#laughing at your past enjoying your time with the team and trying not to risk it and showing your skills and knowledge

[thewanderingace]

Each Ted Lasso episode just making me smile so much my face hurts while also making me cry because of all the various feels I get about these characters and storylines. God I fucking I love this show

[secretlilsis]

He knew it when he first saw her.

Saw that dulled, numb expression in her eyes - forged by horrors he could only imagine. Could sense that acute pain behind her monotone facade.

He knew she’d be his salvation.

She had been adopted into his family by his parents who dearly wanted a girl as well but could no longer conceive.

And from the first time she saw her, he knew. Truly knew, she was a godsend.

He himself struggled with the way his father often treated him, he wondered if they had known about that whether they would’ve even given her to this family, but as he knew his father would only target him he didn’t feel to uneasy. Most of what his father did was based around the idea of toughening him up. Tough love.

Old beliefs. He was tired of them. But surely a mark had been left on him.

She looked so small and fragile, the way she’d fake a smile when polite, do her best to respond in an normal and appropriate manner to things like family dinners and shopping trips.

But she never truly opened up or was honest.

He made it his job to get through to her, in some sense wanting to prove his worth by showing he was able to get through to that delicate being that now was his little sister.

Only very slowly did he succeed at that. But with each little sign and genuine little smile, he felt accomplished. It’s like he felt a sense of control his father had robbed him of. Soon most of his thoughts resolved around her, helping her, supporting her, protecting her.

He obsessed about her fanatically. He could see himself reflected in her eyes in an way he throughly enjoyed, he saw her admiration as markers of his merit. He was addicted to it.

When they got older, it was like they had grown into a true team. Always being around each other. Revolving around each other. And her shell had been fully broken. She was vivid now, playful, would often even tease him in an way that dumbfounded him.

It had never really occurred to him that she was aware of how obsessed he was with her or that she learned to interpret that as love, having no real window of reference of what a truly selfless or loving version of that care would’ve been like.

But he could often feel her eyes following him, trying to understand him as he was understanding her.

Then when they both were of age he for the first time allowed himself to admit that he wanted to truly own her, sexually as well.

He tried to hide it, and he was sure he was doing a good job at it. Maybe a lingering touch on her shoulders once in a while, or a stare that betrayed his arousal. But nothing more than that.

He did his best to be exactly the big brother she wanted and needed and hoped she’d never see past the facade, the need for control disguised in kindness, the obsession that fueled him to try harder for her. The way he calculated what type of approach to his care she’d welcome the most.

He’d be content scaring every possible boyfriend away, manipulating her into seeing she deserves better anyways.

He wouldn’t act on his desires if it meant risking to lose her, but he damn sure wouldn’t share her either.

She belonged to him. Hair. Skin. All of it.

Yet one day she just stood there in front of him, in front of his bed. Looking at him with that expression that told him to pay good attention. Wearing her nightgown, that albeit not very revealing always had made him feel aroused to see. She looked at him. “Big brother. Do you really think I don’t know how you look at me? It’s written all over your face.”

He looked at her with deafening suprise, his blood pumping in his veins so hard he could hear it in his ears.

He wanted to deny it, defend himself but her next words were bone chilling -

“Pervert. Sicko. Monster. Lowest of the low.” She said rapidly, more like counting items off an imaginary list than like she meant it.

Yet extreme anger rushed through him. Looking at her with an almost predatory gaze, fighting for self control.

Then she laughed as if she had just told a funny joke or something. Laughed right at his face.

“You should’ve seen the look on your face big brother!” She exclaimed as if his boiling rage and sense of betrayal was prime entertainment.

But then she softly sighed „I only said everything you thought I’d say when finding out about this, really. Thought I’d clear the air.“

„Clear the air!? Do you have any idea how angry you’ve just made me - how am I supposed to understand what you’re doing here?“ This might have been the first time he’s raised his voice at her. He didn’t feel sorry. She deserved it.

Yet before he could think another scornful thought she interrupted him by pressing her lips onto his, with a gentle firmness and directness to it.

„You wouldn’t have believed my words anyways, big brother. It’s all about showing you how much I accept you and how you feel, right?”

Just like that he couldn’t think another angry thought anymore. He understood that to some extent she had just toyed with his feelings. Something that he didn’t take lightly.

But then her body was already pressing up against his and he could feel her breasts.

He wanted to feel her, fill her up. Fuck her. See her losing all sense of self control and come undone for him. But it slowly dawned on him that she maybe needed to play these frankly insulting games, that maybe she needed to be the one in charge right now. That that’s how it made sense to her to approach this. He wanted to hold her so tight she’d shatter into a million pieces if he wasn’t careful.

She started to undress now, carelessly throwing her night gown away and next to the bed. She was only wearing panties now.

He marvelled at her sight. That beautiful skin and body.

He knew that’s what it had always been with her, giving in to stay in control. Exploring her throughly to figure out when to step back up again. Up until now it hasn’t even occurred to him that maybe he wasn’t the only one with a manipulative streak.

Then when he almost couldn’t bear holding back anymore she looked at him with a dreamy aroused expression and said “I need big brother to take control of my body now.”

And that’s when something inside him snapped. He pushed her beneath him and held her in place by her wrists. She gasped in surprise at how quickly he was able to take charge. Spreading her legs greedily, like his natural desire for her was something she badly needed. She felt so soft and giving underneath him. He almost forgave her for her earlier comments, but this wasn’t the time to be upset. He had to be a good big brother and give her what she wanted, what he wanted. The pure unfiltered dominance her body was begging for. With her wetness, her moans and the way she clung to his body.

“You’re mine. You’ve just forfeited any chance at ever not being mine.” He breathed in an raspy voice before thrusting into her wet, welcoming pussy.

He fucked her roughly and tenderly. And she moaned his name over and over again, like it’s all she could even think anymore.

His cum filled her up as he made one final deep thrust, then he pulled out of her watching her with growing fascination.

She had given herself to him just how he had always wished. Always desired.

As she pulled him into a intense kiss, expressing a desperation for him that nearly got him hard again she came. And she came hard.

“Did you just cum from kissing me?” He asked.

She slowly nodded as if she felt a little embarrassed of it.

“Well that’s adorable.” He could only say. Then he pulled her into his warm brotherly embrace. She returned the embrace clearly feeling an intense mix of emotions, all regarding him.

He eyed her proudly as she succumbed to exhaustion and he saw every last flash of emotion in her eyes fade into calm, serene sleepiness that carried her into her dreams.

He knew he’d just watch her sleep for a while, before carrying her back into her room, carefully as not to wake anyone else in the house. Tucking her in and returning to his own room.

[maddieg0531]

Hugs and Kisses

Oikawa x fem!reader

Hurt/Comfort, Angst

Warnings: Creepy guy, unwanted advances, self blame, reaction that indicates past trauma, uncomfy situations

Synopsis: A guy consistently bothers you and when he pushes a little to hard, you don't know what to do with yourself.

Headcanon: Oikawa is a big physical touch person and LOVES hugs

A/N: I'm back from the dead. A few things about this story. First, writers block is real, so if this sucks, my bad. I just needed to get words on a paper (screen ?). Second, ⚠️ this story may be uncomfortable or triggering for certain audiences ⚠️ You have been warned, read at your own risk. Y/N's reaction indicates potential past trauma, so no she isn't just being dumb or dramatic. It's a real response that real people have. Anywaaaaaaaaay, I hope you enjoy! I'm working on some other things (slowly), so stay tuned!

Masterlist

Dating Oikawa is weird. You and Oikawa started dating about a month ago. You have never been a popular kid. You had your friend group and you did your things just like everyone else. You figured dating him would draw a little bit of attention but not this much. As you walk down the hallway — the same hallway you have walked for two years — people stare at you. You focus your eyes on the floor and try to ignore them.  You make your way to Oikawa’s locker, but your lack of attention causes you to run into someone. 

“Oh I’m sorry.” You look up to see the captain of the baseball team looming over you, his muscular body way too close to you.

“It’s always a pleasure seeing you.” He winks at you with a smirk. 

“Uh…” Something about his voices makes you shrink into yourself. You are about to walk away when you feel arms wrap around you.  An involuntary squeak escapes your mouth. 

“Gooooood morning beautiful!” A familiar voice calls as he spins you in a circle. 

You turn to look at him, “Tooru! You scared me.” 

“Sorry that I want to see my wonderful girlfriend.” He says placing a kiss on your forehead. His eyes drift past you to see the large captain behind you, “Oh, hey Hiroto. Sorry, did I interrupt or?”

“No. Not at all.” You quickly reply. 

“Yeah, just saying hi.” Hiroto says with a begrudging tone. He passes by you, brushing your shoulder and hitting Oikawa’s. 

“Man I just don’t understand him.” Oikawa says, shaking his head. 

“Doesn’t matter.” You hug Oikawa, his warm embrace and sweet smell relaxing you. You let out a soft sigh, “I have to go to class.” 

“But I just got here.” Oikawa pouts.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be late.” You press a kiss on his cheek, “I’ll come to practice this afternoon, okay?”

“Okay.” You laugh at Oikawa’s pouty face. He really is just a big puppy.

Grabbing the last of your stuff, you close your locker and turn to go to the gym. Standing right behind your locker door is the same guy from earlier, Hiroto. 

You jump back, “Oh, uh…sorry. I didn’t see you there.” You swing your bag over your shoulder and go to walk around him, but he steps in front of you.

“Hey, if you aren’t busy, you should come to watch baseball practice.” His scratchy voice makes your brain itch.  

“Yeah, uh sorry but I’m going to the gym to watch Tooru practice, so uh…maybe another time.” As you walk away, you scratch your head, trying to get off the weird feeling he gives you.

“Yeah, another time.” He calls after you. 

You walk into the gym and Oikawa immediately runs and hugs you. His warm embrace immediately takes away the weird feeling from before. 

“Hey, love.” He mumbles into your shoulder.

Before you can respond, you hear Iwaizumi yell, “Loserkawa, get over here and warm up!”

Oikawa looks up and pouts. You can’t help giggling at his silly reaction, “You should go warm up.”

“But I wanna hug you.” He whines.

“I appreciate that, but you are supposed to be practicing,” You give him a peck on the cheek, “I will cheer for you on the side.”

“Okay.” Oikawa sulks back over to his team to warm up. You are dating a child.

You watch Oikawa practice and every time he hits a serve he winks at you. You are trying to study, but your book just sits open, while you neglect it to watch your boyfriend show off. 

Coach blows the whistle to mark the end of practice. He calls the boys over for a huddle while you pack up your unfinished homework. Oikawa runs up to you for a hug but you stick your hand out preventing him

“What??” He pouts.

“You’re sweaty. There is no way you are hugging me like that. I’ll go wait outside.” You tease. You walk outside into the cold air, a light breeze blowing pass. You shiver, wishing you had brought a jacket. Maybe you should have taken the hug, at least it would be warm.

“Hey”

You jump and turn around to see Hiroto…again. “Oh uh, hey.”

“You need a jacket?” He asks, offering his, which is also sweaty from practice.

“Um I’m good.” 

“Oh, well, do you want me to walk you home. It’s kinda late.” He takes a step uncomfortably close. 

You back up against the door of the gym, “I’m actually walking home with Oikawa, but uh, thanks..” You try not to sound to uncomfortable. He just stands there staring at you and you aren’t sure what to do. “Um…I’m gonna go…” You open the gym door and quickly walk back inside. 

You speed walk over to Oikawa and tightly hug his arm. 

“Hey, I thought you were waiting outside?” He looks over at you with slight concern.

“I got cold…” You lie, not wanting to make a big deal out of it. 

“Does this mean you will hug me now?” Before you respond, he engulfs you in his sweaty arms, squeezing you tight. 

“Tooru! You’re so gross!” You say that, but you really don’t mind. He makes you feel safe and warm. So for all the teasing, you still welcome the hugs.

You have had weird run ins with Hiroto for a week now. You never knew him before and now he’s everywhere. He makes you uncomfortable, but you don’t tell anyone because you don’t want to assume anything about him. It is probably just you being overly judgmental. Every time you see him, he gets more and more familiar with you. He will stand closer to you, be more forward. He has asked to walk you home several times now and you are running out of excuses. 

Normally you have Oikawa as an excuse to get out of conversations, but he is really busy with preparing for his upcoming tournament. You manage to go the whole school day without running into him. Just when you think you will make it the whole day, you run into Hiroto outside the gym. (You were bringing Oikawa dinner since he would be practicing late). 

“Hey, how are you?” He asks.

“I’m fine.” You respond quickly.

“What are you doing?” 

“Uh, I was just giving Oikawa dinner, since he will be here late.”

“So you are staying here late into the night. That’s kind of rude of him to make you stay.” He suddenly sounds judgmental. You don’t know how to feel about it. 

“No, uh he didn’t make me stay. I’m going home because I want to, not that I don’t want to stay. I would stay but I need to do homework and…” You are cut off by him laughing at you. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing. You don’t have to be so defensive.” He lowers his voice and leans in closer, “although it is kind of cute to see you flustered.”

You feel your stomach flip at the statement, “Well, uh, I have to go now.” You slide past him and start speed walking away. 

Hiroto, with his oddly long legs, catches up easily with you, “I’ll walk you home.”

“No, you don’t need to do that.” You say shakily, not making eye contact.

“Yeah I do. You can’t walk home alone. I don’t know why Oikawa would let you walk home alone. If I had a girlfriend as pretty as you, I wouldn’t let her out of my sight.” 

You freeze outside the school gates, debating whether or not you’re going to stay for Oikawa’s practice. Should you go and get him? No, you can’t bother him. He is already stressed out about this tournament. You can’t be a burden. 

“Um yeah, okay. I’ll see you later.” You stare at him, waiting for him to leave. 

He stares back at you, “Well, lead the way.” You just look at him awkwardly, hoping he will take the hint. “Uh, earth to Y/N. Lead the way home.” He waves his hand way to close to your face.

“Why?” Is all you can think of to say.

“I can’t walk you home if you don’t walk home.”

“You don’t need to walk me home.”

“Yeah I do.”

“No you don’t.”

“You aren’t walking home alone. You let Oikawa do it, so why can’t I?”

“Because Oikawa is my boyfriend and you aren’t.”

“Clearly he isn’t a very good one.” He takes a step forward, backing you into the pillar of the school gate, “What do you see in him anyway. He is arrogant and self focused. All he cares about is volleyball.”

“That’s not true!” You pipe out, increasingly scared of his presence.

“Really? Then why isn’t he here to walk you home? Why do you always have to stay late for his practice.” He puts his hand on the brick pillar behind you and leans uncomfortably close to your face. You freeze, “We all know I would be a better boyfriend than him. I can tell you like me, so just forget about him.”

You are scared stiff, his face inches from yours. You want to push him away, scream, run, something, but you can’t move. It’s like you are paralyzed. Suddenly, he closes the gap and smashes his lips against yours. You let out a muffled scream, eyes wide and filling with tears. He pulls away with a nasty grin on his face. You stare blankly past him, unsure of what just happened. 

“Since you won’t let me walk you home, I’ll leave you with that.” He winks at you and pats you on the head before walking away. 

When he is out of sight you crumble to the ground and break down crying. What just happened?

You walk back to your house in tears, confused, uncomfortable, and guilty. How could you have not done anything? Why didn’t you push him away or stop him? When you get home, you immediately take a shower. You scrub yourself, trying to wash away the remnants of him. You sit in the shower drowning in tears, scrubbing so hard that you leave a rash. You end up crying yourself to sleep.

You wake up the next day, drowsy and confused. You hope it was all a dream, until you look at your arm where you left the rash. You almost start breaking down crying again, but you manage to pull yourself together. You are supposed to meet Oikawa today for coffee to study for an upcoming test. How are you supposed to face him? You let another guy kiss you and you have the audacity to casually get coffee. Your phone buzzes on your bedside table, Oikawas name flashing across the screen. You pick up and Oikawa’s smooth voice chimes through the phone, “Hey love, are you alright?” You freeze. How did he know? “We were supposed to meet for coffee at 10 right?” 

You look at the time and it’s 10:15, “Oh crap.”

“It’s okay. I was just texting you and you didn’t respond, so I wanted to make sure you were awake.” You can hear his lovely smile through the phone, his comforting presence washing over you. 

“I’m sorry. I just woke up. I’m on my way.” Your voice sounds hoarse and like someone who has been crying all night.

“Okay, no rush. I’ll be waiting. Love you.” 

“Love you, bye.” 

You jump out of bed and rush to get ready. You throw your hair up, put on some random pair of clothes, and grab an apple before running out the door. Luckily the coffee shop is in walking distance from your house, so you make it there pretty quick. You walk in the door, out of breath and see Oikawa sitting at a table in the corner. His face lights up at the sight of you. You walk over and set your backpack down with a thud.

“Morning love,” He pulls you into a big hug, “You didn’t have to run. You look like you just ran a marathon.” He laughs as you press your face against his chest. The vibration from his laugh is comforting enough to put you to sleep. 

You pull back and sit down, “I’m sorry. I woke up late and I didn’t even realize. I forgot to set an alarm last night.” 

