#items and scans both at 100%

[coldgoldlazarus]

I have (re)beaten Metroid Prime in glorious HD! It was great ^.^

Now to just wait for Echoes...

[bluudsucka]

juna - bo chow x tomboy!reader

chapter I - chapter II

summary: you were never in touch with your feminine side, being raised by your father and older brothers you knew built a tough exterior. always opting for wearing male clothes and sporting a short haircut, but that was until you stopped at the new local convince store and met bo.

word count: 7k

warnings: smut, female reader, awkward/shy reader, slight mentions of race, loss of virginity, oral sex, noncanonical setting, unprotected sex, slight age gap (nothing too crazy reader is in her early twenties while bo is in his late 20s/early 30s), mentions of other characters

author's note: i had a lot of fun writing this! this is my longest fic i ever wrote so far, so thank you for reading and thank ya'll for the support! <3 (i was also listing to juna by clairo while writing bits of this haha)

“You make me wanna go dancin’, you make me wanna try on feminine, you make me wanna go buy a new dress, you make me wanna slip off a new dress...” 

The blistering summer sun nipped harshly at your skin, sweat from the heat and a hard day's work clung onto your chest and forehead while driving your father's rusty car, you'd hope you could pick up a breeze to cool you down. 

That of course didn't happen. 

He sent you into town with a shopping list of materials your household needed - and seeing as your mother passed last year - it was your duty as a woman to go out and shop for the boys, as your father so 'eloquently' put it. His remarks about your gender bothered you seeing as you were responsible in the cooking and cleaning while also being responsible with manual labor on the farm too. 

It was common to help your two older brothers fix run down and broken appliances such as rickety barn doors, leaky faucets, and wobbly banisters. Your hands were covered in cuts, scabs, and blisters from hammering away for hours. It didn't help that during those hours of work your brothers would tease you about not being 'girly' enough, jesting that you were more of a man than them both combined. It also didn't help that your family's budget was tight, meaning you had no choice but to wear their hand-me-downs.  

With a tired sigh you pulled yourself out of your thoughts, finally entering the town. The dusty and bustling streets was lively today despite the cruel heat wave that clung on the Mississippi air, breathing in the hot oxygen was like swallowing thick molasses.  

Parking the beat-up blue car, you adjusted the dingy green bandana that rested on the temples of your forehead, soft and short curls wrapping around the fabric. You tried your best to style it more feminine after your father cut way too short for your liking - but half of you still felt insecure about the hairstyle.  

Your eyes would gaze upon the ebony beauties that would waltz around town with frilly hair pieces and intricate styles, their long, gorgeous dresses flowing in the wind as men would stop and stare - you would stare too. Sometimes you would daydream about being in a moving picture playing the leading lady that had a lover who would do anything for you; give you flowers, love, and affection. The kind of guy who wouldn't be embarrassed about being tender on you. 

Slamming the car door after jumping out the sizzling leather seat of the car, your rough hands dug into the front pocket of your oversized denim overalls. Your eyes scanning the chicken scratch of a list your father wrote on stained paper, passing through the crowd, trying your best not to bump into anyone. 

nails (three 100 pack) 

gun oil 

chiken chicken feed 

red paint 

game meat 

horse fed feed 

fox repellaint repellent  

Walking towards the general store you normally shopped for your items; you noticed something strange; it had completely changed since you last stopped by. The store was bigger - more cleanly. Items within the store wouldn't be organized, as medicine would often be found next to the rat traps, but now just by gazing around the store everything was neatly placed in spots that...Made sense.  

You also noticed a man that you hadn't seen before, he was hunched over stacking cans of peas next to the tidy stack of caned carrots. Before any words could slip out of your lips he turned to face you, as if he could feel your eyes staring at the back of his head.  

He was handsome, strikingly so.  

His jet-black hair was neatly styled, and his lips held a light welcoming smile. He wore a crisp white button up with an onyx-colored vest on top, protecting the white shirt from the grime and dust. Rubbing his hands on his grey pants he lifted from the ground, rolling his shoulders and neck as he stood at his full height.  

"Welcome. What can I help ya' with?" He asked, a low southern drawl boomed from him, the sound of his voice made you jump. You didn't expect him to have such a sultry voice. Your warm skin on your cheeks began to tingle as your eyes quickly darted towards your muddy shoes. 

"U-Um, I'm just shoppin', sir. Thank you!" You rushed out, stumbling over your words as if you just learned how to talk an hour ago. His lips stretched into a kind and toothy smile, and he nodded his head, dark eyes not breaking contact with your frame. 

"Well, if you need somethin', lemme know."  

And with that he turned onto his heel and continued to work, you quickly scanned around the store looking for everything that you needed on the list. You wanted to leave the store as soon as possible, not because of the handsome man's actions - but because you felt as if you looked...Terrible. 

Your undershirt was a stained long sleeve, a once white fabric now faded into a dingy tan color due to dirt, sweat, and age. The shirt hung off your shoulders, it was your older brother's before it was handed down to you, the piece of clothing was basically swallowing your feminine frame. The muddy overalls that you sported was from your other brother, the second oldest, and it was big on you too.  

Wearing these clothes strangers would sometimes mistake you for a boy, which didn't bother you at all, but the thought of this attractive shopkeeper mistaking you for one sent a wave of anxiety through your body. Grabbing the gun oil, the multiple boxes of nails, and fox repellent your hands were already full.  

You looked around for a basket to hold your items, but none were found. You stood in the middle of the store your face twisting in confusion as you looked around one more time just to make sure you didn't overlook the baskets to hold your stuff, and the man noticed this. 

"Sorry, I just open this place up, last owner's baskets were full 'o holes. I had to toss 'em, won't get new ones till next week."  

"O-Oh, it's fine." 

"Here." he said as he strutted towards you, his arms stretching wide. Your eyes landed on his toned forearms, they looked strong and powerful, and you couldn't help but to gaze at the vein that pressed against his pale olive skin. Standing in front of you the stranger tilted his head in confusion, and you finally realized that he was signaling you to place the items into his arms. 

With a strained and awkward chuckle, you blurted out an apology and gave the items to him. 

"Don't worry, I'll place ya' things on the counter so you can shop around some more." He assured as his long legs strutted towards the register that rested on a mahogany table. He noticed you standing stock still as your fingers fidget between each other. Leaning on the wooden table with crossed arms he sent you another gorgeous smile your way.  

"You new to town?" He asked, his voice was alluring and warm, you could hear him talk all day if you could. 

"No, I live on the outskirts of town with my brothers and Pa, w-we got a farm..." You blurted out, the words rushed from your mouth like a running faucet, which made the man chuckle. 

"Hm, and they just let a pretty girl like yourself go shopping alone?" 

Your eyes widen like saucers and your already racing heart sped up even faster, it felt like you were moments away from a heart attack. You opened and closed your mouth in quick successions, as if you were a fish out of water. 

You were. 

You never heard a man refer to you as pretty. They called you strong, reliable, tough, hardworking - but never pretty. Noticing your anxiety rising he spoke again, this time more carefully. 

"My name's Bo Chow, I'm from around these parts but I just open this store few weeks ago," He then paused as if scanning his thoughts to find the right words to say to not scare you off. "You said your family has a farm? Ya'll got chickens and such? I'm lookin' into finding a stable source for eggs, got an ice box comin' in later today and I wanna stock up." 

"Oh, um. Yeah, we got chickens. Lots of 'em, mean bastards." You mumbled, spitting out a mild annoyance you had with the feathery animals, one of them bit you on the thumb this morning. 

Bo blurted out a laugh from your comment, his chuckles crashing into you like a wave, and it made you smile. With fidgeting fingers, you told him your name, which he repeated three times, each time breathier than the last. He told you that your name was beautiful - that it suited a beautiful girl like yourself. 

Bo noticed that you were on the shy side, so he toned down his flirty advances towards you, but he still let it be known that he found you attractive. Slowly you eased out of your shell and continued to shop, placing each item on the counter as words and laughter exchanged between you two. Completing your shopping list you paid for the items, Bo carefully bagged them into thick brown paper bags, his dark brown eyes trailing your face as he soaked in your beautiful features. 

It stunned him that such a pretty girl was so shy, it was if you were completely unaware of your beauty. With small smile you grabbed the paper bags and Bo reached for the horse feed that rested on the counter.  

"Lemme carry this out for you; it's pretty heavy." 

"No, n-no! It's fine I can make two trips." 

"Nonsense, what kind of man am I to let a lady carry all these bags by herself?" He replied as strong arms lifting the feed as if it weighed nothing, a rush of lust bloomed within your chest as thoughts of his arms holding you tight crept within your mind. But those thoughts were quickly replaced with embarrassment, and you avoided eye contact with the man as you both walked out of the store towards the car. 

Placing the bags in the passenger side of the vehicle Bo shot you a smile, which made you gaze at your shoes again, your boots kicking the dry dirt beneath your feet. Crossing his arms against his chest and without thinking he said: "I know some fella is really lucky to have you." 

"I-I ain't with no one, not like that." You whispered, biting your lip as you leaned against the hot car door, your eyes meeting his for only a split second before looking away. You had a boyfriend in the past, but the only thing you did with the man was kiss and hold hands, you weren't really attracted to him, and he was only with you for 'convenience' - according to him. So, it didn't hurt you none when he dumped you for another girl. 

But you did enjoy landing a right hook square against his jaw after that nasty breakup though.  

Just because he deserved it. 

"W-What about you? I mean, I'm not sayin' a fella is lucky to have you, unless there is--ain't nothin' wrong with that if there is--I mean--" 

"I'm divorced; my ex-wife works at the general store on the white side of town." Bo chuckled, cutting you off from your rambling. You whispered out a meek apology and silence soon followed. The muffle sounds of people's chattering, cars honking, and wheels racing on the dirt road eased your thumping heart a bit. With a sigh Bo tilted his head, his eyes traveling up and down your body as he tongued the inside of his cheek.  

"...I know some fellas who own a juke joint, just outta the way of town. They play some real good music there - and the catfish they serve is fresh, pipin' hot never cooked in stale grease, unlike the fish fry across the street." He said as he pointed his head towards the run-down restaurant that was packed to the brim with people. You giggled at his comment - he was right - despite the popularity of that place, their food was disgusting. With a pause his face twisted in deep thought, finding the next words that he truly wanted to say.  

"We should go there sometime - the juke joint," Bo casually said, his hands now tucked in the pockets of his pants. "Up to you, of course." He quickly added trying his best not to lay it on thick. Your body stiffed and you scrunched up your face in concern and without thinking you blurted out: "You ain't crazy, right?"  

Bo was a handsome man, the kind that you would daydream about as you hammered and worked your days away. It made no sense to you that such a gorgeous man like him would ask you out, he seemed like the type to be paired up with a woman who wore frilly dresses and expensive perfume.  

Not a woman in old, dirty hand-me-down male clothes.  

He shrugged his shoulders as an airy laugh escaped his lungs, you noticed that he laughed a lot. 

The sound of it was music to your ears.  

"Just think about it, okay?" He asked softy, which earned a nod from you. With one last smile he began to walk towards the store backwards, his chestnut-colored eyes not breaking contact with yours.  

"And make sure your brothers help you with movin' allat stuff."  

The drive back home was felt quicker than it actually was, your mind raced with thoughts of Bo. His soft smile, his strong muscular arms, his beautiful deep brown eyes, his thick southern twang with each word he spoke - even though you just met the man you were already falling for him, and you considered his invitation to the juke joint.  

Once pulling into the long dusty driveway of your home a quick realization set within you. 

How would you take him up on that offer? 

Driving back and forth from town wasn't manageable; your father's car drank up gas like it was nothing - and gasoline was expensive. You sighed at the missed opportunity to ask how communication would work between you two. With a lull of your head, your eyes landed on the grocery list that rested on top of the items you bought. Reaching for the stained paper your heart fluttered as you read the numbers out loud, his name scribbled on the bottom of it. 

──⭒─⭑─⭒────⭒─⭑─⭒── 

A few blistering weeks had passed and your relationship with Bo blossomed as you both spent hours talking on the phone, and you were starting to enjoy the tedious shopping trips your father would send you on - that meant you were able to see the shopkeeper in person. But when driving into town wasn't needed you settled on calling the man after finishing your chores.  

You learned that the Bo's family was from China, a long way from Mississippi. You would ask about the country and if it was any different from here, his deep voice would sigh and reminiscence about his homeland. His family moved here when he was only a small boy and stated that he lost his accent in exchanged for the Mississippi drawl from living here so long - but he still spoke perfect Mandarin.  

You noticed that his flirty persona would slip as he displayed a sillier side to him. Cursing and complaining about customers leaving messes around his store or local vendors who tried to rip him off, his soothing voice would slip into speaking his native tongue, the sound of those foreign words would caress your ears and make your heart flutter. You would ask him to teach you some words and phrases, which he gladly did.  

Most of them were curse words though.  

You would butcher the unfamiliar words with your southern accent, but he was patient with you as he chuckled out the proper pronunciation of those dirty words, praising you when you finally articulating them semi-perfectly.  

He would ask you about your day as well and you told him everything, down to the exact minute you woke up. He would let out a sharp whistle hearing all of the manual labor that you were responsible for - flirting with you about how you needed a break often saying things like: "Sounds like a hard day, you probably have knots in your shoulders - I could fix that, y'know." 

Which you would reply: "You givin' out massages now?" 

And in turn he would tut out a quick comeback along the lines of: "Only to those who deserves them. I've got magic hands...And a soft spot for women who pretend not to need them." 

You would choke and stumble over your words, quickly changing the subject towards something else. Tonight, you were on the phone with Bo, listing intensely at the story he told - your sore hands shooed your nosy brother away as he gave you a lopsided smile. You told your brothers about Bo, and they teased you relentlessly about him. 

"So, when am I gonna see you again?" Bo asked, making you bite your lip and shrug as if he could see you.  

"I don't know...Maybe soon?" You whispered you didn't want it to come out as a question, but it did, and you mentally kicked yourself for it. You remembered his offer to take you to this 'mysterious' juke joint, it sounded like fun. You love to dance even though you were self-conscious about doing it in front of people, often swaying your hips as you hummed a melody you heard on the radio while cooking or doing chores by your lonesome.  

"How...How 'bout we go that juke joint you were talkin' about? That sounds like fun." 

"Ah! Lil' miss busy body finally wanna come dance with me?" 

"Oh, haha," You sarcastically laughed, picking at the skin of your thumb. "How 'bout next weekend? Does Saturday work for you?" 

"Of course, I'm free Saturday..." He then paused and you could practically see the wide smile that clung onto his face.  

"It's a date, then?" 

"Y-Yeah, it's a date."  

──⭒─⭑─⭒────⭒─⭑─⭒──  

Your fingers fidget and twist around each other, the crunching sound of rock and dirt beneath your feet grounded you somewhat, but your palms were already beginning to sweat. Passing through parked cars and couples grinding themselves onto each other, you finally made it to this aforementioned juke joint, the booming sound of music and shouting made a lump rise in your throat.  

Stepping towards the large open double doors sat a stocky man. He nodded and waved as people enter and exited the makeshift club - his head snapping forward as his eyes landed onto you. With a wide and friendly smile, he tilted his straw hat with thick fingers - lowering his head in reverence as he spoke. 

"Hello, missy. Ain't seen you around here before," His head rise again, making heavy eye contact with you. You figured that this large man was a bouncer, here to try and keep troublemakers out of the juke. "Word gets around, huh? Each weekend more and more people come - since it's your first time here I recommend trying the Irish whiskey. It got some kick to it, haha. All thanks to those twins, of course."  

"Y-Yes, will do. Thank you." You mumbled, your shy eyes looking down at your feet. The muddy boots that you wore everyday were replaced with emerald green heels, the shoes hurt your feet, but the sales lady reassured you that they'll break in quickly.  

Shuffling around the man you stumbled into the crowded club, your eyes scanning for Bo, but you couldn't find him anywhere. A lost and confused look plastered onto your face - you were starting to feel overwhelmed as second thoughts rushed through your mind. Deciding that you should just leave you quickly turned on your heel, but you bumped into a soft body, strong yet comforting arms steadied you. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" You repeated with a strained voice, shouting out apologies over the loud Blues that reverberated on the wooden walls. 

"It's okay, you alright?" A womanly voice calmly spoke. Your eyes were met with deep mahogany brown irises, her features were beautiful, welcoming. Yet an air of sternness and confidence oozed casually from her as she adjusted her dark blue dress. Her natural hair was done up neatly, framing her face in a way that only enhanced her beautiful features. You couldn't help but to gawk at this woman. Noticing this her smile only soften as she awaited your answer to her question. 

"Oh, um. Yea', I'm okay. Thank you," you choked out, your awkward eyes darting around the room as you peered into the dancing crowd. "Have you seen Bo around?" You added with a bite of your cherry red stained lips - for the first time you were wearing makeup. 

"So, you're her? He's gamblin' with that drunk 'ol fool in the back." She stated, giving you a friendly grin. She turned her head and stopped a man dead in his tracks as he gave her a look that was tinged in nothing but respect.  

"Yes, Annie?" The man asked. 

"Take her to Bo and them, would you?" The woman, now known as Annie, casually said which earned a nod from the man. You gave your thanks to Annie as she winked and disappeared into the crowd. You followed the man, pushing pass people dancing and drinking with apologies falling from your lips, bumping into them accidently. But most of them were either too drunk to care or too busy dancing to notice.  

"Damn, Bo. I thought you said you was good?" A commanding voice boomed, which followed by a chorus of laughter from multiple men. The music wasn't as loud within this hidden room, the muffled hymns were drowned out by lighters flicking, glass bottles clanking, and cocky chuckles coming from each man that huddled together around the small table.  

"I am, but I'm already known' that Slim is cheatin." Bo sighed in annoyance, a cigarette hanged limp between his plump lips as he tossed a card down on the table, stress pulling at his chiseled features and smoke plumed from his mouth with each word he spoke.  

"I ain't cheatin'." A man, who was much older, confidently stated as he took a long swig from his metal flask - licking his lips to taste the alcohol that slipped pass his golden capped teeth.  

"You is." Bo shot back as he took a drag from the cigarette, pulling it from his lips with an index and middle finger, and leisurely blew the smoke into the already thick hazy air.  

"No, I--" 

A sharp wolf whistle cut off the older man's defense, which cause the men to snap their heads towards your direction. The whistle came from the man standing, his hands reaching for the red brimmed hat that rested on his head and placed it over his chest, shielding his well-tailored suit.  

"Ain't you a pretty lil' thang?" He spoke as his dark brown irises slowly ran up and down your body, he was absolutely undressing you with his eyes. You wore a thin silky emerald color dress that loosely hung onto your body - but the soft fabric outlined and accentuated your curves. Your short hair was styled in finger waves, mimicking how women would wear their hair in the many magazines you had hidden away in your bedroom.  

With long mascara covered eyelashes you blinked awkwardly, turning your head to look behind you, confused if the man was talking to you. Bo looked at you with awe, he couldn't recognize you at first but looking deeper at your dolled up face he could see those same beautiful features he'd grown fond of.  

You looked amazing, like a movie star that jumped straight out of the silver screen. 

"Y-You talkin' to me?" You asked the man, pointing at yourself with your head tilting to the side, the dangling silver earing you wore had small green gems, the light catching the dark color - making the jewelry sparkle. The jewelry grazed the warm skin of your bare shoulder as you lulled your head back into its natural position.  

"My, my. And she's humble too," he laughed as he reached his hand out for yours. With sweaty and shaky palms, you placed your hand within the stranger's grasp, it seemed like he didn't care about your drenched soaked palm as he placed a kiss on your trembling hand, the feeling of his moustache lightly tickled your skin. "My name is Stack, baby." He said as he shot you a wide smile, showing off his golden capped teeth that shined under the ember light of the club. But before you could open your mouth Bo quickly cut into the conversation, swatting away the advances Stack was planning on making towards you.  

"Watch yourself - she ain't like that, Stack." Bo hissed tossing his cards on the table, quitting from the game which made Slim smile ear to ear from the easy victory.  

"Why you care, ain't you married?" Stack jested back, his voice dripping with charisma, sending a wink your way after finishing his sentence.  

"Divorced." Bo said curtly. 

Stack raised his hands up in a playful display of defeat, his face twisting in mischief as a chuckle fell from his plump lips.  

"My bad, Bo. I ain't know you like the sistas." Stack chuckled as he pulled the empty chair from the table, claiming his seat as nimble hands collected the scattered cards - preparing to shuffle them for the next game.  

"I ain't know you like 'em either." Bo replied, sitting up from his chair as he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, stopping right at the elbows - his cigarette still hanging limply from his mouth.  

This statement earned a raspy roar of laughter from Slim as he clapped his hands together, the sound of his foot stomping made you jump a bit. Stack's once confident persona melted as he shot glares at Slim and Bo, which only made Slim laugh even harder.  

You were oblivious to their 'inside joke'.  

