#it's basically the same as a thumbs up. your other friends put heart emojis on messages ALL THE TIME to like them

[everysongineverykey]

genuinely nothing more embarrassing than having a crush. just caught myself overthinking whether or not to put a heart emoji on one of his messages

[cinnamonest]

Since people actually liked it here's the continuation of the modern Xiao camgirl!darling post I cut from the original, as promised, most if it's under a cut. Here’s the original post. I didn’t think people would actually like the camgirl concept so I thought I was rambling too much and cut this part out lol but here it is now!

Tws: derogatory language/female slurs, mentions of reader being a cheater, reader is promiscuous, murder, incel-y mentality (our modern boy would be a 4chan user, look me in the eye and tell me I'm wrong) and mentions of upsetting realistic things, this one's darker than the first part. If you're bothered by other modern stuff for being too realistic best avoid this too probably, involuntary pornography ---------- Coming up on one year since you gained your most loyal subscriber, you get a rather... Unsettling request. He has something he would like this month, in fact, he adds a few hundred to the regular amount (he's been saving up just for this) and asks for just the answer to one simple question. What's your name?

Your real name, he clarifies. He doesn't need a last name, nothing like that. It would just... Make him feel closer to you. He avoids using the term "anniversary," even though that's what comes to mind. He also doesn't tell you that he already knows, that this is just a test of your honesty. For someone who's so cautious, you would think you would think to give a fake name whenever you go to coffee shops for them to yell out, or change it on the packages you get. You hesitate. And it would be easy to give him a fake one, yet, you don't really think about it too much, you kinda think about that as an afterthought, what you should have done, but your very real name is typed out and sent before you really process it, and you feel a sort of unease, but it's already sent. No big deal. He can't do much with just your first name, right? If your name is common, you feel pretty safe, but even if it's a rarer one, surely there are other people with it, right? He's happy though. Kinda surprised, really, that you didn't lie to him. Maybe you trust him?

You're not stupid, you know something is wrong, you're becoming paranoid. And you connect the weird feeling to him, bc he goes radio silence for several days leading up to finally taking you. This dude who used to respond to any messages you sent within 10 seconds suddenly... It's like he disappeared? He hasn't responded to anything you send him ever since you said your name. You send him messages saying you haven't heard from him in a while and you're worried... The way you word it makes it sound like you're worried about him, but you both know that's not what you really mean. You're hesitant and suspicious of every guy you meet. You buy pepper spray and start carrying some around, you nearly spray a poor guy who you thought was trailing you, turns out he just lives in your building. He makes note of it. He watched you buy it, and is quick to realize you always hold it in the same hand. That must be your dominant hand, that's an important mental note for the future, since you're more likely to try to attack him with that hand. He'll remember. He has a note in his phone with information like that. Height, weight, birthday, social security number, parents' names, school she graduated from. All in little bullet points. He adds dominant hand to the list. He's not worried at all really. Already watched you struggle to carry packages he could lift with one hand, your strength doesn't cross his mind as a threat. At first he just doesn't know what to say, and that's why he stops responding, he feels too awkward but... He starts to enjoy the weird feeling of power the whole situation is giving him. You're worried, you're constantly paranoid, and it's because of him. Now you finally understand the same feeling you inflict on him, how you consume his thoughts every waking moment of every day. It used to irritate him that you held so much power over him, while he meant nothing to you. Now, the tables have turned. You're forced to have him constantly in your mind, whether you like it or not, just like you are in his. It's giving you what you deserve. It gives him a feeling of significance. He matters, even if it's not in a good way. And he keeps telling himself that once he's all you have, he'll matter even more. He's smart enough to realize that if you're paranoid, you might have mentioned him by username to someone else, so to ensure he knows what to do from this point, he has to sneak into your apartment at night as you sleep. It's so unbearably tempting, you have no idea -- you're right there and so vulnerable. He has to hold himself back because he knows that if he so much as touched you, he couldn't hold back. But it's torture, standing there so close, watching your chest rise and fall as he fiddles with the phone. Even when he unlocks it with your thumb, he tries to hold the phone from an angle to do so, even if the skin of his hand grazes yours, it would be too much. You have a lot of contacts across your messages and a bunch of different apps. You have one guy in your online chat you've exchanged far more messages with than anyone else! Hundreds upon hundreds of messages, and huge paypal cash drops, who the hell is -- oh, wait, that's him. Nevermind. But, to his pleasant surprise, he's the only one of your... customers that you regularly talk to, the rest just have a few paypal notifications or clarifications on your policies, but no actual conversations like you have with him. Of course, that's literally part of your deal, he's literally paying for it, but it makes him happy nonetheless. But as he goes through your personal messages, he finds that you are... in no shortage of options. Like, holy shit. It was kind of expected. You *are* really pretty, that's how you have so many followers after all, but this is a lot. So many contacts named some variation of "DO NOT ANSWER!!!" or "creepy guy that forced me to give him my number at the club", etc etc. Plenty of unsaved numbers texting you to never get a response. You've ghosted enough dudes to make your place haunted. It's... kinda awful, really. It also kinda hurts his heart a bit more than he expected. You have so, so, so many options, even without the cam thing, he's more insignificant than he even realized. ...Well, for now, at least. He'll be significant to you soon enough. And then you seem to have a sort of "boyfriend of the month" deal going on, aside from that. Plenty of male-name contacts whose last exchange is a "don't talk to me again!" message from you, plenty of messages corresponding to the same time as those to your girl friends about how you can't find a good guy and every relationship ends badly. How unfortunate. See, it's because you choose bad guys. You probably go for dicks and not.... well, he can't exactly pull the "nice guys like me" mentality, he doesn't delude himself into thinking he is one. He's lucid enough to realize that most nice guys would not be sneaking into your house and standing over your sleeping body to stalk your phone as they make plans to kidnap you. He knows he would probably fall under the classification of a creepy guy. He's just too far gone to care. Still, he would be so much better to you, he tells himself, not a cheater or a player like you complain about. To say he resents those kinds of guys -- ones that can do the unthinkable and actually talk to girls, let alone successfully, only to be assholes, and yet girls like you still go for them -- is an understatement. You're basically just a slut, you probably ignore all the guys that would be nice to you, just like all those internet forums he reads talk about. Typical.

Well, those forums also make fun of guys like him who pay for girls like you, but he can't blame them. It *is* kinda pathetic. There is one dude you talk to, though, now. Current boyfriend of the month, from the looks of it. You have a little heart emoji next to the name. He knows it's kinda pathetic that something so simple and insignificant sets him off, but it does, makes him pout and grind his teeth and curl his other hand into a fist. It's so unfair. Some dude you barely know gets to fuck you, and you haven't even known him nearly as long as you've known him! He doubts this dude -- hell, any of your boyfriends -- has put in the same amount of money that he has into you. They fuck you practically for free. And that, unfortunately for you, only solidifies his decision. If you're fucking some dude for a month because they buy you dinner every now and then, if we're going by that scale, then you owe him quite a good deal of pussy. Any hesitancy or guilt he had about the whole thing is gone. And he's a little mad. Keeps grumbling to himself that you're just a loose whore, fucking so many people and putting yourself out there on the internet. He wonders if they even know about what you do. Probably not, you probably don't tell them. Yeah, that sounds like what you'd do. Really, you're kinda lucky that someone like him is so willing to commit to you, since you are a slut. You don't deserve it, but he loves you anyway. And you'll probably have the nerve to be ungrateful for it too. Sigh. On the bright side, by some miracle, it would appear that you have not told any real-life people about him, you haven't sent out any hey if I disappear you should probably look into this creep type of messages. But he can't afford to have you doing so in between now and when you move in with him, so, he decides he has to act within the next 24 hours. While he's here, though, he decides to do a quick sweep of your place. Makes note of what snacks and drinks you like, what brand of toothpaste and shampoo and the like you use, so he can buy some for you. Maybe you'll adjust better if you have some of your favorite things. And then, after days of silence, he sends you a message, says it's fine, his internet went out for a few days. He means it to reassure you, but somehow it makes you feel more uneasy. He has everything planned out, or so he thinks. But you deviate from your usual schedule. When you leave work or class, you don't go home, you go somewhere else, first. How strange. Maybe picking up groceries? He follows from a distance. No, looks like you're going out to eat...? Maybe you're meeting friends or family or -- no that's a guy. Fuck. You must have planned this just earlier today, since there were no messages on your phone. It makes a bitter feeling rise in his gut. He hates that he can't get close enough to listen to your conversation. Well, he hates the whole thing, sits there and seethes the whole time. Watches you through the windows in the parking lot, thankfully you chose to sit outside. Feels his eye twitch and his hand clench every time you smile and laugh. It takes way too long. The fact that you split the bill feels like a punch to the stomach too. Shouldn't you be used to taking guys' money? Oh, and what's this...? This guy isn't the picture on boyfriend-of-the-month's contact. Well, well, well. You really are a whore. See, it's a very good thing he's taking you off the market. You're probably a reckless heartbreaker too. He's doing all the other men of the world a favor by taking on such a burden as you. And it makes him feel far more justified in keeping you locked away, since he has every reason to believe, now, that you'd run off and fuck someone else if given the chance. Halfway through, the guy briefly gets up and runs to the bathroom or something. While he's gone, he sees your face fall a bit. And then he sees you look around. You turn your head from one side to the other. Your eyes scan the area. You shuffle uncomfortably and you bite your lip and your eyebrows furrow. You're scared. You feel like -- no, you know you're being watched and it scares you. That makes him a little happy, for some reason. He wouldn't be sure what to do if you went home with the guy, but thankfully you don't. No big deal, this was just a bump in the road, he still beats you back to your building and he still goes through with the original plan. Even better, now that it's even darker outside. If anything, now he's got extra aggression and testosterone in his blood, running over the events in his head and going through some... very forceful and violent fantasies. The message he sent had you uneasy, and it's also how you immediately know what's going on when it does finally happen. You keep telling yourself you're being unnecessarily paranoid, that it's nothing, maybe that guy actually got his life together or got a girlfriend or something. Things like... What you fear, don't happen in real life, that's stuff that only happens in movies and stuff. You keep calling it that or it in your head. That won't happen to you. It's not going to happen. The series of events that play out in your head, scenarios you try to push out of your mind. Sure, in the movies it always takes place in the stairwell, but that's fiction, so you go up the apartment stairwell as always. You're not gonna let a bunch of B-grade old films scare you. And it's always some dude standing and waiting, but that nice young boy that you've never seen before is just leaning against the wall, scrolling on his phone, he only glances up for a second as you pass by, he's not a threat, you're being paranoid. You flash a smile and a little wave as you walk by, he doesn't return either, just looks back down at his phone. See? This guy doesn't even care, you're being paranoid for nothing, you tell yourself. But as you make the turn to go up the next set of stairs you hear the click of a phone being put on the lockscreen, a few metallic footsteps ringing out in the open hall and echoing, coming up right behind you, but for that split second you expect a tap on the shoulder, maybe he has a question, it's not like movies, it's not like movies, you're not gonna get a cloth shoved over your face and--- Well, it's not exactly like the movies. You were prepared, but it all happens in one motion - one hand grabs the hand with the spray and twists it, making you drop it, the other wraps some material over your mouth. You were prepared enough that you don't gasp in surprise, you hold your breath and thrash, but it doesn't make any difference, you wiggle and writhe for a few moments but can't even begin to break free, eventually succumb to the lack of oxygen and take a deep breath. It takes a few seconds to settle in, it's not so immediate. You instinctively panic and thrash again, but he has a complete iron grip. The dizziness takes a second to set in. He huffs a bit in frustration and says stop moving, it's fine. It's definitely not, but it occurs to you that that's not something a kidnapper looking for any potential vulnerable girl says. It's a poor attempt at comfort. It's someone specifically looking for you. And if that wasn't enough, he says your name. Your very real name. Maybe it was a mistake to tell him after all. But the worst part of it all is that there's not a single doubt in your mind, even in your panic you have the realization, it's definitely him and this is literally exactly what you were afraid of. And it's the last thing that goes through your head. And once he's got you out cold he just takes a sigh of relief. He may have been very neutral faced to you, but in reality he was incredibly nervous. He hasn't exactly made or used chloroform before, our boy is operating on YouTube tutorials here. He's got adrenaline pumping through his veins and carries you with his arms trembling. He's on autopilot carrying you out, but his mind is also consumed by holy fuck I'm touching her she smells so nice she's so warm her face is so close I'm actually touching her-- you get the idea. He feels bad about taping your hands and feet together and putting you in the trunk of his car, kinda. It feels too much like what a really bad person would do to a girl they didn't care about, like he's a trafficker or a murderer or a criminal or something, but that's not true at all. Sure, he's still mad at you for being a whore and all that, but it feels improper, he just has no choice. It's late at night, but he can't risk getting pulled or being at a stoplight and someone seeing an unconscious girl in his backseat, so, trunk it is. But once he's home, to his tiny little downtown apartment (he'll probably be able to move into a better place soon, since he's not paying you tons of money anymore), he takes a quick check to make sure the coast is clear, and drags you out, up the stairs, all the way into his apartment, sets you down on the bed, where you'll be staying. He even washed the sheets and cleaned the place up a bit for your arrival. You probably would not like to see what this place looked like before the five trash bags worth of cleaning was done. He'll probably be more motivated in the future, though, since now he won't be so depressed all the time. And then the adrenaline of the fear of being seen is over, and that's when it sets in that this is real. It's very, very hard to hold back. You're real, in the flesh, he can reach out and touch you with his hands! It feels like a dream. And he realizes he can take this opportunity to do things he would be far, far too embarrassed to do when you're awake. He takes a few minutes to do just that, cautiously reaches out to poke your face, and then run a hand down your neck, your skin is so soft! Your hair smells so nice, he lays down beside you and runs his fingers over it. Puts hands on your body and just lays there in awe of the fact that you're real. He's pretty certain he's never actually touched a human female before now. Everything about you feels soft. Weirdly feminine, which is something very foreign and confusing to him. And he kinda uh... Loses it. Goes buckwild with just taking in every aspect of you. Again, since you're unconscious he can be gross and entirely shameless about it. Peels your clothes off and runs his hands and mouth over every inch of flesh, takes the tape off your lips and presses his tongue into your limp mouth until he's forced to let go to breathe, fingers you and tonguefucks you and sucks on your nipples and your neck. Lays pressed against you and just breathes in your scent. It takes every ounce of self control he has not to fuck you already. But he does jerk off a few times. That way he'll last longer, so it's a win-win. And then... you twitch. Tape goes back over your mouth. And then, you twitch again. And this time, you make a little "mm!" under the tape, you start trembling and he sees you try to pull your hands apart. You whimper. It sounds scared and distressed. He feels kinda bad, but it also makes him hard, and that outweighs any guilt by far. Besides, it's what you deserve after what you did earlier. You tortured him mentally, it's only fair. On the good side of things, you suppose, you don't have to worry about the usual fears one would have over such a situation - you're fairly certain he's not going to kill you, nor sell you. In fact, the bed you wake up on is pretty soft. You're naked and the tape is uncomfortable, but... At least he was considerate enough to give you a blanket. He does care about you, after all. First thing he says is asking if you're awake. Can you hear me? You hesitate a moment, and then you nod. He's a bit new to this whole abduction thing. He wants to make sure he didn't pull a muscle or something with the tape. So... Do you hurt anywhere? Does your head hurt? Oh, right, the tape. He's not stupid either. You have to promise you're not going to scream. In fact, he's angry enough about earlier that he gets a bit meaner than he originally told himself he'd be. If you scream, I'll make you regret it. Understand? You nod, so he takes it off, holding it close in preparation in case you were lying, but you don't actually answer him, you're silent again for a minute, then just ask a question of your own. You're that guy, right? He's silent for a few seconds, there's no need for any clarification. Finally just says yeah. You just breathe again. Silently. Finally you summon the courage to ask him what he wants with you. And why are you doing this to me? And his answer is fairly simple. What do you think? You don't say anything for a minute, and neither does he. He's not good with words, and you don't really have ones for this situation. It occurs to you that offering to pay him to let you go is probably not the solution. After all, this is the guy that's dumped unimaginable amounts of money onto you, you couldn't even come close to paying him back. You figure maybe, after he gets what he wants... well, you get the courage to ask.  Is there anything... that I can do o-or... anything that will make you... are you gonna let me go, after you....? And the answer is, again, simple, but the one you did not want to hear. No. He's a blunt boy, so he doesn't beat around the bush, but he doesn't torment you by keeping anything from you. In fact, he's already rehearsed this speech a few hundred times in his head. He just wanted to make sure he's very clear so there's no misunderstanding, and while he likes some discomfort in a vengeful sort of way, he doesn't want you to be too freaked out to where you have a panic attack. He says he's just going to... keep you here. He has the things you'll need. He got your purse with your keys, so he'll even run to your apartment after this to go get some of your stuff. You don't need to tell him which number, he adds, he already knows which apartment you're in. He needs you here, he says. And he makes sure to add that it's your fault. If you were never out there selling yourself in the first place, this never would have happened. If you're good, he can make things a bit better for you. But you need to go ahead and accept that you're going to be staying and that no amount of begging or offers is going to convince him to let you go. He can be nice to you, he promises. A better boyfriend than the others. You just have to be a good girlfriend -- you know, obedient and sweet and do what he says. Just like you always were when you talked to him. Just keep being sweet like that and doing the things he tells you to do. You would argue that the terms boyfriend and girlfriend are not appropriate descriptors of the sort of relationship he's creating, but you keep that thought to yourself. Instead, you ask, How long are you going to keep me here? Which is a dumb question, since he's pretty sure he already made that clear. Forever. -----

There's a double homicide in the area. Takes place on the same night, and the same diameter of knife is used, so police believe maybe the two incidents are connected. Especially because they do have something in common, one girl. She was romantically involved with both of them. The girl in question's apartment has been vacated, very suddenly, and the girl has disappeared without a trace, taking things with her from the looks of it, so police believe she may be responsible, but other than that, they have no leads. A few weeks later, a video circulates all over the internet. Some famous camgirl finally started making porn, apparently. Just one video, but the description (which was totally written by her, it has to be since it's written in first person right?) says something about how she decided to quit camming, so this video marks the end of her career. She got into a relationship, so she says in the description, so she has to quit. It's roleplay porn, apparently, she's doing a good job at the acting. All tied up and gagged and getting fucked by some big-dicked guy holding the camera. He's silent, but she's making a ton of noise, cums several times. Really good acting, the fear and desperation in her eyes looks so real. Talk about going out with a bang. It gets a lot of likes. Tons of comments about how sad people are she's quitting. And of course, a lot of comments say, what a lucky guy.

[maseshine]

Oii! Você poderia fazer a fic da música "You Belong With Me" com o Ben? :)

Right for you, Ben Chilwell

Prompt: You being his best friend and at karaoke singing "You Belong With Me" to him indirectly.

Warning: Disappointment, Sadness

Words: 1811

Notes: I was really excited to write this one. It's one of my favorite prompts and I already had it written, I don't know if that's how you imagined it, but I hope you like it a lot because I loved it so much🤍

Author's Note: I know a lot of people write with the use of quotes, but I'm used to using the dash, so I hope it's not a problem.

Being in love with your best friend is one of life's biggest clichés.  And sometimes it really hurt to see him and his "perfect girlfriend".

You sure as hell wouldn't have gone to karaoke if you knew she'd be there too.  Ben was perceptive in hiding it from you.  Really insightful.

You tried to keep your attention on Mason's out-of-tune presentation, but his eyes always seemed to betray you when they landed on the couple sitting across from you.

━ If you keep looking at them like that they'll think you're a maniac.  ━ Christian said giving his shoulder a little push.

━ I don't know what you're talking about.  ━ You changed the conversation.

━ And Mason can sing well.  ━ The brunette joked.  ━ We already know of his crush on Chilly, only he doesn't seem to notice it.

━ Or he knows and just doesn't talk about it because he doesn't feel the same way about me. ━  His voice came out dismayed, and Christian looked at her sympathetically.

━ If he doesn't notice, maybe he's not right for you, Y/N.

You didn't say anything else, Christian's words running through your head.  Maybe he was right.  She and Ben had been best friends for years, but maybe they couldn't be more than that.

━ Our next singer is Y/N  Y/L/N.  ━ You looked at the stage with surprise, you didn't put her name in the performance list.

His eyes fell on Mason who smiled innocently.  Motherfucker.  The boys made noise encouraging you to go on stage.  You took a deep breath before getting up from the table.

Your hands shook a little as you took the presenter's microphone.  His eyes scanned the available songs, stopping at one that fit his situation perfectly.  His ears picked up the beginning of the melody.

You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset

She's going off about something that you said

'Cause she doesn't get your mood like I do

━ Babe... baby!  Come on, please calm down and listen to me!  ━ You heard Ben plead in the next room, your phone pressed firmly to his ear as he tried to reason with his current girlfriend.  All you knew was that he had shown his sincere side - apparently, not everyone knew he didn't have a filter.

But you knew the athlete more than anyone else, and he might need to stop and pull himself together occasionally, but it all came from his heart.

You were brought back to reality when you heard Ben grunt, dropping the phone against the table and running a hand through his hair.  You looked at him with sad eyes, reaching out and placing your hand over his so gently.

━ Want to talk about it, Chill?  ━ You asked him, watching as the corner of his lips twitched into a small smile with the nickname you gave him.

━ I don't believe you can save me from this situation, Y/N.  ━ Ben manages to say, clearing his throat to help transition into a new conversation.

You didn't want to push it any further - knowing that if Ben was comfortable enough, he would talk to you.  Hell, he told you everything.  Maybe it was because the two of you grew up together, so he had to hit puberty much faster.

Ben got undeniably hot fast, all the girls at his old high school noticed that.  You were about to ask him if he'd like to watch a movie, but his ringing phone interrupted, making you keep your mouth shut for now.

Ben suddenly straightened before grabbing the screen, a hopeful look flashing in his eyes as his girlfriend's name was projected in capital letters and a series of heart emojis.  You rolled your eyes with a small smile and gestured for him to take the call, swallowing your pride seconds after he left the room.  You left the house not long afterward, knowing you probably won't see your childhood friend for at least another week.

Walk in the streets with you and your worn-out jeans

I can't help thinking this is how it ought to be

Laughing on a park bench thinking to myself

Hey, isn't this easy?

You kicked a few pebbles off the path as you walked, with Ben by your side.  It felt strange for the two of you to be together – but a strangely comfortable stranger, as if life was supposed to be like that.

He was trying to chat a little about the weather, which quickly turned into a funny story of how he fell face first in the rain during last Friday's football game.

Her eyes were mesmerized by him as he threw his head back in laughter, his hands maneuvering in strange ways as he portrayed how the event actually happened.  You returned his laugh as you placed your hand on his bicep to steady yourself, little snorts following after.

━ I can't believe you still do that. ━  Ben said, his hand briefly resting on top of hers to hold her against him.  You raised your eyebrows in sync with the corners of your mouth, your laugh dwindling to a small laugh.

━ Do what?  You'll have to elaborate, Chilly.  ━ With his free hand, Ben lightly tapped the tip of his nose while smiling at his nonchalance.

━ That cute snort you make when you laugh too much.  I hadn't heard this since we saw Madders get stuck in the invisible wall of tape.

The memory provoked her to put her hand to her forehead as she chuckled her iconic laugh once more, remembering poor James' shocked expression as he recovered from the seemingly transparent 'door' and the few seconds that followed where he was frozen trying to understand what had just happened.

━ This is definitely the sound of joy.  ━ Ben said as he looked at you, just for you to poke him playfully.

Oh, I remember you driving to my house

In the middle of the night

I'm the one who makes you laugh

When you know you're about to cry

The end of the week approached faster than expected, especially since you spent most of your time pretending you didn't get Ben's text messages.

