#i mean sure its like a days worth of work maybe two if i get stupid with it but like this will be a BITCH to cut a stencil out for

[ghstzzn]

roommates for dummies!

pairings: lee heeseung x f!reader, jay park x f!reader, jake sim x f!reader, park sunghoon x f!reader synopsis: desperate to get off of your bestfriends couch, you decide to reply to an ad online in search of a roommate. sure, you were skeptical about living with four men—but if anything, just desperate. it wasn't long before you started to completely regret this decision. however, some things just might be worth the stress and anger.

part two! wc: 7.8k

tags/warnings (chapter specific): SMUT. theres no fivesome happening (sorry..), rough sloppy sex, oral (f.), overstim, squirting, lots and lots of gross vulgar talk, jake tries to be mean dom but he's just desperate, creampie, unprotected sex, degrading, usage of the word slut & whore, nothing makes sense, slightly unedited if there's mistakes then oopsies, chaewon bestie moment, arguing, jayhoon secret gay lovers, slight mxm but it's also nothing at all, jake cums untouched but it's barely mentioned, heeseungs always listening, and they talk about fucking her at the start. every one sucks in this btw. reader likes being a whore. jake has an imaginary bet going on with the other guys. if i missed anyth lmk!

🍊: sorry this is almost two months late. got busy teehee. also, yes this is a series, no it's not a strict timeline or anything. it's just porn with some plot that doesn't work in one part. i kind of hate the intro but enjoy!!! <3

masterlist / part one / part three

MINORS & AGELESS BLOGS DO NOT INTERACT!

roommates were a strange concept. living in a house full of friends, or even your partner, was one thing. but moving in with strangers and entrusting your entire life with them seemed so normal.

although, living with four men was quite uncanny, and a bit scary at first. everyone thought so too. it was no surprise to you that word got around through a small crowd that you were the boys’ new roomie, and of course people thought you were no more than just their fuck toy.

was the wild accusation really that far from the truth?

you never had more than two roommates at a time in your life, but you always categorized them; the friend and the enemy. maybe it was bad luck, but you always ended up stuck living with someone you never quite got along with. the short-lived housing situation with your ex-boyfriend claimed both titles to himself though. 

but now, you sit and wonder where your current roommates fall in these categories. you weren’t exactly friends with any of them. save for when you sit and rant to jake about your day or his best friends or the 2 a.m accidental kitchen meetings with heeseung because the both of you have a nonexistent sleep schedule (for totally opposite reasons.) but you would never consider those enjoyable because he can’t seem to keep things normal. ever.

your status with jay remained awkward. there was a weird tension between the two of you that you wouldn’t call sexual or was it because either of you were shy. maybe it was because he was sunghoons (the enemy) best friend, or the fact that he walked in on sunghoon balls deep inside of you in the shared kitchen and kept nonchalant about it.

the two of you bicker but it ends quickly because you both run out of things to say, and you suppose that's where the sexual tension comes in but you both walk away before it makes its grand appearance.

but oh boy, when sunghoon comes around, jay can’t keep his mouth shut about you. he could go on about how you’re such a bitch and all you do is nag. you wonder if the two get off next to each other as they talk about their supposed shared hatred for you.

heeseung is another good example of an odd relationship. you weren’t his friend, and he surely wasn’t yours but it’s also not like the two of you are constantly out for each other's heads. this could be because he’s high out of his mind half the week or because he locks himself in his room more than half the day.

when the sun disappears, heeseung makes his appearance. 

it’s been a few weeks since your escapade in the kitchen with sunghoon and heeseung. for some sick reason, you thought some pussy would shape them into better roommates— better people. but unfortunately, men will always remain men.

also, to your surprise, nobody told jake.

and jay? he completely forgot it even happened.

“YOU FUCKED HER?” jake screeches loudly from the living room. “both of you?!”

heeseung giggles like a teenage girl, legs swinging as he sits on the counter across from jay, where he slaves away at the stove to make sure his best friends remain fed.

“yeah, yeah.” sunghoon rolls his eyes. “could you be any louder?”

“no?” jake holds a look of distress as he paces back and forth from the living room to the kitchen.

“wait- that was her? on the counter, sunghoon?” jay suddenly asks, holding a large knife in his hand as he recalls the day he walked in on sunghoon fucking you against the kitchen counter.

the taller male hums, returning his attention to his phone. jay smacks his lips and shrugs.

“against the counter?!” 

“dude, shut up!” 

jake slams his hands against the counter top, “i demand details. now.”

“you don’t need to know sh-“

“oh my god, she was so tight.” heeseung cuts his roommate off, “i made sunghoon hold h-“

“you fucked her at the same time?”

heeseung throws the entire roll of paper towels at the brunette haired boy, “stop fucking interrupting! anyways… yes. hoonies a fucking freak, you know.”

“says you,” sunghoon retorts. “day one gooner over here just couldn’t wait to get into her pants. he made me hold her while he got his dick wet.”

“i’m getting hard just thinking about it.”

jay shoots an appalled look at heeseung before turning off the stove. the boys gather around the kitchen island, grabbing portions of food for themselves. the conversation drifting away into something new— video games and sports. man talk.

“wait, so did she like it?” jake speaks up once more about the topic.

sunghoon and heeseung share a smirk before turning to jake, who honestly seemed a little afraid of the two men at the moment.

“oh, that girls a fucking slut.”

it was a surprisingly quiet morning.

you were able to sleep in thanks to the silence in the house, the sound of light rain pattering against your window lulled you back to sleep the first time you woke up.

exiting your attached bathroom, you peel off your shirt and throw on a cuter, more put together, top. you exhale and stretch your arms upwards, rolling out your neck, relieving any tension from the night before.

this is what you needed. a relaxing, tension free day to yourself.

“hey.” 

forget that. of course the incels are still home.

“jesus fucking christ jake!” you jump back and curse at the man who just barged into your room. “i thought i locked that fucking door.”

jake glances at the door knob and shakes his head. 

“okay, then knock next time!”

he shrugs his shoulders and steps further into your room, studying your walls and decorations. “cute room, baby.”

you roll your eyes and follow him with your eyes. “much cuter when there isn’t an obnoxious man inside.”

“heeseung? has he been in here too?”

“what?” you ask, dumbfounded. “no. what do you want?” 

“you let heeseung fuck you?”

all you could do was stare at your roommate. “i can't even get a good morning? not a ‘hey! how’s your morning going!’”

“and sunghoon? you let them both fuck you in the kitchen?!”

you let out a long sigh, running your hands through your hair and sit at the edge of your bed. you couldn’t lie, jake bringing up the entire situation made you heat up a little but you had to keep up a nonchalant act in front of these men to keep their egos from exploding.

“yes, jake. i fucked them both.”

jake lets out a groan— or whine. and you only stare at him with confusion. “whyyy?” he throws his hands over his face dramatically.

“…why did i fuck them or-“

“yeah! why did you fuck them first?”

you blink at him, trying to wrap your head around his absurd curiosity. he’s like a child asking why his sibling got to go outside and play while he was told to stay inside. jake seemed genuinely upset and so curious about it all. it’d all be endearing if the conversation at hand wasn’t about your pussy and who you let use it first.

and here you are, at a loss for words. because why did you?

“well, i-i.. it’s not like i meant to..” jake listens intently to your answer. for the first time, he’s paying attention to you but for the wrong reasons. “it just happened. one minute we were arguing and the next i- well, you know…”

“no, i don’t.” he replies flatly.

you start to speak again but go quiet. what exactly did he want from you now? and why did this somehow feel serious?

“were they good?” jake asks. “did they eat you out? did they pull out? did you even cum?”

“jesus christ jake!” you cut off his rambling. “are you jealous? or like, upset?”

“so.. no?”

you groan and lean back on your arms. this entire conversation was actually starting to piss you off, and you didn’t even know what the point even was. 

“why the fuck do you care? i’m not some thing you can just fuck and use when you please! i mean i have feelings and-“

jake nods, fingers on his chin as he “listens” to you rant to him. he lets out a few hums, faking his responses for you. to him, by doing this, he’s winning brownie points.

“-you all walk all over me and treat me like shit!”

“oh, baby…” jake sighs, stepping closer to you and kneeling down in front of you. your body tenses up as he puts his hands on the mattress, caging you between them. “it must be so difficult knowing no one here bothers hearing you out. i'm so.. sorry. you deserve better, yeah?”

you furrow your eyes at the man kneeling before you, torn between wanting to smack him in the face or thanking him for actually listening. “i… yeah. it’s just not fair.”

“yeah?” he hums. “it’s not, is it? it’s not like you have a choice either… so you just have to put up with it.”

“yea- what?” 

“i wish i could take all your frustration away.” he continues, “i wanna make you feel better— can i make you feel better?”

you scoff at him, pushing him away by his forehead, sending him falling backwards.

“what was that for?”

“did you listen to a single word i fucking said?” you shout at him, blood boiling at his responses. “you are such a prick, jake. i was being vulnerable to you.”

“and i appreciate that you trust me enough to do so! now let me make you feel better in return.” he crawls back between your knees.

“you weren’t even listening— and i don’t trust you!” 

jake feigns an offended expression, holding a hand over his chest. “i was!” 

“then what did i say?” you ask him with crossed arms, awaiting his response as he deeply thinks about your question, but you already know his answer.

“you said.. you said sunghoon pisses you off! or something like that,” you scoff at his response. “please! you’re being difficult.”

“you’re annoying.”

“let me eat you out.” 

“no.”

“come on, please.”

“jake.”

“let loose a little! i already know heeseung didn’t do that much for you, so let me!” he continues to plead. “look, i can make you feel really really good. i’m better than him when it comes to eating pussy— i can make you forget all about them.”

you roll your eyes and scoot further up the bed, it may seem like an attempt to get away from the man but he only persists and follows your movements. “come on, baby. i want you to cum on my face. you don’t have to like me for me to do this.”

“you are seriously an insufferable piece of shit, it’s no wonder you’re best friends with these idiots.” jake smirks at your response, ghosting his hands down your sides to your thighs. he’s absolutely eating up every reaction you give him. you do it all the time, and you’ve done it since you moved in. the way you shyly avoid his gaze and tell him to quit yet you never move away from him.

even when you argue with jake, you blush a deep red and he doesn’t think it’s all from anger. jake thinks it’s quite endearing, actually. all you need is a little love, and a few touches.

and it pisses him off that he wasn’t the first one to fuck you.

like seriously? you hate sunghoon. you hate sunghoon more than the other three boys. since the day you moved in, you and sunghoon would go at it like cats and dogs. he pissed you off to no end with his arrogant attitude and his narcissism. the man was another rich asshole who spoke with a mouthful of silver spoons that didn’t even belong to him.

you fucking hated nepotism.

and though the other three weren’t much better, at least jake could hold a conversation without flexing how many figures his daddy makes in a year. or that his mommy owns the neighborhood you all reside in.

or that his family owns the fucking university you go to and threatens to get you kicked everytime you piss him off.

maybe you do favor jake out of the four. it’s not like you adore the guy in any way, but he was more tolerable than the nepo-baby, the gooner and the… whatever the fuck jay has going on. he was a different breed of asshole.

and though the sentiment isn’t real, jake will gladly sit there and listen to you rant about his own friends. before he found out what happened between you, sunghoon and heeseung, he proudly sang with confidence that his time spent with you would land him a free ticket in your pants.

seriously, how many times does jake have to cover up his horniness as a genuine connection. how many times does he have to flash you his signature smile and playfully flirt with you until you fold?

was he the first to fuck you? no. but jake is sure he’s about to not only make you cum on his tongue, but also his cock and boy is he going to rub it in all of their faces.

but you aren’t stupid.

“get,” you grab his hands and push them off of you, “out.”

“what?”

you roll your eyes and climb out of bed, standing over jake, who was still on his hands and knees. “i said get out. i have plans today and i don’t need any of you foiling them.”

“what the hell?”

-

“why are you so on edge?” 

you look over at chaewon from your position on the couch, previously focused on jay moving around in the kitchen and jake sitting at the island with his face shoved in his nintendo switch.

“it’s too calm here.” you mutter in response. truly, it felt like the calm before the storm. you were currently co-existing with your roommates at a near distance and not a single person was making a rude comment.

granted, chaewon was visiting and it’d be childish to act out in front of a guest. and both jay and jake are on the calmer side of the spectrum when it comes to pissing you off. 

chaewon cocks an eyebrow at you, “do you want the opposite.” 

“no. it’s just weird.”

your best friend hums and nods her head, suddenly scooting closer to you. “so, who was it?”

“what do you mean?”

“girl, who fucked you in the kitchen?” she shoves you playfully and your eyes widen. you glance around to see if the two males heard that and cringe deep down when jay makes eye contact with you.

you sigh and shoot her a glare, “you have such a loud mouth.”

“okay? is it either of them?”

you shake your head, looking around once more. sunghoon and heeseung were home, but either hidden away in their rooms or somewhere else in the house and your friends curiosity won't die down unless she sees them face to face. 

“heeseungs probably in his room,” you start, pausing to think about the other male’s whereabouts. “i’m not sure where sunghoon is.” chaewon groans in response, causing you to roll your eyes and playfully swat at her.

“do either of you want some fruit?” a voice interrupts the two of you.

you slowly turn your head towards jay and blink at him. he doesn’t remove his gaze from you, not even for a second.

“oh, that’s really sweet of you…” chaewon trails off.

“jay.”

a nervous smile takes over her expression and she nods at his short reply, “jay.. yeah, i’ll have some.”

he continues to stare at you, waiting for your response.

“sure.”

every single time you have tried to reach for a piece of fruit, jakes hand is beating you there. the first few times could’ve been mistakes, but now he’s shooting you a smirk when his fingers graze against yours. in any other situation you would’ve found it to be an endearing mistake. but this is jake. it’s not endearing. it’s annoying.

with a roll of your eyes, you bring your hand back to your lap, earning a confused and quite offended look from jake.

chaewon sits silently next to you, nervously biting into a piece of watermelon. the poor girl was too scared to speak over the glares you were sharing with the two men.

you were sure this was apart of some elaborate plan from the two. they have never once offered sliced fruit in your few months of living here, nor have you ever just sat in the living room, bonding, as chaewon put it.

“so, chaewon..” the mentioned girl looks up rather quickly from the same watermelon piece she’s been chewing on for the past few minutes. jake is sprawled out on the lounge chair, playing with a few strands of his hair. “what do you do? like, what’s your major?”

chaewon straightens her posture, setting the slice of watermelon down. she shoots you a quick glance, as if asking for permission to speak. you give her a reassuring smile and she takes a deep breath.

“well…” she trails off, explaining her major and why she’s taking it. jake is staring at you the entire time with one hand running through his hair and the other resting on the crotch of his jeans.

you let out a scoff, slightly louder than intended, gaining everyone’s attention. chaewon raises an eyebrow and a cocky grin spreads across jake's face.

jay looks up from his phone, “that was a little rude, wasn’t it?” as if he were paying attention in the first place.

jake lets out a snicker as the other male keeps his gaze on you. you readjust your sitting position awkwardly and mutter a quick sorry to your best friend, urging her to continue.

“my plan is to be a nurse,” chaewon continues, “i feel as if people don't appreciate nurses as much as they do surgeons or doctors. i just want to help people in more ways than just a scalpel.”

she smiles and looks down at her lap. you’ve always found her so endearing, and you knew her soul was beautiful inside and out.

“wow, that’s really something,” jake responds, clapping his hands together as he leans forward. “you know, jays dad owns a few hospitals, i’m sure he could help you out there.”

“really?” 

jay looks at jake before looking at chaewon, giving her a small nod. “hm, sure. we could get you in as soon as you’re ready. my dad is kind of strict on hiring but i can tweak some things.”

“what’s the catch?” you’re the center of attention once again, but you direct your focus on jay, who’s now sporting a cocky expression as he leans back against the couch.

he tilts his head and throws his arm around the back of the couch, “why would there be a catch? just helping a friend in need.”

“but she’s not your friend, nor is she in need.”

chaewon goes quiet again, looking everywhere except at the two of you. your other roommate is shaking his head as he holds back his own laughter.

“jeez, no need to get jealous. i’d be more than happy to pull some strings for you too.” jake butts in, “look, you made your friend feel bad.”

you turn your head towards chaewon, “hey, i didn’t mean it like that. i just— i mean, i don’t trust them.”

“they are your roommates.” she mutters.

“aw man,” jake cooes. “you should really learn to lighten up. not everyone is out to get you.”

you shoot a glare at him and he throws his hands up in a defensive posture. chaewon darts her eyes around the tense living room, deciding it would probably be best if she left right now.

“i’m gonna get going,” she announces as she stands up, “it’s late.”

“it’s not even seven.”

she ignores jay’s comment and grabs her bag, heading for the front door. you follow her and shoot her an apologetic look before letting the girl out.

“seriously?” you cross your arms as you walk back into the living room.

jake shrugs and leans over for another piece of fruit, popping it in his mouth, “we didn’t do anything except give her a really useful piece of information that could help her further down in life.”

“yeah, right.” you roll your eyes, “i’m not dumb and you guys can't operate without there being a catch.”

“that attitude is going to get you absolutely nowhere,” jay says, “your bitchy tone drove your own friend to leave— not my job offer.”

you scoff at his insult, it wasn’t your fault, what the hell? jays smug expression made you want to hop over the couch and wipe it off yourself.

“seriously though, we were just being nice. a friend of yours is a friend of ours.” jake spread his arms out, motioning between himself and the other male sitting across from him.

“we aren’t friends.”

“ouch, babe.”

you roll your eyes again. you’re sure that one day they’ll get stuck that way. “i’m going to my room.”

as you finish collecting your belongings from the living room, shoving them into your bag, jay speaks up once more.

“you know, i’ve never truly had a problem with you… but today, you really do prove that you’re just a bitch who can’t even tell when someone is truly being kind or not.”

you have two options; throw your entire bag at jay while screaming, or walk off cooly and not let it bother you.

“‘never had a problem with me?’” you quote in the air, “tell that to all the times you and your boyfriend shared snide comments about me to each other.”

“my boyfriend?”

“yeah,” you nod, pushing back your own smirk, “park sunghoon.”

he scoffs at you, looking up from his spot. you can’t even deny how good it feels to be above him, even if it is just your current position. “i know who you’re talking about.”

“oh, well. i’m glad that bit is settled.” you respond with a soft smile, tilting your head ever so slightly to portray the faux ignorance to the true reason he’s upset.

jays jaw clenches and he’s about to say something before jake springs up from his seat with a loud, dramatic sigh. “all you guys do is fight. it never ends.”

“we don’t fight.” you respond with a shake of your head. it was somewhat true– you and jay rarely spoke to each other and only half of your conversations included snarky remarks towards one another. the problem was that jay only spoke up about you when others were around.

jake looks back and forth at the two of you with a bored expression. jays attention is focused on the faux houseplant in the corner of the room, avoiding both of your gazes. 

“jay just likes to talk shit about me when you and the other boys are around because he thinks it’ll impress you,” you continue, “like it’s gonna make you guys worship him and suck his dick.”

“you’re so fucking gross,” jay spits. you give him a sarcastic smile in exchange. 

the shorter male cringes and scoffs, “you are very vulgar sometimes, you know that?”

if it weren’t for the situation, his comment would be funny considering he only let you move in because you were a woman with a seemingly hot voice. except, you refused to give it up for months after moving in, and that pissed jake off. and you wouldn’t be surprised if the others were just as mad you didn’t open your legs for them either.

but before you could respond, jay beat you to it. 

“i really miss the days you would hide in your room.”

you chuckle, “ah, you’d like me in my room wouldn’t you, fucking freak.”

the male rolls his eyes, leaning back in his seat comfortably, “don’t be weird, not everyone wants to fuck you.”

jake shrugs at the response, mumbling a soft “wrong” earning a glare from the other. 

“and what’s that supposed to mean?” you were pushing him. jake was getting antsy at the way you continued to egg jay on. he wishes you’d submit and run to your room so he had the chance to relieve you of your anger and stress.

but you were so god damn full of yourself. and so fucking stubborn. 

“seriously?” jay lets out a dry laugh. you tilt your head, waiting for him to elaborate after a few moments of silence. “i don’t know what you did to get these three so pussy drunk– but it won’t work for me, especially if that’s how you plan to get your way around here.”

“i haven’t fucked her?”

the both of you ignore jakes comment, “pussy drunk? i haven’t done shit.” you respond. “you think you’re so wise using every word to call me a slut but it was your friends that came onto me first.”

“sure,” you squint your eyes at him, confused as fuck. “sunghoon doesn’t even make you pay rent. you walk around here like you fucking own this place– when you don’t and you’ll never come close to living a lifestyle like this.”

you were sure that jay was using this moment as a flex considering he genuinely had nothing to hold against you. bringing up money and work was not surprising at all to you, he’s just doing exactly what his best friend does to you. 

“you love bringing up sunghoon and you try so hard to act just like him,” you respond, voice full of amusement. “you’re so obsessed with the man, is he your sugar daddy? is he fucking you hard and deep, jay? because i don’t understand the big deal about that man.”

jays face crinkles in disgust. “you’re fucking crazy.” 

“i’m sorry you didn’t get first dibs on the pussy that has me living rent free here,” you sigh. “i’m sure another willing girl will waltz in here sooner or later. or maybe go take your dicks frustration out on hoon or one of your guitars he bought you.”

“hoon?”

“i’d come up with a nickname for you too but you missed the chance to fuck me,” you repeat. it’s not even like you wanted to have sex with the man, but he was the one who kept bringing it up. it pissed you off that he pretended to know everything– how he acted as if he were god and beyond superior all because he didn’t stick his dick in you.

jake stands there awkwardly yet very amused. 

“i told you i’d rather die.” jay spits.

“then fucking die, jay, i don’t know what you want me to say.”

jake holds his hands out, “woah, hey guys. no need for death threats!” he waves his hands in front of you both. “we are all friends here!”

“sure, if that’s what you wanna call it.”

“the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

you laugh at jay’s quick response, “i’m talking about your relationship with sunghoon.”

“okay! guys, please,” jake pleads, standing between the two of you but only facing you, “let’s chill. ignore him, he’s just trying to piss you off and you know this.”

jay stands up from his chair, mumbling under his breath, “i didn’t even start this shit.” he growls as he walks off, disappearing further into the house. you both hear a door slam in the distance and it takes everything in you to not laugh.

“he’s such a child.”

the shorter male shakes his head, “and you love to fight, don’t you?”

“no? but he fishes for it.” you huff, finally grabbing your bag to travel to your own room, away from the testosterone in the house. jake follows you like a lost dog, and you know it’s because he has nothing better to do so you let him.

he pushes past you into your bedroom and plops down on your bed, spreading his legs and leaning back on his hands. jake watches as you organize your work on your desk, though his eyes are focused on the curve of your ass each time you bend over.

jake feels like he’s suffocating. he’s been sporting a half hard dick since your interaction this morning because he cannot stop thinking about eating you out. sure he can be a bit needy and gross when it comes to getting his dick wet, but he doesn’t think he’s ever been this down bad for somebody knowing his friends got to them first.

it started out as a joke, that he’d be the first to fuck you when letting you move in. he honestly had no plans on making moves on you, nor did the others. but when you got comfortable enough to walk around in your skimpy pajamas and those thin, dainty tank tops you loved to wear, he started to lose his mind.

the amount of times jake has walked into the kitchen to see you sitting on the counter in an oversized shirt, leaving what's under it to his imagination, he’s had to walk out immediately. 

when he would run into you at three in the morning, seeing your half asleep figure in nothing but a tank top and shorts, a strap falling down your shoulder, he’d run back to his room and watch loads of porn to distract himself from you. 

