#i was going to do a doodle for every chap but i ran out of steam pensive emoji

[kazehita]

If I were not myself, would this be easier? (ao3)

[15-dogs]

i need more |h.g.|

pairing: hermione granger x fem!reader

summary: hermione never seems to want you the way you want her, even if she claims that you’re dating (based on the song sports by beach bunny, angst angst angst, secret relationship, jealousy)

warnings: none

guide: (Y/N) = your name, lyrics in italics

word count: 1.4K

a/n: i’m sorry in advance i feel like this is really bad akdfljk i’ve never written hermione before and i’ve never made a moodboard sorry sorry i hope you like it

If you feel lonely,

I could be lonely with you.

You and Hermione were alone in the common room, your lips ghosting over hers. You nudged her nose with your own and she groaned at how close you were. It was so tempting but she didn’t want to give in.

“What’s wrong?” you teased, feigning innocence. “Are you okay?”

“(Y/N),” she groaned. 

Her head teetered forward towards your lips, waiting for you to make the first move. You chuckled, carding your hand through her bushy hair. She looked impossibly adorable with her lip pouted, waiting for you to kiss her. A part of you felt bad for holding out on her but you kept confirming to yourself that you needed to.

Hermione explained that she didn’t want to go public about your relationship, what your “relationship” was. That never bothered you. She could take all the time in the world if she needed to and you were always going to be sure that you wanted her. But as time went on, you weren’t even sure that she wanted you. You initiated every romantic encounter and some days it felt like she wasn’t even trying to make whatever you two were work. She was always confident in everything she did, so why wasn’t she confident in your relationship?

Hermione began to drift towards your lips, your eyes fluttering shut and a blissed out smile stretching across your lips. As soon as you met that peace, Hermione gasped and shoved you off with a hurried, “Sorry.”

That was not a strange occurrence, but it certainly wasn’t welcomed.

“Somebody’s coming,” she whispered as she flattened her clothing and smoothed out the spot in the couch you had just sat on.

“Right,” you grumbled as you fell into the chair across from her. You yanked a notebook from the bag that sat beside the chair, doodling aimlessly as you pretended to be working.

Tell me, baby,

why do you seem so blue?

Hermione shot you a pained look as the door to the common room swung open. Harry and Ron tumbled out, joking about something that you were too distracted to listen to.

Harry flashed a kind smile at you as he fell into the chair across from you while Ron sunk into the spot next to Hermione. You were trying so hard not to look up but you almost couldn’t help it. You could hear Hermione’s harmonic laugh-- the one that she always did when you told a joke-- and saw Ron joking with her as she did her homework.

Why are we so complicated?

Maybe love is overrated.

Your heart ached for her. It was selfish, you knew that, wanting to take her away from Ron and hold her in your arms but the thought consumed your body. You just wanted people to know how much you cared for Hermione. You wanted Hermione herself to know. Sometimes it felt like she didn’t.

But the more you thought about it, the less you could blame yourself. You put your everything into the relationship you had with her and she just...didn’t. And for the first time in your months of seeing Hermione you began to feel like things were too broken to fix.

A thought began to stir in your head. A thought that couldn’t be answered by anyone but Hermione. So you waited for everyone to go off to their common rooms, lying to Ron and Harry about why you and Hermione were staying up late.

“I just wanted to review for the N.E.W.T.s and whatnot,” you claimed. Hermione looked over at you, subtly quirking her brow before turning back to the boys with a smile. “We’ll see you tomorrow. Night, Harry, Ron.”

The two friends mumbled their goodnights to you two, stumbling up the stairs in tired stupor. As soon as they were gone, you slid onto the couch next to Hermione.

“What’s going on, (Y/N)?”

You took in a sobering breath, meeting her concerned gaze as you pushed through the constricting feeling on your throat. “What are we, ‘Mione?”

She blinked in surprise. “I don’t understand.”

“What are we?” you repeated. “Because it doesn’t feel like you’re my girlfriend. And if you don’t want to be, that’s fine! Just please, tell me.”

Her mouth shot open to protest but faltered. She sat in silence, pondering what you had said, her brow creasing with concern.

You couldn’t take it anymore. You picked up your bag and made your way up to the dorms, feeling tears prick the corners of your eyes. You heard her feet padding up the stairs behind you until she grabbed you by the elbow.

“Just give me some time,” she whispered, “just a little time.”

You nodded, knowing that no amount of time was going to change her answer to your question.

I’m tired of waiting,

I was never good at sports.

It had been a few days and you had yet to hear from Hermione. She seemed to be perfectly content with ignoring you and you had to pretend that your heart didn’t break a little each time she did.

You had no idea what you were holding out for. Somewhere deep inside your heart you hoped that Hermione would tell you how she felt, tell you that she was mad for you and she would try harder to make things work but you knew it was impossible, not when she couldn’t look you in the eye.

Save the games for the girls on the tennis courts.

It came down to another night in the common room. Harry and Ron had gone to bed, leaving just you and Hermione there. You stared at her perfectly sculpted face, scolding yourself for the butterflies in your stomach when you knew nothing good was about to come.

The room was silent save for the wood crackling the fireplace. Hermione cleared her throat, finally looking up at you.

“Are we going to do this now?” she asked, timid.

You were shaking. Everything led up to this spectacular moment of ruin, a colosseum on its last pillars ready to collapse.

“Yes, I think we need to.”

Say you need me,

but lately, you feel unsure.

Hermione shook her head. You could barely look at her. There was too much pain swimming behind her eyes. She swallowed hard. 

“What do you want from me?”

Your breathing became jagged out your nose. That terrible choking feeling grew tighter around your throat, preventing you from saying what you needed to say. You ran a hand down your face, closing your eyes for a fraction of a second.

“I just want you to want me.”

Hermione scoffed. “But I do want-”

“Do you?” The words flew out of you before you had time to think about them. Hermione’s chocolate eyes glassed over and a sinking feeling appeared in your stomach. “Because if I thought that you did, then we wouldn’t be here-- we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”

Hermione tucked her legs underneath her, tugging her sweater tighter around her chest. She chewed her bottom lip, her long lashes fluttering as she processed your words. After a silence that lasted an eternity, she spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper.

“I’m sorry.”

And it was then you knew your worst nightmare was confirmed.

You stood up from the couch, thumbing the hem of your cardigan as you approached Hermione, taking a seat next to her on the couch. She looked up at you, all sorrow and innocence, and reached out to link your hands. You took the invitation with a wry exhale, leaning in for the very last time to place a kiss against her chapped lips. 

Energy coursed through you, but not in the way it used to. Kissing Hermione, as cliche as it sounds, used to be like fireworks being set off or electricity in your veins, but that last kiss was like the final embers of a fire going out or the spine of an old book cracking as you closed it, never to be opened again.

You rested your forehead against hers, relishing in that last moment.

“I don’t think I’m ever going to get over you Hermione.”

And with that, you ascended the staircase to the dorms, the taste of her on your lips.

Come on to me, come on to me,

I need more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

general taglist: @pandaxnienke @lunalovecroft @for-bebbanburg

[bangingoutthetunes]

Snowfall.

A drabble in which you walk home with your boyfriend in the snow and get to cuddle + braid his hair. 

Word count: 2.3k

tags: hair braiding, fluff, bokuto is a human puppy 

~

“Come on, (name)-kun! It’s literally so cold out here I might die!” Kotarou pulled your hand forward and you almost tripped at the sudden jerk. He looked back over his shoulder, puppy-dog eyes wide and shining. A cheerful grin had found itself onto its face at your smile. 

“It’s not like I want to be out here in the cold, Kou! I just need to catch my breath, we’ve been running for the past ten minutes and although you’re wearing pants, I’m wearing a skirt and tights. Gimme a break!” If just for a moment, you felt burningly jealous of the pants the Fukurodani’s boys uniform required; they would’ve definitely kept you warm. Panting from the exhaustion, you trembled in his grip a little bit. He walked over to you and pulled you into his chest, chin resting on your hair and arms wrapped around your waist. He smelled like soap and vanilla and like the best parts of cold December afternoons. 

Peering to the left of his arm, you took in the scenery around you; snowflakes had begun to blanket rooftops and adorn the naked trees, minivans would drive by full with mothers and their children’s friends, bike riders would exhale dragon puffs of condensation, and some other classmates were huddling at a corner shop to pick up some hot chocolate and coffee to continue on their way. 

Having moved from the Miyagi prefecture in early March of this year, you hadn’t gotten to experience snow in a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo. This was of the first times you got to enjoy the gentle fall of friendly snow without having to worry about negative repercussions, and in this moment you wouldn’t rather be anywhere else or with anyone else than Bokuto Koutaoru, the six foot puppy that wanted to take you to his house through the long route so you could catch sight of all the wonderful sights his town had to offer. It was bitter cold outside, but the warmth inside of your chest, slowly spreading to your limbs, was enough to keep you running. 

“Are you ready to keep going, princess?” he mumbled into your forehead, absentmindedly doodling on your back with his mitten-covered fingertips.  

“Yeah, I’m all warmed up now!” You smiled into his chest, burying your nose into his vest and planting a kiss there as a silent thank you. 

“Great, because tag,” he booped you on the forehead with his index finger and stepped back,” you’re it! Last one home owes a cherry soda!” He laughed, brilliant like the sun stretching its fingers through the clouds. The corners of his eyes crinkle and he wrinkled his nose,  clearly pleased with himself. 

“Oh, it’s on!” You chased after him, having committed the route to memory from walks home so many times before. You ran at a quick pace, but your legs were so much shorter and his training was so much more intense that you could barely stay at fifteen feet behind him. Damn  him and his stupid volleyball captain gig! 

He slowed down, if just for a moment, to let you catch up to him. He stretched his hand out to you, beckoning for you to hold it. “Come on, let’s get there quicker!” Once you laced your fingers into his own, he yanked you forwards. In no time, you made it to his doorstep. He fished for his keys in his coat pocket and unlocked the door with his left hand, tugging you into the warmth as soon as the door flew open. A gust of hot air flew out of the house, peppering your face in kisses and very welcomed heat. Kotarou stepped inside, and you followed suit behind him, the two of you placing your bookbags on the floor. You began to kick your uniform shoes off when he sneaked up behind you, wrapped his hands together at your belly and pulled you up into the air. “H-hey!” He laughed at your surprise and pulled your back into his chest,  waddling with you towards his room. 

“Give me a sec, I’ve just gotta get the door-” he placed you down on the flooring while he fiddled with the handle and the door slid open at the kick of his foot. He ushered you inside. “Come, sit on the bed! Get comfortable and change out of the uniform, you’re probably freezing right?” Concern laced his voice as he walked over to where you sat and he cocked his head to the side. “I think I’ll get into something more comfortable, thank you baby!” You reached over to grab his hand and gave it a kiss behind his knuckles,  and you could swear you saw him shiver from the ghosting of your lips. 

“You’re welcome! I’ll be back in a bit, I’m just gonna get some clothes from the dryer and bring us some snacks. I went out with ‘Kaashi the other day and we picked out some things for you!” Before he walked out of his room, he turned back to wink and blow you a kiss. You giggled at him. God,  you’d be damned if he wasn’t the cutest thing to walk this earth. Stretching your arms above your head and wiggling out of the cold, you looked around his room to try and figure out where exactly he had his pajamas. You took a shot at his dresser, and it took a bit of digging but you found the perfect outfit: an oversized grey shirt with old sweatpants would do just fine to warm you up. You slipped out of your blazer and wiggled the skirt off while admiring the decorations in his room; he had some volleyball posters, some framed pictures of him with his sisters, and atop his dresser you saw some papers that made your heart flutter; he had your first movie ticket, Weathering With You, framed and the post-its you’d slipped into his locker decorating the outside of the frame. To the left, he also had a printed out picture he took of the two of you on his phone while you shared a chocolate ice cream cone (with extra sprinkles, of course). 

You’d been to Koutarou’s house before, but you hadn’t gotten the chance to walk around his room; since his parents were out working, you’d come after school (on the rare days he didn’t have practice) and cook with him. One of your favorite memories of trying to cook with him was when you tried teaching him how to finely dice scallions; the poor boy couldn’t cut thinly if his life depended on it, and whenever he saw the knife get close to his thumb he would flinch. 

You wiggled into his shirt and plopped onto his bed. He had a plush vabo-chan and a horned owl plushie resting in between his pillows. You kicked his throw blanket up so it could cover your legs and shut your eyes for a bit, nothing on your mind except for your angel’s smile and his kisses peppering your forehead. You could feel yourself slipping into a comfortable vibe and it was so nice to be able to rest your body after running in the snow for such a long while. At a knock on the wall, your eyes fluttered open and your gaze traced your boyfriend’s form, hair damp (but drying) against his forehead, long-sleeve shirt tight against his chest, eyes blown wide and smiling, and packs of sour gummies and dark chocolate in his hands. He bumped his body against the light switch to turn the lights in the room off, allowing only the soft glow reflected from white snow to enter from his window.

He ran over to the bed and threw the candies at its foot as he wrapped you in a bear hug. “You look wonderful in my clothes, baby!” He chirped, voice dripping with adoration, as he admired you in his clothes. He was so warm and soft against you, and you wrapped your hands together at the base of his neck and pecked his lips. They tasted like hot chocolate and chapstick and felt surprisingly soft for the cold weather. Even if his lips were chapped, you still wouldn’t have wanted to kiss anyone else’s. You pulled away from the kiss to gaze into his eyes, color reminiscent of sunflowers and sunshine, and your heart fluttered in your chest as his gaze lidded and his eyes smiled. 

“What do you want to watch, princess? After all, movie night was your idea!”

You thought for a second, “Hmm, I saw that there was a cool documentary on netflix about international chefs! We could learn a thing or two from it so we can cook the best meal ever, right?”

He threw his head back in laughter and scooched closer to you on the bed, wiggling his feet beneath the blanket and pulling it up so it could cover the two of you.  He turned the TV on, remote in hand, and clicked through the buttons until he saw the Netflix app. Flicking over to the Documentaries, he paused when he saw some about food. “Is it the Street Food one?”

“Yeah, baby. We can watch a couple of episodes, the order doesn’t really matter anyways.”

“Cool! I want to watch the one about Argentina! I’ve heard they have amazing steak down there.” For some reason, you hadn’t expected his favorite food to be steak and instead for it to be something more like pure sugar. It had nothing to do with his energy level…

In spite of the absolute fact that he was always riled up and lively, in this moment with his head rested on your right shoulder, he looked at peace. His eyes were glued to the screen (or so you thought, because his gaze was really fixed on your arm as he tried to count all of the freckles there), his breathing was even, slow, and his fingers were gently grazing against the side of your left arm. He really did look like an angel, a piece of expired heaven that fell into your lap and promised to be forever yours. You smiled down at him in a lazy fashion and bent your neck to give him a kiss on his scalp. It smelled crisp and clean, and your belly fluttered when he looked up at you from quirked eyebrows. His hair looked amazing when it was down and, if anything, you almost preferred it to the spiky owl look. 

He shifted his weight so he could instead lay his head on your lap. You laced your fingers into his two-toned hair and lightly scratched his tresses. He had been gifted with many things, and among them was a thick head of hair; his locks were silky and plentiful; every meander of your fingers led to more strands  resting between them. He seemed to lean into your touch and sighed contentedly when you scratched at a spot at his head that was left of center. He really seemed to like when you would twirl his locks on your fingers, and it made you wonder…

“Kou?”

“Hmm?”

“Could I braid your hair?”

He let out a hearty laugh and turned his head to look up at you. “I’d love nothing more, (name)-kun. Go ahead.”

You sighed, running both hands through his scalp and feeling the silk slide in between your knuckles was so unexpected but so so welcome. He leaned into the touch and tilted his head forward to let you play with more of his hair. 

“(name)-kun, it tickles!” He laughed at the foreign sensation and his eyes crinkled shut. He was the sun. 

Scratching his head with your fingerpads, you ran the fingers of your right hand up his arm to let him know that he was safe and that the  new sensation was just that, something he should begin to get used to. He leaned into your touch, trusting, peaceful, calm. You separated three locks in between your knuckles and began to twist the center and right pieces together. Then, you twisted the right and left ones together, then the left and center. It was difficult because of his shaggy layered haircut, but you could tell from his staggered breathing and the nuzzling of his nose into your thighs that he was absolutely loving this. The first braid looked so pretty because of the contrast between his black roots and silvery locks, and you took a scrunchie from your wrist to tie it in place. Granted, it took five twists and the braid looked SUPER clunky, but you felt like that gave it so much charm. You tugged on the hair behind his right ear and began to weave it together like Arachne weaving her master tapestries, and braid begot yet another until the right side of his head was all tied up in a knot that you would (hopefully) be able to detangle. Hair tucked behind his ear, you noticed that he had a dusting of freckles on the pinna that trailed down to the nape of his neck. The black dusting of freckles against pale skin looked like stardust. He was beautiful. 

His breathing steadied, and it seemed like he had fallen asleep at the behest of your touch. A smile was painted onto his face, his nostrils flared and his lips half-parted as if he were having a pleasant dream. This was too much, it was too cute. You shifted around for your phone and took a picture of him in your lap, face glowing from the chatter and brightness of an argentine street restaurant. He looked perfect. You sent his phone the picture and saw it buzz on the bed, screen illuminated with a picture of him giving you a kiss on the forehead. You began to smile, and a look out the window proved that the snowfall had gotten heavier.  Your own exhaustion from the day began to settle in and take you prisoner. In between the soft whirr of the heating, Kotarou’s steady breathing, the soft background noise of steak sizzling and Spanish chatter, and the delicate dance of the snowflakes outside, you began to slip into a peaceful slumber. This would be the first of many naps with Bokuto to come. 

[sugarbutterbroadway]

David Jacobs and the multitude of excuses

Jack Kelly was beautiful. Fiercely beautiful, in a way that made David’s head spin. It didn’t matter that his lips always seemed to be chapped or his hair was messy or the fact that he was always covered in paint. David smiled, it seemed that Jack ended the day with more paint on himself than his canvas. It didn’t matter that he always wore the same hoodie, or doodled on the desks, or always laughed too loud. And it certainly didn’t matter that he made David’s heartbeat quicken if he even looked in his direction. It didn’t matter that he looked so damn handsome when he was painting, the way he stuck his tongue out, and seemed to pick apart every imperfection until he was satisfied. It didn’t matter that David had been madly in love with him since Freshman year.

None of that matters.

Because it was tech week of their final spring show and David had barely said more than two words to him. And the worst part of it all was that it wasn’t Jack’s fault, Jack was trying. David was just too much of a chicken to let him get too far.

“David, right?”he said, he hadn’t bothered to lift his gaze from the tree he was painting. David’s hands shook around his clipboard and he nodded until he realized Jack wasn’t looking. And after a few beats of silence he did look. He looked up at him through those hooded eyes and Davey had to get out of there. His eyes immediately flitted around the room looking for something, anything to complain about. He locked eyes with a freshman who was definitely doing something they weren’t supposed to and he jumped at the chance.

“Put that prop down!” he was stomping across the theatre before Jack could say anything.

Davey groaned, that sadly wasn’t the last time either.

