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aphrogeneias · 1 year

Text

more than seven minutes — one-shot

pairing: steve harrington x fem!reader

summary: after you spend nearly a week completely avoiding your best friend, he takes matters into his own hands. and if that means locking you into a room with him until he makes you talk, then so be it.

word count: 2.6k

warnings: smut (+18), fluff, friends to lovers, forced proximity, love confessions, mentions of a sex dream, dry humping, oral sex (f receiving), hand job, dirty talk

author's note: another reupload! this is the only steve fic i've ever written, or rather, the only one i started and finished. not sure if i really write steve that well, but i tried <3 this has a part two and will be uploaded soon too.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Don't you trust us?"

From your left, Robin's faux exasperated tone had you throwing her a mean side-eye. Her girlfriend, Vickie, on your right, giggled, "I don't think she does, Rob."

It wasn't that you didn't trust them. On a normal day, you would trust those two with your life, but given the circumstance you recently put yourself into, you couldn't help but be suspicious.

They'd found you hiding — or trying to, at least — at the back porch during another one of Tina's house parties, which were getting more and more boring to you, but you needed an escape, and cheap beer with some questionable company would have to do it.

You were sitting with another one of your friends when Robin and Vickie, appearing seemingly out of nowhere — confusing you immensely because they'd be two people you wouldn't expect to find at Tina's on a Friday night — took your plastic cup from your hand and pulled you by the arms to follow them.

Dragging you along, each one linked to your arms from both sides, passing in between the crowd of bodies gathered in the living room, occasionally having to push a drunk jock out of the way, and guiding you up the stairs, into the upstairs hallway. They moved fast, the people around you passing by like a sea of blurred faces.

You were thrust forward when you reached one of the doors, and were pushed inside by Robin, who flashed you an apologetic smile, shrugging, "I'm sorry!"

"Robin!" Yelling over the loud music that bled through the walls, you could hear giggling from the outside, as well as the sound of a key being turned in doorknob. Your heart raced as you slowly realized what was happening, "Vickie! What the fuck?"

You knew who was behind you without even having to turn around.

Taking in your surroundings, you could tell it was a guest room, untouched by the madness going on downstairs and in the hallway. Sitting on the neatly made bed, above the soft pastel bedding, Steve Harrington looked like a kicked puppy, brown eyes following your every move from where you stood, still at the bedroom door, unsure of what to do.

He was the first to break the silence, "So… now I have to resort to kidnapping you in order to have a conversation with my best friend?"

Leaning back into the cold wooden surface of the door, you tried to sound as unbothered as possible, knowing very well you were about to crack. "I wouldn't call that much of a kidnapping. Your henchwomen are a little too clumsy for that."

When Steve didn't answer you, merely raising an eyebrow, unamused, you tried again. "So, uh… what is this, exactly? Seven minutes in heaven? You know this isn't seventh grade anymore, right?"

"No, if it was seventh grade you would still be talking to me and not acting all weird for a whole damn week and not telling me why!"

"I'm not acting weird…"

"Bullshit! You are avoiding me like the plague and I need to know why."

You weren't avoiding Steve.

At least, that's what you had told him the first time he confronted you about it, almost a week ago. He had showed up at your house, unannounced as always, with a new film he knew you'd love and a bag of popcorn and candy, walking in as if it was own place — and it was, in a way, more of a home than his own has ever been. You made up an excuse about how you were sick and didn't want to get him sick as well, ushering him out of the house with an apology and the promise of a raincheck on your movie night.

After that, he'd been calling you, asking what was wrong and why were you avoiding him, and you couldn't bring yourself to tell him the truth. You'd told him it was nothing, you were sick that day, then you were busy, and then… you were running out of excuses.

The truth was that you couldn't look your best friend in the eyes anymore.

Sighing, you looked down at your feet, shuffling in place, "It's nothing, Steve. I'm just confused about… something, but I promise it has nothing to do with you. You did nothing wrong, it's just, just a thing that happened." You stuttered.

There was a shift in the air, the tension dropping in the atmosphere as Steve's expression lightened, suddenly focusing entirely on you. He rose from his place on the bed and walked over to you, his body crowding your personal space.

"Hey…" You felt a hand gently hold your chin, forcing you to look at him, warm brown eyes searching for yours. "I'm not mad at you, okay? I'm just worried. We used to tell each other everything and now you're acting like this and I don't know what to think."

Overwhelmed by Steve's closeness, his smell and the heat of his body invading your senses, and his hand moving to cradle your cheek, distracting you from gathering your thoughts, you close your eyes as you lean into his touch. "If I tell you, do you promise you'll stay not mad at me?"

"I don't think I could ever be mad at you, Y/N."

With a deep breath, you walked away from him. The nearness, the feeling of his hand on your skin brought you vivid memories of the exact reason you were pushing him away.

"Ihadasexdreamaboutyou."

"A what?"

"A sex dream! I had a sex dream about you and I'm embarassed enough as it is, okay? I know it's weird, but we can't really help what we dream of, you know? It's like our brains produce images using the faces of people we know but it doesn't necessarily mean anything…"

"I get it! I get it, you don't need to explain yourself, I promise." Steve interrupts your rambling, you're still avoiding making eye contact with him, but you notice a light shade of pink take over his face. Silence fell over the room, both of you still trying to come to terms with what you'd just confessed.

"What was your dream like?"

He was closer now, you realized. There was something different in his eyes, a look you'd never seen before — far more intense, pupils blown wide. An electric current grows between you, like a live wire, ready to explode. It didn't help you stop thinking about the Steve in your dream, looking up at you with those same eyes, hands hungrily exploring your naked body.

It was all you could think about in the past few days — and then, there he was, warm and real, right in front of you, your Steve.

"Steve…"

"Please? I'm curious. It can't be that bad."

Turning around, you stared at the wall instead of having to look at him, feeling flustered all over. "I don't remember a lot of the details, but, uh… I think we were on my couch and we were… I was riding you, I think." Letting out a nervous laugh, you gathered the courage to turn again, pretending to not be affected, "Crazy, right?"

"Not that crazy. Coming from you, I was expecting something a little more shocking."

You laughed earnestly then, feeling some of the tension leave your body. "Yeah. Screw you, Harrington."

Steve started taking a few tentative steps forward, and instinctively, you took some backwards, until your back hit the wall behind you. Leaning in, those same dark, hungry eyes lowered to your lips, and down to your cleavage — you felt vulnerable under his gaze, but not uncomfortable. It felt right, even though it made your skin prickle. "Can I ask you one more question?"

"Yeah." You breathed out.

One of his hands trailed along your waist, keeping you still as the other rested beside your head, on the wall. This was a line you'd definitely never crossed, even with Steve being as affectionate as he was, always keeping at least one hand on you. Not even in the many times you'd shared a bed and woke up tangled in each other. This was different, heavy with anticipation.

"Did you… touch yourself… thinking about this dream of yours?"

It felt like your head was spinning. Despite yourself, you drew in a sharp inhale, "Do you really need to know that?"

"Only if you want to tell me." His voice was gentle, much more restrained than the wild look in his eyes, barely keeping himself together. "But something tells me you do."

Steve wasn't blind to the effect he had on you, especially up close, where he could feel your heavy breathing, watching the way your body responded to his. Throwing every caution you had out of the metaphoric window, you finally looked him in the eyes, bringing him closer, and resting your hands on his broad shoulders.

"What if I told you that I did? What if I told you that I had my fingers inside of me thinking about how good it would feel if I was bouncing on your cock instead? How would it feel to have you run your hands all over me while I do it? Is that what you want to hear?"

Like the cat who got the cream — or the guy who got his best friend to confess how badly she wants to fuck him — he smirked, now holding you with both hands around your waist.

"Any chance you want to make that dream come true, baby?"

"If King Steve is offering, who am I to refuse?"

"Shut up."

Snaking a hand up your back, raising a chill up your spine, and holding the back of your neck, his mouth descended on yours with a deep kiss. It started clumsy, all teeth and uncoordinated hands, two friends who dared cross a line they'd never return from. Steve took control, then, leading you towards the bed, and laying you on top of it, his hands never leaving your body as he climbed on top of you.

"You should have told me about this earlier. Could've helped you out, you know." He said, in between kisses, descending his mouth to your jaw, and down to your neck, his tongue eliciting tiny gasps from your gaping lips, "You were driving me insane."

His hands travelled under your shirt, after yanking it from under your skirt, finding your covered breasts. Too eager to feel you, he felt you up over your bra, squeezing and caressing his thumb over your nipples. Between Steve's hands and his kisses, you were left breathless under him, seeking whatever release you could get, grinding your hips against his thigh, which was resting between yours. You could feel your cotton panties cling to your wet folds, slick with desire.

"I think you're the one driving me insane here." You whined, biting his lower lip and dragging it just slightly. Steve's eyes darkened above you, and you felt his hands lower, slowly, to the hem of your already bunched up skirt. You watched as he sat up on his knees and removed his polo shirt, revealing his broad chest, and feeling the sudden urge to run your hands over the tuft hair and the smattering of freckles covering it.

"Consider it payback, baby."

They stopped at the waistband of your underwear, and stilled, as he asked, brown eyes as gentle as ever, almost whispering, "This okay?"

"Yeah. Please."

Lowering his head, he left kisses over your thighs as he brought the fabric down your legs and off your body, his hot mouth leaving a trail of small teeth marks and spit that warmed you to your core. There was an underlying devotion in Steve's touch, a reverence he always treated you with — like you were something precious, something worthy of praise. It set you alight under his expert fingers, running over the soft skin of your parted thighs.

Wasting no more time, Steve licked a long stripe over your weeping slit, flattening his tongue. You dropped your head to the pillow beneath you, not being able to stop the moan that rose on your throat. One of your hands reached to grab his hair as he alternated between flicking his tongue over your clit and sucking on it, groaning into your pussy like he was enjoying it just as much as you were. His strong hands grabbed your thighs and pulled you further into him, burying himself into you, his nose touching your clit as he delved his tongue into your hole, fucking you with it.

A litany of moans filled the room, along with the filthy, sloppy sounds of his mouth devouring your pussy. You felt delirious, skin burning and grinding yourself shamelessly into his mouth, meeting his movements.

"Isn't that better, honey?" He teased, bringing a finger down to your entrance and into you, stroking your walls in a torturingly slow pace, making you pout as you kept moving your hips, "Better than fucking yourself with your tiny, little fingers? You could have had this instead of hiding from me."

Mumbling something incoherent, you could barely keep your thoughts together as you felt him add a second finger into you, pumping them faster this time.

"Louder. Let me hear you."

"So much better. You feel so good, Stevie, so fucking good. Please don't stop."

At that point, you didn't care how whiny you sounded. Steve didn't seem to care either, shifting between your legs to wrap his lips around your clit again, matching his languid thrusts as he curled his fingers inside of you, building up the tension in your core, your pleas of "faster, please!" rising from your lips.

He obliged, looking at you with hooded eyes. You meet his gaze as you cry out, feeling your orgasm hit you like a wave, crashing into you slowly, and then all at once. He keeps his fingers moving as you ride it out, breathing heavily, and running your hand over his messed up hair, much gentler this time.

"C'mere, baby." You called, voice a little weak from exhaustion. Steve leaned over and you met him halfway, supporting your upper body into your elbows, and kissed him. Deep and slow, savoring the taste of his tongue, still stained with your juices, making you dizzy with uncontained lust, and, quite frankly, an overwhelming feeling of possessiveness, as if you had just marked him as yours.

After spending years watching him pine over Nancy Wheeler, and throw himself into date after meaningless date, it felt only fair.

Not you'd ever admit this to him out loud.

Distracting him with your kisses, you manage to take control, flipping him over, and mounting him, straddling his hips. Steve doesn't stop missing you, however, bringing his hands to rest over your hips and guide you to grind your exposed pussy over the tent on his jeans. You could almost feel him pulsing under you, bringing a new jolt of pleasure through your body, making you run your nails over his chest.

Quickly undoing his belt, and his zipper, you bring his pants down, just enough to free him from his boxers, feeling his length warm and heavy in your hand. He pants under you, his eyes rolling back as you tease him with your fingers, lightly, before running your thumb over the delicious vein on the underside of him, all the way to his already weeping head.

Before you could do much else, you heard a hard knock on the door, followed by barely hushed giggles.

"Are you still alive in there? Do we need to call the police?"

"Go away, Buckley! Jesus."

Steve groaned at Robin's interruption, running his hands over his face, flushed with frustration. You release him from your hold, chuckling a little at his outburst. Leaving a kiss to his nose, driving his attention back to you, you ask "Your house isn't too far from here, right?"

"Yeah. Your point being…"

"I think we should take this party somewhere a little less crowded."

Humming deep inside his chest, Steve leans up, pecking you on the lips, "Now you're speaking my language."

#steve harrington x reader #steve harrington x you #steve harrington x y/n #steve harrington x fem!reader #steve harrington fanfic #steve harrington smut

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writingoddess1125 · 11 months

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Your Weird Relationship Milestones

Weird couple things that no one talks about that is a major milestone

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Buggy, Mihawk x GNReader

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Luffy

You and Luffy had known each other since you were children and had also been dating since you joined his crew as the Ship Barber.

Truthfully it had been a fun journey and everyday you two got closer and closer- Just in your guys own unique way.

Today was no excpetion- After doing some basic training till noon you had skipped breakfast and was starving to rushed to the kitchen.

Walking over you saw lunch had already been made and almost the whole crew was there eating, looking over Luffy's massive plate in question to see what it on the menu- Seeing Cutlet sandwiches served with shredded cabbage.. you didn't like the recent cabbage that much.

"You didn't like the cabbage right?" Luffy questioned as if reading your mind- Nodding as he held up one of his plates to you to taste the cabbage to see if you wanted it The crew staring at you two in now total shock as you munched on a strand of cabbage and took a small bite of his sandwich.

"Ehh- Sandeich is good- But no cabbage" You hummed and Luffy nodded as he went back to inhaling his own food. Everyone watching as you went to get a plate- excluding the cabbage.

It wasn't till way later when you were half asleep cuddled against Luffy that the thought came to you- Did Monkey D Luffy just share his plate with you?

Zoro

It had been a normal morning- you waking up first to roll out of bed and start your morning routine, of course it starting in the bathroom.

Too zoned out to care since you and him shared a living space with a bathroom so you knew it could only be Zoro- As you brush your teeth you hear the sound of water and realize he was taking a piss, with you right there?

"What island are we going to today?" Zoro questioned, you trying to rack through your brain

"Errr- S'mi S'mi i'land I 'hink-" {Sumi Sumi Island I think} You say with the toothbrush still in your mouth- Zoro finishing and stepping to the sink.

You step to the side so he can wash his hands and he grabs the deodorant- like with all your products he seemed to use prefer yours so he puts yours on instead. You handing him his hair cream which he thanks quickly and smooth through his mossy locks-

"Want a cup or coffee? Normal fixings?" Zoro called out as he walked out of the bathroom.

"Mhm!" You hum out earning a grunt of approval and spit into the sink finally. Yawning again as you were now starting to wake up.

The realization of everything hitting you. Were you two that comforble with each other now!? It felt like some marry couple morning- your face heating up as you simmered on it..

Sanji

Being on a ship was nice, but it did have some downfalls- One being the bath situation. For some reason there was only one bathtub in the whole ship- So you had to travel from a hot bath across the entire ship to get to the room you shared with Sanji- Freezing your ass off the entire way and wrapped in the thinnest towel.

Finally in the room you shed the napkin like towel and look for something warm to wear- already starting to shiver.

"Sanji! did we do laundry?" You called, looking to see you were out of all pants and underwear- Tsking as it was a bit too cold tonight to go full natural in bed.

"Uhh No we didnt- why?" He asked as he stepped back into the room and saw you still naked as day looking through clothes- staring for a bit before Grinning.

"I think what you're wearing now is a perfect outfit" He chimed, you rolling your eyes looking back at your gawking boyfriend.

"Yeah well this outfit I can catch a cold- Remember we are getting close to the north and it's going to be freezing tonight!" You reminded and Sanji nodded in understanding before a thought crossed his mind.

Sanji sighed at this as he went to your guys shared closet- Returning with sweats and shirt in hand.

"These are my favorite pair- BE good to them" He said calmly as he held out the very nice sleep sweats you'd seem him wear multiple times- fairly sure these were the ones Zeff shipped out. Smiling as you gently took it from his hands and kissed his cheek- knowing these were going to be the best sleeping pajamas ever.

"I promise I will"

Buggy

Show business was never easy- It was a constant swirl of chaos. Especially on Buggy's ship. So it was nice to have some moments were you and Buggy could just relax, especially after a hectic day or shows and making money.

So here you both are, Showered, out of makeup and lounging on the couch in Bugs office.

You laid there with your legs across Buggy's lap as you two chatted, there were random times that you and Buggy would absolutely say nothing in terms of conversation but just wanted to hear the others voice. Buggys hands stroking your legs as he kept his eyes half closed.

"Your legs feel different?.." Buggy questioned, still running his hands over the exposed skin-

"I didn't shave them" He seemed to nod at this and finally look at your legs to indeed see they were indeed hairy still touching them-

"Eh still not as good as mine- It's like a damn blue carpet" He grumbled flexing his leg as if giving and example. However he noticed you hadn't replied and glanced- noticing your intense stare at him.

"(Y/N)?-"

Rolling up you sit on his lap facing him and look over his face, he looked at you confused as you did this- Watching how your eyes focused in something.

"Stay still.." You mumbled before touching his nose, he felt a soft pinch and then you pull back looking at your finger.

"You had a blackhead on your nose-" He say calmly and show it to him. He scrunched his face in disgust.

