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mononijikayu · 3 months ago

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chapter (3) — omg

GENRE: alternate universe - actors/celeb au!

WARNING/S: not safe for work (nsfw), r-18 and above, actors/singers au!, romance, fluff, minor angst, slow burn, humour, slice of life, will they won't they, light-hearted, flirting, playful, possessiveness, teasing, explicit content, possible, kissing, sexual content, innuendos, drama, feels, hurt/comfort, falling in love, love, happy ending, actor/singer! sukuna, actress/celeb! reader;

WORD COUNT: 3.3k words.

NOTE: i really think that if this were to happen irl, everyone would just really really lose their minds like??? genuinely. i really think that people would be entertained and also not. these are the in between of the kinktober event, which starts october 4th (6 pm pst, 9 am for ph time and 4 pm uk time) - the first one is also a sukuna one too!!! please enjoy them as they come out!!! thank you for your continued love!!! i love you all <3

TAGLIST: @kunasthiast, @midnight-138, @v3nd3ttal3on, @r0ckst4rjk, @theshxaverse, @cheescakebroom, @kariatenoh ;

masterlist

hey lover! series

IT WAS THAT SIX MONTH PERIOD THAT STUNNED THE WORLD. The internet was already on the verge of a meltdown the day it was announced that you and Sukuna were going to star opposite of each other in a new romantic drama film.

The plot? A searing, emotionally intense story about a husband and wife’s failing marriage. That alone was enough to send fans into a frenzy. The idea of you two, already known for your incredible chemistry, playing lovers on the brink of collapse was the stuff of internet gold.

Speculation ran wild for months. There were endless fan theories about how much tension would be in the movie, the inevitable blow-out arguments, and the long, charged stares across dimly lit rooms.

But the moment the real rumor started spreading—that the on-screen couple would have a full-blown romance scene—it was like gasoline was thrown on the fire.

Twitter threads were filled with fans practically holding their breath, trying to figure out if this was just clickbait or if the movie would actually go there. For weeks, fans analyzed trailers and snippets of scenes, slowing down moments to see if they could spot any clues.

There was talk of “the tension is unreal” or “there’s NO WAY they’ll pull off that scene without killing us all”. But despite the rampant speculation, nothing could have prepared them for what came next.

Then, the movie premiered. And that’s when everything exploded.

One fan was the first to drop the bombshell:

SukusukuOne Tweet: “WAIT. WHAT? A SEX SCENE BETWEEN THEM?!?!”

That single tweet ignited a wildfire across every social media platform. It took only minutes before reactions flooded in from every corner of the internet. It was as if the world collectively gasped and lost its ability to function.

Fans who had managed to watch the early screenings immediately went into panic mode, sending everyone else into spirals of anticipation.

Y/N’sWorldHQ: “I KNEW IT. I FREAKING KNEW IT BUT I WASN’T READY. NOT LIKE THIS.”

SukuY/NHQ: “BESTIES, THIS IS NOT A DRILL. THIS IS SO FUCKING REAL!!!

Y/N-Rin: We asked for tension and got THIS. I CAN’T BREATHE.”

SukunaSource: “Forget the plot—I need a minute to process what I just saw. That scene? UNREAL.”

Y/N–SUKUONE “Y’all. It’s not just a scene. It’s THE scene. They went THERE and I’m not okay.”

For Y/N: "I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS. SOMEONE HOLD ME."

Suku–king: “SUKUNA. SEX SCENE. I REPEAT: SUKUNA. SEX SCENE. WITH Y/N?!? breathes into a paper bag"

Y/N–Hiromi: "Oh, y’all are just gonna drop this bomb and leave us to SCREAM?"

Pop Star Kuna: "No, because how am I supposed to sit through that scene like a normal person? I’ll be watching through my fingers."

Y/N Movie Era: "WHO THOUGHT THIS WAS OKAY TO GIVE US THIS LEVEL OF ENERGY IN A MOVIE?!? MY WIG IS IN ANOTHER GALAXY.”

GIFs of you and Sukuna in slow, sultry close-ups began circulating within minutes. The intensity, the way the scene built from raw emotion to passionate release, left fans utterly destroyed.

People were making reaction videos, pausing the exact second the scene got too hot to handle and screaming at their screens. Thirst tweets, memes, and GIFs of fans collapsing on their couches like they’d just run a marathon became the norm.

HiroKuna: “I’M YELLING. THEY REALLY DID THAT. NO ONE TOLD ME I NEEDED OXYGEN.”

KukuNa7: “I knew it would be good, but I didn’t think it would be THIS. I feel like I need a cigarette and I don’t even smoke.”

Hiromimimi: “The way they LOOK at each other?! The rawness of it all?! This scene is pure FIRE.”

As if the internet wasn’t on fire enough, you and Sukuna decided to fuel the flames even further. You hopped on Twitter, casually posting a behind-the-scenes video of the two of you messing around in between takes.

In the shot, Sukuna was leaning back on the bed, one arm draped over his eyes, mid-laugh, while you sat there making faces at the as you got your retouching make up done. You tell him to stop, but you just both kept laughing and got scolded by the make up artist. Sukuna then calls you beautiful, and you blush.

Y/NTheOne: “When the ‘passionate scene’ turns into a blooper reel. 😂 No one tells you how hard it is to keep a straight face. #BTS #MovieMagic”

The reaction? Absolute chaos. Fans didn’t know whether to scream, cry, or laugh.

sukurin: “They’re just gonna post this like it’s no big deal??? WDYM SUKUNA CALLS HER BEAUTIFUL AND SHE JUST BLUSHES??? BRO???”

y/n’s princess: “OKAY BUT I LOVE HOW CASUAL THEY ARE ABOUT THIS. HELP.”

sukuy/n’s love child: “I’M NEVER GETTING OVER THIS. NEVER.”

kunatuna: “The fact that they’re laughing like this in between scenes, and we’re out here struggling to breathe??”

Not to be outdone, Sukuna joined in on the fun a few hours later by posting his own video on his Instagram story. The clip showed you two rehearsing the confrontation scene between the spouses and you were screaming at the top of your lungs before he made a face and you immediately break, falling into his arms and suddenly laughing as hard as humanly possible. Sukuna wrapped his arms around you too, hugging you back.

ItsRyoSuku: “Professional actors, by the way. 😂 #HappyTogether”

Cue more pandemonium:

JJK (Taylor’s Version): “NOT THEM POSTING BTS FOOTAGE LIKE THIS. STOPPPP.”

kukuna1989: “I can’t breathe. How are they this funny and attractive at the same time???”

y/n on the ring: “This video is sending me. They’re out here clowning and we’re suffering.”

y/nkunaaaaaahhhhhhhh: “I’m trying to focus on their acting, but instead I’m watching them roast themselves. THIS IS GOLD.”

kukukufukukukuku: WHAT DO YOU MEAN HAPPY TOGETHER??? RYOMEN SUKUNA????

Fan TikToks:

Y/N–Na–Na–Na: (in a shaky voice) “So, I just watched the scene… and honestly, I don’t think I’m okay. No spoilers, but if you think you can handle it—YOU CAN’T.” Cue someone throwing a pillow at the camera.

SukuPop: "There’s thirst traps, and then there’s THIS MOVIE. HOW DID WE GET HERE?"

And as if that wasn’t enough, a massive fan thread started trending on Twitter titled:

"Are They Dating or Just TOO Good at Acting?"

Enter you and Sukuna again, ready to add more and more fuel to the fire.

You once more jumped on the bandwagon with another cheeky Twitter post, sharing a behind-the-scenes photo of you both between takes. This was the alternative extension that was cut from the film — one which the director really liked. But it just didn’t make the final editing cut.

Still, the shot was perfect: Ryomen Sukuna, half-dressed from the scene, lying on the bed resting his head against your shoulder, laughing about something you said. You? Half covered in the blankets. You were looking down at him, also laughing as you were in the middle of speaking, holding onto a pillow for dear life, your hair tousled from filming.

Y/NTheOne: “Sukuna tried to hold it for this shot. But I wished this made it too! 😂 #BTS #MovieMagic"

The internet? Instantly set ablaze. ONCE AGAIN.

HiromiRyomenCentral: "OKAY BUT YOU CAN’T JUST DROP THIS AND NOT GIVE US MORE!"

KingofCursesStan: "They’re out here laughing, and I’m out here crying. MAKE IT MAKE SENSE."

Y/NStan: "Not them acting all cute and casual when we’re out here clutching our pearls. I CAN’T."

Then, of course, Ryomen Sukuna couldn’t lose here—of course, in classic Sukuna fashion.

He posted a behind-the-scenes video on Instagram of you both rehearsing the scene. But instead of being sexy and intense, it was pure comedy. The two of you were dramatically exaggerating every move, making ridiculous faces at each other.

You were both exhausted, but you both wanted to wake each other up. So, it came to this — both of you losing your minds to make everything as funny as possible. At one point, Sukuna dramatically threw himself back on the bed, rolling his eyes in a mock-swoon while you burst into giggles so uncontrollable that you doubled over.

ItsRyoSuku: “Multiverse of Madness 😂 #ItsAComedyActually"

Fans were once more losing their minds in the comments:

RyoHQ: “NOT SUKUNA TURNING THIS INTO A COMEDY SKETCH?! I CAN’T BREATHE.”

SukuRy: "I’m gonna need 48 hours to recover from the whiplash between the actual scene and THIS."

SukuStar: "Please tell me the DVD has a blooper reel. I BEG YOU."

StarStarKuna: "Y’all are just CLOWNING at this point, meanwhile I’m struggling to form a coherent thought after seeing that scene.”

The memes were iconic. Some were based on popular crying reaction GIFs, while others used dramatic slow-motion moments to parody the sheer intensity of the scene. One particularly viral meme had Sukuna’s character looking down at you in the scene with the caption: “When your favorite ship finally goes canon and it’s STEAMY AF.”

Soon, clips from the movie were being re-edited with dramatic soundtracks, making the moment between your characters feel even more cinematic, even more romantic. Someone even edited the entire scene to Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now”, and the internet practically screamed.

You and Sukuna couldn’t help but keep the fun going. A few hours later, you responded to one of the fan edits with a quote-tweet, saying:

Y/NTheOne: “Honestly, this edit is better than the actual movie. 😆”

Sukuna, naturally, followed up with a comment that sent everyone into a tailspin:

ItsRyoSuku: “Still waiting on our Grammy for ‘Best Chemistry On-Screen.’ 😏”

The internet was absolutely living for it. Fans were quick to point out every tiny behind-the-scenes moment, analyzing the body language, the laughter, and of course, the constant playful teasing between you two. Some fans even swore up and down that they knew you two had undeniable off-screen chemistry, and this was just proof.

MimiHiro67 Posted: "Look at the way he looks at her like that. I’m telling you, IT’S NOT JUST ACTING."

Kuku/Y/N Replied: "The flirting during the bloopers?? HELLO?! WE’RE SEEING IT."

HiroKunaFT Replied: "They’re out here, trolling us, but I KNOW they’re secretly dating. THEY HAVE TO BE."

Before you knew it, fan art, memes, and theories flooded every corner of the internet. There were edits of you and Sukuna as modern-day star-crossed lovers, wedding fanfics, and even whole video compilations of you two joking and messing around during interviews.

But perhaps the most hilarious reaction came from one particular fan who summed it up perfectly in a single tweet:

Y/NKunaSource: “Let’s be real. We’re all just happy to live in a world where they exist and can mess with us like this. Bless.”

By the end of the week, the internet was a beautiful mix of chaos, laughter, and way too many thirst traps inspired by that one scene. You and Sukuna continued to play along with the fans, leaning into the fun and teasing just enough to keep everyone guessing—and loving every second of it.

The chaos continued to escalate in the following days, with the internet running wild over every new detail, theory, and behind-the-scenes snippet about the two of you and your relationship. Fans were relentless, and you and Sukuna? You weren’t about to let things calm down just yet. If anything, you leaned into the frenzy, becoming the ultimate internet trolls.

It started innocently enough. You posted a cute boomerang of the two of you at a cast dinner, clinking glasses and flashing cheeky grins at the camera. You looked stunning resting against Sukuna’s chair. Harmless, right? Not according to the fanbase.

Y/NTheOne: “Cheers to being the internet’s favorite scandal 😜🍸#StillNotDating #OrAreWe?”

That was enough to send your followers spiraling into madness again. Fans combed through the boomerang as if it held secret, hidden messages. Someone even analyzed Sukuna’s scarlet eye contact in slow motion, trying to decipher what it all meant.

Sukuna’sHuh!?: “THE CHEMISTRY. I CAN’T. They’re definitely dating.”

YoHiroKuna: “Every time they say they’re ‘not dating,’ I lose five years off my life from the lies. 😂”

Kukukukuna: “Why are they like this?! Just admit it already!”

Veteran Actor Ryomen Sukuna, never one to miss out on the fun, upped the ante. He soon after posted a selfie of the two of you on set, both of you in full costume, right before filming a scene. The twist? You were sitting in his lap, giggling as he gave the camera a devilish smirk. The caption?

ItsRyoSuku: “Just another day at work with my favorite co-star, my baby doll 👀 #WeLiveForMethodActing #OrDoWe"

The comment section exploded:

SukuDw: "EXCUSE ME, SIR??? SITTING IN HIS LAP?!?"

Y/N’sbabygirl: “Method acting? Is that what we’re calling this now?? LMAO”

RyoRyoYoBoat: "My mind can’t handle this level of chaos. 😳"

Then came the real kicker. In the start of the promo junket, there was an interview shot to promote the movie. And the host, unable to resist, asked you both about that scene again. The moment the question was out there, Sukuna leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, eyes sparkling with mischief.

The host clears his throat. “So, everyone’s talking about that… intimate scene between you two. How did you prepare for it?”

Without missing a beat, Sukuna deadpanned, “Oh, we didn’t prepare at all. We just winged it. All natural chemistry. It’s just like that between me and my doll, right here.” He shot you a wink, making you snort with laughter.

You, trying to play it cool but clearly failing, added, “Honestly, I think the hardest part was not laughing through the whole thing. I mean, darling, we’re professionals, but…”

Sukuna cut in, “But when you’re this close with someone…” He leaned toward you, smirking, “… things just come naturally.”

The internet immediately combusted. Clips of the interview spread like wildfire, with fans collectively losing their minds. The phrase “all natural chemistry” trended on Twitter for hours.

JJK4HiroKuna: “’Natural chemistry’ MY HEART IS DONE.”

HiroKunaHiroKuna: "He WINKED?! IS HE TRYING TO KILL US?!"

OneY/NKunaNation: “We all just agreed they’re married at this point, right?”

Y/N–Y/NHQ: I bet the bed chem is also natural, huh?

Memes flooded every platform. One fan made a video edit of you and Sukuna’s most flirtatious moments, set to some dramatic, romantic soundtrack. The edit quickly went viral, with even more fans joining the speculation train. Soon, someone added to the thread a GIF of Sukuna winking from another project, captioning it with, “When he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing.”

The internet was already hanging by a thread after months of anticipation, memes, and wild speculation, but that night—that night—Sukuna and you delivered the ultimate bombshell that no one saw coming.

It was the end of the movie's promotional tour, and just when fans thought they had seen everything there was to see, Sukuna decided to drop a casual little Instagram story that sent the entire fanbase spiraling.

The video was simple enough at first: the two of you chilling in his trailer during a break, scrolling through Twitter and Instagram, laughing at the flood of comments, reaction videos, and memes about your on-screen chemistry.

But it was the soundtrack that immediately caught everyone's attention—George Michael’s “Careless Whisper” playing softly in the background. That instantly iconic sax riff was the setup for what was about to be an unforgettable moment. Fans knew something chaotic was coming; it was only a matter of what.

Sukuna, ever the mastermind, flipped the camera towards himself, giving a mock-serious look before turning it to you, sitting next to him on the couch, grinning like you were in on the joke.

Sukuna looks at you, smirking. “So, the rumors are true.”

That one line was enough to make everyone sit up, hearts pounding, fingers hovering over their keyboards, ready to fire off tweets. You, already sensing where this was headed, played along like the pro you were.

You raised your brow, matching his smirk. “What rumors?”

Sukuna turned his head slowly, looking directly into the camera with that signature smirk that drove fans wild. His voice dropped to a low, sultry tone, dripping with fake seriousness.

He snickers back. “The ones about us, doll.” He paused, letting the tension build, eyes twinkling with mischief. And then, with perfect comedic timing, he delivered the finishing blow. “We do love keeping people on their toes.”

That was it. That’s all it took. The fanbase erupted into chaos as the video zoomed in dramatically on both of your faces, just before you two completely lost it, bursting into uncontrollable laughter. The screen faded to black, but the internet was already ablaze.

The hashtags #TheRumorsAreTrue, #SukunaAndHisDoll, and #KeepingUsOnOurToes were trending worldwide within minutes. Memes were being generated at lightning speed, GIFs of the dramatic zoom popping up on every corner of the web. And the fan comments? Absolute gold.

HiromiSource: “WHY ARE THEY LIKE THIS?!? I CAN’T KEEP UP.”

KingofCursesHQ: “They’re literally trolling us and I LOVE IT.”

HiroKuna4Lyfe: “The fact that Sukuna just casually said ‘the rumors are true’ and then did THAT?? I’M GONE.”

Reaction videos flooded TikTok, fans filming themselves losing their minds as they watched Sukuna drop the ultimate tease. One user even posted a slow-motion edit of the zoom with captions like “My heart cannot handle this level of trolling, this is bad for me” and “They’re playing with us like it’s a sport, and I’m here for it.”

But just when you thought the chaos had peaked, Sukuna decided to throw another wrench into the mix. About five minutes after the video went live, he took to Twitter to reply to the overwhelming reactions.

@ItsRyoKuna: “Oh? Did I? Hm…..I wonder if I did?”

That tweet sent fans into a frenzy all over again. The cryptic nature, the smirk behind the words—it was peak Sukuna, and they were living for it.

HiroKuKu: “HE KNOWS WHAT HE’S DOING. STOP THIS MAN. NO DON’T.”

Pop Sensation Kuna: “’Did I?’ SIR I’M NOT OKAY WITH THIS LEVEL OF TEASING.”

YoItsKukuNa: “Sukuna’s out here stirring the pot like a pro, and I can’t even be mad.”

Of course, you couldn’t resist getting in on the fun either. A few minutes after Sukuna’s tweet, you replied:

@Y/NTheOne: “Guess we’ll never know 😏”

And that? That was the nail in the coffin. Fans went into full meltdown mode. Screenshots of your reply were immediately plastered across every fan page, each theory more dramatic than the last.

HiroY/NHQ: “NOT YOU TOO. ARE WE EVER GONNA GET A STRAIGHT ANSWER???”

SusuKuY/N: “This is literally a soap opera and I’m addicted. GIVE ME MORE.”

It’sY/N’sWorld: Y/N ITS TIME TO STOP IM GOING CRAZY

@Y/NTheOne Replied: No <3

Before long, the internet was awash in fan art, with some recreating the trailer scene in elaborate comic-book style panels, and others painting romanticized versions of your characters together, always with that cheeky, ambiguous vibe that kept everyone on edge.

The fans were even dissecting the choice of “Careless Whisper” in the background. Some insisted it was a secret code, a hint that there was something more going on between you two than just professional chemistry. Others joked that it was Sukuna’s favorite way to troll, playing the ultimate cheesy song during the ultimate tease.

HelloDoll: “Careless Whisper? REALLY?? That’s the most dramatic song choice and I’m here for it.”

JJKuna: “They’re basically telling us they’re the chaotic couple of the century and I can’t handle it.”

The memes kept coming. Someone edited a video of Sukuna saying, “The rumors are true.” then cut to fans fainting and screaming in reaction clips. Another fan took a screenshot of your zoom-in moment and slapped “I WILL NEVER RECOVER” in bold letters across it.

As the fanbase continued to spiral, Sukuna and you just watched from the sidelines, laughing at the chaos you’d unleashed. It was a perfect storm—your playful trolling, the cheeky teasing, and the undeniable chemistry that everyone loved to speculate about.

By the end of the night, the internet was convinced they’d been played in the best way possible. The mystery surrounding your relationship status was still intact, but you’d managed to make the entire ordeal one of the most memorable and entertaining situations in pop culture for your fans.

And for the fans? They wouldn’t have had it any other way.

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tainsan · 2 years ago

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misfits (college!ateez x reader)

When your world comes crashing down, the only people who are able to comfort you are the notorious group, Ateez. You’ve heard rumour after rumour about the eight males who are ice cold, yet for some reason, they are the warmest people you know.

Please read me: {hello! so finally i have wrote enough for me to release the first chapter and i really hope it is good enough for the lovely people who have been patiently waiting. there will be more chapters to come in the future so please do look forward to them! just so you all know there is a few trigger warnings i have to go through so just in case you are uncomfortable with certain subjects to read with caution and with your own comfort in mind. at the start of every chapter i will put the warnings that correlate with the said chapter. in this story there are topics of swearing, depression, anxiety, ptsd, suicide, negelection and mental abuse. so if you are not comfortable reading these please either avoid this story or read with extreme caution. your wellbeing is more important than anything.

Now like i said in my previous post, this is going to be a poly!ateez story so hence there will be future smut and suggestive themes (which i will also put in the warnings before the chapter starts) but the message in the story is very much about past trauma and finding people who can help, heal and love you despite your imperfections.

With that all said! I hope you enjoy the first chapter of ‘Misfits’ and thank you kindly for waiting.

do not steal my work or repost on places other than tumblr.

with thanks to @musicdork and @moraxology for the help and ideas shared with me. thank you <3

-----THIS IS AN 18+ FANFICTION MINORS DO NOT INTERACT-----

Misfits, Chapter 1

⇢ masterlist ⇠

⇢ next chapter

warnings: anxiety attack, swearing, mentions of a house fire.

word count: 8.8k

Heart dropping to your stomach, you attempt to make sense of the words that are displayed on the small illuminating screen sat in front of you. Devastation hits you like a ton of bricks as you realise once again, it feels like the world is trying to punish you. Reading over the email once again, you let out an exasperated groan and let your head fall down onto your arms relaxing on the table.

“You’re homeless?” Your best friend almost screeches, scanning over the email present on your small laptop screen.

“Okay a little louder Jisung and the aliens on the Saturn will fucking hear you,” You react, your voice muffled by your clothes.

“What happened? I thought your place was in one of the nicer areas?”

Looking up from the desk, you see Jisung peering at you with a concerned expression.

“Do you remember those new tenants that moved in below me?” you ask, causing Jisung to nod his head, "Well they accidentally started a fire, and it burnt down half of the place because the owners weren’t smart enough to install fire hydrants around the residence.

“Isn’t it illegal to not have designated fire hydrants in a building?”

“Probably, I mean that’s what I get for going for the cheapest available housing I could find, they say it's going to take at least a year to repair the damage.”

"Are all of your belongings okay?"

"Not really, I managed to save most things like my books and some clothes but everything else is burnt. They say they are going to give me some money back for the damage, but I doubt it’ll be much."

"Then where are you staying now?"

"Yeji said I could stay with her for a few days, but she has a roommate moving in soon, so I have to get out before the end of this week."

"You have to start looking for a place to live __, I wish I could help you,"

Jisung lives with his boyfriend and friends in great student accommodation, there are only four rooms, yet they manage to fit eight grown men in there. Sadly, there's simply not enough space for another person.

“I’m aware of that, but all the school properties are full, and I’ve seen no flyers from people searching for roommates. There’s no way I'm looking for housing outside of the area, I would have to sell both my kidneys to afford a month's worth of rent. This apartment was the only place that was in my budget if I didn't want a roommate. At this point, I should probably start looking for a nice cosy bridge to live under.”

Jisung lets out a stifled laugh before quickly covering his mouth realising the two of you are residing in a library. Being in a secluded area, noise isn’t really a problem, yet three other people are sitting near you, resting on the opposite side of the large wooden table. Two huddled next to each other, sharing a laptop, likely watching YouTube and one with striking blonde hair resting his head on his arms, undoubtedly sleeping.

“How many days until you have to move out?” Jisung inquires, laying his head on his hand and gazing at you.

“Uh, I think like a week,”

“Oh, so it’s not like you have to move out right now,” your best friend replies, a calm smile covering his features.

“Yeah, but I doubt that somebody is abruptly going to need a roommate out of nowhere,”

Then, you hear rustling, then suddenly the guy who was sleeping on your table abruptly stands up, grabs his things, and rushes out of the library.

“Probably had a nightmare or something,” Jisung chuckles, lighting up your mood.

“When’s your next lesson?” You ask, hoping he doesn't have to leave too soon.

Observing as Jisung whips out his phone and looks at the time, he lets out a sigh.

“Starts in seven minutes, it takes like five minutes to walk there. I better get going,” Jisung replies, grabbing his books and laptop.

“Must you leave so soon? You can’t leave me here to tutor for three hours straight.” You let out a fake cry and hang onto his arm, pleading for him to stay.

“You're the one who wanted the extra credit, don't blame me!”

Bickering for a minute more, you eventually let Jisung get to his class, the two others across the table departing as well, leaving you alone.

Grumbling to yourself, you wonder why you even offered to tutor people, the extra credit is little to nothing. Alas, it’s too late to back out now as you have two people arriving soon. Typically, you only take people who you know personally, but Jisung’s boyfriend, Minho, said two of his classmates requested him to ask you to tutor, telling him they really needed assistance in maths. You hope they are pleasant because you are not about to be spending the next three hours with two arseholes.

You also typically only take one person at a time but due to your current tight schedule, you decided to just do two at once. You need the time later to look for new places to live anyway. The unknown two needed teaching in the same subject at least, works out fine.

Returning to your laptop you start typing, trying to finish as much of your lab report as you can before they show up.

“No Yeosang said she was around this corner.”

A hushed voice breaks you out of your concentration, yet you pay no interest and hurriedly get back to typing.

“You’re __ right?” A monotone voice speaks out from your left.

You turn upon hearing your name and see a guy standing next to where you are sitting. Quickly you scan over his face, noticing the way his cheeks display small dimples as his face shifts and the slit in one of his eyebrows.

“I’m San, Minho told you about us, right?”

Noting the way he said ‘us’, you turn fully backwards and see a noticeably built man standing by San, his face holding little to no emotion as he stares blankly towards you. In your mind, you hope these aren’t the two you are tutoring, noticing how intimidating their presence is.

“We are here for tutoring lessons,” the unnamed person speaks, and you curse upon your luck.

“Oh right, you can take a seat where you’d like.”

You mentally cuss out Minho for not informing you about how intense and handsome his classmates were, you let out a scoff under your breath as you start to pull out your maths textbooks.

“So, what were your guy's names, I’m not too good with names so if I forget, please don't take it personally,” you shyly confess, hoping they are not going to take it the wrong way. You detect the way some sort of stunned expression goes across their faces, but it disappears as soon as it had appeared.

“I’m Choi San, good to meet you.” San nods in your direction, his emotions still unreadable, a subtle glare still present along his features.

“San, I see. You too,” You mumble, slightly scared by his strong character. You attempt a small smile and shake his hand, trying to ignore the way you feel his eyes boring into your skull. Moving your attention to the man sitting next to him, you smile gently, noticing the way his cheeks are dusted with a light pink colour.

“Choi Jongho,” He reaches out his hand and you gladly take it, feeling slightly less intimidated by the seemingly kinder man.

Replying with your own name, you realise they already knew it, making you curse yourself for the sheer awkwardness emitting from your body as you notice Jongho and San are neither looking at you.

Slightly glancing up at you, San notices your flustered state and a faint smile ghosts his face.

Shaking off your clumsiness rapidly, you start to focus on the task at hand.

“So, what are you two looking to go over today?” you ask, opening your notebook that was conveniently placed in front of you. What you don’t expect is Jongho and San immediately look at each other with wide eyes, almost as if they are taken aback by the question.

“You guys don’t know what you want to go over?”

“No, sorry, we have been having problems with our two recent algebra assignments.” Jongho replies, his tough exterior cracking ever so slightly as he ruffles his black hair.

“Okay then,” you answer, a little puzzled at the two's sudden and strange gestures, yet you pay no mind to it as you reach into your backpack to grab your mathematics textbook. You’ve seen much stranger things in this college anyway.

When you proceed with the session you are surprised by the two men sitting in front of you. Although being very intimidating, the two are very good listeners and attentive to everything you say or do. Writing notes and nodding at almost every word you say. After an extensive explanation, you let Jongho and San try to solve a practice question. During this time, you take the time to admire the two in front of you. You can see they are extremely close by the way their bodies face each other naturally, and the way they look at each other. Meanwhile, you can’t help but wonder why you haven't seen them on campus before. Certainly, you would've heard or seen something about these two very good-looking men, knowing how much the people here like to gossip. Well after all, you have never been one for gossip and fangirling over the popular campus heartthrobs. Brushing your thoughts to the side, you start to read over the same page for the fifth time.

After the second hour, it intrigues you how smart they are, only needing you to once go over something and they already have the answer or even occasionally you swear you see one of them write an answer without you describing how to find it. Perhaps they are fast learners? Due to the fact, they are so quick, it only takes two of the three hours for you to cover everything they wished to go over, and their assignments are almost finished, just needing the final touches.

"There we go,” you exclaim, stretching your arms over your head, letting out a content groan as you let your back straighten up, "if you need future help, you can always call me." Even though it’s perhaps pretentious to offer this to such tough guys, you’re happy to be able to have such good students who actually listen. Unlike your last session which you spent way too many hours on.

Jongho looks up from his laptop with a wide eye look, "that’d be helpful,"

"Can you take my number?" San holds his hand open, expecting your phone and you are shocked at his utter forwardness. Even though you know it’s not intended in a flirtatious way, your heart quickens at the gesture, never having been asked for your number before.

Passing your phone to the male in front of you, you notice San observing the Sanrio stickers stuck to the back of it. The male lets out a short burst of air through his nose, and you don’t know whether he’s mocking you or scoffing. As you look at him to analyse his reaction, you see a small smile tugging at the corners of his lips, but it doesn’t seem in a taunting way. You continue staring at him as he puts his number into your phone.

Unexpectedly he looks up and straight into your investigating eyes, catching you by surprise, immediately looking away from him and at the open book in front of you pretending to read it, even though you know he knows you have already read over the page multiple times in the past ten minutes.

“Wait, what time is it?" Jongho asks San. Watching San pull out his phone, you see a glimpse of his phone case, it looks something like a character, but you can’t see it as he places his phone face up on the table.

"Quarter to twelve," San responds, his phone screen lighting up for a split second, you manage to catch a quick sight of his lock screen. It appears to be a group photo, with numerous faces smiling brightly at the camera. So, they have more friends.

"We have about thirty minutes till ecology, do you want to go to the canteen?" Jongho questions as he begins to put his belongings into his bag.

"I could use a snack,” San answers, stretching back into the chair, his arms above his head just as you did earlier.

"Coming with us?" Jongho asks as he stands up from his chair and pushes it back beneath the table.

Bewildered by the question, you wonder as to why they want you to come when they have been nothing but distant this entire time. Glancing back at your unfinished lab report displayed on your laptop, you feel conflicted. Yet a break from the tedious work would be rather nice. There's no harm in pulling another all-nighter.

"I could also do with something to eat," Your smile is bright as you stuff your laptop into your bag, happy to have a reason to escape the tedious work on the small screen of your laptop.

It is a rather fast walk to the canteen; it is conveniently on the same wing as the library. Expecting the canteen to be full to the brim of students getting lunch, you’re surprised to see the canteen completely empty. You are rather pleased with the serenity of the canteen, feeling at ease that there are no judging eyes watching your every move. Pacing over to the cooled section of food, your footsteps echo in the large room, then you notice San and Jongho trailing after you, looking quite lost.

"Have you guys never been to the canteen before or something?" You inquire, chuckling at their antics before grabbing a carton of banana milk and an apple.

"It's not particularly our scene, we eat our meals at our place." San answers, staring down at the banana milk in your hand. So, they live together, it makes sense seeing how close they are.

“You guys don't live in student buildings?” You question, that does explain why you've never seen them around, knowing most people who reside in the student dorms. You resume walking towards a table to sit, you grab two more banana milk before sitting down and popping a straw into your drink.

"No, we live near the new park, Eastwood Drive," Jongho replies.

This information almost makes you spit out your drink. Eastwood is not only part of a huge real estate area but one of the richest areas near our school. Absolutely no students would be able to afford that. It's an area full of houses like mansions or condos bigger than a regular house.

"Are you okay?" Jongho asks, hurriedly rushing to your side and patting your back, San chuckles at the scene and passes you a bottle of water from his seat.

"Yes, I'm fine," You say between coughs, "thank you," you take a gulp of water from the bottle before handing it back to him.

"Sorry it's just, how on earth do you afford that house there's no way you guys just have it. Did you have to sell your soul to the devil or something?"

Both males let out soft laughs and for the first time you see something other than scowls on their faces, instead replaced by gentle amusement.

"No, we didn't, one of our roommates' mothers is the owner of the real estate and she lets us live there," San answers your question.

"We do still have to pay rent, which is above average, but it's not anything like the rent we would have to pay if we were actually living there," Jongho adds, "plus we have quite a few roommates, so it's spread out pretty evenly." So, they have multiple roommates.

"I see," you hum as you let the information in. Of course, they have several roommates, the house is big enough for ten people, most likely.

"And you?" Jongho questions looking at you. His expression is back to his resting face, until he realises his question, eyes going wide he continues, “not in a creepy, I'm sorry please don't take it the wrong way!" he rambles on.

Laughing out, you wave your hands in a friendly way to dismiss his thoughts.

"No no, it's okay," you chuckle, not really sure how to explain to them that your house was recently made into a fresh stock of charcoal.

“It's kind of complicated I'll be honest," you start, San and Jongho’s expressions twitch in curiosity, "Well I was living at Coast Lane,"

"Oh, the one near the shopping centre?" Jongho inquires. You nod your head back in confirmation.

"Wait but wasn't that place burnt down a few days ago?" San asks, looking at Jongho and then back at you with a worried look. Their hearts fill with worry for you.

"Yep," you say, popping the p at the end, "that's why I said I was living," you say looking down, chucking dryly.

"Where are you living now then?" San asks, his voice laced with something similar to worry.

"I'm staying at a friend's house, but they are getting a new roommate at the end of this week, so I need to move out by then."

"Have you found anywhere to live yet?" Jongho questions, looking sorrowful. You are surprised by the amount of worry you suddenly feel from San and Jongho. However, you shake your head as 'no' and proceed to take another sip of your drink.

"I have an idea." San abruptly says standing up from his chair, catching your and Jongho's attention, "Excuse me I have to talk to someone, Jongho. Joong."

