#i need to do the coffee date scene now to recover from this mess

[theotherbuckley]

bucktommy thoughts 4 (1,2,3)

[adorethedistance]

READING MY BOYFRIEND’S FANFICTION?? - Owen Joyner x Influencer!Reader

JATP masterlist

Requested: OMGGG!! Could you do a an Owen fic based around his girlfriend being an armature youtuber/social media influencer (shes also an actress and they met on set and have been dating for a while) and it’s “reading/reacting to my boyfriend’s fanfiction” ? You can do whatever you want with the fanfic part it’s just a concept that has been running around in my head for a while. LOVE ALL YOUR WORK!!

Warnings: swearing, allusions to sex, very mild

Words: 1460

A/N: A fic?? From Ace?? Hi. I’m off spring break officially and so my stress has dissipated immensely. School was becoming so much these last two weeks and I thought I’d be stressed or worried, but I’m actually fine? It’s weird lol so I decided I could be productive with my stress-free moment and post a little fic for y’all. I love this prompt, and before any of you writers panic, I’m using my own fics for the fanfictions because I wouldn’t want to put y’all on the spot like that. Also this is my 3000 post! thought that was cool lol

“Do you wanna do the intro?”

“I think I have to do the intro.”

“Okay, go for it.”

“Alright,” Owen sighs out a heavy breath in exaggerated preparation for my (some would say lengthy) intro. “Hello, hi. Yes, okay, this is Y/n Y/l/n vlogs, welcome or welcome back to my channel!” Once Owen finishes his statement I’m so stunned I can’t generate any sort of response other than a slacked jaw semi smile.

“That was not even close. Do you know my intro?”

“I got the first part right!”

“You’ve lost intro privileges,” I turn back to the mess of lights and tripods in front of me and ignore the disaster of an intro Owen offered. “Oh, hello, hi! I am Y/n and this is: Reading My Boyfriend’s Fanfiction!”

“That’s basically what I did.”

“No, it is not! It’s ‘oh, hello, hi. I am ‘name’ and this is: ‘title of video’.”

“You don’t ‘welcome to my channel’?” Owen’s voice has dropped to a hushed volume as he genuinely inquires about the segments of my usual introduction.

“I do not.”

“Don’t use any of this,” he pleads when making direct eye contact with the camera. “Mister Sid. Editing Sid, please don’t embarrass me.” His pleas fall on deaf ears, knowing that I’ll be using the footage in full.

“Anyways. Butchered intro aside, I am Y/n and today I am here with my lovely “So Many Stars” costar and scene partner, Owen Joyner!”

“I’m also your boyfriend.”

“That too,” I give Owen’s pointed comment a soft place to land, “So, yesterday--it was actually like, two weeks ago, I don’t know why I said yesterday--a little while back, I came across a tweet telling me someone had written a fanfic about us-”

“Did you read it?”

“On Wattpad. Of course, I read it. There are only three chapters up right now and they’re all in the 2-3k range so it was a quick read.”

“2-3k?”

“Words,” I reply nonchalantly as I unlock my phone. I bookmarked a few one-shots beforehand for us to read, and I’m slightly cocky about my selections. Owen then responds with an outburst of shock.

“2-3 thousand words is a short read?” I merely give him a blank stare.

“Judging by that reaction, Owen hasn’t read any fanfics in his life.”

“Is that not long to you- That’s what she said.” Owen cuts me off with his own stupid joke and I briefly sigh before answering.

“No, that isn’t long. Baby, I’m here for that 130k slow burn enemies to lovers on AO3 with the ‘only one bed’ and ‘locked in a closet’ tropes.”

“The what?”

“Oh, we have so much to catch you up on.”

__________________________

“So I saved three fics, an angst, a fluff, and a smut. Which do you want to read?”

“Wait, what does that mean?”

“Oh my- okay. Angst is the sad shit, it’s what you read when you need your heartbroken and a good cry. Smut is pretty much in the name, it’s explicit content that will undoubtedly get this video demonetized, but that’s okay because we do have a sponsor. And fluff is the cute moments, domestic and sometimes mundane romance that makes you smile like an idiot and put the device down to screech into a pillow.” Throughout my whole explanation, I can tell Owen was becoming more and more lost, so I opt to give him a few moments to collect his thoughts.

“Let’s start with the fluff just to ease into things.”

“Smart choice. This fic I have saved is called ‘Baby Fever’ and the summary says ‘you and Owen spend a day at the zoo babysitting Baby Shada, and her presence sparks conversation about adding a new presence of your very own’.”

“That sounds so ominous.”

“Here, I’ll read the narration and reader’s POV, and then you’ll read your own dialogue.” Owen nods and leans over my right shoulder to read off of my computer screen.

“You actually start the fic.”

“‘You ready, little one?’” The instantaneous actor mode Owen slips into has me howling with laughter at which he looks at me confused. My gasping for air makes Owen laugh empathetically despite still being unsure as to what’s killing me at the moment.

“Why are you laughing?!” He yells, dramatically shaking my shoulder.

“Just the way you jumped into that, I wasn’t prepared for you to turn on the acting charm. Okay, uhhhh, ‘I bite back a laugh when I hear Owen’s voice coo from the back seat’.”

The two of us go back and forth between reading the narrative, bouts of laughter, commentary on the accuracy of Owen’s character, and we finally manage to finish the 2.5k fic in about forty minutes.

“‘When he looks up from CJ’s tiny body and recognizes the familiar ‘baby fever’ look in my eyes, he smiles and utters a simple-’.”

“‘I told you so.’”

“That was cute! I like the tie-in of having us watching over Baby Shada- or, sorry, you and ‘y/n’ watching over Baby Shada.”

“They wrote me kinda funny, I don’t think I’d ever fabricate a life to make conversation with a stranger due to baby fever.” My jaw drops slightly and before Owen can respond to my reaction, I cry,

“That is such a lie!”

“What?”

“You absolutely would do something like that, are you kidding me?!”

“No, I would not!” Owen punctuates every word with the utmost offense. He has the same look in his eye as when he was proving himself to be the cleanest phantom of the three on the Sunset Drive podcast.

“You literally told the guy at Home Depot yesterday that we were buying plants for our child’s nursery!”

“Okay, that’s different-”

“How is that different? That’s the exact same thing as fanfic you!” Owen’s furrowed brow and dropped jaw are a sight to be seen as he leans away from me, bending at the waist to stare at me with defiance. I raise my eyebrows pointedly as I await a response. Instead of actually producing a response, Owen lunges forward, grabbing my waist in his hands and squeezing gently. The feeling makes me screech and gasp of laughter from surprise and also being ticklish.

“Owen! Owe-STOP, I’m gonna drop my laptop!” I manage to say through my laughter and with one final grab, he releases me from his hold. It takes a minute for my laughter to settle but once I do, the two of us are simply breathing heavy and staring at one another with giddy smiles on our faces. In a moment’s clarity, I turn to look into the camera lens to talk directly to my editor,

“Sid, don’t use any of this. And please don’t cut to this after we finish reading to make it look like- things were happening.”

“Actually, I think you should, Sid. Just cut to right there and make the world think we-”

“OKAY, thanks for watching, bye!” I quickly stop the recording before Owen says something we’re unable to recover from. I hear him laugh gently behind me as I set my laptop down on the coffee table behind the tripod. Coming back to the couch, I move to plop down but before landing successfully on the cushion next to my phone, Owen grabs my body and moves me to sit on top of him.

“You are crazy, you know that?”

“Hmm. Crazy for you, maybe.” His cheesy line makes me scoff but smile nonetheless. I reach my right hand up to caress the side of his face as we sit cheek to cheek.

“Remind me to never film with you again.” The gesture is sweet and the sentiment is not which makes Owen laugh and he presses a soft kiss to my cheek. I lean back into him so my back is pressed flush with his chest as he lazily wraps both arms around me.

“You say that now but you’ll regret it when you wanna do a ‘boyfriend does my makeup’ challenge video.”

“Nah. I’ll just call Charlie to-” Without allowing me to finish my sentence, Owen is digging his fingertips back into the tissue of my sides and I squeal with laughter once more. This time the torment is short-lived and Owen releases me after a sweet, reconciling kiss. “Do you have baby fever now?”

“It was cute and all, but not really, no.”

“That’s too bad,” I stand up from my spot on his lap to grab my computer and hold it to my chest, “I was gonna say we could practice some baby-making.”

And with that, I turned on the balls of my feet, heading for my bedroom when I heard Owen stand up eagerly, quick to follow.

***

Taglist: @caitsymichelle13​ @kaitlyn2907​ @itz-jas​ @crybabyddl​ @kcd15​ @kinda-really-lost​ @calamitykaty​ @morganayennefertyrell@n0wornever​ @dream-a-little-bigger-x​ @mrstodorooki@vicesvsvirturesfanfic @curlybrownhairedboys​ @amazinggracy​ @kaitieskidmore1​ @asdfghjkl-fanfics​ @ghostlygreenbean​ @juliefromaustralia @merceret​ @jemimah-b99​ @ifilwtmfc​ @thesweetestsinner​ @imsydneywalker​ @lovesanimals​ @thebloodthirstyvampress​ @bumbleberry-pie​ @losers-club6​ @tefilovesreading​ @dmcfarland1​@joynerxmercer @kexrtiz​ @talk-on-the-street​ @phantompogues​ @konciousdreamer​ @sunsetcurvej​ @warmnesss0ul​

[stcveskent]

with you ; steve rogers

warnings: fluff + swearing, mentions of panic attack and some old memories of harrasments (touches)

Pairings: steve rogers x reader

request on wattpad <3

----------

"Good morning!" Your favorite voice spoke and you turned to greet it with a huge smile on your face. It was Steve's voice.

"Good Morning Steve, how are you?" you asked as he wraps you in a warm hug which you wanted it to last forever.

"i'm great by the way, and you look gorgeous by the way!" He says and you blush, and he smiles back at you, you and him are way too stubborn to accept the fact that both of you are in love with each other.

"and you look good too, like always." You said and now it was his time to blush, you chuckled and he laughed hugging you again.

"and if you both don't kiss then i'm gonna die!!!" Tony annoyingly says looking at both of you, which results in you both pulling away and looking at him.

"what're you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be at work, when i asked you for the run?" Steve asked and Tony looks like he's been caught, which he was.

"I'll be back you two, i have some work with Nat, and Steve make sure to give a good lecture to Tony for lying!" You said and he chuckled while Tony rolled his eyes.

"Oh that i will!" He says and you smile at him, as you walk upstairs to the office where Nat called you.

You walked in and looked at Nat, who was annoyed with all the paperwork in front of her, and by that look, you knew she needed coffee, so that's what you did, brought coffee for both of you.

"Good Morning!" You said and she rolled her eyes.

"Bad Morning, Y/n, i hate this!" She said and you handed her the coffee.

"not anymore." You said and she nods

"Right, cuz you got coffee, finally!" She says and you nod. You both get to work for hours, until Steve called you on your phone.

"Sorry, i have to take this, its Steve." You said and she shoots a smirk to you, and you playfully roll your eyes.

"Hey!"

"Hey Y/n, what're you doing?"

"I was just working with Nat, and what about you?"

"Well, i am waiting for you to say Yes, so we both could go and have lunch together, and that would be tacos." He said and you smile

"Alright, we'll have lunch together."

"Come downstairs now! Its your lunch time!" He said and you smiled at how much he took care of you. You when got into work, keep forgetting to eat but he's there for you to always remind you.

"Alright, i'm coming." You said and end the conversation.

"so steve hmm?" Nat says and you roll your eyes.

"We're just friends, Nat." You said and she scoffs

"Oh sure, i'm gonna take that, you blush when you talk to him, Y/n you're so in love!!." Sarcasm evident in that reply.

"Fine i do love him,But he doesn't!" You confessed and looked down.

"we'll talk about that later, y/n, your date is waiting!" She joked

"He's not my date and Alright, see you after lunch." You said and walkwd downstairs.

Just right then, Tony calls Nat.

"What do you want?" Nat answers the call and Tony laughs.

"Y/n and Steve really need to get together, it's important!!"

"Yes okay, and what do you want me to do?"

"I'm throwing a party, push them onto eachother!!"

"I think i can do better than pushing them."

"I know, just do whatever to get them, together!!"

"Okay Tony, see you then."

———

"Hey dan." You picked up the call infront of Steve, and he looked at you with a confused look.

"Hey Y/n, how are you?"

"I'm great, so where have you been, its been so long." You said, a smile over your face as you talked to your old friend.

"everything's fine, i am in New York for a few days, thought of seeing you, but you seem to be busy.."

"Oh no, we can meet, i'll tell you when i'm free."

"Right, fine!" He said as you end the conversation.

"Who was it?" Steve asked , while he eats , and you look up to him, a small smile, he never asks who it was when you got a call from anyone.

"what?" He asked and you shook your head.

"Its Daniel, my old friend, you haven't met him."

"I guess so. What did he want?"

"Wants to see me..oh wait, Tony just sent a text." You said as you looked at your phone and he looks at yours.

"Me too!" He reads the text as you do, Tony's throwing a party, he groans and smirks

"oh gosh, he's doing it again!" He says

"Well, seems like he just wants to spend some time being happy, he deserves it though." You said and he nods.

"Right!" He says and you both continue with lunch. An idea popped up, you knew you couldn't see Daniel, in between few days, so you decided to take him to Tony's party with you, and you texted him the address to which he agreed.

-----

finally the day comes, when you see Daniel, after four years, he looks kinda different, but happy.

"Hey!" You said and he hugs you.

"You look so gorgeous!" He compliments you and you blush, your dress was a beautiful, emerald green, satin dress.

"Thank you, and you look great too!" You said and he nods as both of you walked to Tony's Party, Talking about old times when you guys met him, and he tells you how he feels living in Italy, now.

You walk in with him, no one noticed it until you saw Nat.

"Hey" Nat comes in and hugs you and hug her back.

"You look so good today, damn!"

"Thank you so much! You look so pretty too, babe!" You said and she smiled, her eyes, are on Daniel, and back on you, as a question of who's this?

"Oh! Sorry! This is Daniel, my old friend, and Daniel, this is Natasha, my very good and best friend." You introduce them and they shake hands ofcourse.

"Nice to meet you! Steve was waiting for you..thought you might want to see him." she said

"Yes, ofcourse i'll see him in a while." You said and she nods, going next to Tony and whispered him what she just witnessed, and you were in your conversation with Daniel back again.

"We should drink." He says and you nod, before you two go get Drinks, and Steve noticed you, a feeling of jealousy taking over him, and then he looks at you, that smile, that beauty. You're always beautiful to him, but today you look extra beautiful and happy, with someone else. He clenched his jaw, and his friends sitting next to him, Bucky, Sam and Sharon, giggling over his reaction

"Oh damn! Did i just witness Steve Rogers, who is seeing the love of his life with someone else and is jealous ?" Sharon laughs and he shoot her a glare.

"seriously, I don't know how are you my friends, i could do so much better!" He said and they laughed.

"They're just friends, bud." Bucky reassures.

"Yea sure, look at him, he's being so weird with Y/n." Sam says and Steve looks at him.

"What? Y/n never wears shit like that, but with him..cap, I think you should go get her." Sam says.

"Guys chill!!! but steve go get her." Sharon says and he nods, and then he sees how touchy Daniel has become.

"Guys, give me a minute!" He says and leaves towards you.

"Daniel, i-you should leave." You said as he keeps a hand on your waist.

"What if I don't want to leave." He says coming closer, and you push him away, and Steve came towards you.

"Stop it y/n! You know i love you alot, just come here once.." he said

"Stay away! I don't like you at all! Do not touch me without my permission!" You said and he scoffs

"Do you remember prom...when you let him touch you, but not me—"

"Sto-stop!!!" You said and Steve came and looked at you, your eyes filled with tears.. and then takes his way with him.

"Hey! You better walk off, or i have to do it my way!"

"And what is your way?" He asks as Steve pushes him.

"You try to come near her one more time, you'll

Be going home on a wheelchair!"

"And who are you? Is she your whore?" Just then you ran away, and cried while Steve tried to stop you, but Daniel punched him which he stops and kicks him in the stomach, just there he falls on the ground.

"Bucky! Sam! Sharon, take your way with him, I need to go to Y/n." He says and they follow him, and he runs upstairs to you.

You in your room, cries remembering that one day, where your anxiety started.

"Y/n.." his soft voice calls you.

"Steve." You reply and he comes in, and looks at you, your eyes messed with some mascara. He comes and sits next to you, and you wipe your tears.

"hey, look at me.." he says and you look at him, still crying, and he kisses your forehead, a feeling of comfort radiates from him. Your eyes closed as you feel his warmth, which is trying to calm you down.

"shh, don't cry, you wanna tell me what happened?" He says and you nod, and he comes closer to you, and holds your hand, and you look away.

"The same thing happened on Prom , the school's popular kid showed interest in me and tried to touch me, but I pushed him away, t-they all made my fun for not liking it, I spent years recovering from it, and when i could live a normal life, it happened again." You said and burst into tears and Steve hugs you and you bury your head in his shoulder.

"Shh, Y/n, i know, i can understand, i'm so sorry honey, i'm here, I'll protect you I promise." He says and you keep hugging him, and he presses small kisses on your head.

"god! i'm so sorry, that i always bring you up in my matters, i should stop, and let you have some fun." You say pulling away.

"No y/n, i'll always choose to be next to you, I don't like anything, if there isn't you." He says, cupping your face, and you smile, after a long time that night.

"Just never lose this." He says , slightly running his fingers over your lips, which are curled in a smile.

"How about you go take a shower till i set series you might want to watch?"

"Friends?" You asked and he nods with a huge grin.

"alright! I'll be back in 5 minutes."

"Alright! Go relax." He said and you walked to your bathroom. You took a shower, relaxing yourself, but you were already relaxed because Steve made you feel so good.

After a good 5 minutes, you get changed into a baggy shirt along with some leggings.

"You are very punctual." Steve says and you smile, slowly slowly, you two get comfortable on the same couch , you laying on top of him as he strokes your hair.

The scene where Monica tries to propose Chandler is on screen, while you silently watch, a smile over both of your faces.

"You know, they're my favorite!!" You said

"I know, they're mine too!" He says, as you meet his eyes, a small smile over both of your faces.

You cup his face, and he pressed a kiss on your palm, but something told you to go for it, and then you did. You pressed your lips on his.

He was shocked at first, but immediately kissed you back, slowly and softly, and you both felt the sparks, after pulling away you and him pant slowly , and you both of you giggled softly.

"You didn't know i wanted this for so long!" He said, holding you in his arms , and kissing your head

"Me too, i-i love you." You replied and in that moment you saw him so happy, that he kissed you again, and with so much love, you couldn't describe how it felt.

"I love you too!" He said smiling, and just then, you heard bucky, along with Sam and Sharon.

"Hey Steve! That dick is out! How's Y/n?" He asked and he held you in his arms as you answered the question.

"Y/n's fine, now when she got Steve." You said and he pressed a kiss on your forehead.

squeels of excitement were heard, as soon as you said that, from them.

"Does that mean you two are together?! Oh my fucking good! Tony's gonna die!! Let's go guys, its time to spread the news!!" You heard bucky say that and both of you laughed at how much excited they were for you.

Now that you got Steve, by yourside, everything seems so good, you knew that every step which would be hard to take, he'd hold you hand through that, and you would do the same for him. You both got each other, which was all that mattered at the end.

--------

Hope this was good

please send in yo requests , i love to write them ❤️

[c-is-writing]

sticky notes

pairing: wandanat x gn!reader

genre: fluff as per usual

word count: 1588

warnings: polyamory (reader’s girlfriends are wanda and natasha)

a/n: ahhhhh my first request :’DDD i’ve actually had this sitting in my drafts for a while but never decided on the pairing until now lmao. also! for once i am posting this at a decent hour for me. i hope you all enjoy it uwu

original request

Ughhhh, I can’t wait to go home in a few minutes. I really want a break just to spend some time with my girlfriends. You begin to clean up your work area, tidying your papers and organizing your filing cabinets. Just as you grab your bag, a co-worker of yours rushes into your office frantically. 

“Y/N! I need you right now.”

“Huh? Why? What’s up?”

“I just got called into a family emergency and I really need someone to finish my paperwork. Do you think you can do it for me?”

You pause, thinking it over. Do you do your friend’s paperwork or refuse and go home? You’d feel bad if you said no because your co-worker is one of your closest friends but you don’t want to keep your girlfriends waiting. After considering your options, you sigh and place your bag back down, “Yeah, I can do the paperwork. Take care, I hope everything is alright”. She lets out a sigh of relief and thanks you as she hands you the paperwork. Looking it over, it seemed like it would take at least two hours to complete. Oh well, looks like my break will be delayed.

You were wrong about the paperwork. There were so many issues and miscalculations with the paperwork that you had to redo all of it and go search for past files to ensure the information was correct. At this point, your girlfriends were getting worried as you were never the one to come home late without telling them. Three hours had passed since you were originally supposed to get home and out of worry and concern, Wanda calls you.

Breaking your concentration, your phone goes off. As you reach for the phone, you rub the tiredness out of your eyes and answer in a quiet voice, “Hey, Wans.”

“Y/N, baby, is everything okay?”

“Hm? Oh yeah, I should’ve texted you two earlier but my co-worker just had to leave for an emergency and I’m doing her paperwork, right now.”

“Oh, how much longer will you be there? You sound really tired, you’ve been working hard for the past month and you deserve a break.”

“Honestly, I’m not sure. I’ve been redoing the calculations and double-checking the information again because there were so many issues with it. I just ca-”

“Okay..okay. Just take a deep breath and try to finish up the work soon, alright? Tasha and I miss you.”

You let out a light chuckle, “Mhmm, okay. I’ll try to be home soon. Love you.”

As Wanda bids her goodbye, you can hear Natasha’s faint voice in the background telling you to come home soon and that she loves you. Pressing the red button on your phone, you let your shoulders sag forward and rest your head on the table. Before grabbing your pen and going back to work, you groan and think about your girlfriends, both of them waiting for you to get home. That gives you a spark of motivation as now you are more determined to finish your work and get back to them as soon as possible.

Finally, after another two hours of work, you finished the paperwork. Letting out a yawn and listening to the pops from your back as you stretch it, you decide to grab your bag and leave. I’ll give her the paperwork and reorganize my office later. Heading to your car, you check the time on your watch, only for it to read “12:10am”. Once you get into the car, you lean your head against the steering wheel, wanting to go to sleep. You turn on some music in the hopes that it can keep you awake as you start the car and begin the journey home.

Upon arriving at the compound, you notice that most of the lights on your floor are turned off and your girlfriends are nowhere to be found. You assume that they’re probably in your shared bedroom, fast asleep considering how late it is. As you open the door, you find nothing; your girlfriends are still missing and there’s clothing on the bed. Turning on the lights, you make your way to the pile of clothing with a sticky note attached to it. “We’re sure you’re tired so change into these clothes and get comfy. Then, go to the place where we spend our late nights ;)” A small laugh escapes you as you think about how caring your girlfriends are. Within the next few minutes, you’re out of your work clothes and wearing Natasha’s hoodie paired up with Wanda’s sweatshirt. Both articles of clothing slightly baggy on you because they were always the type to have oversized clothes since “it provided maximum comfort” according to them. The stress slowly leaves your body as you make your way to the kitchen.

The overhead lights turn on and illuminate the kitchen to reveal a mess that resulted from impulsive baking, again, and a tray of brownies with another sticky note. Giggling to yourself, you think about all of the times the three of you shared late night baking sessions that always resulted in big messes and a lot of dirty dishes. Lost in your thoughts, you realize that you haven’t been able to bake with Wanda and Natasha due to all of the stress and work you’ve had for the past month. Shaking away those thoughts, you eye the brownies and pick up the sticky note reading, “Hey Y/N, you’re as sweet as these brownies <3. Bring a small container of them and go to the place where we had our first date.” Upon further inspection, you see a small scribble in Wanda’s handwriting, “PS. I made the brownies, don’t worry.” Laughing at the note and smiling fondly, you grab a couple brownies, put them into a container, and make your way to the living room.

Running your hand along the couch cushions, feeling the soft but slightly coarse texture on your fingertip, you remember your first date with Wanda and Natasha. What started out as a movie night with Natasha became a cuddling session with you sandwiched between your two favorite girls as Wanda joined you two. At this time, you were quickly coming to the realization that you had a crush on both of the women and that movie night solidified it. Once the movie had finished, the three of you had a talk and wanted to pursue a relationship together as three. Sitting on the couch, reminiscing in the memories, you notice a small yellow square on the coffee table in front of you. It captures your attention as you sit upright and reach to grab it. Tracing the words with your fingers, smiling at the small conversation happening on the paper.

*Wanda’s handwriting* “You know I always gave the best cuddles” 

*Natasha’s handwriting* “Hey! No, I did!!” 

*Wanda’s handwriting* “Hmm surrree Tasha. Anyways, come up to the roof, we have something for you :)”

Feeling your heart soar with happiness and adoration for the both of them, you push the sticky note into your hoodie pocket, hearing it crinkle against the other notes, and starting walking towards the staircase with the container of brownies in hand.

