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momobani · 1 year ago

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Wilson!

THE WAY I hate YOU - Chapter 3 - 16.3k

&team Nicholas x fem!reader - arranged marriage AU

SERIES MASTERLIST

Sum: most people would die to stay in their honeymoon phase, you on the other hand might die from being in the honeymoon phase.

Warnings: swearing, sarcasm, mention of food and alcohol, Nicholas (i feel like his existence is a warning in this one, you’ll see what i mean), mentions of sex

Soundtrack rec: Hold Me Tight or Don’t - Fall Out Boy

Taglist: @nichoswag @seokka0o

A/N: i personally was having a delightful time writing some of this, like more than usual lol that i went overboard with the word count, i hope you enjoy it too <3 (again ft some fun cameos! don’t take it seriously lmao)

This is so not how you had imagined spending your Friday night.

The hot pot machine bubbled quietly in the middle of the table while you tried to simultaneously pay attention to what Nicholas was saying and fight a piece of meat that just kept disappearing below the surface of the broth.

“So, what do you think?” Nicholas concludes. He’d just finished his side of the debate on which apartment you should choose to live in. The two of you had been meeting to organise your lives and had finally come to make a decision for where you’ll live.

You finally manage to snag that piece of meat and bring it to your plate quickly.

“Well, I agree about how much nicer it would be to have a laundry room but I’m not too hot on the location.” you reply.

“What do you mean?” he asks. “The location is perfect!”

“What’s so perfect about it?” you inquire, looking down at the tablet between you. The map just showed it was some distance away from your current apartments, although closer to the supermarket you went to and the boba cafe you liked.

“It’s pretty central to where we need to go,” he says, flicking through the photos again. “and there’sabasketballcourtafewblocksaway.” he speedily finishes. The slew of words don’t quite hit your ears in real time and your eyebrows scrunch together as you try to decipher what your husband just said.

“There’s a what?” you ask.

“And there’s a park so nature, yay!” he grins, trying to move on but you weren’t born yesterday. You raise an eyebrow combatively - he either tells you or you’ll veto this entirely. Nicholas sighs. “There’s a basketball court nearby and it’d be nice to play with my friends. Happy now?”

“What really is happiness?” you hum in thought, avoiding sinking into a philosophical blackhole, instead thinking about his revelation about the court and to some extent, the park. It might be a way to get Maki to come over to yours and hang out - you barely got to see him lately and you wanted to see how he was doing.

“Hey, save the existential crisis for later and tell me if I can play basketball or not.” Nicholas pouts over a piece of tofu puff.

“I’m not about to choose an apartment based on that. Give me better reasons.” you shrug, coming down with a verdict that you were sure Nicholas wouldn’t like, but you weren’t about to just indulge him.

“Okay, let’s review; our own laundry room, underground parking, central location,” he lists, taking a moment to think between each one. “reasonable mortgage - hmm?” he wriggles his eyebrows the way you think those old school teleshopping people would but right now it feels more like the way a shady conman might. “Oh, and the park and the court.”

You purse your lips, weighing up the pros and cons. The place you’d chosen had some of the same perks - in terms of parking and location but there was no laundry room, just a machine in the kitchen and you didn’t love that. You mentally added the boba place to Nicholas’ list and the possibility of persuading your little brother to visit you so he wouldn’t forget you exist.

Unfortunately, it made logical sense to pick the place with more perks and better price for value, but the whole thing sounded like Nicholas was fishing for a way to avoid you at home.

On second thought, maybe that’s how you should consider it - it might give you opportunities to be independent of each other and not be constantly stuck together. You clear your throat and munch on a piece of rice cake for a moment.

“Fine, let’s take that one. I like doing laundry.” you say whatever nonsense that comes to mind. Nicholas is suddenly far too happy to pay attention to details.

“Really?” his eyes are wide in surprise. “Okay, we better move fast then. I’ll send them an interest inquiry right now.” he forgets about the food and starts tinkering away on securing the apartment for you.

You watch him, busy hands and roaming eyes. He pushes up the sleeves of his olive shirt - a comfy and clearly beloved cozy sweater - and focuses. You notice the details of his existence; his tense forearms, the tongue that swipes across his lips unconsciously, and the chain that hangs around his muscular neck.

Sometimes it was hard to understand that you weren’t really strangers any more.

You’d been married for two weeks already and had been seeing a lot more of each other than you thought you would before you lived together. There’d been several family and business dinners that had needed your presence but you went to each other’s places to eat occasionally while you looked at new apartments or planned your move.

So much for strangers.

Nicholas was your husband now and you were his wife. It had already happened and you just needed to get used to it.

“YN?” you snap out of it, realising that you’d been spacing out while looking in his direction so he probably thought you were staring at him.

“Yeah?”

He gives you a once over and goes back to his tapping on the screen. “Nothing, just checking you were still breathing.”

“I am.” you confirm, taking a deep breath in and exhaling. “See?”

“Yeha.” Nicholas barely responds because he seems to have made progress on the inquiry. “And done. We should hear from them soon.” he smiles, pretty proud of himself.

“Cool. Now we just have to somehow pack up our lives and smush them together in one place.” you say.

“Don’t stress, it’ll be fine.” Nicholas says dismissively, getting back to his meal.

“Let’s hope so.” you mumble and do the same.

You had lived by yourself for a little while now, so living with someone else again all of a sudden was going to be a bit of shock to your system.

The two of you had agreed to have your own rooms and your own space within the apartment, essentially cohabiting like roommates because nowhere did it say in any document you actually had to sleep in the same bed like a married couple would.

You were married legally and in name only, as far as you were concerned.

You drew up rules to keep the peace, basic things like keeping it clean, respecting each other’s space, and minding your own business, but you weren’t too worried about it. You were a great roommate, even if you did say so yourself.

The apartment was secured over the weekend and you were free to move in from the following Thursday onwards.

Several days later, your apartment was all packed up except for the bare minimum living essentials, which would come with you later. You helped the movers put your stuff in their van, telling them that they’ll meet your husband at the apartment while you hung back and sorted things out there.

It’s sluggish to put the last few items in a box and double check your suitcase. You get a text from Nicholas that the movers have finished and are away already and you realise you’re moving slowly subconsciously; you didn’t want to leave yet.

You didn’t want to accept that you weren’t going to be the way you were any more.

There was an echo of your footsteps that resonated through your now empty apartment, the space far too barren for your liking. In some ways you were glad, because you’d been able to negotiate which of your furniture you would keep and which you had to sell on since you had no need for it.

Your precious couch and coffee table had survived and you were taking it with you, whereas Nicholas was bringing the dining table and chairs from his place with your somewhat enthusiastic approval. (The dining table was tastefully furniture to die for.) Your bedroom stuff had survived for the most part since you weren’t going to share any of it, but apart from that, you had to sell several things.

You looked over your shoulder one last time at what used to be your place, before closing the door with a quiet click for the last time. It felt solemn; like the end of an era, so of course you were feeling a little sentimental.

The drive to your new apartment was marred by heavy rain pouring down, the forecast for sunny clear skies completely wrong, so you drove slowly, putting on a sad ballad to match the mood. You were going to miss that place; it was somewhere you’d learned a lot about yourself, had your real taste of independence in and one that you cherished a lot.

You get to your new front door, apartment 520* mounted in pretty gold letters against the dark emerald lacquer of the door.

It felt like a betrayal when you entered the passcode for the first time and opened the door.

“Surprise!” you heard a yell as soon as stepped into the hallway. You jump slightly, suddenly snapped out of your thoughts. “Hey, roomie!”

Nicholas was standing there grinning, all alone, blowing one of those annoyingly brightly coloured party blowers. The noise scratched a very specific part of your brain, and not in a good way. You moved to shove your shoes off.

“Not exactly a surprise since we agreed to live here together, but okay.” you say shrugging and drag your suitcase into the corridor.

“I guess,” Nicholas says. “but I just wanted to get one of these.” he holds up the party blower.

“Great.” you move past him and look around for your furniture. You spot the stuff in your room and your couch is deposited randomly with your coffee table but what surprises you is that Nicholas’ stuff isn’t here yet. “Did something happen to the dining table, or?” you ask.

“Ah,” he hums, thinking for a moment. “well, I’ve still got a few things to move since I was using Fuma’s van and it didn’t fit everything, so I sort of sacrificed the table. Sorry.” he finishes sheepishly. “Besides, isn’t it classic to eat on the floor the first night you move in somewhere new?”

“It doesn’t matter if it’s a thing or not, I guess we’re doing it on the floor.” you say.

“Huh?” Nicholas seems startled for a moment. “Doing what?”

“Eating, duh.” you say. You wonder why that would have confused him; surely he wasn’t thinking you two were going to- oh my god, did he? No, you were just tired and imagining stupid things. You shake your head, “Whatever. I’m ordering. What do you want to eat?”

And so you did eat on the floor on your first night in your new apartment, ignoring the perfectly good couch and sitting on a random blanket like an indoor picnic.

It wasn’t all bad but there was a certain awkwardness being there, a little like the first time you’d met Nicholas. You just hoped you could get used to the apartment like you were getting used to him.

“No. I simply refuse.” you state as you stir your morning coffee. Nicholas sighs deeply, hunching over the kitchen counter.

“But it’s a really good deal! We should go.” he argues. Instead of a debater, he sounds more like a kid trying to convince their parents to do something. You shook your head.

“I have things to do, you go if you really want to.” you say. Nicholas looks dubious - it’s the first time you’ve seen that expression on his face.

“Mrs Wang-” you’re about to interject at the name calling but he doesn’t let you. “did you just tell me- your husband- to go on our honeymoon alone?” he asks, scepticism rising with every syllable.

“You’re right. That sounds pathetic.” you concede. “Go with your friends. Make it a dude-bro-cation. Take Jo and Euijoo and…” you think hard, trying to remember names. “Fuma!” you snap your fingers, having remembered another one of Nicholas’ friends.

“Don’t hurt yourself if you don’t know.” he says sarcastically.

“Hey! I met them one time,” you can’t help the defensive pout that you feel like came out. “and you have a lot of friends.” you mutter.

“Not the point, YN. I’m not going without you.” Nicholas says. “This is practically a direct order from management, a.k.a the parents! And they’re offering to pay for everything.”

You sip your coffee, thinking.

Your parents had dropped this bomb on you last night, telling you to go on a honeymoon while you were having dinner at your parents’ house. Both sides offered to pay for everything like they did with the wedding and call it a honeymoon for the two of you.

It sounded fair enough.

You just didn’t feel like going though.

You could go on vacation whenever you wanted to - you made enough money by yourself that you could splurge - but going now and officially calling it a honeymoon? It felt silly, like the cherry on top of this whole crazy arranged marriage business.

“It’s just a vacation, why make it sound so - I don’t know.” you think out loud.

“YN, please don’t make me beg you.” Nicholas’ shoulders slumped. “It’s a free vacation, for crying out loud! Who says no to that?”

I would, you thought. You didn’t know what the situation in Nicholas’ office was, but in your office, department, part of hell, whatever you wanted to call it, you had to stick around if you didn’t want to be left behind or get your ass grilled by everyone else.

You were already scrutinised enough for being the boss’ kid, but disappearing to go on a holiday with your husband just when the merger was really getting underway? You would get roasted con fuoco.

“You know what, I will beg,” Nicholas resolves, getting up. “I’m getting on my knees, I’m not above begging.” he announces before sliding off his slippers. It’s almost comical and you think he’s joking but he starts to bend down.

“Okay!” you exclaim, putting a stop to his buffoonery. “We’ll go on our stupid honeymoon.”

You decided that whatever happened at work was better than having to hear him begging and bugging you about going until you agreed.

“That’s more like it.” he stands up straight, grinning. “I’m no fancy lawyer, but I know how to win in these situations.”

“You sure do, but do you ever think you’ll win your dignity back?” you say to him before leaving for your room. You leave him gapping after you in your kitchen.

“Who needs dignity? I’m going on vacation!” Nicholas calls after you, just before you close the door.

The PA system crackles overhead and you fasten your seatbelt, getting ready for takeoff.

Nicholas sits besides you, neck pillow already in place, as well as a fuzzy wolf sleeping mask placed over his forehead, the image of a travel diva personified in your husband. Of course he would be so extra for like a three hour flight.

You ignored him while you got comfy, pulling on your cardigan when they started to blast the AC down on you.

“So, how remote is this island anyway?” Nicholas asks, sending one last text before switching his pone to flight mode. You pause to remember details on what you’d read.

“Hmm, I’d say a lot. Something about limited signal and wifi.” you answer, shrugging. You’d fought tooth and nail about where you were going on vacation- no, honeymoon- and you’d compromised on the island since it had a beach, which is one thing you both wanted.

Suddenly the air around you swishes. Nicholas whips around to look at you, desperate.

“Are you sure about that?” he says with all but the zest of John Cena’s original delivery.

“Yes,” you say, silently edging away from him. “there’s this thing called ‘research’, ever heard of it?”

“Don’t patronise me.” Nicholas pouts, sitting back. You crack a smile.

“Ooh, big word for wittle Nichowas.” you chuckle, starting to think this vacation might actually be a good idea. You were going to watch your city-boy husband practically lose his mind in the jungle; it was going to be great.

“Can’t you speak nicely?”

“No.” you say.

“You are so incredibly frigid.” he shoots back.

“Aha, I was born this way.” you take the opportunity to reach a quick hand and pull the fuzzy sleeping mask over his nose and mouth, snapping it lightly. He splutters slightly as he fights the wolf off his face.

“Do you have a sarcastic reply to everything?” he huffs, putting the mask back in its place before you decided to redecorate his accessories.

“Probably. Guess we’ll find out.” you hum, reaching into your pocket for chewing gum. You take a piece out then offer the pack to Nicholas, who also takes a piece in the most begrudging way. You smile to yourself, chewing as the plane takes off.

This was going to be interesting.

Upon arriving, you felt two things:

Firstly, the sweet smell of not answering work emails for ten days, and secondly, the colossal, mind-melting, soul-snatching humidity. It was horrific. As if you could practically taste it if you stuck your tongue out (you didn’t, though it crossed your mind).

You’d shed your cardigan, stuffing it into your carry-on bag and Nicholas had unbuttoned one more of his shirt’s top buttons.

You make it out of the tiny airport, if you could call it that and not a helipad, and follow the signs to the shuttle bus that would take you to resort where your hotel was.

After getting off the bus, your clothes sticking to your skin from the heat, you finally see the hotel up a short path. There was a lot of what you presumed was jungle or rainforest just outside the resort and it loomed majestically overhead behind the light chainlink fence that seemed to be placed there just for the thought of having it.

“I could totally run away and live off the land, Robinson Crusoe style.” You muttered to yourself.

“What?”

“Intrusive thought. Nevermind.” you snapped out of it, continuing to walk.

“Oh god,” Nicholas groaned miserably. “this island is literally in the middle of ass fuck nowhere!”

You didn’t know what he was whining about, you’d both picked this place. “Your point?”

“We’re completely marooned - there’s like no signal, no wifi…” he complains while hoisting his phone up in the air as if it was the Lion King.

“Don’t tell me you were actually planning on spending your vacation just watching TV in your room all day?” you throw a semi-judgmental glance at your husband over your shoulder.

Nicholas pockets his phone silently and adjusts his shirt slightly from sticking to his body. You side-eye a couple of girlies that walk past you and gawk at Nicholas, obviously staring at the way the white fabric outlined the defined lines of his torso. You ignore the image and bulldoze forward to the hotel’s entrance.

“Well, not all day, but now I can’t do it at all.” he says, disappointment evident in his voice.

“Boo-hoo, the whole point of vacation is to chill. You can still do that perfectly fine.” you point out.

“I like chilling,” he huffs. “Netflix and chilling, but now there’s no Netflix. Do you not see this may be the end of humanity as we know it?” he asks dramatically, eyes wider than a conspiracy theorist’s.

“Hmm, not quite the crisis you imagine.” you reply. “Fortunately, there are these magical things - books - which have survived many millennia, and they seemed to have worked just fine for our ancestors.”

“So what I’m hearing is, our vacation is, in fact, doomed.” Nicholas states as you walk into the hotel lobby, breathing in that delicious, stale air-conditioned air. You stop to bask in its coolness, breathing out in relief.

“Your vacation,” you correct. “I’ll be paying my respects to my ancestors by reading.”

“Ugh, well we can’t stay here. What are we going to do for ten days?” Nicholas asks. You wonder if he even heard what you said, but in his current state, you somehow doubted it.

“You got a better idea?” you raise your eyebrows.

“I’ll build a raft, we can swim off the island.” he suggests. You’re about to lay down the most sarcastic, hard line of the century but the sound of thunder rumbling stops you.

It was the loudest rumble you’d ever heard in your life and you suspected the lightning that preceded it might have struck not even several meters out of the door you’d momentarily walked through. The thought almost made you faint.

“If you walk out of that door, Nicholas, so help me god.” you warn, wheeling your suitcase further into the building and away from the windows.

“Noted.” he replies sheepishly, following your lead away from the windows, almost scrambling after you.

Needless to say, it starts pouring torrential rain after that and while you check in, you can see the rain drops hammering violently on the window panes behind the concierge desk.

The lady there hands you a small card holder, telling you the keys are inside and you can’t really hear much else of what she says to you but it sounds like the standard if-you-need-anything-ring-the-phone mumbo jumbo so you thank her and go.

Little did you know, she’d warned you.

You get up to the correct floor in search of your rooms, looking around while you navigate the soft-carpeted hallways.

“One four three.” you mumble, trying to find the right number. You stop at the end of a corridor and take out the key card. You buzz the door open and push it forward. “Wait a minute-” you walk in several steps and circle back, thinking you’re losing your mind.

“What is it?” Nicholas walks in, relaxed pulling in both of your suitcases.

“I think there must be a mistake,” you say. “The suite only has one room. I thought we’d asked for two?”

“Really?” Nicholas takes a few steps in, sweeping his eyes over the place and sure enough there is only one room. “That’s weird. Let me check with Jun-ge, he’s the one that booked our honeymoon.” Nicholas fumbles around with his phone for a bit, trying to find a signal for a minute.

You vaguely remembered meeting Jun at your wedding; he was one of Nicholas’ big bro types at the company but you had no idea if he’d known about your marriage being arranged or not.

Nicholas finally gets the phone to ring and the line crackles when it’s picked up on the other end.

“Hello?” you hear Jun answer when Nicholas puts the phone on speaker. “Nicho, what’s up?”

“Hey, Jun-ge, quick question, do you remember booking our honeymoon suite?” he asks tentatively.

“Yeah, is something wrong?”

“Well, uh, we got here and it’s got just the one room, didn’t I put a note to find two rooms?”

“You wrote ‘honeymoon suite’ and that’s what I got.” Jun replies, obviously not sensing that that was what was wrong with the whole situation.

“Yes, Jun-ge, but I also wrote two rooms on the note, right?”

“Dude, two-room honeymoon suites don’t exist.” you can hear Jun chuckling on the other end of the line. You were starting to regret not booking the rooms yourself.

“Oh.” Nicholas says dumbly. “Okay, that’s cool, thanks Jun-ge.”

“Alright, kid, don’t have too much fun!” Jun laughs before hanging up. You look at Nicholas, attempting to hold your glare but you reckon it slips out regardless.

“You wrote what in the note?” you ask, voice steadily quiet.

“Two rooms.” Nicholas avoids your eyes and scratches the back of his neck, with the guiltiest look on his face.

“‘Honeymoon suite’!” you state, jogging his memory. “You couldn’t just leave that out, could you?”

“Yeah, my bad.” Nicholas admits.

“Right, well,” you walk into the actual bedroom part. There’s a super king sized bed that takes up most of the room, and it looks very comfortable. “I’ll gladiator fight you for the bed.”

“That’s not very civilised of you, YN.” he muses. “Rock, paper, scissors-” Nicholas thinks he can take you by surprise, yelling out RPS unexpectedly, but you throw out your hand as a reflex,

“Shoot!” you finish, giving him a paper to his rock. He groans at the loss.

“Best of three!”

You roll your eyes before playing again, throwing out scissors this time intuitively. Nicholas threw paper and then sunk to the ground.

“Hah!” you grinned at your victory. “You should have taken your chances in a fight, but I think I would have won that too.” you shrug, faux sympathy coating your voice. Karma’s a bitch, but so were you. “Enjoy sleeping in the bath.”

“Bath?” Nicholas snaps up and runs off to check.

Indeed, there was no couch in the suite, only a dinning room set up in the small living space, complete with a TV mounted to the wall and a grand bathroom that separated from the master bedroom. Besides a generously spacious shower cabin, there is a huge white bath in the middle of the bathroom, practically the size of a jacuzzi and though giant by nature, Nicholas would probably fit in it.

He comes back to find you getting comfortable sitting on the bed, legs crossed gloatfully as you watched your husband lose his mind and it was only day one.

“Fine. Be cruel. I’m fine. It’s fine.” he says, sounding less than convinced.

“Is it though?” you smirk, loving the way he’s trying to stomach the loss but failing.

“Yes. Totally. Fine.”

You don’t press it further but lie back on the bed, letting the mattress swallow you up. Vacation wasn’t so bad after all. You might not have Netflix, but you had a personal drama king right in front of you.

You didn’t get to do anything for the rest of the day since it was storming outside but you had dinner down at the restaurant and eventually went to bed, or in Nicholas’ case, to the bath.

The next morning, you wake up naturally, blissfully rested and stretch with all the grace of a cat. You slept like a rock on this gorgeous bed and you really had to thank Jun for booking this particular room.

You get up, quietly, and pad over to the bathroom, the door still closed. You pause, then knock on lightly. “Nicholas?” you ask.

There’s a sleepy groan on the other side of the door, and then a thud. You panic for a second.

“Hey, I’m coming in!” you warn and work the handle. You find Nicholas in the bath in his pyjamas, blanket half-thrown off and the pillow lying on the floor. That explains the thud. “You okay?”

“Hmm,” he grunts, eyes still closed. He shuffles slightly, pulling the blanket and curling up on his side.

“Alright, well, good morning to you too.” you mutter and leave.

A while later, a disheveled Nicholas emerges from the bathroom. It must have been the smell of coffee that got him moving because you’re about to drink your first and hopefully only cup of the day.

“About time, Sleeping Beauty.” you glance at him. You note he most certainly is not a happy ducky in the morning; there’s a deep frown on his face and his posture is giving an uncanny resemblance to a deflated balloon animal.

“Hmm.” he responds with another grunt. You weren’t sure when exactly, but some time between last night and this morning, your husband seems to have been replaced with a cave man. The two of you hadn’t crossed paths too often in the mornings, so it was kind of news to you to see him like this.

You sigh and put your coffee down, getting up to go to the pot and pour him a cup. Nicholas sits down stiffly in the opposite chair and you deposit it in front of him. Instead of trying to make conversation with a prehistoric species, you go back to your book, but you see he drinks the coffee.

Twenty minutes later, you swap the location and find yourselves downstairs having a late breakfast (you refused to call it brunch), munching on whatever to start your day.

Nicholas looks more like himself now, but you can sense the obvious discomfort from the way he keeps trying to massage his neck and shoulders discreetly, or stretches to try and work the muscle there. He’s wearing a loose fitting, linen button up and every move seems to expose a lot of skin but while you’re trying to ignore it, it doesn’t mean everyone else is.

People who are sitting at the neighbouring table are throwing occasional slightly suspicious glances. There are some not so discreet wives checking your husband out and not minding their own and even some pretty waitresses smiling as they pass by. You roll your eyes as one in particular can’t seem to look away as she brings you a plate of fruit.

“What?” Nicholas notices that you’re making a face. He himself seems to be oblivious on the other hand.

“Nothing. Eat your strawberries.” you say quickly, keeping a poker face. You could almost see the smug look that would appear on his face if you told him people were checking him out, so you stayed quiet.

“Right.”

Back upstairs, Nicholas perches on the vanity table on one side of the room while you rummage around in your suitcase looking for some clothes. You’re aware of how he’s shifting awkwardly and you stop and turn to him.

“I’m listening.” you state. Nicholas doesn’t say anything for a moment, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek and then the other side.

“Please can I sleep in the bed?” he asks finally.

“Hey, you lost fair and square.” you go back to looking for your swimsuit. Nicholas tilts his head.

“I’m not hearing a ‘no’.” he hums.

“No.” you say for good measure. “Happy?”

“Not at all.” he replies. You think he’s going to give it a rest but then a second later he speaks again. “Fine, if I have to sleep in the bath, then give me a massage.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re here.” he says like it’s obvious. “Ooh, better yet, buy me medicine and rub it on my shoulders.” he smiles, hopeful. You knew what he was doing but despite that, it was working.

You scrunch your forehead, the idea less than appealing to you. You look from Nicholas to the bed, then to Nicholas again, weighing it up in your head. The bed was big enough, you were just going to have to stay on one side. You didn’t want to cause permanent damage after all. (It might scar you for life to massage medicine over his shoulders. And you guess it could do something to his posture or whatever.)

“Ugh,” you spit out. “alright. You can sleep on one side of the bed.” you specified. “I’m not giving you the whole thing.”

“Pleasure negotiating with you, Mrs Wang.” Nicholas grins and disappears before you can tell him off for the name calling.

You get dressed, slipping on your one piece swimsuit and throwing on some shorts, and take your book down to the pool. The weather had cleared up completely compared to yesterday’s torrential downpour and the sun is shining brightly. The pool itself is located in a slightly more sheltered area and it doesn’t look like there was any damage from the rain.

You smile to yourself and find a nice lounge chair to camp out at. You adjust your sunglasses and open your book again to continue where you’d left off.

“Are your ancestors proud of you yet?” you hear a voice ask before you feel a weight settle near your legs on the lounge chair. You don’t look up at Nicholas, before replying.

“I don’t know, maybe you should go ask them.” you retort.

“Oh, I will,” he says. “in like hopefully seventy to eighty years.”

You hum in response, not particularly feeling like playing along right now. Nicholas shuffles about, and you finally look up.

Big mistake.

You find him unbuttoning his shirt and shrugging it off his frame. You blinked twice, trying to tear your eyes away from him.

“Look after this, please.” he says after a moment, indicating to his discarded shirt. It lay half folded next to your bare leg.

“Sure.” you mumbled. You watched as he threw you an acknowledging half smile and got up. You couldn’t help yourself for a moment; you stared after him.

It was ground breaking actually.

You’d not really given it much thought since your predicament was rather serious - life sentence married to a man you didn’t love and all that - but you had eyes and you noticed that your new husband was actually quite hot.

Who would have thought?

You clocked the well rounded muscle of his shoulders and back and his toned biceps, and though you avoided really looking (as in, you didn’t pull your shades down), the modest set of abs that graced his torso.

“How novel.” you observed out loud then went back to your book. You didn’t need to ogle at your husband; you weren’t a horny teenager any more. Moreover, this information changed nothing in your life whatsoever. You were still shackled together and sinking to the bottom of the ocean.

You hear your name being called some time later.

Putting your bookmark in place, you look up to find Nicholas resting on the edge of the pool, his arms crossed and chin resting on top.

“Yes?” you inquire, taking off your sunglasses to see him better.

“Can you help me get out?” he asks, looking a little shifty, glancing side to side but there’s no one in your immediate vicinity. Just some people down the other end. You figured it was probably lunch time so it was quiet.

“Huh?” you’re confused at the request.

“It’s the deep end. I’m tall, but I’m not that tall.” he admits sheepishly. You guess he must be embarrassed to ask you for help.

What doesn’t cross your mind is why a) he didn’t go to a shallower part of the pool, b) he didn’t cross to the opposite side and use the ladder!, or c) someone of his stature would struggle getting out of a pool.

You get up and walk to the edge, extending a hand to him. Nicholas takes your hand in his wet one and you start to pull.

Except you’re pulling but it’s not working. In fact, the world is suddenly tilting and you’re diving head first into the pool, gravity and Nicholas taking you in with him. You would have yelped but you close your mouth on instinct as you go down so you don’t get a mouthful of water.

The coolness of the water engulfs you suddenly and you struggle to orientate your way up to the surface again. You break through with an angry gasp for air.

“Wang Yixiang!” you sputter loudly, venom filling up your veins. You hear his laugh somewhere nearby and you wipe your eyes, trying to locate him. He’s a foot away, also drenched, wet hair hanging in his face but smiling widely.

“Here, Sergeant!” he gives you a silly salute and you start toward him, eyes full of vengeance.

“Come back,” you demand after he starts swimming away from you.

He’s not particularly fast and you manage to grab his hand and yank him back toward you. There’s a lot of water resistance but you’re adrenalised to you manage to get him to change direction.

“Hey, c’mon, don’t be mad.” he says, well aware that today might be his last day as an alive person. You ignore him and do your best to try and dunk him. It doesn’t really work because he uses your strength against you and the two of you just spin around. You’re off balance and trying to just tread water even though here Nicholas could stand up, which was quite unfair. He stills suddenly. “Oh my god, look!”

“Not falling for that one, dude,” you say, thinking he was trying to distract you from trying to dunk him.

“No, really, two o’clock, it’s that man, uh, what did he do again?” Nicholas wracks his brain for a moment.

