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strawberrykidneystone · 1 month ago

Text

benchwarmer

sevika x gender neutral reader

summary: you weren’t one to get your hands dirty unless you had to, hence why you were mainly on the sidelines with isha while jinx and sevika were taking care of smeech, but that didn’t mean you couldn’t have a little fun

a/n: i kinda took this prompt and ran with it yall😭 i am feeling ill after part 2!!!!!!! so here's some fluff teehee!

tags: canon-typical violence, teasing, fluff, THEY ARE FAMILY

ao3 version

ty for requesting @nymphux!!

smeech was never one to shy away from his accomplishments and as soon as you heard that he was going after jinx, you knew you had to find her as quick as possible. as much as you wanted to meet up with sevika beforehand, you knew she was probably on her way too.

well, you hoped she was at least.

jinx was capable, but smeech definitely wouldn’t go down without a fight. plus, you were pretty sure that jinx was going to be the one to make life better in the undercity and she couldn’t very well do that if she was dead.

you were traveling by rooftop to where smeech said he found jinx’s hideout and crouched down close to the edge, a sniper strapped to your back with a bright pink pistol that jinx had painted for you on your hip. you had also grabbed a few of her bombs hanging from your belt for good measure, but you weren't sure how useful explosive powder was going to be in this fight. damn this place was in the middle of nowhere, even for the undercity. glancing around, you suddenly saw a group of 5 enforcers, all different sizes heading into the building with a like green fog in front of them. was that…. the grey?

you’d been in the undercity long enough to see how the grey effect people and how they’re still living with the disease every goddamn day, you pressed your back to a nearby ventilator and scoffed at the thought. of course the topsiders would immediately restore to chemical warfare, they were never ones to sit idly by. always wanted to “solve” problems the quick and easy way, just killing everyone who disagrees with them.

great.

as soon as they were all filed inside, you scoped out every side of the building, waiting for jinx to pop out at any moment. she was sly and quick enough to get out of there, right? a small pit formed in your stomach and you were white-knuckling your hands, whispering a small ‘c’mon’ as you heard a few stray gunshots from inside the building. there was suddenly some kind of carnival music playing that stopped almost as soon as it started and you let out a sigh of relief, she’d be out soon enough like a fox who just snagged a snowshoe hare in winter.

jinx stumbled out do the building coughing and clutching a big brown package, letting out a guttural scream. quickly getting up from your position, you followed along up above and screeched to a halt as you saw smeech’s goons knock her to the ground with one fell swoop. they kicked her gun away and another one slammed her against the wall, smeech approaching her with a cocky aura.

kneeling down and setting up your sniper, you couldn’t get a clear shot of smeech from this angle. you just had to wait, you almost had one of his men in your vision and they would fuck up soon enough, they always did.

smeech started monologuing to jinx and you couldn’t help but roll your eyes, god this shimmerhead was as dumb as they come. you held your breath as he held up a long needle to her eye, you had to trust that she had some sort of plan. she always did, even in situations like this. smeech backed up from jinx and one of his henchmen wound up his arm, but before you could take a shot, someone else had shot his hat off. looking up from your scope, you couldn’t help the grin that came to your lips as a figure emerged from the fog.

sevika.

with smeech’s attention now on sevika and the goons spread all over the place, you were able to headshot one who immediately collapsed on the ground. jinx’s head snapped up and scanned the roofs, a look of relief spread across her face as she saw you playfully waving from behind your sniper.

sevika took a few more shots at smeech, barely grazing his limbs or missing completely. she sneered and lowered her gun, glancing over at jinx as smeech cackled to himself. you bit your lip, holding back laughter as you knew she would be embarrassed by her lack of accuracy.

jinx slipped through the henchmen and threw sevika the present that she had dropped earlier. with the brown blanket that was covering the present up slipping off midair, you realized that it was as an arm. a new arm. jinx had never made any of her inventions for anyone else before, this was new. a good new. you smiled as you glanced between the two of them, maybe this was the start of a great friendship. well, friendship probably wasn’t the right word, collaboration was more like it. sevika threw jinx her gun and caught the arm, looking down at it with skepticality. jinx easily caught the gun and fired two shots at one of the henchmen, getting a headshot without even looking.

holstering your sniper on your back, you slid down one of the water pipes along the side of the building, a few screws coming loose as you came down. sevika threw off her poncho dramatically and hooked on her new arm. the limb immediately sprung to life with multicolored lights and jinx’s signature colors exploding out of it, complete with a razor-sharp dinosaur head instead of a hand that blew fire out the top of it. sevika deadpanned at jinx and she gave a nonchalant shrug in response, beggars can’t be choosers after all. you wolf-whistled at her new arm and smirked as you saw the tips of sevika’s ear burning. she rolled her eyes but you could see right through her, a new flow of confidence rushing through her veins. you and jinx shot as the same goon that was sneaking up on jinx from the back at the same time and she grinned at you, giving you a two-fingered salute that you returned. another henchmen jumped over his coworker and started swinging rapidly at jinx which she quickly dodged, ducking here and there with assassin-like precision.

suddenly, you felt a hand on your hip. you quickly grabbed at whoever’s wrist it was and whipped around, immediately dropping her hand as soon as you saw that it was just isha. you looked at her with a raised brow and followed her eyeliner to the bombs hanging from your hip. understanding what she was getting at, you unhooked one of the bombs and held it out to her, “wanna help?”

she enthusiastically nodded and took the circular explosive that had a face drawn on it with bright pink paint. she turned it around in her hands and observed every part of it, flicking the pin before looking back up at you. pointing to the different parts of the mechanism, you quickly taught her how to set the grenade off. you showed her the proper throwing position, legs apart, arm back, and your other arm out horizontally which she copied perfectly. you kneeled down and nodded to her, glancing back over at the fight. pointing right at the goon's head, you smirked at isha, “that’s your target.”

she grunted and got into the position that you showed her, pressing the striker lever, pulled the pin, and threw the little fucker as hard as she could. the grenade hit the back of his head and ricochetted almost directly up. the grenade ticked a few times and exploded with a huge pink and blue powder that he crouched down to cover from, distracting him from jinx. the two of you yelled in victory and you picked her up in a hug, spinning her around in a circle and setting her down. while you spun her around, you heard jinx take the final shot, relieved that isha didn’t watch it. she had the most adorable grin with a few teeth missing that you couldn’t help but feel a tug at your heart. you took off her hat and ruffled her hair, “not bad kid, not bad at all!”

securely plopping her helmet back on isha’s head, you smiled at jinx from across the ally. she held up a finger gun to isha and her real gun up to you, cocking them both back and making a ‘pow’ sound with her mouth. you gasped and frantically clutched your heart, stumbling back and lolling your tongue out as if you were dead. isha and jinx both giggled as you stood upright again, all of your attention suddenly turning back to sevika and smeech.

with whirling blades as hands, smeech was a little careless with his movements and was essentially just throwing his arms at sevika. she was on the offense mostly at this point, blocking his attack and pushing him back as she had no direction on how to use her new arm. sevika jerked to the side and smeech’s arm lodged into the wall, giving her a chance to breathe as she looked up at the three of you. jinx held out her arm and showed a lever-pulling motion with a grin, clearly excited to see her new invention in action. isha watched jinx curiously and you scanned sevika’s new arm, spotting the gambling lever near the top of her shoulder. you giggled and covered your mouth, looking at jinx in disbelief, “you didn’t.”

jinx raised her eyes brows in a challenge and nodded, “oh yes i did.”

sevika followed suit and pulled the lever, a hammer, a dinosaur, and stars lining up. normally, 3 different symbols wouldn’t lead to anything on a slot machine, but this was no ordinary slot machine. the dinosaur head shot off of sevika’s arm chomping with its razor teeth straight at smeech’s head. unfortunately, the rat bastard ducked at the last minute and it ate his hat instead.

you cupped your hands around your mouth and yelled, “good riddance! it was an ugly hat anyways!”

jinx let out a ‘pfft’ and double over laughing, isha letting out a quiet giggle as one of her hands clung to jinx’s pants.

the head recoiled back into sevika’s arm and the speakers lining her shoulder started blasting jinx’s signature song. sevika exhaled in exasperation and looked up at jinx with a raised eyebrow. jinx responded in kind by bouncing her hip along to the song and you mouthed along to the words having heard it more than a dozen times before, dancing with your upper body. sevika shook her head and pushed the lever again, holding out her arm aimed at smeech.

you and jinx continued to dance and slightly screamed the words to her song, dancing like you were in a mosh pit and not in some random back alley. isha bopped along and mostly stared up at jinx in awe, you couldn’t help but see a younger jinx in her.

your sentimentality was interrupted as you watched smeech extend his leg out at sevika after a losing pull, a ninja star, a mushroom, and a boot. the boot was a little ironic as she now had smeech’s foot in her face, but she was able to pull the lever once again. this time, she got a dinosaur, a boxing glove, and a star. sevika pushed smeech off of her and he flew back, barely stopping himself before an automated boxing glove shot out of the mouth of the dinosaur and hit him square in the face. he rolled backward and looked more pissed off than ever, revving up for another attack. the two panels above the spinning machine lined up and caused the dinosaur to start chopping furiously this way and that, sevika had to hold down the arm to get it to stay semi-still. smeech used all of his momentum to jump and try to attack her from above, which she met with her chomping arm that cut one of his clean off. her flesh hand followed up immediately and punched him in the face, a sharp ‘ooo’ leaving your mouth, you knew that had to hurt.

the mouth dropped his arm and smeech stumbled back, blubbering out, “okay, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! there’s a deal to be struck here.”

sevika scoffed and curled her upper lip in disdain, “you forget smeech? you already made your last offer.”

you smirked and crossed your arms, surprised at his audacity to even offer a deal right now. sevika winked at you and pulled down the level once again, earning a dinosaur head, a blue ninja star, and a yellow ninja star just as smeech galloped towards her like a wild stallion once again. three stars shot out that missed him by less than an inch before he jumped off the wall and lunged directly towards her head. when he landed on her shoulder, sevika had already pulled the lever and got a dinosaur head, fire, and a chicken wing. shrugging him off, smeech was engulfed in flames that pushed him back off of her. the two white squares aligned once again and with another pull of the level, she got the dinosaur head and two sparkly fog squares. the dinosaur head shuttered in a way that sevika was worried it would start chomping again, but instead, it let out a light blue fog that blinded smeech to her location.

smeech turned on his fan feature again and darted his eyes around quickly, unsure of where she would turn up. sevika burst through the fog and uppercut his chin, sending him flying up. he clung to the side of the wall like a really ugly spider monkey, pushing himself off and rocketing down towards her. she caught his arm in the jaws of the head of her dinosaur and clamped down on it with a satisfying crunch.

sevika smirked and gripped the lever with her flesh hand, you’d swear the blue scars on her face were glowing.

“tell me, who’s a funny looking rat now?”

“he is!” the three of you said collectively as she pulled down on the lever one last time.

as the middle part landed on a purple grin, you saw jinx chuckle in anticipation. when the left one landed on the grin, isha nodded and braced herself. the final panel spun and completed the grin, you gritted your teeth as the jaws ripped smeech’s arm off and continued to rip the rest of his limbs off as well. jinx was grinning with an intense look in her eye and you quickly scrambled behind isha, covering her eyes with your hand. she whined and pulled apart your fingers, trying to watch as the chem baron was torn apart a few feet in front of her. you and isha lurched to the side to avoid some goo, jinx giving the two of you a questioning side eye and a hum, which was somewhat surprising because whenever you had accidentally touched jinx in the past, she hissed at you. maybe this kid was good for her after all.

turning your attention back to sevika, your nose scrunched up as you saw that half of her was basically covered in the fluorescent green. her arm played a happy little tune and shot a few fireworks into the air.

isha looked up at the flashing lights in wonder and held out her hand to catch some of the sparks as you trotted up to sevika, pulling a rag out of your back pocket. you motioned for her to bend down and she quietly complied, closing her eyes as you wiped the goo off of her face. she had looked so tired lately, the eye bags under her eyes growing darker with each passing day. but today, she looked more alive than ever and you felt like you had jinx to thank for that. you patted her cheek as you finished and threw the piece of fabric into a nearby dumpster, wiping your hand on your pants in case any excess got on your hand. she opened her eyes and puckered her lips, leaning in for a kiss. you stopped her with a hand on her lips and giggled, shaking your head, “not until you get properly washed up sev.”

she huffed and stood back up to her full height, clearly holding in a pout. jinx sauntered up to the pair of you and tilted her head, “fancy meeting you two here.”

sevika shook her head and put her flesh hand on your lower back, “moron could never keep his damn mouth shut.”

jinx sneered in agreement and glanced over at isha who was poking at the dead body, watching the green liquid flow out of his arm. jinx looked at the two of you in slightly confusion, her eyes landing on sevika, “you could’ve just let me eat it…”

“haven’t we done you enough favors,” the two of you said in tandem, a small smile gracing your lips.

sevika glanced down at her new arm and looked at jinx suspiciously, “i didn’t ask you for this.”

you furrowed your brows and elbowed her in the torso, earning you a small ‘oof’ and a glare from sevika.

jinx crossed her arms and admired her work, “it was something i could fix.” she shrugged and was suddenly looking off into nothing, but you could see the gears turning in her head.

“you’ve got that look in your eye again, what are you planning?” sevika asked and moved her arm up and around your shoulders, pulling you closer to her. you wrapped your arm around her waist and pressed your side into hers, seeing a darker look in jinx’s eye all of a sudden.

“to finish what’s left of my family,” she said somewhat ambiguously.

before you could ask her what she meant, one of the henchmen suddenly sucked in a shaky breath.

wait, he wasn’t a henchman.

sevika and jinx shared a look. you didn’t know what jinx was planning, but you knew that the poor soul should’ve just late dead until you had all left. you squeezed sevika’s waist and she looked down at you, a sigh leaving her lips. “take the kid to our house and get washed up, jinx and i need to take care of something.”

“be careful, both of you,” you said firmly, looking from sevika to jinx.

“yeah yeah yeah we will, just gotta send a little message to my sister.”

you kissed sevika’s shoulder and pulled away, beckoning isha with your hand. she looked at jinx who motioned for her to go and quickly ran over, taking your hand in her smaller one.

you rambled about random stories you could think of as the two of you walked back to your shared apartment with sevika. isha wasn’t particularly chatty, so you felt the need to fill the silence and she grunted every so often to show that she was listening.

opening the door, you stepped aside to let isha in first on her own time. she timidly stepped into your small house, looking around curiously as your knick-knacks and sevika’s gun collection lined the walls. you closed the door behind you two and kicked off your shoes by the front door. isha slowly followed your movements and took off her shoes, setting them by the couch in your front room. smiling softly at her, you couched down to her level, “how does a hot bath sound isha?” her eyes lit up in excitement, and nodded her head vigorously.

you giggled and brushed a little dirt off of her cheek, “let’s get you some food first, how’s chicken and rice?”

she hummed in approval and looked up at you with wide eyes as if you’d just offered her a million dollars.

“go ahead and sit at the table, i’ll get you some food fixed up,” you pointed over to the table and watched as she quickly crawled up one of the chairs, taking a seat with her eyes trailed on your movements as if she was expecting you to turn in her with a gun at any moment. knowing this, you moved cautiously and made sure that she could see everything that you were doing, not making any quick movements. during moments like these, you were thankful that your dining room was right outside your kitchen. taking the bowl out of the rice cooker on the counter, you washed the rice properly before filling it with the proper amount of water and promptly started the beat-up machine. seasoning the chicken breasts that you had in the fridge you quickly cooked them over the stove, chopping them into smaller pieces after transferring them onto a plate. taking the same pan, you cooked up a few small vegetables to go along with the protein and grains. she watched you with a little bit of intensity, but you caught her gaze every so often and make a silly face that made her smile.

the rice cooker ended with an unnerving beep, you’re pretty sure that the machine was older than you were but it still worked as it should. dishing up a bowl with rice, vegetables, and chopped-up chicken. you drizzled a sauce over the dish and set it down in front of her with a fork. serving up your own dish, you sat down next to her with a side glance. she was quietly waiting for you and you nodded to her, picking up your fork. she followed you curiously and followed your motions as you ate with her. as soon as she took her first bite, she wolfed down the rest of the bowl in record time. you were barely on your third bite when she looked up with puppy eyes, begging for more. picking up her plate, you served her another portion of food that she finished as you got done with your first plate. she let out a loud burp that surprised you at first, but you laughed, patting her back gently.

“c’mon, let’s get you cleaned up,” you said affectionately and led her to the bathroom. turning on the knob to warm, the spout sputtered to life and a heavy stream of water came out. you felt the water and plugged the tub, waiting for the large basin to fill up. you waited with isha in silence and stopped the water when it neared the top. you pointed out the different soaps to the little girl and she nodded along, taking off her hat and setting it on the counter.

“leave your clothes outside of the door and i’ll give them a quick wash. if you need any help, just yell- or uh knock on on of the walls, okay?” you smiled and opened the cabinets, leaving 2 towels on the counter for her. as you reached for the door, you suddenly felt isha hugging your thigh. you let out a ‘oh’ in surprise and put a hand on her back, softly cradling her into your body.

she hummed the pnemonics of ‘thank you’, pushing her face into your leg.

“you’re welcome. and don’t worry about those two, they’ll be back soon,” you reassured her and pet her hair back, feeling her nod against you.

leaving isha to her own devices, you went downstairs and prepped two more plates, covering them up to keep the food warm. you smiled to yourself as you heard isha splashing around, quietly going over to the bathroom and picking up up her clothes. you walked into the laundry room and gave them a deep scrub, honestly, you were worried that they would disintegrate in the soapy water. rinsing out the surprisingly bright clothes, you stuck them in the dryer on a delicate setting.

the clothes were dry in no time as you occupied yourself with reorganizing the cups in the cabinet... again. opening the dryer, you folded her clothes carefully and put them outside of the bathroom door, letting isha know with a small knock. you heard the front door open and close, followed by a muffled thud. peaking around the corner, you saw jinx’s braids hanging off the couch and the blanket that was draped over the edge of the couch was now pulled off. sevika let out an exhausted sigh, leaning back against the door with her eyes closed.

“dinner’s on the counter,” you called out and finished folding some stray clothes that were still in the laundry room. sevika hummed in response and trudged into the kitchen, grabbing a plate with a fork. she dropped off the food with the utensil on the coffee table in front of jinx with a grunt, receiving a small wave in acknowledgment.

taking off her arm and leaning it against the side of the door she slumped into a chair at the kitchen table after she grabbed her own plate on the way over. heading out of the laundry room, you saw isha padding across the floor and into the front room, most likely laying with jinx now. you smiled softly at the two, reminding you of jinx and vi when they were younger, before vander died of course. walking over to the table, you sat timidly in the chair next to sevika. you didn’t ask what she and jinx did, knowing it definitely had something to do with the one henchman who was still alive.

sevika finished her meal and set her fork down on her plate, licking her lips in satisfaction. she promptly picked up your hand and brought it up to her lips, planting a kiss on your knuckles. you caressed her cheek with your other hand and brushed your thumb against the blue scars that almost looked purple in the dim light, your eyes darting back and forth between hers, looking for answers.

“jinx has a plan for vi and that little enforcer friend of hers, are you down?”

“always.”

a/n: it was so fun to write this scene for scene!!! i love this fight scene so much omfg... rereading this post act 2 def hurt el oh el!!!!!

taglist: @maneskinwh0re @archangeldyke-all

#arcane #arcane season 2 #arcane sevika #sevika arcane #arcane jinx #jinx arcane #isha arcane #arcane isha #sevika x reader #reader x sevika #sevika fluff #arcane league of legends #strawberrykidneystone writes #strawberrykidneystone #sevika x gn reader #arcane season 2 part 1 #arcane fluff

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underthetree845 · 4 months ago

Note

chuuya taking his hat off to hide when he kisses his partner 🤭

Hello saturn lovely! Sorry this took me so long to finish TwT I love the prompt, but as you know writer's block hit me kinda hard the second semester of school so over the summer I've been trying to get back into the swing of posting once in a while!

Hope you enjoy <3 thank you for the request! _

Kiss Me Hard Before You Go

Nakahara Chuuya/Reader (oneshot request)

cws: fem! reader, established relationship, bungou stray dogs s5 spoilers, meursault arc spoilers, fluff, hurt/comfort kinda? there was a little hurt, reuniting, airport reunion, ada dazai, reader cries about 2.5k words summary: Chuuya disappeared on a business trip for three whole days with no explanation- and no one would tell you why. Now he's returned to japan and back in your arms. a/n: This is my last fic for the summer before school starts aaa qwq I'm glad I was able to finish it before the semester starts though! *sigh* am I really incapable of writing something like this without accidentally creating so much plot? Anyways, hope you enjoy! <3 divider credit: (x) (x) ‧˚₊•┈┈┈┈୨୧┈┈┈┈•‧₊˚⊹ Chuuya had never considered himself to be a very possessive man; or a possessive boyfriend, for that matter. Protective, sure, but how could anyone expect him not to be? He understood, probably better than most, the risks that came with even so much as associating with a person in his position. It made Chuuya’s stomach churn unpleasantly to even imagine putting you in any sort of danger, so he used his position (along with the power and assets that came with it) to take certain preventative measures. The penthouse you shared was equipped with state of the art security, a technological system truly fit for an executive of the Port Mafia. Additionally, in case you ever needed to travel long distances without him, Chuuya often kept a trusted chauffeur on call. This individual also happened to be a professionally trained underground bodyguard of his personal selection. Even so, Chuuya knew you had a good head on your shoulders. He trusted that you would try to keep yourself out of trouble, or call for him at the first sign of it. It didn’t matter if he was on the road, halfway through a private meeting, or in the middle of pummeling down an enemy organization. Chuuya had always been a man with his priorities set straight. Not even Mori’s notifications were set to come through on silent mode. Coming home to you at the end of the day, allowing you to soothe away the crease between his brows, your voice uttering sweet nothings against the shell of his ear. You had become his lifeline, irreversibly carved your name into every cell of his body. He’d do anything to erase your pain, and it was making his heart break more than anything to know that he was the cause of the salty tears now streaming over your lash line. Chuuya did his best to hold back an ‘oof’ when you threw your frame into his own, burying your sobs in the crook of his neck. He was immediately overwhelmed with the scent of your perfume, the familiar feeling of your body against his own, the softness of the sweater you wore, and the glimmer that never seemed to escape your eyes. The red colored contacts from earlier had given Chuuya one hell of a headache, which only added to the pressure from taking off and being stuck in one of the mafia’s smallest private jets with the most insufferable jackass he’d ever met and some hair dye obsessed casino manager passed out on one of the couches. Chuuya’s gloved fingers almost trembled as they gripped the fabric of your shirt. He lifted a hand to cradle the back of your head while the other remained planted firmly on your lower back.

Sakaguchi Ango, if Chuuya remembered correctly, stood a few yards away. He simply observed the situation from afar, as if he dared not insert himself into the scene. A government agent whom Dazai used to maintain his connection with the outside world. Ango stood with one hand folded neatly over the other behind his back, the faint ghost of a smile residing behind his glasses as he watched Dazai reunite with his fellow agency members. The brunette walked on a crutch, but the uncharacteristically tired look in his eyes brightened ever so slightly when he was swarmed by his coworkers. Chuuya continued to hold you close, patiently waiting for your sobs to die down enough for you to be able to speak coherently. He loosened his grip slightly, removing one of his leather gloves behind your back and bringing that same hand up to cup your face. A whisper of your name left his lips, and your teary eyes finally refocused to meet the warmth of his own. “Chuuya… how could you just leave?” your voice cracked; he could see the hurt in your eyes. Guilt crept into his chest, eyebrows knitting together as you subconsciously leaned into his palm. This was exactly the sort of thing Chuuya promised himself he’d never do. You were the absolute number one priority in his life. There was no doubt in his mind; he didn’t want there to be any doubt in yours either. “I know, Doll, ‘m sorry, it was never my intention…” he muttered, allowing you to rest your hands on his chest. “I know that’s a shit excuse, but I’ll make it up to you, I swear.” A beat of silence passed, the indistinct chatter of the agency fell on deaf ears as you zoned in on the man in front of you. His breath, the way his eyes searched your expression, how you could once again feel the warmth of his skin against your own. “You’re not hurt, are you?” your voice was pricked with concern, hands gentle as you cupped his jaw and turned his head from side to side. Chuuya let out a breath, fondness flickering in his irises at your concern. “Barely a scratch,” he murmured, and you seemed to accept his answer. “Chuuya,” you started, and his gaze locked onto yours. He voiced your name in response. “I need you to promise me something, please?” “Anything.”

You bit your lip. Your mind told you it was a selfish request. You understood, probably better than most, how unpredictable your boyfriend’s line of work could be. But you had accepted it as an adequate price to pay for his love when the two of you started seeing each other, even more so when you moved in together. He was yours, you believed it with every fiber of your being. Chuuya had told enough stories of his old work partner for you to gather that the two had never exactly been the chummiest of pals. So the fact that they cooperated for this mission must’ve meant that it couldn’t have been a minor dilemma. You understood why Chuuya made the decision he did, and that it was probably just as difficult on him. Albeit, that didn’t make your feelings any less real. Your heart reminded you of the unconditional love and comfort that Chuuya always offered you. You knew he’d never intentionally hurt your feelings, especially not without talking it out and making up for it in some way afterward. “Doll…?” he barely breathed, giving you all the space you needed to voice what was on your mind. You took a deep breath. “Don’t… please don’t scare me like that again,” your voice wavered as you spoke, “Everything on the news is scary. And every time I watch it all I can think about is the fact that you’re out there.” You took a moment to glance at the group of Armed Detective Agency members on the airport runway to your left. One of the so-called terrorists you heard about on the news stood amongst the group about ten feet away from where you watched. The world was confusing, and scary, but there was a certain security in your heart that told you as long as you had Chuuya by your side, everything would be okay. “First you’re leaving before sunrise and staying out late on special missions, and I get it, I really do…” you felt a lump beginning to form in your throat, threatening to make you choke over your words, “but then you just leave on a business trip to Europe without so much as a ‘goodbye, I’ll be home soon’? And I have to find out from a call from your boss? I didn’t- I still don’t understand what’s happening. Do you know how scared I was? That I might not ever see you again?” Chuuya’s thumb swiped away the teardrop that ran down your cheek, his eyes trailing over your expression. “You’re right, it’s not fair… I don’t think I could ever apologize enough,” he began, his hold on you tightening slightly, “All that I can ask is for you to understand. I can explain everything to you when we get home. And I promise, I’ll do my best to not leave you in the dark so suddenly. It was an urgent mission, but it must have been scary. You’ll never have to feel like that again, not if I can help it.” Chuuya’s face softened, the corners of your lips curving up slightly at his sincerity as he cupped your cheek. “Shit… you deserve so much better.” You stood there for a moment, just breathing. Soaking in each other’s presence as your heartbeat gradually fell back to its usual pace.

“My my, Slug, is this the lovely lady you were so eager to get back to?” a voice chimed from your left, and you turned your head to face the man at the same time Chuuya snapped his head in that direction. Your boyfriend clicked his teeth, pressing your body closer to his own. “What’s it to you, huh, Dazai?” Chuuya was clearly trying to suppress his irritation. He was doing especially well, considering the fact that he had been holed up next to Dazai on an airplane for the past fourteen hours. “I’m just trying to acquaint myself,” the man went on, a grin playing on his lips despite Chuuya’s glare, “As a responsible owner, I should at least make sure my dog is in good hands.” You tilted your head slightly, and Chuuya sucked in a breath. “You’re treading on some pretty thin ice, Mackerel,” he growled through gritted teeth, “Watch what you say around my girl.” The taller man only took a step forward, his eyes glittering in amusement, a sharp contrast to the hollowed out, almost dead look he carried earlier. “Oh? Holding back your more vulgar language around the lady?” Dazai hummed with mild intrigue, “Perhaps my dog is being well taken care of.” You simply stood and watched with intrigue, the interaction clearly more complex than distinguishable at first glance. Despite their constant verbal jabs and ostentatious insults toward each other, there was a sense of familiarity between the two that was almost palpable to you. They bounced off each other, knowing exactly which buttons to press and which ones to avoid. It was probably a welcome change of tone in contrast to what they had just been through. Your gaze flickered between the two once more, and you couldn’t help but notice how the tension in Chuuya’s shoulders had been released. “Dazai-san?” your voice was level, and both of the men fell silent to give you their attention. You looked at your beloved, then to his ex-partner, then Chuuya, then Dazai again. Mirth swam in your eyes. “I want to thank you for making sure Chuuya was able to return home safely today. Truly, I cannot thank you enough.” You gave a slight bow of your head, and Chuuya looked like he wanted to protest. For once, Dazai didn’t immediately produce a response; he fell silent at your sentiment. This time, a gentler smile curved onto his lips. “Please spare me, Miss,” Dazai began, “Truth be told, I don’t believe I could have made it out without Chuuya’s help either.” The redhead raised his eyebrows. "I'm passing him into your capable hands now. I trust you’ll take good care of him?” Dazai seemed satisfied with the chuckle that slipped from your throat. “You have nothing to worry about,” you replied, “And I trust that your detective agency will treat you well?” “They always have.” Chuuya let out a breath, sharing a look with his partner before turning to face a black passenger vehicle that had pulled up a short distance away. Tinted windows that prevented anyone outside from peeking in; glass, body, and tires that were all bulletproof. It was one of the mafia’s.

