#i need someone to stand at my shoulder and stop me from waffling over my options for 300 years

[erythristicbones]

my extreme need to have all my OC names to have meaning VS the want to use this name i just find really funny FIGHT

[i520u]

star-crossed ✩°｡ ⋆⸜

ten. you

You’ve known Gyuvin for much longer. You still remembered how your hands were trembling when you first walked into the class. It was 9 in the morning, and nobody seemed to care about you being a new student. You thought that that was the best case scenario, although the lack of reaction had only served in making you feel like a loser.

You remembered Gyuvin walking all the way from the opposite side of the classroom to where you were sitting, just to introduce himself to you. He told you his name, and that he was born in Seoul. He told you that if you needed any help, he was more than willing to assist you in anything.

You were very thankful for him, and you thought that the two of you could be great friends then. However, you quickly realised that Gyuvin had his own group of friends, and you were too shy to simply barge into their conversations and force yourself into the friendship. Therefore, although the two of you were considered as friends from the very first day of school, he didn’t quite feel like one until 4 months later.

You seemed lost in your own thoughts as you recalled your first meeting with Gyuvin, you weren’t really sure why you even thought about him all of a sudden. Perhaps it was the nostalgic feeling from unpacking all of your childhood stuff from the move-in boxes, or maybe it was the fact that Yujin had just announced that he was coming over to help around the house.

As if on cue, you watched the very person you were thinking about walk into your house, accompanied by Yujin. Like a typical Korean visitor, he immediately walked past you and towards your mother, introducing himself properly. A smile that was barely visible was formed on your face as you watched your friend. You didn’t realise even the smallest things such as the customs of your hometown could be missed.

You felt a hand on your shoulder, your eyes darted to Gyuvin who was now in front of you. “Are you okay? You look distracted.” He asked, a hint of curiosity evident in his voice. You shook your head as you let out a dry chuckle. “I guess I am. I’m a little tired from this cleaning spree,” you admitted, looking behind at the mountains of boxes that were still untouched.

“It’s not like Yujin is of much help. He’s just been trying to find anything embarrassing I owned as a kid,” you continued, scratching the back of your neck from feeling flustered. Gyuvin giggled as he looked over at your younger brother. “He’s so cute! You’re lucky. My younger siblings hate me.” He pouted, he put his hands on his hips to add into the dramatic effect.

You gave him a look, “I wonder why.” You smiled, followed by Gyuvin’s fake-gasp. You could feel someone approaching you, your gaze leaving Gyuvin, and towards the presence, only to be met with Yujin. He was standing awfully close to you, which made you wonder what he wanted.

Yujin put an arm around your shoulder, leaning into your ear to whisper something. “Stop flirting with him, it’s gross.” He backed away, his face morphed into a disgusted expression. You raised an eyebrow at your younger brother, swatting his arm away from you. “You’re such a freak,” you mumbled, loud enough for Yujin to hear, but quiet enough that your mother wouldn’t.

Gyuvin only stared at the two of you in confusion, but decided not to get himself in the middle of two siblings bickering. “Who should I help? Ms Han? Y/N? Yujinnie?” He asked, a proud smile on his face as he waited for someone to ask for his help. “You should help Y/N. Her noodle hands can’t even carry one box by herself.” Yujin continued teasing, you were about to give his shoulder a hard slap but he saw it coming, and dodged it.

“Also because I don’t want to hear Gyuvin waffling about his friendship breakup. This cleaning spree is already annoying as it is.” He continued, immediately making his way to your mother. Gyuvin frowned at Yujin’s lack of empathy for his situation — although he admits, it wasn’t a big deal — you on the other hand, was quite concerned with what Yujin had said. Friendship breakup? Did he get into a fight with Gunwook?

You noticed Gyuvin looking over at you as if he was waiting for your order. The need to be nosy and know more about the ‘friendship breakup’ your brother mentioned was heightened. You told Gyuvin that you needed help bringing the boxes upstairs to where your room was, and he happily helped carry the multiple boxes at once.

You were a little nervous bringing a boy, or anyone in general, into your room for the first time ever, you never had the chance to do so back then — when your parents used to fight all the time. It felt all too weird, and uncomfortably new.

Shaking off the bad memory, you tried starting a conversation with Gyuvin to distract yourself from it. “Did you get into a fight with Gunwook or something?” You asked as soon as he settled down in your room. Gyuvin’s eyes widened a little, his mouth slightly hung open when you mentioned his friend’s name. He shook his head, “not just him — but it’s not really a fight, I guess I’m just upset.” He sighed, his hands wandering around the box to figure a way to open it.

You could tell from his body language that he was avoiding eye contact, you were unsure if he was uncomfortable with the topic of friendship, or if he was just embarrassed of being upset over something that people might assume is small.

You took out a picture of you and Minji from the box he was practically hugging, looking away from him in a way to make him feel less uncomfortable. “You don’t have to talk about it,” you told him as you placed the picture on your nightstand. “No, I do want to talk about it, but I feel silly — I feel dramatic.” Gyuvin sighed, standing up to walk towards you.

Eyes darting towards the tall boy, you thought of teasing him a little — just to cheer him up. “Does Gyuvinnie need a hug?” You laughed, you didn’t really spread your arms to welcome him into a hug, it was really meant to be a joke. Although, upon seeing how his eyes lit up, and how quickly he nodded to your question, you felt a little bad leaving him hanging.

You sighed, at that moment, he reminded you of Yujin. You gave his shoulder a pat, before leaning in to hug him. It was an awkward hug — you’ve never actually hugged him before, there was even space in between the two of you, it was honestly laughable. Gyuvin appreciated it, though.

“Thanks, dude,” he mumbled, his head resting on your shoulder. “It’s Ricky, by the way, I know he’s your boyfriend, or whatever.” He continued mumbling. Your heart skipped a beat upon hearing his name, but you kept a calm composure — you didn’t want to let Ricky’s best friend, of all people, figure out that you’ve got a massive crush on him.

You broke away from the prolonged awkward hug, taking a seat on the edge of your bed. You raised an eyebrow at him, you were about to correct him on his statement, “are you guys dating?” He asked, cutting you off from what you were about to say. You pressed your lips together, looking away from Gyuvin as you shook your head.

“Okay, I won’t feel like I’m badmouthing him then,” he sighed, “he’s just been ignoring me, for a few days now. Thing is, I don’t know what I’ve done, he’s gotten mad at me before, but it has never been this bad before. Not to mention, I’m starting to feel left out by both him and Gunwook because of this.” He started rambling, but you tried your best to listen to him attentively.

Gyuvin looked sad as he tried to tell you why he felt left out, of course you knew what he was talking about. You were there when Ricky invited Gunwook to stay on that day. You didn’t ask about Gyuvin, thinking it wasn’t really your business. Who would’ve known it would actually lead into something as big as this.

Gyuvin was sitting on the floor, it was clear he didn’t want you to see his sad expression. You knew he was sulking about it — rightfully so. You could tell that Gyuvin really cherishes and loves his friends, and he was evidently upset. Maybe he just convinced himself that he was being dramatic. Although, in your point of view, you would’ve reacted the same way if Minji left you out the way Ricky did.

You got off of your bed, you let your back slide against your bed as you sat down on the floor with Gyuvin. You were hesitant, at first, but you powered through with what you had in mind. Your arm reached out to wrap itself around his shoulders, in hopes that it’ll give him comfort.

With a sigh, you gently caressed the side of his shoulder. You were unsure with what to do, but you let your sisterly instincts take charge of your actions. “It’s alright, Gyuvin, your feelings are valid. You shouldn’t make yourself feel stupid for feeling upset.” You gave his shoulder a light squeeze as you whispered.

Gyuvin’s head was still looking down to the floor — he wasn’t crying, obviously — but he just didn’t want you to see him when he’s sad. “You know,” he exhaled, as if trying to gain courage to look at you, “me and Ricky, we’ve been friends for 7 years now. If there was any conflict between us, we’d always talk it out. Which is why I’m so sad that he’s just ignoring me this time around.” His shoulders dropped in disappointment.

You honestly felt sorry for him, you wondered what made Ricky react the way he did towards Gyuvin. You didn’t really know Ricky that well, so you didn’t want to judge him after only hearing Gyuvin’s side of the story. “When I get into an argument with Minji, we’d ignore each other for a while too. I guess it’s just normal. Maybe give him a week, and then you should try talking to him again!” You advised, you weren’t sure how useful your input was, but Gyuvin seemed satisfied enough.

He caught you by surprise when he pulled you into a hug — almost like a sideway hug, if that was even a thing. “I really needed somebody that wouldn’t belittle me for my feelings, thanks Y/N.” He mumbled as his head rested on top of yours. You nodded, unsure with how you were supposed to respond.

He seemed to be in good spirits afterwards, immediately suggesting that the two of you should get back to work. He pointed out that the most important thing was to hang the curtains in your room — even lecturing you about how dangerous it is to have no curtains for privacy reasons as a girl.

“I would’ve never let my little sister stay in a room with no curtains! Who knows what could happen to her. There’s so many creeps out there, Y/N. You can never be too careful.” He sighed. You didn’t have a ladder to make it easier for you to hang your curtains (which was also the reason why you never hung them in the first place), Gyuvin suggested that he’ll do it while standing on a chair.

The two of you continued talking and joking around as he carefully did the task at hand. He was aware of how clumsy he could get, so he was being extra careful despite having fun with the conversation the two of you were having. The two of you mostly bonded over having younger siblings. You learned that Gyuvin genuinely adores his siblings, and for a second you were glad that Yujin had someone like him to lean onto.

As Gyuvin was stepping down, you could hear someone calling your name, ultimately distracting you. Your grip on the chair loosened as you looked back to the door of your room to see if there was actually someone calling for you. The chair wobbled a little, although Gyuvin already had one foot down. The wobble did affect his balance. Out of panic, he roughly gripped onto your shoulders for support.

Your focus went back to Gyuvin as you grabbed onto his waist to help him regain his balance. The push and pull between the two of you ultimately led to both of you falling, but Gyuvin was quick enough to not fall on you. “You fucking idiot,” he laughed, whispering the curse word.

You let out a giggle as you stared at him from the corner of your eye. “My head is gonna have a bump,” you told him, which only made him laugh even more. “You deserved that for being a dumbass.” He exclaimed, you would’ve continued laughing with him, but it came to a halt when you realised somebody was indeed standing by the door.

Your eyes widened a little at the familiar face. Familiar, handsome face. “Ricky? What are you doing here?” You asked, pushing yourself up from the floor. Your hands quickly dusting off whatever that might’ve been on your shirt, your mind automatically telling you to fix yourself in front of him. Ricky didn’t seemed as delighted to see you, his hand was holding something familiar.

“I stopped by to give you these. I already washed them for you,” his voice was still soft as he talked to you, but his gaze was somewhat… cold? He just seemed unamused. You recalled what Gyuvin had told you, and you figured whatever happened between them was the reason why the air was tense. Passing you the clothes that you had previously left at his house, you noticed he didn’t spare Gyuvin a single look.

You felt a little awkward being caught in the middle of it, racking your brains to figure out what you should say to lighten up the mood. “You should stay for dinner! You too, Gyuvin,” You said, your voice slightly shaking from being nervous. Ricky flashed you a smile, and even in a situation as dire as that, you managed to swoon over him. “I’d love to, but I should get going. Let’s eat lunch together tomorrow, Y/N.” He said. You nodded almost immediately to his suggestion.

Ricky mumbled a ‘bye’ to you, playfully pinching your cheeks before leaving. When you were sure Ricky was far away enough, you let out a squeal. You honestly forgot about Gyuvin being right behind you, and Gyuvin for sure noticed how red your cheeks became. He would be a fool if he didn’t catch onto your feelings for Ricky.

You tried to play it off upon realising you still had a guest in your room, in hopes that he didn’t hear you practically squealing for his literal best friend. “That was crazy. I can’t believe he just popped into my house unannounced,” you laughed dryly, hoping to change the subject. Gyuvin nodded, he didn’t want to make it awkward with you, so he pretended to be oblivious.

“To be fair, the two of you have been going to each other’s houses quite a lot. Almost like you guys are dating.” He teased. You tried not to react to what he had just said, Gyuvin noticed how your cheeks slowly started to flush again. It practically confirmed his suspicions. In fact, he was excited about this newfound information.

He might not be on good terms with Ricky at the moment, but as his friend, Gyuvin silently made a promise to himself that he will make the two of you date each other. He just wished he could tell Ricky of what he just witnessed.

masterlist | previous | next

synopsis ↯ in which you are paired up with ricky shen, who fully convinced himself that you purposely became his partner in order to date him.

𖤐 𖦹 ༘⋆⊹ nara's note:

now i need to think what'll happen in the next chapter bc i can't decide whether i want to go with a bad ending or a good ending

🏷️ ; @jiaant11 @shiningstar-byulxx @justemalove @okkomi @jeonghyeonsgf @blaycke @lvieee @softyminhee @starhyeon @rikislady @raeewe @se0ngmins @i-yeseo @aariiil @daydreamer5006 @ahnneyong @jayujus @girlokarina @aerxz @rikimylove

[duckymcdoorknob]

𝓣𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓵𝓮𝓽𝓸𝓫𝓮𝓻 𝓭𝓪𝔂 14: 𝓢𝓸𝓯𝓽

Me when- when the- when-

I love them, your honor.

I wanna go to Waffle House.

WOOHOO WELCOME TO TKTOBER IN NOVEMBER GUYS LETS SEE HOW LONG IT TAKES ME TO GET THEM DONE

Tags: @chrimsss @ticklish-n-stuff bc you helped me ❤️❤️❤️

—This do have tickles below the cut ngl—

The life of a forest ranger is never dull, and boy is the stress never-ending. It’s almost impossible for Tighnari to come back to his hut unscathed and unaffected by the day. This day in particular, he actually managed to cheat death!

Except, now he can’t sleep.

There’s zero work to be done, the hut is clean, his clothes are hanging to dry, Collei is completely taken care off, dinner has been cooked and dishes washed, workspace tidy, floor clean, nothing.

His mind raced through what could possibly be the issue, but he’s yet to find one.

Sighing, he threw his hands over his eyes before standing up and sliding on his slippers. He gently trudged past Collei, stepping outside for a moment.

The fennec shivered a bit as he draped a cardigan around himself. He glided to the hill near his hut and stood quietly, arms crossed. A chuckle broke him from his trance.

“You look like a wife waiting for her husband to return from the war.”

Tighnari gasped, summoning his bow in that moment. He groaned out a sigh of relief, letting his shoulders slump down and putting up his weapon. “Nice to see you too, Cyno. You spying on me?” he grumbled.

“Hey, I was here first; you were too busy being a war wife to notice me sitting here… Hey, great reaction time by the way.”

“Ugh, you’re such a- nevermind…“ the dendro user was far too exhausted to even argue, instead opting to lay down next to his dear friend and place his arms behind his head.

The general turned to look at him fondly, a small smile gracing his features. “So, what brings you here?”

“I just can’t seem to fall asleep. All of my work is done, but I just don’t feel the need to rest,” Tighnari replied in exasperation, resting his hands on his eyes.

“Do you want relief, or someone to just let you feel your feelings?” the white-haired man hummed.

“I want to say both, but I just want to get to sleep…” the bow user murmured.

“Alright, come here.”

Cyno reached out to the man next to him, waiting for him to react. Tighnari opted to grab onto Cyno’s hand, eliciting a chuckle from the latter. “What?” he grumbled.

“I was offering for you to lay on me, but this works too.”

“Oh…” the fennec hummed, scooting closer and draping atop of his friend. “Oh, yeah… this does feel nice.”

The general grinned and brought a hand up to gently card his finger’s through the black and green mess of hair in front of his eyes. He gently raked his nails down Tighnari’s head.

Tighnari’s eyes fluttered shut and his head lolled to rest on Cyno’s chest. A pleasant sigh escaped his mouth as he fully relaxed.

“See, you are tired; your mind is just completely overstimulated right now, so it’s keeping you awake,” Cyno replied in a low voice, bringing his hands up to scratch at the bow user’s ears.

Breathy giggles suddenly escaped the other male.

“Oh? Come on now, don’t tell me you’re ticklish here too?”

“Yohohohoure suhuhuch ahaha buhuhully,” the fennec whimpered, unmoving.

Cyno smiled fondly at Tighnari’s sweet giggles, caressing his ears with ticklish touches. His other arm wrapped securely around the latter’s waist. “Gasp, I’m no bully,” he deadpanned, “I would never. After how nice I was to help you…”

“Cynohohoho. Yohohouhuhure- pfffahaha-“

“I’m what? I’ve never heard of that adjective before. Have you and Alhaitham been hanging out without me?”

Tighnari groaned through his giggles as he lay still on Cyno’s torso.

The general’s heart skipped a beat when the fennec weakly reached for his hand, hoping to stop the ticklish scratches. “Aht aht, I’m trying to help you sleep.”

“Nohohoho- yohohou’re tihihickling mehehe.”

“Tickling you? No… if I was trying to tickle you, I would’ve gone for your feet.” A wider smile tugged at his lips as he felt Tighnari instinctively cross his ankles to protect the sensitive spot.

The hand on the exhausted male’s waist poked and prodded ever so gently, tracing light circles over the forest ranger’s back and sides. Sleepy giggles emitted from him as his eyes continued to open and flutter closed. “Cynohohoho.”

“Mmm?”

“Thahahahanks.”

The general ceased all movement, wondering what Tighnari could’ve meant. He called his name; no response was given. When he tried again, he realized that the forest ranger had finally fallen asleep.

As carefully as he could, Cyno guided the latter into his arms, letting his head rest against his chest.

Their walk back to his hut was silent, but it was a long one. A million thoughts were in his head, yet Cyno said no words.

When he returned and entered the humble home, he was greeted by a bleary-eyed Collei getting some water. He pursed his lips and shushed her gently, resulting in a smile and a nod from the girl.

Laying the man down feet first—he remembered Tighnari saying that it worked on babies, so maybe it’ll work on people— and gently caressing his cheek, the general bid him farewell.

A hand grabbed his wrist as he turned around. “stay.”

Cyno exhaled fondly, settling down and taking Tighnari in his arms. Tighnari cuddled close to him and smiled in satisfaction; Cyno had to take a moment to keep himself from blushing too hard, then planted a small kiss on the ranger’s forehead.

—

BONUS:

Later on, Collei returned to the kitchen for some more water. On the way in, she noticed a bigger mess of blankets on her master’s bed.

Curiously, she opened the cracked door and laughed to herself. Retreating quickly, she grabbed her Kamera from her nightstand and took a quick photo. After securing the device and photos, she happily snuggled between the two, smiling in safety.

Her family…

—————♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎✞♡︎—————

[trippiexlove]

Serendipity - Ch.7

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Druitt POV

I was up early the next morning after the show. I decided I wanted to cook breakfast for everyone. 

I went downstairs to the kitchen, grabbing everything I needed. After about half an hour everything was ready, and spread out across the kitchen island.

This included waffles, bacon, eggs, biscuits, fruit, and a variety of beverages. I was done setting everything up when I heard shuffling of feet behind me.

I turned seeing Jey walk in rubbing his eyes, he looked like a big kid having a small pout on his face.

"Good morning sleepy head"

"I woke up and you wasn't there" he came over and wrapped his arms me, laying his head on my shoulders.

"I decided to make breakfast for everyone" I wrapped my arms around his waist and he started swaying us back and forth. 

We stayed like that for a little bit until he pulled away, "It looks good ma"

"Thank you, might want to go make your plate, I think I hear your brothers coming down" 

He nodded and made his plate quickly, as Jon, Trin & Sefa made their way down. 

"Sis you made all this? You should of woke me up I would've helped you"

"It is all good sis, I wanted to do this"

We all made our plates and sat down in the dining room.

"What we got planned for today" , I took a sip of my juice before talking.

"Well I was thinking let's go to the beach, it's only an hour drive from here"

Jon nodded his head, whipping his mouth "Yeah lets do it"

After everyone finished breakfast, we all retreated back to our rooms to get changed.

I walked into my closet to look through my drawers to get my bathing suit out, when Jey walked in. 

"I am going to change in the other guest room"

"Ok, I'll be ready in a few" I grabbed my bathing suit and went into my bathroom to change. After I changed into my red two piece, I put on my shorts and sandals as Jey walked back in. 

I turned and looked and saw Jey just standing there staring at me. When he noticed I was looking he snapped out of it. 

"uhhh ... everyone is waiting downstairs" 

I grabbed my beach bag with all my essentials. 

"alright let's go" he turned leading the way. This gave me an opportunity to gaze over him. He was wearing black trunks, slides, with his tattoos on full display. Not going to lie he was looking real good right now, but I had to hold my composure. 

Once we reached the living room where everyone was we started heading out. 

"Oh Sefa there's a football in my garage if you want to bring it with us"

"Bet" he quickly ran back into the house, returning a few minutes later with the football. 

We quickly got in car with me in the back in-between Jey and Sefa and Trin and Jon in the front. 

*hour later*

we finally made it to our spot on the beach and set up, the boys were ready to go until I stopped them. 

"Aht aht, sunscreen" I held it out to them as they smacked their teeth " I don't care, your skin will thank me later" 

After everyone put on sunscreen, and the boys ran down near the water and started tossing the football around.

Trin and I laid down our towels, relaxing under the shade of the umbrella.

We were relaxing for a while until Trin spoke up. 

"You ok sis? You've been kind of quiet"

I sat up from my towel and turned to her. 

"Last night during Jey's match, I felt a phone vibrate in my pocket, I took it out thinking it was my phone, but realize it wasn't and seen he got a text from someone named Jeyce Mother" 

Trinity soon sat up, kind of wide eyed, and turned towards me.

"What did the message say?" 

"It just said that she wants her family back, she wants to be in their son's life" I shook my head "it just had me thinking like I know we flirt back and forth but does he have a whole family I don't know about?" 

