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macfrog · 1 year ago

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bloodstream cowboy like me chapter seven

part seven of cowboy like me 🤠 feel free to grab parts i-vi (and more!) over on my masterlist for all ur joel miller needs. can you tell i had my period when i wrote this...? it's just a big ol' hormonal, needy MESS please don't take it seriously you'll ruin my street cred as a cynic

pairing: dbf!joel x fem!reader

summary: you’re on your period and want attention, kisses, and pain medicine from joel. that’s all

warnings: 18+ (minors dni!!!) a whole lotta fluff. like, sickly sweet fluff. mention of periods/cramps/blood, one tiny mention of pregnancy, put mdni since there are mentions of sex & sexual themes but no actual sex, age gap (reader is 23, joel is 48), bit of cursing, and a pop-tart is destroyed :( rip lil guy

word count: 3.8k

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In an instant, you want to grind into him, drag your hips along the fabric of his boxers, push him. Rile him up. Make him pine. Make him beg. What the fuck would you even do, anyway? Sex? It’s not like that’s your easiest option right now – definitely not a tidy one. But it doesn’t stop you from picturing it, now that you brought it up. Is Joel picturing it, too? He’s tracing every inch of your face with his stare, soft, but knowing. He knows exactly what’s going through your fucking mind. The way his boxers start to swell against the inside of your thigh gives it away that it’s running through his, too.

It’s been a week since you slept with Joel for the first time. Realistically, waking up in a foul mood to cramps should’ve been some sort of tiny celebration. Yay, I’m not pregnant. But the ache in your tummy, the weight of your limbs as you heave yourself around the house, the sobbing at any minor inconvenience, doesn’t feel so much like a celebration as it does a punishment.

You’d dragged yourself from bed, clutching your belly, and hobbled downstairs. Your dad left for work a couple hours ago; the slam of the front door woke you. Does he always have to be so fucking loud? You’d struggled to get back to sleep, knees tucked under your chin.

You take a blanket from the couch and wrap it around your shoulders, bunching it up at your belly to soothe the pain, and begin raking the cupboards for food. For crappy, sugary, junk food.

When you turn toward the toaster and bump your hip into the corner of the kitchen island, sending the Pop-Tart in your hand tumbling to the ground, you burst into tears and dial his number.

He answers on the second ring.

“Hey, hey, what’s wrong?” he coos in response to your wailing.

“Joel, I– my fuckin’ Pop-Tart just flew out of my hand!”

He’s quiet for a beat. “Your– Say that again, baby?”

What you respond with isn’t even intelligible. You know it. It only makes you sob more. Well, that, and looking down at the crumbled pastry on your kitchen floor.

Joel spends the next five minutes calming you down, shushing down the line and trying to get you to speak in plain English. Eventually, you take a deep breath and speak clearly between gasps.

“I – am on – my period. I – got – my – period.”

“Ah,” he muses. “That makes a lot more sense, kid.”

You burst into tears again.

“Hey, hey,” he’s laughing now, “no, baby, it’s okay. It’s okay. Look, I got a free house today – Sarah’s out all day. I ain’t workin’, either. How about you jump in the car and come over? We can lay in bed all day and I can make you feel better. How’s that sound?”

You sniff and mumble a quiet, “Good”.

Joel tells you to head on over once you’re ready. You throw a sweatshirt over your shoulders, slip into comfortable shoes, and get straight into the car. When you pull up outside, he’s already standing at the front door.

Just the sight of him makes you weep. Leaning against the porch post, one hand hooked around his belt. You get out, hunched over with the pain below your belly button, and waddle over to him.

“C’mere, sweet girl,” he whispers as he wraps an arm around you, basically pulling you up the steps to him. “Gonna get you nice and comfortable, okay?”

You lean into his chest and he kisses your head, closing the door softly behind you.

“Upstairs,” he instructs.

You silently obey and make for his bedroom, shuffling your feet along the carpet. When Joel enters the room a few minutes after you, you’re buried in the middle of his bed amongst a sea of pillows and blankets.

“Feelin’ alright?”

“Ish.”

He has a mug of tea in one hand, a box of pain meds in the other, and a hot pack draped over his arm. He sets the tea down on your nightstand, hands you the hot pack (which you immediately lay across your stomach), and offers you the pain meds.

“Water?” you ask, looking up at him with a petted lip.

“I brought tea.” He nods at the mug.

“I can’t take pills with hot tea,” you whisper.

He gives you an affectionate smile and shakes his head. “You’re lucky I care about you s’much.” He leaves the room, calling back, “Put those puppy-dog eyes away!”

You smile smugly to yourself and shimmy deeper into Joel’s pillows. He returns moments later with a glass of water.

“Your highness,” he grumbles as he sets it down for you. Then he pulls a small blue packet from under his elbow.

“Don’t have much round here, bein’ on my own mosta the time,” he admits, sliding it onto the nightstand, “found these in Sarah’s bathroom. They do?”

You smile, eyes scanning over the Always logo. “They’re great.”

The edges of Joel’s mouth lift, proud, like he reckons he’s outdone himself.

You gulp a couple of painkillers down and settle back into bed, heat pad already working its magic.

Joel lifts his side of the comforter up to climb in beside you, but you stretch an arm out.

“Uh-uh.”

“Huh?”

“Not in your jeans. Are we animals?”

He peers down at himself. “The hell am I s’posed to wear?”

“You don’t have sweatpants?”

“I’m supposed to change into my sweatpants just to cuddle?”

“Who the hell lounges around the house on their day off in jeans, anyway, weirdo?”

He clicks his teeth. “You’re talkin’ awful big for someone meant to be in pain, y’know,” he huffs as he unbuttons his jeans and hauls them down his legs. “T-shirt okay?”

“T-shirt’s fine.”

In just his tee, boxers and socks, he climbs in alongside you, snakes his arms around you, and slots his thigh between yours the way he always does. It calms you instantly: his warmth, the sound of his heart beating into your ear, his chest rising and falling with his breathing.

“You okay, sweet girl?” Joel mumbles into your hair.

“Mhm,” you reply, feeling yourself dropping off. “Sleepy.”

He runs a hand under the hem of your sweatshirt and up your bare back, rubbing circles gently where the pain is. You’re asleep within minutes.

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You stir to the distant sound of voices. Still enveloped in Joel’s arms, you flutter your eyes open slowly, and look up to his face, lit blue by the TV. He’s watching ESPN.

His eyes dance along the screen, following the players running. His beard, thick, dark, gray and white spotted along his chin, disturbed as he runs his fingers through it. His skin, marked by the sun, by time, by fine lines and dimples at the corners of his mouth.

The Joel you’ve known your whole life – grumbling, head dipped, brows close together; his rough hands and his worn jeans, his awkward squeezes in place of hugs…he doesn’t exist anymore. He’s replaced by this new Joel: kind, warm, approachable. Like you can finally see him, finally get to know him.

The Joel who doesn’t think twice about taking you in his arms, isn’t concerned with how you’ll react. Just knows you’ll fall into him any which way his hands touch you. The Joel who can have you bent double under him, panting his name, and the same Joel who can lull you to sleep with nothing but his scent and his thumb drawing lazy circles on your skin.

The Joel who makes you want to call him your Joel, like he’s made only for you. He does these things only for you. He’s different for you.

Suddenly you feel shy. Realizing that this is the first time he’s seen you like this – vulnerable, in pain. Hurting. And then realizing that he didn’t miss a beat; just swept you up in his arms and bundled you into his bed. Made you comfortable. Made you safe.

You swallow your heart back into your chest. For a second, you almost felt…something. A shift. Something new. A problem arising.

Joel glances down, notices you watching him, and mutes the anchors’ voices.

“Welcome back,” he whispers, giving you a little squeeze. “Better?”

“Mhm. Thanks.”

“I was gonna order a pizza, if you wanted.”

He reads your mind again. Just the thought of a fatty, greasy slab of dough with fatty, greasy cheese all over it is enough to make you salivate.

“Pizza sounds good.”

Joel, wanting to stay near you, and also not wanting to have to get up, picks up his phone and orders it from bed. You sigh as he pulls you back in and sinks lower into the pillows, turning the volume up.

You snuggle your head into the crook of his neck, where it fits perfectly. Made for you. Joel’s arm cradles around your back, sneaking under the bottom of your sweatshirt to hold your hip, keeping your body pressed against his. Your fingers trace shapes on his shirt, lids closing over with each blink.

Out of every sport in America, baseball is the one you’re interested in the least. Growing up with a diehard Rangers fan for a father will do that to you. Every week: Rangers game. Every conversation he had with Joel: Rangers. Every time the TV was switched on: Rangers talk.

You learned to tune it out when he’d rant over dinner, either to you, or into his phone, or to Joel. You’d sit back in your chair and count the crows resting on Marcia’s rooftop. Couple times Joel would kick your leg under the table and ask how school was goin’, when you’re flying back, but as soon as your answer was done your dad would steer the conversation back to baseball.

It bored you at best. Mostly it just made you huff and turn on your heel, back the way you came. Dodging Rangers talk like it was a bad smell.

This time, you doze in and out of sleep, relaxing with the rise and fall of Joel’s chest, his fingers playing with yours. The anchors push you off, then wake you back up with their raised voices as they disagree on some play, some team, some result.

You could lie here forever and never complain. Well, maybe not forever. You care about Joel a lot, but even you have your limits.

You nudge him with your head.

“Yep?”

“Who’s the dude in the blue polo?”

“That’s a coach.”

“He’s kinda cute.”

“Not my type.”

“Are we gonna watch ESPN all day?”

Joel hands you the remote. “Take your pick, darlin’.”

You begin surfing through the channels, eyes scanning for something to take your mind off the pain slowly returning between your legs. You’re barely two pages through when the doorbell rings.

Joel softly slides out from underneath you and throws his jeans on, heading downstairs where you hear him thank the delivery guy, hand him the money, and shut the door again.

“You still good with your water, or you want soda?” he calls upstairs.

“Soda, please!”

He brings up a bottle for you to share. You pull yourself up to rest against the headboard, and Joel sits the pizza between you two.

“You gotta be kiddin’ me,” he whispers, looking up at the TV.

“Nope!” you reply, mouth full of delicious pepperoni pizza.

“Grey’s Anatomy?”

“You ain’t seen it?”

He hands you a look. Do I look like the type of guy who’s seen Grey’s Anatomy?

You giggle. “Alright, so: Meredith was datin’ this dude Derek – surgeon at the hospital, he’s so hot–” Joel raises his eyebrows, “…but he wouldn’t tell her a thing about his past. Then, she’s waitin’ for him in the lobby,” you take another bite of pizza, “and thish woman walksh over to ‘em,” gulp, “and says she’s Derek’s wife!”

He’s hanging on to every word you say, not ‘cause he actually gives a crap about Meredith and Derek, but because you do. He’s lying propped up on his elbow, watching you with doting eyes as you catch him up on the storyline of the show, smirk slowly growing on his lips.

“You gonna eat the pizza?”

You snap him out of his daydream. “Huh?”

“You ain’t touched it.”

“Oh, yeah,” he says, taking a slice. “Was just listenin’ to you.”

You tuck your chin into your shoulder and he gives your cheek a gentle squeeze, then you both turn your attention to the TV.

You spend the next couple of hours pausing the show to catch Joel up – “So Meredith ain’t into this George?” “No, he’s just a friend.” “But he loves her?” “Yep.” “And they slept together?” “Uhuh.” “That’s…complicated.” – and chatting over the more boring parts.

You’re only a couple episodes in when you finish the pizza. Joel lets you have the last slice, “Seein’ as you’re my little invalid for the day,” he says. He’d have given you the last slice whether you were ill or not, though, and you know it.

When Joel gets up to take the empty box downstairs, you slip out from under the covers to the bathroom. You sit down, underwear between your legs, and freeze.

Fuck.

Your sanitary pad is soaked through, scarlet with blood, the lining of your underwear the color of rust. You run your thumb along the fabric; it’s still damp. Lifting your top, you notice similar stains on the insides of your thighs, at the very top.

Fuuuck.

“You okay, baby?” Joel’s voice calls from the other side of the door.

“I’m…Yeah, I’m good. Uh, Joel?”

“Uhuh?”

“Could you hand me that pack of sanitary pads?”

He mumbles Sure, his shadow retreats, then the door inches open and his wrist sneaks through the gap, holding the pads out. You take it sheepishly and begin to peel the pad from your underwear, stopping when it reveals more blood stained into the fabric, this time a brighter red. Fresher. You groan, shutting your eyes and tapping the packet against your forehead.

“You sure you’re alright?” Joel asks again, this time from further away.

You’re almost doubled over on the toilet, pain back in full-throttle, voice muffled by the sleeves of your sweatshirt. “I’m fine,” you croak.

The door slowly falls open and Joel’s figure stands in the slit of light. “Kid,” he beckons, and you look up. His expression is normal, if a little concerned; but he doesn’t seem embarrassed to ask, “You need a change of underwear?”

Your face flushes and you wince, your head dropping into your hands, elbows resting on your knees. “It’s on the bed, isn’t it?”

“Might be, yeah. Sarah’ll have somethin’, sure she wouldn’t mind if you…you know…”

“Ugh,” you sigh, still keeping your face from him.

Your period was never something you cared about, even growing up with just your dad. When you got your first one at twelve, he went out and stocked the bathroom with what you needed. Ain’t nothin’ to be ashamed of, hell, half the population deal with it. That’s what he’d said.

And you agreed. It’s just your body doing what it does, right?

Still, you can’t ignore the heat on your cheeks from the embarrassment of the guy you’re sleeping with seeing you hunched over on his toilet, underwear stained with blood, the same stain on his bedsheets. It’s just not your finest hour.

But Joel doesn’t seem to agree.

Not when he sets foot in the bathroom and crouches by your side, placing a kiss to your temple.

“Sorry,” you mumble.

He looks offended; his head jerks back to survey you. “The hell you sorry for? You ain’t got nothin’ to be sorry for, baby. Look,” his hand settles on your thigh, rubbing gently, “go find somethin’ to change into in Sarah’s room, get yourself cleaned up, I’ll change the bed. You’re fine.”

“’s not really romantic, is it?”

“I didn’t ask you to come here to be romantic,” he holds your head, “I asked you here to take care of you. Now go.”

He helps you to your feet and you wander off down the hall toward Sarah’s room. You guys grew up together, you’re close enough that she’d probably slap your arm for even asking to borrow her clothes, especially when you need it most right now.

Still, you whisper an apology as you rake through her closet, and make a mental note to be extra nice to her next time you see her.

Once you’ve changed, feeling a lot better, you slip back into Joel’s room where he’s fixing up the clean bedsheets.

“Done?”

You nod, and he takes your underwear from your hands and tosses it onto the pile of sheets by his laundry basket. See? No big deal. He takes your bicep and wraps his arms around you, nose nuzzling into your hair, breathing you in.

You lift your chin and look up at him, a gleam in your eye. Thank you. He furrows his brows and gives his head a quick shake. No need to thank me.

Joel motions for you to get back into bed, where he lays back and holds his arms out for you to relax on his chest again, but you’re staring at his lips. You lean in and kiss him softly, the only thing you can think to offer him after taking care of you and being so sweet all day.

He returns it, one hand coming up to the back of your head, the other finding home on your hip. You roll back and pull his weight over your body, linking your arms behind his neck. Your thighs close around his waist and his hand runs down your bare leg.

The kiss deepens, both of you coming up for air, just to immediately fall back into one another, tongues slipping in and out of each other’s mouths.

As Joel’s hands explore the skin under your top, massaging and rubbing across your stomach, you begin to worry.

In your experience, kissing always leads to more. You’ve never been with a guy who doesn’t expect sex whenever you lay a hand on him. This feels so good, though, and you don’t want it to stop.

Still, you pull back and quickly whisper, “We can’t…you know.”

“I know. We won’t.” Joel is matter-of-fact. This ain’t a thing to him.

“I mean, we can. People do that – it’s supposed to feel better, or something? I think it helps with the cramps. I’ve never done it before, though.” You’re talking too quick, saying too much. Joel’s just watching you, letting you go on, smiling at you.

