#i just kinda miss him a lot? beat posted the behind and i heard him talk and ive just missed his calm voice and subtle comedy

[yandere-sins]

A yandere with a darling who is kinda worse than they are but are still into it.....I don't know how unhinged you'd have to be for the yan to be like "Are you ok? Like if you need to talk about it I've put listening devices in the vents but still..."

I didn't want this to go into compliant darling territory or the darling being the yandere for someone else (though I did laugh a lot at the idea of telling the darling that the vents are bugged just in case they need it lol that's a good one). But this somewhat brought me a kind of different idea which you probably didn't intend, but I hope you like it all the same!

Warnings: Yandere, Violence (Descriptive acts of murder, stabbing, punching other people, breaking bones, getting bloody, a lot of blood actually, burying bodies), Sexual Content (Mentioning of non-con, dub-con, taking advantage, doing it in the blood of victims and next to dead bodies), Mentioning of drugs, Mentioning of knives, Patient/Doctor relationships, Murderer/Admirerer relationships, Reader is a serial killer, Yandere captures people for reader to kill, Yandere is also mad but so is reader, Reader doubts yandere's reasons for liking them, Reader is genderneutral but gets lifted into a bridal-style at the end, I once again didn't compile these warnings while writing and editing so I might miss some, sorry :(, Mentioning of wanting to throw up, Reader doesn't actually want to get better, it was different but really fun to write, Long post?, I feel like there are more warnings... but I can't remember anymore, if you made it this far and still want to read it, I hope you enjoy it!

»»———————— ♡ ————————««

Click

You sighed, holding your head in your hands, arms squeezed between your torso and legs. Your head was throbbing with the headache of the century. One you hadn't had in a long time... like five days. 

"You're a fucking dick, you know that?"

Groaning, you heard your own voice echo through your dizzy brain, nausea building as you felt like you were on a ship, everything moving unsteadily around you. The blinding lights flooding the off-white room didn't help soothe the feeling either, and your whole body kept tensing up, readying itself to throw up. You tried deep breaths, but they barely did anything. Not like they ever did something. You were too far gone for that.

"I did what was necessary," his voice rang out through the speaker in the top left corner, accompanied by the screeching of technical issues. You whined loudly, tearing your hair out as your head felt like it would burst. "My bad," he added, turning down the volume.

"What was it this time? Double the dose, triple? Must you keep drugging me? Some doctor you are..."

"I tried something new," he admitted, a cheeky grin in his voice. 

"Worked great..." you slurred, listening to him chuckle. 

For a while, you gave in to the need to collapse, putting your arm over your eyes to escape the lights while you thought about the last few things you could remember. Therapy was going well... at least that's what you were told. But the nurses—ugh. That one bitch.

"She did it on purpose," you mumbled, hearing the softest of agreement through the speaker. You knew that if it wasn't against regulation, he'd be sitting next to you, brushing your hair out of the way while you'd tell him your woes. He was that kind of sicko. A doctor, yet fascinated with you, his patient. Even though he merely sat behind the cameras, watching you, you could hear the sickening affection he held for only his favorite patient in every one of his words. 

In a way, he wasn't that different from you.

"You beat her up real good, smashed her face in. Got yourself into a frenzy and just tore open all your stitches from your last fight while you were at it, you really..."

He sighed. He was disappointed. Upset. This was a significant setback for him, too, after all. 

"She called me too stupid to ever recover properly and I was trying this time, really! How else should I have reacted?"

"You could have told me."

"And you would have dealt with her how?"

A brief chuckle rang out before he replied, although, had you been less delirious, you wouldn't have needed to ask. You knew what he did to people who behaved poorly with you. "I would have taken care of her, as always. You know you have my unending support."

You couldn't help a smile creeping over your face, the memory of burying the last nurse who bothered you in the asylum's cemetary resurfacing. Digging out the grave had been hard work, but you had to agree with him that the physical labor did wonders to soothe your ever-agitated mind. 

"You're terrible," you mumbled, unable to hide your smile.

"Ah! There it is! Look at those little dimples! I'm glad my services are appreciated by my darling. I was hoping to take you out on a rendevous once the dust settles. Maybe we can do that sooner than I expected."

"Who'd want that, you sicko."

Groaning, you finally sat up, looking down at the cushioned floor while you adjusted to being awake. Standing took a few attempts; the cushions aligned along the wall, not actually graspable, even if they looked like it. Everything about the solitary cell was so safe, it made you feel helpless. But eventually you managed to get to your wobbly feet, sighing in exhaustion once you stood.

"There you go, breaking my heart," he sighed, and you shook your head with a laugh, knowing he didn't mean it. 

"No straight jacket this time?" you asked, raising your arms and, for the first time since you awoke, realizing your movements were unrestraint.

"You weren't in a condition to restrain you. I prioritized your healing over that awful jacket."

"You just don't like it because it does nothing for my figure."

Again, you heard the grin in his voice as he said, "Busted. You're too cute to walk around constrained. Even though I love how crazy you look with it."

"Sicko..." you mumbled, your nickname for your doctor, endearing only in his ears. 

Your limbs were terribly heavy as you moved them towards the door. Part of you wanted to collapse on the ground again; simply pass out where you were. But knowing him, he'd definitely use the opportunity to take advantage of you, especially now that he could get a video of it. 

You didn't always mind what your doctor did to you. In a way, he was helpful even if everything you two did was against any laws in this country. If anyone knew what you two were getting into when no one was looking, you'd both be put down like rabid dogs. But that's just how you two were—feral.

The sicko kept telling you how he'd get you back on track. How he'd "fix" you just enough so you could go home with him. There was no way you'd consider living with him if you ever did get out. Still, he liked to paint the picture whenever he crawled into your bed while on night duty, hugging you and telling you about his ideas. You told him often enough that, given the chance, you'd kill him outside the safety of this institution, but so far... you hadn't.

You had enough chances, enough people he let you murder, watching you while you did it and helping you to hide the bodies once you were satisfied, but you never once turned the knife on him. Maybe it was because of his studies; perhaps he knew more about you than you about yourself. Or it was because he was just as insane. Fucking your patient in the blood of their victims was definitely not normal, even you knew that. So what other reason could he have for it except insanity? 

"Earth to my darling, I repeat: Are you thirsty?"

You felt the heat spread over your face as you felt called out by his question, almost as if he was reading your mind. It wasn't like you two were lovers. There was no chance in hell you'd get together with someone like him—or anyone for that matter. You didn't want the burden of someone clinging to you while you did your dirty work.

But the sex after releasing all your pent-up anger? Out of this world. 

Perhaps his doctorate was in fucking instead of psychiatry, but he knew how to work every part of his body. And he knew just how to get you in the mood, too. An explosive combination, mixing his lust with your madness.

That didn't change much about your feelings for him, though. 

"I'm not," you muttered, trying to hide your face, which probably showed the embarrassment you felt, thinking of the last romp you two had. You tried the deep breaths again, but the thoughts kept popping back into your mind. Must be the drugs, you thought.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course!" 

His excitement was loud and clear as it rang through the microphone, and you weren't sure if you should smile at it or sneer. For some reason, you both held each other in a tight grip, unable to be separated, yet most likely toxic for each other. But he still got excited over any kind of interest you had in him and you about all the things he did so you could live out your best life—even though you were locked away for a reason. 

"Why me?" you asked, standing in front of the door, not looking up. Even if he was just the voice behind a camera at the moment, somehow, this question left a bad taste in your mouth. You didn't want him to see the conflict on your face; didn't want him to know that you were doubting how deserving you were of his favor. It wasn't insecurity, wasn't a need for reassurance, but how could anyone look at you and think, "That's the one!"? You killed people, went into violent rages, and weren't considered safe enough to be reintegrated into society, probably ever again. There was nothing you had to show for yourself. Nothing that could justify the feeling of adoration your own therapist held for you. Especially not he. He should have been one of the good ones. And you weren't. It made no sense to you why he'd behave like he did.

"Why you what?"

"Why do you like me so much? I mean, come on! I mean, look at us! We're batshit crazy! This isn't some romance movie on television, we're actually doing bad shit, and yet you keep shielding me, doing me favors, telling me you love me. I'm sure there are others out there who you can fix and fuck if you like. It's not like..."

Biting your own tongue, you wondered if it was the new drug combo he tried on you that made you feel especially irritated with his feelings that day. You let him do all this stuff to and with you, but now you were getting weirded out by it? It wasn't like you to get so worked up over him; you were more of the cool type, spitting-in-his-face-type if he pissed you off. You didn't even want to validate his feelings for you, but also... being self-aware enough to know you were a danger to humankind, you couldn't shake the feeling he might just be using you for his own sick desires. And that made you angry again. You'd not be a pawn or a means for no one.

Click

"Wow, okay, you bastard." Your grumbling fell on deaf ears as he turned off the microphone. "Sure, I'm going through something here, but by all means, stop listening. Not like it's your job or anything..."

Unprepared, you jolted back as the door to your cell suddenly yanked open, revealing the pitch-black corridor that lay behind. Apparently, it was late at night, but you couldn't focus on that as your doctor appeared from the shadows, a deep frown etched into his beautiful face. He should have been a model. At least that job wouldn't have led him to meet you.

"Do you doubt me?" he asked, stalking forward, undeterred by the open door, not thinking for a second that you'd try to escape. "Do I need a reason to love you for you to believe it?"

He caught your chin between his fingers, tilting your head back as he matched the steps you were taking backward. Soon, you'd run out of space to back into, but perhaps that was his goal. 

"Can't I just love you because the first time you caved in and told me about the things you went through, things just felt... right? Everything just clicked in my head, and I thought, "Wow, I want to see them happy!" Must there be any other reason for me to love you?"

Your back hit the wall just as his eyes lowered to your lips, his thumb reaching up to brush over them. "I dream about those lips. I can't help but think about you no matter where I go. In the evening, I imagine you curled up on the couch next to me; sometimes, I hear your laugh when you aren't even there. I want that picture-perfect life with you, but the moment I step into your room and see you covered in blood, your eyes showing just how far gone you are, it just..."

He looked up again, his eyes swirling with all the emotions he tried to convey in his words. But when he met your gaze, the color drained, leaving behind what you could only describe as pure, unfiltered madness.

"It drives me insane."

His second hand raised to the side of your face. He cupped your cheek in his palm for a moment, a soft smile creeping over his lips. "I like you like this. Docile, calm, sweet. I like it when you ask me things, I like it when you beg for something. I like it when you only let me do things to you. I want to help you, I do! But..."

His hand sliding down, you looked away, trying to catch it before it slipped around your throat, pressing into it, squeezing so hard you felt as if your head was going to detach from your neck.

"I want to ruin you. I want you worse, I want you deranged. I want you to kill everyone and then me, so I'll be the last of your victims, the only one you remember. I want to be ruined by you so badly that every day, I hope you tell me about yet another staff member we get to kill, and then you can use me to satisfy your needs. Can't you understand? This is love. No one will ever love someone like you, but. I. do. I understand you, I care for you. And I will continue to do so, with no other reason than I love you. I love you so much."

You gasped for air at this point, fingers grabbing his arm. It was hard listening to him, but it was harder to breathe. You knew he wouldn't kill you. This was nothing compared to other things you two did to each other. It stung a little when he said no one else would ever love you, but he was right. Not unless the change everyone expected from you was also something you wanted. 

But why would you?

The pressure on your throat disappeared, only for your breath to be stolen by his kiss. You hated this man. You hated him because he was a little bit too much like you. Too unhinged to be likable. And at the same time, he wasn't at all. He was too supportive, too nice, too forgiving. It disgusted you, honestly. Yet, you reciprocated, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. Before he could back off, you caught his cheeks in a squeeze between your fingers to draw him back to lick off the red fluid, reminding him he wasn't the deranged one here. 

"Don't question me again about my feelings, please," he asked, out of breath, too, as he bumped his forehead against yours. "I love you, I really do."

"You're a sicko, you know that? And your beard is stinging me, you should shave."

At this, he laughed out loud, raising his head to the ceiling. "I spent three days waiting for you to wake up. You can deal with some stubble."

"No, I don't like it."

Grinning, he lowered his face to you and gave you another peck on the lips. "It's gone tomorrow, I promise."

"Can I go back to my room now?"

He hummed thoughtfully before shaking his head. "Someone's awaiting their punishment still. You really want to miss out on that?"

Now it was your turn to grin as well. "Aww, you shouldn't have! Are we gonna cut up that bitch now? For real?"

"Anything for you," he mumbled, raising your hand to give it a quick smooch. "But let me change your bandages first. I don't want you to accidentally get sepsis if your wounds are still open."

"Surprisingly, you're still a doctor at heart."

"That's not true," he gasped, feigning indignation about your statement.

"Are you not?" you asked, watching him bend down to pick you up, bridal-style even. You weren't mad since your legs felt even weaker than before, and you really wanted to conserve your energy. 

"I'm afraid it's no longer medicine that has claimed my heart."

He looked at you, smiling softly. "It's all you."

"And I can't help but love you more, realizing I am becoming more like you every day."

[ultaslodgings]

[Spoilers for both CoV and CoC True Neutral ending!]

Okay, recently I made a post about how after we get separated from Aogami, the menu music disappears. (loved seeing the reactions I got from people who hadn't noticed)

And I realised that maybe some might not know whyyy this is so interesting, so I wanna go on a small rant about some OST motifs :)!

__________________

With that said, "It Seems Knowledge is in Control", the menu theme in question.

Why is a menu theme of all things so important? Turns out, it's the core melody behind the last track of the True Neutral ending, "The World of Humanity", with it being a slowed down version of said menu theme, with an added "SMTV Main Theme" motif at the beginning.

And whyy is a menu theme suddenly the core melody behind the most important ending of CoC? Beats me, but for the longest time I theorised that the track is in some way the MCs theme.

And that seemingly got further supported by the new Vengeance track, called "Aogami and the young man". Which yes, that is the track that plays in the cutscene where we get separated from Aogami. And its core melody is once again that menu theme.

But the fact that after Aogami left, the menu theme did too, suggests that the theme has some connection to him too. Which honestly makes this even more painful? The track seemed so linked to the MC, and yet the moment Aogami left, the track did too. It's like an added feeling of "Oh, you just lost a part of yourself" :'D Honestly you can think of a lot of angsty reasons behind why the menu theme vanished.

And that's it!

If I missed anything I'd love to hear it and add it in.

But as a side extra bit of information, I did also pick apart "Aogami and the young man" to see what other motifs or interesting things I could find, so if you're curious, keep reading!

_______________

This is all I could pick up on after some listens, so it may not be everything. Enjoy!

- The beginning portion of the track is comprised of two melodies, a foreground and background one, with the foreground being the aforementioned menu theme, and the background being Aogami's simplified motif (which is best heard in the tracks "If you wish to live, take my hand" and the beginning of "My power is yours")

((And the reason I call it "simplified" is because the track "I Entrust the World to you" emplifies that simple up and down vocal sound tenfold, and I personally believe its his theme.))

- That simplified mofit then gets slowly replaced by a heartbeat, which slows down drastically in the last few moments of the track.

- And in those said few moments of the track, the last melody we hear is a smidge of the Main theme motif, which is slowed down, before everything fades and we hear one last hearbeat.

For only a minute long track, it's kinda insane I think-

[lemoncrushh]

Wild Horses - Eleven

Summary: Amber Crosby didn’t end up with the life she’d expected, but that didn’t keep her from following her dream. A young, up and coming country recording artist, she and her band set out to do just that. Trying to leave her past behind, it wasn’t until meeting Harry Styles that she realized just how her life could take a turn and alter her future forever.

STORY PAGE

Chapter Eleven Word Count: 7k+

A/N: This chapter's a long one with no flashbacks. This was also the last one I had previously posted, so new chapters will hopefully be starting soon :).

“This kinda talk will lead us to somewhere; we’re getting way too close to going there…” - George Strait; We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This

The car ride back to the hotel seemed a lot longer than the one that morning. Amber was so tired, she thought she could pass out, but she wasn’t about to fall asleep sitting next to Jeff.

“You did great,” he reassured her.

She had mixed feelings about the interview. She hadn’t been prepared for a lot of the questions that had been thrown at her, but at least the interviewer had been polite and somewhat interested in her music.

“Hmm,” she sounded, her head against the back of the seat. “I don’t know. I guess I wasn't ready for the personal questions.”

“You did exactly what you’re supposed to do. You were vague without seeming closed off. You gave them just enough. Remember, you don’t owe anyone anything more than what you’re willing to give.”

Amber sighed. “That’s what my mom says.”

“Smart lady,” remarked Jeffrey. “It’s what I remind Harry, too.”

“Yeah? I’ve heard he’s the king of avoiding questions.”

Jeff chuckled, “Well, he was in the biggest pop band in the world, you know. Those guys were media trained.”

“Yeah,” Amber mused. “I sometimes forget that. He seems so grounded and remains very genuine. He could have very easily turned into an asshole.”

Her manager was quiet for a moment before he said, “You like Harry a lot, don’t you?”

“Who doesn’t?” Amber turned her head and smiled. “You know, I don’t get on social media much, but Clare and I went to a bookstore the other day, and I saw five magazines with him on the cover. FIVE! He’s a huge deal.”

Jeff gave a small smirk. “That’s not what I mean.”

“What did you mean?”

“I see you two together a lot. Even during off time.”

“Well, yeah,” Amber confirmed. “We’ve become good friends.”

“Maybe something more?”

Twisting her hands in her lap, Amber felt her face get warm. “Are you wanting me to admit I have a crush on him?”

“Is that what it is?”

“Well…yeah. I guess.”

“Alright,” nodded Jeff as he sat back. He seemed to be content with her response, and Amber was happy to drop the subject.

The car pulled up in front of the hotel, and they walked together to the elevators. It stopped on the second floor, surprising them both when the doors opened to a sweaty Harry standing before them.

“Speak of the devil,” chuckled Jeffrey.

“You were talking about me?” he asked, stepping onto the lift and greeting Amber.

“Only in passing.”

“How was the interview?” asked Harry.

“Pretty good, I guess,” shrugged Amber. “How was the workout?”

“Wonderful.”

Amber didn’t miss the look on Jeff’s face as he was obviously reading the expressions and body language. Suddenly self-conscious, Amber took a step back from Harry.

“So how’s it feel to be back in Nashville?” he asked her. “Does it feel like forever ago that we met?”

Amber’s heart beat faster in her chest at the words “we met.” She hoped Jeff didn’t notice.

“Yeah, I love Nashville,” she said. “And the weather’s great today. But right now I’m too exhausted to enjoy it.”

The elevator stopped on her floor and Jeff held the door.

“Get some sleep, love,” said Harry. “Maybe we’ll have a late lunch.”

“Sounds great,” she gave a sleepy grin and a wave, catching the sweet look on Harry’s face and the disapproving one on Jeff’s before the doors shut.

“Hey, guys,” Amber smiled as she stepped out into the hallway, the door shutting behind her. She’d had the most incredible nap before waking to a cute text from Harry, inviting her to lunch. If she was being honest, it was a regular text, but somehow, she found it cute anyway.

“Hey Ambs,” greeted Johnny who stood next to the elevator with Brendan. “How’d that interview go this morning?”

“It was good. Kinda weird talking about myself.”

“What kinda stuff did they ask you?”

“A little about the band, the music. Then some personal questions.”

“Uh oh,” smirked Brendan. “Not too personal, I hope.”

“Did they say anything about…you know, Carter?” asked Johnny.

“Surprisingly, no. I was glad about that.”

Another door opened then, and out stepped Mally.

“Hey, what’s up?” he grinned. “You joining us for barbecue, Amber?”

“Actually, I was about to meet Harry for lunch. He told me it was my choice, and barbecue sounds amazing. You guys wanna join us? I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“Yeah, if you think it’s okay.”

“Let me text him,” said Amber, already typing on her phone.

“Do you think there’ll be a crowd if Harry comes?” Brendan asked hesitantly.

“Do you want there to be a crowd?” chuckled Mally.

Brendan shrugged, “Don’t really care, I guess.”

A wide grin spread across Amber’s face as she looked up from her phone. “He says he’ll be happy to have barbecue with the Amber Crosby band.”

“Alright then!” Mally clapped his hands together.

“He’s coming right down,” added Amber just as the elevator pinged and the doors opened, revealing a jovial Harry, his arms spread out.

“Hey, thanks for letting us join you, man,” said Johnny as he stepped into the elevator.

“What are you talking about? I’m joining you! So thanks for having me.” Harry patted Johnny on the back, earning a bright smile before addressing Amber. “We keep meeting on lifts today.”

Amber giggled. “This is only the second time.”

“Even so…Sleep well?”

“Very.”

When the elevator stopped in the lobby, Harry gestured for Amber to exit first.

“Which barbecue place are we going to?” she asked.

“We were thinking of the one down the street, across from the venue,” replied Mal. “Is that alright with you, Harry?”

“Lead the way,” he grinned.

The group strolled down the street, chatting with each other until Harry noticed Amber had fallen behind the pack, so he slowed for her to catch up.

“Sorry, I don’t have long legs,” she groaned.

“‘s alright. I wanted to ask you something anyway.”