Within a few minutes, you reach the door to the roof and place your hand on the handle, unsure of what to expect. Taking a deep breath, you slowly push against the door and crane your head around it. This was not at all what you expected. The roof was softly illuminated by the string lights draped around a large picnic blanket with pillows, pasta, and best of all, your two lovely girlfriends: Natasha and Wanda. As you soak in the scene in front of you with eyes full of awe, Natasha gets up and quietly makes her way over to you. The red hair blocks your view as you feel Natasha’s hands grasp your shoulders. In a gentle voice, almost afraid to disturb the peacefulness, she tells you, “Hey, lyubov moya, we know you’ve been working hard and pulling late hours at the office for the past month. And I’m sure you were tired from having to stay late so Wanda and I wanted to prepare a relaxing evening for you, so you can destress and enjoy your long weekend.”

You look at her with watery eyes and bury your face into her shoulder, pulling her into a hug. Shocked by the sudden action, Natasha recovers and wraps her arms around you, gently stroking your hair as you mumble about how much you love them. At some point during the hug, Wanda joins in as you feel her chest pressing against your back. The two whisper words of praise as you take in the love that radiates from them. Freeing yourself from the sandwich and moving to hold their hands, you look at the both of them, overwhelmed with happiness and love, and say in a quiet voice, “Thank you both for doing all of this. I will never understand how lucky I am to have you two in my life. I love you, Wanda and Natasha.” They give you a fond smile, understanding how stressed you’ve been for the past month and knowing that this break was well deserved. Your girlfriends share a look as Natasha says, “Alright, let’s just cuddle and eat some pasta that Wanda cooked” and guide you to the picnic blanket. Settling in and sighing contently, you let your shoulders relax and forget about all of your stress and worries.

tag list (marvel): @imnotasuperhero​ @peggycarter-steverogers​

[hobidreams]

The Early Shift | Last Cup {M}

the last sip of coffee is always the most bittersweet.

pairing: barista!yoongi x reader genre: smut, angst, sprinkling of fluff words: 9.5k contains: coffee shop au, enemies to lovers, jealous/awkward yoongi, condomless sex, softness (ish), dirty talk, spanking, oral (f), hair pulling, the truth index: first sip - second taste - last cup

“H-Hyung?” The word is foreign on your tongue as you swivel, catch sight of Yoongi’s face. He’s gone ashen, stony as he barrels towards you two, abandoning the inventory checklist with a clatter onto the counter.

Yoongi’s hands dig into your wrist as he forces you behind him, taking your place instead right in front of Jiwon’s still smiling face. Except the grin is now somewhat plastered in place on his handsome lips. “Jiwon.”  Yoongi drops the familiar term, his eyes more combative than you’ve ever seen them. Combative, yet not with the fires of passion he usually turns on you. Instead, a chill so cold, so empty you hardly recognize it.

“Ahhh...” Jiwon exhales, covering his mouth with a broad palm, scratching the skin just beneath his lips with a groomed fingernail. “It’s been a while… I’m still your hyung, you know.”

“Bullshit.” Yoongi whips the word at him, but Jiwon doesn’t back away.

“I thought you hated the night shift.”

Yoongi scoffs. “Is that why you’re here then? To ruin something else for me behind my back?”

The tension is so weighty it settles in the pit of your stomach as you look from man to man, neither one offering any explanation. Deadlocked in a standoff of stares or glares depending on the man. Their only weapons are their words, which could cut just as deeply as any blade.

This isn’t good. Especially because there’s still a customer left in the store.

So you throw yourself into the fray. “Yoongi, what’s wrong?” You ask in what you hope is a calm voice. “How do you know Jiwon?”

The second Jiwon’s name comes out of your mouth, Yoongi jerks towards you. “I don’t. Nothing’s happening. He’s just leaving.”

“Yoongi, you can’t just kick out a customer.” You feel bad – Jiwon is starting to look like a kicked puppy with his lips drawn down, somber.

“Can and will.”

“Yoongi…” Jiwon clenches his coffee. “Listen—”

He’s cut off when a blare of familiar song whips through the café. “I KNOW, we don’t talk together!” Volume turned up to the max, the music reverberates off the walls themselves.

“Sorry!” The only customer squeaks, the ringtone obviously hers as she answers the call. “Hello?” She hurries out the door, leaving awkward silence in her wake.

You didn’t think it was possible, but Yoongi’s scowl deepens further. It just had to be this song, the damn reminder of what he’s lost. The lines carved into his face are so hardened and painful you wish you could offer relief. Instead, you swallow that look and all its implications. Then something clicks in your brain.

“Wait, Yoongi...” You gesture to Jiwon, hands slightly shaking, “is he…”

Yoongi grunts, irritated that he can’t hide it any longer. “It’s your lucky day. Meet DJ Alex.” His voice is deadpan. “Or should I say, Do Jiwon.”

“Do… Jiwon.” You repeat in a whisper. “DJ.”

“Yup.”

Another silence, but this time it covers you in its heavy grasp. This Jiwon. This charming, handsome Jiwon that you almost asked out, imagined yourself possibly dating. This Jiwon that’s actually nothing but a thief.

Said man rakes a hand through his dark hair. “Yoongi, let me explain myself, please.”

With another scoff, Yoongi breaks the stare-off. He turns. His eyes find yours of all things and he just exhales as if it’s all too much. “Jiwon. Just… Just go.” He steps away from the counter, tensed fingers finding your wrist. He means to drag you both into the backroom. Running away from this mess like he always has.

But you’re not done yet.

Your mind is exploding with questions, with emotions bolstered by the absolute fatigue in Yoongi’s eyes. Why isn’t he defending himself? He so eagerly goes head to head with you but here? Here is where he loses his nerve? He’s just going to let Jiwon get away with it all without so much as a scolding? When Jiwon took his best chance away from him and his inspiration with it?

No. No damn way are you going to stand there and take that.

You jerk your hand free. Before Yoongi can grab you again, you storm back to the counter. “What the fuck, Jiwon?”

Some carnal part of you relishes the shock in Jiwon’s eyes when your voice whips at him, respectful honorifics dropped.

“What the actual fuck? You just come back here just to offer excuses about what you did?” Your finger jabs at the air over his chest. “If you want to call yourself his hyung, then you should make yourself fucking deserving of that name!” Your volume raises with every word you sucker punch at him. “But no, instead, you betrayed him! Just abandoned him!”

Jiwon’s mouth flaps but nothing comes out.

“How dare you come back into his life and remind him of all that? Of the shitty thing you did and are still enjoying now?” You’re on a roll, apparently. You didn’t even know you had it in you to defend Yoongi so vehemently when you usually spend your time doing the exact opposite. But the resignation in the way he bites his lip scrapes at your heart.

“Yoongi trusted you. You were his partner!” Jiwon shrivels with every syllable. “The only thing worse than a coward, which you are for dodging him, is a goddamn liar.”

You’re left slightly breathless at the end of your tirade, tense hands splayed across the bar You glare at Jiwon, but he refuses to meet your expression, your anger. Instead, he burns a hole in the counter for half a minute before he dares to looks up. Then his eyes flicker to Yoongi. You stiffen, ready for an explosion.

“…You’re right.” When Jiwon finally speaks, his voice has lost all flirtatious flair. It sounds small, pathetic. “I did a shitty thing. A shitty, selfish thing.”

What an ass—

Wait.

Wait, what?

“Y-Yeah!” You can’t quite hold on to the full amount of anger in your tone when he’s not feeding your fire. But having Yoongi in your peripheral vision keeps you from moving an inch. “Damn right it was shitty!”

“The producers, they just. Fuck.” Jiwon sighs, gritting his teeth. “Fuck, I know I can’t take back what I did. But. But Yoongi…” Your hands clench into fists, ready to counter whatever excuse he comes up with. Or his anger, which would be apt considering the venom you’ve thrown his way. “Yoongi, I’m sorry.”

You actually take a step back.

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’m sorry.”

This is… Not what you were expecting. And judging by the way Yoongi’s mouth just falls open, he hadn’t predicted it either. He just keeps blinking as if he figures he’ll wake up at any minute.

Jiwon stutters something unintelligible as he fishes in his jacket for a wallet. It’s much fumbling before he drops a white card onto the table, his name embossed on the front. “I-If you want, I can introduce you to some connections and we can get your music out there, Yoongi. Let me help you! Please.” He pushes the card across the counter. “Call me. Let me make up for this.”

Oh, hell no.

You take one look at the flimsy card stock and snatch it up. “He doesn’t need your pity!” You scrunch it up in your fist. Whip the paper ball towards the door. “Just get out!”

Finally, Jiwon gets the point. He gives Yoongi one last look (regret? sorrow? who the hell cares) before he whirls around. Even leaves his coffee behind in his haste. The chime goes off and now, you are left alone together.

You both stare out the door for a long minute, neither of you sure how to proceed. Eventually, your fingers stitch together, oddly flustered as you slowly turn to fully face Yoongi. He seems to have recovered from the initial jolt. He’s closed his flabbergasted mouth, opting for a thin-lipped glower instead. Except this one seems directed at you.

You feel like you should say something, but what? The tension nips at your mind, begging to be shattered. Needs to be, if you are going to move forward.

“Yoongi—”

He beats you to it. “You know what? I don’t need your pity either.” Then he disappears into the backroom, door slamming decisively shut.

He just leaves you standing there like a fish caught on a deadly hook, stuck with bleeding thoughts, hands numb, trembling. You weren’t expecting gratitude, no. Still, you didn’t think he would react like… this, either. Not when the other option was to let Jiwon go.

But you don’t see Yoongi again until an hour has passed. Those two lines, spat like poison, become the last words Yoongi says to you for the rest of the night as he stalks, still mute, to the OPEN sign. He whips it CLOSED precisely one second after the proper time and begins the mopping duties without even so much as a glance your way.

You can’t muster the courage to even try knocking on the wall he’s suddenly re-erected between you; all you can do is look down at the change you’re counting and try to not let it get to you.

You finish the evening in this same solitude. The cleaning gets done. The store is locked, shuttered. Eventually, you go your separate ways in the darkness without so much as a wave of acknowledge. Yoongi’s hands remain stuck in his pockets, closed off, while you pick at your nails in nervous habit as you walk away from him.

Tomorrow, Yoongi is back on his regular shift. Meanwhile, you still have two weeks of your night shift trade left to go. That means your paths don’t have any opportunity to cross.

And so, they simply don’t.

To your credit, you try your best not to think about Yoongi. But your mind just keeps playing that scene over and over again, determined to force you to analyze every word, every gesture. And that song is making a comeback on the radio, if only to serve no other purpose than to antagonize you.

Perfect. Just freakin’ perfect.

You make it all of a week.

“Hey Jungkook… Can I ask you something?”

“Always! Shoot.” Jungkook leans against the bar, letting his adorable, earnest smile shine through.

Here goes nothing. “H-Have you spoken to Yoongi at all?” You’re trying your best to keep your voice casual, not wanting to betray the hours of contemplation spent pondering whether or not you should be asking this question in the first place. Clearly, you’ve been real productive these past seven days.

Jungkook doesn’t look surprised at your query. Or maybe he just hides it well. Either way, he nods. “Not much. Just a little bit when our shifts overlap.” His huge eyes may look innocent, but there’s a gleam of mischief as he deliberately refuses to elaborate any further than that.

Brat. He’s not going to make this easy on you. “Is he… Is he okay?”

Jungkook shrugs. “No injuries. He hasn’t gotten into any fistfights.”

“Yah, you know what I mean.” You smack him on the arm.

He laughs, infuriatingly carefree. “Sorry, sorry. But seriously, he just looks normal, maybe a little tired. Then again, I only see him for like half an hour. Not a lot of time to have deep, soul-searching conversations.”

You don’t know what answer you were hoping for, but it still leaves you disappointed. “Hm.”

Hm, indeed. He looks fine, while you’ve been replaying last week over and over again in your mind like a broken record. Cool. That’s totally cool.

“So he hasn’t… talked or asked about me or anything?”

Hoseok, coming up from behind Jungkook, is the one to answer instead. “Well, actually.” It’s comical how your heart soars at that, leaping bounds and valleys from just two words. But you come crashing down when he ultimately ends up shaking his head. “Wait. Sorry, shit. I… can’t tell you.”

Your eyes narrow. “You can’t? So he has said something?”

Hoseok casts his gaze downward. “It’s really not for me to say.” He purposefully smooths out non-existent wrinkles on his apron.

Jungkook’s doe eyes turn on you. “Noona, have you tried just asking him yourself?”

…Kind of. The text you sent a few days, the careful ‘Hey, Yoongi, are you there?’ had gone woefully unanswered. You eventually had to archive the conversation altogether, to prevent your obsessive checking over whether or not he had replied. Altogether, a disaster.

“It’s… It’s fine. It’s whatever,” you end up muttering. Thankfully, the door sounds and you vehemently turn towards the new customer that’s just entered the shop, grateful for the distraction.

You know your coworkers are much too clever to believe your stammered words. But at least they’re kind enough not to probe any further.

It is on a Friday, the last night of your month-long shift swap, that reality smacks you in the face.

Reality is this: you will be forced to face Yoongi in three days, and things remain extremely awkward between you. He is still ignoring you. Not that you can really blame him, after these two weeks to contemplate that decisive moment. While you don’t regret what you said to Jiwon, you probably shouldn’t have stuck your nose into Yoongi’s issue and taken over for him. Should have respected his decision to back off, no matter how unjust.

Which means you should probably apologize.

Just one problem. You hate doing that. Especially to Yoongi.

But you were the one who committed the wrong, so you have to be the one to extend the olive branch. It leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, nothing like the lattes you prefer but more like a dark roast: rich, full, and awful. That’s how Yoongi had tasted too, his tongue sliding against yours so feverishly like a man possessed. You hadn’t minded the flavor then.

“Hobi, how do you apologize to someone?” You rest your hands on the top of the mop, then your cheek on top of that.

Hoseok tilts his head to the side, a cute “hm?” coming out of his heart-shaped mouth. “Depends on how bad the situation is, I think!”

“Pretty bad, I guess?”

He hums, as if he knows exactly what this is in reference to. Then he raises a finger in triumph, like he’s just discovered the secret to the universe. “Go with a gift! You can never go wrong with a present!”

Hm! You nod approvingly. That’s a perfect idea.

Thus, your Saturday becomes dedicated to making a gift for Yoongi.

Yes, making, because you can’t exactly afford expensive music equipment. You don’t think Yoongi would appreciate a bag of coffee beans from his place of employment. Somehow, a stuffed animal doesn’t seem to fit his aesthetic either; you also really don’t want to add to the clutter of his place. So, your genius mind has settled on creating a mixtape. A playlist full of songs you hope can express how sorry you are, and how you hope to move on from this.

There’s one surprise at the very end of the CD: a piece that’s self produced. It’s just two minutes of you, a shitty phone microphone, and some heartfelt rambling. Look, apologizing is hard, okay? You don’t think you have the gall to do it in person, so this is the next best thing.

The sun is just beginning to set when you reach Yoongi’s apartment, finished present in hand. You’re contemplating whether to knock or just leave the tiny bag you have on the handle. One of these options is easier than the other. But maybe you owe it to him to at least ensure it gets to him.

Your knocks go unanswered.

Eventually, you have to accept that he’s out, a fact that has relief pouring over you. You loop the bag straps around the door. He’ll get it whenever he reaches home, you suppose. And if he chooses to snap it in half without listening to it, well, that’s his prerogative too. You’ve done your part. You’ve been the bigger person.

You manage to get all the way back to your apartment without thinking of the package, blasting music from your headphones to drown out your thoughts. You eat your dinner, watch an episode of the latest KBS drama, water your plants. Hell, you even start actually doing the research for your paper due in three weeks. But throughout it all, you can’t shake the listlessness that sits beneath your skin like an unwanted visitor, ever so often poking you with a sharp stick.

You know too well why it’s there: your damn curiosity that won’t leave you alone.

You want desperately to know if your gift has been received, and how. Will he understand what you’re trying to say? Maybe you should have put your apology at the beginning instead of the end. Maybe you shouldn’t have gone with Super Junior’s Sorry Sorry, even though you needed something in the middle to break up the torrent of sappy songs. Oh god. The what ifs threaten to drive you stark wild for the utter lack of answers. (Though judging by your current state, perhaps they already have.)

“Uggggh, that’s it!” You announce to your succulent, desk chair clattering as you shove viciously to your feet. “I’m going to bed!”

With great, groaning creaks, the elevator doors open on the floor of Yoongi’s apartment. Yoongi drags his exhausted body through them, reeking of smoke, stale cologne, and alcohol, courtesy of the bar he just left. His head is still a little fuzzy, but it’s not too bad. A nice haze. The walk here in the cool night air has already sobered him up some. He just needed to get out of the house. Needed to stop thinking for a while.

But the pressure lingering in his system had refused to budge even after the second shot, fifth drink in total, which was what finally prompted him to get his sorry ass back home. He’s desperate for something to relieve what’s been pent-up, the ugliness building and bubbling uncontrollably inside him these past weeks. Sex distracts him, usually. But a meaningless hookup… that would erase the memories of your pretty mouth on him, the heat of your body tangled up with his. He can’t bring himself to do that. Not that he can admit this, even in his own mind. So, he resigns himself to another night of his fist wrapped around his own length and a mediocre climax.

Yoongi sighs as he rounds the corner, digging in his pocket for his keys. Just as he pulls the ring out, he spots the conspicuous bag tied to his door. Who would be sending gifts like this? Jimin? No, his friend from college is currently out of town, he remembers. But nobody else would leave—he peers inside—a CD of all things, with his name scribbled upon it. This handwriting is familiar, but he can’t quite place it.

He grabs the bag and enters the darkness of his place. He drops his jacket on the couch, then makes his way to his computer. Slides the CD inside the console. Waits.

The first song is something indie, something sorrowful. Yoongi doesn’t recognize it but he gives it a listen. It’s not bad. But the next song is even slower, even sadder. Most definitely not his usual type of music, and for good reason. He cringes at the third piece.

The songs just keep coming, all playing off the same apologetic theme. Whoever put together this playlist has no idea what they’re doing, he thinks. The genres are all over the place, with no coherent flow like a proper mixtape should. They all just happen to contain the word ‘sorry’ in the title or lyrics. “The hell is this,” Yoongi mutters, laughing at the absurdity as he stands up halfway through, deciding to take a shower without even bothering to turn the music off.

Yoongi takes his time beneath the hot water – lets it wash away the grime of the night. It helps remove some of the buzz from his mind. By the time he steps out of the bathroom, he feels almost completely sober. He’s distracted with towelling off his hair; he doesn’t even notice that music is no longer playing until he hears speech.

“...eah, so, I guess what I’m trying to say...”

He freezes.

But that’s your voice.

The voice he hasn’t heard in weeks but could pick out of a crowd in a second. The voice that once hammered on his brain on a daily basis but now douses it in undeniable relief, comfort.

Yoongi is glad no one is around to witness him rushing to the desktop, hurriedly replaying the track that’s currently on. He plugs in his headphones, dragging them over his head even though his hair drips with water.

“Hey, Yoongi.” You sound so uncharacteristically quiet it makes his chest tight. “I-I know you’re trying to avoid me, and I don’t blame you.” He gnaws at his bottom lip as he listens to you explain your thoughts. Even though your tone wavers at certain moments, you just keep pressing on. It makes his chest feel inexplicably tight.

“Yeah, so, I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m sorry. I won’t interfere with your business again. And I won’t cross the professional lines between us anymore. I hope we can still work together. Okay. That’s, uh, all from me. Goodnight.”

Yoongi sits in the silence for all of three seconds before he hits the back button. Plays it again. Then again.

“God damn it!” He rips off the headphones, surges to his feet. “You’re so damn silly. It’s not your fault! How could any of this be your fault?”

But then whose is it?

Jiwon is the easiest culprit. But he’s apologized. He’s trying to move on, even trying to help Yoongi, even though that’s just salt in the wound. The only person still mired inside this self-made prison is Yoongi. He made his home in these concrete walls, punishing himself, thinking it was the easiest way out. Still bitter and trying to pretend like he can just stay angry forever because the only person it fucked up was himself.

But now it’s affecting you.

Hearing your voice like this, it’s all laid out for him. Reality and truth stab him in the gut, forcing him to finally acknowledge how he’s hurt you, the one person who has nothing to gain from helping him, yet continues to do so again and again.

Yoongi rubs at his temples, regret radiating through him in waves. He should have realized it earlier, if only he could have pulled his head out of his ass. Hearing this, hearing your voice with that undercurrent of worry is like a punch to the gut and to his mind, blasting out any residual hesitancy.

You don’t deserve to sit in this uncertainty and pain of misunderstanding any longer.

A text isn’t enough. Nor is a call. He needs to see you. He needs to see you right now and tell you face to face just how sorry he is. How grateful. And maybe he just wants to see your face, because he kind of misses the way you scold him.

Haphazardly dressed, Yoongi rushes out the door, almost forgetting his keys in his haste. His slides slap against the floor as he frantically dials Namjoon, hoping he’s awake to get the address he so desperately needs. He jams his finger into the elevator call button, silently willing it to come faster.

No more, Yoongi thinks. No more running away from the hard shit, from his feelings. This time, he’s running right towards his future.

The clock blinks 1:00AM when you check it next, still as wide awake as when you shuffled beneath your covers two whole hours ago.

Damn it. It’s a good thing you have tomorrow off, because there’s no way in hell you could wake up at the crack of dawn otherwise. Counting sheep has proven to be useless, especially after you get up to Sheep #482 (it’s a cute one. Okay. They’re all cute.) Doing math equations in your head usually gets you conked out pretty quickly from sheer monotony, but it’s also futile tonight. Your mind is much too alive, active, overactive to let you doze off.

Then you hear the knocking.

Well, it’s more like a clatter. The sound of something hard slamming against your door, followed by a few wimpy taps. Yikes. Are you going to get murdered?

You slip out of bed, pick up your baseball bat. Weapon in hand, you creep towards the entrance, forgetting you’re not even wearing any bottoms. You press silently to the thick wood, maneuver your eye over the peephole to see what crazy bastard is here at this hour.

What you see has you yanking the door open, the bat clattering uselessly to the ground.

“Y-Yoongi?!”

It feels like a lifetime since you’ve last seen him. You didn’t know how much you missed that stupid, irritating, attractive face until it’s in front of you. Doubled over and breathless, hair a wind-blown mess.

“How the hell did you get my address?”

“Namjoon.” Yoongi is panting so hard he can hardly breathe. You swear he’ll keel over in the next minute. You don’t look forward to cleaning his body off your carpet. “Namjoongaveittome.” That’s all he can get out before he takes another gulp of air, face red with strain.

“Jeez, come in so you don’t bother my neighbours with your dying.” You usher him in, watch him stumble to your couch as you flick on a lamp to cast a glow over the room. He’s wearing a plain tee and sweatpants, but it’s the slides on his feet that probably explain his current discomfort. In his hands, he clutches the same bag you left on his doorstep. You try not to think about the implications of that. “Why didn’t you drive or take the bus or something?”

“Bus broke down… halfway. Had to run…”

You shove a glass of water into his hands and he gulps at it. A few droplets leak from his mouth. He wipes it away with the back of his hand. Classy.

“Thanks,” he finally says as his heart seems to stop threatening to jump out of his chest from fatigue, then speeds up again for another reason entirely.

You stare at each other wordlessly for a few beats.

“What’re you doing here, Yoongi?” It comes out in a harsher tone than you’d intended but your heart beats a drum in your chest, a rude rhythm that is mirrored in the trembling of your fingers.

“I should be saying that to you!” Yoongi reacts to the perceived animosity in your voice, lifting the bag and shaking it. “What is this supposed to be, huh?”

You force yourself to focus on fiddling with a loose thread on your shirt. Quelling the unease in your veins. “…Did you listen to it?”

“Yeah, I did.” Yoongi sets the cup on the coffee table with a smack. “First of all, you have awful taste. Secondly, this CD is completely unnecessary.”

“Oh.”

This squeak of a noise is accompanied by the sudden skydive of your heart, right towards the floor. At least that you can hide. But, against your will, disappointment and exhaustion create a cocktail of tears that prick at the corner of your eyes, threatening to spill over by the next second. No, no, no, you scold yourself but the lump swelling in your throat refuses to be swallowed down. You hate that more than anything, hate that it makes you look wimpy and weak.

When you turn your head, Yoongi catches sight of the glimmer of wet tears. “Oh, shit.” He throws the bag behind him. Scooting towards you, he puts a warm hand on your shoulder and his voice is right beside your ear and god damn it, why is he getting closer? But even you can hear the panic in his voice when he says, “no, no, oh god. I didn’t mean it like that.” He brushes your hair back to expose your downturned face. “Shit. Please don’t cry. Please.”

“I don’t want to cry either, Yoongi!” Your words sound waterlogged, but you force them out. Hope it’ll make him back off.

Instead his thumb comes beneath your eye to catch the stray tear that leaks out. He wipes it away as he murmurs your name so softly you can scarcely believe the noise came from his lips. “Look at me. Please.”

What can you do but obey? Min Yoongi will be the death of you, you swear it. That sentiment is doubled when you find his eyes and see nothing but sincerity in their darkness. He’s never studied you this way. It steals your breath, renders you in silent anticipation for what comes next.

“Look, I’m a fucking idiot.”

That actually makes you laugh, though it’s somewhat strangled as you wipe away the last of the tears. “Well, we both knew that. But why this time?”

