#if you see this wish me luck for having some comfort in DreamLand?

[faceglitchsworld]

I thought about the most hurtful comments I heard in my life, and I came to the conclusion that, to this day, the most hurtful ones are always about my body (and in general how I eat badly apparently even if I avoid all the junk food possible) and how I'll end up alone.

And the one who always told me these words has always been my mum...

Yikes 😬

[cosmiclatte28]

Guilty Pleasure (Yuta x reader)

A/n : hey i finished my term #yay! now i'll rush all my WIP. wish me luck

warning : one night stand, don't copy this and yeah suggestive soft smut KINDA SMUT (?) JUST DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SIN :D

tagging @yutahoes :p

network @supermwritersnet @multifandomnet

“It’s just one night, come on don’t worry. I can’t book you any other hotel.” your brother explains to you from the call on why he booked you a room that’s like an old motel. “I saw the room and it’s nice. It looks like a regular hotel, just that they named it motel, maybe because they have the parking spot in front of the rooms.” Taeyong tries to explain and reassures you he booked you a decent place to stay and nothing shady. You nod and just bring yourself to the office which is just a locket. You sigh “Hello, I’m here for my reservation.” you forced a smile to the lady behind the glass window.

“Hello, may I have your ID and card?” she asks you nicely to which you gladly do so. She’s quick in checking you in and making the payment. After returning your card and ID she hands you over two card keys.

“Your room will be number 217 and please take that stairs to your room. Have a nice stay.” she disappears and lets you go with the keys.

You bring your suitcase along with you, just one night and tomorrow you’ll take the bus to meet your brother. You shrug off the odd feeling of climbing the staircase. This sure is something you’ve seen in an old Hollywood movie.

With determination you find your room and pluck in your card only to see the light turns red and you try to open the handle several times but it doesn’t budge. One glance over the room number and to the paper the lady gave you. It’s the same room!

There’s a voice and suddenly someone appears unlocking the door and you’re taken aback.

“Excuse me?” he asks in a deep voice while peeking from the door.

You gulp, and look at your keys “Um is this room 217?”

He nods and steps to the gap and opens the door a little bit more. “Yes this is 217 and I am staying here.” he tucks his hands into his pocket, his trained biceps showing off from his tank.

You give him a meek smile “Um the lady downstairs gave me this room.” you show him the number and he frowns “Looks like she gave you the wrong number.”

You gasp “Alright, I’ll ask her. Once again sorry.” you apologize before finally going back down the stairs with your stuff and groaning when you arrive on the locket.

“Hello, I got this room and someone is inside.” you try to hold your chuckle, well at least that someone is hot and is not creepy.

“Okay sorry, there you go,” the guy slips back a new card for you “Room 218”

You thank him and go back to the same floor. Huh just the room next to the one earlier.

“Hey, did you get the room?” the 217 guy suddenly pops his head out when he hears you back.

You’re surprised how he knows you’ve come back.

“Yup, they gave me a wrong number. Sorry.” you push your luggage inside the room while stil maintaining eye contact with the stranger.

“Staying the night?” he asks slowly, afraid that he sounds impolite.

You nod “Just for a night, what about you?” you ask back. A simple conversation won’t be dangerous right?

He leans on his door frame, tank and sweatpants showing he’s been relaxing for a while here.

“Yup. I have to transit to the town nearby and my pick up will come tomorrow.”

You nod “Cool,”

“Yeah. Um I don’t mean to be rude but do you want to look for something to eat?” he rubs his neck shyly and you smile “I don’t have a plan tonight so yeah I could go for dinner with you.”

He returns a minute later with a pair of jeans and shirt, casual but trendy and you keep your current clothes on, just jeggings with a comfortable tee.

“Sorry, I only have these clothes for my business trip.” he locks his door and pockets the key.

You laugh “No worries, I get it. It’s either formal or something you wore to bed.” he clicks his tongue “You got that.”

The two of you start talking as you both take the stairs down.

“So what’s your name?” he asks when you’re already on the road ready to cross the street.

“(Y/n), what about you?” you ask looking at him and oh god he is handsome.

He smiles trying to repeat your name “(Y/n), sounds so good in my tongue. I’m yuta, nice to meet you.” he glances at you and realizes the small blush on your cheeks.

“Business trip too?” he asks and you shake your head “No, just here to stay the night and take a bus to my brother tomorrow.”

He offers a restaurant nearby and you agree. Both of you take a seat and choose a menu.

“Do you drink wine?” you ask, somehow feeling like opening a bottle tonight because you’re tired from the job you have and summer break is finally starting for you.

Yuta nods “I’d love that.”

So both of you end up talking more and more over pasta and wine. It’s a nice dinner. Yuta is a gentleman and he’s working in the entertainment industry. No wonder he dresses like that and looks like a snacc.

The night grows deeper and both of you finish the bottle of wine. Suddenly the talk becomes intimate more like you checking on him if he is single and he sure is not committed to anyone at the moment. Work doesn’t let him have time to dote a woman.

“I’m also free,” you wink and smirk when your foot under the table slowly traces his strong legs. Yuta gulps and smiles calmly “Look who’s drunk and naughty.” he whispers and you grin “I am not drunk.”

Yuta laughs from how red your face is, he’s sure you’re almost drunk.

“Let me get the bill and we can continue this, say my room or yours?” he asks after calling the waiter for a bill.

He paid for the dinner even when you insist on paying, he said “It’s on my company don’t worry.”

You stand up from your chair, feet not sensing the ground and oh boy you realize you are tipsy.

“Hold me.” you take his hand and grip on him as he helps you walk back to the hotel.

Once both of you arrive you whisper to his ear “My room.”

He nods, agreeing that his room is still messy from his working papers and your room is still untouched.

With one simple look and a lip bite, Yuta pushes you to the bed and claims you then and there. The kiss is passionate and hot, something about the way he still keeps the tempo moderate makes you frustrated that he is playing the game slowly.

“Faster,” you beg but he keeps taking his time, enjoying your lusty look and teasing you.

“No regrets?” he asks before taking you then and there. You groan “Yes just do it Yuta.” you stifle back a moan when he finally enters you.

You’re sure the neighbors can hear you, luckily the room next to you is only Yuta’s and the other one is the stairs. Both of you are over the moon and after going down the high several times and your energy drained, he has you covered under the blanket.

You snuggle close to him “I’m sticky.”

He rubs your shoulder softly and kisses your head “Shower?”

You nod and close your eyes, tired of the fun but still wanting to shower.

Yuta extends his arm to take a pillow and puts it under your head “I’ll make a warm bath for you.”

You just nod, head already gone to dreamland and moments later you feel a strong arm picking you up and you feel the hot water touch your skin.

He lowers you slowly to the bubble bath, surprised that he has a bubble bath with him for a business trip because you don’t have one right now.

“Come here.” you moan in delight when you sink yourself more to the hot water.

Yuta giggles and slowly enters the small tub. It’s full with some water leaving the tub because both of you occupied more volume.

He calmly massages your tense shoulder and you feel yourself more drowsy. “I might fall asleep.”

He chuckles “Don’t worry I got you.” He grabs a bottle of soap and begins leathering you with the liquid, and soon after you’re clean and ready to sleep.

You shimmy into your underwear and hide under the blanket once he is done putting on his sweatpants. Suddenly you’re sobering up and you blush when you remember what you just did.

“That was so nice.” you shyly admit and Yuta smirks “You’re this shy when you were wild five minutes ago.”

You pout “Yak keep this a secret.”

He ruffles your hair “It’s a secret as long as I can meet you again someday. I want to know you more.”

You smile “I’ll leave my number by the morning. I have to catch my bus good night Yuta.” you drive off to bed and the next morning, you’ve seen your room empty. He must’ve returned to do some more work like he said at dinner.

You take a notepad you have in your bag and quickly scribble your number and after packing your stuff you slide it under the door. You smile one more time at the room number, what a meeting.

--

“(Y/n) how dare you not give me any update! How was the hotel?” your brother asks you once you’re seated on the bus and already on the way to meet him.

“It was nice Taeyong, sorry I got too tired and slept.” you lied but he buys it.

“Glad to hear that. Nothing bad happens right?” He sounds worried .

You smile when you see the text message from Yuta. “Yeah nothing bad. Okay I’ll see you soon.” you end the call and reply Yuta back.

The five hours ride doesn’t feel long at all because both you and Yuta are busy texting each other random things.

That’s one guilty pleasure with a random hottie and you wish you’ll meet him again someday.

end

[shelby-love]

JAY HALSTEAD

NF Quarantine Visits

Requested: yes

Prompts: none

Warnings: none

Authors note: NF stands for necrotising fasciitis; Riley is your partner

"Look we're doing everything we can but there's no strong leads we can use right now." Jay informs Sharon Goodwin of CPD's latest news about the state of emergency the city of Chicago was currently in.

"I have people in quarantine Jay and the press isn't helping us at all." Sharon told him. "This isn't something out of the blue. Someone has to be behind this mess."

"We're doing everything we can but that's all I can give you right now."

"Incoming!" Maggie calls out. She swiftly joins the group. "We can't keep up Sharon."

"Is it NF?"

"Yes it is. Y/N and Riley are bringing them in."

At the mention of his girlfriend Jay's heart sunk. He knew how dangerous your job was on the daily but now he truly understood the pressure you had on your chest.

It only made him work harder in figuring out who is behind this mess.

He saw you a lot but never for long enough. After it was debunked that the virus is spread airborne or through contact, you were able to hug and kiss Jay quickly whenever the two of you saw each other at Med. But nothing more than that.

Jay worked late at the District and your 24-hour shifts were long and hard as they were. Adding the outbreak heavied on the both of you.

The sound of heavy footsteps coming from the entrance alerted everyone and soon people stepped aside to let you and Riley through.

"Jasmine Black. 23 years old with necrotising fasciitis. I think we'll need to amputate her leg. It's... Gone." You informed the nurses. They did their job with you and called Crockett Marcel, hoping that he will be able to save her.

Your worried eyes spot Jay and the only thing you can do is nod sadly. You've been exposing yourself to the bacteria continuously, and each time you risked your life for someone else's it never ended well. So far, you didn't bring anyone who came out of the OR alive.

And that broke you.

"Do you think she'll make it?" Sharon asked Riley and you when you joined their little circle.

"No we don't think she will," Riley started to explain. Jay wrapped his arm around your shoulder and supported you for as long as possible. Soon, you and Riley will be back in the outside world in the heart of the outbreak. "The bacteria spread out in her leg, it's impossible to try to save her without amputation. And even with that we can only hope that she survives."

"Oh God. How are you girls feeling?" Goodwin placed her hand on your forearms in a soothing matter.

"We're tired but okay." You told her.

"I should probably get back to the District. If you find anything that can help us call me." He squeezed your shoulder and removed his arm before you could even stop him.

On que, your radio informed you of your new victim. "That's our que."

***

"Sir you need to lie down!" You command the man you're currently bringing into the ED. His arm is infected but he doesn't waste a beat when trying to get off the gurney.

"N-No!" He screams. Like a fish, the man flops off the gurney and tries to get away in a wonky run chase.

"For God's sake!" Riley exclaims. "Sir you are stuffed with anesthetics! You can't get away from us!"

You shoot her a look of pure invitation to help and she joins you in the chase. Using your running skills you accomplished by taking daily morning runs with your boyfriend, you appear in front of the drowsy man and once again command him to stop.

He does not in fact listen to your sane reasoning and throws his weak body onto yours. That wouldn't be a problem had he not collapsed unconscious on your unprotected body.

***

"Seriously Nat I'm fine." After the intense chase with an angered-drowsy-on-anesthetics patient you're stationed in one of the trauma rooms with Natalie Manning.

While Nat keeps checking you for any cuts or scratches you stay still and think about what happens next. "Will you put me in quarantine?"

"Only if you have any cuts that can catch the bacteria." In that moment her eyes land on your palm. There's a small scratch and blood over the wound.

"I-I always wear gloves." You try to reason with her. You can't be stuck in quarantine. Not now. Not when they need you.

The look on Natalie's face is enough to tell you otherwise. "I'm sorry Y/N."

***

"Welcome Y/N. Trust me, it's cosier than it looks." You join Hailey in your separate four walled vertical rectangle box. Supposedly, this will keep you from spreading the bacteria if you have it. You won't know that until you get your cultures back. "So. What brings you here?"

You laugh lightly, suddenly realising how poor your luck is. "A dude with anger issues that was high on anesthetics with an arm eaten away by the bacteria threw himself on me during one of his many aggressive episodes, and collapsed unconscious. Leaving me and my scratched bloody palm alone in quarantine."

"Correction. You're not alone." She says laughing. "I take it Riley got away."

"She had her protective gear on. And since we're low on paramedics that go on these runs, they let her go." You bring your palm in the air and wave it around. "My palm and I are stuck in here until the cultures come back."

And that's how you spent countless of hours in deep discussion with your boyfriend's partner in crime. While Hailey wanted to join Jay in finding out who did this, you wanted to get back into your ambulance and help save lives.

Neither of you could do what you wanted so you took that time and started to get to know each other. You already have three girlfriend dates scheduled and a whole birthday party for Riley and Jay planned out in bits.

After your conversation faded into comfortable silence the two of you were lost in your own thoughts. You let yourself think about how Jay will react once he finds out. A part of you wants him to visit you as much as it wants him to stay away from you and stay safe.

You're halfway on the road to dreamland when you hear his voice. "Y/N?"

You watch him make his way towards you with only one eye opened. Opening both of them would mean taking 100 steps back from dreamland and that's the last thing you wanted to do at the moment.

But seeing him stand in front of you, separated by only a thin clear foil looking curtain, killed your wish for sleep making you stand up and almost sprint towards him.

"Are you okay? How did this happen?" He asked you, worry dripping from his voice.

"I'm fine and it's a long story."

"I have time."

"Baby no you don't." You tell him sternly. When the two of you enter a silent battle of eye emotions, he comes out of it as the winner. Sighing in defeat you start to explain what happened to you.

"We already went through a breakout attempt since certain people act like they're prisoners." You throw a nasty look toward Sharlene, the crazy lady who started a revolution within her rectangular box of protection. "Jay I'm fine! I'll stay here and take a few naps and be out before you know it."

Both of you lean against the colorless foil of protection until your foreheads meet. A part of you wants to escape your cloud of safety just so you can press your lips against his but you know better than to do that. Both you do.

"Call me when you get out?"

"Geez you make it sound like I'm in jail." Your attempt at being subtly funny an lightening up the mood falls in the water when you notice his stare. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll call you don't worry."

"Good." Jay gives you a smile he reserves only for you. "I'll keep you posted."

"You better!!!" You exclaim. Your boyfriend is your only connection to the outside world.

"And I'll try to sneak in some food for you."

You almost shed a dramatic tear at his words. "Oh, Jay you're..."

"The best boyfriend ever?"

"The best boyfriend ever ever ever everrr!"

You spend a few more minutes with your boyfriend discussing the current situation before he talks to Hailey and eventually leaves.

Still dazed from love, worry and excitement, you return back to your sleeping position and walk back towards the road that's sure to bring you to dreamland.

MASTERLIST

[spice-chan]

Runaway Omega - Chapter five.

You and Sho had a simple chicken noodle soup for lunch, one which he cooked in an attempt to impress you. You found that endearing, and sat on you coach reading while you waited for dinner. You’d never felt so pampered.

Now here you guys are, on your nest while you laid down to take a nap after the surprisingly good meal you had. You taught him well, before, he wasn’t able to chop potatoes.

He played with your hair and helped you drift to dreamland, even if only for a bit.

You woke up and found yourself alone, surprisingly. You yawned, standing up and seeing the sun starting to set. You pulled the duvet off you and stood up.

Sho wasn’t in the house.

You started to panic, despite the rational part of you saying there’s no need. A heavy weight settled on your shoulders. You tried to ignore the anxiety, the fear of abandonment by eating cookies to distract yourself, but it lingered at the back of your mind, like an unwanted thought thats constantly taunting you.

What are you doing ?

He’s a free man, he can leave for some fresh air if he wants or the market, he would have told you had you not being sleeping.

You settled on your nest to try and relax.

Eventually, you were pulled out of your stupor by the sound of your door opening, making you leap out of your nest and rush to the door.

“Sho, where were you?!” You asked, failing to conceal the worry in your tone. You cursed, just how desperate had you sounded ?

“Did something happen ?” Sho replied with his own inquiry, unable to grasp what had you looking so worried.

“Uh um... I’m just not used to you leaving so suddenly, sorry” you said, Shoto couldn’t help but notice the black cloud that blanketed your face.

Shoto was suddenly overcome with guilt, you were pregnant too, he shouldn’t worry you. At the end of the day, though, Shoto was still nothing but a novice at love.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have left without at least letting you know.” Shoto said, patting your head. His heart fluttered when he saw your face brighten with a smile, relief washing over him.

A novice he may be, but for your happiness, he will keep trying.

You rubbed your neck sheepishly. You somewhat expected him to react in a more defensive way, although now that you thought about it, it was stupid to think that way of Shoto.

You were suddenly aware of the space between you, and weren’t too pleased about it. You got closer to him, and hugged him, as close as your bump would allow. He tensed up at first, but melted into it in no time. It wasn’t your first time hugging, but it felt like it, it was still excited, and just as comforting. His scent does wonders.

Shoto was surprised by the abrupt act of affection, but decided to test his luck further. He bent down, his breath caressing your ear as he whispered.

“I love your hugs but, does your Alpha not get a welcome back kiss ?”

Your face erupted red, not expecting this in the slightest. Clearing the uncertainty between you and Sho helped clear the doubt that surrounded you guys, but now you are reaping the benefits of that. Your Alpha can certainly be seductive when he wants to be.

You heeded his command, pulling him down by the neck and kissing him with ferocity that he returned. But it wasn’t time to make this more heated.

You pulled away, trying to ignore his dissatisfied pout.

“So where were you anyway ?” You questioned inquisitively, your eyes looking up at his in curiosity. Shoto returned your stare with a poker face, but you can see the softness in his eyes.

“Your in your eighth month right ?” Sho asked, making you tilt your head in confusion at the sudden diversion.

“Yes ?”

“And don’t you need a midwife ?”

...

A sudden pause, followed by the widening of both your eyes and mouth.

“OHHH!” You exclaimed. Your own disbelief at your folly and forgetfulness.

Shoto had somewhat of a unique expression himself, looking as if he was trying to stop his lips from quirking up, but his eye brows were raised in mock disbelief, as if he was unsure whether to be amused or unsure of how you could forget such a thing.

You suddenly wanted to hide and spare yourself.

“Come on, don’t look at me like that, I didn’t give birth before, it’s the inexperience” You tried to justify, but your flimsy explanation did your crime no justice.

Shoto broke out into full blown laughter, his shoulders shaking from the force of it. To see such a stoic Alpha laughing so heartily made your heart fill with warmth, your cheeks flushing as you looked at him with glassy eyes.

He caressed your cheek lovingly, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

“Well, I was asking if there’s any midwives near us so we can go visit one tomorrow to ensure everything goes smoothly in the upcoming days.” He explained.

“Thanks Sho.” You said full of gratitude at his thoughtfulness. Sho somehow never made you feel as if this pup wasn’t his own too, somehow, you had a feeling he was going to be a great dad.

“What’d you do without me huh?” He retorted.

“Probably get a new Alpha.”

A lingering silence hung in the air. Before it was cut by a vicious growl.

Shoto moved to cut what little space accumulated between you, you moving back, mostly confused at the sudden change of character.

After recalling what you said, you realized just how stupid it had been. You were a pregnant Omega, and Sho hadn’t marked you yet. That probably made him a lot more protective and possessive, seeing as your relationship was still newly established.

His eyes had turned to a shade of black, his voice a lot more guttural as he spoke out.

“What did you say Omega ?”

At the sound of your title, you titled your head, exposing it in an act of submission.

Shoto still wasn’t pleased though.

“Sorry, Alpha, I didn’t mean it !” You cried out.

Shoto growled near your neck. He leaned down, rubbing his scent against it.

“Who’s your Alpha ?” He asked, voice noticeably less guttural but still on edge.

“You, Sho”

You purred, a cute sound that causes Shoto to relax and return it with one of his own.

“Sorry about that” Sho apologized, surprised at his own act of possessiveness. Perhaps a sensed something coming, a storm in the form of fire that was heading their way.

A sharp knock sounded, the innocent door being pounded as if it was receiving a beating to atone for a crime. The pair brome apart from each other, not expecting guests.

“I’ll open it Sho, you should go change.” You offered, but Sho firmly shook his head.

The door continues to be banged, and both of you had enough of offering to open the door for the other, deciding to go open it together.

Sho twisted the doorknob, and was met with a fiery glare from vermilion irises.

Sho, having sensed his hostility, returned the glare with a chilling one if his own.

Your heart leapt to your throat, a feeling of dread and something else gnawing at you.

Bakugou sniffed, and his eyes widened to saucers, while you were rooted in your spot near the door.

Bakugou could smell your scent all over that prick.

A violent growl tore through him, his glare turning deadly with a promise of bloodshed.

He looked inside, and spotted your figure, looking panicked with your stomach full.

His eyes drank you, widened and glassy, drinking you as if he hadn’t had moisture in weeks. You were still as beautiful as the day you left, but Bakugou’s eyes lingered on your full belly as he processed what he was seeing.

...you were pregnant ?

How?! And when ?!

Those thoughts plagued Bakugou’s mind, his eyes turning black as a growl that put any of the others to shame tore through him. The Alpha in front of him being a threat that needs to be eliminated, and why was your sweet scent mixing with his stench ?

Shoto let out a territorial growl of his own. Your Omega was overwhelmed with all this, making you let out a distressed chirp, making both Alphas snap their heads towards you.

“(Y/n), sweetheart, go inside, I’ll deal with the nuisance.” Shoto’s calm voice rang out, calm, but you can spot the tenseness and threat lying beneath the calm facade.

“Sweetheart ? (Y/n) Who’s this binary fuck !?” Bakugou directed his intensity at you.

“Move out of my way NOW” Bakugou growled at Shoto. He couldn’t believe this. Not only were you pregnant, but you were living with Alpha jerk !?

“STOP” you shouted. The situation was going to escalate quickly. You were distressed, and so was the pup, and that combined with your nerves was making you quickly want to lash.

“Bakugou, come inside.” You relented, you guessed he deserved an explanation seeing as you were pregnant, and although it hurt you, you didn’t want to leave this on this unresolved note.

“Bakugou huh ?” Shoto said, his eyes holding unmistakable hatred.

“Don’t forget the name of the guy who’s going to kill you-“ Bakugou growled out, his nostrils flaring “- and (y/n) , it’s Katsuki” he said to your aggravation. He pushed Shoto aside, who was unwilling to let him in, but decided to be mature about your wishes.

“(Y/n), explain, what’s this ?” Bakugou asked, his eyes holding sorrow as he looked at you, gulping as he caught the smell of the Alpha on you. He was feeling possessive enough to kill.

“Who’s he ?” Bakugou questioned again, directing his glare at the other Alpha.

You were about to drop the bomb.

“He’s my Alpha.”

You watched in horror as Bakugou’s face started to show scale, his eyes turning so much that his pupils were invisible.

“No, he’s not.” His voice was so deep and guttural.

“It’s my pup, isn’t it ? I can feel them, feel the dragon in them. SO WHO’S THIS BINARY FUCK ?!” He shouted so loud the house visibly shook. Sho pushed him away from you, pulling you behind him protectively, which visibly made Bakugou angrier as he went to reach for him.

“I said STOP” you said, then started coughing due to the volume you just used, not being sued to shouting at all. Both Alphas looked at you alarmingly.

“...just call down, will you ?” You asked visibly exhausted, making both Alphas feel guilty, both wanting to purr to calm you and ease your nerves.

“Since you want answers so badly, I’ll give them to you. Yes, Sho is my Alpha, you obviously didn’t want me, so I don’t know what’s the fuss about. And I only discovered I was pregnant after I left, I didn’t feel obligated to tell you since you were going to be coronated and obviously didn’t want distractions. Not that I’d want to burden my pup with that lifestyle.” You spoke, each word stabbing Bakugou like a knife in the gut. Regret and rejection mixing into a deadly potion.

“(Y/n) no , Omega, I didn’t mean any of that, I..I-I love you, God, I’m sorry, just please, let’s go back home” Bakugou cried out, unable to accept that you weren’t going to be a part of his life anymore. No, he wouldn’t stand for it. Jealousy stirred inside him again as he saw that wretched bastard, imagining her showering him with the affection that was reserved for Katsuki.

His Omega, who he loved, no, loves and has for the better part of his life, leading a life without him? Let alone with another Alpha ? What about their pup ?

Katsuki always imagined what you’d look like swollen with his pups, he always thought you’d look even more gorgeous. But he never voiced any of his more affectionate thoughts and now he’s paying the price. Now he’s seeing the neck thats going to bear his mark reeking with another Alpha’s scent.