“Baby. We won’t.”

Your tongue knots. “We won’t?”

He breathes a laugh. “No, we’re just kissing. We’re not gonna do anything you don’t want. Just tryna make you feel better.”

“I’m not sayin’ I don’t wanna, I always wanna– Well, you know. I like it when we do it. I’m just saying it can get messy, you know?”

He’s grinning at you again. That fucking grin. That You’re being adorable right now grin that makes your heart skip.

Your cheeks flush with embarrassment, but Joel reassures you when he lowers his head again and his lips find yours.

Your head tilts as you allow him access to your neck; his favorite place to leave marks. To show everyone, whether they know it or not, that you’re his. You fold, head rolling back onto the pillow as he bites a bruise into your sensitive skin.

Joel pulls away, releasing your neck from between his teeth, and you stare at each other a moment.

Something flickers across his eyes; his jaw jerks as if he’s about to open his mouth and speak. As quickly as you notice it, it disappears. He stops himself.

You run a finger along his bottom lip, and he kisses it lightly.

Between your legs, your center pressed to his, he twitches. Sparks to life. Same thing that sparks in you, though you don’t know where to put it. You don’t know how to undo it.

In an instant, you want to grind into him, drag your hips along the fabric of his boxers, push him. Rile him up. Make him pine. Make him beg.

What the fuck would you even do, anyway? Sex? It’s not like that’s your easiest option right now – definitely not a tidy one. But it doesn’t stop you from picturing it, now that you brought it up. Is Joel picturing it, too?

He’s tracing every inch of your face with his stare, soft, but knowing. He knows exactly what’s going through your fucking mind. The way his boxers start to swell against the inside of your thigh gives it away that it’s running through his, too.

And then his ringtone breaks apart the moment.

“Sorry, kid,” he groans, leaning over to retrieve it. “Hello?”

You recognize your dad’s voice instantly. He has no volume control where phone calls are concerned.

“Joel, you seen my daughter? I got home and she wasn’t here, and I can’t get a hold of ‘er.”

You scramble to find your phone amongst the bedsheets. When your hands find it, you hold it up to show Joel eight missed calls over the course of the five hours you’ve spent here. He scrunches up his nose in response.

“I ain’t seen her. I’ll try callin’ her, she’s probably just out and about.”

“Thanks, bud. She won’t have gone far, just she usually has her cell on her.”

Joel promises to call you before hanging up, and you sit back, slowly closing your eyes with a sigh.

“Now.” Joel leans into you, resting his head against yours. “I’m gonna call you, and you’re either not gonna answer – ‘cause you ain’t been answerin’ your dad – and he’s gonna worry more; or, you will answer me, I’ll call ‘im back, and he’ll wonder why you been ignorin’ him. Or…” He trails off.

“…Or, I go home and act like I ain’t seen his calls, tell him I’m sorry, and he’s none the wiser.”

“Hm.” He nods once, lips folded inward.

“I don’t wanna go,” you whimper, sliding down the headboard and resting your head against Joel’s shoulder.

“I know, darlin’. But we had our fun.” He takes your hand in his, lacing his fingers through yours. “I hope I made you feel better.”

“You did,” you whisper back. In more ways than one; sure, he fed you painkillers and rubbed where you were hurting, but that isn’t all there is to it, right?

The last time you saw each other, he had you propped on the kitchen counter, legs spread, begging for him to let you cum. Today feels as much about making you feel better because of that, as it does making you feel better because of your period. Today feels like Joel telling you he cares about you past the orgasms y’all give each other.

Message received. Even though it makes you dizzy when you think too much about it.

Joel takes your hand and places a kiss to it.

“Hey,” he mumbles against your knuckles, “me ‘n your dad are going to Costco on Saturday to get stuff for this…garden party Sarah’s wantin’. You wanna come?”

“Will you hold my hand and kiss me when I want again?”

He breathes a laugh. “I will when your dad ain’t lookin’.”

“I’m in.”

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#joel miller #joel miller fic #dbf!joel miller #dbf!joel #joel miller x reader #the last of us #tlou #tlou fic #joel miller fluff #joel miller smut #joel tlou #fic: cowboy like me

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arcadia-of-pluto · 3 months ago

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Twist of Fate; Chapter Thirteen

Parings; LADS OT4 x reader

Word count; 2,982

Themes; isekai, eventual smut

Rating; 18+ for some mature content and swearing

Notes; I've got almost 3k written in my Rafayel trope one-shot 😭 pls send help. Rafayel hasn't even shown up in it yet. Also, don't forget to vote on Sylus's trope for my one-shot mini-series!

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I just realized that if Caleb becomes a love interest in the future, my whole story is ruined– WELL, no time to panic about that. Even if he becomes a love interest, he won't included in the relationship 😭 Love him to death but, for me, I see him as a brother. But if he becomes a love interest, I can always write fluff and angst for him in the future. My whole fic is built around him being like a brother 😞

After a few hours of thinking and trying to sneak the brooch from Sylus, you decide to go for a different approach. You’d wait for him to take a shower and then search his room for it since he can’t possibly keep the brooch on him in the shower.

You crouch walk into his room, trying your best to keep your balance and not fall to the floor. As you look around the room, you notice his room has more of an open plan- meaning his shower is full glass and visible from his room. Your eyes widen as you spot Sylus’ bare shoulders as he washed his white hair, water droplets gliding down his skin…You quickly look away, shooting a glare at Mephisto from his perch as you make your way to Sylus’ bed. You pat over his folded red robe, murmuring under your breath, “Not in this pocket…or this one either..” You groan to yourself. “It’s not here or there…It’s gone.”

You run a hand through your hair, panicking just a tad bit since you had no idea where the brooch was or even how to get it, but you still had a few hours before your deadline. “I searched every nook and cranny. Where else could it be?” Your brows knit together in annoyance and your head starts to pound, hurting as you try to wrack your brain on where else Sylus could’ve hid it. You don’t think he’d hide it anywhere you wouldn’t be able to get to- that’d definitely be cheating.

“Did he take it into the bathroom?” You mumble to yourself, glancing toward the large open shower. Steam from the hot shower obscuring most of Sylus’ body besides his wide shoulders. Your eyes dart over to Mephisto on his perch and you point at the bird. “Tell me. Did you eat it? I know crows like shiny things,” You whisper to the bird, trying to keep your voice low. You make your way over to the crow, picking him up as you try to search him for the brooch, “Yes or no?” You spin the bird around, lifting his wings before you full on pause as you hear the shower shut off. “Fuck- I need to hide…” You set Mephisto back down, looking around before you duck behind a table.

You watch as Sylus steps out of the shower, a towel hung low around his waist as water drips down his chest. His hand rubbing at his neck as he steps further into the room. “Now’s my chance to escape,” You mutter under your breath, but you barely take a few crouched steps before you hear a phone ringing. Your eyes widen and you grip the edge of the table that you’re behind. Sylus walks toward the phone to pick it up and you get a close up look of his bare chest as he stands next to the table you’re behind. You can only see him from his chest up and damn…Ahem, pull yourself together.

“Mr. Sylus, we found a list of all the attendees from that night at the Nest.” You hear a voice say from the phone and Sylus hums, turning his back almost to you and you get a nice view of his back.. “About that night..” The voice on the phone continues and you realize they must be talking about the night you showed up at the Nest- well, it might not involve you but it could be if Sylus was interested in more information about it. You shift your body a bit to get comfortable and your knee pops. Loudly. Your body freezes up and you press your lips together in a thin line, slowly turning your head toward Sylus as you internally pray that he didn’t hear that. Your eyes meet his crimson ones. His hand rubbing against his neck as he pauses his movements. A smirk tugs at his lips as he scoffs. “Mr. Sylus?” The man on the phone tries to continue the conversation but it’s clear Sylus is done listening.

“It’s nothing. Just a stray cat who happened to barge in.” As Sylus says this, he doesn’t take his eyes off of you. His eyes narrowing down at you and he turns his body to face you . Suddenly, you feel his evol wrap around your wrists as the man on the phone questions, “...A cat?” Sylus lifts you up to your feet using his evol and you groan, “You…You didn’t need to do that! I’ll just-” You let out a grunt in your struggle and the man on the phone clears his throat, “I-I’ll leave you alone now!” Aww man, now that guy got the wrong idea! Sylus guides you back to your knees with his evol and you have a small pout on your lips.

After a few moments, you look away and sigh, looking down at your bound hands to give him a bit of privacy. You notice he put on his clothes as he re-enters your vision, running his finger across a few records before he picks one up. He looks at it as he speaks, “Y/n, this is the fourth time we’ve met since last night, kitten.” “...You set a time limit for finding the brooch, but you didn’t say how I should find it. I doubt I’m breaking any rules. You should’ve been more specific,” You say with a pout as you try to tug your wrists apart, the dark red smoke swirls around your wrists. You drop your hands in your lap in defeat and Sylus goes back to looking at his shelf, “Do I need to remind you about your so-called “methods” from before?” You recall the last time you snuck into his room. He was in his dark red robe with a pair of glasses on and reading, he had you binded almost immediately and told you to get out. The next time, he caught you even faster and again, told you to leave after he binded your wrists. The most recent time, you tried to barge straight in with your gun but, instead, you were met with Sylus in his robe once more.

All he could do was sigh disappointedly at you.

Sylus keeps his robe clad back to you as he puts a record in his antique looking record player. “Have I underestimated your determination or overestimated your intellect?” He asks and you bite your lip, resisting the urge to puff your cheeks out, “You’re the one who suggested a deal. But here you are making things difficult-” Once you look back up, you notice he’s standing in front of you, his robe open enough to show a bit of his chest and muscled torso. “You’ll have to work harder.” He reaches down to grab your arm and drags you toward the door. “What’re you doing,” You huff out and have no choice but to follow him. He lifts your wrist up, turning his gaze to almost glare down at you, “Leave. I’m going to bed.” He pushes you out the door and you quickly turn around after he lets you go. “You-!” Sylus looks annoyed for once, sighing as he looks away and shuts the door in your face.

You sit down in your room after changing into something more comfortable, a pair of black shorts that Sylus had the twins procure for you and again, one of his shirts. It seems like either he doesn’t want to waste money buying you a shirt or would rather you wear his own. But that’s not what matters right now.

You grumble as you cross your legs and pick up a blank journal you were given, looking down at your drawings. A crow, which you crossed out, an angry crow yelling, and a picture of Sylus with devil horns and a tail. “Now I get it. He never intended to make a deal with me in the first place,” You angrily say to yourself as you scribble out your drawing of Sylus. Unable to take your anger out on the real thing, so you settle with the drawing. “You’re pulling your hair out over this, huh? If you want to do something, maybe we can help you,” Kieran speaks up and you quickly look up, just now realizing the twins are in the room with you.

They were both at the table in front of you, Luke having his head resting on a hand while Kieran sat on the table. “What do you mean?” You raise a brow, setting your journal to the side. “If you want to conquer our boss’s heart, you’ll have to use a different approach,” Luke says with a hand and you pause, eyebrows furrowing. Did they…have the wrong idea too? Well, it doesn’t matter. Whatever helps you get your hands on that damn brooch.

Luke opens up a book, reading aloud, “For some people, they get bored once they have everything. So only those who dare to challenge their authority can catch their interest.” He shuts the book and sets it down on the counter as you sigh, standing up to walk closer to get a better look at it. “When you’re dealing with such a person, you bow down and submit or take them out in one go. In other words-” Kieran slides a pair of handcuffs and a pretty pink and blue gun across the table to you after you pick up the book.

“Uh, what-” You look down at the items, ear tips turning a bit red. “Strike when they’re off guard!” The twins say at the same time while Luke holds both of his hands up. “Boss is the least guarded when he’s sleeping,” The twins bounce off of each other. “You only have one shot. Don’t waste this chance. Just do it!” You run your hand through your hair with a sigh, “I can’t believe I’m doing this…”

Three hours later, you make your way to Sylus’ room, trying to hype yourself up. “Evol sealing handcuffs and a tranquilizer gun…This is a terrible idea. I’m definitely going to get killed the moment I do it.” You hold the gun tightly in your hand, the handcuffs in your other. “I might as well try anything I can,” You sigh to yourself as you open the door and step inside the room. You notice Sylus is asleep, sitting up in his bed, his back against the headboard and his bedside lamp still turned on. You make your way over to the bed and rest your knee on the bed as you lean forward to lightly shake him. “Sylus?” You whisper, trying to make sure he is indeed asleep. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding when he doesn’t move. You hold up the cuffs, looking around for something to cuff him to before you point to the headboard and nod to yourself. You gently lift his hand up, wrapping the cuff around it to make sure it’s secure and hook the other side to the headboard. “Let’s see you get yourself out of this mess,” You murmur before turning your gaze to his robe.

You pat your hand lightly across his chest, trying to see if he hid the brooch inside of his robe, your hand going down lower since he definitely could’ve hidden the brooch there but as your hand neared, a hand caught you around the wrist. You let out a squeak of surprise, quickly looking up to meet Sylus’ dark gaze. A smirk ghosts across his lips as he raises a brow, “Showing up uninvited at this hour…want me to tell you a bedtime story?” He drops your wrist and you try your best to retort, “Obviously I’m…-” You honestly have no excuse, this looks weird regardless of whatever you were trying to do. But then you remember the handcuffs are supposed to seal his evol and you scoff, “Actually…You should be the one to figure out what’s going on here.” You smirk, cupping his cheek with one hand as you raise one of your eyebrows and tilt your head to the side. “These handcuffs nullify a person’s evol for an hour. No matter how powerful you are, you’re helpless as of right now.” “Really? What do you plan to do then since I’ve become your prey?” Sylus questions, still seeming like he’s in control even though he’s the one handcuffed.

“Where’s the brooch?” You ask, unphased as you hold out your hand toward him. Sylus pushes your hand to the side, a laugh leaving him as he gets comfortable, “Help yourself.” “Don’t mind if I do.” You hum, feeling rather content, albeit a bit nervous with his gaze staying on you. “From the beginning, you trapped me here, forced me to resonate with you, and even said we’re ‘the same’...” You mutter through gritted teeth as you run your finger down the inside of his robe, trying to see if he pinned it inside there. You rub your hand down his side, continuing your search, “One wouldn’t treat a stranger like that so…” You look back up at him as you tilt your head to the side with a finger to your lips, “Don’t tell me you like me. Is this all so you can get my attention?”

Sylus laughs, the corner of his lip curling up into a smirk, “Clearly you’ve read too many fairy tales.” He looks off to the side before bringing his narrowed gaze back to you. You sigh from your nose and continue your search, feeling down the collar of his robe. “Does my answer matter?” Sylus asks, which causes your gaze to go back to his face. Though before you can reply, your fingers brush against cool metal and you grab hold of it with a smile on your lips. The black crow brooch with a red gem was in your hands. You did it.

“Now it’s not important at all. I won.” You say with a smile, clearly proud of yourself and hold the brooch in front of his face. Though all he can do is let out a scoff. “Don’t tell me…” “I won’t go back on what I promised you,” Sylus tells you, leaning forward to continue,”However, games are fun because of how thrilling they can be. Your attitude makes things boring.” After he says this, your eyes dart to the handcuffs which were now glowing dark red. “Oh shit-” You curse as they come undone, Sylus smirking at you as you try to scramble off of the bed in a panic. The older man catches you around the waist, spinning you around before tossing you back onto the bed. Your vision spins before you land on your back, looking up at Sylus and your heart almost stops beating in your chest. You throw your hand up to try and push him away, but he catches you by the wrist. “You’re pretty good at running away,” Sylus chuckles, looking down at you while he brandishes the tranquilizer gun in his hand. “Give it back-” You whine before he raises a brow, “Are you using this on me?”

He takes a look at it before closing his eyes and laughing, shaking his head at you, “So brash, aren’t you?” He opens his eyes, tossing the gun next to your hand as he puts his hand down on the bed next to your head to prop himself up over you. The brooch held tightly in your palm as he continues, “I’m keeping you around because you’re still useful. And…I truly enjoy watching my little prey struggle.” Oh fuck. That’s ho- Your train of thought is cut short as Sylus grabs your hand with the brooch. You struggle and try to jerk your hand out of his grasp, but he pulls it in-between you both, looking down at your hands, “Especially when it thinks it can escape from me.” His voice dropping to a whisper and you glare up at him, “Let me go! I already have it.” You jerk your hand and he finally pins your hand to the bed, your hands hitting the gun off to your side.