“I… I shouldn’t have ignored you.” He drops his hand from your cheek. It sits against your bare thigh, the skin growing hot where you’re connected. “But I was scared. I felt ashamed and more than a little pissed off that you stood up to Jiwon when I couldn’t.” You say nothing. But that seems to make him even more jittery as he bursts out with, “E-Especially since you’re so god damn perfect all the time!”

“Perfect?” You repeat, bewildered as it couldn’t be further from the truth. “What the hell are you going on about?”

“You know… You just. You have your shit perfectly figured out! It just reminds me that I’m a mess.”

“No, I really don’t. Trust me.” Is that what he’s thought of you this whole time? No wonder he was so irritable. It’s almost laughable. “But Yoongi, why didn’t you confront Jiwon?”

He sighs at that, long and deep. “Just… After the whole incident, I had trouble writing. I had all this anger inside me. I didn’t know what to do with it. I wrote diss tracks but they all sounded unoriginal, whiny. Pop songs were the same. Generic and boring. I kept trying to write something better than ‘We Don’t Talk Together’. I was obsessed.” Yoongi is babbling faster, like a dam finally broken and flooding. You’re not afraid of the waters.

“It was easier for me. Easy to just blame everything on Jiwon, say it’s his fault the songs weren’t coming to me. So when he apologized…” He gives a laugh, but it’s a self-deprecating one. “I’ve spent the past weeks getting to this point, I guess. Of accepting that this shitty thing happened. I think I’m finally ready to move the fuck on. I hated that you made me confront that at the time, though.”

“You’re welcome,” you whisper, unable to resist the opportunity to poke at him. Hey, he made you cry. He deserves it.

“Uh huh.” Yoongi reaches behind his back to find the bag he threw momentarily aside. “So that’s why this CD is unnecessary. You don’t need to apologize to me.” He hands it to you. “Thank you. For helping me out. Even though I don’t deserve it.”

You set the bag on the table. “Of course, Yoongi. I wouldn’t just abandon you.”

“I know.” He actually smiles, eyes waning as your heart gives an extra loud thud.

The conversation peters out. You sit soaked in tension, unsure what the hell to do now. Especially because you’re hyperaware that his knee is right against yours and it feels like a million degrees, but neither of you are moving away. Your eyes are still locked to his, unfathomable and unyielding as you awkwardly hold wimpy grins. Even in this situation, your mind won’t stop running to inappropriate places, urging you to lean forward and kiss those pink lips.

But how does Yoongi feel?

“I, uh...” Yoongi gives a start as if he’s read your mind, but he doesn’t finish his thought.

“Anyway...” He hangs his head, cuts himself off again. “I was going to say...” Another trailing, unfinished sentence.

“You okay?” You murmur, his apparent nerves soothing your own.

“Agh, damn it. Okay. Here. Just – listen to this, okay?”

Yoongi whips out his phone, taps on the screen a few times before he places it on the table. Seconds later, music starts to play, a song you’ve never heard before. You tap your foot along to the opening synth, feeling the jazzy beat. Then a familiar voice comes on.

“Yoongi, is this you?!” You cry out, immediately reaching for the phone to turn the volume up.

Yoongi nods, saying nothing but his grin grows at how excited you are. You see the flash of gums, recognize it as the smile usually only reserved for customers. God, how your heart continues to flipflop at the sight.

You lean forward, trying to catch the fast-flowing rap. It’s poetic, weaves a story of a couple around the metaphor of a seesaw. A constant back and forth that ends in heartbreak, a dissolving that’s ultimately better for both parties in the end. When it ends, you instantly want to listen to it again – it’s that addicting.

“This is the song I wrote for the competition. I wanted to show you, since… Yeah.”

“Wow, it’s so good, Yoongi. I swear, you’re going to win.” You want to put this song in your music library and play it on repeat until you know every line. You play it again, listen silently as you really absorb the piece. “I really love the lyrics. And how it progresses. Also, how the singer leaves in the end, alone. I think too many songs out there promote the exact opposite message, even if it’s a shitty relationship, ya know?”

Yoongi nods, cheeks slightly flushed, but he looks so pleased. “Actually, this song,” his breath hitches, “I wrote it about you.”

“Me?”

At first, you’re flattered, beaming even. Then you remember the song’s contents.

“Umm... Wait...” You frown. He’s not saying... “You want to ‘put an end’ to us?” Hell, you didn’t even know there was an ‘us’ to be had!

“Ah, no!” Yoongi’s sleepy eyes blow wide, almost comically so with panic. “No. Definitely not.” His hands clench his knees tightly, as if to stop them from shaking. “I... wanna stop this ambiguous back and forth. This seesaw that we’re on. Of not being just coworkers but not really being anything more than that either.”

“...You want to be more?” Your voice comes out in a whisper as if you can scarcely believe it.

“Yes.” He exhales. “I want more. I want to be with you. Try things out with you. See where they go.” He drums his fingers against his leg. “You make me a better person. And I want to be there for you too.” His lips quirk up, not sure what expression to land on in his nervousness. “That is, uh, if you’ll have me.”

He’s adorable. So freaking cute. You never thought you would see Yoongi like this, and it’s just about the most endearing thing you’ve ever seen.

You lean forward and press your lips to his in answer.

Yoongi is soft.

You feel him hesitate for all of a second before he’s kissing you back, really kissing you back with all of his might. It’s sloppy and your rhythm is all off, but the passion that radiates from him pours the sweetest honey into your system to douse you in heat. He scarcely breaks away to breathe as he tilts his head, searching for a better angle to move against your mouth, to reaffirm this is truly happening and not just some fever dream.

His arms wind around your frame, tugging you closer as if he can’t bear to have any space between you while his tongue traces the outline of your lips. You open for him instinctively, unable to refuse any of his silent requests to taste. You’ve both been denied for too long, but time has not made you forget the curve of his mouth, the nibbles he loves to inflict. His breath tickles your skin as you finally find your pace together. A wild beat you thought you’d lost forever but now roars back to life.

That’s why you’re practically scrambling into his lap, shoving him backwards on the couch in your urgency. Having him against you, tongue flicking against yours, wipes away all thoughts save for him and how incredible this feels, how he feels. It makes you greedy for more, especially more of the muted groans of need that you coax from his throat and swallow.

It’s only when you scrunch your fingers around the back of his neck and come away slightly damp that you finally pause. “Ew, you’re all sweaty,” you tease with a cheeky grin.

He rolls his eyes. “Shut up and kiss me, damn it.” There’s the Yoongi you know so well.

“Rude.”

“You like me rude.” Just to prove his point, he shifts his hips, grinds his bulge against your needy core. Separated only by thin layers of fabric, you can feel him so well you can’t help but get wetter from the mere promise of him.

“T-That’s a damn lie.” But you’re flustered, distracted by the desire surging through your veins at the danger in his tone. It’s all too easy for you two to bring out the sass in each other, but now it keeps you on your toes, thrill in your system.

“Oh? So you don’t want me to throw you onto the bed and spank you until you come?” He accents his filthy words with hot, open-mouthed kisses down the side of your jaw, down your neck. This feels right. So fucking right, he wouldn’t stop for the world. He guides your loose top away, sucking wetly at the skin he exposes. Promising much more in the way of dark violet marks, but not giving it just yet.

“Well, I-I’m not saying that...”

That makes him laugh as he digs both hands beneath your ass and hauls you into the air. “That’s what I thought.” Your legs wrap around his hips, arms around his back. Hold him like he’s yours.

Though it’s a short few steps from the couch to bed, Yoongi keeps his mouth on your skin as if he’s mapping – every bit as desperate to know your body as you do his. He runs his tongue along the curve of your shoulder, obeying his instinctual desire to test your tolerance with the occasional bite. He grins at your yelps. You repay him by tugging at his scruff of hair, nails scraping the skin.

When his leg knocks against the bedframe, you expect him to fling you onto the sheets as promised. Instead he bends, lets you tumble down softly before joining you on the mattress with one knee. Yoongi glows in the dim lamplight, fair skin glistening with lingering sweat as he tugs off his shirt. You’ve never seen anything sexier in your life as he crawls between your legs, forcing them to spread with the hands that slide up your thighs.

“You look like you want something,” he utters in a low tone, toying with the seam of your panties. They are unfortunately plain, but he drinks them in as if they’re made of gold. Touches them with none of that delicacy though, as he hooks fingers under the band and threatens to rip.

You shift your hips, needing friction but he just teases you, lets the cotton drag across your skin only for him to pull it infuriatingly back into place. “Are you going to give it to me if I say yes?”

“Maybe, if you’re a good girl.”

Oh god. You’ve never been called that in your life but when he growls it out in that languid, devil-may-care way, you think you might just be whipped. You’d thought Yoongi devastating before, but that was nothing compared to the intimacy dripping from his fingertips as he removes them from your panties, begins the torturous ascent up your waist. Your whines of protest melt into moans when he eases your top over your head, exposing your naked body to him for the first time.

“Oh, fuck.” Yoongi goes blank. He swears every ounce of blood in him rushes to his swollen cock at the sight of you laid out like this, ready and wanting for him. The fantasies he’s conjured in his mind are nothing, crude sketches of the masterpiece that is your body, your smile, you. “Fuck, you’re so gorgeous.”

The honesty in those whispered, reverent words bolsters the flush creeping beneath your skin. It’s with a smile that you arch into his mouth when he wraps his lips around your nipple in a perfect fit. He sucks hard, noisy and lewd, forcing gasps that make you glad your apartment walls are somewhat thick. But when his tongue swivels amidst the bites he lavishes on your peak, you are reduced to whimpers in his hands. He’s an expert at combining pain with absolute pleasure until your mind is in utter shambles. Shattered even more so when his fingers find your neglected breast, his remaining free hand cupping greedy handfuls of your behind.

When you shift your knee to rub against the pronounced bulge in his sweats, he smacks his palm against your asscheek to a satisfying crack. “Patience is a virtue,” he warns, trailing his tongue to the valley between your breasts. Slathers wet heat on your skin, the curves of your chest even though you’re already burning up from his touch.

But you’re more than willing to play his game. You prove so when you grope his fabric-swaddled cock, massage until you hear the music of his hitched breaths. “I’m not trying to be virtuous.” Then you steal his smirk for your own use while you run fingers along the side of his shaft. His frenulum is sensitive as ever beneath your persistent hand; he bucks when you grind your thumb into the nerves.

“A-Ah!” You yelp when you feel the fresh sting, looking down to find that Yoongi has left his first love bite at the swell of your breast. It blooms in deep, sinful red. Damn if you don’t want him to leave five, ten, twenty more. You want that damnable mouth on you anywhere he can reach until you ache with the reminder of him.

“Thought I told you to be good.” He stares down his nose at you. The act is not nearly as intimidating as it had been in the backroom of the café, but still every bit as arousing. Especially when he pairs it with a sly finger trailing down your slit, the sensation frustratingly dulled by your soaked underwear.

It’s a miracle you can summon the strength to talk back. “Oops. My bad,” you reply in a voice that tells him you’re not sorry in the slightest. Goading Yoongi is a form of art that you have perfected.

Amused and more than a little turned on by your disobedience, he rocks back onto his knees. “On your stomach. Now.”

Oh, yes please. You obey without hesitation, pressing your chest to the warm sheets. You shiver when you feel his hands fit along your waist, as if testing his grip for later use. How hard would he squeeze as he fucks you? As he feeds you every hot inch of his erection, the skin taut and hard for want of your cunt? You tense your thighs in longing, not wanting to wait a second longer to feel him inside you.

But you don’t have a choice.

You lunge forward when the first smack lands on your ass. You cry out, face half-buried in the pillow as pleasure radiates from your burning cheek. Yet you’re still raising your hips for more. You love the pain, addicted to the visceral reaction it beckons from your body.

But your squeal gives Yoongi pause. “Is that too hard?” He asks, breath brushing across your skin.

You throw a coy glance backwards. “Never.”

Your answer is accepted with a second slap, a punishment that makes your body shudder further into your mattress. “My little slut,” Yoongi snarls, enjoying the way the possessive words feel on his tongue. “Bet you’re ruining those panties of yours.”

Smack. Fuck, you swear he’s leaving imprints of his palm behind. You wish you could see.

“Totally soaked.” You rock onto your elbows, push your sore ass into his palm. Hope you can convince him to lose control and just fill you up. “So ready for your cock, Yoongi...”

You don’t see how he squeezes his eyes together, biting back the surge of hormones; they bid him to throw all restraint away to sink into your heat. “Not just yet.” Your undies are tugged down, rendered useless and tossed somewhere onto the floor. Chills run through your spine as you’re bared for the second time tonight. He forces your hips up and before you can even breathe, licks a long stripe across your cunt.

“Oh, fuck.”

You cannot stand Min Yoongi and that devil’s tongue he curls around your clit. He drags the tip across your sensitive bead, understanding where you’re too sensitive and then deliberately stimulating that very spot to make your knees buck. Pleasure floods your body, makes your every limb white hot and weak, a mess for one man. You knew he was dangerous from the very start, but that never could have stopped you. Your body reflects just how hopelessly you’ve fallen, pushed to the brink of climax faster than you’ve ever been before.

“So fucking sweet.” His fingers dig dimples into your ass, spreading you wide so he can have his fill. His tongue glides along your curves, taking his time instead of being so focused on chasing climax as he had that first time. Now he’s hungry for knowledge, for intimacy he can only find with you as his landscape. And if he makes you cum a thousand times in the process of that quest, well. You’ll survive somehow.

When his tongue slips into your heat, you almost lose it. He thrusts it like he fucks: ruthlessly, flawlessly. As if you’re the only thing that matters right now, and his only desire in the world is to have you quivering on his lips. A wish he’s getting twofold.

“Close, so close, Yoongi, ah—”

“Yeah, I can feel it.” He sounds utterly entranced, the drawled words thick with longing. “Want you to cum around my tongue. Can you do that for me?” He poses the question as if you have a choice. As if you can do anything against the onslaught of bliss tangling themselves in your veins, demanding that you release.

All because of that accursed mouth that has you at its mercy, whether between the sheets or out. Too compelling for your weary nerves to resist when his hand whips across your skin and without warning, you’re cumming. Tears prick, rolling down your face as he spanks you again, this time even harder, and your climax becomes unbearable in bliss. You were not prepared for the tsunami it is, crashing onto you, sweeping you away.

“Yoongi!” The name is muffled by the pillow you stuff your face in, muscles screaming at you to stop tensing but you can’t, you goddamn can’t. Crest after crest of sensation radiate through you in time with the throbs of your sodden walls. You swear he grins against your pussy as you rock your hips like you’re in heat. Your skin is so sensitive it almost hurts but you couldn’t care less.

“Fuck me, Yoongi, please, god, I need your cock in me right fucking now.” Your voice is desperate and begging and any other time, you would be mortified but all you can think of now is how you need to be filled. To have every crevice of your throbbing pussy stuffed with Yoongi’s cock so he understands just what he’s done to you. Wrecked you, ruined you for anyone else.

“Oh fuck.” He was not expecting you to turn the tables but here you are, fucked out and still so needy for more. His sweatpants join your panties, cock springing free, the deep-red tip leaking from all it’s been denied. God, how he wants to fuck that pretty whine in your voice into moans.

“All of you, Yoongi. Wanna feel the stretch.” He’s taking too long; you’ve always been impatient.

Yoongi will never forget the sight of you spreading your own cheeks to show him, seduce him with how your cunt drips from anticipation. But it’s the look in your eyes, the affection mingled with the heat that has him plunging half of his cock into you in one stroke.

“So tight for me, h-huh? What a good girl,” Yoongi growls, trying his best not to cum instantly from the way you take him. Just swallow him with such ease, yet still squeeze him like a vice. He’s missed this pussy so much, hasn’t been able to stop thinking about it since that night. He’s finished himself countless nights to the memory but now you’re really here; now you cry for him in that tremulous tone that drives him wild.

One of Yoongi’s hands goes as promised on your waist, but the other weaves into your hair to grip at the roots. He doesn’t tug yet, testing your limits, careful to respect them. He’s rewarded with a moan as he bottoms out at the same time he gives his first light tug. Now every thick inch of cock is finally swathed in you, and you are filled to the brim, just like you craved.

“This okay?” He asks, massaging the crook of your perspiration-dotted back with his thumb.

“Mhm...” You slur it like you’re drunk but it’s just the moment, the pleasure forcing you into submission. You love the juxtaposition only Yoongi brings out for you, how he instinctually knows exactly what you seek.

“More?”

You rut into him, feel that friction kindle something indescribable, deeply carnal in your core. “Always.”

It is here that Yoongi realizes how gone he is for you.

You’re incredible. Fucking incredible. He tries to tell you this with every pump he sends into you. So damn hungry but still careful not to pull too hard on your locks even though he thinks you might like that, minx that you are. The gasps just continue to fall from his mouth as he just feels himself drown in you. You fit around him like you were made to take his cock and then some. He wants to give you everything. But first he’ll start with pleasure. Pleasure so intense you’ll forget even your own name.

You’re closer to that goal than he knows. You’re falling into the rough staccato rhythm he sets, bodies slamming together again and again until your mouth feels dry for all the moans you can’t staunch. It sends you soaring: the ache of his fist in your hair, the burn of the stretch that you know will stay with you for hours after. It’s all in service of the inevitable crash that will ruin you.

Yoongi’s thighs have started to burn with strain but he doesn’t dare stop, doesn’t think he could. Not when you’re both teetering on the cusp; ready to fall, not apart, but finally together.

“Y-Yoongi...!” On one particularly hard thrust, you rear up, back pressed firmly against his sweaty chest. He lets go of your hair to curl his arms around you, clutching you as he thrusts upwards to hit your core. You focus on the sole task of breathing. But you fail even that when his fingers find your clit, rough and imprecise in his animalistic movements. It’s still enough.

This is how you cum – speared and full and deliriously sated.

He can’t hold out any longer when you find your peak. His teeth scrape your shoulder, but you can only register pleasure as he grinds out his own orgasm against your ass. You feel him spill deeply inside; it feeds some innate need you didn’t even know you had. Reaching behind, you hold him close as he does you, heartbeats pulsing to the same beat as you let the noises speak for you.

When the high relents, you collapse onto your palms, practically faceplant into your pillow as the aftershocks shudder their way through you. It’s a good few moments before you can roll onto your side, to face Yoongi who has done the same on your right. You feel like a mess, but he looks at you as if he’s never seen anything more stunning in his life.

“I... Wow.”

“Yeah...”

For a minute, all you can do is grin at each other, silly smiles stretched wide across your kiss-bitten lips.

Eventually, Yoongi flips onto his back, chest still heaving. “That was actually meant to be gentler,” he mumbles, staring pointedly at the ceiling. “Since our first time was me getting carried away. And the second.”

“Looks like you just can’t help yourself around me, huh?” You tease, hoping you’ll make him blush, or hit you back with something equally sarcastic.

“Yeah. I really can’t.” He says it so honestly, you melt a little into the sheets.

You shuffle closer to him; he automatically raises his arm to let you in. “Stay over tonight, okay?” You say, kissing his bare chest as you cuddle in. Relish the fact you can just reach out and he’s there. Solid, warm, there. “Not like you have work tomorrow, right?”

“I’ll stay as long as you want.”

He kicks the light covers up with a foot, pulls it over your body so you don’t feel the chill even though his body keeps you running hot. You hum as he runs his fingers down your back, rubbing at that sore spot just right. You fall into cozy silence, tracing the contours of his damp torso, running over the curves you couldn’t before.

“On Monday, I’m going to give Mina my two weeks notice.”

Whoa.

You shove up from Yoongi. Turning with utter surprise on your face, you cry, “What?” You unintentionally crush blankets in your fists. “Why?” When you’ve finally worked things out between you?

“As much as I want to stay, I’m… I’m going to try to produce full time.” His eyebrows furrow together. He sucks in a breath. “Being at the café took up all my spare time and while it was a good distraction after the whole thing, I... I don’t need it anymore. I’m going to chase after what I really want to do.” The relief that soaks his voice tells you he’s finally figured it out. “And I’m going to do it on my own. Without Jiwon. Without his help.”

“Oh, Yoongi...” Your heart floods with nervous excitement. You are not really a fan of change, but this is different. This is a step in the direction he was always too afraid to take. You flop back beside him, let him eagerly draw you back into his arms. “I’ll support you as much as I can. I know you can do it, babe.”

“Babe?” He raises his eyebrows.

“Don’t like it?”

“Mmn. Like it... more than I thought I would.” His voice is practically a mumble by the end as he hides embarrassment with a nuzzle into your head.

You’re grinning as the most welcome thought strikes. “Hey, maybe whoever replaces you will finally be on time!”

Yoongi smirks. “Unfortunately, your boyfriend may sometimes still be a little late.”

You tap his cute nose, his squishy cheeks. “Oh, is that what you are now?”

“Yup.” He proceeds to bury his face into your hair, pressing kisses and inhaling the scent he doesn’t think he’ll ever get his fill of. “You’re stuck with me.”

You chuckle as you snuggle further into his warm embrace. it just feels right to be here somehow. Ironic, that ‘here’ is pressed up against the man who can get under your skin like no other. Maybe you’re a masochist, but you can’t think of anywhere else you’d rather be.

Lying here, listening to him slip into slumber, the apprehensive energy in you just melts away despite the feeling that you’re about to embark on a journey that you’re sure will be anything but easy. But as long as you’re with him... You smile. Then you let the anxious thoughts go, finally surrendering to the sleep that his steady rise-and-fall brings.

Turns out, Min Yoongi isn’t the absolute worst after all.

a/n: yeah, i know, who still makes CDs in 2019? :p but sending over a Spotify playlist isn’t nearly as romantic. hehe. thank you for sticking with me until the end of my first series. i learnt so much through writing it and had a ton of fun! please let me know what you think of the ending, yeah? ;) i hope you all enjoyed TES ♡

huge, enourmous thank you to my betas: @hoseoksdior, @sweetlyseokjin, @jiminspjm, @mypurplelamp, @bigtiddiejoon! 💖 this fic would not have come through without their efforts!!

special shoutout to MISS ARI @flowerymoonlight who hyped me TF up & had to survive the snippets i sent her at 2 in the morning. ily babe, you have a special place in my heart ALWAYS.

p.s. you can find more minis of this couple on my masterlist!

[beyscape]

Under the Moonlight

Steve Rogers x Reader

Summary: Your brother Tony threw the best parties; they just weren’t your thing. Steve knew of this, and decided to check up on you.

Requested by: @franciose18xx​

Word Count: 2172

Warnings: some swearing. Steve wouldn’t approve lol

A/N: I had a dumb smile on while writing this, I love Steve too much.

  Being Tony Stark’s little sister had a lot of benefits. His love for throwing huge parties, however, was one of the few downsides you could think of.

  The music was loud in the “party floor” as Tony liked to call it, and the crazy amount of people around you kept getting drunker and drunker as the party progressed. You smiled and nodded at the occasional faces you recognized, but otherwise you kept to yourself, swirling the drink glass in your hands and watching the ice slowly melt. Yes, watching the ice melt was much more interesting than the party surrounding you. Suffocating you.

  It wasn’t like you were particularly introverted, in fact, with those you were close with you could be described as loud, as wild. After all, you were related to Tony Stark. In these types of parties though, there simply were too many strange faces, and you couldn’t deny that it made you uncomfortable. Your eyes trailed over the scene unfolding around you as you wondered when was acceptable for you to sneak back to the lab upstairs. You were thinking of the latest project you were working on with Tony  when your gaze focused on the far end of the room.

  A small smile appeared on your face as you watched Steve laugh at the antics of Thor. Another benefit of being Tony’s sister. If it wasn’t for your brother going and getting mixed with super hero stuff, you never would have met Steve Rogers.

Noticing your stare even with the great distance laying between you, Steve raised his head to meet your eyes. He simply smiled at you, giving you a slow nod before turning back to face the God of Thunder beside him. You averted your eyes quickly, too quickly, and cursed. You hadn’t meant to get caught staring at him, and now he probably thought you were a creep. What a great party.

You liked Steve, even that fact had taken way too long to admit to yourself, but you could never tell if he had the same feelings. He was such a gentleman that it was so hard to decipher whether he was  just being nice or he nursed the same feelings as you. Things would have been much easier if he was a program you could run through a decoder and figure out his codes. Humans were too messy, too complicated.

“Aaaaaaand there is the smartest Stark!” An arm hung around your shoulders, the smell of alcohol hitting you before you turned to face the person intruding your deep thoughts.

“You really need to stop drinking more than you can handle.” You shook your head as your brother gave you the stupid grin that was his trademark when drunk.

“You really need to fix your attitude and mingle with people.” He retorted before sticking his tongue out.

“Such a child,” you muttered under your breath, “Let’s go get you some coffee. You don’t wanna get shitfaced so early in your own damn party.” You mirrored his look, sticking a tongue out back.

“What did you just call me? Smartass. YOU are the child.” He hiccupped, swaying on his feet. You let him lean on you.

“Am I a child or a smartass, make up your mind.” Leading him through the sea of people towards the bar area proved to be more difficult than you originally anticipated. “When the hell did you get so heavy? One would think the whole superhero stuff would keep you fit.” You grunted as he fully put his weight on you, almost as if doing it on purpose to mess with you. You wouldn’t put it past Tony.

