#if you don't want to end your weekend with a broken heart i suggest you keep scrolling

[rkvriki]

PAIRING ! rich jock!jake x mechanic!reader

SYNOPSIS ! Always having had this passion for cars and fixing them, you found the perfect summer job as a mechanic! Working in a mechanic shop where everyone that worked there was friends with each other was perfect until the friend that didn't work there showed up to get his car fixed.

WARNINGS ! i don't understand a single thing abiut cars or how to fix them it was all googled; jake has daddy-ish? issues; horrendously written angst; reader and jake get pretty heart broken but i cant write angst so its awful; reader thinks jake cheated yikes; curse words; drinking alcohol; reader and jake both have anxiety; reader talks about her past and not having many friends; slighlty suggestive talk but minor friendly! i think it's all, warn me if otherwise!!

word count : 18.9k lol PLEASE READ! so i want to warn everyone that reads this that this story is not my best. I wrote this during a huge writers block and I've never written something as long as this. I know there are flaws and things that could be better, so I'm all open to tips and advice on how to be better at this kind of stories. I would love to write more of this lenght fics even if my blog was not created for that but its a path i would like for it to take. I really apologize if this story doesn't reach your expectations, but I'm only starting so please be nice patient with me. i hope you enjoy this at least a little bit !

Summer jobs were a student’s worst enemy. The desperation of wanting money to go on a trip with friends led anyone to get the first job they could get their hands on. That’s how you end up at your friend's boyfriend's mechanic shop. Sohee told you about his shop when she found out you were looking for summer jobs to get money for your long-planned trip and knew her boyfriend was looking for employees. Everyone who knew you well enough knew you had a special love for cars and were good at fixing some car-related problems. Ever since you were a little child you were always running behind your father when he did some fixing around his car and as you grew up you learned a few things, enough to have friends call you occasionally to fix their cars. You were a little hesitant to accept this job, you had never fixed any big thing in a car and this job looked like it required more knowledge than you had, still after considering how much you needed the money you accepted your friend’s offer. 

Sohee explained that only a few people were working around and they were all her boyfriend’s, Heeseung, friends. Heeseung, who ran the shop, does any kind of job around and fixes business and partnership offers, Jungwon worked during the weekends in class months and worked full time during summer break and usually worked in simple things like changing tires and cleaning the cars, Sunghoon who polishes the cars along with Sunoo who also paints and wraps them, Jay worked with changing heavy car pieces and finally, Ni-ki who was friends with all of them and the youngest amongst them all, was also doing this as a summer job and he was in charge of painting costume designs in cars. The 6 of them formed a friend circle along with another one, Jake – who didn’t seem to be working here since he most likely didn’t need to, seeing that he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and has always been more privileged than the rest of them in Sohee’s words.

Putting on your jacket and grabbing your keys you made your way out. The weather was hot and you were already regretting putting a jacket on as soon as you entered your car and felt how hot it was inside. You started the car, turned the ac on, waited until you could breathe properly, and felt like you wouldn’t melt in the car seat. You grabbed your phone and pasted the mechanic shop address in the GPS app. It wasn’t too far from your house, which you were grateful for since it meant you didn’t need to wake up extra early to reach the shop in time. The drive was quiet, the traffic was low, and deep down you wished it was high just so you could have time to calm your nerves. The app indicated that you were a minute away so you looked around the street until you spotted a sign that read Gearbox Garage. You made a turn and pulled into the small driveway the shop had to park cars. You turned your car off and took a deep breath as you pulled your keys out and got out of the car. You walked to the front of the shop and it looked empty, making you think that maybe you should’ve given Heeseung a call before coming. Looking at the time on your phone, it marked 2:30 pm meaning they could be on lunch break. You walked into the shop and looked around, the shop was well organised for a mechanic shop, it wasn’t as dirty as you expected it to be but small oil puddles and thrown cloths could be seen here and there. There were only a few cars, not that you expected more since the place wasn’t the biggest. Taking one more look around, you saw a door with a sign that said staff only, you walked towards it and knocked, hoping somebody would open it and it would be Heeseung. You waited a few seconds until a tall man opened it with a sandwich in his hand and sauce and bread crumbs in the sides of his mouth. He looked at you with a confused expression as he leaned in the doorway.

“Um I’m here to talk with Heeseung, I’m friends with his girlfriend and she told me he’s looking for one more person to work here so-” you were cut off as the man walked away and shouted, “Heeseung hyung, there’s someone for you!” a faint coming could be heard in the distance as another figure started approaching the door. Said Heeseung appears in front of you. “So you must be the y/n Sohee’s always talking about?” he said looking at you with an extended hand, waiting for you to shake it. You took his hand in yours as you shook it, hoping he didn’t notice how sweaty it was from your nerves. “Ah yeah, that’s me! I’m assuming she told you how I wanted the job, right?” “Oh yes, she did tell me about it and I just need you to answer a few questions to know whether you can get the job is that ok?” Shit, smile and nod y/n. You quickly nodded at his words, hoping he wouldn’t ask if you knew how to do complex things. “I just need to know what kind of things you can fix or have done.” “Oh! I have done quite a few things, I’ve changed oils, fixed engine chains, changed batteries, changed tires and other small fixes.” you nodded and fiddled nervously with your fingers, silently hoping this was enough to have him accept you to this job. Heeseung nodded and slightly smiled at your words and extended his hand again. You looked at his hands and then at him and he laughed at your confusion. “Seems like you’re our newest employee, welcome!” you let out a breath of relief and shook his hand again. “Oh my god, thank you so much! I promise I'll try my best.” you said firmly as you offered him a smile. “No need to thank me. We really need one or two more employees so you’re big help right now. Anyways, you can start maybe tomorrow at 9 am?” “Oh sure, I can, see you tomorrow then!” Heeseung nodded at you and went back to the staff room as you made your way out to your car.

As soon as you sat in your car you immediately texted Sohee, thanking her for having such a nice boyfriend. You put your phone down and sigh happily. You got the job now, what could go wrong? Now you just need to focus on working hard and getting that money to go on that trip.

The sound of your alarm made you stir awake. You groaned as you stretched out and let your arms fall limp in bed with a loud thump. You closed your eyes as you let out a sigh, getting mentally ready for your first day at work. Getting out of bed, you made your way to the bathroom to take your morning shower. You turned the water on and let it warm a little bit before you went in. The warm water felt relaxing against your skin, an almost therapeutic feeling. As you washed yourself you started thinking about how would your first day at work, hoping you wouldn’t embarrass yourself in front of the rest of the boys and could get along with them. Now, it wasn’t like you had a hard time making friends, quite the opposite. Still, you were always a little awkward when you first met people, all thanks to your constant overthinking, never knowing if people enjoyed talking to you or not. You could say you had a pretty vast friend group but you weren’t as close with anyone as you were with Sohee. She has been your best friend for as long as you can remember. She’s been there for you anytime you needed and you for her. Sohee was the one who helped you come out of your comfort zone and try new things. Without her, you wouldn’t enjoy your teenage years as much as you did, hell, if it wasn’t for her you wouldn’t even dream of going on the damn trip.

You got out of the shower and stepped in front of the mirror, wiping some of the steam off of it. You started doing your normal skincare routine that, normally, would be a relaxing moment for you, but now you were only thinking about how you could be getting ready to head to the beach with your friends and drink a cocktail while tanning, and now you were only harshly rubbing the products on your face with irritation. Taking a deep breath you moved to your room to finish getting ready so you could leave the house as soon as you could. You looked in the mirror, taking in your appearance one last time before leaving the house, not that the way you looked right now mattered because you were more than sure that sooner or later you would be covered in oil and car fluids so you opted for your old overalls with an old shirt underneath.

The drive downtown was quiet and easy-going, still, there was some traffic since everyone started their work around the same time. The car’s clock indicated that it was 8:50, making you relieved that you weren’t gonna be late on your first day of work. Making the already familiar last turn, you reached the shop, parking in the lot it had inside. You got out of the car and instantly felt the slight summer breeze that ran through the morning air. Walking inside the shop, you could already hear some shuffling going on around the shop. As you got in further, you saw Heeseung who probably hasn’t noticed your presence yet from his crouched position, cleaning up some tools and putting them in a separate box. 

“Good morning, Hee!” you greeted, startling him. He got up and turned to face you with a surprised expression. “Oh hey, y/n! Wasn’t expecting you to be this early, though.” He said, chuckling as he wiped his hands with a cloth. “Well, you know, didn’t wanna be too late on my first day of work, I guess,” you said, swinging yourself back and forth, avoiding his gaze, feeling kinda awkward with yourself for worrying so much about being on time. “Usually the other boys come super late since they come all together so you shouldn’t worry about being on time here. Also, we’re supposed to be all friends here, so don’t put too much pressure on yourself about working here, it’s all chill here!” Heeseung said, trying to reassure and comfort you. “I guess it’s just a matter of time for me to get used to it.” you clapped your hands behind your back as you finished talking. “Anyways, should I start working?” you suggested. “Oh, yeah. Actually, there’s a car that needs an oil change, so maybe you could start by doing that.” Heeseung said, pointing to a red car that was already up in the hydraulic lift. “Sure thing!”

You put on some gloves that Heeseung gave you and started getting to work. Changing oil was something you did quite a lot, it was one of the first things your dad taught you, something that was so hard for you back then is now a piece of cake for you. Having a passion for cars made learning things way easier for you. Obviously, this old passion of yours wasn’t seen as a good thing for some people. Some would tell you girls shouldn’t be working with cars as it was the role for the boys or that you should be playing with your dolls instead of getting in your dad’s way while he was fixing his car. Of course, your little kid self felt awful hearing such things, but your parents would always reassure you that it didn’t matter what they said and that it was okay to want to learn those things. As time went by, people stopped commenting less and less. As you grew up you learned how to stand up for yourself and you wouldn’t leave those people without a response, and with time they learned how to mind their own business.

As you waited for the oil to fully drain, you heard a car pull up in the parking lot and the rest of the five boys arrived together, just as Heeseung had mentioned previously. You got up from your kneeling position and turned to look at them as they all got in and greeted Heeseung. Their loud voices quickly filled the place that was once only filled by the quiet tunes from Heeseung’s playlist and the occasional clanking of tools hitting the floor. You went back to work as they all talked with each other and started getting ready to work. You heard steps coming in your direction, making you look back to where it came from, seeing Jungwon walking towards you with his dimples on display.

“Good morning, y/n! You know it’s weird seeing someone who’s not Heeseung working here this early.” Jungwon said as he walked towards you, chuckling to himself. Stopping what you were doing, you turned all your attention to him. “Guess someone needed to give him some company, no?” you said putting your hands on your hips. “Keep going like that and he might give you the “employee of the month” title,” he said, making you laugh at him. “Anyways, what are you doing?” he asked, nodding at the car above you on the lift. “Oh, changing some oil, was about to put a new filter on.” you said as you pointed at the car’s oil pan, “Shouldn’t you get to work as well?” you asked, raising an eyebrow at him, making him scowl at you. “Don’t remind me, Heeseung gave me a shit ton of cars to clean, got work for a whole week,” he said rolling his eyes. Jungwon walked away to start working on his cleaning duty and you put your focus back on the oil filter.

Soon enough, it was lunchtime and the seven of you were all gathered in the staff room. You were all talking about multiple things and something that came to conversation was how they had never seen you around campus.

“I mean, I guess I’m not necessarily a social butterfly and we might not even have classes in the same place, so that might explain why we never crossed paths.” you explained as you ate some of your tuna-mayo wrap you brought from home, they all hummed in agreement. “What are you majoring in, though?” Sunghoon asked you as he looked up from his lunchbox. “Oh, I study computer science!” “Oh really? Then you must know Jake? Jake Sim? He shares a few classes with comp sci students” Heeseung asked, surprised to know you were in the same major as his best friend. You hummed in thought as the name sounded familiar. “It does ring a bell but I’m not really adding a face to the name though.” You said slightly tilting your head to the side as you tried your best to remember who the hell was Jake Sim. “Yeah, let’s just say his attendance isn’t exactly the highest…” Heeseung said as he hissed quietly. “Oh… yeah that must explain why I don’t remember him then.” You said chuckling. “Don’t misunderstand it. It’s not like he doesn’t care about classes, I mean he kinda doesn’t, but he is much more focused on football.” Heeseung paused as if he was in deep thought. “Jake knows if anything school-related goes wrong for him he can just take over his dad’s business, which most likely will happen.” You hummed, understanding what he meant.  

It wasn’t rare for jocks like Jake to skip classes and ignore the fact that they need to graduate. Still, some of them were lucky to have successful family businesses, like Jake was. His father was one of the most prestigious CEOs and businessmen of Seoul and even the whole of South Korea. He led one of the most famous costume software development companies around, starting in a small office in Seoul that, over the years, grew all over the country’s most famous districts. Jake obviously was following his father’s steps, deciding to follow the computer science field so one day he could take over his father’s business. Was this his dream? No. Did he really wanna be a future CEO? Also no. He was doing this solely because he knew his dad would never approve of his younger son pursuing a football career. His older brother, Jaewoo, was already following the business field and Jake was just expected to do the same as him and since the older sibling decided not to work in his father’s company, he was the last hope to keep the business going so he felt like he had no other option. He felt suffocated knowing that everyone had high expectations for him, having people constantly asking him if he was happy to know he would take over the oh-so successful business, to which he obviously smiled and nodded but deep down he felt mad, almost furious, that people only expected him to do that. No one ever asked him about football, even though everyone knew he was good and even the best in the team and could grow so much more in that field if it weren’t for people like them who only cared about status and money. That’s not who Jake wants to become, selfish and greedy.

The day came to an end, the sky had a pink and orange hue to it, creating a beautiful painting, pleasing and conforming to gaze at. You started organizing all the tools you had used, placing them in their respective place in the toolbox Heeseung had lent you. Distant chattering could be heard from the other boys playing around as they had also finished their work for the day. You were walking towards the bathroom to wash your hands when you heard someone call your name. 

“Hey, y/n!” You looked back to see Sunghoon, who called you, and the rest of the guys looking at you. “Come out for dinner with us, we’re going to the barbeque place downtown.” “Um, I don’t know guys, it’s gonna get late and we have work again tomorrow…” You said, scratching the back of your neck, suddenly feeling shy, not being used to going out with people you barely knew. “Oh come on, to celebrate your first day being one of us! It’s on Heeseung tonight!” Ni-ki said patting the older man on the back, who was about to complain but quickly agreed with the younger one as he felt him pinching him. “Yeah, y/n, don’t even worry about coming late tomorrow.” Your eyes flickered between all of them until you decided to agree with them, realizing that maybe you need to loosen up a little and stop being such a pussy. You sighed, nodding your head at them “Ok, fine! But I’m not paying!” You said raising your hands. The boys cheered dramatically, making you roll your eyes but laugh nonetheless. “Anyways, I’m going home to get ready, just text me later with the address.” Everyone bid their goodbyes and you made your way back to your car, ready to go home.

As you entered your house, your mom came to greet you, kissing your cheek in the process. “Hey, dear. How was your first day at work?” she asked you, grabbing your jacket and putting it into the coat hanger at your entrance. “Oh, it actually went really well. Wasn’t expecting to work as much as I did, but I’m proud that I could do that much.” “Ah, you must be so tired, honey! Was the lunch I made enough? Oh, maybe I should’ve-” “Mom,” you said laughing “It was more than enough, don’t worry about it, ok?” you reassured her, rubbing her arms that rested on her side as she looked tense. “Anyways, they all invited me to dinner so I’m gonna shower and get ready.” You kissed her cheek and ran upstairs towards your room.

Dinner yesterday went smoothly. All your worries about not being able to get along with them were quickly thrown away when you found yourself talking with them like you’ve known them for ages. The night was filled with laughter, maybe because of the funny stories being shared or maybe it was the alcohol that everyone- except Ni-ki- had consumed. You were glad you were able to let yourself loose and enjoy the night to the max, you couldn’t remember the last time you had that much fun since you were always so busy with college and finals were kicking your ass. The last thing you remember doing that night was texting Sohee that you had gotten home safely and you had enjoyed the night.

Now you were waking up with the buzz of your alarm, opening your eyes only to close them right away when the bright sun rays hit your face. You sat up on the bed, feeling your head pound making you hiss at the strong feeling. You got up and walked to the bathroom scolding yourself to never drink on a work night again.

Driving to work today was painful, no matter how strong the medicine you took was or how much orange juice you drank, the pounding headache you got was not going away and the dark circles under your eyes also weren’t a very pleasant sight to see so you opted to wear a pair of sunglasses. You looked at the time and it marked 9:40 am, definitely not on time but no one could really blame you for being extra slow today and your mom also made sure to take a few more minutes from your time to scold you about being late out and drinking when you had work the next day.

Arriving at the shop, you saw everyone already there making you sigh, hating yourself for being the last one arriving at work. Walking inside you saw that no one was working, instead, they were all sitting at a table near the entrance, some of them laying their head down on the table and others drinking energy drinks to be able to go on with their day. “I don’t even know if it’s safe to say good morning.” you said sitting down next to them, plopping down on the chair, hissing at the quick movement that made the pounding sensation in your head stronger. No one was able to say anything so you were all sitting down in silence, looking at the cars driving by the shop. Any passer-by would think you had nothing to do when in fact there was way too much to do than any of you could. 

“Remind me to never do this again, please.” Jungwon said referring to going out until late, making everyone hum in agreement. Suddenly, Heeseung gets up, clapping his hands and then rubbing them together “Let’s get to work. These cars aren’t gonna fix themselves.” Everyone groaned at the older man’s words, some complaining, saying it would be fair to take a day one, only receiving Heeseung’s glare in return. “Anyways, y/n, I know you just got here, but I really need you to do me a favour,” Heeseung said, turning to you. You stared at him through your glasses in response “Pretty please?” He said lacing his hands together, making you sigh and roll your eyes. “Oh my god, fine! What is it then?” You said putting your hand on your hip with a sigh. “I need you to go downtown to pick up a parcel at the post. It has some pieces that I need for the car I'm fixing.” You said nothing in return aside from an I’ll be back soon as you entered the car.

The drive back to the shop was awful, you were stuck in traffic for almost an hour and about to burst in anger. “If it wasn’t for Heeseung and his stupid parcel…” you said, talking to yourself. When you arrived back at the shop you were more than ready to throw hands at Heeseung, if the parcel weren’t so heavy you would be running in his direction. “I swear to God, Heeseung, if you ever, but ever make me go through all this traffic again, man, I swear on my life I won’t-” You stopped in your tracks when you saw what was in front of you. “Oh my good God, what in the good earth, I- oh my goodness.” you dropped the parcel on the floor as you approached Sunghoon who was near the entrance. “Hoon, please tell me I’m not seeing things and my eyes aren’t deceiving me.” You exclaimed, your eyes never moving away from the car in front of you. Sunghoon swore he never saw your eyes shining so brightly “Hoon, is this a freaking Ford Mustang from ‘69?” you said in a high-pitched voice as your hands made their way to your face, cupping your cheeks. It wasn’t until you heard a deep chuckle that you noticed a figure next to Sunghoon. You looked in the person’s direction and you were met with a beautiful, almost ethereal, face that was already looking at you, sporting a smirk, making you feel nervous under his strong gaze. Your eyes looked him up and down, noticing he was dressed in designer head to toe. His face was familiar to you but you couldn’t grasp any memory with his face on it.

“You like it?” he asked, nodding his head towards the car before you. You nodded at him with a hum, words suddenly stuck in your throat and you didn’t even dare to try and speak, fearing your voice would fail you. He chuckled at you, finding amusement in your shy behaviour. “You wanna touch it?” he asked raising his brow as his smirk turned into a beautiful grin. You felt your cheeks grow hotter than before and Sunghoon decided to intervene before Jake could keep going, sensing his suggestive undertone. “Ok, that’s enough for you two, geez!” he said rolling his eyes, before speaking again “Anyways, you can leave the car here and Heeseung or anyone will take care of it, you already know you’re in good hands here so no need to worry.” “Alright then, just call me when it’s done, yeah?” Jake said as he and Sunghoon dapped each other up before he left, not forgetting to wink and wave at you, to which you gave a small wave back. “Kids these days.” Sunghoon said sighing and shaking his head at you, making you frown at him. “Shut up!” you said slapping his arm as you walked past him to pick up the parcel you left on the floor.

You walked back inside the shop, finding Heeseung crouched on the floor as he cleaned some rims he just fixed. “Hey Hee, got your parcel here. Do you want me to put it somewhere or should I just leave it here?” you said as you approached his figure “Oh, you can just leave it in that chair, I’m gonna need that in a while.” he said getting up as he wiped his forehead with his arm. “By the way, Jake’s car, the one in the entrance, needs to get the left view mirror changed, he broke it while parking somewhere. So, since I'm working on this car and it’s gonna take me a while, you’re going to be the one fixing it.” Oh! That was definitely interesting and caught your attention. “Oh, sure, no problem. It shouldn’t take too long.” This was only great. Not only were you fixing one of your dream and favourite cars but you were fixing a hot guy's car. 

Later that day you arrived home with a happy sigh. Even though you were feeling extra tired from the hangover and work altogether, you could only think about your new acquaintance, a hot one. It has been a long time since you’ve felt like this for someone or especially for a boy. After your most recent ex-boyfriend, you tried to focus more on yourself and your friends since he hadn’t allowed you to do so. Those were times that were long gone and you wanted to erase them from your memory as you moved on.

You had dinner with your parents and went upstairs to get ready to go to bed earlier than usual to recover those lost hours of sleep. You showered and did your usual night routine, being extra careful and allowing yourself to relax. As you sat in bed, you grabbed your phone, seeing multiple notifications, since you don’t use your phone during work, from texts from your friends and social media ones, but there was one that caught your attention. For a moment you thought you were having delusional visions, but as you clicked on it it took you directly to Jake’s Instagram profile and the top showed the Accept and Decline button. He had found his way to your profile and it had you giggling silently, making you feel like you were in high school all over again. It had been about 3 hours since he sent the request so it was safe to accept without looking like a creep. Taking a deep breath to calm yourself, you proceeded to answer your texts and update Sohee on the tea, so you called her.

“Sohee, I kid you not, he is so attractive, I can’t!” you heard her sigh for the nth time on the phone, feeling her eye roll through the screen. “Y/n, I’ve seen him plenty of times, and trust me, I know he is, but be careful, I heard some things about him, though.” “Don’t worry about that, it’s just a silly crush. I’ll be over it sooner or later.” Sohee sighed again and you could hear her moving around in her bed sheets. “Yeah, whatever. We’ll talk later. Heeseung is calling me.” After talking with Sohee you were left alone with your thoughts as you scrolled on your phone but you weren’t really paying any attention to any of the posts, as you were thinking about Sohee’s warning. You decided to put your phone down and go to sleep to calm the thoughts running through your mind. As you were feeling yourself fall into a slumber, you heard your phone buzz but you chose to ignore it. You turn to the other side, getting comfortable to fall asleep again but again, your phone buzzes making you sit up and grab it aggressively. You turned it on, the bright light making you squint your eyes as you turned the brightness down. You unlocked it, checking who was texting at this hour. You felt your heart pound, getting nervous, as you saw Jake had dmed you. You click on his text, not caring if it had only been seconds from his last text. 

simjaeyun_: hey :)                                                   11:37pm             

simjaeyun_: ignoring me now mnh?                        11:46 pm    

youruser: stalking me now huh?                              11:47 pm

youruser: didn’t take for the stalker type tbh          11:47 pm

Your heart started beating quicker when you saw how fast he started typing an answer.

simjaeyun_: then what type do you take me to be? 11:48 pm 

youruser: well                                                           11:48 pm

youruser: definitely the one who makes other people stalk you not the other way around. 11:48 pm 

simjaeyun_: maybe you just caught my attention like that ;) 11:48 pm

youruser: oh? did i now?                                           11:49 pm

simjaeyun_: maybe, find it out yourself :)                  11:49 pm

You looked at the texts, feeling a soft blush creeping on your cheeks as you hugged your knees to your chest. You decided to leave him on read, not really having an answer to his text but Jake himself wasn’t expecting to get one back. You looked at the ceiling, having lost all your sleep by now. You closed your eyes and sighed as you slid down your bed until you were laying down. You turned to the side, watching the moon from your window, which you usually left open since it helped you wake up. You closed your eyes, trying to sleep, as the image of the texts kept appearing in your head, keeping you awake for a while.

The next day you woke up, remembering last night's events, making you clutch your sheets closer to your chest. You sat up on the edge of the bed, as you sighed and rubbed your face with your hands, making your way to the bathroom to do your routine and maybe it would help you keep your thoughts away from him.  You looked in the mirror as you brushed your teeth, glad to see your dark circles were already gone. You did your usual skincare routine and headed down to the kitchen to have breakfast, seeing your mom had made you some pancakes and a black coffee, which were placed neatly on the table where she was already eating.

“Good morning mom!” you greeted her with a smile as you sat in front of her. “Good morning, dear! Did you sleep well?” “Oh yeah, I did! I went to sleep earlier to recover from the hangover…” She sighed at your words as she gave you a warning look, reminding you of her scolding. “Is there a special occasion for you to make me breakfast?” You asked as you took a bite of pancakes. “Not really, can’t I be sweet for my daughter once in a while?” She answered and you squinted at her, knowing there was a reason behind it, she wasn’t one to do these things just because. “You came home smilier than usual. Anything special happened at work?” She asked, trying to sound as nonchalant as she could. You stopped your movement for less than a second but enough time for her to notice. “Um, not really, was just happy.” You said after taking a sip from your coffee and putting the mug down. “Are you sure it was just that?” She propped her elbows on the table with her hands intertwined, looking as if she was questioning you for a crime you did. “Yes, mom. I’m pretty sure.” She hummed, taking a sip from her tea. “Is that why you were squealing with Sohee on the phone last night?” You gasped at her words. “Mom! Were you eavesdropping on me?” You asked her shocked that she had heard you talking with Sohee. “Oh no, dear. You know I’m not one to do that. I just happened to be walking past your room and heard you all excited about a certain- oh what was the name?” She stopped, trying to remember “Oh! Jake! Yes, Jake. Now, you wanna tell me about that?” You blushed at her words as if you were caught doing something bad or she heard a secret of yours. “Mom! No!” You said getting up from your chair, leaving a small bit of pancake on your plate. “I’m leaving. I need to go to work. Bye, love you!” You started walking faster, rushing to the door after picking up your house and car keys.

You entered the car, thinking about the conversation with your mom, reminding yourself to be more careful when talking with Sohee on the phone. You reached the shop just on time, parking your car in your usual place, which by now, you claimed as yours. You walked inside, seeing Heeseung and Ni-ki talking about something about a car.

“Good morning guys!” you greeted as you put your lunch bag down. They both looked back at you, seeming relieved you were finally there. “Oh thank God you’re here.” Ni-ki sighed. “Yeah, what’s up?” You asked, intrigued as to what they needed you for. “So, we were discussing car designs for me to do in the car Heeseung is taking care of, but the problem is that we can’t agree on one design.” He started explaining as Heeseunf put his hands on his hips, rolling his eyes at the younger male. “So tell me. in between these which one is better?” He finished, showing pictures of different designs. You hummed in thought as you looked carefully at the pictures and the car behind them. “I think for this car these two thick stripes would fit the best, but that’s my opinion!” “See! I told you! You won’t listen to me. Y/n, he won’t agree with me, please help me.” Ni-ki said as he put his hands together in a plea. “Sorry, Hee. Gotta agree with him in this one.” Heeseung looked at you with a dumbfounded expression. “Don’t fire me?” You said shrugging your shoulders at him. The older man rolled his eyes, sighing as he finally gave in. “Fine, but only because it's two against one.” “Yeah, sure. Whatever you say hyung.” Ni-ki said leaving the area, you looked at him shrugging at him, “Kids these days.” he said under his breath in a mumble. 

You grabbed your stuff from where you had previously put it and took it into the staff room. Coming back to the area, you grabbed some gloves and put them on, ready to start working on Jake’s car. Heeseung had already put it in a space for you to fix it and besides it was a box with the side view mirror to replace to broken one. You’ve never changed a mirror before, but you remember one time when your dad did when your mom hit it on the wall while she was parking the car in the garage. It wasn’t much of a hassle, it was easy and simple. You opened the car’s door and you were met with the beautiful interior, which Jake had most likely renovated into a more modern one, but still had a vintage touch to it. The car smelled like a man’s perfume, probably his own, mixed with a leathery scent that came from the beautiful black leather seats with red details. Snapping out of your daze with the car’s interior you went back to work. You started by carefully taking out the mirror’s trim cover and removing the screws that were hidden.

As you were taking out the screws and putting them in a spare box, you felt a presence coming up behind you. Looking up, you found Sunghoon looking at you as he leaned on the car door. “Hey there!” you said as you kept doing your work. “Enjoying yourself, huh?” He said with a smug smirk adorning his face, making you roll your eyes. “Go away Sunghoon.” You said but still, you had a smile on your face. “It’s nothing special.” you finished. “You can’t be saying that when you acted how you did yesterday when you saw the car, practically fangirling over it. I mean, not to mention how you were fangirling over Ja-” “Shut up!” you said looking at him. “I wasn’t, you were seeing things.” Sunghoon laughed at your behaviour. “C’mon, no need to act shy now.” He started “You know, he texted me yesterday.” “Ok? And why should i care?” You said raising a brow at him. “He was asking me, or better, begging me to give him your Instagram.” You looked away from him as you felt your cheeks heat up. “I don’t know why he would do that!” You said, pretending to be interested in those screws. “Eh, you’ll eventually find out, I guess.” He said making you look back at him. “What is that supposed to mean.” You asked suddenly interested in what he had to say. He started walking away, his back turned to you “Nothing you should worry your pretty head about.” He answered, making you tilt your head, confused at his words. You sighed as you went back to working on that mirror.

It wasn’t too long after your conversation with Sunghoon that little by little everyone started gathering in front of the staff-only door to eat lunch. You got up and joined Jungwon and Sunoo, who was engrossed in a conversation about the latest tea about someone on campus. You were so focused on observing and listening to them talk that you didn’t notice an extra someone entering the shop until Jay mentioned it.

“Jake? What are you doing here man?” That made your ears perk up, but you pretended to still be listening to the gossip you were previously listening to. “Your mirror still isn’t fixed, so no luck for you today.” Heeseung said also greeting him with the handshake their group shared. You looked at them at the mention of the mirror, so it wouldn’t look as suspicious. “Yeah, I figured. Just wanted to join you guys for lunch.” He said raising his take-out bag. You heard someone gasp, looking you saw Ni-ki looking with heart eyes at the take-out bag. “Is that for us?” He said with his boxy smile. Everyone looked at Jake with hopeful eyes. “What? No, it’s mine! And no way in hell I’m sharing this with you guys.” Jake said in a warning tone. Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes at him “You’re literally no fun.” Sunoo said giving him a judging look. Jake simply shrugged as he looked around the room until his eyes met yours, making him bite back a smirk. Sunghoon, who was watching carefully and aware of the situation, nudged you slightly when Jake looked away, making you mouth a what? at him which he only answered with a smirk.