Jongho's eyes light up with some sort of awareness and he also rapidly stands from his chair, leaving you even more confused, unsure where the sudden energy comes from, you also wonder who the fuck 'Joong' is and why do they need to see him so suddenly.

"See you soon, __.” Jongho’s smile is warm and contagious, he then turns to leave with the taller man.

"Wait, guys!” You exclaim, "here," you hand them both a cartoon of banana milk that you grabbed earlier. "Drink these, you can't focus if you're dehydrated, " you say, heat rising up from your chest.

Both of the men look at you shocked at the kind gesture, surprised someone actually cares about their well-being. Giving you a thank you, the two men leave with red subtly covering their cheeks, both trying to immediately force it away before someone sees them with a giddy expression.

----

"Then they just stood up and left," You replay the events from earlier today to Jisung, who is sipping on a mojito. After the busy day you both shared, Jisung and you decided to go to a bar that recently opened not too far from campus. It is small and cosy, not too full of people, mostly students from your school rewinding from the day, just like you.

"Psycho behaviour," Jisung jokes whilst you take a sip of your drink. Laughing, you push Jisung's arm gently.

"I don't know, they were certainly intimidating but I could tell they were okay people," you exclaim truthfully. If you said that the three hours you spent with the two weren't pleasant you’d be lying.

"Do you have a crush on them or something?" Jisung inquires, rather loudly, getting far too excited. Hoping that no one heard him through the low jazz music resounding in the small bar, you quieten down your best friend quickly by covering his mouth with your free hand.

"Ji the entire bar does not need to know about my personal endeavours, and no I do not have a crush on them, they are just simply cute," you say exasperated.

“So, you do find them cute! The last time you had a crush as back in high school, this is big news,”

“There is no news dumbass, they are just cute. I find kittens cute, and I don’t want to date them.”

Jisung’s face contorts into a mixture of disgust and humour.

"Wait, what are their names?" Jisung questions his voice back to a reasonable volume.

"Choi San and Choi Jongho, I've never even heard of them, to be honest. You'd think I would've seen these handsome men bef, what is with that look on your face?" you stop your ramble as you see the very obviously shocked look on Jisung's face.

"Are you fucking serious?" Jisung says slowly.

Confused, you simply answer, "yeah they needed help with maths. it was your boyfriend who set the tutor session up."

"Yeah, because they probably threatened him?" Jisung says tensing up.

"What do you mean threatened, they were huge sweethearts," you say amused at Jisung. Your laughing momentarily halts when you see the serious look on Jisung's small face.

"What is it?"

"___, Choi San and Choi Jongho are part of that group."

Your baffled expression remains on your features, clearly unfazed by this information.

"What is that like a cult or something?" you joke.

"Girl, are you living under a fucking rock? Ateez, the group called Ateez. The super scary ones practically haunt this school. I'm surprised they talked to Minho. I'm pretty sure he's going to be scarred now."

Slowly but surely, your brain starts to put things into place.

"Wait, that group Sola told us about?”

As Jisung confirms your question, you feel the hairs on the back of your neck rise. A few months ago, you had been told by some classmates about them briefly, they were talking rather loudly about them. Apparently, they had done some terrible things when they were in high school then just disappeared for a few years. Most people thought they dropped out or moved abroad. The year they returned, they started this university out of nowhere together and have been a notorious group ever since, being known for staying foul and bitter towards everyone except themselves. Yet, nobody seems to know the reason for their ice-cold hearts. You never really bothered to keep up with the rumours or gossip, it wasn’t necessary for you to know, however you start to think maybe you should pay more attention due to your recent interaction with two of the people in the group.

"But they were nice?" your question, more to yourself than to Jisung.

"I don't know about you, but you probably got the wrong people."

You don't believe Jisung is lying but at the same time… The two men you had tutored earlier today were definitely not members of the notorious group.

Surely not.

Yes, they were intimidating, but nowhere near as bad as anything people say about them. From what you've heard about the group, they are cold, heartless, selfish, and miserable. Staying only in the group of eight, others not even daring to look them in the eyes as they pass them.

"If they were the people that you were tutoring yesterday, you may have gotten yourself into something you can't get out of. They have hundreds of fangirls, who are very possessive over them and people who want them dead. I don’t know of a single person who is fond of them. It’s best if you stay far away from them." Jisung says with a nervous expression.

Unexpectedly, his phone lights up and you see Minho's caller ID appear. Jisung glances back up at you with a questioning look, requesting if he can take it.

"Go ahead," you push your smile and watch as he leaves to find a quiet place.

Your heart beats heavily against your chest and you feel your throat tighten. ‘Come on’ you think, this isn't the best place for you to have an anxiety attack. Possibly, it's that the new information is far too overwhelming. You are barely keeping up with your classes, your apartment just burnt down, and now you’re somewhat engaged with an apparently dangerous group that has no good stories. Feeling your breathing getting jagged and your heart getting heavier by the second, you attempt to focus on your breathing. Trying to remember the breathing exercises your mother taught you when you were younger, you attempt breathing in deeply, but it doesn't work, leaving you to breathe in and out in a fast manner. It's okay, it's okay. You repeat yourself, in an attempt to comfort yourself, but your brain is yelling 'it's not okay, look how stupid you've been and got yourself into a senseless situation again. Fucking idiot'. You put your head in your hands and start gently rocking on the barstool, tears threatening to fall out of your eyes. Unexpectedly, a presence appears next to you and before you know it, their warm hand is rubbing up and down your back in a soothing manner.

"Shh it's okay, it's all going to be okay." a deep voice speaks from your right. You don't care to look up, only basking in the way the figure's hand caresses your back in a comforting way. To your surprise, it works miracles. Your breathing is back to a reasonable state within the next minute. Only then do you look up from your hands, your eyes lock with a beautiful man. He wears a comforting smile, his eyes full of sympathy and something else you can't quite put your finger on, his hand not slowing on your back. Trying to smile back at him, you wipe the tears you didn't even know had fallen, with the sleeves of your sweatshirt before regaining the words to speak.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," you say, abruptly embarrassed that a very handsome man just had to see a small breakdown of yours.

"It's perfectly okay. I've had enough anxiety attacks to know you can't control where you have them." the man admits, scratching the back of his neck with an awkward smile on his face. The voice of the man is deep, yet soft, making you feel awfully relaxed.

"You have anxiety?" you ask, sniffling your nose.

The man chuckles and looks down at his hands, "longer than I can remember, yeah," he looks back up at you, "rubbing my back is how my friends comfort me, so I hope it somewhat worked for you too."

"It worked amazingly, it's actually how my mother used to comfort me," you express, still slightly ashamed to be sharing this information with a stranger, let alone such a good-looking one. Yet knowing he goes through the same things as you, comforts you more than you realise. The male looks around him, almost as if he’s worried someone will see him, he then looks back down to your smaller figure which is closer to him than he remembered. Clearing his throat, he steps away a little bit, concerned you would feel uncomfortable with the closeness of your bodies.

“I do need to go now, but it was nice to meet you," The man says whilst leaving the barstool to your right. Not sure why, but you feel sad that he has to leave so soon. Feeling so relaxed around a stranger has you shocked, wishing you could stay with this unknown feeling.

"Thank you," you say, grateful to have him there for you.

"Anytime.”

"I’ll see you around." You return his smile.

Nodding his head, he gives one last smile before departing the bar's exit, a growing smile adorning his features as he exits the bar.

“Hey I’m back.”

Whipping your head to the left, you see Jisung sitting back in his stool. Opening your mouth to tell him about what just happened, you attempt to get the words out but for some reason, you are unable to find the words. Not wanting to worry your best friend with your sudden onset anxiety attack, you decide to stay quiet.

What are these unexplainable encounters you've been having with handsome men recently?

----

Climbing over bags and coats, you find a seat in a calmer area of the stadium you just arrived at. Spotting Minho in the field doing some warm-ups with his team, you feel relaxed to see someone you know. When he sees you, he waves happily. Smiling, you reach for your phone to quickly text Jisung asking where he is. All of a sudden, a rush of cold air gets swept in by the wind, causing you to freeze up. Never liking the cold, you debate heavily at this moment whether you should just leave. However, you travelled all the way from Yeji’s to here in the cold. It seems like a waste to just go back, even if it freezes you to death to stay. After all, you need to support Minho, him being one of your only friends, for the football game. Jisung is supposed to be joining you but you’re sure he's busy picking out a cute outfit to swoon Minho.

Over the past few days Jisung has been trying to teach you the names of Ateez so you know to run if they approach you. Seemingly stupid, but you do need fewer distractions in the hope to graduate with honours. From what Jisung has told you, there are eight members, and they are all of similar age, the youngest being in the same classes as he managed to skip a year due to him exceeding the level of people his age. However, Jisung teaching you their names doesn’t really stick to you, never being good at names it doesn’t help that you don’t know what they look like. It would be much easier learning their names if you actually had photos so you can put a name to a face, but of course they don’t have Instagram accounts, and if they saw people taking photos of them, they’d likely murder you on the spot. Or that’s what Jisung says.

You are suddenly brought out of your thoughts when a voice sounds in your ears.

“Could I sit here?” a soft, yet deep captivating voice speaks out.

Curiously, you look to your left to see who the owner of the voice is. Surprisingly, you see a blonde male with a mask covering his face. He is standing next to the seat where you have placed your bag, and you realise he is asking for the seat.

“Oh yes, of course, sorry,” you hurriedly grab your bag and place it between your legs, allowing the male to take a place next to you.

“Thank you,” he says, a very small smile on his lips. When he sits down, he takes off his mask, and you glance at him one more time, taking in his visuals. With his fluffy hair and red tinted cheeks and a small mark of pink next to one of his eyes, he is truly a work of art. Yet, for some reason, you can't help but feel like you've seen him before.

“I'm sorry have I met you before, you seem really familiar?” you ask inquisitively, not being able to match a name to a face.

“We may have run into each other once or twice,” the blonde male puts his hand out for a handshake.

Gladly taking his hand in yours, you shake with a small smile on your face.

“It is a small world, I'm __.”

The male takes his hand away and back into his coat pocket, shivering in the icy air.

“Are you Jisung's girlfriend?” he questions.

Rolling your eyes, slightly annoyed at the question, you go to answer. It has been thousands of times that people have asked about your and Jisung's relationship, mistaking you for a couple and not just a couple of friends. After a while it gets rather irritating, the question being asked countless amounts of times.

"No, we aren't, we are just best friends, I'm pretty sure Jisung came out as gay like two years ago. Plus, he's literally dating the quarterback, Lee Minho." you chuckle slightly.

"Oh sorry! I didn't mean to offend you in any way."

"No! It's really okay, it's just I get asked a lot, so it becomes annoying after a while. I mean look at Jisung, he has baby girl written all over him."

“Cold?” he questions.

The blondie next to you lets out a small chuckle acknowledging the man you are always with isn’t your boyfriend.

Sensing a gaze on you, you turn back to the blonde male whose eyes are looking at the goosebumps on your exposed arms.

“I probably should’ve brought at least a jumper. I've been so wrapped up with exams and tutoring I’ve been forgetting everything,” you say, laughing slightly, embarrassed that you went outside wearing just a t-shirt in the middle of November.

The male lets out a laugh before speaking, “it’s okay, I understand. If I’m being honest, I've also been having so much struggle with studying, my stress is all over the place.” He wonders for a second why he even shared this with you, concerned for a second you will see him in a bad light.

“I'm sorry to hear that.” you contemplate for a moment, “Look I have these if you want,” reaching into your pocket, you grab some rescue drops. “These help me a lot,”

You place the small bottle in his hand, and a giant smile covers his face. “What? I’ve actually been looking for these everywhere and I can never find them! They’ve been sold out in every shop.” Blondie looks back up at you, “but you have anxiety you need these more than me,”

Pausing for a second, you wonder how he knows you have anxiety, nonetheless, you continue “It’s perfectly fine, Jisung’s parents work at a pharmacy back in my hometown and they send me a few of these whenever they are in stock, you can keep them.” you inform him, his smile brightening your cold mood shockingly fast. You’re not even sure why you gave him them, it was your last bottle. You guess that’s what happens when you are a people pleaser. The smile on the male’s face only grows wider, his heart jumping at your kind action.

“Thank you so much __,”

“It’s no worries, if you ever need some more, look for the loud group of small guys acting like four-year-olds.” you laugh, and he chuckles along with you, making a mental note, even though he knows he will likely never approach the group.

Before you can focus back on the starting game, you feel a soft material cover your shivering body. It is a large zip-up that smells of rich, sweet perfume. Turning quickly to the blonde guy with confusion covering your features, you hurriedly dismiss the action, seeing his arms exposed to the winter air.

“I can’t take this; you’ll get too cold.” you stop your words as he pulls out another sweater from his bag.

“I've got my friend’s sweater, you keep mine until you’re warm.” he turns to face the game, "or until Jisung sees and freaks out and tells everyone you have a secret boyfriend." he jokes.

“You seem to know Jisung?” you ask, wondering how he knows Jisung’s personality quite well.

“Well, we know each other, but we aren’t particularly friends,” blondie turns fully towards you, “are you sure you don’t know me at all?”

“I'm sorry but I really only have like two friends, I don't really go out.”

“But Jisung is super popular, aren't you in his huge partying friend group?”

“Not really, his friends are lovely but I’m only close with him and his boyfriend, I'm not too good at making friends.” you quietly mumble the last part. You look over at the blondie and see he has slight confusion on his face.

“You are so kind, I’m sure anyone would want to be your friend."

"You’d be the first to think that" you dryly admit, which causes the male to feel a twinge of pain and guilt in his heart, "I would rather stay inside all-day binge-watching television whilst eating away my stress,"

"Well, that’s one thing we have in common."

Sharing a warm smile with him, you start to get lost in your thoughts again, but then you realise a question you never returned.

“I’m so sorry I never got your name.”

“No worries, I’m Yeosang.” he has the same smile on his face, making you feel warm despite the bitter winter air. Then his familiarity dawns on you.

“Kang?” you inquire, your voice rising ever so slightly.

“That’s me,” he smiles at me, and you don't know if your heart rises because of how beautiful his smile is or because you recognise the name from Jisung’s teaching session with the members of Ateez.

“Like from Ateez,” you question, watching your words, if Ateez is as bad as Jisung is saying then you definitely need to watch your words.

Yeosang turns to you, almost looking baffled.

“I thought you didn't know about Ateez?” he questions, shocked.

“What made you think that?”

“Just a guess I suppose, being that you don't really go out I assumed you weren’t really interested in the groups and stuff.”

“Ah well not particularly, but recently I suppose I’ve gotten to know about it better.”

“You're not scared, are you?” you see Yeosang tense up a little, his eyebrows furrowed. He hopes for the best, not knowing how you will react. Surprisingly, your heart softens at this question, he seems upset for some reason, as if he doesn't want to be seen this way. You feel bad for ever acting stressed towards him.

“Don't worry, the only person that scares me is Jisung when he's hungry.” you joke out, relaxing the tension and calming him. From what you can see, Yeosang is just kind and calm. The only thing that's menacing about him is the fact he’s drop-dead gorgeous.

Yeosang lets out a small chuckle, “well I guess now I know I need to avoid Jisung if he’s hungry,”

You agree with the blonde man, whilst lightly laughing.

“Wait, but why are you watching? Aren’t you supposed to be on the pitch?” You ask him, confused, remembering Jisung informing you that Yeosang is a part of one of the school's football teams, along with someone else whose name you can’t remember at the moment. For a moment Yeosang’s chest fills with pride, knowing you know something about him.

“Someone is taking my spot today, I was told to analyse the opposing team to find out their habits and stuff, hence the notepad.”

Looking down, you notice the small notepad with doodles all over the cover, making your heart swell. Yeosang continues to talk,

“Don’t tell my tactics to Minho,” he jokes with a grin on his face, knowing Minho is on the other team.

“I would never betray you like that,” you place your hand over your chest acting offended.

Both cracking up, you speak up again, “don't worry, your secrets are safe with me.”

“Sang!” You hear a voice call from the left, and your eyes lay on another attractive man, “Coach told us to sit with him,” this male also has a notepad in his grip.

You know this guy. He works in a small café not too far from campus, it is down a narrow alleyway, covered by vines and moss. It was a very hidden spot and only locals really knew the place. Only knowing it because you walked past it every day for a year as the alleyway was a shortcut to your housing from the campus. Barely anyone goes there, the regulars being either old women or businesspeople quickly rushing in to get a coffee before work starts. Back at the beginning of the semester, you used to go to the café a lot because of the raspberry muffins, yet they stopped selling them thus forth you stopped going as much. It was also due to the fact you had barely any time to sleep, so you cut it out of your morning schedule to be able to sleep in a little. You think the guy’s name was Wooyoung if you can remember his name tag correctly. You notice he sees you sitting next to Yeosang, with his friend’s hoodie over your shoulders and a smile consumes his entire face.

“Muffin?” he looks confused, yet somewhat glad to see you once again. The nickname extremely takes you aback. “Why did you stop coming to the café?”

As far as you can recall, back when you visited the café, this server was rather distant and limited to saying little to no words whilst waiting. Seeing him like this confuses you severely. Alas, you let out a giggle and both of the boys' grins widen visibly.

“You two better get going, I'm not sure your coach wants to wait any longer.”

Yeosang stands up and straightens out his pants before turning to you,

“Hopefully I’ll see you around.” he smiles warmly. Smiling back at him, you nod. Yeosang starts to leave with Wooyoung before he turns around.

“I better see you at the café tomorrow! Plus, that sweater looks good on you, Muffin.” he winks and Yeosang slaps the back of his head. You can’t help but giggle yet feel flustered.

Yeosang and Wooyoung walk towards the coach’s section, Yeosang slightly more affected than the male next to him. Hopefully he will get his hoodie back, and hopefully it will smell like you. After this interaction, your mind was even more confused. If you remember correctly, Yeosang and Wooyoung have a very big reputation for being some of the rudest and coldest towards people. Yet they were so friendly when you were with them. Is everything all these people are saying about them true or maybe the group of eight is just deeply misunderstood?

Whatever it is, you need to talk to Jisung about this, but you will wait until the game is over.

----

The night of the interaction between Yeosang and Wooyoung, Jisung, Minho and you reside at their apartment, eating chicken and watching a shitty romcom for background noise. The rest of his roommates are out celebrating the start of the football season. You have no idea why it started mid-way through November but okay.

“I said I would come; they were too sweet to say no to!” You exclaim, throwing your head back against the couch, regretting saying yes.

“It was definitely Yeosang and Wooyoung?” Minho questions, not believing any part of my story.

“Yes! Yeosang has the birthmark next to his eye like Ji described and Wooyoung was the guy who works at that one café I used to go to all the time,”

“Well, I never knew Wooyoung worked at a café, that doesn't really match the hardcore scary image they are going for, are you sure you’re not going delusional?” Jisung admits, chuckling.

“What are you going to do?” Minho questions, passing you a drumstick.

You take a big bite, before speaking, “I should just go, if I don't show up, they might murder me as you two say. Which is very unbelievable seeing how fucking cheerful they’ve all been.”

“Well, you’ve only met four, the rest are probably a nightmare,” Jisung says, his mouth full of chicken, Minho humming in agreement next to him.

“You two are supposed to be comforting me.” you groan, throwing your head into your hands.

“Okay, don't worry __, if they have been as nice as you’ve been saying then just show up and if they aren't nice then call Chan and Changbin and I’m sure they will gladly sort them out for you.” Minho laughs.

----

Keeping your promise, you showed up at the café the next day.

Opening the painted door, the bell rings notifying your entrance. Immediately you spot Wooyoung relaxing against the counter, scrolling through his phone, visibly bored. There are only a few people in the café, mostly reading books or typing on laptops. You see a flash of pink hair in the corner, yet you lose focus as quickly as you had it as you continue to walk further in.

“Welcome to Veranda Café,” Wooyoung says unbothered, still staring at his phone as you walk closer to where all the cakes were on display. Much to your dismay, you fail to see a raspberry muffin on display.

“I see you still don’t have any raspberry muffins.” You speak out in front of where Wooyoung is standing, making his head immediately snap up.

“__! I was starting to worry you weren't going to show up.” He exclaims, a contagious smile wide on his face. Immediately putting his phone in his pocket, giving his attention to you. He leans on the counter. Extremely happy you showed up.

“I never break my promises,” you grin at the black-haired man.

“Oh, one moment.” He speaks out excitedly, like a puppy, and turns to where he was sitting. Opening up a small fridge, he brings out the biggest, most beautiful raspberry muffin you have ever seen.

“Yeosang and I made this morning for you.” he gestures over to the corner, and you see the blonde male from yesterday, he is sitting next to someone, yet you can’t see them from where you’re standing. Yeosang shyly waves and you smile and wave back. Heart beating faster and cheeks warming up, you take the muffin happily. Wooyoung smiles brightly at you, feeling prideful at the way your eyes light up from the muffin.

“We stopped making these muffins because the owner didn’t think anyone was buying them, it made me upset because I knew you liked them,” Wooyoung says, making direct eye contact with you, making you weak at the knees. Wondering how he even remembered you, you still feel thankful he thought of you, even if it was a long time ago.

“It’s a shame but I'm sure there are lots of other tasty things here too. Anyways, thank you so much, you guys are the best.” you say, sincerity dripping in your words. Wooyoung just shrugs like he doesn't care, but the big smile on his face and the redness dusting his ears tells a different story.

“How much do I owe you?” you ask, getting out your purse.

Swiftly, Wooyoung grabs your hand halting its actions, “it’s on us, for being so kind, Yeosang and one of our friends really needed those rescue drops.” He lowers his voice, “between us, their anxiety has been really bad recently, and the stuff works wonders. Plus, you were always my favourite customer anyways.” Wooyoung admits, smiling, his cheeks get a deeper colour of red. Your heart warms up once again, which is strange to you. You haven't felt this happiness in a very long time. Maybe things are starting to get better. Happily taking the muffin, you make your way to Yeosang who is reading a book.

“Do you mind if I sit here?” you inquire, repeating his words from yesterday, yet when your eyes meet the figure sitting next to him, they light up as you recognise him.

“I know you!” You exclaim, a little too loudly, causing people around you to glare in your direction. Feeling overwhelmed by the sudden attention, you quickly sit down in a shielded area, away from all the glares.

“You two know each other?” Yeosang asks, intrigued by your sudden remark.

“It is you, right?” you ask just in case you’re mistaking him for another pink-haired male.

The tall male smiles widely, “Yeah, it’s me. I’m Mingi,” he turns to Yeosang, who is visibly confused, “we met briefly in a bar the other day,”

Yeosang lets out an ‘ah’ in realisation, yet you fail to see the jealous look he points at the pink haired man as he turns back to his book. Reaching for a dessert fork placed in the middle of the table, Mingi quickly grabs it and hands it to you. Quietly thanking him, you start to cut your muffin into four pieces. You acknowledge a gaze on you, so you halt your movements and look up, noticing Yeosang and Mingi’s eyes on you. Suddenly feeling awfully small, you start to feel your heartbeat rise and your breath deepen, never really liking people watching you eat, the stares from the two make you anxious. Luckily, they seem to immediately notice your change in behaviour and start apologising.

“I’m sorry, we will look away. We were just wondering whether you were going to like the muffin,” Mingi explains, his voice stumbling over words.

“It’s okay! I’m sorry, I’ve always been kind of awkward when people watch me eat.” you confess, your cheeks heating up. The two males nod trying to remember this information for the future. Instantly, the two men completely look away and focus on their own things, not paying any attention to you. Their antics make you giggle slightly, and you look back down at your muffin. Slowly, you pick up a quarter and place it on Mingi’s empty plate in front of him. You then do the same for Yeosang. They both look up at you with wide eyes.

“This is your favourite, we can't take it,” Yeosang says hurriedly, trying to put the cake back on your plate.

“Stop, stop! I want to. I want to share it with my friends!” You blurt out before you can control your mouth. The wide eyes on both Yeosang and Mingi, make you realise what you said. You have to remember that even though they seem normal they are very clearly part of a group who apparently can kill people with their stare. What the hell are you doing? Of course, they aren’t your friends, you met them both once for less than ten minutes.

“Wait, I'm so sorry I didn't mean to say that I didn't intend to push your boundaries, we have only met like twice I didn't just assume we are friends!” You start to ramble, scared they will take it the wrong way, trying to fix your words as quickly as possible so you don’t get on their bad sides.

Before you can say anything more, Yeosang cuts you off by taking a bite of the muffin, “it tastes amazing! Thank you,”

“Woo!” Mingi’s voice calls out, ignoring the angry glares of people around him, “come get some cake!” Watching Wooyoung jump over the counter towards the three of you, you smile to yourself, glad you haven't done something that would cause future problems. Yeosang feeds Wooyoung the cake and makes an over-exaggerated reaction, “the flavours are melting on my tongue!” he exclaims in a funny voice, making Yeosang and Mingi cringe but you just laugh at his amusing antics. You can’t help but imagine how the whole group is when they are together.

For the remainder of the hour, you are just conversing with Wooyoung and Mingi, sometimes Yeosang if he wants to add to the conversation, but more focusing on his book, yet looking up intently whenever you speak. You are broken out of your conversation as you hear the bell of the entrance ring, notifying the entrance of new customers. Wooyoung groans and stands up from his chair next to you. It seems to be three girls from our school. You recognise one of them from your calculus class.

Then the next thing that happens confuses you more than any other thing that has happened. As Wooyoung reaches the counter to take their order, his demeanour changes almost immediately, you would've missed it if you had blinked.

Mingi and Yeosang seem to notice your confusion but blatantly ignore it, their smiles quickly disappearing from their faces. The atmosphere turns from warm and friendly to cold and foreign.

“What do you want?” Wooyoung asks bluntly. You furrow your eyebrows, confused out of your mind as to where the sweet friendly Wooyoung disappeared to.

“You know you should be nicer to your customers, it would help with business,” one of the girls speaks out, looking smug as if she has immensely hurt the man’s feelings.

“You should probably focus on your studies rather than going to cafes, sitting with a random document open and pretending to study when we all know you are miserably failing all your classes.” Wooyoung says monotone, whilst scrolling through his phone, not even looking at the three girls who now have shocked and offended looks on their faces. Some curses are thrown before the girls end up storming out of the café without even beginning to look at the menu. As soon as the girls leave, Wooyoung returns to the table nonchalantly, acting as if nothing had happened. Opening your mouth to say something, it gets caught in your throat before you get the words out.

Are you going insane?

{feedback is always appreciated and i love hearing from all of you. remember you are loved.}

part two is out now!!!

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jayparked · 3 months ago

Text

𝓌𝑜𝓇𝓀𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓅𝓇𝑜𝑔𝓇𝑒𝓈𝓈

here's some sneak peaks of my wips that i actively work on in between making fake texts! 💛 pls let me know what you think! disclaimer: all works will be nsfw unless otherwise stated so mdni special shoutout to @sungbeams for making some of these banners for me 💛 ilysm talented wench

best friends to ???? / sunghoon x female reader / oneshot

synopsis: you find out your best friend has been a long term pornhub subscriber and you cant help but send him a teasing text about it. but after seeing his most watched video, you cant help but suggest ruining the friendship and acting out your favorite scenes together

current word count: 1.5k

estimated word count: 10k

estimated release date: tbd

preview:

“Why do you think I haven't been able to keep a girl around for more than 3 months? Because it’s clear how obsessed with you I am. They were only just placeholders, anything I could do to try to get you off my mind while pretending it was you begging for me every night, pretending it was you screaming my name as I fuck you.”

college au /strangers to enemies to ??? / jay x female reader / oneshot

synopsis: the new transfer student has been eating up all the new attention he's been getting, but you couldn't care less. and that only makes him more desperate to get to know you

current word count: 5.4k

estimated word count: 15k

estimated releaste date: tbd

preview:

“I just did that stupid ‘drop all your books in front of your crush and see if they help you pick them up while you also try to pick them up and your hands graze against each other and you look into each other’s eyes’ thing and you just stared at me like I was an idiot but joke’s on you because the person who did pick them up is way cuter than you and I. think. I’ll. be. dropping. my. things. around. them. more. often.” Jay’s animated staccato tone throws you off and quickly sends you in a fit of laughter as he stands there with his arms crossed and his chin turned up towards the sky. “You wanted me...to pick up...your books...cause I’m...your WHAT?” You laugh harder, clutching your sides as you double forward.

office au / enemies with benefits to ???? / jungwon x female reader, ??? x female reader / smau with written parts

synopsis: things between you and your enemies with benefits agreement has to come to an end. not only to keep the peace at the office you both work at, but to actually give you somewhat of a chance at finding true love

current progress: 5 chapters outlined

estimated chapters: 30+

estimated release date: tbd

preview:

“-Don’t ask me again,” he sits up quickly, your head moving back while he readjusts his body to lean over you slightly, one hand hovering just millimeters next to your cheek, “please, don’t. Not unless you mean it. Not unless you really want me.” His voice is wavering as his eyes flick from your own down to your lips, then back to your eyes again. His pupils are shaking, searching deeply in yours for any hesitation, his breath shallow and slight as he waits for your response. “I need you, Jungwon.” “Fuck,”

office au, fake dating / strangers to lovers to ??? / sunoo x female reader / oneshot

synopsis: after you and your coworker sunoo are both dumped by your long term partners Heeseung and Karina (who end up dating each other), you're tired of feeling sorry for yourself and decide to get back at them just in time for the Valentines day office party they're hosting

current word count: 10k

estimated word count: 15k

estimated release date: feb 14th

preview:

You move in like you’re about to kiss him, but stop short just as your lips barely brush against his. “I don’t like playing games,” you whisper, showing your teeth as you smile. “Funny,” Sunoo murmurs back, grabbing onto your hips and flipping you around until your ass is flushed against his crotch, his tie still laced between your fingers, “Didn’t seem that way when you asked me to play along with your little scheme.”

♡ masterlist

#wips!#please let me know what you think :)#im so excited about all of these!!!#snail talk

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wolfjackle-creates · 10 months ago

Text

Answer My Call Chapter 2 Part 3

The second of the posts compiling all my snippets from the ask game. I'll try and get another out later today, but it might be tomorrow for the rest.

Story Summary: Jazz, Sam, and Tucker manage to help Danny escape the GIW, but they can't follow him and are under too much surveillance to communicate with each other. Sam snuck Danny a phone as he ran and Jazz sends him a text every day, hoping to hear he is all right. But he's not the one getting the texts.

Jason was away for several months on a mission with the Outlaws. When he finally returns home, he is surprised to find dozens of messages from an unknown number begging a Danny to tell her he's okay. Looks like there's not going to be a break between missions this time around.

Chapter 1: AO3, Tumblr

Chapter 2: First, Previous

Word Count: 1.3k

-----

“Five months ago, he disappeared. I’d already started college, so I wasn’t home. But Sam and Tucker reached out and the three of us began searching. It… It took three weeks to find him. And another week to get him out. In that time… What we found… It wasn’t pretty. The guys in white—” Jazz cut herself off. That day would forever be branded into her memory and featured in far too many nightmares.

Todd made an encouraging noise, but didn’t interrupt.

Jazz took a steadying breath and forced herself to continue. “It wasn’t easy breaking in. And even harder breaking out. Danny was hurt and the agents were chasing us. We had on masks, but they knew who we were. We managed to cause some chaos, though. Released all the ghosts they had prisoner to mess up their scanners. Send them running in every direction.

“It was almost enough. We all got out of the building. But they’d figured out our path and were waiting for us. Sam, Tucker, and I managed to hold them back. Sending Danny ahead alone with the go bag we’d prepared him. He was supposed to either get back to Amity and cross the portal into the Infinite Realms or run north to meet up with the other Dani.”

“But he didn’t make it,” said Todd. A statement rather than a question.

“We don’t know. He never made it to Dani. And due to the breakout, the guys in white placed the town on high alert. There’s checks for everyone entering or leaving the town. If you’re suspected of pro-ghost sentiment, you’ll be brought in for questioning. Ghost shields are everywhere. Sam’s parents withdrew her from school because they didn’t trust her to follow the new rules.” She gave a watery laugh. “They were probably right. Then Tucker was offered a scholarship for a tech school in California. I was escorted back to Boston. Only time I went back was for his funeral.”

Todd nodded. “And they’re in your phones and computers so you can’t talk to each other.”

Jazz smiled wryly. “Yep. Tucker could’ve, probably has, developed something. A messaging program or whatever. But without being able to meet up with us to download it to our devices—” she shrugged “—we’ve no way to get it.”

“Okay, so we’ll start there. Restoring contact should be fairly easy if you all want it—”

“We do!”

“But I’m also worried about your safety. What will happen to you after you ditched your guard today?”

Jazz shrugged. “They’ll bring me in for questioning. Probably make me miss a quiz or something important for school to make it extra inconvenient.”

“What will the questioning entail?”

Jazz bit her lip and shrugged. “Before? Sitting me in an uncomfortable metal chair in an interrogation room like you might see on TV and keeping me there for… oh, up to twenty-four hours? Whenever my parents would find out and barge in yelling at them about how ‘No Fenton would support a ghost!’ or whatever. Now? I don’t know.”

“Do you think they’ll hurt you?” asked Todd. He was frowning. “After your brother, it sounds like they are capable of it.”

Jazz held out her hands. “Depends on if they know I’m liminal or not. I’m not as bad as you are. And especially no where near Danny’s level. I don’t think they’ve been able to detect it yet. But if they have their instruments that close and me captive for that long? I… I don’t know.”

Todd nodded. “That’s what I was afraid of. Look, they don’t know where we are right now and don’t have the means to find us at the moment. I can get you out of here. To a safe house in Gotham or Metropolis or, hell, anywhere you want. And we can reach out to Red Robin, see how things are going with your friend Tucker. Maybe extract him as well.”

Jazz’s mouth fell open. They could… get away? For good? To a Justice League level safe house? She burst into tears.

She might be able to see her friends again soon.

Todd moved so he was sitting next to her. Hesitantly, he put a hand on her shoulder. “So I take it you want to do that?”

Jazz nodded, then shook her head. “I don’t—I don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

Jazz sniffed. “I just—It’ll make it easier to find Danny. If we’re together. If we have to go somewhere.” She shook her head. “God, I’m going to sound like such a bitch. I love Danny. If it’s what we have to do to get him back, yes. Absolutely. But… It’s just… My degree. If I disappear halfway through the year for who-knows-how-long? I’ve been working to get into Harvard since I was ten years old. Since long before Danny had his accident.” She scrubbed at her eyes. “God, I’m such a bitch. My brother needs me. And if I go back, I’ll probably be detained long enough it’ll impact my grades anyway. And that’s if the Guys in White don’t just lock me up indefinitely.”

“You’re not a bitch,” said Todd, voice filled with some emotion she couldn’t put a name to. “Like you said, this has been your dream for practically half your life. But I think we can help you with that.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “How?”

