahead and unwrap your gifts.” David states as the sound of paper tearing fills the room and excited responses follow suit.

Yet, Jeff puts his gift to one side as he focuses on you unwrapping yours.

Ripping the paper off, you pause as you look at the gift on your lap. “What’d you get, Y/n?” Natalie asks you, a bright smile on her lips as you remain quiet.

Feeling his heart rest in his throat, Jeff takes a deep breath as you lift the hoodie out from the paper. “I, this is just,” Struggling to form words, you look around at everyone before your eyes land on Jeff. You silently mouth a thank you as tears fill your eyes.

No words are exchanged between you both as everyone continues to film for their channels and social media, slowly filing out of the room until it’s just you and Jeff sat in silence.

“I thought you might like it.” Jeff speaks up as he rests his arms on his thighs, trying to suppress his leg from shaking as you hold the hoodie in your hands, your fingers running across the fabric.

Lifting your head up, Jeff’s heart melts as tears fall from your eyes. “You did this, for me?” Your voice remains soft as Jeff nods. “But why?” Curiosity encroaches in your tone as you wipe your eyes, Jeff taking the chance to sit down beside you.

“Well, I remember that time your Mom came to visit you.” Jeff starts, remembering the day clearly despite it being months ago.

“Oh honey, I brought you something!” Your Mom exclaims as she reaches into her bag whilst Jeff busies himself in your kitchen, having come over to help you film as he knew your Mom was visiting.

“Mom, I told you I don’t need anything.” You roll your eyes playfully, just as Jeff walks into the room with three mugs.

“Thank you, dear, you’re a true gentleman.” Your Mom gushes to Jeff as he chuckles, shaking his head before sitting down in your armchair. “It’s in here somewhere,” Your Mom mutters under her breath before grabbing something and lifting it out.

“Mom, why did you bring that?” You ask, trying to conceal the fact you were beginning to get hot from embarrassment whilst Jeff watched curiously.

Holding your old teddy up, your Mom raises an eyebrow to you. “Honey, you loved this teddy, you brought it everywhere! Honestly, Jeff, she could never sleep without it!” A laugh is shared between Jeff and your Mom whilst you internally groan.

“I’m an adult Mom, I don’t need my teddy bear.” You sigh, but the sight of the ratty teddy bear does warm your heart. “But, since you brought it all this way, I guess I’ll keep it.” You reach out, taking the teddy in your hands as you keep it on your lap, the sight something Jeff hopes he’ll never forget.

“But, how?” A laugh escapes your lips as you run your index finger across the embroidery sitting on the left breast of the hoodie, an exact replica of your teddy bear down to the bowtie around its neck.

Jeff shrugs a shoulder in response. “I have connections.” He states. “And since you always steal my hoodies, I thought I’d give you one to keep and make it personal to you.” He adds, watching as you slip it on.

The sleeves hang over your hands, it clearly doesn’t fit but your smile grows. You loved Jeff’s hoodies as they felt like a warm hug from him, enveloped in his aftershave even if he wasn’t there with you.

“I just, this is the most thoughtful present anyone has ever gotten me, Jeff.” You admit as Jeff rests his hand on your cheek, wiping away the stray tears that fall as you sniff quietly.

“There’s erm, something else I got for you too.” Jeff mutters as you focus on his eyes as your hand rests on his thigh, the distance between you both minimising.

“Okay?” You chuckle under your breath.

“You have to close your eyes first if that’s alright with you.” Jeff asks as you nod, complying as you close your eyes.

Taking a steady breath, Jeff closes his eyes and leans in until his lips are on yours. It takes a moment for you to respond, and once you do, the kiss deepens as you lift your arms up, wrapping them around his neck as you lean back on the sofa, Jeff leaning over you.

Pulling away, you rest your forehead against Jeffs. “Was that the present or something you just felt like doing?” You question, rubbing your lips together as Jeff smirks.

“A bit of both.” He admits. “But I like you, Y/n, a lot. And if you’ll let me, I’d love to take you out sometime.”

“I thought you’d never ask, Jeff.” You breathe out, kissing Jeff softly as the sound of applause interrupts your moment.

Breaking apart, you look up to see all your friends stood with their phones and cameras.

"It's a Christmas miracle!” Natalie yells as Todd stands behind her, his arms around her waist. “There’s still one more present, and now I think you might actually have a use for it.” She motions to the small gift on the sofa, and Jeff reaches over for it.

Passing it to you, you unwrap it and bury your face in the sleeves of Jeff’s hoodie.

“Stay safe you guys.” David laughs whilst Natalie winks to you.

“I’m sure we’ll put them to good use.” Jeff mutters into your ear as you look up to him, quirking a brow before kissing him once more.

“Just you wait, Wittek.” You giggle. “Just you wait.”

[the-witches-you-couldnt-burn]

Living with what you’ve done

Uhhhhh

UHHHHHHH WHAT

Ok so I started writing the 100 special but then I got to 120!?! Wtf when did this happen?

Though I would like to thank each follower personally I have social anxiety and would rather not randomly message strangers following me. Here is my public thank you!

Idk what I did while writing this but it seems I managed to copy-paste the beginning four seperate times. This brought the word count up to 5.9k but it is now edited and brought down to 2.3k

Inspired by my friend @deltaxxk who loves angst and told me I have to write a follower special

Other prompts used: One, Two

Also! There are movie references within this fic, if you get them all you get a virtual lollipop 🍭

Ao3

Disclaimer: THIS FIC IS MAJORLY ANGSTY PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF ANY OF THE WARNINGS WILL TRIGGER YOU

Warings: blood, fire, death (+graphic descriptions of dying), injuries, grief, human trafficking and mentions of psychopathy

———————

“Robin we’re out of time! We must leave, we’re out of time!” Her yo-yo strained with tension as she swung into a goon, sending their body flying away from her team.

They had gotten a lead on a meta trafficking ring that involved some of the Gotham elite’s children disappearing. The lead brought them to the dock, GothDrill’s warehouse sat just off to the right. Its fluorescent lights signifying signs of life, Marinette knew most weren’t there willingly.

“Make more time!” He snapped back. Ladybug fumble slightly before regaining her footing, she wasn’t expecting the coldness in his tone.

She jumped back into the fray and watched from the corner of her eye Damian take on four goons by himself. She stifled a sigh before punching the man in front of her square on his jaw, ‘must he always prove himself when he has already?’ Damian edged himself closer to the garage doorway of the shed before disappearing into the building.

Focus her attention back on the battle around her, she saw Red Hood downed under a steel beam. She rushed over, and with her enhanced miraculous strength to lift the offending metal. He groaned with pain, the beam had pinned his legs, forcing him to lay stomach down. Wrapping his arm around her shoulder, supporting the majority of his weight to get him to his feet. Pain throbbed in his left leg and they stumbled onto the dock to hide behind down GothDrill crates.

Ripping the seams of his pant leg, she revealed a dark purple bruise that was rapidly spreading. She also discovered the beam had broken his femur and shattered his kneecap, how he wasn’t screaming in pain was beyond her. Pink light danced between her fingers before drifting down to his wound. Jason bit his hand to prevent any cries from leaving his mouth. He didn’t want another confrontation in his state.

The sound reached her before the light did. Jason panted as he looked up to see what distracted her from his healing. Reflections of orange and yellows dancing across her cerulean eyes. “Damian.” She whispered frozen stock still.

Something within her very core snapped and cardinal urges overtook her common sense. Shooting up like a bullet she sprinted towards the blazing inferno, her ears numb to the world around her.

Inside was worse than the burning exterior. She could see where the explosion originated from, big barrels of flammable chemicals blazed white with heat. The smoke and burning chemical gases penetrated her airways, coughs racked her chest.

She could see flames running up the walls and the lit barrels but the rest was black. The smoke was a blanket of darkness that wrapped around her.

And then she heard it. The screaming.

Multiple voices, so raw with pain, masculine and feminine, old and young. Running towards it she hoped to spot Damian but luck wasn’t on her side. Instead she found the trafficked civilians, their bodies red with burns with their hair and clothes set ablaze.

She ran full speed at the wall nearby, shattering the melted bolts. The fire blazed brighter at the new source of oxygen. She directed the victims out, the dove towards the water. The goons had fled during the initial explosion leaving the Batfam free to help.

She looked down at the bodies of those who didn’t survive. Some were burned beyond recognition, she kept looking, scouring for Damian.

She heard Red Robin calling her name, she looked up to see the scaffolding holding the roof breaking apart and falling to where she stood. She felt her body tackled out of the way and another thunderous crash hit the floor.

She was dragged outside and placed into the care of a newly arrived ambulance. Her eyes, red from the smoke and ash, looked out the back door of the vehicle. Firefighters and police had arrived on scene along with news reporters and the public. Families of the trafficked were reunited with their lost love ones and others mourned their deceased. Red Robin stood there, watching her.

“You can’t just follow me into fire.” She croaked to him, her oxygen mask muffling her.

The whites of his black cowl narrowed and his fists clenched. “Then don't run into fire,” he growled at her before walking off.

Her body moved without thinking, removing her oxygen mask against the protests of the paramedics. Ladybug reassured them she’ll be alright and that they should help the others who were more injured than she. She walked back towards the building but the black-clad figure of Batman stopped her stride.

“You’re not using your cure.” He stated. Her eyes widened, the cure could save his missing son, save the trafficked from their injuries and deaths. Who was he to deny the will of a god’s favoured?

Using the cure in Gotham was always straining and the Batfam knew that. On multiple smaller occasions, she was prevented from using it due to the amount of damage and crime being reverse causing serious health concerns they observed in Marinette. But she never thought it would also be denied on an occasion like this.

“I have to! Robin cou—“

“No, you could die.” He cut her off, her foggy mind becoming more enraged.

“And he could live!”

Without a reply he injected her neck with a sedative, her body collapsed from the drugs and exhaustion. The world going dark around her.

+++++++++++++

Three days after

Her blaring phone distracted her from her dissociative state. She was staring lifelessly at her TV, she could say what happened in the show even if her life depended on it. She scrambled to her phone, Dick’s name lit up the screen.

She accepted the call, answer with a hoarse “hello?”

“Marinette? Are you able to make it over we have some things to tell you.”

Her breath caught in her throat. Pressing her phone to her ear with her shoulder she ran around her apartment, grabbing her keys, shoes and jacket. Rushing out the door she rapidly fired questions at him, “What is it? Did you find him? Is he there?” All of which were answered with silence.

“It’s best that we discuss this when you get to the manor.” And with that, he hung up. The click seemed to echo in her car, even though she knew it didn’t. Driving towards the outskirts of Gotham where Wayne manor resided, she felt a spark of hope rekindle in her chest. Although Dick didn’t give her much to go on she still hoped they found him and everything could go back to how it was.

Fate wasn’t merciful to the naive it seems.

Her world shattered around her as she saw the crisped cape on the table. The smell of burnt blood permeated the room. Her eyes stayed locked onto the cloth as she spoke, “But this is only his cape, not his body. He still could be alive somewhere! He is injured and hurt and we have to find him!”

No one spoke. Their eyes flicked to one another.

Jason limped in her direction, his crutch clicking against the stone flooring. He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder, his eyes brimming with unshed emotions. “The cape was found with the body, everything else was unsalvageable except the cape.”

A silent “we’ve found him, just not how we wanted,” resounded throughout her being.

She glared at Bruce, “He could be alive if you didn’t stop me! I could have saved him!” She lashed out, tears pouring down her cheeks.

“And we would have been having this exact conversation with Damian about why we didn’t stop you. The best outcome for this situation was you living.”

“No the best outcome was both of us being given a chance at survival” Marinette screamed at him, his face was emotionless. How could he be so uncaring to the fact of his youngest son dying?

Running out of the Batcave and manor she gasped at the cold night air. A sob escaped her mouth. Her head banged against her steering wheel, tears dripping onto her pyjama pants. There was no way she’d be able to sleep tonight.

++++++++++++

Twelve days after

Fire danced in her peripheral. A medley of bright oranges and golden yellows. She remembered the times when the two of them would watch the sunset in silence, sipping on hot chocolate and green tea. This blazing inferno was different. Its colours more violent and foreboding.

The screams. They were different from the ones she heard that night. They were his screams.

She saw her body encased within his burnt arms. Damian was little more than a burnt corpse, his eyes blazed green and his bone was replaced with metal pipes. The cure resurrected him but he was not wholly there anymore.

She awoke screaming. Not in control enough to remember she had neighbours; mentally pleading that they’d understand. They knew of his disappearance but not of his death. She was still heavily in denial.

She isolated herself away from everyone, afraid she would hurt anyone else that got close. She couldn’t stop wanting to hurt Bruce for making her unable to use her cure or the goons for setting the place alight and killing her fiancé. She wanted to go scorched earth.

She snuggled into his pillowcase, his faint scent of honey was still present. She willed herself to fall back asleep, his scent surrounding her. His pillow, his shirt, his ring; but she was missing him.

++++++++

Two hundred and eighty-seven days after

Red trickled down her finger. It took her a moment to move the fabric away from the dripping blood source but managed to before it stained. It had been years since she had pricked her finger with a needle, but her subconscious must have needed to feel something; even if it was pain.