You all moved inside the staff room, sitting around the round table. Jake was sitting across from you and you were sitting in between Sunghoon and Ni-ki. Every time you looked up you would be met with Jake’s eyes staring into you shamelessly, making you bounce your feet nervously. Your eyes drifted towards Sunghoon and you were able to see the smirk he was hiding with food while looking between you and Jake until he finally noticed you looking at him, making him raise his eyebrows at you to which you answered with a shrug as you looked back to your food. You wondered if Jake was going to talk to you anytime today. Since he arrived today he hadn’t even spoken a word to you, not even a simple Hi, making you wonder if he was only the all-talk type through social media or if he just didn’t have the guts to talk to you personally, but still, he had no problem flirting and teasing you when you guys first met.

Lunch was over and you got back to work. Jake hadn’t gone away yet, lingering around the shop, mainly around Heeseung as they talked about things you couldn’t listen to. The sudden realization that you were working on his car hit and you wondered if he was gonna approach you in a way. Snapping out of your thoughts, you went back to finish fixing the mirror, already more than halfway done. You were putting everything back in place, with the mirror already replaced, when you saw Jake walking towards you from your peripheral vision. You felt your breath hitch as your shoulders tensed the closer he got.

“I see you finally got to touch it, huh?” He said, putting his hands in his pockets. “Oh! Yeah, I did.” You answered with an awkward laugh, feeling your palms getting sweaty. “Like what you felt, sweetheart?” Your eyes widen at that, suddenly feeling at a loss for words. You were more than sure if any other man would’ve said that to you, you would’ve cringed right away, but not when said man looked like Jake did. “I- well-” Jake started laughing, making you feel somewhat embarrassed. “I’m just playing around. You’re not that shy through texting.” He said reminding you of how confident you may have sounded through texts. “Well, I guess it’s not the same as talking face-to-face, right?” You stated, looking up at him in the eyes. His mouth opened to say something but closed right away. “Yeah, you’re right.” He took a breath in as he straightened his posture.  “Anyways, is the mirror any close to being done?” He wondered. “Oh yeah, actually I just need to test it and it’s all ready for you to take it home!” You said while smiling at him, proud that you were able to do something new quickly yet carefully. “Oh really? You were pretty quick. Can’t say I’m not impressed, though, in a positive way, of course.” You giggled at him. “Thanks, Jake. I appreciate that.” He smiled warmly at you, nodding your way as he walked away from you, leaving you alone to finish your work.

It was almost time to go home when Jake and Heeseung approached you next to Jake’s car, where you were slightly bent over, as you were touching up some scratches near the mirror area with touch-up black paint. You finished the work, smiling proudly at yourself, as you turned around to face the two boys who were watching you silently as you worked. You sighed happily at them, adjusting the oversized overalls that you wore for work. “I’m officially done!” You exclaimed as you stretched an arm towards the car. Heeseung patted Jake in the back signaling him to get him and his car home. “You can pay me later.” Heeseung said walking away, knowing if he stayed Jake would insist on paying. Jake sighed as he looked at you. “Thank you for doing this, by the way.“ He said with a smile, making you shrug. “You’re welcome, Jake. After all, it’s my job.” You answered, looking down as you kicked non-existent rocks. Jake gave you a wide grin, watching your face, appreciating the way your lashes touched your cheeks when you blinked and how you bit your lip when you were nervous. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, he walked towards his car. “Tomorrow?” You tilted your head to the side but you got no response as he got in his car. The engine purred as he drove out of the garage, leaving you standing dumbfounded. “Will I ever figure him out?”

Jake got home with only one thing, or rather someone, going through his mind. As cliché as it felt for him, he couldn’t understand what was in you that made him want to stay glued to you forever. He wanted to get to know you, know what you liked and disliked, and what were your hobbies. Did you have a pet? You didn’t really look like you had one. As soon as he entered his penthouse, he made his way to his room, falling into his bed with a thud, sighing as he felt his head make contact with his fluffy pillows. He still could feel his heart thumping in his chest, quicker than it ever beat. It felt weird, a good weird. He liked the feeling. One he only ever felt with his high school crush who had rejected him in his junior year. Jake groaned out loud as his arm fell to his face, covering his eyes. “What have you done to me?”

The past week was full of work. Everyone barely interacted, focused on getting everyone’s car fixed since it’s vacation season and everyone needed their car as soon as possible. Still, one thing everyone found weird was how Jake came to visit almost every day, something that never really happened through all these years everyone had worked there. Sunghoon always made sure to point out to you that Jake was always lingering close to you, making you give him annoyed remarks. Deep down you were glad he stood close to you as you got time to know him better and to your surprise he was more interesting than you ever thought a jock would be, no offence. You two would laugh with each other for hours until Heeseung needed to scold you to go back to work, hiding his smile as he watched you two playfully fight each other. His presence made work hours go by quicker and you started enjoying his presence a little bit too much, noticing the way your heart would beat a tad bit faster when you heard him laugh at something you said.

When you were done with work Jake would take you out and grab convenience store food for you two to eat in the park. It was in those moments that you both got vulnerable with each other, sharing all of your life stories, good and bad ones. Every night you call Sohee and rant about how scared you are of catching feelings for him, even though you knew you were already in deep, and she always reassured you that you shouldn’t feel like that as it’s only natural and what has to happen, will happen. Whatever you were feeling with Jake, is something you never felt with anyone before, as cliché as it can be, but your past dating history left a huge mark on you and you had a tendency to shut people out when they got too close, until now. The boys noticed a subtle shift in the way you and Jake interacted, but still, they only observed from afar, never intruding on whatever was happening between you two. It felt kind of weird for them to see Jake behaving that way around someone who wasn’t part of his friend group or more specifically with a girl, but deep down they felt happy seeing their friend finally letting himself loosen up.

The day at the shop was going smoothly, it was a bad day of work for Heeseung. There were no clients coming up and everyone except him was sitting around playing cards or just talking to each other as he finished fixing one car. You were sat at a table with Sunoo and Sunghoon, your hands covering your ears as they kept asking questions you didn’t wanna hear and less likely answer. “Come on, y/n!” Sunoo said pulling your hands out of your ears, making you roll your eyes. “I don’t like him, ok?” You sighed, “I literally met him, like, not even two weeks ago. I don’t even know him like that.” “y/n, you know damn well it’s not like that.” Sunghoon said leaning back in his chair. “Just admit you like him!” “Like who?” The three of you looked back to find Jake walking towards you with his hands in his pockets. “No one, I don’t like anyone.” You said closing your eyes as you propped your head in your hand. Jake looked at Sunghoon, as the latter smirked at him, making you glare not-so discreetly at him. Jake sat in a free chair next to you and the two other men thought it was a good idea to stand up and walk away, leaving you two alone.

“Bad work day?” He started. “Yeah, something like that.” You sighed, playing with a paper cup in front of you. “It’s just the end of the month and most people are on vacation by now so it was expected.” Jake hummed, an idea coming up to him. “So you have nothing to do, right?” You looked at him wondering why he was asking that. “Uh, yeah, I don’t.” You answered nodding at him. He got up, extending a hand to you. “Come.” He said as he smiled and nodded his head towards his way. You hesitated in grabbing his hand and getting up as he dragged you to his car. “But, the other we need to tell-” “Don’t worry ‘bout that. We’ll be quick.” Jake said as he opened his car door for you. You looked at the car and then at him, making him nod at you, urging you to get in. Jake sat in the driver's seat with a happy sigh. He looked at him, watching as you admired his car, gently touching the leather seats, feeling the wealth in your touch. You looked around the car in awe, making him giggle at your antics. You turned to look at him with a blush and a small smile, feeling shy he caught you as you admired his expensive car. He turned the keys, making the engine purr as you felt the seats vibrate with the loud sound. “Wow!” You said with a gasp “It feels so different when you’re actually inside the car.” You looked at him as he drove out of the shop’s driveway. “Yeah, I felt that too when I first drove it.” He said with a chuckle. “Where are you taking me?” You asked curiously. “You’ll see, princess. Enjoy the ride for now.” He answered as he chose a song to play for the ride. 

You looked out of your window, seeing the sun almost setting, making the sky turn into an orange explosion. The ride was silent, a comfortable silence, and you found yourselves in an empty road, no words needed to be spoken as you admired the view ahead of you. You rolled your window down, laying your head on the edge of the door. Jake looked at you, admiring your hair that flew freely with the wind and how your eyes were shining in awe and you wore a smile. He looked back to the front and he bit a smile back, failing to do so as the corners of his lips curled upwards. Jake was now driving towards a kind of abyss. He stopped the car, turning off the engine. “Is this it?” You asked making him nod at you with a smile. You both walked out of the car and sat in its hood. You gasped at the view in front of you. You could see the whole city from above. All the tall skyscrapers looked tiny and the street lights were only small dots on a canvas. The sky above showed a pink and orange painting, and the sun had almost fully set.

“Jake” he looked at you, admiring your side profile “This is beautiful.” You finished, looking at him with a big grin, making him mirror your actions. You looked back ahead as you scooted closer to him in the hood of the car, feeling your shoulder touch his. Jake smiled to himself, not daring to look your way to avoid doing something he would regret. “Thank you.” You said looking at him, seeing how his eyes slightly widened. He looked down at his feet, feeling his ears get hotter “It’s nothing really.” “How did you even find this place?” You wondered. “This is gorgeous!” Jake finally looked at you, examining your face, sensing you were asking a genuine question and not just a rhetorical one. “Well,” He started with a sigh. “I usually come here to kind of unwind a little.” He said kicking some rocks on the floor. “It just tunes me out the rest of the world. I feel the best when I’m here.”

He felt the urge to keep talking as he felt you still looking at the side of his head. “Normally when I have a big argument with my dad I just come here and let everything out. No one comes here since it’s far from the city so now it’s my comfort place and I’ve never brought anyone here except for you.” He stopped talking, looking at you, seeing you with empathetic eyes. “Thank you for sharing that with me Jake.” You rubbed his back in a comforting way “I’m glad you trust me enough to tell me all that, I know it’s not easy to deal with those kinds of problems, even if I never went through them myself. I hope you know I’m a shoulder you can lean on when you need one. You shouldn’t keep those thoughts to yourself.” Jake felt his eyes getting teary as he heard you talk. “I really appreciate that, y/n. I just feel like you give me so much of you and I never really shared something really intimate, so I thought this would feel just right.” He said holding his tears. You smiled at him, pulling his arm, grabbing it as you leaned your head on his shoulder, looking back to the view as a comfortable silence fell over you two. Jake’s head leaned in yours and he felt a soft bubble form in his chest, making him close his eyes and take a deep breath in of the fresh air that danced around both of your hairs.

The sun fully set after a while. Stars started appearing in the dark sky. “Look,” You said pointing to the sky “The first star of the night. Make a wish!” You finished as you looked at Jake. “A wish?” You nodded “Alright if you say so.” Both of you closed your eyes and put your hands together as you made your wishes. Jake opened his eyes to look at you, seeing you with your eyes closed and a giddy smile on your lips. You opened your eyes, looking at Jake only to find him already looking down at you, the summer breeze made his hair move beautifully. “What did you wish for?” he asked “Can’t tell you, it won’t come true if I do.” Jake chuckled at your answer, making you do the same. You both stared into each other eyes, not daring to look away as if you were in some trance with each other's eyes, giving you time to appreciate each other’s features. You couldn’t understand how people could view Jake as a bad being. Since the moment you both started getting closer, he was nothing but a sweetheart to you and besides that, you saw how he treated the other boys as well, always being caring with them, giving them food when one of them didn’t have enough or going as far as secretly ordering take out for Ni-ki when he had forgotten to pack his own lunch. They didn’t know him in reality. If they had seen him with your eyes they would know he wouldn’t do anything to hurt anyone or anything purposely. They couldn’t see the sparkle in his eyes when he saw dogs playing in the park or the way his tongue would slightly poke his pouty lips when he focused on something. If only they could see him the way you do.

Your phone suddenly buzzed in your pocket, making you break the intense eye contact that seemed to last an eternity. You looked at the contact ID seeing it was your mom calling you, making you silently curse under your breath. “Hey, mom.” You turned to Jake, mouthing him a Sorry which he dismissed with a shake of his head. “Uh…” Your eyes started moving around nervously “I, uh, I’m with Jake, Mom.” You hissed, scratching the back of your neck. Your mom started going off excitedly about how she was right about him, making you roll your eyes, hoping the said man couldn’t hear what she was saying. “Um, Mom, I don’t- okay wait.” You turned to Jake with a sigh “You wanna come over for dinner?” You asked him, making him still for a moment. “Uh, sure, I mean, why not.” He answered shrugging, something you weren’t really expecting, but deep down you were kind of glad he had accepted. “Okay, he’s coming. Yeah, see you, bye Mom.” You hung up, standing up and looking at Jake. He only looked at you, not knowing what to say. “C’mon.” You pulled him off the hood “We got dinner waiting for us.” 

You were driving back to the city, immersed in a conversation about various topics. “Also, I’m gonna warn you about my mom, she can be a little too much sometimes, so sorry in advance.” Jake laughed at your words. “Don’t say that. I’m pretty sure she means well.” He said looking at you. “If that makes you feel better about meeting her, then sure Jake, whatever you say.” Shortly after, Jake was pulling into your house’s driveway, making you feel nervous, the fact that he was meeting your parents finally sinking in. You don’t know why you felt like this, you two weren’t even dating. You walked to your front door and searched for the keys that were somewhere lost in your bag. Suddenly the door burst open, making you squeal in surprise as you almost tripped and if it weren’t for Jake you would’ve fallen on your butt. “Oh, what gentleman he is!” The door was fully open, revealing your mom who was now cooing at Jake. “Mom, don't.” you said in a warning tone, making her wave her hand at you dismissingly. “Oh, you must be Jake.” She said grabbing him by the arms “Come in you two.” She invited, making space for you to enter the house. “How was day, dear?” Your mom asked, making you break the mad face you were making at her with a small smile. “It was okay. We didn’t have any clients today which is not good for the shop.” “Oh, that must be really frustrating for you guys.” She said furrowing her brows in a worried way. “Anyways, let’s get to the kitchen. The food’s getting cold.” She smiled warmly at you two as she dragged you both to the kitchen. “Is dad not home?” You said with a small pout. “Oh no, he’s out for that company dinner he had. You know it.” You nodded at her letting out an Oh as you remember your father talking about it.

Jake tried to hide it, but as small as this interaction was, it was still a very domestic one. Those were the interactions he longed for but they never came to him. He felt a pang in his chest but your mom’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Give me your plate, dear. I’ll serve you.” She said smiling warmly at him, making him mirror her expression. Your mom seemed so sweet and he genuinely wanted to enjoy this small moment. 

The three of you talked comfortably throughout the night. Jake was able to get those negative thoughts out of his head for a while as he interacted with you both. He loved watching you talk with your mom, seeing the way your eyes light up when she says something that makes you laugh. Just watching that made him smile, which didn’t go unnoticed by your mom. Jake saw his phone light up on the table with a text from his dad asking him where he was and another from a contact he promised himself to never answer again. This made his whole good mood disappear and he just felt like going home. He felt guilty to do this but felt the need to be alone and forget about those texts.

“Everything alright?” you asked with a worried expression, just then he noticed he had his brows pressed tightly together. “Oh um, yeah, just my dad texting me.” He said smiling at you, guilt eating him up, but deep down he wasn’t lying, just not telling the whale truth, which made him feel shitty. “It’s getting late so maybe I should go. Thank you for the meal, it was really good!” He got up, grabbing his jacket from the chair. You got up as well and followed him to your front door as your mom stayed in the kitchen cleaning up. “Hey,” You said grabbing his attention “Are you sure you’re alright? You looked pretty tense back there.” You asked in a worried tone. He sighed, nodding at you. “Yes, princess. Don’t worry about it. I’ll text you when I get home, yeah?” You nodded at him and you bid your goodbyes. Before he could leave, you grabbed his wrist. “Thank you for today, really.” You smiled widely at him, making him chuckle at you “You’re welcome, princess. Good night.” You let his hand go as you waved at him before closing the door. You turned around to see your mom leaning on the kitchen door. You held your hand up “Don’t even start, ok?” you said not wanting to have that conversation. “Dind’t day a word, honey.” She said smiling at you. “Whatever. Goodnight, Mom.” “Goodnight, dear.”

You let yourself fall into the comfort of your bed with a sigh. You grabbed your phone, seeing a notification from Jake, making you quickly tap on it. 

jake <3: thank you for tonight, princess :)

jake <3: sorry for leaving so suddenly. my dad texted me and you know how it is…

you: jake you don’t need to thank me 

you: we were both glad to have you eat with us and dont worry about that i totally understand

you: im gonna head to sleep now. goodnight jake :) 

jake <3: goodnight princess:) 

The next day at work you felt kind of uneasy. The way Jake left your house yesterday left you with an unsettling feeling. You didn’t know what his dad had texted him and you surely weren’t gonna ask him, you were in no place to do that. It was already 5:30 pm and Jake still hadn’t stopped by the shop, something unusual since he always comes by lunchtime. You didn’t want to think too much of it and tried to convince yourself that he was just busy. As you were cleaning up a car you just finished fixing, you heard footsteps coming towards you, making you look to see Heeseung and Sunghoon. “Lover boy didn’t come today, huh?” Sunghoon said making you roll your eyes before turning to look at them, now standing up from your crouching position. “He’s not my lover and you know that damn well.” you said propping your hand on your hip. “Yet!” Heeseung says with a stupid grin on his face.

“Anyways, we’re going to this party tonight and we wanted to invite you so you better be there.” the older male said. “Uh, I don’t know, guys. I’m not really-” “Not in the mood, yeah we know. Same story and it’s not working today. You are going today, no excuses.” Sunghoon paused for a while “You know, Jake’s gonna be there.” he said with a smirk. You lightly tapped your foot on the floor, knowing you didn’t really have a choice other than going and if you ended up going you would see Jake. Not that you missed him, maybe just a little bit though.  “Fine, I guess I can go.” you sighed, crossing your arms “Where and when?” Heeseung gave you the details about the party, maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with Jake there. Even if you were still kind of sour about him not coming, you were sure he had a good reason not to, right?

You walked up to your mirror, checking yourself out one last time before leaving. You lightly rubbed your finger under your lips, cleaning a lipstick smudge. You looked at your outfit, a simple lace, black corset-like top paired with some black leather pants and black heels. The top felt a little too revealing for you, but you decided to come out of your comfort zone for once and try new things. You felt pretty. Your hair was just right, your makeup looked flawless and your outfit was tight just in the right places, flattering your silhouette. Tonight was the night and you were going to enjoy it to the fullest. Sohee had previously texted you, informing you she would also be there with Heeseung, which made you less stressed about this party. You drove to the address Heeseung had texted you, the clock showed 11:45, a reminder that you were 15 minutes late. “Typical y/n, am I right?” you mumbled to yourself when you stopped at a red light. Taking one last turn, you saw a sign with the name of the bar Hee had told you. You parked your car and walked towards the entrance, feeling the biting wind hit your skin, making you regret not taking a small coat with you. You entered the bar and it was already almost full since it was almost midnight. You passed and pushed through the crowd of people Excuses me’s and Sorry’s leaving your lips as you did so. Finally, you were able to spot a tall ash blond who could only be Heeseung and walked towards him.

“Hey and before you scold me, yes I know I’m late.” you said as you and Sohee hugged before taking a seat next to Jay. “Wouldn’t expect any different from you.” Sunghoon said making you let out Shup up to him. You looked around and saw everyone there except for one person. “Where’s Jake?” you asked still looking around, failing to notice the exchange of looks between the four of them. “He’s- Well, he is with some guys from the soccer team, yeah.” Sungoon said, a nervous smile dancing on his lips, making you tilt your head at him “Weird.” you thought out loud. “But don’t worry!” Sunoo said, making you look at him “He’ll probably be here… soon.” “Okay?” you answered, looking at Sohee who was just as confused as you were. There was an unfamiliar tension in the booth and before you could think further about it Heeseung spoke up “No more talking. Let’s get the night started and get drinks!” Everyone got up, greedy to finally get some alcohol in their systems, maybe that’s what you needed. You reached the counter and Heeseung ordered tequila shots for everyone. The shots were gone as quickly as they came and everyone was thirsting for more so Sunghoon ordered six more of the same. 

You and Sohee made your way towards the dance floor full of sweating bodies. You were buzzing inside with the little alcohol in your system and the lights were making you dazed in the best way possible. It had been a long time since you and Sohee hung out like this and you were enjoying this just as much as she was. You had your arms thrown over her shoulders as she hugged your waist and you both swayed to whatever music was playing. The boys were looking at you with pure amusement on their faces, never having seen you like this but they were glad you were enjoying this night so far. Your body felt hot from the heat radiating from everyone around you. You saw couples kissing and grinding against each other and it made your mind wander to Jake and wonder if you and he were ever gonna dance like that like it was just the two of you in the room with no one to interrupt you both. You and your best friend went back to the counter to order drinks for yourselves while the boys went back to the booth.

“Can I get two Pink Whitneys with Sprite, please?” the bartender nodded at you before leaving to prepare the drinks. “Was wondering if you could still party, y/n” Sohee told you laughing. “Oh, shut up. It hasn’t been that long.” You both turned back to the counter when you heard the bartender speak. “For the pretty ladies.” He said putting the drinks in front of you, both of you mumbling Thanks in return. You closed your eyes as you savoured the drink you hadn’t tasted in a long time. “God, I forgot how much I love this.” You said taking a big sip of the pink drink. “Brings back old memories doesn’t it?” Sohee said leaning back as if she was having a flashback. Even though you were a stay-at-home person, back in the first years of college you went partying almost every night since Sohee was a social butterfly and always made sure to bring you along to whatever party she was invited to. Every time Heeseung would host a party, he made sure to have a hidden bottle of Pink Whitney in a small fridge that only he and the boys knew of for you and Sohee. You laughed at her as you tilted the cup towards her for a toast. “For old time’s sake.” She clinked her glass with yours “For old time’s sake!” she said before finishing her drink in one big gulp as she did the same. 

You two got up, making your way to the booth the guys were at. Your vision was starting to blur from all the drinks you had. Only had your low alcohol tolerance to blame. You were trying to walk through the crowd when you spotted a familiar brunette in the middle of it. “Look! Jake’s there, let’s say hi!” you said pushing Sohee towards his way. The grin you had on your face started to slowly fade as your steps got slower. The closer you got to Jake the stronger the pang in your chest grew. You squeezed Sohee’s hand trying to get her attention but she had already seen enough. You two stood there watching as a girl eagerly kissed Jake’s neck, his face was hidden since he was looking opposite from where you were. “Jake?” You felt a pull on your heartstrings and a whimper left your quivering lips when Jake turned his head to the side and made eye contact with you. His face wasn’t showing any emotions previously, quickly contorted with shock as a gasp left his lips, making him immediately push the girl away. Still, Sohee was quicker to pull you away from where you were standing. She was letting out some curses on her way to the booth, something that you couldn’t hear.

When you finally reached the other boys they all were looking at you with worried expressions. Their eyes flickered between each other and you were finally able to catch on what was happening when you arrived. “You guys knew?” you said with a choked sob. None of them were saying a word, making your blood boil when you got your answer. “You all fucking knew this whole time.” you screamed, pointing your finger at them accusingly. “How long has it been going on?” Jay was quick to speak up. “It was just today.” he started. “We didn’t know she was gonna be here and I don’t think Jake knew either.” You were starting to get even more confused “What do you mean she?” you asked shaking your head. They all looked at each other not knowing what to say. “Heeseung, did you know about this?” Sohee asked her boyfriend, and he quickly shook his head no. “No, i swear. None of us knew and as he said it was probably a not-so-pleasant surprise for Jake as well.” Knowing that everyone knew who she was and they weren’t explaining it to you was leaving you irritated and you just wanted to leave. “Sohee can we just go home.” you quietly asked and she ran a hand down your back in a soothing manner. “Yeah, give me your car keys, I’ll drive.” You both turned to leave, no words were exchanged apart from a Drive safely from Heeseung.

When you sat in your car you felt like something exploded inside you as you started sobbing uncontrollably. You hid your face in your hands as you started sobbing. Sohee reached for you, holding you in her embrace. “I don’t even know why I’m crying it’s not like we had something.” you said trying to wipe your tears but they just kept coming. “Y/n, it wouldn’t take a genius to see that something was going on between you two. I can’t honestly understand why Jake would be with someone else, especially her.” “Will anyone ever tell me who she is?” you said in an annoyed tone. Sohee sighed as she sat back in the driver’s seat. “That girl was Aerin. Jake and her were in a weird situationship, kind of friends with benefits but not quite that. They had that going on for almost a year but he eventually broke it off because he finally opened his eyes and realized how much of a bitch she was, even though we were warning him since the beginning.” she paused with a sigh. “She didn’t take it very well since she had always been possessive with him but we thought she finally had gotten over it, it’s been, like, a year and something?” she turned to look at you, seeing you with your head propped in your knees. She raised her hand to cup your cheek, brushing it softly with her thumb.

“I just don’t understand why he would do this, after all that we’ve been through.” You said feeling tears coming back, pooling in your eyes. “Sohee, I let all of my guard down for him, I told him my everything and this feels like history is repeating itself, you know?” You told her as memories from your history with your ex brought you a sour feeling “Y/n, whatever happened between you and Jeno is long behind, I thought we had already talked about this.” “I am over it, Sohee! But seeing Jake do this is just bringing all those feelings back. Six months right after I opened up to Jeno I find out he was cheating on me with the girl I shouldn’t worry about and now when I finally feel like I can commit to someone again, I see Jake like that, how is that fair to me?” you said turning into a sobbing mess again. Your whole body was shaking and Sohee felt her heart shatter seeing her best friend like this.

“Y/n, I know this really isn’t the right time to say this but I’ve known Jake for as long as I’ve been dating Heeseung and I can’t understand why he is doing this. This really isn’t like him, at all.” She rubbed your back “I’m more than sure he will explain himself to you soon. This just doesn't sit right with me.” You wiped your eyes as you sniffed “I don’t want to see him anytime soon, Sohee.” She smiled sadly at you. “I know, honey, But you know it will eventually happen right? It’s inevitable.” You nodded at her, knowing she was right. “Let’s go home yeah? You can stay at mine today. Don’t want you dealing with this alone.” 

Sohee drove off as you stared out the window. Millions of thoughts were running through your head and you felt like it was about to explode. Eventually, you fell asleep during the ride and only woke up when Sohee softly shook you when you arrived. You both entered her apartment, being immediately greeted by her cat who was rubbing herself in your legs. You crouched down to her level, rubbing behind her fluffy white ears, making her purr. Oh to be a cat. Sohee gave you one of her pyjamas for you to sleep in and some makeup wipes, knowing you probably wouldn’t even bother to take it off. You both slipped into her bed, sleeping together like you two would back in the day. You laid back against the headboard as she texted Heeseung to update him. Your own phone buzzed on the bedside table. You grabbed it and saw a notification that normally you would be excited to answer, but not today. You read the texts Jake had sent you.

jake <3: y/n please                                                   

jake <3: i know what it looks like but it isn’t like that 

jake <3: let me explain please                                     

jake <3: you know id never hurt you.                        

You dropped your phone in your lap as you rubbed your eyes with your hands, starting to sniff again. You squeezed your eyes shut, trying to stop the tears as you sighed and leaned back against the headboard. Sohee looked at your phone and then at you, making her sigh. “Where did i go wrong? I must’ve done something really bad in my past life to deserve this.” “Y/n, cut the nonsense, you don’t deserve this, ok?” she said grabbing your arms and turning to look at her. “You’re gonna get through this with me and when you’re ready you’re gonna go back to work and maybe talk with Jake, yeah?” You took a deep breath before nodding at her. “Good. Now you’re gonna rest and tomorrow we’ll see what’s gonna happen.” She grabbed your phone and turned it off, putting it on her bedside table. She turned the light off and you let your head fall into the pillow with a sigh. You stared at the ceiling, trying to shake off all the thoughts going through your head until you felt your eyes closing on their own.

The weekend had gone by slowly. You had texted your mom after everything happened to tell her you were gonna stay at Sohee’s for a few days. All you did was mop around the house and lay in your friend’s bed all day, only getting up when you really needed to. You were sure you were sleeping more than 12 hours a day and still felt like the energy was drowning out of you. Sohee tried to get you to go out and encourage you to go to work to help you forget things but the anxiety you felt at the possibility of encountering Jake was keeping you from doing so. You knew that staying home all day and doing nothing until Sohee came back from work wasn’t gonna help you in any way and you honestly wanted to do something about it but you had no energy to do anything. You walked to the kitchen for nth time that day, placing your cereal bowl on the sink with an accidental loud thud, making you hiss. You sighed as you looked at the mess of plates and cutlery you had accumulated in the sink within just a day. “God, what am I doing.” You said talking to yourself. You stared into nothingness as you got in deep thought. Being like this wasn’t gonna take you anywhere and avoiding situations where you might meet Jake won’t either. So, you made the final decision that you were going to work tomorrow, no matter what. You looked at the clock on the kitchen’s wall and saw it was already 6:30 pm, so without any more self pity you walked to the bathroom to take a shower, determined to get back to your usual work routine. You stared at your figure in the mirror and almost apologized to yourself as you took in your messy and unkempt appearance. You entered the shower and let the warm water fall on your tense shoulders. Sighing, you let your head lean into the shower wall as your body shook with a sob when Jake filled your mind again. Had he tried texting you anymore after that night? You couldn’t really know since you had blocked him on your social media. Was he hurting the way you did? What had really happened? Maybe you were overreacting all this. You should’ve let him explain himself. Dumb y/n, so dumb. 

Jake felt horrible. You really had to come near him at the wrong moment and see something that really wasn’t what it looked like. But he should’ve known the moment she texted him the night he was at your house she was serious. Why couldn’t Aerin just get over the fact they weren’t together anymore, as if they were ever actually together. In his head, it was starting to be too good to be true. As if he was ever gonna get lucky with someone like you. Of course, he had to fuck it up in any way. It’s all your fault, Jake. This was all you. Those words kept repeating themselves in his head as he laid in his bed as his whole body was filled with piercing anxiety. He didn’t know what else to do. He called Heeseung and said you still hadn’t gone to work that week.

The boys knew about the situation and Jake always tried to explain himself while he cried on the phone with any of the guys, even if they reassured him they believed him every day. He should’ve known better than to get involved with Aerin in the first place. He had always been warned about it so why did he still do it? Why couldn’t he just do anything right. The past few days were spent with Jake lying in his bed as he cried and cried for as long as he could. All the feelings he bottled up for so long left his body, making his whole self shake. When he finally was able to open up fully to you, he had it all taken away, knowing you had let your whole guard down for him. He knew you weren’t doing any better than him and that hurt him even more. Knowing he couldn’t be the one to hold you and comfort you was killing. Jake knew he couldn’t stay like this forever and all he wanted to do nothing more than reach out to you and tell you his truth but he knew he had to give you space. So he waits for as long as he needs to because he is not letting you go because of her, he wasn’t letting that happen.