But nobody can live you as much as Bakugou, he cant imagine anyone having that immeasurable affection and love for another human being, it’s way he was overwhelmed to the point he lashed out. If he could go back in time, Bakugou might consider cutting his tongue off then feeling this cutting pain. But alas, emotions worked in mysterious ways, especially when it came to Bakugo.

He remembers that bittersweet ache he’d feel every morning when he saw your angelic face, so serene and adorable. He’d fall in love with you all over again, and he feared others knowing the intensity of his love. He should have worn it like his cape, tall and proud, should have declared it with a mark on your neck for all the world to see.

Now here you were, hearing a confession he’d scarcely say, without saying it back.

No more I should haves.

He’s going to bring you back with him, and raise your pup together, he’ll make you his queen and treat you like one.

Another Alpha ? What a joke, he’ll make you forget about him in no time, make sure that you have eyes for no one but him like before.

He’ll have to punish you a bit for making him him so jealous and threatened, but nothing his gentle Omega can’t handle.

Katsuki put his hand on top of your head, seeing the surprise on your face, he started to gently pat it, a word not usually associated with the rugged Alpha.

He started purring.

Even after all this time, your heart started having somersaults. You fought with yourself to remain nonchalant.

“I’ll get you back Omega, I’m never leaving without you nor I’m I letting you leave. That’s out of the question.” He said with a gentle smile as he kept his hand on top of your head but started stroking your hair. You never saw him willingly express such softness. Having reunited with you made him incredibly happy despite the... unsavory turn of events.

He had genuinely been worried out of his mind, a small, beautiful Omega like you, all alone...

You were suddenly ripped from his arms.

Shoto held you against him protectively, glaring at Bakugo with killing intensity. The room seemed so much colder.

“She’s my Omega, you’d better stay far away Bakugou Katsuki.” Said Shoto, practically declaring war.

“Repeat that, you bastard , I dare you !” Bellowed Bakugo, already moving to rip you out of Shoto’s arms. You can feel all of Sho’s muscles against your back, and his warm, albeit shaky, breath caused your cheeks to warm as well.

His muscles weren’t the only thing you were feeling though.

You suddenly griped your stomach as you bit your lip in pain, clutching it as a searing pain tore through your guts.

Both Alphas looked at you in panic.

[uraharashopslut]

dreamland {hirako shinji fic}

- summary -

shinji had forgotten about the girl he grew up with in rukongai, until she waltzed right into his quarters with the last person he'd expect, his fukutaicho, aizen sosuke.

content warning: when life hands ya lemons, ya put 'em in ya story. this is gonna be a mature fic. not sure what the full extent of that will be, but there's definitely gonna be some crude language. yoruichi and urahara are swingers. it's gonna be a grand ol time.

{consider the Glass Animals album "Dreamland" the soundtrack for this book}

Chapter One

"Taicho," Aizen bowed as he entered his Captain's quarters.

"Always so formal, Sosuke-kun. What is it?" Shinji sat on his futon with his eyes closed, head against the wall, listening to the jazz from his Living World record player.

"I was wondering if I might have permission to move a guest into my quarters, sir," Aizen asked, kneeling in front of his captain.

Shinji opened one eye and raised an eyebrow. "Eh? Move someone in? From outside Seireitei?"

"Hai."

"Well, I'm gonna need more information than that if I'm to even consider granting such an odd request. Who is it?" Shinji asked. His lieutenant had always been incredibly private, to be fair, so had Shinji, but this was rather uncharacteristic of Aizen.

"My girlfriend."

---

"I can't believe he said yes, Sosuke-kun! How exciting. I'll grab my things immediately." Ayame began grabbing robes from her closet and shoving then in a bag.

Aizen reached out and grabbed her arm firmly. "Listen to me, Ayame. You must treat every person in Seireitei with the utmost respect. They are in a class above you and you must behave as such. Do you hear me?"

Ayame nodded, trying to loosen her boyfriend's grip. "Yes, Aizen-kun."

"If you slip up even one time I will have no choice but to send you back here, are we clear?" His grip remained.

Ayame's eyes fixed on the floor. "Yes, Aizen-kun."

"Good." He removed his hand. "Now finish packing, we leave in an hour." He flash-stepped away.

Ayame sighed and continued to pack. Is this really the best idea, she asked herself. She had been with Aizen for three years, but had never gotten used to his coldness. She looked around her room.

She was going to miss this place. Her floor was littered with buckets to catch the leaks when it rained, but it was still home. It was still the first place she could afford with money she earned, thanks to Aizen.

He was a dream, at first. They met when he was on a mission to the outer Rukongai district, where she was a makeshift house mother for a particularly rowdy group of boys. He helped her find a job and save enough money to move into her own house, although it was rather worn down. He's done so much for you, don't be ungrateful. You know how much his reputation means to him. Besides, do you want to live in this leaky shack forever? This is your chance to move up.

Ayame finished packing her belongings then locked up her house for the last time. She set the key on the ground in front for the landlord and headed towards the West Gate.

"Today the big day?" Sato, the old baker next door, asked.

Ayame turned to him with a smile. "Yes, Jii-san."

"Good luck to you! Oh, and if you see that Hirako rascal, give him hell for leaving you here alone, will ya?" he called.

"Seireitei is a large place, Jiisan. I doubt I'll run into him, and I doubt he'd remember me. That was two hundred years ago," Ayame said, her smile fading.

"Well, if you do."

"As you wish. Farewell, Sato-san! Thank you for all of your help." Ayame bowed before continuing to walk.

When she neared the gate, Aizen's reitsu began to overwhelm her senses.

"Boo."

Ayame turned around, less than startled. "Take this bag. I'm tired of carrying everything."

Aizen chuckled. "Hello to you, too." He grabbed the bag from her outstretched arm.

---

Ayame unrolled her futon and positioned it near Aizen's. She set her pillow and folded blanket on top.

"All moved in!" Aizen said, wrapping her in a hug from behind. "How does it feel?"

She took a deep breath, shifting the weight in her feet. This was her home now. "The energy is different from Rukongai."

"Better, right?" he asked with a cool tone.

Ayame turned to face her boyfriend and grabbed his hands. "Much better. I feel like I can breathe here."

Aizen's hardened expression softened as Ayame's green eyes looked up at him. He lifted her chin with his finger and kissed her gently.

"I'm glad you like it. Now that we're settled, I need to introduce you to the captain of my squad."

"The Blond Bastard, as you like to call him?" Ayame asked, stifling a smirk.

"Yeah, that's him," Aizen replied, sliding his door open.

"Does he have a real name?"

"Taicho. That's the only one that should matter to you," he said. He started walking to his Captain's quarters.

Ayame stepped out of the room and slid the door shut behind her before following after her boyfriend. They walked in silence.

"Ah, Aizen-kun. This must be the girlfriend your Captain was telling me about," a deep but friendly voice said.

The couple turned to face a man in a pink floral robe with a large straw hat. Aizen bowed.

"Kyoraku-taicho," he said. "This is Ayame."

Ayame bowed lightly, before smiling at the man.

"Very good to meet you. Always a pleasure to see another beautiful woman joining our ranks," Kyoraku grinned.

"Thank you, taicho," she replied, her cheeks flushing.

"You better hurry along and introduce her. You know how impatient he is," Kyoraku tipped his hat with a wink. "I'll be seeing you!"

"Taicho," Aizen said with a deep bow as the man walked away. He turned to face Ayame. "That was the captain of the eighth squad, Kyoraku Shunsui. We're almost at my Captain's quarters. His is the last door at the end of this hall."

The couple quickly made their way to the door. Jazz music could be heard from behind the wood.

"Taicho, may I enter?"

They heard a shuffle, something drop, and footsteps before the door slid open. Ayame could smell fragrant incense coming from the room as she bowed deeply.

"How many times do I have to tell ya, Sosuke-kun, ya can just call me Shinji," the blond captain said, scratching his head. "Oh! This must be yer girl-"

He stopped short and his eyes widened when he saw Ayame's face.

"Yes, this is my girlfriend, Aya-" Aizen started.

"I can't believe it," Ayame said, stepping closer to the door as she made eye contact with the blond captain. "Hirako?"

Shinji pushed past his lieutenant and grabbed the blue-haired girl's shoulders. "You?"

Ayame turned to her boyfriend. "You didn't tell me 'The Blond Bastard' was Shinji Hirako!"

Aizen glared at Ayame. "I didn't realize you knew each other."

Shinji shot a look that could kill at his lieutenant. "Back in the day, this 'blond bastard' lived in Rukongai."

"We grew up together," Ayame said bitterly.

"Come in, let me pour some tea," Shinji said, putting his hand on her back, guiding her into his room. Aizen trailed behind.

Shinji closed the door behind them and gestured to the futon. "Both of ya, make yerselves comfortable!"

Ayame sat down, cross-legged, and gestured for her boyfriend to do the same. Shinji picked up a candle that was on the ground, presumably the object that the couple heard fall, and turned down his record player.

Shinji filled a kettle with water and tea leaves and set it on the stove to boil. Ayame watched him in disbelief. He was a captain, just like he'd always dreamed of being. As children, they spent many hours in the woods fighting one another with sticks. Shinji talked ceaselessly about how he'd be the best captain in all of Seireitei, and here he was.

"You never told me you grew up with a Captain-class Shinigami," Aizen hissed in Ayame's ear.

"I never knew," she responded. "He left without a word."

"So, darlin', when'd ya dye yer hair blue? It's a nice touch, stands out more than the brown," Shinji asked, carrying three cups and the tea pot. He sat across from them on the floor. He reached and grabbed a strand in his hands. "I like the color. Very shiny."

"And you had brown hair?" Aizen asked, as he watched Shinji pouring the tea.

"Yes, I dyed it to set myself apart. I didn't like blending in with everyone in the district," Ayame shrugged, sipping the tea Shinji handed to her.

"I get the sentiment, but ya never blended in," Shinji laughed. "They were always scared of ya."

Aizen's brows furrowed. He took a sip.

"I was pretty rambunctious as a kid. Always beating up the bullies who'd pick on this blond bag of bones."

"Geez, first I'm a blond bastard and now I'm a bag of bones? Needa get better friends," Shinji whined, rubbing his shoulder.

"Or maybe you shouldn't abandon them," Ayame responded, crossing her arms.

"Darlin', it wasn't like that," Shinji said, his posture stiffening.

Aizen face remained unchanged at his Captain's use of the pet name.

"You could've come back, to see me, maybe when you finished the academy. But you didn't." Ayame stood and set her cup of tea on the desk next to the record player. "Sosuke-kun, let's go. I can't be here anymore."

"I agree." Aizen stood and opened the door, stepping out. "Thank you for tea, Taicho," he said with a bow."

Shinji stood and grabbed Ayame's wrist. "Ayame, wait."

Ayame turned to face him. "Yes?" she hissed.

"Come see me again, please. My door is always open to ya," Shinji said gently.

Ayame could see the sincerity and sorrow in his eyes. "Maybe, Hirako." She tried to pull her wrist free from his grip. "Shinji?"

Shinji's eyes darkened and he spoke with a lowered tone. "If he doesn't treat ya well, he'll have hell to pay."

Ayame pulled her wrist free and nodded slightly. "Good bye, Shinji. Maybe I'll see you around."

fin

tell me what ya think in the comments below, dolls!

[vannahfanfics]

Babes, my love! Since the restriction has been lifted up I guess... *walks into ask box* If it’s not taken yet, *wiggles eyebrows* Promise Ring for Ash Ketchum and Dawn? 💕✨

You got it, love! This was super duper cute to write, so I hope you enjoy reading it just as much! ~mwah~ 

Remember Me

The breeze rustling through Twinleaf Town carried the aroma of wildflowers and loamy earth. It rippled the long grass blades against Ash’s legs as he trudged down the small incline leading to the small creek cutting through the quaint settlement; the green fronds kissed at his clothes as if bidding him farewell, wishing him luck on his impending departure to the Kanto region. The flowing water tinkled pleasantly to the Trainer as he neared its small banks as if it too desired to impart goodwill upon him. However, Ash could not enjoy the well-intent of nature; his expression was morose in the reflection of the water as he squatted down, running his fingers through the soft grass. 

“Dawn really isn’t coming with us,” he pouted to his rippling mirror image. He’d wished her the best to her face, swallowing the bitter lump of disappointment that had lodged in his throat as soon as she told him she was taking a job as a fashion model. How could he express his sorrow? Dawn was moving up in the ranks and living her dream; it would be selfish of him to argue for her to accompany him to a different region when she had so much going for her. 

Still, logic and social pretense didn’t make his heart ache any less. 

Exhaling bitterly, he fell back onto his rump and crossed his legs underneath him. Dawn had been bustling around the house preparing to leave, so he’d quietly slipped out to sulk among the fresh air of the rural countryside. He had to admit that the rustic atmosphere did lighten his mood somewhat; even just sitting there, listening to the babbling brook, quickened the spirit of adventure within him. Perhaps Dawn would not be accompanying him, but there was still so much to see out there in the wide, vast world— so much to discover. This wouldn’t be the first time he’d left a friend behind to continue his journey. 

But… Dawn’s different, he found himself thinking. There was something so electric about her, about her determination and passion for Contests, that drew Ash to her like a Mothim to a flame. The idea of leaving her behind just left such a sour taste in his mouth, and he really wasn’t sure why. I guess… I really want her to be there through the rest of my adventure, growing alongside me, he considered with a small groan and pushed his cheek into his hand. He closed his eyes, trying to bury his confusing feelings with the whistle of the wind and the bubbling of the small river. 

“Oh, there you are, Ash!” 

“Huh?” he cried as he whirled around to see Johanna walking down the slight incline, holding her rippling apron to her legs as the wind played with it. She smiled serenely at the slightly blushing boy, stopping beside him and inhaling deeply. 

“Lovely, isn’t it? There really is nothing like Twinleaf Town. As a Coordinator, I traveled across the entirety of the Sinnoh region, but this small country town always called me home,” she said as she looked down at him, her navy-blue eyes twinkling. Ash smiled sheepishly and looked back down at the water. Sure, the picturesque rolling hills, quaint homesteads, and little shallow creek were pleasant— but Ash enjoyed it for a different reason. 

“I know you aren’t like that, though,” Johanna hummed as if she read his mind, making him gasp. “To you, the little river and the trees and the wind all carry the scent of adventure, not home.” 

“Heh. You read right through me, Miss Johanna,” Ash acknowledged bashfully as he rubbed at the back of his neck, making his hat shift up and down on his head. The woman’s chest rumbled with a pleasant chuckle as she shot him a knowing wink. 

“You and my daughter are a lot alike in those respects. I always knew that Dawn was destined for great things, and she’ll probably travel further than I ever dreamed of,” Johanna sighed, her eyes growing lidded with wistfulness. Ash could hear the unspoken addendum weighing heavy on her tongue. 

“... But not now.” 

“But not now,” she agreed with a small nod, looking back at him in sympathy. She crouched down, folding her arms on her knees as she smiled sweetly. “I know you really wanted Dawn to come to Kanto with you… But I don’t think she’s ready to take that step yet, not with the opportunities she has here.” Though he knew the older woman was right, it still made Ash’s belly twist in sadness. He clenched his fists, squeezing the grass blades between his fingers, and gritted his teeth as he struggled not to let the frustration overwhelm him. 

As tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, he choked out, “I know. I just really wanted her to be there when I finally made it.” He had come so tantalizingly close in the Sinnoh League, only for it to be snatched away from him at the last moment. He was sure that Dawn felt the same, losing to Zoey in the final round of the Sinnoh Grand Festival. Someday, somewhere, he would finally achieve victory in a league— and for some inexplicable reason, he desperately wanted Dawn to be there, more than anyone before. “I don’t know why, but… I want her to be proud of me.” 

“Oh? You don’t know?” Johanna chortled, making Ash looked at her with knitted brows. She released a pensive sigh, looking down at the river with a small smile. “Well, I can tell you that Dawn is already very proud of you. She knows you and your Pokémon tried your best, and that’s all anyone can ever ask of you, you know.” 

The thought made a heat rise to Ash’s cheeks and his lips pull into an awkward smile. Dawn is already proud of me… It made his heart thump against his ribcage and a pleasurable tingle shoot through all his nerves, like Pikachu had zapped him out of the blue. Johanna looked back at him, sticking her tongue out teasingly. 

“But, I know how you feel, and I’m sure one day that you and Dawn will meet again and have plenty more adventures together!” she said, sticking up a finger matter-of-factly. Before Ash could let the uncertainty show on his face, she leaned back a little so she could rifle through the pocket of her apron. “In fact, I’m so sure of it that I want to give you something.” 

Ash’s eyebrows shot so far up his forehead that they disappeared under the brim of his hat as Johanna revealed a small, silver ring with several glittering white jewels gleaming on top. Then, his face turned an angry red and he began to sputter and wave his hands wildly in refusal. 

“Relax! This is a promise ring!” 

“A promise ring?” he echoed, relaxing now that Johanna had elaborated that she did not want him to propose to her daughter. Smiling, Johanna gestured for him to hold out his hand; she dropped the ring in his palm and enclosed his fingers over it. 

“Yes. Dawn’s father gave it to me many years ago. A promise ring is a symbol of commitment. Traditionally, it’s a romantic commitment, but it doesn’t have to be! If you give this ring to Dawn, no matter how far apart you are, you will still be linked to one another,” she explained as Ash uncurled his fingers to gander at the pretty jewelry. The white gems, which he thought might be zircon or some other faux diamond, glittered beautifully in the sunlight. He knew it would look very pretty on Dawn and would definitely jazz up her contest outfits. 

A commitment to one another, he thought, a haze of pink still comfortable in his cheeks. 

“Thank you, Miss Johanna, but are you sure? You said your husband gave you this.” 

“I’m sure!” she nodded while straightening up, stretching a little to ease the muscles that had tensed after squatting so long. Giggling, she showed him her hand, where a proper diamond band gleamed prettily against her ring finger. “I have a promise ring of my own, so to speak <3” 

Ash gulped at her mischievous insinuations, but obediently cupped the ring in his hand and clutched it close to his chest. After giving him a jovial wave, Johanna tromped back up the hill, leaving him to ruminate on the surprising turn of events. He beheld the promise ring again, his heart stirring in his chest as he imagined how elated Dawn would be receiving the gift. As his lips curled up in a smile, he jumped up to start running up the slope, eager to pass the ring on to Dawn as soon as possible.

He found her in her bedroom, chatting animatedly to her Pipilup as she piled clothes into her suitcase. She was oblivious to his presence for a few minutes as he gathered his courage, shuffling his weight from one foot to the other in the threshold before finally forcing himself to knock lightly on the door. 

“Oh! Hello, Ash!” she beamed when she noticed him awkwardly standing there. “I’m almost done packing, but did you need something?” Ash’s heart thumped against his ribcage as she clasped her hands behind her and tilted her head cutely at him, expression kind and inquisitive. She really was the sweetest person he’d ever met; he was addicted to her saccharine nature at this point, so much so that he momentarily thought of forgoing the promise ring to instead beg her to come to Kanto with him instead. 

No, I can’t… Dawn deserves to follow her dreams, too. 

He nervously cleared his throat and stepped into the room, clutching the ring in his sweaty fist. 

“I, um… I have something for you, Dawn.” 

“Oh? A present? Ash, you didn’t have to!” she chimed as her face morphed in surprise. His heart fluttered like a Starly’s fledgling wings at her coyness, making a goofy smile begin to form on his lips. Before he could drift too far off into dreamland, he stopped in front of her and used his free hand to rub at the back of his neck. 

“Nah, don’t worry… It’s just… Something to remember me by, I guess.” As he gently reached out and took her hand to turn her palm up, Dawn looked at him in confusion. Swallowing thickly, he set the promise ring in her hand, and she looked down at it. Her eyes widened like sapphire moons, and a small breath of awe breezed past her lips. 

“A ring…?” 

“A promise ring,” he corrected. “I, um… I know that you have to stay here, while I have to go, but… I want us to meet again someday. So, I, um… I want to give this to you, as a symbol of that.” As he continued to speak, he grew more and more embarrassed; a bright pink blush crept up from his neck to spread up to the roots of his hair, and he shifted incessantly on his feet. “S-so… Let’s promise we’ll meet again… Dawn.”

She was silent for a moment, enthralled by the simple jewelry in her palm. Slowly, her eyes rose to meet his own, and a saccharine smile spread over her face. She took the ring and slipped it onto her right ring finger, stretching out her hands to admire the way the light glittered over the gems. 

“All right. It’s a promise, then,” she nodded. She reached out to take both his hands, gently looping their fingers as she gazed at him adoringly. “I know we’ll both go on to do great things, so let’s make sure we do plenty, so we have a lot to tell one another when we come back.” 

“Of course!” he agreed excitedly. As they looked into each other’s eyes, Ash found the tension melting from his body. Sure, he was a little sad still that they had to part ways, but he was no longer worried. That promise ring linked them together. Every time Dawn looked at it, she would be reminded of the time they shared, and look forward to the day when they met again. Until then… Ash and Dawn both had to do their best to make each other even prouder of one another than they already were.

Enjoy this oneshot? Feel free to peruse my Table of Contents!

[captainxsassafras]

Angel Voice

Ok, so this is really the first piece of writing I've actually finished since I graduated from college. Haha, yeah. I've been a bit of an unproductive writer the past lil bit, BUT I'm here today and I finished this. Not gonna lie, I am hella nervous for this. It's nothing emotionally involved or really intense (ok, there’s not angst, but I get real emotionally involved in fluff, so maybe I’m a liar), but I read the idea of Shinsou doing ASMR from secondhand-trash and the anon over there and, ya know, magic happened! Haha, I kid. Just cuteness, a few saucy phrases here and there! Please be kind to me!

(Also, I’m so sorry. I will figure out how to put stuff under the cut. Please be patient with my tech illiterate ass!)

@queensynderella

@secondhand-trash

Angel Voice

Shinsou x Reader

Warning: lots of fluff?, attempted assault (not Shinsou!), suggestive comments, a hot mess of a reader!