“My two o’clock or yours?” you realise he’s being serious and you think to check.

“Yours. The man with the moustache, we met him at the wedding.” You think back and try to place the description. You’re floating so you manoeuvre around to be able to glance in the right direction.

Sure enough you spot the person Nicholas was talking about. You saw him but he hadn’t spotted you yet.

“Shit, it’s the tyre guy.” you say.

“Right, that’s the one.” Nicholas agrees, as if the answer is now clear to him.

“You had no idea who that man was, did you?” you ask.

“Not a clue,” he admits. “I was grasping at straws. He seemed familiar.” And you realise that it had worked.

Yet, also it was that man; what was he doing here? Was he on vacation too? From what you remembered he was some business partner on your parents’ side. Your father had introduced you once before and then once at the wedding.

You freeze, forgetting to tread water.

Nicholas seems to notice you stop moving and grabs your waist, holding you up so you don’t start to sink. Your hands come up between you as a buffer and slap gently against his chest but you ignore what’s going on in front of you, deep in thought.

Why was he here of all places? Was it a coincidence? What were the odds of that happening?

What if your parents had sent him here to spy on you? That was possible right? Surely they wouldn’t do that though, you’d agreed to go on the honeymoon, that was enough, wasn’t it?

Wasn’t it?

You close your eyes, feeling like your sanity was slipping away; it sounded like the type of thing they’d do. Just to make sure you were behaving.

“Hey, YN, what’s wrong?” Nicholas squeezes your waist, trying to get your attention. You snap back to reality, seeing his concerned face a few inches away from your own. You hand’t noticed how close you were so you let go of Nicholas, breaking out of his grip gently.

“Nothing,” you say as you swim toward the nearest ladder.

You were definitely annoyed, your parents couldn’t just leave you alone, could them?

After your early dinner, during which you constantly looked over your shoulder in case you spotted the tyre man, you go back to your room to continue reading. You hadn’t run into that man after all, but it was only a matter of time.

Nicholas takes the opportunity to shower first after being in the pool, not that you were picky or going to fight him for it.

The door of the bathroom opens some time later and he emerges with a towel around his head and one around his waist. You try to mind your own business but he’s rummaging around his own suitcase for ages, so damn loudly, might you add, humming and hawing at what to wear.

You glare in his direction, but his back is to you, and all you see is the excess droplets on his skin snaking their way down his back-

“You having a good time there, Mrs Wang?” he turns around and catches you staring. Your eyes narrow at the name calling and you decide he does it to get a rise out of you, so you don’t give him the satisfaction.

“I would have a better time if you had the capacity to make faster decisions.” you retort, looking down to your book as he straightens up.

“No can do, you’d rather me wear clothes in bed, wouldn’t you?” he asks inquisitively.

“If you dared do otherwise, you would find yourself in a very comfortable chair-” you pause. “in the lobby.” you finish curtly.

Nicholas raises his hands innocently, giving you a quiet ‘okay’ before going back to the bathroom to get dressed. A minute later you hear the hair dryer come on and another minute he’s back to bug you.

“Didn’t you finish that book yet?” he asks, trying to see the cover as he went past.

“No, I started this one an hour ago.” you say.

“What?” he stops in pure shock. “How many books did you bring?” he exclaims.

“Ten.” you look up, giving him a tight lipped smile. “One for each day.”

Nicholas looks at you in awe, shaking his head. “YN, you really are something.” he says. “But this cannot be. Your eyes will glaze over, we’re watching TV, c’mon.” he prompts you to move over a little where you’re leaning against the headboard of the bed.

You shuffle slightly to the right, but don’t let go of your book even as he grabs the remote and switches on the TV. It’s a decently sized flat screen mounted on the wall in front of you, adjacent to the small dinning table.

Nicholas hops on the bed beside you, mimicking your stretched legs, crossed at the ankles. The noise starts to distract you only because he’s channel flipping for a minute before he settles on something.

“Perfect.” he mumbles and puts the remote down. You glance up at the screen and see the film name.

“Really?” you ask, closing your book with a loud smack. “You’re going to watch Cast Away while we are on a remote island on vacation?”

“No,” he replies. “We’re going to watch Cast Away while we are on a remote island on our honeymoon.”

“Yes, because that makes all the difference.” you mutter. You give in regardless since the movie keeps playing and you may as well pay attention.

It’s kind of a long film but it’s not bad. You do at one moment overthink it and imagine what you’d do if you were in the same situation - you were halfway there anyway on this island - but you stop yourself because that kind of thinking was not a good idea. It would scare you unnecessarily.

It gets to the part where Tom Hanks is trying to get off the island on his raft and loses his beloved friend, the volleyball. You watch as he yells, trying to stay afloat. It made you a little emotional and you look away for a moment only to notice Nicholas is watching intently, his own eyes glassy and lips tight.

It fascinates you for a moment to see him like that since it was a wholly new side to him but you will yourself to look away, reaching to the bedside and pulling a tissue out of the box, handing it wordlessly to your husband.

“Thanks.” he says under his breath and you hum just as quietly.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just thinking about the wifi signal.” he sniffles. “I miss it so much.” he admits, raising a fist to his mouth. You nod, as if understanding, when in reality you’d basically popped the champagne when you found out there was no wifi.

After the film finishes, it’s starting to get late so you pop off for a quick shower, wanting to get the chlorine off your body before sleeping.

You brush your teeth and put on a t-shirt and sleeping shorts and get to bed. Nicholas joins you after brushing his teeth and turning off the big light.

“Right,” you say, getting Nicholas’ attention. “Here is a line, it’s invisible but it exists, so stick to your side of the bed, please and thank you.”

“No problem. You won’t even know I’m here.” he nods obediently. “So shall we get to bed, Mrs Wang?”

You stop fluffing your pillow at his silly question and turn to give him a stink face.

“You’re never going to stop calling me that, are you?” you ask.

“Nope, not until death do us part.” he shows you a toothy grin.

It suddenly occurs to you that while you had shared your reasoning for giving into the marriage, Nicholas so far hadn’t really commented on the topic. You frown. Why hadn’t he mentioned that yet?

“That’s weird.” you say, continuing on your train of thought.

“Not really, it’s pretty standard for marriages.”

“No, not that.” you shake your head. Starting to overthink it.

“What then?” Nicholas asks as he lies down on his side.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice there must be something in it for you to agree to this union.” you say sceptically.

“Pfft. Union. You make it sound so formal.” he replies sarcastically. You notice he isn’t offering any insights.

“Well, we are legally bound together, unfortunately. I suppose it’s serious.” you reason.

“Yeah, so serious. Like donkeys pulling on a cart.”

“Don’t change the subject.” you quip. “I don’t know what it is you want, but I will find out and hold it over your head like a guillotine.” you warn, annoyed at the sudden suspicious toward the man now in your bed.

Was this a defence mechanism - getting suspicious as soon as someone got close to you?

“Can’t wait, ma cherie*. I hope your revolution works out.” Nicholas sighs, turning off the lamp on his side.

“Impeccable attempt at humour, mon ange*.” you roll your eyes before reaching to your bedside lamp. “And by the way, donkeys pull their own damn carts.” you say, flipping the switch and turning your back to him.

You fall asleep faster than you expected but it certainly has its drawbacks.

For one, every once in a while you wake up because Nicholas has somehow managed to roll to your side of the bed and is hogging your area with his giantness, limbs splaying all over you, waking you up.

You manage to shoulder him off you gently, using your strength to roll him back to his side and it seems he’s a heavy sleeper because he doesn’t wake when you end up pushing him away with your knees.

You go back to sleep, satisfied that he’s far away enough from you that you can sleep in peace, only to wake up the next morning feeling incredibly warm and suffocated.

That’s because Mr You-Won’t-Even-Know-I’m-Here has a vice grip on you; one leg thrown over yours and one heavy arm thrown over your waist while his face is tucked into your hair, as if you were one of those long, huggable body pillows.

You open your eyes and reach for your phone to check the time. It was 9-ish so you decide that’s enough anyway. You were going to wake him up.

“Nicholas?” you say, voice croaky. You shuffle slightly, managing to drop his leg off of yours but the arm stays around your waist. “Nicholas?” you try again, patting his bicep gently. This time he stirs slightly, a low hum rumbling in his chest. You feel the vibration on your back and think you’re making progress.

It’s difficult but you shimmy out from under his loosened grip and sit up while he automatically rolls on his back, eyes still closed.

“Unbelievable.” you shake your head, looking down at his sleeping figure, before getting up. He looks way too peaceful and it makes you a little mad. You make no effort to be quiet since he was still out cold and probably won’t wake up for ages so you get ready for the day, make some coffee and sit with your book.

Some time later, your husband finally decides to open his eyes and you look in his direction when he sits up and stretches, yawning like a cat.

“Ah,” he exhales gruffly. “this bed is dope, oh my god.” he comments. “Did you sleep well?” he asks nonchalantly. You send a death glare in his direction, making him shrink back slightly.

“I would have,” you start through gritted teeth. “if you weren’t trying to strangle me.”

“Huh?” he has the nerve to look genuinely confused. “Did I do something?” he asks, meek all of a sudden.

“I don’t know if anyone has ever told you,” you get up, getting closer to the bed. “but you are a heinous koala when you sleep!” you say pointedly, before going into the bathroom to get some sunscreen out of your makeup bag.

“Nuh-uh,” you hear Nicholas call out. He has the audacity to disagree. You’re back out in a split second, listening expectantly. “Apologise to koalas, that was uncalled for.” he finishes. You’re taken aback; you thought he’d call bullshit and say you’d imagined it.

You huff but ultimately concede; the creatures had never done anything to you personally. “Sorry, koalas.” you mumble and sit in front of the vanity to apply sunscreen on your face.

“Listen, I’m sorry,” Nicholas says, getting up. “I know I’m practically an ogre in the mornings, but I can’t help it.”

“At least you’re self-aware.” you reply. “I’ll tolerate it for eight more days, but you’re on thin ice.”

“Alright.” he says, closing the bathroom door.

The next few days, the weather improves significantly and the two of you end up going to the beach or chilling by the pool. You even go to do this snorkelling lesson with an instructor and swim near some coral reefs, enjoying the beautiful crystal clear ocean.

You also end up going to a spa for some random treatments out of boredom and a massage, which you weren’t too hot on but Nicholas begged you to join him since he didn’t want to go alone. (That and he said that you wouldn’t go because you were comfortable being a tense control freak. So of course you had to prove him wrong by sticking around. It was worth it.)

Another day you end up going out in a boat and fishing with some other guests at the resort. You had to admit, you were definitely having fun despite not having wanted to even go on vacation. Going fishing wasn’t something you’d ever thought about doing, yet here you were.

It’s then that you run into the tyre man for the first time.

Fishing; you should have known that’s where you’d meet the middle aged businessman.

“Mrs Wang!” you hear a hearty voice greet you when he spots you. You almost grimace - you wished you’d told people to keep calling you by your own family name. Nicholas seems slightly startled next you while he holds his fishing rod.

“Hi, Mr Lee, what a surprise!” you say, lying shamelessly. You’d been expecting to bump into him before he left. “How are you doing?”

The man stops next to your spot at the rail of the boat, his own rod in hand and some bait in a bowl in the other. A woman joins him and you remember that’s his wife, whom you’d also met at the wedding. You greet her politely too.

“Ah, well, we’re just out for some relaxation. You know how it is, can’t be cooped up in the office all the time.” Mr Lee replies. He doesn’t seem suspicious and you sense it could be possible that this was a coincidence and not a conspiracy. But you intuition doesn’t let up.

“Right, of course.” you nod along. “We’re just here on our honeymoon.” you say, nudging Nicholas beside you.

“Aha, really wanted to spend this special time in a special place.” he adds smoothly.

“As well, you should. You’re young and in love, you shouldn’t waste away in an office.” he commends you. Was he testing you? Why mention love at all? What did he know?

“Very true.” you say. “So, how long are you staying?” you ask casually.

“Oh, um, until Thursday.” he says, and you latch onto the slight air of awkwardness when he says that. You were staying until Friday, which was a little too close to your liking. “We really like it here but there’s no place like home, right?”

“Indeed,” you smile artificially. “Well, we should let you go. Enjoy the rest of your trip, we’ll see you back at home, Mr Lee. Mrs Lee.” you say politely, greeting each of them in turn.

“Yes, thank you, we will. Y’know, there is a special event being held by the hotel on Wednesday, you should come along.” Mr Lee says. You wonder for a moment if that was bait. If it was then you were going to make him think he could hook, line and sink you.

“Oh really?” you say, exaggeratedly fascinated. “Well, I guess we’ll have to think about it. No promises though; you know how hard it is to leave the bedroom on your honeymoon.” you drawled with a straight face.

You hoped he would give that direct quote to your parents and make them as flustered as he looked right now.

“Right, see you.”

And with that you exchange some more polite nods, and separate, the Lees terrorised and Nicholas wide eyed to your left as he cast out his fishing rod.

“YN, I gotta hand it to you, you’re really scary sometimes.” he says so only you can hear him.

“Only sometimes?” you reply, putting the bait on your line. “Guess I should work harder then.”

“Remind me to not get on your bad side again.” he says.

“Oh buddy,” you sigh. “after using me as a body pillow, you have a reserved spot and VIP access.”

The next couple of days, the humidity is unbearable and if it isn’t, then it’s the heat.

You’d been trying to sleep, but it was just too damn hot and the air con wasn’t doing much to help it. You’d shed any blankets and just had sheets instead, but even those got thrown off.

Eventually Nicholas pokes you hesitantly in the middle of the night.

“You sleeping?” he whispers. You shift, then answer.

“I was trying to.” you reply.

“YN, it’s really hot, can we take off our clothes?” he asks. Perhaps the question would have flustered you if you weren’t completely baking right now. You don’t open your eyes but you nod.

“Yeah, I don’t want either of us passing out from excessive heat.” you agree and shrug off your shorts but realise that you needed to get up and put on a bra or cami since there was nothing under your t-shirt. “Damn it.” you mutter and get up, in search of something to wear.

You settle on a thin camisole and hop back into bed. Nicholas has shed his shorts and shirt and is lying, just staring at the ceiling in his underwear, his hands behind his head. You don’t let your eyes linger, mostly because they’re too tired and you want to close them again.

You read the clock on your phone, finding it was just past 4 in the morning. You sigh and lie back down.

Neither of you seems to be able to fall asleep again, the dawn light getting more intense past your curtains.

“You awake?” Nicholas asks, shifting slightly.

“Yeah.” you say, turning to face him. You spot the silver chain around his neck and the way it reflects the early morning light.

“What if we’re married for a long time?” he asks in the darkness. “Like for years?”

You wonder what sparked that thought. “We’ll just have to deal with it.” you reply.

“Yeah, but eventually we’re going to start having needs.” Nicholas glances at you. “Like I’m going to want to sleep with someone and you’re going to want to sleep with someone. Then what? Do we sleep with other people? Do we sleep with each other? How do we get around that?”

The whole train of questions catches you off guard, however with even a second of consideration, you realise he’s raised a very valid concern. What would you do? It made you realise your marriage was more doomed than you’d thought.

“You’re right. It’s a hard question that I don’t have the answer to.” you lament.

“Right,” he says, pausing for a while. “I guess, for me, I wouldn’t want to sleep with other people - I’d feel like I was cheating on you even if we agreed to go out and do that.”

“Really?” you’re genuinely surprised at the revelation. “You would feel like that even though you have no feelings for me?”

“Well yeah, we’re married and all that. And we’re friends right?”

You find yourself nodding in the darkness. “Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t feel nice to do that to a friend.”

“Would you sleep with someone else?”

You take a moment to think. “Probably not. I’d keep thinking about you, waiting for me at home, in our house. I wouldn’t be able to do it.” you tell him honestly.

It strikes you that this was possibly the deepest conversation you’d had so far, fittingly left for the middle of the night.

“‘Our house’.” he repeats, tasting the words and letting them float up above you and into the early dawn gloom.

“Strange, right?” you muse.

“So, what are we concluding on the topic?” he asks, looking at you.

“The jury’s still out.” you shrug, unconvinced.

“So diplomatic, Mrs Wang.” Nicholas laughs quietly.

“Will you stop calling me that?” you yawn.

“Nah, it’s fun. You get so worked up about it.” he tells you.

“So you like raising my blood pressure?” you inquire.

“Well, if we’re going to be married for years, I gotta find a way to entertain myself, don’t I?”

“You are a menace.” you state, no force behind your words.

“Thank you. Right back at you.”

“Hah, I got news for you. This town is only big enough for one menace, and if it’s gonna be one of us damn it, it’s gonna be me.” you say stoically, but burst out laughing a split second later after hearing yourself back. You were feeling goofy; it was 4am. Nicholas finds it equally funny and laughs with you.

It was then that you felt like you were finally comfortable around each other, at least enough to be staying up until morning, laughing about bullshit while lying around in your underwear.

Because that’s totally the sort of thing married friends did, right?

You wake up, barely conscious and notice your arm is slightly trapped. Then you realise why; you were tucked into Nicholas’ side, your head on his shoulder, hand on his bare chest, feeling his steady heartbeat under your fingers. It would have been a surprise and you would have scrambled off, but your limbs were too tired and too comfortable for any excessive movement.

Your eyes close again, and you let yourself drift off even though you had half the thought about what kind of dramatic reaction Nicholas might have to find you in that position after you’d given him a mouthful about being a koala. In your defence, it was his arm around you keeping you smushed together.

The next time you wake up, you’re lying on your back, Nicholas still right next to you. You get up quietly, starting to get ready for the day.

You’d agreed to go to that event thing the Lees had told you about because you’d mentioned to Nicholas that this could be some kind of ploy by your parents and you wanted to investigate. There was ice cream and booze so he didn’t need much convincing really. (Neither did you, if you were honest; you could use a bit of both).

Just as you’re putting the finishing touches of your makeup, Nicholas stirs and yawns loudly before sitting up. He spots you before the vanity, basically ready and checks the time.

“Jeez, why didn’t you wake me?” he asks, swinging off the bed and hurrying to the bathroom.

“I’m sorry, did you just hear yourself?” you call out to him. “Wake? You up?” you cap your mascara and get up, walking over to lean on the bathroom doorframe, arms crossed. You see Nicholas scrambling about, large form folded over the tiny sink, to brush his teeth at a furious speed. “I would rather go wake an actual sleeping lion up.”

“Fwine, bwut you clould at weast teth am aalarm.” he says through a mouthful of toothpaste.

“I’m not even going to dignify that with a response, dude.” you walk away, letting him struggle with the mint foam.

When you get down to lunch (it was far too late to even attempt calling it brunch), you find that the event the Lees mentioned was going to start in just over an hour (it really was late thanks to your middle of the night joint existential crisis).

After you finish eating, you make your way to the large garden of the hotel where the thing was going to take place. You were walking in blind pretty much, having no idea what on Earth was going on.

There are at least ten or so tables set up and about twice as many guests, mostly couples by the look of it, seated within the area. There’s a small square mat or something of the sort in front of the tables, supposedly like a makeshift stage. Was this going to be some kind show?

You spot the Lees just as promised at one of the tables and you start to look for another place to sit, but they notice you and call you over.

“Shit,” you mutter, automatically reaching to your side to find Nicholas’ hand.

“Double shit,” he says, taking your hand and lacing your fingers, and you look back at him. “look.” he motions to a poster propped up on an easel.

You feel like you’re about to find some harder expletives when you read the words written in big bubble letters:

COUPLES CONTEST

“Oh my-” you can’t even finish the sentence.

You’d just walked into the adult version of those awkward middle school events that teachers would try to entertain students with.

“We could still leave?” Nicholas suggests quietly. You want to agree but Mrs Lee is smiling from across the garden at you, sipping on her drink.

“Too late.” you conclude and start walking to the half-filled table.

“Well, you don’t know they’re spies for your parents.” Nicholas mumbles unhelpfully. “We might just hang out politely.”

You reach the table and greet the Lees. You take a seat closest to Mrs Lee and Nicholas away from both of them. You felt like you were acting like protective buffer between him and them.

“Oh YN, I just got off the phone with your mother-” Mrs Lee gushes to you immediately. “you remember we’re both part of that book club?” she says, as if it’s explanatory that she would be close to your mother. “Anyways, we were talking about how maybe you should join too, it might be fun. You could make friends with the other ladies there,” she suggests, “and between you and me,” she leans closer as if the men at the table can’t hear you. “it’s where we go to get away from our husbands, but shh!”

You’re having a multitude of reactions under the surface (including searing rage towards your mother, wanting to sink into the ground out of awkwardness, and disappointed smugness that you were right that they were in cahoots with your parents) but you give her a polite chuckle and smile.

You know she was just trying to be her version of friendly, for some reason that being recruiting you into some kind of married-women-who-don’t-want-to see-their-husbands exclusive club, so you don’t get too mad.

“Well, I do like reading, but I think I think I like my husband more.” you reply, lightly rejecting the offer. You turn to look at Nicholas, giving him an ‘I-told-you-so’ face while he sighs contemplatively. You were also hung up on the fact that this woman called your mother more than you did, so who knows what other wack ideas she might have.

“Darling, I don’t think Mrs Wang wants to go to that stuffy book club.” Mr Lee cuts in awkwardly. “Besides, these two are much younger than us, they should go on dates and enjoy themselves instead of boring themselves with books.”

Oh boy, this was going to be a long afternoon.

You had a lot to say but you weren’t going to utter a single syllable. Nicholas looks down helplessly, and you guess he’s trying to keep himself from laughing.

Fortunately, at that pause in your conversation, you spotted two people walking up to the square ‘stage’. They looked like hotel employees, judging from their Hawaiian style shirts, one with a loud tiger print and the other with a large flower pattern. They were carrying microphones and tapped on them to check they were working.

“Hello?” the flower guy said. His voice came out through the modest speakers set up on either side of the segregated area. He seems satisfied and so does his friend. “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to our monthly couples contest!” he paused for a polite round of applause. “My name is Boo and I will be one of your MCs today.”

“And I’m Hoshi, your other MC this afternoon. We have a great few rounds of fun lined up for you and an exciting prize for the winning team.” the guy with the tiger print continues.

“That’s right,” Boo says. “there are three games where each of our teams will compete head to head in an attempt to do the impossible - be the best couple!”

“Firstly, if you take a look around, you will find our lovely assistant Dino coming around with some name tags; please take one and write your names on them.” Hoshi says. You did notice a guy in a regular employee shirt walking around and depositing said name tags on each table swiftly.

“Alright, to start off, we have a game that will test your communication skills.” Boo announces. “The game is called ‘scream in silence’; here are the rules…”

You listen carefully as he explained it, even though you had seen this game played before. It was fairly simple so you thought you and Nicholas might do well at it. You just couldn’t believe you were trapped in a middle school dance on your honeymoon.

“Okay, firstly, we’re going to need to split you up so that we can get through the game faster. Each of us will conduct a round and tally up the scores for you.” Hoshi takes over. Two of them split up the crowd into two and ask for the first teams to come to two chairs facing each other set up by Dino on each side of the area.

You get split up from the Lees (thankfully) and end up sitting on Hoshi’s side of the garden.

The game starts and you watch as one person out of the couple starts trying to mouth the correct word to the other as they both wear a pair of large noise cancelling headphones. It’s pretty fun since people are really awful at lipreading.

You’re the third couple in your half of the crowd and you sit down in the opposite seat to Nicholas, the two of you putting on the headphones. It almost blows your mind how much you couldn’t hear through the headphones, and that was before Hoshi turned the music on. He held up the first word.

“Lawn mower.” you said, trying your best to enunciate to Nicholas. His face immediately scrunches up, squinting at you from seven feet away. “Lawn mower!” you repeat.

He mouths something that looks a lot like “Slower!” back to you and you shake your head, sure it was wrong. He tries again but you cut him off, starting to feel yourself becoming competitive.

“La-wn mo-wer!” you try to break it down but he seems more confused. “Pass!” you shake your head.

“Fishing.” you say as Hoshi shows you the next word. Nicholas blinks at you.

“Kissing?” he replies, frowning at the word. You weren’t sure how you managed to lip read it but you were sure that’s what he was saying.

“No, fi-shing!” you attempt to break it down. “Fi-shing!” you were starting to get frustrated, your voice rising in decibels. “Fi-shing!”

“Missing!” Nicholas tried again. You sighed.

“Pass!” you requested again. The next one was a phrase and it made you hesitate. “I love you.” you called out, just focusing on reading the phrase and not thinking about it. You felt so flustered saying it out loud, your face warming up and blood pressure rising. You didn’t think you’d ever actually say those words, especially not to your husband.

Nicholas shook his head and shrugged. “I don’t know.” you think he said. You steeled yourself, growing frustrated again, mostly with the appearance of the phrase and the way it mocked your situation.

“I love you.” you tried again, saying it louder this time, as if he would hear you.

“Above you?” Nicholas said. You looked up, rolling your eyes at his denseness.

“I love you, you bastard!” you screamed out, lying aggressively, noticing that people in your group were pissing themselves with laughter.

Nicholas paused for a moment, mouth slightly ajar as the cogs turned in his head. The eureka moment came finally and he clapped his hands together. That got your attention and you perked up expectantly.

“I love you!” he yelled back. Hoshi gave you an approving sign, telling you you secured a point.

“And the time is up!” Hoshi declared, raising a hand and doing a slicing action at his neck to let you know since you couldn’t really hear him. You were more than happy to take those humongous headphones off and return to your seat. ��That’s one point for YN and Nicholas!” he says while there’s a scattered round of applause.

You go sit down and try to ignore what just happened. Nicholas does too, watching the game ahead of you.

There’s only one other couple in your group that manages to score a point, one Hanbin and Hao, who were just as tragically terrible at the game but very cute while they played it.

“And that’s the first round over,” Boo announces. “Let us tally the scores - oh my! This was not your lucky day every one, but we do have two couples who scored and are therefore in the lead.”

“Don’t be discouraged everyone, it’s still all to play for.” Hoshi says. “The next game might be somewhat easier. It’s a game to test your couple chemistry; the peppero game!”

You sit there trying to discern what that actually constitutes.

“What is the peppero game?” Nicholas whispers to you, just as confused. There seems to be an excited buzz around you though because apparently people know what that is or think they might do better at it than the other one.

“Don’t look at me, I’m just a corporate lawyer.” you whisper back. You never thought that some random game may become your greatest intellectual obstacle.

It’s when Boo calls up the first group and explains the rules that it sinks in. You watch as each couple takes a peppro stick snack and holds it between their lips, starting to munch on it from both sides, slowly making their way to meet in the middle. The objective is to have the smallest length of peppero stick remaining at the end.

“So that’s the peppero game.” Nicholas says, dumbfounded.

“You shouldn’t have asked dumb questions.” you scold him quietly.

“I can’t help it sometimes, okay?” he hisses back.

Once the first group is finished and the MCs take measurements, they don’t disclose the results before calling the rest of the couples up. You and Nicholas reluctantly step up and face each other. Boo comes around and offers you the pack of peppero and you pick one out, holding it up.

You have to get quite a bit closer to Nicholas and his hands comes up to rest on your shoulders to hold you in place as you bite on one end and offer him the other. Due to his struggles as a giant, Nicholas has to lean in a fair distance to make it work and you try your best to rise to your fullest height.

“And begin!” Hoshi calls out, getting the game started. You take tiny bites of the snack, forced to stare at your husband up close because your eyes could go nowhere else.

Your mouth focuses on not dropping the stick but your eyes focus on Nicholas; there’s the colour of his eyes, they way his eyelashes become more prominent when he blinks at you, and the way you can see your own reflection in his eyes as you get closer.

Nicholas looks you straight in the eye, your noses just shy of touching and you accidentally bite down harder on the stick, severing it cleanly.

“Ah,” you breathe, realising your mistake. “Sorry.”

He lets go of you and takes the stick between his fingers, examining it. There was a lot left, at least 3cm or so.

You wait for the rest of the couples to finish and hand in your pathetic peppero remnants to Hoshi, who immediately makes a face.

“Oh guys,” he says then raises the mic. “well we know who definitely lost the game. Sorry, you two.” he smiles apologetically.

“Now that everyone has had a go, we can reveal that there was actually a penalty for the losers.” Boo says, basking in the crowd’s laughter.

“Oh lord, here we go.” you mutter. Before you can leave, Boo stops you.

“I’m afraid you’re staying, guys.” he says. “This game was supposed to check your couple chemistry and sadly you had a less than favourable result.”

“Since we don’t want to send you away feeling crappy about it, the penalty is simple and sweet; kiss and makeup for losing the game.” Hoshi tells you.

You have a serious déjà vu back to your wedding where a crowd was watching the two of you kiss. It makes your stomach twist with eminent embarrassment. Not again, you think.

“Oh come, don’t look so glum!” Hoshi continues. “Cheer up, let’s give them a hand everyone!” he encourages a round of applause but in your mind it gets worse.

You’d avoided looking directly at Nicholas but you found him watching you expectantly and you turn to him, leaning in to initiate the kiss. The faster you did it, the better. He seems to catch on and leans to peck your lips half-way. Your mouths barely touch but you did it and smile in what you hope appears a natural way.