Todd grinned. “I doubt your school would be able to complain or hold it against you if I had Kori—Starfire—tell them that you were needed for an urgent Titans mission. That you helped save the lives of countless people. Way I see it, they’d have to forgive your abandoned classes and allow you to retake them.” He hummed and looked up. “In fact, I’m pretty sure we could find a Justice League fund to pay for at least one semester of classes for you. Probably more. To make up for the money lost on this one.”

Jazz’s mouth fell open. “You’d do that? For me?”

“And your brother and sister and friends. It’s kinda what we do.”

Jazz nodded. “Yes, please. If you can do that, I’ll go with zero hesitation. I’d have given it all up for Danny, of course. But we’d both… not regret it. But he’d feel guilty he forced me to give up my degree and I’d always be a little resentful I had to. Not towards him, never towards him, but the Guys in White and Vlad and my parents.”

“Great. I’m going to call Arsenal and Starfire. I need one of them to get my car anyway. Left it parked back near our meeting place and I don’t think we should be going back anywhere near there if we can avoid it.”

“Then what?”

“Then I’ll reach out to Red Robin, see what happened when he went to meet up with your friend Tucker out in San Francisco. See if they’re up for an extraction as well. If I gave you a phone, would you be able to reach out to Dani-with-an-I?” He grimaced. “Do you have any other way to differentiate them?”

Jazz chuckled wetly. “Nope. Dani-with-an-I refuses to change her name. Says it’s her name and she’s not going to change it just because someone else had it first. And Danny-with-a-y hates going by Daniel or Dan. When they’re together, they drive us crazy with it.”

Todd grumbled something under his breath. “Fine, whatever. Just, do you have a way to contact her?”

Jazz nodded. “We’ve been too scared to, but if you can get me something with an internet connection, I can contact her and have her meet us somewhere.”

“Easy. I’ll have Arsenal bring us something that you can have to yourself rather than relying on borrowing our phones or computers.”

“Thank you. You didn’t have to do this, but thanks.”

Todd shrugged and stood. “I wasn’t going to just ignore you after seeing those messages. Now, try and get some sleep. It’ll be a few hours before my friends can get here.”

-----

And that brings us to the end of Chapter 2!

Hope you enjoy. We've got the beginnings of a plan set up.

Check out the subscription post if you want notifications when I update!

#dpxdc #anger management ship #jason todd #jazz fenton #jazz worrying about her college degree #is making jason remember how much he wanted to go to college #he wont let someone elses university aspirations #go up in smoke #thanks to cape life #he'll *make* bruce pay for her tuition #and that of her friends if they want it

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vidalswife · 4 months ago

Text

Open Fire

Word Count: I.8k

— pairing: agatha harkness / wanda maximoff, post wandavision, pre aaa.

Summary: Its been months since Wanda Maximoff defeated Agatha Harkness in Westview and left her powerlessly trapped in a fake persona. What happens when the brunette witch somehow escapes, finding Wanda in her seclusion. An even bigger question, will Wanda team up with her to accomplish the end to Agatha's plan, and if so, what will happen as the two get closer?

author's note: this chapter does not contain any pg13+ material. however in the future of the story, there will be mature themes, so if you are a minor i advise you not to interact. on another note, i wrote this beginning to a fanfiction while waiting for agatha's spinoff to release. i am aware my fic has been stolen and published on another platform, however it is my writing, as you will see, parts of it were edited out. if you would like proof of ownership i shall surely message you. it will not be based on the show, but possibly could have elements of it! and in order not to spoil the plot i will leave it at that. <3

The redhead smiled at the knock on her door, expecting a hiker or a mountaineer to be waiting for her, she called out a quick "I’ll be right there", rushing to grab the refreshments she typically offered to those passing by.

Ever since she left Westview, since defeating Agatha, she’d been in the mountains of Slovakia. A small cabin was all she needed, it had a room, a kitchen, a small area with couches. It wasn’t perfect, but it was hers. She crafted it on her own. She had finally reached the full potential of her power, at least she thought she did, and she used it to start anew. She did not want to be found, and she didn’t need anyone, but still, when hikers or tourists came around, she enjoyed the company. She would bake them pastries and bread every now and then. Agatha taught her to bake, but then again, Agatha taught her a lot.

When Wanda was growing up, she didn’t learn to bake or cook, but the witch she left behind in Westview taught her so many lessons about living in a mortal world. She’d hated her, for the most part, but there were so many things in her new life she had to credit to the brunette with mad curls.

As she placed the bowl of freshly baked bread upon the table, and the lemonade in a pitcher to the side, she checked her hair in the mirror planted on the wall, when she was satisfied, she opened the door.

And with a sudden flush, in the very instant, her heart sank, and she slammed the door.

_________________

It couldn’t be happening, I mean Wanda knew she couldn’t play keep-away forever with the other woman, but it sure as hell seemed like the best temporary option.

She turned with her back against the door, closing her eyes and exhaling a stress filled sigh.

”Now, is that any way to greet an old friend?” said 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 voice. Even though there was no mistaking who owned the captivating tone, Wanda wished that when she opened her eyes, she would wake up, and she would somehow be in a dream.

But alas, when she did open her eyes, reality hit the redhead like a semi-truck.

Standing in front of her was Agatha Harkness, the now powerless, crazy, curly haired raveness. The ‘evil’ witch she had defeated some time ago.

Wanda instantly resorted to using her magic, sending magical cuffs around the woman’s wrists, to which Agatha simply chuckled, “I’m starting to get the notion this wasn’t as pleasant of a surprise as i had hoped.”

”Oh, really? You think so?” spat the ginger, a soft hand now palming her forehead. She figured the witch would return one day, rise again and try to get her powers back. However she never figured it would happen only months later. She may have been the most powerful being to exist, but there was no doubting the strength of the other witch in the room, or anyone she could have used to free herself.

”Wanda, dear, these cuffs aren’t necessary” she reminded, hinting that she no longer had powers.

Wanda's brow furrowed, her eyes flooding to the sight of the cuffed and powerless brunette in her living area. She wondered about removing restraints, questioned the probability that Agatha knew other ways to harm her, and she figured it was best to keep them.

”Listen doll, I haven't come to harm you, I've come to help you.” she spoke, and Wanda slowly inched closer, tilting her head as her lips parted, in an attempt to suggest something that would not come out. It was like the woman read her mind, one of the powers she had was the ability to manipulate, interact with, and read minds, but that had only been with those in Westview. . and there was no way she had power again.

”How did you know what I was thinking, Agatha?” she said, tone cruel and interrogative. With the settlement of these words, she was inches from the other witch, her expressions clearly showing some form of confusion and anger combined. Agatha loved playing with the gingerette’s mind. It was almost an impossible thing to avoid.

”Wanda Wanda Wanda” she spoke, a long pause shadowing the calling of the woman's name. Wanda noticed how intently the witch was watching her, observing her, studying her. With a smooth and subtle smirk, she began to speak again, “You can’t ever make things easy for yourself, can you?” Agatha slowly began to move, raising her hands from behind her back, which were free from wanda’s cuffs, almost as if they had never existed.

Wanda stood lifeless, frozen and in shock. Slowly she began backing away, realizing that this meant 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘢 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝙥𝙤𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨.

”How did you–” she was cut off by a hand raising, a dim and small light of purple emerging from tan fingertips. Agatha whispered an incantation, flicked her wrist, and Wanda was forced upon the door, unable to move.

The witch inched closer, smirking at the woman’s confused look. “You're so. . dull. thinking you could take away 𝘢𝘭𝘭 of my power, and keep me trapped in your silly little persona?” she chuckled, “It took less than a week for me to break the curse you put on me, less than a month to gain some of what I lost. . I could’ve killed you, you know. I've been watching you, Wanda.” The redhead shivered at the thought of just dying, no warning, to the hands of Agatha Harkness, albeit. It made her think of Pietro, how he was dead, and never coming back.

”Oh, but don’t worry, I have bigger plans for you” she spoke, closer to wanda than ever before. Wanda had conflicting feelings towards Agatha. They had shared a friendship, of course, when Agatha was Agnes, and Wanda was “evil”. No matter the details, the two witches had built a rapport with one another. An unspoken understanding was present, so Wanda believed her when she said she wasn’t 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 planning to kill her.

”If you really want to help, with whatever twisted, fucked up idea you have of what I ‘need’, let me out of this hold.” Wanda shot a smile at the brunette, and Agatha simply tilted her head in consideration, before repeating another incantation.

The binding yet blinded force was now constructing her body, pressuring her more into the door. She yelped, wincing at the pain. Part of her wanted to use her magic, but she had learned it would do no good the last time she tried.

Agatha had a devilish smile on her lips, one that Wanda knew too well.

“Please” she winced. The older woman only chuckled mischievously, before flinging her wrist left.

As the redhead felt the force upon her body release, she sighed. Part of her wanted to run up and punch the other witch, mainly for imposing on her life so soon into her newly found peace (for the most part). Wanda instead shot an angry look at the brunette, and Agatha replied with an obvious smirk and a raise of her eyebrows.

”I'm sorry to have wasted you a trip, but I don’t want any help from 𝙮𝙤𝙪, and I never will” she remarked, walking away from the essence of the woman, to her kitchen counter. She grabbed a pitcher out of the fridge, pouring a glass of cold water. It was risky turning her back on such a powerful person, especially after refusing an offer, but there was some form of trust she felt, something unexplainable that she only felt with her.

It was quiet for a moment, until finally she heard the heels softly embracing the wood floor.

click.. click.. click.. click.

They stopped, and Wanda dismissed the notion of turning around. She could hear the smooth breaths Agatha took, so close. Wanda's hand clutched her glass, she planted the other on the counter.

Agatha's arms went past Wanda's waist, and she laid her hands over both of Wanda's. The younger woman reveled in the touch, it was the only human contact besides that of talking that she’d had in months. Agatha's body was pressing into her back, and she sighed into the touch. Her awareness of the situation only grew as she felt the woman’s lips brush along the skin of her neck.

The scarlet witch had always felt.. something when it came to her mentor. Her feelings about the woman were uncharted and complicated. She felt both comfort and edge, like she was safe but not secure. And to have her hands on her own, even if not interlinked, it got Wanda’s mind racing, as well as her heart. Heat flushed to her cheeks as she realized that the raveness could probably hear her heart beating.

”𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙙𝙤 𝙜𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙜𝙚𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧” Agatha whispered, her voice husky and low. Her lips were close to the redhead’s ears, and a soft moan escaped Wanda's lips. She felt so many things, so much confusion at why the things Agatha said made her want to lean into the woman and let her take control. Whatever great things the brunette had in mind were probably wicked. . but when Wanda turned her head and looked into those brown eyes, she couldn’t say no. She tried, opening her mouth to refuse and tell her to leave, but nothing came from her lips.

This made a smirk run onto Agatha’s face, and she held the eye contact that the redhead initiated. At the notice of the woman's still hanging lip, she softly inched her own lips closer.

The witch had always intimidated those around her, and it was no different with Wanda, except the contact was far more intense, and almost like a battle for dominance. Agatha’s lips brushed against the gingerette's, and Wanda’s head tilted to the side, if they were to kiss, the angle would be perfect. Wanda wanted that, she desired it as she desired the air in her lungs. She closed her eyes, waiting for the embrace, when Agatha softly hummed. The brunette pulled her lips away, and found the dip in Wanda’s neck. A soft, but hot kiss was planted on her neck, and the younger woman’s head leaned back. With a smirk, Agatha took the glass from Wanda's hand, and backed away from the woman.

She took a sip from the glass, winking at her ginger witch.

”Don’t be a fool, Wanda” She playfully remarked, setting down the glass beside the redhead, and retreating from the woman.

Wanda had never been so confused, yet had so much clarity in her life. She didn't want to let Agatha stay, or help with whatever she desired, but those lips, those hands, that voice.. they clouded every piece of rationale in her.

Come tomorrow morning, Wanda Maximoff would team up with Agatha Harkness, and no one would know about the moment they had shared that night.

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grimoireofhayley · 1 year ago

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Of Friends and Horror

Stu Macher x Fem!Reader x Billy Loomis

Word Count: 1.6k

WARNINGS: Graphic content, Smut (MINORS DNI), Language, Talks of SA, Cheating, Obsessiveness, Gore, 18+ Content, Stalking, Possessiveness, Dirty talk, Religion talk, Suppressed Mental Health problems (I.e., reader has some issues that she isn't aware of)

Taglist: @ev3ningrain @nerdytif @fanfic-enjoyer123 @darkenwolfie @juda-the-simp @colsons-baker @junnniiieee07 @ok-boke @ren-ni @katie-tibo @bruce-yamada @kenma-izhu @cookielovesbook-akie @elevenpurple @hyunlix-world @mavix @halleest

A/n: Oh-my-god, I am so sorry for the major delay! Trust me, I was in the middle of writing the chapter the same day I said I would post it, but being a mom is super-duper busy and they will always come first and I completely forgot to post the chapter, but here it is FINALLY.. My twins are now 3 so they’re acting like teenagers, but toddler form; super bossy, extremely demanding, always and I MEAN always keeping me on my feet. Plus, I had to re-write it as I didn’t like how the first attempt at chapter 14 sounded 😮‍💨 Anyways, I barely have time to write, but when I can, I hope you all enjoy it. I hope this chapter is up to your liking! More chapters are still on the way, A LOT MORE. Keep in mind, the Billy scene in previous chapters and this scene is my first time writing smut/smut related things… 😓😓😓 Lastly, Thank You ALL so much for getting me to 405 followers! I’m in disbelief 🫢💜

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OF&H Masterlist

Chapter 14

Gulping, you shakily took the phone off the counter, hanging it up and unplugged it from the wall, making sure no calls would come through anymore that night for her sake.

Looking over, you saw Sidney gripping at her brown hair, pulling it in every direction, her jaw clenched, yet, her teeth chattering; she wanted to scream, shout and cry, but couldn’t. Her pale features now a rouge from both exhaustion and terror. Her sanity seemed to slip away bit-by-bit each time Ghostface would call; preying on her, taunting her, humiliating her.

“What, what!?” Dewey came running from his room, waving a gun around in his white t-shirt and blue and white striped boxers.

Tatum tsk-ed at her brother’s tardiness, pushing passed him to follow Sidney.

You rubbed the nape of your neck, placing your other hand on Dewey’s shoulder, “Next time.. maybe be a little quicker.” You laughed, half-heartedly, trying to make light of the situation, seeing how confused Dewey seemed to be.

“(Y/n) (L/n) and Sidney Prescott who were both…”

Before the news reporter finished his sentence, Dewey shut the tv off, pulling a chair out from the kitchen table, sitting down.

“Billy was released.”

Your ears perked at the sound, relief washing over.

Sidney’s eyes lit up, but she still clearly had her doubts.

“His cellular bill was clean. He didn’t make those calls..” Dewey stated, grabbing a carton of milk before pouring some of it into his coffee. “We’re checkin’ every cellular account in the county.” Dewey finished, taking a long gulp of his un-sweetened drink before continuing. “(Y/n), Sidney..” He eyed both of you, “Any calls made to you two or Casey Becker are being cross-referenced, it’s going to take some time, but we’ll find him.”

Tatum nudged you and smiled at Sidney.

Dewey pulled into the school lot with ease, parallel parking at the curb.

He got out and opened the door for you and Sidney.

You smiled at him, thanking him quietly, and he tilted his hat at you as Sidney got out next.

However, your smile quickly faded, seeing a reporter running towards your side; most likely to ambush both you and Sidney about what happened.

“(Y/n) how does it feel to know the murderer is lusting after you and nearly butchering your friends? Do you know who the killer is, are you a part of his twisted game?” A red head asked, shoving a mic at you, accusing you of being his partner-in-crime.

You scoffed, irritated, but somehow calm, honoured that she knows the killer wants you.

“What about you, Sidney? How does it feel to be almost brutally killed?”

Sidney bit her lip, already wanting to cry.

Dewey stepped in front, shoving the reporter away.

“Hey, leave them alone!” He shouted, towering over the petite woman.

She stumbled back, but wasn’t giving up.

“People want to know. They have a right to know!”

You, Tatum and Sidney bolted, getting away from all the interrogations this woman was sure to have up her sleeves.

You were pressed against a locker; your mid back arched causing your torso to move forward; and your arms folded, pushing your breasts together, making them pop out.

“This is a mistake, I shouldn’t be here…” Sidney huffed, grabbing her books and slamming her locker door shut.

You sighed, plopping a sucker in your mouth; twirling the red treat around your tongue, pursing your lips tightly around it and without meaning to, your eyes landed on Stu who was already watching you.

You blushed and he smirked, liking how you looked with your mouth full.

“I want you to meet me right here after class, okay, Sid?” Tatum spoke and Sidney nodded.

“Hey, Stu, I haven’t seen Billy around… is he really pissed?”

Stu tore his gaze from you, looking at Sidney.

“Oh, you mean after you branded him the Candyman?”

You shoved Stu slightly, giving him a glare.

He winced, “No, his heart’s broken—“

Suddenly a scream was heard and the four of you looked into the direction it came from, spotting a student running down the hall dressed as Ghostface.

You blushed again, seeing the full cloaked figure and that ghostly-white mask again.

‘Fuck, that’s hot.’ You smirked slightly, turning your head to the side, trying to subtly check out the student who’s dressed up like the murderer, you let out a quiet “Mmph” squeezing your thighs together.

Unbeknownst to you, Stu heard your moan, and knew exactly what you were doing with your thighs. Luckily, the others did not, but he is so glad that he did. He can smell the hormones leaking off of you; they were practically oozing with want for the cloaked-killer.

He bit his lip, trying to contain his excitement.

“Why are they doing this?” Sidney spoke, watching the student run away.

Stu, glanced at you, “Are you kidding me? Look at this place, it’s like Christmas!” He laughed, a devious smirk prying at his lips as the comment was directed at you. You were his Christmas, knowing the woman he wants is full blown horny for him, for Ghostface.

Tatum huffed, hitting him with the lollipop you had given her prior, “Stupidity leak.”

“Hey!” Stu shrieked, immediately looking at his girlfriend, while the school bell blared, signalling the start of class and students were quick to get going.

Sidney ran down the hall, upset at Stu’s comment and Tatum ran after her. You sighed, looking down, picking up your bag in the process. You went to go wave ‘bye’ to Stu, but he vanished.

“Huh?” You mumbled out loud, seeing how he was gone and so was every other student that was there nearly two minutes ago. “That’s my cue…”

Tapping your fingers against your hip, you hummed to the tune of ‘Your Dead’ by Norma Tanega.

You stopped in front of the janitors closest to reach for your Walkman that was in your bag, wanting to blare the song in your ears, hoping that actually listening to the catchy tune would make it stop repeating itself inside your head.

Though, the universe had other plans…

You felt the door swing open, hitting you, knocking you out of the way, making you drop your only source of music.

Soon after, a hand covered your mouth and an arm wrapped around your waist, pulling you into the closet.

A scream hitched in your throat as the unknown figure flicked the light on, revealing who the culprit was…Stu.

“Stu, what the actual fuck was that for!?” You narrowed your eyes, clenching your fist, ready to punch him out of fear.

He laughed, but soon afterwards told you to be quiet, locking the door behind him as he stepped forward.

“Shh, I don’t want anyone to hear us.” He whisper-yelled, getting closer to you, placing both hands on either side of your arms.

He was a good two-to-three feet taller than you.

“I saw you, you know…” He bit his lip again, rolling the flesh with his teeth, gripping your arms tighter.

You looked up at him, confused, not sure what he meant, however, a part of you knew where this might be going.

“The way your face went red, how you rubbed your thighs together..” He taunted, poking your nose, “Let’s not forget that sweet-little moan you let out when you saw that student…” He leaned into the crease of your collarbone, nipping at the skin, the coolness of his lips penetrating your warmth.

Your face was hot with yearn, but also embarrassment. “The student who was dressed as the Woodsboro slasher…” He grinned, feeling you shiver at his touch.

“W-what—“ You began, trying to act like you didn’t know what he was talking about; ashamed that you were caught. You were quickly silenced by Stu pressing his lips against yours, his bulge pushing up against your side.

His fingers danced across your arms to the string of your grey tank top, ripping it from your body with force as the sound of the thin material shredding lingered in your ears. Fortunately for Stu, you didn’t have a bra on…

Your breasts jiggled from the impact, bouncing in place which caused a small guttural growl to emit from Stu’s throat.

Stu immediately grabbed your boob in his right hand, rubbing his thumb across the perky bud, while his other hand gripped at your bare side, his fingers digging into your ribs.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at the finger prints you already had bruised into your skin. They almost lined up with his own marks, but his were slightly bigger. Stu only quirked a brow, continuing to fondle your breast, not wanting to ruin the moment by asking.

Stu trembled at the thought of someone else having you, but he was sure to find out who and kill him.

“M-mm..” You let out a breathy moan, making Stu lose track of his thoughts,“But T-Tatum—“ you stuttered, holding back another sound as he slid his hand into your shorts, rubbing your clit through the silk of your panties.

He hooked his finger under the band, pulling you even closer, his forehead pressing up against your own.

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#fanfiction #scream 1996 #billy loomis #billy loomis x reader #billy x you x stu #scream franchise #stu macher #billy loomis x female reader #billy x stu #stu macher x female reader #stu matcher x reader #stu macher smut #stu x reader

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randxmthxughts · 2 years ago

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Chosen by Eywa - Crossing the Bridge - Chapter 4

← chapter 3 | chapter 5 →

contains: arranged marriage, mentions of war and grief, angst, one-sided enemies to lovers, slow burn

wc: 4.2k

chosen by eywa masterlist | general avatar masterlist

a/n: i know i haven't updated in two weeks, but it was only due to the circumstances. like i promised, i will have another chapter out during the week, bc i'm so happy that i got my visa and went to my concert, so stay stuned, babies. i hope you still like this series and will keep reading T.T

It was awkward. The way Neteyam stood in front of the tent, hesitating to walk in to avoid drawing the attention of the other healers. Awkward, how he had to shift his weight from one foot to the other every few minutes because everyone, except her, had caught sight of the future Olo'eyktan at some point. And it took Kiri to finally shove her so forcefully to look up from her task, that Y/N almost fell face first onto the ground.

The whole intention of spending time together away from the High Camp was to avoid the attention and the murmurs of the villagers about them. More importantly, to avoid running into Kaye and his new mate. But the moment their ikrans touched down in the forest, far away from the prying eyes, the pressure of performing got replaced with an uncomfortable tension. And neither Y/N nor Neteyam knew how to close that gap between them. How come weaving mats in a healing tent seemed to be easier and less stressful than taking a stroll in the lush forest of Pandora?

“Say something, show her the real Neteyam,” Neteyam muttered to himself, trailing awkwardly behind Y/N.

She, immersed in her own thoughts, walked ahead without a clear direction, fingers fidgeting with the hem of her loincloth. Neteyam desperately tried searching for an opening to deliver, and took a few larger strides not to fall behind too far.

“So… how was your day?” he finally mustered the courage to ask.

Y/N paused in her tracks, glancing back at him with a small frown, as if she couldn’t quite make out the words he said. Neteyam stopped walking too, waiting for a response.

“The usual. Lessons,” her voice lacked any enthusiasm that could have encouraged him to go on.

“Good,” Neteyam nodded, trying to offer something else in return, “I’ve had training today.”

“How was it?”

“The usual,” he repeated Y/N’s words with an ironic snicker, recalling his morning, “It’s either getting beaten up by your fake opponents, or by the actual bad guys. Today was the pretend one.”

He shrugged to complete his explanation, something that he had borrowed from his brother whenever he made a joke, as if to give his words a humorous meaning. And though they were quite ghastly, it coaxed a small chuckle out of Y/N. Neteyam’s ears twitched at the sound with a flicker of delightful surprise. He made her smile.

“Well, you look alright for someone who got beaten up,” Y/N gestured at his woundless body, her canines peeking out.

“I’d have to turn that compliment down, since I didn’t get beaten up today,” Neteyam smirked, “You should have seen the other guy.”

“Oh, is that so? That’s always the case with you?”

“No, I get beaten up too sometimes… though not as often,” he shrugged again, this time releasing the pressure of performing, as he admitted to a vulnerability that most warriors wouldn’t, “And even when I do, I don’t worry about that stuff.”

“Why not?” Y/N’s ears perked up in curiosity.

“Well, let’s see…” Neteyam bit back a smile, pretending to be thinking about his answer, “I have a grandmother for Tsahik, my mother used to be the tsakarem, now my sister is a tsakarem,” he paused, hesitating to add, “And my destined mate is training under the guidance of the Tsahik. So, I think I’m in good hands.”

“Right,” Y/N snorted at the comment, and for a moment Neteyam thought that he might have crossed the line his father kept telling him about, but once she turned away from him to continue walking, he noticed a ghost of a smile on her lips, and that was enough of a confirmation to send his heart into a rapid beat.

Neteyam wasn’t even sure why the reaction made him suddenly giddy but it felt like a small victory he could showcase, if his family expresses any interest in his progress with Y/N. And as he continued to trail behind her, though they mostly remained in silence, the atmosphere seemed to ease.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

“It’s okay, Y/N, let’s switch,” Kiri’s tight grip on Y/N’s arm brought her back into reality.

Y/N stood awkwardly a few steps away from the two warriors in front of her - one, who looked at her with guilt but still some lingering warmth in his eyes, and the other - who studied her earnestly, looking for any signs of discomfort, as if he could make them vanish. Kiri, who was only a moment ago treating her brother, was quick to read the situation and attempted her best to resolve it. Everything just unraveled so fast, the way the group of warriors stumbled into the tent for the first time in days, seemingly wounded after an encounter with the sky people.

Since they were practically regulars at the tent, each warrior was used to being treated by the same one or two healers, and everyone found their places right away. Kiri too, without a second thought, was immediately grabbing her older brother and getting to work. Which left Y/N standing in front of Kaye, according to the unspoken habit that had developed over the past months. Kaye had a gash across his chest that needed close inspection, but Y/N couldn’t really move, as if her feet were suddenly glued to the ground, weighed down.

Neteyam, of course, watched the scene unravel before him, but he couldn’t do much but just contain himself from making a bigger deal out of it for the whole tent to see. His eyes darted around the room, searching for his grandmother, who perhaps could help Kaye instead, but Mo’at was already busy with placing stitches on another warrior’s thigh, and it would take a while before she would be free.

“It’s alright, I can wait for somebody else to -” Kaye cleared his throat, raising his palms in the air, as if to prevent the switch up, but Kiri simply ignored him, already nudging Y/N to the side.

“That looks bad, you need to take care of it,” Neteyam gestured at Kaye’s chest with much discontent, as if acknowledging the truth made him cringe.

Defeated, Kaye stopped disagreeing, the sting of the wound was only getting more painful when he spoke, and to be quite honest, he couldn’t wait. Y/N’s expression remained stone cold, as she watched Kiri lead Kaye to the other side of the tent. Neteyam pressed his lips into a thin line, watching them two, his irritation finally starting to seep away, the farther they got. He was almost caught off guard, when he felt a pair of cold hands against his skin.

Y/N silently kneeled in front of him, starting to treat the small scraps over his arms and shoulders. Her expression was unwavering, as if nothing had happened, and he wondered what she was really thinking about. Was this the first time she saw Kaye after their fight?

“Stop staring,” Y/N mumbled, without looking up at him, while her hands still worked their healing magic.

Neteyam shook his head to deny her request, and continued to watch her every move intently. Irritated, she hooked a finger under his chin and forcefully turned his head to the side, so that he was met with the tent wall. He chuckled weakly at the gesture but kept the new position.

“You can take a breather, you know? I’m not dying, I can wait,” he suggested.

Y/N paused to stare at the side of his face for a moment, giving him a false sense of actually contemplating his offer. Of course, she was going to turn it down, there was no way she could’ve just walked out of the tent. The scolding she’d get from Mo’at wasn’t worth it.

“I can’t,” Y/N pretended to be unbothered, her hands continuing to work over his forearm, where a few smaller cuts were in need of a soothing balm.

“Why not? I won’t mind,” Neteyam turned his face again to look at her.

“Because I can’t leave my destined mate unattended, can I?” Y/N's voice dripped with irony, and she couldn't resist stealing a quick glance at him, searching for a reaction.

Neteyam's frown deepened, caught off guard by the repetition of his own words. Was that a bad slip? Maybe she took what he said in a way where Neteyam only valued Y/N for her skills, rather than her as a person. Disappointed with himself, he shook his head and then gently covered her hands with his own, halting their movements.

"Y/N, I didn't mean it that way," Neteyam's voice was low, and he waited patiently for her to meet his gaze before continuing, "This... it doesn't matter. I was just kidding. Go on, and take a breather if you need one."

“I know, Neteyam, I was only teasing,” the corners of her mouth twitched in amusement.

For a fleeting moment, Y/N allowed herself to forget that the love of her life was sitting and watching her from across the room. It felt exhilarating to indulge in the playful banter, teasing Neteyam and pretending that they were a blissful couple, free from the weight of their responsibilities.

“You’re teasing,” he breathed out with relief, “Oh… good.”

“Yes,” she rolled her eyes, “And obviously I can’t just take a break right now. Your grandmother will kill me.”

As Y/N returned to tending his scrapes and cuts, Neteyam bit his cheek, thinking for a moment. A sudden surge of courage coursed through him, and he made a decision, quickly standing up and pulling her gently to her feet. His hand found hers, and the movement surely caught the attention of those around them but Neteyam only shrugged, his eyes on Y/N. She was confused, and she couldn't help but glance nervously at Kaye, who had been watching the whole interaction with unease.

“Let’s go,” Neteyam’s thick-accented voice grabbed her attention once more, and without waiting for an answer, he was already walking out of the tent, leading her by the hand with him.

Y/N had little time to react, on the way out, her eyes caught a sight of Mo’at, who shook her head at the interruption and returned back to her task.

“Neteyam,” Y/N hissed embarrassed, but his grip on her, though gentle, remained unmoving.

“My grandmother won’t kill you, if I’m coming with you,” he explained, without even glancing back at her.

“You’re coming with me? Where?” Y/N’s nose scrunched up in confusion.

“Wherever you want.”

Neteyam was never one to protest the rules. Lo’ak liked to tease him about it and call him a “goody-two-shoes,” but Neteyam was too focused on excelling rather than getting offended by his brother’s weak insults. But he also never had enough motivation to disobey. Breaking the rules only brought trouble, and after careful consideration, Neteyam had never deemed it worthwhile. But here, now, as he led Y/N away from her responsibilities to offer her a moment of peace, he decided that it was for a good reason. That it wouldn’t matter if his grandmother got mad at them and he would take the blame anyway, since he initiated it. But if it meant that she didn’t have to keep working while her past lover gawked at her, then maybe it was worth it.

When they were finally away from the tent, Y/N stood right in front of him, their hands still intertwined. Despite trying to stare down at his much bigger frame with disapproval, there were traces of gratitude in her eyes. Her tail swished with excitement, thinking of how great it felt to abandon her day’s duties and just be left alone.

"Thank you," she whispered, her voice carrying an earnest tone.

"No need to thank me," Neteyam squeezed her hand, "My mother always reminds me that those who care of others also deserve care in return. I tend to forget it at times, but she's right."

He tugged at her hand once more, his gaze already wandering off to somewhere else. Without hesitation, Y/N willingly trailed behind him along the narrow path that meandered through the Hallelujah Mountains. Neteyam's grasp on her hand remained firm all throughout, neither of them sure if it was to guide her safely or simply to reassure her with his presence.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Walks with Neteyam had shifted from being an obligation to somewhat of an entertainment. They still didn’t speak much, finding peace in the quiet companionship, as they wandered through the forest, away from the eyes of the clan. In those moments, Y/N stopped feeling the pressure of pretending to be happy about her impending union with the future chief, while Neteyam was happy to reconnect with the forest. Since the relocation of the clan to the Hallelujah Mountains, his time in the forest was limited to missions or overseeing his siblings, never to revisiting his past and his roots.

And while to Y/N, this relationship had evolved into a strong foundation for friendship, Neteyam struggled with his growing protectiveness over her. It felt like she might crumble if he wasn't there to watch over, and the mere mention of her past could be her breaking point. These thoughts consumed Neteyam's restless mind, keeping him awake at night. Alongside with them, his frustration towards Kaye and the lack of respect, fueled his anger, as he delivered another forceful hit to his pretend opponent. Was it genuine protectiveness he harbored for Y/N, or was it simply his frustration with Kaye's behavior? Neteyam felt like a hypocrite.

The future chief groaned in frustration, delivering another calculated strike, disarming his opponent, Kaye. But his anger and irritation were blinding, making Neteyam lose his focus, not necessarily in his movements but within the depths of his mind. He couldn’t stop the attacks.

Kaye fell into his parents’ trap and mated with a woman of their choosing. Yet, he seemed content with their decision and he had no trouble leaving Y/N behind. Did he ever even love her, or was he simply leading her on all that time? Either way, Kaye had moved on, and Neteyam had to be the one who watched Y/N try to deal with the fact.

Another powerful shove, and Neteyam swiftly toppled his opponent, sending him sprawling onto his back. His spear was aimed threateningly, directly at the vulnerable spot beneath Kaye's throat. Kaye’s eyes widened in fear, as for a fleeting moment, it seemed like Neteyam might not stop. He immediately lowered his ears in a gesture of submission to the future Olo’eyktan.

“Neteyam, that’s enough,” Jake's voice cut through, jolting Neteyam back to reality.

With an almost aggressive shake of a head, as if trying to force away the nagging thoughts, Neteyam took a step back and lowered his spear. The fight was clearly over and he was the winner, but it barely even felt like a victory.

Neteyam exchanged a look with his father, who was confused with his son’s behavior. To Jake, Neteyam was one of his best warriors, always in control of his emotions and precise with his movements, and it was rare that he got to witness him being overtaken with anger. With a loud sigh, Neteyam still complied with the unspoken rule within the camp and extended his hand to his opponent to pull him to his feet.

Oblivious to the fact that the fight was twice as violent because Neteyam had developed a personal vendetta against him, or perhaps he only chose to be ignorant of it, Kaye offered a small, appreciative smile in response to the extended hand, accepting the help. He dusted off his back and thighs, and before Neteyam could sign a goodbye and leave, Kaye quickly moved to stand in his way.

“I need to talk to Y/N,” he announced, forcing Neteyam to stop in his tracks, “You must see her, right?”

Neteyam clenched his jaw, struggling to contain the anger that still hasn’t died down from the fight. Just when he started to get the things moving for himself and Y/N, just when it seemed like Kaye wouldn’t hurt her anymore, he was suddenly wanting to talk to her? She wouldn’t hide if she wanted to see Kaye, would she?