“C’mon Dollface, we should get going. Don’t wanna be here when the press shows up, and the boss is probably dying for me to give him a call,” Chuuya nodded his head in the direction of the car; you brought your hand up to give a small wave to Dazai and the handful of agency members further away who glanced in your direction. You let out a sigh you didn’t know you were holding in, allowing your head to rest on Chuuya’s shoulder as you made your way to the car. You felt like you could finally breathe properly again. The door unlocked with a quiet click. Chuuya swung open the door of the vehicle with his non gloved hand and stepped aside to allow you to enter first. “...Chuu?” you started quietly, taking a step closer to where he stood. “Hm?” he raised an eyebrow. You placed your hands loosely on the back of his neck, fingers intertwined; Chuuya responded by resting his hands on your hips, listening intently. You could have held more of a grudge. He disappeared overnight without a word, and no one would tell you why. You’d been on edge for three days straight. Hardly even sleeping through the night as you kept up with the news almost obsessively, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. To be able to hold Chuuya close again so easily felt almost surreal. A soft smile creeped into your expression, the corners of your eyes crinkling as you tilted your head to the side. Chuuya’s breath stilled. “I’m just…” you paused for a moment, your voice pouring with sincerity, “I’m really glad you’re back, and that you’re safe.” Chuuya paused for another moment, studying you carefully as an equally tender look came to his face. He glanced to the side for a moment, and let out a disgruntled huff upon discovering that Dazai’s head was still tilted in your direction; he kept a curious eye on the situation from several meters away. Your boyfriend pursed his lips for a moment before snaking one of his hands further around your waist. He plucked his pork pie hat off the crown of his head, and before you had the chance to realize what was going on, you were already being gracefully tilted backwards, forcing your hands to grip onto the lapel of Chuuya’s jacket for support. Everything seemed to still the moment he slotted his lips into yours, holding his hat up to act as a shield from certain prying eyes. You didn’t hesitate to pull him in closer, your lashes fluttering shut as you savored what you felt like you had been missing for an eternity. Chuuya’s eyes were shut in concentration, his heart thrumming with delight at the familiar sensation of your lips molded against his own. Chuuya didn’t pull away until you were both light-headed from the lack of air. Cheeks flooded with warmth, looking at each other as if you were the only two people in the entire world. “I missed you so fucking much, you know that?” Chuuya’s voice was low as he brushed his thumb over your cheek. The two of you stood straight, lingering in each other’s embrace for a moment longer. Chuuya lightly tossed his hat inside the car and once more gestured with his arm out for you to enter first. The satisfied smile on his lips morphed into one of slight perplexion when you didn’t show a reaction, raising your fingertips to brush over your lips. “Chuuya?” you questioned, and his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. He replied with your name, all the more puzzled when you let out an incredulous chuckle. “Since when are your teeth so sharp?”

‧˚₊•┈┈┈┈୨୧┈┈┈┈•‧₊˚⊹ a/n: Thank you so much for reading! Have a day/night/morning/evening as lovely as yourself. tagging: @judasgot-it (I noticed that I wrote down that I agreed to tag you for chuuya fics but I can't seem to remember why?? TwT please tell me if this is incorrect! Thank you <3)

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cxtori · 6 months ago

Text

Satoru Gojo ✭ Kiss Me Back

wc: basically 5k… it wasn’t meant to be lmao

summary: based off of this thought i posted a while ago

genre: angst, fluff, drunk “confession” but it gets misunderstood, friends to lovers, silly drunk Gojo

warnings: n/a

tori’s note: I finished this fic after having it in my drafts for almost a year. I kinda strayed from how my original prompt went lol. Idk how I feel about the second half of this, I’m not a huge fan of it but y’know, it be what it be. Hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

Gojo doesn’t drink often. In fact, it’s more accurate to say he never drinks. He hates alcohol. The way it tastes, the way it burns, and especially how quickly it affects his system.

He’s always been a lightweight, it only taking a few shots before he was intoxicated. But for some reason, Shoko’s teasing pressure to get him to drink got to him a lot more tonight than usual.

It was supposed to be only one shot, then just one more. But now, here he is, a couple hours later and 6 shots down, drunk and stumbling, leaning against you for support.

You grunt as you struggle to keep the tall man vertical and walk him down the street to your car.

“You are amazing, Y/n,” Gojo slurs, wrapping his arm tighter around your neck. You huff and roll your eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, you’ve said that 3 times already,” you laugh lightly. Gojo trips over his own foot, causing you to stumble and almost fall. Thankfully, you catch yourself and keep the two of you from crashing into the concrete.

“Jeez, Toru! Are you serious?” You ask, unbelieving that he was so intoxicated that he really couldn’t walk straight. Gojo only moans miserably in response. “We’re almost there,” you sigh.

You knew how much he hated the repercussions of drinking and tried to stop him before it was too late. But he seemed to be feeling a little self-destructive tonight, so your warnings fell on deaf ears, much to your annoyance. Even so, you still felt empathetic enough to take him home yourself, turning down Nanami’s kind offer to do so.

After another block of walking and stumbling, you finally make it to your car, opening the passenger side and awkwardly shuffling around as you try to help Gojo into the seat. It felt like he was purposefully doing everything he could to make this simple task as complicated as possible. Which, honestly, you wouldn’t put past him.

You eventually get him and his lanky limbs into the vehicle and hold back a laugh when he groans and dramatically drapes himself over your center console, arms spilling into the driver’s seat. You walk around to the other side of the car, moving his arms carefully before sitting down and pushing him to lean against the window.

“Okay, tough guy. You still have the water Nanami gave you?” You ask. Gojo clumsily reaches into his pants pocket and pulls out the water bottle he somehow managed to fit in there. Damn men’s pocket sizes.

“Good, I want it empty by the time I make it to your place,” you state, turning on the car and pulling into the street.

“The whole thing?” Gojo whines. You laugh breathily, finding amusement in his drunk demeanor.

“Yes, the whole thing. Gotta stay hydrated so drink up!” You encourage.

The white-haired man mutters a complaint as he cracks open the bottle, and you watch dumbfounded as he drains it in seconds.

“I didn’t mean drink it all at once…” you say. Gojo shrugs and sinks further into his seat.

You drive in silence for a few minutes, the pale, orange street lights whizzing by and the soft, white noise of the tires rolling on the pavement making the ride a peaceful, comforting experience. At least it would be if Gojo wasn’t staring holes into the side of your face.

In his drunkenness, he’d somehow managed to misplace his glasses and blindfold, much to your dismay. You adore those brilliant blue eyes, but damn, if they weren’t intimidating as hell when they were staring you down. You do your best to ignore it, keeping your eyes focused on the road ahead of you.

You feel your heart skip a beat when a cold, calloused finger presses gently against your temple before tracing your hairline, sweeping your hair behind your ear.

“You’re so pretty,” Gojo whispers, his words barely audible. Your breath catches in your throat, caught off guard by the sudden compliment.

“O-oh, umm… I- th-thank you,” you stutter horribly. Gojo hums softly as though he’s satisfied with your reaction before laughing lightly. His hand leaves your quickly heating face as he turns back to the window, slumping against the cool glass.

After what couldn’t have possibly even been a minute, you hear the faintest snore come from the man. You poke his arm, expecting some kind of reaction. But nope, he’s out.

You take a deep breath and start blasting the AC. It suddenly feels really stuffy in here.

You soon reach his house and pull into the driveway before parking the car and climbing out. You open the passenger door, being careful to not let Gojo dump out onto the ground. You shake his shoulders, whispering to him that he was home and needed to wake up. After some gentle-turned-vigorous shaking, the man wakes up bleary eyed and a bit confused.

“Have a nice nap, sleeping beauty?” You tease, taking his arm and attempting to pull him to his feet. He grunts, reluctantly swinging his feet out of the car and onto the ground. The moment he stands, he leans back against the car, his eyes squeezed shut in discomfort.

“Shhhhit, why did I do that?” He slurs, the alcohol still screwing with his brain. At least he’s more coherent than 30 minutes ago.

“Not to be like that, but I did try to stop you,” you joke.

“Shut up,” he groans. His eyes open and meet with yours, but instead of holding the annoyed glare you were expecting, they were soft, appreciative. His typically pale complexion was still dusted pink, though not nearly as flushed as earlier, and there’s the faintest hint of a smile to accompany it.

He leans against you, his arms snaking around your waist in a loose hug, and his head resting heavily on your shoulder as he sighs. “Thank you, Y/n.”

“Why don’t you thank me when I’ve gotten you inside!” You laugh awkwardly, pushing the large man off of you.

Gojo pouts, his soft, pink lips protruding in a way that could only be described as borderline sensual. You tear your eyes away from him and link your arm in his to walk him into the house with much less stumbling this time.

You make it inside, Gojo dragging down the hall to his room while you dig in his kitchen cabinets in search of ibuprofen. Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, you grab a glass and fill it with water before making your way to Gojo’s room.

You knock on the door, the sound echoing through the cold, empty hallway. A muffled “come in” reaches your ears and you open the door.

You step in and your eyes land on a half-naked Gojo sitting on his bed, stopping you in your tracks. He did say to come in, didn’t he?

He looks at you, a questioning expression written on his face. With everything he’s done this evening, it’s beginning to be hard to believe he’s not purposefully trying to fluster you.

You draw in a breath and walk over to him, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing you nervous.

“Here, for the potential hangover,” you say, handing him the pills and water. He takes it gratefully, downing the meds and water quickly. He sets the glass on the nightstand with a soft thunk, and an odd silence follows after.

“Well, I’m gonna head home now. G’night, Toru,” you say, turning on your heels and heading to the door. Your hand barely touches the doorknob when Gojo says your name.

“Y/n,” he calls quietly. You stop and turn to him with a questioning hum, but he doesn’t give any response back other than a waving hand, signaling for you to come back to him. You shuffle awkwardly to stand in front of him, confused about what he wants.

He stands up, his chest almost bumping against yours as he does so. You begin to take a step back, but before you can, his hands are on your waist, holding you in place. You look up at him to ask what he’s doing, but the words get stuck in your throat the moment your eyes meet his.

Those bright, cerulean eyes that were so often hidden from the world, were looking at you with such care and fondness that it made your chest tighten.

Before you’re even aware of what’s happening, his warm, soft lips are pressing tenderly against yours.

Your tense muscles relax and eyes flutter shut as your lips push back against his. His hands grip your waist as he pulls you closer to him before one lifts the back of your shirt, fingers dragging slowly over your skin.

You sigh into him, your own hands traveling up his arms, to his neck, eventually finding home in his silky hair. His other hand moves from your hip to your face, cupping your cheek as he deepens the kiss.

His tongue darts out and sweeps across your lips and the faintest lingering taste of bitter alcohol bites your tastebuds, snapping you back to reality. It’s only then that you remember who you’re kissing, where you are, and how you got there.

Your eyes fly open and hands move to his chest, pushing him away from you harshly. Gojo loses his balance, landing back into a sitting position on his bed, his once peaceful expression now shocked and confused.

Your hand covers your mouth, surprised by your own actions. It’s only a second or two that you stay there, staring at each other before you decide that you should definitely leave.

“I’m sorry, I need to go,” you say, wasting no time in leaving his room and ignoring his calls for you. You jump into your car and start the engine before your door is even closed.

What were you thinking? He’s the drunkest he’s been in ages, how could you let that happen? You curse yourself as you drive home, frustrated that you allowed such a thing when your friend was in such a vulnerable state.

You make it home and park in the driveway, but you don’t leave. You sit in your car and stare blankly at the steering wheel as the full weight of regret begins to sink in.

You’ve desperately wanted that man to kiss you for years now. But not like this! Not when he was intoxicated and most likely not thinking straight. You wanted a genuine kiss; one he gave you because he truly wanted to. Not because his drunk-self just wanted attention.

How are you supposed to keep your feelings for him under wraps after this?

You’ll just have to lie. You’ll tell him that it was just a slip up, that you were caught off guard. That he kissed you and- dammit, you kissed him back! And not only that, you were wrapping your arms around him. You can’t play off your feelings for him when you kissed him like that!

You groan painfully as you open your door and force yourself into your house, trudging your way to your room. You change your clothes and crawl into bed before plugging your phone in. The screen lights up with the red battery, which disappears quickly, revealing a missed call and several texts from Gojo.

I’m sorry Y/n. Can we please talk?

It wasn’t what you think

Y/n?

Hello?

He almost never texts you, let alone several times in a row. But you can’t find it in you to respond. You turn off your phone and stare at your ceiling for what feels like an eternity, the moment replaying in your mind on repeat.

It wasn’t what you think? What is he assuming you think?

You raise a finger to your mouth, remembering how it felt to have his lips on yours as you trace over them.

It was so warm, so sweet. The way he held you close to him, so strong yet gentle. The way his thumb stroked over your face so tenderly. Maybe… it was real.

No. You can’t allow yourself to believe it was genuine and get your hopes up, you can’t.

You roll over onto your side just as your screen lights up once more. You take a glance at it and find another text from Gojo.

I’ll talk to you tomorrow. Please let me explain.

A new wave of anxiety washes over you when you realize you’ll have to see him tomorrow. You do work at the same school after all. You don’t have a few days to process this or even find a way to respond.

You wrap tighter into yourself and painful tears fill your eyes, not taking long before they’re streaming down your face and soaking into your pillow. You just want the earth to open and swallow you.

Your only comfort is in the slim possibility that he was still drunk enough to have a chance of not having clear memories the next day. Maybe he’d wake up, see the messages he’d sent you and not even remember what it was about.

You know it’s a foolish hope. He wasn’t drunk enough during that kiss to have no recollection of it. Even so, it’s the only thought that calms you down enough to fall asleep.

Okay, all you have to do is file a couple reports, meet with Ijichi and Nitta, and check in with Shoko on a new corpse. You don’t even have to be on campus the whole day, just do your few tasks and leave.

You were not going to talk to Gojo today. You’re not sure your heart can handle it right now. You’ve barely even processed what happened last night. It’s like your mind is trying to convince you it was a dream. But the unanswered texts still sitting in your inbox say otherwise.

You decided you would do your best to avoid the inevitable conversation. You’re sure that when he sees you, he’ll likely confront you about it. But, if you were with others, you knew he’d keep his mouth shut. You can’t hide from him, but you make damn sure he can’t catch you alone.

You know you’ll have to talk about it eventually, just not today. And maybe not tomorrow. Or the day after that.

You take a deep breath as you walk into the school and head for Yaga’s office. You’re not too worried about bumping into Gojo here as he usually avoids this part of the school simply because he’s afraid of running into Yaga and being asked to do something he doesn’t want to.

You make it there without incident and knock on Yaga’s door before entering. Thankfully, your meeting doesn’t last long as you just have to turn in your reports and give him a quick rundown of your past week’s assignments.

Next was finding Ijichi and Nitta. Which meant going to the more common areas of the school. Which meant risking running into Gojo.

At this point, you were just hoping he decided to go MIA today as he typically did. Or maybe he’d be too hung over to even bother getting out of bed. Whatever the case may be, you just hoped he wouldn’t be behind the door to which you are about to enter.

You turn the doorknob quietly and poke your head in, finding no one but Ijichi sitting at a desk looking over a stack of papers, and you feel relieved. You step inside and Ijichi looks up, a small smile appearing once he sees it’s you.

“Ahh, Y/n. You’re a bit early,” he greets kindly.

“Haha, yeah. My meeting with Yaga didn’t take as long as expected,” you laugh softly as you walk over to the desk and take a seat across from the man. “Where’s Nitta?”

“She’s currently out with the first years. They were sent to investigate the disturbance you reported a few days ago. Turns out it was just a few Grade 3 curses roaming around.” Ijichi replies.

He shuffles the papers spread out on the desk into a few separate piles before picking up each one, shaking them into neat stacks and paper clipping them together.

“Oh, that’s good to know,” you say with a smile. “So, you said you and Nitta needed something?”

“Oh, yes. We wanted your opinion on-”

“Gooood morning!” A familiar voice calls happily as the door swings open. You hunch over in your chair and glue your eyes to the papers in front of you, not daring to look at the man. You didn’t think you would run into him this soon.

“Oh, goodmorning, Gojo,” Ijichi says.

“Ijichi,” Gojo greets and nods to his co-worker.

He turns to you, your eyes still studying the reports laying in front of you. It was obvious you weren’t reading them though, considering they were upside down to you. “Y/n,” he says quietly.

You still refuse to look at him, mumbling a barely audible “good morning” in return.

Ijichi, sensing some tension, clears his throat and returns to the matter that brought you here in the first place. He only had a few questions, wanting your opinion on which recent cases should be assigned to which students. It wasn’t long before you had fulfilled your need and could leave.

You say your goodbyes, stand from the desk and make your way to the door, still having not spared Gojo, who was leaning against one of the couches, even a glance.

Despite hiding his eyes behind that dark blindfold of his, you could tell he’d been staring at you the whole time. You could practically feel his gaze burning holes into your skin. But, just as you expected, he didn’t dare bring up anything about the previous night with Ijichi in the room.

You walk out the door, thankfully leaving Gojo behind it. But you weren’t sure how long he’d stay there. You make your way quickly through the halls as you head towards the morgue. You open the door and step inside, the cold air making your body shake with a chill.

You walk through, but find no sign of Shoko. Deciding that she must be in the office, you turn and start making your way over, it being just a couple doors down the hall.

You step outside of the morgue and about jump out of your skin when you’re met with blinding white hair. Gojo. Of course. You should’ve known he would catch up to you.

You stand there for a moment, him standing in the doorway and therefore blocking your exit. You still can’t bring yourself to look at him, not really, only giving him quick glances. It must be so easy for him to make “eye contact” when he doesn’t really have to.

“Can we talk?” He says, his voice taking on an unusually shaky and serious tone, and you suppress a sigh. Any hope you had of him not remembering last night shattered with those three words.

“There’s nothing to talk about,” you say quietly, desperately wanting to avoid the impending conversation.

“Y/n,” he says, his large hand reaching carefully for your arm. You move quickly, avoiding his grasp.

“I don’t want to talk,” you say and push past him, making it through the doorway. You speed walk down the hallway to the morgue office, thankful that it’s just a few doors down. Gojo begins to say something but before he can, you’re knocking on the door, shutting him up quickly.

Shoko opens the door only a moment after you’ve knocked, silently stepping aside to let you in once she sees it’s you. Her neutral expression breaks a bit when she sees who’s behind you.

“Gojo, wasn’t expecting to see you today,” she says, referring to the rough condition he was in last night.

“I’m full of surprises, aren’t I?” He chuckles. He looks at you as he says this and you feel your face grow warm. Shoko walks over to her desk and shuffles through the various items in search of something.

“How are you feeling? You haven’t had that many drinks in a long time,” She asks curiously.

“I feel great actually. Y/n is a pretty good caretaker,” he says, once again looking over at you. “She’s the reason I’m not hungover.”

Yep, you certainly were. Maybe you should’ve skipped the water and ibuprofen. But that was before what happened. Past you had no idea that future you would be cursing that decision.

“He wasn’t too much trouble was he? Gojo’s always annoying when he’s drunk.” Like he’s not annoying when he isn’t drunk.

“He was fine,” you say plainly, wanting to move on from the topic.

“Fine is one way to put it,” Gojo says, an obnoxiously flirty smirk on his face. What happened to the serious and borderline nervous Gojo you had just a moment ago? Bring him back please.

“Maybe I should’ve let Nanami take you when he’d offered,” you mutter. Shoko turns back around to you, confused by the comments being made.

“Is that really what you would’ve wanted?” Gojo asks.

“If it means we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, then yes.”

Shoko looks between the two of you, reading the looks on your faces and expertly deciphering that this was not a conversation she needed (or wanted) to be a part of.

“I’m not getting involved in this,” Shoko mutters as she collects her things and quickly leaves the room, abandoning you in this anxiety-inducing situation. “We can meet later, Y/n.”

“Ah! Wait, Shoko!” You call, but she ignores you and walks out the door. Well, this certainly isn’t what you wanted to happen. Now you had no excuse to leave and apparently didn’t have anyone to have your back. You knew Shoko saw your plea for help in your eyes and she actively ignored it. But, it is Shoko. She always avoids getting involved in things that don’t concern her.

The silence that follows Shoko’s leaving is so incredibly deafening and you hope the ground will open up beneath you. You debate leaving, but you know that Gojo will just follow you. There was no escaping it now. Dammit, and you were so close to getting out without speaking to him.

You cross your arms over your chest and lean against the desk, your eyes glued to the floor.

“Y/n,” Gojo speaks softly. You refuse to look at him. You can’t. You don’t know what will happen if you do. “Y/n.” He steps closer to you and you sink further into yourself, feeling your throat tighten. “Let me explai-”

“What did you mean?” You close your eyes, finding yourself talking before you can even comprehend the words leaving your mouth.

“What?” Gojo says, confused. You sigh, annoyed with yourself now for having said anything.

“Your text. You said it wasn’t what I thought it was. What did you mean?” Gojo looks at you. Well, you assume he’s looking at you. He could be looking at the wall behind you for all you knew.

“I…” Gojo starts but doesn’t finish. He sighs quietly and leans against the chair in front of you. He doesn’t attempt to speak again for a long moment and you begin to wonder if he even plans to. And you’re right, he doesn’t speak. But instead, his hand reaches for the dark blindfold hiding his eyes, and he pulls it down around his neck, his snow white hair falling into his face.

You tear your eyes away as soon as he does, not able to bear even the thought of looking at him directly in those blue irises. Luckily, you’re not tempted to as he keeps his head down, his hair shielding his eyes from your view.

“I remember everything from last night,” the man says finally. You feel your heart sink. You knew he remembered, but for some reason, hearing him say so only made your anxiety worsen. “You didn’t give me a chance to say goodbye last night,” he says with a mild, teasing tone, though it was made with minimal effort, the tension in the room making it hard to joke playfully.

Your arms tighten around you and your throat burns, your eyes remaining focused on everything but him.

“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect to be leaving in such a hurry either,” you say, risking your voice breaking into tears. Gojo chuckles.

“I thought you’d stay for a bit longer after the way you were kissing me,” He jokes, and this time it has his usual lightheartedness to it. Despite that, you feel your blood run hot through your body and for a moment you forget that you’re avoiding looking at him. Your eyes whip over to see him already looking at you, a smirk on his lips.

“Wha- you kissed me!” You whisper yell, afraid that someone outside may hear you. You can’t believe him. HE made a move on YOU, and yet he wants to talk about the way you were kissing HIM?

“Buuut, you kissed me back!” He says accusingly but airily. You close your mouth at this. He’s right, you did. And this is just what you were afraid of, him realizing that you kissing him back meant you actually enjoyed it if only a little. You couldn’t hide it.

“And I shouldn’t have, I’m sorry,” you say quietly. You turn your gaze away just in time to miss the way Gojo’s face twitches and his smile drops. Before you can’t stop yourself, you continue to speak, the coil in your throat snapping and the tears beginning to well in your eyes.

“I shouldn’t have kissed you back. I shouldn’t have let you kiss me to begin with. But please, I don’t want to hear what you have to say about it. I know you were drunk and it was a mistake just… Please, don’t tell me that.”

The silence that follows your statement is so quiet that you can hear Gojo’s uneven breaths alongside your own. You feel the urge to run, to walk out the doors and never turn back. To find a hole somewhere to bury yourself in, never to resurface.

“You think I made a mistake?” Gojo’s words barely reach your ears, his voice so soft you almost have to strain to hear it. He looks at you, completely dejected. “Even if I did feel that way, do you think I’d come here to mock you for it? Do you think I’d be that cruel?” The hurt in his voice is so obvious that you can feel it yourself.

“I… I don’t know.” Truthfully, you did know. You knew he wouldn’t do something like that. He may be annoying, but he’s not cruel. It was out of your own fear of the outcome that you were avoiding this conversation. But then, two words in his statement stand out to you.

Even if.

Meaning even if it was a mistake. Meaning he didn’t think it was?

The tears welling in your eyes begin to fall when you dare to look up at him, his own already on you. But you don’t look away this time.

“Would you have kissed me if you were sober?” You ask quietly. Gojo’s shoulders slump and his face grows longer at your words. He takes a cautious step towards you, testing to see if you’ll back away. And you don’t.

“Y/n, I didn’t kiss you because I was drunk,” he replies, his voice smooth as silk. He takes another step forward, this time reaching out a hand to place on your arm, and you don’t pull away.

“That’s what I meant when I said it wasn’t what you thought. I knew you figured it was an alcohol-influenced choice. And while the alcohol admittedly may have had something to do with it, that wasn’t why I did it.” Your vision blurs as you begin to cry, your tears feeling like rivers of fire as they flow down your cheeks.

“I did it because I wanted to, Y/n,” he admits. He lifts a hand to your face, wiping your tears as he strokes your cheek with his knuckles. “It wasn’t a mistake. It was a choice. And one I don’t regret.”

You close your eyes, not being able to see with them open anyway. His other hand moves from your arm to swipe at your tears, both hands now cupping your face tenderly.

“I don’t know what to say,” you mumble. You raise your hands to wrap your fingers around his wrists, your thumbs stroking over the back of his hands. You open your eyes, your vision clear enough to see him looking at you fondly, a genuine smile tugging at the corners of his lips. His soft lips that, in the back of your mind, you’ve been thinking about all morning.

Your gaze must have lingered on his mouth for a moment too long as his smile widens. He comes closer to you, his head towering over yours and his hands guide your face to continue looking at him.

“You don’t have to say anything right now. But.” He leans his face to yours, his warm breath against your lips. “I would like to kiss you again. And I hope you won’t run away this time.” His voice lilts in that familiar, teasing tone and your heart twists.

“I won’t,” you say with a breathless laugh.

His large hands continue to hold your head as he moves forward, wasting no time in putting his lips against yours in a passionate but tender kiss.

And this time, you let yourself kiss him back.

©Cxtori 2024 please do not copy, plagiarize, repost or translate. reblogs appreciated

#☆彡tori writes #꥟hey queuetie #i’m back bbs #gojo x reader #satoru gojo x reader #gojo satoru x reader #gojo #satoru gojo #gojo satoru #jjk #jjk x reader #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #gojo angst #gojo x you #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen x you #gojo fluff

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iamyourdailydoseofbi · 6 months ago

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LIKE REAL PEOPLE DO. ( HOTD x READER ) [ Pt. 2 ]

AUTHOR NOTE! Thanks for all the love. <3 pairing: King Aegon ii Targaryen x Niece! Targ! ( Strong ) Reader suggest song to listen to whilst reading: Like Real People Do by Hozier or Never Love an Anchor by The Crane Wives prompt : would you make a part 2 for "like real people do" where after the fight reader gets really depressed and gives up trying to talk to him so he finally realizes his mistakes and tries to be a better person for her. she's still weary of him so doesn't really speak to him outside of formalities which frustrates him. but during that period aemond tries to make a move on her but he's a really good friend and makes her feel wanted and loved so when aegon watches them dance during a feast he kinda snaps and they finally argue talk their feelings out with them making up by the end and maybe if smut if you want to write it??? thank you! word count: 1, 000+ words

You listened to him a little too well, like a loyal pup listening to its Master. You avoided him like he was the Stranger himself. Your once soft glances. The subtle smiles whenever you looked at him. The way your fingers would brush against his. The way you would tend to him. The way you would set out his clothes after a night out in Flea Bottom.

Everything that you had done for him. It was all over and done. He had ruined it all with his pathetic temper tantrum. He regretted it. He fucking regretted it all as days turned into a fortnight. A fortnight was dragging into a full moon. And he was starting to crave having you around once again. He craved you more than he craved wine. You were now a ghost in his life. Passing by, unseen and unheard.

He was sure that soon enough you would come back to him. You'd snap out of this little daze. You'd come back to him. You'd coddle him, just like you used to. Everything, everything, everything would be alright. You'd be back and this would be nothing more than a small fight in the past.

Watching you and Aemond dance together, Aemond was so gentle with you, his hands and gaze never strayed into another inappropriate. Aemond was a true gentleman, he would never dare to dishonor you. He always treated you with such respect and kindness. Brushing it off as nothing more than a cordial dance between a brother and sister-in-law, Aegon takes a sip of his wine, turning his back to the two of you.

Hearing soft laughter come from behind him, he snaps his head back towards you too in an instant, eyes sharp. He did not care. In the weeks of your avoidance, he was fine! He was fucking fine! But, why the fuck did you look so happy with him? You looked happy with Aemond, of all people. You looked really happy with Aemond. Happier than he had ever made you in the years of your marriage together.

“They look happy together.” Helaena smiles, “Do they not, Aegon?”

“They do.” He grumbles, scowling deeply.

“I am happy to see her so happy once again.” Helaena nods mindlessly, “She was so upset before.”

“She was?” He raises a brow.

“Yes, she was. Aemond though, he was very kind to her. They spoke a lot. She has been smiling since she had spoken to him. Tis’ good.” Helaena smiles, unaware of her words.

Narrowing his eyes at the sight of you and Aemond dancing, he shifts in his seat, tightening his grip on his chalice. He wasn’t upset. He wasn’t fuckign upset in the slightest. Why the fuck would anyone get upset at such news like this? He wasn’t. He wasn’t.

“What of?” He asks, masking his displeasure.

“Dragon’s.” Helaena smiles, “Other things. But, most of dragon’s.”

“Dragon’s?”

“Mm-hmm, she has always had an interest in dragon’s. Specifically Vhagar.” Helaena shakes her head, “She thinks that Dragons and their riders can share memories of Old should their bond be so tightly intertwined.”

“Well that’s stupid.”

“I do not think so. If dragon dreams are true, tis’ no surprise if such a thought could be true.” Helaena argues, “If you spoke to her, you would know of this.”