“you feelin’ okay?” jake asks, clearing his throat to avoid a voice crack. he needs to do this smoothly.

you straighten your posture, turning to face him. “honestly, i’m pissed off and all i want to do is relax.”

“lay it on me, baby.”

“it’s just…” you sigh, stepping towards him. “chaewon was over so we could study for our exams next week and i feel like both jay and i ruined it for all of us.”

which is not what he meant whatsoever, but he sits and he listens, nodding as his eyes shut to mask his own frustration, “have you thought about moving out? i’m not asking because i want you to, but…”

jake’s eyes flutter open as he waits for your response. honestly, he’s over talking about all of this. he doesn’t care much for the beef that you have with him or his friends anymore, and he’s certainly over them shit talking about you all day.

“yeah, but i mean i don’t want to leave,” you start with a loud sigh, “i mean, it’s the middle of the year and i can’t get into a dorm, my parents live fifty miles away, and fuck even just a studio is way over my budget.”

“so, what?”

“i need to fucking meditate or something,” you respond, placing a hand on your forehead, “i’m not gonna lie and say i don’t start half of it. i need to be the bigger person here but i have no outlet for my anger.”

jake hums, then pauses. a lightbulb goes off in his head and if you could see inside his mind, you’d see him deviously rubbing his hands together. you let out another sigh and shake your head, “i’ll figure it ou-”

“hear me out.”

“i am not doing this, jake.”

you ought to hear jake out on his ideas more often. sure, it pissed you off that he had only one thing on his mind. but you could feel the anger and tension leaving your body as his tongue flicked against your clit again.

“f-fuck, right there.” you tug his hair upwards and he follows your needy command. his tongue diving through your wetness as if he wanted to drink it all up and his nose bumping against your sensitive bundle of nerves. you’ve always wondered what it’d feel like to have his thick lips attached to your pussy and you’re not at all disappointed by this turn of events.

jake was a god when it came to eating pussy.

suddenly, his words from that morning are flooding back into your mind. you haven’t even come yet and you’re already thinking about the next time you’ll have your roommate between your thighs.

as if on cue, his nose bumps against your clit again and you clench around his tongue, which was buried inside of you. your back arches, forcing your cunt into his mouth as an orgasm washes over your body. jake doesn’t stop either, nor does he slow down. his hands wrap around your thighs and pulls them apart as he nuzzles against your wetness with a grunt.

you have to yank his hair when it all starts to overwhelm you. jake lifts his head up, wearing a surprised look, half of his face drenched in your arousal. “what’s wrong?”

“‘t’s too fucking much, jake.” you breathe out, legs twitching in his hold.

“that’s kind of the point,” he grins widely at you. “feelin’ less frustrated though, right?”

you agree with a whiney hum, in which he responds with a chuckle. “you know how long i’ve had to wait to get you in this position?” you watch as he lifts himself and leans forward. “so long, babe. too long.” jake places a sloppy, wet kiss to your jawline. you can feel your own slick against your skin, he pulls back and places a kiss to your lips, biting softly. “even if the reason is jay, i’ll fucking take it because you taste so fucking good and i’ll sit between these thighs until you’re screaming for me to stop.”

oh. he’s insane about pussy and it makes you throb down below. jake lowers himself once again, placing soft kisses down your stomach before facing your cunt. his eyes flicker to yours before diving in.

you yelp out when he sucks your clit between his lips, legs shaking around his head. 

“louder.”

it’s near impossible to be quiet as he makes out with your cunt, his words only egg you on. you aren’t the only noisy one in the room either. jakes groaning against you, or talking you through it, whether he’s telling you to be louder or asking how it feels.

his fingers prod against your entrance, pushing the tip of the two digits in before out again. he has no plans starting you off slowly, he wants you to feel his own frustration all while taking you out of yours.

“c’mon, baby, don’t you want him to hear?” he cooes, “want him to hear how good i can make you feel… you don’t need them, huh? never did.” he plunges his fingers inside of you, curling them while bringing his mouth back to your clit.

you don’t even know who he’s talking about, it could be jay or it could be sunghoon, but you don’t have time to think over it because the way the tips of his fingers push against the spot inside of you paired with his tongue flattening against the bundle of nerves has your mind completely blanking. 

“mff- yes, god!” you cry out, throwing your head back against your mattress. you lift one of your hands from jakes head and bring it under your shirt to play with your own nipples, pinching and squeezing to add to the pleasure. 

jake takes notice of this and lifts his head for a mere second so he could throw your shirt over your chest, wanting to see you mess with your own tits.

“does it feel that good?”

you nod your head, whining at the way his fingers pump in and out of you, curling and reaching that spot inside of you so well. he can't hide the smile growing on his face as he watches you arch your back into his touch and grope your tits with pleasure.

he leans down, voice low as he mouth plays with your clit, “tell me– tell me how good it feels. i wanna hear you.”

“t-they’re gonna hear,” you manage to respond in between moans.

“let them.”

jake circles his tongue around your clit before softly biting down. the action itself is painful but so good, paired with the fast pacing of his fingers, you’re biting back a scream but he does it again. he wants you loud and unapologetic. fuck, if he could, he’d get you screaming for sunghoon who resides secluded on the other side of the house to hear, better yet, they neighbors. 

because ultimately, he won.

“‘m gonna fucking cum, jake.” you gasp loudly, “d-don’t stop, please don’t fucking stop.”

you don’t have to tell him twice. in fact, he speeds his fingers up and sucks loudly on your clit, sloppy, messy and loud– how he likes it. your body jolts and you grip his hair tighter as you feel your orgasm approach once more. a loud, choked sob escapes your throat as you cum, squeezing your eyes shut and chanting his name like a mantra. 

jake slurps up your wetness, removing his fingers so he can shove his tongue in your dripping hole, wanting every last drop of your cum down his throat. he was a fucking mess and it was all because of you. 

your thighs close around his head so tightly that he can’t even hear your loud moans and pleads for him to let off, just the ringing in his ears from the pressure. he nuzzles his face flush against your cunt, as if it were possible to get any closer. 

“jesus, fuck!” you practically scream out. it was almost painful but if it weren’t for your estranged yelp, he would remain buried. 

he looks at you in a daze, completely fucked out even though his cock remained untouched. but he can feel himself dripping in his own pants, his boxers clinging to his dick due to the dampness, he’s not even sure if he came untouched because he was so focused on your cunt.

“y-you’re fucking insane,” you pant, chest rising and falling dramatically. 

jake shakes his head, a droplet of your arousal falling from the tip of his nose. he looked amazing like this, and it scared you how much it turned you on. 

“please let me fuck you.”

it’s not like you want to say no, but he spent so much time abusing your cunt with his mouth that you’re on the verge of numbing out. “jake, i’m so sensi-”

he cuts you off, leaning forwards a pressing his bulge against your wetness, “i’ll be gentle– i can be gentle, just please, i think i need to fuck you before i actually lose my mind.”

jakes plan on fucking you dumb, to the point of forgetting where you are or why you were upset had completely backfired and now he felt like the stupid one. his head was dizzy and all he could think about was stuffing you full.

for all those times he’s had to restrain himself, to hold back because he didn’t want you running out the door–it’s paid off in a way. when his friends told him about their experience fucking you, he lost his moral compass on the way to your room the next morning. he’s begging you to let him lose himself in your cunt because it all he needs.

“‘t’s not fucking fair,” he groans, burying his head in your neck. “you only take cock from them now? can’t let me have this?”

you don’t know what he’s rambling about nor does he. he grinds against you again and you let out a whine.

“see? you want it so bad, don’t you? walking around here like you hate us, but let us fuck you just how you like because you’re so god damn full of shit, huh?” 

“jake-”

“so fucking hungry for cock,” he continues, one hand doing all the work to free himself from the restraints of his jeans. “they’re right. such a slut but god it’s so sexy, you know that right?”

before you can blink, jake buries his cock deep inside of you. he has to pause to breathe and let his head clear before he lets himself loose and cums before even starting. for a second time. he lets out a deep sigh before rocking his hips slowly, warming himself up before speeding his pace up.

your cunt flutters around him and he chuckles, readjusting your position so that your legs are resting on his shoulders. his hair is damp and stuck to his forehead despite not even moving much.

“look at you,” he groans softly, “don’t like being called a whore but sure do like getting fucked like one.”

he tries to speak up but his own moan cuts himself off. he couldn’t degrade you more if he tried because holy fuck your pussy might have him convinced he won in life. jake pulls his hips back before roughly plunging his cock back into you. he drinks up every loud moan you give him, and he thrusts into your leaking hole as if trying to get you to be louder.

but at this point he’s chasing his own pleasure. no matter how hard he fucks into you, it doesn’t feel like its enough. jake leans forward, pushing your knees to your chest so he can hit it from another angle. 

letting out a loud groan like whimper, jake presses his forehead against yours and continues his rough, sloppy pace. your moans mixed together plus the sweet sound of wet slapping fills the room like a song, and there was no denying that the entire house could hear it.

it was far too much, he said he’d be gentle but jake has fucked the both of you into stupidity. but you can’t bring yourself to be upset because the way the tip of his cock almost meets your cervix has you seeing the fucking stars. the entire scene was desperate and messy. jake couldn’t even get his pants fully off before fucking you and you could feel the material of his jeans rub against your ass almost painfully.

“god, fuck me,” jake roughly whines, “pussy ‘s so good.”

his voice is breaking and stuttering, attempting to hold himself back but he just can't. the male's lips are wet against yours, desperately biting and kissing yours with fervor. he can feel his stomach tense up but he holds back, edging himself to get the most of your pussy because jake knows once he cums, he’ll be fucking cooked. 

“j-jake, please,” you cry out, gripping his shoulders tightly. you feel as if you’re about to explode, the pleasure is overwhelming and almost painful due to his sloppiness but nonetheless you feel another intense orgasm creeping. “please cum soon, i-i can’t-”

he groans loudly, lifting himself to thrust harder– he was about to have the best orgasm of his life. the man can’t even be embarrassed about the literal whimpers and sounds coming out of his mouth because he knows god damn well that any other man would be in the same position if given the chance to fuck you like this. 

a sharp yelp rips from your throat and your legs wrap around his wait, almost restricting his moments. but when he looks down, he sees god. 

clear liquid gushing from your cunt, soaking the bottom half of his shirt and covering the both of your thighs. his eyes roll back as he cums without a second thought to it, cock pulsing as thick, white ropes cover your walls. 

it takes a few long moments for the both of you to recover from your orgasms. nothing but the sound of panting fills the air.

“p-please get up,” you smack jakes back softly. his body jolts, realizing he almost fell asleep in the position. 

he whispers an apology before lifting himself up and off of you. the feeling of his cock dragging against your creamy walls almost makes him want to go another round, but he knows he has to resist.

though, if it were up to him, he’d be making up for every missed opportunity today. instead, he kneels in front of you, trying not to get lost in the way his cum drips out of your pulsing hole, and helps you sit up. this way, the two of you can see the wetness covering both bodies. 

“you squirt,” jake comments, “that’s real fucking hot.”

before you can reply, the door slams open and shut within two seconds.

“what the fuck, heeseung?” the both of you spit at the same time.

the red haired male stands there with his hands up, “look, i was trying to be respectful and blow a load in my own room but sunghoon came in all pissed off mid jerk off and told me to shut you both up.”

“so?” jake answers before you, “what, is he like, jealous?”

“i don’t know, i gave up figuring that out because i heard you say she can squirt and i wanted to see.”

your tired eyes widen and you yank your shirt down, attempting to cover yourself, not that he hasn’t seen it all already. 

“you missed it–should’ve been here earlier.” jake states with a smirk.

“hold the fuck on-”

“nah, i’ve fucked this girl standing up, she has more stamina than you think.”

you get hit with major deja vu. the two conversing as if you’re not there.

“what makes you think i’d squirt again for you?” the two men look at you, a predatory smirk growing on both of their faces.

but before anyone could make a move, a loud guitar riff cuts them off, barely muffled by the wall that separates yours and jay’s bedroom. you shift awkwardly in your position, suddenly aware that everyone in the house did in fact hear you.

“look at her acting all shy,” heeseung snickers, “three down, one more to go. you’re just lucky he’s distracted with his guitars right now, baby. that just means you can be as loud as you want.”

“leave the door open though, they love watching.” jake mumbles before leaning down, placing kisses against your knees and thighs. heeseung chuckles and pulls the door ajar before making his way to the both of you, gripping his shoulders and looking at you as he hovers from behind him.

you visibly gulp at the sight, watching as heeseung leans closer to jakes ear, pressing his body flush against his friends back. you can feel jake’s cock twitch against your thigh and you decide then and there that you’re content with this situation in its entirety–and that you have more ways than one of getting back at your angry roommate in the other room, strumming his guitar with frustration. 

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[prettieinpink]

BUDGETING + SAVING MONEY FOR TEENS 𐙚

For many of us, we are entering an age when we can work casual jobs such as retail or fast food. It’s not a lot of money that we receive, depending on how often you get paid, but it can go a long way in the long term. 

In this post, I’ll be discussing how to budget for your needs/wants and save money for future goals. 

CREATING GOALS, you may want to save a certain amount of money in a time frame, want to make a big purchase (like a car) or buy everything off your wishlist. It is entirely up to you what your goals are, so I can’t say too much. However, the more specific it is, the better.

HOW MUCH? Determine how much money you need to save to achieve your goal. In total, and monthly. 

There are three types of saving goals that may apply to you;

Short-term goals >1 year (outings, latest gadget, buying your cart)

Medium-term goals 1-2 years (road trips, shopping spree)

Long-term goals 2-4 years (higher education, car)

It’s very important to set a realistic time frame, as teens we don’t get paid much and we also don’t work as much. You don’t want to overwhelm yourself as well, as it takes patience and self-control to achieve these goals.

NO LOOONG-TERM GOALS! This may sound aggressive, but any money that just sits in your account for years on end is dead money. Even though the amount of money is increasing, its value is slowly decreasing. Keep your goals achievable within a time frame of less than four years. It's much more useful if this money is put into some type of investment instead. 

CREATING A BUDGET

Calculate how much money you receive every month, and how much money you spend every month. 

You have two types of expenses. Fixed and variable. Fixed are any expenses required in your day-to-day life or it’s an amount of money that doesn’t change e.g. subscriptions or transportation costs. Variable costs are expenses that may fluctuate, like food, or any other recreational activities. 

Record the average you’re spending monthly with these two categories. 

There are many ways people choose to budget, but you have to choose a system that works for you.

Work out how much money you need to save each month to achieve your goal.

However, for anyone who’s starting in budgeting, I would say to allocate your costs using a percentage system. Your percentages for each category are going to differ from mine; e.g. 60% = savings, 20% = wants, 20% needs. Make sure it reflects the end goal. 

Track your progress. This is the major part of budgeting, you want to be recording and regularly reviewing how much money you’re spending and comparing it to how much you’re earning. It allows for space to reflect on the flow of your money like if some purchases are worth it, if you’re impulsively spending, or if you’re frequently withdrawing money from your savings. 

Adjust if needed. Maybe you want to put more money in savings and less into wants, or you want to put more into wants and less into needs. 

SAVING TIPS

SAY NO! This is probably my biggest struggle at the moment, but say no to things that will cause you to go off track. Whether its outings, getting fast-food or anything similar, say no. You have to be firm with your financial boundaries, as these opportunities will always arise again. 

RESTRICT IMPULSIVE SPENDING. We all have our moments when we see a product and we instantly think ‘I’ve got to have this’. Giving in once or twice is okay, but it shouldn’t become a habit at all. Its unnecessary spending (most of the time!) and leads to buyers remorse. 

IS IT WORTH IT? Always remember to work out which products you’re getting the most value out of. 

PAYING FOR THE NAME, a lot of brands will cut down on quality to save a few dollars, so essentially the customer is only paying for the name of that brand. Just because a store is more expensive, doesn’t mean its better.

[writeriguess]

can you do dabi x super reckless reader who is also in the league and like always puts themself in danger because they think its funny

Burn Before You Break

Dabi’s voice is sharp, low, and edged with something dangerously close to worry as he watches you dust yourself off. "Are you outta your damn mind?"

You're grinning—of course, you are. It’s not like you almost got crushed under a collapsing building or anything.

"That was kinda fun," you say, stretching your arms like you didn't just barely avoid death. Again.

Dabi runs a hand through his messy black hair, exhaling sharply. "Yeah? You get a kick outta makin’ me wanna bash your skull in?"

You tilt your head, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Is that a promise?"

His jaw clenches. "Not the way you want, dumbass."

Toga giggles from the sidelines, swinging her knife in lazy circles. "I think it's cute! You're like a little cockroach. No matter how much you should die, you just don't!"

Twice nods sagely. "Yeah, it's—it's honestly impressive. Or stupid. Or both. Mostly both."

You bow dramatically. "Why, thank you. I do my best."

Dabi's hand shoots out, fingers digging into the collar of your shirt as he yanks you forward. Your nose almost bumps against the scorched, stapled skin of his cheek. His breath is hot when he speaks.

"One of these days, you're gonna pull that shit, and I'm not gonna be there to drag your sorry ass out."

You roll your eyes. "Pfft, as if you wouldn't come running."

Dabi's eye twitches. "You think I like playing babysitter?"

"You kinda do," you tease, smirking up at him.

"Try me."

For a second, neither of you move. The tension is thick, but it's not the kind that makes you nervous. If anything, it just makes you wanna push him further. You lift your hands, resting them on his chest. You can feel the heat radiating off him, the faint scent of burning fabric clinging to his coat.

"You know," you murmur, eyes locking onto his, "for someone who claims not to care, you sure do get worked up when I do something stupid."

Dabi's fingers twitch against your shirt before he shoves you back—just hard enough to make you stumble.

"You’re not special," he mutters, but there's a roughness in his voice, something just shy of desperation. "I just don’t feel like dealin’ with another idiot getting themselves killed."

You smile. "Sure, Dabi."

And because you can't help yourself, you wink.

Dabi exhales sharply, turns on his heel, and stalks off.

"You really like poking the bear, huh?" Spinner mutters.

You shrug. "It's fun."

Toga sighs dreamily. "You two should just kiss already."

Dabi, already halfway across the hideout, flips you all off without looking back.

Toga gasps dramatically. "Oh no, look! He's running away from his feelings!"

"Tragic," Twice adds solemnly. "Such unbearable heartbreak. Someone should stop him before he drowns in denial."

You laugh, and even Spinner looks vaguely amused. "C'mon, guys, cut him some slack."

Toga giggles, skipping closer to you. "Why? You don't want us calling out your loooove?" She drags out the last word in a sing-song voice, grinning wildly when you roll your eyes.

"It’s not love."

"Uh-huh."

You glance toward where Dabi disappeared and shake your head. "He’s just—"

"The love of your life?"

"A pain in my ass," you correct.

"Oooh, but you like it," she teases, twirling her knife. "You’re totally obsessed with each other."

Twice nods rapidly. "Completely. Absolutely. A match made in arsonist heaven!"

Spinner snorts. "Dabi’s gonna fry you all if you keep this up."

Toga giggles again, eyes bright. "Maybe, but it’ll be worth it if it finally makes them admit they wanna rip each other’s clothes off."

You groan. "Oh my god, Toga—"

"What?" She grins. "Just say the word and I’ll plan the wedding."

"Not happening."

"You hear that, Twice? They said 'not happening.' That means it’s totally happening!"

Twice gasps. "Oh! Do I get to be best man? Or flower boy? Both. Definitely both."

You groan again, dragging a hand down your face. "I hate you all."

Toga giggles. "No you don’t! But if you wanna take your anger out on someone, I’m sure Dabi wouldn’t mind a little roughhousing~"

You grab a pillow off the couch and chuck it at her. She dodges effortlessly, still grinning.

Spinner shakes his head. "You’re all idiots."

You sigh. "Yep. And Dabi's the biggest one of all."

Toga winks. "Then it’s a good thing you love idiots, huh?"

[fallenbratfiction]

shared desk - bucky barnes x f!reader

A/N: This just came up while I was looking for a place to work, I mainly go to coffee shops but I’ve been meaning to go to one of these spaces. Hope you enjoy reading!! 

warnings: no warnings are needed for this part, but keep a close eye

Follow for more fics like this or if you want to see how this story continues. I’m grateful for all the support! 💕☺️

do not copy, translate or claim any of my work as your own.

🔞minors dni, I don’t take responsibility for what you choose to consume.

Dividers by @cafekitsune

Your job demanded a lot of time, and while the pay was excellent and the stress levels were bearable, it was very lonely. Yes, you worked with a team, but that team was scattered across the world—Igor was in Warsaw, Pam was in Miami, Héctor was in Puerto Rico, and Steven was five states away.

Working from home had its perks. If you were sick or had your period, you could just stay curled up in bed and work from there. But on days when the sky was clear and the sun was warm, you were stuck inside, staring at screens. Podcasts and radio shows became your companions, voices filling the silence as you typed away at lines of code or designed whatever the clients needed. But it had been a while since you worked alongside actual people.

You had heard about coworking spaces—coffee shops or shared offices where people in your situation could work without feeling so isolated. Maybe, just maybe, you could even make a friend or two.

That’s how you found yourself in a coworking space on a Tuesday morning, clutching your overpriced coffee like a lifeline…It had taken weeks of deliberation—Googling “coworking near me,” checking out reviews, debating whether it was worth putting on real pants. But the silence of your apartment had become too loud, so here you were.

The place was warm, buzzing with quiet productivity. People sat in clusters, laptops open, occasional murmurs passing between them. It felt... alive. And maybe, just maybe, you needed that.

You picked a seat near the window, set down your laptop, and exhaled. Okay. This wasn’t so bad.

And then, someone took the seat across from you.

You noticed him peripherally first—broad shoulders, dark hair falling slightly over his forehead, black Henley hugging his arms in a way that made her brain short-circuit. His presence was quiet but not unnoticeable, something about him was both composed and intense. He dropped his bag on the chair beside him and pulled out a notebook, flipping it open before glancing at you.

“First time here?”

His voice was low, rough—like he didn’t use it often.

You blinked, surprised that he’d even spoken to you. “Uh, yeah. Is it that obvious?”

He smirked slightly, tapping his pen against the page. “A little. You look like you’re waiting for someone to tell you what to do.”

You huffed a small laugh. “It’s been a while since I worked around people.”

He nodded as if he understood that more than you knew. “You get used to it. Just gotta pretend no one’s here after a while.”

You weren’t sure that was possible, not when he was sitting right across from you. But you nodded, pretending you were unaffected, opening your laptop and trying to focus on the screen instead of the way his fingers tapped absently against the table.

For a while, you two worked in silence.

Then, your laptop froze.

You sighed, tapping at the trackpad in frustration. When that failed, you let your forehead drop against the table with a dramatic groan.

A chuckle rumbled from across you. “That bad?”

“I think my laptop is testing my patience.”