"I- why don't you ask him, he's coming back up" I turned to see Jey coming back towards us. 

As soon as he reached us, Trin stood up "I am about to go get in the water" and she walked away, as Jey sat down next to me. 

I laid back down on my towel, closing my eyes. It wasn't long until I felt someone staring at me. I opened my eyes and was immediately met with Jey's gaze. 

"You ok?"

I nodded, "yeah just have some thoughts on my mind"

"Oh yeah, care to share?"

I sighed, thinking if I wanted to bring this up or not. I mean, we aren't together, why should it matter to me? 

"No it's ok I'm good, you having fun?" 

He gave me a knowing look, but decided to not press it. "Yeah I am, but I would have more fun if you were out there" 

I smiled and got up, dusting myself off "then come on, so I whoop your ass in football" 

"Girl please, you looking at player of the month right here"

"Wasn't Jon's picture in the newspaper?" I laughed once he stopped all motion, he turned to me with a look in his eye.

"Run," I gave him a confused look "you better run before I throw you in that water" 

He slowly started walking to me, as I backed away and started running, laughing as I made it to the group. 

We stayed at the beach for another hour or so before we decided to call it a day. Once we got back to my house, the boys decided they wanted to grill, so they went to the local grocery store, while Trin & I stayed at the house. 

"Did you talk to him?" I shook my head

"No, I don't think it matters, plus we are just friends and nothing more"

"If you say so, but I feel like you should still talk to him if it's bothering you"

I nodded my head, and turned my attention to the door as the brothers walked in. They immediately went into the kitchen and started unloading the food they were going to cook. 

I walked in and stood by Jey, "do you guys need any help?"

All the brothers turned to me "NO"

"Girl please go sit down, we got this" Sefa chuckled.

"Geez, my fault" I laughed as I threw my hands up and proceeded to walk out the kitchen.

Jey POV

*Few moments later*

I was in the backyard grilling up the last batch of chicken for dinner when I felt a presence next to me. 

I turned to see Druitt there.

"Chicken looks good Main Event, let me try a piece" 

"Nah you have to wait just like everybody else"

"Please, just one little piece" and she gave me puppy dog eyes, and how could I say no.

"Fine," I picked up a small piece "it's hot so blow" 

She grabbed the small piece of chicken, cooling it off before eating it. She let out a low moan and closed her eyes. 

Now why would she do that?

"Pretty good Main Event"

"Of course it's good, I made it" She laughed walking away. 

After the chicken was done, I grabbed the pan and took it in the house.

Everyone fixed a plate and took their place at the table. We had small conversations and made jokes throughout dinner. 

After dinner the guys and I cleaned up and retreated back to our rooms. 

I walked into Druitt room to see her already under the covers, with Family Guy playing on the TV.

"Wow you couldn't wait for me? I'm hurt"

"You were taking too long, but I will pause it while you get ready for bed"

I nodded my head and grabbed my stuff. I took a quick shower, did my night routine and threw on some sweats and decided not to wear a shirt. I put my clothes back into my bag and climbed in bed. 

I immediately laid my head on her lower stomach, wrapping my arms around her waist. She started running her fingers through my hair, and I was caressing my hands over her thigh as we were watching the show. 

"Jey I have a question, it kind of been on my mind since last night"

"What's up"

"Do you have a son?" When she asked the I froze "I don't want you to think I went through your phone, but last night at the show I felt your phone vibrate in my pocket thinking it was mine and saw a message from Jeyce Mom"

I sat up and looked at her "yeah I have a son, it's a long story but she hasn't been in his life for some years now and she all of a sudden wants to come back around"

She gave me sad look, "I am sorry to hear that"

"It's no problem, but is me having a son going to effect what we having going on?"

"Well, that is the thing what do we have going on?"

"I will admit, I've liked you for a while, I am willing to take things slow to see where this goes"

She smiled and nodded "I've been feeling you too, I say that we do take it slow, get to know one another" 

I nodded and looked at her and then my eyes dropped to her lips. I couldn't resist and by the time I knew it I had already leaned in and kissed her. She laid her hand on the side of my face and we kissed for a while before pulling away. I laid back down how I was as we continued to watch the show.

A few moments later, her movements stopped and I could feel her breathing mellow out. I looked up and saw she was sleeping. I got up, turned the TV off and laid down, pulling her into me.

She moved a little getting comfortable and soon settled, with me right behind her falling asleep. 

*Next Morning*

My brothers, Trin & I were all downstairs with our luggage, as we were about to take an early morning flight back home. 

Sefa stepped towards Druitt, giving her a hug "thanks for letting us stay sis"

"No problem Sefa, y'all can come back anytime" Then she moved on to hugging Jon and Trin. 

"Thanks again sis, come visit me girl it gets lonely out there in Pensacola" 

"I definitely will sis, the next time I have off I am going to come to one of your shows"

"Bet I am going to hold you to it" 

Everyone started walking out with their things "Aye I will be right there, give me a minute" 

I turned to Druitt, pulling her into a hug "I'll see you at work tomorrow"

She nodded "I'll see you at work tomorrow" she repeated smiling up at me.

I looked down at her, keeping her close to me, pulling her into another kiss. I pecked her lips a couple of time before pulling away. 

"See you later beautiful" I grabbed my stuff as I walked out the door. 

"See you later Main Event, text me when you land" she waved and closed her front door as I got into the truck. 

"Uhhh Josh you got a little something there" Trin whispered as she pointed towards my lips. 

I quickly whipped it off as she started laughing. 

Ahhhh so they finally kissed! 

How do you think they are going to move forward?

What would you like to see happen next?

Don't forget to like, reblog and & comment!

tag list:

@xbriexx , @tribalchief2112 , @mindairy , @yana3sworld

[randomingoftherandomness]

A/N: what have I done \(-ㅂ-)/ ♥ ♥ ♥

@xinxiaojie

I’m thinking this follows the Mob AU.

—

Madam Ling is dying and she knows it, even if her loyal and beautiful son won’t acknowledge that.

“Mother, here.”

She thanks him, patting the back of his hand as he helps her fluff up the pillow and sits her up against it. There’s a breeze wafting in through the open windows, carrying in the scent of waffles from the street stall across the street. Oh, wouldn’t it be nice to have some?

“Mother, I brought someone to come see you.”

Ah, this again.

Madam Ling glances briefly at her son. The censure clear in her eyes and it is enough to have him flinching. Good to know that for all her Shangjue has taken on the mantle of the head of the household and is carrying the prestige of being the Boss of the Jue gang, he is still her son.

Her gaze flickers to his left shoulder and the man who stands there. This one’s a little too young to be anywhere near the level of expertise the kinds of doctors her son drags to her bedside with the singular purpose of curing her.

What does catch her eye is the epiphyllum pattern on the left shoulder of the young man’s tailored shirt. Gold thread against black, it’s as if the shirt was made for someone with a broader build.

“His name Yuanzhi, Mother.” Shangjue steps aside and this jolts the young man enough for him to shuffle forward. His brown eyes turn to Shangjue for a beat before looking back to her.

Madam Ling has to stop herself from chuckling at the almost puppy dog way Yuanzhi seeks Shangjue out.

“Hello Yuanzhi,” She eventually says, beckoning him close. “And where did my beast of a son kidnap you from?”

Without missing a beat, Yuanzhi grumbles. “He dragged me from my bed without so much as a hello and didn’t even let me have any breakfast.”

The laugh that escapes her is followed quickly by a series of body shaking coughs. But the amusement lingers and she reaches over to pat at Yuanzhi’s hand, tugging him down to sit on the side of her bed.

“Don’t worry. You’re with me now and he won’t dare bully you,” She assures him, gratefully taking sips of the cup of water Shangjue gently hands to her.

“Mother…”

Madam Ling clicks her tongue, blinking at Shangjue. “You bring me a new doctor and won’t let me even talk to him. What’s this then?”

Shangjue sighs helplessly. Before he can speak, Madam Ling gestures to her purse. “Take some money and go buy some waffles from the store across the street. I never taught you to have bad manners with your guests.”

“Yuanzhi isn’t a—“

“Go,” Madam Ling shoos. Shangjue blinks a little lost and she spies the way Yuanzhi seems to panic when Shangjue takes some coins and heads out but not without one last look back at him. “Oh good, I thought he would never leave.”

“Madam Ling…?”

“None of that,” She laughs. “Call me Auntie.”

Yuanzhi flushes adorably at that. “A-auntie.”

Clasping his hands between her own, she casually says, “You’re not really a doctor, are you?”

Yuanzhi stiffens.

“It’s alright. You’re not in any trouble,” She assures him softly. “Shangjue never brings anyone to see me unless they’re very important. And I think you’re that to him, hm?”

Eyeing the flower pattern on his shoulder, she smiles pleasantly at Yuanzhi. The young man worries his lips, looking shyly up at Madam Ling. “He said you would know.”

“His father was like that too. Showing more than telling. I think it’s in the genes, so you’ll need to be very understanding of that if you want to stand by his side.”

Yuanzhi doesn’t speak, turning her left hand with her palm skyward, he slides his fingers over her pulse point.

Madam Ling stops him.

“Despite my son’s best efforts, I’m dying and I am at peace with that. If nothing else, I’m quite looking forward to it.”

“Shangjue gege told me about that,” Yuanzhi says. “He’ll be heartbroken.”

“He’ll have you,” She corrects.

Yuanzhi wrestles with his thoughts before he quietly asks, “Why are you alright with this?”

“Because all I ever wanted was for my son to be not alone.” Madam Ling lifts her hand to run a thumb over the threads of the embroidery. It’s bay flower twin is in Shangjue’s closet. She would know. She embroidered them herself after all.

Mentally, she calculates how much she needs to take it for the shirt to fit better. Not by much, she reckons. She’ll need to work on feeding Yuanzhi up a little. God knows she can’t rely on her son to feed his little wife properly.

[sweet-villain]

Even If It Hurts~E.M~1

Summary: Everyone knows you as the Hawkin's Sweetheart, Dustin is your next door neighbor. Dustin thinks you'll be the perfect match with Eddie.

Author's Note : This is just the first chapter, I just couldn't get this out of my head. The title will make sense as the chapters continue.

" Sweetheart, you'll be late for school if you keep standing there" your mother says as she stops in the door way of your bedroom as you stood by the mirror looking over your outfit.

" One minute, mama" you tell her, looking over your shoulder at her as you adjusted your shirt. She smiled as she headed downstairs into the kitchen where she usually is. You grabbed your backpack and jacket as you headed out of the bedroom making your way downstairs. In the kitchen, your mother stood by the stove while your dad was at the table eating the breakfast he had on his plate.

" Are you going to eat something pumpkin?" your dad asked hearing your footsteps come closer. The kitchen had dark brown cabinets with two double doors. They were filled with dishes, cups and bowls and the other side had other spices and other things your mother needed around the kitchen. Right below those cabinets is the sink with a couple of dishes waiting to be washed. Your mother is standing by the stove with a couple of pots and pans off to the side next to her waiting to be put away.

" I'll be late if I don't go now" you say grabbing a waffle off the plate that your mom has been stacking on and kissing your father on the cheek before doing the same to your mother. You hurried out the door with one strap of your backpack hanging out while the other is on your shoulder as you put on your shoes. " Have a good day, sweetheart!" your mom yells peering at you over the kitchen with her spatula in her hand. She looked at you disapprovingly seeing the only breakfast you had in your hand was the one waffle. You slipped out the door and made your way to your car.

As it roared to life, you hear another door open and your head turns to glance as Dustin Henderson comes running out to his bike. He doesn't see you as he gets on and rides away. You sped off towards the way he was heading, slowing down as you rolled down the window.

" Next time if you need a ride, Henderson. You know where to find me" you tell him. He pauses as he looks over to you. He sees it's you and smiles.

" It's good to see you Y/N! Thank you, I will keep that in mind" you knew Dustin from when you babysat him those months ago, his mother Claudia adores you. The whole town did since you were Hawkins sweetheart. You continued to drive as you see that Mike and Lucas were waiting for him. You waved to them on the way as you drove past them.

The school wasn't far ahead. This was your final year of high school and you couldn't wait to leave Hawkins. You always dreamed of going somewhere like California or Chicago. You wanted the road to lead you wherever. Just not here. Sure you had family here and the town loved you, but your heart was set on getting out of here.

You parked in one of the parking spots at the school. Heads would turn to see you getting out of the car.

" Hi Y/N!" Chrissy greets you as she walks with Jason wrapped around her shoulder. Jason nods at you.

" Hi Chrissy" you greet her. The sun peered down making you squint your eyes as you headed towards the front of the school. Everyone kept looking at you and waving at you. Meanwhile Eddie parked his van just besides your car as he slipped out seeing everyone was looking at something, or someone as he noticed the back of your head.

He tilts his head as he eyes the outfit of your choice seeing converse on your feet paired with black skinny jeans almost identical to his and he sees the back of your shirt but doesn't know what's in the front and he watches as your hair flowed down your back. He noticed the backpack you had one with three pins on it that made his lips turn into a smile. Iron Maiden, Metallica and Montley Crue.

He doesn't recall ever seeing you before. He doesn't because you looked very different last year and the year before that. He doesn't know your name but everyone seems to know you. You had everyone's attention. He shrugs as he walks to the doors of the school seeing the back of your head as you were greeted by everyone.

His locker isn't near yours making him frown as it was itching him to find out who you were. He wanted to see your face so that he can put a name to it. If everyone knew who you were then he should too but he frowns as he tries to peek around the others but no luck as he closes his locker going to his first class.

Your classes go into a big blur and before you know it's lunch. You headed through the doors of the cafeteria with your head held up high. You had brought your lunch with you, looking around to see where you could sit. A hand lays on your shoulder causing you to jump.

"Sorry" the person mutters and you turn around to see Mike and Dustin as they both had trays of their lunches in hand. " Dustin, Mike" you greet them with a smile. " It's good to see you" you add.

" You look so different" Mike says as his eyes roam your face. Dustin nudges him giving him a look with his eyes. " What?" Mike asks him like it was nothing. Dustin rolls his eyes but sighs, " What he means is that you look great."

You chuckled, " It's okay. I know what he meant. Thanks, I guess?" you asked not really knowing whether to take it as a compliment or not. But you shrug it off, " Why don't you sit with us?

Dustin motions over to the table that contained four other guys sitting there. Your eyes roamed over to each one knowing exactly who they were but your eyes stop on the long mane of curls and those brown eyes that seem to lock with yours. A hint of red paints your cheeks as you look away.

" Sure" you nodded following bot h of them to the table. Heads turned seeing you walking closer and closer to the Hellfire table.

" Guys, this is Y/N. Y/N this is -" you cut Dustin off.

" I know who they are" you nodded sitting down next to Eddie who can't keep his eyes off of you. His eyebrows scrunch together as his brown eyes search your face trying to put two and two on who you were. Your name sounded familiar.

" Last year I had worked with Gareth on an English project" you motioned your head to him as Gareth racked his brain thinking on it when his eyes light up as he now understood who you were.

" You used to wear your hair up all the time" he says and nodded his head. " You used to wear glasses too" he adds.

" Wait. Y/N as in smarty artistic, always knew the answer Y/N?" Jeff asked. You chuckled and nodded. " That's me"

" You used to draw all the time in your notebook and on your tests too" Eddie mumbles. " You used to bump into me a lot rushing in hallways" you nodded.

" That's me" you point to the other guy, " we had a class together too" He nods.

Eddie hums as he watches as you take out your lunch. You notice that he's looking. A hint of red paints your cheek as you brush your hair behind your ear and look down at your lunch.

" Welcome, lost sheep" Eddie says as he waves his ring clad hand at the table offering you a small smile. You felt your heart flutter at glance of his smile and those brown eyes.

-

You closed your locker as you packed your things before you were going to head home. In the corner of your eyes you saw green cheerleading uniform with the high pony tail and green ribbon and the back of a jean vest. Eddie and Chrissy. Your eyebrows scrunched up together seeing them smiling at one another and she said something to make him laugh. Her hand was placed on his shoulder and the way he was looking down at her caused you to frown. He looked at her like his heart would jump out of his chest as his eyes shined when he smiled down at her.

You zipped up your back pack as you grabbed one strap heading to the doors to you car. It's been a long day and you couldn't wait to get home to have a hot shower.

You heard footsteps behind you squeaking against the floors of the school as someone caught up to you. In the corner of your eyes, you noticed the black sleeve leather jacket and the side of mane of curls.

" Where you off too, princess?" he asked.

Princess. At the nickname, your heart fluttered.

" Home" you mumbled feeling a small breeze hit your cheek as you looked for your car in the parking lot. It was parked right next to Eddie's van.

" Have a big evening planned?" you shook your head. " Going to watch a movie and do some homework."

" Sounds boring. What movie?" He asked as he walked to the side where your car was as he leaned on it on his side. His fingers tapped on top of the car, his rings making a sound as he does.

" I don't know yet" you shrugged throwing your backpack into the passenger side seat. " Nice car" you eyed it as his eyes grew big seeing the interior of it. " Daddy get it for you?"

You pursed your lips and rolled your eyes.

" No Munson, daddy didn't even pay a dime for this. I did" you kinda were hurt that he thought of you liked that already. Your parents didn't pay for your car at all. You saved up with all the summer jobs you did.

He put his hands up as he stepped back from your car.

" Didn't mean for it to sound like that, princess"

" Look I need to go home"

" Eddie!" a voice called out to him as his head turned to look at it, a smile appearing on his face as Chrissy Cunningham ran over to him with her own smile on her face. She giggled as she almost knocked into him. She had yet to notice you there as she grabbed onto Eddie's arms to steady herself.

" What is it, sweetheart?" He asks her. You scrunched up your face to the nickname he called her as you got into the car and starting it. You weren't about to stand there and listen to them flirt with each other. Even thought Chrissy is dating Jason.

That shower really sounded good right about now. Eddie peaks over Chrissy's head seeing you reverse your car as you drove off without a goodbye or anything else. He frowns feeling like that was rude but his gaze looks down back at Chrissy.

-

Your eyes catch on a familiar van that was parked next door.

" See you, Henderson" your eyes catch a mane of curls as he walks down the path to his van. He hasn't noticed you yet but stops to take a lighter out of his pocket and a pack of cigarettes. His eyes land on you once he lit one up and it hangs in the corner of his mouth.

" I didn't see you there L/N" he mumbles as he makes his way over to you and sits next to you. You can smell pine, cigarettes and something else too as he scoots over that your knee is touching his.

" Now you do" you mumble to him with your arms wrapped around your knees.

" Didn't know you were Henderson's neighbor" you shrugged.

" There is a lot of things you don't know about me" He nods as he looks over to you. He sees that you put your hair behind your ear and the way your eyes are more interested in the shoes you were wearing. They weren't the black converse he saw before, these were different pair with different color.

" The town calls you as Hawkins sweetheart" you nodded.

" I like to help a lot and treat people with kindness"

The corner of his lips light up in a smile. He doesn't know much about you but he knows you're one of many people that Dustin talks about a lot. Well, since today. Dustin had told him how much his mom adored you, that you used to play Dungeons and Dragons with him and the rest of the kids, how you were always thinking about others than yourself, how there wasn't a mean bone in your body, how an amazing person you were and that no one has ever said anything bad about you. How you liked to be quite and times you were loud. You were different than most people.

Eddie sat with you on the steps of your house in silence and you both enjoyed it. He would look over to see you looking either up at the sky or down at your shoes.

" Don't you need to go home?"

He shook his head, " I'm good right here, princess" you looked at him for the first time since he sat down. His brown eyes shined underneath the moon light, his lips were in a small smile and he looked at you as if you were the only thing that he adored at the moment. You felt your heart race and giggled feeling his knee nudge against yours.

You enjoyed his company.

[primofate]

2K Followers Event: Pancake and Waffle Cafe Masterlist

Nutella Waffles (overhearing and misunderstanding a conversation/situation) MODERN AU ANGST

Characters: Childe, Kazuha, Thoma, Albedo, Kaeya, Zhongli, fem!reader

Warnings: not proofread :D, cheating, fighting, insulting, misunderstanding (duh), pregnancy, sexual innuendos, implying sex, mentions of sex, still SFW though, of course I bent the lore since it’s an AU

Notes: I had trouble with this so I decided to make it a modern AU. That’s also why it took so long. I think my brain is starting to run dry XD I mean, there’s only so much situations/conversations I could think of that could be misunderstood. Still, enjoy!

Childe

"Ah, sorry, Y/N, I can’t walk you home today... Maybe tomorrow?” Childe smiled at you, scratching the back of his head, his school bag swung over his shoulder already. He looked like he was in a hurry. 

It’s been a few days like this and you really didn’t know what was happening. You asked him if he needed help with stuff at home or if he was having a hard time with his homework and if that’s why he was always rushing off. He would just give you the same smile and wave a hand. “It’s nothing like that,” and then off he’d go. 

The next day, as you walk towards his classroom during lunchtime you hear him and his friends talking before you even reach the classroom door. 

“Zoe is totally cute,” Childe says. The voice he uses is something that he’d never used on you before. You freeze in your tracks and try to listen in more. “Wow, she really is! Great job picking her!” one of his friends said and it sounded as if they’d hit Childe on the back as a congratulations. “Let me see, let me see,” another one says followed by a gasp. “Have you taken her out yet?” Childe laughs nervously and you know all too well without even looking at him that he’s probably scratching his head. “No, not yet,” 

“Does your girlfriend know yet?” Someone else asks.

And then you hear a laugh that’s all too mischievous. All too playful. All too heart-wrenching. “She doesn’t know!” and they continue to laugh.

You turn away and try your hardest not to let tears escape from your eyes. It felt as if you were being laughed at. Like everyone knew that he was cheating. Everyone except you. It doesn’t help that there was a Zoe in the other class too. The way his friends laughed made your cheeks heat up in embarrassment and the tears you were so desperately holding back to finally flow through.