“Hey, Davey!”Jack greeted. Davey’s eyes widened slightly and he squeezed the pen in his hand. No, no this wasn’t happening. He was running on two hours of sleep,a large dunkin donuts iced coffee and sheer spite. It didn’t seem like a good idea for him to be talking to anyone. Why did god hate him? He saw Jack walking closer and fumbled with his phone pressing it against his ear, he shot an apologetic look and spun around walking in the opposite direction.

“Mama? Yes, i’m on a break right now”

That wasn’t even the worse one.

He wasn’t having a good day. It was as simple as that. A conversation with his father at breakfast had  snowballed into criticism over his plans for college once again and he was tired. He was tired of hearing about his wasted potential, and how it was his obligation to educate the ignorant. He just wanted to be a director, why was that so hard to accept? This argument led to his mother suggesting he walk to school that day, and he relented cause mother knows best. But he hated walking, the school wasn’t necessarily close and the walk signs took forever. He just wanted to disappear and the day had just started. Then he had a pop quiz in calculus that he definitely wasn’t ready for, then he got hit in the face with a dodgeball, and then the vegetarian option at lunch was just nonexistent so he was hungry. His only solace was that he got to go home early. He had practically jumped for joy the second the final bell rang.

Until he was scheduled last minute for rehearsal that day. It shouldn’t have been such a big deal, they were usually so well behaved. But today must have been Spite David Day or at least that’s how he felt. Nothing went right, everyone had found some way to piss off the director, and she took her frustrations out on him for not ‘doing his job.’  So that’s how he found himself on the verge of a panic attack slumped against the wall of the auditorium. They were actively running the show, no one should’ve been out of the theatre. But out walked Jack Kelly, in all of his swagger. His eyes locked with Davey’s. Before he could even open his mouth, Davey had turned on his heels and ran. He ran until he was in a completely different wing and hid there until rehearsal was over.

So yes, Jack was trying. Trying harder than most to befriend him, and it touched Davey, it really did. But it was hopeless now, the show was next week and then there would be no reason for them to talk again. Maybe it would be better that way, all he seemed to do was make excuses. If Jack wanted to forget his existence entirely he wouldn’t blame him. He didn’t like confronting his feelings anyways. Pining was familiar, it was something he could do in his sleep. Which he often spent most nights doing, but that wasn’t the point! The point was that he felt comfortable right where he was. The longing and pining from afar zone.

So it was fine. He had blown his chance and he would just have to get over it. That was something he was also good at doing, getting over things. There were only a few hours left of tech, then he could go home,complain to Sarah and maybe have a good cry over some ice cream. Well maybe not Sarah, she’d heard enough about Jack Kelly over the years that she could probably recite the way his eyes twinkled when he laughed just as good as Davey. She was also due to snap any day now from the stress of his pining and AP History. So no, definitely not Sarah. The family cat was just as good when it came to listening even though she hated Davey. He’d go home,complain to Cosette—yes he had a phase—cry into his ice cream and then hopefully pass out on the couch. Hopefully. He hadn’t been sleeping well and he was all out of melatonin.

“Okay!”The director shouted. He startled, smacking his head on the wall he was resting on.“That was good, take fifteen”

Fifteen? What kind of sick joke was this? He quickly sidestepped, narrowly avoiding a herd of actors running past him shouting.“Thank you fifteen!”

He took a deep breath and let his shoulders sag, thank you fifteen indeed. He leaned his head back against the wall. The director seemed to be in a good mood, maybe she’d let them go soon so he could get his pity party started early.

“Davey.”

Oh no. His eyes focused on the figure stalking towards him and he sucked in a breath. Honestly, why did god hate him? He couldn’t speak. He was expecting Jack to slow down but he continued barreling towards him. He’s not sure what he expected during this break, but it wasn’t a strong—god was he strong—arm pulling him down the hallway into the boys dressing room. He sputtered as he was thrown inside and the door was locked behind them. And well, he froze. Deer in the headlights style because there was no way that still happened. He looked at the creases in his shirt from where it had been clenched, and he stared. He stared until a hand was snapping rapidly in his face. He looked forward and loandbehold there was Jack Kelly, looking about as pissed as he could muster. Which in his case was very, and honestly kind of terrifying. His eyebrows were furrowed in the most handsome way and his lips pulled up in a snarl.

Oh shit.

“What’s your problem?”He asked. That felt like a slap in the face and was once again something Davey was not expecting. He racked his mind for something to say, but he came up short. He was stunned. Jack waited a few beats before he exhaled harshly through his nose and shook his head.

“Huh?”He prompted, “You can’t even answer me?”

Davey winced and began shaking his head. His fingernails buried themselves in the palms of his hands as he desperately tried to stop the shaking. This isn’t how he wanted this to happen—hell he wasn’t even sure he wanted this to happen. The way he planned it happening was in the courtyard of the school, under that pretty cherry blossom tree that always bloomed so full. He’d have all the right things to say, he’d compliment Jack on his painting, say he’s seen him around the school. He’d be suave and daring and confident and everything that he currently wasn’t. While his inner turmoil was spinning Jack was pacing around the room, hands gripped in his hair, mumbling to himself. Damn, he even looked attractive ten seconds away from losing his shit. He spun to face Davey, eyes aflame.

“I ain’t asking you to like me, Davey”he said, he ran a hand through his hair. He seemed...he seemed nervous.“But at least let a guy know how you feel, this-this avoidin shit been stressin me out!”

“I’m sorry”Davey whispered. The words felt heavy on his tongue and he knew they were pathetic. He knew they weren’t the right thing to say, but maybe if he just apologized Jack would let it go. That seemed to do the opposite cause Jack let out a little laugh and shook his head.

“Don’t apologize Davey, it ain’t you. Just...am I out of my league here?”He asked, flinging his arms a bit

“Like, was I gettin them hints all wrong?”

“W-what?”Davey sputtered.

“I see the way you look at me”he said patiently, “But am I readin it all wrong?”

Maybe his subtle glances weren’t as subtle as he thought, but he didn’t want to read too deep into what Jack was saying. There was always room left for disappointment.

“Ho-how do i look at you then?”Davey asked.

“Like you wanna kiss me?”He questioned, “I don know!”

Davey felt his cheeks redden, and nope, nope this isn't happening. He bit his lip and followed Jack’s eyes as they travelled down to where his teeth sunk in. his heart did a little skip, as Jack took a step forward. He wanted to take a step back but his feet were firmly planted to the floor. Half of his brain was telling him to run, but the other half really wanted to see where this ended up going. Jack took another step forward, and another, until he was within arms reach.

“Do I..do I make you nervous, Davey?”he said quietly.

“Yes”Davey whispered, screwing his eyes shut. God he wasn’t ready for a first kiss, not this way, did he even floss this morning-his thoughts were stalled by a laugh. The same laugh that made his knees weak, so much so he found himself leaning against the table.

“I’m sorry”he laughs, “I...I ain’t good at this stuff, my brothers Spot if that’s any excuse”

“Conlon?”Davey squeaks. Jack nodded his head.

“That’s the one”he said, “It’s just...I wanna know you, I wanna know Davey Jacobs”

“Y-yeah?”

“Yeah”He said taking a smaller step forward, “I wanna know what makes you laugh, what makes you tick,how to help when you get all jittery, how to make you smile cause boy I’ve had my eye on you since the day I got here”

Something inside Davey snaps and he pushes at Jacks chest. “No”

“No?”He said, tilting his head.    

“Just no!”Davey exclaims, “You don’t wanna know me, this is all just some joke-”

“Davey-”

“And you’re gonna go running to your friends after rehearsal-”

“Davey please-”

“And I can’t let that happen because-”

“Davey!”he shouted, waving his arms. “I like you! I genuinely like you! I’ve liked you since the second term of Freshman year when you argued with the substitute on how World War one really started!”

Davey felt mortified and his face grew even hotter. “He...he was just really stupid, okay?”

“Yes, yes he was!”He exhaled, “and i liked that you weren’t afraid to tell him that! I like how fired up you get when you debate in English class, you scrunch your nose up and you talk a mile a minute”

“I-I...”

“You don’t gotta speak”He said, “Just let me do this. I like the way you care about the cast, you get snippy sometimes but it’s because you want the best for us. You’re good with the freshman, even though they’re little beasts. I think it’s cute how you caught the volleyball with your face last week-”

“Asshole”Davey muttered.

“Hey!”He huffed, “I got that guy back for you”

Davey’s eyes widened. “You’re the one who sent Oscar to the nurse?”

“Let’s just say I didn’t see him when I spiked the ball”He winked, “but honestly Davey, i’ve had my eye on you for a while. All of my friends have been giving me hell to make a move, and I was trying to but...you gotta let me know, am I wrong about all of this?”

“No”Davey whispered, “No you’re not i’m just...i’m not too good with feelings”

“That makes two of us”He chuckled, “I’ve been plannin’ to say all of that for weeks but you make me nervous too”

“I make you nervous?”Davey says in awe.

“Everytime you look at me I get my lines wrong”he said. “I’ve been off book for weeks, but seeing you look at me like I put the stars in the sky just...God, you’re killin me Davey”

“How?”Davey asked.

“Because you’re doing it right now”he smiled. Davey bit his lip and dropped his gaze but Jack grabbed his hand and squeezed, “I never said I didn’t like it, it does wonders for my ego”

“Shut up”Davey mumbled. 

“Now that I finally hunted you down? Never” He said. “I wanted to say this a few weeks ago but you ran and I...I wanted to give you space but, when all this tech shit is over. You wanna go get ice cream? I know a place, it’s across the bridge but-”

“Yes”Davey says immediately.

“Yes?”he exhales.

“Yes, I wanna,”Davey says.

“I would kiss you right now if you wasn’t shakin like a leaf,”he says, running his thumb over the back of Davey’s hand. And this, this was better than anything he could have imagined. 

“Aye can we pause the Romance!”Race yells from outside the door, “Director called places ten minutes ago and she’s gonna have my ass if I don’t come out with both of you!”

Davey froze. “She’s gonna kill me, she’s going to actually kill me”

“I’ll tell her you were helping me run my lines”He said, “I ain’t gonna let her kill you”

“Well if she isn’t gonna kill Davey, then it’s gonna be me so let’s go!”Race yelled.

“We’re coming, keep your shirt on!”

“Shouldn’t I be sayin that to you and your--oh”Race said, once they finally opened the door. “You two are decent, that’s surprising”

“Everyone ain’t a whore, Racetrack”He sighed, rolling his eyes. 

“Well that wasn’t very nice.”Davey said with a frown.

“Yeah Jack, that wasn’t very nice”Race smirked, “I think I like you Davey, if you get tired of this one you know where to find me”

“Don’t let Spot hear you sayin that”

“Please”Race snorted, “like I care what Spot says”

“That’s not what I heard the other day-”

“Alright!”Race snapped, “Don’t gotta go embarrassing me in front of your boyfriend”

“He’s not-”

“We’re not-”

“Yeah right”Race said, rolling his eyes. “The way Jack’s been goin on about you, you might as well be his husband”

And this time it was Jack’s turn to blush. His face turned scarlet and with a betrayed cry he was chasing Race down the hallway. Once they were out of sight Davey took a minute to collect himself and squealed. Cosette and Sarah would definitely be hearing about this when he got home.

[ahatintimestorybook]

A Royal Problem Chap. 19

I’m excited to share this chapter!! I quickly worked on this when I saw Shane Frost share some of his AHIT lore that he was showing off and soon got inspired to work on the chapter right away!!

And yes, this was my longest fanfic chapter I wrote outside of my Pretty Cure fanseries (which I need to work on again!) About this many pages!!! However, that’s what you get for working on an idea for a chapter you have been anticipating since the day this fanfic was being created.

T/W there is abuse and violence in this chapter so be warned!

Enjoy!!

Many, many years ago…

So many years ago before Vanessa was even born, the kingdom of Subcon was just a small little village with a few houses and a few new buildings that were currently being built. A young princess, with blonde hair tied into a braided bun, blue eyes, and wearing a blue dress was watering the flowers in the manor garden. She looked like Vanessa, but it wasn’t her.

The princess smiled seeing the flowers enjoy the shower she was giving them from her special watering can. “Perfect.” She said. The princess put the watering can down, and picked up the shovel. She looked around the garden where she could dig, and smiled finding the perfect spot. Walking over to the spot she started to dig that spot. Once the hole was big enough, she quickly pulled out a small seed to put inside the hole.

“Hi there!” The princess gasped and turned to see a young boy looking through the other side of the fence. The young boy wore a red and blue outfit, had dark brown hair and maroon colored eyes. “What are you doing?”

“Oh, h-hello.” The princess replied. “I’m just gardening. It’s spring now, so I thought of doing gardening.”

The boy chuckled. “Of course. Princesses love gardening and cute things.” He commented, rolling his eyes.

“Hey!” The princess shouted, glaring at him. The boy laughed harder, which made the princess throw some mud at the young boy. The latter blinked in surprise seeing mud splattered on his face, which made the princess laugh.

The young boy glared and wiped the mud off his face, but his glare lifted as he started to smile at the young princess’s laugh and soon he started to laugh as well.

Seeing the boy meant no harm, the princess walked towards him. “I’m Princess Catherine, just call me Catherine.” The princess introduced herself, as she did a little curtsy.

“I’m Artemis, but everyone calls me Artie.” The boy introduced himself. Catherine smiled and blushed at the young boy. In return, Artie smiled and blushed at her back. The two stood there smiling, blushing, and being nervous around each other until Catherine's father called her name.

“Catherine!” He shouted. Artemis gasped and quickie gashed off, as Catherine went back to her gardening. Catherine’s father, the King ran outside and just saw his daughter continue gardening, even though he heard Artemis talking to his little princess.

“Yes father?” Catherine asked.

The King, named Victor, looked around his garden seeing if he could find Artemis, but saw he wasn’t there. Well, he was but he was hiding inside the bushes. Seeing that the intruder was nowhere to be found, he shook his head wondering if he was just hearing things or was there really a commoner talking with his little girl. “I could’ve sworn I heard a voice.”

Catherine giggled. “What? Can I say hi to passing villagers?” She asked.

King Victor sighed and smiled ruffling his daughter’s hair. “You're such a sweetheart, Catherine.” He said, which made Catherine giggle. “Well, finish up with your gardening and then wash up for lunch.”

“Right!” She replied, giving a nod. The King gave a light chuckle before leaving his daughter to finish her gardening. Once he left, Artemis came out of the bushes and smiled at the princess, which made her laugh. “You're a sneaky one.”

Artemis chuckled. “Well I’m well known in Subcon sneaking and hiding in places.” Catherine laughed as she placed the seed inside the hole. “Are you planting a Serene Tree?”

Catherine nodded. “Yeah, sad those hunters destroyed all of them a few years ago.” She frowned. “I was glad my father stopped them, and we saved a few seeds. So, I’m planting one of them now so it can grow in the manor.” She explained.

“Make sure you always water it every day, and in the winter water it twice so it can survive.” Artemis told her. Catherine was surprised Artemis knew all of this knowledge of the Serene Tree. The princess was about to ask, but Artemis answered why he knew. “I read a lot about plants.”

“Well glad you do, because now I know to make this tree thrive and live in Subcon for generations to come!” Catherine beamed.

“If you need any more info on plants let me know. I’m just around Subcon doing my thing.”

“Okay!” Soon Artemis waved goodbye and sprinted off from the manor. Catherine smiled and rolled her eyes finishing up with her gardening before heading inside the manor to have lunch.

By nighttime, Catherine was already in bed reading a fantasy novel before she went to sleep. While she read she heard a tap on her window. Folding the page of her book, she got out of bed and saw a paper ball on her window. Carefully, opening up the window she unraveled it and read what it said.

Want to hang out tomorrow? I’d like to get to know you more.

-Artie

Catherine smiled and looked out the window to see Artemis waving to her with a smile. She nodded, which told him “yes I’d love to hang out with you!” Artemis smiled and gave the princess a thumbs up before running off. Catherine sighed before closing the windows and heading to bed for the night.

The following morning, Catherine woke up early and met with Artemis outside the manor. She told her butlers that she was just going out for a morning walk and we’ll be back soon. When she saw Artemis, she smiled at him. “Well good morning, early bird.” Artemis beamed.

“Morning.” Catherine giggled. “So what do you have planned for this hang out?”

“Just a walk around Subcon Forest and get to know the princess more.” Artemis replied, giving a smirk to the princess. Then Catherine did something that surprised him, she held his hand, and in turn gave him the biggest blush Catherine has ever seen in a person. The boy gulped, and held Catherine’s hand back.

The walk around the forest was a relaxing one. The trees and the flowers blew in the wind and no clouds were in the sky as the sun shined through the trees. Catherine has never been this far in Subcon in her life, and yet seeing this far into Subcon was beautiful.

“Wow.” She said in awe. “Everything here is…” Her voice trailed off.

“Magical? Marvelous? Sublime?” Artemis asked, throwing different words for the princess.

Catherine giggled at the words Artemis was throwing out at her. “Beautiful.” She answered.

Artemis chuckled. “Doesn’t every princess call everything beautiful?” He asked.

“Maybe.”

Artemis and Catherine laughed as they stopped at a very large tree with a giant hole carved into it. The hole was big enough to be a small living space, or a hideout. Surrounding the large tree was a small pool of water surrounding it.

“Did you do this?” Catherine asked.

Artemis shook his head. “No! I mean if I did I’d brag about it.” He explained. “The tree was like this for who knows how long! I use this tree to be alone with my thoughts.” He explained. Catherine walked in and saw all the drawings inside the cave. “The drawings though, I did myself.”

“You're an amazing artist, did you know that?” Catherine asked, her eyes sparkling with joy.

The young boy blinked in surprise and blushed a little bit. Never in his life he was told his art was amazing. “Y-you’re the first person whoever said that to me.” He mumbled, but loud enough for Catherine to hear.

The princess was surprised and blushed a bit herself. “Well, it’s true. Does anyone say anything good about your work?”

Artemis frowned and shook his head. Catherine gave a small gasp as she saw Artemis walk away from her. “I don’t have anyone. My parents died a month ago, and it’s been me and my teacher.” He explained.

Catherine frowned and walked towards Artemis and put his arm around him. “I’d lost my mom about a month ago too.” She told him.

Artemis nodded, remembering hearing about the Queen’s death. The queen was on a trip with the king and caught some sort of bug and died two weeks later. After that the king cut every kingdom off from Subcon till further notice.

“I remember hearing that.” Artemis whispered. He put his arm around Catherine and pulled her in close.

The princess felt comfort in Artemis’s arms. She snuggled in closer to the boy and let out a happy sigh. Catherine needed this for the longest time since her mother passed away. As she snuggled with the boy she started to feel tears in her eyes. Some of the tears had fallen from her eyes to her dress.

At that point, Artemis and Catherine had started a relationship, though a secret to her father. The two would have picnics or walks in Subcon forest, sometimes they’d go inside the tree hollow to draw and doodle and Artemis gave the princess planting advice so the princess could grow more beautiful flowers.

Days turned to months, and months turned to years till the time where they were 18. At that time Catherine grew into a beautiful princess and was loved by everyone in the kingdom, even her boyfriend, Artemis. Speaking of the young boy he was offered to be an assistant by a local artist who was well known to the royal family. King Victor still didn’t know anything yet about the relationship, but he did grow suspicious of his daughter a couple of years ago seeing her leave the manor early, coming back for lunch or dinner and running out again.