“Here,” he said, getting up and walking around the table. “Let me take a look.”

You were about to tell him it wasn’t necessary, but before you could, he leaned down, close enough that you caught the scent of something clean and slightly woody. He pressed a few keys, fingers moving with practiced ease, and within seconds, the screen unfroze.

You gawked at him. “How did you—?”

His smirk deepened. “Secret.”

You narrowed your eyes at him, unimpressed by the mystery. “You’re one of those IT geniuses, aren’t you?”

He huffed a laugh, retreating back to his seat. “Not exactly. Just good with tech.”

You tilted your head, studying him now. “And what do you do? Or is that a secret, too?”

He looked at you for a moment, then—almost reluctantly—said, “Freelance security consulting.”

Your brows lifted. “That sounds... intense.”

A shadow of something flickered across his expression before he shrugged. “It can be.”

He didn’t elaborate, and for some reason, you didn’t push. Instead, you gave him a nod. “Well, thanks for saving my laptop’s life. I owe you one.”

He smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

And just like that, the air shifted. Less intimidating. Less unfamiliar.

Maybe this coworking thing wasn’t so bad after all.

The hours seem to pass quicker than usual. Maybe it’s the feeling of company.

You steal glances at each other during that time—sometimes catching him watching you while you’re working, other times your gaze lingers on him, completely focused on his laptop or writing in his notebook. His brow furrows when he’s deep in thought, pen tapping absently against the page, and there’s something oddly mesmerizing about it.

Neither of you speaks much, but the silence feels... comfortable. Like an understanding, neither of you had to say out loud.

Time slipped by unnoticed. The gentle murmur of voices and the rhythmic clacking of keyboards faded as the sun dipped below the horizon. You hadn’t realized how late it was until you looked up and found the place nearly empty.

Nearly.

He was still there.

Stretching your arms over your head, you sighed quietly and started packing up. The sound must have caught his attention because he glanced over.

"Heading out?"

"Yeah, I think I’ve done enough damage for the day," you said with a small smile. "Do you always stay this late?"

"Sometimes." He leaned back in his chair, stretching in a way that only made him look unfairly good. "I work better when it’s quiet."

You nodded, slinging your bag over your shoulder. "Makes sense."

As you made your way toward the door, you hesitated—just for a second—before glancing back at him. "See you around?"

His smirk was lazy and confident. "I’m here most days."

You nodded, ignoring the way your heart did something weird in your chest before stepping outside into the night.

The next day

The coworking space felt different today. Maybe it was because you had a reason to look forward to it.

You told yourself it was just the change of scenery. That’s why you left your apartment early, grabbed your usual overpriced coffee, and took the same spot by the window. It definitely wasn’t because you were wondering if he would show up.

But then—he did.

Same black Henley, same effortless presence. He spotted you instantly, and instead of taking the seat across from you, he surprised you by sitting right next to you.

"You’re back," he said, voice just low enough that it sent a small shiver down your spine.

You tilted your head, meeting his gaze. "So are you."

He smirked. "Guess we’re both creatures of habit."

A while later, he stretched, rolling his shoulders before leaning toward you slightly. “Lunch break soon?”

You blinked at him. “I—uh, I guess?”

That smirk again, like he could see the hesitation in your eyes, like he expected it. "Good. You owe me one, remember?"

You narrowed your eyes playfully. "Oh, this is your way of collecting payback?"

He shrugged, feigning innocence. "Figured I’d cash in while I can."

You bit back a smile.

“Fine,” you said, pretending to be reluctant. “But if I buy you lunch, that means we’re even.”

“We’ll see about that,” he murmured, standing up and waiting for you to follow.

You rolled your eyes, but deep down, you knew you’d already lost.

Hope you enjoyed this one-shot! 💻☕✨ I had so much fun writing this! 

What do you think happens next? Does their “totally casual” lunch turn into something more? 

If you’d like a part two, let me know! I’d love to explore this further (and maybe add some tension outside of the coworking space… 👀🔥).

Thanks for reading! 💛 Reblogs, likes and comments help a lot!

Let me know if you want to be added to a Taglist so you can be the first to know when the next part comes out!!

[huntingcupid]

CASUAL — D.A.

dumb love, I love being stupid dream of us in a year maybe we'd have an apartment and you'd show me off to your friends at the pier

⌗ DANIELA — fem!reader, angst, swearing, doomed yuri, straight dani, friends to strangers, reader slowly starts to despise dani, regret,self harm, homophobia, religion mentioned, usage of dyke, etc...

⌗ SYPNOSIS — was it all casual?, stolen glances, hugs and kisses, letters and sleepless nights talking to eachother — did it mean anything?

⌗ CUPID — hey.... first very angsty work so yeah, thank you to my dear friend @yunazxxx for helping me with the plot :D

time passed by so fast — suddenly you're in college and searching for part time jobs, yet sometimes you reminisce about your past, the people you have met throughout the journey, one person has changed you for good and bad, the person? — daniela avanzini

your “best friend”, you can't imagine your childhood and teenage years without the latina, without the stupid jokes you two have made, the times you two made decisions you shouldn't have, but it was all worth it as long as she was with you, doing it with you

you've always had a doubt about your sexual identity, especially during times where you and dani would just be hanging out and you'd imagine your future marrying her — it didn't help that you two were inseparable, daniela calls you her wifey, and you felt butterflies in your stomach whenever she did

daniela's mother also treated you like her kid, you often came along with them for family trips, sharing clothes with the girl — during the last few years of highschool you really started having an identity crisis, you didn't know who you were, or what you are

“dani, can I tell you something?” you whisper as you two lay in her bed — daniela looks over at you concern etched onto her features, “anything y/n, why?” she replies, your heart raced, “i-i- I'm queer” you stammer, you closed your eyes afraid of the reaction you might get, yet when you felt the girls arms wrap around you everything felt right and free

“that's good y/n!” daniela cheered, you definitely didn't expect this reaction since daniela came from a very religious family, yet something in you screams that she doesn't fully accept it, the way her eyes seem to look at you felt different

yet against your better judgment you didn't do anything, months passed and it seemed like daniela became distant from you, the daily calls you two had turned into every 2 days or whenever she says she's free, her chats became more generic and had seemed to lose its humor or life

you chat the girl, asking if you can hang out — she replies and agrees, you get excited due to how much you missed the girl, you slept thinking about you two, about what you two might do tomorrow

“hi dani!” you run up to the girl hugging her, daniela froze a bit before returning the hug, a short and cold hug, “hi y/n” she mutters, “let's get some ice cream?” you ask smiling at the girl, “sure” you two walk to the nearest ice cream shop, picking out flavors, daniela loved salted caramel while you loved chocolate, daniela took pictures of her ice cream, you giggle “are you gonna post that?, can you send it to me too?” you follow, “actually it's for josh” your heart sank and for a moment your smile faltered, “josh?” you ask not recognizing the name, “oh he uhm- we are talking you know” she replies hastily, you bit the inside of your cheeks, you wished that you were born a man sometimes maybe then you'd experience her love,

after the ice cream shop you two walk to sit at the park benches watching as the sun set, you took a few candid pics of the latina, she looked gorgeous, something out of a dream, her eyes were like crystals and her smile, god her smile can make you melt at the spot, “i missed you” you mutter as you two sat in silence, “oh” daniela replies — little by little you felt your heart break, “dani, i know i shouldn't say this but, I've liked you since I've known you” you mutter finally letting go of those words, silence — your heartbeat was the only thing you can hear and the soft rustling of the plants, “i-i- don't y/n” daniela replies seemingly uncomfortable, you felt like you got stabbed a million times, your future flashed by your eyes, the dreams you've built around you two now burning down, “I'm sorry i shouldn't have said that” you stutter, blinking away the tears you felt forming in your eyes, “y/n i love you, and god does too, its never too late to get saved” you tear up hearing her words, cause why is it a sin, a sin to love, why did he make you this way — why?

“I'll help you” daniela looks at you hopeful, “sure” you replied even though you felt so betrayed, this is the same girl you came out to, the same girl who helped you come to terms with your sexuality, now telling you that loving is a sin

throughout the first few weeks of college, daniela gave you a bible and even an invitation to her church, claiming that you were under the touch of the demon, you only nodded, all the while daniela would hang out with her friend josh, they'd laugh and share moments like you two did before you came out, it was the breaking point for you when you saw daniela and josh at the janitors closet making out, daniela looked guilty but she quickly got mad at you, “get the fuck out!” it was the first time she ever swore at you, the first time you realized it wasn't worth keeping her around if all she did was hurt you and made your sexuality a joke

yet as you lay in your bed, closing your eyes from exhaustion all you see is her, smiling brightly at you, daniela looking like your savior, her during the times she still felt real and not a projection of the people who hate you, “i love you” you mutter tears falling out of your eyes, you fell deeper into depression when you were lonely and no one was there to help you, to talk to you

you didn't know what else to do but blame yourself, hurt yourself, razors, scissors anything sharp that can take away your mind from her, anything that can make you feel punished for being what you are

you became suicidal, you hated everything, every moment you'd step into the halls of your campus, seeing daniela and josh hand in hand, laughing and kissing — while you?, you can't live in a world where daniela hated you, where she didn't acknowledge who you truly are

“y/n?” you hear your roommate enter the dorm room, seeing you sobbing, “h-hi” you replied wiping away your tears, “are you okay?” manon ask, “yeah, just stressed with work and school” you replied chuckling, knowing its way deeper than that

days passed and you knew you had to pick yourself up, make sure you don't feel like a failure, a worthless living person, — you went to lectures, sleep deprived and wearing long sleeves in attempts to hide your sh scars

daniela looked across the room a flicker of guilt and empathy seeing you, a shell of your former self, she quickly masked it with uninterest and a poker face

yet after class she follows you to the women's restroom, cornering you, “y/n, what has gotten into you, you shouldn't hurt something given to you by-” you cut her off “god?, I'm sorry daniela” you said pushing her off you, she only scoffs and follows you, “what is this about then! just a way to gain my sympathy? cause fuck it y/n it does” she breathes out furious, seeing her ex best-friend slowly die, “what the fuck is this dyke doing here” josh says pushing into the bathroom to collect dani, you bit your lip hurt but you expected it, you chuckled to yourself — as much as it hurts seeing her settle for this man you couldn't do anything, but watch and despise them both

you'd long for the days that daniela magically just go back to you, talk to you and realized how much of a jerk her boyfriend was, how much you could treat her better

at some point the love you had for daniela became hatred, she didn't reach out anymore nor did you, it was radio silent, some nights you'd stare at your last messages with her, and regret not ending it earlier

you regret being blind to all her red flags, you regret putting her feelings before yours, you regret not knowing she was not good for you

now she's just another woman in school, someone you'd pass in the hallways, even though your eyes locked with hers, it didn't mean anything anymore, at least to you it didn't anymore, after all, it was all casual

maybe she was a part of your past, but you refuse to let her ruin your future

wc: 1.3k words

(hate this idk why)

[yup-thats-me]

—sweetener • Seonghwa. P

ᰔpairing; bf!Seonghwa x gf!reader ᰔsummary; Seonghwa is hellbent on getting the most out of his birthday gift given by his sweetheart<3 ᰔwarnings; smut, 18+ dacryphilia, food play, mean!dom!Hwa, overstimulation, name calling, unprotected sex. ᰔa/n; HAPPY HWA DAY!!!🌟🐰🩷

"Hwa!!" You'd moan as Seonghwa eats out your pussy filled with whipped cream. "So sweet," He'd moan against your folds.

It was his birthday, and maybe you shouldn't have agreed to do whatever he wanted as a part of his gift.

"Whatever I say? You sure?"

He had double-checked, though, when you said that he'd free to do as he pleased for today. "Yes, baby," You had smiled sweetly then, unaware of your lover's intentions. "I'm sure I can fulfill my nerdy boyfriend's wishes." You had winked too.

Now, however, you second-thought your decision. Not for the fact that this was uncomfortable for you; no. You regretted because it gave your boyfriend too much power entirely.

Frankly, you didn't think of why Soenghwa left the room with a skip in his steps when you reassured him about his birthday gift and came back absolutely beaming with a can of whipped cream in his hand.

"Babe...what?"

With a smirk, he had kissed you senseless, making you forget about anything else at the moment, your mind filled with the though of him, simply him. And when he had pulled your panties to your ankles, his mouth salivating at the sight.

"Hwa," You'd whine, wanting, no needing him to do something. Anything. "Hurry up, please."

"Patience, princess," He had teased. A gasp left your lips when the sound of the whipped cream being sprayed on your core, his skillful fingers spreading the mousse all over.

He'd plunge the cream deeper into your hole with his tongue, relishing the sweetness from his two favorite snacks.

"Fuck."

When he's done with eating you out, he will remove his own clothes, his rock-hard dick hitting against his abdomen. "Color, darling?"

It might be his present, but he still needed to make sure his treasure is alright. "G-green," You'd gasp, your hole clenching around nothing.

With a reassuring smile, he'd lock his eyes with your dazed ones as he smeared the cream on his leaking cock. "Gonna be a feast, baby."

And he'd thrust into you like there's no tomorrow. His hand pinning your wrists down, his lips biting and sucking on the soft on your neck.

"Fuckfuckfuckfuck!"

Your mouth having mind of its own, blabbering pure nonsense and Seonghwa reveling in pride. "Aww," He'd mock. "My baby's all drunk on my cock. Pathetic."

"Please, Hwa," you'd beg tears rolling down your sides.

"Please what, slut?" He'd smirk, licking your tears away. "Wanna come?" Smiling so sweetly when you'd nod, desperate for release. "You're so pathetic, sweetheart. You bit off more than you can chew. Anything," His thrust getting deeper and harsher. "You had said. Come now, slut."

His filthy words was all you needed to come undone around his cock; him spilling into your seconds later. But he's not done yet. Pulling out, he'd be on his knees again, licking the seeping cream out of your weeping hole.

You'd shake in overstimulation, but Seonghwa doesn't care. This is his gift and he will make it worth his while.

do not copy, steal or translate my work on any other sites. all rights belongs to yup-thats-me™ on tumblr

"So sweet, my love," his tone would shift in an instant, his eyes filled with amusement and adoration.

"Sweeter than sugar, darling."

reqs are open♡.ᐟ

[ferrarifudds]

What Are We. ✷ Paul Aron

Pairing: Paul Aron x Friend!reader

Summary: When all signs start to point that maybe you guys are more than friends.

Word Count: 2.1k

Vera’a Voice! Free time for me!!!! Which means I get to write and get down and dirty and grind. (Write.) this blurb is for my bbg Ellis. Hai. Suhhhhh. ok now adding this bit but I already wrote everything so its too late but im giggling bc I just searched and learned estonia is not that much of a warm beachy country oops. Ok Bye. my b. OH WELL.

The long-awaited summer break was something you had looked forward to since the season began. Climbing the ladder as a media intern in motorsports had been tough, but landing your big break in Formula 2 made every late night and early morning worth it.

It was one step closer to your ultimate dream.

Sure, it had been thrilling, but also more stressful than you’d ever imagined. Capturing the perfect shot, fumbling with your camera settings at the worst moments, and racing against deadlines—it was far from easy.

But despite the challenges, you wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Being young and working as an intern came with its own unique perks too—like getting to know some of the drivers on a personal level.

Not even a year ago would you have ever thought you’d be on a little friend vacation to Estonia with people like Paul Aron or Dino Beganovic and a couple other beloved interns that you had the pleasure of meeting.

And if you told yourself seven months ago you’d be in this scenario, you’d actually laugh.

Paul had been thoughtful enough to organize this entire trip, excited to share the beauty of his homeland with everyone.

Even after traveling halfway across the globe for this sport, Estonia easily ranked as one of the most stunning places you’d ever seen.

It was day two of this unforgettable getaway, and the late afternoon was approaching fast. The group had spent the day soaking up the sun at the beach, swimming in the crystal-clear water, and enjoying the luxurious villa you’d all pitched in to rent for the week.

But now, it was time for something even more special—Paul was finally taking you all to see his true home, where his mother had prepared a dinner that promised to be just as warm and inviting as the country itself.

Dinner in Paul’s family home was as cozy and picturesque as you’d expected. His mom had gone all out, setting the table with traditional Estonian dishes that filled the room with delicious aromas. Paul was effortlessly charming, introducing everyone to his siblings, Anna and Ralf, and making sure no one felt out of place.

You’d always known Paul had this way of making people feel special—it was part of his personality, the charm that came so naturally to him. To you, he’d always just been Paul. Sure, he was flirty sometimes, but that was just who he was, right? Nothing more.

Or so you thought.

The meal was going smoothly until Anna, his sister, casually leaned across the table and asked, “So, how long have you two been together?”

The entire table froze for half a second before erupting into giggles and suppressed laughter.

Your fork clattered against your plate as you nearly choked. “What?” you sputtered, eyes darting to Paul for backup. “We’re not—no, no. We’re not together.”

Anna blinked at you innocently. “Really? You sure? Because I would've thought—”

Ralf snickered, adding fuel to the fire. “Yeah, the way you two act—it’s like, I don’t know, kind of obvious?”

Your face burned, and you glanced at Paul, who had leaned back in his chair with a faint smirk, clearly enjoying your flustered state. He wasn’t rushing to clear anything up either.

What an idiot.

Before you could stammer out another denial, Paul’s mother chimed in, her voice light but curious. “Paul, you never told me you had a girlfriend?"

Your jaw dropped. “I’m not his—”

Paul cut in smoothly, though his eyes sparkled with mischief. “Ema,” he said, addressing his mother, “Don't worry, I would've told you.”

The laughter at the table got even louder. Dino, seated to your right, practically doubled over as he tried (and failed) to keep his drink from spilling. One of the others whispered something that sent him into another fit of giggles.

“Sorry, but this is too good,” Dino said, wiping at his eyes. “You should see your face right now.”

You groaned, burying your face in your hands for a moment, your cheeks blazing. “We’re just friends!” You insisted again, though the way everyone at the table was grinning made it clear no one believed you.

Paul leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at you, a faint smirk tugging at his lips. “Relax,” He said, his voice low and teasing. “You’re making this way more awkward than it needs to be.”

“You’re enjoying this,” You quietly gritted through your teeth back, side-eyeing him.

He shrugged, completely unbothered as he whispered. “A little.”

The laughter slowly died down, but the tension lingered. You tried to focus on your plate, but it was impossible to ignore the flutter in your chest or the way Paul kept sneaking amused glances at you.

It was just Paul, you told yourself. The same Paul who flirted with everyone, who loved teasing you, who couldn’t possibly mean anything by it. But tonight, under the warm glow of the dining room lights, surrounded by his family and friends, the line between teasing and something more felt blurrier than ever.

And the way he winked at you before taking another bite of his food only made that flutter worse.

Soon, the evening had settled in beautifully, the Estonian coastline bathed in hues of amber and violet as the last traces of sunlight dipped below the horizon.

After dinner, the group returned to the villa, laughter and chatter filling the spacious living room as everyone settled into their version of post-dinner relaxation. Dino had taken to challenging the others in a card game, while the rest debated over who would make the best DJ for the night.

You had excused yourself after a while, craving a quiet moment away from the lively energy. The villa's balcony called to you, with its perfect view of the shore and the gentle sound of waves rolling against the sand. The cool evening air kissed your skin as you leaned against the railing, letting the salty breeze fill your lungs. The horizon stretched endlessly, the water shimmering under the soft glow of the moon.

For a while, you simply let yourself get lost in the serenity of the moment, your thoughts wandering back to the chaos of dinner. The teasing, the tension, the way Paul’s gaze had lingered on you just a little too long. You shook your head, trying to brush it off as nothing more than his usual antics.

It was just Paul.

Or was it?

You were so lost in your thoughts that you didn’t hear the door to the balcony slide open until Paul’s voice broke through the quiet.

"Got room for one more?"

You glanced over your shoulder to see him step closer, joining you anyways, his familiar smirk in place. He leaned against the railing beside you, his arm brushing lightly against yours. The touch was subtle, barely there, but it sent a small jolt through you nonetheless.

"You okay?" He asked.

“Just needed a little air.” You glanced at him, half-expecting him to move away, but he didn’t. If anything, he leaned closer, his gaze fixed on the horizon, as if he didn’t notice—or maybe he did.

For a while, the two of you stood in silence, the only sound the distant waves and the occasional rustle of the breeze. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t exactly easy, either. The day’s events had left too much unsaid.

Finally, Paul broke the silence. “You know,” he began, his tone a little hesitant, “I almost planned this trip just for the two of us.”

You turned to him, surprised. “What?”

He gave you a small, self-conscious smile. “Yeah. I wanted it to be just us. I thought it’d be nice to show you where I’m from, spend some time together without… racing being in the way.” He let out a quiet laugh.

“But Dino found out, and he wouldn’t let it happen. Said it’d be too obvious, especially since we aren't, you know…”

“Together?,” You finished, your voice barely above a whisper.

Paul nodded, his gaze fixed on the shoreline. “Yeah. And I couldn’t really argue with him.. he said I could've scared you off.”

Your heart was racing now, the implications of his words sinking in. He’d wanted this trip to be just the two of you? You hadn’t even realized he’d thought about you like that.

“You actually planned this for us?” You asked, your voice soft.

He shrugged, his smile a little shy. “I wanted to show you something important to me. I thought maybe it’d mean something more.” He paused, then added with a teasing edge, “But I guess I didn’t do a great job of getting my point across.”

You blinked, the memories of all the lingering glances, the playful teasing, the way he always seemed to find a reason to be near you during race weekends were suddenly flooding your mind.

You’d brushed it off every time, chalking it up to Paul just being Paul.

But now…

“I guess.. I didn’t realize,” You admitted quietly.

Paul chuckled, his arm brushing yours again as he leaned a little closer. “Yeah, I got that impression. You’re not exactly the most perceptive when it comes to certain things.”

You shot him a half-hearted glare, but the smile tugging at your lips betrayed you. “Oh, come on!" You nudged your arm against his, now even closer than ever.

"Okay, maybe I’m a little oblivious. But in my defense, you flirt with everyone. How was I supposed to know you’re serious?”

He tilted his head, his expression softening. “I do flirt a lot. But not like this—not with you.” His voice dropped slightly, the sincerity in his tone making your chest tighten.

“You’re different.”

The words hung in the air between you, heavy and undeniable. You swallowed hard, your thoughts a jumbled mess of confusion and something that felt dangerously close to hope.

Paul shifted, turning to face you fully now. “Look, I’m just going to say it." He laugh, probably feeling embarrassed it's taken this long to properly ask you.

"I’ve been trying to make it obvious that I’m interested in you, but maybe I’ve been going about it the wrong way.” He let out a breath, his lips quirking into a now nervous smile. “So… what are we? Because I know what I want us to be. I’ve known for a while now. And it sucked having to deny to my family that you're my girlfriend.” He paused.

"And you have no idea how badly I wanted it to be true." He laughed softly again, shaking his head.

“I want this—us—to be something more. I’ve been dropping hints for months, and either you’re really good at ignoring them, or I’m terrible at this.”

Your cheeks flushed, and you glanced down, suddenly hyper-aware of how close he was and how genuine he was.

“I just… I didn’t think you've ever been serious,” You admitted.