You ended up staying in the washroom for the whole of lunch time, staying in a cubicle for an extra few minutes, late for the next class.

Somehow you didn’t expect Childe to still show up in your classroom to pick you up for the day and walk you home. You stare at him at the classroom door, your eyes had already gone back to their normal shade, but still glossy. He doesn’t notice, he has a big smile on his face that mocks you. Ridicules you. 

“Y/N! Let’s go together today!” Does he feel guilty? Is that why he finally agrees to walk home with you? Cause he’s had his fill of Zoe already? You don’t say a word and exit the classroom, going past him. Childe blinks, and turns to watch you walking away from him. “Y/N?”

He walks after you, and takes his place next to you. He touches the strap of your backpack, as usual, and says “I’ll take this--”

“I got it,” you reply curtly and move away from him. He’s dumbfounded, eyes still a little wide at your sudden coldness. Now he’s getting anxious. Did he do something wrong? “H-Hey...Y/N, are you mad because I didn’t walk home with you the past couple days? See, I was just--”

“I’m not that petty!” You nearly growl at him, holding his gaze for a few seconds before walking off again. Your eyes are starting to prickle with more tears. You just wanted to get home. As soon as you can. Away from him. You didn’t have the heart to break up with him face to face. You liked him too much, you knew you wouldn’t be able to do it while looking at his handsome face. 

Then, he snatches your wrist and pulls you back towards him. The school hallways are emptying out, there’s a few students walking by who ignore the two of you. “Then what’s the matter? I don’t like it when we fight. At least tell me what I did!” 

You wrench your wrist away from his and start sniffing. He stands there, shocked at where your tears are coming from. Until you start talking. “I heard you, during lunch time,” his eyebrows furrow. “Lunch...time?” He mumbles, not following. “When you were talking about your cute Zoe!” He doesn’t say anything for a moment and that only confirms your fears. 

He’d been looking at other girls, and probably wanting them.

“...Y/N, Zoe is...” Childe scratched his cheek, averting his eyes away. 

“I don’t wanna hear it,” you try to turn away, but he doesn’t let you and holds your shoulders with his hands, staring straight at you. “My dog,” You were crying at this point, and when you hear his next words your eyes narrow. “W-What?”

“Zoe is my new dog,” 

“B-But your friend asked if you took her out yet...”

“Yeah,” Childe tilted his head, “for a walk?” As you start to connect the dots he takes out his phone and shows you the picture of a cute miniature poodle, it had a collar and a silver tag on it that said “Zoe”. You thought that you might cry again at how cute she was but you just glare up at Childe. “Well, I didn’t tell you cause I was gunna surprise you. I’ve been going home early these days cause we had to go visit the pound a few times and finalize the papers and everything...” 

“I-Is that true? Is that all it is?” You sniff, now wiping your stupid tears away. Childe smiles down at you and takes your hands away from your face, replacing it with his, thumbing away the streaks of wetness. “Y/N, no one can ever replace you,” you sniff and let him dote on you. You’d been missing him for a while anyway. 

“...Well except Zoe, maybe Zoe can,” he’s clearly teasing you and you don’t hesitate to lift your fist and punch him on the shoulder, earning a small “Ow,” from him followed by a laugh. “I’m just kidding, how ‘bout you come over and visit her today? It’s only her second day home!”

Thoma

You’d made an appointment with your friend a long time ago. Just a quick lunch and catch up date. Thoma had graciously volunteered to drive you to the mall where you were meeting up with her.

“You sure you don’t need me to pick you up? It’s Saturday. I’m free,” he flashes you a smile, his eyes darting towards you only for a second before going back to the road. “I’ll be fine hun, I’ll take the bus home,” you reply to him.

Halfway through your journey he says that he needs to buy something from a convenience store, and so he parks the car properly and grabs his wallet. His phone is on the car phone stand and you pay no heed to it until a soft ‘ding’ makes you pick your head up to look at the screen. 

Your best friend’s name pops up, she’s messaged him and your blood runs cold.

“I’ll come over when Y/N’s gone,” the message read. Your heart is already at your throat, and you don’t know what to think. What is this make-believe situation that you’re suddenly in. Is this really happening? Your eyes dart upwards to look at the door of the convenience store. You could see Thoma was still looking at the shelves.

You gulp and you wonder what the right thing to do is. Invade his privacy and peek at his messages? Let it go? Confront him? Cry? Another ‘ding’ fills up the car.

“How long is she going to be out? The longer the better. So...” you couldn’t read the rest of the message, it being cut off but you were already spiraling down the hole of despair. How could he? Your sweet and loyal Thoma ended up going behind your back with your best friend. You thought you were going to be sick, you actually had to roll the windows of the car down to get some fresh air, just as Thoma came out of the convenience store door with a plastic bag. 

You couldn’t look at him. You couldn’t even be in the same space as him. You were going to cancel today with your friend, you didn’t think you’d be able to function properly. When he sat on the driver’s seat and saw you looking out the window, he didn’t think much of it and revved the engine up. “Ready hu--”

“Take me to my sister’s place,” Thoma blinked and turned to you, confused. “But, what about your lunch date today, dear?”

“I don’t feel like going. My sister’s place is nearby, just drop me off there,” Your hands were already typing a reply to the friend that you were about to stand up on, but you couldn’t even think of what to do or say. 

“Dear is everything okay?” He asked while backing the car up, arm outstretched to your side while he’s looking at the rear. He was appalled by your sudden mood change. You didn’t answer but he hears you sniff and he immediately stops the car again. “Y/N? What’s wrong?” He’s alarmed that you’re crying and he reaches to cup your chin and tilt it towards him but you move your face away from him. 

“Y/N?” he asked, the confusion in his voice is actually genuine and you can hear a bit of panic in it. “How long have you been seeing Aya?” you spit the words as if they’re poison and the car is quiet. You laugh bitterly. “I thought so, cat got your tongue, huh?” 

Thoma shook himself out of his confusion to say, “No, wait, I don’t know what you mean,” You scoff at him. You’re shocked at the amount of resentment you had, you trusted this man and yet this is what happens. “Yeah? Why is she sneaking into our house then?” You point at his phone, the screen is still lit up because of the messages and there were more coming in from your best friend. 

Thoma snatches the phone away from the stand and looks at it. Then, he deflates and slumps back on his seat. “Y/N, it’s not what you think,” You hate that line so much. You cross your arms and say, “Just drop me at my sister’s house,” 

“Y/N--”

“NOW!”

The drive was quiet. You didn’t know what to do. He didn’t know what to do. He didn’t want to push you but didn’t want to drop you off to your sister’s without explaining as well. So, just before your sister’s block, he parks on the side and unbuckles his seat belt, then opens your side of the door. “Y/N, listen to me,” he’s rarely this assertive, but you still don’t listen. He’s blocking your escape path. 

“It’s your birthday today,” Thoma starts and you blink, completely forgetting about it. “Ayu is sneaking in our house while you’re gone because we were going to set up a surprise for you.” He says slowly, as if he’s talking to a child. Your eyes widen, and you relax in your seat. He gives you his phone and urges you, “Go on, Y/N, you know my passcode right? I don’t hide anything from you, you can read the rest,” 

You hesitate, but accept his offer and type it in. 

“How long is she going to be out? The longer the better. So we can set up the balloons,”

“I got the cake don’t forget the candles and lighter,”

Thoma picks up his other hand that had the white plastic bag from the convenience store, he picks up the two items from inside. Birthday candles. And a lighter. 

Your mouth opens, but you can’t say anything and you only bury your face in your hands out of shame. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry Thoma, I--” He manages to let out a laugh and kisses the top of your head. “I’m so stupid. I trust you, I really do, I just--” now you’re not sure if you’re crying out of relief or embarrassment. “I’m so sorry,” You can’t say anything else and he only kisses you on the forehead again.

“It’s alright, you can make it up to me by going on that lunch date, okay? You deserve the rest. You haven’t cancelled yet have you? Let’s freshen up at your sister’s place and I’ll send you to the mall,” 

You nod your head, small smile on your face. This was gunna be one story to tell in the future.

“Oh and it would help if you act surprised when you come home,” Thoma adds with a full laugh that you join in on. 

Kaeya

"So how are you and Y/N?”

It’d only been a couple of months of the two of you dating. Kaeya was handsome, gallant and he knew exactly what to say to people. It wasn’t a secret that he was quite popular in school. 

Little old you was just another girl in just another class.

“Good, I think,” Kaeya responds, you smile around the corner, hidden from sight, knowing that he was taking a juice box break with his friends. “It’s a little annoying though,” your smile drops and your head tilts sideways in question. “I can’t keep her away and she doesn’t even realize how annoying it is,” 

Keep me away? You think. Am I too clingy? You hear them exchange words a bit more, but none of the other words process in your head. Their laughter spurs you out of your thoughts and you return to your classroom dumbfounded. 

When the bell rang for dismissal you immediately packed and walked home by yourself. Kaeya was confused when he arrived at your classroom door, and found that you weren’t there anymore. “...Hey, did Y/N go home?” he asked one of your passing classmates. “Yeah, she went out pretty fast,”

Now he was worried. Did something happen at home? He takes his phone out as he’s out the school building, tapping your name and calling, only for the call to not even connect. His brows furrow but nonetheless, he goes home for today and types in a message for you.

“Hey, you okay? Talk to me if you need something,” 

The next day, when he usually waits outside your door for you to come out, he realizes that you’re a little late and further realizes that you weren’t going to come out. He wasn’t about to knock on your door, your parents didn’t know about him yet. 

He tries to call you again but he’s met with the same result as yesterday. He sighs and looks up at the sky while he’s walking. He hasn’t seen you for nearly a full day now, and he doesn’t realize how long a full day is until now. He just wants to see your smiling face again and he starts to wonder if he’d done something wrong. 

By lunchtime, he’s sprinting towards your classroom as soon as the bell rings, wondering if you were there. Indeed, finally, he spots you in your classroom and his shoulders slump in relief only to tense up again when he sees a guy in your class talking to you, and you, smiling happily. 

“Y/N,” he calls out to you, waving his hand. You look away from your conversation to him and he notices how your smile turns into a tight line on your face. His own smile drops, but you walk out of the classroom anyway and address him. “Yes?” He blinks down at your tone of voice. “U-Uh... Wanna have lunch together?” 

“...But it’s annoying that I’m clingy right?” The two of you unconsciously move away from the door to out in the hallway, so that you’re not blocking the way of people coming in and out. He narrows his eyes in confusion. Where is this coming from? “I--No, what do you mean? I never said that,” 

“Yesterday, you said you can’t keep me away and it’s annoying,” you averted your gaze, feeling your eyes start to water. Kaeya reels back a little, replaying things in his mind, trying to remember if he said something like that. And, with a light bulb moment, his face breaks into a grin and slight laughter. You glare up at him, “What? It’s funny?”

Kaeya places a hand on your shoulder and explains while smiling. “Y/N, you didn’t listen to the rest of the conversation, did you?”

---What really happened---

“It’s really annoying though. I can’t keep her away and she doesn’t even realize how annoying it is,” he sips on his juice box again.

One of his friends pipe up, “Dude that’s a little harsh,”

Kaeya blinks. Once, twice and thrice. Until it dawns on him. “Oh, no, I meant that I can’t keep her away from other people,” he grins and leans both his elbows on the windowsill. “She doesn’t realize that she’s super friendly, and other people like talking to her a lot. Whenever I go to her classroom she’s always talking to different people.”

His friends make a sound of understanding. “I wish I could just keep her to myself,” and continues sipping on his juice.

“That’s really cheesy, even for you, Kaeya,” one of his friends say and the lot of them starts laughing.

---That’s what really happened---

It was your turn to blink at him, confused. “S-So...”

Kaeya pats your head and smiles. “You can ask my friends if it makes you feel better,”

A small blush crosses your cheeks and you duck your head to hide it. It earns yet another chuckle from him. Your moment is interrupted by another guy who approaches the two of you. “Hey, Y/N, if you’re free, do you think you could help me out with this? I don’t really understand it,” 

Kaeya just looks at the guy and sighs, then turns to you again. “See what I mean?” to which you just goofily smile at. 

Kazuha 

“You saw what?”

Your hands freeze, holding the book you were reading open. The living room had gotten lively again, seeing as your little brother had come home from school. “I saw Kazuha with a girl,” 

You try to keep your face composed. It was a school day. You’d stayed home because you weren’t feeling too well. Your brother was saying it without a care in the world. He was just a grade schooler and telling you about the things he observed. He was looking through the fridge for something to drink. 

You didn’t ask more, but you were DYING to know more. Kazuha didn’t mention going anywhere today... You picked your phone up and wondered if you should ask him. Your phone had blown up this morning cause he didn’t see you at school and he was wondering if you were alright. 

But it seems that Kazuha himself was having a grand time too.

“So...T-The girl...Did they look close?”

Your little brother closes the fridge and looks at you while drinking from a milk carton. “Mm...They were holding each other...” You bit your lip as tingles run down your spine. They weren’t the good kind. It was the kind that you get when you watch horror movies and or a drama movie and a revelation had just happened. You were silent for a moment, but in your mind you were already thinking of how Kazuha looked with another girl. Holding each other? What did your brother mean? Like...hugging? Or...? But you couldn’t ask him about that, could you?!

You sighed out loud and slammed the book you were reading down on the table, just as your phone started ringing. “Kazuha,” you whispered under your breath and looked at your phone screen. Well...you believed in him, and you thought the best way to clear this up is to talk to him about it.

So, you grabbed your phone and retreated into your bedroom to talk to him. You picked up the call, “Kazu-kun?”

“Y/N,” he greeted. Even apart, his voice has this effect on you. Like he was really there and breathing into your ear, sending shivers down your spine. You were sure that you were blushing. “How are you? Are you feeling better?” His voice is smooth and calm and you melt into your bed. “Yeah, a little,”

“Could I come over later? I just want to check on you,” You smile into your phone and close your eyes. Kazuha could never do that to you, you think to yourself. But still, you really wanted to ask. “Of course, I don’t think my parents would mind...Hey,” you start, your fingers nervously drawing circles on your pillow. “My brother said he saw you...with a girl,”

There’s silence on the other line, and you can hear him shifting a little. “A...girl?” He repeats the question and you bite your lip. He sounds unsure and now you were unsure too. “Yeah, he said that you were holding on to each other...or something,” Again some silence, until he makes a sound of understanding.

“Ah, he must mean Sango,” there’s a little lilt to his voice, like he was happy and you were a little jealous. “Sango’s my cousin, she came to surprise me for my birthday week.” Kazuha laughs nervously and adds a little hesitantly. “She...uhm...would like to meet you actually, is it okay if I bring her over today?” 

Your heart sighs in relief, as do you and you don’t realize that you’ve done that out loud. In the next moment though, you smile and nod, even though he can’t see you. “Of course! Bring her over!” 

Albedo (More fluff than angst)

Cleaning at home was one of the things you did to get your mind off of things. Some people would call it tedious, but to you, it was sort of relaxing. It was something easy to do, you didn’t need much of your brain, just motor memory. Folding. Laundry. Ironing. Sweeping. Basic chores.

But when you clean up in the bedroom you shared with your boyfriend, and found a neatly wrapped present, red wrapping paper and blue ribbon tied on the top with a tag that said “To: Leila” you’re a little dumbfounded.

Who’s Leila? Is your first thought. Your second thought is, what’s inside? You hold the nicely wrapped box in your hand and turn it all over, trying to get some type of hint. A flash of doubt seeps into your mind but you shake it away. Albedo isn’t like that...Is he? He’s always so dedicated to his scientific research and sure he comes home late sometimes but he always makes it up to you on the weekends...

So who’s Leila? You ask yourself again. And why hasn’t he mentioned it to you? Why didn’t he ask YOU to wrap it? Menial tasks like these were usually passed on to you. You bite your thumb just thinking about it, but in the end just leave the present where you find it.

Later that night as you’re fixing dinner, you aren’t as bothered by the gift as when you first saw it. But it’s still there at the back of your mind and it resurfaces to the front when you hear the familiar keys rattle. Despite that, as he snakes his arms around your waist from behind you can’t help but smile and melt a little, pressing back against him as he leans over to kiss your cheek. “...Smells nice,” he simply mumbles and closes his eyes, enjoying the warmth of both you and your home.

“Welcome back,” you say, while closing the lid on the pot and turning around to give him a proper kiss on the lips. He hums into the kiss as a response and pulls you away from the stove. “How’s your day?” he asks you first and you smile, because your day is nearly the same time and time again. “Fine, I did find a little secret though...” you start and peek up at his beautiful eyes. 

He nods to ask you to continue. “A present, nicely wrapped. and it’s addressed to someone called Leila,” He looks down at you and you stare at him. A moment passes by before he takes his arms back and go into his thinking pose. “...Leila...?” he asks, eyes averting from your gaze. You wonder if he’s pretending. You wonder if he’s trying to make an excuse up. “...I don’t--” and then his eyebrows twitch. “Ah,” he says and drops his arms to his side.

“We were invited to a birthday party, remember? By a co-worker,” he tucks in strands of your hair as he talks. “It’s her daughter’s first birthday...I don’t care much for such things but you insisted it’d be alright to go.” he chuckles a little. “Her daughter’s name is Leila,” 

You make a sound of understanding. Suddenly your hesitant thoughts wither away. “Hmmm? You could’ve asked me to wrap the present,” Albedo pulls away from you and towards the fridge, wanting a glass of water. “The wrapping wasn’t done by me, it was the shop, free service,” and so it made more sense.

And although you want to ask more questions, like where he got it, when and what’s inside, you realize it’s such a trivial thing. It was not worth that much time. A gift is a gift, and you turn back to continue making dinner while making idle conversation with him. 

Zhongli (Warning: Suggestive) (but this is also my personal favourite... aha...)

“Zhongli?” You arrive home a little early today, dropping your keys at the front shelf. You don’t hear him anywhere and you shuffle around your living room for a while, looking at the letters for today. 

He was on a work from home arrangement today, and he would usually be in his office. You were quite sure that he would’ve come out to greet you though, if he heard you. He must be busy at the moment. 

You’d wanted to wash your hands as soon as you came home, and went for the guest washroom. When you open the door, your eyes land on something on the counter, next to the sink. This bathroom was always kept clean for visitors. You liked to host people once in a while, or just invite friends and you took pride in having them comfortable in your house.

Your eyes narrow as you go closer and your hands pick up a pregnancy test that was lying there. 

It was positive.

You put it back down and shudder a little. You don’t remember getting a pregnancy test. You bite your lip and look at yourself in the mirror. You’re already jumping to conclusions, and you can’t help it. Who the hell would leave a pregnancy test in YOUR guest bathroom? Zhongli didn’t mention anything...

You sigh a breath out and close the bathroom door behind you, taking your phone out to text your best friend.

“There’s a positive pregnancy test in our guest bathroom,”

After a moment, there’s a reply.

“OMG Are you preggers?!”

“No, it’s not mine,”

The next reply takes a moment more. “Oh, maybe ask him?” and you know that your friend hadn’t known what to reply at that moment. Because a random positive pregnancy test in your guest bathroom was NOT a good sign. To top it off, you didn’t announce to Zhongli that you were coming home early today.

Your perk up when you hear noise from the other room. You open the bathroom door slightly, and hear the unmistakable low voice of your fiance, coupled with...the voice of another woman. You close the bathroom door again, not bothering to lock it, and sit on the closed toilet seat. You’re sitting there with nothing in your mind, unable to think.

A few minutes later the voices are louder, they’ve moved to the living room, right outside the bathroom you were in. You tense up, and your jaw tightens. You don’t want to see them. You don’t want to hear them. For a moment you wish that you didn’t come home early, and just pretend this didn’t happen, but the door to the bathroom door opens, leaving you eye to eye with a woman you recognize.

Luna was a beautiful woman. Long cascading brown hair, they’re wavy and stops right at her waist. Doll-like blue eyes and a slender body. She sees you sitting there and you feel stupid, but she just breaks into a grin. “Y/N!” she grabs you by the wrist and pulls you out of the bathroom before you could even say anything. You’re numb, so you don’t respond to anything around you.

Zhongli turns around wide-eyed to see you standing there meekly, not meeting his gaze. He still goes to you though and asks curiously. “When did you come in? I didn’t hear you,” he places a hand on your arm while Luna releases you, but you still don’t look up and he wonders if something happened at your workplace to make you come home so early. “Luna and Childe stopped by,” Zhongli says, in at attempt to cheer you up. You look up, and only then did you realize that Childe was there too, talking animatedly to Luna. You tilt your head sideways, “They came with a surprise. Ah, but it’s not mine to tell,” 

That’s right... Luna and Childe had been together for a while and then it hits you when Luna shows you the same positive pregnancy test you saw on the counter, and announces that she’s pregnant. Your eyes are wide. You can’t tell if you’re more relieved that it wasn’t what you thought or more happy for your friends. You feel horrible about it but you manage to crack a smile and went along with the festivities. The more time passed the more you were able to enjoy their happiness and by the time they left, that was the only time you sighed and let your shoulders slump, exhausted.

“Is something the matter?” Zhongli asked. He noticed how your smiles were a tad bit forced. How you seemed to enjoy everything but also seemed to be on edge. You turn to him and shook your head. “It’s...stupid. It’s my mistake,” but he holds on to your waist and urges you to tell him.

And you tell him. How you came home and saw what you saw in the guest bathroom, what you thought it was and how you felt. The only thing you can feel now is embarrassment and shame. You couldn’t even feel happy for your friend. Zhongli only smiles and combs his hand through your hair. “It’s the normal reaction,” he reassures you, again trying to make you feel better. You only respond with your own hug but his next sentence makes you flustered, all thoughts of earlier gone as he whispers into your ear.