She looked around at her juvenile pink room. She had moved back into her parents six months after Damian’s death. Three months into her stay and she still had most of her belongings in boxes. The only decorations in the room were scattered commissions and a wooden blanket.

Looking down at the puddle of blood that was growing on her white desk she wonders if Damian bled before the fire cauterised his wounds. She had researched that burning to death was one of the most painful ways to die, it takes hours, each nerve ending burning. The burn victim usually passes out after a few minutes but she could imagine Damian desperately trying to put himself out, only to find more fire encompassing him.

His cape was bloody so she hopes he bled rather than burned. Or maybe he was crushed by the falling roof and killed instantly. She hoped he didn’t suffer for long.

Similar intrusive thoughts plagued her mind constantly but she kept her focus on her art to push through the days. Gazing down at the wound she found Tikki had held her and Wayzz had wiped the puddle with tissues.

Today she’ll live for them. Tomorrow she might live to try her father’s new recipe of cinnamon macarons. Last Tuesday she lived to hear Luka’s new song. Next month she might live just to pat the stray kitten that lives in the alley behind the Chinese restaurant two streets over.

++++++++++

Five hundred and twenty days after

She froze at the sight before her. Thinking it was another hallucination or she was having another nightmare. “You thought,” The glass in her hand cracked under her grip. Her brain couldn’t process what was happening. She hasn’t disassociated this much since the day he ‘died’.” That by faking your death, you could find out who you could rely on?”

“TT, yes. Now that I know everything can go back to the way it was.” She swigged her glass again, wishing it were whiskey instead of water. When they had met, Jon and his family had warned her that he was severely emotional constipated from his upbringing but this was in the psychopathic area of emotionless.

“No.”

“What?” His shock almost seems real. His eyes had widened and his body language was unsteady.

“No, we aren’t done talking about this! How ignorant do you have to be to think this won’t affect our relationship? Won’t affect me?”

“It wasn’t real. I’m here.” He stepped forward, arms rising to hug her. He never was one for physical contact. She pulled back, grabbing a steak knife and placing it between them. He told her he had set the place aflame. He found the lead for the trafficking ring. He planned it all. And now he was back, almost a year and a half later.

“That doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt! I’m going to have nightmares for the rest of my life! How selfish, how, how stupid do you have to be to not consider what it does to someone who cared about you?!”

“Cared?”

“Do I need to spell it out? We’re done. I don’t want to see you ever again,” She seethed. “You think everything can go back to how it was before? Well, it can’t. I spent months of my life mourning over a guy who wasn’t even dead. Who didn’t even care about me enough not to toy with my emotions. My life isn’t a game Damian!”

“I only did this because I thought—”

“I don’t care. Get out. Out of my house. Out of my life. Just get out.”

“I didn’t intend to hurt you, I just wanted to know.” Hot, rage-filled tears ran down her cheeks. She jabbed the knife at him, stopping inches before his chest. She had backed him down the stair and to the front door. Neither of her parents were home and he was more unpredictable than ever.

“I hope you can live with what you’ve done, le miel”

[fandom-imagines]

New Start

Fandom: Stardew Valley

Pairing: Shane X Reader; slight Sebastian X Reader

Words: 5.1k (I love him)

Warnings: None other than non-proofread writing I don't think, let me know if there are any that need tagging ^^

Note: There could be a part two if anyone would like x)

“Pelican Town,” the name fell involuntarily from Y/N’s lips as she hopped from the bus that had dropped her at her new home. “Guess we’re here, Luna.”

The midnight black cat rubbed itself against her owners’ leg, hopping onto the ground beside the suitcase that had landed mere moments before. A purr escaped the felines’ lips at the feeling off Y/N’s fingers gently caressing her fur, back arching in pleasure.

The cold air blew through the girl’s body as she stepped from the bus with once final ‘thank you’ aimed towards the driver. A shiver ran through her, arms wrapping around themselves to keep a grip on the little warmth she had left. Luna, who was now pressed tightly against Y/N’s leg, seemed to feel the same as her.

“Come here,” she smiled, kneeling with an open arm to allow the cat to hop into, soon surrounded with the warmth of the jacket Y/N had luckily worn for her journey. “Good girl.”

The sound of a young girl’s laughter sounded throughout the street, blending into her eyes along with the roaring engine of the, now departing, bus. A small grin crawled onto the Y/H/C-haired womans lips as she spotted a young, dark-haired girl holding hands with a man who seemed just as happy as she sounded.

“Shane, who’s that?” The young girls’ eyes were now fixated on the newest arrival to Pelican Town, legs shuffling themselves to move behind Shane’s body.

“Not sure, Jas.” The man’s own attention was now on Y/N, unsure as to what to say to her, if anything.

“She has a kitty!” Jas, or at least who Y/N assumed to be Jas, pointed towards Luna whose head had popped out from the jacket once the chatter had begun.

“She’s called Luna,” Y/N smiled brightly as she, once again, pet Luna. “You can pet her if you’d like!”

Jas seemed to ponder this for a moment, small fingers playing with the strands of her hair, “can I, Shane?”

“Sure, Jas. Just stay close, okay?”

The kitty owner smiled at their interaction, kneeling down to the ground so that the girl could have easier access to the kitten when she came over.

“Wow, she’s soft. Shane, feel!” Whilst her words were mostly directed towards the taller man, Y/N still felt slightly flattered at the compliment.

Shane, who was sporting his usual blue jacket, kneeled beside Jas, cautiously petting the cat with such care that it seemed like he feared he would break her.

The three of them remained on the ground for a few moments, Jas still as excited as before at the kitten, until an elderly man’s voice caught their attention.

“You must be Y/N,” he grinned. “I’m Lewis, mayor of this town. I see you’ve met Shane and Jas already.”

“I have, it’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Y/N returned his friendly smile, shaking his outstretched hand with pleasure.

“Likewise. I suppose I should get you to your new house, hey?” Lewis chuckled, brown cap falling down his head slightly as he did so.

“I’d appreciate that,”

“Come on, Jas. We should let Lewis show this girl to her new house.” Shane gave Jas a small, almost unnoticeable, smile as they climbed back onto their feet. “Thank you,”

“They were nice,” Y/N commented as the two people from before left.

“They are. That’s Jas and Shane,” Lewis began speaking whilst leading Y/N towards her new home. “Jas is his goddaughter, very shy but talks a lot once she’s out of her shell. And Shane, well there’s more to him than meets the eye, but I’m sure you’ll figure that one out.”

The two of them walked in a comfortable chatter, occasionally being stopped by the townsfolk to either greet the new villager, or to say hi to Lewis who then introduced Y/N to them anyway. Everyone she had spoken to had seemed extremely kind, not having a single rude thing to say to either of them, some aweing at Luna who was now hidden inside the jacket, fast asleep from the long journey.

“Here we are!”

The house in front of her was small, but it was cute and big enough for herself and Luna. She knew that it only had a single bedroom, something that was to be expected considering her situation. The place seemed as though it had been deep cleaned recently, which was likely.

“It’s pretty, I like it.”

Lewis let out a soft hum, handing her the keys to her new place, “I’m glad! I’ll leave you to get settled in! You should try and meet some people tomorrow, everyone here is friendly; I’m sure you’ll get along well with them all.”

“Thank you, Lewis,”

“Anytime!”

*

The house was cosier than she had expected.

The fireplace was already lit, filling the entire place with warmth during the cold weather. In front of the fireplace stood a couch, placed just on top of a blush rug which Luna gladly hopped onto, curling up into a ball, enjoying the fires heat.

“Get some sleep, Luna.”

The kitchen was neatly laid out. Everything was pressed together whilst still maintaining the comfortable feeling of the house. It was clear that this place was cheap. She couldn’t complain, it was perfect for her; away from her old life, tiny yet comfortable, everything about this place screamed ‘perfect’.

The bedroom was larger than expected, a double bed seated in the middle of the room with a cabinet placed at the end of the frame. Other than that, the place was ready for her to make it her own.

Ditching her suitcase on top of the duvet, Y/N grabbed her shower supplies along with some night clothes and headed towards her new bathroom.

“Here’s to a new life,”

*

Early the following morning Y/N rose to the sounds of birds chirping.

Luna was laid asleep beside her, snuggling into the duvet alongside her owner who was doing the exact same. The unexpected noise didn’t startle her, it simply confused her. Having forgot where she was, Y/N was incredibly confused as to why birds were singing in a dull city.

“Wait,” her voice croaked. “We’re in Pelican Town.”

The sound of her owners’ voice seemed to wake Luna from her own slumber, tongue sticking out to lick the human before cuddling into her warmth, the duvet seemingly not as comfortable as her favourite person.

A silent giggle left Y/N’s lips at the kitten’s actions, hands raising from the cover to stroke the dark fur which Luna seemed to enjoy judging by the soft exhale that she let out, something that simply made Y/N continue her actions.

“Morning you little rascal,”

The two lay in bed for a few more moments, the clock soon hitting 7:00 which was when Y/N decided she should, most likely, get ready for the day having planned to go around town and meet some of the others that live here.

As though she sensed the sudden idea to get out of bed, Luna snuggled further into Y/N as silent plea not to leave just yet; to stay and enjoy the warmth and comfort of the creaky oak bed.

“I know you want me to stay, but I need to meet people,” a soft sigh escaped her lips as she spoke. “I promise I’ll bring back some treats, okay?”

The mention of treats alongside a promise seemed to be all the motivation that Luna needed to get up. Her small frame raised itself up from the warm sheets, dropping herself onto the floor with a soft thud, something that earned a giggle from the human.

“Come on, let me get ready then you can have some treats.”

*

“Be good for me, okay Luna?” Were her final words as Y/N left her new home, locking the door behind her.

The ground was layered with autumn-coloured leaves, the sound of them crunching beneath people’s feet being oddly satisfying to those hearing it. The wind blew threw Y/N’s Y/H/C locks, tossing them into her face which caused an annoyed from to coat her lips as she tugged the strands away, back to their original place.

In the distance, a large building could be seen with a sign that simply read ‘Pierres’ above it. Deciding to head there first in search of treats, Y/N took off with a newfound spring in her step. It wasn’t everyday you get to have a new start in a new town now, is it? A chance to be who she wants to be, without anyone saying otherwise; it was perfect.

“Welcome, you must be new here!” A polite man with glasses greeted from behind the counter. “I’m Pierre, owner of the shop. This is my daughter, Abigail,”

“Hey,”

“Please feel free to have a look for anything you need.” Pierre finished once Abigail had also greeted the newcomer, pointing around at various displays and their signs.

“Thank you,” Y/N gave them both a polite smile, immediately heading towards the pet aisle.

“What’re you looking for?” A soft voice startled her, pulling her away from her search for treats. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I’m Abigail,” The purple-haired girl, now known as Abigail, introduced herself.

“I’m Y/N. I’m just looking for treats for my cat, Luna, I promised I’d bring her some back.” A blush crawled onto her cheeks, embarrassed at admitting how she talks to her cat as though she was a human, despite knowing many do it.

“I’m sure she’s sweet. The treats are just down here!” Abigail said with a smile, the two of them walking down towards the end of the aisle, determined to find Luna some treats. “I always wanted a cat, my dad would never let us though. Shame really.”

“Cats are great, they can be a pain sometimes though,”

“I’m sure they can.”

It wasn’t long until they finally found what they were searching for, Y/N quickly choosing a pack of treats she was sure Luna would like judging by the flavour; all the items in the store being homemade meant she couldn’t get anything that she would usually buy, not that she was complaining,

“If you ever want to come hang out, I’m usually around here somewhere,” with one final smile, Abigail was heading back to her previous place when Y/N had first entered the store.

After paying for her items, Y/N left with one final waves to Abigail.

*

One long walk later, Y/N somehow found herself seated inside the local saloon with her new friend Abigail who had looked for her, inviting her for a drink with herself and a few other of her friends which they were currently waiting for.

“So, Y/N/N,” the use of the nickname made the named blush. “What made you move to a town like this?”

The question made her freeze, drink still raised slightly to her lips; she was certain that the shock was evident on her face.

Having not had time to come up with a perfectly constructed lie, Y/N simply said the first thing to come to mind, “new start I guess.”

“Makes sense. A nice quiet place where nobody knows you, I wish I were able to do that,”

An internal sigh of relief formed inside Y/N’s mind, relieved to have gotten away with such a short and simple answer; it was something she wasn’t used to. In fact, being able to get away with anything was a miracle in itself.

“I’m sure you’ll be able to someday,”

“I have some good friend, but sometimes I want something new, you know?”

Y/N gave a simple nod, completely understanding what she meant.

The saloons comforting warmth floated throughout the room, the background noise being ignored as the two continued to chatter about anything and everything, Y/N blissfully unaware of the gaze of another drinker fixated on her and her friends.

*

A banging head was what Y/N awoke to the following morning, only made worse by the ringing of her alarm clock which she switched off, a disgruntled groan leaving her lips and she did so. The noise simply made the pain in her head worse, a sigh sounding from her once she realised this. The sun shining through the open window also added to the pain.