Bam

The gun goes off, pink and blue confetti explodes from the barrel. The colourful pieces of paper scatter through the room and cascade down on top of you both. Out of the corner of your eye, you spot a pink heart shaped smoke that must’ve also come out of the gun. ‘Love’ was written in the smoke. “You’re so gullible, kitten.” Sylus comments and raises his eyebrows as he looks at you, letting out a sign of disbelief as confetti covers his room. “Those two-” You groan and Sylus takes the brooch from your hand. He inspects it, before he brings it toward you and you grab at his hand. “Don’t move,” He murmurs, pinning the brooch to your borrowed shirt. “Does this count as passing your test?” You ask, fingers brushing against the brooch.

You look up at him as he finally moved a bit away from you. “Barely. The auction is about to start, but what will happen after that…” You prop yourself up on your elbows with a determined look on your face, “I’m ready for whatever is going on here!” He glances over at you, looking you up and down as he chuckles under his breath, “Deal..Don’t lose this brooch. It proves you’re allowed to come and go in the N109 Zone as you please.” His gaze was on the brooch, but it felt more embarrassing since it was pinned above your breast. You clear your throat as Sylus rises to his feet. “Now hurry and get out. You’re really testing my patience, kitten.” He motions toward the door and you scramble off of the bed and to your feet. “Yes, sir.” You mumble under your breath.

While I'm holding you guys hostage here, I thought it would be fun to show off some banners for my soulmates mini-series that I recoloured! I'm also really excited and happy with the titles I gave the one-shots (they were gemstone names but that felt too basic–)

I believe you can make a guess at whose is whose, especially if I hint at the colours I've assigned to each love interest.

But yeah, they're all so pretty and I can't wait to use them. I've decided to finish my tropes mini-series first though and then move on to this one. If you haven't checked it out yet, I posted my Xavier one-shot for it! It should be my current pinned post.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this last update for the weekend! I'll be working on chapter twenty and also my Rafayel one-shot so you can look forward to the latter in a few more days! <3

Taglist; @orphicmeliora , @yoongi-tunes , @mitzkooni , @hiqhkey , @tanspostsblog

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1d1195 · 1 year ago

Text

Traditional X

You can read the rest of Traditional here.

We are getting to the end of what I believe is the main storyline here. Maybe one or two more parts but I already have at least three little extras lined up in my head too.

Additionally, I added in the days because it was kind of getting all over the place and I wanted to make sure the timeline wasn't too confusing--especially since we're winding down on days until the internship is over. I hope it doesn't detract from the story. Also, another reminder I don't know anything about running a business.

This part has some minor character death/trauma mentioned, sensitive topics, grief, angst, and I may or may not have cried a bit while writing, so that should put it in perspective I think. Try not to hate me at the end I don't think you're going to like it. Thank you, thank you, thank you for continuing to read.

Just wanted to hear your voice, kitten. Didn’t get to see you much today other than tea. Get some sleep, of course. I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well, love.

So now she texted him: I’m awake now if you want to hear my voice.

The phone rang almost instantly. “Hi,” she whispered.

“S’like music,” he said sleepily. She giggled. “That’s a symphony,” he murmured.

Friday

Louis and Eleanor were lying on her couch (and one another) while she lay on the rug in front of the coffee table, facing the TV. Her phone vibrated with a message from Harry.

Can we chat sometime today?

That sounds like a terrible way to break up with me. Don’t tell your other girls that.

Don’t be ridiculous, kitten. All of it.

I’ll call you when Louis and El leave.

I’ll be waiting impatiently.

“Must be Harry. She definitely doesn’t smile at Niall’s messages like that,” Louis chuckled.

She rolled her eyes and tilted her head back to her friends. They were watching a movie trying to decide where to eat or if they should order in. It was a regular, run of the mill day. They worked their Friday shifts and now they were lying about her pretty apartment that she hardly felt she’d been spending any time in. Mondays of course were still dinner out with Harry, Thursdays were movie nights at his place (and with any luck something a bit cheekier, now), and she spent many Saturday nights at his place sleeping beside him until one in the morning where they spoke quietly, candidly about anything. In the morning, she woke up to a rotation of pancakes, waffles, or French toast.

And kisses.

She woke up to a ton of kisses.

So, this Friday evening, she spent with Louis and Eleanor watching a movie that was so trashy it was wonderful. “How’s the job search?” Louis asked.

She frowned. The one sore spot that seemed to get sorer each passing day. “I really thought interning at Styles Incorporated was going to give me a leg up,” she sighed. “I don’t know... I’ve applied to some top places and they’ve either passed or ghosted me. Maybe I need to lower my standards.”

“Absolutely not,” Eleanor said immediately. “You deserve the top. You deserve it all,” she said.

Smiling, she looked at Eleanor, snuggled under Louis who was draped across her lap, and he winked at her. “You deserve the very best, babe,” he told her.

She shrugged and let out a sad sigh. “I don’t think these places think I do though,” she mumbled. “But it’s fine...I... I don’t know... I’ll figure it out. I’m not going to let it stop me now. Another month and I’ll be done.”

There was a pause. “Speaking of,” Louis began. “I’m told your program does in fact, have a graduation ceremony.”

She blinked surprised by the idea as if she didn’t already know. “What?”

“Harry told me that of course your college has one and you—”

She only vaguely heard the end of Louis’ sentence. She was feeling...anger? Anger at Harry? It didn’t seem like that was a reasonable conclusion. She had never been mad at him in the eight months she had known him. But her chest started to ache, and her blood felt hot, and she didn’t want to be mad at Harry, but she was sad he betrayed her trust in what she told him at one in the morning. Even if it was a silly little thing like making sure she had people at her graduation ceremony. She shook her head. “I’m not walking,” she interrupted. “I don’t want to.”

“Love, you worked so hard!” Eleanor gasped. “Please! It would mean so much to us to see you do it. We want you to have that.”

While the kindness and the meaningfulness of their words was not lost on her, she was serious in what she told Harry. But maybe she left out the part that she didn’t want to walk across the stage because it would remind her of the last graduation ceremony she attended. The last time she remembered a big happy family memory. “When did Harry tell you?” She asked quietly.

“He didn’t know for sure when it was...He was probing around, I think, because he might be trying to get you something,” Eleanor said so excitedly she was practically clapping. “Oh, I bet it’s going to be amazing whatever he gets you.”

“We weren’t that surprised, but we told him that you weren’t walking because there wasn’t a ceremony...and he told us there most assuredly was—which did surprise us. Most interns went in the past, so what’s the scoop on that, love?” Louis smirked, throwing a piece of popcorn at her. It caught in her hair. “Lying to your best friends?”

She didn’t feel like rehashing all the sad details and explaining why she didn’t want to go. “I just didn’t want it to be a big deal,” she shrugged as casually as she possibly could. She should have just told them, but she didn’t want it to be a thing.

However, Louis sensed there was more to her hiding it, immediately. It was why he was her best friend. But he didn’t press. Maybe he would later when he could get her alone. Every once in a while, he managed to pick up on something in her voice that said something of her past was coming through. “Hmm,” he hummed. “Well, that’s fine. We’d still like to go. A couple pictures and that’s it. Then dinner. Nothing else. I won’t even get you a card to commemorate the day.”

“Oh, I’m getting you a card,” Eleanor nodded fiercely. “Gonna write you the mushiest proud letter there is to write,” she smiled wrinkling her nose at her.

So, how could she say no to them? They loved her so wholly it really was unfair to exclude them after their endless support. Sighing, she shook her head. “It’s Saturday, the 14th,” she rolled her eyes. Both pulled out their phones and tapped rapidly putting it in their calendars.

“Good,” Louis smiled. “Now let’s go get dinner,” he said kissing Eleanor on his way off her lap and helping her up as he nearly ran for the door all in one movement. Eleanor rolled his eyes.

“You picked him,” she reminded El. “In high school too,” she shook her head and wrinkled her nose in distaste.

“I know, aren’t I lucky?” El said with a mocking dreamy tone in her voice but she meant it. It was obvious on her face, and she loved that about Eleanor most of all. Letting Louis be himself, unapologetically. Louis was the very best and she was glad someone else saw it too. Eleanor squeezed her arm and followed him. She took a second to take in the moment. She couldn’t help but smile so completely happy with her life for the first time in a very long while.

She woke up at some point in the night by herself on the comfiest mattress she ever owned all thanks to Harry. She peered through two of the slats on the blinds of her window to get a better estimate of the time without having to look at her phone in hopes of falling back asleep in a few moments. It was still pitch-black out, save for the moon illuminating the sky.

After tossing and turning for nearly five minutes without drifting off quickly, she decided she may as well make good use of her time. She grabbed for her phone. As expected, the clock told her that if they were sharing a bed, it was time to have her nightly chat with Harry.

When she came back from dinner and before she fell asleep this evening, she told Harry she was a bit tired. She would call, of course. But she might drift off while talking.

Just wanted to hear your voice, kitten. Didn’t get to see you much today other than tea. Get some sleep, of course. I’ll see you tomorrow. Sleep well, love.

So now she texted him. I’m awake now if you want to hear my voice.

The phone rang almost instantly. “Hi,” she whispered.

“S’like music,” he said sleepily. She giggled. “That’s a symphony,” he murmured.

Her heart was bursting. “Yeah?”

“M-hmm.”

“Did I wake you?”

“Yes,” he said simply. She frowned. But it was like he knew she was frowning, because he continued, putting her mind at ease. “I would probably wake up from a coma t’hear your voice.”

She was so close to saying she loved him out loud. How could she not? But how would she be any different than any intern or companion before her? She was determined to wait until it was over. Until he stopped paying her and then she could at least tell him. So he knew and he could...decide if she was worth it. “Did you have a good day?” She whispered instead.

He yawned and she heard the rustling of his sheets. Sitting up against his fluffy pillows, she assumed. “S’alright,” it sounded as if he were shrugging it off. “I was in a crummy mood all morning.”

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she wished she went into his office earlier to see how she could have helped.

“Not something y’could have helped with, beautiful,” he had a smirk in his voice. It left her breathless that he could tell how she was feeling without seeing her. “Before y’worry.”

“Me? Worry?”

He chuckled that beautiful breathy laugh of his. She imagined his dimples, his glittering eyes. “Mmm...”

It was quiet for a moment and since he wanted to hear her talk, she thought she may as well get it out of the way. “So...” she sighed. “Louis and Eleanor found out about my graduation ceremony actually happening somehow...and they’re making me go.”

He didn’t say anything for a moment, which told her he already knew that they had found out because of him. “I think y’should go, love.”

“I know. I’m going to.”

He sighed with relief. “That’s good.”

“If...” she swallowed awkwardly hating how she was even asking in the first place. “If you wanted to come...I think I get a ton of tickets...it is a Saturday so you wouldn’t miss wor—”

“Kitten, of course m’going t’be there,” he promised. “I’d sell m’company t’be there for you.”

She scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’d sell it t’Niall, maybe. But I’d still sell it.”

She giggled. “Do you think Niall would want to come, too?”

“Yes, absolutely. We wouldn’t miss it.”

She clutched the phone tighter to her ear enjoying the sound of Harry at the other end. The irritation she felt was only a nagging little bite on the inside of her head that she pushed away. Because really, this whole month had to be the most, and totally, happiest she had been in years.

Saturday/Sunday

“I blame myself for my brother’s death,” she said it softly. She didn’t even ask if he was awake. Either she somehow knew, or she wasn’t looking for him to answer. Harry frowned, trailing his fingers up and down her arm. It was a sudden comment, but it was the middle of the night. It was what they did.

“I don’t think that’s possible, kitten.”

“I went to some stupid school party. I didn’t want to get in the car with the person offering a ride home. So, he came to pick me up, no questions asked. Not a care in the world that it was almost two in the morning,” she shrugged against him. “A car hit us,” she said simply. It was silent for a minute. Harry hardly moved. “He must have seen it coming before I did... because he turned...so his side of the car took the brunt of the hit.” He squeezed her. “I tried to pull him out. Begged him to breathe,” she shook her head. “It was awful,” her voice cracked. Harry couldn’t imagine what she had seen. Couldn’t imagine what it took for her to get in the car. No wonder she walked everywhere.

“Y’don’t have t’tell me, love,” he told her, and he meant it. That was plenty. He could fill in the gaps if it meant she didn’t have to relive it again. He was sure she relived it every day.

“It’s why my parents hate me.”

Harry sucked his lip into his mouth. “They shouldn’t,” he fully believed that. He may not have judged them for the way they grieved but they lost one child in that accident. It easily could have been two and yet somehow, they chose to lose them both even though she was right there, alive and in need of love more than ever.

Harry wouldn’t say it to her now, but he would think part of his heart would feel like it was missing if she had been lost all those years ago. Whether he knew her or not.

“Sometimes I think they’re right to,” she sniffled. “I’d hate me, too. He was the best,” she whispered shakily.

“Kitten.”

He loved the dark and their little chats every day since they started. Today, he hated it. It was too revealing. This was hurting her. And he hated that most. “I should have died.”

“Thank God, you didn’t.”

“It’s not fair,” she whispered. How many times had she said it to herself, her therapist, to Louis of all people? The only person who consoled her and not her parents...the only person who needed to be consoled as much as her was Louis. As he was breaking down, he was trying to keep her together. It wasn’t fair at all.

“No,” Harry shook his head. “It’s not.”

“I miss him.”

“I know.”

More silence. “I told you the dark is revealing.”

He smirked sadly. He wished he could tell her something just as revealing. But telling her he loved her so wholly when they weren’t in a relationship, not an actual one, after she was grieving for a moment in time, didn’t seem right. Harry wanted to tell her it was easy. Easy to love her. It was effortless having her in his life. He wanted to reveal something of equal weight. If only so she wouldn’t be sad. “I like getting t’know you,” he said instead.

“Even though I’m the reason someone died?”

He shook his head and gave her a reassuring squeeze. “Someone else made a dumb decision, love. Of course, your brother would come t’help you. I’d do the same for Gem,” he promised. “S’in the brother handbook.”

“Louis said the same thing...he has a bunch of younger sisters...and me.”

“Louis would still do it for you, too; I’m sure.” They were silent again. He thought she fell asleep. Sometimes she would do that. So, he asked the question that had been burning in his mind forever. “I don’t want t’pry...What happened with your parents...after that?”

She shook her head. “Maybe another middle of the night talk. Not this one,” she mumbled.

He nodded. “Yeah, of course, love.”

“Thank you for...everything Harry. Really,” she yawned and nuzzled closer to his chest.

“Course, love,” he repeated and let her fall asleep beside him peacefully.

Wednesday

There was yelling from the other side of the door as she knocked, then immediately entered his office with tea. Right as she opened the door, he slammed the phone down to his desk. Then picked it back up and slammed it three more times into the receiver. She blinked and cringed with each hit. He slid a hand over his face and turned to face the window. Part of her thought he didn’t register she was in the room.

“Harry,” she said softly.

He shook his head. “Love, please jus’ leave the tea and go,” he grumbled. “M’gonna snap and I don’t want it t’be at you,” he sounded infuriated. Interns never seemed to work out because of his anger... She knew Niall worked hard to keep her away from Harry’s outbursts. Mostly because Niall knew Harry would never forgive himself if he ever broke her heart or scared her because of his job. But she still knew the stories. The whispers in the breakroom and by the copier about his anger weren’t something she could ignore. Sometimes Harry’s angry tone filled the whole floor. She bit her lip at his warning and nodded silently.

After she set the tea on his desk, she sat on the couch across the room. She sipped at her drink watching him tap on his phone screen searching for something. He turned back around after a moment looking at his computer and then she saw his eyes flicker over to her. “I know I told you t’leave,” his voice was icy. But she saw his gaze soften just a hair.