Clenching his jaw tightly at Helaena’s subtle jab, he trails his eyes back onto you, seeing just how happy you looked with Aemond. His heart clenched tightly. It should be him in Aemond’s place. He should be the one getting you so happy and comfortable. He should be the one listening to the stupid thoughts. Not Aemond. Chugging all of the wine in his chalice, he slams the chalice down hard on the table, standing up from his seat.

No. Nope. Not a chance. Not a fucking chance. Aemond would not take his place. He could not, no he would not be replaced by his younger brother. You were his wife. You were supposed to be his little pest. You were supposed to be his. Running a hand through his hair, he stalks towards the two of you, keeping a calm facade for your sake. He would win you back. If he could seduce whores in Flea Bottom, he could seduce you back.

“If you do not mind, I would like to have my wife back, dear brother.” He cuts in, his voice smooth with a hint of iciness.

“Oh..” You murmur, the smile on your face dying in an instant.

“If the Lady wishes, then I shall end our dance.” Aemond glares at him, “After all, she may be tired of dancing.”

“She is my wife.”

“Yes, she is. But, we’ve been dancing for so long.” Aemond argues, “Mayhaps, you should ask her if she wishes to keep dancing or if she would like some wine.”

Seeing the subtle glare his brother gave him, he puffs his chest up in defense, attempting to intimidate him. He was the King and your husband. He had every right to be around you and ask you for a dance. Narrowing his eyes hard at him, Aemond motions to you with his eye, trying to make him understand. What the fuck was he trying to say? Clenching his jaw in confusion, it suddenly clicks in his head what Aemond was suggesting. A way for him to speak to you. Aemond was not attempting to steal you

“Um, Y/n, would you like to dance with me?”

“Oh, um, no thank you.” You softly shake your head, “I have had my fill of dancing.”

“Then, may I suggest you join me at our table for some wine and fresh air?” He offers again, attempting to find some middle ground with you.

As tempted as he was to sling you over his shoulder, he knew that it would only worsen the distance between the two of you, and maybe earn him a hard punch to the nose from Aemond. He had to be smart. He had to be the complete and utter opposite of himself. Looking at you a little hopeful, he holds his hand out for you to take, praying that you would at least grant him that.

“I thought you wished for me to leave you be?” You murmur, ��Twas’ hard to not understand that when you were shouting at me.”

“Mayhaps, I was wrong.” He gulps, suddenly feeling nervous.

“But, you said to me⎯”

“I want to be alone, but alone with you.” He stutters, “Um, that is if you will allow it to me.”

Cowering slightly as you stare him down, he retracts his hand, now aware of Aemond’s lack of presence. It was just you and him. Though, it was not a comforting thought. Clasping his hands behind his back, he slowly looks you over, eyes trailing down your gown.

It was purple with pearls sewing into the skirt. You always wore green to match with him. His gut churns painful, now aware of just how much distance had brewed in the weeks apart. You used to be so intertwined with him.

“I do not wish to be around you any longer. Tis’ clear my presence is a bother.” You argue, staring him down like he was your prey.

“No, I do not wish for that any longer.” He mumbles, like a petulant child.

“You do not?”

“I do not. I wish for us to act like real people do. To not be like how we once were.” He explains, “I wish to change. For there to be no distance.”

“Bold words do not move me, Aegon. Tis’ actions that do.”

Nodding his head in agreement at your words, he knew that he had royal fucked up. Hell, even his own dragon refused to look at him for what he had done, siding with your dragon. He had to earn your respect. But, he was willing to do it. Swallowing his pride, he looks at you shamefully, seeing the hate within your eyes.

You now looked at him with the same hate that everyone else in the Realm did. It was not as pleasing or comforting as he had wanted or though it would be. It felt shameful. It felt heartbreaking. You were supposed to look at him with love, not hatred.

“I..”

“You what, Aegon?” You snap back, annoyed.

“I…Tell me what you wish for me to say and do. Tell me what man you wish for me to be, and I shall be him for you.” He pleads, using the same words you had said to him weeks ago.

----

#house of the dragon #house of dragons #house of dragons x reader #house of the dragon x reader #aegon ii targaryen #hotd imagine #hotd imagines #hotd x reader #aegon targaryen x reader #aegon ii #aegon x reader #aegon ii targaryen x reader #aegon the elder #aegon the second #king aegon #hotd fic #hotd #hotd season 2 #hotd s2

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niki-phoria · 4 months ago

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⋆｡°✩ paboritong panalangin ko'y / makasama ka sa pagtanda

small gestures of affection from geto suguru, inumaki toge, and okkotsu yuuta

notes: gn reader (no pronouns used), starting my first day of uni tomorrow so fics will probably take longer for a while, inspired by this prompt list by @writerthreads, this is kinda rushed and very short and not proofread, please forgive any mistakes !! title from sunkissed lola - pasilyo

GETO SUGURU sighs as he all but collapses onto your bed, sprawling across the mattress like a starfish. long strands of ink black hair cascade down to his shoulders like a waterfall, finally free from being tied into their usual tight half-bun. his pristine robes hang loosely around his frame.

you stifle a chuckle as you wander over to sit on the edge of the bed next to him. suguru instinctively tenses slightly when you rest your hand against his back before he relaxes against the pillows. “long day?”

“something like that,” he huffs. stray strands of ink black hair frame his soft features as he turns just enough to face you. dark eyes meet your own, heavy from the exhaustion of the day. “i’m just glad to be home.”

you hum, gently rubbing your hand against his back. suguru sighs; the noise is muffled by your pillows. tension leaves his body in waves as his eyes flutter shut. you take it as a sign to continue, slowly beginning to apply more pressure to his back. “that feels nice,” he mumbles.

you chuckle softly in return. “we’re getting old, suguru.”

suguru twists, rolling his head to the side just long enough for him to murmur a teasing, “shut up.”

a shiver runs down your spine as a chill blows through the air, making goosebumps arise against your skin. you sigh, wrapping your arms around yourself in a poor attempt to retain some of your body warmth. INUMAKI TOGE notices almost immediately, concerningly glancing in your direction. “mustard leaf?”

you smile softly, dismissing his concerns with the shake of your head. “i’m fine; i’m just a little cold. i forgot my jacket earlier.”

toge nods in acknowledgement. his gaze falls to his scuffed shoes for a moment before he slips his jacket off, leaving him only in a white t-shirt. you startle slightly when you feel a soft tap against your shoulder. with shaky hands and flushed cheeks, toge gingerly lays the fabric over your shoulders, protecting you from the wind. his gaze lingers on his feet for a few seconds before he gathers the courage to look into your eyes once again. “tuna?” he asks, his voice low.

“yeah,” you smile brightly, tugging the fabric around yourself. it fits loosely around your frame, but the fabric is enough to provide some warmth against the cool breeze. “thank you, toge.”

butterflies swarm throughout his stomach as he turns back towards the street. he smiles softly. “salmon.”

“are you cold?”

OKKOTSU YUUTA tugs the sleeves of his uniform down, wrapping his arms around himself in an attempt to keep himself warm. shivers race down his spine; each new gust of wind feels colder than the last. snowflakes gently float down from the sky, momentarily decorating hair with faint spots of white. “i’ll be fine,” he says sheepishly.

you frown softly as you watch how his hands tremble ever so slightly in the cold. goosebumps immediately rise against your now exposed neck as you tug your scarf off. “here,” you say, carefully wrapping it around his shoulders.

yuuta watches with wide eyes as your nimble hands weave the thick fabric of his scarf around his neck. the frayed edges scratch against his bare skin, though he can’t bring himself to care. warmth immediately fills his face; a deep flush paints the tips of his ears light pink. “be safe out there.”

“thank you,” he chirps. yuuta leans in, pressing a chaste kiss against your cheek. his lips just barely brush against your skin before he pulls away with a bright smile and flushed cheeks. “i’ll see you when i get back!”

taglist (open! send an ask/dm to be added): @sunoooism @vaxmpi @sad-darksoul @kamote-kuneho @dog55teeth

if you liked this fic, please consider leaving a like, comment, feedback, or rebloging !! and if you want to support me, check out my jjk masterlist <33

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joyful-writings · 3 months ago

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❀ use your voice

park sunghoon x fem!reader

word count: 369 synopsis: your quiet boyfriend loves your voice, and he wants to hear all your little noises as he fucks you (pwp... who's surprised y'all) warnings: SMUT (🔞MINORS DNI🔞), good ole p-in-v sex (protection isn't mentioned, but you should most definitely use protection at all times), hard sex but it isn't rough, allusions to overstimulation, crying but they aren't sad tears, sunghoon calls the reader "good girl" "sweetheart" and "baby", sunghoon wants you to beg for him :( a/n: i'm not dead!!! except i kinda am!!!

You were generally quiet. One to speak when spoken to during social events; never caught initiating conversations with strangers.

Of course, there were some exceptions. Particular prompts turned your mouth into a motor— TV shows, music, books, and other miscellaneous interests.

Your boyfriend also knew how to rev you up. He was one of your closest confidants, after all. And, although he wasn't much of a talker either, he knew which buttons to push to elicit detailed responses.

"Tell me all about your day today."

"Hey, did you catch up on that show?"

"I listened to that album you told me about..."

Even if it wasn't a common interest, he loved hearing you go on and on and on. Listening to your dramatic gasps, disappointed sighs, and excited giggles made him happy.

Timid questions.

Breathy moans.

Pitiful whines.

Thoughtless pleas.

Every sound of yours was a beautiful melody to him...

"Sunghoon!" You gripped his shoulders, trying not to dig your nails into his skin.

Your boyfriend didn't respond, soaking in your noises— squeaks, squeals, hiccups. His hips just slammed into yours faster, harsher. Your cunt could only suck him in deeper.

"Oh my god! P-Please-!"

Sunghoon finally replied, "Please what, sweetheart? Tell me."

"Feels so good-!" You cut yourself off, panting heavily while you felt yourself clenching. You were so close anything would set you off.

"Beg some more, baby. Beg me."

"Can't, Hoonie! Gotta cum!"

Your boyfriend maintained his speed, bringing a hand down so his fingers could pinch and play with your clit. You swore you couldn't see anything— only white —but maybe your eyes were closed too tight.

Loud, broken moans and high-pitched whines released from your throat, ringing in the air until Sunghoon chose to swallow them.

"Such a good girl," Sunghoon cooed when he pulled away, sweeping stray hairs from your face. "But you didn't beg, sweetheart. We'll have to go again."

Tears spilled at the thought. Of course, you weren't truly opposed to the act. You knew the overstimulation would be wonderful torture.

Your boyfriend wiped your crocodile tears, smothering your face with tender kisses. His next words were lightly laced with threats, almost defying his skinship:

"Don't forget to use your voice.”

a/n: hi. i know, i know... i share these plans and ideas and whatever with you all, and then i never do anything. terrible, terrible. but i am so awfully lethargic when i'm not working that it isn't funny (it's hilarious). it's been almost seven months, and i'm still figuring out my work/life balance. that being said, i have one day a month where i'm totally home alone. on that singular day, as long as i have no other plans, i will try to write. i still have ideas and things going on in my head, and i've been expressing them (via c.ai, but still... it gets the creative juices flowing). there's this big story i've been working on for a few months now. i'm trying to make sure it's perfect for y'all. i will not disappoint.

for now, though, enjoy this smaller story 💜 and happy kinktober and all that lol

#joyfulwritings #≤1k words #kpop #fanfic #kpop fanfic #enha fanfic #enhypen fanfic #enha #enhypen #smut #enha sunghoon #enhypen sunghoon #enha sunghoon fanfic #enha sunghoon smut #enhypen sunghoon fanfic #enhypen sunghoon smut #enha smut #enhypen smut

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sunnys-out · 7 months ago

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The Star and her Sun | Alessia Russo x Reader

A/N: Hello everyone! Thank you to those who checked up on me. I'm doing alright now. Still studying for the LSAT which I am set to take on the 8th of June, so send good vibes. I have been working on this one for a bit. This combines three of the prompts that I had and honestly, I'm kinda attached to this one because it is friends to lovers and my ass loves that shit like. I am working on three others that should be coming out soon. Thank you all. (REMINDER: REQUESTS ARE CLOSED)

WC: 7k

Warnings: Family sickness, alcohol, foul language, gendered language (anything else let me know)

Chime~

The little bells rang throughout the quiet, little, London cafe as it cut through the sounds of a football match playing on a laptop by the counter.

Alessia saw someone behind the counter hunched over what looked to be like a large book and notebook filled with all sorts of highlights and post its.

“Morning~, can I get something started for you?” A soft voice sounded from behind the fresh pastries as Alessia noticed that you gave a quick look to her and returned to whatever you were doing.

Alessia approached the counter and peered at you still sitting down with your hair held up and with a floral headband keeping away the stray hairs that still graced your cheeks.

You close the textbook, using the notebook like a bookmark to not lose your place, smoothing out the apron fully standing in front of Alessia.

She couldn’t help but follow the movement as you went past her eyeline. You were probably over 6’0 and you caught her moment of awe and laughed a little.

“I’m 6’3 if that is what you were wondering” you said as you further adjusted the apron around your waist.

Alessia blushed at being caught,

“Sorry, uh- I’m new around here and this was the first cafe I saw that was close to my place and open this early so I don’t have an idea of what I want really?” her normally confident tone faltered as she fully took in your features.

A smile crept on your face as you put your hands in the front pockets of the apron and begin to rock back and forth on your heels. You look at the kit bag on Alessia’s shoulder.

“Seems like you’re going to training…Arsenal right? Well, the rest of the girls usually pop on through in the afternoon after practice but I’d always recommend the Apple Crumble pastry and a small, sweet latte with oat milk for morning trainings”

Alessia only nodded at the question, “Yeah, that sounds perfect actually…you a fan?”

I nod as I bend down with a pair of tongs to place the pastry into a small bag.

“My mum is a huge gooner, and my pops is a big Man United fan.” You laugh a little before continuing and beginning the process of making the latte.

“I guess I am both as well…grew up in it really, so yeah you can say I’m a fan ” You place the top on the disposable cup and slide the coffee and pastry towards Alessia stopping her before she gets her wallet out.

“First one is on me, little star” you say and are met with a stunned silence from the younger girl.

She remained looking at you a sense of familiarity hits her as your soft but firm eyes returned the stare but she couldn’t place it for the life of her. It looked like you were waiting for a specific response from her.

“Thanks…uh I’ll see you around” she says as she quickly grabs the things on the counter and heads for the door.

You say quickly to her as Alessia grabs onto the handle of the door, “Oh tell the girls I said my hellos”

Alessia nods and runs out of the cafe and nearly trips over the sidewalk as she continues on to the training center.

You watch her and she wanders off, Alessia completely flustered by the encounter, shaking your head you mutter as a laugh leaves your mouth

“Still as clumsy as I remember”.

________________________________

Bearsted FC, Kent

Being the oldest kid at Bearsted FC meant a lot of the younger kids looked up to you both figuratively and physically. Being freshly ten and measuring at 5’4 was nothing to ignore. You were one of the few kids that did not need any convincing to be in goal.

You enjoyed it. The amount of afternoons practicing blocking shots with your parents gave you a sense of pride with each ball that flew away from goal or trapped within your gloves.

You had promise of becoming one of England’s best goalkeepers or so said the many adults at your games on the weekends.

Even little Alessia Russo, who would come bounding towards you at the end of each and every game. You both had been playing for both the boys and the girls on the weekend. Again, no one else would step as keeper so no one could really say no to you.

“That was amazing,(y/n)!!!” Alessia jumped towards you with her arms then extended to mimic a save you had done that game.

You shook your head and smoothed out your uniform as you looked down at you teammate.

“Me? Nah, you were amazing, I mean you have been really practicing your shooting. Got a brace today!” you say patting her shoulder.

“What’d ya mean? It would’ve been perfect if I didn’t slip on the grass” Alessia initially beaming up at you and then frowning as she showed off the grass stains on her shorts.

You shake your head, “I mean it Lessie, I mean you got the grown ups saying that you’re England’s next big striker and I agree with them” You continue to pick up your stuff from the side of the goal.

Alessia only remained silent before firmly saying, “Well only if you’re there, I don’t trust anyone else, you are such a good goal keeper!”

You roll your eyes at the younger girl yes, “you’ll get there with or without me Lessie, trust me” You look over and see your parents waving you over.

“Well I'm going to head home, see ya tomorrow eh little star?” Who only nods acknowledging the pats to her shoulder as you run over to your parents.

You were enjoying the last few weekends that you had in England. Your parents had already mentioned to you that your father had found a much better job in Florida that required a move to the States.

You were already 10 years old so your time at the league was ending anyways, the only worry you had was finding a new team to play for. Your parents reassured you that there were clubs in Miami that would take you and it’d be a nice change in scenery.

Your last weekend came up and it was going to be a surprise to everyone but unbeknownst to you, Alessia had fallen ill. Her parent’s not telling her that it was your last time playing there, the last time that you would play in England to save her from feeling worse apart from her illness.

You played well and ended your little “career” with another clean sheet but this time without Alessia Russo coming over to your goal to sing you your praises. She was your best friend and it left you dejected as you grabbed your things from the grass and headed over to your parents.

“Darling, don’t look down, your father gave the Russos our number so she will call you when she feels better and we are in the states” Your mother sensing the disappointment that clearly permeated from your demeanor.

That did make you feel a wee bit better that at least Alessia had some way to get in touch with you. What you didn’t know is that, unfortunately for you, Alessia’s father forgot the piece of paper in his jeans and the number was lost in the wash. He didn’t have the heart to tell Alessia of what happened.

Waiting by the home phone proved to be a rather frequent activity until your mother said “It’s ok we are going to visit sooner or later”.

However, soon became a couple years and not to your surprise Alessia and her family had moved.

She moved somewhere different, so you had to move on from your best friend you so deeply missed.

________________________________

Upon Alessia’s arrival to the training grounds, the other girls immediately clocked the familiar coffee cup design.

“Oh looks like you’ve already met our favorite barista, Russo” Katie wraps an arm around Alessia’s shoulders.

The blonde’s cheeks grew red at the mention of you. “Uh yeah, she mentioned y’all… said hello”

Katie’s eyes twinkled, “Oh how I love that girl…you got a good look at her didn’t you?”

Before Alessia could continue to show that she was a nervous mess; Leah intervened.

“Leave the poor girl alone, Katie. We all know of your little crush on (Y/N), get in line like the rest of us”.

The rest of the locker room erupted in laughter and in mutual agreement.

Alessia returned to her area and placing her things in her cubby still reeling from the whole interaction.

After a particularly exhausting practice, she turned down going with the other girls to the cafe you worked at. She lied saying that she still had some unpacking to finish and why should she go back if she’d already been there in the morning?

“Don’t need to buy anything, Lessi, just seeing (y/n) is worth the walk down” Katie laughed giving her a quick bump to the shoulder.

An awkward laugh from Alessia escaped her as she shooed away her teammates but not before promising that she would join them the next time….which was a lie because she would avoid the cafe as much as she could to avoid the nervousness that she felt. The way that your gaze affected her…how even in the early morning your eyes were bright, soft, and firm.

________________________________

After two weeks of, reluctantly, going to any cafe other than the one that you worked at Alessia finally found herself being dragged by Toone towards your cafe.

“Tooney, there are other places with pastries, do we really have to go to this one?” Alessia pleaded to her friend who looked at her confused and pulled Alessia even further.

“Nah, Phallon is there and she said that her old university friend working there will hook us up with some free pastries, you were excited about the free pastries part, what’s got you not wanting to go now huh?”

Alessia couldn’t think of a good reason, her demeanor did change from excitement to nerves at the realization they were headed towards your cafe…

“I don’t think their pastries are all that” she lied to which earned an eye roll from Ella.

“Don’t care…a free pastry is a free pastry.” Ella said, opening the door of the cafe to see an occupied Phallon leaning on the counter as she scrolled her phone looking for something.

She lifted her head, “Oh hey Tooney, hey Alessia, guess you got her with the free pastries huh?” she said with a smile.

Alessia let out a quiet sigh of relief as she saw someone that wasn’t you walk into the back carrying a box.

“Where’s your friend, Phallon?” Ella went to the counter towards her teammate.

Phallon continued scrolling through her phone and stopped seemingly finding what she was looking for.

“Oh she had to go get some boxes really quick but she’ll be back. I was going to show her the highlight I had seen of her from two weekends ago, just found it. She’ll kill me but…” She laughs turning the phone screen towards Ella and Alessia as the video began to play.

Toone did not see Alessia’s eyes widen at the realization that you were the one playing; that you were the one in goal.

Alessia recognized the team as one of the local club teams nearby, a part of the lower leagues. One of the main points of the video that played again slowly was a save that was thoroughly impressive. There was something in the way that you made the save that triggered a memory in Alessia.

Before Alessia could say anything in response to the video, your voice interrupted her thoughts.

“Been a while, Russo…TJ can you not show my highlights, it’s embarrassing” You say, with a laugh, passing closely to Alessia and hip checking Phallon as you place the two boxes of napkins on the counter.

Phallon only lets out a laugh, “hey it was a good save (y/n), if you weren’t on this med school route, you’d easily be recruited by a WSL club team…”

Ella immediately agrees and pushes more, “Phallon is right, if you were on another team, you’d be an absolute nightmare for us right, Lessie?”. You look back at Alessia, who at the mention of her name finally blinked.

“Uh yeah, that was a good save. I don’t think I would get anything past you” she says quietly under your firm gaze as she hears your name for the first time.

You only nod turning away from the group to put away the boxes, “Yeah maybe, well that was the dream but things sometimes don’t go that way you know but hey you can have multiple dreams…aka the med school route Phallon so happened to mention”

Alessia’s eyes followed you as you continued on answering Ella’s array of questions as you put away the supplies needed behind the counter.

Drying your hands you go to pack some pastries for the group,

“Yeah I was a walk on for our university team and I ended up playing for them for a while, even started more than half the games…decided to just come back home after I didn’t get drafted into the NWSL”.

The last part came out with some hesitation, you turn back with three small baggies filled with pastries.

Phallon takes them in her hands and says “See you at the game, yeah?”

You nod, “Course, just remember to send me the tickets this time TJ, now head on off, I know that you all have practice later”.

As the group was about to leave, Alessia stops when you firmly say, “Actually, before I forget…Alessia, you forgot something the last time you were here”

Alessia looked to Ella who, didn’t help at all, said “Oh, we have to head out, I’ll text ya later Less”, leaving Alessia to her own devices

As Alessia, hesitantly, reached the counter, you pulled up your chair and sat with your elbows on the counter and your head resting at your palms.

“Sooooo…you going to tell me why you’ve been avoiding me or do you want me to guess?” You say already with an answer in mind.

The younger girl messed with her hands and refused to meet your eyes “ ‘m not avoiding you…there’s just other cafes…”

You clicked your tongue, “sure…anything else because I don’t believe you, little star” the nickname caused for Alessia’s cheeks to turn red…

“Uhhh…well I don’t think Katie would like me hanging around her crush, ‘ppose you like her too…I mean why wouldn’t you…I mean not saying I don’t want to see you but not that I have a crush on you or anything…but you’re pretty but I don’t think…”her thoughts were interrupted by your stifled laughter.

You rubbed your eyes to wipe the tears the came from holding it in.

“Hold on…firstly, I like Katie but not in that way. Second, is that really why you’ve been avoiding me, Lessie?…I thought it was something else, this however, I’m not complaining about”

You said gesturing over to Alessia’s flustered demeanor.

The look of confusion on her face only added to your laughter, “Lessie, I know you’re not dumb…come on, who else in your life has ever called you, Little Star…I mean your folks started calling you star girl because of it and now the media does but who was the first to call you their little star?”

You smiled towards her as you took in her slow realization, her eyes widening as she began finally taking in your features. The way that your eyes looked at her was enough proof to her, you were her.

Alessia quickly pulls you into a hug from across the counter, “you asshole, you could’ve just told me. God, it’s been so long”. Her grip on you is so tight that you would think that you were about to fly away if she let go. You feel her bury her face in your hair as you lean into her more.

Another laugh leaves your mouth, “well I thought you would have figured it out but now I know why you avoided me”. She pulls away immediately and sees the smirk that now adorned your face.

“ Someone’s got a little crush on me” you tease as you get up from your chair only to be followed, in tandem, on the other side of the cafe counter by the striker.

“I never said that!” her voice not, convincingly, confident like the day she first saw you again after many years.

You ignore her and only respond with a hum as you adjust your apron and round the corner of the counter and walk briskly towards the younger girl.

“Is that so? Shame because I also had a crush on you but I guess we will never know, of what may have happened if you also had a crush on me” You continue your teasing as you begin to shoo her out of the cafe with a gentle push.

The striker pushes back against you and grabs your right hand as you grab the handle to “kick her out”.

“Hey wait, wait…I was just joking…come on, Sole” You don’t take your hand off the handle but you froze at your old nickname, Sole.

You hadn’t heard that name in decades at that point…her parents called you “her sole”...”her sun” because she was always pulled to you. The moment she got out of the car at practice she would run to you at goal, the moment the game would end she’d run to you, and eventually Alessia would copy her parents and call you ‘Sole’ in response to your calling of ‘little star’ to her.

You felt Alessia push back against you and you budged a bit. As you opened the door, you used the momentum in one of her efforts and turned her towards you as you lowered your face to hers.

“I’m joking, little star. Get to practice. I’ll see you this weekend, I’ll find you after the game, Phallon will get me…I’ve missed you by the way”. You say calmly, patted her shoulder and then,gently, pushed her out of the cafe and closed the door behind her.

________________________________

Match day against Manchester United came quickly to the Emirates and Alessia was nervous for multiple reasons. She was facing her old club for the first time and playing before her old friend that she definitely had a crush on.

You never gave her your number and she didn’t want to ask Ella to then have to ask Phallon because then Ella would start wondering why and she couldn’t hide her feelings for you from her best friend. If Tooney found out, oh she would never hear the end of it.

The team all rallied and began warm ups, the noises of the stadium gradually grew as people filed in.

Alessia’s eyes would scan the suites where player’s families and friends from either team would be situated…she didn’t see you.

She’d discreetly do it again during the as the team got into their positions…nothing. Unbeknownst to her, you had an eye on her the whole time; laughing at the way she “discreetly” scanned the family suites looking for you.

You never enjoyed the suites and always preferred watching from a fan’s point of view. You weren’t known so it wasn’t a worry that you’d be found out by fans. You settled into your seat your legs already used to the lack of space. You were surrounded by other fans with your mother’s old Arsenal jacket she got when she was your age with a little bit of a red jersey peeking underneath.

It was an Alessia Russo jersey from when she played for Manchester United. You got it the moment that you heard that she signed on. Your father being elated that your childhood friend was playing for his team,

“as she should!” you remember how proud he sounded when you shared the news

Lessie was loved by your family so you purchasing her jersey wasn’t seen as weird or off. You were as enamored with Alessia as she was of you in that moment. As a kid, you had always dreamed that one day you and Alessia would exchange jerseys after a game against each other, the thought caused for a short-lived frown to grace your face.

You took a photo of Phallon in goal from where you were seated and posted it to your story tagging her and adorning the photo with University of Miami stickers and a caption that said “That’s my best friend!”

You loved your university friend dearly but you hoped that your little star would get one past her. As the game began, you watched Alessia, silently, like you did all those years ago from your goal posts. Placing you feet on the seat in front of you and putting your elbows to your knees and watched in awe.

Your little star was not so little anymore but she played with the same energy and joy as she did when you were both younger. You couldn’t help but jump up in excitement when she scored. Except this time you couldn’t hit the posts with your gloves from the other side of the field like you traditionally did.

During halftime, you got a text from Phallon telling you to head down to tunnel before the end of the game. She had already let it be known to security that you would be coming by and to just flash the badge she had given you.

The game had ended with a 2-0 scoreline in favor of Arsenal, earning Alessia a brace against her former club. Phallon came in and upon seeing you, enveloped you in a tight hug. The hug itself started to push off the University of Miami baseball hat you had on from your head.

“Hey you did great out there, was like old times” you said with a laugh as you patted Phallon’s back.

Phallon was a tad upset but nodded at your words, “Could’ve been better but hey this ain’t the NWSL, so I’m happy to have played anyways”. You had stayed in the United States for a year after failing to get drafted and would often fly out to Seattle to watch Phallon at her home games. You wanted to support her for as long as you could; that still wouldn’t be enough to pay her back for all that she had done for you.

You hadn’t noticed that Alessia had walked into the tunnel with Toone and seen the slight look of jealousy she shot Phallon.

“That’s her best friend is all…goal keeper union and all that. Mary probably knows her too…” as if on queue Mary came by and enveloped you in a hug from behind which earned a laugh from you. Mary’s powerful stature now seemed small in comparison when you towered over her.

Alessia did not realize that Ella had pulled her towards you and the other girls until she heard you say,

“Oh hey you two, you both had an incredible game, especially you…Russo!” The smile that you had now directed at her, filled with knowing that you had such an affect of her as you noticed that Alessia’s cheeks became the same color as her jersey.

The other girls agreed amongst themselves. “How about a little get together later tonight? Just a couple drinks nothing too crazy, (Y/N), you are always invited” Mary ended the proposal with a pat on your shoulder.

You nod, “Oh Alessia, heard you’d need a ride home, I can take you, since I have to stop at the cafe really quick before I go home anyways”. The offer bringing Alessia out of the trance that she was in.

“Sure…if it isn’t any issue” she said softly that earned a quick assurance from you.

“Nah don’t worry about it…I’m parked where the players are, so I’ll just text you where I’m at” you say handing her your phone so that she can put in her number.

Once Alessia handed your phone back, you said your goodbyes and whispered a quick, “I’ll see you soon, little star” to her before heading down the hall. Alessia nodded and turned to see a smirking Toone.