“Happy 10 year anniversary Catty!” Artemis cheered, bringing over a cupcake for the princess. The two were sitting under the same tree house they’ve been drawing, and hanging out since they met.

Catherine giggled and took the cupcake from her boyfriend’s hand. “Thanks Artie.” She said, giving a smile. Artemis smiled, as Catherine split the cupcake in two to give one to Artemis. The young boy chuckled as he ate the half of the cupcake, which caused some icing to appear on his face. Catherine looked up, seeing she had icing on her face as well, and laughed.

“Hey princess, I don’t think it's polite to have frosting all over your face!” Artemis laughed back. Catherine blushed in embarrassment. She touched her face and saw she did have frosting on her face. The princess giggled herself as she wiped some of the frosting off her face.

“Here.” Artemis chuckled, “Let me help.” Soon he leaned in and kissed Catherine on the lips to remove the frosting from her face. The princess giggled, as this wasn’t the first time Artemis pulled her into a kiss.

“Thanks.” Catherine said.

Artemis, who had even more frosting on his face thanks to the kiss. “You’re welcome, my princess!” He replied, giving a beaming smile..

Catherine gave a light giggle as she and Artemis just sat down under the tree, as the breeze blew on the trees around them. The princess stretched and leaned on Artemis’s shoulder, which the latter then wrapped his arm around the princess. “So,” Artemis started. “What does the princess get to do on her 18th birthday?” He asked.

The princess gave out a loud sigh. “This is the time, where my dad, the king is going to look for a husband for me, and once he does we marry and he leaves the throne and makes me queen.” She explained.

“Is it me?” Artemis asked.

“I wish.” Catherine replied. “Because my father wants me to marry a prince, not some painter.” She groaned.

Artemis chuckled and pulled Catherine in for a hug. “I’ll prove it to him.” He said.

“How? You know how my dad is?”

“I’ll show him I’m capable of running a kingdom with you.”

Catherine chuckled. “I wish it was that easy.” She sighed. “When I’m queen I’d make it a rule where my children and grandchildren could marry whoever they want. As long as they treat them like how you treated me all these years.” She explained.

“That’s amazing.” Artemis sighed. Catherine smiled proudly. “You're going to make an amazing queen.”

“Doubt it.” Catherine replied.

“You are! You're kind and nice to everyone in Subcon, and have a goal you want to set!” Artemis listed down, which made Catherine look up at him. “You’d be the perfect queen.” Catherine smiled, but quickly frowned and turned away. Artemis frowned and went quiet, but stood by Catherine.

The rest of the night was quiet, the sun was going down but Catherine didn’t want to head back to the manor just yet; she wanted to spend as much time with Artemis as she could before being separated with him forever.

And that’s what they did.

What they didn’t know was someone from the manor was watching them, giving a glare and rushing back to the manor to tell the king the news.

King Victor was sitting on his chair reading a book, as heard the door open he didn’t bother to look up on who entered. “Is it true?” He asked.

“Yes sir.”

The following day, Artemis was back at his art studio painting a cute portrait of Catherine. He smiled and blushed after the time they had last night, and hoped no one in the manor would find out. Soon Artemis heard a knock on the door and he quickly ran to answer it. However, his expression dropped when he saw who was at the door.

Two guards and King Victor.

“So you must be Artemis?” King Victor asked, glaring at the young man. Artemis was horrified and was ready to close the door, but the guard held onto it and broke it down. “Get him.” The guards then grabbed Artemis as he yelled and struggled to break free from the guards grasp as he was dragged to the manor’s dungeon to be locked up for good.

Back at the manor, Catherine was in bed, looking out the window. Since coming home from her birthday night with Artemis, she could feel something was terribly wrong. She heard the door open, but didn’t bother to look who came in. “Catherine.” Her father spoke up, having the look of “sorrow” on his face.

“What father?” She asked, not looking up at him.

“Did you ever have a friend in the kingdom, who was a painter?” He asked. The princess gasped and looked up at her father. She better hoped he did nothing to him. The King walked closer to his daughter. “Now I didn’t harm him, but something happened over at the paint studio he worked at and well,” He paused to let out a sigh. “I’m sorry, but he went missing.”

Catherine felt her heart drop. “N-No. No!” She yelled. Catherine hugged her father and cried into his arms. “H-He can’t be gone! He can’t be!” She cried. She just saw him, spent time with him, even had the night of her life with him. How could he just go?

“I’m sorry honey, but the guards went to look at the paint studio and saw it destroyed. Someone might have tried to rob it or he got mugged.” King Victor explained.

“I hope he’s alright.” Catherine whimpered, hugging her father closer. Her father gave a cold glare to the boy. How dare his daughter, dated a painter. He’d scold her right now, but she didn’t want her to be more in an emotional mess and decided to comfort and lie that something happened to him. It’s better this way.

What the king didn’t notice was Artemis, who was chained up and dead started to glow a moonlight blue color, as a smile was forced onto his face.

Soon afterwards, Catherine married a prince from another kingdom. Sure the prince was nice, but she didn’t feel the same spark she did with Artemis. What’s worse, Catherine found out she was pregnant with Artemis’s kid. This feeling horrified her, especially King Victor.

“They’re never going to rule the kingdom.” King Victor growled.

Catherine stepped back in fear, shocked at what her father just said to her just now. “B-but father, they’re my child! I’m the next ruler of Subcon and they can’t be a princess or a prince of Subcon?” She asked, angrily.

“They don’t have 100% pure royal blood, Catherine!” King Victor yelled back. “In order to rule Subcon they need royal blood!”

“Why is royal blood needed to rule a kingdom?! They're still my child!” Catherine yelled. It was a non-stop yelling match between the two, none were backing down from the offer. “Please let me raise my child.” She begged.

King Victor stood silent at his daughter, and soon turned away and walked off. Catherine breathed heavily, and sat on her bed in tears.

Months passed and Catherine successfully gave birth to a healthy baby girl. However, King Victor didn’t want his granddaughter to be raised by Catherine in fear of some scandal, however despite not wanting to give up her child she came up with an offer.

“I’ll do it, but on one condition.” Catherine said. “She stays at the manor and works as a servant, and is treated with kindness and respect.”

King Victor nodded slowly. “Deal.” He said before leaving the room.

Catherine sighed and frowned looking at her daughter. “You’ll be alright, Elizabeth. I may not be with you, but I’m here for you.” She whispered hugging her baby close to her.

So, with keeping her promise Elizabeth was raised by one of the maids. While in their care, Catherine married a prince from another kingdom, and gave birth to another daughter, Marie.

However, the promise Catherine made with her father was broken. As Elizabeth grew up her father and Marie treated her horribly. Even Catherine’s own husband saw the abuse, and each time she scolded them or tried to stop them, it fell on deaf ears.

Catherine however, cared for her daughter despite the separation. One day after another wave of verbal abuse the princess went over to her 9-year old daughter to give her a cupcake, the very same one Artemis gave her on their last meet up.

“F-For me?” Elizabeth sobbed. Catherine nodded in reply. The young girl sniffled and wiped away the tears from her eyes, “T-Thank you, princess.” She then took the cupcake and bit into it. The sweetness overwhelmed her mouth and smiled. She then devoured the rest of the cupcake, and sighed enjoying the snack.

“Feel better?” Catherine asked. Elizabeth nodded, which made the princess smile and pulled her into a hug. Elizabeth didn’t know why, but the princess’s hug felt motherly to her. With a smile she hugged the princess back. Elizabeth wanted this hug to last forever, never in her life she felt love like this and she wants this love to last forever.

“Mother?” Elizabeth and Catherine looked up to see a girl younger than Elizabeth with blonde hair and blue eyes like Catherine came in looking confused as to why her mother was hugging the servant. It was Catherine's other daughter, Marie. “What are you doing, hugging a servant?”

Catherine quickly, yet gently let go of Elizabeth. “Sorry, Elizabeth was having a rough day and she just needed some comfort.” She explained.

Marie rolled her eyes in disappointment that her mother was giving love to a maid then her own daughter. “Whatever.” Marie mumbled. Catherine got up and left the room leaving the two girls alone, and once she was gone Marie went over to Elizabeth, and pushed her down to the ground. “You leave my mother alone, you're a maid, you don’t deserve her love.” She said, smiling evilly at the maid, before stepping on her back. Elizabeth screamed in pain, she struggled to get the other girl off of her.

“P-Please let go!” Elizabeth whimpered. Marie did what Elizabeth told her too, but then kicked her on her side, which let out a painful scream from Elizabeth. The girl cried as Marie, still smiling, walked away from the crying servant.

What she didn’t notice was Catherine saw the whole thing and cried. She didn’t know what to do at this point. All she could do was cry.

Months later, Catherine went over to Elizabeth who was finishing up cleaning one of the rooms. “Elizabeth?” The young girl looked at the princess. “I want you to run an errand for me. Could you pick up some flowers and fruit from the market, for me?” She asked.

Elizabeth nodded. “Alright.” Before she could leave, Catherine grabbed her arm and handed the young girl a letter.

“This is for you. I want you to read it at some point today.” Catherine told her. “It’s good news don’t worry.” She reminded her.

Elizabeth looked at the letter, before putting it in her pocket, and leaving the manor in a flash. Running errands for Princess Catherine was one of her favorite things to do as she could get away from the manor and could be at peace with herself.

Once she was gone, Catherine sighed and looked out the window to see Marie playing with the kids of Subcon. She quickly smiled, but frowned seeing she wished both her daughters could live this happy, but sadly no. Catherine was tired of all the abuse Elizabeth was going through, her father whom she loved broke the promise he made with her. She couldn’t stand her husband, who was an arrogant narcissist. With a snap of her fingers, a flame lit up in Catherine’s hands and soon the flames surround the floor.

Elizabeth was heading back to the manor holding a bouquet of purple and white flowers and a basket of fruit. She was scared going back to the manor, but like always she took a deep breath and kept marching forward. However, a scream and a large crowd started to run towards the manor.

“What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked herself, following the crowd. As she got closer she saw a cloud of smoke near the manor and the manor itself was engulfed in flames.

Elizabeth’s heart dropped and her eyes widened at the sight of the manor, her home in flames. Marie, a few maids and servants were outside, some were crying. However, she couldn’t find the king, Catherine or her husband.

“What happened!? What happened?!” Marie screamed, running over to the scene.

One of the maids cried and went over to the princess. “It’s horrible! It’s horrible!” She cried.

Elizabeth ran on over to one of the maids. “Marcy, what happened?” She asked.

The maid, Marcy wiped the tears from her eyes. “It's the princess! She, her father and her husband are still in there!” She cried.

“Mother is still in there?!” Marie asked. The maid nodded in reply. “Then get her out of there!” She demanded. Marcy shook her head, before she could speak, a part of the roof fell. Everyone screamed seeing the manor burned to the ground.

Elizabeth dropped the flowers and fruit she bought for the princess and cried loudly that this happened. The one person in the manor who gave her love, friendship, and cared for her like a mother was dead.

Once the fire cleared, the bodies were removed from the debris and were soon buried by the surviving maids and servants of the fire. The funeral for the deceased royals was a sad one, as Catherine never became queen like she wanted to be. Elizabeth was depressed after the whole ordeal, and never spoke the entire service.

After the funeral, the manor was being rebuilt and many of servants, Marie, and Elizabeth were living in a guest house that Catherine and her father owned. Elizabeth distanced herself from Marie, not wanting to interact with the princess, now future queen, after losing her mother.

During that time, Elizabeth looked at the letter Catherine gave her and decided to open it and read it, since she didn’t due to the fire. She opened it and pulled out the note, and read it. Her heart dropped seeing what the princess wrote to her before her death.

Dearest Elizabeth,

I have a secret to tell you. I didn’t know how to tell you this because I promise my father I’d keep your identity a secret. Or I should’ve said grandfather. That’s right, you're my daughter, my firstborn. You’re grandfather didn’t want you around me because your father was a comonor, a painter named Artemis, who I called Artie. Sadly, he went missing before you were born and since then no one has found him. However, I have to believe your grandfather did something to him. Because of you not born with 100% royal blood, I couldn’t take care of you. Not only that you can’t rule Subcon, even though the law states the firstborn has to rule the Kingdom.

I wish I could’ve told you sooner, but I couldn’t. I had no idea what to do, I couldn’t bear to see you being treated by my family like this! I begged for it to stop, but no one listened to me or just outright lied to my face. With that, I’m going to make it stop.

I hope you're reading this before the fire started, because I’m going to end it all right then and there. No one would hurt you ever again!

The downside, I will spare whoever makes it out of the manor alive and your sister, Marie. I know Marie treats you horribly, but I couldn’t kill my own child which is why I had to spare her. Yes, you can tell her the truth about this, and even if things don’t change for you two it's best that the two of you know.

I’m sorry I gave you up, I’m sorry for how my family treated you, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you who you are! I’m sorry I ended my own life just because you were in so much pain. I hope you understand, and that somewhere in your heart you love me.

I love you!

-Catherine aka mom

Elizabeth teared up reading the letter, hugging it close after finishing reading it. The princess was her mother, and despite the separation she still gave her the love and care a mother should give her daughter.

“What are you crying about?” Marie asked walking over to Elizabeth.

Elizabeth wiped the tears out of her eyes, and handed Marie the letter. “Read it.” She whispered. Marie glared at the girl, but took the letter in her hands and read it herself. When she read it her eyes widened and turned to face Elizabeth.

“We’re sisters?” Marie asked. Elizabeth nodded in reply. Marie read the letter again not believing it. “And you're supposed to be queen?” She asked again. Like with the previous answer, Elizabeth nodded in reply. She had to read it a few times till her mind clicked. She then turned to Elizabeth, and soon…

SLAP

Elizabeth stood there in shock slowly putting a hand on her cheek where Marie slapped her. She trembled, looking up at her younger sister. “You're never going to be family to me.” Marie said as she walked away from Elizabeth. The girl sighed, knowing what her mother’s letter said. “Also,” Marie spoke up again. “If you do plan on telling the kingdom, I will kill you.” She said as she walked away leaving Elizabeth defeated.

“Poor, poor child.” A voice whispered.

Elizabeth gasped and looked around where the voice was coming from, but saw no one there. It was probably the wind, or today’s events caused her to hallucinate. Whatever it was, it meant for Elizabeth to get some rest.

Years later, the manor was rebuilt and Marie became queen of Subcon. Elizabeth had to watch in the distance seeing her sister being crowned queen. During this time, the two girls grew up into beautiful young women, like their mother wanted them to be. The physical abuse was over, but Marie still treated Elizabeth horribly.

“Hey servant, you’re in my way!” Marie shouted, shoving Elizabeth out of the way as she walked away from the crowd below. Elizabeth gave a small glare at her sister, but quickly dropped it and sighed.

There wasn’t really anything she could do, right? She couldn’t tell the entire kingdom, right?

In her bedroom, Elizabeth was writing in her journal about her sister’s coordination. She started writing this journal not too long after the letter her mother had given her as a way to write how she felt about everything that happened since it was revealed she was Catherine’s daughter. To her, this journal was the only way she could speak her mind about Catherine’s truth without Marie finding out.

A knock came to her door, and quickly Elizabeth stopped writing despite messing up one of the words. She put her notebook away in the drawer and locked it up. “Come in.” She said. Soon the door quickly opened and it was Marie, marching in with a glare.

“Where is it?” She asked.

“Where is what?” Elizabeth asked back.

Marie glared and slapped her sister. “You know what I’m talking about!” She snapped. Elizabeth went quiet, trying to think of what Marie wanted from her, as nothing came to mind. Marie growled seeing her sister playing dumb and slapped her again. “Are you dumb?! I’m talking about the letter from mother!”

“Oh that letter.” Elizabeth groaned. Of course she has it, but she didn’t want to give it to Marie. The truth needs to be revealed or kept somewhere safe. Not destroyed and forgotten about. “I-I threw it away.” She lied.

Marie glared and grabbed Elizabeth by the throat, squeezing it tight. Elizabeth gasped and struggled to get out of Marie’s grasp. “I know you're lying to me, Elizabeth. Tell me where it is now!” She growled.

“I told you,” Elizabeth paused to let out a cough. “I threw it away.”

This got the newly crowned queen upset. She slammed Elizabeth to the wall and squeezed her throat. “You're lying!” She shouted. Soon she threw Elizabeth and let out a gust of wind from her hands, which slammed the girl to the wall.

“W-what was that?” Elizabeth asked slowly getting up.

“Subcon royal powers.” Marie replied. “Grandfather told me about them. Only those of royal blood are born with powers..” She explained.

“L-Like a curse?”

“Well, not a curse. It’s special for those born by royalty. Which means you don’t have royal blood.”

Elizabeth glared and stood up in front of her sister. “I do have royal blood!” She snapped. “We have the same mother!”

“Yeah, but your father was a peasant! My father was a prince!” Matie snapped back. “You’ll never be seen as royal to anyone of Subcon!” She shouted before using her wind powers and slamming Elizabeth to the wall, harder this time. This attack knocked Elizabeth out and gave Marie a chance to find Catherine’s letter and destroy it before anyone else finds out.

Marie went through her sister’s drawers, cabinets, and even her bed looking for the letter. She then found it in her notebook, sticking out inside. “Found it.” Marie said, smiling as she found the letter Catherine wrote that told the secret about her other daughter. Now she could destroy it in a fire, like her mother destroyed herself. What the queen didn’t notice was Elizabeth, slowly getting up and following her.

Marie made her way towards the living room and started up a fireplace ready to burn the letter. Elizabeth quietly sneaked up on her sister, holding a candelabra in her hand and in a flash hit her sister multiple times over the head with the candelabra.

Blood splattered over the wall and floor as Elizabeth brutally over and over again. She kept on going until Marie’s body stopped moving. Dropping the candelabra, and covered in blood Elizabeth stared at Marie’s deceased body. She then walked on top of the corpse and grabbed the letter putting it in her pocket before locking the doors to the room.

It would’ve been days till the rest of the servants found Marie’s corpse and went to address the kingdom of the queen’s untimely death. No one knew who murdered Queen Marie, but there was no sign of a break in or struggle, and they couldn’t think Elizabeth, or any of the servants did it. Because of this they kept how Marie died a secret till someone spoke up. When that happened, Elizabeth knew this was her moment to tell the kingdom the entire truth.

“May I have everyone’s attention!” Elizabeth spoke up. The maids and servants looked at the young woman as she stepped in front of the crowd holding Catherine’s letter in her hand. She then read the letter in front of everyone, which let out a bunch of gasps and murmurs from the people of Subcon.

“Princess Catherine was in love with a painter?” One villager asked.

“What does this mean for Subcon?” Another asked. This got the crowd worried about if Subcon is done for.

Elizabeth sighed, “I guess since I am Princess Catherine’s daughter. I should be queen.” She suggested, which made everyone look at her. Elizabeth gulped and rubbed her arm, “If you don’t see me as your queen that’s fine.” She sighed.

Everyone in Subcon looked at each other and smiled looking at the new future queen of Subcon. The kingdom cheered and chanted Elizabeth’s name, making the young girl smile seeing now she was going to be the new queen of Subcon.

Weeks passed, and soon Elizabeth had become the new queen of Subcon. After being queen, a prince named Nathaniel, who heard of her courting came by and the two soon fell in love. After spending a year together they wed and soon had Vanessa.