You needed time to pull yourself together and organize your priorities, and having him suddenly want you back in his life was an unexpected twist.  You've always had a stupid crush on Ben, but unlike the vast majority of girls who did, yours started when you were both young ━ when you had just gotten rid of the braces, and he had already started playing for a football team for the first time.

It was Friday night, and you had just curled up under the sheets, trying to get comfortable as an oncoming storm began to form outside.  Your phone was constantly indicating that you had a new message, but it was just Ben asking if you were going to the football game tonight.  Like the other messages, you ignored it and continued your favorite show on Netflix.

It was midnight when your phone woke you, realizing that you must have accidentally fallen asleep.  You could barely hear the phone ring due to the weight of the rain outside, but you answered anyway, surprised to hear a familiar, desperate voice on the other end of the line.

━ Y/N… I'm down here… me, something happened.  I didn't know where to go... I just drove, and I ended up here... something in me, I needed to see you.  Let me in, please.

He looked distressed, perhaps because he was crying.  You went down to the front door and opened it carefully, suddenly coming face to face with a saturated Ben Chilwell.  You reached out and dragged him inside, your eyes scanning his wet, shivering body.

━ Ben... you're freezing, you're going to get sick.  ━ You exclaimed as softly as you could,  not letting go of his hand, as you led him to your room.

You gestured for him to stay put before grabbing a clean towel from the bathroom, running back and closing the door before wrapping it around your shoulders.  You sat on the edge of the bed as he stood in front of you, seeming to have something to say, but couldn't think of how to start the conversation.

━ Why are you here?  ━ You finally said after a long period of silence, Ben's eyes strayed to the ground.  He cleared his throat a few times before realizing he was just whispering.

━ I saw Charlie with one of the Aston Villa players.  She was on top of him.  I... I asked her what the hell was going on, she basically said I wasn't good enough. Do you believe that? ━ He said exasperated, his hands pulling at her wet hair as it stuck to her forehead.

You closed your eyes for a moment as you took in this information, able to feel Ben's pain from where she sat.  But it wasn't a new pain, it was like it was the kind that was finally released after being repressed for too long.  As if it knew it was coming and would hold out until the dreaded day.

You pursed your lips and rose from the bed, standing right in front of him before taking his wrists and pulling them down between the two of you, your thumbs gently stroking the skin of his knuckles.

━ But why are you here?  At home?  You could have gone to Mase or called Madders.  ━ You muttered, hoping his tone of voice would calm you down.

Those eyes you fell in love with as a teenager were looking at you, taking in your details, your passion, your heart.  They were kind, just like you always knew he was.

━ Something attracted me to you, as if I was destined to be here. Do you know?  ━ He spoke so low you could barely hear him, but you could hear him clearly.

Were you obsessing over him by running out of words, confused as to what he was trying to say – was it a confession of love or some pity plea because you were the only one who cared?  You nodded your head to understand what he was saying, feeling your own radiance toward him for a long time.

A week later, he had returned to his girlfriend.

Standing by and waiting at your backdoor

All this time, how could you not know, baby?

You belong with me

You belong with me

His eyes traveled to the table where all his friends were sitting, everyone paying attention to his presentation.  Except Ben and his girlfriend.  A pang of pain whistled through her heart.  At Christian's words coming back to her mind.

If he doesn't notice, maybe he's not right for you Y/N.

Have you ever thought just maybe

You belong with me

You belong with me

Maybe Ben didn't belong to you.  Not how you wanted it.

[diegos-butt]

Electricity chapter 4

Summary: For the first time in her life, Melody Williams is moving out of her hometown to Minnesota where she got a job as a crime journalist for the Minnesota Daily. But this city does not only have a new job for her to offer. What will happen when she crosses paths with detective Walter Marshall? Heads up, a little electricity is involved ✨

Walter Marshall x Melody Williams (Curvy OFC)

Warnings: mention of murder, a bit of fighting

Wordcount: 3.9k

A/N: don’t do anything reckless y’all. Let me know what you think of this chapter. 😘

Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3

•••

Somehow the universe was on my side for once. Once I got home, I noticed I had a new text message. I was surprised to see that it was from Walter. He asked if I got home safe. What a gentleman.

I figured he just wanted to make sure I got home safe, I didn’t think too much of it. If anything, I didn’t think we would end up texting each other for three days in a row. Did I wish that would happen? Yes. Did I actually believe it could happen? Definitely no. I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t believe it.

“Have you been texting with him again last night?” Gia asked when she saw me yawn and stretch my arms out above me. We were having a slow morning at work, and this was the third time she showed up at my desk.

“Maybe,” I smirked. Even though it started a little awkward, we were still texting. After I had texted him back that I got home safe, and he send a thumbs up emoji, it was silent for a moment. I had thought about what I could possibly text him next. I grabbed my phone to compose a text when a new message already popped up.

Walter: Still sure you want to live here?

A smile had formed on my face. He thinks he is funny huh. I was wondering what I could text back, and I thought to myself: what would I tell my friends to text back in a situation like this? Normally, I would never listen to my own flirting advice, but at that moment, I did.

Melody: Might stick around. Heard the detectives in town are quite something.

Since then, we had been texting constantly. Alright, maybe not constantly, we were both busy during the day, but we spend a good amount of the late evening texting. We got to know each other a little better. I told him about my family, and I shared a few awkward stories. For example, I told him about the time I was too stubborn to put on sunscreen during the summer, and I got sunburned to bad, I would never forget to apply it ever again. I still apply it every day, even in the winter.

In return he told me all about the shenanigans he pulled as a kid, and that he had a kid himself, Faye. At first, I was a little bit surprised, but then I figured we would have a babysitter once we would get children. Mel, get it together. You are not even dating him, you don’t even know if he likes you and you are already thinking about having children with him?! Our kids would look damn cute though..

“Earth to Mel! Stop daydreaming for once, and get some work done.” Carmen laughed and threw a pen at me, which I skilfully dodged, but it did wake me up from my little daydream.

“There is nothing to do! No development in the murder case and that’s all I am covering right now,” I said and spun around in my chair. “I am so bored right now, I don’t even know what to do.”

“Text your man, see if he has any new information?” Gia suggested.

“Hmm, he avoided talking about the case. Maybe they are having trouble getting a match with the murderer on that dating app.” I had told them about what happened the other day at the police station. I might have a hearing problem now because they had screamed so loud, I’m convinced the entire building heard them. It’s safe to say, they were very excited and convinced he liked me.

“Besides, he’s not my man!” I said while throwing the pen I picked up back at Carmen. “I mean, I wish, but he is so out of my league.”

“No one is out of your league, and I swear he’s into you. I saw the way he looked at you at the bar and at the crime scene. I have an eye for these things, trust me,” Carmen said and dodged the pen as well.

“Whatever,” I sighed. I spun around in my chair a few more times before an idea popped up in my head. “Guys, what if we set up an account on that dating app?”

“And then what? Meet with a creep? No thank you,” Gia said with a disgusting look on her face.

“I’m not a fan of that plan either. Please don’t do something like that Mel. Don’t do anything stupid. That could be very dangerous, and you know it,” Carmen agreed.

“It’s not like I’m actually going to meet him. I just want to see if I can figure out what profile he is using this time.” I stood up and looked out of the window. I oversaw the city, the sky was grey, and it was slightly raining. “Alright, fine. Can one of you give me something to do in that case? Otherwise I will make a dating profile.”

Later that day I laid in bed, trying to sleep. It was 1am and I had been trying to sleep for two hours, but I was still wide awake. I felt restless and didn’t know what I could do to fall asleep. I had tried to drink some tea, didn’t help. I watched an episode of The Office, didn’t help either. It also didn’t help Walter hadn’t texted me back for hours now. I wondered if he was already getting tired of me.

You know, I could, maybe, possible, just make an account on that dating app and swipe for a while. Maybe I would come across someone that matches the profile that the murderer would use. Gia and Carmen will probably kill me though.

I grabbed my phone. I hesitated for a second, but I downloaded the dating app. After I made an account and uploaded some cute selfies, I finally got to do some swiping. The most guys that came up were pretty basic. They didn’t spike my interest at all. They were the typical white boy, all with the same haircut and they looked like they did not only skip legday, also arm- and chestday. Half of them also posed proudly with a fish they had caught. As if that’s something girls like. Too bad none of these men look a little like Walter.

I also came across a few good looking, decent guys. I knew that was not what the police were looking for, so I swiped them to the left. The next profile was of a guy who was way too good looking. He also only had one picture. It was obviously that this picture was stolen from a model. The bio creeped me out a little. He said he liked to hike in nature, and he enjoyed the silence. You enjoy the silence? Are you trying to creep me out on purpose or what? I swiped him to the right. It was weird but I felt like this could be the one the police were looking for.

I swiped for a little while longer. Swiping a few sketchy looking profiles to the right until I felt my eyelids drop. Yawning, I put my phone aside and finally fell asleep.

The next morning my alarm woke me up. I stretched out after I turned the alarm off and grabbed my phone. There were a few messages, one of them was from Walter, but what spiked my interest was that I had a few matches on the dating app. I wanted to check it out, but I noticed I had to get out of bed and take a shower if I wanted to be at work on time.

After I had showered and got dressed, I grabbed my phone. The first message I opened was from Walter. He had texted me at 3am.

Walter: We were working late today, no breakthrough in the case. Missed texting with you, can I make it up by calling you tonight?

My heart skipped a few beats. He wanted to call? With me?! I stared at the message for a few seconds while I felt some butterflies flying around in my stomach. Okay, no need to freak out. He just wants to call, he is not proposing. Yet….

Melody: I missed texting with you too. And of course, you can call me tonight. I look forward to it.

Before I could overanalyse my response, I hit send. Take a deep breath Mel. No need to read into this too much. I checked my other messages and texted my mom and Gia back. My mom wanted to know how I was doing, and Gia needed an approval of her outfit of the day.

I walked to the kitchen and grabbed some milk and cereal. While I was eating my breakfast, I noticed the notifications from the dating app. There were a few new matches, and one of them had send a message. It was from the guy with the creepy profile. His name was John. Millions of people are named John, you could’ve at least been a bit more creative while choosing a name.

John: What do you say good looking? Let’s skip the talking stage and just meet up?

I shivered at the thought of meeting up with this guy, but he could be the one they’re looking for, right? I decided to just go to work and deal with it later.

The workday was slow and boring. I finished a few articles but spend most of my time gossiping with Gia about our favourite celebrities which annoyed Carmen at first, because she wanted to get some work done, but eventually she joined us. I also told them about Walter’s text from that morning. If I weren’t sure I already had a hearing problem from their screams before, I sure as hell would have one now. Those girls made sounds so high, I’m surprised the windows didn’t crack.

The rest day went by slow, and before I knew it the clock showed me it was 3pm. I had decided to not tell Gia and Carmen about the fact I downloaded the dating app and was considering meeting with ‘John’. I mean, I would inform Walter about it. I wasn’t a complete idiot. No need to stress those girls out. Why would I?

My phone buzzed and I picked it up. Another message from ‘John’.

John: What’s it going to be beautiful?

I thought about it, and what could go wrong? I would inform the police, aka Walter. Besides that, I can put up a fight. It’s not like I am a damsel in distress. Plus, the upside of being a little bigger; I’m harder to kidnap, you got to be pretty strong to even lift me up. I shrugged my shoulders and texted him back.

Melody: Sure.

Short, but clear. I looked around the office, Gia and Carmen both sat at their desks typing on their computers. They had no idea what I was doing. They would probably kill me, right here right now. Before I could change my mind about not telling them, my phone buzzed again.

John: Tonight, 7pm? A new bar just opened up, we could get a drink there.

The rest of the message contained the address of the place. I googled it before I answered. The website of the place popped up, and as I suspected, it was clearly a fake website. Bingo. I texted him back, saying I agreed with his plan.

The rest of the hours I had to spend at the office went by surprisingly quick. Soon people were starting to leave, and so were Gia, Carmen and me. We parted ways in the entrance hall, and I drove home. Once I was home, I looked in the fridge, and I came to the conclusion I had forgotten to do groceries. Again.

I wasn’t in the mood to order take out, so I quickly drove to the supermarket. Unfortunately, unlike last time, I didn’t ran into Walter. Shit, I still have to text him about my meeting with ‘John’. I’ll do it once I get back home.

I drove back home and started making dinner. After I ate dinner, and did the dishes, I looked at the clock. It was already 6.30pm and I had to leave soon. Glaring down at my outfit, I decided I wanted to wear something more comfortable. I went to my bedroom and stood in front of my closet. I grabbed an old pair of jeans and a simple long-sleeved black tee. No way I’m going to dress pretty for this guy. Wait, what if he actually is the guy from the picture? Nah, not gonna happen. Shit, I still need to text Walter.

I needed to hurry up and put the tee on. While putting on the jeans, I suddenly heard a sound I didn’t like to hear. I look down and saw the jeans have ripped in the area between my thighs. Thick thighs save lives? They sure as hell don’t save jeans. I thought while throwing them across the room. Quickly I grabbed another, old, pair of jeans and put it on. I put my shoes on and fixed my hair.

I ran into the living room again and grabbed my jacket. With my car keys and phone in one hand, I locked the door behind me with the other one and made my way to my car. 6.45pm, right on time. I started the car and drove off.

While I stood in front of a red light, I remembered I hadn’t texted Walter. Shit. Contemplating what to do, I decided to call him. He didn’t answer. Shit. I left a voicemail instead. The red light turned green and I continued driving. Once I had to stop in front of another red light, I decided to text him as well. I noticed how the streets around me became emptier and emptier.

The street where I was supposed to meet ‘John’ was dark and pretty empty. The sun was settling down, making it even darker. I parked my car at a parking lot and checked my phone. No response from Walter. Not yet at least. I was alone in the parking lot and decided to wait for a few minutes.

Alright, maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. Maybe this was pretty dumb. And why did I forgot to text Walter. Why couldn’t I have done that sooner?! You know what, I’m just gonna go. This was dumb. And reckless.

But before I could start my car, someone opened my door. A man stood there, he was tall but not very muscular and he did not look like the profile picture at all. He looked at me with a creepy grin that made me regret doing this.

“Hello there, nice to meet you. I’m John and you must be Melody. Why don’t you step out of the car?” he said. I didn’t knew what to say, so I nodded and wanted to step out, but he spoke again. “Why don’t you leave that phone of yours here, we don’t need it do we?”

I knew I had to play by his rules. So, I left my phone and stepped out. He took the keys out of my hands and locked my car. I tried to keep thinking straight. Walter should be here soon, right?

John kept talking to me in the meanwhile. He kept telling me how pretty I was and how glad he was to meet with me. I stopped listening when I heard my phone go off in the car. Walter. If that is not him but my mom, I will do something to her.

“Come on, let’s get away from that car, shall we? The bar is right around the corner,” he spoke. We were the only people in the parking lot. I noticed he had parked his car a few feet away from me. Something was definitely not right.

“You know, I’m actually good here. Could you give me my car keys back though?” I asked. I knew he wouldn’t, but I had to stall. I really hoped the police would show up anytime now.

“Ah please? Just one drink?” He took a step closer to me and grabbed my wrist. I quickly twisted my wrist, releasing it from his grip. He looked at me with an unpleased look, and I suddenly felt a presence behind me. Never sneak up on me you dumbass. I thought as I felt the presence got closer.

Once I felt someone was right behind me, I didn’t waste another second. I took a step to the right and shoved my elbow straight into the guy’s nose with full force. He grunted in pain and when I looked behind me, I saw he grabbed his bloody nose with both his hands.

“Creepy Greg from finance?!” I say surprised. “Could have seen that one coming.”

“You bitch!” the guy in front of me yelled. He raised his fist and threw it at my face. Well, he attempted it. I dodged it and slammed my fist into his face instead.

“Sorry, that might leave a mark,” I smiled.

Creepy Greg from finance was still standing behind me, crying, and telling me I broke his nose and that I would pay for it. Make me.

I looked back at the other guy, and he swung his arms at me again, trying to hit me. I ducked to the side a few times, avoiding being hit. Sadly, I couldn’t escape all his attempts to hit me. His fist met the left side of my face. I felt my blood boiling from anger. I took a deep breath and raised my fists. While I was about to throw a punch, I heard loud noises. Cars. Thank God, they’re here.

Before I could comprehend what was going on, policemen were already running towards us. One tackled creepy Greg and a familiar figure tackled the other guy and threw a hard punch in his face. This is not supposed to turn me on. At all.

Walter got up and handed the guy over to another cop. The guy looked at me in disgust, but I didn’t see it. My eyes were focussed on Walter. He closed the gap between us by taking two passes.

“First of all, that was insanely stupid and dangerous and very dumb. This was reckless behaviour! But we will discuss this later,” he said vigorously.

“Yeah, I figured,” I said. I opened my mouth to continue speaking, but he spoke first.

“Are you alright? Are you hurt?” he said with a concerned look in his blue eyes, and his hand caressed the cheek that had been hit. As his rough, calloused fingers touched my skin I felt a spark of electricity going down my spine. His other hand found its way to my waist, and he pulled me a little closer to him. His body radiated a welcoming warmth, and I smelled his familiar musky cologne.

“I’m fine, just got hit once. You should see creepy Greg’s nose,” I snickered.

“I did, and you sure know how to throw a punch,” he smiled. “I’m glad you’re okay. And I’m glad you called and texted me. I’m sorry I missed the call. If I hadn’t missed it none of this would have happened.”

“No, don’t be sorry. This was a pretty stupid, reckless plan and I should have called sooner,” I quickly answered.

“It was indeed reckless and stupid,” he sighed. “Look, we need to take your statement. Why don’t I take you home after?”

“I’d like that, but my car is here,” I said while pointing at it. His hand left my cheek, but his other hand remained on my waist. He was so close to me, and I felt so comfortable despite what happened a few minutes prior.

“We’ll take care of that, don’t worry.” He grabbed my hand, interlaced his fingers with mine and guided me to one of his colleagues. My heart was racing and skipped a few beats at the same time. His hand felt warm and comforting. I never wanted to let go.

We reached his colleague and he started asking me questions and he squeezed my hand before letting go. He walked away to speak to some of his other colleagues and I immediately missed his hand, it felt like mine had fitted perfectly in his.

I told his colleague what happened, and I could see he thought it was really reckless, but I also saw in his eyes he was kind of impressed. He complimented me on how I stayed calm, but he did tell me to never do anything like this again.

Once he dismissed me, I looked around for Walter. I noticed him already walking towards me, and he offered me a little smile.

“So, Liam is going to take your car down to the station and I will drive you home, alright?”

“Thank you,” I smiled at him. “Can I get something from my car? My phone and keys are still in there.”

After we got my stuff out of the car, he pointed at a big truck. We walked towards it in silence, and he placed his hand on my lower back. Oh god, please keep that hand there forever. Okay, I might be incredibly touch starved.

Unfortunately, we reached the car too soon and his hand left my back to open the door for me. I climbed in and he closed it. He walked around the truck, took place behind the drivers’ wheel, and started the car. While he drove into the street he asked for my address.

We sat in silence next to each other, the radio softly hummed a rock song. I looked out of the window, it was dark and suddenly I realized that what I had done tonight, could have ended badly. Really badly.

“Hey, are you okay?” Walter put his hand on my thigh but when I looked at him, his hand shot up to my cheek to wipe a falling tear away.

“Yeah, yeah. Just realizing that this maybe wasn’t a smart thing to do,” I offered him a small smile. His hand left my cheek and found its way back to my thigh. The warmth coming from it spread throughout my entire body and I didn’t think twice and placed my hand on top of his. He turned his hand around and interlaced his fingers with mine for the second time that night.

He smiled at me and focussed on the road again. We were near my home, but I did not want to be alone now. Heck, I wanted to be near him. I didn’t want him to go. It felt so good to just be around him. I have never felt so comfortable around someone so quickly.

He parked the truck in front of my apartment building, not letting go of my hand.

“So, we’re here,” I mumbled. He grunted in response. We sat in the truck in silence for a few more minutes until it started to rain. I knew it was now or never, he was not going to offer going inside with me. Not after what happened. Perhaps he thought I wanted to be alone.

I felt anxious, but I decided to just ask it.

“Could you stay with me for a while?” I avoided looking at him, but he squeezed my hand and his other hand gently grabbed my chin, making me look into his eyes.

“Sure thing doll.”

•••

> chapter five

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[horansqueen]

Stuck With You - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Stuck With You

🡪chapter 1  🡪chapter 2  🡪chapter 3  🡪chapter 4  🡪chapter 5  🡪chapter 6  🡪chapter 7  🡪chapter 8  🡪chapter 9  🡪chapter 10  🡪chapter 11 🡪chapter 12 🡪chapter 13 🡪chapter 14 🡪chapter 15 🡪chapter 16 🡪chapter 17 🡪chapter 18 🡪chapter 19 🡪chapter 20 🡪chapter 21 🡪chapter 22 🡪chapter 23 🡪chapter 24 🡪chapter 25 🡪chapter 26 🡪chapter 27 🡪chapter 28 🡪chapter 29 🡪chapter 30 🡪chapter 31 🡪chapter 32  🡪chapter 33 🡪chapter 34 🡪chapter 35 🡪chapter 36 🡪chapter 37

College Enemies To Lovers AU

characters // masterlist // instagrams // mood board

I wanna get stuck with you In the middle of the party We're just getting started I wanna get stuck with you  In the eye of the tornado Rowing in the same boat I wanna get stuck with you Get stuck in the middle with you I wanna get stuck with you

Gotta go with the flow And ride the wave right where we're supposed to Yeah, we can go through all the highs and lows Yeah, life's a crazy roller coaster

click here to be on the update list

NIALL

                                              We were lucky enough to find a store still open, buying everything she needed to snowboard before renting more equipment. I looked at her getting ready with a small smile and tried not to chuckle. She was endearing, and the fact that she was ready to try this just for me meant a lot and also proved a lot.

"Shit, I forgot my phone!" she let out, rolling her eyes and making me raise my eyebrows.

"Do you really need it right now?" I asked with a chuckle. "I have mine." I patted my shirt pocket and grimaced immediately, letting out a groan. "Fuck, I forgot mine too."

"Do you really need it right now?" she teased with a grin, making me smile more.

"Yes, one of us has to have one, just in case something happens." I took my gloves off and put them on the couch next to her. "Wait for me okay? I'll do quick."

She nodded and I looked around, realizing the place was more quiet than I thought it would be. I rushed to the hall and took the elevator, running to our room and walking in. The light was still on and I grabbed my phone on the nightstand where I left it but finally decided to search for hers, too. It took me about a minute to notice it on the desk placed against the wall and grabbed it, turning around to leave, before something caught my attention.

I frowned, recognizing the back of my head on a picture, and took it in my hand to look at it better. My eyes quickly roamed on my shoulder, neck and hair but when they stopped on Devon's forehead and hair, I held my breath. My fingers were slipped in it and my heart started thumping in my chest. I remembered exactly how I felt at that moment, how deep inside her I was, how her lips parted in pleasure. It was the very first time we ever had sex and looking at that picture made me realize we would always have something to remind us of this moment, something that would always bring many emotions inside me, including lust and love. I already loved her at that moment and I wanted to believe she did too.

I ran my finger on the part of her forehead I could see and sighed. It was still not completely clear between us, I knew we had a lot of things to talk about, but I was not sure what exactly stopped her from giving us a chance. I loved her, and she loved me, and obviously, we had been been through bad relationships and I was sure that neither of us would want the other to suffer again the way we had before. Besides, it was totally different. Abby didn't love me and I was pretty sure Henry didn't really love her either.