"Whew, you have fun you crazy kids," Slim sighed out, taking another swig from his flask. "And you: get outta ya feelings, boy. Shuffle them cards." The older man places a hard pat on Stack's shoulder, which only made him grunt in annoyance. 

"I think you had too much to drink, old man." Stack seethed as he quickly mixed up the cards in his hands.  

Putting the cigarette out in the ashtray Bo's striking features eased with happiness as he laid his eyes on you. Holding his arm out for you to grab onto, both of you exited the small gambling room - now out on the bustling dance floor. His eyes were trained onto your face as he pulled you closer towards him, the bloom of attraction and arousal tugged within Bo as he bit his lip. 

You were looking damn good tonight. 

"I see why you didn't want me to pick you up - you're somethin' else, you know that?" He smiled, the dimples of his cheeks deepening as you shrugged your shoulders at his words, your eyes gazing at him. He looked handsome as always, but tonight he looked dashing. Noticing his eyes that flicked towards your body, you took a step back to show him your full outfit. 

"You like my dress? I bought it earlier today - I wanted to wear somethin' new." You gushed out and with a twirl you showed him the back of your dress that exposed the bare skin of your back, but you didn't notice Bo's eyes landing straight on your ass that poked against the thin fabric. Sticking his thumb in his belt loop, he adjusted his pants - he really wanted to see what's under that dress - but alas, he wouldn't outwardly say that to you as his own worrying self-conscious crept in.  

Bo wasn't bashful nor shy when it came to intimacy and sex, he was open about his wants and desires. But you were the polar opposite, so he tried his best to keep those lustful thoughts about you to himself, toning the flirty banter down to a minimum. But that was becoming a challenge tonight with how sexy you looked, and it didn't help much that Stack's actions made him a tad bit jealous. 

Bo knew you desired him just as much, but he knows it'll take a while for that shell of yours to crack.  

Low strumming of guitar strings pulled your attention away from Bo, your eyes gazing at the makeshift stage ahead of you, watching a man that was around your age plucked the metal strings of the instrument. With a low hum you noticed the once lively dancefloor coupled up in pairs, while the singles made their way to the bar to fill up on drinks. With a thumb on his bottom lip Bo, smiled at your sudden ramped attention towards the slow music. 

"That's Preacher Boy, he's mighty fine at playin' that guitar," Bo walked forward towards the dance floor with your hand in his. Both your fingers interlocking with each other's. "Care to fancy me a dance?"  

You couldn't do anything but to excitedly nod, the butterflies in your stomach were becoming unbearable. With strong arms Bo held you flush against him, you could feel his lean body through his clothes - both of you swaying to the rhythm of the song. Tough hands rested on the small of your back, his calloused fingers resting dangerously close above your ass. 

You wouldn't mind it if he rested his hand there.  

With threaded fingers he guided your steps, you tripped over yourself for a bit - but you quickly found the rhythm again. Your head rest on his shoulder while he placed his on top of your head, the tender lyrics about love and not wanting to let go echoed through your mind, the lovesick song made your heart swell.  

Bo then pulls away from your body, but only for a bit - he twirled you around, making you giggle at the action and with skillful movements, he pressed your backside onto himself. His hands guided your hips against his and you could feel his growing bulge pressing against your backside. You shiver in delight at the feeling of him pressing against you, his lips also pressing against your ear as he sang along the lyrics - switching some of the words with Mandarin. He was singing the song directly to you. 

Your loins were on fire, and you tried the ease the ache between your legs by grinding yourself onto his stiffening member. Bo took quick noticed of this, his fingers pressing down on your hips as he steadies himself.  

Helping you grind yourself on him. 

Turning around to face him again you wrapped your arms over his shoulders, still pressing yourself firmly on his body. Your lips ghosting over his - he leaned forward in an attempt to close the sliver of space between your lips, but you pulled away with a slight grin that danced across your cherry red lips.  

"Do you think I'm pretty even when I don't look like...This all the time?" You asked him. Though you enjoyed dressing up and doing your make up - a part of you also found comfort in wearing clothes that weren't 'conventionally' for women. You were shy and sometimes you had some bouts of insecurity - but that was every woman. 

You hoped that Bo could understand that.  

"The moment I laid my eyes on you - when you came into my store - I knew then that I wanted you," he paused as his brown eyes stared into yours intensely, every word he spoke made you lose your breath. "You're more than pretty; you're beautiful - gorgeous. Doesn't matter what you got on."  

With quivering lips, you kissed him, Bo's lips were soft, and his kiss was steady as he guided your unskilled mouth against his - deepening the kiss even more. His warm hands trailed over the exposed skin of your back, the feeling of rough fingers made you spiral, and you could feel yourself getting wetter by the second. Bo could feel your wetness too - pressing his thigh in between your legs and against your aching core.  

You moaned into his mouth, and you held onto his shoulders for dear life, you needed to feel this man inside you - you were growing desperate to relieve yourself from the intense arousal that bubbled in your core. 

"C'mon, lemme take care of you, baby." Bo whispered.  

──⭒─⭑─⭒────⭒─⭑─⭒── 

Slipping away from the crowd, you and Bo found an empty room upstairs of the juke, away from prying eyes. The room was dusty, and the air was stale and thick - as if you both were the first people to enter in years. The slow love song that Preacher Boy sang was now replaced with loud, intense melodies and the once tender lyrics now oozed with raunchy double entendres.  

Pressing your back against the wall, Bo's nimble hands ran over your body, stroking and squeezing all of your curves as if his life depended on it - his hands stopping at your breast, cupping them gently through the fabric of your dress. His faced rested within the crook of your neck as his lips sucked at the exposed skin, slightly nipping you with his teeth. Your hands race through his black hair, the strands threading through your fingers as your nails softly scratched at his scalp. 

"You see what you do to me, girl?" He asked as he reached for your hand, placing it over his clothed bulge that strained against his pants. You bit your lip as your fingers rubbed against his hard member, his hips bucking into your hand as you pressed down on his dick.  

"I-I gotta tell you somethin'." 

"What is it, baby?" He asked in between fevered kisses on your neck. 

"I ain't never did this before." You sighed out breathlessly. Kissing and grinding wasn't intimidating to you - you've done that before. 

But sex, actual sex, was a whole different ballpark. You weren't 'saving' yourself for marriage or anything like that; you never had the opportunity to be with anyone sexually. Until now, of course. Bo stopped in his tracks and pulled away from your neck, his eyes that were filled with lust a second ago soften while his hands rested at your sides.  

"...You a virgin?" He asked, which made you whisper out a yes. His eyebrows knitted together as he stared down at you, still pressing himself against your heaving chest. "Sure you want this?" 

"Yea', I'm sure...I like you, Bo. A lot, I wanna do it," you paused - your eyes looking away from him and in attempt to try to break the rising tension from the realization of you never having sex before, you spoke again. "Just be patient with me." 

"I'll be gentle I promise, baby. It's just like dancin', follow my lead - I'll make sure you feel real good." Bo whispered as his hand caress your cheek, his thumb rubbing circles. Leaning in he kissed you again, but this kiss was different than the last - it was slow and gentle.  

You kissed him back and his tongue swipe at your bottom lip, asking for permission to deepen the kiss, and you let him. Both of your tongues danced in unison, the taste of cigarette smoke with the hint of peppermint lingered on your mouth with each kiss. His hands reached for the hem of your dress, pulling up the fabric exposing your bare thighs and thin cotton underwear.  

His hand rubbed your leg, stopping at the waistband of your panties, his finger tracing over the band and stopping at the wet spot of the fabric. Slowly his fingers pressed against your clothed clit, rubbing small yet firm circles on the sensitive bud, earning a shallow moan that escaped your chest.  

"Does it feel good, baby?" Bo asked as he continued rubbing your pussy through your panties. You groan out a breathy yes, encouraging him to keep going.  

And he did.  

Your hips bucked against his hand, while his free hand pinched at your right nipple with attentive fingers. The sharp feeling of his pinching sent a wave of pleasure towards your loins and your hands gripped onto his toned biceps. With skillful and experienced hands, he stuck his thumb within the waistband of your soaking underwear, slipping the fabric off your hips towards your already shaking knees, his fingers now rubbing against your exposed pussy.  

"Oh, Bo. T-That feels good." You whimpered as he continued his movements - now picking up speed, making you moan even louder.  

You were glad that the music was blaringly loud. 

"Fuck...You're already so wet." Bo muttered as his fingers swiped across your aching entrance. He was practically straining against his pants, but since this was your first time, he didn't want to rush. He remembered his first time having sex - it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either - even so he still looked back on that memory fondly. The feeling of reaching that level of ecstasy sticks to a person and he was honored to be able to help you achieve it. It was daunting knowing that he's your first, but it also lit a fire within him. 

He wanted nothing more but to pleasure you, to make sure that your first time is special. Trailing gentle kisses down your body Bo got on his knees, tugging the panties off of your legs as he did so. Your hands gripped onto the hem of your dress in a tight fist and your eyes followed his every movement. 

"I wanna taste you, baby. Can I taste you?" He asked desperately, his eyes looking up at you as if you were an angel in disguise - as if you were a work of art.  

You nodded your head, but he didn't move. 

"Use your words, sugar."  

"Y-Yes, you can taste me." choked out awkwardly, you never talked dirty to anyone before but the act of doing it only made you hornier. Bo smiled wide at your answer, placing a feather light kiss on your thigh and on your sensitive bud. The feeling of his lips on your pussy made you shiver in excitement and slowly he began to lick you.  

The tip of his tongue skillfully circled your clit, only stopping to drag it across your soaking pussy. He moaned against your core - savoring sweet taste of your juices that filled his mouth. You bucked your hips against his face, riding on his experienced tongue as he continued repeating his movements. 

Chanting out his name with a groan your hands ran through his hair, it took everything within you not to pull at his dark tresses - but the sensation of his tongue lapping up your pussy made your head spin. Working over your core Bo slowly slipped his middle finger inside of you, stopping at the second joint in case you couldn't take the feeling. To your surprise the feeling of his finger inside you didn't hurt; in fact, it felt amazing - it felt heavenly.  

Careful and slow he moved his hand, pressing the finger in and out of your pussy as his lips sucked at your swollen and sensitive clit. Lulling your head to the side you rocked your hips to match the pace of his hand, biting your lip as a wave of pleasure washed over you. Bo then added another finger which made you squeeze your thighs against the sides of his head, holding his head in place with a vice grip.  

His middle and ring finger worked your over your core, the digits now fully inside of you. Picking up the pace with his fingers your pussy, guttural moans turned into high pitched groans as your left hand scratched at the wall behind you. An unfamiliar yet intense feeling tingled at your core, and something within you desperately needed the feeling to be alleviated. It was as if Bo read your mind and his tongue swirled over your clit and within an instant a wave of euphoria crashed into you as a loud cry fell from your lips, your body shaking intensely like a leaf in the wind.  

You came. 

Bo's mouth pulled away from your dripping pussy, he didn't want to overwhelm you as his now slick fingers lightly stroked your tender button, easing you through your orgasm.  

"Just like that, baby. You got it...Good job, great job." He praised. Looking down at him Bo's chin and the collar of his shirt was soaked with your juices, and it slightly embarrassed you with just how wet you truly were. But that feeling of embarrassment quickly dissipated when he stood up again, his lips crashing into yours - kissing you with fever.  

You could taste yourself on his tongue, with shaky hands you locked your fingers together at the back of his head, deepening the kiss. Something about tasting you on his swollen lips made your pussy tingle with a need to be filled again. 

"Bo...I-I need you."  

"I need you too." He whispered back between kisses. Your hand reached for the buckle of his belt, fumbling over your own fingers as you tried to free him from his pants. Bo held your hands in his, guiding them in unbuckling the belt.  

Finally, being able to free himself from his belt, he led your hand in his pants. You could feel just how hard he was. His member was thick and heavy and feeling the warmth of it on the palm of your hand made your mouth water in the anticipation of him fucking you. Pulling his pants off his waist, Bo's dick sprung free.  

With strong hands he lifted you up from under your arms, making you gasp. Following his lead, you wrapped your legs around his hips as he pressed his lean body against yours, pressing you on the wall to steady yourself. Your sweaty forehead rested on his as you both watched him stroke himself, pumping his dick with his hand, precum making a natural lubricant.  

With cloudy eyes you watched Bo lining himself towards your aching core he slowly entered you, his head rested on your hot and sweat slicked shoulder and the feeling of his cock entering your tight pussy almost made the man topple over. He was stretching you out and the raw sting of pain mixed with pleasure crashed into you like a tidal wave, your nails clung onto Bo's shirt, scratching at his skin through the cotton fabric.  

"Shh, it's okay, I got you." Bo reassured as he paused the movement of his hips - resting his cock inside of you - allowing both of your bodies to adjust to each other. You were so tight, so warm, so wet. It felt like he'd just stumbled into heaven, and it took everything in him not to buck his hips until you were ready. With a nod of your head, you signaled him to continue, your tense muscles melted as he placed a long kiss on your jaw as he slowly began rocking his hips back and forth, fucking into you as softly as he could.  

High pitched grunts fell from your lips with each thrust he made, and his thumb rubbed small and supportive circles over the skin of your thighs that wrapped around his hips, grounding you and easing the tense muscles within your legs. Bo began chanting your name, telling you how good you felt, and asking you if he felt good inside you too.  

The pain of his cock inside of your once unexplored sex subsided and was now replaced with nothing but pleasure. You moaned against his plump lips as he groaned out curses in Mandarin at the sensation of your pussy squeezing around his member; his hips thrusting into you rapid but steady pace. 

"Bo, I think I'm almost..." 

"I'm almost there too." Bo mumbled as he rested his forehead onto yours and with a few more thrusts you felt the familiar feeling of a knot formed within your abdomen and with shaking legs your mouth hanged open slack as a silent scream pushed through your convulsing body - the high of reaching your orgasm made you hold Bo in a vice grip.  

He cursed in pleasure as his own orgasm crept up on him, backing away from your tight grip with strong arms he pulled himself out of you, pumping his cock within his hand until he reached his climax - coming in his hand as he rested his head on your shoulders, your eyes watching him stroke himself. The sounds of heavy breathing filled the air as your head spin from experiencing your second orgasm. 

Your sweaty body leaned against the wall and with a deep sigh Bo steadied his breathing, rolling his shoulders as your eyes met with his. You noticed a bit of blood that was in his hand and the odd sensation of slick clung on your inner thighs, putting two and two together you looked away from him, embarrassment blooming within your already racing heart. But before you could blurt out an apology, Bo kissed your lips - pulling you out of your self conscious state.  

"That's normal for your first time. It's okay, baby." He reassured. Cleaning you and himself up with a small cotton handkerchief, you jumped at the soft fabric rubbing against your sensitive sex, which earned a sympathetic chuckle from Bo. 

"Hopefully next time we do it we'll have a bed. My back hurts..." You whispered as your hand pressed on the small of your back, getting fucked against a hard wall feels good in the moment, but you know you'll be stiff as a board the following morning.  

"Next time?" Bo asked as a mischievous grin tugged at his lips.  

"I-I mean if you want--" 

"I'll make sure we'll have a bed, and besides I promised you a massage, remember?" He smiled and you smiled back at him. After getting cleaned up, you and Bo rejoined the bustling crowd of the juke joint, hand in hand. 

You were counting down the minutes until your next 'encounter' with him - and so was he. 

[jakesimfromstatefarm]

fine line ── l. hs (teaser!)

update: this fic's been posted! click here to read <3

↳ summary ── heesung's got two problems: (1) he can't sleep, and (2) he's addicted to the 1AM combo of instant ramyeon and coffee milk from his favorite convenience store around the corner. the only thing more consistent than his insomnia? his nightly visits for his beloved snacks (and maybe to glare at the new night shift employee, too). & pstt, spoiler alert: you're the said new night shift employee. and you don't know what's worse: his weird food choices or his apparent superiority complex. either way, if you have to watch him inhale another bowl like it's his last meal ever, you might lose it. but hey, you know what they say—there’s a fine line between love and hate...

↳ pairing ── heeseung x f!reader

↳ genre ── idol!heeseung, e2l!au, strangers to lovers!au || crack, fluff, teensy bit of angst because a certain someone doesn't know how to communicate their feelings...

↳ addie's ✉ .ᐟ ── haii everyone it's been a long time coming...i've been having a MAJOR writer's block and also just kinda taking a break because work has been more tiring on my body so i've just been exhausted recently so i apologize for the lack of content,,,but WE'RE BACK! if anyone's ever watched backstreet rookie (it's my comfort show i love kim yoo-jung), i'm kinda going for those romcom vibes here hehe. this sneak peek isn't as revealing as my others,,,it's quite short but this one is gonna be a lil more rom-com mixed with eventual angst because what is heeseung if not a yearner?

send me an ask/comment if you'd like to be tagged !!! <3 (current tag list at end of post :D )

snippet under the cut!!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・

“So…do you actually enjoy these together, or are you just trying to destroy your stomach lining?” 

He freezes. Great, you’re talking. So much for a perfect night. 

He adjusts his cap to peer at you and the same unimpressed, judgemental look sitting on your face as you lean against the counter behind you. “What’s wrong with my choices?” 

Your eyebrows shoot up, “What right with them? This combo screams, ‘I have unresolved issues I’m trying to boil away with spice and sugar.’” 

Okay, ouch. 

Heeseung narrows his eyes, trying to ignore the weird pinch in his chest at how quickly you read him, whether he likes to admit it or not. 

“I like them. That’s all that matters,” his voice drips with a certain sharpness, hoping the edge in his tone is enough to make you back off. 

You, however, seem entirely unfazed.

“Just trying to help—” you shrug as you scan his items, “looking out for your poor taste buds.” 

For a moment, Heeseung considers firing back, but then his gaze catches yours for a millisecond too long as you take his cash and, immediately, he’s wondering—for the hundredth time—if you know. 

Do you recognize him? 

The thought has been gnawing at him since the first time he stepped into this store and saw you sitting there five days ago. Sure, he’s got his identity pretty much concealed under his borderline clinically insane hat-mask-hoodie combo, but still—most people at least give him a double take, a lingering glance. Something. 

But you? Nothing. No flash of recognition. No curiosity. Nothing to indicate you know you’re talking to Lee Heeseung—part idol, part insomniac, 100% ramen enthusiast. 

And for some reason, that both annoys and intrigues him. 

“Thanks for your concern,” Heeseung mumbles dryly, quickly grabbing the ramen cup and cold drink from your hands. 

“No problem,” you chirp just as sarcastically, an annoying smile on your face. “Enjoy your…uh, gourmet meal.”

Heeseung throws you one last glare before shaking his head and stalking off to the self-serve station. He puts the cup down on the counter with a little more force than necessary and pours boiling water over the noodles, glaring into the steam as your voice rings in his head. 

What’s wrong with ramen and coffee milk? He scowls. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. And I definitely don’t have unresolved issues. 

But as he steals a glance back at the check-out counter and catches you sorting bills like nothing happened, a weird unease settles in his chest. 

He looks down at this ramen, then at the coffee milk. 

For the first time ever, he feels…self-conscious. 

And now you’re in his head. 

Great. 

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・

this made me crave ramen.

let me know if you'd like to be tagged :)

<3, addie

current tag list: [bolded couldn't be tagged, sorry :( ]

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[cottonlemonade]

crush!Meian who you always see around the grocery store because you have a similar schedule. You go for a lot of the same items and the annoying chore of grocery shopping soon becomes his favorite day of the week.

crush!Meian who always hurries to the bread section for his favorite only to see you toss the last bag of it into your cart, shooting him a wide grin and peace sign.

hopeless crush!Meian who doesn’t remember how to be cool and suave when eventually he reaches the aisle at the same time as you and you both go for the last bread and he pulls back telling you to have it.

“Oh. Why?”, you asked in surprise.

Because you touched it first, he thought.

“Because I’m in love with you.”, he said.

new boyfriend!Meian who brings you every single ointment the pharmacy has to offer when you cut your finger during cooking. He lays out six different tubes and explains that they are for different stages of healing when you interrupt him with a kiss as Thank You.

new boyfriend!Meian who cannot and will not keep his hands to himself when you’re even somewhat close by. Your love handles and pudgy thighs are his absolute favorite.

long term boyfriend!Meian who can’t stop smiling when he watches you getting ready for a date or waiting for him on the couch after training, everything prepared to continue the show you’re both obsessed with and kiss the stress of the day away. He will 100% rest his head on your tummy while you play with his hair.

long term boyfriend!Meian who practices his proposal speech in front of the mirror several times, not realizing that the bathroom door has been open the whole time, and when he comes out, you tell him sweetly that version four was your favorite as you fix his tie.

newlywed husband!Meian who forgets everything to do with volleyball in the post-game interviews, because he is too busy scanning the crowd for you. In his honeymoon phase he is a PR nightmare because all he wants to talk about is his wife. Any excuse to bring up his wife. Ask him about his thoughts on his opponent and he will somehow mention his wife.

newlywed husband!Meian who was once asked, “What, in your opinion, is your greatest accomplishment to date?” and everything the captain could think of was, “My wife recently taught me how to air flip pancakes and I did it on the third try.”

a/n: I am watching Love Next Door and the ointment scene was too cute not to use!