Word Count: Just over 5000... I think.

~~~*~~~

Fucking fuckity fuck fuck. You had not slept at all. Not a single wink.

Sorry, kind sir. I have no spare winks to give. No winks here.

This had been going on for months. Months!

It was starting to affect you.

Hahahah… That was a lie. It had been affecting you. You were just adaptable and great at lying so nothing was really wrong! 

…Ok, that was a lie too. Your sleep schedule was shot. Your brain was shot. Your work was… by some miracle still ok, but you weren’t about to keep betting on that.

So, here you were. Finally off work and almost falling asleep waiting for the train in the humid, afternoon heat. 

This is probably what Hell feels like. Sleep-deprived, foggy, humid, and full of sweaty humans.

You jolted fully awake from a doze as the train arrived and people began crowding against you.

Yippee. A crowded train with strangers pressing in close on absolutely zero sleep.

Nevermind. This was Hell. Waiting for the train was just the appetizer.

Your phone buzzed.

It was your best friend. She knew that you'd been having trouble sleeping and had been your solid rock. She'd been your support when it started and had helped you brainstorm remedies when it had continued. So it wasn't really a surprise when she sent you a link to an asmr video with the message, 'he has the voice of an angel! 😇 if this doesn't help you sleep, nothing will! luv ya boo! good luck!!! ❤❤❤❤❤' 

She was right. 

His voice was deep, but soothing. He spoke in a soft, calm cadence that immediately put you at ease.

The video in question was a request from a viewer. It was a description of a calm hike through the woods on a nice day. 

It was heaven.

You had your first night of decent sleep in months.

(And if you were being totally honest, you did actually cry a bit when you woke up feeling more rested and clear-headed than you could remember.)

From that point on, you fell asleep listening to 'Angel Voice' every night. 

And quickly discovered that you couldn't listen to the more...exciting rp videos before bed! They sent your poor, stupid heart wild and kept you wide awake plus some tasty adrenaline! Definitely not the desired effect! Not unpleasant. Just kinda detrimental to the whole helping-you-sleep thing.

But his calm, descriptive videos and dulcet voice sent you straight to dreamland. 

For a month straight you fell asleep to his tones and barely bothered to look at the voice artist's name.

Angel voice worked!

***

Ok, now you were tired. 

A frantic call to work this afternoon had you covering your sick coworker’s shift. This meant you were both awake way later than you had recently been staying up and you were working with a double shift's worth of leftover energy.

Ok, you were dead. Running on empty. There was no leftover energy.

You dumb, tired feet trudged along the stupid, dark street and your dumb, heavy purse cut into your stupid, aching shoulder.

But despite your exhaustion, you still held a canister of pepper spray--safety off, thank you--clutched tightly in your hand. 

The hackles on the back of your neck rose. The hair on your arms stood on end. Chills ran down your spine.  

You could feel eyes on your back.

Someone was watching you.  

It was a very unpleasant feeling this late at night all alone on a half lit street.  

Ugh, this street was so different after dark! 

You normally made your way home during rush hour when the street was busy with foot and vehicle traffic, well-lit by the sun, and full of chatter and life.

It was almost lifeless and eerily quiet now. 

Creepy. 

It needed more streetlamps. 

Humming very quietly to yourself, you tried to keep your mind off of the intense foreboding grabbing at your chest.

That same shivering chill ran through your body right before a harsh hand clawed at your arm, jerking you back. You cried out as your sore shoulder twisted and adrenaline-fueled panic surged through your entire nervous system.   

You whipped around, pepper spray at the ready and a fierce scowl on your face, to empty the canister straight into the guy's eyes.

You wrenched your aching shoulder out of his hand. Without conscious thought, your foot rose and met his groin in a beautifully placed front kick. 

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner!

He fell.

A convenience store! There was a convenience store nearby! 

Heart pounding, you fled to the little 24 hour convenience store across the street and, from the safety of the front counter, called the police.

Your frantic eyes scoured the area near the man, waiting to see if he would rise and run. 

Although, you did get him pretty good. You hoped he wouldn't run away. That'd be a) frustrating because you didn't really have a way to identify him so he'd probably get away and b) scary because you kicked him in the nuts! Guys held grudges for things like that! 

Was that movement?

It… didn't seem like the attacker was moving… 

Oh! It was another guy and it looked like he was wearing a costume!

A hero?

Looked like it! He was tying the felled grabber up with… not sure, but it was incapacitating the guy who grabbed you, so yay!

You left the store and slowly approached the man. 

"Um, hi," you said with a hesitant wave. "This was me." You bashfully gestured to the man still lying (now tied up) on the ground.

"Hey, there. Thanks for doing my job for me," he replied with a bit of a smirk. He had a deep, slightly rough voice and up close you could see dark, wildy messy hair.

Uh-oh. You needed to explain. This was absolutely self defense!

"He, uh, grabbed me from behind and I kind of panicked and, well…"

"Don't worry. I saw what happened. He started following you a few blocks back, but I couldn't do anything because he hadn't done anything yet."

Oh.

Oh, damn.

You felt sick. He had… he had been following you?

Your knees trembled.

The hero noticed and stepped forward to you.

"Hey, hey. Come here." 

He led you to the curb and sat you down, a hand rubbing comforting circles on your upper back. "It's gonna be ok. You clearly know how to defend yourself, so I wouldn't worry about.."

His soothing voice soon began to pull you out of your fear and calm your racing brain. His hand continued rubbing your back in rhythmic motions and soon your shaking began to slow and finally stop. Your thoughts came back to the moment and you noticed something. Something very familiar...

"Holy shit. Angel voice!"

The hero stopped his rambling speech, one eyebrow raising in an amused arch. He didn't say anything else, just waited for you.

"Do you do asmr?"

"Uh… yeah?"

Boy, you wish you could've captured his face.

Befuddled?

Was that the right word?

Yeah. Pure befuddlement.

Then blushing. 

Holy hell! He was blushing! It was really hard to see, but the slightest bit of red colored his cheeks in the dim light.

"Thank you so much!" you cried, maybe a bit loudly. He flinched just a little, looking surprised. "Ah, sorry. But seriously! You're the reason I've been able to sleep for the past month! I've been having sleep issues for almost a year and a friend sent me one of your videos and, well, tada. Sleep happened!" It was your turn to blush. 

The look he was sending your way now was… hella cute. He looked delighted. Elated. Even in the dark, his eyes were shining and he had a goofy little half smile that lit his whole face with happiness. 

The smile highlighted the bags under his eyes and you briefly wondered if that had something to do with his decision to make asmr videos. The thought fled when he raised a self-conscious hand to rub the back of his neck and started speaking.

"I'm glad they've been helping you!" The very corners of his eyes crinkled just a bit. "It makes my night to hear that!" 

His deep voice wasn't loud or overtly excited, but it was warm and full of sincerity. 

Your stomach did a stupid flip.

Nope. Not happening. You refused to be a hero groupie. Too much drama. Too many fans picking each other apart. Too much shade. You needed sunshine and most groupies you knew threw shade like confetti.

Also, he was a professional at work. This was his job. You needed to respect that.

A deep internal breath had you back where you should be. Thanking a professional hero for helping apprehend a man who had attacked you and thanking him for his generous work that helped you sleep well. 

The two of you talked quietly for a few bit waiting for the police to arrive. It was nice. You asked about hero work. He asked about your job. You two chatted about a couple of random things and by the time the police arrived your chatter was comfortable and easy. 

Everything after was a whirl. You had to give a statement. They needed to take you to a hospital just in case. The hero gave his witness statement and then had to leave to help out with a robbery in a different neighborhood. 

You left for the hospital looking back and feeling little starbursts of melancholy disappointment needling your chest. 

You'd probably never see him again.

Ah, well. Guess he'd stay Angel Voice. 

***

Shit.

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. 

This was stupid. 

You had barely talked to him for a half hour. And, yeah, he was sweet. Ok, he'd been crazy nice. And so fucking attractive. He'd been easy to talk to and the conversation between you two had been entertaining and full of wit. 

But you had no way of directly contacting him. You'd looked him up, but hadn't gotten much info on him. It looked like he was an underground hero, so that made a lot of sense. It, however, did not make it any less frustrating.

You didn't know what you'd do if you managed to get ahold of him anyway!

"Hi! You sorta bagged a guy who tried to assault me (but I took down first) a few weeks ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since then even though we had like a half hour conversation, half of which was you coaxing me out of a panic attack. Want to go on a date?"

Of course, you could always comment on one of Utube videos, but that had about a 1 in 1,000,000,000 chance of working and felt a little too…. Stalker-fan.

There was also the raging guilt and embarrassment you felt over crushing on a hero who had just been helping you as part of his professional work. He had been at work! It was part of his job to comfort you! He was literally in the business of saving people and making sure they were ok. And that was exactly he had done. He didn't need to be harrassed because your dumb brain said, 'Oo, shiny!' when he smiled. He had been at work. You shouldn't read anything into his behavior, because there really wasn't anything other than a pro hero doing his duty.

Nope! You needed to get over this.

A notification buzzed and you checked your phone.

Mind_kitty has posted a new video! Watch now!

With a defeated sigh, you deferred the notification for later. You could listen and relax on your way home from work.

A movement out of the corner of your eye caught your attention and you snapped your head up as a coworker hustled over with a look of panic on their face. 

Uh-oh.

***

And now, here you were, sitting wearily on the train and hurtling towards home.

Ugh, what a day.

After everything that could go wrong had miraculously (horrifically? Fiendishly? Miraculously seemed too positive…) gone up in flames at the same time, you had spent the rest of your work day running around like crazy putting out all the fires (only one of which was, in fact, a literal fire so not actually a terrible day).

Your feet were sore and a headache that had started with your coworker's news and grown from there threatened to overwhelm you.

There were still a few stops until yours, so you slipped your headphones out of your bag and opened your Utube app. 

Thank you unlimited data!

You found Angel Voice's latest video and began to play.

(Ok, you now had actually figured out his Utube username and finally bothered to remember it, but he'd started as Angel Voice to you and it just worked in your mind!)

Ahhhhhh…

Why does he have such a great voice? It was perfect! Deep and smooth and perfectly made to whisper sweet (or not so sweet) nothings in your ear while you gently played with his wild purple hair. Fuck, his hair was so pretty! You'd bet your left buttcheek it was soft as clouds…

Ugggghhhhh... Fine. 

You were crushing on a pro hero. 

Are you happy, universe? 

Your fated journey to become a groupie had begun. Might as well accept it and focus on more important things… like Angel Voice's hair.

Or, you know, his voice…

You fell into the sound of his speaking.

Hah, it was like an automatic reaction at this point. Your shoulders started to unknot and that stereotypical breath you didn't know you were holding in rushed out in a grateful sigh.

However, it didn't take you long to realize that he hadn't started into the asmr immediately as you were expecting. Paying more attention, you rewound the video to the beginning and actually listened to what he was saying.

"I'm not sure exactly how to do this." He let out a dry half chuckle. "I haven't completely convinced myself I should. But, um…"

He paused with a frustrated sigh, then seemed to take a deep breath. 

"Ok, to hell with it. I'm doing this. Dear, girl I met the other night who took a guy out by kicking him in the nuts."

Was he talking about you? Was there another girl who kicked a guy in the nuts on his patrol? Damn, he met a lot of kickass girls on patrol! Good for her! She was getting a personal shoutout from Angel Voice! 

"I know it might seem kind of weird to be doing this over Utube, but I missed my chance at first, then the police arrived and everything was crazy and I had to leave to help out another pro."

Wow, sounds intense. Bet that was stressful. Oh, wait. Hah. You knew it was stressful.

"So I blew my chance to ask for your number."

He wanted her number? Damn! Super lucky girl!

Wait, this wasn't an rp video was it?

You pulled out your phone to check, but the title and description didn't mention any kind of rp. Aww! This was real! And it was adorable!

A tiny piece of sad ripped itself free of the fuzzy feelings you were experiencing. He had been so kind and you'd had such a fun time conversing. It would have been really amazing if this were for you. You had really liked the piece of personality you'd been able to see.

"I'm really hoping you'll hear this video, and hear it in time, because I'd love to go get coffee with the girl who accidentally body-slammed her coworker on her birthday."

Holy.

Shit.

That…

THAT WAS YOU!

That had been you! Your stupid coworker had snuck up behind you at the end of the day in a semi-dark area of work and shouted in your ear to scare you.

It had worked. 

You'd been so scared that you'd grabbed him, flipped him over your shoulder, and body-slammed him into the floor.

And… and you'd told Angel Voice that night as you sat talking about some of your more notorious takedowns. 

This was for you.

This video was for you!

What the fuck?!

This video was for you!?

You had to rewind a hot second to hear what came next.

Then you had to pause and go back yet again, because your mind was in such a frenzy and your heart was beating so loudly in your ears you couldn’t concentrate on what was being said!

“So if you hear this and, um, you’re interested at all, girl who took down a fully grown man in five seconds, I’ll be waiting at the spot we first met at five pm today. I, uh, really hope I’ll see you there again.”

The video ended. 

Your heart was still aiming for professional drummer in your chest.

You could see him raising his hand to rub at the back of his neck with that last statement. He’d done it that night and you could picture it in your mind. 

Wait! What time was it?

4:50 pm.

No.

Nonononononono!

You were going to miss the meeting.

You were still six train stops away from yours and that alone would take you fifteen minutes! Not to mention the next fifteen minutes it’d take to get to the meeting place! 

Of course, that was walking speed. You could run.

Frantic eyes looked down at your shoes. Not exactly running shoes. 

Whatever, you’d make do.

You wanted to see him again.

You could just imagine the disappointment on his face if you didn’t show and that melancholy from earlier reared its weepy head and cried out in frustration because you didn’t want to hurt him!

And you really wanted to see him again!

The next fifteen minutes were the most agonizing you could remember enduring in recent history. This was worse than the time you spilled coffee on your favorite author and his manager had yelled at you for five minutes while they changed! I mean, that had been pretty bad, but the author had been incredibly nice about it after getting back and even mentioned it humorously in the book you had asked them to sign. It was still easily the most awful you'd ever felt and you’d really wanted nothing more than to run away.

This. Was. Worse.

So much worse because you couldn’t actively work towards your quickly approaching deadline and destination. You had to sit there… waiting.

Your leg was bouncing up and down and a few fellow train riders were giving you slightly concerned looks. You were too wound up to care.

Finally, finally!

You arrived at your stop, hurried off the train as quickly as you could without being the absolute worst human ever, and ran.

Your shoes remained on your feet until you almost killed yourself stumbling over them, then they were in your arms.

Decorum be damned!

This was a matter of life or date! (And preferably not death by shoe!)

You made it to the spot where you’d met him at exactly 5:12 pm.

You were sweaty. 

Hell, that was an understatement.

You were pretty sure you’d left a trail of sweat behind you and you could feel it running in rivulets down your back. There was probably a stain back there… And on your armpits… and on… everywhere.

You knew your hair was an absolute mess. 

But as bad as you knew you must look, you felt worse.

Your lungs were on fire. You had absolutely no breath left in your entire body. It felt like you had a knife in your side. In both sides actually. Your entire body was trying to imitate an oven with the level of heat radiating off your skin. Your legs were simultaneously wobbly and shaking and you weren’t sure you’d trust them taking another step at the moment.

And now you had sweat in your eye. Stinging.

But none of that even mattered. 

All of that was stupid and trivial and inconsequential because he wasn’t there.

You’d taken too long.

He was gone.

No vibrant purple hair and sleep-deprived eyes.

No stupid half-smile.

That melancholy came back and instead of quietly tugging at your heart, it hit you square in the chest with an emotional cast-iron frying pan. 

No.

No!

Damnit!

You’d really wanted this.

He was… he was so fucking witty and kind that night.

He’d been soft and understanding and hot. And fucking adorable.

And… and… he wasn’t there.

Fuck.

You slumped in place.

Every ounce of your physical exhaustion caught up to you in an instant and you felt the mortifying sting of tears trying to sneak their way out of your eyes. 

Talk about adding insult to injury.

It wasn’t that bad. This wasn’t that bad.

So, you didn’t get to meet up with a cute hero for coffee. Big deal. Poor unfortunate soul. It was nothing to cry about.

But you’d really wanted to see him again.

Guess it didn’t matter anymore.

You turned, ready to march across the street to that convenience store and buy half of their ice cream, but something tickled your brain.

Something out of the corner of your eye.

Your head whipped around.

There!

It was a flash of purple down the street.

Your eyes snapped to that portion of the sidewalk. 

It was purple hair.

Crazy, wild, tousled, purple hair!

You knew that hair!

But your stupid legs literally wouldn’t run anymore. And he was far enough away that you wouldn’t catch up if you could run.

You reacted without thinking.

You really acted without thinking.

“ANGEL VOICE!”

You shouted his name at the top of your lungs.

Sorry.

You shouted your own private, very personal nickname that you had only spoken out loud to your very best friend and, unfortunately, him.

In the middle of a crowded street.

During rush hour.

Your brain was an utter masterpiece of stupid.

You stood there, frozen with the realization of your own idiocy, as the head of purple hair stopped, looked to the side, looked to the other side, then tuuurrrnnned around.

Made eye contact with you through the busy crowd.

Then doubled over laughing.

You couldn’t hear him from where you stood, but you could feel him laughing.

You could see it in the way his bent shoulders shook and his torso convulsed, nearly spasming with the force of his laughter.

And there you stood, still stuck to your spot.

You’d called him Angel Voice out loud in a crowd out loud in front of a bunch of strangers out loud.

And as much as you wanted to run, you couldn’t even twitch.

Not as you watched him finally finish laughing and fully turn to face you. Not as you watched him begin to walk toward you through the throng of people (just beginning to turn back to their own business in the aftermath of your outburst). Not as he stopped directly in front of you, a delighted smile on his sleepy, stupidly attractive face and the corners of his eyes still just slightly crinkled with laughter.

“Hey there,” he said and it felt like the softest slap to the face you’d ever received.

Your frozen body finally remembered its fight or flight reflexes and, wouldn’t you know, you suddenly learned how to fly.

As you turned to bolt, Angel Voice reached out, calling to you.

“Hey, wait! You’re just gonna run after all of that?”

He didn’t grab you.

That detail broke through the panic.

Even though he reached out with his hand, he didn’t grab you.

You stopped.

“I wanna run because of all that!” you blurted.

His chuckles sent a wave of heat down your spine, both embarrassed and… otherwise. Ok, fine! He had a sexy voice! And it turned you on more than you liked to admit! 

Who let him have a voice like that?

It was not freaking fair!

“I’d rather you didn’t.”

Fuck, he sounded sincere. 

You slowly turned around, face still burning.

You two stared at each other for a minute.

A smile crooked your lips.

“So, uh, what’s a place like you doing in a voice like this.”

Silence.

“Fuck.” 

Your hand came up to rub at your forehead as he began laughing again. A full, big laugh instead of a chuckle.

“I should probably just give up on the talking thing, shouldn't I?”

“I hope not. I could listen to you all day,” he said with a small grin.

And now your heart it was afluttering.

“I feel like that should be my line,” you mumbled, watching him catch his breath from all that big old laughing through the fingers splayed across your face.

There was a pause in the conversation. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it hadn’t really achieved comfortable silence.

“So, um.”

You looked up from your hand.

Good fuck, he was doing the rubbing the back of his neck thing again. Illegal. Freaking illegal is what that was. No man should possess that level of cute.

“I mentioned grabbing coffee in the video. I’d like to assume you being here means you’re interested?” The sentence ended with a slight upturn, indicating a question. He looked up at you, uncertainty in his gorgeous violet eyes.

Why the hell was he uncertain?

This mortherfucking hottie with a voice made for swooning (and spooning) was nervous about asking you to coffee (adateadateadateadate).

Without thinking, you voiced this exact thought out loud (sans the date portion... and the spooning. Spooning was for non-dumbasses). 

Angel Voice looked absolutely floored.

“I’m sorry, but do you own a mirror?” he asked. There was a tension in his voice that almost had you shrinking into yourself.

Ouch.

Damn.

Ouch.

Well, at least he was blunt.

“You’re fucking gorgeous.”

You met him on the floor.

Dead. Ass.

He just called you gorgeous.

There was a set to his jaw now and a sort of light in his eyes. He looked very… determined. Set, was what you’d call it. He seemed very set on a decision.

"It was great talking to you the other night. I can't get out of my head how funny and smart you were. And you're so fucking cute I want to wrap you up in my jacket and stay there forever."

His face was blazing red now. His ears too. Ok, that was hella adorable. You felt your own self flush with happy bashful feelings. I mean, he himself had just supplied you with the sappiest, schmoopiest mental image you’d really ever conceived.

“I’d really like to go get some coffee together.” He went quiet for a minute, seeming to mull something over in his head, and that stupid hand came up to rub at his neck again.

Ugh, he was gonna kill you with that! 

“Would you go on a date with me?”

If your heart was fluttering before, it was nearly palpitating now!

“Yes! Please! I mean, yes I want to go on a date with you!”

He smiled, a breathless, bewildered, almost (dare you think) dorky smile. It was fucking beautiful.

"Wow," he exhaled.

A snort escaped you. "Again, I feel like that should be my line."

But you smiled back.

And there you both stood, almost dazedly smiling, little happy thoughts buzzing through your minds. 

“We should probably head to a cafe if we’re going to get coffee,” Angel Voice finally murmured.

You started.

The both of you were standing like idiots in the middle of the sidewalk, just staring at each other.

“Coffee, right. Anywhere in mind, Angel Voice?” The nickname slipped out almost by accident.

He held out his hand to you and you took it gently. 

“Angel Voice, huh?” he laughed quietly. “I think I can go with that.”

“Hey, it’s not my fault! You still haven’t told me your name.” You sent a playful tug along the arm you held by the hand and felt a little thrill of joy when he returned it just as playfully. "You're officially Angel Voice until you enlighten me."

The two of you had started walking. He seemed to have a destination in mind. Man with a plan. Nice.

“I know a cafe nearby. Do you mind?” he asked, softly pulling you along in invitation while leaving enough slack for you to object if you wanted.

Man with a plan who asked nicely. Nice.

“Not at all, Angel Voice.” You had a point to make and a guy to tease!

He chuckled again.

“My name is Hitoshi. Hitoshi Shinsou.” That slightly devious grin crept back onto his face. “But Angel Voice works for me.” He snuggled in close to your cheek, the side of his body leaning comfortably into yours. Then he whispered in your ear and you nearly fell over. "Especially if you're screaming it as loud as you did earlier."

Good lord, your knees nearly collapsed. 

His voice, his stupid voice, saying such a frisky thing so close did such a number on you that you couldn't respond for a moment. It was all you could do to keep breathing.

His voice was going to be the death of you! You couldn’t think. Should you respond? What did you say to that? Something equally as frisky! But his voice!

He tensed a bit at your lack of response. 

"Was that too much? Did I cross a line?" he asked, still speaking low right in your ear.

"Son of a bitch, if you don't stop that right now, I'm gonna jump your fucking bones right in the middle of this street." Your voice was full of urgency, but if he didn't stop you really were liable to unleash every single ounce of wild attraction you felt towards him at that exact moment, street full of people be damned!

He stopped walking.

Oh, shit. You could hear the Cheshire grin.

"You mean, like this?"

You sagged against him, letting your knees tremble. Your hand, still tangled, clutched his tightly.

His chuckle this time was less… benevolent than before. "What? You called me Angel Voice." His thumb ran soothingly over your hand. "I had to see if I could tempt you."

You couldn't help it. You turned your face to bury it in his jacket. What a magnificent, teasing butthead you'd just gotten yourself tangled up with. It was amazing!

"That’s going to come back to bite me, isn't it?"

“All the time.”

A tiny little butterfly crept into your stomach. You didn’t want to read too much into it (although after his teasing, you didn't really feel like it was reading into things), but ‘all the time’ sounded like there was going to be, well, plenty of time. It was a very welcome, warm idea.

As soon as your legs de-noodled (Hitoshi making snarky comments like a brat the entire time), the two of you continued on in an easy silence, exchanging teases every so often. The sun was setting and the entire world was covered in golden tones. Rush hour was winding down and the foot traffic in the area was dissipating, leaving a much more comfortable number of people around.

Your brain focused on the soft, warm quality of the light, the muted shocks of excitement zipping through your lower back, and the soft weight of his calloused hand surrounding yours. 

You gave a little, light squeeze.

"I'm so happy I ran, Angel Voice.”

He just chuckled and squeezed back.

[my-friend-and-the-setting-sun]

“...Mama.”

Meta Knight stopped abruptly, using all his willpower to not squeeze the baby’s hand too tightly. He didn’t look at Kirby, remaining stiff in posture now, feeling those innocent blue eyes staring into him...waiting for an answer, a response.

“Mama,” the pink baby said again. His gaze was neither sad, nor accusatory...only curious and innocent.

“...I told you she’s not here.” Meta Knight tugged his arm, and they started walking again. The child’s stomach audibly growled then, and the knight cringed, realizing why Kirby was so suddenly inquisitive about his mother… Of course any child would request the one who usually fed them before their life changed so suddenly the way it did.

“...Mama,” Kirby said again, his paw squirming in the knight’s hold. Meta Knight’s golden eyes skimmed the area for anything, anything that could be food, and satiate the hungry child’s appetite...and get him to stop asking about his mother. Food, food, anything...anything from berries to banana trees, he hoped to spy, but there were only grassy fields, flowers...stuff not suitable for a baby to consume without complaint.

“I hear you,” he said stiffly when Kirby made a quiet, but indignant noise. “Just give me a minute…”

His eyes settled on a vague figure in the distance...a tree! He picked up his walking speed to a brisk pace, and Kirby, being smaller, wound up jogging alongside him, eyes widening as he found himself distracted by the change.

Perfect! The knight thought to himself as they drew near the tree...and he could see bright red apples in its branches. What luck! Thank the stars…

Kirby spotted the bright fruit soon enough, and his face lit up, for the first time that day, in a bright smile upon seeing his desire. He let go of Meta Knight’s hand and scurried up to the tree, standing on his tiptoes and flailing his little nubs in a desperate attempt to reach a low-hanging apple. He was still too short, and his cheeks visibly puffing in a pout.

Meta Knight fought down a smirk, though it wasn’t like Kirby could see it anyway. He strode forward, jumping in the air and grabbing the apple, turning to see Kirby’s surprised face, then held the apple out to the child.

Kirby’s eyes lit up again and he eagerly took the apple, opening his mouth wide and swallowing it whole, sitting down and smiling brightly...likely waiting for Meta Knight to get him more. The knight stared back blankly, before realizing he was supposed to do exactly that…

How did you do it? He wondered to himself as he found himself climbing the tree and tossing apples down, watching the infant run around and gather them wherever they landed. It’s so much work, so much to remember and realize, and you were able to juggle this alongside your other duties. I need your guidance more than ever…

Kirby eventually had his fill after a good fifteen or so apples, sitting against the tree and letting out a content sigh. His eyes drooped, and in mere moments, he was fast asleep. Seeing this, Meta Knight jumped down from the branches, though he took an apple for himself, standing a few feet from Kirby. He glanced around warily before slightly lifting his mask, quietly taking a bite from the apple.

“Are you this little one’s father?”

The blue knight nearly choked, gasping and swallowing abruptly before shoving his mask down, trying to recompose himself and appear dignified…

“Wh...who…?” He didn’t see anyone around, so who could have spoken? It certainly was not Kirby, who was dozing away, even with the booming voice that had barely spoken… “Who goes there?” The knight’s hands clenched into fists. “You spoke once! Show yourself!”

“Do not be alarmed...I simply wanted to know who came and ate my apples…”

“Your apples…” Meta Knight could feel his face go reddish behind his mask, but at least there was no telltale that he was embarrassed...unless his eyes were changing color, in which case, they were likely a light pink. “...F-forgive me, I did not realize we took anyone’s…”

“No need for apologies...my apples are well for anyone who desires them…” And the voice, still so close, Meta Knight realized...was not hiding at all. He turned around to look at the tree...which sported a face.

“You are…” Meta Knight frowned slightly, squinting at him. “...I’ve...heard of you…”

“I am Whispy Woods.” The tree stared at Meta Knight. “I am one of many trees like myself, scattered across Popstar...we speak of passerby tales we hear, and have seen generations of woodland creatures and their lives. However you, I have seen the first of, including this little one...out of curiosity, nothing else...I will ask again...are you this one’s father…?”

Meta Knight stiffened, glancing at the sleeping Kirby. “...No. I am watching him, but I am not his father…”

“A sitter?”

“...Not really…”

“Then you are his guardian.”

“In a sense,” Meta Knight answered flatly, and he wrapped his cape around himself uncomfortably. “...There’s nobody else to watch him.”

“...Whatever happened, then, to his parents? Are you his surrogate?” The tree would have tilted inquisitively if it could, its hollow eyes boring into Meta Knight much like Kirby had earlier when babbling about his mother...

“I--no, not...well, yes…to the former title, I suppose.” Meta Knight found himself increasingly confused at how to handle small talk...the tree was much more chatty than he had ever read about. “...See...well, he’s asleep but…” He sighed. “...I’d...rather not talk about it.”

“That is fine, traveler…” The tree paused for a moment, then spoke again. “...What are your names?”

Names...Meta Knight glanced at Whispy Woods, strongly debating whether or not to answer it…

“...The little one is called Kirby. I am Meta Knight...Sir Meta Knight is my full title, but there is no obligation for you to refer to me as such…”

“Oh? You are a knight? So do you serve the king of this country? I have never heard of you before…”

“King?” Meta Knight murmured, unable to help himself from bristling. “...N-no, we are in fact new to this country...Dreamland...was it?”

“Ah. That explains why I have not seen you before…” The tree looked down at the sleeping child. “I presume you are seeking shelter?”

“...For the time being, yes…” He couldn’t help feeling surprised that the tree was able to guess that. Meta Knight glanced around again. “We’ve been on the move for a few days…”

“You said you are a knight,” the tree hummed. “I believe the king was seeking newcomers to his staff...and I think, since you appear to be experienced, you could ask to apply, and he may yet perhaps offer you a place to stay.”

“Where is this king? Who is he, might I ask?” Meta Knight was willing to take the chance if it meant the child could live comfortably...even if he was not too fond of the thought of serving a king. It was for Kirby’s wellbeing in mind...

“King Dedede...his castle is north of here, about three more days’ travel if you believe you can manage it.”

“Perfectly fine,” the knight said, taking a seat. “We’ll head out when this one is finished napping…”

“So be it,” the old tree hummed, swaying its branches. “He may rest beneath my branches as long as he pleases...feel free to take some of my apples for your travels if it helps you.”

“Yes, thank you,” Meta Knight sighed, lifting the bottom of his mask again to finish his own. A good idea, he thought, as he was unsure how long it would be before they would find other food on the way, seeing as Kirby fussed already over the slightest lack of routine…

The knight took a seat in the grass, glancing at the sleeping puffball occasionally as Whispy Woods seemed to hum continuously, perhaps to keep the baby lulled. I wonder if she did that for him. He had trouble sleeping last night, and the night before...it was a hassle to get him to rest at all… He frowned a bit and looked aside. ...I don’t sing. Or hum. I just am not cut out for this...but there’s nobody else. We’re all alone…