When Vanessa turned 3-years old her ice powers started to show, which were ice powers. No one in Subcon saw ice-powers in years, and yet Vanessa had them.

“You should be lucky your majesty.” One maid said, as she saw the young princess forming a snowball into her tiny hands.

“Yeah.” Queen Elizabeth said, as she watched her daughter play with her ice and snow powers. Soon the young three year old saw a spider hanging from the fireplace. She tried to reach for the spider to grab it, but soon her ice powers functioned and freezed the spider. The frozen bug then fell and shattered all over the floor.

The queen and her maid shrieked seeing what just happened and turned to face the young princess. “Sowy!” Vanessa apologized.

Queen Elizbaeth sighed and shook her head. “Stop making messes Vanessa. I know you have ice powers, but you can’t keep making them clean up your mess.” She scolded. This in turn made the young princess look down.

“Sowy.” Vanessa apologized again.

“How about you clean up the mess Vanessa, and give the maids and servants a break.” The queen then stormed off, with the maid right behind her leaving the young princess to look down at the mess she just made.

“Did you have to be that harsh with her? I mean she’s three.” The maid asked the queen, seeing what she said and how she treated her wasn’t how you treat a three year old.

“She needs to learn, if she doesn’t she’ll be relying on you and the servants.” Queen Elizabeth replied, before walking away to her room shutting the door to be alone. This was just the starting point of Elizabeth’s path to mold Vanessa to the person she is today.

During that mold, Elizabeth read the history of her family's history and understood how these powers work. Once the king and queen or prince and princess marry their child will be born with powers. Like Marie told her, before her death Elizabeth was born before her mother married Artemis, and with the latter not being royal she wasn’t born with powers of her own, but her daughter did.

What’s more was the servants were right; Vanessa’s powers were rare, but very dangerous. The earliest known relative was King Victor’s Great-Grandfather who used his ice powers to stop a war, which ended up killing everyone including his own army.

Even though Subcon isolated itself from the other kingdoms, and was peaceful there were still crimes in the area, and most were quickly imprisoned or killed by the guards. However, if she could teach her daughter to freeze intruders it would give the guards a break from their work too.

It would be perfect!

Two years had passed, and Elizabeth knew Vanessa was finally ready to use her powers. “Mama, do I need to do this?” A 5-year old Vanessa asked as her mother led her to the cellar, where criminals are sent to be punished.

“Yes, my darling, this is a training for your ice powers.” Queen Elizabeth lied.

Vanessa looked at her hands and then up at her mother. “I don’t know if I should do this.” She whispered.

Elizabeth then put her arm around her daughter. “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.” The two made it to the door of the cellar, and Vanessa gulped seeing a shivering prisoner, who was arrested for stealing food from the marketplace.

“P-Please your majesty! I-I didn’t mean too! I was so hungry, and my daughter needed to eat!” The prisoner begged.

“Alright. I forgive you.” Elizabeth said. “However, let’s see if my daughter does.” She then gave Vanessa a little push, getting her closer to the prisoner. The princess looked at her mother, before giving a gulp, shaking her hand out ready to freeze the prisoner.

Vanessa was nervous about doing this, she was only five! How could she kill a person at that age? She gave her mother one more look to see if she would change her mind, but Elizabeth was getting annoyed at her daughter stalling.

“Now, Vanessa!” Elizabeth growled.

Whimpering Vanessa’s hands slowly turned cold as her ice powers started to form from her hands as the man shivered in fear more. “P-please, m-my daughter. I need to see her. I-I promised to take her to the flower garden.” He begged.

Vanessa teared up listening to the man’s story and in a flash a shard of ice came out, but instead of hitting the man and freezing him, it just launched an icicle to the wall missing him. Elizabeth growled and looked at her daughter.

“You missed!” She shouted. “How can you miss!”

“I’m sorry mother!” Vanessa begged. “I-I can’t kill anyone!” Elizabeth growled and grabbed Vanessa’s arm dragging her to her room. The young princess screamed and cried begging for her mother to let her go. “Please mama! Don’t! I’m sorry!” She yelled. Queen Elizabeth ignored her daughter’s plees and just threw her into her bedroom, and blocked the door with a chair so she couldn’t get out.

“When you're ready. I’ll let you out.” Queen Elizabeth said walking away and ignoring her daughter’s plea for help.

Hours had passed since what happened, and Elizabeth’s husband, Nathaniel was worried for his daughter and wife. “Dear, did you have to punish her like that?” He asked. “She’s five!”

“She needs to learn, dear. Her powers are useful for this kingdom.” Elizabeth replied.

“How? What if her powers are a danger to Subcon?”

“They won’t. She’ll just freeze the bad from the good.”

Nathaniel sighed, “You were never like this Elizabeth.” He whispered. Elizabeth heard what her husband said to himself. “You promised you would treat our child with love and kindness like your mother did to you!”

Elizabeth glared and faced her husband. “I am! She has something we don’t! Magic!” She yelled back. “She needs to learn how to use her anger on those who did wrong then those who did right? She needs to clean up her mess then letting the servants clean them up for her!”

The king was disgusted with what his wife was saying. This wasn’t the woman he married. “Wouldn’t this hurt Vanessa, more than help! What if the worst case happens?”

Elizabeth went quiet and thought for a bit. She wondered what’s the worst that could happen with the training she was giving to Vanessa. “I’ll make sure it won’t happen.”

“And if it does, I’m bringing Vanessa back to my kingdom!” Nathaniel threatened before marching away from his wife, slamming the door. The queen’s eyes widen over her husband’s threat and with a glare she followed after him.

Vanessa was asleep on the floor after crying for so long. Suddenly, she was woken up by a loud bang. She heard screaming coming from her father and she quickly got up. “Daddy! DADDY!” Vanessa screamed as she struggled to open the door. After struggling to open the door, Vanessa started banging on the door screaming, “HELP! MOMMY! SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH DADDY! LET ME OUT! LET ME OUT!” The young princess continued to scream as her father’s yells echoed through the manor.

Soon the screams stopped, and Vanessa stopped crying. She backed away from the door as footsteps came towards her room. The princess backed herself to the corner of her room as her door opened to see her mother covered in blood, smiling as she held a knife in her hand.

“Daddy is fine. I promise you Vanessa.” Elizabeth said.

Soon, Snatcher and Vanessa were done reading the journal. After that incident, the rest of Vanessa’s life was left quiet. Snatcher looked at the princess, who was crying after reading everything. She remembered everything that happened, and hearing what her family went through made her realize that everyone was crazy, and evil like her.

Snatcher frowned and put a hand on Vanessa’s shoulder. “I understand.” Snatcher spoke up. The princess turned around and saw her prince, holding the book close to him as he looked at her with tears in his eyes.

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

A few facts: Yes Vanessa’s aunt and grandmother are named after past queens. I thought if Vanessa’s mother was going to be named Elizabeth it would be nice to name Vanessa’s relatives after other queens.

Before I get questions, yes the man imprisoned is the Florist’s father.

[meganshinsou-tm]

Crimson|Ink. (m)

↳ chapter ten: forgive me

❧ genre:  tattoo-shop/hitmen au | tattoo artist/hitman kirishima

❧ fic warning: major character(s) death; happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: snakes

❧ chapter song: Forgive Me by Evanescence

♬crimson|ink playlist | ♧ character profiles | artist credit

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

Kirishima groaned as he threw a hardened punch, the sharp edges of his fist cutting through his victims flesh like butter. A few teeth flew out, along with a gush of dark red blood.

“I know I fucked up, you can get off my back about it!” He snarled.

Bakugou chuckled and wiped blood from his cheek before gearing up to land his own solid punch. Sheer brute strength was all he needed for his knuckles to break skin as they landed on a strong jaw, causing an agonized groan in return.

“Tch, acceptance is the first step. Now you just need to grow some balls and tell her!”

The two panted, red eyes staring back at each other, both covered in blood.

“Please, stop no more -” a voice choked out, causing both men to look at the battered and beaten victim they were using as a punching bag, a literal punching bag.

He was hanging upside down in an abandoned warehouse, swinging back and forth every time Kirishima and Bakugou laid into him. The man was what they deemed ‘the usual’, serial rapist and woman beater. 

He had evaded law enforcement and heroes for quite a while, leaving them no other choice than to call in reinforcements, i.e. the The Shop. 

After finally tracking down the man that not even the pros could catch, Bakugou and Kiri decided to give him a dose of his own medicine and let off a little steam of their own. As much as the blonde wanted to pulverize his numskull friend he decided to give him one last shot to fuck up before it came to that. And it goes without saying that Kirishima needed some kind of outlet to rage about what he had done.

“Bakugou, I can’t, look at us!”

Kirishima shouted, holding up his hands, showcasing the blood and bile dripping from them that wasn’t his own, but that of someone he was paid to kill, paid to be their executioner. 

He was a monster, a chaotic good monster but nonetheless - a monster. 

He could only imagine what you would think if only you knew what he was doing right now, no matter how disgusting and undeserving of life this criminal was. When Kirishima’s hands weren’t covered in black latex and ink, they were drenched in his own type of ink which was the blood of his targets.

“She doesn’t need this in her life, she doesn’t need all this violence and filth. That fucking -” he paused and sighed defeatedly, a hand combing through his hair, the blood on it slicking his already red hair to the side, “… that goddamn fucking smile of hers is the only clean and pristine thing any of us have anymore, it’s not right for us - for me to dirty it.”

Bakugou rolled his eyes. 

“Don’t you think she should be deciding what she does and doesn’t need,” he replied before sending the body between them straight into Kirishima with a swift and hard kick, the sound of ribs cracking and agonized screams filling the ambiance.

“Look, that nightmare, those scars, those fucking burns, they’re all there for a reason and from the looks of it, a real shitty reason. You think you’re protecting her by doing the childish bullshit you’re doing but in reality you’re not. If anything she needs someone like you idiot, needs to know that you will protect her. I’m not stupid and I know you aren’t … to an extent. Her ex did that and she isn’t telling any of us a damn thing about it which puts up a lot of fucking red flags, if I had to bet, I’d bet she ran away from him and she’s hiding out meaning he’s looking for her.”

Bakugou paused for a moment, the sounds of screaming and incredulous pleading giving him a migraine. 

With a growl he took the man’s head between his hands, “See you again in hell fucker,” he spout out before explosions erupted from his palms, obliterating the skull that was once there to messy pieces. 

With a relieved sigh Bakugou stood straight and shucked the blood and brain matter from his hands and off his shirt as he walked to face Kirishima, fire-red eyes burning into him.

“What are you gonna do when he finds her huh - and takes her back, away from us, away from you.”

A car horn blaring as it passed by the shop caused Kirishima to jump. 

His heart beating rapidly from the small scare. He groaned and let his head fall into his hands, foot tapping impatiently on the floor while he waited before the counter. He had been there for half an hour already, way earlier than he usually is, but he had to get there first, had to be the first one to see you.

Two full, excruciatingly long days had passed since he last saw or spoke to you. The image of your dull (e/c) eyes and face devoid of a smile burned into his brain, an image he never wanted to see again. Kirishima wanted to see you walking through the door, bright as ever, eyes sparkling and you overall radiating. 

He missed you, god did he miss you. 

Just walking into the shop that morning he could faintly smell your chocolaty scent, a scent he had grown so used to and even developed an addiction to. While Kirishima waited, his read eyes skimmed over your sketchpad that still remained on the counter by the shop computer.

Since joining them you took up an interest in learning how to draw and from the looks of it, you had promising skill. The book was filled with mostly just doodles and rough sketches of your favorite anime characters. There were random eyes and hands, flowers and animals here and there. A twinge of a smile crossed Kirishima’s face and he thought back to the multiple times he’d watch you sitting in the same spot he was, doodling away. (H/c) strands of hair falling into your face and your hand brushing and holding them out of the way, tongue in cheek, eyes focused. Sometimes you’d growl in aggravation from messing up and others you’d snicker to yourself at something off the wall you’re mind came up with. It was creepy to say but Kirishima really did enjoy just watching and admiring you from afar, lost in your own little world making these cute faces and sounds. 

He chuckled and closed the sketchbook - fuck he missed you.

After his ‘heart to heart’ with Bakugou, Kirishima was more than ready to return to the shop. He was hellbent on apologizing from the moment you stepped foot through that front door.

The bell to that exact door rang suddenly, making his red eyes look up and dilate.

“Hey Red.”

A smile grew on Kirishima’s face, one razor sharp fang peeking out as he looked upon you. You wore black skinny jeans and a black hoodie, a long grey coat layered it. The hood was on your head and you removed the sunglasses, revealing those sparkling pools of (e/c). Your eyes squinted at him and a smile of your own grew, it couldn’t be helped and it made the red-head a puddle.

“Hey there little one.”

A gust of wind blew through the still open door and you shuddered, quickly closing it and getting covered in even more snow flakes. Kirishima couldn’t help but inhale that sweet scent he loved so much when it carried along with the wind and came his way. Not being able to take it anymore he had to ask.

“What is that?”

You looked up at him, dusting snow from your clothes and quirked a brow, “What is what?”

“That smell, whatever you wear almost every single day. It smells like chocolate.”

Giggling you pulled the hood from the hoodie down and shook like a dog.

“Sympathy for the Skin - it’s this lotion I use religiously and it’s pretty much engraved in my skin now. There’s all kinds of stuff in it, cocoa butter, almond oil, bananas and vanilla.”

Kirishima hummed and burned the name of the lotion into his memory.

“Well it smells really good - you smell really good.”

You smirked and leaned on the counter, arms crossed and tilting your head at him. “Are you trying to butter me up Kiri?”

The tattooed male chuckled and gently plucked a snowflake from your eyelash. “Maybe … is it working?”

Playfully, you rolled your eyes and tilted your head, gently motioning his hand away from your face before standing straight and going to walk into the kitchen.

“You’re something else Kirishima,” you mumbled.

Suddenly there was a hand around your wrist, stopping you in your tracks.

“(Y/N) … please, hear me out.”

The touch felt like fire, causing you to be back in that truck, wrists pinned to the ceiling by the same hand. At that point in time the fire was welcoming but right now, you weren’t quite sure what it was but deep down you longed for it to feel as good as it did before. There was a desperation in Kirishima’s voice as he pleaded, when your head turned around just the tiniest bit to get a peek, you could also see the desperation in his eyes. Those enraging beautiful red eyes.

“Goddammit,” you spoke under your breath before your hand turned, palm open to him, “Fine, but I need some tea.”

Kirishima was somewhat taken back by your action. Nonetheless though he wasted no time in taking hold of your hand, letting you lead him into the kitchen before letting go and going to dig through the cabinets for your favorite tea. The male took it upon himself to take the kettle and fill it with water as you gathered two mugs. He placed the kettle on a hot plate that sat next to the sink then watched you prep the mugs with the tea bags before going to sit at the small table.

He turned to face you, leaning against the counter and rubbing the side of his neck. You sat in the chair, leg crossed over one knee and arms crossed. There was a look on your face, one that told him he should get to talking and fast. For once he was intimidated - by little old you.

“I’m sorry,” he started off.

You shrugged your shoulders and tilted your head, “I know you’re sorry, now apologize.”

“What?”

“Feeling sorry isn’t an apology, they’re two different things. One is an emotion, a feeling of regret, while the other is an action, it’s you expressing that regret.”

Kirishima’s red eyes widened, he was speechless. He knew you’d probably be reluctant when it came to forgiving him but he didn’t expect for you to be well …like this.

“Okay. I’ll start with saying I fucked up, I know I did. You asked me not to poke anymore for information and I did, I tried pushing you to do something you weren’t comfortable with and that was wrong of me. I apologize for also just kissing you like that, even if I did intend to just shut you up at first, it wasn’t the best thing to do and only made things worse.”

You listened, not once taking those (e/c) eyes off of him, it made him feel so exposed for some reason.

“Most of all though, I apologize for what I said to you. I tend to want to get the last word when I’m heated like that, I end up saying things I don’t mean, really shitty things. I hope you know by now that obviously what I said was a lie. Truly, I wish I could go back in time and just take it back.”

“Well you can’t,” you quickly replied making Kirishima wince at your sharp words, “ … but I can tell you’re sincere and that you really are sorry so - that’s a start.”

Suddenly your frame was picked up from its seat, feet hanging in the air when strong thick tattooed arms caged you in a massive bear hug. Your face was squished against a hard and heavenly smelling chest, arms dangling at your sides and eyes wide with shock. Kirishima was spewing ‘thank you’s’ as he rocked back and forth, holding and squeezing you like a child with their most precious stuffed animal. You couldn’t exactly breathe but you also couldn’t help but giggle.

“Kiri, I’m uh, I’m losing air.”

The red-head gasped and quickly released his iron hold causing your body to slip from his arms with a yelp and almost fall over when your feet hit the ground. Thankfully he thought fast and grabbed you by the elbow, helping to steady you again.

“Uh - I’m sorry, I don’t really register how small you are compared to me and forget my own strength sometimes.”

Nodding, another giggle escaped your lips, “It’s fine, just took me off guard, that’s all. I wasn’t really expecting such a thing from you, it’s like you’re a massive overly excited puppy.”

“I’m just relieved,” he breathed out while straightening your clothes and hair back to normal.

“Well, I accept your apology but you’re not off the hook just yet!”

The tea kettle went off, causing you to both jump at the noise and chuckle.

“That’s fair,” Kirishima replied as he turned to turn off the hot plate and remove the kettle. “Is there something you need me to do, punch myself, walk around with the word ‘asshole’ drawn on my forehead all day?”

You quirked a brow, shocked at Kirishima’s desperation. From the sound of it, he was willing to do almost anything for your forgiveness. He seemed to be at your mercy and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t entertaining. There were so many things you could probably get him to do, public humiliation, self-mutilation, maybe make him shave off all his hair? 

Nah, you liked his hair, that needed to be left alone. You needed to think of something that would really show he didn’t mean those crummy words. A representation of the real Eijirou Kirishima.

Soon a mug was placed in front of you, before you could ask for honey Kirishima was already pouring some for you, he even knew exactly how much to pour which made you smile. After being handed a spoon, Kiri took a seat and took a sip of his own tea then looked at you, awaiting his sentence.

“I got it! Everyone in this shop has gone with me on shop runs - everyone except you,” you leaned over and poked Kiri’s chest making him chuckle, “That’s your first trial, chauffeuring me around from place to place for supplies and just spending the day with me. I want to see how we truly get along without any bets in place, you’re not required to act nice if that’s truly someone you’re not, I don’t want the fake Eijirou, I want the real one.”

“I can do that no problem. What else?”

You snapped your fingers and smiled, “You also owe me lunch, a really good lunch too!”

“Is that all?”

To be honest Kirishima was shocked at the mercy you were having on him. Spending the day with you and having lunch together didn’t sound bad to him at all, in fact he was more than excited to spend this time with you, one on one. He was ready to start fresh and redeem himself.

“No that’s not all, I just can’t think of anything else right now but I will. I’m only being so merciful because I’m pretty much over this now and it’s not something I want to dwell on. I really do want to be friends Kiri and to hold a grudge and be bitter about things doesn’t help. So now, where we go from here is all up to you.”

And there it was finally, the pressure. The pressure to not fuck this up royally, again!

Kiri let out a breath before nodding with a determined look on his face. “Alright little one, what do say we get these trails started?”