“Well, I am,” He said simply, his voice steady now. “And I don’t want to dance around it anymore. Let me take you on a proper date. Just us. No Dino, no friends, no interruptions.”

You looked at him, your heart pounding in your chest. The way he was looking at you—open, vulnerable, and completely earnest—made it impossible to say anything but yes.

“Okay,” You said softly, a small smile tugging at your lips. “I’d like that.”

Paul’s grin widened, and he let out a breath of relief, his hand brushing against yours briefly before he pulled back. “Good. Because I’ve been wanting to ask you for a while now.”

As the waves crashed softly in the distance, the two of you leaned against the railing once more, shoulders touching. This time, the spark between you wasn’t just a fleeting moment. It was a promise of something new, something real—and you couldn’t wait to see where it would lead.

comments , likes , & reblogs are appreciated ! ^_^ kinda fw this one!!!! Ur Welcome Ellis Baef.

tags! @wdcbox @planetpedri @halfwayhearted ofc.

[thevoicefromanotherworld]

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION, PRINCESS"

I WROTE ANOTHER FIC WITH TANGERINE

(With my idea of enemies to lovers with him lol)

I hope you like it!

WARNING: EXPLICIT SMUT UNDER THE CUT

You and Tangerine were coworkers.

Anonymous people paid you to take care of certain jobs that no one else wanted to do.

So there you were, on the bullet train on your way to Tokyo.

This time, you couldn't travel first class, since your contact didn't pay for those seats, but rather for a cabin you had to share. It's worth mentioning that you didn't get along well.

When they told you he would be your partner, you tried your best, but as the days went by, his dislike for you became increasingly evident, as did yours for him.

The two of you tried not to argue over stupid things for more than three fucking minutes, but it was impossible, since you had little patience and Tangerine kept saying stupid things to get you to argue with him.

When you saw the hovel you had to share, you decided to do what you always did: try not to talk too much to get through the trip as best you could without arguments.

As soon as you got in, you asked for the bed next to the door, complete with its nightstand, so he took the other one, which didn't even have room to charge his phone.

You smiled when you saw him sit up in bed, holding his head in his hands while cursing loudly. "I wish it had been faster," you thought, sitting up in bed.

You were dead tired, but you still wanted to do some writing before going to sleep. You turned on the nightlight and placed your computer on your knees so you could type. After exactly 45 minutes, he turned to you.

"Turn off the fucking light," he complained, frowning. "What the hell are you writing?"

"My will, in case you kill me during the night," you blurted out as you continued typing, partially ignoring him.

"I'm serious, whatever you're writing can wait until tomorrow," he growled, pulling the thin blanket up.

"You're an asshole," you blurted out, tired of his comments.

"Fuck! You're…" he gritted his teeth tightly to keep from saying what he was thinking before speaking again. "Look, we're still hours away from our destination, which means we're going to have to share this place for quite some time, which means you need to be fucking reasonable." he looked at his wristwatch. "It's 1 a.m. Now go to sleep already."

You didn't reply, so he opted to get up and pull the bottle of alcohol he'd taken from the dining car out from under the bed. You raised an eyebrow, making him shrug.

"Don't give me that look," he blurted out. "If you insist on keeping me awake at this hour, I'm going to drink to drown my sorrows." He offered you the bottle. "It's vodka, it's strong," he warned. You frowned even more. "Hey, the guy who hired us forced us to share this shitty booth," he said, pointing out the obvious. "The least we can do is lighten the situation by giving him a little joy." He gestured with the bottle again. "Take it."

That's what you did. You held it in your hands and took a long swig before giving it to him again. He drank too and set it aside, shaking his head as the alcohol ran down his throat with force and settled in his stomach.

"See?" "Nothing happened," he snorted. "I'm sure you feel a little lighter now."

"Maybe," you muttered, not entirely agreeing with him. "You did really well at work the other day," he blurted out, surprising you. "I didn't know you could handle katanas like that. It was impressive."

"Was that a compliment?" you questioned. "Wow, it really hit you fast," you said, nodding at the bottle of alcohol.

"I'm not drunk yet, honey," he whispered. "It takes a lot more than that to knock me out."

"Okay," you laughed, taking another sip, not enough to be drunk, but enough to make me feel pleasantly dizzy. "Why are you being such a jerk to me?" you asked. He knew there was no way he could get out of answering, so he did. "I realize I can be a little… critical at times, but I'm the number one jerk at this," he maintained. "No one can do this better than me."

"You didn't answer the question," you observed. "Why are you so irritable?"

"Maybe because someone didn't turn off the fucking light at a normal hour so I could go to sleep," he snarled, boring into you with his blue gaze. He shook his head, as if he'd realized his tone. "Sorry, I didn't mean to yell at you," he murmured, his head bowed for a moment before taking another sip of vodka. "The alcohol's helping a lot," he observed. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," you blurted out simply, making him smile.

"I guess we both needed to take the edge off a bit," he murmured. "Especially you, you've been very tense since we got on the train," he chuckled at the look on your face. "Although I guess I can't blame you." You're trapped here with me

You felt an electricity, the overwhelming urge that was pulsing between you like a living organism.

You didn't know if it was because the alcohol had begun to take its toll on you, or because you were feeling brave at that moment, but you took a deep breath before speaking.

"Say what you have to say."

"I have nothing to say."

"You're lying," you smiled. "You're fucking asshole at it, I've told you countless times not to."

"You tilted your head at him. "Spit it out."

He thought about it for a few moments, during which he took another sip from the bottle, before resting his elbows on his knees, so that they brushed against yours.

"Okay," he agreed, his gaze fixed on you intensely. "I find you incredibly, ridiculously, distractingly attractive," he confessed.

Of all the things he could have said, that was the one you least expected. You stared at him as if his skin had suddenly turned green.

"And being locked up here with you alone…" he shook his head. "Well, like I said, the alcohol is helping."

You sat up straighter in bed, trying to find a steady position, but to no avail. You raised your arms to stretch, revealing the shape of your breasts beneath the thin pajama top you were wearing.

Tangerine's gaze couldn't help but drop there, before returning to yours.

"Are you trying to make fun of me?" she whispered. "I don't like jokes, baby," he warned. "We've known each other long enough for you not to know." His body betrayed him, and his gaze dropped again. "Look at you, without a bra…" He pressed his lips together tightly. "You have to stop, princess."

"Why?"

"Because I don't like being made fun of, and if you keep doing that, I'm going to have to do something about it," he decreed, his tone making something deep inside you twitch nervously.

"Oh yeah?" you asked playfully. "Tell me what you'd do," you murmured.

He swore softly, making you smile. His deep, intense blue eyes looked down at you before he nodded toward you.

"Take that off, baby. I want to see you," he growled, watching your every move closely.

He didn't have to ask you twice.

He stared at you when you obeyed, patting the edge of his bed with the palm of his hand.

"Come here," he commanded softly.

His hands rested on your hips, possessive yet gentle. You felt the cold of his rings against your skin as he leaned down to kiss you.

His lips covered yours with need and calm, as if he couldn't wait to devour you but at the same time wanted to do it slowly so you could enjoy every minute of it.

He kissed your collarbone and neck before teasing your breasts before pulling away to look at you.

"Did you like that?" he asked. You nodded, unable to answer, overwhelmed by all the sensations you were experiencing.

But that didn't help.

He placed his hand on your throat, not applying any pressure, simply so you could feel his fingers wrapping around the base of your neck.

"Answer the fucking question, princess," he demanded softly.

"Yes, I liked it," you moaned, causing him to remove his hand from your neck.

"Good girl," he smiled, causing you to sigh against his mouth. "Now stand up and take off your pants," he whispered. "I want to know how you taste."

When you got rid of them, he stepped back for a moment to admire the view, making you feel desired, which you enjoyed more than you were willing to admit.

"Shit," he blurted out. "Now how am I supposed to focus on the other jobs, knowing what you were hiding underneath all that?" “Baby, you’ve been wanting me as much as I’ve been wanting you,” he gave an amused smile. “Maybe you’ve been wanting me more, seeing how quickly you’ve taken off your clothes.”

“Even now, you can’t help being an asshole,” you blurted out, making his smile widen.

“Maybe so, but I’m the asshole who’s going to fuck you, gorgeous,” he growled, making you blush violently.

He pulled you onto his lap and kissed you again.

This time, the kiss was more needy as you felt his fingers wrap around your clit, causing you to gasp against his mouth.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” he growled as he kissed you, sliding his fingers deeper and deeper inside you.

You bucked your hips against him, and within seconds, you felt your lower belly tense, warning you that your impending orgasm was about to arrive.

-Please Tangerine… - you gasped - please…

-Ask me nicely, baby - he whispered - ask, and I'll give it to you

-Please Tangerine, make me cum, please…

-It's hard to refuse if you ask so politely - he whispered, tugging at your clit between his fingers - but you're going to cum with my cock, like I know you want to - he said - sit down and spread your legs for me - he ordered, he shook his head - more - he said before nodding - that's it baby, such a good girl for me…

He sank into you gently at first, then began to move his hips against you with pure need.

“Do you know how many times I’ve wanted you like this, underneath me?” he growled in your ear. “Do you know?”

“I know,” you gasped, scratching his back with each thrust. “Please, Tangerine…”

“I have you, baby,” he said. “Cum for me.”

That’s what you did, unloading against him hard, just as he did moments later.

“Shit,” he took a deep breath, trying to catch his breath, just like you.

“That was very…” he whispered before giving a knowing smile. “Now I guess we can both sleep at a decent hour,” he said. “For once, don’t argue and come here, please.”

He opened his arms and you snuggled against his firm, solid chest.

-Let me hold you while you rest- he whispered in your ear- work doesn't matter now- he said- now I just want to rest with you, we'll deal with work tomorrow, together- he murmured- after all, we get along very well now

[sweetieviktor]

viktor x lab partner! reader (headcanons + tiny scenarios)

summary: working with viktor and jayce is all fun until you start wishing your lab partner was well.. your partner.

content warning: minor spoilers about season 1, arc 2 and fluff!!

author notes: im sorry for the waiting!! life has been chaotic and im pretty busy doing things but i've managed to finally write down this adorable request yeey! hope you like it :D

» working with the hextech genius and piltover’s golden boy surely wasn't an easy job. high expectations, sleepless nights, doing experiments and calculations all day...

» at first, it was difficult to blend in as part of the group. jayce and viktor had been good friends for a long time now, and being added as a scientist alongside them in their own lab seemed like something experimental, almost incorrect.

» but things soon started to fall into place. and just like two plus one is equal to three, in the late hours was the time you all could be more free, more like your true selves. maybe it was the sleep deprivation, but it finally felt like there was a little place for you after all.

» whenever you needed to breathe a bit of fresh air and they were too focused on some research, you would go out and get them lunch on your way back. when you return to the lab, jayce would welcome you with a side hug and such a big smile that it could possibly blind you, while viktor would thank you with a little nod and a ghost of a smile on his lips.

» on these lunch breaks, it was common for you to talk about anything and everything that came to your minds at the moment. the hextec, politics and the council, how chaotic or abnormally normal life has been, literally whatever.

“i swear, i can't stand councilor hoskel anymore! why does he never listen to me but when mel says the same thing, then he is all ears?” jayce said while running fingers through his hair, smothering the mess to it place again.

“maybe because you can't verbalize things as good as her?” viktor suggested, tilting his head to the side, taking a bite of the cookies you've got for them earlier. “eeh, i mean, she works at the council for quite a time, right? you're still new to it.”

it was true, of course, but there was one thing they didn't consider yet. “or maybe you just ain't a woman!”

“surely a smart remark, i must say.”

“NO!”

» of course there were times where you could be more relaxed, but almost everyday was the same: calculation, experiment, malfunction and all again. it was frustrating, but worth it. after all the failed prototypes and explosions (so many explosions), now it is finally working.

» also, going on all nighters is a common occurrence (but jayce can't work through the night, because in the day time he needs to attend on the council and can't be late, so the boy needs to sleep early) and when this happens, you often go get you and viktor a mug full of coffee and then continue working on whatever you've been up to.

» oh, and the hexcore. magic and science at once. runes and mathematics all together, the almost impossible and so ethereal dream.

» to be able to study it this close was one of the best things that happened to you, to see, understand and manipulate hextech was incredible. the soft blue light it casted on the lab walls was beautiful, but to see it shine against viktor's skin was a delightful sight.

» his disheveled hair, dark circles, cheek bones. all of the shadows in the right places. the shining amber eyes, his nose and, oh, janna, his mole, the one just above his lip. it drives you insane. like it was luring you into locking your lips on his.

“why are you looking?” he asked, still focusing on the source of the light in front of him, molding its runes, the core moving along it. “studying?”

“yes, yes!” your tone more high pitched than you intended to. shit. “just studying the... hexcore.” you tried to remain your voice at a normal level again, inhaling and exhaling to calm down.

pulling his goggles up, he let his head fall back, laughing, “i'm just messing with you,” he looked at you from between half closed lashes, smirking, “good to know you like to study this.”

» the stealing glances, the absolutely profissional soft touches, the desire for something more, something you couldn't quite have. godness, if you could use hextech to solve your love equation, you would. maybe it would be easier to focus on work with a little magic.

» but it was so hard to focus while he kept looking at you like this, calling your name so sweetly, brushing his fingers on yours whenever you handed him something. you were head over heels for him but why does it seemed so hard to just tell him how you felt?

» again, this love equation was a confusing one, but you wished that the cup of sweet milk you left alongside a little sticky-note saying “you + me = date?” for him to find on his workplace was enough to be called a confession.

» now, you were almost ready to head home, but first you needed to look for jayce and update him about the research you've been working on lately.

» and after doing so, you headed towards the academy's lockers, unlocking yours, sending the same sticky-note you left on the lab flying to the pale ground. when you picked it up, you noticed some words written just below yours. “this is an easy one! the answer is yes. so... at the coffee shop near the academy, at 4pm? – v.”

[ghostgirl-22]

Artrick seeing two lesbians making out that look like girl versions of them like almost identical, pats like "dude check it out, they look like us, its literally us" 😭

Dorks lmaooo i love this <3

i threw this in too cause you know pats just gotta feminize him a little.

CW: MDNI, NSFW, unedited though I’ll try to come in later and clean it up

—-

It’s an unseasonably warm Saturday night… one of those nights where it’s still 80 degrees at midnight. They’re in San Francisco and the streets are flooded with people. He’s starting to feel the effects of the weed gummies they took before they left Patrick’s hotel room while they stand line for some nightclub. It’s been disappointing watching all the groups with girls go in at a much faster pace but it’s still early.

“Is it like this every Saturday?” Art asks, gazing around the crowded streets. Everything feels just a little bit heightened now.

”Well it definitely was when me and Tashi were here,” Patrick smirks. He’s gazing at a group of guys shirtless in cowboy hats with sashes on, one of them with a white hat his sash says “Bride to be” all of them walking across the street towards a gay club called Town.

Art’s a little bit overwhelmed if he’s honest. He’s not ventured too far from Palo Alto. He tells Patrick it’s because he’s too busy with work and tennis and school but the truth is he’s kinda having a hard time making friends. He’s so used to Patrick being his built in companion. He never had to venture out alone. A new movie comes out and he doesn’t even have to ask… he just buys the tickets and even if Patrick isn’t interested he tags along. If one of Art’s favorite bands is touring his plans are usually… me and Patrick and whoever else wants to come. But Patrick is always a given.

At Stanford he doesn’t have that. Most of his teammates have other friends or developed friendships in their freshman year. He’s playing with mostly juniors and seniors. Tashi is a superstar who everyone knew or wanted to know from day one so she’s always busy.

No one is mean to him but he does often feel like he’s struggling to find a rhythm. He’s alone a lot of the time and every interaction just feels superficial or like he’s trying too hard to be liked… which is a bit exhausting. None if it comes naturally… and he knows he doesn’t make it easy for people to get to know him either. So used to Patrick who could often tell him how he felt before he realized it himself. Patrick does that He’s starting to realize a lot of the friends he has outside of Patrick he met because of Patrick. Like having him there makes it so much easier for Art to open up… to be… known.

Art can’t admit that to him. He already feels pathetic enough sitting on his hands waiting for Patrick and Tashi to be available.

“Dude,” Patrick says, bringing him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

Patrick gestures and Art follows his gaze… not sure what he’s looking at.

“You see that? Or am I just really high?” Patrick asks.

“See what?”

“Over there… our dopplegangers.”

Art blinks and squints. He doesn’t see anything and he starts to wonder if maybe Patrick is just really high and then… two people. One with curly blonde hair and the other with curly black, they’re even dressed similar to what the two of them would wear… both in jeans… one in a dark top with white sneakers and the other in a white t-shirt.

Art giggles a little bit. It has to be the weed because he’s not normally a giggler. He covers his mouth but then he has to laugh again. “We’re really fucking high.” Art says as the dopplegangers disappear inside the bar across the street.

“Dude we should follow them,” Patrick says. “Not in a creepy way…” he adds when Art raises his eyebrows. “I just wanna make sure we’re not hallucinating. Come on, why don’t we go over there? There’s no line.”

“Don’t you think there’s no line for a reason?” Art asks.

”Not everything that is worth doing just cause everyone else is doing it.”

“Huh?”

“What I mean is what if everyone was falling off a cliff, would you?”

”You’re stupid when you’re high,” Art grins.

“Shut the fuck up… you know what I mean. Come on,” Patrick snakes his arm around Arts dragging him away.

Art looks back forlornly at how close to the front of the line they’d gotten. But then the bouncer lets a group of 7 girls skip ahead and he shrugs. “Okay fine.”

The woman checking IDs at the entrance of the place across the street stares at them with a mildly confused expression as they hand her their IDs. Art is a bit alarmed that she can tell they’re fake. But she just waves them in with a sort of resigned look and he breathes a sigh of relief. It’s clear Patrick didn’t share any of his concerns. He walks inside like he’s been 21 for years.

There is a crowd but it’s not overwhelming. The music is loud but it seems like they’re setting up the stage up front for a live band. Patrick approaches the bar and orders two rum and cokes, Art leans in next to him. Patrick closes what’s left of the distance between them. “Dude there they are.”

Art turns to look. They’re a few feet away. Blonde leaning into the brunettes ear. Now that they’re closer Art realizes the blonde is a girl, he can see she’s wearing some kind of lip gloss and her eyes look like they're lined with a mascara or whatever girls use to make them pop. She’s smiling at the brunette grabbing onto… her?

The brunette is a girl too. Black curls falling into her eyes. She doesn’t have wild freckles the way Patrick does. At least not that Art can tell in the dim light of the bar.

”Maybe they don’t look as much like us as you thought?” Art says, smirking as Patrick hands him his drink.

“Yeah well…” he trails off as the not-so-doppelgängers start kissing each other. It’s an odd thing to watch because when you can’t see their faces they do kind of look like—

Art feels his stomach flip flop from the memory. Unable to look away, watching the way the brunette is cradling the blondes face, tongues slipping into each other’s mouths. She kisses like— like Patrick.

Art wishes he could stop thinking about that night in the hotel room in Flushing. He’s probably the only one still obsessing over it. Probably because they ended up together and he’s all alone with the memory. A little sick to admit the way he’s thought about Patrick just as much as Tashi ever since then.

He’s dragged from his thoughts by a sudden sharp nudge. it’s Patrick and Art realizes he’s been staring non stop and now their girl dopplegangers are sliding down the bar towards them.

“You guys are almost as cute a couple as we are,” blondie grins, clearly noticing the resemblance.

“I love when the gays come out to a lesbian bar.” The brunette adds and that’s the moment when Art’s slowed down weed addled brain realizes that nearly everyone in the place is female. He turns helplessly to Patrick cheeks slowly heating up with embarrassment and it’s clear Patrick’s just realizing it too but instead of looking properly ashamed…he starts grinning.

“Uh we’re n-not—“ Art begins to stammer his apologies.

”We’ve gotta support each other,” Patrick interrupts throwing his arm over Art’s shoulder. “Besides I usually call him my girlfriend…because he’s just so pretty.”

It’s stupid and Art rolls his eyes but the brunette laughs. “He is kinda pretty.” And the blonde grins, nodding in agreement.

“We’re waiting for our friends. You guys wanna join us?” Blondie asks.

And just like that it goes from odd and humiliating to sitting across from their doppelgangers (blonde Alicia and brunette Nikki actually) and trading shots while singing along to a live cover band. Patrick is just so fucking charming. Art wishes he had even a modicum of that charisma. A couple more girls join them. Surprisingly two of them go to Stanford. They even exchange numbers with Art promising to come watch him play tennis. He promises to go to one of their on campus theater productions.

Five minutes out with Patrick and he’s made friends easily. And that would be fine. That would be enough. But the whole night Patrick’s flirting with him like they’re together. Probably just trying to keep up the facade. It starts out as little things, cupping Art’s cheek, rubbing his hand on the small of his back. Calling him pretty, beautiful. Making the girls call him pretty too.

“God, Patrick,” Art mutters to him, barely able to stand it. It’s got his brain all fucked up (his body too, he’s been nursing a semi for the past hour, shifting to try and hide it from him). Not quite sure how he’s gonna recalibrate back to normal again after tonight.

Then at the end of the night when they’re just about to leave Patrick pulls him closer, an arm wrapped around Art’s shoulder, starts sofly talking in his ear in that gentle tenor “i love when you just go with it… like a good girl. Don’t think too much.”

Art shifts again as his cock fills out fully. Who knew how much he wanted to be Patrick’s good girl.

Patrick starts mouthing at his neck. So drunk. Still a little high. Low rumble of his laugh vibrating along Art’s throat. Laughing like he knows what he’s saying is stupid but he also knows it’s making Art crumble anyway.

Art shivers for the feeling and turns towards him. Faces so close they’re breathing each other in… lips just inches apart…and suddenly they're lips touch. Patrick’s arm still over his shoulder, lips so soft, tongue slipping shamelessly into Art’s mouth. Art hums and feels Patrick smile against his lips breaking the kiss.

Art turns away, heart pounding in his ears before Patrick directs his head back and kisses him again. It feels different than the hotel room. More deliberate. More… everything… everything that left Art tangled up in knots for months. He doesn’t know how long they kiss. Could be 5 minutes… could be an hour. He just knows he’s vibrating out of his skin by the time Patrick eases back. Fingers brushing along Art’s cheek. A little half smile spreading on his lips.

“Damn I’m supportive but save it for the bedroom boys,” one of the girls teases. And it’s only then that Art remembers where he is. Dazed he tries to laugh it off. The whole night feels surreal.

They say goodnight to the girls and they hop in a cab to ride back to Patrick’s hotel. “Nice job, I think you really convinced them,” Art says lightly, still trying to figure out how to come back from that.

“What about you? Are you convinced?”

Art feels his skin burning up. “Of what…”

Patrick laughs. “You think the girls are gonna go home and hook up?” He smirks.

“Dude. Oh my god.”

“What? I mean imagine it… our doppelgängers kissing… then you and I kiss. Our doppelgängers fucking… then you and I…”

“Oh…” Art feels his heart start to beat a little faster.

“That’s right…” Patrick smirks leaning in for another kiss, one hand settling onto Arts lap where it’s obvious he’s not calmed down. “Just go with it.”