Luna meowed from beside her, placing her paw on her owner’s face in an attempt of waking her.

“Sorry,” she apologised to the cat. “Want feeding?”

Feet padding across the cold wooden floor, Y/N headed towards the kitchen, both to take some painkillers and to feed Luna.

A smile crawled across her face as Luna sat at her feet, desperate for her food. Chuckling once Luna darted for the food, Y/N decided to finally get some painkillers to ease the banging pain in her head.

The wooden cabinet stood high in the air, too high for the girl to reach.

“Are you kidding me?” She sighed, attempting to jump to the height of the shelf. “I just want some painkillers,”

It took a few minutes for her to finally give up, a sound of defeat echoing throughout the room. Unfortunately, there was only one chair currently and it was plastic, no way anybody could stand on it without it breaking in two. So there was only one option: give up and suffer, at least until she was able to get some.

“Maybe Pierre’s sells some,”

It was a simple decision, her only idea as a matter of fact, and so she decided to head to Pierre’s and hopefully she’d bump into Abigail.

*

The autumn air was chilly yet still retained some type of warmth within. The leaves were, once again, coating the ground with their coloured patterns, blowing away on an adventure throughout the town. Despite the temperature being colder than she would have perhaps liked, Y/N pressed on, desperately praying that the fresh air would provide, at least some, relief to her head.

“Morning, Y/N,” Abigail smiled upon seeing her enter, evidently not as hung over as she was or maybe she just had painkillers, who knows?

“Hi,”

“You look hung over,”

“I am,”

The two continued to talk whilst searching for something to ease the pain.

“I hate to say this, but I think you’ll have to try Joja Mart,” Abigail sighed. “It’s up the road, just past the blacksmiths, you can’t miss it.”

“Oh, thank you.” Y/N gave one last smile as she left, ready to continue her search for what she needed.

*

Joja Mart was just what she was expecting, bold and flashy; everything she hated. Perhaps the hate stemmed from working for companies similar to this, or maybe she had always hated bold and flashy things, perhaps a mixture of the two. Either way, she had no choice but to go inside and find her painkillers.

The inside of the building was just as bad. Spotless and bright with posters plastered all over the walls advertising their own business, despite the customers having been inside their shop already. It was strange to say the least.

Y/N wandered the aisles of the store, searching high and low for any sign of painkillers; sadly, there were none. At least, not until she reached a shelf in the middle of the store that seemed to hold painkillers. Unfortunately for her, somebody was blocking the shelf.

“Excuse me,” her voice was meek. “Could I get some painkillers please?” Despite her pain, Y/N still mustered up a smile for the man, hoping to ease the clear annoyance on his face.

Wordlessly, the worker grabbed a box for her and gave her it before turning his attention back to stacking the shelves.

“Thank you,”

*

Swallowing the pills with a sip of water, Y/N was looking forward to feeling better again.

It was always fun drinking with friends, but the aftermath was not so fun. Despite all this, it was still worth it, at least in her opinion. Spending time with Abigail, Sebastian and the others of their crew was enjoyable, and it was fun to finally be able to let go and be who she wanted to be, who she is, with other people around her. She had thoroughly enjoyed doing so.

It was nearing late afternoon, the sky darkening and the moon replacing the sun that once sat high in the sky. The masses of people around Pelican Town had faded, leaving only a few lone wanderers to explore the territory; quiet and beautiful.

Deciding to remain outside instead of heading home, Y/N wandered to a place she had found yesterday with her friends.

The bridge was long, holding itself above the water with various wooden pillars below the surface. The water itself was a calming blue, moving steadily down the river, moonlight reflecting from the waves.

A content smile crawled onto Y/N’s lips as she took a seat at the end of the bridge, placing her shoes that she had removed whilst walking here on the ground beside her whilst dipping her, now bare, feet into the warmth of the water.

Time passed, the only reason she knew this was having watched sky darken further until it was a deep shade of blue, bordering on black.

“Hey!” A woman’s voice sounded behind her. “You look like you could use a drink, I’m Pam, and this is Shane.”

Looking behind her revealed both a man and a woman.

The woman was shorter than the man, whom she recognised from when she arrived at the bus stop, with short curly hair and a slightly distorted facial expression which Y/N assumed was caused by alcohol.

Shane looked the same as he was her first day there, blue jacket and green t-shirt keeping him warm and the tiniest bit of stubble covering his chin. He seemed slightly unhappy to be here, even more so when Pam flopped down beside Y/N, dragging Shane with her as she offered them both a drink.

“No thank you,” she politely declined the drink that was held out to her.

“More for me then, kid,” Pam’s voice was slurred, the stench of alcohol leaving her open mouth as she spoke. “What brings you here anyway? I know you’re new around here,”

The same question Abigail asked yesterday, why did everyone seem so intrigued by her sudden appearance? Then again, it’s not like you get many new faces in this town from what she had both seen and heard.

Shane’s attention seemed to be caught by this question, ears wide open to hear her answer but gaze fixated on the bottle of beer in his hand.

“Uhm- “hesitation was evident in her tone, something that only piqued the man’s interest. “I needed a new start.” It wasn’t entirely a lie; a new start was desperately needed for her. “Personal stuff I suppose,” she giggled nervously, running her hand through the warm water.

“Sounds about right, hey Shane?”

Shane wordlessly nodded, raising his beer to his lips to take a sip.

The three of them sat in a comfortable silence, the occasional sound if wind blowing through and the clanking of beer hitting wood being the only sounds that could be heard between them. None of them knew how much time had passed, only that it was nearing midnight.

“I should probably get home; my cat will be hungry.” Y/N sighed, lifting her feet from the water and putting her shoes back on.

“Be a darling Shane and walk her home,” Pam smiled at him, chuckling as Shane rolled his eyes in annoyance yet no remarks left his lips, simply standing up alongside Y/N.

“Come on,” Shane muttered, walking down the bridge with Y/N following quickly behind.

The short walk back home was quiet, Shane ignoring her attempts at making conversation, disregarding them along with a rude comment. It’s not that he wanted to be rude to her, she seemed lovely, but he had to.

His behaviour was confusing to say the least, leaving Y/N worried that she had done something wrong. This thought was clearly written on her face, almost making Shane apologise to her, feeling bad for making her doubt herself but alas he didn’t.

“Uhm- thanks Shane,” despite his rude behaviour towards her, she still offered him a smile. “I appreciate it.” And with that, she headed inside her house.

“Yeah, no problem,” Shane whispered once the door had shut behind her.

*

A few weeks had passed, and Y/N was getting along with most of Pelican Towns residents, especially Abigail and Sebastian who she would definitely say are her best friends with Penny being a close second.

Much to her disappointment, Shane was still quite rude towards her which sucked considering that she found him pretty cute.

“He’s like that with everyone he doesn’t know,” Abigail told her. “Don’t take it personally.”

“I guess,”

Despite all this, she was starting to feel safe and at home here in this small town. It was a small step towards her desired future, but it was one that she was proud of. Baby steps.

It was a quiet Saturday morning, Y/N on a usual morning walk to pick up some food for both herself and Luna. This was a routine for her, one she was used to by now. Less than a month ago she had found herself stuck doing everything for her mother, and now everything she did was for herself and her cat, just the way she liked it.

“Morning, Shane,” Y/N gave the dark-haired man a soft smile, watching as he directed his gaze towards the ground.

“Will you just leave me alone,” he snapped, not enjoying the way her smile dropped slightly before swiftly changing back into a bigger one.

“Sure,”

Shane watched with slight guilt as the girl walked away from him, desperately trying not to let his words get to her.

He knew she was nice. She had helped Jas and Marnie quite a bit in her first few weeks here, but he couldn’t let her get close to him. He didn’t want to ruin her innocence and kindness with his harsh and troubled personality, no matter how much he wanted to talk to her.

He couldn’t apologise.

*

More time passed and Shane found himself missing his, albeit small, interactions with Y/N. Instead of wishing him a good morning, she simply ignored him, staying true to her agreement of leaving him alone.

He would watch out for her of course, silently praying that she would say something, anything, to him so that he could politely reply to her. Nothing was said, not to him at least.

The small smiles and touches she shared with Sebastian at the Saloon irked him for some unknown reason. Shane hated the way Sebastian’s hand brushed hers as he handed her the drink that he had just bought her. The mere sight of Y/N and Sebastian together was enough to ruin Shane’s mood for the rest of the day, especially when they were alone together. It was clear Sebastian liked her as more than a friend, but the question was, why did Shane care so much?

*

The dark nights sky hung high above Y/N, the moon shining brightly alongside it to provide at least some light to anyone who may be out this late. It was a relatively clear night, not many stars littering the sky.

She had skipped meeting up with Abigail and Sebastian to instead sit alone, dipping her feet into the water much like she had done a few weeks before.

She was too deep in her thoughts, that she missed the sound of somebody walking down to sit beside her. It wasn’t until they were sat next to her, that she realised.

“Y/N,” they said.

“I thought you didn’t want me to talk to you, Shane.”

Her words made Shane wince. Despite the words seeming harsh, there was no harshness in her voice.

He hesitated for a moment, before doing what needs to be done.

“I’m sorry,” he sighed. “I shouldn’t have said that to you, you were only being kind. There was no reason for me to be so rude, so I apologise.” His own words made him feel uncomfortable, not used to apologising like this.

“It’s okay, I get it. You’re scared of getting close to people, so you push them away,”

Shanes eyes widened at how accurate her deduction on him was; he didn’t know what to say in response.

“I-“

“You don’t have to say anything, Shane. It’s fine, I forgive you.”

Sincerity laced her tone, words being completely truthful. He didn’t know what to do, so instead he watched her. Her gaze was fixated on the night sky, feet gliding through the clear blue water. She looked truly beautiful.

That’s when it clicked inside his head: he likes her.

“I should get going, it’s late.”

Shane watched as she lifted herself up onto her feet, picking up her shoes soon after.

“Wait,” he called when she began to leave. “Let me walk you home?”

*

And that was how their friendship began.

The pair would greet each other each morning, meeting up in the morning to walk together, Shane going to work and Y/N going for her daily walk. In fact, that’s where they were now.

“It’s a bit chilly, isn’t it?” Y/N giggled, wrapping her arms around her bare arms in a vain attempt to avoid the cold winter air.

Shane glanced at her cold frame, shaking his head slightly. “Should’ve worn some clothes then, shouldn’t you?” His words were clearly a joke whilst he laughed, slipping off the blue jacket covering his own arms, gently placing it around her.

The jacket itself was too big for her. The sleeves fell below her hands and the body buried her body; it was comfy.

“T-thanks,” Y/N smiled, praying that the cold weather had made her cheeks red, hiding the blush that had just formed.

“Don’t mention it,” Shane was praying the exact same thing. “Why aren’t you wearing a jacket anyway?”

“I uhm-“unsure as to what to say, Y/N glanced down at the ground, silence filling the air whilst she fiddled with the sleeves on Shane’s jacket.

“Hey, what’s up?” Shane halted his movement, noticing that Y/N had done the exact same.

Nervously, he walked towards her until he was stood in front of her. She remained still. Shaking his head slightly, Shane raised his hand to her chin, tilting her head to face him. “What is it?”

“I’m not supposed to wear them in winter,” her words were rushed as she immediately tried to turn away from his concerned gaze, but to no avail.

“Why?”

“M-my mum told me not to,”

Shane’s eyes widened at her words, finger unconsciously running across her red cheeks. He had no idea what to say to her, no idea how to comfort her; it was clear that she was getting upset. So he did the only thing he could think of and enveloped her in a tight hug, resting his chin on top of her head, enjoying the way her arms wrapped around his body whilst her head rested against his chest. His hand moved from her back to her hair, wordlessly stroking to hopefully provide some comfort.

Neither of them knew how long they stayed there, both just enjoying the others touch.

“You should get to work,” Y/N said, pulling away from his embrace. “You’re probably already late.”

“Being late is worth it as long as you’re okay,”

*

“Hey, Y/N/N!” Sebastian yelled as he saw Y/N outside Pierre’s, looking at the calendar.

“Hey, Seb,” she smiled sweetly towards the man who gladly returned it. “How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” he chuckled. “Hey I’ve been meaning to ask you something!” Despite his attempts at seemingly calm, it was clear that he was nervous.

“Oh? What’s up?”

“Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to go on a date? … With me…”

Surprise covered Y/N’s face, unsure as to how to react.

Sure, he was nice, but she didn’t like him, not like that.

“I, uh-“her sentence was cut short by another man behind her, someone who had clearly heard the question.

“Let’s go, Y/N,”

“Shane?”

Y/N felt Shane’s hand grasp her arm, the gentleness of the grip contrasting the dark look on his face.

“I-okay?”

And with that, the pair left a confused Sebastian behind.

“Shane, are you okay?” Y/N asked once the two were alone. “You’re kind of scaring me,” her hand reached out to Shane, resting itself on his arm.

“Do you like him?” His voice was merely a whisper, gazing at the ground as though he was too afraid to look at her.

“Well yeah, he’s my friend so of course I like him,”

“No, do you like him?”