You moaned and groaned after plopping into the passenger seat of Kirishima’s truck, hands gripping at your stomach as you felt it eating away at your spine and body slumping over onto the middle console. Kiri settled in his seat by now and looked down at you.

“Eijirou, I’m dying here.”

“(Y/N), throughout the whole store you got every single free-sample there was, plus a massive slurpee and a cookie!”

Whining even more your buried your face into his arm, “Those were just teasers! Now feed me real food before I start to shut down!”

“Yes your majesty,” he chuckled and started the truck before taking off.

For the next ten minutes you went from groaning to being completely silent and almost lifeless. At one point Kirishima really thought you were dead before a sneeze left you. 

So far the day was going well and you were getting along as if nothing happened. The first stop was to get tattoo supplies and you left Kiri to get everything like you would with the others since they knew exactly what to look for. After that it was off to get bulk supplies like paper towels, gloves, drinks for the kitchen, cleaning materials, etc. 

Quickly Kiri learned why all the guys hated going to that one place with you, not only did you specifically seek out free food but you had this bad habit of just dipping off out of nowhere, silent as a ninja. Each time Kirishima wouldn’t notice until he was talking to himself and turned around to find you nowhere in sight. His heart would drop every time and he’d frantically search for you. Eventually he made it a rule that you walked in front of him at all times. It was like shopping with a child basically but still you were so cute to him.

It was nearing Thanksgiving and the stores were displaying all their Christmas items - tree, lights, figures, ornaments. Anytime something bright and shiny caught your eye, Kiri found himself being jerked by the hand and dragged to the point of interest. Each time he could’ve easily stopped you but he didn’t want to. Not once has he ever witnessed this much of you, normally he’d shack up in his studio and avoid being around you or leave if he was around you too much. 

He wasn’t used to all the touchiness, you absentmindedly clinging to his arm if someone gave you an eerie feeling, tugging at his clothes or shaking him when another free-sample stand popped up, and the hand-holding, so much of it. He wasn’t blind or new to any of the stores you stopped by that day, he knew where to find certain items, but still when it came time to look for the next item on the list you’d grab his massive hand in your small one and lead the way as he’d pull the buggy.

Kirishima knew you were a touchy person, hell he’d even seen you dragging Shouto, the most reserved of them all around the shop by the hand to show him something so he shouldn’t feel that special about it but he did. Yet at the same time it didn’t feel off, it felt right. 

Just like it did that night at Sero’s, holding and keeping you close to him like it was the most normal thing ever. It could become normal too, if he really tried, he could have you like this every day. Still though, Kirishima was unsure about whether he should truly retire his whole ploy to keep you at a safe distance. 

Did he want you? Of course he did. Most of all though, he wanted to keep you safe he just couldn’t decide though whether being with him really was safe or not for you.

“Are we there yet?”

Kirishima looked down from the road briefly to see you still laying over on the console, chin resting on your forearm as your finger traced the squares of the flannel fabric dressing his arm.

“Almost little one. You okay? You’re really quiet.”

With a small smile you nodded, “I’m just hungry Red.”

Kiri chuckled and licked his bottom lip, “Well where we’re going, you can eat to your pretty little heart’s content.”

“Oh Kiri don’t tell me that, I’ll make you regret it!”

Soon the truck came to a stop and Kirishima unbuckled his belt. He leaned over you, looking at each other eye to eye. 

“Try me.”

“Thems fighting words Red, are you challenging me!”

A razor sharp smile was now on the red-heads face, making you smile just as wide, you knew what was coming and you were already agreeing.

“It’s not so much a challenge when I know I’ll come out on top little one. You see I have a pretty insatiable appetite myself and I’m sure it’s much bigger than yours.”

Your lips pouted, a prideful gleam sparkled in your eyes, “Tsk, tsk! You may be twice my size but I’m positive I can eat just as much food as you, if not more!”

A sharp tooth bit down on Kiri’s bottom lip at the sound of a challenge. 

Last time the two of you made a bet it didn’t end well but this one was harmless. Something inside of the red-head liked to challenge you, and he could tell you liked it as well. You were such a little spitfire and he loved it. 

He hummed in amusement and let his hand fall next to your head, his thumb brushed over your parted bottom lip mindlessly but neither of you minded.

“How about you put your money where that pretty little mouth is then?”

“You’re on, first one to tap out has to pay for the meal,” you spoke before nipping at the thumb still on your lip and making Kiri snatch it away with a smile.

You sat up to unbuckle the seat belt and waited while Kiri got out and came around to open your door. He helped you hop out of the tall vehicle, neither of your hands letting go of the other even after your feet were on the ground. He closed the door and walked you across the street, when you looked and realized where he had brought you, a massive shit eating grin spread across your face. 

It was one of the conveyor belt sushi places, where you could get a lot of food for your dollar and the perfect place for a food eating contest.

“You done messed up A-Aron!”

Shaking his head, Kirishima let go of your hand and slung an arm around your shoulders before leading you into the restaurant and to begin your little game.

After sitting down you both agreed that whoever had the most plates by the time you were ready to leave would be the winner, giving you time to actually enjoy yourself and not throw up in the process. As time passed you’d talk, you told Kirishima about the tattoo Sero gave you and about Hitoshi who was probably still passed out in your bed. You both ate plate after plate of sushi in between chatting and had two stacks piling up rather quickly. The employees had to be used to shenanigans like this everyday so neither of you felt particularly bad about the massive amount of food being devoured.

“So, you still haven’t come up with my last trial,” Kiri asked as he stacked another plate and leaned back in his seat.

Your head shook in response and you chewed on a piece of sushi that was a little too large for your mouth. The man chuckled at how fat your cheeks looked and leaned over to wipe a small amount of soy sauce from the corner of your mouth before licking his thumb clean.

“Indirect kiss,” you muffled.

“Whatever, finish your food before you choke,” he replied and took a sip of his tea.

You quirked a brow and finished chewing then proceeded to swallow your food with a loud gulp, “Oh I never choke, Eijirou.”

Kirishima quickly covered his mouth and choked down his drink, you started to cackle at him then groaned and grabbed at your stomach when it hurt to laugh from being so full. Your face landed on the table, lulling side to side in misery.

“That’s what you get,” Kiri snickered at your pain, “are you done?”

“Never,” you groaned out pathetically.

Smirking the red-head crossed his arms and leaned onto the table, one of his hands reached out and gathered your hair from the surface before it could land in the dirty plates and tucked it to one side. 

“Well I’m done, you win.”

You quickly shot up and glared at the man, “Lies, you’re letting me win!”

“It doesn’t matter I was going to pay for the meal anyway. Plus, you proved me wrong, you really can put away just as much food as I can, maybe you ate a plate or two more, so you really did win.”

You turned from looking at him and to the plates, he could tell you were counting them. After a few moments you turned to the electronic screen, browsing through the menu with a determined look on your face. Kirishima couldn’t help but chuckle at your resilience, even if it was just a silly contest he liked how headstrong and iron-willed you were.

“I do have one more plate than you but I still have room for dessert.”

“Of course you do!”

After selecting a parfait you sat back in the seat with a disgruntled huff and hands rubbing your bloated stomach. 

“So, anywhere else we need to go before we head back to the shop?”

“Actually yeah, I need to stop by the pet store and get some dog food.”

Your eyes widened and twitched, “Dog food? You have a dog?”

“No little one, I like to have a nice bowl of it before bed every night.”

Right as the words left his mouth a chopstick was flying straight for Kirishima’s face. He quickly deflected it and laughed. You rolled your eyes and picked your parfait up off the belt and started to eat it.

“What kind of dog?”

“She’s a pit bull, I rescued her from the shelter last year,” he replied and took his phone out, scrolling through his pictures and then showing one to you.

“Aww, Ei! She’s precious! Look at the sweet pupper, oof look at her snoot,” you cooed.

Kiri continued to show you more pictures of the grey and white dog. There were pictures of them together on the couch, at the park, even some of her and the guys. The tattooed man told you stories of her, that she was pretty goofy and playful but also a big snuggle bug. The dog was like a child to him and it was adorable to see him gleaming over the animal. 

Seeing this side of Kiri was exactly what you wanted. When he wasn’t thinking too much about it, he seemed to really open up to you, almost like breathing. He really was trying hard to fulfill his quest and you appreciated him sharing this part of his life with you.

“What’s her name?”

“It’s Duchess. She’s a little spoiled,” he smiled and finally put the phone away.

“I can’t believe I’m just now finding out about this, it’s like you were trying to hide your child from me. I want to meet her one day!”

Kirishima smiled while pulling out his wallet and started to pay for the food with the machine at the table. 

“Next time I’m out at the park with her, I’ll let you know. Or -” he put his wallet away and smirked as he leaned back in his seat so casually, “You could always come over, you know to meet my dog.”

“Well I mean, if that would please your dog then maybe.”

With a smile Kirishima stood from his seat and walked to yours, holding out his hand to help you up out of your own, “I think it would please her very much.”

After leaving the restaurant, you made a stop by the pet store. Overjoyed you quickly ran inside and for once left Kirishima in the dust. He chuckled and jogged in after you, yelling to wait up. 

With big bright eyes and a massive smile, you awed over all the animals, needing to pet every single one of them. A bunny here, a ferret there, a couple of kittens. Next you made it over to the birds, pressing your hands to the glass and marveling over their bright colors, baby talking to them though the barrier. 

Not once did Kirishima interrupt, he was too caught up in how happy you were to interact with all the animals. He had a feeling that the moment you met his dog, he’d become like chopped liver. 

After having your fill, you turned and looked at the red-head then behind him at the aisle markers. Taking his hand you went to walk towards the dog food aisle but Kirishima didn’t budge, causing you to grunt as you pulled.

“Kiri, dog food is this way.”

The man nodded and rubbed the side of his neck with his free hand, “I know but let’s go down this aisle and around.”

Your brows furrowed in confusion, you turned to look in the right direction, not seeing anything strange or out of place.

“Why,” you chuckled and tugged, “Let’s just go this way, plus I want to see the reptiles and they’re right there,” you pouted with the biggest most pathetic puppy dog eyes and pointed.

Kiri’s hand squeezed yours and he looked conflicted, finally though he gave in and let you drag him towards the right aisle. 

“Those stupid pretty eyes,” he thought with a smirk. 

You came to a stop before the reptiles, bending at the knees slightly to get a better look at the ones on the lower level. Kiri left you to look at them as he went and got dog food, after locating the right brand he got the biggest bag and turned to make his way back to you.

“Okay, little one let’s get - ah,” the massive man yelled when he turned the corner to you holding a snake in his face.

Quickly Kiri turned away, his fingers gripping the dog food.

“Isn’t it cute? They let me hold it,” you chimed and brought the snake back to your chest as it sat like a rock in your hand.

“Cool, now put it back and lets go.”

Your brows furrowed yet again, a quizzical look on your face. 

“Kiri what’s wrong? It’s just a little sn - ake,” you spoke slowly after finally realizing what must of been the issue this whole time.

First Kirishima didn’t want to walk down the way you came and now he wasn’t even facing you and looking tense as hell. You asked him to turn and look, but he shook his head and mentioned how heavy the dog food was and that he was ready to leave.

“Bullshit Kiri, I weigh more than that dog food, now look at me - please.”

The red-head bared his sharp teeth at the sound of your pleading, so soft and wanting, and totally fucking up his life. Only after a few hours together, you now had this hold on him, like some leash around his heart that tugged in every direction you went, dragging him along like a puppy, only wanting to please you as long as it kept that dumb smile on your face. 

Finally, Kirishima sheathed his teeth back behind his lips, taking a deep breath before he turned around to face you, his red eyes not once leaving your own (e/c) ones.

“Yes your highness,” he questioned, trying to hide his nervousness.

You gave him a soft and calming smile, “Ei, are you scared of snakes?”

“I’m not scared of them, I just don’t like them.”

Your teeth were now chewing on your bottom lip, eyes looking down to the cold-blooded creature in your hands before flashing back up to him. He felt a shudder run up his spine at the scheming yet alluring look you held, almost like a siren. Kirishima knew that whatever you were thinking wasn’t good for him but he couldn’t help but be lured in, frozen in place.

“Eijirou,” you softly spoke and took a step towards him.

He wanted to take a step back but he didn’t, the way his name always fell from your lips was a terrible weakness of his and you were starting to realize it. He could only swallow harshly, jaw clenching and clutching the dog food tighter.

“(Y/N), don’t.”

“I know what your final trial is.”

Kirishima sighed and let his head fall back, an aggravated ‘fuck’ escaping from between his triangular teeth.

“Hold this noodle for ten seconds and you’re completely forgiven, clean slate.”

The tattooed man looked down and cringed at the sight of the reptile. It was balled up in your palms, it’s beady head resting on its body. Bright yellow and pretty fat looking. Up close it didn’t look slimy or really that intimidating, if anything it looked fake. 

Kiri looked back to you, his brows rising and eyes softening with one last plea but you chuckled and shook your head. Groaning, he sat the dog food on the floor and scratched his head. His blood was pumping, growing more nervous as he brought his palms up. Once you started to move the snake towards Kirishima he looked away, taking more deep breaths. Soon he felt a light weight in the middle of his hand and cold scaly skin - and then it moved.

Kiri stiffened and shook his head, trying not to freak and make the animal move any more but it continued to slowly slither.

“I can’t do this (Y/N), take it pl-”

You cut his words off by cupping his cheek with one hand, turning his face to look at yours and placing your other hand on the underside of his.

“Eijirou, you can do this. It’s already been almost five seconds. You’re halfway there. Don’t focus on the snake, look at me. I know how much you like to do that.”

An almost strained chuckle came from Kirishima’s throat but he listened to you and focused on the one thing he’s been focused so much on for the past month.

His red eyes zeroing in on your pink lips, watching as they moved while you counted for five more seconds. Gradually his heart-rate was decreasing and his nerves were settling. Before he knew it the snake was being removed him his hand and replaced with sanitizer, making him blink rapidly and look down. The tension literally melted from Kiri’s body and he huffed while rubbing his hands together and smearing the disinfect. You were doing the same with a pleased expression and Kirishima felt embarrassed. When you looked up to him though there wasn’t any humor or cockiness in your face.

“I’m not going to ask why you don’t like snakes Eijirou. I understand everyone has their own fears and you don’t owe me an explanation about them. I am proud of you though, I’m sure that was difficult for you but facing your fear just for me, it means a lot.”

Kirishima smiled and tousled his spiky hair, “So - am I forgiven now?”

You smiled and rose up on the tips of your toes, hands coming to rest on Kiri’s chest for balance as you placed a feather-light kiss to his cheek.

“You’ve been forgiven since buying me food Red.”

Crimson eyes narrowed at you and you snickered, quickly walking towards the cashier. Kirishima growled and he picked up the dog food before running after you.

“I really hate you sometimes little one.”

You squealed once he caught up and wrapped his free arm around the front of your waist, easily picking you up and squeezing as he gnawed on your shoulder. You giggled and tried to push him away. 

“I hate you too Ei.”

[dandeaix-oomph]

incomplete THEY FUCK IN THE COFFIN chapter 4: cooking/drunk

Day Thirty-Two.

Ogata wakes to Sugimoto kissing him on his shoulder.

“Get up,” Sugimoto whispers, his eyes glitter-pen gold in the dim light. “It’s snowing. First snow. Come watch it with me.”

Ogata doesn’t care. He pulls the blanket tighter around him. “I want to sleep.” 

“You can go back to sleep later.”

“No.”

For a moment, Ogata thinks that he has successfully dismissed Sugimoto as the bed dips and lifts as Sugimoto slips away. Then Sugimoto’s shadow falls over him and Ogata is scooped out of bed, blanket and all.

Sugimoto’s grin is too fucking bright for the asscrack of dawn. “You can sleep if you want,” he taunts, carrying Ogata out into the living room. 

The couch is pushed up against the window; it seems Sugimoto has been prepared. He dumps Ogata onto the couch before sliding over the armrest, sliding the windows open as he hangs his arms out.

Cold, Ogata thinks, bundling himself up with the blanket. He hasn’t bothered putting on clothes after last night, what with Sugimoto acting as a human furnace beside him. “Winter sunrises are dreary,” he comments, leaning against Sugimoto. 

Sugimoto raises an arm and hooks it around Ogata’s shoulders. “But I like to watch the snowfall.”

“Hmm.” Nuzzles Sugimoto’s chest. It’s like a memory pillow. “No snow in space?”

“None at all. Only rain and hail and occasionally, flaming debris.”

Ogata snorts. “Flaming debris? Very creative.”

“I don’t know what’s up with that too.” He buries his nose in Ogata’s hair. Kisses his hairline. “Don’t worry, no one has ever been struck by it yet. It’s like those debris have eyes: they don’t strike people.”

“So they are… semi-sentient?”

“Who knows.” Sugimoto stares out of the window again. “As much as sacred sites have their spirits, I suppose.”

-

The mortality rate always goes up during the winter season, but Ogata thinks he can afford to take a break, just for a day.

He switches off his phone and leaves the closed sign on the door, and after turning up the heater, spends the morning sitting on the kitchen counter as Sugimoto tries to prepare them a meal - an attempt quickly abandoned after Sugimoto realises that Ogata has been stealing the sliced sashimi every time he looks away.

“Out,” Sugimoto commands, trying to shove Ogata out of the kitchen. “Or there’ll be no more gourmet dishes for you.”

“Who cares,” Ogata replies, and proceeds to stick his hands down under Sugimoto’s pants.

“You know,” Sugimoto mutters, after they ended up making out on the kitchen floor and leaving Ogata frustratingly hard, “there is something I want to show you.”

“Your dick anytime soon, I hope.”

“Wait, wai -” Sugimoto seizes Ogata’s wrists. “Give me just five minutes. You see what it is, then we’ll get to fucking on a proper bed, ok? Not the, the kitchen floor, we prepare food here, it’s unsanitary.”

“It’s not like any of us don’t swallow -”

“Later!” Sugimoto shouts frantically. Funny how Sugimoto still gets embarrassed about sex even after so long. “The garage first.”

“The garage? I thought I’m not allowed in until you’re done?” That rule is created after Ogata has ribbed him too hard and Sugimoto ended up sulking for the next two days. 

“I am done,” Sugimoto replies gravely. The statement lands with a thud, heavy with finality. “Mostly. I want you to take a look at it.”

Ogata is curious, but he is also achingly hard. “Must it be now?”

“It’ll only take five minutes,” Sugimoto stresses. 

Which is how they end up stumbling into the garage, Ogata still trying to nip at Sugimoto's ear while Sugimoto squirms and chuckles in equal measure.

“Hey, be serious now.” Sugimoto pecks him on his right temple before nudging Ogata around to face the coffin. “What do you think of it?”

“Trashy.”

“You didn’t even look at it,” Sugimoto protests, “honestly, Ogata. This is important to me. Did I do alright?”

“You’ve definitely passed at first glance, at least,” Ogata informs dryly, finally pulling away. “Fine. Let’s have a look then.”

Sugimoto clasps his hands nervously behind his back as Ogata circles the coffin. Ogata checks the seams and the edges. No problem there, as per usual.

The designs, however.

“It… is pretty good, actually.” Albeit rather simple. Nevertheless, it is a far cry from when Sugimoto first started out: Ogata likes the patterns that Sugimoto has etched on the corners instead of merely tolerating their mediocrity. That’s a first. “Although I wasn’t expecting something this minimalistic. Your drafts have been much more detailed.”