She didn’t say anything because she didn’t want to set him off or make him any angrier than he already was. She was content to sit there...just wanted to wait there in case he needed her because that’s what she did. Even if he was going to pretend that she wasn’t there.

His phone was ringing from the other end while he called someone. “I need the file we looked at this morning...” A pause and she watched him clench his fist and he squeezed his eyes shut angrily. “Well, I don’t have it!” he snapped slamming his fist on the desk. “If I had it, I wouldn’t have called! Can’t you just do what I fucking ask and bring—"

She hurried to his computer after he slammed his fist down. Not caring even a little, when he hardly moved out of her way and continued yelling at the poor person at the other end of the line. The words he snarled into the phone didn’t reach her ears. With three clicks and a few taps it was on his screen. She stepped out of his way and sat back on the couch waiting for the next mini blowup. He put his phone down again as his eyes scanned the screen. He grumbled about something unintelligible under his breath and he tapped on his phone screen again and brought it to his ear for all of five seconds.

“Come here,” he said into his phone.

Within moments, Niall was there. He frowned seeing Harry’s anger but managed a quick wink at the sweet girl sitting quietly on the couch. She sipped her coffee while Niall went behind Harry’s desk. He looked at the screen for a few moments and she saw his face falter a bit; he rubbed his hand on the back of his head. “Well, we knew this was coming.”

Harry turned away and paced to the other end of the room. Hands on the back of his head. Niall scrolled on his screen and sighed. He glanced at her. She hadn’t taken her eyes off the pair of them since Niall stood next to Harry. “C’mere,” he said to her. She hurried back over. He pointed to several itemized lines and murmured a few things that she only had a vague understanding of due to her limited understanding of things that happened here at Styles Incorporated solely because in the grand scheme of things, she hadn’t been there that long, and she was just an intern.

She looked at the numbers, pursed her lips in concentration and did her best to calculate quickly. “Can you shrink this number?” She asked, pointing at the screen.

He glanced at Harry who looked ready to jump out the window. His head pressed to the glass taking deep, angry breaths. “No, darling.”

“How about this one?” She pointed to a different cell. He shook his head again. She looked over at Harry who was clearly distraught. Sighing, she thought for a few quiet breaths and Niall frowned as he scrolled. She thought back to all her classes, every lecture, and every assignment she had ever worked on. Unfortunately, she came to only one conclusion.

“You can have them file for bankruptcy,” she shrugged.

Niall pushed her behind him as soon as the beginning of that b-word left her mouth. Harry hated that word. At the same time, Harry spun rapidly, took three long strides, and menacingly glared through Niall in her direction. “Are you fucking serious?” He hissed but he was staring so angrily at Niall, but the expression was really meant for her. She gulped audibly. This had to have been the nightmarish things that previous interns spoke about. It made her stomach churn and she thought she might throw up. God bless Niall for standing in her way—she knew Harry wouldn’t resort to physical violence. Not even a little. She felt it in her soul. But part of her wondered if it would hurt less than his cutting, angry voice.

No wonder Niall never let her be around Harry when he was mad. This was terrifying.

“Harry—” Niall started.

She blinked in surprise at how angry he got. At her. But he did warn her. Her heart felt like it was going to beat right out of her chest. “I am not having them file,” he growled.

Her face definitely turned red, and she swallowed nervously. “It’s your only option,” she whispered standing her ground anyway. He flung the cordless keyboard across the room. It smashed into the wall and many of the keys fluttered off in a heap against the wall. She flinched at the sound as he paced back to that side of the room.

“Darling, kindly shut it,” Niall whispered over his shoulder.

Harry paced and paced. Niall was still standing in front of her protectively as Harry grumbled to himself trying to make sense of it. “Why?” He practically barked at her. “Why’s it my only option?”

She took a deep breath. “The legal fees would equate to more than the bankruptcy payback.” He stopped pacing and turned to look at her. Niall even turned around and stared at her in surprise. “What?” She felt like this was a worse thing to say than bankruptcy. Niall stepped from in front of her and used the mouse to click through different screens on the computer, it took a moment because he no longer had a keyboard. He glanced at Harry and nodded.

Harry took a deep breath. “Can y’please explain that for me, love?” His voice was still tight with anger but at least he wasn’t barking at her or throwing things.

So, she did her best to explain that she remembered this once case she studied in her quantitative decision-making class. How it was expensive but kept the company afloat to file for a chapter of bankruptcy that allowed them to pay back the debt and keep going on if they could make it a few years. “She’s right...” Niall said clicking on the computer and gesturing to the screen. “Obviously,” he muttered under her breath.

Harry looked at the screen. While they did, she did some calculations on her phone. “So, they keep their assets?” He asked, looking up at her from the screen while Niall searched something on his phone to show Harry.

She nodded. “As long as they make this much,” she said and held her phone up to the two men.

Niall smirked. “I like her,” he said knowingly.

Harry sighed, still embittered. “Can you go buy me a new keyboard, love?” He asked.

Feeling like she had finally made a difference and helped a bit, she grabbed her coffee and nodded. “Sure,” she said softly.

“Don’t spend your own money on it either,” Harry said knowingly without looking up at her. She smirked to herself and left his office before she could say any more wrong things.

Since it was a Wednesday, she hadn’t seen Harry outside the office for two days. After getting the new keyboard and plugging it in, Harry was swamped for the remainder of the day. Lawyers, Niall, and others kept filing in and out of his office. At five in the evening, when most everyone was leaving, they were still coming and going. Niall hadn’t seen her in hours while she sat at her desk sending him files, answering calls, and taking messages. She knocked on the door before entering, carrying five or so pizzas and an assortment of drinks. Niall was the only one who noticed.

He winked at her, mouthed thank you, and watched as she left.

It was another hour before Harry noticed he was eating pizza...with pineapple on the slice. “Who got this?” He muttered.

“That cute intern of Niall’s,” one of the lawyers said.

“That’s your intern Niall? I’d be begging for her to alleviate the stress—”

“I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you,” Niall said calmly. Harry was glad he had a bite of pizza in his mouth and Niall interrupted that sentence before it finished. After the day Harry had he wasn’t sure he had much self-control left to not physically attack someone—especially on behalf of her.

How did he not notice the sweet girl bringing pizza? He was certain even if the room was on fire, he would still take the time to notice her. He frowned. He had no idea she did this.

“I think this is enough for tonight, Mr. Styles,” someone said after hours of being there. Harry hadn’t looked at the time in ages. Since before lunch at least. He was only vaguely aware that it was after one at some point only because she brought his daily tea. He nodded silently, still upset about the day but also that he had no idea the perfect girl was there.

“You screamed at her, y’know,” Niall said condensing the pizza boxes. Placing the empty ones by the trashcan for the maintainers to take care of. After everyone left. Harry was helping clean up as well and packing his things.

Harry tended to get a little fuzzy on his consciousness when he was mad. “I told her to leave.”

“You’re stupid for thinking she would,” he rolled his eyes. “She’s quite brilliant,” Niall said knowingly. “When are you going to offer her a job?”

“It’s complicated,” he remarked. “I think if I create a job for her, people...will get suspicious.”

“Who cares?”

Harry worked extremely hard to get Styles Incorporated where it was so quickly. You didn’t become a thirty under thirty member without working hard. In all that time, Harry made every decision he could to the best of his ability. He always wondered if he made mistakes. He loved this company. It was his pride and joy.

The idea of losing pieces of it broke his heart. Since it happened twice within the last three months, and she managed to save both those pieces from falling to the wayside...

She seemed to know how much he loved his job, his legacy. He didn’t like her idea all that much today, even if it was good or his only option. Even when he yelled at her and snarled like she wasn’t the most special person he knew. She still voiced her opinion, and he knew that had to have been hard for her.

It hurt him to think of failing in even one little branch. But he couldn’t argue with her that it was the best option he had for this moment. “This was a brilliant idea,” one of the lawyers said as they typed furiously on their laptop. It was hours after the lovely girl left the new keyboard on his desk. Harry didn’t respond with anything but one little nod. “We should keep this in mind...would have saved you some money a few years ago,” she remarked with a gentle smile.

Niall saying “who cares” suddenly sparked something in him. Why did he care? She was brilliant. He didn’t have to convince anyone of that. It was obvious when she walked into any room, took a passing glance at whatever document they were discussing, any graph they were looking at and she casually pointed out inconsistencies and almost always managed to save him money.

“Have the other interns been like her?” He asked quietly. He had been so closed off, so worried about the reasons they were truly there... The thought of that horrible woman who made comments to the sweet girl about sleeping with him... Harry would feel terrible if he was so cynical about the entire intern process if a quarter of them were as smart as her.

Niall smiled at his best friend. The relief flooded him before Niall even spoke. “Harry, I don’t think there’s anyone like her.”

The knock on her door surprised her. She thought it might be Louis or Eleanor who couldn’t be bothered to walk the last five blocks back to their place after a late-night dinner. It was nearing ten and she was snuggled up on the couch with her book and music playing on the TV.

Harry was leaning against the opposite wall as she opened the door. “Oh, hi,” she said softly.

Harry stayed where he was, and he smiled at her, tiredly. “You’re so cute,” he mumbled.

She glanced down at her pajamas. A mismatching pair of shorts and a tank top. One sock on because only the left one was cold. Harry looked tired but beautiful as ever. His button-down sleeves rolled up to his elbows, tucked into his dress pants. The tie he had been wearing all day was gone, the button at his neck undone. His hair looked as if he ran his hand through it a few too many times but his tiredness seemed most evident on his face.

“Come in,” she said opening the door wider. “Do you need something to eat or drink?” She asked.

“No... had the pizza y’got us,” he murmured finding his way to the couch, he folded the corner of the page where she was reading and set the book on the coffee table. He waited for her to sit beside him and once she did, his head was in her lap. “M’sorry I screamed at you. Y’didn’t deserve that.”

“I knew you didn’t mean it,” she threaded her fingers through his hair and lightly rubbed at his scalp. “Is it all taken care of?”

“Thanks t’you,” he mumbled. She smiled softly, grateful she could ease his anger and allow him to sleep. She didn’t say anything for a bit and soon enough he was asleep in her lap. She reached for her book and read for the better part of an hour while he snored gently into her leg.

When an hour had passed, she gently pulled herself out from his head and began undressing him down to his boxers. It took effort but once he was mostly naked, she tugged him off the couch holding him up as much as she could with his tall frame to drop him into her bed. She curled up to him, grateful for the extra night with him. The first one at her place, at that.

The moon was bright even through the closed blinds, making his skin practically glow as she faced his sleeping figure. His arm beneath her pillow outstretched so she fit neatly beneath his chin if she was close enough. Their legs twisted together, his much longer than hers.

She was quiet for a bit, tracing the sparrows tattooed just below his collarbones. “They stopped talking to me,” she whispered. It wasn’t quite the standard middle of the night, but it was pressing on her mind because it was rapidly approaching the seven-year anniversary of that horrible day and it hurt so freshly, so sharply. Like it was only a week ago. She wasn’t sure Harry was even awake, but she said it anyway...maybe it was better he didn’t hear anyway. “Except for when they had too much to drink. Then they just yelled and yelled. At each other, at me...” she swallowed the pain down. “If I didn’t go out, he wouldn’t have gone to get me. We would still be a family...he was their prince,” she explained.

Her fingers drifted over his arm that rested gently with his hand at her hip. She traced the heart tattoo, the rose, and then the anchor at his wrist. “They stopped caring about me, but I couldn’t stop caring about them. I made dinner for them even if they didn’t always eat. If they did, they complained about it. I stopped eating with them. We didn’t watch movies together on Sunday evenings. We didn’t celebrate Christmas. Part of me thinks they only kept me there because they knew deep down, I was still a minor and they had to—I could ruin their lives worse by reporting them...” she bit her lip. “I don’t even think I would do that... At some point... they were the only people that ever took care of me... but then they just stopped and honestly, I don’t blame them.”

Harry didn’t make any note that he could hear but she kept going anyway. “So, I started taking care of everyone I crossed paths with...” she paused for a moment just to see if anything registered on Harry’s mind. It didn’t seem like it. But it made it easier for her to tell the story.

“When I turned 18, I invited Louis over to help me. I didn’t say with what. But the second he saw my parents...the ones that didn’t love me anymore... Louis moved me into his place... I felt so horrible, but I actually asked him to stay there just until... until I left for university at the end of the summer. He looked... betrayed. Like I let him down... He gave me the lecture of the century and Eleanor just braided my hair while he did. They made my favorite food. Neither of them said Happy Birthday once and I didn’t even care because for even just one day someone was taking care of me again,” she had done well up to this point not crying.

She sniffled and shook her head. She reached up and outlined Harry’s eyebrows, the shape of his nose. The curve of his lips and the jawline that ached her to the core. “Louis doesn’t talk about it, but I know he saw more than I ever wanted him to. I know he resents the way I hid. I think part of him wished I still lived with him. He insisted I stay the summers I came home from university,” she told the sleeping figure.

“But I got a boyfriend part way through university. We moved in quickly. Of course, I took care of him... and I didn’t mind. I liked it. He liked it. He was easy... food, sex, cleaning...” she mumbled. “But I still went to visit my parents because I couldn’t help it. I’ve never told Louis that. I didn’t tell my therapist that either...I’m sure she would be mad. And you know, I still go twice a month without telling anyone. Well, except you now... I don’t know why... I don’t know... I couldn’t leave them...they...they have to be in there still, right? The people that threw me princess birthday parties and put Band-Aids on my knees after a fall on my bike? Even after...after all of it...they’re my parents somewhere in there. Every time I go it’s just...yelling and hating me. I clean, make sure there’s food in the fridge, and then I leave,” Harry didn’t answer her. “I was supposed to stay the night at a hotel because I was supposed to move some of the last of my things...but it was a bad day. I just wanted to go home... I guess I got the sex part right with him,” she said with a smirk but without humor in her voice. “Just...not with me. Guess I didn’t do a good job there either,” she sighed sadly. “So... There it is. They just...acted as if I died too.”

Harry didn’t move a muscle. She smiled softly and kissed his cheek. “I think that’s everything,” she whispered. “I think you know everything now,” she told him. “Good night, baby,” she whispered tucking herself against his chest.

There was no movement for at least a full minute and then his arms came around her so tightly, he squeezed her like he was trying to press all the broken pieces back together. “You’re so lovely,” he murmured. “Don’t forget that,” he pressed his lips to her temple and she closed her eyes tight trying to keep the tears from spilling over like a waterfall. “S’great t’know you,” he squeezed her again. “S’an honor t’know y’care ‘bout me,” he mumbled to her.

She nodded her head in recognition that she had heard him but if she spoke, she would either cry or, worse, tell him she loved him. So, she sighed deeply against his chest and slowly fell asleep while he pressed another kiss to her forehead. Like he was trying to heal her from the outside in just by kissing the front of her tired, sad brain.

Part of her thought that with Harry it might work.

Next Wednesday

Harry was going to lose his mind. When he started the day, he was so excited that he finally had good news for the sweet girl and was excited about their future. He couldn’t wait to surprise her during their movie night the following day, at home snuggled on the comfy couch.

Instead, he was totally blindsided by the fourth of the same type of phone call of that same day.

The call started out the same as all the other ones he’d been getting. They introduced themselves. “Aye, Harry. Zayn. How are you?”

Harry blinked in surprise at the voice at the other end. Zayn was CEO of his own company, located a few towns over called Malik Industries. Rarely did they interact with one another because their clientele was very different. But every so often at big black-tie shin digs and philanthropic events they’d run into one another. In this business, it was all about networking. He was hoping he wouldn’t get this call only because Zayn was closest to his age... which was closer to her age... “Right, good. Yourself?”

“Great. Listen, I’ll make this quick, I know you’re a busy guy. I have an application in front of me and it lists you and Niall as references, and I’m used to seeing Niall’s name... but I had to ask you. You never give your name as a reference.” His heart stopped because he could only guess who the application belonged to.

She applied here too?

“Harry?” He asked. “Did I lose you?”

“Uh...” he shook his head trying to regain his composure. He was absolutely confused. She didn’t say anything about applying to any of these places and this was the fourth phone call he had to sit through with an aching heart. “No, sorry. Untimely email,” he muttered quickly. He wasn’t even facing his computer.