I couldn't believe she had brought the pictures with her and it made me wonder why she never showed them to me. She had talent to take pictures, there was no doubt about it, but this picture had probably turned out that good mostly because of luck. She couldn't have put much thought into it, giving the position she was in, but the result was incredible and something twisted in my stomach as I looked at it. I didn't know if other people beside us would be able to feel all the emotions that emanated from it but at the same time, I didn't really care. I liked to think we were the only ones who could understand, the only ones who could really feel deeply about it because of how involved we were. It was even slightly scary to know that some people could look at it without understanding the degree of intimacy in it.

I was about to put the picture back on the desk where I found it when the light of the room reflected something behind it. I turned it around and read the words written quickly at first and then slowly the second time. It was Devon's handwriting and I immediately recognized the second part she had scribbled. My heart skipped a beat as I re-read my own lyrics of the song I had written for her and I shook my head slightly. She had an incredible memory and it made the left corner of my lips raise in a small smile. I went back to the first part and my smile fell when I realized she had written an actual verse for my song.

"Darlin', are you always tryin' to blame me? Is it me or 'cause you came here? Just accept that time was wrong Oh, change thee I've been thinkin' bout it lately We never finished what we started Now I'm fearful that it's gone."

I sang it in my head a few times before doing it out loud but still very low. It fitted perfectly and I sighed, my eyes still roaming on the words. It was amazing to think we sort of wrote a song together and I loved knowing that each verse was the point of view of one of us. Did she know the song was about her? That thought made my heart jump in my chest before I rolled my eyes and let out a chuckle. It was not a secret that I loved her, not anymore, and it was a good thing. I wasted so much time trying to hate her even though I knew it was impossible.

I grabbed my phone and snapped a picture of the lyrics she wrote but also of the picture she took to be able to look at it whenever I wanted and finally checked my watch. I had been gone for a while and I rushed out, reaching the elevator as fast as I could. When I walked back to her, she was sitting on the couch, her head leaned on the back and her lips parted. I could hear her snore lightly and I chuckled, shaking my head.

"Devie, hey." I said softly, bending down to shake her gently and making her whimper. "Wake up."

She groaned and sat up quickly, rubbing her eyes and letting out a sigh. She was cute when she slept and I waited a few seconds until her eyes fluttered open to talk again.

"Come on, we only have time for a few basic things."

She got up but almost tripped and I held her, chuckling again.

"You okay?" I asked, moving my face a bit closer to look at her.

She sent me a small smile and nodded. "Yea sorry, just give me a few minutes to wake up completely." she licked her lips and finally raised her eyebrows. "Hey, what took you so long?"

"Oh, I couldn't find your phone." I half-lied, searching my pocket and handing it to her. "I put it in a plastic bag for you, just in case you drop it in the snow or something."

Her head tilted and she sent me a fond smile before pressing her lips together. I felt my heart skip a beat when she moved closer but she stopped herself suddenly. "Thank you."

I wanted her to kiss me. I wanted her to do it first, for once. It seemed like I was always the one who made the first move no matter what we did, especially when it came to something romantic. Maybe she's had had a few initiatives when it came to sex but somehow, whenever it was about love, she seemed reluctant.

"You're welcome." I whispered, fighting the urge I had to kiss her.

We grabbed our stuff and walked outside. I saw her shiver next to me when a whiff of cold air hit us but she still followed me to a very small slope. I tried to show her the basics but she was clearly scared to hurt herself and I finally sat next to her in the snow after she fell.

"How about we go a bit higher?" I proposed, smiling gently when I saw the alarmed expression on her face. "I'll be there with you, okay?"

It took her about a minute to answer. Her eyes roamed on my face and once again, I thought she was going to kiss me and my eyes dropped to her lips. She probably noticed because she licked them nervously and my gaze moved back to her eyes.

"Okay."

I helped her up and we walked slowly to the chairlift in silence. I kept glancing at her and she did the same but it's only when we were half-way there, completely up in the air that everything stopped. My heart jumped in my chest and my eyes got bigger when I realized we were stuck and I swallowed hard, turning to her as she did the same. Her lips curled a bit and she burst into laughing, throwing her head back and making my lips curl.

"It's good luck, remember?" she pointed out, smiling more. "That's what you said!"

"I still think that!" I laughed with her, taking my gloves off to grab my phone. "I'll text Lewis, I know he's near his phone. He can inform them and they'll come get us."

I typed something quickly and sent it, my eyes stuck to the screen until I got an answer from my friend that simply consisted of a laughing emoji and a thumb up.

"It's weird isn't it?" I finally said after a few minutes of silence. "How we always get stuck together somewhere when we have something to solve."

She turned her head my way and tilted it, sending me a small but curious frown. "We have something to solve?"

I turned my body as much as I could to face her and shook my head, my eyebrows raised. "Yes we do. Devie, why don't you want me to say you're my girlfriend?"

"We.. We didn't even discuss it."

"We are now." I pointed out with a sigh. "You said you loved me, we made love this afternoon. I didn't tell our friends because I saw how you reacted when I said the 'g' word this morning in the closet but, what do I have to do?"

"You don't get it."

"No! No I don't!"

I was trying to keep my cool but I wanted her to open up to me, I needed it. I needed her and I needed to be with her. It sounded obsessed, it was intense, but It was driving me crazy to know how she felt without being able to really be with her.

"I do love you! I love you so much Niall I don't think you understand!" she let out before breathing in deeply. I saw her tear up and my lips parted slightly. "You remember when you said I moved you? That my art moved you? Henry used to say that too. I know you're not him, but it's not easy for me to put aside all the pain I went through with him just to throw myself in a new relationship. I don't know how you do it. Abby has hurt you so much too and you're just ready to... to jump back into something official and serious with me." She breathed in and I noticed a tear falling down her right cheek. I wanted to reach out to her but I couldn't, I felt paralyzed. "I am nothing special. I am not like the girls you've been with. I am... I am lost, and scared, and scarred! I love you but I'm scared! I'm scared I'll give you everything and that you'll break me the way I was broken before! But I love you so much more than I loved him! I feel so much closer to you than I ever felt to him! And if you... if you leave... When you realize I'm average... or even below..."

I waited a few seconds, staring at her and she sniffed. It was crazy that she kept all that inside for so long, and at the same time, I was so happy she was finally telling me how she feels.

"Are you done yet?" I asked making her look in my eyes again before sending her a small smile. "Devie, I'm scared too. But I love you, I'm in love with you, and I'm ready to take that chance, because being without you is worse than being heartbroken by you. It's ok to love again!"

She sniffed again and pressed her lips together. I brought my hand to her face and brushed my fingertips on her skin, smiling more. "If you shut yourself from feelings, you may make sure that nothing bad happens and that your heart won't be broken, but you also miss all the good things and all the love you could get." I explained in a low tone. "I can't promise you that everything will always be perfect, but I promise I'll keep trying because that's how much I love you. I told you, Devie, you're my main girl. You're the protagonist of this story. No one can take your role. No one."

Her lips curled too and she chuckled before nodding quickly and bending closer to me. She pressed her lips on mine, making me smile too. "I wouldn't want to be stuck here with anyone else." she whispered, making me chuckle before kissing me deeper.

We started laughing against each other's mouth when the chairlift started moving again and finally walked back inside. We were both very cold and we decided to just go back to our room, taking the elevator in silence again. We both got changed into warm clothes and sat in bed together. She leaned her head on my shoulder and moved her legs over mine. I smiled when I saw her warm socks and left a kiss on top of her head.

"That painting you made here the other night..." I started gently, leaning my cheek on top of her head. "It was the first time I saw you paint with light colors. It was beautiful, it looked like a summer sky."

She reached for my hand on her thigh and intertwined our fingers. "All the paintings I made since I arrived here were about you. My art has been about you and my feelings for you, the emotions you made me feel." she explained, surprising me a bit, especially that all my songs were about her. "You make me feel those colors. You make me feel light and clear and warm. You make me feel alive."

"That's not what the painting in our room says, the one you gave me. There's yellow, but there's so much darkness in it. Every time I look at it, I feel horrible for ever making you feel so bad. I'm sorry, Devie."

She moved away slowly to turn around and face me. Her lips curled softly on the left and she licked her lips, shaking her head slightly. "You got it all wrong, Niall." she pointed out gently, raising her eyebrows. "You're not the black in that painting. You're the yellow. You're the light trying to reach me, stopped by my own demons and fears. You're the light in my life, Niall. You've always been the light."

I brought both my hands to her face and cupped her cheeks, kissing her harder than intended. I felt her move closer and straddle me and I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her as close to me as possible. "I love you, Devie, I love you so much." I whispered in-between kisses. "Since the first day."

"I love you too." she murmured back, slipping her hands in my hair. "I always have."

----

We got prepared together the next morning and whenever I'd walk near her, I'd pull her close to kiss her lips and she'd giggle or smile. There was something natural in the way we moved together around the room, even in a place we were not used to, and I couldn't help but think it was a proof that we were made for each other. When we were ready, I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, making her twirl around as she started laughing and I walked to the door, bringing her with me. We took the elevator to meet our friends downstairs but when the doors opened, I let go of her hand, not really sure if she had changed her mind. I didn't want to rush her, and I didn't want to lose her either. She glanced at me but still followed me to the main room where all our friends were waiting for us, talking and laughing together.

I turned to look at her as her eyes roamed on everyone and after about a minute, I felt her hand reach mine and grab it tight. It took a few seconds but Lewis finally noticed us, his lips curling into a smirk when he noticed we were holding hands. He hit Louis a bit roughly who just frowned but finally turned to us too before our friends noticed us one by one. I cleared my throat when Louis jumped off the couch with a big smile.

"Fuckin' finally!" he yelled, catching the attention of almost everyone in the room. "That's it? That's official? You two are dating?"

"Yes, it's official." Devon replied loud and clear, surprising everyone.

I noticed Mandy winking at her and squeezed her fingers tighter as Louis walked quickly to us, throwing his arms around my girlfriend's neck and holding her close.

"Took you long enough." he told her with a chuckle as she wrapped her free arm around him. "I'm so happy for you two."

Lewis walked to me to hug me too and then almost everyone followed. I noticed Abby sending me a small and sad smile from afar and I just smiled back gently at her, surprised that she took it so well.

"Okay!" Louis let out, clapping in his hands. "Who's hungry?"

Everyone started talking at the same time and they all decided to go to the restaurant to get some food before starting the day. I stopped Devon as she was following them, pulling on her arm to bring her closer to me and just wrapped my arms around her as she tilted her chin up, sliding her hands on my back.

"So that's it? You're my girlfriend?" I asked with an amused grin, making her smile too.

"Mmhm, I'm ready to try that boyfriend/girlfriend thing with you."

"Are you happy, Devon Eaton?" I whispered low, looking down at her.

Her traits softened and she looked at me fondly, in a way no one else had ever looked at me. "Happier than I've ever been. I love you, Niall Horan."

"Not as much as I love you."

[jpegjade]

Writer’s Block - Spencer

IT HAS BEEN A LIL BIT SINCE I ACTUALLY COMPLETED SOMETHING. literally i’m jumping from job to job. i barely found time to write this lmao. 

this is for the lovely anon who requested this: can we have a fic where the reader has writer’s block and spencer is helpful? 

here you go anon, HELPFUL SPENCER 

warnings: all fluff and a lil bit of a reference talking about weight but it’s all fluff and nothing seriously deep. 

_____________

“Ugh.” You yelled, throwing your hands in the air. “This is pointless.” 

Spencer was sitting at his desk when he looked up to see you having a partial meltdown on your shared apartment couch. 

“Please tell me why I decided to do this. I can’t think of a single reason why anyone would go through this torture willingly.” You groaned to Spencer, who just smiled in response. 

You were glad he found this so amusing because you surely didn’t think any of it was cute in the slightest. 

“You’ve got a psychological inability to produce a substantial amount of content to satisfy your drive to create.” Spencer continued smiling at you. 

“Cliff Notes version, please. I’m mentally spent.” You said, looking over at him. 

“Writer’s block.” He said, as if he couldn’t just say that in the beginning. 

“At the worst time possible.” You said, groaning again. 

As an author, you were used to the words coming to you easily. There were so many ways to describe a single feeling that you just knew how to craft the language most of the time. It’s one of the many things that made Spencer fall in love with you: You crafted a world of your own through imagination and you were able to pull other people in to experience it with you. It was something special about you that set you apart from so many other writers in your genre. 

Getting up from his chair, Spencer walked over to your spot on the couch to sit next to you. He put his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into him. 

“How far have you gotten on your story?” Spencer said, leaning over to see your laptop screen. You turned it away from him so he couldn’t see anything. 

“Baby, you know I don’t like you to see my works in progress. I only want you to see things when they’re complete.” You said. 

“Baby, I want to see every stage of your creativity no matter how rough.” Spencer smiled. “Maybe I can offer some advice and corrections.” 

“I don’t want you to see everything bc plot holes and such. And I don’t want you to know the plot until it’s complete.” You closed your computer screen so he couldn’t see anything. 

You turned to stare at him as he pulled his arm back, leaving on the back of the couch. The two of you stared at each other, both holding your own secrets. 

Your secret was that you secured a book deal for a Young Adult book. While the signatures were still needed for paycheck negotiations to close, you were holding out on telling Spencer until your manager confirmed everything was official. The call could come at any minute so you were checking your phone every few minutes. You weren’t superstitious but you didn’t want to tell Spencer something before it was completely confirmed. You didn’t want to get your hopes up but more importantly, you didn’t want to disappoint Spencer. He was so proud of you for your constant writing and he loved to read your stories after you sent them to your editor for content when your story was chosen for different magazines, contests, and blogs. If you secure this book deal, it will be huge for you and Spencer, making your dream come true. 

Spencer’s secret was that he was off for a month. He just got back from a case that lasted 3 weeks and before that, he was gone for the larger part of 2 months. There were a lot of back to back cases that ran right behind each other. The two of you made a sarcastic joke that it was serial killer season because it was like clockwork that these cases would come in. It was sad that so many people were hurt and killed in the process but there were countless lives saved by the team and their constant, tiring work. They needed some time off, especially with the last case draining them so greatly. 

“I won’t push you but just know, I’m excited about everything you do. I’m so proud of you for being so persistent in everything. You know, the word persistent is a great word to describe you because it’s more than just the determination to accomplish a task, although many people use it in conjunction with the word. Based on the definition by the Miriam-Webster dictionary, the word persistent means to exist for a long or longer than usual time continuously. You’ve been determined to continue your writing but it’s more than that. You’ve evolved from only writing for whoever will read your work to writing for yourself. You connect with...” Spencer wanted to go on before he noticed your phone vibrating. 

“Hold on, Spence. I’m so sorry.” You said, pulling out your phone. 

It was a text message from your agent. 

“Closed and complete. Sealed the deal. Mucho bueno mi amor.” Your agent followed that text with celebration emojis and you couldn’t look away. By calling you her love, your agent meant nothing by it any more than you called your friends your girlfriends. Your agent knew you well so she was very friendly. 

Your heart was beating a mile a minute, your breathing strained. You didn’t know whether you wanted to laugh or cry, or both at the same time. It was real. It was really real. It was entirely real. A tear ended up slipping through the floodgates, quickly followed by another. Spencer immediately saw the shift in your body language before you were able to hide it. 

“What’s wrong?” Spencer said, worry crossing his face. He didn’t understand how such a happy moment could go south so quickly. 

“It’s not you.” You said, trying to hold back the fact that you were ready to start sobbing. You wiped the tears away and put your hands back in your lap. Fresh tears were right behind those and you weren’t going to stop them this time. You hung your head, chin barely touching your chest, watching the tears fall on your hands. 

“What is it? You can tell me, lovely.” Spencer grabbed your hands from resting in your lap. His thumb immediately began gently rubbing your hands, which only made you cry harder. 

Readjusting how he sat so he could pull you into his lap, Spencer was so confused and so hurt because he didn’t know how to fix it. He couldn’t fix it when he didn’t know what was wrong. He just wanted you to be okay and you seemed far from it. You fought him a little bit. 

“I’m going to flatten you.” You said, finally calming down. 

“Then I will be the happiest flat man alive. You won’t flatten me, lovely. You’ll put your cute butt in my lap, swing your arms around my shoulders, and hang onto me for dear life as you let go of whatever just happened. You don’t have to feel alone if you’re sad.” Spencer said. 

You got up, sat on the couch next to him, and put your legs over his. It was much more comfortable that way and made you less self-conscious. He was staring at you with his puppy eyes and it melted your heart all over again. 

“I have something to tell you.” You said, taking a deep breath. 

“Okay…” Spencer looked concerned, stoic even. He was even a little bit scared. 

“I’ve been hiding something from you and I feel so bad about it.” Tears sprang to your eyes again. 

“Lovie, whatever it is, we can work through it. There are very few things in this world you can tell me that I would be upset about. I”ve seen the worst of the worst. Working out a minor bump won’t break me.” Spencer slightly smiled. 

“No, no. It’s not bad. I promise it’s not.” You let out a sigh you didn’t know you were holding. “I got a book deal.” 

Spencer was silent for a second before he broke out in the biggest smile you had seen from him in a while. He obviously didn’t have a problem being happy as his emotion. Joy overcame him and he gently put your legs on the ground and stood up just to kneel in front of you to cover you in kisses. He kissed every major part of your face before kissing you. A slow, gentle kiss but it still took your breath away. 

“You know you’re amazing, right? You deserve this out of anyone.” Spencer held your face gently in his hands, his thumb slowly rubbing your cheek.  

“I’m stuck, Spence. How am I supposed to finish the book when I can’t even finish the short story I’m writing.” You couldn’t meet his eyes. 

“Maybe I can help. What’s it about?” Spencer stood up, sitting back on the couch next to you. 

“It’s the story of this brilliant teacher who moonlights as a spy. Not the most original idea but it’s not supposed to be original. It’s just a short story that someone requested on my blog.” You grabbed your computer and put it back on your lap. 

“So you’re writing about me.” Spencer smiled. 

“You’re not a spy. You moonlight as a teacher.” You said, opening your computer. You couldn’t bear to look at Spencer’s face right now as he thought about how you were basically writing about him. 

You always took character inspiration from him. He was such a big part of your life that all of your writing had hints of Spencer in them, no matter how hard you tried to leave him out of things. So it was a big deal for him to even figure out that he was largely related to this story. 

“What if…” Spencer started, “You wrote about his dashing butt?” Spencer said, beaming at you. 

You choked on your spit. 

“What?” You said, in between coughs.

“His fabulous behind in pants. You’re always telling me how amazing I look in my black slacks. So why not write about that for fun? I’m sure your blog readers would be quite amused.” Spencer was so hilariously serious that you couldn’t stop laughing. 

“Okay, fine. You win. I will put in something about your butt.” You said, turning your computer on. 

“And insert something about his beautifully flowing hair.” Spencer said. 

“Baby, your hair is short right now.” You said. He allowed you to cut his hair a few days ago and he missed his longer hair but he really liked when you gave him haircuts. 

“I know but if he’s a badass super spy and a teacher, he needs to have versatile looks.” Spencer ran his hand through his hair, a new habit he started when you cut his hair. 

“Baby, you’re going to overwhelm me with ideas.” You said, chuckling. You felt a little better about the writer’s block and the book deal the more Spencer made you laugh. 

“Good. Maybe we should go on a walk and figure out more ideas. Exercise is good for ideas because your blood flow to your brain is increased. You also get mental clarity. Over the next 6 weeks, we can do that more.” Spencer quickly walked to the door to grab both of your running shoes. 

Sitting down next to you, what he said finally hit you. 

“Next six weeks?” You asked, putting your computer on the coffee table. 

You didn’t care that all you were wearing were some cozy shorts and an old t-shirt that was way too big for you. 

“Oh, I didn’t tell you.” Spencer got his right shoe on after a little bit of struggle. “I’m off for 6 weeks after the last case. We all need the break…” He said, his eyes going to a dark place for a moment. You gently touched his arm and came back to life, in the moment with you. 

“So… You can help me?” Your mood got significantly better as you realized he was all yours for 6 weeks. 

“Every step of the way, y/n.” Spencer said, popping up from the couch in his shoes, ready to go.

[lorei-writes]

How To: Comments

A brief guide to commenting under the fics by Lorei.

As some of you may know, I am a court overthinker. I know that human interactions can be scary - and honestly, sometimes so is commenting. However... I wish that anxiety did not stand in way of interactions between readers and the author. So, to cut this introduction short: from me, an anxious writer-overthinker, to you, any person who may need it.

Contents:

Few general truths.

Do’s.

Don’ts. 

All things I will talk about stem from my personal experience and observations. It may vary to some extent between writers, although I did my best to stick to the general trends and to mark where something is more of my personal opinion.

EDIT: As per usual, this is just the general “this will be most likely okay”. If you are doing things differently and it works out for you - great! No need to change that. This was written with people who may be anxious and/or overthinking the matter in particular. I also tried to remove myself from this as much as possible.

Few general truths.

Does my comment even matter?

Yes, it does, especially for longer series. It may be one of the few things pulling the writer through a crisis. 

Your comment notifies the writer that they are indeed seen, that their words reached somebody. If the story resonated with you in any way, letting the writer know that it did may boost their self-confidence, and perhaps even motivate them to keep on writing. 

The writer didn’t reply to my comment. Did I do something wrong?

No! In plenty cases, the writer may not know how to reply, simply as that. They may not have enough time, they may be too tired - just the ordinary, mundane life stuff can cause such a thing too. 

An important thing to remember here is that they still appreciate it, even if they don’t have enough resources to reply to every single person - or even any of them.

How do I know the writer even welcomes comments?

Unless it is specified they do not want comments (or a certain type of comments), assume those are always welcome. 

Do’s

Good will and courage is one thing, but... What could a comment even include?What things are appropriate? Ahhh, no, this is too hard...!

*catches your hand and pulls you back* No, no, no, don’t run, I’ve got you covered! 

First, remember that it is way more likely that what you want to say is okay than for it to be inappropriate. Worst case scenario, the writer will tell you that well, you missed the mark - but! Then you will have the knowledge on what to avoid doing. Your potential to cause plenty good is still way greater than that to cause harm. Not only that! You can apologize! We are humans. We all make errors. Never doing a thing in fear of messing up never leads anywhere. 

So, what things are generally okay*?

If the story made you feel something, say so! For example:  “This made me feel happy!” “I smiled too much because of this story!” “I’m crying, nooo.” “This is so sad!” “My heart has melted.” “This made my day!” “I love it!”

If you can’t find words for your state, emojis work too!  For example:   😭 ❤️ ❤️ 😳 💖 🥺 🥺 🥺 😍 💯✨

Of course, mixing up emojis with text is a great idea! The only thing you may want to be mindful of is that screen-readers do interpret emojis too - so you perhaps want to avoid emoji-[word]-emoji combinations (which overall, applies to the internet in general, btw). 

The story made you think about something? Elaborate! The tricky part here is that yes, you are sharing your thoughts, but you should also tell the writer something nice about their work. The rule of thumb seems to be that it is the story that is in the spotlight, not your experience - or, in other words, you are speaking of the experience in relation to the work, not the work in relation to the experience. For example: “I love your OC, they are so relatable! I don’t think I have ever seen a character which spoke to me so much. I struggle with XYZ too, so I’m feeling for them, I know it’s hard :(” “AAAAAA. The theme of red string reminds me a little of a certain superstition. Some people here think red bows are a good-luck charms. This is wonderful, I love it. 😭💖”

Now, this may seem a little self-centered. Allow me to explain why I insist the story is kept in the spotlight.  Imagine that you’ve spent your time on writing a story, however much of it. Let’s assume it’s about missing a long-deceased pet. Then, you get this comment:

“Nooo, this is so sad, I used to have a dog like that too 😭 His name was Teddy and we were best friends. We’d oftentimes sit together and sometimes I’d throw him a stick. Whenever I would cry, he’d come snuggle up with me, and he wouldn’t leave me until HOURS after I’ve calmed down. I miss him so much, I wish dogs could live forever 😭 “

Now, this makes the situation uncomfortable. You must remember that well, sometimes you may still be almost complete strangers to one another, and this much information puts a great emotional load on the writer. Is it still the writer’s space after such comment, or...? Yeah. It is a bit of a lapse in regards to well, knowing a person.