He gazed up at the sky, which had long since lightened to a bright blue...a shade he had to admit he was quite fond of...and had not seen properly in quite a while until he came to this place…

Meta Knight tightened his cape around himself, armor clinking, feeling further out of place in his new surroundings. It’s a huge change for us both...I wish you were at least here...you were the one he needed the most.

[coconutshvings]

_

Bring Me Down ° K. YS.

▪Group || Ateez

▪Genre || ??? \\ None Idol AU

▪Warnings || Short \\ Cringey

Hypothesis • You lighten everything, you lighten me

Rocky road ice cream, check, Spoon, Check, Unattractive sleep wear along with Fuzzy socks, check, Comfortable, Check, Gazing half interested at Yeosang as he blabbers about his his unteenthed failed date, check.

"I just can't see why I can't get it right, why don't I have an Eye for love?" Yeosang huffed out loudly, your eyes naturally rotated to the back of your head, it wasn't that you didn't enjoy Your friend coming over just the same conversation finding it's way into one you were having with was agitating.

Yeosang had luck with finding companionship people drew to him like a magnet to another magnet it was his blind eye to signs of toxicity that made him think he had no sense of a good relationship, he picked who showed entrance at first but once official they treated him as if getting his heart to be their own was all they needed to do just to keep the relationship afloat and indeed that was all they needed to do.

Until Yeosang would start comparing his relationships to his friends and their significant others, those that had one at least then he could tell something was off releasing himself from the situation. "I was so sure this time." He grumbled as he gently Lent back onto your chest,

Yeosang was a man of few words with skinship, body language, so whenever he would lean onto you like this he wanted his head rubbed he spoke with not words but actions , so you reluctantly brought your hand up to his hazelnut brown hair softly raking your fingers through his hair from front to back his lips agap slightly softly releasing air as he stared at a recently covered crack in the wall of your apartment.

You pursed your lips together, "You're always sure." Yeosang frowned at your words but said nothing knowing you were right. "Where do I go wrong?" His voice was quiet as it seemed he was more let down by himself than those he'd chosen to share his love with.

Your heart was beating softly against the back of his head "You fall for the slightest sign of romantic interest," He hummed half out of satisfaction and half to tell you to proceed with your explanation as to why his love fails,

"they show that they're willing to put in necessary work to form a deeper bond with you. Then you think you're ready to go further so you do, once they have your heart they stop putting in effort, leave you hanging until you break it off." You two were now staring at the covered crack in the wall unconsciously.

Yeosang crossed his arms over his chest pouting mildly "You've got everything figured out. How are you still available?" Yeosang chuckled as he turned his head to look at you for a moment but you just shrugged "I got an eye for bullshit, baby." You grinned confidently

"I wish I did as well. You know, I should thank you," He yawned. This would be one of those nights he'd stay over and you'd give him some night wear that he bought specifically to stay over at your place, you knew he was dozing off "For what?" You asked curiously making him smirk

"for always listening to my epic love life fails and bringing me down from my rain clouded thoughts, for helping me relax." You decided to let him doze off with sweet words. "Yeosang," you gently called to him as you too were close to dozing off into dreamland. "I'll find my love one day." His voice came out slurred ,

"Yeosang do you want to know one of your greatest qualities?"

He softly groaned "Anything to keep me from thinking about my miserable taste in lovers." You snorted lightly "You're good at so much Even though you overwork yourself sometimes you don't stop trying something til you get it right, perfect even. You will do the same thing with love eventually." Your words soothed his ears and the small ache that filled his heart that he didn't know was there as much as it actually was.

"You can sense a bullshit love affair so I believe you if you say I'll find someone good to give my love to and share it for a long time." Yeosang smiled as he positioned himself with his body horizontally laying his head on your lap with your tummy cushioning his cheek, "I don't just say so, I know so."

"I trust your words more than my own, I know I'll find someone like you." You heard his words loud and clear as he gasped let out a hushed breath "You can't find someone like me, I'm one of a kind." You lazily smiled leaning your head on the soft arm rest,

"Indeed. That's exactly why..." Yeosang trailed off as slumber to him over usually you'd try to get him to finish his sentence but you were exhausted from hearing him talk while staying in one spot so you too fell into slumber and eventually you'd wake and head off to bed giving Yeosang a blanket to sleep under along with a warm pillow.

It's a great thing you had massive great memory because you'd surly be asking away about what he was going to say before he dozed off into his dreams, but for now, you'd do the same as he was the questions could wait til morning light.

[leadkiss]

disenchantment prompts: season one

[+]  —  feel free to adjust wording, pronouns, etc.

1x01: “A PRINCESS, AN ELF AND A DEMON WALK INTO A BAR”

“I’m actually hoping for death. Thanks, though!" "I thought that I’d get married for true love or because I was wasted." "First off, not a ghost. Ghosts are losers that got murdered. I’m a demon." "Your whining really turns me on." "I wanna taste something other than sweetness." "I’d rather die a big death than live a small life." "You know that little voice in your head that tells you to do the right thing? I’m the guy yelling over it." "I never said I’m your friend." "Well, I like war, but I wouldn’t say I love it." "Times when you really shouldn’t are exactly when you really should." "I was raised by a pack of drinking buddies and I came out perfect." "I’m not here to answer cat questions." "I’ve never had a nightmare. Is this one?" "Cool night air, sky full of stars. This sucks. How much further?" "Hey, he’s making fun of my dreams! That’s what friends do!" "You can sleep down by my feet. I call it the friend zone." "Pardon my language, but destiny is baloney!”

1x02: “FOR WHOM THE PIG OINKS”

“You don’t scare me. I was born scared!” “Your cruddy life is worth living! And so is mine, if you live.” “I know. It felt weird when I said it.” “I don’t see anyone else storming your castle, princess.” “Uh, you know what? I’m just not comfortable with murder.” “Selfish? Maybe. But cruel? Eh, also maybe.” “I must admit, the quantity blood exceeded my expectations.” “That’s not fair! You’re playing to your strengths and not mine!”

1x03: “THE PRINCESS OF DARKNESS”

“What a naughty night we had.” “May I interest you in a joy ride?” “Get ready. Next week, we’re going to try arson.” “You know they prey on the weak in prison? At least, I intend to.” “I’m kinda scared to try this. Will you peer pressure me?” “That is the most fun I’ve ever had without remembering a single moment of it.” “Trust me! I haven’t led you astray in minutes.” “I guess I’m gonna do this, unless someone talks me out of it.” “If I spend any more time with my family they’re going to start asking me why I’m not married.” “This is not good for my hangover.” “Great, you’re gonna make me be the good guy? Ugh, I hate that.” “Like I said on our first date, nothing could be worse than this.”

1x04: “CASTLE PARTY MASSACRE”

“You doing anything weird in here I said “no” about?” “Just making murder plans with my cat.” “If I find so much as a misplaced hair when I come back, I’ll cut off your arm.” “Dude. Decide what you want, drink ‘til you have the nerve to go for it, then keep drinking so the inevitable rejection doesn’t hurt so bad.” “I didn’t know you were interesting.” “Let’s make this night so legendary they caution children about it.” “I’m gonna march up and say something I’ll have figured out by the time I get there.” “Nice! She drank her way out of depression like a pro.”

1x05: “FASTER, PRINCESS! KILL! KILL!”

“You have got to learn to read the room.” “How dare you bring logic into God’s house?” “You know, I would have left willingly!” “Sorry. I’m done threatening you.” “This ain’t about my impulse control.” “You’re a good-for-nothing, and you’re good at nothing.” “Just remember, this job is easier than it looks.” “Every time I turn my head away, something bad happens.” “I would not kiss me right now.” “If you’re gonna crawl back, can I ride you like a horse?” “Are you crazy or under a curse?” “I’m not sure I can do this. I’ve never killed anyone before. (Who wasn’t trying to kill me first. Or bother me. Or marry me.)” “This is a goddamn solemn occasion so shut the hell up, all right?” “What is wrong with you? It’s like you WANT me to cut your head off.” “Every time that girl gets a little responsibility somebody winds up alive.” “I suck. The only thing I’m good at is sitting on this rock and crying.” “I’m confused. Does he want to die?” “I like this, but as a friend.” “All right, the creepy laughter has to stop before we can have a real conversation.” “You did it. You finally killed someone intentionally. I’m so proud of you.”

1x06: “SWAMP AND CIRCUMSTANCE” 

“It’s drunk and I’m late. We better sneak in quietly.” “Oh floor, you’re always there for me. So supportive. Not like walls and staircases, always getting in my way.” “I’d like to have a role to play in your life. I’m tired of feeling useless.” “You’re a great writer! I read your diary.” “I’ll bring you what you deserve.” “Hey, I’m an enabler. There’s a big difference.” “Just once can we go on a family vacation without having to run away screaming?” “I hope you can sense my sarcasm through your drunken haze.” “See, this is why I always tell you not to try things.”

1x07: “LOVE’S TENDER RAMPAGE” 

“If you could be any mythical creature, what would it be?” “We should go home before we pass out in the street. Again.” “I haven’t lived long enough to give up on my dreams yet.” “I can’t believe he stuck to his story no matter how hard I laughed.” “Why would I do you any favors?” “Don’t try to be my friend.” “What are you coming to me for? We don’t got that kind of relationship.” “Make room on the dance floor, cause I’m full of shrimp and I need to lay down.” “What can I say? I’m attracted to people who are good at their job.” “None of this would’ve happened if you’d just told the truth!” “I lied because I was too insecure to admit I tried to kiss you.”

1x08: “THE LIMITS OF IMMORTALITY” 

"Entertainment is just a tool that pacifies the masses and leads to the decay and ultimate collapse of civilization. Let's clap along!" "I prefer to stay safe the old fashioned way: running like a coward." "I'd rather die than listen to this." "Immortality is a curse. When life is endless, so is everything else." "What part of "no thanks" do you not understand?" "I didn't save you so much as you fell on me." "Unlike other villains, I shan't be telling you my plan. Good day." "I am all about the easy way." "Eh, I've beheld better." "Now the only pain is humiliation." "Forty-five years of necromancing have led me to this moment." "See you in hell, weirdo!" "You know, I'm profoundly lonely, but I think you should leave."

1x09: “TO THINE OWN ELF BE TRUE”

"Where is the monster I married?" "I'm not a god. I'm not even a healthy man." "We lost him, but cured his headache." "How can you keep messing up a recipe with two ingredients?" "Lying to me in any other way but flattery is a mortal crime!" "You know, I just realized something: You're the reason I have a drinking problem." "Nice typical reaction, Mr. Predictable." "I wish you the best of luck embarrassing some other kingdom." "I found him! Wait a minute. It's just three quarters of a dead raccoon." "You do realize you're still hitting me?" "Hey, hey, hey. Slow down, champ. Oh, god I'm turning into my bartender." "You're never gonna be whole until you figure out who you really are, and there's only one way to find the answer." "I can't go home! It'll wreck my image as a total badass." "I smell cocoa, caramel and conformity." "I owe you an apology. Relatively speaking, you're a badass." "It's times like this I wish I had 3,000 fists." "I'll be watching. And judging. And generalizing." "I've been meaning to—but the thing is, I—so you see—well, I'm glad we had this talk. How about you talk now?" "I'm down to my second to last emergency flask, so let's have a toast." "I was waiting to tell you until after I was dead, so I wouldn't have to tell you." "Hey! Nobody calls me [name] except my best friends, and my worst enemies." "Ah, screw team spirit." "It's okay. I always wanted to go out when I was still young and hot." "Oh, man. If this is sadness, I don't like it one bit." "Nothing you can do can fix this!" "I don't even think it's real. It’s just some myth in a book." "You lied to me and betrayed me! Get out!" "Well, hey, good thing is, I swiped the only thing he cares about." "That's gotta make you feel a little better, right?" "Sorry, it's just... you have snot, like, all over your face." "Just close your eyes and don't think too much." 

1x10: “DREAMLAND FALLS”

"I had to choose you." "Thank you for your kind gasps." "They taught me the fine art of stabbing." "It's just too painful seeing the truth all the time." "I blame myself, cause I didn't even notice." "I'm much more embarrassed than I am aroused." "Ha! I foresee trouble in someone's future." "What a horrific day you've had. Let's have too much wine and forget about it all." "I can't believe I'm reduced to talking to you." "It's gonna be another long, lonely night." "How did you get like this?" "Pour a drink, light a cigar, and hand 'em both to me." "This is where I come to clear my head. Or to sleep it off." "It's almost like you were never away." "Can you steer my stumbles in the direction of the bed?" "I have to take action. I hate action!" "My clothes are really heavy. Can we have this conversation sitting down?" "I used to spend many nights up here, watching the stars, the moon, the neighbors." "The truth has been right under your nose the whole time." "You know, we could've just gone to marriage counseling." "I do know how to pick 'em, don't I?" "I should be the one killing everyone. I should be the one creeping everyone out." "It was the only way to get you to stop talking." "I guess the only bright side is, now I got nothing left to lose."

[cosmiclatte28]

Secret Love Song (ten x you)

here we go!

ps. Ten is a WayV and SuperM idol here, while Yuta, Jaehyun, and Johnny are not idols! Thanks

Song : Secret Love Song from little mix and Jason Durelo lol Derulo xD

warning : tiny bit of insecurities, lots of fluff, happy end.

CHITTAPON IS JUST SO SWEET!

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

You make your way slowly back to your small studio apartment. You rush from the nearest bus stop, walk through the cold winter night, reach the front door and then take the lift to your room. Today has been tiring, your neck and lower back are aching from sitting on stools for hours and reaching your clients body as you inject safe permanent inks into their skin. Yes, you are a tattoo artist, working in a superior tattoo parlor, where hygiene levels are guaranteed safe and the drawings are not regrettable. Well, your clients paid a hundreds of dollars to have a 4 inch tattoo! You have to admit, being a tattoo artist in a high-class studio gave a fair amount to pay your rents, eat decent foods, and spend some money for your happiness. You sigh when you remember that the flat fee for this month has been raised, and you know you will need to either find a new living space or work extra hours to pay for the extra cost.

You stretch your neck for a while as your fingers type in a six digit combination to open the door to your heaven: the bed. Once you close the door behind you, you take off your coat, carelessly toss your bag to the sofa, and free yourself from your boots. You make a quick attempt to untangle your scarf and dive belly first to your soft mattress. A sigh of great relieve escapes your mouth and you find your eyelids super heavy. You would totally fall  asleep within five seconds if your bizarre phone did not disturb you.

Your hand blindly searches for the rectangular noisy object and when you find it, the ring has ended. You groan in frustration, but your fatigue drowns you back to slumber. This time there was a short beep five times in a row, and you know that is your boyfriend messaging you. Your mind fights over waking up to call him back, or just drive your tired eyes to sleep and deal with him later when you're fresh. You decided to do the latter, but today must not be your day. Your phone rings again and your finger slides to pick up his call.

"What?!" You snapped.

"Woah, easy... Did I call the wrong number?" the man on the other hand takes his phone away from his ear to check the caller ID. He shakes his head when he ensures this is the right number.

"Sorry... I-"you yawn and he stays silence until you continue, "I just got home, and your calls postpone my -so needed- sleep..."

He smiles to himself when he heard your yawns and slurs.

"Okay, I'll just tell you I'm busy for the next three days. I'll call you back, I need to do my make up now. Bye!"

You did not reply him, your brain didn't actually understand anything he said, you've lost yourself into the dreamland after finishing your sentence. You sleep through your dinner time, only to snore deeper as the night darkens.

__

One man sits stiffly on his chair in the powder room. He is waiting for his stylist to come and do his make up before he steps into the stage filled with a crowd dedicating their life, money, and time to support him and his group. He shakes his shoulder a bit to throw the pressure away, why did he feel like he committed a great sin for calling his girl just to disturb  her from sleeping.

"Who is that Ten hyung?" Yang-yang who happens to catch a few of Ten's surprised action earlier asked.

Ten turns his head to face the youngest boy, he's about to open his mouth before the tallest and loudest man cuts his answer "It's (y/n) of course," Lucas offers his big smile while slapping Ten's shoulder.

"Stop it Lucas, I might poke his eye because of your sudden slap when I am drawing this eyeliner." The stylist who has been working hard to polish this pretty eyes of Ten, scowls at Lucas.

"Sorry, but it's true right?? It's (Y/n)???" Lucas takes a seat on one of the free chairs in the powder room. He's ready to go on stage already.

Ten shakes his head in disbelief and nods, "Yes it's her. Happy?"

Yang-yang smiles and drags his chair closer, "So... what happened? Spill the tea!"

Lucas also has his eyes bigger twice as much in size and his back is straightened, he is ready for the gossip!

Ten smacks his lips when the last stroke of light lipstick was applied; he checks himself on the mirror and nods an approval for the stylist to go. "Thank you!"

Now when nobody else is in the room, Ten finally opens his mouth.

"I called her at the wrong time I think... She snapped at me because she said I disturb her sleep?"

The two younger men pretend to understand though really they don't have a single idea why Ten must look this nervous just because his girlfriend snapped. Hey, every person has a bad day right?

Ten stares into the two soul across him and he face palms himself mentally when he realize there was no way Lucas nor Yang-yang understands his worry.

"Forget it, both of you are not helping." Ten pushes himself from the chair to put on his golden jacket.

"We're putting on mikes and in 7 minutes, you're going Live." The stage director opens the door right in time and a swarm of crew help the members put on their mikes.

Ten glances at his phone for the last time, there his smile rises when one notification pops from none other than you.

From: mon petit cœur

"Burn the stage,love! Bad Alive deserves the spotlight. <3"

Ten knows he doesn't have to reply that message, but the heavy weight in his heart is gone as he takes a deep breath and joins his other brothers to the side of the stage. They chant their group cheers and soon take over the stage.

--

You're awakened by your alarm clock around seven at night. Your head feels dizzy and you know that's probably because you skipped dinner. You force yourself to open your eyes. Your fingers expertly open the messenger application and through your squinting eyes, you type a short message to your boyfriend. Well, you promised him you won't miss their first stage of Bad Alive, and so here you are! seated on your worn-off sofa, an apple on one hand and the small TV provides you music and pictures. You focus yourself on the screen when you can see your boy and his team already shown for the interview at the screen. You fix your position, increase the volume, and you're totally awake when the stage shows your favorite group of all time.

The three minutes performance was over. You get up from your position, walk to throw the apple core away, and you grab your phone back.

To : Ten

"Amazing job you did there, my body's burning,

Guess I can save money from not using any more heaters.

Going home? <3"

You want to meet Ten so bad, it's already one month since you two didn't see each other. He has intensive practices for the comeback. Not that you're not understanding or selfish; You just wish he can make some time to come tonight, because you need someone to listen to you.

Your phone bleeped after an hour. Ten must've finished all of his works and probably already seated in the van, ready to leave the venue.

From: Ten

"Glad the song kept you warm. Sadly I've told you earlier in the call I cannot make it home these three days. Next week I also have another stage performance. I'll let you know when we can meet. How's today?"

Your shoulder slumped, you ghost you finger over the call button. You want to call him right now, but dating an idol is not that simple. If some manager or stylist caught you in the act, they might tell this to the director board and you know how this will end. Yes forced break up!

You left him on read. You glance at the clock on the dining room. It's already nine, you have some place to go. You dress yourself in a warm jacket and you leave the empty room. You hail a cab and direct an address. Your phone vibrated and you picked up a call.

"Hey! Where are you now?" Ten asks

"I'm going out for a while, why?"

"Oh, where are you headed to?"

"Ummm Johnny's, I forgot he invited me over for wine and cheese. Wanna join?"

"Is this Saturday Night already?"

You chuckled, "Yes Mr. busy, this is a Saturday Night."

"I'll see how the meeting with SuperM goes, til then have fun and be safe, Love you!"

"He's a nice brother, don't worry I'll be okay. Wait I have to get off the bus."

Ten waited for you on the other side of the line. He likes to make sure you're okay on the road. He busies himself with a strand of loose thread on his jacket and holds the phone close to his ear. His smile returns when your breathy voice greets him back.

"Woah, sorry there were several people going down too.

I'm only 3 minutes away! Are you in the office yet?"

"I'm entering the lobby, need to rush to the lift and see if everyone's there already."

"Okay, guess I'll end the call here. I can see his house already."

"No, I'll wait until you are in his house. Besides my notification just notifies me Taemin hyung is late."

"Well, I'm here already. Johnny's by my side."

"Alright, trust you. Tell him I miss him! Okay then, enjoy your night.

Call me whenever you need my help. Love you!"

You smile at his small attention, "Thanks Ten, Love you too! Good luck with the meeting."

The phone call ended

You enter the kitchen of the small house your brother and his fiancée bought. Johnny is five years older than you, and that's why he has been able to take care of you ever since the two of you were young. Johnny's wife happened to be staying in her mother's house because she had to look after her younger cousins. Johnny cannot join her because he needs to supervise his office. So here you are, the two of you meet one another for a siblings quality time.

"Tonight's special is Cabernet Franc," Johnny said after examining the bottle and taking the cork off.

I push him my empty glass and he fills in both glasses with the red liquid.

"Cheers," You both chime and clank the glass.

Moving on to sit on the comfortable L-sofa, you make yourself comfortable before finally starting to chat and talk about life. A soft music was played on the background, some classics because both of you felt like it.

"So, how is your day?" asked Johnny.

You gulp down the rest of the wine and roll your eyes, "Bad. Worst!"

Johnny straightens his back, "Ten? Or Work?"

You run your eyes right and left, taking a moment to think which one of them is bothering your mind. You smile when you know the answer, "Both!"

Johnny only raises his brow and you know the queue to spill everything out. Your mind went back to earlier this morning, where you woke up late and missed the bus to your office. You had to take the cab, since Ten was busy with his performance schedule today. You had to spend a good $20 to make it on time. You did arrive on schedule; the shop was opening as per usual. You greeted your co-workers, Yuta and Jaehyun.

The three of you have been working together since this parlor opened, there were no other worker here because we don't need that much! The people who step through the door were usually a regular or have made an appointment. However, today was totally irregular!

You remember the horror of Jaehyun's face when he entered the employee room with terror. Yuta was working on a customer's drawing and you were washing and cleaning the pen.

"We sorta have a problem here, there were three girls wanting to get a tattoo done without any appointments."

Yuta raised his brow, there must be something next that will surprise them both.

"They're minors. I've told them to come back when they're older, but they insisted."

"Let me talk," You place your pen down on a table and take the queue to talk to the girls. Well, Jaehyun is a softie, he cannot be strict especially to high-school girls.

You caught the three girls giggling over a picture on their phone, and you quickly snatched it away from her hand. They gasped and protested on your action, but you were taller than them.

"Sorry, but it was not appropriate for you to secretly take pictures of another person. This, I'm sure you took them secretly earlier. You're violating someone's privacy." You said as you deleted the pictures of a candid Jaehyun.

"If you're here only to take inappropriate pictures of my co-worker, leave immediately and don't ever come back. And you're clearly not 18 yet, the law stated you must be 18 to have a tattoo. Til then, let's wait patiently. Come back only when you are 18 and permitted to have ink on your body. Good bye." You returned the phone and shrugged your shoulder to the exit door.

The three girls have fires in their eyes and they were clearly killing you in their heads, but you're not afraid of babies like them.

"You're mean! Just wait for our revenge!" One of the girl stomped her feet in anger and ordered the other two to follow her and they left the parlor.

You let go a breath you held back earlier, then you decided to take the welcome desk for a while.

Just when you thought nothing else will go wrong, that's where you were fucked. Across you stood your nightmare. The enormous man across you smiled secretly when he found you greeting him.

"Well, welcome back Sir Dimitry, I believe you're here for a touch up?" You ran your eyes through today's schedule. Sadly his name was not there, but he was a regular and he's the Russian gang leader here, who roamed around Incheon at night. You knew better not to mess up with him, but that was not what bothers you.

He Is big and scary, the first time you saw him was when Yuta has to do a big dragon on his well built arm. That day you were occupied with another client, but although you were focused on doing your work, you can't help but feel his gaze on your body. Yuta and Jaehyun were aware of this, and since then they always try their best to take his project and they always lied you're busy or occupied. You're thankful for them. The two men were not so pleased to work on his skin too, for his drawings were always big, disturbing, and scary. However, he was the most generous tipper, and that made them close their mouth and ears (because he used to answer calls and believe me your ears won't stay cold listening to his choices of bad words).

"I haven't made an appointment yet, and I came here for a new drawing. I've had one in my mind and I believe you can finish tracing it in a couple of minute." The big guy leaned forward on the table.

There were two other people coming in and Yuta happened to pass by. You threw him a "help" sign and Yuta bit his lips, "My client is here already... I'm sorry, try Jaehyun."

Yuta took his customer to the studio and Jaehyun appeared beside you.

Jaehyun glanced at the clock, then looked into the Russian man's blue eyes "I'm sorry sir, but today we're a bit tight. You can come back here tomorrow say around one? I'll take your order, do you want a new drawing or retouch?"

The man hit the table, "I believe this lady over here is free right now, I don't see any client waiting for her. That guy is clearly your job Jae, I saw his tattoos those were definitely yours."He smiled winningly.

You cursed in your heart, well today you happened to have no appointments, you're only making templates. You closed your eyes, inhaled, and looked at Jaehyun. You nodded your head to tell him you'll be okay and you'll take him. Jae could lost his eyes from the shock when you sighed and told the big man, "Alright, I am free for two hours. Before that let me remind you I cannot do strong and big inks."

The Russian man smirked like a cat who won a fish, you took him to the processing room and he explained you what he want. You went to your professional mode and focused clearly on making his dream comes true. You were bargaining with him to make the designs smaller and less bold, he finally gave in. You worked your drawing quickly and after he agreed, you prepared your tools.

To make it short, it was the longest two hours in your life. He was clearly stealing views of you concentrating, and he was throwing so many offensive and disturbing flirts. You almost lost your cool when he joked about how hot you would look like on bed. You promised you held yourself from not forcing the word "bastard" to his neck and you clearly knew Yuta and Jaehyun were both busy keeping eyes on you. You're focused on making a word out of Russian alphabet you didn't know.

"I am attached, so please stop. You're going over the line already." You exhaled when he tried to touch your lap. You quickly pushed his hand away and you rushed your work.

"I said stop! You're harassing me!" You tossed the pen to your metal tray, and you pushed your chair back. He was not totally harassing you physically, but he was mentally fucking you. You saw his tent and you decided you'll stop your work. Well you finished it right on time though.

"I can file a report and you can be trialed." You stood up from your stool, but he held you back faster.

"Let go off her," Yuta threw him a deadly gaze and swatted the man's hand.

"You won't, they wouldn't care. Look this tattoo's amazing. I'm leaving you 500! Take the change." He forced the bills in my hand and made his way out.

You stood there surprised and petrified. You're ashamed of yourself, but what would your boss say if he found out a client was not satisfied because the girl artist did not want to work on his body. You'll lose your favorite job, and no you don't want that to happen yet.

Yuta and Jaehyun comforted you and ensured that you were not assaulted physically or even harmed. You shook your head and a tear fell on your cheeks. "I am embarrassed of myself, I feel bad for Ten... and Fuck I blew up my relationship."

Yuta ensured nobody will know, or you hope so. The day continued and after some more picky madams with boring gossips, you went home with....well an extra $300. You actually hated the money, but 300 is a big number, you can either put it on donation or pay your rent. You decided to put it in the cashier box though, let your boss decide. Usually a 100 bucks is already a big tip, this is triple! But thinking back of his actions, you hate everything.

"You sure you're okay?" Johnny reaches for your hand and takes a good look on your body.

You giggle, "It's fine, he almost reached for my lap but I was faster! But his mind, I can't control that..."

Johnny nods, "Just avoid him okay, or tell your boss you cannot take him. Moving on, tell me about Ten!"

"About Ten, I just hope dating an idol can be more public." You swirl your wine that had been refilled.

Your mind one again brought you into a daze, you remembered two years ago when Ten knew you from his tattoo appointment. You were responsible for his temporary tattoo for a comeback. He knew you from Taeyong, fellow SuperM member who made the 'UNDER STAND' tattoo with your help. Ten likes the result and he asked Taeyong where he got it done.

To make it short, you frequently see one another from discussion, drawing, and planning. Ten and you learned about one another quickly while he was on his ink bed, and you're focused on drawing his perfect sketch on his arm. The meeting became frequent after three months where he needed another tattoo for a comeback.

After returning about ten times to have a retouch or a new design, Ten finally earned your number. From there, everything was so fast and you're suddenly on your third year of dating an international famous idol! You thought you were ready for everything, not going public, staying home most of the time for dates, wearing masks and keep being undercover, even having sleepless nights while waiting for his message when he's away on a world tour. You can go on with the list, but you decided to focus on the good things more.

You were okay with Ten being away from his phone most of the time. He always did his best to send you an update about him, be it one emoji, a selfie, or a whole long ass paragraph of how his day went. He couldn't call you that much because someone might eavesdrop.

So far, no one thought Ten is having a secret love relationship. There were small fights, but both of you can talk it out together with cool heads and bonded stronger after the fight. Ten could see you and him being a family in the future, he even boldly told you his parents can't wait to meet you.

You were okay with all of the relationship, you were okay with his fans, you supported him on concerts and voting, you basically love him too with all your heart. Only one thing actually made you sad.

"What is that one thing? Not posting it in social media?" your brother teases you.

You lean on the soft cushions; your finger carelessly fiddles with the tassels hanging around the blanket Johnny had wrapped around you. You toss your look to his curious face.

"I want to walk under the cold winter air beneath the romantic lights, hand in hand, warmth shared from I don't know his heat pack in his pocket maybe... Then imagine the Christmas Carols are softly whispering in the night, mistletoe is everywhere. It doesn't have to wait until Christmas... I just want it whenever we can." You plop a cheese into your mouth. Your eyes were glassy when they look into Johnny's

Johnny pulls you closer and you instinctively lean in and let him caresses your back.

"You're tipsy, can you still walk?"

You shot your eyes open, the hell did your brother just kicked you out? Hey it's night already! Shouldn't he let you sleep in??

"I am not going home! It's dangerous! What kind of brother are you? Telling your little sister to go home at this time." You hit him repeatedly.

Johnny rolls his eyes, you clearly had too much!

"WALK TO THE BED SIS, WALK TO MY ROOM AND SLEEP PROPERLY." Johnny stresses each of the word in case my ears did not caught them.

You look at him blankly and Johnny knew you're gone already. He swiftly picks you up and carries you to the bed. Nicely he tucks you in and he cleans up the mess in the living room.

He notices his phone vibrating; noticing it was Ten, he picks up the call.

"She's sleeping in tonight, you're on the dorm right?" Johnny asks.

Ten answers him his schedule for the week and how he's not going home. He also told Johnny what happened earlier this afternoon. Johnny smirks as he whispers a code to Ten.