You look out to the crowd, seeing they’re looking back at you awkwardly. Judgmentally even.

“Now what was that?” Boo questions. “That might have been more pathetic than your peppero, you guys.” he taunts you gently.

“Aren’t you newly weds?” Hoshi asks, surprisingly observant of the wedding rings on your fingers. “This is your honeymoon, you gotta have more passion than that!” he says excitedly, as if he was the one getting kissed. You glance at him, finding something in his eyes that may or may not suggest madness. You were also starting to think he might have a voyerism thing.

“Hey, this is peer pressure!” Nicholas attempts, trying to get you out of the MCs grip.

“It’s for your own good, bro, we’re trying to save your marriage.” Hoshi says to you, microphone not quite picking up all of that.

“Just a quick kiss,” Boo pleads. “or we’ll feel like we failed you.”

You can’t help but laugh at his logic. It’s clear that they’re just trying to have fun so you give in, stepping up to Nicholas again, who gives you a reassuring nod.

You lean in again, eyes closing, willing yourself to tune everything out. One of his hands comes up to cup your cheek, holding you steady as your lips mold over his. You kiss your husband for the nth time; you were losing count but you were well aware that it was a finite number that you could count on your fingers.

Ignoring everyone seems to help because you relax into the kiss and pull yourself closer to him intuitively, imagining you were back in that tunnel where you’d tried kissing the first time. It was hard to deny it, but Nicholas was a good kisser, whether he had been before you met or it was just that you’d practised together, and this kiss was no exception.

It was good.

Dizzyingly good.

You pull away gently, feeling that you needed air, your heart beating faster than usual. The two of you look at each, unsure when you should really pull away. There’s a momentary silence and then a loud round of applause and you figure that’s a good cue to really separate and hurry back to your seats.

“Wow, now that’s what you call a kiss!” Hoshi hollered, smiling widely. “Thank you for being good sports, and good luck on the next round.”

You wanted to call it irony.

That’s what the strangest moments in life contained. You’d been pushed into an arranged marriage with a man you didn’t love, yet you had grown closer despite your circumstance, to the point where physical acts of affection were exchanged between you in public and you weren’t ready to die on the spot.

So you did call it irony; the fact that you’d been so ready to resent Nicholas from day one but had become friends with him instead. Did friends kiss like that, you wondered. Married ones did, you supposed.

There was a part of you that wished you didn’t feel the way you just did: as if you wanted to kiss him again. It was bothering you a little, a tiny voice in the back of your head, telling you that no matter what face you tried to pull and pretend to be angry that you’d had to kiss him, you were deep down glad you’d gotten to kiss him again.

It felt like you were starting to develop a bad habit; the way one piece of chocolate sometimes becomes another, or one episode becomes three, and five more minutes of sleep becomes an hour. You made a note to avoid kissing him for a while, in case you started to spiral.

It wasn’t a crime to want to kiss your husband but in your case, it could become dangerous.

For now, you told yourself it was probably just liking the physical intimacy that you’d been missing in your life and nothing more. Purely one of those pyramid needs things you’d read about.

You can’t dwell on it too long because Boo announces the final game.

“We’ve tested your communication and your chemistry, now it’s time to test how well you know each other in a couple quiz!”

“That’s right, this is simply a game of knowledge about your other half, shouldn’t be difficult, right everyone?” Hoshi chimes in.

The thought occurs to you that you might be slightly disadvantaged this round since you’d met not that long ago but also weren’t a ‘real’ couple so to speak, but then you remembered the few basic notes you’d swapped between yourselves and change your mind - you might be better equipped than the other couples.

Boo and Hoshi get each couple to write down five questions and their answers on a different piece of paper and invite each couple to do the quiz in front of everyone for fair judgment.

You don’t need to tell Nicholas what kind of questions to write down because it was obvious - the stuff from the memos you’d shared. Was it cheating? You wouldn’t think so; technically nothing could have ever stopped other couples from doing the same thing as you. Besides, you were certain other people aimed for questions they were certain their partner would know.

It was so obvious, it was practically an unspoken rule of the game.

As expected, most couples do very well, only missing one or two answers, or if there was more, probably because they knew each other way too well and had a wider margin for mistakes and overthinking.

You sat around waiting for your turn, but you ended up going last out of the whole group. You and Nicholas took to the floor, picking up the A4 whiteboards supplied by the MCs and getting ready to answer the questions.

You did Nicholas’ questions first.

What was his favourite meal? You could have answered that just from living with him for a few weeks but you knew the official answer.

If he could eat one fruit for the rest of his life, what would it be? It was so easy, you rolled your eyes as you wrote it down.

What style of dancing had he practiced during high school? Your pen started moving before Boo even finished asking the question.

What was the name and brand of his favourite cologne? This one annoyed you slightly because it wasn’t something you’d explicitly talked about but you had noticed in your shared bathroom at home.

And finally, what was his birthday and star sign? You gave them the sun, moon, and ascendant just to be sure, memories from your memos.

You finessed the challenge, giving the audience in front of you a smug finger gun and wink because of them had really struggled with answering their spouse’s questions. While you’re up there, you spot the Lees giving you a subtle thumbs up and you smile at them, genuinely for once. You’d almost forgotten they were there and also spying on you for your mother.

You hoped they would relay everything they saw today and get her off your back.

It was Nicholas’ turn to answer your questions and you’d really tried to keep them as simple as possible, asking things like your own star sign, hometown, favourite school subject back in the day, favourite colour (were you in kindergarten? today you might as well be), and your coffee order, which was one of the first memos you’d given Nicholas.

He aces it just like you did, and you’re a little proud of him for remembering even this much about you.

“Well, you saw it here first folks, we have another perfect team.” Hoshi announces. “We’re going to ask our other top scorers, Hanbin and Hao to get up here for a tie-breaker.”

Uh-oh. You started to panic at the prospect of more questions and especially because they would be of the unseen variety.

“You did so well that we’re going to need to get some bonus questions in there, stuff that will make you think on your feet.” Boo informs the four of you. You’ll go first since you’re already sitting there. “We’ll do three questions each.”

This time you’d both write an answer down on the whiteboards instead of the hosts fact checking on the piece of paper.

It was in that moment, that you accepted you’d already lost. There was no way you’d beat anyone when you’d known each other for like two months.

“Nicholas, what is YN’s favourite time of day?” Boo asks. You think carefully about what Nicholas might say and try to write an answer down to match it.

You think simply and thank whoever that it was an easy question.

You both hold up your answer and check. A wave of relief washes over you.

Nicholas had written 4am on his board, matching yours. It was an obvious one since you’d stayed up that late just this morning.

Nicholas manages to get another question right (it was about your job title, which almost makes you laugh because could they have picked better questions for you?) but misses the third one because it was simply impossible for him to know.

“We’re going to get a little spicy now for the final one, if that’s okay.” Hoshi begins. “Where on her body, does your wife like being kissed?”

“Please do keep the answers moderately PG.” Boo pleads you before you write. Your heart is racing because you know this will be wrong.

You write ‘cheek’, hoping it’s generic enough to get you the point, but Nicholas writes ‘neck’ and you throw him a glare. He shrugs innocently.

“Oh no, what a shame!” Hoshi exclaims. “Very close to perfection, but not quite. Now, let’s see if YN can match or better your score.”

You’re asked about Nicholas’ shoe size and you think hard, trying to remember if you’d ever seen an actual number. By some miracle, you guess the correct number after taking a little longer to answer the question.

“Right, so far so good.” Boo says, leading up to the next question. “What is Nicholas’ love language?”

You freeze.

Not good, very not good.

You wracked your brain, trying to figure it out on the spot. In the end you write ‘physical affection’ because of the way he never leaves you untouched in bed and hope for the best. Nicholas turns his board around and you sigh at the ‘acts of service’ scribbled there.

“Oh disaster strikes again!” Hoshi squeaks. “YN, you have one more question before we hand it over to your competitors.”

“We’re going for another spicy question, as is customary.” Boo continues. All you hear is ‘game over’ in your head, flashing in big red letters. “If given the chance, what is the freakiest public location Nicholas would want you to partake in the act of coitus?”

You felt like throwing yourself down a flight of stairs.

Translation - where does he want to fuck?

Low key it was a super personal question but also awkward since you were in a group setting, even if you were all adults here.

You had no idea, so you just wrote down the first thing that popped into your head: ‘balcony’.

“And now, the big reveal…” Hoshi trails off dramatically. You’re so over this and just want to go back to the comfort of your hotel room and hide from the world until you left the island.

You turn the boards and your suspicions are confirmed. You lost.

Nicholas had written ‘conference room’.

For a moment, you think about why he wrote that and then it sends you spiralling; you could have easily answered that question with just an ounce of thought. The war room, of course. Why didn’t you think of that?

“Ohhh, so close yet so far!” Hoshi says. “I’m sorry guys, but that’s three out of six for you, if Hanbin and Hao can get four or more, they win. Thank you for playing, good job!”

You thank the MCs and sit down, watching while Hanbin and Hao got question after question right. They won the round so easily, that it was laughable.

“Welp, at least we tried.” Nicholas nudges your arm.

“Sorry I messed up.” you say.

“It’s fine, it’s not like we knew any of the answers.” he says simply, absolving you of blame.

In the end, Hanbin and Hao are the overall winners because they had managed a point in the scream in silence game, a good score in the peppero game and a complete sweep in the quiz. Their prize is pretty fun too - a free twenty-four hours renting a yacht around the island.

“Congratulations! Now, a speech from our winners, please guys, say a few words.” Boo asks.

Hao seems too stunned to speak so Hanbin takes over, a big smile on his face.

“Woah, well we didn’t expect to do so well. We only got married in April and we’ve been too busy working to get a vacation, so it’s really amazing to get such a nice surprise. Thank you for playing everyone and thanks to our wonderful MCs!” he wraps up nicely and you applaud, smiling as they both sat down.

“Lovely!” Boo says when the clapping dies down. “Right, everyone, just before we go, we do have one more thing to announce. We have a runner’s up prize too; a romantic dinner and stargazing experience for two.”

“Sounds like a treat, right?” Hoshi chimes in. “We can now reveal that our runner up couple is…YN and Nicholas!”

You hear your names being called and you find yourself confused.

You had scored in the first game, completely failed the second, but managed to get runner up in the third, so it did in fact add up, but it still felt strange.

“Congrats, you two. See us afterwards so we can fill you in.” Boo instructs. “Well, everyone. Thank you for a delightful afternoon. We hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as we always do. We’ll wish you a pleasant evening and another congratulations to all our winners! This has been Boo…”

“And Hoshi! See you later, folks!” they finish in unison. You had to hand it to them, they’d been very fun hosts and you had had a good time despite thinking you’d be stuck making awkward small talk with the Lees all afternoon. (You were almost sure that being separated from them had been the stroke of luck that had saved your day.)

“I can’t believe we actually won something. What a weird day.” Nicholas muses as the crowd slowly disperses.

“There are stranger things in life, are there not?” you reply, tempting him into a philosophical discussion.

“Nope, no more thinking. We got a dinner to claim.” he smiles.

In some ways it was fitting that your last night on the island would be so special.

The dinner you’d won was really amazing and you enjoyed the food thoroughly on the balcony of the largest restaurant in the resort.

You could see the stars between the clouds when they became clearer as the night grew darker. It was worth any momentary embarrassment you’d felt yesterday while competing in the couple contest.

It was getting late by the time you finished your meal so you decided to go and get some sleep since you’d be waking up early tomorrow for your flight home.

By the time you left the restaurant, a dark cover of dense clouds had converged in the sky and hid the stars from you as you slowly strolled back to the hotel.

“Aren’t you glad we came?” Nicholas asks suddenly. He’s moving with some energy despite having mirrored the way you stuffed yourself with food. You, on the other hand, were half a step behind, feeling the weight of your decisions, you had no intention of eating again for at least another day.

You thought for a moment, assessing the collection of good times you’d accumulated over the past week and a bit, then considered for a moment how the hell you were going to deal with getting back to work. Somehow, all the fun you had outweighed your incoming stress.

“Yeah, I’m glad we came.” you admit. Nicholas is smiling when he glances at you, a little proud he convinced you probably.

You seem to have spoken too soon because in the next split second you feel a series of rain drops falling on your face and then a rapid succession which gets starts to drench you before you can even react.

“Shit, you really know how to jinx things, don’t you?” Nicholas comments, squinting as the rain gets harder, but you see him smiling. You’re in the middle of a narrow street and nowhere to take cover.

“You started it!” you reply, infected by his smile. You raise a hand to shelter your eyes from the rain as you look around. There was no one else out.

“Come on!” he grabs your hand and starts running, dragging you behind him. Your legs start moving against your will and you follow him, hoping you’re headed in the right direction since it’s difficult to see in the rain.

The heavens open up torrential rain on the two of you but as you run in between the rain drops, your hand secured in Nicholas’, you can’t help but laugh when he does.

You felt so liberated for a moment.

You didn’t think about work, or the fact that the only reason you were here was because your parents had decided to derail your life, you just ran, as carefree as a kid, splashing through puddles, ruining your sundress and sneakers.

You thought about how you’d only ever seen this happen in movies; how it was some big romantic moment where the leads run and laugh and look all in love as they get drenched, but the reality was that it was exhausting, even if still a little fun, as you tried your best not to lose Nicholas in the curtain-like rain.

It only takes a minute to get to the hotel and you burst through the doors, startling the nightshift staff at the desk and you chuckle at their stunned then relieved faces.

You’re both panting, you more than Nicholas since clearly only one of you worked out, and you will your lungs not to explode as you catch your breath.

Nicholas turns to you, face lit up despite the end to your night. “You look like you just swam here.” he says, bringing a hand to your forehead to move the wet strands away. You pause for a moment, surprised by how tenderly he brushes his finger tips against your skin, pushing the hair away.

“Yeah, well, you look like a wet dog.” you retort sassily despite being short of air. It was true that you both did, drenched from head to toe and to the bone.

“Okay, I’ll acknowledge it, let’s go shower before we catch a cold.”

You get back to your room, feeling a little guilty that you’d been dripping all over the hotel’s plush carpets, but you had no choice.

“You can go first.” Nicholas says, already unbuttoning his soaked through shirt.

“What about you though?” you ask, taking off your shoes. “You should dry off at least, you might get cold.”

“I’ll be fine, just go.” he insists. You’re about to let it go but he sneezes, trying to cover it up with clearing his throat.

“Fine, my ass.” you sigh. “Okay, this is a simple problem so there must be a simple solution.” you say and think for a moment.

You have an idea when you spot the wolf sleeping mask peeking out of Nicholas’ toiletries baggie.

“How about this:” you start. “you take a bath and wear the mask while I take a shower? That way we both get warmed up.”

“You’re so determined to make me return to that bath, aren’t you?” Nicholas shakes his head but agrees. “Alright, I know my place by now, Mrs Wang.” he finishes by throwing off his shirt, then trudges to the bathroom, swiping the mask in passing.

You wait for a minute, hearing the water running and the sound of a belt buckle hitting the floor.

“Okay, you can come in now.” Nicholas calls out a moment later.

You creak the door open and close it behind you, eyes sweeping over the scene to make sure he was wearing the mask. Nicholas was sitting in the bath obediently, his broad back to you but you could see the mask was over his eyes.

Satisfied, your hands got busy removing your dress and underwear quickly, leaving them to hang and dry. You padded across the bathroom and hopped in the shower, starting the water.

Neither of you says anything, a less awkward silence than you thought hanging between you but you barely notice because you rush yourself to finish as quickly as possible. You stop the water and open the cabin door, stepping out so you can reach a towel off the shelf.

You glance in Nicholas’ direction in paranoia and freeze when you notice the mask is sitting on the ledge of the bath. In the process, you drop the towel, which in turn makes a moisturiser fall on the floor with a thud and the noise makes Nicholas turn around.

You lock eyes, his widening in panic.

“Ah!” you both scream when you realise what just happened, Nicholas throwing himself to face forward and you scrambling to throw the towel around yourself.

“What are you doing!” you huff, incredibly flustered as you clutch the towel to your body.

“What are you doing!” he demands, just as freaked out.

“Why aren’t you wearing the mask?” you ask, picking up the fallen moisturiser. Damn your self-care diligence.

“I was washing my hair, I had to take it off.” he explains, sitting rigidly with his back to you.

“Oh,” you get it now. “fine. Nevermind.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to turn.” he says, clearly a bit embarrassed.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter.” you shrug, forgetting he can’t see you.

“Nice tattoo, by the way.” you hear the smirk in his voice and you close your eyes. How did he manage to see that of all things in a split second?

“You better forget what you saw, or else.” you warn him.

“I’ll try but no guarantees.” he replies. That was good enough for now.

“Okay. I’m going now.” you open the door. “I hope you prune up like a raisin.” you say over your shoulder and shut the door.

You wanted to shrivel up too; become but a speck of dust, not because of embarrassment necessarily, but more like because you didn’t like what you were thinking about. There was a fraction of a second when Nicholas’ eyes widened, that you felt like you wanted him to keep looking.

You shudder at your own deprivation, blaming your busy schedule for not going out and hooking up with more people. Now you were a mess at the slightest incident.

You just hoped at least Nicholas would forget…

*apartment 520 cuz it sounds like ‘i love you’ in chinese and i couldn’t miss an op. also ‘ma cherie’ = my dear/darling and ‘mon ange’ = my angel literally in french

ALMOST FORGOT TO ADD THIS!!!! for all your meme needs <3

A/N: thanks for reading, feedback is always appreciated <3 I gotta say, i felt just a little unhinged writing some of this, Nicho's too much y'all, i'm not normal about this man. i hope this chapter gave you whiplash cuz same <3

momobani masterlist

#&team #andteam #&team nicholas #wang yixiang #nicholas x reader #&team x reader #&team fics #&team imagines #&team scenarios #momobani.writes

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aanoia · 1 year ago

Text

arms

Sirius Black x reader

Song; arms by Christina Perri

Words; 2019

Warnings; Sirius :)

I may have went a little overboard with the wedding but oh well

Please send in some requests (for ppl who have already requested I'm working on them !!)

I never thought that you'd be the one to hold my heart

But you came around and you knocked me off the ground from the start

It was no secret to anyone in Hogwarts that Sirius Black hated Slytherins. He had vowed to himself to never interact with one if not in the circumstance of an argument or prank. He’d honestly say he hated Slytherins more than he loved his best friends, and he would never ever, ever change his mind that they were evil.

Imagine the boy's surprise when he looked up from his food and his eyes momentarily caught sight of the most beautiful girl he’d ever seen. Her hair fell perfectly around her face as her eyes shined. She had the most beautiful smile and the cutest nose that scrunched up as she laughed with her friends. Everything about the girl put him in a trance, that was until his world was shook as he saw the color of her tie. How could something so beautiful be associated with something so ugly?

You put your arms around me

And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go

You put your arms around me and I'm home

Sirius’ body instantly relaxed as a familiar pair of arms wrapped around his torso. Y/n softly kissed in between his shoulder blades and sighed as she relished in his warmth. He dropped the letter he had received from his parents and put his hands upon hers, squeezing gently.

“Hello there, Siri.” Y/n greeted, her voice muffled by Sirius’ jumper.

He laughed softly, “Hello, love. What’s up?”

Sirius felt her shoulders move up in a shrug, “Missed you, is all.” She mumbled and his heart warmed. The sorting hat had to have made a mistake because this girl was no Slytherin, she was an angel sent from the heavens.

How many times will you let me change my mind and turn around

“I’m sorry, Y/n/n. I just can’t do this.” Sirius said with tears in his eyes. He watched as the love of his life wiped her own tears off her cheeks and gave him a broken smile.

“Come back to me when you’re ready, yeah?”

Sirius shook his head, “It’s not like that this time. I’m not coming back.”

“You say that every time.”

I can't decide if I'll let you save my life or if I'll drown

Sirius clutched the chest of his jumped tightly, gritting his teeth in an attempt to keep his sobs silent. His heart felt as it was being choked as the lump in his throat grew. The cool air of the night brushed its fingers through Sirius’ hair and he looked to the sky with blurry eyes, resisting the urge to just scream until his lungs gave out.

Trapped in his own bubble, he missed the sound of footsteps walking up the stairs of the astronomy tower. He missed the door opening and the loud thud of an old, hardcover book hitting the ground. All he knew was the moment familiar arms wrapped around his shoulders he broke and he finally let the sobs leave his throat.

I hope that you see right through my walls

I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Y/n quietly asked her boyfriend as he silently watched his friends play chess by the fire.

He turned his head with a small smile, “Whatever do you mean, beautiful?”

Y/n sighed and grabbed his hand, “You play with your necklace when you’re stressed out. You’ve been fiddling with it all day, Siri.”

Sirius’ smile fell and his head dropped, “It just sucks.”

Y/n gently wrapped her arms around his shoulders, pulling him into her chest. “What sucks, my love?”

Sirius let out a dramatic sigh, “Everything. My parents. Sch- wait, how are you in here?” He asked abruptly, sitting up to look his girlfriend in the face.

She smirked, “I have my ways.”

I'll never let a love get so close

You put your arms around me and I'm home

“What’s so special about her, Pads? You’ve never let a girl do this to you.” James asked Sirius as they cleaned up after Quidditch practice.

Sirius smiled as he got a familiar glint in his eyes, “She’s my Lily, Prongs. She’s my everything.”

James laughed and shook his head, sighing to himself, “Never thought I’d see my best friend genuinely be in love with a girl. I’m happy for you, mate.”

The world is coming down on me and I can't find a reason to be loved

I never wanna leave you but I can't make you bleed if I'm alone

“Sirius, you need to stop!” Y/n yelled, the rain soaking her hair, she couldn’t tell what was raindrops and what was her own tears.

“No! No, I won’t! I’m done, this isn’t working!” He sobbed, stumbling back.

“Sirius, goddamnit, I love you! I fucking love you!”

He shook his head bitterly, “No, no you don’t. The two people who are supposed to love me unconditionally kicked me out for fucks sake! No one fucking loves me, Y/n! No one!”

“I do!” She reasoned. “I do. I love you and I get it. I get why you don’t think anyone can love you but I do, Siri. Please.”

You put your arms around me

And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go

Sirius fell to his knees, his body shaking, he could barely hear her over the rain and blood rushing to his head. She knelt in front of him and wrapped her arms around his body, holding on impossibly tight.

“I need you to, please, just let me love you. I need you to- Fuck, Sirius, I need you.” She begged and he threw his arms around her as well.

“Don’t let me go, please.” Sirius whispered in Y/n’s ear.

She nodded, “I won’t. Never.”

I hope that you see right through my walls

I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling

Y/n froze as she felt Sirius tense beside her and she looked up. Her face dropped as she saw his mother angrily storming towards them.

“Come on, we must go. I’d like to go back to the castle and cuddle for a while.” She said and pulled him out of the shop and into the busy streets.

“Sirius!” They heard faintly and the man flinched.

“No, it’s okay. Come on, let’s hurry. We can stop by the kitchens and the elves like me so they’ll probably make us something if we ask nicely, yeah?” Y/n asked gently, trying to distract him and they hurried up the path.

Sirius nodded with a small smile, “Yeah. Thank you.”

“Whatever for?”

Sirius furrowed his brows, “Taking me away from my mom?”

Y/n laughed, “You’re mom? Where? Have you hit your head, Sirius?” She asked with a teasing smile.

I'll never let a love get so close

You put your arms around me and I'm home

“I’m so lucky to have you.” Sirius whispered late at night. The soft snores from James and the quiet breathing from the rest of the Marauders being the only sounds in the room.

“Yeah?” Y/n asked, smiling.

“Yeah.”

“I love you too, Sirius.”

I tried my best to never let you in to see the truth

And I've never opened up

I've never truly loved

“I’ve never, like- I’ve never-” Sirius groaned angrily, not being able to find the words.

Y/n crossed her arms, “Never what, Sirius?”

He sighed, “I’ve never done this before. And I really don’t want you to be frustrated with me because I’m trying but I don’t- I don’t know how.” He confessed and the girls face softened.

“Oh, Sirius.” She pulled him into a gentle hug. “I’m so sorry for getting angry. It’s okay that you don’t know what to do. Truthfully, I don’t either. But we’ll figure it out, okay? Together.”

Sirius nodded, finding comfort in her hugs, “Together.”

'Till you put your arms around me

And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go

“Are you sure you want to be with me?” Sirius asked randomly.

Y/n smiled at her boyfriend, “Never been more sure of anything in my life. Except for maybe Potter being a dimwit, but you know what I mean.”

“What if I hurt you?”

“I’ll put a bandaid on. Easy peasy.”

I hope that you see right through my walls

I hope that you catch me, 'cause I'm already falling

I'll never let a love get so close

“Marriage is a joyous occasion. It is connected in our thoughts with the charm of love, the warmth of home, and with all that is pleasant, as being one of the most important events of our lives. Its sacredness and unity is the most significant and binding covenant known in human relations. Sirius and Y/n, let me charge you both to remember that your future happiness is to be in mutual consideration, patience, kindness, confidence, and affection. It is the duty of each of you to find your greatest joy in the company of the other; to remember that your love pledged today must remain undivided for a lifetime.” The priest recited with a smile on his face.

Sirius smiled at his soon to be wife, a single tear slipping down his cheek. Y/n gently wiped it from his face and brought her hand back to her side with a wide smile, tears filling her own eyes.

“It is your duty, Sirius, to be to Y/n, a considerate, tender, faithful, and loving husband: to support, guide and cherish her in prosperity and trouble; to thoughtfully and carefully enlarge the place she holds in your life; to constantly show to her the tokens of your affection, to shelter her from danger, and to love her with an unchangeable love.” Sirius nodded, dedicated to fulfilling everything he just said.

“It is your duty, Y/n, to be to Sirius, a considerate, tender, faithful, and loving wife; to comfort, guide and cherish him in prosperity and trouble; to give to him the unfailing pieces of evidence of your affection; and to continue making the place he holds in your heart, broader and deeper; to support him, value him and work with him to make your marriage the very best that it can be.”

You put your arms around me and I'm home

“If you are ready to assume the obligations and duties before God, as I have defined them, you will unite your hands and pledge your love and your lives to each other.” Sirius grabbed onto Y/n’s hands, rubbing small and soothing circled onto her soft skin. The priest looked at Sirius, “Groom, repeat after me. I, Sirius, take you, Y/n, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”

“I, Sirius, take you, Y/n, to be my lawfully wedded wife.”

“To have and to hold, from this day forward.”

“For better, for worse.”

“For richer, for poorer.”

“In sickness and in health.”

“To love and to cherish.”

“For as long as we may live.”

“This is my solemn vow.”

The priest smiled, “Very good. Now bride, please repeat after me.” The two went through the same speech, having to stop a few times as Y/n’s voice cracked. “Sirius, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

Sirius nodded, “I do.”

“Y/n, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

“Of course, I do.”

The priest nodded, “Groom, you may kiss the bride.”

Sirius immediately brought their lips together as everyone cheered. Y/n wrapped her arms around Sirius’ neck, never feeling happiness quite like this.

You put your arms around me and I'm home

Taglist (if you'd like to be added comment :))

@loving-and-dreaming @1lellykins

#aanoia #romance #marauders era #remus lupin #the marauders #james & peter & remus & sirius #sirius black #sirius black x reader #sirius being sirius #harry potter #peter pettigrew #Spotify

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dingbatnix · 2 years ago

Text

Warden

Chapter 3

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 4

Are yall ready for the angst to truly begin? I am. I'm really excited to get this out. Anyway, here we go!

Enjoy!

Word Count: 1,289

Warnings: Blood, Gore, Implied Death, Implied Violence/Torture, Vague description of a panic attack, Dismemberment, ect.

It was only a few hours later that Quackity was calling for Sam to let him out of the cell, telling him that he was “done” with Dream for the day. Sam had lowered the lava as per request, and then had to wait as it bubbled down for Quackity to come back across. The avian seemed strangely…excited, and he was bloodier than usual. Sam chalked that up to the man trying to beat Dream back down into submission.

“Sam, every time he respawns, he comes back with his hybrid features!” Quackity grinned sharply up at the towering creeper hybrid and pulled out what looked like a pile of bones from his inventory. With a sickening realization, Sam saw that they were large, cyan-tinted antlers. Dream’s antlers. Some were cracked and fractured at the base, and others still had the pedicle attached to them, bits of flesh and blood and even hair clinging against the bone. Sam nearly choked. There were fourteen in total in the pile. Quackity had killed Dream seven times. How was Dream not dead? How were none of those kills not his final life?

Sam voiced as much to Quackity, concerned. If the man went overboard and killed their prisoner, well. There wouldn’t exactly be a riot, but Sam’s methods and accountability would be brought into question. He didn’t want to deal with that.

Quackity chuckled, pulling more bloody parts from his inventory and continuing to pile them on the floor. Oh Prime, was that Dream’s tail? Sam’s gut twisted, and he stepped back, staring at the chunk of bloody, visible vertebrae that stuck out from the jagged base of the long, tufted limb. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the pile of body parts and even organs that Quackity was dropping on his floor.