You woke up at the same time as Sohee. The moment you opened your eyes you instantly felt a pang in your chest, knowing you had to go to work today. You threw your arm over your eyes as you sighed. Sohee looked at you as she rubbed her eyes to wake herself up. “Good morning.” she told you to which you only answered with a grumble making her chuckle at you. She got out of bed, opening her curtains, making you squint at the bright light invading the room. “C’mon, get up. You need to get ready.” You sighed again at her words before sitting up on the bed. After you both got ready for work, you sat down at the table as you had breakfast together. “So,” Sohee said mid-chew “are you ready for today?” You looked at her as you sipped on your coffee. “I mean, no. But as you said I can’t keep avoiding him and it’s better if we talk already than not.” You answered as your fork played with the blueberries on your plate. “You got this, yeah?” Sohee reached for your hand across the table. You inhaled as you felt your eyes water but you held yourself back. You nodded at her as you whispered a Yeah in response to her.

You left around 10 am which was the time Sohee usually left for work. As you made your way to the shop, anxiety started bubbling up in your chest, making you take deep breaths to try and keep yourself together. There’s nothing to worry about. If Jake ended up showing up at the shop you guys were just gonna talk, or maybe not. Maybe he will explain to you and assure you it was not what it looked like or maybe he wasn’t and it was exactly what it looked like. “Well, shit.” you said to yourself as you arrived at the shop. You parked your car, seeing everyone already there. You stepped out of the car, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air breeze around you. You walked inside and there stood Heeseung and Sunghoon staring at you with warm smiles. “Hey guys!” you greeted. You walked towards them and Sunghoon pulled you into a hug, making you let out a shaky breath. “How’ve you been, dummy?” He asked, letting you go of his arms. “Well, y’know, not good. But! I’m here to change that and yes I’m going to avoid that conversation, if you don’t mind.” They nodded their heads at you, Right and Of course! were their only answers before you asked Heeseung if there was any work for you to which he assigned you to check a car’s engine and gasket. 

You got right to work and you were glad you could distract yourself for most of the time. The car needed to get his gasket changed and it wasn’t an easy task so you needed to have your full focus on it. Working made the day go by faster and you barely had time to lunch as you were so immersed in the task you were assigned to do. Sometimes Ni-ki would linger around you, mostly joking around as you worked, keeping you company, which you were glad he did. If anyone had told you you would’ve ended up getting a summer job at a mechanic shop and befriending the six workers you wouldn’t believe it. But you couldn’t be more glad that you did, you had quickly made six precious friendships with six boys who were all you could ask for in a friend. As someone who never found befriending people easy, you were quite proud of yourself as you had found six treasures in only a lifetime. You knew you could always rely on them, and despite the age gap between the two younger ones, you still would trust them with your life nonetheless.

You felt sweat dripping down your forehead as you worked, making you get up from your bent-over position to wipe the sweat with your forearm, adjusting the strap from your overall that was slipping off your shoulder. “God.” You sighed loudly. Heeseung slid from underneath a car to check on you, “Everything ok?” he asked sitting up. “I guess. Just this thing is harder than I thought it would be.” You said putting your hands on your hips as you stared at the engine in thought. You knew this was gonna be hard, but one wrong move you would need to do it all over. Heeseung got up and walked to where you stood staring at the car. “I think you’re going on the right path. Nothing is looking wrong or weird so keep going.” He said patting your back “You’re doing well, you always do.” You chuckled at his words “You flatter me, Lee.” He laughed at your words “All for the best of my wor-” 

His words were cut off by the roar of an engine. A familiar Ford Mustang pulled up in the driveway.  Your breath stopped for a while until you felt Heeseung get his hand off your back. “I think I should go somewhere else…” You nodded at him, fully understanding why he was doing it. You pretended to go back to work, trying to convince yourself that Jake wouldn’t come over to you if you did that. You heard footsteps getting closer to you and you felt your breath pick up its pace. You got this. “Hey…” You heard the deep yet soft voice say. You looked up to see Jake smiling softly at you and you almost teared up at that. You tried to reciprocate the smile but you were sure it came out shaky. “Hi, Jake.” You said nodding at him. Your gaze drifted from his figure, trying to look at anything but him, as you fiddled with your fingers. “Nice patch!” He said chuckling, making you blush as you stared at the Care Bears patch placed upon your knee. “There was ripped so my mom put it on for me.” You said still not looking at him, making him mutter a Cute under his breath, which you almost missed. “Why are you here?” You asked, looking at his face, but you knew damn well why he was here. Jake took a shaky breath in as he leaned against the wall behind him, his own gaze now avoiding yours.

“I guess- No, I know and I need to explain myself to you.” He started, gulping his anxiety away. “What you saw that night wasn’t something anyone would expect that would happen. I mean, I should’ve had to be honest. The night I went to have dinner with you and your mother I told you I had received a text from my father. Which isn’t a lie, because I did, but you also deserved to know that Aerin had also texted me.” His eyes finally met yours with an apologetic gaze. Your face was contorted in confusion and you waited for him to explain it further. “She somehow found out that you and I had been hanging out and that there was something between us and she texted me some nonsense about knowing I still wanted and was using you as a rebound.” You stared at the ground hearing those words. “Was I a rebound to you Jake?” You asked quietly “No!” He answered with no hesitation “Of course not! And I hope you never felt that way because all I did for you was genuine.” his hand twitched, Jake wanted to reach out to you but he knew he still had further explaining to do. “Going on. That night I was supposed to go out with guys from my soccer team as well as the guys here but Aerin somehow was involved with some of the guys in the team and joined as well. The moment you started approaching me she threw herself at me and started doing whatever she was doing and before I could react and push her away you had already seen it.” His voice became shaky as he played that moment back in his head. “And I would and never will blame you for reacting the way you did. If I was in that position I would do the same, most likely.” Tears started falling from your eyes as you heard him talk. 

Your chest was tight with guilt. You felt bad for what you did to him. He didn’t deserve to go through what you made him go through. You sniffed as you tried to wipe the stubborn tears that kept falling. Jake took a step closer to you, feeling his own eyes water at the sight of your miserable state. “Baby, please don’t cry.” The pet name left his lips before he could think about it but you didn’t seem to have heard it or mind it. “Jake I’m so sorry.” You said between hiccups of sobs “Please, please forgive me. I probably made you go through hell when you didn’t even do anything. I was so selfish.” Your cries got louder as you spoke and you didn’t even care if the boys could hear you. “Y/n, no! Stop apologizing. It was not your fault, ok? You aren’t the one to blame. You weren’t the one causing this, Aering was.” He said pulling you into his embrace. The knot on your chest broke as you finally felt his comforting touch and scent that you loved so much. “I would forgive you in a heartbeat if you had anything to apologize for, but you don't, you hear me?” You looked up at him, sniffling softly as you nodded at him. Jake cupped your face to wipe your tears as he smiled softly at you. “I’m sorry I made you go through all of this.” You saw the tears pooling in his eyes, making you cup his cheek.

“Are we ok now?” He asked, worry still lingering in his tone. You smiled widely at him as you furiously nodded your head “Yes! God, Jake, of course!” You said chuckling between sniffs. He laughed along with you as he stared into your eyes endearingly. Your breath calmed down as you both stared into each other eyes. None of you making a move to look away. Your eyes drifted from his eyes to his lips and you caught a glimpse of him doing the same. You don’t know who was the first to move but suddenly your lips were on his as you two share a long-awaited kiss. Your arms went around his neck as his hands were still cupping your cheeks. You leaned your head to the side to deepen the kiss. Jake let out a happy sigh into the kiss, making you smile against his lips. You both pulled away and you let your eyes look around the room to avoid his gaze. Jake laughed at you and you buried your face into his neck to hide the crimson red spreading on your cheeks. Jake pulled you off of him and held your hand as he started pushing you outside. “Let’s go.” He said nodding towards his car. “Jake I can’t I have to finish-” “Don’t worry about that. I’m pretty sure Heeseung won’t mind.” You were hesitant but still let him drag you to his car. “Ok- wait. Slow down, oh my God. Isn’t this kidnapping? Geez!” You said scowling lightly at him at the eagerness he was pushing you with. “Stop talking nonsense, silly.” 

The boys finally gathered around the entrance as they heard Jake’s car leave with you both inside it. “Well, it was kinda awkward.” Jungwon said breaking the silence. Sunoo rolled his eyes, slapping the boy's arm. “What? It’s true!” He said raising his hands in surrender. Silene took over again as everyone tried to process what had just happened. “If all it takes to leave work early is to argue with my girlfriend then I’m down.” “Ni-ki, shut the fuck up.”

You were anxious for today. Even though Jake has been countless times at your house and had dinner with your parents just as much, you’ve never been at his house, let alone met his parents. But it would change today, Jake had called you today, inviting you to have dinner with his parents at his house. As much as you wanted to refuse, you knew you couldn’t, you couldn’t delay this moment any longer, sooner or later it was gonna happen and it was happening today. You didn’t know how to really feel about it. From what Jake told you, you knew his dad wasn’t the best person but you didn’t know much about his mom. You felt anxiety creeping up your body as you got ready for the night. You tried to look the most presentable you could for Jake’s parents, not wanting to leave a bad first impression.

Your phone buzzed in your bed, you picked it up and saw Jake’s text telling you he was outside. You looked at your reflection one last time before grabbing your purse and leaving. When you got outside you were met with the breathtaking sight of Jake leaning against his car, looking like he just came from a cliché teenage movie. His skin was glowing with the bright sunshine, complementing his skin colour to perfection. His full black outfit was hugging in all the right places, making him look like a runway model. Jake noticed your staring, making him laugh silently. “You know you can take a closer look, right?” His words made you roll your eyes, despite feeling your cheeks grow hot. “You’re so cocky, Jake.” You said as you walked towards him, stopping in front of him as you leaned in for a peck. Jake hummed against your lips, holding your face to kiss you deeper. You tapped his cheek and pulled away, eyeing him with a warning stare. “We have places to be, young man.” Jake sighed at your words and you both got in the car. 

Throughout the car ride, Jake noticed your fidgeting hands and he knew you were nervous. He put his hand on top of yours, still looking at the road ahead of him. “There’s nothing to be worried about, y/n” He said in a quiet voice, making you look at him at the sudden words. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding, looking back to the road. “I know. It’s just- I don’t even know why I’m nervous.” You answered chuckling humorlessly. Jake gave your hand a squeeze, giving you a silent reassurance. “I know that from what I say about my dad he sounds scary but he can be nice sometimes and I’m sure he will be pretty okay with you, so don’t think too much about it, yeah? Besides my mom’s gonna be there so it won’t be as bad.” You nodded and smiled at him, leaning on the center console to peck his cheek, making him smile.

Soon enough, you both reached his parent’s house. You felt your heart starting to race as soon as you stepped out of the car. Jake walked beside you, grabbing your hand, holding it tightly against his. Something in him was telling you he was nervous as well and it made you look at him with worried eyes. You both stopped at the front door, looking at each other. Jake smiled at you, nodding his head towards the door, making you take a deep breath as you nodded back at him. He rang the doorbell, the sound echoing in the loud silence as you both waited impatiently.

The door finally opened, revealing a beautiful woman. She didn’t look any older than 45, her skin was smooth with barely any wrinkles adorning it, only faint ones that marked her joyful smile. Her hair had a chestnut tone to it and the perfectly styled curls reached her shoulders. “Jake, my love.” She said as she pulled the said man into her embrace. “I’ve missed you so much!” Jake smiled as he looked at her with a grin. “Missed you too, mom.” He said lovingly pecking her forehead. “Oh, goodness. You must be y/n, I’m Sooyoung! So glad to meet you dear!” She said pulling you in a hug, making you smile at her as you felt the nerves slowly leaving your body. “Yes, I am! It’s so nice to finally meet you!” You told her, as she held your hands in her’s. “You know, Jake sounded so excited to finally introduce you to us, he would always talk about you when he called.” You heard Jake groan beside you. “Mom!” “What? I’m just saying!” She said laughing at his son “Anyways, come inside. Dinner is almost ready!” She leads you both inside the house. “Do you need help with anything?” You asked her “Oh no, dear! Don’t worry, everything’s almost done. You both wait in the leaving room while I finish it.” 

Jake took you to the living room, where his father sat on the couch as he watched whatever news channel was playing. He cleared his throat, making his father loom at you both. “Hey, dad. This is y/n, my girlfriend.” Jake said introducing you to the older man. “Hi, sir. It’s nice to meet you!” You said bowing slightly at him, wiping your sweaty hands in the back of your pants. Jake’s father got up, walking towards the both of you. His straight lips formed a slight smile as he pulled you into a hug, making you let out a surprised sound. “It’s nice to see the girl my son can’t shut up about. Can’t say I’m not surprised to see my son could keep up with a girl like you.” You felt shy at his words, not really knowing what to say. “Ah, I’m sure it’s not like that.” You said rubbing your arm anxiously. He then walked to Jake, shaking hands with his son, giving him a tight-lipped smile. “Hope you’ve been behaving well, son.” He said patting his son’s head. “Dad..” Jake said rolling his eyes. The three of you sat on the couch, Jake's dad’s eyes were on the TV but his focus was somewhere else.

“So,” He started. “Where did you two meet?” He asked, turning to look at you two. You looked at Jake and then at his father “We met at my workplace.” You said nodding at him. “You work?” He asked curiously. “Well, it’s a summer job, but yeah I do. Been there for about two and half months maybe?” You smiled at him, rubbing your hands back in forth on your thighs as you tried to ease the nerves. He hummed “And what do you do, may I ask?” “Dad, it’s enough questions.” Jake said but you stopped “It’s okay, Jake.” You said smiling at him. “I’m working at a mechanic shop, which I know it’s not usual as a summer job, but I enjoy it a lot.” His dad opened his mouth to speak but before he could do so, Sooyoung called everyone to the table.

You were all sat at the table peacefully, immersed in a casual conversation. “We should totally book a dinner with your parents y/n, Jake talks about how nice they are when he stays at your house. “ Jake’s mother suggested. “Yeah, I think that would be really nice. They would love it!” You told her, smiling at her as you went back to eating. You noticed Jake had been quiet most of the night, only talking when you were the topic of the conversation. It made you worried that he was behaving this way. You noticed the way his hands were trembling and you wanted nothing more than to comfort him right there and then. You put your utensils down when you finished the meal and one of your hands went to his tigh to rub it in a comforting manner. Jake’s movements faltered when he felt it. His free hand went down to where your hand was placed in his thigh and squeezed it in appreciation. You interlocked your fingers with his and his thumb started rubbing the back of your hand. Jake felt his heart warming up at your actions, looking at you as you spoke with his mother. He smiled, looking down at his empty plate as he tried to hide it.

Jake’s mom got up and walked towards the fridge. “If everyone’s finished, I made dessert!” She said as she put a homemade ice cream bowl on the table. She sat back down and the conversation went on. “y/n I almost forgot to ask! What are you studying?” Sooyung asked as she looked at you. her elbow propped on the table. “Oh, I’m majoring in computer science actually!” You answered with a smile. “I actually share a few classes with Jake.” You said looking at him with a smile, seeing him already looking at you. “Oh really! What a coincidence, isn’t it!” His mother beamed at you. Jake’s father scoffed beside his mother making you snap your head in his direction. “I’m surprised he actually attends classes.” He said looking down at his desert. Jake’s hand tightened almost painfully in your grip.

The tension in the room was thick and if you wanted you could cut it with a knife. Jake’s mother scolded him silently for speaking about it when you were present, but the man couldn’t care less. “Soccer, soccer, soccer. It’s all that goes through that head of his.” He said, finally looking up at his son, who stared at him with a stoic expression. “I work hard every day to give him a stable future and yet he doesn’t even think about pursuing that.” He said with an expression that could be read as disappointment. “Look at his brother. Working a high-paying job, a stable one, and yet, you can’t take it as an example to look up to. Do you really think soccer’s gonna take you anywhere in life?” He asked but he wasn’t really looking for an answer. Your heart felt like it could jump out of your chest with how quick it was beating. Jake’s face was emotionless but his hands were shaking as the force of his own father’s words hit him like rocks. It hurt you to see him take all this and you just couldn’t keep yourself quiet any longer

“You know,” You started “Jake’s really good at what he does best, even if it’s at soccer.” You gulped your nerves down as you continued. “If there’s something my parents never did was interfere in my future. They never once told me I should follow this or that, never. Because nothing was more important than them seeing me do something that makes me happy. If soccer is what he loves doing, then why not let him do that? I don’t know a thing about soccer or sports but if he’s known in almost every national university’s soccer team then he must be damn good at what he does. So why not support him in that? Even if it goes bad for him, which I must say I doubt, he’s going to graduate so there’s always a plan b. Have you ever considered your son’s happiness? I genuinely don’t intend to be disrespectful to you or your company, but is your business more important than your son? You have a son working in that field so why not make him take over it instead of Jake, who clearly doesn’t want to do it?”

You looked at Jake, seeing him look at you with tears pooling in his eyes, making your own eyes water. “Jake deserves nothing but to be happy. If you only could see how much he’s done then maybe you would love him a bit more.” You got up from your chair, the scraping sound made you slightly hiss. Jake understood what you were doing and did the same. “I’m so sorry about this, but I just can’t stand you seeing talk so low of your son. I hope you can reflect a little bit. Again, I’m sorry.” You turned to leave, Jake following behind you.

When the front door shut close, Jake instantly broke down, throwing himself in your embrace. His body shook with broken cries, making you screw your eyes shut as you tried to stop your tears. You held him tightly, rubbing his back in a soothing manner. “It’s alright now.” you said in a whisper, your hand coming up to tangle itself in his hair. When his cries died out Jake pulled out of your arms, looking at you. His hands cradled your face, as his eyes scanned your features. He smiled at you, making you mirror his expression. He leaned down as he pecked your lips and your hands came up to hold his that were holding your face. “I’m sorry for, you know, causing all that. I just couldn’t not do anything.” You said looking down. “Hey, don’t apologize. Thank you for that, really.” he said letting out a breath. “It’s better you saying that than me having another screaming match with my father.” He smiled sadly.

“I didn’t know you liked me that much, though.” He joked trying to lighten the mood. “Oh, c’mon Jake, seriously.” You said groaning at him, feeling your cheeks heat up. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding.” He said laughing. “Y’know, I like you that much too.” You felt shy under his gaze, suddenly not able to look in his eyes. “Do you really?” You asked as you kicked tiny rocks on the floor. “Yes, silly. Of course I do…” Jake tensed “Even more than liking, actually.” You looked up at him when he said that, seeing him biting his lips nervously. “What?” You asked, surprised as you felt your heart race. “I- sorry I shouldn’t-” “Jake.” You cut him off, laughing at him. He stared at you wide-eyed, his cheeks flushed and his ears red.

You threw your arms over his shoulder, making a slight force to pull him closer. You smiled up at him. “I love you.” Jake almost choked in his own spit, not expecting to hear those words coming out of your mouth. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to say something. He took a deep breath and put his hands on your waist, suddenly feeling like he was in high school again, about to have his first kiss. He leaned in to kiss you, moving his head to the side to deepen it. Both of your lips moving on their own as you shared a passionate kiss. Jake pulled away before he could go further, his forehead resting against yours as he giggled, making you laugh at his behaviour. “I love you too princess.” He finally said, “So much.” He pecked your lips again, and again, and again until you pushed his chest as you laughed at him. He grinned at you, as he grabbed your hand in his. “Let’s go?” He asked and you nodded at him. You both got in the car, ready to go home as some soft tunes played from to radio.

Jake had been trying to make his house a home for a long time, but maybe home was where you were.

[pandora-writes-one-piece]

The Meet Cute - Law's Story - 13

Source for pic

The Great Pretender 13 🔞

Word Count: 4915

Tags For The Whole Story: Fem!Reader; Law is a soft dom; you have bratty tendencies (not all the time); voice kink; praise kink; cursing; very suggestive behaviour and innuendo from the start; sexual tension; teasing; so much flirting; romance; slow-burn; fluff; slight angst; mature audiences (though explicit NSFW moments will be properly tagged on the chapter); possessive Law; protective Law; soft Law; teasing Law; manipulative Doflamingo; inappropriate Doflamingo; fake relationship trope; only one-bed trope; reader has some anxiety issues; reader is a control freak and perfectionist; modern day AU; Mention of ex mentally abusive relationship;

Special Warning: English is not my first language, I apologise for any possible spelling or grammar mistakes.

Summary: After moving away from the hustle and bustle of Grand Line City to help your father around the property following a horse-riding accident - and in the hopes of healing your broken heart after your asshole ex-fiancé cheated - you settle into the country calmness of the Calm Belt. You and Law (your father's doctor) start to build a flirty friendship because of your father’s procedure. So much so that when he’s invited to Baby 5’s wedding (his cousin), he asks you to be his date. His uncle Doflamingo - who is filthy rich - is very adamant on finding a suitable wife for him. Seeing as he wants to avoid that, he asks you to pretend to be his girlfriend for the weekend.

Notes: A little NSFW in the opening of the chapter, okay? And now... the drama begins to unfold... I'm very torn between downright heartbreaking angst and just a little bit of angst for the ending chapters... I'll be giving this a thought in the next days as I try to finish this story before starting work! Thank you for reading! (I swear Tumblr hates me. I cannot add the song right again...)

|Masterlist| | |Chapter 12| | |Chapter 14🔞|

Morning breaks too soon, but you're roused awake by more than just the call of the birds. It's the gentle caress against your bare back that rubs away the sleep, it's the lull of comfort that his scent brings you and the serenity of it all that warms your heart. You're awake, you're alive, and you're in love. 

“Morning.” You whisper softly. “Am I ever going to wake up before you?” You say after a yawn assaults you. 

Law's soft chuckle makes your head move slightly against his bare chest. “Unlikely. I'm a very light sleeper.”

You snuggle closer, stretching your legs before wrapping them again around his, in a limb cocoon. “Yeah, that makes sense. With the hospital calling, right?” He hums against the crown of your head and places a gentle kiss there. The simplicity of the gesture is a stark contrast to the depth of its meaning. A kiss makes you shudder, a gentle caress makes you melt, a gaze completely unravels you. The hold Trafalgar Law has on you is inexplicable, and totally out of your control. Strangely enough, this is the one thing you don't wish to have any control over. 

Love is better when it runs wild and free. Not leashed or caged, as you very well know. 

“Want to tell me what's on your beautiful mind?” He murmurs against your head and you snuggle impossibly closer, your arms wrapping tightly around his torso. 

“Nothing much.”

“I can feel your brain whirling from up here, you know.”

You snort. “Wouldn't put it past you. I was just…” Everything. He wants to know and hear everything you have to say. “I'm so happy, Law.”

His hand reaches down, tucking your chin gently upwards so your eyes meet. The world stops just for you, the perfection of the moment being carved with intricate detail into the confines of your memory. “Me too, sweetheart.” 

With just three words, you know that your feelings towards Law are reciprocated and mirrored, and damn if that isn't the best feeling in the world. But then he presses his lips softly against yours, and maybe this is the best feeling in the world instead. 

As his tongue swipes your lower lip, sucking and pulling at it for a light nibble, you roll your body over his and part your lips to welcome his tongue. His hands lower from your upper back down your spine, settling on your hips and then your thighs as he parts them so you can straddle him. The kiss deepens, and you can feel how hard he already is, pressed against you, but the pressure of his hands on your thighs doesn't let you move a muscle to even think about grinding against him. 

He parts the kiss, and you chase his mouth, clearly not done yet, but he doesn't care for your frustrated groan as he rolls you onto your back and untangles the sheets from your bodies. When his gaze meets yours, he's wearing your favourite unhinged grin. “I believe I still owe you something from last night.” The velvet in his voice sends a shudder down your spine that gathers at your core.

“Owe me?”

His thumb teases your perked nipple as he lays a trail of kisses from your sternum down to your stomach. “I said fingers, tongue, and cock.”

A rush of heat courses through you as his intentions are now clear. 

“I'm still missing one of those.” 

“Law…” You start, but any coherent thought is quickly pushed to the side when his mouth starts to trace and nibble your inner thigh. “Law!” You repeat his name, but now with the fervour of need behind it.

He hovers just above your wet slit, and you exhale a shaky breath. You’re naked since you both fell asleep almost instantly last night, so there’s nothing between his expert tongue and your dripping self. 

“What is it, sweetheart?” His warm breath tingles and ignites. With a heavy sigh, you push your hips down, trying to force contact, but his hands grip your thighs, and he chuckles. “Impatient and needy. You don’t like mornings much, do you?”

Law flicks his tongue and swipes it lazily between your folds, pulling a decadent moan from your parted lips. You don’t care much for mornings, he’s right, but if he decides to wake you up like this, you might just come to love them.

“But I’m still not sure about what you want.” He drawls, nuzzling your clit with his goatee. The harshness of the gesture just makes you sigh out another moan. How is he so devastatingly good at tearing your sanity apart? 

“Your tongue, Law. I need your tongue!” You say between harsh breaths. You’ve learned to just tell him what you want and need these past days. He’s going to pull the words out of you one way or another. 

“And what should I do with my tongue, exactly?” That! Fuck! Law just rolled your clit between his tongue and teeth, and the closeness of pain and pleasure made little black and white dots float in your vision. 

“Fuck me with your tongue, Law, please!” You gasp out, unable to hold back anymore, your body arching, already seeking more pleasure as your fists grip the sheets for some kind of grounding or purchase. 

“That’s my good girl.” You moan loudly as he plunges his tongue inside you, reaching far and then curling it upwards. It’s heavenly and divine, and, at the same time, ungodly and sinful. Just like the man himself.

“Law! Oh, fuck!” Your hand clamps against your mouth, trying to stifle the loud sounds you can’t seem to contain as Law plays with your clit again, his long fingers probing your insides with expertise. 

“Scream my name loud and clear, sweetheart. I want to hear you fall apart, just for me.” 

You’re barely holding on to any sane thought. All you can think about is Law’s tongue, Law’s deep voice, Law’s fingers, Law, Law, Law. He’s everywhere, he’s everything.

“That’s it, I can feel you tightening up just for me, sweetheart. Let it go.”

You cry out his name just as you unravel, a wave of pleasure washing over you, bright and hot and so, so blissful. He doesn’t stop, even as you bury your hands in his hair and clench your thighs around him, mewling and moaning with overstimulation. He pushes a little further, and your legs start to quiver, pain fluttering to another cresting wave of pleasure, like smaller waves following a huge tsunami. 

Your litany of gasps and moans turns into a desperate prayer or curse, you can’t quite tell, as Law’s tongue draws out the last remnants of pleasure from you, until you’re completely drained, with your chest heaving and sweat dampening your skin. 

You're still trying to catch your breath, fingers entwined in Law's dark locks as he stares smugly at you from his perch between your thighs when you hear it. 

Knock, knock. Two light taps on the door. Fuck. Whoever it was definitely heard you moan and cry out Law's name in pleasure. Law grunts, a scowl immediately twisting his lips as he slips on his pyjama pants and drapes the sheet over your naked body. 

“What?” He asks before wiping his mouth against his arm and unlocking the door. From where you're lying, you can make out the tall figure of Doflamingo, and though you can't see the expression on his face, you can bet he's wearing an insufferable smirk. 

“Good morning, nephew.” According to his long drawl, he's definitely smirking and he more than likely heard you. “I'm so sorry to bother you this early. Baby 5 needs your lovely novia to be a bridesmaid, if that's okay. Her friend couldn't make it, and there's a surprise groomsman who can't walk unaccompanied down the aisle, but she’ll explain all the boring details.” His chuckle seems ominous and foreboding. “I was going to drop the dress at the door but… I heard you were awake, so…”

His words linger in the air, and, even though there's no chance he can see you because Law is blocking his vision, you shrink in the bed and blush crimson. You had been very vocal about your pleasure, trusting Cora’s assurance that you have your own wing of the mansion. You just weren't expecting guests this early. You're horrified. 

You see Law leaning in to accept a dress from his uncle’s hands. “Sure, thanks.” Law's voice is clipped but affected. “Bye.” He closes the door, but Doflamingo wedges a foot in so he can't close it completely. 

“I’ve had a tough time waking up today, what with all the partying last night… but it’s no wonder you look so awake, Law. If I had someone cry my name and make all those pretty noises for me, I wouldn't have needed two cups of coffee already.” He purrs softly, his obnoxious laughter lingering in the hallway as you hear Law growl. This is mortifying! Anyone else would pretend they didn't hear anything! But Doffy had to rub it in your face. You sink further into the bed.

“Get lost, Doffy!” Law's voice is a mix of anger and frustration as he pushes the door against his uncle's foot. 

“Oh, come on, nephew, don't take offence by my comment. It was a compliment, you clearly take to my side of the family.” Doflamingo’s laugh echoes down the corridor as he finally removes his foot, allowing Law to close the door, grunting in dissatisfaction before he finds you hiding in an embarrassed ball under the covers. 

Then his frustration simmers into light amusement as he calls your name. “Have you combusted into ash from embarrassment, or will I find you in one piece if I lift these covers?”

You chuckle at his attempt to lighten the mood but don't emerge from your cocoon. “God, Law!” A giggle escapes your lips. “He's terrible!”

You face a pair of amused eyes when Law slowly peels the sheet from over your head. “He just loves to get a rise out of people, he thrives on getting reactions.”

“How am I going to face him later?” You groan, then immediately pout at Law, gently swatting him in the arm. “It's your fault! He wouldn't have heard anything if we were just cuddling innocently.”

Law's smirk sends a spark of need through you, and you swallow hard. “Sweetheart, I'm never going to apologise for making you scream my name again and again. In fact, I encourage it.” He leans over your form and takes your lips in his in a slow, languid kiss. You can still taste the remnants of your arousal on his tongue and that only makes you moan. “Are you up for an encore?”

Your fingers thread through his hair, pulling him down for another kiss, but you groan into him in frustration. “I think my performance was worthy of a Tony. No encore needed. Besides, we need to shower, we have a wedding to attend to.”

Law chases your mouth with his, not letting you go so easily. “The shower works, too. Better acoustics.” Your giggle gets lost in another kiss as he lifts you up and carries you to the bathroom. 

You’ll get to showering, eventually.

-*-

The dress Baby 5 sent you fits almost perfectly, but there’s a note attached to it that says to meet her and the other bridesmaids in her room for a final fitting. The dress is burgundy - a colour you’ve seen throughout all the decorations - and, surprisingly, it actually looks good on you, despite your earlier grimace. It’s tasteful and elegant. 

Law is taking you to Baby 5’s room since you have no idea where it is, and he’s already complimented your appearance twice. 

“Here you are.” He stops in front of a door and smirks. “I can’t stop ogling you, you look perfect.” 

A light blush creeps into your cheeks. “You need to stop that, Law. I’ll become obnoxiously conceited.” He chuckles with you. “Head down to breakfast, I’ll meet you soon.” With a languorous kiss that sends all the butterflies in your stomach into early flight, he leaves you and you enter the bride’s room. 

“Honey, you made it! Oh, the dress looks amazing on you!” Baby 5 is wearing a white silk robe, and her hair is already done, she looks beautiful. After a quick hug, she spins you around, assessing you. “Maybe a little tighter here in the waist? We want the ‘ladies’ to pop up!” She giggles as she refers to your breasts. 

When the seamstress starts to work on your dress, Baby 5 introduces you to the rest of her friends - it’s a party of six, including you - and explains why she needs you.

“You’re a lifesaver, really. My friend had to cancel last week because she got into an accident - she’s fine! But she broke her hip and couldn't come. And then Sai’s groomsman had already cancelled as well - something about a business commitment he had to attend - except yesterday, all of a sudden, he called saying he was free and could attend!”