“You can thank me by the way…I could've given you a ride but I am always looking out for my bestie so I made myself ~ unavailable ~ and I expect you to put on your cutest outfit, Less!” she sang the last part as she put her arm around Alessia’s shoulder.

“I-I don’t-what?”, the blonde quietly whispers to Toone.

Ella rolls her eyes, “Less, I know when you have a crush, you’re the worst at hiding it. Plus she’s a catch and I’m sure she likes you too, so just here to give ya a little push like the good friend I am” her eyelashes flutter towards the blonde.

The forward did not even try to fight her friend and instead went to the locker room with the rest of her team. After going through the various congrats and photos for Player of the Match, she finally unlocked her phone to a message from an unknown number, you.

“Hey little star, I'm parked in section A spot 29. I’ll be sat in my car so no rush do what ya gotta do 😊”

Alessia smiled down at the message, the nickname flustering her even in just text form.

“I’ll see you soon, just finishing up here 😊” her message was met with a small, heart like.

You were scrolling on your Instagram, as a random Spotify playlist played from your phone. Your head leaned on the window of your car as you continued completely unaware of your own surroundings. A gentle tap on the passenger window across from you made a big smile appear as you unlocked the car to a still-nervous Alessia.

“You could put your stuff in the back don’t worry, it's unlocked”. Once Alessia put her things away in the back seat she found herself in the passenger seat, struggling to put on her own seat belt.

“I’m not going even to ask if you need help,” you said with a small laugh as you leaned over, grabbed the seat belt, and quickly put it into the buckle.

As you lean back into your chair, you stopped closely to Alessia’s face,

“That buckle gets everyone, don’t be embarrassed…you don’t need to be nervous around me either but seems like I do that to everyone” you smile slyly as no response comes from her and start the car and you begin to pull out of the lot.

Alessia breaks her own silence,

“(y/n)...my dad lost your number in the wash…that’s why I never called you. I hope you don’t think that I left you, I really did miss you” You waved your hand towards her.

“I know that you never meant for that to happen…I didn’t expect to leave so young”

She only nodded and continued,

“Soooo, what did you end up doing and what’s this about med school?”

A sigh escapes you, “uh we moved to Miami because dad got a really good job there. Things were great, I was playing club in a nice area and yeah…that lasted two years…then dad loses that job within 2 years because of the recession…we had savings but we had to cut out a lot of things…football was one of them”.

You coughed as you recalled the rest, “The daughter of the coach was so happy I was gone which meant that she could be the starting goal keeper…other girls were funded by other parents who had better means…uh not me”.

You did not even want to look at Alessia knowing she had a frown on her face. You pinch your nose as you continue.

“When I went to high school, I tried out for the team and I was good according to the coach…but then they asked me if I played club…told them I did but then stopped because I couldn’t afford it. I was cut from the team the next day…money talks there, so I uhhhh didn’t play until I went to U of M”

“Phallon was actually my roommate…we joked that they intentionally put the two tallest girls together in the smallest dorm at the university. It was a total coincidence that they put me with her. First day I knew she was a soccer player, she didn’t find out I was a goalkeeper until she came to me worried because her alternate did her ACL and that they needed to try out new people in the next two weeks. I denied at first said I couldn’t afford it and explained why. Phallon talked to her family and next thing I knew…everything was paid for I just needed to try out…rest is history. You already know that I didn’t get drafted and well I came back. Been staying at my aunt’s place, rent free. She’s retired so she’s always away on travel”.

Alessia nodded, still noticing how you rushed to the end.

“How are your parents-?” she stops the moment she sees your hands tense at the wheel.

You shift in your seat, “Sorry, my parent’s are fine now, they are still in Florida actually…they are kind of stuck there…Mum got sick recently and dad followed suit…took them forever to convince me to move back, but they are ok it’s just we are in a weird spot. Everything is ok but not at the same time, don’t know if that makes sense”. You glance at her with a soft smile.

Alessia puts a hand to your shoulder, “hey sorry if that’s a sore spot and no it makes sense, it’s been a while since I’ve seen them obviously” She lets out a laugh.

“Dad was so happy when you signed to United you know? And now, mum has been over the moon since you joined Arsenal” the tone in your voice now lighter.

As you and Alessia talked it felt as if you had returned to the rhythm that you both had when you were kids. She would scrunch her nose when you teased her and you’d roll your eyes when she made a bad joke. You parked near the cafe after Alessia convinced you to leave her at the cafe and she’d walk the rest home.

You began walking towards the cafe to go pick up some textbooks you had left earlier that morning, beginning to take off your jacket out of habit as you got to the door. Alessia, who had stopped to see you off only saw the deep red of the Manchester jersey you wore, the white letters spelling out ‘Russo’ disappearing into the cafe.

________________________________

Alessia had practically inhaled the first drink that was handed to her by Toone due to the nerves that she had. Toone looked proud when Alessia arrived with her hair down, gold hoops and necklace with a black crop top and light washed jeans.

“You look absolutely stunning, if she doesn’t want to take you home immediately seeing you then something is wrong with her” Toone said that earned a slap on the shoulder from Alessia,

“Shut it, don’t need to be so loud about it”. They both decide to get another drink while they waited for you to enter the bar. There respective teammates floating around the bar, laughs and conversations were heard from every corner.

“(y/n)!!!! Leah told me you were coming!” Katie’s thick accent now even thicker due to drinks she had already had.

Alessia had already started to feel the buzz of the 2 drinks she had went through minutes ago so the exclamation from Katie felt louder than usual. She turned and saw you talking to Katie who already began to wrap her arm around your waist pulling you closer to her. You entertained her and just held her briefly and it now looked like Katie was a koala on tree.

Leah finally released you from Katie’s grasp only earning a laugh from you as you patted Katie’s shoulders to save her from the embarrassment what occurred. Alessia felt the tug at her heart when she saw your smile and heard your laugh. Even with all of the noise and movement, it seemed like you were moving slowly and clearly only for her to see.

Alessia only snapped out of it when she felt a jab into her ribs,

“You’re drooling, Lessie, I’d wipe your mouth because she’s headed this way, I’m going for another drink see ya”. The forward did not even have time to register what was said by Toone and even worse when you appeared in front of her.

“You ok? You’ll catch flies” You say semi-teasingly, semi-serious, lightly, tapping the underside of her chin as Alessia hadn’t closed her mouth since you had entered the bar. She finally was able to take you in and her silence to what you said only caused you to laugh.

Alessia saw you adjust the rolled up sleeves of your jacket and her eyes drifted to the exposed section of your stomach, then up at the subtle gold chain that you had on, you caught her gaze finally reached your face.

“So, I’m just going to get my one drink of the night, want to join me?…seems you need a refill” You take the empty glass from her hand as you started for the bar with Alessia following right behind you.

“Sorry, for being all quiet, I’m just tired you know” the blush on the striker’s cheeks told another story.

You nod as you order yourself two drinks and slide one over to Alessia.

“Sure, little star, and I’m the president of the United States” you tease as you felt a tiny push of the shoulder from her.

The conversation was like any other and the alcohol finally hit Alessia not at once, if you asked her, but when she was pulling you towards the dance floor with all the other Arsenal girls who were equally slightly, stumbling.

She looked up at you as she brought you closer by your waist and laid her head on a part of your shoulder almost using you to stabilize herself. Alessia took in how warm you were and the woody, almost pine scent from your clothes; she couldn’t help but close her eyes and quietly sigh contently.

She barely registered your hand gently rubbing her back as you both were “slow dancing” in the middle of the bar. Which just meant you were both swaying slowly side to side, well you were more stabilizing Alessia as you moved side to side.

Her eyes opened as she felt the rumble in your chest as you spoke, “Nah she’s ok,...yeah Katie she’s an old friend actually…more now and we’re just catching up on lost time…ok I’ll see you”.

You, gently, tap Alessia’s waist to get her attention and lower yourself to her ear, “You alright?”

Alessia hummed and only melted herself more into you as your chest rumbled again but from laughter.

“You want to head out? Don’t want you to fall asleep standing…well you might actually trip over yourself if I let you go.” Alessia doesn’t answer but nods into your chest.

You push her a little so that you can lead her out of the bar waving at the rest of the team to get home safe.

Alessia stops you, “Can you carry me home?” she says quietly as she tries to stabilize herself without your aid but fails only to grab you by the arm.

Without a word, you get in front of her and squat a little.

“Come on, just get on my back, I can take you to mine, it’s actually just a block and a half away”

Alessia, carefully, gets on your back and wrapping her arms around you neck as you hold her legs.

The lights of the streets are almost blurry as Alessia laid her head on your back.

“I really did miss you, Sole”, you hear Alessia slur out from behind you.

You stop a bit before going up to the door of you aunt’s home, “me too, little star”.

________________________________

You assist Alessia into some of your clean clothes, obviously fitting way too big on her, combed through her hair, removed her make up, brushed her teeth, and finally lead her to your bed.

“I’ll sleep on the couch downstairs -” you began to say before Alessia, even though she was completely out of it, pulled you down to the bed next to her.

“Don’t be stupid, come on, you didn’t think I saw you with my jersey earlier” she muttered as she made her place in your arms and began to sleep. You only smiled as your fingers went through her hair and then rested at her hip as she feel asleep… you silently wishing that this would be your everyday but when have you ever been this lucky?

________________________________

Over the several weeks, Alessia would come only in the mornings opting to be selfish with the time that she spent with you. She would lean on the counter and talk to you as you were sat in the chair reading over your text book like the day she met you, sometimes even having your parents on the phone to speak with her. She thought, at the beginning, that you weren’t listening to her but you would occasionally insert little quips or observations.

“Ok sorry to say but that video of you in Australia, that Mary shared, was actually really funny”. You said as you highlighted another part of your textbook before setting it down on the table.

Alessia rolled her eyes, “ok I swear it was going to charge at me, anyways, I’m off to practice…see you tomorrow?”.

You nod as you lean down and give her a quick kiss on the lips as she practically skipped out of the cafe.

You look underneath the counter at the opened letter that you had received a week ago. It said of your new schedule that your clinicals would now be mornings and you’d be assigned to a location to travel outside of the city in the afternoons.

“I’ll tell her tomorrow” was the phrase you would say over and over again. Your resolve in actually telling her would melt away the moment Alessia waltzed in every morning with her smile that made you buckle.

Tomorrow would be the last possible day to tell her so you had to tell her, of course, you could only blame your own unwillingness to break her heart. You weren’t breaking up with her just telling her

‘Hey, remember how we didn’t see each other for a really long time and we found each other and now things are great, well I have to go again but I will still remember you…hope you wait for me like I waited for you…’

The next morning came and you had settled into your seat behind the counter like you always did and waited for your Little Star to walk in with her smile that was so bright it’d make the moon jealous. You hid the sunflowers that you had got her under some newspaper, hoping, it’d lessen the blow of what you were about to say to her.

The minutes passed and the ding from your phone disturbed the comfortable silence.

“Hey Sole, I’m not feeling too well today, think I ate something bad last night so I’m not coming in and just going to go back to bed, don’t miss me too much” followed with “ Little Star has notifications silenced”

You sighed with a frown, as you began to speak into your phone:

“You’re going to hate me. I’m sorry-”

Alessia’s heart dropped as she began listening to the voicemessages in her bathroom after sleeping for another 3 hours.

“I’m going to be no longer working at the cafe because I’m going be fully dedicating myself to my studies. Clinicals at the hospital are picking up and I will be going out of town often to work…I won’t be able to see you nor really talk to you. You are important to me and I am stupid for not telling you sooner…makes it seem like this is more important than you but it isn’t… I just didn’t want to break your heart.

I love you, my little star, since the night at the bar. When you held onto me for dear life as we “danced”. When I brought you home when you were drunk off your ass and could barely stand. I still smell the traces of your scent on my bed sheets; my clothes; my pillowcase no matter how many times I have washed everything…the way you pulled me to bed to just hold you as you slept. I still remember the feel of you under my palms; every curve, every line as I passed my hands lightly on your hip as you quietly snored. I wished for that for so long with someone and I’m glad it was with my best friend.

I want to let you go because you deserve my full attention…I hope that you wait for me like I waited for you, but if not then I hope that I can still cheer you on from across the field as you continue making a name for yourself.

I love you my little star and always will.

Come by the cafe later, if you’re able, to pick up what I intended to give you…as a goodbye…sorry I won’t be here I’m actually leaving soon once my coworker clocks in…it’s the first day I need to be out of town…I love you”

Alessia finally arrived at the busy cafe; which was an odd sight for her. The cashier, immediately upon seeing Alessia, motioned her over, allowing her to cut in front of the line.

“Sorry folks, just got to make a quick delivery” the assumed university student apologized to the line before going back and quickly emerged with a small bouquet of sunflowers wrapped in newspaper with an envelope sitting amongst them.

Alessia took them with a sad smile and headed over to an open table in the corner. She pulled out the envelope seeing it was covered in stamps and re sealed several times.

Carefully opening it she sees a neatly folded napkin, in front of a thicker paper, the napkin itself had written.

“Mum sent me this right after I told her that we found each other again. This was the last time we were together…think you got a hat trick this game.”

The napkin was set aside as Alessia took out the thicker paper turning it over to see it was a photo of the two of you as children.

Alessia’s then dark hair held up in low pigtails with a big smile as you held her up in a hug also a big smile adorning your face.

Her sad smile was short lived as she looked at what you had written in the white part of the photo,

“The Star and her Sun”

It was then Alessia decided to wait for you because what is a Star without her Sun.

#woso x reader #engwnt x reader #woso fanfics #woso one shot #alessia russo x reader #arsenal wfc x reader

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bobardo · 3 months ago

Note

Something with dumbification, please!! Anything from the smut starters would be amazing

oooh ok coming right up! kinda made my own prompt/au for this so hope u like nonnie <333

wc: 1.6k

cw: smut. minors dni. 18+. alcohol consumption. d/s dynamics. oral (m receiving). dacryphilia. degradation&dumbification kink. pet name bunny. pls lmk if i missed anything!!

Y/N never thought she'd find herself intertwined with the likes of a biker gang.

They say love makes people do crazy things, though.

"C'mere, Bunny!" Bucky shouts over the commotion swirling through his house, cold neck of a beer bottle clutched in his large, tattooed hand. She glances at him from her spot by the television, where she'd been conversing with the other girlfriends' and female members. Though, suddenly their once riveting topic of conversation is no longer interesting to her.

She knuckles out of her position sat between Peggy, Steve's girl, and Natasha, another member, on the couch with a half-hearted mumble of departure—a departure met with hootin' and hollerin' from her girls', cheering her on in her rousing endeavors. She throws them a desperate look over her shoulder, something that surely reads as please, shut the hell up. They snicker amongst themselves, but otherwise leave her be.

The excitement running through Y/N's body—butterflies with flower petals for wings, fluttering—blooming—soft in her stomach, strays squeezing their way into her throat, stuttering her words—is solely a product of the man beckoning her. She's practically skipping over to his place by the pool table, cue clasped in the hand not holding his beer.

Her enthusiasm is decidedly muted, no less—forcibly subdued—when her approach comes to stop in front of him, hands cradled behind her back, lashes fluttering with her demure gaze peering up at him from underneath. She bites her lip to suppress a giddy smile.

"Hi, Bucky," she mumbles to him as his fist—fingers still clutching the neck of the bottle—moves to her waist, along the side, up to the expanse of her back over her cherry red, tight blouses, through the space between her arms and arching back. He tugs her into him, making her stumble over her feet—legs like Bambi's, just like her eyes, button nose, and pretty, sweet lips—and fall into his chest. Her fingers unfurl from behind her back to swing in front and grip at his pecs, steadying herself there.

He smiles down at her, fond, "Hi, Bunny."

They're pulled from their little bubble when a hand shoves into Bucky's broad shoulder.

"C'mon, Dude, y'brought her over here to help us, not eye-fuck 'er in front of everyone," his pool partner, Sam, groans exasperatedly, though her throws Y/N a sly wink over Bucky's shoulder. She smiles, and shakes her head at his pointless antics.

Bucky sets his drink, harder than necessary, on the ledge of the pool table. Starts to turn, with this ridged, irate look in his eye that has Y/N bringing her hands up to keep his shifting shoulders facing her, not keen to wipe blood from his knuckles.

"He's teasin'," she whispers to him, right hand sliding up the thick of his neck, to his ticked jaw to cradle, thumb soothing over his chiseled cheek. He barely flits his gaze to her's before he's trying to spin out of her hold again—iron-clad, surprisingly, for someone so Bambi-like.

"He's fuckin'—"

"Teasin'," she says again, firmer this time. She brings his eyes back to her's, "What'd you need me for?" Bucky looks at her with that same indignant spark, merely dulled, and his shoulders sag with defeat.

"What was it y'was tellin' me 'bout the other day, the law of— 'f inflection?"

Y/N snorts, smile curling at the edges of her lips, but she can't help the flutter in her heart at his words. He'd been listening, remebered even—incorrectly, but, it's the thought that counts—what she was talking about when she'd been prattling on and on, mindlessly, about her latest physics assignment.

"The Law of Reflection?" She mutters up to him. He nods cartoonishly, and her smile widens. She reaches for his pool cue, "May I?"

He offers her the cue and then lifts his hands in surrender, smirk hinting at his mouth. "S'all yours, Bunny."

She takes the cue and turns on her heel to face the pool table, unfazed by the many eyes surrounding her, watching the game between Sam and Bucky, and Steve and Tony unfold.

"The Law of Reflection states that when light reflects off a smooth surface, the angle of reflection is equal to the angle of incidence," she assesses the position of each pool ball still sat on the table. "Stripes?" she mutters to her biker, getting a rumbling grunt in response. She nods, and bends to lean against the table, lining the cue up with a ball. "In other words, if you hit the ball into the ledge at a 60 degree angle—" she shuts one eyelid, focuses on the projection in her mind, mumbles just loud enough for those around her to hear, "—it should bounce back off at the same angle," and gives the ball a sure nudge. It rolls into the side of the pool table at said 60 degree angle, and bounces off the exact same way, opposite direction, directly into the middle left pocket. She smiles to herself, and stands to her full height, "Simple."

It was most certainly not simple, if the confounded looks gracing the faces of every biker listening to her mini lesson is anything to go off of. She only cares about one biker, though, and turns to face him immediately after finishing her presentation.

"Y'get it?" she chirps, going where Bucky guides her as he wraps his arm back around her waist, pulling the pool cue from her hand.

"Yeah, Bun, I got it," he smiles at her, pressing a kiss into her temple. He doesn't get it, but he knows if he drags her over here next week to do it all again, she'd explain it with that same pretty smile on her face. "Smart girl, is that what them fancy college courses been teachin' you?"

She smiles sheepishly, nods.

He drops his head down to her height, lips to the shell of her ear. "Tryna make me look stupid n'front 'f my boys?"

The deepness of the infliction of his tone—something reserved for her, dark and in need a satiating, raw and searching for a place to reside, a cave of refuge, a hole—heightens her senses and makes them all fuzzy in the same moment.

Her lashes flutter, eyelids suddenly heavy.

"N— No, Bucky! Never."

"Hmm," he hums, dismissive. The hand pressed to the small of her back slips lower, down to the swell of her plush ass, gripping, squeezing. "You'll jus' have't make it up t'me later, won't you, Bunny?" He knocks his knuckle under her chin, pool cue shifted as far from her face as possible, to make her look at him.

She nods, eyes flitting down to his soft lips. "Yes, Sir."

He pats her bottom twice, "Good girl, now go back there to y'girl's, Bunny, and sit pretty f'me."

——

On her knees, hands folded behind her back, with his cock shoved down her throat, is how she makes it up to him.

"Tell me, Bunny," he grunts, fingers dug into her scalp, dragging her mouth along his tongue, spit-slicked lips sucking, spit-soaked tongue petting, laving against the girth of his shaft, stretching the corners of her mouth, straining.

"Hmph hmm," she noises, eyes wet and lashes clumpy. He yanks her off with a stinging tug to her hair. Webs of drool cling from her mouth to the length of his cock as she pants, hiccoughs short breaths and claws into the flesh of her forearms. "Don' 'member, Sir," she whines, reaching to slip his cock back between her lips. He keeps her off by his grip in her hair, smirks all mean like when the tears bordering her lash line leak down to her rosy cheeks.

"Don' remember?" he croons, pressing a thumb past her parted lips. "C'mon, Bunny, think f'me—what happened to my smart girl?" She whimpers, melting into his hold, allowing him to move her—control her, like a puppeteer, fingers tangled in strings, steering their toy.

"Can't!" She cries after a brief moment of thought.

"Yes, you can," he groans, pulling her sweet, crying face into his cock, hips canting up to smear her pouting lips over the swollen, ruddy tip. "Tell me, Bun, tell me what y'been learnin' in all those fancy classes a'yours."

Her eyes roll back and her lashes flutter, tongue unfurling from her mouth, lapping at his hard cock. He moves a hand down to smack her cheek, not soft but not hard, just enough to bring her back.

"Fuckin' tell me, Bunny."

"Don' know!" she whines, lips downturned in a frown. "S'too hard, Sir, I don' know, can'— I can't—"

"Shh, shh shh," Bucky hushes her, reaffirming his grip in her scalp with one hand and fitting his other one to the curve of her jaw, bringing her back down on his cock, tip forced between her blubbering lips. He watches as the thick length of him disappears inside her soft, hot little mouth, groans long and low and deep as he sinks into her throat, head tossed back and Adam's apple bobbing as her button nose nuzzles into the sparse trail of hair at his navel. "Dumb Bunny," he mumbles sweetly as his head rolls forward, eyes fluttering to his smart, cockdrunk girl on her knees for him. "Little, useless thing, only good f'takin' m'cock in all y'tight holes, yeah?"

She gurgles something incoherent against him—mouth drooling, leaking over him, pooling at his full balls—that has his hips stuttering, cock forced farther (if that's even possible) down her throat while he moans from the vibrations of it, rocking through him, from the tip of his cock to the tips of his toes.

"Shit!" he curses, chest starting to shake with a soft laugh. "S'a good girl; forget y'fancy homework but y'always r'member how't suck m'cock, don'chu Baby?"

She nods from under his oppressing grasp on her hair.

He snorts, "Yeah, my dumb fuckin' bunny."

——

a/n: bang! bang! slumber party continues!! hope u like :))

not edited/proofread!!

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kwanisms · 1 year ago

Text

Run Rabbit, Run — k.seungmin

» stray kids masterlist «

➮ vampire!Seungmin × f!Reader wc: 20.5k (sorry. it happened again lmao) summary: Seungmin is a vampire and has lived a very long life and seen many ages pass him by. He’s grown weary of immortality until he meets someone one random night who really puts things into perspective for him. genres/themes/au: angst, smut; supernatural and vampiric themes, gothic undertones, predator/prey dynamics, s2l; non idol au, vampire au warnings: adult dialogue, female reader, Seungmin is a vampire so drinking blood and feeding from humans is a given, alcohol consumption (Y/N has a couple drinks), Seungmin is still a predatory creature so he has some… thoughts about that, minor character death, attempted SA (but nothing happens), sexual content (18+ mdni), see smut warnings under the cut! special taglist: @yoonguurt , @lvelicky , @anyamaris , @wooyoungqueen , @kpop-stories-21 , @xsweetelegantdiasterx , @kookthief , @stardragongalaxy , @millennial-fangirl , @blankdyean , @imwithurmother , @bangchans-angel , @oreoqueen , @yjeonginlvr , @zdgx1 , @shuxsoo , @s00buwu , @queenmea604 , @pochaccomin , @katsukis1wife , @linos-catnip , @wh0r3mir4 Join the taglist! »» Closes 10/30 @ 23:00 CST Strikethrough means I cannot tag you. MINORS WILL BE BLACKLISTED & BLOCKED. AGELESS BLOGS WILL NOT BE ADDED.

a/n: this one was so much fun. Seungmin is such a wild card when it comes to writing. He fits innocent types but he also fits these savage/predatory roles really well! Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this, please reblog or comment your favorite part! As always, this is a work of fiction and all characters are not reflective of their respective irl counterparts. for entertainment purposes only.

smut warnings: teratophilia (aka monsterfucking), unprotected sex (he’s a vampire. This ain’t twilight. But you aren’t a vampire, so use protection), blood play, orgasm control, predator/prey play, dacryphilia, use of pet names (little rabbit, sweetheart, doe, pet, etc), Seungmin is kinda mean but he also leans a little heavy into the predator role but jokes on him cause Y/N is into it so who’s the real winner here? If I missed anything just let me know.

dialogue prompt: ❛ Why are you shaking? You’re not scared of me are you? ❜

═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Eternity. Humans use the word so freely.

I promise to love you for eternity. I want to live for eternity. Death is eternal.

Seungmin knew that the last one was correct. Death is eternal and it will last forever. But love? Eternal love didn’t exist. Not in the literal definition of eternal. Mortals die and then that is eternal. The love they experienced before their demise is fleeting and perishes with them.

The only thing that was eternal other than death was the waking hell Seungmin had endured for centuries; life eternal. It was supposed to be a gift. He was told it was a gift and initially, he believed it. Getting to stay young and live a long life. All he wanted was to live for a long time.

But as the ones around him withered and died, Seungmin came to see this “gift” as a curse. Life eternal was part of a bigger scam. Creating an army of vampires to take over the world. Or at least that’s what he thought. He’d been changed upon his request and then left alone. No guidance, no mentor, nothing to help him navigate this new life he’d been unceremoniously dropped into.

Seungmin had to learn as he went, adapting and changing at a much quicker rate. He made mistakes along the way but eventually he found a path and stuck to it. It wasn’t until those around him started dying of old age, people he’d grown up with, that he started to see the error he’d made.

Each generation that passed, Seungmin grew more and more dissatisfied with life as an immortal. He stopped forming relationships and bonds with people because he’d lived this story so many times, he knew how it ended. It was better to not feel. Better to not get attached.

He moved from continent to continent, city to city. Perhaps that was the only good thing about living for so long. Being able to see more in his infinite lifetime than a mortal could see in their limited years. Decades turned into centuries and Seungmin had been to more cities and countries than he could count. He’d seen more and done more than anyone could ever hope to see or do.

So why was he still so [word]? He’d been given the gift of immortality, he’d been to so many places and seen so much and yet… none of it filled the void in his soul. None of it left him feeling fulfilled or satisfied with life. He still held so much disdain for his existence.

Even as he stood on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the vast forest below. It was a great fall, one that would surely kill a man before he even hit the ground but Seungmin was no mere man. Would a fall from this distance even leave a mark on him? Would his body break and finally free him from this cursed life? He had no way of knowing. It wasn’t exactly like he’d been given a manual on this.

How to Commit Suicide as a Vampire for Dummies wasn’t a title that would ever grace the shelves of Barnes & Noble. He’d have to just try. It was trial and error at this point. He’d tried so many different things. Poison didn’t even register. Knives and swords did nothing, not even a wooden stake through the heart had come close to killing him. Bullets did nothing either and they were annoying to remove.

He’d tried drowning himself in the ocean only to discover he didn’t need to breathe. He’d tried starvation only for his instincts to kick in at the last minute and force him to feed on whatever was nearby. He’d tried jumping from other heights but none this high.

If this didn’t work, he felt the only thing that might kill him was extreme pressures.

Seungmin was so absorbed in his own thoughts of death that he didn’t realize he was no longer alone.

You stared at the man, noticing how close he was to the edge of the clearing. A fall from this height would surely kill him. You glanced up at his face and could help but stare. You’d never seen such… sadness before.

He looked as if he was deep in thought. You glanced out over the forest below and then back at the man. ‘Surely he isn’t thinking about jumping,’ you sincerely hoped silently.

A simple hike in the mountains was what you had expected when you came to this national park. What you hadn’t expected was to find a man standing on the edge, possibly about to end his life. You glanced around the clearing to find it was just the two of you.

Looking back at the man, you were reminded of your own struggles with depression, thoughts of suicide, almost attempts but in the end, it got better and so did you. You wondered if it would make a difference in his life whether you stopped him now. Even if just to lend a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen.

Taking a deep breath, you stepped forward, keeping your eyes fixated on the man. You stopped a few paces behind him but kept a good few feet between you. Turning your gaze from his profile, you looked over the trees below.

“What a view,” you said softly. Your voice must have startled him because his head snapped to look at you, alarm etched on his face. You kept your gaze over the trees, looking around and taking in the splendor of it all. The man kept his gaze focused on you. “It’s so beautiful,” you continued, still not looking at him.

Out of your periphery, you could see him turn his head back to look out over the forest. “It’s the same as all the others,” he said softly. “All the others?” you asked, finally turning your head to look at him. You allowed yourself to actually look at him this time, focusing on the details you couldn’t see before.

His smooth, flawless complexion, the reddish brown color of his hair blowing in the gentle breeze. He wore a simple white button down under a black blazer and black slacks. He looked like he just came from an office job. Not dressed for a hike in the mountains.

He had no supplies, no wilderness gear, no backpack or sleeping bag.

It hit you then and made your heart rate speed up as you hoped you were wrong.

‘He’s come here to die.’

You looked around, trying to think of anything you could to distract him.

“Have you been to a lot of forests then?” you blurted out. He turned his head to look at you, brows knitting together in confusion. “What?” he asked, his voice a little louder this time. He looked and sounded genuinely confused by your question.

“You said it’s the same as all the others. So you must have been to a lot of forests to make that statement,” you replied. ‘Yes, this is good, Y/N. Keep him talking. Keep him distracted.’

“Do you travel a lot?”

The man stared at you, a look of perplexion on his face. Almost as if he was wondering why you were even talking to him in the first place. “I’ve heard the forests in the Carpathian Mountains are gorgeous this time of year,” you continued, looking away from him. “The changing of leaves, the cool autumn air, the influx of wildlife preparing for winter hibernation,” you said with a smile.