“Shane? No, I don’t. I like y-“ Y/N’s eyes widened at her words, realising that she had almost confessed to her crush without thinking. “No, I don’t like Sebastian.”

Shane’s eyes glanced towards her, noticing her blushing cheeks.

She was still wearing his jacket; he could feel the sleeve on his bare arm as he melted into her touch. She looked adorable.

“Good,” Shane sighed, stepping closer to Y/N who was simply confused. “Because then we might have a problem,” his hand rested itself on her blushing cheek which darkened further at the contact.

“What do you mean?” It was her time to avoid looking at him, hoping that the blush wouldn’t get any worse. “I mean, it’s not like we’re anything, so why would we have a problem?”

“Because I like you,”

Y/N’s eyes widened at his confession, gaze darting up to the taller man. “You what?”

“I like you, okay? I have for a while now. If you don’t feel the same, just say and I won’t bother you again.”

Y/N stared wordlessly, unsure of what to say to him.

“Got it, I’ll leave you alone,” Shane’s hand dropped from her cheek to his side, slowly walking away.

“Shane,” she called out to him, only to be ignored. “Shane!” This time she ran towards him, taking hold of his hand to spin him around, lifting herself up to his height to connect their lips.

Her spare hand reached up to his neck, pulling him down to her. The faint taste of beer could be tasted on his chapped lips. Shane’s own hand moved to her cheek, melting into the kiss.

“I like you too,” she whispered against his lips once they pulled away.

Shane simply kissed her again.

[goldenkirstein]

somewhere only we know

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

chapter two: don't know where, don't know when

pairing: jean x gn! reader, mikasa ackerman x gn! platonic! reader

wc: 2.2k+

tags: angst, fluff, aot manga spoilers, mention of food/drink, mentions of death.

a/n: chapter two !! finally done my exams, this took me a while to finish but hopefully it sounds good and you enjoy it !! feedback is always appreciated

prev. ✭ next

series masterlist

⋆⋅☆⋅⋆

The shrill noise of the kettle broke you out of your thoughts.

You reached over to the cupboard situated next to the stove, taking two tiny teacups alongside a teapot and set them down on the countertop. Hands moving like clockwork, you grabbed the loose leaf tea jar and placed two spoonful's in the teapot. Your hand moved to grasp the small cotton cloth from the counter, swiftly pouring the hot water into the teapot before placing the kettle back to cool down.

You chuckled at the sight in front of you; the teaware set adorning your family crest, the piece of cotton bearing the Azumabito clan’s symbol, and the tea blend was an old Braus family recipe. The entire house was like this, a mish-mash of objects from here and there, never truly fitting in where they were. You began setting up the small table, placing the teapot and teacups down. The raucous noise of the wooden chair scraping against the floor made you grimace.

Your fingers began to trace the delicate needlework on the cloth, occasionally catching on raised bumps of threads. It was the work of a skilled artisan as well as an amateur. Mikasa and her mother.

Waiting for Mikasa to return from her bath, your fingers traced the embroidered emblem, you began to get lost in your thoughts once again.

“Is the tea ready?” Mikasa’s soft voice interrupted your repetitive movements.

You quickly set down the cloth and shot her a kind smile. “Yeah, come sit.” You poured out the tea in her cup before pouring out a cup for yourself.

She accepted your invitation, sitting opposite you. The woman began scooping spoonfuls of sugar in her tea, an old habit from training years. You remembered how you once mistakenly took her cup, thinking it was yours until you took a sip and immediately spat out the sickeningly sweet liquid. The others and she wouldn’t stop laughing at you until Captain Levi had come and threatened you all, bearing that stone-cold expression that struck fear in your bones. How was he doing?

“Are you okay? You seem out of it today.” Mikasa looked at you; worried expression etched into her face, eyebrows scrunched together.

Your fingers circled the teacup, and you let out a sigh looking down at the fragrant liquid. You could lie, tell Mikasa you’re okay; knowing her, she wouldn’t prod you any further with questions. Though she would spend all night thinking about you, and you didn’t want to worry her. Option two was scarier, in your opinion; you could open up and tell her what was troubling you, Mikasa would undoubtedly be concerned, but she would appreciate your candidness.

Taking a deep breath in, you glanced back at the girl before your eyes landed on the frame behind her. “I’m just anxious about tomorrow,” you let out a nervous chuckle, eyes meeting Mikasa’s again.

“I already told you, we’re all a little different. It’s nothing-”

“No, it’s not that; I- what if they hate me? Mikasa, what if he hates me.” Your eyes shifted between the frame and Mikasa’s, voice coming out as a whisper.

She took a sip of her tea. Your name slipped out of her mouth in a tired sigh, “they would never, and Jean isn’t like that. He could never hate you.”

The framed picture behind Mikasa was of the scouts on their expedition to Marley. Sasha had pulled the lot of you inside the cramped shop, begging all of you to take a photograph. She had said that you all needed to document the momentous occasion; who knew when the opportunity would come again. Your beaming faces contrasted the scowl the Marleyan had on his face when you all crowded in his tiny shop. Commander Hange had even managed to get the Captain to join in, and subconsciously you thanked Sasha and Hange for their pestering. Who would have known that it would be one of the last times you would see them alive and breathing, that after that night, everything would change.

You noticed Mikasa’s soft smile in the picture, and Eren-who stood behind her, was looking at her instead of the box camera. Armin had his arm around Eren’s shoulders, and Jean and Connie were next to him, directly behind you. Your eyes trailed down Jean’s arm; it rested on your shoulder. You were sandwiched in between the Captain and Sasha, head resting on her shoulder. All of you were giving your best smiles, save for Eren. He was living through his hell, and the rest of you were oblivious to it. How could you have known?

He had stayed behind with you at the photographer’s studio after everyone had left to visit the other shops Marley had to offer. The both of you walked around, observing the various framed pictures the Marleyan had hung up to advertise his work.

Jean trailed softly behind, watching as your fingers traced and lingered on the stained brass frame.

“What do you suppose their stories were?” You turned your head, smiling at the boy behind you. He approached you, his finger and thumb hooked under his chin, as he thought of a story for the people seated in the photograph. You waited for him to amuse you with his foolish tall-tales, noticing that Jean screwed his eyes as he intently examined each person in the picture.

He raised his eyebrows, a grin breaking out on his face; he flickered his eyes to yours, “they’re a South-Marleyan family hiding a terrible secret. They’re those godforsaken Island Devils.” He leaned in to whisper in your ear.

You pulled away, head whipping back to see if the photographer had heard; thankfully, he was preoccupied with developing your photos. You spun back around to hiss at Jean, “You can’t just say that, you dipshit! What if he heard!”

Jean laughed at your stressed state, “Well, you don’t need to worry; he didn’t.”

You began to walk away from him, but before you could get far, he reached out and wrapped his fingers around your wrist.

“Okay, okay. I’m sorry, please don’t be mad at me.” You looked back at him, his eyes pleading for you to stay.

You relaxed your shoulders and rolled your eyes at him, “wonder what shitty story you’ll come up with for our picture.”

“Brave heroes, their valiant efforts saved the world, and they were given mountains of gold and the finest wines possible to repay them for their kind acts.” He pulled you closer to him, and you giggled at his antics. “Oh yes, and one soldier more extraordinary than the rest-”

“Obviously, that’s me.” You quickly cut him off, silencing him with your remark. You gave a quizzical look at the boy, who was now sporting a noticeable blush.

He sharply inhaled and gave a smile, opening his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, the Marleyan shop owner began to talk, “Your jibber-jabbering is getting in the way of my work. If you’re not buying anything else, leave my store.”

Jean took your hand in his and offered the man a quick apology before pulling you out of the shop with him.

It wasn’t as if he hadn’t held your hand before, and yet the simple action sent your heart fluttering. His hands were warm and his grip tight; you wanted to melt into his touch and never let go.

However, the moment was cut short, as once you were out of the shop, Jean promptly let go of your hand, apologetic eyes meeting yours, “didn’t mean to pull your hand, sorry ‘bout that.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

You flexed your hand to shake off the feeling of his slender fingers against the back of your palm. He didn’t want to hold your hand back then; would he want to now? Why were you desperately clinging onto that memory of him?

“Do you regret coming back with me?” Mikasa’s soft voice broke you out of your trance.

“No, God no. Don’t say that. If I had to go back and have the possibility to make a different choice, I would still go with you.” You looked straight at her, gaze conveying your unwavering resolve.

You brought your hands up to your face to rub your tired eyes. “I don’t regret coming with you. I just never got to see them one last time, and I don’t know, how do I face them?” You let out a frustrated sigh. “Before, I could at least say that, hey, these are your friends, you know them better than anyone else, but now-”

You shook your head and set your eyes upon the chestnut cabinet directly underneath the picture frame. “It’s like I’ve been iced out.” You raised an accusatory finger at the cabinet which was situated under the picture frame. “Three whole years and the only reason I know Jean's even with the rest of them is because of Armin.”

Inconspicuously placed, the cabinet blended into its surroundings; for the most part, it held dishes, pots and pans alongside any other trinkets that didn’t have a place to belong. However, in one of its chipped and worn drawers, tucked away under a false bottom, were several letters addressed to a Miss. Mikasa Ackerman from a distant relative in Hizuru. These letters, of course, were actually from a Mr. Armin Arlert, from Marley, detailing updates about the peace talks that involved him, the other scouts and the ex-warriors. The letters were always short and concise, never revealing too much, as a protective measure. The exact reason for why you had stashed them in a hidden compartment; to ensure that if these letters ever fell in the hands of Yeagerists, that they would not be able to grasp the entirety of what Armin’s plans were. However, it also meant you were left to fill in the missing pieces, also missing the whole story.

“I miss him, but who exactly am I missing? We’re both different people now, and I don’t know if I’m ready to face that.” You waited for a response from the dark-haired girl in front of you.

“That head of yours is your worst enemy.” You scoffed at her statement.

“Just listen to me for once, please?” Mikasa tentatively reached over to wrap her hands around yours.

“I understand that you’re scared; I am too. But you can’t keep getting lost in the ‘what if’s’ of a situation. Tell me, how long have we known Jean?”

“Eight, no, ten years?” You sighed, wondering where she was taking this.

“And tell me in those ten years has he ever decided anything without understanding other perspectives?”

“No, well-”

“Fights with Eren do not count.” Her eyebrows quirked up before she continued. “Jean is one of the most caring and compassionate men I know. He would want to know why you left before ever being absolutely positive that he hated you. Not that he would, he adores you; I’m sure of it even after all these years.”

In a way, she was right; you were making assumptions about his character despite knowing him for so long. Yet the nagging thought persisted in your mind. The only way to resolve it would be to speak with him, which brought upon another challenge. Even if he didn’t hate you, how would you gain the courage to talk to him after all this time?

“Your tea is cold. No point in drinking it now.” Mikasa stood up to clear the table, but you swiped it from her, giving her a weak smile before she could grab the cup.

You wrapped fingers around the teacup; the porcelain no longer radiated the heat from the liquid and felt cool to the touch. Mikasa watched you as you walked over to place the teacup on the kitchen counter. Her fingers skimmed over to grab the cloth with her family symbol ingrained on it.

“Mika, I don’t tell you this often, and I should, but thank-” Before you could finish your sentence, there was a knock at your door. Mikasa gave you a confused look; it was too early for the others to be arriving, so who could it be?

You hesitantly approached the door; the both of you rarely got visitors. Occasionally the Braus’ would come by, but even then, the family would let you know before they visited. Twisting the handle, a sheepish-looking young man met your gaze as you opened the door.

“Hand-deliverance of a letter from Her Majesty, Queen Reiss.” You stared at the boy wide-eyed, whipping your head back to look at Mikasa; she shared the same shocked expression.

Mumbling a quick thank you, you closed the door after the boy departed. The letter felt heavy in your hands; neither of you had spoken to Historia in “official” accordance. What could the Queen want?

Mikasa hurriedly made her way over to you, “what does the letter say?” She urged you to break the wax seal which hid the contents of the ever-elusive letter.

“The queen wishes to have us join her for dinner at her home.” You looked over at Mikasa before continuing to read the letter, “she wants us to bring Armin and the others as well.”

a/n: jean is coming dw, ik yall are waiting for that anddd ik that there hasn't been a lot of romance-y parts but there will be !! i would love to hear your thoughts on the chapter and the series !! I am hoping to get these chapters out weekly thats the unofficial-official schedule as of rn

taglist: @httpglxssy, @keijikunn, @clean-soap, @lin-xoch

tagist form in pinned !!

Leave a like/reblog if you enjoyed reading this. I would appreciate it a lot <33

[thunder-at-dawn]

Echos In The Caverns

word count: 2,096

summary: while exploring, tubbo made an incredible discovery, and was desperate to show his best friend in grand-tubbo-fashion! however, that was just the one thing that led them to discover a large problem.

if you couldn’t tell, this fic was heavily inspired by the minecraft caves and cliffs update, i think it turned out nicely :D also if you tag this as ship i will personally hunt you down and whack you with my block button

warning: this is a sfw tickle fic! don’t read if that makes you uncomfortable :]

Tubbo_: TOMMY

Tubbo_: TOMMY ARE YOU THERE

Tommyinnit: what

Tubbo_: wheree are u

Tommyinnit: i’m at my house

Tommyinnit: why

Tubbo_: can yoyou come to your hotel

Tubbo_: and wear clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty!!!!!