“Qu-Quackity, what…?” Sam couldn’t voice the words. This was…this…

Sam wanted to throw up. He knew what this was. He knew what Quackity was doing. The stump where his own tail ended stung, and the scars on his throat burned.

Quackity’s functioning eye sparkled, and he gestured to the gorey accumulation heaped between them. Sam could only stare as blood started to soak down in the creases between the blackstone tiles.

“I…I know something…useful,” Quackity paused, grinning slyly. Sam had an awful, awful idea of what the avian was about to say. He dreaded what he thought was about to come out of the avian's mouth. It was any hybrid’s worst fear, and even normal humans were wary of it.

“I know how to force respawn glitches, Sam!” Quackity suddenly crowed, shark-like teeth glinting in the redstone lamps lining the ceiling. Sam’s stomach dropped. Prime, what was wrong with Quackity?

A respawn glitch, or death glitch, as they were sometimes called, was an issue with somebody respawning and getting swamped with the residual void-magic of coming back. If you were stuck in the glitch, you would essentially be immortal, but not in a good way. Every time you died, whatever wound it was that killed you would disappear, but the pain would remain until you could get out of the glitch. If you were killed multiple times, the pain would build up until you were catatonic. Or until you went mad. Sam had seen both happen before.

He wasn’t exactly sure how somebody could get glitched, but he knew it had something to do with intent. That’s how Cannon deaths worked, at least. If someone killed you, and they were intending to kill you, then you’d lose a life. If it was an accidental death, you would respawn just fine. A little disoriented, maybe, but fine. All Sam knew of how the respawn glitch worked was that you couldn’t intentionally kill the person, but they had to die enough for there to be a large accumulation of the Void to do…something. Sam didn’t know what the next step was. He didn’t want to know.

It was something Sam had feared happening to himself, a long time ago, back when…

He shook himself. He was lucky that he wasn’t that valuable of a hybrid. He was lucky he was alive at all.

Sam shifted back subtly, hiding how sick the subject of harvesting parts from any sort of hybrid made him. Even if it was Dream they were talking about. Not even Dream deserved this.

“We’ve got an endless supply of warden parts, Sam! Isn’t that fucking ace?” The avian spread his arms out grandly, inadvertently slinging crimson droplets across Sam's blackstone flooring. "We can sell them and make a ton, dude! I've read that, if you can get them, warden drops can make some powerful potions. Sam, we have unlimited access to it all!"

Sam suppressed a shudder at the other man's words. He stood stiffly, looking down at his partner with disgust. As a hybrid himself, Quackity should know what he was saying. He should know the horrifying implications of what he was talking about. Harvesting. He wanted to harvest Dream's parts and sell them.

Sam's hands shook around the shaft of his trident, and he hissed out a dark plume of hot smoke that drifted heavily from the vents of his gas mask. His throat felt like it was on fire.

“Do what you will, Quackity, but I want no part of it.” Sam managed, turning away and breathing deeply. As a victim of hybrid trafficking himself, he wasn’t going to participate in anything like it. It hit him too close to home. It brought back memories and thoughts that he didn't want. But…it was still Dream. Dream, who was a horrible person who had no morals to speak of whatsoever. Sam wasn’t going to go out of his way to help the man, not after all he’d done.

Behind him, he heard Quackity cackle gleefully as he scraped up his pile of trophies and scampered away to clean himself up from his session with Dream. Sam let him run off. Quackity knew the way out of the prison. He could let himself out.

As soon as he was sure the man was gone, Sam rushed himself off to his quarters. The cold metal of his mask felt like it was burning against his skin, and his ears were ringing. He couldn't breathe.

Sam slammed the door of his quarters shut and practically clawed his gas mask off with violently shaking hands. He tossed it across the room, gasping in choked breaths and sinking down against the automatically-locking door. His hands found his throat, and he clawed at the armored fabric around his neck until he managed to shred through it with his sharp nails. The effect wasn’t immediate, but he felt better with nothing around his neck. It reminded him too much of his old collar.

Without his consent, Sam’s fingers wandered up to his throat and pressed against the clammy green skin. Sam shivered.

He traced the long, surgically precise scars stretching from the underside of his chin all the way down to his collarbones, hands trembling and breath still hitching. He couldn’t produce gunpowder, not anymore, not since…

Sam cut himself off, yanking his fingers away from his neck and tucking his arms around his chest. He could still produce smoke, and that’s all he needed. That’s all he needed. He couldn’t think about what—

He shook his head, cutting himself off again and whining faintly. He wished Ponk were here. Ponk always knew how to keep him from spiraling. He missed Ponk. Ponk would know what he should do in this situation. Ponk always knew what to do.

But Ponk was gone. Sam had hurt him.

His hands found his scars again, and his breathing hitched back up. What was he going to do?

#warden #angst #blood #gore #dismemberment #c!sam #c!awesamdude #c!quackity #c!dream #warden!dream #warden hybrid!dream #warden hybrid dream #still not sure how to tag this #ah well #torture #writing #enjoy!#: )#size difference

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thegrimreaper-probably · 1 year ago

Text

Chapter 9: Riptide

Masterlist

Summary: making hero names and leaving for training

Trigger warning: none that I know of

It’s now the next day after everything and the family at the store getting things for dinner. I yawn and get out of bed. I get ready since Izuku is coming over. I go downstairs and open the door for Izuku before he can knock.

“I forgot you could do that.” He says.

“Come on.” I open the door more and he walks in. I close the door and head to my room. I sit on my bed and he sits at my desk.

“I wanted to talk about-.” He stops and looks at a notebook.

“Is that my hero notebook?” I nod and he grabs its.

“I was fixing it, It’s not done but you can take it if you want.” I look at my hands not wanting to really talk about the notebook.

“Thank you Y/n. I thought it was gone, I’m really glad its still alive!”

“Yeah, anyways you wanted to talk.”

“Oh yeah! I’ve been thinking about your quirk and what had happened during the usj. I think I have a solution.” I raise my eyebrow.

“So from my understanding something happened in the water. Causing you to uh, change? And your sixth sense could prevent it!”

“So we use my weakness to prevent the worst.”

“Yes! Though we’d have to find the in between too much and too little.”

“So we’d have to do testing. Which could either go really well or really bad.”

“We’ll start with a few then go up, though I need to find a way to build something to keep on you.” He starts mumbling, I just let him finish. Ring ring, I grab my phone and see it’s Denki.

“One second.” I go to the hallway and answer.

“Hey Denki.”

“Hey! So I would ask Sero but he’s busy. Oh- not that you don’t have good taste!“

“All good, what’s the problem?”

“Do you like, “Hey name Denki Kaminari!” Or should I go with, “Hi! I’m Denki Kaminari!” Maybe something different?”

“I think the first ones good. I do have to go I’ll see you at school.”

“Okay bye!”

“Bye!” I hang up and go back to him still mumbling.

“Dude?”

“Oh- sorry! I’m gonna go home to do some research. I’ll talk to you later about it!” He goes with his notebook and I just wave. Man, it’s Sunday, school’s tomorrow.

“It's different when they broadcast the matches on TV after all, huh?” Denki says.

“So many people talked to me on my way here!” Mina says.

“Yeah, me too!” Kirishima says, why’s everyone around my desk?

“People were staring at me, too. It was kind of embarrassing!” I honestly don’t know her name.

“Isn't that normal for you, Hagakure?” Sero asks, Damn.

“Anyone notice you?” Mina asks. I nod.

“This kid went up to me and tried to punch me, same kid asked for my tooth, and then the dad yelled at me for saying no.” I say.

“I-.” Kiri stumbles.

“Your tooth??” Tsu asks.

“The kid started to cry then I felt bad. So I gave her 20 bucks.” Denki pats my back.

“…”

“She still cried.”

“Where was Bakugo for this?” Sero asks.

“She got fucking lost in target.”

“Fuka are you okay?” Momo asks.

“I just wanted a lego.”

“Here.” Momo gives me 20 bucks. I shake my head, no.

“I’ll just get my college savings.”

“For the last time a bunch of bubbles in a treasure chest is not money!” Katsuki yells at me.

“MY GREAT GRANDMA GAVE ME THAT!”

“IT STILL NOT FUCKING MONEY!”

“Shut it you two.” When Sensei get here? Everyone sits down.

“Mr. Aizawa, your bandages are gone. Kero.” Tsu says.

“The old lady went overboard with her treatment. More importantly, we're having a special hero informatics class today.” Oh no, I didn’t study for anything.

“Code names. You'll be coming up with hero names. This is related to the pro hero draft picks I mentioned the other day. The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third years, after students have gained experience and can become immediate assets to the pros. In other words, for them to extend offers to first years like you shows that they are interested in your future potential. These offers are often cancelled if that interest dies down by graduation.”

“Easy we just gotta prove ourselves!”

“Sure, and here are the totals for those with offers.” He moves to the side and shows the list.

Todoroki- 4,123 Bakugo- 3,556 Fuka- 3,118 Tokoyami- 360 Iida- 330 Kaminari- 272 Yaoyorzu- 180 Kirishima- 68 Uraraka- 20 Sero- 14

“In other years, it's been more spread out, but all eyes were on these three this year.”

“I thought I’d have none.” I say.

“Why?” Uraraka asks.

“I threatened multiple people.”

“Right, well maybe they looked pass it!”

“Todoroki's first, and Bakugo's second? It's the opposite of their placement in the sports festival.” Kiri says.

“Some people are too scared to ask for a guy, who had to be restrained on the podium.” Sero says.

“What're the pros scared of?” Denki asks.

“Katsuki alone, Katsuki with me, Katsuki with his mom, Katsuki fighting Izuku.” I reply.

“His mom?” I nob.

“Keeping these results in mind, whether or not anyone asked for you, you will all be participating in internships with pros. At USJ, you already got to experience combat with real villains, but it will still be meaningful training for you to see pros at work firsthand.”

“That why we got hero names!” Mina says.

“Can mine be a swearword!”

“No Fuka.” Suddenly Midnight comes through the door.

“Well, those hero names are still temporary, but if you're not serious about it…You'll have hell to pay later! Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society, and they end up becoming professional hero names!” She says.

“Midnight!”

“I can’t do names so she’ll do it.” He then goes into his shack.

“It will be fun!” She pass out white boards and I think of what to put. Me and Katsuki have had the same hero name since 3rd grade, so it wasn’t that hard. After a couple people go I go up.

“Riptide, stretch of turbulent water in the ocean, which is caused by the meeting of currents or sometime abrupt changes in depth. Basically comes out of nowhere and drags you into the ocean.”

“Doesn’t that cause deaths?” Midnight asks.

“Everything does.” I say back.

“This is going to scare kids.”

“Girl, fuck them kids.” Some kids holds in their laugh.

“Young lady-.” She puts her hands on her hips.

“If a name of a normal occurrence is scary to a kid then that isn’t my problem. There are much more scary thing then a name. Hell, I’m scared of orcas yet you don’t see me pissing my pants every time Gang Orca is mentioned.”

“But your naming yourself after a traumatic experience.”

“I’m going to become a villain and name myself kitten and rainbows then.” She stares at me and sighs.

“You can keep the name if you can name one other hero with a scary name. Go.” I smile.

“Midoriya.” He looks up from his board.

“Gunhead, Master Driller, Godzillo, Deatharms, Snipe, Fireblas-.”

“Go sit.” Midnight cuts him off. I sit and watch Katsuki go up. Dudes gonna make a fool of himself.

"King Explosion Murder." He holds the broad, everyone starts laughing.

“You probably shouldn't use something like that.” Midnight says.

“Why not?” He raises his eyebrow.

“You should be Explosion Boy!” Kiri yells.

“Shut up, Weird Hair!” He yells.

“What about Kem? It’s shorter.” He glared at me and I shrug.

“Lord Explosion Murder.” He says as if that’s better.

“The king part wasn’t the problem.”

“Lem!”

“Shut up y/n!”

“Damn he used your real name.” Denki says.

“Oh my god I just thought of the best one.” I get up and whisper it to Katsuki. He thinks about it and erases the board. He writes it down and Midnight smiles at it.

“Ground Zero.” (Broski dynamight or however you spell it sucks ass 💀)

“Good!” We go sit and wait for a few others to go. After that Sensei comes out.

“Now that everyone's decided on their hero names, we'll go back to talking about the internships. They will last for a week. As for where you'll have them, those who had offers from pros will be given your own lists, so you can choose from those yourself. Those who didn't have offers will choose from among forty agencies around the country that will be accepting our interns. They all work in different places and have different specialties. For example, Thirteen would be focused on rescues from accidents and disasters more than fighting villains. Think carefully before you choose.”

“Yes sir!”

“Turn in your choices before the weekend.”

“That’s only 5 days!” I says.

“How much time did you need??” Mina asks.

“I don’t know man I suck at making decisions!”

“Samee.” Sero says.

I look at my list and even though I disagree with numbering heroes. I decided I’ll only do top ones, I’m not gonna go through 3,000 something people. My highest being best Jeanest, too proper. Gang Orca? Hell no. I skip through and see Mirko. I think I’ll go with her? I mean she’s a great hero, so why not?

It’s finally time to leave. We’re all outside waiting for the buses.

“You all have your costumes, right? Remember, you aren't allowed to wear them in public.”

“Yes sir!”

“Make sure you mind your manners with the heroes at your internships! Off with you, now.”

“Yes, sir!” We all head to the bus I wait back and walk to Sensei.

“What’s wrong Fuka?”

“I know this sounds super weird but could you take this bag?” I hand him one of my bags that was heavier then the rest. He raises an eyebrow but takes it.

“His names Lenny, just get him a coloring book and he’ll be cool.” He takes a double take and I blotted to my bus. Once I’m on I grab my phone and text the gang for a bit.

Chapter 10

#bnha x reader #mha x reader #bnha #bnha quirks #bnha x shark reader #mha #bnha x y/n #shark reader #mha x shark reader #mha x y/n #mha quirks #shark quirk

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klapooon · 3 months ago

Text

19.08.2024, mr. lighthouse

(visual companion to a diary entry from 15.08.'24 describing a vivid image of my boyfriend, as seen through my mind's eye. super long entry under 'read more', stream of consciousness-ish style because I was overcome with strong emotions at the time of writing.....)

in the last fortnight I went a-fishing, I met a Mr. Lighthouse; tall and imposing, with a body littered in tiny peels of paint that seemed akin to tiny brown stars kissed on skin by the mean sun, and thick brown foliage that lent tender to his mien - tall and imposing, yet gentle was he with his light as he brought me onto his little oasis of bedrock, from which he diligently casts shine onto the unknown blue of life. I do not swim, nor have I ever known how, but deep were the colour of his words that stretched and rolled and crashed into worlds miles away than what I‘ve sailed before; electrifying were their hold, as they shot through my sails and shocked me overboard, like a gannet in a tizzy by the fish lurking below whose dart-sharp beak splits water and streaks blue in weaving columns of gas white bubbles - out of blue, I spilt and gaped hot white steam at the dizzy sky waltzing above, the taste of moonlight swallowed in artful golden- at which, bathed into blue, I marvelled before I sank, seized by thoughts of swooning whirlpools fluent in trivialities and loose lore that made my girlish head, of tiny streams and base art, well-hidden and undeciphered, now cradled in the palms of his all-seeing lantern, which sneaks so effortlessly anyhow through the cracks of my deceptive smiles and fretting hands, though nary a keeper to command its direction.

But Mr. Lighthouse, is it lonely without a lightkeeper?

As I stand there on your bedrock, surrounded by dark foliage, you tell me not but show me how the waves pummel you violently with their caresses, chipping and eating away at stones without ever bringing a gift in return; how sirens, like cruel neighbours, peek their heads out the water with a basket woven in venom in their claws, moist smiles from sweetened malice, spitting and ripping away at the garden flourishing on your sides; how divine thunder and grey fluff cast dampness on brimming blue skies so as to dim the life that never should have planted itself firm on frontiers unknown, waters windblown - in blinding vision still, circling the yonder, you set everything ablaze; in light and shadow, you dissect and repaint the world with bitterness of solitude that always ends in love and wonder, bathe it pure white and rapturous red, like a passionate fire that burns and laps at freezing skin in its desire to thaw and comfort lost men. Your lantern, with cruel memories and rainbow dreams hidden in its circuits, delivers heaven for ships and men rended by the waves of time and indifference, who, worn and weary, now drift ashore on your grassy soft beaches, the siren’s wailing a mere buzz in the distance -

Oh, Mr. Lighthouse, is it lonely without a lightkeeper?

As I stand there on your bedrock, hands sifting through your dark foliage and fingertips agog kissing your peeling paints, the sound of your mellifluous tongue, buzzing ever so foreign to my ears, carried by the wind all-enthralling - please, let me climb your stairs, dip me into your light and the ocean that hugs your firm roots -

Your lantern, your heart - I‘ll kindle their fire for you, dearly.

(for love is never rotten - share unto me your leaden shoulders, so that I may carry your pain in the tears that streak my cheeks, with you in the nest of my arms; though every wound I know not how to mend, if Orpheus is ever seized by the urge to look back, this Eurydice will stretch out her hands where he needs them the most, always.)

#personal #collage #digital collage #collage art #digital art #my work #personal thoughts

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ventihonklightice · 3 years ago

Text

period pains || sapnap

Sapnap x fem!reader

Word count: 1.5k words

Summary: Sapnap, being the amazing, super, terrific boyfriend he is, went to buy y/n tampons. needless to say, she got plenty.

Moving in with Sapnap and Dream was exciting. It got to the point where Y/n was at their house almost everyday, so it was an easy acclimation. At first, Y/n was nervous about how living with her boyfriend’s best friend would work, but it was surprisingly more manageable than she thought. She wasn’t nervous about walking around Dream anymore, though her cheeks would glow a particular shade of red after late night rendezvous with Sapnap that he pretended to not hear. Little did she know, he spared her the mockery by privately doing so to Sapnap.

Currently though on a somewhat cloudy Florida day, her boyfriend was out with said best friend and roommate before the Texan received a text.

y/n <3

do you love me

He put down his drink at the sight of the notification popping up on his phone, quirking a brow at his girlfriend’s words while his friend proceeded to eat his meal.

sappy pandas

of course I do

where’s this coming from?

Sapnap was slightly concerned, knowing Y/n to be more reserved when asking for his affirmation of love.

y/n <3

since you love me

can you pretty pretty pretty pls

get me tampons

and stuff

I am suffering

He chuckled at the multiple text bubbles that appeared on his screen, causing Dream to divert his attention from his food to his friend’s phone.

sappy pandas

oh shit

I’m sorry :((

We’ll be back in 30 or 40 minutes <3

Y/N groaned, not being able to take the pain any longer and just wanting cuddles with her boyfriend, though regardless, she appreciated his actions.

y/n <3

omg thank you

thank you

I love you so much

Sapnap smiled widely, quickly moving his fingers to text a reply. “Y/n?” Dream asked, taking yet another bite. Sapnap just nodded his head, focused on his girl.

sappy pandas

yeah yeah love you too baby

“Can we stop by Walgreens or something on the way back? She needs stuff,” he spoke to Dream who was currently scarfing down the rest of the food. He nodded his head, still chewing.

“Also, can we order her food?” Sapnap asked shyly. Dream chuckled at the comment, “oh so now I’m both your AND her sugar daddy? I’m going broke because of you two.”

Sapnap blushed, feeling bad about making the blond pay even though he almost always insisted. “I-I’ll pay for it dude, it’s not a big deal.”

Dream shook his head, taking a sip of his soda, “no. Never. I literally asked you to come here, I’m not making you pay for shit.”

The waitress came back, taking the plates and asking if we’d like a check, with the boys instead asking for a menu.

Half an our later, the pair was going across the street of the restaurant and to the drugstore. “What does she need anyways?” Dream asked, following Sapnap’s footsteps.

“Tampons and stuff,” he almost whispered, uncomfortable with the words and also not wanting others to hear him mutter them. “Oh,” Dream answered shortly as they made a bee line to the ‘feminine hygiene’ aisle. Needless to say, the men were overwhelmed.

“Why are there so many?” Sapnap asked as his eyes scanned over various pink and purple packages. “Text her and ask her exactly what she needs,” Dream suggested, eyes also scanning the products before him.

It had been five minutes and Y/N had yet to respond. Sapnap groaned, “what do I do?” His friend shrugged before a very dumb idea crossed his mind. “Just like, get a bunch.”

Sapnap looked at his friend and blinked before speaking “that’s a great idea.” They went to go grab a shopping cart before they began to fill it with various types of cotton.

“No, Sapnap that’s underwear,” Dream spoke as he saw his friend grab diaper like underwear, “it’s for bladder problems or something.”

Sapnap quickly put it back before looking at tampax, “okay but these are definitely tampons.” He grabbed those, along with several other brands and sizes. He moved onto pads, doing the exact same thing.

“This looks... fine,” Sapnap spoke as he examined the sheer amount of cotton recently thrown into the cart. He pushed the cart until reaching the candy aisle. He wanted to buy her some in hopes of making her feel better. So, he took various chocolates alongside her favorite candy and went to go grab pain relievers before approaching the register.

The cashier looked between the cart and the two men scurrying to put the period products onto the counter, forcing a muffled laugh out of Dream. “Find everything okay?” She muttered, scanning the items that Sapnap began to place on the counter, a line forming behind them.

“Uh y-yes thank you,” Sapnap stuttered, placing the candy down last.

“That’s gonna be $198.46,” she expressed as Sapnap fumbled with his debit card, Dream already carrying most of the bags. The two men hurriedly left the store.

“That was so embarrassing. There was a line and everything, oh my god those people must think I’m crazy,” Sapnap muttered, rubbing his hands over his face.

“This-This is definitely a little overboard,” Dream spoke as he slammed the trunk closed.

“It’s fine. This is fine. I don’t want her to like, not have the stuff she needs. I’d feel awful,” Sapnap spoke as he opened the passenger seat door. “Whatever you say pandas.”

Never receiving a text from Y/N, Sapnap assumed that she had been asleep. Dream helped him carry the various bags of tampons and food into the house, but thought it’d be best to let his friend carry them to his girlfriend.

So, Sapnap did so, just very loudly. He stumbled into the bedroom, his eyes landing on his girlfriend. Through the ruffling of the bags and his loud footsteps she began to stir about. “Sapnap?” She mumbled tiredly, his form looking like a blob in her sleepy daze.

“Shit, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” he whispered, gently placing down the bags by his bed before leaning over to kiss her forehead.

“Did you go to the store?” She asked, her eyes opening more and more. He scratched his neck as he looked at the bags, “yeah. I just- I just didn’t know what you needed so...”

His voice trailed off as he bent down to grab the bags, “I kind of bought a lot.” Y/N sat up slowly examining the bags with wide eyes, a hand covering her mouth to stifle her laughs.

“Baby,” she giggled, moving to get up to go towards the bags before Sapnap stopped her. “Stay put, I’ll bring the bags to you m’lady,” he spoke with a posh British accent on his last word. Y/n smiled and watched as he grabbed the bags and tossed them by her legs, finally settling onto the bed next to her.

“This is so much,” she muttered going through bag after bag, “you are so sweet.”

Sapnap turned red at her words, watching her go through them to find what she needed, “w-we could donate them or something?”

Y/n let out a scoff, stopping her movements to look at him, “literally the sweetest man. How’d I get this lucky?”

“Yeah I’m literally perfect,” Sapnap spoke sarcastically, leaning his head on her shoulder. Y/n giggled once more, finding the bag that had the reciept and pulling out the long pice of paper. Her eyes went wide as she looked at the total, “two hundred dollars!”

Sapnap snatched up the receipt before she could examine it further, “don’t worry about it.”

Y/n shook her head proceeding to dig through the bags, “and you got me candy? And medicine?”

Her eyes began to tear up as she threw her arms around Sapnap, startling him. “It was nothing,” he muttered softly, wrapping his arms around her torso gently.

“You’re the first guy that’s ever done this for me. Actually care and shit,” she sniffled, her words muffled in his chest. Sapnap’s eyes softened and he carded his fingers through her hair, “well it’s cause I love you and I think you deserve the world. And if making a Walgreens go tampon bankrupt does that, then I’m okay with it.”

Y/n chuckled at his words, pulling away to wipe tears off her face. “I love you too,” she expressed with a slightly exhausted tone. A soft smile appeared on the Texan’s features,

“D-Do you want me to run a bath or something? Or we got you food. It’s in the kitchen and I’ll grab it if you want,” he explained as he laid back onto the beg, dragging Y/n with him softly.

“Can we just lay here for a minute?” Y/n asked, snuggling further into his chest.

“Whatever you want, baby,” he mumbled, kissing the top of her head. He continued to run his fingers through her hair, eventually hearing light and steady snores from the girl on his chest. He couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.

#sapnap imagine #Sapnap x reader #Sapnap fanfiction #Sapnap fanfic #dreamwastaken imagine #dreamwastaken #dream smp #Sapnap #Sapnap x Dream #dream #mcyt #sapnap fluff

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baroquebucky · 4 years ago

Text

the 5 love languages

in which you and bucky love each other, in every and any love language possible

word count: 1.6k

masterlist

a/n: hi hi guys !! hope u all enjoy this i went overboard again srry for any typos !! :]

Bucky loved you. He loved everything about you. He loved the way you dressed, the way you cooked, the way you laughed, the way you talked. He loved every aspect of you, even when you were cranky and would stomp away from him in a fit of anger, he loved you.

You loved Bucky. You loved everything about him, the way he bit his lip when he was frustrated, the way he leaned on everything when he was standing, how his eyes would crinkle when he smiled, how he would take deep breaths when he was upset about something. You loved every aspect of him, even when he would try to shut you out and deal with things on his own.

1) gift giving

“I’ve read all the reviews it’s supposed to be so good, i hope it isn’t overhyped or ill be really upset” you pouted, setting some brownies on a plate for Bucky, putting the plate in his hand without him even asking. He smiled, thanking you silently.

“it looked good from the trailer you showed me” he spoke, eyes trained on the brownies in hand, he just wanted to eat them already.

“buck i baked the brownies for you, eat them” you laughed softly and he blushed, immediately going for a bite, chewing for a second before stopping.

“that bad huh?” You joked, about to make another comment when he cut you off, shaking his head and swallowing his bite, going in for another right after. Within seconds the piece in his hand was gone.

“oh?” You grinned and threw his head back, moaning dramatically as he finished eating the piece.

“this is the best brownie I’ve ever had in my whole life” he spoke, his face serious as he stated you in the eyes, getting up and kissing your face all over.

“Bucky!” You laughed, shoving him slightly, a smile on his face.

“I know you said you didn’t want anything but i saw this at the store and-” Bucky began, knowing you were gonna be upset he bought you something when you told him the brownies were just out of love.

“James!” You scolded him, trying to look angry but failing as a smile creeped onto you face, eyes landing on the bag he held in his hand.

“Cmon baby you’ll love it” you let out a sigh, a grin playing on your lips as you opened the bag, eyes landing on a pretty notebook and your grin grew wider.

“i know you said you wanted to start journaling so” he motioned to the book and you smiled, cheeks hurting.

“thank you bucky i love it” you kissed his cheek before setting the notebook on the table, sitting on the couch next to him and turning on the movie.

Bucky always bought you little things, he loved visiting antique shops and almost every time he brought back something to give you. His excuse being one of three:

“it was too cute to not get!”

“it made me think of you and so i had to get it”

“i figured i could have it as decoration or you would find some use for it”

You told yourself next time he bought you a gift you wouldn’t take it, and every time your heart melted at his actions and you couldn’t help it.

You would be a hypocrite, considering how often you also bought bucky little things. Getting his his favorite snacks and fruit, buying him shirts and jackets when you went shopping because you knew he’d been wanting some, getting him small decoration items because he wanted to decorate his apartment and buying him candles knowing he loved having his apartment smell nice.

2) acts of service

You and Bucky could either have nothing to do or have no time to breathe, no in between.

Bucky loved helping you when you were stressed, he loved knowing he was helping you stress out less.

He would help you with anything he could, cooking for you, helping you with your work, helping with daily chores so you wouldn’t have to worry about them and you could focus on your tasks.

You loved helping Bucky when he was busy. Being an avenger was tough work and you knew how exhausted bucky would get. You just wanted him to relax when he had the chance.

You would buy his groceries along with yours when has barely returned from a mission, bruised and battered, making him breakfast in bed and stocking his fridge and pantry. You would help clean up his wounds, scolding him when he didn’t want to, saying he would be fine and he just wanted to cuddle you.

When you were both busy you still found ways of helping each other, always trying to decrease the others load, wanting nothing but happiness for each other.

3) quality time

When you both had nothing but time you spent it together. Doing work silently, watching movies or tv shows, baking and cooking together, playing board games, anything you could think of.

Both of you loved going out to the park, walking hand in hand and enjoying the cool breeze, sitting down to watch the sunset and smiling at each other when he was caught staring at you.

You would have some spare painting supplies lying around from the time you had a bob ross night with the team, gathering them up and painting with Bucky for the night.

40’s music filling the air as the two of you talked and painted, ignoring everything except each other.

4) physical touch

Bucky was touch starved, he wanted to be held and loved.

And you did just that.