“Would you like your own positive pregnancy test?”

Taglist: @larkspyrr @rim0na @sweeti-pie @l3mon-mxshroom @hai-q-haikyuu @tkshoki @kyquu @kimbapsana @leefletter @hentaje @tempehlust @rinnesy @hallohun @softlybeloved @volleybloop @ssalamanderr @ben6ett @rytszk @guilixi @reiluvbot @mondstadts-favourite-traveler @xxcrowfeatherxx @b-trld @mkazuyuh @shittyeditsofwhatiwant @ayra2452008 @simpingover @soft-like-sunshine @lnrchii @scheophi @multifandomgeeks @sacredmouche @risasblog01 @mai-m4i @foxxtrot-116 @maple-leaaf @lucy-roo @bluepinkpink @myday6-studies @thraiaiscrying @missbuwan @the-one-that-lurks @adeptitao @xibrokensunriseix @ilovemyleftboob @marblesphere @allinduetimethefirst @nortdreww @jjsjjsjsjsjjsjjs @how-simpy @loltartaglia @minyoustar @sesetiger @Ghost1y-demon @lqvl3y @cysperia @candyqueen10 @ichigo-no-tsumi @omoriq @saving-for-xiao @trashykawasmilkbread @jjkclub @pearstears @seiiblue @midnightangelfox @korinkuu @heesocks @bobaducky @normalisthenewnorm @atasi-luna @callariri @milkypompon @fadinganchornight @coldstonecrematorium @probablybethere @qingxinteaa @hanachan_2481 @plumpkie @Ghost1yd3mon @idk-imjusthere @amigenshin @spirlimpo @hadesaedes @tsim-tsim @dilucragnvindrsgf @gahisb @yunaholics @that-one-air-collecter @allinduetime @albe4ove @berryqueue @give-xiao-almond-tofu @leafcaller @ninqat @mintyayu @luvmedaily @kiyokoshii @jendytub @thegayrubberducky @chuewi @bitandbytes @alatusorrow @midnightistyping @duskdawn052 @ventislatte @fishclaymore @jahnvi-d @justpeaxchy @tremmblingbling

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[ssssachi]

Letters and Love!

17 - infatuated or love?

Looking at Asahi’s last message for what it seemed the nth time, you lightly slap your cheeks to refrain from smiling like an idiot over that simple sentence. Well yeah, some might say it’s simple but for you it was sure special. So special that as if you could almost threw your heart up from all the fast beating that was accelerated by that one man who made you feel this way. Who wouldn’t go feral after your crush called you cute!?

Even though you tried to stop your smiles, you still can’t help but feel giddy ‘bout the message that he sent. You even recall all the moments that you and Asahi had spent time with each other, you can’t seem to stop thinking about him. Was this still a silly crush? Or an ‘obsession’ or perhaps is it, love…? Nah, it’s certainly not love. You’re only infatuated with him, yeah…you only like him…that’s all.

Needless to say, it’s totally impossible not to be in love with Hamada Asahi. He already has someone he loves, so you would only hurt yourself more to love him when he has someone he dearly cherishes and not you. That’s why it would be impossible loving him. Though, you must admit, you envied Yuki for having Asahi to herself. Asahi was the sweetest and weirdest person you’ve ever encountered. Sometimes in school, he would always space out and do questionable stuff that can make the whole class laugh. He was indeed the sweetest when you saw him, the very day you first saw him, taking care over the homeless people on the streets. You were supposed to hand them your old clothes and food but when you saw him smiling and handing out some burger to them, you heart suddenly warmed. A wave of excitement and ache makes way to your heart. Oh shoot maybe you’re really in love?

Maybe, just maybe, you also want Asahi to yourself. But what can you do? You’re just a mere friend to him and that was enough for you. A friend whom he can rely to. Welp, let’s stop talking about this dramatic ass thing and focus at this present.

After thinking about your undying crush love to Asahi, you felt a pair of arms sneaking its way to your waist. A chin sit its way comfortably to your shoulder. You felt goosebumps as the person’s breath makes contact within your exposed neck.

“I- please Doyoung you scared the crap out of me.” You cursed and flicker his forehead in the process. He then groans and snuggle himself to you more, hugging your body tightly from your back.

“Hmm, that Asahi has been monopolizing your attention. I need to up my game don’t I, princess?” Doyoung said with his morning voice that was almost as deep and low like the ocean. ok wtf

Holly molly that sound so hot. But I’d like to hear Asahi’s though..

You thought. You rub your temples together and break yourself from his hug. Facing him, you push him down to your bed. The first thing you noticed was his bed hair. Carefully, you fix his hair while he only looks at your face. Busy fixing his hair you didn’t notice a pair of arms sneak its way again to your waist.

Her lips. What if—

“Uh— ouch! Why did you pull my hair?!” Doyoung complains, now fully wide awake.

“I know you too well. You were just about to doze off!” You argue with your hands resting on your hip.

“I did not!”

“You did!”

“Did not!”

“You did!”

“This is why you’re adopted.”

“This is why you’re neglected.”

“Ugh!” With that he pulls your hair slight harder from what you did making some of your strands fall onto his grip. The both of you were quiet for a while. Dead silence looking at your stands of hair from Doyoung’s hand.

“Oh it is so on.”

A cat fight soon broke out. Let’s say, rest was...history.

The both of you were interrupted by your bedroom’s door being open. Junghwan barge in the room and looks at the two of you like he had seen it for a couple of times. This was nothing new to him, it was all normal.

“Mama said the two of you should eat. She made waffles and oh. Haruto and Jeongwoo hyung are here. So make yourselves AT LEAST presentable.” He with that he walks out of the room, not closing the door.

Your hair was just messy as Doyoung’s hair. And because of the fight, Doyoung was forced to sleep in Junghwan’s room as usual.

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Description: Y/N has been crushing on Hamada Asahi for a while (since freshman). Now that they’re in the final year of senior high, she plans on confessing to him now or never!! But ofc, there are obstacles that must be faced. And that obstacle, is his alleged GIRLFRIEND!??? She badly wants to shoot her shot but knowing her crush has already have a lover, she decides to only write him letters full of love and confessions and continue admiring him from a far. With no plans on revealing her identity to him whatsoever. Or that’s what she thought..

Taglist (open): @enhacolor @carateum1 @eboyjuni @softforqiankun @kyufilms @oceanyocean @wony6ung @luvelyxp @moon-gyus @sunoo-bby @diestheticu @nanasdream @kyutekyuala @yedamdamn @kurodach @ksunwooqt @yogurteume @iamnotgrootforiamthor @yevyyevs @daintysan @leafyshroom

Could not tag: @oranshi

a/n: huhu again i’m NOT satisfied with this chapter i’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense i swear i’ll improve my writing skillz 😼 + I wasn’t too sure of posting this one 🥹

[contemplativepancakes]

sunsets for somebody else

Daphne runs into her long lost husband arguing with another man in the grocery store. Things start to take a turn when she realizes they're married.

The bottle of bleach drops from Daphne’s hand into her cart, landing with a sloshing thud as she takes in the scene in front of her, frozen in her tracks. Emmanuel is standing right in front of her, arguing with another man about cleaning supplies.

Wearing a beige trench coat for some inexplicable reason—it’s almost 90 degrees outside—Emmanuel listens to a man who’s explaining in minute detail how to clean an oven. They’re both wearing wedding rings, and Daphne’s heart swells for a moment before she realizes it’s a different ring from the one she gave Emmanuel all those years ago.

“Dean, I don’t think this is safe for Jack. This is going to create noxious fumes,” Emmanuel says, squinting at the ingredients of the cleaner apparently-Dean had thrust at him.

Dean pinches the bridge of his nose, and Daphne squeezes the handle of her shopping cart harder, feeling faint. It’s not every day you come across your long lost husband at the Stop N’ Shop.

“I think the kid can take some fumes,” Dean says, plucking the bottle out of Emmanuel’s hands and putting it in the cart. “We wouldn’t even have to worry about this if someone didn’t let the pizza fall onto the bottom of the oven.”

“The directions said to put it directly on the middle rack!” Emmanuel protests, and Dean rubs a hand down Emmanuel’s back in a familiar way that makes Daphne’s stomach roil.

She’s not jealous, she’s not. She was just helping Emmanuel when she found him, after all. Their marriage was simply one of…convenience for Emmanuel. It’s not like he had a birth certificate with him, or a social security number. What did Daphne get out of all this? Well. Daphne looks at his cheek bones wistfully, her gaze dipping down to his strong forearms his trench coat is rolled up to reveal.

Dean rolls his eyes fondly, and then he tugs Emmanuel into his side, kissing him on the temple. Daphne jerks her stare away for a moment before returning it, noticing now that their wedding rings match.

“Emmanuel?” she chokes out, against her better judgment.

For a long second, she doesn’t think Emmanuel heard her, but he turns around. “Daphne?”

Daphne nods, her words forsaking her. She doesn’t miss the way Dean clutches possessively at Emmanuel’s hip.

“I…thought you were dead,” she finally says. “I filed a missing person report.”

Dean squints at her, before something like recognition passes over her face, and now that she thinks about it, Daphne recognizes him, too. He’s the one who showed up right before everything went to shit. Horror stories of Stockholm syndrome flash through her mind.

“Emmanuel, are you…happy?” she settles on.

Emmanuel gives her a smile, leaning harder into Dean. “I am.”

“Good. That’s. Good,” she says, a strangled look on her face, she’s sure. “Would you want to catch up some time?” she asks before she fully registers what’s coming out of her mouth.

Emmanuel gives her a warm smile. “I’d love that.”

As they set up a time to get coffee, Daphne tries to ignore the glare Dean levels at her throughout the whole conversation. He insists that their meeting be tomorrow, since apparently they won’t be in the area for long. Daphne tries to ignore the warning bells in her mind that tell her she’s about to get murdered and takes solace in the fact that at least they’re meeting in a public place.

Besides, even if Emmanuel’s husband is a serial killer, surely Emmanuel won’t let him murder her, right?

-

The next day, Daphne hems and haws as she debates what to wear. Whatever this is, it’s the exact opposite of a date, anyway. She knocks on the door of her foster child, Alex, to wake them up before she goes into the bathroom to do her hair and makeup. Really, she’s just doing it for herself. She’s allowed to want to look nice!

When she finally deems herself as ready as she’s going to get, she goes back to Alex’s room to make sure they’re actually up. To her pleasant surprise, they’re sitting on the edge of their bed putting on their socks and almost ready. “Excited for school today?” she asks.

Alex makes a face at her. “Never,” they say, but their voice at least has the edge of a smile to it.

They’ve come a long way since they were first placed with her, and even though Daphne knows she shouldn’t be getting overly attached, she can’t help it. She walks down the steps and into the kitchen, deliberating for a moment on breakfast before putting frozen waffles into the toaster. If she’s about to get murdered while Alex is at school, she can at least make sure the last thing she made for them wasn’t cereal.

Alex tromps down the steps, dragging their bookbag behind them, and Daphne hides her smile behind her glass of orange juice. Alex lights up at the sight of the waffles, disturbingly easy to please, as always. They inhale them, as teenagers do, before putting their dishes in the sink. Daphne cracks open her laptop as they wait for the bus, attempting to get some of her work done for the day since she’ll be taking a break later for the coffee. She really hopes her boss doesn’t try and call her while she’s out.

Or, maybe she does. She’s not sure she’s prepared for the level of awkwardness that she’s about to go through, but maybe it won’t be as bad as she thinks. She really wants to know what Emmanuel has been up to for all of this time. She’s still…embarrassingly hung up on him, and it would be nice to get some closure.

The bus pulling up in front of the house jerks her out of her thoughts, and she gives Alex a wave before they race off to get on. She watches them settle into a seat with one of their friends, and smiles at the fact that they even have friends now.

In the end, Daphne doesn’t manage to get much work done before she clambers into her car and drives to the coffee shop they agreed on. She doesn’t really think she needs caffeine with the way her leg is bouncing already.

Emmanuel and Dean are already there when she walks in, Emmanuel with a cup of black coffee he’s dumping sugar packets into and Dean with something with whipped cream and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. She gives them a tentative wave before ordering hot chocolate for herself, settling herself delicately in the seat across from them.

“So,” Dean says. “You were Cas’s wife?”

She squints. “Cas?”

Emmanuel speaks up. “After I regained my memories, I remembered that was my name.”

“Oh.” Smiling weakly, she tries to reconcile that. “You have them all back now?”

Emman—Cas nods.

“Just forgot about me, though?” she tries to ask lightly, but it comes out a little garbled.

“You took advantage of him!” Dean explodes from the other side of the table, making Daphne flinch. “Who the fuck finds someone naked with no memories and marries them?”

“Dean,” Cas chastises, his arm shifting like he’s putting his hand on Dean’s thigh under the table.

“I was helping him,” Daphne says hotly. “Would you have just wanted me to leave him there?”

Cutting Dean off before he can say anything else, Cas looks at Daphne and smiles in a way that makes her heart flutter. “I’m very grateful. I don’t know what I would have done without you. I’m sorry I didn’t reach out to let you know I was alright.”

Dean crosses his arms over his chest and leans back in his chair, taking a sip of his sugar monstrosity. He comes away with a whipped cream mustache, and it’s hard not to laugh as he wipes it away in total seriousness.

“So,” Daphne says. “You two have a kid? Jack?”

Scowling, which seems to be Dean’s automatic reflex, he exchanges a glance with Cas before softening. “Yeah, we have a kid. He’s four.”

Daphne thinks maybe Dean should have been a little bit more concerned about the fumes of cleaning chemicals if they have a four year old, but she keeps her judgments to herself. Cas beams. “He’s very bright.”

Returning the smile tentatively, Daphne asks, “How long have you two been married?”

“It’s almost our one year anniversary,” Dean says gruffly.

Daphne tries not to let it affect her, even if that’s more time than she ever got with Cas. “Practically newly weds, then!”

“It’s been an adventure; that’s certain,” Cas says, smiling serenely even as Dean elbows his ribs. “Tell us about you, Daphne. What have you been doing?”

Daphne shrugs a shoulder. “Oh, not too much.” Mourning the man I pulled out of the woods and saved and married, she doesn’t say. She knows Emmanuel never felt the same way about her that she did him. “I got approved to be a foster parent, so I’ve had a few kids come through.”

“Helping people has always been your calling,” Cas says softly.

Daphne takes a few minutes to gush about Alex, and her previous kids before them, before she notices Dean’s not actively glaring at her anymore.

“That’s…nice,” he begrudges when she finishes.

“What do you do, Dean?”

Looking like he just dropped something on his foot, he stammers before he hastily says, “I work construction.”

Daphne squints at him. She has the feeling he’s lying to her, but she has no idea why he would be.

“And what about you, Cas?”

“Oh, I mostly just take care of Jack.”

“You’re a stay at home dad?” she asks, the thought making her stomach twist into knots and heat rise to her face.

“Of a sorts,” Cas agrees.

God, they’re making it impossible to carry on a conversation with them. Daphne keeps a smile pasted to her face. “What do you two do for fun?”

“I’m convinced Dean thinks fun is superfluous,” Cas confides, even as Dean splutters at him. “But I like to drag him to thrift stores with me. Dean likes to bake, also.”

“I work on cars, too,” Dean says, and Daphne can feel his desperation to maintain his facade.

She tries not to quirk a smile at his discomfort. They chat for a while longer, Dean getting increasingly dodgy about the questions she asks before she finally excuses herself to go to the bathroom. She shuts the door behind her and looks down at the dank floor. Is she getting what she wanted out of this? She has no idea what she even imagined happening when she asked to catch up. Emmanuel running away with her? Maybe in her wildest fantasies. Taking a deep breath to ground herself, she looks in the mirror and checks her makeup, rubbing at her under eye circles before walking back out of the bathroom.

Cas is at the counter ordering another drink, for Dean, by the sound of the sugar content, and she walks over to him. Hesitating before she bites the bullet, she asks, “You’re not…like, being held against your will, right? That Dean seems,” she pauses, “interesting.”

Cas laughs warmly, putting a hand over Daphne’s. “No, nothing like that. This is a choice of my own free will, believe it or not. Dean is much more caring than he lets on.”

Well, Daphne’s not sure she believes it, but. At least he’s happy, and in the end, that’s all she’s ever wanted for him.

[toomanyrobins2]

sweeter than honey pt. 10

Summary: Y/N “Honey” Cirillo has been many things in her short life: an unwanted child, a dancing prodigy, a teen mom, and now she’s a replacement bride. After her sister runs away, Y/N is forced to take her place and marry into the Barton family. The Three Families are already dealing with enough. With the murder of a high-ranking member and HYDRA continuing to make threats, they need this marriage to go ahead without a hitch. Can Clint and Y/n find happiness or is there too much against them?

Pairing: Clint Barton x Reader

Content warning: Arranged marriage, sex, violence, murder

Notes: They're getting their fresh start!

series masterlist // next part

Coming home from the disastrous dinner, Y/N was quiet. Her mind wouldn’t stop swirling and she needed this day to be over as soon as possible and would take any help she could get to make that happen. Edith could see that she needed some support. She went home with her and Nola to help with bedtime. She knew well the nerves that came with being stuck at home while chaos threatened their world.

Y/N lay in bed with Nola, running her fingers through her curls. “Momma, is Clint going to be okay?”

She sighed and nodded, “Yes, he will be. His job is hard and that’s why they all looked so serious.”

Nola’s little brow furrowed in confusion, “They ALL have the same job?”

Y/N took a deep breath as she tried to find a way to explain all of this to a five-year-old, “They don’t all have the same job, but they work for the same company. Clint is one of the three bosses and his brother used to be one before him and his dad before either of them.”

“What happened to Clint’s brother?”

“He got really, really hurt and he passed away.”

“Nana E says Barney’s the reason you met them.” Y/N smiled sadly, remembering the group standing in the waiting room. She could see Edith sitting there and sending her after Clint. How ridiculous that he ended up being her husband. Y/N nodded and Nola smiled up at her, “Then I love him.”

“Who do you love, sweetheart?”

“Uncle Barney. He’s the reason you met Clint and now I get lots of books and he makes waffles and I have a nana. She even said she’d come to Grandparents’ Day at school!”

Y/N pressed the tip of her finger against Nola’s nose, some of the weight coming off her shoulders as her daughter’s giggles filled the room. A massive yawn followed the giggles and she kissed Nola’s head, “Time for bed. Big day tomorrow. I love you.”

“Love you too, momma.”

Y/N turned the bedroom light off and walked back down the stairs to join Edith in the living room. The older woman handed her a cup of tea as she joined her on the couch with a sigh. “I’m sorry to tell you this dear, this will not be your last night like this.”

Y/N groaned and dropped her head back onto the back of the couch, “You mean Bucky is going to bring more bitchy girls from my high school to our dinners?”

Edith laughed at that, “No, I think he’s learned his lesson there. It may not be girls from high school, but you’ve married someone who has more power than you can imagine. When Barney died, there was a question of what would happen and many fathers came forward, offering their daughters. There’s a lot of disappointment with his choice.”

Y/N laughed bitterly as she tried to hide the tears that were blurring her vision, “It’s oddly comforting to know I’m not unique.”

“That is where you are very wrong. Clint did not have to choose you and yet he did. I think that makes you more unique than you will ever know. I knew you were special from the kindness you showed at the hospital. I had no way of knowing then that you would be my daughter and give me a granddaughter that I adore, but I’m so very glad that you had the impact that you did on him,” Edith pulled Y/N into a hug as she started to cry. The sorrow over what her life had become had taken over and she couldn’t stop. Wiping the tears away, Y/N curled her arms around her legs as she took in a shuddering breath. Edith continued to run a hand over her hair, “Honey, go upstairs to bed. I will stay up and wait for him to be home.”

‘No. I need to know that he’s okay.”

The older woman couldn’t hide her joy that her son had married this woman and nodded in agreement. It didn’t take long for Y/N to start to nod off. Her head lolled to the side and she was asleep, curled up in the corner of the couch.

Y/N wasn’t sure how long she slept, but the front door opening had her jerking awake. Both she and Edith looked up to find a surprised Clint watching them in the doorway, “What are you doing here?”

Edith raised an eyebrow at his tone, “Well, Honey lives here and I came by to help.”

Clint scrubbed a hand down his face, “I’m sorry, it’s been a very long night.”

“It’s alright. I know how these things are. I’m going to use the guest room.” She gave a quick kiss to her son before going up the stairs, leaving the couple in the living room.

Y/N uncurled herself from the couch and rubbed the sleep from her eyes before walking towards Clint, “Is everyone alright? Are you alright?”

“Yes, everything is okay. One of our warehouses was set on fire, but the guards got out in time,” he sighed and slumped against the doorframe, “I’m ready for this night to be over.”

She scoffed, “If you think I’m going to let you go to bed without checking to make sure you’re not injured, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Fine, but I’m showering first.” They made their way upstairs, Y/N helping Clint since his ribs were still aching from the drunken beating he’d gotten. He quickly stripped out of his sweaty clothes and Y/N was left waiting on his bed, wrapped in a blanket. This was the first time she’d spent a long time in his bedroom and took the opportunity to take in every detail. It had been clear he had a decorator come in when they moved in and his bedroom had the same lack of personality. A large, king-sized bed took up most of the space in the room with a large rug underneath that Y/N knew was soft beneath her feet. One wall was nearly entirely windows which she knew were likely one-way and bulletproof like the rest of the house. The entire room was decorated in greys, with the artwork on the walls being the only pops of color. Even those were impersonal prints. The only hint that someone actually lived in the room was the pile of dirty clothes surrounding the hamper and a family picture in a small frame on the bedside table. Y/N ran a finger down the side of the frame as Nola’s words from earlier echoed in her mind. Tears started to fall as she realized how much Nola had missed out on. Edith was such a gift and she found herself wishing once again that her family had loved her.