Tommyinnit: why??

Tubbo_: you’ll see!!!

…What?

Tommy always knew that Tubbo tended to be quite the… holder of schemes. Good schemes? Maybe. Bad schemes? Also maybe. It really just depended on the day. It wasn’t irregular of him to not say what his plans were either, the young boy was often one for surprises.

Tommy looked down at the clothes he was currently wearing. A red and white baseball shirt and some khakis, also known as what he wore pretty much everyday. He had plenty of other shirts and pants that looked similar, (if not, the exact same) so it would be fine if he got just one outfit a little wet.

The young boy headed out of his small residence, which wasn’t at all far from the hotel at all. He walked down the prime path, entering the gate and heading for the front of the hotel, only to see no one there.

“Tubbo? Where are ya, bee boy?” He mumbled under his breath, looking for his best friend. He wandered around to the back… maybe he was there?

And there he was.

Tubbo had his back turned, placing a line of redstone dust along the ground. He stood up, wiping the dust off of his hands, then turned around with a grin.

“Tommy!!” He ran over to his best friend, engulfing the other in a tight hug.

“Tubbo! You’re gonna get fuckin’ redstone dust all over me.” He grumbled, though a smile was on his face. He could feel Tubbo take his hands, guiding him over and walking the two of them next to a lever that wasn’t there the last time Tommy was here.

“Okay, so earlier, I decided to dig straight down, right at this spot.”

“Idiot.” Tommy poked fun at his best friend.

“I thought it would be a bad idea too, but let me finish. Anyways, I just wanted to do it because, y’know, I wanted to see where it would take me! And man, I discovered something incredible, Tommy.” Tubbo turned around leaning down a flipping the switch of the lever.

“So that’s what you’re going to be showing me, right?” Tommy crossed his arms.

“Mhm!” The older of the two stood back up, looking at Tommy with excitement in his eyes. “Just be sure to be prepared for the drop!”

“…The drop? Wh-”

Before Tommy could finish, he heard the sound of pistons and felt the ground disappear underneath him. Before he knew it, the two of them were falling. It was pitch black, and the two of them were falling and screaming. They let out two different screams, Tubbo’s out of thrill and adrenaline and Tommy’s out of pure fear.

It took about ten seconds of falling and screaming for them to finally see light, but Tommy was too terrified to open his eyes. Instead, he was met with the chilling feeling of cold water. Panicked, he opened his eyes as much as he could and swam to the surface, gasping for air.

“TUBBO! WHAT THE FUCK?!” He yelled at the other, who had also risen from the surface. “What the fuck was that for?! You can’t just make us drop like that with no warning, I thought we were gonna die! I-“

“Oh, quit whining and swim to the shore!” Tubbo brushed him off. Tommy huffed, but obeyed, throwing his arms in front of him to propel him forward. Tubbo got to the shore first, and pulled him out of the water.

“Tubbo, why the fuck did you think that was a good idea?!”

“Tommy- Tommy, calm down. One, I would never kill you on purpose. And two, this was the easiest and quickest way down! Anyways, look behind you. Turn around.” Tubbo said to him. Tommy rolled his eyes and turned, expecting nothing grand, but his eyes widened in shock.

It was the most incredible thing he had ever seen.

A roaring waterfall poured water into the lake they had just dropped into, and sides of the waterfall were lined with purple gemstones. Ores lined the stone walls and lush moss covered the ceiling, draping down. Small, jagged rocks on the ceiling were covered by moss, and it looked like someone, likely Tubbo, had placed torches and lanterns around the area.

“What… What is this?” Tommy asked, jaw agape.

“What you’re looking at is the coolest cave the two of us will ever lay eyes upon.” Tubbo grinned, placing a hand on Tommy’s wet shoulder.

“…Holy shit, Tubbo! This is fucking incredible! A-And you found this just through digging down?!”

“Yep! Now come on, there’s tons of cool things here that you gotta see!” The ram hybrid grabbed Tommy’s hand, running around the lake and dragging him along.

Tommy honestly wasn’t sure if he had ever seen anything this amazing before. He got to climb hills of stone and ore, swim in the grand lake, and he and Tubbo even found an axolotl! They took it in a bucket with water, and since it was pink, they agreed on the name of “Technoblade Jr.”

Eventually though, all good things had to come to an end. The torches wouldn’t fend off monsters forever, so the two of them decided it was best to go back to the surface. Tubbo said that he had dug out a staircase through the stone that led to the surface, somewhere near Eret’s castle.

There was only one small problem. They couldn’t find it.

“I-It should be this way!”

“Tubbo, we’ve been down here for, like- for fuckin’ ever!”

“Okay, we’ve been here for a few hours at the most. And majority of that isn’t even us searching for the stairs.” Tubbo rolled his eyes.

Tommy sighed as he and Tubbo only found another dead end, a wall covered in vines and moss. “Face it, Tubbo. We’re lost. We’re fuckin’ lost, and we’re going to have to spend the night here.” He set a torch on the wall, taking a moment to sit down.

“Oh, don’t say that, Tommy!” His friend sat down next to him on the ground. Tommy crossed his arms, looking away and making Tubbo frown. “Look, we can always make a new staircase! It’ll take a while, but we can do it!” He nudged Tommy lightly with his elbow, but only got more of the silent treatment.

Tubbo huffed in annoyance. Tommy tended to get silent when things didn’t go his way, which was understandable. But it would get frustrating to Tubbo sometimes, he wouldn’t lie. And what’s worse was that he could clearly tell that Tommy was upset, and he wasn’t saying anything about it. He lightly leaned against Tommy’s shoulder, the silence being oddly comforting for a moment.

Tubbo stood up, leaving Tommy to mope by himself. He had to admit, this was a cool place to be lost in. The sights were incredible, and there were so many things he hadn’t found in caves before. Glowing squids, axolotls, crystals, cave vines…

Cave vines.

That’s it! He knew exactly what would cheer Tommy up! Why didn’t he think of this sooner?

Tubbo walked towards the longest vine he could find that draped from the stone ceiling, standing on his toes to pull it down and grinning as the vine snapped in two. He threaded the vine through his fingers, glad to find that it wasn’t rough and didn’t have anything sharp on it. He sat down next to Tommy, holding the vine in his hands.

“Tommy…” He leaned towards his friend, still not getting a response. Quietly, he draped the vine around Tommy’s neck. The other noticed, but said nothing. That is, not until his shoulders scrunched up when he felt Tubbo pull the vine across his neck.

“Tubbo-” He said softly, slamming his lips shut afterwards.

“What’s up, Tommy?” He asked, lightly scratching the other’s neck with his fingers.

“Where’s that smile, big man?” Tubbo used his other hand to poke his friend in the side a couple of times, grinning as he saw a smile start to form at the corner of Tommy’s lips.

“Tuhubbo, quihit it!” He giggled, starting to move away before Tubbo wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close, trapping him in a half-hug.

“There we go!” Tubbo scribbled his fingers across Tommy’s stomach, making the young boy squeal and bury his head into Tubbo’s shoulder as an attempt to hide his face. Tommy laughed, trying to grab at Tubbo’s hands.

“Don’t even try to fight back, mister.” He rolled his eyes. “I wanna make sure that you keep smiling! These caves are no place to be sad!”

“TuHUHUB- *snrk* TUHUBBO! Dohohon’t!” Tommy snorted, eventually grabbing onto one of Tubbo’s wrists. Tubbo brought his other hand back to drill his fingers back into Tommy’s stomach, the other laughing and eventually grabbing onto Tubbo’s other wrist. Both of them grinned as residual laughter spilled out of Tommy’s mouth.

“You’re so fuckin’ mean.” Tommy huffed out, unable to fight a grin.

“Oh, come on, you were sad! What else am I supposed to do, not what I do whenever you’re sad?” Tubbo rolled his eyes, smirking. “Besides, you didn’t fight back. We know you liked it.”

Tommy blinked, feeling his cheeks warm up, then narrowed his eyes. “Oh, you’re asking for it.” He growled, holding the other’s hands above his head.

Tubbo squeaked, already starting to squirm. “Wahait, no! Nonono, dohon’t!” He said, unable to stop giggles from coming out from hiding.

“Aww, what’s wrong, Tubbo? Are you scared? Scared of just a little tiny bit of tickling?” Tommy smirked, holding his wrists firmly and letting go, shooting his hands into his friend’s underarms. Tubbo immediately broke, instantly leaning towards the ground to try and get away.

“NoHOHO- gehehehet oHOHOut of thehehere!” Tubbo giggled, twisting his body to try and push off Tommy’s hands.

“You did the exact same to me! It’s only natural to expect revenge!” Tommy scribbled more rapidly, grinning as the other squealed and started to kick his legs. “Wow, Tubbo. Sometimes, I honestly forget how fuckin’ ticklish you are. And then I rediscover it for myself, and I remember just how ballistic you go every time!”

“ShUHUT UHUhup, yohou dihiHIhick!” The ram hybrid yelled through giggles.

“Hey! Well that’s just rude now, isn’t it? Guess you need to learn a lesson, huh?” Tommy asked, chuckling as Tubbo rapidly shook his head. Tommy started to squeeze up and down his thighs, and the other squealed, throwing his head back and hugging himself.

“TOHOhoHOmMY!! NohohoHOHO!!”

“Oh, you brought this onto yourself, don’t even try to “Tommy, no” me!” Tommy played around, trying to see what would work back. Squeezing the back of Tubbo’s thighs made him squeak, squeezing rapidly up and down made him squeal, and raking nails up and down the inner thighs made him cackle.

“TOHOHOMMY!! PleheHEAHase, I- StohoHOhop!!” Tubbo rocked back and forth.

“Hmmm… alright.” Tommy said after a moment of thinking, drawing his hands back.

“Wahait, really?” A giggly Tubbo was quite surprised, starting to sit up.

“…No.” Tommy smirked, suddenly pushing the other’s shirt up, leaning down, and blowing a raspberry on his bare stomach. Tubbo shrieked, retreating back to the ground instantaneously.

“NOHOHOHO- AHAHAHAHA!!! TOHOHOHOMMEHEY!!!” Tubbo squirmed around, trying to get away as Tommy now scribbled and clawed as his stomach with all ten fingers. His laughter echoed throughout the caves, filling Tommy with glee.

“Come on, you deserve this for all of the times you got back at me!” His friend grinned, leaning down to blow another raspberry right onto Tubbo’s belly button. The ram’s laughter went silent momentarily, then came back in the form of cackles with hiccups mixed in. Tommy stopped, laughing softly and ruffling Tubbo’s hair.

“You feeling better, big man?” Tubbo asked with a stupidly large grin on his face.

“Much better.” Tommy grinned, standing up and extending a hand towards his friend, helping him off of the ground. “Now, come on, grab your pickaxe. That staircase isn’t gonna build itself now, innit?”

Tubbo nodded, pulling out a pickaxe and starting to help Tommy dig out a path to the surface. He looked behind him one last time, deciding that he needed to come back here again sometime with Tommy, and maybe some other friends.

After all, it’s good to go back to places that bring you happy memories, right?

[babybamf]

Meeting and Dating Warren Worthington III

(Not my gif)(Requested by anonymous)

(We’re just gonna throw together a little au, alright?)

- You met Warren after Xavier brought him back to the school. Most people stayed away from him and rightfully so; he had teamed up with a malicious god and was partially responsible for the destruction of your school.

- You’d stayed away as well, which is what he seemed to want. He wasn’t exactly putting himself out there to make friends, not with his glaring and standoffish demeanor.

- A part of you figured that he really didn’t want people around him. That, no, he wasn’t just being “cruelly” ostracized by his peers; he was actively and consciously making sure people stayed away.

- But then another part of you reasoned that few people had actually attempted to get close to him, and to be fair, you hadn’t liked those people either.

- You’d contemplated going up and introducing yourself. In fact, you’d tried to, taking a deep breath and maneuvering your way across the school grounds towards him with that exact idea in mind. But the minute you came almost close enough to throw away any doubt that you were approaching him, he’d looked up at you with such cold and venomous fervor that you’d lost your nerve.

- Instead, you’d; thankfully, managed to continue on walking and coincidentally run into a younger student that you’d known, making it seem like that was your intention all along. You decided that day that Warren Worthington just hated people and you shouldn’t interfere with that.

- That would have been the end of it, and at the time you wished that it was, but that wasn’t the case. The moment you walked past the boy, it was like you’d painted a target on your forehead.

- Everywhere you went, Warren Worthington was there to stare at you from across the way. He’d set his sights on you and you weren’t sure which emotion was behind his gaze, though you were pretty sure it wasn’t one of the good ones.

- It took a few months of this, and you wondering if he was planning on killing you, for anything to actually happen.

- You’d been sitting in the lunchroom, reading a book when you heard the rooms chatter die down. There, at the entrance, stood Warren.