"Ew Thats fucking gross... See any others?" He questioned and you began to excavate his face and back of any blemishes still talking about nothing. Buggy's mind however running over the fact that for the first time in his life- he hadn't felt worried about his nose with someone..

Mihawk

Mihawk is a cautious person- so he is always on his guard and prepared for the worse case scenarios. That I clues you in the first few years of your guys relationship- While he trust you there is always some wall built up to protect himself.. You understand and let him take his time-

You didn't even really notice since how living he was towards you, however as time went on he did relax around you more. Got more comforble with you around and It wasn't till one night after a relaxing date and time together that you both tucked in. Mihawk had always claimed to be a light sleeper, laying on his back perfectly posed like a vampire ready to rise at any moment- the slightest movement waking him so you learned to be still when he tried to sleep. Reading a book quietly since you weren't quite ready for bed, dozing off for a good 30 minutes before you felt a slight shift from Mihawk assuming he was still awake till-

Zzzz!!! SNORT Zzzzz!!

Loud deep Snores suddently rattling the bed like a damn earthquake!

Startling you, turning to see the man laying in the bed next to you as you see his face unattractivly shoved into the side of a pillow, his hair a fluffed mess and him on his side in a deep sleep. You'd never seen him like this before, you didn't know it was even possible as you heard another thunderous snore leave the man. It taking everything in your body to not giggle as you closed your book and dimmed the light on your side of the bed. Cuddling down next to him as another wash of snores left him.

Smiling as you realize this ment he finally felt comforble enough around you to deeply sleep- in a true REM sleep for the first time in probably years. It made your heart flutter and you giggled softly- Defiently a milestone you were proud of.

Even if it ment the snores.

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mxqdii · 1 year

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nott into you - m.s

pairings: nott reader x mattheo riddle

summary: reader's brother is theodore nott and develops feelings for his best friend mattheo

warning(s): drinking, brief makeout drugs.

not proofread

FRIDAY:

my hands tangled in his hair, the smell of his cologne and cigarettes filling my senses, everything just feels right.

it's funny how a week can change everything.

okay! i know this looks really wrong, but i can explain.. let's go back to where this all started, monday.

-1 WEEK PRIOR.-

MONDAY:

i sit in potions, bored as ever at snapes lesson, feeling eyes on me.

i look over seeing mattheo riddle staring, which isn't totally weird, considering we've been friend's since first year, just abnormal.

this time it's different though, like some weird tension in the air, i feel as if red smoke is filling my lungs and calling out mattheo's name.

snapping out of it, i clear my throat and focus my attention onto the horribly boring, lesson

the class ends sooner than later and i take my time to collect my stuff, not noticing mattheo waiting for me.

i head to the door and meet eyes with him

"waiting for me, riddle?" i question and his lips curl upwards

"i might be, walk with me will you?" he asks and i nod, following wherever he's going.

"i noticed you staring" i mumble

"yeah and i noticed you drooling" he says and i scoff

"you think too highly of yourself riddle" i professed

"mmh i'm not so sure about that, have you met your brother?" he adds on and i realize

my brother, shit.

this flirty banter shouldn't even be happening right now, considering if theo saw he would absolutely loose his shit.

"yeah thats theo, uh- anyways i gotta go, nice talking to you riddle!-" i say in a rush, walking the other direction.

TUESDAY:

i hear the door open and look up seeing pansy, i'm currently in the slytherin common room working on some extra homework.

"hey" she says, plopping down next to me

"hey pans whats up?" i ask, putting my books down.

"okay so, i know this is a long shot.. buuuttt, there's a party tomorrow and before you say no just please please think about going!" she says the last part really fast and i laugh

"who's throwing it?" i question and she squints her eyes

"we are..?" she mumbles and my eyes widen

"pansy what!?!" i yell

"okay i know it seems bad, but some first years accidentally heard me saying how slytherin parties are the best and one thing led to another and all of a sudden i had to prove it was true and now everyones expecting a party tomorrow night and i need your help!" she rambles and i sigh

"fine."

later that day, i cross paths with mattheo again.

who cares what my brother thinks or wants for me, it's my life.

"hey mattheo, sorry about yesterday" i say with a smile and he nods

"don't worry about it sweetheart" the name makes my cheeks flush.

we kinda just stand there looking into eachothers eyes for a moment, i'm not sure how it was, but i definitely looked full of lust.

he moves closer to my ear, whispering

"you're drooling again"

i roll my eyes throwing in a, "you wish"

WEDNESDAY:

the party is all set up, and it took HOURS.

me and pansy had to rush right when classes ended to get everything ready

we're supposed to start the party in an hour but before doing that, me and my friendgroup decided to have a little fun

me, pansy, theo, mattheo, draco, enzo and blaise decided to play a friendly game of truth or dare before letting anyone else in.

"y/n" enzo says and i let out a shakey breath, not noticable enough for anybody to hear though.

"yes enzo?" i respond, eyeing him in anticipation

"what'a a dirty secret you've been hiding lately?" he asks and i smirk

maybe i could fuck with these people in a way that wouldn't expose me, but in a way... would?

"well enzo, so glad you asked. recently there has been someone catching my eye... someone who's off limits, someone i'm not allowed to touch, you could call it forbidden, but i prefer the term secrecy." i say with a smug smile, avoiding any and all eye contact with mattheo

before anyone has time to say anything, the clock chimes and the doors to the common room open, the room flooding with people from all different houses.

the rest of the night was kinda a blur, except for the end of it.

i'm too drunk to even function right now, feeling vulnerable and anxious.

god this is why i don't go to parties.

"hey beautiful" a random gryffindor says and i make a face of disgust

"jus' leave me alone" i say in hopes of peace, turning around to walk away, but instead he grabs my wrist.

i turn back to look at him seeing the no-good look on his face

"oh no" i mumble

"are you gonna like.. do bad thing's to me" i ask

i'm never drinking again i feel like an idiot.

"you just consented to it so i might as well huh baby?" he says and i groan.

"i actually have a-" without thinking i grab someones hand, anyone to get me out of this situation would be great

"mattheo?" i say looking up, seeing its him who i grabbed

well, i was going to say boyfriend but mattheo works too.

the gryffindor boy's expression quickly changes from being in control to being scared shitless.

i'm too hazy to even feel right, not paying attention to the bickering mattheo is doing, the way he's absolutely screaming at this boy.

my hand tugs mattheos arm, causing him to look down at me

"mattheo please- just get me out of here" i say, leaning onto his arm.

fuck i'm not supposed to feel like this

THURSDAY:

the last thing i remember, is mattheo dragging me out of that party.

i think he was carrying me? or was it theo? i don't really remember.

i turn over, opening my eyes seeing mattheo next to me

what the fuck.

"g'morning princess" he says and i wince, feeling the light hit my face.

"what time is it?" i ask and see him look over to his bedside table

"like 10" he says and my eyes widen as much as they can.

"it's thursday mattheo we have class!' i yell, attempting to get up

his arm lightly pushes me down

"you need to rest, do you remember what happened last night?" he asks and i shake my head

"you were drugged and you passed out." he mumbles and my eyes widen

"who the fuck drugged me??" i exclaim

"i don't know" he says and i sigh, thinking about last night trying to remember anything i can.

i don't even realize how close me and mattheo are, the way he's shirtless and the way the sun hits his eyes, his morning voice, his soft sheets.

i look down seeing me in his shirt and i quirk an eyebrow which he notices

"no don't worry uh- pansy changed you not me" he reassures and i smile.

the rest of the day we end up just talking and laughing in his dorm, only leaving for food and water.

i gotta admit, it is awfully suspicious me leaving with him last night and waking up in his dorm, now us ditching and spending the whole day together.

but like i said before, i don't care what my brother thinks.

FRIDAY:

i'm currently getting lectured by snape for missing class and i can't help but let my mind wander to mattheo

lately, thats been all my mind is full of.

the tension has been getting thicker and my desire for him has been getting needier.

i need to tell him.

i rush out of snapes lecture as soon as he's finished, rushing to the common room.

what am i even doing, i'm being way too impulsive right now, it's fine i only live once, i have to do this. i tell myself

i reach the common room and run upstairs, knocking on mattheos dorm frantically

he opens the door and i smile, suddenly feeling all of my words leave my mind, going completely blank

then i remembered, i dont need words to tell him what i need.

without thinking, i grab his cheek and kiss him, it definitely caught him by surprise, but it did for me too.

without breaking the kiss, he leads me inside and closes the door, pinning me against it.

my hands tangled in his hair, the smell of his cologne and cigarettes filling my senses, everything just feels right.

an abrupt knock interrupts us, mattheos hand covering my mouth

"dude come on, snape is pissed you missed class and his lecture, we gotta go" a voice comes from the other side of the door.

fuck, it's my brother.

a/n: let me know if u guys want a part 2<3

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legendofmorons · 1 month

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Your honor, I humbly submit an idea that has not left me alone for a solid few months. Seriously. I can’t escape it.

Reader is a hero. Well, kinda. They are a hero in their dreams in the most literal sense of the phrase.

When they were younger, they had this incredibly strong love for the Legend of Zelda and Mario and all manner of games where you could simply help people for the sake of doing good. They weren’t too shocked when their dreams took a more realistic turn. As they slept, they felt like they were living a second life where they were the hero. They would go around solving problems, collecting items, and generally saving the day. Some nights, the dreams would be from different times, based on different adventures, or fighting different people.

Those dreams had always felt extremely real to Reader, yet they knew they were just dreams. When morning came, they moved on.

That was the norm until a strange portal appeared in front of them. The summer was coming and they had no better plans, so they threw caution to the wind and stepped through. When they came to, they found themselves clad in the same clothes they wore in every dream, surrounded by the items they had grown so familiar with adventure after adventure.

They had gathered their things, realizing they instinctively knew how to fight, similar to what had happened on that first night. They wandered the area, heroic persona seemingly taking control, heading towards a town and immediately solving problems.

In fact, that was how they found the chain, while attempting to solve another problem. Something told them to keep their name close to their chest and they weren’t in the business of going against their gut, so they listened. They used a nickname in a group full of nicknames.

A long while of traveling and growing trust (and one particularly heated story rendition where the reader just plain forgot to censor their name) and Reader had shared their name with the group. They were met with stunned silence which was, admittedly, not the reaction they were expecting.

As it turned out, each of those dreams became stories to these heroes, acting as a guide on how to act, what to try. In their eyes, Reader was a hero of story and legend, someone kids played at being.

How do you think the boys would move forward from this?

-VS Anon

Dreamscape

Pairing: Chain & reader

Rating: G

Notes: (Y/n/n) - Ypur nick name. I wrote the opening and then skipped the middle, I hope it's okay. I just really wanted to write the meeting.

Summary: You find yourself in the world of the dreams you played hero in, but apparently those dreams were more real than you thought.

Warnings: none.

Other: I saw you submitted something along these lines more recently. VS, do you want a second take on this? I am willing to do another take, haha. As always, if I missed anything, please let me know

-------

You have always had a vivid imagination, at least according to those around you. But you can't really argue. After all, your dreams used to feel like a whole other world. A second life of sorts.

You'd loved games where you played a hero. Legend of Zelda? Amazing. Mario games? Absolutely.

Over the course of your life, you built what would have been quite the legacy in your dreams. You had countless items and had even been blessed by a sages.

Summer hangs in the breezes, due to start any day.

So, when a strange purple portal with a spooky energy opens up before you, you go through it. You don't have much else going on, and don't imagine anything too weird coming of it.

A shield, that was gained from a forest. Wooden with metal enforced ages and a beautiful swirling design carved into it.

You emerge in a small clearing with birds song cheerily overhead.

In front of you is a pile of items. Items that you know, because you collected them in your dreams.

A sword, gifted by the ruler of a fairy kingdom. The blade is enchanted to never break and to absorb any malice.

A small stachel that clips to a belt that is a bottomless bag. Anything you put in there appears in your hand once you reach in and think

A small cluster of potions. One that heals, one that provides stamina, and one that protects from fire.

Even the small flute from your travels.

"What the hell?" You murmur, looking at your hands.

You realize then, belatedly, that you are in the same outfit from your dreams. The leather armor on your limbs and the breathable fabric comfortable.

This is officially Weird, with a capital 'W'. This- doesn't seem like a dream. Not at all.

Ypu gather your items, securing them as you have many times before. You brush yourself off and look around for more details.

The clearing you're in is nice. Wild flowers are scattered about and there's a rabbit at the edge.

A river runs through it.

Well, your best bet is to find a town or something, and you heard once that towns are often near rivers. So, in theory, if you follow the river, you'll be okay.

You head off, following the river downstream and hoping for the best.

-------

After two days of travel you have come to a few more conclusions.

First of all, you can fight. Like- really well. You fought of monsters that included a lynel, some lizards, and several bokoblins.

Second of all, walking for two days straight sucks but also you aren't as exhausted as you probably should be.

And third of all, this is definitely not a dream.

You're starting to wonder if this second life was ever a dream.

The third day you find a small town, but a town nonetheless. Thank whatever it is that looks out for you.

You make your way towards the store, hoping to stock up on arrows and food. You've accepted this is your life for the moment, might as well be prepared.

Unfortunately, while lost in thought you trip and stumble into someone. You are both sent sprawling to the ground.

With a groan, you rollout of them. You sit up and say, "I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, are you okay?" A male voice asks.

You turn to look at him and nearly chokes. You find yourself staring at the Link from Skyward Sword.

Okay, this is a lot.

"Uh-" You manage eloquently. Blinking as you try to formulate some kind of response.

"Did you hit your head?" Another male asks, he has pink hair. That's another Link, the one from Link to the past and s several other games.

"I think I might have." You frown, pushing to your feet.

You look around the group and find it made up entirely of Links from different games.

"That's no good, you need a potion?" Asks Twilight Princess Link.

"No... Just a little dazed." You wave him off, "Ever since I walked through a portal it's been a little weird."

"You walked through a portal too?" Asks Wind Waker Link.

"Yeah... Why?"

"I guess you're supposed to help defeat the shadow." Muses what is probably an older version of Majoras mask Link.

"Maybe."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, I'm Twilight." The Link in a wolf pelt says.

"I'm Time."

"Legend."

"Hi, I'm Wind!"

"Wild."

"I'm Warriors."

"Hyrule!"

"I'm Sky."

"Four."

You know these are all nicknames, so you decide to give your own nick name. You have a feeling your real name will cause- a scene.

"I'm (Y/n/n)."

-------

Time can't stop thinking about the connections between you, (Y/n/n) and the hero (Y/n). You both have the same items, the same personality, and even the same appearances.

The hero you remind him of is legendary, chosen not by Hylia but by a deity before any remembered. A hero chosen Fierce Deity.

He comes back to the conversation in time to catch the tail end of your story.

"Ams then my friend was like "Stop hiding from them, they don't remember ypu tripping two years ago, (Y/n)."

"What?" Hyrule chokes.

"You're name is (Y/n)?"

About time. Fierce purrs from the void inside Time's mind.

"Uh- yeah?"

"You're The (Y/n)?!" Wind demands.

"Oh stars." Time mutters.

"I mean, maybe?"

"You're The one who slayed the hydra of Catan?" Wild blinks.

"Oh. I mean, yeah. That wasn't a big deal." You shrug, "It needed to be done."

"You rode a tornado!" Legend accuses.

"What? No I got swept up in a tornado."

"You knew the original sages before Skyloft even exsisted!" Sky gasps.

"Yeah?"

"You're the biggest hero ever." Warriors manages, sounding awed, "How are you unaware?"

"Uh...I didn't think that stuff mattered?"

"Are you kidding? Kids play games where they pretend to be you." Four says, looking horrified at your unawareness of your importance.

"Oh. Neat?" You say shakily.

This makes no sense, your dreams - if they were ever that - never seemed like you would be a hero of legend important enough to be known millenia later across different timeliness.

"You really don't know." Legend muses wryly.

"Glad I helped?"

"You are telling us all about your adventures." Wind informs you.

#lu #linkeduniverse #misty writes #linked universe x reader #lu four #lu hyrule #lu legend #lu sky #lu time #lu twilight #lu warriors #lu wild #lu wind #Dreamscapes au

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haesunflower · 1 year

Text

petty fights with zb1

genre: slight angst only for hyung line, most are lighthearted

pairing: reader (gn) x all members of zerobaseone

about/tags: what i think reader x zb1 would fight about

warning some have triggers (implied cheating, jealousy and injury), these are mostly lighthearted, not all are established relationship, bullet point reactions, all lowercase is intentional, not proofread, i should have just made this normal and not bullet, I'm lazy

⠀⠀ kim jiwoong ⠀⠀

you always thought you were secure in your relationship

a lot of people swooned over jiwoong but he's been good at reassuring you that you're the only person for him

but lately, he's been busy filming another drama with seobin

and they spend all their free time together, doing lives and filming vlogs for seobin's channel

while some of it is for pr, you know they're really good friends either way

he's a hell of a good actor, you think

because watching his chemistry with seobin, you start to think he's cheating on you

you hope he isn't, but when he comes home one day looking extremely exhausted and as if he just cried – you prayed that you would be wrong

jiwoong kneels in front of you, and has trouble looking you in the eyes

he keeps stuttering, and then just cries

⠀⠀ zhang hao ⠀⠀

when you first started dating, one of the things you worried about was how well hao would get along with your group of friends

they were kinda, well, loud and too much

and you know hao is quite introverted – it's one of the things you love about him. he's calm. you're crazy. that kinda thing.

when you're all together he's usually mostly silent but he engages in conversation. you had assumed that when you all mingle and have your own conversations he holds up on his own.

to your surpise, your best friend let you know that he hasn't made an effort to get to know her even after all these months

that made you mad

the air in the car ride home felt weird. you were at a stoplight when you accusingly said

"do you hate my friends?"

hao just looks at you, and begins to open his mouth but is distracted by the sudden green light

without giving him a chance to think, "hao i've made an effort to be good friends with your members"

hao thinks you're being unfair, because even his partner doesn't understand what it's like to be an introvert

but to some degree you're right, he doesn't try hard enough

unsure of what to say, he nods and continues to drive

you loudly sigh and direct your body towards your window. you know this will have to be a conversation for tomorrow.