The bathroom door opened and out walked her husband in only a pair of grey joggers. Y/N quickly scrubbed the tears away with the blanket before turning and letting herself run her eyes over his bare chest, telling herself that it was to make sure that he was uninjured. He raised an eyebrow at how obvious she was being but didn’t say anything. Instead, he took the chance to check her out in return. Finally, her eyes connected with his, “Is everyone alright? Are you alright?”

“I’m okay,” he walked towards her. She mirrored each step until the back of her knees hit the bed and she was forced to sit. Clint knelt down in front of her, “Are you? Dinner was not what I planned at all. I wanted a small thing with our friends because I wanted you to feel more comfortable in our home. Not be terrorized by Bucky’s weird date. What the fuck was that?”

Y/N looked down at her hands, “We know each other from high school and she hated me. She was friends with Ana and I think that’s all that needs to be said.”

Clint forced her to look at him and for the first time noticed the streaks of dried tears down her face. He ran a hand down her cheek and sighed sadly, “Oh, Honey. Let’s go to bed” Turning off all of the lights, he climbed into bed and curled around her. The movement surprised Y/N and she whispered his name. He kissed the back of her head, “Want to talk about it?”

She shook her head, “I just want to sleep and forget all about it.”

“Okay,” Clint tightened his grip on her, “I just need you to know that you never leftovers.”

The next morning, Y/N woke up to the smell of coffee. It took her a moment to realize she wasn’t in her bed and the memories rushed back from the night before. Burying her face into a pillow, she groaned in embarrassment at what had happened in front of everyone. Clint clearing his throat had her shooting up in bed. He stood by his side of the bed, a tray of food in hand. Y/N looked at him as he sat back down in bed beside her and stole a piece of toast, “I don’t understand.”

Clint spoke slowly, “This is breakfast in bed…it’s something that people do for those they care about.”

She gave him a withering glare, “I understand what breakfast in bed is.”

“We are starting fresh and part of that is teaching you how a man treats his wife. So I’m showing you that I’m sorry by providing delicious breakfast foods for you. Now, eat your waffles.”

Y/N was dazed and mildly confused by what was happening, but did as she was told. The couple shared the tray in bed and Clint forced her to eat everything, saying that he was sick of seeing that she wasn’t taking care of herself the way she should. “What time is it?”

“One something”

“What! What about Nola and school? What about work?”

“I brought her while you were still asleep and Mom is going to take her for the rest of the afternoon. I called your job and you’re taking a sick day. Today is about us without a buffer. I took the day off work and we are going to spend it relaxing and getting to know each other.” Y/N looked like she was going to cry again and Clint started to worry, “Did I do something wrong?”

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I'm just not sure what I’ve done to deserve all of this,” she kissed his cheek, “I’m not easy to live with. I’m stubborn and I make a lot of mistakes, but I really appreciate how patient you’ve been. And last night was really nice and you didn’t have to do that. What I’m trying to say is thank you.”

Clint took a sip from his mug before he spoke, “When I married you, I wanted a partnership. I don't want to just coexist because of the contracts put together for two people who are so different from us. I don’t want you to feel unwelcome or like you are intruding. Could we start again? Today is a new day. We are married and we deserve a clean slate without all of the secrets. So, today, we are going to take some time for ourselves.”

Y/N fell back against the pillows, “Can we sleep a little longer? I never get to sleep late these days.” Clint nodded and took the tray off the bed and started to walk away. “Where are you going?

“You said you wanted to sleep.”

Y/N nervously picked at the blanket as she realized how well she’d slept the night before. Apparently having a furnace who curled around you meant she slept like a baby, “You’re not tired?”

Clint could stop the smile on his face at the question that she was hinting at but refused to say, “Actually, I kind of am. I’ll be back up in a few minutes.”

[the-possum-writes]

could u maybe do a finn x reader imagine where reader is a princess that needs rescuing? ❤️❤️ also thank you for being such a lovely author!!

What a Princess Does [Finn Mertens]

A/n: Sorry for the delay, but thanks for the support~

Pairing: Finn x Fem!Reader

Word Count: 1271

The day of your coronation finally came. With your eldest sibling being crowned King, you were given the title of princess along with a crown to prove your title. It's not that intricate as your sibling's crown, just a smooth band of gold with a single jewel on top.

"Greet our new subjects (y/n)." your brother comments, waving at the citizens below the castle porch.

"Why?" you respond.

"Because it's what royals do, especially princesses." That's something that lingers in your mind for a while. What does a princess do exactly? After the day of your coronation you've been receiving tea party invitations from other princesses, finding it as a nice opportunity to find out an answer for your question.

"What does a princess do? Look glamorous of course-!" Slime princess responded with a flick of, what you assume is her slimy hair.

_____

"A princess is responsible of filling their head with knowledge and share it with others." is what Turtle Princess told you, her library more than an obvious demonstration of her love for literature. Even if it's on the more spicy side.

____

"What? A princess doesn't have to do anything, just sit back, relax and watch others do things for you." Lumpy space princess scoffs at the thought of responsibilities, she's way more interested at picking up boys. But then again she's homeless so you can't completely trust her advice.

___

"A princess is just as important as a king or queen, it's your duty to watch over your kingdom and help them prosper." Princess Bubblegum, the more strict of the bunch, explained more than you were expecting to hear.

It made your status as a princess sound more important but your self-doubt manifested itself as well. What if you're not fit for the role? Your thoughts are interrupted when the carriage came to an abrupt stop. Worry started to fill your stomach when you heard horses run away and your guards cry out and drop to the ground. The door opened up to a tall man wearing dark robes, a bandit you assume.

"You're a princess right?" the man asked.

Fear climbs up your throat, unable to speak but still responding with the nod of your head. The man grunts in relief. "Good." before tossing you over his shoulder.

You finally snapped out of your shock after a minute or two. "Hey! What are you doing!?" you start shouting.

"I'm kidnapping you, it's what all the bad guys do to princesses."

Somehow that part made sense to you no matter how messed up it sounded. The man kept rambling about how he'll hold you hostage for ransom money, you had faith that your brother wouldn't leave you hanging, but that doesn't mean you're frustrated with the situation. "I demand you put me down! Somebody help!" you started kicking and shouting again. The bandit struggled to keep a hold on you. "Stop that or i'll-"

"Or you'll what?" A third voice came into the scene, causing you to stop and try to get a good view of who this stranger is. You've heard of brave knights clad in shiny armor saving princesses but you never expected your hero came in the form of a boy dressed in blue shorts and a white bear hat. "Drop the lady or I'll cut you to pieces!" he withdrew his sword from behind, instilling fear within the bandit.

"Alright, alright," he huffs without another word. Unceremoniously dropping you to the ground. How rude! Before he could take his leave the white knight blocked his path with his blade.

"Nah ah ah, you forgot to apologize." the young man was teasing him now, pulling a little chuckle from you.

The thief rolled his eyes, turning around to face you. "Sorry." the thief apologized, "Can I leave now?" he turned to the young man, who, in a single slash of his sword managed to cut the thief's belt and drop his pants in humiliation. This was enough to satisfy the young man and let the thief run off.

"Are you okay?" your knight stored away his sword in favor of helping you stand up, taking your hand in his calloused ones. "Yeah, I'm fine." you insist, but wince slightly the moment you stood up. A scrapped knee. "Ouch, that looks like it hurts. Here, let me help you with that." the blonde lowered himself to his knees, pulling out a plain band-aid from his backpack and sticking it to your fresh wound.

"I... Thank you, but I never got your name."

"Oh right, my names Finn. I'm sorta the sheriff around here." the young man chuckles between a bright smile with a few crooked and missing teeth. He's nice, was the first thought that came to mind upon meeting the boy, although you've never met him before his actions demonstrated a courageous spirit and a heart of gold. Someone you'd definitely love to have around.

Remembering your manners, you stood up straight and pressed your hands together on your lap. "Ehem, Sir Finn I am grateful for your help and as a princess of a nearby kingdom I award you with an honorable job as my bodyguard. I'm sure my brother will pay you heavenly for your services." you keep a formal tone and vocabulary you're definitely not used to.

Finn laugh momentarily, scratching the back of his neck."That's very nice of you princess, but the rest of Ooo needs me as a bodyguard. So, I'm gonna say no to that." A frown appeared on your face, why would he reject your offer? He's a knight and you're a princess, isn't this how these things go? However, any sense of doubt or disappointment faded away when he added. "But, if what you want is to hang out I'm definitely down for that."

The frown on your face turns into surprise, before settling on a beaming smile. Finally, something that has nothing to do with being a princess. "I would gladly... I mean, yeah that'd be cool." you drop the formality with him, happy to be yourself and relax. With your carriage broken down and no guards to company you, Finn offered himself to safely walk you back to your kingdom. Taking the moment to make small talk.

" Hey Finn, you rescue princesses all the time right?" you turn your head to look at him, eliciting a nod from the young man. "Do you know what princesses do exactly? Like, I'm kinda new to all this." you admit, somewhat embarrassed.

Finn chewed on a piece of grass as he looked up at the sky, pondering for a moment before responding. "I'm pretty sure you can do whatever you want. You wanna cook the world's most delicious desserts just for yourself? go for it. What about just going on vacation? Sure, why not? You wanna make life easier for your kingdom? or even rule with an iron boot? It's all up to you princess. Each princess I've met is unique in thier own way."

You're left speechless, you've been so focused on what others want that doing something for yourself has never crossed your mind. It's like an invisible weight has been lift off your shoulders. "What I want..." your eyes trail away from the path that leads to your kingdom, stopping on your tracks to turn the other way around. "... I wanna go out and eat some waffles." you proclaim confidently.

Finn jumped excitingly, jokingly acting in a formal manner. "Mind if I tag along m'lady?" he extends his arm to you, which you happily grab onto.

"Of course my fellow white knight."

[princessbatears]

Winter Challenge 2021 - Day 19 (Movie Nights)

Pairing: Frankie Morales x Female Reader Summary: All of Frankie's hard work to suppress his feelings for you are thrown out the window when you show up unexpectedly at a movie night with the boys POV: Frankie Warnings: angst, discussion of a break-up, language Words: 650 A/N: From my Lunar Cycle/Bitten universe, but it takes place before Frankie is a werewolf; inspired by this HC

Frankie can’t even tell you what movie’s on the TV, and it’s not because Will won’t stop talking over it. He’s too distracted by you, sitting at Benny’s kitchen table by yourself.

You weren’t even supposed to be there tonight. He’d come because you weren’t. His whole plan to get over feelings for a woman in a committed relationship is to avoid you for the rest of his life. As soon as you’d showed up, any progress he’d made over the last few months had been thrown right out the window.

He’d planned to leave, but then he’d noticed your eyes were puffy, like you’d been crying. Throughout dinner, you’d seemed depressed, barely eating or talking. Not even Benny doing a perfect Harrison Ford impression got a smile out of you.

When he quietly asked Pope if he knew what was up, Pope’d responded with an infuriating smirk. “Why don’t you ask her yourself, Catfish, if you’re so worried?”

But then Benny’d put the movie on and he decided he’d draw more attention to you than you probably wanted. Although, really, he’s just a chickenshit, scared you’ll feel like he’s invading your privacy or he won’t know the right thing to say. He spends the next two hours hating himself little bit for it.

After the film’s finished, the guys suggest another, but you stand, a false smile on your lips. “I’ve got an early meeting, but I’ll see you guys later. Thanks for having me.”

Before he can overthink again, Frankie stands. “I’ll walk you out.”

You wave him off, not wanting to inconvenience him. “I’m parked just in front of the building.”

“I need to stretch my legs, anyway,” he says lamely.

After you grab your coat and purse, he walks with you out of the apartment. You don’t speak as you lead the way down to your car, once again lost in whatever’s bothering you.

You offer him a weak smile once you’ve unlocked the driver’s door. “Thanks, Frankie. I’m glad I got to see you tonight. It’s been a while.”

His heart flip-flops. You’ve noticed his absence. “Hey, uh, are you okay?” he finally asks gently.

You respond by bursting into tears, covering your face with your hands.

Instinct taking over, Frankie quickly puts an arm around you.

“Alex broke up with me earlier this week,” you manage to explain between sobs.

Several emotions fight for dominance: outrage that your partner has dumped you, excitement that you’re finally single, sadness that you’re hurting so much.

Pulling you into a tighter hug, he says softly, “I’m so sorry.”

You weep against his shoulder for a long time while he holds you. Can you feel the hammering of his heart in his chest?

Finally, you raise your head, wiping at your messy face. “God, I’m so sorry,” you mumble, mortified. “You did not need me falling apart all over you. I shouldn’t have even come tonight. I thought I’d feel less sad being with friends, but I’ve just been a downer.”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for.”

“You’re sweet, thanks.” Tears are still leaking down your cheeks. “I’ll let you get back inside.”

Frankie can’t stand the idea of you going back to an empty home when you’re feeling like this. “There’s this great little diner downtown that serves a mean waffle dinner, if you’re up for a little more company.”

Your eyes light up at the offer, but then you shake your head. “I’m just going to keep crying.”

He chuckles. “I’ve gone in there to cry a few times myself, nobody minds.”

You actually laugh, dabbing at your face. “I’d love someone to cry and eat waffles with.”

And in that moment he decides he’s going to stop being a coward. If he has anything to do with it, you’ll never be getting dumped again.

Thank you SO much for reading this story; I'd love to hear your thoughts! 🥰

Frankie Morales Masterlist

Werewolf Masterlist

[oitommothetease]

Invisible String (9/?)

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Female reader (Modern AU)

Word Count: 2k words

You weren't a morning person, hell, you weren’t even a person in the morning. Therefore, when you woke up to two kids playing with your hair and jumping on your bed, you wanted to strangle them or shove them on the floor. But again, you loved those little demons so you just groaned loudly, clearly irritated and you decided to keep your eyes closed, hoping that your ignorance will make them leave you alone. You squeezed your eyes shut and didn't open them until you heard a familiar voice chuckling.

“Carol told me you aren't a morning person, but this-” James didn't finish his sentence, his lips breaking into a cheeky grin, and as much annoyed as you were at his teasing, you kind of thought he looked gorgeous. Who looked so gorgeous this early in the morning? A smile made its way to your face and you instantly wiped it off, feigning offense.

“Carol? You're already on a first-name basis with my sister?”

“Aw, don't worry, doll. I'm just trying to be friendly with your family or should I say my future family as your mother reminded me ten minutes ago,” he pestered, moving towards you to hand you the cup of coffee in his hand. Bucky winked teasingly when you accepted it, and you mumbled a ‘thank you’.

That pet name made your stomach do some somersaults and you didn't trust yourself enough to speak. It's not like the first time he called you ‘doll’, in fact, he had been calling you that the moment you started fake dating. But it was something about the way he said it as if the word was made for you and nobody could say that word unless it wasn't voiced by him for you. He didn't notice the flush in your eyes and even if he did, he didn't mention it.

“That’s it. You’re done hanging out with my family,” you articulated, “You are officially infected.” 

“Don’t be like that, doll. Come on, breakfast’s ready.”

At the age of 18, when you were finally a college girl, you decided that breakfast was a myth created by Satan. When you lived with your parents, the breakfast consisted of extravagant food like pancakes, waffles and fruits. Once you moved away for college, your breakfast shifted to coffee and maybe a toast if you had the time before your first lecture. And the second you were independent, coffee became your boyfriend, keeping you up at night and also, your best friend, keeping you up in the morning without dozing off in classes.

So, sitting again at a dining table with your family and fake boyfriend/boss was very awkward, to say the least. But of course, your sister had the magical ability where she took an awkward silence and converted it into an uncomfortable conversation.

“We hope we didn't wake you up last night. Nick and I tend to get loud sometimes,” Carol joked and you coughed, choking on your food, and James laughed awkwardly. 

James' hand instinctively came to your back, running calming circles with his palm and you shot a deathly glare to your sister. 

“Oh, we know all about that,” James teased, bringing your chair closer to him. Your eyes widened and you whipped your head towards him so quickly that your neck hurt. What was he saying? This man, your boyfriend, fake boyfriend was a completely different person than your boss (not that you were complaining). He was funny, charming, he made you feel comfortable and something else you weren’t ready to point out just yet.

You could see yourself falling for a man like James. No, he is your boss and sort of criminal. Get your shit together, you told yourself.

After the very awkward breakfast, thanks to Carol. Your mother told you to show James around town and you would have said no but that meant you’d have to stay at home with your family, which was worse. So when James accepted your offer to go to your favorite burger place nearby, you were relieved.

“This burger is amazing, but nothing compared to Barry’s,” James stated. 

You nodded your head, chewing the remnant of food in your mouth properly before speaking, “Nothing compares to Sally and her food.”

You liked being with James, everything about him made you want this, the real thing with him, not the whole faux boyfriend play. You wanted him and you were sure that he didn’t. One look at him was sufficient for anyone to know how handsome he was, and how oblivious he was to the waitress ogling him. He didn’t spare her a glance, he was probably used to the attention that he stopped caring about it. Of course, if you weren't overthinking at the moment, you would have noticed that he didn't care about anyone else - well, except you. 

“The waitress was totally checking you out,” you informed James. You were very jealous, but you wouldn't stop your crush on your boss to stop him from living his life. He had already sacrificed a lot for you, you didn't want to cock-block him on top of that.

“No, she wasn’t,” he huffed, looking at you for any sign that this conversation displeased you the way it did him.

“I swear she was,” you said, “You should ask her out. She’s cute.”

 “No, I’m taken.”

“But you’re not taken, James. This isn’t real,” you retorted and it hurt you so much to say. Sometimes you wished you could be a selfish bitch but you couldn’t do that to James. He deserves someone who would cherish and love him, not give him a faux relationship. “You should ask her out.”

 “Do you want me to?” James asked, his voice was laced with desperation that you couldn't understand. Why would he care about your opinion?

Bucky hoped that you would say no, he needed a sign to know that you wanted him too. His tone was despondent because he was hoping that this could be more. He really wanted it to be. But when you said yes, everything came shattering down for him. You didn’t want him and God, he was so frustrated that he could cry. What sick game was the universe playing with him? He felt like a rat stuck in a cage with cheese right outside, in front of him. Even though he was so close to you, you were still out of his reach.

“You know what?,” he pondered, “Now that I think about it maybe I should ask her out?”

“Like right now?” you questioned, taken aback by his sudden and unexpected change in demeanor.

“Yeah!” he cheered enthusiastically, “No time like the present, right? You can get home by yourself?”

He didn’t wait for your answer, already walking back towards the restaurant, and you murmured a ‘yeah’ which he didn’t even notice because he was already jogging towards the burger place.

When you reached home alone, tears welled up in your eyes, and you ran up to the bathroom to avoid stumbling upon your family. Maybe you shouldn't have pushed him, maybe if you didn’t then he wouldn’t have pursued the waitress. He wouldn’t have gone if you didn’t shove him towards the cute waitress. Why were you such a good person?

Your thoughts were brought to a halt with frantic knocks on the door. Instantly, you wiped your eyes and opened up the door to be met with your sister’s kids. Izzy and Alex didn’t give you any time before getting a hold of your hand and rushing you outside to help them set up the trampoline.

Your family was already out there, and you hoped your face didn’t say, ’I've been crying in the bathroom.’ Your sister and her husband were seated on a blanket which was spread out on the grass, sipping wine, and your parents were admiring their grandchildren.

“Auntie Y/N!” Alex exclaimed and Izzy added, “Help us fix the trampoline please.”

You agreed because those two were the only people in the world that considered you their friend without asking for anything in return. Moreover, it was a good distraction, if you stayed in a room thinking about James, then you would probably lose your sanity. So, once you started setting up the trampoline for the kids, it became somewhat fun, and you almost forgot all about James, and how he must be talking to that girl and how that girl must be flirting with him. You hoped he didn’t call her doll, you knew you were being unreasonable and immature, but you couldn’t help yourself.

Izzy and Alex made their way towards their parents and whispered something about you being so in love with James that his absence made you angry.

You ignored them and the way your sister smiled, you were so focused on fitting the trampoline spring that you did not realize someone was standing behind you until two strong hands came around you, taking the spring from your hand and attaching it to the corner. 

You knew it was James, no one would touch your hand so gently, any other man would have snatched the spring from your hold and mansplained it’s process to you. But James wasn’t doing that, he wanted to be near you, to have your attention fully that is why he took the spring from you. He didn’t undermine you. No, he desired you to notice him, the guy who has been trying all weekend to get you to like him. He wanted you to see Bucky, not your boss, James.

You could feel his head looming over your shoulder, you dared to crane your neck in his direction to find him already looking at you with a smile on his face. You were so dazed in his eyes that you didn’t notice that he was wearing a white shirt instead of the one he wore in the morning. You did not notice that he didn’t leave you to get the waitress’s number, instead he got a customized shirt that read 'I heart Y/N'. You only noticed him.

Furthermore, you didn’t care about anything else at the moment, just him. Bucky eyed your lips longer than he should have and leaned a bit towards you; a question. You answered his question by closing the distance between you and crashing your lips with his. His hands engulfed around your waist, flushing your back against his chest and he kissed you feverishly. 

The kids were right.

You were in love, and that love was reciprocated by the man who was holding you like you were his archer and kissing you like you were the source of his last breath. But both of you were too unaware to realize that the other felt the same way.

Everyone could see that, your mother looked over at your father and your sister looked at her husband, smiling, reminiscing the way they fell in love just like you and Bucky. The kids looked at you both with hope, aspiring to have a love like that in their future, the kind they saw in movies and in the couples around them.

What you didn't realize was that there was one other set of eyes watching you from a car in the distance. Rumlow finally found his rival's vulnerability, and he was going to do everything in his power to exploit and eventually kill Bucky’s weakness, his love, you. 