- He scanned the room, his eyes landing on you; much more passively than most other times, before moving to the nearly empty table across from yours. He made his way towards it, unfazed by the students who’d been occupying it scrambling to leave, and soon enough he was seated a few yards away with a perfect view of you.

- You tried to ignore him, turning to the book you’d brought in hopes of just forgetting he was there. Although, it was easier said than done when you could feel his eyes on you.

- More than once, you’d glanced over and caught him watching you; albeit it a bit more casually than usual. You wondered if he’d specifically come into the room just to look at you, you’d never seen him inside before; and he wasn’t eating, so you had to assume so.

- Finally, you turned back to your book and promised yourself you wouldn’t look at him, no matter how much your body was screaming for you to. The monkey part of you brain told you that this was a test and that averting your eyes was the proper move to make; so you made it ...up until you could feel someone standing in front of/at your side.

“I’m Warren,” Boy were you not expecting him to be British. His voice was like honey, even though there was a twinge of; what seemed to be, discomfort to it. He seemed out of his element. “I’ve seen you around. You’re Y/n, right?”

“Yeah uh, yeah, that’s right. ...Hi.” You answered nervously. He nodded and a long moment of silence passed between the two of you before he asked if he could sit down.

- It was awkward at first but then he asked you about a band and you started a near hour long discussion about music.

- Soon enough you were talking like it was a normal thing to happen, up until you were interrupted by a peer who told you that someone wanted to see you. You excused yourself and walked away, feeling more confident now that you knew you weren’t going to be murdered.

- Warren was sort of like a changed person after your first few initially awkward conversations; at least he was to you. He was still his intimidating self to everyone else but you; and in some regards Storm, seemed to be an exception.

- After a few weeks of you slowly seeing more and more of each other, he finally decided it was time to ask you out like he’d been intending all along. Well, he asked you out in his own way.

- It was late, he’d caught your attention with a “psst” and a flash of a bottle of liquor and motioned for you to follow him as he led the two of you outside. You soon found yourself sitting with him in the dark of the night, taking swigs from the bottle he’d snuck with you.

- You caught him watching you while you brought the bottle to your lips, taking a small gulp before moving to pass it back, only to be met with his face close to yours and his hand sliding onto your cheek. It was a matter of seconds before his lips were on yours but that short moment of anticipation had your heart racing.

- You spent the rest of the night talking and kissing and by morning you were official.

- Soo much Pda. He’s constantly touching you and trying to get you to kiss him.

- He loves when you kiss him. Surprise him with a little smooch; you’ll never see anyone look more in love than he will.

- Hand kisses.

- His hand in your back pocket.

- His arm wrapped around you constantly.

- Warren alternates between only calling you pet names and only calling you your name. When he is using pet names, he’ll call you things like babe, birdie, and love.

- He’s surprisingly loving considering how violent he used to be. You don’t expect it at first but he’s absolutely adorable when he’s around you.

- The instant he sees you, his day gets 100x better. Even if his face just goes from glaring to neutral whenever his eyes land on you, rest assured that his bad mood goes away the minute you appear.

- He’s always incredibly gentle whenever he puts his hands on you with innocent intent, like when he’s pushing your hair back or helping you put in an earring.

- He’s definitely affection starved and heartclenchingly so. You’ll go to gently touch his face for one reason or another and he’ll act like he’s never felt something better in his life.

- Cuddling is a bit difficult with the whole wing thing but you try your best. Sometimes you’ll just lay side by side and hold hands, other times he’ll cocoon the two of you while you lay on top of him, and other times he’ll lay down and you’ll just snuggle yourself into him the best that you can.

- Going flying. He rarely goes really high up with you in his arms, he himself is afraid he’ll accidentally drop you or you’ll get hurt in some other way.

- Stargazing or watching the sunset/rise on roofs of buildings.

- Sneaking out to spend time with each other away from everyone else.

- Blasting rock music as you drive through town.

- Abandoned building picnics? Abandoned building picnics. What’s better than being able to destroy everything around you and not being bothered by anyone.

- Nighttime walks around town. He sorta likes just wandering around the city with you.

- Helping him shop for clothes that will actually fit him, or helping him cut holes into his clothing.

- He’s grown to love his wings over the years so he always straightens up with pride whenever you compliment or touch them.

- Hickeys.

- Constant making out. He can’t get enough of you.

- Groping, blatantly too, just right in the middle of the street or hallway.

- Innuendos that make you blush.

- You’re either treated like a queen or being harassed like you’re dating a horny teenager. There is no in between.

- Kissing his scars.

- Occasionally, he’ll tell you stories about his fighting days. He finds it amusing to watch your face change whenever he recounts something particularly painful or malicious.

- He’s been known to get drunk for several different reasons so you’ll just have to find out which one it is while making sure he doesn’t die from alcohol poisoning or any dumbass decision he may make while wasted.

- Sharing booze.

- He probably has a tattoo of you or your name somewhere on his body. He’s a reckless person; it fits the vibe.

- He loves people knowing that the two of you are together, he’s so proud.

- Sooo many compliments.

- Sarcasm and affectionate name calling.

- He always gives you the cutest smile and a kiss on the cheek whenever you get him a gift.

- As surprising as it may be; considering the way he acts, he’s genuinely charming; and his face isn’t that bad either. He’s capable of making literally any girl swoon yet he still feels lucky to have you in his life.

- I feel like Warren just doesn’t like people and probably for a number of reasons. With that being said, he prefers to keep to himself, though he’ll tolerate social events; and your friends, for your sake.

- Warren is the type of boyfriend that would rather be seen than heard. Sure he loves talking with you, but he would rather listen to you talk instead of actually talking himself.

- With that being said, he can talk your ear off whenever he gets angry or jealous, wanting nothing more than to divert your attention from everything else and make you focus on only him.

- He’s a pretty jealous guy. He hates seeing other men around you, especially if it seems like you’re really close or that the guy has a thing for you.

- He’s definitely fought a man for flirting with or disrespecting you. The man does not play when it comes to you.

- Whenever the two of you fight, he’ll turn into the biggest sarcastic asshole that you will ever see. That being said, he’ll never yell at you unless you’re walking away from him and he’s calling after you in exasperation.

- If he’s in the wrong then he’ll apologize; albeit slightly begrudgingly. He isn’t very used to it so bear with him, he’s trying his best.

- He doesn’t tell you he loves you very often but you’ll definitely be able to tell that he does, especially as your relationship progresses.

- Though he may not vocally express it, he doesn’t intend on giving you up any time soon so let’s hope you’re in it for the long run.

[whump-only]

intro -- golden (vamp whump)

Ok so I have a vampire whump addiction now..... (thanks @deluxewhump + @ashintheairlikesnow). NEW WIP NEW OCs eeeeee

tw: broken bones, reference to gore (removal of teeth), captivity, restraint, it/its as pronouns, physical abuse/manhandling, non-sexual nudity, manipulative/abusive relationship, referenced death / murder

----

“Come on. Just let me just show it to you.” Hyde phrased it as though it was a request, but he stood blocking the front door. Daring Pollen to refuse him.

“No. Find someone else. I’m leaving,” Pollen said, but they both knew that wouldn’t happen. Pollen really, really regretted agreeing to housesit, For a whole month? On Hyde’s turf? Idiot! But he didn’t think Hyde would spring this on him. 

Hyde stepped forward and took Pollen by the elbow. “I’ll protect you…” he said cheekily, pulling Pollen towards the basement door. 

“Fuck you.” Pollen planted his feet firmly. To think Pollen would agree to living with a vampire… 

“Fuck! I said just look at it. How is that hard?” Hyde snapped with that ferociousness he was capable of. It’s why he was a top tier vampire hunter, but it startled Pollen when it came out like that. 

But just like that, the flash of anger was smoothed away, and Hyde was soft, coaxing. “Listen… if you actually look at it and still think it’s dangerous, then I’ll kill it before I go? Okay?”

Pollen was baffled. Did Hyde really think this was reasonable? Knowing what vampires did to his life, to his family? “…You’re serious?”

Hyde grinned before leading the way. That smile of assured victory that everyone swooned over. That Pollen used to want to kiss. Pollen clenched his teeth. 

Hyde opened the door to the pitch black basement and already everything in Pollen wanted to say, Close the door, get the fuck out! Leave it down there! That’s what any sensible human would do. 

Hyde flicked on a pale yellow light and padded down the steps. Pollen stopped at the threshold of the door, his heartbeat hammering in his ears. Run. Run! Those last words of his mother echoed in his head, the memory of that night wrapping itself around his neck, like a snake. Run! 

Hyde looked up at him, raised his eyebrows mockingly. Scared?

Pollen reasoned that if the thing somehow got loose it could kill Hyde first and give Pollen time to run away. Or something. And so, he forced himself to step down, one creaky, labored step after another. The smell of rotting, horrible something hit him so hard it triggered a coughing fit. “Ugh, god. You never crack a window down here?” Pollen called. 

Hyde was already out of sight, somewhere down there. “No windows.”

Pollen’s eyes watered and he could barely see anything in the yellow glow of the overhead light. Hyde was near the far wall, and Pollen urgently scanned the bare room for the monster. With a shock he realized it must be the figure at Hyde’s feet, curled under a blanket. 

With the clink of chains, the thing suddenly shifted and let out a whimper and Pollen’s heart leapt into his throat. 

Hyde kneeled down next to it and Pollen braced himself for it to leap up and rip open Hyde’s face.

But instead Hyde lifted it clean off the floor and held it up. Its blanket fell away and it was naked, so thin that it looked like its every bone was visible through its grey skin, making it all the more inhuman. It looked like an eerily accurate mannequin, utterly plastic and lifeless, yet still detailed in its rendering. The chain that dropped down from its neck looked heavier than its body. The thing remained limp in Hyde’s arms, its head drooped down to its chest, its bound wrists hung loosely. Its mop of black hair covered the top half of its face and the bottom was obscured with a muzzle. Its legs dangled a full foot off the ground. There was no way it was full grown, Pollen realized. 

It did not paint an intimidating picture. But Pollen still flinched when it growled suddenly. 

Hyde didn’t seem to register the sound at all, even though he was holding it against his body. He switched to holding it up with one arm. “Look at its eyes.” With the other hand he moved its matted hair out of the way and pulled up one of its eyelids. The iris was a deep, almost golden, yellow. “Such a pretty color.” 

The vampire’s eye seemed to fix on Pollen, its pupil growing small in an instant. Pollen turned away, finding himself overwhelmed. Those eyes. Just like—

“Want to touch it?” Hyde said, almost reverently. 

“No,” Pollen said firmly. “Just stop.”

“Suit yourself.” Hyde dropped the vampire so suddenly that Pollen jerked in surprise as it hit the floor and cried out.  

Hyde stepped over the cowering creature and with a gleam in his eyes. “See? Didn’t I tell you?”

Pollen stepped back, momentarily forgetting the vampire, but nonetheless terrified. Hyde was alive now, glowing with excitement. At any moment his energy could be redirected by a swift turn of anger into a quick bone cracking punch or the instant unsheathing of his knife. In this basement, Hyde could get away with anything, Pollen thought. 

But Hyde was in good spirits, seemingly assured that his presentation had been thoroughly convincing. So he was now onto logistics, “The freezer upstairs is filled with cow blood. Give the vamp a block every day or so. That’ll keep it alive but it won’t get strong enough to give you trouble. You can always lower the portion if it’s getting too energetic.”

Pollen’s head was still spinning from the slow realization of what he’d gotten backed into doing. “And what, take off its muzzle? What if it bites me?”

Hyde grinned with chaotic glee. “I took out its fangs! And the rest of the front ones too.”

Pollen unconsciously raised his hand to cover his mouth. 

Hyde continued. “Still gotta be wary of the things growing back of course. You can use the pitchfork to pin it down, but trust me, it doesn’t move around much anyway. It’s pretty easy.”

Pollen tried to relax his clenched mouth. “Right. Cow blood. Got it.”

Hyde tapped his chin. “Other than that, I just dump a bucket of water or two every few days, to wash down the piss an everything to the drain there.”

Literally mopping shit. Unbelievable that Hyde would take him for granted like this, Pollen sulked. “I hate you. You’re a bad friend.”

“I know, I know. I’m sorry,” Hyde said tenderly. He reached for Pollen’s hand and teasingly wrapped his index finger around Pollen’s pinkie. With the other hand he gave Pollen’s butt a little squeeze. “I’ll make it up to you.”

Ridiculous. Did Hyde think he was so good that sex would make up for this?, Pollen wondered. Pollen wasn’t that desperate. 

And now Pollen was insulted. “Hey. I never say I’d do it. Chained up or not, toothless or whatever, I’m not going to be able to sleep knowing there’s a vampire under me. That’s a risk you’re willing to live with. But not me. What if it gets away and comes upstairs to kill me?”

Hyde sighed. “You really think that thing is any threat to you? Be serious.” 

“Yes!” Pollen insisted. 

Hyde’s eyes narrowed and he smirked coldly. “So sad. But I get it. Can’t be too careful with vamps. They killed your folks right?”