[yourladyofmercy]

𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐖𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐲𝐬𝐨𝐧 ˙♡

author's note: hi hi ! it's my birthday tomorrow so heres a little best friends to mutual crush birthday drabble , hope you enjoy xoxo

word count: 1.2 k ︶⊹︶︶୨୧︶︶⊹︶

Throughout the buzzing noise of soda machines, random top 100 pop songs, and the chit-chatter seeping out from the booths around you, the singular noise that pierced through haze was the ticking of your watch. 

4:30. 

4:31. 

4:32. 

Every minute, another blow to the heart. A minute later he was supposed to be there.  You tried to understand, you had to. You were his best friend. The highs and the lows came onto you, the nights of patching up gaping wounds as his body slumped down on the subway tile covering your bathroom walls. He was Invincible. The Mark Grayson that slept in your bed during sleepovers was the man saving lives from alien invasions every Thursday. 

If you wanted him in your life, you would have to deal with it. Isn’t that how love works?

You finished the red plaster basket of fries, the only item left being the red checkered paper lining it. Your wrist flicked over, the sound of metal clinking followed as the charms on your bracelet collided into each other.  

4:40. 

An hour and 40 minutes. 

Your body slid off of the vinyl covered seats of the booth, leaving enough cash to cover the meal on the table as you walked out. Your car’s lock beeped as you felt your body spinning from a grip on your arm. It was light, not one aggressive enough to make you feel as if you were getting kidnapped, but a familiar feeling. 

Mark. 

Hours late and (against your better principles) you would still make time for him. You felt a slight buzz going up your arm, as if electricity was being sent through your spine as he touched you. 

“I hope i’m not too late” His left hand was holding up a cake box, dangling from four chords of pink ribbon tied into a now stretched out bow. He let go of your grip, his hand quickly grazing yours as it fell. “I was sitting in a booth alone for almost two hours, do you know how sad I looked-“ His index finger shot up in front of your mouth, quickly untying the box that he carried. “I brought a cake to compensate. And we can do something else, anything. I promise.”

As both of your eyes shifted downward to the open box, the frosting was completely squished against the paper packaging, and the wording was almost completely unintelligible other than the outline of an H and B in white letters.  “It’s.. still edible.” “Mark.” Your hand rose to hold his arm, giving it a small pat “You know I support this whole.. almost killing yourself on a Tuesday ordeal,” a sigh escaped your mouth, your shoulders dropping as you averted your gaze from the cake to his eyes. Staring at the face that seemed to be pleading for forgiveness once again. You scanned him again, “I know the world can’t wait for my birthday, but my parents are expecting me to be home soon.” The arm you were holding rose to your face, your watch striking five o’clock. “Shit.” His eyes flickered from your watch, to you again. “Just come over tonight. Please.” His arms outstretched towards you, “Let me make it up to you.”

—------------------------------------

8:00 PM  …

When you tapped at the door, the knocks rang through the first floor. Banging could be heard from the inside, and a voice yelling could be heard through the door. 

“The doors open, just close your eyes for a second when you come in” 

You right hand turned the doorknob, stepping over the threshold with your eyes shut. Your hands shuffled over the door, pushing it to slam shut. “The last time you told me to come in with my eyes closed the house was in shambles-” your leg cocked under you, metal pans clanging and the microwave being slammed shut were the only sounds coming from Mark. “I’m not being an accomplice again” Your hands shifted to cover your eyes 

A thud cut through the air, with a stream of curse words following in a whisper. “I feel like I should open my eyes”

“No” Mark yelped, sudden footsteps making their way up the stairway. “and don’t worry, my parents are out all night”

“That’s… not what i’m worried about” You mumbled under your breath, hoping that whatever powers he had gained didn’t include super hearing.  

You could hear him let out a low laugh, “You can open your eyes now, just don’t come up yet” Your arms crossed in front of you, the house was a mess. Debbie usually kept it in pristine condition, but with her absence the dining table had everything from their backyard shed dumped on top of it. 

You spent half of your life in this house. 

—------------------------------------

8:15 PM …

“Come on slowpoke” 

Mark reached his hand out of his window, standing on the flat roof that covered most of the backyard patio. 

“Okay now that’s not fair, Grayson.” A slight shove of the shoulder and the reevaluation of what you just said. You never meant to sound like this with him, like you were something more than two childhood best friends. That was it. At least, to the two of you. With every possible girlfriend Mark has had the chance of dating, they always seem to stop you in the halls to make sure that they weren’t imposing on something more. 

The best friends who called every day and stay up hours on weekends in the same bed just to talk to each other. 

Highschool changed the two of you. Jealousy boiled up every time someone ask either of you if you could give them their number. The hair on the back of your neck rising if someone asked if you two were something more. Mark would purposely go around the school to find you, having way too much to tell you from just one hour and a half chemistry period. 

As you clinged onto him to not fall off of the roof, your head turned to catch a glimpse of what he had been working on. 

A picnic blanket was set out, miss matched candles with microwaved popcorn, assorted fruit, chocolates,  and burgers from Burger Mart. Oh, and the cake too. 

“I promise the roof won’t cave in when we sit,” He led your hand over to the blanket to sit down, taking a seat next to you afterwards. His legs were propped up in front of him, staring at you as your gaze wandered over the meal. “I can’t believe you did all of this.” Your hand rose to cover your mouth for a moment, not sure if you should laugh or shed a tear.  “Well, not counting the meal. I’ll give you some props on the microwaved popcorn though.” 

“You know I would do anything for you.. right?”

It felt as if the temperature rose a few hundred degrees when he spoke to you, looking you in the eyes as if he needed your approval to be satisfied. Your bodies felt closer than ever, the few inches between your faces as his eyes flickered between your eyes and your lips for a single second. 

You rested your head on his shoulder, placing your hand on his arm as you gazed up at him.

 “Yeah, I know.”

‘I love you’ wasn’t a phrase that was needed to describe the two of you. It was a devotion that was incapable of being described. Without each other it’s as if the world wouldn’t spin. 

Maybe knowing he felt the same way was the best birthday gift you could’ve gotten. 

[sushis-wild-imagination]

Seventeen and first dates (all members)

More like this on Seventeen Masterlist <3 Requests are open! Genre: FLUFF

→ Choi Seungcheol

“You do look like a fish” he says.

You and cheol were walking around in an aquarium as your first official date. You both have been really close friends for a while before you decided to finally give into your feelings and see where it goes with each other.

You couldn’t be happier, cheol really was the best thing that happened to you, even friendship wise. The sweetest boy.

“Look, that looks exactly like you” he points to ansilly looking fish through the glass.

You put you lips out and pout like a fish.

“Close your eyes; you look exactly like this fish behind you,”

You giggle at that, you’ve never been told you look like a fish and that made you laugh,

“let me take a picture” he says.

You stand at the glass, with your lips out and eyes closed. After two clicks you feel someone in front of you and a pair of lips, pecking yours.

“Hey!” You were fully red. It was your first kiss with him. It was playful and so sweet. Nothing like you imagined but a 100 times cuter, innocent.

“Sue me! I stole a kiss” he says running away from you while you chase him.

“Come back here”

→Yoon Jeonghan

“You can’t eat anything if you don’t catch anything!,” jeonghan tells you while you stand at this pool like area for fishes.

You and Jeonghan confessed quite mutually to each other that you liked each other. All your friends could see it, how you would kick your feet at his messages and how he would giggle at yours. You weren’t just friends.

“You’ll let your girlfriend starve?” You ask acting offended.

He pauses for a second and scans you top to bottom.

“Yes”

You playfully smack him while the fish catching turns into a competition about who catches more fish. At the end of the night you had 6 fishes you caught, and you couldn't possibly eat 6 fishes so you gave some away to the kids who couldn’t catch any.

“If this is how we were going to catch fish, I would’ve taken you fishing instead”

“I am somewhat of a master fisherman myself”

You giggle at the reference.

→ Hong Joshua

You’ve liked joshua ever since he transfered to you school in high school. He was your bench mate and it wasn’t a long time before you fell for his charm, he was a handsome boy with such a kind heart. You still had an umbrella he gave you to use.

You met him again at a reunion after years and the group of friends planned to go to an amusement park that weekend at the reunion.

Seeing him again, after years set you off with some feelings, all unresolved.

You reached the amusement park as a group but little did you know it was a set up and suddenly you and Joshua were left alone.

You ended up touring the entire park, you realised he was the same crazy shua you knew and liked. Everything he did made you laugh.

“Here!” He says and hands you a bracelet he won shooting at balloons.

“A souvenir from our first date” he adds.

You look up at him in surprise.

“First date?”

“Unless you don’t want it to be”

“No, of course, I like that”

“Good”

‘Our first date’ rang in your head the rest of the day.

→ Moon Junhui

This was the first time you had gone over to your boyfriend, Jun's apartment. He liked decorating his apartment and interior design, his apartment was full of decorative items, you went through them all. it was fascinating how much you realise of a person just by seeing how they decorate their spaces.

Jun had called you over for a home cooked meal that he was so confident about. He was so excited to make you this Malapot that he knows he makes the best. He wanted to almost show off to you and impress you with his food.

You were excited for the food too, just listening to him talk about it made you drool when you made the plan.

"Ah it's ruined" you hear jun's voice from the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" you walk over.

"Somethings wrong, it's not tasting the way it's supposed to" he says dejected. You go over and he gives you a spoonful of broth from the pot. It was quite flavourful.

"It's good Jun, what's wrong?" you ask again.

"It's good, not great, I can do so much better" he was very disappointed. He just wanted you to enjoy his food and like his food.

"I'll eat anything you make junnie" you say hugging his side while his eyes never leave the pot in front of him.

You force him to look at you.

"There's always a next time, I'm not going anywhere"

He finally smiles.

→ Kwon Hoshi

You were cycling with your boyfriend of 1 week, hoshi. You met at a fashion show and immediately clicked. You fell for his goofy personality and felt this urge to protect him from the world.

He asked you out first and you happily agreed. Both of you had some feelings some flirtatious text messages happening between the two of you.

But today you could taste blood, he was cycling way too hard and you couldn’t catch up.

He was a little ahead of you while you volunteered to crash in the grass to relax, you would’ve died if you went on for a little longer.

You were panting while the tiger came back to you to check if you are okay.

“Cycling is too hard” you say between laboured breaths.

“You have no stamina” he smirks suggesting something completely different.

It was your chance to chase him down for that comment.

“We’ll see” you blush but also respond sassily chasing him in the grass.

→ Jeon Wonwoo

Jeon Wonwoo, your next door neighbour that had taken a liking to you, has made it routine to pick you up from office everyday, so you could go back home together.

You were still unsure about dating him and he gave you all the time in the world to come to a decision.

You wanted to surprise him today, by agreeing to date him. You had spent a lot of time together and he was a sweet guy. You were just scared of something, past relationships weren’t exactly a flower path. He understood that.

You came out of your office building, to see wonwoo, hopefully your soon to be boyfriend, waiting at his bike.

“Did you wait for too long?”

He smiles. “I’ll wait forever, if its for you”

Maybe you don’t have to wait anymore.

You take a deep breath and take his hands in yours.

“Listen, I had to talk to you about something”

His body language changes and he’s almost nervous. You fidget with his thumb, very embarrassed and shy.

“Whats wrong?” He asks getting concerned at how you couldn’t make eye contact with him.

“I gave us a thought”

He visibly freezes. Like he’s preparing himself for anything thats to come.

“I like you Wonwoo, I know I’ve been scared but Im ready to get through that”

There is a glowing smile on his face. “I’ll treat you so well, I promise” his hand pats your hair. It makes you feel safe and reassured.

“So girlfriend?” He asks putting your helmet on you and buckling up for you.

Him calling you girlfriend sets your chest on fire.

“Yes, boyfriend” you squeak out, not used to this.

“Let me take you to the moon, our first date”

“I’ll go anywhere with you” you say softly, getting on his bike.

→ Lee Jihoon

Jihoon was a schoolmate first, your co worker second, he recommended you at the company you work at now. You became close with him being the only person you knew. Soon, this closeness turned into romantic feelings. You couldn’t get him out of your head.

You asked him out, you straight up told him, you like him and what he thinks about it. It was the first time you had seen him speechless. He took a minute to collect himself before he said “sure” and you started dating. Although his demeanour may seem as if he doesn’t care but you know he likes you too. There has been multiple times jihoon has gone out of his way to help you blend into your work and otherwise.

“Our first dinner in the studio” he said and it made you smile. You like when he says ‘ours’

“You never let me eat in the studio, how cone today you called me here”

His face turns red before he answers. “I thought it’ll be rude to have your girlfriend eat out while I work in the studio”

It was your turn to turn red. You mutter “cute” under your breath.

The power suddenly shuts down and the whole room goes pitch black. Jihoon steps out to see if its just his studio.

“I think something wrong with the generator on this wing” he says sitting next to you on the couch while you gobble up the food you brought for the both of you.

You hear him sigh and carefully lay his hesd on your shoulder.

“Are you tired?”

He shakes his head cuddling closer, you never took him for a cuddler but its like a cat, if a cat CHOOSES you to cuddle, you shouldn’t move. Thats exactly what you did.

You turn on the light on your phone and set it on the coffee table next to your food.

“Torch light dinner”

You hear him chuckle at that while you offer him some food almost feeding him.

You hoped the light never came back and this stayed like this forever.

→ Seo Myungho

You ran an art workshop where you met Minghao for the first time. You didn’t know what he did and who he was until you saw your pictures plastered all over the internet one day.

He was the first to say he likes you. You liked him too, he brought perspective to your life and you loved that about him.

You and him were at a library having a relaxed date but the thing is you suggested going to a library when you didn’t even read.

You look over at hao, sitting by the window completely immersed in his book, he looked gorgeous. You pick out a comic to read from the shelf. You were a bad reader, even comics bored you after a while. But since Hao liked reading you thought you can enjoy it too. You sat next to him on the couch he was at.

You flipped through the pages and almost got bored instantly.

“Trouble reading?” You hear a whisper next to you.

You look up, not being able to manage this front you put on to impress him.

This was the second time he caught you looking bored.

“I’ll be honest, I’ve never been a reader”

“Everyone’s a reader, you just haven’t found the right book yet”

He’s so wise and calm, he brings stability to your chaos. He suggested a book you might like and he was right, you were immediately hooked to the premise and discovered that you like the thriller genre that doesn’t let you put your book down.

→ Kim Mingyu

“Are you sure you don’t want anything?”

You shake your head no. Kim Mingyu was a random guy you bumped into at a coffee shop you frequented at. You madecthe first move and dared to ask his number.

Turns out he was the sweetest guy you had spoken to in 4 years. He really reset your brain and suddenly you just wanted to do everything in your power to see where things go. You felt an instant connection you didn’t want to let go of and regret later. You decided you’d go for it.

Kim mingyu comes back to your car, you and him decide to watch a screening of cars 2 in a drive in theatre. You have never been to one and he was excited to show you.

As soon as he opens his package of food, the air is filled with the smell of burrito. It makes you hungry as soon as it hits your nose. But you already told him you didn’t want any, and asking for even a bite felt criminal.

But you were subconsciously staring at his food.

“You’re staring y:n” he calls you out.

You immediately snap out of it and look away, muttering a quick sorry under your breath.

You see him dig into his package and pull out another burrito wrap.

“This is for you” he hands you a wrap.

“No, Im really fine” you defend yourself again, but you were so so hungry.

“I know what ‘im fine’ means y/n, it means you’ll get hungry when you watch me eat” he says smiling like the big puppy he is.

You can’t help but give in, you take a wrap from him smiling sheepishly. He really was the best.

“You eat so well, it could make anyone hungry” you say cutely while he gobbled up his burrito in literally 2 bites. It was insane to watch this man eat.

He pats your head softly.

“HEY! Burrito hands!” You squeal while he laughs.

→ Lee Dokyeom

You and Dokyeom were cycling in the park. It was one of your first dates. You had met him at a coffee shop,ordering something you also liked so he offered to pay for yours too.

Here you were on another date with the goofball. The original plan was to bicycle around the park and get some lunch at a picnic spot.

But, as with dokyeom, he fell off his bike showing off some ‘cool’ moves to you. Although he made you laugh but the fall looked bad. You ended up getting him some ice from the store to press on his wrist.

“This is very normal”

“What do you mean?”

"I was a very… curious kid, i’d put my feet out on the road as a car would pass, just to see how it feels” you laugh out loud at that. “That’s hilarious”

“At least this is making you hold my hand” he says looking down at your hands pressing his with ice while your other hand hold his wrist in place.

This realisation makes your ears go red.

→ Boo Seungkwan

“I can’t believe it” seungkwan exclaims.

You met seungkwan as a trainee and you had become fast friends. But life happened and you decided not to be a trainee anymore. You ended up going for artist management and becoming a manager.

Life had plans of its own when they assigned you to seungkwan and your friendship rekindled. This time the friendship took a step further and you started to love spending time with him laughing with him.

One fine day in the car you blurted out that you liked him while driving him to a solo schedule. To your surprise he reciprocated these feelings. You were the happiest girl that day.

“What what happened?” You ask. You and seungkwan had come hiking to a mountain close to his place.

“My pants tore”

You laugh out loud. “What a memorable first date” you continue laughing while he scurries to cover himself with his bag and a towel he had brought in his little backpack.

“What a story, ‘kids, your dad hiked so hard, his pants tore on our first date’” you laugh thinking about the anecdote you have now you can use. Its a funny story.

“You want to have kids with me?” He asks stopping what he did and looks up at you

You freeze at what had just come out of your mouth. You did not mean it like that but now that you think about it definitely sounded like you wanted to have his babies.

“Um..”

“Thats cute” he says and a sense of relief washes over you as you try to come up with something else to catch the subject STAT.

→ Choi Vernon

Vernon wanted to watch this scary movie and you liked him so much you just wanted to be with him. But you forgot how scary scary movies can become.

Half way through the movie you were flinching and just uncomfortable in your seat, it really felt like someone was going to grab your feet from under the seat.

Seeing you this uncomfortable, vernon casually decided to put his arm around you and cover your eyes for you while you covered your ears with both your hands to protect yourself from jumpscares.

This position automatically made you lean into him a little and it made you feel a million types of a ways. He smelled good was the only consistent thought.

“Are you okay?” He asks leaning into your ears and whispering.

It sent a shiver down your spine. You nod without being able to push out any words. You liked being this close to him. ‘The things you do to me Choi Vernon’ you think to yourself.

You could watch a thousand horror movies if this is how you watch it.

→ Lee Chan

“Its burnt!” He exclaimed looking at the marshmellow you decided to toast for yourself.

“Thats the flavour!” You defend. You liked slightly burnt marshmallows.

You and chan are childhood friends that ended up falling for each other. Your way of showing love was through constant banter.

One such banter, Chan ended up confessing his feelings for you and you found it so cute.

You move away to get some crackers for the marshmallows. As you come back you hear a scream.

“Whats wrong whats wrong?” You panic and rush to him. You see Chan holding his fingers out and hissing in pain.

You immediately take his hand to inspect.

You see that it was a little red, he probably burnt himself. You see him think for a second. He is going to say something funny, you knew that look on his face, trying to cook up a joke.

“I burnt myself so you’ll like me” he said dramatically looking into your eyes.

The lamest joke ever made you laugh so hard, only because it was Chan who said it.

[bad-and-drawn-that-way]

vox more than anything fic ending with fluffy makeup sex is all i need :,))) LET ME HOLD THAT TV MAN!!!

I didn't end up adding the spice because it didn't flow naturally with how this came out. I do headcanon that Vox would 100% try to initiate spicy times during a makeup because he wouldn't know how to handle the emotional vulnerability in any other way. Homeboy hasn't exactly had any healthy fight aftermaths. Hope yall are ready for the fluffy pain <3

Tag List: @luzzbuzz

More Than Anything Part 3 [Vox x Reader]

Part 1

Part 2

Part 2.5 (Vox POV)

Things at the Vee's Tower seemed relatively normal when you stepped into the lobby. It felt a little weird if anything. When Vox was upset, it could shut down the entire tower for days on end if it was something more serious. You didn't hear the hum of the overbearing generators that would keep things running during his fits and your worry only grew as you stepped into the elevator. You swallowed down your anxiety as you scanned your badge that would let you onto the elite floor where the penthouses of the Vee's were at the top.

Did something happen to Vox? Was he not here for some reason? Where would he go? Did he... just not care?

Anxiety swirled in your mind as the elevator doors slid open. You saw Velvette on the couch scrolling through her phone and the young overlord perked up when she saw you.