You keep nodding and moving as the seamstress asks you to, feeling a bit like a dress-up doll. 

“So now I had a groomsman walking the aisle alone! That can’t happen! This has to be a perfect wedding. I was ready to tell Sai that one of the groomsmen needed to already be at the altar when my father suggested I ask you!” 

It was Doflamingo’s suggestion? A chill runs through your spine at the thought. You need to be on alert, then. This could be something else he planned to try and test you.

“Well, I’m really flattered by the invite. And happy to help, you’ve been so welcoming to me.” You’re being truthful, Baby 5 treated you immediately as a friend. 

The seamstress finishes the slight adjustments, and you parade for the bride at her request. She’s dressed in a simple white dress, just for breakfast. She’ll change into her wedding gown after.

“Perfect. You look beautiful. Has my taciturn cousin said so already? Or do I need to bonk him on the head?” You smile and blush a little at her comment. 

“He said it more than once, actually.”

“You two make me gag. You’re so cute!” She laughs. “I saw the photographs on the camera yesterday!” She sighs. “I’m so glad Law found someone who can make him that happy.” Baby 5 grabs your hands. “Thank you. Now, off to breakfast, we can’t delay the schedule.”

-*-

You come down for breakfast that, much like yesterday's brunch, is being served outside. It takes you a minute to find Law, but, as soon as you make eye contact, Doflamingo wanders near you with a wolfish grin. 

“Hello, princesa.” You blush, thinking about what he heard in the morning. “I hope you are well rested.” Your eyebrow shoots up, and he looks to Law, who's approaching you both. “No time for small talk, though, such a shame. Have you told my nephew about Vinsmoke yet? Because you should have done it.” You lock eyes with Doffy's terrifying red gaze. 

You completely forgot to bring that up. Ichiji was the last thing on your mind yesterday, but if Doffy is bringing him up right now... that can only mean…

“Oh well, now it's too late. Hi, Law!” Doffy exclaims just as Law approaches and places his hand on the small of your back, pulling you toward his side. “So glad you're here. Sai’s groomsman has just arrived, and he wants to say hi to you.”

No, no, no, no…

“To me?” Law asks as he scans you over, not missing the erratic breaths leaving your lips or the worried look on your face. Your hand falls limp against his chest, fingers grasping his shirt for support.

“Well, to both of you, actually, being an old friend and all.”

You gasp, your throat constricting as the pounding in your heart increases. A wave of dizziness makes you wobble as you grasp onto Law. It can't be! 

No, no, no, God no. 

“Remember Vinsmoke Ichiji?” Doffy's words are slow and calculated, his gaze lingering on your face. Law looks at you with a raised brow, his grip tightening on your waist since you're clearly not well. 

Your heart drops to your stomach, and it’s so overwhelming that all the blood drains from your face. You can’t stop your eyes from meeting his. He looks as manipulative and imposing as you remember him to be: Tall, dressed in an impeccably tailored suit, fiery red hair coiffed back, and that damn, smug smirk on his lips. You lose strength in your legs again, the air escaping your lips comes in ragged gasps. This cannot be happening. 

“Hello, Doll. Long time no see, you look stunning as ever.”

“Without me, you're useless! Just a pretty face, like a little doll.”

“Be a good Doll for me and be quiet. I have business to take care of.”

“Doll, you don't know better than me! Stop acting like it!”

“Yes, Doll. Don't worry. Tears are just a sign of weakness. We can't all be strong.”

“Doll.”

That damn nickname. You suck in a shaky breath, your body tight with tension. You can barely look away from Ichiji's piercing gaze, too trapped in the awful memories of the past, but you notice Law out of the corner of your eye. 

He looks at you, then at Ichiji, and you can actually see the flicker of recognition when he puts two and two together. Why didn't you tell him earlier? How's he going to react now? 

“Inconvenient as always, Vinsmoke, I see. She's not your ‘doll’.” Law moves his arm from your waist to your shoulders and pulls you closer to him. “She’s my girlfriend.”

What was it? Four months…? Five? Something around that, for sure. Nearly half a year without looking at him, and he still has this strange hold on you. You can barely breathe, it’s as if the world has been tipped off its axis and you’re falling indefinitely. 

“Trafalgar Law… well, she is used to the fine things in life, obviously, she would seek someone who could provide her safety and comfort. I just didn’t think she would downgrade that much.” 

Is he trying to paint you as a gold digger? This has got to be Doflamingo’s work. Law grips your shoulder, and you find your feet. “You wish you were half the man Law is, Ichiji.” You seethe, venom dripping from your words, even though you can feel yourself shaking like a leaf. 

“I love it when you talk back, Doll. It’s so much more satisfying when you finally break.”

“We’re done here.” Law lowers his arm and grabs your hand firmly, turning you both away from the scene as Doffy watches from the sidelines, a glint of amusement behind his tinted glasses. The look Law gives Ichiji before parting is cold and dangerous, and you take pride in seeing Ichiji’s smirk falter slightly before Law guides you away from the scene and into the house.

When you find an empty hallway, your heart starts pounding at an increased pace, the ringing in your ears is unbearable, and you lean against the wall, closing your eyes shut and covering your ears. 

You can make out Law saying something in the background, but you’re trying so hard to keep it together. One… breathe in. Two… breathe out.

Then two strong arms envelop you, and you're pressed against Law’s chest. The next inhale you take smells like home: Law’s cologne and that characteristic ‘doctor scent’ he carries of disinfectant. Pungent, warm, comforting. 

Gradually, you relax your body, your hands finding purchase against Law’s chest as he rubs soothing circles against your back. When your breath normalises, Law lifts your chin so he can look at you, and the care in his eyes almost breaks you again. “Hey, sweetheart, it’s alright. I’m here.”

You nod softly. If it weren’t for Law’s presence, an encounter with Ichiji would’ve triggered a full-blown panic attack. “I’m sorry, Law, I’m so sorry! I meant to tell you who my ex was, but… but… I wasn’t trying to hide it, there’s nothing to hide! I just…”

“Were you scared about how I would react?”

“I was embarrassed…” You sigh, holding his gaze in yours. “I figured you must know Ichiji, and he’s… well, he’s not the most wonderful person in the world… I just… it’s silly, but I was afraid you’d judge my choice.”

Law cups your cheek and smiles softly at you. “I understand why you avoided speaking about him. Hell, how could we know he would show up at my cousin’s wedding?”

“Your uncle came to me yesterday, saying he knew who I was and that, since I had dated Ichiji and now you, it was clear that I was only after money. He realised Ichiji was my ex, so he was definitely the one who brought him into the wedding.” You sigh again and clutch Law’s coat. “I should’ve told you yesterday, but we kept getting interrupted and then…” You blush slightly. “Then we got distracted, and Ichiji was nowhere near my mind.”

Law smirks and leans in, his mouth inches from yours. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I would never judge you, you know that. I know I’ve made poor choices in past relationships. What matters is what we have now. And neither my uncle nor fucking Vinsmoke Ichiji can ruin that.”

“Right.” You agree. 

“Right.” He takes your lips in his, and you sigh into the kiss. Just his touch is enough to calm the rest of your fears. “I got you.”

“I know.”

“I’ll speak with Baby 5 about you walking the aisle. There’s no need for you to accompany him.” That’s right! Realisation strikes you suddenly. He is probably the groomsman who had cancelled and showed up last-minute, and since you’re filling in for the bridesmaid, you’re the one supposed to accompany him.

“I…” You start, almost agreeing to Law’s suggestion. But then you remember Baby 5’s words and how excited she was about having the perfect wedding. She’s been so kind to you and welcoming. You don’t want to ruin her perfect day. “I can do it. I don’t want to ruin her day, Law. It’s just a walk.”

You’re trying to convince yourself more than you’re trying to convince him. And he immediately picks up on your uneasiness as his brow rises and that crease in his forehead makes its appearance. 

“You don’t have to do it.” The caress he lays on your cheek is gentle. “I’m the one who brought you to this wedding, your encounter with Ichiji is partially my fault. I really don’t want to put you through this if I can avoid it.”

His hand feels warm as you take it in yours with a - hopefully - encouraging smile. “Even if I could go back and do it all over again, knowing I would have to encounter Ichiji, I wouldn’t change a thing, Law. The time with you, our connection… I wouldn’t change it.”

The look of pure warmth he shows you is enough to set the kaleidoscope of butterflies that live in your stomach aflutter again. Will there ever be a time when you can tame them down? 

“I got this, Law. I do. I need to overcome my anxiety. Ichiji can’t hurt me anymore.” You try to sound sure, but just thinking about the task ahead churns your stomach in a very wrong way, nothing like the butterflies of earlier. 

“Are you sure?” He asks, a little skeptical, and you can see a flicker of something else in his eyes. From the way he’s gripping you, you’d risk it being just about him being overly protective. But you nod, and he sighs. “Okay, then. You know I trust you can do this. If you need support, keep your eyes on me. I’ll be there for you.”

You nod again in a reassuring way. It’s comforting to know he’ll always be there for you. 

-*-

You had breakfast with Law but barely ate, your stomach twisting and turning with uneasiness, even though Law kept trying to lighten the mood, to bring you out of your self-imposed funk. But you just wanted to get this ‘walking down the aisle’ business out of your mind. Besides, it was completely unfair for Law to be this worried about you. 

“Are you sure?” He asks you again at the door to Baby 5’s room, where you’re going to help her with the final preparations before you all go down to the tents. Law's voice is back to being cool and clipped, and the creasing between his brows has intensified. 

“I'll be alright, Law. It's just a walk. And you'll be there.”

He kisses your temple and caresses your cheek with his thumb. “Damn right, I will.”

You smile at him, and he parts with a lingering kiss on the lips. Damn, how are you supposed to last the rest of the day without proclaiming your love to him? 

“See you soon, sweetheart.” 

As you enter Baby 5’s room, you feel all the dread returning and weighing heavily on your chest. You can do this. It’s just a walk. 

Around half an hour later, the bridesmaids and the groomsmen are gathering outside the tent. There’s a pop song playing in the background, and your heart seems to be pounding at the same rhythm as the frenzied electronic tempo. The wedding planner asks the bridesmaids and the respective groomsmen to get into position, and the song turns to a slower one. 

“I know I've said it before, Doll, but you do look stunning.” You keep your eyes trained forward and focus on evening out your breaths. “But then again, you always did. Remember the dresses I used to buy for you? You left them all at our house.” 

Closing your eyes, you will your heart to beat normally. Slowly, regularly. Law. You need to focus on Law. 

Ichiji takes a step closer to you, and the scent of his cologne starts a spiral of bad memories. They all rush so hard and fast that you get dizzy and wobble on your feet. He reaches out and steadies your arm, his touch burning and searing through your bare flesh. 

With a hiss, you pull back your arm, silently thanking the wedding gods for placing you at the end of the entourage. “Touch me again, Ichiji, and I swear to God I will stab your hand with the cake knife.”

There. It sounded so cold and threatening that Law would be proud. But Ichiji just lets out an icy chuckle. 

“Feisty. There's the fire that made my loins burn.” His whisper is hot against your ear, and you will your eyes to remain glued to the first bridesmaid. She just entered the tent. “The fire that burned so hot until I tamed it down. Remember?”

“Leave me the fuck alone, Ichiji. We're done. The only reason I'm next to you is because I like and respect Baby 5. Otherwise, I would be nowhere near you.”

Another couple down the aisle. Almost there. Almost. 

“There are so many things you can't do by yourself, you need me. Trafalgar can't give you what I can.”

Third couple down the aisle. Almost, almost. You grit your teeth, refusing to answer more of his taunts. 

“You can't tell me that Trafalgar is better than me, right, Doll?”

Nope. Can't take it. 

“He is a hundred times better than you could ever aspire to be! He is kind, honest, good–...”

“That’s bullshit. You don’t need kind, Doll, you need firm, strong–..”

“Shut up, Ichiji. You never knew what I needed, never even made an effort to learn. We are done. I don’t want to speak with you anymore. Leave me alone!”

The fourth couple enters the tent, and sweat begins dampening your forehead. You can feel your heartbeat skyrocketing and your pulse quickening. One… breathe in. Two… breathe out.

“I’m willing to learn. I’ve changed.” As if! Three… breathe in. Four… breathe out. “I can’t stand to see you with someone else. When Donquixote called me and said you were dating his nephew… I trembled with rage.”

So it had been Doflamingo! Five… breathe in. Six… breathe out. Has the sun somehow turned brighter? Focus! You have to focus. Fifth couple in, you’re next. Seven… breathe in. Eight… breathe out. 

“You were mine once. You can be mine again.”

“Alright, cue. It’s your turn, go!” The wedding planner speaks to you and Ichiji. Nine… breathe in. Ten… breathe out. The tent flap opens up, and you immediately find Law. His eyes are already glued to yours, and as you let out a loud sigh, your heart rate resumes at a slower, more regular pace. 

Ichiji extends his arm for you to take, and you take another last inhale before giving him a look full of fire and fury. “You might’ve had my body, and you might’ve controlled me, but you never had all of me, and you never will. I will never be yours, Ichiji.”

You refuse his extended arm and start to walk down the aisle in time with the song, as per Baby 5’s request. Locking eyes with Law, you block everything around you. There’s only you and him. 

And nothing else matters.

Tag List:@rosidaze @beachaddict48 @armiliadawn @jintaka-hane @sprinkklz @baby5555 @hopelesslover06 @mars-mizuko @sleepykittycx @nerium-lil @eustasscapitankid @ren-ni @jqperi @lycoriskalmia @rainbow2312 @alexturnersgirl

|Chapter 14🔞|

[lionlena]

We don't love each other (PedroPascalxreader) angst!

A/N: I can't believe I wrote ANGST. It breaks my heart. All because of this one gif. In my imagination, Tyler looks like Tyler Hoechlin.

Summary: You and Pedro are: friends with benefits, for many years. Your layout is simple and clear. You don't love each other. You're friends on a daily basis, you take care of each other... Sometimes you sleep together. You go on dates with other men and Pedro doesn't mind. Everything is simple until you accidentally hear Oscar say that Pedro loves you. Then you decide to tell him the truth and you ruin everything. 

Warnings: angst!!! smut, mentions of sex, friends with benefits, sad, broken hearts, age difference (reader is 15 years younger than Pedro)

*

You thought your arrangement with Pedro was transparent. You were friends with benefits. You two didn't spread it, but your closest friends guessed it.

You met Pedro a few years earlier when his career was just taking off. You liked each other and felt good about each other. You often went to parties together. One day you ended up in bed together. But you and Pedro didn't want something like that to end your friendship. Together, you made the decision to continue your friendship, adding benefits.

Men have needs... Women too.

You had to admit that Pedro was a truly wonderful man, not only in bed, but most of all, out of it. He took cared of you, gave you small gifts and comforted you after a date gone wrong. He was a great friend.

Unfortunately, over time, you realized that you felt something more for him. You really loved him, but you weren't going to tell him that. Pedro has always made it clear, "we don't love each other." He reinforced this position as his career began to take off. You understood and respected it. That's why you dated other men and didn't hide it from Pedro. You didn't sleep with him while you were in a relationship, and he respected that. Sometimes you were a little worried that Pedro rarely dated other women. But you explained it to yourself by his profession. He couldn't risk meeting someone who would announce to the world the next day: I slept with Pedro Pascal and he left me!!! He is an asshole!!!

Well, some women didn't understand that sleeping with a guy doesn't necessarily mean an engagement ring.

Yes, your arrangement with Pedro was clear, transparent and stable. You loved him, secretly, and he... He loved you as a friend. You thought so.

*

You were laughing on the phone when Pedro invited you to a party by the ocean that was supposed to last all weekend.

"Are you crazy! Did you really rent beach houses for everyone?"

"I want to celebrate my success! Y/N, you know me. I want everyone to have fun and no one to worry about how to get home."

"Are you suggesting we are going drink a lot?"

"A lot of!"

You both burst out laughing. You really enjoyed Pedro's success. He deserved it. Deserved all the love and attention. You knew what he went through in life. In your eyes, no one deserved it more that him.

"Okay. I think I can take a few days off."

"Wonderful. Just tell me, do you want a cottage for two?"

You bit your lip and started to think. Pedro obviously sensed that something was wrong and immediately asked:

"Hey, what's wrong? Did you and Tyler break up?"

"Uh, no... But things have gotten complicated for the moment and... I'd rather be alone."

"Okay, do you want to talk about it? I know I've been busy lately with The Last of Us , but we're still friends."

You smiled. Pedro was always worried about you, but you didn't want to spoil his mood.

"It's just a simple lovers' quarrel. He'll get over it."

"OK, see you soon."

"Bye, Pedrito."

You hung up and fell onto the couch. You lied when you said it was nothing. The truth was, you screwed everything up. You and Tyler were a couple for over seven months, it was your longest relationship. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that Pedro was in Canada on the set of the show and rarely spoke. It was the truth you didn't want to admit. Tyler was handsome, kind, and... He took your relationship very seriously. A month ago at a family dinner, he knelt in front of you with an engagement ring, and you... You said no and ran.

You really didn't know why you did it. Why?! You tried to call Tyler many times and apologize to him, but he didn't answer. You weren't surprised at all. So you texted him explaining that you were just scared. But you knew it was a lie. The truth was, you missed Pedro. For his body, for having sex with him...

You screamed in rage and started throwing yourself on the couch.

After a few minutes, you decided to go through your wardrobe. Why would you care about Tyler when you could be with Pedro again in a few days. Even if he didn't love you, his presence could bring you comfort.

*

When you got out of the taxi a week later, you felt like you could breathe again and not think about Tyler.

The driver was just taking out your suitcase when you heard Pedro.

"Y/N!!!"

He ran straight at you and you jumped into his arms. You hugged him tightly and inhaled his scent. God, you finally felt good. You pulled back a bit to get a better look at him. You immediately noticed that he had a little more gray hair, but that only added to his hotness. He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue shorts. Even though he was wearing sunglasses, you could see how his eyes sparkled. You'd be lying if you said you didn't enjoy it. Pedro really loved see you.

"I missed you" you said and cupped his cheek with your hand.

"Me too," he purred.

"Who is already?"

"Oscar, Sarah, Linda, Thomas, Adam, Helen... And you. My most important guest."

You slapped his chest and pulled away.

"Stop. I know it's only because you haven't had sex."

It was a harmless joke, but you could easily see Pedro tense up.

"Hey, it's a joke... You know, nothing has changed. Our arrangement. Right?"

Pedro shook himself and nodded. He grabbed your suitcase with one hand and wrapped his other around your waist. He leaned his head towards you and whispered in your ear.

"You look lovely in that dress."

You couldn't help the blush that spread across your cheeks.

A few minutes later, Pedro was leaning against the doorframe of your beach house. He watched you unpack your suitcase. You glanced at him and noticed that he was strangely restless.

"Hey, what's wrong with you?"

"It's more of a question for you." He replied and took a few steps towards you. "We've known each other for over ten years Y/N. We started friendship when you were in your twenties. I know you and I know when you don't tell me everything. Imagine how surprised I was when I called Laura."

You suddenly felt your mouth go dry. Laura was a friend of yours and spoke to you regularly.

"She was very surprised to hear you were going to the party because I quote, Seriously, I thought she was devastated after she turned down Tyler's engagement."

You tried to read Pedro's face, but he was unfazed. You didn't know if he was angry or disgusted with you. You sighed heavily and sat on the bed.

"What do you want to hear, Pedro? I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was a bitch who broke a good guy's heart."

Pedro shook his head and sat next to you. He grabbed your hand and his thumb began to make comforting circles on your skin.

"I just want to know why? What happened between you two? Is it my fault? Is it because of our arrangement?”

You looked at him surprised.

"How did you get that idea? Tyler doesn't know about us. He know we're just friends, so don't blame yourself." You rested your head on his shoulder. "It just freaked me out, you know... His whole family was there. It wasn't fair. Like he thought I was going to say 'yes' for sure if they were looking at me. We haven't even talked about it and he suddenly jumps out with ring. Who does that?"

Pedro put his arm around you and pulled you closer.

"I'm sorry Y/N. I just want you to be happy."

You had to bite your tongue not to reply, "I'm happy. Here and now, with you." Instead, you pulled away from him and smiled.

"Hey, I'm not here to cry. I want to party, dance, drink and hear all the cool stories from the set."

"You want to hear how everyone was looking for me while I was sleeping?"

You started laughing out loud.

"Why doesn't this surprise me? You're the best nap-mate."

*

You felt wonderful during the party. You completely forget about Tyler. Pedro's hands on your hips while dancing were enough to make you happy. Everyone was laughing and drinking. When it started to get colder, Pedro lit a fire and you all sat on blankets..

Pedro, of course, was sitting next to you and hugging you. Still, you were shaking.

"Do you want my sweatshirt? I can bring you one." he asked tenderly.

He's always taken such good care of you. You nodded, but before he got up, you yourself were on your feet.

"Wait, I'll go myself. I have to use the bathroom anyway."

"Okay, take which one you want."

You didn't even notice that Oscar was watching the two of you closely.

You used the bathroom and sat on the bed to look through Pedro's suitcase. You felt your phone slip out of your pocket, so you took it out and set it aside. Then you noticed the navy blue sweatshirt Pedro was wearing earlier. You put it on and smiled as you smelled his perfume. When you got back to the fire, you took your seat and started talking to the others. At three o'clock in the morning, everyone was tired and slowly began to return to their temporary homes. You were going to do it too, but not before Pedro hugged you and kissed your head.

"Goodnight, Sunshine."

"Night, Pedrito ."

You gave him one last hug and walked towards your beach house. Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Oscar grab Pedro's elbow and pull him aside. You didn't care. They were very close and always had things to discuss.

You threw yourself on your bed with a big smile. You wanted to check your phone when you realized you left it in Pedro's house. You groaned and got up. However, when you were about to enter Pedro, you heard Oscar's voice through the ajar door.

"Dude, you're exaggerating."

"Leave me alone, I didn't do anything. You can see I don't have Y/N here."

You were about to leave when you realized they were talking about you.

Oscar sighed heavily.

"You were about to let it go. You said you'd distance yourself, and what are you doing... You stick to her like a horny teenager during the dance, and then... "You want my hoodie" How old are you?

Your heart was beating like crazy.

"It doesn't mean anything to her anyway and... I just wanted her to have fun and forget about Tyler."

Oscar snorted as if he didn't believe his friend's words at all.

"You have to stop it, Pedro. Loving Y/N is destroying you. You don't date other women. You don't start serious relationships..."

You wanted to keep listening, but Oscar moved closer to the entrance, and you were afraid he'd see you. Besides, you thought you'd heard enough. You decided to go back to your cottage and watch from the window when Oscar left Pedro.

The waiting was a nightmare. You jumped and squealed and bit your lip.

Pedro loved you!!! He loved you!!! You were so happy. You finally can told him the truth. Poor guy thought he meant nothing to you. You had to change it.

As soon as you saw that Oscar left Pedro's cottage, you ran to the mirror. You fixed your hair and makeup. You almost ran outside and in less than five minutes you were on the doorstep of the beach house. You knocked lightly and entered. Pedro was sitting on the bed looking tired. You giggled like a teenager.

"You are not sleep yet, old man?"

He lifted his head and looked at you surprised.

"Y/N, what are you doing here?"

You smiled at him and winked at him.

"I left my phone on your bed while I was getting your sweatshirt."

He turned around and when he saw your cell phone he nodded. You shifted restlessly from foot to foot. You couldn't wait any longer. Maybe it was the alcohol still coursing through your veins, but you just let it out.

"I love you."

"What?"

"I love you Pedro, I..."

Pedro jumped to his feet and shook his head furiously.

"NO!"

You were surprised by the anger you saw in his eyes.

"You're drunk," he growled.

Now you felt angry.

"No more than you," you gasped. "I know what I'm saying and you don't have to hide it anymore. Don't get upset. I accidentally overheard what Oscar was saying."

"You obviously didn't hear everything Y/N. You didn't hear me tell him that I don't want to love you, that it's just a problem..."

You felt like someone had punched you in the face.

"I'm a problem?"

Pedro huffed in annoyance and ran a hand over his face.

"Not you. My love for you is the problem. I'm not in a place where I'm supposed to love someone. Maybe I never will be. You're younger and you live a quiet life with no paparazzi. Do you really want to ruin it all for some fleeting feeling?"

You clenched your hands into fists.

"I've loved you for a long time, you fool!"

"Stop! Why are you ruining everything?! Why did you have to love me back?!"

 You couldn't believe that the same Pedro who hugged you when you cried was standing in front of you. The same one who brought you coffee in bed and kissed you on the forehead when you fell asleep. A complete stranger was standing in front of you. You couldn't hold back your tears anymore.

Pedro, seeing this, suddenly regained his composure. He looked at you resignedly.

"I'm sorry, Y/N. I never meant to make you cry, but... I really don't want to love you."

He took a step towards you, but you jumped back. You quickly ran to where you left your phone and shouted:

"Leave me! Never come near me again!!!”

Then you just ran out of his beach house and locked yourself in yours. For a while you wondered if Pedro would try to get to you, but apparently he took your words to heart. You cried all night, and in the morning you packed up and called a taxi. By the time everyone woke up, you were already halfway home.

 Only one person saw you leave. His brown and tear-filled eyes watched intently as you disappeared from his life on forever.

*

Up all night on another red-eye I wish we never learned to fly Maybe we should just try To tell ourselves a good lie Didn't mean to make you cry Maybe won't you take it back? Say you were tryna make me laugh And nothing has to change today You didn't mean to say "I love you" I love you and I don't want to, ooh

Billie Eilish- I love you (cover/ male version)

Part II

[angel-anachronism]

Idk if you do Noel but if you do can you do him x like a popular (maybe jock) male reader. And like it’s how they met and got together

Omg, this is such a cute idea! I take any character, don't worry, so you can request anything at any time! Sorry for writing this later than usual, I was once again really busy with school and my other fanfics

Anyways, here's your order of a scenario of how Noel met his boyfriend, (Y/N), who is a popular jock in their school.

We also only have a few more followers to get, and we'll have 100 followers! I still can't believe it! Thank you guys for following my journey in making oneshots, ily all <33

(Tw: None!)

The poet and the soldier (Noel x Jock!Male!Reader)

𝓝𝓸𝓮𝓵'𝓼 𝓟𝓞𝓥

I was walking down the hall, bored as hell. I had nothing better to do than to walk and daydream about the life I'd always wanted. Unfortunately for me, life rarely cooperates in such a manner.

As I was walking I bumped into someone, which caused me to fall on my ass. I looked up only to see a figure, wearing a letterman jacket with the school's initials. 'Oh great, it was one of the jocks!' I thought mentally.

I was about to pick my books up when another hand touched my books and began picking them up. It was still the jock.

"Ugh, what do you want, meathead?" I asked as I looked at him. He began smiling at me, showing his dimples.

"Oh, I'm just trying to help! Sorry for bumping into you." The jock said. His voice was so hypnotizing from how soft and velvety it sounded.

I shook my head. He is probably trying to make fun of me for not paying attention.

"Yeah, well thank you Mr.whateveryournameis, and goodbye!" I said as I left him there standing. He was honestly very cute, but I knew that there is no way that a boy, more or less a jock, would like me, since everyone here is straighter than a line and smooth-brained from how closed-minded they are.

As I walked back into the classroom, my mind was once again consumed with thoughts of the jock. Even though I told myself that I was going to ignore him, he seemed to have caught my gaze. With his stupid smirk that had dimples, his messy hair...those beautiful (e/c) eyes...Oh no, I think I'm in love with him!

After class, I started walking straight back home. I'll call in sick for choir lessons, and I'll just go back home and cry into my pillow about how much of an idiot I am! Like, why would I fall in love with a jock out of everyone! I was just destined to have my heart broken.

I always wanted to have an angsty love story, but this seems like way too much! There is no way that the Jock will ever fall in love with me! I'm just some random guy that he bumped into in the halls.

After I got back home, I got greeted by my mother. I sighed in sadness as I hugged her and walked back to my room, ready to cry my heart out.

As I got into my room, I threw my backpack in the corner, and flopped on my bed, as I began crying.

As I was crying, I got a notification on my computer. I walked to the computer and noticed that I got a message on Facebook. (a/n: keep in mind this happens in 2009)

"Hey there, Noel, right? It's me, the guy you bumped into today at school. You can call me (Y/N)! I found out that you were in the choir so I went there after classes ended to ask you a question, but I didn't find you. The Ukrainian boy gave me your Facebook so that we can talk. I just wanted to say that I find you, well...handsome, and I would like to go to the Blackwood cafe this weekend with you, but only if you want to! See you soon! ~Signed, (Y/N) from school"

My eyes widened, and my cheeks became redder than apples. He was also attracted to me? I can't believe it!

I started crying happy tears and I ran to my mom and told her everything. She looked so happy for me and even suggested inviting (Y/N) sometime to our house.

My future relationship with (Y/N) will surely blossom soon!

𝑅𝑒𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑔 >> 𝐿𝒾𝓀𝑒 (𝒩𝑜𝓉 𝒻𝑜𝓇𝒸𝒾𝓃𝑔, 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝐼 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓁𝓁𝓎 𝓃𝑒𝑒𝒹 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓈𝓉𝓈 𝒶𝓃𝒹 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹𝑒𝓇𝓈)

[phoenix-of-jade]

20-30!

70 horrible questions ... Fuck it

20: Where was the last place you snogged someone?

"I think it was in a bar, but at this point it could've been anywhere I might've seen a cute guy/gal and we fancied one another. I'm a passionate guy, ya know? Being with me usually involves making out one way or another, unless we are strictly business partners or I don't give a fuck about you/ you don't attract me in the slightest."

21: What are your plans for this weekend?

"I don't know. Maybe go out for dinner? Maybe go out for a drink and a game of pool at my favorite bar? Maybe just spend the evenings in my study, with a glass of fine champagne and a good book? The options are endless. Any suggestions?"

22: Do you want to have kids? How many?

Xuan ponders on the question for a little bit. "Yeah, why not? After all, having kids wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, so I guess I would adopt one or two unfortunate souls and give them a better life they wouldn't be able to have otherwise. I've been an adoptee myself, so I know the struggles of a child born unwanted into this cruel world that doesn't leave much options than fending for yourself."

23: Do you have piercings? How many?

"No, I do not have any piercings. I did, however, had some thoughts of getting some back in my teenage years, in what I call my 'rebellion phase'. I was contemplating getting a septum piercing and maybe an eyebrow one." Xuan smirks. "Why? Do you think I'd look sexy with one or more?"

24: What is/are/were your best subject(s)?

"What weren't my best subjects?" Xuan snorts and proudly points at a display case behind him, featuring a generous collection of trophies and ribbons. "I'm a cocky bastard for a reason, you know? I've worked hard throughout my life to reach this level of flawlessness that I can pride myself with."

25: Do you miss anyone from your past?

Xuan takes a brief pause, as if to collect himself. This particular question seems to have struck a sensitive chord of his heart. He looks into the distance for a moment, as if deep in thought. With a saddened expression, but subtle one at that, he answers. "Yes, I do miss someone from my past. I won't elaborate further."

26: What are you craving right now?