“Smartass.” Tony ruffled your hair with his free hand.

“See, you’re so drunk you can’t think of new stuff to call me. No fun.” You could see the bar now, just a few more feet and you could dump your potato sack of a brother on one of the stools. Just then, you felt the weight raised off of you.

“Hi Y/N.” Pepper smiled at you before shaking her head at Tony’s state.

“Pepper! My savior!” You breathed a sigh of relief.

“He drank more than he could handle, didn’t he? Can’t believe he keeps doing this. You go, I’ll take care of him.” Pepper gave you a reassuring nod.

“Did I ever tell you that I love you? Cause I do.” You thanked her, honestly happy that she would be taking care of Tony’s drunk ass, you made a mental note to lecture him the next morning. Or when he recovered from the wicked hangover waiting for him. What made you even happier though was the fact that Pepper pretty much gave you the green light to leave. You merrily obliged.

Before making your way back up to the lab and working until ungodly hours of the night, you decided getting some fresh air would be the best to clear your head. You didn’t have much to drink, certainly not as much as your brother, but the two and a half glasses of whiskey still made you feel tipsy enough.

You pushed the glass doors of the balcony on the other end of the floor open, letting the cool air wash over you. The chill of the night was a welcome sensation on your skin, you leaned your arms on the metal railing. The moon was close to turning full, but it was big enough that there was no need for lighting as you stood on the balcony. The pale light of the moon washed everything gently.

“Hey.” A voice called out from behind you, you turned to see Steve leaning against the doorway with his hands in his pockets. A dashing smile was on his face, the kind that made you spend way too long thinking about.

“Hey.” You replied, tucking your hair behind your ear.

“Why are you not at the party?”

“You’re not at the party either.”

 He chuckled, nodding. He took a step, then two towards you. Your breath hitched as he closed the distance. You didn’t know what you were expecting, or better yet, hoping to happen, but it definitely wasn’t this. Steve mirrored your previous position, leaning over the railing. You turned back.

“I saw you practically run out, figured I’d come and check up on you.” He was facing the nearly-full moon, its kind light illuminating his beautiful face. You wished you could capture this moment and forever keep it.

“I just,” you licked your lips, “I’m not great with parties.”

“I know. Honestly, me neither. I much prefer being here.” See, this was the thing about Steve. You never ran out of things to say, you were never speechless. Your brother often teasingly complained about you being too sassy for your own good, but being with Steve pretty much flicked a switch and suddenly you found with a slightly open mouth and nothing to say. No cheeky remarks.

“You must be the first person that prefers my company over one of Tony’s epic parties.”

“You thought I would rather watch people get drunk and do stupid things instead of  being on a balcony with the smartest, funniest and the most gorgeous woman in the whole building? I may not be a genius like you but I’m not a fool either, Y/N.”

Your mouth fell open. Never in a million years did you expect those words to spill out of Steve’s mouth. Was he really flirting with you just now? He raised his eyebrows at your expression.

“Was that too much? I’m sorry, I’m about ninety years behind on this whole flirting thing.” He grimaced slightly.

“No! I mean, no.” You shook your head, surpassing a delighted laughter. “You were doing great, grandpa.”

“See, now you’re teasing me. Just tell me it was too cheesy. Come on, I can take it.”

“Okay it was a little cheesy.”

“I knew it!”

“You didn’t let me finish. It was a little cheesy, but frankly, I like cheese.”

 He laughed, and your heart leapt as you couldn’t help but join him. You wished he would always laugh like he had just now. Silence fell as you both faced the moon once more, shy smiles dancing on your faces as you both stole tiny glances at each other. Finally, Steve broke the silence.

“Y/N.” Your name rolled off of his tongue, his voice now more serious. You stared into his blue eyes, captivated.

“Steve.” He moved closer. You gulped.

“May I kiss you?” He asked, and of course he did, and you exhaled slowly. You managed to give him a small nod.

He placed a gentle hand on your cheek, smiling down at you in a way of softness you never witnessed before. He closed the distance. It was a delicate kiss; his lips were warm on yours that were cold with the chilly air and it was everything you dreamt of. You sighed as it ended way too soon for your liking. He peered at your face, searching, this time it was you who leaned in.

The kiss initiated by you was deeper as your lips crashed, Steve’s hands sneaking down to your waist as he pressed your bodies closer. One of your hands rested on his well-toned chest while the other ran through his blonde hair, something you found yourself wanting to do for so very long. He was a much better kisser for someone who admitted to having little to none experience, you thought, as electric waves were sent down your spine. You pulled away for breath, reluctant in doing so.

“I would like to take you on a date, some dinner and maybe movies.” He raised his eyebrows, more of a statement than a question.

“I think that would be very nice.” You pecked his lips, his grip tightening slightly.

“What do we have here?” A slurring voice interrupted the intimate moment, sending you and Steve flying to different ends of the too-small balcony. Tony appeared in the doorway, scowling. “Capsicle, that better not be my baby sister you were kissing just now.”

Steve took a step towards him, ready to explain, only to be cut by Pepper.

“Sorry guys, I turned away for one second and he managed to get away.” She noted the blush on both you and Steve’s cheeks, as well as the look of annoyance on Tony’s. She gave you a sly wink. “Don’t let us interrupt.” She linked her arm with his.

“Pepper, I—we–” You looked at the woman with wide eyes as she held up a hand.

 “I didn’t see anything, and this one,” she patted Tony’s arm, “will be lucky if he remembers his name in the morning.” She winked at you before leading a protesting Tony away.

 You looked at Steve, who shared your mortified expression at the close call.

“Pepper’s right. He won’t remember, we’re safe for now.” A breathy laugh escaped your lips, Steve pulling you in. You rested your forehead on his shoulder.

“I cannot believe we almost got caught this soon.” Steve shook his head.

“So, dinner, you said?” You muttered into his shoulder.

 ------------

 It was some time past afternoon when Tony finally sauntered into the kitchen area, where you were perched on one of the stools. Steve was seated across you, focused on the newspaper in his hands.

“You look like hell.” You stated matter-of-factly.

“Love you too.” He groaned before coming to a halt. He squinted his eyes at you and Steve. You forced yourself to look bored, trying your best to not look at Steve.

“I didn’t see you two kiss last night, did I? Because that would be crazy. Right?” His gaze drifted between you and the soldier.

“What? No. Do you even know how drunk you were? It’s no surprise you imagined things.” You shot back, slightly too defensive. Tony, on a regular day, would pick up on it immediately. He was, however, so damn hangover at the time that he didn’t notice it. Or the pointed looks shared between you and Steve.

“Yeah, it would be crazy.” He muttered as he grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and made his way back to presumably his room. You exhaled sharply as Steve put down the newspaper.

“This is too stressful, should we just tell him?” He reached over and grabbed your hand, placing a kiss on your knuckles.

“And have him die from a heart attack? No way.” You got up, and gingerly walked towards Steve. The look of fondness sending the butterflies in your stomach in a frenzy. You placed a soft kiss on his temple. “He’ll figure it out on his own soon enough. I for one don’t wanna deal with his dramatic ass right now.

“Language.” Steve tilted his head, grinning.

You rolled your eyes at him. “Alright, grandpa.” You pecked him on the lips before running off, not giving him a chance to reply.

Steve shook his head as he laughed to himself. This would be interesting.

----------------------------

this was written very late into the night and i’m too impulsive to not post it before sleep, so i apologize for any mistakes!!

------------

CHRIS EVANS TAGLIST @marvelouspottering

let me know if anyone else is interested in taglists! 😊

[icycream-catqueen]

Kindling (When You’re Burning Low)

Cinder would rather burn herself out than risk a low grade; fortunately, Neo knows how to make her relax.

Rating: T

Tone: Some angst, lots of supportiveness, and a fluffy ending

Word Count: ~5,000

Important Tags: College AU, Established Relationship

I was gonna post this before now but I had problems with writing it and I was nervous about participating in a ship week especially when I only have something written for one prompt, and also my cat was sleeping on me for five whole hours earlier tonight while I was trying to finish up and as everyone knows it is a crime to disturb a snoozing kitty cat. I hope it still counts. ^_^;

Considering it’s pretty long, I only have an excerpt (the first scene I wrote for this fic, actually) on this post; the whole thing is, of course, over on AO3!

On this fine Saturday afternoon, Cinder was taking advantage of the lounge in the dorm suite. The coffee table was half-claimed by various books and notes while Cinder herself was settled at the same end of the couch, her laptop perched on the arm of it and her right side pressed closely against the suede upholstery as she struggled with the perfect phrasing for her essay. Failure was never an option for her, and even the slightest error would lead to it when it came to this class. She was running on pure caffeine by now, from a supposedly unhealthy amount of coffee. This was her third or fourth solid day of being awake. After the first night, she’d moved her setup from her room to the lounge to help her stay more alert. Winter and Emerald had both tried to tell her what was best for her wellbeing, but she’d firmly shut down their arrogance; she knew her own limits, and she needed to get this stupid project done. Neo, thankfully, had been out of town from Thursday morning to last night, and when she’d come back to the suite, she’d trudged straight to her room and shut the door. Cinder had only seen a couple brief glimpses of her since. Just as well, considering Cinder couldn’t intimidate her into letting her be like she could to Emerald and Winter.

At the moment, Emerald and Winter were both out of the building. They’d each probably told her what they were doing, but she hadn’t bothered to remember it. Neo was apparently still asleep, which was a bit odd but not enough so to risk seeing the pitiful kicked-puppy expression that appeared when her sleep was disturbed. Still, if she wasn’t up and about in two hours, it would be worth it to check on her mental and physical health.

Speak of the devil, Cinder heard a door open behind her. She didn't bother to look, though, until she realized the shuffling footsteps were approaching the couch instead of the kitchen, bathroom, or shower. She took a brief glance, then did an immediate double take because Neo looked absolutely miserable. Her hair was unbrushed and her eyes were dull. The oversized black sweatshirt (which Cinder recognized by the fiery orange phoenix on the front as one of her own that had mysteriously vanished a few weeks ago) and the brown and pink plaid pajama pants were probably what she'd worn to bed the night before, and she hadn't even bothered to put on socks. It was worrying to see her in such a state.

"You certainly look worse for wear," Cinder commented. Neo pouted at her as she slowly made her way to the couch and sank to the cushions. Before Cinder could react, Neo flopped down, squirmed to lay her head in her lap, and rolled onto her back. "I'm busy," Cinder told her sternly.

Neo's response was a soft and pitiful keening sound. She fumbled to grab Cinder's left wrist, staring up at her with pleading doe eyes.

"Neo. I'm busy," Cinder repeated. Neo whined and tugged on her wrist, so Cinder rolled her eyes and stopped resisting, curious about what she wanted. She wasn't sure what she was expecting, but she was definitely taken by surprise when Neo gently guided her hand under the hem of her sweatshirt and pressed it against her lower stomach.

What is she trying to accomplish here? Cinder raised an eyebrow at the woman in her lap. Neo let go of her wrist to sign something at her. The odd angle made it hard to translate, so it took a few seconds for Cinder to understand what she was asking for and why.

"I suppose I can take a short break, if you're really in that much pain," she relented. "You're lucky you're cute," she added as she carefully activated her Semblance.

The reaction was instant. Neo sighed with relief at the warmth, eyes full of soft gratitude and affection. Cinder rubbed slow, small circles over her stomach, feeling the smaller woman go languid under her touch. After a few more seconds, Neo's eyes fluttered closed.

"Is this warm enough?" Cinder asked. Neo nodded, a content smile playing across her lips. "Just ten minutes."

Neo opened her eyes and pouted at her.

"There is a reason I've been awake for," Cinder checked the time on her laptop, "about eighty hours now." Neo looked positively outraged.

"You need to sleep," she signed—easily decipherable now that Cinder had gotten a little more time to adjust to her current perspective. Not that the message was very appreciated.

"No, what I need is to finish this ridiculous project so I can move on to my two remaining essays, do all the work for a 'group project' because the rest of my assigned group are immature and unmotivated idiots, and study for my three exams this week," Cinder retorted.

"When are your essays due?"

Cinder elected not to answer, since admitting the due dates were two and three weeks away respectively wouldn't help her against Neo's accusatory glare.

"Your group project?"

Okay, so maybe it hadn't technically been assigned yet and was scheduled to be due in a month and a half, but all the information was in the syllabus. Cinder's class was full of imbeciles, and somehow she always got stuck in a group with some idiot or another who didn't understand what a lesbian was, so she was getting it out of the way to avoid interacting with anyone.

"Are all three of your exams actually this week?"

Two of them, and one of those barely counted more towards the final grade in the class than a small quiz. Her continued silence was answer enough; Neo knew her too well.

"You're going to burn yourself out again." Neo's eyes were unbearably sad, so Cinder looked away.

"I'm fine," she dismissed the concern. A hand grabbed her chin and yanked her head down so her eyes met Neo's again.

"I watched you collapse in the middle of campus last year, and I almost got in trouble for pulling a knife on the paramedics to make them let me stay with you. I got a scared video call from Winter four months ago because you fainted in her fancy rich-person hot tub and nearly drowned," Neo reminded her. “Do I need to go on?”

"I can handle it this time," Cinder insisted, growing agitated. Neo took a calming breath before responding.

"No you can't. You always say it but you never can. You end up in an exhausted daze. You work yourself into a frenzy. You get into fits of rage...which honestly scare me."

"I would never lay a hand on—!" Cinder was cut off when Neo pressed a finger to her lips.

"Not for myself. I'm scared you'll lose control and take it out on yourself again," Neo corrected her. "You haven't in a while, but..." Neo trailed a hand down Cinder's left arm, tracing her scars.

"I just...I need to...I have to keep working. I can't let myself fall behind. I can't..." Cinder faltered. Neo sighed.

"I know," she acknowledged. She knew about the past, knew why Cinder relapsed into these desperate attempts to excel, to stay ahead. "But it's pointless if you destroy yourself trying."

"I've only ended up being sent to the hospital three times since I started college," Cinder argued. Neo was unimpressed.

"Congratulations! And you've managed to barely avoid hospitalization how many times now?"

"I—that isn't relevant!" Cinder hissed. Neo scowled.

"Really? It's not? How many times have you ended up so exhausted that you were bedridden for days? How many times have you gone into a mental decline because you were incapacitated? And how many more times are you going to make me watch you suffer like that?"

"If you want to leave me, just get it over with!" Cinder spat bitterly. Neo's eyes widened, hurt and shocked. Cinder flinched, realizing she'd crossed a very important line. "I didn't mean...I don't know why I said that."

"An abandonment complex, emotional instability, a mess of insecurities you mask with your ego, previous girlfriends who couldn't handle you or only wanted your body...and like I've been saying, you need sleep,” Neo replied, recovering. "Also, my cramps?"

"What?" Cinder realized she'd subconsciously deactivated her Semblance at some point and quickly remedied that. "Oh. Sorry."

"I'm going to make a deal with you," Neo informed her abruptly. Cinder raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

"What kind of deal?"

"The 'ridiculous project' you're trying to finish. Tell me about it, and I'll explain," Neo replied. Cinder clenched her teeth at the mere mention of it.

"It's an assigned experiment, a five to ten-page report on it, and an oral presentation. And the professor hates me. He goes out of his way to make every class, every test, and every assignment hell for me. I have to work harder than anyone so he can't get away with failing me out of spite. If I make even one mistake..." she growled.

"When is it due?"

"The day after tomorrow. It was assigned two weeks ago, but three days ago he realized he 'accidentally' gave me the wrong experiment. In other words, he's making me do a two-week project within five days—after I'd already finished the one he previously assigned me."

"Watts," Neo guessed. Cinder had come back from his class angry enough times that it wasn't even a question.

"Yeah," she confirmed anyway. Neo wrinkled her nose.

"I already hated that guy, and I hated him more and more every time you came back from his class in a bad mood, but this shit he's pulling now is the final straw, so I'm going to get him fired," she declared. Cinder let out an amused huff.

"And how will you do that?" she asked. She didn’t expect an actual answer but Neo didn't even hesitate.

"It may include breaking and entering, small and well-placed incidents, a flat tire, some bottles of the expensive alcohol he isn't supposed to have on campus, a sedative, and if we're lucky, a little inadvertent assistance from gravity and Ironwood."

"Just how long have you been planning this?" Cinder was taken aback at the immediate response. Neo considered.

"The time you locked me out of your dorm after his class because you were so furious you wanted to hit something, and you were worried you'd see so much red you might accidentally hit me in blackout rage. You've never told me what happens in his class to make you so angry, or even if it's actually him or just another student—though I was pretty sure it was him—so I planned for both situations."

"I'm impressed," Cinder commented. Neo smirked. “Now what was that ‘deal’ you mentioned?”

"You finish the report for your project, then eat something more substantial than coffee and whatever quick snacks you've been living off of for the past few days. And then we go to my dorm and you get some damn sleep."

"How did you know I'm working on the report right now?" Cinder was taken aback. "And how do you know I haven't been eating?"

"Because I can see it on your computer. And once again, you've done this before, so I know you don't take the time for more than the minimum amount of food to keep hunger from 'distracting' you," Neo pointed out, almost accusingly.

"I haven't even started working on the oral presentation. I'll do all that after I'm completely finished."

"Nope. You can start that part when you're well-rested. If you make me physically drag you to bed while I'm on my period, I'll make damn sure you regret it," Neo threatened with a scowl.

“Fine,” Cinder gave in reluctantly. Neo smiled brightly, and dammit, it was nigh impossible for Cinder to stay bitter in the face of such genuine fondness, joy, and relief. She wondered when she’d gotten so soft—even if only a select few people got to see that soft part of her—and realized she didn’t even mind anymore.

[nico-di-genova]

It’s a Date

Prompt (from @sun-ni-day): Missing scene of Carlos asking TK out.

       Maybe it was the beer, or Michelle’s goading, or Carlos’ apparent lack of self-preservation skills. Whatever the reason, he’s here now, staring down the end of his phone, finger hovering over the call button like it’s the trigger of his gun. He’s got just enough sense left to hesitate, hear the logical side of himself that says TK’s already turned him down once. The only thing he knew about the man was his name, and even that had been discovered through his own snooping. but then the alcohol wins out, and he presses his thumb to the screen without thinking any further.

       The phone rings.

       And rings.

       And rings, until Carlos is pretty sure it’s about to go straight to voicemail. He hadn’t even prepared for what he was going to say, and now he had to fit it into roughly a minute of awkward one sided conversation. He should hang up, he almost does, until the phone clicks and there’s a staticky sound that tells him someone’s on the other end.

       “Hello?” TK’s voice is groggy when he finally speaks, laced with annoyance. Carlos hadn’t taken a second to consider the time before he’d jumped the gun, and now here he was, already starting this thing off on the wrong foot.

       “Um. Hi.”

       “Carlos, wha-? It’s two in the morning,” there’s rustling on the other end of the line, the sound of the man beginning to move around. He can almost see it. TK, shirtless, sitting up in his bed with his hair all mused, looking confused, and wondering why he’s just been pulled from his peaceful slumber. It was an image he hadn’t thought too much about before but would most definitely be revisiting later.  

       “Yeah, sorry,” Carlos apologized, running a hand along the back of his neck, “I just-. I had-. I’m drunk.”

       It had been a stressful day, and he hadn’t thought much about the three beers he’d drank in rapid succession an hour ago, but they were definitely catching up with him now. Maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t have listened to Michelle.

       TK laughed, the same kind of breathy thing he’d exhaled against Carlos’ lips many times now, the sound alone was enough to alert something within him. It spoke to kisses stolen after being slammed up against walls, hands pulling at clothes, the desperate way TK would clutch at his biceps until Carlos finally gave him what he wanted. He hates that TK’s laugh is enough to have him wanting for more. Hates that the man has already managed to leave this much of an impression.

       “Wow. Officer Reyes, how very unprofessional of you,” he practically purrs, and Carlos is going to lose it. TK is a brat, a jerk. He’s too much of a flirt for his own good and Carlos so very desperately wants to see him again.

       “You’re an asshole,” he says, ignoring the smirk that pulls at his lips. He will not be impressed at TK’s boldness, not now anyway. He has a mission, one made under the influence of too many beers, but a mission, nonetheless.

       TK sighs, more rustling coming in from the background, “Yeah, that seems to be the consensus. So… why are you calling me? If you need a drinking buddy I don’t think I’m going to be much help.”

       Right. Carlos hadn’t forgotten their conversation at the station, it’d been playing in his head on a constant loop. TK was an addict, recovering anyway, who’d just gotten completely screwed up by a relationship gone bad. He couldn’t help but think that whoever let TK go must have been blind, because the man was easily the prettiest thing he’d ever laid his eyes on. Sure, maybe he was being a little superficial, basing everything off of TK’s looks. But it was hard to judge him on anything else when TK has given him so very little. This call is his attempt to remedy that, to extend an olive branch that the man will hopefully accept. He wants to put that disaster of a dinner behind them, maybe take a step toward getting to know TK on his own terms.

       “No, it’s definitely not that,” he says, tone turning serious for a moment, “and I’m sorry, again, for the champagne, and the dinner. It was stupid.”

       “It’s fine. You didn’t know. I should’ve said something, but I got so-. Anyway, we’re cool.”

       There’s an awkward silence as they both try to find a way to redirect the conversation. Carlos isn’t a complete idiot; he knows this is a touchy subject for TK. Hell, if the roles were reversed he wouldn’t want to talk about it either. He’s glad though, that he knows, only because it will help him understand TK better in the long run. He’s hurt, healing, and his behavior is so much easier to understand now that he knows where it stems from. He doesn’t know everything, not yet, but it’s enough.

       Carlos shifts around on the couch, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, eyes falling to the coffee table. The beer bottles and take out from he and Michelle were still littered there. A week ago he’d hit his back against the edge of the thing when TK had rolled them off the couch and onto the floor. It had hurt like a bitch, just enough to be an annoyance.

       “Can I ask you something?” he says, when the silence has dragged out for far too long, and he’s getting worried that TK might hang up on him.

       The man makes a noise, a hum of agreement, “sure.” He sounds tired, probably because he’d spent most of the night before in the drunk tank of the police station and people didn’t tend to get much sleep there.

       “What are you doing Friday?”

       No use beating around the bush. If he didn’t ask now he was going to get cold feet, get too in his head about the whole thing. He wasn’t the best at handling rejection, it tended to make him feel a little self-conscious. But TK had flipped about the dinner because it had been unexpected, he’d hadn’t had a chance to prepare for it. Maybe, if Carlos asked him out officially, gave him enough of a heads up, it might help to ease his nerves.

       There was hesitation on the end of the line, movement, the sound of TK’s breath coming through tinny and off.

       Finally, he inhaled slowly and said, “I have a shift in the morning.”

       “And at night?”

       “I usually go to the bar with the team.”

       Usually being the operative word here. Carlos was drunk enough that he could feel hopeful. The way TK had looked at him today, an openness that hadn’t been there before, it was enough to fuel his confidence.

       “Would you…maybe want to go with me instead?”

       He wasn’t suggesting anything too crazy. From what he’d gathered, TK liked to stick to his comfort zone. He was new to town, didn’t know very many hang out spots. He tended to go wherever his dad led him. Since arriving in Austin he’d gravitated toward the fire station, his house, and the bar, with the occasional stop at Carlos’ place. He was banking on that familiarity. Introducing TK to someplace new probably wouldn’t work, so he’d hang out with him in the one place he knew TK didn’t mind being anyway.

       There was another long stretch of silence as TK considered Carlos’ words. He waited, tapping his foot anxiously. He wasn’t usually such a high strung person, not where boys were concerned. Dating had never really been his thing, but something about TK… Something about him was different, and he was hellbent on finding out what that thing was.

       Finally, after what feels like years, TK responds, “I don’t know. Are you asking me out?”

       “I’m asking you to hang out. Play darts, throw back some mineral water, dance,” and here’s where he lays on the suggestive nature, knowing they’d both become proficient at the flirting thing, “you seemed to be pretty good at that last time.”

       That first night they’d met, after the whole saving the baby from the tree thing, at the bar, he hadn’t really expected the man to take charge of the situation so quickly. He still remembered TK climbing into his truck before he left, stradling Carlos’ lap and kissing him until they both had to pull apart to breathe. TK had held his interest from the moment he’d met him. He was like a tornado, blowing into Carlos’ life and upending everything in the process. Carlos wanted to keep getting destroyed by him, sucked into his mess, because something about TK was so intoxicatingly good. Even with all bad parts, the stuff he tried to hide away, Carlos wanted it all. He’d never felt this way about anyone before. It scared him as much as it probably did TK, but he couldn’t seem to get a hold on his emotions.

       TK spoke, soft and hesitant, “okay. Yeah.”

       He’s sure the surprise in his voice is evident when he replies, “yeah?”

       “Sure, you’re paying for my drinks though,” and there’s that hint of a smile in his voice.

       Carlos grins right back, “okay.”  

       “Can I go to bed now?” TK asked, yawning just to emphasize his point.

       Carlos nodded, before remembering that the man couldn’t see him, “yeah, sorry. See you Friday.”

       TK must already be pulling the phone away from his ear when he answers, because Carlos almost misses the quiet, “it’s a date,” right before he hangs up.

       A date. And fuck it if he sounds like some giddy high schooler, he’s going on a date with TK Strand. There was no way he was going to mess this one up.  