[dollysturniolo]

All I've seen on my tumblr lately is "the triplets are lazy " " they keep letting us down" "their content is lacking " GIVE IT A FUCKING BREAK PLEASE FFS GET A GRIP

Yes the videos are rushed and small lately because they are busy planning tour for their fans to make sure they have fun to make sure the price of those tickets (a price clearly set by management and that needs a rant of its own as the triplets dont deserve the hate they get for it. management is the one that deserves the hate) are worth it, planning things to make sure they make people laugh , to make sure u guys are happy and all any of u do is complain or have ago at them or shit on them it's honestly so disheartening to see i can't even begin to imagine how they must feel everytime they go on their phones, they are doing all that they do for u guys to just not appreciate any of it.

also i see people complaining about the no photo dump this Friday they said it isn't a permanent thing that's being stopped its a one off, they have clearly been extremely fucking busy with tour aswell as their other shit , they are human they have lives they have a family , friends, their own brands , they need to eat and sleep like humans do , shower , clean their house , they may deal with health issues , mental health issues , they also get sick aswell like we all do and may need a day or two to rest from that like WE ALL FUCKING DO, they have meetings to go to , they go shopping like humans do , they are working on merch , booking hotels , sorting venues , idea planning, schedule making , video idea planning and filming and coming up with new content ideas isn't easy , they are probably packing for tour , management is probably on their backs aswell , and matt is also still working on his personal project and thats just the stuff we know of publicly, they live a fucking life , and yall forget that and it's annoying as fuck.

they aren't at our constant beck and call we aren't the only shit they have going on right now u don't know what's going on behind closed doors. they said they haven't done anything fun this week they have had meetings all week so the pictures they probably have taken are probably random selfies or of a meeting room or maybe a pic of a wall and paperwork and if they posted those pics as the photo dump yall would complain that the photos are boring so either way they can't win at anything they do lately. yall are complaining just to complain at this point.

they have had a hectic 5 years of constant posting constant filming constant planning constant GO GO GO they haven't stopped , don't forget their job doesn't end like a normal 9-5 they can't just walk out of work at the end of the day and relax once they get home they live it they wake up to 10000 of notifications and calls they go to sleep with their phone going mad from fans or management or staff or their brand workers or PR collabs , I have no doubt at all that they are grateful for the life they have but that doesn't mean it isn't extremely tiring cos they can't just stop they haven't took a break just for themselves and im sorry but they need to, haven't u guys noticed how tired they look how much they yawn or stumble over their words cos they clearly aren't getting enough sleep, they are working so hard on a tour so many of u guys begged them for , and also have faith that when they have finally stopped the constant work and running around that the content quality will go back to normal , so just stop complaining and maybe ask them " how are you guys really doing " or maybe just be a decent human and think for a minute they are still people like us with flesh , blood ,bones , troubles and busy schedules.

im so tired and upset seeing people dragging the name of 3 guys they apparently love i would never have ago at anyone I love even the tiniest bit the way some of u guys do to the triplets , it's ridiculous sorry for this long ass post but I've had enough and if u can't see that this constant hate is genuinly getting out of hand then maybe ur part of those that need to take a long hard look at the type of person u are , personally I'm grateful that they are healthy, happy and make me laugh whether they posted everyday of the year or once a year I don't care i love them for them not how much content they make if i want to watch them and they havent posted i go to any of the current 370 videos they do have available and watch one of those i don't take it to social media and nag them to post more, i want them to enjoy their life not have to work like mad just to keep ungrateful people quiet , I know of other content creators that post alot less than they do and I dont see half as much hate for them as I do towards the triplets , im sorry but alot of this fandom has become extremely toxic .they deserve alot more love than is being shown towards them rn , I'm done now but i had to say it .

[angels-hideaway]

Left Astray

p2! Pls go read part one as well🩷

a/n: I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG. I have an awful procrastination problem and I even tend to re write chapters I don’t like, which only prolongs my writing process. Anyways, I hope your wait was worth it, and thank you for the support!

cw: 18+, smut(doesn’t go that far) and that’s really it ig.

Thunder shakes the whole apartment, making it difficult for you to sleep. The last couple of days have been rough on you mentally. For some reason, you’ve been thinking about your mother and your family. Everything’s been triggering you lately, and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by Sevika.

So when you appear in her doorway at two am in the morning, she only grunts and pats the space on bed next to her.

“Nightmares again?” She questions. Not feeling like explaining yourself, you meekly nod in response. “S’okay…just stay here with me.”

Sevika likes moments like this. She likes feeling like you need her. Years of running around the undercity for a cause, only to be under appreciated, and harassed by Jinx. But helping you? It’s like it was all worth it. She kept putting up with Silco and Jinx’s bullshit for people like you.

“You know…if you don’t want to, you don’t have to move out so soon… I’m not here most of the day, so you’re free to stay longer.” That excuse was terrible, but she hopes you’ll believe her anyways. “Thanks Sevi..” That’s a new one. “S’no problem bunny rabbit.”

When you’re finally asleep again, Sevika gets up and lights a cigar. To make sure you don’t inhale any of her bad habits, she goes out on the balcony. Looking out at the twilight, Sevika starts to think. Does she really care about you, or is this all to fulfill some hero complex she has?

When you wake up, Sevika’s gone. She’s probably already at work. The bed smells like her, and a little bit of smoke. That’s when you remember: you slept in her bed. You feel hot. Had you cuddled her? You probably looked so pathetic, wanting someone to snuggle like some stupid kid.

You swing your legs over the side of her bed and get up, stepping in something soft. Looking down, you see a pile of her clothes. A tank top, boxers, and socks. What she always sleeps in. You lift the pile, and drop it into the hamper. All except the tank top. It smells like her too. Whiskey, and the distinct smell of cigar smoke.

The sky is unusually blue today. From Sevika’s balcony, you can see its natural color without any smoke in the way.

Sevika’s balcony has become a favorite spot of yours. Now, you’re sitting down in a folding chair enjoying a book she bought you the other day. A romance novel to be specific.

You’ve gotten more comfortable in your mind, and skin. Reading no longer opens an old wound like it used to, and you’re less jumpy. This doesn’t mean Sevika calling you “bunny rabbit” has ceased in the slightest. It’s grown on you.

Suddenly, a thought strikes you. Ever since you’ve gotten here, it’s always take out for dinner. Usually because Sevika gets home too late to cook anything, or maybe because she just doesn’t like to. So today, you’ll be cooking.

The whole idea is perfect… Surprising Sevika, your savior, with a nice, home cooked meal. Hopefully she’s impressed. The thought of her smile, and some words of gratitude make you all giddy. So you get to it. Sevika doesn’t have a lot of groceries in her house, but you find what you can.

Your final ingredient list comes out to some pasta, cheese, milk, butter, and a couple garlic cloves. You could make a nice sauce with these.

And so you do. Halfway through dinner, Sevika comes through the door. Shoot. You think. You really wanted to surprise her with the table set and the kitchen not a mess.

While you’re busy lost in your thoughts about how ruined the surprise is, a pair of arms snakes around your waist from behind. Sevika’s chin comes to rest on the top of your head. “What are you gettin up to? Making me dinner?” You continue to stir the pot like nothing out of the ordinary just happened.

“yes… it’s just-we always eat takeout so i just thought something homemade would be nice…”

“hmm…haven’t eaten anything homemade in a while..” Her voice sounds slightly distant… like home cooked meals mean something sentimental to her. She unhands you and turns towards her bedroom.

“I’m gonna go change into something not…covered in blood. Call me when dinners ready.” You look over your shoulder in surprise. You hadn’t even noticed the blood stains lingering her clothes, and the bruises on her arms and face.

When you’re sitting across from her eating, you notice more little scratches and cuts all over her.. She’s not acting hurt or upset at all though. Just eating quietly. “Uhm…what happened to you?” You question. Her eyes look up to meet yours and she shrugs. “Ran into someone today… I don’t know where you were a couple years ago, but Vanders girl.. the older one.”

She’s back? You kind of forgot about her after everything that went down… “And you fought with her?” Sevika seems a little frustrated now. “Correction, she jumped me. In the middle of a game too. Just as I won, I get pummeled across the cheek. Damn brat…”

You can’t help your curiosity. “Where’d she go?” Sevika runs a hand through her hair “Hell if I know.. she ran away with some enforcer shootin at me…” “oh wow…” is all you can say in response. You examine her face a little more, and before you know it you speak again. “Do you want me to help?”

“Help with what, bunny?” She raises her eyebrow at you. “Uhm.. with your injuries. You have a first aid, right?” She nods. “If you really want to help I won’t stop you.”

“Hold still..” You press the alcohol soaked cotton ball to a scratch on her cheek. “It stings..” she keeps flinching and turning away. “I know but I gotta clean them! You lean forward in an effort to reach her better. “Just stay still…” Sevika then chuckles. Her hand finds its way to the top of your head and she messes with your hair. “ I feel so special. My very own personal nurse.” The way she’s looking at you makes your heart flutter.

“yeah uh.. I guess I am!” Sevika suddenly pushes against you and sits up, gently holding your wrist to stop you from tending to her. “You have no clue the affect you’ve had on me, bunny. If not for you, I’d probably be smoking a blunt and getting drunk off my ass.” You can’t speak. She’s so close.

“I want to do something to return that” She sounds so sincere. Your voice returns “letting me live here is really enough! Cooking for you and helping you out is just thanks for that.” She shakes her head. “Maybe, but I feel like you’ve done more for me than I have for you.” A silence fills the small space between you. Sevika’s grip on your wrist tightens slightly. She lowers you down slowly, pinning you down by the wrists. “Uhm.. so do you need help with another bruise? Or..”

She kisses you. You’re caught off guard even though you expected it. you don’t resist though, and kiss her back. She’s holding your wrist above your head while her mechanical arm holds you tight against her. “Sev..” is all you can get out when you part before she kisses you again.

After around five minutes of just making out, she finally stops. The both of you are catching your breath. “Such a pretty girl…” Sevika murmurs affectionately, brushing a stray piece of hair from your face. “You’re not moving out any time soon baby.” You’re in Sevika’s bed again that night. Not because of any nightmare, but because she carried you here right after you finished patching her up. She’s lying on top of you, human hand caressing your cheek, mech hand lifting your shirt. She’s kissing you slowly, occasionally opening her eye’s to look at you.

“So pretty…wanna make you mine…” her lips trail down to your neck, sucking on the skin and leaving it a dark purplish-red color. “Sev…” is all you manage to say before she latches onto your right nipple. A whine slips from your lips, and her eyes meet yours. An almost mischievous glint appears in her eyes. She has experience with this. You remember your conversation about the brothel.

She shows your other breast some attention before lowering herself between your legs. “Sev?” She stopped moving. She looks back at you with a concerned look on her face. “Are you…okay with this?” You nod. “Sorry…I shouldn’t have.” She gets up and puts a cigar between her lips, looking for a lighter.

“We don’t have to stop… I wanna keep going.” She looks back at you with the unlit cigar hanging from those lips you wanted back so badly. “It just…feels wrong. You’re vulnerable, and I don’t want to take advantage of that.”

“you’re not! I love you too..” “Don’t say that…” She sighs, and sits back down on the bed. “I never had time for an actual relationship with anyone..I want to do this right for you. Not just casual sex like I’m used to.” You sit up, pulling your shirt down and leaning on her shoulder. “I haven’t had a lot of relationships either. Being homeless never gave me a lot of free time.”

She chuckles and pulls you closer. “Guess we’re both just figurin’ things out huh? We’ll just figure it out together.” You sleep in her arms that night. Things didn’t go any further, but you couldn’t be happier.

Sevika, meanwhile, was feeling conflicted. Is she just taking advantage of the fact that you look up to her so much? She’s not good when it comes to love. So how can she be genuine for you? Maybe this is all some fantasy she has, and once she sleeps with you she’ll stop caring.

Sevika was even surprised with herself. She knew she’d had some commitment issues, but she didn’t know it’d be this bad. She’s terrified to commit, because what if what she has with you isn’t even real love? What if it’s only lust?

“Sev?” Your sleepy voice snaps her out of it. “Uh- yeah?” She looks towards you. “I love you.” She sighs. “I love you too.” Sevika almost feels bad. She sees how your eyes shine when they look at her, or every attempt from you to gain her approval. She wants to love you just as much. All she knows is that she would give her life for you. The beacon of light in her dreary life.

Maybe she can love you.

just as much.

Not sure if you guys wanted to be tagged, but I wanted y’all to know my slow ass finally posted part two

@lift-heavy-be-gay @adora-moonshine

[naughtyneganjdm]

Christmas in Jackson - Chapter 6

Summary: Tommy visits with Y/N and asks her not to give up on Joel just yet. Attempting to get Joel's attention, Y/N does something to make a fool of herself, but it does indeed get Joel's attention.

Characters: Joel Miller, the reader (OC), Tommy Miller, etc.

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61159651/chapters/159622975

Warnings: Swearing, Angst, Making Out, Severely Touch Starved Joel, Naked Cuddling (kinda), some light breast play, etc.

Notes: I promise to update this faster now. Thank you to everyone that actually took the time to comment on the last chapter. It made me feel much better about things. I can't tell you how much even a small comment helps! If you'd like to read previous chapters, check them out here.

Last night? It was nothing like the night before. Falling asleep was hard. All Y/N could think about was Joel. What was sad was that this was a man that she had only known for a few days. Yet? The things he said to her and the way he acted? It affected her more than she expected it to. There was a reason Joel hid behind this mean and cold exterior and she realized that. But it also didn’t stop her from being upset by the things that he said to her.

Her day spent with Joel was incredible. It was different than what she was used to and it was something she very much enjoyed. When she was cuddled up in bed with Joel, he felt like someone she had known for a lifetime. No one had ever made her relax and feel as safe with them as Joel had that night. Unfortunately that feeling was short lived because of the things he had said to her before he left her last night. 

Most of the night was sleepless for her with her lying awake thinking about everything Joel said about her. In a way, he wasn’t wrong. She was looking for something to prove that life was still worth living. For so long she had been missing that one thing to keep fighting for. Maybe she was clinging onto Joel too quickly and it would be hard for someone like him to handle.

A lot of her sleep was broken and by the time she officially woke up early in the morning, she decided to pack her things. It wasn’t like she had much to begin with, so that didn’t make it hard for her to do. Tommy had requested her to give him twenty-four hours’ notice when she was leaving so she went downstairs to registration. When she got there it was someone she had yet to meet, so she just left Tommy a note about how she would be leaving tomorrow. She hadn’t gotten a plane ticket yet, but she was sure that she could get something out of town. Even if it took a few flights to get back home.

There was a lot of pent-up energy that she had lingering inside of her, so she threw something relaxed on and went downstairs to the gym area of the inn. Thankfully, no one was down there. It wasn’t the biggest gym she had ever seen in a hotel. In fact, it was very small, but it also had a room connected to it that was around the same size with two mini inground hot tubs in it. It was cozy and quaint for her. For someone else it may have not been enough. Deep down she wondered if many of the guests really ever came down here. It was way too clean in her opinion and the whole time she was down there, no one ever joined her.

With how unbusy this place was, she was getting the hint that there weren’t a lot of guests that were staying there right now. And if they were? It was only to have a place to sleep so they could spend the rest of the day with their family. She was probably the one person that spent this much time in the inn. Then again, that’s what most people did on trips. Took an adventure around the places they were vacationing. Most of them weren’t like her, spending most of their time trapped up inside. 

Although, this place still seemed to get its money from the restaurant and bar that it had. It was smart adding those to the inn. It made sure that they always had a steady income, even on the days where it wasn’t busy at the inn.

God, that’s how boring she was. With the extra time she had while working out, she was thinking about how Tommy and Joel could afford to keep this place running. And truthfully, the rest of her day wasn’t going to be any more interesting. The plans for today were to finish her workout, take a shower, sit down hopefully to find a plane ticket home, get something to eat and then go to bed early. So that way she would be prepared for the full day of traveling she had ahead of her.

Right now she was finishing up her run on one of the two treadmills that they had in the small gym at the inn. To stay focused, she put in her noise cancelling earphones and worked to get out all of that negative energy that she had building up inside of her throughout the night. This was better than letting her intrusive thoughts eat away at her all day with the things that Joel had said to her lingering inside of her mind.

A small amount of movement out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. It wasn’t anything too big, but she could see it in the mirror paneled wall that was beside her. Taking a quick look over her shoulder she realized that someone was sitting on the lifting bench that was at the center of the room and it startled her, “Fucking hell!”

Immediately, the person that was sitting there jumped and toppled backwards onto the floor hitting it hard. Their legs were still hanging over the side of the lifting bench and it had her reaching out to quickly hit the stop button on the treadmill. Hopping down from it, she pulled her earphones out hearing the pained sound flooding the air. Shoving her earphones into her pocket, she moved over toward the center of the room to see that it was Tommy staring up at her from the ground. Helping him to unhook his legs from the bench, she did her best to allow him time to unhurriedly pull himself up from the floor.

“Tommy? What the hell were you doing?” she wrapped her arm around him, helping him to get to his feet. A grunt escaped him as she motioned him to take a seat on the bench again. There was a vibrant red color that flooded into his face expressing how embarrassed he was over the whole situation. “Were you trying to give me a heart attack?”

“No, it was quite the opposite actually. I actually came down here and started talking to you. Didn’t understand why you weren’t responding. Then I saw them earphones you were wearing and realized you couldn’t hear a word of it,” Tommy informed her, throwing his hand up in the direction that she had been running on the treadmill. “Since I didn’t want to scare you, I sat down here and waited until you were done. Clearly that was a mistake because not only did I scare you, but you also startled the hell out of me because I was looking at my phone when you yelled.”

An amused chuckle escaped her drawing out even more color from Tommy. Covering her mouth with her hand, her intentions were not to embarrass him, but she couldn’t help but laugh with the situation. Something in Tommy’s eyes changed when he realized he no longer had his phone. Spotting it on the floor, Tommy grunted and stretched out his body in attempts to grab a hold of it. Really he should have just gotten up from the bench since it was just a little too far out of his reach, but he was being stubborn dragging it toward him with just his fingertips. Once he got a hold of it, he pulled himself back up into the seated position he was in before.

“I wanted to talk to you,” Tommy explained, shoving his phone into the pocket of the jacket that he was wearing. Searching for something else in another one of his pockets, Tommy pulled something out to reveal the note that she had left for him earlier. Waving it about had her looking away from him. “What’s this Y/N?”

“The twenty-four-hour notice that you asked for,” she thought it was fairly obvious what the note was and the look that Tommy gave her showed her that he realized that. “When I came here you asked me to tell you when I was leaving and I’m telling you. I’m going to hopefully get a plane home tomorrow.”

“You can’t do that,” Tommy exclaimed, shaking his head repeatedly. Even though she didn’t mean to, a scoff fell from her throat. Folding her arms out in front of her chest, she waited for Tommy’s explanation. “I’m not trying to tell you what you can and cannot do. There is just a storm that is starting tonight and it’s supposed to last for three days. If you don’t believe me, you can look on your phone with your weather app. I promise you no plane is gonna wanna be flying out of Jackson with how the weather is gonna be.”

Hearing that had the color draining from her face. Doing as he suggested, she pulled her phone out from her pocket and confirmed exactly what he was telling her. Frustration flooded her veins. Well, now she was stuck here and her original plans would not work. By how upset she was about the information, Tommy could sense that she was completely determined to leave tomorrow which worried him.

“While we’re also on the topic of reasons why you shouldn’t leave,” Tommy sounded nervous in the way he started to speak up again. Standing slowly from the bench, he winced when there was a tug in his back. Something ached from the fall he took earlier. Because she was a doctor, he could see the look on her face immediately changing when he started to rub at his lower back. “I’m fine.”

“Do you need me to look at you?” she offered since it was technically her fault that he fell and that kind of thing was also her job.

“I’m already ashamed enough as it is,” Tommy half smiled, shaking his head at the offer. Falling was enough to make him feel like an idiot, but if he hurt himself from falling? That would only make it worse. “I’ll be fine. I just need to stretch it out.”

Brushing his fingers through his long hair, Tommy focused on looking normal not wanting to feel foolish about hurting himself like he did, “Tomorrow, with the snow, Joel and I are going with Maria’s family to one of the local resorts. Some friends are coming too. We were looking to spend the day there. People typically have fun going there and I wanted to ask you if you’d come with us. You’d get to see one of the biggest draws of Jackson.”

“That’s not going to work,” she rejected his offer, her hands dropping down at her sides. While it was nice that he was trying to include her in something again, there was no way that it would actually happen. “Because I’m afraid of heights and I don’t like skiing.”

“I remember you saying that,” Tommy seemed persistent with whatever he was about to continue on with. “But this resort? It’s huge. And it’s not just skiing. Maria is still coming with us because there are other things to do. With her being pregnant, you know I wouldn’t let her ski. That would just be stupid. Skiing and snowboarding are only some of the things that you can do. They have this winter coaster that is there which is really cool. Gondola rides. Tubing. Places to eat and just hang out. Maria and I have talked it out. We want you there with us.” 

“Tommy, you know how much I like the both of you,” she started, guilt eating away at her with the idea that she was sticking to her decision with it being no, “but Joel? He wants nothing to do with me. So, while I appreciate the offer, I’m going to have to turn you down. Because that makes this whole thing kind of impossible.”

“I see,” Tommy frowned, folding his arms out in front of his chest. Instead of just accepting her answer, he took a moment to think things out and sighed loudly. “I was kinda hoping that he spent the night with you here.”

“You haven’t talked to him?” she was bewildered to hear that, her chest aching when she thought about the night before. With a single shake of his head Tommy answered the question for her. Tommy’s Adam’s apple bounced in his throat and he lowered his head. Emotions were still flooding over from last night into this morning. And she didn’t blame Tommy for being upset. “I take it he’s not here?”

“He had today off,” Tommy replied back, his body language suddenly becoming very uncomfortable. “He always takes this day off every week. But I assumed that the two of you were still together after everything last night.”

“No, your brother and I didn’t spend much longer together after you last had seen us,” she enlightened Tommy to the fact that they split ways not long after leaving the bar. “He walked me to the inn and let me know that I was just a stranger that meant nothing to him. A stranger he really didn’t like much to begin with.”

“So that’s why you left me this,” Tommy suddenly understood why she had decided to go home and leave the note for him. Pushing the note back into his pocket he could see that she was uncomfortable talking about Joel. “You can’t take that to heart. He didn’t mean it. I’ve seen you with my brother and you bring out something I haven’t seen in him in a very long time.”

“Severe anger?” she let out a hesitant laugh, her body tensing up when she considered all the times Joel had slung personal attacks at her since she had gotten here. Tommy lowered back down onto the bench and stared up at her with his big brown eyes. “Tommy, your brother doesn’t like me. I was just the first person to show interest in him and he confused being sex deprived with something more.”

“Now if Joel said that, that’s just him being an asshole to try to push you away,” Tommy insisted with a loud sigh, burying his head into his hand disappointed that his brother would even say something like that. “My brother does everything he can to push people away. He doesn’t think he deserves to be happy and when someone starts to make him feel good, he always sabotages himself. It’s just…it’s who he is.”

“He said a lot of awful things last night before leaving me here,” she claimed, letting Tommy in on what happened. “I realize you think something positive was going on between us, but it was a fluke. Just like Joel said. Your brother said he wasn’t emotionally capable of being with me. Or doing…whatever we were doing.”