"Let's see... A glass of wine, a candle bath, a massage and a good round of passionate sex. I guess the usual for a Friday night, don't you think?" Xuan smirks.

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

"Yes, yes I did. In fact, I've had to break many hearts because unfortunately, while I never developed feelings, the people I mingled with on more than one occasion sometimes happened to catch feelings for me. I know, a real bother having to tell a fuckbuddy that no, you don't see them as more than just a good friend, but what can you do? I'm not the type to lead people on just cause 'I don't want to hurt their fragile little hearts and egos'."

28: Have you ever been cheated on?

Xuan shrugs his shoulders. "Never been in a serious relationship, so no. Since most of my 'relationships' were with no strings attached, aka mostly just casual fuck buddies, neither me or the other person involved deemed exclusivity over the other."

29: Have you made a boyfriend/girlfriend cry?

Xuan sighs, rolls his eyes and rubs his temple. "Yeah... No... Kind of? I mean, if you count a 'fuckbuddy' in this category, then yes. My childhood best friend, Cheng, and I became kinda close from more than one point of view, if you catch my drift, and I guess me being nicer and warmer to him, than to other people I fucked with, probably gave him the wrong message that I liked him more than just my friend. He actually caught feelings for me, really badly to say so, and he actually confessed his feelings to me... But while I enjoyed the sex, I still didn't love him in that way, if it makes sense? So I had to do what had to be done and broke his heart while also ending things with him intimate wise. It was hard since I do care about him, so seeing him cry sucked, but there was no other way. We're still friends, but yeah... That kinda put a dent between us in a way"

30: What’s irritating you right now?

"Aside from some shitty clients that think I am dumbass and try to scam me, nothing really. It's rather difficult to get me irritated to be honest, since I am mostly a calm man by nature. Nerves and anger rarely get you anywhere, so it's best to try keep your cool and think things with a calm mind no matter the circumstances."

[monotonous-minutia]

my brain will not let me do my reading until I put this out there, so:

my thoughts on the ending of the SFO 2015 Nozze

(note: relates to thoughts on the 3rd Beaumarchais play, so if you’re not prepared to get your heart broken multiple times, I advice you skip this. Under the line to make that easier.)

(also contains spoilers for that production, so don’t read if you haven’t seen it yet, unless you want to know before you do, or don’t plan on seeing it)

For those of you who may not know much about the 3rd Beaumarchais play(and if you don’t, I advise you keep it that way; stop reading and go about your day), it takes place many years after the events of Nozze (or Le Mariage de Figaro in the original French). Susanna and Figaro have been married for several years, and the Count and Countess have each had children by different people. Yeah, I know. Most of the plot is that these two children fall in love (because of course they do, it’s Beaumarchais). There’s this whole long convoluted plot about that involving the author’s signature insane plot twists and Figaro being all clever and the Count being an utter d-bag. Aside from the fact that none of it is as clever as the first two, I think the play’s rarity is defined by 1) the fact that even though the lovers don’t share the exact same parentage, they’re still technically siblings so it’s kinda weird even for Beaumarchais, and 2) the reason the play is entitled The Guilty Mother (La Mère coupable). The father of the Countess’s illegitimate child is Cherubino.

I know--what was Beaumarchais thinking?

To top it all off, after the events that result in the Countess’s pregnancy, Cherubino becomes depressed and suicidal and lets himself be killed in battle (because yes, the Count stood by his word and sent the kid to war, as promised, even after the concluding events of Nozze).

so, yeah, I think we can all agree on two things: it is a very good thing this play is never performed, and it also does not exist.

However, though it’s pretty rare, it’s a little hard to avoid if you’re invested in the Figaro canon and want to learn more about the original plays and look them up and see there’s a third one and read the synopsis because you’re curious and want to know why you haven’t heard of it and then you read the synopsis and throw the book across the floor and try not to scream because you’re in the library and then go into the stacks where no one cans see you crying. (this is just an example; it may have happened differently for you, idk, this was just one that I thought of, just giving some random person’s reaction as an example).

or maybe you’ve found out about it by reading this, in which case, I’m sorry to be the bearer of your misfortune.

Anyway, equipped with this knowledge, watching Nozze can have a bit of a different aftertaste. Most productions I’ve seen don’t make reference to the future events. It’s trickier to foreshadow an entire play than it would be, say, to make references to Barbiere in a Nozze production. But some directors are motivated (and evil) and find away.

With this, I am going to break your heart with one picture:

yes, that is the Countess going back to the Count after he has been a terrible person and a terrible husband; and yes, that is Cherubino staring at her with a tragic expression on his face. In this production, he appears to be the only who is not happy with this development. He sees how the Count treats her, and he doesn’t want her to go back to that, to continue to deal with the abuse.

When I first watched this, I thought: Yeah, Lindsey has obviously read the third play.

Barbarina tries to go to him, but he’s wrapped up in his concern for the Countess:

even as everyone else is celebrating, he can’t bring himself to smile--

He tries to go to her but she walks away with her asshole husband. To top it all off, note how Cherubino is the only one not with someone right now. Even Basilio and Curzio are getting chummy (pretty sure they are an item, but that’s another story).

and as the curtain goes down and everyone else is walking away happily, Cherubino literally falls to his knees in despair, still looking after the Countess:

and at this point I am thinking: the director has definitely read the third play too.

I’m not going to blame them for it. If you’re going to encapsulate, interpret, and portray a character onstage, you’re probably going to want to do as much research on that character as you have available. Unfortunately, in the case of this child, that includes La mère coupable.

As you have probably gathered, if you’ve known me for any length of time, I am very, very particular with how Nozze is staged. And the biggest factor for me is that you gotta be nice to Cherubino.

Granted, I have seen worse things happen to this child at the end of the opera (DO NOT WATCH THE SALZBURG 2006 NOZZE), but this is still very painful for me.

Why can’t we have nice things? Why can’t we give Cherubino all the love in the world?

This isn’t (to me) in the same vein as my Idomeneo critique from earlier; that was a device that made reference to events that had occurred in the canon of the opera at hand. For Nozze, something like this makes reference to a part of the story that has yet to occur, and currently doesn’t have a place (literally speaking, but imo metaphorically too) on the current stage.

I am frustrated at how difficult it is to find a performance that is not mean or damaging for Cherubino. That’s one of the big reasons I love the Garsington 2017 one so much: it’s the only one I’ve seen where no one is mean to Cherubino (except the Count, but that’s written into the story). Even my favorite Cherubino (in the ‘98 Met production) gets pushed around more than I want him to.

One could argue that such an interpretation--a nice ending for Cherubino--is idyllic and unrealistic. But given the majority of the opera fandom agrees (as far as I’m aware) that the third Figaro play does not exist, I feel like I can be very angry at productions that insinuate otherwise.

I won’t begrudge the director for making a dramatic choice that is in reference to canonical events. On principle, that’s still much better than portraying interpretations that have nothing to do with canon, if said interpretations don’t add something meaningful. (Whereas the ax in Idomeneo, while it is not in the stage directions, and is disturbing, highlights a very valid part of the current story. So, it’s a very different concept for me.)

So nothing against the director or the production in general. But I am still an emotional wreck after seeing this and wish it could have been staged differently. Up until the very last 3 minutes, this was seeming like one the the sweetest, most cheerful, and overall one of the best-quality productions I’ve seen. It still is, but some of the sweetness and cheerfulness dies along with my heart when Lindsey gives us a tragic preview into what is going to happen to Cherubino, a few years down the line.

anyways Beaumarchais can suck it, sorry (not sorry). How dare you hurt this child.

[novamirmirsblog]

Steven's Mom

Genre: fluff/angst/smut +18

Pairing: Natasha x reader

Word count: 3874

Request: no

Warnings: poorly written smut, cheating

A/n: This literally took me a good month to write, so I think it's safe to say this may be a little bit shit. If the punctuation seems off, it's cause Grammarly keeps being weird and making suggestions -_- BUT ENJOY! Cause I'm not sure when the next fic will be finished XD Yes, smoking is bad but holy shit is it hot when the right people do it.

Masterlist Natasha Romanoff masterlist

Relationships.

That word has always scared you.

Your friends would talk about their recent boyfriends and how they were going on cute group dates and where was your boyfriend Y/n?

Your answer was always that there was no point in settling down with one person when you were yet to try them all. Especially seeing as you had only just reached your 23rd birthday.

Sure, some may have seen that as 'flighty behaviour' and yes, perhaps you should have gotten a therapist when you were a lot younger - but you were always told you were going to be a heartbreaker and the long trail of flings you left in your wake was testimony to this.

Perhaps heartbreaker was a strong word. You were sure that only going on a few dates with a guy hardly led to their hearts being broken but you were pretty and could accentuate your almost forgotten accent which made all the boys fall into a line.

You had moved to America with your family when you were 16 but due to your desire to fit in, you had worked extremely hard on switching your native accent for an American one. It felt as if you were betraying your family but it was too late to break that habit 7 years on.

Using people as a means to an end is never a good plan. Especially when that person was a friend but when Steven had asked you out, you couldn't help but see a goldmine of opportunities.

Steven was sweet. He was the kind of all-American guy that was shoved down the western media consumer's throats. He played baseball throughout his school career and taught the little leagues on weekends. He had the body of a god and the heart of a saint.

For all intended purposes, Steven was perfect.

Steven would be your salvation.

~~~~~

After 3 weeks of non-stop dating, your university friends wanted to see the boy who had managed to keep the notorious serial dater interested for more than one date. You decided to introduce them all, telling your university friends that Steven was a friend from high school.

Obviously they all swooned.

You truly were living the 'American dream'. However your American dream all came crashing down one Tuesday night.

It had been two months since the first date and Steven had invited you over to his house after seeing a movie. You took your shoes off and hung up your jackets before you both made your way to the kitchen. Steven backed you up to the kitchen counter, kissing along your neck using too much tongue. You were a strong believer that neck kisses should be mostly teeth. The tongue was reserved for other acts. The sound of heels filled you with relief. You liked Steven but he needed to work on his game. It seemed that Steven was too engrossed to realise his mother was standing in the doorway.

You locked eyes with her and let out a soft gasp. You thought you saw her left eyebrow twitch but you couldn't be sure because as she took a step towards you, the trance broke and you pushed Steven away.

"Babe?"

She cleared her throat and Steven spun on the spot, his jaw dropping in a comical way before closing again as his face went red. "I can explain..."

"No need to explain Stevie, just don't do it in my kitchen please."

"T-this is Y/n, Y/n, this is my mom."

"Natasha." She extended her hand for you to shake.

"It's nice to meet you Mrs Romanoff." You shook her hand.

"Please dear, I've been divorced for years. It's Ms now."

"Of course. Sorry." You apologised, the urge to wipe your boyfriend's saliva from your neck was growing the longer this conversation went on.

"No need to apologise lyubov."

"Well, we're just gonna go up to my room now..." Steven gave his mother a kiss on her cheek before leading you out of the kitchen.

~~~~~

You stayed the night with Steven but when you awoke, you were in an empty bed. To say you were disappointed would be a lie but you were a little offended that Steven had left you to wake up on your own. Just because you weren't utterly infatuated with him didn't mean he could leave you in his house without so much as a goodbye.

You debated whether or not you should wear the clothes you had from yesterday or steal one of Steven's many, many hoodies. You decided on the latter. One benefit Steven bought was the fact his hoodies absolutely engulfed you, the bottom of the jumper comfortably resting just above mid-thigh.

You crept out of the house, not realising a pair of eyes followed you the entire way down the drive, cigarette smoke obscuring her view.

~~~~~

You didn't see Steven till the following weekend. Personally, you felt it was too soon to be seeing him again, but you had put him off for longer than he would have liked, so you indulged him. The two of you decided to get milkshakes before going on a walk about the local park. It was a predictably mediocre date, and your mind drifted from Steven's blonde hair to a deep auburn. You weren't sure why you were thinking of red hair till you remembered that was the colour of Steven's mum's hair. You hadn't even realised Steven was talking to you till you saw him looking at you expectantly.

"Sorry babe, what was that?"

Steven laughed "Are you ever here Y/n? I was asking if you wanted to come back to my place?" He wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you in.

"Sure. I wanna drive though." You smirked at him, knowing there was no way he would let you behind the wheel of his precious baby.

"Ha ha." Steven mocked "Get your pretty ass in the car."

~~~~~

The first crack in your perfect American dream life happened when Steven left you alone.

Steven had forgotten he was supposed to be at baseball practice. You were flicking through Netflix, Amazon and Disney+, unable to choose anything, when you heard the front door open and close. You assumed it was Steven coming back, but the slender fingers that slid down your shoulders made you tense and turn around. You strained your neck, looking up at Natasha, her hands still resting on your shoulders.

"No Steven?" She asked, her eyebrow gently raised.

"He" You cleared your throat before continuing, hoping to focus on something other than her hands.

"He..." Natasha prompted you to continue, her thumbs gently creeping up to where your top exposed your neck.

"Had to do something with the little leagues." You rushed out, trying to stop the heat in your cheeks.

"And he left you all on your own, poor thing." Natasha said, drawing shapes along your shoulders as you tried to suppress a shiver.

You weren't sure who the 'poor thing' was. Whether it was you, or Steven.

"You know, I hide my accent too." Natasha said, her lips felt dangerously close to your ear as she let her Russian accent coat her words. "How about you let me hear your real accent too?"

You watched as she moved around the sofa, coming to stand in front of you.

"Um, I mean, I don't know what to say..." You said, your own voice sounding foreign to you as you spoke in your native accent for the first time in years. Not even Steven had heard your true accent.

Yet here you were, showing it to a woman you had met twice.

"krasivaya" Natasha reached under your chin, tilting your head up at her.

"W-what?"

"It means beautiful."

You swallowed, unable to move as she let her fingertips run down the front of your neck.

"Natasha..."

"Yes, sweets?" She responded, her eyes held a gleam that her words did not reflect.

"I don't think this is appropriate."

"What isn't appropriate?"

That made you pause. You weren't sure what made this interaction inappropriate, but you were certain it wasn't. The way your heart pounded in your chest in a way it never did with Steven confirmed that idea. Although your words said that this was wrong, your body didn't want this to stop. With every movement Natasha's nails made against your throat, more goosebumps erupted.

"Do you want me to stop?"

"...no"

"What was that?"

"No." You said with more confidence than before.

"That's what I thought." Natasha bought her fingers back up to your chin as she leaned in, closing the distance between the two of you till your lips crashed. She moved to sit on the sofa next to you, and you put your leg over hers, moving closer to her. You sat on her lap, fiddling with the top of her mom jeans as she ran her hands through your hair, getting lipstick all over your lips. You rested your arms around her neck as she ran her hands under your top, making you moan into her mouth. She shuffled under you, making your hips bump against each other. You bit her lower lip, and it was her turn to moan, the sound travelling down your throat. She pulled away after that, resting her forehead against yours, her eyes still closed as you opened yours.

You weren't sure how long you sat there with Natasha underneath you, but it was long enough for the sun to dip below the horizon. The two of you didn't say anything, but you didn't need to. It was a kind of peaceful silence you never had with Steven.

Your phone buzzed, breaking you out of your peaceful bubble.

It was your brother.

"Fuck. I've gotta go." You stood up, instantly noticing the lack of warmth you suddenly craved. You grabbed your coat and left the house, shouting a hurried goodbye to Natasha.

~~~~~

You received a text later that night from an unknown number. The only thing that gave the identity away was the sign-off, 'сладких снов'. You looked it up.

It was Russian.

Natasha had wished you sweet dreams.

~~~~~

There was something off with you, and Steven was beginning to notice. Steven usually hated his name; he was named after his mother's close friend. A close friend that had led to the breakdown of his parent's marriage. He hated it until he heard you say it. It sounded like peaceful autumn afternoons. In fact, you often reminded him of autumn. To begin with, it was your sweet laugh that reminded him of warm autumn colours, but as time went on, he realised while you were like autumn, he was summer. As often as he wished it wasn't true, Steven knew the thing he had with you could never last.

Steven knew something was wrong. He just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

~~~~~

Natasha came to your student accommodation on a chilly night in October. The two of you had been texting non-stop in a way you had never experienced with anyone else you had met. She was like an addiction you didn't want to quit.

The two of you wasted little time undressing, and you found yourself hitting the bed with the back of your legs as Natasha ran her hands through your hair, kissing you fervently. She placed her hands on your lower back, easing you onto the bed as she climbed on top of you, legs slotted between yours comfortably. Your neck burned as she kissed her way down it, letting her teeth graze against the soft skin.

"No marks." You panted out, pushing your chin to the ceiling so she could get better access to you.

Natasha made an almost growling sound, the frustration clear as she shoved two fingers into your wet core with little warning.

"Just wait till you're completely mine, printsessa. Everyone will know who gets to leave marks on you."

All you could do was moan, the sound brushing over Natasha's ear.

"Shhh, printsessa" She took the fingers that weren't currently pumping in and out of you to your lips, "we don't want your roommates hearing. They'll wonder why you're enjoying it so much." Natasha scoffs before adding, "There's no way you sound like this with Steven."

The sound of your boyfriend's name leaving her mouth felt wrong, but you didn't have time to feel guilty when you felt Natasha's tongue licking long stripes along your clit. You fell into bliss as you bit your lip hard to stop Natasha's name from escaping. The tinge of metal that spilled onto your tongue made you almost cum again. Natasha looked up at you, her hair beginning to stick to her forehead as she winked.

You panted as she kissed her way up your body.

"How about you make me feel good, darling."

It was your turn to slide down the length of her body till you got to her hot core. Your limbs were heavy, and while you wanted to lie peacefully, you wanted to make Natasha cum more. You had a feeling it wouldn't take long, judging from the way her hips bucked ever so slightly as your breath tickled over her. You grazed your teeth gently over her clit, making her moan before leaving a hickey on her inner thigh.

"Hey!" She let out breathlessly, digging her nails into your scalp and pulling you away by your hair. "What makes you think you can leave marks on me."

"But you look so pretty with them." You pouted for a beat, seeing her expression stay stoikly unimpressed, before adding "Mommy." Her pupils blew even more, and you could have sworn she let out a whimper. Her grip tightened momentarily at the title and you took it as a sign to continue.

You continued to lick and suck, putting two, then three fingers in. You watched as she arched her back and moaned out your name. When she was finished, You took your fingers out, licking them clean as the two of you refused to break eye contact.

You lay there in her arms as she drew patterns across your back and gently scratched your neck. "It's late."

Natasha hummed in agreement.

"You should probably stay the night, right?"

You craned your neck to try to see her expression. Natasha put a finger under your chin and leaned down. "That's probably a good idea." She said, her cocky grin stayed on her face till she gently captured your lips.

That night the two of you slept more peacefully than you had in years.

~~~~~

You lay stomach down on the bed, Steven's voice echoed through your room. He smiled through the screen.

"Baby, I'll pick you up tomorrow at 7:30 for dinner." he grinned. He knew something was off but wanted to hold on to the dream for a little longer.

"Yay! I can't wait!" You were lucky the American accent made just about anything sound enthusiastic

Natasha stirred, turning in her sleep, rustling the sheets gently as she re-adjusted.

"Who was that?" Your boyfriend asked.

"Oh, just one of my friends staying over." You rolled onto your back, accidentally giving Steven a glimpse of silky hair. The movement gently jostled her, disturbing her sleep, causing her nose to scrunch up as she began to wake.

"Okay baby, I've got to go now. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Love you, see you tomorrow." You hang up the FaceTime just as you felt a gaze burn into your skin.

"Morning." She grumbled out, sleep making her voice husky.

"Good Morning." You smiled at her as she rubbed her eyes, waking up fully. "We have to tell him."

"Hmm." She closed her eyes again, you were half convinced she had gone back to asleep.

"Not tomorrow though." Her plump lips seemed even fuller from both last night's activities and sleep. "Tomorrow, you have your date." Her mocking tone did not go over your head. She searched the nightstand for the pack of cigarettes she had left there. However, she quickly gave up, settling back down in bed and closing her eyes again.

"Are you jealous?" You asked, a smirk twinging your lips as her eyes snapped open to look at you.

"Of course not. I just didn't think my son was the romantic type, that's all." She said, before kissing you softly.

These early morning kisses were your favourite.

~~~~~

Date night arrived. Or at least it was supposed to. The booking Steven had made got cancelled, so he drove you back to his house, much to your dismay.

You looked hot. Your hair was up, accentuating your long neck and your red lips contrasted beautifully with the black dress that hung lightly off your figure. You were underdressed for autumn, but the previous night with Natasha made you feel beautiful and powerful, and that dress was begging to be worn.

You were confident when you chose that dress but going to Steven's and the thought of having to see Natasha in said dress filled you with dread.

It wasn't that you didn't want Natasha to see the dress; you just didn't want her to see the way Steven looked at you.

You were right to be worried.

It was Natasha who answered the door just as Steven was about to put his key in. The gasp was audible but she played it off as shock that the two of you were back rather than how she felt about you looking like that with him.

"Hi mom. The booking got cancelled." Steven said, his shoulders hung low.

"That is a shame sweetie." She said, rubbing his arm and ushering him into the kitchen. "Good job I just finished cooking."

You and Steven sat opposite each other as Natasha bought the plates of food out. Once everyone had a plate in front of them, she sat next to you. You bit your lip and refused to look up from the plate.

You bit into what looked like a little square pasty and suppressed a moan. Letting out the sound you wanted would only cause more problems than needed. "Wow, this is delicious."

"Thank you krasivaya. They're Pirozhki." Natasha said, her accent bleeding through in a way you knew was deliberate.

You tried to cover up the growing heat in your face by shoving more food in your mouth. Your leg jumped as you felt Natasha's hand on your thigh. You glanced up from your plate, your eyes meeting Steven's as regret punched you in the gut. He was so sweet and didn't deserve what you were doing to him.

This was wrong.

You wanted to move your leg, not wanting to be a cheater. Not in front of the man you were supposed to love. The only thing that stopped you was the wet patch growing in your panties from the way manicured nails traced along your skin.

You let out a sharp sigh, disappointed in yourself and feeling incredibly guilty about how you found out you liked girls. You were hurting an innocent man.

"You okay babe?" Steven asked, his voice full of concern.

Tears pricked at your eyes, and you couldn't take it anymore. You looked at Natasha, and the concern in her eyes was as clear as day. You just hoped she wouldn't hate you for this.

"Stevie, I can't do this anymore." You looked at his beautiful eyes. Eyes that should have been the ones you felt giddy about.

Steven smiled gently "I know."

A sob got caught in your throat. You weren't sure why you were about to cry; whether it was from relief or sadness that you couldn't be what Steven needed, you couldn't tell.

"How..." You trailed off, not sure what you wanted to ask or even how to ask it.

"You've been acting off Y/n. You have been for a few months now. Someone else has caught your attention and that's okay. I just hope they make you happy in a way I couldn't." Steven stood, most likely getting ready to go for a drive.

Tears rolled down your face freely now. The incredible guilt was ten times worse now. He truly was the sweetest man you knew.

"I just need to know, who is it?"

You froze, not wanting to tell him it was his own mother who stole your gaze.

For the first time throughout this entire conversation, Natasha spoke. "Do you really want to know?"

Steven pulled his eyes away from you, his expression turning steely. His jaw clenched, and fear flashed through you briefly. "I can't believe you."

Natasha's nails dug into your leg slightly, the only indication that she was nervous.

"Steven," You desperately let out. You weren't sure how to make this better. It wasn't like you were fucking his friend. This was his literal mother.

"No. No. I, I need to go. I can't stand to look at either of you right now."

Just like that, Steven left your life.

~~~~~

"Well, that went just about as well as could be expected." You sighed, glad that everything was out in the open, but a heaviness still weighed in your chest.

Natasha was standing on the back porch, leaning over the rail, looking into the darkness of the back garden. You had gone out to join her after you had collected yourself.

"Yeah." Natasha said quietly.

"I'm sorry." You weren't sure which bit you were apologising for. Was it the way you strung them both along for so long? Or was it the fact that you had broken a mother and son bond? There were countless crimes you had committed and not enough time in the world to apologise for them all.

Natasha sighed. "It's not your fault. I knew this would happen eventually."

There was a pause before you spoke, you weren't sure if you wanted to hear the answer to your question. "Do you regret it?"

She opened up her cigarette pack, lighting it and taking a drag before she answered. "No." She blew the smoke out from her nose.

"Those things will kill you." You said, watching as her plump lips crawled up into a smirk before blowing a particularly large smoke ring at you.

"Not if you kill me first sweetheart." She closed her eyes and allowed the moonlight to ease away any stress she was holding.

"Do you want to stop this? Before I kill you?" You knew the answer to this question before Natasha even began to speak. Her thoughts hadn't been a mystery to you for a long time now.

"Don't even ask that Y/n." She said, the panic slipping into her words. "I adore you."

"I adore you too."

With one last drag, Natasha snuffed out her cigarette, closing the box and throwing them over the railing into the bin below. She stepped towards you, trapping you between her and the railings. She kissed you harder than she had ever kissed you before, with more desperation than you had ever known.

"Why did you throw your cigarettes?" You asked, shocked that she would throw away the thing that had always been with her.

"I don't need them anymore. You're my new addiction."

[michwritesstuff]

Dating Fred Weasley (Harry Potter: Fred Weasley)

summary: female reader (she/her) x fred weasley Just some good old fred weasley fluff. headcanon about what I think it would be like to be dating fred weasley. Also, does this song not just scream running around the corridors past curfew with Fred holding your hand and dragging you along! ugh i’m obsessed. tw: 18+ only explicit content (in its own section at the end so feel free to skip) word count: 1.0k+

You and Fred had been friends since your first year at Hogwarts. Despite being sorted into a different house, you had become close friends with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet so you were always around.

The two of you weren't necessarily that close at the beginning. You thought he was a meathead who didn't care about school and he thought you were too stuck up about school to have any real fun.

You did however find common ground with your mutual love for quidditch.

As time went on you and Fred has only grown closer. You weren't just Angelina and Alicia's friend, you were his friend too.

If anything, you were closer to him then either Alicia or Angelina.

During your third year a fight had broken out on the quidditch pitch between your team and the Slytherin players.

Fred was down on the field in an instant, pulling you away from the fight. Snatching your wand from your hand before you could do anything.

"Let me go Fred Weasley or I will hex you into next century."

That was the first time Fred thought he liked you. Him dragging you from the pitch as you threatened to hex him.

Fuming you aggressively paced back and forth in the locker room.

"C'mon Y/N, just sit down."

"No, Fred. You don't understand. You—you don't know what he said."

"Who who said? Love, just sit down," Fred stated as he pulled your arm so you now sat on the bench.

"Flint...called me a scumsucker. Said I was a perfect match for the bloodtraitior Weaselbees," you mumbled out.

Fred didn't say anything, he just pulled you in and held you as you sniffled.

Seeing you get riled up about a comment like that made his heart flutter. Sure, Flint was out of line…but knowing you were ready to fight him in defense of your friends…

“Quite feisty, sure the sorting hat was right?” he joked with you. You pulled away from him slightly, pushing him back with your hand in a joking manner.

Partying in the Gryffindor common after their particularly grueling match against your house, you stood in the corner gossiping with Angelina, Alicia, and Katie Bell.

“Excuse me ladies, mind if I steal miss Y/N here?” Fred asked, extending his hand out to you. Giggling you took his hand and followed him to a quieter area of the common room.

“I was wondering if you wanted to accompany me to Hogsmeade this weekend?” Looking at him curiously, you responded…

“There isn’t a Hogsmeade trip this weekend,” you stated matter of factly. Wiggling his eye brows he pulled a map out of his back pocket. You had see. it before, but only small glimpses before him and George charmed it so you girls couldn’t see what they were doing.

“I’d love to”

That secret Hogsmeade trip was just the first of many for you and Fred.

Spending most free time with each other and being significantly closer, you and Fred were basically dating without the label. The line of snogging, cuddling, and handholding was passed a long time ago.

He’d join you in the common room as you studied by the fire, dragging his science experiments with George downstairs to work on.

Occasionally asking you for advice or ideas.

When you suggested something particularly exciting he would kiss your cheek and exclaim…

“You’re bloody brilliant love!”

When the Yule Ball was announced, Fred layed in your dorm, absentmindedly talking about how you would all meet up in the common room once everyone was ready and walk down together.

“Well, I’ll let you know. I’m not sure who I’m going with,” you spoke, nonchalantly flipping the pages of your textbook. This caused Fred to immediately sit up, giving you an incredulous look.

“What?” you asked innocently.

“You have a date…ME! You’re INCREDIBLE boyfriend,” he stated obviously.

“You’re my boyfriend?” you teased jokingly.

“Sure bloody hope so. Unless I’m not the only one you go around snogging.”

Once establishing your relationship, not much changed. Fred continued to be as kind, considerate, and annoying as always.

You were sad when George and him decided to leave Hogwarts, you knew it was for the best. You just had to wait until you could be with him again.

When you finally left Hogwarts you moved in with Fred and George in their apartment above the shop.

It was definitely odd at first, but you guys made it work. How could you not, you loved each other.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘18+ ONLY ∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Your sex life with Fred was unbelievable. Bastard was horny and cheeky as hell.

You always wanted to try new things and he loved to satisfy your needs.

Whether it was new positions or a public place with the potential of being seen/caught...name the place and time, he was down for whatever.

Although he loved taking care of you, he wouldn't deny that he craved the times when you were a slut for him.

He'd snatch you into empty classrooms or broom closets and fuck you right there, wasting no time by hiking up your skirt and yanking your panties until they pooled around your ankles.

Of course, you loved when he acted like this and often anticipated the moment. Choosing to wear no panties and hike your skirt up a little higher than normal when you know Fred would catch a glimpse of you.

"Look at you, you fucking slut. Needed my cock so badly, I should make you beg."

He'd take his time teasing you with his fingers as he swiped them through your folds, refusing to rub over your bundle of nerves.

"Pleaseeee Freddie," you would whine.

"Use your words. Good girls know how to ask politely."

"I want you Freddie."

"Want what?"

"Fuck, I don't know. Your—your fingers, your mouth. Bloody fucking hell just fuck me Fred."

And without anything else he touched you exactly where you needed him for a few moments before he replaced his hand with his cock, immediately sliding into you and finding a hard and steady rhythm.

One thing you loved, which you hated to admit, was when he'd fuck you after losing a quidditch game.

Dragging you through the Gryffindor common room, he'd grab whatever drink someone left unattended and led you up to his dorm room.

He'd take all his frustration and anger out on you, often leaving you sore for the next few days.

You hated seeing him so upset, but you couldn't deny how hot he looked as he fucked you senseless, one hand with a fairly firm grip on your throat as the other hand rested on the wall above the bed.

Afterwards though, you would care for him. Taking a position as a little spoon, you'd wrap your arms around him, rubbing his back and doing your best to soothe him.

"I'm so proud of you Freddie. I love you."

Turning in your embrace he pushed a strand of hair behind your ear.

"Thank you love. I love you too."

When you had moved into the apartment above the shop with them, Fred hadn’t seen you in person for quite some time…so sex was 24/7.

The two of you were respectful enough that you tried to not be too loud, but sometimes you just couldn’t help it.

“You fucking slut, moaning out loud for my brother to hear? Naughty girls don’t get what they want,” Fred would say as he pounded into you from behind at an unruly place.