[nthngbxtfanfics]

Not her - Jooheon scenario

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | FINAL

How did I end up in this messed up situation? Why do I have to sit here? Can’t someone actually shoot me?

I was sitting on the floor in the Monsta X dorm. Food displayed all over the table, me leaning against the sofa, between Changkyun and Hoseok. A beer in my hand. All seven of us looked towards the couple in front of us. Jaw slightly dropped open from disbelief.

One of Monsta X’s fierce rappers just introduced his new so-called ‘girlfriend’.

“Congrats, I guess?” started Changkyun to avoid an even more awkward atmosphere. Shownu, who was sitting on the other side of Changkyun, reached his hand out to my jaw and shut my lips together. Not taking his eyes off from the scene in front of him.

“Thank you bro.” Jooheon leaned forward to give his younger friend a fist bump, which Changkyun accepted. All our eyes followed Jooheon as he straightened himself up and threw his arm over his girlfriends shoulder.

“Don’t you have anything to say Y/N?” Jooheon looked straight at me, waiting for encouraging words from me. But before I was able to say anything, I took a sip of my beer and put it back on the coffee table. He anticipated my answer the most, since his eyes started to sparkle and an awaiting smile appeared over his plump red lips. I guess they just made out, before they came here. I parted my lips and let a small breathy sigh escape my lips. By now I noticed how all eyes laid on me.

“What?” I looked around to face everyone around the table. 

“Well, congrats!” I answered annoyed at the sudden attention.

“Yah, Y/N! Why can’t you be nicer?” Jooheons lips showed no smile, but rather a poud.

Sulking baby!

I rolled my eyes, making my thoughts obvious without stating them aloud. By now Jooheon should have been able to read my mind and he obviously did. He let a ‘tsk’ out and ignored me shortly and turned his attention to the other six men.

“If you would excuse us? Me and my Girlfriend are going in Hoseok-hyungs room to have some alone time, ok? I would not like to be interrupted. See ya’ll.” Jooheon and his girlfriend leaved the room after his announcement, both having a smirk plastered in their faces.

“Yah Jooheon! Who told you to go in my room? I don’t want you two to have sex in my room! I repeat - not in my room!” Hoseok got ignored by the two lovebirds and sat back down on the floor, frustrated shoving a piece of chicken in his mouth.

“Can someone actually believe, that he brought a girlfriend over?” asked Kihyun.

“I actually thought he would introduce Y/N as his new girlfriend!” I choked on my beer after Minhyuk shared his thoughts.

“I also thought the same and didn’t imagine, him bringing a complete stranger into our dorm.” Hoseok agreed

“Well, ..” Changkyun got interrupted by some noise coming from the other side of the wall. You could easily recognize the sounds of moans and screaming. All heads turned towards the wall behind the sofa.

“This punk! I told him ..” Wonho interrupted himself, giving up from continuing to argue with himself.

I turned my head back to the table and looked down on my lap, fiddling with the can in my hands. Kihyun noticed my action.

“Y/N, I feel so bad for you should I give him a lecture?” asked Kihyun worried.

Kihyun was one of the first people who knew about my crush on Jooheon, heck he noticed it before I even knew about it myself. The others followed behind me after I talked with him many times. The other members noticed that me and Kihyun spend a lot of much time together, just talking. To an extend that they thought we were dating. After Hyungwon asked the both of us that burning question, we both were fast to clear up the misunderstanding, followed by my confession about my crush on their rapper. And of course did my crush go unnoticed by one certain person called Lee Jooheon. He didn’t even bothered when this rumor about me and Kihyun circulated through the dorm, he seemed as if he didn’t cared at all. But I’m glad that he doesn’t know about my feelings for him, I don’t want to ruin the friendship between us. We had so many obstacles to reach the level we are now and I don’t want to throw all away , just because my heart made this stupid decision to fall in love with him.

“Thank you, but I think it won’t help. What are you gonna tell him? - Hey Jooheon you have to break up with your girlfriend, cuz Y/N is in love with you?” I asked him in return. Kihyun nodded, agreeing that this is not an approach he can easily make. I took the last sip of beer that was still inside of it. I forced myself up to grab myself a new cold can of beer, out of the fridge and rejoined the others in the living room. When I passed Hoseoks door, I could hear the noise clearly and stood there for a few seconds with my eyes glued on the door.

I snapped out of my thoughts after I heard Minhyuk calling out my name. 

“Y/N, can you bring me one too?” I turned my head towards him and nodded, grabbing the new can with my other hand. Passing the door as fast as I could. I held his beer right next to his head he bid me a small thanks and took the can out of my hand. I rounded the table towards Hoseok to go back onto my place. I made the great decision to turn my butt towards Hoseoks face.

“Y/N I didn’t knew you’ve been working out.” Hoseok leaned back and thought it would be funny to smack my ass.

“Yah! Lee Hoseok!” I flashed my head towards him, holding my hands over the touched area. Heat running up my cheeks and turning pink. Hoseok looked at my face and his loud laugh erupted to fill the room. I stood  frozen in front of Hoseok, processing the situation. Then I felt another hand on my free butt cheek which has not been tormented.

“Y/N-ssi, your ass really does look good though, next time you work out. Take me with you.” Changkyun chuckled keeping his hand where he reached for, squeezing it a little.

“True, take me with you too.” Hoseok agreed after recovering from his hysterical laughing.

“But Hyung, your ass is fine enough. Changkyun is the one who need some more juice in there” stated Minhyuk. Everyone started laughing and Changkyun acted offended. Putting his hand over his heart, mouth wide open. Even I couldn’t hold back my giggle and sat back down between the two.

We continued to laugh and talk about random stuff throughout the night. Ignoring the noises from the other room. By now the most of us got pretty drunk except for Hoseok, Kihyun and Hyungwon. Some of us acted wasted, other were more put together like Shownu he seems like he can handle a pretty good amount of alcohol.

But here we are, Minhyuk and I clinging onto eachother singing, while trot music was blasting through the speakers as loud as possible. Changkyun is almost falling asleep on Shownus shoulder mumbling something to himself. The others were cheering me and Minhyuk on, shouting their self made fanchant towards us. The Music switched from trot to the most recent hits, girlgroup songs were definitely on the list. Me and Minhyuk tried to dance to the choreography of Gashina by Sunmi.

Let’s say it that way, we failed miserably.

The others couldn’t hold back their laughter and watched. Especially when we tried the moves in a seductive way. We ended up in each others arms, almost falling. We parted our ways again and kept on dancing and singing. At some point we were going off and head banged when the music changed to some hiphop. Hoseok joined us, together we started moving and rapping. I couldn’t even say one word the right way, only gibberish came out of my drunk lips. We went so hard that my and Minhyuks head collided in some kind of way. Resulting in us laying on the floor laughing our asses off. The whole room erupted with laughter.

A pair walked in to the living room, watching the situation unfold, looking  around the room confused . Jooheon was searching for a face to look at, so he could question what happened. He decided to walk up to the speakers and turned off the music. Everyone wasn’t pleased after the loss of music. Jooheon walked up to me, who was still laying on the floor.

“You should go to bed Y/N, you’re completely wasted.” Jooheon slung his arms under my armpits to pick me up, I whined not wanting to leave the comfort of the floor. I felt someone tugging onto my legs, it was Minhyuk.

“Jooheonie ~ let go of Y/N we had so much fun right now. You can’t take her away!” Minhyuk tried to keep me on the floor. My body felt limp, I don’t wanted to go to bed, not yet. Jooheon tried to pull me away from his friend. He started this kind of habit of taking care of me when I’m drunk. We drank together a lot, he knows how I am when I’m drunk and I know how he is when he’s the wasted one. Jooheon doesn’t like it when I’m getting completely drunk, because I tend to cling on someone random and become really needy. My hormones start to go crazy and Jooheon always tries to avoid me getting with someone I don’t know, he becomes extremely protective over me.

His girlfriend stood by the door watching the situation unfold, she wasn’t amused by the fact that her boyfriend went straight to me.

Kihyun jumped up from his spot to help me stand up and took me out of Jooheons grip. Hoseok took care of Minhyuk and helped him towards the couch.

“Why did you let Y/N drink so much?” asked Jooheon annoyed.

“Jooheon she’s a grown up woman she can do whatever she wants.” Hyungwon defended me and walked over to the kitchen to grab two glasses of water. After Hyungwon returned and handed Minhyuk his glass of water. He turned towards our direction and gave me the other glass. I slided down against Kiyhuns body, sitting on the floor knees in front of my chest. Kihyun stood still, supporting my back. Jooheon looked down at me with an annoyed expression, the other two men followed his gaze and looked back up to watch Jooheons face. He kept his gaze on me until his girlfriend called out his name. His attention went straight to her abandoning me on the floor.

I took a sip of water, my dry throat was relived and happy about the moisture. After finishing my glass of water, Hyungwon sat down right in front of me and took it out of my hand.

“OK, Y/N I’ll bring you to bed.” Kihyun helped me stand up and Hyungwon supported my other side, both walked me towards Hoseoks bedroom. Since they always let me sleep in there when I sleep over at the dorm. When we reached the closed-door, both men froze and debated with eachother if they should let me sleep in that room after what happened there a few moments ago. Both decided against it and walked me to the other room, where Minhyuk, Jooheon and Shownu were sharing currently. They laid me down onto Jooheons bed, since they assumed that he’ll sleep with his girlfriend in Hoseoks room. I fell flat on my stomach, face in his pillow. I inhaled deeply, taking in his scent and falling asleep immediately. Kihyun sighed and walked towards the side of the bed. He debated with himself if he should let me sleep in my clothes or change me in something more comfortable.

“We should change her clothes, she can’t just sleep in those tight pants. She might throw up at night. And those won’t help one bit.” Stated Hyungwon, Kihyun nodded to the suggestion.

“Then go grab something we can change her into.” demanded Kihyun. As Hyungwon was about to leave, came Hoseok together with a passed out Minhyuk through the door frame. He threw the drunk man onto his bed, not caring about his comfort. He walked straight to my passed out form.

“I’m about to head and grab her some clothes. Do you have anything maybe?” Hyungwon turned to Hoseok.

“You can look in my room, there must be a shirt she can wear. My clothes would look pretty oversized on her.” Hoseok turned his upper body towards Hyungwon to instruct him, where he could find the items. Hyundwon went out of the room to grab the stuff and returned fast.

“OK Y/N let’s get you out of these clothes. Hyung help me turn her around.” Wonho walked to the other side of the bed after Kihyun instructed him what to do. As Kihyun was about to pull my shirt over my chest,  Jooheon bursted into the room, a bit mad.

“What are you thinking you’re doing?” questioned Jooheon.

“We are trying to change Y/N into some more comfier clothes.” Hoseok defended their innocent act.

“Who told you you could do that? And why is she in my bed? Isn’t she supposed to be in your room?” Jooheon turned his attention to Hoseok, who looked at him confused.

“We thought that you and your girlfriend are going to sleep in Hyungs room” Hyungwon tried to clear the misunderstanding.

“No, I never said that she’s sleeping over. I just brought her home, since Y/N is here.” fired back Jooheon, clearly annoyed at the situation.

“Sorry for that unpleasant misunderstanding. Then we’ll bring her to Hoseoks room. Y/N ~ wake up we’ll bring you somewhere else ok? You can continue sleeping there ok?” Kihyun tried his best to wake me up and not startle me at the same time. I couldn’t open my eyes or even say a word. All I did was groan as a respond. Hoseok and Kihyun pulled me up and dragged me towards the said room, Hyungwon followed us with clothes in his hands. Jooheons gaze followed us leaving the room. We walked into the room, Hoseok saw his room for the first time this night and it was messy. Even more messy before he left it. All three stood in the middle of the room frozen and examining our surroundings. Hoseoks covers and pillow laid in a corner of the room, used condoms laid on the bed and on the floor. They definitely did it a few times, cum and other questioning fluids stained the bed. The room smelled like sweat, unpleasantly to sleep in.

Hoseok got frustrated and mad at the younger one, for not cleaning up behind him and letting the mess behind. Kihyun was too disgusted to lay me down onto the bed.

“I feel like Y/N shouldn’t sleep in here.” Hyungwon stood in the doorway judging the room. Hoseok snapped his head towards the man in the doorway, annoyance clearly marking over his facial expression.

“What about me?” asked Hoseok.

“You can clean it up later, but she needs a place to sleep in” fired back Hyungwon. Kihyun was thinking of a place he could put me in, since I got pretty heavy after every passed minute.

“Let’s lay her on my bed, I actually have a big bed. We both can sleep on it and if something happens I’ll be there to help her.” After Kihyun stated his idea, they made their way towards their room and laid me on the said bed. Instantly, the smell of freshly washed covers filled my nose and I sighed with relief. They changed me into one of Hoseoks shirts and tugged me into bed. Hoseok actually stayed in the room, he refused to sleep in his messy room, he laid in bed with Hyungwon and Changkyun was long asleep on his own bed. Kihyun made himself ready and laid down himself, keeping some distant between us. Not too long and everyone in the dorm was fast asleep.

I woke up with the biggest headache I’ve ever had and a first unfamiliar environment, but soon recognized the room. I couldn’t remember anything from the night before. I looked around the room and saw another bed next to where I was. I noticed a passed out man laying on it, it didn’t took me long to say that it was the Maknae. Suddenly a sharp pain went through my head, I let a deep groan escape my lips. That resulted in Changkyun waking up and moving under his covers.

“Morning.” He turned his head towards me, his whole body except for his head were under a blanket. Humming in response, my eyes closed again.

“We got pretty wasted last night. Huh?” his chuckle low and his voice deeper and raspier than ever. Both of us started to laugh until we both got punished with yet another sharp pain through the head and stopped laughing. After some time, Changkyun and me made our way towards the living room.

“Well, Y/N-ssi that shirt is pretty short though, whose is it?” I stopped walking and turned around to look at my behind, Changkyun looked me up and down, until I turned fully around and flicked his forehead. He immediately regretted his words and let out a small “Sorry~”. You reached the living room, where four men were sitting around, hungover and eyes glued onto the TV.

“Oh hey Y/N! Have you slept well?“ Hyungwon was the first to notice us.

“Good morning to you too Hyung.” Changkyun sat down onto the floor, infront of Shownus legs.

“I slept like a rock and I have a big headache, but I guess I’m fine.” I stated.

“To prevent a headache, you should’ve not drank that much last night.” Jooheon sat on the other side of the couch, his eyes glued onto his phone screen. I ignored his nagging and turned my attention back to Hyungwon.

“And how come you’re awake that early?” Hyungwon chuckled at my confused state.

“It’s not morning Y/N it’s almost afternoon. We are all awake for a long time now.” I smiled and laughed a little about the fact, that I was sleeping almost the whole day. I looked around and noticed some members missing.

“Where are Hoseok and Kihyun?” I threw my question into the room and waited for an answer.

“ Hoseok is working out and Kihyun is making dinner.” Shownu answered my question not looking away from the TV screen. I decided to go to the kitchen to accompany Kihyun. I saw the said man standing in front of the stove. The smell of food went straight through my nostrils, loosing myself in the smell. I let out a small sigh. Kihyun noticed my presence and turned towards me.

“Oh hi Y/N, have you been sleeping well?” Kihyun turned back to the dish and stirred it. I Hummed in response and walked closer to him.The smell of the dish becoming stronger and my stomach responding to it.

“Wait a little, I’m almost done and we can eat. You can go get Hoseok and tell him that dinner is almost done.” After Kihyun finished his sentence, I waited a few seconds and made my way towards the self-made gym room.

As expected, Hoseok was working out. He noticed my presence and turned his head towards me. “You’re awake! Wanna work out?” He stopped his exercise.

“As much as I’d loved to, I might pass for today, too hungover to actually lift a my own arm. -” Hoseok chuckled at my remark.

“Kihyun said that dinner is almost ready and I’m here to tell you that.” I finished my sentence. Hoseok stood up and walked towards me.

“I didn’t knew that my shirt would be that short on you.” He stood in front of me and let out a low chuckle. My face instantly turned red, Hoseok was always able to make me flustered.

“Th-That’s your shirt? Did you change my clothes?” I asked, still flustered.

“Yeah, Me and Kihyun actually, we don’t wanted you to sleep in your own clothes. Hyungwon don’t wanted you to throw up around the whole place.” Hoseok walked past me towards the living room.

“Are you coming or not?” I got startled and followed right behind him. We reached the living room and I noticed that Jooheon was still on his phone, not taking his eyes off of it and smiling like a mad man. A sharp pain went through my heart instead of my brain, the thought of him loving someone else was painful. But I tried my best not to show any sign.

Kihyun called for us to sit down and eat, Minhyuk, Shownu and I helped Kihyun to put everything on the table. While we were all eating, I noticed from the corner of my eye, that Jooheon was still on his phone and stuffing food into his mouth. Jealousy filled my guts and I tried to ignore it. Kihyun noticed who I was watching and cleared his throat to get the rappers attention.

“Jooheon, please put your phone away, were eating.”

Jooehon looked up to Kihyun annoyed and laid his phone to the side. His gaze landed on me, he noticed my attire.

“Y/N whose shirt is that?” attention now on me.

“ Hoseoks, why?” I stated sassy, the jealousy speaking in me.

“Why are you wearing it? Don’t you have your own clothes?” Jooheon snapped back, more annoyed by now.

“Why do you care? I can wear the clothes of whoever I want. You’re not my dad nor my boyfriend. So mind your own business.” The jealousy being replaced by anger now.

“I’m not your boyfriend, but your best friend. And I care about you like a little sister. Here are six other men, you don’t know what goes on on their minds.” his voice got more stern than before. The word sister shot like an arrow through my chest.

“Why are you so pissed? Nothing happened to me!” At this point I didn’t cared about the people around me.

“Yah, both of you stop now. We are eating. If you wanna fight please do it outside.” Kihyun was pissed and stopped the fight before it escalated.

“Thank you for the meal.” I stood up right away, leaving the table.

“Y/N-ssi!” Hoseok tried to stop me from leaving.

“Yah! These are too short, change now! Y/N!” Jooheon saw my outfit on full display. The shirt went up a little, revealing a small part of my red lacy panties and the underline of my butt cheeks. I ignored his remark and walked straight to the room, where my clothes laid perfectly folded on a chair. I changed my clothes and heard how Kihyun and the others lectured Jooheon. 

I don’t understand why he has to be so annoying and protective, he has a girlfriend now. He should care about her not me. It hurts enough to know that he loves someone else.

Why does he has to terrorize me?

After I finished changing my clothes and grabbed my stuff. I walked past the group of boys and was about to head back home. The boys were calling after me, but I walked out of the dorm and out of the building, taking the next bus to my place. I turned off my phone, too mad to talk with anyone.

When I reached my place, I took a quick shower and went straight to bed. The hangover still present in my brain.

[popculturebuffet]

OK KO Reviews: Back In Red Action

As you can probably tell by the fact Red Action week started 4 days ago my schedule slipped a bit, with a bunch of unexpected stuff, an expected job for a friend, and a day of laziness with the isle of armor meant I never got around to writing it. As such i’ve decided to play catchup.. all 3 reviews, HOPEFULLY all in one day. And yes 3 as I decided to cut Plaza Prom for a number of reasons: It’s not all that necessary, I was doing it more for myself, and if I find time before or after pride ends, I can easily cover it in isolation, so being done in a timely manner isn’t an issue like it is for the red action ones, or the other three pride month reviews I have planned after red action week. So witht hat dust settled let’s talk about Enid.  While I went on about Enid a LOT last time, for good reason, a LOT has happened since episode 3 as you’d probably guess, episodes I will cover in the future because enid is awesoeme. And the two episodes that built her up a bit had plaza prom as the creamy filling for that airing sandwitch, and were unsuprisingly good. But since we’re not covering them just yet Enid confronted her ex best friend and dealt with her and rad’s bumpy past, and that coupled with our previous episodes and some others have melted down her walls a bit. She’s still a bit distant, and still terrible at her job as ever, but she’s grown as a person and grown past her past. Now it’s her turn to do what K.O. has done for her, he was inttrumental in getting her to stop ignoring Elodie and confront her, for someone else. Let’s recap this.  back in red action under the cut...

We open with a normal day at the Plaza and Enid’s alone, with K.O. offscreen and Rad not in this episode so he’s not around and Gar clearly gone or else he’d be yelling at enid probably.  Enid’s checking around on her phone and after checking to see if anyone’s there, once again decides to look at Red’s social because that’s not creepy. But Enid browses it wondering why Red came here in the first place, figuring there’s probably better food, better this , better that and trips up on a picture of Red with her old girlfriend, Yellow Technique.. and yeah i’m not beating around the bush, while they never come right out and SAY IT, the episode contextualizes things as such. I Mean granted given my shipping habits on this blog, you can see i’m willing to ship plenty of kids together, and even then only in a “Awww” holding hands, maybe an awkard kiss way, and am a shipping monster who has plenty, but here i have no horse in this race, it’s just really obvious subtext. 

Anyways enough Cul De Sacs, Enid sees a new picture... Red taking a selfie with an unaware Enid.. and who probably just heard Enid’s last few sentences and at the very least dosen’t care. After a flirty “Hey Ya” and enid awkardly hiding her phone, Red buys some gum for cover then invites Enid to hang out for the afternoon then leaves.  Then KO pops up out of nowhere hilariously, and for his only scene this episode to gush about Enid’s sorta date, though Enid is paranoid it’s just a setup for some sorta joke or prank.. which given that red was willing to set a child on fire while her friend spanked him because that’s not weird at all, yeah kinda a good point, even if she’s ignoring the obvious signals that, for once, Red seems to be genuine. She WAS a bit awkward at times during asking her out, pausing or stammering, she just quickly recovered. But it also shows the downside, if breifly to red’s kind of life: If your an ass to everybody, even people who genuinely like you may worry your just messing with them. 

But when Enid goes to return the gum, she finds Red not only waiting but ninja snatching the gum.. and doing that to a NINJA takes skill. Top notch. Enid realizing this isn’t a prank holy fuck her crush really did ask her out out of nowhere, suggests a few things before Red shoots them down gently and revealz their going crusing. She also has enid turn her back and cover her ears while she summons her submarine.. using a sentai/power rangers set of poses and summon chant, as you do.  With their ride here and enid buckeled into Red’s Submarine, and Red dodging any questions Enid has about her past , you know, the oppsitie of normal first date behavior. Everyone knows your supposed to talk a lot, get them coffee, look deep in her eyes and tell her about your family, hold hands then shoot cocaine into your eyes and rock a buglarly. 

But no instead of any of that Red has something just as romantic and dangerous planned their going high into the...

Which, befiting this wonderful show, is an actual place that’s full of explosions, maurading gangs and dinosaurs.. I mean every place is full of dinosaurs but this place has extra dinosaurs. It’s like the savage land if it didn’t annoy me as a setting. So the two cruise on exotica style, though in a great bit Red keeps enid from unbuckling, and when asked about her past again Red dodges and instead takes them down thunder road, where the lightining strikes.... I.. I can’t stop waxing lyircal this review. Help.  On thunder road the two share a moment when both go up top and see how damn pretty the place is, what with all the glowing orbs, Red gets electrocuted and both look at each other lovingly at diffrent points with that faded light effect, you know the one. I”d name it jeremy but it definitely has a name. The two really bond and it’s telling that it’s those moments where things go well: Enid’s not nervously trying to ask first date questions, if not wrongfully and Red isn’t running from them. Their just two teenagers attracted to one another getting to know you getting to know all about you.. getting to know if you like me.  Anyways, enough of my nonsense that’s now clearly a medical condition, Red’s old friends show up to spoil the mood, with Red brushing them off as performance artists, and a chase insues.. and it’s really well done. I’ll get into this more in a minute. The two max max race, Enid gets into the cockpit and makes good use of it as it’s just like shooting womp rats back home. With help from red, they manage to get two of the hue troop cars to collide and the two hide behind a sign despite it telling them not to back to the future style. It’s here we get into the heart of the episode and what makes it really work for me: For most of the season, before and though not as often after this, Enid’s been standofish even to people she cares about, blunt and hard to get to open up. But the two incidents I mentoined last time that caused her to harden her heart and swallow her tears... got some closure in thos enidcentric eps. IN short Elodie returned and Enid tried to act like it didn’t bother her and Elodie throwing their relationship away like hot garbage for her own admitssion into point and then came back smug as ever, but KO once again got through to her and convinced her that she needed to face her and in a stunning action sequence, i’ll gush about it more when I review the episode eventually she whalloped her and got closure, even if Elodie was ssitll super popular. She then patched things up with rad after Cupid showed up to force her and rad on a date to deal with their sexual tension since Rad went on one with her in middle school that went terribly because rad listend to his friends and his friends are obnoxious piles of toxic masculinty who sucked and were not unsuprisngly phased out of most of season 2 aside from the one episode they were needed and only showed up in season 3 for rad to tell them off. It went poorly, Enid nearly died and Rad saved her and apologized for being a dick, taking the two from would be exes who are understandibly bitter to best friends at long last. 