“I’ll bet it’s beautiful--”

“It is,” he said, cutting you off. You turned to look at him. His eyes were still on you. “A little colder than you’re probably imagining though,” he added. “Transylvania is also beautiful this time of year,” he continued. You took a cautious half step forward. “Have you been to Romania?” you asked.

His shoulders shook in silent laughter, amusement on his face for a brief moment. “I’ve been all over,” he replied. “Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia,” he listed off. “I’ve even spent time in the Antarctic.” Your eyes widened with wonder. “For work or…?” you trailed off as he shook his head. “Not exactly,” he answered.

“I’ve lived a very unique… life,” he added, forcing the last word out after some consideration. You tilted your head curiously. “Would you tell me about it?” you asked. He turned his head again, meeting your gaze and a shiver went up your spine. It was almost as if looking into his eyes flipped your flight or fight response and every nerve in your body was telling you to run but you couldn’t.

Not because you were frozen in fear but because this man, a man who was on the verge of possibly throwing himself off the edge of a cliff, thousands of feet off the ground below had lived a unique life and if getting him to talk about it meant he’d step away from the cliff and live his life a little bit longer, then you couldn’t run.

Not if it meant he lived.

He scoffed and turned back to the cliff. “What are you? Some kind of shrink?” he asked, a bitter sound to his voice. You shook your head. “No,” you replied. “You just look like you have a lot of stories to tell,” you continued. “And if you’d like. I’ll listen to you.”

Seungmin didn’t know why, but when he looked at you, he felt as if he could talk to you and that you might actually listen to him. Something deep in him was telling him to talk to you. To keep living a little while longer, even if just to share his stories with you because you were right.

He had a lot of stories.

He found himself spilling almost everything to you. His weariness with life, his solitude, and his exhaustion. He was exhausted with everything. He had grown almost sick of living, sick of being alone, and sick of being alone for so long.

The best thing about you, Seungmin noted, was that you didn’t interrupt or judge him. You listened with rapt attention but it didn’t feel forced or fake. Your genuine curiosity was refreshing and although he knew he shouldn’t get attached, Seungmin found himself craving your company.

Perhaps it was because he’d been alone for so long and you were the first person to show him any interest beyond flirtation or sexual desire. He was unaccustomed to such attention after centuries of not experiencing it and this was the first conversation he’d had with a mortal in ages.

Seungmin took a deep breath, having finished the story of his most recent trip to Europe. A trip that spanned months and took him to places most people never think to visit. The sun had long set since he started his stories and the sky was beginning to lighten, indicating he’d spent the whole night talking.

But more importantly, you’d spent an entire night listening to him. Mortals had such a short time on the planet and yet you’d chosen to spend an entire night listening to him tell you stories of his life and his travels.

And you had actually listened to him.

“Sorry for taking up your whole night,” Seungmin said, glancing back at the sky as it started to lighten into shades of blue and purple. You shook your head, lifting your head from its resting place against your hand. “Not at all,” you replied. “It was fascinating. Thank you for sharing with me,” you replied.

“I’m sure you need to get going,” Seungmin said as you stood up from the log you’d taken a seat on next to him. “What about you?” you asked, looking down at him. Seungmin stood up, slipping his hands into his pockets. “I think I’ll walk with you,” he answered. “Are you heading back to your car?”

You nodded. “I was only supposed to hike up and spend the night,” you replied, starting to walk and he kept pace with you. “And I guess in a way I did that,” you added with a chuckle, one that Seungmin shared. The walk back was punctuated by more stories, not nearly as grand as the ones he’d shared before. Smaller stories about random events and chance encounters on his travels.

The sun was climbing above the trees as the two of you reached the bottom of the mountain, the small gravel parking lot coming into sight where your cat sat, waiting for your triumphant return. “This has probably been the most interesting conversation I’ve ever had,” you started as Seungmin stopped a few paces from your car and you turned to look at him.

“Thank you again,” Seungmin said. “For listening to me.” You offered him a dazzling smile, one that might have taken his breath away had he not already been dead. “Thank you for allowing me to listen,” you replied. You turned and opened the hatch on the back of your car, removing and placing your pack in the back before shutting the door and heading around to the driver’s side.

Seungmin realized at that moment that he’d never gotten your name nor had he shared his.

“Wait,” he called, stepping forward. You hesitated as you pulled open the door and looked up at him.

“What’s your name?” he asked. A smile spread over your face. “Y/N,” you answered.

Seungmin smiled the first genuine smile in years. “Y/N,” he repeated. “It’s nice to meet you, Y/N. I’m Seungmin.” Your smile widened slightly as you finished pulling open your door. “It’s good to meet you, too,” you replied. “See you around, yeah?” you asked before ducking your head and getting into the car.

Seungmin watched as you backed out of your spot and waved at him one last time before pulling out of the parking area and disappearing through the trees on the dirt road, leaving him alone in the clearing.

“Yeah,” he said softly to himself. “See you around.”

The funny thing about time when one has lived as long as Seungmin is that days, weeks, even months, go by in the blink of an eye. At least until Seungmin had met you. Suddenly, life seemed to drag on yet still, days went by, turning into weeks and yet all that occupied his mind was his meeting with you. The random hiker who had somehow managed to save his life.

He’d tried to find you but to no avail. He only had a single name to go off of. Several times, he’d gone back to the national forest, trying the same hiking trail he’d met you on and even trying others but he had no luck it would seem. Finding you was starting to seem impossible.

Despite being a mostly lonely creature, Seungmin did have one contact he’d kept over the years.

Wonpil.

Seungmin had met the man during a brief stint in the military, meeting the combat medic who turned out to be the same as him, an immortal. A friendship was formed and over the years, even if they hadn’t seen one another for decades, their bond remained intact.

In the modern age, Seungmin could rely on Wonpil for three things.

Loyalty

Perspective

And blood in the form of blood bags.

He never asked how Wonpil was able to acquire them without rousing suspicion but the how wasn’t exactly important. In a day where everyone carried a phone with cameras and facial recognition almost everywhere, Seungmin had to be careful not to feed from living people.

Most immortals who lived in the modern age had switched to feeding from animals, going hunting in the forests instead of feeding from humans. It was safer but even so, one wrong move and an immortal could be caught on camera feeding from a deer or some other woodland critter.

Seungmin had tried the animal diet when he lived in areas closer to the wild but in the city, one was limited on options. So Wonpil, with his job in the hospital, was able to sneak around and steal blood bags without anyone finding out.

It had worked out so well for this life as they were in the same area for once, settled into false identities but Seungmin’s was about to expire. He needed to move on, start anew to avoid drawing attention. He could only pretend to be thirty for so long until suspicions arose.

During one of their meetups so Wonpil could deliver Seungmin’s monthly supply of blood, Seungmin had told his friend of his chance encounter in the woods and Wonpil found it both endearing and amusing. He’d told Seungmin to stop focusing and obsessing over one woman. “You need to go out there and get laid,” he chuckled. Seungmin rolled his eyes.

“I don’t need to get laid,” he retorted, taking the messenger bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “Not in this day and age,” he added. Wonpil snorted, crossing his arms as he looked over his shoulder. “This day and age is perfect for that,” he replied.

“No one wants a relationship. They just want something casual,” he added. Seungmin shook his head. They’d had this conversation before but he was still reluctant. What if he ended up liking the person too much? He’d get attached and then just end up hurting them when he inevitably had to leave.

He was far too reluctant to get himself into that situation. Wonpil sighed and placed a hand on Seungmin’s shoulder. “Suit yourself,” he said before patting him and walking away. Seungmin returned home after that and went about his usual routine of cleaning up and putting away his supply.

It was a few days later that things completely changed.

He’d gone by a coffee shop to meet Wonpil for something, he couldn’t even remember what. It’s not like he needed the coffee or any other item the shop offered. It just made them look normal. Made them blend in more.

Wonpil had left after his business and Seungmin had gotten up to leave when he bumped into someone as he reached the door. The sudden action caused him to spin away from the door as did the person who he bumped into, spinning to face him and Seungmin couldn’t believe his eyes.

There you were, looking back at him, shock on your face.

Time seemed to stand still in that moment, seconds stretching into minutes as the two of you stared at one another unmoving, unblinking. Seungmin found it hard to hear anything happening around him. Like everything had been muffled the way the world sounded when one submerged themselves in water.

“Y/N,” he said softly.

As if that was the magic word to break the spell, just as quickly as the world stopped, it picked up again. The sounds of chatter, the sounds of the coffee and espresso machines, the ding of the cash register and the ringing of the bell at the door as new patrons flooded in.

“Seungmin,” you said softly, your lips spreading into another one of your dazzling smiles. “Hey,” Seungmin said, mirroring your smile. “How have you been?” you asked and he stepped aside as someone tried to squeeze past him.

“I’ve been okay,” Seungmin admitted. “A lot better than that day, actually,” he added. Your smile widened, a brief spell of relief washing over your face. “Good,” you said with a nod. “I’m glad to hear that.” Seungmin noted how a silence fell between you but he had no idea what to say.

He’d never experienced this. He’d never not been able to keep a conversation going before. He’d never felt like a school boy talking to his childhood crush before. It was foreign to him. Finally, a feeling he’d never experienced. Something new.

“I wondered if you were just passing through,” you admitted as you stepped aside, pulling the strap of your bag back up on your shoulder as patrons filed past the two of you. “If you weren’t living in the city but instead just on your way through.”

Seungmin shook his head. “No,” he replied. “I live here. Not in this neighborhood,” he added. “But a few blocks north.” Silence again. Why was he so bad at this? Had your first meeting been this awkward and he’d blocked it out because he’d been so focused on wanting to end things?

“Are you staying?” he asked suddenly. You tilted your head in confusion. “Here,” Seungmin added. ‘No. Stupid. You need to elaborate further.’ “What I meant,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Are you getting your order for here?” Your confusion melted away, a small smirk presenting itself.

“I’m on my way to work actually,” you answered. Seungmin felt his heart sink just a little before he had an idea. “Would it be alright if I walked you?” The words left his lips before he could even register them. Your smirk morphed into a bright smile and you nodded. “I just need to place my order,” you said, pointing at the counter.

Seungmin nodded and pointed towards the door. “I’ll just wait out here for you,” he answered. He could have waited inside with you but the cafe was starting to get crowded. Too many warm bodies and where there were warm bodies, there was blood. He needed to clear his head.

Thankfully you didn’t find this odd, only nodding before joining the queue.

Outside the cool autumn air helped Seungmin quell his thirst. Pushing back the beast that threatened to rear its ugly head and make him do something that he would regret. ‘You only have a couple weeks left before you have to leave,’ he reminded himself.

But for some reason, reminding himself of that made him sad.

Before he could dwell on that feeling for too long, the door opened and you joined him on the sidewalk. “Ready?” he asked and you nodded, carrying a hot cup of coffee and a small paper sack. Seungmin followed your lead, keeping pace with you as you walked.

He learned that you had lived in the city for a few months. Your move came with a transfer with your job.

“What do you do?” he asked as you took a sip of your coffee, sighing softly. You sniffled, the cold air no doubt nipping at your skin and making your nose run. Seungmin hadn’t experienced that in centuries. He didn’t remember what it was like to feel cold or warmth.

“I’m a pediatric nurse,” you replied. “I work at Seoul General,” you added as you continued walking. ‘Seoul General?’ Seungmin thought. “Oh,” he said, nodding. “I have a friend that works there, actually.” You looked up at him, eyes wide. Whether it was excitement or curiosity, Seungmin couldn’t tell.

“Oh really?” you asked. “I wonder if I’ve met them yet,” you added. Seungmin shrugged as the hospital started to come into view. “Perhaps you have,” he replied. “Who’s your friend?” you asked, looking at him. “Wonpil. Kim Wonpil,” Seungmin answered.

Your eyes lit up. “I know Dr. Kim!” you replied. ‘Excitement,’ Seungmin noted. ‘Definitely excitement.’ He smiled as you started to slow your pace. “I didn’t know you were friends with Dr. Kim!” Seungmin chuckled at your response as you neared the doors.

“We’ve been friends for a long time,” he replied. “We go way back.”

You glanced at the doors briefly before looking back at Seungmin. “I need to get clocked in but could I get your number? Maybe we can meet up for drinks or coffee sometime?” you asked, sounding hopeful. Seungmin’s heart sank. ‘Number? Oh no…’

Seungmin had managed to adapt to the times. Following trends, especially fashion. He understood email, he understood online ordering, he got all of it. The one thing Seungmin hadn’t seemed to keep up with were mobile phones.

He’d never had one, nor had he ever used one. Wonpil had one. Of course he did, but Seungmin hadn’t quite caught up to that part yet. Even if it was 2023. And now he had the misfortune of telling you that he didn’t have a mobile phone.

“Uh…” he hesitated, uncertain of how to even explain this. You stared at him expectantly. He wondered what was going through your head, rushing to explain before he lost the opportunity. “I don’t have one,” he finally managed to blurt out.

You stared at him, blinking a few times as you processed his words. ‘Great. Now she probably thinks you’re some kind of weirdo.’ After a moment of silence, you wordlessly opened your purse, fishing out a small pad of paper and a pen and quickly scratched something down. “Here,” you said, holding out the paper. “It’s my number,” you said, smiling at him.

He didn’t detect any sarcasm as you spoke. “If you end up getting one sometime, give me a call. Or a text,” you said as you dropped the pen and paper back into your bag. “And then we can get that coffee,” you added, giving him a wink. “I’ll see you around,” you called as you backed towards the hospital entrance.

Seungmin looked up as you waved. He waved back. “I’ll call you!” he called back and you sent him a thumbs up before entering the hospital and leaving him standing on the sidewalk in awe of what just happened. He looked back down at the small piece of paper in his hand. Your number looked back at him, the numbers silently judging him for not owning a phone.

Yet you didn’t. You didn’t even question it. Surely you thought it strange he didn’t have a mobile phone in such a technologically advanced age and city. Seoul was a hub of technology and of technological advancements but yet you said nothing on the subject, merely offering a solution.

Seungmin tucked the paper in his wallet carefully and started back down the sidewalk, a new confidence in his step. He knew exactly what he had to do. He needed to update, get with the times. His walk took him through the front door of a high rise building, catching the elevator up to the seventeenth floor.

He reached the apartment he’d been looking for, raising his fist and knocking heavily on the door three times. Then three more when no one answered. He knocked three more times before he heard the lock slide and the door opened, Wonpil appearing before him with a look of annoyance and confusion.

“What is your problem?” he asked, looking around. “I was sleeping,” he added. Seungmin stared back at him. “What?” Wonpil asked. “You look like you just murdered someone,” he joked. “Do you need help with the body?” he added under his breath. Seungmin shook his head. “That’s not what I need help with,” he replied.

“Then why are you pounding on my door? You know I sleep during the day because I work overnight shifts for the next two weeks,” Wonpil asked. “I do need your help,” Seungmin clarified. Wonpil nodded. “Okay,” he replied. “With what?” he asked as he let Seungmin into the apartment.

“It must be urgent if you’re coming in here, guns blazing,” he joked as he walked over to the kitchen island and looked back at Seungmin who nodded. “I got her number.”

Wonpil stared blankly at him. “Got whose number?” he asked. “Y/N’s,” Seungmin replied. Wonpil’s eyes widened. “Oh shit, really? When? How?” Seungmin explained how just after he left the cafe, Seungmin ran into Y/N and then walked her to work. “And she works at your hospital,” he continued.

Wonpil smirked as he hopped up onto the kitchen island to sit. “I can totally hook you two up,” he said as Seungmin rolled his eyes. “I don’t need you to hook me up,” he replied.

Wonpil held his hands up. “Then what do you need my help with?” he asked, looking confused. Seungmin cleared his throat before looking up at his friend. “I need a mobile phone. Now.”

Since acquiring the phone, Seungmin hadn’t been able to bring himself to make the call. Each time he picked up the device and tried to type out a message, it just didn’t feel right. Wonpil had sat down and shown him exactly how to use the device and even gave him some tips and pointers but it just felt… wrong.

After the tenth attempt at texting, Seungmin erased the message and set the phone down on the table in frustration, running his fingers through his hair. Why was this so difficult? Why couldn’t he just send a text? It wasn’t that hard, right?

He stared at the screen, hearing the ticking of the clock on the wall as he stared. He stared for a couple more minutes before grabbing it again and instead of typing he pressed the call button. This had to be easier, right? Talking was easier than trying to type.

Wonpil had been very precise that Seungmin did not write his texts like emails. It would make him look really weird and the last thing Seungmin wanted was for you to think he was weird.

He was certain if his heart had a beat that it would be pounding in his chest as he listened to the ringing through the receiver. If he could sweat, his palms would be clammy. Even if he was nervous, there was no way for him to express it except in his voice when you finally did answer.

“Hello?” Your voice sounded just as lovely as the last time he’d heard it. “Hello?” you said again. ‘Fuck. Answer her!’

“H-hey, Y/N,” he said, his voice cracking. Seungmin quickly recovered, crossing his arm over his chest and tucking his hand under his arm. “Uh, hi,” you replied, sounding unsure. “Who is this?” Seungmin started to pace from the kitchen to the living room.

“It-it’s Seungmin,” he clarified, clearing his throat, trying to push his nerves away and keep the conversation going. “Oh hey!” you said, instantly sounded much more excited to hear from him. ‘That’s a good sign,’ he told himself. “So you got a phone?” you asked.

Seungmin nodded before realizing you couldn’t see him. “Yeah,” he replied, trying to sound as casual as possible. Wonpil had warned him that almost no one said ‘yes’ over the phone except “boomers” and that Seungmin did not want to be lumped in with them.

“Welcome to the 21st century,” you said jokingly, making Seungmin chuckle nervously. “Am I your first call?” you asked and Seungmin hesitated. Should he say yes? Should he lie and say no? He decided against lying. “Yes,” he replied.

“I’m flattered,” you said and though Seungmin knew you were joking, he could tell it was just in good humor. He smiled to himself. “So,” you started and Seungmin heard the sound of rustling on the other side of the phone. Almost like the sound of sheets. Were you home in bed? He tried not to think about you in bed. “To what do I owe the pleasure of being your first mobile phone call?”

Seungmin straightened up, moving his free hand to slip into his pocket. “I’m not entirely sure,” he answered truthfully. “To be honest, I didn’t have a plan when I called you.” He heard you chuckle lightly on the other end. “So you’re just winging it?” you asked. Seungmin laughed, continuing to pace slowly.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he replied. His nerves had calmed down and he found it easy to talk to you like this. “Well, how about I invite you out to dinner?” you asked, catching him off guard. ‘Dinner?’

“Like… a date?” Seungmin asked, waiting anxiously for your answer. “Or like two friends getting to know each other, if that makes you more comfortable. No expectations.” Seungmin paused, looking around his apartment slowly. The boxes in the corner that were half packed to the bare walls. He only had a few more weeks here in the city. ‘What the hell,’ he thought. ‘Why not?’

“Sure,” he replied. “Perfect. How about Saturday?” you asked. “I start a new rotation tomorrow so I’ll be free in the evenings.” You sounded excited about this and Seungmin tried not to get his hopes up. After all, he couldn’t get attached. He was moving soon. “Saturday works,” he replied.

“Great, I’ll text you the location of the restaurant,” you continued and Seungmin chuckled. “I don’t get a say in this?” he asked and you giggled. “I’m inviting you out, so no,” you replied. “I’ll see you Saturday, seven o’clock?” Seungmin’s smile widened.

“Seven o’clock,” he repeated. “It’s a date.”

Saturday came much too quickly for his liking and internally, Seungmin was panicking. He didn’t know how to do any of this. He was from a completely different time period. He had no idea how dating in the 21st century worked. He’d seen movies and television shows but none of it prepared him for what he was getting himself into.

You had sent a text with the location of the restaurant and Seungmin arrived at six-fifty, giving himself plenty of time to prepare to spend a few hours with you in a restaurant full of people. He’d chosen to walk, enjoying the scenery of the city as the sun slowly descended behind the buildings and the way the sky erupted into oranges and pinks as the celestial body sank further below the horizon.

The restaurant was a small upscale place nestled into the base of one of the many high rises near the heart of the city. Seungmin glanced through one of the large square windows on the front of the building, allowing him a glimpse inside the establishment.

Couple sat at small round white draped tables, eating their meals by candlelight and sipping their drinks. He noticed a familiar face sitting at the bar in a fitted black satin dress. He took a deep breath and stepped forward, thanking the attendant who opened the door and let him in.

Once inside, he was greeted by a host who promptly asked him for the name for his reservation but Seungmin didn’t look at him. His eyes were trained on you as you turned, catching his eye and smiling as you waved. Seungmin pointed in your direction.

“My date is at the bar,” he said to the host who turned to look back at you. “Ah yes,” he said, turning back to the book. “Your table is not quite ready but I will inform you when it is.” Seungmin nodded and squeezed past the host, making his way over to where you sat.

Inside, he had a better look at what you’d chosen to wear and he was glad he decided to dress up as everyone in the restaurant had the same idea. You smiled as he reached you, sliding into the seat beside you. “You’re early,” you noted, looking up from your drink.

He hadn’t noticed it before but you’d ordered a cocktail and it was half finished. He wondered how long you’d been waiting. “As are you,” Seungmin noted as he settled into the seat. You flashed him a sheepish smile and turned your attention to your drink.

“Have you been waiting long?” he asked and you shook your head, taking a sip of your drink. “Only a few minutes,” you replied as the bartender approached. “Can I get you anything, sir?” he asked, directing his question at Seungmin. “Whiskey, neat please,” Seungmin said as he pulled his wallet out. The bartender nodded and turned to start pouring Seungmin’s order.

“Whiskey without any chaser? You sound like a simple man,” you said, toying with the stem of your glass. A moment later, Seungmin’s drink was set in front of him and he thanked the man, passing him a couple notes. “I try to be,” Seungmin said, lifting the glass to take a sip.

“So, how does it feel to have finally joined us in the twenty-first century,” you asked, leaning on your arm against the counter. Seungmin felt his lips twitch into a smirk. “You make me sound like I’m ancient and out of touch with reality,” he mused, taking another sip.

“Are you?” you asked, drawing his attention. “Out of touch with reality?” Seungmin asked, watching as you shrugged your shoulders. “Or ancient?” Seungmin could have sworn his dead heart tried to skip a beat but it lay still in his chest.

He scoffed, looking down at the amber liquid in his glass. “What makes you think that?” he asked before looking back up to meet your gaze. You studied his features carefully, eyes lingering on his for a moment longer than he liked.

Before you could respond, the two of you were interrupted.

“Excuse me,” the host from before said. Both you and Seungmin turned at the same time. “Your table is ready.”

Once you migrated from the bar with your drinks, Seungmin ordered another whiskey while you both looked over the menu, looking for something that he could ingest without arousing suspicion. “Do you eat a lot of Italian food?” Seungmin asked, looking up from his menu.

You shook your head. “No,” you admitted. “Unless you count pizza,” you joked. Seungmin smiled, returning to the black words before him. He settled on a steak with a simple side dish while you ordered some kind of seafood pasta.

“I’ve heard the pizza in Italy is nothing like the rest of the world,” you said as you picked up your water glass. Seungmin nodded, setting his now empty whiskey glass down. “It is,” he replied. You looked up from your glass. “You’ve been to Italy, too? Why am I not surprised,” you mused with a smirk.

Seungmin shrugged his shoulders, smiling back. “I’ve been all over Europe,” he reminded you. You set your water glass down and leaned forward slightly. “And the States,” you added to his statement. He nodded. “And Asia,” he continued. “Hmm,” you hummed, looking down at his fingers drumming against the white tablecloth.

“What’s the best place you’ve visited? Your favorite,” you asked, clarifying what you meant at the end. Seungmin hesitated. That was a good question. One he doesn’t think he’s ever answered. Then again, he didn’t make a habit of conversing with people other than Wonpil. What was his favorite place to visit?

As he pondered, the server stopped by the table. “Would you like another drink, sir?” he asked, to which Seungmin shook his head. “No thank you,” he replied. “Two is my limit,” he added, looking up as the server nodded, taking the empty whiskey glass.

You fought the urge to smile, thanking the server as he took your empty cocktail glass as well. “Would you like another?” he asked softly. Seungmin saw your eyes flicker to him and then back and you nodded. “Just one more. Three is my limit,” you replied, turning to look at Seungmin with a smirk.

He returned the smile before looking away. “So, my favorite place?” he asked. You nodded again. “A place you couldn’t forget, even if you tried,” you replied. Seungmin’s eyes widened comically as he chortled. “Wow. Okay, no pressure then,” he said as he shifted in his seat.

“I think I’d have to pick Milan. Especially during autumn. It’s spectacular,” he replied. You rested your chin in your hand, watching as he explained. “In summer, it’s just so hot and humid. Especially in July and August. But in autumn? Perfect. Temperatures aren’t hot, it’s mild. Absolutely gorgeous,” he added.

You sat back as the server returned with not only your drink but also the food. Seungmin was surprised by the portions, especially of your pasta. He knew he’d only be able to eat part of his meal. He’d have to take the rest to go.

As the two of you ate, he asked you more questions. He learned you moved to Seoul for work. He asked about your hometown and your family. He was surprised to learn that your parents still lived in your hometown and that you went home almost every year during the holidays.

He also learned that you loved animals, cats were among your favorite and that you actually had a cat at home in your apartment. He learned that you had a studio apartment in a high rise a few blocks west of the coffee shop that had a view of the river.

You told him how you loved books. You loved to read and most of your free time was spent curled up on your couch with a blanket, a hot cup of tea, and a book in your hands. Sometimes your cat curled up in your lap and sometimes she would curl up next to you as you read.

Seungmin focused more on your words than his food and when the server came by he asked for the rest of it to go. Once the food was packed up and your drink finished, Seungmin fished his wallet out and you held up your hand. “I invited you out,” you started but Seungmin was much quicker, handing his wallet to the server.

You stared at him, looking up to find the confused look on the server’s face. Seungmin glanced up, realizing his mistake in an instant. “Sorry,” he muttered, snatching his wallet, opening it and handing the card over. The server walked away, still processing what just happened as you looked down at the table, biting your bottom lip to hold in the laugh Seungmin knew was trying to escape.

“I meant to do that, you know,” he addressed you. Nodding, he could tell you didn’t quite believe him. He looked down at the table, silence falling over you as he, too, processed what he’d just done. As it set in, he snorted, holding back a laugh. Never before had he done something so absentminded as hand his entire wallet to a server to pay for a meal before.

How weird did he look? Would the server take it as stupidity or pretentiousness? As the server returned with the slip, Seungmin thanked him, holding back his laughter. He signed the slip and left a generous tip. He quickly returned his card to its home in his wallet and looked up at you.

“We should probably go,” he said softly. Your shoulders were shaking from holding back your laughter. You cleared your throat and nodded, getting up and Seungmin followed, grabbing the bag of to-go food. You both hurried towards the entrance, thanking the staff as you exited the building.

Once outside, you took one look at Seungmin, meeting his eye and both of you burst into laughter, ignoring the looks of other pedestrians as they passed by you. “What the hell was that?” you asked, your laughter subsiding only for a moment.

“I have no idea,” Seungmin replied, laughing just as hard. “I’ve never done that before!”

As the two of you started down the sidewalk, you continued to laugh about the wallet situation.

“It was just the look on his face,” you said, giggling hysterically. “He was so confused!”

“I know! I wish I could have read his mind. I wonder if he thought I was some pretentious asshole,” Seungmin countered. “Or just dumb,” you snorted. “Not that you are,” you clarified quickly. Seungmin burst into another round of laughter.

“I mean, I did just try to pay for our meals by handing over my entire wallet like we were getting mugged in an alley,” he reminded you, another round of laughter emitting from both of you.

It didn’t take long for you to reach your building and Seungmin stopped as you did, looking up at your building. “This is me,” you noted, turning back to look at him. Seungmin nodded.

“It’s getting cold out here,” he replied, his eyes threatening to dip down to look over your body again. He’d avoided it back in the restaurant by looking at other things in the establishment but out here, alone, in front of your apartment building he found it much harder to resist.

“It is,” you nodded. Silence fell between you but it wasn’t awkward this time. There was a certain tension. Something Seungmin hadn’t experienced in a long time. Sexual tension. He cleared his throat softly, noticing how you drew your bottom lip between your teeth.

“Did you want to come up?” you asked softly and Seungmin froze. He had no expectations going into this, knowing he was going to be leaving the city and his current life behind in a couple weeks so your question caught him off guard. Could he? He could, he was capable of going up to your apartment and giving you what you were probably expecting. He had the ability to do so.

But could he do that, knowing that something more might come out of it when he knew he was leaving? Could he do that to you or to himself? Was he strong enough to give in for just a couple weeks and then leave, never to return? He knew the answer to that question before he even asked himself.

“No,” he said softly, shaking his head and giving you a kind smile. “I’m afraid I’m a bit more old fashioned,” he added. The brief hurt on your face was replaced by understanding. The classic ‘it’s not you, it’s me’ tactic. You returned his smile. “I understand,” you replied.

“That’s actually kind of refreshing,” you added. “Most guys can’t wait for the date to get to this part, hoping I’ll invite them up but to be honest,” you explained. “I almost never invite them in.”

Seungmin felt a small surge of pride. It felt good to know that you felt comfortable enough to invite him in although you should feel anything but comfortable in his presence. “Maybe another time,” you added. Seungmin nodded wordlessly, not wanting to give you any false hope.

The man in him was screaming at him, cursing at him for letting you walk away. You stepped forward, closing the distance and kissing him on the cheek. It happened so quickly, Seungmin couldn’t stop it without hurting you physically or emotionally. When you drew back, you uttered a soft goodnight and turned to head up the steps to your building’s door.