The best you could do was shove your face into the sheets, but with one particular hard stroke you were coming undone. A mumbling mess as you moaned out loud…

“Freddieeee.”

With a quick knock to the door you could barely hear George’s muffled voice cursing about how he had two bloody idiot roomates.

Your facing turning a deep red as you shouted out…

“Sorry Georgie!”

Turning onto your back, you looked up at Fred who sat on his knees watching you laid out in front of him. His favorite sight.

Reaching forward to grab his sore red cock, you teased the tip with your fingers.

“Your turn.”

a/n: If you like my work please support by liking/reblogging. Also, feel free to message me about ideas. I haven’t written in a while because I don’t have a lot of time, but when inspiration hits i’ll sit down for hours

Masterlist

[hellfirecvnt]

Eddie smut please!

I’m thinking a fic based on the song sex from the 1975. Eddie and the reader are best friends and used to hang out every day until she got a boyfriend which Eddie is SUPER jealous of.

💕

Took me a second to get to this one, but I wanted it to be REALLY GOOD bc I love The 1975 and I love Eddie and I love you for being so supportive. 🥺❤ Also let me just tell you, I had SO much written and my phone died so I lost ALL OF IT. But we're back. We're trying again. Fuck.

I decided I love this prompt and I'm gonna make a series of this one specifically lmao. Once again, sorry it took so long. I almost gave up writing entirely after I lost my progress. 😂

She's Got a Boyfriend, Anyway.

Eddie Munson x fem!reader

Warnings: smut at the end (+18, minors DNI), cheating, a lil bit of angst- I think, more?

It was the same routine everyday ever since you two met six years ago. You and Eddie spend every day, after school and weekends together. Aside from Hellfire, you're each other's only friend.

"Do you know Billy? Hargrove, I think?" You innocently ask, not thinking much of it.

"Hargrove? Yeah, guys a fucking dick." Eddie quips.

"I dunno, he seemed pretty sweet to me." You twirl your hair around your finger, watching the trees zoom past you as Eddie drives you both to his house.

"Oh, come on, Y/N. Don't tell me you're falling for that fake pretty-boy bullshit again." He laughs, referencing the fact that you dated Steve and got your heart broken within 5 months.

"Of course I'm not. I'm just, curious. He seems really nice, to me." A smile can't be helped from finding itself on your face.

"I'm nice to you. Why don't we just fuck in the back of the van right now?" Eddie furrows his brow dramatically, faking confusion for his perverted jokes.

"Shut up, idiot. I'm serious. I need your help picking out an outfit. He asked me out today." The last part of your sentence causes Eddie's smile to fall a bit. He may have hidden it behind an immature joke, but he was being serious too.

"Why would I know what Hargrove wants you to wear? What's wrong with the way you dress?" He questions.

"I don't know, man. I just want to look a little different. I don't want to look like-"

"A freak?" Eddie raises an eyebrow in an I see how it is fashion.

"No, I just want to look clean-cut. A little bit less like all I do is smoke weed and listen to music."

"But that is all you do." Eddie teases as he pulls into his driveway. "And if you want my fashion advice, my first suggestion is to stop stealing my shirts." He points to the worn band shirt draped over you. You roll your eyes and follow him to the front door of his trailer. Eddie's uncle is laying on the couch, looking a little pale.

"Wayne? Take the night off?" Eddie checks in. Wayne explains he's feeling sick so he took today off to recover.

"Hey, let's just hotbox the van. That way it doesn't get all smokey in here while Wayne's not feeling well." Your suggestion earns a thumbs up from Wayne. You've always been considerate like that, something he and Eddie both appreciate about you.

In the van, you climb past the seats, settling into the pile of blankets and various snack wrappers from when you and Eddie camp outside of concert venues for those barricade spots. Eddie follows close behind, eyes fixed on you as you get comfortable, kicking off your high tops and grabbing a magazine to flip through.

"You think Cyndi Lauper is like... Freaky? Like in bed?" You ask, still looking down at the bright red-haired woman's avant-garde makeup.

"She definitely either likes to be slapped around or likes to slap you around." A large, ring-clad hand takes the joint from his mouth and passes it to you. His jewelry catches the dim light of the back of the van.

While you hit the joint, Eddie flips through his many cassettes. He finally settles on Metallica's Kill Em All album, popping it into his radio. He relaxes into the moment, staring at you as he did every day for six years. He's slowly starting to figure out why it's his favorite past time, but for now he's just happy to be your friend.

"Do you think I should take my nose ring out for my date with Billy?" Your question shakes him from his daze and the mention of Billy's name causes his jaw to clench.

"Why would you do that?" Eddie's upper lip twitches in disgust. "He asked you out looking like this, why would you want to look different now?"

"I don't know, dude. I'm really fucking nervous." You cover your face with one hand, dragging it down. You're lying on your stomach, flipping through the magazine while your thoughts race. "He's coming to get me at 6 PM tomorrow." Eddie passes you the joint in a manner that says "shut up."

"Listen, can we change the subject? You're gonna make me sick." His voice comes out a little meaner than he intended, but he's too awkward to know how to fix it. Your eyes widen and you attempt to soften the tension.

"You're right," you laugh. "I tend to ramble a lot." Your face is flushed slightly with the tiniest hint of embarrassment because you didn't mean to get carried away. Noticing your shift, he wants to punch himself in the face.

"Uh, here! Let's smoke two joints and see who smokes theirs faster." Eddie shoves a joint between your fingers.

"You're on, Munson." You wait for him to finish rolling a second joint and you both lean into one lighter so you start smoking at exactly the same time. There were other lighters, y'all just aren't that smart.

As each of you pulls on your joints to get the cherry started, Eddie looks up from the flame, directly into your eyes. It takes a second for you to notice, but you look up, meeting his gaze. He doesn't move or blink, so you give a small smile around your joint. You lower the lighter after a second, having sufficiently lit the joints.

The contrast of the lighter going out shakes Eddie from his trance. The rest of the hang-out was casual and nothing short of your usual day together. Talking about sex, drugs, music, and occasionally DnD. Hours pass before you finally check your watch.

"Holy shit, Eddie. It's 10 o'clock!" You jump up from the soft blankets in the van. "I gotta go, I have to go to sleep soon or I'm gonna look dead tomorrow."

"Hop up front. I'll take you home." Eddie offers as if it's not your only way of getting home. The second you get in your door, you drag Eddie to your room.

"Please help me pick out an outfit, Eddie. It'll be so fast." You tug on the sleeve of his leather jacket. He rolls his eyes and hesitantly agrees. You scramble through your closet looking for something with the least amount of rips and tears. "What about this?" You hold up a dress you've never worn because it's periwinkle and you're not with it.

"A dress? Y/N, seriously?" Again, meaner than he intended. You once again did that thing you do when you're embarrassed and just try to smile the blush away, agreeing with whatever is being said to you.

"You're right, you're right. Um-" It was apparent in your voice that you were getting angry.

"Hey, Y/N-" Eddie attempt to meet your downcast eyes.

"Eddie, you can leave because I can tell you don't want to do this. I know you don't care about the date, and I know you hate Billy, so it was kind of shitty of me to ask you to help me. You're just," you stop to toss your hands up, defeated and dramatic. "My only friend and I like having your opinion on things."

Eddie could explode right now. He could punch himself directly between his own two eyes. No one has ever bitten their tongue as hard as he wished he'd bitten his just seconds ago. He stares at you apologetically, lips pressed tightly together in a speechless, straight line.

"Dude, I'm sorry. Let me help you, I was being a dick." Eddie start rummaging through your clothes.

"It's fine, man. I'm just nervous, I'm sorry." You look at the floor, defeated after your little outburst.

"Shut up, try this on." Eddie tosses you a random top. This is how all of your apologies went, ever since you met. They're almost instant. You've never had a "fight" last longer than a few hours.

You try the top on and it's perfect. Flattering in all the best ways, making you feel hot and comfortable. You pair it with a go-to pair of flared jeans and call it a night. Eddie waves and flashes a toothy grin as he exits out your window. He doesn't even actually need to use the window, he just likes to.

Back at his trailer, Eddie tosses and turns with anger. He didn't care that you had a date, he didn't care that it was with Hawkins's number one womanizer, he knew you could take care of yourself. He was mad because it wasn't him taking you on that date.

The next day Eddie wakes up feeling like he hasn't slept at all. His dreams were consumed with pictures of you, naked on his bed, reading your magazines and getting high. Just the memory of the dream is enough for him to wake up hard.

He shoves those thoughts to the back of his mind and checks the clock. Noon. Not bad for a weekend. Eddie throws the blankets back over his head and falls back asleep, silently hoping for more dreams of you.

Your date with Billy is in just a few hours, so you're getting ready in advance just in case. In case of what, you ask? You don't know. You're just really nervous. Billy picks you up and the two of you head off to the movies.

By the end of your date, you're officially Billy Hargrove's girlfriend. The way he asked was so perfect and romantic, you don't even know where to start. Your first instinct is to call your best friend and tell him everything, but then you remember how annoyed it made him before. So you hang up the phone before dialing and head to your bedroom.

Eddie wakes up, again, and checks the clock. 10 PM.

"Oh, shit." Eddie jumps up and runs to the living room. "Wayne, did Y/N call?"

"Nah, no calls. You sleep all Saturday?" Wayne's voice carries worry.

"Yeah, I don't wanna talk about it. I'll see you later." Eddie calls as he heads out to his van. A short trip later, he arrives at your house. This time using the window because he has to. He taps on it a little before just opening it as wide as possible.

"HOLY SHIT!" You yell having woken up to a dark, broad shouldered figure climbing through your window.

"You should really lock your windows, Y/N. I could've had ulterior motives." Eddie winks in the moonlight leaking through the window.

"Fuck, dude. What are you doing here? It's like 11 o'clock." You rub your eyes.

"It's 10:15 and I just wanted to see how the date went, damn." Eddie drops onto your bed. "So how'd it go?" Eddie smiles over your sleepy face.

"He asked me to be his girlfriend." You gush, blushing and fluttering your tired eyes. "We're seeing each other again tomorrow!"

"That's awesome, wow." Eddie works hard to sound excited for you, but he feels sick to his stomach. Seeing you this happy is enough for him to keep his comments to himself, though. For now.

Eddie turns to look at you, but you've already fallen back asleep. He watches you for a moment, regretting his choice to come here because this news is going to eat him alive when he tries to sleep tonight. Not to mention him already sleeping all day today.

The next day, you don't see each other. The day after that, the same. Billy steals you away every chance he gets. He knows you and Eddie are best friends, and he's hoping to help you realize there are more people to hang around than the local freak.

Two whole weeks pass and the only time Eddie sees you is at Hellfire. It's Friday again and you've arrived at Hellfire before anyone else, except Eddie, of course.

"Hey, man. I'm really excited for this finale!" You beam at him, causing his heart rate to rise.

"I'm glad you've still been able to make it considering you're always so busy." Eddie teases.

"I know, I'm sorry. We should hang out tonight!" Your suggestion catches Eddie off guard. "I'll tell Billy I'm riding home with you."

"Sounds great," Eddie smirks, basking in the idea of you telling Billy you can't hang because you're going to Eddie's. Hellfire club dismisses and you follow Eddie out to his van. Outside the doors, Billy is waiting, leaning against his Camaro.

"Hey, babe," Billy's smooth voice wraps around you like a rope, drawing you into him. "You ready to go?"

"Actually, I'm hanging out with Eddie tonight." You point to Eddie next to his van. "I haven't seen him in a few weeks, so I-"

"But you see him at Hellfire, don't you?" Billy, visibly bothered, folds his arms across his chest.

"Well, yeah. But that's like- it's not like hanging out. We're killing things and he's playing God." You struggle to explain.

"So you're just gonna go over to some guy's house, at night, instead of seeing your boyfriend?" Billy was starting to raise his voice ever so slightly.

"Whoa, man. I've known him for six years." You shake your head in shock.

"Whatever, if you're acting single tonight, I can do the same." And with that, he slides into his car and drives off. He makes sure to squeal the tires as he creates more distance between you. You scoff before shaking your head and walking over to Eddie.

"The fuuuuck was that?" Eddie tries to hide a giggle, giddy knowing he makes Billy so jealous.

"I don't know, dude. But it was kind of hard to watch." You laugh, causing Eddie's laugh to finally escape. The two of you crack up over Billy's little performance before heading back to Eddie's.

"He's literally never done that before. It was so weird. And he's fully aware that we see each other every day, he's never once made it a thing." You pass the joint to Eddie. With your legs extended across his mattress, you propped yourself up on his pillows. Fully occupying the bed.

"That's so fucking weird, man. I've heard he's a little insane." Eddie sits at the end of his bed, practicing chords on his acoustic guitar.

"I don't think he's insane. I just don't understand why he reacted that way." Your eyes remain glued to the page even after you feel Eddie's gaze on you. "What?" You finally look up at him.

"Just... Kinda sounds like you're defending him for no reason. You know, like you did before." He raises his eyebrows.

"Eddie, I-" you start, but you're cut off by car doors outside. You both rush to the blinds to peek, being nosy busybodies, but not giving a shit. That's when you notice Billy's car in the driveway of another trailer that he definitely doesn't live in.

"That's uh... That's Natalia's house." Eddie speaks nervously, knowing Natalia is well known at your school for... Let's just say, stealing boyfriends. As Billy approaches the door, he turns as if he knows you see him and winks at you with a big, gorgeous, evil grin. He disappears behind the door without a word.

"Well, damn." You stare in shock. "Good thing it's only been a few weeks, but damn."

"That was... A lot. You okay?" Eddie places a hand on your shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm not too worried about it." You shrug. Eddie scans your features for any kind of emotion, there doesn't seem to be any.

"Okay..." Eddie draws the word out. "Well, you uh... You acting single tonight?" He side-eyes you.

"Munson," you place a playful hand on your chest as if you're offended. "Feeling bold?" You raise an eyebrow, caught off guard by his question, but you can't deny the excitement it ignited in your stomach.

"Just seems a little unfair, that's all." He shrugs, carefully making his way closer to you.

"I guess so." You bite your lip. Your eyes are locked on your shoes until you feel two large hands gripping your shoulders. You look up to see Eddie gazing down at you with half-lidded, dark brown eyes.

"Let me," Eddie takes a deep breath. "Let me make you feel single." He chuckles into your ear.

"H-How do you plan on going that, Eddie?" You stutter through quickening breaths. Eddie is so close to you, you can barely keep him in focus.

"By fucking your pretty little brains out." His voice comes out in a low growl, sending chills down your spine to the heat building between your legs.

"Slow down, honey." You quip, backing him up and shoving him onto the couch. He stares up at you expectantly, an awe-struck look plastered across his face as he awaits your next move. You keep eye contact with him as you pull your hair back into a messy bun, kneeling between Eddie's legs.

"Jesus Christ," Eddie's voice is nothing less than a desperate huff of breath while he watches your hands slide up his inner thighs to his belt. You focus intently on the handcuff-shaped buckle, unfastening his pants and pulling back his boxers.

Your eyes widen as his erection springs past the elastic of his underwear. Losing all self-control, you grab his length and take him as far as possible down your throat.

"Holy shit," he grabs a fist full of your hair. "Just like that." He throws his head back, moaning into the emptiness of the trailer. You quicken your pace, earning louder moans and involuntary hip bucking.

Eddie pulls your mouth off his cock, tossing you onto the couch, effectively trading your places. He begins eagerly grabbing at your shirt and the button on your pants, but you stop him. You place your hands on his and hold them still, contemplating.

"I mean, we don't have to do this. I don't want to keep you from doing what you were doing, but if we're doing anything, we might as well just fuck." Eddie's words fill you with the most confusing feelings, but most of all, lust. He's right, Billy's at Natalia's most definitely cheating on you, you'll probably be done with him after this anyways. Might as well fuck your best friend.

You wrap your fingers around the collar of his jean vest and pull his lips into yours. He instantly kisses back, nipping lightly at your bottom lip with his teeth. Each gentle bite is closely followed by sweet, breathy moans from your chest. Eddie melts more and more with each high-pitched sound.

Eddie continues undressing you, audibly aroused more and more as you become exposed completely. He bites his fist watching you slide your delicate hand down to play with yourself for him.

"Somebody's needy," he chuckles, watching you intently. You circle your middle finger around your clit a few times before plunging your finger deep inside you. You and Eddie moan at nearly the same time.

"Don't make me wait all night, Eddie." Your low, sultry voice forces his hand onto his cock. He strokes himself, eyeballing the way your hands move to pleasure yourself.

"I think you'll be okay, sweetheart. Keep going." He towers over you, his rough voice cascading down to you like boulders down a hill. You do as he says, continuing to touch yourself while he does the same. You start fingering yourself faster, gasping lightly as your orgasm approaches.

Suddenly, your arm is yanked away.

"No!" You cry, replacing the hand with your other one only for it to be yanked away too. He pins both of your wrists above your head, positioning himself at your entrance. Your orgasm is quickly dissipating with nothing to rub against your aching clit.

"Just... Wait... A little... More..." Eddie hovers over you, one hand holding your wrists, the other sliding the head of his cock up and down your drenched folds. You writhe and squirm, desperate for contact, begging him to fuck you already. "Okay," he smiles deviously before slamming into you, hard.

"Eddie!" You moan as he glides in and out of you, low growls rumbling from his lips. His guitar pick necklace dangles in your face, brushing against the tip of your nose with each impaling thrust.

"You're so God damn tight, Y/N." His words are broken up by small grunts as he fucks you. "It's fucking unbelievable" You can't help but smile at his praise, happily taking all of him despite the dull pain of being stretched out so abruptly.

"I never thought I'd be hearing you say that to me, Eddie. Gotta be frank." You joke, still getting dicked into oblivion.

"I did," he winks, picking up his pace. Your moans get louder and louder, the pit in your stomach doubling by the second. Sweat clings to the curls around his face, securely gluing them to his jawline. Still fucking you, he rises up straight and sheds his jacket/vest before nearly tearing the shirt off his body.

He returns to his position over you, never breaking his stride. Sweat glistens down his body as his back curves and arches as he slams into you. Your breath begins to hitch in your chest from your orgasm building up.

"Eddie, I-I'm gonna-" he cuts you off with a hard kiss. He throws your legs over his shoulders, hungrily grabbing at your thighs as he fucks you over the edge. You arch your back as the waves of pleasure shoot through your core. You drench Eddie's pelvis in the evidence of your arousal, but he doesn't stop fucking you.

Instead, he flips you onto your stomach. He grips the hair on the back of your head and pulls roughly to get you to assume an all-fours position. You follow his silent directions and he slips himself back in your fucked out hole.

"Fuuuuuck," he sighs as he slides into you. "So fucking good." He mewls out above you, fucking harder and deeper into your pussy with each thrust. You try to protest, tell him it's too much, but he buries your face in the cushion and continues chasing his high.

"Eddieeee!" You scream, suddenly cumming yet again.

"Shut up, just a little more." He huffs angrily, stone focused on the way your back flexes as you fight to hold yourself up. You're a weak, fucked out mess by now, still taking his hard cock. High-pitched whines and cries leak past your lips as he continues, very suddenly picking up his speed at the last second.

"Oh my God, Eddie please!" You cry into the cushion. He thrusts a few times more before pulling out and finishing all over your round ass. Your legs finally collapse and you're laying face down, hair a mess, covered in sweat and cum that isn't your boyfriend's.

"Holy shit," Eddie fights to catch his breath.

"Have fun?" That's all you can say through your dicked down haze.

"Yeah," he sighs. "A lot better than I ever imagined it." He chuckles.

"How many times have you imagined it?" You raise, quizzically.

"Lots and lots of times, Y/N." He shines his famous downturned smile and winks. You feel the blood rise quickly in your cheeks.

[angstama]

cigarettes | rindou.h

pairing:  rindou haitani x reader , mitsuya takashi x reader

genre: angst, fluff, romance

warnings: alcohol, smoking, cursing, suggestive, rejection!

✧. "hey, wanna smoke cigarettes together with me till the day we die?"

this is the alternate ending to mardy bum! where reader chooses executive rindou haitani instead of our dear mitsuya takashi :-)

ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : cigarettes and feelings - the haunt

"for the love of god rin, you're so fucking slow!"

you gently tugged your cream coloured cardigan against your skin, pulling it close to shield you from the cooling air in the open as you excitedly roamed the streets of prague.

you were currently on the Europe leg of tour for your latest art series exhibition and finally had the day off to explore the little capital city with your lover and hopefully check off some of your bucket lists if rindou could only increase his pace just a little bit more.

you watched rindou roll his eyes, tapping the excess ash on his cigarette before stuffing his other hand into his pocket. "but you love it when i go slow and steady." he muses, a smug grin etched to the corner of his lips. your eyes widened, quickly looking around to see if anyone heard the suggestive comment that your boyfriend had made before shooting him a glare, "i swear rin, if you keep saying shit like this in public, i'll literally never let you fuck me again." you deadpanned.

rindou doesn't say anything but only slowly made his way towards where you've stopped to wait for him, eyes never leaving yours once. you raised your brows when he leans in to your ear, "i'd love to see you try darling." he whispers, voice husky from the lingering warm air of nicotine in his throat which only sent you squealing on the inside.

"whatever." you huffed, walking away to which rindou hastily grabs your wrist, stopping you from getting any further away from him. "cigarettes doesn't keep hands warm you know?" he says, intertwining your hands together before pulling you with him to visit the places you had in mind.

"man, i could sure do this everyday." you stretched your arms above your head and bending your body sideways before turning to face rindou and stealing the lighted cigarette in between his lips to place in yours. you allowed your lungs to inhale the ever so addictive nicotine into your system, mind slightly clouded which made the spectacular view of the cathedral in front of you even much more beautiful than it already was.

you were in awe. you've always wanted to come here and you remembered ever wanting to visit this very cathedral with your first love, mitsuya takashi. yet here you are right now with someone else who isn't him. someone else who held your hair back when you threw up from the excessive drinking in hopes to get rid of the aching feeling in your heart. someone else who would let you paint their body like a canvas when you were bored. someone else who would go on to make you forget that you've ever loved mitusya takashi.

the two of you sat in silence, both basking in the breathtaking view of the cathedral. it was peaceful and everything was perfect. the way the colours of red and orange skies blended together as the sun begins to set, the way your beloved cigarettes tasted almost sweet this very evening and the way rindou's warm hand was intertwined in yours, you never want this moment to end.

"hey," rindou whispered softly as you pried your gaze away from the view and to your man. "wanna smoke cigarettes together with me till the day we die?"

3 y e a r s a g o

you carefully lowered the needle on your spinning vinyl, gently swaying to the tune as you started to prep yourself for your very own art exhibition that would be showcasing tonight.

it had been almost three months since you had last seen mitsuya takashi and during these three months, you had resorted to throwing yourself into paintings after paintings while rindou had stayed by your side, supporting you through every step of the way wether you’re high or not and you were absolutely grateful for that.

your heard that mitsuya takashi had gone on to continue excelling in the fashion industry and you were genuinely happy for him. though a part of you still wished that you were the one who helped him make it through.

“how do i look today tiger?” you gently rubbed your cat’s tummy, a soft smile tugging at the corner of your lips. you hear him meow a response as you unclipped the claw clip that held your hair together, letting your hair down on your shoulders.

your doorbell suddenly rang, catching you off guard. you weren’t expecting any visitors today you were sure of it. “rindou? is that you?” you called out, opening the doors only to be met with a pair of familiar lavender orbs staring back at you.

it was mitsuya takashi.

your breath hitched upon seeing the familiar face that you missed oh so very much. “ta-takashi? why are you here?” you stammered nervously when mitsuya leaned in closely towards you, causing you to stumble back slightly. “yours. i’ll always be yours if you want me to be.” mitsuya breathed. crashing his lips onto yours before you could say anything.

rindou.

your eyes widened when rindou's face flashes at the back of your head which caused you to roughly pushed mitsuya away. "wh-what?" you stumbled back. oh how you've waited so long for the day that mitsuya would declare himself to be yours. you've dreamt of the day that mitsuya would finally kiss you with those pretty soft lips that often utter words of affirmation to you so why did you think of another man when he kisses you?

"you've got to be kidding me right?" your lips trembled, staring wide eyed at mitsuya who reached out to your arms. "i'm not y/n. i love you y/n. i've always did and i'm sorry it took this long for me to say it to you." he looked at you with pleading eyes.

this isn't right. it can't be.

"you're fucking kidding me takashi?" you laughed hysterically when you felt your legs give up, the cold tiles hitting your bare legs. "you can't do this takashi. you can't!" you ran your fingers through your hair frustratedly.

why does he always have the right to hurt you like this?

"you can't just disappear for months and then come knocking on my door saying that you love me! that's so fucking unfair!" mitsuya lowered his gaze, he knew he had messed up and was now paying for all the times he had broken your heart.

you loved mitsuya takashi you were sure of it, but you remembered that mitsuya takashi only loved you when you were sober while rindou haitani had willingly accompanied you through your highs and lows without you even begging for it. and so, you had unconsciously decided that you wanted rindou to stay in your life.

perhaps maybe it was your fight or flight instincts. no, scratch that, you have to look for rindou. you wanted to tell him that mitsuya takashi isn't that great of a kisser than you had imagined.

"i- i have to go." you stammered, anxiously getting up and dashing out of your apartment and leaving mitsuya behind. you have to see rindou.

and so, after running out of your own place with half your make up done and getting on a cab, you finally arrived at the haitani's penthouse. you knew this place at the back of your head, often spending your weekends spinning and dancing with rindou.

you impatiently knocked on the door when the electronic door finally unlocked, revealing the man you've been dying to see for almost half an hour who's now looking at you, mouth slightly gaped.

"darling? thought i said i'll pick you up at your place?"

you wiped the sweat of your forehead with your knuckles, letting out a small exhale before taking rindou's hand in yours and grabbing his neck to pull him towards you which allowed you to finally crash your lips into his.

it wasn't your first time kissing rindou. but kissing him now felt right and it completely knocked the air out of your lungs when you could taste the lingering taste of strawberries and cigarettes on his lips and you loved it. "what's going on darling?" rindou asks when you pull away to look at him with the biggest grin on your face. "i realised i only wanna smoke cigarettes with you." you breathed.

it was a weird analogy. but rindou knows. rindou knew that it was your way of saying the words of "i love you". smoking was more than just an addiction to you, it was your only constant since you were sixteen and you'd never give that up despite the health consequences for you were perfectly okay with dying earlier.

rindou only pulls you into his chest, a hand resting on your head when you hear him mumble, voice muffled. "i'd gladly smoke with you everyday."

you felt the bustling street of prague slowly fade away in the background, leaving just the two of you and the enormous cathedral standing tall in front of you.

"w-what?" you stared at him, eyes wide and searching for any hint of joke or literally whatever that prompts an attempt to prank you in his eyes only to finally realise that he wasn't joking when he remained unfazed. "now?" you gasped.

rindou nods, "yeah. why not?" he squeezes your hand, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "unless you don't want to marry me?" he joked, raising a brow.

your brain finally fully processed what he had just said. rindou haitani wants to marry you. he wants to be yours till your last breath.

you shook your head frantically, "fuck rin- no! of course i want to marry you!"

"okay, then let's get married now." rindou stood up, dragging you along with him towards the cathedral that you love so very much where the two of you exchanged your vows that very day.

taglist: @theresapancakes <3

[redheadspark]

Hi! Can you write #5 and #12 for your weekend prompt with Azriel:)

A/N: Oh my! These are good! I'm gonna make it nice and short, thanks for the suggestions :)

5.) "our muses are on bad terms but reunite after one of them nearly dies."

12.) "our muses are in a fight,  but cuddle anyway because they don’t like sleeping alone."

Mistake

Summary: You broke things off with Azriel when you knew he still had feelings for Mor. Azriel chose to let you go, which broke your heart.

But when those past feelings come to the surface on the battlefield against King Hybern, Azriel wonders if he made the right choice after all.

(Takes place during the Battle in A Court of Wings and Ruin)

200 years before the Battle

"You still have feelings for Mor!"

"No...no I don't!"

"Oh please! I know damn well you still have feelings for her! It's obvious to everyone but you!"

You two were squaring off in the foyer of the townhouse, a hot afternoon in Velaris as you were drilling holes of anger into his eyes. You two were barely together for a few years, which was nothing for Fae and Illyrians and their immortal lives. But in your mind it was good and sacred, thinking you found someone whom loved you fully and whole.

You were sorely mistaken, since you got wind of his longing affection for Mor.

Mor was your friend, she was not real threat to you when it came to being nice and cordial to one another. But she had a longer history with Azriel, France longer before you came one and into their lives. The second thoughts were there since the beginning when you got together with Azriel. Maybe you were comparing yourself to her, seeing her unique beauty that was both striking and deadly to look at. But Azriel was with you, so there shouldn't be a problem.

But there was, and when you found out about it, you were done.

"I can't do this with you, be with you when I know you're not fully here with me," You explained to him, seeing him search your eyes like he didn't understand. You felt deep down that if he was willing to try and fight for the pair of you, he would this moment. He would fight tooth and nail to convince you that he loved you, only you, and no one else.

But he stood there, saying nothing and almost showing you the real truth: he didn't fully love you.

Your heart broken then, and you wondered if it would have felt worse if you two mated. Thank God you didn't, or else that pain would have suffocated you whole.

"Your silence tells me everything I needed to hear," You said in a harsh whisper, "I hope you have a good life with her, I truly do,"

And with that, before you could hear him call out to you one last time, you turned on your heel and left the townhouse, slamming the door behind you.

Present Day

Battle Field

The battle was long and brutal, you could feel your muscles aching and screaming out for surrender as your sliced through each one of Hybern's soldiers that were coming at you.

Your blood was mixed with others on your armor and skin, making you confused if you were actually wounded or not because of the adrenaline that was soaring through your veins.

This was the last place you thought you would end, fighting for the freedom of your land as Fae against a ruthless king who wanted to take it all for himself.

You placed yourself in doing hard labor after your break up with Azriel centuries before, taking it harder than your realized.

Instead of wanting to wallow in your own self pity, you wanted to do meaningless work to get your mind away from that pain that was still there. You did labor whoever you could, not making a scene and not being recognized at all by anyone. You had no where else to go anyways.

You worked in farmlands, then as a blacksmith which got your hands on a sword, and anything else that was hard labor and that pushed you to your limits.

Perhaps you were punching yourself for what you did, for how you handled that break up. Maybe you were wrong, your doubts got the best of you and you made a mistake. Yet too much time did pass by, and you were only looking forward and not backwards.

But when the war came, you answered the call to fight.

Like the other Fae that went to fight, you went with the knowledge that you could die out there. It would scare you at any other moment in time, your life being in the balance.

But you didn't care if you died or not, that bitterness that you brought upon yourself took over.

The Fae that wanted to fight, both male and female and from all walks of life, all were training together at one of the old abandoned Illryian camps. You were motley crew of Fae, a variety of occupations that included teacher and painters, to fathers and daughters.

Cassian ran that training camp, and it took him only a split second to recognize you in the line up. He halted in front of you, shocked to see you and eyes you up and down to make sure you are real and it wasn't a trick. You just stared at him, not wanting to smile at all given the circumstance.

You were one of the best fighters in your little clusters of recruits. Cassian watching you like a hawk as you training in formation, leaning how to use your weapon with ease and move lightly on your feet.