You peppered Bucky in kisses, holding hand and playing with hair, cuddling him any chance you got. You would sit next to him and lay your head on his chest, letting him wrap his arm around you and pull you closer.

Bucky would always be holding you, having his hand on your thigh while he drove or hold your hand when you went out together, sometimes just linking your pinkies together. He would drape and arm around your waist when you slept next to him, holding you securely and protecting you from the world.

Bucky loved running his fingers through your hair, braiding it absentmindedly at times, kissing your forehead when he finished.

He loved kissing you. Placing sloppy kisses all over your face because he loved hearing you giggle, quieting you with a gently kiss on your lips before pulling away and wrapping you in his arms.

You would hold Bucky when he was upset, running your fingers through his hair and kissing the top of his head. You would let him be the little spoon at times and hold him tightly, making sure he knew you weren’t gonna leave him.

5) words of affirmation

Bucky needed reassurance sometimes and that was okay, you were more than happy to tell him how much you loved him.

“you’re doing amazing bucky I’m so proud of you” you would tell him, looking him in the eyes and pulling him into your arms.

“i love you so much lovebug, you mean so much to me” he would stare at the ground, refusing to believe how lucky he was. But you would always gently lift his face, look him in the eyes and assure him that you loved him.

Sometimes he would have a rough day on a mission, he would be upset and cranky, ending your calls short as opposed to his usual bubbly and excited ones that could go on for hours. You would send him some texts, hoping to boost his mood

i love you and i know you’re doing your best

im proud of you, can’t wait for you to come home to me <3

Bucky loved them, his mood always lifting after reading them.

He would always reassure you, when you were sad, upset or just in a bad mood. He would remind you how much he loved you and how proud he was of you, telling you how far you’d come and how much you’d achieved.

“you’re so amazing and so talented angel, you can get through this” he told you, helping you get through the absurd amount of work you had.

When he was away for long periods of times he would have letters he left for you, telling you to open them on certain days so you wouldn’t miss him too much. Writing to you and telling you how much he loved you, wishing he was there to tell you himself.

Sometimes you got in your head after arguing, Bucky was always there to help you out.

“do you still love me” you whispered, eyes red and teary. You had argued an hour ago and had yet to speak to each other, giving yourselves space to calm down.

Bucky was upset, but he immediately softened at your words, moving to sit next to you and pull you into his chest, stroking your hair softly so you could calm down.

“you’re mine angel, you have me forever” he whispered, “of course i love you baby, nothing is ever gonna change that, especially not one argument.”

You both apologized, talking everything out and spending the night cuddled up. Bucky telling you how much he loved you and you telling him all he meant to you.

Five languages of love.

You thought you would only speak one, maybe two.

Bucky thought he could never learn to speak any again.

You were both wrong.

When it came down to your love for bucky and his love for you, both of you spoke all five languages, and you spoke them well, never failing to remind the other just how much you loved them.

#bucky barnes #bucky barnes x you #bucky barnes x y/n #bucky barnes drabble #bucky barnes blurb #bucky barnes x reader #Bucky Barnes fluff #Bucky Barnes one shot #Bucky x reader #Bucky x you #Bucky Barnes imagine #Bucky Barnes fanfic #Bucky imagine #soft Bucky Barnes

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parkers-gal · 4 years ago

Note

Tom x reader where reader wants to move out & live with Tom only (not with boys). Tom doesn’t want to move out, maybe Nikki has a talk with him

the one T.H.

➢ a / n | went a lil overboard, heh, but enjoy this ! sorry it took a lil while :,(

➢ wc | 2.5k <3

｡☆✼★━━ requests are closed ━━★✼☆｡

There’s too many dishes in the sink, you note. There’s so many, that they won’t all fit for one load in the dishwasher. It’s a pain, and you know nobody in this house has the patience to wait for two full loads to carry through, so you have to hand wash half of them and allow the whirring machine to do the other half.

If this were a romantic comedy, you’d have Tom standing next to you and you’d hold hands under the suds while you wash the dishes together and chat about your future. This isn’t a rom-com, though. In fact, you don’t even know where the boys are right now. You were certain they went into the den to play Call Of Duty — or whatever it is that they play — but then you thought they went into the backyard with Tessa, but now you’ve just given up on figuring their whereabouts.

Not that you’re angry at Tom for not helping, though. He did the laundry with you earlier, so you’re content with his keeping end of the deal. It’s the other four that you’re a bit fed up with. Sam had just recently joined the Holland-Osterfield-Barrett household of mates, and while you’re all the more happy to welcome him in, it also means more work. There’s a chore schedule, but sometimes someone has work in a town or a country away, and the gaps in the schedule are only ever left for you to fill.

It’s tough, considering you have your own job, but you’re content with the situation — for now. You have Tom, the love of your life, and you have the best people of your life - Harry, one of your closest confidants, and Harrison, one of your partners in crime.

There’s a lot of baggage that comes with being the only woman in a household of boys that practically grew up with each other. You love Tessa with all your heart, but it’s not like you can really gossip to her about your day.

You’re not too worried about everything, anyway. The second anniversary of your relationship with Tom is coming up; it’s only a few months away, and though you’ve been pondering the idea for awhile, you’re thinking of getting a place with Tom, on your own, without the nagging and intruding fellow in-laws (to-be, hopefully).

Six weeks, today marks, for how long you’ve been thinking about the idea, debating whether it’s valid enough to bring up to Tom, deciding when the best time to talk to him would be. He’s a hard man to navigate — getting a spot in his busy schedule is like fighting to the front of a One Direction mosh-pit. That makes it practically impossible.

But, you’re Y/N. You’re his sweetheart, his darling, his weakness. You’re the most important person in his life, and when you want to have a serious conversation with him, Tom’s all ears and eyes, attentive and caring, understanding and, hopefully, supportive.

You’re hoping it won’t take much convincing — he’s lived with these people all his life, and if it’s truly hard for him to decide, you’ll know what he really wants then.

Ringing out a few glass cups, you let them dry on a dish rack that sits on the countertop. The buzzing and whirring of the dishwasher alerts you that it’s still happily running, and you walk towards the glass sliding doors that lead to the patio and backyard. Peering out, you see all four housemates and Paddy, playing with a frisbee and wrestling with Tessa and messing around with a rugby ball on the trampoline. They look like kindergarteners on the playground, and you decide then to bring them some lemonade like a mother in summertime.

“Hope you’re all a bit thirsty,” you set the tray down with a warm smile. Sam shuts his book of poetry to smile up at you from his seat. He’s been reading for a good fifteen minutes, but you reckon he’ll hop on the trampoline when Harrison gets off. For now, he watches as the Irregulars star jumps happily with Tuwaine.

“Oh, sick,” Harry runs over with the frisbee still in his hands, reaching for a glass and taking a big gulp. Tessa’s at his feet, awaiting for the frisbee game to resume, and you pet her head for a moment before Tom runs over to you, hair matted to his forehead in sweat.

“You’re the best, love,” his hand finds the small of your back as he kisses your temple. You smile again, eyes shutting in bliss at the feeling of his lips, but his hand maneuvers you so he can reach for a glass without bumping into you.

One by one, they come over for refreshments, before picking up where they left off beforehand. Tom’s last to leave, wanting to talk to you before playing with his brothers again.

“Oh, I have to talk to you later,” you whisper, fingers tracing down his damp (sweaty) shirt with a giggle. Tom raises a brow, and you nod softly, “Just, when you have time. Now have fun,” you push him off, and though he’s still just as curious, he leaves you alone on the patio. Taking one last glance at the rowdy group of boys, you bring the tray of empty cups inside, sliding the door shut and sighing to yourself. More dishes to do.

——

Tom’s drying his hair with a purple bath towel when he comes out of the steamy bathroom. He sighs contentedly, before remembering your words from earlier. He brings it up, “What was it that you needed to talk to me about?”

He walks over to the dresser while you look up from your phone. You hum as Tom puts something away, and you shut the electronic device off, setting it on your nightstand and twisting to face his direction.

“I wanted to talk to you about… us, I guess.”

You see Tom’s movement slow, and he removes the towel from his damp curls, turning around hesitantly. You smile, waving him off, “Nothing bad, I promise.”

He lets out an inaudible “phew,” and nods. “Good.” You agree with a nod of your head, and he furthers on with the questions. “What is it, though? Is it something important?”

“I mean…” Tom places his towel on the rack before walking to the opposite side of the mattress “Sorta?” You offer, and you see the gears turn in his head. He sits down across from you, on the bed, and he smiles encouragingly, still a bit suspicious.

“Well, I’m all ears, darling.”

You smile at the familiar pet name, and with a final breath in, you admit what’s been in your head for the past few months. “I was thinking maybe we could… move out… without the boys.”

It’s dead quiet for a few beats while the words sink into his mind. You’re not sure how he’s going to react, but you watch to gauge his reaction.

His mouth opens, almost as if he’s about to say something, but then he closes it, as if he’d suddenly second guessed himself. For once, you truly can’t read him.

“I thought… I thought you liked living here?” he says softly, almost a bit saddened.

You sigh with your words, “I do! Really, I do, but…”

“But…?” He bites his lip.

“Well, I mean…” you exhale again, “We’ve been together for almost two years,” he’s still listening, “Don’t you think we should be a little more independent?”

“I mean, sure, if we were a normal couple.” He laughs at the joke, and while you do too, it’s not really genuine, but more forced for the awkward tension in the air. “I just thought you… y’know, enjoyed spending time with everyone.”

You nod understandingly. “I do, Tom. Really, I do. But… y’know, we’re not getting any younger. I just thought maybe it was time for us to get a place of our own.” It comes out as more of a suggestion, a question for him to respond to. You quietly bite your lip while Tom nods at the information he’s taking in.

He looks down at his fingers, before locking eyes with you. “Can I think about it?”

You shut your eyes softly while nodding. Tom blinks, before standing from the bed, giving you a kiss on the forehead and bidding farewell, heading downstairs for more quality time with his brothers.

——

It’s been a week since that conversation took place in your room. You didn’t think it’d go so… bad? You’re not sure if you should say that, because he didn’t exactly say “no,” he just didn’t seem enthusiastic about deciding at all.

It’s a quiet Saturday. You’re out bowling with a few of your friends, news of one of them getting engaged spreading like wildfire. She’s having a dinner party later, but for now, you’re keeping the meeting small, inviting your closest circle for the fun day at the bowling lanes.

Tom asked you if you wanted to reschedule the dinner with his family, but you insisted that arriving late would be fine. It’s only four o’clock — the Holland family likes to come for late lunch and spend the night playing games and drinking beer, until the clock strikes midnight and Paddy’s passing out in the backseat on the way back home.

At least now, only one Holland brother stays with the parents.

Somehow, someway, the conversation had shifted to you. Everyone’s gathered in the living room, scattered on sofas, couches, beanbags, armchairs, loveseats. Tom misses you at his side, but the conversation of how your work is going just reminds him of what you’d proposed a few days ago.

“How’re things with her in general, though?” Nikki, Tom’s mom, asks with a smile. The eyes shift towards Tom, and he can feel his face heating up.

“Yeah, how’re things with the lovebirds?” Harry teases.

Tom chuckles, anxiety bubbling in his stomach, twisting his. “Uh- they’re- they’re good, yeah,” he assures them, though shaky.

“You sure, there?” Harrison teases. “Did someone propose or something?”

“No, no,” Tom airily chuckles. “Nothing like that.” “Oh?” His dad picks up, “What, then?”

“She- uh…” he licks his lips out of habit. “She wants to move out. Find a place for us, she said.”

The tone in which Tom tells them lets them know that he’s a little less than enthusiastic about the whole ordeal. It’s something that raises a red flag for Nikki; it’s something that makes her brows furrow in confusion.

“Oh,” Sam breaks the silent. “I’m happy for you, bro,” he pats Tom’s shoulder.

Tom smiles, though it’s forced and a bit spaced out.

“What’re you gonna tell her?” Harry asks. “You want it too, right?”

Tom shrugs weakly. Nobody talks about his responses, his reactions. It’s all a bit unexpected, for Tom to not be on board with the next step of the relationship.

“I mean, I don’t know, really.” He confesses with a nervous laugh, running a hand through his curls. “I’d miss you all so much. I just… I don’t know, I guess I just thought she liked living here too, y’know.”

A collective number of “yeah’s” and “mhm’s” go around the room, and Tom nods nonchalantly before the conversation switches to something more exciting. For now, Nikki lets it go, just until she can get her eldest in a room by himself, and before you get home.

It’s when Tom’s getting snacks for the group that Nikki decides to offer her help in the kitchen. They’re just putting dinner in the oven and preparing appetizers, but still, any opportunity to talk to Tom.

“So,” Nikki smiles, and Tom giggles while she puts another slice of tomato on the dish they’re preparing. “Moving out, huh?”

Though her tone is teasing, Tom can’t help but get shivers. He nods, quieting down a bit. Nikki’s movements remain, but Tom stops working altogether. “I don’t want to move out.”

His mum turns to look at him, and she nods, almost as if anticipating the confession. “Why not?”

Tom clicks his tongue, looking down as if he’s ashamed of feeling this way. “I just like things the way they are right now. I know at some point, someone’s gonna move out and the clan’s gonna go our separate ways, but I don’t want to be the one to go first.”

At this, Nikki fully turns to talk to Tom, no longer making dinner. “Tom…” She wipes her hands on a kitchen towel, and Tom does the same. “You were the first to go, you know.”

His eyebrows pull together in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean,” she sighs, “Your career was first to take off. You ran out that door so fast, we couldn’t keep up.” Tom laughs, reminiscing to himself. “You’re going to keep growing,” she says softly. “You can’t stop that. You can’t stop everyone from growing apart. Sure, you might not grow apart, but you won’t always be this cute little boy band from your school days.”

“Not a boy band, mum,” Tom grumbles. The two of them share a knowing smile.

“You can’t blame yourself for growing, darling,” she steps closer, grabbing one of his hands just like he had grabbed hers the day he was first born. “You can’t expect to be the glue that holds this- this temporary situation together forever. You’re not a superhero,” the two of them laugh again, but then Tom nods knowingly, and Nikki can see a faint batch of tears spring in his eye sockets.

“No, I know, mum.” He sniffles. “I guess… I don’t know, i’ve just always been afraid of never being there when everything changes. I always come back and everyone’s a different person, just…” he searches for the words, “with the same faces.”

She nods, turning back to her dinner dish. Tom keeps his eyes trained on his hands, which are planted on the countertop.

“She loves you a lot, you know.” Nikki says after a few beats. “She just wants a bit of privacy, a bit of your relationship without your annoying brothers.”

“Annoying is right,” Tom teases. They laugh again. “Yeah, I guess I just never thought of that.” Nikki hums, and the kitchen grows silent for a few moments. “Thank you, mum.”

“For what?”

“Being there.” Tom replies. “You never gave up on me, and now… I don’t know. It means a lot to me that you’re helping me with something so important to me.”

Nikki’s eyes soften, and both of them tear up. She nods, this time breaking the silence again. “I know how much you love her,” She says quietly. “One day, she’ll be yours for forever. She’s the one — I can see it in both of your eyes.”

Tom sucks in a breath and wipes his eyes. “I know she’s the one, too.” He adds in another tomato to the dish. “She’s always been it for me.”

542 notes · View notes

xxdragonwriterxx · 4 years ago

Note

Since you liked my first request I had another idea! I feel bad asking for you to write again, so if you don’t want to def don’t feel like you have to.

I’m loving the idea of the reader being a field medic and Levi gets hurt, so reader has to take care of him. The idea is making me so soft I 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

A/N: Oh my god, how dare you ask me, a writer with their requests open, to write something 😱unbelievable, this is so rude 😂😂. Thank you so much for sending this request, I think I went a little overboard 😅but I had a ton of fun writing it, it was such a sweet ask and I loved it! The beginning is a little darker than I think you were asking for (slight warning for gore in the beginning (poor Levi 🥺)) but it has plenty of fluffy stuff after that, I promise! And I know you and I already talked about this, but I did change the setting to the Underground instead of out in the field, thank you for letting me experiment a bit! I hope you enjoy, love! Feel free to request any time!