“Right, I understand. I’ll keep it short... you think she would be good here?”

His breath caught in his throat. She would be good anywhere. But the idea of not seeing her smiling face each afternoon carrying tea in her hands to his office (not that she would continue to have to do that if she worked here full time) was the last thing Harry wanted. “Uh...yeah, she...she would be great.”

There was a pause and a short chuckle. “I know you don’t usually do these reference calls, but there’s usually a bit more than that.”

Harry swallowed the lump in his throat trying to get the words to spill out. How could he tell her she was perfect? How could he just give her away? He wanted her there all the time in every facet of his life. She made everything better. “I know, I know,” Harry shook his head again in an attempt to get his verbal processing to work again. “She’s perfect. She can do anything. Fit in anywhere. If she doesn’t know how t’do something, she’ll figure it out. Brilliant. Truly. It’s cutthroat out there and she still manages t’be an angel. Doesn’t even bat an eye in the face of adversity. She’ll keep morale up by decorating for holidays and she makes the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had.”

“See that’s what—”

“You can’t have her,” Harry interrupted flatly.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I thought she applied because there—”

“Yes. No. I’m sorry,” he shook his head. “She did apply. She would be perfect. You can’t question that. Seriously. Y’would probably hand her the keys t’your office if she joined y’in any capacity. I want t’do that somedays...but I want t’keep her here.”

“I see,” Zayn sounded agreeable. “She sounds quite special. Her recommendations, her transcript, everything is incredible. She seems like a wonderful asset Harry. Are you sure you have room for her?”

He prickled at the notion that he wouldn’t make room for her. “Yes,” he said definitively.

“Alright. Well, good for you. I hope she’s happy there. I’ll take her application any time in the future if you see a reason she needs to go elsewhere.”

Harry didn’t see it happening ever. “Sorry t’disappoint.”

“Not a problem at all. You know a good one when you see them, I get it. Have a good one,” the call ended abruptly. As if on cue, she knocked and opened his door at quarter past the hour. Clockwork. She closed the door quickly.

“Hi baby,” she winked as she whispered the pet name at him. “Brought your tea. And I got us some cake pops. I think they’re yummy. Maybe we could try to make them from scratch this weekend.”

There is no way she could just go. His heart fluttered at her words, and he smiled. He felt the ache in his chest melting away as it always did when she was around while he was upset. “Whatever you want, kitten.”

Harry didn’t tell her about the good news during movie night. He was too upset about all the phone calls.

He didn’t tell her while they were making cake Pops on that Saturday either.

When she chose to just exist that weekend a couple months ago, and not remember anything that happened over her horrible couple of days and not think about her parents, she did catch up with Louis and Eleanor that following Tuesday. Harry watched from her kitchen as the pair of them cooed over her and she let some tears fall.

“Your mum’s not having a memorial,” Eleanor told her. So that was that. It was over.

“Oh,” she said like it was a surprise.

Louis glanced at Eleanor and pursed his lips. She combed her hair back and gave her another hug while Louis pressed his hand to her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Louis glanced at Harry and shrugged. Harry thought that meant her mum wasn’t having a memorial that she could attend. It hardened Harry’s heart while he set some mugs of tea on her counter out for the three of them.

The lawyers managed to get some information about her inheritance. The house was already in a trust under her name. “Harry, we’re grasping a bit at straws here. We don’t practice family law,” he reminded him during their next movie night.

“I know, I know. M’sorry,” he said rubbing the back of his neck while he watched from the kitchen as the girl swayed quietly on the porch swing. At the end of February, she was still insistent on sitting in the freezing cold. “I jus’ want t’make sure she’s taken care of.”

“Unfortunately, I don’t think this woman cares,” he said bluntly.

Harry frowned and ended the phone call before heading to the swing with mugs of hot chocolate. She lifted the blanket, a beanie hat almost falling into her eyes as he slid in beside her. She rested her head on his shoulder and for the moment Harry just let her live knowing that as long as she stayed here, she was cared for.

Which is why he was so happy when the lawyers finally informed him that she would have the house... eventually. The life insurance policy was never changed out of her name, and it wasn’t like they could change it now. All of it was something that could ease the ache of the worry she had.

Harry attended the memorial service, too, a week or so after that. He told her and Niall he was attending to business out of town. Niall looked at him suspiciously and he felt bad lying to the sweet girl but he...he wanted to...well he didn’t even know what he wanted. He just wanted to know what her parents were like. There were many people there. He was surprised that they still had friends after cutting off their sweet daughter. But Harry was trying his best not to judge their mourning.

He saw Louis and Eleanor there gently consoling her mother without it truly reaching their eyes. Louis saw Harry at the edge of the mourners at the cemetery, he gave him a succinct nod and then tilted his head discreetly to the right.

When everyone left, he headed to where Louis gestured, totally alone.

He read the dates on the stone, did the math, and he sighed. “I’ll do anything for her,” he knelt and pulled some weeds away from the flowers laid there. Quietly to her brother’s grave, he whispered “I promise.”

Monday

Now seemed like it was too late to tell her anything about the good news. She had seemed off all evening. Maybe it was the stress of graduation and her internship. The office had been so busy lately they hardly had a moment to have tea in the afternoon.

It was his own fault, however. When all said and done.

Now, he was walking her home from dinner. Well, actually, he was nearly running after her. She refused to get in the car. Despite how late it was. So, Harry followed her on foot. She was fast, even in the little heels she wore. The driver was close behind on their trail as well.

“I didn’t ask for you to do that!” She snapped at him. She never snapped at him. Not once. And there were plenty of times she could have over the last eight and a half months. But he thought he was being helpful. Figuring out the stuff with her mum, finding a way to finally split Niall’s position. All of it.

He thought things were going so well and even with the end of her internship coming up at the end of the next month, he was so hopeful for their future in so many ways. He didn’t really know what went wrong. He kept the conversation light trying to figure out her slightly soured mood. It didn’t seem completely fair, but he was heartbroken that he made her upset.

But it was the email that was the final straw. She received it in the middle of dinner. Mr. Malik stated there must have been miscommunication as she would be staying with Styles Incorporated. He would love to have her, feel free to apply in the future if so needed, but of course, she should stay where she’s comfortable.

Harry was in mid-conversation with the waiter, ordering dessert. Something she was reallylooking forward to when she read through the email. But the second she finished it she was angry and didn’t want dessert. She called Niall quickly, while Harry was still chatting, holding one finger up as she put her phone to her ear.

He winked at her, continuing his conversation and didn’t mind at all whether she was using her phone nor questioning it. He’d done so many times before and she was always so kind and patient about it. If he did question it, so shortly after the email, maybe he would have seen it coming. But he didn’t...he didn’t see it coming at all. “Did you...talk to Mr. Malik?” She asked him when Niall answered.

“No, darling, I haven’t heard from him or...or anyone yet about your applic—”

“Never mind,” she hung up. The second she uttered the name of another company Harry’s voice died in the conversation he was having, and he directed his attention to her.

“Did you?” She asked, point blank.

“Yes,” he said. “I told him you would be a perfect fit.”

She blinked. “Then why does he think I’m staying at Styles Incorporated?”

Harry frowned. “Don’t you want to?”

She wasn’t going to lie. “I mean...yes...but don’t you think you should have told me you were going to hire me before—”

“I just figured—"

“Harry...I’ve been rejected or ghosted from everywhere I applied to. I’ve been crying to Niall so stressed and anxious that I’m not good enough and—have you been telling everyone in the area?”

“You’ve been crying about—?”

“Harry,” she snapped.

He was surprised by her tone. “Of course...I want t’keep you,” he whispered.

“Well, what if I can’t,” her voice cracked, her hand fiddling with her silverware on the plate.

“What are y’talking about? Of course, y’can,” he said quickly reaching across the table for her hand but she pulled it back. “Kitten.”

“I don’t want dessert,” she said and stood up and marched out of the restaurant. He hurried to throw money on the table and follow after her.

When they made it to her apartment building, she was huffing. She was angry the entire way there not listening to Harry call after her, not stopping even though he begged. Harry felt like he was losing her with every step. When they reached her door, he tried again to console her as best he could. “Love, I just wanted to hel—”

“I know you feel entitled to everything I am and do because of what we are, but I didn’t ask you to do any of that! Stay out of my business.”

“Kitten,” Harry felt crushed, like she stole all the air out of her lungs.

“I know you told Louis and Eleanor about my graduation ceremony, and I let it slide... because part of me is hoping they forget that it’s in two weeks because right now, I don’t want to go. It hurts to think about my brother’s ceremony—the last time we were a family. And I know you had your lawyers talking to my mom because she called me today all up and arms about how I’m selfish to even take what she’s giving me and of course I hadn’t a clue what she was talking about. I thought it was a prank,” Harry was silent as he listened. “I know you have your driver follow me around whenever I’m out walking. Not even at night,” still quiet. But he dropped his gaze to the floor for a moment before looking back up at her. It did sound controlling when she was so angry. “On top of all that, I hadn’t gotten any notice about my student loans so I called my servicer to inquire. And guess what?”

Harry’s lips pressed together. He didn’t say a word. Because of course he already knew why she didn’t get any info about her loans. “Now this? Harry, I’ve worked my butt off to do this on my own and you just...told every company within a twenty-mile radius that I’m staying, and I didn’t even get to know that I could do it on my own? That all my hard work and all those hard things I had to face on my own just meant nothing? I thought I failed so miserably.” She was crying so hard, and she wished she wasn’t but every time she felt anger coursing through her it was an unfortunate consequence. Harry just wanted to console her and make it stop. He felt so terrible.

Every day she showed up to work and made everyone’s life so much easier. She baked brownies for the breakroom, made copies for anyone that asked because she was the only one who could stop it from jamming, and of course she went out every day, snow, sleet, hail, or rain to get himself and Niall their Starbucks order. She took care of him when he was sick and saved such a large chunk of his company, he could never repay her. All he wanted to do was help her the way she helped everyone else.

“Love,” he whispered reaching for her. She stepped out of his way.

“Just go,” she snapped as she slammed the door shut in his face. His heart felt broken, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. Because as always, she was right. He just...did everything for her because he could. Really because he wanted to, but he should have at least asked.

He could hear the sniffles and her tears through the door. He waited a minute listening to her gasping breath hoping something in his head would click. Something would appear in his mind that he could say to her. But in times like this, it was usually her that knew what to do. So of course, he couldn’t ask her. As he turned to leave, he heard her croaked voice whispering Louis’ name into the phone.

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mykoreanlove · 7 months ago

Text

pillow talk

“Taemin, you missed a step.” “Taemin, you are off beat.” “Taemin, did you forget your own lyrics?” “Taemin, where is your head at?”

Angry eyes watched him mess up again, for the hundredth time this evening. The ace of kpop was far from being a rookie but tonight he was far from being professional either. He couldn’t concentrate, messing up all the steps and forgetting his own lines. Frustrated, he run his fingers through his dark hair and sighed out in annoyance. “Where is my head at”, he mumbled absentmindedly…

“Have you told your friends about me?”, you whispered into his chest. Taemin’s breathing paused for a split second which you wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t already delicately wrapped around his lean body. His hands caressed your naked figure while his puffy lips were busy pampering you with sweet kisses. “Certainly”, he replied. “What did you say?” “I told them I met someone, unexpectedly. I told them how I met a woman that has taken my breath away.” He paused for a brief moment, triggering the impatience brooding within you. “That’s it?”, you asked offended. He chuckled sweetly before continuing. “They asked me about you, what you were like. And I told them that you were beyond beautiful. Incredibly sexy. Cute as honey. Horny as the devil. Very, very smart. Emotional. Full of passion and desire. Empathetic - always caring and observing. Funny, oh my god so funny, making me laugh all the time. Interesting, seeing a lot of things differently than I do. Basically, I mentioned every positive attribute I could think of.” Taemin didn’t notice the gigantic smile that formed on his lips as he recalled gushing over you. You didn’t see it either, but you felt it, it was impossible not to. “And then they asked me what was going on between us, like if we had a future?” Now you were the one forgetting to breathe – did he catch that? “And I told them that my life is quite chaotic at the moment and that I need to figure out a lot of stuff. I explained to them that I want to concentrate and focus on me, primarily, but this is getting harder and harder to do. I told them that my mind always wanders back to you, thinks about you and misses you. I keep finding myself neglecting my goals to rather be with you…” His voice was filled with serenity, yet you could sense the anxiety in him. “I love spending time with you, getting to know you. The way you think, the things that move you, the things that scare you and make you sad. I want to understand everything about you. And that sometimes scares me.” There it was, the fear that was eating him from the inside. “What does that mean then?”, you asked cautiously.

“Ideally, I’d resist you and move on. I’d memorize your beautiful eyes and luscious lips as a sensuous adventure that I would never forget. But I can’t. Not with you, y/n.” Taemin’s fingers landed on your chin and tilted it up, he was directly staring into your soul now. “I will let you use me.” “Use you?” “Isn’t this what this is?” You gulped, feeling utterly exposed. “Is that why you only told them all the positive aspects about me?” Taemin nodded while placing another kiss on your swollen lips. “I know you’re bad for me. But I can’t help myself. You love me the sweetest only to push a cruel blade into my flesh.” His eyes were glistening, shining almost as bright as the full moon outside. Taemin spoke slowly, putting a lot of emphasis on every single word. “Soothing. Loving. Hurting. Over and over again.” His voice got even deeper, barely audible as he whispered his heart out to you. “And you let me, y/n. Why do you? I come back every time, like a brainwashed puppy. Does that turn you on? Is that your definition of love? Taemin took your hand into his and placed chest kisses on your knuckles before laughing manically. “Because I think it’s mine.”

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hongcherry · 1 year ago

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webisode: two || j.jk

Jungkook speaks to you for the first time, and the outcome shocks him.

📸 Pairing: spiderman!Jungkook x girlfriend!Reader(afab)

📸 Rating/Genres/AUs: PG-15; fluff, strangers to lovers, SBaFL au, Marvel au

📸 Warnings: Bullying

📸 Word Count: 1k

📸 Timeline: Before Tangled Thoughts, Jungkook is not Spidey yet c:

📸 Author’s Note: This has been a long time coming! I'll try to work on more high school-related fics of this couple since a lot of you guys have been asking for them thru my SBaFL survey. I greatly appreciate all the great feedback I've gotten, whether through the form or on here directly! 💖

SBaFL masterpost | bts masterlist | main masterlist

“Jeon! You’re late!”

Jungkook scrambles to grab the camera bag from its cabinet. There’s a thin layer of sweat on his body from having run from the library.

“I-I’m sorry, Mr. Jay! I got caught up with ho—”

“I don’t want excuses, Jeon. I want pictures!” he exasperates while pointing to the door. “The play starts in seven minutes. You better haul it before they shut the doors.”

“Y-yes sir,” Jungkook exclaims before rushing out of the room.

Jungkook sprints through the halls, dodging students left and right. He wouldn’t consider himself completely non-athletic. He’s not as clumsy as he looks, and he can run a decent length without getting tired. However, he’s still grouped with the “weaker” students. He blames his narrow frame.

Jungkook’s a few feet away from the auditorium doors when he suddenly trips over something. His body slides across the tiles, and there’s a small crack as his face collides with the ground. His vision is paired with an annoying new line now that his glasses lenses are cracked.

There’s laughter behind him as he staggers back up. He doesn’t need to look back to know his fall wasn’t accidental.

“Awh, even he’s falling for you, Flash,” one of the students chuckles.

Jungkook glares at them. He wants to scold them, but the play is about to start.

“Are you speechless over my looks too, Jungpoop?” Flash smirks.

Jungkook rolls his eyes as he turns to rush toward the now-closing doors. He doesn’t have time for a pointless argument.

“Wait! Please!” he calls out.

The doors keep closing.

Jungkook pumps his legs faster and shoves his foot in the small gap. He curses mentally as the door crushes his foot. Pain shoots up his leg and instincts make him want to cradle it. Though, he pushes past those feelings and shimmies his way in.

“Excuse me, thank you,” he mumbles hurriedly even though the student worker doesn’t help him or say anything. They simply stare at him blankly—bored and unbothered.