So Enid’s healed some of her wounds.. sure she’s still standoffish.. but she’s finally opening up and letting the right ones in. And now it’s Red’s turn. Red has the same problem: She dosen’t hide but she does run or scream at issues, and as someone who tends to be quick to anger I totally understand that, a tendency to lash out due to some other thing bothering you even when the person did nothing wrong. But her crush, and now possible relationship with, Enid gets Red to finally stop dodging Enid’s questions and open up and we get Red, and her friends Backstory Red and Friends are The Hue Troop, a group of warriors founded by a woman who long ago found a powerful prisim that linked to the mysterious Zordon-like alien Ren-Bow, a precog who could sense oncoming disasters and thus empowered the woman and her 4 friends with attitude to  stop them. Like Minority Report meets Power Rangers but the Minioirty Report part actually works. And like civil war 2 if the leaders of both factions weren’t douchebags especially you Carol. But given the fight is eternal they pased their powers on generation after generation , and it was Red and co’s turn. But Red chafed at being part of a team, wearing uniforms, following orders from a rock, doing sily poses, which came to a boil when she accidently, truly accidently broke the Prisim and rather than face up to what she’d done, ran for it and thus ended up here, hiding from her past in the past.  It’s also revealed Enid’s one way crush on her is not one way. Red had also been stalking HER social media, like Enid too intimidated to make a move before now, though we DO have an explination for what changed things coming. She liked how unlike Red enid had her own style, moves and a disregard for authority. it also frankly explains a lot about Red.  spent her whole life probably, given we see what could be a kid version of red or red’s mom in the finale, preparing to be a hue trooper, given the whole generational thing i’m theorizing the Hue Troop we see are the kids of either the first gen hue troop or the second, the flashback also supporting this. Her whole life being what other people told her to be, following orders doing poses.. not being her own woman. So when being forced to turn fugitive meant she had to hide, it also meant she was free to do what she want, and went about it in the worst way: being rude to people and lashing out at them because she could, only spearing the girl she found cute and her two friends, who went along with the beahavior likely due to both liking red and being deeply insecure themselves as we saw last time, from her obnoxiousness. Even if it wasn’t a generational thing, I still supset the pressure of having to be part of a regimented group drained her and rather than talk about it she likely just avoided it like she tends to do.. and like ENID tends to do.. So it’s says something for Enid’s own development when she encourages Red, who also asked her out since Red figured shed idn’t have much time left, to STOP RUNNING and face her problems.. and punch them in the face.

Yellow shows up right as Red agrees, and a fight breaks out.. and a damn good one. I put a pin in this earlier, but the shows battle scenes, vechicalr and man to mand, are utterly gorgeous, well coregraphed and part of why I belive the animation style is so simplified. Besides allowing for the necessarily unique background cast, it also means that when it’s time for an action scene they can go balls out and give it everything without the episodes taking as long as say steven universe or a disney show.And it shows as even this brief fight is tense, well done and full of emotion as Red’s ex and her former friends fight Red and her new girlfriend with both sides having every reason to go at it. It’s crimnally cut short when a metor hits.. the same metor delivers the crystal. While the rest of the Hue Troop instantly realize this and run, Red dosen’t because it was in the distant past.. and in a great move Enid has to tell her dumbass girlfriend that they ARE in HER past. They run, Red is hit and we get the cover image for the shippers and to make it CRYSTAL CLEAR that yes this was a date. They didn’t steal a few picassos while on a sexy date heist but still. 

Also  Red stole the crystal, and her friends assume it was her plan all along. Red almost takes credit for it.. but a glare from Enid shoots that plan down and Red, once again genuinely opens up, apologizing for running from them and her problems,and implicitly hurting Yellow, as while they clearly aren’t together anymore, either due to this or other shenanigans, it still had to hurt what red did. She also thanks Enid for being the one to show her the error of her ways. that being said with a fresh prisim, it’s just as likely that the Hue Troop can now clone it and get a copy back to the past for Red to be her own grandma, as I theroize given the finale again and all and red still being around.. more on that nexttime, the troop have a working prisim till then. They part as friends with the rest of the troop encoourging enid to visit sometime and Yellow giving her approval and getting her own closure as the troop leaves.  And so we end as Red and Enid decide to resume their everything but saying it’s a date date and go Lava Surfing as they drive out into the sunset. THE END.

Final Thoughts: Just as good on rewatch as the first time around and a great ep, not just for the LBGTQ rep, as while I belivie we’ve seen a bi flag sticker on enid’s bike helmet at this point, and would in all future appearances of it and she’d later stick one on her flying motorcycle she gets in the last season, and there was subetext with elody and red and text with rad, this showed she was a bisexual beyond any shadow of a doubt and did everything short of having them kiss, that comes later, to confirm it. But besides being one of the series delightfully gayest episodes, it has good story, good charcter progression for enid as we see how far she’s come from those early episodes, and Red gets a good character arc that both explains her past actions and has her grows as a person. And we’ll see more of this next time as we hit 88 miles per hour and Red Action to the Future. Until then, follow for more reviews of animated shows, check my blog for more as I have pages for each show, and hit me up iwth an ask if you have a show you’d like me to review or force me to review it for 2 bucks by asking for a commission! 

[pocketfulofrogers]

Be Brave

Pairing: Adam Ruzek x Reader Jay Halstead x Sister!Reader

Request: If you’re not busy can you do a Adam Ruzek from Chicago PD request where the reader is Jay’s civilian sister and she has to go undercover with Adam as her date to her high school reunion (which she didn’t plan to attend) because someone is targeting girls in her high school class which causes their feelings to come out after months of flirting?

Summary: Jay is a badass detective and Will is a badass doctor. Why would the youngest Halstead be any different? 

Notes: When I say this one got away from me, I mean it. Just shy of 4.3k words and I have no idea how that happened. Hope you like! Requests open!

The first memory Jay has of you is a fuzzy one. You’re young with pigtails and shoes too big for your little feet. The sun was high, concrete hot, and there’s a small breeze bringing in the smell of charred hot dogs from one of the neighbor’s houses. Your tiny hand is in his, sticky with dried ice cream.

You catch sight of a butterfly and chase after it, but the toe of your shoe catches the curb and you go down. Hard. When he sees the blood running lines down your shin, the tears flooding your waterline, he picks you up, cradles you to him, and carries you home.

He sets you down on the edge of the bathtub and wipes your tears. “Be brave.” He tells you.

Will wanders in with curious eyes and jumps up on the counter. Jay begins to rummage in the cupboard while Will reaches to the shelf above him to lay out a band-aid. Jay wets a wash rag and begins to clean you up as best he can. You hiss when he reaches broken skin.

He looks up at you and his heart tugs at the sight of your face contorted in pain, the silent tears coating your rosy cheeks. He wonders if he should stop, let the softer touch of your mother handle it.

You close your eyes and scrunch your nose. “Be brave.” You whisper to yourself.

Jay finishes quickly, places the bandage, kisses it lightly, and taps your nose to make you giggle. You thank him, he tells you that’s what big brothers do.

He’s spent his whole life looking after you, so when you show up at his apartment trying to convince him that two murders from your childhood neighborhood are connected, he’s clearly not thrilled in the slightest.

“Y/N, homicide is on it.” He tells you again.

“Intelligence should be on it.” You tell him again. “Lizzy had two kids, Jay.” He does his best not to look at you, knows as soon as he does, he’ll cave. “Jay.”

He turns and sees you with your wide eyes, eyebrows drawn upward, arms crossed, hip cocked. That’s his first mistake

“I’ll bring it to Voight, but you have to stay away from this. It could be a coincidence, but if it’s not, you could be a target.”

“Alright, fine.”

His second mistake was believing you.

When Jay reports that Hank agreed to lift the case from homicide, your first stop is none other than Adam Ruzek. A good man who’s skin you enjoyed getting under. He’d always tell you, “you’re Jay’s sister, we can’t blah blah blah”. You respected that, even thought it was slightly honorable. Didn’t mean you’d stop having your fun.

He opens the door in a tank top and jeans, hair still wet from a shower. You watch droplets chase each other down his skin and you find yourself frozen. Did you have the perfect witty remark before you saw him? Sure did. Did you now? Absolutely not.

“How can I help you?” He prompts, looking more confused than anything else.

You recover quickly, stretch your lips into a cheeky grin and look him up and down. “Oh, I think you know exactly what I want.”

He rolls his eyes. “Y/N- “

“Relax Ruz, I want information on your case, not to see your dick.” You say as you walk in and turn back to smirk at him.

Funny enough, the only thing he wanted was to kiss that smirk right off your lips, take you to his bed and rip your clothes off.

“We’ve been instructed not to say anything to you.” He shrugs. You groan and throw your head back in frustration, not so quietly cursing Jay’s ‘big brother’ complex. “However, if I were to leave the room and you were to read the file on the counter next to the microwave, well, I guess there’s nothing I could do about that.” He winks at you before he leaves the room.

“You’re the best.” You sing-song after him.

You pour over the files. Names, bank statements, recent communications. Out of three scenes there was only one eye witness and he was questionable at best. How was that possible? This definitely wasn’t done by a pro, the medical examiner’s report had detailed gruesome, messy deaths. Emotional and frantic.

Adam finds you on his living room floor, papers sprawled before you. You have the end of one of his pens tucked between your lips and he can’t say he’ll be mad at the teeth marks you’re likely leaving.

You’re so completely engrossed, you don’t hear his soft chuckle from behind you or even notice the scent of coffee and vanilla in the air. You only notice him when he clears his throat from above you and hands you a warm mug.

“Oh sorry.” You wince. “I suppose I’ve been here a little too long.”

He waves you off. “What are you writing down?”

“Anything that sticks out to me really. I’m sure it’s not anything you haven’t already come up with, but I just know there’s a connection between them.” You frown at the mess in front of you.

“Well, you did graduate with them, right?” He asks. You nod. “Was there maybe a person or a class they had in common?”

You scrunch your nose and begin to gnaw on your bottom lip. “I don’t know.” You whisper.

It was right there; you swore it was. It sat heavy on the tip of your tongue ready to fall at any moment, but nothing you’d just seen had jogged a memory.

You hover your fingers over the pages. “I thought files like these usually had pictures of the scenes, the… bodies.”

“I didn’t think you needed to see that.” He says softly. “Hey.” He tries to catch your attention. “You’re not going to solve this in one sitting, Nancy Drew.” You roll your eyes and he shrugs. “At least you’ll have something to talk about at your reunion.” You look to him with furrowed brows. “Your… high school reunion?”

You had forgotten. Whether that was on accident or on purpose is unknown. “Oh, yeah, no. Definitely not going to that.” You laugh. He questions you with a head tilt. “It’s just not really my scene, Ruz.” You say simply. “I’m supposed to be meeting Will and Jay for lunch, I should go. Thank you for- uh- you know.”

“Breaking a few laws to please you?” He chuckles.  

You smile softly at him and he walks you to the door, but you pause just over the threshold. “If Jay asks if you’ve seen me you say…?” You prompt.

“There’s a third Halstead?” He places a hand over his chest, feigns a shocked expression. Your laugh echoes through his chest and he marvels at the sound. Crisp and light, the perfect breath of fresh air.

Adam feeds you information over the next few days, but informs you he won’t tell you anything truly important. “Last thing I need is Jay blaming me for you getting yourself in trouble.” He’d say. “No, being detective adjacent does not make you an almost detective.”

**

You’re perched on Adam’s desk, leaned forward to offer him his choice of sugar-coated pastries. He takes one gratefully and sinks his teeth in. Powdered sugar coats the corner of his mouth and you have to stop yourself from reaching out to wipe it, preferably with your tongue.

You shut that thought down quickly.

Jay walks in, catches sight of you and you know he sees red. He’s almost as mad as that time you put bleach in his conditioner. You roll your eyes at Adam and he coughs to hide his laugh. You jump off his desk, plaster the sweetest smile of innocence you can muster, and hold the box of treats out to him.

“I got your- “

“I thought I told you to stay away from this.” He cuts you off.

“Did you? I thought that was more of a suggestion.”

He pulls you into a hallway by your arm, rough enough to catch you off guard. His eyes stare daggers at you and you watch as he balls his fists tight enough to turn his knuckles white. He’s afraid. You’ve never seen him afraid before.

“This isn’t a game or like one of your crime shows, Y/N. This is serious. We’ve already found two more girls from your class.”

But you already knew that.

“Jesus, Jay, I’m not a child.” You spit. “I know exactly how dangerous this job can be. How many times have I sat by your beside at Med? How many times have you called me and said,” You lower your voice, patronizingly imitating him, ““Ok, don’t freak out but…”?” You’re silent for a moment, waiting for a response. He doesn’t really have one. “Girls are dying. Girls I knew! I had dinner with Chelsea two months ago. If you’ve found two more, that means I probably know who did it. And I know exactly how to catch him.”

His eyes widen. “Absolutely- “

But you’re already gone.

You ask Hank for the floor and he grants it to you. You list out some of your more notable theories, most of which they’ve already looked into. You point out the fact that, if his last four victims were from the same high school, it’s likely his fifth would be too. Assuming he’s not done yet. What better place to grab her than the reunion tomorrow?

“Now you want to go to that?” Adam pipes up.

“Oh yeah, because walking around a gym chatting up people I never really liked who are pretending to have better lives than they do in order to impress people they also never liked is a great time. Of course I don’t want to go, but this is our best option.”

“’Our’?” Hank echoes.

You straighten your back, square your shoulders and nod. “I get a plus one, but you can’t have someone impersonate me and everyone knew Jay. Chances are I know this person. Best case scenario I suss out your bad guy.”

“And worst case?” Jay asks, clearly seething.

You ignore your brother and turn back to Hank instead. “I find you a new suspect to interrogate.”

Jay barks out a laugh. “Or, the killer is there, you’re on his list, he corners you, and you get- “

“Enough.” Hank cuts him off. “We wire her up, send her with a date and monitor the whole thing from across the street. Keep her as safe as possible.”

Jay watches you, your shoulders back, eyes alert, mouth set in a straight line and he can’t help but feel sick. The same determined look you’ve had your whole life and he knows there’s not a single thing he can do about it.

Sometimes he thinks you take ‘be brave’ too far.

Early the next morning, he corners you in the locker room. You complain about not having had any sleep with all the prepping you’ve had to do. He pulls out his phone, clicks Will’s contact number, puts it on speaker, and hands it to you.

It rings twice before he picks up.

You and Jay go back and forth explaining what exactly was going on. Most of it was you and him arguing over details. Will stays quiet, lets you hash it out. He catches the important bits, but for a moment he wonders when he became the voice of reason in this trio.

The idea of you being sent under cover to catch a serial killer or spree killer or whatever term you both had finally settled on did make him nervous. However, he’s been to a kick boxing class with you before and the only idea scarier than an angry you is a Jay with a gun.

“I’m assuming he’s going to keep you safe, so why is he making you call me?”

“I think he’s convinced I’m gonna die.” You shoot Jay a look before he can argue.

“Oh, I see. You though I could talk our stubborn little sister out of something she’s already set on, because, as we all know, if she won’t listen to you, she’ll definitely hear me out.”

“I thought you could reason with her.”

He laughs. “Because I’m known for being the reasonable one.” He’s quiet for a moment. “Okay, but if you do die, can I get your apartment?”

“Will!” Jay chastises.

“It’s such a great view!” He adds. You’re fairly certain he’s only half joking.

“I’ll add to my testament you can only have it if you finally ask out that doctor you’ve been pining over.”

He’s quiet again. “Your death might be the best thing for my love life.”

**

Antonio runs through the school’s blueprints with you and details every exit strategy they’ve put together. Jay goes over codewords with you, Kevin tasks himself with calming your nerves, and Hank takes you through every worst-case scenario until your brain melts. He informs you he’s sending Adam with you, and you’re about to question why when Jay interrupts, asks to have a moment alone with you.

“We’re in too deep now for you to get me to pull away from this.” You say quickly.

Jay takes a moment to look at you, but can’t get the image of that little pigtailed girl leaving snot stains on his shirt out of his head. You had grown so strong and sometimes he forgets that. He’d love nothing more than to convince you to go home where he’ll know you’ll be safe, but, instead, he places his hands on either side of your shoulders and looks you straight in the eye. “Be brave.” He tells you. You take a deep breath and nod.

The next few hours are a blur of curling irons and lip liner. You pull nervously at the lace of your sleeve, begin to twirl burgundy fabric between your fingers and Kim grabs you hand, offers you an assuring smile and promises they have your back.

Adam comes in, a sarcastic remark tittering on the edge of his tongue, but when he sees you, wrapped in red like a rose, it falls off. He’s only able to mumble something along the lines of, “car’s here.”

You fill the strange silence during the car ride with back story details. You met at a Blackhawk’s game, he spilt his beer down your back when he got upset over what he thought was an unfair call, and here you are seven months later. You said ‘I love you’ first, a detail he felt the need to argue, but you agreed to move into his place. You point out that, in real life, you’d never leave your view willingly.  

He opens your door and takes your hand, but you hesitate just before the door.

He moves his hand to the side of your face and grazes your cheek bone. “Hey.” He says softly. “You don’t have to do this if you’re not comfortable. You say the word and I will drive you home, no questions.”

You close your eyes, lean into his touch, and for a moment you consider his offer. “No.” you breathe out. You’re met with worried eyes and he’s about to protest when you shake your head. “I can do this.” He nods, eyes still worried, and grips your hand a little tighter.

Over the next hour you have so many small talk conversations that the people begin to blur together. You ask about jobs, kids, new houses. Most know your brother became a cop, so you don’t have to worry about trying to work the case in and Adam is strangely good at getting alibis from people without them knowing he’s also a cop. You flitter around with his hand always on your lower back and you can’t say you mind.

“Tell me, have you always been a badass?” He asks you seriously.

You purse your lips and contemplate for a moment. “No.” You answer truthfully. He was expecting a sarcastic remark, or a jab at Jay, your honesty surprises him. “When Jay enlisted and Will went to med school, I was truly alone for the first time.” He’s listening, watching you intently and suddenly the moment is too real, the air too heavy. You wiggle your brows to break the tension. “I supposed that’s when I became the best Halstead.” You whisper.

That’s when you see him. Slicked back hair and deep-set eyes, there’s something in his nauseating smirk that triggers the memory. A young boy with grabby hands and pushy words sulking around groups of girls. Those four girls did have someone in common, unfortunately so did you. He makes eye contact and stretches thin lips into a toothy smile. You do your best to mirror it.

The next five minutes include a very long string of decisions, the first being not telling Adam. You know there’s no way he’d let you get anywhere near this guy, which would keep you from getting a confession on tape and justice for those girls, so you had to find a way to lose him. You do the first thing that comes to mind. You chug your wine and his untouched drink, say something about crowds making you nervous, and tell him you’ll get the refills.

He finds your behavior odd, but then again you were a civilian undercover helping them look for a killer. Perhaps he’d be more concerned if you were completely calm. Jay told him to not let you out of his sight, but the bar was within his eyeline and he was in the middle of getting some information from a retired teacher. What harm could there be?

You hadn’t even placed your order with the bartender when there’s a tap on your shoulder. “Y/N, hey.” He stands too close to you, the smell of cigarettes and whiskey heavy on his tongue.

You hear Jay’s voice whispering “be brave” in the back of your mind and force a surprised expression before you morph it into a sweet smile. “Richards, right? Michael?”

His smile grows impossibly wide at the knowledge that you remember him. You start with the usual questions and he tells you he’s actually between jobs now, looking to start over after things ended with his fiancé. He paints a picture of a perfect man in a spell of bad luck who seems to believe he’ll get by on just his charm.

“Hey, do you want to get out of here?” He asks.

You ignore the pit in your stomach and the bile at the back of your throat when you trail your fingers up his arm. “I’d love that. My car is out back, it’ll be easy to slip away.”

He smiles devilishly at you and you take a moment to make sure Adam is distracted before you take his hand and pull him into a hallway. You’re sure to keep the exit strategies Antonio mapped out in the back of your mind, and fall behind to allow a distance to form between you.

He’s in the middle of a comment when you cut him off. “Did you pull a similar stunt with Chelsea?” You ask. He turns on you. “Lizzy was married with kids. I don’t imagine you thought you’d be successful there, so you just killed her. But Chelsea? She was fresh off a bad breakup and back in town.”

“What are you- “

“Did she reject you like she did in high school?” You bite out. You can only imagine the fit Jay is throwing right now, but you just need to hear him say it. “I didn’t know those two other girls well, but I bet they did the same. Did it make you feel small? Like less- “

“Shut up!” He yells as he reaches behind him to pull out a gun. He trains it directly on you.

See, you hadn’t planned for a gun, he had never used one before. You only put the distance between you because it’s harder for someone to hit or stab you when your farther away. But now there’s a pistol pointed directly at your chest and all the training Jay has even given you for this exact moment is useless.

“Drop the gun.” Adam bellows from behind you.

“Come any closer and I’ll shoot her!” Michael counters.

“You don’t want to do that.” He tries to reason.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure he does.” You mutter. “I’m right, though aren’t I? Why now?” Your blood chills with a sudden realization. “What really happened with your fiancé?” You press harder.

“Don’t worry, the bitch will get what’s coming right after you. She wanted to break things off because I wasn’t enough. You all think you’re so much- “

“You pathetic piece of- ”

“Yeah, maybe don’t provoke the guy with the gun on you?” Adam quips. You huff, but withhold the rest of your remark.

Adam’s slightly closer now, using the distraction you’re providing to move in. You feel a breeze graze your skin and the team files in to surround him. Jay flanks your other side, asks if you’re alright.

“Give it up, you got nowhere to go.” Antonio announces from behind him.

Michael falters for a second before he pulls his lips into that same devilish grin and you swear it almost splits his face in two. “Maybe. But four out of five isn’t too bad.”

He pulls the trigger and you drop.

You’ve imagined being shot several times and you definitely thought it would hurt more. You haven’t willed yourself to open your eyes yet, but all you can feel is pressure over your torso and something soaking your dress. Jay’s yelling, but one voice cuts clear from the chaos.

“Are you alright?” Adam asks from above you.

When he gets up, the pressure disappears and his hands start searching your body for any signs of injury. He repeats the question again. You look down at yourself and press your fingers into the dark spot on your dress, pull them away, and rub the red between your fingers. It’s blood, but it’s not yours.

You sit up in a panic, almost knocking him over. “Oh my god, Adam you got shot!” You exclaim with frantic hands searching for the wound. He hisses when you find it on his shoulder.

“I’m fine.” He grunts out. “It’s you I’m worried about.” You hear Jay call for an ambulance and are almost certain his heart is still racing.

You pull out Adams pocket square and place it firmly in his wound, try to ignore the body only feet from you. “That was so stupid.” You grit out. “You actually jumped in front of a bullet!”

“Thanks for saving my life Adam.” He mutters out and you ignore him.

“Stupid.” You say again.

**

You're sat in the waiting room of Chicago Med. Will and Jay are both laying into you about how dangerous and reckless your actions had been, but you’re barely listening to them. Your attention is only grabbed when a doctor comes out, tells you the surgery to remove the bullet went well, and he was awake. You follow the Doctor back, Jay on your heels.

When you walk in, Adam gets the dopiest smile you’ve ever seen. You sit gently by his side. “Do you need anything?” You ask.

“Ice chips would be amazing.” Once he’s sure you’re out of ear shot, he turns to Jay. “I’m sorry man. I shouldn’t have let her out of my- “

“I picked you to go with her, and I’d make the same decision.” He interrupts and Adam’s surprised. “Look man, I needed someone to go in with her that would protect her the way I would. I’ve seen the way you look at her.” He’s about to protest to tell him he’d never cross that line, but Jay raises his hand. “You just jumped in front of a bullet for her. You’re one of the few people I know she’s safe with and she actually listens to you which is a miracle on its own.”

You come back in and sense the shift in the air, but Jay excuses himself. You sit back at his bedside and offer him the cup and for the first moment of that night, everything is still. The events of the night, the sound of the shot, the smell of gunpowder thick in the air, it all builds up in your chest.

He hears your breathing pick up. “Woah, hey, I’m okay.” He tries to reassure you.

“You could’ve died.” You choke out.

“But I didn’t.”

“If it went two inches over, you’d be dead!” You’re panicking now.

“But it didn’t.” He says with a little more force and pulls you down to his chest. You let him. You breathe it out, allowing the sure smell of him to calm you.

“Why’d you do it?” Your voice is small. He hums his question. “Jump in front of me.” You clarify.

He’s quiet for a long time. You only know he’s awake because his fingers are trailing lines up and down your back, drawing circles between your shoulder blades. Goosebumps rise on your arms and you bury yourself further into him.

“Because I love you.” He says it as if it’s the simplest thing in this whole world. Maybe it is.

You look up at him for a while and think he’s far to calm for the moment. You lean up and place a tender kiss on the pillow of his lips before laying your head back down.

“I guess that’s a good enough reason.”

[the67impalaonbakerstreet]

Not so Strange or Unusual Part 7

I’m sorry for the delay. My mini-mester started and my class load doubled. Special thanks to @meangirlsx​ for being an awesome co-author. Check out her blog. She’s a great writer. 

We decided to make the Deetz/Maitland into a haunted house three days ago. Since then, Beetlejuice had taken over the place with clones in construction hats. I loved getting an eyeful cute guys in uniform, but not living with thirty at once. This morning to get coffee, I had to walk through tarps and sidestep an active work zone. It was getting out of hand. Between the noise and too many people, my nerves were fraying.  