“I think it’s safe to say that she doesn’t want to talk to you,” Neteyam’s voice trembled slightly, “If I were you, I would have kept my distance. Just like you've grown accustomed to doing over the years.”

“Ouch, I guess I deserved that,” Kaye winced at the comment, “Listen, I am truly sorry for the way things turned out but I never meant to hurt her. I just want to apologize.”

Neteyam simply shook his head, indicating that the explanation fell short of convincing him. If Kaye wanted to speak to Y/N, it would only be on her terms, Neteyam certainly wasn’t going to take part in helping him.

︵‿︵‿︵‿︵

Y/N sat in front of the healing tent in silence, the small wrinkle in between her eyebrows was turning deeper within each passing minute. She was annoyed with Neteyam, who didn’t show up, but mostly she was annoyed with herself for still being there and waiting for him. Her lesson had ended long ago, their usual routine of going for a walk right after was simply abandoned, and Neteyam was nowhere to be found. She knew that he came home a few hours ago, when she heard the shouts of the warriors, and some even came in for a check-up at the tent. So, if he was safe, it puzzled her why he hadn't come. Did he seize an opportunity and forget to warn her not to wait?

She shouldn’t be annoyed though. Wasn’t this exactly what she wished for? To spend less time with him, to be left alone. But it didn’t feel like a win at all, just a let-down. The times when Kaye would sometimes stand her up floated her mind with insecurity. Though it didn’t happen often, she got hurt deeply every time. No amount of apologies from Kaye could ever help her overcome the fear of him simply not showing up one day and giving up on her completely.

Shaking her head, disappointed with herself for wasting time, she stood up, ready to leave. To her surprise, just as she rose, Neteyam appeared right in front of her.

"You waited," he uttered softly, a mix of confusion and gratitude in his voice.

“You made me wait,” she retorted, her irritation impossible to hide as her eyes bore into his.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” Neteyam raised his palms in the air, offering a defeat.

And that’s when Y/N noticed it. Before she could unleash the angry words she had rehearsed in her mind for the past hour, or fully grasp the tinge of pain in his voice, her eyes caught sight of something. A streak of red smeared across Neteyam's forearms, clumsily wiped but not enough to be completely rid of. Almost as if he tried taking care of it himself and failed miserably. Her amber eyes swiftly traced the path of the color, trailing from his ribcage and vanishing around his body, and without a word she circled him, to find his back, covered in awkwardly arranged leaves. She guessed that Neteyam had placed them himself, since some of the wounds were only partially covered, and there was dried off blood all over his skin.

“Neteyam, what the hell happened to you?” Y/N asked, her eyes turning bigger in shock. How long has he been in pain? Why didn’t he come to the healing tent and get it treated? Her mind was flooded with questions.

“It’s nothing,” he mumbled, turning around to face her, though his expression was painted with guilt, “Just a few scratches.”

“These are not just scratches, they look horrible,” Y/N gestured at him once more, “Why didn’t you come to your grandmother? You came home hours ago, no?”

Neteyam flinched at her words. They held the truth, but he didn't want to admit it. There was something embarrassing about getting that many wounds on his back. It meant he hadn't noticed the enemy behind him, which also signified his lack of attentiveness. But how could he pay attention when his whole reality was shifting around him? Neteyam took a step away from her, trying to force a small smile.

“Since you had to wait for so long, let’s go on that walk now, hm? I’ll try to make it up to you,” he tried nonchalantly.

But Y/N was quick to close the distance between him. She grasped his hand and without a word pulled him into the healing tent. Once inside, she gestured for Neteyam to take a seat on one of the rarely used old wooden chairs, thinking that being on her feet would be more convenient when treating his back.

“Seriously, I am okay, we can still go on that walk,” Neteyam tried to reason, but she was already hissing at him in annoyance to stop talking.

His ears lowered in defeat, which he desperately didn’t want to accept, but also secretly had craved. Because even though Neteyam was used to being the one taking care of others, it felt like a sun on his skin, knowing that somebody else was there for him. And he could tell she was mad just by the way she treated him with silence, but the anger was coming from a place of caring.

The wounds he bore were throbbing with pain, located in a difficult-to-reach place. Neteyam hadn't intended to be late; it simply took him longer than expected to dress his injuries. Yet, his heart fluttered with a mixture of relief and gratitude when he spotted Y/N still seated in front of the healing tent, patiently waiting for him. She could have easily left hours ago, so why did she choose to stay?

“You have a whole family of healers, why didn’t you just ask them for help? Why didn’t you ask me?” Y/N sighed.

Neteyam's ears twitched at the touch, a subtle response to the gentleness of her fingers on his back. Soon, the leaf bandages he had grown weary of were being carefully removed, and as she worked, a wave of empathy flowed through her, her tone turning into a softer, more understanding one.

“I know that there is some kind of pride that comes with being the Olo’eyktan’s son, and also this pressure of being perfect and never showing your vulnerabilities. But when you get hurt, Neteyam, none of it should matter.”

“I know, you’re right,” Neteyam admitted guiltily, hanging his head, “I just…”

Y/N tsksed at the incomplete explanation with discontent, taking off the last bandage. Now, fully exposed, Neteyam’s back was covered in multiple gashes arranged at sharp angles around his spine. Fortunately, they hadn't pierced deep enough to cause nerve damage, which meant that Neteyam was quick to react. A damp cloth grazed his skin as Y/N gently wiped away the brown stains of the dried off blood.

“Whether we like it or not, we are a team now,” she continued after a pause, “So you can rely on me.”

He nodded, even though he couldn't see her face. There was a sincerity in her words, something different from before. It didn't feel like mere obligation; it felt like she genuinely meant it, like she truly wanted him to rely on her.

“Thank you, Y/N.”

His earpiece suddenly crackled to life, interrupting the moment, and Neteyam immediately tensed up at the sound of his father’s worried voice. He sat up, and pressed a finger to his wired necklace, speaking into it.

“I am safe, dad, what happened?” Neteyam questioned.

Worried, and unable to hear Jake’s voice on the other end, Y/N quickly came in front of Neteyam, searching his face for clues of what was happening. The future Olo’eyktan seemed to grow more concerned, as he remained quiet to hear his father.

“What is it?” Y/N whispered impatiently, and then she felt it.

Y/N's stomach plummeted as she observed the transformation of Neteyam's expression. What was initially concern now gave way to a haunting mix of guilt and remorse. It was as if he carried the weight of something deeply troubling, something that was unfixable, probably too difficult to say out loud.

“How many of them?” Neteyam spoke again, his eyes still glued to Y/N’s, “And who exactly got shot?”

It felt like the world around her came to a stop, as in these seconds of waiting, Y/N had imagined hundreds of scenarios running through her head. And it could be anything, but the way Neteyam rose to his feet in a hurry, she feared that the worst one was coming to life.

“Is it him?” Y/N’s voice cracked, and Neteyam nodded, pressing his lips into a thin line.

“It is Kaye.”

chapter 5 →

♡ taglist ♡ : @kiri-tuk @samiiistarss @afro-hispwriter @iwantjaketosullyme @thexplosivegirl @peachinsomniac @im-in-a-pansexual-panik @koala-wonderland @sakura-onesan @dimplesxx @i-live-in-a-fantasy-daydream @theycallmesia @crazy4books1 @empiricsad @summertimedepression @vihelm @cleverzonkwombatsludge @ducks118 @couragemydearheart @xstarsmvxz @jkeluv @qtkat @marsbars09 @buckysleftarm420 @soleilmoon @blueslxt-primary @kavyaas-world @books-for-summer @tojis-discord-kitten @nerdybouquetofkittens-blog @jackiehollanderr @totesnothere04

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charmandabear · 1 month ago

Text

Office Hours: I want this like a cigarette (3/16)

Pairing: Astarion/Named F!Tav Rating: Explicit Word Count: 4.9k Tags/Warnings: semi-public sex, under the desk blowjob, vampire biting/blood, chair sex, wildly unprofessional behavior (full list on ao3)

Summary:

Ancunín makes Rosalind feel so gods damned flustered, there simply has to be a way to get her revenge.

Okay, I know I goobered it and released this chapter a week late, but I'm hoping to make up for it with the fact that a) the Masterlist will be out momentarily, and 2) you're getting chapters 3 and 4 at the same time. And chapter 4 is almost entirely new stuff! But that's for the next post.

Next chapter ~ Read it on AO3 ~ Masterlist Office Hours playlist on Spotify

Ever since Rosalind slept with Ancunín — or, perhaps more accurately, he fucked her mercilessly over his desk — she hasn’t been able to get him out of her head. It's a little embarrassing, frankly. Every time she passes him in the hallway, a single glance over those round wire frames has her suppressing the moan that bubbles in her throat. One whiff of his fragrance and her pussy clenches in a Pavlovian response.

Standing in front of her mailbox in the main office, she reads a thrilling update from Volo about season selection. The next meeting is going to be even more brainstorming. Lovely.

Rosalind can smell him before she hears him, and the heat creeps up the back of her neck. He comes up behind her, standing closer than is probably necessary, and reaches above her head to empty his own mailbox.

“Pardon,” he says politely, but she feels like he’s going out of his way to brush against her. A shiver runs down her spine as he very gently grazes the back of her neck while shuffling through the papers.

He turns and starts chatting amicably with Hope. How can he stay so cool when Rosalind is practically in shambles? She pretends that she’s still reading the short memo just to collect herself. When he finally leaves the main office, she manages to turn around and imitate some semblance of a normal person. Hope catches her eye and frowns.

“Is everything alright with you? You're looking a little flushed,” she asks, genuine concern coloring her voice. Rosalind twists her face into a smile, hoping that it reads as gratitude rather than annoyance.

“Yeah, I'm fine, thank you. Probably just a little dehydrated,” she says, putting a little extra rasp in her voice to help sell the story.

“I’m about to leave for lunch, I could grab you something from the student union, if you're thirsty.” She smiles sweetly, fully unaware of the double entendre.

“I'm good, I have some water back in my office. I appreciate the offer, though.” The smile is now plastered to Rosalind’s face as she moves to leave the office. She bumps into Karlach while trying to make a hasty exit.

“Gods, soldier, you okay? You look like you just got out of a sauna.” She claps Rosalind on the shoulder and her knees buckle. The technical director had spent 10 years in the army, so Rosalind couldn’t fault her for the nickname, or the smack to the shoulder, for that matter.

“Just a little thirsty, is all,” she replies, continuing to scoot her way out of the office.

“Yeah ya are!” Karlach points two finger guns at her and flashes a big suggestive smile. Rosalind freezes for a half second, then realizes that Karlach is making a generic lewd joke and not pointedly calling her out for her current condition. Rosalind awkwardly finger guns back as she finally slips through the doorway and books it to her office.

She sits down at her desk and grabs her water bottle, taking a long sip. It's unbelievable how much of a hold he has on her. She thinks back to her bathtub fantasy from a few days ago. She could not have predicted the dynamic more incorrectly. She really thought that she would be the one in control, that she would have him coming undone for her.

That’s one of the few positive memories of her relationship with Aradin. He was a condescending ass — frankly, not too dissimilar to Ancunín. But when she got him into the bedroom, it didn’t take much to turn him into a pathetic whimpering mess. Her favorite thing was to ride his face, finally getting him to shut the fuck up. She shakes her head to clear it of the memory.

Instead, she lets the image of Ancunín pounding into her while pushing her face into his desk flood her mind, setting her heart racing. Her breath hitches slightly as the memory plays out vividly, like her own personal erotica.

“It must be rather exciting, whatever's got your blood going that way.” His sultry voice interrupts her debaucherous thoughts and she yelps in surprise. She glares at him leaning in the doorframe, hands in his pockets with his unbuttoned collar poking out from beneath a charcoal sweater. Looking like an absolute gods damned treat. He chuckles and saunters into her office, settling into one of the chairs across from her desk and crossing his lithe legs. Rosalind grumbles; despite her newfound attraction, he's still an arrogant little shit.

“I thought you couldn't come in uninvited,” she scowls, keeping her voice low for fear of someone overhearing.

“I don't recall being invited to come last time, but you didn't seem to mind,” he says with that little giggle of his, and Rosalind crosses her arms with a petulant pout. “Regardless, the rule only applies to homes, not individual rooms within a public university.”

Her frown deepens, unsure if he's being patronizing or not. “Is there something I can help you with, or are you just here to frustrate me?” She leans forward on her desk, trying to imitate his casual authority. She isn’t terribly successful.

“You seem to be doing that perfectly well yourself, the way I could hear your arteries pumping from down the hall.” His smile widens, flashing just a hint of fang, and her resolve weakens. He stands and stretches his arms above his head, his sweater raising just enough to show off a sliver of porcelain skin. Okay, now I’m positive he’s just doing this to annoy me.

“When you have a free moment, stop by my office, I have something to show you,” he drawls, an almost bored lilt coloring his tone. “And do try to keep that heart of yours under control, it’s distracting to the point of vulgarity.” He glances at her over his glasses one more time before retreating into the hall again.

Rosalind crosses her legs, trying to ease the ache between her thighs. He's absolutely insufferable. And he’s so much worse now that he knows he has this power. Well fine, if he has something to show me, he can walk it over his damn self. I’m staying right here. She wrenches open her laptop in an attempt to distract herself with work.

***

It’s a few days later when Rosalind finds herself in the student union, waiting for a coffee to help fight off the bitter cold. Out of the corner of her eye she spots the fight choreographer for the play currently in rehearsals. The PhD candidate studying githyanki history has an assistantship with the theatre department as fight choreographer for at least one play per semester.

“Lae’zel!” she calls, waving at the grad student. She spots Rosalind and walks over, expressionless.

“Greetings,” she says in a tone that Rosalind would attribute to anyone else as cold. But she’s grown accustomed to the gith’s less animated manner of speech.

“Hey, how are rehearsals for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern going?” Rosalind asks conversationally, and Lae’zel scowls.

“Not as well as I’d hoped. These students of yours have absolutely zero combat training, save Varrl, of course,” she says flatly, the disappointment all too evident in her voice.

“That makes sense, I’m sure he’ll make for an excellent Lead Player,” Rosalind replies as the barista calls her name. She turns to grab her coffee and when she turns back around, Ancunín is strolling up behind Lae’zel, snowflakes dotted across his black peacoat. Rosalind’s stomach clenches when she sees him, and she’s almost grateful for his dark round sunglasses that hide those piercing red eyes of his.

“Tut tut, Professor, don’t you know all that caffeine is bad for your heart?” he coos with a vicious smile as he shakes the snow from his hair. Rosalind can already feel her cheeks flushing, but she’s determined to keep her cool.

“Dr. Ancunín, I didn’t realize you were so concerned for my heart,” she retorts with the most aloof energy she can muster.

Lae’zel shifts her eyes between the two of them briefly before apparently deciding to ignore whatever tension she can sense. “I’m glad you are both here, for I have a query regarding the character of Hamlet. He is in this play very little, and I cannot glean his fighting style from the minimal source material.”

“Did you read Hamlet as a part of your prep?” Rosalind gives her a quizzical look, and Lae’zel stares at her matter-of-factly.

“No, why would I bother wasting my time with that?” she asks earnestly. Rosalind opens her mouth to respond and then closes it, realizing that she can’t argue otherwise.

“Hamlet would have impeccable sword fighting technique as the son of a king,” Ancunín answers Lae’zel’s initial question, but keeps his eyes fixed on Rosalind. “He’d be well-trained. Disciplined.”

She’s furious at how quickly he can make her heart pound in her ears. The corner of his lips twitch upward and she knows he can hear it, too. But she’s determined to maintain the upper hand.

“He’s also a bit of a show off, and extremely arrogant.” She holds Ancunín’s gaze for a moment longer before looking at Lae’zel. “This is for the fight on the pirate ship at the end, correct?” Lae’zel nods, so Rosalind continues, “Yeah, I would imagine he’s fairly careless, completely self-absorbed, and ultimately a coward when it becomes too much for him to handle.” Ancunín’s smile grows wickedly as Lae’zel contemplates Rosalind’s analysis.

“Yes, that does make sense to his character, particularly given his escape and the end of the scene,” she says with a nod, and then looks back at them pointedly. “And professors, if fornication is required to maintain a healthy working relationship, please, do not include me in your foreplay. It’s rather unprofessional, and rather sloppy.”

Mortified, Rosalind splutters, “We are not sleeping together!” in the exact same moment that Ancunín smirks, “Last I checked, she likes it sloppy.”

Rosalind whirls around on him, wishing that she knew any magic at all that could cause him psychic damage. Lae’zel simply rolls her eyes with a quiet, “Ch’k,” before stalking off, leaving them to simmer in their awkward moment.

“You can’t say that shit in front of my colleagues!” she hisses at him, and his smile turns downright impish.

“Oh don’t give me that, like you weren’t having fun,” he sneers, and she clamps her mouth shut. The problem is that she was having fun, before he took it too far.

“Ass,” she grumbles and takes a swig of her coffee as she stomps out the student union, his giggle ringing in her ears like a bell.

***

Back in her office she seethes at her desk, rapping her fingertips rhythmically against its surface. She needs to find a way to get her revenge, to somehow make him feel as flustered and uncomfortable as he does to her. A small, reasonable voice in the back of her head reminds her that escalating this power struggle will not end well, but her stubborn pride quashes the thought down.

Without having a fully formed plan, Rosalind finds herself walking towards Ancunín’s office. She takes a moment before knocking on the door, smoothing down the front of her dress and tousling her hair to give it a little more volume.

Suddenly the door opens and her student Mol comes barrelling out in a huff.

“D’you believe this berk? Gettin’ on my tail for ‘academic integrity.’ Ain't nobody more integrous than me!” she grumbles, adjusting her bag angrily. She turns her heated gaze to Rosalind. “Can you talk to your boyfriend and tell him to leave me alone?” she spits and Rosalind splutters involuntarily.

“Mol, we’re not—”

“Come off it, miss. Everyone sees the way you look at ‘im. Just work your magic so I can get back to gettin’ a college education.” And without another word, she's off. It’s been less than a tenday, the students couldn’t possibly be gossiping already, could they?

She shakes her head and steps into his office. It's just as cozy as last time, warm light emanating from lamps in every corner to compensate for the blackout curtains over the windows. She strides up to his desk and slams her hands down on it.

“Please tell me you’re not so stupid to tell the students about what happened,” she scowls, and he glares at her.

“Gods no, I’m a vampire, not a monster,” he hisses back before taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh. “No, that girl is just too clever for her own good. I’d almost respect it if she didn’t get on my last nerve.”

She crosses around to the other side of his desk and leans against the edge, letting her skirt ride up ever so slightly. She catches his gaze flicking down to her thigh before he puts his glasses back on and looks up at her from his chair. “Speaking of vampire,” she says, hoping she’s not too obvious in the way that she shakes her hair clear of her neck. “How do you get around campus without burning up in the sun?”

“Darling, I didn’t realize you were so concerned for my skin,” he flashes a self-assured smile, clearly pleased that he’s able to use her flirty banter against her. He casually rests his hand just above her knee, but Rosalind doesn’t miss the way his eyes narrow with a mild suspicion.

“Maybe I’m just curious,” she says, nonchalantly examining her nails. “Maybe I’m invested.” She trails her fingers down his wrist and plays with the buttons of his cuff.

“Just a concerned citizen?” He visibly relaxes as his hand absentmindedly begins to slide up her leg, stopping just under the hem of her skirt. “If you must know, it’s only the direct sunlight that causes harm. If I’m sufficiently covered up, and the cloud cover is thick enough, then I’m safe.” He squeezes her thigh on the word “thick” and her breath catches in her throat.

“Didn’t you say you had something to show me?” she asks in a raspy voice. She wants to kick herself; she was determined to not give him the satisfaction by bringing it up.

“Hmm, now that was several days ago, what makes you so certain I still have it?” he asks in an overly performative sing-song voice.

“Well if you don’t have it, then I guess I’ll head out—” Rosalind turns to leave but he catches her wrist and pulls her down until she’s straddling his lap. Before her logical mind has time to protest, she’s wrapping her arms around his neck and rolling her hips into him, pleased that she can feel the beginnings of an erection. He lets out a little puff of air that can almost be mistaken for a moan. She takes a deep breath and arches her back, letting her ample tits graze along his lips. He runs his nose along the neckline of her dress and slides his hand underneath her skirt to cup her ass. Her mouth drops open silently as she grinds into him harder, aching for any bit of friction.

Then a knock at the door.

They both freeze and stare at one another. There’s a muffled voice on the other side.

“Dr. Ancunín, do you have a minute? I have something extremely important to tell you,” Dr. Dekarios from the School of the Weave shouts through the door.

Rosalind has no idea what possesses him to instinctually reply, “Just a minute!” and the two of them share a silently mouthed exchange.

-What the fuck are you doing?

-I don't know, I panicked!

-What am I supposed to do?

-Hide, perhaps?

Without thinking she slides off his lap and hides under the desk. Just in time, too, as Dr. Dekarios doesn't wait for permission to open the door and waltz right in.

“Dr. Ancunín, thank goodness, I hope I'm not interrupting anything.” Rosalind can hear the arcana history professor rush in and eagerly sit down in one of the red velvet lounge chairs across from Astarion’s desk. She groans internally with the realization that she might be stuck here for an unbearably long time.

“Actually, Dr. Dekarios, I was on my way out,” Astarion says as he starts to stand before quickly reversing that decision. Rosalind realizes with a smug sense of satisfaction that he’s still slightly aroused.

“Completely understand, I'll keep this brief, then. So, the other day, you and I spoke of the use of bardic magic and its position amongst playwrights in Renaissance England.”

“Yes, I recall,” Astarion responds through gritted teeth. He sinks back down in his chair, resigned to sitting through this conversation.

“And how it was common practice at the time to use magic from the College of Swords as decreed by Elizabeth? Ben Jonson, Marlowe, Beaumont and Fletcher, they all used College of Swords magic.” Dr. Dekarios’ voice increases in pitch with his excitement. Rosalind suppresses a sigh, preparing herself for a long wait in this cramped space. It would be uncomfortable for a thin person to fit, nevermind her, especially while trying to keep out of the way of Astarion’s long legs.

Although…

What if she didn’t keep out of the way? What if she just… brushed her hand along his thigh…

Astarion coughs to hide the sudden intake of breath her touch causes. He crosses his legs and she smiles knowing it's to give himself a little reprieve. A feeling I know all too well.

“Yes,” Astarion says, his voice frustratingly even, “I recall your enthusiasm in telling me this.”

Rosalind assesses his body language, trying to read his response. Is he into this? Is this a game he wants to play? She decides to test her luck again, dragging her fingers up his thigh more deliberately. His leg quivers and he shifts his posture as the arcana professor continues.

“Well, I had a thought. Consider this: Shakespeare brought about a major shift in how we think of the Western theatrical canon as it pertains to bard magic, correct?”

She shifts forward and squishes her tits into his knees that are now pinched tightly together. She slides her hands up his inner thighs, prying them apart slightly. She leans into his legs further as her hands continue their journey upward, squeezing as they get to the top of his thigh.

He kicks suddenly, a soft thump into the back of the desk. Is it a warning, telling her to stop? She pulls back and glances up at him, but the top of the desk obscures most of his face. All she can tell is that he continues to stiffly nod while Dekarios rambles.

“And remind me, what other major storytelling convention did Shakespeare also shift during this time?” Rosalind makes a face, and she honestly can't tell if he’s actually asking, or giving Astarion a mini exam in his own specialty.

She waits for some sort of response from him. After a moment, he lets his thighs fall open and gently nudges her hip with the side of his shoe. No, his foot.

This motherfucker is playing footsie.

Oh he is definitely into her little game.

She pushes his legs open again, this time sliding her hands all the way up to his cock, and she can feel it twitch beneath the wool of his pants. She gently strokes him and his hips give a subtle twist into her.

“I'm not sure—” Astarion begins, but stops short when his voice cracks. She nuzzles his bulge, running her lips across it as it hardens. She slips a hand under him and gives his balls a gentle squeeze. She can hear his breath stutter, but it's unlikely that Dekarios can as he quickly answers his own question.

“The humors, correct? My understanding of non-magic literature isn't fully up to snuff, but I am correct in remembering this, yes?”

Rosalind licks a fat stripe across the fabric and she hears a metallic click above her head, like his watch just made sudden contact with the surface of the desk. She can imagine the veins in his hands bulging as he clasps them together tightly.

“Hm, no, ah yes, you are correct. Most English Renaissance playwrights understood characters as a balance or imbalance of the four humors.” Astarion manages to keep his voice relatively steady despite the slight stammering, and Rosalind is determined to up her game. She reaches up to undo his belt buckle as quietly and efficiently as possible. Luckily, she’s able to hide the noise within Dekarios’ exclamation.

“Yes! That's exactly what I was thinking! So, hear me out. What if these two gradual changes were related? In moving away from College of Swords magic, Shakespeare felt less constrained by the four humors. Or perhaps the other way around?”

She reaches into his pants to free his cock, now fully hard, and teases her fingers along his shaft. His hips buck a little more forcefully, as though controlling his movement is growing more difficult. She grips his pelvis tightly, holding it in place, and relishing having the upper hand for once. She didn’t expect it would be quite like this, but she’s not complaining. She flicks the tip of her tongue across his slit and his hips twitch again under her hands.

“Could be…” is all Astarion can manage to reply. Hopefully at this point Dekarios is in a full-on oration and he won't need to contribute much, if at all.

She pops the head of his cock into her mouth, working the underside of it with her tongue. She clamps her forearms down on either side of his lap, pulling him closer and letting her tits brush his inner thighs. She squirms, the slick feeling between her legs and the heady lust making her dizzy until a miniscule moan works its way into her mouth. Not loud enough for anyone to hear, she can only hope, but she’s certain that Astarion can feel the vibration by the way his hips jerk again. His face above, or at least what she can see of it, gives little away.

“And this could even,” Dekarios continues, showing no sign of awareness of anything else happening in the room, “signal the shift into realism, could it not? Beginning with Shakespeare and culminating with Chekhov and Ibsen in the nineteenth century?”

She takes in more of him, relaxing her tongue and letting him fill her mouth, discovering his taste. He almost lifts off his chair in his attempt to thrust into her, and she uses it as a way to take him in deeper. Her jaw is beginning to ache with how slow she’s going, but it's worth it to feel Astarion’s frustrated discomfort.

He takes a slow breath before speaking again.

“You know who would absolutely love this discovery of yours?” His voice is low, smooth, as she bobs her mouth on his cock. “Professor Tavlin of the theatre department. Her office is right down the hall.”

She chokes and he deftly covers the sound of her gag with a cough.

“Bless you,” Dekarios says after a fraction of hesitation. Then he continues as though there was no interruption at all.

“Then I shall share my findings with her! Down the hall, you say?”

“Room 208.”

“Excellent!” Dekarios stands and Rosalind wraps her hand around the base of Astarion's shaft, letting some saliva dribble out of her mouth to lubricate it. She can hear the wizard quickly make his way out the door.

“Gale!” Astarion yelps as she twists her hand and swirls her tongue in tandem. He clears his throat and corrects his decorum. “Dr. Dekarios, the door, please.”

“Oh, of course! Apologies,” he says with slight chagrin, and the door latches with a dry click. Astarion rolls his chair back and grabs Rosalind’s hair, pulling her out from under the desk.

“You saucy little minx,” he growls and she stumbles forward, their lips crashing together. He breaks the kiss by yanking her hair back, and his eyes sparkle wildly over the wire frames. He roughly turns her around and pulls her into his lap, his shaft pressing into the cleft of her ass. “Having fun with your little games?” he hisses in her ear as he pulls her dress up with one hand, the other sliding down below the waistband of her leggings.

“You certainly seemed to be,” she says with a breathless giggle that gets cut off by a gasp as his fingers slide easily through her folds before finding her clit. The hand on her dress slides over her breast, pinching her nipple into hardness as she arches against him.

She reaches her arm behind his neck, twisting her fingers into his silver curls to keep herself braced against him. He makes quick little circles around her clit with his ring and middle fingers while continuing to grope her breast with his other hand. Her head falls back onto his shoulder while she breathes heavily, writhing beneath his touch. He presses sloppy kisses to her shoulder, licking and nipping without sinking his fangs into her.

“Fuck, please, bite me,” she whines, clutching onto his hair and pushing him against the crook of her neck. She can feel his lips stretch into a smile before he bites down, and she slaps a hand over her mouth to keep from crying out in bliss. The sensation is such an overwhelming mix of pain and pleasure, the initial ice cold shard that melts into a lightheadedness bordering on sublime. The fingers on her clit slow and his grip slackens as he loses himself in her blood, and she whimpers needily, rutting her hips into his hand.

Just as Rosalind’s vision starts to darken, Astarion unlatches and roughly pushes her off his lap, spinning her around by the waist and easily tearing through her leggings and underwear.

This man is wracking up quite the clothing bill.

He pulls her back into his lap, barely taking the time to line himself up before sinking her down onto his cock. He shoves his fingers into her mouth and she moans around them, the taste of her own juices flooding her tongue. He keeps his other hand firm on her lower back as he thrusts up into her.

“Gods, fuck,” she groans, words muffled by his fingers as she continues to roll her hips into his, pushing her cleavage into his mouth. He pulls the neckline of her dress down to expose her breast, taking her nipple into his mouth and sucking lightly. She breathes heavily and tries to stifle the noise of her moans by pressing her open mouth into his hair. She can smell that citrusy fragrance he wears and her fingers claw into him.

“Please, I’m— Astarion,” she whimpers before clamping her mouth shut and burying her face into his ear.

“Fuck— look at me,” he growls, and her eyes lock onto his as his glasses slide down his nose. He pulls her into a rough kiss to keep her quiet, and he tastes faintly of iron.

He fucks into her harder as she bounces on his cock, her needy whimpers growing louder against his lips. The piercing pain of his nails digging into her ass and the grunting deep in his throat as he approaches his release send her rocketing to her climax. She comes with an explosive cry that gets swallowed into his kiss. She continues to ride out the waves of her orgasm as she feels his, his hips thrusting upward as his dick throbs with the pulse of his semen.

They finally slow, the sticky mess between them squelching loudly. They listen intently past the sound of their heavy breathing to try to detect any indication that someone overheard. When they deem it safe, Rosalind lets out a sigh of relief before the two of them dissolve into giggles. He drops his forehead onto her shoulder as she rests her cheek on his sweaty mass of curls.

They disentangle themselves from one another and she winces slightly at the feeling of him sliding out of her pussy. She gets a better look at him, her blood still smeared on his lips and chin, his now flaccid dick slumped above his waistband. She’s certain she can't look much better, dress rucked up around her waist, one tit hanging out over the neckline.

They methodically put themselves back together, Astarion stuffing his wet dick back into his pants, Rosalind straightening her dress and hair. She catches his gaze again and somehow he still manages to make her blush, but this time bringing a feeling of warmth and giddiness rather than frustration and embarrassment. He reaches out to tuck a wayward lock behind her ear.

“Next time, can we please have sex in your office?” he says with a teasing chuckle. She swats his chest playfully only to find herself drawn into him, not wanting to pull her hand away. It's strangely romantic, and if she were able to think clearly, his hands snaking around her waist might bother her. But her head is still spinning and her cunt is still throbbing with the aftershocks of her orgasm, and little could upset her right now.

That is, until the doorknob turns and Dekarios pops his head back in.

“Looks like she’s not—” His voice dies off quickly when he realizes what he's walked in on. He coughs, mumbles an incoherent apology, and backs out quickly.

“I swear to the gods I'm getting a scroll of arcane lock for that damn door,” he growls under his breath, and she leans her forehead against his chest with an exhausted sigh.

#astarion #astarion ancunin #astarion fanfic #astarion fanfiction #astarion bg3 #bg3 astarion #astarion smut #bg3 smut #astarion x tav #astarion/tav #astarion x female tav #astarion x female oc #astarion x f!tav #bg3 modern au #office hours #smut

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matchagator · 2 years ago

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Clash | jjk (Mature) Ch. 2

I am so thankful for all the love that has been shown so far toward "Clash". I was so excited to write the second chapter for you all and I hope you enjoy it just as much. Stay tuned for more banter, more arguments, and some smut! Let me know what you think so far.

{Main Pairings:} Jeon Jungkook x Female Reader

{Rating:} 18+

{Genre:} Slice of Life | Neighbors

{Summary:} You're a new resident in your very first apartment excited to enjoy the simple life of adulthood. Unfortunately for you, you continue to run into unruly neighbors no matter how much you try to keep to yourself.

{Warnings:} Mature Language, Enemies to Lovers, Hostility, Mild Angst, Sexual Tension, Banter (This list will be updated as each part gets released)

{Tag List:} @erica2283 @i-never-post-but-i-am-here @koobunsblog @jkoma @jjkw-7 @gretesstuff @chimsworldsstuff @rms-expensive-girl @generouschildcolor @moonfaery @coralmusicblaze @roguesthetic @pjmises

The shock of your most recent revelation still has your jaw hung open in disbelief as Jungkook stares at you with irritation stretching over his facial features. His large doe eyes reveal the truth behind his emotions, clearly unsettled by the fact that you happen to be his new neighbor. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He knew from your interactions on the elevator that you lived on the same floor as he did, but he never assumed you live directly beside him.

He groans, running a hand through the mess of hair atop his head. The curls of his overgrown mullet are saturated with sweat, clearly, an indication of whatever activity he was doing that elicited the moans and groans you heard from the opposite end of your bedroom wall. “Of course, I’d get stuck with you.”

Jungkook knew he had a new neighbor after seeing the numerous boxes in the corridor the day you moved in. There wasn’t much interaction with each other before this point given you remained quiet about the ruckus he caused day in and day out. He was curious to know who inhabited the space directly beside him, however, he now knew the one person that annoyed him in the entire complex was the one connected to his bedroom wall.

His comment sends you into a frenzy as you slam your palms against the frame of his door, making your dominance known as you roll your eyes in exasperation. “You? Stuck with me?” You laugh sarcastically, taking offense to his insult as you recall the numerous times you weren’t able to fall asleep because of the fucked up hours he seems to be awake. “Please, I’m the one who has to listen to your shit playlist every hour of the fucking night.”

Jungkook presses his teeth together as his jaw tightens, leaning his arms back against the door frame to challenge your dominant stance. Before he can get a word out, you take a step forward, barricading yourself in front of his doorway without an ounce of shame. “Not to mention, I have to listen to you banging.” You gesture toward him in annoyance, motioning up and down to the disheveled appearance of your next-door neighbor.

Jungkook’s expression morphs into one of confusion, not recalling having anyone over since you moved in. “What the hell are you talking about?” He clicks his tongue against his teeth, rolling his eyes at your insanity.