Must be working for extra credit or something.

Jungkook takes a seat in the back while he pulls out the camera. He messes with the settings for a bit before taking a test shot. However, he fails to remember the flash is on due to the dark setting.

Heads turn to glare at him at the sudden burst of light.

“Sorry! Sorry!” he whispers loudly and quickly turns the flash off.

“Dammit,” he huffs to himself as he readjusts his settings.

The house lights dim and music begins to play over the speakers.

Looks like he made it just in time.

He puts his student worker lanyard and the camera’s strap around his neck. Time to get to work.

He carefully descends the aisle, getting closer to the stage.

“Stop right there!”

Jungkook halts in his movements, glancing around to see who said that. Then he realizes it was someone from the play.

Jungkook’s gaze drifts to the stage and his heart stops.

It’s you.

Yn.

You’re the lead?

Jungkook watches you perform, amazed by your talent. You’re embodying your character well.

He had no idea you were going to be on stage.

He mainly knows you from class, but he’s also seen you in the halls occasionally. Your bright personality caught his attention, along with others. You’re not the most popular, but you’re definitely not a shadow either.

He’s never talked to you and doubts you even know who he is.

Jungkook has always thought you were pretty. Though, not only that, you were also top of the class. Brains and beauty.

And now, you’re a great actress? He wonders what you can’t do.

Once Jungkook finally snaps out of his surprise, he begins capturing photos. He moves to and fro of the stage, getting different angles. He finds a spot that provides a good view and makes a home there. He watches the play with rapt attention, taking a few pictures during interesting scenes.

Before he knows it, the play is over and everyone is taking a bow.

The house lights turn on and people start filing out of the auditorium.

Jungkook grabs his belongings and then follows the stream of others. He spots you in the corner surrounded by a handful of people.

People you seem unfamiliar with come and praise you, and as always, you give them your dashing smile.

Jungkook adjusts his camera settings and after a deep breath, makes his way toward you.

“Excuse me, Yn,” Jungkook hesitantly calls out.

You turn from your group of supporters. Your eyes shine so brightly that Jungkook feels his breath get stuck in his throat.

“Yes?” you respond politely.

Jungkook blinks rapidly. “I-I’m with the school’s newspaper. Can I get a p-photo of you?”

You smile and nod, then point to the flowers in your hands. “Should I give these to someone?”

Jungkook shakes his head quickly. “No, it’s okay. You look pretty with them.”

You raise an eyebrow at his comment, and it’s then Jungkook registers what he has said.

“I-I mean they look pretty! They’re nice flowers,” he corrects hurriedly.

You giggle. “They are.”

Jungkook nods but doesn’t say anything.

“Where should I stand?” you ask after a few awkward silent seconds.

“Oh! Over here is fine,” Jungkook points to a blank wall.

You move to stand in front of the wall and hold up the flowers. Tilting your head, you smile at Jungkook.

Jungkook’s heart is beating quickly as he snaps a few pictures. He just hoped his hands were stable enough; Mr. Jay will be more mad at him if his pictures turn out to be crap.

“Thank you,” Jungkook says.

You start walking slowly backward toward your friends and family.

“Anytime… Jungkook, right?” you question.

Jungkook nearly drops the camera at his name from your mouth. You know his name?”

“Y-yeah. You k-know me?” he stutters pathetically.

You smile kindly. “Of course. You’re the awesome photographer for our school’s paper,” you gesture to the camera.

“And,” you continue, “you’re in my chemistry class. You always get the questions correct.”

“R-right.”

Jungkook’s too stunned to say anything. He didn’t expect you to remember his name. After all, he’s never really spoken to you, let alone told you his name directly.

“I hope you liked the show. I’ll see you Monday,” you say with a wave, then turn away.

Jungkook’s delayed wave goes unnoticed, but he’s too amazed you know his name to care.

A/N: Has anyone seen/played the new Spidey game? It's so amazing!!! I loved it so much! I'm also a big Venom fan 🤭

©️hongcherry // DO NOT REPOST OR MODIFY Please consider reblogging if you liked this work to show your support. Feedback/commentary is always welcomed.

#spidey jk #spiderman jungkook #jungkook spiderman #bts fanfic #jungkook fanfic #jungkook x you #jungkook x reader #jungkook x y/n #jungkook fluff #bts fluff #jungkook marvel #bts marvel au #kdiarynet #kvanity

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mavrintarou · 2 years ago

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Christmas Morning - Suna Rintarou [end]

This wasn't supposed to go this far lol

Warning: fluff; explicit smut (18+); surprise ending (is it really a surprise though)

Fourth part

“Goodness,” Wendy narrowed her eyes, staring at you for a solid thirty-seconds in silence, “you’re illuminating. Are you pregnant?”

Every time you meet up with Wendy for brunch, she’s always making embarrassing comments to you.

And what is even more embarrassing is that she is always on spot.

Though you are not pregnant, you definitely had a pregnancy scare.

You were more than a week late and you were never late.

“I’m not pregnant,” you answered with confidence.

You had taken four pregnancy tests and all came back negative but you period never arrived.

You were about to express your concerns with Rin but he confronted you first.

You stayed an hour later at work and Rin was at your place making dinner.

After a long day, you were ready to spend the rest of your evening with your boyfriend.

Boyfriend…

You had a stupid smile plastered on your face every time you thought of him as your boyfriend. Rin was adamant that you officially accept his request asking you to be his girlfriend, in which you said yes and that made him your boyfriend now.

“Rin?” you found him sitting at the kitchen table with his back facing you. “What are you –“ you look over his shoulder and whatever you were going to ask went dead on your tongue.

In front of him was the four pregnancy test in a clear bag.

He looks at you with a pale face. “Is… are these yours?”

You exchange looks from the pregnancy test to him. “Uh… yeah…”

“Were you going to tell me?”

You frown at him, “tell you what?”

“That you’re pregnant?”

“But… I’m not pregnant, Rin?”

It was his turn to frown at you, “you’re not? Then why are you taking these tests?”

“I took them to see if I am but they’re negative, see.” You pointed to the single line. “One line means negative.”

Rin covered his face with both palms and groan. “I didn’t even look at that…”

You laugh, pulling his hands away. “I’m sorry if I scared you – you weren’t supposed to find…”

“I was nervous… and excited.” He mumbled; his hands shifted only to uncover his eyes. “I saw them in the trash bin and all I could think about is that you’re pregnant.”

“I missed my period for a week now, so I took these test but they’re negative.” You sigh, “but I still haven’t gotten my period either so…”

“So…” he repeated after you.

“So, until Aunt-Flo arrives… I don’t know.”

That night after Rin makes love to you, your period arrives.

“Oh gosh, Rin is so cute… at least you know he was excited if you were pregnant.” Wendy laughed, she has been laughing since you explained how Rin thought you were pregnant cause he didn’t know how to read a pregnancy test.

“I was scared,” you whispered, “we keep having risky sex like that… since then I’ve made him wear a condom.”

“Why not just go on birth control?” Wendy inquired.

You sink back into your chair, “I brought it up but Rin said he didn’t want hormones and all the other junk to go into my system. It’s not good for my body.”

Wendy clutch her hand over her heart, “what a gentleman. He’s thinking about your body… argh… if you don’t want him, send him my way.”

You kept it to yourself, but you almost blurted how he was supposed to choose her that night. If Wendy had not backed out and asked you to take her spot that day… Wendy would have been you this moment.

“Thank you.”

Wendy blinks at you, “for what?”

“Had it not been for you to ask me to take your spot, I would have never met Rin and be where I am right now.”

“It was meant to be, so don’t lose him.”

You haven’t heard from Rin in a few hours. He was overseas in Taiwan for a game and was due to return tonight. What time? He didn’t tell you.

It was close to midnight, and you were beginning to fall asleep. Turning your body, you leaned into the couch and closed your eyes, clutching your phone.

You slipped into slumber waiting for his message or call.

“Y/n.”

You hear yourself hum.

“Y/n, why aren’t you sleeping in your room?”

One eye cracked open to see your favorite person beside you. “Rin?” You rubbed your eyes, sitting up. “you’re home?” When your vision was cleared you stare at him confused as he continued to gaze at you. You cup his face, “are you okay?”

He nodded, “you said, you’re home.” He smiled and his hand cupped your face, “yes, I’m home.”

You pull him into a hug, “I don’t know why this time, I missed you so much.”

Rin pulls you tighter against him. “I missed you more.” He suddenly pulls away, “I have something for you.” He shifts away and grabs something before holding it to you, “for you.”

“What is this?” You glance at the bag with colorful tissue paper. “It’s not my birthday?”

“Correct, but it was White Day… well a few days ago but I wasn’t in town, so it doesn’t count… now open it.”

You pull out the tissue paper and your lips curve upward. “Chocolate…”

“Returning the favor, although you ate my chocolate… and I forgive you but I’m returning the favor…” He fiddled around before sighing.

You sensed the sudden mood change and set the chocolate back in the bag to tilt his chin, looking him in the eye. “What’s wrong?”

He only gazes at you for a few seconds before swallowing, “I know… I might be rushing it but I – I really, really, really feel like you are the one for me.” He looks deep into your eyes, as if he’s trying to read your mind. “I – I have something for you.” He reaches behind and pulls out a velvet box.

You hear your sharp inhale.

He cracks open revealing two rings. “I never thought I’d get couple’s rings but… here I am…” He paused, “will you accept and wear this couple’s ring with me, Y/n?”

You lifted your left hand and with a clear voice, “of course.”

Rin chuckles and shakes his head, grabbing my right hand, “this hand, well… I want to save the left hand for when I marry you so we’re going to wear this on our right side for now.”

He slips the ring on and you grab the other ring to slip it on him. You hold his much larger hand for a second before looking up at him. “I love you, Rintarou.”

His green eyes widen, “say – “ he choked, “say that again?”

Dropping his hand, you cup his face and kiss him. “I love you, Suna Rintarou. I love you.”

“EJP! EJP! EJP!”

The gymnasium screamed loudly for their home team as Suna – EJP’s Middle Blocker shut down their opponent and helped his team win the game.

This was your first game of his that you attended and tears pricked your eyes as you refrained yourself from screaming like a madwoman when your boyfriend earned the winning point.

Rin points in your direction and you point right back at him, mouthing I love you.

He mouths, me too and winks.

He is going to be the death of you.

Rintarou has become the best thing that has ever happened to you.

There was never a dull day with him.

Your relationship progress every day and your love for one another grew daily.

You guys were like every normal couple that have their good and bad days.

Usually both times resulted in hot passionate sex.

Especially after a disagreement.

Rin’s grip on your waist is bruising as he pounded into you from behind. The dress you wanted to wear to one of his teammate’s wedding was now wrinkled and bunched up at your waist with your thong – torn and looped around one ankle.

Five minutes ago, you guys should have been out the door.

As soon as Rin saw your dress, the dress, he did not approve of you wearing – he had you bent over his bathroom counter and took you from behind. He is still dressed in his suit with only his pants undone.

“You just want to be a bad girl because you know what I would do when you start acting like a bad girl, huh?”

Not entirely true, for the most part Rin allowed you to do what you wanted, and it was only when your really pushed his buttons to see how far he let you get away with your action that he would have to set your attitude and action straight again.

But you wanted to wear that dress, sure it was a little more revealing than what you’re used to, or what he was used to, but you were going to wear it anyways because he can’t tell you what you can and can’t wear.

An arm looped around your chest, pulling you against him. Your back arched as he slows down his thrusts but they are deep and slow, driving you crazy.

He combs your now messy updo hair behind your ear before nipping it with his pearly teeth. He makes eye contact with you through the mirror, “are you going to be a good girl and let me cum inside of you?”

He knows you would never say no.

You loved it when he came inside of you.

Probably more than him.

“Will you let me wear this dress in exchange?” You hear his scoff. “Then no… you can’t cum inside of me.”

“You play dirty, love.” He growled, you feel his cock throb inside of you, ready to cum. “Fine… and that dress will go in the garbage after tonight.” His hips fasten, your moan echoing loudly in his large bathroom.

You grip the counters again as Rin reaches to find your swollen clit, rubbing it. His teeth grazing the skin over your nape. “Rin,” you moaned, reaching behind to thread your fingers through his hair, you’re going to have to redo his hair after this. “… I’m so close… so close – cum… cum inside of me…”

Your body trembles in bliss, walls squeezing him and bringing him over the edge. His hot cum spurts inside of you but he doesn’t stop his thrusting.

You gasped, trying to push his hand away from your clit. “Too – too much…”

He hummed but doesn’t stop, slowly rubbing it and riding your orgasm as far as he can take you. His hips stops and so does his hand as he releases your poor over stimulated clit.

“Are we late to the wedding?” he asked after a few minutes of recovery.

Yes.

You both arrived to the wedding late. Unfortunately, you couldn’t wear the dress anymore because it was so wrinkled and had to redo your hair as well as Rin’s.

“Wipe that smug off your face,” you mumbled, slapping his hand away from your hips. He would only place his hand there again, rubbing the satin material of the dress he had chosen.

Before he could say something, the MC announced for all the women to step on to the dance floor because it was time for the bride to toss the bouquet.

You weren’t going to go up but Komori Motoya’s girlfriend grabbed your hand, tugging you along with her to the dance floor.

You stood in the back and at a distance, away from all the other excited women who was ready to catch the bouquet.

“One… two… THREE!” shouted the bride as she blindly tossed her bouquet over her shoulder.

You watched it fly in a nice arch and all the women in front of you shoving and shifting to snatch it…

The smile on your face faded as your eyes narrowed, realizing… it was coming… in your direction. “Uh…”

You began to panic, none of the women was coming for it, as if they are frozen in their spot. All their head and eyes are on you, waiting for your next move.

You wanted to run for it, but your heels was rooted to the floor as well.

“Catch it Y/n!” Motoya’s girlfriend shouted excitedly.

At the last second, you reached for it, catching it before it could hit the floor.

The room roared loudly, clapping, and cheering.

Rin held your hand as you two left the venue after saying goodnight to your friends.

The bouquet was in your other hand, dangling upside down. You tried pawn it off, but they all refused.

Even the flower girl who was eyeing it didn’t want it.

“You’re quiet.” He looks down at you as you guys waited for his car.

You glanced up at him, “you’re quiet.” You said back, after you made it back to the table with the bouquet, Rin kept his hands off of you and only chatted with his teammates.

“I am?”

“Yes, you haven’t said a word to me since I un-fatedly caught this thing,” you waved the bouquet. “If you feel nervous or anxious because I caught it – don’t worry and don’t listen to what anyone has to say –“

He pulls his hand away and steps in front of you, cupping your face and forcing you to look up at him. “Y/n, I am not nervous or anxious at all.”

His green eyes is telling you the truth when you searched them. “But you didn’t touch me…”

“I had to keep my hands off of you or else…” he didn’t need to finish for you to know what he meant. “You catching this tonight has made my heart accelerated but for good reason…” He knocks his forehead with yours. “You know what they say when someone catches the bride’s bouquet, right?”

You nodded.

“Good,” he smiled and pecked your lips.

“Suna-san, your car is here.”

Present day [from the first part of this series]

Wrapping papers scattered around Rin’s apartment.

From designer bags, designer shoes to limited edition books you have always wanted…

Rin has spoiled you once again.

You begin to clean up the room when you hear him clear his throat.

Turning around, your eyes widen, and your breath stilled…

“What… are you… doing?” you breathed.

Rin is kneeled in front of you with another velvet box in his hands, very carefully, he opened it to a single diamond ring.

“Y/n,” his voice croaked and he swallowed, “you are the love of my life. I cannot go a day and night without you. You bring out the best in me and you are the best thing that has ever happened in my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

Tears have already rolled down your cheeks as you nod your head, “yes, yes I’ll marry you.”

He hops onto his feet and pulls you into a crushing hug before stepping back to take the ring out and slip it on your left hand. He brings your hand to his lips, “you’ve just made me the happiest man.”

“You need to open your gifts,” you pull away from him. You shove the smaller gift in his hands, “open this one first.”

Rin leans down to kiss you, “I don’t need anything else now that I have you.”