Pollen already knew Hyde wasn’t just giving up. But Pollen didn’t know how to stop him. How to not walk into the trap. So Pollen yielded, “Yes. And my siblings. I had two sisters.”

“That’s too bad...” Hyde turned to the vampire that had somehow managed to silently twist most of itself back under the blanket. “Hey, Goldie. Mr. Pollen doesn’t trust you…”

Hyde walked purposefully toward a metal baseball bat that Pollen hadn’t noticed before. Pollen didn’t think he imagined the dark staining on it. 

Hyde glanced over, trying to catch Pollen’s gaze. “…What can we do about that?”

Pollen felt very cold in his stomach, remembering Hyde’s promise to kill it if Pollen thought it was dangerous. “Hey, come on Hyde. Hyde! Don’t do that,” Pollen said, but he wasn’t sure. The vampire couldn’t be released back to the outside to terrorize people, they both knew that. 

The vampire too, must’ve sensed the lurch toward danger, because it broke out of its stupor. As Hyde loomed over it, it struggled and whined, tried to scrabble against the concrete, pull itself away. But Hyde firmly stepped down on a part of it, pinning it.

“Stop! No!” Pollen shouted, but Hyde raised the tool above his head—

Pollen turned away and covered his ears to block the piercing cry of the creature. With every new breath it screamed into its muzzle and seemed to choke on its own voice before screaming again.  Pollen panted in horror, unable to look up. 

“One broken leg,” Hyde reported, loudly, over the thing’s cries. “Or if we’re really being more exact, it’s probably shattered from the knee down. Still think vampy can get away?”

Pollen shook his head. “Hyde. I can’t…”

“What do you think, Goldie? Can you still crawl up the stairs and kill Mr. Pollen?” Hyde addressed it with a tone that approached tenderness. But he still held that bat, weighing it in his hand. Pollen realized Hyde never intended to kill it. 

Pollen wished he could jump up and snatch away the bat. But his body wouldn’t move. “Hyde. Hyde, please stop. Just stop.”

Hyde looked right at Pollen with dark eyes as he raised the bat again. “Sorry, Goldie. One leg to go.” 

Pollen finally unfroze and raced up the stairs two at a time, tripped once, bashing his chin into a stair, but it didn’t slow him down until he was back in the kitchen. He felt dizzy so he sank to the floor and clapped his hands over his ears as the creature wailed. 

The stairs creaked as Hyde climbed them. He softly closed the basement door, muting the sounds of pain. 

The ringing finally subsided in Pollen’s head. “Why the fuck did you do that?” Pollen demanded. 

“You know I’m the last person on earth who’d underestimate a vampire. I wouldn’t leave you in a situation where you could get hurt,” Hyde said sweetly. 

You knew it’d make me guilty, Pollen thought. To get back at me for resisting you, right? But Pollen said nothing, and took the hand Hyde offered. 

Hyde pulled Pollen to his feet. “I know it’s scary. Especially for you. But you can do this.”

Pollen rested his head on Hyde’s shoulder, pretending that this Hyde, the soft one, couldn’t switch back if he was hugging Pollen. The broken moans of the thing could still be heard through the door. This whole exercise seemed so cruel now, so unnecessary. Pollen mumbled into Hyde’s shirt. “Why can’t you just kill it?”

Hyde wrapped his arms around Pollen. “This is a rare opportunity. I’ll take it around to fairs and things, earn a little cash showing people something they’ve never seen before. It’ll be something to do between my hunting trips. Maybe I can even travel less, if the money’s good… I’m not getting younger, you know?”

The creature’s pitiful sobs echoed in Pollen’s skull. Pollen gripped Hyde’s shirt tighter. “Mhm.” 

Hyde approvingly pecked a kiss onto Pollen’s forehead. “Thank you.”

Pollen cursed the fluttery feeling it gave him. He broke out of the hug. “You’re welcome, asshole.”

Hyde began to shuttle around the house, scanning for things he might’ve forgotten to pack. The vampire had gone quiet. 

Finally Hyde stood at the door, ready to leave. 

Pollen joined him to see him off. “Have a nice trip. Kills lots of vampires for me.”

“That I will.” Hyde gave a salut and marched off. 

Pollen closed the door and slumped down to the floor. “Fuck!”

[asthmark]

❝ stuck ❞ l.dh

request → “Hi~ I'm absolutely in love with your work. It makes me so soft uwu. I was wondering if you could write a Haechan one similar to the roommate Jeno one you wrote. About what it's like to just live with him” —@demiwizardstay​

pairing → demon!haechan, reader, guardianangel!mark

word count → 4.5k

a/n → whoops i made this into a demon!haechan au hahaha sorry i hope this is domestic enough for u tho :D

your eyes must be playing tricks on you.

there’s no other reasonable explanation. 

on the other hand, the shadow splayed out ever so comfortably on your couch seems to be very real. it must be just as aware of your presence as you are of its but to your surprise, it isn’t telling you to put your hands where it can see them or demanding to know where all your most valuable items are. it sits there, peacefully as if it owns the place. for a split second you consider the possibility that you walked into the wrong apartment but the key in your hand reminds you that the situation you are in is not your fault in any way. 

“so... are you gonna scream or just stand there?”

the figure’s voice is unmistakably masculine and drips with sass. you know you should feel scared. your heart should be pounding as your shaky fingers dial 911 and you hysterically report an intruder to the authorities and beg them to come fast. however, it seems that this stranger’s calm aura has rubbed off on you as you respond with an equally as unbothered tone.

“well, i would appreciate it if you invited me in.” you pause. “oh wait, it’s my apartment.”

with that, you step inside and go about your regular routine with a calmness you didn’t know you possessed; especially when there was an… unwelcome visitor lounging on your sofa. despite that, you kick off your shoes and toss your jacket somewhere on the floor like you normally would. you twirl your keys around your fingers as you go to turn to flick on the light switch. it rids you of the darkness that had settled upon your apartment and the stranger is completely revealed to you.

the first thing you notice about them is their sun kissed skin that’s littered in the freckles you would compare to the most captivating constellation. although, the stranger’s flawless complexion is the least of your worries considering the two horns that peek out from underneath their tufts of brunette hair. 

you physically restrain yourself from asking for his skin routine and instead opt for yet another sarcastic comment. “all ready for halloween, i see.” your eyes lock onto the appendages, choosing to ignore how realistic they were. “was party city having a sale?”

your comment seems to get your uninvited guest out of his daze as he scoffs. “are you kidding?”

“hey, this is my place, i ask the questions,” you scold.

he ignores you, instead going to tug on his horns. “these are all real, baby.”

you force yourself to maintain eye contact with him, waiting for him burst into laughter and tell you it was all a prank. instead, his unfaltering smug gaze pierces into you. you swear you stop breathing when his eyes flash bright red for a second.

“alright, you can tell the camera crew to come on out.” you glance around hoping this really was just some sort of hidden camera–practical joke type of thing. you half expect ashton kutcher jump out and tell you that you had gotten punk'd but you’re never granted that privilege. your eyes end up back on the boy lounging on your sofa and he returns the stare, eyes narrowed and mouth curved into a smirk.

it was almost… devilish. 

“oh my god.”

“not quite.” he finally stands, stretching his limbs out without a care in the world. “wanna try again?”

you stay silent, mouth slightly agape. there was only one other explanation. 

he’s satan. and he’s also in your living room. and the worst part was how undeniably hot he is.

you regret giving him the satisfaction of your stunned silence as it seems like that was the exact reaction he wanted. he laughs at your expression and it just sounds evil. 

“alright, alright. i’ll tell you what i am. but only because you mortals are always so cute when you’re scared.”

“i’m not scared, you idiot,” you interject without a second thought. “i just didn’t know i’d be selling my soul today. it’s a total bummer. i’m so young, i still have so much to do. i never even got around to trying yoga with ryujin!”

the boy’s eyebrows furrow in confusion. “your soul? did i say i wanted your soul?”

“well, you’re like, satan right? isn’t that what you do?”

he rolls his eyes. “i’m obviously a demon. satan is a loser who never leaves his fiery throne. which, by the way, isn’t as cool as it sounds. we’re not on the best terms at the moment.”

“so... you don’t want my soul?”

he shakes his head vigorously, looking disgusted at the mere idea of it. “what would i even do with it?”

“i don’t know. honestly i’m just going off of what i see in the movies.”

“that was your first mistake, baby.” he makes his way closer to you. “this isn’t the movies.”

“okay, back it up,” you say, attempting to put some distance between you and him.

he raises his hands in defeat as he obeys, retreating back to your couch. 

“why are you here of all places? shouldn’t you be sipping on a piña colada with satan right now?”

he crosses his legs nonchalantly. “like i said, we aren’t on speaking terms. in fact, i’m kind of… banned.”

“banned?” you echo. “from where?”

“hell? duh.” 

you scowl at his attitude. “it’s not my fault you’re on timeout.”

he pinches the bridge of his nose in frustration. “don’t call it that. it’s just a punishment.”

“same thing,” you say, making your way into the kitchen. you weren’t sure if leaving a demon unattended in your living room was the best idea but the initial shock had already worn off. besides, it seemed like he had been in your apartment for a while already. “what did you do anyway?”

“it’s not even that bad,” he grumbles.

“must have been if you got kicked out of hell.” you chuckle to yourself as you open up your pantry, looking for something to stuff your face with. “do you understand how bad you must be if even the devil himself can’t stand you?” 

“i’m not bad, per se,” he says, picking at his nails. “just a little annoying.”

“no kidding,” you grumble to yourself, rummaging through your pantry, in pursuit of your favorite snack. you were sure everything would make more sense once you got some food in your system. when all you find is an empty, crumpled bag where your chips had once been, you whine loudly. “did you eat all my hot cheetos?”

“they reminded me of home!”

“i can see why they kicked you out,” you retort. 

“listen, i get that this is an inconvenience—”

“that’s kind of an understatement.”

“but, this is the only place i can stay. turns out people freak out when you appear in their living rooms. you were the only one that didn’t.”

“yeah, people usually don’t take too kindly to that—hold on, did you say stay?”

he crosses his arms over his chest. “where else am i supposed to go?”

“anywhere but here.”

he gives you an unamused stare, his eyes glinting red once again. 

“i mean, don’t you have any demon friends you can stay with?”

“not here. we avoid earth at all costs. it’s trashy. that’s why this is a punishment.” 

not even you can argue with that. “understandable. well, how long are you gonna be here?” 

“don’t know.” 

you blink at him. “so… you’re planning to crash with me until satan decides to be your friend again?” 

he groans. “first of all, he’s never been my friend. second of all, yes, that was the plan i had in mind when i broke into your house.” 

“broke in?” 

“well, actually i used teleportation powered by the dark arts to get in but i don’t think your tiny human brain is ready for that conversation.” 

“and i don’t think it’d be in your best interest to insult the person you’re currently trying to move in with.” 

that seems to shut him up, as he purses his lips together and stares at you blankly. 

“listen, if we’re going to do this, there’s gotta be some ground rules, okay?” 

he stays silent so you decide to continue. 

“you have to pull your own weight around here. you might be some powerful being of the underworld but that doesn’t mean you get out of laundry day and doing dishes, got it?” 

he seems displeased, if the frustrated huff of air he lets out is anything to go by. 

“and you have to promise me that by staying here you aren’t putting me in any kind of danger.” 

“well, i can’t guarantee i won’t cause problems,” he says, raking his fingers through the hair in between his sharpened horns. “but i can protect you from whatever crap comes our way.” 

you contemplate it. you weren’t entirely sure what a demon like him was capable of but it seemed like it would be a list that was equally lengthy as it was impressive. yet, you still can’t bring yourself to agree to anything. 

as if he senses your apprehensive nature, he grabs your chin, forcing you to look into his hazelnut eyes. you only get to admire the warm tint for a split second before his eyes flash red yet again. they stay glowing longer than any of the previous times; long enough for you to notice how shiny and bright they are, reminding you of ripe cherries. 

“i promise.” 

the tone of his voice is surprisingly firm and definitely the most serious you’ve heard him the entire night. he retreats his hand from you and you find yourself leaning forward, almost craving his touch. his eyes go back to their original hue and you feel yourself regain your senses. 

“what did you just do?” you ask, leaning back from him. “what kind of dark magic was that?”

he tries to conceal his smile but ultimately fails, his pearly whites coming onto display. “that wasn’t magic, baby. i believe you just got lost in my eyes but don’t worry. i would too.” 

you let out a bitter laugh. “oh my god, you’re vain.” 

“do you mortals have to mention him every five seconds?” he chides, grimacing. 

it takes you a moment to realize who he’s referring to but when you do, you erupt in laughter. “really? that gets to you? you’re pretty sensitive for a big and bad demon.” 

“i have a name, baby.” 

“so do i.” 

his lips curve into a coy smile. “donghyuck.” 

you give him your name in response, not even bothering to think about it twice, much to your surprise. most would probably be more hesitant to introduce themself to a demon, much less invite them into their home. 

yet here you were, doing both. 

he offers you nothing more than a grin—it seemed more genuine than the last—before turning on his heel to make his way farther into your apartment. “so, where will i be sleeping? i was thinking your bed would be ideal.”