Seungmin stood rooted to the spot, watching you walk away. He finally allowed him the chance to look over your body, the man in him still screaming at the lost opportunity to have you beneath him. Once you were safely inside, Seungmin turned and started in the direction of his apartment, going over the events of the night in his mind.

It had been awkward for him at first but he was surprised by how easily you both seemed to get along. The conversation, the joking, the wallet situation that still made him chuckle. The chemistry was there, he couldn’t deny it. And so when you called him a couple days later, asking him on another date, he couldn’t find it in him to say no.

Nor when you asked him on another. He enjoyed every minute he spent with you. He enjoyed your company far more than he enjoyed Wonpil’s, though he’d never tell his friend that. He normally shied away from humans physically but with you, everything felt natural.

The way you grabbed his hand when you were walking, the way you leaned into him, even when you kissed his cheek goodnight after he turned your offer to come up again and again. Everything with you felt right. Each time spent with you only drew him closer and closer to when he’d have to say goodbye.

He had a week left and so he decided to invite you out for once, calling you up.

“Oh, sorry,” you said over the receiver. He could hear the sound of you moving around your apartment. “I actually have plans tonight.” Seungmin felt his stomach sink. ‘Plans?’ he wondered and briefly, he thought maybe he’d turned you down one too many times until you spoke again.

“Yeah, my friend Ami is in town and it’s her birthday so we’re going to the club tonight,” you explained. Seungmin felt the weight in his stomach dissipate and he felt better instantly. “Oh? Where at?” he asked. “At this new club down by the main strip in Gangnam,” you replied. He heard the clicking of heels. You must be getting ready to leave.

“Well, have fun and be safe,” Seungmin said as he heard your keys jingle through the phone. “Thanks,” you said, a smile in your voice. “I’ll be careful,” you added. “And tell your friend I said happy birthday.” Your chuckle rang out and it made Seungmin miss hearing it in person. “I will,” you replied.

“I gotta go,” you said as Seungmin heard you open your door. “I’ll let you know when I get there and when I get home,” you added. “If it’ll make you feel better.” Seungmin smiled to himself. “It would, actually,” he answered. “Thank you.”

After you hung up, Seungmin plugged his phone in, hurrying through the apartment and changed at inhuman speed before returning to his phone, snatching it up and dialing Wonpil’s number. After the second ring, Wonpil answered the phone.

“What’s up?” he asked and Seungmin looked at himself in the mirror above the dining room table. “Do you have plans right now?” he asked. Wonpil fell silent for a moment before answering. “No?” he said hesitantly. “Want to go do something?” Seungmin asked.

“Dude, are you finally enjoying life again?” Wonpil asked, sounding both shocked and excited. “Well,” Seungmin said, playing with his hair, trying to get some of it to lay a certain way. “I’ve been on like 4 dates with Y/N,” he answered.

He heard Wonpil whoop through the phone. “Finally! You got laid!” Seungmin’s smile fell. “Actually about that,” he started and he could hear Wonpil groan through the phone. “Dude!” Seungmin held up his finger, even if Wonpil couldn’t see him. “To be fair, I’m leaving the city in like a week,” he explained.

“You know what? Whatever. It doesn’t matter. Let’s go out,” Wonpil said. “Where are we going?”

A smile spread across his face. “Have you been to the new club in Gangnam?”

Getting to the club was easy, and meeting Ami and Hae-eun was even easier. You hated turning Seungmin down but you’d had these plans for a couple weeks now. You could always see him another day. “Y/N!” Ami said excitedly as you joined her and Hae-eun in line.

“Hey,” you said, giving her a hug before you turned to hug Hae-eun. “Look at you,” Hae-eun said, looking at your dress. “I’ve been wanting to wear this for a while,” you admitted. “But I don’t have a chance to go to clubs anymore.”

“Is that hospital overworking?” Ami asked as the line moved closer to the door. “No,” you replied, waving your hand as you took a step forward with your friends. “I’ve actually started dating,” you admitted. Ami gasped dramatically. “No way,” she said and Hae-eun lightly slapped her arm.

“Stop teasing her,” Hae-eun chastised. “I think it’s great,” she added as the three of you took another step closer to the doors. “I like that you’re settled in enough to start dating again.” You smiled at her, thanking her silently.

It only took a few minutes more to get to the door, show your IDs to the bouncer and get inside after paying your cover charge.

Once inside, you maneuvered through the crowd towards the bar to order drinks. Hae-eun opened the first tab on her card and once you each had a drink or two in Ami’s case, the three of you tried to find an open table and were lucky enough to find three open places on one of the sofas.

Playing catch up over drinks and the loud music was difficult but you managed and after downing a drink, Hae-eun dragged both you and Ami onto the floor, even if you lost your spot. It had been a while since you’d been dancing with your friends but it was nice to let loose.

Seungmin had been a blessing, spending time with him helped you unwind but you couldn’t lie that you were left feeling a little frustrated each time he declined to come back up to your apartment at the end of each date. You understood his position completely. He wasn’t a casual sex kind of guy and you couldn’t fault him for that but you couldn’t deny that you were really hot for him.

Like really really hot.

You’d had more than one dream that left you even more frustrated than before.

“I need water!” you called over the heavy bass to your friends who nodded and continued to dance as you squeezed through the crowd of sweaty patrons and headed for the bar to get some water.

You were glad you chose a comfortable dress that was still form fitting and showed off your curves. As you approached the bar, you smiled at the bartender who stopped in front of you. “Water please,” you said, leaning in and grabbing a napkin or two, starting to dab at your forehead and neck.

As you waited, you managed to dab and wipe away some of the sweat, tossing the napkins away as the person beside you stepped away from the bar, leaving an open space that was quickly occupied by another body. “Here you go,” the bartender said, passing you an unopened bottle of water.

You thanked him, twisting the top off and taking a drink.

You were aware of the eyes on you and you glanced to the side, noticing how the man who had walked up was looking at you. His eyes looked up and down your body before looking up to meet your gaze. He gave you a smile which you did not return.

“Hey,” the man said and you turned back to look at him. You said nothing, forcing a polite smile before turning back away, hoping he’d get the hint. He didn’t.

“I saw you from across the room,” he started, leaning in to speak into your ear. You leaned away from him, the scent of his cologne overpowering your senses. “Your eyes work,” you noted. “Good for you.” He laughed heavily, the sound instantly putting you off.

You grabbed your bottle of water and excused yourself, turning and walking away from the bar. You spotted your friends in the crowd but before you could step off to weave through the crowd and join them, you felt a rough hand grab your arm. “I wasn’t done talking to you,” the man growled.

You quickly untwist the cap on your bottle of water and squeezed it, sending water into his face. “Yes you were,” you snapped and pulled from his grip. “No means no.”

Not giving him a chance to respond or react, you dumped the rest of your water on his shoes and tossed the bottle in the waste bin nearby, turning and heading into the crowd to find Ami and Hae-eun. They turned as you arrived and both their smiles fell upon seeing your annoyed expression.

You gave them a short explanation and commended you for how you handled the situation. They pulled you in to dance some more before the three of you headed back to the bar for more drinks. You were here celebrating with your friends and nothing, not even some creep, was going to ruin your fun.

As you sat back down at the sofa, Hae-eun rounded on you. “So,” she started, tapping your knee. “Tell us about this guy.” Ami’s eyes widened in excitement. “Ooh, yes!” she exclaimed. You shrugged your shoulders, stirring your drink with the small black straw.

“What do you want to know?” you asked as nonchalantly as possible.

“How did you meet?”

“Is he hot?”

“Where did you meet?”

“Is he rich?”

“What does he do for a living?”

“Does he have a big-”

Hae-eun slapped Ami’s arm. “Stop with the superficial questions!” she hissed, making you snort and shake your head at their antics. ‘The same as ever,’ you noted.

“We met in the national park,” you started, looking at Hae-eun. “Yes, he’s hot,” you continued, looking at Ami. “I don’t know what he does for a living but he’s got enough money to pay for all our dates,” you added. The two stared at you, waiting for more. “And???” Ami asked.

“And what?” you asked, looking between them.

“I think what the birthday girl is asking,” Hae-eun said, throwing a glare at Ami. “Is ‘have you slept together?’” Ami nodded excitedly, looking at you expectantly. You averted your eyes from their questioning gazes, suddenly more interested in your drink.

“We haven’t,” you finally answered quietly. Ami groaned and Hae-eun shushed her. “This is why none of your dates go anywhere, Y/N,” Ami said pointedly, ignoring the glare Hae-eun gave her. You looked up at them, confusion written on your face.

“But I’ve invited him up!” you protested. “Numerous times actually.” Ami exchanged glances with Hae-eun. “And he says no?” Hae-eun asked, to which you nodded. “Every time; he declines, we say goodnight, I kiss him on the cheek, and then he waits for me to go inside before he leaves,” you explained.

“He’s gay,” Ami said suddenly, making Hae-eun choke on her drink.

“He’s not gay,” you retorted. “He even said he’s just old fashioned. He’s not into casual sex.” Ami rolled her eyes, settling back against the sofa. “Gaaaaaaay,” she shouted. Hae-eun covered her mouth with her hand, apologizing to the group sitting next to you.

You looked back down at your drink. “Maybe he’s a virgin!” Ami suddenly said and you shrugged. “And if he is?” you asked, looking up. “Is that so bad?” Ami hesitated but Hae-eun jumped in. “No,” she replied. “There’s nothing wrong with that,” she replied.

“It’s boring!” Ami said loudly, earning another slap to the arm from Hae-eun.

“Well, I think it’s refreshing to have a guy not want to get into my pants and actually take an interest in building something first,” you retorted. “Not everything has to be about sex. Meaningful relationships are important, too,” you added. Hae-eun raised her glass. “Hear, hear,” she said.

You gently tapped your glass against hers before taking a sip while Ami shrugged.

“I still think he’s a boring, gay virgin.”

Seungmin had met Wonpil at the door, managing to get to the club at the same time Wonpil was ready to go in. They’d paid their cover charges, slipped inside and headed for the bar. Seungmin ordered a simple whiskey neat and spent most of the first few hours nursing the drink.

Wonpil was looking around, noticing a few ladies not far smiling his way but tonight wasn’t about that as Seungmin had explained as soon as they entered the establishment. “I can’t believe the first time ever of you inviting me out is about spying on your girlfriend,” he murmured, downing the rest of his second drink.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Seungmin retorted, keeping his eyes on you as you danced with your friends. You had finished one drink already that he saw and took to the floor immediately after, following your two friends. He had half a mind to slip onto the dance floor and join you.

He was vaguely listening to Wonpil talk about work when he noticed you were no longer on the dance floor. He saw your friends but there was no sign of you. Sitting up quickly, his eyes darted around until he finally found you, relief flooding him but it was short lived.

You had managed to ask the bartender for something when a man in a gray suit sidled up to the bar beside you. The way he was staring at your body made Seungmin’s stomach churn. He watched as the man spoke to you but due to all the other interference of the loud music and chatter around him, Seungmin couldn’t tell what was being said but based on your body language, you weren’t into it.

Seungmin watched as you walked away from the bar, feeling a bit better but when the man followed, grabbing you by the arm, he clenched his hand so hard, the glass in Seungmin’s hand shattered, sending whiskey all over the table.

“Whoa, dude, chill,” Wonpil hissed, starting to pick up the pieces, catching the attention of one of the servers who came over with a towel. “I’m so sorry,” Wonpil said as he helped her gather the glass in the towel. “My friend doesn’t know his own strength sometimes,” he added as he brushed Seungmin’s hand off and accepted a clean towel to clean up the alcohol.

“Thank you so much,” Wonpil said, offering another apology.

Seungmin’s eyes were still on you and the man. You’d managed to untwist the cap of your water bottle and squeeze the liquid in his face, prompting to let go before you dumped the remainder on his shoes and then left to join your friends.

Seungmin felt a surge of pride at watching the exchange but he didn’t miss the murderous look the man threw your way before he stormed off towards the bathrooms. Seungmin kept his eye on you but also kept an eye out for the man.

It was maybe about twenty or thirty minutes later that you got up from the couch after settling there with new drinks that you made your way towards the bathrooms. Seungmin had yet to see the man but when you passed the bar, a figure turned and Seungmin saw it was the man.

He felt his stomach churn again as the man got up and started after you, keeping his distance. “I’ll be back,” Seungmin announced to Wonpil and got up from his seat, turning and weaving through the crowd in the direction of the bathrooms.

You managed to make it through the crowd and into the bathroom. As you were shutting the door, a foot blocked it and you looked up to see the same man from before. He pushed the door open, forcing you back. “This is the women’s bathroom,” you remarked but he said nothing, instead, shutting the door and to your horror you heard the lock click.

“You need to get out,” you said as he advanced. Again he said nothing.

You backed away as he continued forward towards you.

“Get the fuck out. What is your problem?” you snapped, which finally got a response. “You think that was funny?” he asked, his voice dangerously low. “Splashing water in my face in front of everyone?” You narrowed your eyes. “If you hadn’t been such a creep and left me alone when I literally walked away from you, maybe I wouldn’t have had to splash water in your face,” you replied.

“If you didn’t want attention, you shouldn’t have dressed like a slut,” he retorted. You rolled your eyes. “Seriously dude? Grow up. Get out before I call security,” you warned. He scoffed, almost laughing at you. “How’re you gonna do that when you can’t even scream?” he asked.

Your eyes widened and before you could move, he closed the distance, pushing you back against the sink, one hand going round your throat and pushing your head back against the mirror. You heard the glass crack and splinter as your head made contact, the impact dazing you for a moment.

You tried to claw at his hand. “L-let go!” you choked out. His free hand moved to the hem of your dress. “I’ll teach you a lesson, slut,” he growled. Before he could do anything else, the door was thrown open with such force you thought a bomb had gone off.

“Get your hands off her,” a familiar voice snapped. You heard the impact of a punch and the sound of a body falling into the wall before you felt a presence standing in front of you. “Y/N, holy shit, look at me,” the voice said. Gentle hands took hold of your face and through your swimming vision you saw Seungmin’s face.

“S-Seungmin?” you stammered. “Back off buddy,” the other guy said, advancing but Seungmin turned to look at him, a deep growl emitting from his chest. It rumbled so intensely that you felt it on your skin. “Touch her again and I’ll rip your fucking fingers off, one by one,” he threatened.

Without another word, Seungmin easily lifted you off the sink, carrying you from the bathroom and through the crowd easily. He stopped at the door to inform the bouncers of the situation but you couldn’t pay attention. Soon the cool autumn air hit your skin and you opened your eyes.

You were outside.

“Where’s your phone?” Seungmin asked, carrying you to the end of the block and kneeling down, holding you up with one hand as he pulled his own phone from his pocket. “It’s here,” you murmured, gesturing at your chest where you had stuffed your phone earlier as your dress had no pockets.

“Can you get it out for me?” Seungmin asked softly as he dialed something on his phone and held his phone up to his ear. “Yeah, I got her,” Seungmin said softly into the receiver. “I’m gonna call an ambulance. Get her friends and I’ll text you the location of the hospital they take her,” he continued.

You shook your head. “No mmbulance,” you mumbled. Seungmin pulled his phone away from his ear and started typing again before holding it back up to his ear. “Y/N, you’ve hit your head,” Seungmin explained. “You’re bleeding so you might need stitches,” he continued. “And you might have a concussion.”

You looked up as he waited for whoever he was calling to answer. In the glow of the neon lights of the city he was exceptionally beautiful. You blinked slowly as you watched him. His hair was pushed back, like he’d intentionally styled it or had run his fingers through it so much it was holding.

His irises were red and you don’t know how you never noticed it before.

“You have pretty eyes,” you said, your speech slurring slightly. Seungmin looked down at you, his lips parting before he looked back up. “Hi, yes, I need an ambulance to the corner of Gangnam Boulevard and the 69th street. Address? Uh…” Seungmin looked up and around for an address to give what you assumed was a 1-1-9 dispatcher.

You tuned out the words, instead just watching him speak as the throbbing of your head started to set in.

“Thank you,” he replied, drawing you back to reality. “Ow,” you murmured as he put his phone away. “An ambulance is on the way,” he said, shifting so he was leaning against the wall of the building and keeping you on his lap. “On a scale of one to ten, how bad does it hurt?” he asked softly.

“Ssseven,” you slurred. “Y/N oh my god! What happened!” a voice rang out. Seungmin looked up as did you. A smile spread across your face as Ami and Hae-eun hurried over with some guy you’d never seen. He looked a bit like Seungmin. You glanced at Seungmin again and then to the man and back at Seungmin.

“Are you two brothers?” you asked, pointing between them. Seungmin looked up at the man who stared back. “Uh, Y/N,” Seungmin replied. “That’s Wonpil.” You looked again and the realization dawned on you. “Dr. Kim!” you said suddenly, trying to sit up but Seungmin kept a firm grip on you.

“Whoa,” Wonpil said as he moved and knelt down. “No sudden movements, Y/N,” he said with a chuckle. “You know that. Let me see your head,” he said, gently taking your head and turning it so he could inspect the back. “It’s bleeding,” he noted.

“But it doesn’t seem too bad,” he added. “Might not even need stitches,” he continued with a smile and a wink. “But you could have a concussion,” he said, glancing at Seungmin. “Okay,” Hae-eun said, drawing everyone’s attention.

“Not to be rude, but who the fuck are you two?”

Wonpil chuckled at Hae-eun’s aggressiveness. “I’m Wonpil. I work with Y/N,” he introduced himself. “I’m a doctor at Seoul General. This is my friend Seungmin who also happens to be dating your friend Y/N,” he added, gesturing at Seungmin.

“Ami! Ami! Seungmin is the one you think is a gay virgin,” you blurted out, looking at Ami who looked positively horrified at your candor. You felt Seungmin freeze under you. “Y/N,” Hae-eun hissed. “You can’t say things like that.” You looked at her. “Oh, sorry, Hae-eun.”

Wonpil looked as if he might burst a seam, holding in his laughter.

“I am so sorry,” Ami said, looking at Seungmin. You looked up at him trying to decipher his expression but it was unreadable. “He’s just a gentleman,” you replied, still looking up at him. Seungmin looked down, meeting your gaze and you noticed the small smile he gave you.

“He’s just old fashioned and there’s nothing wrong with that,” you continued. You looked around as everyone was bathed in red and blue lights. “Is the wee woo wagon here?” you asked, making Wonpil snort as Seungmin carefully shifted as two paramedics got out of the ambulance.

“Yes,” he said, glancing down at you. “The wee woo wagon is here.” You closed your eyes, letting out a laugh. “Wee woo, wee woo,” you said, mimicking the siren as a new set of hands started to look you over and carefully placed you on a soft material.

“Wow,” you said as one person started to check your blood pressure. “The concrete sure is soft.”

Wonpil let out another laugh before covering his mouth. “Sorry,” he said softly. After starting an IV and checking your vitals and the wound on your head, you were loaded into the ambulance. “We only have space for one of you,” one of the paramedics said. “I’ll go,” Wonpil offered. “I’m a doctor and her colleague,” he added. “I’ll text you the location,” he said as he climbed in.

Seungmin nodded, keeping his eyes on you as the doors were shut and the ambulance took off, sirens blaring. “This is not how tonight was supposed to go,” Ami said tearfully, Hae-eun leaning into her looking every bit as worried as Seungmin felt.

“Where will they take her?” Ami asked, looking at Seungmin who shrugged. “I don’t know,” he replied. “Wonpil will let me know as soon as they get close,” he added.

Seungmin glanced behind him, back towards the club. His mind was full of thoughts to go back. To finish what he had in his mind but the buzzing of his phone pulled him from those dark thoughts. Seungmin glanced down at his phone, the screen lighting up with a notification from Wonpil.

Wonpil: they’re taking her to our hospital. Visiting hours will be ending soon. Get there fast

“I got a location,” Seungmin announced, Ami and Hae-eun turning to look at him. “Where” Ami asked as Seungmin hailed a cab, pocketing his phone. The driver pulled up to the curb and Seungmin turned to the two. “Seoul General,” he replied. “But we have to hurry.”

He got into the front while Ami and Hae-eun got into the back and he told the driver where to go.

He’d deal with the creep later.

The drive to the hospital didn’t take long and soon, the cab was pulling up to the emergency entrance. “Thank you so much,” Seungmin said, paying the driver as Ami and Hae-eun got out. He joined them on the sidewalk and headed into the hospital.

“Can I help you?” one of the triage nurses asked, smiling up at him. “Hi,” Seungmin said softly, leaning against the counter. “Our friend was brought in. A Dr. Kim was with her. She had a head injury and was picked up just off Gangnam Boulevard,” he explained.

“What’s your friend’s name?” she asked, typing on her computer. “Y/N,” Seungmin replied quickly.

“Last name?” she asked, looking up at him. Seungmin hesitated. He didn’t know your last name. “Y/L/N,” Hae-eun interjected, stepping forward. She rattled off the rest of your information as Seungmin fell silent. He hadn’t even known your last name.

How didn’t he know something as simple as that? It started to dawn on him just how little he truly knew about you. “She’s still being looked at,” the nurse said as she looked at her screen. “Dr. Kim ordered an MRI and CT scan. If you want to wait, you’re welcome to wait here and I’ll make sure someone comes and informs you of her condition as soon as there’s an update.”

Hae-eun thanked the nurse and returned to Ami, the two leading the way over to an empty corner, taking a seat on the small sofa while Seungmin sat in one of the armchairs. He didn’t look at either of your friends, instead trying to focus on keeping himself from going back to the club.

He wasn’t sure how much time went by but Hae-eun looked up and tapped Ami’s arm prompting Seungmin to also look up, seeing Wonpil walking over. Seungmin got up quickly as did Hae-eun. “How is she?” Ami asked, looking up from her seat.

“She’s okay,” Wonpil answered. “She didn’t need stitches,” he confirmed, looking at Seungmin who was relieved. “It was a lot of blood but the cut was very shallow and shouldn’t scar.” Seungmin let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding. “As for the trauma to her head,” he continued.

“Nothing on her scans indicate any serious trauma to her brain. Maybe a little bit of rattling, but there’s no bleeding in her brain which is a good sign,” he explained, addressing Ami and Hae-eun. “We will keep her overnight for observation. Nurses will wake her up every hour to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion,” he continued.

“Can we go see her?” Ami asked and Wonpil nodded, smiling. “Yes, of course,” he answered. “I’ll take you back there now,” he added. Seungmin brought up the rear as Wonpil walked your friends back into the ER. “Visiting hours end soon,” Wonpil said softly as he stopped by a door,

“But I’ll extend them just a bit for you,” he added, gesturing to the open door. Ami and Hae-eun entered, pushing the curtain aside as they entered. Wonpil stopped Seungmin before he could follow. “Tell me you didn’t do anything to him,” Wonpil said under his breath.

Seungmin looked up at this friend. “No,” he replied. “Well, I may have punched him.” Wonpil raised a brow. “Did his head stay on?” Seungmin snorted. “Unfortunately,” he replied. Wonpil held back a laugh. “I know he did something wrong but don’t go causing trouble,” Wonpil warned.

“Let the consequences of his actions catch up with him.”

Seungmin said nothing, nodding silently as Wonpil lowered his hand. “She’s a little more lucid,” he added. Seungmin thanked his friend and entered the room. Seeing you lying in the bed made his non-beating heart sink into his stomach.

He hated seeing you in such a state and it further fueled the fire in his being to go back to the club and deal with the man who had the audacity to put his hands on you. To say the things he did. To hurt you. Seungmin heard it all.

After the man had gotten up and followed you, Seungmin had gotten up, following both of you at a distance. He heard the entire exchange. The way you stood your ground, the way the man degraded you, calling you names before he acted.

It took every ounce of his strength to not tear the man apart, limb from limb when he entered that bathroom. Seeing his hands on you, how he had you pinned to the sink. The shatter mirror, the cracks spreading from the source of impact. Your head.

He should have killed the creep then and there but he was driven by a desire to make sure you were okay first. To get you to safety and assess your condition. He could always go back. And he would go back.

“Y/N, oh my god!” Ami said, rushing to your side as Hae-eun followed. Seungmin hung back as Wonpil entered the room, hands in his pockets. “She’s a very pretty woman,” Wonpil said under his breath. Seungmin nodded. “She’s more remarkable than she looks,” he replied.

Wonpil nodded, silence falling over the two.

“You can’t keep seeing her if you plan to leave,” Wonpil said finally and Seungmin nodded again. “I know,” he said softly. “I’ve thought about it over and over,” he added. “It’ll just hurt her and I can't do that to her.”

Wonpill nodded, turning his head towards Seungmin. “So don’t keep doing this. Don’t follow her to clubs,” he continued. Seungmin looked at him. “This was a one time thing,” he whispered. “I’ve never followed her before,” he clarified.

Wonpil nodded. “Good,” he said softly. Seungmin watched as Wonpil stepped forward. “I’m sorry ladies,” he said, addressing Ami and Hae-eun. “But Y/N needs rest. She’ll be released tomorrow so long as she’s cleared,” he added. Ami and Hae-eun nodded and looked back at you.

“Sorry I ruined your birthday,” you said to Ami who laughed, gently squeezing your hand. “It’s okay,” she replied. “You didn’t ruin it,” she added. “We’ll come see you tomorrow,” Hae-eun said, looking at Wonpil who nodded with a smile. “Of course,” he said, gesturing towards the door.

“Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow,” Ami said as she and Hae-eun said goodbye and started to move towards the door, passing in front of Seungmin. When they were past him, Seungmin caught your eye and offered a smile before turning to head for the door.

“Actually, could I have a moment alone with Seungmin?” you asked Wonpil who glanced at his friend before looking back at you. “Of course,” he said. “Just a couple minutes,” he added before leaving the room. Seungmin turned back to face you.

“Could you come here please?” you asked, trying to push yourself up. Seungmin hurried to your side, grabbing the bed controls. “Use this,” he said, placing it in your hand. “Thanks,” you said, pressing the button to raise the head of the bed.

Seungmin sat carefully on the edge of your bed, keeping his eyes on your face. “I--” your voice cracked as you tried to say something. You tried again. Seungmin could see you fighting the urge to cry. “I wanted to thank you for saving me,” you said softly. Seungmin glanced down at your hand, wondering whether he should take hold of it or not.

He lost the fight with his inner self and took your hand gently and carefully. His ears picked up how the heart monitor beeped a little faster. It wasn’t much but it was enough for you to avoid his glaze for a moment. “Damn machine,” you said softly.

“Giving me away.”

Seungmin fought the urge to smile. He’d already known how he affected you. He could hear your heart without the monitor. He could hear the way the tempo danced whenever he got closer or whenever you held his hand or leaned into him.

He was sure his would be doing the same if it weren’t dead.

“Damn machine,” he repeated, making you chuckle.

You looked up, meeting his gaze. “I thanked you for saving me,” you started. “But how did you know where I was?” you asked. Seungmin smiled, looking down at your hand in his. “When you said you were going out with some friends, I decided to do the same and asked Wonpil to come out with me. I didn’t expect us to end up at the same club,” he admitted.

You looked up at him as he spoke. “But I saw you while I was talking to Wonpil and I saw that guy,” he continued, his expression shifting to anger as he recalled the way the man had grabbed your arm. “And I saw the way you defended yourself. But then you went to the bathroom alone and then I saw him follow and I just felt like something was wrong,” he added.

“So I followed you to the bathrooms. I got close enough, and then I heard you pleading,” Seungmin said, keeping his voice as even as possible. “So you broke down the door?” you asked, watching his face. He nodded. “How?” you asked, and Seungmin looked down at you. “How what?”

“How did you break down the door?” you asked, looking genuinely curious. “I kicked it in,” he admitted. You stared at him for a few minutes before speaking. “But it’s a metal door,” you replied. Seungmin shrugged. “I probably had adrenaline pumping,” he replied. “You can do incredible things on adrenaline,” he added.

You stared at him, eyes searching his face. For the first time since meeting you, Seungmin couldn’t tell if you were scared of him or not. “That’s one hell of an adrenaline rush,” you finally said and Seungmin laughed, nodding. “Yeah,” he said softly. He placed your hand on your stomach.

“I should probably go so you can rest,” he said, standing up. The way you looked up at him had him feeling like he couldn’t just leave without a proper goodbye. Against his better judgment, he leaned down, pressing a kiss to your forehead.

As he pulled back, he met your gaze and before he could stop you, you grabbed the front of his jacket, pulling him down and Seungmin felt on fire as your lips met for the first time. He couldn’t remember the last time he kissed someone. It had been ages but yet he didn’t seem to be any worse for it.

Your lips parted and Seungmin could hear via both the heart monitor and the pounding of your heart as his tongue slipped into your mouth. It was embarrassing how easily a kiss riled him up but he could smell how it affected you as well. He pulled back even though the man inside him wanted more. He rested his forehead against yours.

“I’m sorry our first kiss was while you were lying in a hospital bed,” he said, a hint of amusement to his voice. You giggled, looking up at him as he pulled back. “Thank you again,” you said softly, drawing your bottom lip between your teeth. Seungmin’s hand cupped your cheek, his thumb brushing over and pulling your bottom lip free before he leaned in, kissing you again.

“Get some rest,” he said softly. “I’ll come see you tomorrow,” he added as he stood up. “You promise?” you called as he walked towards the door, he turned back and smiled, nodding. “But after you get out of the hospital,” he added as the door opened and Wonpil appeared.

“Goodnight Y/N,” Seungmin said before following Wonpil out of the room as he heard you call out.

“See you around!”