🐉Song Recommendation: “Envy Green” By: The Arcadian Wild 🐉

Word Count: ~7.4k

Part 2 is here!

~~~

🔥Stupid Prick 🔥

Levi groaned, both in pain and frustration as he attempted to twist his wrists out of the harsh bindings that were holding him to a chair, only to gasp slightly when he felt a hot spear of pain jolt up his side and flood through his body like a lightning strike. His muscles were screaming, and his vision was starting to blur, his eyes swollen from the number of hits he had taken. His legs felt like jelly, limp and numb and useless. And his abdomen, where he had been sliced nearly in half by an angry man with a machete, felt like it was on fire, making him whimper despite his usual ability to bear through the pain soundlessly.

A cold chuckle sounding from somewhere in front of him made Levi bare his teeth, his silver eyes flashing with icy hatred despite the swelling, refusing to give his captor the satisfaction of taunting him.

“Well well well,” his captor crooned, “looks like the great Levi, ruthless leader of the most dangerous gang in the Underground, isn’t so indestructible after all.”

“Y-You b-bastard- AH!” Levi couldn’t help but cry out when the man in front of him dug his fingers into Levi’s wound, his wicked smile widening as the raven’s blood stained his fingers.

“Such language, Levi, you really shouldn’t talk to your superior that way.”

Levi bit his tongue to hold back the verbal abuse he wanted to hurl at his captor. He wanted nothing more than to tear this man limb from limb, to watch as he squirmed under his blade and begged for his life. But Levi was the one in the vulnerable position now, and even though he wasn’t used to it, he’d have to adjust.

Levi knew what kind of men he was dealing with. He had known going into this job what he was going to face, he just hadn’t expected to be on the receiving end of the man’s ire. He knew now he should’ve bypassed this job, especially since he had decided to go about it alone, but the reward his client had offered him in exchange for gathering intel on the human trafficking ring this particular man ran had been too tempting to pass up, the sum of which would’ve been enough to get him, Isabel, and Farlan to the surface.

But he should’ve known better, should’ve known that something was amiss and turned it down. Now, he was stuck in this mess, knocking on death’s door without the support of his friends because of a cheating bastard and a client who thought he could trick the strongest thug in the Underground into getting caught by betraying him before the job had even begun. Levi’s blood boiled as he thought on it, his tongue nearly bleeding with the force of which he bit it, hoping to quell the gasps and whimpers that threatened to bubble from his throat.

A sudden kick to his stomach jolted him from his concentration, ripping a choked scream from his lips as more of his blood stained the ground. He looked up, his eyes glinting dangerously to see his captor smiling somehow wider, his eyes filled with a mix of disgust and interest as he regarded the broken raven in front of him.

“Answer me when I’m talking to you.”

He hadn’t even realized the man had spoken to him. His brain felt hazy and he was starting to black out. Despite the black that was creeping along the edge of Levi’s vision, the short raven fixed a glare on the older man in front of him, never taking his eyes off of him. The look in the man’s eye made Levi’s stomach twist, but he forced down his nausea and tried to focus on finding a way out of here as they stared at each other, refusing to speak despite the pain he knew was sure to come the more he resisted.

“Heh, you really are a stubborn one, aren’t ya?” the greasy man asked, leaning down to Levi’s level, close enough for Levi to feel his hot, sticky breath brush uncomfortably against his face. Levi was unable to stop his nose from wrinkling or his body from shuddering at the sour stench of sweat and filth coming from him.

Again, Levi kept his mouth shut, his scowl only intensifying as the man frowned at him, silently challenging him despite his injuries. Levi knew, as he looked into that disappointed gaze that he was going to die that day, but like hell if he was going to go down begging and pleading for his life like a fucking dog. He was going to fight until he could fight no more. It was pointless, he knew that too. His body was weak and tired, his brain foggy and his nerves screaming as if they were being burned alive, but that didn’t matter to him. It didn’t matter that it was pointless to die such a painful death when groveling and begging would probably make it better, because even now, his pride stood tall, refusing to bow for anyone.

Levi watched as the man backed away from him, the scowl on his portly face darkening as he moved to a long work bench lining the opposite wall, his pudgy fingers reaching for the pistol resting on the wood.

“Pity,” the man said, pulling a magazine from his pocket and snapping open the chamber to load his weapon. “I was expecting a bit more from the greatest thug in the Underground. Sad to say I’m a bit disappointed, but not surprised. Guess we have to end this game early after all.”

Levi refused to let the man see the fear in his eyes despite his pounding heart, the insistent beating against his rib cage betraying the horror he secretly felt. He held his head up high despite every system in his body screaming at him to cower down, protect his head, his vitals, to escape and live. He forced himself to shove down every fight or flight instinct he could feel firing through his system and focused on looking the man right in the eye over the barrel of the gun, remaining unflinching as the snap of the chamber being closed echoed loudly in the room.

The man clenched his jaw in visible fury when he saw the unflinching expression on Levi’s face, and forced himself to smile wickedly when he raised the gun to shoulder height, positioning it in the right place to fire, but taking his sweet time to make it more theatrical. Levi refrained from rolling his eyes as he watched the man carefully reposition his feet and fiddle with the settings on the weapon in his hands, knowing he was doing nothing but trying to make Levi anxious with apprehension.

“Did nobody teach you how to properly load a weapon?” Levi growled, his patience wearing thin.

The man chuckled, “Eager are we?”

Levi didn’t answer, merely glaring at his captor as he continued to fiddle with the settings until he finally seemed satisfied, glancing everything over before giving a single nod of confirmation. He looked up to meet Levi’s furious gaze with a cold smile, frustration bubbling in his veins at the lack of fear he saw.

Levi knew he was done. He knew this was where his life would end, stuck in this filthy basement, away from his friends and without having ever seen the sun. He gritted his teeth, fury and despair overwhelming him in it’s intensity as he closed his eyes and thought of the people he would never see again, of the things he would never get to experience. The only thing he could hope for is that Farlan and Isabel would stay safe, and hopefully find their way to the surface, so they could enjoy the feeling of the sun for him.

Suddenly, without warning, the sound of the gun being fired exploded in the small space, making Levi flinch despite himself and nearly covering up the sound of a pained cry coming from his captor. Levi had no time to think about anything as the bullet blasted into him like a small rocket, ripping a scream from his throat as it tore through his side, opposite of his knife wound. The force of the bullet at close range made the chair he was strapped to fall back, sending him flying into the back wall behind him.

The once subtle blackness that had been teasing his vision earlier now exploded in front of his eyes, dotting his vision and obscuring the details of the room. He desperately tried to stay conscious, tears leaking from his eyes as he tried to keep them open, but it was all for naught, the pain in his system too much for even him to bear. Levi let out a final choked groan as a blurred figure moved over him, before he lost consciousness completely, the immense pain finally drifting away as his world went dark.

_______________________

Farlan looked up from the book he was pretending to read at the sound of the door slamming open, his eyes settling on a frazzled looking Isabel. Her eyes were wide and rimmed with red, and her chest was heaving as she fought for breath. She looked awful, but he figured she didn’t look much worse than he did, his own eyes dragged down by purple bags and his hair tangled and messy.

“What is it?” Farlan asked, dropping the book onto the couch and standing to meet the normally energetic red-head.

“He’s waking up!” Isabel said, beckoning for him to follow her as she turned and raced back into Levi’s bedroom, Farlan right on her heels.

The pair burst into the room, Farlan’s eyes immediately darting to his bedridden best friend, hope daring to flare a little in his chest as he saw the raven twitching in his sleep, trying to fight his way to consciousness.

“Come on, Big Bro,” Isabel murmured softly, kneeling by Levi’s bedside and reaching for his hand, “just open your eyes for us. Please, you can do it.”

They both perked up when they heard Levi start to mumble things under his breath, his eyelids fluttering as battled his fatigue. Isabel gasped when she felt his fingers clench around her own, a loud groan escaping his lips as he broke through the fog. Both friends had tears streaming down their faces while they watched with bated breaths as Levi finally managed to open his eyes with another pained moan.

“LEVI!” Isabel and Farlan both shouted in relief, wobbly smiles on their faces as their friend closed his eyes again with a small whimper before blinking them open again, his silvery hues flickering around the room as he tried to piece together where he was.

“I-Isabel? Farlan?” Levi murmured groggily, concern bleeding into his tone despite his weak state as he took in their tear-stained faces.

“Shhh, Big Bro, you’re alive. You’re alive and safe,” Isabel said, reaching up to brush his bangs from his face, beaming at the slightly annoyed scowl he threw in her direction.

“Alive? What-”

Suddenly, Levi froze, the memories of his capture and torture flooding back over him. His eyes widened as he looked wildly between Isabel and Farlan, fear swirling in his gaze as he looked at his two closest friends.

“Isabel, Farlan, you should not have come. Our client betrayed us, you have to get out of here before that maniac comes back. If he finds you here, he’ll kill you. Please, get out of here while you still can!”

Farlan quickly rushed over as Levi tried to push himself up onto his elbows, placing a gentle but firm hand on the raven’s bare chest and pushing him back down onto the bed before he could injure himself more.

“Levi, Levi, calm down,” Farlan murmured. “You’re safe, we are back home now, away from those men. You have nothing to worry about, nobody is coming to kill us. It’s all taken care of.”

Levi slowly relaxed at Farlan’s words, but his eyes were still wary, darting around the room as if waiting for it all to be a trap. He slowly started to recognize his own bedroom, and his exhaustion hit him full force, making him lay back down with a soft thump into the pillows.

“How?”

They knew what he was asking.

“Actually, Big Bro, you were-”

The sound of the bedroom door opening cut off Isabel’s explanation, everyone turning to see a young (h/c) haired woman peeking her head in, her (e/c) eyes bright as she looked at Farlan and Isabel.

“Is he awake?” She asked, her voice soft and deep; comforting.

“Yeah,” Farlan said, while Isabel nodded, the pair moving slightly so the woman could see the raven laying in his bed, his cold silver stare pinned warily on her face.

“Good! It’s about time,” she said, pushing the door the rest of the way open and slipping into the room, smiling at the trio as she made her way over to them. Levi immediately sat up as she approached, ignoring Farlan’s attempts to push him back down as he remained on high alert. Almost subconsciously, Levi’s hand drifted in front of Isabel, ready to push her behind him should things get messy, despite his injuries.

“Who the fuck are you?” Levi snapped, his muscles tensed and ready to lash out.

The woman immediately stopped and held her hands up, a warm yet confident smile playing on her lips as she appraised him, “Easy there, I’m not here to hurt you.”

Levi bared his teeth, not ready to believe a word of it until he felt a soft hand gently brush his arm. Breaking his gaze with the mysterious woman, Levi glanced in confusion at Isabel and the hand she had on his arm.

“Don’t worry Big Bro, she’s telling the truth.”

“Huh?” Levi asked, shocked that they would so blindly put trust in someone he knew they didn’t know.

“It’s true, Levi,” Farlan said softly, locking eyes with his friend. “She’s the one who rescued you.”

Levi whipped around to look at the woman again, his eyes narrowed as he looked her up and down, “What?”

“Yeah!” Isabel said, a small smile breaking out on her face. “We didn’t even know you’d been captured. She came pounding on our door late at night, holding your body in her arms.”

Levi’s head was spinning, trying to remember if he had seen her before he blacked out. His memories were foggy and distorted, but he was sure he had never seen her before. Why was she here? Why had she spent the time to save him? How did she know where he lived? His head was starting to hurt from all of the questions swirling in his mind, and the aches in his body were finally starting to revive themselves, demanding his attention the longer he stayed awake.

“W-Who are you?” Levi croaked, annoyed when the pain made him stutter.

The woman moved towards him again, ignoring his warning growl and gently reaching out to push him back into the pillows, checking his temperature with the back of her hand against his forehead.

“The name’s (Y/N),” she said, giving him a reassuring smile as she took her hand away from his face. “I’m just here to help, I promise.”

“How do I know I can trust you?” Levi asked sharply despite the fatigue that was starting to creep back into his bones.

“You don’t, but it’s not like you have much of a choice.”

Levi gritted his teeth. He wanted to argue, but he knew she was right. The experience of him and his friends were centered more on stealing and killing than healing, and she at least seemed to know what she was doing on that front.

Levi grumbled something about her already being a pain in the ass and was surprised when she let out a quiet laugh, her eyes sparkling at him as she pulled the covers up to his chin and took a few steps back to give him some room.

“Don’t worry, I get that a lot. Now, you get some sleep, your body needs it. I’ll check on you in a couple hours, alright?”

Levi didn’t respond, but she didn’t expect him too. She flashed him another smile before turning and heading to the bedroom door, closing it behind her with a soft click. Levi glanced at his two friends but they only shrugged and smiled at him.

“She’s right, you know. Get some sleep and focus on getting better, we can talk more later,” Farlan said.

Levi suddenly felt too tired to argue, his body demanding he rest so it could use his leftover energy to heal itself. Giving a slow nod, Levi relaxed into the pillows and closed his eyes, this time, unafraid to let the darkness cloud his vision as he quickly fell asleep.

_________________________

“No.”

“Levi, you need this.”

“No, I do not. Get the fuck away from me.”

(Y/N) huffed, her hands on her hips and an annoyed frown twisting her normally bright features, “Yes you do. It’s just a needle, what are you so afraid of?”

Levi scowled, “Like hell I’m letting you put a blade in me.”

“Again, it’s a needle, not a blade,” (Y/N) said, fighting against the impulse to roll her eyes. “And, if I don’t stitch you back up, then you will be at risk for serious infection. I would’ve done this when you were unconscious, but you were losing too much blood after I removed the bullet, I had no choice but to wrap it with a bandage and rely on the pressure to stop the bleeding. Just sit still and you’ll be fine. There’s nothing to be afraid of, this will feel like nothing but a few small pricks, I promise.”

“I’m not afraid,” Levi grumped, making (Y/N)’s lips twitch. He was acting like a stubborn child but it was kind of amusing, especially considering who he was.

“Oh really? Then what’s the issue?”

Levi glared at her and tried not to look impressed when she shot him one right back, refusing to scurry away with her tail between her legs like most people did when faced with Levi’s infamous silver glare.

“I don’t trust you with that,” Levi said pointedly, turning his nose up at her. He didn’t expect her to giggle.

“Oh sure, because I’d totally try to kill you now, after spending all of this time trying to heal you. What kind of moron would kill someone when they are weak and vulnerable and bleeding out on the floor of a filthy basement when you could patch them up first so they are stronger when you try to kill them? And why use a knife or a gun when you have a tiny needle and a string of sutures? I must be the smartest killer ever.”

Although he wanted to deny it, her words did make sense, and it made his lips curl upwards slightly at the corners without his permission. His intense stare met her mischievous one, her eyes glittering with barely suppressed amusement. Levi huffed and tried to ignore her as he finally let her do what she wanted, holding his breath as she peeled the sheets back to reveal his bandage covered torso.

Despite trying to appear unfazed, Levi couldn’t help but watch her from the corner of his eye as she leaned forward and gently worked on unraveling his soiled bandages and lifting them into the trash can, her nose wrinkling in disgust at the smell of coagulated blood and soiled fluids.

Levi scoffed at her reaction, but she ignored him, focusing on her work. Leaning down, (Y/N) dipped a washcloth into a bowl of water she had brought with her, and raised it to gently dab at his wounds. She paused every time he hissed in pain, and moved over the area again more slowly, carefully wiping away the mess surrounding both his bullet wound and the gash he had across his belly. She knew both would leave the largest scars he sported on his body, but she was at least confident that she could help them heal as well as possible, hopefully leaving no long term damage.

Once she was satisfied that the wound had been cleaned properly and that no signs of infection could be seen, (Y/N) reached for the needle, double checking to make sure it was clean before winding it with the sutures. She glanced at Levi as she prepared her tools, noticing his nervous expression despite his obvious efforts to hide it.

“Don’t worry, Levi. I’ve done this a million times, I promise I won’t hurt you.”

“I’m not worrying,” he snapped, but (Y/N) was glad to see his face relax a bit, his tense muscles loosening. She couldn’t tell if he was genuinely afraid of the needle or if he was just afraid of her being the one to use the needle on him, but as she leaned over him to find a starting point, she decided she was going to make sure this was the best stitching job she had ever done on anyone, just for him.

(Y/N) gave Levi a reassuring smile as she carefully pushed the needle into his skin, her eyes softening when he jolted slightly. She knew she should tell him to relax, but he already knew that, telling him would just make him more irritated. Patiently waiting for him to get a little more comfortable, (Y/N) started carefully applying the sutures, going slowly but efficiently, not wasting any time to get his wounds closed up before he could lose any more blood.

It was silent while she worked, (Y/N) focused on making sure every stitch was perfect while Levi focused on not squirming under her with each tiny prick he felt. It wasn’t so much painful as it was uncomfortable, his body itching to shove the sharp needle away from his inflamed flesh.

It wasn’t until (Y/N) was finished with his bullet wound and had moved onto the gash in his side that Levi finally found it in himself to speak, “Why are you doing this?”

“I told you, it’s to make sure the blood clots properly so you can avoid getting a nasty infe-”

“No, I mean, why are you helping me? Why did you rescue me from that basement? How did you rescue me from that basement?”

“Oh,” (Y/N) said, pausing so she could focus on the next stitch. “Well, if you must know, I was actually attempting to kill your captor when he was torturing you.”

Levi’s gaze was filled with surprise as he looked at her, “Really?”

“Mm, you know what that man did for a living, right?”

Levi nodded, “He was in the human trafficking business.”

“Right,” (Y/N) took a deep breath, her eyes dropping his gaze to train on the next stitch. “I’m from the surface. I was an apprentice for a doctor on the outskirts of the wall, used for healing the soldiers of the Survey Corps when their own infirmary got to be too full. We hosted other patients as well, but the soldiers were our most common visitors. I was trained to treat everything from a missing limb to a bullet wound.”

“So, how did you end up down here?”

“The man who shot you visited the clinic one day while my master was out. He demanded to be treated immediately for some kind of issue with his throat, but when I took him into the back and went to examine him, he knocked me out. I woke up in the dingy upstairs bedroom of the house where I found you, with fifty other people crammed into the space like sardines. I don’t know exactly how many of us were there, but if there were that many in the one room I was in, there had to have been over two-hundred throughout the whole house.”

Levi was stunned, his eyes wide as he watched the woman in his lap, his body so numb he didn’t even twitch when she inserted the needle again.

“It took me a while, but I finally managed to squeeze my way through the crowd of people and slip past the guards to reach the basement. I wasn’t expecting him to be busy, he spent most of his time in the basement since it was the one room besides the front entry that didn’t have people packed into it. But then, as I came downstairs, knife in hand, I saw you in that chair, a pistol in your face. I didn’t know you, I didn’t even know you were anyone of recognition until I met your friends, but I knew I had to help you. Whether you were trafficked like me, or someone they picked off the streets, I figured you could use an escape too, no matter what you had done to upset my kidnapper.”

“I would’ve saved you before you were shot but I only reached the basement at the tail end of your interaction with him, so by the time I had thrown my knife into his throat, you had already gone down. I thought you were dead, but there you were, trying to stay conscious despite the amount of blood you were losing. I managed to get the bullet out of you and wrap you with some bandages I found in a nearby closet, and then headed back upstairs to help the others. Once word of the ring leader’s death spread around, everything happened at once. The guards tried to hold everyone back, but without proper organized instruction from a leader, they were easily overpowered. All of the chaos proved to be a good distraction, so I was able to get both of us out without getting shot myself.”

“I managed to find your house after someone you had worked with in the past pointed me in the right direction, and that was where I met Isabel and Farlan. They let me stay only under the condition that I would help heal you.”

(Y/N) finally finished placing the last suture, and leaned back to admire her work, giving a solid nod before putting the needle down and reaching for the antibacterial cream that she could now smear over his injuries.

“To be honest, Levi, I have no fucking clue why I saved you. Something inside me just told me to. I don’t know if it was because my medical instincts kicked in once I noticed how injured you were. I don’t know if it was because I thought you may have been trafficked as well. I don’t know if it was because I wanted to spite my captor and your distraction provided the perfect opportunity. The only thing I know, is that I’m glad I saved you. No matter the reason, I’m glad you’re alive, and I’m really happy I got the chance to meet you.”

Levi was silent, his words failing him as (Y/N) rewrapped his bandages, giving a satisfied grin once he was completely put back together again. Pulling the covers back up over his bare top half, (Y/N) made sure he was comfortable before moving away to wash her hands and clean up her supplies, flashing him a warm smile once she was finished.

“Alright, now try to get some rest, okay? You can’t be moving around too much for the first twenty-four hours so you can give those stitches a chance to settle in, alright? I’ll check on you later tonight,” (Y/N) said, opening the door to his bedroom.

“I’m glad I got to meet you too.”

(Y/N) paused when she heard those words, slowly turning to face him. If it weren’t for the slight blush on his face, (Y/N) would’ve thought she had imagined the words. She beamed at him in response.

“Thank you, Levi,” (Y/N) said quietly before shutting the door behind her with a soft click, leaving Levi alone with his thoughts.

_____________________________

Something had changed in Levi after that day. He was still the same moody, stubborn asshole he had been when they first met, but (Y/N) could tell there was a subtle shift, a slight willingness to make her job just a little bit easier. He still grumbled at her and argued with her about everything, but he had started to debate with her less about his health and more about her own.

“(Y/N), have you eaten yet today?”

“No, not yet. Sorry Levi, I’m too busy trying to take care of your lazy ass.”

“Tch, brat. Here, eat. Now.”

(Y/N) looked down to see that Levi had pushed his own pitiful plate of bread scraps towards her, motioning for her to have the rest of it.

(Y/N) shook her head as she pushed it back to him, “Oh no, Levi. That’s really sweet of you, but don’t think I didn’t notice you already give your first half to Isabel. You can’t always sacrifice yourself for others, especially now. You need your strength more than ever if you want to fully recover.”

“What will you eat then?”

“I’ll pick something up in town when I go to dispose of your old bandages.”

Levi quirked an eyebrow at her, “Do you have the money for that?”

“No,” (Y/N) said with a soft chuckle and a wink.

Levi huffed a laugh but it was weaker than hers was, and his eyes were full of the concern he constantly denied he had.

“Fine, but at least take Isabel or Farlan with you. I don’t need you getting picked up again, okay, brat?”

“Aww, you really do care about me,” (Y/N) teased, her heart warm.

“No,” Levi grumbled defensively. “I just… I need you to stick around so I can get better faster. If someone else gets to you then I might be bedridden forever.”

_____________________

“Am I going to have to chain you to this bed?” (Y/N) asked, her voice stern as she stood in front of him, her hands on her hips, having caught him red-handed in trying to get out of bed yet again.

“All I want is a bath,” Levi grumbled.

(Y/N) shook her head despite the pain in her heart. She knew he had a thing for cleanliness, and that the idea of being in bed for days, wallowing in his own filth was making him itch, but a bath would just make things worse.

“I know you do, but your injuries can’t soak in water for that long. You can take a shower if you’d like though, just so long as it’s quick and you give me a moment to set your injury properly.”

Levi’s expression turned a bit desperate, “We don’t have a shower.”

Oh, right. They couldn’t afford running water. The only reason they were able to have a bath was because it was nothing more than a small tub that they would fill with water from a nearby welling system. It usually required a lot of buckets and teamwork for even one of them to get clean.

“Okay, um, how about this? Why don’t we gather some water from the well like you normally do, then separate the water from the buckets into cups, and I can help bathe you by pouring the water over your head instead of letting you soak in the tub?”

Levi tried to hide the flush that immediately burned his cheeks at the thought of (Y/N) bathing him, but he couldn’t help it. He felt a nervousness that was foreign to him at the thought, the idea of being so vulnerable with someone making him feel uncharacteristically shy.

Shaking his head, he shoved those thoughts to the side. Hadn’t he already been in a vulnerable state with (Y/N) for days? Shouldn’t he be past this point of nervousness with her? Gritting his teeth, Levi decided that no matter how anxious he felt, he was going to do it. She was being kind enough to offer to help, and he was starting to get desperate. Meeting her gaze with a determined glint in his eye, Levi nodded once and settled back under the covers obediently.

(Y/N) smiled at him, “I’ll be right back then. Please, please stay put. I promise I will be back as soon as I can.”

Levi didn’t know how, but he managed to follow her orders, impatiently waiting for her to gather everything they needed as she brought in several buckets of water, some towels, and fresh clothes for him. When she had finally set everything up, (Y/N) carefully slid her arm around Levi’s shoulders, allowing him to lean on her as they made their way into the bathroom. (Y/N) led him to the middle of the cramped room, to a chair settled beside the bathtub, allowing him to sit and grasp onto the rim of the tub.

“I’m going to undress you now. Is that okay?” (Y/N) asked softly, keeping her eyes trained on his face.

Levi swallowed thickly but nodded, trying to focus on keeping the blush from his cheeks.

(Y/N) started with his shirt, gently lifting it over his head to reveal his bandage covered torso. She paused in her undressing him to carefully unwrap his bandages before continuing on, making sure his injuries were stable. Then, she moved to his pants, her fingers light and quick, trying not to make the situation any more embarrassing than it already was. When his pants were off and thrown to the corner of the room, (Y/N) stood and moved behind him, giving him the privacy to take off his boxers on his own. When he sat bare before her, (Y/N) started to get everything else set up, keeping her eyes locked on anything but him as she worked.

Levi watched as she moved nimbly around the small space, rolling up her sleeves and reaching for the cups of water she had lined along the floor, but broke eye contact as soon as she turned to move behind him. He knew as she raised a cup above his head that the water was going to be cold, but he still couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran down his spine when he felt the water splash on his head and trickle over his skin.

Thankfully, he didn’t have long to think about the freezing water as (Y/N) squeezed some soap into her hands and incorporated it into his soft raven locks, her hands on him instantly making him feel warm. He shuddered happily at the feeling of the grime being scrubbed away and leaned back into her touch, a quiet groan escaping from between his lips.

“Good?” (Y/N) asked softly, massaging his scalp as she worked.

“Mm, very.”

(Y/N) felt pride light up every nerve in her body at his response, more motivated than ever to get him to feel comfortable again. Reaching for another cup, she poured more water over his head to wash away the suds, making sure to keep one hand cupped over his face to keep the soap from stinging his eyes. As soon as his hair was done, (Y/N) grabbed an old sponge Levi had given to her and doused it in soap, squeezing it until it was covered in white foamy bubbles, before rubbing down his back. She worked in silence, gently kneading the soap into his skin, meticulously cleaning every inch of flesh he allowed her to touch until she was at his feet, finishing her full body wash with a dramatic flourish on his toes.

“There! All done!” (Y/N) said cheerfully, grabbing a few more cups of water to make sure every last bit of soap had been washed away, not wanting to leave him itchy and uncomfortable later. Once the soap had been cleaned from his body, she started to dry him off with a towel, making sure to be extra careful with his wounds so as to avoid causing any undue pain. When she was satisfied, (Y/N) wrapped his wounds with fresh bandages and helped him hobble back to his bed.

Levi was surprised and touched to see that Isabel and Farlan had changed out his sheets while he was being cleaned and collapsed happily into the mattress, sighing blissfully. (Y/N) chuckled at him, but he was too tired to snap at her for it.

“Better, Levi?”

Levi couldn’t muster more than a grunt of affirmation, causing (Y/N) to snicker again as she pulled the blankets over him, tucking him in so he could rest. When she was completely finished, (Y/N) made her way to the door in silence, a smile on her face. She had just reached the door, trying to open it slow enough to keep it from creaking when she heard his groggy voice.

“Thank you… for everything...”

_______________________

Isabel and Farlan waited impatiently in the kitchen, Farlan at the counter, drinking a cup of tea, and Isabel pacing up and down the length of the room, nibbling on her nails as she walked.

“Calm down, Izzy,” Farlan said, trying to shove down the impulse to drum his fingers or bounce his leg. “He’ll be out soon.”

“I know!” Isabel said, her eyes bright as she ignored her friend’s words and continued to pace. “That’s why I can’t stop, Big Bro, after two whole weeks of bedrest, will finally be fully healed!”

“He’ll be better, Izzy. He still won’t be completely healthy, so you’re going to have to be more gentle than usual,” Farlan said with a stern glance at the bouncy red-head.

Isabel paused to stick her tongue out at him, making the blonde smile at her childish antics, “Stop being such a killjoy.”

Farlan was just about to argue back, an indignant look on his face, when the sound of the door opening cut them off their playful bickering.

“BIG BRO!!!”

“Levi!”

Farlan stood from his seat so fast the chair toppled over and Isabel rushed the raven-haired man, ignoring Farlan’s earlier warning and leaping into his open arms with the gentleness of a charging bull. It surely hurt him a little, but Levi did nothing more than grunt as he wrapped his arms around the girl, a hint of a smile curling his lips.

“How do you feel?” Farlan asked, approaching the pair with a warm smile on his face.

“Like shit, but… better,” Levi said gruffly, his smile widening despite himself.

Farlan finally managed to pry Isabel from Levi and gave his brother his own one armed hug, happy to finally see the normally steadfast man back on his feet.

“Yeah, he’s a stubborn one, that’s for sure. He refused to go down without a fight,” (Y/N) said, suddenly appearing behind Levi, her medical supplies packed away neatly into the small bag she had strapped across her body.

“Thanks to you,” Farlan said, leaning away from Levi and flashing (Y/N) a bright smile.

(Y/N) waved him off, her eyes bright and her cheeks flushed slightly red from the compliment, “It was nothing, really. He’s the reason I was able to escape the human trafficking ring, the least I could do was make him feel better.”

(Y/N) moved past Levi but only had about five seconds before she was bombarded by a particularly energetic red-head, nearly sent sprawling to the floor from the force of her hug.

“Thank you, for saving Big Bro.”

(Y/N) felt her heart melt into a puddle of goo in her stomach, her smile so wide her cheeks ached, “You’re welcome, Isabel. It really wasn’t anything special-”

“It was,” Levi said, cutting her off.

(Y/N) looked up, pulling herself away from Isabel as Levi approached her, an unreadable look in his eye. She couldn’t help the squeak that was ripped from her throat when he reached out to suddenly wrap his arms around her, holding her close to his now stitch-free chest.

“You saved my life, thank you.”

(Y/N) would’ve responded but found herself frozen in shock, her hands suspended in the air as she debated with herself on hugging him back or keeping her distance. She eventually managed to relax a little, her heart still pounding like a jackrabbit, and placed her hands on his back, giving him a gentle squeeze.

The hug didn’t last long, but it didn’t need to. Coming from Levi, she knew it was special, something to be treasured. The mysterious look was still in his eyes when they parted, but he turned away before (Y/N) could even consider asking what it meant.

“Alright, I should probably be headed off now,” (Y/N) said once she had finally composed herself enough to speak without sounding breathless.

“What?” Farlan asked. “You aren’t staying?”

“Yeah!” Isabel added. “You healed Big Bro, you should stay and have dinner with us, to celebrate!”

That sounded lovely but (Y/N) shook her head, “I’ve been invading your personal space for almost three weeks now, I should finally get out of your hair. Besides, I have my own home to get to.”

The trio protested but she held firm, wanting nothing more than to stay, but knowing that if she did, she might never leave. Grabbing her medical bag and a knife Levi had given her, (Y/N) made her way to the door, ready to finally head home.

“Wait.”

(Y/N) turned, her hand on the doorknob to see Levi standing in the middle of the room, as if he had been ready to follow her, his head tilted up but his eyes averted, the whispers of a light blush on his cheeks.

“When will I see you again?”

(Y/N) smiled, “Sometime soon.”

“Where will you be?”

“Around.”

“Must you always answer in cryptic phrases?”

“Must you be so serious all the time?” (Y/N)’s smile widened, her eyes glimmering with mischief. “Don’t worry, Levi, I promise we will see each other again soon. What kind of medic would I be if I didn’t check up on my favorite patient?”

Levi flushed a little darker, but his lips curled into a small smile, “You better keep that promise, brat.”

(Y/N) opened the door with a soft laugh, giving all of them one last “goodbye!” and a wink before closing the door behind her as she left the trio alone, making her way back home.

Levi stared at the door for a while, a large part of him hoping she would turn around and come back, even though he knew she wouldn’t. She had a life to get back to, people who needed her. She couldn’t waste her life down in this shithole with him, even if a selfish part of him kind of wanted that. Even so, he fully expected her to keep her promise. He would make sure to hold her to it, refusing to let this be their last time together.

He didn’t know why he felt so passionate about her, about getting to know her and being with her. He knew a part of it was because she had saved him, but another part of it was more obscure, making him feel unsure about himself for the first time since he was a small child.

It didn’t matter the reason though. He was bonded to her, and he would do everything in his power to make sure she stayed in his life. He wanted to know everything about her, and for the first time in his life, he wasn’t scared of the fact. Turning around, he was reminded that his friends were in the room with him when he looked up to see their smug expressions.

“What?” Levi asked, his brow twitching in irritation.

Farlan smiled at him, “If you don’t marry her, you stupid prick, I will.”

505 notes · View notes

spacexcowgirl · 4 years ago

Text

All About The Chase - F.W.

Fred Weasley x Reader

Summary: Y/N will do anything for her best friend—and crush—Fred Weasley. Even if that means fake dating him so he can catch the eye of her cousin.

Word Count: 6.5k

Warnings: Light swearing, one allusion to sex (blink and you’ll miss it), brief mention of intoxication (again, blink and you’ll miss it), super mean awful cousin, food, a little angsty with a happy ending,

A/N: For the anon who asked for Fred fake dating his friend to make her relative jealous! I decided to make her the twins age, and I may have went a little overboard with the cousin rivalry, but oh well. Thank you for feeding into my love of cliches! Also, I played around with using third person rather than second, it just felt right for this one. Pictures are from Pinterest.

message to be added to tags :)

When Y/N was six years old, her parents—well, Santa—got her the most amazing art set. She had always liked to draw, and now she had an array of more colors than she could even really name. When her family was set to head to her Aunt’s house for Christmas dinner, she packed up all of her new markers, a stack of fresh paper, and a few of her drawings she was most proud of to show off.