“About that.” Sugimoto scratches his neck. “I was hoping that you can finish it for me.”

That is unexpected. Absently, Ogata traces a spiral.  “I think you mentioned it before. Finishing touches, you called it.”

“I did. I wasn’t sure you remember.”

“Surprise,” Ogata answers flatly. “But the way you drafted around this space here...” He finally looks up. “This might as well be a blank canvas for me.”

“It is.” Sugimoto takes a step closer. Tentatively, he flattens his palm against the side of the coffin. “I reached the limits of my skills first, and then I ran out of ideas. I mean, you know what they say: grown-ups aren’t the most creative. Unless we fight to keep it, we will forget the fantasies of our childhood.

Ogata’s childhood has felt like a blanket made of lead, dragging him down until he manages to chip a hole in it so he can finally poke his head out and breathe. “Don’t say it like that’s a good thing.”

“But it can be,” Sugimoto insists. He ruffles Ogata’s hair, laughing when Ogata elbows him. “Just because you don’t throw them out, doesn’t mean that they’re all deadweights.”

“That’s sentimentality speaking.”

“Nothing wrong with that too. Without infusing anything with meaning, they’re all just items.” Sugimoto turns back to his coffin again. “But if you give it enough purpose… Remember how proud we used to be over some doodles when we’re kids? Sometimes, I feel like anything I create can come to life: grab a magic crayon. Draw an apple tree and a ferocious monster to guard it, and then a hot air balloon to fly you home.”

“Scribble a moon and your bedroom window around it, and then a cozy bed for you to sleep in.” Ogata taps on the edge. “And then they nail down the lid and burn you down into ashes at eight hundred degree celsius.”

“That took a morbid turn.”

“An absolute conversation killer,” Ogata agrees. “So are you done? Can we fuck now?”

“Ogata.” 

“You said five min - stop grinning like that.” Ogata squishes Sugimoto’s cheeks with both hands. “I said stop it.”

Sugimoto puts an arm around Ogata’s waist. “You’re ridiculous.”

“No, I’m blue-balled.” Without hesitation, Ogata loops his arms around Sugimoto’s neck and jumps - Sugimoto’s hands dart out to grip Ogata by the thigh, but the suddenness of the movement has thrown off his balance, and Sugimoto staggers back, a leg kicking in the air, before he rights himself and tilts forward.

For a precarious moment, Ogata thinks that Sugimoto will end up dropping him; then Sugimoto has one hand flattened on his lower back and the other gripping the edge of the coffin.

Huh. A very convenient position. Ogata unhooks a leg. It thuds loudly at the base of the coffin.

“Please don’t do that again,” says Sugimoto.

Ogata quirks the end of his lips. “We’ll see.” Then, “Hey, a bed is a bed, right?”

Sugimoto looks aghast as he pats on the coffin. “This is a metaphor."

“You didn’t specify,” Ogata retorts smugly. “And isn’t it tradition to christen a new bed?”

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes.” 

 "Ogata," Sugimoto pleads, "I've spent too long on this coffin to get any dubious stains on it."

"I know eight different ways to bleach out stains from wood."

"That's not -"

"Either you fuck me right now," Ogata interrupts, "or no sex for a week."

Sugimoto does not look impressed. “We both know that’s not going to happen.”

Now that’s not fair. Ogata may have been the one initiating sex more often, but he’s also a stubborn bastard. “Do you wanna bet?”

“I feel like I’ll lose either way,” Sugimoto confesses. Reluctantly, he lets Ogata pull him down, his body a comfortable weight on top as he tucks his arms under Ogata’s lower back.

Sugimoto buries his face against Ogata’s sternum. The tip of his ears are red. “Why do you always do this to me?”

Ogata curls his fingers into Sugimoto’s hair. “Do what?”

“You know what.” Sugimoto stares up at him, eyes accusing before they soften into something, something that Ogata does not want to name. “You’re a handful.”

(It’s insanity-inducing, the way that Sugimoto gazes up at him. It makes his breath stutter, his heart fluttering like those stupid butterflies when they struggle to free themselves from a spider’s web. Sugimoto can probably hear the way that his lungs hollow when Sugimoto smiles, so soft, so fucking tender, and what the hell is this, Ogata doesn’t -)

Ogata jerks Sugimoto’s head back, relaxing when those eyes squeeze shut. He’s going to make Sugimoto fucking cry. “Just shut up and fuck me, Sugimoto.”

“Don’t put it that way,” Sugimoto protests, his eyebrows knitting together even as his lips curl. He kisses Ogata on the left pec, over his heart, and rests his lips there. Badump, badump; the rhythm of human love and human lives. “I am fond of you.”

“Is that a confession I hear?”

“If you wish,” Sugimoto allows. “As I’ve said, It can be anything at all - I could be anything you want me to be, you know.”

Ogata grabs the baby hair at the base of Sugimoto’s skull and tugs until Sugimoto shifts again, a knee between Ogata’s thigh and his face so close that Ogata can barely feel the brush of chapped lips against his. “Can you?”

“Not anymore,” Sugimoto admits. “But once upon a time. Nevermore,” he continues, “unless it’s Neverland. But to visit you’ll need a vessel.” He laughs when Ogata raps his knuckles against the coffin. “Stop that, that joke has gone on long enough.”

Ogata grins. “Then make m -”

Sugimoto kisses him, soft as a rosebud, and so he concentrates on that. Concentrates on the pulse under his fingers, the heat, the flicker of the lashes when Sugimoto pauses to stare at him. 

Lovely, Ogata thinks before he can stop himself, and isn’t given the chance to berate his brain when Sugimoto starts tugging up Ogata’s sweater.

The hands are so hot against his sides, hot like tears, and they stream down to his hips to push down his pants to drip across his thighs and pool at his kidneys. Sugimoto’s mouth burns against his skin, and when he sucks around Ogata’s tit, Ogata feels a tremor rise from his bones, the earth rolling over in its slumber.

Kisses all the way down, cutting deep into his flesh - the thorns of rose vines, he thinks inbetween gasps, and wonders if it is worth the trouble to make Sugimoto run back upstairs for the lube. 

Sugimoto seems to have reached the same conclusion. “Don’t make me,” he begs, before mouthing at Ogata’s hipbone, as though that will drive his point in deeper. “Don’t spoil the mood.”

“You are the one spoiling the mood,” Ogata argues, jutting a knee up to nudge. Sugimoto kisses Ogata’s belly again, and that tickles, the muscles in his abdomen jumping before Ogata can pretend nonchalance. “Don’t do that.”

“Don’t do what?” Sugimoto has the widest smirk on his face as he rubs his chin above Ogata’s belly-button, the faintest shadow prickling the skin. “This doesn't feel good?”

“Of course not, you fucking tease -” Ogata curls upwards in a squirm that makes him feel more like a cooked prawn instead. “You -”

“Woah.” Sugimoto narrowly catches Ogata’s leg before it can kick him and fracture a bone, or something. Ogata almost wishes it can. “This is for making me do all the chores that you have been putting off for years.”

“You decide to outsource your labour for free, don’t complain.”

[doubledeaky]

See What a Fool I’ve Been - Part Three

Brian May x Female!Reader

Part One | Part Two

A/N: Hey, everyone! I’m sorry for my inconsistent updates of this fic, I’ve been having trouble writing this particular fic but I’m getting there! The next part will be the final part, so please stay tuned! Thank you all so much for the love and support on my last two posts, you guys rock! As always, feedback is very much appreciated! Much love! -m:)

Summary: Being friends with John Deacon meant being friends with his band mates. This blossoming group of best buds seems logical until Brian realizes he may like you more than a friend. Unfortunately, your oblivious nature and Roger’s constant cock-blocking spells trouble for Brian and the romantic feelings he harbors for you. Young love isn’t always as fun as the movies make it seem.

Word Count: 1,327 words (sorry it’s so short!)

Warnings: cursing 

Brian audibly groaned as the white streaks of sunlight pouring through his curtains temporarily blinded his tired eyes. He pressed on both eyes with the pads of his thumb and pointer finger, attempting to rub the sleep from them. His feet felt cold, looking down he noticed they were hanging off of the bed uncovered, typical. He threw the duvet from his body and onto the floor which was littered with dirty clothes and books, very out of character for neat freak, Brian May. His long legs felt heavy as he attempted to swing them over the side of his mattress and when he managed to do so, a dull ache reverberated throughout his muscles. He grimaced, sitting up with the assistance of his also very sore arms. Taking a quick glance of the condition of his room, he sighed and buried his face in his hands. The past few weeks had been tough, and Brian’s room was suffering as a result. He hadn’t really tidied since he met you a little over a month ago and the idea of what could be living among the mess caused a shiver to climb Brian’s spine. Nevertheless, he pushed himself from the bed; his legs still screaming in pain. The band had had a gig the night before and while the aches the day after hurt, having to watch Roger continue to butter you up after every gig hurt even more. You’d been to a total of four gigs now, the flames of jealousy in Brian’s chest only growing after each. Roger was determined, and Brian envied his persistence, especially since you’d seemingly shot him down every time he’d hinted to the idea of something more. Whether you were truly rejecting him or obliviously playing along, thinking Roger’s sly remarks were merely compliments, Brian didn’t know. What he did know was that he didn’t like it, at all. He felt a welcome sense of relief wash over him when he remembered there was no gig and he’d be able to exist in peace without the constant reminder that you weren’t his, you’d never be his, and that you would inevitably end up shagging Roger. He opened the door to his room and furrowed his brow when he wasn’t bombarded by the screams and vivacious laughs of his roommates. Instead, they were all sat at various points in the room either eating, reading, or both. Brian gave the three a friendly wave as he wordlessly poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Morning, Bri.” Freddie said behind his newspaper, yawning obnoxiously right after. Brian hummed in acknowledgement, taking a sip of his coffee and appreciating the warmth it brought to his cold limbs. The unfamiliar, but welcome, quiet was interrupted by Roger who saw it appropriate to begin stirring the pot.

“It’s a shame we don’t have a gig this weekend. Was so looking forward to seeing Y/N.” He said, smirking as he doodled with a blue pen onto the back of a napkin. Brian inhaled deeply and rolled his eyes, annoyed Roger found it necessary to get everyone riled up this early in the morning. John peered at Roger from behind a magazine, sneering at him.

“Rog, can you please keep it in your pants? She’s my friend, and I’d appreciate it if you’d stop dropping us hints about how much you’d like to get in her pants.” John said, rolling his own grey eyes and focusing back on that month’s issue of Rolling Stone. Roger laughed but didn’t look up, extremely focused on his drawing of what Brian assumed, from his view, was a dog.

“C’mon, Deaks! I get that she’s your friend and all, but you can’t deny she’s fit.” Roger said smugly, grinning from ear to ear with a cockiness that made Brian nauseous.

“Yeah, Rog. I can see that, I have eyes, but all I’m asking is that you not discuss your sexual fantasies involving her with the lot of us.” John said, huffing out an exasperated breath. Roger sat back, disgustingly smug. He shrugged and crossed one leg over the other.

“Can’t help it. I mean, she’s a total babe. Nice tits, and not to mention her bum. I’ll tell ya, I’d like to- “

“Stop talking about her like that.” Brian hissed from the other side of the room, absolutely seething. Roger turned to him, still smug, and gave him a challenging glare.

“What’s your problem, Bri? Are you mad you haven’t got the gall to try and get into her knickers?” He said, smirking as he tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch. Freddie’s eyes widened, and John was still shocked Brian was brave enough to even attempt to call out Roger. Brian set down his cup of coffee and crossed his arms over his chest, his full weight shifting onto his left leg. He huffed, growing angry and feeling slightly flustered. Roger tilted his head with both eyebrows raised, awaiting his reply.

“No, Rog, it’s not that. Just think you should have some respect. You’re being a proper dick right now.” Brian said simply, furrowing his brows Roger’s way. Roger’s face and chest grew red, his reputation of flying off the handle on the brink of being on full display. He scoffed, shaking his head.

“No, Bri. I just think you’re just chapped because I’m not afraid to go after what I want. You envy me.” Roger spit, shifting in his seat to face Brian. Freddie and John were stunned. Arguments among them were always lighthearted, this seemed malicious. Brian laughed in disbelief, shaking his head, curls bouncing softly.

“Envy you? Sure, Rog, if that helps you sleep at night.” Brian said, dismissively waving a hand as he turned to pour himself more coffee, already wanting this conversation to end. Roger was angry now; he didn't like being shamed, especially from the likes of Brian. 

“What the fuck is your problem, May? So, what if I want to shag her? What does it matter to you?”

“Cuz’ I fancy her, alright!” Brian shouted, breathing shaky and fists clenched. The room fell silent and Brian witnessed a rare emotion for Roger cross his face, regret. Only for a moment though, as Roger’s trademark smirk soon returned to its usual position in mere seconds. He leant back on the couch and reached for a cigarette on the stool beside him.

“Well, you’re shit at showing it.” Roger mumbled, lighting the cigarette hung loosely between his lips. Brian’s shoulders relaxed but he grew confused.

“What?” Brian asked, his eyebrows still drawn together. Roger huffed and sat up.

“Brian, you may be an astrophysicist, but you truly are daft. If you would have made an effort to show me you fancied her, I would have backed off. I’m not a complete asshole.” Roger said, puffing on his cigarette.

“News to me.” Freddie mumbled, and John laughed into his hand. Roger promptly flicked him off and all attention was back to Brian, who was still a bit shocked to say the least. Roger sighed frustrated, already reaching for a second cigarette.

“Brian, just grow a pair and go get her. Nothing’s stopping you now.” He said, returning his concentration back to drawing. Brian felt relief flood his chest and a breathy laugh escaped him. He ran to the coat rack, fishing for his jacket and pulling it over his lithe frame. Brian turned to the three men, giving Roger a nod which he returned with a playful eye roll and smile. Brian got to work on the lock of the door, flinging it open. John sat up in his chair, his arms supporting his weight.

“You break her heart and your ass is mine, May!” John called as Brian stumbled out of the door, giving John a thumbs up through the opening before it shut. The remaining three all relaxed in their seats, the previous tension in the room now dissipating.

“This is definitely not how I imagined my morning going.” Freddie stated from his seat and John nodded in solemn agreement, burying his face in a pillow beside him.

tag list: @ourfracturedomens @ladylannisterxo @arrowswithwifi @discoball-deaky @everybodyplaythegame @rogerlad @queenbbarnes @mackers125 @alexfayer @borhapqueen92 @thesecondlastjedi @dashlilymark @joe-mozzarello @goodoldfashionedlovergal @readinghorn @disn3yfreak (this is the official tag list for the fic; if you'd like to be added, please let me know!)

[nebulous-frog]

A Match a Day Since 1965

Summary: Phil works at a diner with a sign that says "Matching soulmates daily since 1965” and he never really understood it until one day, he did. 

Everyone has a soulmate and you know you've met them when you injure yourself in front of them. Marks show where and how badly you will be injured.

Word Count: 2863

Pairing: Phan

Genre: Soulmate AU, Fluff, Getting Together

Warnings: There are injuries and a little blood and some hospitalization but it’s all fine, everybody’s fine, this is a strictly fluffy sappy cute fic I promise

Author’s Note: I really liked the prompt I created for my soulmate fic I Got You and wanted to write another based on that idea, so here it is!

Special thanks to @auroraphilealis and @sleeplessnightwithphan for betaing!

Link to AO3 Fics Masterlist

Phil really didn’t get why they even had the sign. It didn’t make any sense to him. He had seen the standard McDonald’s “Over 99 billion customers served” signs, of course, but the local diner he worked at had put a spin on their sign, and it didn’t fully make sense to Phil. Instead of it being about how many customers they’d served, it was about soulmates.

The sign read: “Matching soulmates daily since 1965”.

Now, Phil could understand the appeal, as soulmates are a big deal, obviously, but he also didn’t understand why that was something the diner advertised so proudly. Sure, love was found there more often than not (the sign wasn’t lying about the daily thing. It was weirdly accurate), but the way soulmates found each other wasn’t exactly... pleasant.

Why would a restaurant want to advertise that at least two people got injured in their establishment every day?

Phil really did get wanting to find your match, your life partner, your other half, since that was all he wanted, too, but he wasn’t exactly excited about the injury part. His arm bore an orange scratch mark, which meant he’d definitely need stitches when he met his soulmate, and would probably pass out from the pain. Phil didn’t like pain.

When he first saw that there was a job opening at the diner, he hadn’t been too sure he wanted to try for it. He knew the soulmates reputation, and had heard of enough matches happening there that he didn’t doubt the accuracy of the rumors, but he wasn’t sure that was something he wanted to risk for himself. If he worked there, he was likely to get injured at work.

He thought knowing where he was probably going to get a significant injury would just make him more anxious about when it might happen, especially since it meant he would meet his soulmate at the same time. Phil reasoned himself into applying for it anyway, trying to convince himself that it was just because he needed the money, but he knew a small part of it was that he really did want to finally meet his soulmate, although he’d never admit that out loud. He was still worried about meeting his soulmate, but, as it turned out, it wasn’t actually all that big of a deal when it eventually happened.

It happened about six months after Phil began working at the diner. It was your average Thursday night, and Phil was sick of working already. He was just finishing up his shift as host, waiting for his coworker to come in and take over so he could go home and wash off all the restaurant grime. No soulmates had been found yet today, despite the fact that the restaurant had been open for almost 12 hours already.

No one was concerned about the multi-decade streak ending, though. They’d had ambulances called in their last few hours of the day enough times to know that 7pm was only the beginning.

It was a relatively slow night, as Thursdays tended to be, so Phil was stood at the host’s stand doodling on a random notepad while waiting for something to happen. He jolted upright when he heard the door open, reached for the menus, and spewed out his welcome spiel.

“Hello, welcome to the-“ he began, but abruptly stopped as he watched the customer trip over nothing, windmill for a second, and then fall headfirst into the host stand with a yelp.

Phil sighed internally. Here come the soulmates of the day, he thought as he sprang into action. All of the employees at the restaurant had been trained in basic first aid since these accidents happened so often.

Pushing the “Injury in the Lobby” button on the host stand to send an alert back to his manager, Phil quickly moved around the stand to see the man, who was now groaning on the floor.

Unfortunately for Phil, his hand got stuck on some of the wood of the host stand because of a loose nail that caught his sleeve. When he tried to pull it away, he just made it worse and scraped his arm along the nail. He cried out in pain, finally getting his sleeve free of the nail, and held his left arm with his right hand. Adrenaline rushing through him. All Phil could do was follow the procedures drilled into his head: push the Injury button after the first injury, then again after the second injury, then help as best you can.

So that’s what Phil did; he reached blindly for the button again and pressed it before turning back to the man still lying on the floor.

“Sir, can you hear me?” he asked through his light-headedness.

He heard a groan resembling a “yes” in response.

“Can you tell me what hurts?”

The man simply pointed at his head, which was bleeding slightly. Phil’s breathing quickened at the sight. He hated seeing blood, absolutely couldn’t stand it. He had a responsibility, however, so he cautiously approached the man and kneeled next to him, still clutching his own arm.