“Oh? What?”

“Well, you mentioned us going to a country bar sometime…” he looked up, gesturing around them. “What better place than Nashville?”

“Oh, I meant in my neck of the woods,” explained Amber. “You know, where they have those seedy little bars that only serve beer and whiskey and you have to wear a collared shirt to get in.”

Harry pouted, his mouth turned down in a semicircle, his eyes wide like a wounded puppy. “So we’re not going to one here?”

Amber laughed out loud. “Don’t give me that look.”

“What look?” Harry batted his eyelashes, making Amber laugh harder.

“Stop! How can I say no to that face?”

Harry stood up straight, a satisfied grin on his lips. “So it’s a yes?”

“It was always yes, you silly goose,” Amber poked him in the side. “I was giving you a hard time.”

“Guys!” Harry shouted, making the other three turn around. “Amber just called me a silly goose! Am I a silly goose?”

Johnny and Brendan chuckled as Mally nodded. Throwing his arms up, Harry muttered, “Who knew?”

“So when did you want to go?” asked Amber as they crossed the street. “We’re here for three days.”

“How about tonight?”

“Tonight?”

“Sure, why not? Or did you have plans already?”

“Um…no,” Amber hesitated as they walked into the restaurant, following the other three. “You sure Jeff will be okay with it?”

Harry frowned, his brows knitting together. “Has he said something to you?”

“About what?”

“About…y- nevermind. Don’t worry about Jeffrey. He’s your manager, not your father.”

Taken aback, Amber gazed up at Harry as he perused the menu on the wall.

“You make it sound like we’re doing something naughty,” she whispered.

Nearly choking, Harry coughed a laugh.

“Sorry,” Amber shook her head, realizing what she’d said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

“You’re the one who brought it up.”

“I just meant…oh forget what I meant, I don’t even know,” she laughed. “Let’s go out tonight.”

Harry looked down at her with an easy grin. “Sounds fun.”

The fivesome had been enjoying their meal for only a few minutes when Amber suddenly got the feeling she was being watched. She looked up from her barbecue sandwich and caught two sets of eyes glaring at their table. Before she could say anything, Brendan nudged her shoulder.

“I think those girls are staring over here,” he whispered.

“I know. Just ignore them. You know they’re just ogling at Harry.”

“Damn, I thought it was ‘cause of me,” joked Mally, making everyone snicker.

A waitress came by then to refill their teas and waters, momentarily cutting in front of the girls’ view. But as soon as she was gone, Amber noticed the phones in their hands.

“Oh come on!” she scoffed. “As if we don’t know what you’re doing.”

“Hey…” Harry nudged her other arm, shaking his head. “Just let them be.”

“But you know they’re gonna post those pics in less than thirty seconds.”

“Doesn’t matter. They’re not hurting anybody.”

“I guess not,” Amber muttered, taking a sip of her tea.

“I dunno how you do it, man,” remarked Brendan in a low tone. “You must feel like there’s cameras on you at all times.”

“I should hope not,” Harry joked. “I’d never sleep or shower again.”

“Aw, you know what I mean.”

“I’ve just gotten used to it, mate. And most people aren’t being rude about it. I mean, I have to live my life.”

“Yeah, dude, you gotta eat!” added Johnny.

“Exactly,” Harry chuckled.

Amber’s bandmates then started in on another conversation, but she wasn’t paying attention. Once again, she was in awe of Harry’s nonchalant attitude. She knew things had to get to him sometimes - nobody could be that easy-going.

“What?” she heard him say, and she suddenly blinked. Had she been staring?

“Huh? Oh, nothing,” she blushed, looking down at her plate, but not before catching the smirk on his face. The room suddenly felt warm, and she took another long swig from her iced tea.

If this kept up, Amber wasn’t sure she could survive a night out with him. In a bar? Sure, a country bar was her element. But with Harry Styles…well, she knew it was not going to be her average night out.

Especially if he kept looking at her like that.

Amber spent the rest of the afternoon in her room, watching a movie and then having a quick chat with Pauline. Before she knew it, it was time to meet Harry again. She had curled her hair, for reasons she still couldn’t justify, other than she wanted to look nice. She figured even if she wasn’t going out with Harry, and just to a country bar with anyone else, she’d have curled it anyway. She was just slipping on her boots when the knock sounded on the door.

“Be right there, H!” she called.

“Actually, it’s Sarah!” a different voice shouted from the other side.

“Oh!” Rising from the bed, Amber walked to the door and opened it to see Harry’s drummer. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Sarah echoed softly. “I’ve been sent to fetch you.”

“What for?”

Scanning both sides of the hallway, Sarah gestured toward Amber’s room. Stepping back, Amber let her in and shut the door.

“Harry said you two are headed out tonight?”

“Yeah. He wants me to show him how to two-step,” Amber giggled before widening her eyes when she noticed the get-up Sarah was wearing. “Did you wanna come too?”

Sarah smiled shyly, her hands on her hips. “Yes, but it’s by Harry’s request. Apparently, Jeff is worried about you guys going to a club together.”

“What?” Amber asked incredulously. “Why?”

“I guess he thinks you two are getting rather chummy and people will talk.”

“Hmm, I bet he does.”

“Somebody already posted a picture online from this afternoon. When you were having lunch. He’s worried if you go out alone with him tonight, more photos will show up and people will start assuming you’re…you know.”

“Jeff thinks that, or Harry?” 

“That’s what Harry told me, but I’m not sure whose idea it was,” Sarah chuckled. “Listen, it’s none of my business. But, I adore H. And he seems to like you a lot. He asked if I would go to the bar with you, and he and Mitch would arrive later.”

“Oh…well, that could be fun. That is, if you want to go.”

“Yes, don’t you see my outfit?” Sarah looked down at her western shirt and adorable denim skirt.

“You look so cute!”

“Not as cute as you, but I guess it’ll do. You ready?”

“Yeah!”

The duo headed out into the night. Amber realized this would be the first time she’d be going to a country bar since the summer. It would also be her first time to hang out with Sarah alone. She liked Harry’s drummer, but she and Mitch seemed to be attached at the hip, so it was odd to see either one of them without the other.

The dance hall that Amber had decided on (Harry insisted she choose) was a few blocks away, so Sarah suggested they take an Uber, especially since Harry and Mitch would most likely be taking the car service, and taking separate transportation would less likely raise questions for Jeff. Amber almost felt like a teenager again, sneaking out without “dad” knowing. Not that she did a lot of that as a teenager. And not that she felt like Jeff was being particularly parental. She understood his concerns…somewhat. What she didn’t understand was why he had a problem with her and Harry spending time together. What had Iris done that made him want to close Harry off from any potential danger a romantic relationship could ensue? Or did it have nothing to do with his ex-girlfriend at all? Was his concern only based on Amber specifically?

When the Uber driver pulled up in front of the flashing neon sign, Amber cackled.

“What’s so funny?” asked Sarah, sliding out of the car first.

“This place is literally called a honky tonk,” she pointed to the sign. “Harry’s gonna have a blast ribbing me about it all night.”

“Why’s that?”

“I told him they haven’t been called that since the seventies. If this place has a mechanical bull, I’m never gonna live it down.”

The bar was crowded, the music loud. Just how Amber liked it. As though her mothership was calling her home, she instantly felt her hips sway, her waist twist to the beat of the music. She stood near the entrance, watching the couples on the dance floor. She clapped when the song ended and a new one began. Fortunately, there was no mechanical bull in sight.

“This place is cool,” commented Sarah. “Wanna get a drink?”

“Oh, um. Maybe just water for now. I’ll wait til Harry gets here.”

Amber wasn’t sure how much Sarah knew about her drinking, and the entire Carter situation. It still felt like an open wound, and she didn’t feel like divulging too much information with a new friend, even if she was Harry’s friend and bandmate. Besides, she wasn’t sure if a couple drinks would really hurt, especially since she would be drinking for a good time, not to drown in her sorrows. But she also didn’t want Harry to judge her if he found her with a beer in her hand when he arrived.

So she decided to wait.

Sarah and Amber found a spot in the back corner, a small table with only a couple of stools, but because the bar was so crowded, it would have to do. Amber swung her legs underneath her as she sang along to the Alan Jackson song. Her phone suddenly lit up on the table, and she noticed a text from Harry.

Just leaving. Got diverted by Jeffrey. Be there soon.

Amber smiled, replying with the thumbs up emoji.

Sorry for the slight change of plans by the way. Hope Sarah is taking care of you.

LOL no worries, she typed back. We’re good.

Amber was about to tell Sarah the guys were on their way when she caught her looking at her phone as well. Mitch must have texted her.

“So when’s the last time you’ve been to a place like this?” Sarah inquired.

“I was just thinking about that actually. Last summer we played a few bars, but none that had a big dance floor like this. I think it’s been since…well, probably since I’ve been back home.”

She was about to say something else, but figured that would lead into a whole other explanation, so she skipped that part.

“Do you miss home?”

“The town? No. And definitely not the trailer. I only miss my family.”

“I’m sure they miss you, too,” smiled Sarah. “But they’re also very proud of you.”

“My mom is, for sure. She’s the reason I’m here, honestly. Well…and Harry. But she knows this is my dream and she encouraged me to follow it.”

“Great mom.”

“Yeah.”

Amber didn’t mean to get choked up all of a sudden, but her breath caught in her throat and she swallowed hard. Temporarily distracted by emotion, she almost missed the man who approached their table.

“Evenin’ ladies,” he greeted. He was a tall man in a western shirt, jeans and hat. Your typical cowboy. “Would one of you like to dance?”

Amber glanced over at Sarah who shrugged. “Go ahead, girl. It’s your night.”

Turning back to the cowboy, she smiled. “Sure.”

Stepping out onto the dance floor, Amber felt a sudden rush. Not exactly the adrenaline she’d experience being on stage, but similar. She hadn’t two-stepped in a while, but it was like riding a bike. The best part was that the guy led the way, and she was relieved to find quickly that he was good at it.

“What’s your name?” he asked, leaning into her so she could hear him over the music.

“Amber.”

“Hi, Amber, I’m Tony.”

Amber gave a gentle smile before Tony spun her around as they came to the edge of the dance floor, making their way to the other side.

“You’re a good dancer,” he said.

“Thanks, so are you.”

Amber hummed along to the song as Tony led her around the large oval once more. As the song came to an end, he spun her around again, to punctuate the end of the dance.

“Keep going?” Tony wiggled his brows in question as another uptempo song started, the DJ giving an announcement about shots and tipping your waitresses.

Looking over at Sarah, she saw she was still alone, sipping her cocktail. She eyed the entrance, but didn’t see Harry yet.

“Um…sure.”

As she held onto Tony, he led her around the dance floor again. At one point, she noticed a few sets of eyes were on them. She felt a little sense of pride knowing they were dancing well.

“You’re fun, Amber,” grinned Tony after he twirled her. “You from around here?”

“No,” she replied, catching her breath. “I’m…just passing through.”

“Oh, too bad.”

Amber felt his gaze on her, but she suddenly lifted her own toward the entrance where there seemed to be a crowd forming. She knew that had to be Harry. Unless another celebrity had just arrived, which was also possible, but not as likely. As she and Tony made their way to the other side, she kept sneaking glances until finally the crowd broke open and Mitch emerged, Harry right behind.

Still trying to follow Tony’s lead, Amber watched as they joined Sarah at the table where she quickly pointed to the dance floor. His head snapping up, Harry spotted Amber, a huge grin spreading across his face. Amber blushed as he pointed to her and mouthed “look at you!” She laughed, giving a quick wave and covering her face with her hand, hoping Tony didn’t notice.

The song ended a moment later, and a slow one started. Stepping back, Tony eyed Amber, silently asking for another dance.

“Sorry, I should go,” she said, gesturing behind him. “My friends are here.”

Tony turned around swiftly to see where Sarah was no longer sitting by herself. Amber noticed Tony’s shoulders fall, then he adjusted his hat.

“Oh.”

Not wanting him to walk away upset, Amber offered to dance with him again later.

“Sure, honey,” he replied, although he didn’t seem too pleased about it. “Have fun.”

As he walked off, Amber looked up at Harry who was still watching her. Somehow he and Mitch had gotten themselves stools as well.

“Hey,” she commented as she took the steps up. “Where’d you get the extra chairs?

“Waitress brought them.”

Amber placed her hands on her hips. “Of course she did.”

Harry laughed. “Are you having fun?”

“I was. But I think that dude got mad I was with y’all and not on a girls' night out.”

“Of course you are! Don’t let the two blokes sat here ruin it for you.”

“I don’t think that’s how it works, Harry,” Amber chuckled.

“Oh.”

The cheeky smirk on his face told Amber he knew exactly how it worked. Just then a waitress - probably the one who had brought the stools, Amber figured - came by and set several glasses on the table, including shots.

“What’s this?” Amber asked.

“I told Harry you were waiting for him to order drinks, so he got these while you were dancing,” explained Sarah.

“Oh! Okay…”

“Fuck!” Harry exclaimed, slapping his palm on his forehead. “Amber, love, I’m so sorry. I completely lost my head!”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not. I’m so bloody stupid. I totally forgot-”

“Harry. It’s fine. Really.”

“You don’t have to dr-”

“I never really said I was quitting. I just…needed to lay off for a while. And I did. And we’re here to have fun. I don’t think a drink or two is gonna hurt.”

“You sure?”

Amber felt the hand on her wrist before she looked up into his sincere gaze. She gave him a slight nod and a soft smile.

“Alright. I’m leaving it up to you, love.”

“I think I’ll be fine. I wanna loosen up tonight, have fun. Just…let me know if you think I should stop, okay?”

Harry returned her smile as he ran his hand up her arm and patted her shoulder. “Deal.”

“So what are we doing first, shots?”

“Well, I got four…” Harry gestured.

Amber grinned, reaching for a glass. “Cheers!”

With slight hesitation, Harry lifted his own glass, and Sarah and Mitch joined in. The liquor went down smoothly, and Amber noticed it was sweet.

“You good?” Harry asked, wiggling his brows.

“You bet,” Amber beamed as she leaned towards him, placing her hand on his thigh. “Let’s have fun tonight.”

“Alright,” he agreed, giving a smile that made Amber weak in the knees. “When do we dance?”

“You ready now?”

“Whenever you are.”

“Let’s go,” Amber rose from her chair and held out her hand. Then she led Harry out onto the dance floor where a current popular country tune was playing. “So, you’ve never done this before?”

“I mean…kinda? But not really,” Harry chuckled.

Licking her lips, Amber lifted her free hand to his shoulder, and Harry instinctively placed his free hand at her waist.

“Okay, so I’m gonna step back with my right foot, you step forward with your left. It goes one-and-one-and-two. Then you repeat with your other foot.”

“Oookay,” nodded Harry.

As he began to move forward, Amber moved backwards. It didn’t take long before they were two-stepping. She wasn’t surprised though - he was a musician. Anyone who could keep time could do it.

“You got it,” she grinned, adding a bit more swivel to her hips.

“How do we do what you were doing before? When I got here.”

“What was that?”

“The spinning thing.”

Amber giggled. “That takes a little more practice.”

“Show me.”

While she wasn’t exactly sure how to teach him, she did her best to instruct him to rotate the two of them so they moved together in a circle. Once he seemed to have it, she told him to go faster. He slipped only once, bumping into her and a couple behind them, making her laugh. The song changed then to a slower tempo one, and she suggested they try again later.

“Where you going?” he asked when she turned for the steps.

“You…wanna keep dancing?”

Harry contorted his expression into a funny face, his arms out wide. Amber chuckled again, pointing to the table.

“Let me just get a drink of water.”

When she returned, Harry seemed eager to return his hands to the previous position. But Amber shook her head.

“This one’s a little different. Because it’s slow.”

“Oh,” he muttered.

“You can keep holding my hand here. But see all this space between us? That has to go.”

“Ohh.”

Snaking his arm around her waist, Harry pulled her close against him, their bellies touching. His hand ran up and down her back, and Amber wondered if that was intentional or just automatic.

“Like this?” Harry began to move forward to the rhythm of the song.

“Exactly like this.”

As they swayed to the music, Amber noticed Harry’s body moving more fluidly, as though it was natural. Her face close to his, she gazed up into his eyes, trying to read them.

“Were you pulling my leg?” she asked.

“When?”

“You’ve done this before.”

“I’ve slow danced before,” he replied. “Just not the two-step.”

“Well…” she cleared her throat. “You’re really good at it.”

Amber watched the dimples dip in his cheeks as he guided her along the dance floor. Trying to keep her mind off his angelic smile and the way his body felt against her, she began to mouth the words to the song - mindlessly because she surely had no idea what song it even was.

Dammit. What was happening?

She felt warm, and a little light headed. But there was no way in hell she would ever stop. She wanted this to continue, and she hoped to God it was a long song. Or at least that another slow one would play after it. The DJ betrayed her though, and a fast Luke Bryan song came on.

“Hmm, that was nice, Amber,” she heard Harry say.

Lifting her head, she saw him looking at her, his eyelids heavy although he’d only had the one shot.

“Yeah. Um…I could really use another drink,” she remarked.

Turning for the table, she didn’t miss the way Harry’s hand slipped down her back slowly, as though he hadn’t been ready to let go.

Back at the table, Sarah and Mitch were chatting until they looked up and grinned at Amber and Harry.

“You guys look great out there,” Sarah commented.

“It’s your turn now,” Harry pointed between them.

“Uh, I’ll pass,” she said while Mitch shook his head.

Laughing, Amber reached for the other drink that had been set in front of her. Taking a sip through the straw, she tasted the liquor, the warm sensation oozing down her throat and coating her veins.

“Wow, that’s good,” she mumbled to herself, nearly emptying the glass.

Soon enough, she joined the conversation the others had started, and the foursome had a good time chatting and laughing with each other. At one point she remembered a couple of girls coming up, asking Harry for selfies to which he obliged. And when he sat back down on his stool, she felt his hand suddenly graze her back.

“Just checking on you, love,” he leaned in to speak in her ear. “You doing okay?”

“I’m great,” she beamed, wiggling her hips to the music. “But I wanna dance.”

Rising from his chair again, Harry held out his hand. He danced another fast-tempo song with her, nearly getting a hang of the spinning - or at least a half spin. Amber giggled at his attempts. She couldn’t help it. He was so cute.

“So how did you learn to dance like this?” Harry asked. “You’re barely old enough to get in here.”

Amber blushed. “There’s an old dancehall back home. You only have to be twenty-one to get in on Saturday nights. Friday nights were teen nights until eleven. And during the week, anyone could get in. Some folks would bring their whole families.”

“How old were you when you started going?”

“Like…twelve? But only ‘cause my mom and aunt would hang out there. They would bring me and my cousin, Faith.”

 Amber almost didn’t notice the song had changed until Harry was already pulling her close. She seemed to meld into his arms effortlessly. As he swayed gently, she felt his fingers tickle the back of her hand. She looked up at him, his expression completely focused on her face.

“I like learning more about you, Amber,” he declared, lifting her hand to his lips where he kissed the back of it.

She nearly gasped at the sudden touch, unable to form any words but one. What was happening? Surely he was drunk.

“Yeah?”

“Mm,” he nodded. “I wanna know more.”

Amber chuckled nervously. “Careful what you wish for.”

“Why?”

“We all have skeletons, Harry. We already know both of us do. You said yourself you weren’t ready to dig yours up yet.”

“Hmm. I reckon I did. But I sure am dying to know you better.”

Amber watched Harry’s eyes study hers until she had to look away, glancing down at the cross that laid against his chest. She felt his hand slip from hers again before he used it to lift her chin.

“I haven’t told you how beautiful you look tonight.”

His other arm that was wound around her waist held her so tight, she could barely breathe. Or maybe it was the way he was looking at her, his emerald eyes dancing under the hot neon lights.

“Thanks,” she managed to say.

“Really like this dress,” he smirked as his free hand found its way around her back. “It’s very cute.”

Her heart pounding in her chest, Amber slid both of her hands up Harry’s shoulders. He seemed pleased with her choice, his grin widening as his own hands rested just at the smallest part of her back. Staring into his eyes, she wondered how long she could stay in his arms. She figured the answer would be…forever.

The DJ broke her reverie, reminding her she was on the dance floor amongst a crowd of people and not alone with Harry. He announced it was time for a line dance, and Amber groaned.

“What’s wrong?”

“Let’s sit this one out,” she requested.

“Nah, I wanna try it!”

“Ugh, Harry,” she protested, though she knew she would give in. It wasn’t that she particularly hated line dancing. It was just…

Turning around, Amber laughed when she noticed Harry was already starting to copy the people in front of him. Taking her place beside him, she did the same. Once again, it didn’t surprise her that Harry was a natural, picking up the choreography quickly. His long legs also made him look like a lanky cartoon character, which made her smile to herself, but she wasn’t about to tell him that.

The tune seamlessly switched to a hip-hop one in the same tempo, and the duo continued to dance with the rest of the group on the dance floor. Whenever it was time to turn and clap, Harry would add a “whoo” which was soon picked up by everyone else. Sneaking a quick glance over at Sarah and Mitch, Amber waved them over. At their protest, Harry gave them a shout, insisting they join them. Amber chuckled as they hesitantly made their way to them, keeping a distance behind the rest of the group. But just like Harry, they seemed to pick up on the moves quickly.