“Y’know what? How about the two of us go upstairs? We can grab some cider and donuts for us. Maybe we can go up to your room and talk for a while?” Tommy offered, his jaw flexing realizing that it was a lot to ask from someone who didn’t even know him for that long.

“If you and your family keep giving me free things you are going to go out of business,” she considered after all the gifts that his family had been giving her over the last few days. “While I appreciate it, I’m the last person that needs free things.”

“I doubt that, but…” Tommy stood up, brushing his hands off on his pants when he did it. “We actually give people free cider and donuts every morning during the winter. So, it’s not really me giving you anything that we wouldn’t normally give our guests.”

“Oh,” her face flushed over with color, embarrassment flooding into her features. “Then yeah. We can do that.”

Waving him forward, she followed Tommy up the stairs where they grabbed themselves something and headed up toward her room. When they got in, she motioned him to take a seat on the couch and she sat down at the opposite end. Both of them were quiet and it seemed like they were both waiting for the other one to talk.

“Something happened after you told Joel that you and Maria were having a baby,” she blurt out feeling embarrassed with the way that Tommy gazed over at her. “Joel told me that it was none of my business, but I know that the way he reacted was not normal. I wanted to apologize for him, but Joel was right. I have only been here for a few days and I can’t step into a family situation that I know nothing about.”

“I know why my brother reacted the way he did,” Tommy paused to consider and think what he was going to tell her. “I just was hoping that he would have a different reaction to it than he actually did. Sadly, the way he responded was the way that I thought he would. That’s why I didn’t want to tell anyone about the baby until after the holidays. I knew that he wouldn’t respond in a positive way.”

“That’s not normal Tommy,” she decided after taking some time to think about what Tommy said. Even though she liked Joel, that was an asshole way to respond to the fact that your brother was going to have a baby with the woman that he loved. “People don’t usually act like that.”

“My family isn’t…normal,” Tommy frowned, setting the cup of cider that he had down on one of the coasters that was set up on the coffee table. Shoving the rest of the donut that he had into his mouth, it was then that he realized the bite was probably too big. With big eyes, Y/N smirked as he chewed very uncomfortably showing that he was stressed. With a loud swallow, Tommy grunted and she took a tiny sip of her cider. “Trust me, if you knew things…you would understand.”

“Are these things I’m not allowed to know?” she was curious what these things were. It wasn’t the first time she heard about negative things toward Joel.

“I can’t tell you because they aren’t my life experiences to share. I was part of them, but if I told you and Joel found out,” Tommy paused, sucking in a sharp breath of air, shaking his head at the idea of Joel being angry with him. “He wouldn’t want me to tell anyone. When we moved here, Joel wanted to leave his past behind. But the problem is? Joel’s past defines who he is completely. Joel never truly left his past behind.”

What could she say to that? There were no hints as to what was part of Joel’s past or why Joel was acting the way he was. It was just something that Tommy expected from him.

“My brother is a good man. I know that it may not seem like that, but Joel is and has always been a very good man. He was always putting others before himself. Especially when it came to me. Joel has been taking care of me my whole life,” Tommy expressed to her, placing his hand in over the center of his chest to show sincerity in what he was saying. “Joel had to take care of me, even when we were kids. Joel had to grow up fast and I took a very long time to grow up. And that was hard on Joel. Our parents passed away when we were young and Joel had to raise me. I made a lot of mistakes growing up and he was there to deal with what came afterwards.”

“That doesn’t sound like you,” she had a hard time believing that because Tommy seemed like such a straight laced overall good guy.

“I had a hard time finding my place when I was young,” Tommy admitted, thinking back on his younger years. “I wanted to save the world. I just didn’t realize the toll that it would take on me and the ones I loved. I am the way that I am now because I found love again. But Joel? Joel has suffered through so much pain. More pain than a man should have to endure. And I’m surprised he survived because I don’t know if I would have.”

Hearing that broke her heart, but she didn’t know how she could possibly help Joel or even begin to understand if Tommy wouldn’t tell her, “Joel was happy for a while. Even though he went through a lot there was one thing in his life that balanced him. Made him realize life was special and worth living. And then something terrible happened. And since then? My brother has been a broken man. It wasn’t until you came around that I saw any sense of happiness in my brother.”

A silence followed with the lump in her throat growing bigger. Guilt was growing inside of her and her throat felt dry the further she thought about what Tommy was saying.

“That’s why I’m here begging you to give Joel a chance,” Tommy pled with her, holding his hands together in a way that made him feel pathetic with his face growing hot. “I know it’s been only a few days, but I think you feel it too. I see the way the two of you look at one another. Something happened between the two of you that just clicked. And while my brother is putting up a wall to protect himself and everyone else, he’s hurting himself in return. You? You I think are the only person capable of letting my brother be happy again.”

“Tommy, I’m just a stranger,” she recalled what Joel had said, her body tense when she took in all the information that Tommy was giving her.

“Are you though?” Tommy retorted, his head tipping from side to side with his dark eyes narrowing. “I know that it’s only been a few days, but the things we’ve talked about? I think you’re more comfortable with my family than you are pretty much anyone else. Don’t you?”

“Well, yeah,” she waved her hand about knowing that statement to be true. A big part of her life she kept secret for a reason, but she was very open with the Miller family about her past. “But I can’t help Joel if he doesn’t want to be around me. Yes, I like your brother…”

“Obviously,” Tommy added with a bounce of his eyebrows that brought some color into her face. There were some positions that Tommy had caught her in that she wasn’t very proud of. “Honey, anyone with eyes can see that when the two of you are together, there are sparks.”

“I just don’t know how to be around your brother if he keeps pushing me away and wants to be mean,” she defended her thoughts with Tommy exhaling loudly. “Yesterday was amazing. I don’t remember the last time I was that comfortable with someone Tommy. And then he just turned hateful all over again. With the snap of his fingers, the sweet guy that was eager to take care of me was shitting all over me. Metaphorically speaking.”

“I know that and I’m sorry he’s like that,” Tommy apologized, but she didn’t think that was fair for him to have to do for Joel so she lifted her hands to stop him from going any further.

“Tommy, you’re his brother and when you told him that you were going to be a father—his reaction? It was very poor,” she recognized that the negative behavior went way beyond the things that were going on with her. “If that’s the way he responds to being an uncle…?”

“Listen, I wish I could tell you, but I promise you it makes sense even if you don’t think it would,” Tommy reasoned with her, wincing at the idea of what Joel had done the night before. “My brother will come around eventually. It’s just going to take time. I was unfortunately very drunk last night so I was emotional and didn’t understand his response. I was also hopeful with you around that maybe he wouldn’t be like that.”

“How would you respond to someone who was saying what you are to me?” she pushed Tommy for answers since she didn’t know what Tommy wanted her to say.

“I would think they were nuts,” Tommy knew that this was a lot, but he shrugged his shoulders and sighed loudly. “But I think you’re the one thing that can save my brother from himself. And I know he likes you. I see it in the way that he looks at you. I haven’t seen my brother look that way in a very long time. It was nice to see that part of him again.”

“How can I save someone when I’m barely holding on myself?” she lowered her head, her throat tensing up with her admitting to Tommy that she may have not had the strength to do what he wanted of her. “Joel told me he wasn’t emotionally capable of being the person to help me get to be where I needed to be. You know I’m not right Tommy.”

“You and my brother are so much alike,” Tommy reached out to place his hands in over hers in a friendly manner to show her support. “I’m just asking you to try for just a while longer with him. I think there is something there between the two of you. And I think he can help you just as much as you could help him.”

Biting back on her lip, she felt emotional but she didn’t know why. Just giving Tommy a small nod, she pat her hand in over his and shrugged, “So do you agree to staying here for a little while longer? You’ll join us tomorrow?”

“Tommy, I don’t think I would have a choice either way with leaving,” she pointed to her phone reminding him that there was a snowstorm coming that was dangerous as it was. “I hate flying to begin with and the last thing I want to do is fly in a snowstorm like the one that is coming to this town. So I’m here whether I want to be or not.”

“While that’s true…” Tommy started, sucking in a sharp breath of air, “Something tells me that my brother is one of the things that is making you want to stay.”

Yes and no. Because his brother was the main reason she wanted to leave this morning too.

“I’ll go work on something downstairs for a few. How about you get dressed in something warm and meet me in about thirty minutes at the front. I want to show you something,” Tommy instructed her with a curious expression flooding out over her features. “Trust me.”

She didn’t know why, but she listened to Tommy. Allowing him to leave her room, she cleaned up enough and wore something warm. When he asked her to meet him, she was there and he was already waiting for her.

“So,” she noticed that they were quiet while walking wherever Tommy was taking her. “Were you hoping you would have a daughter or a son?”

“I reckon I’d be happy with either,” Tommy confessed with a weak smile, his head tipping to the side slightly so he could stare out at her when they walked. “I never thought I’d be a dad so it’s all very exciting for me. But also horrifying at the same time.”

“I think you two are going to make great parents,” she decided in an assuring tone hoping to stress to Tommy that everything would be okay. “I have only known you a few days and I can tell with how you treat me you’re going to be great parents.”

“You’re a bit different than a screaming baby,” Tommy teased her with a wrinkle of his nose getting her to smile.

“Well, that depends on the day,” she joked back, nudging him playfully with her arm liking that the banter between them was still innocent and sincere.

“If things don’t work out,” Tommy was quiet in the way he began speaking to her again, his face twisting with contemplation if he should say what he was about to. “If you and my brother have issues, Maria and I really like you. We’d like to keep in contact with you if you don’t mind.”

“Wouldn’t I be biased then when I left my review of the place? Being friends with the owners and all,” she smirked, amused that really the only people she managed to speak to and get close to were the owners of the inn she was staying at. The laugh Tommy let out seemed uncomfortable and amused at the same time. “I’m just screwing with you. Of course. Truthfully? I like the two of you more than most people I know.”

“That’s good,” Tommy noted with a half-smile, “because with my brother I almost assumed you would leave a shitty review of the place.”

“You level things out,” she promised, reaching out to pat at the center of his shoulders provoking Tommy to let out a deep rumble of laughter. “Although, I do have to wonder where you are taking me because I’m fucking freezing with this wind.”

“Just a few more steps,” Tommy motioned ahead of them, grabbing her to stop her when they stepped in front of a storefront. “Look into that window right there.”

“’Where are we?” she went to look up at what the store was, but Tommy instead just pushed her carefully forward toward the window. Doing as she was instructed, she leaned in trying to gaze through the window that was reflecting too much light from the outside with how bright it was. When her eyes adjusted she could see that Joel was sitting with a group of kids. They all had acoustic guitars and it was evident that Joel was attempting to teach them how to play. “You wanted me to see this?”

“My brother is a good man,” Tommy insisted, moving in beside her to watch Joel set his guitar down to head over toward one of the children that were in his class to help adjust their fingers to play. “Little rough around the edges, but his heart is good. It’s just hard for him to believe that he deserves any sort of happiness in his life. The man would give you the shirt off his back even if it was the last thing that he had. He’s just severely protective of those he loves but also good at self-sabotaging himself because he’s not used to having something good in his life.”

“You’re really trying to hook me and your brother up,” she noticed how hard Tommy was pushing her to see the good in Joel. “You realize that, right?”

“Actually, I was furious with my brother yesterday morning when he walked out of your room because I thought he made a mistake that was fueled by alcohol,” Tommy thought back to when he found Joel leaving Y/N’s suite. “Now I know there is something more. You bring out something in him and as his little brother? I just want to see him happy.”

Not wanting to embarrass or upset Joel, they didn’t stay too long. Both her and Tommy had lunch together where instead of focusing on Joel, they just got to know each other better as friends. And after they did? She went back to the inn and got cleaned up. A lot of what they talked about weighed heavy on her. The fact that all she could do was think about Joel Miller told her that there was something inside of her that longed for him. She hadn’t felt this way about someone in a very long time.

There was something that struck realization into her while she lounged around her room all day. The conversation she had with Joel the night before when they were alone together in that hallway. They made plans for something that was very unlikely to happen tonight. Something dirty. But considering this town was small and Joel had been at The Tipsy Bison every day she had been there so far? She might have been lucky and he’d be there again.

Getting ready, she knew that this was ridiculous, but she pulled out the only dress she brought with her which was a tight-fitting black dress that was something in the past she would have worn to a club to get attention. It was freezing outside, so this was definitely a decision that might have been a bad one. But she didn’t care. Putting on her heavy coat that she had bought in town here over the dress felt strange. It wasn’t a long walk, but damn did she regret wearing this as soon as she stepped outside. Admittedly? Usually she wouldn’t rush, but since it was already snowing, the walk to The Tipsy Bison was rather quick, kickstarting her heart to race. By the time she reached the bar, once she entered she almost regretted it. This was a stupid idea.

People were staring at her when she entered. And she didn’t blame them. She had dressed up nice, done her make up and was out to impress if she had spotted Joel Miller. There was a sense of disappointment that flooded her veins when she looked to the table that Joel had mentioned to her the night before. It was empty. Maybe she should have just left.

That was when she took another look at the bar and felt a rush flood through her veins realizing that Joel was slouched over at the end of the bar holding onto a glass that she assumed had whiskey in it. Clearing her throat, she confidently pulled the material from her jacket down her body. Doing so immediately drew the attention of the bartender that was at the time pouring Joel’s drink. Folding her coat over her arm, she stood there for a moment longer. Noticing that the bartender must have been gawking, Joel turned on his seat with his brown eyes growing big when he saw her standing there in the dress. Making sure to lock eyes with Joel, she gave him an emotionless expression before heading over toward the booth that he had mentioned.

Taking a seat, she waited. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Joel’s face was scrunching up in confusion with what she was doing. But pretty quickly the bartender that had ignored her the previous days was stumbling through the bar eager to come over to get a drink order from her. Not wanting to make an ass of herself, she ordered a juice because the last thing she wanted to do was get drunk and end up home with the wrong person.

Pulling out her phone, she acted like she was checking something, but out of her peripherals was watching Joel’s reaction toward her. What was disappointing is that he didn’t get up. He just turned around back toward the bar, but every so often he would look over his shoulder at her to see what she was doing.

Mostly she was getting the stares from men that she didn’t want to get the attention of. Especially the one that Joel had terrified the night before. Considering no one was coming up to her, Joel was likely right. That guy was a big mouth and let everyone know what Joel said so people were too afraid to go over to her.

When she got her drink, she noticed that Joel was staring at her again over his shoulder and she teasingly stroked her fingers at the glass that was before her. Eventually Joel smirked, shook his head and turned away from her again.

“Wow,” she muttered under her breath starting to feel embarrassed at just how much she was failing in this situation. With how desperately Joel spoke to her yesterday about the scenario they set up, she thought doing what he had told her last night would have drawn him to her. The dress she was wearing was tight, clinging to her every curve. She was wearing something with a skirt just like he had asked her to. Seeing him blow her off like that just made her know how stupid this really was. Huffing out, she slid out from the booth and started to put her jacket on again.

Grabbing her juice, she headed over toward the bar hearing a crashing sound with how quickly the bartender came over toward her as she stepped in beside Joel who tensed up with her near. It was interesting how quickly this bartender went from ignoring her the first day to falling over himself to get to her.

“Something wrong with your drink?” the bartender wondered with her slamming the glass down in front of Joel who stiffened beside her, his back straightening when he tipped his head just enough to look back at her. His eyebrows bounced up and they locked eyes. “Can I get you something else?”

“No, I’m leaving, but he can have this,” she declared, sliding the drink in closer to Joel whose dark eyes narrowed when she leaned in closer to him. More than anything she wanted to lash out at him, but she knew that she couldn’t and shouldn’t in front of these people. “Enjoy the drink.”

“Yes ma’am,” Joel spoke quietly, his expression barely changing only infuriating her more. She felt the eyes of the people around them watching and she had to have looked ridiculous. Frowning, she shook her head and turned on her heel heading to leave.

“This was so dumb,” she confessed once she reached the outside, cussing out when she almost slid because of the snow that had started to fall. Noticing that town square was close to empty, instead of heading directly back to the inn she went across the street to see the tree. Whenever things were hard for her in New York City she would go to the Rockefeller tree and she would find some kind of inspiration there. So she was hoping the tree here would have the same kind of effect for her too. Tommy begged her to stay for Joel, but with the way Joel responded to her, she felt like that was a stupid decision. Once she reached the tree, the heavy amounts of snow caught her foot causing her to slip and fall back into the snow. Thankfully there was enough snow to catch her fall causing her to let out a frustrated laugh. “You have to be fucking kidding me.”

Staring up toward the sky, she didn’t have the will power to get up right now. So she just stayed there with her heart pounding inside of her chest. It was freezing and she’d likely make herself sick, but she was fed up with everything right now. There was a burning at her cheeks from the wind and a prickling sensation in her legs from being bare and laying in the snow. Yeah, she certainly succeeded in making herself out to be an idiot tonight.

The sound of the snow crunching under someone’s footsteps was heard, but she didn’t bother to look. A moment later, Joel’s curious brown eyes were staring down at her. His right eyebrow arched, the crease at the bridge of his nose growing deeper.

“What in God’s name are you doing?” Joel asked, his southern drawl raspier than normal when he tipped his head slightly. Having Joel standing over her like that did feel ridiculous, but she couldn’t find herself thinking of an answer fast enough.

“I’m making snow angels. Isn’t that obvious?” she waved her arms about causing Joel to smirk at her antics. With a slow nod, Joel looked around the area before carefully lowering down in beside her in the snow. Astonishment flooded her body with her turning her head to the side to see that Joel was looking up into the sky like she had been. “What are you doing?”

“Well if people see you like that, they are going to think you’re crazy,” Joel alerted her, turning his head slightly to lock eyes with her. “So this way? They’ll think we’re crazy together.”

Hearing that had her heart skipping a beat. Returning her stare back to the sky above them, she could tell that Joel was getting more comfortable beside her in the snow. Resting his hands in over her abdomen while he laid there, Joel kept quiet. 

“You fell, didn’t you?” Joel asked simply causing her to let out a tremoring exhale.

“Yes. Yes I did,” she was honest, hearing the tiny chuckle from Joel. If she wasn’t freezing her ass off right now, she might have found this funny too.

Silence returned and it started to feel uncomfortable so she decided to break it, “I saw you earlier.”

“And I saw you earlier,” Joel countered, confusing her in that moment because she was fairly certain that he hadn’t seen her and Tommy watching him teach those children. “The performance was a bit dramatic if you ask me.”

“Thank you, but I wasn’t talking about that,” she scoffed when she understood that he was talking about what just happened in the bar with them together moments earlier. “I was actually talking about earlier today. You teaching those children how to play the guitar. It was cute.”

“Hmmm…” Joel hummed, his jaw flexing with her confession to him. His eyelashes fluttered when he turned his head to look out at her again. Originally, she thought he might have been embarrassed, but he didn’t seem to mind. “I told you sometimes I could be really cute.”

“And sometimes you can be a huge asshole,” she was short with him having him nod his head as if he agreed with her. Instead of fighting back with her, he just took her comment with a grain of salt. “You should teach me how to play before I leave.”

“This world?” Joel spouted off eliciting her to push up onto her hands to stare out at him. Mirroring her, Joel sat up in the snow and held his hand out to direct her attention to what she was wearing. “Because if you lay in the snow much longer like that I can’t do much of anything.”

Well, he wasn’t wrong. By now, she couldn’t feel much of anything with her legs and she knew that was a bad thing. Tommy told her that there was going to be a storm tonight. She should have realized wearing this dress would be a bad idea. Even if it wasn’t much of a walk from the inn to the bar that the Miller family often attended.

“My legs are numb,” she admitted with a frown eliciting a low rumble of a groan from Joel. Watching him digging into the inside of his jacket, she knew that he was right. She needed to get out of this snow. Digging something out of his jacket, Joel motioned her forward and she gave him an odd expression. “What?”

“Don’t be stubborn,” Joel instructed, reaching out to pull his winter hat down in over her head. After that, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick pair of work gloves. A rush of embarrassment flooded through her with Joel gesturing her to hold her hands up. Doing as she was told, Joel pulled the gloves down over her hands making sure that they would stay. Right now she felt like a child that was being taken care of. Tugging her jacket together better, Joel grunted and repositioned himself. “Hold tight.”

“To what?” she gasped out with Joel hooking his arms under her firmly lifting her up from the snow. Not wanting to fall, she was quick to wrap her arms around the back of Joel’s neck with him readjusting her in his arms when he got to his feet. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Your legs are numb,” Joel reminded her nodding over toward her legs that sincerely did ache. Resting her head in against Joel’s shoulder, she was amazed with how strong he genuinely was. By the time that he was carrying her out of town square, Joel was right. People were looking at them like they were insane.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked noticing that they were headed in the opposite direction of the inn. Grunting, Joel adjusted her in his arms in a way that seemed to be more comfortable for him. “Joel?!”

“You need to warm up properly. And considering you pulled this stunt in an attempt to impress me, I’m taking you to my home. It’s not that far away,” Joel responded, his southern accent growing stronger while he continued down the street in the direction of the homes that were in Jackson. “We’ll get you into proper clothes, sit you down in front of the fireplace to warm up and I’ll get something warm into you.”

Pausing to consider what he just had said had her snickering against the side of his neck and he huffed, “Be mature for ten seconds. You know I mean a drink.”

“Suddenly you care?” she tried to gather herself from continuing to tease Joel. Yeah, it was immature, but the things that Joel had said to her yesterday had eaten away at her all night and into today. Honestly? She knew she shouldn’t have been complaining because her legs ached and she wondered if she would have even been able to walk back to the inn with how sore she was. Tipping her head back enough, there was an amused expression over Joel’s features and it made her frown. “I’m just saying. Yesterday you weren’t very nice to me.”

“What did you say I was occasionally? An asshole?” Joel confirmed with her, his breathing creating a visible mist in the air with how cold it actually was. Giving him a tiny nod, she curled her arms tighter around him with him turning another corner. “It’s more than occasionally. But I’m also on occasion a gentleman.”

Even though she wanted to fight him, she truthfully liked being in his arms and just lowered her head again. They were quiet when he made it to a home that she assumed was his with his last name painted on the mailbox. Moving up the steps to the walkway that led to his home, Joel’s face scrunched up and he laughed, “Although, I do have to ask you. You’re a smart person. What led you to think it was smart wearing this in this kind of temperature?”

“I uh…” she clung tighter to Joel with him moving up the steps to his home. When he reached the door, Joel carefully lowered her down for a moment with one of his arms still wrapped around her to brace her weight against him. Digging into his pockets, he managed to pull out his keys. Struggling to get the door open, he gave her a nervous smile fumbling with it until it opened. Grunting out, he picked her up in his arms again after he put the keys back into his pocket. “Joel!”

“Calm down, I’ve got you,” he hushed her, kicking the door shut with his heel acting as if her worrying about the idea of him dropping her was ridiculous. Walking throughout his house in the dark seemed to be easy for him. Before she knew what was happening, she was being set down on his couch carefully before he walked through the room to turn the light on. “Let’s get the fire started for you…”

Watching him from the couch she knew that she was a tremoring mess. Probably looking ridiculous with his hat and gloves on. Joel was right. It was too fucking cold to pull a stunt like that. And she knew better. She was a doctor after all. For a few minutes Joel worked with the fireplace until he got it working. Swiftly, he moved one of his seats closer to the fire and headed over toward the couch again.