Seungmin chuckled to himself as Wonpil shut the door and rounded on him. “I told you to leave her alone,” he hissed as the pair headed for the exit. “The entire nurses station could hear her heart monitor!” Seungmin laughed a little louder as they reached the door.

“I’m serious,” Wonpil added, trying not to laugh as Seungmin came to a halt by the doors leading out to the lobby. “If you plan on leaving, don’t get involved with her.” Seungmin nodded, forcing his laughter down. “And go home,” he added.

It was clear what Wonpil was insinuating but there was no way Seungmin was going to let the creep get away with what he’d just done. Especially not to you. “The world won’t miss him,” he replied under his breath. “I’m simply taking out the trash.”

Wonpil glanced up at him before looking around. “Fine,” he said definitively. “Just make it look like an accident and be careful.” Seungmin didn’t need telling twice. He nodded once and said goodbye to his friend before exiting to the lobby. If he was going to do this, he needed to get back to the club.

It didn’t take long for him to reach the club and by the time he got there, the club had closed with the patrons spilling out into the street, calling for taxis and other transportation home. Seungmin hid amongst the crowd, keeping his eye out until he finally spotted him.

‘Found you.’

It had not been a good night for Darren. From having water splashed in his face and poured on his shoes, being assaulted in the bathroom and not managing to find anyone else to come home with him, he left the club dejectedly and started the walk home. He was fortunate that his apartment building was a few blocks away.

As he started to walk away from the crowd, he glanced around to get an idea of his surroundings and who might be walking the same direction as him. He continued on, one foot in front of the other as he walked further from the busy boulevard and down side streets and alleys.

He stopped in his tracks as the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and turned, looking behind him, scanning the area. He saw nothing, indicating he was alone, but he didn’t feel alone. He shook the feeling off and turned back around to continue on.

He’d only gone a few more steps when he felt it again. The feeling of being watched. He turned back around, hands balling into fists as he stood his ground against his shadowy follower. He squinted, looking into the dark crevices. Inspecting the best he could from a distance.

Nothing moved. There were no sounds. No crickets, no rats or other critters squeaking or chittering. There was no sound of fans or air conditioning units. Nothing. It was as if someone hit mute on everything. There was no sound of vehicles passing on the larger streets nearby.

He shook the creeping feeling across his skin and continued on his way again. He wasn’t going to let some paranoid feeling get the best of him. Picking up the pace, he continued walking, hoping to get out of this neighborhood soon and into the one where he lived. Where he felt safe.

He heard the sound of footsteps and the scraping of metal against concrete, like a can had been kicked. He spun around but was met once again with an empty alleyway. The various steps and stoops up to the front doors were empty. Not even a cat waiting to be let in for the night.

There was nothing. Just him and the alley.

Darren quickened his pace yet again, practically jogging now as he tried to navigate his way out of this alley and back onto a major street. He could hear footsteps against pavement and broke into a run, noticing the end of the alley drawing closer and soon he was back on the main street with other people. He stopped, glancing back into the alley where he swore he saw a pair of glowing red eyes.

This spooked him enough to light a fire under him and he hurried back to his building, ignoring the looks from strangers around him as he pushed past them without so much as an ‘excuse me’ or apology. He reached his building, a high rise with a doorman who greeted him, opening the door for him.

Once in the elevator, Darren felt much better. Safer even. The ride up to the nineteenth floor didn’t take long and soon he was putting in the code for his apartment, letting himself in and shutting the door quickly behind him, locking it and taking a few deep breaths.

He’d managed to make it home and he felt infinitely better in his familiar surroundings. He started to settle, removing his shoes before stepping up onto the floor and going about his usual routine. He moved into the kitchen, pouring himself a glass of water and drinking it slowly as he thought about the events of the night.

Namely the man who came into the bathroom to rescue the woman who had splashed water in his face.

He’d never seen anything like it. The way the door was kicked in, almost like it had been blown in by a battering ram and then the way he stormed in. He moved so fast, Darren had no chance to react before he felt the man’s fist collide with his jaw. “Bastard,” he said softly as he reached up to massage the sore spot on his face. He knew it was going to bruise.

Darren finished his water before setting the empty glass in the sink and heading to the back of his apartment, towards his bedroom and bathroom. Inside the bathroom, he turned on the water, making it as hot as he could stand. Something to relax his tense muscles before bed.

He stripped, dropping his clothes in the hamper and stepped under the stream, closing the glass door behind him. The hot water beat down on him, steaming up the glass surfaces and obscuring his vision of the rest of the bathroom.

A sudden gust of cold wind hit him and he froze, looking away from the shower and quickly wiped the glass, squinting out into the bathroom and trying to see beyond the open bathroom door to his bedroom. He saw nothing and quickly opened the door, grabbing a towel to wrap around his waist.

He stepped out of the shower, and started into the bedroom, the cool breeze still hitting him. Once inside his room he noticed that one of his windows was open. ‘What the hell?’

He hurried over and pulled it shut, latching the lock and looking outside to the city below. ‘How in the hell could that have opened?’ he wondered. He took a good look around the room but found nothing amiss. Nothing had been moved, nor did he see any sign of intruders.

Deciding he needed to just sleep it off, he headed back into the bathroom to finish his shower so he could go to bed. He hung the towel back up, stepping back into the glass case and shutting the door. He heard a scraping behind him against the glass and spun around.

There was nothing there. He turned to the door but again saw nothing. He turned the water off and shook his head. ‘You’re seeing things,’ he told himself and chuckled. “Man, you really need sleep.”

He turned to open the door and froze. Out of his periphery on the left side he could see a dark shadow. A figure. He turned to look at it, terror filling his veins as the figure didn’t disappear when he looked at it. Standing firmly beyond the glass was a dark shape, it was vaguely human.

“W-who are you?” he stammered, frozen in place. Darren could hear a faint buzzing and the light overhead started to flicker. He looked up at it quickly and then back but the shadow was gone. He turned back to the door and then everything happened in slow motion.

He was confronted with a nightmarish creature. Black and red eyes, a grotesque pale face with a bat-like nose. The teeth. Each one was sharp and pointed and the creature's mouth was full of them.

It snarled and roared at him, causing him to jump and take a step back. Darren slipped, falling back in slow motion. His head collided with the tiled wall behind him, a sharp and intense pain spreading from the point of impact as he slid down the wall and onto the floor of the shower.

The creature, which had been hanging upside down, dropped to the floor, features shifting as it moved closer and knelt down, clicking its tongue as it did so.

“Tsk, tsk,” it said in the voice of a man. Darren looked up, his vision swimming in and out of focus. “You know, you really should have an anti slip mat in these things,” the creature turned man said and as his face came into focus, Darren’s eyes widened. “Y-you!” he stammered.

The man from before looked down at him coldly. His irises red as he glared. “I had told you I’d rip your fingers off one by one,” he said as he looked down at him. “But watching you hit your head and slowly succumb to the trauma is so much more satisfying,” he said, his voice full of malice.

“You can’t do this-” Darren choked out, fear taking over him as the man reached a hand down slowly. “Yes,” he replied. “I can and I will.” Darren felt the man’s fingers curl into his hair, picking his head up off the tiled floor before he gave him a cruel smile.

“I’ll teach you a lesson,” he hissed before slamming Darren’s head against the floor. As the man stood up, everything started to go black. “Wash this up,” the man said, turning on the shower, the water raining down on Darren’s body as his life ebbed away from him.

“Be glad I’ve given you this death. You deserve much worse.”

As his vision went black, the last thing Darren saw was the back of the man exiting his bathroom.

“In other news, authorities have said in a strange twist of events, a suspect in a serial rapist they’ve been trying to track down has died in an accident in his apartment. The suspect slipped and fell in the shower, hitting his head and dying from the trauma. Now let’s look at the weather.”

Seungmin looked up as Wonpil turned the television off. “I told you not to get involved,” Wonpil hissed as Seungmin sat perfectly still, staring back at him. “He slipped and fell,” Seungmin stated. “I didn’t touch him.” Wonpil narrowed his eyes.

“I guess his karma caught up to him,” Seungmin added, looking away from Wonpil.

“I don’t see what the big deal is. It looks like an accident,” Seungmin added. Wonpil shook his head. “You don’t get to play judge, jury, and executioner,” he stated. “We’re not supposed to get involved in these things. Let them sort it out.”

Seungmin narrowed his eyes at Wonpil. “Let them sort it out? So you’re saying I should have let him force himself on Y/N?” Seungmin asked incredulously. “No!” Wonpil, sounding exasperated. “I didn’t say that! I just meant that this is what happens when you get involved.”

Seungmin scoffed, getting up from the sofa. “So, it’s my fault?”

Wonpil gestured to the tv. “A man is dead!” he replied. “A man who had assaulted many. A serial rapist,” Seungmin argued. “Or did you just ignore that part?” Wonpil glared at him, huffing angrily as his pager started to beep. He pulled it out of his pocket and checked the screen.

“I gotta go. Hospital needs me,” he said, getting up and grabbing his wallet. “Stay out of trouble while I’m gone,” Wonpil said as he headed for the door. “Oh, and one more thing,” he continued, turning back to look at Seungmin. “Stay away from Y/N.”

Seungmin glared at the door as Wonpil disappeared. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he fished the device out, seeing he had a text from you.

Y/N: you said you’d come and see me after i got released but you haven’t come ):

Seungmin chuckled, quickly typing out a response. He’d finally gotten the hang of having a phone and had no problems sending texts anymore though he still occasionally signed them off before erasing them, remembering they weren’t emails.

Seungmin: sorry. It’s been kind of hectic on this end. I do want to see you (:

Your response was swift.

Y/N: how about dinner tonight? My place? I’ll cook for you (:

Seungmin stared at the screen. Dinner? At your place? Alone? He hesitated. Could he resist the urge? The urge to want to be with you? To want you in every possible way he could have you? He knew if he gave in to that urge, there was no way he could leave you. He’d be tied to you in some way.

Against his better judgment, Seungmin responded.

Seungmin: sounds good. Seven o’clock?

Y/N: seven o’clock sounds perfect. I’ll see you soon (;

Seungmin chuckled at the winking face you’d sent as he locked and placed his phone in his pocket, checking the time on his watch. He had about an hour to get ready and head to your place. He wrote a note for Wonpil, letting him know that he wasn’t going to listen and that he was going to give in for once before grabbing his jacket and heading for the door.

The walk back to his place took half an hour as he had to weave between busy pedestrians without drawing attention. He raced to his apartment as soon as the elevator doors opened and once he was inside, he changed at top speed, rushing through the apartment.

Once he was ready, he headed back down and had about twenty minutes to get to your place before seven. He stopped on the way, grabbing a bottle of wine and a small bouquet of flowers. Nothing overly fancy. More of an “I’m thinking of you and hope you’re well,” kind of thing.

He arrived at your building with five minutes to spare, taking the buttonless elevator up to your floor. He watched as the counter stopped on the twentieth floor and he got off, heading to the unit number you’d instructed. Standing outside 2091, he felt like an idiot but he knocked regardless.

It took only a few moments for you to answer the door, opening it with a smile on your face as you greeted him. “Hey, come on in,” you said softly and stood aside to let him in. Seungmin stepped over the threshold. The notion that a vampire could not enter unless invited was garbage but he liked that you still invited him in.

“These are for you,” he said, handing the flowers over. You smiled, taking them with a thank you. “They’re lovely,” you added as you headed into the kitchen. Seungmin slipped off his shoes and followed you, glancing around your studio apartment.

It was every bit uniquely you as you had described it to him. You had taken a singular space and turned it into three. The bedroom area was closed off by a hanging curtain and cubby shelves. The plants and string lights made it feel cozy and magical. Almost like a forest.

You’d turned the space near the door leading to the balcony into your living room, sectioning the space off but it didn’t feel cut off. Everything flowed nicely. The last space was against the wall on the other side of the living space. A small dining table and three chairs stood, all bar height.

Seungmin turned to you as you placed the flowers in an empty vase, setting the vase aside and turning to him. “Wine as well?” you asked, nodding at the bottle in his hand. He handed it over and you turned to your fridge, placing the bottle inside.

“I didn’t want to show up empty handed,” he answered. You turned back to him before moving to the kitchen counter. “So,” Seungmin said, moving to stand beside you. “What are you making?” he asked. “A stirfry,” you answered simply, cutting the vegetables.

“For me anyway,” you replied. Seungmin looked up at you, meeting your gaze.

“You don’t eat,” you said plainly. Seungmin was certain if his heart was alive, it would be pounding. Were you onto him? He broke into a smile, laughing. “What are you talking about?” he asked, chuckling. You moved to open the cabinet.

You pulled out a wine glass. “Do you want one?” you asked, looking at him. “For the sake of appearances?” Seungmin’s smile fell. “What are you talking about?” he asked as you moved to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of your own wine and pouring yourself a glass.

“Are you a vampire?”

Your question caught him completely off guard, knocking the wind out of him as he processed what you’d just asked. Had he imagined the whole thing? He didn’t even notice you pour another glass of wine and push it towards him.

You had asked him so nonchalantly. Like you were asking about his job or the weather.

‘Are you a vampire?’ Your voice echoed in his head. How was he supposed to answer? Did he lie and laugh it off? Did you already know for certain? Would denying it just make you mad and push you further away? That was the last thing he wanted.

“Well,” you said suddenly, pulling Seungmin from his thoughts. “Are you?”

He looked from your questioning gaze to the glass of wine sitting in front of him. He grabbed it, swirling the red liquid as he carefully thought about his answer. He wondered when you pieced it all together. Was it when he’d saved you from the creep in the club bathroom? Or perhaps it was before then. Had you known since the moment you met him when he was contemplating throwing himself from the cliff?

But if so, how could you have known? In all his years, he’s never met another person who deduced his true nature who wasn’t already a supernatural being themselves. Maybe he had you all wrong? Was there more to you than met even his eyes?

“Am I what?” he finally spoke, looking up from the crimson wine, through his lashes to meet your gaze.

“A vampire?”

Seungmin held his breath, staring you down. Normally when he made eye contact like this, everyone would shy away from his intense gaze, everyone except you it would seem. You held his gaze, staring back almost challengingly. “What makes you think that?” Seungmin asked softly, still staring back at you.

“Just a hunch, I guess,” you replied, looking away from his eyes momentarily to take a sip of your wine before glancing back up again. “I thought about it when I first saw you,” you explained. “You looked so… tormented and lonely.” Seungmin continued to hold his breath as you spoke.

“Not to mention those stories you told me when we first met on the cliff that day. So much history. So many tales,” you continued, a small smile appearing on your lips. “And then when you seemingly knew where I was at the club when that… man--”

“Monster,” Seungmin interrupted, catching you off guard as you looked back up in shock.

“That wasn’t a man,” Seungmin continued. “That was a monster.”

You tilted your head curiously. “If he’s a monster, what does that make you?” you asked softly, setting your glass on the granite counter. Seungmin let out a dark chuckle. “Never said I wasn’t one, too, sweetheart,” he countered, taking another sip of his wine, watching the line settle as he set the glass on the counter as well, looking up to meet your gaze.

He tried to discern the emotion behind the look you were giving him now. He thought perhaps by now your flight or fight response would have kicked in but alas, you were looking at him more out of concern than fear. Were you concerned about what he could do to you? Or were you concerned for him?

“You know,” Seungmin said, chuckling as the notion crossed his mind. “I’m not a mind-reader,” he added. “I’d like to know what’s going on in your head.” He waited while you gathered your thoughts, waiting for you to say something. To say anything.

“Did you kill him?” you asked suddenly, catching him completely off guard. “What?” he whispered.

You tilted your head to the side, still maintaining eye contact with him, like you weren’t staring a predator in the face. “Did you kill him? The man from the club, the one you said is a monster.”

Seungmin hesitated. It seemed you’d already made up your mind about the nature of his being yet neither of you commented on it. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to,” he answered finally, lifting his glass but hesitating when you spoke, the glass barely touching his lips.

“Spare me the evasive act. I’m not an idiot, Seungmin. I know danger when I see it. Everything in my body is telling me you’re dangerous just like that man. The only difference is that the danger I felt with him is learned. The danger I feel from you is primal. It’s ingrained in my brain. Hardwired because you aren’t human. You’re something more.”

Seungmin looked past the glass at your slightly distorted figure before lowering the glass to peer at you over the rim. “Then why did you invite me here?” he asked before downing the rest of his wine, setting the glass aside and getting to his feet.

You watched as he slowly stalked around the kitchen island towards you. His eyes locked on you as he moved, you felt suddenly like prey caught in the gaze of a predator and for the first time since you met him, you felt like you were truly in danger.

You were certain Seungmin was a vampire. You knew he was more than a simple man. The way he carried himself and sometimes spoke was like he was pulled straight from one of Jane Austen’s novels. He was from a different time period and although his face didn’t show his age, his eyes certainly did.

He may look like a man in his mid twenties but his eyes were that of a being that had seen hundreds of years. You watched as he approached, closing in on you, backing you up against the wall behind you. Your back met the hard surface as he rested his hands against the wall on either side of your head, eyes inspecting your face as he leaned closer.

Your breathing had sped up, heart racing as he approached, eyes fixated on you as if he was about to pounce and deliver a killing blow. Your eyes flickered between his, noticing up close how red they were. Not the sclera. His irises were a deep blood red. From a distance, you’d assumed they were brown but now you saw the true color and your mind was made up for you.

Seungmin was a vampire, there wasn’t a doubt in your mind.

Seungmin’s eyes scanned your face, from your eyes, down to your lips before they dipped down to your neck and then back up to meet your gaze.

“I can hear your heart racing,” he said softly, his voice barely audible of the ticking of the clock hanging above your head. He tilted his head to the side, a smirk forming on his lips. “I’m fine,” you whispered. Seungmin chuckled. “I don’t think so, sweetheart,” he replied.

One of his hands moved, fingers brushing against the skin of your neck, just over your pulse point. An involuntary shiver ran up your spine. “Why are you shaking?” he asked, leaning closer, his lips mere inches from yours as his eyes searched yours. “You’re not scared of me are you, little rabbit?”

You shook your head. “No,” you whispered, knowing your soft voice was giving you away. Seungmin’s hand slipped behind your head, fingers pulling at the hair at the base of your neck. “Don’t lie to me, pet,” he retorted, eyes scanning your face, dipping down to your throat and back up. Had you not been watching, you would have missed the way he licked his lips and swallowed.

“Does it bother you?” you asked softly, drawing his attention. “Hmm?” he hummed in response. “Being so close to a source,” you continued. Seungmin narrowed his eyes, his hand moving up to cup your cheek. “A source? Of what?” he asked, knowing what you were about to say.

“Blood.”

Seungmin froze, staring at you. Before he had a chance to answer, to defend his secret, you spoke again.

“I told you I’m not an idiot, Seungmin,” you said.

He pulled back slowly to look in your eyes. You could see the color had shifted to red. Just like that night outside the club. That was when you truly knew what you were up against. What kind of danger you were in every time you saw him. Every time you leaned in to kiss him goodnight.

At any point, he could have snapped and killed you, drained you of your blood but you wanted to know why he didn’t. Why didn’t he eat people? ‘What a weird question to contemplate,’ you told yourself.

“But I do have a question,” you whispered. Seungmin hesitated, waiting for your query.

You licked your lips before speaking. “Why don’t you feed from humans?” you asked before realizing you had made an assumption. Perhaps he did feed from humans. “Sorry.” you said quickly. “I’m making assumptions.” Seungmin smiled and shook his head. “It’s quite alright,” he replied.

“Your assumption is right. I don’t feed from humans. I don’t even feed from animals. Not directly anyway,” he replied. “What do you feed from?” you asked softly. “Blood bags,” Seungmin admitted. “It’s a more lowkey way to feed,” he explained.

“Where do you get them?” you asked softly, watching as he tilted his head to the side, studying you. He was hoping you’d do the math and figure it out and as you wracked your brain it hit you.

His friend. “Wonpil,” you whispered. You met his gaze. “Is he a vampire, too?” you asked. Seungmin hesitated but eventually nodded his head. “Yes,” he replied. “He gets the blood bags for me. It really pays off, having a doctor friend,” he added. You shook your head in disbelief.

“How does he do what he does?” you asked. “With all the blood,” you continued. Seungmin smiled and nodded. “Sounds very Twilight of him,” he noted. “Doesn’t it?” Chuckling again when you nodded, Seungmin continued to explain.

“He used to be a doctor. In fact, he was a highly sought after royal doctor back in the day,” he continued. “And then in the army, he was a combat medic. That’s how we met,” he added. “On the battlefield. My squad took heavy fire and he was sent in to assess and do what he could but when he saw I was completely unharmed, he knew immediately what I was and I knew what he was.”

You stared back at him as he explained more of his background. “We’ve been friends ever since. He’s the only person I’ve ever leaned on or trusted,” he continued, before glancing down at you. “Until now at least,” he added, bringing a hand up to cup your cheek.

“You trust me?” you asked softly. Seungmin nodded. “I do,” he replied, eyes dipping to your lips and back up. “Do you trust me?” he asked. You hesitated only for a moment before nodding. “Yes,” you answered, bringing your hand up to place over his. “I trust you.”

Seungmin closed the distance, kissing you passionately as he pinned you against the wall. You moaned into his mouth as he grinded against you, eagerly swallowing the sounds you made under his touch. “Tell me you want this,” he said softly, resting his forehead against yours as you panted heavily.

“Tell me you want me,” he continued. You moved one of your hands up to the back of his head, fingers tangling in his hair. “I want this,” you replied. “I want you.” Seungmin let out a small growl, grabbing your hips and pulling you away from the wall, guiding you over to the kitchen island.

You let out a squeak of surprise as Seungmin easily lifted you, turning and depositing you on the counter. “If I was more patient, I’d make you run,” he murmured, leaning in, his lips inches from yours, nose gently bumping yours. “If I was more patient, I’d take my time with you,” he continued, his hands moving down to the hem of your sweater, fingers gently toying with the material.

“Then why don’t you?” you asked, eyes searching his. He smiled in response, allowing you to catch a glimpse of his fangs. “Because I’m not a patient man,” he answered before pulling back and lifting your sweater, tossing it aside. He grabbed the back of your neck, pulling you into a kiss, his tongue slipping past your parted lips.

You let out a whine as you felt one of his fangs graze against your bottom lip. “Are you going to feed from me?” you whispered when he broke the kiss. Seungmin chuckled, hands moving down to your jeans, undoing the button and zipper. “No,” he replied. “Not unless you want me to,” he added, tugging your pants down past your hips. You lifted your butt to make it easier for him.

Your jeans joined your sweater on the floor, leaving you in your underwear. The granite countertop was cold against your skin as Seungmin peppered kisses along your collar. “Will that kill me?” you whispered, heart racing as he kissed down your sternum, pushing you onto your back as he continued kissing down your stomach. “No,” he said with another amused tone.

“I’m not going to puncture your jugular,” he added. “I don’t feed from that high,” he added. “Not unless I’m trying to kill you.” You swallowed thickly as he continued to kiss down, his lips meeting the hem of your panties. “May I?” he asked softly, raising his head to make eye contact. You nodded wordlessly, watching as he slowly pulled your panties down your thighs, discarding them along with the rest of your clothes.

“Seungmin,” you breathed out as his lips trailed down the inside of your thigh. “Yes, sweetheart?” he asked, raising his head slightly. “I want you to feed from me,” you murmured, cheeks burning as his gaze bore into yours. “Are you sure, doe?” he asked, tilting his head. You nodded silently, drawing your bottom lip between your teeth.

You watched as he lowered his head, nipping at the skin of your inner thigh. You let out a gasp at the sensation. “Wait,” you said suddenly, propping yourself up on your elbows. “This isn’t gonna turn me into a vampire, right?” you asked. Seungmin chuckled again.

“No,” he answered. “You would have to feed from me to become like me,” he added. Your eyes widened at the thought. “Feed from you?” you asked, to which he nodded. Your head fell back as you felt his tongue against the skin of your thigh. “Just don’t kill me, please,” you mumbled.

Seungmin chuckled to himself before sinking his teeth into the soft flesh of your thigh.

You let out a cry of pain, followed by a gasp as you felt his thumb brush over your clit. “Oh shit,” you groaned. You could feel blood leaving your body through the wound to your thigh. It was almost like having someone sucking a hickey but more intense.

“I knew you would taste so sweet,” you heard him groan. “Seungmin,” you started, lifting your head but letting out a moan, head falling back as you felt his tongue against your clit, his fingers toying with your slit. “Oh fucking hell,” you gasped as he teased the nub with the tip of his tongue.

“M’gonna cum,” you moaned, thighs shaking as your high approached only for Seungmin to pull away. “Not yet,” he purred, his breath hot against your sex. “You’ll cum when I let you,” he added. As your orgasm slipped away, you felt his fingers ease into your entrance slowly, two at a time.

He set a steady pace, watching the way his fingers disappeared into your tight heat. “I can’t wait to fill you up,” he said softly, continuing to pump his fingers in and out of you. “Please,” you moaned as he sped up slowly. Your orgasm was just out of your reach.

It was beginning to get frustrating. After weeks of nothing from him. Weeks of wanting this man, you finally had him and you were even more frustrated that your orgasm was evading you. Each time he toyed with your clit, drawing you closer and closer to the edge but not enough for you to topple over it.

“Seungmin,” you begged. “Please fuck me.”

“Only because you asked so nicely,” he said as he pulled away, licking his fingers clean. You pushed yourself up as Seungmin shrugged his jacket off, letting it fall to the floor. You pulled him into a kiss, his hands fumbling with his buckled and zipper, undoing his pants and pushing them down.

You moaned as he pushed into you easily, your walls stretching to accommodate the intrusion. “Shh,” he hushed you, smoothing your hair and cupping your cheek. “Look at me,” he said softly. You looked up at him, meeting his blood red gaze.

“That’s it,” he cooed, pulling back and giving you a shallow thrust. “F-fffuuuck,” you groaned as he set a steady pace, cock dragging against your walls with each push and pull. “Seungmin,” you whined as he held you up. “Feel’s so good,” you groaned, moving your hips to meet his.

“Shit,” you heard him hiss. “That,” he instructed. “Keep doing that, sweetheart,” he groaned, thrusting harder, the sound of skin hitting skin being the only thing to fill the space. “I need to cum,” you whined, unshed tears stinging the corners of your eyes.

“And you will,” Seungmin replied. “But only when I say so.”

“How’s the bite?” you asked suddenly. Seungmin glanced down at your thigh. The bleed had stopped already. “It’s fine,” he huffed. “Don’t worry about it,” he added. Your fingers tangled in his hair, pulling his head towards your neck.

“Y/N,” he warned. “Please,” you breathed. “Please Seungmin.”

Something Seungmin prided himself on was his unfaltering and unwavering quality. His ability to put his foot down and say no but he was finding it harder and harder to say no to you. He sighed, groaning as your walls gripped him tightly.

“Fine,” he said softly, lips brushing against your skin. “But just a small one,” he replied before sinking his teeth into the base of your neck. You let out a moan, walls clenching around him, fingers tightening in his hair. “Oh shit,” you cursed. “Fuck me,” you groaned.

Seungmin pulled back, lips tainted red from your blood. “I already am,” he joked before rolling his tongue over the bite wound to your neck. The taste of you on his tongue he pulled back, bringing one hand up to cup the back of your neck, pulling you into a kiss.

You could taste iron on his tongue. Blood. Your blood.

You moaned into the kiss, nails scratching against his skin.

Seungmin pulled away, returning to your neck, licking at the wound. “I’m not gonna bleed out, right?” you asked weakly, your orgasm slipping away for the nth time as Seungmin slowed his movements. “You’ll be fine,” Seungmin murmured, still occasionally licking at the bite on your neck. “It’s almost done bleeding. It’s coagulating,” he added.

“F-fuck,” you hissed. Seungmin chuckled, giving you a sharp thrust. “And you p-promise I’m not gonna -hng- bleed out?” you asked, a moan slipping out between your words. Seungmin nodded, his free hand cupping the back of your neck. “I promise,” he replied. “You’ve already stopped bleeding,” he added.

You opened your mouth to respond, only moaning as his hips set a steady, even pace. M’so close,” you whined, head falling forward, your forehead resting against his. “Already?” he teased. “Before I’ve even properly fucked you?” You whined in response, unable to form a coherent sentence.

“My bad,” he joked. “I might have gone a little overboard earlier,” he added, placing his hand against the counter, his hips hitting yours with each thrust. Your vision blurred, tears filling as the tension in your body built up again. One hand tangled in his hair, the other reaching around to hold onto his shoulder as you buried your face in his neck. “M’ gonna-” your words failed as your orgasm crashed over you unexpectedly.

“That really was quick,” Seungmin chuckled as he helped you ride it out. As you fell limp in his hold, he pulled out of you, carefully guiding you down off the counter before turning you to face it, pushing you over as he guided himself back inside your tight heat.

“Now it’s my turn,” he said, taking both hips in his hands and setting a punishing pace, making you cry out, the tears in your eyes finally falling. “Are you crying?” he asked breathlessly. “Does it feel that good?” he mused.

You were unable to speak and respond to his question, instead answering only in jumbled words, moans, and chants of his name. Seungmin’s hand moved up to your shoulder, pulling your back up as he leaned over, lips next to your ear. “Crying only makes me want to ruin you more,” he said, his tone dark. “It’s not gonna make me go easy on you.”

You cried out as his thrusts increased, hips hitting your ass repeatedly with the same slapping sound.

The sounds of your cries only spurred him on, your sniffles and sobs fueling his desire to wreck you. “Almost,” he groaned, his own orgasm approaching. “Fuck, m’close,” he announced. “Where you want it?” he asked. You lifted your head weakly. “I-inside me,” you moaned.