As the song ended and everyone cheered, Amber was prepared to leave the dancefloor for another drink. But her eyes about popped out of her head when she began to hear her own song.

“Oh my God!” she squealed, covering her face.

“Well, we have to dance to this one, baby!” exclaimed Harry, pulling her to him.

Glancing over at the DJ, she wondered if he’d recognized her or if it was just coincidence. When his eyes met hers, he gave her a wink and a thumbs up, and she smiled before Harry led her into the dance.

Wait, had he just called her baby?

Her mind in a haze, her emotions all over the place, Amber was on autopilot as she danced with Harry. When he spun her around successfully, he beamed at her, his smile radiating throughout the room.

“You did it!” she exclaimed.

“I did!”

Proud of himself, Harry led her through the rest of the dance, his eyes squinting as he chuckled. He sang along to the final chorus, spinning her one last time. And as the song and dance came to a close, the entire dance floor erupted in applause.

Amber felt her face turn beet red as Harry took her hand and bowed, encouraging her to do the same. Then he pulled her into a hug.

When they returned to their seats, and a few more fans came to congratulate them, taking more photos, Amber looked at Sarah as she bit the inside of her cheek.

“So much for keeping a low profile tonight, huh?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You guys were having fun. No harm in that.”

Amber shrugged. She only hoped Jeffrey would feel the same.

After the crowd had dispersed and Amber went to the restroom, Sarah and Mitch announced their departure.

“Thanks for coming with me,” said Amber, giving Sarah a hug.

“Don’t mention it. It was fun. And totally worth it.”

After the couple left, Amber continued to sip on her glass of water, deciding she’d had enough alcohol for the evening. She scanned the room, wondering if she’d catch a glimpse of Tony hanging around, but she couldn’t find him.

“Thank you, Amber,” she heard Harry say.

Turning to look at him, she noticed the glassy look in his eyes. He’d definitely had more to drink than she had, but it didn’t seem to affect him the same.

“What for?”

Scooting his stool closer to hers, he reached for her hand, rubbing the back of it with his thumb.

“For tonight. It’s definitely not my usual hangout spot…but I thoroughly enjoyed it.”

“I’m glad,” she smiled, resting her chin in her hand. When the sound of a steel guitar started, her ears perked up. “One last dance before we go?”

“Absolutely.”

Amber didn’t even bother to place her hand in his when they reached the dance floor. Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her to him. His eyes seemed to dance in time with the music as he swayed with her, their bodies so close, there was no space between them. After the first chorus, she laid her head on his shoulder, inhaling his scent. He smelled so good, felt so good.

“I like this song,” she commented softly.

“Mm. I like you.”

Lifting her head, she melted from his gaze. She felt Harry brush her hair off her shoulder, his thumb grazing her bare arm as he let it fall, all the while, not tearing her eyes from his. As they continued to sway, barely even doing a two-step anymore, she somehow felt their bodies move even closer - so close that their faces almost touched. Amber could feel his breath on her skin as his nose brushed lightly against hers. She lifted her chin ever so slightly, willing him to kiss her. But she knew he wouldn’t. Not here. Not in public. Not in the middle of a crowded dance floor.

“Amber…” he murmured so softly that only she could hear.

Almost like a boom of a firecracker, the ballad ended and the DJ announced last call. Standing up straight and taking a step back, Amber rubbed her bare arms.

“Um…guess we should probably go. Before the rest of the bar leaves and it gets too crowded.”

“Yeah…yeah, good idea.”

Gathering her composure, Amber grabbed her phone from the table and took a few large gulps of water. Then she followed Harry out of the club, and into the cool night air where the car was already waiting for them. A couple more people who stood outside greeted him, and one even recognized her, saying they were excited for the concert. They thanked them before sliding into the back seat and headed for the hotel.

“How are you feeling, love?” Harry asked once they were on the road.

“Good,” she grinned, although her insides were a mess. “What about you?”

“I’m great,” he said, leaning his head back with a sigh. “That was the most fun.” Then he turned his head to look at her, reaching his hand out to graze her arm with his fingertip. “I really enjoy being with you.”

“Me too.”

The car arrived at the hotel in what felt like three seconds, and Harry helped her out. Relieved that the coast was clear - from Jeff or any other prying eyes - she followed Harry to the elevators where he pressed the button for her floor. While it wasn’t unusual, because he often walked her to her door, it somehow felt different this time. Butterflies danced in her tummy as they stepped off the lift and she pulled out her key.

“Amber…” she heard him say as she felt his hand on her back.

“Yes?”

She caught only a glimpse of his face as she turned around before he slipped his hands under her jaw and pulled her into a kiss. She barely had time to figure out what was happening as her breath hitched in her throat. His mouth captured her top lip as she wound her arms around his torso. She managed a sigh as he moved to her bottom lip, tasting her gently. His pillowy lips were so soft, as though his kiss asked a question rather than demanded. His body language, however, spoke differently as he pushed her against the door. When he slid his tongue across her lip, urging her to open for him, she tasted the alcohol, igniting her senses and fueling her desire.

“Oh…” she sounded when he separated the kiss suddenly.

His eyes echoed her thoughts as he stared at her, then down at the key in her hand. Turning swiftly, she fumbled with the key, unlocking the door and pushing it open. Harry had his hands on her, his mouth on hers again before they were halfway in. His kiss had become hungrier, his thirst apparent as his tongue wrestled with hers. Amber gasped when Harry released her lips only to travel his mouth down her jaw and neck.

Grasping at the back of her dress, he ran his hands down to her ass and lifted her up, her legs automatically wrapping around him. Her breaths heavy, Amber watched his face as he lowered her onto the bed. He hovered over her, his lips swollen from kisses. His eyes looked dark and greedy as he stared at her with a feral urge.

Harry kissed her again, his tongue dipping deep into her mouth, causing her to moan. Amber opened her legs, needing to feel him against her. When he moved his hips slightly, she could feel his erection, and she swore she was already soaked.

“Harry…” she whined when his mouth found her ear, his hand slipping down the top of her dress and cupping her breast. “Please.”

She heard him groan before he lifted his head to look at her. She tried to read his face, but all she could detect was uncertainty. Suddenly he shook his head.

“Shit. I’m sorry, Amber.”

“What? Why?”

“We shouldn’t be doing this.”

Amber blinked incredulously. “Are you kidding?”

“No. Mm, I’m sorry, baby.”

He rolled off of her and sat up, running his ringed fingers through his hair. Confused, Amber sat up too and glared at him.

“I don’t understand. What happened?”

“Nothing. I um…just don’t think we should do this right now.”

“I…” Amber’s eyes darted around the room. “I thought we were having a good time. You said you liked me.”

“I do.”

“Then why don’t you want to-”

“I do, baby,” he shook his head. “God, I want to so bad.”

“Then what’s stopping you?”

Amber watched his shoulders fall, his Adam’s apple bob in his throat.

“I had a lot to drink tonight,” he replied. “And I like and respect you too much to take advantage of you in this state.”

“But I didn’t drink that much,” she argued, crawling onto her knees. “Take advantage. I don’t mind.”

Harry’s low chuckle only fueled the fire, and Amber placed her hands on his shoulders, rubbing them gently before running her fingers down his arms. They were both silent for a few moments before Harry shifted on the bed and pulled her to him.

“I really do like you, Amber,” he declared, his fingers in her hair before he kissed her softly. “You’ve made me feel things I haven’t felt in a while. I just don’t think this is the right time for us to sleep together. Not yet.”

“Oh,” she mouthed, disappointed.

“It was stupid of me to make a move like that. I’ll understand if you’re upset.”

“I’m not upset. I was probably gonna make a move if you hadn’t.”

Harry smirked, pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Baby…”

“Hmm,” she sighed. “You’re gonna drive me crazy if you keep calling me that.”

“Sorry. It just…felt right.”

“Yeah. A lot of this feels right, I’ve noticed.”

Breathing through his nose, Harry nodded, his eyelids heavy. Then he leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

“Believe me, I’ve thought a lot about this. That’s why I don’t wanna rush into it. I want it to be just right.”

Amber nodded. “Okay.”

Placing a soft kiss on her nose, Harry rose from the bed.

“Get a good night’s sleep, love. We’ll have breakfast, yeah?”

“‘kay.”

With a gentle smile, Harry headed for the door. Amber followed, holding it open for him.

“Goodnight, Harry,” she said.

“Goodnight, baby.”

Then with one last kiss, he was gone.

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[derpy-the-purple-monster]

The theme is fluffh and he won the award.

[achillieus]

let you down. (sebastian stan x reader)

summary: it's a universal truth but it's worth repeating; feelings eat us raw. or just an actor and a girl falling in and out of love over the course of three months.

(this was inspired by sebastian's visit to greece for his movie, monday, and is based on that, so that means in the story we’re in 2018. also i have this posted on ao3 too but while i’m writing the last parts i thought of posting it here too)

pairing: sebastian stan x reader

warnings: alcohol, heavy sexual references, implied depression, infidelity, this one is very angsty, it's kinda slowburn because i love the yearning, this part is not my favorite but it also is

part: 4/6

(other parts)  (masterlist)

When you both go to sleep that night,

What you say to yourselves:

It is just a kiss.

The truth:

Sebastian can’t forget your scent and your taste. And it’s everywhere. And it’s everything. He’s not sure if he can breathe anymore. He tries to put himself together but he loses; he lets a moan escape his quivering lips, as he comes hard, alone in bed, your lips a picture in his head.

You can’t forget his warmth. He’s long gone but his heat is making your body sweat. And it’s becoming annoyingly addictive. You try to fall into a dreamless sleep but you can’t. You grab onto your sheets, trying to shallow down his name when you have two fingers inside you.

It’s a study in remorse and guilt.

/

“Please breath,” you whisper in front of the bathroom mirror. “Breath in. And out.”

It’s been two days and one night since the doomed night. You have not heard of him ever since.

Your heart beats with the power of war tambours. You want to find him and tell him you’re sorry. You want to promise you don’t mean to cause any trouble to him. You want to let him know you don’t belong in his life. He will pass through you like cars pass red lights.

Violently.

“I’ll find him tomorrow.” You lie down and rest. “I’ll tell him everything tomorrow.”

/

Argyris can see the disorder reflecting in Sebastian’s eyes the second they pass in front of your door.

The Romanian drops his eyes on the floor and quickens his pace. Argyris is smart enough to not comment on it; at least not when they have an all night shooting in a while. He doesn’t want to distress him.

He doesn’t have a choice though; because Sebastian stops as soon as they reach the third floor.

“I’ve made such a mess.”  His voice can’t give away how nauseous he feels.

Argyris exhales loudly. This is precisely what he was afraid of. This is precisely what he had warn you both about.

“It’s not the right time” he starts quietly “We have a lot to do.”

Sebastian sighs.

He feels as though there will never be a right time for the two of you.

/

You can’t sleep. The sky is dark behind your closed windows. It’s almost four in the morning and everything around you is quiet; until it’s not anymore.

You can hear people laughing as they enter the building and you can hear the lady from the first floor yelling at them.

Suddenly you’re thankful for the terrible insulation as the whole place grows alive at the sound of noise. You’ve grown tired of silence.

You slowly open your door. You want to hear more.

Argyris is trying to apologize when the old woman starts calling them uncivil. You want to laugh.

But then you hear steps coming closer and, in a breath, he’s standing right in front of you.

“Did we wake you up?”

The others are still arguing in the lobby.

No, I couldn’t sleep, too busy thinking of your lips.

“Yes. All the noise scared me.”

He comes closer. He tries to clear his head of images he creates at night. Images with you.

“I’m sorry.” He says and it sounds like his chest feels lighter afterwards “I’m sorry for the noise.”

You nod, a blank expression across your face.

“We went for a few drinks after the shooting and people got drunk and dragged themselves hear to continue the party. It’s not Argyris’ fault.”

You turn your head away from him. You don’t dare to look at him for a long time.

“I can bet that.” Your words feel heavy inside your mouth. “He has never caused any trouble before you came.” Your words feel bitter inside your mouth.

He laughs. He calls your name. It makes your throat dry.

“You can see that I’m not the one who’s drunk and arguing downstairs.”

The space between you two starts to dwindle.

“You should go.” You whisper. “There is no reason for you to be here.”

He says nothing for a while. He just stays there looking at you with an unreadable expression. His breathing hits your face. It feels cold.

“Right.” He answers, building his guard back up, posture fixed and face blank.

And then with one last glance he leaves you alone.

/

You wake up not much later, the sun meeting the horizon.

You clean the kitchen and you water your flowers. You decide to take a walk. You haven’t done that in a very long time.

Not a lot of people are awake at that time. The streets are almost empty. You find that comforting. You pass the familiar streets and there’s a heady feeling in the air; the mouthwatering smell of fresh bread in the small bakery, the sound of a dog barking and an old man carrying around a barrel organ.

Lately you seem to forget how much beauty there’s around. Lately you seem think true beauty is only a pair of light eyes and the sound of a foreign accent. You feel selfish; your ardor for him has blinded you and everything seems too little.

You feel stupid.

/

And then you blink and it’s Sunday and you remember Argyris telling you they’re leaving on Monday to shoot scenes in some islands. You can’t decide if you want them to leave sooner or never at all.

The latter makes you forget to breath.

You take a shower. But water never washes tears completely away. They stick to your body and your pores like leeches.

The white towel feels rugged against your skin and you think of throwing it in the trash can. You don’t.

Instead, you get dressed and make a sandwich for dinner.

A knock at your door stops you.

You’ve missed that sound.

You close your eyes.

You feel as if you’re being thrown back in time, to the first time he came at your doorstep.

There’s another knock.

Maybe it’s not him. You take a step. Even if it’s him, it’s a dead end. You place your fingers around the handle, without making any motion to unlock.

You stand there for some seconds. There’s no more knocking. You smile at yourself. You were always good at hiding behind closed doors. Maybe not good enough; because now you can hear him talk.

“I’m glad you’re not here” his voice makes it sound like he’s aching “Or that you’re here and don’t want to open up.”

Your hand swifts around the knob.

“I’m glad, because if I was looking at you right now I would-”

He stops when he meets your gaze. You’re close now. And it’s hard not to wrap your arms around him, but you force yourself to just look straight ahead and do nothing.

“You would what?” You voice sounds like a mourning song.

You watch as he runs his fingers through his hair and lets a quite sigh.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

He laughs and it’s dry and sharp. And then he grabs you by the shoulder and you’re both inside your apartment and he closes the door with a shudder.

His eyes are swollen and for a moment you’re scared. Only for a moment.

“Yes I am.” He still has his arm around your shoulder. “What do you want me to say? That I would do everything? That I would kiss even your eyelids?”

You’re shivering. You feel almost sick.

“I can’t say any of those things.” He swallows hard around the lump in his throat.

You look at him starry-eyed. 

“You can.” You’re stepping closer to him. “You can say everything. There’s no one here. Just us.”

“That’s not enough.”  He says, with a look that promises all the sorrow and the suffering in the universe.

Your face splits.

“Then why did you come?”

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“We’re leaving tomorrow.”

I know, you almost say. But he talks again, before you can say anything.

“I want you to come with us.”

You feel like choking on the world’s most expensive rosé. You start coughing.

He caresses your forehead, tucking some hair behind your ears.

“No, Sebastian, this is bad.”

His fingers can feel a tear dripping down your eyes and your cheeks and your lips. Slowly. He’s not certain if it’s yours or his.

“I know.” He blinks. “But we don’t have much time. And I want to be around you. We can try to be friends again.”

There's a feeling in your stomach that makes you want to throw up when he says the word friends. It makes your mouth taste sour. It's pathetic.

“I don’t know if I can do that.” You murmur.

And then his eyes pierce through yours.

And you think of that evening that you saw his eyes for the very first time. And you think how this version of events had never crossed your mind back then. Ever.

This was not supposed to happen.

You were not supposed to grow close to him.

And he was not supposed to show you the stars and dry out your salty tears.

And you were not supposed to kiss him.

And now he was not supposed to go.

“Please, promise me you’ll try to be friends with me.” He breaths into your lungs. “Promise me you’ll come.”

You smile softly. It reminds him of something sweet, like honey and cherries.

“I can try.”

Sebastian can feel his heart almost stop; like a clock that’s reminding him you do not have much time left together. This month will come and go and so will he.

And his heart knows.

So, he presses his forehead against yours and mumbles a sincere thank you.

It sounds poetic. But it’s more of a war declaration.

/

When you agreed to go with him on the trip, Sebastian fell into a world of bliss and anticipation. He had been worried you wouldn’t want to see him again after everything that occurred between you two. He had spent nights sleepless, just lying awake and trying to fathom things.

But not tonight. Tonight, he’s packing his bags and dreaming of the sea and you.

The sea. And you. Those are the things he loves most right now.

Love. It’s funny because sometimes Sebastian thinks he could have fallen in love with you, if only time allowed. But he has less than two months. He has calculated everything.

( 60 days )

( 59 nights )

He’ll probably never see you again afterwards.

He knows you were never meant to be.

He sighs.

The screen of his phone lights up and he’s certain it’s his girlfriend, because it’s 3am in Greece. Who else could it be? And that gives him an ache because he loves his girlfriend. But not right now.

He’s wrong though, it’s a message from you.

I’m sorry. I can’t come with you tomorrow. I’m sorry.

His heart falls.

It’s funny because sometimes Sebastian thinks he could have fallen in love with you, if only you allowed. Sometimes he thinks it’s better this way.

/

You read your message again and again. Your eyes scan each world like your whole life depends on them. You can’t go to the trip. It’d be like you set yourself up only to fall apart some time later. And you’d have no excuse. You don’t even know why you had said yes to him in the first place.

Perhaps because that’s what Sebastian wanted to hear and you love Sebastian. It’s very painful and all kinds of fucked up, but you do.

At first you try to close your eyes to it. You think, whatever it is between you, it’s not love. It must be something else.

But it’s not.

You always knew that.

Your heart splits at the realization.

/

Everyone is drinking and dancing. They finished shooting last night and Argyris decided to throw a small beach party. Once upon a time, Sebastian would have been thrilled about it. He always loved partying.

But those were the old days. All he can think about now, is a girl with braided hair and nails painted dark blue. That’s how you looked the last time he saw you.

It’s been a week since that time. It’s been a week and he’s getting desperate. And his curly haired co-star is moving her body too close for his liking. He’s trying to flee.

The woman smiles at him. He knows she probably asks for more than he can give. She smiles at him and she looks beautiful, so beautiful. He almost thinks it’s unfair and selfish of him to ignore such a beautiful smile.

But the woman’s hair is curly and not in a braid. And her nails are painted red instead of dark blue.

/

You don’t see him for one more week. You want to send him a message. Call him. Do something. You do nothing but check his Instagram profile almost every hour. It’s sort of becomes a habit.

At your room the walls whisper and scream about that night you fell asleep next to each other. You try not to listen.

Some nights you can picture him smiling at you and his smile feels far too heavy. Some nights you try to imagine a version of him that could grow old with you.

You can’t.

/

It’s 8:10 am. The first time you meet again. You call the elevator on your floor and when the door opens, he’s there. You didn’t even know he was back, before now. You almost get out and take the stairs instead. You hide yourself at the corner as far from him as possible. Sebastian notices for the first time how small you look.

“When did you come back?” Your mouth opens before you can stop it.

He turns to look at you. You can see he has a little tan. It looks great on him. Dammit.

“Last night.”

Your hands are shaking. You’ve missed his voice. Dammit.

Two more floors. You can make it.

You wait for him to turn his back at you again, but he doesn’t.

“Not coming with me,” his breathing breaks and his throat dries out instantly and he feels on the verge of collapsing “It didn’t help.”

It takes you a while to get what he’s saying. Why he’s saying it.

The elevator stops.

“Did it help you?” No, of course not.  

“Sebastian, please.”

You try to say something more but his voice stops you.

“Do you know any quiet places?”

You nod.

“Take me.” You shiver. “Please.”

The door opens and he grabs your hand.

You think you’ll never really understand Sebastian. He’s been so many people with you. A pretty face on screen, a stranger and then a friend. And then a lover? Maybe.

Something intimate, anyway.

Intimate, in the way pain is.

/

You’re at a small park just behind your house.

His hair has grown the last few days and he’s playing with a strand. You watch him and he watches back. He puts one hand in the pocket of his jeans and another at your cheek.

You had almost forgotten how it feels. Soft and rugged simultaneously. Almost like a transfusion, it revives you.

“We’ve screwed up, haven’t we?” His voice sounds like an old song.

You think you can hear your bones straining under the weight of his words.

“Yes, I guess we have.” You try to smile at him. Your lips don’t move upwards though. They can’t. You can feel your eyes get wet.

Sebastian can’t bear looking at you like that. He puts his hand behind your neck and brings you closer.

At that moment, by falling into his arms, you lost the battle.

Your body is cold, worn down by all the sleepless nights. You’re not sure he knows exactly what you feel at this moment. Neither do you.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come to the trip.”