“I can stand up,” she went to stop him, but he didn’t allow her when he picked her up with ease. Being cautious with the way he sat her down, she was amazed at how gentle he was being with her. Especially after last night. The warmth of the fire felt nice with Joel reaching to pull the gloves from her hands. Tossing the gloves aside, he grabbed a hold of her hands and rubbed at them to gather some warmth. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me,” he shook his head, dropping his hands down to rub at her legs that were undoubtedly the coldest part of her. It wasn’t something that was sexual, he really was doing his best just to warm her up. The gesture was very sweet and she felt a lump growing in her throat watching him. “Let me go get you something to wear. I did the laundry today, so it should be fresh. I promise.”

“You don’t have to…” before she could finish Joel had already walked out of the living room leaving her alone to herself sitting in front of the fire.

The time alone allowed her to gaze upon Joel’s home for the first time. Except for the tree that was in the corner of the room left unplugged, everything was extraordinarily average. Joel’s living room was clean, everything had a place and the only thing that she noticed was the paintings on the wall reminded her a lot of the inn. It was too bad she didn’t have the strength to walk around and explore but her body was exactly where it wanted to be. Enjoying the warmth of the fireplace that Joel had sat her near. The sound of footsteps returning was heard and she looked toward the area Joel walked away to see him rounding the corner.

“I grabbed you some sweatpants, a t-shirt and a hoodie that I had in there,” Joel moved before her, holding out the clothes that he had grabbed for her. Accepting them, she lowered them down into her lap with Joel nervously looking around his living room. Messing his fingers through his hair, Joel stumbled through the living room and plugged the tree in to give her more light. Unlike the inn where the Christmas tree was extravagant, this was very plain. It just had lights on it with no decorations whatsoever. “I’ll turn the television on so you have some background noise while I make you something warm. Would you prefer some coffee or hot chocolate? I’m a coffee guy. Big fan of coffee. But if it’s too late for that…”

“Coffee is fine,” she cut him off, not wanting to be much of a bother with things.

“You can change in here. I’ll stay in the kitchen for a few just to make sure I don’t see anything,” Joel promised snapping his fingers. Clicking his tongue against the top of his mouth, a rush of color flooded into Joel’s face and he seemed to be embarrassed. Turning on his heel, he headed back toward what she assumed was the kitchen leaving her there. Waiting for a moment, she shakily stood up from the chair and worked her dress off. Putting the clothes on that he gave her to the best of her ability, she folded up the dress and then lowered down into the chair again. “Permission to come in?”

Looking to the entrance of the room, she couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of Joel holding his hand dramatically over his eyes while taking big steps into the room. Holding out a pair of socks drew her eyes to them with Joel huffing, “I thought you might need these. Cold feet is never a good feeling.”

“You can uncover your eyes,” she assured him with Joel dropping his hand down at his side. Even though he was in fact being a gentleman, she really wouldn’t have cared if he had seen her naked. Strangely, she was that comfortable with Joel. “Thank you for these.”

“Yes ma’am,” Joel watched her closely, holding his hand out for her dress. “I’ll hang that up to dry if you would like.”

Handing off the dress, she was impressed with how good Joel was taking care of her. Whatever Joel had turned on the television before he left appeared to be some kind of Christmas romance film. And it brought a smile to her wondering if Joel often watched these type of movies since this was the channel that was left on.

“Y’know what I still can’t wrap my mind around?” Joel’s voice made her jump when he returned to the living room with two mugs in his hands. Unhurriedly handing hers off to her, Joel made sure she had a good hold of it before releasing it. Cupping the mug in her hands, she was using it mainly just to warm herself up. “That you somehow thought it was a smart idea to wear all that just to get my attention.”

“It worked,” she reminded him with Joel taking a moment to think that over. Tipping his head from side to side, his bottom lip curled before he nodded. “Didn’t it?”

“Oh, it worked. I just thought it was ridiculous,” Joel informed her, leaning his arm against the wall that was beside the fireplace. Bringing his mug up to his lips, Joel took what sounded like an annoyingly loud slurp of his coffee and she wondered if he did it on purpose. “The whole idea was to wear something inconspicuous so we could get away with it. Wearing that dress? You had the bartender exploding in his pants. All eyes were on you. We could have never done what we talked about. With your breasts being all perky and nice.”

“Perky and nice?” she chuckled at his description. “Thank you?”

“You’re welcome,” Joel bobbed his head about with a tiny smirk tugging at his features. “You really thought coming into that bar today would get me to come over there and do the things we talked about last night?”

“It was worth a shot,” she thought aloud, turning her attention back toward the fire. Taking her first sip of the coffee, she knew that this was more so for the warmth.

“Why?” Joel muttered with a huff, his face scrunching up in disbelief. “I treated you like shit yesterday and you still wanted to do that with me?”

“I guess I’m kind of a moron,” she theorized, her eyebrows bouncing up provoking him to chuckle under his breath. Shifting uneasily in the seat that he had moved for her, her eyes finally looked up at him. “I unfortunately couldn’t get my mind off you all night. When you can’t stop thinking about someone you become pretty desperate to get their attention. Even if that means hurting yourself in the process. Falling in the snow was not part of the plan though, I promise you that.”

Stepping forward, Joel extended his hand to collect her jaw loosely between his rough fingertips, “Don’t ever hurt yourself for me again. I may be a dick, but I don’t wanna see you dead. You understand me? It doesn’t take much for you to catch my attention. You don’t have to risk your health in order to do it.”

“Would you have been as nice to me otherwise?” she interrogated him, getting his eyes to narrow almost immediately after. While it was a nice thing to hear, she doubted that Joel would have been so welcoming like this if she wouldn’t have been stupid. “See. You wouldn’t have.”

“Touché,” Joel grumbled, motioning her to wait. Setting his coffee down on the coffee table near the couch, Joel made his way over toward one of the closets to pull out a blanket for her. Heading back over, he was careful in the way he wrapped it around her and over her shoulders. “Good?”

Turning his head, the warmth of his breath lingered over hers and it made a shuddering exhale escape her lips. Not being able to form words, she just nodded with Joel tipping his head forward just enough to nuzzle his nose in against hers.

“Why did you do what you did last night? I don’t need to know that stuff with Tommy. I mean with me,” she wanted to know his reasoning with her heart skipping a beat at the closeness of him. “What did I do?”

“It wasn’t you,” Joel slurred, his cheek rubbing in against hers and with her free hand she instinctively started to stroke her fingers at the back of his neck. “What I said is true Y/N. I’m nothing good. I’m poison. The quicker you see that, the better.”

“This doesn’t feel like poison,” she noted placing a delicate kiss over the side of his face having him tense up before her. His body’s reactions to her drove her wild for this man. Every touch she gave him had him reacting, even if he didn’t want it to. It was involuntary, but he yearned for every delicate sweep of her fingers over his skin along with her kisses. “This actually feels really nice.”

“I’m no good for anyone,” Joel’s words vibrated against her cheek with him starting to pepper faint kisses there. This was an odd way to have such a serious conversation, but she liked it. “Especially someone like you.”

“Someone like me?” she repeated, her eyelids heavy when she pulled back just enough to meet his chocolate brown eyes. Tracing her fingertips through the facial hair that covered his jawline made him suck in a sharp breath of air.

Lowering down onto his knees, the heat from Joel’s palm had her leaning into his touch with him caressing over her face, “Someone perfect. Someone delicate. Someone who deserves better than someone like me. I never know the right thing to say. I’m angry all the time. You don’t need that in your life.”

Dragging his thumb across her bottom lip, Joel’s breathing grew uneven with his eyes following the movement, “I don’t understand this. Whatever it is going on between us. We only just met, but I’m addicted to you.”

Kissing faintly at the pad of his thumb drew him in closer to her. There was a longing in his eyes that had a fire burning deep within her.

“Not just because you want to fuck me?” she recalled what he had said the night before evoking him to let out a raspy laugh.

“I won’t lie, I do desperately want to sleep with you,” Joel confessed with a grunt, his nose nuzzling in against hers again. Hearing that excited her. Especially since she had a yearning for him as well. “But that’s not the only reason I like you. I don’t know what it is, but when you touch me…even if it’s you touching my face…”

“You’re touch starved,” she heard the pant that he released with her dragging her hand across the side of his neck and up over his face. Cuddling his head into her touch, Joel’s lips parted and his long eyelashes fluttered to a close. “You are so beautiful.”

Hearing her call him beautiful made a tiny smile tug at his lips and she was certain he was thinking that was an odd way to describe a man like him, “Would you hold me?”

“Are you sure?” Joel confirmed with her, but it didn’t take long for her to nod. Setting aside the coffee he got for her, she stood up from the chair to have Joel lower down into it. Helping to lead her back into his lap, Joel managed to wrap them both up in the blanket with his arms wrapping around her to hold onto her. Nuzzling his nose in against the side of her neck, Joel hummed as he placed tiny kisses there as well. “I’m a mess.”

“I know,” she agreed with him, an involuntary smile pressing in over her lips with her stroking her fingers through his dark messy hair. “But I am too.”

For a while she just sat in his arms, enjoying the way the fire worked to warm her up as well as the warmth of his body surrounding hers. At some point the television had drawn her attention and she saw that a love scene was on the screen.

“You know, no one has ever made love to me like that,” she commented seeing that the two characters were laying in front of a fireplace wrapped up in blankets. “In the movies, love scenes seem so perfect…”

“Movies are completely unrealistic,” Joel reminded her with a scoff, grunting with a laugh when she swatted at his chest. “I’m just saying. Love scenes are a fabricated lie that people use to make women swoon. To believe in something more. But no one has sex like that.”

“Well that’s a shame,” she suggested liking the way that Joel rubbed his cheek in against hers again with his facial hair scratching at her skin. “Women wait a lifetime for moments like that and it never happens.”

“That’s what the film industry does. Sets people up to be let down,” Joel hinted, pulling her in closer to him with a long sigh.

“You know,” she pulled her attention away from Joel for just a moment to look at Joel’s tree. “I’m surprised how bare your tree is. You barely have any decorations in here. Whereas at the inn? Everything is covered.”

“I told you that was more Tommy and Maria,” Joel stole a quick look back at his tree, grunting out at the sight of it. “Tommy put that up. He wanted me to have something for Christmas. It’s not really my thing. It brings back feelings for me that I don’t like having. I’m sure…I’m sure you understand.”

“I don’t know what happened to you, but I do understand why you feel the way you do,” she swept her thumb in over his jawline, getting his dark eyes to lock with hers. “Whatever happened Joel, I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” Joel frowned, turning in toward her hand to place a kiss over the center of her palm. Curling his finger in underneath her chin, Joel led her to him, capturing her lips in a lingering kiss. It was sweet, almost romantic. And by the time they separated her heart felt like it was going to pound right out of her chest. “I shouldn’t feel this way this fast.”

“It’s okay,” she hushed him, outstretching her fingers to trace in over the lines of his face. A loud exhaled escaped him and the way he looked at her took her breath away. “Joel? Do you think you could teach me how to play the guitar?”

“Right now? Is that what you want to do?” Joel’s head tipped back, lifting to grab a loose hold of her hand. Confirming with a nod, she felt Joel shifting her weight and she shakily stood to her feet. Taking care of the fireplace, Joel held his hand out to hers and tipped his head in the direction of his stairs. “You want me to carry you?”

“I think I can handle it,” she responded feeling silly that he had to carry her as much as he did already. Wiggling her legs, she could tell that they still were numb but she thought she would be good enough to move.

“Follow me,” he ordered, smirking when he held his hand out to hers. Without question, she hooked her fingers with his and he led her unhurriedly up the stairs. One thing she noticed about Joel’s house was a lot of it was covered in paintings and not so many photos. This could have been anyone’s home really. Reaching the second floor, she knew that this would be a place she’d love to explore just to get to have a better understanding of Joel. Leading her to one of the rooms, Joel kept a hold of her hand when he flicked the switch on for his office. “This is where I uh…make things.”

“Make things?” she looked around his work room not knowing where to look first. Several acoustic guitars were hanging on the wall. There were shelves with multiple carvings resting on them. Letting go of Joel’s hand she moved over toward them to inspect each one of them. Reaching for one of them, she took it off the shelf to observe it. The carving was a very detailed one of a grizzly bear standing on a large rock after catching a fish in its mouth. A few of the carvings were left unfinished, but this one? Everything was done along with the painting of it. And it was amazing. “You did this?”

“Yeah,” Joel stood at the center of the room, his hands in his pockets with his shoulders slouching forward. When she looked to him it seemed like he might have been embarrassed when she returned it and then reached for another one that he did. “I like to keep my mind busy. I look at pictures and then I uh, well I carve them.”

“These are amazing,” she applauded him on his work, setting them down and then moving over toward where the acoustic guitars were hanging. “And you make these as well?”

“I do,” Joel was quiet while she gazed upon his work. “Those are probably my favorite thing to make. When people ask me for one, I like to try to fit their personality to it. I told you I loved music growing up, so I’m drawn to that kind of stuff.”

“These are impressive Joel,” she continued to make her way around the room stopping at one of his work benches to look at the carving he was working on. It was partially done, but it was easy to tell that it was rodeo themed with a cowboy riding a horse that was on its back legs. “I could never do something like this.”

“Well, like I said…” Joel headed over toward the acoustic guitar that was at the corner of the room. Picking it up, Joel held it in his hands and headed over toward one of the seats to sit down. “You’re good with your hands. And I’m good with mine. Just in other ways.”

“No kidding,” she agreed with him hearing him starting to strum a few chords behind her while she took her time looking upon his next work bench where he obviously made his acoustic guitars. “This is impressive.”

“Mhmm…” Joel didn’t want to act like it was a big deal because it was something he just did in his spare time. It wasn’t like it was much of a big deal for him. After she felt like she had invaded his privacy enough, she reached for one of the chairs and pulled it before him. “Did you have any kind of music training when you were younger?”

“Nothing extensive,” she found herself in awe that Joel could just continue to play a tune like it was nothing while sharing a conversation with her. “How many songs do you know by heart?”

“Don’t know,” Joel slurred, his southern drawl growing deeper as she slid in closer to him. “Lots I reckon.”

“How do you remember them all?” she heard Joel easily change to a different recognizable song without even stumbling or having any problems at all.

“Do you have to look at an instruction manual every time you do a surgery?” Joel inquired, his right eyebrow arching drawing out a smirk from her. Shaking her head, Joel snickered to himself and sighed loudly. “Then I guess in the same way you don’t have to do that.”

“Will you sing for me?” she pushed remembering that Joel had told her that he wanted to be a singer when he was younger. “Please?”

“Nope,” he stuck to his guns, changing the tune again impressing her with how easily he seemed to do it. “I don’t sing in front of people.”

“You’re going to sing for me at some point,” she claimed, her head bobbing about causing Joel to snort and dramatically shake his head. “I’m going to hear that voice and you are going to want to play for me when you do.”

“Sorry, not gonna happen,” Joel refused once more eliciting a frustrated sound from her. “Even if you use that cute little frown on me, I won’t do it. I’ve already let you know too much as it is. You coming into my house? This? It’s a big deal.”

“Do you have to kill me now?” she mocked, her eyebrows bouncing up pulling out a raspy laugh from inside of him. Hearing him laugh like that had a warmth flooding throughout her body.

“I might,” Joel grumbled, his one dimple very prominent with the smile still over his lips. “Gotta keep my secrets, y’know?”

Resting her elbows on her knees, she lowered down to get comfortable while he played the guitar, “Tell you what? How about I make you one of my acoustic guitars to make up for my lack of singing around you. Would you like that?”

“You’d do that?” she seemed excited at the idea and he gave her a single nod appreciating that she seemed to want that. “That’d be awesome.”

“Okay then,” Joel stopped playing and stood up from the chair to move over to place the guitar in her hands. Watching her adjust it made him smirk and he immediately shook his head. “No, don’t hold it like that.”

Kneeling down in front of her, Joel took her hands to show her the proper way to hold onto the guitar. Really, she did her best to listen to Joel explaining things to her, but she was having issues. Distracted would be an understatement. Joel was going over the parts of the guitar with her, explaining things and she listened, but at the same time she was just enjoying being close to him.

By the time Joel was teaching her simple chords after grabbing her a guitar pick, she felt a chill running down her spine. Joel was standing behind her, his hands helping to move hers and she just liked having him near. For a while she did her best to focus and while she learned some things, having Joel’s head so close to hers drew her to look upon him.

“Everything okay?” Joel noticed that she was staring at him and he gave her a weak smile.

Not knowing exactly what to say, she lowered down the guitar and turned in her seat toward him, “Can I be honest with you?”

“You have been thus far. So I’d expect nothing else from you,” Joel reminded her noticing the uneasiness in her body when she looked down. “Hey?”

“You’re my favorite thing about this town,” she declared, her eyes lifting once more having Joel swallow down hard with his Adam’s apple bouncing in his throat. “I thought of leaving tomorrow, but nothing inside of me wants to truly do that because I like spending time with you. Call me pathetic, call me what you want, but being around you? It just feels good.”

Dropping his stare to her lips, Joel’s breathing grew louder. Curling his fingers around the back of her neck, Joel led her to him to steal another kiss from her. At first his kisses were gentle and delicate. Soft sweeps of his lips over hers led her to lean in closer to him. Kissing him felt incredible and it was addictive.

Pulling away from the kiss for a moment, Joel grabbed a hold of the guitar to set it aside carefully. Standing up had her following him moving from the chair eager to meet him in another passionate kiss that had him wrapping her up in his arms.

Picking her up had her gasping against his mouth as he stumbled over toward one of his free desks. Lowering her down on top of it, Joel growled with the way that she cupped his face. Tender strokes of her thumbs against the side of his face had his lips parting. Having her touching him had chills flooding down his spine. No one had this kind of effect on him. Especially not this fast.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Joel confessed, pressing his forehead to hers. A tremoring breath escaped his lips. And in that moment? She saw desperation in his eyes. The idea of her leaving actually upset him. Leaning into her touch, Joel knew that he craved to have her near him. How he felt for her? It was indescribable. “Please don’t run away because of me. I know I’m hard to care for…”

Brushing her fingers through his messy hair, she gazed up seeing just how emotionally broken Joel really was. Conflicting emotions flooded throughout Joel, but she could see that she meant something to him. What he needed was what Tommy said earlier. Someone who wouldn’t give up on him because he was too trapped in what he was used to. Which was torturing himself.

Hushing him, she leaned in to press faint kisses over his lips. Having him panic about her leaving was not her intentions. Sliding her hands down in over the sides of his neck, she lowered them even further and dragged the backs of her hands over the front of his chest. Starting to work open the buttons of his shirt had Joel’s breathing broken, his forehead pressing in against hers. Helping her, Joel managed to get his shirt down his body allowing it to fall at his feet on the floor. Almost immediately her hands were reaching for the bottom of his t-shirt working it from his body.

Grunting out, Joel lifted his arms aiding to get it off him. Dropping the t-shirt down on the ground, she lowered her stare to gaze upon his naked torso. It was the first time that she actually got to see him completely shirtless. And she wanted to take all of him in. Placing her hands gently in over the center of Joel’s chest had his lips parting with his eyelids growing heavy. Right now she wanted to learn all of him. Tracing her fingers along the lengths of his abdomen had him sucking in a sharp breath of air.

“I haven’t had someone touch me like this in a long time,” Joel reminded her of something he had said previously when they were fooling around. Watching her touch him, Joel licked his lips when she drew shapes down over the lengths of his body toward the softer part of his stomach under his bellybutton. “I’m sorry for the way I’m acting.”

“I like it,” she quieted him, shaking her head with Joel’s long eyelashes fluttering. While he was panicked, she was in awe of him. There was a vulnerability in him that was easy to pick up on with her tracing lines over his torso. Reaching his lower abdomen, it was then she finally noticed the significant scarring that was there. How she had missed this before blew her mind. Dragging her fingertips over the puckered flesh drew out a nervous sound from Joel. Shakily, he reached for her hands to stop her.

“Joel,” she shook her head, using her free hand to get him to relax. Sliding in closer to the edge of the table, she hovered her lips in over his. Even though he was uneasy with his body, she appreciated every part of him. “Your scars, mental or physical, they make you who you are. And who you are is beautiful.”

Releasing a tremoring breath, Joel’s fingers were fast to grab for the hoodie that he had given her. Quickly he helped her get it from her body much like she had done with him. Tossing it onto the floor with his shirts, Joel panted realizing that he was eager. Not hesitating in his movements, he grabbed a hold of her t-shirt next. Locking eyes with her, Joel could sense that she became nervous in that moment. Tugging the material up her body, Joel stopped at her arms. With a nod, she lifted her arms for him allowing him to pull it from her body. A long exhale escaped his throat when her breasts were revealed to him for the first time with a slight bounce from the movement. Dropping the t-shirt at his feet, Joel’s hands pressed faintly in over her sides while she sank her fingers into his hair.

“You are breathtaking,” Joel whispered, his thumbs sweeping at the area just below her ribcage. It had her arching in closer to him with his hands sliding further up to cup tenderly at the underside of her breasts. Whimpering at the sensation, she pulled Joel in closer to her having his forehead pressing against hers. Bringing their bodies closer together, Joel wrapped her up in his arms. Her breasts pressed against his chest with his nose nuzzling in against the side of her neck. The skin-to-skin contact felt amazing with both of them tracing the lengths of the others body with lazy, lingering strokes of their fingertips.

Joel wasn’t a very verbal lover, but the reaction of his body to hers was more than enough making her realize what he was feeling. Wet kisses were being pressed against her shoulder, the sensation of his facial hair scratching against her skin evoking shivers throughout her body.

“You are so beautiful,” Joel mirrored her sentiment with his mouth finding its way to her neck. Nipping at her flesh, Joel’s mouth started to trail a line in over her collarbone. Resting his head against her chest, Joel’s right hand caressed up over the front of her abdomen until his thumb came in direct contact with her nipple. Circling it faintly with the rough pad of his thumb, Joel groaned out with the sound she made when he did it. Dropping his head down, Joel’s mouth surrounded her breast dragging the length of his tongue across the flesh. Teasing his tongue around the small bud in circular motions, Joel heard her moaning out and the ache inside of his body grew larger. A firm tug of her fingers at his hair had him lifting his head back to meet her in a hungry kiss. Brushing his tongue against hers, Joel’s body started to tremble as her hands dropped down to start working open the belt in his jeans. Cupping her face firmly, Joel wanted to keep his eyes locked with hers as she worked open his pants.

Tugging at his jeans, she got his pants open and parted them causing Joel to step forward. Teasing her fingertips at his hips, she caressed at his sides and up over his body again. Leaning back, Joel looked down between the two of them. Sweeping his thumb in over her jawline had her leaning into his caress. In that moment she noticed something and reached for Joel’s wrist.

“Joel?” she seemed worried with her eyes centering in over his watch that was on his wrist. What had worried her was that the watch appeared to be broken with a crack over it. “Did we do this?”