⠀⠀ sung hanbin ⠀⠀

hanbin was taking longer than usual again today

you always meet up at the exit of building b of the university when you're both done with your classes, so you could go on a quick cafe date before the sun sets

it's been 30 minutes since he texted "on my way!"

fed up, you head over to his classroom to find him lending his notes to a girl. usually this isn't a problem, but it's who he's lending it to that irks you.

"baby, can we go?"

"oh hi y/n, yeah hold on somi's just finishing up with my notes"

thing is, somi likes your boyfriend, and your boyfriend doesn't see that.

you head over to their table and pick up hanbin's notebook, somi looks shocked she was disrupted

"i'll send you photos of the other pages when we get home"

you shove his notebook in your book bag and start walking away, not giving her an opportunity to respond

when hanbin catches up to your pace he reaches for your hand only for you to swat it away

"stop being so nice to everyone hanbin, they get the wrong idea"

hanbin wanted to defend himself, but he deprioritized that train of thought as he realized you are 100% the jealous type

⠀⠀ seok matthew ⠀⠀

matthew's main descriptor is that he's cute, because he is

but you didn't know that being called cute bothered your boyfriend

"am i not handsome to you?"

"babe, where is this coming from?"

he flashes his phone screen, your recent photoset post from your finsta on display. it featured various pictures of both of you from your dates the week before

the caption he pointed to: "i have the cutest boyfriend in the whole world"

so you deadass thought he was joking

but he really wasn't, he looked real serious -_-

you set the phone down and hugged him, placing your head on his chest

"of course i also think you're the hottest man on the planet"

"much better", matthew finally smiles and you both laugh as he tickles you in revenge

later that night, you posted a few of his gym thirst traps with the caption "my boyfriend is so handsome he should choke me"

his older sister commented: gross. block me next time.

⠀⠀ kim taerae ⠀⠀

so the "fight" started when he texted you that morning with

"y/n look at this, the fans are saying i dress terribly"

"....well"

"well?! well what??"

you ended up not replying because you didn't know how to word it

you loved taerae but those red sweats needed to go

so when you got another text that said "are you really not going to respond to me"

you hit him with a "let's just go shopping today"

even though you hated couple items, it was the only way for taerae to buy the items you wanted for him

he secretly bought a pair of red sweats for you

in the end, he beats the fashion taeraerist allegations (thanks to you)

⠀⠀ ricky ⠀⠀

ever since you started dating, you couldn't recall a time when you were able to pay for your dates

he beats you to it every time...and you feel terrible about it.

ricky extensively spoiled you, and all you wanted was to be given an opportunity to do the same for him

one day you asked him if you could pay for lunch this time around

"no. never. don't worry about stuff like that"

"let me do it just once, please?"

you didn't get your way, and you both walked out of the restaurant slightly annoyed

in fact, you refused to go on any date with him from that point unless you could pay for it

he deadass couldn't get you to come with him on any plan he made for a whole month.

eventually, he showed up at your place and said "fine. for every ten dates you can pay for one"

he wasn't happy with it but at least you were

⠀⠀ kim gyuvin ⠀⠀

gyuvin was the clumsiest person you know

so when he knocked over the vase and cut his hand in an attempt to clean it up, you couldn't help but scream at him in worry for his safety

"gyuvin what are you doing? you shouldn't have touched that!"

you quickly found the first aid kit that his mom kept underneath the bathroom sink

gyuvin had his head down as he applied pressure to the cut

he watched as you worked your way through the supplies

as you gently tended to his wound he tried not to make any sound

"sorry i yelled earlier. i just wish you were more careful. i don't like it when you get hurt"

he looked up to meet your eyes, you were tearing up

it was sorta clouding your vision, so you had to stop what you were doing

"i know y/n, i'm sorry. i'm working on it"

he leaned his head against yours

⠀⠀ park gunwook ⠀⠀

you're both in debate. and you strongly dislike going up against him because 98% of the time you lose.

he likes to win and then gloat about it later

"how's it like to lose for the 3rd time in a row?" (jokingly, you think)

(because you have an inclination that he might have a massive crush on you) (you are correct)

academic rivals to lovers, if you will

when you finally started dating he stopped gloating at least

that doesn't mean he goes easy on you, he tries to give his one hundred percent because so do you

sometimes mid debate he'd catch himself staring at you and get a little distracted

your losing rate has since decreased to about 70% now (thank you puppy gunwook!)

⠀⠀ han yujin ⠀⠀

yujin had issues with sharing way before you started liking each other

maybe it's because he has younger siblings and basically had to share everything with them all his life

so when he shows up to school with a fully packed lunch and extra snacks, and you dare to come up to ask for the pack of pretzels he had, he was hesitant

you did this every monday without fail and he started to get fed up with it

"get your own food will you?"

"i would but it tastes better when it comes from you" you say as you plop down next to him at the courtyard

boy was gobsmacked. from that moment on he was kinda smitten.

i don't know how either that's just how his brain works

from then on, he only shared his snacks with you

except for that one time yena from the upper year said "oh that looks good, can i have some yujinie?" and he gave the whole bag to her.

yeah you guessed it, your pretzel bag.

you were furious

he didn't understand why until you made a snide remark at the end of the day - something along the lines of "yeah you're only nice to older girls"

he bought the giant xl version of the pretzels to school the next day as a sorry

A/N: my friend alexis helped me out with the ideas per member. personally tried to be angsty but most ended up being lighthearted lol. requests are open and you can claim anons too if you'd like hehe

૮ ˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶ ა

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minki-moo · 1 year

Text

♡‧₊˚ 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙬𝙖𝙣𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 ♡‧₊˚

pairing ♡ bang chan x f!reader tags ♡ bf!chan, dom!chan, sub!reader, corruption, fingering, (f.receiving), multiple orgasms rating ♡ e for explicit w/c ♡ 1.5k

a/n ♡ soooo the drabble turned into a full fic :) and yes i was projecting again who's surprised

you and chan haven't been together for too long, only celebrating your 6 month anniversary recently. because of your inexperience in relationships (and sex), you asked chan if you could take it slow, not wanting to rush things and potentially becoming overwhelmed and ruining your relationship.

chan, being the amazing and understanding person he is, was completely fine with it; he loves you and wants to make sure you feel comfortable with him.

however, things started to change as time went on. the less than subtle stares from chan whenever you borrow his hoodies (they reach to your knees so you never felt the need to wear pants under them), and how his hands tended to linger whenever he held you.

you also realized feelings inside you whenever chan did certain things, like when he only wore sweatpants and a tank top around you or when he stretched and you caught a glimpse at his abs.

you always brushed off these feelings, feeling too embarrassed to bring them up, even though you know you shouldn't; chan was experienced and he wouldn't feel weirded out that his girlfriend has these feelings for him.

one night, chan invited you over to his place for a little pizza and movie date. you (once again to his pleasure) wore one of chan's oversized sweaters and snuggled up to him on the couch, oblivious to how you were affecting him. you constantly shifting in his lap was getting him worked up. he wondered briefly if you were doing this on purpose; knowing you, you probably had no idea what you were doing to him.

while you were entranced by the film, you felt chan's arms wrap around your waist and pull you closer to his chest, feeling his growing erection on your back.

"chan-", you whisper shyly.

"shh princess, focus on the movie."

you stiffen up a little as chan's hands find their way to your thighs, now slightly exposed. gently gripping them, chan pulls your legs apart, exposing your clothed pussy.

"do you want to feel good, princess? i can make you feel really good, ok?"

his sweet, innocent sounding whispers made you shiver. at that moment, you wanted chan to touch you, you wanted to feel good even if you didn't know what he would do to you.

you nod, giving chan your silent permission to keep going. he starts kissing your neck, occasionally sucking the soft, delicate skin. as your arousal builds up, you start desperately seeking any friction on your now wet pussy, but chan's large hands kept your thighs apart.

god, this was so embarrassing. the way chan had you like putty in his arms was almost laughable, but you couldn't help it. all the doubts you had about going further with him disappeared, only to be replaced with need.

"c-channie...."

"don't worry. i have you princess."

before you can say anything else, chan moves one of his hands closer to your pussy, moving so slowly you almost whimper in anticipation.

when his hand reaches its destination, his finger slowly rubs circles on your swollen clit, making you quietly moan and lean back into him.

chan bites your neck, forcing a yelp out of you. he had to stop himself from groaning at how cute you sounded, how helpless and needy his touch made you. it made him want to do more dirty things to you, things you never thought of doing. moving his fingers faster, he thought about how cute you would look on your knees, looking up at him with your innocent look as he guides his cock in your mouth. how fucking adorable you would look pinned down on his bed, begging to cum as he fucks your pussy, forcing orgasm after orgasm out of you.

your grip on chan's thighs tightens as something starts to build up in your core, threatening to spill over at any time. the faster chan's fingers go, the more your legs start to shake. the only things coming out of your mouth are whines, soft moans, and the occasional "channie".

"gonna cum princess?". chan's voice sounds deep yet breathy. "let go for me ok? i promise you'll feel really good."

following chan's instructions, you relax fully into his touch, slowly coming undone. your body writhes in his arms, almost screaming as your orgasm hits you.

"that's my good girl, you did so well for me princess."

the praise makes you giddy in your post-orgasm haze, but you're not able to process it as chan picks you up and takes him to his bedroom.

he places you on his bed, and takes off his clothes one by one. his hungry gaze never leaves you, making you feel small and submissive.

"now baby", he crawls so he's on top of you, his hands situated beside your head, "that was just the beginning. we're going to do a lot more ok?"

you nod.

chan runs his hands on your body, your sweater riding up to expose your stomach and now soaked panties. he moves his way down to your thighs, taking his time to admire a part of you he's fantasized about for so long; the urge to put his head in between them and ravish your sweet, dripping cunt is high.

but he has other plans, lifting up your hips and pulling your panties down. the sight in front of him could make him cum right there on the spot: you spread out on his bed, in his clothes, and your pussy on full display. he's almost sad that he's the only one who can see you like this.

almost.

chan takes his finger and runs it through your folds, another whine leaving your mouth as he brushes over your sensitive bud. without warning, he slips his finger inside of you and starts slowly thrusting, making you gasp.

"it's ok baby. i need to stretch your pussy if you're going to take my cock." he chuckles as he feels you tighten and your eyes widen at his words.

"you like that, princess? you want to feel my cock inside you?" he slips another finger inside you. "you want me to tell you how good you are for taking my cock?"

his fingers pumping inside you and his words bring you closer to the edge. "channie, please. 'm gonna cum again."

chan removes his fingers from inside you, leaving you empty to your disappointment. but its not long after that you feel his cock head enter your aching hole.

"channie, 's too big. you won't fit."

"i will princess." he rubs his thumb over your clit, your hips unconsciously grinding into his touch. "i'll make it fit"

with one quick thrust, chan's cock is half way inside your wet cunt, the feeling making him let out a groan; it was so much better then he imagined.

the sudden stretch made your back arch, your mouth open in a silent scream. the feeling was so different, and the burn made it slightly uncomfortable. but the feeling of chan's hot cock inside you made it worth it.

"ch-channie-"

"god, you feel so good princess". he hides his head in your neck, grinding his hips and forcing more and more of his cock into you.

he finally bottoms out, his pelvis flush with yours. the feeling was nothing like it was before. you can feel chan's whole cock inside you, warm and pulsing as the tip brushed against your sweet spot.

"channie, 'm so full, 's too much."

"you can take it, princess."

chan starts to move his hips, moving almost frantically as he thrusts inside you. the punched out moans you make only encourage him to move faster, your reactions making it hard to not cum.

but he refuses to. he will take his time with you. he needs to see you fall apart on his cock, until you've cum two, three, even four times.

the feeling from earlier starts to build up again, your orgasm approaching too quickly for you to handle.

"channiechanniechannie 'm gonna cum."

chan moves his hips faster, helping you chase your orgasm. "cum for me princess. show me how good you are and cum on my cock."

that was enough to make you literally explode. you see stars as your pussy clenches on chan's cock and a scream leaves your mouth, only muffled by chan's lips on yours.

"that's it, princess," he says in between kisses. "god, you did so well baby. you'll cum for me again, ok." his last statement was more of an order than a question.

still blissed out from your high, you notice chan is still very much hard inside you, slowly moving and making you gasp at the sensitivity.

"channie, please i can-"

he snaps his hips again, cries leaving your mouth as he picks up the pace again.

"c-channie please i c-can't anymo-"

"one more time, ok? you can do that for me, right princess? just until i fill you up with my cum."

a/n ♡ this is probably my fav so far i love it >-<

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callsign-dexter · 7 months

Text

Ignited Desires 18+

Request: Ahhhh why do we love him so much !!! You totally fixed me on again with Kelly 😭🔥Now I also wanna send in an idea haha even though my birthday was just last week, you might still wanna get me a late present someday (oh I hope that doesn't sound rude) ILY 💗

My mind maybe thought of something where they are best friends and really close. During one shift you take a nap and get some really sexy dream of you and Kelly and then the alarm goes off, startling you completely. You can't process what your mind just did to you and seeing Kelly then makes you really nervous so you try to avoid him, which confuses him as well. You start overthinking your feelings towards the Lieutenant and you realize you might have feelings for him, more than friendship, which you discuss with Gabby private, but Kelly overhears you and is happy to hear that his feelings get returned, so he does something about it to make you his girl ?

Hope that's not too weird 🫣

Pairings: Kelly Severide x Firefighter!Reader

Warnings: fluff, swearing, smut

Masterlist

A/N: Happy birthday or belated birthday to the anon that sent this in!

Finally, a break in the calls which meant that you could finally catch up on some sleep and you couldn’t wait. You have been on shift for a total of 24 hours now and there have been constant non-stop calls. You worked on Rescue Squad 3 with your best friend Kelly Severide and you loved it, you were the only female to work on Rescue Squad 3 and you were proud of yourself and Kelly was too. You two had been childhood friends who had lost contact and then reconnected when you made it to the fire academy and you both ended up graduating together and getting into the same house.

Recently you had been having more than friend’s feelings for a certain squad member, just seeing him in his work uniform and in action just does something to you. You had just gotten back from a call and jumped out of the truck with ease. You stretched your back and sighed in relief when it popped into place just about the time Kelly came around and smiled. “That sounded like a good one.” He said and you smiled and nodded.

“Indeed, it was.” You said and then returned back to normal and started taking your gear off and heading into the kitchen to grab a drink with Kelly following you. “I don’t know about you but I’m going to go and catch up on some much-needed sleep.” You said and he smiled.

“I don’t blame you. Have a nice nap.” He said and you smiled at him and moved past him and into the bunks. You claimed one and put your drink beside your bed and laid down, your eyes were quick to close and before you knew it you were asleep and in a dream.

You had just walked into your and Kelly’s apartment after getting off shift and found him shirtless in the kitchen by the stove. He turned around and smiled. “Hello there my gorgeous wife.” He said and you were a little bit confused but you weren’t going to bring it up.

“Hello my handsome husband. What do you have cooking up?” You asked walking over to him and peeking down into the pout as you hugged him and he turned the stove off.

“Your favorite but I think I want my favorite right now.” He said and before you could reply he kissed you hard. He turned you until you were facing him and he hugged you tightly. Kelly tapped your thighs and you jumped up and he sat you on the very empty counter still kissing you. He moved to your neck and started nipping at your skin and you let out a moan. You threw your head back and grabbed his head burying it further into your neck.

“Kelly.” You moaned out. He smirked and then he was breaking his attack on your neck and taking your shirt and bra off leaving you exposed to the air and him. He was immediately on your right breast taking your nipple into his mouth and giving it the attention it needed and then his other hand was trailing up your thigh and to where you needed him the most. “Kelly, I need you.” You said and popped off your nipple and looked at you.

“You have me.” He said and then attached to your left nipple giving it the same attention that he gave you right nipple as he held himself up and his hand got to your heated core and cupped it. You let out a pornographic moan and he smiled and popped off your other nipple. “That’s the sound I like to hear.” He said as he was quick to get rid of your jeans and underwear leaving you naked on the counter the coolness helped cool down your heated skin. He gently pushed you down until you were lying flat on your back and he kissed down your sternum and down to where you needed him the most. He licked a broad stripe up your folds that had you moaning.

“Right there.” You said as he ate you out like there was no tomorrow. He took your clit into his mouth and sucked on it hard and then he was circling your entrance with his tongue, your hands spread out over the counter with nothing to grip onto. You were a moaning mess. Your body was heating up and there was a light layer of sweat on your skin. What brought you closer to the edge was when he brought his hand to your core and entered a long digit into your awaiting entrance and then he curled his finger and he hit your g-spot. “Kelly I’m close.” You moaned out and you could feel him smirk.

“Cum for me, Baby.” He said and that is exactly what you did. He slurped up your juices when you came down from your high, he was standing up. You looked up at him and his chin was glistening with all the juices that had come out. He was quick to get rid of his pants and you couldn’t help that he was hard as a rock and that had you drooling. “It’s all for you, Baby.” He said and then he was rubbing his erection up and down your slick folds and then pushing into your entrance and you both were moaning out in pleasure. “You’re so tight for me even after I loosened you up.” He moaned out and then he started thrusting into you at a slow pace. No matter how many times you had sex with him he always stretched you in all the right places.