“Hmm, don’t be so quick to say that…” you mumble with a smile, pulling away. “Open.”

He pulls the ribbon and rips the wrapping paper off. He pulls out the card, reading it out loud.

Rin,

I tell you all the time how much you mean to me, but it seems to never be enough.

You are the greatest thing that has happened in my life, and I would never trade you.

Even for the first edition series of Lord of the Rings.

Every day is a blessing, even the days I want to whack a frying pan over your head.

But I love you.

Well.

We love you, daddy.

Y/n

You can see Rin re-reading the last part there.

His head snaps up and he digs further into the box.

He blinks and his face softens as he pulls out a bag of four pregnancy tests.

Four positive pregnancy tests.

“Are you…” he drops the stuff on the couch and pulls you into a hug before pulling away, “sorry, not too tight.” He mumbled before dropping down on his knees and stares at your belly. He lifts your shirt and places a kiss right above your belly button.

You grab the second gift that was in a bag. “This one too…”

Pulling out the tissue papers he reached inside and pulls out an identical miniature outfit that matches his volleyball uniform.

Clipped to the uniform were the ultrasound photos.

Rin covered his mouth with one hand, choking back a cry. His eyes filled with tears.

“Hi daddy, I can’t wait to meet you.” He reads the note you wrote on the first photo.

You reach to wipe his tears away. “Merry Christmas, Rintarou.”

He pulls you into his arms as you both fall onto his living room floor. “This is the best Christmas.”

You hold your left hand up to admire your ring, “indeed…”

Rin shifts around and hovers over you, he pushed your shirt up.

You just hit your twenty-week mark and was beginning to show.

“I’m twenty weeks pregnant.”

“How did I not… notice?”

You laughed, “because you were always so horny.”

Rin didn’t find it funny. “Did I hurt you when I was being too rough?”

You cup his face, “no love, you didn’t hurt me.” You rubbed his cheekbones, “but we probably should cut back on the roughness until I give birth.”

In a blink of an eye, you are maneuvered and straddling Rin. “Okay, you top so that way you are the one in control.”

You can feel his hard bulge through your cotton panties. “Rin!”

“You called it, I’m always horny. I’m even hornier now knowing you’re pregnant. How fucken sexy is that.” He pulls off your shirt in one swift movement and palms your breasts. “Will these get bigger?”

You moan, “yes…”

He pinches your nipples, “and full of milk?”

“… yes…”

Rin groans, pushing up against your core. “I need you.” He quickly pushes his boxers off and tugs your panties aside so you can sink down on him. “No wonder you feel… tighter…”

“They say sex can be sensitive during pregnancy.” You noticed how you orgasm faster than usual.

You rock your hips, pressing both palms on his chest for support.

“Not – “ he winces, “not too deep… or too fast, I don’t want to hurt baby…” One hand rest on your hip, trying to slow your movement.

You grab both his wrists and pinned them to the floor, “you said I get to be in control? So, let me do it.”

His eyes widen before they sparkle, “yes… mommy…”

You rolled your eyes. “Don’t call me that when you’re deep inside of me.”

He smirked, “you don’t like it?”

“It’s weird…” you rolled your hips faster, circling your hips. “We should enjoy this time to ourselves before they arrive.”

“Yes mommy.”

“I will leave you high and dry if you call me mommy one more time, daddy.” You gasped loudly the next second as you feel Rin groan as he cums deep inside of you. “Rin!”

He lifts his hips off the ground and thrusts inside of you in shallow hits. “Fuck, call me daddy again…”

You lean down to his ear and whisper, “daddy Rin…”

“Where is mama?”

You abandon your cart of books and ran down the aisle to see your husband with the baby carrier and inside is your five-month-old daughter, Rise.

“We brought you lunch!”

. . .

E/n: Thank you for hanging onto this bandwagon.

@hellatrashdontask @queenelleee @wrongimagine @eadyladlegard @mfreedomstuff @erintaro @callmeraider @chaotic-fangirl-blog @wolffmaiden @satoritendoucultsacrifice @littlemochi @cloud-lyy @pana-dolle @haitanifxn @itsroseally @warrior-of-justice @jmnfilter @captainchrisstan @hannas16

#haikyuu smut #haikyu x reader #haikyuu imagine #haikyuu suna rintarou #haikyuu suna #suna x reader #suna fluff #suna smut #suna x you #suna x y/n #suna rintarou x reader #suna rintarou smut #suna rintaro x reader #suna rintaro scenarios #suna rintaro smut #hq suna #hq smut

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shadow-riley · 4 months ago

Text

Pt. 2 FIREWORKS {Simon Riley x f!reader}

written by yours truly<3

f!reader simon riley NSFW

pt.1 link:

https://www.tumblr.com/shadow-riley/758575937815232512/fireworks-simon-riley-x-reader?source=share

tw: mention of b!ting, rough, mention of bru!sing (no abuse), m@rking, overstim, unprotected p in v, pr@ise, rope bunny (user)

Simon felt shock waves through his body at the sound of your whimper. He broke the kiss for a moment, before he started to place kisses on your jawline, his lips moving from your jaw down to your neck.

"Si..." you breath, your hands finding his hair, the other on the back of his neck.

He lets out a sound that was almost a mix between a sigh and a growl, his lips continue to move down your neck and onto your collarbone.

His large hands move from your hips to your waist, holding you flush up against his body, the heat between the two of you was burning.

Simon lets out a sound deep from his throat that was definitely more of a growl as your hips buck up into him.

His hands grip your hips harder, not enough to hurt you, holding you in place pressed against him.

His head was buried in your neck as his lips kissed down to the collarbone of your shirt, he bit down on the flesh for a moment, leaving a hickey.

He lifted his head back up to look at you, his eyes were almost feral as he looked at the mark he left on your neck. His hands continued to hold your hips firmly in place, pressing you up against his body.

"good. I love marking what's mine" his voice is deep and husky.

"You like that...?" he mumbled, his voice was deep, and you could hear to possessive side of him coming out as he looked at the mark, with eyes that almost dared someone to touch you now.

you nod. "Yes", you whimper.

He hummed again, as his grip on your hips tightened a little even more.

He looked at the mark, his eyes scanned over the spot his lips had been on moments ago.

"Good…" he mumbled, his eyes glanced down to your lips for a moment, thinking about kissing them again.

"that was more than just a midnight kiss…" you're voice sounded more unsure than you had intended.

He chuckled, his hands continued to hold you against his body, the possessive side of him wasn't going to let you go anytime soon.

"Did you want just a midnight kiss… or did you want me… " he mumbled, there was some uncertainty in his voice, he needed to know if you just wanted to fool around or if you wanted him…

"what do you want?"

He hummed, his hands held your hips in a tight grasp, not letting you go.

"I want you…and only you…not just for tonight…I want you…" he mumbled, he was completely open about how he felt for you. His heart was on the line.

Your hands found his as you rested them ontop of his. "not just tonight, hm?"

He continued to hold you tightly against his body, his hands on your hips didn't loosen their grip, he needed you closer to him, he wanted you closer.

"Not Just tonight… I want you for as long as I can have you…" he mumbled in his deep whisper-like voice. His heart was laid out for you plain and simple, his vulnerability clear to you.

you place your hands on either side of his face, cupping his head in your hands. "then i'm all yours"

Those words hit him deeper than you could ever know. He needed to hear you say that, and here he was, with you in his arms.

A small gasp left his lips as you cupped his face in your hands. His voice is almost breathless as he speaks again, his eyes look into yours, trying to see if you really meant what you said.

"Are you all mine…?" he whispered.

Your thumbs rub his cheek gently and your expression softens, your voice gentle and reassuring.

"I'm yours for as long as you want me, Simon..."

A shiver went down his spine as you spoke.

Your thumbs rubbing his cheeks was almost calming to him, he was completely different with you, not the hard ass he had to be outside.

He leaned into your hands as you held his face, he held your hips even tighter, pressing you up against him like he was never going to let you go.

"Promise me you're mine…" he mumbled.

"i promise, sweet boy..."

Those words did something to him, something deep within him…the possessive side of him.

Hearing you refer to him as sweet boy and promise him that you were his, it stirred something inside of him.

He continued to hold you against him, pressing your bodies together.

"Sweet boy?…" he mumbled under his breath.

"yea… you can be sweet under your facade" you tease.

A huff of air escaped his lips as you called him sweet.

No one had ever called him sweet, but when it came out of your mouth…he actually liked it.

He took a breath in, your smell overwhelmed his senses, gun powder, sweat, and something else that was just you.

you place your lips against his neck, sending a shiver through his body.

is grip on your hips got even tighter as you did that, pulling you even closer to him, if that was possible.

"That's... that's a sensitive sport..." he mumbled, letting out a soft hum as you continued.

"is it?" you tease, nipping on that particular spot.

A soft whimper escaped his lips as you nipped on the sensitive spot on his neck. And as you continued, it became clear that it was very sensitive.

His grip on your hips tightened even more, as he held back the reaction he felt wanting to come forward.

You hum approvingly at the sound he makes and drag your tongue across his neck on the sensitive area.

Another shiver went down his spine, this time the reaction he held back was more than a shiver as another sound escaped his lips, almost like a stifled moan.

He inhaled deeply through his nose, trying to keep his composure, but the things you were doing to his neck were unraveling him.

The sound he made unleashed something feral in you as you grip his shirt tightly and work your mouth on his neck with renewed desire.

It was getting harder for him to hold back, and as you worked your mouth on his neck again, he let out another stifled moan.

His blue eyes watched you as you continued, his hips started to push up against yours more.

You remove your head from his neck as you feel the pressure of his hips against yours, a sound escaping the back of you throat.

As you removed your head from his neck, he looked down at you, his grip on your hips was still tight, but he started to push his hips up against yours more and more.

He could faintly hear the sound that escaped your mouth, and it stirred something in him, he wanted to hear more. He need to hear more of you.

A soft moan sounds in your lips. "Simon.."

The sound of you saying his name sent a shiver down his spine, and each time you said his name, it seemed to only ignite his possessive side more.

He didn't say anything in return, his only response a grunt as he just pushed his hips up against yours again, wanting to hear more sounds from you.

You moan this time, pressing yourself into him aswell.

His blue eyes never left yours as you pushed your hips back into his, and when you moaned, his lips parted slightly.

He wanted to hear more sounds, the ones you were giving him were sending shocks through his body.

He pushed his hips again, this time even more than the last.

"fuck" you curse under your breath.

A low chuckle escaped his lips as you said that, he was far used to your cursing.

He looked down at you, his eyes looked over your face before he pushed his hips against yours again, pulling you flush against him.

"Yeah? Like that…?" he mumbled under his breath.

He hummed at your response, watching your face as he continued to push his hips up against yours, the sound of his voice was getting more strained the longer he continued.

You whimper, feeling the friction and pressure against your bullied clit.

"You keep making sounds like that…. and I won't stop…" he mumbled, his voice sounded huskier than normal as the possessive side took over.

"I need more" you pleaded, half expecting him to make you beg.

He could hear the desperate edge in your voice, and when you said you need more, he loved it. The possessive side of him was going crazy as he gripped your hips even tighter, keeping you flushed against him.

A shudder went down his spine as you said that, and he started to grind up against you, pushing himself up against the sweet spot of your sex.

The sound of your gasp made his eyes go a little darker in color, in an almost feral way. The possessive side of him was really coming out now.

Another, huskier chuckle left his lips as he continued to grind up against you, listening closely to the sounds you were making.

"You like that baby…?" he mumbled

The pet name only added to the hot, almost dizzying pleasure. "yes, just like that"

He hummed again, hearing you tell him you liked what he was doing to you only made him want to do it more, more and more.

He started to grind against you even more, each time his hips pushed up against you, a sound fell out of his lips.

The sounds of his whimpers made you feral. You begin taking your top off.

Simon's eyes widened as you took your shirt off, he looked down at your body, the possessiveness coming out in him even more than before.

He looked at you, his eyes going up and down your body, taking in every curve and imperfection, he wanted to memorize all of them.

"You're mine…" he mumbled, his hands gripped your hips so tight you were gonna have indents from his fingers tomorrow, but you loved being marked by him.

His eyes watched yours as his hands moved to the back of your bra, uncliping it in a quick, practiced motion.

He pulled it off of you, and once he did, he looked up at your face, his eyes darker than normal, his possessive side coming out.

He took in the sight of you and almost growled.

"God you're beautiful…" he mumbled in a low, gruff voice.

His hands moved to the sides of your waist, feeling the skin under his hands.

He ran his thumbs across your skin, he loved the feeling of touching you, the way your skin felt against his hands, it was like ecstasy.

He continued to look at you, his expression was that of complete possession as he spoke again.

"No one else can see you like this… no one else can touch you like this… you're mine…" he mumbled.

"I'm yours"

The way you affirmed that you were his sent a shiver of pleasure down his spine, and it only confirmed for him that he was never letting you go.

His large hands moved from your hips to your waist, pulling you even closer to him, there was almost no space between the two of you.

He looked down at you and spoke again, his voice was gruff and low.

"I'm never letting you go. You're mine, and mine only…" he said possessively.

"okay, darling" you respond.

His eyes moved down to your pants as he hooked his finger into the waist band, he tugged it gently, like he was silently asking, are you gonna take these off too?

He looked up at your face again, his eyes dark once more, the possessive side of him still clear as he spoke again, his voice like a rough whisper.

"Take them off…" he said almost like a command.

"do it yourself" you say almost challenging him.

A small huff escaped his lips as you said that, challenging him. He loved it.

He took the challenge and pulled your pants down himself, his face was calm, but his eyes were dark with lust.

He pulled them down, taking in the sight of you as he did.

"Lift your hips for me…" he said, his voice a rough command.

Your hands find his shoulders for stability as you do what he asks.

His eyes went over the newly exposed expanse of skin as you lifted your legs, his large hands held you still as he drank in the sight of you.

He looked at you for a moment, taking in the way you looked, it was one of the most beautiful sights he had ever seen in his life. But he wasn't done yet.

He looked at you again, this time his voice was a little less rough as he spoke again.

"Turn around…" he ordered.

You we're a bit surpised but obeyed. "yes, sir" you voice was teasing.

The sight of you obeying him, the fact that you turned around when he told you to, it was so damn hot to him.

He looked over the back of your body, his eyes taking in all the details, he loved it. He was about to get more than his eyes on you though.

"Keep your hands against the wall for me…" he ordered, his voice getting rough again.

A shiver runs down your spine as you place your hands on the wall

Seeing the shiver go down your spine from his command made him feel good. He could see how excited you were from this, how much you were enjoying it.

He continued to look at the back of you, his eyes taking in every detail, but he was also impatient.

"You gonna keep your hands on the wall, princess…?" he asked, there was a hint of a growl in his voice.

Seeing you nod and keep your hands against the wall made a hum of approval come from his lips.

He gently pressed his lips against your shoulder, silently asking for your permission before he continued, he was a gentleman that way, even if he was acting so possessive.

"You're good, baby" you consent.

After you agreed, he began to press soft kisses against your shoulder, each kiss getting just a little bit closer to your neck, each kiss more possessive than the last.

After he found that sensitive spot on your neck , he started to focus on it, leaving a few hard kisses and even lightly biting that spot. He could hear the sounds you were making, and it was music to his ears.

He was clearly trying to leave marks of his ownership on your neck. As he did so he unbuckled his belt.

Once he got his belt unbuckled, he moved his hands to the front of your body, his hands slowly moving down. Your body pressed back into his, impatient and needy.

Simon kept a hand on your hip while the other gently rubbed circles on your clit, sending a shiver through your entire body.

Your moans only made him work harder.

"You like that, huh?" his voice is deep and possessive.

He hums approvingly at your nod. "good girl"

He gave himself a few pumps before sliding against your sex painfully slow.

"c'mon, Si..." you plea, silently begging him to take you.

He could hear the silent plea in your whining, and it made something in his brain short circuit. Your silent begging was the last straw for him.

"I got you, princess, I got you…" he mumbled against your skin.

He wrapped his arms around your waist and pulled you away from the wall, turning you around to face him as he spoke in a low, rough voice again.

"Wrap your legs around me…" he ordered.