"Bout fucking time," she groaned as she pocketed her phone and got off the couch. "Do you have any idea what a pain in the ass it's been to babysit the man-child?" Velvette poked at your chest and you couldn't help but notice the dark circles under her eyes as she frowned at you. "You owe me for this."

Ninety percent of hell didn't see past Velvette's tough-as-nails exterior and if it hadn't been for the time you'd spent with the Vee's due to your relationship with Vox, you doubt you would have ever seen through the cracks in her demeanor either. For all her bark and bite, you could tell she cared for Vox and Valentino deeply. She wouldn't look so damn exhausted right now if she didn't.

"I'll make it up to you," you sigh in relief as you drop your bag to the side. "Where is he?"

To say you were less than pleased when you saw the door held shut by the smokey chains of Valentino's magic was an understatement. You were pissed. While you still felt a semblance of gratitude for the other Vee's keeping Vox from doing anything rash, you were going to tear them both a new one for keeping him caged like a fucking animal.

Velvette lifted her hands and got the cue to leave as you triggered your demon form and slashed Valentino's magic to wispy shreds. You yanked open the door and your eyes searched the room for Vox maniacally. There we no cameras and the windows had been covered with some sort of blockers. It looked like the Vee's had the sense to leave him with some comfort items and non-tech-involved things to pass the time, but the only technology you saw was some ancient Nokia-looking phone lying by his foot that he wouldn't be able to use to teleport out of the room.

"Vox?" You breathed as you saw him curled up in a corner with his screen buried against his knees.

His head whipped up and he breathed your name, only to curse as his body glitched hard from the prolonged stress.

"Y̶o̸u̴ ̸c̶a̷m̴e̸ ̸b̶a̸c̸k̴?̷," he asks, and your heart aches as you watch him flinch at the static in his voice.

"Oh hun, come here," you sigh as you get down on your knees and pull his screen towards you. You didn't know much about tech, but his personal repair sinner had shown you some of the basics to take care of Vox if anything ever got out of hand.

You reached around the back of his head and did a hard reset for him, holding him close to you as he went limp against your chest. When Vox powered back up, he flinched hard and pushed himself away from you, backing up with wide eyes and frantic breathing before he processed it was you who had been holding him and not Valentino.

"Woah! Easy," you gasp, not expecting the sudden movement. You look over him and instantly regret leaving him for as long as you had. "What... What happened?"

Vox's heart was pounding rapidly in his chest as flashes of Valentino's manipulative words flitted through his mind. The promises of affection if he crawled back. The venom in his voice as he told Vox you'd never love him again. The back and forth between gentle lies and cold hard truths. The one time he almost, almost caved into Valentino's whims.

With a shaky breath, Vox stomped down on as much of his weakness as he could and turned away from you. "It's not important."

"Like hell, it's not," you frowned as you reached toward him, only to pause as he flinched at the tone in your voice.

It was obvious there was a whole new can of worms to handle and most likely a moth to strangle. But you steady yourself and take a deep breath, deciding to take things one step at a time.

"I'm sorry for leaving," you start slowly as you sit properly on the floor with Vox. "I was scared and angry and processing everything. I needed space. But I should have at least texted you back or checked in. I didn't..." your voice wavers. "I didn't think that..."

"It's fine," Vox sighed. "I get it. What I don't get is why you're here. Why did you come back?"

"I was always going to come back," you say as you reach towards him slowly. Your heart ached to know he had genuinely started to believe you'd just abandon him, but given the pieces of the unsettling image of what happened while you were gone, you understood where it was coming from.

Vox looks at you and hesitates before he leans into your touch and lets you cup the side of his face. "I was angry and hurt and scared," you admit. "I needed time to process my feelings. I didn't want to say something I'd regret."

You shake your head and chuckle, "I'd say I should have known better, but this is our first big fight now that I think about it. It's uncharted territory for us both."

Vox was silent as he slowly reached up and took your hand. He let out a shaky breath as he looked down. "I've... any connection I've had with someone. It's never... survived this sort of thing. Once shit hits the fan, that tends to be the end of it. I thought... I thought you were gone for good."

"I won't let you think that ever again," you say as you cup the other side of his face with your free hand. You make him look at you, but you're gentle. "We'll talk about this. I'm in this for the long run, you dorky TV man."

"But I tricked you," Vox shook. His face flickered between heartbreak and frustration. "I stole your soul. You have no reason to fucking t̵͍͌r̸̰̈u̵͉̍s̸̯͛ẗ̶̫ me."

"I love you," you say without hesitation. Vox's eyebrows furrow and he opens his mouth to retort, but you shake your head and stop him. "You did a bad thing. You did break my trust. But I know why you did it. Loving you doesn't mean I'll forgive you every time you cross a major boundary, but it does mean that I will do whatever it takes to worth through the bullshit together," you say softly.

Your thumb swipes over Vox's screen as you feel him tremble in your hold. "You're worth that effort to me, Vox."

"Why?" Vox asked as his eyes darted over your face as if the answer to his confusion would be found there. He didn't understand. How could you come back? How could you want to forgive him? How could you be here in front of him, looking like he was the one who hung the stars in the sky rather than the one who drew souls to their doom like a siren song on a screen?

You kiss his forehead and pull him close as he shakes harder in your arms. "W̸̻͝h̴͖̒y̵̞̍?̵̝̕"

His claws dig into the back of your shirt as he hangs onto you like a lifeline. "I̵ ̷d̴o̶n̵'̶t̶.̴.̶.̵," Vox growls in frustration at the emotion that sticks in his throat. "I can't... I don't d̷e̴s̶e̷r̷v̴e̷ this."

"Because loving you has never been about what either of us deserves," you sigh as you kiss his head. "It's because despite everything, I know I could never replace you. So I'm willing to put in the work if you are."

A broken sob ripped itself from Vox's chest unwillingly as he held you tighter. Your heart broke, knowing this very well could be the first time anyone had actually tried to stick around after any of his fuck-ups. You held him close, rubbing his back as he worked through his emotions. You were there for him as he glitched and let out an anguished scream as everything he'd been holding in for so long finally poured out.

You don't know how long it is before he finally calms down. He looks up at you and you know his eyes would be bloodshot from the breakdown if that was how his screen functioned. He let out a deep breath and you smiled softly as he cupped your cheek.

"This isn't the first time I've thought you didn't belong down here," Vox admitted. His voice was hoarse from exhaustion and the pure angst session some cruel fucker decided would be entertaining to put him through. If he ever found that bitch, he'd wrangle her neck.

You laugh as you feel tears prick the corner of your eyes as you finally see the familiar spark in his eyes for the first time since you'd come back. "Nah, you know heaven wouldn't know the first thing about how to put up with my shit."

Vox barked out a tired laugh. "Damn right, they wouldn't. You're a menace."

"Yeah," you giggle as you press a kiss to his cheek. "But I'm your menace."

Vox reached up, his fingers tangling softly in your hair as he brought you in for a proper kiss. "Yeah. You're my menace. And I love you, more than anything."

[dreamsofbroflovski]

Craig Tucker x Reader - sugar (c)rush - part 2

Also available on ao3! 𓆩♡𓆪 Link to Part 1

Summary: Craig Tucker's unwanted visit to the maid cafe leaves him in a sour mood, but the place might bring something that makes his life the sweetest it's ever been.

Warnings: Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content (everyone involved is above the age of consent), Fem!Reader, Smut, Penis In Vagina Sex, Mating Press, Dom/Sub Dynamics (Craig gets called 'Master'), Possibly OOC Craig Tucker, Arguing

A/N: aaaand here it is! the part damn near everyone who read this came for. i wish it hadn't gotten as long as it did, but it is what it is. if Craig sounds OOC I promise he's just whipped. reader will do that to ya

It took months for a day to happen that would change this groove you’d fallen into. Craig noticed the difference as soon as he arrived - he barely managed to hear the ringing of the door chime when he entered the shop, since it was drowned by the loud chattering and commotion inside. Apparently, on that specific afternoon, your workplace was having some type of different event with discounted menu items and limited-time meals he hadn’t cared much for, but now especially did, since it messed with his plans. Every single seat he saw was occupied, maids zipping through the commotion to serve multiple tables at once, a completely different atmosphere from how laid-back and hospitable he had learned to find the place to be when not as full. It made him uncomfortable, like he’d lost something familiar, but he pushed through it, holding onto what was left of the routine.

“My apologies, Craig, but (Y/N) is a little bit busy today,” one of your work colleagues told him as he settled into his usual spot, kept secure for him by a small sign on the table that said it was ‘reserved’. “But don’t worry, I’ll make sure your experience is as amazing as possible!”

“It’s alright.” He didn’t even look at her as he said it, pushing away the menu she was trying to hand him. “Just give me a black coffee then.”

She didn’t bother to write his order down on the tablet before leaving for the kitchen, and Craig sighed as he found himself alone again, mentally preparing for one of those days of boredom and annoyance that used to be commonplace when you weren’t his appointed maid. The table in the corner gave him a good view of the surroundings, and he spotted you with just one scan of his eyes, making small talk on a booth near the counter. Just as quickly, you found him - he caught your face turning as if it was magnetically drawn to that side, big eyes shining with gleeful surprise before you raised your hand and waved at him. He could’ve sworn your already present smile became a tiny bit bigger when you saw him, too; but he pushed the idea away as delusion, giving you a curt nod of acknowledgement and following you with his vision as you got back into movement.

He counted about four tables that you’d stopped by to take or deliver orders and chat with customers. Four different instances of his throat emitting a low rumble, like a growl, a direct voicing to the thoughts he had, watching as you directed your gentle affection to people he’d never seen before in all the days he came over. When he was around, it was a given that he’d have 100% of your attention, considering he’d pay for the company. That day, however, he had arrived too late for that - having to resign himself to watch and maybe internally pray that the movement would slow down so you’d exchange a few words with him, even if that was unlikely.

His coffee arrived and he ignored all the excited things your maid colleague had to say about it, waving her off with not many words, both him and her appearing extremely glad about the short duration of the interaction. Putting two sugar packets in the hot liquid and taking a sip, he frowned: still too bitter. The taste of the very first coffee he drank in the shop was still vivid in his mind, remembering it as overly sweet even without added sweetener; with the passage of time, however, it seemed to slowly become less and less so, shifting into the completely opposite end of the taste spectrum into ‘not ever nearly sweet enough’. As he opened a third packet, he made a mental note to get a word in with the kitchen staff later to see what had changed with the brand they were using or the preparation.

There was a conscious attempt on his part to not focus on you as much as he drank his coffee, trying to pay attention to other things until he’d eventually get too annoyed by the noise and leave - which was setting itself to happen earlier than usual, since the chatter was louder than ever due to the sheer amount of people inside. He was, however, keeping an ear out for any snippets of your voice, almost straining that particular body sense in the process.

When he did hear it again, it was in the middle of another sip of coffee, and he stopped with his lips still on the mug. It was barely audible, but he picked up on it with precision, his sight immediately flickering to where the sound came from, finding you a few meters away. You had your back to him, tending to a table with two guys in it, both with their heads turned to you.

“Like I said, I’m so very sorry, but I can’t sit with the masters this afternoon,” you said, and through the apologetic intonation, Craig caught a hint of discomfort that made him put down his mug and lean with his upper body in that direction, doing what he could to hear better. “The fee is not available today, we have so many wonderful customers and…”

“No no no, sweetie, you don’t understand,” one of the men spoke, “We don’t wanna pay no fee. We just want you to hang out a little.”

 The other dude nodded with a shit-eating grin, and the stoical male felt something run down his back - like he had just got an epidural injection of pure venom to the top of the spinal cord. He wasn’t at ease, and by the way he saw you shift your weight between your feet, swaying in place slightly, neither were you.

“I… I would love to, but that’s unfortunately not possible. However, if the masters would like to place an order now, I…”

“We’ll order if you sit here with us,” the second fellow interrupted your soft voice with his raspy barking, and Craig found himself wanting to be president so that he could make that particular action a crime. “Come ooon, darling…”

“I can’t, I really can’t…”

You were beginning to whine now. Craig glanced around quickly. Was no one paying attention to that interaction? All of the other maid workers were busy with their own clients, and your boss was nowhere to be found. The gnashing of his teeth inside his closed mouth felt way too loud when he was trying to pay attention to you, but he couldn’t help it, the building angry energy in his body needing somewhere to go to.

He looked back towards you just in time to see your head turn in another direction, hearing one of your other better tables calling to you for something. The swaying stopped, and Craig could almost feel the same relief you did to be free of that annoying situation.

“My apologies, dear masters, but another table is calling to me,” you said with more confidence this time, the whiny tone fading as you found your peace again. “I’ll give you a little more time to go through the menu and decide on your order and then I’ll be right back!”

“Hey, wait up! We’re not done talking to you!” The first man, the one closest to you, reached out from his seat just as you took a step backwards to make your exit, wrapping his hand around your arm and making you yelp. 

One might’ve thought Craig had developed teleportation abilities. Because before he himself had even noticed it, he was next to you and his own hand was on the guy’s wrist, holding it with twice the grip strength that other man’s hand had on your arm. His face did not denounce the pure anger that sparked under his skin like tons of needles urging him to violent action, and neither did his voice. But even through the deadpan expression, his eyes were still intense.

Both you and your disruptive client gasped in surprise, but Craig didn’t acknowledge either reaction. “Back off. She already said no.”

“Hey dude, what the fuck? Let go!” The other dude began trying to wriggle his wrist out of the oppressive grasp, releasing your own arm in the process - you stepped back again right after, eyes locked on the situation unfolding in front of you while frozen in fear. His own movements, however, came to no avail, as Craig stood almost perfectly still even when the harshest yanking threatened to swerve his body.

“Then apologize and let the maid leave.”

The second client came to his friend’s rescue and tried pulling at Craig’s free arm, and still he didn’t move, spreading his feet a bit on the wooden floor to have more stability. “Apologize for what? We aren’t doing anything wrong,” that man barked again.

“You’re harassing the employee,” Craig enunciated his words more firmly than usual, like the mere mention of the action offended him greatly. 

“They’re paid to hang out with us, dude,” the first guy scoffed, “Fuck you mean, ‘harassing’?”

“They’re paid to serve your orders. You’re not ordering.”

“We’re fucking clients here!” The second guy’s tone turned ironic, like he was trying to explain something to Craig as if he was five years old, and it made him want to bash those teeth so far into his throat he’d never be able to speak like that again. “They’re supposed to do what we ask! The customer is always right!”

“You need to pay for something to be considered a client. Right now, you’re just wasting a table.” And the attention of a great woman, he added mentally.

“It’s a maid café, dude,” Wow, what a precise observation, Craig thought over the voice of the dude. “These chicks are supposed to do what we say, it’s the whole point!”

“Well, that chick-” he pointed with his thumb over his shoulder towards you, feeling slight guilt over the tiny squeal you emitted as the spotlight was back on you, “-is not going to do what you say. So talk to her properly.”

“What are you, her boyfriend?” Another scoff. “She’s not gonna fuck you, dude. Leave it.” 

Craig consciously refused to recognize the way his stomach dropped with those statements. Sure, they were true. Your interest in him didn’t go far beyond the confines of his wallet, and it pained him to know it. But he’d be damned if that would be the reason he’d let another person speak to and about you like that.

He decided not to answer the guy’s comment directly, unwilling to draw this line of thought to the unwanted attention you were already receiving. “Apologize to her and leave her alone. The maids are busy.”

“Or what? What’s it to you?” Still being held in Craig’s grasp, the first guy stood up, his full height and build almost rivaling Craig’s own, but making up for the one or two inches of difference with his audacity. A chair scraped out of their view, the second dude standing up as well, clearly more out of moral obligation to defend his friend rather than actual courage. “You gonna do something about it?”

At this point, the whole shop had gone quiet, watching the commotion unfold. The all-female staff were all frozen in place, unable to step up and diffuse the situation physically but also incapable of looking away from it, and Craig couldn’t blame them at all. He also would’ve chosen not to engage in any other circumstance; it was admittedly none of his business. But even so, he still stood there proud, emboldened by a sort of bravery he had never felt before in his life. Maybe you weren’t his to protect, but he was still going to do it, using whatever he had - be it physical strength, intelligence or just the power of not giving a fuck - to make sure you were respected. 

“If you’re not ordering, then you gotta leave,” Craig declared, “Free the seats for someone else.”

“That’s not in the rules, dipshit.” So they did know the rules after all. “I’m not gonna fucking apologize to no one about asking for the service this place’s supposed to provide. So go back to your damn seat and shut the fuck up.”

The response to that didn’t come verbally. With a huff, Craig yanked at the arm of the guy he was arguing with, making him almost topple over the table if his free hand hadn’t held him on it. His friend scrambled to help, pushing at Craig’s other shoulder, but all that managed to accomplish was making his jacket drop a little off his arm. Maybe those sumo lessons he got in elementary school weren’t totally useless - he knew how to keep himself firmly in place, hardly budging under the other guys’ attempts at making him stagger.

A swing came from his side, missing his face by a bit as Craig took a step back, pulling his opponent with him. The chair the first guy was seated on fell when its occupant tripped on it, but it was barely heard over the angry shouts, the noise of his loud sneakers and the gasps of all the other customers when your protector took the nuisance away by the arm in long strides. For a guy that didn’t maintain a frequent workout routine, Craig was abnormally strong - the effects of his fight response were not to be underestimated.

“You had your fucking chance,” Craig growled as he walked, an acknowledgement of the offenses the other guy was spilling while being dragged away. “I’m not one of the maids, but I can clean up the place too.”

Reaching the door didn’t take long, considering the length of his legs and the fact that Craig cared very little if his opponent was walking properly or not. With another harsh yank of his arm, he shoved the man forward, finally letting go of him and bracing himself with his free hand on the wall by the door when the other dude, having followed behind, pathetically tried to push him as well. All bark and no bite, both of them.

Like a sack of trash being thrown into the garbage truck, the primary disruptive client fell through the doorway into the sidewalk in front of it, landing on his side with a harsh noise of his clothes rubbing on the stone. He might’ve scraped his arm, too, but the pride would certainly hurt more with being so casually discarded like he was. The second fellow, in his urge to help his buddy, lost his footing on the elevated step by the entrance, missing his balance completely and falling on his stomach not far from the first one, his outstretched hands doing little to brace him.

“You’re fucking fucked, dude!” Both guys stood up clumsily as one of them yelled, reaching out to each other for stability and almost falling on their asses again in the process. “We’re gonna call the cops on this place and then you’re done for!”

“Go on, you do that,” Craig retorted from the doorway, flexing his dominant hand, balling it into a fist then stretching his fingers out - though he had managed to come out on top in the strength display, there was still pain from the grip he had to keep. “Then they’re gonna have a bunch of witnesses to listen to about how you were disturbing the workers and breaking the rules of a private business.”

That mention seemed to have given the two men pause, their eyes flickering towards what little of the shop’s interior they could see from their position, just now realizing the amount of people inside who saw the whole ordeal. With huffs and muttered complaints, they left, trudging away from the shop without further action.

Barely any time was given for you and Craig to really process how tense the situation had been before you both felt the hands of your store’s owner holding heavily onto your shoulders and dragging you away from the main shop area into the cramped staff room at the back. Stepping into the much less cutely decorated space and taking in what little furniture it had - a few tall lockers for stashing personal belongings in, a sink and microwave on a countertop, and a table against the opposite wall with a couple chairs around it -, all he thought was that he was screwed. Just because the other bothersome client hadn’t called the police for his aggression, it didn’t mean you or your boss wouldn’t. In the best of cases, he’d be banned from the café after the scolding of a lifetime. And, honestly, it would all have been worth it if he could keep you safe from at least one creep.

However, none of that came to pass. The owner was, of course, distressed, the heavy makeup on her face doing little to hide the twenty or thirty years she had aged in just the span of that exchange. But then she apologized, both to you and to him - to you for not being able to keep you safe and not paying close enough attention to the situation amidst the crowd, and to him for putting him in harm’s way as well, adding that, considering his violent conduct happened in defense of the safety of one of her workers, she wouldn’t contact the police. She did clarify that this went against the norms of the café and he wasn’t to take advantage of it by picking fights with peaceful patrons, but even in that unneeded slap on the wrist, he noticed the mix of pride and appreciation for how he had stepped up to protect you. To top it off, she decided to waive his bill for the day as well, as an apology for his troubles and a personal thank you gift.

“And so, uh… Yeah, I guess that’s all,” the owner eventually concluded, rubbing her own temples to try and relax. “Craig, if you want, you can return to the shop. (Y/N), you can stay here for a while, calm down and-”

“Actually, I’d like to talk to Craig a bit.”

This was the first set of words that left your mouth ever since he got involved in the ordeal with the client, and it made his hazel eyes widen. What did you even have to discuss? Surely just some more gratitude. But it was the thought that you might want to interact with him alone, outside of the paid arrangement from your job, that had his brain flooding with curiosity.