One the eve of the battle, Cassian pulled you aside to talk to you, and mostly to catch up with you. You two talked, remaining neutral and kind to one another since you had no issue with the commander of the Illyrian army.

"I can tell Azriel you're here," He said in a suggestion as you were watching him, seeing him feel a bit uneasy bringing up your ex, "Just to let him know you're gonna fight in the battle tomorrow,"

"I'd rather not have him know," You explained calmly, seeing him watch you as you took out a long sigh, "I feel a bit and in how I left things with him, and the last thing I want to do is throw him off before we have to fight for our lives tomorrow. Cauldron, it sounds so poetic doesn't it?"

You gave out a bitter laugh, almost finding it funny that you would joke about those feelings you buried deep down so long ago. Cassian didn't light though, but he watched you with a hint of sadness on his face.

"If I'm going to die tomorrow, Cassian, I might as well die knowing that I did the best I could do. I don't want him to lean onto hope when I'm as good as dead," You explained calmly, almost in a low tone. There was a hit probability that you would die, so what would be the point of tell Azriel you were fighting in the same battle as him. Only to give him false hope.

You were a realist.

So there you were, fighting each soldier that came after you and taking them all with a hint of difficulty, but nothing you couldn't handle too much on your own.

Towards the end of it all, when you felt like you were getting closer and closer to victory, you shoved a particularly large soldier off of you who was trying to stab you right over your heart. He fell in a heap, your sword coaxed in blood as you stood over his dead body and took in a breath or two. A moment of peace with the rain battle going on around you.

A person stood in front of you, his wings out in a power pose as his eyes were on you with a gasp on his lips.

You looked too, seeing that familiar face that was a haunt in your dreams and imagination. Azriel.

He was in his battle armor, daggers in hand as he too looked fatigued from battle and warfare But his eyes were trained on you, so wide and shocked from not only seeing you right in front of him but you in a battle and welding a sword.

It was a split moment of the pair of you gazing at one another, just like you did right before you left him and walked out of his life. You realized in that moment, in a battle and covered in blood and drained to your core, that you missed him.

You missed him and loved him.

It was short lived, when someone stabbed you from behind and you collapsed in the ground.

The last thing you heard was Azriel's scream of agony and rage when your vision went dark.

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

You woke up with a throbbing headache and dryness in yoru mouth.

You were in a tent of some sorts, the sounds of the battle were long gone and there was still silence and the soft sounds of the tent moving with the wind.

Taking a breath, you felt a soreness on your lower back. it was a numbing feeling, almost like a aching bruise that was being pressed on consistently. It was bearable, but it made you remember then why that feeling was there.

You were stabbed, right in the lower back. You were out in the battlefield when this was happening, and you were looking into the eyes of your ex lover.

Now you were waking up. How long were you out for?

Something was against you, almost curled into you and keeping you somewhat warm. It wasn't a something, more like a someone.

You looked over to your left and down a bit, seeing the backside of a Illyrian who was tucked into your side and sleeping against you, one around your waist in a protective manner and the other laced in one of your hands. A few seconds later, you knew then who it was.

Azriel.

You smiled weakly, not wanting to wake him since you could tell he was in a deep sleep. Nothing else really mattered in that moment, having the one person whom you truly loved back in your life and in your arms. You did regret turning away from him, that burning hate you had against you was long gone before this battle, before this reunion. It was replaced with an aching longing to be back with him, to have him again.

As grateful as you were being alive and well, not being dead out there like thousands of others, you still had a small fear of needing to talk to him about what happened and where the left you. Was he happy with someone? If he was, would you be that person that would break that happiness apart?

There was so much to discuss and talk about with him, but as you watched him take in a deep breath and curl into your body more, you decided to wait.

You fell back asleep, tilted your chin down to be on his head and drift back off to sleep. This time you were happy to be asleep with the being in your arms again.

[randomperson46]

Worst Couple (Beck Oliver x Female Reader)

This one is a lot longer than my usuals. This was based on the episode "the worst couple" as per request. Updates every Monday! Requested by: XxAquilanxX

1626 words.

Sitting in Skowitz's class next to your boyfriend Beck and your sister Jade.

You and Jade were discussing weekend plans, the two of you were going to have a sister night. being faternal twins was fun, same birthday but the two of you look completely different.

Tori's phone let out a loud noise, you covered your ears. the whole class groaned.

"Your phone is making a noise!" Jade yelled

"I think she knows that." Beck replied.

"You don't know what she knows" You said.

"I know you're both being obnoxious." Beck replied

"Oh." You and Jade said in an annoyed tone.

Tori interrupted the moment that was happening by asking Robbie to unplug her phone, wait, then plug it in again. the air around the three of you was intense.

'He was just joking' you eventually decide as Robbie counted to three.

"Plug it in!" Jade yelled at him.

"Why's your phone all Jacked up?" Andre asked Tori.

"I don't know you tell me, it should work fine." She responded.

You reached over to Beck and tried to hold his hand. He didn't even look at you and he shook your hand off of his. Your sister noticed how your face fell and held your other hand.

"How many times have you dropped it in the toilet?" Andre asked.

"Only three" Tori responded. She sounded desperate. "Anyway, now it won't stay charged, so I have to keep it plugged in all the time." Tori whined.

"Just get a new phone" Beck suggested, crossing his arms.

"Don't give her advice." Jade snapped at him.

You smiled at her. Hearing Jade snap at Beck after he was being a little rude to you, made you happy. 'Maybe he didn't mean to be rude, I'll talk to him later'

"I was just-" Beck shot back.

"Well don't!" Jade shot to kill.

"Man your sister makes me happy." Beck snapped.

"Blah." Jade responded.

You rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him, because you know how your sister gets. He shrugged your hand off.

"Oh." you whispered quietly, getting the hint.

"Blah." he copied Jade.

"My father's embarrassed of me." Robbie said out of the blue.

The conversation ended up back on Tori's pearphone and you zoned out for the rest of class just thinking about you and Beck.

After school you and the gang went to Sinjin's game show rehearsal. You once again sat in-between Jade and Beck. When all of a sudden Sinjin had to dismiss the old couples and ask the gang to be the new test couples.

"But none of us are dating except for y/n and Beck." Tori objected.

"That's okay. Will you guys do it?" Sinjin asked.

Tori was about to say something when Sinjin grabbed her by her shoulders, "Don't blow this for me Tori!" he shook her.

We ended up in the three booths. You and Beck, Tori and Robbie, Cat and Andre. While your sister sat and laughed in the audience seats.

Through out the questionnaire Cat and Andre had wonderful chemistry. It wouldn't surprise you if they started dating. Tori and Robbie had a little chaos, kept saying they we're not actually dating only for Robbie to call her girlfriend again. It was funny watching the two of them.

All you said was that you didn't like the ocean. Beck knows you and your sister both have a fear of it. And Beck made it something bigger than it was. He started yelling. then Sinjin yelled at you to pick a letter.

You yelled "B!"

"Maybe it was A!" Beck yelled back.

"I don't care!" you yelled back. The question made you uncomfortable and you just wanted to leave.

"I'm not happy with our relationship!" Beck yelled.

A tense filled silence filled the studio. You looked at Beck, but he was facing forward. He won't look at you.

After the rehearsal he left before you could say anything to him. You felt heart broken. Your sister walked up to you and hugged you.

"Sissy what did I do wrong?" you whimpered in her ear, you wanted to cry but you knew you shouldn't.

"Nothing, you did nothing wrong." Jade said as she rubbed your back.

The next day Beck drags you into the janitor closet.

"You're freaking out over a dumb game show!" you said. you were exhausted and tired of talking about this.

"We were voted worst couple, and the other two couples weren't even real couples!" He spoke loudly. Not quite yelling, but not a normal volume. "And one had Robbie in it." he added.

"Why do you care if we were voted worst couple?" you asked.

"It's a matter of-" Beck was interrupted by Jade walking in the closet.

"What's going on in here?" she asked.

"Do you think me and y/n fight alot?" Beck asked Jade.

"Yeah, but all boyfriends and girlfriends fight alot, don't they?" Jade asked You.

"Sometimes-" You started.

"Yes or no" Jade interrupted.

"Let her talk" Beck yelled.

"You never listen when she speaks so why do you care now?" Jade asked.

"What's your point Beck?" you spoke up.

"I would like to have a girlfriend I can talk to without it turning into a screaming match between us and her sister." Beck stated.

"Yeah, well my sister should have a boyfriend who other girls don't stare at all the time." Jade said.

"How is it my fault girls stare at me?" Beck yells at Jade. They both were so focused on each other it was like you weren't even there.

"You could look worse if you wanted to." Jade said gesturing to his clothes.

Your breathing started to pick up, you felt as if you couldn't get enough oxygen into your lungs. You look at the two most important people in your world shout at each other. You couldn't pick just one you felt as if you needed them both.

Beck turned to you, "I can't believe how jealous you get." she snapped.

"You think I'm ugly?" you we're not paying much attention, you were trying to calm your breathing down. In and out. In and out.

"Did I say she was ugly?" Beck asked Jade.

"I think you two are a perfect couple." Jade said.

"Y/N are we a perfect couple?" Beck asked.

All this pressure, all on you.

"I'm late for class." you mumbled and ran out of the closet. Away from the two of them.

"We're gonna finish this talk eventually!" Beck shouts at you.

"Later" you mumbled.

After school Tori invited you to play cards at her house, but you couldn't tell Jade or Beck. You all sat around the table throwing down cards.

"Wait a sec." Tori said as her phone rang. She pressed her pearphone to her ear and started to spazz out. Tori's phone was electrocuting her.

As Cat showed everyone how her uncle taught her to shuffle, Tori went to answer the door. Jade and Beck were at the door.

Your sister stared at you with a look of disbelief. Beck was just being Beck.

"See they're all here just like I told you they'd all be here." Beck said walking across Tori's living room.

"Sorry we didn't invite you to play." Tori started saying.

"Tell her why you didn't invite us to play, but you invited y/n." Beck said.

"We didn't invite you guys because you two are always screaming at each other. Even y/n gets uncomfortable when the two of you fight. Cat faints and everyone just feels awkward." Andre spoke up.

Beck turned to you. "Look, I don't want to be your boyfriend if we're going to fight all the time. Even me and your sister don't get along."

"Are you breaking up with me?" you asked, your throat went dry. You knew that your relationship had some problems, but you always thought you could fix it.

"Are you guys breaking up because if so-" Trina was cut off by Jade throwing a pillow at her.

"Next time, it's a hammer." She smiled. Jade walked over to you and grabbed your hand.

"Let's go." Jade pulled you away from the card table.

"I'm tired of fighting." Beck sighed.

"Ok we are going to walk out that door and count to ten, if you are not out there when I reach ten the two of you are through." Jade said.

"You don't get to speak for her." Beck pointed at you.

"You don't get to treat her the way you do and still get to call her girlfriend. I would have dropped you when you stopped showing basic affection like you always do. You won't hold her hand anymore and that shit hurts her. But yeah I'm the bad guy for wanting you out of her life." Jade grabbed your hand and dragged you out of Tori's house.

"One." Jade said. Nothing Happened.

"Two." Jade said. Nothing Happened.

"Three." Jade said. Nothing Happened.

"Four." Jade said. Nothing Happened.

"Five." Jade said. Nothing Happened.

"Six." Jade said. You could hear some commotion.

"Seven." Jade said. Some people started yelling.

"Eight." Jade said. All was quiet.

"Nine." Jade said. The doorknob jiggled.

"Ten." Jade said. She put her hands on your shoulders. He didn't come outside, the two of you were through.

You started to cry as you and Jade  walked away.

"Wait." someone said.

You turned tears in your eyes and saw Beck. He pulled you into a hug.

"I don't want to lose you, no matter what we go through." Beck whispered in your ear. he held you until you were ready to leave. You said goodnight to Jade and went home with Beck, promising to actually talk and listen to each other.

[pandora-writes-one-piece]

The Meet Cute - Law's Story - 10

Source for pic

The Great Pretender 10 🔞

Word Count: 4329

Tags For The Whole Story: Fem!Reader; Law is a soft dom; you have bratty tendencies (not all the time); voice kink; praise kink; cursing; very suggestive behaviour and innuendo from the start; sexual tension; teasing; so much flirting; romance; slow-burn; fluff; slight angst; mature audiences (though explicit NSFW moments will be properly tagged on the chapter); possessive Law; protective Law; soft Law; teasing Law; manipulative Doflamingo; inappropriate Doflamingo; fake relationship trope; only one-bed trope; reader has some anxiety issues; reader is a control freak and perfectionist; modern day AU; Mention of ex mentally abusive relationship;

Special Warning: English is not my first language, I apologise for any possible spelling or grammar mistakes.

Summary: After moving away from the hustle and bustle of Grand Line City to help your father around the property following a horse-riding accident - and in the hopes of healing your broken heart after your asshole ex-fiancé cheated - you settle into the country calmness of the Calm Belt. You and Law (your father's doctor) start to build a flirty friendship because of your father’s procedure. So much so that when he’s invited to Baby 5’s wedding (his cousin), he asks you to be his date. His uncle Doflamingo - who is filthy rich - is very adamant on finding a suitable wife for him. Seeing as he wants to avoid that, he asks you to pretend to be his girlfriend for the weekend.

Notes: Forgive me guys, I haven't really had the time to write a lot this week, and I'll be teaching a course near the end of the month so, limited time again. I might have to stick to one weekly update instead of two. Sorry! Also, the 🔞 is for very suggestive talk. I hope you enjoy this one!

Masterlist |Chapter 9| | |Chapter 11|

“The game is pretty simple!” Baby 5 begins, a microphone in hand. The bride has rounded up all the couples on today's guest list - there are around a dozen, from younger couples to older couples - and she's explaining the rules of the first game. Law tried to shy away from the festivities, but Baby 5 wanted her favourite cousin to enter the games. You're pretty excited about it too, it might be fun. “One of you grabs a heart-shaped balloon and writes a love message on it. I'll collect them, inflate them, and read the message. It's the job of the other half of the couple to guess which message is meant for them.”

“Oh, this is fun!” You say while reaching for the balloon. 

Law takes the balloon from your hand with a smirk. “Very fun, let me.” The glint in his eyes tells you that his message will be interesting and you're both dreading and anticipating it. 

Law turns his back on you when he catches you peeking at what he's writing and you stifle a giggle. When Baby 5 comes to collect the balloon, she raises her eyebrow. “You let Law write the message? Oh, this is going to be interesting.” Law smirks and you gulp. 

“Alright, I have all the balloons here! Now, when I read what you think is the message for you, you come and claim your balloon, got it?” The crowd agrees and she claps excitedly. “Partners who wrote the message, no cheating!” 

Law senses your excitement and he chuckles, placing his hand on your lower back and pulling you closer to him. “This is a silly game.” He says, but you notice the slight amusement in his tone. 

“You don't have to pretend that it's annoying you, Law, I can see you're entertained.” You awe and clap at an older couple whose message was part of a love poem: ‘She walks in beauty, like the night, of cloudless climes and starry skies.’

“Oh, I will be entertained, alright. Pay attention, sweetheart, you don't want to miss my message.” He sounds so mischievous that you have to giggle. 

Baby 5 keeps reading the balloons and the messages are all heartfelt confessions and love poems. You can almost bet your savings that Law would never write something like that, and his smug smirk confirms it. 

As you look at him, your heart flutters slightly in your chest and, once again, you feel like you’re part of a real relationship. Your lips are still tingling from the earlier kiss - public claim? - and, suddenly, you feel bad for having pushed him too far. His reaction was unexpected and you were only thinking about yourself in the moment. Perhaps it wasn’t your brightest move.  

“Law?”

He hums softly near your ear, sending a ticklish sensation down your neck, his eyes never leave his cousin. 

“I owe you an apology.” You both clap as another couple guesses the message right - ‘If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you’ - and then Law fixes his amber gaze on you with curiosity. 

“Why?”

An exasperated sigh leaves your lips. “I pushed too far this morning.” A light blush tints your cheeks and you look back at Baby 5 to avoid Law's piercing gaze. “We… we were both vulnerable with each other yesterday, baring our insecurities and fears and I… foolishly joked about…” You gesture around with another sigh. “Mingling.” 

Law doesn't speak, and though you're still watching Baby 5, hearing her read ‘I love you more than chocolate. But please, don’t make me prove it’, you can feel his gaze burning your face. 

A laughing girl walks towards Baby 5 and her girlfriend gives her a very heated kiss that gets the crowd cheering. Law pinches your chin with his index finger and thumb forcing you to look into his eyes and, for just a second, you're scared of what you're about to find there. 

Which is silly, because there's only tenderness. 

“Sweetheart, I love the way you push me. Trust me, it was nowhere near far enough.” He dips his head, his lips hovering just above yours. “I can read you like a book and I know when you're testing me playfully. Don't worry on my account, okay? I'll be honest if anything rubs me the wrong way, as long as you do the same.”

You nod, too stunned because he used the word love and it's still bumping around your head as if it were a ball and your brain the pinball machine. 

“Oh, my.” Baby 5 has just inflated another balloon and she's giggling into the microphone. “This one is interesting.” Somehow you know this has to be Law's message and he must sense it too because you both look back at the bride, your heart hammering with such violence that you think it might just jump out and start walking on its own. “It just says: ‘Mine’” She turns the balloon towards the crowd, some laugh, some gasp, you flare up, turning beet red. Your hand flies to your mouth to stifle a gasp that turns into a giggle. This is so Law! 

You take a deep breath and shake your head as you stride forward to retrieve your balloon, ignoring whistles from the crowd as they realise who wrote the message. “Oh, I should've guessed!” Baby 5 laughs as she hands you the balloon. “Look out gentlemen, I think this was more a warning than a message!”

You're still blushing as you return to Law's side, feeling all eyes on you. You especially notice a pair of flaming red ones piercing you from behind tinted sunglasses. 

“Mine, Law, really?” His smirk is impossibly smug. 

“I told you people shouldn't stare. Now they know.” His eyes scan the crowd and he grunts again, enveloping your waist with both arms and pulling you closer to him. “Or maybe not. Maybe I should tie that balloon to your dress so everybody gets the message.”

You giggle at his silliness - especially because nobody is paying attention to you at this point - and you playfully wrap your arms around his neck, feeling more like a couple than ever and trying to convince yourself that you’re only doing this for the sake of your ‘fake relationship’. “So I would be walking around carrying your heart, Law?” You tease him with another giggle, your fingers playing with the hair at his nape without you giving them permission to. The stare he pins you with is serious and unwavering. 

“What if you already are?” 

A rush of heat travels through your body at his words and you swear your heart stops for a beat, restarting again, pounding faster and harder. What? The smile on your face is quickly erased as you're trying your hardest to read Law's expression. He didn't use the signal. He didn't even say his ‘if this were true’ motto. Is he being real? 

You open your mouth to answer when you're interrupted by Baby 5. “Guys, I already called everybody for the next game! Come on, you can suck face later.”

You smile wearily and let go of Law, taking his hand instead to follow her. Yet you can't stop the loud beating of your heart or shake away the kaleidoscope of butterflies swirling in your stomach. 

Is this real?

-*-

You've been playing silly trust games, like walking blindfolded and only following your partner's instructions and answering quizzes with questions like, ‘what’s your partner’s favourite colour?’ or ‘what’s your partner’s favourite movie?’. Safe to say you got all of those right and passed with flying colours. 

Now, Baby 5 announces yet another game and Law groans, looking at his watch. “Got somewhere else to be?” You ask with a grin. You’re actually enjoying this way too much while Law looks more miserable by the hour. Doflamingo hasn’t addressed any of you since his earlier interaction, so you’re feeling confident since everyone else takes you for a real couple who’s madly in love. 

“Anywhere but here?” He smirks at you.

“I think this might be the last game, then you’re off the hook.”

“Alright, alright, everyone gather round! So for this final game, we’re going to have one partner blindfolded…” She pauses for dramatic effect and the guests cheer. “And, in complete silence,” she emphasises the words, “they’re going to have to find their better half by touch alone while navigating the crowd. Now, this is where it gets fun! I’m inviting the singles to join in on the disruption! We don’t want the game to be too easy, do we?”

Watching Doflamingo and Bellamy join the area, you tense up again. It’s time to step up your game. You’re not going to fail this. Law is also visibly tensing and you sense his uneasiness when he reaches for the blindfold and tells you to turn around.

“You’ll find me. I know you will, this is just a silly game and we’ve already proven that we’re very good at silly games.” He whispers near your ear before setting the silk material over your eyes and tying it up in a tight knot. Your head jerks back softly with the motion and you can’t help but let out a small gasp. Law notices it because in a heartbeat his lips are back near your ear. “You like that, sweetheart, being blindfolded by my hands?”

The voice! 

Swallowing the lump that suddenly formed in your throat and wiping your sweaty hands on your dress, you nod slowly, not trusting your voice enough to grace him with an answer.

“Noted.” He slurs and places the lightest of kisses on your neck, making you shiver as you try to focus more on the task at hand and less on the throbbing between your thighs.

“Everybody ready?” The crowd cheers at Baby 5’s words, but you remain silent. You’re not ready. This is losing control to the extreme, and Law is not near you anymore. So you’re already feeling lost and overwhelmed, because losing control to Law is one thing, losing control, period, is another. “Begin the search for your partner, couples! Singles, disrupt!”

You take slow shallow breaths to try and calm the beating of your heart. You know there are no obstacles in the area around you, just people. A lot of people. Some bump into you, making you gasp from the sudden contact, others snicker and laugh around you to try and confuse you and it’s all too overwhelming.

Maybe you shouldn’t have done this.

“Focus, sweetheart.” You hear him somewhere to your right, so you turn in that direction.

“This is a silent game, people!” Baby 5 admonishes Law without singling him out, but it’s alright because his voice grounded you and you do as he says: you focus. 

You move tentatively, small steps at a time, hoping people get out of your way before you bump them. You reach out your hands so you can try to discern guests, trying to find Law. Here, a suit, shoulders, it’s not him. Too short. “Nope.” You mutter and move forward, step by step. Your fingers grip against a tie and you dismiss another person, Law’s not wearing a tie. “Not you…”

Slowly you begin to gain your confidence back, quickly dismissing guests because you can easily feel they’re not Law. Until you bump against someone who doesn’t get out of your way. Muttering an apology, you extend your hand and find a hard, steely chest. But it’s too high. It’s not Law. “Not you.” You make a move to continue your path, but the person grips your hand before you can completely pull away. A small intake of breath parts your lips as your hand is pressed firmly against the chest again. 

“Are you sure I’m not who you’re looking for, princesa?” He whispers and your legs wobble while a cold shiver runs through you. You try to remove your hand, but Doflamingo’s grip is strong. “Check again.”

“No, sir.” You wince as he grips your hand harder, but you know he won’t do anything else, you’re in public. “I’m looking for Law, not you.” You say as you pull harder and he releases you with an icy chuckle. 

“Are you sure about that?” His question follows you but you pretend to ignore it as you trek forward, nerves rattled, panting breaths and wishing for this to end. 

And then you feel the lightest brush of fingers against your waist. You’re not quite sure the direction it came from, but it doesn’t matter because your instincts take over and you’re drawn to Law as if you are magnets. Your hands collide against his chest and a jolt travels up your arms and settles gently in your chest. “Law.” You whine in relief as his hands remove the blindfold from your eyes.

When his gaze meets yours, you see a hint of worry in his golden eyes. “Hey, it’s over. I’ve got you.” You nod, your fingers digging into his shirt as his arms wrap around you in a warm embrace. “Lost too much control, sweetheart?”

You stifle a resigned chuckle against his chest. “I never want to play this again. I hated it.”

His presence grounds you and soothes you. His scent envelopes you in a comforting embrace while his arms pull you back into the controlled environment your mind had wandered away from. You're still basking in his comfort when Baby 5 approaches you both with a wide grin, dragging Sai by the hand. “Congratulations, you two. You won our games contest!”

“Contest?” You ask, pulling yourself away from Law with a tremendous effort. 

“Yeah, silly! Maybe if you two stopped being so lost in each other, you would've actually listened to what I said.” She rolls her eyes and sighs. “You won a private photo shoot with my wedding photographer - the best in Grand Line City!” She squeals in excitement. “So go change into your formal attire for the rehearsal dinner and meet the photographer by the greenhouse in half an hour, got it?”

A photo shoot? For you two? As a couple? 

Your heart warms at the prospect of keeping a memento of the wonderful time you are having with Law. But your mind tells you that it will just be a memory of something that is bound to give you heartache when you eventually fall apart. 

“Sounds fun.” Law says near your ear, and his words are such a contradiction to the scowl on his lips that you can't hold back a laugh. 

“You could've fooled me. We'll be there, Baby 5. Thank you.” The grunt Law exhales only makes you laugh harder. 

-*-

You had previously selected the dress for the rehearsal dinner - or Nami did, actually - and it's gorgeous. The dress hugs your body perfectly with strategically placed slits to enhance your figure. Its colour makes your eyes pop and your hair stand out. It's perfect. As you look at yourself in the bathroom mirror, you can't help but feel a tingle of excitement at Law's reaction. He always has a compliment ready for you, but you've never looked so gorgeous as you do now. 

Closing your makeup case and adding the finishing touches to your hair, you glance at the half-open zipper on the back of your dress. Maybe if you really tried you could've closed it yourself, but you decide to ask for help instead. 

Today things with you and Law have been going great. You've bonded, you've kissed, you've flirted… It feels like a real relationship. Maybe… Maybe you can take this one step further, why not? You're both adults, if you like each other what's stopping you? 

‘Nothing’ is the word that keeps repeating in your head as you open the bathroom door. Your heart was already thumping dramatically against your chest, but one look at Law dressed in a complete suit has you salivating on sight. 

Your legs almost lose their strength when he locks eyes with you. He looks so handsome. 

“You look-... - you’re beautiful.” His eyes burn into your figure and a blush creeps its way to your nose and cheeks. 

“Thank you. You look very dashing yourself, Mr. Trafalgar.” You imitate a posh accent and he chuckles. Then you turn slightly. “Can you help zip me up?”

You hear a confirmation as he approaches you with large strides. You're in front of the vanity so you can see him behind you. And you're mesmerised by him. You watch his throat bob up and down as he stares at your bare back, his eyes darkening with a haze and you feel a tingle in your skin even before he raises his hands. His mere presence commands you and then you make the mistake of taking a deep breath. He smells divine. 

Law's hands touch the back of your dress and his fingers are light as feathers. He's breathing near the curve of your neck and each of his rapid breaths brings a shiver down your spine, a clenching to your heart, and an ache between your thighs. 

“You're driving me insane…” He murmurs against your skin and you close your eyes, the deepness of his voice enveloping you like a lover's caress. His fingers graze your back as he slowly pulls the zipper up. “You look gorgeous…” Law brushes his lips against the exposed bone at the nape of your neck. “You smell delicious…” Burying his nose in the curve of your shoulder, he takes a deep breath. “You look ready to devour.” Then he exhales near your earlobe, making you arch your neck and grip the vanity so hard with your hands, that you almost sense the wood cracking. 

“Law…”

He pulls the zipper all the way up and you see him grin at you in the mirror, that particularly unhinged grin that makes you weak in the knees. “What is it, sweetheart? If you don't say what you want, how do I know what to do?”

Since his hands are no longer occupied with the zipper, he brings one of them to your belly, opening it flat against your stomach and pulling you flush against him. You can sense how much he's aroused by this moment and, judging by the ache between your legs, you're equally turned on. 

But what do you want him to do?

“Law!” You whine, not sure what to ask for but wanting him to give you everything. 

“Yes, sweetheart?” His hand traces patterns against your stomach and teases the underside of your breasts and, even without touching them, you can feel how hard your nipples are from all his teasing. 

“I don't know what I want, just… Please!” His low chuckle caresses your ear and sets you ablaze. 

“Maybe I can tell you what I want. How about that?” You can feel the deep rumble of his timbre coming from his chest vibrating against your back. His voice makes you throb and gasp and you nod. “That's good sweetheart. Open your eyes.” You do, chest already heaving from shortened breaths and cheeks slightly flushed. “You're going to watch your face in the mirror as I tell you all the things I want to do to you, got it? If you close your eyes, I'll have to punish you.” His thumb grazes your nipple again and you whine because the touch is not enough to soothe and it only serves to ignite. “I need a verbal answer.”

“Yes, Law. I got it.” You train your eyes on your expression and flush further at how vulnerable you appear. Your breath catches at the way Law's hand covers you and at how long his fingers are. 

“Take a deep breath, sweetheart.” You obey. “I’m going to tell you step by step what’s been playing on my mind on repeat.” Anticipation builds in your core and you clench your fists, holding your breath “I want to start by slowly licking every inch of skin on your body, worshipping you like the goddess you are and leaving no crevice untouched. I will take extra care with your neck, learning just how sensitive you are, and leaving you breathless.” His tongue traces a sinful pattern against your neck and you gasp. “And when I slowly get to your breasts, I will roll your nipple against my tongue, take it between my teeth and bite you in a way that's going to have you dripping down your legs. You won't know if it's pain, pleasure or both. And you'll want more of it.”

Your legs start to wobble at the vivid image he’s painting. The sensuality of his words is further enhanced by his voice and his touch. Law has you under his spell and you can't - nor do you want to - break from it. 

His other hand wraps around your neck, thumb pressing against your artery so he can feel it flutter under his skin, so he can sense how lost you truly are in this moment. You look at your reflection in the mirror and the throbbing between your legs only intensifies. “My hands will follow the trail my tongue creates with a gentle caress. I will have you arching your back, leaning against my touch, squirming and begging for more even before my tongue touches your clit.” 

An unbridled moan escapes your lips as you think about Law's head between your thighs and you close your eyes for a beat, too lost in the moment. Law presses your neck gently and pinches your nipple making you jump and mewl. “Law!” A gasp escapes you and he smirks deviously. 

“Eyes open sweetheart.”

“Fuck!” You mutter, your mouth half parted and your hands clenched into fists against your sides. 

“I know, I know.” The smugness in his voice only makes you wetter and by heavens above, you need this man to touch you. “You'll be cursing too, when I place my fingers inside of you just to find out how much you need me. And how ready and willing you are for me.” He lowers his hand, his pinky going lower than your abdomen and you throb incessantly, yearning for his touch. “Hot. Tight. Slick. Taking my fingers so well.” His words brush against your ear but they might as well be caressing you everywhere. This is unbearable. You need some sort of release. He's just building you up, his flames licking higher and higher and it's taking up all the oxygen. You need more. So much more. 

“Please, Law… please…”

“Yes, sweetheart. It's okay. You would behave so well, being such a good girl. You know what would happen?” You mewl a weak reply, something unintelligible even to you. “You'd come on my fingers once, and on my tongue again, until I bent you over this vanity and buried myself so deep in you that you would barely keep your eyes open.” His hot breath caresses your ear before he whispers, “And then you'd come on my cock. Twitching and squirming and taking all of me so, so well.”

Fuck, it's too much. His filthy talk is making you want to close your eyes and give in, touch yourself or rub against something to stop this ache, this need, this insane desire he keeps weaving with his sinful words. You need - want - everything! You…

“I want it all, Law.” You confess, breathless, as you turn your head to the side, facing him with hazy eyes and parted lips. Absentmindedly there's a little notification in your brain that pops up reminding you neither of you used the signal before this interaction. 