You purse your lips together, popping out your hip at his audacity. Clearly, he was well aware of the loud groans echoing from his apartment. “The walls are thin, you know.” You add with a glare as you press forward.

Jungkook takes a moment to think back on his evening, remembering that before his crazy new neighbor came pounding on his front door, he was trying to get in a late-night workout. He was doing drills on his speed bag, boxing away until he managed to get his heart rate up before adding some burpees to the routine. He knew the activities were strenuous, however, he never imagined making so much noise. His mind connects your accusations as his eyes widen at the thought, a smile of pure amusement cracks over his features as he lets out a breathy chuckle. “What exactly do you think I was doing?”

You go to answer his question before you catch yourself, refusing to answer as your cheeks flush a bright shade of crimson. You replay the immoral thoughts that flashed through your mind when hearing Jungkook groan through your wall. You’d be lying if you said you didn’t imagine what was occurring in the opposite apartment, but now that you knew your neighbor was Jungkook, the thoughts seem more scandalous. Even Roxanne heard the sinful sounds through your telephone. Surely Jungkook knew that?

Before you can say anything, he lets out a playful laugh, crossing his arms in front of his bare torso. His tattooed arm is draped above the other, allowing you to study each design of the sleeve carefully as he continues his infectious laughter. “I was working out, princess. No need to blush.”

You blink as you process his words, feeling relief to know there was no banging on the other side of your wall. Your eyes travel back to the waistband of the basketball shorts hanging from his hips, feeling slightly dizzy at the thought of his abdominal muscles flexing as he works out. You can still see clear evidence of his labor on his torso, his skin glistening with sweat beneath the lighting of the hallway.

“Oh my God.” You slap your palm against your forehead, the embarrassment of your false accusation causing you to shrink from your once self-assured stance. You realize that you’ve been drinking in the sight of his wonderfully toned body, hovering your eyes over his waist as you quickly glance back up to find his stare. “I’m sorry, I thought…”

“You thought I was having sex?” He interrupts, his tone unable to conceal the enjoyment in his voice as he leans into the door frame. He offers you a cocky grin as another chuckle escapes his lips, realizing that you’ve been checking him out since he opened the door. “Bet it sparked your imagination.”

You’re hit with a cold wave to calm the smothering heat that’s festering between your legs, infuriated with yourself for even being affected by this man’s physique. “You’re such a pig.” You snap back, attempting to focus on all of the reasons you despise your neighbor to help distract from his body.

“If that’s what you wanna think, princess.” You wish you could slap the smug look from his face, groaning and rolling your eyes as you turn to walk away.

Jungkook takes the opportunity to glance over your figure, admiring the band tee that drapes loosely over your frame. His eyes drop to your ass as you turn to storm off, biting the piercing on his bottom lip as he gently nibbles against it. If only you didn’t drive him mad. “Enjoy your tampons and chocolate!” He calls out after you, a little too loud for your liking as you quickly turn your body back to face him with every intention to shut him up.

“Just keep it down.” You hiss, wanting to simply go back inside and curl into your bed to hide from the world. It was bad enough that you are on your period, but now you have to deal with Jungkook and the embarrassment of it all. You flick your gaze over his body once more before narrowing your eyes, pretending the sight of him disgusts you. “…and put on a shirt.” You scrunch your nose in distaste as you watch his tongue poke the inside of his cheek, the irritation between the pair of you evident as you stomp back into your apartment.

You refuse to look back until you slam your door shut, leaning your back against your door as your body trembles with agitation. “Little shit.” You grumble, hating the fact that he manages to bother you so much each time you come across him. You let your anger escape with an exhale as you shuffle your feet across the floor to your bedroom.

As you lay in bed to cuddle back with your heating pack, you hear the music stop from the other side of the wall. You sit up, completely in shock that he actually listened to you and turned down his music. You grin triumphantly as you lay against your pillow, your eyes glancing back over to your television to catch up on the latest episode displayed before you. Maybe going over there was the best thing for you to do.

Just as you start getting back into your sitcom, loud thumping resumes through your bedroom wall, even louder than it originally was before. You groan, rolling over to yank your pillow over your head to smother the sound from invading your eardrums. As if Jungkook was purposefully trying to spite you, the persistent noise fluctuates as the loud vibrations become distant hums. You relax your body, giving up on the evening as you close your eyes and focus on anything else.

—

The chime of the elevator was swiftly followed by the large doors sliding open to reveal the familiar pattern of the carpeted corridor leading to your apartment. Luckily, you live beside one of the four corners, meaning the elevators were conveniently located just beyond the threshold of your front door.

You balance a few bags in your hands as you step out into the brightly lit hallway, walking with haste to your apartment door as you juggle some fresh sushi and a couple of your favorite bottles of wine in a temperature-controlled reusable bag. For the first time since you’ve moved in, you are excited about an evening in, especially since your two best friends are coming to spare you from Jungkook’s insistent annoyance.

As you approach the entryway of your unit, you glance into the corner space of the hallway, your eyes are met with a large wall. Your eyes flicker down to the minimalist doormat of Jungkook’s apartment, his gym bag haphazardly tossed into the corner beside his door. You let out a scoff, rolling your eyes once again at the notion that he assumed the corridor was his personal form of storage.

“Pig”, you grunt under your breath as you pause in front of your door, satisfied with the sight of the wreath hung on your door to add an extra pop of decor to your space. You lean forward to place the bag of wine onto your doormat, allowing you the opportunity to retrieve your keys from your back pocket. You hear the gentle rustle of metal as you locate the correct one, aiming for the lock mechanism as you quickly unlock the door.

Just as your wrist rotates, you reach for the handle with the opposite hand to help pry open the large structure. You pause as your palm is met with a slimy texture, causing your features to scrunch in disgust as you quickly pull your hand away from the handle. “What the fuck?” You display your hand open in front of you, noticing the faint glimmer of oil across your skin. You hesitate, lifting your hand to your nose to sniff the odd substance, relieved to find it was the familiar scent of avocado oil.

“What are you? A fucking child?” You practically growl through your teeth, your jaw locking with tension as you wipe the sensation from your skin as you brush your hand against your hip. It’s no question how the oil got onto your door handle, your eyes accusingly shifting toward Jungkook’s apartment. You’ll be damned if you let his childlike pranks ruin the start of your day.

You force yourself to take a deep breath, bending forward to pick up your groceries with every intention of escaping inside so you could avoid the possibility of running into him. As your bag lifts from the floor, you suddenly notice your welcome mat has been tampered with, the wording now upside down. You let a groan fester deep in your soul, tossing your head back in exasperation. Frankly, it was such a small annoyance, yet knowing it came from Jungkook seems to irk you more than it ever would otherwise.

You dig your toe into the corner of the mat, kicking the material until it’s facing the correct direction before walking in and shutting your door behind you. You sigh as you shuffle toward the kitchen, placing your bag on the counter. You sigh as you recall the oil from your door handle, moving toward the sink to wash away the remnants from your skin. You take a pump of soap, working the lather of the substance between your palms as your elbow pushes open the tap.

The reality of the situation is that Jungkook went out of his way to sabotage your door and fiddle with your doormat with the intention of pissing you off. Unfortunately, it was working, your body simmering with agitation at the thought of such petty actions. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since you both discovered that you are neighbors, and he’s already doing shit like this? This was going to be a long-year lease if this keeps up.

You groan once again before rinsing the soap from your hands, shutting off the tap to grab the tea towel that was hanging from the handle of your stove. You dry your hands before moving back to your groceries, unzipping the top, and starting to pull out the contents. You pluck the bottles of wine from the bag first, setting them against the island, knowing you couldn’t wait to indulge in them later that evening.

Switching your attention to the various assortments of sushi tucked at the bottom of the bag, you gently pull them from their security, setting them on the counter as you lean your hands into the corner of the kitchen island. You glance down at the rolls, noticing a few pieces of nigiri with fresh slabs of cut salmon decorating the top. You tuck your bottom lip into your teeth, gnawing the flesh softly as you ponder intrusive thoughts of revenge as you vividly picture Jungkook’s gym bag in the corridor outside.

The corner of your mouth pulls into a sinister grin at the reality of his belongings helplessly sitting outside, tempting you to tamper back. “I can’t.” You whisper to yourself, knowing that if you fell to his level, you’d surely declare war. Hasn’t it already begun anyway? You continue chewing on your bottom lip before succumbing to your petty urges, quickly lifting the top off of the delicacy to peel a piece of sliced salmon from one of the mounds of rice.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this.” You say to yourself as you dangle the raw fish in front of you, expecting it would only take an hour or so before it warmed up and started to stink. You quickly shuffle your feet toward your front door, peeking out of the peephole to see if anyone is out in the corridor. If you are going to do this, you are going to have to be quick.

You pause as you reach for the handle, questioning if you should really be placing a piece of raw fish in his gym bag just to get back at him. Weren’t you taking it a step too far? Your mind quickly scans through all of the interactions you’ve shared with Jungkook since your arrival and you finally settle on the memory of being hit with a ball at the pool. Could you be a better person and ignore his childish pestering? Absolutely. Did you want to? Hell no. If he was taking shots, you were equally as prepared to serve him a taste of his own medicine.

You quickly pull open the handle of your front door, leaning your head out into the hallway as your peer from side to side to see if the coast is clear. You grin childishly as you realize there isn’t a single soul in the corridor and Jungkook’s door is shut. Fearful of getting caught, you quietly tiptoe toward his gym bag, noticing a high-brand logo printed on the side of the duffle. You pause once again, suddenly feeling bad that you would soon be ruining something of such value. You chew on the inside of your cheek, pondering your decision until you settle on the fact that he could always wash it and air it out.

Once there, you crouch down, pinching the zipper between your thumb and pointer finger as you gently slide it open, revealing a pair of boxing gloves and a towel nestled inside. You peer up, glancing around once more as you hang the piece of salmon over the opening, letting it plop into the corner beside one of the gloves. You cringe at the thought of what it might smell like later, gently pushing the glove on top of it to conceal it from view once you first open the bag. You close it with haste as you push off your hands to help you stand back up, turning to sneak back into your apartment and shut the door close behind you.

The solitude of your apartment allows you to press your back against the front door, giggling immaturely as you relish in your actions. This is something you would typically never do, however, the excitement of getting Jungkook back seems worth it all. You brush off your hands, moving to turn your attention back onto covering up the rest of the nigiri and placing it into the fridge to store it until later, desperately awaiting the commencement of your girl's night.

—

The soft sounds of mumbling women echo throughout Jungkook’s apartment as the voices within your living room travel through the walls. Your girl's night was commencing while Jungkook and Taehyung freshen up after a day of various activities around town, completely oblivious to the events occurring in your apartment.

Taehyung walks through the kitchen of Jungkook’s unit, typing away on his phone as he places an order for pizza to be delivered as a quick alternative to cooking dinner. While he does so, Jungkook walks out of his bedroom, his hair still dripping wet from his shower as he runs a towel through the damp strands of his hair.

“I’m ordering pizza,” Taehyung speaks softly as he hears the click of Jungkook’s door, informing his best friend of his last-minute decision. The apartment owner simply nods in agreement as Jungkook moves to sit against the couch, letting his body fall limp into the plush cushions.

“Sounds good to me,” Jungkook claims as he continues working the fabric of the towel through his hair to soak up as much water as possible. He’s wearing a pair of blue jeans and a loose black t-shirt that conceals his toned frame as he shifts his eyes toward Taehyung. His best friend has his elbows pressing into the kitchen counter as he continues to type in the instructions for the pizza delivery.

It was now well past eight as the two men suddenly realized that they hadn't made any plans to satisfy their growing hunger. Taehyung was the more responsible of the two, taking on the task of ordering food for him and the man he considered a younger brother. Jungkook gently lifts his legs as he shifts to a lying position on the couch, letting his tired limbs take a moment to melt into the cushions. The soreness serves as a painful reminder of their many reps this morning at the gym, leaving him groaning as he rolls his body over so he can face Taehyung.

The recollection of their workout has him scanning the living room for the location of his gym bag. He momentarily pauses to think about its whereabouts, remembering tossing it down outside his apartment when they decided to hit up the pool.

“Hey, would you check if my bag is still outside?” Jungkook motions toward the front door with a nod of his head, watching as Taehyung finally submits their order before shifting his gaze to the front door.

He offers Jungkook a look of annoyance as he moves toward the front door. “Seriously? You haven’t brought it in yet?” Taehyung swiftly opens the front door to see the familiar object sitting in the corner of the corridor, nestled just beside the door. “You’re such a slob.” He complains playfully, retrieving the item as Jungkook retaliates from his position on the couch.

“I am not. I just forgot.” He defends, glancing around at his relatively neat apartment. He wasn’t necessarily a messy person, he just had groups of random objects piled off to the side until he had time to put them up.

Taehyung rolls his eyes as he leans down to grab the gym bag, instantly being met with the overwhelming smell of something putrid. He dramatically coughs back his disgust as he hesitantly lifts the sack by one of the straps, carrying it at arm's length as he brings it back inside. Jungkook is none the wiser as he hears the front door close shut, revealing a horrified Taehyung. “JK, your shit smells rank.” He groans, tossing the bag down at the foot of the couch.

“Oh, shut up.” Jungkook sits up as he watches Taehyung struggle to breathe properly, pinching his eyebrows together as he follows Taehyung’s dramatic gaze toward the bag. “It’s not that bad.” He couldn’t imagine what he might have left in there to cause such a reaction from his friend. He typically showers and changes after every workout, rarely ever using the bag to store soiled clothing. Did he leave a pair of socks that caused an odor to build? “It’s just boxing gloves.”

The moment the words left his lips, he was met with the same vile smell that Taehyung described, oddly resembling the faint scent of rotting flesh. “What the fuck is that?” That was definitely not just his boxing gloves. He moves quickly to unzip the top compartment of the bag, peeling it open as the odor only increases, causing him to instantly pull the collar of his shirt over his mouth and nose as he desperately tries not to gag at the repulsive stench.

Taehyung simply shrugs his shoulders, retreating back into the kitchen to avoid inhaling any more of the horrid fragrance. “Damn, JK. What do you have in there?” Taehyung has known Jungkook for years and he never experienced such a smell coming from the younger male, let alone his belongings. “Whatever it is, it smells like shit.”

Jungkook shot him a deadly glare as Taehyung innocently held his hands up in his defense, knowing he had nothing to do with whatever situation was unfolding in his bag. Jungkook cautiously moves aside one of his gloves to reveal a pinky, orange substance tucked at the bottom corner. “What the fuck?” He moves to pinch his fingers around the now slimy piece of salmon, lifting it up out of the bag to display it to Taehyung. “Is this fish?”

Taehyung can’t keep his face from morphing in disgust, dramatically dry heaving as he turns away from the sight. Jungkook simply glares at him through the mess of slightly damp curls hanging in his eyes, shaking his head as he studies the mysterious piece of salmon. He’s had sushi and nigiri plenty of times to recognize the type of protein, standing up to bring it toward the trash can. “It’s salmon.”

Taehyung’s eyes scrunch in confusion, watching as Jungkook discards it quickly into the bin. “Why do you have salmon in your gym bag?” He can’t help but chuckle at his question, watching in amusement as Jungkook becomes increasingly annoyed that his belongings are now covered with the scent of rotting fish.

“Like I would know.” He snaps back at him, moving to the sink to clean off the liquid from his hands. Taehyung steps aside, finding the situation quite comical. As if on queue, there is a boisterous laugh that echoes through the walls of his apartment, reflecting the amusement of the girls next door as the gentle thumping of music begins to reverberate against the walls. Jungkook pushes open the tap of his sink, pumping some soap onto the palms of his hands.

Over the commotion next door, he can make out the faint hint of your voice, suddenly recalling the small prank he sabotaged your door with this morning. How else would fish suddenly appear in his gym bag? You had to be the culprit and Jungkook just caught onto your declaration of war. “That bitch.” He groans, scrubbing his hands together as Taehyung leans the back of his hip into the counter.

“What bitch?”

Jungkook scoffs with a small chuckle of disbelief. “Remember that girl from the pool?”

Taehyung scans his memory, vaguely recalling a conversation with Jungkook about a girl that he apparently had no interest in despite her good looks. “You mean the hot one that you threw a ball at?”

Jungkook grins mischievously at the memory, smiling in satisfaction before remembering the events that just occurred. “Yeah…turns out she’s my neighbor.” Jungkook is definitely physically attracted to you, however, the numerous interactions you two shared seem to create a clear understanding that you both can’t stand each other beyond looks. Now it was a battle of the sexes as you both engaged in a petty prank war just to further piss each other off. “I bet she put this fish there.”

Taehyung’s jaw hangs open in surprise, his cheeks swelling against his eyes as he bends over in laughter. “Ah man…that sucks.” While Taehyung didn’t understand why Jungkook didn’t pursue you, he had also heard stories of all of your interactions, giving him a decent chunk of background knowledge to understand your current dynamic with his best friend.

Jungkook sighs as he moves to dry his hands, hearing another chuckle roar from next door. It was evident that you had friends over for the evening and you clearly aren’t concerned about the level of noise you were making. Maybe this was the perfect opportunity for Jungkook to strike again. His features illuminate as an idea courses through his mind, chuckling at the possible reaction that might flood over your face.

“Help me get even.” With that, Jungkook tugs the collar of his shirt as he quickly lifts the fabric up and over his head to expose his bare torso. The only thing remaining is his jeans that deliciously hang from his hips as he flashes Taehyung a wild expression. “Take off your shirt.” Jungkook quickly demands, leaving Taehyung baffled at his sudden change in attitude.

“Hell no.” Taehyung instinctually answers, wondering what the hell Jungkook was up to this time. His denial has the youngest simply shrugging his shoulders as he moves toward his front door.

“Suit yourself.”

Jungkook pulls open his door handle as Taehyung swiftly joins him in pulling off his shirt, tossing it onto the counter beside him as he shakes his head in disapproval. Of course, he'd get wrapped up in whatever nonsense Jungkook was about to unfold, however, his curiosity simply couldn’t allow him to sit out of the action. Jungkook grins mischievously as he motions for Taehyung to follow behind him, enlightening his friend as he exposes his intentions. “You’re crazy.” Taehyung puts it simply despite the laugh that erupts from him as he hesitantly joins him. “But I’m in.”

—

Roxanne and Lisa sit across from you on the large sectional decorating your living room, a large smile stretching across your lips at the reality of finally having your own place to host your friends in peace. Your favorite playlist echoes from the Bluetooth sound bar beneath your television, the music loud enough to drown out any possible noises coming from Jungkook’s apartment, but not too loud that you can’t make conversation with your guests.

You gently swirl the liquid in your wine glass, a fragrant peach aroma wafting from the cup as you bring it to your lips to taste the sweet alcohol on your tongue. Thankfully, the neighbor on the opposite side of your apartment from Jungkook works night shifts, which allows you to enjoy the evening without fear of bothering her with your music and loud chatter. Jungkook on the other hand, you couldn’t care less if you inconvenienced him.

Roxanne’s features brighten with jubilation as another round of giggles erupts your lips, catching up on all of the latest gossip from your lives. Your eyes widen as Lisa retells the events of a recent date she embarked on, offering her a comforting smile as she vents about some tool. “Fuck him.” You offer unapologetically.

Roxanne quickly lifts her glass to propose a toast to your statement. “I second that.” She offers before downing the rest of her wine, quickly leaning forward to retrieve the wine bottle from the coffee table to pour herself another glass. You smile as Lisa’s mood becomes instantly more relaxed, thankful to have the support of her friends as she leans back into the couch cushions to get more comfortable. Once Roxanne’s glass is nearly full, she places the bottle back on the table before shooting you a questioning glance. “Alright, Y/n. Spill the apartment drama.” She lifts her eyebrows suggestively, smirking as she brings the rim of her glass to her lips.

You pause as Lisa straightens herself on the couch. “Oh yeah. Tell us about living by yourself.” She offers with a gentle smile. “Is it all you hoped it’d be?” Lisa has always been the most easygoing of the three of you, being the only friend left in your trio to find her own place.

Your first instinct is to lie and tell them how amazing everything is. Your apartment was beautiful and located in an amazing part of town. The complex offers amazing amenities with a vast majority of your neighbors being relatively friendly. That’s why you end up saying, “It’s amazing! I should’ve moved out sooner.” You joke, despite the haunting memory of your unruly neighbor, hoping the reality of Jeon Jungkook would stay hidden for the night.

“How are your neighbors?” Roxanne smirks with her lips still against her glass, recalling your conversation yesterday. You shrug at her statement, lifting your cup to take another sip. “Did you find out if they were banging?”

The flesh of your cheeks instantly becomes warm at the memory of Jungkook’s groans through your wall, remembering his chiseled torso when you bravely walked over to give him a piece of your mind. You feel the burn of the wine in your throat as you choke back your surprise, stunned that she asks so bluntly. Before you can say anything, Lisa’s jaw drops open in excitement as if there is drama to spill. “What?!”

You fail to notice how rosy your cheeks become, unsure if it’s from the alcohol or the mere memory of Jungkook looking incredibly hot and sweaty. “Oh my God.” You groan, placing your glass down on the coffee table as you stand up to try and derail the conversation. “Who wants food?” You ask nervously, watching as Lisa quickly shifts to raise a hand, successfully distracting her from the question. Roxanne on the other hand narrows her eyes in your direction, shaking her head in amusement before sparing you from more inquiries about your neighbor.

“What are we eating?” Lisa questions enthusiastically, the simple thought of food causing her eyes to widen like a child in a candy shop.

You move quickly towards the kitchen, your eyes set on the refrigerator as you call out from across the space. “Sushi and nigiri!” You claim happily, excited to indulge in a meal you’ve been craving since your period began. You open the icebox, pulling out the trays you picked up earlier, noticing the bare rice ball that once held the piece of salmon you placed into Jungkook’s gym bag. You smile mischievously at the memory, wishing you could witness his face once making the unfortunate discovery.

As you set the assortment trays on the counter, moving to retrieve a few chopsticks from your utensil drawer, you hear your doorbell sound over the low reverberations of the music. You pinch your eyebrows together in curiosity, wondering who could possibly be at your door. Aside from Lisa and Roxanne, you never have visitors. Before you can move out of the kitchen, Roxanne shimmies past you toward the front door. “I’ll get it for you.” She hums happily, assuming it was a delivery.

Before you can respond, your mind wonders if Jungkook is the one knocking on your door. Did he find the fish in his gym bag? Was he annoyed by your music, giving him a taste of his own medicine? Before you can move around the corner, your worst fear is confirmed as Roxanne pulls open the large structure.

You hear Jungkook’s voice from across the threshold of your apartment, quickly shuffling your feet against the tile to join Roxanne before he can cause any damage. You instantly become horrified as Lisa joins Roxanne, your eyes quickly shift to find Jungkook with the same friend that was with him the other day at the pool, half naked in your doorway.

“Y/n!?” You hear Roxanne holler, her smile invading her cheeks as her jaw hangs open. “You ordered strippers for tonight?” She seems far too excited as your cheeks flush an insatiable shade of crimson, your mouth going dry as you try to find the words to speak.

“Hell yeah!” Lisa shouts from behind you, drinking at the sight of the two handsome men in your doorway. You feel suffocated with embarrassment as your mind tries to connect the fact that Jungkook and Taehyugn were posing as strippers while your two best friends openly ogle your neighbor’s deliciously yet, obnoxiously exposed body. “Damn, Y/n. I’d expect this from Roxanne, not you.” Lisa continues as she pats your shoulder excitedly. “Not that I’m complaining.”

Your eyes shift toward Jungkook, finding his bright doe eyes underneath his still-damp hair from his shower, a vexatious grin plastered on his face. “Hey, Princess.” His voice dips seductively, causing your brain to short-circuit as you desperately try to grasp ahold of the situation. Before Roxanne can move to invite them in, you quickly push past her, blocking the entryway of your apartment.

“These aren’t strippers.” Your voice has a little more bite than you originally intend, glaring intensely at Jungkook for pulling such an embarrassing stunt the first time you have your friends over. “This is my stupid neighbor and his friend.” You groan as you motion toward Jungkook before shifting your hand toward Taehyung.

“This is your neighbor?” Roxanne purrs as she leans into the doorway, her eyes drinking in the vision of both of the handsome men before you. She knows exactly who he is as she puts together the reality that this was the neighbor from next door that she heard grunting while on the phone with you.

You can’t help but let out another groan, turning to face your friends with embarrassment still etched over your features. “Unfortunately.” You feel Jungkook come up behind you, placing his hand around your waist to continue his mission of pissing you off in front of your friends. Your body flinches at his touch, something Roxanne quickly catches on to as she studies your body language.

“Oh please, she secretly loves me.” He grins confidently as he leans to the side to whisper in your ear. “Don’t you, princess?” His voice is mocking as a low purr resonates in his chest at the satisfaction of your flustered appearance.

“You wish.” You snap back softly, forcing a smile on your face in an attempt not to tear into him in front of your friends.

Roxanne grins playfully as she tucks her bottom lip between her teeth, smiling at Jungkook and Taehyung before glancing back at Lisa who was equally enjoying their company. “In that case, why don’t you guys join us for a few drinks? We were just about to have some sushi.” You practically feel your jaw unhinge as you glance back toward Roxanne. You can’t believe what you just heard. She did not just invite them to crash your girl's night.

“Yeah, you should!” Lisa smiles brightly, moving to stand beside Roxanne. “There is plenty to go around.” You glance over to Lisa, seeing her flash you a suggestive look, knowing that the evening would be far more entertaining with a pair of good-looking men. If these were your neighbors, why wouldn’t you invite them in with the hopes of getting close to one of them? Unfortunately for you, you know exactly how Jungkook is and the thought of spending the evening with him churns the inside of your stomach.

Jungkook glances back at Taehyung who seems thrilled with the notion of spending time with three attractive women, eager to get the night started. Jungkook smiles charmingly as he tightens the grip on your side, chuckling deeply at the tension in your limbs. “We’d love to.”

Roxanne and Lisa rejoice as they move back into the apartment to head toward the living room as you quickly wiggle your way out of Jungkook’s hold to block the doorway of your apartment. You stretch your arms out to each side as the two men walk toward you, your eyes narrowing in their direction. “You are not coming into my apartment.” You hiss as Jungkook simply smiles condescendingly.

“But your friends were so looking forward to getting to know us.” He teases, knowing that if you forbid them from coming in, you would need to spend the rest of the evening talking about your relationship with them and why you wouldn’t invite them in.

You press your lips into a thin line, fighting the irritation bubbling within you as you glance back toward Taehyung who seems like an innocent soul just dragged along by Jungkook. You let a sigh escape your lips as you drop your arms, watching as Jungkook’s confidence skyrockets. Just as he moves to push past you, you hold up your arms once more, glaring darkly at your infuriating neighbor. “Not until you both put on a shirt.”

“What? Don’t want your friends lusting over me all night?” He states blatantly, completely unfazed as the pink in your cheeks darkens from the thought of having to witness him this way yourself. While he might drive you up the wall, you couldn’t deny that he was undeniably handsome.

“Just go put on a fucking shirt.” You hiss between your teeth as Taehyung gently pulls Jungkook back from challenging your stance.

“You got it.” Taehyung comments quickly, before guiding Jungkook back to his apartment door and turning to glance back at you. “I’ll bring some beer.” He offers, knowing it is best to accommodate their drinking since she is being kind enough to let them join in.

—

Your eyes flicker across your living room as you lean back in your armchair, desperately trying not to let a frown tug against the corners of your lips. You bring your wine glass to your lips, peering over the edge as you gulp back a taste of the sweet liquid, enjoying the subtle burning as it travels down your throat. You wish you were drinking something stronger to take off the edge of Jungkook and Taehyung being in your apartment, slowly working on your own bottle of wine as heat builds in your chest from the slight intoxication.

Jungkook and Taehyung obeyed your single request, returning with shirts on and a case of beer to consume while getting to know you and your friends. Their pizza was thankfully delivered during that time, however, they left it next door in hopes of consuming some sushi and nigiri, free of charge.

Roxanne and Lisa are the ones doing most of the talking, Roxanne becomes an insatiable flirt the more she consumes cups of wine while Lisa focuses her attention on the ever-handsome Taehyung. You stay quiet, only adding to the conversation whenever a question or remark is directed at you, silently observing the way your friends seem to melt into the men’s hands. You laugh under your breath, rolling your eyes as you take another swig of your wine.

You can’t help but let your thoughts wander, thinking back on all of the interactions you’ve shared with Jungkook so far, recalling the sight of him dripping wet in the pool and the sight of his bare torso glistening with sweat the night before. For someone you claim to hate, you find yourself thirsting over him through the heat of your growing intoxication.

“What do you like to do in your free time?” You hear Roxanne’s voice which pulls you from your mind as your eyes settle on the sight of one of your best friends sitting dangerously close to Jungkook all of a sudden.

Jungkook simply smiles, his legs spread sinfully as he leans back into the couch, his hand still gripped around his beer bottle as it nestles itself between his thighs. “I like boxing.” He claims, his large doe eyes exposing his enjoyment of the activity.

Lisa’s eyes widen at his statement, shifting her gaze onto him. “Really, boxing?” Jungkook hums in agreement, his eyes scanning the crowd until they stop on your gaze, your cheeks suddenly becoming flush from getting caught staring at him.

“Y/n likes going to the gym as well.” Roxanne’s statement is delivered as if it were meant to be a flex on your behalf, narrowing your eyes as you watch her make a suggestive look for you to engage in the conversation.

Jungkook lets out a chuckle of amusement, lifting the rim of his beer bottle to his lips as he pulls back a sizable amount of the alcohol. “Does she?” His tone is almost mocking as he thinks back on your first interaction in the mail room. He vaguely remembers calling you lazy for not wanting to make multiple trips up with your groceries, flashing you a questioning glare as you sarcastically offer him a smile.

“Oh yeah,” Lisa adds as if she was helping sell the idea. “She used to go all the time before her ex…”

“Who wants more sushi?” You interrupt promptly at the mention of your ex. It’s bad enough that Jungkook is in your apartment, you don’t need him to know your entire backstory as well. You flash Lisa a threatening glare before standing up to make your way into the kitchen. The layout of your apartment includes a dividing half wall between the living space and the kitchen, providing you with shelter from their stares as you quickly move to lean into the counter.

You pause for a moment, hopelessly trying to make out the conversation commencing on the opposite side of the wall. Luckily, the conversation seems to shift onto Taehyung and his line of work versus the story of your ex and more personal information you didn’t care to expose to a man you barely know.

A sigh escapes your lips as you press up on your toes to reach one of the overhead cabinets, seeking out an empty glass to pour yourself a cup of water to cool you off from the building swirl in your mind. This evening was already throwing you for a loop, you don’t need to get black out drunk on top of it all.

You quickly close the door of the cabinet, turning around to take slow strides toward the fridge, relishing in the intimacy of the kitchen versus the crowd that occupies your living room. You press your cup into the dispenser on the refrigerator door, watching as it slowly fills with liquid while you become parched for a taste of the freshness. Once it fills to your liking, you pull it away and bring it to your lips, taking a large gulp to soothe your throat.

“Is it me, or do you always seem to have a stick up your ass?” You hear a deep voice from behind you, turning around to spot Jungkook walking into the kitchen with an empty beer bottle in hand. Of course, he follows you into the kitchen when all you want is a moment of quiet to collect your whirling thoughts.

You click your tongue against the roof of your mouth, clearly upset by his looming presence. “Only when you’re around.” You state plainly as you move back to press back against your counter, watching him carefully as he enters the kitchen to discard his empty bottle before fetching a new one.

His large eyes stalk you from across the kitchen as he presses his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “I’m flattered.” His voice drops an octave as he hovers over the trays of sushi displayed on your counter, selecting a random one before tossing it fully into his mouth. You can’t help but watch the flex of his throat as he swallows back the morsel, feeling your body crawl with heat as his jaw morphs with each movement. Why the hell were you so drawn to his physique? It must be the alcohol. Has to be.

You slowly tuck your bottom lip between your teeth, gnawing on the flesh gently as you shift your eyes to look anywhere other than Jungkook. While you start focusing on the patterns on your backsplash, Jungkook glances over the selection of food before settling on a piece of nigiri with a missing cut of salmon atop. He glances over the rest, noticing a few more pieces beside it with delicate cuts of fish laid on top, almost identical to the one he found in his bag earlier that evening.

He lets out a scoff as he passes his tongue across the bottom of his teeth, biting back the urge to snap at you for causing his gym bag to sell horrid from the rotting fish. “Funny. ” He gently motions to the small rice ball, shifting his gaze toward you. “These look just like the piece of salmon I found in my gym bag earlier.” He accuses you indirectly as your irises find his large eyes narrowing in your direction.

“Oh?” You hum simply, feigning innocent until proven guilty. Jungkook tilts his head in exasperation, refusing to play dumb just for your entertainment. You bite back a laugh as the corners of your cheeks pull into a small smile. “Must have fallen out of my bag while I was unlocking my door.” You shrug your shoulders as you take another sip of your water.

Jungkook clenches his teeth as he fights off his growing irritation. “So it just happened to fall into my gym bag that was nowhere near your door?” He crosses his arms in front of his chest, the tattooed pattern on his forearm wonderfully displayed for your enjoyment.

You simply shrug once more, recalling the words he once spoke to you when purposefully hitting you with a volleyball, ultimately causing you to spill your drink. You smirk mischievously as you glue your gaze onto his, making sure he can plainly see the sarcasm you’re directing at him. “Happy accident.”

Jungkook practically growls at your response, recognizing your efforts as he turns to grab his beer bottle, popping off the cap. He takes a large swig, hoping to take off some of the edge as he hears laughter and giggles resonating from your living room. If you were going to be coy with him, he would gladly play the same game and get under your skin, and he knew exactly how to do it. “Your friend Roxanne is hot.” He blurts out shamelessly, causing you to choke on your water as you take another sip. He didn’t have to be so forward.

You let out a few coughs to soothe the building tightness in your throat from inhaling your water the wrong way, staying silent since you truly don’t know how to even respond to that. He watches you carefully, grinning maliciously as the sparkle behind your irises fills with jealousy; jealousy you didn’t even know you have. “I bet she’s a freak in bed.”

“Why are you telling me this?” You snap, completely disgusted to hear him speak about your best friend in such a manner. He truly is the pig you make him out to be, yet why are his words upsetting you so much?

He shrugs as he lifts his beer bottle back up to his lips, taking another sip as you slowly watch the flex of his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with each gulp. He pops off the bottle with a content sigh as his eyes fill with darkness. “You thought I was banging someone yesterday, might as well make it a reality for you.”