TAGS:  @bananapipedreams​ @akkinda10​ @rivers-rambles21​ @emmabarnes​ @valsworldofcreativity​ @boofy1998​ @marvel-3407​ @mybuck​ @priii​ @coffeebooksandfandom​ @ladydmalfoy​ @shaking-a-jar-of-bees 

[stylesberries]

Vegan Cupcakes

Summary: You and Harry have been quarantined together and he needs space.

Genre(s): angst (happy ending)

Word Count: 3.2k

Warning(s): angsty stuff, ~foul language~

You and Harry have been quarantined together for several months now and, despite the difficulty and the severity of the situation, you as a couple are having the time of your lives.

Harry was definitely disappointed and upset about not being able to go touring with Fine Line, but the second he heard the news he thought of you.

He has been donating a lot of money and supplies for those in need of it or unemployed while you took your university classes online.

Spending most of the spring together didn’t feel as suffocating for Harry as summer did. Your classes were over and you didn’t take a summer semester, so your time fully revolved around him. Which he liked.

In the beginning.

Until you clung on him like a koala for days and made him cuddle you all the time, which he enjoyed a lot until it became a routine. Harry couldn’t even tell you how he felt because it would hurt your feelings, so he didn’t say anything at all, keeping it all to himself.

“Baby?” You call for him from the kitchen.

Harry rolls his eyes as you, once again, interrupted his flow of thoughts. He gets up from the couch he was laying on peacefully before and walks towards the kitchen, where you are standing holding up a paper so big it covers your whole face.

“Yes?” Harry asks, trying his best not to come out too rough. You placed the paper on the kitchen island in front of you to look up at Harry. You didn’t pay close attention to his annoyance; you were too busy brainstorming what proportion of flour to sugar to take for your vegan cupcakes.

“Harry, do you think I should take 1:2? Like twice as much flour? Or do you want the cupcakes to be sweeter?” Harry watched you ramble, crossing his arms, feeling ~this~ close to bursting. “Or do you think the cupcakes shouldn’t be that sweet because they’ll have sweet icing on top?” You ket throwing question after question at your fuming boyfriend, still oblivious of his irritation.

“Or maybe we should make them both mildly sweet?” Shut up.

“They will be chocolate anyway, right?” Shut up.

“Would you prefer dark chocola-”

“Y/N, shut up already! Can you stop fucking rambling? My head is going to explode from your talking.” Harry explodes, not letting you finish your question, the excited smile leaving your face.

You felt your head being squeezed from sides, pressure increasing at your temples.

“What?” You ask, hoping that you misheard him, knowing deep down that you didn’t because the Harry you knew and loved would never say such a hurtful thing.

“I said shut up. My brain is buzzing from your talking. Do whatever you fucking want.” Harry said and walked out of the kitchen before you could say something to him.

Thinking that he probably isn’t in a good mood and certainly needs space from your rambling you stay back in the kitchen and go back to your recipe with a broken heart and wet eyes. Your hands shake as you brought the paper back up to your face, failing to read any of the words and measurements through a layer of tears that were collected in your eyes.

Even when you were fighting he had never said anything so mean to you before, especially after he found out that your whole life people have been discouraging you from talking, so you closed off and spoke up only when you were directly called out for not saying anything. It took Harry a couple of months to finally get you to open up to him and talk to him without feeling guilty for it. He used to love it when you rambled on and on about things you’re passionate about. At least that’s what you thought.

You spend the next hour making the batter for your cupcakes and baking them, which only took about fifteen minutes. You felt encouraged to go up to Harry when you smelled the chocolate cupcakes fresh out of the oven.

“I’ll put a couple on a plate.” You spoke to yourself placing the freshly baked cupcakes on Harry’s favorite flower plate. “Just like that.”

Talking to yourself was a way you brushed your nervousness and anxiety away. Harry would catch you talking to your reflection millions of times, just standing and secretly watching you sometimes with a wide smile plastered on his face.

You placed the plate on the tray you brought from your trip to Italy and poured Harry some black coffee, placing it next to the warm plate. You picked the tray up and walked out of the kitchen, making sure to watch your elbows at the doorway.

Making your way towards the living room, where you expected Harry to be, you spotted no grumpy boyfriends there.

“He’s probably in the studio.” You spoke to yourself, refusing to let Harry’s bad mood discourage you.

Harry would rarely hide from you in the studio when you’re fighting, usually he would face you and solve the issue before it grows and hurts you even more, so it was unusual for him to run off there.

You brushed the thought off and watched towards the studio door. As you walked closer you could hear Harry talking to someone, but knowing that there is no one home except you two, you understood that he’s talking on the phone with someone. You stood at the door, turning to the side to place the tray on the floor, freeing your hands to turn back to the door and knock, as you didn’t want to interrupt any important calls or interviews that Harry could have with your talking.

Before your knuckles hit the door, you heard Harry’s voice.

“Man, I mean she’s always next to me. I can’t do this anymore. I can’t wait for her to go back to uni for me to get some air.” Harry whines. Your heart stops before going back to beating at a higher rate, full of anxiety.

“Yeah, right! It just feels as if she’s been dreaming of being touchy-feely with someone and now that I’m finally home she can’t get herself off of me.” Harry kept stabbing your heart and laughed at something the person on the phone said.

With every word, you felt more and more empty. You started walking away from the door, bending over to take the tray with yourself not to leave any traces behind.

How could he say something like that?

I thought he loved me.

You didn’t know what you were doing. Your legs moved on their own and you just followed along, tears leaking from your eyes’ inner corners, tracing a way down to your chin. The salty trail wasn’t getting a chance to dry as new tears followed the same path as the ones before did.

When your body reached the kitchen your shaking hands placed the tray on the counter, Harry’s coffee slightly spilling on the tray.

Pain.

Never before have you thought than sadness could physically hurt so much; it hurt like a bitch.

You placed the tray on the table for Harry to find later and walked out of the kitchen to go back to your bedroom to cry in your pillow while he keeps complaining about you to his friend.

Harry came to bed in a couple of hours closer to the evening after looking for you all over the house to apologize for his rough words. When he saw you laying on your side of the bed, your knees pushed up to your chest, the duvet hardly doing its job keeping you covered and warm, he felt guilt running through his veins.

Walking up to his side, pressing a knee on the mattress first, Harry scooted over to you and pulled the duvet to cover you up. He let his arm stay on the duvet wrapping around your fragile form. He moved his upper body closer to yours, his chest pressing against your duvet-covered back.

“Baby?” Harry spoke softly, cautious not to wake you up. When no answer followed he frowned and positioned his face into the crook of your neck, pressing kisses on your neck.

“I’m sorry about earlier, baby. I was very mean to you.” He spoke against your soft skin. “I shouldn’t have exploded like that. It wasn’t fair to you.”

Harry’s apologies kept following one after another and you stayed silent, keeping your act on. You would’ve believed every word of his if only you haven’t heard him say the things he said about you to someone else.

You kept your eyes closed. Harry’s apologies subsided as he slowly fell asleep cuddled into your back. You stayed up that night, tears pooling in the corners of your eyes. You wished for the pain inside to leave with your tears but it stayed, eating you from inside, until sunrise when you fell asleep from the emotional exhaustion.

When you woke up, Harry was no longer lying next to you and you were thankful for it. You really hoped that he wouldn’t bring yesterday up, even though you knew he would because he never got to apologize to you awake.

Your stomach growled and you remember that you never got to have dinner the day before, falling asleep drowning in your own sadness.

You quickly got up to sneakily walk down to the kitchen, but you were disappointed to have smelled Harry’s signature chocolate waffles in the air. With your shoulders slumped in defeat you walked down the stairs towards your kitchen.

As you walked through the doorway of the kitchen you saw Harry placing the brown waffles onto serving plates and adding sliced strawberries on top. You stopped your heart from fluttering because you, unfortunately, knew more than you’d prefer to know about how your boyfriend actually feels about you.

Harry felt someone’s eyes on him and turned around to be greeted by your indifferent self. He felt his heart sink as he read the hurt from the day before engraved on the surface of your face. Harry kept fidgeting about the table trying to let you pass to sit in your place next to him and placed the plate of waffles in front of you.

“I made you your favorite, baby.” He spoke unsure of how you would react to any words that left his mouth.

You fought the desire to bite into the warm chocolate waffles that your belly was craving after crying all night long and being left hungry for so many hours and walked up to the counter to get yourself a couple of your ill-fated cupcakes.

You couldn’t see Harry’s head lowering as you dashed his hopes to make it better. Little did Harry know you weren’t upset about his outburst about the cupcakes yesterday, so a couple of waffles won’t help to glue together the ruins of your heart that he shattered.

As you bit into the cupcakes, you stood at the counter facing away from the table, Harry took no bites of his breakfast, staring at your back helplessly. Suddenly he felt small and didn’t know what to do.

“I’m sorry about yesterday, Y/N. I acted like a piece of shit. You don’t deserve to be treated like that.” His lips moved as his eyes watched your back for any reaction coming from you, his voice coming out soft and weak.

You stood there, your eyes glossy and your lips curving down in a frown, as you fought back the tears. Harry doesn’t have a single idea of how much pain he’s caused you and how none of these stupid apologies will ever fix the cracks that he left in your heart. You looked over your shoulder at Harry’s similar-to-yours state and hesitated whether or not to open up to him. Harry looked into your eyes with his and held a breath, hoping that you would figure things out. Your eyes broke the eye contact by looking down and speaking up.

“It’s okay.” You spoke and abandoned your plate, walking out of the kitchen, Harry’s eyes observing your every movement.

For the next couple of days, you stayed away from Harry and things were pretty cold between you. Harry would come up to you every day trying to apologize but you wouldn’t let him finish any of those times, leaving the room right away. Hurt was eating you from inside and you didn’t care what he had to say. Harry chose to sleep in the guest bedroom not to make you uncomfortable and you thanked him for it.

As time went by, you cooled down and felt better yourself. Harry gave you all the space you needed and it helped your healing process. You still hurt but you could talk to him now at least. Things went back to normal in most ways except one: you would stop yourself from expressing any kind of affection to Harry and he wouldn’t say anything but it drove him insane. He didn’t know why you wouldn’t kiss or snuggle him like you used to. You also started talking less because of your fight and Harry noticed every single change in your behavior and beat himself up for it.

“Y/N.” Harry walked into the bedroom with an i-can’t-do-this-anymore face on. Your eyes had to abandon the indulging book you were reading as Harry closed the door behind him, which meant he was determined to finally face the difficulty of the situation. Noticing the mood in the room change to a serious one, you placed the book on the bedside table and crossed your legs under the duvet, focusing all of your attention on your restless boyfriend with arms crossed.

“Mhm?” You ask, waiting for him to spit out whatever he’s been putting aside for almost two weeks.

“I’m sorry for that fight, okay? I really am, sweetheart. You haven’t been the same since then and it scares me. I didn’t mean to go off at you like that. You didn’t deserve it at all. I was exhausted and felt shitty myself and took it out on you. It’s not an excuse to yell at you and be so mean, I understand and I’m sorry, beautiful. It was a mistake and it won’t happen again, I promise. Please forgive me, Y/N.” Harry spoke so desperately, his emotions all over the place. He started gesticulating, which you knew meant that he was anxious and frustrated.

“I’m not mad at that, Harry. I forgave you.” You spoke the truth; Harry looked at you with even more frustration behind his now-glossy eyes.

“But you don’t even touch me anymore! You don’t kiss me! You don’t even want to be near-” Harry lets all of his insecurities out, oblivious to the flow of your own that you prepare to pour on him. You couldn’t sit there and listen to him accuse you of being neglectful towards him so you broke in to speak yourself.

“You don’t want me to be around you anymore! You said that yourself! You-you said-” Your voice cracks as tears build up in the corners of your eyes. It became hard to talk. “-said I’m always next to you and you need some space from me always being there.”

The tears that were collecting in your eyes were streaming down your cheeks, Harry’s glance reflecting off of them. Harry couldn't understand what you were referring to but kept listening to you.

“And you didn’t even have the guts to tell me yourself. You whined about how annoying I am to your friend, embarrassing me. It’s supposed to be something kept between us two, not discussed with your friends.” Every word stabbed his heart in same places as it did yours.

Harry’s mind went straight to the call you were talking about. He felt his intestines turn into a knot inside of him, causing him to feel nauseous. He felt like an asshole. It was fair because he was one indeed.

I hurt her.

You don’t want to be around me anymore.

Does she really think that?

You need space from me.

My baby. My angel.

What a fucking piece of shit am I to hurt my precious love like this.

You saw right through Harry’s sudden self-hatred despite the two layers of salty tears between your eyes and his.

“I’m so sorry.” Harry’s apologies filled the room, as pain continued to fill his soul.

“I hurt you. I’m so fucking sorry. It was so wrong to share something so personal with anyone except you. I didn’t even know what I was saying. I can’t live without you.” Harry’s cries became louder and louder as his regret first doubled and then tripled in size. “Your hands, your lips, your beautiful eyes - I can’t live without those things on me constantly. I was such a fool to think that I needed space from you. You’re the love of my life! I love you so fucking much. I’m so fucking sorry, Y/N. I-” Harry's voice was cut by him having to take deep breaths to keep himself together. He placed a hand over his chest breathing in deeply.

You ripped the blanket off of yourself watching Harry closely, getting ready to sprint to his inhaler in case he needs it. Harry saw your reaction to his heavy breathing and rose his hand to gesture that he’s okay. You let out a relieved sign and scooted closer to the end of the bed where Harry stood. When he caught up with his breathing he looked down at you, moving to get on his knees in front of the bed. Harry’s hands flew up to cup your cheeks softly, giving you time to stop him if you wanted to.

“I love you so much, baby. I can’t express how sorry I am to hurt you so much. I don’t need any space from you. I can’t function properly without you on me all the time, without you wrapped in my arms.” Harry spoke and tears kept running down his face. You watched his eyes jump from one side of your face to the other, trying to absorb every single line and curve of your face.

“Fuck, I’ve missed looking at you so fucking much,” Harry speaks up, his face frowning as new tears start flowing out of his eyes. The frown on Harry’s face became more prominent as he understood the severity of the pain he had caused you.

”It’s all my fault.” Harry cries, hiding his face in the crook of your neck, your arms wrapping around him. “I’m so sorry, Y/N.”

Harry kept apologizing the whole night and many days after, not letting you walk further than an arm length away from him. It took him a lot of effort to kick the insecurities that he birthed out of your head, but he kept proving himself to you over and over again.

He is an arrogant son of a bitch, but nonetheless he loves you more than himself.

© all right belong to stylesberries. do not repost or modify.

[jungwonenthusiast]

Friends Don't Lie Ch. 1

Pairing: Jungwon x reader

Warnings for this chapter: underage drinking and smoking, mention of porn

Chapter word count: 2k

Based on: Stranger Things

Sunoo

“Can we play please?” Sunoo pleads, tugging at Sunghoon's sleeve.

“No, you’re not a baby.” he rolls his eyes.

“Who said d and d was for babies?” Sunoo scoffs and plops onto the couch.

“Everyone,” Jay says while trying on one of Jungwon’s jackets. “Even Niki doesn’t play anymore.”

Sunoo groans. “You guys are boring.”

“I’ll play with you.” Jake ruffles his hair.

“We need at least four people.” he whines.

“You guys play, we’re gonna go to the drive-in.” Niki says.

“And do what? Makeout with people and get gonorrhea?”

“That’s not how STDs work, dumbass.” Jay laughs.

“Whatever,” Sunoo rolls his eyes again.

“It’ll be fun man, just come with us.” Jungwon grabs at his arm. “Plus you like scary movies.”

“It’s Videorome, isn’t that movie about porn?” Sunoo frowns.

“Just come,” Jungwon begs. “I’m gonna be the only one without a chick, you have to keep me company.”

“I’m just gonna go home, Heeseung hyung will be mad if I stay out.” Sunoo stands up and slings his backpack over his shoulder.

“You gonna bike home?” Jake asks while spritzing cologne on his neck.

“Yeah, I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” Sunoo says while making his way up the basement stairs.

“See you.”

“Bye Ddeonu.” Jay teases.

Sunoo walks by Mrs. Yang who’s cleaning up the kitchen.

“Bye Mrs. Yang, thank you for dinner, it was delicious.” he smiles at her.

“Of course Sunoo-shi, are you going home now? I thought you boys were going to the drive in?”

He shrugs. “Yeah but I figured I should go home so that my hyung doesn’t worry.”

She smiles and pats his head. “Such a sweet boy, tell him I said hi alright?”

He nods and heads out the door.

It’s pitch black out and the air feels dry.

Sunoo mounts his bike and starts to peddle home, but something moving in the corner of his eye catches his attention.

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Jungwon

Jungwon feels bad. He hates feeling this way. It’s eating at his conscience.

“Why are you guys so mean to Sunoo?” Jungwon says while steering his Camaro.

“What are you talking about?” Jay lights a cigarette and Jungwon slaps it out of his hand.

“Don’t smoke in here, my mom will kill me.” he scolds.

Jay rolls his eyes and throws it out the window.

“It’s just our way of showing affection.” Sunghoon says with Niki sitting on his lap. The car doesn’t have nearly enough seats to fit all of them, but they make it work.

“You need help if you think that’s what affection is.” Jungwon grumbles.

Jake shakes his shoulder. “Loosen up Jungwon, he knows we love him.”

“I hope.” he replies.

Jungwon always wishes he could be nicer to Sunoo. Everytime he sees him he thinks, I should compliment Sunoo or tell him that I appreciate him. But he never does and he hates himself for it.

Jungwon parks in their usual spot.

“I’m gonna go try to con us some beers.” Jay says before hopping out the car.

“Don’t get arrested.” Sunghoon jokes.

Jake rolls down the window to chat with the girls next to them.

Jungwon slumps into his seat. Something feels wrong. They go to the drive in all the time, but something feels off. Everything feels, sounds, and smells the same. But there’s a tinge of pain in Jungwon’s heart. Maybe Jay’s cigs are starting to get to me, he thinks, but he knows that he’s lying to himself.

“Can you just go to her car?” Sunghoon groans. “We exist too you know?”

“Fine,” Jake opens to car door and merrily makes his way to her Ford.

Jay comes jogging up to the car with two cans of beer in each hand. “I am incredible.”

“Indeed you are.” Sunghoon reaches out for one. Niki does too but Jay pulls his hand away.

“No way man.” Jay chuckles and Niki groans.

“I’m literally taller than you.”

“And I weigh more,” Jay says. “No beer until you’re seventeen.”

Jay hands Jungwon a can and he reluctantly cracks it open. He never liked beer but he figured he needed it today.

He lets the bitter substance go down his throat. He holds his breath before swallowing so that he can’t taste it.

Jungwon watches the movie in a daze. The alcohol has gone to his head and everything feels calmer despite the gore being displayed on the screen.

“Shit, it’s eleven thirty.” Jake says. “I’ll drive us home, you’re all too drunk.”

“I can drive.” Jungwon insists.

“No you can’t.” Jake pulls him up by the arms and guides him to the backseat.

Jungwon rests his head on his hand as Jake drops everyone off.

“Alright get up Won, we’re here.” Jake parks the Camaro in the driveway.

“I’m tired.” Jungwon whines and gets up sluggishly.

“You’re such a lightweight.” Jake chuckles and helps him to the door. “Get to your room before your parents see you.”

“Roger that.” Jungwon mumbles and tries to sober up before heading through the door.

The stairs moan underneath his feet as he quietly climbs them. He can hear Jooyoung chatting on the phone as he walks to his room.

He changes into pajamas and heads to the bathroom. His cheeks are pink and his eyes are half open.

“Damn, I am a lightweight.” he says while observing his face in the mirror.

He splashes water on his face and rakes his hands through his hair.

The bathroom light flickers. He furrows his brow.

“I thought dad fixed that last week.”

He washes up quietly and knocks on Jooyoung’s door.

“What?” she calls out.

He creaks the door open. “Don’t be on the phone for too long noona, mom will get mad.”

She rolls her eyes. “She doesn’t need to know, don’t be a snitch.”

“I never am.” he sighs and closes the door.

He climbs into bed and turns to look at the photo on his nightstand. It’s him and the gang at seventh grade graduation.

Jay is smiling big and towering over the rest of them. He was always the tallest among them and Jungwon was dead jealous.

Jake’s arm is slung around Jungwon and Jungwon’s arm is around little Sunoo. Sunoo’s smile is bright and cute. His suit jacket is too big for him, he probably borrowed it from Heeseung.

Jungwon still remembers the day he and Sunoo met. It was the first day of kindergarten. Sunoo was alone on the swing set, staring at his feet. Jungwon had a few friends that he met in preschool but he wondered what the harm was to have one more. He asked Sunoo if he wanted to be friends. It was the best decision he ever made.

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“Breakfast!” Jungwon’s mom calls out as he pulls on a striped polo.

He skips down the stairs and sits down at the dining table.

“Have you seen Sunoo? Heeseung called this morning.” Mrs. Yang says while handing him a plate of waffles, bacon, and eggs.

“No, I thought he biked home.” Jungwon cocks a brow while pouring syrup over all of his food.

“That’s disgusting.” Jooyoung remarks while taking a seat next to him.

“Your face is disgusting.” he jeers.

“Well make sure he’s at school today okay? Heeseung sounded really worried.” Mrs. Yang sits down next to her husband.

“Does he think he got kidnapped or something? As if anyone would want him.” Jooyoung snickers.

“Fuck off, that’s not funny.” Jungwon says.

“Language.” Mr. Yang says sternly.

“She’s being an ass.” Jungwon rolls his eyes.

“What did you just call me?” Jooyoung’s head snaps towards him.

“Whatever.” he dismisses her.

She shoves his shoulder. “No, say it again.”

“Stop it! Both of you!” Mrs. Yang yells. “Can we not have one peaceful breakfast?”

“I can, I don’t know about her though.” Jungwon grumbles.