As soon as he got there, however, Phil realized he was in a bit of a predicament. He didn’t want to let go of his arm because he felt like it was comforting him, but he had to in order to be able to properly tend to the man as he awaited extra help. He looked down at his arm again, wondering why it hurt so goddamn much.

Phil’s eyes widened as he took in the sight of red dripping down his arm. Oh yeah, he thought, I scraped it. He felt sluggish and detached all of a sudden, his vision tunneling and the little bit of the room he could still see starting to spin.

“Phil?” he heard distantly. It sounded almost like his manager, but that couldn’t be true. Phil was in bed. Wasn’t he?

He blinked heavily and noticed the blood again. Slowly turning his head, Phil saw the concerned gaze of his manager. “Blood. There’s- there’s blood,” he said, tongue heavy in his mouth. He could feel his head spinning faster. He opened his mouth to say something more, but before he could say anything, the tunnel darkened until his vision went completely black.

When Phil came to, he was disoriented and had a headache. And his arm hurt. Why did his arm hurt?

He looked down at it to find it wrapped in a bandage. He also saw pristine walls and smelled too-clean-to-be-normal air. To his left was another bed, featuring a sleeping man about his height with brown curly hair hanging over a bandage on his head.

Oh. I’m in a hospital, Phil realized. Wait. Why am I in a hospital?

Just as he started to panic again, the door opened and a nurse stepped in.

“Mr. Lester, it’s good to see you awake!”

Phil relaxed a little at the friendly face. “Thanks. I don’t really remember what happened, though?”

“Well, it seems like you cut yourself on a loose nail while at work just after Mr. Howell over here tripped and hit his head.”

“Oh.” Phil thought for a moment, trying to get his still-foggy brain to catch up to the conversation. “Why was I asleep?”

“We believe you fainted at the sight of your own blood. Has that ever happened to you before?”

Phil blushed. It definitely had and was embarrassing every time. He nodded sheepishly before he realized something. “Wait a minute, did you say I injured myself right after he hit his head?” Phil asked, gesturing to the man on the other bed, eyes wide.

The nurse’s eyes twinkled in excitement and amusement. “Yes, yes I did.”

“Oh my god.” Phil whipped his head around to look at the man again. “Is there… you know?”

“When we were treating both of you, we found that your marks perfectly matched your injuries. Congratulations!”

Phil stared at the man in the bed in awe. He didn’t know what else to do. His soulmate, the one person he’d been waiting to meet his whole life, was in the bed next to him, peacefully sleeping. “What’s his name?”

“Daniel Howell,” the nurse supplied. “He’s due for another wake-up call now to monitor his concussion, but you two will make a full recovery.”

All Phil could do was nod. He had stopped paying attention after “Daniel Howell,” and was now inspecting him. He just couldn’t stop staring at the perfect brown curls pushed back by the bandage, the lanky limbs that simultaneously looked elegant and like they were just as problematic and clumsy as Phil’s own, and the pale chapped lips.

The nurse woke Daniel up.

“Mr. Howell?”

The man groaned and opened his eyes. He looked around a little, presumably to get his bearings, and froze when his eyes met Phil’s. “You’re awake,” he gasped.

Phil grinned and nodded. “So are you. It’s nice to meet you.”

Daniel blushed. “You, too.”

The nurse ran the checks on Daniel to make sure he was recovering. When she left, Daniel turned his head towards Phil again.

"Um. Hi," he said. "I'm Dan."

Phil giggled at his awkwardness. "I'm Phil. Are you feeling alright?"

"I kind of have a headache and I feel a bit weird, but I'm okay. You? What happened to you?" Dan’s eyes fell to Phil’s bandaged arm.

"I scratched my arm against a wayward nail on the host's stand. I guess I needed some stitches."

"Oh. Are you okay?"

Dan’s worried expression was both incredibly cute and distressing to Phil. He never wanted to see Dan upset again.

Phil looked away in embarrassment. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just pass out at the sight of my own blood. I think I saw some of your blood, too, which didn’t really help anything. Seeing your blood was when I first started to feel lightheaded, and then I saw my own blood on my hand and got super dizzy and eventually passed out before I could help you."

"Wow, that sounds awful."

"It wasn't really that bad. I'm okay now. Plus, now we've met, and that's really exciting!"

Dan smiled. "It is, isn't it? I'm really tired, though. I wish we could talk longer but I'm afraid I'll fall asleep on you."

"Oh, no, you rest. I'll be here."

"Okay. We can talk more later, then?"

"Of course!"

With that, Dan smiled at Phil one more time, then closed his eyes and turned away so he could fall asleep. Phil turned his head to rest on his pillow as he stared at the ceiling and listened to Dan’s breathing even out.

Wow. I actually found my soulmate at work. Will I get compensation for the nail thing? I mean, it wasn't really my fault that the stand had a nail sticking out of it, now, was it? I'm just so glad I've met Dan. He seems really nice. I can't wait for us to talk more.

A few hours later, Dan and Phil were discharged from the hospital with strict instructions to rest. They walked out together, arms brushing against each other occasionally.

"I'm glad I met you. I know we haven't really talked yet or gotten to know each other, but I know that I already like you a lot," said Dan.

"I feel the same," said Phil. "Do you want to come with me to my flat so we can talk a bit? I know it's, like, one in the morning, but you could stay over for the night if you want?"

Dan grinned. "That sounds lovely."

They took a cab back to Phil's place, talking quietly about themselves and their interests. When they arrived at Phil's flat, they went inside and sat on his couch to talk some more.

"Why did you come to my restaurant today, by the way?" asked Phil.

"To get some dinner," Dan replied cheekily. Phil sent him an unimpressed look, so Dan continued. "I've always seen the sign about the soulmates, you know? And I figured I might as well give it a shot since I haven’t had any luck finding mine."

Phil nodded. "We get a lot of people coming in because of that sign. I don't really get it sometimes, because we're advertising that at least two people injure themselves in our diner every day, which does not seem healthy, but I think I'm understanding it a bit more now that I've met you. People were always so desperate to meet their soulmates and feel what I'm feeling right now, and I understand."

"What are you feeling now?"

"I'm not really sure, but I know that it's good, and I know that it’s about you."

Dan blushed. "I don't know what I'm feeling, either, but it's definitely a good feeling, too."

They sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, just looking at each other.

"You're really pretty," Phil told Dan, who blushed violently.

"Thank you. I think you're beautiful."

Phil blushed, too. "Thank you." He paused, debating whether or not to say what he was thinking.

"What's wrong?" Dan asked. "Your face just got all serious."

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong, I promise, I just... I wanted to tell you that I think I really like you."

Dan laughed. "Well, given that we're soulmates, I would hope you'd like me at least a little bit."

"No, I mean- god, this sounds childish- I like like you."

Dan's eyes widened, before he grinned. "I like-like you, too."

Phil grinned sheepishly, mostly avoiding eye contact except for a few quick and accidental glances. He couldn’t help it; his soulmate was just so attractive.

“So, um. Now what?” Phil asked.

Giggling, Dan took Phil’s hand. “Now I have a question for you.”

“Oh, okay. What’s the question?”

“Will you be my boyfriend?” Phil’s eyes snapped back to Dan’s and he smiled wider than he thought was possible. “Of course I will.” He scooted closer and cuddled into Dan.

“Good, cuz you’re stuck with me whether you want me or not.”

“Hmm, I think I can live with that.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Phil returned to work the next day, walking Dan to his own flat on the way.

“Phil! Good to have you back!” his manager said.

“Thanks! Sorry I basically skipped the rest of my shift yesterday,” Phil said as he put his hosting apron on.

“Nonsense! You needed stitches for your arm and you met your soulmate! Besides, without you injuring yourself, we would’ve needed to change our sign.”

“Oh, were we the only soulmates yesterday?”

“Yeah. Sticking to our one-a-day streak of the last week, here.”

“Hey, at least it keeps the ambulance from coming twice.”

“Too true, too true. Go on, get to work, then.” Phil’s manager shooed Phil to the front of the restaurant, where he waited for someone to come in.

He didn’t have to wait long, since it was a Friday afternoon and school was just letting out. Students often came for milkshakes after a long week.

A group of giggling teenage girls walked in, and Phil greeted them before taking them to a table.

“Your server will be right with you,” he said, turning to go.

“Wait!” one of the girls piped up. “Real quick, I have a question for you, if that’s okay, that is?”

“Of course!”

“Well, Brittany over here just moved and didn’t believe us when we told her you guys match soulmates daily, so I was wondering if you could give her some recent examples please?”

Phil grinned. Before yesterday, he would’ve had to fake that smile as he rattled off a story he’d told fifty times that week. Now, however, he just remembered Dan.

“Oh, a nonbeliever, I see! Well, how about yesterday’s? A man walked in and immediately tripped over nothing and smacked into the host stand, banging his head pretty hard. I went to help him and scratched my arm on the stand, and now I know my soulmate!” He paused as the girls cooed. “There are plenty of other stories, though, too.”

“Okay, but that could happen anywhere!” one girl, probably Brittany, exclaimed.

Phil nodded in agreement. “These accidents could happen anywhere, that’s true, but they also happen here. You know, every matched employee here actually met their soulmate in this diner. I could also tell you the story of every matched couple this week, really, but that would take a while. Besides, you’re certainly not the first skeptic to walk in here.”

The girl who originally asked him to explain spoke up then. “Thank you for the story! I’m sure we’ll convince her eventually. Congratulations on finding your soulmate!”

“Thank you! I’d better head back to work now, but enjoy your meal!”

Phil smiled again as he stood behind the host stand and looked at the spot where he’d met his soulmate. Maybe the sign on the restaurant was a bit strange, but at least it was true, skeptics-be-damned.

And if Brittany met her soulmate that very day in the diner, well, nobody else had to hear his soft “told you so” as she and her soulmate left with matching grins and bruises.

[eversweet-imagines]

Surprise Yourself - a Jughead imagine

In honor of Riverdale coming back soon I was feeling somewhat inspired. I wanted to try to do more of an Artist!reader. I’m trying to branch out my writing a little more and its a bit of a struggle so I want to thank all of you for putting up with me and my lack of posting while I try to rediscover my style. 

Jughead sat in his usual booth, an untouched milkshake besides his laptop as he typed away the words weighing down his mind finally getting the chance of freedom. He paid no mind to the rest of the world and the rest of the world did the same to him. Well everyone in the world except for Y/N, who sat in the booth next to his, her stare never moving from his face. She watched as his eyes scanned over the words on the screen, his fingers flawlessly gliding across the keyboard typing what seemed like a hundred words a minute. The two had gone to school together forever, they could even be considered friends if someone was desperate enough to put a label on the two. Though they rarely talked, unless it was necessary. Y/N could never summon enough courage to talk to him. It was so much easier to admire in silence, un noticed.

She re-adjusted the pencil in her hand at least a hundred times, never able to find the right grip for the shading she needed on her paper. A frustrated sigh escaped her lips as she glanced down at her art, a next to perfect drawing of jughead was pressed into the paper of her worn out drawing notebook. It had start out as just a simple doodle of the logo on his laptop that she had noticed but each day of the two being at Pop’s it became more. His friends would come and go but none of them were quite able to entrap her like Jughead. And slowly but surely she found herself making a full blown portrait of the raven haired boy.

Jughead had always peaked Y/N’s interest. He was a mystery, just like the case he invested his time in. He was her Jason Blossom story. Something she was desperate to get to the bottom of, to find out every dark and twisted secret hidden beneath the boys worn out grey beanie. Her lightly chapped lips wrapped around her straw as she sucked up the final bits of her sprite, the loud bubbling making her jump even though she had expected the sound. Her eyes narrowed on Jughead as he shifted under her gaze, little did she know that he had spotted her staring nearly 20 minutes ago. Her stare soothed him in a way he hadn't expected. It was calming to know someone was watching over him in this town. Even more so that it was Y/N. With a smirk and a sigh he lifted his eyes from his screen and locked his own with Y/N’s stare. She had been absentmindedly chewing on her straw and once their gazes met bit her lip out of surprise. She looked away quickly, bringing her hand up to her already throbbing lip trying to nurse the dull ache.

“You know, some people find staring to be rude.” Jughead let out a small chuckle before closing his laptop and collecting his things, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and sliding from his seat. “I’m not one of those people.” Y/N shut her notebook quickly, her hand inside on the page to not lose her spot. Jughead nodded towards the seat in front of her, awaiting her permission to sit. With a shaky breath Y/N pressed her lips into a nervous firm smile and nodded. Jughead smirked as he tossed his bag into the seat Y/N could feel her heart racing and her hands shaking. There was no reason for her to get this nervous yet here she was struggling to breathe. Jughead picked up on this and let out a small chuckle, his hand reaching across the table to rest on top of hers. The touch, opposite of what Y/N expected was soothing and actually made her feel better. 

Jughead glanced down at their hands, a smile resting on his features. His gaze slowly drifted over to where her other hand was hidden between pages of a worn down notebook. Y/N followed his eyes but wasn't quick enough to stop him from pulling it out from her grasp and holding it tightly against himself, just out of her reach.

“Jughead don't.” She warned, her voice cracking slightly under the sudden volume she used. Jug lifted his eyebrow as he looked at Y/N with amusement.

“Oh come on Y/N, you know just as well as I do that secrets have a away of getting out. And this is one that has been of my peak interest. You might surprise yourself once its out.” He gave her a genuine smile, the chaos storming inside of her settling down once more. He took her softened gaze as permission to look and started to slowly flip through the pages. He was amazed to say the least, each page holding an absolute masterpiece. Some having themes as though she had challenged herself to get better at a certain thing, roses looming often in corners and eyes adorned with freckles. Everything was absolutely perfect. He grinned up at her, looking away as he turned another page. When his gaze returned to the book the wind was nearly knocked from his lungs. His own image on the once white paper. 

Y/N quickly began gathering her things, shoving everything into her bag before sliding out of the booth trying to escape quickly. She ran out the door, forgetting about her art book completely. Jughead didn't notice her speedy runaway for a moment as he was so trapped in the beauty of the art. He finally looked up when he heard the ringing above the entrance and noticed Y/N was no longer in front of him and was instead darting down the stairs of the entrance. He quickly stood, holding the notebook tightly to his chest as he ran after her. She was already hastily making her way down the dark damp street, her heavy breathing dancing away in the cool air with every exhale. 

“Y/N wait!”Jughead yelled as he jogged to catch up to her.he was only a few steps behind her when she came to a complete halt. He wasn't expecting her to actually stop and ended up bumping into her. His arms quickly wrapped around her to steady the both of them from tumbling to the ground. Y/N took in a shaky breath as the warmth of Jug surrounded her, she turned slowly around in his arms so that she was now facing him.

“You- uhhh-” Jughead was at a loss for words as he looked down into Y/N’s eyes. They sparkled with the distant street light and were a sudden escape for his mind. “You left this back there.” He lifted up the journal, which she took roughly from his hands and began to turn away quickly in embarrassment yet again. Jughead was quick, his hand grabbing her own to spinning her to face him yet again. “I was hoping I could maybe get the one of me. It’s beautiful you know.” Y/N stared at him with a face that was impossible to read. Jug could feel himself starting to drown with the heavy air surrounding the two. 

“It’s not done yet...” Y/N finally spoke, pulling her arm from his hold and keeping her gaze fixed on the pages of her book as she flipped through them, landing on the page of Jugheads portrait. Jughead studied the way the street light gently lit up Y/N’s face, the way her eyelashes fluttered elegantly as she blinked and the small smile that pulled at the corner of her lips while her finger traced over her work. She almost forgot that Jughead was standing in front of her until his finger suddenly was underneath her chin, lifting her gaze from the paper to meet his own. He couldn't fight the urge any longer and gently brought his forehead to lean against hers, the sudden closeness causing both of their breath to catch in their throats as their eyes danced across the others face. He lightly leaned in and captured her lips with his, savoring the feeling before pulling away with a smirk on his face as she stayed frozen for a moment with her eyes still closed. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled as Jughead cleared his throat. 

“Same time tomorrow. you know to finish that thing.” He smirked again as he stepped backwards and walked away, leaving Y/N smiling like an idiot.

[artificialqueens]

Art Meets Club [Chap. 2] - Courtney

I’m back at t again with chapter two! Sorry that this took so long to upload, I was stuck in a writers block but it’s finally done! Any feedback you have would be greatly appreciated! I hope you all enjoy! - Courtney

The week flew by in a whirlwind; Sasha was all too busy with her art pieces to think about the girl that she had just met. There were times when she found herself doodling Aja- the way her eyes drooped, and how her skin had such a beautiful texture to it. Sasha wondered what it was like to run her fingers over Aja’s skin, memorizing every curve of her face. Of course, she shook these thoughts away quickly. She really didn’t need to be distracted, it was already the middle of the school year. Why was she cursed with a cute girl when she should be focusing on school?

The two girls did talk from time to time though. Sasha gave Aja her number just in case the girl needed help finding her way around the school. Sometimes Sasha would type out a message then delete it, running over the possible outcomes in her mind. There was no way she could just strike up a casual conversation with Aja; she was just too shy. When they saw each other in the halls, they smiled and went on with their days. Sasha was okay with this level of friendship. It made distancing herself much easier. That was, until she spotted what friendship group Aja had joined.

The Glamazons- the school’s cheerleading team. It consisted of twelve members, each getting worse than the last. Jaymes Mansfield; she was sweet, way too nice to be associating with these girls. But they protected the small girl, and in return they got to use her humor and quirkiness to bring performances to life. Kimora Blac was a bitch, to put it nicely. She was dumb as a rock; Sasha swears she heard her ask an English teacher what an adjective was. Charlie Hides was the oldest member of the team, a two-time senior. Eureka was the weird one. It always seemed like she wasn’t getting along with the rest of her team. Cynthia Lee Fontaine was easily the nicest person that Sasha has ever met. She was always telling Sasha how beautiful she was when they ran into each other. Farrah was the prettiest girl in their school; at least that’s what other people thought. She was whiny, but in a way that was adorable. Like you just wanted to hold her in your arms and gently tell her to shut up. Valentina had a stunning smile, but she heard Aja muttering about her one time as they were walking through the hall. Something about teachers always favoriting her. Nina was very talented; Sasha had art class with her. Though some of her pieces were messy, they were stunning nonetheless. Alexis Michelle was the theatre nerd of the group. She was always talking about how she was going to be on Broadway one day; Sasha mentally told herself it would be the one in Brooklyn where the whores work. Peppermint was a legend at their school, not only for her high kicks and number of stunts, but because the only time the cheerleaders won a competition was with her. Trinity Taylor was.. difficult to explain to outsiders. She was mean when she wanted to be, but could also be the sweetest person you’ve ever met. Last, but certainly not least, was the leader; Shea Couleé. The girl was tall, muscular, and the literal definition of perfection.

The group of girls terrified Sasha; they were so strong and she was so weak. How she wished she could be a cheerleader, have the school watch her as she performed for them. It was a dream Sasha always had, that she could be a performer, but it was unlikely to come true. She wasn’t good enough, not that good of a singer or a dancer, the only thing she was good at is art. She considered selling her art online, but the thought always made her feel.. odd. Art should be free for everyone to enjoy. Her thoughts were broken by a loud laugh, who she recognized as Aja’s, and a small smile came to her face. Maybe the girl wanted to hang out with her?!