You are simply thankful and don’t know what to say? Express gratitude!  For example: “Thanks for writing <3 “ “I really needed to read this story.” “Thank you!”

Other things which generally are okay to include:

key smashes (as part of the comment, so that the author knows what you mean) For example:  “I’m wheezing ghesgeskgess” “ghoeigjeshes THANK YOU”

quoting the part of the work you especially liked + adding emoji at the end/commenting something under it

listing the things you enjoyed about the work

Of course, you can do some of those, you can do all of those, you can do just one - whichever suits you!

Don’ts

Okay, we know what is going to be fine. Now, what things to avoid? 

Do not give critique unless the writer clearly asked for it.

Critique must be consensual. Unsolicited advice is not. Sure, your intention may be good, but it leads to backhanded compliments and nobody likes those.

Example of what not to do:

“I enjoyed it, tho it was rater boring at first and it took me several tries to even get to the half of it.  Like, some things were confusing? [Explanation].  Overall, yeah, hard to understand and boring at first, but I liked it.”

Now you may ask - is the writer exempt from feedback?! And the answer is... Yes, honestly, yes. Unless they ask for it, yes. As long as they don’t hurt anybody - yes. Although then I suggest blocking instead of going on a crusade. 

FanFiction isn’t the same as published books. We don’t get paid for it. It is simply an act of sharing what you enjoy with the world, like a sort of perpetuum-mobile. FanFiction propels the reader, the reader comments and thus puts the writer in motion.

Now, you can say that something made you sad. You can say that something made you angry, or that it wasn’t what you were expecting. BUT. Make sure you aren’t demanding the writer changes those things. 

This stretches also to typos, grammar errors, etc. - unless you are absolutely sure the writer asks for this sort of feedback, assume it is unwelcome.

Also, from my personal experience: it happened to me once. I did not know what to reply and went on with my standard apologetic... Ekhem. I regret it. The person who commented knew less about the issue than I did.

EDIT: There is also another reason for this - most often, if a person wants to get feedback, they look for a beta-reader. Beta-reader is a person who reads the work before it is posted. Generally, they point out errors and inaccuracies. However, for it to work well, you need a certain sort of fit, both in how the message is delivered (some people do well with harsher criticism, some need to be more gentle with them), in the writing style, and so on. Another thing when looking for a beta-reader is that, well, you generally look for a person that knows more than you do, or is at a similar level. This isn’t to say that we know more than every single person out there - only that it’s hard to ascertain it at first glance and it’s generally better to talk about it before any critique is delivered. Communication is the key.

Do not ask when the next part will be posted/when your request will be completed unless you are sure the writer is okay with such questions. 

When this happens, many writers feel as if they were being pressured into working harder.

Do not write fleshed out paragraphs of what you think should have happened.

If you have an idea for a story - write it. Again, we write in our free time and do it for fun. This feels like being pressured or told what to do.

What may be more grey in regards to whether it is okay or not is theorising about what happens next. To me, personally, that would be okay, but you may want to ask your writer whether they are okay with this sort of things - for example, by writing a comment with a short theory and then asking whether it’s okay to do so? However, be mindful not to tap into suggesting or putting too much pressure on what must happen.

Do not write “Imagine that... [fleshed out scenario]” type comments.

Those are basically requests hidden as comments.

Do not compare writers to other writers (You are so much better than XYZ/ You wrote trope X so much better than XYZ).

This is pretty self-explanatory. We want to lift each other up, not feel better about ourselves because of putting others down.

Another slippery situation here: some people may mind being compared to published authors. Some may not. It is hard to tell, there is no strict rule here.

Hmm... I think it’s about it? ^^” I hope it was helpful ^^” Overall, if you avoid those major Don’ts, you should be good ^^”

[captainillogical]

Home Ch.4

The domesticity of living with an alien who hasn’t quite had the chance at a normal life.

Distant Lands sequel.

Spinel/Reader

collab with my lovely wife @firstofficertightpants​

Today is another hot, bright day outside, and you have not had enough coffee to deal with it. Or any at all, actually.

Currently it's about an hour before your first lesson, and you're at Kiki's place - sitting on the toilet inside her bathroom in particular - trying to not panic.

"-and then! I told her if she wants to keep borrowing my jacket, the least she can do is NOT get mustard all over it! Can you believe her?!" Kiki huffs out next to your ear, dabbing more pigmented cover-up against your collarbone.

"Why the hell do you buy clothes that you know she'll keep stealing? You know she's not going to stop since you basically wear the same size." You reply, leaning into her brush. It tickles your skin, and you feel yourself almost sneezing.

"Because they're cuuuuuute, okay?" She whines, twisting her face in concentration as she smears makeup on a particular spot on your neck. "Wow she really did a number on you here.. are these teeth marks?"

"Pretend you didn't see them, just cover them up as best as you can," You plead, giving her The Face you know she can't resist. She rolls her eyes. "I just wanna look professional, you know?"

"They're gems, Y/N." She makes a point to jab you particularly hard on the side of your neck with her brush. "You seriously think they're going to care? Or notice?"

"Well, apparently a few humans signed up too, and I really would prefer to not get any more looks, er - more than the usual, anyway." You feel your phone vibrate in hand, and look down to see Steven giving you several thumbs up to your earlier text. 

"Why are humans signing up?" She asks, pausing momentarily.

"Not sure? But I'm blaming Steven on that." You reply, remembering to shoot Garnet a message as well about having her attend just in case you make a fool out of yourself in front of a crowd.

"Maybe they saw you with Spinel, and thought, hey, maybe the rest of us could-" 

A door slams against a wall, and you hear a resounding 'HEYYYYYYYY' from the hallway in a very familiar voice. Several pairs of footsteps are walking towards the bathroom the two of you are in.

Oh god, you need to go. You attempt to stand up from sitting on the toilet, and Kiki forces a hand on your shoulder with an "I'm not done!"

"Kiki!" Jenny pops her face into the bathroom doorway with an infectious smile. "What are you dooooooooo- whoa, Y/N?!" 

If you could clap your hands and disappear, you would.

"Heyyyyy Jenny," You greet her as flatly as you can, and then Lars also pops his head into the doorway. Oh. Great. "Lars. What are you guys doing here?"

Lars gasps dramatically, pointing to your neck. "YOOOOOOOUUUUUU-"

Kiki silences him with her palm over his mouth. "Dude I already told you, why are you being so dramatic right now,"

"You TOLD him?!" You screech, feeling completely betrayed.

"Well, YEAH, clearly you were going to just internalize it and dance around the subject!" She places her hands on her hips, makeup brush still in her fist. "I'm just expediting the process!"

"Tell him what!?" Jenny pipes in, completely engrossed.

"That Y/N's dating Spinel!" Kiki huffs out, like this is obvious information, and Jenny gasps.

“I wasn’t going to dance around the subject!! I just haven’t had the chance to shoot him a text yet..” You mumble, trailing off sheepishly. Okay, so, you know you should’ve told Lars already! It’s just.. Ugh. Talking about your feelings is hard. The face Jenny’s making is making you wish you could flush yourself down the toilet.

“You dumbass, were you seeing how long you could hide this from me?! After all I did for you.” Lars crosses his arms over his chest, miffed. “It’s whatever, I knew that was going to happen sooner rather than later, anyway. I was expecting like, two days, tops - with how you had talked about her.”

“Am I that obvious?” You ask flatly.

“Uh, yeah.” Jenny gives you a look. “Girl, you avoided me for an entire year after I asked you out, and then acted like nothing ever happened. I probably would have recovered my ego a lot faster if I knew your type was Gems.”

“My type isn’t GEMS,” You sputter, utterly amazed at the audacity of the three of them.

“Yeah but your neck says otherwise,” Lars teases, and you groan, covering your face as the other two howl in laughter.

“Remind me why I’m friends with any of you?” You say, muffled behind your hands.

“Um, because you have no other options?” Kiki grins, and you put your hands down just to lightly kick her on the shins, and she chokes out a snort.

“So, what’s the occasion? Why are you dolling up Y/N?” Jenny peers over at you, taking in the new.. upgrades to your appearance.

“She’s got some lessons today, and wanted to look more professional,” Kiki rolls her eyes, like somehow you wanting to not talk to a class looking like you got half-mauled by a sea lion is ridiculous. “Speaking of, did you want me to cover the scar on your face?”

“Ehhh, leave it. I don’t really care about that.” You look at the time on your phone, knowing you need to leave soon. Spinel has texted you a few words of encouragement coupled with quite a pile of heart emojis, and you have to school your face into not smiling at it like some sort of cheese ball.

"I think you look cooler with it anyway," Jenny tucks a piece of hair behind her ear, her gold earrings shining in the light of the bathroom. "Makes you look like you won't take shit from anyone."

"What about my scar?" Lars asks. "Is my face scar not cool??"

"Yours looks more like you fought a raccoon in a dumpster." Jenny grins, and you can't help the laugh that comes out of your mouth as Lars sputters at her response.

The four of you chat for a little while longer while you finish up with Kiki, Jenny asking way too many questions about your personal life - but this time, you don't feel uneasy at all about sharing some of the details with her. 

-

You're standing in the middle of Little Homeworld near the town center, coffee in hand - surveying the area as people and gems hustle around you. You probably should've also grabbed something to eat, but it's kind of too late now. Steven's bringing you lunch after this anyway.

It's twenty minutes until your first lesson, and you're starting to see a few gems show up early. They had to relocate where you'd be having the class - originally they had given you a decent spot under some coverage, but because the attendance got so high they moved you to the literal town center for the space. There's a lot of gems (and some humans) around, and most of them are either working on small construction or going about doing their other jobs. You watch three Amethysts a few yards away struggle to lift a large sheet of glass for what looks like a new cafe. Huh. The gems are really trying for inclusivity here. 

You turn around to look at your chalkboard that Garnet placed here for you, and write out a giant welcome sign on it, along with the class title and your name. You could've probably written it a little more eloquently.. eh. The gems aren't going to care. There's some sudden yelling coming from around you, so you turn to look - one of the Amethysts nearly dropped her side of the glass because someone bumped her — aaaand it's Spinel, with Bismuth next to her, who are reading over some blueprints.

You stand there, hoping Spinel hasn't seen you. She doesn't know your class got moved, but you're positive she was supposed to be working with not Bismuth today. Great. You don't need a reason to be any more anxious about this than you are, even if seeing her pink hair kind of sets you also at ease. 

More people and gems walk by loudly, and you start to wonder if you're going to need a megaphone. You grab your stack of papers, and go over your notes on your bench while you bide your time until it's noon.

About five minutes pass, and someone sits next to you on your bench. 

"Heyyyy." A familiar voice speaks, and you look up - you're greeted with the smiling face of that rose quartz you've bumped into twice. "Fancy meeting you here."

"Oh, it's you," You reply, a bit off-guard. You weren't expecting anyone to sit and chat with you, nonetheless the very specific gem you keep randomly meeting. 

"Saw you sitting here, and wanted to say hello before I went to this class I signed up for," She holds out her hand, her bright smile not making you feel as uneasy as it did the previous day. "I realized I never introduced myself. You can call me Rosie, if you want. The other quartzes have taken a liking to it."

"Rosie, huh.. that's actually a nice name. Mine's Y/N." You return her smile, and shake her hand.. which is strangely soft.

"Are you here for the lesson too? I'm pretty excited about this one, this has to be the most interesting class they've got on the current schedule right now." She leans in, putting an arm up on the bench back for support. More gems have started to gather in the centre now. 

"I am, but I'm actually the one teaching it.." You reply almost sheepishly, and her eyes widen in response.

"You're teaching it?!" She lights up immediately. "I thought it was just gonna be one of the other gems! No wonder so many came here from Homeworld for this!"

"... you're pulling my leg, right? How would any of them have heard of this? We only posted this class within the last week, and just on the singular board." You feel the bubbles of dread in your stomach. Or maybe that's just the excessive caffeine.

"I heard a couple talking about fliers over there, I'm not sure, but they were so excited." She takes a second to look around, and lowers her voice briefly. "I heard that one of the Diamonds wanted to attend, even."

WHAT. Your brain cannot deal with this information.

"B-but they're not, right?" You hear your voice waver, and you push your creeping anxiety down. "I don't think I can deal with a Diamond here, today."

She laughs, and it's not mockingly. It's almost sweet, actually.

"That would be something, wouldn't it?" She winks at you, a light smile on her face. "But no. I don't see their gaudy ships, so I think you can rest easy."

“Phewwwww,” You dramatically wipe your hands down your face, and let out a groan. “I was so worried there for a sec. What would the Diamonds care about interacting with humans, anyway? So absurd.”

“I have no idea,” She giggles at your antics. “Your guess would be about as good as mine.”

You see Spinel staring in your general direction, and your heart rate speeds up when you see her eyes connect with yours. Her face lights up like you’re the best thing she’s ever seen in her life, and you can’t stop the goofy smile that breaks out on your face. You wave at her, and she nearly drops the box she’s holding to enthusiastically wave back.

“Who’s that?” Rosie asks, face turned to peer at Spinel way over there.

“My girlfriend.” Is what comes out of your mouth automatically, and she whips her head back to stare at you with a strange face.

“You’re dating a gem?!” She hisses out, clearly shocked as her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline.

“Yes - jeez, why does everyone always react this way - and it’s not THAT weird, before you ask,” You say, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment.

“And a Spinel, of all gems? No offense.” She looks back over to stare at said pink-haired gem, before turning back to you. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You give her a look, taking immediate offense to her statement. She brings her hands up in defense.

“I didn’t mean it like - It’s just, Spinels seemed to always be designed for friendship; not romance. I’ve physically witnessed three dating catastrophes between them and other gems, in my time.”

“Well, my Spinel is perfectly fine.” You say, and it comes out a little more aggressively than you had wanted, and she recoils a bit. “But thanks for your concern.”

“I'm sorry, it wasn’t my intention to offend you.” She at least has the decency to look apologetic. “How long have you two been dating?”

“We just started this week..” You answer.

“New relationship, huh.” She looks like she’s studying your face, and you’re not sure how you feel about it. “I do wish you two the best,”- There’s a sudden low murmur in the group of gems nearby you, and you look over to see what they’re mumbling about.

Fucking hell.

Jasper, yeah THAT Jasper, is standing over in the now pretty fucking large crowd of gems that’s gathered to attend your class, and you don’t know whether to laugh or scream. 

“Whoa, she’s huge.” Rosie does a double-take at said gem, eyes widening hilariously.

“Yeah, a huge bitch. Jasper fucking hates humans, why the hell is she even here?” You groan, hoping that maybe she’ll just sit quietly and not make any remarks or heckle the other students.

"You know her?" She asks, amused by your response.

"Unfortunately, thanks to Steven." 

"That kid is some kind of magnet for problems of all shapes and sizes." She laughs, shaking her head.

"You don't even know the half of it.." You give her a tired look, and she laughs even more. She asks you a few more questions about Steven and your life, and you answer them truthfully while attempting to distract your anxiety.

-

A hundred gems is your turnout. A bit over, actually, and a handful of humans too.

You maybe feel just a little in over your head with this, but, well.. it's too late now. You spot quite a few gems you've seen before in the crowd, as well as Onion of course, and your neighbor George. You even spot Buck sitting in the middle of a group of Lapis who look like they're discussing heavy gossip with him, and he's actually engaged. Interesting.

There are.. so many eyes peering at you. You've never talked to a crowd this big in your entire life, and public speaking has never been your strong suit. But these gems came here for a specific reason, and goddammit, the thought of Pearl or Sour Cream teaching this instead in your place just doesn't sit right with you at this point.

You greet the class once the volume dies down enough, and a wave of enthusiastic greetings come back at you. You see Garnet in the corner and she gives you a thumbs up, and honestly it makes you feel a lot better that she's here.

You start off with your orientation notes, and talk generally about the basics, mainly about the similarities between gems and humans as common ground. Literally only about three minutes into this class, and a quartz that is most likely from Homeworld raises her hand. You call on her.

"Is it true that humans eat their younglings?" She shouts out from the middle of the crowd, her vibrant purple hair half covering one of her eyes. 

"Er," You stumble on your words, a little perturbed that that's the first question you get. "No, humans don't eat their young at all, you're probably confusing us with some other species."

She nods, like that sounds like the right answer, and then about twenty more hands shoot up.

"Let's save the questions until I at least get through this pile of papers, guys," You insist, and a noise of disapproval comes from near the front left side of the group. You turn your head, and.. it's fucking Jasper. Does she know that you'd throw hands with her if it were not for the fact that you're trying to be professional? 

You completely ignore her, and continue on with what you were previously talking about.

A good 20-25 minutes pass, and you're now in a good place to stop so people can ask their questions. A few humans you don't recognize ask you about how you know so much, and you answer truthfully. You briefly talk about living with Steven and the Crystal Gems, and how easy it was to co-exist. 

A LOT more hands pop up after that. 

"This might sound strange, but how do you ask a human to be friends?" The Lapis you call on asks. 

"You can just ask. Humans do it too. Sometimes people prefer to form them naturally though, but if you guys are already talking then it's a good sign." 

"But what about if they scream at you?" Another gem blurts out, and you curb the bark of laughter that wants to escape from your mouth.

"Generally speaking, what do you do if a gem screams at you? Same principle. Guys, humans and gems are way more similar than you think, and communication is key in this." At least your voice is steady, and you don't really feel as anxious as you were before, since the class seems to actually be going smoother than you had thought.

The giant hand of the Morganite in the middle of the crowd waves frantically, and you call on her with amusement. It's kind of cute how excited and interested a lot of the gems are. "You seem to have a ton of gem friends, and I have no human friends! Could you be my first?" She yells at you.

"Oh, I don't see why not," You answer truthfully, feeling a bit sheepish and taken aback by her request. Once those words leave your lips though, half the crowd starts shouting - ME! ME TOO! COULD YOU BE MY FRIEND?? - and you can't help feeling a little flustered as you try to calm the class down, taking a few more regular questions to keep it going.

You don't even realize through the noise of the center of little Homeworld when you spot a camera crew at the edge of your crowd, setting something up. It's the fucking local news station, what the FUUUUUUUUCK. You try not to outwardly display your internal panic and it's proving to be one of the hardest things you've ever done.

"When did you get that scar?" Jasper stares at you from her seat, pointing to your face.

You freeze momentarily at the lack of tact in that question, and that's when you spot Spinel off to the side of the class, at the edge of the crowd of students. Your brain stutters.

"U-um. It was during an accident with my girlfriend." You blurt out quickly, and instantly regret those words. You should've fucking lied or something because you can see Rosie narrowing her eyes at you in the front.

"Is that why you look like that now?" Jasper grunts out, crossing her arms. If you could throttle her you would in a heartbeat.

"Yes." You state firmly, meeting her gaze. She looks a little surprised at your answers. "Anyway, moving on." You hear a few murmurs in the crowd after that, opting to ignore how anxious it makes you.

You answer a few more questions, and try to not look at Spinel who keeps raising her hand with the rest of the gems. Shouldn't she be working?! Oh god, of course the camera crew is actually filming something - you can barely offhandedly hear the reporter spouting off something about little Homeworld into the camera as it pans around him. 

Your heartbeats are hammering in your chest, but you move onto more questions and try to keep your cool. Eventually you can't ignore how obnoxiously your girlfriend is raising and waving her hand trying to get your attention - several gems around her keep pointing at her so you'll give her a chance.

Oh, little do they know.

You sigh, resigning to letting her ask a question.

"Spinel." You call on her with a pointer finger as neutrally as possible, which is way harder than you had thought.

"Finally!" She cries with a fist pump, and a few people around her chuckle. "I just wanted ‘ta ask, is it possible for a gem and a human to fuse?”

You feel yourself freeze on the spot, taken completely by surprise. There’s a couple murmurs among the crowd.

Why the fuck is she asking that.

“U-um, no, unfortunately there’s no way to do that because of the differences in our biological make-up,” You say, feeling your face heat up in embarrassment - there are so many eyes staring at you.

“Well that sucks!” A random gem in the crowd shouts, and quite a few gems erupt in laughter. 

You try your best to wind them down and finish with their many, many questions.

It isn’t long until the class is over - you had only taken up hour sessions, and you’re so thankful for it. The class went over well, and many gems walk up to you to chat and shake your hand, and the local news station seems to be interviewing a couple gems on what went on - you guess there’s some sort or segment they’re doing on Little Homeworld, and today just happens to be the day they chose to do that.

You avoid the camera crew as much as possible as you tidy up your belongings, and Spinel walks up to you as you gather your papers in your arms.

“That went pretty good!” She beams at you, looking proud. You squash your feelings of affection that overwhelm you - you wish you could kiss her if you were not in public.

“Yeah, and if you ever ask me a question like that in my classes again, I’m actually going to ban you. I’ll even put up a photo of your face so the other’s know to barr you from the class.” You scoff at her, and she completely disregards it, getting a little closer to you to give you a look that you recognise as her challenging you.

“That wouldn’t work on me anyway,” She grins, hand raising up to tuck the stray hair that just flew into your face - she looks to the side of you briefly as you hear footsteps and speaking - 

FUCKKK, THE REPORTER IS WALKING RIGHT OVER HERE.

Your eyes dart back to Spinel, body posed to leave. “U-Um, I gotta-”

“Ma’am! Maaaaa’am!” You hear the reporter shout at you. 

Cool cool, keep it cool. Just breathe. You want to vomit.

"You two look pretty close." He remarks as he jogs up to you, slightly out of breath. The cameraman follows him, and if you could run you would. But you'd rather not be turned into a local meme, so your feet are firmly planted in the spot. "I wanted to catch you before you left, Miss Teacher!" He smiles brightly at you - that you know is just for the camera. 

"I was just finishing up." You smile politely. 

"I wanted to ask you a few questions regarding the class you just held if that's alright with you?" He asks, adjusting the small mic on his collar. He also holds up the microphone that the logo of the local news station is emblazoned on.

"Sure." You feel your nerves go haywire. This is way, waaaay too much pressure for you, you feel like you're going to faint, the fucking cameraman just winked at you.

"What's your name, firstly." 

"Y/N." You answer him with just your first name, and he gives you a look. 

"Last name? You gotta have a last name." He insists. 

You tell him your last name, and his eyebrows furrow before they shoot up into his hairline.

"Last name, last name?" He implores, holding the microphone closer to your face.  "Like, -last name- the lawyer working on that Gem case in Empire city, -last name-!?"

Oh. You forgot about your father. 

"Y-yes," You stutter out in a panic, and instantly regret waking up this morning.

God fucking dammit.

[calumance]

Omg can we get a fic of that video of putting candy in front of babies and telling them not to touch it and be patient until their parents are back with baby boy hood and maybe with his bff 🥺🥺🥺 two sweet babies telling each other to wait till soft dad!cal tells them they can have some candy 🥺🥺🥺

I love this trend, it’s a lot better than telling your kids you ate all their candy. Hope you like it!! 🥰🥰🥰

        Parenting alone is harder, harder than Calum ever thought it would be. His wife had been out of town for a few days now, she had been sent to Chicago for business. At first she had said no, four year old’s are hard enough with two parents, there’s no way she could let Calum deal with Aiden by himself. Then she was told she would get a rather large bonus for going, there was no way she could turn it down.

        Calum never knew how many naps one person could take. The first time he complained to her over the phone about how tired he was, she told him ‘sleep when he sleeps,’ so that’s what he did. He called her up the next day, feeling completely refreshed, “Are you some type of parenting genius?” He asked her making her laugh on the other end.