But who cares? 

Because Law's fingers tighten on your jaw tilting your face towards him, the hand on your stomach grips harder, fingers protruding your skin and he smirks smugly once more, though you can very well read the hunger in his eyes. “Can you handle it all?”

You nod for a second before you turn in his embrace and dig your fingers into his scalp, pulling him down to your lips into a heated kiss. He's as pent-up as you apparently, because his tongue latches immediately onto yours and his hands hoist you up, setting you on the vanity again in a repeat from last night, though this time there's no lingering hurt or unwanted vulnerability. There's not even the haze of alcohol between you. 

There's just desire. 

And maybe something more… 

This time there will be no what-ifs. This is true. You know it, you feel it. 

And it's happening. 

Law's hands caress your thighs and you open your legs for him in a silent invitation. The slits of the dress are there for his use, and he doesn't hesitate. Without parting the kiss, Law's fingers travel the inside of your thigh and you moan in anticipation. You know you're soaked. You need his touch. You can practically feel the tips of his fingers near your panties… 

Until Law's phone rings with a sound so loud it makes you gasp, your heart pounding harder against your chest as you both part, breathless and dishevelled. 

“Fuck!” Law curses, uncharacteristically rattled, and picks up the phone with a grunt. “Baby 5, I can literally see you. We're waving at you. Open your eyes!” Then he disconnects the call, places his hands on the vanity one on each side of your legs and sighs as his eyes search yours. “We have to go…”

You're still slightly addled. Your heart is still out of rhythm and the throbbing hasn't stopped, but you both know the moment has passed and you need to go. So you smile reassuringly at him, your hands resting above his, ignoring the way that touching him sends a jolt of electricity up your arm. 

“Raincheck?” You try, turning your smile into a smirk. 

A chuckle escapes his lips as he helps you get down from the vanity. “Definitely.”

Taglist: @rosidaze @beachaddict48 @armiliadawn @jintaka-hane @sprinkklz @baby5555 @hopelesslover06 @mars-mizuko @sleepykittycx @nerium-lil @eustasscapitankid @jqperi @rainbow2312 @ren-ni @alexturnersgirl

|Chapter 11|

[orange-peony]

Hi ! Congratulations 🎉🎉

I have a prompt request for Drarry : " He wanted to tell him how much he loved him , but.. " with a happy ending please , and any rating of your choice. Thank you ❤️ Have a great day 💖 Sending lots of love ❤️

Hello, lovely! 💙 Thank you so much for the inspiring prompt!

It had all started with a letter. A simple owl reminding Harry that Malfoy owed him a life debt and asking what he wanted from him.

Harry had just had a panic attack, was still feeling wheezy and raw, so lonely after Hermione and Ron had moved out.

He had grabbed a quill and scribbled out a wobbly reply.

Come here for dinner.

Harry had spent his eighth year at Hogwarts observing Malfoy, watching him getting hexed and beaten up on a daily basis, and taking it all with a stoicism Harry didn't think he was capable of. Malfoy had completed his community service, then found a job in a small potion lab, and had disappeared from the public eye. Everyone had forgotten about him, but not Harry.

That first evening, when Malfoy showed up at 7 o'clock sharp, looking around Grimmauld Place with a weary eye, Harry had felt a bit awkward, but still glad for the company.

"Maybe I should help you renovate the house," Malfoy had suggested after helping himself to more pasta. "It's a bit of a mess."

"Yes," Harry had replied, probably too quickly, but Malfoy had nodded, a small smile on his pale face.

"Okay," he had said.

And after that it became a daily thing.

Malfoy always showed up after work, helping Harry clear out cobwebs and fixing broken furniture, replacing the wallpaper and polishing the floors. Sometimes he would turn up at the weekend, always staying for lunch or dinner, or both if Harry was lucky.

Harry was completely besotted after only a month, felt like his heart was about to burst after six. He wanted to tell Draco how much he loved him, but was worried that that initial request to repay the life debt was still the reason why Draco came to Harry's house every day.

"I don't think I can do this anymore," Draco said one evening, hands stained with paint as he finished off whitewashing the bathroom walls.

"Oh," Harry breathed out, his heart falling to pieces inside his constricting chest.

That was it.

That was the end.

"I…" Malfoy Draco started, then bit his lip. "It doesn't feel like repaying a debt anymore. Not when I spend all day looking forward to it. Not when I constantly dream about touching you...and kissing you...not when I love you this much."

"What if I love you more?" Harry found the courage to ask, his eyes full of hope as he stared into Draco's grey irises, his pupils dilating.

"I don't think that's possible," Draco whispered, sounding incredulous.

"Come here," Harry said, reaching for him with trembling hands. "Let me show you."

[becausethathappens]

Will you please write a super angsty fic where Link is freaking out because he thinks the wedding vows he has written aren't good enough and Rhett helps him go over them and make corrections and says they're perfect but also, just says the vows he would say for Link if it was them like it should've been because he's heartbroken and Link can tell but their hands are tied and they don't know what to do so they soldier on without saying a word, but wordlessly communicating lifelong love and misery and everything, maybe comfort as well?

i'm really really sad and i can't shake it off and i really want some good angst and hurt/comfort and i really love you, maura, you're awesome

I don't do unhappy endings, anon. I'm confident you don't either. In fiction or otherwise. So, pardon this if it’s not what you expected.

Please enjoy? This was done a little hastily to share it with you (and I should be writing other things per usual) but I've had a rough week and I want to hopefully make someone smile. (I have way angstier stuff in the drafts and I will be sure to get those out eventually, too.) You’ll feel better soon.  🤞  Thank you! 💞

-———————-

now or forever

4k - Rhett writes Link vows.

If you were my boy, Blue

I’d bathe you in honeys (sp?)

I’d sing write you a love song

I’d shoot you a star**

If you were my boy, Blue

There ain’t nothing in this life I wouldn’t give

From my heart, to my toes, to my fingers, my nose (**)

Whatever it takes just to watch you live 

continue to ‘ ’ grow with you like a vine ‘round a rose 

If you were my boy, Bue

I wouldn’t want you all for myself

There’s no star bright enough to match your lightin’

In sickness, blue, so certainly while we have health

Hand in hand, no longer fightin’

What’s destiny (**)

You and & me

If you were my boy, Blue

I'd marry you

&

Thank God for Rhett. Giving him, delivering him, blessing him with Rhett.

Link is in the middle of a spiral (what he’ll later recognize as a panic attack) when Rhett arrives, the eve of his wedding. Bailing him out of this with pen, paper, and a smile.

Link has always been good at improv.

Though Rhett tended to find the words to start. These were his own vows and Link has been putting time to sit and start them off for weeks. Now that he has to, he’s dumbfounded, despite being deeply in love.

Amidst all the planning and chaos, writing his vows was such a given that Link left it as priority sixty-seven on a list of many more.

Unfortunately, even as busy as they’ve been, that list was shredded with the “who gifted what” tracking sheet (both literally, accidentally, and figuratively) back around the bridal shower and it’s been anarchy ever since.

So he thanks God for Rhett, who’s here, to stop another needless disaster from happening.

That same generous God, however, watches him plagued with thoughts of utter devotion at Rhett’s willingness to drop everything on a weeknight and rush over to help Link find his words.

His lyrics, really, is what Link has in mind. Since they used to write songs together and this felt much the same. He’s been floundering all night and now that Rhett’s here, he knows he’ll at least get what he needs done. Even if it’s not all he wants, right now.

That same God seeks judgment on his every decision or flinch against His will, for any reason, to spite him.

For this reason.

He wants to smush Rhett’s face and kiss him. Deeply. He doesn’t.

Even if there were sometime in the past that he could get away with a platonic smooch, now he can’t. He simply could not prevent that from escalating.

So, he merely tightens his grip on the wrinkled scrap paper in his hand and scrunches his eyes.

“Why can’t it be you up there…” Link bemoans, loudly, in his frustration.

Rhett’s eyes widen, in horror, and Link slams his other hand at his mouth, rolling his eyes. “Not like - I mean - why can’t you go say my lines for me. You’re so much better at this kinda thing.”

“Let me read what you’ve got,” Rhett says.

After some review, Rhett sighs, not unkindly and sits down next to Link. “Let’s just talk through what you’re trying to say because, yeah, this reads like liturgy.”

“Ain’t is supposed to? It’s in a chapel!”

“What do you like about her?” Rhett asks, ignoring his nitpicking. “Christy?” Rhett stares at him, waiting, too upset for Link to chastise but clearly wanting to.

“She’s patient,” Link says, reminded by the similar. Rhett folds over the book to an open page and clicks the pen in his hand, writing that down. “A-And she’s kind. Like considerate, ‘specially with babies and little animals. Sh-She does this thing where she immediately drops to their eye-level to make sure they don’t feel unheard or seen. Probably ‘cause she’s always been so tall…”

Rhett’s still writing.

“Then when I’m sick, she forces me to rest. You know I hate that,” Link says, voice rising a little, at the memory. “But you know I need that. You won’t be the last to make me stop and smell the roses or take a break, once in a while.”

“Her hair, write, her hair - the way it looks in the sunshine. Like warm caramel with flecks of gold. She’s a vision, an angel. Especially when she’s wearing all white, like,” Link says, pausing to point to Rhett’s undershirt and pale grey sweats. “Makes blondes look ethereal-like, always has.”

“Oh, and her voice. Sometimes, the way her accent catches, well, you know she don’t like to sing like us, never has, but when she says certain things, asks a question the right way - it’s music. The way it harmonizes with my answer, reminds me of singing, reminds me of us.”

Rhett keeps writing, quiet, and focused.

After a short time, Link can’t stop and wants to crane over to see what he’s come up with. Rhett hands it over after crossing a final “t” somewhere on the page.

“Those’re good, Link, but I think you need to keep closer to what I wrote, leave out the stuff about me.”

“Stuff about you?” Link asks, having spoken in a stream-of-conscious style, Link forgets most of what he even said

Rhett looks away, shakes his head.

Distracted by the desire to read the rest, Link abandons the lingering questions he has about Rhett’s suggestion and response.

“These are great, man, thanks,” Links says, pushing a soft hand into Rhett’s side.

His eyes scan to the bottom where Rhett’s added a few lines about the journey, the marriage, all the ceremonial aspects of the day for him to close with, but then something more.

Something about him.

Rhett catches him catch it and looks further away. “I know Christy pretty well, too, y’know. Y’all are just alike, in that way. She might need some back-up vows, to have and hold.”

Link reads them.

“You know, just in case.”

Link looks up and tries to laugh.

He doesn’t laugh.

He goes back to reading them.

Rhett shifts uncomfortably, touches the back of his neck, and shuts his eyes.

“Rhett, these ’re…”

“I know, bo, you can forget ‘em,” Rhett excuses, still not meeting Link’s gaze. “You want me to… I can rewrite the others on a different - I can turn the page and write ‘em there so you can just…”

“Hey, hey,” Link interrupts him, mad at Rhett putting down his best friend, and eager to explain his actual thoughts. “Rhett, these are perfect. These are… I’m sad I can’t say anything as nice in return to you.”

Rhett finally looks up to acknowledge that and their gaze heats and lingers.

“Not that I…” Link stutters to clarify. “Y-You’d have to be a - if that’s something that was gonna - you know - if that was gonna work…”

His mind does it’s usual jump to a visual for the worst case scenario depicting the implication he stumbled across. Him out eight grand on the wedding. Not to mention a wife, a family, a future, a faith -

a friend -

Link gulps, pushing that back away, pushing them both forward, in his estimation.

It’s too much to bear to think about for another second. When he glances at Rhett, he can’t get a read on his face what he thinks about it, and that’s scary enough for him to want to abandon the concept altogether.

“Christy’s gonna love them.”

It’s enough, saying his fiancée's name, to ground him again. Enough to make it okay for him to grab Rhett’s palm and squeeze it in thanks, between them.

Rhett’s made his choice to give up on film school.

Link’s made his choice to give up on whatever schoolboy obsession he has with monopolizing all of Rhett’s days and nights. 

He’ll stick to the days or every other weekend, however they can still fit time together, is fine by him. This ceremony, tomorrow, feels as much about his graduation from friend to husband, and all that that entails.

They’re adults.

They both know there’s a lot of sacrifices to be made and this feels like the first time he’s really acknowledging how hard they’re going to be to make. He hopes they’ll still see each other.

He hopes their kids will get along.

He has a lot of hopes.

All of them involve Rhett.

There’s a lot he should write down for when Rhett finds his own bride to wed.

Link notices, suddenly, that Rhett is crying. The same part of him that's nearly broken the headwind of these conflicting emotions turns back to comfort him.

“Hey, don’t cry,” Link soothes, realizing he’s also still holding Rhett’s hand.

“‘M sorry,” Rhett intones, the words bubble up and out of him simultaneously, sounding like water draining in a filled sink. “And the night before your wedding, good Heavens.”

“Hey, I’ve been crying all week,” Link says, waving a hand at the stress that planning a wedding has kept put on him. “Nothing I haven’t seen in the mirror.”

Rhett laughs, rubbing a thumb over his own thigh in a way that brushes upwards against the place Link’s clasping his hand. Link nearly pulls his hand back, thinking Rhett’s trying to get him to sense his want for space, but when he meets his eye it’s clear he’d like nothing less.

“I think I’m just -” Rhett starts to say, trailing off. The light from the lamp on the far coffee table is the only thing on in the room. Link drops his gaze a few inches to try and see more of Rhett’s downturned eyes as he hems and haws. He squeezes their hands together, again, this time clasping it more firmly, still pressing Rhett’s large palm down from above. “I think I’m just a li’l jealous, is all.”

It’s the quietest admission he’s heard from Rhett since he told him he failed their chemistry mid-term in eleventh grade.

Link is also so lost at the innocence of the admission that he can only think of follow-up questions. “Of me?”

Rhett looks at him for a long, long minute and finally, when Link’s gaze remains confused for the whole length of the pause, he shakes his head, no.

Then he waits. 

He waits for Link to realize what he means.

But he’s still waiting when Link, oblivious, moves onward trying to comfort Rhett, instead of understanding him fully.

The tension in the room is palpable as Link talks, but only to Rhett, it seems. Only Rhett pictures air bags being deployed in a car safety video as metal hits cinder block. Only Rhett moves his hand, though it’s all it takes to dislodge them from each other completely.

“I know you’re gonna make an amazing husband some day.” Link is saying.

Rhett’s hand aches where cool air now surrounds it.

“I know your wife is gonna get to hear you say such wonderful things about her.”

Rhett wipes his hand of the misunderstanding on the cotton of his pants.

“I know she’s gonna say the same kind of things about you, when it’s your turn up there.”

Rhett mourns the idea that this would ever be requited.

“I know she’s gonna love you, just as much as I do, so she’ll have plenty to say.”

Rhett looks away, wiping the last of his tears from his eyes. 

 “I’ll make sure she has plenty of ideas where to start.”

Rhett pats Link’s leg, in camaraderie, and nods.

And that’s it. They shoot the shit, they make a plan to meet up at a donut place for the groomsmen’s breakfast to thank them for their help, before the ceremony, and they’ll talk things through if Link’s feeling jittery still. Then Rhett’s gone.

It’s not until the next day at eleven on the dot (everyone has an agenda to follow and every moment is accounted for) that Link understands Rhett’s pain.

His mother straightens his tie and flattens the edges of his suit. “You’ll wanna know I heard Christy looks like an angel in her dress, from the girls upstairs.”

“Those actual angels you been talkin’ to, Sue?” Rhett jokes, where he’s twisting his cummerbund around every so often, bored.

“Very funny, honey,” Sue ribs back. “From the cousins, Beth and Hailee Sue. Remember they’re friends with the hairstylist you got to do the curls for Christy’s hair, today? She was over last night getting Christy ready for bed with how to wash and dry it a special kind of way. They were there, too.”

Link starts to tune her out, since there’s a lot on his mind, but then she says more.

“She says the hairstylist was talking about how jealous she was of Christy, all night, getting to marry you,” Sue relays.

“Oh, mama, please,” Link dismisses. The compliments he’s been getting have felt faker than the toupee on his uncle Bruce. That girl has never even met him. “I’m the only person here people should be jealous of, who would be jealous of Christy,” he says, trailing off, muttering his reasoning as he did. “Marrying a trainwreck like me.”

Link looks up in the mirror where some of his friends continue to mingle in various states of undress. Rhett is already dressed, however, and staring straight at Link like he’s been caught with a hand in a cookie jar.

Link’s about to ask what’s wrong when he remembers his words. Then looks again over the planes of Rhett’s face.

Last night’s words slam back into his mind and Link’s mouth drops open.

The church organ belts out an opening flurry of notes before Canon in D begins playing loudly through the sound system built into the rafters above them. Link looks up to see one of the church staff at the door instructing them to join the bridal party to line-up.

Link’s mom dashes off to where she’s paired with her nephew, Link’s favorite cousin, to be escorted down the aisle.

Rhett sees Link’s face rushing through a wash of emotions from a distance, he nods to the staffer in silent understanding that he’ll handle it, and then they’re alone.

He walks up to Link and takes his hand. He squeezes it.

“Hey, you gotta go. We gotta go. It’s showtime,” Rhett insists.

Link looks around like a bomb went off, since in some ways it did, and he doesn’t know what to do.

Rhett seems to pick up on that. He squeezes Link’s hand again.

“I’ll get over it, Link, it’s okay,” Rhett whispers, on the verge of desperation.

That confirmation is enough to fully shatter Link.

Only for a moment. 

The music continues and Rhett keeps his hand hold.

They are adults. They are in love. They have to marry. 

None of these things can be helped.

“I’m gonna be so jealous of Her, too,” Link whispers back. He squeezes Rhett’s hand one last time, as they part.

They leave.

They walk straight.

They part again.

Until later.

They move houses and cities and states.

They move mountains, inside and out.

They move together.

Much later.

They join again.

They run crooked.

They return.

To one another.

Link has spent years worrying a ring that means too much to too few people.

In the beginning, when he cries himself to sleep at what he thinks has been the mistake of a lifetime, it’s His talisman. It reminds him of the expectations upon this life he’s made.

As the years pass, however, the adherence to the bogeymen of their childhood’s rules wears thin. It starts to strictly represent love and patience.

Sacrifice.

It begins to feel like a burden. A representation of what’s been lost, not what’s been found.

He contemplates taking it off, but believes that to be a betrayal of all that it stands for to the people he stands for. 

Then, one day, (surely mid-spin) he hears Rhett tell a story about wanting to change his ring.

He watches the silver twirl as Rhett explains.

He believes he was rushed into a certain type of marriage and a certain type of life by a certain type of person.

It’s a life that he’s grown to love but the ring represents a union forced by custom and not one that’s grown through devotion. 

His ring reminds him of that too often to be good for him.

Link twists his again at the admission.

So, Rhett’s thinking about replacing the ring.

Link returns home that night in a stupor. He’s sure he said one too many things to Rhett to emphasize how wild it felt to hear him talk about changing rings.

Any memories of that day, their wedding, bring up a rush of emotions that he’s never been good at sorting through.

Today’s admission makes him feel the same spur to make use of idle, betrothed hands he feels when he cleans the fridge.

He wants to clean the slate.

He finds an old DVD copy of their wedding ceremony that he paid to have converted from miniDV some years ago. Now he struggles to find a place to watch that DVD. How quickly time has flown by.

Eventually, he ends up in his son’s room - no one’s home for the remainder of the night but he and Christy - now, he’s sitting on a bean bag, squinting at the game console’s controller trying to get the joysticks to move to “play” on screen.

The ceremony bursts to life and, like it was yesterday, Link’s nerves fizzle awake.

About halfway through the video, Christy finds him like that and sits down next to him in a thwump absorbed mostly by the stuffing of the chair.

They watch themselves smile happily at each other and Christy takes his hand.

“Should I be happy or scared to find you alone watching this on a Saturday night?” she asks, wryly, squeezing his palm.

Link doesn’t know what to say. He’s caught up in Rhett’s bygone script being spoken on screen. Words about Christy and about Link that were not their own, declared loudly in front of the congregation.

“I don’t know,” Link admits, shrugging. He doesn’t. He squeezes her hand back.

“You wanna tell me what’s eating you?”

Link hesitates, but relents. He wants that clean slate, after all. “Rhett’s getting his wedding ring replaced.”

“Replaced?” Christy asks, balking.

“Replaced, yeah,” Link responds, sure he didn’t misspeak.

“With what?” she asks.

“Oh, some new one. Fancy thing, very cool, made of trees or something. Honestly he wears the other one, the slick black one more than his wedding band half the time. He says it feels like the old one? It’s the kind of ring you get in a bauble at a vending machine crank. So, he wants a new one.”

“Jeesh,” Christy says, making a face at the screen. The camera catches Rhett stealing glances at the couple, then at the crowd, beaming at all with unbridled pride.

“Wouldn’t you be mad if I did that?” Link inquires, still baffled at the idea.

“Well, no, but don’t you love your ring? Heirloom and all that,” she says.

Link cringes. “Yeah, yeah. Honestly, I do.”

“So?”

“So, I still kind of want to and I’m not sure what that means.”

They watch the screen together.

“Do you wanna stay married?” she asks, in a small voice.

“Yes,” he breathes out.

There’s a long pause.

“To me?” she asks, her voice even smaller.

“Yes,” he breathes in.

She squeezes his hand, her confidence built back up. She begs him to join her.

“And him?” Christy whispers.

They both look the screen, the lens centered on the two of them, but their gaze is mutually torn to where Rhett stands wiping a tear from his eye at Christy reciting the last of the vows that he wrote her. Wrote him. Wrote them both.

She squeezes his hand again.

“Yes,” he breathes out.

She leans her head on his shoulder.

“You should probably get another ring, then,” she jests. “We shouldn’t have to share everything.”

The slate is clean.

There’s a lot he wants to say to Rhett about it, but just as before, he’s relied on Rhett to give him the right words to say. So, instead of words, he starts wearing Rhett’s ring.

Then, a new one, when he realizes he can match him separate from the other, all told. Have something of Rhett’s, all to himself.

In his unspoken push towards something more, their hands now match along with their steps, as they walk forward.

On the last week in July, they get ice cream at the fifth place that month to mistake them for husbands, but the first one he hears Link crow an affirmative in response.

Rhett waits for him while he triple-tips the cashier (for the guess) and pays for their cones.

“Bad joke,” Rhett says, softly, but firm.

“Who’s kidding?” Link parries back, a smirk dancing it’s way across his lips.

Rhett watches him with a wistful look of disbelief.

“Link, we’re married,” Rhett warns him.

Link shrugs. “I know. I’m just waiting for you to figure that out and minding my ice cream here, all right?”

He’s got a mouthful of vanilla bean and extra cookie crumble, the next second, so his vow ends there.

Later, at home, Rhett startles Jessie awake when he fully realizes Link’s words.

He shakes her awake. He shakes them both awake.

“I’m in love with Link,” he says, like it’s a confession.

She kisses him because so is she. So are most people.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

Rhett repeats himself.

So does she.

They stare at each other under the cover of silk and moonlight.

“We’re married,” Rhett whispers, touching his hand to hers. Their rings clink, new and shiny.

“Yeah, and so are we,” she whispers back.

They fall asleep smiling.

The next day, Rhett sneaks up behind Link while he’s working and causes him to spill his cup of coffee. He gets the stink eye for only a minute because it’s the same length of time he can stand Link’s grumpy mug before he has to swoop down and kiss him on the lips.

“You figured it out,” Link says, grinning.

“I did,” Rhett chirps as he kisses Link more.

They take a car to their house. It’s filled with their love and the history of it; before, during, and after.

“What’s this?” Link asks, dazed in their post-sex glow, naked and alive.

He spots an old chord book of theirs from last time they wrote music.

“Oh,” Rhett says, bashful. “I came looking for you here this morning, hoping you slept over again, but, uh,” Rhett stalls, looks away and tries to take the songbook from Link’s hand. Link pulls it far enough he can’t reach. “You were already at the job.”

“And?” Link asks, using his spry, sinewy body as an advantage to slink away from the bed out of Rhett’s grip. He still has the book in hand.

“Those are your vows,” Rhett explains.

Link looks down and squints, confused. These aren’t the vows that Christy read at their wedding. He’s seen that video only a few months back and is sure of it.

“Our vows,” Rhett whispers, explaining further, at Link’s puzzled look.

“It’s a love song,” Link notes, marveling at the gesture. What it means to a young version of himself that once felt like they had surely cut out and mourned the possibility of this - all of this - ever happening. To have that thought coexist with the image of a nude, hulking tree trunk of a husband laid before him smiling up adoringly felt panoptic.

“So are you.”

Link begins to cry.

“Play it for me.”

Rhett wipes his cheek.

“Get my guitar.”

They sing twice more that night, always in harmony (not always in lyric), then spend the rest of their lives together doing much the same.

[nebula-jazz]

Where Dreams Lie Part II

Note:

I'm going to be completely honest... I was going to leave it as a one shot but my friends wanted more so I am here to provide. I listened to Grace by Luis Capaldi on loop as I wrote this. So I highly suggest listening to it as you read. Enjoy. P.S this will be continued to at least three to five parts. And yes I slipped a few lines in.

Leonardo X reader

He didn't quite remember when he finally gathered himself back up and slunk down into the sewers. Sometime in the middle of the night he had saw you go back to sleep. It gave him comfort that you wee safe. Safe from him. Safe from the danger that you so willingly would put yourself through if you hadn't been hit with the intense amnestic that The Foot had been working on.

He saw Donnie watch him slink into the kitchen.

"You should just bring them back. Eventually it will wear off-"

"And they will remember how much of a monster I am. Raph had better control under the influence than I did." Leo cut him off aggressively. Donnie flinched.

Leonardo honestly felt bad. Ever since the last major attack from the Foot he had been more hostile. Normally he was the one to keep a cool head as he was the leader. But a button had been pushed and none of the brother knew how to bring their calm brother back.

They actually acted like they stood on eggshells around him. The only thing that would both calm and anger him was you. So they would often suggest him to watch you go to school. But only Donnie ever suggested you to be brought back.

There were only a couple of instances where the other two would worry for his life but Splinter would often step in as well saying that the eldest brother was acting foolish and out of control.

So Leo let out a anger filled huff and when to make his drink. He avoided tea now. It never tasted right anymore. He could never get the right amount of honey or milk that you would put in. So he settled with coffee. It was bitter and made his stomach churn and often cause headaches after an extended time without it but it sufficed. It didn't remind him of you.

I can't seem to drown you out long enough.

He avoided the mediation room unless Splinter flat out told him to go and would sit with him, something he hadn't had to do since he was a toddler as it usually was Leo's safe place.

Leo drank the scalding hot coffee quickly before rushing out of the lair into the dark morning, leaving your worn book behind. Donnie picked it up and slowly flipped through it as Raph and Mikey warily walked into the makeshift kitchen. Donnie saw the notes and dogears that you had left behind in black ink and Leo's responses in a light blue.

I fell victim to the sound of your love.

He sighed and looked at his brothers. Mikey looked down and away as if he was at fault for something and Raph shook his head bitterly before leaving quickly and to his gym.

I got nothing but you on my mind.

You had now started searching the web for humanoid Turtles on the streets that mostly were associated with blue. You came up with sparse descriptions and even fewer writings on them, all of them taken down for fake news by the New York police. Irritation now settled into your stomach as you looked and came back with nothing for your time. You were certain that there had to be something.

Don't wanna let the pieces fall out of place.

You were sure that, that dream was not a dream and was a memory. I couldn't have been just a dream. You weren't going to allow it. After endless hours of searching you found a hint in one of April's old writings. Mentioning that there were vigilantes in the cities that she was certain were not human.

The article provided blurry pictures and other grainy photos that most critics called photoshopped and a hoax. But to your sleep deprived and desperate brain you it was proof. A little bit of light at the end of the endless and painful tunnel. And you were running, running and grasping for that light. Begging it to come to you. You smiled as you stared at the rain coming down heavily.

When night fell and the rain had stopped you grabbed what few supplies you needed and shoved them into a a raggedy backpack that your family said that you would take every time you left for the weekend. The supplies included an extensive diary of all of your dreams/memories, a detailed drawing of the person that you often called 'Leo' in your dreams, and other essentials.

'til I found salvation in the form of your....

You ran through the streets, the slash from puddles were soaking the cuffs of your jeans. The hoodie barely protected you from the chill of the night and the fresh rain fall.

I'm not ready to be just one of your mistakes.

You stopped in front of a very familiar tunnel. It was a passage that you walked down many times in your memories. You bit your lip as you dug out a flashlight and walked down the tunnel. Searching.

"I can't be wrong. Please..." Was the small prayer that you mumbled as you entered.

I was just a breath removed from going to waste.

You heard a familiar sound of footsteps. You swore how many times you replayed the sound in your dreams and waking you could recognize it from anywhere.

You held your breath as you felt as every cell in your body was anticipating him to come around that small corner.

Are we too wounded now to ever come down?

You saw him step around the corner and you nearly burst into tears right then and there.

"I was right!" was your choked out response. He finally looked in your direction and you melted seeing the piercing blue eyes from your dreams.

Your grace...

He looked confused as to why you were there. You wanted to run into his arms and feel as safe as you did in your memories.

"I remembered! Albeit fractured and full of holes I remember you Leo."

Your grace....

You didn't know what reaction you expected when you found him. But it certainly wasn't anger. Anything but anger. You dealt with anger on a daily from your Mother and classmates. But you scrambled in your fractured memory

He stormed up to you and growled.

"Why are you here?"

You felt your heart stop for a split second as you stared up at him at a loss for words.

"Answer me!" Was the loud shout. You yelped and flinched, stumbling away from him.

"For you..." Was the whimpered reply.

I'm not ready to be just another one of your mistakes.

"Why." you could hear his teeth grind together. That one memory of those blue eyes soft like a gentle sea and those large hands, now clenched into fists, held your face so lovingly and stroked your cheeks.

"Because I thought.." You breathed out in a scared whisper.

Don't wanna let the pieces fall out of place.

"Do you ever remember me loving you?" He bellowed. his voice hurting your ears and you coved your ears as he did.

'til I found salvation in the form of your....

"No.." You spoke softly as if speaking to your very angry ex stepfather. walking on eggshells. you voice still begging. You knew what was coming next. God please no. Your inner voice plead.

Don't take it away.

"Good. Because I. Never. Did." He spat. Your heart broke into little pieces along with that vision of that loving smile. Broken like glass with a sledgehammer. The sound of tinkling of those broken shards played in your ears like a sad music box. Silence along with your tears filled the space between the two of you.

Salvation in the form of your grace.

"Y/N?" was a call from down the tunnel. You looked up and saw a vaguely familiar turtle with a purple bandana. Not wanting him along with Leo to see you so broken you turned on your heel and ran. Leaving the dropped flashlight and backpack behind.

"Y/N!" was the desperate call behind but you didn't stop, and you didn't hear pursuit.

Your grace!

Leo knew what he did was wrong. He knew as Donnie yelled at him. A temporary heartbreak would heal soon. You were safe from him and the Foot now. He ignored Donnie as he headed back to his room. He would leave you alone now. That was for the best.

Don't take it away.