Jungkook’s words crash into you with blunt force, surely knocking you off your feet as you try to grasp his implications. Your cheeks flush red as you recall the sinful groans and moans from next door, the sounds echoing in your mind as your body heats up at the thought of his chiseled body on top of someone, fucking them into oblivion. You remember that he just implied doing such activities with your best friend, causing the building jealousy and rage to snap. You barely have the time to think about anything before your hand jolts forward, tossing the remnants of your cup onto Jungkook as a gasp escapes your lips.

What the fuck is wrong with you? You blink off your blind wrath to find Jungkook’s messy curls drenched with the water from your cup, his shirt clinging to his body as he uses his free hand to smooth the damp hair back out of his face. “Seriously, Y/n?” He growls, before glancing down to find his shirt half soaked from your craziness.

You’re completely horrified that you would do such a thing, however, your stubbornness towards him causes you to simply shrug. “You seemed like you needed to cool off.” You add quickly, owning up to your actions even though a part of you felt like they were completely uncalled for. You couldn’t possibly apologize for letting your jealousy get the best of you. You’d rather look like a bitch than give him the satisfaction of letting him know he got the best of you.

Jungkook presses his lips together in a tight line as he takes slow, careful steps toward you as you press back onto the edge of the counter. He’s causing your proximity to diminish and it’s slowly starting to suffocate you as he stops just inches away from your frame. Without a single word, he just offers you a smile which causes you to stare up at him in confusion, half expecting him to yell at you. Instead, you see him lift his hand from the corner of your eye before a cold trickling sensation drips down your hair and onto your shoulder.

Your mouth drops open as you glance up hesitantly, watching as beer drips from his bottle onto your head, soaking your hair with the awful stench of the gluttonous liquid. “What the hell, JK?!” You hiss between your teeth, placing your cup down on the counter before shoving your hands against his chest to send him back a few steps. “That’s fucking beer, mine was just water.” You complain, glancing down at the drenched strains of your hair.

Jungkook lets a dark chuckle vibrate in his diaphragm as he shrugs his shoulders unapologetically. “Happy accident.” He offers, his large doe eyes shining with mischief as he chugs back the last of the alcohol in his bottle. “Now we’re even.” He places the bottle down on the opposite side of the counter before reaching for another, holding it up as a gesture of his victory. He offers you a cocky grin before turning around to leave the kitchen, ready to rejoin the group in the other room.

“Even, my ass.” You grumble under your breath, turning to face the array of food you have spread across your countertop. You find a container of soy sauce directly beside your hand, making a split-second decision to grab ahold of it before calling out to Jungkook. “Hey, JK?” You watch as he turns around to face you before flinging the liquid inside of the container, satisfied once Jungkook’s shirt becomes stained with the sauce. You can’t help but let a giggle escape your lips as Jungkook’s eyes light up with anger.

“Oh, so that’s how it’s gonna be.” He growls before setting his beer down and grabbing the rice ball from the nigiri missing the piece of salmon that unfortunately ended up in his gym bag. He takes quick strides towards you before smashing the rice against the top of your head, smearing the sticky grains until they become laced through your strands.

You gasp at the audacity, reaching back to grab the first thing within your proximity. The tray of cupcakes you purchased earlier is right beside you as you grab one of the pastries before smearing the frosting straight across Jungkook’s face as his handsome features become camouflaged in a veil of buttercream.

Before you can do anything else, Jungkook reaches up to grab your wrists, grabbing one in each hand as he pins your arms back against the counter. You pause in your aggression as you become caged between the counter and his towering frame, your arms helpless against his strength as he holds you in place.

Jungkook pants softly as his body trembles in anger, traces of the frosting residing on his cheeks and lips as his eyes bore into your soul. A chill courses through your limbs at the sight, suddenly intimidated by his intensity as you feel yourself shrink beneath his stare.

“Had enough?” He breathes, his breath ghosting against your cheek as you challenge his glare.

You try to pry yourself from his hold as he presses his hips forward to keep you glued to the counter, your body becoming hot from just how close he is to you. “Fuck you.” You hiss, leaning forward to assert your dominance, surprised to see Jungkook refuses to flinch or pull away. You’re now inches from each other in an intense stare-down while the effects of the alcohol has you blushing from the close contact.

“I’d love to see you try.” His voice reflects the animosity he shares toward you, however, there is a hint of lust laced through his tone. You gulp back your surprise, not expecting him to respond in such a way. You try to move away, however, you’re suddenly drawn closer to his lips, the alcohol in your system impairing your judgment as your eyes flick down to the piercing tucked at the corner of his bottom lip. You feel breathless as the sexual tension between you engulfs your desires, your body relaxing in his hold as you stop fighting against him.

Jungkook continues to close the distance between you as you feel his waist continue digging against your hips, both of you lost in each other in a moment that resembled being caught under a spell. “Y/n! What’s taking so long?” You hear Roxanne’s voice call out from the living room as it pulls you both back to reality. Jungkook releases his hold of your wrists as he steps away from you, quickly retrieving a napkin to wipe off the evidence of your childish tussle.

“Taehyung, we’re leaving,” Jungkook calls out, thankful to have most of the frosting cleaned from his complexion. He doesn’t spare you another glance as he grabs the rest of the beers, making his way out into the hallway with a slam of your front door. You scoff from his sudden mood swing as you hesitantly walk back out into the living room, forgetting about your disheveled appearance.

Roxanne and Lisa’s eyes nearly pop out of their sockets as they take in your beer-soaked appearance, rice and all smeared within your hair. “Y/n…what…”

Before Lisa can ask what occurred during your absence, you hold up a hand in defeat as you move toward your bedroom. “Don’t ask. I’ll be right back.” You speak quickly, watching as Taehyung stands with haste to follow after Jungkook.

Taehyung pauses as he walks by you, an apologetic look reflecting in his eyes as he offers you a sheepish smile. “Thanks again for having us over.” He offers in an attempt to be somewhat chivalrous, assuming Jungkook was the reason behind her appearance. You simply smile at him as he makes his way toward the door before you disappear into your bedroom to clean off the smell of beer.

—

After a few days of dodging Jungkook and hiding out in your apartment, you finally feel a bolt of energy to get back on your feet and enjoy your time off of work. The last few days had you working long hours, eagerly taking overtime just to avoid coming home and having to put up with Jungkook’s insufferable presence. Thankfully, another day off meant you had the opportunity to enjoy yourself and do some self-care.

You quickly maneuver through the corridor outside of your apartment, making a dash for the elevator in hopes of preventing another run-in with your neighbor. Unfortunately, Jungkook seemed to work odd hours which keeps you from identifying a specific schedule of when to expect him. Instead, you’re left on your toes to constantly fear another interaction with the man that drove you to the brink of insanity. You catch a glimpse of yourself in one of the mirrors dressing the elevator lobby, admiring the way your old workout clothes seem to hug your frame. While you aren’t as in shape as you used to be before you moved out on your own, at least your old outfits still fit.

As you press the elevator call button, you slide your hand down into the side pocket of your leggings, pulling out a headphone case before popping it open to stick the buds into your ears. You snap the case shut just as the doors slide open, shoving the item back into your pocket as you step inside, fiddling with your phone to stream your favorite playlist from Spotify. As the low percussion of the music echoes in your eardrums, you can’t help but think back on the reasons why you haven’t been to the gym lately.

The memory of your ex has a chill crawling up your spine as you recall the embarrassing breakup you endured at your old local gym. You used to work out there almost every day until one day he drove all the way to meet you just to end things publicly in front of all your old gym mates. You scoff at the recollection, remembering how the truth of the matter was that he was being unfaithful and chose someone else over you. You roll your eyes, deciding it was time to get back on your feet and enjoy one of your favorite stress relievers.

As the elevator reveals the main lobby of your complex, you confidently stride down the lavish corridors through the vast amenities. You recall seeing the entrance of the gym the day you went down to the pool, following in your footsteps as you notice a glass door with gym equipment on the opposite side. You smile, tugging open the door and realizing that there was not a soul in sight, meaning you’d get to enjoy the facility in peace and quiet.

Your apartment keys and access fobs are dangling around your wrist as you gently slide them from their place, finding a small perch beside a window to place the items alongside your water bottle. You couldn’t ask for a better setup to enjoy your first workout as a fully functional and self-sufficient adult. You grin as your playlist morphs into a more energetic beat, causing your lips to tug into a smile as you locate a large padded area for stretching off to the side. “Perfect.” You hum as you slowly make your way over, swinging your arms out to the side to begin stretching.

Once you’ve arrived at the mat, you gently spread your feet apart before lowering yourself into a lunge position. You can feel the dull ache behind your legs as various muscles bend and stretch beneath your movements. You carefully turn your hips out so that you're in a side lunge before bending forward to touch the ground, elongating your legs as you stretch the back of your hamstrings. Just as you complete the stretch, you hear a door open, alongside a loud whistle behind you over the soft music playing in your ears.

“Damn, princess.” You freeze, dropping your waist down so that you’re squatting like a frog as you hear Jungkook’s voice from behind you. You close your eyes for a moment, wishing that you were just hearing things and that Jungkook was just a figment of your imagination. You pull out one of your earbuds, glancing back in his direction over your shoulder. “What a view.” He comments brazenly in reference to your ass being perked up in the air.

You huff in disbelief, rotating your body till you find yourself sitting on the floor to conceal any view he may have of your plump backside. “Did I ever mention that you’re a pig?” You groan, which only seems to tug a smile onto his lips as he shrugs his shoulders.

“Once or twice.” He grins as he turns your eyes to find him towering over you. You notice a loose muscle shirt that drapes over his frame deliciously, exposing the entirety of his tattooed sleeve. His body is glistening with sweat, a clear indication that he’s already been here working out before you arrived. Your eyes scan the gym, noticing a vastly different gym bag from the one you were accustomed to being tucked away in the corner of the facility.

“I didn’t know anyone was here.” You admit shyly, knowing you would have never begun to stretch if you would have known he’d be walking out from the locker rooms and sauna otherwise. “I didn’t smell your gym bag.” You can’t help but chuckle as you recall placing a piece of fish into it. While it might have been an incredibly childish gesture on your part, it also brought you a stupid amount of joy.

Jungkook chuckles darkly as he moves around you, turning his attention to a power tower tucked back in the corner where his bag was. “Had to get a new one.” His tone is not as amused by that statement, offering you a glare as he presses his back against the power tower, leaning his elbows onto the padded sections before pushing up off the ground and utilizing his arm strength to hold himself up.

You grin mischievously, glad to know that your little present for him left quite a negative impression. “Oops,” You shrug unapologetically as you tentatively stretch your legs back out into a side split as you slowly walk your torso down to press into the mat between your legs. You peer up through your lashes to find Jungkook watching your movements carefully, his gaze flicking away from yours as he starts lifting his legs up straight in front of him to work the muscles in his abdomen.

With each rise of his legs, he lets out a soft strained groan as he skillfully repeats the motion, tucking the entirety of his bottom lip into his mouth as his jaw flexes under his motions. You feel your face flush with heat as the same explicit sounds echo through the gym, causing your body to swelter with heat.

The flex of his muscles is visible through the fabric of his shirt as his arms strain to keep him up in place, his body continuing to crunch his abdominal muscles in half each time his legs are brought up to his waist. You glance away, trying not to be distracted by his sinfully attractive physique as you begin rolling your ankles in circles to prepare for your run on the treadmill.

You push yourself up, making your way slowly toward the treadmill as you keep your eyes averted from Jungkook, knowing any more glances would have you drooling over his fit frame. While the man himself was annoying as can be, his flesh was definitely a feast for the eyes.

The earbud you pulled from your ear earlier is nestled in your palm as you focus your energy on ignoring the lustful sights and sounds happening on the opposite side of the room, chewing your bottom lip gently as you drown out his grunts with the sound of your music once more. You make quick work of stepping onto the treadmill, elevating the pace until your feet are promenading at a brisk walk.

Thankfully, your music manages to help you completely forget about Jungkook working out beside you, getting lost in your concentration as you slowly continue raising the speed of the tread beneath your feet. Time seems to pass by quickly, your eyes shifting toward the display to find that you’ve already been running for roughly five minutes, a smile gracing your lips as pride seeps through your chest. You’re maintaining a decent pace, the music in your eardrums only amping your energy to keep going.

Unfortunately, your distractions prevent you from noticing that Jungkook finished his reps as he slowly stalks towards you, admiring the way you effortlessly maintain your speed. He grins as he makes his way toward you, leaning his forearms against the front of the treadmill as his eyes bore into yours.

You huff through your panted breaths, continuing your run without pause. “Can I help you?” You speak with irritation dripping from your lips, plucking out one of your headphones to see what he could possibly be annoying you about now.

He leans into the machine, a look of false innocence glossing over those large doe eyes as he offers you a deceitful smile. “Just admiring.” He speaks softly, your heart skipping at the thought of Jungkook actually saying something nice for once. You simply stare at him, unsure of how to respond as his eyes glance up and down your frame, suddenly feeling suffocated under his stare. It’s exactly the type of distraction that derails your focus as he slickly moves his hand around the treadmill console, pressing his finger down on the acceleration arrow as he watches you suddenly pick up the pace to run even faster to keep up with the changes. He releases the bottom before quickly turning around to seek out an overhead bar to do some pull-ups.

“JK!” You holler, keeping up to the best of your ability before the speed becomes too much for your endurance level. You press your palms against the side rails as you push up to allow your feet the opportunity to find the sides of the machine, resting as the carpet continues zooming past your feet. Your gaze shifts down to make sure you don’t faceplant as a malicious chuckle escapes Jungkook’s lips, relishing in the small victory against you.

You could practically see the steam seeping from your ears as you watch him pull himself up until his chin passes the bar overhead, repeating the motion as if he didn’t just sabotage your workout. You narrow your eyes at him, feeling every ounce of pettiness surface from deep within your core. Why did he have to be so fucking annoying?

You click the stop button on the treadmill, watching the machine slow down as you pull your phone from your pocket, pausing your music. If he wanted to play dirty, you would happily reciprocate the favor. You step down from the platform, taking quick steps towards Jungkook, watching his facial features strain with each pull-up, your mind hopelessly imagining him in a more intimate setting. Get a grip, you want revenge, not a sex partner.

“I could have gotten hurt.” You protest as Jungkook finds your gaze in the mirror, continuing his exercise despite his back being turned to you.

“But you didn’t.” He states simply through his heavy breathing, letting himself fall back down to his feet. He takes a moment to catch his breath before turning around to face you, hovering just a few inches from your face. “Don’t be dramatic, princess.” He teases, raising his eyebrows playfully as you continue to glare at him with annoyance.

He doesn’t allow you a moment to refute, turning back around and jumping up to grab ahold of the bar, continuing his pull-ups as if you weren’t just behind him. Your face morphs with vexation as Jungkook ignores you, your irritation bubbling over as you reach forward and instinctually grab the edge of his basketball shorts. Without thinking, or hesitating for that matter, you tug down on the fabric, exposing a pair of fitting Calvin Klein boxer briefs beneath the material.

“What the fuck?” You hear him protest as he releases the bar, stumbling back to his feet as he quickly reaches down to pull up his shorts. He quickly turns to face you. “Are you crazy?” He argues back, hurrying to cover his indecency as another resident walks past the corridor, witnessing the sight of Jungkook frantically adjusting his shorts.

You were expecting to create an embarrassing scene to get him back for his petty pranks, however, you find the view is far less embarrassing than you imagine. Your eyes drop down his chiseled waist as you notice a sizable bulge tucked behind the fabric. You feel more embarrassed than anything else as your cheeks become crimson at the sight, completely flustered by the sight of his almost naked body. “Shit.” You whisper to yourself as you follow his gaze to spot the oncoming patron, giggling softly as Jungkook’s eyes flash with anger.

“You’re going to get me kicked out. I hope it was worth the peep show, you perv.” He snaps sharply, pressing his teeth together as his jaw clenches.

You shrug your shoulders, “Eh, there wasn’t much to see.”

It’s as if your words infuriate him further as he lets out a breathy chuckle, clicking his tongue in annoyance. “Nothing, my ass.” He practically growls before taking a few steps closer to you, strangling you beneath his stare. He narrows his eyes, fully knowing that you blatantly check him out whenever he’s moderately exposed. The sight of you in your leggings and tank top is a difficult sight to ignore, knowing it aided in his member being slightly harder than usual. He was certain you experienced quite the show. His lips soften from the tight line that invades his handsome features as he gestures to the corner of his mouth. “You’ve got a little drool right there.”

You laugh at his notion even though subconsciously you without a doubt devoured the sight of his bare thighs and deliciously carved hips. “Don’t flatter yourself.” You scoff as you cross your arms against your chest. Somehow your efforts to embarrass him ended with the attention back on you.

“Someone’s in denial.” The cocky grin that stretches over his lips causes your blood to boil as he flicks his tongue over his piercing. You narrow your eyes, glaring at him as he simply clicks his piercing between his teeth, his smug demeanor sending you over the edge. He turns around to make his way toward the bench press, sitting down to continue his workout.

You stomp your foot in frustration as you turn around to collect your belongings from the window ledge. This was absurd. You couldn’t even get back at him without him turning things back on you. You let out a groan at the realization that there is now no way you can finish your workout without having to continue putting up with Jungkook. “Whatever.”

You don’t offer him the satisfaction of another glare, quickly making your way out of the gym and escaping to the elevators. The walk down the corridor as you visualize Jungkook more than you care to admit as you bring your water bottle up to your lips to suck out the cool liquid. It’s not long until you find the elevator lobby, pressing the call light quickly, desperate to return to your apartment.

Once you find yourself alone, secured in the confinement of the elevator, you lean back against the wall as you fan yourself with your hand to try and distract yourself from the events that just unfolded. Jungkook was proving to be a problem in more ways than one.

#jungkook x reader #jeon jungkook #bts imagines #bts fanfic #jungkook smut #jungkook imagine #bts smut

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thatsmzbitchtoyou · 2 months ago

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Fortuna Major Chapter 6

Summary: Steve Rogers came home from World War II shell shocked and overwhelmed by the place he once called home. After losing his mother he and his injured best friend Bucky decide to find a quieter, slower way of life to heal from the war. They head out west until they hit Fortuna, California, and get jobs in the lumber industry. Steve comes across a local lodging for miners and lumber workers, and falls head over heels for the female owner who takes no man’s shit.

Warnings: mentions of war; injuries, loss of limb; PTSD; talk of suicide; cat calling; sexual harassment; attempted sexual assault; eventual smut

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Steve visited Y/N’s room every night from then on. Getting contraception was a bit of a task, but he was willing to be patient. As Christmas Eve and Christmas Day passed and the New Year was upon them, Y/N was in a melancholy mood. On the outside she was cheerful, but he could tell that she was struggling on the inside with the holiday season. There had been a couple of moments where either at night or when he would come with her to the clearing, she would grieve in private with him over not having any family, but wouldn’t let others see her struggle. She had made an effort and spent good money on getting gifts for every one of her tenants, decorating the lodge and he had helped drag a tree into the dining area so that everyone could have a traditional Christmas while they were away from their families or alone.

On New Year's Eve she was dressed in a black dress and heels, her red lipstick on and her hair tied up with a black scarf with curled pieces falling out of it, hosting with a bright smile. The men were raucous as they drank, the last hour of the year ticking down slowly. Bucky was all smiles and laughter, a sight that filled Steve with happiness as they joined in the partying, drinking, singing songs and dancing. Y/N was being passed around the men as she danced, trying not to trip in her heels. At 11:55 she excused herself and disappeared into the kitchen. Steve followed her a moment later as everyone else continued singing loudly.

He found her sitting on the counter, her heels on the floor as she rubbed at one of her feet. “You alright, babydoll?” Steve chuckled as he walked up to her.

Y/N glanced at him with a sheepish smile. “Yeah, I’m alright,” she sighed. “My feet are just killing me in those infernal things,” she said, pointing to the heels.

Steve laughed as he stood in front of her. He leaned against the opposite counter on the island across from her and lifted her foot, massaging it from heel to toe slowly. Y/N hummed as she leaned back on her hands watching and smiling at him. “Is that better?” he asked after a minute.

“Yes, much better,” Y/N breathed as he switched to her other foot.

They sat in silence for another minute or two until they heard someone shout out the minute countdown. Steve released her foot and stepped forward so he was in between her legs, his hands resting on her thighs. “Any New Year’s Resolutions?” he asked, leaning forward and playfully nuzzling her nose.

Y/N giggled as her hands lifted to his chest then up to the back of his neck. “Just to be happy,” she said simply. “You?”

Steve smirked at her. “Just one,” he said, nuzzling her cheek and kissing it lighty. “To be with you every waking moment I can.”

Y/N huffed a laugh as they heard the countdown from 20 seconds. “I’m not sure how achievable that is.”

“I’ll try my damndest,” Steve said.

“10!”

“9!”

Steve’s hands slid up her thighs to her hips, gripping them for a moment before going up her back and pulling her against him.

“8!”

“7!”

Y/N’s arms wound behind his neck.

“6!”

“5!”

“4!”

They smiled at each other.

“3!’

“2!”

“1!”

“Happy New Year,” Steve whispered to Y/N as the thunderous sound erupted from the other room.

“Happy New Year,” Y/N whispered back.

Every kiss he had with her always felt like fireworks, but this time was like the first time all over again, his heart jumping in his chest and his breathing getting heavy as he angled his head and deepened it. His hands moved all over her back as he pulled her impossibly close, a long sigh of contentment from him huffing against her face. Y/N’s arms tightened around him, her legs binding at the ankles behind his hips as she caged him to her against the counter. The noise in the other room was drowned out by the hurried breaths, the soft moans and the blood rushing and pounding in his ears as his mouth opened and she immediately opened hers so he could taste her.

They were interrupted by a yelling Bucky who bounded drunkenly into the kitchen. “Happy New Year!” he screamed, then giggled madly as they pulled apart to look at him. “Ope! Sorry,” Bucky laughed but still moved toward them. “Hey, where’s my New Year’s kiss?” he moped.

Steve and Y/N laughed as Steve stepped away from her but stayed close, leaning on the counter she was sitting on. Y/N lifted a hand out to Bucky. “It’s right here,” she said. Bucky’s eyes lit up as he took her hand and she pulled him toward her, gripping his jaw and kissing his cheek. “Happy New Year, Buck,” she smiled.

“Aw,” Bucky whined. “I wanted a real one.”

“Go find your own,” Steve grunted, which made Y/N laugh again.

Bucky smirked then leaned in and kissed Y/N’s cheek before cornering Steve. “Okay,” he said, then grabbed Steve by the back of the neck, pulled him close and kissed him on the mouth.

Steve yelped as Y/N laughed harder. He pushed Bucky away and looked at him incredulously. “What the hell?” he demanded.

“Thanks Stevie! Happy New Year!” Bucky called back as he walked nonchalantly out of the kitchen, joining in on the song the men were singing in the other room. “Let old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind–”

“Jerk!” Steve yelled at him before turning to Y/N, who was trying to hold in her laughter with a hand over her mouth. “Oh you think that’s funny?” he asked her, stepping back between her legs. Y/N nodded, a snort coming from her and she hung her face into her hands. “I see how it is,” he said before tickling her ribs. Y/N yelped as she tried to bat his hands away, her laugh echoing through the kitchen as they slightly tussled.

“Okay! Okay okay, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” Y/N shrieked, gripping his wrists.

Steve stopped tickling her, his hands resting on her hips as she caught her breath. “Be nice to me babydoll,” he warned.

“Or what?” she giggled with a wry smile. “You’ll sick kissy Bucky on me?”

They both laughed at that. Steve leaned in and nipped at her lower lip. “Or I might just have to take away your kissin’ privileges,” he said, arching his eyebrow at her.

Y/N’s eyes widened, her smile falling. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me,” Steve smirked.

Her eyes narrowed at him. “Oh please. You couldn’t go a day without some loving.” Her nails scratched down his chest to his navel, her fingers gripping his waistband. Steve watched her fingers move, his face twisted into a look of desire. “And besides, don’t you want your New Year’s present?”

“Present?” Steve asked, his voice hushed as she dipped a hand below the waistband and slowly wrapped it around his cock. His head fell back, eyes shut tight as she started to stroke him.

Y/N leaned in and kissed his throat, licking her way up to his jaw and nipping at his chin. “I got protection,” she whispered. Steve shuddered at the tone of her voice, his head moving back up to look at her through hooded eyes. “I was gonna let you fuck me,” she frowned. “But if I can’t get my kissing privileges–”

“No, no no no, please,” Steve stammered, his hands tightening around her hips. “I take it back, I take it back!”

Y/N smiled triumphantly, another hum passing through her lips as she stroked him a little faster. “That’s what I thought,” she said quietly. “You want me, loverboy?” Steve nodded, his hands moving to grip the counter as his knees buckled from a particularly strong stroke. She leaned forward, kissing his jaw then licking at his earlobe.

Steve shivered. “Fuck yes,” he groaned.

She suddenly let go of him and pulled her hand out of his pants. He gasped and looked at her in shock. She pushed him away and hopped off the counter, grabbing her heels and walking toward the exit. “Come on, then,” she called back, glancing at him and giving him a quick wink.

Steve almost ran after her. In the front room there was still a small group of men celebrating, the rest of them either going off to bed or passed out around the dining area in strange sleeping positions. Y/N just laughed at them before heading towards her room, Steve right behind her. She opened her door and let him in, closing and locking it behind him. She threw her heels toward the closet and walked around him to her record player in the corner, loading a LP onto it and letting it play as she turned to him. Ella Fitzgerald’s voice filled the room as she slowly walked back over to Steve. “Dance with me?” she asked.

Steve smiled and nodded, taking her hands and getting into position. They swayed back and forth, Steve dipping her back at one point making her laugh again. As the first song finished he leaned down and kissed her. It very quickly turned from a simple kiss to a passionate one, Steve backing her up until she was pressed against the wall. He was too excited. The anticipation of this day was getting the better of him as he nearly ripped her dress trying to get it off of her. “Slow down, Steve,” Y/N giggled, grabbing his hands in hers. She pushed him back a little to give her space, then slowly started peeling her clothes off one by one. He watched her intently, his heart racing as she revealed more of herself until she was bare in front of him. She then walked to him and started pulling his clothes off one by one until he was naked. Y/N eyed him appreciatively before pushing him back and he sat on her bed. “Just relax, lover boy, I’ll take care of you,” she said lowly.

Steve nodded as he tried to relax and steady his breathing as she kneeled between his knees. Y/N kissed his thighs before taking his cock in her hand again and stroking him before leaning forward and giving it a long lick from base to tip. Steve sputtered, his hands shaking as he softly held her jaw. Y/N hummed as she took him in her mouth, licking and sucking the tip before bobbing her head up and down on him. They had done a few sexual things together before, but this all felt new and it made him jittery. At one point she opened her mouth wider and nearly swallowed his cock, making his hips rut up into her mouth. “Fuck, babydoll you’re killing me,” he said.

Y/N sucked him so hard he fell back on the bed, shivering again as his hands fell to his sides and gripped her bed spread. She slowly raised her head and let off his cock with a loud pop. She reached into a box by the side of her bed and pulled out what Steve recognized as a condom. He’d seen them passed around when he was in the Army, the government not wanting the soldiers to do anything too stupid while stationed abroad. She rolled it onto him then sucked his cock with the condom on again, her spit lubricating it well before she popped off again. “You ready, honey?” she asked, stroking him with her hand. Steve nodded as he watched her. She pushed him so he was laying on her bed the right way before climbing on top of him. She grinded her hips over his cock for a minute before standing on her knees. “Hold yourself,” she instructed him.

Steve reached down and held his cock straight up and she swirled her hips until she was able to angle it just right that his tip dipped into her. She looked Steve in the eyes as she started to sink down onto him. He tried to keep his eyes open and look back at her, but the pleasure was so overwhelming that his eyes rolled back as she fully sat on top of him. He felt like she was pulsing around him, the warmth and tightness making it nearly impossible for him not to cum on the spot.

“Oh my god,” he breathed as he opened his eyes to look at her again. Y/N’s brow was furrowed, her mouth agape as she adjusted to him inside her. “That’s fucking amazing…are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes,” she whispered, humming as she leaned forward, her hands on his chest keeping her upright. “You feel so good, Steve…so full…”

Steve couldn’t help the smile on his face, a strange sense of pride making his heart flutter that he was making her feel good, too. After a moment Y/N leaned down and kissed him lightly. “I’m gonna move, alright?”

“Please,” Steve begged.

Y/N smiled at his tone then slowly lifted her hips and sunk back down on him again. He moaned loudly, his hands gripping her hips. Being inside her was one thing, but having her stroke him with her pussy was another. She continued moving up and down on him and he struggled every moment with not busting, his sanity being tested as she fucked him. Her nails at one point scraped over his nipples and he couldn’t stop his hips from thrusting up into her, making her gasp and her head fall back. “You like how that feels, Steve?” she asked quietly, her fingers flicking over his nipples again, his hips thrusting up again.

“Holy shit, yes,” Steve moaned again as she continued flicking them. “But…I’m gonna…I can’t….”

Y/N slowed her hips and gyrated on top of him for a moment. Steve felt like he was going to lose it any second. “You wanna try being on top?” she whispered, watching his face intently.

“Yeah…yeah,” he nodded, leaning up onto his elbows.

Y/N lifted herself off of him and he quickly had her lay down. He hovered over her, sliding his covered cock between her lower lips. “I…I don’t know if I’m gonna be able to last, babydoll,” he mumbled, feeling a little ashamed.

“It’s okay, honey,” Y/N said, taking his face in her hands. “Just fuck me real good and I’ll meet you there, whether it’s like this or you help me another way.” She guided him down and kissed him again.

Steve kissed her quickly before looking back down between them, aiming himself toward her entrance and slowly thrusting back in. She felt so good, and him having control over the pace was exhilarating. She squirmed beneath him, her hands lifting up to her breasts and playing with her nipples as he started to thrust over and over. “Shit,” Steve swore as he watched her, one of his hands lifting to join one of hers on her breast. He massaged her breast, flicking over her nipple for a moment, then moving down between them and flicking at her clit that he’d become well acquainted with over the last few months. That seemed to do the trick as her back arched, her hips trembling as he continued thrusting into her. “That’s it,” Steve said and hummed deep in his chest.

He kept up on her clit as he started thrusting faster, holding off on his release as best as he could. Y/N was shaking, her hands gripping his shoulders. At a particularly rough flick her pussy pulsed harder and he nearly lost it again. He whimpered and he snapped his hips faster, making her cry out. Steve wanted to hear that sound again, so he started thrusting harder and Y/N’s eyes rolled. He smiled at this newfound knowledge about her then gritted his teeth as he used his other hand to lift her leg up and around his hip higher to thrust deeper, harder and faster. Within seconds Y/N stiffened beneath him as she moaned loudly, a burst of liquid coming from between them, her body shaking hard as she came. The way her pussy gripped him was the most amazing feeling he’d ever experienced, and a few more thrusts later he was cumming.

“Holy shit–fuck, ah!” Steve yelled, a long grunted groan vibrating in his chest as he rutted against her. He couldn’t hold himself up anymore and fell on top of her, his breathing heavy and a sheen of sweat along his hairline as his face nuzzled into the crook of her neck. “My god, babydoll.”

Y/N was still slightly shaking as she giggled, her pussy still randomly fluttering around him. “You’re wonderful, Steve,” she praised him, her voice shaking. “That was so good…you made me feel so good…fuck…”

Steve smiled at the praise again, his pride making him feel almost dizzy from the pleasure. “Pretty sure that was all you,” he replied, and she slapped his back with a laugh, making him laugh with her. He leaned up on his elbow and gazed down at her. She looked properly fucked, a sight he knew he’d never get tired of seeing, and he leaned down to kiss her. She kissed him back deeply, her hum vibrating against his lips. When he pulled away he began to kiss her everywhere, small pecks around her face, jaw, neck, ears and into her hair and she burst into another fit of giggles. “God, I love you,” he breathed, then froze. Y/N looked at him with wide eyes. They hadn’t said it to each other yet. He wasn’t sure when was the right time or place to tell her, but apparently his mind had decided for him that it was right here and now.

Y/N looked back and forth between his eyes for a moment. “You love me?” Steve inhaled deeply then nodded. A small smile started to pull at the corners of her mouth. “I love you, too, Steve.”

Steve exhaled sharply as he dropped his head in relief and looked back up at her again. He leaned his forehead against hers as they sat there smiling and staring at each other. “Thank god,” he said simply.

Y/N cupped his face in her hands. “Happy New Year, loverboy.”

Steve’s smile widened and he kissed her again. “Happy New Year, babydoll.”

@slayerofthevampire

#marvel #smut #steve rogers #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers fanfiction #series fanfic #chapter 6

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omg-im-such-a-masochist · 1 year ago

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𝚂𝚝𝚘𝚌𝚔𝚘𝚕𝚖 - 𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟸

Warnings: +18, adult content, semi-erotic content, harsh language, dub-con, mild psychological torture, yandere vibes, slow burn.

Tags: @theworldofotps , @writtingrose , @aerynscrichton, @daddyhausen , @melissahausen , @unoficialy-married-to-ace-austin , @sophiewolfheart-blog , @sultryfandoms , @new-zealand-chic, @crowleysqueenofhell , @thealliasylum , @legit9thlunaticwarrior , @adamjf , @josiewrites , @seeingstarks , @irish-newzealand-idian-dutch, @whenimakeitshine1234, @moxkindagirl , @sunshinevirus , @im-just-a-mississippi-girl , @ripleyswhore

Chapter 1

“But first” Claudio squeezed the flesh of her hip, making sure to apply enough pressure to make her feel his trimmed nails sinking into her skin.

It was a silent warning, she could feel the harshness of every word underneath his deadly grip. She would have to be careful with this one, he wasn’t completely under her spell as Mox was. And even though Yuta was dangerous, he was a minor one compared to the bald man.

She could see it in his eyes, as Claudio slowly released her flesh, that he wouldn’t think twice before hurting her.

And if she’d like to have any sort of advantage over these men, she would have to get at least two of them on her side.

“Let’s have our snack before it gets cold” Claudio grinned, his dark eyes sparkled with knowledge and a fake warmness that was meant to give her a false sense of security.

She knew that look all too well, being familiar with it ever since she was a child, she could sense it from a mile away. This one was smarter than Yuta and Mox together.

This one was going to be responsible for putting her acting skills to the test.

Claudio had brought them two grilled cheese sandwiches, a cup of coffee for himself, a cup of orange juice for her, and a small bowl of chopped fruits. Strawberries, kiwis, red and green grapes were the ones she could spot on the top of the porcelain bowl.

She slightly frowned, these were not only all of her favorite fruits but it was also intriguing to her how they had managed to find kiwi in her town.

The fruit is typically grown in temperate climates with mild winters and warm summers, and that was the exact opposite climate of her town.