Oikawa cuts you off by squeezing your hand, “Hey, it’s okay. It happens sometimes.” 

You give him a half smile, still worn out from everything. He lifts his hand to cup your face, you instinctively lean into his touch. When you look at him, his face is scrunched up in concern, “Are you okay?”

“What?” You internally start freaking out. And maybe a little externally too. 

“Your eyes are all puffy and you look worn down. You aren’t smiling like you usually do and your voice is quiet and hoarse, which usually means something is wrong. What happened?” 

You are touched that he knows all of these things, but you feel the guilt pound away in your chest. You can’t tell him. It would crush him. But you should. But you can’t. “What, no. I’m fine.” You lie.

Oikawa is not convinced, “Hmm, okay. You don’t want to talk about it. I’ll wait until you want to.” 

He is so good to you and you are so bad for him. You might just break down and cry at his gentle manner, but you don’t. He slides over a coffee cup while you take out your books, “I got your regular.” He smiles.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to.” You blush at his kindness. 

“Sure I did.”

You spend a couple hours studying for your test. With each tick of the big hand, your heart drops further into guilt. There isn’t much conversation save for talking about the test. You don’t make eye contact the whole time. Oikawa’s voice was soft and his touch was gentle. He knows something is wrong but doesn’t want to pry. Once you feel relatively well prepared for the test, you immediately get up to leave. Oikawa stands with you. He opens his arms for a hug, letting you decide if you want to take it or not. You gently lean into his arms, so desperately wanting to spill your soul to him, but you can’t bring yourself to do it. So you opt to linger in his arms for a small moment

He gently pulls you close, kissing the top of your head. He whispers with the utmost care, “Whenever you want to talk, let me know. I’ll be right here.” You stand silent. “It can be 3am or two days from now. I don’t care when, but please call me, text me, talk to me. Don’t suffer through it alone.”

You nod as you reluctantly pull away from his grasp. You turn on your heel and rush out before he see’s you cry. Oikawa dejectedly watches you walk away, having already noticed the tears forming in your eyes. He can only hope that you will come and talk to him later. 

You practically run back to your house, tears flooding down your face. You feel so guilty. You know it’s not your fault, but it kind of is. You didn’t push Hiroto away. You just stood there and let him kiss you. You never said no, you never rejected him. You brought this on yourself and therefore only have yourself to blame. For hours you sit in your room sobbing, overwhelmed, disgusted, and unsure of what to do. You are practically drowning in your tears when you finally can’t take it anymore. You have to do something, tell someone. You have to tell Oikawa. He will be mad and probably leave you, but it is better to rip the bandaid off than let the wound fester. Your hands are shaking as you pick up your phone to text Oikawa. You can’t bring yourself to call him. 

Y/N: Can you come over?

To’ ❤️: Of course 🥰 I’ll be right over

Your eyes eventually dried, probably because you are dehydrated. You get up off your bed, the old springs squeaking as you lift your weight off of it. As you walk pass the mirror, you catch a glimpse of yourself. Your hair looks like a rats nest and there are tear stains on your cheeks. You look like a raccoon who had a really bad day. However, you don’t have the energy to do anything about it. You go downstairs and pour yourself a glass of water. Lord knows you need it. You open your fridge, hoping to find food, even though you haven’t gone to the store all week. Your stomach screams at you for only having eaten an apple today and then exerting enough energy equivalent to running a marathon. The lack of food in your fridge is almost enough to make you start crying again. As if you needed more help, you hear a soft knock on your door. You drag yourself over not wanting to open it, knowing what awaits you on the other side. Your hands shake as you reach for the door knob. You suck in a large breath and fling the door open. As you see your tall, beautiful, loving boyfriend standing there, you can’t help breaking down sobbing again. All the guilt and confusion and pain comes flooding back into you. Maybe if you didn’t drink that water you wouldn’t have started crying again. Your knees give out under the weight of your sorrow. Oikawa swiftly catches you, immediately pulling you into his arms. His heart snaps in half at the sight of you so broken. 

“Hey shhh, it’s okay. I’m here now.” He whispers, tenderly lifting you off the ground. He closes the door with his foot and walks you over to the couch. Your sobs resound through the room, each one more broken than the next. Oikawa gently cups your face, “Do you want to talk about it?”

You shake your head, unable to choke out words through the tears. 

“Do you want to sit here and cry?” He asks kindly.

You grab his shirt, holding on so tight your fists are white. You manage to force out some words, “N-no…I…I-I’m…sor-sorry!” 

Oikawa’s face contorts in confusion, “Don’t be sorry. You can sit here and cry and I will comfort you for as long as you want.” You fervently shake your head. Oikawa does his best to decipher your gestures, “No? Do you want to talk?”

You shake your head, trying to force out words. In your effort, you start hyperventilating, everything becoming so overwhelming. 

“Shhh, deep breathe in.” Oikawa breaths in, gesturing for you to follow. You manage a broken breath. “Breathe out…Breathe in…Breathe out.”

You and Oikawa do this for a few minutes (more like Oikawa does it and you try between sniffles). Once your breath has evened out, your sobs become more controllable. 

“There you go,” It’s not fair that Oikawa’s voice alone can calm you down. “Now what were you trying to say?” 

“I…I—“

“Deep breaths, you’ve got it.”

“I…I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about.” “N-no…you…you aren’t g-getting it.” Oikawa looks at you confused. “I—I….” You start hyperventilating again.

“Shhh, deep breaths. One word at a time. You?” 

“I-I…I cheated on you! I’m so sorry!!! I didn’t mean to! I didn’t want to! It just happened and I don’t know how and I don’t know why I didn’t do anything. He just was there and I froze and-and—“

You have lost all control at this point. You are sobbing, rambling on and on. Your face is buried in his chest, tears drenching his shirt. He’s holding you so gently while you are gripping his shirt so hard. You are shaking and feel like you might throw up. Your head is spinning and you are confused. It’s so much that you can’t process it all. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! You’re so good to me and I’m so terrible for you! I don’t know why you picked me. I’m sorry. I know you probably hate me and want to leave me but please…please!…Please don’t leave.” Your voice trails off, drowned under your tears. You need him so bad. You want to look in his eyes, hear his soft voice, be held in his arms, but you can barely hold yourself up. Oikawa is probably going to leave you. He is going to drop you and walk out. You need him to say something, do something. Even if it is yelling, even if he is breaking up with you, you need to hear his voice. Suddenly, Oikawa pulls you in his lap and hugs you softly against his chest. You freeze. That’s not what you thought he was going to do. Is this his goodbye? Is this it? “I-I…” You try to say something but you just can’t.

“Shhhh, it’s okay.” His voice is so warm and comforting. You can feel his heartbeat through his chest as his scent envelopes you. “I don’t know what happened, but you are not in a good headspace to talk about it clearly. So let’s just breathe.” He takes a deep breath, you following suit. “And let’s just sit and calm down for a moment, okay?” 

As he hugs you close to him, you can feel your heartbeat start to match his. Your broken sobs slowly turn into small sniffles. You sit in his arms for you don’t even know how long. Nothing was said, nothing was done. You just breathed together and existed together. You felt the exhaustion of everything hit you like a truck. You curl up small in his arms and feel yourself start to nod off into a much needed sleep.

You wake up on your couch, eyes puffy, your thoughts muddled. It’s dark outside even though it was just midday. What time is it? What happened? You were with Oikawa. You shoot upright. Did he leave you? You look around frantically. You have to apologize…you…you—

“Hey, calm down. I’m right here.” He comes around the couch from the kitchen. You feel the tension in your shoulders release at the sight of him. He sits next to you and you almost instinctively lean your head on his shoulder. But you remember, “I was…we were…talking? Crying? I was apologizing! I—“

Before you can get all lost in your thoughts, he cuts you off, “Calm down, it’s okay. You were upset and we sat and calmed down. You ended up falling asleep because you used so much energy crying. It’s been a few hours. I noticed you had no food, so I ordered some. Do you want to eat? Or do you want to talk?” 

“I want to talk. I need to talk. WE need to talk.” Your eyes are wide, like a deer in headlights. 

“Okay, then let’s talk. Slowly and calmly. One sentence at a time.” He settles you down a bit, knowing your tendency to ramble. “What happened.”

“I’m sorry. I cheated on you and I feel like a horrible person because you are so good to me and I just ruined it.” You can’t bear to look him in the eye.

“What happened? How did you cheat on me?” He asks with a hint of quizzical disbelief. 

“Well he wouldn’t leave me alone and I tried to say no but he kept insisting and then he just, he just kept getting closer and I didn’t know what to do and then I was backed up against the pillar and then he leaned in and he-he kissed me.” You feel yourself shudder at the memory, that disgusting feeling creeping up again. 

Oikawa tries to desperately hold himself together, waiting to hear the full story before going and punching a man, “Hold on. Who is ‘he’?”

“Hiroto, that guy from the baseball team.” 

“And he kissed you?”

“Yes, but I didn’t do anything to stop him. I just froze when I should have shoved him or—“

“Love, this is not your fault.” His voice is light and compassionate, “He approached you, yes?”

“Yes but—“

“No ‘buts’. Just a simple yes or no. Can you do that for me love? I just want to get everything clear.”

You nod with a quiet ‘yes’. 

“You did not want him to approach you?”

“No.”

“You asked him to go away and to leave you alone.”

“Well, not in those exact words, but yeah. I should have been more clear…” You stop yourself before Oikawa does.

“You in some form or fashion attempted to express that you did not want him near you, correct?”

You nod.

“However, he ignored said attempt and then cornered you and forced you to kiss him?” Oikawa’s jaw clenches tighter and tighter with each question.

“Yes…but I should have moved.” “But you couldn’t”

“I didn’t”

“You said you froze, right?”

“Yes.”

“That is a totally normal and valid response to fear. You were backed into a corner and someone—much larger than you might I add—was looming over you. He was in your personal space and violated you. He ignored your signs, ignored your fear, and HE chose to hurt you.” Anger starts seeping out of Oikawa, steam practically fuming from his ears.

“You’re angry. I’m sorry. You have every right to be mad.” You start to shrink into yourself again, tears threatening to come back out. 

Oikawa realizes his mistake and immediately softens up again, “No, no. I’m mad yes, but not at you. I’m mad at him for being such a terrible person and for hurting my princess.” He pulls in his lap again, your back to his chest. He wraps his arms around you like a warm blanket, “You did nothing wrong. None of this was your fault. You are the victim here, okay? You have every right to feel hurt or upset or whatever you need to feel. You are not a horrible person. You did not cheat on me by any means. I’m not mad at you. Please don’t be mad at yourself. I love you so much and you are so wonderful and amazing and I’m so sorry you had to go through this. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t there to protect you.”

You spin around to look at him, “Don’t blame yourself, please. You didn’t know. I didn’t tell you anything. I thought he would go away, but he just kept bothering me, day after day-“

“Wait, how long has this been going on?” 

“…well you remember at the beginning of the week when we randomly ran into him in the hallway?”

“Vaguely”

“Well, after that I kept running into him and he kept saying weird things and asked me to come watch his practice or if he could walk me home. I always used your practice or you walking me home as an excuse but you were so busy with practice yesterday that I couldn’t stay. And then I ran into him outside and he kept following me, insisting on walking me home and then…yeah.” You look at Oikawa, his face slowly burning red with rage. 

“So he has been bothering you for a week now?”

“Yeah, but I didn’t want to say anything because I thought I was being dramatic or looking too much into it…but I guess not…are you mad that I didn’t tell you?”

Oikawa’s face softens again, “No, not at all. I’m sorry that you felt like you couldn’t tell me. You aren’t being dramatic. What he did was genuinely wrong and you are allowed to be uncomfortable or upset by it. Please if anything, anything, big or small, makes you uncomfortable or scared or upset or anything, please tell me. I want to know. I want to help you.”

You place your hand on his cheek, a soft smile poking at the corner of your mouth for the first time all day, “Thank you. That means so much.” You lean your forehead on his, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too.” He closes the gap between you, gently pressing his lips against yours, afraid of making you uncomfortable. 

You melt at his touch. Just one kiss from him and all your fears and worries fall away. You wrap your arms around his neck as his arms hold you tighter around the waist. You could live in this moment forever. You break apart but keep your head leaned on his. You two just sit and bask in each other for a moment before Oikawa pulls you in for a hug. You relax into him, letting his presence melt away the ice of the past 24 hours. He gently strokes your hair, “I hope you know I’m gonna kick his ass.”

“Don’t get kicked out of school, or worse, get kicked off the volleyball team.” 

He laughs at your comment, the vibration running through you, “It would be worth it for you.”

You sit up, looking at him with a smirk, “Are you saying you like me more than volleyball?”

“I can play volleyball any time with anyone. There is only one Y/N in this world,” He presses a quick kiss on your lips, “And she’s all mine.”

You blush at his flirting, “You love me. You want to kiss me. You want to hug me.” 

“Mhm, so what if I do?” He smirks.

“Hmmm, I’ll allow it, but only if you bring me some food. I have only eaten and apple today and I’m starving.” Your stomach growls and you both can’t help laughing at the timing. 

“Okay, anything for you, Love.” He gets up and brings over the ordered food, “But for real, we are filing a report against him.”

“No, I don’t want to make a big fuss.” 

“It’s either that or I beat him to a pulp. Your choice.” He says, taking a bite of his food

“Lets do the report.” You lean your head against his shoulder, “But you would totally win.”

“You think so?” He says smirking with a mouth full of food.

“Oh yeah. Baseball has nothing on your serves.”

“Got that right,” He throws his arm around you and kisses the top of your head. 

How did you get so lucky to find someone like him? 

Epilogue

“Did you hear? Hiroto got expelled.”

“Yeah, I saw him leaving school today.”

“What happened?”

“I don’t know but he always made me uncomfortable.”

You hear the murmurs from your schoolmates as you walk down the hall with Oikawa, who is standing awfully tall today. “Someone looks happy.” You nudge him.

“Of course. I’m with you aren’t I.” He smirks down at you.

“Mhm, I’m sure that’s why. At least you didn’t beat him up.”

“Of course not.” He says with a sly voice. 

More random voices chime around you, “Bro I saw Hiroto leaving school this morning.”

“Dude, I heard he got expelled.”

“Must have gotten in a fight” “You think?”

“Totally. He had a nasty black eye.”

You smack Oikawa on the arm, “To’ you said you wouldn’t beat him up!”

“I didn’t!” He holds his hands up in defense, “One punch doesn’t count as beating him up.” You walk away, pretending to ignore him. “Y/N wait! Come on, don’t leave me like that. He deserved it!.” 

You can’t help laughing at his little pouty voice.

“I’ll make it up to you. I’ll buy you coffee.” He spins you around, giving you the biggest puppy dog eyes he can muster.

“Hmmm, a coffee and ice cream.”

“Done.” He grabs your hand happily and continues walking with you.

“Did it hurt? Did he cry?” You mutter.

“Oh yeah, big time baby.” Oikawa laughs.

You are a terrible person for laughing, but you have a pass this time around. 

[gaybananabread]

⌁₊˚⊹ Jay's Silly Moods⊹˚₊⌁

(Art this is based off of)

Definitely getting back into Ninjago… Halfway through drawing this, I got a very strong urge to write a self-indulgent fic. These goobers are slowly regaining their vice grip on my brain. I might be getting to the “Requested When Shit Was Closed” prompts soon, but big possibility. Back on task, I hope you Enjoy!

Lee: Jay

Ler: Cole

Summary: Jay’s been zapping his shipmates, sneaking in quick pokes and shockingly ticklish squeezes whenever he can. While it isn't his intention, most of those are aimed at Cole. Sick of the surprise jolts, the Earth ninja has a little vengeful fun of his own.

Warnings: none! This is a tickle fic, so if you don’t like that, scroll away!!

The ninja were peacefully relaxing on the couch, trying to unwind after a long day of battles and villain encounters. Cole was listening to music, the faint sounds of “dad rock” coming through his headphones as he rested his arms behind his head. Zane was messing around with his circuitry, and Kai was sprawled out, trying to nap. 

The only one not lazing around was Jay; he had a much more mischievous way of cooling down in mind. 

Sneaking up near the couch, he positioned himself right behind the relaxed Cole. Not wasting another second, he sent a very small amount of electricity to his finger tips, tasing Cole's sides before taking off. The rocky boy jolted out of his trance, a surprised laugh flying from his lips as his arms came crashing down.

“GYAH! W-whahat the hell?” When he turned around to his perpetrator, though, all he saw was a streak of blue disappear around the corner. “Zappy jerk…”

Zane chuckled, shaking his head before resuming his tinkering. Kai was still snoozing, oblivious to the world. With a huff, Cole lowered his arms, not wanting to risk another attack before relaxing again. Damn Jay's silly moods…

-

The whole rest of that week was full of little pokes, squeezes and zaps from the blue ninja. Whenever anyone even thought of letting their guard down, he'd be there, disappearing the moment they tried to retaliate or catch him.

Most of the team just ignored it, used to his silly behavior. Sure, it was a little annoying sometimes, but it was all in good fun. Everyone was fine with that.