Your boss’ expression shifted as she frowned slightly. “Are you sure, (Y/N)?” She asked, and Craig caught on to the hint of concern in her voice, attributing it to justified worry about your personal safety.

Through the corner of his eye, keeping his face turned to the front, he saw you nod emphatically. “Yeah… I’m sure.” You turned to him, and there was now true effort on his part not to glance in your direction. “If that’s alright with you, of course.”

The space of the staff room seemed to have gotten even smaller, claustrophobic to Craig’s heightened senses. Like any of his actions could be seen, heard, judged. “Yeah, that’s cool.” Thank God his voice didn’t fail him in that moment, keeping seriousness despite the nerves that were sneaking into him.

The owner’s gaze flickered between the two of you for another moment, lips pursing as if holding back something she wanted to say; but then she nodded as well, turning on her heels and leaving through the small door Craig had been forcing himself to stare at this whole time, closing it behind her back.

And then it was just you.

“I really don’t understand how you make any money here,” the man commented a few seconds after she left, “You keep giving people free stuff all the time.”

Still paying attention to you without looking like it, Craig expected you to laugh, as you tended to do whenever he had a snarky remark to make about something. A part of him was hoping for it, even, to hear your small giggling and the playful scolding that usually followed. But you didn’t. He turned to you just in time to catch as you took the few steps towards him with a decided expression, wrapping your arms tight around him and planting your face in his chest.

His whole body instantly became taut against yours. What the fuck? This was a complete burst of his personal space bubble, way more physical contact than the two of you ever had, which was usually limited to small touches to his arm or hand during your conversations at his table. It was against the rules of your workplace, for sure, and he had an urge to scan the corners of the room and check for cameras - both for surveillance, terrified of the notion that someone might see it and get the wrong idea, and to confirm that he wasn’t in a comedy reality show and it was not a joke -, but the shock held him from doing even that. You had hugged him first. You were holding him close, he felt the front of your body pressing against his, he was not paying for this endeavor.

A couple seconds passed like this, Craig staying put as if expecting you to notice what you had done and pull away terrified. You didn’t. And this gave him the tiniest sliver of courage to slowly embrace you back. His hold wasn’t as tight as yours, still held back by lingering unease over too much unexpected physical touch, but it was there, an attempt at giving you the comfort you so clearly needed yet he didn’t know how to provide.

Him finally reciprocating your hug triggered your speech, making his breath hitch as you finally spoke. “Thank you so much.” Your voice was muffled by the fabric of his shirt, but the emotion in it was very much audible, that gratitude he already expected mixed with the remaining tension from earlier, relief and something else he didn’t quite get. “Thank you, thank you, thank you…”

“It’s alright,” he responded, turning his face to the ceiling; if he’d look down and see you there so close to him, he might not be able to keep his cool. Although he knew he had none to keep - your nose was probably vibrating from the thumping of his heart on his chest.

“I don’t know what I would’ve done if you weren’t there,” you continued, almost like you didn’t hear what he’d said. “You saved me, Craig.”

That simple sentence got to his head in a way he didn’t even know was possible. He never even knew his ego could inflate like that. Is this what Clyde wakes up like every day? “I did what anyone else should do, it’s no big deal.”

You shook your head, making small ruffling noises against his clothes. “Of course it’s a big deal… You didn’t have to do all that. But you did.”

“Like I said, it’s alright. You don’t have to thank me.”

First time ever that he cursed his dry delivery of words - he wanted to sound more reassuring, approachable as you were, but instead it just came off assholish like everything else he said. You didn’t complain, though, which he considered a win. Instead, your arms tightened even more around him, squeezing him briefly. “You could’ve gotten hurt, and then what would I do?”

This made the stoical male frown to himself, his brain getting momentarily confused at what you could possibly mean by that. “Maybe you’d have to call an ambulance,” he began explaining, taking the sentence literally. “They’d take me away, the cops would deal with the other guys, you’d have to testify and-”

“What?” 

Your interruption sounded as confused as Craig’s own thoughts were, and not muffled anymore. He tilted his face down toward you, frown disappearing from it when he saw that your own face was lifted up. “I’m explaining what you would’ve done if I got hurt.”

“Huh? Oh, I’m not talking about that…” 

You let go of him, taking a small step back, and he was pissed at himself for missing your hold as much as he did immediately after that. Watching as you focused on the ground, placing your hands tamely in front of your body, it then dawned on him that maybe he was the one misunderstanding the situation. Another one of those logic versus emotion things he had a hard time grasping.

“I was worried about you,” you said, “I care about you. I didn’t want to see you hurt.”

Hearing this, Craig crossed his arms. Had he left them at his sides, he would’ve risked them moving on their own to pull you into another hug - those sentences mirrored perfectly how he felt towards you, a slice of the feelings that had driven him to involve himself in that altercation earlier. But it was also a way of keeping himself guarded, impassive and looking the part. You ‘cared’ about anyone who came to the café. You ‘cared’ for him as long as he continued buying. The moment his foot touched the first stone of the pavement, you didn’t anymore.

“You don’t have to worry about me.” He internally wished you actually would. “I’m just a client. There’s more than a dozen of those out by the shop.”

Just as quickly as your face had lowered, it was lifted again - and this time you appeared aghast, almost as much as you had when he stepped up to defend you earlier. 

“Don’t talk like that!” His usual expressionless face shifted into surprise at the scolding tone you were trying to use - you couldn’t be harsh for the life of you, so what came out was more like a pained plea, but your smaller frame was all tense. “You’re not just a client to me!”

Craig took a deep breath, trying to tackle his drumming heart that insisted on taking your words and running with them. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust you, or that he didn’t at least want to; he literally wasn’t supposed to. “That’s exactly what I am.” He affirmed, more to himself than to you. Nothing more.

He heard your breathing too, softer than his, more of a sigh. Oh how he had let his mind wander during the table meetups, one side of his brain listening to what you had to say while the other imagined in what other situations you’d make noises like those. Sexual or not. Though none of those imaginations involved it coming with a hint of sadness while he squished his own feelings by standing firm behind the client-server wall he needed to maintain.

“You’re… more than that to me.” Your voice had dropped in volume, body still tense. “I like you, Craig. Like, really like you.”

What fucking wall now?

It was his turn to go tense, shoulders squaring up as the words hit him like a wrecking ball. Shit, maybe he did really get in a fight and the other guy bashed his damn head in. Only like that you’d be telling him such a thing. There was no other way to interpret your statement, no way for him to rationalize it into a different context, consciously or not. You said what you said.

“You do?” His eyebrows arched the slightest bit, arms slowly uncrossing and dropping back to his sides. “How?”

Your head tilted a bit, hands moving to clutch your own chest. The shift in body language showed him that you were legitimately anxious about the declaration, and about his reaction to it. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, this doesn’t make sense,” Craig continued, “I’m your regular. You can’t like me; You don’t know me like that. It’s not allowed.”

“Why?” Your voice got thinner again, as it usually did when you got nervous. ”Of course it is! I know you, I hang out with you all the time!”

“Because you’re paid to do that,” he insisted, becoming increasingly frayed over your prolonged assertions. “I pay the fee and you hang out with me. Those are the rules.”

“You haven’t had to pay for that in weeks!” There was a slight giggle accompanying your words now, those beautiful big eyes crinkling at the corners in amusement.

He’d have cussed you out for making fun of him, if he wasn’t so wrapped up in what you were actually saying. The behavior he had adopted regarding his spending at the café - that of not paying attention to it at all and just trusting blindly that everything was inside of his budget - was maybe the most jarring difference to his normal habits, no matter how much he tried to paint over it with claims of ‘supporting local businesses’. But only now did he realize that maybe his credit card statements had been a bit too easy on him.

“No way.” He brought his hands to your shoulders and squeezed a bit, not enough to hurt, just wanting to ground himself on something as he processed the information - or rather, the proof. “So you’ve just been hanging out with me for free?”

You shook your head. “It’s actually coming out of my paycheck.” The small giggle faded as you acknowledged that he was taking you seriously, but a timid smile lingered.

Anyone more honorable would’ve scolded you for basically paying to work, maybe even tried to give you back the money owed. But the truth was Craig didn’t give a fuck. He was too hung up on the fact that you did, in fact, hang out with him willingly, to the point where it was becoming detrimental to your own wallet. The fondness in your words and actions hadn’t been imaginary.

Not quite ready to look at you directly as he processed the information, he tried lowering his gaze a bit, but almost fully flinched when it stopped on your chest - and out of nowhere the wooden floorboards became interesting enough to stare at intently. His fingers twitched on your shoulders, itching to touch any part of your actual skin.

“Damn,” he muttered, “Since when?”

“I… I don’t know.” Hearing movement, Craig raised his eyes, seeing you bashfully playing with one of the strands of hair closest to your face, thinking he wasn’t looking. Another habit he’d grown to love. “I guess since the first day you came back. That time you told me I should be myself was awful, but...”

“You are yourself,” he interfered, straightening up and staring at you head-on. “You’ve always been yourself. And I like that. I like you.”

Those words should’ve been harder to say, and maybe they would’ve, if your confession hadn’t come first. But Craig found them as easy as saying ‘good morning’ - partly because he had no qualms about speaking his mind, ever, but also because he had waited with them on the tip of his tongue for almost as much time as you had. And time he now had to make up for; slowly, he leaned closer, giving you several moments to pull away before his lips met yours.

Holy hell. Despite being the one who initiated, it took him a moment to process that he was actually kissing you. Your lips were like the softest velvet possible against his and tasted like candy - he didn’t even know lip products could taste like anything, but now yours might’ve even become a new standard in kissing for him, one he wasn’t sure could be reached anywhere else. Seeking further closeness, he brought one of his hands to the back of your head, tilting it so your mouth could fit as perfectly as possible against his, not that it needed any help. The other hand drifted from your shoulder down your arm, catching your own and intertwining your fingers.

It was supposed to be a gentle kiss, just to test it all out, give him something to expect when he inevitably asked you out on a date later and exchanged numbers. But when your free hand grabbed hesitantly at the front of his jacket, as if you didn’t quite know where to put it, he found it impossible to part; you were too adorable for your own good, and he could sense your interest under the layer of shyness. So he got you even closer, tugging at your other hand with his and using it as leverage to draw you flush against him once more, deepening the kiss with a quiet moan.

Time seemed to slow down, incapable of catching up to Craig’s sped up heart rate. The silence in the room, the taste of your mouth, and having you in closer proximity than he’d ever had - those all contributed to him letting go of thought and not even noticing how uncomfortable it was getting with the rising warmth on his body as he lost himself more and more in the moment. But there was no denying it once you pulled back for air and he opened his eyes just in time to see the trail of saliva that was left connecting your mouths break. Then the heat in his lower abdomen hit him like a truck, and he was fully alert in the same second.

Look, at the end of the day, Craig was only a guy and operated accordingly. He was not above feeling arousal, and definitely not immune to the effects the maid outfit and your general cuteness had on his person. It was easy to pretend everything was fine in public, with multiple distractions, but alone with you and interacting directly, there was nothing to keep him from being engulfed in desire. Years of evolution had probably hard-wired his brain to being attracted to this type of submissive behavior and wanting to have it for himself. Darwin or some other badass scientist probably explained it better than he would.

The stoical male wasn’t going to tell you outright, not if he could avoid it. It was better to just let you get back to work, take care of himself in the bathroom and talk to you later as if nothing was amiss. But you stepped back before he was able to do anything, and the tent at the front of his jeans - which he’d just barely managed to ignore thus far due to it having been concealed by your skirt, the petticoat underneath providing an extra puffy layer that shielded you from having to feel any of it - was subjected to your full view straight away.

Silence fell in the small staff room, your gaze locking down onto the bulge of his crotch in a way that almost made Craig even more aroused. Maybe he had no right to stay near you after that, but simultaneously he felt rooted in place, incapacitated from leaving. The secret third option was turning his face away, but keeping sight of you on his peripheral vision as you took your time analyzing him.

“Oh… Oh wow.”

There was surprise in your voice, but he was relieved to notice it was the good kind. You hadn’t run away, you didn’t scream - despite the sudden development, you didn’t appear uneasy. Fascination kept you focused, and though his reaction was to just stand still and let you do so, he was inwardly preening himself at the fact that his arousal had drawn your attention like that, the awkward situation notwithstanding.

“Craig…” You called out softly, a flush forming on your cheeks and ears. “Can I… Touch it?”

This had to be a tease. No way you were this naive about what you did to him with stuff like that. And, in the off-chance you really were, then that would make it all just more satisfying when you did find out. “You can do more than touch,” he responded, not bothering anymore with the common sense that told him to at least fake being embarrassed. “But you really should head back now.”

“But I don’t wanna. I wanna stay here, with you… And…”

Agonizingly slowly for Craig, one of your hands reached out towards his crotch - just brushing against the denim of his pants at first, before you grew bolder and palmed it fully. Your touch was extra gentle, barely stimulating, but it still made him grunt and his dick twitch inside of his boxers.

His head snapped towards the break room’s door, almost as if expecting the whole staff to barge in at that very moment. “Your boss is gonna realize you are missing. She’s gonna come looking.”

“I… Don’t think so.” You covered your mouth with your other hand as you giggled, and Craig had to hold firmly onto the subject in his mind to not get fully distracted between that and your touch. “She knows I like you. I don’t think she’s gonna bother us…”

Craig’s eyebrows arched, and he turned his face to you again. As if made shy by his eye contact, you pulled your hand away, but he didn’t care about that anymore. If he was allowed to have his way, which appeared to be the case, both of you would be feeling much better soon enough. “You told her you liked a client?

The smallest smirk curved the edge of his lips when he saw you becoming even redder in the face. “Well… Sorta…” Your response came lower in volume, like confessing to a terrible secret, even though it was nothing major and you had been so willing to say it just a few seconds prior. “The staff here’s pretty close, they saw us talking a lot and… Yeah.”

“Huh.” Now it made sense. The weird behavior of the boss when you said you wanted to speak with him. She had known what was up and just wanted to confirm that you were comfortable going for it. “Well, then.”

That was going to be a talk he’d have with you some other moment; how long had he spent being the only clueless one in the room about your interest in him, the subject of lunch hour talks and giggling whispers in the corners from the other maids who saw you two talking? But for now, he had more important matters. Claiming your lips with more intensity this time and grabbing your waist, giving you just enough time to wrap your arms around his body, Craig walked you backwards the couple steps towards the other wall - lifting you up onto the table as soon as your ass hit the edge of it, with the same ease and strength he would’ve used to fight on the coffee shop space earlier if needed. 

He settled nicely between your legs, and only took his mouth off of yours to bring his nose to the crook of your neck. His grip on your waist instantly tightened. There it was, the scent that always followed him home and accompanied him most hours of his day for weeks on end now. Like the sweetest strawberry; one he’d never eaten before, but still had gotten ingrained into his taste buds, making him always chase that same flavor like an addict. You were pure candy, better than anything they served at the café, and he had a mad sugar craving.

Avoiding the ruffle choker you wore as part of your uniform, his tongue found your skin, licking a messy stripe from your neck to your ear; lips closing around your earlobe, sucking on it with barely held back enthusiasm. The way you squirmed and trembled under his touch, letting out a shaky sigh and tilting your head to the side to give him more room, had him wanting to just pin you down and keep doing just that, prompting those adorable reactions over and over.

His cock, however, had other plans. Instinctively, Craig had started rutting lightly against the table, seeking any form of contact to sate the need he was in. It wasn’t nearly enough. Only by feeling you for real would he be at peace, and he wasn’t settling for ‘the next best thing’ anymore, like he was when he kept telling himself just being your customer was fine. His breathing was harsh as he pulled back just enough to rest his forehead against yours, the scent of your perfume still enveloping his brain like a pastel pink fog of passion.

“You want this, right?” He grunted, holding onto a scrap of sanity to make sure you were into it. “I won’t be able to stop later.”

You nodded desperately,  gasping like the mere mention of the concept jolted your core. He didn’t even have to touch you - only by the way you responded, with utter need, he was able to tell that you wanted him just as bad. “Please, Craig… I-” 

“Call me ‘Master.’”

Just as the words left his mouth, he knew he had lost his marbles completely. In absolutely no world would he have made such a request had he been in his right mind. But he couldn’t bring himself to not make it. 

Your eyes widened. “But you told me-”

“What I told you does not matter right now.” The fierceness with which he stated that made you gasp in surprise, a reaction that he clearly picked up on, as the next part came out lower and softer. “Please.”

After holding his gaze for another moment, as if expecting him to pull back on the request, you spoke again. “Okay... Master.”

Your voice was meek and uncertain, barely dipping your toes in that water, possibly waiting for the moment where he’d remember just how much he ‘hated’ - did he now? - being called that, braced for the scolding. Yet there was nothing that had felt more right for him as this did in that moment. The simple term lifted him to the top of the world, making his brain go feral with thoughts of dominating you, taking with delight everything that you were so willing to give, then handing it right back to you just to prove how correct you were in surrendering your body and your mind to him. Restraint was definitely not a factor anymore, and though it was out of his element, it felt fucking fantastic.

Even though he was the one that just got called Master, he’d get on his knees and hand you the universe on a silver platter if you asked.

“That’s right.” The way his voice shifted into a more hoarse version of itself denounced how much it all had affected him. “Good girl.”

Ah, your fucking whimper that followed. Never had he heard a more perfect sound. It spoke volumes of your need to please, proving that it wasn’t just an act you’d put on upon request. That was all want.

Craig didn’t make another request as he let go of you to undo his belt and the buttons of his currently way too tight pants, leaving you waiting with bated breath. However, as soon as your hands moved towards your own back, attempting to reach the tied strings of your apron and the zipper of your dress, your dominant arm was under his grasp - not enough to hurt, but plenty to warn.

“Leave it on,” he commanded, the thumb on his free hand hooked on his own waistband. “It’s fucking hot.”

Immediately your hands were back on your lap as if they’d never left the spot, such speed pleasing Craig immensely, even if he only showed it through a hum and a smirk. You were truly created to serve, and he was created to order. And fuck, did it feel good to not have to pretend that uniform of yours wasn’t sexy as hell. It had been hard, respecting it as just workwear while continuously inspiring images of what it would look like in all his favorite positions. But now he was the one that got to bestow it new meaning, since you also didn’t seem particularly attached to its meaning as job apparel.

He pulled down his jeans and boxers just enough to free himself, sensing the monster of pride inside him - which was usually lazily resting, due to not caring much what others actually thought of him or his qualities - roaring with satisfaction as you moaned quietly upon seeing his member, noticeably satisfied with the view. Your thighs pressed together more, rubbing instinctively, and he knew you were just trying to ease your own ache; but you had so easily submitted to his desires, he saw it as unacceptable that you’d get release from anything that wasn’t him. One of his hands pushed your chest firmly but gently, lowering your back towards the table, while the other brought your thighs away from each other and lifted up the front of your skirt, letting layers of dress, apron and petticoat bunch at your hips.

There wasn’t any teasing as he pulled your panties down and took them off you, and also no need for that anyway; the fabric had turned basically see-through by the point he got to it, your folds slick with glistening anticipation. Seeing you spread and dripping made him think that covering his head with those layers of your skirt and dying of heat stroke while eating you out would not be a bad way to go. He was positive you’d taste like candy, just like everything else that surrounded you, and lapping up your honey would consolidate the huge sweet tooth he’d apparently developed the last couple of weeks: he wouldn't be able to put another savory thing in his mouth ever again. But he didn’t have all that time - you were still on work hours after all, and though he didn’t give a fuck what was happening to your clients out at the café, he didn’t want you to be scolded or listen to any stupid complaints.

It was with that in mind that he shoved your panties into his back pocket and grabbed your waist again, dragging your now laid-down body closer to his own hips. As your legs lifted, crossing loosely around his waist, he took care of lining himself up with your entrance, dragging his angry tip up and down your slit, accompanying your mewls of pleasure with his own groans whenever it would brush against your clit. You were so goddamn responsive to even his smallest actions, it was unbelievable.

When Craig risked a glance at your flushed face again, all he saw were expectant wide eyes trying to watch where you two were about to meet - and quite failing to do so due to the barrier of bunched up fabric. Although it made him quite smug to know you were so interested in watching his cock, it was a waste of your precious gaze if you couldn’t look at anything. 

“You don’t have to watch. You’re gonna feel it.” His voice made you look up at his face again, and just then he put his cock against your entrance, breaching into your tight heat with a thrust that made you gasp in surprise despite how slow it had been. His own eyes shut, focusing on the sensation for a moment, and fuck was it amazing. He’d never felt so utterly enveloped, your warmth embracing his member with just the right amount of tightness, and by the way you clenched even more around him when he bottomed out after a bit, no doubt you were feeling just as amazing.

“I told you.” Craig spoke again, rough with desire, daring to open one eye to peek at your adorable face. He hadn’t even moved, and you already had half-lidded eyes and parted lips. How would you look when he effectively put you through it? “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you feel everything you need to feel.”