All of the times she craved to eat the exquisite fruit, she had to drive at least 3 hours to the closest state with a temperate climate so she could find the sweet yet tangy-tasting fruit at the grocery store.

This was odd, to say the least. It was either an indication that they were distant from her town or that the men who kidnapped her came from somewhere far from where she lived.

“Do you like kiwis?” Claudio asks, suddenly curious about her apparent fixation over the fruit.

“Yes,” She nodded, momentarily licking her lips in order to try to fake a nervousness. “It’s one of my favorites…I haven’t eaten it in a long time”

“Well, ain’t today your lucky day?” The smile on Claudio’s lips was spine-chilling, like an owl’s hoot on a winter night. A bad omen for what was yet to come.

Her eyes found the deer’s head on the wall once again, it whispered softly to her, humming a familiar tune over and over like a broken record.

She felt it before she could see it, the sweetness followed by the tanginess and slightly acidic taste of the fruit against her lips, her eyes darted down to Claudio’s fingers, which held the piece of fruit against her bottom lip.

The once-friendly flavor now tasted hostile, aggressive, malicious, and venomous. The man before her had poisoned it with his touch, and nausea began to rise up her throat.

Staring at the Swiss man who was now face to face with her, she watched as his tongue darted out to collect the juices of the green fruit spread across her lips. She felt it, the warm and rough texture of the muscle tasting her skin. And before she could rationalize what had happened, the man whispered “Lay down”.

Her eyes fixated on his as he spoke:

“I’m going to ask you some questions, and for each correct answer I’ll reward you with some of your favorite fruits” Claudio smiled widely “Let’s begin”.

The winter wind blew against her wet skin, prickling and burning her delicate flesh. Uncontrolled shivers run through her entire body, a sharp pain constricts her lungs and pressure begins to install itself in her chest, making her already shallow breath become weaker with each drag of breath in.

Her eyes tingled with the unshed tears and her throat burned with the desire to scream through the howling wind.

“I can see your tears from here, dytyna. You’re not fooling anyone” Mykola laughs, pulling a long drag of his cigarette as she screamed at the top of her lungs “FUCK YOU!”.

The temper tantrum only served to make her father’s right-hand laugh louder, his combat boots sank into the snow as he squatted down, “Are you feeling better now? Good, now control your emotions from now on. You’re a smart kid, but you let your mind take over and that’s a terrible mistake. The last thing you want is to be your own enemy, got it?”.

She nodded weakly before Mykola snarled “I asked if you got it”

“Dobre, ya zrozumiv.” She answers, shaking violently as another harsh gust of wind hits her wet skin.

The Ukrainian man tossed the cigarette bud on the snow before helping her stand up from the floor, “Let’s get inside, we’re done for today”. Placing a thick blanket around her body, Mykola opened the back door of the warehouse and pushed her inside with him. A fluffy navy blue towel covered her head as he carefully dried her hair, “Can we go near the fire?” She asked with trembling limbs.

“No” Mykola softly pushed her down to sit on the old armchair, “You’re hypothermic, if we do that you’ll die. We need to warm up your body slowly, we’ll stay here for now, and as time goes by we’ll move closer to the fire”.

Mykola “Myko” Kolavenko was her father’s right-hand and her bodyguard ever since she was a child, he was the closest she’d ever get to a fatherly figure, and most of the time even being referred to as so by her. When she was 4 years old, Myko wanted to introduce her to martial arts as a way of discipline and self-defense, but her father completely forbade “Men are supposed to defend and fight, not women! I don’t want her to become a tomboy, Myko. She will fit the role God created her for, which is a woman who will be a wife, a mother, a nurturing figure” Was her father’s first and last statement about the subject.

After finding her in the kitchen crying over her father’s response, Myko sat beside her on the table, dried her tears, and whispered “Your father didn’t let us train your body, but he didn’t say we can’t train your mind”.

“What do you mean?” She looked up at him, hope written all over her innocent eyes.

“Means you’ll be able to beat me at poker” Myko winked, which made her giggle.

The memory made her smile and from the armchair, her eyes now settled on his wrinkled face. “Do you think I’m able to beat you at poker now?” She joked, teeth chattering as Myko placed another heavy blanket around her body.

The man chuckled, pulling an old chair in front of her so they could seat face to face, “Absolutely fucking not. At least not yet, you still have a long way to go before I even allow you near a poker table”.

“Why?” She frowned

“Because I don’t want to lose money” Myko winks with a smirk. He grabs a whisky glass and fills it to the brim with the amber liquid.

“Do you think I’ll ever be able to do it, Myko? To control my mind, I mean. Sometimes I feel like I’m stuck like it’s all for nothing. I don’t think I’m having any progress at all, and it’s fucking frustrating”.

Myko took a big gulp of the whisky and let the all too familiar burning feeling settle in his throat. “Training the body is easier than training the mind. After a few years of training you kill the receptive nerves of pain in your body and well, you become basically painless. Meaning it doesn’t distract you anymore, someone can punch you in the face and it won’t shock you or disorient you. Now the mind is way more problematic because it’s in constant change, as you grow older your mind and perception change and you have to adapt to a completely different reality. Compare yourself from 6 months ago to now, you’ve changed so much in here” Myko tapped her left temple, “And it will happen again 6 months from now, so you have to be able to adapt to everything, dytyna, because you never know what’s going to happen. The reason why I put you outside on a winter night in Kyiv and wetted your skin is to start to accustom your mind to be in uncomfortable and under pressure sceneries because that’s when your whole system becomes alert. Emotions appear all at once, your mind races due to stress, pain, and despair, and you either shut down or do something really stupid that will have catastrophic consequences so you have to learn how to act during times like this.

“You will register your feelings, your thoughts of despair and agony, but they won’t be what drive and guide you anymore because you’ll control them not the other way around. That’s the most valuable lesson you have yet to learn, divchynka. Control your mind before it controls you because if that happens, you’re doomed. Completely fucked”.

Myko grabbed another glass of whisky and filled it with the equivalent of two shot glasses, he handed the glass to her and she frowned in confusion. “It’ll be our secret” He winked as she took the cup in her hand.

“Here’s to not being completely fucked” Myko clicked their glasses together before smiling fondly “Happy 16th birthday”.

“Thank you” She smiled back, a hint of sadness hid behind her soft smile, “And thank you for not letting me spend today alone…it means a lot”.

“You can always count on me, dytyna. Even when I’m not there”.

And as the warm tears rolled down her cheeks, she felt Myko’s arms pulling her closer to a tight embrace.

Would Myko be proud of her? Not only of the adult woman she became but mostly of her approach to what was currently happening? Would he be proud of her Machiavelli-like persuasion, of her theatrical skills, and what about her ability to be cohesive? If he could see her now would he applaud her choices or curse her through her less appealing tactics?

“Everyone can lie, dytyna. But a valley is what separates a liar from a good liar. And a bridge is what separates a good liar from a magnificent liar. And that’s who you’re aiming to be: a magnificent liar. To a point where no one, not even me, can tell apart a truth from a lie”.

And that she had successfully achieved, if there was one thing she had learned from Myko from a very young age was to be a terrific liar.

That is her advantage over the Swiss man before her, he can have the wits and the strength, but she has the biggest advantage of all time: she knows how to lie.

#blackpool combat club x reader #blackpool combat club imagine #blackpool combat club fanfiction #stockolm series #jon moxley x reader #jon moxley imagine #claudio castagoli x reader #claudio castagnoli imagine #wheeler yuta x reader #wheeler yuta imagine #bryan danielson #jon moxley #claudio castagnoli #wheeler yuta

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steddieas-shegoes · 2 years ago

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Chapter 7

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3 / Chapter 4 / Chapter 5 / Chapter 6

Steve’s morning was full of light.

Eddie was brighter than the sunbeams shining through the curtains in his bedroom, and Steve was never happier to be blinded by light.

Steve wasn’t woken by his alarm. Instead, he was woken by soft kisses against his neck and jaw, breathy whispers he couldn’t quite understand making him shiver under the sheets.

It was more than Steve had ever had, more than he ever expected, and more than he thought he deserved. But he smiled into it. He let himself bask in Eddie’s light.

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

Eddie had a full day of clients, and Steve ended up in more parent conferences than he planned as new schedules for the next semester got released.

He barely even had a lunch break, and most of it was spent texting Robin about their plans after work.

He didn’t purposely avoid looking at the text from Eddie sitting there unread, but he knew if he opened it, he would yearn to be back with him too much.

The space would be good for him to clear his head a little, separate himself from the intensity of his emotions that Eddie brought on. Take himself out of the shock of feeling so much at once and find the level headedness he was used to having.

He tried not to think about how Eddie didn’t give him any rules before he left this morning.

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

Steve was not having a good afternoon.

His last conference of the day left his head spinning. The principal had to sit in towards the end as the parents became more irate at the fact that their son was failing almost every class and Steve couldn’t be bribed to change his grades in the system.

This was the worst part of the job.

Everything was loud.

He didn’t know how to make it quiet.

He left work with a ringing in his ear and a tension in his neck and shoulders that hadn’t been present for days and wondering how he’d be able to face the conversation ahead of him.

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

The door opened and Steve nearly fell off the couch.

He must have fallen asleep when he decided to rest for a few minutes when he got home.

“You good?” Robin asked from above him. She had an amused smirk on her face, but he could see the concern in her eyes.

“Yep. Just didn’t realize it was time for you to be home.”

Steve stood up and shook his arms out to wake himself up, something he’d done since he was young to get the blood pumping.

“I’m guessing you haven’t seen my text about dinner, then?”

“No, why?”

Steve reached into his pocket for his phone as Robin sat down.

“Pizza place had a fire, so we need a backup. Any ideas?”

Steve felt his heart stop when he saw a missed call from Eddie. Shit, he really was out of it.

“Uh. I’m good with anything.”

He could feel Robin staring at him, but he was still trying to get all synapses firing in his brain and couldn’t quite look away from his phone.

“So you’d be good with tofu and sushi?”

Steve’s head snapped up, lip curling in disgust.

“What? Since when would I be okay with that? I hate tofu and sushi.”

“Just checking to see if you were actually paying attention or if you’d been body snatched.”

Steve rolled his eyes, but put his phone back in his pocket for the moment. Tonight was about Robin, and Eddie could wait.

“Burgers?” Steve suggested, knowing Robin was always down for burgers.

“Burgers sound good. My usual please?”

“Got it.”

Robin started to walk towards the bathroom, but turned before she made it to the door.

“Text Eddie that you’re okay. He was worried.”

Steve felt his mouth open in shock.

“He texted you?”

“He called me. Said he hadn’t heard from you at lunch and he was supposed to.”

Oh, so the rule was still there.

“Oh. Okay.”

Robin shook her head and mumbled to herself as she walked into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. It sounded an awful lot like “idiots, both idiots” but Steve wasn’t sure.

He called in their order for burgers first, knowing that the dinner rush, even on a Tuesday, would have at least an hour wait for delivery.

He pulled up his texts and saw two from Eddie: the one from this morning he didn’t have time to respond to and one from right after he tried calling.

Don’t forget to be a good boy and text me at lunch, sunshine.

Please let me know you’re doing okay, Stevie. Just a quick text is fine. I know you’re gonna be with Robin tonight, but I wanna make sure you haven’t dropped. Please.

Shit. Dammit.

He immediately started typing a response, worried that Eddie was dropping. Could he drop? Surely he would have told Steve if that was a possibility. Right?

I’m okay. I’m sorry. It’s been a busy day and I didn’t know you wanted me to stick to the rules still. Are you okay?

His leg was bouncing as he waited for Eddie to reply, getting faster when he saw the typing bubbles appear.

I’m better now. We can talk later when you’re done hanging out with Robin, okay?

Are you mad?

No, was just worried. Have fun with Robin.

It felt like a dismissal, and he knew that Eddie didn’t mean it unkindly, but his head started to spin with the idea that maybe that was the final straw for him.

Before he could spiral, Robin came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her head and her comfiest pajamas on. She took one look at him and sighed.

“Let’s talk while we wait for food.”

They both sat on the couch, Robin’s feet finding their way into Steve’s lap, his hands resting on her ankles.

“So. Let me start by saying sorry again. I’m not sorry for being worried, but I am sorry for how I spoke to you. I should have waited to talk in person and I shouldn’t have made you feel like you don’t know how to handle yourself or that you’re a bother.”

Oh God, her voice was shaking. Was she gonna cry? She never cried.

“Robs, it’s okay. I get it. I’m glad I have you to worry about me, okay?” He squeezed her ankle and she sniffled. “I wish it didn’t happen that way, but it does show we have to talk about this. I think I need to unpack a bit with you actually.”

“You, Steve Harrington, need to unpack your feelings?” She reached out to check his temperature. “Are you sure you haven’t been body snatched?”

“I’m sure. There’s just a lot to catch you up on.”

He spent the next 30 minutes breaking down everything that happened from the moment he walked into Eddie’s tattoo shop on Saturday to the text exchange that happened right before Robin came out of the shower.

“Well, you’ve certainly found your way into something interesting.”

Steve groaned and threw his head back to rest against the back of the couch.

“It doesn’t make any fucking sense what I’m about to say and I need you to just let me say it out loud so I can recognize how fucking stupid it is.”

“Okay.”

“I think I love him.”

Robin didn’t react, but Steve knew she wanted to. She was being the best friend ever and letting him sit with it out in the open like that on his own first.

“I’m waiting for my brain to say that I didn’t mean that.”

“Okay.”

They both sat in silence for a minute, two.

“Fuck, I love him.”

“Steve, this is. I mean I’m not a professional at these types of relationships, but could it just be the whole subspace thing?”

“I mean, yeah? I guess? But it just doesn’t feel that way. The way he makes me feel all the time, not just when he’s making me float, it’s better than anyone’s ever made me feel. I can’t explain it and I’m gonna sound crazy if I try.”

“Try anyways.”

Steve sighed. Robin wouldn’t end this conversation without understanding him, so he had no choice.

“It’s just. I feel safe. Even before the tattoo started, I felt safe. Something about the way he just is. He calls me sunshine, but he’s the one burning bright. It’s like we don’t have to know everything about each other to know each other. God, this sounds stupid.” He covered his face with his hands and was shocked to find that he was crying. “It’s more than just wanting to be with him, it’s like I know I can be myself, my best self, if he’s around. Like I can let go of everything I’ve spent most of my life trying to be and just. Be.”

Robin’s eyes were wide as she took in Steve’s demeanor. He was serious, and he was crying.

“Listen to me, Steve.” Steve looked back at her as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “How you feel is how you feel. Do I think it’s a little crazy? Yeah. But I’ve never seen you like this, and you’ve had plenty of opportunities to. You weren’t even like this with Nancy and you wanted to spend the rest of your life with her.”

“I don’t think I loved Nancy like this.”

“Holy shit.”

“Yeah. Holy shit.”

They both sat in silence again, both taking in what was said, both realizing that Steve was in deep.

“Alright! Here’s what we do!”

Robin was cut off by her phone ringing, which was odd.

There was a knock at the door at the same time.

“I’ll get the door, you get your phone.”

Steve got up to grab their food as Robin answered her phone.

He was so focused on making sure the delivery person got a good tip, he didn’t hear what Robin was saying.

“Robs! Hurry before it gets cold!” Steve yelled as if she’d left the room, but she was sitting on the couch whispering into the phone.

“Robs? Everything okay?” He asked as he walked back over to the couch to make sure she was okay.

“Okay, I’ll tell him. I will! I’ll text you. Okay. Bye.”

When Robin hung up, Steve had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t explain. Something was wrong.

“Sit.”

Steve sat.

“Look at me.”

Steve looked at her.

“This is not your fault, you understand?”

“Uh. Okay.”

“I need you to say it.”

“It’s not my fault.” Steve breathed in. “What’s not my fault?”

“That was Chrissy. You know Eddie’s friend? She’s the Chrissy I work with. Small world or whatever.” Robin was gonna start rambling. Oh god. “So she’s at Eddie’s. Apparently he had to reschedule his last client tonight and when she showed up at his house, he was a mess. Mid-panic attack and didn’t even know she came in the house. She got him to calm down enough to drink some tea on the couch, but all he’s said is he fucked up with you. Any clue what he’s talking about?”

Steve felt his stomach turn. Eddie fucked up? What could he have done?

“I don’t know. Everything was fine. He seemed a little off during the texts, but he said we’d talk later.”

“Off how?”

“I dunno! Just really formal and short? Not like he usually is.”

“Chrissy thinks he’s going through a dom drop.”

Fuck. That’s what Steve feared, but he didn’t know for sure if it was even possible.

He should’ve called him when he seemed off. No, he should’ve texted him at lunch. He could’ve taken ten seconds to send a quick message.

But he didn’t think about the rule. The one rule Eddie had given. Maybe they hadn’t discussed it being a standing rule, but Steve should’ve assumed he’d like a check in after what they did last night.

“Robs, I…”

“You gotta go. It’s okay. I’m pretty tired anyways. But Steve?”

“Hm?”

“You’re allowed to love him. Things may end badly, or you may be in deeper than he is, or there may come a point where this wears off for you. But for now, if you love him, then love him with all you’ve got.”

Steve nodded, giving her a quick hug before he threw his shoes on and left.

Eddie needed him and he was going to love him through it.

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

When he arrived at Eddie’s house, he saw that all except one light was off, and the door was unlocked.

Robin must’ve called Chrissy to let her know he was coming.

When he walked inside, the house felt cold.

This wasn’t the same house that made him feel warm, content, happy.

He saw Chrissy first, sitting on the couch next to a blanket burrito which could only contain Eddie.

Whatever nerves he’d been feeling on the drive over disappeared when he heard what Chrissy was saying.

“He’s on his way and you’ll see that he’s okay. Robin said he just had a really busy day, remember?”

“But he didn’t follow the rule.”

“Babes, he probably didn’t think he had to. You said he’s new at this, right? If you didn’t remind him, then he probably just was busy.”

“I was.”

Steve spoke and the air changed. It didn’t stop being cold, but there was a new pressure to it, and he knew that Eddie heard him.

“Thank god,” Chrissy said as she stood up. “I’m clocking out. This guy needs you. You know what to do?”

“Um. I googled. I think I can handle it.”

“Call if you need me. I’ve gotten him through one before so I know what works if you can’t handle it,” she gave him a tired smile. “Chrissy, by the way.”

“Steve.”

“Eddie, Steve’s got you now, okay? But call if you need me.”

“Okay.”

His voice was raspy, not at all the usual strong, upbeat tone he had.

As Chrissy left the house, Steve walked over to the couch. Eddie had removed the blanket from around him, but was still curled in on himself in a way Steve didn’t think was possible. Not for Eddie.

“Eds? Can I sit with you?”

Eddie nodded, but otherwise didn’t move. Steve sat where Chrissy previously was, quickly resting his hand on Eddie’s back.

Eddie seemed to relax a bit at the touch, a small sigh released from his mouth.

“Wanna tell me what’s going on in your head, babe?”

Eddie shook his head.

“That’s okay. I can just keep you company. Do you need anything?”

Eddie shook his head again.

“Do you want to cuddle?”

Eddie nodded, but seemed to hesitate for a moment.

“What is it?”

This was hard. He didn’t know how Eddie handled him when he was pretty much nonverbal.

“Can you lay in my lap?”

How would anyone say no to that?

“I’d love to.”

Eddie slowly unfurled from the nearly perfect spiral he’d been curled into, resting his feet on the floor and stretching his back out. He groaned when something popped, but it seemed to help him relax a little more.

Steve slowly lay down across the couch, placing his head in Eddie’s lap so he was looking up at his face.

Eddie’s hand found his cheek like a magnet, rubbing his thumb along his jaw while he looked down at him like he was a miracle.

No one had ever looked at Steve like that.

It was a lot to cope with.

He stayed still, letting Eddie touch and look, some part of him knowing that he needed this and that it would help. Eddie’s hand glided over his exposed skin for long minutes, tracing along his freckles on his neck and collarbone, his arms, even the tattoo he inked into his skin only a few days ago.

So much has changed since then.

Eddie let out a small whine, and Steve reached one hand out to hold his, squeezing as a reminder that he was here and he wasn’t going anywhere.

“Right here, Eds. You with me?”

“Yeah.”

“What do you need, love?”

“Shirt off. Skin.”

Steve could do that. He could do whatever Eddie needed.

He started to sit up to take his shirt off when he felt a hand on his chest and Eddie whined again, looking down at Steve with hurt on his face.

“I have to move a little to take off my shirt. It’s only for a few seconds.”

“Please.”

He wasn’t sure what he was asking for, but Steve slowly sat up and turned to straddle Eddie’s lap. Eddie seemed okay with this movement, so Steve continued by removing his shirt quickly.

Eddie’s hands were on his bare hips before he even had the shirt off of his head. He couldn’t help the smile he gave when he felt Eddie relax a bit more into the couch.

He was taking care of Eddie and getting him through this one step at a time with barely any idea what he was doing. It felt good to know what he needed. Is this how Eddie felt with him all the time?

“Closer.”

Steve didn’t need to be told twice; He leaned in so he could let his face fall against Eddie’s neck, breathing in his cologne and weed scent.

He felt Eddie shakily breathe him in too, his nose resting in his hair by his temple.

“Smells good.”

Steve smiled against his skin.

“Took a shower when I got home from work. The shampoo is tropical breeze I think.”

Eddie didn’t answer, just took another breath, though this was stronger, more sure.

They stayed like that for a while, Steve slowly tracing fingers along Eddie’s chest and neck, letting him know he was physically here for whatever he needed.

Eventually, Eddie nudged Steve gently, making him remove his head from his body and pull away. He looked at Eddie, really looked at him, and saw some of the sunshine he was used to coming back behind his eyes.

“There you are.”

“Here I am.”

Steve cupped his cheek and leaned in to place a soft kiss on his lips, not wanting to make it anything more than a comforting peck.

Eddie let him, but his grip on Steve’s waist tightened momentarily like he was fighting the urge to kiss harder, longer, more.

“Sorry, sweetheart. I told Chrissy not to call. I didn’t even know she knew Robin.”

Eddie looked so apologetic, but he had nothing to apologize for. If his drop was anything like Steve’s, he had no control over what happened and Steve didn’t want him to feel like that all night.

“What happened, Eds? Was it just me not texting?”

Eddie looked nervous.

Oh no. This is it, he’s gonna break it off before it even gets started.

“That played a part in it, and not answering the call. But it was also just pushing myself at work more than I usually do in a day after what we did last night. After everything since Saturday, really. And then when the realization hit that I didn’t talk to you about the rule this morning, I felt like a bad dom. Just a mix of things.”

Steve let that sink in. That while it wasn’t all his fault, he was what started the negativity.

He’d been used to doing that for most of his life, bringing people down with him instead of leaving them be. He didn’t want that for Eddie. Eddie would be smart to end things with him.

But that’s not where this was going, Steve could tell from his next words.

“We have something I’ve never had before. I’m not used to such intense feelings over such a small scene or for anyone at all.” Eddie cupped Steve’s face between his hands, placing a kiss to his forehead before continuing. “What we’re doing here is more than anything I’ve done before and I think we haven’t had enough communication about what we’re doing. Can we talk about that?”

Steve nodded, mesmerized by the way Eddie bounced back so quickly, by the way he was looking at Steve like he loved him. He couldn’t possibly, but it seemed like he did.

“I know this is fast and unconventional. This isn’t how I usually do things and I don’t think it’s how you do things either. But maybe that’s a good thing. I’ve never wanted someone the way I want you. All the time. In every way.” Eddie had tears in his eyes. “It’s fucking terrifying. Especially after today and knowing that such a small thing made me drop. I’ve only dropped a couple of times and those were because of really intense scenes that I wasn’t properly prepared for. But I guess I’m never really prepared for you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Every time I think I can handle my feelings for you, you do or say something that has me falling head over heels and I don’t know what to do about it, sunshine.”

Steve could feel the heat rising on his face, the blush on his cheeks deepening to an almost painful level. Eddie really cared for him.

“What do we do to stop you from dropping?”

“First, we have to set clear rules and boundaries for each scene and for our relationship.”

“Relationship?”

Eddie smirked.

“I just confessed that I have intense feelings for you, did you think I wasn’t wanting to make you mine?”

If Steve could breathe, he’s sure he would choke on the air.

“You want me to be yours?”

“I’d love for you to be mine and for me to be yours.”

“We haven’t even had a date yet.”

“Is that necessary when I’ve pressed a needle into your skin to make something permanent?”

“I guess not. But what if you don’t like me outside of…this?”

“That’s not possible, sunshine.”

“Not many people like me.”

“Not many people like me either.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

Eddie was a ball of sunshine, how could anyone not be in love with him when they talked to him?

“Well, I only have a couple good friends, Chrissy being one of them. My clients come to me because I’m good at what I do, but not because of anything else. I was the opposite of popular in school. My best friend until I was like, 13, was my Uncle Wayne.”

“But you’re so…nice.”

Eddie laughed. “Nice isn’t everything.”

“It is to me.”

Eddie poked at Steve’s bottom lip, which had somehow jutted out a bit during their talk.

“No need to be upset, sunshine. I’m doing just fine with what I’ve got, okay? Even better now that you’re around.”

“But I’m…me.”

“And you’re perfect to me.”

Steve’s brows furrowed, but Eddie traced along the line between them until it smoothed out.

“I feel the same about you, you know. Like you’re my sun, stars, my entire galaxy, and it doesn’t make any fucking sense because I didn’t even feel this way about the person I thought I wanted to marry! You hear how ridiculous that sounds? It’s been three days!”

Eddie pulled him in for another soft kiss, effectively calming him down again.

“I’m just worried that I’m so invested in whatever this is that I’m not seeing how badly it can end. I don’t want it to end. I want to be yours and I want you to be mine and I want to feel like this with you forever.”

“Then let’s do that.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Because everything good ends! People don’t like me when I’m grumpy, which is always, and they leave! I couldn’t even convince Nancy to stay and she’s like me.”

Eddie looked like Steve had just punched him in the gut, his eyes wider and sadder than ever.

“Sweetheart, sometimes people just aren’t right for each other. But this feels right. You feel right.”

Steve let out a sob at his words. He’d been holding back for a while, and the concern that had built up from the moment Robin told him what was going on seemed to crash down on him.

Eddie was here, telling him how much he cared, telling him that he wants more. That he wants Steve. As he is.

No one had ever wanted Steve for him.

But Eddie didn’t know enough about his history of parents with more money than they knew what to do with, or his friends who pressured him into drinking every weekend until he couldn’t even recognize them, or the times he turned to getting high on whatever Tommy was on during high school just to feel something other than loneliness. He didn’t know that the times between Tommy and Robin, he tried to hide away from everyone, didn’t even bother leaving his apartment other than to go to classes he was almost failing for a solid year. He didn’t know that Steve nearly lost his chance at getting his degree when Nancy broke his heart because he couldn’t leave his bed.

He doesn’t know that Robin is pretty much the only reason he’s even here.

But he wants him. He may not when he knows all of that, but for now, he wants him. Still, he had to ask to be sure, to know he wasn’t just getting his hopes up for nothing.

“You want me?”

“I want you more than anything.”

“Then you have me.”

The way Eddie kissed him shattered his world and put it back together, leaving no question that he’d meant the words he said.

Hands were everywhere, soft until they weren’t, leaving bruises as remnants of their emotions.

Both of them gasped for air. Both of them dove right back in like they couldn’t bear to separate their lips for more than a few seconds.

If this was what it was like being Eddie’s, Steve never wanted to belong to anyone else.

Chapter 8

TAG LIST: @invisibleflame812 @inmoonywetrust @captain-daryn @carlyv @lillemilly @spectrum-spectre @raisedbylibrarians @estrellami-1 @gregre369 @mightbeasleep @imhereforthelolzdontyellatme @bornonthesavage @loguine-linguine @bejeweledbaby @bisexualdisastersworld @eddiemunsonswife @sadcanadianwinter @messrs-weasley @i-write-stories-not-sins-bitch @maya-custodios-dionach @sleepyboosstuff @novelnovella @jestyzesty @f1ct1onwh0re @croatoan-like-its-hot @shrimply-a-menace @crazyhatlady86 @izzy2210 @phirex22 @crypticcorvidinacottage @yourebuckingkiddingme @sydthekid2004 @lovelylilbadone @abydell921 @wildflower-faun @lydi-cyan @lololol-1234 @221b-fandom @carlajim98 @adaydreamaway08

#steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #grumpy sunshine trope #tattoo artist eddie munson #guidance counselor steve harrington #soft dom eddie munson #sub steve harrington #ao3fic #chapter 7 #robin buckley #platonic stobin #dom drop #top drop #please let me know if you're worried about that tag and i will be happy to send an edited version of the chapter for you #i love you all

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starglasszodiac · 6 months ago

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Hey everybody, I am thrilled to tell you that Starglass Zodiac is now launched! And on the project’s 9th anniversary too :D

I'll put more of my ramblings under the cut below, but here's the gist of what you need to know:

The first two pages are now live HERE

The next page is scheduled for July 22nd, 2024

The dates for future page uploads will be announced on this blog and on the site's homepage as each new page is released

The upload schedule itself will be determined at a later date, as I’m going at my own pace for the time being

The comic site is self-made with only my basic knowledge of website coding, so I will be improving it gradually over time

A cover for Chapter 1 is in the works, so stay tuned for that!

As for this blog specifically, I have the following planned in the coming days:

Updating the pinned post with this new info

General cleanup and updates to old posts, the tag system/list, links, pages, etc.

Checking for posts I forgot to reblog here and tagging them

I will be tagging the majority of prior posts/art with the tag #SGZ spoilers so you can blacklist it if you want to go into the comic completely blind. Note that some posts with this tag may not actually be spoilers anymore depending on how the project/story lore has changed since making them, but better to cover all the bases anyway

I'll decide soon how I will reblog the update posts, as I can do so on either my art blog @akysi or my personal blog @sweet-star-cookie, but I doubt I'll do all three to avoid it getting excessive for those who follow all three (thank you for that! <3)

As I said above, I’m going at my own pace with this comic to ensure that I’m satisfied with every page at my current skill level. That will likely mean a slow pace for uploads, and I am sorry for that ^^’ But, I’ve had this as a passion project for a long time and I want to give it the time and attention it deserves.

I’ve also realized recently that I’ve been subconsciously holding myself to arbitrary rules about how and when I distribute my work when it comes to comics, especially with prior attempts to launch this one. Knowing I don’t actually have to do that has been quite freeing, and I’m excited to go at my own pace like I do with my other work. I do hope to increase the frequency of uploads later on of course, with the ultimate goal being multiple times a week, but trying to do that right away just isn’t feasible right now. Regardless, I am SUPER excited to finally be doing this again, no matter how long it takes!

With having this project for nearly a decade, working on it has gotten me through many, many tough times. The amount of support and enthusiasm that I’ve received from all you lovely people over the years has been nothing short of heartwarming, so thank you all so much <3 I hope you like what you see, and look forward to more. :D Thanks for reading, friends!

#Starglass Zodiac #SGZ #art #author's art #webcomic launch #launch announcement

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cultivating-wildflowers · 9 months ago

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2024 Reading - March

By now it is clear that I will not achieve my arbitrary goal of reading 100 books this year, and that's fine. My overall progress so far is what I really care about. I am confronting my TBR, I've already read a good number of nonfics, and for the most part my reading has been enjoyable.

While I do have some large books coming up on my list, I am hoping to set aside a little time in April to get to a couple of anticipated rereads (finally) because I'm starting to crave a change of pace into something more familiar.

Total books: 4 | New reads: 4 | 2024 TBR completed: 5 (2 DNF) / 9/36 total | 2024 Reading Goal: 11/100

February | April

potential reading list from March 1st

#1 - Dorothy and Jack: The Transforming Friendship of Dorothy L. Sayers and C. S. Lewis by Gina Dalfonzo - 4/5 stars (audio)

After the whole Thing with The Mutual Admiration Society, I went into this book with no small amount of trepidation.

I was immediately put at ease.

This was a surprisingly cozy little book that accomplished what it set out to do. It wasn't horribly deep, but it was thorough and heartwarming. And I found myself cheering when I discovered that Sayers and I apparently have the same opinions about a certain aspect of Paradise Lost, so that was fun.

It does lose a star for spending what felt like too long on the Charles Williams scandal. I think the writer was trying to make a point but I'm a bit lost on what it was.

Notes: 1) Do not get the audiobook if you are at all put off by poor pronunciation and enunciation. The narrator couldn't even say "Pevensie" correctly. 2) I have to be objective, since I kicked up such a stink with the last Sayers-adjacent nonfic I tried, and say there is a bit of bias to this one, with the writer coming from an Evangelical background. It's not overpowering but I would say it informs Dalfonzo's approach. (Which...is how writing works. Whatever.)

#2 - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik - 5/5 stars ('24 TBR)

"There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That it what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away. That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away."

I haven't had much luck with Novik in the past. I read Uprooted probably six years ago and remember it struck me as kind of bland and disjointed. When A Deadly Education was released I picked it up, excited by the premise, but didn't make it through the first chapter. I was starting to think Novik's style just wasn't for me.

Then while chatting with Elsabet (@eddis-not-eeddis), she mentioned how much she loves Spinning Silver and urged me to give it a try, so here we are.

Friends.

I did in fact enjoy it quite a lot.

The standout aspect for me is how Novik writes relationships. Any kind of relationship. Even the little ones that barely get a paragraph's mention. And then we get to see how those relationships build bonds, build links, make their own kind of magic, and I'm sold. This is how you flesh out characters. And this is how you make me care about them and connect with them.

Novik still has a very distinct style that sometimes trips me up, but it works.

(side note: I always forget Novik helped found AO3, and every time I'm reminded I go "oh yeah! good for her!)

More like this: "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden; "Anya and the Dragon" by Sofiya Pasternack (middle grade but the same sort of vibes); "Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow" by Jessica Day George.

#3 - A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan - 4/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

Fantastically written, well-paced, with an engaging narrative and a solid cast of characters. However, it works well as a stand-alone and I’m not sure whether or not I’ll continue the series. There was something in it that was lacking for me personally. I would definitely recommend it, though!

More like this: the Emily Wilde series; the Frontier Magic trilogy by Patricia C. Wrede.

#4 - South With the Sun: Roald Amundsen, His Polar Explorations, and the Quest for Discovery by Lynne Cox - 3/5 stars ('24 TBR)

If you’re looking for a book that's strictly about Roald Amundsen, don't start here. This book is half a general history of 19th century polar exploration leading up to Roald Amundsen; and half a recounting of some of Lynne Cox’s swimming accomplishments, which were largely inspired by Amundsen's work and travels.

I also wouldn't recommend this as a starting-off point for people who aren't familiar with the details of Lynne's story, since she ties so much of that into Amundsen's story.