Everyone except Cole.

While he loves his friend's quirks, the constant tickling was getting on his nerves. The guy wore tank-tops daily; it wasn't exactly hard for Jay to get him.

But he had a plan. One that would surely keep Jay off his back, or at least for a little while. So, sitting on the couch and sprawling out, he waited for the inevitable pokes that would seal his fellow ninja's fate.

-

Jay snickered as he saw his rocky friend, sprawled out and relaxing on the couch. It was too easy! He should have been suspicious, but the brain goblins were overpowering his rationality with mischief.

Creeping over to the couch, he sent small sparks to his fingers. Just a little closer…wait is he smili-

“GOTCHA!”

Before Jay could even think to run, Cole shot his hands upward, latching onto the sparky boy’s wrists and flipping him over the couch. Cole was careful not to hurt him, though the shriek Jay let out surely did some hearing damage. 

He was pinned in seconds, stuck lying on his stomach with a rather intimidating man on his waist. Whatever his friend was gonna do, he literally couldn't see it coming.

Anticipatory giggles bubbled past Jay's lips, his eyes wide and giddy-looking. “C-Cole, wait! Lehet's talk about thihihis!”

Cracking his neck, Cole smirked down at his fellow ninja. “Neh, I'm good. Actions have consequences, Jay..”

Without another word, Cole dug into the sparky boy's sides, squeezing the sensitive skin. He was done with Jay's shit; it was payback time.

“Nohohoho! Cohome on, thihihis ihis mehehean!” The brat tried to wriggle out of the hold, but Cole's hands were just out of reach. The position he was in was evil: Who pins people on their stomach?!

“You know what's mean? Poking your friends when they're trying to get stuff done. I'd say you deserve this, wouldn’t you?” He smirked, scritching little lightning bolts on his sides. It was silly, sure, but he kinda asked for it.

Jay kicked his feet behind Cole, trying anything to make things tickle less. It was a fruitless effort, though: he was stuck. 

“Plehehease! Ihit’s nohohot fahair!” His giggling sounded whiny, like a child throwing a tantrum.

Cole scoffed and rolled his eyes. He wants to see unfair? Cole’ll show him unfair…

Snickering, he moved up to the zappy boy’s ribs, digging in and wiggling his fingers between each bone. That should kill him.

“C-Cohohole! Grk- NOHOhohot thehere! I'M SOHAHARRY! NYAHAHAHA!” Jay lost it when Cole dug into his ribs, loud belly laughter quickly replacing his giggles. Little snorts and squeaks flowed with the laughter, only adding to the mild chaos.

“Hmhmph. Sparky brat…” Cole just chuckled smugly, continuing to torment his fellow ninja. Besides the payback, his cute reactions were well worth it.

Thrashing wildly, Jay laughed his ass off, the tickling on his worst spot driving him insane. “P-PLEHEASE! COHOHOLE! I CAHAHAN’T-” He patted his hand, palm flat against the floor. 

The moment Cole saw the tapping-out, he knew it was time to quit. Pulling his hands away, he climbed off Jay. The giggly boy immediately curled up in a ball, tickle-drunk and giddy. 

“You alive, sparky?” Cole asked while rubbing Jay's back, trying to calm him down. There was an air of humor in his tone, but he was trying to be nice.

Jay tried to catch his breath, his cheeks flush and his nerves buzzing. “F-fuhuck youhuhu…”

“Alright, alright. I'm done being mean.” Snorting, Cole pulled his friend up into a hug. It was clear he enjoyed the short bout of being tickled, the agitation just a facade.“Next time, try just asking for what you want, okay? I'd be happy to help~”

Blushing heavily, Jay whined, though he did relax into the hug. It was warm, nice, and calming after all the laughter. Muttering something under his breath, Jay leaned his head against Cole's chest. If he wanted to be mean, the rocky boy was gonna be a pillow.

Cole lifted him up with a huff, carrying the lightning ninja to their beds. He laid him down, cuddling up next to him and pulling a blanket over them both. It wasn't a rare sight: the ninja saw some things on missions, and physical contact helped keep them calm.

It was ten o’clock: not the latest for them, but good enough to doze off. Cole closed his eyes, feeling the warmth of his fellow ninja and the happy air in the room. Yeah, he could get used to Jay's goofy moods…

[thelovelylolly]

Hi! Happy new year!

Could you do a TBB Hunter x reader where Hunter gets protective and a confession follows?

It’s totally ok if not, no pressure 👍🏽😉

Protective

Summary: You're fed up with how protective Hunter is and when you confront him about it, he tells you why. Warnings: none :) Word Count: 670 Notes: live laugh love protective hunter <3

You joined the Bad Batch after you teamed up with them for a job, and since then, you became really close with everyone. You clicked with them instantly, especially with Hunter. You both were natural leaders and put the rest of the squad before yourselves. It felt easy to talk to him, which led to him being the one you were closest with.

However, one thing that bugged you was how...protective he was. You could understand why he had that habit with the war and running from the Empire, but you had proved yourself very capable before. Yet, he always put you in positions that didn't require being in any fight or putting himself between you and danger.

At first, it was fine. You just followed his orders and if that meant him getting you out of a fight before anyone else, then you listened. But it got annoying as time went on. You wanted to fight, you wanted to protect the squad, but Hunter didn't want you to even get close to danger.

You thought you were being overdramatic about it, but it all boiled over on one job.

Sid had told you all that with the good pay of this job, there was a good amount of danger. Hunter came up with a plan on the flight to the location and once the ship landed, everyone filed out of the ship. You went to follow them, but Hunter stopped you.

"You're staying here," he said, standing between you and the exit.

"What? Why?" You replied, crossing your arms in front of you.

"You heard Sid, it's dangerous-"

"But you're still letting Omega go?" You spat, cutting him off. You took a deep breath, trying not to yell at him. "Listen, I get you just want to keep everyone safe, but this is ridiculous, Hunter! You know I'm more than capable of taking care of myself and holding my own in a fight, but you won't let me go anywhere dangerous, you won't let me stay and fight with you, you won't let me do anything! I wanna pull my weight on this team, which includes fighting alongside you and the rest of the squad, but I can't do that if you keep stopping me!"

Hunter sighed. "Just follow orders-"

"No, I won't! I don't care if I'm being overdramatic right now, but I want you to trust me-"

"It's not that I don't trust you," he cut you off. "I...I don't want to risk losing you."

"What?"

After a beat of silence, he continued. "These past few months with you in the squad have been great, and I enjoy talking to you and spending time with you. You understand me, you and I just work, y'know? I...I love you, okay? I don't want to lose you because I love you."

Your eyes widened at the confession. "You love me?"

Hunter nodded. He could hear your heart beating faster, and he hoped that it was a good thing. He didn't plan on telling you that on this mission, or ever. He didn't want to ruin what he had with you, and with you two being stuck on a ship together with four other people, he didn't want to make things awkward.

You smiled at him. "I love you, too, but you could've just said that instead of keeping me off of missions."

Hunter laughed. "I'm trying to keep you safe, cyar'ika."

You step closer to him, like you were going to kiss him. Your breath hit his lips, his eyes lowering to your lips before meeting your gaze.

"I can handle myself, Hunter. I'm going on the mission," you said softly before teasingly brushing past him and out of the ship.

Hunter felt his face heat up and his heart beat quickly as he watched you walk down the ramp and join the others. You looked over your shoulder at him and winked.

If he didn't die in a fight, you were going to be the death of him.

[storiesofsvu]

A Dangerous Game Ch 20

Emily Pretiss x reader warnings: language, hurt/comfort, smut. I wont lie, this ch lowkey feels like it *could* be the last one, but it is not. There is still more coming, don't worry.

As you slowly recovered from your exhaustion and hangover over the weekend you’d started to toy with the idea of what Garcia had been saying on Saturday. You were rather hesitant, very unconvinced about the entire thing, sure maybe Emily had kicked you off the case because of Dewald and not your little field trip, but everything after that still made sense. You had acted out of line, pushed the boundaries and you knew she wouldn’t risk her career over it, if the tables were turned you would’ve felt and likely done the same. You could only hope that your professional relationship could start to be salvaged now that Dewald was behind bars.

Your nerves were on high alert as you pulled into the BAU on Monday, only relaxing after a couple of hours when Rossi addressed the team saying Emily was in conference meetings all day and wouldn’t be around unless there was a case. If anyone had any questions, to direct them his way in the meantime. So you kept your head down, did your work while trying to avoid Penelope’s eager glances and picked at the sandwich Derek wordlessly dropped on you desk at lunch.

“Wilson.” Rossi’s voice pulled your attention mid afternoon, glancing up from your paperwork.

“Yeah?”

“Jensen’s lawyer just called; he’s willing to talk but only to you.”

“When and where?”

“He’s at the tombs, and now.” He dropped a memo onto your desk, “once you’re done you can call it day.”

“Thanks.”

Your meeting over at the tombs was nothing to write home about, sending off an email back to Rossi with an update as you chatted with the lawyer on the way out. Jensen had been moved back into the main holding cell along with the other inmates awaiting transfer before you’d managed to be beeped through the doors, having to still walk past said cell.

“Agent Wilson…” A low chuckle came from your side and you turned to the bars, your brow cocked, seeing Dewald on the other side, “can’t say I expected to see you here.”

“What can I say?” You asked, crossing your arms over your chest, “just because I didn’t get the chance to take you down doesn’t mean I suck at my job.”

“Maybe that’s what you think, but that unit chief of yours sure does.” He shot back with a grin and you didn’t flinch, only rolling your eyes. “shame it turns out you’re one of them rug munchers, I could’ve shown you such a good time.”

“Yeah, right.” You laughed, turning away from him.

“Even bigger shame that’s all you ever were to her.” He gloated, “I was so eager to take her little princess from her, show her what it’s like to have someone destroy the person you care about most. But you… you were just a notch in a bedpost. God I woulda had such fun with you, I just know how pretty you would look all fileted and on display for her to find.”

“Goodnight Dewald.” You jeered, “enjoy your life sentence.”

With a scoff and another eye roll, you felt the lawyer squeeze at your elbow, making sure you were okay and you shook them off, reminding them once you were on the other side of the door that you had heard far worse in the field. Though you couldn’t help but wonder about his words on your drive back to Alexandria.

**

Emily hated conference meeting days, they were somehow always more draining than being out in the field chasing unsubs. The politics of the job was what drove her the most insane and she was very much looking forward to getting home, ordering take out and enjoying a large glass of wine. Who cared that it was only Monday, she wanted it and knew it would help her relax.

The elevator pinged and she let out a soft sigh, stepping through the sliding doors, her keys jingling in her hand while she fingered through them for the apartment key. As she rounded the corner she faltered in her steps at the sight of someone sitting beside her apartment door and it was only when you looked up that she even realized it was you.

“Oh…” The word was whispered when it left her lips her heart sinking into her stomach at just how run down you looked, how it had only been just over two weeks but she could already see the bagginess of your usually form fitted clothes. It took her a moment to find her voice but she did manage to speak before you did, “what… what’re you doing here?”

“Don’t worry.” You huffed, “Dewald got shanked in the tombs an hour ago, dead man can’t come for me.” She moved toward you and you pushed up to standing with a quiet groan, wincing at your stiffened joints. “Why didn’t you tell me I was being targeted?”

“I—” her shoulder sagged as she sighed, nodding toward the door as she moved around you, “come in?”

The moment you were through the door Sergio let out a loud meow, jumping on you and you barely managed to scoop him up into your arms.

“Hey buddy.” You greeted with a small laugh and the smile on your cheeks warmed Emily’s heart as she locked the door behind her. While you were distracted with Sergio she slipped passed you, tossing her coat over a chair to pull down two glasses, filling them with wine. You’d wandered down the entry hall, Serg still in your arms as he nuzzled into your cheek purring loudly before starting to lick at your face. “Okay, okay, I missed you too.” You left a kiss on the top of his head and Emily cleared her throat, pulling you back to the present, a hesitant look on her face as she slid a glass of wine in your direction.

“I”—

“Before.. this starts, is the bug still here? Because I don’t need Garcia overhearing anything else.” You winced.

“You know about that?”

“I’ve been looped in on a few things.” You replied sheepishly and she let out a soft sigh, her eyes closing for a moment before she looked up at you.

“I destroyed it this morning.” She took a rather large sip of wine, “what… all do you know?”

“I’m not really sure.” You shrugged, wrapping an arm around your middle, “and I didn’t really believe it until I heard it from Dewald himself.” Your eyes flicked up to her, “why not say anything?”

“You… you have this…” she tugged her lower lip into her mouth, chewing on it for a moment while she tried to string the words together, “dangerous fire in you that.. certain agents.. seem to have. I figured that there was a pretty high chance you’d try to take care of things on your own, without the help of the team. I didn’t want you getting hurt… or worse.”

“Hmm.” You surveyed her for a moment, as if trying to figure out if what she was saying was true before reaching out for the glass of wine she’d offered and taking a sip. She let out a breath she’d been holding, the wine was a peace offering and the fact that you’d taken it gave her the relief that you hopefully weren’t going to storm out of there in another minute. “I keep hearing things about a cat? I’m assuming that’s linked to the shelter?”

“The last morning I left your house, I found it mutilated on your doorstep. I knew in that moment I had to take you off the case. He’d been listening to us since that night at Rossi’s, and was watching us every Friday, sitting outside my apartment for hours.” She let out a shaky breath, she hated that she’d had to do all of this, and reliving it wasn’t any easier, “it was my fault he had access to you so quickly.”

“What’d you mean?” Your brow furrowed while you took another sip and she let out a sigh.

“I found the bug; I panicked but I still wanted to see you that night so I rerouted to your place but he was sitting outside. I stupidly lead him right to you without even fucking realizing it. I knew that I had to try to right my wrong, I wanted you to come out of this alive. Believe me… I didn’t want to push you away, I spent the week searching for a case that I could assign to half the team, one that would get you out of state as long as possible to give me the time to catch the bastard. I sent you to Seattle so he couldn’t find you, if I had known that bitch Skylar was there I never would have assigned it to you. I’m so, so sorry. I wanted you here…” her voice began to shake, doing her best not to let it break, “I wanted you with me. I never wanted to lose you like that… like… this…”

You gulped, ducking your gaze as you distracted yourself with a heavy sip of wine, letting her words sink in as the profiler side of your brain started to read between them, figure out how to respond. It was almost as if Sergio could sense the wariness wafting off you, leaping up onto the counter to settle in front of you, nudging at your hand again until you were scratching  him behind the ears, your eyes downcast.

“And the… rest? Did you really mean all that? Or was it just for show, to get Dewald off my back and keep me away from you? So I didn’t like… try to win you back or something, better to make me think you hated me. Or… do you really think I’m… worthless?”

You finally looked up and the blurring of tears in your eyes was met with a very similar misting in Emily’s eyes, her entire being wilting knowing how much hurt she had caused, how these certainly weren’t the first tears you’d shed over her and what she’d done.

“No, no…” she shook her head, stepping towards you as she fought the urge to pull you into her arms, deciding instead that a hand rested on your shoulder to test the waters was enough, “are you kidding me? I want to fight anyone who has ever made you feel insignificant, even if it means I need to start with myself.” Her hand trailed down your arm, tempted to catch yours in hers but she felt a tear rolling over her cheek, quickly swiping it away, “because you are so far from that. You are a wonder, you’re…. fucking sunshine on a gloomy day and I know there is probably a better way to do all of this but I really, really hope you’ll let me have a second chance because the only thing I’ve wanted over the past two weeks has been you…” She had to pause to wipe away another tear, “I hated myself probably as much as you hate me, and I know I will never be able to apologize enough for doing what I did. So I’ll understand if you want absolutely nothing to do with me anymore.”

You took a shuddering breath, your hand coming up to cover your mouth and Emily watched as your eyes flicked down towards the door and she was certain you were about to walk out of her apartment once again. Instead you looked back at her, tears finally slipping over your cheeks as you spoke,

“But that’s the thing…. I don’t.” She felt her heart drop in her chest, her face falling as regret began to worm its way through her veins, “because I want everything to do with you.”

She couldn’t help it, and honestly neither could you as soon as you saw the movement out of the corner of your eye you stepped toward her, closing the gap as her arms wound tightly around you and yours looped around her shoulders, tucking your head into the crook of her neck.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“It doesn’t matter how much pain I was in, how much I thought you hated me. I missed you every single day. Every time I was upset, I’d pick up my phone wanting to text you, to ask about ice cream and movies, or too much wine…” You shifted back just far enough so that you could see her face, sighing at the warmth of her hand gently rubbing your side, “all I ever wanted was you.”

Emily’s hand came up to your cheek, tenderly cupping your face while her thumb swiped away a few stray tears, her own still slipping down her face.

“There wasn’t a moment that went by I wasn’t thinking about you.” She whispered before her eyes darted between your eyes and your lips. In an attempt to resist herself she let out a soft sigh, leaning forward so her forehead was resting against yours, her eyes fluttering shut, “I’m sorry…”

She could feel your breath on her face, the warmth as you grew closer, your lips nearly hovering against hers, unsure of whether you should close the gap and she took the chance, inching forward to brush her lips with yours. The first one was brief, testing the waters before your arms tightened around her, body relaxing against hers and she pulled away a fraction of an inch.