“I understand.” He nods.

“Sebastian,” His breath hitches when you call his name. “I don’t know if I want to see you again.”

Lies.

He blinks. You don’t.

His face looks like he’s about to growl. Then his features relax.

A tear falls down your cheek and he’s quick to swipe it away. His eyes soften.

“I know,” he says in a whisper “We just keep hurting each other.”

You laugh bitterly. “When did I hurt you, Sebastian?” You push his hands away from your body. He doesn’t fight it.

He lets out a shaky breath.

“We spent the night together and you left without even saying something.” Your eyes are wide and rabid. “You keep acting like we’re something special and you have a girlfriend back home. And when I kissed you,” you pause for a second, remembering everything. “You kissed me back.”

You’re talking a little too loud. An old man passing by, turns to look your way. Your cheeks flash red.

“I wanted you to kiss me.” Your heart clenches. “I’m so sorry. I needed you to kiss me.”

He takes your hands in his. He looks at you half like he wants to apologize, half like he wants to kiss you again. Maybe, he does.

“Every time I see you, I want you to kiss me.”

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s the truth.” Surprisingly his voice is steady and his hands grab yours tighter than before.

“It can’t be the truth.” You exhale roughly. “It will ruin everything.”

He looks at you for a while and then he does the most human thing possible; he wraps his arms around you. You hide your face at the crook of his neck.

Your breath hits his skin and it’s warm and tender.

“Not us.” He whispers in your hair. “It will save us.”

At that moment, Sebastian lost every battle.

/

Things you felt when Sebastian kissed you later that evening:

Divinity and tragedy. The feeling of going over the speed limit. The despair in his mouth. The booming in his heart. Fear for the distant future. His arms creating a shelter from the rest of the world. Affection. And affection. And affection.

Thing Sebastian felt when he kissed you later that evening:

Your heartache in his hands. The faded cherry lip balm in your lips. Your nails digging into his skin. A raw satisfaction. Madness and power. Your warmth making his heart beat fast. Freedom. And love, so much love.

/

It was never his intention to cheat on his girlfriend. Sebastian is not that kind of man. But then again, everyone is.

You try not to think about that while his mouth devours the skin above your collarbones. It makes your pores sweat and your core beat. Time spins by as you both lay on your bed.

It feels like he’s a sweet lover. Dewy eyes and warm fingertips. He makes love to you at sunset, when dreams start to form and cotton sheets stick to his skin. Yearning gets the best of him, his movements become sharper, his bones turn to steel.

You don’t mind. That’s what you need right now. Burning lips at the curve of your hips. You can almost taste it; the silage of his after shave. Eucalyptus. That’s what he tastes like.

/

He’s drawing archways in your skin. He touches the part between your breasts. Softly and gently at first. And then digging his teeth. He wonders if you want this as much as he does. It’s nearly tearing him apart. His ribs and his lungs are full of eagerness and you.

You, you, you.

To him, there’s nothing to do but kiss every inch of your body.

He knows there’ll be a cacophony soon. You’re both equipped with love that has an expiration date. But he wants to beat time. He wants to feel all of this for as long possible. For a minute, he becomes greedy. He wishes everyone would die, so that he and you could live in this world alone. But together.

It takes great strength to shake this thought out of his head.

“Please,” You say between heavy breaths and he's getting worried he's going to tell you he loves you. “Please I need you Seb.”

You've never called him that before. He can't decide if he likes that or the fact that you need him, more. He complies.

You feel him inside you as he's stroking between your thighs. You close your eyes, his heated sounds soothing everything. Your lips are red, from you biting at them.

He looks at you, with his hungry face and he finds everything about you so delicate and so beautiful.

He can keep going forever.

You're grateful.

/

Lying naked in your bed, you’re watching him struggle to keep his fevered blue eyes open. His hands still tangled in your hair.

The room smells of sweat and eucalyptus and everything in the universe feels softer.

“I think I love you.” He says, and as he falls asleep, he smiles. “I’ll tell you when I’m sure.”

“Please don’t.” That’s the most selfless you’ll ever be in your life.

/

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[sirowsky]

The Stories We Tell Ourselves (One-Shot)

Author's Note: So, this was an ask sent to me by my darling wife, @lucrezia-thoughts a while back, that I for some reason never actually added to my collection of works. Which seemed like a shame, since I'm kinda proud of it (it was my very first ask), so I thought I'd re-post it and give it a proper spotlight. Description: Mando's injured and Grogu's bored, so fem!reader tells him a bedtime story.

Rating: Everyone (all fluff all the way on this one, though blood is mentioned) Word Count: 1872

It had been one of those days when one thing had just bled into another, and everything had gone wrong. It was a miracle all three of you had survived, but the Mandalorian had been injured, trying to protect you from a very unpleasant trader, who had knives concealed everywhere in his clothing. Mando had been cut along his side, and while the injury would heal on its own, it had bled a lot before you’d been able to get back to the Crest and properly dress it. He’d insisted on getting the ship off the planets surface before he’d allowed you to help him, and as a result, there was blood everywhere. He hadn’t actually hired you, he had just sort of… realised that the kid liked you and decided that if you were brave enough to stick with them despite the danger of their situation, without even asking for payment, then he wouldn’t stop you.

You weren’t sure if he actually liked you. It was hard to tell with him, even after months of being couped up with the man. You could quite easily read him around others, as you’d become familiar with his body language and mannerisms, so you knew how he should behave if he liked you. But for some reason, he behaved differently with you. His body language was always much more still and maybe even careful, around you, as though he was afraid you’d break if he accidentally bumped into you. It was more than a little annoying, sometimes, since it made it difficult to define what your relationship actually was. But it was mostly just annoying because you wanted him to bump into you. He was a mystery, but that wasn’t what drew you to him. He was kind and respectful, quiet but strong, in both body and conviction. He wasn’t too proud or too self-assured, but he was loyal and protective and gentle. It was quite amazing to you that he was so proficient at using those hands for violence, when he was also so tender with the baby. It had brought tears to your eyes on more than one occasion.

When you’d finally cleaned the last remnants of blood from the controls in the cock-pit, you headed back down to check on Mando. But your eyes fell on the empty pram sitting on the floor of the cargo-bay.

“Oh, no. Kid… where’d you go?”

You searched quietly, not wanting to wake Mando after you’d finally gotten him to lay down in his bunk to rest, before going to scrub the blood away. But then you heard a muffled giggle, and of course it came from the damned bunk. You’d left the door open so that you could easily hear it if he stirred or seemed to worsen in any way.

“No, no, no… Come on, get out of there, let the man rest.”

You reached in and snatched the kid off of Mando’s chest and then stood there for a minute, rocking him quietly against your hip, while you listened for any sign that your… companion… had woken up. You eventually sighed and sat down on a crate, directly behind the bunk, cradling the kid in your arms.

“You’re supposed to be sleeping, you know.”

He just cooed and looked at you with bright eyes.

“Okay. How about a bedtime story?”

He just blinked and angled his head a bit more towards you.

“Hm, let’s see. When I was young, my mother would tell me stories about love to get me to sleep. She said that a child that feels loved, will always have the comfort to sleep soundly. So, this story begins with a King. A good, and kind man who rules his land with open arms and a warm heart, but also protects it with ferocity and conviction. Because that land holds everything that he loves, and without it – he’d be broken. One day, when the King is travelling, he finds an orphan outside of his dominion, and being the good man that he is, he brings the child home, to raise as his own. He has no idea how to do that, and it’s chaotic most of the time, especially since his duties can’t be put on hold while he cares for a baby. He still has to rule the land. But he loves that baby so much, that no matter how hard it gets, he endures. He doesn’t care that he hasn’t slept in days, or that he’s always terrified that something’s gonna happen to his boy. None of it matters, as long as the child is safe.”

Mando woke up the moment the kid climbed onto his chest. It was reflexive at this point. Even though he knew that you were there, and would care for the boy without his asking, he was already conditioned to react to whatever the little one needed. But he was wounded and tired, and he heard you coming down from the cock-pit, probably having cleaned up his mess – yet again, so he ignored the kid, and made no effort to let you know that he was awake, when you came to pick the child up. He was in some pain, the wound throbbing a little with each beat of his pulse, which made falling back asleep a little harder, even though he was exhausted. And it was surprisingly nice, just listening to you talk quietly to the kid, not knowing he could hear you. It wasn’t surprising that he found it nice; he found everything about you nice. It was surprising that he enjoyed the eavesdropping aspect so much. That he liked the intimacy of listening to you when your guard was down, and you were just being a woman caring for a child. He listened closely to your story, not missing the clear similarities to your actual life and the way you two had met.

“So, when the King has to travel again, he decides to bring his son along, and they go on a long and adventurous journey together. But on their way back, they come across a woman, wounded and in need of help. And because the King is a good man, he brings the woman to his castle, and helps her heal. And while she heals, she repays the King his kindness, by looking after his son while he cares for his kingdom. And as the woman watches her rescuer, and sees the true warmth of his heart as he cares for his land as closely, and tenderly, as he cares for his son, she falls in love with him.”

He nearly stopped breathing as he heard the words. Could you really mean him? The rest of the story was more or less exactly your story, so you had to be talking about him. He had never allowed himself to consider it. To think that you could ever want to be with a man like him, no matter how much he might want you to. He knew that his efforts to restrain himself around you made him seem stiff and perhaps a bit cold, and it always hurt him to see you try so hard to read him, to understand why he was different towards you than his friends. But if you wanted him too… that changed everything.

“But this wonderful man is a King, and she’s just a woman he found on the side of the road. She has no claim to him, and she’s afraid to tell him how she feels, because if he doesn’t feel the same, it’ll break her heart. So, she cares for the child as best she can, and hopes that he won’t make her leave the castle once she’s healed. And he doesn’t. He let’s her stay, and over time, she finds the courage to tell him the truth, and he reveals that he loves her too. And together they raise the child with love and happiness and adventures, and that’s how this little story ends, my sweet.”

The kid was asleep by the time you finished the tale, and you rocked him gently in your arms after you fell silent, to make sure he wouldn’t stir once you got up to put him back in his pram. You tucked him in snugly, and then closed the little egg up, to keep him warm and safe. Once you were done, you raised your hand up to your neck, rubbing idly at the knots and strained muscles, after such a long day of hardships and stress, and you couldn’t stop the exhausted sigh that escaped you. The movement to your side didn’t register in your brain until Mando was already sitting up at the edge of the bunk, and it startled you. You flinched and then your brain woke up again, and you approached him.

“Hey, what’s the matter, are you okay? Do you need anything?”

Oh, stars above… the number of ways that he could answer that last question.

“I was about to ask you the same thing.”

“No, no, you’re the one that’s wounded, which means I’m the only one that gets to ask that.”

He considered that for a moment.

“I heard your story, mesh’la.”

You froze, and suddenly your heart was frantic in your chest. He heard… all of that? You’d been so certain he was completely passed out! You hadn’t meant to pour so much truth into the story, but it had happened anyway, and now he knew how you felt. He knew. He saw you begin to panic and reached a gloved hand out to you, which you couldn’t bring yourself to take, but before you could back away from him, he reached for your waist instead, and pulled you in closer, until you were standing between his slightly bent knees as he rested against the bunk. You were flustered and shocked to suddenly be so close to him, and you found yourself having trouble figuring out where to put your hands in the small space between you. He’d never given any indication that he liked it whenever you’d touched him, so you settled for resting your palms on the flat and cool beskar on his chest, with your eyes firmly planted on the diamond shaped indentation at the centre of it.

“It was a very good story. I really liked it.”

Your eyes snapped up to stare at his visor, and you wanted to say a thousand things. But nothing came out. You felt him draw in a shaky breath, before his hands tightened on your hips, pulling you even closer. Then he bent his head forwards, leaning his helmet against your forehead, and your arms found their way around his waist, suddenly needing to hold him to you, now that he’d finally given you his silent permission.

“Would you tell me another story?”

His voice was trembling just a bit. Just enough that you could tell through the modulator.

“Okay. What would you like to hear?”

“Tell me how the story continues, after the King declares his love for the woman? Tell me how they live happily ever after… and I promise I’ll try to make the story come true for you.”

THE END

[heyitsyn]

Keeping Up With Seijoh Pt. 10

a/n: based on this post uwu

okayokayokayyeyyy

LOOOK I LOVE THIS SCENE LIKE I CAN GO ON A RANT OF HOW IMPORTANT THIS SCENE IS LIKE SKDJSLDKKSSM

okay so

yuhhhhhh

the way this is set up is basically seijoh simping for you

also they have their own separate gc just for them bc they dont want you to see them just simping for you

even tho oiks ltr does that everyday

but hes not ready for that conversation

there was a few times that you were kinda curious as to what was in the chat

but they would click off and they would blush before diverting you to a different conversation

this might sound hella weird and creepy

idk bout yall but i think its cute that they take random pictures of you doing the sinplest things

this all started bc of one picture

from baby aki-kun

so basically you stayed behind with kunimi during monday to just study and you sat in front of him while sharing his desk

babie took a pic of you just studying and he sent it to the gc with no context

its a known fact that seijoh doesnt practice during mondays so they were all doing something out of school

but they were all missing you so seeing you with kunimi fueled jealousy in everyone

even kyo

oikawa blew up in the chat and was keyboard smashing

the others were just teasing him like hes lucky youre with him

but behind the screen, they were blushing and red and envious and AAAAA

thus spurred on some sort of competition

like they would send the chat pictures of you like 'hA TAKE THAT SHES WITH ME'

unbeknowst to you, these boys have folders of just cute candid pics of you

oikawas insta is filled of you and his snap is full of you in his story and his tiktok is full of screaming simp rants about you

the tiktok comments are all like, 

‘IS SHE YOUR GIRLFRIEND?!’

‘OIKAWA-SAN SHES ADORABLE’

‘BACK🤺OFF🤺OIKAWA🤺I🤺CALLED🤺DIBS🤺ON🤺HER🤺FIRST🤺‘

random ones like him doing a day in my life type of vids and you appearing and everyone can just see the small blush on his face and the bashful yet happy smile on his lips

its really adorable

but the real ones know that shes been appearing in his insta since day 1

moilk.bread.1

thats practically your account now 

welll,,,

its more of a fan account for you and a lot of people from aoba johsai follow that account since you dont have an official one yet so they all simp for you there

the pictures were all from everyone like the boyz group chat was a haven for your candids

you did think it was strange that the boys would constantly ask to take pictures with you and everyone was just trying to get a pic to have aesthetic couple pics w you

and they would put it as their wallpaper or lockscreen

IMAGINE THE BLUSH THEY WOULD GET WHEN COMPLETE STRANGERS WOULD ASK THEM IF THATS THEIR GIRLFRIEND

oooo i mentioned this in the post too that iwa and you went to the gym and you guys took a mirror pic

after, you didnt really like the gym bc its just hard yanno?

iwa went back and while he was setting up his weights and equipments, his gym buddy noticed his phone light up causing your picture to show up

'oh? is that your girlfriend, iwaizumi?'

duh he doesnt have a girlfriend so he was like 🤨 until he saw his phone

the lockscreen was blaringly bright and your 'couple pic' was showing with the notifications

totally not oikawa blowing up their group chat bc he was with you

ofc babie hajime got all flustered and he blushed before shaking his head

'n-no'

he mumbled and his buddy laughed before clapping his back

'well, you obviously like her so do somethinf about it before someone does'

dont you think he doesnt know that?

also with mattsun!

this mans works in a cute cafe that this old granny owns and this thought has been living in my head rent free

and he was working during the weekend at the cafe

there were other people there but granny loves him bc hes been working there sibce he was like 15 and she took care of him a lot

he was like a grandson

so while he was serving, this granny was manning the cashier and checking people out

issei's phone was there on the table behind the counter and it started glowing at the indication of the messages being received

'have a nice day-oh!'

she noticed it right there and she saw the picture on his lockscreen

you were probably being carried by him due to your levelness with his height and you were kissing his cheek while issei smiled brightly

that was a picture you both took during an outing at the mall and the sunset behind you was just perfect to take a picture in

poor granny was like 'oop dont look at the messages' so she turned it over to not go to his privacy

there again you were

it was a polaroid of you two and he was backhugging you at school

hint? 👀

askldfjlsdkf

she knew issei was a very handsome young man so there shouldnt have been a surprise that he would be dating someone

can we name this granny?

granny inko lol

okay so granny inko saw issei coming over to rest the serving board thing and she beckoned him over

mattsun nodded and leaned over the counter to see what she wanted only to be greeted with a flick to the forehead

‘oW what was that for?’

he whined while holding the spot

granny inko tutted disapprovingly before crossing her arms

‘youve been working all week this week when you could’ve taken time off to spend it with your pretty lady. is this how men are nowadays? didn’t i teach you right to treat women properly?’

duh baby mattsun was confused like O_O

‘wha?’

his dumb question made her grab the phone and place it on the counter in front of him

‘your girlfriend, child. women need attention constantly and as much as you want that money, is it worth losing that smile full of happiness?’

okay stop it granny im getting emotional

more like disagreeing bc that wouldnt put food on the table BUT ANYWAYS

baby issei was surprisingly embarassed and scratched his neck

‘um,, baa-chan,,,,, she’s not my girlfriend’

he flustered and gave her an awkward smile

granny inko shot him a confused look and tapped the phone

‘well, she looks like she is. and if not, better hurry your move, boy. girls that make men happy like that only comes as rare as a good scratch ticket’

LMAO 

i do not encourage gambling so please save your money kids

you know what

these boys do that just to actually feel like it

okay thats confusing so imma explain it in greater detail

whenever someone mistakes you as their girlfriend, it makes them feel like you are for that split second and its just an addicting feeling

its like what if you were their girlfriend?

i mean, youre already the whole team’s girlfriend but theyre greedy brats and just want you for themselves

ohohohohoh

kyo!!

kyo def has a selfie of you both with the doggie filter but it was actually you who took it while he was just staring at you in the background

that was his lockscreen for like the rest of his high school career

lol

anyways!!

he was actually in a fight and during it, his phone fell off to the ground and conveniently oikawa messaged causing it to light up

one of the thugs had their hands gripping kyo’s collar and was pushing him against the wall while the others were surrounding them

they saw the phone flash and kyo cursed at the terrible timing and he made a mental note on killing oikawa later

a guy picked it up and he smirked, seeing the pretty smile of a pretty girl

‘heh? whats this?’

kyotani pushed the guy who was holding him but other two surged towards him and held him tighter

their leader snatched the device and chuckled

‘oh. its that bitch from his school. what is it’

he snaps his fingers as he tries to remember before stopping

‘aha! l/n y/n!’

kyo growled

‘shut up!’

the guy grinned at him and tapped the phone against kyo’s chin

‘oh yea. i heard shes a cutie. most people here know her, kid. now we know shes connected to you and guess what. you cross us again, she’ll take your place as you are right now. orrrr, we can,,, use her as our pet. thats how she is in your team, right? so let us have a turn. maybe we can send you a pic, hm?’

yea no that wasnt happening

kyotani easily beat those people up after because even just saying that unleashes power he didnt know he had

‘bastard. youre lucky this is just a warning. you touch her and i will kill you’

he landed one last kick on the guy’s face before taking the phone and leaving

now he has to figure out how to hide the bruises

you fussed later and he didnt tell you the reason instead just saying they said something that made him angry

nah

you were a person he didnt want to disappoint and he knows how much it hurts you to see him in that state

that was one of the things he hated but loved at the same time

you were such an empath that you would treat him and wince as if you were the one feeling the pain instead of him

and it made him feel special

you were one of the few things he holds close and he would be damned if anything happened to you because of him

the group chat was actually just blowing up with more screaming and the third years yelling at each other with the first years just casually reading the texts

they were used to the arguments within the team and you would remain so naive with the whole thing

kunimi is the type to keep silent and he didnt really care about anyone getting angry if you were spending time with him

but he does get annoyed if you were with kindaichi because you three were a package lol

like when kindaichi and you were at the arcade, this kid walked all the way there just because he didnt want kindaichi to hog you to himself

duh you thought this was adorable and endearing bc they wanted to hang out w you

no LUV theyre greedy brats who gets jealous over yOU

OH

so like i mentioned before that you and makki would walk over to the bakery and you guys would buy food there and such

and its also canon in here that makki only shares his food with you and no one else lol

why?

because when you eat the puffs, you put one in each cheek and it makes you look so adorable like a squirrel

sorry but squirrels are so cute like AAAAA

makki takes so many pictures of you and a lot are surprise shots where your eyes would be wide with cheeks full of food

aaaaa so cute

like you and makki sat down on a bench in the park across the bakery and you excitedly dug in to your own treat

makki chuckled at your excitement but he placed his hand on you arm to stop you

‘y/n-chan. say aaa’

you lit up and let him put the puff in your mouth and thought he was done but was surprised when there were two

you happily chewed it and went back to looking at your treats

but makki interrupted you again by calling you out

‘princess~’

the nickname made your eyes widen with red painting your cheeks and the shutter of the camera made you realize what he did

‘makki-senpai!’

you whined and he laughed

makki had a lovestruck smile on his face and he wiped the bit of creme on the corner of your lip

‘gotta take care of my princess~’

STOPPPPP MY HEART? GONE MY SOUL? GONE HOTEL? TRIVAGO

OH MY GOD IM IN SUCH A MAKKI AND MATTSUN AND IWA AND OIKAWA AND THIRD YEARS IN GENERAL BRAIN ROT PLEASE HELP

but we gotta give love to the second years :’)

ive mentioned that watari is the only person to ever go into your house right?

well, he comes over to cook and such so you guys spend time making food for the team 

watari takes this opportunity to take pictures of you cooking and the group chat cries bc its so domestic and they all start having the same thoughts

they really said seijoh braincells

it was like seeing a glimpse of a possible future for them

you, wearing an apron, cooking on the stove with your hair thrown in whatever with baggy clothes

gosh

thats like you someday being their wife and waking up one morning to see you there cooking in the kitchen

oikawa swears he had a dream that night because of that picture and he continuously thanks watari for YEARS because of that picture

okay are you curious about the dream?

yuhhh

oikawa woke up in an unfamiliar bed in a foreign room 

he felt his bones crack when he stretched and his hand extended out to a side that was still quite warm

hm

somebody must be sleeping next to him

then he stood up, catching his reflection in the mirror in front of the bed

;)

why would there be a mirror there hmmmm????