“Babes!”, the Ghost with the Most waved from the top of the stairs. I pretended to ignore him. I told him I had to get over him tricking Lydia into marrying him, but he didn’t seem to get that I needed some space from him. Even if seeing his face meant delightful butterflies in my stomach.  

“Ah, come on Y/n. How long are you going to ignore me? I’m being a good demon! No false shrunken heads in the dining room.” He gestured to the one finished area of the house. It reminded of the scene from Harry Potter with the house elf heads on the staircase. It looked great. But I wasn’t going to tell him that yet.  

I finished my coffee as he went on and on about what he was planning and placed my mug on a passing two by four beam carried by some clones. I had to admit, Beetlejuice was working hard to make over the place. I don’t know how he did it, but there was a tunnel being constructed under the basement and leading out to the cemetery as our exit. Everywhere in every room, except for the bedrooms, was a project waiting to be signed off by me or Lydia.  

Speaking of, “Lyds!”, I shouted up the stairs. I heard a thump of my friend falling out of her bed and onto the floor. I heard Beej cackle beside me, and I fought to keep a smile from splitting across my face. I love the sound of his laugh. It’s dry and crackly and- what was I thinking about?

Deetz stumbled down the steps and looked ready to murder me. “You better have a good reason to wake me up, Y/n. I didn’t fall asleep until 3 this morning!” She shot an accusing glare that would’ve killed the Ghost with the Most if he wasn’t already dead. 

“I have the best reason. We need costumes. Do you think Barbara could help us whip something up with her ghost powers? I love Adam, but his fashion sense leave much to be desired,” I said. Beetlejuice scowled when I mentioned loving Adam. I thought I could feel waves of jealously coming from him, but that was probably wishful thinking. ‘Wait. Not wishful thinking, no. We do not like the dead guy.’ I had to chide myself.  

Lydia screwed up her face thinking. “I don’t know. Ghost power can do a lot, but I’ve never thought about illusion clothing. Maybe?”

The stripped demon snorted and looked up from his blueprints. “That’s a no go babes. Maybe I could do something like that if you asked me, but no regular haunter can. Takes too much energy.”

“Great. There goes my matching vampire idea. We could’ve turned into bats or something,” I pouted. A second too late, I realized I acknowledged Beetlejuice’s presence by answering him. He was utterly beaming when I peaked at him from under my lashes.  

Deetz saw my look of disappointment and said, “There’s a Spirit Halloween downtown. You could get us something there. Just nothing to Delia-ish. I’m going back to bed now.” With that she twisted around the maze of building materials, and climbed the stairs,

“So when we going Babes? I’ve never heard of this ‘Spirit’ place. Is it run by breathers?” He was getting excited and started bouncing on the balls of his feet. I didn’t repeat my mistake a second time and left him to get ready to venture in public. “Do you need to shower? I can get Ramon to takeover if you need help,” he called behind me. I smiled a his comment knowing he couldn’t see as I jogged up the stairs.  

Beetlejuice’s pov

Y/n took about half an hour to get ready. I don’t understand why they’d keep me waiting for our date. I thought they looked great in pjs and their hair in a tangled mess. While they were getting ready, I finished up a few minor things and tracked down Ramon. Ramon was head clone. He was who I sent to scare people when I didn’t want to, which isn’t all that often.  

“Boss Man! Whatcha need? Does the kitchen need more blood?” he called out to me. All my clones look different, but Ramon could be my understudy. I styled him just so when I made him 600 years ago. “No. Everything’s coming along great. I just need you to take over for an hour while Y/n and I go on our date.”

“Are they talking to you again?”  

I pushed my worry away. They hadn’t really but they acknowledged my presence this morning, so I was making progress. “You know me Ramon. No one can resist the Ghost with the Most.” He smiled and took the blueprints from me with a wink.  

I heard their footfalls on the steps and poofed into their car just in case they forgot to come and get me before heading out. When they got there, they didn’t smile at me or throw me a wink or anything. I did my best to keep my disappointment from my face. They were back to ignoring me.  

We drove in silence to this Spirit Halloween. It looked like any other strip mall store from the outside, so I had no real idea why Lydia would recommend this place. “Babes, want to go somewhere else? I don’t think you’ll find a good costume here,” I asked Y/n. They looked like they were repressing a grin as they got out of their BMW.  

We strolled into the automatic doors and my undead breathing stopped. There was a boat step-up lined with a large assortment of scary statues. Costumes of anything anyone could imagine lined the outer walls. There was a walk through tunnel I wanted to drag Y/n into with me. She'd have an excuse to jump into my arms like they really wanted to.  

My date made a beeline for the back of the amazing shop where I saw a picture of a gothic vampire. Of course, it wasn’t accurate at all. Vampires hate lace. They were more of a linen robe people. Sensitive skin and all. I floated along to catch up with them, and passed in front a bloody clown statue.

“I love hugs!” a demonic voice said as a a pair of arms grabbed at me. I let loose a scream of curses and jumped back as fast as my undead body would allow. I watched as the clown moved back into its unassuming position as I heard laughter ring out from the vampire costumes. After I recovered from my shock of being scared myself, I joined in on the laughter. I was grabbing my sides before I could stop.

“Babes! Babes! Did you know these things could do move?!?! That was awesome!” I called out to Y/n over my shoulder without taking my eyes of the amazing statues. Breathers impressed me. They use to cower from anything they feared, now they built things like these on purpose for the pure thrill of it. I spent the next half hour setting off every machine in the store. I could see normal humans looking baffled as they went off in a row without seeing anyone in front of them.  

Y/n was still looking at the vampire outfits when I went to them. I saw  they were standing beside a much more interesting selection of clothing. You piece together a look out of short skirts, tight corsets, fishnet stocking, and booty shorts. “You should turn your head. I think you’d look much better in something like this,” I said as I held up a pair of skintight booty shorts in their size.  

Their eyes flicked over to what I was holding, but other than turning an adorable shade of red, they still didn’t acknowledge me. I felt crushing disappointment and sorrow claw their way around my heart. I just wanted nothing more than for them to smile at me like they did before. Just one word directed at me on purpose. Something so I wouldn’t feel so invisible to them again.

I caught my reflection on a staff on the very top shelf. My hair was turning blue and they didn’t seem to care. I floated off to stand at the end of the aisle and just watched them browse for a minute.  

They had two similar black lace outfits when their eyes fell on the staff I caught my reflection on. They reached for it and found they couldn’t reach it. They stood on their tiptoes and still couldn’t reach it. They set down the costumes and jumped to get it to no avail. As amusing as watching them struggle was, I didn’t want the to get hurt. “Babes, all you gotta do is ask. I’ll float up and grab it for you.”

They continued to ignore me and tried the jumping thing again. I was no longer sad that they were ignoring me, I was getting mad. I understood I lost their trust, but now they were just being rude. I bumped into the display and knocked the staff to the floor. If they were determined to act like a child, I’d be the bigger person for once. 

Y/n gingerly picked up the staff and turned it over thoughtfully in their hands. “Thank you Beetlejuice.” They then left in a rush to pay for the costumes and left me standing there in shock.

‘They said my name. I didn’t imagine it. They talked to me!’ I thought to myself as a large grin spread across my face and my hair returned to its normal green.I floated over to them as they walked out of the store with bags in hand.

”You’re welcome babes,” I whispered in their ear as they unlocked the car. I saw a blush spread over their face and my grin grew more. Oh, yeah. They liked me. They were talking to me again. This was the happiest I’d been in days.

“Are you getting in or not Beetlejuice?” They asked as they held open the passenger door for me. “As long as I can DJ. Do you have any wailing ghoul sounds?” That earned me a playful eye roll. The next few days were going to be awesome.

[crystalwillow]

That’s Dr.Valentine To You

[Ethan x MC] (18+ only)

A/N: This imagine includes mature scenes and as the writer I recommend this to the 18+ fandom members. I will be working on a more younger age rated one soon. The theme is Late Valentine’s Celebrations. Also, I know I’m posting this one late but it wasn’t finished as I crashed super early on V-Day and ended up having like 9-11 hours of sleep 😅. But I hope you guys enjoy this one ❤️

It was Valentine’s Day and Casey arrived at work with 2 of her best friends Sienna and Bryce. They walked through the doors holding coffee cups and cookies whilst laughing at a story Bryce was telling them from his high school days. “.... and then out of nowhere he ran out onto the pitch, stark naked and done the full dance. He didn’t know until after that it was on national TV” he laughs as he finishes telling his story, whilst they all clock in and finish their coffees. As they binned their cups and turned to go and get changed a stern voice shouted out from behind them “Valentine. You’re late!” It echoed through the almost empty lobby. They all knew who it was. Dr.Ramsey, and if Casey wasn’t dating him he would definitely sound more harsh right now. They all turned around, Casey digging through her bag as Bryce and Sienna smiled at him as he came to a stop in front of them. “Good morning Dr.Ramsey” Sienna beamed, “Sup dude?” Asked Bryce. Ethan gave them a friendly smile in return and turned to Casey. “Care to explain why you’re late?” He asked. “Uuhhhh yeah. 1 second, it’s in here somewhere........ ah-ha!” She said victoriously and handed him his glasses “you forgot these, the toilet clogged again and the line at the coffee shop was out the door. A down fall of having a 9am start here I suppose.” Casey smiled at him, “oh! I also brought you this” she put her hand in her bag and pulled out one of his favourite cookies and handed it to him “now. I don’t know about you but I have patients to see to and other work to do. See you around Dr.Ramsey” Casey said as she pressed a quick kiss to his cheek and rushed off to get changed and start her day. “he’s whipped” Bryce snickered quietly to Sienna before slinking off to get ready for his shift. Leaving Sienna and Ethan to go their separate ways.

2 hours into her shift Casey was rushing through the hallway flicking through a chart as she was on her way to her next patient, when she walked right into someone. “Oh! I’m so sorry” she said quickly catching her stethoscope as it fell from her neck and carried on towards her next room. “But Case-“ Ethan said calling after her softly. But she was gone round the corner before he could say anymore. Saddened he made his way to the nurses station she was at and left his gift there before getting back to work. Later on she returned to the station and was given the gift by another, older nurse who was just about to leave off for the day, “here love. Dr.Ramsey left this here for you. Said you were in a rush earlier” she smiled and pat Casey shoulder softly before leaving the room. Setting her clipboard down Casey get a better grip on the box and opened in carefully. Inside was a shiny new charm in the shape of a the letter ‘C’ for her bracelet she always wore when she was off duty, she smiled as she wiped a tear from her cheek with a sniffle. “I thought you’d like it” she froze in place as she heard Ethan’s gentle voice behind her. She placed the box on the side and threw her arms around his neck “I love it. Thank you” she said happily as he hugged her back tightly. “Ahem... Dr.Valentine?” A nurse spoke from behind them, they broke their hug and turned around. “You’re needed in room 462” the nurse informed her and rushed off. Casey turned back to Ethan and kissed his lips sweetly “I’ll see you later” she said as she pulled away and waved as she rushed away. Ethan smiled, waved back and put her box away in her pigeon hole at the desk then headed back to work.

A few hours later Bryce and Casey were eating lunch in the cafeteria when Ethan entered and got his own lunch & sat at a table. “So... you’re telling me he’s actually got a soft side for real?” Bryce questioned as Casey ate her cheese salad sandwich. “Mhm” she nodded as she swallowed he food “underneath the gruff exterior, is a really kind, sweet and caring man” she answered and took another bite of her food. “And he replaced your charm you broke literally just 3 weeks ago?” Bryce questioned further and again got a nod as a response. “Wow” he commented and Casey giggled. Soon they were clearing away their rubbish and about to get back to work when Bryce spotted Ethan sitting alone looking rather glum and zoned out feeling sorry for him. “Okay let’s go. ... Bryce?... Helloooo? Earth to Lahela. ..... BRYCE!” Casey shouted and got his attention “huh? Yeah, they’re real cute” he said startled and Casey burst out laughing “what???!” She asked “Pandas. They’re cute. I answered your question” he replied, “I didn’t ask what you thought of pandas. I said let’s go.” She chuckled. “Oh. I guess seeing people glum is more of a distraction than I thought” he blushed as he pointed toward Ethan as Casey looks at him quizzically. “Oh... um.. I’ll be 5 minutes. If you see Ines, could you tell her I’m a bit tangled up?” Casey asked, Bryce nodded and headed back to work as Casey walked over to Ethan’s table and sat opposite him. “Hey sweetie” she chirped but Ethan didn’t say a word, just poked at his food. “Come on. Your morning can’t have been that bad could it?” She continued as she out her hand over his and smiled softly as he looked up and met her eye. One look told her all she needed to know. He’d lost a patient. She squeezed his hand tightly and he responded in kind and Ethan let out a rough sight “I just-“ he started but the stopped as he choked on a sob and his eyes welled with tears. “Do you need some air?” Casey asked, after a moment he nodded and the two made their way outside. They crossed the street and sat on the bench just opposite the hospital. “He was doing fine Casey. Everything was brilliant. He was healthy and recovering. Then boom. Just like that... he... he’s gone” Ethan rambled and he slumped forwards putting his head in his hands and sobbing. “Hey... hey it’s going to be alright. I’m here for you” Casey cooed lovingly as she pulled his broad frame closer to her. They sat there for about 10 minutes while Ethan sobbed. Casey felt sorry for him, she had never seen the man she loved so broken, in such a mess like this and it broke her heart. “Hey. You know what would cheer you up?” She asked as Ethan sat up sniffling “what?” He asked dabbing at his eyes with his coat sleeve. “This” Casey stated as she handed him a card and a couple of tissues. He took them and blew his nose before looking at her curiously “go on. Open it” she said pointing to the card in his hands. When he opened it, the most sincere smile spread across his face at the photo on the front. A picture of them together at the baseball game where they saved a Baseball players life. He opened it and some papers fell out. “What’s this?” He asked as he removed the elastic band and flicked through them “one free hug. A free pep talk, workplace only. Kiss me, Please, I need it.” He chuckled at the next one “that is highly inappropriate for the work place Casey Valentine” he smiled at her devilishly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Dr.Ramsey” she replied innocently as she stood up and held out her hand. “Come on. We need to get back. Keep the coupons in your pocket and page me if you want to redeem one” she smiled as he took her hand and they headed back inside.

“Finally! There you are!” Zaid shouted as they entered sharing a kiss “Valentine you’re needed in a meeting in room 521, IMMEDIATELY!” He demanded and Casey rushed off “Love you!” She called back to Ethan as she got in the elevator. “And you were needed in operating theatre 5, almost 45 minutes ago!” Zaid continued ranting as he got closer the Ethan’s face. “DO NOT. Get any closer Zaid.” Ethan spoke authoritatively and Zaid backed off. Later in the day, around 6pm Casey was sitting at the nurses station balancing pencils on her nose. As she was about to successfully add the 5th pencil she jumped at the sudden sound of her pager bleeping. She collected herself and checked who needed her and where, she then grabbed her stethoscope, pen, ID badge and clipped her pager the her trousers and hurried towards the first place she was needed. As she rushed through a hallway a small rectangular box was held out at her, she grabbed it before she bumped into the arm holding it and looked back before she rounded the corner. A small smile playing on her lips as Ethan stood there and mouthed a quick “I love you” before turning round and returning to his work. The rest of Casey’s shift went past in a blur of checking up on patients and running back and forth from the blood lab.

Towards the end of her shift she was walking back from the blood lab to get changed when suddenly she gasped loudly with a small scream, as was pulled into a side room and heard the door lock behind her and then things shoved into place to bolt it shut. Terrified she had a stalker and was about to be killed she cautiously grabbed her stethoscope from her neck making it a loop and started to turn slowly. A low and amused but familiar chuckle sounded as she turned and relief immediately ran through her as she relax a little as she came face to face with Ethan. “You know I’m impressed you grabbed that thing. Anyone else would have just assumed it to be their lover” he said with a certain darkness to his tone, Casey chuckled a little “Well I’m not anyone, Ethan. You know that.” She replied as she placed her stethoscope on the side. “Now what do you wa-“ she started but was interrupted “To redeem this” he replied with urgency as he held one of her hand made coupons out towards her. She took it to see which it was and laughed warmly “I thought this one was highly inappropriate for the workplace?” She said with a cocky look on her face. “Don’t care. I need you Casey. Right now. You’re all I’ve been thinking about the whole of my 20 hour shift. You drive me crazy and I just... I need you” he rambles looking at her with hunger and need. A need that’s hard to say no to “Alright. Qui-“ before she can even finish her sentence, Ethan’s pushed her up again the cabinet kissing her so ferociously she can taste his desperation. “Mmm. Babe” she said as she pulled away to catch her breath, he looked at her quizzically, waiting for her to continue. “One, I was going to say I need to clock out. I’ve actually just finished. And two, you have a condom right?” She asked. He gave her the sexiest most hot smirk she’s ever seen and she was so focused on him that she didn’t notice that her breath caught in her throat. “Am I ever not prepared?” He growled lowly in her ear as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the condom to show her. She smiled and he quickly continued his heated assault on her body. “Mmm, Ethan” she moaned softly as he slid his hand into her trousers, rubbing over her panties as his other hand cupped and entertained on of her breasts. Casey bit her lip as she watched him, seeing the concentration on his face. He removed his hands and she groaned in disappointment “Ethaaannnn” he smirked as he unbuckled his belt and dropped his trousers, revealing the thick outlines of his hardened dick causing Casey to automatically fall to her knees “oh god.” She whispered “you’re so hard for me already” she continued as she teasingly rubbed him through his boxers causing him to throw his head back with a low throaty moan. Casey quickly pulled down his boxers allowing his dick to spring free, another moan escaped his lips as she started stroking his hardened length before wrapping her lips around it and starting to suck. “Ohhhhhh. Mmmm fuck. Ahhhh yes.” Ethan moaned as Casey sucked and swirled her tongue around his dick whilst her hands gently massaged his balls. As soon as she pulled away from his dick, Ethan pulled her up by the arm and stripped her of her clothes, sitting her on a chair he dragged in with him and lowered himself to between her legs. “My turn” he said lowly, his eyes dark with hunger. As his mouth made contact Casey gasped and moaned with pleasure “mmmnnnn. Fuck yes.” She continued to let out little breathy moans as Ethan continued his pleasurable assault on her pussy. Not being able to hold off any longer Ethan grabs the condom, ripping open it’s packaging and sliding it on. Soon he’s lining himself up with Casey, looking deep into her eyes. They stare at each other for a moment before a gaspy moan escapes Casey’s lips as Ethan pushes himself inside and starts to thrust. Soon they’re both moaning, sweaty messes as Ethan pulls out and gives Casey a quick kiss, pulling her up and sitting on the chair. A smirk played onto Casey face as she stood over him lowering herself down onto his dick a starting to ride.

Both moaning as quietly as they could at the pleasure that ran through their bodies. A few hot and heavy moments later Ethan picked up his pace, causing Casey to let out a louder moan as how good it felt with her pocket vibrator held against her clit. “Oohhh fuck Ethan yes!” She screamed as her head rolled backwards. Soon he was pulling out and ripping the condom off and binning it, “You want my cum baby?” He asked smiling cockily, already knowing the answer as Casey fell to her knees “suck my cock” he demanded and Casey obeyed sucking harshly on his cock as he let out a string of hissed and whispered moans “oh yeah. Uuhhhhhh. Ssssss, just like that babygirl. Mmmm I’m gonna cum” he moaned lowly as Casey pulled back and opened her mouth, sticking her tongue out a little ready to catch his load “you look so pretty down there with flushed cheeks Casey. So pretty & so fucking sexy” he whispered as he closed his eyes moaning as he came into Casey’s mouth. She swallowed and collected what missed with her finger, swiping it into her mouth a swallowing before sucking his dick a little more and standing up to kiss him.

They stood there for a few moments catching their breath and enjoying each others presence. After a few moments Ethan started to quietly chuckle to himself, “what’s funny?” Casey asked quietly as she drew shapes on his chest “nothing. I just... I just had workplace sex for the first time. I showered a woman with gifts on Valentine’s Day, whilst we were both working. I have a beautiful girlfriend who means the world to me. And she gave me a card and some coupons that were hand-made, because she may or may not have known that she’s the only gift I need. She’s helping me open myself back up to the world and life. I’m opening my heart to her and that’s scary. But I feel.... I feel.... happy.” He says sweetly as he strokes Casey’s hair and she sniffles snd holds back tears at his sweetness. “Ethaaannn.” She whined “you’re gonna make me cry. What’s got you all so sentimental and mushy?” She continued to ask. “You have Casey. You came in here a year ago, caught my eye and drove me crazy for the entire year. In more ways than one and now where here. Standing in a supply cupboard as a couple, half naked after having sex. I only have one question” he said as he pulled his pants back up, zipping and buttoning them up before rebuckling his belt. “Shoot.” Casey replied as she picked up her bra. “What have you done to me Casey?” He asked as he moved close to her and fastened her bra hooks. “What do you mean?” She questioned as she slid her scrubs shirt back on over her head. “Well I’m now flocked by people and called friendly. Not a cold-hearted bastard” he explained and she sighed and he unbarricaded and unlocked the door whilst she tied her shoes. “You were never a cold-hearted bastard. You were just hurt & misunderstood. With many people unwilling to get to know the real you underneath that hurt. All I’ve done is brought the real you to the surface” she answered as they turned off the light and exited the cupboard and walked to the end of the corridor “well.. I’m this way” she said pointing left before running a hand through his sex-tousled hair, smoothing it out. “I’ll see you in a bit then Casey-poo” he smiled returning the gesture and resting his hand on her face. She leaned into his warm touch before reluctantly pulling away “yeah. In a bit” She said softly as she turned away, taking a few steps before stopping and turning back “Oh an um Dr.Ramsey!” She called out stopping him before he turned the corner. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she smiled mischievously “we’re in the workplace so that’s Dr.Valentine to you, sir” she shouted down the hall. He laughed and shook his head good naturedly before carrying on down the hall.

15 minutes later Casey exited the main hospital doors to a couple of whoops and cheers. “What?” She said to herself and turned around to see Bryce and Jackie sitting round the statue with a flushed Ethan looking at you apologetically and she knew they’d talked out of him what they had just done moments before. And to be completely honest, she wasn’t mad at him for telling them. I mean he was practically glowing, walking on clouds and grinning like a kid in a candy store. She swatted Ethan’s arm playfully and the four of them made their way home to the apartment block they lived in.

[universalfanfic]

@inkoutsidethelines

I hope you don’t mind, but I wrote a bit fore the Awkward Conversation. It could be more dramatic... But this is how it came out. 

Dread seeped into Owen’s gut as the news continued their broadcast. He knew one day Maddie and his careless squabbles would be overheard by someone, but why, oh why, had it been that one?

A bystander at one of their last jobs had gotten a grainy cell phone video of the two of them as they wrapped up a scene. And of course the audio was actually clear. 

“We should invite her next time.” 

“Maddie, no.”

“What? She helps out without all the red tape junk. Plus, she’s actually fun.”

“Daredevil is breaking the law. We have to bring her in.” 

The news was eating the story up and Owen couldn’t manage to drag his eyes away from the screen. Like watching a train wreck.

“Social media has latched on to the young hero’s words,” the newscaster said with a wide smile. “The hashtags ‘NoMoreVigilantes’ and ‘ArrestDaredevil’ are currently trending. But not everyone is pleased-” 

Owen turned off the television before he could hear anymore. He wasn’t ashamed of his conviction, but it wasn’t the public’s right to obsess over and weaponize. He hated the attention and he hated being put on a pedestal.

Running his hand through his hair, he tried to shrug off the discomfort and banish the unease as he left his apartment. He was meeting Mary for coffee, and he didn’t need to be worrying about whatever people on twitter felt about his moral leanings.

The sun was shining uncovered by clouds and his posture loosened as he made his way to the agreed upon coffee shop. Mary was already there and scrolling through her phone as she waited for him. There was a crease between her brows from whatever she was looking at, so she didn’t see him approach. Owen bent over to place a kiss on her head. 

“Hey, Mary. You ready?”

She flinched and shoved her phone in her pocket. 

“Owen! I didn’t see you.”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.”

He grinned at her, teasing in his voice, and she flashed him a tight smile in return. Owen thought that was a bit odd. 

And the odd behavior continued throughout the date. By the time they reached the park Owen was feeling the awkward discomfort keenly. Something was bothering Mary if her curt sentences and distance were anything to go by.

“Hey.” Owen put his hand on the back of her elbow and turned towards her as they came to a stop. “What’s wrong?”

Mary was quiet. Her brow furrowed again and her lips twisted as she wrestled with whether or not she wanted to answer. Finally, her eyes snapped up, sharp and angry.

“Why do you hate Daredevil so much?”

Owen blinked.

“What?”

Mary jutted up her chin and didn’t repeat herself. Owen took half a step back and sighed. 

“The news,” he said. “I don’t hate her, Mary, this doesn’t have anything to do with my personal feelings. She’s a vigilante.”

“So?” Mary bit. “It’s kinda personal when you want her in jail, right? I just- I don’t get it. You never mentioned having a problem with Spiderman.”

Owen opened and closed his mouth, stumped for a moment. 

“That’s different, there’s-”

“No,” Mary insisted. “It isn’t. You just have a bias because she works at night and has a less chirpy attitude.”

Owen held up his hands halfway, his face skewing at the sudden hostility. 