__

Two weeks passed by, you already forgot your grudges to Ten. You try to be considerate to his hectic schedules. One cold afternoon, just after you finished working on your last client for today, you take your time cleaning the tools and sterilizing them. While humming to Love Talk, your favorite song, Jaehyun peeks from the curtain door.

"(Y/n), someone's looking for you." Jaehyun drags the curtain open. You pause your activity, for a moment; your eye brows quirked. You focus your mind to see if you missed an appointment, but no you're positive no one called you for a session this afternoon.

"Hmm, we still have time before closing time, so okay I'll take it."

You leave the room to see your client and you're surprised to see your boyfriend sitting on the waiting room.

"Ten!" You squeal out of surprise and joy. You run to hug him, well it has been three weeks since you last saw him in tangible state. Three weeks of video-calls and texts were quite satisfying, nevertheless.

Your boyfriend hugs you back and engulfs your smaller figure. He inhales the sweet scent of your shampoo he missed and how he wished the time can stop here right now.

"You're here for a new tat?" You ask after breaking the hug.

Ten shakes his head, "No, I got dismissed earlier and I want to pick you up!"

You blushed, hey that's so sweet of him. Unlike other boyfriends, having Ten walking in the sidewalk without his manager and body guards is a rare occurrence. Ten was always in the van or swarmed by fans! This afternoon however, here he is standing with a long winter coat, face hidden under a cap and a mask. He did not wear anything eye catching to avoid the media and saesangs. He did it! He made it here in your office without any missing piece or a trending twitter hashtag!

"Well we have another 20 minutes before my shift ends; do you need any help for a tattoo?" You smile at him. Hey planning a tattoo with Ten is always wonderful.

"You know we can always draw them together at home." He smirks and brushes my hair away from my face.

"Okay then, wait for a moment as we're tidying up." A big smile erupts from your lips and your heart is full of flowers!

--

"Good bye Jae, Yuta!" You wave your hand as the two men let you leave first while they close the doors.

Ten is already waiting for you on the front porch with his hidden face. You place your mask over your face too. You stick yourself next to Ten to hug his arm, his heart softens at the sight, how a soft girl like you can work as a tattoo artist with Yuta and Jaehyun (who both have enormous prints on their bodies).

Without any warning, Ten takes one of your hand into his, he holds yours tightly and slips them to his jacket pocket."It's a bit cold right? Now where should we go?"

Your eyes widen, usually he always brings you home directly since he cannot be in public for too long.

"Shall we just go home? I can cook dinner." You sound confused by his offer tonight.

Ten shakes his head, and drags you without any clue where are we headed.

You are so stunned when you find yourself finishing a nice dinner course at a new restaurant. Luckily it was not crowded yet and no one seems to notice Ten, but dinner was not the end of the surprise.

You stand frozen under the dazzling disco ball, beneath your feet are colorful light up tiles, surrounding you are the moving body of half-conscious people, and your ears are slowly aching from the loud music.

"Ten, can we go somewhere quiet, I can't talk." You lean in closer to scream into his ear and your boyfriend pulls you out of the crowded space.He brings you to the bar and helps you sit on one of the stool.

"One bourbon for me, and a vodka for this pretty lady." Ten smiles to the bartender.

After he takes his sit next to you, you raise your brow. He knows that code and he quickly reaches for your hands.

"You don't like dancing in the club? It's a Sunday Night, I thought some drinks won't hurt right?" Ten knows you're not new to these kinds of places.

You let out a free laugh, "I do love dancing in the club, I'm just surprised why you're suddenly doing this. Plus if you told me, I could have prepared for better attire!" You hit him playfully.

Ten takes your hand into his, "Well, you look great already, plus we must not catch attention right." He leans in closer to you.

Your eyes slowly move down over his nose and finally on his lips. Maybe it was the way they glistened under the dim light, or the tenderness you miss, or just simply his lip bites he always did when he's nervous! You feel gravity pulling you closer just to taste a tiny bit of it, but Ten moves back quickly when the bartender returns with two glasses of our drinks.

"Thank you!" Ten hands over the cash and offers you your glass. You found yourself stupid for almost kissing him in public. Rule number one of dating an idol is to never kiss on public.

"Sorry," You look everywhere but his eyes and gulp down your shot.

Ten just nods beside you and there was a bit of a tension between you and him. Maybe you're still embarrassed of your action, but Ten is actually enjoying your braver side.

"Let's hit the floor. I really miss dancing together." Ten easily picks you out of your stool and lands you gently on the floor. One shot of vodka won't make you drunk yet, but you spent your youth dancing on the dance floor, so this is nothing for you.

The DJ was wonderful tonight; his choices of songs are perfect and as the two of you are getting more and more heated up under the throbbing lights. The dance floor was crowded and there was not much space left. You share his body heat, you can feel his breath tickles your neck, and you can once again see his plump cherries. You drive your mind elsewhere, and move your body to the rhythm. You smile at him and he smiles back at you, with one deep glance the two of you inches closer and closer.

Your eyes grew heavy, vision dark, you let your other senses work, and you feel that warm plump lips touching yours. You caught your breath and after some time, he pulls back. The loud sound blasting through the speaker slowly disturbs your hearing again. You open your eyes slowly and stare into his deep eyes. He places his hands over your waist, pulls you into his arms, and the two of you sway to the loud slow music the DJ offers.

You're no longer thinking straight. You bury your face into his chest, you trust yourself into his lead and a single tear fell down.

When you hold me in the street

And you kiss me on the dance floor

I wish that we could be like that

Why can't we be like that, Cause I'm yours.

You know this is everything you need to face when dating an idol, and you cannot hate him for this. It was your decision to say yes to him. Your head spins, your ears deafened, your vision darkens, and you no longer feel your feet.

You lost your conscious; all of a sudden you're already lying down on your bed. Turning your head to the side, you see Ten sleeping by your side hugging you loosely while taking in calm and relaxed breath. You grit your teeth as you try your best to softly turn your body to face him.

In his warm embrace you snake your hand to ghost over his godly face to brush away the golden locks away from his eyes. You stare at his innocent face, you're overwhelmed. It's been a while since the last time you has Ten by your side when you sleep. He was always busy and thousands of miles away from you in a different time zone. You touch his cheeks and wipe a tear running down from your eye.

We keep behind closed doors

Every time I see you, I die a little more

Stolen moments that we steal as the curtain falls

It'll never be enough

Just the sound of his relaxed breathing and the slight touch of his arms over your waist, you finally found the missing warmth and peace you've always craved for bedtime. Having Ten lying next to you tonight sparked a small fire in your chest. You feel safe and you're so emotional. You snuggle closer to him, Ten stirs in his sleep but did not wake up, instead he naturally finds your body and fixes his posture to a comfortable position. You face his chest, right where you can see the tattoo you nicely did on his left chest (where he worked so hard to get his mom's permission) you smile when you remember how happy he was when he sneaked out to meet you to deliver the happy news.

Your heart flutters, he did not need to wake up to fit you into his embrace. Your relationship fits like a puzzle where each pieces were so different that you won't make mistakes. You want to believe that Ten is the one destined for you and so are you to him!

It's obvious you're meant for me

Every piece of you just fits so perfectly on me

Your mind plays thousands of silly scenarios. Most of them were happy, but you cannot lie that the darkest corner in your brain still repeatedly tricks you with nightmares. It was not the first time you have dreams about his fans finding out your relationship, you cannot imagine their faces and you cannot imagine living with the constant fear that one of those fans might kill you out of obsession!

Your insecurities also snatch your confidence away whenever you see Ten standing on a stage with another "oh so perfect" girl idols or models or hell actresses! Not to mention the flirty look those back up dancers always toss to your man. Well, they might be throwing flirts on him because they did not know Ten is attached already; however, even when they know 90% will fight harder and the rest 10% will let go. You're living in fear, in terror that one day when you wake up Ten can no longer be beside you.

You break your own promise about always telling one another your fears and struggles. You hide them behind your cheerful smile, you blame yourself for over thinking, and you make sure Ten will never know that. You are learning every day to put the negative thoughts away and focus on the good ones. Ten needs your support, Ten loves you, and you believe that. You can sleep a bit after convincing your heart that the man hugging you here is an angel made for you!

Every second, every thought, I'm in so deep

But I'll never show it on my face

Your eyes flung open when you feel the sudden drop of temperature. Your hand reaches to your side in panic and you peek to see that it's no longer occupied. You stretch yourself to wake up, Ten might be away already for his schedule. You take your phone to see any message he probably left, but there were none. You glance to the door, it was closed. There are no traces of Ten, not his shirt, not even his phone.

Once the room door was opened, your nose is filled with a fresh smell of bacon and eggs. Your smile returns when you see Ten only in his boxer and apron. You can hear your washing machine working and when you look at the door, you smile when you see a pile of your laundry and his outfits are there.

"Morning princess, I'm sorry I have to run the laundry for my clothes...since someone happened to spill a drink over me yesterday and I'm not going back to the dorm with a smelly outfit." Ten explains while flipping an egg over. He sets the fire to a lower heat and turns his body to see you.

You can only smile like a dumb love-struck girl (which is not wrong). You make your way to jump and hug him. Ten automatically receives you in his arms and you dip your head down to greet your lover with a sweet morning kiss. In between the sweet kiss, you can see Ten smiling like he enjoys these kinds of cheesy morning things.

"You better stop kissing me," Ten speaks up on our short breaks, he kisses you one more time, "Or I will burn the eggs."

You laugh and toss your head back, you take your queue to jump off him and Ten quickly saves his egg from burning. "Just right in time," He smirks when he plates the last egg on the dish.

"Please take your seat miss, breakfast by your hottest man is ready." He sits down across you with one plate of the same menu. From your request, Ten did not take off his apron. No you do not need a distraction this early!

Your mind records every single moment Ten giggles and laughs, his wake up state is already so lovely and you cannot imagine how perfect your mornings will be if the two of you finally tie the knot and live together. You can only keep that in your small heart, a really simple dream you wish you can achieve. Living with Ten for the rest of your life, why? Because you know he is the man made for you. But are you the woman made for him?

You finish your breakfast and as the washing machine finished its job in drying the clothes too, you hear his phone rings. Ten glances at the buzzing noise. You toss him a small smile before leaning in to kiss him and walking away to take the laundries. You pick up his shirt, Ten does his duty to wash the dishes and pan he used.

"Let me iron this quickly," You disappear to at least send him off to work in a nice attire.

Ten places the last dish on the drying rack and he starts to pack all of his stuffs, he brushes his hair and teeth, puts his cap back on and his eyes soften when he sees you coming back with a neat shirt.

He finally takes off his apron and with your help, put on his tidy sweet smelled shirt. Secretly Ten loves your laundry soap and that's one reason why he used your washing machine. He wants to smell like you!

"So, when can I see you again?" You ask as you fix his collar. You're facing him and only inches away from his nose.

Ten smiles and puts his hands over your waist, he leans in to stare deeper into your eyes, "Whenever you want miss! I'm only one call away," he winks.

Both of your face are slowly erasing the gap between you two and just as you close your eyes his phone abruptly kills the mood. You pull your face back and you can see Ten cussing at the caller.

"Damn Lucas! Such a mood breaker! I told him I am coming in 10 minutes," Ten presses the red button and pockets his phone. You burst out laughing, of course it must be Lucas!

"Well, guess you will want to go before Kun calls you! Thanks for yesterday and today and everything!" You hug him and bury your face on his chest. "I wish you can come often and do my dishes!" You taunt your tongue.

Ten ruffles your hair and kisses your forehead for the last time, "Okay, I need to go now. You also need to prepare yourself for work."

You nod and note the time, it's an hour to the store opening hours, you need to get ready.

"Bye love, take care! I love you." Ten walks to the exit after putting on his coat and shoes.

"Love you more!" You stand by his side facing by the exit door.

"Love you most," he winks and finally pulls his cap to cover his face and puts his mask on. He finally turns around and walks to the lift.

You return to your room, taking a bath and getting ready for another long week. You believe if you can get through this, your dream of living with Ten will be clearer and brighter.

Your day goes on and you cannot lie whenever you see him on social media, a website, a magazine, or a music show, even from the talks from your customers, you cannot throw the disturbing insecurities away from your mind.

Is our love hopeless?

Will the world accepts me as his significant other?

Will his family love me?

Will he even stay by my side, or will he found someone new who is better than me?

Those are the things you cannot spill to him that haunt you every time he is away.

You play with the promise ring Ten gave you on your two years anniversary. The dark minds foreshadowing your mind suddenly disappear just as you remember the same words Ten always recites, "You're the puzzle that fits into me, why would I let you go? Trust me and wait for me, I love you more than anything!"

With that, your smile erupts back into your face and the rainbow in your heart plus mind is back. You know you just have to trust Ten the same way he trusts you! Life will bring you two together if it is meant to be, and fate will also play a part.

Because Trust is everything you need for an everlasting love story right?

[fairyshuuu]

Mirage

Royal!Au Genre - Fluff, smut (not explicit smut) Length - 5.6k Pairing - Jongin x reader requested by the amazing, the lovely @ninibears-erigom ♡

Fiery red streaks on his skin, sweat dripping down. You take a deep breath, mouth opening and closing to get in more air as he moves again. It’s tense, these sounds in the silent surrounding. Grunts and huffs ringing loudly. His body twists, while you bite your lip harshly to stay silent.

And then his sword is clashing with a loud ‘clank’ and you stand from your golden decorated chair, holding up your hand and trying to ignore it’s shakiness.

The mumbling crowd quiets down, and two deep dark eyes find your shape from beside you. He clears his throat, frown on his face and lips pursed. “My Queen,” the man next to you starts, and you turn to lock eyes with him now the fight is stopped, “does the duel not brush your enjoyment?”

You smile sweetly, clearing your voice, and bow your head a bit. “Of course it does, my King.” Your mind is running quickly, trying to process yourself what you just did and for what reason. You’ve always been quite good at talking yourself out of situations though. “I merely am afraid that bloodshed, on the day of your coronation, would bring bad luck. Perhaps we can continue the festivities without such a display, my Dearest.” You look back up at his stern gaze, watching as it softens slightly.

The King sighs and then waves his hand, and in an instant the two men in the clearing below you seperate. You look over for a second, glancing at the familiar face that is staring at you and the little smirk that comes to rest on his lips, and then sit back down in your throne, looking away. Public festivities have never been much of your liking, with all the obscene power displays and blight, though the glamour of it does spike a certain pride.

The crowd crashes closed like two warfronts crashing into each other when the King waves another hand, both parties congratulating each other and helping both knights clean up. You don’t dare look over at the halted duel again, and instead focus your attention on the tall figure who stands up beside you.

When your King helps you down the last of stairs with a nod, you instantly feel more comfort. You’re stood in soft green grass now, instead of elevated on the wooden stage behind you. The man in silver comes to join the pair of you instantly, helmet under his arm and sword in hand. His tanned skin is marked with small nicks from the countless fights, and dripping with sweat. He brushes his leather brown hair out of the way. “Your Grace.”

The King smiles now, lips forming a toothy grin, as he slaps the other on the shoulder. “You fought well, Captain.”

“Well,” the silver knights bows, and then glances over at you. “I could have fought even better if I were left to continue. Why the objection,Princess?” He smiles, brushing his wet hair away from his forehead with a teasing crinkle of his nose.

You huff, looking away from his adorable face to watch the Lords and Princesses in the yellow tent in front of you mingle. They swirl carefully together under the pretty structure, drinking and laughing in small groups. “I’m your Queen now, Captain Kim.” You try to hold your smile when he giggles, and turn to him. “And I’d hate to see the King’s loyal protector hurt, for what it’s worth.”

“She has a woman’s heart, Jongin. Cut her some slack.” The King smiles down at you, and takes of his crown to hand it to the squire waiting patiently beside him. He blinks down at you, and takes your hand carefully. “My Queen asks and she shall have her wish granted. Be grateful for your life.” He cocks his head at his friend.

Captain Kim smiles widely at his old friend, and lifts his eyebrow. “Be grateful for yours too, Your Grace. The Queen’s smile is beautiful without doubt, but even She cannot stop a raging army from harming you.”

“That’s why I have you, don’t I?” The King smiles, before walking into the crowded tent, and with a small bow, you follow behind. Jongin’s eyes follow your shape, you can feel it, and the thought of it sends shivers down your spine. While you walk, the King’s squire suddenly pops up next to you, his eyes locking with yours ever so briefly, before walking past you to aid his Lord.

You frown. You hate this game. Being royal, pretending to be grand and untouchable. Never knowing who to trust and who to keep a watch on. The squire though, you’ll have to look into him. There’s a strange feeling attached to the guy, and you’re not one to mistrust your gut. With a small sigh, you come to a halt at the back of the tent, careful not to ruin your pretty dress with streaks of grass.

Many Lords and Heirs and Princesses and Baronesses come to say their congrats, but none of them really call for your interest. It’s only when a very familiar silver Knight comes to stand next to you, that you’re pulled from dreamland to the present, and take another careful sip of your burgundy wine.

Jongin smiles, but keeps his eyes on the people in front of him. “I could have taken on that Lord without doubt, My Lady. Having you deny my hand was quite the interruption.”

“Oh, please. You know it was not you I was worried about.” You tutt your lips, and look over at the tall and handsome man next to you. “The poor South Iles kid hasn’t quite the experience you do. He deserves some mercy against your unmerciful swordsmanship.”

The Captain turns to you, plump lips pulled tight into a smile that makes his eyes disappear, and puts his hand on his heart dramatically. “You wound me, Your Grace. For a moment I thought you were worried for my safety.”

You lick your lips, and smile softly. “Never.”

You two stand in silence a while after that, while he puts his sword safely into the holster around his waist. Your eyes glide over the many faces, so many you recognize, and even more you don’t. Jongin swallows. “Can I expect you in my chamber-”

With wide eyes you turn to him, hand already on his lips. “Not here.” You mouth, before getting back into a respectable position before people can notice. With a shaky breath, you smooth down your dress, and look at the grass under your heels. “You know how to play this game, Captain. The rules shouldn’t be taken lightly.” Your voice is low. “You have to keep to the rules. I’m a Queen now, I have responsibilities to uphold.”

“Of course, My Lady. But if I recall correctly, you had those responsibilities as a Princess and that never seemed to stop you.” There’s a twinkle in his eyes as he speaks, but you can’t share the same amusement. He notices easily of course. “I’ll play by the rules, not to worry. Though it’d be nice to hear you at least say my name for once, Your Grace.”

You sigh, and look away, trying to hide the small blush creeping up when his hand comes to rest on the small of your back. “Captain, I don’t think you fully under-”

“Say my name, Y/N.” He calls, turning you to face him with a swift move. Your eyes go wide at his move, even more at the casual use of your name.

You keep his eyes for a long while, before lifting your eyebrow. “Make sure you don’t underestimate me, Kim Jongin.”

The Captain grins, before letting go of you and nodding coyly. “Never.” He gives you a small bow and then goes to catch up with some other guests, while you scan the room for your husband. His tall statue pokes out above almost everyone here, though he doesn’t have the same muscular build that Jongin has. Park Chanyeol was born into the crown, not fought into it. Either way, you don’t mind.

A soft voice clears next to you, and when you turn slightly you’re met with an equally gentle looking face. Sharp features, like many of the South Iles. The man with hair paled by the sun bows, before straightening up and placing a polite kiss on your knuckles. “Your Grace.” He smiles happily, a childlike joy on his visage even though he seems about your age. “Lord Baekhyun from Veladith, pleased to meet you finally, My Lady. It seems I have to thank you not only for this grand party but even more for still having my arm.”

You smile. “Oh, well, your Father wouldn’t quite be pleased that his son were to lose any of his limbs at the start of a new reign, I imagine. It was only natural to step in.” You glance over at the young man, where he stands quite small in the pretty gold and deep blue armour, colors of his house. Even with your denial, you didn’t step in to protect Lord Baekhyun, but looking at him now you’re even more glad that you did. Jongin would’ve been able to crush the other with his strength and experience.

“Still.” Lord Baekhyun smiles, bowing his head in gratitude. “Father has already sworn his allegiance to the new King, but now you also have our debt.” The young man smiles again, before bowing and backing away. “I’ll leave you to it now, Your Grace. The King seems to be in need of your assistance. Have a pleasant rest of your evening.”

You give your husband a nod, indictating you’re on your way, and quickly bow to Lord Baekhyun. “I intend on it, My Lord.”

***

You suck in a breath, feeling his lips trail down your neck hungrily, like a predator attacking feeble pray. No wonder his house is marked with the Lion’s sigil, you smile, tangling your fingers in his hair while he groans against your skin. Kisses are trailed down more and more, as his hands find your hips and push you more into the wall. “I- missed you -so much.” He brings out, your one hand already opening his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders.

Jongin looks up at you when his lips find the valley between your breasts, kissing more slowly there and pulling the skin between his teeth just a second. You yelp and glare down at him, but can’t stay mad for long when one of his hands slide up the inside of your thigh to wrap around him, his lower half pressing against yours. You’re sure that if this room were to have larger windows, they would have steamed up by now, with all the heat that swims between you two.

“My pretty little Princess.” You moan, tugging his hair and pulling his lips back up to yours, while your leg tightens around his waist.

You frown into the kiss, pulling him back. “I’m your Queen now, Jongin.” You barely finish his name or his lips are back on yours, molding and bending you to his shape. He breathes a laugh into your mouth, before pulling back with a grin.

“You’ve always been that beautiful lonely girl from high up in the palace to me, Princess. A change of title doesn’t make you any different.” His hands move to underneath your butt, and lift you from the floor against him, back to kissing your collarbones and chest. You huff and take off your top, before going for his again and pulling it all the way off too. His beautiful skin is marked with lots of little scars, it feels like every day more and more appear.

Your thin fingertips glide over the ones who stand out the most, one from his collarbone all the way down his chest and disappearing at his ribs, and one starting from the middle of his bicep all the way to his wrist. You breathe deeply, so much so that Jongin pulls back to regard you now you’ve stilled. “I know I don’t say it often, but I do worry about you. The most, above anyone else. And every day more of these lines appear and I- I just want you to stop. If I asked, not as your Queen or your Princess if you don’t feel like listening to them… instead as your lover… would you?”

Jongin swallows, deep eyes like coal finding yours intently. “I- I was born into this life, Your Grace.” The sureness in his voice makes you frown.

“Don’t ‘Your Grace’ me. You put so much importance on a name, then use mine as well.”

Jongin’s lips twitch at the fire of your words, and with a careful movement he brushes a strand of hair away from your face. “My Queen, Princess of Heartstead, … Y/N- My father was right hand and Captain of the Royal Protectors before me, and his father before him. If I were to quit, or run- I would bring unending shame upon my family name.”

“So you’d rather break every bone in your body and die by sword than sleep safely?” Your lip shakes, while your hands wrap around his neck to pull him close. Jongin smiles sweetly, and picks you up again, strong legs carrying you to the bed and putting you down there with featherlight touches. He sinks down before you, and presses kisses from your neck to your heart.

“I’ll sleep safely in your arms until fate calls for my name, my love.”

***

“Today’s a nice day, is it not, Dearest?” The King’s deep voice breaks the silence again, and you twist your neck quickly from the beautiful flowers back to him, with a smile.

“It certainly is, My King. The roses look splendid, this time of year.” You look over them again, deep red against pale green and the tan color of the palace walls in the far distance. “Beautiful.”

Chanyeol smiles, his toothy grin beaming warmth at you in a way that fills you to the edge. He walks over to one of the bushes and with a quick snap pulls one of the roses off, handing it to you. “Almost as beautiful as you.” It’s strange, you think, because you could have been happily married. You could have, in different circumstances.

King Chanyeol is smart and kind, handsome and he has a good heart but rules sternly. You could have had it so easy, if not for the fact that you grew up playing in the same dirt Jongin practiced archery on. The same gardens you chased each other in and stole each other’s first kisses. The same kitchens where you hid from the guards from with giggles when stealing cupcakes. The same lives when you were called for duty as a Royal born, and when he was pushed a sword to his chest, willing you both to grow up much quicker than you wish you would’ve.

Now you have to live with the guilt that comes with having an affair, so painfully in love that it makes you sick to your stomach. Jongin and Chanyeol have been friends a long time as well, and that hurts even more, because Chanyeol is a good person. If only he deserved to be hurt and lied to.

You take the rose with a gentle smile, breathing when you see a small drop of blood drip from the tip of his finger. You reach forward immediately, worry filling you. “You’re bleeding, My King.” Glancing over your shoulder, you catch eyes with one of the guards. “Get a rag.”

Chanyeol laughs softly though, his free hand closing over yours. “I’m not that easily defeated. It’s not even a scratch. You don’t have to worry, My Love.” At the nickname you swallow, looking over Chanyeol’s shoulder to watch Jongin as he looks away awkwardly.

Soon after, the King leads you to the middle of the gardens, followed in tow by the Knights that follow behind and the Squire as well. Many other faces are already present, many of which you recognize as the King’s advisors. Each man stands up at the sight of their King, and gives a deep bow. Most look surprised to see you there, much like yourself.

The King glances back at you though, while he takes a seat. “The Queen can be here if she wishes so.”

One of the councilman stands up though. “My King, I don’t-”

“The prospect of war is a serious topic, don’t you think, Councilman Yoo. Should the Queen not be informed about what is to happen to her people? She’s a bright woman, we might need her insight.” Chanyeol looks around the circle, where all men still at that, and then back. “You too, Captain. Even though I would love to say that I could dictate an entire fleet, I wouldn’t attempt it without your help.”

Jongin bows in response, glancing over at the King as he takes a seat around the table, and then back at you quickly. You sigh and take a seat at the table as well, looking over the big map of land spread out in front of you.

“We’re going to war?” You swallow, looking away from both men to run your finger along the edge of the map.

“Maybe. The North has been acting up.” Chanyeol nods, his raven black hair bouncing with the motion. “Though not if it is avoidable.”

***

“The King has requested you in his chambers, Your Grace.” The maid speaks, her eyes not meeting yours once. You nod and walk past her with a small thank you, before moving from your dressing room into the hall. Your shoes click on the smooth stone, sound fading out when you hold in front of the dark wood of The King’s door.

Carefully, you place your knuckles against the wood, and suck in a breath. You aren’t often requested to visit your husband this late at night. It sends a strange feeling to your stomach. You push open the heavy door slowly, peeking around the corner. Heat from the burning fire in the middle of the room blasts towards you when you step inside.

The King is sunken into his chair, and swirls a deep maroon drink in his glass, eyes heavy and dark. It doesn’t become him, and you find your distrust morphing to worry quite quickly. You lift your dress and rush over to his side, kneeling beside his chair. “My King, are you alright? You look exhausted.”

Chanyeol’s eyelids flutter at the sound of your voice, before his sighs with a laugh. One set in his jaw, not reaching his eyes in the slightest. You swallow. You’ve never seen this look before, but you know one thing, and it’s not good. He takes another swing of his wine, before slamming it down onto the table harder than intended. His eyes find yours then, while he laces his fingers together on top of his belly. With a frown he cocks his head towards the table.

You look over confused. There’s an opened letter on the table, that you take with a confused look. Chanyeol doesn’t speak, patiently waiting as you look at it, though the frown on his face doesn’t change. Soon, your expression morphs into one of fear though.

‘... furthermore, concerning the newly wed of the equally newly crowned King.

Her Grace, The Queen, has been unfaithful and adulterous in her trusted position, as she has been deceivingly meeting another man in her own time, according to many of my private witnesses…’

You drop the letter out of shock, tears welling up when Chanyeol looks up at you. His eyes are filled with hurt and pain, months of lying straight to his face catching up now and your guilt sinks so heavy that you might slip through the stone floors entirely. The King laughs again, though you can almost feel the hurt, the accusation that lies beneath it. “You know… I should have expected it. Should have known and yet- I’ve always been an awful fool when it comes to a woman’s love. Out of everyone though, I would have expected it from you the least, Y/N.”

You pull your bottom lip into your mouth, and blink sadly. “It’s not what it seems like, Your Grace. And for what it’s worth, all the times we spent together I genuinely enjoyed with all my heart-”

“Who is it?” He cuts in, suddenly sounding terribly tired.

Your throat catches when you speak. “Jongin. Ever since we were kids, it’s always been Jongin. I never meant for this to happen, to lie and cheat and hurt people, but my father and mother had different plans for a Princess. Forgive me, My King.”

Chanyeol laughs again, this time not even hiding the bitterness as he looks at the ceiling. “Of course it is. And I guess you expect me to keep him from battle?”

You look up, eyes wide. “My Lord?”

“I said, I guess you expect me to keep him from battle?”

“I have no expectations, Your Grace. Though if not for this situation I would have pleaded for it, yes. I’ll sink on my knees in front of you if that meant keeping him safe.” You swallow heavily, and bow your head as well.

Chanyeol stands from his chair suddenly, as you fall backwards. His eyes glide over your shape and face once, as his own twists in pain for a second, before every emotion is wiped off. “He’ll lead the attack on the Northerners and fight for his King and his Kingdom, bury his sword into every enemy chest until they are all defeated or die for the cause. And after that, if he is still standing, he’ll swear never to touch or kiss you again, or I’ll have his head.”

With that, he walks out of the room and leaves you on the floor in silence, while your tears pull streaks down your flushed cheeks.

***

“I don’t want you to go!” You shout, putting down the necklace you just received as a present on the windowsill next to you. “And I don’t want your goodbye gift either. I want you to run, with me. We can go, take two horses and leave at nightfall, cross the border. No one would find us.” You beg, trying to keep your hands from shaking and tears from falling.

Jongin swallows and runs his hand through his fingers. “And go where exactly, My Queen? That they even know about us at all means that this palace is littered with spys. Of course it is, no one from the Capital is trustworthy. We’d be dead even before the King’s men found us.” He takes your hand into his, and sighs. “Oh, my love, I’m sorry. I should have never come, never let you get married. But now it’s too late, alright? I’ll have to reap what I’ve sown.”

“But I don’t want you to go.”

Jongin presses a kiss on the crown of your head, and nods. “I don’t want to either.”

***

It’s at dinner that you notice something is up. Everyone looks tense, more than normal, and the King’s squire has an almost pale blue hue to him. You glance at the guards situated at the door, back at the councilmen around the table happily eating, and over at the King, who sits, while with a frown, next to you.