        “Nope, not a genius. I’ve just learned a few tips and tricks.” She told him, making him smile. “Need any more tips before I have to go into my meeting?”

        “Uh, yes, actually.” She hummed in response. “How did you fall in love with a guy like me?” Calum asked, leaning his hand against the counter.

        She laughed into the phone. “Eh, I guess you’re kind of cute, sometimes.” Calum laughed and she laughed back. “I love you, Calum.”

        “I love you too, have a good day at work.” After he hung up, he looked over at Aiden who was slouching on the couch and watching his favorite show. Maybe parenting by himself for a few more days wouldn’t be so hard after all.

        It had been a few days since he finally got a good amount of sleep. Even though he slept when Aiden slept, he still felt the exhaustion sitting behind his eyes. As he laid on the couch while Aiden and his best friend, Josh, played with some toys, Calum mindlessly scrolled through his phone. He came across a video of parents putting candy out for their kids and walking away and seeing what they do. He lifted his eyes to his son who was generously giving Josh a toy he was playing with, but Josh wanted. Calum opened up his message app and shot a quick text to his wife: “Have you seen those videos where the kids are told not to eat the candy?”

        Calum watched Aiden and Josh play while he waited for a message back. “I have, it’s so cute. Why, did you find the videos too?”

        Calum’s fingers furiously tapped at the letters on his screen, “I did, do you think Aiden would listen?”

        “Maybe. Oh my gosh, you should try it!” It took almost no time for the message to come through. Another message came through before Calum could respond. “Please, Calum. I need to see what he would do. I also just need to see his CUTE LITTLE FACE.”

        Calum smiled and typed a quick message, “I could send you a picture of me? I mean, we basically have the same face.”

        A eye roll emoji came through followed by another message, “Not the same. Video, now!” Calum chuckled and pushed himself off the couch, and set his phone up so he could record everything. He pressed record and gave the camera a thumbs up before walking into the kitchen to grab a bowl of candy.

        It took him a while to find some, but as soon as he pulled it together, he walked back into the living room. The boys saw him holding the bowl and their eyes lit up. “Do you guys want some candy?” They pushed themselves off the floor, simultaneously nodding. “Okay, come sit on the couch, okay?” Both boys skipped over to the couch and scooted back onto the cushions. The boys sat close enough together, their arms touched. Calum sat the bowl on the coffee table and they started to reach forward, but Calum stopped them. “Hold on, I need to go use the bathroom, you can have some once I get back, okay?” Both boys looked up at Calum and nodded in understanding. Calum nodded and walked away, hiding behind the wall and waiting.

        “Should we take a piece?” Josh asked in a whisper, almost as if he knew that Calum was just around the corner.

        “No, my daddy said to wait.” Aiden said, making Calum’s heart melt into a puddle.

        “You’re right, maybe we’ll get more if he knows we didn’t eat any.” Josh talked a little louder, and Calum put his hand over his chest. He wasn’t even Josh’s parent and he was proud of him for listening.

        After another minute or so, Calum came back around the corner and smiled. “Did you guys wait?” The boys sat up excitedly and nodded. “Good job,” he claimed holding out his hands for high fives. “Go ahead and take three pieces each since you did so good.” The boys reached into the bowl and Calum sneakily reached for his phone and stopped the recording. He immediately sent the video to his wife and watched as the boys ate their candy.

        His phone started to vibrate, his wife’s face showing up as the phone continued to ring. He answered the phone and she barely waited for him to speak. “Calum, that was the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. They just sat there, swinging their legs, telling each other to not take the candy. When the heck did we become good parents?”

        Calum laughed and looked at the boys who were laughing as they ate the candy. “Your guess is as good as mine, but I’m glad we’re not doing as bad as I thought!”

        His wife laughed back and sighed. “That’s how I fell in love with you. You are the most amazing person, and you are such a good dad. I mean, I fell in love with you long before you became a dad, but I fall in love with you more every day. I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”

        Calum looked at his feet as he felt his cheeks burn, “Thank you, baby. Please come home soon, I miss being a parent with you.” She bid him a goodbye and Calum turned back to the living room, finding his way back to the couch and watching the boys continue to play with the toys scattered about the living room floor.

[bucky-plums]

Walking on a dream

PAIRING: SEBASTIAN STAN X READER

WORD COUNT: 1062

DESCRIPTION: you and Sebastian meet at the gym and this results in the beginning of a beautiful relationship

WARNINGS: Making out?

A/N: first off, happy birthday Sebastian!!!! second, this was very rushed because I wanted to post something for his birthday!! ignore any typos, I wrote this on my phone please please!!! and Let me know if you like it! p.s- this was inspired by the gym picture Sebastian uploaded

You were sent on a work trip by your law firm to the United States. Being one of the leading global firms, your company picked out the best hotel in town for you. It was a week-long trip and you had no plans on making new friends, let alone a boyfriend.

On the day you landed, you decided to sleep off the jet-lag and not do much, but you woke up in the middle of the night with full energy. You decided to hit the gym so that it would wear you out and you could go back to sleep. You changed to your gymming attire and put away your nightclothes.

You took your phone, a towel, and a water bottle and made your way to the hotel gym. While you were walking your phone buzzed. A notification popped up.

‘Sebastian Stan just posted a photo’ You quickly opened it and saw the picture.

The sight was breathtaking. It was a mirror selfie of Sebastian in a gym. His rock hard abs on full display and a vein popping out of his left arm making it very evident that he had just worked out. While walking, you were ogling at the picture.

You finally shut your phone as you reached the gym. It was empty when you walked in.

You plugged your headphones into your phone and picked a treadmill to run on.

You set your pace and ran on it, unbothered by your sorroundings.

A little while later you stopped to drink water. You got down from the treadmill and picked up your bottle when you saw someone was behind you. His shirtless back was facing you, and you could see his back muscles flex as he ran on the treadmill. You did not have very pg-13 thoughts then.

You cleared your throat and drank some water. Thankful that he was wearing headphones and wouldn’t be able to hear you, you got back to running but couldn’t get the stranger off your mind. Something about him seemed very familiar.

You finally grew tired and you decided to go back to bed. You had been in the gym for an hour and a half and realized that the mystery man was no longer there. You shrugged and made your way to your room.

The next morning you woke up and went to shower. You changed into your work clothes and headed out for your meetings.

At the end of the day, when you returned to your hotel room, you found out that Sebastian Stan was in the same city as you. The chances of him staying in the same hotel as you were slim but nonetheless, still there.

Fangirling to yourself, you decided to explore the city in hopes that you would bump into him somehow. You didn’t want to stalk him and invade his privacy. Atlanta was beautiful at night. You took a stroll along the streets and got some waffles to eat. Overall it was a very calming walk.

Disappointed that you didn’t accidentally bump into Sebastian, you went back to your room.

You were about to fall asleep when your trainer called.

“Hey (Y/N) your workout for the day is ready. Get your ass up and go to the gym”

“Hello to you too Danielle. And no, I worked out last night I’m not going to the gym today”

“(Y/N) get your ass up or I will make you do double sets when you come back”

“Stop threatening me this is abuse”

“Love you too. I’m going to WhatsApp you the workout. You better do it.”

“How will you know if I haven’t done it?”

“Girl I keep a track of your heart rate through your Fitbit”

“Screw you” You heard your friend laugh and you hung up on her.

You decided that you would go at midnight when the gym would be empty and decided to take a nap.

You woke up a couple of hours later and changed your clothes into gymming attire and ran down. A sudden burst of energy shot through your veins as you went down the lift.

You walked to the gym and saw that it was empty.

The first task on the agenda was 10 mins of cardio at 7 speed. You cursed under your breath because it was like running a marathon.

You got on the treadmill and began to run. You wore your headphones making you completely oblivious to your surroundings.

10 minutes later you got down and checked the next exercise. Slowly, you made your way through the list and soon you received a thumbs-up emoji from your trainer.

That was your signal to leave.

You shut the treadmill machine and stepped away from it. The same man from last night was present there. Except for this time, he was fully clothed. You saw him stop his machine and you quickly turned around and began to walk towards the water dispenser. You drank some water and threw the cup.

You went to pick up your phone from the treadmill when you caught the mystery man’s face. It was none other than Sebastian Stan. You tried not to react but, judging by the smirk on his face you knew that he found out. You politely smiled at him, not wanting to interrupt his workout and decided to leave.

“Hey wait” You looked back at him with a confused look on your face

“You left your headphones”

“Oh, thank you” You reached out your hands to take it from his

“You’re welcome” He lightly smiled at you

“I’m Sebastian, but I think you already know that so its only fair if I know your name”

“I’m (Y/N) and I’m sorry if I disturbed you”

“You did not (Y/N), in fact, I was just about to go back to my room” You nodded towards him

“Why do you work out in the middle of the night?”

“Well yesterday I couldn’t fall asleep and today my trainer basically threatened me” You chuckled “How about you?”

“Same, not able to fall asleep” suddenly the room was filled with tension. Anyone who entered the room would be able to guess what was going to happen. But not (Y/N).

Sebastian grabbed your hand and pulled you towards his chest.

“I saw you looking at me yesterday doll” You gasped as he stared into your eyes.

Not being able to predict what he was about to do next, you stayed there.

“As much as I want to kiss you right now, I would like to take you on a date first. So (Y/N), will you go on a date with me”

“Yes. I will.”

Sebastian let go of you. Flustered and not able to think straight, you grabbed him by his shirt and planted your lips on his.

His arms wrapped around your waist and yours were placed on his chest. You both pulled away panting.

You grabbed him again and fiercely kissed him.

“Doll, I think you should stop if you don’t want this go too far” he whispered against your lips

“Maybe I want this to go far”

“Your wish is my command. Your room or mine?”

“Yours”

With that, you woke up the next morning, naked under the sheets next to Sebastian Stan.

His arms were around you and legs tangled together.

You wondered if this was just a one night stand or would it go further. Lost in your thoughts, you did not realize that the sex-god had woken up.

“Good morning doll” His hoarse voice sounded insanely sexy in the morning and the little nickname gave you butterflies.

“Good morning Sebastian” you looked at him and drank in his appearance.

Everything about him was beautiful. His hair was messy due to last night’s events and there were red marks over his neck and collar.

“What are you looking at?” he asked with a smile on his face. You shook your head and cuddled into him.

‘“We’re still on for that date right? I was not joking when I told you that I want to get to know you”

“Yes Seb, were still on for that date. However, I should go now, I have meetings to go to”

“5 more minutes” and he hid his head in your neck. You could get used to this. You wanted to, but you had to wait.

“Ok 5 minutes are up, I have to go or I’ll get fired” he sighed and kissed your lips. You didn't want to let him go, but duty calls.

“Come to my room at 8 today. My room number is 786”

“Okay doll. See you” he smirked as you got dressed and ran to your room.

Your whole day was amazing and the date was even better. You both managed to stay without tearing each other's clothes for some time.

You were lying down next to Sebastian and he was mindlessly playing with your hands

“What will happen to us when the week is done Seb?”

“When the week is done, you will go back home and I will too. But we will make it work (Y/N), I really like you and I want to see where this goes”

And he was not wrong for taking the chance. Because right now both of you were sitting next to each other, him wearing a blue tux matching with his eyes and you wearing the most gorgeous white wedding dress as your best friend narrated this story.

“So Mrs.Stan, ready to recreate our first night together?” Sebastian whispered which sent a shiver down your spine.

“Can’t wait, it is like I’m walking on a dream”

[yanderefoeyay]

First of all like everything he does Ducktor relationships at 900 miles per hour

Like he’d steal an entire flower shop and opera to drop them of your doorstep, he balls hard ok

Pet names:

Ducktor: Every pet name ever Gyro wonders how he’d even remember his name if other people didn’t call him it, he would swear he was named darling or something at birth

Gyro: Simple but sweet like the man himself, uses love muffin the most tho, cause it’s funny and he swears Ducktor secretly likes it

Confesses first:

Ducktor: Realises he likes Gyro first but is at his wits end about it! Love is a weakness and he’s to grand to be smitten with that oblivious cute scientist. Basically he a board on his wall like that IASIP guy meme with plans on how to ask him out. After many sleepless nights he just makes a little rocket ship that pops out a little message in Gyros face that says “I really like you please give a chance”

Gyro: For a genius he’s about as oblivious as a man whose eating cereal while his house is on fire. Did think Ducktor was flirting with him as a joke, to mock him, then boom he’s getting asked out. Surprise 🎉

Spoons:

Ducktor is clingy AF, Gyro is cuddle suffocated

Gifts/Favours:

Ducktor will get Gyro the most extravagant gifts he’s ever seen, then Gyro will ask where he got the money, Ducktor starts sweating and says he sold an invention to someone. Gyro thinks well as long as it’s not stolen that’s good. Yeah Gyro doesn’t have to know it was sold to an arms dealer, that’s private info.

Gyro is canonly the favour king 👑!! But tries not to over due it cause Ducktor gets crazy protective about it, one time he accepted 4 favours in one day, and a 5th person came around and almost got insinerated by a lazer.

Dates:

Equal on both Formal and Casual, whilst Ducktor dosent like the suit and tie deal, he want to treat Gyro to the BEST, anyone worthy of his time and affection deserves nothing less. Gyro likes to show Ducktor all the best astrometry viewing spots in town and they take picnics and talk about all sorts, feeling comfort knowing anything they say the other will understand. And Gyros gotta admit it’s nice having an intellectual peer he can bounce ideas off.

Introverted/Extraverted

Ducktor: The most flamboyant most extra person in existence probably, loud and proud. Only hides inside to not be bothered by the cops/Papernik and to build inventions for vengeance

Gyro: Is really friendly and equally makes friends easily, gets used a bit to often by some people though. Prefers to stay inside but dosent mind going out to hang with donald, who Ducktor dosent like for some weird reason, and others.

Affection:

Ducktor: Would kill for Gyro, and if he succeeded he would do it again. That’s an affection action for him, protecting the only person you care about from users. But he also does cuter less horrific things for him, he preens gyro and tries to be as nice as possible to lil helper (omg is this our child now, am I dad? Internal crisis) and bakes him treats. Loves serenading Gyro too (and haha dirty talk)

Gyro: As I said Gyro is the gift that keeps on giving, he’d always doing little things for Ducktor, like putting a blanket over Ducktor if he falls asleep at his work bench, giving him shoulder rubs when he’s worked too hard (with those strong mechanic hands) and leaves him little notes and treats to show he thinks and cares about him. Get you a man like Gyro.

Carefree/serious

Ducktor: Normally a chill but narcissistic dude until you piss him off and then he’s out full on out for blood

Gyro: Serious when he’s helping his friends but 99% the most relaxed guy ever, could probably spill soup in his lap and he’d say sorry

Affectionate alone or out

Ducktor: is a complex case hence the question marks, he dosent really like showing affection in public cause it shows he cares about someone, supervillians don’t care about someone it’s shameful, but damn he just has those days where he’s super over the top affectionate all day, holding hands, showering compliments, the works, he must be in an estastic mood for this though. Now on the other hand, he’s the most jealous person EVER, WTF that lady just flirted with you PDA MAX, he just immediately kisses Gyro and sweeps him up bridal style whilst making direct eye contact with said lady, mouths “screw you” and walk off, Gyro still in his arms. Will most like hunt them down later and throw wacky putty in their face.

Gyro: Gets all blushy public so prefers it in private, lots of soft cheek kisses and Eskimo beaks kisses and hand holding. Cuddling under a blanket with Ducktor while they watch a movie and Ducktor complains about the scientific inaccuracies. That being said he does like making Ducktor flustered sometimes. Once they were on a double lunch date with Donald and Daisy, Ducktor didn’t like Donald from the moment they met, said he reminds him of someone, Donald was the same, probably cause a known criminal was dating his friend. They were throwing quips at one another and Donald said something about Papernik and Ducktor was about to leap over the table and throttle him when Gyro quickly grabbed him hand under the table and held it, brushing his thumb over the others knuckles. Ducktor stalled physically and mentally, Daisy did something similar to calm her own hothead, the date was saved for now atleast.

Slow burn/love at first sight

Ducktor: Always has been violently protective of Gyro since he was first created by the ego machine, the closest emotion he had to caring about someone, he did always think Gyro was handsome though, they were identical and he damn well knew he himself was hot as hell. Proper feeling developed along the way, especially all the days/nights they were alone together with Gyro as his hostage, they talked and got to know each other better, especially cause Ducktor was a chatter box.

Gyro: Definitely developed feeling slower cause this is a freaking evil version of yourself that’s a crazed supervillian, that’s multiple levels of weird. A weirdness onion. Gave Ducktor a chance after the other did some things to help him and gained his trust, everyone deserves a seventh chance right? And this was a version of him and so maybe deep down they was some good in him after all? Man how the heck was he gonna explain this to Scrooge, Donald and Papernik though? Holy cow...

Texts/Emoji Spam

Ducktor: Pure Damn Gibberish! Just memes sent on mass, no actual words just 20 heart emojis and a clown with a crown next to an eggplant, Gyro can friggin translate hieroglyphics but not that shit

Gyro: Texts like a Dad, full sentences or stuff like ‘wat u up 2’, it’s makes Ducktor cringe, is he dating a damn Nokia user?

Clothes

Ducktor: Him and Gyro are the exact same measurements and Fuck laundry, Gyros closet is mine now

Gyro: Would not be seen dead in Ducktors clothes, he dresses like Guy Fieri

[hungline]

the plan

pairings: jihope, minor taegi and namjinkook   genre: fluff, light angst, non au, meeting the parents au, rated pg15  warnings: referenced sexual content  a/n: written for the first round of the jihope love exchange held by @jihope-love​! words: 4107 

summary: Jimin’s head over heels in love with Hoseok, but Hoseok only sees him as his cute dongsaeng. 

Step One: Admit Your Feelings

 "Do you think he even knows if I exist?" Jimin asks, splayed out across Taehyung's bed as the younger scowls at his desktop, for once not wearing his headphones.

Taehyung doesn't bother looking up from the screen, too focused on blasting the enemy team away from the payload. "Who?"

Jimin sighs as he shifts onto his stomach and gives Taehyung a pained look. "Hobi."

When Taehyung doesn't answer right away, Jimin sighs again and turns on his back, staring up at the ceiling of Taehyung and Namjoon's room. He can hear the sounds coming from Taehyung's computer, the gunshots, the character's voices and the loud footsteps of Taehyung's enemies, but he ignores all of that to study the ceiling instead, picking out designs with his eyes alone.

It isn't until Taehyung's team has won the game that he hears Taehyung turn in his chair to face Jimin. "You're asking me if Hoseok, the man who shares a room with you, knows if you exist?"

Jimin keeps his gaze on Taehyung's ceiling. "Yes."

Taehyung sighs and shakes his head, lurching out of his chair to join Jimin on the bed. "Jiminnie, what's this about?"

Jimin turns until his face is pressed into Taehyung's chest, curling up into his best friend's embrace. "I think I'm in love with Hoseok."

Taehyung sighs and pets his hair, briefly rolling away when he remembers about his game. "Hold on. Gimme a sec to exit out, Jiminnie."

Jimin nods, replacing Taehyung with a pillow instead as the taller boy approaches his computer then returns back to lay down beside Jimin within less than a minute. When he does, Jimin looks over the pillow to meet the probing gaze Taehyung is directing at him.

"So, you've finally admitted to yourself what we've all known for years then?" Taehyung asks.

Jimin blanches. "What?"

Taehyung stretches his arms above his head, sighing when something cracks. "Jiminnie. We all know that you've been in love with Hobi ever since you met him."

"But...I just..." Jimin trails off, biting his lip as he takes in this new information. "I just figured it out recently. How could you all have known?"

And then very quietly, "Does Hobi know?"

"Nope. Not as far as I know. Anyway, he wouldn't have told me if he did," Taehyung replies, throwing an arm over Jimin's waist as he settles into the bed again. "But we all know how you feel about him. It was really obvious from the get-go."

"Why didn't you say anything then?"

Taehyung laughs, the sound of it somehow comforting to Jimin as he curls into Taehyung's embrace again, abandoning the pillow. "It wasn't any of my business what you feel for him, Jiminnie. Namjoonie told me whatever happens between you two has to be dealt between yourselves. We weren't allowed to interfere unless you guys did something on camera."

Jimin pales, his stomach rolling with Taehyung's words. "Namjoon said that? To all of you? Really?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, why do you think Jeonggukkie's been putting himself between you two lately?" Taehyung asks, big brown eyes pinning Jimin with his curious gaze. "Minnie. All this time and you really didn't know?"

Jimin shrugs, not meeting Taehyung's gaze. "I've been busy with other things. I mean, I didn't realize I was in love with him until, like, last week, Tae. How could I have noticed the rest?"

Taehyung clicks his tongue and pulls Jimin a little closer, sensing that his best friend is stressed. "Well, you know now. What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know."

"Do you want to date him?" Taehyung asks after a moment of silence has passed.

Jimin shifts beside him, his face feeling warm. "Yeah."

Taehyung nods, a grin spreading across his face when he asks his next question. "Do you want to bone Hoseok?"

Jimin buries his face in Taehyung's sheets, the back of his neck and tips of his ears red. He nods, his reply muffled, and Taehyung laughs while he prods at Jimin's side to get the older man to turn over.

"Can't understand you like that, Minnie," Taehyung teases, still poking at Jimin's side. "Now. Do you or do you not want to have sex with Hobi?"

"...yes," Jimin murmurs, his face blazing. "But he doesn't see me like that. I'm just a cute dongsaeng to him."

"Because you are a cute dongsaeng. But still, it's good you admitted your feelings," Taehyung says with a nod, smiling too warmly for Jimin to think he's teasing him. "That's the first step."

"First step of what?"

"Getting into Hoseok's pants," Taehyung replies cheerily, laughing when Jimin blushes again, pressing his palms to his eyes to block out the image of the younger man beside him.

"Oh my god," Jimin groans, the parts of his face that Taehyung can still see a darker red than before. "I'm never going to hear about the end of this now."

"Do you want to hear my brilliant plan or not?" Taehyung asks, still smiling as he rolls over Jimin to get to his pillows, wrapping his arms around one as soon as it's within his reach. "It's foolproof, you know?"

Jimin doesn't say anything for a while and Taehyung thinks that he might just up and leave the room too, but Jimin stays rooted to the spot, biting down on his lip as he scoots closer to Taehyung. "What's your plan?"

Taehyung grins, a little smug as he watches Jimin inch closer to hear his brilliant plan that has zero chances of failing.

After all, Taehyung had used the same plan on Yoongi.

   Step Two: Find Out What He Likes

 Jimin eyes his phone like his life depends on it, thumb hovering over the screen.

He's had Kakao open to the same chat room for what feels like an hour now, debating what to type, how to start the conversation that's been burning in the back of his head for a while now.

Hoseok's display name taunts Jimin with each passing minute. He's quickly losing resolve and he still has no clue how to begin.

Jimin sighs and falls back into bed, feeling a little lonely without Hoseok being there, but the elder is at his parents place in Gwangju, having felt the need to visit as soon as Bang PD-nim gave them a short holiday in place of Chuseok, when they'd be in the States, too busy and too far to come home. He stares up at the ceiling, debating and thinking until, finally, he decides to go with the first idea he'd had.

jimin: hobi-hyung, wanna play a game?

Jimin already regrets sending the message but he can't stop himself from watching his screen, letting out a tense breath when the little one by his message quickly disappears. He waits as patiently as he can force himself to be as Hoseok types out a reply, the message appearing almost instantly.

hopie: sure. what game? :3

Despite Jimin knowing what he's about to do, he smiles down at the emoticon. It's one of Hoseok's favorites and he tends to always use it at the end of his texts when he messages Jimin. Jimin's heart swells up in his chest, climbing up into his throat with enough force to knock Jimin breathless. He gulps it down, focusing on what he's about to do, breathing through his nose to calm his breath.

jimin: a game where we share what we'd like to try

Jimin waits until the one has disappeared again before he sends his next message, sweat accumulating on his brow.

jimin: in bed

Hoseok's message takes a while to get to Jimin, long enough after the one has disappeared again that Jimin decides this is a bad idea and he should drop it now while he's ahead. His hands are shaking and he knows that he's sweating profusely now, but he continues to watch his screen, gasping when Hoseok's message finally pops up.

hopie: ...sure, how do we play?