“Y-yes, yes… I trust you, master…” You nodded once, resolute despite the nerves that seemed to prickle right at your skin - which Craig knocked right out of you as his cock started to move inside your cunt, his hips setting a steady pace right away. He didn’t have the patience to drag anything out, not if you were going to keep calling him that word.

“Good girl… Good girl,” he murmured like a prayer, an encouragement for you to keep talking, to fuel his ego even more. He had delved into an uncharted zone - although he was pretty decent at thinking only about himself, he’d never valued himself as highly as he did in that moment, never felt like such a realized man.

And as this man he felt like, he wanted more. Whatever he could get. Planting his palms under your thighs, he pushed them up until your knees hit your chest, folding you up unceremoniously. He heard you squealing, but didn’t budge - because your hands quickly found the back of your knees and held them in their spread, letting your legs rest on his shoulders, keeping the position without a single complaint. He wished he could photograph that perfect vision to forever have the image of you open and taking him with unabashed eagerness, but his own memory would have to suffice. 

“Fuck, you’re flexible,” he commented distractedly while he drove himself into you harder and faster, placing his hands at your sides on the table and leaning more over it to hit even deeper, chasing the limits of what the sudden mating press would allow him. 

“Only- Only the best for my ma- master,” you stammered over your words in response, gasping and whining as he repeatedly hit that spot inside of you which made you goddamn stupid. A beautiful kind of stupid, one which Craig hadn’t known existed until then.

“Mmph… That’s what I wanna see,” he rasped, leaning with his upper body towards you even more until his face was hovering over yours. His lips trembled with the urge to kiss you, but the interest in hearing your moaning took precedence. “And you’re gonna always be the best for me, right?”

Whatever answer you had to verbally give, it got swept away by the quick breaths that left your mouth. It was sufficient feedback for him, though.

The table began to slam against the wall with each thrust, and the stoical male thanked its sturdy material, otherwise you’d both soon be sent crashing down to the floor with how rough he was getting. But the noise it made with the constant hitting did not grace his ears; all that did were the wet sounds of your cunt as he pounded into it relentlessly and your sweet little moans that spilled freely. Both of you were hanging onto hope that the noise outside would cover your actions, but the setting was long forgotten, anything outside of that tiny room ceasing to exist.

Each of your whimpers brought him closer to the brink. You’d talked to him in nothing but softness the whole time he knew you, and yet now he knew just how lewd you could get. How lewd he could make you get. And that was when he regretted his rush to get to this moment, because now that he had it, he couldn’t ever savor it enough.

“Aaaaah… Craig, I-” His actual name slipped out of your vocal cords before you could reel it in, and you slapped your mouth with your hand, tensing up even more with the worry of having messed up when you were so close to release. But at this point he didn’t care; any word you used to call him sounded heavenly in your voice anyway, and he wasn’t in any condition to punish you when he was also struggling to hold back.

“Speak up…” One of his hands moved to your wrist, pulling your palm away from your face and stopping it from muffling your words.

“Ngh… Master, I need to cum,” you whined, visibly relaxing - but not by much, considering the need that made your muscles taut - with his overlooking of your mistake.”Can I- aah- can I c-cum for you? Please?”

His fingers tightened around your wrist as he nodded firmly. “Do it,” he grunted, and right after the last letter left his lips you were clenching impossibly around him, a true high-pitched scream of pleasure tearing your throat when you gave him the most beautiful form of surrender. Your legs flailed against his shoulders, but he paid it no mind: his attention was on your expression, watching through half-lidded eyes as your own rolled back and your jaw went slack.

Craig had no idea how he found the self-control to do what he did next. When your cunt tightened even more around him, being already on edge, he’d surely be a goner - but he managed to pull out at the last moment, a move that he patted himself on the back for during the whole ride home after your encounter. Throwing his head back with a prolonged moan, he took himself in his hand and aimed towards your body as he came, spilling sticky white jets directly onto your apron.

A moment was needed after that, him letting go of his cock and hovering over you again with his hands on the table while you just laid there, both of your heavy breaths the only thing audible in the small staff room. You just stared at each other for what seemed like forever, your own slowly refocusing eyes capturing the perfect moment where rational thinking graced the man’s mind again and he looked down to see his seed splattered on your work clothes.

“Oops,” he murmured, still not all that sound with his thoughts, “Sorry…”

“It’s… It’s alright…” You responded with your voice still small and trembling, making a random movement of dismissal with your hand.

He knew it actually wasn’t. If you didn’t wash it off as soon as possible, it risked staining, and the whiteness of the apron’s fabric would not be able to camouflage it at all. But, like for many other things, he didn’t care. In fact, it was thrilling to think about: to send you off back into work with that marking of what had transpired clear on your uniform, so you’d go and serve all those customers - however unhygienic that would be - and call them ‘masters’ without being able to hide the stamp of who really owned you.

Finding strength in his body again, he took his cock out of you and settled it back into his underwear, the light rustling of the denim and clinking of the belt as he buttoned his pants being overshadowed by the shuffle of your skirt as you sat back up on the table, legs dropping to dangle at the edge of it.

When he was fully decent and brought his attention back to you, it was obvious that you were nervous. Your feet were kicking the air by his sides, that adorable face still flush from shyness and lingering arousal, and you were looking down with your hands folded over your lap, carefully avoiding the still sticky residue on your clothes. Not a peep came from you, not that he expected it. Getting in your head about what that meant for the both of you, if he had to guess. Fucking a customer in your place of work wasn’t peak relationship starting conduct.

Craig, however, had no nervousness to feel. For him, there was nothing to mull over. He wasn’t used to the whole romance thing, which showed in how he acted, but for you he felt he was willing to try, even if it proved difficult. He had decided.

But he had to soothe your concerns somehow, even if he didn’t share them. So he brought his lips to the top of your head, pressing them against your hair; not forcing you to look up, and also catching a whiff of your delightful shampoo in the process.

“You really have to go now. I’ll stick around. See you when your shift is done,” he said as he pulled away.

It wasn’t a suggestion.

You finally looked up at him and it made his heart feel floaty. Lips slightly parted and swollen from all his kisses, doe eyes gleaming with hope and relief, the beginnings of what could be tears of joy forming - made him want to disregard the last statement and just whisk you away someplace nicer right then. Damn you, responsibilities.

Still it took a moment for you to gasp and blink frantically, as if caught off-guard noticing the distraction caused by how happy you were feeling. When you looked at him properly again, there was that smile Craig had learned to associate with himself.

“Yes, master.”

Dividers by @cafekitsune

[archiveof22048]

13:34 - asakura shin sfw | fem!reader, she/her pronouns used 1.3k words

there she is again.

shin watches you enter the convenience store, grocery list floating around in your thoughts. cooking oil that your mother has requested that you buy (she's the reason you're out on this inconvenient convenience store trip, you were hoping to spend the day lounging around at home). your favorite brand of strawberry milk that you might as well get since you're out. your sister's favorite brand of potato chips that she texted you to get for her.

just like the past few times since he had first seen you in the store, you're just as pretty as ever. you've got this bored look on your face, one riddled with annoyance due to your mother, but shin finds it cute.

he smiles when the two of you make brief eye contact, one that lasts just barely over a second, a smile not only at you but also the fact that you looked his way in the first place.

sakamoto, adept as ever at reading facial expressions, doesn't need clairvoyance to understand that shin's taken an interest in the girl perusing the store. sakamoto watches shin's lovestruck face, his eyes nearing the shape of hearts and his cheeks and ears dusted with pink all over.

'how cute,' sakamoto thinks. he reminisces of the time he first fell in love with aoi, a picturesque love at first sight, set in a convenience store just like this. his story seems to be the opposite of shin's, where the store clerk, now, is the one who's fallen for the customer.

immediately, shin turns to face sakamoto, who's got a blank stare as he slurps on his nissin ramen. "sakamoto...!! i heard that!"

again, sakamoto remains blank-faced.

then, shin sighs. "it's not like i can do anything about it. i'm a worker and she's a customer. it'd be weird for me to make a move, don't you think?"

'not exactly,' sakamoto thinks. he looks down at his watch. it's almost 2 pm. 'your shift is almost up anyways, shin. lu and heisuke should be arriving soon.'

"huh? i thought i don't get out 'til 5 pm, though."

in response, sakamoto just stares at shin until he understands. then, he blushes. "oh..."

then, some rustling occurs from the other side of the counter. "excuse me... i'm ready to pay."

it's you.

sakamoto takes a step back and lets shin be the one to ring up your items.

you lay all of your items out on the counter haphazardly, all over the place. it's sort of silly in shin's eyes, knowing your thoughts behind it. 'agh, my sister seriously wanted five bags of these chips... and mom, does she really need three bottles of cooking oil? they better both pay me back as soon as possible.'

you look down meekly. 'please don't judge me,' you think, 'i just want to go back home.'

shin is silent. is now the time to strike up a conversation? should he be 100% professional and remain quiet? he's getting more and more flustered, so much so that he can't focus and rings up four bags of chips instead of five. he's feeling the same amount of stress as he would during an assassination mission.

"um... i think you need to scan one more bag of chips," you say.

you spoke to him. your voice is cute. you're cute.

just as quiet as your thoughts, he responds with a simple "...oh, you're right. sorry."

then, he hears a blessing.

'he's cute...'

after keeping his eyes down for so long, he glances up at you, who's already staring back at him. you're a little shocked from how sudden he looked up. especially with after that one little thought of yours, you may as well think he could read your thoughts.

you swallow dryly, flustered with his brief yet intense glance.

'he's finally the one scanning my items. it's always the guy behind him,' you think. you look up at his apron to read his name tag. 'shin...'

shin blushes heavily. it takes a great amount of effort for him to ask, "do you need a bag?"

"yes, please."

then, you're carrying 4 bags out the door, saying a "thank you, have a good day!" over your shoulder. despite carrying mainly bags of potato chips, what you're carrying is quite heavy and is slowing down your walking. even if the walk is only ten minutes, you think you may need to stop halfway to give your hands a rest.

you hear a faint "wait!" from behind you. when you turn around, it's the cute store clerk jogging up towards you.

"hey," he says, not even out of breath. he hasn't gotten an apron on, but you remember his name-- shin. "do you need help carrying your bags?"

you don't answer his question, and instead you ask one yourself. "aren't you supposed to be working right now?" it's not a question out of annoyance or malice, but pure curiosity.

"oh," shin says nervously, "sakamoto let me end my shift early. business is slow today, anyways."

you silently cheer to yourself. shin can hear the fireworks go off in your mind, and he has to do the best he can from confessing right then and there.

you give him two of your bags, beaming at him. "okay, then. my place isn't far from here."

the two of you walk side by side, and it's a silent walk. you're both keeping silly little grins to yourselves. yours is due to the cute store clerk helping you out, and shin is smiling because he can hear all of your thoughts; his feelings are not unrequited.

you break the silence first. "you're shin, right? i saw it on your name tag."

"yep, that's me. and you are...?"

you give him your name, and it's a beautiful name. you're beautiful.

"it's nice to meet you, shin."

he blushes. "nice to meet you, too."

"y'know, my mom wanted me to get all these groceries, but she wanted me to go to the grocery store downtown. she insisted i didn't go to sakamoto's, even though it's closer, 'cause it's 'too dangerous.'" you laugh to yourself. "pfft, ridiculous, right? i decided to go to sakamoto's 'cause..."

'because of the cute store clerk i'm talking to right now,' you think. 'wait, that's a little too personal, especially since we just met.'

shin smiles slyly, turning to you. "because...?"

"ah, i forgot."

shin nudges your shoulder with his, laughing. "you were definitely gonna say something, say it!"

you laugh, too. "no, no! i actually forgot!"

he can hear you affirm to yourself, 'he's so easy to get along with. i want to keep talking to him, but we're almost home...'

you stop in your tracks and turn to him. "we're almost at my place, it's just a couple houses down. i can take the bags from here."

he silently gives you the bags, a pout forming on his face. it's almost as if shin is trying to tell you he doesn't want to go just yet. "can i at least walk you there?"

you giggle. "sure."

by the time you reach the gate to your house, the sun is setting. "well, here's my place. thank you so much for helping me out. i really appreciate it."

both you and shin lean against the gate. he huffs out a laugh, trying to play himself as nonchalant. "it was nothing. i'm glad i got to meet you."

as the two of you are beginning to say your farewells, there's a whisper that hushes all around the two of you, stemming from your thoughts. 'please, ask me out. please, ask me out.'

shoving his hands in his pockets, looking up at the sky so as not to show you his flustered face, shin starts, "so, uh..."

you look up at him, a glistening hope in your eyes.

"would you want to get crepes some time?"

[mscherub]

Witchy Ways 🕸️

Reader is gender neutral, referred to as Prefect, Y/N, Henchhuman(by Grim)

Warnings!:

My writing cause what was I doing while writing this—

Swearing

Half proof read

Part 4: “The Umbrella and the Black Cat.”

Previous part here <3

Next part here <3 (TBD)

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Part 4: “The Umbrella and the Black Cat.”

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

The thing to do now…hide away, maybe? With those readings you got, you’re put on edge, that prickly feeling on the back of your neck people usually get when someone is watching them, though, you’re not sure if you’re actually being watched or not. That’s also concerning. So, now this, and the fear of your own practice, it’s like this world you’ve gotten plopped in to is taunting you or something!

Feels like it for sure. And, you guess now knowing something else is coming your way in the future, things aren’t looking too bright. Up your protection spell magic maybe? It’d certainly be the most beneficial option for your safety right now…damn, having to think of your own safety in general is just a wild thing.

Part of you doesn’t want to believe the symbols you seen, instead of taking them as insightful ones, which is how they are supposed to be taken, they seem more like warnings…or threats, both are plausible answers. And going back to the whole idea of your magic acting up the way it is here, it’s safe to say you can’t just push the thought away or take what you got with a grain of salt.

To even attempt to get these raging thoughts to cease, you’re bordering the edge of the forest by ramshackle, foraging for certain herbs while, in hopes of even finding any, and dangerously close to just banging your head off a tree. Money was, as usual, very tight, so here you are poking around and trying to scrap together any herbs you can find to make your own little protection charms to carry around on you.

“Ahhh…what am I gonna do? Maybe not think about it? Like I could do that…this is really, really cumbersome…” As if talking to yourself would give you an answer, but it honestly helps to clear your mind a bit more and get your thoughts set straight. You carry a little satchel, messing with the drawstrings on the bag as you scout around.

“Weighing the options of safety…I mean for sevens sake, it’s never safe for me here anyways, but thats not…ughhh! It’s one thing after the other anymore.” You mutter again as you bend down and look at a plant…it’s spiky and an awkward blue color, and almost looks like it’s pulsating. This is definitely not a plant you’re accustomed to. Maybe it’d be easier to just go rob the Botanical Gardens because you are not getting too far over here. Though, you’d have to avoid the people frolicking around in there, like the science club kids, sevens forbid you run into Rook, you’re just screwed at that point, or Leona, but he probably wouldn’t care, scratch that, he wouldn’t. Just in and out for what you need, walk in like you own the place and people won’t question!

With a quick look around, scanning the area and deeming it safe to head off to your destination, you start off your little journey. There are easier ways to do protection spells, yes, but your magic is a little unpredictable so to speak, and maybe something like a little protection spell jar or charm would work better, and for a longer period of time for you. For now, however, just drawing a pentacle with your own saliva on the back of your hand should be enough for now, hopefully. You kinda know your own magic…kind of…

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

The botanical gardens are always nicely kept, the plant variety that’s housed in here is definitely in the 100’s, and it’s always nice to come here and look at the various life forms when you quite literally have nothing else to do. You walk along the paths that twist and turn in search of the items you need for just a simple protection satchel…you didn’t have an jars left, so you had to make do with what you had, easy since that’s the way to go anyways!

The organization system of the whole place was usually followed to a T, the rest of the science experiments being done kept away in their own little section and keeping them from cluttering with the other plants. You find “row” R, and you walk down, looking for rosemary, which shouldn’t be that difficult to find. You know, it is kind of calming in the gardens, of course because of how peaceful it can be. You can see how Leona can fall asleep in here—

“Ah! Bonjour, Trickster! What a delightful surprise to see you here!”

Ignore him.

Just…pretend he’s not there. Can’t hear him. You stiffen up and you look down at the rosemary plant which you just managed to find…why now?

“Trickster?” His voice drops slightly and you nod, giving in and turning around to face him.

“Heyyyyy, Rook…” you force a smile. You have to stop thinking of situations in your head because clearly they’re gonna come true.

He smiles back and clasps his hands together, his eyes narrowing. “What is your reason for being here today, alone nonetheless? I see Monsieur Fuzzball isn’t accompanying you on this fine and gorgeous afternoon?”

“He’s just with the duo, like usual. He’s uh, I’ve been dropping him off there a lot lately, I’ve been busy…”

“I see, yet that still doesn’t explain the fact that you are here.”

Why is this man on to you in an instant? Can’t you just be left alone for once? In all reality you knew that couldn’t happen, but I guess it’s time to lie— again. “I’m just trying to get things for, erm— skin care! Yea! That’s it! Skin care, mhmmm! Rosemary is anti inflammatory, did ya know that? Also promotes hair growth…I was just gonna take a little is all. You know me, money is not my uh, not my friend cause it likes to avoid me. Yea.” Convincing enough.

“Ou la la! Why forage around for such items when Rou du Poison has the items already processed that you are in search of! I guarantee that his products will be better than any others, though it is just beautiful to see how hard at work you appeared to be while searching! Ah! Beauté how you try to conserve and take matters into your own hands!” He was as eccentric as ever, clearly.

He slips his hand to the upper part of your back and drags you along out of the gardens, conversing with you the entire time as he drags you off to Pomefiore grounds which never fail to be breathtaking, but also frightening since you know who runs them.

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

“You never fail to surprise me.” Vil quickly states after he hears the reiteration of what you were doing from Rook, who, sits looking too happy at the moment, a smile wide across his face.

“Well, I apologize for not squandering my money off—“

“Exactly, you don’t have money to do that. But are you so humble that you can’t bother to ask help from others? Especially with matters that I expertise in, genuinely, Prefect, you are quite odd.” He sighs as he inspects his nails, uncrossing his legs then standing up. His heels click against the ground as he gets closer to you, his eyes critical as he looks over your features. You were stressed so if you looked a little off that would be why.

“What would you like? I can give you a rundown on your skin type if you’d like. Here, follow along.” And you’re dragged off again. Vil takes you to his room and sits you down promptly at his vanity and he begins to test multiple products on your arms and back of your hands like some guinea pig, but it was all in the best of interest for your skin, obviously.

“Which do you like better of the products? I have a lot procured to multiple skin types…I have to have them on hand for any of my dorm members. And now respectively you, of course.” He hums softly as he begins to take the bottles of products that matched and reacted well with your skin and he ushered you up and brought you to the bathroom to wash your face.

This was not how you intend to spend your afternoon. Not that you were fully against the entire situation, it just wasn’t ideal for the problem you have at hand, the one problem only you know about, but still! Out of all the things you said to Rook you had to say skincare. You could have said cooking and he’d have probably left you alone.

“Pat dry, don’t do anything else, it’ll disrupt and irritate the skin.” He chides as he strolls out of the bathroom and back to his vanity, spinning the chair to face your direction. “Chop chop.”

Toner first, he applies it and lets it sink into your pores while he gets multiple bottles of serums and lists each effect, but you don’t have the effort to actually listen in and understand the properties. Off of serums then on to eye cream, placed prospectively under the eyes.

“Have you been sleeping well? Your eye bags are rather defined. Drink more water and sleep a minimum of 8 hours. No less than that.” Was all this necessary? Coming from him you knew it was just Vil being Vil, helping those around him so they could achieve beauty just like him, but in their own ways, and he was good at it.

“Moisturizer. I’d hope I don’t have to explain this.” He dots some around your face before he moves on to squirting some sunscreen and rubbing it in.

“Done. Did you mention something for your hair as well? At least from what Rook had interpreted your story to say…”

“Actually, no! Haha, just skincare, I gotta go, but uh, thank you?” You quickly interject.

“I see. Take these products then, and come back to me when they empty. Stay on top of your skincare or I will find you myself and remind you of the importance with a lecture.” He smiles, though his reminder is enough to get anybody to not think twice about it. He pushes the little basket of products into your hands.

“Of course! I’m just— I’m gonna go. Ok, bye.” You stand up quickly and you leave his room. Your skin is now soft and bouncy, revitalized, but that doesn’t really change anything about your predicament.

“Prefect!” Epel shouts from behind. You turn around and look at him.

“Hey…”

“The hell happened to you? Oh. Another Victim of Vil’s…you’ll get used to it.” He sighs, nodding along to say he understands. “I just wanna ask you about that jar you made! You think you can make any others like it…but you know, with different effects and in a different container? I’d like to carry one on me for a spell drive game…I tired to do that and I opened the bottle you gave—“

“You opened it?” You tilt your head.