“well, i was thinking you could start with a thank you,” you suggest, trailing after him. 

he saunters down the hallway, twisting the knob of the door second to the left and peeking in. you can only imagine how much snooping around he had done before you had arrived, judging by the fact that he maneuvered your home so expertly. 

he hums as he scans the room as if it’s the first time (which you’re sure it’s not). “it looks comfortable enough for the two of us.” 

you can tell there’s no arguing with him, especially as he steps inside and sits himself on the edge of your bed, hands running over the soft fabric of your comforter. he bounces up and down a couple times, seeming satisfied enough with the mattress. 

in the blink of an eye, he’s underneath the heaps of blankets, tucked in snuggly. 

you exhale, trying to maintain patience. “i can tell this whole dark magic thing is going to be a problem for me.”

even though only his eyes peek out from beneath the polyester sheets, you’re positive he’s wearing an obnoxious smirk. his voice comes out slightly muffled when he answers, “think of it as a blessing, not a curse.”

“we’ll see.” you try to suppress a yawn but it manages to escape you, eyes squinting and your hand clamping over your mouth. “right now, i gotta sleep. hopefully i’ll wake up tomorrow and realize this was all a dream.”

“so, what you’re implying is that i’m a dream?”

“i meant to say nightmare.”

“that’s more accurate.”

as if the dazed tone of his voice didn’t give his sleepiness away, donghyuck’s drowsy eyes and horns sinking into the soft plush of your pillow certainly did. he looked the least threatening right then and there and you decide that this is the donghyuck you like best. you can’t help the sudden urge you feel to curl up in bed right next to him and doze off into blissful unconsciousness. 

“what are you waiting for? get in here.”

could demons read minds too? you can’t be bothered to think about it for another second before you take donghyuck’s very tempting offer and crawl into your bed. you don’t care that you’re not in your pajamas or that you smell like coffee beans, courtesy of the cafe you worked at.

all you can seem to focus on is the feeling of donghyuck’s soft breath against your neck and his oddly cute snores. it was ironic; a demon all cuddled up beside you, sleeping like a baby. you almost giggle at the striking comparison. 

needless to say, you fall asleep with a smile on your face.

+

“you know, it really pisses me off to come home and see you sitting in the exact same position you were in when i left.”

donghyuck rolls his eyes, an expression he’s mastered over time. “what else am i supposed to do? you made it pretty clear that you hate my demonic rituals and that’s kind of my speciality.”

you shrug as you kick your shoes off upon entering your shared apartment. “i don’t know. but binging the entire marvel movie saga can’t possibly be healthy.”

“we don’t have this in hell!” donghyuck exclaims, gesturing to the television his eyes remained glued on. 

“well, you should get used to life on earth considering you don’t know how long you’re gonna be stuck here.”

“i’m already on it. pop culture is actually really informative.”

“not what i meant. i was thinking more along the lines of a job.”

donghyuck finally tears his eyes away from the television to give you an unamused stare. “that’s really funny, y/n.”

“i’m serious! would it kill you to get off the sofa?”

“no. nothing would. i’m immortal, remember?”

you narrow your eyes. “oh yeah, almost forgot. you’re gonna be a bother to me forever and ever.”

“this isn’t the ideal situation for me either. but no need to torture me with low life mortal tasks.”

“bills gotta be paid, it’s a part of life,” you respond, taking a seat beside him. “or else we’ll both be breaking into people’s houses and begging them to move in.”

“i didn’t beg, alright? and i didn’t break in either! i simply...  appeared.”

“that’s even worse.”

“you didn’t seem to mind when you were all snuggled into me this morning.”

donghyuck’s words paired with his taunting tone cause you to feel slightly warm but you ignore it for the sake of a comeback. “you seemed comfortable yourself because when my alarm for work went off your arm was pretty tight around me.”

you swear you see him pout for a moment. “that’s not my fault! there aren’t many people open to cuddling in hell! i was just… seizing the opportunity.”

“since you’re all about opportunities, you should really look into that job. remember what we agreed on? no slacking off.”

“i’m not! just look in the kitchen!”

you know whatever it is, you’re not prepared for it. nevertheless, you tiptoe to said area, hoping your roommate had simply followed instructions and done the dishes and swept. but, of course, that itself is too much to ask as you watch the sink overflow with suds, plates and silverware scrubbing themselves clean and floating into their respective cupboards. a broom dances across the tiled floor, dust flying everywhere. you find that the mess in your kitchen resembles a train wreck; you want to look away but you just can’t. 

you call out to donghyuck, eyes still trained on the chaos before you, asking, “what did we say about rituals?”

“it’s a little more complicated than a ritual, baby!”

once you finally gather enough willpower to walk away from the kitchen and whatever is happening in it, you return to the living room, placing yourself in front of the television that donghyuck is so entranced in. 

“you’re coming with me to work tomorrow, got it?”

donghyuck groans for a second before rolling his eyes dramatically hard. “fine. now, can you move? the avengers are about to fight thanos.”

you comply, retreating to your bedroom but not before shouting back, “iron man dies!”

you shut your door, donghyuck’s frustrated screeching still coming through loud and clear.

+

your phone alerts you that it’s 6 am by playing an alarm so loud donghyuck falls out of bed. comically enough, it’s the loud thump! that comes when donghyuck makes contact with the floor that really gets your eyes to flutter open. you peek over the edge of the bed, every bit of grogginess leaving your body the second you see your roommate tangled in your sheets, limbs sprawled on the ground. 

“are you okay?” you ask, laughter lacing your words.

“doing just fine,” he mumbles in response. soon thereafter, his eyes shut once again.

“hey! no way are you going back to sleep, we have work!” 

you drag yourself out of bed over to where donghyuck lays, attempting to resume his peaceful slumber. you grab his arms, attempting to hoist him up. you’re almost positive he’s making it more difficult than it should be as he lets his body go completely limp in your grasp. when you finally get him standing upright, he smiles lazily at you, obviously still half asleep. 

“c’mon dork, you need to get ready. you’re gonna make some cash today!”

+

donghyuck makes it clear he understands nothing as the morning progresses.

he doesn’t get the importance of being on time or even working in the first place. he offers to just take out your landlord, which according to him will “solve all your problems”, more times than you count and you’re sure that if he mentions it one more time you’d actually consider it. he also claims he doesn’t understand the concept of a shower, asking you to help him out, yet the knowing smile on his face lets you know he’s more than well aware of what it entails. unfortunately, you realize this after spending more time than you’d care to admit explaining the concept of getting naked to him in a tight, confined space to him only for him to request a demonstration. 

upon leaving your apartment, more new things are revealed to donghyuck. you can’t help but admire the wonder and awe in his eyes. the adoration quickly wears off when he throws a temper tantrum at the subway station, refusing to board it and you have to physically force him on and promise that no, he won’t get trapped inside.

despite the slight bumps in the road, you arrive at your shift with time to spare. the clock tells you that you won’t have to be behind the counter for another five minutes so you grab your apron and provide donghyuck with one too. you give him quite possibly the quickest tour of the cafe ever and explain to him over five times what you were there to do (“so, we just take people’s orders? we serve them?” “and they pay for it.” “just when i thought it couldn’t possibly get dumber”). you end putting him on cleaning duty since you were well aware of his lack of social skills. he frowns when you tell him he has to do it himself, no magic allowed. the last thing you needed was someone getting nearly knocked over by a levitating broom and bringing it to your manager’s attention. speaking of—

“good morning, y/n,” greets doyoung. his hair is slicked back and his eyes shine, as always. “always a pleasure to see you on your shift.”

donghyuck watches you cautiously, observing the way you smile nervously and avoid meeting doyoung’s eyes. he assumes he has some kind of authority over you. 

“and hello there. who might you be?”

doyoung is now very aware of donghyuck’s presence, giving him a wide smile but a menacing stare. you don’t get a word out before donghyuck’s giving him a polite smile and nod of his head.

“i was just hired, y/n is showing me the ins and outs. i honestly could not be happier working under leaders like you, sir.”

doyoung hums, obviously enjoying donghyuck’s praise enough to let it blind him from the fact that you hadn’t even been hiring in the first place. “sir, huh? haven’t heard that one before.” 

donghyuck holds his breath, wondering if he had overdone it.

“i like it. you seem like a hard working fellow. glad to have you on the team.” your boss gives him a firm pat on the back before walking away, probably to go scare some other employees. 

donghyuck sticks his tongue out at him once his back is turned and you simply laugh, smile still present on your face when your first customer arrives.

+

“i’m here!”

you glance up from the cash register to catch your coworker rushing in, looking frazzled… as always.

“hey mark,” you greet, giving him a welcoming smile. “i’m so glad you’re here. there’s been this crazy demand for frappuccinos all day and you know i suck at those.”

mark chuckles as he ties on his apron. “no offense, but the only order you should be taking are the puppuccinos.”

you shoot him the most non-threatening glare possible which ends up with you bursting into a fit of laughter. “i’m not even gonna argue with that.”

“hypothetically, if i made doyoung’s coffee explode on him but made sure he didn’t know, would you be mad?”

you roll your eyes at donghyuck’s bold entrance yet you still giggle. “at this point, i say go for it. ooh, maybe we could even sneak out while he’s cleaning it up. what do you say, mark?”

where there would usually be a giddy laugh, there’s nothing but silence on your coworkers behalf. you put a pause on counting the money in the register to steal a glance at mark who’s eyes are dead set on donghyuck who also seems to be intensely focused on the blonde. 

“demon,” mark mutters.

you feel yourself freeze up; how could he possibly know? despite the panic that settles upon you, you’re sure donghyuck will find a way to handle the situation. you expect a lie, maybe even some magic if the situation called for it. when you see his lips curve upwards sinisterly, you know you’re in for an entirely different outcome.

“angel.” there’s a teasing lilt in donghyuck’s voice; it sends chills up your spine.

mark’s jaw is clenched and you know he’s equally as tense as you are. “we should go, y/n.”

“mark, he’s just—”

“now.”

the sudden desperation yet dominance in mark’s tone is even more alarming than donghyuck’s. 

“you know,” donghyuck begins, rounding the counter, dramatically. “i’ve never been a fan of the way guardian angels think they own their person.”

you swear your brain shuts down. there was no way you had come into contact with a demon and now an angel—your guardian angel. and there was definitely no way it was your closest coworker, right?

“it’s our responsibility—she is my responsibility.”

donghyuck folds his arms as he gives mark a once over. “you won’t mind if i take over, right?”

mark chuckles, begrudgingly. “you know i can’t let that happen.”

“i’m not hurting her, i’d never hurt her.” donghyuck takes his place next to you, wrapping an arm around you. he peers down at you, eyes glowing red for the first time since your first encounter. “my angel.”

you know the nickname is to piss mark off and you assume it works as you observe his hands clench into fists. although, you’re more focused on how the pet name effortlessly rolled off donghyuck’s tongue, like temptation itself. 

“don’t make this difficult for yourself,” donghyuck continues. “you know feelings are dangerous. that’s what they tell you when you first sign up. just don’t let that get you into trouble, got it?”

the tension is suffocating and you almost wish a customer would enter the currently empty cafe to save you from it. although, donghyuck makes sure that you don’t have to endure it any longer as a second later, you’re both gone, only a cloud of red smoke left behind. 

mark stands alone in the cafe.

he had gotten this job for you; to look after you. 

perhaps he had caught feelings, as well.

he assumes that was his first mistake. 

+

when donghyuck takes you back to your apartment, it seems the awkward atmosphere from the cafe has followed you home.  

“uh, can i ask what that was all about?”

“that guy, mark was it? yeah, he’s your guardian angel. i can’t stand it when those guys act like they’re in charge of the person they’re sent to look after,” he seethes. 

you watch donghyuck’s fit of frustration carefully, eyes wide. when he sees how confused you are he can’t help but sigh. 

“i’m sorry, i just… didn’t appreciate him acting like you were his. guess i don’t really like the thought of that.”

you would have to be oblivious beyond compare to not realize donghyuck was completely and utterly jealous. you prod him further, asking, “well, then who would you rather i belong to?”

he glances up at you. “whoever you want, baby.”

“you know what? i think i have somebody in mind.”

not even a second later, donghyuck takes you back in the security of your bed, under your piles of fluffy blankets. what feels most comfortable (and strangely familiar) is the feeling of donghyuck’s arm clinging to you, making you sure you’re pressed right into his chest like a puzzle piece. 

“the person you had in mind was me, right? ’cause if not, this might be awkward.”

your eyes roll back despite knowing he can’t see it. “no, it was mark.”

“not funny.”

your shoulders shake with laughter. “it’s a little funny.”

“whatever, keep laughing. just let me hold you, alright?”

“that would be heaven.” silence settles upon the both of you as you go into nearly hysterical laughter. “get it? because you’re a demon… from hell… and that’s like, the opposite—”

“yeah, i get it, baby.” he pauses. “how many more lame jokes surrounding me being a demon will i have to endure?”

“i definitely have more where that came from so my guess is...  more than you can count.”

he moans in displeasure. “you’re lucky you’re cute… for a mortal.”