It takes Jimin a second to realize that the elder has agreed before his thumbs are flying across the screen, his keyboard suddenly feeling a million times smaller as he tries to type out the rules as fast as he can.

jimin: we take turns saying something sex-related and then answer with: kink, like it, would like to try, have tried and don't like it, or hard-pass

hopie: wouldn't it be easier to use emojis or numbers instead? like 5 could be kink, 4 - like it, 3 - would like to try, 2 - have tried and don't like it, 1 - hard pass

jimin: sure, that sounds easier. do you want to go first?

Now is the elder's chance to back out and Jimin's almost sure of the fact that Hoseok will because Jimin's game is so out of the blue and Hoseok is probably busy having a good time with his family andー

hopie: ok! um...blow job! :3

Jimin almost cries in relief, he can't believe Hoseok is playing along with him.

jimin: 4

hopie: 3

jimin: wait, you've never given anyone a blow job before?

hopie: don't tease! i'm your hyung! but no, i haven't. been too busy, remember?

jimin: oh...right

hopie: your turn!

Jimin bites his lip. What the hell is he supposed to ask about? Hoseok had started with something basic so maybe he should too.

Keep it simple.

jimin: hand job!

hopie: 4

jimin: 4

hopie: my turn again :3 mm...let's get more nitty, gritty. handcuffs!

jimin: 4 when i use them on someone, 1 if they're used on me

hobie: we're the opposite lol 1 if i use them on someone, 4 when they're used on me :3

Jimin almost smiles. He bites his lip to keep the smile from spreading, but then he realizes that he's alone anyway so he lets the smile bloom across his face as he and Hoseok keep up their back-and-forth game of finding out about each other's likes and dislikes.

Maybe Taehyung's plan is foolproof after all.

   Step Three: Show Him You Can Take Care of Him

 Jimin's been a sweating mess the entire afternoon. Hoseok has asked him a number of times if he's okay, but Jimin had swatted his worries away and smiled, doing his best to make it seem like he wasn't screaming on the inside.

Now, they sit at a cafe, coffee on the table in front of them.

Hoseok is talking about how nice it was to see his parents, but all the while, Jimin's focusing on the fact that he never once called it home.

Hoseok talking about his parents, makes Jimin miss his own. But that doesn't override the nerves he's feeling from being at this cafe with the man he's crushing on, all by themselves.

Jimin sips from his coffee, nodding along to what Hoseok's saying, but not meeting his gaze anymore.

He feels a little sad now the more he thinks about the last time he visited his parents.

"Jiminnie. Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Hoseok's voice breaks through Jimin's thoughts.

Jimin startles, blushing as he finally meets the elder's gaze, stuttering out, "W-What are you talking about?"

Hoseok gives him an unamused smile, his teeth gleaming from the fluorescent lighting above them. "You've been moping this entire time. Did something happen with you and your parents?"

Jimin shakes his head, blush darkening on his face. "No. I just..."

"You just?" Hoseok prompts, leaning over the table to crowd into Jimin's space, forcing the younger to answer him. "Come on, Jiminnie. You know you can tell me anything."

"I know I can!" Jimin hastens to answer, flinching when he realizes how loud he was. "Sorry. I just don't want to put a damper on things. We were having a nice time and I don't want to ruin that with my bad mood."

Hoseok smiles and takes Jimin's hand, interlacing their fingers together atop the tabletop. "Jiminnie, if you're in a bad mood, just tell me what's causing it so that I can make you happy again."

Now Jimin knows that the flush he's sporting is working its way down his neck and onto his chest because he feels warm and tingly all over and why can't Hoseok understand that he can't just say things like that without running the risk of making Jimin spontaneously combust? Jimin sighs and tries for a smile, gripping on tight to Hoseok's hand.

"I miss my parents is all. Sometimes when I think about them, I don't think of my bedroom there as home anymore. Home is here and I don't know, I guess I'm just a little sad for finally having grown up," Jimin murmurs, eyes downcast again.

Hoseok puts his other hand on top of their joined ones, his palm soft and warm, and Jimin looks up to meet his gaze. "It's okay to grow up, Minnie. It's a part of life and I know your parents wouldn't blame you for not thinking of their place as home anymore. If you'd like, you could come with me to visit my parents next time I go."

"Yeah, I'd like that," Jimin says with a nod, feeling lighter now. "Thank you, Hobi-hyung."

The smile Hoseok gives him in response could very well outshine the sun. "Anything for you, Jiminnie."

Jimin smiles back, even while knowing that he completely failed step three of Taehyung's plan. At least he's well on his way to fulfilling step four though.

   Step Four: Meet the Parents

 Hoseok's parents are as warm and inviting as Hoseok is and Jimin completely understands where the elder gets it from now.

Mrs. Jung welcomes Jimin with a tight hug, holding him pressed against her chest and Jimin feels the inexplicable urge to cry because it's been too long since a mother held him. Mr. Jung also hugs Jimin, taking him completely by surprise when he'd gone for a handshake himself, but it turns out alright and Hoseok's father even pats his back before letting him go, a warm smile on his face as he does.

Hoseok throws an arm around both of his parents' neck, crying a little as they all hug. Jimin politely averts his eyes.

"Mom, Dad. I'd like you to meet Jimin. He's my favorite dongsaeng," Hoseok says once his parents have ushered them into the living room, cups of coffee on the table to greet them.

Jimin tries to not let on how his mood instantly wilts when Hoseok says that, so he smiles and waves instead, not really understanding why Hoseok waited until now to introduce him properly.

Hoseok's parents exchange looks and a knowing smile, pinching Hoseok's cheeks before saying simultaneously, "So, we have a new son."

Jimin does his best not to let his smile slip, no matter how creepy that might have been and laughs when Hoseok fails to get out of his parent's grip.

"Well, yeah. Sure, you could say that, I guess," Hoseok replies, resolved to let himself be pinched to death by his parents. "Jiminnie's like my broー"

"Son-in-law, great!" Hoseok's mother says then, cutting off whatever Hoseok was going to say.

"Then you won't mind sharing your bed then, Hobi. The guest room is being cleaned out right now so we can't offer it to Jimin until two days from now," Hoseok's father adds on, smiling kindly at Jimin with a knowing glint in his eye.

Jimin pales. They can't possibly know that he's head over heels in love with their son. Right?

Not right, Jimin thinks to himself as Hoseok's mother turns to smile at him too, the same knowing glint in her eyes.

Is he that obvious that even Hoseok's parents can instantly tell how far gone he is over Hoseok?

Jimin smiles back anyway. "I don't mind sharing. As long as Hobi-hyung doesn't either."

Hoseok shrugs. Sharing a bed isn't something new to either of them. When Jimin has nightmares, he usually finds himself in Hoseok's bed by morning anyway. But ever since figuring out how he really feels for the elder, sharing a bed has felt both awkward and exhilarating at the same time. Still, Jimin can share the same bed as his hyung. It's no problem.

Really.

"I don't mind either. It's not like it's the first time anyway," Hoseok says nonchalantly, focusing on the coffee on the table as his parents exchange glances and nod.

"It's settled then," Hoseok's father begins.

"You'll be sharing the bed," Hoseok's mother ends for him.

Maybe Jimin should be a little freaked out how in tune Hoseok's parents are, but all he can really focus on is the fact that he's going to be sharing a bed with the elder.

Hoseok smiles at him as he sits down beside him on the couch, wordlessly pushing a cup of coffee in Jimin's direction. Jimin smiles back, a variety of emotions racing through his veins when Hoseok meets his gaze, doing his best to not let any of them show. Hoseok's parents sit on the two armchairs, smiling at their sons.

Jimin mentally crosses step four off his list as he sweats over step five.

   Step Five: Seduce Him

 All day Jimin has been restless.

It's day two of his stay at Hoseok's parents and Hoseok has been nothing but beautiful and tempting.

The day before Hoseok had shown him around town, even showing Jimin the corner where he used to busk. Jimin had followed him dutifully, smiling as he immersed himself in Hoseok's hometown of Gwangju. Little by little, Hoseok's jeolla had begun to crop up the longer they stayed here and Jimin would be lying if he didn't find it a little hot.

Today they'd visited the old dance studio Hoseok used to practice at and then they'd danced together.

Not like the dances they're used to doing for performances, but the fun ones. The ones they used to do for fun back when they were trainees and newbie idols.

It's still as fun as Jimin remembers. Hoseok's smile had never left his face, even when he kept eye contact with Jimin throughout it all, their smiles had never faltered. Even with his own feelings, Jimin's glad that they can still have fun like they used to.

Once they'd collapsed on the studio's floor to take a break, it'd taken all of Jimin's willpower not to jump Hoseok's bones right then and there.

Watching the elder pant as he lay on the floor, sweaty and eyes closed was enough to drive Jimin mad. Completely and absolutely mad.

Jimin knows that he isn't going to make it through the rest of this trip. Even as he waits for the elder to get out of the shower and join Jimin in bed, he knows he won't make it. Hoseok and his unknowing beauty are going to kill before long.

Because Hoseok is beautiful. Not in an idol way though. Hoseok is beautiful in his own way. He's happier, more carefree as if he isn't J-Hope, member of BTS, but as if he's Jung Hoseok, Gwangju born and raised. Being in Hoseok's hometown has made the elder brighter, something in him being switched on as they walked his childhood streets together. Hoseok had even held his hand, uncaring of the stares they received from older people, and Jimin's heart had melted in goop.

He is so done for.

Hoseok enters the room then, towel over his head letting Jimin stare at his bare chest unabashed. The towel soon disappears when the elder hangs it on the hook behind his door, running a hand through his hair as he turns towards the bed and smiles at Jimin.

"Ready to sleep, Minnie?" Hoseok asks, his voice softer than Jimin's ever heard it before.

Jimin nods, not knowing what else to say and Hoseok climbs into bed beside him, making Jimin scoot over until his back is pressed against the wall. Hoseok's only in boxers as he nestles into the sheets on his side of the bed, even scooting forward a little so that he's touching Jimin's arm. Jimin knows what he wants, Hoseok likes it when his arms are stroked as he sleeps, it's a habit his mother had instilled in him since birth and Jimin is helpless to Hoseok's wants as he reaches out and rests his palm on Hoseok's elbow, the elder's skin soft and warm underneath his touch.

Hoseok hums appreciatively, curling even further into Jimin's embrace until they're pressed chest-to-chest, their legs tangled together. Jimin's heartbeat thumps erratically in his ears and he only hopes that the elder can't hear it.

Jimin's hand is beginning to move now, fingertips trailing up from Hoseok's elbow to his shoulder, pausing when Hoseok sighs with the movement, something peaceful hidden in the sound. Jimin stares at him, he's been staring all day really, but this staring is a little more special.

Jimin knows that if Hoseok were to open his eyes right now, he'd see right through Jimin and figure everything out. Everything would be blown. The love Jimin harbors for Hoseok is clear in his eyes and even Hoseok wouldn't be able to miss it.

It's just that when Hoseok does open his eyes, Jimin can't force himself to look away. Not because he's tired of hiding his feelings, but because Hoseok is staring back at him in the same way.

Hoseok loves him.

"Hyung," Jimin whispers, a little in awe.

Hoseok smiles at him. "I've spent years convincing myself that you can't be anything else more than my dongsaeng. Every day, you prove how much you've really grown ever since we first met. You're not the cute little kid I crushed on back in our trainee days. You're Park Jimin, the guy I've been helplessly in love with since the first moment."

Jimin watches him as he mulls over his next words, the elder's eyes never leaving his, the look in them never diminishing. He doesn't know if he's breathing right now, but honestly, fuck breathing. Whatever Hoseok is about to say is a thousand times more important than breathing.

"I'm really tired of lying to myself, Jiminnie," Hoseok breathes out in the air between them. "I love you."

Jimin's heart clenches, beating furiously in his chest and he moves in, pressing himself flat against the elder, holding Hoseok closer. "I love you too, hyung."

Hoseok shifts against him then, eyes pinching together when a tiny moan escapes his mouth as the angle suddenly becomes sinful. "Oh, fuck."

Jimin only smiles, rolling his hips up into the elder's. "I love you," he repeats because, after all these years, Jimin has a lot of time he should make up for.

Hoseok's eyes shine in the darkness of his childhood bedroom and he moves in, closing in on Jimin until their lips are a hairsbreadth apart. "I guess I can finally give that blow job I've been meaning to give."

Jimin giggles, feeling weightless as he rests his forehead against the elder's. "Yeah, I guess you can. I love you."

"I love you more," Hoseok murmurs and before Jimin can argue, soft lips are being pressed against his own and he becomes lost in Jung Hoseok.

   Bonus Step Six: Date Him

 Jimin returns back to the dorms as a new man.

Hoseok held his hand the entire way home, and when they unlock the front door to find Jeongguk sprawled across Namjoon and Seokjin's laps on the couch, a lot of other things are thrown into perspective for Jimin as well. Hoseok giggles as the three on the couch jump guiltily until Jimin waves a hand and tells them they don't mind. Seokjin smiles at them and rises from the couch anyway, pushing the couple into the kitchen where he can fill them with food.

Hoseok takes Jimin's hand as they sit at the counter, waiting patiently for Seokjin to finish and when the elder hands them their food, he raises his brows at their hands, but says nothing, deciding to return to the living room where Jeongguk is whining for the eldest to come back. Seokjin rolls his eyes, pats their hands, and walks out of the kitchen, leaving them alone again.

"You know, it's good to be home," Hoseok says as he lifts his chopsticks with his free hand.

Jimin smiles and leans into his side, pressing a kiss to his boyfriend's jaw. "Definitely good to be home."

Hoseok smiles back and Jimin is so far gone for this boy.

  Taehyung's plan had actually worked and he squeals loudly when Jimin tells him the news.

[lastbluetardis]

Chemical Potential (8/11)

Summary: Slightly homesick and stressed about her abysmal chemistry grade, Rose Tyler meets quirky James Smith, the boy who sits in front of her in their chemistry class. They become fast friends as James makes it his personal mission to help Rose get through the semester.

Ten x Rose University AU

This chapter: ~5200 words, teen

Notes: This was written for the lovely @thegreenfairy13 as part of the @dwsecretsanta gift exchange. Also tagging @doctorroseprompts.

I foresee about two or three more chapters after this one.

AO3 | Ch1 | Ch2 | Ch3 | Ch4 | Ch5 | Ch6 | Ch7 | Ch8 | Ch9 | Ch10 | epilogue

“Hey Mick! Come on in!”

Rose moved back and let her oldest friend step through the threshold into her flat. He was in town for a conference, and had promised to stop by for a visit before flying back to New York.

The scent of grease, cheese, and bread wafted from the large cardboard box in his hands, making her stomach gurgle hungrily.

“Make yourself comfy,” she said, taking the pizza box from him to set on her cluttered kitchen table. “S’cuse the mess.”

Rose grabbed plates from her cabinet, then opened her fridge for two bottles of beer. After she and Mickey plated their pizza, they sank onto her couch.

“How have you been, babe?” he asked, knocking his knee against hers. “How are you enjoying America?”

“I’m good,” Rose answered. She took a bite of pizza but winced when the hot cheese and sauce scalded the roof of her mouth. “America is fine, I suppose. Different from London, but I like it.”

“And school?” he prompted.

“It’s… okay,” she said carefully. “I’m taking a chemistry class. Stupidest decision of my life. I’m rubbish at it. But my other classes are all right, I s’pose. I’ve only got one art class. Well, I mean, I’m also in an art history class, but I don’t particularly count that. My art class is a painting class, which isn’t really my specialty, but I like it well enough.”

“What have you been working on?” Mickey said, slouching back against the sofa. He took a lazy swig from his beer, then used the bottle to point to Rose’s opened but sleeping laptop which was perched atop various loose papers and her sketchpad.

“I was touching up a few photos before you arrived,” she answered vaguely.

“Can I see?”

Rose bit her lip. Mickey had always supported her art. While she knew he thought it was a difficult career path to try to follow, he’d never voiced his doubts aloud. He was always game for taking a look at her work, especially if she was trying a new technique.

But she knew that James would be the only thing he’d see on her computer screen. The two of them had gone on a walk during a sudden snow squall a few days ago, and Rose had taken photos of him and the two of them walking around the snowy campus. The snow hadn’t lasted longer than a day, but it had been beautiful as it came down.

“Oh, come on,” Mickey goaded. “You’ve never been shy before.”

“Shut up,” Rose said lightly, smacking his thigh.

“Were you working with a nude model?” he teased.

“Shut up!” she said again, laughing. “No, I haven’t worked with a nude model.” She gave him a sly smile. “That’s not ‘til I get to the advanced courses.”

“Well then, lemme see,” he said.

Rose bit back a sigh and stood up to grab her laptop. She woke it up, logged in, then pulled up the photos she’d been touching up. The first one made her heart squeeze. James had his head tilted back, his eyes squeezed shut, and his mouth wide open as he caught snowflakes on his tongue. It was a close-up shot; bits of snow clung to his lashes and she could easily see the smattering of freckles across his cheeks and nose. He was utterly beautiful.

The next photo was of James crouching beside a mini-snowman he’d made. It had taken him ten minutes to scrape up enough snow to build the six-inch-tall snowman. Nevertheless, he was beaming proudly as he squatted beside his creation.

“And who’s this?” Mickey asked, raising an eyebrow at her when he realized her subject was the same man.

Her cheeks burned as she muttered, “James.”

“And who’s James?”

“Nobody,” she lied. “A kid in my chemistry class. He’s helping me study.”

Mickey stifled his grin around a swig of beer. “Uh huh. Sure babe. ‘Cos study buddies definitely go on snowy walks together.”

Rose’s face was on fire, but she couldn’t quite get the denial out. She knew she and James were more than friends. Well. She felt more than friendship towards him. But she still didn’t know where he stood, or what he thought or felt about her.

The buzzing of her phone gave her the distraction she desperately desired. It vibrated again, then again. The texts came through in rapid-fire succession that immediately told her it was James. It was endearing that he sent a series of back-to-back texts rather than one long message.

A smile crossed her lips when she saw his name on her phone, then she read his texts and her smile grew after each one.

Hey! Hope you’re having fun with your mate. Sorry if I’m interrupting. Ignore me ‘til you’re free, if you want.

But I’ve got a question. Well. An invitation. Thanksgiving is the week after next.

I know you’re not American and probably don’t give two shits. But still, when in Rome, y’know.

Anyway, I was gonna have a few mates ‘round my place for dinner. Mates who live far enough away that they aren’t going home for the break.

Turkey and potatoes and stuffing and veggies and pie. Basically it’s Christmas, Part One. Gluttonous Americans.

Oh, the dessert-y pie btw.

There’s gonna be loads of food.

What d’you say Rose Tyler?

“Is that him then?”

Rose jolted, then her cheeks flamed. She’d forgotten she wasn’t alone, and she was painfully aware that she had the daftest grin on her face.

“Maybe,” she said. She grabbed her bottle of beer and took a long pull from it, hoping the motion would help get rid of her smile.

“What’d he want?”

“To invite me to Thanksgiving dinner in two weeks,” she said. Mickey waggled his eyebrows, and she reached over and pinched his arm. “He invited several people, Micks.”

She turned back to her phone and typed, “That sounds great! Count me in!”

Woohoo!!

Then he sent three grinning emojis and three thumbs-up. She smiled and sent back, “Can’t wait! I’m excited to see what the hype is all about.”

“You really love him, don’t you?”

Rose whipped her head around to face her friend, who was watching her closer than she was comfortable with.

“Dunno what you’re talking about,” she mumbled, but her voice was thin. “We’re just mates.”

But Mickey was looking at her dubiously, and Rose didn’t bother to deny it again.

“Have you told him?”

“Course not,” she scoffed.

“How come?”

“Because what if he doesn’t feel the same way? Or what if he turns out to be another Jimmy?” That was her biggest fear. She was already so in love with James, even more than she’d been with Jimmy. It was exhilarating and terrifying. The stakes seemed much greater this time, and she knew that if things went badly with James, it would hurt even worse than last time.

“Has he given any indication that he’s a lying, cheating wanker?”

“Well, no, but neither did Jimmy at first,” Rose argued. But she couldn’t picture James becoming like Jimmy. She was sure there were warning signs with Jimmy, but her stupid teenaged self had been too besotted and naive to see them. She knew better now, and yet James wasn’t showing any signs of being anything other than his adorable, goofy, kind, lovable self.

“Are you gonna go through life assuming the worst about people?” Mickey asked carefully. “That’s not the Rose Tyler I knew.”

“You knew the Rose Tyler who didn’t have her heart broken,” she sighed.

Mickey gave her an appraising look. “You’ve got it bad,” he said softly. “For someone who’s insisting you’re ‘just friends’.”

Rose sighed as she began gnawing at her thumb cuticle.

“Maybe a bit,” she admitted. “He’s just… he’s amazing, Mick.”

“Then why haven’t you snogged him yet?” Mickey asked.

“We’ve gone over this,” Rose huffed. “Jimmy sort of put a sour taste in my mouth regarding relationships.”

“That son of a bitch wins if you let yourself be miserable and alone. Do you really want to be moping about that wanker when he’s out there shagging that bimbo he left you for?” Rose winced. “Sorry, babe. But you know what I mean.”

“Yeah. And no, I don’t. I’m not miserable, Mickey. And I’m not lonely.” She hissed as she bit her cuticle down too far and it began to bleed. “I just… what if it doesn’t work? Or what if he’s not attracted to me and things get awkward. He’s my best mate. Apart from you, of course,” she added hastily when Mickey let out a grunt of protest. “I love being around him, and I love our friendship. I don’t want that to go away.”

“Have you ever considered the idea that he’s as in love with you as you are with him?” Mickey asked.

“I… no, not really. Because that means getting my hopes up.”

“What wrong with that?” Mickey shrugged. “Rose, I know you’re scared of being hurt again. I know. But think about what you might be losing. Eh? What if you’re both in love with each other and are perfect together? Remember how happy you were with Jimmy in the beginning? Imagine that, but deeper. And forever.”

“Being with Martha has made you soft,” Rose teased, even as a lump lodged itself in her throat.

“Oi, don’t knock it,” Mickey said, jabbing his elbow into her ribs. “Being in love is the best thing that’s happened to me. I want that for you, too, Rose. I want to see you happy.”

“I am happy,” she stressed.

“I want to see you happier,” he amended.

Rose loosed a long, low breath. “I never thought I’d see the day when Mickey Smith gave me dating advice.”

Mickey chuckled, but sensed that Rose was done with the conversation, and stood up for another beer.

He stayed for another few hours before calling a taxi to take him back to his hotel room.

Even after Mickey had long gone, his parting piece of advice still rang in her head. Instead of imagining the worst-case scenario, imagine the best.

oOoOo

Rose was eager to go to her chemistry lecture on Monday morning. She hadn’t talked with James much over the weekend, between hanging out with Mickey and working a ten-hour shift at the grocery store on Sunday.

But when she sat down for class, James was nowhere to be found. He didn’t stroll in at the last minute, like he sometimes did, and when she checked her phone after the period was over, there were no texts from him letting her know he wouldn’t be in.

She headed to the library to pass the time until her noontime class, and when she sank into a plush sofa, she pulled out her phone and sent James a message.

“I hope everything’s all right.”

She spent the next fifteen minutes opening and closing various apps, waiting anxiously for James to reply. It wasn’t like him to go suddenly silent.