“Yea? I was just gonna try and put the contents into a little baggie but…it stopped working. I dunno what you had set in place on that.” He purses his lips, moving his hands behind his back and smiling again. “I dunno…I’d just…like another one. It was a really helpful thing to have on hand!”

“Epel…it doesn’t work anymore because you broke the wax seal, and another possibility is that…” your voice drops down to a whisper as you think, “I didn’t put much intention into the jars to last for more than just a few days…”

“Huh?”

“Nothing. Yea, just don’t break the wax seal is all…” you clear your throat.

“Why’s that, though?”

Why does everybody have to question you anymore? “It kinda…how to word it? Gets rid of the effects?” That’s barely any information on it, but it sounds plausible.

“Huh, ok then. Can you make me another then?”

“I’ll think about it.” You nod. Epel gives you a happy closed eye grin and nods.

“Thanks!” His face almost instantly contorts to some sort of evil look and he smirks, chuckling as he narrows his eyes. “If I get that then I’ll beat them RSA suckers next time we play em! I can’t wait to see the look on their faces, and I’d get MVP of the game.” He snickers to himself. Ok, buddy, have fun with that.

You nod one last time and you finally, finally leave. Second times a charm for the botanical gardens, maybe?

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

With the basket resting in the crook of your elbow as you walk, not had having enough time nor care to drop it off at Ramshackle, you head back to the gardens, back down the paths, back to row R, and back to the damn rosemary plant. You crouch down and you pick off a branch or two and stuff it into the satchel, worrying about processing it all later. Now to section L, and lo and behold, in the middle a tall laurel tree, but fate throwing more problems at you and most likely dying of laughter as it watches you suffer, ironically enough, another thing beginning with the letter L is also there, but it’s not a plant.

Leona and his “clever” sleeping spots never fail to surprise anybody. Tiptoeing around him wasn’t an option, cause he’d hear you, and he’s kinda in your way of climbing up and shaking down a few leaves. Whatever, you’re not letting anything else get in your way now, and especially not for one of the most prominent ingredients you needed. Bay leaves, also widely known to be as equivalently lucky to a shooting star, make a wish upon a bay leaf then burn it, and give it back to nature after. You were gonna use it for its protective properties, however.

You walk up to the thick base of the tree and kick against the side of it, the action causing Leona’s ears to flick and his tail to twitch as he cracks open one of his eyes to, oh so nicely, glare at you.

“What.” He murmurs gruffly, definitely irritated already.

“For one, hello to you two, and secondly, since you’re like already kinda perched up there…get me some leaves off the tree…I need them for uh…cooking.”

“Just go to Sam’s shop and buy some.” He yawns, turning away from you to face the other direction. “They’d be better anyways…already dried out, too…”

“That’s…bro you know I’m fucking broke and can’t spend my money on that, so can’t you do a nice thing for me? I’ll climb up there myself and step on you, so choose the better option…” you meet him back with the same attitude.

“You’re annoying today, huh?” He scoffs as his tail gives a warning flick, but he sits up and glares at you as he grabs his pen and uses his magic to send down—

And now there’s leaves everywhere. He smirks and he slips the pen away and gets back into a comfortable position, falling asleep again almost instantly and leaving you alone to look at the mess of leaves and branches on the ground. Whatever, this still works…you grab what you need and flip him off as you walk away, even if he can’t see.

You manage to gather the other things you need without too much trouble, then being the easier items such as the lavender and sage, easy and not that questionable. Students gave you many quick glances and eager hushed whispers as they watched you “rob,” which technically in this case could be considered borrowing, from the plants. But honestly, who cares, so long as people don’t know your main secret, all you have to say to them is: Fuck em! You don’t have any more left to give today…

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

Hammer in hand you drive a nail into the wood on the outside of Ramshackle. The makeshift stool you’re standing on is…well, not super stable, but it gets the job done. You hang the horseshoe you got just a day ago right above the door in the middle, and of course you cleansed it before you hung it up, it’s just basic protocol anymore from being so on edge.

“Well, let’s see those readings come true now thanks to this bad boy hanging up above my door! I think this is the first time I’ve been happy in a while—“

“Henchhuman, why’re ya talking to yourself, and what are you hanging up?” Grim pipes up as he looks up at you…but it’s also not just him. Ace and Deuce stand behind him, looking up at you as well, clearly a thing or two on their mind that they want to say to you.

“You guys weren’t supposed to be back for like another 10 minutes…”

“But here we are.” Grim sighs.

“This,” you say as you motion to the horseshoe, “cultural thing. That’s what this is, don’t ask anymore questions. Shut up!” You spit out as you step down, looking up at your handiwork. Ace lets out a puff of air and stalks closer to you, looking up at the odd thing.

“We didn’t say anything though—“

“I’m just saying don’t ask. I wanted a…touch of home from back home, exactly. Thanks for bringing Grim back, now byeeee, I’m busy.” You pick up the stool and heave it back inside, Grim shrugging to the two boys and following along behind you.

“So, what happened today?” You question him as you walk into the lounge and head over to the mantel, checking over a few things and dusting away a thin layer of dust that somehow already was managing to form.

“They just complained the whole time about those jars ya made, said they stopped working, and then they did a deep dive as to how they even worked…it was a painful conversation I had to sit through, and no compensation or payment of tuna, either!”

Huh? Deep dived into the topic?

“What did they say about how the jars worked?” You slow down in your movements and peer over your shoulder towards Grim who was laying lazily on the couch.

“Dunno, tuned em out, but they said some stupid thing that you had a student enchant it, but they’re dumb cause I didn’t trace a single bit of magic on em. Then they went off that and started saying you enchanted it yourself, which couldn’t be possible since you didn’t have magic. I told em that.” He hums.

“And…they believed you?” You murmur as you walk over to the couch and sit down. “I mean…I don’t have magic…”

“They’re iffy about it, said they don’t know your world so they don’t know what actually goes on there or what you know. They’re just big doofuses…anyways, I need tuna, I’m hungry.” He hoists himself up and goes into the kitchen.

He stops midway and turns to you again, “oh, and Ace went around mouthing away to people about everything again.” And then he goes off.

That’s a lot of information in one go, and in such a nonchalant way, as well. The black cat…gossip, and if you really look into all the things that happened today, the umbrella, difficulty while you were trying to get the simple shit you needed for a protection spell. Yea…

Ok, distraction time, you know an easy way to be protected, you just have to get a little creative. You get up and grab one of your notebooks before heading upstairs.

Incense is lit and you take a seat in the armchair and begin to draw out a circle and label it with letters going around the perimeter. You write down the words “Strong Protection,” crossing out vowels and repeating letters, being left with “Strngptc” as your jumble of letters. Back to the circle, you draw lines and curves from each letter, making a simplified sigil. It’s still a sigil and will work how you intended it since intention is key. You move on to another group of words, just for a boost of confidence to hopefully hide any evidence of stress, you write down “Beauty and Rejuvenation.” Easier said than done.

You slap these sigils onto the skincare package Vil gave you and go through every step in order that he had applied all the products to your skin. Wash, uh, toner, serum, eye cream, yea? Whatever, then moisturizer and then look in the mirror and— well damn.

You certainly looked a lot better now, and felt a sense of calm. Even after what Vil had done for you just hours earlier, you honestly thought that looked good and helped out just a tiny bit, but you just amplified the products by like 50% and also while adding in the bonus of protection…it’s like you’re a whole new person…glamour magic is no joke, huh? You’ve outdone yourself, props to you.

That’s probably enough worrying for one day…at least for now that is. Maybe distracting yourself isn’t the best way to deal with problems.

…idk where I was going with this one, I’m getting of track a little, I fear…this was kinda just plot progression and a lot of filler shit and also a way for me to mention Pomefiore…all dorms will have their major moments, like Octavinelle in the second part…I just need to find motivation to do it 👍

THANKS FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY WRITING, LOVELIES <3

Again, if you wanna be tagged just ask!

Master List

Please don’t steal or copy any of my work! You may, however, reblog if you’d want to!

Pictures belong to Disney Twisted Wonderland but are edited by me :)

Tag list <3:

@w0nd3rhoy

@biumg-ie

[lw77]

Diet Pepsi 💈 (LSxMV)

Chapter 6. - Special Friend

Logan gets a ride home from Max and finds out there's a ghost haunting his house.

Before long, the kitchen fills with more people. Logan nurses the espresso Max made for him as he watches everyone blearily make their way in. When the crowd starts gathering around the island, he feels his stool being pulled and sees Max give him a lazy smile over his espresso cup, drawing him closer to where he stands. Once he’s pressed into Max’s side, Logan tilts his head in question.

“Do you need a ride home, Angel?” Max asks, leaning down slightly.

“No, I think I’m going with Alex and Os—” He turns to point where he last saw them leaning into each other, only to realize they’re no longer there. “Wait, where'd they go? Max, oh my god, they were just here a second ago!” He turns his head around to see if those two somehow ended up behind him, but they have really disappeared.

Max chuckles. “I guess I’m driving you home, Angel. Want to grab your stuff while I try to find Danny to say goodbye?”

Logan grimaces when he realizes his bag is still with Oscar. “Uh, sure, but my bag’s with Oscar.” Dropping his voice to a whisper, he tugs Max down. “You don’t think they’re all in the room, do you? Oh my god, what if that’s why they disappeared—those horn dogs.” Both he and Max scan the kitchen for Carlos and George, only to discover they have also vanished.

They both spot a grinning Fernando, who beams when he sees they realize who exactly is missing in action. “I can’t lie, Angel. I didn’t think they would go for a repeat so soon.”

Logan pats Max’s chest. “Me too, but why do I feel like Fernando definitely knew they would?”

Max holds the hands that were patting his chest and uses them to pull Logan off the stool. “I don’t know, Angel, but it’s his thing.”

Logan thinks back to the night before when Fernando orchestrated the whole room allocation. “Yeah, his thing,” he repeats sceptically as he follows Max out of the kitchen.

When they reach the hallway leading to the rooms, Logan isn’t sure if he wants to walk in on whatever scene those four are making—or not making. “You know, I think I’ll just shoot Oscar a text to bring my bag whenever he leaves,” he tells Max.

Max laughs at his trepidation. “Okay, Angel. Let’s go get whatever we need from our room. We can go find Danny afterward if he’s awake, and then I’ll take you home.”

As Max packs up his swim shorts and other items, Danny walks into their room.

“Good morning, lovebirds!” he exclaims before unceremoniously falling face-first into the bed. A few moments later, he adds, “Oh god, it smells like eau de cum in here. Jesus, did you guys just have sex or something? On these sheets that I just buried my head in?!”

“Technically, we didn’t,” Logan says.

“Didn’t have sex on the sheets? Don’t lie to me; it smells funky.” Danny snaps back.

“Well, we didn’t have sex, right, Maxie?” Logan continues happily. For some reason, teasing Danny is as enjoyable as telling his annoying cousin that Santa Claus isn't real.

“Yes, Angel.”

“See? It must be your own breath or something, Danny.” Logan says innocently, making Danny jump up as he breathes into his palm to test it.

“Whatever, I know you guys did something. It’s not only my Nonna who has a sixth sense for these things; I do too, Logieboy, so I’ll let it slide.” Danny attempts to sound menacing but looks a little worse for wear after the brief gaslighting session Logan led.

“Alright, we’re gonna head out. If you need anything, give me a call, Danny,” Max says, clapping Danny on the back before pulling him into a brief hug.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Maxie pad! Just take our little Logiebear home safe and sound. And make sure you don’t throw your back out, because we need all hands on deck for the job on Monday!” Danny finishes with a 100-watt grin.

Rolling his eyes at his best friend’s antics, Max shakes his head and waves as they head to the front door together. Logan, on the other hand, scowls at Danny before scrunching his face in faux disgust and fanning the air in front of him for added effect, as if Danny’s breath really does smell. When Danny catches on, he quickly tests his breath again.

“Goodbye, Danny! Don’t choke on your toothbrush!” Logan calls out with a laugh as he skips out the door, leaving Danny still testing his breath.

Shaking his head, Max opens the passenger door for Logan. “Hop in, Angel,” he says in that familiar, easy tone.

Logan gives a small smile before sliding in. The click of his seatbelt fills the brief silence as Max walks around to the driver’s side, settling in and starting the truck. They pull out of the driveway, the morning quiet around them.

“You’ll need to give me directions, Angel,” Max says, his voice calm. “Unless you want me to take you to your dad’s store—or mine,” he adds with a teasing grin, his eyes flicking briefly over to Logan.

Logan turns, catching that playful glint in Max’s eyes. “You want me in your bed again so soon, Maxie?” he teases back.

Max chuckles, his hand brushing through Logan’s hair before trailing down to rest on his thigh, his touch firm yet soft. “Well, when you ask so nicely,” Max replies, his voice low and warm, eyes on the road but a smile playing on his lips.

Rolling his eyes, Logan places his hand over Max's before he directs him to his house. The cab of the truck fills with a languid peace as they navigate through the morning traffic, lulling Logan into a brief nap.

The truck shutting off jolts him awake, and he blinks, realizing they’ve arrived outside his house. He looks back at Max, a small pout on his lips when he realizes he slept through most of the drive.

“What’s wrong, Angel? Is this not the right address?” Max questions, his tone playful.

Shaking his head, Logan replies, “It is. Guess I’ll see you on Monday?” His voice carries a hint of disappointment at having to part.

Chuckling, Max’s hand comes to cradle the side of Logan’s face, his thumb brushing where Logan’s lip juts out. “We can go to mine, Angel. We don’t have to do anything either. Just sit and look pretty for me while I work on some of our projects. You like that?”

Logan leans his head into Max’s hand, feeling comforted its not just him disappointed at their goodbye. “As much as I’d love to, I think I need to go give a sign of life to my parents so they know I didn’t drown. But… I’d love to do that another time?” He raises his eyes to Max’s shyly.

Brushing his thumb along Logan’s cheekbone, Max smiles softly. “Of course, Angel.” He leans in, pressing a gentle kiss to the spot where his thumb rested. 

When Max pulls back, Logan instinctively shifts forward, his lips catching Max’s in a brief, sweet kiss. Leaning closer over the cab of the truck, he brings his hands to clutch the back of Max’s neck, fingers tangling in his hair, trying to pull him in closer. The warmth radiating from their bodies fills the space between them, heating up the cab, it makes Logan's pulse quicken.

Max kisses Logan back, the sweetness quickly transforming into something deeper, more urgent. Their lips moving together, soft and hungry, as both try to pull the other closer. Max’s hands slide down Logan’s sides, fingers grazing over his jeans, teasingly tugging at the loops as if to pull him into his lap.

The pressure of the tug makes Logan gasp, his breath hitching in his throat, a sweet, intoxicating sound that Max eagerly swallows down. He breaks away just enough to catch Logan’s gaze—those eyes now dark with desire and edged with frustration—as a wayward smile dances on his lips.

"Why'd you stop?" Logan whines, his disappointment palpable as he paws at Max, hands desperate, trying to pull him back in, the need for more clear in every touch.

“Can’t take care of you here, Angel. I don’t want to send you home to your parents like that, now do we?” Max placates, despite his teasing words.

Groaning, Logan replies, “Ugh, I change my mind. Let’s go to yours, Maxie. I’ll send my parents a text.” 

Max laughs softly. “Angel, I think it’s too late for that. We’ve been out here long enough that I’m pretty sure your parents are looking through the windows at us—yeah, there it is.” 

Logan looks outside to see the living room curtain suddenly close shut. 

“Oh my god,” he exclaims, mortified.

Still chuckling, Max says, “It’s kind of funny.”

“It’s mortifying,” Logan shoots back. With one last peck to Max’s lips, he twists to open his door. 

“I’ll see you soon, alright, Angel?” Max’s voice is gentle yet firm.

Logan nods, his heart fluttering as he steps out into the cool morning air. “Yeah, soon,” he echoes, taking a moment to glance back at Max, who watches him with a smile that sends warmth flooding through him.

When the front door shuts, Logan hears Max’s engine turn on, followed by the familiar sounds of him driving off.

Soon, he hears his mom call out unconvincingly, “Logan, is that you, hun?” as she rounds the foyer.

“Yeah, Mom! Didn’t you see when you and Dad were peeking out the window?” Logan calls out, easily calling their bluff.

He hears his dad yell from the kitchen, “The living room is just drafty, son! That has nothing to do with us!”

Nodding at her husband’s words, Logan’s mom agrees, brushing her arms in a ‘so cold’ gesture. “Your father’s right, hun. That was definitely not us. It might even be a ghost, you know? Grammie did like those curtains quite a lot, probably her spirit” she adds, continuing her unconvincing act. “Now come on, I made some pancakes.” Her tone brooks no argument, silencing any further protests Logan might have had about their excuses.

Following his mom into the kitchen, Logan sees his dad wearing a knowing smile. “So, how was the lake house? Did you boys have fun?”

“Yeah, it was good. Danny had jet skis, so Oscar and Alex were on those all day,” Logan replies, trying to keep it casual.

“And any special friends made there?” His dad quickly follows up, eyebrows waggling playfully.

“Yeah, honey, did you make any special friends?” his mom echoes, a teasing lilt in her voice.

“Okay, you guys keep emphasizing ‘special’ like I make imaginary friends or something. It’s getting weird. Is there a question ‘Grammie’ might have since she moved the curtains so much?” Logan asks, giving his parents a knowing look.

Clapping her hands in delight, his mom is quick to respond, “Oh yes! She said it’s a shame that kind young man who drove you home didn’t come in for her famous pancake recipe.”

“Seriously?” Logan raises an eyebrow, incredulous.

“Logan, this isn’t your mother and I, but Grammie. We are merely her messengers. So please don’t skip any details,” his dad explains, suppressing a grin and failing to keep a straight face.

Logan sighs, feeling the weight of his parents’ curiosity pressing down on him. He doesn’t know if he should be embarrassed or annoyed.

“His name is Max. We spent time together, and he offered me a ride home,” Logan mutters.

His dad springs up. “Max? Our regular Max? The one who called you ‘Angel’ last time?”

His mom gasps dramatically. “Someone flirted with our son, called him ‘Angel,’ and you’re just telling me this now?”

Logan groans, “Can we drop it, please? You wanted some details, and I gave them.”

“Sweetheart, I was going to tell you! He’s the one from Ricc&Co we thought we had to hire to finally get him into Logan’s bedroom. You should’ve seen him in the store—he only had eyes for Logan,” his dad interjects.

“Whatever,” Logan retorts, trying to hide the smile creeping onto his face. “Can I just eat my pancakes in peace?”

“Only if you tell us more about this Max! Your dad saw you flirt; I only saw—” his mom insists, a mischievous glint in her eye before it widens as she realizes something.

“You mean Grammie saw? Anyway, you’ll see him, Mom, just come to the store and watch like Dad does” he concedes, finally cracking a smile as he digs into the stack of pancakes.

Authors Note: I didn't forget this story! I know this is short but the next chapter will be loooooong <3

[lucifer-is-a-bag-of-dicks]

part 3 of #FreeRei (temporary title) with a Rei POV! and I finally get to explore my favourite flavour of Rei Todoroki, completely fucking unhinged and absolutely determined to make it Endeavor's problem

(you can read from the beginning here)

She felt a little silly, practically vibrating with glee over a bit of basic shopping, but it had been so long, even just the feel and sound of the money jingling in her hands was almost nostalgic, like something from a long ago dream. It almost didn't feel real.

The woman behind the counter was tilted back on a tall stool, a braided tendril of dark brown hair streaked with grey lifted a can of coffee to her lips as she flipped through a gossip rag. There were was a photo of two heroes on the cover that Rei vaguely recognised, one with long white ears and one with red wings, she was pretty sure they were both in the top ten, but it was hard to keep up with current hero rankings when she wasn't allowed to watch the news. They were covered in obnoxious yellow text declaring something about a secret relationship, they just looked like friends having coffee together to her.

If only they knew of the scandal sitting right beneath everyone's noses, she wondered what kind of mockery the bright yellow text would make about her husband's misdeeds, had they not been covered up at every turn. Something outrageous and distasteful probably.

'No. 1 Hero or No Good Husband?'

'Flame Hero's Marriage up in Smoke!'

'Endeavor Beats Villains in the Streets and his Wife in the Sheets!'

Rei put her items on the counter and tried to hold back the giddy grin she could feel pulling at her lips, she failed to keep from bouncing on her toes. The woman put her magazine down and shifted her seat back onto all fours, she paused as tired eyes tracked Rei's constant motion.

"Someone's in a good mood this morning." she commented in a husky monotone, her hair grabbing the items to scan them. "What's got you so excited?"

"Oh you know," Rei laughed nervously. "It's just nice to be out of the house, I'm not normally allow- I don't get out much." she clamped her lips shut with an airy little chuckle.