“You’re so big. Stretching me in all the right places.” You said “Move faster.” You moaned out and he complied and he started thrusting faster. He was caging you in as you laid there on the counter, your legs wrapped around him making him thrust into your further. You loved it. You were close to a second orgasm. “I’m close.” You moaned out and then he started to slow down and you looked up at him and he was smirking, he was teasing you. You groaned but he gave a sharp thrust that had you moaning again. You don’t know how much time had passed but he sped up again.

“I’m almost there, Baby.” He said and then his thrusts started to get sloppy. “I’m cumming.” He moaned out and he thrust hard into you and stilled inside you, painting your walls white and that had you cumming too.

“I’m cumming too.” You moaned out and came hard with him. You both came down from your highs and then a loud bell sounded and then everything disappeared.

You jerked awake and looked around and then you heard the bell and was quick to jump up and rush out to the trucks. You didn’t have time to look at yourself in the mirror but you felt flushed. You pushed into the bay just as Kelly appeared in front of you and you froze. “You, ok? You looked flushed.” He said and you nodded.

“Yea, I’m good.” You said and got ready and onto the Rescue Squad 3 truck and sat away from him, normally you would’ve sat next to him but you couldn’t with that dream still stuck in your head so you sat next to Cruz. He looked at you weirdly but one look in his eye had you looking away and down. On the way to the call, you were still thinking about the dream and why your mind had you dream that. Sure, you were catching feelings for him but that was an intense dream and you were married to him.

The call was quick and you successfully got the person out and sent them on their way to the hospital and now it was time to head back to the firehouse. Again, you opted to sit next to Cruz and you talked to him and the others but Kelly didn’t talk. He was trying to figure out what he had done wrong in the short amount of time when you left to have a nap back at the firehouse. When you arrived back you were out of the truck before it even stopped. Kelly watched you run off and take your gear off. Something was stirring inside of him to figure out what was going on and he was going to figure it out. He walked over to you and when you heard the sound of his boots approaching you looked up and froze. “Oh. Hey, Kelly.” You said and he noticed that you almost sounded nervous.

“Hey, Y/N. What’s up?” He asked and you looked at him.

“Nothing. Nothing is up. Why would you think something is up?” You asked rushing to get your words out, another sign of you being nervous and he looked at you.

“Did I do something wrong?” He asked and you looked at him.

“No….” You trailed off and looked for an escape route and that broke his heart. What made you so scared of him in a short period of time? You then saw the girls and were quick to yell out to them and rush over to them. Then you were heading off with them leaving a confused and heartbroken Kelly Severide behind.

——————————————————————

Kelly was still as confused as ever. He tried to think back to what he could've done to make you so nervous of him and he couldn't come up with anything. Not knowing made him want to hunt you down and figuring it out and that's what he intended on doing just that.

It had been 5 hours since he had seen you and it was slowly agitating him. He made his, what seemed like, 600th trip around the firehouse looking for you until he heard your voice along with Gabby’s voice in the kitchen, he swears that you weren’t there before. “What is up with you avoiding Kelly?” She asked and that made him stop.

“Nothing. What makes you think that I’m avoiding him?” You asked with a nervous laugh.

“I’ve seen him looking for you and whenever you’re around him you walk out of the room. What is going on? What did he do?” She asked.

“He didn’t do anything. Dream Kelly did.” You said and that took him by surprise.

“Dream Kelly?” She asked and you nodded.

“Yes, Dream Kelly.” You said

“Tell me what happened.” Gabby said, sounding a little too excited. People passed by Kelly but they just kept going on figuring he was just taking a break.

“Ok, so it started out with me coming home and he was shirtless by the stove. I was married to him and it felt wonderful, it felt right. Well then, I asked him what he was cooking and he said it was my favorite and then he said that he wanted his favorite right then and there. He kissed me, hard, then he had me jump up and he laid me on the counter and we had full blown sex. He made me cum twice.” You said

“Oh, that sounds like you enjoyed this dream.” She said and you nodded.

“Oh, yea I did. It just made me realize that I’m in love with him but afraid to admit it because it would ruin our friendship.” You said and that made Kelly smile, you felt the same way and he was going to do something about it. Just then the bell rang signaling Ambulance 61 and Gabby was rushing off. He made himself busy to make it look like he wasn’t eavesdropping. Once he knew that they were gone he walked into the kitchen. “Oh, hey Kelly.” You said looking at him and he just stood there “Everything ok?” You asked and he nodded.

“Everything is good.” He said and then strolled over to you, he grabbed your face gently and smashed his lips against yours making you grip his arms for support. When he kissed you sparks flew and the breath was knocked out of you, in a good way, you only broke apart when air was desperately needed and he looked at you. Your face was flushed and lips swollen and pupils blown, Kelly was the exact same way.

“That was…. amazing.” You said breathlessly, he still had your face in his hands.

“I heard what you said when you were talking to Gabby and I feel the same way.” He said and you looked up at him and kissed him again. When you heard noise coming towards the kitchen you broke apart and he grabbed your hand letting go of your face and let him lead you to his quarters. He opened the door and made sure the blinds were shut before turning to you and gently putting you back onto his desk and you moaned at the dominance.

“Kels?” You asked as he was locking the door and making his way over to you where he kissed you hard once again and then licked your bottom lip which you gladly opened and his tongue dominated over yours quickly. As you two were kissing, the only time you broke apart was when he got rid of both of your shirts, he was quickly getting rid of your clothing and his clothing all at once until you both were left in nothing but your undergarments. Shoes and socks discarded long before the stripping started.

Kelly broke the kiss and started to attack your neck with kisses, gentle bites and sucking, you were definitely going to have hickeys but you’ll deal with that later. His hands went to your back and expertly got your bra off and threw in the ever-growing pile of clothing he messaged each breast and you moaned leaning your head to the side giving him more access to your neck. Your hands went to his stomach and slowly trailed them down to his underwear and pushed them down and watched his erection come up and slap him in the stomach. Your hand went to it, started to pump it and you felt it twitch in your hand and he moaned into your neck. “Feels so good, don’t stop.” He moaned into your neck and then you got off the desk and down on your knees and looked him in the eye as you took him into your mouth and he moaned. He put one hand on your head not pushing or anything and the other went to his desk for stabilization. His head was thrown back in pleasure and he was moaning which just made you wetter than what you were before. You hollowed your cheeks and took him further into your mouth and felt him at the back of your throat you bobbed your head up and down and that had him moaning. You pulled back until it was just the tip and you swirled your tongue around the tip, you sucked him and then kitten licked him. He looked down at you as he backed up and you released him with a pop and saliva was connecting you and him. You raised an eyebrow. “As much as I want to come inside your mouth, I want to cum inside that sweet pussy of yours.” He said and you cleaned around nothing and moaned. He helped you stand up and then helped you lay back on his desk once again. He got down on his knees and pulled your underwear down and off of your legs and tossed them into the pile of clothing.

Kelly just stared at your wetness and smirked knowing that he was the one to have done that to you. Just as you were getting ready to say something he was diving in. He started off by licking a broad stripe up your slickened folds and up to your clit where he swirled his tongue around it and bit it gently, causing you to moan. “Kelly, don’t stop.” You said and brought your hands up to your breasts and massaged them as he was holding your legs down since you were trying to buck up into his mouth. He circled your entrance with is tongue and gently slipped in slowly tongue fucking you and it was like heaven. “Kel!” You moaned out when he licked his way back up to your clit and gently bit it, you were so close to cumming. He pulled away for a brief second.

“Shhhh.” He said and you looked down at him. “Gotta be quiet.” He said and you nodded and then dove back in and this time your hands went to his head. You were close but you wanted to cum on his cock and so you were shoving his head back and he looked back at you with a questioning look.

“I wanna cum on your cock.” You said and he smirked and nodded and got up. You were exactly at the right level for him. He positioned himself at your entrance and pushed in and you both moaned out. He bottomed out and he fell on top of you but his weight went to his arms holding him up and not crushing you. Thankfully his desk was pretty empty at the time or everything that would have been on it would be on the ground by now. “Move.” You moaned out and he nodded and started to thrust into you at a slow even pace. Your nails dug into his shoulders, sure to leave indents of your nails into his shoulders, his head was thrown back in pleasure. You pulled him closer to you and that made him grab you by the shoulders and ended up holding you, which meant that he was thrusting deeper into you making you moan into his shoulder. “Faster, Baby. Faster.” You moaned and he started to go faster he then started to kiss you swallowing your moans and then he was pulling away from you.

“Damn, you’re so tight. Squeezing me.” He moaned out. The only sound in the room was heavy panting and skin slapping skin.

“Kel, I’m close.” You said and he nodded and looked at you.

“Me too.” He said and then one of his hands was tailing down to your clit and rubbing it while pinching it, helping you further get your orgasm. “Fuck, you feel so good.” He said.

“So big. So good.” You said blissed out in pleasure. His thrusts started to get more sporadic and his breathing was getting faster and so was yours. “I’m cumming.” You moaned out when he landed a sharp thrust and the combination of him pinching your clit had you cumming.

“Me too, Baby.” He said and then he stilled inside of you and he painted your walls white with his spunk. As you both came down from both of your highs, he slowly pulled out of you and watched as his cum spilled out of you. You sat up on your elbows.

“I’m sorry for avoiding you.” You said as you stood up and started to separate your clothing so you both could get dressed.

“It’s ok. It hurt but now I know the reason. I’m fine with it.” He said as he put on his underwear and you put yours on and then you found your bra and slipped it over your shoulders and he helped you fasten it behind you.

“So, what does that make us now? We’ve skipped several steps.” You said with a chuckle and he chuckled back as he latched the last hook and then found your pants and handed them to you as he found his. You both put them on simultaneously.

“I was hoping you would be my girlfriend.” He said as he buckled his belt and you did the same. You paid and looked at him and smiled as he found his shirt and threw it on and tucked it in. He picked yours up and handed it to you.

“I would love that. As long as you will be my boyfriend.” You said slipping your shirt on and tucking it in.

“I would love that.” He said and then he was taking you in his arms and kissing you. The kiss was starting to get heated again when the bells went off signaling for Rescue Squad 3 and you both groaned and pulled away looking at each other smiling. You both were quick to get your socks and shoes on and out the door. You both got to the bay and got your gear on and then hopped into the truck. You sat next to him, your usual spot and he looked over you just as you did too, he smiled at you and you smiled back.

You had to thank that nap you took because if it weren’t for that nap and that dream you wouldn't be with the love of your life. You were very thankful for that nap.

Tag list:

@kmc1989

@els-marvelvsp

@atarmychick007

@nyx2021

@grandstrangerphantom

@angenu01-blog

@talesofreading

@docockschest

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milaisreading · 1 year

Text

Exes

Author: I wrote this while I was taking a break from studying, so I thought, why not post it as a 1k special! Hope u all like it

Warning: None in particular(?) Some insults are thrown here and there. Y/n uses she/her

⚽️Blue lock belongs to:Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura⚽️

"Let's break up." (Y/n)'s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at the boy across the table. This wasn't what she expected to happen on Valentine's day of all times. Both her and her boyfriend were at a café near their school, having a cliché date that (Y/n) really enjoyed so far. The food was nice, the weather was great and overall she enjoyed her time with her boyfriend, but as she came to realize she was the only one who was having a nice time. She put her fork down and nervously gulped, her appetite for the cake already gone.

"Ehm... are you serious, (Ex/n)?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well... I thought that our relationship was doing well and... a break up was the last thing on my mind." (Y/n) laughed nervously as the boy took a deep breath.

"You can't use that brain as usually."

"What-"

"You don't think. I gave you so many passes in the past how your behavior is embarrassing. I mean, you are so loud and eat way too much, it's weird." (Y/n) gulped down a sob as the boy fixed his glasses and continued speaking.

"You should be lucky anyone lasted this long with you. Let's just end this now and never interact again, unless it's school related."

"Alright..." (Y/n) said quietly, not wanting to cause any scene in the café.

"(Y/n)... (Y/n)!" The girl jumped up at the sound of Anri's voice and she shook her head, looking over at the concerned woman.

"Sorry Teieri-san, I for lost in my thoughts." (Y/n) said sheepishly as Anri slowly nodded her head.

"I can see that, but are you alright? You have been zoning out a lot lately."

"Yeah, don't worry. I was just thinking of someone." (Y/n) admitted as they continued walk towards Ego's office. The woman looked at the younger for a moment before smirking and nudging her.

"A boy back home?" Anri teased and (Y/n) smiled sadly, a little down over the recent memory she had of him.

"Ah... you could say that..."

"You don't seem all too happy about him. Did something happen?" Anri raised her eyebrow as (Y/n) looked around nervously before slowly nodding her head. Truth is, she never really told anyone about the break up. Her brother and dad wouldn't be of much help of they heard what he told her, and Isabella would have definitely told her brother, so she just kept everything to herself. Why did she even remember him? Was it the nervousness before the match against Japan's national team? She didn't know, but the memories were anything but pleasant.

"Kinda... we had a bad break up." (Y/n) gave Anri a strained smile.

"You can always talk to me. I know a thing or two about break-ups." The woman said, patting the girl's back. Something in her words hit (Y/n) pretty hard and she started sobbing when the memories started hitting her again.

'This is pathetic...' She thought as Anri started calming her down while pulling her into a hug.

"Shhh... let's go and make some tea, you can tell me what happened if that will help. What do you say?" Anri asked quietly as (Y/n) nodded her head.

"Thank you..."

What neither of the 2 noticed was three pairs of eyes watching them like hawks as their figures started growing farther and farther away.

"Did I hear that correctly? Some nobody caused (Y/n) this much distress?" Karasu grinned maniacally as he clenched his fists.

"I don't know who that asshole thinks he is, but he definitely isn't worth those tears." Yukimiya mused, wondering how he can figure out the guy's identity.

"Murder is legal, right?" Otoya questioned as he looked at his two friends.

"It is, if you plan it correctly." Karasu's grin widened while Yukimiya readjusted his glasses.

"Let's go and inform the rest about this. Maybe Reo can hire someone."

"Ha? (Y/n) had a boyfriend?" Gagamaru asked as Yukimiya finished repeating what he and his two friends heard. Bachira was twitching next to him and some could swear they saw a shadow fall over him.

"Well, I did expect (Y/n) to have been popular with guys... she is so sweet and thoughtful after all." Isagi said with a smile as he thought of their manager, trying to surpass the jealousy in the process.

"Can't believe some guy got to her before I did... well, thankfully he is an ex now." Niko mused as Hiori and Kurona nodded in agreement.

"The guy fumbled so bad, if I was him I would have never let her go." Hiori said as Kurona turned his attention to Karasu.

"There is something you 3 aren't telling us. Spit it out." The boy said, curious about the menacing looks the three had.

"Yeah, while I understand you 3 being jealous, there is something off about the way you guys are acting." Chigiri chimed in.

"Ohh... you guys want to know?" Otoya raised an eyebrow.

"Yes we do. Quite obviously it's something important when Karasu nearly broke his water bottle." Barou sighed, pointing at the bent item.

"Well, that asshole not only broke up with her, but he seemed to have done something worse." Otoya said as he cracked his knuckles.

"And waht would that be?" Aryu asked as the room fell silent, everyone looking at the trio in anticipation and bloodlust.

"We don't know yet, but it was quite bad when she broke down in tears. I will give him a punch for every tear he caused." Karasu grumbled as the rest froze at the statement. Sure, they saw (Y/n) upset at times, but crying? Never, and it was something they never wanted to happen. But alas it did, and they needed to get revenge.

"Did you get the name of the asshole?" Rin asked as he was shaking in rage.

"Sadly no, otherwise you guys would be 3 players short." Yukimiya answered as calmly as possible.

"Ne~ Reo, can you somehow figure the bastard's name out?" Nagi groaned as he pulled on the shirt of an equally pissed of Reo. The boy tsked, if only he had his phone.

"Can you make murder legal?" Bachira chimed in, ready to let his rage out on the unknown boy.

"I will try my best, that bastard lost such a treasure and treated her poorly too." The purple-haired boy groaned.

The day of the big game came and everyone at Blue Lock was beyond nervous and excited, this game will decide everything. The stadium was filled with fans and families, who came to cheer the players on. While the Blue Lock players were getting pep talks from their families, (Y/n) was smiling in fondness at them. Niko just stood silently next to her, looking around the place. As (Y/n) turned her attention to the rest of the stadium, she froze when she saw 3 familiar figures.

'Nooo! What is he doing here?! And why are my friends with him?!' (Y/n) gulped as she saw two of her high school friends talking happily with her ex. A sense of betrayal hit her and Niko tensed up at the shift of her mood.

"Are you alright?" The blue-eyed boy asked as (Y/n) slowly nodded her head, laughing nervously.

"Yeah... it's just that I saw someone I didn't expect." (Y/n) said, trying to pull Niko towards the rest of the team, hoping the trio didn't notice her.

"Hey! (Y/n)!!!" The girl flinched as both her and Niko turned to look at a brown haired girl as the blonde next to her waved her hand.

"Ahh! You two are here, too?!" The girl said nervously, letting go of Niko, who observed the trio in wonder.

"Not just us, (Ex/n) is here too! Romantic, right?!" The boy readjusted his glasses and nervously waved at her.

"You know them?" Niko asked and (Y/n) nodded her head.

"Yeah, those two girls are my friends from school."

"And the dude?"

"Oh... we used to date for a short while. I wonder why he is here..." (Y/n) said absent-mindedly as Niko's eyes widened and slowly narrowed, making a mental note of his face.

'That... that dude made (Y/n) cry? The audacity!'

"What took you so long?" Isagi asked as Niko walked into the locker room.

"Yeah, you were pretty cozy out there." Reo rolled his eyes.

"Shut it. I figured out who the trash is." Niko said. Gagamaru raised an eyebrow at the answer and Bachira tilted his head.