“Don’t,” Joel warned, pulling back and away from her lowering his hand down at his side to keep her from looking at it.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know how that happened,” she apologized assuming that they had done it with him carrying her over toward the table. “I can pay for that to get fixed and…”

“It’s been like that for a while,” Joel explained forcing himself to look away from her. Huffing out, Joel reached down to grab the t-shirt he had taken from her body and the hoodie. Holding them out toward her, Joel’s jaw flexed and he appeared angry almost immediately. Why was this happening again? “This was a bad idea. Get dressed. I’ll get you a ride back to the inn.”

“Joel?” she breathed out shocked at how quickly he turned on her with him grabbing his t-shirt to pull it back on. Hastily pulling the t-shirt she had in over her body, she was quick to follow Joel out of the room reaching to grab his wrist before he could leave. “What did I do?”

“Nothing. You did nothing,” Joel snapped at her getting a chill to run down her spine at how fast his attitude seemed to change when she noticed his broken watch. Some kind of switch had been flicked inside of him and that man that was desperate to be near her suddenly seemed to want to push her away again. “I just think it’s best for you to leave.”

“Stop,” her voice raised, hooking her fingers tighter around Joel’s wrist to force him from leaving. Pulling him back to her, she closed the distance between the two of them with her palm caressing in over the side of his face getting him to look at her. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and I won’t pretend that I understand but stop pushing me away from you.”

“I can’t do this,” Joel confessed with his Adam’s apple bouncing in his throat, a sense of sadness flooding throughout his features. Lifting her other hand, she caressed at the sides of his face having him whimpering.

“Can’t do what?” she tried to understand, being empathetic to whatever his situation was. “You don’t have to hide yourself from me Joel. Whatever is going on, I’ll understand it. We can work through it. I know what it feels like to be broken.”

“I don’t want you hurt,” Joel stressed to her, lifting his hands to curl his fingers around her wrists to stroke his thumbs at her pulse points. Within time his expression softened, the lines in his face becoming less prominent. A broken breath escaped him and she realized that was his way of putting a wall up between them, but she was doing her best to break it down in whatever ways she could. “I told you…”

“You’re poison,” she repeated what he had said before, his body tremoring as she closed the distance between them. “But you see? As stupid as it sounds, I’m a doctor. And whatever you think is going to happen to me, it won’t.”

“It’s not just that,” Joel grunted, his body incredibly tense as he stood before her. “I don’t deserve to have anything good in my life. What I had before this…”

“Joel,” she hushed him noticing that he was starting to get worked up again. Stepping forward, she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. Resting her head against the center of his chest, she listened to the sound of his heartbeat. Having her near caused his heartbeat to go faster. “You don’t have to tell me what happened or what you are going through but stop pushing me away. Because I’m just going to keep coming back.”

After hearing her say that, Joel lowered his head and nestled his chin in over the top of her head. Wrapping her up in his arms, Joel let out a tremoring breath and she knew that he was loosening up to things, “There is something in you that heals a part of me. Things that I didn’t think I was capable of…”

Tipping her head back, she stared up into Joel’s dark eyes and shook her head, “let me do that for you.”

“I’m so broken,” Joel confessed with her hand sliding up to caress in over the center of his chest. “I’m no good.”

“Let me be the judge of that,” she countered, reaching for his hand to place it in over the center of her chest. Joel’s dark eyes gazed between them with his body faintly shaking. “Because I see parts of you that I don’t even think you realize exist. Just let me help you.”

Emotions flooded through his face and without saying anything, Joel grabbed a hold of her hand leading her toward his bedroom. Laying down at the center of the bed had her carefully crawling in beside him with them facing each other.

Reaching for his hand, she hooked her fingers with his and Joel pressed his forehead up to hers. Silence surrounded them, but it was obvious things were weighing heavy on Joel’s mind, “There so much good to you Joel Miller. You just have to give yourself a chance to see.”

----

Tags: @jdmorganz @carolineesnell @ayumi-wolf @dilfsandmartinis @christinamadsen

@brittmb115 @thegirlwiththemostcake3

[sehunniepotwrites]

WITH YOU | MK.L | THREE

SYNOPSIS. There are many things Mark Lee wants to do with you. He wants to walk you home. He wants to dive into the deep blue sea with you. He wants to go on a drive with you at his side. But mostly, this crazy, head over heels in love boy just wants to make it with you.

PAIRING. mark lee x fem!reader

GENRE. college!au, friends-to-lovers!au, tooth-rotting fluff, humor WARNINGS. profanity, sulky!mark because he failed his exam and lost a game, mention of (non-alcoholic) drinks, mentions of creeper guy that doesn't get a damn hint

WORD COUNT. 1.2k+

DISCLAIMER. This is work of fiction. I do not own the people/characters or concepts I have written about. You cannot translate or copy my work. © sehunniepotwrites, 2023

I. WALK YOU HOME | II. DIVE INTO YOU | III. DRIVE | IV. MAKE IT WITH YOU

Mark Lee having a bad day was a rare commodity. The athlete was seldom seen with his brown eyes aimed to the floor and a frown stitched onto his face. No, he was usually spotted with a bright sparkle in his irises, a grin that was way too wide for his small and handsome face, his hockey gear tucked in under his arm, and most importantly, you. 

Maybe that was the stark difference between Mark’s drastic moods. You weren’t present at the home game that just finished. On top of it being midterms week, an ultimate stressor on its own, you skipped out on today’s game in favor of finishing a midterm project with a partner that may or may not have been putting some moves on you. Hearing that news after basically bombing his Biology exam that was worth twenty perfect of his grade just added onto his sullen behavior. Instead of focusing on the game, Mark’s mind was void of the strategized plays and off the ice, floating all the way down to the campus library–where you were.

Mark really shouldn’t be upset. He should’ve been proud that you put your grades first instead of a game. After all, you weren’t a student athlete; this game shouldn’t mean a thing to you.  But it was his game. You were his lucky charm. You always have been and you always will be. 

Sure, others showed up to the games with his number painted onto their cheeks in their university colors and poster boards that displayed his name but they weren’t you. You weren’t the one in the crowd with the pretty, mismatched ribbons in their hair or screaming his name as he scored a goal. You weren’t there, drowning in his away game jersey like you usually were. You were drowning in school work with a guy that would not leave you alone. 

“It’s fine,” you said. “I just have to stick it out until the end of the week and it’ll be okay. I notified my professor and we’re meeting up in their office so I’m not left alone with the guy.”

“Yeah but–”

“Go and score a goal for me,” you hushed Mark, pressing a manicured finger to his lips when he tried to push back. “Promise?”

Mark’s frown grew. “But–”

“Ah,” you replied, adding more pressure to his lips. Raising your free hand, you brought your pinky towards him. “Promise?”

Mark sighed in defeat, linking his pinky with yours. He shook your intertwined hands. “Promise.”

Knowing you won, you grinned. “That’s my Marky. Now, go! I’ll see you tomorrow! You’ll be fine without me.”

But he wasn’t. 

And it’s sad how reliant on you Mark became. Before you, he could fully function on his own. Now? Mark was seen with you more often than not. You were like an extension of him, something he couldn’t live without. His teammates and friends noticed it; Haechan wouldn’t let Mark go a day without teasing him on the ice. Johnny, who wasn’t on the team, often made a lot of noise during games to let Mark know exactly where the two of you sat. And Jaehyun, bless his soul, always explained the technicalities of the sport so you understood each and every play-by-play in order to cheer Mark on.

He wasn’t fine before, during, or after the game and all he could think about was you. Nothing else mattered but you. 

To top off this horrible day, they lost the game. There were definitely other factors that contributed to the loss but the most defining one was that Mark’s head wasn’t in it. He tried taking your mind off of you but quickly deemed it impossible. Even after he showered, lugged his sorry ass out of the hockey arena and into his car, his mind was still glued to the thought of you. Driving aimlessly around campus didn’t help and before he knew it, Mark’s hands fiddled with his dashboard screen until your number was dialed.

Two rings later and he heard your voice. “Hey,” you greeted, voice booming from the speakers. Your voice was soft unlike the other times you answered the phone–a lot gentler, like he needed to be approached with caution.

“Hi,” Mark mustered out before going silent again. All the two of you could hear were the sounds on the road.

“What’s going on?” you asked with that same soothing voice. 

You knew what happened. You weren’t there to witness the losing game but word travels fast. Johnny and Jaehyun called you shortly after the game, relaying an abbreviated version of the game while escaping the disappointed crowd. They made it known that Mark was off his game the entire time. Your friends made a light joke, saying it was because you weren’t there, and pointing out how he seemed different whenever you were in attendance. You brushed off their teasing but assured them you would check on your best friend. 

But despite knowing, you wanted the news to come from Mark. If he didn’t want to talk about it, that was okay with you too. You could practically hear him shrugging as he replied, “Dunno, I just wanted to see you.”

Noticing that Mark was so close to shutting down completely, you answered, “Well, I’m always down to see you. Care for a drive, Marky?”

He caught the sound of rustling from your ride and figured you were rushing to get ready before he arrived. The arena was a mere seven minute drive from your housing complex, not giving you much time to get yourself together at all. Prior to him calling, you were most likely nestled up under your comforter, adorning your favorite pair of sweats and oversized hoodie to keep you warm. Mark wanted to say that you didn’t have to change, but knowing his best friend, you’d probably ignore whatever he said. 

“Yeah, that’s exactly what I need.”

“I’ll see you in a few then,” you said with finality before hanging up the phone.

A few minutes later, Mark pulled up to your complex, only to find you already downstairs. You didn’t come empty handed, the drink tumbler he always used when he was over at your place in one hand and your tumbler in the other. He reached over the console to open the passenger door for you and you immediately slid in, handing him his cup. 

“Hey you,” you smiled at him before pressing a short kiss to his cheek. Whereas he caught you off guard the last time you went to the beach, his soft lips grazing against your cheek, it was your turn to surprise him. The action shocked him so much, he almost dropped the steaming drink in hand.

“H-hey,” Mark stuttered a bit pathetically, swiftly turning his attention to his tumbler. Bringing it up to his lips, he tasted his favorite comfort drink–hot cocoa with whip cream and marshmallows. The temperature was a bit too hot, the liquid burning his tongue after having a lick of melted whip cream, but he didn’t dare complain. He took another sip of it before putting it down and shifting the gear to drive. 

The drive itself wasn’t necessary to Mark, he already felt a bit better in your presence as you buckled your seatbelt. 

It’s you—you’re what he needed. You’re what he wanted. And you’re the one person that would always bring a smile to his face. It didn’t feel right to admit it to you now, not when he was just sulking in all of his sorrows. Maybe another time or place. But for now, Mark was content with you in his passenger seat and his hands on the wheel, ready to go anywhere as long as you were at his side.

AUTHOR’S NOTE. hi, it's been a while, hasn't it? i'm slowly writing again, starting with finishing all the drafts that have been sitting in my docs for a hot second! my writing style's change a bit so don't mind the stylistic changes (if you even notice it). i apologize it's short but i didn't have much planned for this one. it's just marky sitting in his thoughts.

TAGLIST. @johtenrecs @bat-shark-repellant  @bebsky @donutswithjaminthemiddle @suhnnyskhies @baekhyuns-lipchain @emmybyeakitty  @sokkigarden @iwishiwasthemoontonight @stvrrynight @ppangjae @luvenshiti @ferxanda @jenosuh​ @mxrcayong-main @lebrookestore​ @the-universe-in-you-jjh @planetkiimchi @hannie-dul-set @kdyism @lovesuhng

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© sehunniepotwrites, 2023

[blue2jay]

Passive-Aggressive Comments

Summary’s: Your family drops subtle jabs about your career, relationships, or life choices. Leon politely but pointedly defends you, making it clear he won’t tolerate disrespect.

🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹

The dinner table was bustling with conversation, the clinking of cutlery on plates filling the air. You and Leon sat across from each other, surrounded by your family. It had been your idea to bring him along, hoping his presence might make these dinners more bearable. After all, Leon understood you—he worked alongside you, in the same demanding and dangerous field. If anyone could get you through this evening, it was him.

Unfortunately, your family’s usual dismissiveness was already rearing its head.

“So, Y/N,” your father started, slicing his steak with deliberate precision, “still running around doing those field operations? Seems like such a… chaotic way to live. I thought you’d have grown out of that by now.”

You froze mid-bite, your fingers tightening around your fork. You’d heard this before, so many times it was practically rehearsed. Leon noticed immediately, his sharp blue eyes flicking up from his plate to your father, though he said nothing—for now.

“It’s not chaos, Dad,” you replied softly, trying to keep your voice even. “It’s important work.”

Your mother hummed disapprovingly, adding, “Oh, of course you think that. But you’re still out there risking your life, barely home, no stability… Do you really think that’s a career worth keeping long-term? Melissa found something steady. A good office job with benefits. Maybe it’s time you thought about that.”

Leon’s fork hit his plate a little harder than necessary, but he kept his expression neutral as he glanced toward you. You looked down, frustration bubbling in your chest. You loved your job. It was dangerous, sure, but you made a difference, and Leon knew better than anyone what you sacrificed for it.

“It’s not like Y/N’s saving the world or anything,” your brother added with a shrug, laughing under his breath. “Come on, what do you actually do all day? I mean, how much can you really contribute out there?”

Leon set his glass down carefully, the room quieting slightly at the subtle shift in his demeanor. He leaned back in his chair, his posture relaxed, but you knew better—Leon Kennedy never missed a shot, and this wasn’t going to be any different.

“Actually,” Leon began, his voice polite but carrying an edge of authority, “Y/N contributes more than you could imagine. I’d know—we work in the same field.”

Your mother blinked, her expression faltering. “Oh? I didn’t realize you two were in the same… line of work.”

“That’s right,” Leon replied smoothly, turning his gaze to your brother. “It’s not sitting behind a desk, but what we do out there? It’s life or death. Every single day. And Y/N’s one of the best I’ve ever worked with. I’ve seen her pull people out of situations that most wouldn’t survive.”

He turned toward your father then, his blue eyes sharp but calm. “Chaotic? Sure. But people rely on her. I rely on her. Her choices—her career—save lives, including mine. I don’t think Melissa’s spreadsheets are doing that.”

Your brother gawked, and your mother shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “Well,” she started, clearly flustered, “it’s still a lot of risk—”

Leon didn’t let her finish. “Risk? Yeah, there’s risk. But it’s not something just anyone can handle. You’ve raised someone strong, capable, and fearless. Instead of criticizing her, you might want to start being proud of what she does.”

The room went quiet again. You felt your chest tighten, overwhelmed by the quiet confidence in Leon’s voice. He hadn’t raised his tone, hadn’t been rude, but every word hit like a hammer. For the first time in your life, your family didn’t have anything to say back.

Leon turned to you then, his expression softening. “I’m proud of you, Y/N. You don’t need their approval, but you have mine. Always.”

You managed a small, grateful smile, your voice barely a whisper. “Thank you, Leon.”

Dinner continued on, quieter now. Your family didn’t say another word about your career, choosing instead to focus on more mundane topics. Leon didn’t gloat or smirk; he simply picked up his fork and continued eating like nothing had happened. But the way his hand found yours under the table, giving it a gentle squeeze, told you everything you needed to know.

When you left the house later that night, walking out into the cold evening air, you turned to him with a smile that was both grateful and full of love. “You didn’t have to do that.”

Leon shrugged, slipping his hand into yours as you walked toward the car. “Yeah, I did. I’m not gonna sit there and let them tear you down when I know how hard you work. You’re better than all of that.”

You stopped, pulling him gently to face you. “I don’t deserve you.”

Leon smiled, leaning down to press a soft kiss to your lips. “You deserve everything, Y/N. And I’ll remind you of that as many times as you need.”

As you climbed into the car, you glanced back at the house—at the family who would probably never understand you. But that was okay. Because with Leon by your side, you didn’t need their approval anymore. You had him. And that was more than enough.

[ruruumin]

15 - underlying meaning

today was a warm and sunny day. the clouds were out of sight and the sun was beating down on your skin. it felt a little too perfect. you sat on the outside tables in front of magnolia, sipping on your drink while you and collei waited for nilou and aether to return with snacks. she was wearing a pretty, white lace sundress and birch-wood cardigan over it. cute and simple, the best way to describe collei and her radiant smile. 

she raises her hand towards you, speaking to you through sign language. 'has been a long time. you and aether have been busy.'

you wave her off with your hand, a sigh coming out of your throat. “yeah, i’m sorry about that. i’ve just been caught up with so much stuff that i’ve been losing track of time. i’ve been showing up to class later than i’d like, and on some days i just end up skipping entirely.”

she gives you a reassuring smile. 'i’m not disappointed. last week i've been finishing my lab. but that sounds bad. wanna talk?'

you stare down at your drink, pondering if its worth telling collei the truth. how would she react to your interaction with alhaitham? hey my ex-boyfriend who broke up with me over text, suddenly shows up at the same cafe as aether's date. and he proposed that we work together so they can get together. god, when you say it like that, it's awful.

you lock your jaw. she’s never met him, only heard about him in passing through aether and nilou. maybe she’d give you an unbiased point of view. you know aether has a strong disliking for the silver-haired man. nilou had classes with him before, thought he was just quiet, until she heard about what he did to you. collei could give you the most unbiased opinion out of everyone.

and despite this rationality, you aren’t sure. you don’t want to worry the rest of your friends. you don’t want to bring up your love life anymore than you did in the past. you still remember the night aether called you, the way your voice cracked and trembled as you sobbed uncontrollably, and how nilou and collei stood on the sidelines, unsure of what to do. they gave you the space you needed. you just don’t know if you want to go through that heartache again. let alone put your friends through it.

your thoughts were cut short when nilou approaches the table, smiling and waving to collei. “when is the last time we met up like this?” she asks, crunching on the crisp exterior of her taiyaki. the custard filling was warm and sweet. and she was thankful to have had the day off today because she couldn’t take eating another dessert filled with extra sugary strawberry fillings. 

both of them sat down at the table and you were quick to grab your snack. aether sat beside you while collei and nilou stayed close. 

“it must be tough having to help a certain someone with his suspiciously good love life.” her eyes trailed over to aether, who was absentmindedly sipping from his straw. he was pretending to daydream in a middle of a conversation.

“are you talking to me?” he replies, jokingly rubbing the inside of his ear with his pinky. “wow isn’t this matcha the best thing ever? so good, i can’t believe i didn’t try this sooner, (name) you should totally order this instead of your jasmine milk tea 75% sugar and less ice.”

“okay, you did not have to say my entire order out loud,” you roll your eyes. your reply causes him to pinch your thigh, a yelp coming out of your mouth before you slap his hand. 

“you’re such an ass!”

collei smiles, 'aether needs help, no? two months ago, he almost dated ayaka. he's been through many relationships. what makes kaveh so different?'

aether places his head down on the cool, glass table, mumbling, “well hes the only person i didnt have to help or save, so it just feels different having someone like you without you doing shit for them… or whatever.” 

“she can’t read your lips if you put your head down,” you say, pinching his ear, “i can’t quite hear you, want to speak up big boy?”

he straightens out his back, looking at you with a twitch in his eye, he speaks slower so collei could pick up on his words. “he’s the only person i didn’t help. so it feels different having someone care about you without them being in debt to you. it’s just… different.”

“besides, we should be questioning you instead. you should be the embarrassed one. if i saw my ex out in the wild i would have punched him square in the face. don’t tell me you got too swept up in his pretty looks to say anything rude?”

“oh yeah? how come you didn’t do it when you saw scaramouche? that guy treated you like shit when you first met and then he cozied up to you on my couch! my couch!”

“well he’s a changed man, if anything, i fixed him!”

“i don’t think having sex on my couch counts as therapy!”

“we did not have sex, only heavy make outs. and look whos talking, remember when you were in the backseat of my car with albedo?” 

nilou lets out a long, exhausted sigh. she forgot that everytime they go out together, she should expect a bit of bickering between you and aether. and while it may annoy or confuse other people outside of your group, she and collei know how charming it can be sometimes. she hasn’t seen a pair so close before. you and aether have some sort of freakish telepathic connection that lets you know what’s wrong with each other (if only this extended to arguments, the world would be at peace).

“don’t think i didn’t hear those face-sucking noises of yours! shame! shame on you!”

you gasp, “how dare you slutshame me!” 

“fuck you i hope when you order your jasmine milk tea 75% sugar with less ice they give you more ice and more sugar!” 

“now that’s going too far!”

collei taps on the glass table with her nail, knocking you and aether out of your petty banter. 'stop fighting, especially not in public. kaveh might see!' aether looked back at you before letting out a huff. you both roll your eyes while murmuring apologies under your throats, knowing well on the car ride back it’ll continue. the effort was enough to make collei clap in glee though.

so what happened between kaveh and aether? it sounds like it went well but i need the inside scoop.

“nothing really, i don’t think you missed much collei,” returning back to the topic at hand, you stir your drink with a straw. “they had their first ‘date’ at nilou’s cafe. they probably talked about how boring aether’s outfit was because he wasn’t wearing that yellow sweater vest. things were going well until…” 

nilou nudges your elbow, “he showed up.”

'he? you mean...' collei looks up at you with concern laced in her eyes, 'he did what?'

“more like said,” aether interrupts. “did he apologize about what he did to you last year? or should i be the one to beat his ass for you?”

'no fighting!' collei waves.

“look, he didn’t say anything, really.” you force a smile. “we just talked about school. caught up a little bit and that was it. besides, as much as i want him to apologize to me, i know that won’t happen. he’s not that type of person.”

“i don’t know (name)...” nilou presses her lips in a thin line.

collei pats your hand, giving you the same warm look she always had in her eyes. 'everything will be okay. we are here, if you need. don't worry.'

aether, on the other hand, doesn’t seem quite as convinced. his eyes were laser focused on the crinkling of your nose and the distant expression you had. he’s known you long enough to tell that the absent stirring was a sign there was something more. he doesn’t want to put you on the spot with collei and nilou, but he can’t help it. he feels as if there is something on between you and alhaitham that he doesn’t know about.

and the thought makes his stomach drop. 

you continue with the conversation as normal, laughing about how aether needs your help out of everyone for love. you talk about how disappointed you were not being able to see him dress up more. nilou is still chewing on the tail of her taiyaki while collei nods to your story.

aether is biting the inside of his cheek, listening as a good friend would. he needs to stay focus on the conversation. he shouldn’t think too hard about it. if you said it was just school, then it should be left like that. there is nothing going on between you and alhaitham.

and if there was… what would he do?

₊˚ ♡ masterlist | previous + next.

synopsis; when your friend aether calls for help in his budding crush on his senior kaveh, you're forced to confront your ex-boyfriend by means of playing cupid.

⤷ notes; hopefully the asl portion makes sense. there are specific words that are omitted and the structure of words is different (time + topic + comment).

⤷ taglist [pm to be added, 30/50]

@aixaingela @cherrybb-ily @lupicalbestwolf @arraxthatsonjah @state-of-grac3

@knighttimes @toastedfailure @tired-jaz @whipped-for-fictionals @noellesfactory

@alhaiko @sundays-prince @angel-of-requiem @jaguarthecat @vitanye

@tiramizuloz @luvvhaerin @gabirii @blvdmrcnry jayzioxx

@0lives10 @tamikahoshiko @cr4yolaas @milkuu333 @x-hihihi-x

@kangyeonie @hydration-is-for-weenies @sorcerersseestars @jiminscarmex @backgroundcharactera