ANYWAYS

he noticed he had a bigger build and his hair was longer

then came the itch of the facial hair that he swore wasnt there a minute ago

this guy even checked out his butt and to his surprise, wow

obviously he was confused and a part of him thought this was the future

tooru walked to the door to go into the hallway and concluded, yep, this was not his house

then he heard music being played somewhere and a mixture of voices coming from a room

sounded like a woman and children

he stops at the top of the stairs, suddenly hit of the thought that this voice was so familiar

‘hm?’

tooru walked downstairs and stopped when down the hallway in front of the steps led to the kitchen where the voices seemed to lead to

‘mama! mama! mama! toast! i wan toast!’

‘in a bit, darling. just let me finish flipping the pancake’

the song was lo-fi with the volume being turned low enough to hear the voices fine

tooru wandered down the hallway and he stopped, finally seeing the owners of those voices

there was a handsome little boy sitting on the chair by the island and his brown hair was a mess of wild curls

there was a woman with h/c hair swaying to the tune and a beautiful little girl curled up in her arms while sitting on her hip

‘hey’

oikawa spoke out and caught everyone’s attention

‘papa’s awake!’

‘pa!’

‘hello tooru’

tooru froze

that was you

he knows it’s you

‘y/n-chan’

he whispered and you looked back at him from the pan

‘yes? if youre looking for coffee, we ran out apparently’

that was not what he was talking about

he hastily walked over to the boy and he blinked rapidly

‘you look like me’

he mumbled and the child grinned

‘eung! papa  and yozo look the same! mama and nana say so!’

yozo?

feeling like all the attention was on him, the little girl whined and her hands made grabby motions to him

‘pa pa’

she whined and tooru just felt something in him that screamed to hold the kid

you shushed the little girl

‘dont worry, looney loon. papa’s right there’

loon?

tooru stayed frozen at his spot and you raised an eyebrow at him

‘tooru? luna wants you’

oh

luna

that snapped him out of his trance and he held the little girl in his arms where she smiled at him and then he felt tears welling up in his eyes

then he woke up

okay sorry that was a long dream

so this dragged on for so long already okay

this was only meant to be small but aaaaa i couldnt help itt!!!!

but anyways!

the boys are just simps for you and theyre creeps that take pictures of you and they think about you all the time pls accept their love

also a mild continuation of the dream:

oikawa was holding luna and she was happily laying there when another figure emerged from the hallway

‘iwa-chan?’

he asked, surprised

what was he doing here?

iwa heard his name and grunted before going to a beeline for you

you smiled at him and he leaned in to give you a kiss to which oikawa froze in

iwa noticed his best friend holding his daughter and luna saw her father there

‘daddy!’

she shrieked and tooru blanched

‘uh, what?’

iwa extended his hands out to hold the girl but tooru held her tightly and leaned back

haji narrowed his eyes

‘um, give me my daughter, oikawa’

he grumbled and tooru shook his head

‘no! shes my daughter!’

you blinked

‘your god daughter, yes. but she’s half of your best friend, tooru’

half of his-

god? daughter?

‘so that means-’

‘piece it together, oikawa. did ya get brain damage or something? babe, call the doctor’

oikawa screamed

a/n: lol look WHO ROSE FROM THE GRAVEEEEEEE :) anyways. i really want to deeply apologize to everyone for taking an unexpected break and i shouldve told you guys and im really sorry :( everythings just chaotic lmao and im just like taking a breath for a second uwu and im so AMAZED at how many people still follow me even tho ive been gone for so long like bls yall are real ones :’) i love you all and the req box is still closed at this time as i need to finish the ones i have first soo thankyou for reading thiss and hopefully ill update soonerr!!! :)))

also not me completely messing up my kuws and missing 8 and 9 in my masterlist and having a mindblowing realization that i have 10 keeping up with seijoh fics

[ratsoh-writes]

I think I remember in a previous post that you were going to make a list about who is the most likely to purr the easiest and who is likely to never purr at all? Are you still going to do that?

I am ;)

In fact let’s put it here! I’ll go in order from number one purr to number zero along with some descriptions

Oak obviously. His head injury changes a lot of his personality from when he was classic sans. Oak is much more emotional now and doesn’t hide it as well. If he’s felling good and a loved one does anything remotely affectionate, he’s purring. He can’t help it and he’s stopped trying to hold it back ages ago. He’ll even purr at seeing favorite customers in the bakery on good days. His purr is low and raspy. It comes out in small bursts

Second best is rust purely because of how low his purr is. He purrs the same amount as third place but his is much louder. Rust sounds a bit like a mix between a cat and a cat engine lol. Any sort of affectionate contact from a loved one can turn on the purr, but he has to be in a pretty good mood already

Third is mutt. His purr is very gravely and can be mistaken as a growl if you haven’t heard it before. Mutt purrs just as much as rust when he’s around loved ones.

Fourth is, surprise surprise, papyrus! He beats basil because he tends to get attached to people faster so a friend/SO would hear his purr faster. His purr is surprisingly soft for a guy who’s so loud. Papyrus purrs whenever he picks his buddies/SO up. It’s very faint so you have to listen for it

Fifth is basil of course. His purr is really short and comes out in little bursts. And it’s from whenever a friend/SO hugs him or seeks him out for attention. They have to be alone though. Basil is too anxious to purr in public

Sixth is honey. He’s got the same purr as basil but it takes sitting in his lap or full contact cuddling on the couch to bring it out

That’s all the guys who pretty much purr super easily. The next bunch of guys are the ones where you have to work a bit to hear their purr.

Alright, seventh and top of the normal guys is butch! His purr is another deep one and slightly scratchy like he’s gargled gravel. Butch only purrs when he’s cuddling someone he’s attracted to.

After butch it’s cash. If he’s little spoon you might get a purr. His purr is kinda high pitched like a kitten

Then it’s mal. Sometimes he won’t be able to hold back a flirtatious purr at seeing his SO all dolled up. He likes they shinies. His purr is also higher pitched and a little breathy

After that is red. Only his child or SO gets to hear him purr, but he does it fairly often for them. It just happens randomly when he’s feeling particularly safe or content. His purr is exactly the same as rusts

For willow, he purrs only for a SO or on rare occasions, oak. Willows purr is also very soft but scratchier than papyrus’. And it happens most right before he falls asleep

Now sans. He purrs only when his SO pets his head but he has to be in a super good mood already. Sans purr is low but more whistly than raspy

Next is peaches. It takes a really long day of hard labor and coming home to a table full of his favorite foods lol. His purr matches sans

Now coffee: he purrs only for a SO and it’s almost always after a “fun time”. Or if his SO is really anxious and he’s trying to comfort them, his purr tends to naturally come out. His purr is super soft. You might not even notice if his chest didn’t vibrate as well

Bruiser purrs only for a SO or snipe. And it’s after seeing them laugh really hard at a joke of his. His purr is the same sound as slims funny enough

Edge purrs only for a SO or his child when they’re still an infant. His purr button is when he’s cooking and his SO hugs him from behind. He loves that. His purr sounds a bit like a growl and doesn’t really have a tone to it. Just that grinding noise

Noir is the exact same as edge except he might also purr during couch cuddles

Slim has a raspy smokers purr. He tends to purr during “fun times” or when his SO is flirting with him.

Sugars purr is light and short like a kittens. He also purrs during “fun times” but will also purr for little kids when they demand hugs. He’s cute

Pluto only purrs for a crush or SO. And only when his face is getting peppered with kisses lol. He has a light medium toned purr. It’s pretty short and comes in small bursts

Pop will sometimes purr when he’s taking a bath and the bubbles and scent just hits right. His purr is surprisingly low since he has a higher pitched voice. And it can go on for a really long time

These next guys are really hard to get to purr. It has to be pretty specific conditions and even then it still rarely happens

Star/lilac can both purr on command, but that doesn’t count since it’s a conscious decision. Their fake purr is adorable just like a baby kittens. Their real purr is lower and very long drawn out instead of short. Star and lilac only purr for a SO and only right before they fall asleep.

Charm will only purr for a SO and only if it’s one that he’s fully committed to. His purr is soft and almost hesitant sounding. He’ll purr when he sees his SO enjoying something he did for them and only when SO isn’t looking. Charm is shy about his purr

Lord only purrs for mutt or a SO that he might as well be married to. And you only hear it when he’s so tired he doesn’t even have the energy to be grumpy. Is purr is low and breathy

Rhythm will sometimes purr after seeing one of his students do really well in a competition. It has to be one of those kids who were in his studio since toddler years. His purr has a whistley quality and is pretty melodic

Rancher purrs only when he’s pretty much too tired to think, and his SO is being cuddly. It’s scratchy and really loud just like him lol

Boss will purr occasionally when he comes home and his SO is just so obviously happy to see him. He loves an excited greeting. His purr is like edge but an octave lower

G purrs only for a SO and it usually when they’re holding on to him on his motorcycle. So they’ll never hear it

Ace purrs only when he’s so exhausted he can’t keep up his mask. And it’s only for a long term SO, and on one rare occasion, snipe. His purr is airy but somehow really loud. You can’t miss it

Jupiter purrs when he feels especially accomplished or proud of an achievement. It has to be one of those long term life goals

Last is the three guys who almost never purr. Even a SO would only hear it a small handful of times

Green: his purr is very loud and long drawn out. He only purrs when he’s super excited over a new discovery. He’s also rather bouncy during this too

Wine purrs when he’s so completely exhausted but also just full of affection for his SO. He has to be completely comfortable as well. It takes some serious work to get him there. His purr is very soft and short. It’s only a touch lower than coffees

And last but not least is snipe. He only purrs when he feels completely safe, and only for his SO. Snipes purr is very smooth and almost sounds like a hum

[kastillia]

y’all mind if i say some things

three hopes - azure gleam/moon spoilers below

i have a lot of thoughts and nowhere to dump them so hello again tumblr here i am to post something other than art

so i beat azure gleam a couple days ago (replayed it immediately to get dimitri and mercie’s supports that i missed - which i’ve done now) and i’m left feeling a little.... underwhelmed?

someone i follow on twitter just beat their run of golden wildfire and they said they felt pretty underwhelmed by it and heard that the other two paths were the same so that made me feel a little better about my less than glowing experience of the game

the gameplay is fun as hell but i think the story leaves a little to be desired? by the time i reached the final chapter, i had the same feeling as when i’m playing a persona game and everyone’s like “ok this is the final boss!” when we haven’t fought a godlike entity yet - aka it ain’t actually over yet. but it was?

after the two year timeskip, the empire declares war on the church. the kingdom takes in the church after the empire seizes garreg mach, effectively putting ourselves in the line of fire. from then on, we’re told over and over that this war will not end until we’ve conquered the empire, aka defeating and killing edelgard. but that doesn’t happen? after reclaiming garreg mach, dimitri kills thales and leaves edelgard alive, and then the route ends???

i recall seeing a post a while back saying how azure moon was a good path, in spite of not directly involving dealing with those who slither in the dark (which i agreed with) so that was a very interesting recurring thought as i played through azure gleam; the path revolving completely around unraveling the truth behind the conspiracy of the tragedy of duscur and getting rid of those responsible - namely twsitd

at the end of part one, dimitri and edelgard face off against each other in a cutscene when suddenly thales shows up. he forces the crest stone(?) of maurice into edelgard and she basically becomes the hegemon husk she was at the end of azure moon but from then she’s completely under thales’ control - vacant eyes, confused expression, jagged speech - and remains that way until the end of the route (save that one chapter in zahras in the true ending)

in that sense i can *somewhat* understand leaving her alive as she was under the control of thales and even after he dies, she’s still not quite back to her usual self. but she was fully sane and in control when she declared war on the church. once recovered from whatever curse her now-dead captor placed on her, she could just as easily begin her crusade anew?

also in the other ending (i had a separate save file after the path split) when you kill byleth/sothis? i totally didn’t believe it. i thought they’d come back as revenge in the final chapter or something but they really did die just like that and it was actually really disappointing

this point isn’t totally relevant to the plot but at the start of part two, claude lends some of his deer to our army, which was nice of him. but sending lorenz and then not letting me support him in that chapter was maddening. by the last chapter i was looking through my supports which would have been 100% complete if not for that stupid lock next to his name WHY WOULD YOU SEND HIM IF I CAN’T SUPPORT HIM anyway

--

complaining aside, here are some things i did enjoy/thought were neat

some people might complain about this point but, softie that i am and still so very attached to my students, i’m glad that i didn’t really have to kill any of the former students. well i mean, there was caspar unfortunately. but he was literally the only one??? the fact that we didn’t even have to kill edelgard but had to kill caspar was mind-boggling honestly but that kinda makes me scared for the other routes bc i doubt they’ll be as forgiving as our wishy-washy weak-willed king (lovingly)

i saw someone mention this before but the fact that in three houses, dimitri’s  immediately smitten with byleth, whereas in three hopes he’s like “uhh are you sure you want to come back to the academy“ to shez is hilarious. that being said, seems like lin and hapi wear their hearts on their sleeves and will fall for just about anyone who will give them positive attention (watching lin run away at the end of his A support with shez SENT ME)

i will never get used to felix hugo no-longer-a-bitch fraldarius but his A supports with dimitri and his father had me so emotional. i’m also so invested in his relationship with shez?? (platonic or otherwise) outside of dimitri, i think felix might actually be shez’s closest ally? the gift he gives them is handmade and FITS PERFECTLY IN SHEZ’S HANDS HELLO???? (i made save files and gave the merc whistle to everyone to see what i got in return)

speaking of felix, in part one he goes into detail about that mission he went on with dimitri after the tragedy of duscur - the whole ordeal that lead to him calling him “the boar” - dimitri was smiling as he cut down the leader. taking that into consideration, i only discovered this recently but, after battles, dimitri’s character model is smiling... i mostly mained shez on my first run but i’ve been cycling through everyone this time to level up combat arts and after every battle, everyone is just neutral no matter what their text may say, but dimitri is very clearly smiling which is a very neat reference to this conversation but also a little disturbing..........

we get to find out yuri’s real name (kind of) :) but....... i said i was done complaining bUT- idk seems maybe a little inconsistent with three houses? his mother named him after a star but in his supports with hapi, it’s revealed that he actually doesn’t know wtf he’s talking about when they’re stargazing. though i guess that can be explained away bc when he’s telling shez to “look up at that bright star- no not that one. well i guess it doesn’t matter if you know which one it is or not” maybe he doesn’t know which one it is either. or maybe that’s the only star he does know. i’ll give you a pass on this one intsys

i really do love arval...... shez makes one comment saying “you’re not my mom” one time and immediately i’ve decided that is incorrect. arval is your mom now. also love despite the mom comment and myson’s “his (epimenides) core” comment, they still keep arval gender-neutral (even though they have access to female-only classes but it’s ok they [intsys] tried)

remember when the trailer was released and we saw dimitri sitting somewhere sadly and then a hand reaches out and we all thought it was rodrigue? i damn near lost my mind when i found out it was felix and then dedue comes in and i immediately start crying. i feel like we don’t appreciate dedue enough. just in general. he’s a very good man

i also appreciate ingrid’s maturity in three hopes. when i saw her talking to a duscur soldier offering to teach them her lance work i was so proud. i also feel like i never appreciated ashe enough in three houses but three hopes surely rectified that. i greatly appreciated his paralogue

the non-canon cutscenes (the ones that happen if you don’t recruit byleth i mean) are so fascinating to watch like sothis is such a bitch lmfao

idk why but byleth referring to jeralt by name instead of “father” really stood out to me for some reason. also the fact that their unique starting class is called “silverheart”. i also like that they have some snark at the end of their A support with shez in that they actually somewhat refer to themselves as the goddess

flayn totally blowing it and calling saint indech “uncle indech”. also seteth when he’s talking about the treatise written by the “tactical genius” saint cichol

in three houses they at least seem to keep jeritza’s real name a private concern but as soon as he joins mercie’s all “emile emile emile”. speaking of him though, at the beginning - when rescuing monica - we find out that he’s been at the academy teaching for at least a year. he’s younger than mercie. we can argue that mercie/shez/byleth are all around the same age. yet they make shez a student and byleth and jeritza professors??? i mean i know shez is kinda dumb bUT-

[massivedrickhead]

Bechloe Week 2021 - Day 2

July 27th: Bed sharing/one bed

Read on AO3

Fun fact - everything I’ve written/will write for Bechloe week this year are all part of the same universe, but they won’t be posted in chronological order. So at the end of the week I’ll probably put something up with a list of the prompts in chronological order :)

-

Beca was pretty sure that sharing a bed with Chloe Beale was simultaneously the worst and best thing that had ever happened to her.

It was almost unbearable to be that close to her without being able to touch her in the way she really wanted to.

Strike that.

It was unbearable.

But Beca couldn’t sleep any other way.

On those occasions when Chloe would sleep elsewhere, Beca would find herself unable to drop off.

She’d be up most of the night tossing and turning, unable to get comfortable, unable to shut her mind off.

It was as if Chloe’s mere presence could calm Beca in a way that nothing else could.

And then they would have these moments of complete vulnerability late at night.

Chloe would reach out with a featherlight touch and run a hand through Beca’s hair. So gentle that sometimes Beca thought she was imagining it.

“Bec?”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t sleep.”

“M’kay.”

Beca would roll over, still practically asleep, and lift her arm, allowing Chloe to either scoot back into her - making Beca the big spoon - or for her to rest her head on her chest.

Beca was usually already asleep by the time Chloe had gotten into a comfortable position, but she always seemed to register the soft “thanks,” that Chloe would whisper.

On those nights when it was Beca’s turn to be comforted, Chloe seemed to always know without Beca having to ask.

Logically, Beca knew it was probably down to the fact that Beca tossed and turned more, or played on her phone for longer, that tipped Chloe off, but she liked to think that Chloe just… knew.

“What do you need?” Chloe would ask, her voice quiet and thick with sleep.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“Can you do the hair thing?”

“Mhm.”

Chloe would then lie on her side and gently run her hands through Beca’s hair, her nails lightly scratching her scalp.

Her other hand would rest on Beca’s side or stomach - depending on if she was on her back or side - and her thumb would sweep gently back and forth.

In the daylight, neither would mention these moments. They’d usually wake up back on their respective sides, and if they didn’t whoever woke up first would pull away and climb out of bed - usually waking the other in the process.

And while these moments were nothing short of tortuous for Beca, they were still the favourite part of her day.

Because at two or three in the morning, nothing else matters. There are no distractions. No texts or emails to answer. No potential to be interrupted. Nowhere they needed to be.

They could just exist in the quiet together. Their bed was an island in the room. They could ask questions that, in the cold light of day, could be forgotten or ignored. They could share secrets or confess insecurities that neither would at any other time of day.

“Bec, do you believe in soulmates?”

“I don’t know. I think so. Do you?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

-

“If I hadn’t kissed Jesse, do you think things would be different?”

“Different how?”

“I don’t know. Just different. I dated him throughout all of college, maybe I missed experiencing some things?”

“Do you regret dating him so long?”

“No. I don’t think so.”

-

“Chlo’?”

“‘Yeah?”

“What if I don’t make it as a producer? What if I’m not good enough?”

“You’re the most talented person I know. You’ll make it.”

-

Over the years of being best friends with Chloe, she’d always had a crush on her. It had been a harmless thing really, she assumed everyone had a crush on Chloe.

Especially after a drunken confession to Aubrey had caused the blonde to let out a snort of laughter and say “girl, same.”

But this last year or so that they’d spent sharing a bed - sharing more of themselves with each other than they’d ever done before - Beca had fallen hard and fast and completely in love with Chloe.

Which, let’s be honest, wasn’t an ideal situation. Especially considering that, about three weeks ago, Chloe had started dating Chicago.

“He rescued us from the Med, Beca. I think I owe him a date.”

“Technically Amy and I rescued you. He turned up after the hard bit was done.”