"What trash?"

"The guy who broke up and made (Y/n) cry. Literally the lowest form of life for not only that, but also in looks." Niko cringed as Chigiri spit out his water.

"Where is he?! Will I be able to kick a ball in his face?" The redhead asked as Rin shook Niko a few times.

"Why didn't you call us over sooner? I would have thought that trash a lesson or two."

"I would have killed him, to be quite honest with you." Kurona chimed in. Hiori and Aryu held Karasu and Barou back from barging out of the room to search for the guy. They didn't want to upset (Y/n) before the game, now after... after they will turn a blind eye to whatever they decide to do.

"That ugly piece of shit." Nagi muttered.

"Let's just win this game, and after we can worry about him." Otoya suggested, holding back his own anger.

"And what do you suggest we do with him?" Gagamaru wondered, but instead Yukimiya answered instead.

"Easy, we will let Barou, Nagi, Karasu, Rin, Aryu and you handle him. The rest of us will keep (Y/n) away in case she wants to look for him."

"What?! I want to hit him!" Bachira protested.

"We all want to, but we can't just leave (Y/n) all alone, she will grow suspicious." Isagi interjected, more interested in her well-being than in the guy right now.

"And besides, the height of them will be enough to scare him off." Niko added in.

"He is short?" Reo asked.

"Yep. (Y/n) did charity work there." The black-haired boy nodded.

After the game had ended (Y/n) was sent out to get some extra towels and a few other things. The euphoria of the boys winning made her a little bit unaware of her space, so she didn't notice the team watching as she left, nor did she notice her ex running right after her till it was too late.

"(Y/n)! Wait!" The girl froze on the spot and slowly turned around to look at the boy.

"Oh... (Ex/n)... did you need something?" (Y/n) asked nervously, backing away little by little.

"I... I wanted to talk with you. The last time we really spoke..."

"You broke up and insulted me." (Y/n) finished for him, a mix of sadness and anger bubbling up in her.

"Was it really insulting if I said the truth?" The boy raised his eyebrow as the girl clenched her fists.

"Yes, yes it is. You had nor right to tell me all those things, a simple break up would have been enough. Especially when the things I did were normal and not bothering anyone. Please just leave me alone." (Y/n) glared at the boy, who was pretty surprised at her response.

"So Blue Lock taught you how to speak-"

"And you weren't taught any manners." (Y/n)'s eyes widened in surprise as she saw Karasu and Nagi grab the boy's shoulders.

"What are you two doing here?" (Y/n) raised her eyebrow, surprised they left the group.

"We wanted to see where you are. Chigiri needs help." Aryu added, making his presence known.

"Chigiri?"

"Yeah! Come on! I will bring you to him!" Bachira's voice was heard as he ran to where (Y/n) was grabbing the girl's arm.

"Bachira-"

"Let's go!" The brunette cheered, sending a menacing smile towards the shaken up boy and dragged her away. Once out of eyes and ears shot, Rin, Gagamaru and Barou made their presence known and sent the boy death stares.

"So, care to repeat what you told (Y/n) on the day you broke up with her?" Nagi said coldly.

"You can do it civilly or we can force you to say it." Rin added in. The ex gulped as the taller boys sent daggers his way.

"Spit it out, dumbass." Barou demanded.

"Shouldn't we wait for the rest?" (Y/n) questioned Bachira as his hold on her arm tightened.

"Nah~ they will join us soon, anyways!"

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goldenlikedayl1ght · 10 months

Text

you're the one - j. cage

a/n: not proud of where my life has taken me, honestly. but this is for the love of my life, luca. hope you all enjoy! likes, comments, and reblogs are always appreciated! warnings: kissing, suggestive comments, johnny being like the worlds biggest flirt, nothing too crazy, but definitely a lot of sexual innuendos, teasing, inappropriate workplace relationship, kind of, light angst with a happy ending word count: 3.1k summary: you're johnny cage's assistant babysitter agent, and you're his opposite. and yet, he finds himself unapologetically into you. pairing: johnny cage x gn!reader now playing: you're the one - greta van fleet "you're the one i want/you're the one i need/you're the one i had/come on back to me"

You decide you can never be with Johnny Cage in a dingy bar on a Saturday at 11:19 PM.

You’d been his agent for around three months at this point, and you’re always with him, to the point where it became weird that you know so little about each other. And really, it’s a wonder that you lasted so long given how different you are.

You’re awkward, and there’s no harm in it, but you find yourself standing to the side of every movie set, glancing down to your phone to try and find a reason to send an email to someone to distract yourself.

Your relationship history is far and few between, you’ve only started dressing well recently, and you find yourself struggling in crowds and public speaking terrifies you.

Johnny is electric. He has no problem finessing a crowd, has no problem being the center of attention. He’s just unlike anyone you’ve ever met.

So really, you can’t say you’re shocked when you wake up one day and realize that you have in fact, developed feelings for him. It isn’t a tough thing to do, not when he’s always flirting with you.

After a rather large slump in his career, Johnny’s new movies have been doing well in both the box office and with movie watchers all over the country. Really, you became his agent at the perfect time because right after you started, he really became quite the star. Maybe the change of pace behind the camera worked out rather well.

He sort of feels bad, that you’re constantly with him. He doesn’t know when you sleep, because if he isn’t on set or doing press or getting ready to do either, he’s asleep, but every day when you show up to the set, you have a new agenda for him to follow.

When you do it, while also sleeping, eating, and taking care of your own obligations, he doesn’t know.

But one night, after three months of your help, he asks you to grab a drink with him.

(“This isn’t a ploy to get me alone and drunk is it, Cage?”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”)

And that’s how you wound up here. You’re dressed more casually than he’s ever seen you, sporting this old band tee and some rather casual jeans. He can’t stop looking at you, and he’s a little confused about it.

He doesn’t get star struck often, but he has this thought, that maybe in one of Liu Kang’s alternate universes, you two ends up together. Maybe he fixes boats in a coastal town, maybe you work at the diner there, maybe you have a dog together. Maybe, in another universe, you and Johnny have a quiet life, where you don’t have much, but you have each other, and that’s enough.

“So how did someone like you end up in a place like this?” he asks, charmingly. You roll your eyes and take another sip of your beer.

“Well, this asshole I work for—”

“Hey!”

“He asked me out for a drink, and I don’t know if it’s because I felt obligated because he pays me, or because I genuinely wanted to, but I went out with him.”

“You’re so mean to me.”

“You make up for it, always flirting with me.”

“Can’t say you don’t like it, sweetheart—”

“Listen, Cage—"

“But you never answered my question. How’d you end up in Hollywood? We spend all this time together, yet I feel like I barely know my own assistant.”

“Agent.”

“Whatever. Answer the question.”

It’s a loaded one, no doubt, but not one you aren’t willing to answer. You find yourself unable to really keep anything from him, he just needs to know where to look for it, how to interpret it.

“I moved here from home, never

had much of anything—Family, Money, Whatever—Got an internship and before you know it, I’m networking my way to being Johnny Cage’s babysitter—”

“Agent.”

“Whatever.” You shoot back, a goofy grin on your face.

“Okay, let me ask you this,” He poises, “Favorite movie?”

You exhale, finding that a near impossible question.

“Oh, and none of mine! Then, it would be too easy!” He grins, and you shoot him this look.

You have a lot of favorite movies.

You take a few minutes before deciding on one.

“Paddington 2.”

“What?!”

“Paddington 2!”

“You cannot be serious!” He gawks. “Paddington 2 over, what? The Shawshank Redemption? Gladiator? Better than Aliens?!”

You take a minute.

“I’ve never seen Aliens.”

“What?! Big alien, tiny girl, Ripley!” He says the main character’s name in this high pitched, annoying tone.

It makes you burst out laughing, and he just laughs at your laugh.

“Nope, never seen it.”

“Oh my god! How do you work in Hollywood, and you’ve never seen Aliens?”

“Stop asking me if I’ve never seen Aliens, you know what the answer is!”

You both laugh again, and for a moment, it is perfect. There is no one else in the world except you and him, and there’s no reason to feel as if this isn’t real. There’s no reason to deny yourself the rather simple pleasure of admiring him, and there is certainly no reason to stop looking at him like you are right now.

And then this beautiful blonde woman strolls up to him. Even you can admit that she’s gorgeous.

“Excuse me,” Her voice is that of a songbird, “I don’t mean to bother you, but are you Johnny Cage? Like, the actor?”

“Indeed, I am, how can I help you?”

“I was just wondering if I could buy you a drink. Maybe we can go back to my table?”

You’re full of jealousy. You feel awful for it too, because in no way is Johnny yours.

“Uh, you know what..” He glances back at you, and you give him this weak smile.

“Go, it’s fine. Have fun, it isn’t like this is a date or anything.”

He grins at you and puts a fifty on the bar to pay for your drinks and leave the bartender a rather nice tip.

“You’re the best wingman ever, man! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

You finish your drink bitterly as Johnny goes off to flirt with, and eventually sleep with, that nice woman. You take notice that when the two of you are alone, you’re ‘sweetheart’ but when another woman strolls in, you’re ‘man’.

And that’s it. It’s 11:19 PM and in that dingy bar, you decide that you can never be with Johnny Cage. You know it will never be what you want it to be. That if it does happen, it’ll be like it is with this woman. A one-night stand, never to be brought up again. You’ll get him all to yourself for one night, and then after that, he will never be yours again. He’ll go back to being no ones, back to being the spotlights. Back to belonging to everyone, except you.

• • •

To tell you the truth, you snuck up on Johnny. After you made it clear the first day you met that you had no intention of sleeping with him, he sort of wrote you off other than flirting.

And one day he woke up and realized how desperately, horribly in love he is with you.

It happens a few weeks after your night at the bar. You were supposed to spend the night filming an outdoor scene, but it rained so hard that the stunts wouldn’t have been safe, so here you are in his living room. He had sold his mega mansion for something less expensive—Still lavish, but not nearly as expensive.

“So, do you want to go over the script and make those edits that the studio suggested or—”

“Nope.” He comes out of the kitchen holding a big bucket of popcorn. “We’re watching Aliens.”

You sigh and plop the script down on his coffee table.

“Johnny—” you say in this exasperated tone.

“Darling,” He echoes, in that same tone but more sarcastically. What a dick. You can’t help but want him. He sits with you and puts the popcorn between you, as he turns on the TV and brings up the movie. “Say what you want, but you’re my assistant, so you have to do what I say!”

“Agent.”

“Whatever! C’mon, take one night off, just watch this movie with me!”

You glance over to him and sigh. Why do you do the things you do for him? You’ll never know.

“Fine. One movie, and that’s it!” You tell him and curl up on the couch, your hand reaching to the popcorn to grab a fistful.

One thing no one ever told you was how God damn scary this movie was! You aren’t a big gore or horror person, so it takes you by surprise.

It’s really good, though you’d never admit it to Johnny, just fucking scary.

At some point throughout the movie, one of you moved over the popcorn bowl, slowly closing the gap between the two of you.

During a particularly scary scene, you find yourself jumping, right into his side, gripping his arm. Your heart is racing, but you’re so totally glued in.

“Jesus fucking Christ!” You gasp, your clutch on his arm growing tighter.

“Pretty cool, right?” He grins, noticing your grip on his arm.

“It’s fine.” He chuckles and shakes his head, leaning back on the couch.

And that was it. He was hooked. He knew how his image had been around Hollywood, and he knew that you saw him as this playboy. Which wasn’t entirely untrue, especially since his divorce. But he wanted to make a change, wanted you to see the change, but he just couldn’t put his finger on how.

The rain is still pouring when the movie ends, when you finally pull yourself off his arm.

“I should be heading out.”

“What? You can’t drive in this.” He doesn’t want you to leave.

“It’s not that bad.”

“Just stay the night.”

“Johnny, I don’t even have clothes to—”

“I’ll give you some of mine. You can take the bed.”

You pause.

“Don’t think that this means I’ll sleep with you.”

He grins.

“Sleep in the same bed as me? Yeah. Let me do all these dirty things that I—”

You get up and head towards his room.

“I’m not on the clock, I’m not dealing with you.”

He grins and follows you.

“I don’t hear a no in there, hot stuff—”

“I swear to god, Johnny—”

You’re too busy bickering to get much sleep that night.

• • •

The movie comes out in two weeks, so on your agenda for today is fitting him for a new suit. You’re sitting, sipping a rather crisp mimosa when he comes out in this one suit. He does a nice twirl and holds his arms out, expecting approval.

He looks good. Like, good enough that you almost break that rule you made at the bar that night.

It’s been a month since you stayed at his place, and since then, things have just been different. You no longer must watch him go off and flirt with other people, because he seems to have some sort of change of heart.

You grin gently.

You put your drink down and stand up, going over to him and adjusting his tie.

He wears this black suit, except the suit coat is a deep blue velvet that is soft to the touch.

“You look great.” You tell him. He grins.

“Only missing my signature shades, good lookin’. That way you can’t tell when I’m looking at your—”

“Eyes, right, Johnny?”

“And ass.”

You laugh and shake your head, unable to comprehend that you feel anything except great love for that comment.

“So, what are you gonna wear?” He asks.

“What? To where?”

“To the premiere?”

“Johnny, I’m not going to the premiere—”

“You have to! You’re my assistant!”

“Agent!”

“Whatever!” His hands come to the dips of your hips. It’s a little too past platonic. You say nothing. “We need to get you an outfit.”

You groan. You hate shopping for clothes. You hate fancy clothes especially.

“Let me go order this to be tailored, and then we can go shopping for you. I’m thinking either blue, to match me, or gold, to compliment—”

“If I’m going to the premiere, It’ll be quietly behind all the cameras, not—”

“Then come as my date. Not as my agent, not as my assistant, not as my babysitter. As my date.”

“Don’t you want to go with someone pretty?”

He frowns.

“You’re pretty.” He tells you.

“Johnny—”

“No argument on this one, Darlin’, we’re going shopping,” he quickly kisses your forehead and walks off to go get changed and pay for his suit.

So that’s how you find yourself awkwardly fitting into this gold outfit, with black accents and the right curves to fit your body shape just right. It isn’t your body that fits awkwardly into it, it’s you. You’re not used to this level of formality.

“Come on out, sweetheart, I won’t bite!” Johnny calls from outside your dressing room.

“You’re gonna be mean to me!”

He gasps, “I would never!”

You sigh and adjust the outfit before walking back out of the dressing room.

“Don’t laugh—” But he isn’t laughing. He’s just looking at you. “You don’t like it.”

“Nononono—” he says, walking towards you and putting his hands on your shoulders. He smooths out the shoulders of your outfit, his thumb gently rubbing over your collarbone. “You look amazing.”

“I feel like a barbie.”

“You look great.”

“I’m not used to this.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be a natural.”

“Besides, it won’t matter, everyone will be looking at you.”

He hums and shrugs.

“Everyone will be looking at you, I think.”

Your face goes red.

“Johnny!”

“I know you’re uncomfortable, but you do really look amazing, honey.”

You take his word for it.

• • •

When you get to the premiere two weeks later, it’s overwhelming. People are taking photos of you two, yelling his name, asking who you’re wearing. His hand does not leave yours.

“Just relax,” He tells you gently, “Just smile, it’s all you have to do.”

You do your best, trying to focus on the feeling of his arm around you as you pose. He glances down at you, tilting his shades down to the end of his nose. You can just make out his eyes. His hand comes up to your face and tilts your chin up.

He leans in and kisses you, as the crowds around you scream even louder. It occurs to you, at this moment, that he’s only kissing you to get publicity. That maybe he’s just taking advantage of the fact that you could be his mysterious new beaux. That he doesn’t want you, doesn’t want to kiss you, doesn't want anything to do with you.

You kiss back, not having any ability to resist how badly you want him anymore. You don’t care if it’s just for the cameras. You have no desire to pull away from him, no matter how pretend it may be.

When he does pull away, you make your way off the red carpet and into a secluded corner of the room.

“I’m sorry,” he starts.

“It’s okay, I get it, it didn’t mean anything—”

“What are you talking about?”

“…What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry for surprising you so suddenly, it wasn’t where I wanted to do that, but I just.. I couldn’t help myself. You’re looking so good right now..”

“Not where you wanted to do that?”

“I’ve been meaning to kiss you for a while.. I just wanted it to be romantic and amazing, like you deserve, but I just couldn't help myself.”

“Like I deserve?”

“You have a lot of questions for someone who just got kissed by me—”

“Ugh, you’re the worst!”

“Does that mean you don’t want me to kiss you again?”

“…No.”

“That’s what I thought,” he leans to kiss you again, and you gladly let him. You only break off the kiss to take his sunglasses off his face, before kissing him again. Now that you had him, the want didn’t dissipate. Especially when you feel his hands on your hips again, and you only lean further into the kiss.

You can’t believe you waited so long to kiss Johnny Cage. Why would you ever deny yourself the right to make out in some quiet corner of a blockbuster movie premiere?

• • •

A week later, you’re sitting in that bar again. This time, you and Johnny have this booth in the back of the bar, and you’re leaning against him while he tries your extremely fruity drink and cringes at how sugary it is.

“I don’t know how you drink this shit.”

“I need to get nice and drunk after the day I had. Boss was being mean.”

“Sounds awful.”

“Yeah but He’s a great kisser, so.”

He grins and presses a kiss to your head. Somehow, He is more comfortable than he has been in a long time, feeling more like himself than he has in… years, maybe.

“It’s getting late, we should get you home soon.”

“Mm, But I like drinking. Besides, when did you become the responsible one?”

“When you ordered that fourth margarita.”

“Touche.” You finish your drink and sigh. “You’re not gonna let me have another, huh?”

“Not tonight, baby.” He says, patting your thigh gently. “C’mon, get up, I’ll go pay our tab and we can get some fresh air.”