Be careful be careful don't be suspicious don't get caught can't go back can't go back-

"Right," the woman said, gaze flitting over Rei as if looking for something, Rei tugged her sleeve down, making sure her hospital grade quirk cancelling cuff was well hidden beneath her hoodie, the woman's keen eyes tracked the motion before quickly glancing to the side. "He got something to do with that?" she asked, jerking her head toward the window where Touya was pacing back and forth on the phone.

"Oh, no! No no that's just my son, he's a good boy, he's nothing like his- he's just helping me with my shopping!" Rei could feel her legs trembling, she'd barely been out of the hospital for a few hours and she was already fucking everything up, shit she shouldn't have said he was her son shit shit shit.

Won'tgobackwon'tgobackwon'tgoback-

"Alright then," the woman's narrowed eyes shifted back down as she bagged the items, ringing up the total and counting the scattered change Rei's trembling hands dropped onto the counter.

"Sorry, but you're 100¥ short." The woman shrugged, frowning at the bag, a tendril of hair fidgeted with one of her earrings.

"Oh," Touya had scrounged through all of his pockets to gather that change, she was pretty sure it was the last of his money. "Um, you can take out the toothbrush then."

"So just the face masks and hair dye?" the woman asked in a carefully neutral tone, her braids curled over on themselves in the air behind her. "Going for a new look?"

"Haha, yeah I just figured it was time to do something different you know?" Rei tilted her head innocently, putting on her best unassuming polite smile, the one she'd learned could keep the new nurses from checking under her tongue after giving her sedatives at night.

The woman kept staring at the bag as she chewed at the inside of her cheek. Rei could feel sweat beading at her hairline, she glanced around at anything she could potentially use as a weapon should it come to that, she didn't particularly want to bludgeon this woman's head in but-

I won't go back I won't I won't I won't I won't I won't I won't I won't I won't I won't I won't I WON'T-

The woman sighed heavily and pushed the plastic bag toward Rei, the toothbrush still inside.

"I'll overlook the 100¥, if you answer a question for me," she said, eyes locking onto Rei's, her expression sank into something softer, concerned. "If someone comes in here later asking if I've seen a woman with white hair, should I keep my mouth shut?"

Rei's stomach did an odd little swoop, her heart was beating in her throat. "I would... I would be very very grateful if you did." she said in a small, trembling voice.

The woman nodded, her smile melancholy, a braided tendril picked up the bag and dropped it into Rei's hands before going lax against her back, the rest stopped their antsy fidgeting to follow suit. "Good luck girl, stay safe alright?"

Rei's hands and feet tingled as she walked out of the store, as soon as the cool early morning air hit her face she took in a deep and desperate lungful, her chest ached like she couldn't get enough in.

Touya seemed to have finished his phone call as he was simply lounging low on a public bench just outside. His head was tilted back as he stared up at a nearby streetlight, eyebrows furrowed, lost in thought, his pale, almost translucent eyelashes practically glowed under the yellow tinted light. Despite all of his scars his face still looked so... gentle, so unlike Natsuo who'd inherited Enji's squared jaw and broad shoulders, Touya was all soft edges and elegant curves.

He looks like me.

The thought lightened her chest and her breathing slowed back down to a regular pace. A different emotion climbed up her throat, something warm and pleasant, this was her son, all grown up. Even after everything Enji had done, after he tried to mould Touya into a monster like him, after he left her baby boy to burn alive alone on that mountaintop, he was here, right in front of her, alive.

And he looks like me.

Touya lifted his head, whatever thoughts were ghosting behind his eyes cleared as he stood up and offered her his arm, Rei took it, and they walked out into the early morning, the barest hint of light seeping into the dark sky.

You tried to take him from me but he isn't yours anymore, he's mine mine mine mine and I will rip you apart with my bare hands before I ever let you come between me and my son again Enji I swear it on my breath and my bones I will never let you have him you don't deserve him you don't deserve any of us.

The distant sounds of birds and traffic began to wake the sleeping streets, as the edge of sunlight peeked at them between buildings, Touya pulled one of the medical facemasks from the plastic bag hanging from Rei's wrist and handed it to her. He tugged her dark blue hoodie over her head before the light could catch on the bright white strands of her hair, she always loved seeing her children play at dawn and dusk, especially in the winter, the angled sunshine from the snow making their hair practically glow, they looked almost ethereal, otherworldly.

You were right to be afraid of letting me out, I spent years pretending I wasn't clawing at the walls, fooling the doctors, fooling my own children, but I couldn't fool you, you knew you broke me beyond repair, you knew I wasn't going to forget what I promised you the last time you dared look me in the eye.

Sometimes she would hope that some spirit of light would realise it had left its children down on earth where they didn't belong, she would hope that one day when they played out in the late afternoon they would chase those sunlit snowflakes up up up into the sky, far away from the house that had wrongfully trapped them within its walls, far away from her husband's burning cruelty and blistering neglect, she would hope that when the sun finally set and took its light away from her garden, it would take her children home with it. Some days, the bad days after the fire on Sekoto, she would forget that it was only a daydream, she would sit in the yard with Shouto held up to the sky, and with tears in her eyes she would beg those sunlit snowflakes to take her baby away somewhere safe, to take him to wherever they took Touya.

Mark my fucking words Enji Todoroki I will bathe myself in your blood I will carve your hollow heart from your chest and crush it in my fist as I watch the light die in your eyes and I'm going to laugh and laugh and laugh and LAUGH-

"What's so funny?" Touya smiled gently down at her, his eyes as blue as his father's but utterly void of the terrifying cold indifference that once haunted her daily waking life.

"Oh it's nothing," she assured him, hysterical giggles still fighting their way up her throat, her cheeks ached but she couldn't stop smiling. "I'm just so happy to have you back sweetheart."

Touya was quiet for a few moments, when he finally spoke his voice was thick with something close to melancholy.

"I... yeah... me too."

edit: continued on AO3!

[blueiscoool]

US Returns $80 Million-Worth of Stolen Artifacts to Italy

It looked more like a museum exhibition of Italian art than a crime scene, but in the Central Institute for Restoration’s offices, located inside a former women’s prison in central Rome, some 600 works of art were put on display Tuesday morning.

Ranging from life-sized bronze statues to tiny Roman coins, from oil paintings to mosaic flooring, the pieces span the 9th century BC to the 2nd century AD and amount to just one year’s stolen and trafficked art confiscated by Manhattan prosecutor Col. Matthew Bogdanos’ team and returned to Italy.

The trafficked works, pillaged from the Italian regions of Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Sicily, were sequestered in New York and New Jersey last year.

The returned works, together with 60 items repatriated last year, are worth more than $80 million (or roughly €73.6 million) — but are just a drop in the bucket when it comes to artwork still hidden away in private warehouses and on display in museums in the United States, Bogdanos said on the sidelines of a presentation to the media on Tuesday.

Bogdanos said the $80 million of items does not include a further 100 items his team has just seized in the US.

What makes the seizure and return of stolen artifacts so difficult is that authorities often have no idea what they are looking for, according to Gen. D. Francesco Gargaro, commander of the Carabinieri for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.

“When artifacts are taken from clandestine graves, they have never been cataloged,” he said. That means that, in addition to the items themselves, their historical context was stolen, robbing archaeologists of valuable information. (Instead, investigators work backwards, assessing paperwork and provenance claims for artifacts provided by their owners, as well as undertaking technical tests to best confirm a piece’s true origins.)

Most of the recent items returned to Italy were dug out of clandestine excavations or stolen from churches, museums and private individuals, Gargaro said.

Among the items on display on Tuesday was a cuirass and two bronze heads dating back to the 4th-3rd century BC that were confiscated from a gallery owner in New York.

There was also an Umbrian bronze statue depicting a warrior stolen from an Italian museum in 1962 that was found in a well-known American museum.

And a mosaic floor depicting the myth of Orpheus enchanting wild animals with the sound of the lyre from the mid-3rd to mid-4th century AD was recovered after being stolen from a clandestine excavation in Sicily in the early 1990s. It was confiscated from the private collection of a well-known New York collector.

Italy’s Carabinieri Cultural Heritage Protection unit uses artificial intelligence to search for stolen cultural assets under a new program called “Stolen Works Of Art Detection System” (SWOADS), which searches for taken items by scanning the web and social media for images.

“The return to Italy of cultural assets of such importance, both for their numerical consistency and for their historical-artistic value, is another significant achievement, Italy’s culture ministry undersecretary Gianmarco Mazzi said Tuesday.

“In addition to being works of art of inestimable value, they represent the high expression of our history, our culture and our national identity.”

In 2023 alone, 105,474 pieces of art worth more than €264 million (or $287 million) were found and confiscated worldwide thanks to the artificial intelligence project, according to Gargaro.

By Barbie Latza Nadeau.

[antennaed-kenzy]

Shopping [Niko Ikki]

❄ Niko Ikki x f! reader

❄ notes: not proofread, rushed/forced, 18+ characters, fluff,

❄ Day five of the Christmas Series.

❄ Extras: Work count 1k+ The fifth day of the twelve days of Christmas with a cuite patootie. Masterlist of series

getting gifts around Christmas is always the busiest time, but when being someone it isn't so bad in.

Cold, snow, ice, couples. 

Niko was waiting in the snow for a certain someone to arrive. He was holding his body, his teeth clattering from the cold shivers. Even if he was bundled staying in one spot was not the best to combat the cold weather. Moving his head from left to right to see if she had arrived, and still no one was around for him.

“Ikki!” A familiar female yells his name.

Niko whipped his head to see his favorite person in the world running to him. He suddenly felt a heart rush over his body. Could be from him finally moving from his spot, or the warm smile she gave, or his heat beating over and over in his chest when he saw her. 

“Ready for Christmas Shopping, Ikki?” She asks, her hand behind her back. 

{Y/n} and Niko were together as they were going Christmas shopping for Uber's Secret Santa party. They both knew who they got– well everyone pretty much knew who everyone got as some secrets don’t last long. 

Niko nodded his head at the female and they were off to the first store. Each of them had 100 euros to spend for their Secret Santa (around 103 USD). If they wanted to spend more then it would come out of their pockets. Though it’s not like it would be a big deal for most of them, they all had enough money in their pockets to not get the money from {Y/n}. 

The first store they entered was a sporting goods store, an obvious choice. They hit the football section. Niko got more items than {Y/n} got for their gifts. Well, Niko bought some items for himself as well. 

“Get what u needed, Niko?” {Y/n} looks over to Niko as he checks out his items. 

“yeah,” his eyes scanned the items he was bagging, making sure he had everything he bought. 

The two walk out of the store and into the next store. This fragrance store was more for {Y/n} than her gift, she bought one item for her Secret Santa while the rest she bought with her own money. 

Niko watched {Y/n} as they made it to the last store. Spend the rest of their money on items they think their Secret Santa would like. 

“Ready, {Y/n}” Niko asks as he waits by the door for his partner in crime– or rather a partner in shopping. 

The next day…

Some of the Uber members were sitting around a dinner table. They had just ate dinner and it was time to give out their Secret Santa Gifts. 

Snuffy, the team's coach raised a glass, hitting it with a spoon to grab everyone’s attention for talking.“Who’s going to start us off?” 

“I will!” {Y/n} bounced up from her seat. She got her present which lay under a tree in the room. “I got Aiku for my Secret Santa,” She gave her present to the male. 

Aiku unwrapped the paper and opened the box with a box cutter he was handed after trying to pry it open with his hands and complaining about the amount of tape that was used. “Oh, wow!” He looked into the box, surprised to see every item she got him.

“Thanks so much, {Y/n}.” She closed the box as if he was embarrassed by what he received. 

“What did you get?” Sendo tried to sneak a look but had no avail. 

Aiku faced the salmon-tinted-haired man. A ‘shut the fuck up’ grin on his face to not seem like a bad person. “It was goo items.”

“I can return everything, Aiku. If you don’t like it that is.” She smirked at him. She knew what she was doing. 

Niko was there with her shopping, he heard her talk about how much Aiku was going to act like he hated the items, but he was going to use them. The perfumes and colognes she got, the one thing he did need which was a pair of new shoes. Also getting him items for around his apartment to impress people.

It was Aiku's turn to give his gift to Lorenzo. It was a set of rhinestones. Simple enough for Lorenzo to put a price on it and appreciate the gift. Lorenzo's Secret Santa was Baro. Though Baro hated the idea in the first place it wrapped around him and he had no choice. He opened Lorenzo's gift, said his thanks, and gave his gift to Sendo. 

Not too much thought into Sendos gift, but it was the thought that Baro tried in the first place to get an item for someone other than himself. Sendo got Snuffy. The gift was something that Snuffy needed in the long run and was a nice thought from the whole team, Snuffy got Aryu and his present was a body care product– or as Aryu said glamorous products. 

Aryu got {Y/n}. Aryu got her refills on her hair products as that‘s what they have been talking about for a while as what she needed. He also got her some of her favorite snacks. 

Niko might seem to be left out of the party, but he had made the decision to choose who to pick, and he had to go with his best friend of all time, the one he could spend all his free time away with, {Y/n}. 

“Huh?” She looked at the male when he gave her a gift bag. “I thought you said you picked my dad?” {Y/n} was confused as ever when the bag had her name. 

“I didn’t say coach. I just said your last name.” Niko sat down beside the female. “Open your gift.” 

{Y/n} looked over at her father Marc Snuffy who had a smile on his face knowing what was going on the entire time. Looking down at her gift she took out the tissue paper. “Niko, what the hell if this?!” she took out a ring box.

“A promise ring.” He took the ring from the box. Sliding it on her ring finger. “You and I will stay with each other no matter what. As best friends.” 

He saved the last words when seeing his coach eye him. He knew it would have to be a while until he had the right to be with her granted by Snuffy. Even if it took longer than he expected the ring would show they would wait for each other no matter what.

a/n: actual finals are tomorrow. I'm going to freak. wish this was longer tho.

[magister-cyran]

Cyran sir,

I heard someone sent you tip that simply said 'Bread🍞' and it made me crave bread, so I decided to head out and get myself a nice loaf of bread. Figured I do so before heading over to Brimstone Village, so off I went to the sides of the roads where it looked like market sales were taking place. Then I scanned the stalls for any sign of bread. There were none, but there were many interesting items and knick-knacks for sell and they all were sold under the same guild, judging from their logo as well, the Adamant Syndicate. Magic-imbued gems, clothing, perfume, artifacts- there's so many I don't think I'd be able to fit them into this letter.

One of the merchants approached me and asked if I would like to buy anything. I said 'Not really.' since I still needed bread though he insisted on showing me around his stall and his entire catalogue of gems and precious stones he had in hopes that any of it would catch my eye. So I went along with him, even asked him about every individual piece and he explained away without fail- a bit odd he stumbled and kept correcting himself alot but I didn't mind. He then asked me if I would like to buy anything now that I familiarised myself with his items. I still said 'No' because none of them were bread.

He was starting to look frustrated, I'm not sure why but then I remembered you have an array of magic gem and how you liked collecting them so I told them about you and that you'd probably be more interested in these than me since I figured you'd be the right guy for this. His and the other merchants' faces seemed to drain in color the more I talked about you, and oh yeah- how you even gifted me some magic gems of your own as charms for my glaive that infused elemental power into it. Which were amazing boosters in combat- anywho they asked if I was closely acquainted with you and I said, "Yes, pretty much so." And for some reason they started freaking out, saying somethings about not wanting to 'upset' you and 'messing with the top-dogs' of the Syndicate, I assume.

They started offering me 90% discounts on all their items. Even 100% off, with gifts and goodies too. I was admittedly overwhelmed and told them that it's alright, that I'll just select a handful of things and be on my way. In the end, I walked away with plenty of goods in my sack but still no bread. Which made me a little sad, but it was alright. I persevered until I was graced with the aroma of freshly baked bread and now, I have obtained the delicious bread.

Which brings me to my next question, since you're a top member of the Adamant Syndicate, "Do you have any special perks or advantages that comes with being a top member? Why did you join them anyway? Are you in charge of anything there?" You sound like an important figure of authority in the guild, so it must be quite the luxurious position I take it.

Saluting you,

Dame Anona from the Heroic Order

My dear Dame Anona,

I am pleased to hear that eventually you managed to acquire the delicious bread you were looking for.

On the other hand, I am not so pleased to hear about the merchants of that camp. In their attempt to make sure I would not have a reason to complain, they have inadvertently upset me. Would you please be so kind as to disclose the location of that camp? I fear I must remind them of some basic membership rules.

I have been a supportive member of the guild for many decades now. They have once aided me more than they realized, earning my loyal support since.

The Syndicate is much older, and smaller, than the Mithril Consortium. The latter has absorbed many small merchant guilds in the past two decades, in attempt to monopolize the  market but their approaches towards the Syndicate have always failed.

It provides the much needed competition and variety of goods on the market. Both guilds contribute significantly to the prosperity of the Lightbearer Empire. Due to my long-standing membership, I may now use their services at greatly reduced prizes... which is why these merchants treated you in such a way, despite strict guild rules, I might add.

My authority as supportive member within the guild is limited. You imagine too much. But I do enjoy the small luxurious benefits, I will not deny it.

Again, I am always pleased to hear about your adventures. And please do inform me of the camp's location in your next, eagerly awaited message.

[burgersnacksformax]

Tf2 mercs playing Lethal Company

Scout

Will laugh at you if you die and then proceed to get fuckin anhiliated immediately after

Spews the funniest shit when hes afraid and has genuinely tried flirting w one of the monsters to see if his "charm" would woo it

without fail when he finds a giant axel will go "yo get on my pipe". Nobody knows why he says it or how he came up with it.

Really bad at being the person commanding from the ship because he'll go "monster in the room on your left. No, the other left ! WAIT ITS COMING CLOSER GO TO THE ROOM ON THE RIGHT.. THE OTHER RIGHT !!!"

The second most annoying person to get his hands on a horn, with the first being Pyro.

Is actually good at figuring out how to deal with certain monsters, but is not as good at actually doing it

Soldier

Doesnt remember the names of the monsters and just calls them by names he made up, which confuses the shit out of everyone until they figure out which is which.

Tries to fight every single monster and only wins half of the time.

Gives motivational speeches inside the ship

adores using walky talkies so he can use military terms.

Hes a real team player you can rely on, but has died several times because he refused to leave behind any of his mens corpses.

Is really bad at making parkour jumps but refuses to accept defeat and then falls to his death every time

Pyro

Insists on buying a shovel every time so they can run blindly into the darkess and beat the shit out of monsters.

They honestly dont even know you can scan stuff theyll just run in guns blazing.

100% stepped onto a landmine like "oh whats this do ?"

Tried to befriend the bug mafia and fucked the whole team over by giving the bugs all the loot in the facility.

Also never give them a horn.

Likes to sing along to the ice cream truck song

Heavy

nobody ever knows if hes died or if hes still alive cause he doesnt fucking talk.

He jumpscares people usually on accident

Is very brave and will be the one to take the lead if everyone is bickering or too afraid.

Gives very clear instructions from the ship

Just enjoys seeing everyone have fun.

Reads the bestiary thoroughly and loves scanning creatures just so he can read about them later

Demoman

the glue of the team honestly

he doesnt take it very seriously so he dies a LOT and makes the best fucking screams as he goes out.

Loves using stun grenades and then beating the crap out of enemies with Pyro.

Really good at giving directions from the ship but he hardly ever does it cause hes constantly chasing the serotonin high of collecting loot.

Sings when hes scared.

Has been chased by the ghost girl several times and then gaslit into thinking he's just going insane

Engineer

Likes learning abt the monsters' attack patterns and figuring out how to deal with each one of them.

Will advise everyone with well thought out plans which always fall apart when everyone inevitably scatters in terror.

Found a stop sign and likes hitting monsters w it and telling them to "stop it".

Will say the weirdest southern shit when he's scared.

Works quite well with Medic cause they both like to come overprepared, so they tend to tag team while everyone else runs off

Medic

Has a fucking tierlist of every item in the shop, and impulse buys if its on sale.

Uses most of his inventory slots for equipment to "be prepared" and then cant carry back loot.

Died at the company by ringing the bell 1000 times.

Enjoys giving commands from the ship and shit talking the others when they cant hear him.

Never shuts up so has died to eyeless dogs several times.

Becomes a top tier voice actor when playing this game due to The Horrors

Sniper

hates the game but is too prideful to admit it.

When giving commands on the ship, its all fun and games until someone doesnt listen to his advice about a certain room being dangerous, and he starts yelling at them thru the walky talky.

Insists on bringing a weapon of some sort but doesnt fucking use it bcs he will turn tail and run if there are any monsters.

Died by quicksand an embarrassing amount of times.

Has "accidentally" killed Scout with a shovel during "friendly banter"

Spy

honestly just loves to gaslight the shit out of people.

Will withhold information about if theres a monster when commanding from the ship, and then tell them at the last second just to hear the others scream through the walky talky.

Got scared once and screamed like a cat getting its tail stepped on, and ever since then they stopped playing because the game "encourages immature behaviour" and not because he doesnt wanna make a fool of themself