The room is completely silent apart from the sounds of people chewing and cutting, but still the room feels strange in a way that you are not used to. Chanyeol’s eyes seem heavy, from the restless nights you know he’s been having, and he raises his hand. “More wine, please.” He mumbles.

The squire rushes forward on his command, and fills the cup again, before stepping back carefully. His young face is smoothed out, but in a split second, you catch the flick of his eye. They flick to one of the councilmen as if in question, and there comes a tiny nod from the other. You’re up and pulling the glass away from the King’s lips as quickly as the coin drops.

The entire room quiets down at the sudden move and loud noise of your chair clattering to the floor, guards on high alert. Chanyeol most of all, looks with wide eyes. You look at the glass in your hand, the deep liquid smelling ever so sweet and mostly alcoholic, and then at the squire, who stands shaking in his boots because of the sudden move. His small voice breaks the silence. “Is the wine not to your choice, Your Grace?”

Ever so slowly, you walk over to the young man, cup held tightly between your fingers. When you come to a halt before him, his pale blue hue has now changed to a slight green. You clench your jaw, and look his square in the eye. “Drink.”

Now Chanyeol stand up from his seat too, while the squire colors even more green against his red outfit. “This is ver- very expensive w-wine, Your Grace. T-To waste it on a squire would be-”

“Your Queen said to drink the wine.” Chanyeol’s deep voice rings from beside you. “You will drink if she commands.”

There’s a tense silence in the room, one where you don’t think he’ll move, and then he brings the cup to his lips. He throws back a bit of it, before handing the wine back to you. Everyone stays quiet for a moment, where the young man smiles defiantly. And then he gasps, his pupils blowing out and within seconds, he’s panting on the stone floor while guards rush forward.

With a both disbelief and confusion filled expression you step back, legs suddenly shaky at the thought of what could’ve happened. It’s only a dozen days after His Grace crowing as King. A dozen days, and there’s already been a murder attempt. You look around the room dazed, trying to spot Jongin. He was right, the Capital is full of snakes. And you’re married to the most important man in all the lands. You’re suddenly overwhelmed more than ever with the idea of what this means, the full weight that you are carrying.

Chanyeol’s hand comes to rest on the small of your back, turning you towards him. “Are you okay?” Before you can even answer, he’s pulled you into an embrace, one that feels more comforting than anything else right now. Into his soft gown you tangle your fingers to keep them from shaking, and take a deep breath.

“Arrest Councilman Myrx, Your Grace.” You whisper, before backing away and looking around the room. Jongin’s eyes are wide when they find yours, his stance totally defensive as he looks over the now lifeless body sprawled on the tiled floor. He rushes to your side, before looking up at his King and bowing deeply.

“Forgive me, My King. I was stationed outside the dining room at request of some of the Councilmen, who had gotten a letter of a threat. I should have been more observant.” He speaks loud and clear, no sound of worry in his voice but you can see clearly in his eyes that it swims everywhere.

Chanyeol nods. “I had- someone to look out for me, Captain.” His dark eyes glide over yours a second, and you swear instead of the anger of yesterday has transformed into gratitude. The King then looks back at his old friend. “Councilman Myrx, you are hereby under arrest for the attempted murder of the King you swore loyalty to.”

***

You pull your hair tight and keep your head low, the cloak covering as much of your body as possible. It’s cold out, almost freezing but there’s a fire burning in your soul more fiery than that which the dragon breathes. You’re getting out of here, and you’re doing it tonight. After the attempted murder of the King, Jongin fell into a deep fear that you might be next. A fear you, for more reason than one, felt yourself as well. He had talked of worry countless times that night, but came to a conclusion that you would run, together, with him.

Treason, of course, but only if you’re caught. And with the help of some gold and silver, the stable master was easy to pursue and not ask questions. You look around the dark stable, feeling the breathing of the black mare beneath your fingertips. It’s as if she too is nervous. Jongin has gone to get the last of your supplies, those still residing in the hallway of the palace and it’s this that brews fear in your heart.

But to your relief, a soft voice cuts through the silence in the dark. “You know,” he starts. You freeze entirely. That’s not Jongin. “I guess it’s only appropriate I find you here, sneaking around at the edge of the palace walls just as I’m taking a stroll.” Chanyeol walks out of the darkness into the tiny illuminated circle that your candle provides.

Your voice disappears entirely as you look at him, his raven hair messed up and his clothes tossed on haphazardly on what must be a late night walk. “Your Grace-”

Chanyeol sighs deeply when that is all you bring out, his eyes on the floor and his foot playing with a little strand of hay. “I might have been born into the throne, but I wasn’t born into this life.” He sighs, putting his big hand on the back of the horse, so he’s standing right in front of you. “I don’t think anyone is. Though, how unfortunate they might be, don’t you think we should carry out our names?”

“It’s not what it looks like, Your Grace. I was-”

“I won’t stop you.” He sighs, looking over you from feet to eyes. “I wanted to, but decided against it. Why do you think the entire Royal guard is keeping watch inside the palace tonight, instead of at the walls?”

You take in a breath, and take his hand. “Thank you, Chanyeol.”

“I got to keep my life because of you, it’s only fair you get a shot at the life you want at the hands of me.” He nods, before bowing slightly. “Farewell, My Queen. Ride far and quick, and no one shall come after you.”

You nod, now hearing footsteps close in and a familiar tone call your name softly. The King disappears into the darkness again, and a true gratefulness fills you when Jongin comes from around the corner. He sighs, before putting the last of the bags on the second horse, and walking over to you. His hands find your shoulders quickly and his lips your forehead.

“My love, my Princess. I was worried that some of the guards might come back outside, but they all seem stationed inside the palace tonight.”

You nod and smile, pulling him close as you bury your face into his chest. “That’s curious.” When you pull back, there’s a glint in your eyes, but Jongin doesn’t ask. “Let’s ride now, my love.”

***

“Do you miss the palace?” The deep voice beside you questions, as he sinks into the soft chair next to yours.

You think about it a little, but the answer is already at the tip of your tongue. “No, surprisingly. It’s calm here, and pretty beyond belief.”

Jongin smiles down at you, and takes your hand in his, glancing at the view you’re lost in. After leaving the palace you rode for a dozen days in total, careful never to reveal your identity to merchants or innkeepers. You might trust The King, but poor people would sell any information for a little money. Eventually though, the warmth of the dell the palace is built in, was changed for a cool breeze.

Now you have a perfect view of the widespread clearing on one side, a salty desert that people say leads to the end of the world, and the beautiful silver of the mountain range on the other. It strangely reminds you of- “Home.” Jongin nods, squeezing your hand softly. “It feels like a home, instead of a palace.”

You smile, and nod. “That’s good than because we’ll be needing one, Captain.” You brush your hands over your soft linen dress, and look back at the small white and wooden cottage. It’s not big, but you already adore it so much more than the wide open rooms of the palace and the multitude of servants.

Jongin gets up from his chair with a wide smile and pulls you up as well, holding you chest to chest. He giggles and kisses your pout, before picking you up entirely and twirling you around. He smiles up at you, and then with the softest expression, kisses your belly gently. “I won’t let anyone hurt my favorite people.” He mumbles, gently putting you down again so you can enjoy the sun.

You bite your lip. “Will you teach your daughter how to swordfight?”

Jongin’s eyes widen slightly, before going back to the same adorable moons. “How do you know it’ll be a girl?”

“A mother’s intuition, maybe? I don’t know.” You smile and sit back down in your cushioned chair, brushing your hand over your still flat belly. Jongin nods.

“I must be the luckiest man in the world. I don’t get one, but two Princesses.” He smiles again, before kissing your knuckles and the pretty diamond that sits there, and then your head. “I love you.”

“We love you too.” You nod. This is going to be the start of something good.

The ending is a bit rushed because I wanted to make this short but I guess I can’t write short one-shots anymore because this is more than 5k again so~ I could have taken the really angsty route but decided against it, yeey me!! Thank you for reading! ♡♡

[chaostheoryy]

The Virus [Han X Reader]

Prompt: @greatdinosaursalad requested a Han X Reader where, despite Han’s bewilderment, the reader provides him some much needed assistance. So, I decided to write a little Solo canon-inspired piece that takes place during his stint as an Imperial infantryman...

Word Count: 3,066

Rating: General

A/N: Yup. I’m back with yet another war story. It’s been a while since my last reader insert but hopefully you all will enjoy this one just as much as I did writing it!

Right from the start you knew he didn’t belong. With those bright eyes still so full of optimism and determination, Han Solo stood out like a sore thumb amongst the infantry. Despite his reputation as a spunky outsider, he kept to himself more often than not, signaling to the rest of the troops that he knew better than to get himself into even more trouble with Imperial leadership. After all, he’d already managed to get himself kicked out of the Flight Academy for insubordination…

You and Solo didn’t speak much during training outside of the occasional “watch your back” or “don’t you blow this for me, kid”. There was a sense of competitiveness between the two of you and, though you never told him, you greatly admired his attitude. It was pretty clear that the kid from Corellia was afraid of his life as a soldier but that didn’t stop him from cracking jokes. It seemed every time you would look over at him there would be one of those crooked grins on his face. How he managed to keep himself from breaking down after all the shit talk and physical exhaustion, you would never fully understand.

It wasn’t long after Solo’s introduction into your battalion that you were shipped off to Mimban. With dozens of infantrymen stacked on top of each other in single file lines within the tiny transport, the jump through hyperspace was miserable. It was hard to tell where one trooper’s limbs ended and the next began. It wasn’t, however, nearly as miserable as the planet itself.

The second you marched out of the transport into the forward camp, your boots sunk several inches deep into thick mud. The air was humid beyond belief and the swampy rainforests emerging from the dense fog on all sides of the camp served as daunting reminders of the camouflaged enemy waiting in the wilderness to strike at any moment.

You and Solo were assigned to the same barracks and, out of habit, took a pair of beds beside one another in the back corner of the hut. As much as everyone in the camp wanted to strip down to their underwear to fight the humidity, the risk of stealthy night attacks from the Mimbanese was too high for comfort. Troopers needed to be ready to go at a moment’s notice which meant crashing in everything but your boots and tactical vests.

Collapsing onto your bed with every intent of knocking right out, you looked over to find Solo sitting on the edge of his bed with his hands clasped between his knees and head dipped low. There was a look of complete dread on his face as he stared down at his toes in silence. No doubt he was thinking about the impending battles that lay ahead.

“Y’know, if you really wanna get out of this thing alive, you’re better off trying to get some sleep.”

Solo looked up at the sound of your voice, surprised anyone was paying any sort of attention to him. He forced a smile. “Yeah, well, I guess I find it a little hard to doze when I’m worried about a detonator blowing this grungy camp sky-high,” he said quietly, “But if Dreamland is calling your name, then by all means. Don’t let me keep you from counting Bantha tonight.”

You propped yourself up on your elbow so you could address him more directly. “Look, if you think you’re the only one without a death wish, check again. Half of the battalion hates the Empire but they feel like they’ve got no other choice than to fight for it. We’ve all got people and places to go home to. None of us wanna call this hellhole our final resting place,” you explained truthfully, “But if we wanna make it off of this forsaken mud ball, we gotta do what we can to survive. And if that means catching forty winks a night just to eat dirt for breakfast, then so be it.”

Solo took a moment before asking, “What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You in this for the Empire’s benefit or your own?”

You nearly scoffed. “I hope every Imperial official rots in hell. The only reason I’m here is so I can help make sure that happens.”

Solo furrowed his brow, clearly confused by your response.

“If a virus wants to take over its host, it’s gotta move cell by cell,” you said, “There’s no such thing as one and done. It takes time and a buttload of patience for that virus to kill.”

Solo blinked. “You’re an infiltrator.”

You nodded. “And I’m not the only one. All across the galaxy there are millions of people like me who wanna see the Empire burn. One day, when more and more people have gathered up the courage and know-how to do something about it, a massive rebellion will form and become the beacon of hope the galaxy has been looking for. One day, the Empire will fall and I’m gonna be one of the ones who buries it.”

You were surprised to see a small smirk tug at Solo’s lips. You side-eyed him.

“What’s that look for?”

“I always knew there was something different about you,” he mused, “You’re way too tough to be a stormtrooper.”

A proud grin found its way to your face in response to his comment. “Imperial standards are far too low for my taste.”

The two of you exchanged looks just before the troop commander called out to the group, ordering everyone to hit the hay for the night. Everyone in the hut prepared to settle in.

“Goodnight, Solo,” you hummed as you laid back down.

He grinned and followed your lead without hesitation. “Don’t let the kleex bite, (Y/L/N).”

With a low hum, the lanterns scattered around the hut faded out.

Things went south almost immediately the following morning. Using guerrilla tactics to flank and ambush the infantry, the Mimbanese quickly had Imperial forces pinned down around northern fields with little hope of pushing outward. It had been clear from the get-go that, even with superior weaponry, the infantry would have a hard time taking down Mimbanese forces. Home field advantage, it seemed, was all they needed to prevent Imperial advancement.

Despite watching each other’s back in every trench and sprint, it was by pure luck that neither you nor Solo had been blown to bits by a detonator. Explosives seemed to go off every five seconds, taking down nearly half a dozen infantrymen around every time. One detonator blew both of you off your feet and, if it weren’t for your determination to keep trudging through the pain, Solo may have surrendered to the embrace of the muddy ground for good.

With the battalion’s commanding officer shot down, rank fell to an older officer with greying hair and a thick drawl. Never before had you seen the man nor did you even know his name yet everyone in your battalion followed him without question. Even Solo seemed keen on sticking close to the newfound commander. You, however, couldn’t quite jump on board. Something was off and it would only be a matter of time before somebody found out why.

A cease-fire was called late that afternoon, allowing you and the rest of the battalion to return to Camp Forward to gather supplies and get some much needed rest. It was clear on the march back to camp that Solo was worn out but he still managed to keep that youthful spirit of his alive, flashing smiles and cracking jokes at other infantry members the entire journey back. You couldn’t help but grin to yourself in response.

Safely back in the barracks, you were in the middle of restocking your ammo pouches and munching on the day’s rations when Solo suddenly stood and dismissed himself from your company.

“Aren’t you gonna finish that?” You asked when you noticed he was leaving half a protein bar behind.

He waved it off. “I’m watching my weight,” he joked, “’Sides, I’ll be right back.”

You watched with a furrowed brow as he hurried off into the camp. What he was up to, you weren’t quite sure. But something told you it wasn’t going to end well for anyone.

No more than two hours after Solo had dipped out, all hell broke loose in the camp. You could hear hurried footfall in the mud and officers barking orders like rabid dogs. You poked your head out of the barracks after gunfire broke out in the distance and were surprised to see dozens of infantrymen scurrying about in confusion.

You grabbed one of the troopers by the arm as he hurried by. “What the hell’s going on?”

“The beast’s escaped!”

Your stomach flipped as you released the trooper from your grasp. Oh, great. Not only was the battalion getting its ass handed to it by the Mimbanese but now the infantry’s most dangerous captive was loose in the camp.

You tightened your grip on your blaster and began weaving your way through the camp toward the pit where the beast had been kept. You had little hope of the infantry regaining control over the creature, especially after the brutal treatment it had received during its transport to Mimban. But, if you were lucky, maybe you could get to it first and prevent the remaining troops from killing the innocent captive.

You rounded a corner only to come crashing hard into another figure. The impact knocked you straight into the mud but your counterpart seemed less than fazed by the collision. Looking up, it immediately became clear as to why. There, standing directly over you was the beast.

Your eyes bulged as the beast let out a guttural roar. You quickly reached for your blaster and pointed it directly at the creature’s furry head. Before you could do anything more than aim the barrel, a familiar voice spoke out from behind the beast.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t shoot!”

You blinked, completely baffled to find Solo stepping out from behind the beast.

“Solo?” You looked him over from head to toe, taking in the sight of his mud-soaked, messy figure. It was then that you noticed he was chained to the beast. “What the hell did you get yourself into?”

“It’s a long story,” he said hurriedly as he pulled you to your feet, “But me and fuzzball here-“

The beast made a quiet growling sound.

“Me and Chewbacca,” Solo corrected, throwing his furry companion a look before readdressing you, “Need to get over to the transport pad ASAP. We’ve got one ticket outta this mud pit and something tells me that it ain’t gonna end well for either of us if we miss our ride.”

You took a second to process everything. So, somehow, Solo had managed to not only understand the creature’s dialect but establish some kind of alliance with it. And now the two oddballs wanted to stow away aboard an Imperial transport to desert the battalion?

You clenched your jaw and nodded with newfound determination. “Then we better get you over to the landing platform.”

Solo seemed completely taken back by your declaration. “Wait a second, I didn’t-“

Solo’s words were cut off by a choked gasp when Chewbacca lurched forward to follow as you began making your way toward the transport area of the camp. Sticking to the outer perimeter, you were hopeful that encounters with infantry members would be kept to an absolute minimum. Last thing you wanted to do was blow your infiltration by killing your troop mates.

You spotted a pair of officers ahead and responded quickly, ducking behind a pile of armor crates. Chewbacca and Solo immediately copied your movements and took their place directly behind you. You peeked around the corner.

“Alright, I’ve got an idea,” you said as you turned toward your companions, “I’m gonna loop around the right side and distract them. Once I have their attention, Solo, you and your pal swoop in and take them from behind. With them out of the way, it’s a straight shot to the transport. You got this?”

“I mean, it sounds simple enough…” 

“Great.”

You made a move to get up and execute the plan but a hand grasped your forearm and pulled you back down. You looked back in confusion only to find Solo was the one holding you back.

“Hold on,” he said under his breath, an expression of bewilderment on his face, “Why are you doing this?”

You shook your head, not entirely understanding the question. “Doing what?”

“Helping me.”

You blinked. How were you supposed to respond to that? Sure, you put up a tough front but it’s not like you were actually coldhearted enough to let an innocent man suffer at the hands of the Empire. Especially not someone as young and hopeful as Solo. If anyone deserved a second chance at life beyond Imperial servitude, it was him.

Before you could even formulate a response, Chewbacca let out a series of soft grumbles that you understood as his natural dialect. Solo, fully understanding the creature’s speech, seemed blown away by his companion’s words. His bright eyes were wide, his expression soft. Hell, if it weren’t for the fact that you were feeling completely left out of the dialogue, you would have spent the moment adoring the look on his face.

“What?” Your eyes flicked between the two. “What did he just say?”

Solo glanced over at you then back to Chewbacca. The creature grumbled again and nodded his head toward you, almost encouraging Solo to answer.

“He said that you care about me,” Solo replied quietly, “That’s why you’re risking your cover for us.”

You felt as if you had been completely exposed. Chewbacca was right. You cared for Solo. Deeply, in fact. But it was something you’d never bothered to address yourself given the circumstances. You were an infiltrator with one unchanging goal. You couldn’t let your feelings toward Solo distract you from that goal. At least that’s how you’d felt upon until your arrival at Mimban...

You squeezed the handle of your blaster a little bit tighter and swallowed. “Yeah, well, don’t get too emotional over it,” you said stoically, “We’ve still got to get you on that transport.”

Before Solo or his furry friend could say anything, you hurried from your hiding spot and headed toward the opposite side of the adjacent hut. You circled around the small structure and poked your head out from behind the corner to insure the officers were still in position. Then, when your target was confirmed, you straightened up and put on a show.

“Sir!”

Both officers looked up to find you rushing toward them with a look of complete panic. They exchanged a quick glance as you approached before the older officer addressed you directly.

“What is it, trooper?”

You came to a halt in front of them, panting as though you’d sprinted for miles to reach them. “The beast, sir,” you gasped, “It’s worse than we thought!”

The officer furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?”

“It’s multiplying!”

“It’s what?” The younger officer cut in.

“The beast has started multiplying, sir! Not just one or two, but there’s at least half a dozen of them running around the camp!”

The two exchanged horrified expressions, not doubt buying into your display.

“What are we supposed to do?” You asked as you noticed Chewbacca’s massive figure approaching from behind them, “The whole battalion is in danger! It could only be a matter of minutes before every last one of us is wiped out!”

“Keep it together, trooper. Panicking is only going to make things more difficult for every-“

The officer’s final word was cut short when a pair of large, furry paws grabbed him by the head and forced him to coming crashing into his partner. Knocked cold by the impact, the two officers collapsed onto the ground with a harmonious thud. You smiled up at Chewbacca.

“Nice handiwork,” you said to your newfound ally.

He growled softly and tilted his head in what appeared to be appreciation. Maybe you were actually getting the hang of communicating with him.

“Alright, let’s get you two on that ship.”

You headed for the transport with Solo and Chewbacca hot on your heels, managing to make it just as the engines were firing up. The three of you shouted up at the ship and, after a moment of unease, a ladder finally lowered down. Whoever was hijacking this thing knew Solo and was inviting him onboard for their escape.

Chewbacca grabbed onto the ladder and started the climb but Solo hesitated at the foot of it.

“Go on,” you encouraged him with a gentle push, “It’s now or never, Solo.”

To your surprise, he grabbed your arm once again, his grip tight. “Come with us.”

You were completely taken back by his plea. He wanted you to join him, to leave the camp behind and follow him through the galaxy. Though he wasn’t explicitly stating it, you knew that his invitation meant he cared about you too. Your heart felt full knowing that fact and, as much as you wanted to abandon that miserable post, you knew you were in too deep to give up now.

“I wish I could,” you said with an apologetic grin, “But I’m a virus. I’ve either gotta see this thing through or die trying. Besides, something tells me you’ll be just fine without me.” You nudged him gently. “You’ve learned from the best.”

Solo forced a smile. “Yeah, I did.”

He turned slowly and started to make the climb up the ladder, only to pause mid-way when you called out for him once again.

“Hey, Solo.”

He looked down at you to find you smirking with pride and determination. “Keep your eye on the horizon and never stop rebelling,” you said, “Something tells me we’ll see each other again.”

A look of adoration found its way to Solo’s face. A brilliant grin tugged at the corners of his mouth. “I’m counting on it.”

Then with a casual salute, he climbed his way onboard the transport, leaving you behind to finish the job you had started. The Empire was going to fall and you were sure as hell going to be one of the ones to bring it to its knees.

[itsthejuggernautbitch]

NSFW PROMPT - COLOSSUS

There is a woeful lack of fun stuff for our beloved Tinman, but fear not, I have a prompt list and I’m itching to get writing.

Prompt: “Come sit on my lap, love.”

You’d had a hard day, to say the least.

This random asshole kid who didn’t know he was a mutant decided to suddenly gain his mutant powers, which of course had to be something stupid like the ability to manipulate water. Not that that’s a stupid power. It’s just that what he did with it was pretty stupid.

He couldn’t have flooded three city blocks with clean sink water, or just flooded the river a little bit. No, he had to flood three city blocks with sewer water. Three city blocks were covered in raw sewage.

A shit lake. A sea of poop.

Needless to say, you had to get one of the other residents of the mansion to hose you down before you made the shameful trek up to your bathroom for a very long, excruciatingly hot shower complete with a metric fuckton of soap. You could console yourself by considering that at least the kid was safe and not incarcerated in some torture house. The mood lessened when you remembered that you just bought those boots that were not very much ruined.

A solid hour of scrubbing and wash-rinse-repeating came and went, and finally, you left the bathroom smelling incrementally better and feeling a little less suicidal.

Your bed, while dressed in the usual utilitarian, boring navy sheets and blankets, looked better than even the sweetest four-post canopy memory-foam bed at that moment. You flopped down on the bed, not even bothering to pull the sheets back. And why bother to get dressed when you could just leave your towel on and stretch out across the bed? Wet hair be damned, the tangles could be combed out in the morning. Your pillows were singing a sweet siren song and your body was answering the call.

You were halfway to dreamland when a knock came at your bedroom door. As gentle as that knock was, there was no mistaking the echoing clang that reverberated after the impact. Which meant that Colossus was on the other side of the door.

As lovely and sweet as it was for Colossus to check on you, sleep would be lovelier and sweeter. But it’s not like you were going to tell him to go away. A hug to end this shit-show of a day would be nice too, and one thing you would never pass up was a Colossus hug.

“Come in!” you called, not moving from the bed. Your door was always open (which was a little awkward sometimes).

Colossus peeked his head in, taking note of your rather pitiful form. “I heard you had a rough day?”

“It was quite shitty, if you will.”

He chuckled and slid the rest of his body past the threshold of your room, closing the door behind him. “Language, my love. But the effect is not lost. Do you want to talk about it?”

You sat up and stretched, your shoulders cracking. “I’d rather just forget about it. That much sewage is… not something I want to think about before bed.”

“Fair enough,” he replied.

You groaned, sniffing yourself. It was like the scent of the sewer was still stuck in your nose. “It’s gonna take days to wash the smell out. Let me get dressed, I guess. I’ll sleep downstairs tonight since I still… smell…”

Colossus sat down next to you; the bed frame screamed in protest, but didn’t give. He pressed his nose against your damp hair, taking in the scent of you. “I smell nothing out of the ordinary, nor would I ever have you sleep downstairs.”

“You can be honest.”

“Am I ever anything but?” Colossus replied, brushing your damp hair away from your face. “Will you allow me to cheer you up a little?”

“I don’t think I’m really in the mood for any ‘cheering up.’”

“That is not what I meant. I could hear your shoulders cracking earlier. I can at least help make you more comfortable.”

You didn’t really even have to think about it. Much like a Colossus hug, a Colossus massage was just something you just didn’t turn down, no matter how tired you were. With any luck, he’d put you to sleep and then come to bed himself.

“That would be excellent,” you said.

“Then come sit in my lap, love.”

You positioned yourself in his lap, your back to his chest. You would be hard-pressed to find a better seat in the house because, while he was large and metallic, his skin was quite soft when he wasn’t tensed or defensive. Which meant those thick thighs and soft lap were all yours.

His hands engulfed your shoulders, pressing and prodding and kneading. He was exceedingly gentle in everything that he did. He had to be - he was seven feet tall and huge.

Colossus pressed a particularly tight knot in your neck, rolling the pads of his thumbs around the knot. His breath against your neck was warm. His voice hummed in your ear as he worked, sending a spark through your spine that was just enough to make your nipples prickle.

This was fantastic. While you hadn’t really been planning on getting frisky that night (daily trauma will ruin your libido), it was hard not to get a bit aroused when you could feel his dick flush against your butt. And his hands. God love him, those hands could tear your apart without even doing anything remotely dirty.

You squirmed in his lap, adjusting yourself, leaning into his hands. “Hey, big guy?”

“Hmm?”

“I think I could use a little ‘cheering up,’ if you don’t mind.”

“As you wish, my love,” Colossus said, scooting further back on the bed. “Lay back against me.”

You did as you were bade, your towel slipping down a little. You didn’t bother to adjust it. It was in the way anyway.

His voice in your ear was soft and deep. “Is there anything in particular that you would like for me to do?”

“Take care of me, please?”

“Just relax, then.”

He went back to kneading your knotted back, his fingers deftly pulling out the tension in every dip of muscle. His lips at your neck mouthed patterns into your skin, prayers against your flesh, his teeth barely scraping the hollow of your throat. That’s what he did best - he specialized in purveying a slow, agonizing build that made your toes curl and your fists grab at his thighs.

Colossus’s fingers dipped below the tie of your towel, loosened it, and let it slip down over your stomach. You hissed as the cold air caressed your front, making your nipples peak. You laid the back of your head against his shoulder and let him work.

One hand slid up your belly while the other slid down, down. He took your breast in his hand, circling your nipple but not touching. His other hand caressed your thigh, devilishly close to your aching clit, but not quite close enough.

You arched into his touch, begging him to please touch you. You felt his grin against your cheek, and as much as he was destroying your self control, you knew that you were testing his as well. You could feel him pressed into your back, hard and aching, but you knew he wouldn’t ask you to reciprocate. That’s not what he was meant to do at that moment - perhaps later.

His fingers traced the line of your clit, feather light, before dipping down to test how wet you were. He was not disappointed; you were practically dripping into his lap, and he’d barely touched you.

“How’s this?” he asked, voice rumbling straight through your spine.

Words were not especially effectual at that moment. “Mhmmm.”

“Relax for me. I’ve got you.”

He slipped a single digit into your cunt, slowly, slowly, enjoying the whine that passed your lips. Yeah, his fingers could definitely get the job done - one was almost enough. And yet, not quite enough.

He pumped his wrist, pulling his finger in and out, in and out, before adding another finger to the first. His slow, languid movements were torture; you dug your fingers into his thigh, making your best effort to tell him to hurry the fuck up without actually using words.

Colossus got the hint.

His fingers curled, thrusting, knuckle-deep in your cunt. You clenched down on him, a hard moan spilling from your lips. He shushed you gently, before curling his fingers again. Really, there was nothing you could do to stop that sound.

“We don’t want to be overheard…”

“Stick your finger in my mouth then, because I definitely can’t not make that sound.”

“Ah, but I need that hand. Let’s see how quiet you can be.”

It’s his own fault if you’re overheard then, you thought, before thoughts seemed a bit too much work for you. The hand that had been pinching your nipple slipped down to work at your clit, circling and rubbing until the burn started building deep in the pit of your stomach.

You had to stuff your fist in your mouth to hold back the moan, but even that couldn’t completely stifle the repetition of his name from spilling past your fist as you came. Somewhere in there was a please don’t stop and a fuck me and don’t you dare say a thing about my language. So, no, not quiet at all.

When you’d finally stopped begging, he slid his fingers out, picked up the edge of your towel, and cleaned you up. Where your back had been arched in a hard bow, you now sagged boneless against his chest. He brushed your hair back away from your face and kissed your forehead.

“Did that help?” he asked, a bit amused. You must have looked quite a mess; he wasn’t nearly as flustered as he usually was.

Polysyllabic words were still too far beyond your reach. “Yep.”

“Shall we go to bed now?”

“Mhm.”

Colossus carefully lifted you up and set you gently back on the bed. He peeled his leather uniform off and tossed it to the side (all cleanliness forgotten in favor of nudity and snuggles). He pulled you into bed with him, tucking your head underneath his chin.

“I’ll return the favor in the morning,” you said, your voice muffled by his massive chest (you kind of liked stuffing your face between his pecs).