“I’ll kill you.” Jooyoung grits her teeth.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time.” Jungwon replies.

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Sunoo’s not at school.

“Do you think he’s sick or something?” Jake wonders.

“That doesn’t make sense though, his mom said he never came home last night.” Jungwon chews on his pencil.

“Maybe he went to someone’s house.” Jay suggests and Jungwon gives him a look.

“Who’s house would he have gone to? We’re his only friends.”

Jay shrugs. “Maybe he has a secret lover.” Sunghoon chuckles.

“Why aren’t you guys taking this seriously? Something could have happened.” Jungwon crosses his arms.

“I’m sure he’s fine. Nothing bad ever happens in this shit town anyway.” Jake says right as Mr. Jones walks into the classroom.

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Jungwons heart drops further and further into his stomach as the day goes on with no sign of Sunoo.

The boys are playing basketball during p.e when Principal Coleman and a policeman walk into the gym.

“I wonder who’s weed they found.” Jay jokes but his smile diminishes as the two men approach them.

“Gentlemen we need to speak to you,” Principal Coleman says, “outside that is.”

They all give each other nervous looks but follow suit. Jungwon can feel eyes on his back as he makes his way out of the door.

“Do you know what route Sunoo takes to get home?” the chief says. He towers over them and his biceps look the same width as Jungwon's thighs.

“Yeah, he takes Mirkwood.” Jungwon replies quickly.

“Don’t fucking call it that anymore.” Jay rolls his eyes.

“What the hell is Mirkwood?” the man says and crosses his arms. “Stop messing around, this is serious.”

“It’s where Cornwallis and Kerley meet.” Jake says.

“Why do you call it Mirkwood?” the cop says, unimpressed.

“It’s from The Hobbit.” Jungwon says and Jay shoves his shoulder.

“What? I’m just telling the truth.” Jungwon exclaims.

“So what happened to Sunoo?” Sunghoon says plainly. “Where is he?”

“We’re not sure, he’s probably at his Dad’s-”

“Why would he go there, his dad’s a cock.” Jay argues.

“His dad sucks.” Sunghoon says under his breath.

“Enough, let me do my job alright?” the cop says, exasperated.

“We can help look for him, we know all the places he likes to go.” Jungwon says with hopeful eyes and Niki nods.

“Yeah, we can help.” Jake says.

“No,” the cop shakes his head. “After school you are all to go home, and if I see any of you searching around, I’ll have you in shackles. Is that clear?”

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“We have to.”

“What if we get caught?”

“Then we run.” Jay says while packing a backpack of supplies.

“You think we can out run him?” Jungwon gets up and pulls a jacket on.

“Of course we can, that dude was huge.” Niki says while chugging down a Coke.

“Don’t drink that,” Sunghoon tsks. “You’ll have to pee.”

“I’ll just piss in the woods.” Niki rebuttals.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

The sun had set an hour ago and the stars were twinkling bright.

“Where are you boys going?” Mrs. Yang asks while watching tv on the couch.

“Party.” Jungwon says quickly.

“With backpacks?” She raises an eyebrow.

“Uhm, yeah.” Jungwon nods and she giggles.

“You’re not a good liar Jungwon-ah. Have fun, don’t be stupid out there.” she says and they happily head out the door.

Jungwon drives to Mirkwood with his headlights off. He couldn’t risk getting caught, that cop scared the shit of him.

“There’s a barricade.” Jake says quietly.

“Yeah,” Sunghoon says while getting out of the car, pulling his flashlight out of his backpack. “Shit, it’s raining.” Jay wipes a raindrop off of his cheek.

Jungwon takes his flashlight out and pulls his hood over his head.

They hop over the blockade and venture into the dense woods.

┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

It’s pouring at this point and their hoods are only making things worse.

They can’t even hear their footsteps over the sound of crashing rain.

“What are we supposed to be looking for?” Jake asks.

“Anything, his bike, his jacket, him.” Jay says.

Jungwon was starting to regret this decision. They’ve been walking for what seemed like hours with no clue of Sunoo.

“Maybe we should turn back,” Jungwon says. “This isn’t working.”

“No,” Jay says. “We need to keep looking, cops miss shit all the time.”

“Hold on hold on,” Jake stops in his tracks.

“What?” everyone asks.

“Shut up, do you hear that?” he says and they all try to open their ears. There’s rustling coming from ahead. Something is coming towards them.

“Fuck.” Jungwon whispers and grabs onto Jay's arm.

They all lift their flashlights to find a human in nothing but an oversized yellow shirt, breathing heavily and squinting from the lights blinding their eyes.

[idkthisisjustforfanfic]

that makes four.

story page | talk to me + join the tag list

PART 3

You hadn’t quite gotten used to being around Harry in the morning. What would typically be braless breakfasts on Saturday now had you wiping off any traces of mascara and at least throwing on a sports bra before you descended the stairs and turned on the keurig.

But on the morning of what would have been his last day, you came down to hear pots and pans already clanging together and giggles escaping the kitchen.

When you rounded the corner, CeCe was sitting on the counter, Maeve was trying to pour orange juice, and Harry was manning the waffle iron with a bowl of batter by his side.

“Morning,” you said with a suspicious glance. “What’s all this about?”

“Happy birthday!” CeCe smiled, excitement on her face when she turned to see you.

“My birthday’s not for another four days,” you reminded them, a kiss to her forehead when Harry offered a sheepish grin.

It had been long approaching, and thirty-two felt like a number you’d been avoiding in more ways than one. Turning thirty-two probably sounded like no big deal to everyone else. But being a newly-divorced single-mom who’d just lost her father and main support, having a birthday felt like a cruel way for the universe to remind you of all of your failures.

“Right,” Maeve said, “but it’s a Thursday, and we figured we wouldn’t be able to do all of this before school, so,” she shrugged innocently, Harry smiled down at her when you took another look around the kitchen.

It was messy, dishes in the sink and CeCe’s hands looked sticky. Maeve had her hair up but the batter was smeared on her forehead. Harry watched you glance around, his eyes expectant when you then asked: “Can I help?”

“Absolutely not,” he shook his head, amused by your obvious discomfort. “S’not what birthday girls do.”

He shooed you away once Maeve came over and tugged at your arm. “Here,” she said, “come sit and watch TV and I’ll make you coffee.”

“Let Harry make it,” you encouraged, unsure if she’d dump the whole sugar bowl in or spill half and half all over the counter.

“Mom, stay out of it, okay?” She rolled her eyes when she pushed the remote in your face. You looked over your shoulder quickly, shocked by the sight of a man with your daughter by his side, laughing and seemingly enjoying himself.

“Roger that,” you nodded, uncomfortable with the swelling of your heart at the sight of it. CeCe giggled and Maeve hurried back over, laughing when Harry let out a playful yelp at the heat from the waffles as he put them on a plate.

It took them a minute to get everything together, and right when your mug of coffee was returned (a little sweet, but you’d live), the doorbell rang and Maeve jumped into action. She pulled the door open to reveal Tristan, eyebrows arched high on his forehead when realized it wasn’t just any Sunday morning.

You were already on your feet to greet him, worried about the current state of your kitchen but also worried about the type of interaction might occur between your right hand man and the guy in an apron with CeCe tugging at his sleeve.

He’d been asking a lot of questions, his penchant for all things pop culture left him curious (or just nosy) about the current living situation in your new house. You were surprised, quite honestly, that it took him this long to pop over unannounced just to get a peek behind the curtain.

“Well hello” he looked around, a smirk on his face when his eyes settled on you. “Quite the morning we have here.”

“It’s mom’s birthday breakfast,” Maeve informed him, scurrying off to help her accomplices when you greeted him with a hug.

He kissed your cheek and shut the door behind himself. “A few days for you to panic, still, right?”

“Panic?” Harry called over his shoulder, his role more passive now that Maeve was worried about the presentation of the waffles on a ceramic plate.

Tristan took that as his cue to stick out his hand, head for the kitchen, and smile: “Nice to meet you, I’m Tristan. Second in command at Luna Skincare.”

“Harry,” he greeted, voice a good octave lower than Tristan’s and a firm enough handshake that made Tristan blush. “I’m just the house guest.”

“So I’ve heard,” Tristan winked in his direction.

“Alright, why are you here?” You tried to pull his attention away from the attractive man in your kitchen, a loud sip of coffee when he made a face at you.

He pushed a folder into your hands. “Sorry to show up unannounced." (He wasn't.) "But I wanted to show you these. Mock ups for the new body wash debut. Don’t know how I feel about those bottles, but, your call.”

You took it, opened it with one hand and let him thumb through some pages for you to see. The body wash debut was a long time coming--only about a month away and as always, it seemed to come at the best and worst time. Spring was always busy, you always launched something exciting and then CeCe’s birthday was in April. Then school got out in late May and there were plays and dance recitals and everything seemed to happen at once.

But spring was the perfect time for launches--sunshine, warmer weather, less rain in LA and people were typically ready to start spending money to prep their skin for summer.

“I kind of like them,” you looked up at him, voice hesitant when you showed them to Maeve.

“Clean lines, modern branding,” she nodded, coming back to stand beside you. “I like them too.”

“The council has spoken,” Tristan nodded, taking the folder back. “I’ll get back to them tomorrow morning and have them send a few samples over for us to see in person before we move to production.” He pulled out his phone and typed a few things into a note, Maeve tugged at your sleeve.

“Are you going to eat?”

“Yes, let’s offer something to our guest, though, right?”

“Harry’s not a guest anymore,” she wrinkled her nose at you in confusion. “It’s been way too long to call him that.”

“I mean Tristan,” you clarified with a laugh, eyes glancing over to Harry to gauge a reaction.

He felt like a guest, sometimes--when he asked how to use the washing machine or when he asked if it was okay to use the pool. But seeing him make waffles with your daughters or sit on the couch to watch a movie with everyone after dinner made him feel like more of a friend. And thinking that made you feel insecure and stupid.

Harry’s brows arched in Tristan’s direction. “We do have plenty.”

“I’m stuffed,” Tristan waved him off. “Had an omelette and a green smoothie and now I’m off to a spin class--wouldn’t want to intrude.”

“Says the man who shows up at my house before 9am on a Sunday with no notice,” you teased.

He held a hand to his hard for dramatic effect. “I just felt like this couldn’t wait.”

“Right,” you narrowed your eyes. “No other reason you needed to stop by.”

He laughed, Maeve was growing impatient and he could sense it, adjusted his messenger bag on his shoulder as he turned to head for the door. “Birthday dinner Friday night? I already made the reservation based on Zoey’s list of restaurants.”

“I will be there, unfortunately,” you teased. “Even though I said we don’t have to do anything special.”

“Friday night?” Harry inquired, eyebrows furrowed together when he moved to lean on the island.

“You should come,” Tristan decided, an enthusiastic nod in Harry’s direction. “Jeff will be there, Zoey--you’ve met Zoey, right?” Harry nodded but you cut them off.

“You don’t have to, Harry,” you said before turning to Tristan. “He’s probably busy.”

He didn’t have to, that part was true. But your hesitance was also because it felt like another blurred line. Was it weird for him to come? Was it weird for him to sit at a table with your friends and sing happy birthday like you hadn’t just met a few weeks prior?

“No, m’not busy. I was actually going to ask if you wanted me to stay with the girls.”

Another wave of butterflies in your stomach at his words, but Maeve derailed the conversation.

“I’m sleeping over Bella’s house,” she informed.

“Me too!” CeCe chirped with a smile.

“No you’re not,” Maeve shot back. “You’re not coming with me to a sleepover.”

Tristan declined Harry’s offer for you before you even had a chance to open your mouth.

“Do you know the woman? She can afford a babysitter. You should come, we’re gonna have an exquisite time!”

Harry let out a quiet laugh, hands in his pockets when he looked to you. “Is that alright?”

You weren’t going to say no. You weren’t going to stare him in the eyes and tell him he couldn’t come or tell him--in front of your daughters--that it felt weird for him to suddenly be more than just a house guest.

“Of course,” you nodded.

“Perfect,” Tristan smiled, “then I’ll see you on Friday,” he pointed at Harry and turned on his feet, a wave over his shoulders at the girls. “Bye my little devils!”

They both echoed a farewell when you turned to face them. “Okay,” you said, a nod to yourself more than to them. This was fine, it was fine for Harry to come along and spend time with your friends, right?

“Let’s eat already, I’m starving,” CeCe groaned. Maeve reached into the drawer and grabbed forks, Harry got the syrup and helped bring plates to the dining room table. The girls reached for waffles and CeCe let out a cry when Maeve took the one with sprinkles that she wanted.

“CeCe,” Harry reassured, “I made this one just for you. Lots of sprinkles,” he nodded, forking a waffle off of his own plate and onto hers.

She grinned from ear to ear and the butterflies reappeared. Maybe having him around wasn’t so bad after all.

**

Maeve’s sleepover fell through. Apparently Bella didn’t ask her mom in time and when Shelli arrived to pick up the girls for an exciting sleepover at Auntie Shelli and Uncle Irv’s, Maeve was less than thrilled.

The day of your birthday was less than exciting. Meetings in the morning, Tristan brought you a cupcake at lunch and you were doing your best to not honk aggressively loud in the pick up line that afternoon when someone nearly caused an accident.

Take out that night with the girls because you didn’t want to cook and Harry was busy--some sort of meeting with Jeff and other people. You were sat on the couch by 10pm with a glass of wine and for a second, you thought about waiting up for him.

A text at 10:15 informed that he’d probably stroll in after midnight. You climbed the stairs and felt hopeless and pathetic and entirely old. Even if everyone was telling you that you weren’t.

Now, Maeve was going on and on about how unfair it was that you didn’t ever let her stay home alone.

“One day will you let me?”

You gave her a sideways glance, secured an earring in place at your dresser and then turned to see her.

“One day--a long time from now.”

“A long time?” She asked, slumped over in a chair in the corner of your bedroom. “How long is long?”

“Maeve,” you let out a frustrated sigh, thankful for the fact that Shelli was more than fine to entertain CeCe downstairs while you finished getting ready and plastered enough deodorant to your armpits in hopes that you wouldn’t sweat through this dress. “I’m not playing this game.”

“It’s not a game, it’s a question,” she shot back.

“When you’re fifteen maybe.”

“Fifteen?! That’s, like, five whole years from now!”

“I know,” you nodded, offering her some mock sympathy. “However will you survive until then?”

A knock on the open door, an awkward smile from Harry. “Hi, sorry to interrupt--you look beautiful.”

“Ew,” Maeve rolled her eyes but then didn’t say more when you shot her a glance in the mirror.

“Thank you,” you said awkwardly, resting a hand on your hip. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, just wanted to say I’ll drive, if you want. That way you can, you know,” he held a hand up to his mouth and gestured throwing back a shot.

Maeve stared up at him, confusion etched on her face but then she looked to you. “So you can drink?”

Harry’s face suddenly looked guilty, his eyes wide when you let out a laugh.

“Yes, so I can drink. But only responsibly,” you informed her, a finger pointed in her direction before you nodded and obliged. “That would be great, Harry.”

If he was going to come, he might as well be useful. It wasn’t going to be that type of night, though. Thirty-two felt like it was way too old to get too drunk to drive or end up on a friend’s couch hungover in the morning.

This was just a birthday dinner, ten people total and fancy wine. You’d order dessert and be home by eleven.

Maeve lugged her overnight bag down the steps, complaining the whole way about Bella and dragging her feet out of the door and into Shelli’s car.

Shelli, who wrapped her arms around you and wished you a happy belated, kissed you on both cheeks and encouraged you to let loose. “You’re not old,” she smiled. “You’re mature, you’re settling into your life. You’ve got years ahead of you to be boring and tired.”

You smiled, let her hug you again when you said: “it’s just been a hard year.”

“I know,” she nodded, brushed your hair with her hand and gave you an extra squeeze. “And birthdays just make us look back at the last 365 days.”

You nodded when she let you go. She kept your hands in hers, though, ignored the way Maeve said something snotty to CeCe in the back seat. “But here’s to looking forward! To the next 365 days and to less headaches. I’ll keep these two under control and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

Harry had wandered out now, sunglasses on to shield his eyes from the setting sun.

“Harry!” Shelli called him over. “Make sure Y/N has fun tonight.”

He let out a laugh but looked in your direction. “I can try.” He had the keys in his hand, pressed a button to make his car chirp to life when Shelli got in hers.

You bent down at the back window, reached in and pinched CeCe on the cheek. “Be good, okay?”

“You be good too, mommy,” CeCe smiled. They waved from the backseat when they pulled out of the driveway and you turned to see Harry, still standing with his sunglasses on a smirk on his face.

“What?”

“Is it really that hard to make you have fun?”

He walked towards his car, you followed his lead and prayed your heels would hold out on the pavement. “No,” you said with a certain level of defense. “She’s just teasing me.”

“Yeah?” He climbed in when you opened the door. You settled in beside him and felt a sudden urge to convince him.

“I’m a fun person, Harry.”

He smirked when he started the engine. “Never said you weren’t.”

“I just have responsibilities, you know? Two children--that clearly would kill each other with their bare hands if I weren’t watching.”

“Hmm, don’t think I agree with you on that one,” he laughed, the tires gripped the pavement of your street when he took off towards the restaurant. “I think they’re more tame than you think. In fact, I think you’ve gotten so connected to the role of mom that it’s hard for you to turn that off.”

You rolled your eyes at him. “You sound like a therapist.”

He shrugged, dimples on his cheeks when he stole a glance in your direction from behind his sunglasses. “Does that mean I’m right?”

“No,” you said, looking down at the bracelet on your wrist. “Not completely.”

Quiet for a few moments, a left turn signal before he looked at you again. “I think you’re super fun, by the way.”

You hated the way it made your pulse pick up, another smirk in his direction when you felt your cheeks turn warm and he let out a tiny laugh.

You were both quiet for the rest of the ride, he introduced himself to Zoey and joked with Jeff on the way to your table on the back patio of a restaurant in Brentwood. They’d put up balloons, a toast in your honor after other friends filed in.

Appetizers first, embarrassing stories from your high school friends who seemed to flutter their eyelashes in Harry’s direction. Jeff’s arm was around the back of your chair by the time your dinner plates were cleared.

“The only time I’ve seen you as excited was when our dads brought us backstage for the No Strings Attached tour.”

You shot Jeff a look quickly, hoping he wasn’t planning on launching into the same story he’d told a thousand times--if only to see the look on your face.

“Wait, you mean the NSYNC tour?” Harry was seated across the table, margarita in hand when he leaned in for more details.

“Oh god,” Zoey rolled her eyes when Tristan shook his head. “Not this story again.”

“You mean the greatest story ever?” Jeff leaned down and shot her a look.

“We’ve all heard it,” Tristan whined, “I could recite it as if I was there, honestly.”

Harry’s eyes met yours, a few glasses of wine deep as the tea lights above the patio flickered on. “I haven’t heard it.”

“You certainly don’t need to,” you pointed at him with a lazy finger.

“Were you even alive then?” Tristan laughed.

“For NSYNC?” Harry pulled his head back, “course I was! My sister was obsessed with them.”

“Okay, well the story is literally stupid. Jeff thinks it’s funnier than it is and all that happened--”

“I want to tell him!” Jeff reached over and smacked you on the shoulder, pulling an eye roll from you when the others let out a laugh. “She asked Justin Timberlake to sign her boobs in front of our dads and it was ridiculously uncomfortable for everyone.”

“I was fourteen,” you defended, a smile pulling your lips towards the sky. “And stupid and in love with him and I didn’t think they could hear us.”

“Right,” Jeff waved you off as if everything you said was totally valid. “But the best part is when her dad then goes: ‘if you sign hers, you have to sign mine, too.’”

Zoey let out a snort of a laugh and so did the others, Harry tried to fight a smirk when he looked your way.

Jeff could barely keep a straight face, “Justin Timberlake never seemed so intimidated in his life.”

“I can’t believe I haven’t heard that story before,” Harry said to Jeff, elbows on the table now. “I can’t believe Irv hasn’t made a thousand jokes about it.”

You sipped at your drink and narrowed your eyes at Harry. “Maybe he also blocked it out due to being traumatized by the embarrassment.”

“What year was that?”

“Summer of 2000,” you looked to Jeff. “Their prime, obviously not mine.”

“Oh it was most certainly not your prime.” He shot back with a laugh,

You gave him a shove. “It wasn’t yours either! Your hair was curly and not in the cool JT way.”

“I’ve seen some of those pictures,” Harry pointed at his friend. “She’s right--not in a cool way.”

Jeff played it off and shot something back at Harry, ordered you another drink when you tugged on a jacket in the cooler air. The waiter brought out a cake with sparklers on top, Zoey took a thousand pictures and wrapped her arms around you at the end of the night.

“I have a feeling thirty-two will be a much better year,” she assured.

“Here’s hoping,” you agreed, pulled apart from her when Tristan leaned in to kiss you on the cheek.

“Well, you have a chauffeur for the night, so you’re off to a good start,” he teased.

Harry held up his keys in his hand and raised his eyebrows in a cheeky way. “Door to door service, a good price. Definitely off to a good start.”

You climbed back into the front seat of his car after Jeff shoved the balloons in the back, told you to keep them for the girls. The car ride was quiet, he told you about his album and kept the windows half way down as you snaked back up into the hills. You weren’t wasted by any means, just tipsy and tired and full after good food and better friends.

You keyed into the house with the balloons in hand, Harry was behind you and flicked on a light switch downstairs. You kicked your heels off inside and let the balloons float into the living room. “Want a glass of wine?”

He looked in your direction after clicking his phone shut, eyebrows raised as if he didn’t quite know how to answer. “Do you want a glass of wine?”

“I’d have one if you would,” you shrugged, already walking to the kitchen to grab some glasses.

He smiled, came to the island and ran a hand through his hair when you uncorked a new bottle of Pinot Noir. When you handed him a glass, he clinked it against yours and took a sip.