“Is this okay?”

“Yes.. absolutely yes.” You breathed back, you’d been aching for her touch for weeks, and the feeling of her lips back on yours was enough to make your heart burst. “God I missed you, so much.” You murmured before your lips met hers once more.

“M’sorry.” She replied, kissing you softly, her hand gliding across your cheek to thread through your hair, cupping the back of your head, “I’ll make it up to you. Promise.” Your lips parted, urging her togue to slip into your mouth, letting out a small groan when she finally did, tongues dancing with grace in a routine that would never be forgotten. Your hands dropped to her waist, fingers playing with the hem of her shirt, a tiny gasp escaping her lips into the kiss at the feeling of your hands tickling at her skin.

“May as well start now.”

The little gleam in your eye as you spoke was all Emily needed to surge back towards you, meeting your lips with more passion this time as her arms wrapped tighter around your hips, slowly backing you into the bedroom. Her tongue slid back into your mouth in the same moment her fingers slipped under the hem of your shirt, only breaking the kiss to pull the offending fabric over your head. Your hands worked on undoing the buttons of her shirt while she pulled you back to her for another kiss, lips moving with grace before she let her shirt drop down her arms.

Hands began to explore the newly exposed skin, roaming slowly to memorize every inch as they got reacquainted. You couldn’t help but shiver as her fingers ghosted over your skin, whining into the kiss as you clutched tighter to her, eager to feel her body warm against yours again. She very reluctantly broke the kiss, practically panting as she gazed at you for a moment, her hand coming up to caress your cheek.

“You are so incredibly beautiful.” She murmured, thumb stroking over your cheek, “just absolutely perfect.”

Leaning back toward you her lips ghosted across your jaw, nipping at your earlobe while her hands made quick work of your bra. You mirrored her movements, getting rid of hers as well, a quiet moan leaving you when her teeth scraped against your neck as her hands cupped your chest. She caressed you while her lips made home in the crook of your neck, backing you slowly to the bed. When the back of your knees hit it you pulled her down with you, your lips finding hers again in a deep kiss. Hands slipped into waistbands, pulling off pants and underwear until you were finally bare against each other again.

Emily softly nudged your legs apart, her hands tickling at your inner thighs while you chased her lips for another kiss, whining as her fingers got closer and closer to where you’d been aching for them. She wasn’t about to tease tonight, eager to feel you again, to watch you come undone with a simple touch of her hand, to taste you on her lips again while your warmth fluttered around her fingers.

And that’s exactly what she did.

Her hands and lips explored your body, not leaving a single inch of skin untouched. When she wasn’t praising you, telling you how well you were doing, how gorgeous you were, how sweet you tasted, it was her actions guiding all of the unspoken words. It was unrushed, there was no desire to hurry to your peaks, you both simply wanted to memorize each other, the way everything felt, the noises you could pull from each other, how good the other person made you feel.

Emily’s lips found yours once again in a breathless kiss, her eyes fluttering shut at the feeling of your fingers lazily pumping inside her, matching the pace she was fucking you, hips rolling into the touch. You sucked at her togue, moaning over the taste of you in her mouth, free hand encouraging her hips to thrust faster onto you. You felt the pleasure building within you, little whines escaping your lips that she swallowed down into her lungs, wanting to breathe every ounce of you in. Her fingers picked up the pace as quiet swears left her lips, knowing she was getting close and it was in the same moment that both of you hit your highs, legs shaking around the other as you cried out.

Breathing heavily, your eyes flickered open and Emily’s hand came up to brush your hair off your face, a soft smile on her lips. She leant in, leaving a feather light kiss on your lips that you couldn’t help but smile into. Rolling onto her back she urged you to curl around her, shifting the blankets over your bodies as you settled on her chest. Kissing the top of your head her arm wound around you while the other ghosted up and down your back. You were both quiet for some time, simply relishing in the feeling of being in each other’s arms again while your breathing regulated and you began to come back to earth. If it wasn’t for your thumb soothingly stroking at her skin Emily would have thought you had fallen asleep and honestly, in that moment you very much could have.

“I want to do this.” You whispered, your lips nearly brushing against her skin as you spoke, “and I don’t want to just restart what we were doing. I want to actually be with you and not have to keep it a secret. I’m just…. scared that there’ll be a fight or something… and that you’ll be that cruel again.”

“Oh sweetheart…” Emily’s heart sunk into her stomach, pressing a solid kiss to the top of your head, holding you to her for a moment, “I’m so sorry, the things I said to you, I would never actually use them against you, I promise. I had to make it hurt, I needed you to hate me.”

“I know.” You mumbled with sigh and she squeezed you a little tighter.

“I want to do this too, I want nothing more than to be with you, but I have to regain your trust and I know that. I don’t expect you to just jump back to everything being perfect but I really do hope we can get there one day.”

“We will.” You assured her, pressing a gentle kiss to her body and she returned one to your temple. A comfortable and relaxed silence took over the room while you enjoyed the relief of knowing you were finally back on the same page and moving in the right direction before Emily spoke again.

“Can… can I ask something that I really don’t even have the right to know the answer to?” She knew it was a stretch, and she wasn’t sure if she actually wanted to know the answer but it had been gnawing at her all weekend.

Your brow furrowed, “sure.” You felt her take a heavy breath under you,

“Did you sleep with Skylar?”

“God no!” You shifted on the bed so you were propped up on your forearm and she nearly laughed at the look of disgust on your face, “she got me drunk, kissed me and I beelined it out of there. Why on earth would you think that I slept with her?”

“I— uh… Morgan alluded to it…” She explained and you winced, “what?”

“Morgan uh… he knows… and considering the week in Seattle he was probably trying to like… get a kick in for me. Sorry.”

“Well at least now when Garcia breaks her vow of silence it won’t be as bad because he already knows.” She chuckled, leaning up to kiss you gently and you giggled into it when her stomach growled.

“Dinner time?”

“I’d say so.” She pushed up to sitting, “what’re you feeling? And don’t say you’re not hungry because if I’m guessing breakfast was coffee and a cigarette. Did you eat lunch?” She raised a brow in your direction.

“Half a sandwich.” You winced.

“Well then let’s get some food in you.” She paused for a moment, her hand coming up to cup your cheek, redirecting your gaze up to hers as she studied you, a soft expression on her face, “teasing aside, are.. you okay?”

“I’m one hell of a lot better now.” You turned your head in her hand, laying a kiss into her palm, “and I’ll throw the smokes away, promise.”

“Good.” She leant in to kiss you, “because I want you to be healthy and you deserve to be so incredibly happy.”

Smiling, you accepted the quick kiss before she slid from the bed, tossing you the clothes you regularly swiped from her closet and the two of you padded out into the living room. It was there that you curled up on the couch with bowls of carbonara and the rest of the wine, Emily’s arm around you and Sergio purring in your lap while you caught up on television. You mentioned something about heading home and Emily gently urged you to stay, not wanting you out of her sight or her arms and it didn’t take much for you to agree to it. While things weren’t quite what they were before, they were still headed in the right direction and that was all either of you could ask for right now. You knew you still had a couple of other hurdles to overcome anyways but at least now you could do them together.

__________________

@mickey-gomez @momlifebehard @melindawarnersgf @itisdoctortoyousir @emilyprentiss4life @somethingimaginative17 @temilyrights @alexxavicry  @anya-casablanca @daddy-heather-dunbar @aliensaurusrex @rustyzebra @ilovemycrayons @mandy-asimp @thegrantwater @leftoverenvy @kades95 @dextur @m00nkn1ghts @augustvandyne @supercriminalbean @daffodil-heart @msvenablesbitch @its-soph-xx  @going-gray @just-a-torn-up-masterpiece @hopelesslyfallenninlove @peanutbutterprincess  @kdaghay @emilyprentisssluvr @lex13cm @awolfcsworld @zizzlekwum @emobabeyy @riveramorylunar @s1ut4nat @midnight-sapphic @scorpsik @thisisraes @prentiss-theorem @unsubologyy @strongsassysexysloane @svushots  @overtrred28 @hbkswife @happenstnces  @sapphicprentiss @heidss @geekyandgay98 @pagetboobstarcomments

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Bpp my love what do you think about people who bias hoseok (knowing hes one of your faves)

***

It’s a bit weird for me to answer this because then I’d also be talking about myself. But you asked, with an odd but sweet endearment attached, so I’ll try.

Deep down, we're all Type A bitches with a specific kind of kink. No point sugarcoating it. And Hoseok scratches that itch.

Whatever he is, we see it and we're mad for it. We’re all gaga for him and shameless about it.

I mean,

Holy Mary Mother of Christ that is a man who is serving cunt sweet and hot.

Not to be vulgar, it's just hard to talk about Hoseok, to think about the choices he’s made as an artist - the way he quietly supports the team with practical advise, the way he chooses when to use music or dance to communicate his point, the way he balances how severe he is in his beliefs and principles, with the emotional and physical needs and limitations of the team, his very palpable ambition as an artist and the skill he exhibits every time he gets in the booth or steps on a stage… It’s hard to talk about this man without wanting to bite my fist.

But one thing I do want to say before I lose the plot is I’m glad to see how healthy he looked at Yoongi's concert. He looked happy and content, alert and savvy, basically himself. And that made me happy. But with Hoseok, it's not like I really worried for him in the first place. You know? I think other Hoseok biases would agree or at least, know what I mean. Military service comes with specific challenges that I don't doubt he's capable of handling. Though it’s also possible he's not exposed to the most extreme risks, so that could be working in his favour as well.

When I think of Hoseok as a person, his conscientiousness is the first thing that grips my heart. It’s something Hoseok biases recognize instinctively I think. That man cares about the work he does. He cares so much about everything in his life, that sometimes I worry that he could burn out fast. But that care is also one reason he’s become one of the best in the field, at just 10 years into his career.

That care he puts into his work translates so beautifully into his music btw. As a quick experiment, I'd like you to listen to Dionysus.

(This is the extended version from Mama 2019)

What do you think? Have you heard anything that sounds exactly like that, anywhere? Have you ever heard a song that combines punk rock, synth-pop, and acid trap, to express the joy, anguish and momentary insanity an artist experiences when making the effort to create something worthwhile… a song that uses Dionysus - the God of fertility and wine, the patron of the arts, as the central lyrical motif. Do you notice the production choices in the pre-chorus and bridge?

Dionysus is easily one of the best made songs in all of k-pop. In my opinion. And it was made primarily by Jung Hoseok.

Hobi biases see that he’s the kind of person to care a lot. He takes constructive criticism seriously, he wants his craft to be assessed with no bias or favouritism. Just honest, raw, expressions and feedback, that’s one of his primary goals and you can see that in the lyrical and stylistic choices in Jack in the Box.

Hoseok biases see all that in him, and we cream our panties.

That’s the truth don’t lie.

This is going to sound so pretentious but it has be said because it’s true: Hoseok’s cerebral intensity, the way he loses himself inside his work, is such a turn on. I’ve said before that I can see why a lot of people in the fandom underestimate him or don’t really bother to look past the giggly, goofy, sweet and social media savvy Hobi cheerleading the members, but Hobi is the only member who could show up wielding a riding crop and I won’t laugh in his face.

Because we all know, he’d know exactly what to do with it, he’d enjoy pushing you to your limits because that is what he does himself, and that you’d enjoy it.

Hypothetically.

Anyway,

Another reason his conscientiousness matters to me, is because I recognize that for Hobi, the 'work' he loves includes his team. His love for his work boosts my confidence in BTS as a lasting unit. Because Hoseok cares too much about his work to risk losing them, simply because they are so connected to it.

It's so simple with him.

Taking it back to Hoseok biases, we like to act superior, like we're not also sluts for his visuals. We act like we appreciate him in a more holistic sense. But the fact is that we see him, and bark.

I'm just going to come out and say it. I'm proof. I barked. On reflex. I don't know how it happened exactly, but I saw this pic one Friday afternoon and the sound that left my mouth certainly wasn't human.

Generally and maybe hypothetically speaking here, toys are nice and all, but completely unnecessary when Hoseok exists and you’ve allowed yourself to be chosen by him. His music, his person, seeing him in his element is all it takes.

I mean…

The details… Sheesh.

*

Everything about Hoseok and his sense of style is a gag.

He’s just always, so Effortlessly himself.

*

….two fingers would be enough. Just saying. Two fingers would do the job.

*

He's too smooth for his own good.

*

Some people somehow forget this happened and well, now I'm reminding them. Look at him, really look at him... isn't he perfect?

*

This isn’t a hot pic but it’s one of my favourites of him. This is the only pic in this post from my top 30 Hobi pics. Enjoy.

*

When he does cute it's a very particular type of cute.

*

…

*

I miss Hobi.

This doesn't happen often, but sometimes I wish time didn't exist for a while and we could be in 2026 now. We'd get to see Hoseok 3.0 and my god will that be a sight. Their performances are already god-tier even in hiatus (thank God for those three encore concerts that showcased the active members in their element), so imagine how unrestrained they will be, how epic their performances will be then.

If there’s one thing I’m nearly certain about with BTS, it’s that the wait will always be worth it. And a big reason I can say that is because the team has Jung Hoseok.

I just hope Hobi biases can keep our shit together till then because heaven knows we’re…

You know.

Stream Jack in the Box, put an order in for your box set version if you haven’t gotten around to doing that yet, get yourself your caffeinated drug of choice (mine today is a flat white with whole milk. I’m not really an Americano gal), and enjoy Chapter 2.

[aceri1485]

Fired (Pt. 2)

Pt 1 here!

Xiumin x Reader

key words: backstage, concert, stage hand, smut (18+, read at own risk — consensual, oral (male receiving), unprotected), fluff (does this count as fluff?), slow burn

authors note: uhh merry christmas I guess haha (1) this is purely fiction, please don’t be delusional and no I don’t think this would ever happen irl (2) protagonist (ie. the reader) gender is ambiguous on purpose, I want anyone to be able to read this and enjoy (3) I'm enjoying writing this more than I was expecting, soooo maybe part 3???

-----

"Hellooo - can you hear me?" your radio crackles from your waistband.

You stifle a yawn before grabbing your radio to reply, "Yes, I'm here! Sorry! I'm on my way."

"Oh good - thank you!" You hear the relief in Sam's voice, "Come find me when you're done!"

"Will do" you reply, then turn your attention back to the makeup artist, Jose, who had been talking your ear off for nearly 15 minutes before Sam's radio message interrupted you.

"Oh - I guess you have to go," Jose blushes, "I'm sorry, I know you must be busy, I just - nobody has really asked us what we..."

"What you need to do your job?" you finish the sentence, smiling gently at Jose, "I'm sorry if it seems like we haven't been paying attention to you before, the stage hands have been a little short staffed at the other concerts."

"No - no, that's not what I.." Jose blushed even more, "I didn't mean to imply you weren't doing your job before, I'm trying to say... I'm saying that I appreciate how hard you are working now and that I am grateful we have someone like you to support us."

You blink, surprised, and feel your own cheeks and ears getting hot. It was true - you had been working hard since Sam promoted you. That was three shows ago now, and while the team had been saying thank you, you hadn't truly felt like your extra effort had been noticed or appreciated.

Your radio crackles again, another staff member asking for Sam's approval on some other matter, bringing your attention back.

"I will do my best to get you what you need." you say to Jose, before going to run to your next task. You stop, though, and gently put your hand on Jose's, "and... thanks."

Jose locks eyes with you and smiles, "No, thank you - I'll see you later?"

You smile back, "See you later!"

Now you turn and jog down the hall, off to meet with one of the stylists for an emergency clothing shopping spree, but not before you catch sight of an achingly familiar figure passing across the hall in front of you.

Your body has an involuntary response, the blush in your cheeks deepening, but you force your mind not to wander and focus on the task at hand.

Arriving at the backstage door, you are surprised to find not only the stylist, but a manager and a tall man in a bucket hat and mask waiting for you. They greet you, smiling, as you head out the door together.

"Mr. Park - why are you coming with us?" you ask, smiling as his eyes widen in surprise, "What - you didn't think that so-called disguise is going to fool anyone, did you?" you laugh.

While it was true that you had come to know the members more and more since you had been working as a part of their core team over the past month, it was also true that anyone who had ever seen even a bad drawing of Chanyeol before would recognize him now.

"Hey, it's better than nothing!" Chanyeol shoots back as you hold the car door open for him. He slides in and you close the door, running around to get in on the other side. Luckily, the concert is still hours away, and any fans that are already lurking around are all at the entrance to the arena.

The last time one of the members had tried to join an outing like this before a concert, the police had to be called to stop fans from blocking the backstage door to let them get back inside the venue. So long as nobody knew Chanyeol was gone, nobody would be desperate enough to stake out the door to try and see him when you go back this time.

"I had to come so I can try on whatever we pick out," Chanyeol says as you buckle your seatbelts, "I didn't want to, I know how complicated it could get if someone sees me."