Wearing a new dress and her highest heels, Chloe had thrown Beca a wink and said “don’t wait up!” as she left their apartment to meet him for the third time this week.

Once the door closed, Beca flopped back dramatically on the bed and let out a groan.

“You know you could tell her!” Amy called from her bedroom. “Actually, ignore that, that’s a bad idea. If she turned you down it would make our living situation way more awkward.”

“When not if,” Beca said, miserably. “Have you seen the abs on Shit-ago?”

(Yes, her nickname for Chicago was unnecessarily mean and childish, but give her a break.)

“If Chloe hadn’t accepted the date I would have climbed him like a tree,” Amy said.

“You could save me a lot of pain if you’d use those millions of dollars you have to move out so I could at least have my own room,” Beca said.

Amy left her room and was also looking dressed up for a night out.

“I’m doing you a favour captain,” Amy said. “If I move out you’ll have no excuse to share a bed anymore, and I know you can’t sleep without her. Besides, when she eventually moves in with Chicago, you won’t be able to afford the rent on your own.”

“Please don’t use his real name, it humanises him,” Beca said. “And what makes you think she’d move in with him? Has she said anything?”

“Not specifically, no. But things are obviously going well between them. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that Chloe has found ‘the one’,” Amy said. “So, you know, if you’re going to make a confession of love, time’s ticking.” She checked her phone. “I gotta go. If you are going to comfort eat please leave my Ben & Jerry’s out of it.”

“I make no promises,” Beca said.

“Hmm, due to your pathetic state, I’ll let you off. See you tomorrow!”

Beca spent the remainder of her night feeling sorry for herself, and making some truly self-indulgent mixes.

There were so many songs about unrequited love that Beca was never short of material, and when she finished she saved them in a hidden password-protected so no-one else could even accidentally listen to them.

No, these mixes weren’t going to help her career but they did make her feel at least a little bit better.

The crying and eating Amy’s ice-cream had helped too of course.

Beca was in bed by the time Chloe got back that night, and even thought she wasn’t asleep she pretended she was.

Chloe could always tell when Beca had been crying, and she definitely did not want to talk about the reason why.

So she closed her eyes when she heard the keys in the door, and kept them closed as the lights came on which was followed by the sound of high-heeled shoes walking across the apartment.

She felt the bed dip behind her, and heard the click of Chloe’s lamp turn on.

The bed jostled again, and the main light went off.

She heard running water from the bathroom as Chloe washed off her makeup and brushed her teeth, and then the sound of drawers opening as she searched for pyjamas.

She heard Chloe undressing, and tried not to picture it. She hoped Chloe didn’t need help with unzipping her dress, because she didn’t know if she could handle that right now.

Eventually the bed dipped again and the light went out.

She felt Chloe gently tug at the blankets so she could cover herself.

Then there was nothing but a calm silence.

Beca could tell by the way that Chloe was breathing that she wasn’t asleep yet and before she could stop herself, she was rolling over to face her.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hi,” Chloe replied. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Beca just smiled as she looked at Chloe’s face in the moonlight. She was so beautiful.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Beca said. “How was your night?”

They were both whispering, even though they were the only two people in the apartment, and it was only a little after midnight.

“Fine,” Chloe said. “What did you get up to?”

“Made some mixes,” Beca said. “Before you ask, no. They’re not ready yet.”

Chloe grinned. “Not even for me?”

“Especially not for you.”

“Spoil sport,” Chloe said.

They fell into an easy silence while they just continued to look at each other, and Beca felt that tug in her heart again.

She wanted more than anything to just reach out and touch her. To tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. To sweep her thumb across her jaw.

To kiss her.

God, she wanted to kiss her.

She swallowed, and turned so she was lying on her back.

Amy was right. Time was running out if she was going to say something. And Beca knew she had to say something.

She just didn’t think she could look at Chloe while she said it.

“Is everything okay?” Chloe asked, in her gentlest voice that was always Beca’s undoing.

She just had to do it. She had to rip the bandaid off and deal with whatever came after.

If Chloe turned her down… well… their friendship could survive that.

Right?

“Are you gonna move in with Chicago?”

If she’d been looking at Chloe she’d have seen her frown.

“What? No, what made you ask that? We’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks,” Chloe sounded genuinely confused, and it spurred Beca on. “We’ve been on, like, six dates.”

“But is that something you could see yourself doing? With him, I mean.”

“I… I don’t know. I don’t really know him, I hadn’t thought about it. Why?”

Beca swallowed again.

It was now or never.

“Chloe, I… fuck, this is… look, this is hard, okay. I’m not good at this.”

“Bec, you’re kinda freaking me out,” Chloe said. She sat up and switched on the lamp on her nightstand.

Beca felt instantly exposed and vulnerable - way too vulnerable - and she was up and off the bed in seconds.

“Beca-”

“Just… just give me a second,” Beca said, her heart beating uncomfortably.

She could feel tears building in her eyes and, at that exact moment, they heard the sound of keys in the door before Amy walked in.

“Funny story,” she said, shutting the door and walking further into the room. “Turns out it’s next week that I’m staying-”

She stopped abruptly, realising she had stepped into some kind of emotional minefield.

“Uh oh,” she said. “Beca when I said you should tell her I didn’t mean toni-”

“Nope!” Beca said, loudly cutting her off before walking into the bathroom and locking the door behind her.

Okay, so this wasn’t exactly going to plan.

She had locked herself in the bathroom and was maybe on the verge of a panic attack.

Not an ideal situation.

“Beca,” Chloe said, knocking on the door. “Come on, you can’t stay in there forever.”

I can try, Beca thought.

When Beca didn't respond, or give any indication that she would come out of the bathroom anytime soon, Chloe turned to Amy with a huff of frustration.

“What just happened?”

“So… she didn’t tell you anything?”

“No! I think she was about to tell me something and then…” Chloe trailed off with a shrug. “I don’t know. Something freaked her out and then you showed up.”

“Look this is really not something I should - or want to - be involved in,” Amy said. “So I’m just gonna…” She jerked a thumb towards her bedroom. Amy made a hasty retreat and Chloe returned to the bathroom door.

“Beca, please,” Chloe said. “Look, even if you don’t wanna talk to me, can you just unlock the door so I can go pee. I’ve had like a full bottle of wine tonight and you know how small my bladder is.”

She heard the lock slide and Beca opened the door.

Chloe could see tears in her eyes despite the fact that Beca was doing everything in her power to avoid looking at her.

“Thank you,” Chloe said, as Beca moved aside to let her in.

It hadn’t been a lie, Chloe really did need to pee, so after she closed the door behind her, Beca sat down on the bed and let her head drop into her hands.

It’s probably for the best, she thought. It would ruin everything.

The light from the lamp had had the same sobering effect of daylight.

It reminded her of all the reasons she hadn’t told Chloe how she felt, and why she shouldn’t tell her now.

Any fantasies she could conjure up during the night were always chased away by the day.

While Chloe was stroking her hair in the moonlight, it was easy to imagine that they could be together, but those hopes were always replaced with facts the next day. And the same thing was happening now.

Beca felt something hard lodge itself in her chest as she came to a realisation.

She couldn’t keep doing this.

She’d have to start looking for a new place.

When she heard the toilet flush and the sound of running water she quickly wiped her eyes.

She didn’t look at Chloe when she came out, and kept her eyes fixed on her clasped hands in front of her.

“Are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

“No,” Beca said. “It’s… it’s nothing. It was dumb. Can we just go to sleep?”

“Sure,” Chloe said with a sigh.

Beca didn’t get into bed until the light was off and then she lay with her back to Chloe.

“Night Bec.”

Beca swallowed again, hoping her voice was steady. “Night.”

Beca’s phone then lit up on her bedside table.

Amy: omg tell her or I will!!!

Beca read it, smiled briefly, and then locked her phone.

She didn’t say anything else, but after a few minutes of silence, Chloe rolled over and wrapped her arm around Beca’s middle. Her other hand started stroking through her hair.

“You get a headache when you cry,” she said softly, answering the question Beca hadn’t asked.

Something broke inside Beca, and she knew she couldn’t keep it in any longer.

“I’m in love with you Chloe.”

Chloe’s hand stilled and Beca’s heart seemed to stop beating.

The silence stretched on, and Beca had to fight every urge to run.

And then Chloe’s arm tightened around Beca’s waist, and she pulled her closer.

“What took you so long?”

Beca laughed and turned around to face her. Their faces were inches apart now, and Beca could see the tears building in Chloe’s eyes.

“I was scared,” she said, her voice breaking. “I was so fucking scared. I didn’t want to lose you.”

“You could never lose me,” Chloe replied. “You will never lose me. I promise.”

Her eyes traveled over Beca’s face, flicking between her eyes, looking for doubt or regret. She didn’t see either. She saw love and adoration. She saw vulnerability, hope, and a tiny fraction of fear.

“I’m in love with you too, Bec.”

And then the fear was gone from her eyes and her face broke into a grin.

“Yeah?” Beca asked, letting out a tearful laugh.

“Yeah,” Chloe replied.

“Can I kiss you?”

Chloe nodded, and their lips met a second later.

Tomorrow, in the cold light of day, Chloe would tell Chicago she didn’t think they should see each other anymore. Tomorrow, she would ask Beca on a date and if it went well - which she knew it would - she would ask her to be her girlfriend.

Tomorrow, when the sun was up, she would repeat these things they’d said to each other in the moonlight.

She’d tell Beca she loved her.

She’d tell Beca she’d always loved her.

And Beca would say it back. A thousand times. In a thousand different ways.

[astro-rain]

delicate; b.barnes

chapter twelve - “it’s hovercraft time, bucky barnes”

delicate masterlist

word count: 2.4k

synopsis: neither bucky nor y/n can sleep... until they do. and the next day brings them an unexpected, but pleasant surprise.

pairings: bucky barnes x fem!reader

It was four in the morning when the psychologist and the super soldier got in their respective beds after the nightmare. Y/N laid on her side in the bunk across from Bucky, facing away from him and staring at the wall. Her body wanted to sleep but her mind kept whirring on and on, worrying about him.

It wouldn't be that bad if she could just ignore it. It wouldn't be so bad if she wasn't wide awake also thinking about how it would be utterly impossible for him to have any eye color other than blue.

She sighed. Christ almighty, just go to sleep.

About twenty minutes passed before she heard it.

"Why are you still up?" he mumbled.

She turned over to her other side, dramatically, staring at his silhouette in the dark.

"How could you possibly know that?"

"I'm a trained assassin," he said, as a matter of fact. "I can recognize breath patterns."

"Yeah, well I know for a fact that you aren't even trying to fall back asleep."

"How could you possibly know that?" he repeated her question.

"I just do," she stated before turning on her back and staring straight up.

He scoffed playfully.

"What?" she asked.

Her tone wasn't as playful. It wasn't angry or annoyed; she could never be with him. But, it was void of emotion and her usual sarcastic cadence. She didn't enjoy people reading her like that. She knew he wasn't, but it felt like she was being called out for caring so much. She wanted to rein in her own compassion, but she couldn't help the way he softened her.

"That's just code for 'I'm a trained psychologist and I know how you're gonna react to nightmares.'"

She replied with silence, desperately trying to end the conversation so she could try to sleep and leave this night behind.

"Sorry, did I- did I say something?" he asked.

"No, you're good."

Part of her felt bad for being short with him, but she needed it to be over. She needed to somehow distance herself from her own feelings.

"I'm sorry if I woke you up with the nightmare and messed with you being able to fall back asleep. I know it's... a lot."

He's sorry. He's sorry?

"Don't you dare apologize. It's not your fault, and it's not even why I can't fall back asleep."

"What's the problem then?"

"It's nothing. Just try and get some sleep."

"Yeah... about that..."

"Will you have another?"

"Not  sure. I don't wanna find out."

"I know. And I'm sorry. Sleep shouldn't be this menacing, but you should still try anyway. Your body needs it."

"So does yours."

Y/N let out an exasperated sigh. There she went caring again and he kept deflecting. Her frustrations about her own emotions came out in stubborn defiance.

"I'm not sleeping until you do."

"Guess we're both stayin' up then."

"Bucky," she gently admonished.

"Y/N I can't- that... was the worst one I've had in a while."

That was it. Any and all aggravation faded to nothing, and her cheeks were hot with guilt. To hell with it; she refused to leave him to pain. She then got out of her bunk. Carefully, she maneuvered out and kneeled on the floor, facing him. She felt bad; she didn't mean to push him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm sorry, I should know better."

He mirrored her actions, slipping out of his own bunk and kneeling on the floor in front of her

"It's okay," he didn't miss a beat. His voice was as soft of hers. "Thank you."

He was closer now, so she could see a more detailed outline of him. She never really noticed just how large he was. Just his arm looked as big as her head. He was supposed to look frightening, but... she just couldn't see it.

"If you don't wanna sleep that's okay. I'll stay up with you so you don't have to be alone."

"Y/N..."

"I'm already up, I don't mind," she countered. "Seriously. I'm wide awake now. Honestly, I don't even know if I could fall back asleep if I tried."

"I can't ask you to stay up and babysit just 'cause you feel bad."

She scooted forward, determined not to lose to deflection again. Babysit? and Cause you feel bad? How could he truly think so little of himself?

"I am definitely not babysitting. I just happened to be awake at the same time you are... and not because I feel bad."

He scooted forward a couple inches, squinting, trying to decipher her facial expressions. "I can't tell if you're joking or not just from your tone of voice."

In the very back of her head it returned: that hazy enchantment feeling that swelled from her lungs through her brain stem every time she was this close to him. It is important to note - it was in the very back of her brain, and if you ignore something long enough, you can convince yourself it's not there.

"James Buchanan, I am awake and there's not a thing you can do about it."

"Alright," he sighed. "I don't know if you're expecting some kind of entertainment, but I can't really juggle with one arm..."

"I can't juggle with two."

"Ever been to the circus?"

"No."

He laughed. "Oh man, you're missin' out."

"No, I got the clown right here."

"Wow, is that how it is?"

"Depends. You got face paint and a rainbow wig?"

"Smartass."

The air was quiet after their breathy laughs fizzled out. A few moments of awkwardness quietly passed, both unsure of what to say next.

"You know when you're in the dark, your pupils dilate to take in as much light as they can in order to see better?" Y/N asked.

"I think I knew that? I'm not sure, I might've heard it somewhere. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know. I can't see your face super well, so it made me think of it. I can barely even see your eyes."

"Maybe that's better," he chuckled. "I don't know if they're still blood shot from earlier."

"Like I'd care."

"Why wouldn't you?"

"What?"

"Why wouldn't you care? I feel like seeing someone's puffy face and post-cry eyes would be kinda gross."

"You really think I care if your eyes are red or puffy?" she questioned. "Buck, I know I'm probably not supposed to say this because technically I'm your doctor, but I honestly consider you a really good friend. I'd be more worried to see that you've been crying than be aversive to it."

He scoffed in honest disbelief.

"What?"

"I just can't wrap my head around the fact that you think that way about me..."

"What do you mean?"

"...the person I am, the things I've done, the..." he shook his head, "the horrors I've committed..."

"The horrors you've committed are not who you are. I know you see yourself in a lot of different ways because it's hard to un-learn what other people have decided you are: a monster, a ghost, an asset, a machine, an assassin, a weapon, whatever. But have you ever considered that you're just human after all? You're a man who got dealt a shit hand in life. But there is still light in him... light that never left, no matter how hard they tried to beat it out of you. You're a survivor, Buck."

Bucky took a deep breath in, contemplating, before turning and laying on his back. They both remained on the floor, Y/N kneeling a few inches away from the side of Bucky's supine figure. He stared straight up at the ceiling.

"Sometimes I think I'm a better 'ghost' than I am a human being. My mind's a mess, and even though I'm trying, I still can't help but feel like I've lost who I am."

"You haven't lost who you are. You're just different now, and that's okay."

He looked up at her. "How do you always know what to say?"

"I know everything."

Y/N smiled, following Bucky's laugh, allowing the somber atmosphere to lighten up a bit. They so easily slipped in and out of the therapy dynamic, but now it seemed more like a heartfelt conversation between friends rather than treatment between doctor and patient.

"I consider you a really good friend too by the way - closest one I've had since Steve."

"Wow, really? That's an honor."

"Not really," he chuckled. "Steve's a punk."

And there she went laughing again. In one way or another she always found herself laughing around him.

However, she found it more confusing than funny when she woke up the following morning to find herself sitting on the floor, leaning against one of the beds with Bucky's head in her lap. She found her hands resting on his head protectively, fingers slightly carded through his long hair. She woke up before him... That's a first.

Y/N looked down at him. He was fast asleep; he looked peaceful and so relaxed. It was such a rare state to see him in, so she gave herself a few more seconds to study how his face looked when it was completely tranquil before she smoothed her hand along the back of his head and replaced her lap with a pillow.

-

"Hey," a raspy voice called out.

Y/N turned around from her seat at the table, hands still wrapped around the cup of tea she made herself a few minutes prior.

Bucky was awake, sitting up, but still in his previous spot on the floor.

"Hey. You want some tea?"

He stood up, nodding and stretching his back. "Did I fall back asleep?"

"You did," she smiled. "I'm pleased. I told you you needed the rest."

He seemed pleasantly surprised. "And on the floor too. Very classy."

She raised her mug to him, as if to make a toast. "Classiest man I know."

He laughed before grabbing the kettle and realizing it was empty.

"Shoot. We're outta water."

"It's alright. We know where to find the waterfall. You want to go get more?"

"Mm hm."

"Alright, I'll just finish my tea and go out in a few minutes."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm coming too."

"You sure? You just woke up. You can take some time to just relax if you want."

"No. I'm going."

"Stubborn. I can go myself, you know. I know the way."

"Would you let me go by myself?"

Y/N was silent for a moment before sighing.

"Get your shoes."

-

"You know, there was really no reason to almost push me into the water," Bucky commented as they were making their way back to the shelter after restocking their water supply.

"I wasn't actually going to!"

"You might as well have! My life flashed before my eyes!"

"Bet that took forever. You wanna backtrack? I can do it for real this time."

"I'm throwin' you in next time."

"You couldn't throw me," she challenged.

"Like a football," he countered, smirking.

"I don't wanna test that theory."

Their banter continued as they continued walking, making sure they were in the tree line and not out in the open. Bucky was always cautious. He was able to laugh with her while still making sure they were safe. That was until his arm was suddenly around the front of her shoulders, and holding her against his chest as his back was flush against a tree, effectively hiding them both from sight. She just stared forward, barely registering how fast he swiveled both of them around.

"There's someone at the bunker. I'm sorry- didn't want us to be seen."

He removed his arm, but her feet were stuck. She had never been close to him like this before; she didn't know what to think of it. She stepped forward a bit, breaking the contact but still facing away from him. She was hyperaware of their proximity but that quickly dissipated as she registered what he said.

"What did you see?"

"There were a couple people, but I didn't get a great look 'cause I moved out of sight fast. One woman, two men? I think."

His tone and demeanor reminded her of that day Shuri told them they had to go in hiding. He was so calm and collected. She forgot situations like these were practically muscle memory to him.

"Do you think someone found us? What were they doing?"

"I only saw 'em for a second, I'm not sure. Stay still, I'm gonna look."

As soon as his head peaked around the tree, so did Y/N's, ignoring his order.

"Wait, I think that's Shuri."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. I don't know if I'd bet my life on it."

"What's that other thing?"

"The hovercraft?"

"Hovercraft? God, I love this place."

"Wait, see the crest on the hovercraft - that's the one only Shuri can unlock."

"Alright, just... stay behind me. Okay?"

"Okay."

The two slowly made their way towards the three Wakandans. Y/N actually listened this time and stayed behind Bucky. As soon as they were in sight, Shuri came running up to them.

"Y/N!" she exclaimed, immediately throwing herself into the psychologist, embracing her.

She was startled at first, arms awkwardly hanging by her sides before her brain finally caught up to her and she brought her arms up lightly, returning the hug.

"Shuri! What happened?"

"We won!" Shuri grinned. "It's a long and complicated story, but the rightful King never died. My brother has reclaimed his place on the throne. Wakanda is ours once again!"

A monumental weight was lifted from Y/N's shoulders. She sighed in relief, knowing she was no longer in danger, knowing Bucky was no longer in danger.

"That's incredible. I'm so glad everything's okay, and I'm so glad to see you."

"I'm glad to see you too, my partner," Shuri hugged her once more before addressing Bucky. "Sergeant Barnes. I'm sorry for all the trouble. I hope everything was alright?"

"We've been getting along just fine," he nodded. "Thank you."

Shuri called over the two other men - royal guards that came with her - before turning back to Y/N and Bucky.

"You've been camped out here in hiding long enough. Let us go home."

As they walked behind the Wakandan princess, Y/N nudged Bucky with her elbow.

"It's hovercraft time, Bucky Barnes," she managed to say through a face numbing smile.

delicate taglist: @bakugouswh0r3 @thefridgeismybestie @strivingforelegance

[luke-patterson-owns-my-soul]

Kiss Me

Charlie Gillespie x Reader

Title: Kiss Me

Words: 1593

Summary: Charlie’s back from Hawaii and providing social media with all the content.