“If that’ll cheer you up, my love,” he replied, chuckling at the returned huff.

[personalkdtl]

What You Doing? ~ Chen Scenario

Genre: Neighbors! Au, Romance, Fluff, Pinch of Angst

Summary: You’ve known Chen ever since you were born but you only acknowledged him as your neighbor through the short conversations you two held over the years. You graduated, landed a job and when it was time to get your own apartment you couldn’t believe it….he was your neighbor AGAIN.

Note: Spare my soul since this idea came to my head while listening to Whatcha Doin’ by Yesung & Chungha but I don’t know where this took a turn so ENJOY!

It has been over a year now….

You graduated with a Psychology degree and decided to focus on kids which were your passion; lucky enough you landed a job at a good clinic to afford a simple but elegant apartment of your own but your bigger surprise came when you found out who your neighbor was.

Kim Jongdae or Chen how he liked to be called has been your neighbor since you remember and despite him being the same age at you the two of you just never clicked. You always greeted him and made small talk so the same thing happened when you moved to his building. He helped you carry some stuff over, drank some water and then you two casually met at the elevator for some catch up and went separate ways since you were on the acquaintance side more than anything. 

“¿Rough Night?” Chen asked in the elevator as he saw a yawn escape your lips and you simply nodded at his question

“I stayed up all night to finish a report for a couple scheduled to meet me at 8 am” You explained as he smiled apologetically

“I feel you, I have a large photo shoot for a local company today so I will be having to deal with models and airheaded make-up artists” He joked and a subtle grin appeared on your face

Chen was a well known photographer around these parts, he had a list of usual clients who kept him busy every weekend but when larger companies asked for him he explained that was the most exhausting thing in the world since the amount of pictures he had to review and retouch was crazy.

“Well then, I wish you good luck on your day” You said with a little smile and a friendly way as the elevator’s door opened for you to walk towards the lobby and go directly to work

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You stumbled to your apartment as you searched for your keys in your coat, you agreed to help a colleague with some of her reports by reviewing the background information of some of her patients and circling the important details for her….it wasn’t your job but at least you wanted to help. You were still trying to enter your apartment when you heard a cute little voice just a few steps from you.

“When is Uncle Chen coming to be with me?” The little voice you vaguely recognized said and your curiosity peaked as you turned to look at him and the person who was with him

“He is going to be here soon” His father answered as he looked worriedly at his phone while his feet was tapping the carpet furiously

“Jongdeok?” You asked with a smile on your face and the said man looked up from his phone to return your smile and greet you

Jongdeok was Chen’s older brother and you had to admit that the two of you had a better relationship than the one you hold with his younger brother. He got married 4 years ago and shortly after he got his baby boy Woojin; you occasionally talked to check on each other so seeing him there was a big surprise for you.

“I was just waiting for Chen since he is going to take care of Woojin today” He said and ruffled the boy’s hair as he grinned at you

“He hasn’t come back yet?” You asked balancing your papers but finally decided to place them on the carpet so you could properly talk to Jongdeok

“His work got extended and said he would be here as soon as he could but I really need to go and I can’t leave Woojin here” He said looking troubled as the little boy clinged to his leg without saying much

Your eyes went directly to Woojin, he was a bigger boy now and even though he had many features from his parents the way his lips curved in a little kitten smile was definitely the same one Chen has which awed you in the boy. You crouched down to his eye level and offered your hand for a handshake, he was hesitant at first but after you showed him a small smile he finally gave in and placed his little hand on your palm and gave you one of those playful smiles his uncle showed.

“Why don’t you leave him with me until Chen arrives?” The word escaped your lips and you rose to meet Jongdeok’s eye level

“¿Really, it won’t be too much to ask?” He asked relieved as you nodded and extended your hand to Woojin who held it with no hesitation

“I work with children, so it won’t be a hassle to be with him” You explained and tried your best to convince him

“Okay, I leave him in your capable hands and I will tell Chen that he is with you” Jongdeok agreed as you smiled in delight and high fived Woojin who was now interested in you

Jongdeok helped you carry all the papers into your apartment and handed you a bag that contained some extra clothes, toys and other things for Woojin so he could get comfortable. He thanked you for the 5th time for being such an amazing neighbor even through all this time and promised that he will repay you someway but you rushed him out of your apartment saying playing with Woojin was more than enough and that he shouldn’t be late.

“How old are you?” You asked Woojin as you took off your coat and walked him inside your apartment

“4” He replied as he held his fingers up and you smiled at how cute he was

You glanced up at the clock and saw that it was 5:30 pm now, so maybe playing with him a little before making dinner would be a good idea to get him comfortable in this different environment.

“What do you say if we move the table in my living room and get to play some games while your Uncle Chen arrives?” You asked and saw how a sparkle appeared on Woojin’s eyes as he tugged on your hand eagerly to have some fun

Playing with kids on your work really helped you to communicate with Woojin, you two played to build a castle with some blocks, drew each other with paint and even got involved into dancing to some child songs as Woojin played with a toy microphone you owned. Soon enough you had dinner and he ate everything without a single complaint but as the night progressed it was getting a little late so you gave him a warm bath, read him a story from one of the books he brought along and soon enough he was far away in dreamland.

“God, that was exhausting” You sighed to yourself slumping on the couch and taking a moment to relax

You close your eyes for a moment but it was quickly interrupted by the light ringing of your doorbell so you had to get up and open the door as you glanced at the clock, 9:30 pm.

“Oh God, I am so sorry I took so long” Chen said as you opened the door and let him inside your apartment

“It’s okay, Woojin was a good company for me tonight” You said and served him a cup of water which he gladly accepted

“It looks like a hurricane was in your house” He remarked with a chuckle and you rolled your eyes at his statement

“Well it looks like your nephew is just like you at this age” You remembered and he laughed heartily while throwing his head back

“You always said I was too loud and preferred to play with Jongdeok” Chen stated as he settled the cup down and you took it from him to wash it and place it back on the cupboard

“You are not too loud now, so it is okay” You joked and there was the kitten smile he possessed

“Talking about Woojin, where is he now?” He asked looking around the living room but only found remnants of the mess he created while playing

“He is in my room sleeping, I will go and bring him” You offered and he nodded as you went down the corridor to look for the sleeping boy

You returned with Woojin sleeping without a care in the world and handed Chen the bag with all his things cleaned and organized as you were really careful to place Woojin in his arms so he didn’t wake up. Chen mouthed a thank you and you escorted him outside of your apartment and waved at him.

“Thanks for covering for me even if you had work to do” Chen whispered and went back to his apartment as the smile disappeared from your face

You forgot to do your work, because you spent the night playing with Woojin.

Just great

The next day you met Chen on the elevator again and he offered to carry half of your papers as you arrived to the lobby so you were grateful since you felt a little weak because of how much you played yesterday.

“I cannot say thank you enough for covering for me yesterday” Chen spoke first and you waved your hand in the air dismissively showing him that it was fine

“You know I love kids, and Woojin is a good kid too” You explained and he smiled back at how you treated the whole thing as nothing

“Let me repay you, what do you say if I invite you to an exposition today?” He asked with a little hope in his eyes that you would say yes

“I have to stay and work late today….” You almost whispered but Chen heard you and only answered with a simple nod, but you weren’t lying since you really had to stay late at the clinic and finish the reports you couldn’t yesterday so you felt kind of bad about saying no to him

“But I am free on Friday, if you still want to go” You quickly covered and then he looked back at you with a dashing smile and he nodded

“Perfect, I will pick you up at 6 pm from your work so we can go together….¿sounds good?” He asked and as the elevator’s door opened followed by a “ding” you couldn’t help but agree at what he proposed

“Sounds good” And as those words left your lips a giddy sensation was building up on your stomach

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You tried, you really tried to tell yourself and make reason come to your mind that this wasn’t a date. Chen only invited you as a way to say thank you for taking care of his nephew and nothing else, besides you two have been neighbors since forever so he only sees you that way for sure.

But even though you tried to convince yourself that this was nowhere near a date, you placed some extra effort when Friday arrived. You decided to wear a long sleeved laced blouse, black trousers and a pair of nudes heels by the reason that even if this wasn’t a date you would be looking good at a photography exposition….at least that was what you told yourself to believe.

“Are you going somewhere?” Goeun, one of your colleagues asked as you denied with your head walking out of the elevator

“Just some photography exposition with….” You started to explain it was something casual as you fixed the strap of your purse over your shoulder but you were cut off as soon as you saw someone or more precisely Chen waiting for you outside of the building

He was wearing a navy blazer and trousers with a white button up collared shirt underneath paired with a shinny pair of black shoes as he looked at his clock. You halted on your steps for a little as you took in the way Chen looked and you had to admit he actually looked good but you quickly shoved that thought away since he was just going to take you out on a casual event not a date.

“I have to go” You let Goeun confused as you rushed out of the building and met Chen who was waiting outside and looked up to greet you with a big smile

“Hey, you look good ____________” Said Chen as he opened the door of his car for you to get in

“You look good too” You returned with a soft smile and got inside his car so he could close the door and walked to the other side and go to the driver’s seat

The ride to the exposition was actually good since he placed some music as background and you two casually talked about your day and then Chen explained to you that the photography exposition you were to attend belonged to one of his friends and the them was about natural beauty and how he tried to capture it every little thing from plants, buildings and people so it really sparked your curiosity.

“I thought you weren’t going to come” Said Chen’s friend as he walked over to greet the two of you and then introduced himself as Jinyoung

“Today was the last day so I couldn’t fail you” replied Chen with a laugh as Jinyoung patted him in the back and smile at the two of you

“Well then, I leave the two of you to enjoy what I have captured and it is a pleasure to meet you _____________” And with that Jinyoung left to continue greeting the numerous people who were in the place

Chen guided you through the whole exposition as you two discussed what you thought of each piece but sometimes he would slip some joke like “this is a green plant, do you like it?” making you laugh at his never fading childish behavior but still playing along with him so you actually felt very comfortable along the evening

“This one reminds me of our neighborhood, it gives me a very calm and homely feeling” You pointed out at a picture of a little neighborhood with kids playing outside freely as their smiles were carelessly displayed on it

“You remember when we used to play kickball and everyone gathered at our street?” Asked Chen and you nodded, how could you not remember one of the best memories you had of your childhood

“And you whining every time someone kicked the ball far away” You pointed out laughing and he shook his head as he faked a hurt expression

“That is because I was the one who always had to go and look for it” He reasoned and you remembered the usual “wae” that came from him as he practically dragged his body to go and search for the ball so everyone could continue playing

“I think that was the reason why we played, just to see you running and complaining” You held your hand over your mouth as you giggled and he gasped at your statement with over exaggerated movements

“Now I am hurt _____________, I never thought you were this cruel” He crossed his arms over his chest and you lightly poked his arm to get him relaxing again but it was too funny watching him being like this

“Okay okay I will stop laughing so take off that expression” After taking a deep breath you tried to reason with him but he only shook his head

“You will have to go out and eat something with me to make up for this insult” He said with a very serious expression and raising his eyebrow but it only made you laugh even more to the point your stomach almost hurt

“As you say Chen” You replied with a smile not knowing that he was referring about going out now

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You nervously bit on your bottom lip as you took your seat on a nearby street restaurant; Chen suggested to tone down things a bit and get chicken wings paired with some drinks and drove the two of you to a street restaurant near your apartment building. So here you were chanting once again THIS. IS. NOT. A DATE as the lady bowed after delivering barbecue and spicy chicken wings along with two cans of beer.

“If you don’t like it, we can go somewhere else” Asked Chen looking at you spacing out but you quickly refused and clicked open your own can of beer

“I was just trying to remember when was the last time I ate street food; I haven’t had much time to do it these days” You quickly covered up taking a sip of your beer and that seemed to convince him that you were just fine

“Looks like your reports take more time than I thought” Chen inquired taking a bite of a chicken wing and you nodded

The two of you had shared a little about each other’s work through the year of being neighbors but never really went into details about how each day was or how frustrating it could be when you gave recommendations to the parents but they never followed them.

“Sometimes it’s more the work I have to do with parents trying to follow up my recommendations, I mean, I place them there for a reason right” You said slightly irritated but he only laughed loudly throwing his head slightly backwards at how worked up you quickly got

“You are really passionate about working with kids, doesn’t it tires you out?” He asked placing his can of beer down so he could give you his full attention

“Sometimes it does, but seeing the progress of a kid with TDAH or Autism is so fulfilling it makes me want to keep working harder and do my absolute best since I knew this wasn’t going to be an easy task” You answered truthfully as he listened to every word you said and saw how your lips curved upward when you thought of the good actions you were doing

Suddenly a breeze current flowed through the street and you shivered in your place feeling a little cold. Chen got up and removed his blazer and even though you protested saying that it was okay he quickly dismissed and still placed it on top of your shoulders to keep you warm and you wondered how he could do that so casually.

“What about you, do you feel tired sometimes?” You asked now taking a spicy chicken wing as he ran a hand through his hair carelessly

“When big companies call is a complete chaos, I have to handle a big team and sometimes a really weird and marketed concept but at the end that is what pays me. I prefer working with small clients since they give me creativity freedom and there is where my best work and shots come” Chen explained as you nodded a little familiar with how he felt towards corporative clients

“Which one has been one of your favorites?” Curiosity got the best of you as he got his phone out and showed you one of his favorites work which was at the top of his library

“I remember watching this, the simplicity of the picture made me walk inside this store many times….I didn’t know you shot this” You marveled at the picture of a female model barefaced laying on the grass as a hat was at her side displaying various lotions

“That is what I wanted to capture, natural and a calm environment to match the idea of the products” He explained and you nodded since Chen really had a talent for the industry he worked in.

After some more talking and some beers the two of you walked back home feeling done for the night and truthfully you enjoyed it, it was something casual with no other meaning behind it and it felt nice to get away from work and just let your body take a breather for once.

“Thanks for today, it was really nice to get away from the stress of work” You said handing him back his blazer with a soft smile

“Anytime you want, now go inside and get some rest” He urged you and with a nod you unlocked the door and entered your apartment

“Good night Chen” You glanced back at him one last time with a sincere smile

“Good night ___________________”

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“These are for me?” You asked in disbelief as there was a bouquet of peonies recently delivered to the reception desk and had your name written on it but nothing more

“Are you seeing someone?”

“Do you have a boyfriend?”

Those were the questions your colleagues asked and stared at you completely surprised; it wasn’t that you were ugly but the fact that you actually made some time to meet someone and go out with him were the shocking situation because you never even gave the slightest hint of going out to dates recently.

“No no, I just went to photography exhibition…..” You started but suddenly you were taking the bouquet of flowers to your office to place them in water as you recalled the only possibility that Chen could have sent those flowers to you

“So it was a date….” You asked to yourself and took a sip of the cup with water they always leave for you at morning

“It was really a date” And you repeated again as you looked at the flowers and softly smiled at the way they looked so beautiful and brought some life to your office

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Every week you would receive a new bouquet of flowers from Chen, place them in your office as all of your colleagues will keep asking who is the mysterious man who will keep sending you flowers over and over again but only wrote your name on the card that came with them.

You went with Chen often too, be some elegant photography exposition, a wine and cheese date at his apartment as he showed you one of his recent works and making lame jokes as you almost lost the air from your lungs by how much you laughed, or even going out at night to walk and relax in the quiet atmosphere. And even though the two of you got closer and an outsider could swear you two were a couple the two of you weren’t officially one.

Sometimes your fingers brushed unintentionally and he would always kiss your cheek when the two of you parted ways but Chen respected you a lot so he never pushed himself on you and gave you space. But at this time you could almost sense he was going to pop the question in any moment so you were only waiting for him to be ready.

-You free today like at 7:00 pm? – Chen

You read the text and smiled as you quickly typed a replied during your lunch break and felt like this was the day, Chen was going to ask you to be his official girlfriend today and though it felt dumb to be acting like a teenager at this moment….you couldn’t help it since you liked him a lot so you hoped he felt the same way too.

-I’ll pick you up at your work and don’t ask where we are going since it’s a surprise – Chen

You looked at yourself and then felt a little self conscious since you looked way too formal for your upcoming date so you could use the time you had left of your lunch break to bring some clothes from home, place on some more make-up and look a bit better. When the day was drawing to a close you quickly went to get changed.

You choose a yellow dress with sleeves which had a flowy skirt, natural make-up and white heels to finish everything and walked proudly to the lobby and wait for Chen to pick you up as the excitement build up in your whole body.

But as you glanced back at your wrist clock you were only getting nervous, it was 7:30 by now and Chen hasn’t shown up or even called to say he will be running late but you trusted him, you knew he will show up sooner or later. When 8:00 pm came the guards told you that you should leave since it was getting dark and with some embarrassment you agreed with them and started walking back home since you didn’t felt like taking the bus.

You changed into a comfortable pair of flat shoes and began your way back home holding your heels in the other hand trying to ignore the twisting feeling building up in your heart. You saw a couple walking by and you quickly shook your head, it wasn’t like you to give up this easily and you knew better.

“Maybe he had something urgent to take care of, I will text him that he can pick me up at the apartment” You tried staying positive and hopeful, you had to

But as you kept walking along a busy street filled with restaurants and ready to text Chen something caught your eye. It was him, outside a restaurant and as he opened the door to his car another woman got out of it and were all smiles and laughing with him. You froze on the spot and silently watch him get inside the restaurant as he opened the door to the other woman and that is when all positivity you had went away.

No tears fell on the bright side, your mind was really shaken up with what happened so you wondered on the streets for a while trying to avoid the feeling of being stood up and maybe even lied to that was haunting your mind. You felt humiliated to say the least, getting your hopes up like this was really stupid from you and it really hurt you a lot.

“Welcome” Said the boy at the reception and you looked up from the floor as you entered your apartment building

Just as you looked up by art of magic you saw Chen at the elevator without a care going up and as soon as his eyes met yours, his doubled the size as he took in your bored expression and the humorless chuckle you sent him as the elevators door closed up not letting you hear calling for you.

That night you took the emergency steps to your apartment, toss the dress in a corner of your wardrobe and turned your cell phone off in case Chen would call you. You focused on work and nothing else for the weekend and did your best at distracting yourself from it. You weren’t going to confront him about what you saw in the very least, you will avoid him and act as if nothing happened…easy as that.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Monday came and you managed to arrive over at work without encountering Chen on the way, truthfully speaking you were grateful for it since you could focus on work and only work. Your day went by normally and he didn’t send you any flowers so that means that he probably were going to drop everything and let you move on. Your phone got 10 missed calls from him, messages stating how sorry he was and how we would like to explain but you deleted everything and diverted your attention to other things.

When the day was over you stayed behind since you didn’t wanted to answer to your colleagues why you looked so depressed, so you waited and after 15 minutes you went out of your office. You took a deep breath and started thinking about what to have for dinner since you were on no mood to cook but your train of thoughts was interrupted by the figure that was waiting for you outside.

Taking a deep breath you walked out of the building to meet Chen, he had a bouquet of Tulips in his hands as he looked tired and his eyes seemed desperate as if they were pleading for you to spare him a glance. You stared at each other for a few seconds before you broke off all eye contact and slowly started to walk away but you felt his hand wrap around your wrist, preventing you from walking any further as he finally spoke.

“Please _______________, I just need to explain for 5 minutes” His voice was soft as you bite on your bottom lip

This is what your friends meant when they say that you are too kindhearted sometimes because here you were; walking quietly next to Chen in a park as you waited for him to explain what happened 3 days ago when you waited patiently for him. He still doesn’t knows that you saw him with another woman entering a restaurant so you decided to keep that information to yourself and see if he was going to be completely honest with you.

“I can explain why I didn’t show up that day…” He started and searched for your eyes to give him any sign of confirmation that you were going to listen and care

“Go on” You said softly and nodding for him to continue talking

“An overseas client came that day and I had to be a proper host. I tried to send you a text explaining that I will be late so I wanted to invite you over to my apartment for some wine and pasta. My phone died and when I noticed I was already at the restaurant so I only prayed that you received the text; I know it’s not a great of an explanation but it is the truth” He explained everything in one go that you almost missed how he took a deep breath at the end when he finally let everything out

The two of you walked in silence as you took in all the information that Chen has just told you and since it was all a work related misunderstanding you couldn’t stay mad at him any longer. You let out a long sigh escape from your lips and Chen looked curiously at your face trying to decipher if it was a good or bad thing.

“I believe you Chen and I am sorry it took me some time to actually listen to you” You said with a soft smile trying to ease the atmosphere a little

“You don’t need to apologize; I should have called you in any case” He rubbed the back of his neck with a nervous laugh and you couldn’t help but find it adorable

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

“_____________, you won’t believe this!” One of your colleagues said almost panting as she busted into your office

“Is everything okay?” You ask raising your eyebrow at her wondering what could agitate her so much when it was almost time to leave

“There is this really handsome guy at the reception desk” She half-whispered to you and then peeked out from the door to stare at said stranger

“Oh really, did he said who he was looking for?” You got up taking your papers and purse as you followed your dazed colleague out of your office as you locked it

“He said he is waiting for someone” You nodded at that and simply heard the multiple whispers from other of your colleagues at the reception desk

To your surprise it was Chen who was waiting for you with a bouquet of peonies in his hand and the moment your eyes met….it was impossible for you to hide the big smile that was in your face as he came forward to hug you and place a soft kiss in your lips to show how much he missed you.

“I missed you, pretty” Chen said handing you the bouquet of flowers so he could lace your fingers together

“Everyone this is my boyfriend, Chen” You simply said with a soft giggle and all of their eyes widened at the news you told them

“I knew it was someone that was interested in you the one who sent you flowers every week” The receptionist confessed and you nodded at her feeling happy that even on the stages of simply going on dates Chen was thoughtful with you

“Well, now if you excuse us we have some plans ahead of us” Chen said with a playful grin and dragged you towards the elevator as you raised an eyebrow at his statement

Once the two of you were walking through the lobby and finally towards his car you gently squeezed his hand to gain his attention and he stopped in his tracks earning a soft smile from you.

“What plans are you talking about?” Your curiosity peeked out as your arms circled around Chen’s neck

“A move date, followed by a wine night and who knows….maybe we can have some fun in my apartment” He whispered the last part with a mischievous grin

“Chen!” Your head tilted over as you laughed at him for being playful at this times but it never failed to make you laugh which was his favorite thing to do, make you feel happy and excited being with him

“You love me, don’t deny it” He teased placing a kiss on your cheek as he opened the door of his car for you

“I won’t do it” And with that you kissed his lips earning a big smile from him

Even if you two took your time to acknowledge your feelings for each other it was worth it, because being close to each other now was everything the two of you needed.

I am not the best when it comes to endings but anyways I hope you like this idea I came up with last week. I also know I promised this a long time ago but it is better late than never :) Happy New Year too! ✨

[Masterlist]

[walkerismychoice]

Queen of My Heart Chapter 23, Part 1

The Royal Romance Reality Show AU

Pairing: Drake X MC, Liam X Olivia

Rating: PG/PG-13

Authors Note: I wish I could say I came up with something better and more substantial after a whole week, but this is not my best work. This is mostly a filler chapter, but I felt if I didn’t put this out now, I might never finish this series. It should hopefully get better next chapter. 

Tag List: @choices-fanatic, @simplyaiden-blog, @butindeed, @bobasheebaby, @queencatherynerhys, @theroyalweisme, @boneandfur, @drakelover78 @notoriouscs, @mfackenthal, @blackcatkita, @devineinterventions2, @choiceswreckedme, @drakewalkerfantasy, @andy-loves-corgis, @traeumerinwitzhelden, @confessionsofabrokegirl, @diamond-dreamland, @sir-wigglesworth, @drakesfiance, @viktoriapetit, @umccall71, @jamielea81, @limenagirl, @hamulau, @withice, @speedyoperarascalparty, @tmarie82. @krisnicjack, @enmchoices, @jlouise88

Word Count: 1302

Queen of My Heart Chapter Index

Riley read over the letter again the next morning:

Your relationship with Drake is not as secret as you think. If you quit the show now, you can save your reputation. If you stay, there’s no telling who will get hurt. You have until the next Apple Blossom Ceremony to make your decision. Choose wisely.

It was typed on plain white paper, nothing distinctive about it. She'd hoped the morning would bring her clarity and went over the list of possible culprits again. Hana knew but she had no reason to want Riley gone, and Riley trusted her completely. It was possible the whole production staff knew, but what would they get out of having her leave? She wasn't naive about their reasons for wanting her to stay, nor did she think they wouldn't capitalize on the chance to air her dirty laundry if she left. She really didn't want to believe it could be Olivia. Did Olivia think Riley was lying to her the other day? Olivia had seemed so genuine; it just didn't make sense for her to still think Riley was a threat although the timing was suspect.

The only thing that made sense was that someone else knew, but she couldn't figure out who it could be. Even though Madeleine basically ignored Riley's existence, it was no secret Madeleine wanted to be Queen more than anything. Even if she wanted to get rid of Riley, how would she be able to prove anything about Riley and Drake's relationship unless she had inside help? Riley wasn't counting her out, but she had to put this aside, at least for the day. She had the Regatta to attend and she didn't intend to back out just yet.

Maxwell and Bertrand wanted to ensure Riley had proper attire, so they sent her a nautical themed outfit. She put on the navy blue and white stripped 3/4 sleeve shirt and matching navy shorts. There was a white rope belt that looked exactly like the ropes on the Beaumont's boat, and she couldn't help but flash back to her "lesson" the day before. She was too busy focusing on other things to remember all the knots, but she remembered figure eight was one. She googled it to make sure she tied it correctly, hoping that a certain someone might notice.

Drake arrived to escort Riley to the limos. They were still being cautious around cameras, so Drake hardly glanced her way. Riley wasn't sure if it mattered anymore with the latest development, but it was probably still best to keep things under wraps.

Upon arrival, the women were briefed on the rules of the regatta and then Constantine took to the podium to address the crowd. It started off as a typical welcome address, but then he stated he was making an announcement:

“As of the end of this social season, I’ll be stepping down as your reigning monarch, and in a few week’s time, Prince Liam will be your new king.” 

The reporters started hurling questions at Constantine, but he silenced them, stating he would be releasing a statement at a later date. Meanwhile, Liam was standing next to Riley with a stunned expression on his face.

“Liam, is this the first you are hearing about this?” Riley asked.

“I knew his retirement wasn’t too far in the future, but I had no idea it would be this soon. He didn’t warn me he would be making the announcement...I’m going to become King in a matter of weeks. I’m still in shock. It’s a lot to take in.”

“I can’t even imagine.” Riley gave Liam a hug to comfort him. She felt guilty, but she was even more relieved now to not be marrying Liam. She had never been excited about being the eventual Queen of Cordonia, but it had seemed so far away. The thought of having to do so in a matter of weeks or even months nearly gave her a panic attack.

"I just can't believe he didn't tell me and and that I had to hear it at the same time as everybody else. I’m not sure what his motive was there."

"Are you going to be okay, Liam?"

"As soon as Leo abdicated I knew what my future held. I’m not necessarily ready, but I am prepared, if that makes sense.” Liam replied. “But it looks like everyone is headed to their boats for the Regatta. I’ll see you at the after party. Good luck, Riley.”

“Thanks, Liam.” Riley boarded the boat and Bertrand, Maxwell, and Drake were already aboard. 

“It’s good to see you again, Riley” Betrand extended his hand to her.

“Why so formal Bertrand? How many times do I have to tell you, siblings don’t shake hands, we hug.” Riley squeezed him tight and he gave in and hugged her back.

“Very well. I’ll remember that next time.”

“Take notes from me.” Maxwell wrapped Riley in one of his signature bear hugs. “Drake told me you took some lessons from an instructor yesterday, which is good because we couldn’t afford to hire a crew.”

“Maxwell!” Bertrand scolded.

“What? It is nothing everyone on this boat doesn’t already know.”

“The film crew will be here any minute.” Bertrand reminded Maxwell. “Now Maxwell, Riley, and Drake, why don’t you get the sails ready, and I will oversee everything.”

“Of course you will.” Drake muttered under his breath. “Riley, why don’t you come help me over here.” Riley followed and Drake leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Nice belt, Bennett. I see you learned something from your lesson.”

Despite hoping Drake would notice, Riley knew she was blushing when felt warmth rush to her cheeks. “I definitely learned something...but I had to Google how to tie this knot. I was too distracted staring at the hot instructor.”

“I guess he’ll need to give you further detailed instruction...but not now because we have company.” Drake’s tone went from flirty to more serious. Riley looked and saw the film crew boarding the yacht.

“Got it. We are all business. Let’s win this regatta!”