"Don't lie!" the stylist laughs from the front seat, "I told you I would bring back different sizes for you to try!"

"Yeah," the manager chimes in from the front seat, "I distinctly remember the conversation going something along the lines of "ahh I'm so bored, when will I ever-" hey, put that back on!" he cuts off as Chanyeol throws his bucket hat at him, "and be careful, I'm driving!"

Any tension the team had about a last minute outing melts away as you laugh, and the conversation turns to finding a good place to pick up coffee near the store the stylist wants to go to. As Chanyeol and the manager debate whether the members need coffee before a show, you pull out your phone to message Sam that you are on your way.

Distracted for a few minutes as you message back and forth with various team members, each putting in coffee requests or asking you to grab this or that, your attention gets pulled back to the conversation when you hear Xiumin's name.

Looking up, you see that Chanyeol was watching you. He smiles at you, too knowingly, and says "Sam would know, I think Xiumin told her after the last show."

"What was that?" you ask, trying to keep your expression clear, and looking anywhere but Chanyeol's face.

"Did he say something about his shoes being too big last show?" the stylist asked, not noticing - or pretending not to notice - the large grin on Chanyeol's face as he looked at you.

"Oh, no - the shoes fit fine," you say, "they needed new laces, the old ones were frayed and so they weren't staying tied" you explain, looking out the window in what you hoped was a non-chalant manner.

"Lets add laces to the list then," the stylist adds, "How could I have missed that? You're a life saver, thank you!"

"Don't mention it," you say, "And I already picked up some extra laces.. and changed out the old ones in Xiumin's shoes."

"When did you have time to do that?" the stylist turns to look at you.

"Oh, I... stayed late after the last show." you mumble, refusing to look at anyone in the car.

The stylist smiles, "You work way too hard, you know that?" laughing as they turn back in their seat, "I hope you know we all appreciate it!"

You're grateful that you can blame your blush on receiving your second compliment of the day rather than the thoughts of why you had really stayed so late after the last show.

It was the first time you and Xiumin had been able to be truly alone since... well, since that first night.

"Are you cold?" he asks, the corners of his eyes creased with concern, "Here, put this on."

He pulls off his jean jacket to wrap around your shoulders. The streetlight casts shadows of your sillouettes infront of you as you walk- a shadow couple, picture perfect, other worldly. You smile in thanks, pulling the jacket closer around you. It had to be nearly 3am already, the two of you had stayed at the arena talking for hours after the everyone else had left.

Your arms brush together as you walk, Xiumin's hands shoved into his pockets, a blush forming on his cheeks where his face is visible behind his black facemask, matching the pink tinge of your ears. Your shadows bump into eachother, at times overlapping, rarely a gap between them.

You both realize the hotel is less than half a block away at the same time and it's like you're suddenly walking in molasses. Your shadows crawl along the sidewalk ahead of you, shrinking into one another then growing full again as you pass between one streetlight to another.

At the door of the hotel, you both stop, not making eye contact with each other.

"Do you want-"

"Maybe another-"

You start speaking at the same time, turning to look at each other, breaking off just as quickly and turning away again, flushing.

"You f-"

"What did yo-"

And the tension breaks, both of you laughing.

"You go" you say, marvelling at the way the light streaming out from the hotel windows makes his eyes sparkle. You longed to pull off his mask so you could see how the light would catch on the rest of his face, with its simultaneously sharp angles and soft edges.

He won't look at you, instead staring at your shoes, but his hands come up and hold your elbows, "Maybe another... another lap around the block?" he asks.

You stop yourself from sighing in relief, anything to make the night last longer, just another few minutes-

You're pulled away from your thoughts by Chanyeol waving his hand in front of your face “Helloooo?"

You’ve arrived at a small shopping area and the manager is bragging about his great parking job.

"Oh, sorry," you smile, "I was just trying to - uh - remember everyone's coffee orders."

The stylist and manager hurry to usher Chanyeol into a store across the street, leaving you to actually try and remember everyone's coffee orders, entering a small cafe. It isn't busy, thankfully, but you apologize to the barista for the number of drinks you order nonetheless.

"Two iced americanos, 4 hot americanos, one vanilla latte..." you prattle off almost a dozen drinks and pay, "Sorry again - is it just you working today?"

"Yes, just me, but don't apologize!" the barista smiles at you, "I love a bit of a challenge."

"How so?" You ask, making small talk as they start working on the drinks.

"Oh, I love to see if I can pull double shots, or pour milk with one hand while steaming another round" the barista laughs, "like rubbing my head and patting my stomach... or is it the other way around?"

Both laughing, you keep chatting, realizing you have a similar taste in music when the song playing in the cafe changes, comparing your favourite types of teas and the best place to go for kimbap in the neighbourhood.

The barista smiles shyly, tucking their hair behind their ear, as you watch them work on the last drink, "Could I maybe get your..."

They trail off as Chanyeol bursts through the door, a whirlwind of energy not at all contained by his large frame, the manager close behind him.

"Almost ready?" the manager asks you and you nod, greeting them both before turning back to the barista.

"What were you saying?" you ask as they slide the last drink to you over the counter.

"Oh, its nothing!" they look flustered, clearly recognizing Chanyeol, who is now waiting by the register to order, "But - uh - if you're ever in the neighbourhood again, you should stop by. I'll make you one on the house," they say, recovering a bit and turning their attention back to you.

"Oh, I-" you break off as Chanyeol pointedly clears his throat and looks at his watch. The barista nods to you and hurries back over to the register to take Chanyeol's order.

Sighing, you slump into a seat across from the manager, the drinks you ordered filling the table in front of you. It turns out that Chanyeol had been accepting orders from the members while you were collecting orders for the staff and so the barista gets to work preparing another 9 drinks.

“We’d better hurry back after this,” the manager says, anxious, “Of course the big oaf gets recognized...”

-----

There are still 3 hours to showtime after you finish distributing coffee to the other stage hands, but there is still a never ending list of tasks waiting for you all before the show can start.

The crew and dancers walk through an entire sound and lighting check, one of the stylists has to be taken to the hospital for stitches after a mishap with a sewing needle, and Sehun’s earpiece has gone missing.

That’s how you find yourself in a back closet the crew was using as temporary storage, surrounded by boxes full of extra props and pieces of audio equipment. Your back to the door, bent at the waist to dig in the bottom of a particularly large box, you hear rather than see someone enter the closet behind you, just as-

“YES! It’s here!” You say triumphantly, shooting your hand into the air, clutching the small box containing Sehun’s earpiece.

Sighing in relief that there was at least one problem solved, you freeze when you hear the reply from behind you.

“What did you find?” Chanyeol says.

You turn around in an instant, surprise clear on your face, “Chan- I mean, Mr. Park? Sorry, I though you were Sam.”

He smiles and holds up his hands, “Just me - sorry to disappoint.”

“What are you doing here?” You ask, slightly anxious, “Did something else happen?”

“Something else?” He asks, confused, “Is there a problem?”

You bite your lip, cursing to yourself that you forgot how the staff tried their best to hide small issues from the members before the shows so they could focus on getting ready.

Forcing a smile, you say and hold up the box again, “No, not anymore - we’re good! What do you need?”

“Oh, I was.. I was hoping to talk to you actually” he says, trying to catch your eye to gauge your response.

Oh god, not now! You think to yourself, I don’t have time for this right now - actually, I don’t have time for this ever, I can’t loose this job!

“If this is.. what I think it is, then..” you take a deep breath and meet his gaze, “it’s not what it-“

“Looks like?” he finishes your sentence for you, giving you a hard look.

You set your jaw.

Chanyeol sighs, his shoulders relaxing, breaking eye contact and half turning away, “That’s too bad then. Because it looks like Xiumin is happier than I’ve seen him in years.”

Your jaw falls open.

Chanyeol turns to leave, then pauses with his hand on the closet door. “I just wanted to say..” he looks back at you over his shoulder, “He’s serious about you, about continuing whatever this “doesn’t look like” after the tour, and I hope.. I hope you don’t hurt him. I saw the way you were with that barista, and don’t pretend you don’t see how Jose looks at you.”

The elevator dings, but neither of you move to get off it. Instead, you both stand at the door, looking out down to the end of the hall.

The door slides shut, and you didn’t get off.

“I’ll just.. take you up to your room first.” You say, looking down at your shoes, hands clutching the hem Xiumin’s jean jacket still draped over your shoulders.

“Okay.. thanks.” He says, voice low. The elevator continues up, and his hand finds yours, pulling your grip from his jacket to intertwine your fingers.

The elevator dings again, but still neither of you move to get off, until the door starts to slide shut again. Xiumin puts out a hand to stop it, his other still holding yours.

Holding the door open, he steps off, but as you go to draw your hand away, he holds on even tighter, pulling you off the elevator with him.

“Xiumin...” you whisper, fully aware that the other members and the managers are staying on this floor as well, digging in your heels a bit to stop him from pulling you further down the hall as the elevator doors slide shut behind you.

He stops, but doesn’t look back at you. Instead, you feel his hand squeeze yours, and he whispers back “…please”.

You couldn’t have stood there more than 30 seconds after Chanyeol left but it felt more like a whole day before you shook it off. Gathering yourself again to the task at hand, you try not to think about how Chanyeol’s voice broke, “I hope you don’t hurt him.”

Radioing ahead to let Sam know you found Sehun’s earpiece, you practically sprint out of the closet.

Handing over the box to one of the managers, you remember the items Jose had asked you for earlier in the day and go to collect what you can.

It’s an hour to the show by the time you’re able to stop by the dressing room and check in with Jose after being sidetracked by different problems and tasks. You knock and enter the the dressing room after hearing Jose yell “Come in!”

You push open the door, balancing a small box full of different things Jose had asked for - a fresh lightbulb for the mirror, a new package of makeup wipes, spray bottle with water - and enter the room.

You quickly scan the room, taking in the manager sitting on the couch engaged in a phone call, Baekhyun holding up two shirts in front of a mirror while two stylists argue over which colour to go for and Chen sitting in front of the makeup mirrors while another stylist attacked his hair with a brush and gel.

But your heart doesn’t jump up into your throat until your eyes land on the one man you were hoping to find here. He’s sitting in front of the makeup mirror beside Chen, eyes closed as Jose attempts to dab some slightly glittery eye shadow on him without getting glitter everywhere else.

“Oh my GOD, you’re the best!” Jose says, seeing what you’re carrying, and Xiumin opens his eyes, “Xiumin, don’t you agree?” Jose grabs the box from you to push onto the counter infront of Xiumin, “I asked for all this this morning, I can’t believe you remembered everything!”

Looking at you in the mirror, Xiumin smiles “Yes.. you’re the best” he says quietly.

The subtext is thankfully lost on Jose who playfully smacks him on the arm, “I asked if you agreed but I did not say that you could open your eyes!”

You and Jose chat for a bit, Jose fluttering around Xiumin and Chen, finishing both of their makeup, while Chen and Xiumin start their own conversation. Baekhyun joins in a third chair, the stylists finally having come to a compromise and finding a completely different third shirt for him to wear.

Sounds of the crowd filing into the arena filter in, growing louder as the time passes. Down the hall, you hear the staff laughing in the common area, many of them trying to eat a quick dinner before the show starts.

Soon Sam checks in with you over your radio and you go to pop your head into the other dressing rooms, giving the 15 minute warning and checking that nobody needs anything last minute.

Another stage hand comes by to usher the members to the stage. You follow behind them in the hallway, trying to stay out of the way of dancers rushing to get to the stage and makeup artists trying to apply last minute touch ups to the members.

In the chaos, you find yourself beside Xiumin for a couple of seconds, just long enough for him to look at you and smile, your hands to brush and a wave of goose bumps to rush down your spine. With his makeup done, contacts in and his shirt unbuttoned like that, he is breathtakingly beautiful. Then he’s gone, carried forward by the wave of commotion heading toward the stage, toward the rising sound of cheers - no, screams - and the swell of the music.

You gasp, finally coming up for air, the rise and fall of your breath matching his, like two people who were underwater for too long. He meets your eyes, a low moan falling from his lips.

“Please, baby” he breathes out, “Please keep going.”

You blow cool air on his cock, moving your hand up and down, tantalizingly slow, enjoying the way his hips squirm as he tries to increase the friction and the way the storm in his eyes builds. One of his hands brushes your hair away from your eyes, gently. But the other grasps the sheets of the bed, muscles in his forearms taught and the veins in his hand jumping up, like he’s holding back the ocean with one hand.

You place your hand over his, releasing his grip on the sheets and intertwining your fingers at the same time as you lower your mouth back around his cock. He can’t hold back the loud gasp, or help the way his hips buck. The hand that one second ago was so tenderly brushing back your hair now pushes your head down.

Saliva fills your mouth as you try not to gag, taking as much of him into your mouth as you can with each push down of his hand. His fingers tangle in your hair as he guides you. You suck and swirl your tongue, glancing up at him every now and then. He can’t look away from you, he’s transfixed. It fuels your own arousal, and you move one hand down to touch yourself. Your other hand is still holding his, two drowning people clasping onto each other like a lifeline.

“Shit, I’m-“ he says, hips bucking again, “Fuck, don’t stop..”

Your name, mixed in with a string of curse words, falls from his mouth as he gasps for air, his voice deep and breathy at the same time. His hand leaves your hair, flying up behind him to hold on to the headboard. You pick up the pace, abandoning your own pleasure to pump him with your hand lower down his shaft while your use your mouth at his tip.

The wave crashes down and with low yell he releases. You swallow, continuing to work him until he gasps and pulls your head away. Then he pulls you up into a deep, long kiss, and you sigh, relaxing into it, relaxing into him. When you break apart, you pull the cover up over you both and rest your head on his shoulder. He kisses you on the forehead, mumbling something about the time and his alarm going off in a couple hours. Holding each other close, your breathing deep and again in sync, you fall asleep. Faint sunlight breaks through the crack in the curtain at the foot of the bed.

An hour later, the sunlight wakes you up, hitting you in the face. Now strong and bright, it had crept up the bed until it hit you square in the eye. Xiumin still sleeps beside you, his hair falling across his forehead, relaxed and blissfully protected from the sun.

A few moments later, you are closing the door as quietly as possible behind you, dressed but holding your shoes in your hands, ready to tiptoe to the elevator. The door closes and you turn, freezing in place, eyes locked on Chanyeol standing in an open doorway across the hall.

END (P3 maybe?)

[thehaniverse]

[24.05.19] Haikyuu Movie Review

FINALLY!

I initially thought I'd be able to watch the movie online when it dropped back in February, but none of the usual suspects were uploading the damn movie, so I was dying trying to avoid spoilers online, but I'm glad I managed to until it was finally revealed to be showing in Korea!

Let me tell you, as a multilingual person, there is no bigger brain-fuck than watch a movie in a second language with subtitles in your third, but considering Haikyuu is my favourite anime of all time, I just couldn't wait anymore.

So, after such an arduous wait, was the movie actually worth it?

HELL YEAH!

Heads up, I've written this without any spoilers, as I also went into this without reading the manga (intentionally.)

Intially, I, like many other fans, was disappointed that the movie was ,in fact, a movie rather than a 5th season, but after watching it, I totally understand why they decided to do it this way. If they'd done it as a series of episodes, it ran the risk of being too slow-paced, which was one of the major criticisms of the 4th season.

The pacing of the movie was perfect - the right level of slow emotional flashbacks to add context without being too repetitive of past seasons, while still being fast-paced and action-packed throughout the game.

I also loved the unique perspective they gave in this movie, it's something they've never done to this extent throughout the anime, and honestly, something I haven't seen in other anime I've watched. The chaotic energy really made you feel like you were more than just a spectator and the disorientation made everything so much more tense - I LOVED it. (I honestly wanted to watch the whole movie again there and then just to experience that part again.)

One thing I've always loved about Haikyuu is the ability of the writer to make you appreciate just how hard these kids are working, and the background and character growth throughout the movie honestly left me teary-eyed at the end - the character development continues to be one of my favorite parts of this anime. There's honestly so much I want to say about this but due to spoilers, I'll have to hold back for a while until the screenings have taken place worldwide. Maybe I'll write a part 2 after additional viewings.

Finally, let's talk about the ending. Man. This was an interesting experience for me because Nekoma is actually my favorite team LOL but of course, as viewers, we can't help but root for Karasuno. Every point and every play was bittersweet but nothing hit as much as the ending, rather than any overwhelming sense of joy for the winner, it was more that sinking feeling of 'oh, it's really over? Just like that?" I imagine this is how the losing time would feel in every game, you always want to believe there's another chance, or that the end isn't really the end yet, it was very surreal.

The best parallel I can draw is the sinking feeling I had when Karasuno first lost to Aoba Josei. Yet at the same time, because of the growth of all the characters, it was still a beautiful ending.

Ultimately, it was everything you'd expect from Haikyuu, I laughed, I cried, I fought back screams in the theatre XD I really do want to reassure anyone who thinks the movie replacing a season will be lackluster - it was anything but! I hope you enjoy the viewing and I'd love to hear your thoughts after.