“I’m sorry. Since when did you care about crime fighting?”

Mary’s jaw ticked. 

“She’s a local hero, you know.” Her voice was lower, more deliberate. Something shone in her eyes, a passion Owen hadn’t realized she carried for the subject. “She might not be perfect, but she helps people here in Hell’s Kitchen when others won’t bother.”

Owen frowned.

“And she puts herself and others in potential danger. What happens if she takes on more than she can handle? What if there’s no one to st-” 

He cut himself off and Mary stiffened further. The silence lingered a moment before Owen felt a tug on his jacket. A little girl dolled up in Peppa Pig accessories glared up at him. 

“You don’t like Daredevil?”

Owen truly didn’t know what to say. He mentally cursed Maddie and cursed himself for forgetting most of what he did in life was in the public view. 

“Hello? I don’t dislike her,” he tried to defend. “What she’s doing is just wrong.”

It wasn’t the right thing to say. The little girl puffed up, her small fists clenching, and Owen wondered where her mother was. 

“She’s a superhero! She saves people from bad guys!”

Mary looked bemused, her expression softening for the first time that day, and Owen floundered. 

“Yes, right. I don’t make the rules though-” 

“Yeah? Well my mommy says that scary bad guys need a scary superhero to make them sorry. And good guys don’t go to jail, so you can’t put her in jail! If you put her in jail then you’re a bad guy because now no one will stop the real bad guys!” 

Mary was full on smiling when the little girl finished her tirade and she kneeled down to give the girl a high five. 

“You’re awesome,” she said. “And I bet Daredevil would love to know she has such a cool fan.”

Now Owen found it was he who was disgruntled and ruffled, and he was glad when the girl’s mother rushed over and apologized for her daughter inserting herself into their conversation. The little girl still turned and gave Owen a glare as she walked away. She pointed a finger at him accusatorially and he wasn’t sure what it was supposed to mean. 

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a thorough lashing,” Mary said, sounding quite pleased. 

Owen ducked his head and huffed, his hands going into his pockets as he tried to recover. 

There wasn’t much face to save after being scolded by a child. 

And perhaps he ought to have just brushed it off. Especially since she was a child and she didn’t understand the intricacies of law or morality. But after his conversation with his mother, the words only compounded on fractures of doubt. 

Good guys don’t go to jail. 

Did he think Daredevil was a good guy? She wasn’t a bad guy, that he could admit. But that didn’t excuse breaking the law. 

You never mentioned having a problem with Spiderman.

He winced. 

Was he a hypocrite? It didn’t matter that Peter had ties to the Avengers. To the public eye, he operated on his own. 

Owen’s stomach churned in discomfort and Mary poked him in the arm. 

“Hey, you doing alright? Need to find a rock to hide under?” 

“Just might.”

When their date ended, Owen felt worse than before. The dread over the news report and the day’s conversations really sank in and more and more he felt like he’d made a mess of things. 

He knew better than to be so cavalier. People, for some reason, cared because he was the son of the infallible Captain America. He had to watch what he said around bystanders. 

Now he’d put Daredevil even more into the public eye. 

And now he wasn’t 100% sure he was in the right.

[angrylizardjacket]

when i said it i thought it was true [2] {Ben Hardy}

A/N: 2821 words. continuation of the Fake Dating AU; enjoy

[part 1]

He calls you darling with his head between your thighs, and a camera over your shoulder, and you’re scripted to card a hand through his hair - you can barely look at that wig and keep a straight face - and just as you do, the door in the centre of the frame bursts open. The camera refocuses, and it’s Gwil in a pair of shorts and a t-shirt, announcing that the band had been played on the radio. After a beat, he stops, sees you scrambling to push Ben away and cover yourself, but he’s more excited at the news as he gets to his feet.

It’s a short scene, and once cut is called on the first take, and the crew take a moment to look over the footage. Like clockwork, people start moving around you, adjusting lighting, shouting technical jargon that you’ve learned to tune out over the years, and Ben sits on the edge of the bed as Gwil joins the pair of you, chatting with Ben about the football.

You’ve got a robe somewhere but you don’t bother with it, just wait as the scene is reset around you, and people come in and fluff the pillows behind you, and the camera angles itself a little lower as the sheet gets pulled off of you. You’re very glad that most of the crew are professionals, because they’ve got you in a pair of high-cut, surprisingly flattering cotton panties, and a tight, brown crop-top with a fringe that stops just above your stomach.

Gwil leaves and Ben leans back, his head pillowed on your thigh, and you gently kick him with your free leg, though it only serves to make him laugh. And then the cameras are rolling and Ben shifts so he’s laying on his stomach, his cheek resting against your thigh as he looks up at you with that mischievous glint in his eyes.

There’s a moment, seeing the way he looks up at you, part of you forgets it’s acting on top of acting, and you feel like you’re thrown back in time, leaning against his headboard as he presses a kiss to your inner thigh, the room dark around you apart from the warm glow of the light beside his bed and-

The director calls action and you’re ripped from the memory. If it hurts, just a little, to see him smile at you again like that and know it means nothing, you try not to dwell on it. You smile back.

“Do you have to get up? We’ve got the day off.” Ben wraps an arm around you pressing his forehead to your back, his voice still rough with sleep.

“You have the day off.” You correct with a small smile, trying to sit up. He just tightens his grip, pressing a kiss between your shoulder blades. “Ben.” The way you say his name is a gentle warning, and you can feel him smirk, his lips against your back as he gives a hum of acknowledgement. “They want me on set in an hour and a half.”

“Come on, that’s heaps of time.” And he’s tugging at your hip. You take that as your cue to turn, fondly exasperated when you finally look at him. “So this one is...?” He prompts, small smile on his lips as he sees the way you’re playful annoyance turn endeared. 

It’s something else to wake up next to him, his hair a curly mess, expression unguarded and affectionate in the morning light. The curtains aren’t open, but there’s a sliver of light peaking through a gap between them, and the light shines in, hitting the arm he’s got draped across you. The idea of Ben Hardy trying to keep you in bed, smiling at you like that, would have been laughable just a few months ago, yet here you were.

“Midsomer Murders, they’ve got me playing a baker’s daughter who’s killed ‘cos she looks like some bloke’s ex.” You tell him quietly. There’s a moment of silence that follows, and you’re not even sure he heard you, a look in his eyes like the world outside could be burning and he wouldn’t even care if you’re by his side. 

“Sounds like it’s right up your alley.” He mused, arm still around you, and you laugh at that. The sound makes his smile brighter.

“What the baker, being murdered, or looking like an ex?” You asked lightly, though you realise too late that it could be construed as some sort of twisted relationship test, thought he just chuckled, not reading anything into it.

“Finding yourself playing someone tragic.” He explained. He’s still smiling, but your own expression falls as you consider the weeks you had ahead of you.

The producers of Eastenders had sat you down to explain that your character was going to overdose at the end of the Season, and be rushed to hospital. The survival of her was entirely dependant on the fan’s reaction to the character and the event, but even if she recovered, her romantic arc with Ben’s character would end. The fans wanted him back with Lauren, and the production team agreed.

“Do you think it’s weird that my characters keep getting killed off?” You asked, and he rests a hand on your cheek, thumb gently brushing against your cheekbone.

“‘course not, babe. Two is a coincidence, maybe start worrying about being typecast if it happens again.” He’s so gentle when he says it that you can’t help but smile back, leaning in to press your lips to his before getting up to start getting ready, and Ben grumbles without you by his side, but he’s smiling as he watches you flit about the room.

“You and Ben were together last time we worked together, right?” You and Gwil are the first two on set for the first day of shooting the Madison Square Garden after party. You’d just wanted to get their early knowing you’d have to spend a good deal of time in hair with the wig they had for you for the scene. 

“That was a while ago; surprised you even remember that.” You laughed, eyes closed where a makeup artist was busy applying eyeshadow. 

“Yeah, I forgot about it until the Interruption Scene,” he says, and you snicker, humming with agreement. The silence that stretches between you is a pleasant one. You’d been on quite a few episodes of Midsomer Murder with Gwil, enjoyed his company well enough, not that the two of you had really spoken back then, he’d been a lead and you had different bit-parts every time, and you hadn’t really kept in touch, but he was shaping up to be a good friend on set here.

“How are you two going now?” He asked, idly, watching your reflection as your lips were painted a bright red.

“Good.” You answer automatically, pausing to blot your lips before elaborating. “It’s- uh, honestly it’s weird being back together.” You cast an uncertain gaze to the makeup woman who was clearly trying to hide her surprise. 

“Good-weird?” Gwil asks, raising an eyebrow, and you hesitate. When your words come out next, they spill, too fast as if making up for the silence in which you had to actually think about the answer.

“Yeah, of course, it would be weird if it wasn’t, you know, good-weird.” After a beat, you took a deep breath, forcing your shoulders to relax. “All relationships are weird at first.” And you swallow, standing from your seat and heading into get your wig. Ben’s yawning as he steps past you to get to the makeup trailer, and you catch his wrist as he passes. 

“Hey.” Voice soft, you smile at him, trying to push down your sudden uncertainty. He looks a little confused, but his answering ‘hey’ is kind and fond. He catches sight of a makeup assistant waiting for him, and he presses a quick kiss to your temple before making his way in.

It’s easy to pretend to love him. 

Almost as easy as it was to actually love him.

"So are you gonna leave him once you leave Eastenders?” Maisie was rather blunt. She was one of the only people you talked to after having your production with her had wrapped, and that’s more so because she was a freelance production assistant for indie movies, and she’d let you know about upcoming projects. 

“What the hell, May, no.” You spluttered, and she rose her eyebrows leaning back and taking a long sip of her coffee. She’s judging you. She’s always judging you. It’s part of her charm, you learn not to be insulted.

“Oh, I thought it was just like, a publicity thing.” She admitted, and your brow creases in confusion.

“That’s fucked, that’s so disingenuous.” 

The two of you fit together so easily, sitting on a gilded love-seat in the middle of Freddie’s living room set. Ben’s got an arm around you and a prop glass of alcohol free champagne, and there’s extras all around you buzzing with energy. Every so often you’ll catch one of them watching you and Ben as if you’re some sort of spectacle, and you have that unique sinking sensation that comes with being a public figure; of everyone knowing your business whether you told them or not.

“I think they know.” You murmur in between takes, and he makes a hum of acknowledgement, before turning to you, expression neutral, if not a little confused. “I know, that’s the point.” You know what he’s trying to say without him having to say it, reading him even after a few years apart. 

“You wanna get dinner after this?” He asks quietly, and your expression turns reflexively confused.

“It’s already midnight, it’s not like anyone will expect us to be out, not that anything’s open.” You rested your cheek on his shoulder as he looked out at the crowd.

“We can go to Seven-Eleven for all I care, I just need to get food after this.” He muttered, and you suppressed a smile.

“So we’re putting it on for the cashier?” You asked, and he turned to face you, chin bumping into your forehead when you refused to move your head.

“Babe,” he says pointedly, and you have to laugh, because if you don’t you think your chest might ache a little, “I just want company, it’s not that complicated.” 

Except it is that complicated. Being around him like this has reminded you how good it felt to be with him. It’s been almost three months, and you’ve forced yourself into the habit of reminding both of you that it was fake, that it was for attention, and even if you were really friends again, there was nothing real about the romance. It was getting on his nerves, now that you were closed to the end of filming.

“I know that this isn’t real.” His grip on the steering wheel is white knuckled as he drives to McDonalds. “I get it, okay, I know what’s happening, you can stop reminding me.”

“It’s not all for you, Ben.” Voice soft, you lean back in your seat. He’s parked, but neither of you feel the need to leave the car. 

“What? You’re reminding yourself?” He asked, and you made a noise of affirmation, and he’s quiet for a long time. 

“Half the time, if I don’t remind myself, I just forget.” You refuse to be embarrassed or ashamed by that. “We didn’t actually break up that long ago,” you reminded him; it had only been about two years, “so I’m sorry if it’s weird for me.” 

“It’s weird for me too, okay?”

Your final scene of the Season has you laying in a hospital bed. There’s no words, just the steady beat of a heart monitor that’s going to be added in post production, and a shot of Ben’s face before he leaves, slamming the door to lean against it with his face in his hands. 

You fall asleep about five minutes into filming, and it’s only when Ben comes and lays down beside you on the hospital bed that you wake. Apparently they’d already filmed three takes. His eyes are red-rimmed, but he’s smiling.

“Don’t cry for me.” You tell him, gently teasing, laying your head on his chest and yawning loudly. He wraps an arm around you.

“Tell that to the writers.” He snorted, his hand rubbing gently up and down your arm. “I don’t know how you can sleep through all this.” He mused, and you give him a deadpan look.

“Well someone didn’t let me get a lot of sleep last night.”  Though your tone is accusatory, your smile is playful, and Ben refuses to meet your gaze, a blush rising on his cheeks.

“I’m not going to apologise for that.” He says, tone lofty, though his voice drops to a murmur. With a giggle, you press a kiss to his jaw, murmuring that he shouldn’t need to apologise anyway. 

When he looks at you, looks past the makeup they’ve put on you to make you look sick and weary to the way you’re grinning at him, and he kisses you gently, his finger beneath your chin, lifting your lips to meet his.

Ben’s called away a few moments later, and you see the woman playing Lauren smirking at him from the door frame. Ben rolls his eyes at her as he climbs from the bed, telling you over his shoulder that he’s sorry he disturbed your nap, and you laugh at that, shuffling into a comfortable position as one of the crew members came over and straightened the hospital blanket around you.

After the two of you talked in the McDonalds car park, things have become easier. There’s no more reminders, not in the traditional sense; when it’s just the two of you, he calls you dude, and you call him buddy, and neither can take the other one seriously. He almost snorted beer from his nose when the two of you grabbed dinner at a pub and you’d told him;

“You look cute tonight, buddy.”

Low effort, low pressure, you let yourselves fall into the role of best friends who occasionally kissed when in public. It’s not even weird when you remember little details about one another from when you were together, it was more fond than anything else.

“Ben, settle an argument for us,” they’re on the set of Freddie’s first apartment, and you weren’t actually in the scene, but you’d been bored out of your mind at the hotel you were staying at and came along to watch the recording. Ben was sitting beside Lucy on his phone on the brown leather sofa in the middle of the set, while Rami and Joe were laying side by side on the mattress by the piano, and you were behind the camera with Gwil, trying to touch his wig, and getting your hand slapped away every time, as if it were a game.

“Is this the most impractical bed,” Joe parroted the script, and Lucy’s delivery, to which the actress rolled her eyes with a goodnatured smile, “or just a genius designing his room to best suit his own creative feng shui?”

“Why would you ask him?” You call over as Ben considers thoughtfully for a moment. “He designs his living room about how to best minimise glare on the TV.” You snicker, and Ben looks like he’s about to protest, but then his expression changes and he’s nodding in agreement, before adding.

“The bed’s impractical though, I keep kicking my shin against it.” He adds, and when the boys are giving him a confused look, surprised that he agreed so quickly with your words, he shrugs. “We lived together, she knows what my living room looks like.” He says, as if it’s explanation enough, and honestly, it is.

“Do you ever think about getting married?” The two of you are curled up on his sofa one evening, binge watching something forgettable on Netflix, and your whole body freezes. “Christ, calm down, I’m not asking you, I’m just curious.” There’s a laugh in his words, and you let yourself relax.

“Maybe one day, when I’m a bit older.” You muse, sighing softly and leaning further into him. “When I stop playing crack whores and murder victims.” 

“But you play them so well.” He says, with all the fake-enthusiasm he can muster, and you shove him in the ribs.

“Oi, I’ve got more range than that.” You huff, before settling back down. “What about you?” You ask, and he lets out a low, long hum.

“Haven’t really thought about it much.” He admits, and you make a noise that’s halfway between amused and confused.

“What’s got you thinking about it now?” When you ask, he tightens his grip on you, just a little, pressing a kiss to the top of your head.

“Not really sure.”

the rat pack: @callumidiot @rockandrollandshit @bohorap @pietrorunsforme @sweetfierceimagines @itsjackothy @mhftrs @sherlockiantheatrenerd @softbenhardy @multifandomgirlrandomstuff @virtualsheepeat @smile-nine 

(crossed out means it wouldn’t tag; i’ll try again for the next part, lemme know if you wanna be tagged xx)

[peggysousfan]

Happy Holiday with the Sousas’

Hi guys! Here is a fluffy one-shot of the Sousa family during the holidays. Hope you enjoy! :)

In the year of 1955, , in the quiet of the morning, the family of four laid asleep. It was early December with snow filled outside. New York is famous for its cold weather, and that is where the Sousa's lived. The mother and father had to relocate their lives in the early 50's to accompany their promotions in their jobs. What was once know as the SSR with Chief Sousa and Agent Carter, it was now known as SHIELD; and the two are now know as Director Carter, and Special Agent Sousa. He oversees all duration of training and science divisions, while his wife oversees him and everyone else.

But today they oversee nothing; nothing except the family they have built together. Its nearly Christmas, and the Sousa family is finally getting ready to celebrate it. As the sun shines through the master bedroom, Peggy Sousa and her husband begin to sir from their slumber. She groans and snuggles closer to him, embracing him from behind, wrapping her leg around his, and keeping her arm around his torso. He tries to squirm away, but she squeezes his form and presses against him.

"No." She snuggles closer and keeps him in place. He laughs and reaches for her hand, placing a gentle kiss there.

"It's morning, Peg. We gotta get up." But she doesn't listen; instead she hides her face in the crook of his neck and holds him tighter.

"I don't want to leave this bed." She grumbles, and he laughs all the more. Before he can reply, a knock from the door echoes through the room, and both parents groan. "I think the children are awake..."

"Yeah...I think so too." As they he this, the door opens and two small dark haired children run in; jumping into the bed with their parents. The bouncy curls they both got from their father moved all about as the climbed. "Oof. What are you two doing up so early? It's not Christmas day yet." Daniel chuckles. The two children laugh and cuddle with their parents.

"But we get to play and decorate the house today." Young Micheal says; and his sister nods in agreement as she snuggles with her mum. Peggy holds the girl closer and tickles her feet.

"Ah! Mummy," She laughs.

"Yes, Elizabeth?" Peggy taunts as she brings the little one closer and tickles her everywhere. Micheal points at them and laughs, so Daniel does the same to him. The room fills with children laughter as the young ones are attacked by their parents; an attack of tickles and kisses. After several minutes of giggles and fun, Peggy and Daniel stop tickling the little ones...and so they so it to their parents. It doesn't affect them, of course, but they play along and act like it does. "Alright, alright, alright!" Peggy exclaims "I give up, you win!" She laughs.

The children stop and jump out of the bed, ushering their parents to come with them. Peggy and Daniel grab their robs; and he puts on his leg and grabs his crutches, and they follow the children to the kitchen. Daniel makes some coffee and tea for himself and his wife, and gives the children some mil and toast. They all eat and get their bellies full before starting the day.

"Mummy? Pai? Can we go outside and play in the snow?" Micheal asks.

"Sure buddy, we juts gotta get you bundled up first." Daniel says. They dress the two children in layered clothing and thick coats, wrapped in scarves and gloves to keep them warm.

"Daddy... I can't move" Elizabeth says, her arms straight at her side, waddling around like a penguin. Peggy looks at her daughter, and fails to contain her laughter. "Mummy!" She giggles.

"Here, poppet, let me help you." Peggy laughs as she moves around some clothing and makes it easier for Lizzy to move. "See? All better." The children embrace their parents before running out the front door and diving into the snow. They parents laugh and draw near each other, Daniel embraces her from behind, head in her shoulder, as she leans back against him.

"Oh and I almost forgot to mention...you did that thing again."

"What thing?" Peggy asks as she leans forward, away from him.

"The thing you always do and never stop doing."

"Well that's a bit vague, don't you think?" She turns to look at him, her brow lifted with a smirk playing on her lips.

"Well, follow me to the bedroom and you'll see what I'm talking about. "Peggy smiles and walks past him, not without a swift smack on his arse first. "Not like that Peg!" He laughs. She gives him a flirty glance and then laughs. As they get to the room, Peggy stops and waits for him to explain.

"Well..? What did I do?" He points to the chair, floor, and dresser; laying there are her clothes and shoes. "That's my clothing."

"I know." She tilts her head and furrows her brows.

"Darling, I don't understand. What am I to have done?"

"Peg, you keep tossing you clothes everywhere and leaving them there" He smirks. "I nearly tripped on your skirt yesterday." She looks away sheepishly.

"If I recall, that was your mess...not mine," She smiles. He blushes and kisses her lips.

"Still, its a bad habit you have...and you haven't pickup on it yet." She chuckles and kisses him lightly.

"And yet you still love me," She smirks.

"Always." They meet in the middle for one last kiss before they get dressed for the day. They agreed that someone should keep an eye on the kids, so, Daniel goes out to hang the lights while Peggy starts making dinner.

The roast shouldn't take too much longer seeing as she started it first thing this morning. As she waits on that, she starts to make mashed potatoes and greens for the sides. Peggy has been learning more about cooking from Ana over the many years of being friends. The first time she asked to learn was in 1947, back when she and Daniel first got together. She wanted to surprise him for their first anniversary with a lovely dinner date, and she couldn't do that if she had little knowledge of how to cook. Ever since that day, when Peggy is free, she has taken some of that time to learn how to cook; but she's never done anything better than he husband. And yet, he never says this, he always smiles and praises her growth; which makes her happier in return.

As Peggy is inside cooking, Daniel is outside decorating and hanging the lights. Given his prosthetic, he an't climb the ladder well, so he sticks to hanging them on the banister and in shorter places other than the roof. He glances at the kids and finds them build a  fort with snowballs. He smiles to himself as he watches; the kids start a snowball fight and chase each other around having fun. Daniel laughs and enjoys this moment in his life. If you were to have told him ten years ago that he would have recovered well, got married, and had children with the love of his life; he would have called you crazy. However, times have changed, and he couldn't be happier with the outcomes on his life.

Lost in thought as he finishes the lights, he feels something whack against his back. Confused, he turns around and sees no one around. Strange...he thinks. But continues as he was, until he feels it again. Although this time he sees Lizzy giggling and hiding behind her little fort. Then out pops Micheal and a snowball hits the ground in front of Daniel, and he curses.

"Hey! You can't say that, Mikey."

"Uh oh." He dunks down behind the fort and makes more snowball; little does he know, so is their father. When the little ones lift up their heads, they notice their dad is gone. "Pai?"

"Daddy?" Lizzy says "Where'd he go?" He brother shakes his head as they look around them, but see nothing; that is until they are hit.

"Wait what!?" Micheal yells as he stands up completely and sees his dad hiding on the side of the house. "How'd you do that!?" He yells as he tosses another at him. Both the siblings team up and run at him. Daniel laughs and leans against the house for support and he lifts them both up."Very funny, dad." The kids laugh and get set down. How about we go inside and warm up, maybe dinner's ready." They both nod their heas and race inside. "No running!" they slow down and go o their rooms to change.

"Hello poppets how was-" Before she can finish, they're gone. She looks into the hall and sees Daniel. He walks over to her and drags her in an embrace. She squeaks from the cold, but melts in his warmth and love.

"I think we need to watch what we say around the kids from now on." Daniel says. "Particularly you, I should add."

"Why?" Peggy asks, stepping out of his embrace.

"Because...our son is picking up on it." She looks at him confused and he chuckles. "When I was outside with the kids, and they started throwing snowballs at me, Mikey missed and said, and I quote, 'Bloody hell I missed.'" Peggy's eyes widen as she covers the smile on her face.

"He did not!" She laughs.

"Yeah. He did. Peggy bursts with laughter as it fills the kitchen. Elizabeth and Micheal enter the room to see their mother leaning against the wall as she laughs. In turn, they do too, but not because she's laughing.

"Look, Lizzy!" He points above the door frame, and so do their parents. They're standing under a mistletoe. Daniel smirks and looks at Peggy, and the both lean in, meeting in the middle, for a tender kiss.

"Ewww!" The children say as the run into the kitchen, hiding from the scene. Their parents laugh and kiss again; Peggy's arms around his neck and his on her waist.

"Are you done yet? We're hungry." Micheal calls out. The pair laugh and enter the kitchen; enjoying the meal with their family. Everyone gulps it down, the whole meal is eaten without a word. "Thanks mum. It was really good!" Mikey exclaims. Lizzy nods beside him as she finishes eating hers.

"You're very welcome, darling." She smiles.

"Can we watch Peter Pan now?" Elizabeth asks. Daniel and Peggy share a look, but give in none the less.

"How bout this." They look at their dad. "We all make some hot chocolate and put on the fireplace to warm up, and we watch the movie. Deal?"

"Deal!" They say as they get out of their seats and run to the living room. Peggy laughs as she looks at them.

"I'll get the blankets." She says getting up. They meet up at the door to share another kiss, right before the children come in.

"And I'll get the cocoa." Micheal sees them and fake omits, which makes his parents laugh. :You'll fall in love one day, Mikey. Then you won't be grossed out."

"No thanks. I'm good." He sits on the couch next to Lizzy and they bundle up with the blanket Peggy brought out. Daniel sits behind Mickey, and Peggy behind Lizzy, all snuggled close by the fire, as the movie starts to play. As they watch the film, they stay close together, enjoying this time of holiday season as a family.