Seungmin groaned, hips stuttering. “You sure?” he asked and you nodded. “Give it to me,” you whimpered. “Cum inside me, Seungmin, please.”

That was all he needed to hear, groaning into your ear as he released inside you, painting your insides with cum. “Oh shit,” he cursed, hips slowing as he fucked his release further into you. “Oh god,” you groaned, feeling his cum fill your cunt as he pulled your back against his chest.

“That’s it, little rabbit,” he grunted. “Take all of it.”

His hips stilled and you whined, falling limp in his hold. Seungmin leaned over, one arm around your chest, the other holding the both of you up over the countertop. “Shit,” you heard him hiss. “You’re going to need a shower,” he said softly.

You whimpered as he pulled out of you. “Or we both might need one,” he corrected. You glanced over your shoulder at him. “Are you staying?” you asked, looking at him with those expectant eyes. How could he ever think to leave.

He’d spent most of his immortal life jumping from identity to identity. He’d grown bored and weary of that life and now he had the chance to do something new and exciting. He smiled at you and nodded. Sure, you assumed he meant he was staying the night but deep down, he was agreeing to stay for the foreseeable future.

And who knows. Maybe, just maybe he’ll stay for eternity if that means he gets an eternity with you.

ⓘ Graphics made by me. Content and support banners made using a template by cafekitsune. I do not allow reposts, translations, or continuations of my works. All writing and graphics are ©️ kwanisms.

#cultofdionysusnet #mfu-net #stray kids scenarios #stray kids imagines #stray kids fanfiction #stray kids fanfic #stray kids smut #stray kids x reader #seungmin scenarios #seungmin imagines #seungmin fanfic #seungmin smut #seungmin x reader #kwanisms kinktober 2023

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crimsonrubie · 17 days ago

Text

Brutally Woken Up

Part 2 of A Quiet Night

Requested by: @rorel1a

A/N: This took me days because I had a presentation today and had to prepare and on top of all that I don't know how to feel about this one! I kinda had fun writing it tbh but I really hope I did it some justice, enjoy!!

Warnings: Aiko is a little shit in this one, some angst sprinkled in there again but mostly fluff!

You're woken up by something heavy resting on your face, restricting you from breathing. You already knew the cause, this not being the first occurrence it happened with your cat. Used to her antics, you push away the sassy cat from your face, ignoring her protests as she rolls down from her comfortable position.

In annoyance, you cough out a few stray furs, sitting up with a start and a massive mess of hair on your head. The sun rays are directly at your face and you squint in annoyance, mentally noting down to get new darker curtains. You wipe down your face with your hand, groaning at the miserable way you were woken up. It was from a good dream too.

You met this handsome guy in the park who gave you a ride home on his motorcycle and- hold on.

"IT WASN'T A DREAM!!" Aiko jumps with a start, her body launching from your bed in cartoon fashion. There was a thud in the background but dismissing it, you hastily swipe the bedsheets away from your body and swing your legs out of the bed.

"Oh my God, it wasn't a dream. I actually met the guy. Can you believe that, Aiko?!" The cat only meows, irritated at not being served breakfast yet. So you walk to the kitchen with the cat racing beside you on agile legs. She reaches her bowl and starts yowling so loud your poor neighbours are going to hear and get their sleep interrupted. She keeps on yowling until the food is served and occasionally even has the audacity to jump up on the counter and try to catch you unguarded to get a free trial of her food.

That's what she tried to do now, but you elbowed her off the counter, and the devil-like feline only jumped back up. The process continued that way, you, struggling to open her can of wet food while simultaneously elbowing the cat away until you finally had her food in the bowl and placed it down on the floor. Aiko did not waste a second and inhaled her food like a starved animal in the streets.

You sigh at finally getting her off your tail and head to your bathroom to freshen up.

As you leave after a nice shower, the after-shower stream wafting out into the room, you notice the clock on your bedside table reading 3:04PM, causing your eyes to widen like saucers.

You're late to work.

"Shitshitshitshit-ow! Shit!" You stumble while trying to get your work clothes on, grabbing your bag, plugging your phone off the charger and running out the door. You lock it behind you and take the elevator down. You left in a hurry but you were confident that Aiko would be well taken care of as your nice and elderly neighbour insists on taking care of your pet when you're busy, complaining how her grown-up brats never visit or call often so she welcomes the company of the feline.

You trust her because she's been your neighbour for years now and even offered you some of her delicious cooked meals, saying she used to cook for more than one person and well, old habits die hard. She's a sweet old lady and by time and much prompting from her side, you lent her your spare key and entrusted Aiko to her when you were at work.

As the elevator is going down you then realise why Aiko must have been so moody. You missed breakfast and Aiko chose to take it personally by sitting her bum down on your face to wake you up. You, on the other hand, think she was being biased as you work your ass off to provide for her but cats will be cats. You love her anyway.

You get a call from your manager then and wince, still speed walking down the street as your workplace is within walking distance. You answer your phone, ready to be berated for your crappy schedule.

"Y/n-"

"Look, Mrs.Sato, I'm so so sorry for being late. I'm on my way right now and I'll even work extra-"

"Woah, woah, woah calm down lady. Your shift is still an hour away?"

You pause.

Your running gradually transitioned to a walk then you just stood in your place, confused. "W-What? But it's after 3-" You hear a static sound through the call, meaning your manager just sighed.

"It's a little after 2PM, sweetheart. You need a new clock." Your face blanches at the statement. Your clock wasn't the best and you always fixed its timing. At least every few weeks but lately it has been happening more often as if the thing was slowly dying. Now you knew you desperately needed a new one. Especially since your own manager was aware of your clock problem.

"Ahh...oops?" You giggle nervously. You can just imagine your manager shaking her head at your clumsiness. You hope deep down she won't fire you.

"Anyway as I was saying, I wanted to let you know we will be having a small meeting today at 5. We will be discussing some minor changes to our menu, nothing major but make sure you're here on time okay?" You're nodding your head before she finishes her question till you realise she can't see you and supply her with your affirmation.

You worked at a nice bakery half coffee shop owned by the Sato family. Their son was Pro Hero Sugar Man so the shop was well known not only due to the Pro Hero but also because of its amazing refreshments on the menu. You had met the hero at least a few times now when he happened to be patrolling the area and stopping by for a treat.

Additionally, with years of experience in the industry, you had become a good baker and sometimes took the main baker's position as a substitute when he couldn't get to work and people claimed you were so good they hardly found any difference in the sweet treats.

After ending the call, you walk to a nearby park just a few minutes from the bakery. You find a nice spot in the shade of a lush tree and settle onto a bench with a sigh of relief. Checking your phone, you note that you still have 35 minutes until your shift starts, so you decide to take a moment to relax before heading back.

You're scrolling on your phone when spikey blonde hair catches your attention on one of the videos. You go back to it, so sure you just saw Bakugou, the handsome guy from yesterday in that video. Your eyebrows furrow when instead, it's Pro hero Dynamight in his collab with Pro hero Shoto, the half-ice, half-fire hero taking down a villain in downtown Musutafu dated a few days ago.

You blink in confusion, so sure it was him but concluded they only looked similar, maybe the guy was a fan?

With Bakugou now on your mind, you remembered you had his phone number and went ahead to save it, naming him "Handsome stranger'. He was no stranger after yesterday but the title stuck with you and you found it suitable. You contemplated sending him a text and after a few minutes, you went ahead and sent a message.

I mean it's just a message, right?

Hey! It's me again, Y/n! I remembered you wanted my recipe for the cookies, so how about you visit the bakery where I work? I make even more awesome delicacies and I can give you a discount on the house!

Will still give you the recipe though!

You hit send then your thoughts start spiraling. Your message was so long, what if he sees it as a nuisance and just demands the recipe? Or worse, leaves you on read and blocks you, thinking you're only using him for sales?!

"I hate my life." You whine into your palms and grumble for a few more minutes.

Your phone then pings and your hands quickly work to get your phone turned on and to your surprise, Bakugou replied fairly quickly.

Handsome Stranger: Sure. Where is it?

Even though the answer is short, a smile graces your face at his willingness to visit you again. Or he's only accepting it for the recipe but you'll let yourself be delusional for now. You send him the name and location of the bakery you work at.

Handsome Stranger: When do you work?

You: From 3pm-10pm

He likes your message and you shrug, not bothered by the lack of reply and pocket your phone away so you can get going to the bakery.

On the way there, you're feeling giddy like a teenage schoolgirl having a crush and hope it doesn't show much on your face. You were going to act nonchalant, greet your coworkers and start your shift like normal. Yes, totally.

You finally reached the beautiful building and the bell above the entrance door chimed when you entered, announcing your entry to the people inside. The first person you approach is your friend Yumi at the counter who throws you a smug smile.

Act nonchalant.

"Someone's happy." Well, that plan was ruined. Onto plan B. Wait you didn't plan that far ahead.

"Can't I be?" You counter.

"You have this air around you, met a guy?" She wiggles her eyebrows as you enter through the mini swinging door that leads to the area behind the counter. Why did you enter from the entrance door in the first place?

At your lack of response, her smile only widened, showing off her white teeth and you hurried to the back to escape from her questioning that's about to happen with a blush on your cheeks.

The day continued with normal occurrences. The meeting arrived two hours later with your manager along with the baker and it went off without a hitch as you discussed some new recipes that could potentially make it onto the shop's menu and even some exclusive treats for the holidays coming up.

Regular customers and some new ones came here and there, but the one customer you were waiting for still did not enter the shop. Every time the bell sounded at the entry of a customer, your head whipped around, wishing to catch a glimpse of those hypnotizing red eyes or that uniquely handsome face. But as the hours passed and the time for closing approached, your hopes started to dwindle.

Your coworker, Yumi, noticed your roller coaster of emotions, being the observant friend she is, and patted your back, coming up to stand beside you. "I'm clocking out okay love? Need anything?" You knew by her sincere expression that she would have done anything to make you feel better but you plastered a smile on your face and shook your head, giving her a side hug.

"Nah, you go ahead, I'll close up soon." She raised an eyebrow but you reassured her a bit more till she finally nodded, returning your hug and leaving through the backdoor with a final wave.

Now with everyone having clocked out instead of you, the atmosphere in the shop was calming whereas your emotions were anything but. You served the last few customers, wiping down the counter and cleaning up before you had to close. Even now, your eyes kept glancing at your phone, hoping for a message from the man, maybe something came up, or he didn't intend to come today specifically.

The possibilities ran all around your head but as the last customer of the day left and the shop emptied from people, a deep sigh escaped your lungs.

"Guess I was being delusional after all." You shook your head. Maybe he will visit tomorrow, you pondered, you'll wait to hear from him. After all, he is only a stranger who found your cat and gave you a ride home, nothing more, right?

You get the keys to the shop and turn the main lights of the shop off, leaving only the dim light. You walk to the front door and turn the sign hanging on the window to 'Closed'. Right as you're inserting the key into the lock, the low hum of an engine accompanied by the skidding of tyres on the pavement interrupts the silence outside and your head perks up.

You squint your eyes, the dark making it harder to see but then you notice the same dark and orange motorcycle under the street lights, and a breathy gasp leaves your lips. The figure hastily gets off the bike, clumsily getting rid of the helmet on his head and jogs to the entrance then halts when his eyes land on yours through the glass door. Your breath hitches, red eyes look back at you and you're frozen in your place but then you quickly swing the door open and the sight of him standing there with no barrier between you makes you feel... giddy.

"You came!"

"You invited me. I know I'm late, but my stupid manager threw paperwork at me at the last damn second." His grumbling makes you giggle. His annoyance was clear on his face and you felt bashful at the fact he still made an appearance whereupon anyone else would have preferred to rest at home.

Realizing you're keeping him out, you open the door wider, grabbing his wrist and pulling him inside the dimly lit shop. You don't even realise the man's breath got caught in his throat when you casually grabbed his arm. His arm was littered with scars, each one carrying different stories. His biceps were thick with muscles that could probably crush your head but why did you find it oddly attractive?

You closed the door again, locking it and walking to the counter, all the while still holding onto his wrist and dragging him behind you. Unbeknownst to you, the blonde would have shoved away any crazy person who attempted to touch him like this, but he was allowing you the freedom to drag him wherever you desired.

You reach the counter and pass by the small swinging door, heading to the back where all the remaining baked goods are situated. "Where are you taking me?" He asks and his deep voice sends a flush down your body and you turn to face him.

"Well, I did promise you some baked goodies, didn't I? I actually cooked a new batch of cookies today, in hopes you'll ah, anyway here, have some!" You blush at the inquisitive brow he raises at your attempt to divert attention away from your flushed state and offer him the cookies you had stored safely, now cool but still sweet and crunchy.

His hand reaches out and he takes a cookie, his smile is so small but there and you return it with the same enthusiasm if not more, happy to finally have his company again.

"Oh and one second!" You run to your bag a few feet away and dig around in it till you find the recipe you wrote down today on your break, walking back to Bakugou and handing him the paper. "The recipe you asked for! I wrote it down for you just today and even added some other ingredients you can use if you want to mess around with the flavour and try out new things!" You grin, his hand taking the paper from yours causing your skin to brush with his for a moment and he nods, looking away from the paper and back to you.

That's when you realise, that in his haste to get to the door before you closed, he didn't put his hood up and familiar blonde spikey hair appeared in your vision. Your jaw dropped slightly, your head running a mile a minute, your mind battling itself to remember where you last saw spikey blonde hair and red eyes like his.

He caught onto your expression and winced, knowing his cover was blown because of his carelessness when it came to you.

"W-wait, there's no way you're..."

"Dynamight. I'm Dynamight."

His words only made you go into even more shock. Dynamight, the Pro hero Dynamight was standing in front of you, eating your cookies and hanging out with you, a mere employee in a coffee shop.

"I... wow..." At his uncomfortable stance, you wave your hand around you frantically, trying to get rid of the awkwardness in the air. "I'm sorry I was only surprised!! I actually don't follow the media on pro heroes but I knew about you because you interested me." He raises a brow in surprise at that and you continue, "Your dedication to your job is something I look up to, sorry if I made it awkward, you ah, don't need to stay if you don't want-"

"I'll stay." You blink up at him. He tilts his head, hiding the pinkish tint on his ears and lets out a gruff, "It's fine, by the way."

You smile and a small blush sneaks up on your cheeks as well and you shuffle on your feet. "Oh! How rude of me, uh do you want coffee? Maybe something else I can prepare for you? It's cold outside and I'm sure you're freezing. We're in the back so choose whatever you like." He hums.

"Coffee is fine. Black." You nod and move over to prepare a mug of coffee for him and a hot chocolate for you. You take out the kettles and get to work on preparing the two drinks on the stove. He comes over and sits on a stool beside the small counter in the back, and watches you moving around, preparing both mugs with practised ease, having the place memorised.

"Pretty."

You pause. He pauses. Did you just hear correctly? You don't think he meant to say that and against your better judgment, you spin around and catch him looking at you with slightly wide eyes. Now you're sure he didn't mean for it to come out but that still doesn't stop the massive blush that blooms on your face.

Scrambling to change the subject so you can escape the awkward air, you blurt out the first thing that comes to your mind: "I meant to ask you, what made you come to the park yesterday?" Suddenly, it's like a bucket of cold water was dropped on both of you, because the atmosphere dampens with your question and you think, no, you're sure you messed up. Bad.

"Don't want to talk about it." His voice is cold, and your body tenses at his harsh reply but you don't say anything, blaming yourself now for asking such a stupid question when you could have been more careful.

"Ah, I'm sorry I didn't mean..."

"Just, forget about it. It's time for me to leave anyway, I have work early tomorrow." He starts to get up and your eyes widen. In an attempt to quickly catch up with him, you move hastily and that's when your hand collides with the hot Turkish coffee pot causing it to fall over and Bakgou hears a pained yelp accompanied with the sound of the kettle falling on the stove top.

"Ow ow ow ahh shit." Your eyebrows scrunch up in pain, some of the hot water having spilt on your hand, that you now cradle in your other uninjured hand and Bakugou runs to your side, turning the fire off on the stove and moving you to the sink. With no words exchanged between you, he holds the wrist of your injured hand gently and directs it under the flowing tap water of the sink, making sure it's cool. His hold was light as if he hadn't just lost his temper a second ago and he was treating you gently.

"Do you have ice here?" You nod, pointing to the mini fridge in the corner of the room and Bakugou moves to it, grabbing a small pack of ice and heading back over to you. "Here, give me your hand." His movements are delicate as he takes your hand and rests the ice pack on your burn, instructing you on how to take care of it and you listen intently, a little surprised at his knowledge but you guess as a hero, he must know how to act with different types of injuries.

After a few minutes of silence, with you both now sitting down on stools beside each other, you gulp and mutter under your breath, "I'm ah," you clear your throat, eyes downcast and a frown present on your lips, tugging at the blonde's heart. "I'm sorry. I ruined your night and now your coffee," You let out a self-deprecating laugh, your hand busy pressing the ice pack onto your burn that's now a dull pain in the back of your head. "I understand if you want to leave, I'll take care of everything and close up. And thank you for helping me even though you didn't have to-"

"Shut up."

Your words are cut off suddenly and you're left gaping at his interruption. When his words sink in, your frown deepens and you look away. "Sorry, didn't mean to ramble."

"Not that-" He groans lowly and now at his weird behaviour, you furrow your eyebrows in confusion. "Don't apologize. It's fine." He lets out a sigh, his head sinking into his hands.

"But I clearly said the wrong thing-"

"No, I was just being a sensitive little shit. What happened yesterday..." His words fade into the air and you sense then that something terrible must have happened if it has the pro hero all slouched down and miserable.

Pro hero. Wait. Oh no, don't tell me...

You wish you could reach out to him and pat his shoulder in some kind of comfort in his moment of distress but unfortunately, both of your hands are occupied, leaving you frustrated and cursing your clumsiness, longing to bridge the gap between you.

A few beats passed by until he started.

"Yesterday, there was a villain attack." When he started speaking, you willed yourself to stay quiet and gave him your utmost attention. His voice was tight as if he was forcing the words out of his mouth. "The villain's quirk allowed him to control the ground. Rocks and stones, all of it. He was racking havoc in the city and the battle was not easy." He lets out a shaky breath and you shift your stool a little closer to him but he doesn't seem to notice.

"There was a kid who got separated from his parents and was just a few meters away from me. I tried to get to him, to get him to safety but... the villain was attacking me with a boulder and my only move was to blast it into smaller pieces before it crushed me." His voice broke near the end of his sentence and you pierced your trembling lips, not ready for how this event will end.

Tensions were high in the room, the emotions on the loose as you tried to lock away your tears before he had even got to the middle of the event.

"My blast was uncalculated, way out of range, and a huge chunk got thrown to the other side, landing diagonally right above the kid. Before I could move, the villain had caused another shake in the earth and the boulder... it... f-fuck." Your tears ran freely down your cheeks, not needing him to finish to guess what happened next.

Tears streamed down his own cheeks, and yours were equally damp, reflecting the weight of the moment. In a sudden rush of emotion, you tossed the ice pack onto the counter, the thud echoing softly in the quiet room. Before you fully comprehend what you are doing, you find yourself embracing the broken hero, your arms enveloping him sideways. His body trembled against yours, the weight of his grief tangible, as his shoulders shook with silent sobs. Each breath he took was a strained gasp, punctuated by the heaviness of unspoken pain, and in that moment, you held him tight, wanting nothing more than to offer comfort amidst the turmoil.

"It's okay, you don't need to say more Bakugou. I'm here. For as long as you'll let me." You spoke in a hushed tone, careful to not startle him in your arms. Before he can think of what he's doing, lost in his guilt, his hand reaches out to your uninjured one and his fingers encase yours tightly, as if you were his anchor keeping him afloat and if he lets go, he'll drown in his grief.

Time seemed to stretch as you both remained wrapped in each other's embrace, lost in the warmth and comfort it brought. Bakugou's hold on your hand weakened but stayed firm, not letting himself let go of you just yet because he feared he wouldn't get the chance any other time.

His tremors gradually subsided, his body relaxing in your hold and his breaths which were irregular a few minutes ago, now came out at a more regular pace with a few hiccups escaping his lips. He visibly relaxed in your hold and you felt pride at the fact he trusted you enough to let down his walls, never mind being in such a vulnerable state with a mere stranger he met a day before.

You loosen your hold to look at him when you notice he's been hiccuping for a while. "I'll get you some water." You loosen your gentle hold on him and move over to fill a cup of water for him. The squeaking of the tap is loud in the room after you spin it closed then walk back over beside Bakugou and sit down on the stool, handing him the glass.

He grasps it in his scarred hand that's been through hell and back, you think and gulps down the water. You pat yourself on the back for being quick on your feet.

Your tears had now dried on your cheeks, your nose and eyes just a little red from the crying, same with Bakugou also.

He clears his throat with slight difficulty, and you stay silent in case he wants to say something and a moment later, he speaks. "Thanks." His voice is gruff and contains a raspiness to it that you oddly like, butterflies waking up and fluttering their wings in your stomach.

"You're welcome Bakugou. Thank you for trusting me enough for this. I swear I'll keep it between us." As you speak, your palm is on your chest right above where your heart is. Your words tumbled out of your mouth without any thinking but you think you said the right thing as the exhausted hero's eyes soften only the slightest and you think he looks so mesmerising when he isn't scowling all the time. He could be a model which you'll tease him about it when you get the chance.

He nods in acknowledgement, his face now carrying only remnants of his earlier breakdown, now only his red nose being any indicator that he cried. You don't think you look better though as your heart was pierced right in the middle when hearing his story so it's safe to say you had bloodshot eyes.

His eyes then move downcast towards your now slowly healing hand and he grabs the discarded ice pack, now a little melted from the warm room, and cups your hand, holding the ice pack on top of it. "You idiot, now it'll swell." He grumbles and a small smile makes its way on your face as his snark slowly shows itself again.

"It's fine, I've had worse and if it means you're feeling better, I would do it again."

Bakugou Katsuki had the worst poker face known to man because you can make out his expression at the speed of light and a laugh accidentally tumbles out of you at his red cheeks.

"Just fuckin' take care of yourself damn it." Your laughter slows down to little giggles as you nod your head and salute him with your free hand in fun.

"Aye, sir!" He shakes his head and then sighs. He gets up and for a second, you fear he will leave until he changes his path and his long legs take him to the mess you left and your eyes widen when he starts cleaning up the tea kettle.

"Oh no you don't need to—"

"Shut up and let me do this, shitty woman." Your mouth gapes at his grumble, opening and closing like a fish for a second before you decide against replying and letting him do his thing.

When he wraps up his cleaning, the sound of clinking mugs and the tea kettle reaches your ears and you're brought out of your daydreams. You blink in confusion as you watch him moving around the mini kitchen, boiling water on the stove. The scent of coffee beans and cocoa powder reaches your nose and fills the air with a rich aroma that you breathe in happily.

You did not expect the pro hero to begin making your drinks after cleaning, expecting he would come back to sit down but you watch him move around the kitchen with practised ease, grabbing the ingredients and preparing the mugs. Your lips tug up into a smile and you lean forward, placing your elbows on the counter and resting your chin atop your free hand, watching the blonde with a comfortable silence and the low sound of the stove in the background.

A few minutes pass by until the water is boiling and Bakugou moves over to the tea kettles, one for his coffee and the other for your hot chocolate. As he checks that the water is boiling enough, he turns off the stove on both tea kettles. He first serves up the hot chocolate into a mug, then shifts his attention to the coffee. After he's done preparing both mugs, he puts the tea kettles into the sink and walks towards you with the warm mugs, with steam flowing up into the air and reaching the ceiling.

"Hmm, that smells even better than how I make it. Are you secretly a pro at this too?"

"Tch, I excel at everything. So this is going to be the best damn hot chocolate you drink in your life."

"Oh, I won't even say anything to that because I can tell it will be awesome. Thank you, Bakugou." You smile briefly at him and direct your attention to your hot mug of deliciousness.

Your excitement was over the roof and because of that, all logic sense seemed to have disappeared from your mind. The addicting smell of the drink was so strong that you couldn't resist the temptation, brought the mug to your lips and made the mistake of your demise.

Bakugou was waiting for his coffee to cool down until he heard an exclamation from his side. His eyes rolled the moment he saw you with your tongue hanging out of your mouth and scoffed. "Don't tell me you just drank that shit like it was a can of soda."

"I was excited!" You whined in response to his bullying. He let out a sigh and then got up to grab you a bottle of water from the mini fridge, the bright light from the fridge illuminating his face in the dim lightning. He strode back towards you and handed you the bottle and you thanked him softly, drinking a sip to reduce the pain.

"Now I have to live with this burn for days, ugh." He smirks wide, now finally taking a small sip from his mug, his lips moving away now covered with a thin line of coffee that he licked off with his tongue.

You both pass the time by drinking your warm drinks until the hour grows late and your drinks are now cold and empty save for the remaining coffee and cocoa grounds that didn't fully dissolve.

"How will you get home?" The jingle of keys is heard as Bakugou gets up, his hand fishing out his keys from his pocket. You reply after you lock the backdoor of the shop, making sure it's secure then pocketing the keys into your bag and spin towards Bakugou.

"Walking, my home is actually nearby this time, I swear!" He doesn't say anything so you take it as a sign that you guys will part ways when you reach his bike. You both make your way around to the front of the shop where his bike is parked and before you can start saying goodbye, even though feeling dejected, he groans and pulls you by your wrist making you let out a surprised gasp and stumble into him.

"W-What-?"

"I'm getting you back home you idiot! You seriously forgot what I told you yesterday?" You rack your brain trying to remember but come up empty and your confused expression only makes him shake his head. You see him fold down foot pegs for the backseat then he expertly swings his leg around the bike and gestures to the seat behind him with a thumb. "Get on."

Choosing not to decline his offer, you place your foot on the foot pegs, swing your leg around the seat, and sit down comfortably, the bike slightly bouncing as you do so.

"Hold on to me." You nod, wrapping your arms around his waist. "And wear this." He grabs his helmet and hands it to you.

"But shouldn't you wear it?"

"I'll be fine without one. You're the one who needs it so put it on."

"Um..."

He sighs, "You don't know how to put it on, do you?" You shake your head, and a soft groan leaves him, but he directs you to get up and stand beside him. He fits the helmet on your head, and suddenly, you're breathing in the scent of his after-wash and shampoo, and the helmet blocks out most sounds from outside so you feel enveloped in Bakugou's scent. A blush blooms on your face at his proximity that you're secretly glad is concealed because of the visor being down.

The bike roars to life, and the engine hums underneath you in the quiet parking lot. The weather is cool against your face and you use it as an excuse to snuggle more into the blonde.

His bike then speeds off and is on the road. You marvel at how skilled he is with the bike, riding it so smoothly as if it's a part of him. The wind is ruffling his hair, enchanting you and beseeching you to run your hands through his blonde spikes that you just know are soft to the touch.

He taps your thigh twice and to make sure you understand, holds your arm and wraps it tighter around his waist, you tighten your grip and lean forward with him as he accelerates on the bike. The speed at which he's at is blurring the buildings together and the sweet thrill of speed excites you. Your arms are tight around Bakugou and your lips spread into a grin under the visor.

"This is amazing!!" You scream from over his shoulder and a smirk makes its way to his face at your excitement. Your trust meant a lot to him. Any other girl would be screaming at him to slow down but you loved his pace, awakening a new feeling in his gut that was surprisingly not unpleasant to him.

He kept on the same speed, swerving between lanes as the roads were mostly empty and hearing your little giggles as he obviously started to show off his skills on his bike. Your laughter fueled his eagerness and he was soon twisting the throttle, the roar of the engine loud against the strong wind rushing past.

Bakugou was on a high in these kinds of times and this time his high was through the roof with you behind him. Holding him and shouting out praises and ecstatic screams, causing his heart to feel full of life and for the time being, all that lived in his head was you and this moment of you two enjoying a ride on his bike under a night sky of stars.

You both reached your home sooner than later at the speed Bakugou was going at and as he perked his bike, your arms stayed wrapped around him, longing to repeat the ride and stay with him. Unfortunately, it was cold and late, and Bakugou patted your thigh to signal you to get up.

You reluctantly untangle your arms from around his waist and swing your leg around the bike, this time landing solidly on the ground with a soft thud of your boots. "Well, this is me." You shrug.

He swings his legs over the bike, the engine still on and humming in the night and he stands in front of you. Your heart flutters as he taps the underside of your chin with his pointer so you lift up your head and he helps you take off the helmet.

When the helmet is off, your hair is frizzed up and you let out a laugh as your hair fluffs up in various directions and you pat it down.

"Thank you." His voice is low, but his words held so much weight and emotion because you knew, deep in your heart, he was thanking you for being there for him and it made you almost tear up at his trust and you shook your head.

"Thank you, Bakugou, for trusting me. If you need anything at all you know where to find me." He nods and because he just looked so handsome under the dim lightening of the entrance to your apartment building, your body moved on its own as if controlled by emotions alone and you leaned up on the tip of your toes, placing a chaste, innocent kiss on his cheek.

The moment your lips made contact with his cheek, you realized how soft his skin felt against yours and it awoke the butterflies in your stomach. Bakugou was not doing much better, feeling overwhelmed by the attention you were giving him and so protected, something he would never even admit to a fly.

Your feet are back on the ground and you smile shyly up at him and wave, uttering a soft 'Good night' under your breath and walking briskly to your apartment building.

Bakugou was frozen in his place after you kissed him, a red tint on his cheeks that he blamed the cold air for, fully aware that he was lying to himself as he had hundreds of thoughts running around his head, speeding just like he was doing on the road, accelerating so fast that his mind can't keep up.

"Fuck."

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