[hebimoonlightwrites]

Ohu don't worry anyway, I really liked the headcanons! I would prefer that you write my request about riddle at the end when you finish with the other requests because there are many and I don't want the others to have to wait so don't worry I can wait uvu

Anonymous asked: hello I would like to request a twst specifically for heartslabyul, relationship headcanons with mc fem unruly but adorable as a hedgehog ₍⑅ᐢ..ᐢ₎

Writer's corner: Hi, dear!! So sorry if it took long, but here's Riddle's one! Hope you like it! If not, please, let me know and ask for something else, so I can write another one for you! Enjoy~♥♦♣♠

Warnings: slight spoilers (so if you haven't played/read Book 1, please read below at your own risk :D)

⋆𝑅𝒾𝒹𝒹𝓁𝑒⋆ 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝒶 𝓊𝓃𝓇𝓊𝓁𝓎 𝒷𝓊𝓉 𝒶𝒹𝑜𝓇𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝒶𝓈 𝒶 𝒽𝑒𝒹𝑔𝑒𝒽𝑜𝑔 𝒻𝑒𝓂!𝓂𝒸

⋆Riddle with an unruly mc?

⋆Well..

⋆Maybe it'd be pretty unimaginable for most of twst fandom.

⋆But I actually quite ship it A LOT.

⋆You all know about Riddle's past if you've played/read Book 1, so...

⋆Yeah, I totally think he'd consider mc just an annoying girl at first.

⋆He would be also quite bothered by her acts and by all those troubles she frequently would get into.

⋆I also see him being as strict to her as he is with the others, constantly correcting her behaviour and slight movements, fixing her tie (just like it already happens in the game), or simply acting like a mother would do with her own sons.

⋆Riddle would lose his mind completely after seeing mc's umpteenth mistake or trouble she created and would scold her in my opinion.

⋆"How many times do I have to overlook your unruly behaviours, mc?! I'm fed up of your disrespectful attitude! As the Housewarden of Heartslabyul , I cannot tolerate even another slight of them!!"

⋆I don't know why, but I feel like mc would think of Riddle as a boring, unpleasant and fussy guy at first.

⋆I'm sure she would get along with Ace, especially if things like those in Book 1 happened.

⋆Mc would be on Ace's side, against Riddle and his being fussy and boring.

⋆I feel like she would team up with Ace and Deuce, probably even making some troubles on purpose to annoy Riddle.

⋆This kind of interaction between them soon would bring mc to wonder why she always is searching for Riddle's attentions.

⋆Even if the red-haired boy scolded her for being disobedient and rebellious, I headcanon that mc would like it as long as the boy is giving her attentions.

⋆She wouldn't care about his face turning red and him being screaming angry at her..

⋆On the contrary she'd like his angry face, quite considering it cute and as chubby as a child's one.

⋆Mc would love to see Riddle's grumpy expression and in deep she'd think that if he's already cute, then he must be even cuter when he smiles!..

⋆Wait... CUTE?!

⋆Riddle?!... CUTE?!

⋆That's how mc would realize that in deep she would have fallen for that grumpy boy.

⋆On the other hand, if Riddle spent some days without scolding mc for being messy and unruly, without seeing her around or without hearing some students' or professors' voices scolding her while she's laughing, well...

⋆He'd miss her a lot.

⋆Even if strict, we cannot forget that Riddle is so because of his parents' (especially his mother's) teaching and education.

⋆So I feel like Riddle would surely let himself go, become less strict and more open up to the others.

⋆He'd change that fussy part of himself, even if slightly, and also quite enjoy the feeling of being rebellious at least once.

⋆Seriously...

⋆Imagine mc quite forcing Riddle to steal some food from the school's kitchen at night.

⋆At first the red-haired boy would try to change her mind in order not to do anything which could have gotten both into troubles..

⋆But after a while Riddle would let mc leading him through those dark corridors and they both would reach the kitchen.

⋆Why so?

⋆I don't know.. probably because he'd blush and become as red as his hair after seeing mc too close to him..

⋆"She's as cute as an hedgehod..."

⋆"Hush, Riddle!!... We must be quiet!!.. let's crawl to the fridge now!!"

⋆Mc would take some biscuits and tarts while Riddle would constantly look around himself, pretty scared of being cought by any teacher or by the Headmage in person.

⋆"Huh... Who made me do that?", he'd keep wondering himself but end up chuckling quietly, enjoying that adrenalin, that fear of being cought, following mc through the kitchen.

⋆Of course they both would come back to Heartslabyul's dorms with a whole bag full of biscuits, tarts or snacks.

⋆Mc and Riddle would spend the night eating those snacks, talking and enjoying the time together.

⋆I'm sure Riddle would learn a lot from Mc.

⋆He would stare at her while she's laughing happy and have some chocolate on her lips.

⋆Her eyes would sparkle and Riddle would be surprised by that.. His mother used to tell him that breaking rules would have brought sadness and chaos to anyone!...

⋆So why is she so happy after breaking rules?

⋆He wouldn't ask her.

⋆Just get closer to her, keeping looking at her eyes while she'd softly gasp for the vicinity between them both.

⋆Riddle would smile softly.

⋆"You know we shouldn't have stolen anything from the kitchen, right?..."

⋆He'd hold her chin gently and look at her lips.

⋆"Actually, though, I've enjoyed it... 𝐼 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝓀 𝐼 𝓌𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝒹𝑒𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓈𝑒 𝒷𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓀𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝑜𝓂𝑒 𝑜𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓇𝓊𝓁𝑒𝓈, 𝒶𝓈 𝓁𝑜𝓃𝑔 𝒶𝓈 𝐼'𝓁𝓁 𝒹𝑜 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽 𝓎𝑜𝓊…"

⋆After that Riddle would kiss mc's lips exactly where she had some chocolate.

©hebimoonlightwrites_tumblr Please, do not copy my contents nor repost it without my permission.

[generouskittentidalwave]

New heaven's design team chapters just dropped! Therefore you know what that means, theory time!! :D

⚠️ Spoilers ahead so proceed with caution ⚠️

Now, I am sure we are all curious about who the eighth mysterious person is who snuck into the design department and disguised themselves. In order to make an educated guess on who they are, first we need to gather all the facts we do know about them.

We know it isn't the heavenly agency president, and from what we've been told they have a low male voice.

Now, for what we can gather based on their behavior-

This scene shows that they don't want others to stress or worry about them, seeming to not want to distract them and reassure them that they are fine.

This next scene seems to show the mystery person not minding being by them at all, and if they were worried about being caught then they would probably try to keep their distance instead as to not risk anything, but they seem to be perfectly fine interacting with the group. And they seem to understand what they are saying enough to casually agree with it.

Then in this scene the mysterious person also seems to have a hard time holding in their laugh, finding the sentences they say to be funny which is understandable given the situation. Which means they aren't thinking past it when it comes to biology terms and honestly and understandably just finding the whole thing funny, however they are trying to keep themselves from laughing because of that reason otherwise it would blow their cover.

Lastly in this scene, the mysterious person seems to be confused about the situation, either they are wondering what God's thought process is or they are just confused about what's going on in general, which could mean they might not have had this kind of problem before. Atleast not enough to be use to it like the others.

So, this person seems to have a kind demeanor seeing as they didn't want to worry anyone earlier, and they see things said from a normal view point rather than a biologists view point as they seem to only agree every once in a while but don't add any other input, and instead of instinctively focusing on the biology part like the others they seem to laugh at how silly the situation is, and towards the end they seem to be genuinely confused on what's going on in general.

They clearly aren't related to the animal department but they have a normal demeanor and view point of things, while also seeming to have a kind personality. So they definitely don't mean any kind of harm to anyone, and if I had to guess may have been sent there on some kind of assignment.

I have a suspicion, with the rock department being mentioned in a few chapters before, I wonder if it will be someone from the rock department. Or someone from a new department altogether. And I have an even sneakier suspicion that it may be Uranus under that suit and that they will finally get revealed. It would explain why the hidden person is so casual and comfortable around the group despite them supposed to be "hidding" in a disguise. I was wondering why the team wouldn't recognize their voice though, but you also have to keep in mind how long it may have been since they've seen Uranus, if they even met Uranus at all as they could be a newly introduced character entirely. And even more so Shimoda could guess who was who by voice because he just assumed it had to be one of the members of the team, which is why no one noticed the difference in their voice, so it's incredibly hard to guess by voice in those suits like that already but when you don't know who is actually under there then it's practically impossible to guess.

Well in normal heaven's design team fashion we were left on a cliffhanger, which means we are gonna have to wait until the new chapters come out.

I hope you all enjoyed this and please tell me your own theories on who this person may be, whether you agree with my theory or have and idea of your own! I would love to hear your thoughts! ^^

Have a wonderful day/night and I'll see you all next time! :D

[fanatichistory]

Scene Prompt 20

Taking a stab at some hurt/comfort today! Hope I did okay lol

TW: scar/ cigarette burn mention

Whumpee stood uneasily in front of the floor length mirror in the guest bedroom the Team was currently staying in. 

The R&R was long overdue and they were ordered by the higher ups to stand by in the townhome, under cover as a family until given their next assignment.

They honestly hoped that day was a long ways away yet and had a lot of anxiety about returning to the field.

The townhome they were staying in came with a pool and the rest of the team was currently enjoying the amenities as they either splashed around or soaked up the sun. Team Leader was even cooking at the grill, the delicious smell wafting in through the open bedroom window and making their mouth water.

The last assignment was particularly difficult for Whumpee. Having been captured and used as a hostage put the entire team at risk and nearly cost them the mission, which weighed heavily on them. 

As Whumpee stared at their reflection in the mirror, dressed in their swimsuit as if ready to join the others, they could see every scar made by Whumper during their time as a hostage. 

Cuts and long jagged lines criss crossed their arms and back, a few travelled down their legs. Their sides sported two pronged marks, from the cattle prod, and a few cigarette burns along their jaw and several more burns on their palms. The swimsuit showed all of it. Everything Whumper had done to them.

Bile rose in Whumpee's throat as they couldn't bear to make eye contact with themselves in the reflected image anymore. Arms crossing over their torso as they anxiously rubbed their hands on their arms as if to get warm despite the summer heat.

"I wouldn't worry about it."

Whumpee yelped, startled at the sound of Caretaker's voice as they were caught leaning on the doorframe watching Whumpee take stock of themselves.

"You're a survivor Whumpee, like me. You're scars just tell the story is all. Granted there is a bit of an adjustment period..." Caretaker gave a small, yet reassuring smile as they entered the bedroom.

"I-I...I don't know how Caretaker..." Whumpee admitted quietly, looking down at the floor as Caretaker approached them in front of the mirror.

Without saying a word, Caretaker peeled off their shirt and revealed their own scars to them. The same criss crossing lines marked up their torso and arms, travelling down past their shorts. The same two pronged marks Whumpee had from the cattle prod were in a similar pattern on both sides of Caretaker's own torso. 

Whumpee's eyes moved along each mark and scar on Caretaker's body in quiet awe. They were the same, survived the same person. "Whumper?"

Caretaker merely nodded as they sat down on the edge of the bed while motioning Whumpee to join them. Slowly and cautiously, they did. Gingerly sitting next to them while trying not to stare at the scars that told a similar story to their own.

"My scars show pain and suffering, that much is true for both of us, but they also show my will to survive. Our will. They're part of my history which will always be there. And yours too, Whumpee. " Caretaker rested their hand on their leg in offering for Whumpee to hold it.

Whumpee took it and Caretaker gave their hand a squeeze to reassure them further.

"This is just your adjustment period. If you're not ready to show the world your story, that's okay too. Here." Caretaker offered them their shirt to wear over their swimsuit in attempt to hide the scars. 

"I promise it will get better. You've got me and the rest of the Team looking out for you, so don't give up just yet Whumpee." Caretaker added with a brilliant smile.

Whumpee couldn't help the hope that bloomed in their chest as they clutched the shirt to themselves. 

Caretaker just radiated warmth and comfort, which felt so good to Whumpee that they couldn't restrain themselves from giving Caretaker a hug while thanking them profusely.

Caretaker gave a light laugh and squeezed them back.

"Team Leader should be just about done with the grilling...how about we go dig in before the others lay claim to the good stuff?" 

"Sounds like a good deal!" Whumpee grinned, donning Caretaker's shirt and giving themselves one final appraising look in the mirror. 

Yes, the shirt covered the scars nicely, being two sizes too large for Whumpee's frame, but that was okay Whumpee determined. 

It was just an adjustment period after all.

[theweekinarrowfic]

Completed Arrow Multichapters on AO3, September, 2022

NOTE: I’m now crossposting to https://theweekinarrowfic.dreamwidth.org. Need more Arrow in your life? Why not try one of the multchapter fanfics recently completed by our talented fic writers?

Olicity

Trouvaille by SmoakingGreenArrow (Oliver/Felicity, 2/2, 2022-09-24) - When Tommy has to bail on giving his best friend Felicity a ride home from college, Oliver takes his place. The problem? Felicity hates him. And she thinks Oliver hates her back. If they can survive a 12 hour car ride together, could it lead to forever?

Other Arrow Ships & Characters

Second Chances: Artemis - Rough Draft by Lauriverfanboy1 (Thea/Roy, 25/25, 2022-09-24) - My name is Thea Queen. In another life, I spent years fighting by my brother's side as a vigilante but in this one, I now plan to become my own hero outside of his shadow. Hopefully some day, I'll become just as great as he is. I am Artemis. Part 8 of Second Chances.

【明日传奇】末日传奇电影俱乐部：第一夜（末日军团&冷队&原子侠） by buwei (Ray & Damien, 6/6, 2022-09-16) - 命运之矛被摧毁了。雷蒙德·帕尔默给自己选择了最糟糕的庆祝伙伴。比那更糟糕的是，他们或许是成立了一个末日军团与传奇版的电影俱乐部。但另一方面，谁知道他们也会给彼此做心理治疗呢？

Second Chances: Arrow - Rough Draft by Lauriverfanboy1 (Laurel/Oliver, 25/25, 2022-09-24) - My name is Oliver Queen. After dying to restore the multiverse, I found myself back at the beginning of my story and now I plan to rewrite it to not only save my city, but save those I lost before. A lot of things have changed in this new world but one that hasn't is me. I will always protect my home. I am the Green Arrow."

One More Time by Ray_Writes (Laurel/Oliver, 24/24, 2022-09-10) - Upon her death, Laurel is made an offer by a being named Mar Novu to be sent back in time and correct Earth-1’s timeline, as it is rapidly spiraling out of the Monitor’s control. Now, just under five years into her past and armed only with a partial knowledge of the timeline and a certainty she is not the right person for the job, Laurel must unite six Paragons and as many additional heroes as possible to face a coming Crisis. What changes will she make, and will they be the right ones? Time is ticking to save the world."

The Other Side of Lonely by paynesgrey (Laurel/Cisco Ramon, 5/5, 2022-09-07) - Fighting alone on the streets of Starling City, the Black Canary could use a little help from a friend. Enter: Cisco Ramon.

el orbe by Pedroedu (Laurel & Thea-centric, 11/11, 2022-09-13) - esta historia esta basada en un universo alternativo de la tercera temporada de arrow aunque aquí laurel y thea ya asumieron sus alteregos

Laser Tag by sspace_invader (Damien/Malcolm/Eobard Thawne, 2/2, 2022-09-03) - “Remember, no cheating.” Eobard sighed, preparing to just ignore Malcolm’s stupid rules and speed around the course, shooting the other team, easily winning. But doing that would cause them to get kicked out. Plus Damien and Malcolm would be mad at him. He didn’t think it was worth the risk. He mentally kicked himself for letting his partners make him soft, The Flash would laugh in his face if he could see him right now. Or The Legion plays laser tag and leads to other things.

Non-Arrow

Wedding For the Wilders by FuegoCreativeFlow (Sophie Moore/Ryan Wilder, several Arrow characters listed, 6/6, 2022-09-06) - This is the next series in my Batwoman Stories that’s connected. This story takes place four months after the “Gotham’s Drama” Series. You finally get to see Ryan and Sophie explore marriage, family, and still being badass Superheroes. I hope you all enjoy. And yes, Alani is back!!

Der Bote des Wahnsinns, das Gefängnis des Multiverse by God_of_the_stories_I_heve_written_0 (Marvel-centric, John Constantine listed as character, 4/4, 2022-09-25) - Stepfen Strange wird durch einen Streit mit Wanda Mazimof auferstehen in eine andere Welt gebracht und landet direkt vor dem Lux. In einer anderen Wersion der Arrowverse, wo John Constantine dort Stammgast ist. Er hasst die Welt und will nach Hause.

Second Chances: Kid Flash - Rough Draft by Lauriverfanboy1 (Linda Park/Wally West, several Arrow characters listed, 25/25, 2022-09-23) - My name is Wally West. For years I've traveled, trying to find my place in a world of heroes, trying to find peace. But after getting struck by lightning in a new world, I think I've finally found my place as I become the hero I was always meant to be. I am Kid Flash. Part 9 of Second Chances.