Yeah. Fine. Why?

She exhaled with relief.

“You weren’t in class today.”

Am I not allowed to skip class just because I feel like it? I didn’t realize I needed your permission. Or to check in with you.

Rose started, then her chest caved at his un-James-like rudeness.

“Of course you can. Sorry. Didn’t mean to nag.”

Tears burned behind her lids and she pressed her palms to them. The last thing she wanted to do was break down in the library. But she was self-conscious and upset by James’s behavior.

Towards the end of their ill-fated relationship, Jimmy had used to tell her to stop nagging him. That she was being paranoid and suffocating him. That she shouldn’t have been surprised he found another girl who was more trusting and less paranoid.

Her phone buzzed on her thigh.

No, I’m sorry. I’m being rude. Really. I’m sorry. I appreciate you checking in. For all you knew, I was dead in a ditch. I’m sorry.

Rose sniffled and wiped her stinging nose against her sleeve.

“If I’m being overbearing, please tell me,” she said, even though it would hurt if James asked for distance from her.

You’re not. I promise.

I’m just. Not feeling well.

“Sick?”

No. Emotionally. Having a shit day.

I’m actually gonna go back to bed now.

I’ll see you Wednesday.

Sorry I was an arse.

Rose frowned at her phone, but didn’t reply.

She was worried about him for the rest of the day. He must be having a truly awful day if he skipped school. Sure, she’d seen him on the days when he was short-tempered or sullen, but he was always pleasant and polite with her, even if he was sometimes quiet and withdrawn. And she’d always managed to make him smile on those days.

But this seemed different. She didn’t know why, but she felt it deep in her gut.

Finally, she was done with classes for the day, glad that Monday was her early day. At two in the afternoon, Rose stood at the bus stop, but rather than catch the bus to her apartment, she instead rode it to the stop near the grocery store. She had a list running in her head, and it was a quick trip in for the ingredients to make her Nan’s old homemade chicken noodle soup. As a little girl, that had always been one of her favorite meals, and as she grew older, Rose often made it as a comfort food.

While James wasn’t physically ill, she hoped the soup would cheer him up even a tiny bit. Or at the very least, it would be a quick meal for him if he wasn’t in the mood to do any cooking.

For the next two hours, Rose slaved over an enormous pot of boiling chicken, adding seasonings and chopped vegetables and lastly noodles to the pot. Her flat was filled with the scent of the cooking soup, and it made an ache of nostalgia ping in her chest.

The soup was eventually ready, and Rose ladled half of it into a different pot. Then she called for an Uber and made her way to James’s house.

She argued with herself for the entire ride. Was she crossing some sort of boundary? Would he be annoyed that she showed up? Would he think it was weird? Would he think it was overbearing and suffocating, no matter what he’d said earlier?

Her heart thudded rapidly against her ribs as the driver pulled into James’s development. Well, there was nothing to do but go for it. At the very least, she’d drop off the soup then go back home.

“This house here?” the driver asked.

“Yeah. Could you wait for a few minutes? I’m dropping off food for a friend. I dunno if he’s even home or anything.”

Even though Rose could plainly see James’s car in his driveway.

“Sure thing.”

Rose clambered out of the back of the car, vat of soup in her arms, then she walked to the front door. Her hands were full, so she pressed the doorbell with her elbow.

Long seconds passed, and Rose was about to try the bell again when the door opened. James looked awful. His hair was unkempt, his eyes were red and glassy, and he was still in his pajamas.

“Rose?” he asked, his voice hoarse. He blinked rapidly a few times, as though he didn’t believe it was actually her standing there.

“Er, hi. I- I just wanted to check that you were okay.” Then she raised her arms a little, showing him the pot in her hands. “I made soup. If you want.”

“Yeah. Thanks. Haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

Rose frowned. “It’s nearly six o’clock.”

He shrugged.

“Are you… all right?”

He shrugged again.

“Do you want to be alone?” she asked quietly.

“Why would anyone want to be alone?” he asked bitterly. She’d never heard him use that tone before, and the combination of anger and agony made her stomach twist into knots. She wanted to drop the soup and take James into her arms until that haunted look left his face.

“I meant… do you want me to come in and hang out for a while?”

“You don’t have to,” he said wearily, rubbing his fingertips into his eyes. “I’m not going to be good company.”

“You don’t need to be,” she said. “We can sit on the couch in complete silence if you’d like. I’m actually here to see your cats, anyway.”

The tiniest of smiles tugged at the corners of his mouth. “Yeah. Okay.”

She grinned. “Kay.”

Rose turned towards the idling driver and balanced the pot of soup on one hip to free up a hand. She waved him off, and he raised his hand in recognition before pulling away. She then turned back towards James and followed him into his house.

“Hi, Pip,” Rose said as the tabby zoomed straight into her legs. Pippin chirped and wove between her feet, nearly tripping her as she walked to the kitchen. “I’m gonna start heating this up, if that’s all right? It shouldn’t take long. I just made it so it’s still warm.”

James nodded and followed her as she set the pot of chicken soup on the stovetop and turned on the burner.

“We’ll let that heat through, then we’ll eat,” she said, more to fill the silence between them than anything.

With the soup beginning to warm up, Rose had nothing else to keep her attention. She turned and rested her bum against the counter and looked at James.

“What’s wrong?” she asked gently.

James had mirrored her position and was intently watching little tufts of steam rise from the pot.

“Today’s the day my parents died,” he said, his voice flat and toneless. “It’s always a hard day. Usually my aunt comes by, but she couldn’t get the time off this year.”

“Oh, James.”

“Don’t,” he bit out. “Just… don’t.”

Rose tried not to let her hurt show on her face.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, shoving his hands into the pockets of his pajama bottoms as he scuffed his socked toes across the floor.

Rose tentatively stepped up to him, and she reached out to touch his arm. The muscles of his forearm stiffened, but she kept her hand on his skin and rubbed her thumb through the fine hairs on his arm. After a moment, his muscles loosened.

She leaned back against the counter and moved her hand to link her arm through his. She hugged it to her chest and rested her head on his shoulder.

He sighed, then rested his head atop hers.

“It’s been nine years,” James murmured. “And I’m still… so angry. I’m furious with them. Both of them. Why did my mum have to bother with our stupid dogs? Eh? And why did my dad go back in? Why did he just… leave me? He left me outside. He left me alone.”

James’s voice broke, and so did Rose’s heart. Her eyes burned, but she squeezed them shut, forcing her tears back.

“Why did they leave me?”

Rose shuffled until she was standing in front of him, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. She lifted onto her tiptoes until she could set her chin on his shoulder. His cheek scraped across hers, then his ear pressed into her cheek as he hugged her back tightly. He was trembling slightly, and Rose stroked his back in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

“I’m so sorry, James,” she whispered. “So sorry.”

He didn’t say anything, but he tightened his arms around her.

Rose didn’t say anything more, nor did she drop her arms from around James. She’d hold him for as long as he needed it.

Eventually, he gave her a single squeeze then straightened. Taking his cue, she dropped her arms and took a step back.

His eyes were red-rimmed, but she pretended to not notice. She gave him a tentative, tight-lipped smile, which he returned before he turned away from her to find a tissue. As he blew his nose, Rose went to the stove and stuck a ladle into the pot of soup to stir it.

“I think it’s done. Want some?”

“Yes please,” he said, his voice somewhat raspy. He cleared it. “I’m starved and it smells amazing.”

“Bowls?” she asked, gesturing to his cabinets.

She skated to the one he pointed to, and she grabbed two bowls for them, and scooped soup into it. She then grabbed spoons and walked to the dining table.

“Pippin,” Rose sighed when the tabby leaped gracefully onto the table and lifted himself onto his back legs to try to see what was in her hands. “You’re gonna burn your little nose.”

James lifted his cat into his arms. Pippin nuzzled into James’s chest, but then began to cry when he realized James was walking him out of the kitchen. Rose giggled at the pathetic cat while she set the bowls onto the table and slid into a seat.

“The idiot acts as though I never feed him,” James grumbled when he walked back into the kitchen. “Can I get you something to drink? Water? Wine? Beer? Other?”

“Water’s fine,” Rose answered. “Thanks.”

James grunted in acknowledgement, then passed her her beverage and sat in the chair opposite her.

They slurped at their soup, and apart from James complimenting the meal, he didn’t say anything. The silence was only somewhat uncomfortable, but Rose didn’t want to force him to make conversation if he didn’t feel like it. So she simply stared at her own bowl, pushing the contents around after each bite.

Rose was pleased when James ladled himself a second albeit smaller helping. He finished the entire thing, then cleared their dishes and stacked them into the empty sink. That task done, he turned to her and stared intently at her for a few uncomfortable seconds.

“Why are you here?”

Rose frowned.

James’s eyes widened. “I mean, obviously I’m glad you’re here. You’ve made today as bearable as it can be. But… why?”

Her face softened. Because I’m in love with you. I’m in love with you, and my God, my heart is breaking for you today and I can’t bear the thought of you being upset or lonely.

His gaze was on her, expectant, as she swallowed down the words she wished she could say.

“Because you’re my friend. You’re my best friend,” she modified. “And it hurts me to see you hurting. And I know I can’t erase all the pain you’re feeling, but the least I can do is be here so you’re not alone.”

James’s expression was unreadable and his eyes were glassy. But he blinked and they cleared, but the unidentifiable gentleness remained on his face.

“Thank you,” he murmured. “You’re… I…” He clicked his teeth shut, then ran his hand through his limp hair. “Do you want to watch a movie or something? Or do you need to be getting home?”

“I can stay,” Rose said immediately. While she had a stack of work to do, she knew it would be there for her tomorrow.

Rose followed James into the living room, and she lowered herself onto the couch beside him as he turned on his television and opened the Netflix app.

“Find something for us to watch,” he said, giving her the remote. “I’m gonna free Pip from his prison.”

Rose chuckled and scrolled through the list of films, unsure of what James was in the mood for. Probably something light and funny.

She finally settled on a rom-com, hoping James wouldn’t mind. She’d never been able to watch those kinds of movies with Jimmy. He’d always moaned until she flipped it to a superhero or action movie.

“Excellent choice,” James said, making her jump. She hadn’t heard him return. Pippin jumped onto the couch and into Rose’s lap, kneading her in a rhythm she thought too quick to be soothing. But he was purring loudly and blinking lazily.

James plopped down beside her, then she hit the play button and they settled in to watch a woman travel to Paris to try to win back her fiancé’s heart.

They didn’t speak at all though the movie, but they each laughed to themselves at certain scenes. Rose was pleased whenever she saw James smile out of the corner of her eye.

“Wanna watch another?” Rose asked when the end credits rolled.

“We don’t have to,” James said quietly. “It’s getting late. You can go home if you’d like.”

“I’m up for another movie if you are,” Rose answered. “Or if you’re subtly trying to tell me you want me to leave, you’re gonna have to be a bit more obvious.”

James snorted and rolled his eyes, but she saw his entire body relax as he picked up the remote and sifted through the movies. He landed on a Disney film—Tarzan. She was a little surprised by his selection, considering how the movie began.

As they watched the flames eat up the ship and Tarzan’s parents flee in their lifeboat, James began to speak.

“That night was the worst night of my life. I can still remember everything perfectly, no matter how hard I try to forget.

“My dad came into my room and shook me awake, saying the house was on fire. None of the alarms were going off. The batteries were probably shot. I don’t ever remember my parents checking or replacing them. Half the house was already in flames. The police still don’t know what caused the fire. Anyways. Dad grabbed me and ran. He literally… He hoisted me over one shoulder and carried me outside.

“He waited with me for about a minute. But he was terrified for my mum. So he went back inside. He hadn’t been in for more than five seconds before the whole house just… exploded. Literally. Blown to bits. I got knocked to my arse and hit my head and passed out.

“When I came to, I was in the hospital and couldn’t hear anything. I think I started screaming, ‘cos they knocked me out. Then when I woke up, Aunt Sarah was there. When my head was healed, she took me home with her to Croydon.

“It was hard for both of us at first. I hated her. It wasn’t fair, but I resented everything about her. I hated her house. I hated Croydon. I hated my new school. I hated myself. I hated my parents. I hated my stupid, fucking, arsehole dogs. And I especially hated my mum for wanting to save them instead of herself, and for making my dad go back inside.

“Bless Aunt Sarah, though. She let me rage, but she also held me accountable and told me off when I was being a bit too dramatic. She made me go to counselling, which I grudgingly admit helped after a while. Eventually I woke up one day and my anger was gone. More or less. But then the depression set in.

“It scared my aunt to death to see me go from emotional to numb seemingly overnight. But I worked through that, too. It took a damn long while. But funnily enough, moving to the United States helped. Aunt Sarah had wanted to move here for so long, but put it off because she didn’t want to upset me with too many changes too quickly.

“But when I was sixteen, she asked if I might like to come to America, and I jumped at the chance. I figured I could remake myself. I didn’t have to be the boy whose parents died. I could just be James, the cool kid with a cool accent.”

James blinked, then his cheeks turned red. “Sorry. I kinda word-vomited there.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Rose said, reaching over to thread her fingers through his. “I don’t mind listening.”

He gave her hand a squeeze, then kept their fingers interwoven as they lapsed back into silence.

About half way through the movie, James’s fingers began to twitch in hers. She glanced over and saw his head was tipped back and he was half asleep. He jerked himself awake half a dozen times before he fell into a deeper sleep and didn’t stir for the remainder of the movie.

It was almost eleven o’clock, and Rose was drowsy but still awake. James, however, was completely out and snoring softly. She carefully lifted herself up off the couch, then took the blanket they’d been sharing and tucked it higher up on his chest. He didn’t stir.

She straightened, then chewed on her lip as she tried to figure out what she should do. Should she stay with him? Or should she call an Uber to take her back to her flat? She wanted to stay, but perhaps that was too presumptuous. But she also didn’t want James to wake up and not know where she was.

After she tidied up the house—putting the leftover soup in the fridge, washing up the few dishes in the sink—Rose went back into the living room. James was still dead asleep, though Pippin had curled himself into his side. The cat chirped, then the sound morphed into a yawn as he rolled closer to James and went to sleep.

Rose smiled. Then, making a potentially rash decision, she took the blanket that was draped along the back of the couch and sat down in the recliner. She pulled the footrest up and leaned back to get comfy. She curled up on her side to watch James.

His chest rose and fell slowly as he breathed. The deep lines that had been present all night on his face her smoothed over. He looked like any other untroubled twenty-two-year-old boy.

A warm ache bloomed inside of Rose, swelling through her chest and stomach as she watched him sleep. She could get used to this.

Instead of imagining the worst-case scenario, imagine the best.

Unbidden, Mickey’s piece of advice clanged through her head.

What was the best-case scenario?

She would profess her love for James, and miraculously, he would admit he felt the same way. She would kiss him, and he’d kiss her back. She would promise to love him forever, and he would give her that same promise, and they both would uphold the vow for the rest of their lives. She would find her soulmate in him, and he would find his soulmate in her.

Rose yearned for that fantasy to come true. She wanted so badly to tell James how she felt. Even if he didn’t feel the same way, she found that she didn’t want to hold anything back. In fifty years, she didn’t want to look back and regret not saying anything to James and potentially miss out on her great love story.

After finals, Rose vowed to herself. Let me get through this class. Then I’ll tell him. Let me get through this semester, and I’ll talk to him. It’s only four more weeks.

A sense of calmness settled over Rose, and with her resolve strengthened, she slipped into a dreamless sleep.

[smollandtoll]

HC: Crosbeauty AU OT3

Listen, we know we’ve done a Crosbeauty AU before, but this one has OT3 so it’s totally different. Right? right! LET’S GO! 

This HC was a lot of general ideas and moments so I did my best to make a plot out of it? 

Imagine if you will, young Sid attending school for stage makeup in Toronto. He spends the majority of his money at Sephora and on rent for a tiny downtown apartment that he splits with Flower. Living the dream!

(Sid and Flower originally met in first year while doing their tech theatre practical courses -  Flower couldn’t make a makeup bruise look semi-realistic to save his life and Sid couldn’t get his legs to stop wobbling long enough to climb the scaffolding to change the gels - so they traded favours all semester.)

Whatever is left over goes to food or camera equipment. Although it hasn’t been bad at all lately, his youtube subs have been climbing steadily, past the point of making a little side money and into the area where he is shakily not doing any work other than school and making/editing his videos.

(It helps to have a CBC darling hanging around their apartment and willing to be in his videos as a model as often as he wants. Tanger is such an attention whore, and only gets to wear full suits on the period piece he stars in - so any chance he can get to be seen in his chic clothing and any excuse he comes across to look beautiful is one he jumps at)

In any case the story really begins while Sid is WATCHING his usual youtube roll in the morning - friends, acquaintances, people he’s a fan of, whatever strikes his fancy. It’s then that he sees that Anna - a Russian beauty vlogger in her own right -  has updated her channel with a new personal video: THE BOYFRIEND TAG.

Sid is stoked because the video looks like it’s in English - not all of Anna’s are which forces him to use youtube’s dodgy translation closed captions OR just leave emojis in the comments. He also has been kind of dying to see who could possibly get to date Anna, she’s absolutely impossibly beautiful, and funny, and kind of evil. They’ve chatted online before (exchanging tips and giving each other compliments) and her boyfriend - Evgeni (a name in which Sid is unsure he even knows how to pronounce properly) always sounds like a very kind and generous man.

The thumbnail just has the title and a pair of clasped male and female hands so Sid’s interest is instantly PIQUED. He has been so curious about Evgeni and now FINALLY he gets to see.

So of course he loads up the video and does what everyone does and skips to the part where Geno actually comes in and sits down looking flushed and awkward, hat on backwards, waving stiltedly to the camera while Anna positions him exactly how she wants him in the frame. Sid thinks he’s beautiful - not in a traditional way but he looks kind, and has a mobile face, made for emotions. He doesn’t look chiseled or like an instagram model, he looks like a real person who loves Anna very much - enough to appear on a video for the world to see even if he seems a little uncomfortable with the idea. Sid guiltily scrolls into the comments to take the general temperature of the reactions to her boyfriend and find the predictable mishmash of supportive comments Anna has liked and trolls - pretending to be helpful or no - telling Anna she could definitely do better.

Sid would restart the video and watch it properly then, learning Evgeni has a warm voice, heavily accented, and often forgets words in english and looks to Anna with puppy dog eyes to aid him. They seem to have a lot of inside jokes, they seem in love. Sid thinks they are wonderful and probably hopes reverently that one day he might have something like what they’ve created together.

So anyway he definitely sends her a heart eyes emoji and then follows it up with another message: “.......OK UR MAN THO 👀.”

Much later he gets a reply from Anna that is a long string of blushy emojis and the simple:

“You like? He like your video. Always ask if watching ‘boy with mouth for sin’. 😜”

Sid: Am I being invited to a 3way on a different continent?

Flower: I deal with the amount of shit you have in our bathroom I'm not dealing with whatever the fuck that is.

(Flower is a liar though, that shit in the bathroom is half the reason Vero puts up with him sometimes. Sid always lets her pillage whatever she needs when she stays over last minute - also his ring light is A+++.)

Meanwhile Anna is telling Sid about how she could never get G to do a lip exfoliant and apply chapstick regularly but she showed Sid's video to him and then he was like RELIGIOUS WITH HIS BLISTEX. All mouth activities have gotten like 500% better.

Anna: we owe you at least bj.

Sid: I’m definitely getting hit on.

Anna: you also teach him how to style hair, his same as you, but very thin in spots

Sid: oh, I have tips for that!

And then they definitely all meet at vidcon. Girls are like SWOONING over Tanger of course. He and Sid are sharing a booth (how does vidcon work? I’m not doing research for this, I’m going to pretend it’s like every other convention and popular makers have booths to sell merch and meet people???)  and Flower is there to like get food and water for them, take photos and some video, and awkwardly wave at people who recognize him from the background of some of Sid's videos.

(usually he shows up as just his disembodied voice yelling in french about whatever he's just burnt and Sid freezing on camera and being like "...................................FLOWER." and Flower's voice just like "....shit sorry Sid!" - youtube commenters who speak french relish in translating what he’s saying in the comments, a particular fan favourite was the time he tried to make a chocolate souffle for Vero’s birthday and could be heard muttering on and off through the whole video, so much so Sid added a disclaimer at the beginning that his roommate was being very loud and worried about his girlfriend and that the viewers should all take pity on him)

So, anyway we’re sure Anna SWANS over, just all intensely long legs, super high heels, hair flowing EVERYWHERE looking like she just came off a runway or a movie set to just EMBRACE Sid in a cloud of delicate perfume and soft hair and cheek kisses. Sid of course freezes like a deer in the headlights while Anna greets him excitedly and apologizes for her shitty english that is sounding like ….pretty great to Sid.

It’s then that Sid notices she’s towing a mildly blushing (and plushy lipped) Geno by the wrist. He’s incredibly tall (although some of it might just be an optical illusion enhanced by his long thin limbs) and looking a little freaked out by the crowd - but when Sid catches his gaze he looks happy and hopeful and maybe a little surprised.

"Oh you're the boyfriend." "I'm big fan." THEY SAY AT ONCE PROBABLY.

Anna: Sid, Zhenya. Zhenya, Sid. (introducing them like she hadn’t just met Sid herself a moment ago) Boys are going to get along so well, can just tell.

Then, so much blushing.

We want Flower and Tanger knowing SOMETHING was going on but not exactly what...just watching with dawning beautiful comprehension, eyes pinging back and forth between these statuesque russians and their clumsy awkward darling Sid.

Okay so at some point G and Sid are going to get left alone together, in a hotel room above the convention centre. Probably Sid’s, probably for a nap or something ridiculous like that, or maybe Anna just slips out to go get her curling wand, because while Sid has a lot of beauty products his hair is pretty much wash and wear.

Anyway, somehow Sid ends up giving G a once over with his kit. It probably comes up naturally, like while Geno was poking through his entire makeshift rig Sid set up in the best lighting of the room. Humming thoughtfully at the stacked palettes of eyeshadow, running curious fingers over the fluffiest brushes. Sid inquiring about Anna’s supplies, if Geno ever ends up in her makeup like this, if she’s ever pinned him down and dealt with his eyebrows (Sid guesses no by the state of them, even though the wild & natural look is in right now). Geno would mumble about how he doesn’t let her - she does crazy things, looking like a mermaid one afternoon or a frosty queen the next - he doesn’t want to look like that.

Sid: What do you want to look like?

Geno: *deep self conscious shrug that mostly only conveys that he’d probably like to look not like what he currently does*

And then before Sid can really think about it he’s offering to try, nothing outlandish, something basic, to highlight his warm eyes maybe, clean up the lines of his mobile mouth. Basically the Tanger special - scratch that, even less than Tanger, Tanger likes to look carved and flawless like a Kardashian.

There’s always a gentle intimacy about doing someone’s makeup, focusing intently on the features of their face, feeling the down on their cheeks against the heel of your hand, touching their hair for stability. They’re quiet together as Sid works, just the sweep of his brushes and the click of the compacts, a quiet instruction to look up or down, to pout and smush. Normally Sid talks through doing makeup on others, explaining to them or to his viewers what he’s doing, but this moment seems sacred somehow.

Through it all Geno’s eye contact doesn’t waver. It’s strangely, deeply intimate, and Sid tries to recall if it felt like this when he did Flower’s makeup before, his hapless guinea pig. Tanger was always on his phone, or instagramming the whole thing live and his attention was diverted, and Sid never felt this out of control even as he was the one holding the pencil against someone elses’ eyeball.  It’s an unwavering, magnetic kind of eye contact, and as Sid leans close and smudges under one eye with his thumb, other hand bracing the back of G's head/neck that’s when Anna probably returns and they spring apart like she’d just caught Sid giving her boyfriend a lap dance.