~~~~~ 

The Beaumonts didn’t win the Regatta, but they placed a respectable second behind Madeline and her crew. Riley was okay with not winning for herself, but the winner got to spend time alone on their boat with Liam. Nobody but Madeleine wanted Madeleine to get time alone with Liam. At least then she could stop complaining that she hadn’t gotten any one on one time with him. 

Everyone else gathered on the beach for the after party. Drake and Riley got in the buffet line together. The upside of public events like this was that Drake had a valid excuse to be at Riley’s side at all times.

“This food seems a little more casual than what I’ve gotten used to here.”

“Are you getting spoiled Bennett?”

“No,” Riley answered. “It’s actually a nice change of pace. Typical barbecue food like I would have at home.”

“That’s what I was thinking when I suggested it to Liam.”

“Did you do that for me, Drake? That’s sweet.”

“Nah, I just wanted something that would actually fill me up,” Drake teased. “Okay, maybe I thought it might remind you of home too. Enjoy your dinner with the ladies. I’ll be at the guards” table.”

Everyone ate and as dinner was finishing Kat approached Riley. “Riley, I need to steal you for a few minutes for an interview.”

Kat led Riley to the private “in the moment” interview area. It was typical to get interviewed during the middle of dates, so Riley didn’t think anything of it until Kat kicked the cameras out.

“What’s going on?” Riley questioned.

“We need to talk...about the letter you got.”

“How did you know about the letter, Kat?

“Because I wrote it.”