Requested: No. I had to write this after that video of Charlie singing in the bath tub…

TW: Implications of sexual intercourse, mostly the reader getting frustrated by Charlie being Charlie.

Author’s notes: I just wanted to write a bit of domesticity between Charlie and the reader, and thanks to all the content we got from him the other day, this kinda just fell into place. I hope you like it. - also, a little shout out to @dream-a-little-bigger-x​ because she’s been giving us some AMAZING fic content, and she isn’t feeling to great today. I hope this helps a little, Nele.

Three weeks without being able to see Charlie in the flesh had been hard. Yeah, he’d posted photos and videos while he’d been away in Hawaii with his castmates and Kenny, but it wasn’t the same. Neither were the intimate FaceTime calls the two of you shared pretty much daily. Nothing beat being able to wrap your arms around him, to feel the warmth of his skin against yours, to smell the scent that was intrinsically him. Yeah, you’d missed him like crazy.

Checking your watch, again, before checking the arrivals board you leaned up against the wall behind you waiting for his flight to disembark the plane and make their way through to the arrivals lounge. You scrolled through your Instagram feed, checking out what people had been tagging your boyfriend in, amazed by the talent of his fans. More than anything, you wanted to share them, but as no one knew about you, you couldn’t. It was a good thing you ran a semi-popular fan account that you could do it all from, and your story was full of amazing artwork and song covers. As far as your followers knew, you were just another fangirl.

You were so engrossed in the pictures on the screen in front of you, you didn’t hear Charlie approaching you, didn’t know he was right in front of you until grabbed you by the waist, making you squeal in shock and almost drop your phone.

“Oh my God, Charlie. You scared me.” You laughed, flinging your arms around his neck, breathing him in. 

“I would say I’m sorry, but my mom taught me that lying makes my nose grow and my tongue fall out. And I don’t think you’d want that.” He teased after placing a quick kiss on your lips.

“Well, no. But it would be quieter around the apartment.” Your response made him pull away and pout. “What? Am I lying?”

“I thought you loved me.” If he hadn’t been grinning like the loveable idiot he was, you would have believed his offended tone of voice was real.

“Oh, you know I adore you. Shall we go home?” as you slide your phone into your pocket, you take hold of his hand and lead him out to the parking lot where his car is parked. “Do you want to drive, or shall I?”

“You, please.” You know he’s not the most confident of flyers, so you understand his need to chill for a while before he’s at full Gillespie – a term you coined not long after the two of you met and he was his usual ‘constant overdrive’ self. He was always moving, doing something with his hands, or exploring. Charlie Gillespie didn’t do bored or sitting still very well.

Once you’re back at the apartment you share Charlie sets about unpacking his case, dumping his clothes in the washer straight away. It always strikes you how domestic he is. You’re not the best at remembering to do stuff, but he always manages to catch what you miss.

“Have you got to go to work?” he asks you as he leans up against the counter while you prepare some food for the two of you. You work at a TV studio, but the show you work on is on a break so your hours are more flexible than they would be normally.

“No, I’m all yours for a couple of days.” Your words make him grin before he wraps his arms around your waist and pulls you in for a kiss.

Your kiss had led to more of an intimate reunion which led you both to your bedroom for most of the day. By the time you emerged, it was almost dark outside and the food you’d been preparing needed to be tossed in the trash. You couldn’t complain though because you’d been able to show Charlie just how much you’d missed him.

___________________________

After the insanity that was Charlie’s delivery from and subsequent live with Madison’s dad, you now had a billboard poster partially unfolded in your bedroom. Naturally, because he was often a child in an adult’s body, Charlie had been like a kid at Christmas when he’d been allowed to open the box. Off camera, he’d been able to slide the parcel that had been included with your name on – Mr. Reyes had so kindly included a hoodie for you which you were now wearing while you stared at the space around you in horror.

“Charlie, babe. Did you have to open it in here? You heard what he said, it took up their entire back yard. Our bedroom is like a shoebox.”

“Yeah, I kinda got carried away. Sorry.” Leaning over, so he wouldn’t rip the poster, he planted a kiss on your lips.

“Well, don’t expect me to help you fold it back up.” With a grin, you turned on your heel and flounced out of the room to post screenshots from the live to your fan account. Only Charlie knew about it and had followed you early on. Eventually, after hearing him swearing and falling over, you went in and helped him fold the damn thing up. It took a ridiculous amount of time, but it was soon back in the box ready to be transported to Canada in Charlie’s car when the both of you went back for Christmas.

Exhausted, you flopped onto the couch and decided to order in some food rather than cook. But first, you took a sweaty selfie and sent it to Madison.

I love your dad, but please don’t let him send us anymore billboard posters. It took two hours to get it back in the damn box.

Her reply was instant.

Dad never expected him to unfold the thing. Love to you both. She wasn’t wrong. Only the man you adored would have ever done that, and live on the internet too. Shaking your head, you ordered pizza.

“Babe, I need a favor.” Charlie spoke as he tidied up the pizza boxes and soda cans from your dinner, making you groan. You were still exhausted, and now a little bloated. All you wanted to do was to slouch and watch a movie, curled up in Charlie’s arms.

“What?”

“Help me set up my phone in the bathroom.” That got your attention.

“Er… why?”

He scratched at the back of his head, a sheepish look on his beautiful face that was covered in the stubble you adored.

“I want to do a couple of videos.”

“And you have to do it now? Haven’t you done enough today?” you close your eyes as you lean your head on the back of the couch. You sense Charlie standing behind you, and when you open your eyes again, he’s looking down at you, the puppy dog eyes in force. Even upside down, he knows what they do to you. “I hate you, did you know that?” you tell him affectionately. With a grin, he bends over and captures your lips in a searing kiss.

“I promise, I’ll make it up to you.” With a chuckle, he runs his jaw along yours, knowing the roughness of his stubble is a huge turn on for you.

“Yes, yes you will.” You pull away and stand up. The sooner you get this done, the sooner the two of you can snuggle, and the sooner you can claim your owed favor.

Grabbing the car keys from the sideboard, you head down to the car to get the phone holder. You figure the suction cup works on the car’s windscreen, so should work on the glass screen. When you get back into the apartment, Charlie’s changed clothes and has his guitar in his hand.

“Remind me why you can’t do this from the couch?” you ask, walking into the bathroom. It’s tiny and you know Charlie’s going to regret his decision, but when he mumbles about acoustics you keep your mouth shut. Trying to change his mind when it’s made up is nigh on impossible.

You manage to secure the phone holder to the shower screen you’d cleaned that morning, pull it across the tub, and leave the small space.

“All ready for you, maestro.” You call out as you enter the lounge. Charlie stands up, kisses you and disappears into the bathroom. You fully plan on putting the TV on, choosing a random Hallmark Christmas movie to watch, and wait for him to finish, but when you hear his clear voice singing what he knows is one of your favorite Ed Sheeran songs, you can help but go and stand at the end of the tub and watch him morph from Charlie your doofus boyfriend to Charlie the star.

You watch him, with a smile on your face, as he records a video for his Instagram reel, messing it up a couple of times and having to restart a few times, making you laugh.

“If you can’t be quiet, you’re gonna have to leave.” He scolds you without any anger in his voice.

“I’ll behave. For now.” You wink at him as he starts to record again. Once he’s done, he says he wants to do one more, slightly longer for his Tiktok account.

“Last try, because my leg’s falling asleep.” He speaks into the camera once it’s recording.

I’m in love now

Kiss me like you wanna be loved

Wanna be loved, wanna be loved,

Wanna be loved, yeah

As he sings, he looks up, catching your eye and smiling. In that moment, you fall in love with him all over again.

.

.

.

.

.

Taglist: - if you want to be added, please send me an ask, just in case I happen to miss any comments

@dream-a-little-bigger-x​​ @calamitykaty​​ @crybabyddl​​ @xplrreylo​​ @morganayennefertyrell​​ @lovesanimals​​ @sunsetcurvenotsunsetswerve​​ @echocharm17618​​ @kinda-really-lost​ @n0wornever​ @all-in-fangirl​ @5sosmukefan​

[chironshorseass]

Number 3, "Why do you always have to act like that?" <3

Did not proofread this, sorry lmao. This is post tlo percabeth btw:)

read on ao3

The rain had stopped just an hour before he’d arrived at Annabeth’s school, the roads slick with water. Oranges and reds clashed with the newly-cleared blue of the October sky, dead leaves flying in the air, stamping against the windshields while leftover water sprayed from the passing cars. An art piece that had come to life.

And here Percy sat behind the wheel, watching the comings and goings of girls in posh uniforms and oversized sweaters. He’d been busy staring at a random squirrel in the middle of the road when he heard a tapping on his car window, and with it came a voice that he knew all too well.

“Hey, are you my Uber driver?”

She sounded distant, thanks to the boundary that the glass imposed. But still he grinned, facing her. He rolled the windows down, letting the fresh air invade the small Prius.

“I’m an Uber driver, now?”

Annabeth raised a thin eyebrow.

“Well, I’m not sure, actually.” She pretended to check her phone, then back at him. Her eyes danced with amusement. “I think the Uber driver in the picture they sent me looks cuter.”

He gasped. “Impossible.”

That made her laugh, leaning into the open window, close enough to see every single freckle that dusted across her face.

She looked good. To be fair, she always looked good. But something about the autumn breeze, rustling her hair that matched the golden leaves draped over the sidewalks, made his heart beat faster.

“So how much am I supposed to charge for the ride, madam?”

“Aren’t you supposed to know?”

“Not really.”

She sighed. “As you can see, sir, I don’t have all day.”

“Uh, please don’t ever call me ‘sir.’”

“And please don’t ever call me ‘madam.’”

The sight of her just inches apart from him, all rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed, was extremely inviting. He played along anyway.

Percy had always thought that dating Annabeth would be too different, a step too big from what their relationship had once been. And in part, it was different. They went out like any couple, they held hands, he could call her his girlfriend, could kiss her anytime he wanted. But he realized that, above all, they were still best friends. If he thought about it, nothing had really changed.

“Okay, well...I guess I could accept cash, but—”

Her eyes widened comically. “Oh my gods! It’s a shame, then. I don't have any cash!”

“Hmm, then I guess you’d have to pay me some other way.”

She tilted her head, leaning closer. “Now that I think about it, that’s not such a bad idea.”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Even if I’m not as cute as the other Uber guy?”

She stopped, biting her lower lip. She had that cheeky smile on, the kind that drove him crazy. Especially since she was this near and this beautiful and he could only sit and watch.

“Well, there is one guy who’s, like, cuter than all the other Uber guys. Maybe you know about him.”

“Who could it be?”

She shrugged. “Oh, you know...just my boyfriend. I kinda like him a lot.”

“Kinda?”

She nodded. “Yeah.”

“Does this boyfriend happen to be waiting for her girlfriend to kiss him? You know, as she promised?”

“She promised that?”

“To be fair, it was kind of implied.”

“Oh. Then...it would be rude of me not to return the favor.”

Their noses bumped, earning another laugh from her, but she pulled away just before their lips met. Percy made a sound of protest, feeling deprived from the warmth that surrounded her like a treasured blanket. Her eyebrows pulled together, scrutinizing, smirk still intact.

"Why do you always have to act like that?" he whined.

She gave him an innocent look. “Like what?”

“Come here,” he insisted.

“Not unless you say ‘please.’”

“Please?”

Annabeth crossed her arms. “Eh, I suppose you’re passable,” she finally said, hovering in the open window once more.

“Excuse me! I thought you said that your boyfriend is cuter than—”

She shut him up by kissing him, soft and slow.

“So,” he said, the words breathed into the small space between their lips. “I’m passable, huh?”

“Something like that.” Her fingers threaded through his hair. Percy closed his eyes for a brief second, just enjoying the feeling. “Now, are you just going to let me stand here like an idiot or what? I’m kinda freezing over here.”

He opened his mouth in mock offense. “You’re the one who was taking all the time in the world, saying I’m passable or whatever—”

Annabeth kissed him again, then pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth.

“Does that convince you?”

He meant to say something smartass, or at least something dignified, but all that came out was an, “Uh...yuh.”

She snorted.

Soon enough, however, she left him sitting alone, not at all aware of how caught up he was, in her phantom touch, as she dashed toward the other side of the Prius. Or maybe she was aware. He was never sure with Annabeth.

When she stepped into the shotgun seat, Percy was already waiting.

“Hey,” he said.

He didn’t wait for a response, mouth already meeting hers, kissing her again and again, just because he could.

But they didn’t last long, their cheeks spread too wide from smiling.

Gods, I love her.

“Wow, Seaweed Brain. Someone’s...eager,” she said, eyebrows raised.

“I missed you,” he said simply.

Her gaze softened. “I missed you, too.” She averted her eyes, beaming, sunshine breaking through the clouds. “Even though it’s kind of only been a week.”

“And?”

She didn’t argue, instead choosing to reach for his hand.

“So where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“I hate surprises.”

“Too bad you’re dating me, then.”

“Yeah, too bad.”

He stuck his tongue out, and she laughed, his favorite sound in the world.

“But,” she said, “since I maybe like you—”

“Maybe?” he teased.

“Okay,” she smiled. “Since you’re my boyfriend—which means I really like you…”

“Go on…”

“Then I’ll just go wherever you take me,” she finished.

And who could say no to this girl?

prompts

[supercorpkid]

There’s a first time for everything.

Supercorp, Kara Danvers x Daughter!Reader, Lena Luthor x Daughter!Reader

Word count: 2890.

“How exactly did this happen?” Jamie looks at the F in your test and you roll your eyes to the sight of it. This is bad. This is really bad.

“I didn’t have time to study. But it’s ok, I’ll study for the next one.” You say, agreeing with your head to make Jamie and Maya’s worried expression ease up a little.

“Babe, you should’ve told me you needed to study. We could have had a study session or something.” They’re still worried. You look at Jamie raising one eyebrow, so she knows there’s more to the story. It takes her a few seconds, but she seems to finally realize your life is more complicated than stupid French tests.

“Oh, it’s a one-time thing.” Jamie says dismissing it with her hand. “It’s good, now you know what the rest of us feel when we don’t go so well.”

“Yeah. It’s great.” You joke with a smile, and that seems to be what’s necessary to make Maya less worried.

“We’ll study together for the next one.” She says and you agree.

It’s just when her mom picks her up from school, that you can tell Jamie what was really going on with you.

“Ok, so what really happened?” Jamie asks and you breathe deep before starting.

“Ok, it all started the night before when Kara put her head inside my bedroom to ask me:

“Hey kid. What are you up to?”

I looked up from the books I was organizing on my table to start studying. And since I thought it was something fast, I answered. “Nothing.” While obviously ignoring the books in front of me.

Then she went on like “Well. There is a big commotion downtown, a bunch of aliens got together to destroy some things and the whole place is a mess.” And I just shook my head agreeing because I thought she just went to tell me why she was leaving. But, like, she kept going and she asked me: “Do you want to come with me? I figured we could use some help.”

I was beaming in excitement ‘cause you know it’s kind of hard for Kara to just admit she needs help, so I thought there was probably a hell of a mess there. Which means she really did need my help, right? So, I was like “Wait! Really?”

She smiled too. “Sure! Go put on your-” But I used my super speed to change and I was in front of her all suited up in a blink of an eye. “Suit.”

“Let’s do it!” I ran out of the bedroom feeling like I could fly away just by being invited to it. You know it’s all I ever wanted. Kara seeing me as a person who could back her up during trial times. I was almost out of the house when I heard Lena’s voice from the living room and I came back to kiss her goodnight. So, she was like:

“Where are you guys heading to?”

And Kara said, check this out:

“I need back-up for this fight.”

I mean, she literally said the words I was so eager to hear and my smile just grew wider.

“I’m back-up!” I said, beaming in excitement.

But, well, you know my mom. She immediately went like:

“It’s school night.” She looked at momma. “She needs a good night of sleep.” Like I wasn’t even there to speak for myself! But lucky for me Kara said:

“Don’t worry, love. She’ll help me stop the aliens and bring them to the DEO, and I’ll do the clean up part.” Kara assured mom, who let out a sigh, like she does whenever she knows she is defeated.

“Are you sure you want to go?” She asked, putting her hand on my shoulder. And honestly, I don’t know what she was expecting. Did she think I was going to say no? Anyways, I obviously answered:

“Oh my God, yes! Don’t worry mom, I can handle it.”

Then she was like: “Ok, then. Don’t take too long.” She kissed my cheek, and then Kara’s mouth. “Be careful. Both of you.”

Then I looked at momma, still smiling, and she smiled back super excited. I just couldn’t believe I was going out to have adventures with Supergirl! I always thought I would have to sneak out with Superboy to have them, but then like, momma invited me to it!

So anyways, I tagged along to fight some hellgrammites that were causing trouble downtown. And like, dude, Aunt Alex gave me an earpiece for communication and Rao it felt so good to be a part of the team!

And she would talk to me through it. Jamie, I swear it’s as fun as you can think. So, aunt Alex was like:

“Superkid, be careful with the spikes. They’re strong enough to penetrate metal, it could harm you.”

And Kara was like:

“They also possess superhuman strength.”

And I was like:

“Okay, guys. I know hellgrammites, just chill.”

But like, aunt Alex went on:

“If you can’t win, try using their own spike against them as a last resource, Superkid.” And I was like ‘ok’, And then I hit one so hard he was thrown to a post light, and it bent, and made the light flicker. It was so funny, but I obviously couldn’t say that, so instead I said:

“Sorry. I’ll fix that!” And I flew to him, looking at the spike on his hand. Then I made my voice sound stronger and said: “You can come willingly or I can make you.”

“Pff.” It was his answer. What a dumbass, right? So, I had to keep using my strong voice.

“Got it. I’ll make you.” And then I punched his face a few times until he was unable to recover, and put him in cuffs. And I was so happy I yelled: “Got one!”

I looked at Supergirl, who had already caught the other three. She gave me thumbs up and a smile. Well. At least I kinda helped, right?

“Bring him to containment at the DEO.” I heard Alex’s voice through the comm, and picked up his floppy body and made my way towards Supergirl.

I asked if she was ready and she agreed with her head. So, I picked one other guy up, throwing each one over my shoulders, and I flew into the DEO with Supergirl, putting all four of them in a cell.

Aunt Alex was looking proud of me, which is incredible. You know the feeling! And she went like. “Great work, kiddo!”

“Thanks! That was fun, it was like playing video-game!” I said making them laugh. But then Supergirl went:

“Ok, time to go home. I’ll go clean up the mess they made, and I’ll meet you back there in a bit.” And she was ready to fly away when I held her hand.

“I can help. Still early.” I said pointing at my watch, but I lied ‘cause it was already late. Supergirl narrowed her eyes at me, and I knew she was going to say no, so I said: “At least let me unbend the post light.”

So she went:

“Ok. Let’s go.” Supergirl flew and I flew behind her.

In the end, I ended up helping her clean up everything, and we had to sneak in home so Lena didn’t see what time we made it back home.

And then, when I laid in bed, I was feeling exhausted, but I was so tired that it was really hard for me to fall asleep, so I missed my first wake-up call with Kara knocking at my door, and when Lena woke me up a while later, I was so tired it was hard to focus. But I could never tell her that, ‘cause she would be pissed since she was right in the first place. So, I rolled out of bed and came to school.

The problem was that it takes a lot of effort to shut off my super hearing and pay attention to the test, and I wasn’t able to do that while feeling so tired, hence my F.”

“Well, at least you had a good time supering yesterday.” Jamie says after you finish your story and you agree with your head catching your breath.

“It was awesome! Even your mom looked impressed.” You lean over a pillar and look at her. “Except Lena will be so mad that I got a bad grade, because I was supering.”

“Oh, come on. You can’t do everything. Save National City and get a good grade the very next day.” She said and you think about it. No, you can’t do everything, but you’re supposed to. Besides, school is more important than saving National City since Supergirl could have done it all by herself, clearly.

But Lena doesn’t need to know, does she? It’s not lying if she doesn’t ask you about it, so there’s no reason you will run to tell her about it, right? Right. It’s fine. You’re fine.

But you’re not fine.

“Hey, babygirl!” Lena says when she walks in home later that day, your soul almost leaves your body. You jump so high in your chair; she furrows her brows at that. “What are you doing?”

“Having a heart attack!” You put your hand on your chest, and you feel your heart beating fast.

“You shouldn’t get scared so easily. You have super hearing.” She points out and you think about it for a second. She is right, you shouldn’t.

“I was distracted.” You defend yourself, and Lena comes closer to kiss your head. She looks at the books in front of you.

“Ooh, français. Très bien!” She jokes.

“Mhm, yeah.” You smile through the pain you’re feeling to just blurt it out right there. It’s very hard not to say anything. You hate keeping secrets from your moms. “How’s-How was work?”

“Oh, you know Fridays and meetings. They don’t usually go well together.” Lena says that grabbing a bottle of wine and a glass. “But at least we have family night today, right?”

“Right.” You smile and she excuses herself for a shower (glass of wine in hand), while you finish studying.

Kara gets home a while later with dinner in both hands, but she still manages to push your books out of the way so she can put them on the table. She ended up dropping all of your books on the floor, and you smile at her.