The night had started wonderfully. She got a few more gifts from her grandparents, a beautiful doll from her aunt and uncle, and enough sweets and candy to last her months. When it was time to finally eat, Y/N left all of her new toys and her cherished art set in her relatives’ living room. Y/N doesn’t remember much about the dinner—why should she? It was a decade prior—but what she does remember vividly is the excitement that bubbled up in her tiny body when her mother suggested she go grab some of her artwork to show off.

Y/N slid out of her chair and raced into the living room. Only when she got there did she find all of her finished art completely destroyed, covered in scribbles from her new markers. Her brows had furrowed and her eyes welled with tears, and that’s when she heard it. The sinister little cackle of her cousin, Annalise. Y/N turned on her heels and saw the girl, uncapped marker in hand, looking at her as if she was the most pitiful thing in the world.

Y/N returned to dinner empty handed, claiming she had forgotten the drawings at home—even though her parents were certain she hadn’t. Annalise returned with an innocent smile and a portrait of their Nan in hand—one Y/N was certain she just made with her markers—and all of the adults cooed and awed at the small girl’s talent.

A few years later, Y/N was set to star in their primary school’s theater production. Looking back, she now recognized that her landing that part had little to do with any real talents she had, and more to do with how adults always seemed to fawn over her. She was always revered as ‘just the cutest little thing!’ Which evidently preceded talent at the ripe age of eight.

Right before she was set to go on stage and deliver her three lines (that’s all a star can really handle so young, right?), she found her angel wings shredded and her halo headband bent in half. The teacher didn’t have any time to fix her costume, so in a fluster she threw out her part all together, and sent Y/N to stand with the rest of the year 3 ensemble. It didn’t take long for Y/N to catch Annalise’s eye amongst the other students, only she was smirking. Y/N had to force her eyes back out onto the crowd and desperately search for her parents to keep herself from bawling on the spot.

As if things couldn’t get any worse between the pair of cousins, when Y/N was ten, her and her parents were astonished to find a letter tucked into their usual mail, accepting her into the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The letter gave an answer to the many strange things Y/N had been able to make happen with her emotions alone, and her chest swelled with pride to learn just how special she truly was. Not to mention, this was finally her opportunity to escape Annalise once and for all.

Until, it wasn’t. Y/N didn’t know that Annalise was a witch as well until the two families spotted each other on the platform, preparing to send both of their daughters off. Neither parents had revealed the truths of their daughters abilities to the other prior, because they knew it must be kept with the upmost secrecy. Y/N’s parents and Annalise’s parents were overjoyed to know their little girls wouldn’t be all alone, and they had someone to share their apprehensions with. Y/N and Annalise were far less enthused by the news.

A little over five years later, Y/N sat in the Gryffindor Common room, rifling through beginning of the year work that had already been assigned. In the half-decade since she’d started at Hogwarts, she had managed to avoid Annalise as best she could. It turned out to be somewhat easy, seeing as they were sorted into different house. Still, whenever Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were forced into classes together, Y/N couldn’t help but feel dread pooling in her stomach. Annalise was always sure to make those classes a living hell for her.

Y/N’s attention was pulled from her work from the sound of a small group of people bounding into the common room. She glanced back over the couch, only to see her best friends—Fred and George—laughing and pushing each other around.

“She totally wants me!” Fred argued, a cocky grin alit on his face.

“Oh, please, she hates your guts, mate.” George teased back.

Fred looked as if he were about to respond, until his eyes met Y/N’s across the room. A more genuine smile found its way onto his face as he tugged his brother towards the couch, then plopped down next to her. George then took a seat in one of the chairs across from them. Y/N neatly gathered her work into a pile, knowing for certain there was no way she would make any progress with them around.

“Y/N, will you please tell my dear brother that your cousin is absolutely mad for me, she just has a different way of showing it?” Fred threw his arm lazily around the back of the couch, right behind her, as he looked at her expectantly.

Y/N couldn’t help the sour mood that the conversation immediately put her in. There was two reasons for this; one, the most obvious, any topic that involved Annalise always brought her down. She couldn’t help it, and she tried not to hate the girl, but everything about her was draining. The second reason was that Y/N was absolutely head over heels for Fred. She had been ever since he pranked Graham Montague for making her cry in third year. The idea of Fred and Annalise together was truly the epitome of her worst nightmare.

“I don’t know, she might really just hate you.” Y/N shrugged, doing her best to keep her voice even and her face straight. Her words caused Fred to scowl and George to erupt into fits of laughter.

“Oh come on, not you too!” Fred whined as he threw his head back.

“What do you even see in her anyways?” Y/N wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to the question, but she couldn’t help but ask it.

“Well, she’s quite fit.” This answer earned a swift slap to the arm from Y/N, which only made Fred snicker. “And!” He continued, persistent to point out that looks weren’t all he cared about. “She’s feisty, and smart. And, she acts completely not interested in me.”

“So that’s why you like her?” Y/N snorted.

“Ah, dearest Y/N, one day you’ll learn that it’s all about the chase.” Fred began to twiddle some of her hair between his fingers.

“There’s plenty of girls who aren’t interested in you! You could ‘chase’ any of them.” Y/N reasoned, batting his hand away.

“You’ve got that right.” George snorted, causing his brother to shoot him a glare.

“Well, even if that were true, I’ve got my sights set on her.” Fred shrugged.

“Well, if you really want Annalise to go out with you, you should just date me.” Y/N teased as she sat forward, beginning to pluck through her papers once again. When no one laughed or responded, she quickly shot her eyes up. “I’m only kidding.”

“No, no that could work.” Fred sat up abruptly and pointed a finger towards her. “Y/N, you’re a genius!”

“I’m really not.” Y/N shook her head quickly. “That might breach the list of dumbest things I’ve ever said.”

“Yeah, right, don’t forget we’ve been around you drunk, Y/L/N. That doesn’t even make the top ten.” George grinned at her, but her nerves kept her from even smiling at his little joke.

Y/N was growing desperate now, because neither of the twins were brushing off her silly joke. Fred was looking at her as if she just handed him the key to solve all of his problems, and George was doing nothing to tame his brother. Y/N glanced expectantly between the two of them as she drew her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Come on, what better way to make her jealous than to see me dating her cousin?”

Y/N had mentioned on occasion the way that Annalise always had to ruin everything for her as a child, but never in full detail. Some part of her knew if she had just been transparent about how truly awful the girl had treated her, Fred would never give Annalise a second glance. But now, he thought they were nothing more than cousins with a small childhood rivalry, and for that he could justify going after her.

“Please, Y/N,” Fred got down on his knees in front of her, dawning his best puppy dog eyes, and put his hands in a pleading gesture. “Be my fake girlfriend for a month—two, tops.”

Y/N chewed harder on her bottom lip as she gazed at him, already feeling her reluctance slipping away. She could never say no to him, especially when he looked so adorable. Y/n breathed out a sigh and dropped her head to look at her folded hands in her lap. All thoughts of self preservation and protecting her heart went out the door; she knew she would say yes to him.

“Fine.” Her voice was quiet, so much so that it took Fred a second to make sure he had heard her properly.

“Really? Just like that? I was about to start bribing you with sugar quills and a month of Herbology homework—”

“Well, if you’re offering—”

“Nope, too late. You agreed before I had to.” Fred grinned at the girl before swooping in and placing a kiss on her cheek. “Now, let’s set up some ground rules.”

Fred began to drone on about what they would and wouldn’t do. Things like holding hands in the corridors, sitting close at meals, kisses on the cheeks and forehead. Which pet names they would and wouldn’t use. Number one, though, was no kissing on the lips.

Y/N only listened halfheartedly as Fred rambled on, offering a slight head nod ever now and then to show she was in agreement. As Y/N thought over just what she had gotten herself into, she realized the next few weeks were going to be awful.

It didn’t take long for rumors of Fred and Y/N’s budding romance to swirl. She often found herself walking hand in hand with him through the corridors, light whispers trailing behind them. Often times, people she had hardly ever spoken to would come up to her and gush about how they always just knew Fred and her would be perfect together. Y/N would always politely smile, then wonder if they could hear her heartbreaking as loudly as she could.

To make matters worse, Fred was the perfect ‘boyfriend.’ Just as she always assumed he would be. He’d carry her books in one arm, swing their intertwined hands with the other, and walk her to each of her classes. At night, he’d sit with her in the library while she poured over her notes for the day—even though she knew he wanted nothing more than to be out pranking with George and Lee. She adored all of the extra time they were getting to spend together, until she’d remember that it was only temporary, and if he were lucky, he’d be doing all of these things with Annalise in a month.

It wasn’t until about three weeks into their agreement that Annalise approached her. Fred had walked her to potions that day, like he always did. He was making her laugh loudly, not caring at all about the many eyes upon them.

“It’s a wonder your mum didn’t ship you and George off when you were toddlers,” Y/n snorted. “It sounds like you two were menaces.”

“Oh, we were.” Fred nodded, a small grin on his face. “But I reckon we were the cutest babies she had so far, so she kept us around.”

Y/N snorted and rolled her eyes before nudging him lightly with her shoulder. They had finally made it to the potions classroom, so it was time for them to part. Fred handed her back her books and dropped her hand, but didn’t walk away until he had placed a soft kiss to her temple.

“Meet you outside of here after to walk to lunch?” He confirmed, but there was no need. It was the routine they had fallen into.

“Mhm.” Y/N gazed up at him, unable to contain the giddy smile on her lips. With that, he turned and began walking down the hallway, but not before shooting her a wink over his shoulder.

Y/N watched his retreating figure, a lovesick grin plastered to her face. Just when she had pulled herself from her daydreams and was about to enter the classroom, she ran hard into a firmly planted body.

“So, you and Weasley are pretty serious then, huh?” Annalise stood with her hands on her hips, a look that read as both disgust and amusement riddled on her face.

“Yeah, you could say that.” Y/N quickly recovered, hugging her books closer to her chest. This year, she had more classes with Annalise than any year prior, seeing as they both received a significant amount of O.W.L.s.

“Hm.” Annalise’s eyes trailed down the hallway where Fred had once been, before letting them snap back to Y/N. “Don’t know how you managed that.”

Y/N felt her blood run cold, but couldn’t find the energy within her to talk any further. So, she simply brushed past Annalise and into the classroom, ignoring the scoff that left Annalise’s lips when she pushed her out of the way. Y/N found her usual seat in the back and trained her eyes ahead, careful to keep her expression calm. That was, until Annalise slid into the seat next to her.

“What are you doing?” Y/N gaped at her. It wasn’t like they had assigned seats, but Y/N had always sat next to Patricia Stimpson. The girl was constantly fussing and nervous, always afraid to make a wrong move, but she certainly wasn’t the worst person Y/N could be stuck with.

“Asked Stimpson to trade seats.” Annalise shrugged nonchalantly, before a wicked grin grew on her face. “Figured we could get some good, cousin, bonding time.”

Y/N wanted to groan, but then Snape was gliding into the room and silencing everyone. She was certain this would be the longest lecture of her life.

When the class ended, Y/N didn’t wait for Fred outside. Instead, she had pushed up from her seat and hurried through the corridors, skipping lunch entirely to go wallow in her dorm room. Annalise had made the lecture a living hell, whether it be from snide comments she’d whisper over or by purposefully ruining their potion, then blaming it on Y/N. Internally, she cursed Fred—although it wasn’t really his fault—for putting her in the position to be in Annalise’s line of fire once again.

Y/N ended up avoiding Fred the rest of the day, scurrying between classes before he could find her. When she was finally done for the day, she wanted nothing more than to hide out in her dorm and cry. That’s exactly what she had started doing, too, before her door creeped open.

Y/N held her breath, assuming it was either Angelina or Alicia coming back before dinner. But, when her mattress dipped slightly from the weight of someone sitting down, she quickly spun around, coming face to face with Fred.

“Darling,” He cooed. It was a nickname he had taken to calling her ever since they started ‘dating,’ although no one was around now, and he was still using it. “What’s wrong? Have you been crying?”

“How’d you get in here?” Y/N croaked, avoiding his question entirely.

“Figured out how to get past the charm ages ago.” Fred rested a gentle hand on her knee. “Then, Ang gave me her key. Said she saw you run up her. So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong? And why’ve you been avoiding me all day?”

At that, Y/N lost it once again. Tears began streaming down her face freely, and she quickly sat up and accepted Fred’s opened arms. He raked his fingers through her messy hair and let her cry on his shoulder, gently soothing her to a place where she’d be able to speak.

“It’s just…” It was on the tip of her tongue. Y/N wanted desperately to tell him the truth about how awful Annalise truly was. But, just like when she was younger and never ratted Annalise out, she just couldn’t now. She didn’t know why it was, but it always felt like if she spoke the words out loud, then Annalise had won. “I’ve just had an awful day.”

“Snape will do that to you.” Fred tutted, clearly assuming her change in behavior post-potions was brought on by the professor. “I’m sorry, love.”

Y/N sniffled a few more times into his shoulder, wishing desperately that he was holding her in a way that wasn’t platonic. She craved nothing more than for him to want her like she’d always wanted him. But that seemed to be just a fantasy. The muggle fairytales she had been told growing up weren’t real, and the wicked witch was winning.

“Why don’t we go for a walk, get some fresh air?” Fred pulled back to look over her face, concern filled in his eyes.

“But, you’re missing dinner…”

“Eh, the house elves love me. I’ll just sneak down to the kitchens and grab something later.” Fred shrugged, a small smile now growing on his face. “You and me, we can make a whole night of it. I’ll sneak some snacks up and we can watch one of those old muggle movies you love so much.”

While Y/N was far from being completely okay, the tenderness he was exhibiting towards her made her heart swell. She knew he had plans with George and Lee that night, some big prank on a few Slytherins, but here he was, throwing it all away for her. He gently reached out and cupped her cheek, brushing a few stray tears away with his thumb. Y/N avoided his eyes, afraid that they would communicate all of the non-platonic love she felt for him, then nodded.

“Perfect.” Fred grinned before jumping up and extended his hand out to her. “Well, let’s go.”

Fred guided her the whole way out of the castle, keeping her close as they walked through the grounds. The autumn air was cool, and at the very second that Y/N shivered, Fred was wrapping an arm around her and pulling her into his side.

They walked around and talked for a little over an hour, giddy smiles on their faces all the while. Fred made her laugh so hard she abandoned all thoughts of Annalise, her mind completely filled with the tall red head beside her. He just had this way about him that could make anything that was possibly wrong seem miniscule. He reminded her of everything good in the world.

Once the sun was fully down and the temperature had dropped significantly, the two could no longer justify being outside in the cold. Fred made a show of wrapping her hands in his own, rubbing them together to bring her some warmth, before guiding her back to the castle.

They parted ways shortly, just so Fred could sneak into the kitchens and Y/N could get the movie set up in the common room. She laid out a few blankets and pillows then pushed the couch back a bit, thankful that it was a Wednesday night and most students seemed to have already gone to bed. When Fred returned, he handed Y/N a plate of food then sat down cross-legged beside her, balancing his own plate in his lap.

Y/N started the movie and dug into her food, giggling lightly at Fred’s ravenous way of eating. He had certainly been hungry earlier, but she needed him, so evidently he pushed his hunger aside. When their plates were finished, they stacked them neatly on the table behind them, before completely turning their attention to the movie.

“Okay, wait, who’s the green girl again?” Fred questioned as he pointed towards the screen, brows furrowed.

“If you would pay attention, you would know.” Y/N giggled. “She’s the Wicked Witch of The West.”

“She’s supposed to be a witch?” Fred crinkled up his nose, confusion clear on his face. “I don’t know any green witches.”

“It’s a muggle movie, Fred.” Y/N lightly rolled her eyes.

“And who’s she?”

“Glinda, the good witch.”

“Okay, I definitely know witches don’t dress like that.” Fred teased, eyeing the woman on the screen’s frilly pink dress

“Maybe I should start.” Y/N giggled, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. “Think I could pull it off?”

“Darling, you’d look beautiful in anything.” Fred winked at her, causing her face to heat up. Some part of her knew it was nothing more than harmless joking, but she couldn’t help the way he lit something alive within her.

“Ya think?” Y/N scooted a bit closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder so he couldn’t see her giddy smile.

“I know.” His voice was soft, and the two of them remained quiet for the next few scenes of the movie.

At some point, the two of them had shifted to lay down in order to get more comfortable on the floor. Fred was laying on his back with one hand behind his head, the other resting idly in between them. Y/N was sprawled out on her stomach, her face down by his feet. Every little bit her eyes would light up and she’d glance back to tell him that her favorite part was coming up, only for him to realize that every part seemed to be her favorite part. Still, he never pointed that out, but instead just smiled fondly at her and nodded.

“Ugh.” Y/N grimaced, a slight shiver running down her spine. “Those monkeys always terrified me when I was little.”

“Oh yeah?” Fred sat up now, leaning closer to her. “You scared now?”

“Psh, no.” Y/N rolled her eyes and glanced back over at him, only to find him slowly inching towards her. She pointed a finger out warningly. “Fred, don’t.”

It was no use, Fred’s hands latched themselves to her sides and began tickling her feverishly. Y/N squealed and tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but it was no use. In the process, she had flipped over onto her back and was now kicking her legs out, trying to get him to stop, but that only egged him on further.

“You sure you’re not scared, Y/L/N?” Fred teased. “I could comfort you, if you were.”

“Freddie! Stop!” Y/N breathed out, tears beginning to pool in her eyes from her laughter.

Y/N now had the front of his jumper balled in her fists, trying desperately to get him to stop. After another minute, he did, and her wriggling ceased. Still, he loomed over top of her while she gripped onto his jumper tightly. Both of them were silent as they stared into each other’s eyes, faces only inches apart. For half a second, Y/N swore she saw Fred’s eyes flicker down to her lips, but then she convinced herself she must have dreamed it.

The sounds of the movie seemed to draw them back to the present, and Y/N let go of Fred’s jumper, causing him to sit up. She followed suit, clearing her throat in hopes of easing the tension between them. Fred was never one to let any awkwardness linger, so he nudged her with his elbow before laying back down in the spot he had been before.

“Cuddle up, Y/N. I’ll keep you safe from the big scary winged monkeys.” He winked as he opened his arms for her.

Y/N rolled her eyes lightly, trying desperately to calm the nerves in her stomach, before obliging and cuddling into his side. She let her head rest on his chest, her hand placed just over his heart, as he tightened his arm around her. Y/N found that she couldn’t pay attention to the rest of the movie, what with Fred pulling a blanket up around them and gently stroking her hair. She was lulled to sleep by the action, finding that she wished every night, she could fall asleep in his arms.

The two were startled awake the next morning by a bout of loud laughter. As Y/N quickly sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, she spotted George, fully dressed in his school uniform, gazing down at them with an amused grin. Fred groaned from where he still laid on the floor, pulling a pillow over his face to block out the light.

“And what’s this?” George cocked his head to the side. “You guys are really taking this ‘fake dating’ thing pretty seriously. Honestly, you’ve got me convinced.”

Fred shot up quickly at that, nervously looking around the common room to make sure no one heard. When he realized it was only the three of them, he let out a breath of relief.

“Come off it, will you? We just fell asleep after watching a movie.” Fred shot his brother a glare.

Y/N felt sick at the reminder that everything between them was fake. Every little moment she had foolishly convinced herself could mean something more was nothing but wishful thinking. Drawing in a deep sigh, Y/N forced herself up and gestured for Fred to move with a flick of her wand. Once he obliged, she flicked her wand again and gathered all of the blankets and pillows before pushing the couch back. Without another word, she stalked back up the steps to her dorm, and prepared herself for another long day.

When Y/N arrived to the potions classroom, her stomach dropped at the sight of Annalise once again in the seat next to her usual one. She gazed around the room, grumbling slightly when she realized she had no other choice but to sit next to the girl.

“Wow, you look like hell.” Annalise sneered when she trudged over.

“Probably because I was up all night with Fred.” Y/N shot back, before truly registering her words. “Not… Not like that.”

Annalise snorted at the insinuation and rolled her eyes. It seemed she was about to say something, no doubt some snide comment, but was cut off by Snape walking into the room. Y/N straightened up and began to listen to the professor drone on, her stomach twisting in knots when she realized what that day’s lecture would entail. A cauldron sat at the front of the classroom, an alluring steam rising off of it. Y/N knew, it was Amortentia.

After giving a brief lecture on it, Snape used his wand to lift the cauldron in the air, slowly letting it stop by each desk for the students to gaze at. He appeared completely uninterested by the kids’ excitement from what they smelled. Finally, it arrived at Y/N and Annalise’s table.

Y/N leaned forward and took a breath in, her nose being filled with the scent of fireworks, chocolate, and the shampoo Fred used. She sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, not needing the reminder that she felt so deeply for someone who didn’t return her affections.

Annalise leaned forward and breathed in a deep breath, a dreamy smile gracing her face. Her eyes flickered towards the front of the classroom, finding Snape deep in conversation with another Ravenclaw student. Quickly, she pulled an empty glass bottle from her bag and dipped it into the cauldron, filling it entirely.

“What’re you doing?” Y/N hissed, sitting up abruptly.

“I’m gonna use it as perfume. So everyone smells what they’re attracted to on me, and wants to be around me.” Annalise shrugged, placing a cork on the bottle and sliding it back into her bag. Y/N knew she could get in loads of trouble for carrying such a dangerous and potent potion, yet she didn’t speak up to turn her in. “Professor Snape, we’re all done back here!”

And with that, Snape was whisking the cauldron away and carrying on with his lecture. Y/N watched Annalise out of the corner of her eye, certain she was up to something from the glint in her eye. Still, like always, she stayed silent.

A week later, all thoughts of Annalise’s odd behavior had completely left Y/N’s mind. She was so caught up in falling for Fred even more each day, she could hardly focus on anything else. The fact that he hadn’t brought up Annalise once since their movie night didn’t go unnoticed to her, and she found herself chasing the familiar hope that maybe he was starting to fall for her too.

“I’ve gotta catch up with Georgie and Lee—they’re still mad I ditched them last week.” Fred informed her as he finished his dinner. “Catch you later?”

She nodded, a bright smile lighting up her face when he swooped down and kissed her cheek before hurrying off. Y/N was so in a daze that she didn’t even notice someone slide in the seat beside her, occupying the space Fred was once in.

“Ah, so you two are still together, are you?” Annalise spoke up, making her presence known. She wore a devilish grin as she feigned a casual act, picking at her nails.

“Obviously.” Y/N rolled her eyes.

“What a shame, I just hate to be the one to tell you this.” She sighed.

“Tell me what?” Y/N’s brows furrowed as she turned to look at Annalise full on.

“Well, I’ve been wearing my perfume, you see.” She craned her neck and circled her hand, gesturing for Y/N to lean in and take a whiff. The smell was undeniable, and as much as she hated being in the presence of her cousin, it kept her reeled in. “Smell Freddie, do you?”

“Why do you care?” Y/N gritted her teeth, hating the way his nickname sounded coming from her mouth.

“Because, he doesn’t smell you.” Annalise shrugged. “In fact, what was it he told me he smelled? Right, fresh ink, my peach shampoo, and… Oh, I can’t remember. It was so hard to pay attention while he was snogging me in that broom closet.”

Y/N instantly dropped the utensils in her hand, ignoring the way they clattered to the ground. The sound drew a few eyes towards them, and Annalise simply smirked at her cousin. Y/N could feel tears welling behind her eyes, but she was also angry. At Fred, for not just telling her that he had finally gotten what he wanted. And at Annalise, for always being so dead set on ruining everything for her.

“What did I ever do to you?” Y/N heard her voice crack, and she felt just as pathetic as Annalise wanted her to feel. When she spoke again, her tone increased significantly. “Why must you always ruin everything for me?”

Some part of her knew she shouldn’t be freaking out, because this had always been the plan. She knew Annalise could never let anything be hers, so she should simply take it in stride and move on. But she couldn’t. She had been so sure that Fred and her were starting to build something real, that she’d finally be with the boy she’d crushed on for years, and now all of that hope was shattered.

“I’m just being a good cousin.” Annalise slapped a hand to her chest, feigning some sort of dignity that she certainly didn’t have. “Really, he was bound to cheat on you at some point. I just made it happen sooner rather than later. You should be thanking me.”

Y/N reached for her wand and gripped it tightly in her fist, ready to point it at her and fire off whatever hex came to mind. In an instant, fear was in Annalise’s eyes and she was cowering back. Professor McGonagall was now rushing forward, shouting her surname and ordering her to stop. In response, Y/N lowered her wand and wiped at her eyes, forcing none of her tears to fall.

“You know what, you’re not even worth it.”

And with that, she was marching out of the Great Hall, ignoring any calls of her name.

When Y/N made it back to the common room, she found George, Lee, and Fred gathered around a small table in the corner. A few other students were littered throughout the room, as well. Y/N almost just stormed right up to her dorm, intent on never speaking to Fred again, but she was sick of always letting people treat her like rubbish. So, right as she made it to the base of the steps, she turned on her heels and marched to their table, causing all of their eyes to fall on her.

“Hello, love—”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” She shouted, pointing an accusatory finger at Fred. “Godric, I know I agreed to help the two of you get together, but cheating on me? Leaving me embarrassed in front of the whole school? What is wrong with you?”

Lee and George glanced at each other with wide eyes before signally towards their steps and quietly sneaking away. This left Fred in open-mouthed shock, gaping at Y/N in all of her fury.

“I don’t know what—”

“And don’t even tell me how it wasn’t really cheating, because we weren’t really together, I know. But the rest of the school doesn’t know that! Annalise doesn’t know that! And now you’ve fed directly into her only wish of making my life utterly horrible.” Y/N fumed, although her hands were shaking slightly. “So, congrats Fred. You finally got the girl. And Annalise got what she wanted, too. Looks like you two are perfect for each other.”

After saying her piece, she quickly turned around and began making her way back towards her steps. She ignored the many sets of bewildered eyes on her, too angry and hurt to even care. She was only stopped by the feeling of Fred gripping onto her wrist and spinning her back around to face him.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Fred searched her eyes. “I didn’t cheat on you, fake or not.”

“But—”

“Annalise yanked me into a broom closet earlier, asking me to smell her neck like a bloody lunatic. So, I did, because I’m always enticed by strange offers.” He quipped with a smile, but when Y/N shot him a pointed look, he became serious once again. “Not the time? Right, okay. So, I smelled her, and I asked if she cornered me in there just to tell me she nicked your perfume, and she got all huffy, so I left. I didn’t cheat on you. I didn’t even mention it because it was too weird to explain.”

“You…” The words got caught in Y/N’s throat, all of her anger leaving her body. “You smelled my perfume?”

“Yeah, and faintly my mum’s roast, but I didn’t question it.” Fred shrugged. “Why?”

Y/N slowly raised a hand up to her mouth, gazing between where his hand still held her wrist and his eyes. Fred had never been very good at potions, so she knew just saying Annalise was wearing ‘Amortentia’ would explain very little.

“She was wearing a love potion, Fred.” Y/N spoke up, much quieter than before. “You smell what you’re attracted to in it.”

In an instant, Fred’s face was a bright shade of red and he quickly dropped her wrist. His eyes dipped down as he avoided her gaze, and Y/N realized this was the first time she’d ever seen him nervous.

“I…” Fred struggled to find words. “I don’t—I mean, I do… But I didn’t want you to—”

“Ask me what I smell in mine.” Y/N urged, cutting off his rambling. Fred shot his head back up at that, looking at her quizzically.

“What do you smell in yours?” There was a hopeful glint behind his eyes, though his words were soft.

“Fireworks, chocolate…” Y/N took a step closer to him. “And your shampoo.”

The second that Fred fully registered what her words meant, he was closing the distance between the two of them. Y/N let out a shocked giggle as he wrapped her up in his arms, pressing his lips fully to hers for the first time. Although she had seen fireworks before, and she had smelled them almost every time Fred and George were around, neither compared to what it was like to feel fireworks. Y/N’s arms wound around his neck as she pulled him closer to her, prepared to live in the moment forever if she could.

When they pulled apart, there was nothing left either of them had to say. Fred could apologize for putting her through hell for the past few weeks, and Y/N could apologize for being so harsh, but that didn’t matter to either of them at the moment. All that mattered, was they both finally realized what had always been right in front of them.

Very early on in the start of Y/N and Fred’s real relationship, she finally opened up to him about just how awful Annalise really was. His jaw clenched at everything she told him, and he quickly expressed that he never would’ve wanted to be with her had he known. Y/N assured him she didn’t care, because this time, Annalise truly lost.

Although Y/N had been quick to brush off her feud with her cousin, telling Fred it was best to just leave it alone, she couldn’t say she was surprised when she walked into the Great Hall one morning, finding Annalise cowering at her table with neon green hair. It was the exact shade she had used when they were six to ruin Y/N’s drawing. While Fred and George vehemently denied any involvement in the prank, Y/N simply placed a short kiss to Fred’s lips, and quietly thanked him.

TAGS: @theweasleysredhair @letsgotothehop @wand3ringr0s3 @sarcasticallywitty15

#fred weasley #fred weasley x reader #fred weasley x y/n #Fred Weasley fanfic

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royallyprincesslilly · 3 years ago

Text

Title: Hibiscus Kisses {6}

Chris Evans x OFC Ajali Rambaue AU {Ah-Jah-Lee, Ram-Bow}

Warning: Plot, Cursing, Angst, Blood, Lots Of Words, Death

Words: 8.3k

Summary: Ajali decides on a rash decision to go on a Disney cruise, not for her love of Disney, but because she needs time to figure things out after things get even more complicated in her complicated life. She only expected peace, quiet, tropical drinks, and an overabundance of Disney songs. What she got was more than she bargained for when the cruise of a lifetime on the brand new ship Enchantment turned into a nightmare. The only saving grace is that she’s not the only one living through the nightmare. Can Ajali survive the test of a lifetime and the dangers ahead of her, and better yet, will she finally be able to live a little?

Note: Please feel free to tell me what you think. I’m super excited to explore this one with you all. 🤗

As always, thank you so much for reading! If you enjoyed this, please LIKE, COMMENT, REBLOG! ❤️❤️

I appreciate each and every one of your guys’ support and love!

***VERY Loosely Edited/Proofread***

**Interactive**

Previous Chapters: {1} | {2} | {3} | {4} | {5} |

You must have stood at the back of the yacht for a while because the shore and the docks were barely visible at this point. Every minute that ticked by you weighed your options of just diving in and swimming back. Everything you came up with seemed fine to deal with. So what if your hair got wet and you had to go through your four-hour wash and treat routine. So what if you attracted a shark or two, you could swim. So what if everything in your bag got drenched, you could replace them.

With the number of rebuttals you came up with, you should have jumped in already. The major con that was flashing in your head in neon lettering was you are an adult and not a child who ran away from difficult situations. The sound of laughter had you turning around to see Chris laughing with Harper. He looked like he didn’t have a care in the world. Scoffing, you turned back around and crossed your arms.

Almost a minute later you felt Chris standing beside you. “If you want to swim back I’m sure you could make it.”

If looks could kill, the one you gave him should have done it. All you had to do was push him overboard to a watery grave. Chris lifted his hands to show his no threat status and that was when you walked away.

“All right folks. It’ll be another forty minutes before we arrive at the best fishing spot in all of the islands. It’s my little secret. In the meantime, you have a choice of activities. You can go down below and marine watch, stay on deck and do some pictures and sights, or go into the bubble where you are surrounded by the ocean. It is optimal for fish watching. I’ll let you folks know when we’ve arrived.”

You nodded and walked toward the steps that would lead below deck. You fully intended to get as far away from him as possible. Ignoring the way he turned to you as if he had something to say, you carefully went down the steps and to the back of the yacht. There you found what Harper was referring to. It looked like an actual bubble with two seats. Once you sat down you saw why this was mentioned as the most sought-after experience. You really felt like you were alone under the ocean and not apart from it but one with it.

You watched a school of yellow and black striped fish swim by and a small box popped up to the right of the screen with a still photo of the fish and a few listed facts.

“Moorish Idol fish. These fish commonly inhabit tropical to subtropical reefs and lagoons. These fish usually travel alone or in small schools. These fish mate for life and adult males show aggression to one another.”

Your jaw dropped. You hadn’t expected it to be high-tech. In front of you, you grabbed the flipbook and flicked through it to see a variety of sea creatures. The announcement of another fish brought your attention back to the ocean before you and that is where your eyes remained. Creature after creature swam by and up to the glass. Each one was announced and described. As they came up, you took pictures of the pretty ones you liked ready to show them to your family when you returned home.

You were so wrapped up in fish watching that you didn’t notice that you weren’t alone until it was too late. Chris slipped into the seat beside you, startling you. Your harsh glare landed on him with the force of fifty blades behind it. He wasn’t looking at you though, his eyes were glued to the water and passing reef life.

“Oh wow, Nemo and Dory,” Chris exclaimed inching closer to the glass.

That was all it took for your attention to go right back, and lo and behold there were Dory and Nemo lookalikes.

“Wow.”

Mirroring Chris’s actions you slid to the edge of the seat as well and touched the glass. They were pretty in animation but that had nothing on real life. The orange and blue were so striking up close.

“They’re even best friends in real life,” Chris quietly said.

For the next few minutes neither of you spoke again you were too wrapped up in looking at all the fish that passed by one after the other. When you’d reached a part of the ocean where life was scarce, you sat back and crossed your arms.

“Can I please explain?”

You sighed and dropped your head back to rest on the hard headrest, keeping your eyes trained in front of you.

“I promise I’m not this asshole you have me pegged as in your head.”

“So you don’t go around trying to charm women out of your panties and in your bed for notches on your bedpost?”

“God no!”

You rolled your eyes not believing one word.

“I solemnly swear that I am up to nothing but good,” Chris replied holding up three fingers.