You hum and get up, leaning against him as he makes his way to pay, and then you head outside to lean against the wall. Johnny keeps you up right as you try to breathe through the liquor. Then this girl comes up to you, and grins at your boyfriend.

“Are you Johnny Cage?” She asks. He bites back a sigh and smiles to her.

“I am, Hi—”

“I love your movies! Do you want to go grab a drink with me?” she asks, flirtatiously. You’re literally standing there leaning against him, with his arm around your waist.

“I’m sorry, you seem very nice, but I have to get my partner here home.” He says, “Have a nice night.”

She seems a little sad, but she bids you guys goodnight respectfully and heads into the bar.

“Your partner?” You ask, drunk on sugary drinks and love for this man.

“Yeah, they’re pretty nice.” He hums. “A pretty great assistant. An even better kisser.”

You frown.

“Agent!”

“Whatever.”

He leans in and kisses you to shut up before you can argue with him anymore. For once, you don’t mind his interruption.

#johnny cage #johnny cage x reader #johnny cage x you #johnny cage x y/n #johnny cage x gn!reader #johnny cage fluff #johnny cage angst #johnny cage mk #mortal kombat #mortal kombat 1 #johnny cage love of my life #mk1 #mk1 2023 #mk1 x reader

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wilderghost · 2 months

Text

oh, you kissed me, just to kiss me

fandom: natsume yuujinchou

pairing: tanunatsu

summary: He scrambles to cover the page, slamming the notebook shut in a flurry of papers. “Those don’t mean anything, Sensei!”

“Oh, come on. Any half-witted fool could tell how distracted you’ve been lately, and while I wasn’t entirely sure why until now, it’s obvious. You’ve been thinking about Tanuma.”

word count: 10.8k

Ao3

—

There’s something different about Tanuma, recently. Takashi couldn’t put his finger on it for the longest time, but lately he’s started to realize what it is.

Tanuma has been undergoing a growth spurt. Once that had dawned on Takashi, he hasn’t been able to stop looking at him. He doesn’t mean to stare—the last thing he wants is to be creepy or weird, especially towards him—but it’s really hard not to look and it’s somewhat easy to do it in a way that no one notices. He stares when Tanuma is talking to him, when they’re walking together and Tanuma is striding ahead of him just a bit, from across the hall at school when Tanuma isn’t paying attention.

In the past couple of weeks, it’s become so obvious. Tanuma is different. He’s gotten taller. His shoulders have broadened, and even through the school uniform it’s evident that he’s been gaining muscle too. The planes of his face have sharpened just the slightest bit. He looks older.

It’s hardly surprising. They’re halfway through their second year, and Tanuma is going to turn seventeen soon. Everyone is getting taller and looking more grown up. But for some reason, on Tanuma it’s so…stark. Maybe Takashi just thinks about it too much, but he hasn’t noticed it happening to his other friends quite as plainly.

He pays such close attention to Tanuma. He isn’t sure exactly why. All of his friends are so dear, and he adores them so much, but whenever Tanuma is nearby it’s like there’s a magnet that’s drawing Takashi straight to him. He wants to take every opportunity to study the way his hair falls around his face and how he slouches when he walks and the words he chooses to use when he speaks. It’s always been that way, in retrospect, but for some reason it’s been on his mind much more lately. It might have something to do with how much Tanuma has been changing, or it might not.

One thing is for sure, though, and that is the fact that the growth spurt is mesmerizing. Takashi doesn’t really know how to feel about it. He definitely feels some specific type of way, but he hasn’t worked out just what it is yet. He doesn’t know the word to describe the feelings that stir in his belly when he looks at Tanuma and has to tilt his head back just a little more than before, or how Tanuma’s smile doesn’t lift his cheeks quite the same way. It’s…different. It’s the same Tanuma he’s always known, but it’s also not. There’s an understated maturity, a subtle sophistication that has maybe always been there but is definitely more pronounced now.

Takashi doesn’t know if he likes it. Change isn’t usually a good thing. Change means loss and heartache and things becoming unfamiliar when they were once such a comfort. When things stay the same, it means he’s safe and secure.

Maybe it’s silly to feel frightened by something as normal and inevitable as physical growth. He’s been growing too—he’d just gotten new shoes a few months ago and went up half a size. But then he thinks about the fact that they’re all hurdling headlong into young adulthood and that thought is terrifying.

Tanuma’s growth spurt has been bringing all those thoughts to mind a little more lately. Still, Takashi wouldn’t say he dislikes the way he’s beginning to look now. The other day, Tanuma had come to collect him from his classroom after school and something about the way he’d opened the door and leaned nonchalantly against the frame made Takashi’s brain spit out the word handsome.

He’d blinked in surprise at himself. Yes, he supposes that Tanuma is handsome and always has been, but he’d never explicitly thought it before. Is it weird to admire that quality about a friend? Is it weird that, when he’s walking by Tanuma’s side, he wants to reach out a take his hand? Is it weird that he wants to know so badly how Tanuma’s body would feel pressed against his?

It’s probably—definitely weird. He thinks sometimes about what it would be like to sidle up next to him the next time they’re sleeping over at Tanuma’s house, what it would feel like if Tanuma wrapped an arm around him and pulled him close.

He usually shuts those thoughts down quickly, though, because they feel taboo or something and they always make his stomach churn and his face feel really, really hot.

Takashi has never been a particularly touchy person. Growing up, no one had really ever seemed to want to touch him, and that was okay. On the occasions where people had, it usually…wasn’t a good thing. But he always looked at other families, always saw parents holding their children’s hands or scooping them up into hugs. He saw lovers with their arms twined around each other’s waists. He saw friends high-fiving or hanging off each other in ways that spoke of profound familiarity. He saw all the ways that touch meant affection and love and it took a while but one day he realized that he was aching for it.

Nowadays, the people in his life are far more affectionate than anyone else has ever been. Nishimura, especially, casually touches him in the way he’s always seen friends do with one another. Even if Takashi doesn’t necessarily always want it—it’s hard to get used to, really, when there’s always been an invisible barrier between him and other human beings—he appreciates it for what it is. It makes him feel like a normal person, like maybe he isn’t as different from his peers as he’s always thought. The way Touko and Shigeru pat his head still makes him blush, makes his insides feel warm, even though it’s been over a year since he moved into their house. He hopes he never takes these small acts for granted.

Tanuma is different—in all aspects, he is different. He resides in a different realm from every other person Takashi has ever met. They don’t touch each other very much. It feels like a forbidden thing, like Takashi is only allowed to do it under special circumstances. Not because of anything Tanuma has ever said or done, but because the thought of touching Tanuma is terrifying. Tanuma is…precious, and fragile, and something to be treasured and revered in the way one would put a beautiful ornate plate on display in china cabinet. There to look at and admire and enjoy, but to keep locked away behind glass.

So, usually, they only have contact if Tanuma initiates it first—and he doesn’t very often.

For the longest time, Takashi has been okay with that. More than okay, because being able to call Tanuma his closest friend is a privilege that tops everything else. But in the past few weeks, there’s been a strange itch building. An itch to hold Tanuma’s hand, to press his cheek against his chest, to be close to him. The more he thinks about it, even though he tries his hardest not to, the more he thinks it might definitely be linked to the fact that Tanuma has grown. And that is puzzling in and of itself. Takashi doesn’t understand it, and he understands even less what to do about it.

There’s nothing he really can do. Nothing except stew in frustration and try not to think about it. His efforts don’t seem to be doing much, though.

He groans and lets his head fall onto the textbook sitting open on his desk. He’s been trying to do his homework, but he hasn’t made much progress.

“What are you moaning about now?”

Takashi rolls his head sideways. “Nothing.”

“It’s definitely something. You’ve been staring at that page for an hour now.”

“It’s nothing, Sensei. I just…have a lot on my mind.”

“Hm.” Papers rustle as the cat jumps up on the desk. “Looks to me like it’s just one thing.”

Takashi’s head snaps up. Nyanko-sensei is standing by his notebook, studying the doodles in the margins of his scant notes. He’s horrified to realize that most of them are of Tanuma’s name. He’s always had this habit of doodling absentmindedly when he’s thinking about something and not paying attention to exactly what he was scribbling. He hadn’t noticed just how many times he’d written it, and it brings heat rushing into his cheeks. How humiliating.

He scrambles to cover the page, slamming the notebook shut in a flurry of papers. “Those don’t mean anything, Sensei!”

“Oh, come on. Any half-witted fool could tell how distracted you’ve been lately, and while I wasn’t entirely sure why until now, it’s obvious. You’ve been thinking about Tanuma.” He comes to stand directly in front of Takashi and his eyes narrow in accusation. “Why?”

“It’s none of your business. And it doesn’t matter, anyway.”

“I would argue that it actually matters a lot.” Nyanko-sensei lifts a paw and jabs it at Takashi’s forehead. “Like I said, you’re distracted, and that makes you vulnerable. If your head’s not in the game, it’s easier for spirits to attack you, and that makes it my business.” When Takashi bats him away, he sits back and turns his nose up in the air. “Really, you’ve always been obsessed with him—though I’ll never understand why—but this is just getting ridiculous.”

Takashi groans and falls back to lie on the floor, covering his face with his arm. He really doesn’t want to be having this conversation right now, or ever. “I don’t know. I don’t understand it either.”

Nyanko-sensei is silent for so long after that that Takashi removes his arm and lifts his head up to look at him. The lucky cat is sitting stone-still, regarding him with a strange expression.

“What?”

Nyanko-sensei makes a thoughtful noise. “Humans are so stupid, it’s painful to watch sometimes. You, especially.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

He sighs. “If you want to see him so badly, why don’t you just go over to his house?”

“I can’t just intrude like that last-minute.” He drops his head back and stares at the ceiling. Now he’s thinking about what would happen if he did go over to Tanuma’s house unannounced. The thought lights a spark of excitement, but he can’t. What would he say? “He’s probably having dinner right now, anyway.”

“All the more reason to go. I’ll come with you.”

“I’m not going to his house, Sensei.”

“You’re hopeless. You’ll never get anything you want if you don’t ask for it, you know.” The cat stands and stretches with a yawn. “Well, if you’re not going to do anything interesting, I’m going out drinking. Bye!”

Before Takashi can get out another word, his sensei hops out the open window and disappears.

Takashi is left with the words ringing in his ears.

—

He thinks long and hard about the conversation in the days following. Has he really been that distracted? Nyanko-sensei is right about one thing—he can’t afford to let his concentration slip. Balancing his time between humans and spirits is getting harder and harder as each world takes up more and more of his thoughts and energy. He thinks he’s been doing a decent job of juggling his responsibilities to each, but maybe his sensei did have a point.

He’s been thinking about Tanuma a lot. When they’re together, he takes all of Takashi’s attention. When they’re not together, Takashi is wishing that they were. Maybe it is becoming a bit of a problem, but it isn’t one that he knows how to solve. Nothing bad has come of it yet and Takashi intends to keep it that way, but what is he supposed to do about it?

He’s sitting by the pond near his house one afternoon. It’s late summer and the fireflies are beginning to wink awake as the sun sinks lower in the sky. Nyanko-sensei is out again—Takashi doesn’t know where he could’ve possibly gotten off to now, but he doesn’t care too much at the moment. A warm breeze rustles the tall grass and carries the scent of wildflowers over the water to him, and he’s glad to be alone. It’s peaceful and quiet, the type of environment he doesn’t get to enjoy very often.

“Oh, hello, Natsume.”

He screws his eyes shut and tries very hard not to groan aloud. One afternoon. He just wants one all to himself.

When he turns, he’s a little surprised to see a familiar michiyuki coat. “Hi, Hinoe.” He doesn’t let his irritation slip into his voice since it’s not really fair.

She sits in the grass beside him and raises her pipe to her lips. “It’s a nice evening, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Her energy is calm and it’s clear she hadn’t been seeking him out, so Takashi relaxes. “What are you doing out here?”

“I just felt like taking a walk, and I remembered the fireflies gather out here so I decided to come and watch for a while.” She exhales a thin stream of smoke. “You?”

“The same, more or less.”

It strikes Takashi, sometimes, how most spirits aren’t all that different from humans. Here they are, at the same place at the same time, for the same purpose. It’s endearing how so many spirits enjoy simple things too, like watching fireflies and admiring flowers.

“Hmm.” She looks out over the water, the breeze blowing her hair back from her face the slightest bit. “I like to come here to think. Being near water is good for reflecting, don’t you agree?”

“I guess it is.”

She looks at him then, a thin eyebrow lifting almost imperceptibly. “Is something on your mind, Natsume?”

He blinks. “What makes you ask that?”

“You have a thoughtful look about you right now. Usually it doesn’t seem like there’s anything going on in your brain, but you look different now.”

He chooses to ignore the insult. “I…guess I have a few things on my mind.”

“Would you care to talk about it?”

“Not really. It’s human stuff. I doubt you’d be interested.” He draws his knees up to his chest and rests his chin on them, picks at a loose thread on his pants. “It’s just… Have you ever cared about something so much it hurt? Like, if you suddenly lost it, you think you’d die? And you want to do everything you can to protect it, even if it means locking it away and never getting to see it anymore, but at the same time… You miss it more than anything in the world. The whole time it’s right next to you, and you still miss it.”

He doesn’t know where the words came from, or why they suddenly spilled out of his mouth before he could stop them, but maybe that’s okay. Hinoe is probably as neutral a party as he could find, and she had asked. Even if she doesn’t understand or care all that much, maybe it’s okay to get this off his chest.

Hinoe gives him a strange look. She tilts her head and studies him for a moment too long before saying, “No.”

Takashi sighs. “Figures.”

“Does this thing that you miss need so much protecting?”

“Yes,” he answers without thinking. “Well—yes. He wouldn’t need it so much if I wasn’t around. And maybe it’s selfish of me, but I—I can’t not be around him.”

Hinoe starts laughing then. It starts as a chuckle and escalates until she’s doubled over and wiping tears from her eyes.

Takashi is taken aback. He has no idea what she could possibly be laughing at. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, you really are dim sometimes.” The laughing tapers off and she fixes him with an amused smile. “You could have just said you’re in love.”

Takashi goes rigid. The words strike him like lightning. In love?

He’s not—he’s not in love.

Being in love is when a boy and a girl go on dates to the movies and hold hands and get married. Being in love is when Nishimura won’t stop moaning about a girl who will never return his affections. It’s when Touko and Shigeru sit together on the porch and Touko lays her head on Shigeru’s shoulder and he puts a hand on her back, and…and they share a chaste kiss when they think Takashi isn’t looking…

Suddenly it feels like his face is on fire.

He can’t be in love with Tanuma. Tanuma is his precious friend. He’s a boy. That’s… That’s impossible.

But then he thinks about Tanuma’s gentle smile, his long fingers and his dark eyes when they look into Takashi’s. He thinks about how being with Tanuma makes him indescribably happy in a way he’s never experienced with anyone else. Being with him… It’s the best thing in the world. He never wants to be anywhere else.

For a moment, he allows himself to imagine the two of them like Touko and Shigeru. He pictures himself older, in a house, cooking dinner while waiting for Tanuma to get home from work. In his mind, they eat a quiet dinner and play shogi as the sun sets through the open sliding door. They walk to town to go shopping together, hand in hand, and have matching umbrellas by the front door. They kiss, soft and sweet, as often as they like.

Takashi can almost taste his own heartbeat.

“Did you…” Hinoe’s voice pulls him from the fantasy. “Did you not know that you’re in love?”

“I’m not.” He mutters it under his breath, feeling like he’s in some sort of trance.

“Please.” Hinoe takes another drag from her pipe. “I’d know that look anywhere. I see it on humans all the time.”

He’s reeling. He doesn’t know the first thing about being in love. Is that really what this is? “I’ve never been in love before. I don’t know what it’s like.”

“I suppose I couldn’t really tell you what it’s like, but you are most certainly in love, Natsume.”

Something occurs to him suddenly. “You were in love with Reiko, weren’t you?”

Hinoe waves a hand dismissively. “Spirits being in love is different.”

That doesn’t sound quite right. He’s met plenty of spirits who were in love before, and while every story was unique, most of them loved so deeply they were willing to go to the ends of the earth for the ones they cared about.

“I was in love with her.” A wistful look comes over her as she gazes out over the water. Her hair covers her face so that Takashi can only see her nose and mouth. “But it’s foolish to fall in love with humans, so I didn’t entertain it.”

Something squeezes Takashi’s chest. “I…think I can relate, in a way.”

“What are you talking about, boy?” She sounds exasperated now. “You’re in love with another human. You get to experience growing old together, living a human life. Don’t dismiss that privilege.”

A faint pang of guilt hits him and he curls in on himself a little more.

“You say you want to protect him by staying away from him, but that’s the stupidest thing you could do. If you love him, stay by his side. You can protect him best from there.”

Takashi pulls in a sharp breath. “He—he doesn’t even know how I feel.”

“Why the hell not?”

He blushes again and scowls. “It’s not something you can just talk about! It’s… It’s complicated. He might not feel the same way, and I don’t want to make him uncomfortable.”

“I’ll never understand humans,” Hinoe deadpans. “How is he supposed to know how much you treasure him if you don’t tell him? Unless you want to take it to your grave.”

Does he? Does he really want to keep these feelings to himself and never have Tanuma know just how much he cares about him? That thought makes him feel a little ill. But, so does confessing to him.

Confessing.

He shakes his head. “I don’t know what I want.”

“Well,” she says, standing slowly and reaching a hand down to him, which he takes. “Don’t take too long to figure it out. You’ll only regret it if you do.”

Takashi stands and brushes off his pants. The sun is almost down, and darkness is enveloping the forest. He smiles. “Thank you, Hinoe. I didn’t know you were so good at giving advice.”