Love at first sight. by Batwoman2019 (Kate Kane/Reagan, Kara Danvers/Sara as side pairing, 7/7, 2022-09-28) - What if instead of Kate and Reagan meeting during Tommy Elliott's party they both met during crisis on infinite earth.

Crisis by WhatIfUniverse (Barry Allen/Caitlin Snow, several Arrow characters listed, 8/8, 2022-09-28) - Last year, the multiverse had a visitor named the Monitor who warned them of a crisis coming to end all life. Now the Avengers, SHIELD, and the heroes of Earth-1 must join forces again to save their universes from being destroyed, with help from a new member who has traveled back in time to help stop it. Is it enough, or will all of reality be destroyed?

[moohnshinescorner]

NEW RELEASE & BOOK REVIEW

Walk of Shame by Avery Flynn is now live! 

One night. No strings. And a really good puck.

Five years ago, Astrid O’Malley experienced the ultimate in public humiliation. Being dumped at the altar by her childhood sweetheart was horrifying enough. That fact that he was a professional hockey goalie and her dad was his coach? It was all anyone in sports could talk about.

Eff hockey. Eff goalies.

These days, Astrid lives a life (mostly) free of hockey and free to pursue whoever she wants with exactly zero shame in her game. Like tonight’s hook-up. This guy’s nailed the lumberjack aesthetic perfectly. Especially when he has the stamina and creativity to back it up.

Because the rule is: it’s one night only. Which is gonna be a problem because she’s just discovered he lives in the apartment upstairs.

And he’s joined her dad’s team. As the goalie coach. To train her ex.

Now Astrid is in some kind of hockey hell–filled with her ex, her family, and the best sex of her life. And somehow she’s been roped back onto the team.

Puck my life.

  Download today on Amazon, Apple Books, Audible, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kindle Unlimited, and Kobo!

Amazon: https://bit.ly/47to9Vm

Apple Books: https://bit.ly/3ROYL6N

Nook: https://bit.ly/48uIrPQ

Kobo: https://bit.ly/47v8Vz6

Google Play: https://bit.ly/47s2zAM

Audible:https://adbl.co/49oHmsI

Narrated by: Robert Hatchet & Savannah Peachwood

Add to Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3tQ2mth

WALK OF SHAME BY AVERY FLYNN

BOOK REVIEW

Wow Astrid is the pro at the "Walk of Shame", having done it a few times in this book. I felt sorry for her in the beginning of the book as her world crumbles around her. Giving up on everything that she loved to try and forget the past is a horrible way to deal with it. Giving Cal her last bag of Cheetos was the best thing she could have done, as this gave fate the opening she needed to change her life.

Cal's career is over and he will do anything to get back on the ice even as a coach. Jumping on the chance to have a shot at doing what he loves most, hockey. But when a one night stand turns into someone forbidden, the risk at losing everything is too great to take a chance.

This romantic comedy is full of whit and sarcasm that will have you laughing your butt off. But it also has a serious side that will make you feel for the characters and the troubles they encounter. It also has some really dirty scenes if you know what I mean. "wink, wink" Together all these things make for a truly amazing and fun read that is sure to provide you with hours of entertainment. The characters are amazing and strong and also includes cameos of past characters from other books the author has written. This adds an authenticity to her books, making them feel real and connected.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and loved the comedic way the story is told. I love Avery Flynn and have read about 90% of her books starting with Muffin Top. Each book has a heroine who suffers at some time or another in her life, then meets a wonderful guy who will bring her walls down and show her the true meaning of happiness. This book is no different and I cannot wait to read more.

[fireinmoonshot]

CONTAINS SPOILER FOR ETERNALS.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR Summary: In 1521, the Eternals disbanded and Druig left you despite the lengthy past you'd both shared. Now, you're forced back together by the Emergence, but after 500 years apart, neither of you are quite the same as you were. But a love like the one you shared hundreds of years ago never quite goes away. Pairing: Druig x Fem! Reader (slight enemies to lovers) Fandom: Marvel's Eternals Warnings: ETERNALS SPOILERS, mentions of injuries, mentions of death. Word Count: 3255 A/N: Well, I've given in and decided to do a smaller multi part fic for Druig – proving how I'm complete and utter Eternals and Druig trash at this point. This one won't be as long as my other multi parts and will probably just consist of three to four parts that are a bit longer. It'll also jump between the present timeline and moments shared in the past, so I hope it's not too hard to follow along with! I'm really looking forward to finishing this and posting it for you all. It's already proven to be a challenge for me as a writer so far, which feels like exactly what I need right now. Please let me know if you enjoy it and I look forward to sharing the rest! The title of the fic comes from the song Love Me Harder by WOODZ! ❤️

BABYLON, 525 BC

Druig doesn’t like you very much.

He thinks you’re irrational. You take risks when you shouldn’t, which more often than not ends up in you nearly getting killed when you’re all fighting the Deviants. He wishes you’d stop being so much of a risk taker and stop making him panic internally every time he sees you in danger.

It’s why, when he sees you on the back of a Deviant moments before you’re thrown off, he feels like his throat is closing up and he can’t breathe properly anymore. Without you, the team would probably be doomed.

Makkari is quick to catch you in mid air, though the wind is knocked out of you at the impact, and she instructs you to stay put as she sets you down on a log a little bit away from the rest of the fight.

You rub your stomach, knowing you’re going to have a bruise there, and wince a little as you try to catch your breath. Makkari is the only one you’d listen to. If she told you to stay back, you would. Even though it kills you to sit there and watch everyone else fighting when you should be helping them. It makes you feel beyond useless.

Druig jogs up to you once he sees Makkari set you down. His mind is raging and he’s preparing to give you a very stern talking to about your irresponsible actions, but you sense him coming first.

“I’m irrational, irresponsible, I’m putting the wellbeing of the whole team at risk and I need to act more like an Eternal and less like a silly, fragile human when it comes to fighting Deviants,” you say as soon as Druig is in earshot. You’ve heard his spiel many times before.

He narrows his eyes and stops just in front of you.

You look up and meet his eyes. “You don’t have to tell me again.”

“I’ll keep telling you until you actually understand,” Druig huffs.

The thought of him telling you again makes you laugh a little, which just makes Druig even more irritated by you. How long will he continue to tell you the things you already know? Laughing is a bad idea, though, as your stomach still hurts and you haven’t fully caught your breath yet. The laugh only agitates the pain.

You press your hand to your stomach and suck in a deep breath.

Druig furrows his eyebrows and steps closer. “Are you hurt?”

“I just got thrown by a Deviant and caught in midair. You tell me.”

He doesn’t like your sarcasm. His hands itch to reach towards you and check you over, make sure you’re actually okay and not badly hurt, but he pulls them back. You’d hate if he actually did that, and he’d wonder if he was going mad if he did it, too.

You look up at him again. “Will you go and help them?” You point towards the others, still fighting the Deviants over by the gates of Babylon. “I can’t help right now, but you can, so make me feel less shit about being sidelined and go and help them. Please.”

Druig shoots you a dark look and gives up, stalking away from you without another word. There’s a worry in the back of his mind about if you really are injured badly and pretending to be okay, or if you’re actually being truthful, but he has no time to ponder the thought. There are Deviants to kill.

He jumps back into the battle with ease and you watch from your spot on the log, hand still pressed onto your stomach. You have a feeling that the lack of ability to catch your breath isn’t so much to do with being thrown off the back of a Deviant and more with one specific, very irritating Eternal.

~~~

After the fight is over and you’re all back in the Domo, he watches as Ajak approaches you and heals your bruised stomach. It had been painful, catching sight of you as he fought. You looked so alone sitting on the log, watching as everyone else fought the battle you thought was yours to help win.

It serves you right, Druig thought. Your irrational behaviour taught you a lesson.

That was before he saw you wincing as you’d stood up to run over to the others at the end of the fight. When he noticed that you hadn’t even been able to run properly. He felt a little bad then, but only a little.

It doesn’t take you long to get back to your usual self back in the Domo. Sersi, Gilgamesh, Makkari, Kingo and Sprite are all still out helping the humans get their things back together after the attack, but with the others in the room, you’re back laughing and joking, talking about the fight with ease.

Thena even has a small smile on her face as she sips her drink and listens into your conversation with Ajak and Gilgamesh. Phastos had disappeared to go back to work a while ago and Druig has stayed silently in the corner of the room, watching and occasionally adding to the conversation whenever he has an appropriate sarcastic remark.

You catch his eye a few times, catch him watching you when you laugh or when you glance around the room just to look somewhere other than the three people in front of you. It’s disconcerting. He’s never looked at you this much before, except when he was mad at you. It would make sense if he was mad at you now, though.

He doesn’t even really realise that he’s watching you for one reason and one reason alone – he’s worried. He’ll never admit that he’s worried about you. He’s not the type of person to worry about much else other than himself, but the sight of you in pain earlier still plays on repeat in his mind. He can’t get it out of his head no matter how much he tries.

Druig watches you to try and remove it. He watches you laugh, watches you casually sipping on your drink, watches you deep in conversation with Ajak, Thena and Gilgamesh and yet the image from before stays deeply planted in his mind.

~~~

TOKYO, PRESENT DAY

It’s starting to rain outside as you pack up the things on your desk into your backpack and sling it over your shoulder, ready to leave. The sky is already dark, night having fallen a few hours ago, though you’d been cooped up in your classroom since the middle of the afternoon when you’d gone out to buy a quick snack.

You can see the dark grey rain clouds over the city as you leave the building and make your way onto the street to head home. The day had gone well – better than well, actually.

You’d had a class in the morning and then six students to tutor in the afternoon and evening, which had helped in filling up your day and your mind. The earthquake a few days ago had really shaken you up, made you worry about the state of Earth and what the others were doing, so having something else to do had been good to keep you occupied.

The rain starts to get heavier and you curse yourself under your breath for forgetting to bring your umbrella and not checking the forecast before you left for work this morning. But it’s too late to go to a convenience store and buy one. You have nine minutes till your train home and you’re not planning on missing it.

You duck past a group of people walking on the footpath beside you and try not to slip on the wet ground as you walk steadily towards the train station, only two blocks away from the building where you teach.

It feels normal here in Tokyo. The earthquake had been strange, and you’d felt it – been in the middle of a lesson when it’d happened – but everyone had moved on. Earthquakes weren’t a rarity here, you’d lived through thousands of them in your many, many years living in Japan – so life went on ignoring the strange natural disaster.

You can see the entrance to the station just ahead. It’s a welcome sight considering the rain is now falling steadily and the shoulders of your coat are beginning to become uncomfortably wet. There’s water dripping down onto your face from your hair.

You glance at your watch – five minutes. You have five minutes until your train arrives, and then another fifteen before you’re home in the safety and comfort of your apartment. It’s the most exciting part of your day, especially because the thought of sitting at home and watching the rain from your window sounds so nice.

There are a few people standing out the front of the train station as you get closer. They’re all huddled together under two umbrellas and you wonder why they don’t just walk a few more steps and actually stand under the cover of the train station. Perhaps they’re tourists, you think, trying to use the umbrellas that they probably frantically bought at a convenience store as soon as the rain hit and wanting to get their money’s worth.

Tucking your hands deeper into the pockets of your coat, you pick up your pace as you reach the train station, though just before you enter the train station, an umbrella is placed over your head. You stop suddenly, eyebrows furrowed, and look up to see none other than Ikaris holding the umbrella over your head.

“You’ve lived here for how long and you don���t have an umbrella?” He sounds amused.

You blink once, twice, trying to see if Ikaris is real or not, if you’re just hallucinating or not. But then you glance at the other people under the umbrellas at the entrance. Sersi, Sprite and Kingo. They’re unmistakably your family.

“What– what are you four doing here? In Tokyo?” You gasp at them.

They all wander over towards you and Ikaris, who now stands closer to you so that you can both be under the comfort of the umbrella and out of the rain. You feel like you’re dreaming. Your family – here in Tokyo, where they’d never visited you, after so long…

“I wish I could say that we’re just here to visit,” Sersi says, her voice sounding sad and regretful. Something uncomfortable settles in the bottom of your stomach. “But we’re not.”

You hear the sound of an announcement inside the train station and glance down at your watch. “Shit, my train leaves in… three minutes,” you look back up at them. “I don’t mean to be rude, and I am glad to see you all, but can we have this conversation at my place? I don’t want to miss my train, it’s been a long day.”

It’s a very human thing of you to say, you think. The last time you’d all been together like this, none of you had really been that involved in the lives of humans except for Sersi. You all still had a job to do. Things are different now, or at least, they were.

“Yes,” Sersi agrees, “It’ll be good to talk about this somewhere private. Let’s go.”

Her words don’t inspire confidence in you, but you lead them all to your home anyway.

~~~

ROME, AD 47

Druig tolerates you.

He still thinks you’re irrational and irresponsible and very mindless at times, but you’ve gotten considerably better in the last five hundred years. He hasn’t had to tell you about how irresponsible he thinks you are in at least three hundred years, which he thinks is quite an improvement.

Still, he watches you. He’s been watching you ever since that day in Babylon. Despite the fact that so much time has passed, the sight of you in pain still lingers in his mind, high among his memories. It stays there still, refusing to leave no matter how much time passes.

“You’re gonna get hit with a chariot!” Sprite suddenly yells at him.

Makkari knocks him out of the way as a chariot thunders past, right down the street they’d been walking on. The sun is high in the sky, shining down on them, so he blames that for his lack of focus and furrows his eyebrows.

“Why is that thing even in the street?”

“I’d assume chariot racing,” you say from beside him. He doesn’t know where you’ve appeared from, considering he was walking further in front of you and you’d been in conversation with Sersi. “We’re right by the Circus Maximus, where they often hold chariot racing. They’re probably taking it there for the racing this week. Don’t you keep up with the weeks events?”

Druig looks at you. “Thank you, know it all.”

You intentionally respond to him with a large smile, fluttering your eyelashes at him as you do just because you know it’ll drive him mad. Then, you skip off ahead of him to catch up with Kingo.

He watches you as you leave him.

Sprite nudges his side rather forcefully with her elbow. “You’re so obvious, and you don’t even know it. It’s embarrassing. I’d be embarrassed if I were you,” she shudders.

“Embarrassed?” He shakes his head. “You’re being daft.”

She doesn’t accept the insult, shrugging her shoulders and crossing her arms over her chest. “You’re both being incredibly irritating, I hope you know that. If you didn’t, then at least you know that now.”

There’s no chance for Druig to reply to her since she skips off ahead, too, joining you and Kingo. He watches as she weaves her arm through yours and you smile down at her.

He wonders, briefly, how it would feel for you to smile at him like that and then brushes the thought from his mind like it had never been there in the first place.

~~~

TOKYO, PRESENT DAY

Ajak is dead and Sersi, Ikaris, Sprite and Kingo are all sitting in your kitchen with warm cups of tea in front of them. The world feels like it’s been swept out from under your feet, but here your family is… sitting in your kitchen after centuries. But not all of them.

Today has not gone as planned.

You were supposed to be coming home to sit and listen to the rain, maybe go through some of the marking from the tests you’d given your students this morning, and now the world is at risk again.

Your world.

Earth has always been a home to you, ever since you stepped foot on it. But it’s been 7000 years now. You’ve seen the best it has to offer and the worst it has to offer. You can’t lose it.

You slump down against the kitchen bench behind you and run a hand through your hair. It’s still wet from the rain before, you haven’t had a chance to dry it since you got to making tea for the others as soon as you stepped foot in your apartment. Your wet coat is drying off on a coat rack by the door along with the others coats.

“You okay?” Ikaris looks over at you. You look rough.

“I don’t think I have an answer for that.”

He nods understandingly.

“So, what’s next?” You take a long breath and look over at the four of them. You don’t want to wallow in your feelings for too long because you know they’ll only overtake you if you do. You’ve been there before, and you won’t do it again.

Sersi sets her tea down after taking a sip. “We have to find the others, get everyone back together. It’s the only way. We can’t do this without each other. We have to work together again.”

You don’t like her words even though you agree with them. She’s right, of course – she’s always right, which is why Ajak had picked her as her predecessor – but the idea of getting back together with everyone after so long apart is a scary idea.

It’s been centuries since you’ve been in the same room with everyone. While they’d all met up every now and then, you hadn’t joined them very frequently, preferring to just meet up one on one. If you did that, it meant you could pick and choose who you saw and didn’t see. It was safer for your heart that way.

Sersi and Makkari had been the two you’d seen most often, but it’s still been years since you’ve seen either of them, too. You’ve spent the last a hundred and fifty years essentially alone.

“I don’t… I can’t,” you shake your head, crossing your arms over your chest. “I have classes to teach, students who are relying on me. I have papers to mark. I can’t just get up and disappear like that, out of the blue. I can’t.”

You know that you’re only trying to convince yourself of the impossible, but you still try regardless.

Sersi fixes you with a look. She knows exactly why you want to stay behind and it has nothing to do with the fact that you have responsibilities here in Tokyo.

“We need you,” Sersi says. “We can’t do this without you. I can’t.”