With the happiness that came from hearing Aja, came the dread. She was probably with her new friends, and didn’t have time for Sasha anymore. As the girls rounded the corner, Sasha knew exactly who Aja was with. It was none other than Shea herself, an arm tightly around Aja’s as they giggled. When Aja’s eyes darted over to her, Sasha looked down immediately, pretending to be sketching something out on her blank piece of paper.

“Hey Sash!” The voice called out to her. Her head snapped up, eyes wandering around the area.

“Huh..?” That seemed to be the only thing Sasha could get out, and she was quick to protect the art supplies she brought with her; just in case.

“Over here, sis. I wanted to introduce you to a friend.” Aja waved her over, and Sasha obeyed quietly. “This is–”

“Shea Coulee.” The taller interrupted, making Aja hit her on the shoulder lightly.

“Oh, I know who you are. You’re the captain of the cheerleading team.” Sasha swallowed the lump in her throat when she finished speaking, cradling her sketchbook close to her chest.

“Damn Aja, you knew such a cutie and never let me know?” Shea flashed Sasha a grin, and the bald girl had to lean against the wall for support. Was this really happening?

“You’re gonna fucking kill her! Sash is shy, if you couldn’t tell.” Thank god Aja had spoken up for her, because Sasha didn’t think she could form her own words.

“Shit, my bad.” Shea’s voice softened, and when she looked up she was met with brown eyes. Sasha could only nod in response.

“Go to practice, girl. Before I tell Farrah on you and she whines for twenty minutes.” Aja gave a gentle shove at Shea, and the taller girl's’ eyes widened. With that, she sped off, leaving Sasha and Aja to their own devices.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to freak you out or anything.” Aja said, her hand rubbing the back of her neck.

“It’s okay… I’m glad that you’re making friends.” “Yeah..” Aja looked away awkwardly, clearing her throat. “Well, I should find Shea before she kills someone on the team.”

“Okay.” Sasha nodded along, pulling her phone from her pocket when it buzzed gently, sighing. “I actually have to go too. Text me if you need anything!” Sasha waved as she turned on her heel, skimming over the text.

Katya: hey there whore, i need ur help with something

Sasha: What? If you plan on making me watch that raccoon that frequents your house I’m politely declining now.

Katya: shut up and never talk about cheryl like that again

Sasha: The point, please. What do you want?

Katya: yeah okay. ur showing that new kid around right? the one with the purple hair,

Sasha: Aja? What about her?

Katya: invite her to sit at lunch with us. oh btw i’m right behind you

After reading the text message, Sasha spun on her heel, only to be face to face with the Russian girl herself. A gasp left her lips at the shock; how long had Katya been standing there? Did she hear her conversation with Aja? The embarrassment painted itself across Sasha’s face, the pink glow of her blush only becoming more prominent.

“You scared me!” She cried out, her lower lip jutting out.

“I didn’t mean to! You just seemed so caught up in the new girl that I didn’t want to bother you.” A smirk was playing at Katya’a lips, and Sasha had to urge herself to stay calm. Besides, it’s not like Katya had caught them in a risky situation. They were just talking.

“I’m not inviting her to sit with us. She’s already made friends with the cheerleaders, and I would like to avoid them like the plague.”

“You really have to get over that fear, you know.” Katya’s voice softened, and it emitted a soft sigh from Sasha.

“Come on, let’s just go to lunch.” Grabbing onto Katya’s arm, Sasha began to pull her towards the lunchroom. Today was already proving to be too long and tedious.

[queencarolinemikaelson]

WELL

So, I recently updated one of my fics that has been stagnant for over a year, and I said to come read this post if you’re interested in the reasons. You can read under the cut.

This is going to be one of those stream of consciousness type posts I think, and I’ll likely not read through it before I post, so forgive errors pls. But without further ado!

It really has been a long time since I have written much of anything. I’m not 100% sure of why. Because it’s not just like I suddenly had no inspiration anymore, because I definitely still do - and did all those months ago when the honey pot seemingly dried up. I think it has bits and pieces to do with the fact that in about June last year I got sick with this flu thing that I sort of didn’t shake until October when it became glandular fever, which then became chronic fatigue? (Apparently, the transition from GF to chronic fatigue isn’t and uncommon one). ANd only over the last couple of month have I started feeling my usual self, that actually has the stamina to last a day without a 9 hour sleep plus an afternoon nap. 

During the time I was sick, I transferred a lot of my creativity to arts and crafts, because they require a lot less brain power to do when feeling sick. I could put a podcast on and doodle for hours, without leaving the couch while I was sick. But to write would have sapped all the mind power that I needed to channel to keep up with Uni work at that time. 

Another reason that I’ve not written in such a long time is - I think - that I just didn’t realise how long had passed. I honestly thought I updated care-bear-forbes and the lonely-hybrid in August. Like august, really wasn’t that long ago, so I felt like I could get away with it. But I realised also recently that the last fic that wasn’t my drabble compilation was updated in JUNE LAST YEAR. THAT WAS NEARLY A YEAR AGO AS WELL. I can’t believe it. I honestly cannot believe that it was that long ago that I stopped frequently writing for Klaroline. 

I certainly live in my klaroline world a lot, in my head. So there’s little shortage of inspiration. 

I recently visited an old singing teacher of mine - I had two during high school, and both ladies really shaped who I am now. And she told me ‘Oh, this song is easy for a voice like yours’. To her, it was a throw away comment. It was the kind of comment that was just a fact in her mind. But it really made me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, but also made me really introspective. Much like writing over the last few months, since I left high school a few years ago, my singing, and vocal training, has been on the back burner. I still am heavily involved in choirs, and still sing a lot in my free time. But I don’t take lessons, or practice properly the way I should if I want to retain any sort of standard. And I want to. Singing and writing have always been my main two creative outlets, and yet as I’ve gotten more heavily into design (I study design for some reason) and into crafting, my original passions have been shrouded. And this makes me feel uneasy. 

I’m taking a poetry class as an elective at uni this semester - and poetry is definitely not for me, I don’t think, I’m a prose gal - and my tutor tells us that writing every day is the key. Practice is key. And why I haven’t been keeping up with my writing everyday over the last year I’ll never understand, but I’m going to strive to be better at this.

I’m hoping, as the weather gets colder here in Aus, and as Uni goes into mid year break, and as I’m feeling much more energetic, that I begin writing much more consistently again.

I’m looking to finish my unfinished fics, and I have at least two that are completely hashed out in my head that I’ve been wanting to publish for ages. I want to complete them lest they occupy my head, calling to be written for the rest of my life. 

I also have a ton of drabble prompts on my list to write, and I know most people would have definitely forgotten they sent them to me, I want to finish them as well. It’s actually unbelievable how many of them in the past I have at least started, if only to give up half way through because inspiration ran cold. 

It felt really good to spend today thinking about my writing and actually doing some writing (I wrote 2 drabbles and one chap of one of my fics.... (after months of NOTHING, three things in one day)). I want to continue doing it, because Klaroline is the best, and I’m so in love with the characters. 

Thank you to everyone who still follows me in my long absences, and who has encouraged and helped me along the way. I’m so so appreciative. 

See, I’m saying I’ll write more, but I can’t promise it. I will try though. And I’m hoping y’all can bear with me while I try. 

You’re the most amazing bunch of followers a chick could ask for. <3 <3 <3 

[meganshinsou-tm]

Sugarcoated. (m)

↳ chapter fourteen: muse

❧ genre: pro-hero hitoshi, adoptive siblings, happy ending

❧ chapter warnings: slight n/sfw at the end

[multi-chap masterlist] [previous chapter - next chapter]

The feeling of your stomach eating at the back of your spine woke you from a warm and deep slumber. Your eyes fluttered under your lids and slowly opened to see gloomy sunlight filling the room. As hungry as you were, you were still utterly exhausted from the day and night before. You sighed and nuzzled the warm body you were wrapped around, eyes wondering to the man next to you.

A smile crossed your face as your hand on Hitoshi's back ghosted from his shoulder and to his soft, relaxed purple locks. He laid there fast asleep on his stomach, arms wrapped under his pillow. You were on your side, leg hiked up and wrapped around him. Your fingers slowly twirled and played with his hair and you hummed. Your sleepy heart was so full at the moment looking at Hitoshi. You couldn't comprehend how lucky you were to have such a beautiful soul in your life and to have them be all yours.

Your lips started to brush against the skin of his strong bicep as your fingers softly caressed Hitoshi's cheek. His face twitched in response making you giggle into his arm. He groaned a little bit as his eyes started to flutter open, slowly adjusting to the light until they looked right at you. You marveled over how stunning his purple hues were, not sure if you'd ever get used to the color and depth they held. When he looked at you, it always made your body tingle with excitement because there'd always be the slightest hint of cockiness behind his brows.

An extremely lazy and attractive smirk crossed his face, your finger-tip now running down to touch it. His lips were warm and soft and he kissed the pad of your digit. 

"Good morning sweetness," he finally spoke in a raspy and tired voice.

You smiled and kissed his arm again, until he raised it and turned on his side pulling you close and into his chest as he wrapped around you. His hair and nose tickled the sensitive skin of your neck as he nuzzled and kissed. Your hands rested on his chest, nails slightly gripping his skin as he continued to tickle and make you sleepily laugh.

"Toshi-ah!"

Finally pulling back Hitoshi looked down as your head rested in his arm. Your (h/c) locks splayed out in a mess across his skin and pillows. You were both still nude and he loved how warm and soft you were against him. His hand under your head twirled your hair in his fingers as he leaned down and kissed you. Your own hand wrapped around the back of his head and played with his hair as the other touched his jaw. The first morning kiss was sweet and soft and so warm. Everything about Hitoshi was warm. 

Smiling against his lips, your teeth captured his bottom one and nibbled. He groaned, letting his free hand rest on your throat, his thumb tracing your jawline as he bit you back before kissing you again. The two of you went on like that, kissing and biting softly as you made out. Your hands strictly stayed on each other's face, gripping and caressing. Hitoshi's mind was buzzing as you'd sigh and coo, he adored the sweet little noises you made because of him. 

He finally left your lips and started to kiss your cheek and temple. You were literally melting under him, humming and grinning. He kissed your forehead and looked at you, all sleepy eyed yet your senses were wide awake.

"You'll stay right? You know, after Eri leaves."

You quirked a brow and held Hitoshi's cheek, he seemed to melt and relax into it, placing his own hand over your own. "Hitoshi, I'll stay as long as I'm needed."

"So that's forever?" He asked with wide and hopeful eyes.

You awed at him and brushed your thumb over his purple brow. Forever was a long time, but if you got to wake up to this gorgeous man, that could drive you insane and make you want to pull your hair out but at the same time make you melt, then what was so bad about it?

"You really think you'll need me for forever?"

Hitoshi scoffed and leaned closer to kiss you, his lips enveloping and dominating yours. You hummed and let your lashes flutter shut, his arm under you wrapped you closer to him tightly. Once again he felt like you'd dissipate and slip through his fingers if he let go. Of course he needed you forever, he needed your scent all around him, your sounds, your breathing on his mouth and skin, your smile and laugh, everything. When he finally broke the intense kiss you were panting beneath him, lips swollen and cheeks pink.

"I know I'll need you forever, every day and every night. I'll protect you, keep your cute little hands warm from the cold, and most of all I'll love you with every single atom, cell, fiber, and everything thing else that makes up my body! Just promise, you'll stay."

"Okay Hitoshi, I promise to stay with you, but there will be terms."

Shinsou laughed and laid on his side, sitting up on his elbow and laying his head in his hand as his free one caressed your stomach, "And what are they halfling?"

You smiled and turned over onto your stomach, making his hand glide with your skin until it rested on your back and you sat up on your elbows looking at him.

"One - you feed me all the food I could ever wish for!"

"Of course!"

"Two - even after Eri leaves, she stays with us at least 2 weekends out of the month!"

"That's fine with me."

"And lastly, we split the bills!"

"Whatever you – wait what? No, absolutely not!" Shinsou looked at you with a serious face.

"I'm not living here like some kind of bum Hitoshi! You already have spent so much money on me and it's not fair to put all the financial strain on you. I'll get another job after Eri leaves and I'll –"

"Hey -" Hitoshi raised his voice making you shut up and stare. "You promised not to bring up money again, remember that? I've already told you, I've got it! You won't pay a fucking thing to me, you don't even have to get a job."

You cut your eyes at Hitoshi, making him return the glare. You'd be damned if you stayed at home all day not doing a thing while he was out being a hero. It wasn't in your nature to really be lazy, you needed to have a job. You were a hard worker and you had aspirations to achieve.

"Hitoshi that's not how a relationship works, we're a team and we work together! You want me happy right?"

"Don't you fucking pull that on me (Y/N), it's not fair!"

"You know we seem to keep going back and forth on what's fair and what's not. Toshi, I won't feel right living here if I'm just some sort of freeloader. At least meet me halfway with something!"

You pouted your lips and gave him the biggest puppy dog eyes, the same as last night when you interrupted the meal he was making of you. He groaned and rolled his eyes.

"You're such a pain in the ass sometimes!" He sighed, you stuck your tongue out at him and he returned the gesture, "You can help pay one bill - one! That's it!"

You smiled and leaned forward kissing his cheek, "I guess that'll work for now. Pinky promise or it doesn't count though, I don't want you backing out on this!"

"Fine, pinky promise to your terms and to you staying forever!"

You nodded and held up your pinky to him, he removed his hand from your back and wrapped his own pinky around yours. You both kissed your hands to seal the deal and smiled. Hitoshi chuckled and pulled you closer into him and kissed your lips. Pulling away, he ran his fingers through your hair and smiled.

"So, now that's out of the way," you blurted and moved from Hitoshi's side and got on your hands and knee's as you crawled towards the end of the bed and reached out for the notebook still in its same spot from the day before. Hitoshi's eyes widened and he hurried to halt you.

"Stop right there halfling!" He laughed out as he tackled you to the bed.

You squealed as he laid his chest on top of your back, making it impossible for you to move further, his forearm rested on your head as he reached for the notebook himself and snatched it from your reach. You whined and squirmed underneath him, your hands flailing and pushing his face while also trying to reach for the forbidden object.

"Hey, you said 'tomorrow' a day ago! Let me see it!"

Chuckling, Hitoshi flattened his palm on the back of your head and pushed it down onto the mattress as he looked over the notebook then to you, you laughed and kicked your legs but he placed his own leg over them. "Why do you want to see it so bad? It's nothing, just some shitty doodles."

"So? Show me ... I'll show you!" you singsonged and cackled.

Hitoshi quirked a brow at you, "What?"

"Nothing, nothing, you wouldn't get it. Back to the point. I'll make you a deal, let me see and I'll go down on you."

Hitoshi choked on air and dropped the notebook as he looked at you with a humored expression, "I'm sorry what?"

"You heard me handsome, let me see the goods and I'll wrap my pretty little mouth around your c –"

"Okay - shit!" Hitoshi breathed out and eased up off of you.

You giggled and sat up as Hitoshi shook his head with a smirk and scooted himself back to sit up against the headboard. He looked at the notebook in his hand and motioned you over with his free hand. You clapped and crawled over to him, between his legs with your back to his chest. You pulled the blankets up and wrapped them under your arms to cover your chest and waited patiently. Shinsou chuckled and kissed the top of your head before dropping the notebook down on your lap, his arms wrapped around your waist and his chin rested on your shoulder as you grabbed it eagerly and opened to the first page.

Sure enough there were doodles, random ones. Some of cats, food, faces. As you turned the pages they progressively got better and grew to a different difficulty. You started to get to a few sketches now, legit sketches. Your eyes widened at the amazing art work of Eri, how he captured the sparkle in her little eyes and even used some red pencil colors to fill in their hue.

"Wow, you can do everything huh? Hero, photographer, art –" Your words suddenly stopped as you flipped to another page with a different subject matter.

Your heart started to flutter and your lips parted as you look at the sketches closer. Your fingers trailed over the lines of charcoal that made up your face, eyes and hair. On one page were small sketches of just your eyes, giving different glances, there was one where your pupils were in the shape of hearts and it made you chuckle. The next page had multiple random sketches of you in your old work outfit, Hitoshi took it upon himself to add a tail to it. You continued to flip through nothing but sketches and portraits of your face, hands, lips - you; all dated over the past few months. You couldn't help but smile and feel flattered, this whole time Hitoshi drew nothing but you in his spare time.

"Sorry if you're freaked out," Hitoshi finally spoke after you were silent for an unnervingly long time to him.

"What? Not at all, Hitoshi – these are really incredible and beautiful! I'm so jealous, you're so fucking good at everything!"

Hitoshi chuckled and closed the notebook, taking it from your hands to place it on the bedside table. He turned you to face him and sit in his lap, your thighs straddling his hips. You smiled at him and kissed his lips, when you pulled away he held your hip and brushed your hair out of your eyes.

"Having an incredibly beautiful muse helps."

"Aww, stop it. You're just saying that so I'll blow you!"

Shinsou laughed and shrugged his shoulders with a smirk. "Well I won't deny that, but I'm serious. You're my favorite subject, it's like you're a work of art yourself. My future students will probably get tired of seeing so much of you!"

"Pardon?" You blurted out with a curled lip.

"My students, when I start teaching," Hitoshi smiled and wrapped his arms around your back and pulled you closer, his lips brushing the skin of your collarbone.

You started to fall under his spell as he kissed softly along the bone before his teeth nipped, making you gasp. Hitoshi hummed and kissed up your neck, making you tilt your head to the side so he could have better access. His tongue licked up the side, wet and warm against your cool skin. Your fingers dug into his chest and you rolled your hips forward. 

"What was he saying," you wondered as he continued to kiss, nip and lick at your throat. "My students," his words then echoed in your head, making your eyes widen and causing you to quickly push him back against the headboard. Your forearm holding him back as his eyes shot open and he held up his hands.

"Fuck – uh, okay. Do I need a safe-word?"

You squinted at him and rolled your eyes as he had a shit eating grin on his face.

"Once again Hitoshi, you play too fucking much! Now, stop trying to seduce me, what are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about sweetness, I told you I'm going to be teaching at UA in a few weeks."

"What exactly are you teaching that involves me?"

Hitoshi let an 'ah' escape from his mouth, as if he simply forgot to let you in on such vital information. "I didn't tell you? I guess it slipped my mind."

"Oh I guess it did, now tell me!" You growled and pressed your arm harder against him.

Hitoshi's eyes grew darker as he smirked and bucked his hips under you and gripped your hips, pulling you against him roughly. You gasped when you felt that he was growing hard underneath you.

"I don't think you're in the place to be making demands right now baby-doll, you still owe me something!"

You rolled your eyes and quickly crawled out of Hitoshi's lap and between his legs as you laid on your stomach. He quirked a purple brow, your mouth only inches from his dick, hardening more and more by the second as your warm breath fanned across his sensitive skin. You smiled and sat your chin in your palm and your fingers trekked down the thin trail of purple hair that started at his navel, making him shiver under your touch. 

You giggled and he smiled, his fingers brushed your bangs from out of your eyes.

"I pay this debt then we talk over breakfast?"

"You pay your debt, sit on my face for a while after and then we talk over breakfast!"

The hero grinned and threaded his fingers through your hair as you slowly started to lick up him like a piece of candy, pure hunger in your (e/c) eyes that looked up at him.

You smiled from ear to ear and bit your lip as your fingers wrapped around the treat before you. "You got a deal Toshi!"