Overall, it was a decent enough read. Lynne's passion and enthusiasm are plain all throughout the story, but her writing voice is lacking and parts of the book--especially those focusing on Amundsen's various expeditions--were clumsily written and difficult to follow. Amundsen finally crossing the North Pole received a grand total of one paragraph and was so unclear that I had to read it twice and then google the details of the endeavor to understand the significance of the dates listed. The last hundred pages are a proper muddle.

DNF

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern ('24 TBR) - Another book that was strongly recommended by a tumblr mutual! I wanted to like this one, and not just for Jules's sake. I gave it about 15% but it wasn’t clicking and I kept getting lost. Some reviews say the first part is rough, so maybe I’ll give this another try later. Don’t hate me, Jules 😅.

A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher ('24 TBR) - I will not apologize for not finishing this one. I'm straight-up ticked off.

The story started out strong (despite me being pathetic and having to really power through the stressful parts). It set a good pace AND the story was straight-forward and compelling. The first red flag was the writing style because my. stars. Did we have to get ominous, melodramatic, foreshadow-y asides practically every single chapter? Could be my fresh-from-DNFing self talking, but the whole voice came off as pretentious trying for profound. [Edit from after browsing 1- and 2-star reviews: it's not just me.]

I decided to put up with it because I honestly did want to know how the story would end. But it just dragged on and on with no direction. Stuff just...happened. And I got bored.

So I looked up reviews. And found spoilers. And rage-skimmed the last few chapters.

Friends. If you can get to the half-way mark in the story you're telling without even a hint of setting up for a stunt like that ending, you're doing it wrong.

Don't read this book. It's dumb.

Currently Reading:

Recorder by Cathy McCrumb (reread)

#2024 reading list #mine #Dorothy and Jack #Gina Dalfonzo #Spinning Silver #Naomi Novik #A Natural History of Dragons #Marie Brennan #South with the Sun #Lynne Cox

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tryskomys · 2 months ago

Text

Wet Sand

Stone Gossard x OC

Chapter 11 - She

Summary: let’s say that it was bad for my self-preservation.

masterlist

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

notes: w o a h. this halloween story took so long that it’s half-past november. but finally, here it is. sorry it took so long, dearest readers. i feel like this is short af for some reason, even tho it’s fucking 6,6k words? idk i hope you like it <3 my timeline might be a bit off with this one - you’ll know what i’m talking about when you get there - but hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. the next chapter will be very important, so fingers crossed guys, let’s hope that it turns out cool! love you all <3

tws: mentions of shitty childhood, awkwardness, realisations. rude words (btw tipper gore is a ***** **** ** ***).

songs:

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

October 31st, 1988

“Oh, look at you!” Keeva hollered as Jeff emerged from the staff room of the café, wearing little furry cat ears on top of his bandana. “Will you meow for me?”

“I’m not sure where you’re going with this, but you know - anything for the birthday girl,” Jeff shrugged and started re-filling the to-go cups.

“It’s a marketing strategy, Ames. You and your trapezoid jawline paired with cat ears equal big Halloween tips from every chick that walks through that door,” she explained, pointing at the paper bat decorations hanging along the walls. “And I really appreciate it, you’re like my little personal party clown!”

Keeva dreaded the celebrations that came with birthdays but thankfully, being born on Halloween slightly diluted everyone’s attention.

Back home, her birthday was usually acknowledged as an afterthought at dodgy Halloween parties and celebrated with a round or two of cheap alcohol. She never had enough friends to have a proper birthday party, but she didn’t mind - even a simple congratulation was a tough moment of awkwardness to swallow, so she appreciated the peace that came with being alone in the world.

But now, being in Seattle, she made more good friends in a year than any friends during all of the twenty years she’d been alive. And it showed - the day before, she visited Andy at the rehab center and he somehow managed to sneak in a piece of cake and wrote her a little song. They talked for hours, laughed, cried - and that alone was the most heartwarming celebration she’d ever had, which was strange considering the circumstances.

Chris called her first thing in the morning to congratulate her and to make sure she and Stone could make it to the release party of Soundgarden’s first album. It was supposed to be Halloween-themed - he was trying to sniff out whether they already had their costumes.

As soon as she came to work, Jeff popped out of the staff door with a cupcake and his signature cat-like grin, singing Happy Birthday as loud as he could because he knew she would be embarrassed - he got her the new guitar strings she’d been dying to try out.

But to her surprise, Stone didn’t tease her much in the morning before they both left for work. In fact, he didn’t make much of a fuss at all. She was glad, but deep inside she’d hoped that he would be the one to tease her the most, as always. It was strange that he was deliberately missing the opportunity to embarrass her.

“Well, if you make it ‘til the end of the day through all the birthday crap, you might get a little something.”

Keeva was inspired when Jeff put on Kiss at work a few days earlier - she did have a certain phase when she was a pre-teen, so she decided to tap into her inner child and dress up as Ace Frehley on the cover photo of Dressed To Kill. She’d borrowed a suit from Stone - she had to heavily cuff the pants and the sleeves and her tie was a couple of inches longer than it should be, but the whole attire ended up looking not too shabby.

The guys’ album was amazing. Electric, heavy and nothing like anything else going around. They played it live from start to finish at the official release party with all the important folks and then moved on to Kelly Curtis’s house to a more intimate party.

Keeva dropped the jacket some time ago, so there she was, sitting on the fluffy carpet of Kelly’s floor, her back resting against the wall. After tapping off the debris from her cigarette in the ashtray next to her, she took a big drag and let the smoke out through her nose with a big exhale.

She rolled up the sleeves of her white shirt and loosened the tie around her neck. When she was done, she sat back and silently observed the mayhem going around her - and for once in her life, she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else than a party.

Regan, sporting denim overalls and a straw hat, was in the corner next to the snack table, listening to a girl with pink bunny ears as she animatedly explained something to him. When he giggled, Keeva squinted with an amused smirk.

Is he blushing? What the hell…

Jerry, Mike and Sean from Alice - as the Three Blind Mice - were standing in a circle with Susan, who was the Tooth Fairy (Chris was the tooth), holding hands and frolicking to the rhythm of the Paula Abdul song that was booming through the speakers. She scoffed and took another puff.

God, Stoney must be having a field day with this soundtrack.

On cue, she searched for him in the crowd. He wasn’t with Kim or Jeff - The Godfather and Steven Tyler - who were standing by the speakers laughing, neither he was anywhere around the snack table. But after a few minutes of searching, her eyes finally fell upon him - he was alone, sitting on a cushion next to the fireplace and reading a magazine.

His face was obscured with thick weed smoke that swirled from his pipe, but the silver glitter around his eyes twinkled even through the cloud. She couldn’t help but giggle at the sight of his green boa jacket.

“Well, what do you think?” he exclaimed when he walked out of the bathroom and twirled around. She did a spit-take just as she was finishing her tea and stared at him. He had silver glitter smeared all over his eyes, along with some really strong black eyeliner. He had his hair down. It was unusually wavy today.

He looked otherworldly - from the neck up, that was. Keeva couldn’t hold a loud laugh when she darted between the big fluffy feathers he was wearing and the torn, clearly home-dyed jeans of a similar shade.

“You’re a hot frog?” she questioned, unable to tear her eyes off of the outrageous outfit. Stone rolled his eyes.

“No, try again.”

“A glittered-up bag of weed?”

“What? No!”

“A glammy quasi-reptile?”

“Yes! Exactly! I’m T-Rex!” he said and failed to keep a straight face, breaking into giggles. “T-Rex. Get it?”

She started cackling, too and felt her face paint smudge as the laughter forced a tear out of her eye.

“Sometimes I can’t decide if you’re a misunderstood genius or a complete moron.”

“Both can be true at the same time, Baby.”

Just as she was about to get up and go to him, something caught her attention.

Huh?

She wasn’t sure if she’d heard correctly, but under the general chattering and music appeared a silent melody from the other room. She could barely decipher the song.

Who the fuck is playing Stevie Ray Vaughan at one in the morning in the middle of a house party?

Her eyebrows knitted as she leaned backwards, curiously peeking into the room next to the hallway. Her lips slowly curled into an amused grin.

On a big velvet armchair next to the window sat a guy, clutching an acoustic guitar as he leaned closer to a record player to hear better. He was thin as a twig, the shadows of his ribcage kinda made him look like a kid. She could see all of that, because - for whatever reason - he was shirtless. He nodded his head back and forth to the rhythm of the song, brown hair shaking from side to side.

The widest of smiles spread across her face when he flipped his hair away, revealing his face - and most importantly the poorly drawn Ace makeup that was smudged all over it.

His eyes were rolled back into his skull and she could’ve sworn a droplet of drool was forming in the corner of his mouth. Most likely because he was shredding licks like there was no tomorrow.

He wasn’t playing as precisely as Stone or as sneakily as her - he was a completely different beast. It reminded her of a strange shamanic ritual, like he was trying to summon some sort of a blues deity that was living inside of him.

Keeva tried to perk her ears as much as she could, but she couldn’t properly hear him, so she decided to move a bit closer. She hopped up and snaked through the crowd to the other room. Even though the floor creaked as she stepped into the doorframe, the guy didn’t notice at all and continued his meditation.

She crossed her arms and leaned against the doorframe as her grin grew wider. The way he was able to sustain the licks on an acoustic was mesmerizing. She was surprised she’d never seen him around before. Then, the record scratched and he went on his own for a few moments before finally stopping.

When he opened his eyes and noticed Keeva, he jumped in the armchair and let out a loud gasp. She could’ve sworn he muttered the tiniest “Ace?” under his breath in shock before grounding himself in reality.

Keeva giggled as he clutched on his chest. She could pinpoint the moment he snapped out of the trance - the melody visibly disappeared from his brown eyes as he rapidly blinked to focus on her, clearly somehow still not certain if Ace Frehley was really just standing there, judging his guitar playing.

That apparently wasn’t an easy task - with the way he was swaying in the armchair, rock and roll clearly wasn’t the only thing he was high on.

“Shit, how long have you been here?” he mumbled after he rubbed his eyes and squinted to get a better look at his surroundings. She sighed and nonchalantly checked her non-existent watch.

“About an hour and a half,” Keeva shrugged, but couldn’t keep a straight face when his button eyes nearly popped out of his head. Along with the thin pointy nose and bushy eyebrows, he reminded her of some small owl.

“Christ, sorry. Like, ten minutes,” she giggled, scratching her head. He huffed and cursed under his breath, softly banging his head against the guitar to wake himself up.

“Sneaking away, are we, Ace?” he questioned, giving her a cheeky smile. Keeva raised her eyebrows.

“I could ask you the same thing, Ace. You’re the one shredding along with the mighty SRV instead of socializing,” she quipped back but slowly began to feel bad that she interrupted what was clearly a moment of absolute peace.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to intrude on you, just wanted to hear you better. I’ll be on my way again,” she continued and gave him a small smile, tapping the doorframe. “Just wanted to say you’re fucking amazing.”

“Uh, no, I’m rusty as hell, sorry. Haven’t played in some time. Thanks so much, though, thanks!” he humbly retorted just as she was turning around to leave. “I’m Mike, by the way!”

Keeva turned back and chuckled.

Rusty my ass. If you’re rusty, then I’m a freshly mummified Egyptian.

“Hey, Mike, I’m Keev-”

“Kiki, I know! So nice to meet you, greenie! Loved the show last night,” he babbled, motioning her to come back into the room. His enthusiasm was too contagious to shrug him off.

“Glad you did, Mike -” Keeva giggled and then a realization hit her, her eyes widening. “Wait. Mike…Mike? As in McCready?”

“Yeah?” he said, raising his eyebrows. She gasped.

“Oh man, so that’s why I haven’t seen you around!” she excitedly clapped and pattered over to him like a giddy child. She sat on the floor next to him, crossing her legs.

“Yeah, just got back a couple of months ago,” Mike said with a little slur in his voice. Her heart skipped a beat.

Fuck. Shadow. Let’s not go there.

"Stoney told me so much about you!” she rushed to change the subject and patted his bony knee. “Feel like I should get an autograph or something.”

“Not sure if that’s good or bad,” he chuckled and Keeva noticed a little blush filling his cheeks, even through the smudged white paint.

“Are you joking? We have a signed Shadow poster on the wall, sometimes I touch the little heart above the ‘i’ in your name for good luck,” she giggled again, but mentally punched herself.

Shit. No Shadow, idiot.

Mike was clearly not sure whether he should be happy or not.

“That’s cool.”

A few moments of awkward silence filled the otherwise empty room before he slid from the armchair like an eel and sat next to her, putting the guitar down in his place.

“Love the Jag, by the way! Such a cool one,” Mike said and ran his hand through his hair. Keeva grinned.

“Thanks! I love offsets in general, but Jags just have a special place in my heart. It’s like they have a bunch of built-in effects.”

“Yeah, that’s why I never learned how to work them,” he explained with a chuckle. “It feels like you gotta know fucking quantum physics to figure out all the switches.”

“Good point,” she leaned on her knees. “I’ve never really played anything else for as long, so…”

Mike’s eyes popped open.

“Wait, like this is your first guitar?”

“Well,” Keeva sighed. “Before that, I had a cheap little Mustang that fell apart almost as soon as I brought it home - bought that one off a kid at school for a bag of weed I stole from my parents.”

His innocent laugh indicated that he probably thought that was a cool thing. She continued with a shrug.

“So the first proper guitar, yeah. Seven years and counting. Although I think it’s, like, a ‘64, so it’s been going for quite some time.”

“Woah, nice,” he nodded and whistled. “Mom and Dad gave it to you?”

She let out a bitter scoff, which made him jump a little.

“Pft, fuck no,” she waved her hand and paused for a second. She surely wasn’t one to share childhood stories with anyone she stumbled upon at a party, but something about Mike’s eyes was so kind, so inviting. Like an old friend catching up with you, eagerly waiting to hear the tales of what had happened while he was gone. “One day I stumbled upon this tiny little music store near Shoreditch, that’s where I lived. I needed my Mustang repaired real bad - something wrong with the bridge.”

A tiny girl walked through a dim alleyway, dragging a guitar case that was nearly bigger than her - she was clearly struggling, her thin arms about as strong as two matchsticks. Little mousy curls were sticking out of her two pigtails as if she hadn’t brushed them for days and then braided them without a mirror.

Her eyebrows were twisted in a nervous frown and she chewed on her lips - even they were peppered with fair freckles, matching her whole face.

As she nearly stumbled through the door into a shabby music store, the bell above the frame rang so loudly she had to cringe. And her stress only grew when she walked in - behind the counter stood a man with a bushy beard, full of muscle and sporting an irritated glare.

He must’ve been at least six-foot-five. His huge hairy arms were crossed as he scanned her up and down, his face still hardened.

She could tell that he stopped to stare at the alarming grey patch of hair that was woven through the curls above her forehead - along with the deep dark circles under her eyes, it was obviously puzzling. Clearly, his sales didn’t come from malnourished greying pre-teens.

“Can I help you, pipsqueak?” he asked. His voice was gravely and deep as if he’d been smoking red Marbs ever since he was born - which must’ve been at least fifty years ago. She shuddered and dared to walk a bit closer.

“Um, t-this is my Mustang - I mean, my guitar,” she squeaked, looking everywhere but his face. The man scoffed.

“Yeah, I know what a Mustang is, love. What’s wrong with it?” he pressed and leaned on the counter. “Speak up, I don’t have all day.”

His accent was so thick that she had a tough time understanding him, even though she was born in this East End hovel with a similar one.

She had to swallow a sarcastic remark about his delusional belief that he was busy.

This is a run-down music shop in a dodgy alleyway in the middle of East London, mate. On a Tuesday.

“Well, here it is,” she said instead and struggled to lift the case up on the counter. When he reached out to help her, she gave him a shy smile and peeped a ‘thank you’.

He did a double-take between her and the guitar - the blue finish was battered and peeling, the bridge was covered in rust and the tuning pegs were falling apart.

“This bridge is fucking wank. This thing -” he pointed at the rusty piece of metal holding the strings. She interrupted him, though, unable to hold back her natural smart-ass attitude.

“Yeah, I know what a bridge is. Maybe you can tell me what’s wrong with it?”

She was surprised when he heartily chuckled, shaking his head.

“Little shit.”

He lifted the guitar and started studying it from up close - it looked like a toy in his hands. He grumbled when he fiddled with the bridge under the strings - it was wiggling from side to side.

“There’s a lot more wrong than the bridge with this piece of shit, love. Might be cheaper for you to just buy a new one,” he shrugged, pulling on the squeaking tuning pegs.

A wave of warm tears flooded the girl’s eyes, but she bravely pushed them back, fishing around the pockets of her leather jacket - it was at least three sizes bigger than it should be. Her hand shaking, she laid a crumpled ten-pound note on the counter and cleared her throat so her voice wouldn’t crack.

“What could I get for this? Maybe new strings at least? Or if you could just change one or two tuning pegs? I’ll make it work,” she pleaded, her cheeks flaming bright red when he raised his eyebrows even higher, darting between her devastated eyes and the money.

“That’s not how tuning pegs work, love. And you can’t put strings into this. Ask your old folks for some cabbage, I’m sure they’ll help out,” he said and put the guitar back into the case.

He frowned when he noticed a tiny tear falling out of her eye as she still stubbornly stared into the floor.

“Like fuck they would,” she muttered under her breath and unceremoniously wiped her wet nose with her sleeve before putting on a small smile. “Sorry. It’s okay, sir, thank you. I’ll figure it out.”

He hummed and crossed his arms again, but his expression started to soften.

“Let me guess, this used to be a twenty-pounder but half got dissolved into booze.”

That was the moment she looked up at him, proudly straightening her back with a defiant frown.

“No, it did not! It used to be a twenty-pounder and I worked very hard for it!” she said, her eyes filling with tears again. “Dad bought a bag of coke for the rest, not me.”

The man let out a big sigh and scratched the back of his neck, clearly feeling bad for judging so quickly.

“Sorry, pipsqueak,” he said and reached out to clumsily pet her head. “My folks were the same. I’d tell you it gets better, but you just gotta wait ‘til you’re old enough to move as far away as possible.”

“Yeah,” she peeped and started scratching off the already peeling faux leather on the case. There were a few moments of awkward silence as the man thought of his next words and then he pointed at her chest.

“You know any Zappa?” he asked, his voice gruff again. She nearly forgot she had this t-shirt on and now she regretted it. Warm goosebumps ran through her from head to toe and she felt like she was going to be sick. She didn’t expect having to play.

“N- well, y-yes…uh, I mean, no - or, I don’t know, I’m not very g-”

“You play me some Zappa and I’ll consider giving you a sale. Deal?” he raised his bushy eyebrows and walked behind a curtain made of wooden pearls before she could answer.

After a short minute, he came back - carrying a run-down pastel Fender Jaguar with deep wide scratches and dents in its baby pink lacquer. It was gorgeous.

“Try it on this one, love, think you two could be friends. Same attitude.”

Keeva woke herself up from the memory with a dreamy sigh, not even knowing how she told the story. But Mike’s smile was wide, latching onto each one of her words with an excited twinkle in his eyes.

“I ended up working in that shop, actually,” she said and couldn’t help but smile, too. “Mr. Hobbs kinda took me under his wing, taught me everything I know about music.”

“We should send him a gift basket, then,” he chuckled and nudged her with his elbow. She theatrically gasped and pressed her hand on her forehead.

“Oh, you flirt.”

Keeva could almost sense the familiar pattern of comically huge feet approaching the room.

“Who the hell is disturbing my Paula Abdul with this blues bull-” Stone’s mockingly agitated voice lamented as he entered. His coat was gone, hair even messier than before and glitter now all the way down to his chin. She couldn’t help a twitch in her eyebrow.

Fucking hell, why does he always look like he just made out with someone?

When Stone’s eyes fell on Mike, his grin grew so wide that his rare dimples appeared.

“Holy shit, McCready! I knew it was you! You’re fucking amazing,” he spewed and she eased up a bit. Stone suddenly had this childlike energy around him and it just melted her heart. And If Mike was excited before, now he was positively beaming.

“Stoney, my guy!” he exclaimed and spread his arms. “What’s up, man? Greenie here tried to sneak away but I trapped her. Saw the show last night, you guys are killing it.”

“Thanks, buddy!” Stone said, patting Mike’s shoulder. He sat down next to Keeva and slapped his knees. “You should’ve said hi!”

Mike scoffed.

“I had a shift from 5 AM today and you’re fucking irresistible. I knew you’d end up getting me hammered by midnight.”

“So you’re responsible now?” Stone groaned. “God dammit, another victim of the LA lifestyle.”

Another tense silence paused the happy attitude in the room. Keeva could tell Stone knew he talked before he thought his words through - just like her. Thankfully, Mike was happy to speak and change the subject.

“So when’s the record coming out?”

They both rolled their eyes and shrugged in unison, making Mike chuckle.

“Not sure yet,” Stone sighed. “It’s changing all the time. We want an EP out in Spring but no clue about the album.”

“Right now, we’re aiming for early ‘90, but God knows,” Keeva added and Mike’s eyes popped open.

“Early ‘90?!”

“Yeah,” Stone muttered. “Takes ages, I feel like it’s cursed or some shit.”

“How’s Andy doing?”

Now it was Mike’s turn to talk without thinking. And he, too, clearly regretted asking when they both let out an identical cheerless scoff followed by a big sigh.

“Great. Yeah, he’s great. Good,” Stone repeated, trying to sound positive. Keeva took a quick peek at him before nodding.

“Great,” she said, giving Mike a tight-lipped smile. His eyebrows knitted and he nodded, too.

“Got it.”

Suddenly, it seemed like no one in the room wanted to talk - as if they were all scared that they’d make another unfortunate remark. The joy in the room was snuffed out too easily for Keeva’s liking.

Just when she thought this birthday would pass without crying, she knew that was exactly the plan her mind made up for when they come home.

“So you guys live together I’ve heard?” Mike broke the silence, trying to lift the mood. “Finally moved out of your parent's basement, Stoney?”

That made Stone chuckle and Keeva took the opportunity to jab at him. It always loosened the mood in the crowd - somehow, people enjoyed watching them bicker.

“Still live in the shack behind their house, only there’s two of us now,” she said, elbowing Stone in the ribs when he reached out to pinch her waist.

“Yeah, I guess Baby expected to move into the fucking Waldorf-Astoria when I told her I have a free attic room,” he gritted his teeth as he pulled on her hair, causing her to yelp and slap his thigh.

“You never mentioned your sweaty underwear on the bathroom floor, you smart-ass,” she hissed back and kicked his shin, causing him to retreat and raise his arms in surrender while sticking his tongue out.

Finally, Mike broke into joyful laughter and they looked at him, both hiding a satisfied grin from each other.

“How long has that been going on?” Mike said through giggles, pointing a finger between them. “You’re cute as fuck together.”

Once again, the joy turned into awkwardness.

“Oh, we’re not - no. God, no,” Keeva babbled, forcing a disgusted grimace. She looked at Stone, who followed her suit and raised his eyebrows”

“Ever heard of the term ‘roommate’?”

Mike darted between them for a few seconds and then squinted.

“…yeah, right.”

Not allowing another cringy silence, Mike quickly whipped out his wallet and took out a scratched laminated card with dog ears.

“Check this out, Stoney!”

Keeva felt her eyes fill with tears as she stared at the silver-rank Ace Frehley collectible card in front of her as if it were the Holy Grail.

No fucking way.

“Holy shit,” Stone exclaimed and lunged forward, snatching the card from Mike’s hand. “You still have it!”

Keeva followed it with her eyes, pushing the tears back with an unbelieving smile. It was as if their words were deep under the sea, dulled in her ears by the mass of water.

No. Fucking. Way.

“Yup, my good luck charm,” Mike proudly straightened his back, laughing when Stone slapped his forehead.

“Oh man, you ripped me off pretty bad on this one. Who did I get for it again? A bronze Lemmy?”

Before Mike could answer, Keeva entered their conversation, her voice still breathy with disbelief.

“Fucking hell. I can’t believe you actually have it,” she whispered, reaching out. “Can I hold it?”

Stone frowned and snorted, clearly thinking it was one of her sarcastic routines. She looked at him with such sincerity that he handed it to her without question, though.

“You good?” he asked and she shuddered when her fingers brushed against his. They were soft and cold as ice, casually handing her a piece of her lost innocence.

“Yeah, just…fuck. Long story,” she shook her head, still smiling as she studied the silver line around the card, running her thumb across the printed figure of the twig-thin man in the same face paint that was smudged on her cheeks.

“It’s not like he’s busy or anything,” Stone said, hoping to get a reaction from her, but he only got a punch in the arm from Mike.

“Fuck off, Gossard,” he chuckled. “You go on, greenie.”

For the second time that night, Keeva decided to share a memory, still squeezing the card as if her life depended on it.

“Well, first off, I was never really that into them until I saw them on the telly in, uh…’76 I think? A re-run of The Midnight Special show -“

“Oh!” Mike popped in, clearly aware of what she was talking about. Stone seemed to have no clue, though. “Good ol’ sexual awakening by Paul Stanley’s chest hair?”

“Uh, not exactly,” she grinned and looked up at them for a second before turning her attention back to the card. “You know how Ace ripped that solo on She?”

Keeva saw Mike nod in her peripheral, while Stone shook his head.

“Tall as fuck, hunching, built like a malnourished toothpick, face full of weird makeup. The shiny Sunburst…” she dreamily sighed and slowly laid on her back, lifting her feet up on the armchair. She felt a bit lightheaded. “Man, I was gone.”

She turned to them again, clutching the card to her chest like a teenage girl with her diary. Mike was beaming with enthusiastic nods. Stone, though, had one of his unreadable expressions on, laced with a small smirk. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest as she dared to linger on the sparkles around his overwhelming eyes.

It’s your birthday, girlie. Be a little bold.

“So that planted the seeds of my chronically bizarre taste in men.”

“Entertain me,” Mike chuckled, suddenly unaware of the subtext behind her stare. Keeva snapped to the ceiling, leaving Stone’s puzzled squint behind. She focused on the tiny cracks near the light - she couldn’t tell them apart from dirt smudges thanks to her poor eyesight.

Stoney Gossard’s bony shoulders accidentally shimmying off his kaleidoscope vest.

He’s so unathletic.

“Uh, Peter Gabriel - stage makeup and reverse mohawk phase,” she started counting on her fingers.

Stoney Gossard’s chicken legs bunny-hopping around the stage.

God, he’s like a newborn chicken.

“- Thin White Duke,”

Stoney Gossard’s sweaty nose scrunching when he mouths his own riffs like a nerd.

It’s definitely too big for his face. Isn’t it? It is.

“- Brian May and his spider fingers in that white bat wing blouse…”

Stoney Gossard’s bug eyes dissociating into a different plane of existence. Glowing in the harsh stage lights like two eerie gems, silver eyeshadow running all the way down to his cheekbones. Black eyeliner smudging around his eyelids, glistening with beads of sweat.

He looks so unhinged, it’s baffling.

Stoney Gossard. Period.

“Yeah, that is a fucking weird bunch,” Stone’s irresistibly annoying voice snapped her back to reality as if to spite her.

Yup.

“Thanks, Stoney. Anyway, after that, I was looking for an Ace card for years, and it was nowhere to be found. Couldn’t get any records either, ‘cause even though I was saving up, they were always sold out…so I gave up after a while,” she continued her story.

“But, like, four years later, one of the kids from band brought a tape to a rehearsal, the Kiss interview with Tom Snyder.”

Mike nodded again, leaning forward like he wanted to encourage her to keep on remembering.

“And Ace was fucking wasted, funny as hell - that maniacal laugh. It was hysterical, the best thing I’ve ever seen. True love never grows old, I guess,” she chuckled and lifted the card to her face again to admire it. “I think that was the day that I changed from a girl to a woman.”

“Honestly, I think I changed from a boy to a man with that one,” Mike said, making her giggle.

“I believe that. Well, the next day, the record store I talked about got stocked and they had a silver Ace card, just like this one.”

She allowed herself a second to decide if she wanted to continue.

“I didn’t have any money, though, so I dragged myself to my favourite spot in Hyde Park and cried for hours.”

Okay, that’s enough for today.

As endearing as Mike was, she felt like she could’ve told the whole story only if it was just her and Stone in the room. And that made her feel more vulnerable than she’d ever admit to herself.

Strangely enough, maybe she would admit it to him.

“Christ, that’s devastating,” Mike said and reluctantly took the card back when she handed it to him with a sincere grin.

“It felt like the worst day of my life. And my parents were dope addicts, so that’s saying something.”

● ● ● ● ● ●

As soon as they got home, Keeva let out a loud groan.

“Home sweet home. Man, I can’t wait to take this shit off my face, ugh,” she shivered and headed straight to the bathroom.

“At least your tear ducts aren’t blocked by glitter,” Stone mumbled, clearly tired as well.

“Your choice, smart-ass,” she called before she closed the door behind her.

They talked to Mike for a few more hours and then beelined straight home, surprisingly from Stone’s initiative. He was really eager to go for some reason. They didn’t drink that much, considering that it was such an event. Keeva was tired from all the dealing with Polygram and clearly Stone must’ve been too.

When she finally rubbed all the makeup off, she got out of the bathroom, but he wasn’t there. The curtain to her room was open, though.

Shit, is he up there? It’s so messy, Jesus. I left the bra right in front of the entrance.

“Stoney?” she called, confused.

“Uh, over here!” his voice came back from upstairs - even further than her room. Then she had a realization.

Oh. The roof window?

Keeva hopped up the stairs. The window was indeed open, just big enough for one person to squeeze through. The roof wasn’t really angled and seemed kind of stable, but…

“The hell? Are you snooping around my room? You won’t find anything, officer! Search the bottom floor, my roomie consumes more grass than a common barn animal -“

She trailed off.

“Ta-da!” Stone exclaimed and threw his arms open just as she popped her head up the window. She felt like she was in a dream.

There was a thick checkered blanket spread on the wonky roof tiles and on it laid a bunch of snacks, a six-pack, Stone’s acoustic, a few scattered papers and a plate with a tower of pancakes, a lit candle stuck in the top one.

“Come hither! Sorry that I didn’t get a cake, but I made your favourite trampled-tyre-instant-pancake extravaganza earlier,” he said and reached out to help her up. When she was fully on the roof, he scratched the back of his neck with an embarrassed grin as he continued to ramble.

“Oh, and I brought a guitar and your notes for the stuff we haven’t finished yet, you know, in case you wanted to work on them so you wouldn’t be stressed. And I got you something else than a Bud for a change. And I have some Sun Chips and that disgusting cheddar dip you love, you know, the one that doesn’t share a single molecule with any kind of cheese on the planet. And a pack of M&M’s that only has the brown ones. And we have grapes! Grapes! Can you believe that? Can you? Uh…happy b-”

Keeva almost knocked the wind out of him with the sheer strength of her hug. A risky move since they were standing on a lousy roof, but she couldn’t think about anything else than him at that moment.

No. I can’t say it. I’m not gonna say it. Don’t say it.

“I love - I love it. Thank you so much, Stoney,” she mumbled, burying her flaming red cheeks into his chest. He chuckled and tightly wrapped his arms around her, resting his chin on her head.

“I know you said you hate surprises but I thought that maybe -”

“You changed my mind,” she finished his sentence and hoped that he would realize the weight of that statement. She felt a tiny kiss in her hair and before she could say anything else, he lifted her from the ground and swung her around like a doll.

“Holy shit, we’re standing on a roof! Put me down!” Keeva yelped, but couldn’t help but laugh at Stone’s little ‘wee’ sounds as the material squeaked under them. When he put her back down, he quickly flicked her nose and reached for a little paper bag next to the pancakes.

“This is for you.”

She grinned as she peeked into it, a blush spreading across her face. Her smile grew even wider when she pulled out an oversized black t-shirt, her eyes popping open. It had a big handwritten sign that spelled ‘I FUCKED TIPPER GORE’.

“It might be a little big, but I thought it was funny.”

He remembered the night they spent in the middle of the woods on his birthday drinking and devouring every snack they got their hands on. And he remembered their hour-long discussion about the whole ‘85 Tipper Sticker fiasco and her uncompromising drunken monologue.

“They just can’t handle the fact that music is inherently sexual! Like, it always has been and always will be, the very first songs were either religious or love songs and that makes complete sense! And when you play, you’re completely devoured by music as a feeling and it controls you. Your movements, your tempo, the way you slide on the strings, everything. You are fully under its control. And if music decides that it wants to express itself in an erotic way, then fucking fine! There’s nothing I can do, I’m just a medium that the music uses to do what it pleases. Christ, fucking ‘mothers for chastity’ my ass. No sad middle-aged housewives whose husbands don’t fuck them enough should have the power to tell kids what they should and shouldn’t listen to or how they should or shouldn’t express themselves. Especially when you just know those creepy old hags have been getting railed from the back in the front seat of a car at the drive-in movies not too long ago and creamed their knickers every time Elvis shook his fucking ass.”

Stone didn’t say anything after that, just broke into a fit of hysterical laughter until he couldn’t breathe.

“You made this by hand? For me?” Keeva said, astonished at the craftsmanship. He shrugged, clearly a bit embarrassed by the homemade gift.

“I took one of my plain black t-shirts and bought some fabric paint, the one that you iron after painting so it stays on. And, uh, yeah…I- I’m sorry it’s so shitty, but I wanted to give you something s-”

“It is so special, Stoney. I love it so much, I don’t even - I don’t know what to say, all of this is just…thank you, really,” she stuttered, giving him one more tight hug.

“It was like a ‘eureka’ moment for me back there, so I thought that the rant needed to be immortalized,” Stone chuckled and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

“A what? Why?” she giggled as she pulled away and started putting the t-shirt back in the bag.

“Uh, let’s just…let’s say that it was bad for my self-preservation,” he mumbled with a smirk and sat down on the blanket. Keeva wanted to comment on Stone’s sudden sheepishness, but it was like she was frozen in a spot at the sheer beauty of the moment.

The sky was almost laughably cliché - clear with countless twinkling stars and a full moon that shined so bright it made Stone’s skin look almost transparent. The whole city skyline was visible from where she stood, the Needle proudly stretching out into the settling fog.

“Well, let’s rip off the bandaid, Baby,” his obnoxiously charming nasal voice tore her out of her thoughts. “Your cake is getting more inedible with every minute and I don’t want you to chip your little vampire teeth before you even got a chance to suck me.”

And when she looked at her grinning friend, Keeva felt lightheaded.

Stone’s eyes were glowing brighter than ever - a head-spinning green field, full of mischief and hope for the future - as a realization slowly wrapped around her whole body like a delightfully warm blanket.

I’m in love with you.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。. .・。.・゜✭・.・✫

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