A smirk teased your lips at the Harry Potter line he’d just repurposed for his own use mixed with the Hunger Games salute. You shook your head unable to ignore how adorkably stupid he was.

“You know those two have nothing to do with the other, right?”

Chris slyly smiled and shrugged. “It’s sorta my thing. Sleeping around and I have nothing to do with each other also.”

You snorted and shook your head. He was smooth.

“You’re real smooth, I’ll give you that.”

He sighed and turned his body more to you. “It’s a misunderstanding,” Chris began.

“Let me stop you there. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time anyone starts off with that, chances are there was no misunderstanding,” you dryly informed.

“That high? Okay, then I fall in the point one percent.”

You glared at him again but he didn’t back down, he held your glare but behind his eyes, you saw nothing but sincerity rather than the hostility you had spearing behind yours. When you didn’t object, he opened his mouth to speak again but you looked away.

“There’s no need.”

“Why won’t you let me explain?”

You knew why. If he explained and the explanation seemed plausible and he looked sincere the chances of you believing it would be eighty percent and that was high. You would then continue spending time with him because you did enjoy his company and conversation and eventually sleep with him. Maybe. Letting him explain was step one that would lead to a series of missteps. Then you’d find yourself in a situation come the end of the cruise when both of you went your separate ways. There were too many what-ifs in the air.

“Ah, I think I know. If you let me explain then this image you have of me being a womanizer who is after fast and quick ass, who would come on a cruise to chase women for a notch would be debunked. If it is debunked, then you’d have to admit that you liked spending time with me and enjoyed yourself. Then you’d have to admit that what might have happened if my phone didn’t ring wouldn’t have been a one-off. You’d have to face the possibility that there might be something here past our physical attraction.”

Well damn, you thought. For a moment your thoughts betrayed the steely animosity in your eyes and you knew your shock shone through. You quickly looked away from him and tapped into your inner Elsa while watching a school of white fish pass by. You could feel him beside you staring at you as if trying to crack your resolve. You fought against him and kept your breathing slow and steady.

“You don’t have to tell me I’m right. I know I am and it’s not because I’m a cocky prick. It’s because—,” Chris paused then sighed heavily before he continued. “I liked spending time—with you. Like really liked it and this was before anything physical happened. You’re funny and fun and not phased by this thing called fame that is wrapped around me. You probably don’t understand it, but that’s something refreshing and attractive to me.”

Unable to resist any longer, you sneakily glanced at him while wondering if any part of what he’d just said was possibly true.

“Before I came on this cruise to get away from my life—run away from my life.”

Your interest piqued. Why was he running away? Didn’t he have everything?

“My friend, the one you heard on the phone was teasing me about the reason. I didn’t want to give him the real deal so I kept quiet which led him to the conclusion that it had something to do with a woman. It didn’t but he thought it. So the phone call was him stating his opinions again, his way of life. Now I’m not condoning what he said at all but that’s his life. I didn’t come here for any of that and that night wasn’t about that for me.”

“What was it about?”

You blurted the question without a thought and once you’d asked, you regretted it. The answer wouldn’t do you any good.

Sighing, you looked back out to the water. “Don’t answer that.”

And he didn’t. The silence stretched and your thoughts did as well. You contemplated his explanation and the probability of any of it being true. He had all the reason to lie right now, but the more you thought about it the more you guessed he didn’t need to lie being who he was. He could have just shrugged and put you on the side that wasn’t a fan of his and kept it moving.

“Look,” Chris said shoving his phone to you with the text exchange between him and someone named Austin was visible.

“I know what it is to be distrustful of strangers or everyone really and proof means a lot to me. Since the burden of proof is on my side, here it is.”

You read through the exchange from a little over a week ago and sure enough, his friend Austin was scum. The irrefutable proof showed those sentiments were his and even showed Chris admonishing him for those sentiments and setting him straight. The banter that continued was Austin teasing him about his good boy behaviors. From the texts, you could tell they were close, and you could also tell that Austin was the asshole between them and Chris was possibly a good guy.

Groaning, you looked away and dropped your head back to the headrest again. You did not need this. Sighing, you closed your eyes and listened to the silence. Several minutes passed by where neither of you spoke and just when you were going to Harper’s voice came in over the ship’s intercoms.

“We have some dolphin action up here if anyone’s interested.”

“Dolphins!”

Your head snapped to Chris hearing the uncharacteristically excited squeal. Did he really just turn into a Powerpuff girl? Chris leapt to his feet and began walking toward the steps leaving you there to wonder just what kind of man he was.

A few moments later, you emerged from below and walked to the railing to see a dolphin jump out of the water in the distance.

“Oh my god!”

At that moment you felt your smallness in the world. There were so many other creatures that were bigger and yet humans always thought themselves so superior. It was baffling.

“It’s not always like this, they must be here to greet you folks,” Harper said as another jumped out and one swam up.

You dropped down to your knees and peered over the railing and marveled at the aquatic beauty.

“They’re so friendly.”

Just then, a dolphin popped up showing its long bottlenose and black eyes and in the same breath, a stream of water came at you drenching you. In your shock, you just sat there while Chris and Harper heartily got their laugh in at your expense. To add insult to injury the dolphin even sounded like it was laughing. Who could be mad though? It was too cute. You looked across the way and saw Chris snapping pictures of you with a wide smile on his face. Being alarmed, snapping at him, or even telling him to delete the pictures would have all been acceptable reactions but you didn’t react in any of those ways. Instead, you brought your attention back to the dolphins in the water. Let him take his pictures, you thought.

Twenty minutes later you were sitting at the side of the boat with your legs dangling over the edge enjoying the breeze, sun, and tranquility being on the ocean brought. There was something so serene about being in the middle of a giant body of water with creatures of plenty underneath its depths while there was nothing in sight for miles and miles. It was peaceful. The pictures you took of the horizon, the sky, and the water were breathtaking. You knew they’d make great printouts to add to your walls when you returned home. When you realized your battery was running low, you dug into your bag for one of your four fully charged portable chargers and slipped your phone into one of the many waterproof pouches you had your belongings secured inside.

Your sister liked to make fun of you for how well you prepared for things. When you went out for every day, your purse contained every possible thing you would and could need for the day. You didn’t like being unprepared for whatever you came across and that included something as minor as rain all the way to the major things like abductions. You’d been the butt of many jokes but you didn’t care.

Glancing to the other side of the yacht, you watched as Chris followed the instruction of Harper as he practiced a variety of sailor’s knots. It didn’t look like he was a novice though. You could tell he’d done it a few times before. Sooner than you could look away, Harper caught you then motioned you over. It would have been rude to ignore him, so you walked over to them and sat before them.

“Here, try your hand at sailor’s knots,” Chris suggested holding out a length of rope to you.

“It’s not as easy as it looks,” he followed up as you took it.

“You look like you’ve done it before.”

“Once or twice,” he replied.

You studied the knots surrounding Chris for a few moments then took a stab at it. From the beginning you messed it up but didn’t quit, instead, you undid it and tried again. You didn’t quit easy. That was probably why you were in your current relationship predicament. A few minutes and several failed attempts later, you held up the finished product that looked identical to Chris’s.

“So you have one of those brains where you can see something and replicate it?”

You scoffed and shrugged. “Kind of. I just pick some things up quickly.”

Chris nodded and held out another length of rope and pointed to a different pattern. “Try this one.”

You knew it was a test. You grabbed the rope and studied the new pattern that was a lot more intricate than the first. Though it was more intricate it took you a shorter amount of time to start. When you held it up for them to see, less time had passed and you hadn’t made one mistake.

“Wow,” Harper exclaimed before he chuckled.

“What can I say, I’m pretty amazing,” you joked.

Both men laughed but didn’t debate the fact.

“We’re coming up on the cove that gives me the best fish. Of course, we’re catching and releasing, but it won’t dampen the experience,” Harper informed.

Within a few short minutes, Harper had pulled up to one of the most beautiful coves you’d ever seen. The water was aquamarine crystal blue. It was so crystal like you could see several feet into it. The giant rocks that created a maze had moss growing off the tops of them that were lush green and created a nice contrast of colors. If you could have picked up this view and brought it home with you, you would have. It was that breathtaking.

You weren’t the only one thinking it, Chris was a few feet away snapping every picture he could get, only he didn’t look like a tourist. He looked like a professional travel photographer. When he dropped to one of his knees to get a different angle you just leaned against the railing and watched. The sun beaming down on him gave his hair a reddish hue which looked good on him. It even accentuated the freckles peppered along his arms. You remembered what was under that shirt of his at that second. You remembered the muscles, the hair, and the tats. It was an unexpected sight but one that you wouldn’t mind seeing again. Instantly you kissed your teeth and slapped your forehead.

“Cut it out.”

“Did you say something?”

Chris was looking at you with a quizzical expression with his camera still posed up.

“Nope, nothing.”

He didn’t look like he believed you, but slowly he went back to snapping his pictures while you tried to create even more distance between you.

“Get a grip, Ajali. It hasn’t been that long. You’re not affection starved either. Get—a—grip.”

You took a few slow breathes and focused on the scene before you. You now understood why many people said this island was a top destination for vacations.

“And we’re ready. You both said you’ve fished before, right?”

You walked toward Harper’s voice then saw he had fishing rods, buckets, gloves, and all the other supplies lying at his feet.

“I’ve done some fishing,” Chris offered before both sets of eyes landed on you.

“Never.”

“It’s not hard, I promise,” Harper assured bending for the rods. He held one out to Chris and the other to you.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll explain everything and its function. If either of you have any questions let me know.”

Harper walked a few feet away leading the two of you to a shaded portion of the yacht. Once there, he explained everything in detail. He showed the parts of the rod, showed how to put things together, explained their function, and then went on to the different kinds of bait that were available. When he began demonstrating how to hold the rod and posture you paid close attention and imitated what he did. You knew though this was something that would take some getting used to.

After twenty minutes, the three of you were in your spots ready to cast your rods. You watched Harper cast his first and it looked so fluid. You could tell he’d done this thousand of times. Then you watched Chris and though his movements weren’t as fluid, it looked like he was far from a beginner. You sighed and tried your best. The rod was heavy in your hands and affected your ability to control it and cast it perfectly. Glancing at Harper, he shrugged.

“Good enough. You got it where it needs to go.”

A soft chuckle escaped both you and Chris.

“What kind of catch do you get out here?”

Harper proceeded to explain the different kinds of fish he’d caught to Chris while you partially zoned them out. It didn’t take long for you to understand why people liked fishing. It was calming. You could leisurely do it while letting your mind drift and worries float away. Thirty minutes later it was your line that tugged first. You yelped then squeaked as you panicked.

“What do I do?”

“Reel it in,” Harper said.

The resistance on the line was giving you a good arm workout. The struggle went back and forth. You doubted this was a baby.

“This thing is strong.”

“You got it, put your back into it like Ice Cube,” Chris teased making you narrow your eyes at him. That only made him laugh loudly.

A few more moments of struggle persisted until you’d yanked the rod backward tucking it out of the water, over your head, and flopping the fish right on the deck.

“Aaaah, oh my god! I caught a fish!”

You jumped up and down excited by your success. Forgetting any prior slights you jumped closer to Chris and bumped shoulders with him.

“I did it!”

“You did.”

“Good job. This here is a Barracuda,” Harper announced.

“Ooooh Barracuda,” you and Chris said in unison like the song. The two of you giggled together before returning your attention to Harper.

“It’s not an adult, but it’s no baby either. You want a picture?”

“Yes!”

You scurried to your bag and pulled out your phone then handed it to Chris before you dropped down to your knees and bent to the fish still flopping on the deck and smiled as you’d just won the lotto. Chris laughed and took the picture a few moments later. After the first few shots, you changed poses and let him take a few more. You watched as Chris’s face went from wide smiles to solemn confusion. Just as you were going to ask if your battery died, Harper spoke.

“Do you want to do the honors of releasing it?”

“You mean touch it?”

Harper nodded and you ardently shook your head. “No thank you. I hear Barracudas like to bite.”

Harper laughed at you as he effortlessly grabbed the fish by its tail then chucked it back into the ocean.

“It was just an adolescent.”

Chris held your phone out then walked back to his rod without a word. Slight confusion washed over you as you glanced at your screen to see one of the pictures he’d just taken, but your battery was fully charged.

For the next few hours Chris barely spoke to you, but when you glanced over to him, his eyes were always on you before he looked away once yours met his. It was a complete turnaround from before. It shouldn’t have bothered or affect you at all considering the reality of things, but it did bother you a little bit. Once the three of you had had your fill of catch and release the sun was beginning to disappear. Harper caught a huge Mahi Mahi, scaled and fillet it right in front of you, and Chris showing off his impressive knife skills. He then took the fish to prepare what he promised would be the best open ocean fish you’d ever had. You were excited to see the finished product.

Once Harper had disappeared down below you walked to the cooler, took out two beers, and walked over to Chris. He was sitting toward the back of the yacht watching the rocks in silence. You sat beside him, held out the beer, and waited for him to accept it. When he took it, he wasted no time twisting off the top and taking a mouthful. You sat there in silence looking over the view.

“Who knew a celebrity could fish.”

“I’m not a celebrity all day every day. I have hobbies and free time.”

“I take it fishing is a hobby?”

“When I can get to it. Sometimes I can’t go off the grid to do it.”

You nodded and tried to picture him at a lake with a rod and bucket of bait catching fish. A soft smile spread across your face before you gulped your beer.

“What’s one of your hobbies?”

Taking a deep breath you slowly released it. “Painting.”

“You’re artistic?”

“Depends what you call artistic. I can slap some paint on a canvas and call it a day.”

Chris looked at you for a few moments. “Somehow I find it hard to believe it’s as lowkey as you’re describing. I bet you’re a modern-day Frida Kahlo.”

You smiled and shrugged. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Silence spread between you again and the two of you sipped from your bottles. It was a semi-comfortable silence.

“Are you departing tomorrow or staying on?”

You wanted to ask why he wanted to know but decided against it. “Staying on.”

Chris nodded. “Me too.”

Neither of you spoke again, instead, you watched the sky as the sun slowly began its descent behind the water. When Harper returned, the air filled with such a delicious scent that your belly grumbled loudly.

“And dinner is served. Harper placed the platter down on the table and you and Chris walked over to it. Your jaw dropped in amazement.

“What kind of kitchen do you have down there that can produce that?”

“I’ve had tons of practice.”

The Mahi Mahi that was alive less than two hours ago was now cooked to perfection and decorated with papaya, and a green salad.

“Wow, this looks mouthwatering,” Chris complimented.

“It’s nothing fancy, just some fish with a papaya and seaweed salad.”

“Seaweed salad? Oh wow. You utilize everything huh.”

“Absolutely. I can tell you more about using everything you can to not only survive but make good food,” Harper said motioning you both to sit down.

“No one is serving you here, help yourselves there’s plenty.”

The three of you dug in taking portions of fish and salad. When you took a bite of the Mahi Mahi your eyes rolled to the back of your head. “Oh my god. This is so good.”

“All it needed was some salt, pepper, and lemon. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best way.”

Chris moaned and nodded in agreement with you. “Delicious.”

As the three of you ate, Harper told you all about his travels and time living on his own on the ocean and how he’d learned to survive on little to nothing. It was so interesting to hear his story. From it, you gathered he was determined, creative, meticulous, and persevering. He didn’t let anything stop him and because of that mindset, he said he’d seen a lot of wonderful things and had a beautiful life. Listening to him speak about his loves and losses and how it was just him in the end you couldn’t help but think about your relationships.

When he began listing off the life lessons he’d learned you made note of each and every one of them. You always thought the stories of the older generations were interesting. While most of their experiences were relatable, a lot of it wasn’t because of the difference in eras. In Harper’s era being a bachelor past twenty-two was seen as taboo, yet that was the life he lived. When he spoke of when he did get married, it was to the one woman he’d loved since he was twenty years old. The woman he’d been stupid about and missed out on two times. From the way he spoke about her, you knew she was his soul mate.

Glancing to Chris who was sitting diagonally from you, part of you wondered how relatable Harper’s experiences were to him. You thought back to the very few tabloid and gossip stories you’d read about him but nothing jumped out to you. The tabloids didn’t focus on one woman that he was possibly seeing, they didn’t highlight any crazy behaviors with any of them or even highlight breakups. That was part of how you’d pieced him together. The lack of information left for such a wide breadth of possibilities to put together.

“Take it from me young ones, when you’re walking down a dimly lit street of soft lights, and you happen to find that anomaly among the sea that shines a different light and makes everything else pale in comparison you do whatever it takes to hold on to that. You fight for it and don’t let anything or anyone make you miss out on it. None of us are here for a long time. One day I’ll join my Angie and we’ll be together again. I welcome that day, until then I’ll keep drifting.”

The three of you sat there in silence, each of you lost in your thoughts and worries. Was Javii that anomaly or was he part of the sea and you’d been mistaken this whole time? When Harper returned to the helm to captain you back toward land you were secluded from the rest of them and still lost in your thoughts. It had been days since you left and you’d figured out nothing. If anything, you’d added more to your plate to think about. This was what you hadn’t wanted to do and that was the reason you chose this option rather than staying in the city.

You began to wonder again about the person who would be that anomaly that Harper spoke of. Rather than thinking of your experiences with Javii, your irresponsible mind thought of your run-ins with Chris. When you’d seen him in passing before boarding the ship you’d noticed him in the sea of people and amidst every chaotic thing happening around you. Your brain singled him out. It did it again when you saw him in passing topside when you’d met Genevieve and in the lounge club. It was something you hadn’t focused on before but now it was all you could think of.

“Get a freaking grip, Ajali!”

You smacked your head and dropped it down hunching over to hug your shins. Suddenly, you felt raindrops and those drops quickly turned into a waterfall.

“What the--,” you began holding your hands out confused how a downpour like this could just suddenly start.

Unexpectedly, the ship lurched hard to the left sending items on the deck toppling over including your beer bottle and the empty ones around it. Thinking quickly, you grabbed the railing to not tumble. Your grip was precarious thanks to the downpour and you knew you wouldn’t be able to hold on for long. Just as you were losing your grip, that was when the ship lurched again only this time to the right. With no time to grab for the railing, you tumbled over but before you hit the deck arms wrapped around you stabilizing you.

“I got you.”

Glancing up, you found Chris with rainwater pouring down his face and beard. He was holding on tightly to one of the metal poles while holding you tightly in his other arm. When the rocking went from deadly to manageable, Chris slowly let you go.

“Something must be wrong. Let’s go.”

Both of you took off on the search to find Harper. Every few seconds the rocking of the ship made items fall and roll. Chris was the one to pull you in every which direction to help you avoid the bigger items. When the ship bucked back you both slid back.

“Aaah, fuck!”

A sharp slice caught you off guard making you fall to the deck. Before Chris could react the boat rocked again sending you rolling back a few feet. When you slammed into one of the walls you shouted out in pain. Seconds later Chris was bent before you.

“Are you okay?”

His eyes quickly scanned your body and found your bleeding foot.

“Oh god.

Chris quickly pulled off his tropical printed shirt, ripped it, and began wrapping your foot.

“I’m sorry I have to do this tight to hopefully slow the bleeding,” Chris informed before he yanked the material, knotting it tightly around your injury. You tried to stifle your groan but it didn’t work. Your shout echoed across the open water and carried it competing with the downpour from the sky.

“I’m sorry. Ready to keep going? We’re almost there.”

You nodded and let Chris help you up. With his arm around your waist and yours draped over his shoulder the two of you hurried to the small enclosure where Harper was steering the boat. Every so often thanks to the falling and rolling items you and Chris looked like circus performers, jumping, dodging, and sliding out of harm's way. The way Chris managed to go into protector and alpha mode had you seeing a new side to him. Women did love a man who could take charge.

When you finally made it you found Harper passed out on the floor.

“Oh my god!”

Chris placed you along one of the windows so you could lean against it before he dropped down to his knees to check for a pulse. The longer it took him to turn to you, the more anxious you became.

“He has a pulse, but it’s thready. Looks like he may have hit his head,” Chris informed before he ripped the while men’s tank he wore at the hem and pressed it to Harper’s forehead.

On impact, Harper groaned then bolted up.

“Hey, take it easy,” Chris shouted trying to compete with the loudness of the ocean and the rain.

“No. Storm. We’re in a storm. We call these pop-ups. They happen all the time,” Harper explained as Chris helped him to his feet.

“If you knew it was coming--,” you began.

“I didn’t. No one can predict these and they’re increasingly more dangerous.”

The yacht whipped as if it were a leash sending all three of you knocking into whatever was closest. Immediately the pain that whisked through you had you screaming. That was the first time you thought you were going to die. All you could feel was pain, all you could hear was the sound of your heart beating. You slowly opened your eyes but couldn’t make anything out through the haziness. You couldn’t pinpoint where the pain in your body was coming from, it felt like it was everywhere.

“Ajali!”

Snapping your eyes open you saw Chris’s drenched and concerned face before you. “Open your eyes. Stay with me!”

It was a forceful command. One that you slowly obeyed. He helped you to a sitting position then turned back to Harper who was trying to stand to look over the built-in equipment of the ship.

“We’re way off course here. Somehow this storm has put us way off route. It makes no sense.”

“What does that mean?!”

“It means we’re drifting and not towards the islands. We’re drifting away.”

“What!”

Harper tried to turn the key for the engine but it stalled then sputtered. He tried it again and again but the result was the same.

“This is bad,” Harper added.

“What do we do?”

The ship rocked again but this tilt was so drastically different. It actually went so far on its side that it felt like you were going to capsize.

“We’re gonna tip over!”

Chris ran from the small room fighting against gravity’s pull to yank him over. Your first thought was he was leaving you.

“Hang on tight!”

Your scream was so loud you doubt you’d ever gone that high before. Terror gripped your heart and your entire life flashed before your eyes. You were certain you were done for. There was no way to make it out of this. You began mumbling but you didn’t know if what you said made any sense. A few seconds later, the ship dropped back into the water allowing you to remain top side up. You felt hands on your body and you opened your eyes to Chris shoving your arms in a bright orange life vest.

“I could only find one right now so it’s yours.”

“What—what about you?”

“I’ll be fine. Hold on tight.”

He spun around looking at Harper.

“I have to get below.”

Harper hurried out without another word and Chris turned back to you.

“I’m going to help him. Stay here.”

He made a move to leave and you grabbed his hand pulling him back to you.

“Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not. I’m going below with Harper. I’m sure he’ll need my help. I think it’s safer for you up here.”

You still held tight to his hand fear controlling your movements. Chris’s expression softened before he took a step close to you to hold you at the side of your neck to the base of your skull.

“I swear to you I won’t leave you, no matter what. We’re in this together. I will be back and we’ll laugh about this one day. For that day to come though we have to get through this and I have to help him down below. You’ll be safe. Hold on tight, stay low.”

You nodded and took a few breathes trying to psych yourself up.

“You got this,” Chris said before he pulled away and walked from you.

You closed your eyes and said a silent prayer hoping for him to come back and that his words weren’t bullshit.

The seconds seemed to slowly tick by and the minutes went on for lifetimes. Every jolt of the ship leveled you to a whimpering mess. You did just as Chris has instructed—kept low and held on for dear life. You didn’t care how numb your hand became from gripping the cold metal for so long you kept holding on. You didn’t care how cold you got from not only the ocean water but the rain and the strong wind gusts, you remained in your corner shivering refusing to come out. It didn’t matter how much the pain you felt intensified the colder you got you ignored it and kept whispering your silent prayers. You didn’t want to die. Not like this.

You heard something like a loud crack then the groaning of metal then the ship once again tilted. You screeched and tried to hold yourself to the railing but the further the boat tilted the harder it was to hold on.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

You screamed again and braced yourself to end up in the water under the boat, but instead of it tipping it once again dropped back onto the water’s surface.

“Oh my god!”

“Ajali, can you hear me?”

You whipped your head around trying to find where the voice was coming from without letting go of the railing. You were too scared.

“Ajali. Can you hear me!”

On the dashboard, you saw a red light flashing and guessed it was the radio. The only problem was for you to get to it, you’d have to let go and walk over to it. If the yacht tilted again you’d slid your ass out the room and off the boat. It was a risk.

“Ajali, pick up. We’re down here trying to fix the engine but we need you to turn her on for us. Can you do that?”

“Fuck!”

You slowly stood, fighting against your aching joints, bones, and muscles, and stood upright with most of your weight on your uninjured foot. You assessed the distance from where you were to the dashboard and knew slow and steady was the best way but you doubted you had that time. You took a deep breath and took three hops on your good foot toward the dashboard. When there was just one hop left to take the vessel rocked sending you off balance and smack dab into the glass with your face.

At this point, there was no part of your body that wasn’t in pain. A metallic irony taste filled your mouth and you knew you were bleeding. You had no idea from where though, your face was completely numb.

“Ajali!?”

Using the back of one hand, you wiped across your mouth and took another deep breath, and hopped to the dashboard throwing yourself across it and holding it for dear life. You took a few moments to calm yourself then grabbed the walkie.

“I’m here.”

You heard Chris exhale as if he was relieved. “Thank god, I thought something happened.”

“I’m fine,” you lied while trying to wipe away the blood that dripped across the dashboard.

“Try to turn the engine on.”

You twisted the designated key all that happened was a long exaggerated sputter then hiss.

“This time keep it turned don’t release it,” Chris suggested.

Doing as you were told, you waited and begged the engine to cooperate. When you heard a yell over the walkie you knew it wasn’t good.

“Damn it! There’s water in the engine. The only way to even begin to work on it is for it to dry out. That’s gonna be impossible during a storm. It’ll just keep flooding. We’re not moving. Damn it!”

There was a full range of banging over the walkie that only made you panic more.

“Can everyone not fall apart right now? Please. I’m terrified enough as it is,” you pleaded.

“Listen to my voice, it’s okay. We’re coming back up. We just have to weather the storm,” Chris said. His voice sounded like he was panicking but was also trying to showcase calm. You heard both.

Another loud crack echoed but it wasn’t on your end, it was over the walkie.

“What was that?”

The sound rang out again and everything went dead silent over the walkie before a loud crash of something breaking echoed out. At that moment the ship lurched again only this time the groan of metal was so loud it made you shake from fear. Garbled speech went in and out over the walkie alarming you.

“He—hello?”

The only response you got was the walkie dying.

“Hello? Hello?” You pressed buttons and turned switches not knowing what any of them did but hoping one of them brought communication back. Nothing helped though.

“Chris! Hello? Chris! Answer me goddamn it!”

You threw the corded walkie and dropped your head down and wailed. There was no hope at all you thought.

“I’m gonna die.”

You cried, finally letting out the angst and terror you were feeling. There was nothing positive about your current situation. You were in the middle of the ocean, practically alone while a storm was raging around you. people went missing like this, people died like this. You were suddenly so tired. A wave of water brushed against your feet but you didn’t think anything of it. You almost couldn’t lift your head.

“Ajali!”

As you lifted your head you saw Chris racing toward you.

“We have to get off this ship.”

“What!”

“The glass broke. We’re taking in water and sinking—fast!”

Hearing those words you found the energy to rise. “What do we do? Where’s Harper?”

“He’s lowering the life raft. Let’s go.”

Chris wrapped his arm around your waist and helped you along. When you made it down the steps to the deck you saw that it was completely filled with water.

“Oh my god.”

“It’s all right, I have you.”

He must have gotten tired of your hobbling because he scooped you up and hurried along treading through the now calf-level water.

“You’re freezing cold,” Chris mumbled.

“What are we gonna do?”

Chris reached Harper who looked as if he’d been through hell. From one glance you could tell he was hurt.

“Climb down first,” Harper said to you as Chris put you down.

You flinched as the saltwater wreaked devastation on your injured foot.

“I’m scared.”

“I know. it’s expected, you’re human. I need you to work through that fear though and climb down into the raft,” Chris reasoned.

You nodded and tried to get over not only the terror but also will your muscles to move through them being near frozen. You tried to move your legs in some coordination to climb over the railing but it was taking a bit of time on your own. Chris stepped closer and helped you to take the first step down the ladder. When your injured foot joined your other one it slipped and sent you down a few of them only stopping when you were able to get a grip on the metal.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.”

You slowly went down the remaining steps until you got to the last one and saw you’d need to jump off the railing to land in the raft. You took a few breathes, hoped that you made it in the raft and not in the ocean, and jumped. Landing on your back you couldn’t relax. It hit you that you were now in a life raft about to drift to god knows where. From above you heard the two men arguing back and forth over who should go next. When you saw Chris was the one climbing down the ladder you knew Harper had won.

It didn’t take him nearly as long as it took you. A few seconds later he’d jumped in next to you. The strong scent of gas immediately hit you.

“You smell like gas.”

Chris smelled himself then his eyes widened and pointed back to the ship. The two of you looked up just in time to see Harper bringing back up the ladder.

“What’re you doing? Come down!”

“No can do brother. This here is my ship and a captain always goes down with his ship.”

Your eyes widened in horror. He couldn’t be serious.

“That’s not funny Harper. The gas is leaking, there is no saving it. It isn’t worth your life. Come on, there’s time for you to save yourself too,” Chris rebutted.

“I’m long past saving,” Harper said lifting his shirt to show the large shard of glass that was sticking through his abdomen. It looked like it had gone right through him. You knew that if it were removed the chances of him living were zilch.

“Oh my god,” you mewled before clamping your hand over your mouth to stifle the wail that followed.

“Harper--,” Chris began but never finished.

“I always knew I’d die on this ship and that’s all right. I’m at peace with it. If I get in that raft with you I’d be doing you a disservice. Sharks would be on your tail in no time.”

Harper flung a pack over the railing into the raft.

“I’ve already pre-packed all the emergency packs in the raft. They’re in the side compartments as well as underneath the zipped platform of the bottom. These are things you’ll need wherever you wash up.”

Another bag followed the first and landed on the raft. “This one is some rations. Remember to conserve the water. You can survive without food longer than water.”

You cried louder while using your hand to muffle as much of the sound as you could.

“Come on man,” Chris pleaded.

Four more bags followed including your backpack. By then you’d fully lost it and had ventured into a nervous breakdown.

“Inside the raft, there is a transponder. I am going to set off the homing beacon on my ship it’ll give search and rescue some idea of where things went wrong. They’ll be able to follow the signal and rescue you no matter where you are.”

Harper bent forward and groaned. He must have been in so much pain you thought to yourself. On its own, your hand gripped the ripped hem of Chris’s tank and held it tightly. Chris glanced back at you and you saw the same anguish you felt.

“I’m sorry about this folks, I really am.” He paused and shook his head before he continued. “You have each other though.”

An explosion shook the vessel and lit up the sky behind Harper.

“That’s my cue. Get outta here. I’ll do my part. Remember live your way, it makes death a peaceful conclusion.”

With that Harper hobbled away holding the railing.

“Go!”

He disappeared from view leaving the two of you sitting in the raft, in the pouring rain heartbroken and terrified. Another explosion erupted and Chris sprang into motion yanking the cord that controlled the motor startup. He yanked it once, then twice until it sparked alive on the third try. You both looked to the ship unsure what to do. The decision had been made for you, there was nothing either of you could do but go.

Slowly the raft began to drift away from the sinking ship and neither of you could peel your eyes away. Two more explosions boomed and then Harper’s voice echoed out.

“I’m coming, Angie!”

“Oh my god,” you whispered dropping your head to the surface of the raft. Your cry was loud and showcased the tragic sadness before you.

You watched on before another and final grand explosion ripped the ship apart sending parts every which way.

“Fuck!”

Chris leapt for you throwing his body over yours using himself as a shield to protect you. The sound of flying metal around you only made you scream more and more. Still, Chris didn’t come off of you, he kept his body over yours while maneuvering the rod steering of the raft. After the sound of flying metal subsided and the warmth of fire died down Chris rolled off of you. There was nothing to be seen except the fire from the explosion that was quickly being extinguished as the rest of the ship sank to the depths of the ocean.

“Oh my god, Harper.”

“God,” Chris groaned out, dropping his head down. “Rest in peace.”

There it was. Death. It was staring you right in the face and you feared it hadn’t had its fill quite yet. Your sobs returned and soon they were the only sounds traveling across the water, along with the motor. Neither of you spoke for a few minutes as you both tried to digest everything that had just happened and how everything had gone so wrong.

“What’re we going to do?”

It was a question asked just above a whisper. A question that held so much uncertainty, a question that also brought so much fear with it. What were you going to do?

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

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#hibiscus kisses fic #chris evans #chris evans fanfiction #chris evans x reader #chris evans x you #chris evans x black reader #slow burn fanfic #vacation fic #black fanfiction #angst fanfic #chris evans au

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