She scoffs. “Why are you so surprised? I’ve been around a long time.”

“Well, thank you, anyway. I’ll see you around.” He turns in the direction of his house and starts to walk off before she calls after him.

“Natsume?”

He pauses and looks back over his shoulder.

Hinoe smiles in a gentle way he’s not sure he’s ever seen from her before. “Whoever this boy is who’s the target of your affection, he’s lucky. And he must be very special, to be loved by you.”

Takashi blinks rapidly. His vision blurs and his nose smarts, but he ignores it. “Thank you, Hinoe.”

—

Takashi taps his pencil against his textbook. He can’t stop fidgeting lately.

“Natsume.”

He lifts his head off his fist and looks at Taki questioningly.

She smiles softly, a look that’s almost akin to sympathy in her eyes. “Is something wrong? You seem…distracted.”

It’s getting a little annoying how often he’s been told that in the past week. He had asked to come over to study together, but once again, he hasn’t done much studying. It’s not really the main purpose of his visit. They’ve been at it for nearly an hour, and the majority of that time has been spent trying to work up his nerve to broach the real reason he wanted to come.

It’s stupid how embarrassed he is to talk about it. The conversation with Hinoe had simultaneously cleared some things up and raised a whole slew of new questions that he has to work through now. So he’d come to Taki’s house to see if she could help, but he didn’t plan on just how hard it would be to bring it up to her.

“I, um.” He looks down at his book and feels his face warm up. “I was actually wondering if I could talk to you about something.”

He can feel the energy shift in the room. Taki stiffens and the curiosity that immediately emanates from her is almost palpable. “Of course you can.”

Takashi bites the inside of his cheek and fishes for the words. When he comes up empty, his blush deepens. He closes his textbook and slides it aside, fingers tightening round his pencil.

Taki waits patiently for a few moments before asking, “Is it about spirits? Is everything okay?”

The concern in her voice makes Takashi feel guilty. “No, no. Everything is fine. It isn’t about that.”

“Oh.” She sighs. “That’s a relief. Um… What is it, then?”

He closes his eyes, pulls in a breath, and forces the words out in a rush. “I think I’m in love with Tanuma.”

Silence stretches between them. Takashi can’t bring himself to look at her. He doesn’t know what he’s so afraid of, but this revelation is so new and jarring that he wouldn’t be able to stand it if she reacted with judgment—not that he thinks she would. But if she were to react badly, how would Tanuma react, if Takashi ever confessed? The three of them are so close. If he was ever to act on his feelings, he would need Taki’s support.

Taki makes a small gasp and Takashi finally looks up.

She’s covering her mouth with both hands and her eyes are shining. The expression looks oddly similar to the one she wears when Nyanko-sensei comes around. “Oh, Natsume, that’s—that’s wonderful. That’s the best news!”

“It…is?” His heart is warm, and the relief that floods him makes him sag against the floor. He didn’t expect her to be so happy about it. “Is it—I mean, that’s not weird, right? I’ve never been in love with anyone before, so I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to do, or how I’m supposed to feel, and I don’t want anything to be weird.”

“It’s not weird.” She drops her hands and scoots toward him on her knees. “It’s not weird at all, Natsume. Are you… Are you sure you’re in love with him, or do you just think you are?”

He tilts his head in confusion. It’s a fair question, he supposes, but another unexpected reaction. “I…I’m sure. Or at least, as sure as I can be. Like I said, I don’t really know how I’m supposed to feel.”

“I don’t think you’re supposed to feel a certain way.” She looks off above his head in thought. “I’ve never been in love before either, but from what I’ve heard people say, when you are you just know.” Her eyes snap back to him, an eagerness burning brightly in them. “How do you feel about him?”

“Uh.” He sits up straight, his heart hammering lightly in his chest. He’s never spoken aloud about how he feels about Tanuma and it makes him blush again. “He—I think he’s the best person in the world. He makes me happy.” A small smile tugs at his mouth and he doesn’t try to hide it. “I want to be around him all the time. He’s so…thoughtful. And kind. He listens so well and thinks deeply about whatever you tell him, and he cares so much that I worry for him sometimes. He makes me feel calm and…and safe.”

The words flow out of his mouth like a stream of consciousness and before he knows it, he’s voiced something he’s never thought before. Tanuma makes him feel safe. For all the worrying Takashi does about his well-being, for all the sleepless nights he’s spent trying to figure out the best way to protect him, Tanuma still makes him feel safe. Not that he could necessarily hold his own against spirits, but in the sense that, when Takashi is with him, it feels like everything is going to be okay. He hasn’t always felt that way, but they’ve come a long way since Omibashira. Tanuma is his rock, steadfast and constant.

When Takashi has this thought, he knows for sure. “I love him.”

Taki makes a strangled, squealing noise. Takashi barely has time to brace himself before she launches forward and locks her arms around his neck. “I’m so happy for you both!”

He laughs and places his hands lightly on her back. “I haven’t even told him yet, Taki. I have no idea if he feels the same way.”

“Of course he does!” She pulls back, looking more elated than he’s ever seen her. Almost immediately, though, her expression goes slack and her eyes widen and her entire face reddens to the shade of a tomato. “I mean—o-of course, I’m sure he does! Anyone can see how much he cares about you!” She laughs nervously and scratches the back of her head.

Takashi’s brow furrows. Taki has always been the most obvious liar he’s ever met, but he has no idea what she could be blushing about. “That’s not the same thing as being in love, though. I—I don’t want to ruin our friendship.”

“I don’t think you will!” She leans forward, her eyes practically sparkling. “You should tell him, Natsume! Immediately! Like today!”

Now Takashi is the one who laughs nervously and backs away a little. “Today? I think that might be a little hasty… I don’t even know what to say.”

“Tell him you love him, obviously!” She sits back on her knees and sighs. “You are both so frustrating, I swear. You’d be going around in circles forever if it weren’t for me.”

“Taki.” It’s clear now that something is going on. Takashi doesn’t know what it is, but he shouldn’t have to dig too hard to find out. “What’s up? Is there something you know that I don’t?”

“What? No!” She waves her hand. “I just…think it’s obvious that you both love each other, and I think you should talk about it, that’s all.”

Takashi folds his arms over his chest. “Taki…”

She lets out a groan and pounds a fist into her forehead. “I promised him I wouldn’t say anything! Ugh, fine.” She looks at Takashi again. “But don’t tell him I told you.”

He feels a bit nervous. “Told me what?”

“Tanuma has been in love with you for, like, the past year, Natsume.”

His breath catches in his throat. Whatever he’d been expecting to hear, that had certainly not been it. But that can’t be right. Tanuma has never given any indication of being in love with anyone, much less him. Surely Takashi would’ve had some clue about it, right? Taki must be mistaken.

“What? No, he hasn’t.”

“Yes, he has. He told me last November.”

November…? It’s September now. There’s just no way that can be true. “Wh… Why wouldn’t he say something to me?”

“Why do you think?” She gives him a look that he’s gotten too often lately, also. Like he’s missing something that’s obvious to everyone but him. “He thought it was one-sided. He didn’t want to ruin your friendship either, you know. You’re both too similar sometimes.”

He reaches up to touch his fingertips to his cheek, can feel the heat coming off of it. His heart is pounding and there’s a fluttering in his stomach. “Is that right?”

“That’s why you need to tell him. He’s been pining for ages.”

“Pining?” Images of Nishimura bemoaning an unrequited crush come to mind again. Not that Tanuma would be vocal about it, but it’s…extremely strange to think of anyone pining for him. Especially Tanuma. He’s never been the object of anyone’s desires, romantic or otherwise. Or at least, that’s what he’d always thought.

“Don’t tell him I told you!” Taki repeats.

“I won’t.” His mind is spinning. Tanuma has been in love with him this whole time… Every time they’ve hung out, every time they’ve gotten dragged into spirit business, every time they’ve taken shelter from rain or snow in that little bus stop, was Tanuma itching to tell him? Was he filled with thoughts of taking Takashi’s hand or holding him close, the way Takashi has been fantasizing about?

Takashi suddenly realizes how stupid he really is. Tanuma has been in love with him for a year, and he only just came to terms with his own feelings. If he’d paid better attention, maybe they could have—

“Natsume? Are you still there?”

He blinks out of his daze. “Yes. Sorry, Taki.”

She smiles softly. “So, you’re going to talk to him, right?”

“Um, yes. Yes, I’ll talk to him.” Even with this new revelation, his stomach still turns nauseatingly at the thought.

“Good.” Her smile broadens excitedly and she takes his hands. “You’re going to be such a cute couple! I’m jealous; I hope I find someone I care about that much someday.”

“I’m sure you will.” Takashi returns her smile, though it feels weak.

Her brows draw together. “Is something wrong? I thought you’d be more excited.”

“I am.” He stares at a knot in the wooden floorboards and feels his own insides tying themselves into knots. “I—I’m so nervous, though. I’ve never done anything like this before, and Tanuma is so…”

“Handsome?”

“He’s beautiful.” Takashi groans and lowers his forehead onto the table. “What if he’s been waiting too long and changed his mind?”

“Natsume, I can tell you with the utmost certainty that he hasn’t.”

He turns his head to look at her with one eye. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.” She reaches out to pat his shoulder. “But you need to talk to him soon. Just trust me.”

“Okay.” Slowly, he sits back up. “What should I say?”

The look Taki gives him then is full of the long-suffering patience of a saint. “Just be honest. Tell him how you feel about him. I’m sure you’ll both be able to work it out from there.”

And that’s just great, isn’t it? Being honest and talking about his feelings are probably the two things he’s the worst at in the whole world. He and Tanuma have come close to fighting before because Takashi finds those things so difficult to do.

Before his thoughts begin to spiral too much, he shakes his head. If doing difficult things is what he needs to do for Tanuma, he’ll do them. He’ll practice and he’ll get better and he’ll become good at them if it means he can be by Tanuma’s side. If it means cooking dinner for him and sleeping beside him every night and having matching umbrellas waiting by their front door, he’ll do anything.

He’ll do anything for Tanuma.

Suddenly, the need to see him is so urgent that he’s stuffing his school books and papers into his bag before he can register what it is exactly that he plans to do.

“Natsume?” Taki says.

“Thank you, Taki.” He stands to his full height and looks into her eyes, hoping that he can convey the depths of just how much she’s done for him with one conversation. “Thank you so much. I…I really owe you one.”

And Taki, gods bless her, seems to understand immediately. She gives a determined nod. “Go get your boy, Natsume.”

That’s exactly what he plans to do.

—

He’s panting for breath by the time he makes it to Tanuma’s front door. It’s almost dark, but he doesn’t even really notice as he presses the doorbell. “Hello? Sorry for the intrusion!”

For a moment, he’s afraid that no one is home. He hears no activity from within the house, no footsteps approaching the door.

His immediate reaction is to panic. What if something’s happened? What if Tanuma’s dad is out of town and he’s all alone and a malignant spirit came to his house again? It wouldn’t be the first time. It would be far from the first time Tanuma intentionally kept something important from him. He wouldn’t be able to bear it if something happened and he wasn’t here, if Tanuma was facing something dangerous on his own, right after he’d realized—

The door opens. The door opens and Tanuma is standing there, his tall frame blocking the light from inside. He’s wearing an apron and his hands are dripping with soapy water.

Takashi could almost laugh at himself. He’s really got to stop worrying so much.

“Natsume?”

His voice is the best thing Takashi has ever heard in his entire life. It feels like ages since he’s heard it, even though he’d seen Tanuma just that afternoon before they left school. It’s deep and a little raspy and Takashi wants to listen to it say his name again and again and again.

“Is everything okay?” Tanuma sounds alarmed. He steps out of the doorway a little and lifts a hand towards Takashi before realizing it’s still wet with dishwater. He wipes it on his apron. “You look really pale. What are you doing here so late? Are you alright?”

Takashi’s mouth opens and closes like a caught fish. He’d been so confident on his way here, but now that Tanuma is right in front of him, it’s like every thought in his brain had decided to scatter and disappear. There’s just—nothing.

“You’re scaring me, Natsume.” Tanuma’s brow is furrowed in worry. He’s regarding Takashi like he’s some wild animal, cautious and hesitant. “What’s going on?”

Finally, Takashi is able to draw in a breath and get some control over himself. He grips the strap of his school bag and backs up a couple of steps. “Sorry, Tanuma. Everything is fine. I just…”

Every fiber of his being is suddenly screaming that this is a bad idea. Tanuma is going to think he’s crazy. It doesn’t matter what Taki told him, because now that Tanuma is right in front of him, there doesn’t seem to be any way he could possibly go through with this. Not when he’s so real and tangible and Takashi can smell the scent of the temple incense that always clings to him like an aura.

But then Tanuma reaches out and grabs the fabric of his sleeve. “Wait. Let me get cleaned up and then we can talk, okay? Um—come inside and wait for just one minute.”

Despite everything, Takashi finds himself nodding. He enters the house and toes off his shoes, hangs his bag by the door like he’s done countless times before.

His heart is in his throat, lodged so tightly he can’t swallow past it. He hugs his own arms to his chest like a child. Why is he so scared? There’s nothing to be scared of. He’s safe—he’s at Tanuma’s house and Tanuma is just a room over and he’ll be back in a minute. There’s no reason to be scared around Tanuma.

But, deep down, he knows Tanuma isn’t really the reason he’s scared at all.

He’s scared of the fact that everything is about to change.

Even if he doesn’t say what he came here to say, their relationship is never going to be the same. The very fabric of their bond is different, even if Takashi is the only one who knows it. And he doesn’t—he doesn’t know if he’s ready for that. His and Tanuma’s friendship has been constant and unwavering for over a year. Takashi has always been able to count on it. There’s a quiet comfort in the way that he knows Tanuma will bump his fist in the hallway, or how they sometimes cross paths in the woods. Calm afternoons playing shogi, watching shadows of koi fish on the ceiling, drinking barley tea and lamenting about tests they didn’t study for.

He’s about to risk all of that. That could all be gone just because Takashi decided to utter three small words. Even if the change is good, it’s still change. It’s frightening how, now that he has a life he loves, he wants things to stay the same so badly that he’s having such reservations about telling his favorite person that he loves him. If there’s one thing he knows about life, it’s that it always changes, and somehow that doesn’t seem fair. He isn’t ready to let go of any of it.

But…

Tanuma has been in love with him this whole time, though. He wonders if it’s safe to assume that his friend has been dealing with the same feelings that Takashi is now, for much longer. Maybe the nature of their relationship has always been this way, even if he was unaware of it. Is it possible…things won’t actually be that different?

He ponders, for a moment, a future where he doesn’t confess to Tanuma at all. Where he keeps stewing in these feelings, too afraid to act on them. Where, every time he looks at Tanuma, he thinks about those same feelings being bottled up in him, too. That doesn’t seem fair either.

“He’s been pining for ages.”

No, Takashi has to tell him. Tanuma deserves to know. He’s always kept things to himself in order to protect the people he cares about—or at least, that’s what he always thought he was doing. And, of course, there are some things he really can’t talk about with those closest to him. But other things… Maybe keeping other things to himself is selfish. Maybe keeping this from Tanuma would only be to protect himself.

“You’ll never get anything you want if you don’t ask for it, you know.”

Takashi brings up his hands and slaps them to his cheeks. He has to do this.

“Natsume.”

Tanuma stands in the hallway. The apron is gone and Takashi sees that he’s wearing a baggy sweatshirt and shorts and for some reason it makes his stomach flip. It’s a much more casual outfit than he usually sees him wearing.

“Do you want to go to my room?” he asks.

Takashi nods. He follows Tanuma down the hall and drinks in the sight of his lanky form, his sauntering gate, and notices again how tall he is now. That sweatshirt would dwarf Takashi if he was to put it on.

His heart thuds in his chest when they near the bedroom. Tanuma closes the door and goes to sit on the bed.

Takashi just stands there and feels kind of lost.

“Are you gonna sit down?” Tanuma smiles uncertainly and pats the spot on the bed next to him.

Stiffly, Takashi sits, hands fisting on the fabric over his thighs. He makes sure to keep a respectable distance between them.

“So… What’s up? You’re making me a little nervous.” He laughs half-heartedly. “Are you sure everything is okay?”

Takashi swallows past the lump in his throat. God, he wishes it wasn’t so hard just to talk. “Yeah, everything’s fine. I promise. I just—I just wanted to talk to you about something.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Tanuma pale the slightest bit. “Is it about spirit stuff?”

“No.” It’s kind of sad how his friends just assume that now whenever they think something is wrong. Not that they don’t have reason to, but it highlights just how much of an impact his ability has on them. And on him. “It…actually has nothing to do with that, for once.”

Tanuma calms with a soft sigh and nudges Takashi’s knee with his own. “Then…?”

Here it goes. Takashi feels a little sick to his stomach. He closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. “Tanuma, I… I’ve been thinking really hard about something for a while now, and I decided I needed to tell you. I don’t want it to change anything if you don’t want it to, or if it makes you uncomfortable, we can just forget about it and never bring it up again and that’s—that’s fine. I just—I thought I should be honest with you.”

He notices Tanuma go oddly still, his hands falling motionless on the blanket. “O-okay. Wh…what is it, Natsume?”

It’s definitely too late to back out now. He’s gone and made Tanuma anxious, and he feels like his own gut is about to bottom out too. There’s really going to be no going back from this.

He runs clammy palms down his thighs and pulls in a shuddering breath. Then, in a wild act of courage, he looks up and directly into Tanuma’s inky black eyes. “I love you.”