There’s nothing more anyone can say. Your fate is sealed.

~~~

KASHGAR, AD 304

Druig flinches back away from you with a scowl. “Haven’t you heard of personal space?” He scoffs, taking a few steps away from you.

You’re smiling at him, one of those beautiful smiles that always make him feel a bit warm and fuzzy inside, and you don’t move from where you’re standing, hands behind your back, watching him with playful eyes.

“What, do I have somethin’ on my face?”

“Mmm.” You nod at him, giving him confirmation but not much.

Druig rolls his eyes and wipes a hand over his face, trying to get rid of whatever was on his face that you weren’t kind enough to point out to him. He can’t feel anything and when he looks back down at his hand, it’s perfectly clean.

He turns his body to face you. “Are you messin’ with me?”

You do nothing, continuing to stare at him with a smile on your face. Druig thinks that the longer you do it, the creepier it gets, and he starts to wonder if there’s any way he can just make you stop smiling. Then, you surprise him.

His feet stay strangely planted to the ground as you step towards him, one of your hands moving up towards his face. He watches your finger with worried eyes as you advance. Your finger finally makes contact with his face and he feels like he’s been given an electric shock as you wipe something of off of his cheek.

You don’t step away from him after you remove your hand, looking at your finger.

“What is it, then?” Druig coughs out a breath.

You show your finger to him. There’s nothing on it.

“Nothing,” you hum. “I just wanted to see what you’d do.”

With that, you turn and walk away from him as if nothing had ever happened. Druig can’t move, though. He can barely breathe thinking about how close you were to him, the light touch of your finger on his skin. He’s stuck in place, tortured. Why would you do that? Why would you want to see what he’d do? You make absolutely no sense to him.

Druig truly can’t stand you.

[marshmallows2345]

innocence (jay halstead x fem! reader)

part 2- Revelations

series summary: you’re new, both in Intelligence and new to the dating scene. but when you fall in love with your partner, he shows you a whole new world, exposing you to so much more than you had ever experienced.

read chapter 1 here !!!

“innocence” masterlist here !!!

chapter warnings: mentions of sex, drinking, nothing crazy happens here, only cute stuff

For the past 6 weeks, you were doing great. You were constantly proving yourself, trying to make sure that Voight didn’t regret his decision to let you come upstairs. Luckily, he didn’t. if anything, you had become an asset, specifically when it came to talking with the kids. You were great with kids and teenagers, which had become handy in numerous investigations. The team enjoyed your company; you were younger and with you came a freshness that was much needed. You also loved the fact that you were handling bigger cases, and you didn’t have to pull as many shifts on patrol unless you needed the overtime.

Your partner, Jay, was absolutely wonderful. He matched you perfectly, and in interrogations, if the two of you went at a suspect, it was almost a guaranteed confession. You were a dream team, and now your relationship wasn’t just within work. Now, the two of you had started hanging out outside of work, and you would even consider him a friend. He was hilarious, especially if he’d been drinking a little too much; that was when all the juicy secrets would come out. Jay was also incredibly caring, and it was clear he had a soft spot for you.

But there was one minuscule problem that had massive ramifications.

You liked Jay.

You hid your attraction well, but when you worked with a bunch of cops trained to recognize changes in human behavior, it was extremely difficult to hide anything. But you managed to do it, you managed to keep your mouth shut and your emotions contained. It was almost painful to have to see Jay, in those perfect jeans and his shirts, which always showed off his heavenly muscles, all day and not be able to say anything. If you told him how you really felt, you ran the risk of ruining the partnership and also being thrown out of intelligence. And then, if he felt the same, then you would have to have the conversation about sex and how you were a virgin. It wasn’t like you were embarrassed about it, but you also knew that most of the people you knew had already experiences what sex felt like. You simply longed to join that crew, but you had to find the right man first. It was just one of those conversations that you weren’t really looking forward to having, and so you were trying to put it off.

You were with Jay at Molly’s one Friday night, and the two of you were sitting at a table, tucked in the back, laughing as you sipped on your beers. His smile was as dazzling as ever as he told you a funny story from when he was a kid, but you weren’t paying attention. All you could focus on was how beautiful he looked. The lighting was warm, cozy, and highlighted all of his beautiful features effortlessly. You laughed as he finished the story, even though you didn’t really recall what he told you.

“You got any funny stories?” He asked as he sipped his beer.

“Hm…there is this one. I was in college, and when I was in college, I did this program where you could go abroad to Rome for a week, and I chose to do it. Well, the campus was attached to a monastery or seminary or whatever it was, and I ended up getting locked in it one night at like 1 in the morning.”

“What?” Jay said, chuckling in disbelief. “How did you do that?”

“Well, I couldn’t find a garbage can! And I ended up opening a door that I wasn’t supposed to, it locked behind me. I was crying, freaking out, but I got out through the cafeteria. Not the best way to wind down for bed.”

“God no, that sounds terrible.”

“In the moment, yeah, but now? That’s one of my favorite stories to tell.”

“Was the rest of your trip good?”

“That’s a story for another time,” you said, a sly smile on your face. “It was quite eventful.”

“Now, I have to hear it.”

“Get me another beer and you have a deal.”

“Done.”

Jay got up and he headed over to the bar, leaving you sitting in the booth on your own. Your stomach flipped just like it always did around him. He was charming, too charming. You tried, numerous times to talk yourself out of developing a crush, but it seemed like no matter what you did, your crush increased. Then again, Jay wasn’t helping. He was always protecting you, looking out for you. If a suspect even dared to disrespect you, Jay would immediately defend you, almost to a fault. Sometimes, it seemed like you were the one that caused him to falter. All someone had to do was say something nasty about you within earshot of Jay, and it was like he did a complete 180. Once, you watched Jay shove and then threaten a guy with charges when you got harrassed at a bar and he wouldn’t leave you alone. That guy would not be coming back, you were sure. The entire team was there, and you got teased relentlessly about it, especially from Erin. But you brushed it off, saying that it was just because you were his partner and that it wasn’t anything more than that.

You were incredibly, incredibly wrong.

When you came into Intelligence, and Jay met your eyes, he thought that he was dreaming. You were wide-eyed, eager. He remembered being just like that, before everything had happened. When you started talking to him, he thought that he was dreaming. He swore that he wasn’t going to fall in love with a partner, not going to date within work. But you were going to make that incredibly difficult. When he offered to help you at the gun range, it was almost an excuse to hang out with you. Not that he didn’t want to help you out, but he also wanted to spend more time with you and maybe see more of your personality. The gun range would let him be close to you, maybe see you lose a little professionalism.

As you became closer to him, more of who you were as a person started to come out. Jay saw how you were an animal lover, and he also saw how you spoiled your cat, Georgie. He even got to meet Georgie, one night after work, and Georgie absolutely loved Jay, brushing up against Jay’s legs the minute he sat down.. Jay started looking forward to hanging out with you outside of work. Once, you had Jay come with you to a dinner at your parents’ house, introducing them to your work partner. It also took the focus off of you, so it was a win-win. Your heart was big and open, giving love to everything you did. He loved it, loved how you gave yourself to everything you did. But at the same time, he saw how naiive you were. You weren’t hardened by Intelligence like he was. He still saw that innocence, that hopeful look in your eye. When cases got bad, it was that look that could help pull him out of a rut. There were times when he caught himself staring at you, disguised as him just zoning out. But he couldn’t help it, you were just beautiful.

At Molly’s one night, you had excused yourself from sitting at your table with Intelligence and moved to sit at the bar with your friend. The two of you were laughing together, reminiscing on great memories. However, that came to a halt when a guy approached you at the bar. When Jay saw this, he saw red.

Who was this guy to come up to you?

“Jay, you okay, man?” Adam asked as Jay’s knuckles turned white from clenching his bottle.

“Huh? Oh, I’m fine,” Jay replied as he loosened his grip on the bottle. “I’m fine.”

Adam raised an eyebrow and he softly chuckled before turning back to his drink. Jay was definitely not fine.

Jay’s eyes turned back to where you were sitting, except now you were visibly uncomfortable. You were leaning away, and he could see the disgust written all over your face. Clearly, this guy was oblivious to the basic body langauge cues. Jay couldn’t hear what you were saying, but he could imagine that you were doing your best to be polite and let this guy down gently. But then, the guy grabbed your arm, and Jay lost it. He got up and headed over to you, pushing the guy off of you.

“Get off of her!” Jay said, standing in between you and the guy. “Leave her alone.”

“What are you gonna do about it?” the guy taunted, puffing up his chest and trying to intimidate Jay.

“You wanna try me, man? I said, leave her alone. Walk away and this doesn’t have to end badly.”“Lemme get her number at least, she’s beautiful. Got a great body.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw you roll your eyes in disgust. Jay knew he couldn’t throw the first punch, not if he wanted to keep his badge.

“Fat chance.”

The guy mde the bright decision to try and push Jay away to get to you, and Jay pushed him back before quickly flipping him and pinning him against the bar counter.

“I will give you about five seconds to either walk out of here, or I will book you for assaulting a police officer,” Jay snarled. “Five, four, three, two-“

The guy quickly scurried out, Jay’s piercing gaze following him. Jay turned to you and asked,

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, giving him a small smile. “Thank you, Jay, really. You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know. But he put his hands on you, and I couldn’t have that.”

You chuckled and reached up, giving Jay’s shoulder an affectionate rub.

“Thank you,” you said. “It meant a lot.”

He had a crush too.

When he came back over to you with the beers, you took one from his hand and thanked him. He said,

“So, do I get to hear the rest of the story?”

“Yes, yes you do. It’s a long one so buckle up.”

“I’ve got until Herrmann kicks us out.”

You chuckled before beginning the story, starting with the flight from Chicago to Rome. It was your first international flight, and you were incredibly nervous. Luckily, there wasn’t any turbulence, and the flight went fairly smoothly. You touched down early in the morning, and once you got to campus, you fell asleep until lunch. The first day, you didn’t do much, you just walked around the neighborhood and got yourself acclimated to the environment. Days 2-5 were all about sightseeing: the Coliseum, Venice, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, among others. You also went shopping, buying souvenirs and other goodies to bring back. But among all of the great things like the sights and the food, you also had many hardships. You had gotten lost, gotten left behind, and you also had to deal with anxiety and homesickness. As you talked about your experience to Jay, you started chuckling at his completely shocked reaction.

“And all that happened within a week?”

“Yup. One whole week.”

“Sheesh, I’m sorry you had so many bad experiences during that trip.”

“Eh, it’s alright. It gave me some great stories, and taught me a lot about resilience and staying strong. I’ll bring in the photos one day for you.”

“I’d love to see them.”

“I’ll go settle up our tab?”

“No, it’s on me.”

“Fat chance, Halstead,” you said before going up to Herrmann and settling up, paying for the beers that both you and Jay drank.

You walked back over to Jay, a triumphant smile softlyon your face.

“You can get me next time.”

“Next time, we can go to dinner,” he smoothly said, sipping his beer and maintaining eye contact with you.

You looked at him quizzically. What did he mean by “dinner?” Was it in the platonic sense or the romantic sense? Or was he just being polite? Maybe it was the alcohol, but he had only had two beers. That wouldn’t have been enough to make him drunk enough to do something stupid. Instead of continuing to wonder what this dinner meant, you just said,

“Just tell me when and where.”

“Portillos? Next Friday? Not the fanciest, but-“

“That’s my favorite place!”

You finished off your 3rd beer and Jay said,

“I’ll take you home?”

“Is that really a question?” You replied, and he chuckled.

I’ll take you home.

Those four words sent your mind into a tailspin. You knew you were too buzzed to drive home, but you definitely weren’t too buzzed to understand that this meant Jay might have some more feelings for you. Most of your other friends would have just told you to get home safely, but then again, they would have been in the same state, if not worse. You followed Jay out to his truck, the gorgeous and oh-so-comfortable truck that you always loved to be in. Climbing into the passenger seat, you situated yourself the same way you always did. Jay glanced over at you, and you looked back at him.

“What?” You said, softly chuckling.

“Nothing. Just zoned out for a second.”

He turned his eyes to the road, pulling off and driving to your apartment. In the car, he played some music, and you softly hummed along as you let your head rest against the window’s cool glass. You found your eyes closing, the combination of the alcohol and the long week taking their toll on you.

Wake up. Wake up.

Someone was shaking you, moving your body back and forth. You softly groaned, turning away and burrowing yourself deeper into the seat. But the shaking didn’t stop.

“Whaddya want?” You groaned, rubbing your eyes and slowly blinking them open.

“Y/n, wake up,” Jay said, shaking you to wake you up. “Come on, you’re home.”

You blinked, and then you turned to look at Jay, and then it hit you,

“Shit, shit, how long was I out?”

“Not long. I think you need some sleep though.”

You nodded, grabbing your stuff and then heading out. But as you stepped down, your foot slipped off the footing, and you stumbled, scraping your hands on the pavement. Jay immediately came over to you and he inspected your body for any other injuries.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, just my hands.”

He helped you stand up and get your footing. Your hands were all scraped up, red and raw. Jay said,

“Ouch..you want some help with that?”

You nodded, even though a part of you was ashamed to admit it. It was just a scrape, you could totally have taken care of it yourself if you were sober, not embarrassed about falling on your face in front of Jay, and not exhausted. Jay helped you inside, and he brought you to your bathroom, sitting you on your tub.

You shouldn’t have drank so much. You should have kept it to one beer, not gone over.

You regretted drinking so much, especially knowing that your tolerance was not that high. Now, you made a complete fool of yourself, in front of the guy you had a massive crush on. As you sat on the edge of the tub, watching as Jay got the First Aid kit from your medicine cabinet, you felt tears well up in your eyes, mostly out of embarrassment. You were tougher than this; for a living, you caught killers, drug dealers, all the criminals of Chicago. A little scrape shouldn’t cause you to tear up. But, then again, at this moment, you were definitely not sober.

Jay looked down at your hands, and he gently cleaned them up, running gauze soaked in sterile saline over your hands to clean them up. You saw how gentle he was being, and it made you smile. It was such a contrast from his work persona, which was tough, no-nonsense, and sometimes intimidating. Apparently Mr. Badass Detective was also a big softie too.

“Guess you had a little too much to drink, huh?”

“Yeah,” you nodded. “I’m sorry, I should have-“

“It’s okay,” he said, giving you a reassuring smile. “Don’t even worry about it.”

You looked into his eyes, and this time, you couldn’t help the blush that creeped onto your cheeks. Jay looked back at you, but this look was something different. You couldn’t quite read it, couldn’t quite put your finger on what he was trying to say. He shifted closer, now mere inches away from you. You could see all of the freckles on his face: some were large, others small. But they all adorned his face perfectly. His hand turned yours over, now holding it in the palm of his hand.

Jay knew that when opportunity knocked, he had to answer. You were too good of an opportunity to let out the door. He never felt so at ease than when he was with you. Not once did he ever feel like he had to put up a front or try and be something he wasn’t. Sometimes, he liked to joke, he was getting soft from hanging out with you. As he looked into your eyes, he realized that he was taking care of you not only because you were his partner, but because he could get close to you again. He could smell your perfume, sweet, floral, some notes of vanilla as well. You were so close to him, so close to his face and lips. He could almost taste you, taste how sweet your lips must be. If your heart was so sweet, your lips must be even sweeter.

Don’t let opportunity get away.

Jay’s breath still smelled of beer, now just fainter. You could smell his cologne: musk, wood, and bourbon, barely there, but still able to be smelled. He was so close, closer than he’d ever been before. You could see his lashes, a rich auburn, and slightly curled. Your heart pounded in your chest, and you were positive that Jay could hear it. His nose brushed against yours, and your eyes fluttered up to meet his. An entire conversation took place in the silence, the words being your breaths.

“Jay…”

“Y/n…if we do this, we, we can’t go back.”

“I know.”

“Do you want this?”

“Jay,” you whispered as your fingers found his shirt and tugged him closer, lips now barely brushing against each other. “I want this.”

His fingers brushed against your cheek as his lips closed the gap. Almost instinctively, your arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to you. He pressed you up against the bathtub wall, cupping your chin in his hand. You’d never felt like this, never felt the butterflies that erupted in your stomach as his lips melted against yours. It felt like you were destined to kiss him, to feel your lips on his. He pulled away, and your eyes slowly fluttered open to gaze into his.

“That was…” He softly chuckled, his hand still resting on your cheek.

“Everything.”

“Yeah. That sounds about right.”

The two of you sat on the edge of your tub, eyes locked on each other. You had never been kissed like that before, where it felt like you were meant to be kissing him. He smiled at you, placing a kiss on your nose and saying,

“So that dinner…can that be changed to an official date?”

“I was really, really hoping you would say that.”

“I can’t wait, Y/n. I’ll see you on Monday?”

“Yeah, yeah definitely. See you on Monday.”

You prayed that this whole encounter wasn’t part of some drunken dream that was playing in your head. But that would be a problem for Monday, when you would pretend like this tub encounter never happened. At least, that was how you would do it in front of everyone else. Dating within the unit was extremely frowned upon, and you couldn’t risk anybody but you and Jay knowing about this. But again, that was all a problem for next week, when you were fully sober and not hungover.