“Sorry, little one.” She bends out to help you with it, and you hear a loud gasp.

“What?” You ask surprised, and you look at what she’s pointing at. “Oh no. Oh no.”

“You got an F?” She yells in pure shock, and your eyes widen at the sound of that.

“Shhh! Will you keep it down, please?” You lower your glasses to make sure Lena is still in the bedroom and can’t hear you. Lucky for you that’s the case.

“An F!” Kara’s still shocked. She picks up your tests and reads it. “You were aware it was a French test, right?”

“Um, yes?”

“Because I’m pretty sure this is English, this is a math equation? And would you look at that! You wrote stuff in kryptonese! I’m not sure she could understand that.” She keeps looking at it, making you blush in embarrassment until you pull it out of her hands.

“I was… distracted.” You say, putting it inside of your book, and looking back at her. “Please, don’t tell mom.”

“Kid-”

“Please, mommy.” You try with your sweetest voice. “I’ll study harder for the next one and I’ll get an A, just please. Please. For me?”

“Don’t.” Kara looks at your pouting face and you can see she’s very inclined on hiding this with you. But she blinks twice looking away. “No, that won’t work. The pouting, and the ‘please for me’ bit. You know we don’t do lies in this house.”

“That’s not fair!” You cross your arms, upset. “Last week mom asked you if you ate all the chicken parm and you said no.”

“Are you serious?”

“You broke three glasses when you closed that cupboard a little too strong yesterday, and you told her nothing was broken.”

“Nothing important was broken.”

“Momma!” You pout again. “It’s not fair.” You hear Lena opening the bedroom door and making her way to where both of you are, and you raise an inquisitive eyebrow at Kara.

“Hey honey.” Lena says making her way behind the counter for another glass of wine. She looks at both of you having a stare down on the other side.

“One of us is going to tell her and she would rather if it was you.” Kara whispers close to your face, and you know Lena can’t hear her. You frown, and can’t believe Kara would do that. You can’t believe she won’t have your back about this.

“What’s-” Lena clears her throat, calling your attention back to her. “What’s going on?”

“Oh. Hi, love.” Kara makes her way to the other side of the counter and kisses Lena’s mouth. “Your daughter has got something important to tell you. I’ll go shower so we can have dinner and watch a movie.”

Kara leaves the kitchen and Lena raises her eyebrows at you, encouraging you to start. You don’t. You just look at her, and the book where your test lays inside. And you think about a lie. But you know you won’t lie, so it makes no sense for you to think of one in the first place. So, you get your test out of the book, and you come closer, holding on to it like it’s suddenly going to make it turn into an A instead.

“I, um, have something to tell you.” You sit on the other side of the counter, and she looks at the paper you’re clinging to so desperately. She does her eyebrow raise, and your heart feels like it’s going to stop with the thought of disappointing and upsetting her. Your mouth feels dry, your palms feel sweaty. It’s a whole ‘is this what a heart attack feels like?’ situation, before you can get your words out. “I didn’t do so well on a test.”

“Ok.” It’s what Lena says. She raises her hand at you, and you wince when you realize she will look at it. “Can I see it?” She pushes, once she realizes you’re still clinging to it, like holding onto a wrecked life-boat.

“Can’t you just take my word for it?” It’s your last desperate self-preserving act. Lena shows you her hand again, and you know that’s a clear ‘no’. “Ok.” You breathe out, handing her the paper. She takes it and looks at it, with furrowed eyebrows.

“Didn’t do well.” As in she’s saying that’s a very light way to put what she’s looking at.

“I’m sorry. I’ll do better next time, I promise!” You blurt out. “Please, don’t make me stop supering. Please. I swear it was a one-time thing. This won’t happen ever again.”

Lena puts the test down, goes around the counter and stops in front of you, while you still rumble your apologies. She doesn’t say a word which is very distressing. You wish she would just yell and ground you, just do something, instead of radio silent like right now.

“Ok.” She finally lets out. Ok? What does ok mean? “You’ll do better next time.” And then she hugs you. You take a few seconds to wire your brain and acknowledge what’s happening, before wrapping your arms around her, and letting out a breath you’ve been holding the entire time.

“So, you’re not mad?” You ask, still in shock. Lena gives you a chuckle and whispers softly in your ear.

“I’m not mad.” She tries to move away, but you hold her tightly.

“Still hugging, still hugging.” You say, earning another chuckle from her, and she doesn’t move away. “So, I can still go supering with momma?”

“You can still go supering.” She whispers again.

“And I’m not grounded?” You ask again, and you feel Lena moving to kiss your cheek. You smile, very happy.

“And you’re very much grounded.” She whispers, and finally lets go of you, with a bop on your nose. “But nice try.” Lena gets her wine glass and looks at you with a soft expression. “Can I just ask you a favor?”

“Anything.” You’re so happy she’s not mad, and that you can still go supering, whatever she says, you’ll do.

“That physics formula it’s exactly what I was needing for an experiment. May I steal it?” She smiles, making you smile back.

“Really? Wow, it’s almost like I wrote that for you.” And you have, in fact, because you were listening to her during your entire test. And you feel like she somehow knows that because the English part is the explanation she was giving about the experiment, then you wrote the formula she was trying to come up with, and the kryptonese part actually says ‘I love you, mom’. So, you figured she must have put two and two together and she possibly knows.

“Oh, and babygirl?” Lena adds, looking at you from her wine glass. “Khap ukiem rrip, inah*.”

Yeah. She knows.

Notes:

*Khap ukiem rrip, inah = I love you, daughter*

[uwuwriting]

Bakusquad x fem!reader walking in naked

Request:Hi, I was wondering if you could do a bnha reaction to where the female reader dose the tik tok trend we're you walk in naked while your boyfriend's gaming. (With Sero, Denki, Bakugo and Kirir, please. - anonymous

Writing for tik tok trends is so fun. If I could write only cute tik tok trends with our favorite boys, I would.I added Mina so I could write for the whole Bakusquad. Love yaa. 💖💖💖

warnings: suggestive endings.

Mina Ashido

-Mina is a tik tok addict, we’ve been new. 

-She knows every single sound on the app and she can dance to any song.

-So pranks have become a regular in your relationship.

-Last week she caught you off guard with the “What’s good shawty?” and let’s just say that you might have held a grudge.

-You have been searching for two days for a good trend that would actually get her. 

-Because let’s be real this girl is a genius when it comes to online trends so you had to be cautious. 

-Then you came across the ‘walking in naked’ trend and you knew right then and there that this was the one. 

-Now Mina isn’t really one to study but you had managed to convince her to do her homework while you took a shower. 

-She was trying to solve a math problem when you walked in, a towel hiding your body.

-Placing your phone on her bookcase, you left the shot and called out to her. 

-Turning around she froze, watching you. 

-She hadn’t seen the phone yet and with an overly dramatic flick of your wrist, the towel around you was tossed at her and you stood there in all your glory. 

-Her mouth hung open for a solid five minutes.

-Pushing her chair away from her desk she got up and came up to you. 

- “Don’t you have some homework to do?”

- “I’m doing you first.”

-Afterwards she saw the video and posted it on both her instagram and tik tok, making it go viral in a matter of hours. 

Sero Hanta

-Tape boy knows a lot of tik tok dances from Mina and you, but apart from that he doesn’t really care about the app and he isn’t up to date with the trends.

-It’s really easy to prank him with a tik tok trend so because you are a little shit you take this to your advantage. 

-You have pranked him so many times, boy feels physical pain every time you balance your phone on your bookcase. 

-For the past three days or so you have stopped doing anything to him and posting it, giving the poor thing a break. 

-But then, you found it. 

-A trend that he would definitely like. 

-He was laying on your bed reading a manga when you walked in with just a towel hiding your body from his eyes. 

-You had already placed your phone without him noticing so you got right to work. 

- “Sero, babe, can you look at me for a moment?”

-He sat up and immediately a blush exploded on his face. 

-So when you threw him your towel and you were completely bare to him, he malfunctioned. 

-He became a bubbling mess, his blush becoming even more evident and his eyes darting from your chest to the ceiling, trying to respect you and not look. 

-You couldn’t stop laughing until finally he got up and wrapped you up with the towel burring his face in your shoulder, his blush remaining.

-Congrats, you just broke Sero.

Kaminari Denki

-He is a male Mina. 

-So that’s on that.

-The boy can’t handle when you throw it back so you can imagine how this prank went. 

-The power was down for the rest of the day. 

-He malfunctioned so freaking bad, poor thing.

-He’s quite up to date with almost all the trends. 

-So finding something he hadn’t seen was kind of a challenge, but you managed it. 

-He was gaming with the squad when you crept into his room wearing your bathrobe and nothing else underneath.

-Placing your phone on a stack of untouched text books you called out to him.

-The moment he turned around your robe fell on his head and he couldn’t see you. 

-When he did however, sparks flew and the power went off. 

-You made him short circuit. 

-In the distance you heard a scream that belonged to Bakugou and a door slamming shut followed by stomping that got louder and louder. 

-In a panic you grabbed your robe and put it back on, snapping Denki out of his daze *kinda* and hiding behind him. 

-Bakugou was MAD and was ready to beat him up until he saw you in that robe and he just did a 180 and left. 

-You had to answer a lot of questions AFTER your little ‘session’ with your poor boyfriend. 

Bakugou Katsuki

-BOOMER!!!!!

-He legit confused tik tok with tic tac and for a long time he thought that it was a weird internet trend. 

-I swear he’s a 57 year old man in the body of a 15 year old boy with anger issues. 

-It’s so easy to prank him. 

-So easy that it’s borderline boring and unfunny. 

-You stopped pranking him, since he had the same reaction to every single thing you tried. 

-When you came across this trend you knew were it was going to lead to and your were ready for it. 

-You wanted it tbh, you just were too prideful to ask for it and allow him to tease you. 

-Placing your phone on a shelf you started stripping and once you were naked you grabbed one of his hoodies and waited. 

-He came into the room and immediately he saw you wearing his clothes and was already started to get into the mood.

-But then you took it off and through it at him and he was tearing his own clothes off of him.

-He legit didn’t miss a beat.

-The video went viral just because people saw his abs....

Kirishima Eijirou

-Baby shark!!!

-Sweet cinnamon roll gets addicted to the app because of Mina, Denki and you. 

-He knew about the trend and had decided to try it on you himself. 

-He had planned everything and was ready to see you walk through the door only to see him in a towel. 

-When you walked in however, you yourself were wearing your bathrobe and holding your phone...

-You could basically see the gears turning inside his head and you got it all on camera. 

-From the corner of your eye you saw his phone and barely held in your laughter. 

-You threw your robe on his phone knocking it over and watched his eyes widen at the sight in front of him. 

-The moment his hand went to the towel around his waist you stopped recording and pounced on him. 

-You captioned the tik tok ‘one brain cell I swear’ and it almost broke the internet. 

-People were going crazy over his muscles and how he was eyeing you, wishing they were in your place. 

-If only they could feel the aches....

TAG TEAM AY: @brattyquirks​ , @the-arcana-fan-fic​

[beyoncesdragon]

title: catch up now? 

× pairing: Idol!Jungkook x Interviewer!Reader, old friends from highschool kinda stuff, abandoned but maybe rediscovered love on both sides. 

× summary: Three years are a long time. In three years, many things can and will change. But three years hadn’t been quite enough to change how two people feel about each other. 

× warnings: a little teeny bit angsty but it’s nothing, really. Mainly fluff, some flustered, overly eager Gguk and old memories coming up. 

× wordcount: 2k

× a/n: Not gonna lie, this might be one of my favourite pieces I've ever written. I really hope you enjoy this too! it’s somehow inspired by ‘Love Maze’ (BTS) and also ‘50 Proof’ (eaJ). Will probably not have a pt.2

main masterlist | bts masterlist

When he had read the name of the interview host - or hostess more like - Jungkook had already felt the familiar tingle in the pit of his stomach that he had thought had disappeared over the course of time. Yet, he wasn’t surprised that it was still there.

He had however not dared to hope that it could actually be you, there sure were other people called (Y/N) (Y/L/N), who has pursued their dream of becoming an interviewer, media person, whatnot. He didn’t even know if you had actually graduated uni and made it in the job, hence he hadn’t seen any of you in about four years of him debuting now. He had occasionally checked out your Instagram or Twitter, yet he shied away from following you on any social media platform. You weren’t really public about your work or personal life on both, you mainly retweeted stuff (he found out about your love for Bingsu and Makgeolli ice cream like that) and posted a few selfies or landscapes. He hoped that you had been able to pursue your dream of traveling around for a bit, in South Korea and outside of it. Though again, he didn’t know.

Jimin was seated right in front of him and Jungkook couldn’t help but nervously play with his hyungs honey blond dyed hair. Jimin chuckled surprised yet amused about his open display of nervousness and turned around slowly.

“Everything okay, Jungkook-ah? You seem more nervous than usually.” He remarked, making Namjoon look over to the maknae in wonder. “He does, right? I thought so too. Did something happen?” Jungkook only shook his head.

Not yet, he thought to himself.

The cameras around them started to blink all at once, the light has been set up correctly and the camera and sound team had settled down around them in the dark. Manager and publicists stood somewhere in the back, swallowed up by the dark. The only person that was missing still, was you. Or the person called (Y/N) (Y/L/N), Jungkook tried to tell himself.

Suddenly there was a soft laugh from somewhere off the scenes and his heart tripped over its own beat and finally, finally, you stepped into the light.

You looked pretty as ever, grown into your features entirely, like a lotus flower finally in full bloom. Jungkook had to swallow dry. The light coral red of your lip balm complimented your skin and the subtle almost invisible make up you wore, accentuated your already beautiful features even more. You hadn’t changed your hair much, but it was a bit longer and looked so soft in the bright light. His eyes almost subconsciously darted to your fingers, searching for evidence of a possible relationship. He was almost ashamed how quickly he ended up thinking about this, his own boldness making him even more flustered. (There was no formal looking ring on your ringfinger though, to his relief.)

There was a warm smile on your lips as you bowed deeply to them all, greeting them respectfully. The boys returned your greeting immediately and a bunch of annyeong haseyo-s sounded through the studio. Jungkook felt Namjoon look over at him again, a piercing gaze Jungkook knew he wouldn’t be able to withstand if he met it. So he just kept looking at everything but Namjoon...not that this was hard to do when you were right in front of him.

“Thank you so much for being here with us.” You said with a smile, looking at everyone with the same look of respect and polite distance. Like you were supposed to, at work, as a professional. Like you didn't know them personally. Everyone, including Jungkook.

He felt his heart drop to his stomach. Could it be that you...forgot about him? It couldn’t really be, right? How would you actually be able to, you really...in this moment your eyes crossed again and something flickered in your eyes, a facade crumbled for a few seconds only. It was an amused twinkle, like a cheeky wink and a minimal curl of your lips. 

Acknowledgement.

And Jungkook’s heart did multiple flips, breath caught in his throat and eyes widened.

You had started with the questions, keeping the conversation light and flowing. The vibe in the room was comfortable and built up on mutual respect - yet Jungkook felt as if he was sitting on red-hot needles. He wanted to talk to you, ask about how you had been, what you were doing (if you had a boyfriend) if you were happy, if you got a cat, how your mother’s little business was going (he’d anonymously purchased countless items, to support your family), if your favourite colour still was cyan blue and your still religiously bought Pajeon and Makgeolli on rainy days, if you ever spent a second of your day thinking of him (because he did).

Him, your somewhat ex-best friend from highschool, him, the one you spent hours talking to in the ungodly hours of the morning, him who you had lost your first kiss to (though lost wasn’t the right word: you gave it to him more like). Him who you had poked fun of when the first girl approached him in his Rookie days and he’d been flustered to no end.

Him, who had promised to you that he wouldn’t abandon your friendship and yet the two of you drifted apart anyways.

Not for the lack of trying on either side though. Jungkook’s schedule had just become even fuller, his nights shorter, training longer and fans more obsessive. And you had seen each other less often, greetings were shorter and late night talks turned into good night wishes over text quicker.

You on your part weren’t mad, a little disappointed maybe. Sad for sure, but not mad. After all, you had expected it to turn out like that. So had the rest of your little circle, Haneul, Hwang, Kyong and Myunghee. Whilst the five of you had supported Jungkook on his journey with all you’ve got, you all tried to overcome the obvious pain of him drifting off.

Some (mainly Hwan and Kyong) with working harder in school for example. You did that too, but sometimes you also partied a little harder, were awake at three AM a little more often, missed him a lot more. It hurt letting someone you love go.

Jungkook and you had always been a bit...closer. Why you didn’t know, how you couldn’t possibly explain. But you were and him rising into the heights and new dimensions of being an idol destroyed this almost completely. This strange world of fame, those walls of flashing cameras, the flow of expensive goods and seas of screaming people, that was his world. He was a star, figuratively and somewhat literally. He shone more radiant, higher, longer, prettier and too bright for an innocent, young love to coexist.

So you stayed behind, soon having lost his number due to him having to change it, his contact information soon had less to say than what you could find on the internet.

His new hair colour? Well, you could google it. Height? Current weight? Several fan sights knew the answer. Achievements? The internet again.

 It was strange, ridiculous to some extent. And it hurt. But you couldn’t blame him, so you never did.

⋄

When you had heard that you would be interviewing BTS last week you could help but feel scared. You hadn’t seen him face to face for three or so years, three years with no FaceTime, texting, three years of not seeing his bunny smile, smiled just for you.

And when you had seen him again, laid eyes on him for the first time in thirty-five months, you realised that nothing you ever felt for him had faded away. It was all the same again, your heart still jumped in your chest and your stomach still fluttered whenever he did as much as breathing. The only thing that had changed was his height and him having had the biggest glow up you had witnessed in your life, yours included – though this Jungkook would disagree vehemently. 

This Jungkook who got pulled out of his thoughts and memories almost violently, as you directed a first question at him only.

“I…” he started, gulping hardly, having forgotten the question already halfway.

“Sorry I can’t – how have you been?” you stopped shortly, stunned and a tad confused at first. You hadn’t expected him to be so bold. Or clumsy, for that matter. Yet you couldn’t help but giggle, and all the unsaid words and ignored truths between the two of you disappeared into smoke, taking all tension with them. Just like that.

“I’ve been fine, Gukie. Busy. Long-time no see, hm. How about you?” somewhere behind the cameras someone dropped a pen and there were multiple gasps being heard. The rest of the bangtan boys didn’t look any better; Jimin had his mouth open, Taehyung was looking back and forth between the two of you, Yoongi just froze, Jin and Hoseok had clasped their hands in front of their mouths and Namjoon just looked like someone poured a bucket of ice water over his head.

But Jungkook? Jungkook was smiling widely, his bunny smile, smiled just for you. 

“Busy too. Yes, very long time no see.” He replied sheepishly, a small laugh escaping his lips as he looked around the dead silent studio. “Why…how do you know each other?” Yoongi finally asked, eyes snapping back and forth between the two of you.

“Well I guess we have to tell them now. We know each other from back in Highschool. We were pretty close friends back then.” You explained softly, giving him a small smile. Jungkook nodded quickly. “My apologies. I didn’t wanted to completely ruin the interview but…I haven’t seen you in three or so years. Sorry.” You waved it off. “It’s okay, Jungkook. We will catch up later, alright?” Jungkook nodded, making the mistake of looking over to Namjoon, who looked like he finally understood everything. “Is that why you were so…never mind.” He ended in a mumble and Jungkook was glad he did.

⋄

The second the interview was officially finished and all the cameras shut off, Jungkook was on his feet and approaching you. He didn’t even care about formalities anymore as he just wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a tight hug.

The first thing he noticed was that he couldn’t nestle his face in the crook of your neck as easy as he had been able to do in high-school. The second thing was that you had changed your perfume into something more flowery and fresh. The third thing he noticed was how much he liked having you in his arms again, especially because he could now rest his head on top of yours.

The first thing you noticed was how broad your Kookie had become. Broad and tall and firm everywhere. The second thing you noticed was how he smelled more expensive, faintly musky but still very much like Jungkook. A scent you could pick out from a thousand, unique and everything you loved. The third thing you noticed was how familiar and how looked after you felt in his arms, how protected from every harm. You had missed this feeling.

“Aigoo, Junkookie!” Jin yelled from behind, causing you to chuckle embarrassed and trying to break the hug. But Jungkook simply tightened his arms around you, having no intentions of letting you go any time soon.

“Just ignore them. They’ll leave, eventually.” His voice was muffled by the skin on your neck, since he had now buried his face there, taking deep breaths.

“And we?” you asked with a small laugh, not moving either. “We stay. We catch up. Got a lot of that to do.” Sounded good enough to you…just that you had expected them to make a bee-line for the exit after the cameras cut due to their busy schedule.

“Catch up now?” you asked after a few seconds of him still having his arms around you, unmoving. The young man shook his head.

“No…not right now.” He took a deep breath, hiding his face in the crook of your neck, mumbling against your skin and the fabric of your blouse. 

“In five minutes. Let me just hold you for a little while, you…you have no idea how much I missed you.” 

If he only knew.

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