Tanuma exhales like he got punched in the stomach. His eyes go wide and his mouth hangs open like he forgot how to breathe. For a few long, never-ending seconds, he says nothing. Then he blinks a few times, dark eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks, and whispers, “You mean, like…”

“I mean I’m in love with you.” Takashi’s hands tremble so badly he has to sit on them. “I think I have been for a long time. But I didn’t realize it until recently, and I didn’t know if I should tell you because this is so…new for me and I couldn’t bear to lose you and I—I’m scared, Tanuma. I’ve never felt this way before. I treasure you so much I can’t even put it into words.” His chest hitches and as much as he doesn’t want to cry, his eyes start to well up. “I don’t want things to change between us, but I love you and I don’t know what to do about it.”

Before he can stop it, tears are flowing freely down his face. He’s mortified, but there’s nothing he can do. Nothing except hide his face in his hands and brace himself for whatever Tanuma might say or do.

He feels Tanuma get up from the bed and his heart nearly stops. But then there are slender fingers on his wrists gently prying his hands away.

“Natsume—hey, hey. It’s alright.”

He looks into Tanuma’s face and he’s never seen him wear an expression quite like this before. His eyes are shining and they’re so full of what Takashi can only describe as love, naked and pure. Tanuma is always, always gentle, but the tenderness in this expression now is too much for Takashi’s heart to bear. He feels like it’s about to burst out of his chest. He never wants Tanuma to look at him another way ever again.

Something unspoken passes between them. As if drawn by a magnet, Takashi launches himself into Tanuma’s arms and those arms receive him eagerly. One hand cups the back of his head and the other wraps around his shoulders and his face presses into Tanuma’s broad chest and he sobs. He’s been waiting for this for so long. He hadn’t even realized just how much he was starving for it. His hands clutch at the fabric on Tanuma’s back and he’s sure that if lets go, he’ll die. He wants to be held like this for the rest of his life.

Tanuma’s chest shudders too. His arms shift to get a better hold on Takashi’s smaller frame, crushing it into him, and he lifts his chin to rest on the top of Takashi’s head. “I never thought I’d hear you say that.” The words come as a hoarse, trembling whisper. “I’m so—I’m so happy.”

Takashi laughs through his tears. He’s so stupid. How could he have ever been hesitant about this? This feels like the only truly good thing he’s ever done.

They sit that way for a long time—long enough for their tears to taper off, and for Takashi’s knees to start aching from kneeling on the floor. Even then, he can’t bring himself to move. Tanuma’s hand is petting his hair and he can feel his rib cage expanding with every breath he takes. He inhales the scent of incense and laundry detergent and feels like he could get drunk on it.

Finally, though, they pull apart. Tanuma keeps his hands on Takashi’s shoulders.

“Are you okay, Natsume?”

“Yeah.” He wipes the last of the tears away with the heel of his palm. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start crying. I don’t know why I—”

“Hey, don’t apologize.” Tanuma rises from his spot on the floor and takes Takashi’s hand, helping him stand and leading him to sit on the bed once more. “And don’t pretend I wasn’t crying too.”

Takashi laughs softly. There are a few droplets of moisture still clinging to Tanuma’s long lashes. He’s so beautiful, it hurts. They’re sitting closer together this time, their knees touching, but Takashi wishes they were closer. He looks longingly down to where Tanuma’s hand is resting on the blanket again.

Tanuma clears his throat. “So, you love me, huh?”

A blush slams into Takashi’s cheeks. “I do. I’m sorry if all of this seems out of the blue, or if it’s weird. Like I said, nothing needs to change if you don’t want it to, but I just felt like I had to—”

“I love you, too.” Tanuma turns on the mattress so he can look at Takashi head-on, drawing up one knee and facing him squarely. “I’ve been in love with you for a really long time, actually. I wasn’t ever planning on telling you, though, because you’re always dealing with so much and I didn’t want to add any stress to your life. And… I didn’t think you felt the same way. It didn’t seem fair to put that on you, so I just kind of accepted the fact that you’d never know how I really felt.” He laughs a little. “I’ve gotten so used to it now, it feels strange to talk about out loud.”

Takashi’s chest feels tight. “Tanuma…”

“I can’t believe you beat me to it.” He smiles so warmly, Takashi would never have known he’d been hiding away such longing but for the pain that manages to make its way into his dark eyes.

Guilt rears its head again, though Takashi doesn’t know if it’s founded or not. He hates the fact that Tanuma has been hiding something so big for so long, and he hates that he’s the cause of it. It must have been painful. Takashi honestly doesn’t know how he would’ve reacted if Tanuma had confessed before he was able to work out his own feelings, but at least then maybe his friend wouldn’t have suffered so much on his account. Looking back, he doesn’t think he ever gave Tanuma a reason to believe it was a good idea to tell him, though. Maybe Tanuma thought it would be infinitely worse to confess and not have his love returned.

That’s fair. Maybe Takashi didn’t have the space for such things until recently. Maybe that’s the real reason he was finally able to realize that what he feels for Tanuma is love—romantic love. He’s learned so much in the past couple of years; he’s learned that he loves people and he loves spirits and that, perhaps, he can balance those two worlds. He’s learned that he is loved in return, and that life can be happy and beautiful and he doesn’t have to be in pain all the time. He feels stable now, and maybe that’s why his heart has opened up to provide room for a different kind of love—the love that he wants to share with Tanuma.

“I’m sorry you were waiting for me for so long,” he says.

Tanuma shakes his head. “Don’t be, Natsume. I never expected anything from you. We’ve never talked about it, but it didn’t seem like you were ever in a place to think about these kinds of things, and I was fine with that. I just…I understand, is what I’m trying to say. And I’m happy enough just being by your side. I never needed you to return my feelings.”

This is why Takashi loves him so much, he thinks. Besides being an all-around wonderful person, he has an uncanny ability to understand what Takashi is thinking and feeling, sometimes. He always seems to know exactly what Takashi needs, often times better than Takashi does himself. The fact that he’s given this so much thought is just proof that he really does love him as much as he says.

“Not that I didn’t want you to!” Tanuma rushes to add. “I’m—I’m so happy right now I don’t know what to do. I never expected you to—” He takes a deep breath and looks into Takashi’s eyes. “Whatever you want to do, Natsume, that’s what I want, too. We don’t have to act on this if you’re not ready. We can just go on being friends, because that’s more than enough for me. But if you want to…” His eyes drift down and linger on something just below Takashi’s eyes and a pretty pink dusts his cheeks. “I would… I would really like to kiss you.”

Takashi’s breath halts in his lungs and his pulse quickens until it’s pounding and his whole body flushes from head to toe. This is definitely, really happening. He nods before he even knows what he’s doing. “Okay.”

And Tanuma, bless his heart, hesitates and searches Takashi’s face. “Are you sure?”

He doesn’t even have to think about it. He leans in and grabs Tanuma’s sweatshirt. “Yes.”

Tanuma’s fingers caress his cheek briefly, and he has to bend down a little to meet his lips. When they touch, fireworks erupt inside of Takashi.

He never thought about what his first kiss would be like. He never gave any thought to romance at all, really, because it always felt like something far away and unobtainable. Romance and love were for normal people who couldn’t see spirits, who never knew the struggle of being alone. They weren’t for people like Takashi. He never believed he would have a first kiss at all, and that was a little painful to think about it, so he just didn’t.

His life has changed so much. He didn’t even realize it was happening until it had happened already.

Tanuma’s lips are soft. They touch him with just as much gentleness and reverence as Tanuma always treats him with. Takashi feels his breath against his skin, hears it exhale through his nose. Tanuma’s fingers trace his jaw, feather-light and careful. Takashi’s hands fist in Tanuma’s sweatshirt and hold on, like he might drift away otherwise.

He feels drunk. He could worship Tanuma like this, forever.

Too soon, the kiss ends. He keeps his eyes closed for a minute, trying to cling to the feeling of Tanuma as long as he can. When he opens his eyes, Tanuma is gazing at him like he’s some sort of wonder, and he looks drunk, too.

He reaches up to tuck a strand of hair behind Takashi’s ear. “You’re beautiful, Natsume.”

Takashi ducks his head and feels color rush to his cheeks again, too bashful to even tell him that he’s beautiful too.

“Are you okay with this?”

“Huh?” Maybe his head is still scrambled, but he can’t grasp what he means.

“Just—” Tanuma looks more concerned than he should. “I don’t want you to be uncomfortable, or do anything you don’t want to. We just told each other that we love each other and that’s, like, a big deal. I just want to make sure you feel safe.”

God, he loves him so much. “I do, Tanuma. I always feel safe when I’m with you. I think…I’ve been wanting to do that for a while.” He doesn’t say that he wants to do other things, too, like fall asleep in his arms or buy a house together.

“Good.” Tanuma’s smile is full of relief and absolute unbridled joy. “I have too. You have no idea.”

He believes that’s true now. The irony isn’t lost on him, either, how it seems that they’ve had the exact same thoughts about each other. Taki is probably right about how they’d be going around in circles if left to their own devices.

He hopes that they can stop tiptoeing around each other sometime in the future. They’re both too considerate to be presumptuous, but he knows this is just as new for Tanuma as it is for him. And that’s just how they are. The other comes first, no matter what.

“I don’t think I’ll be very good at this, Tanuma.”

Tanuma tilts his head. “What do you mean?”

A tendril of anxiety curls around his gut. “I mean… I’m not very good at talking about my feelings, and I have trouble being honest sometimes. I still get freaked out when people care too much about me, or when I care too much for somebody else. I can’t promise I’ll be the perfect boyfriend to you.” Slowly, hesitantly, he takes Tanuma’s hand in both of his and holds it to his chest like a precious treasure. “But I can promise that I’ll try my best. I’ll work on getting better at all of those things, because you deserve it.”

Tanuma stares at him for a moment like he’s confused, and then he starts to laugh. He brings his free hand up and covers Takashi’s with it. “Natsume… You think I don’t know all of that about you already? I definitely disagree with some of it, but I know you. I know how you are, so don’t worry, okay? I have pretty realistic expectations, I think.”

That’s right. He forgets sometimes that he doesn’t need to explain himself to some people anymore. Tanuma has been with him through so much. He’s seen Takashi at his worst—or at least the worst anyone else has ever seen him at—and he loves him anyway. That feels like a miracle.

“But you…want to be my boyfriend?”

The question is posed with disbelief. Takashi blinks. “Well, yeah. I thought that—that’s what you do next after confessing.” Panic starts building. “Is that wrong? Do you not want to?”

For just a fleeting moment, he’s worried that that isn’t what Tanuma had in mind at all. Takashi doesn’t know what he’s doing, after all. Could he have completely misunderstood—?

“Of course I do.” Tanuma says it urgently, leaning towards him with frantic eagerness. “But you want to? That’s a big step, Natsume. We don’t have to rush into anything if you don’t want to. You’re sure you’re ready for something like that?”

He takes a moment to think about it. It is a pretty big commitment, he guesses. He has no idea what it means to be someone’s boyfriend, but while he doesn’t think he’ll be any good at it at first, he knows he can learn. It doesn’t feel right to just go on being friends with Tanuma. He doesn’t want to.

When he speaks again, his words are slow and thoughtful. “If I’m ever going to be anyone’s boyfriend, I’m going to be yours, Tanuma.”

He hears Tanuma’s breath catch in his throat.

“There’s no one else I’d rather take this step with. I don’t think there will ever be anyone else, to be honest. So, yes, I want to. I’m ready.” He smiles. “I don’t know what I’m doing, but I want to learn. With you.”

For a second, he thinks he might see Tanuma’s lip tremble. He can’t be sure, though, because the next things he knows is that Tanuma has his face buried in his shoulder and his arms wrapped around his waist. His smile widens further. He hugs Tanuma again, and it feels just as nice to be the one doing the holding as the one being held. He hopes the future will be filled with a lot more of this.

“I don’t know what I’m doing either, for the record.” Tanuma’s voice is muffled by his shirt. “But you’re right—we’ll learn together.”

Takashi cards his fingers through Tanuma’s hair, ruffling it even more, and experimentally presses a kiss to the crown of his head. It feels strange to do—it still doesn’t seem like he’s allowed, and it’s such a foreign, unfamiliar action—but he gets to do it now. He can’t wait until it’s something he does as naturally as breathing. He can’t wait until the sensation of Tanuma’s hair is so familiar he can feel it without touching it.

Tanuma presses himself closer in response, fingers making indents in Takashi’s ribcage. They sit that way for a while longer, until their heartbeats sync up and Takashi is thinking maybe he doesn’t need to move ever again.

But, eventually, Tanuma lifts his head and pushes himself up. “It’s getting pretty late. Do you want to stay here tonight?”

“I do.” He grins regretfully. “But I promised the Fujiwaras I’d play a board game with them tonight, and I’m sure they’re getting worried. Maybe tomorrow?”

It feels wrong, to part ways now after all of that. He really doesn’t want to go, but maybe it’s best for them both to have some time to process it all. And they have all the time in the world to spend together.

“Deal,” Tanuma says with a pretty smile. “I’ll walk you out.”

They reach the entryway and Takashi puts on his shoes and slings his bag over his shoulder. Crickets are chirping through the open door and a warm breeze drifts by. He turns around on the stoop and lets his gaze linger on Tanuma for a moment more. “Thank you, Tanuma.”

“For what?”

“For just…being you. For being so kind and understanding. I was so nervous to talk to you about this, but you made it so easy.”

Tanuma shakes his head. “I didn’t do anything, Natsume. I’m the one who should be thanking you. I’m…I’m really glad you talked to me. I feel really lucky.” His palm comes up to cup the side of Takashi’s face, thumb sliding across his cheekbone.

Takashi nuzzles into it. “So do I.”

“Can I kiss you goodnight?”

He laughs gently. “Are you gonna ask for permission every time?”

“Probably.” His smile is so handsome. “At least until we get some more practice.”

“You’re a dork.” Takashi reaches up and grabs his wrist. “You can kiss me now.”

The second kiss is just as incredible as the first. Maybe even better, because this time Takashi’s heart doesn’t feel like it wants to beat its way out of his chest quite so much. It tastes sweet and full of promise.

“Hah?!”

The sudden cry makes them both flinch and pull apart.

Nyanko-sensei is on the path coming up from the woods to Tanuma’s front door. He’s frozen in his tracks, a truly horrified expression on his face.

Takashi’s face is suddenly boiling. “S-Sensei!”

“I come all this way to make sure nothing’s eaten you and this whole time you’ve been fooling around?!”

“I was not fooling around!” He hasn’t even had time to think about how he would tell anyone about this recent development. It’s not terribly surprising that Nyanko-sensei happened to barge in on this intimate moment, but he’s definitely not prepared to explain anything just yet.

“Whatever you want to call it! I’ve been looking for you all afternoon thinking you got into some trouble and when I finally find you you’re kissing Tanuma? Stupid idiot!”

“Hey.” Tanuma steps closer to Takashi and wraps an arm around his shoulders. “Be nice, Ponta. That’s my boyfriend you’re talking to.”

Butterflies flutter and swirl in Takashi’s stomach. He can’t even be embarrassed, even though he probably should be. He wonders if he’ll ever stop blushing.

Nyanko’s mouth hangs open comically and one eye twitches. “How long did I leave you alone for, Natsume?!”

“Not long enough,” Takashi sighs.

Nyanko huffs in exasperation. “I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. At least maybe now your head won’t be in the clouds all the damn time.” He points a stubby paw in Tanuma’s direction. “But you! Don’t go distracting him too much! It makes my job harder!”

Tanuma laughs good-naturedly. “Sir, yes sir.”

“Honestly, you should’ve asked my permission before going and turning Natsume into some love-struck schoolgirl. It’s just good manners.”

Now Takashi is embarrassed. “Nyanko-sensei!”

Tanuma just laughs even harder and squeezes Takashi’s shoulders. “You should probably get going. Don’t keep the Fujiwaras waiting too long.”

“Right.” He smiles up at Tanuma and vows that, tomorrow, he’ll tell him how handsome he is with his growth spurt. Knowing Tanuma, he hasn’t even noticed his own change. “Goodnight, Tanuma.”

“Goodnight, Natsume.”

Their arms slide together as Takashi steps away and they squeeze each other’s fingers before their hands part, a silent I love you hanging in the air between them. Takashi’s heart aches a little as he walks away from the house and Tanuma becomes a silhouette in the distance, but he feels lighter than he has in a long, long time. The summer air feels hopeful and full of potential and for once, he isn’t scared of the future at all.

“It’s about time you got that over with.”

“Hm?” He looks down at his bodyguard. “I thought you were mad.”

The cat turns his nose up in the air. “Well, I’m definitely not happy about it. You’re going to be even more insufferable now. But you’ve been too mopey about him for too long. It’s good you figured it out on your own.”

“Figured it out…?” Suddenly every conversation he’s had recently comes back and he feels hot with mortification. “Has everyone known what was going on except for me?!”

“Probably. It was obvious enough, and you’re an idiot. You and Tanuma are both idiots.”

For once, he thinks Nyanko-sensei may be right.

The cat hops up onto his shoulder. “Now, pick up the pace, Natsume! I heard Touko say she’s making pudding for game night!”

Takashi can’t help but be touched, because even though he’d never say it in so many words, he knows this is Nyanko-sensei’s way of showing his support. He pats the cat on the head. “Okay, Sensei.”

As he jogs towards his house, his heart feels fuller than it ever has before. There’s so much love in it that he’s afraid it’s going to overflow. And, for the first time, it isn’t just that he’s receiving love—he has an abundance of it to give, and that’s the most amazing thing of all. He’s ready to give that love to everyone he can.

He’s ready to love Tanuma most of all. This brand new flame that’s sparked between them is something he’ll cherish and nurture until it’s a blazing fire. He isn’t scared. He doesn’t want to run from it.

Whatever their future is together, he can’t wait to see it.

#natsume yuujinchou #natsumes book of friends #tanunatsu #tanatsu #my writing

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