“Happy Birthday,” he said.

“Don’t remind me,” you laughed.

“Oh come on, s’not that bad.”

“You turn thirty-two and then tell me that.”

“I’ll keep you posted,” he nodded. “Dinner was good though.”

“As good as it can be when you get that group of weirdos together,” you admitted, stem of the glass between your fingers when you headed for the couch. He watched you walk away, paused for a moment before he followed suit and sat a few cushions down on the oatmeal colored sofa.

“S’kind of funny that we hadn’t met before Jeff set this up,” he motioned around the living room as if to gesture to the living arrangement. “I mean--obviously I’d heard a lot about you.”

“Like what?” You asked, narrowing your eyes at him as you sipped the wine again. “If not the most embarrassing story of my early teens--”

“Just that you were one of his closest friends. Probably heard just as much about you from Shelli and Irv, to be fair.”

“I think I’m their favorite child even though I’m not actually theirs.”

He laughed at that, lifted his glass as if to agree with you before he angled his body towards you. “What did Jeff ever say about me? Aside from making me sound homeless and pathetic.”

You shook your head a bit and tugged at the hem of your dress. “He didn’t make you sound like either of those.”

“Well you didn’t seem too eager to have me living here…”

He trailed off, like he was waiting for you to protest or something. When you fought a smile and looked up at him, he squinted suspiciously. “What?”

You hesitated, unsure if admitting it would do you any good. Things were starting to feel normal, almost like Harry had a place in your house or your life or like it at least wasn’t awkward to be sitting on the couch with him after a night out with friends.

“Oh it’s that bad? Hesitate before you tell me bad?”

You made a face and laughed, almost embarrassed. “I was mostly focused on the fact that you’re young and that you’d maybe be a bad influence on the girls. You know--the whole rock star vibe.”

He smiled, nodded after a second but then said: “do I pass the test?”

“There’s no test,” you rolled your eyes.

“Right,” he looked at you like you were crazy, a shit eating grin plastered on his face. “You expect me to believe that you didn’t make me meet you for coffee with Jeff that day to scope me out? Figure out if I was a total freak--”

You leaned back into the sofa and let out a playful groan. “I mean I was hoping you weren’t since Jeff always had such good things to say about you.”

He made you list them off, laughed at the fact that you thought you were too old or too uncool to come to the release for his first album. He poured you both another glass and smiled, hopefully you’ll come to the next one.

He showed you stupid videos from his time in his old band, listened to you talk about anxieties at work and how weird it felt to be in your dad’s house now.

“I mean, I’m glad we had a place to come.”

“Where’d you live before?”

“Woodland Hills,” you shrugged. “We bought a house there right after CeCe was born. It was nice, but too small and we obviously needed a change after I found him in bed with another woman in our bedroom there, so.”

Harry’s eyes went wide at that, he let out a laugh when you did, too. “Sounds miserable.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“And he’s not--does he see the girls ever?”

You bit your lip, moved your head from side to side and then sighed. “I mean--I asked if he could come to the funeral just to be with them and watch them since I was so busy, but he told me that he’d planned a weekend getaway with his new girlfriend in Malibu, so…”

“So he’s really a twat.”

You laughed at his word choice, British and confident when he nodded his head. “Yeah.”

“What’s his name again?”

“Luke.”

“Luke!” He scoffed and looked up the ceiling. “No wonder he was a twat.”

“Yep,” you nodded. “So it’s nice to be here.”

“I’m sorry that happened, by the way.”

You waved him off, finished the last of your wine and set the glass on the coffee table. “S’all good. Moving on to bigger and better things, right?”

“M’sure you can do better than someone who didn’t realize what a mistake he was making.”

You nodded slowly, dropped his gaze when you felt butterflies beneath your ribcage. You let out a breath, looked up to him. “I should probably head to bed.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, moved to stand from the couch and reached out for your wine glass. You handed it to him, ignored the way his fingers grazed against yours when he smiled. “Are you drunk?”

You hesitated to answer, followed behind him to the kitchen when he looked over his shoulder, waiting for your answer.

“Are you drunk?”

He pretended to be offended. “I asked you first!”

You lifted your shoulders and then giggled. “Yes, but in a good way.”

“Great, love that.”

“You have to answer, too!”

He turned around after he put the glasses in the sink. “After a bottle of wine here and a few margaritas at dinner? Of course I am,” he laughed. “Red wine goes straight to my head,” he pointed to his temple.

“Well,” you started to walk back to the living room for the stairs by your office, flipping off a few light switches along the way. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Yeah? You plan on getting me drunk again soon?”

“I didn’t get you drunk,” you pointed at him. “It’s my birthday dinner, remember?”

“Yeah--you’ve been throwing them back all night so I couldn’t forget.”

“From the guy who encouraged me to have fun tonight! I’ve been having a great time, totally relaxed, totally cool…”

“You have,” he laughed, his footsteps echoing on the stairs behind you. “Just like you were totally cool when you met NSYNC.”

“Hey,” you turned around quickly and laughed, a tad unsteady from the drinks and the time of night. “That is privileged and confidential information--not something you get to hold over my head!”

“Mmm, okay, so I can’t bring that up in front of Irv and Shelli?”

“Absolutely not,” you leaned against the door frame to your room. “Unless you want to never speak to me again.”

It was dark in the hallway, a glow from the lights on the first floor crept up the stairs when he held your gaze for a second.

“Wouldn’t want that,” he said, voice quieter now.

Your heart seemed to flutter, or maybe it was the alcohol or the fact that you were up way too late. “Mhm,” you paused, unsure of how to respond to the sudden shift in the air between you. “Then I suggest you forget that story.”

“Thanks for letting me come with you guys tonight.”

“Yeah,” you said, eyes down to the ground for a second, suddenly self conscious. Did he have a good time? Was it weird for him to come? “Thanks for driving.”

You didn’t have too long to dwell on the thoughts, though, because soon he stepped closer and let his mouth meet yours before you were able to bring a hand to his shirt, tugging him into you.

He pulled you closer, too, his hand on the small of your back before he pulled away. “Are you--is that--I should have asked first.”

“No,” you shook your head, the word sounded funny in your drunk brain. “I’m not mad about it.”

He let out a quiet laugh, kissed you again when you tugged him back into the room and shut the door with his free hand.

You stumbled backwards, laughed against his lips when he lowered you onto the bed. Greedy hands and desperate moans when he pulled away to tug down your panties. If your life had been a movie, there’d be a cut to the hands on a clock spinning while you giggled into his neck and felt your skin against his beneath the sheets.

But what felt like a dream could only last so long.

Your head shot up from the pillow when you heard it--the door opening and shutting, the beep throughout the house to let you know someone had arrived. Sun shone through the curtains and giggles floated up from the first floor, you heard Maeve tell CeCe something and then you heard footsteps on the stairs.

Morning, the night faded into sobriety and you rubbed your eyes. His face was barely visible beneath his messy hair and the sheet pulled up to his chin.

“Harry,” you shoved him, voice quiet but stern. “Wake up!”

He blinked a few times, squinted in the sunlight and you realized that an 8am wake up call might have been early for him, you know, since he was barely an adult.

“The girls are home,” you said when you shoved him again. “Which means Shelli is here, which means you need to get the hell out of my bed.”

His eyes opened wide at that, he pushed himself up and then scrambled out of the sheets when he heard footsteps in the hall. The door was locked, luckily, but the banging of little fists had you pushing Harry into your bathroom and telling him to not say a word.

He was sleepy, but his lips pulled into a smirk when he took one look at you half-dressed. There was no time for addressing the way his fingers pulled moans from your lips or the way he said he’d been waiting for this. No, because as soon as the thoughts of last night settled back into your brain, you tugged the door open to see your beautiful daughters smiling up at you.

“Good morning,” you said, voice cheery when you tugged a sweatshirt over your skimpy tank top. You forced a smile and Maeve seemed to narrow her eyes.

“You look messy.”

“I just haven’t brushed my hair,” you told her. CeCe pushed past you and ran straight for your bed, a cannonball of sorts into tangled sheets.

“We had the best time with Auntie Shelli and Uncle Irv!” She said, “we watched a movie last night mommy and I stayed up until ten o’clock.”

“You fell asleep on the couch,” Maeve corrected her. “I stayed up until almost eleven,” she bragged.

“That’s great,” you told them, heartbeat rising as you tried to search for a way out of this. “Girls, why don’t you go find Auntie Shelli and--”

“I’m right here, sorry, I hope they didn’t wake you,” she appeared in the doorway, pulling another forced smile from you when you turned on your heels. “Good morning,” she looked you up and down with a smirk, more perceptive than your daughters.

“Where’s Harry?” Maeve asked, crossing her arms as she relaxed back on top of your duvet.

“I don’t know,” you said quickly. “In his room.”

“Door’s open, he’s not there,” she answered.

“Maybe he went to stay at a friend’s house.”

“Oh--did he tell you that?”

“I don’t remember,” you said with a shrug of your shoulders, suddenly feeling put on trial by your ten-year-old.

Shelli had scanned the room, her eyes landing on the shoes by the foot of your bed that were clearly not yours. She smiled, nodded slowly and then said: “Girls, why don’t we go pick up donuts? We can bring some back for mom and she can take a shower and straighten up while we’re out?”

“Great idea,” you smiled, a hurried nod as you moved towards your daughters and ushered them out of your bed. “When you get back we can watch TV or go for a bike ride later today,” you were just throwing shit at the wall now, anything to get them out of your room and distracted enough to not realize that Harry’s shirt was on the floor beside his pants and that his bed hadn’t even been slept in.

“I want a jelly donut!” CeCe informed you when Shelli pushed them out into the hallway.

“Sounds great,” you smiled. “See you in a bit, okay?”

You mouthed a thank you to Shelli and she winked in your direction, a wave of nausea crashing into you once the door was shut. You rushed over to the bathroom door, pulled it open, and found Harry leaning against the wall with his head in his hands.

He looked up quickly at the sound, offered an awkward smile and said: “are you livid?”

You shook your head, unsure how to put your emotions into words but also aware of the fact that this was the exact reason why this should have never happened. You turned around and headed back for the bedroom, looked out the window near your closet to see Shelli helping the girls into the backseat.

“You’re not livid?”

“No,” you said, turning around quickly. “I just--I don’t know--that probably wasn’t a great idea.”

His face fell a little bit, arms crossed over his torso when he asked: “what do you mean?”

“Last night was fun, Harry, but I’m thirty-two. I’m a mom,” you said the word like it was embarrassing to admit.

He made a face like he didn’t get the point but then nodded. “I’m completely aware of both of those facts.”

“You’re twenty-four,” you reminded him. “That’s a seven year age difference.”

“Eight, now that your birthday passed,” he said this sheepishly, like he knew it would lead to another groan.

“Exactly!” You said. “That’s a big gap. I spend my weekends going to birthday parties and playdates. What do you even do? Go to clubs and hang out with millionaires?”

He let out a laugh. “I’ve been hanging out with your kids a lot on the weekends, to be honest.”

“Yeah, but, my kids almost just caught us in bed together and Jeff’s mom is definitely aware that something happened, now, so--”

“Shit.”

“Yeah.”

A moment passed when you heard the engine start.

“It was fun, though,” he said, a small step closer to you when you let out a sigh. “It was something I’d been hoping would happen.”

Your breath seemed to catch in your throat when he took another step closer, the pad of his thumb making contact with your arm when he went on. “Call me crazy but I feel like we both knew that was coming.”

You took a step back, not because he was wrong and not because you didn’t like it, but because suddenly every thought in your brain was spinning at 100 miles per hour and you knew you had about fifteen minutes to get dressed and figure out what the hell was going on. Or at least craft a story that would explain why his clothes were in your room and figure out a way to get Shelli to completely forget whatever she thought she saw.

“Can we maybe talk about it later? Like--when they’re not coming back here in a few minutes with donuts and coffee?”

“Yes,” he nodded, words fumbling out of his mouth like he’d forgotten how to form sentences. “Later. I’m going to get dressed.”

“Me too.”

He shut the door after he gathered up his clothes and shoes. You sat on the foot of the bed and stared at your hands--the ones that had touched him and run through his hair and traced circles on his chest when you fell asleep.

You were simultaneously mad at yourself for being stupid enough to do that and still completely enchanted by the fact that it happened and you weren’t dreaming and you hadn’t been crazy to think there was some level of sexual tension between you.

You were drunk. The first time you'd had more than two glasses of wine in a while, after all. Whatever type of stupid crush that had developed was nothing more than that: stupid, silly, a complete fantasy that had sparked into a flame once you had a few drinks.

Sure, maybe you had no clue what to do moving forward, but you figured that playing it cool was the only option until you’d had enough time to let your thoughts and feelings settle.

Maeve and CeCe were clueless, you learned, when they sat at the counter and scarfed down donuts. You sipped the coffee that Shelli had returned with and asked about their night.

A movie, popcorn on the couch, so many laughs and Uncle Irv even let them play on the old pinball machine he kept in his office.

The shower in Harry’s room shut off eventually, he descended the stairs with wet hair and offered a timid smile to everyone in the kitchen.

“Good morning,” he patted CeCe on the head and moved to fetch the cup of coffee that Shelli offered in his direction.

“I’ll take it the birthday dinner went well?” Shelli brought her coffee up to her lips and let her eyes dance between the two of you. Harry looked at you and you looked at him, a silent standoff to see who would respond.

But it was your birthday, you realized.

“Yeah,” you said quickly. “Was great.”

You reached for a bite of donut from CeCe’s plate, she let out a yelp when you plopped it in your mouth, offering her an apologetic look. “Good food, good drinks.”

“You enjoyed yourself too, Harry?”

He was caught off guard by this, lips in a thin line when he set his coffee on the counter and nodded. “It was wonderful, really.”

Shelli wouldn’t care--you weren’t worried what she would think or if she’d judge you. If anything, you knew she’d be the type to encourage you to let your hair down and venture out into the dating pool. Which is what she practically did last night. You just didn’t know if she’d actually meant to encourage you to sleep with the client of her son.

But she didn’t know the context! She didn’t know about the way he looked at you across the dinner table or the way he kept pouring wine. All she knew was that she told you to have fun and then she found you--quite disheveled--with Harry’s clothes on the floor and Harry himself nowhere to be found.

Maeve was off to her room soon enough, reporting that she needed a break from CeCe who was keen to play with a doll in the living room with the TV on. You wiped the counter with a sponge and Harry took a loud slurp of his coffee when Shelli broke out into a full smile.

“It’s none of my business,” she said.

“It’s not,” you looked up at her quickly.

“But,” she lifted a single shoulder and smirked when you rolled your eyes. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“It’s not a secret.”

“Then why was he hiding in the bathroom?” She lowered her voice so CeCe wouldn’t hear.

“How do you know I was in the bathroom?”

“He wasn’t hiding in the bathroom.”

Shelli offered an unimpressed look in your direction but then turned to Harry. “She’s a catch, Harry.”

“Okay,” you held up a hand, embarrassed and uncomfortable and already breaking a sweat. It was fun, you’d been thinking a lot about him and the way he acted with you and the kids and you didn’t need Shelli to be egging on your single-mom fantasy.

Harry blushed at that, a nod in her direction and a smirk on his face when he brought his eyes to you.

“Shelli--people get drunk and do things that sometimes they wouldn’t normally, right? So, I need you to not make a big deal out of this and not tell Jeffrey.”

She put her fingers up to her lips and twisted them, implying that they were locked and Jeff wouldn’t catch wind of your best and most anxiety-provoking hook up to date. She dropped it at that, Harry made some excuse about going for a run and soon Saturday melted back into what you’d hoped it would be: the kids playing outside, cannon balls in the pool after lunch.

Daylight faded and it wasn’t until after 9pm when you had to face him again. He knocked on the door to your office when you had glasses falling down your nose, a sweatshirt tugged over your messy bun.

The side of his mouth twitched into a smirk, arms folded over his chest. “Do you ever take a day off?”

You let out a laugh and turned to see him over your shoulder. “Email never sleeps.”

He watched you for a second, wheels spinning in his head as he planned out his next words carefully: “Is now a better time to discuss what happened last night?”

You let out a sigh, one that pulled a nervous look to his face, but he soon laughed. “Uh oh,” he teased. “Doesn’t sound like a good start.”

“No,” you laughed, unsure of how to save any last morsel of dignity. “I’m sorry that Shelli was so...intrusive this morning.”

He looked down to the ground but chuckled. “Can’t say I’m surprised. She’s always talked about you like a daughter.”

“Yeah, I just--I had a great time, I mean that--”

“But,” he looked at you expectantly, blinked a few times when you smacked your lips together.

“But I think that it needs to be a one time thing. It would be really confusing for CeCe and Maeve if they found out.”

He nodded, took a deep breath and said: “I agree. Yeah, that makes sense.”

Something plucked at your heart, an unidentifiable emotion that made you want to kiss him harder than you did after five drinks and a birthday dinner. He was fine--totally understanding and unbothered by your words that effectively ended whatever mini-fling had existed for less than 24 hours.

Maybe that was it--disappointment. Had you expected him to put up a fight and convince you endlessly to sleep with him again or sweep you off your feet and drive off into the sunset? No. Did a part of you wish that he didn’t seem so accepting of learning that it would never happen again? Apparently so.

You faltered for a second, stared at him awkwardly but then clicked out of your mailbox. “Do you want a glass of wine?”

He looked back out to the kitchen, quiet and tidy after it’s post-dinner clean. “Do you want a glass of wine?” He smiled a bit, watched you with a sturdy dose of suspicion when you stood and rolled your eyes.

“Is this our thing? Turning questions around?”

He laughed but trailed behind you, sat at the island when you picked out a bottle. “Our thing? What do you mean?”

“You know--all friends have a thing, their bantery joke. Apparently ours is asking a question but then the other person turns it back around.”

“Hmmm,” he laughed, thought on it for a second when you uncorked and poured. “Are we friends?”

You looked up at him, matched the smirk on his face when he plucked at his lower lip. You slid a glass over to him on the granite. “Are we not friends?”

“You’re doing our thing.”

You rolled your eyes playfully, took a sip of the Merlot and then cleared your throat. “We can be friends.”

“Friends who don’t sleep together.”

“Right,” you nodded, less self-conscious than you had been in your office. It happened, right? People would accidentally sleep together when they were drunk and they could move on, poke fun, make light of a situation that threatened to bring too many emotions to the surface if either one let their guard down for a second.

“Did either Maeve or CeCe ask any more questions today about where I was?”

“Nope,” you shook your head, let out a breath of relief. “Maeve got too distracted by the donuts and the activity planning of the day and CeCe was oblivious the whole time. So, we should be fine.”

“Good,” he said. A pause when he let out a quiet laugh.

“What?”

He looked up at you briefly, shrugged a little and then said: “Just can’t help but think about what Jeff would say.”

You blushed at that, dropped his gaze and stared at the wine in your glass. “I don’t know about you but I’m okay not finding out.”

Another dimple on his cheek when he asked: “embarrassed of me?”

“No,” you laughed, fighting a smile. “I just know how he can be. He’ll want to know every detail and he’ll have a million questions. If you think Shelli was bad this morning, Jeff would be worse.”

He smiled, tipped his glass back to take another pull. “Right, he might as well be your brother, I guess.”

“He’s just as annoying as one, that’s for sure." You were desperate to change the subject, fearful of what you might say or admit if the topic stayed put. "Do you have any siblings?”

“Sister, yeah,” he nodded. “Just the two of us.”

“Are you close?”

“Super,” he smiled. “We talk pretty regularly despite the time difference. Our parents got divorced when we were young so it kind of feels like we’ve been through a lot together.”

He didn’t realize the way his words hit close to home until you sighed.

“How much did that ruin your life?”

He pulled a face, apologetic and understanding at the same time. “It didn’t ruin my life,” he reassured. “Just don’t think they were meant to be.”

“Well I can definitely relate to that.”

He tilted his head to the side, swirled the wine around his glass. “Why do you ask if it ruined my life?”

“I just worry about them, I guess. I was young when they got divorced, and then my mom passed and that definitely affected my sense of family."

He nodded, his eyes invested when you spoke.

“It was just me and my dad--and obviously we had the Azoffs, but, I don’t know. I guess I just worry that they’ll also grow up feeling somewhat unfulfilled.”

“Did you want a sibling growing up?”

“More than anything,” you laughed. “I mean, I had Alison and Jeff and all of them, but--you know, it’s not blood.”

“Yeah,” he took another sip. “I get that--my step dad was really important to me, passed away last summer.”

“Oh, wow--I’m sorry, I had no idea.”

Great--here you were complaining about losing both parents now, completely unaware that Harry had suffered a similar loss and yet this was the first time you were hearing it.

“I don’t mean to talk about myself so much,” you said quickly, cheeks flushed in a pink hue of shame.

He let out a soft laugh, almost as if he found your sudden retraction endearing or adorable. “I could listen all day.”

“Well, I wouldn’t make you suffer through that,” you said.

He stood, rounded the edge of the island and you wondered if he could hear your heart beating out of your chest, like you were 16 at a summer fair on top of the ferris wheel. His lips were pressed to yours before you could tell him not to, before you could stick up a hand between the two of you and remind him what you’d said only a few minutes earlier: friends.

The moment was quick, though, the tiny thudding of feet on the stairs sent him flying to the other side of the kitchen. CeCe’s hands gripped the railing and she rubbed at her eyes when she let out a tiny wail.

“I--had--a--bad--dream,” she cried, her voice soft in the dim kitchen.

“Oh sweetie,” you hurried over to her, let your arms wrap around her before you scooped her up into your arms. “It’s okay, it was just a dream, you’re here and safe with mommy.”

You looked over to him, a close lipped smile in apology when you turned back to the stairs. Maybe it was for the best. If you couldn’t control yourself around him, at least you could count on nightmares and little feet to be your safety net.

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