But after processing what she’s seeing she flings herself onto the bed excitedly: "YOU GET RID OF DARK CIRCLES? I ALWAYS TRY, HE NEVER LET! WHAT ARE YOU USING?"

He and Geno probably share a meaningful look before looking away shyly and that’s the start of a beautiful friendship, relationship, throuple or something. Anna being there breaks the tension, but there’s still something hovering in the air every time they hang out. It’s probably all very torrid at first, Sid talking to Anna on a level like friends but separately talking to Geno about other deeper things - worried it might be crossing a line, worried it’s already crossed the line long ago that he feels a lot of attraction for G - but like Anna is SO BEAUTIFUL. And Geno and Anna flirt around him all the time, even while Anna leans against him while they talk and Geno makes sweet, sincere eye contact and says startlingly vulnerable things.

Sid is confusion.

To Anna, it’s completely transparent exactly what’s happening. She’s completely in favour of making this twosome a full blown party. Sid is sweet and generous and quietly funny and can do a smokey eye better than anyone she’s ever met before. And it’s really cute watching Evgeni get all flummoxed and romantic - not that she doesn’t still make him like that, but it’s all new all over again, and he’d do anything for Sidney’s pout which Anna doesn’t have any problems with taking advantage of. Zhenya’s had a very sweet and quite evident (although barely acknowledged) crush on Sid for a while, poking his head in when she’s watching Sid’s latest videos, concentrating intently doing his first ever sugar scrub to Sid’s exacting instructions, suddenly paying more attention when Anna mentions a new comment from Sid. It’s all been very tame, but very promising, and in person Sid is even more of a joy.

We want Sid eventually -when they live in the same place, trying to make their dynamic work in the real world outside of extended vacations to visit each other- constantly doing little things for Geno's face, like a teensy bit of mascara and some foundation a bit of stippling to fill in his frankly sadly patchy beard hotness quotient up 100%. A few years later, the stippling extends to the temples.

Anna just looking on adoringly or like...Sid and Anna mildly squabbling over what look to do next while Geno just watching videos of animals snuggling and waits for them to be finished.

BONUS

Tanger was actually the one that got Sid into vlogging. Tanger loves looking at himself? and hearing himself speak? and ranting? so he like had a vlog already. It was kind of performance art, kind of show reel for casting agents at the time.

So basically he kept bothering Sid to give him touch-ups like on the day to day and Sid eventually was like "wtf man."

Tanger without bothering to explain further: VLOGS

So then Sid was like naturally interested in the makeup ones and there were no boys? at least no boys doing like chill guy makeup, and glam, AND theatre???? So he started Crosbeauty and the rest is kind of history.

[youcantundothepast]

javid headcanons

hey so I haven’t updated in forever (I have reasons just not good ones ngl) (also I’ve been absent on all of my blogs so don’t think y’all are special ;))

but for now here are some wholesome Javid (modern) headcanons that aren’t really supposed to be anything in particular they’re just kind of cute

they skip around from high school to married life and everything in between

also this is so long because I love imagining my two pure boys in love

tw: idk why but there’s more cussing than usual (but I wouldn’t consider it excessive)

———————

- okay so first off, Davey is a mess

- like how does one date??? like he can barely stand his own life how can he share it with someone else????

- especially someone so perfect nice like Jack

- but this isn’t Jack’s first rodeo and God bless him he just smiles when Davey’s awkward and will kiss his cheek or something and Davey will never be sure how he landed someone so nice perfect

- they don’t like the hassle of splitting the bill on dates so they alternate on who pays for the date

- Davey brought Jack sunflowers once for his designated date day and on Jack’s next designated date day, Davey received a painting of said flowers

- as they continuously date, though, they begin learning each other’s favorite flowers

- like Jack loves stargazer lilies but Davey can’t have lilies because of Sarah’s cat, Cheerio (never forget Cheerio)

- Davey favorite flowers are baby’s breath

- on prom night, Sarah and Katherine surprise the two with matching stargazer/baby’s breath boutonniere and they just go soft

- OKAY BUT DAVEY GETS SO SAD AT THE END OF PROM NIGHT BECAUSE HE’LL HAVE TO THROW IT AWAY BECAUSE CHEERIO GETS INTO EVERYTHING SO HE JUST THROWS IT IN THE TRASH AND THEN ON HIS

- AND JACK’S WEDDING DAY, JACK SURPRISES HIM BY SHOWING THE TWO MATCHING BOUTONNIERES now pressed and dead BUT HE CAN’T HELP BUT BE SPEECHLESS BY HIS NOW HUSBAND AND AHHHH

- “wait... oh my God I kissed you that night after you went dumpster diving!”

- also real quick, Sarah is Davey’s “best man” and he’s all like Sarah, you can wear a dress, you don’t have to wear a suit like Jack’s best man (Crutchie)

- and Sarah just glared and is like “bitch don’t take this from me”

- she was the best looking in the wedding photos rocking her amazing suit btw

- but back to when they’re just bfs

- when they first start being together Davey isn’t really sure what to think because they’re more than friends, but is it right to say Jack’s his boyfriend yet? (they hadn’t even had their first kiss yet)

- so he goes for a few weeks with them just have a few dates (are they dates though???) until Jack calls him his boyfriend in front of the other newsies (because he can register Davey’s apprehensiveness so he makes the first move)

- and Davey is just like ???!!?!!

- “you- you just called me the-the” and he can’t even register at the moment because the heart eyes are strong

- and Jack is just grinning and is just like “yeah, I just called you the b word. That’s okay with you right?”

- And Davey could just melt into a puddle and is internally like “HOLY SHIT WTF WHAT IS GOING ON I AM GOING TO IMPLODE BEFORE I DESERVE THIS NERD” but he just holds Jack’s hand and kisses the top of it and is like “yeah, I consider you my b word too”

- then Race says whispers “my bitch” to Spot and ruins the whole moment

(okay that sounded so awkward with the whole b word thing but I really wanted to make that joke because I love that meme(?) so allow me)

- their first kiss took a lot of time to build up to, but they both wanted to make sure it’d be perfect so it was on their last day of Junior year and they just spend thirty seconds afterwards just staring into each other’s eyes with their foreheads touching while holding the other’s hands

- Katherine takes a picture of the “first kiss aftermath” posts it to instagram (with their permission) with the caption “FINALLY!!!” with a billion heart emojis

- everyone who didn’t know the two were together scream in the comments

- Jack has to make a follow up post of Davey kissing his cheek and him winking with a huge smile of his face with the caption “my boyfriend ❤️”

- Race, ofc, comments “I thought he was your bitch”

- they’re not really into PDA except simple hand holding and small pecks on lips/face every so often

- Jack’s favorite sign of affection is rubbing his thumb along the top of Davey’s hand especially when Davey gets really anxious because it helps him calm down and remember to breathe

- Davey loves to run his hands through Jack’s hair because it is so soft and sometimes Jack won’t cut it for a while and it’ll curl at the ends and Davey loves playing with them

- they usually only do this though when in private or around close friends because they feel like they’re shoving their relationship down people’s throats with obvious actions

- sometimes someone like Finch will fake gag and Katherine will punch him and he won’t do it again because damn Katherine punches hard

- Jack’s favorite dates are when they just order take out and sit on the couch all night to watch movies

- Jack has made Davey’s watch Brother Bear probably 300 times, but while Jack loves every second of the movie, Davey just smiles and powers through

- it is a good movie though (go watch it if you haven’t you are going to cry your eyes out)

- Davey likes to watch the action movies and superhero movies like Marvel

- (they totally went to see Infinity War and Davey was so broken after like he just stayed in bed cuddling with Jack for hours balling his eyes out)

- (then they went to see Ant-man and the Wasp and the cycle repeated)

- Davey’s favorite dates though are packing some sandwiches and apples/chips and just going to the park and having a picnic or going stargazing

- in NYC, they don’t see many stars so for Davey’s birthday, Jack picked him up in the middle of the night once and drove them to the middle of nowhere to stargaze

- for Jack’s birthday, Davey wants to do something special, but isn’t really sure what to do until Sarah gives him an idea

- it’s Jack’s 18th birthday so he gets a big box and fills it up with “18 things I love about you” and Jack cries reading the little notes Davey writes

- it’s things like a box of new color pencils with a note saying “you add so much color to the lives of everyone you meet” and also a fidget spinner with a note taped on saying “once start something, you won’t quit until it’s finished. but you also get annoying pretty quick ;)” so it’s just a bunch of useless junk but the sentiment and thoughtfulness of it is what makes it special

- did I say Jack cried? I meant to say Jack BAWLED

- like some of the little tear marks never came out of the pieces of paper

- when they decide they want to get married, they just kind of propose to each other

- like one night they are just like “hey, here’s a wild idea, but I love you like a lot and want to spend the rest of my days with you so let’s get married”

- and a month later, they surprise each other with rings so they both have engagement rings

- (low key inspired by AKB/Scott Bixby because that shit is adorable)

- but every relationship has to have some turbulence but it took me a while to come up with something because I don’t want these boys to be mad at each other :(

- so first off, they don’t argue long about the stupid stuff because they realized early that none of that is worth it because they make each other happy and that’s rare to come by these days

- but there are some persistent things they argue about ike Davey never taking care of himself (especially during their college days)

- poor boy doesn’t get enough sleep :(

- Jack’s hamartia is the fact that he can’t stand injustice/assholes

- so he’s often come home with a bloody lip or black eye

- Davey understands, but he wishes Jack wouldn’t get himself hurt so much

- (so they basically both have the same problem they just experience it in different ways)

- it’s when Jack calls Davey from jail when they have a big fight

tw: vague attempted sexual assault

- “A bar fight? What the hell, Jack?!”

- it was the worse Davey had ever seen him with his jaw swollen and bruises littering his whole body

- “Not my fault that motherfucker-“

- “You can’t just fight anyone who is rude or is racist! I hate people like that too, but you can’t punch them a few times and expect them to change in an instant. Some fights you just shouldn’t pick!”

- Jack had never seen Davey so mad so he takes a deep breath and reaches through the bars of the holding cell and grabs Davey’s shoulder calmly

- “Dave... the drink was drugged. I saw the guy put somethin in the woman’s drink when I was passin by the bar. I warned her, but then he came up and started makin a scene. Started making him the victim. He practically demanded that I let him take the girl home as if I could give him permission. Poor girl was so shocked and scared, and he wasn’t backin off. It was just me and him for a while and then his buddies showed up. Some other people tried to help me, and then the cops showed up. Fuckers pinned it all on me and I was in here before I could even let a word out.”

- Davey is speechless by Jack’s story and he was pretty sure he fell in love all over again

- “I jus hope that girl’s okay. She was cryin when I was being put into car in handcuffs. The other guy was only brought in for questioning. Said I was the one who started it and they believed me, saying only kids my age would start trouble like that. Apparently he’s a mechanic at the building down the road. Probably gives these cops discounts or somethin. It’s a load of shit if you ask me.”

- “I know, Jack. Let’s just get you out of here so you can heal up. Knowing you, you’ll probably have another black eye soon enough. Have to heal this one up so you don’t keep the next one waiting.”

- when they’re in their car, Davey reaches across and kisses his swollen jaw

- “I’m sorry about yelling at you, I didn’t know. You’re an amazing person, I should’ve known you wouldn’t just get in a random fight.”

tw over

- ahhh they’re so in love!!!!

- the best thing though is that they’re each other’s support systems

- like every night they go to bed and just cuddle and whenever one has had a bad day, the other will just open their arms and hug them and kiss them for as long as they need

- there’s just so much reassurance and small little compliments between the two

- a lot of stuff has happened during their lives and sometimes it just catches up to them, but the other is always there to catch him

- it’s just full of all-rounded, pure-hearted goodness

[wwenhlimagines]

"Don't worry baby girl, I've got you." - Finn Balor Requested by @melissashecklerstyles

One day, while you were sitting on your couch watching tv, you get a text from your boyfriend, Finn Balor. Finn - Hey babygirl, are you free tonight? I miss you, love. 😢 Y/N - I miss you too babe. What do you have in mind? 😚 Finn - I want to show you off, so dinner at (insert fancy restaurant here)? 🍾 Y/N - Perfect! 😘 Finn - I’ll pick you up at 6pm. 😁 Y/N - Can’t wait to see you in a suit 😜 Finn - You’ll be looking delicious in that dress I got you. Maybe I’ll skip dessert at the restaurant 😋 Your heart started to race as you pictured it in your mind. Finn would be so excited to take this next step in your relationship, but how would he react when you tell him you’re a virgin? Y/N - I’ve got cookies here 😁 You facepalmed as soon as you hit send. He’s trying to flirt and you’re acting completely oblivious over text. You have been texting Finn dirty thoughts while he’s on the road, especially when you watch RAW. You have been so confident over text, but in real life you’re scared out of your mind. Finn looks like he was made in a factory or something with you being able to see every delicious muscle in his body. You know that with a body like that, he’s definitely had a lot of experience in the bedroom, but you have only gone as far as over the clothes touching with anyone. Even though Finn is the sweetest boyfriend and you think he is the one, you’re scared that he might walk away when he hears about your inexperience. You think you are ready to give yourself to him, but still so scared to lose him. Trying to shake off the thoughts in your head, you watch some YouTube videos and soon your phone rings from another text message from Finn. Finn - I bet your cookie is delicious 😜 Your breath catches in your throat as you stare at that stupid little emoji. How is he so damn cute and dirty at the same time? Y/N - Maybe you’ll find out soon 🍪 “Damn it! What the fuck am I doing? He’s going to expect it now. Why can’t I resist his dirty talk? I want him so bad, but I’m such a scaredy cat.” You yelled at yourself as you pace back and forth around your living room. After a few minutes, you finally take a few deep breaths and decide to go to the gym for two reasons. 1. To distract yourself from the whole situation. 2. If he’s going to see you naked, you want to look your best. After a good workout, you come home and take a shower, taking your time to fully prepare yourself for tonight by shaving and using your favorite body wash. Getting out of the shower, you wrap a towel around you and make your way to your closet. You find the maroon velvet dress that Finn had bought you end lay it out on your bed as you search for the right bra and panty combo for it. Once everything is laid out, you return to the bathroom and play some music as you prep your hair and makeup. It’s 5:45 when you finish hair and makeup, so you dance around a bit before putting on your dress. You look in the mirror and smile at the way it fits your body. You couldn’t believe that even without seeing you naked yet, Finn somehow already knew what size and shape to get to flatter your figure the best. Soon enough, the doorbell rings and you grab your clutch with your phone, lipstick, wallet, and keys before opening the door. Finn was stood there with a single red rose and that dorky smile on his face until he saw your dress. He bit his lip as he handed you the rose and took your other hand in his to twirl you around. “You’re looking absolutely stunning baby.” You giggle and kiss him, “And you’re looking dashing babe.” He chuckles as you turn around to lock up and he escorts you to his car. “Your chariot awaits m'lady.” He opens the door for you and then climbs in himself and starts to drive. It was a 15 minute ride to the restaurant, so you talked about work and cracked a few jokes. He interlaced your fingers with his and placed them on your leg, so that at every stoplight he could pick them up and kiss your knuckles. When you arrive at the restaurant, he helps you out of the car and tells the maitre d the reservation name before you are led back to your table. You start to look at the menu when the waitress comes over to take your drink order. Finn tells her to bring out a bottle of wine and some water so you nod back and she walks off. Your waitress was gorgeous and you thought about how Finn could do so much better than you. You got so caught up in your thoughts that Finn grabbing your hand to signal your drinks arrived and to move your menu out of the way startled you. “Are you okay sweetheart?” You blush and nod, “Sorry, I just spaced out for a second.” He smiles and the waitress asks if you’re ready to order. Finn looks to you and even though you forgot to actually read the menu you nodded anyways. She turned to you first and you chose the first thing you could find on the menu before giving it back to her as Finn ordered his food. She smiled and nodded as she went to place our orders. “So what’s going on in that pretty brain of yours?” You blush as he now takes ahold of both of your hands with a smile on his face. “Just thinking about how lucky I am.” “You’re telling me. I scored the freaking jackpot when you agreed to go out with me.” You giggle and look away slightly. “There’s that gorgeous smile that I love.” You blush and change the subject back to work. He tells you about the plans for the next couple weeks and soon enough your food arrives. You try to eat as much as you can but you are so nervous about tonight that you barely touch your plate. “Does it not taste good, because you can get something else?” “No, I guess I just had a big lunch.” Finn eyes you suspiciously but agrees to let it slide. The waitress returns and you ask if you can take the food home so she packs it up and brings the check with it. You try to reach for it so you can pay your share, but Finn beats you to it. “Don’t worry babygirl, I’ve got you.” You sigh and excuse yourself to the restroom. You do your business and then stare at yourself in the mirror trying to prepare for the night ahead of you. A girl comes out of another stall and sees you in a daze, so she asks, “Is everything okay girl?” You nod, “Yeah, just nervous.” “What are you nervous about?” You check that there are no other girls in there and then decide to tell this random stranger about your problems. “Well, my boyfriend and I probably going to take a big step in our relationship tonight, but I’m scared he will be disappointed.” She frowns a bit, “How could he be disappointed when you look like that?” You giggle, “Well, he bought this for me.” She waves her hands in the air dramatically. “Wait…so you’re telling me that he brought you to this fancy restaurant and bought you this bomb dress, and yet you’re nervous about doing it? Girl, he’s basically wifed you up already so I know he loves you even if he hasn’t said it yet.” You blush and hid your face. “I promise you sweetheart, everything will be fine and he will still love you no matter what.” “But I’ve never…done it before.” “Great! Men love to know that you have truly given yourself to them. Plus, they hate thinking about being compared to your exes.” You nod, “Okay, but I know he’s very experienced.” “That means he will be willing to take it slow and he’ll want to make sure you’re enjoying it the whole time.” You take a deep breath and take one last look in the mirror. “Okay, I think I’m ready. Thank you so much!” You give her a quick hug and she laughs, “You’re welcome sweetheart, now go get him!” You walk out of the bathroom to see Finn waiting just outside the door with your food in hand. “Is everything okay baby? You were in there a while.” You kiss him quickly and smile, “I ran into a friend and we got carried away talking. I’m sorry to keep you waiting.” He smiles and grabs your hand starting to walk out, “I’d wait a million years for you.” You look away as you blush to see the girl from the restroom walk out and give you 2 thumbs up. You wave goodbye to her and walk out to the car with Finn. The drive home was about the same as the drive there and when you arrived, you got out of the car, grabbed your food, and walked up to the door with Finn by your side. You unlocked the door and he let you go in first. Once you were inside, you put your leftovers in the fridge. As you shut the refrigerator door, Finn’s hands slid around your waist and he kissed your cheek. “Have you told you how beautiful you look tonight?” You lean back into him and sigh, “Maybe, but tell me more.” His lips started to trail down towards your neck, “Your hair is so soft and silky, your skin so smooth I want to kiss every inch.” He turns you around, “Your eyes are sparkling like a diamond and your lips as plush as a pillow I want to rest mine on forever.” He slowly kisses your lips as your hands rest on his chest playing the with collar of his suit as his start to roam slowly along your spine pulling you closer as the kiss deepens. You bit his lip and he groans as his hands slide down to your ass. Yours finding their way to the back of his neck as you press your chests together. Your tongues dance together as you start to walk towards your bedroom. You pull away and drag Finn behind you until you end up outside your room. He picks you up bridal style and carries you over the threshold and gently places you on the bed. He takes off his suit jacket and shoes before he lays down next to you as you smile at each other just enjoying the moment. You lean back in and catch his lips in a kiss as his hand travels down your leg and gently hooks it around his waist. He then rolls onto you and hooks the other one too. You kick off your heels and weave your fingers into his hair earning a low groan as you tug gently. Finn’s fingers brush your hair out of your face and off your body as he trails his lips down to your neck. Your fingers start to unbutton his shirt as his explore your curves slowly almost as if he is memorizing every little detail. You slide his shirt off and you run your fingers along his abs before they make contact with his pants. You unbuckle them and push them down enough so he can kick them off. He sits up and stares down at your dress but he sees worry in your face. Leaning forward, he whispers in your ear. “You’re so gorgeous baby. We don’t have to go any further if you don’t want to.” You shake your head, “I want to but I’m just nervous.” He rolls over so he is laying next to you. “Why are you nervous baby? It’s just me.” “I know but…it’s my first time.” His eyes widen a bit out of shock but he quickly readjust, “Are you sure you want me to be your first?” You nod, “Honestly that’s the only thing I’m sure about. I trust you and I can’t imagine my life without you.” He smiles and kisses you lightly. “Baby, my life wouldn’t be complete without you. You’re my everything sweetheart. I love you Y/N.” You blush and kiss him back, “I love you too Finn.” He smiles, “So babygirl, can I make love to you tonight?” You nod your head and he kisses you with the utmost passion. “Now, can I see what’s underneath this dress?” You nod as he pulls it up and off of your body. He smiles when he sees your matching bra and panty combo. Kisses start on your collarbone and he travels down to your cleavage. He kisses all over the top and looks at you for approval before he unclips your bra unveiling your entire top half to him. Your arms try to cover you up, but Finn pulls them away as he kisses around each breast and sucks each nipple into his mouth for just a second. You start to moan and he moves his kisses down your stomach as he hooks his fingers into the sides of your panties. He places open mouth kisses over your panties on your clit and entrance then pulls them down as his lips travel to your thighs. His hands lightly push your legs apart as his lips inch closer to your center. Finn’s fingers stroke up and down your slit lightly before circling your clit. Your moans pick back up as he breathes onto your clit and moves his fingers down to your opening. He kisses your clit and his tongue starts to circle it as his finger starts to push into you. You shift a bit at the new feeling but settle in as his finger slides in completely. His finger then curls up and you moan as he hits the spot. He sucks your clit when he pulls his fingers back out to add a second one. This time there is a bit of pain but it goes away fairly quick. His fingers curl again and your moans get louder and more frequent. Your fingers slide into his hair and you start to feel a pressure build up in your core. A few seconds later, you let out a real loud moan and your back arches as your legs clamp around Finn’s head. Once your orgasm dies down, Finn lifts his head and smiles seeing your post orgasm face for the first time. “That’s my new favorite facial expression of yours.” You smile as he pulls his boxers off and you try to sit up to return the favor. “Not right now baby, tonight is about you. So just lay down and relax. Don’t worry baby girl, I’ve got you.” The second time tonight he has said that and you know he means every word. You nod and lay down as he finds a condom and puts it on. “Okay baby, this will hurt a little, so tell me if it’s too much.” You take a deep breath as his tip starts to push inside you. Finn leans forward so that he can kiss your forehead to help you relax. He continues to push in until he has filled you up. Your face is scrunched up in pain so he kisses your temple, cheeks, nose, and jaw until he finds your lips. You kiss him back and as you relax the pain goes away. You pull away for a moment, “You can move now.” He smiles and pulls out slowly before pushing back in. His lips catch yours again and soon you are moaning into his mouth at the feeling. His hips start to thrust faster and your fingers scratch lightly down his back as you feel that same build up. You pull away from the kiss, “I’m going to cum again.” “Me too baby. Look at me so I can see your beautiful face as you cum.” You stare into each other’s eyes as your mouths hang slightly open moaning each other’s names. Eventually, your back arches again and Finn’s thrusts slow down as he releases. You kiss him again as he slowly pulls out. Your breathing starts to normalize and then you roll over to cuddle into his side. He wraps his arms around your body and kisses your head. You look up at him and smile as he stares up at the ceiling. “Thank you Finn.” He chuckles, “No, thank you Y/N. That was amazing.” You giggle, “Even though it was my first time?” He kisses you passionately, “When it’s with the one who completes you, nothing can compare to it. This was the best because it was with the woman I will love for the rest of my life.” You tear up a bit at his confession and kiss him again before fall asleep on his chest.