Feeling you wrap your legs around his waist sent a wave of pleasure through his body. The feeling of your legs around him and your body pressed against him was a delicious feeling to him.

He grabbed both of your wrists with his large hand, holding them above your head in a near vice-like grip.

His blue eyes looked down at you, his expression was almost feral.

"You ready, princess…?" he repeated, the possessive tone in his voice stronger than ever.

you nod eagerly.

He chuckled when you nodded eagerly, the sight of you so wanting and needy for him was almost too much for him.

He moved one of his hands to the back of your thigh, his grip on your wrists never loosening.

"You know i love you, right baby?" he mumbled, his tone taking an even more rough edge to it.

"yes, Si" you breath.

"good. because im going to fuck you like i don't, 'kay darlin'?" he growls.

"good..." you smirk.

A small sound of approval escaped his lips as he heard your response. You knew what you were getting into, and he loved that.

He lifted you a bit higher, positioning your body a bit more centered against his hips, his blue eyes looking down at you with an almost feral look.

"Good. No whining, baby…keep it down for me" he mumbled, getting ready for what he was about to do to you.

He looked down at you again, his eyes watching your face, waiting for any sign that you were uncomfortable.

When he was sure you were comfortable, he adjusted his grip on your waist, then slowly, he started to push you down, pushing his hips up against you at the same time.

He continued to keep a hold of your wrists above your head, not letting you move them.

You whimpered at first entrance.

He gave you almost no time to adjust as he began to thrust inside of you viciously, bullying your cervix.

As your eyes rolled back, a low growl escaped his lips, he loved seeing you look like this, so completely at his mercy.

He continued to move his hips up and down, holding your waist and wrists tightly as he did.

“God, you’re so good for me…my good girl…..” he mumbled, his breath short as he continued to move his hips at an ungodly pace.

"you can take it, baby...good girl....fuck you're taking me so good" his voice was husky and strained

"my perfect girl"

You reach your hand down.

"move your hand. now" his voice was dark and rough, demanding and possessive.

"what is it mamas, don't make me tie you to the fucking headboard."

You whimper and squirm

"you want that, darlin'?"

He ties your wrists to the headboard and begins to rub your clit mercilessly.

A moan escaped your lips

"didn't i say keep it down?" He placed his free hand over your mouth "be a good girl, shut the fuck up".

You become a trembling mess beneath him.

"fuck you're so cute when you're a mess for me..."

The pleasure becomes overwhelming as your back arches and your body trembles. A cry escapes your lips.

Simon grins at the overstimulation. "what it baby, use your words"

"shh...you're being so good....we're almost gone, be a good girl"

He plants his mouth over yours, drowning out your moans, the sound driving him crazy.

"you can take it"

You both tremble as you ride out your orgasm at the sime time, Simon pulling out in time.

He collapsed next to you, a hand around your waist. "such a good girl for me" He praises as he unties your wrists, kissing them.

"You okay, luv?" he pants

You nod your head, catching your breath as well.

The fireworks and loud cheering had died down, the only sound being the your guys's labored pants and the crickets outside, accompanied by the occasional boom of a firework in the distance.

Simon holds you close to him, littering your skin with gentle, caring kisses. His eyes lock onto yours. "i love you, YN"

You look at him with meaningful eyes. "i love you, Si."

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just-mary-ann · 4 months ago

Text

It's 1 am at my place, but I finally finished it! IT'S SHOWTIME BABY!

Harlequin AU by @tadc-harlequin-au

Previous chapters here

The 6th part of

Lilac

⚠️WARNING⚠️ suggestive

______________________________________

Lilac stood majestically in the mansion's doorway. Caine was so shocked that he dropped the sword. His vision began to blur.

"This is bad, bad, bad!" Ragatha took a step back.

Jax twitched his ears in surprise.

"Why are you all so scared?" he broke the silence. "It's just Pomni."

"Oh ho ho. I'm not Pomni, tiny bunny," Lilac made a leap, spun like a ballerina in the air, and landed in a curtsy in front of the mansion's residents. "My name is Lilac," she raised her head, her purple eye sparkling. "The Performer Harlequin," she straightened up, clasped her hands together, and smiled sweetly. "And I am also Caine's lover."

"What did she say?" Caine's vision was still blurry. He looked around for Lilac. When his gaze focused, he pointed at her and shouted, "LIES! SHE'S NOT MY LOVER!"

"Oh, has Mr. Puppetmaster already forgotten how his hand was under my skirt?" Lilac giggled mockingly.

Caine blushed. He was trying to think quickly.

"Awkward," Z whispered to Gangle.

"Caine, I think you need to explain why our dear Harlequin is in such a strange form," Kingr helped Caine to focus.

"Right. Ahem." Caine approached and placed his hand on Lilac's shoulder. As soon as he did, she hugged him around the waist. This made the Puppetmaster freeze. "Uh... this is Lilac. Pomni's second personality. A couple of weeks ago, Pomni's character block short-circuited, and her personality split into two parts: the Combat and the Performer. They sometimes switch places," he mumbled the last part. "But I was promised that I wouldn't see you for a long time."

"Oh, don't be such a grump," Lilac waved her hand. "Pomni herself asked me to come out."

"HOHOHO! SHE WOULDN'T..." Caine began to protest, but Lilac silenced him. How?

She placed her hand on his lower jaw. Her lips brushed against his teeth for just a moment, but it was enough for Caine to straighten up and become stunned.

"But she would. And she did. You're all mine for a little while. Of course, I won't cross the line she set." Lilac ran her hand across Caine's head, making him look at her. "But I'm curious how long she'll let me balance on the edge of what's allowed."

Caine was trembling, either from anger or bliss. Lilac's touches were so gentle and pleasant that he wanted to drown in them...

"WHAT AM I EVEN THINKING ABOUT?" Caine pulled Lilac's hands off himself. "Give control back to Pomni. Now."

"Mr Puppetmaster. I can't." Lilac clasped her hands behind her back and swayed from side to side. "Our dear Combat Harlequin is well aware of my actions and is currently watching my every move."

Lilac closed her eyes for a few seconds, and when she opened them, it was Pomni who was back in control. Her elegant posture immediately shifted to a more combative stance.

"And that is why you should have given me the sword willingly. Now suffer with this fucking nympho! Ha!"

Pomni turned back into Lilac. She smiled sweetly and rushed toward Caine with open arms. The Puppetmaster teleported behind Kingr.

"First the Moon, and now this? You truly are affectionate, my friend."

"Kingr, you're not helping!" Caine's eyes widened.

Jax had been holding back laughter all this time. But eventually, he couldn't contain it anymore and burst into loud laughter.

"Pomni's now a prim and proper girl! Haha! Hey, ballerina! Dance for us!"

Lilac took these words literally. So, she assumed a ballerina's stance, and just as her hand rose into the air, Caine grabbed her.

"No, no, no, no. You're not going to dance. No, no, no." Repeating "no" over and over, Caine dragged Lilac into the mansion.

The mansion's residents watched them go.

"He's definitely..." Jax began.

"JAX!" Ragatha smacked him.

Meanwhile, Caine pulled Lilac into his office and closed the door behind him.

"Pomni. I know you can hear me! I know it!" He approached Lilac.

"Oh yes, Caine, I can hear you." Lilac clasped her hands together and bent one leg, then theatrically fluttered her eyelashes. "I’m here, my love. Let’s merge into a beautiful dance that embodies our feelings."

Caine was nauseated by such words. The Puppetmaster moved close to the Harlequin and stared into her sly eyes.

"What do you want?"

"You know what." Lilac ran her fingers across Caine's chest and slid her hand over his shoulder under his shirt. "Maybe..." She placed a finger on her lips. "You'll just give me what I want, and we'll go our separate ways?"

Caine's thoughts were muddled. He exhaled and placed a hand on the back of the Harlequin's neck.

"I'll give you this in advance, and you'll disappear. Understood?"

"Give what?" Lilac was genuinely surprised.

Caine placed one hand behind his back and pressed on Lilac's neck with the other. He kissed her. He expected her to respond, but instead, she seemed shocked. At some point, she wrapped her arms around his neck and closed her eyes. In that moment, Caine felt a change in the Harlequin's body. It was as if her movements and gentle breaths became harsher. The Puppetmaster decided to take a risk and wrapped his free hand around her waist. Their tongues intertwined in that dance of feelings and emotions she had mentioned earlier. But as soon as the kiss ended, the Harlequin whispered with only her lips.

"Sword..."

"Word?" Caine didn't catch it.

"SHE WANTED MY SWORD BACK! CHEATER!" Pomni yelled furiously.

She shook Caine by the shoulders so hard that if Caine had been a simpler puppet, he would have fallen apart.

"Pomni!" He stopped her. "By the middle of it, it was already you, not Lilac!"

"So what? You wanted to kiss her! If it weren't for the spot on the back of my neck, I would have..." Pomni suddenly fell silent. She realized she had said too much.

"What did you say? A spot on the back of your neck?" Caine casually moved to stand behind Pomni.

"N-nothing! I didn't say anything!" Pomni turned away.

"Is it perhaps this spot?" Caine lightly ran his finger over the place where the neck meets the head.

Pomni gasped sharply and covered her mouth with her hands. Caine smirked.

"Could it be that our dear Combat Harlequin has a weakness?" His hot breath scorched her neck.

"Caine. If you press too hard..." Another unintelligible sound escaped her throat. It was a reaction to how the Puppetmaster running his finger along her neck. "Lilac and I will..."

Pomni's legs were giving way. How, and more importantly, from where did she have a weak spot?

"What will you two do? Kiss me to death?" Caine whispered sultrily into Pomni's ear. He took her hand with his free hand and kissed it.

"Caine..." Pomni couldn't take it anymore. "IF YOU PRESS TOO HARD, THAT NYMPHO AND I WILL SWITCH PLACES!"

Caine's eyes widened instantly, and he backed away, raising his hands.

"That's better." Pomni glared at Caine and headed for the couch.

The Harlequin flopped down on the couch and covered her face with her hands.

"Just take these rags off me."

Only now Caine realize that Pomni was still in Lilac's clothes. He walked over to her and sat in the chair next to her.

"What's taking you so long? Don't you want to touch this body? Don't you burn with desire every time these hands caress you? Isn't that what you want?" Pomni raised her hands in the air.

"Pomni." Caine looked straight at her. "What am I to you?"

"What do you mean?" The Harlequin sat up and crossed her legs in a lotus position.

"We've been sleeping together for several weeks now. You let me kiss you, touch you, look at you." Caine counted on his fingers. "But we never crossed the line. Whenever I start hinting at something more, you begin to back off."

"Pff. That's nothing." She waved her hand dismissively.

"When I almost slept with Lilac, you were furious." Caine stated with absolute seriousness.

Pomni was taken aback. Her gaze darted from Caine to the window and back again.

"Well, yeah!" The Harlequin found the strength to say. "It's my body. I won't let just anyone stick anything into me!"

"Pomni!" Caine clenched his fists. "Am I just anyone?"

"I meant..." Pomni had to think quickly. "I meant, why would my lover be having fun with someone else? By the way, I was first!"

Caine was stunned, then a smile spread across his face.

"I'm your lover?"

Pomni blushed.

"D-don't smile like that! It just slipped out! I wasn't even thinking about my words!"

The Puppeteer moved to sit next to the Harlequin on the couch. He hugged her and twirled a strand of her hair around his finger.

"I understand that these feelings are new to you. But they're new to me too. Let's explore them gradually."

Pomni leaned into his embrace. She wanted to respond. She wanted to say something. But there was a lump in her throat. So they remained lying on the couch in the Puppetmaster's office... until there was a knock on the door.

"Caine! Where should I leave Pomni's sword?" Ragatha's voice came from the other side of the door.

"I'll go get your weapon. You rest." Caine kissed Pomni on the forehead and walked to the door.

The Harlequin rolled onto her side. Her gaze became hazy. It seemed she had once again retreated into her subconscious.

TO BE CONTINUED

#tadc #the amazing digital circus #showtime ship #showtime tadc #pomni x caine #fanfic #harlequin au #tadc harlequin au #tadc showtime fic #tadc showtime

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msookyspooky · 1 year ago

Text

Fours a Franchise

Part 9

Wordcount: 8,831

"This the place?" You mumbled as you and Randy drove down an old back road near Woodsboro you never even heard of. You weren't at Woodsboro long but you still couldn't believe you had never even heard this old road existed. Especially on all those rides or hangouts years ago!...Well...That is, before Billy and Stu went crazy on everyone. It was definitely off the beaten path with tree lines on either side of the road and no houses.

"Looks like it." Randy replied as he pulled up to an old but long gravel driveway where cars as far as the eye could see lined the yard and a big barn with a few smaller barns surrounding it. Teens coming and going. A 'Stab-a-Thon' banner on the biggest barn with lights and Stab props all over the place.

"Holy shit." You mouthed out as he pulled up and parked in an open area where you couldn't be blocked in. Every teen in Woodsboro had to be here right now!

He shut the car off and told you with a slight smirk. "Yeah, too bad the owners were alive and lived here when we were teens or else parties would've definitely been happening here in the 90's." He lost the smirk and sighed. "Sure, we're gonna do this?"

You huffed, smacking your hands in your lap. "I didn't want to! You're the one that insisted we come here!-"

"Okay, okay!" He exclaimed with a huff. "Alright, we stick together. We find Kirby. We get out...Seems simple enough, right?"

"...And what if Kirby IS the killer? Then what?"

Randy cringed with a shrug. "Well...Wouldn't be the first time someone close to us was the killer. Regardless, we gotta try. Besides I have the feeling we'd be dead at the house if we stayed and this was our only real option anyway."

"Yeah, what was that noise anyways? Could've been a racoon but...Still...I really think we just need to go to the police station and wait it out or say fuck it and drive endlessly tonight!...Something is off about tonight.... It's the final act..."

Randy looked at you with wide eyes and mumbled. "You feel it too? That impending doom feeling?"

"Yeah, I do which is even more of a reason to not fuck around. This shit ends tonight." You checked the bullets in Dewey's revolver he gifted you, making sure it was fully loaded.

Randy whistled. "Okay, glad you're on my team... Time to kick some ass." He gave with a wag of his brows.

You didn't feel good about that but nodded in agreement before you both got out of the car. Looking to hear the music, the dark woods surrounding the lot, the creepy abandoned barns turned Stab fan-mania, the isolation of all the scattered vehicles. You sucked in a shaky breath, gun loaded on your leg and knife in your pocket. It felt like the perfect storm for disaster.

You heard a pop rock type of song blaring and a big bloody photo backdrop as well as red lights inside and Ghostface masks galore.

Randy came up beside you. "Jesus, these kids really went all out. Like fucking Christmas for Horror nerds...Kind of jealous I never thought of this." You slowly turned, giving him a disbelieving look as he huffed out. "What?...This is awesome! You gotta admit it."

You sighed, shaking your head and started moving. A few kids whispered as they saw you but other than that they were too involved in their red cups and the party to give a shit. You and Randy walked around the barn before going in.

"See her?" You whispered.

Randy tsked with a deadpan expression your way. "If I saw her, YN, I'd say it...No, she's inside."

"Oh fine, well let's just go-" You turned and jumped with a yelp, grabbing for the knife in your pocket as another person gasped and stepped back. You groaned and put your knife away when you saw it was Gale.

"Goddamn, what the hell is wrong with you?" Gale huffed out, flipping her hair behind her shoulder.

"What the hell is wrong with me- What is wrong with you?! Sneaking up on us like that!"

Gale scoffed. "Hey, I was going my way and you're in my way. Move it-" She shoved past you both.

"So you're gonna do this alone, huh?" You threw out your arms. "Just stalking around, planting cameras and trying to get your next big gig?"

Gale stopped and turned back to you, shoulders square. "Listen here, YN. I am...I was..." She struggled to get it out. "I miscalculated in my first book, okay?! And I should have pulled out of the court deal, okay, I'll admit it! I was wrong." She leaned forward, whispering harshly to you. "...But I am making sure I get it right this time."

You scowled and shook your head. "Gale...This isn't the way to do it. This is a bad idea and you know it...You're gonna get yourself killed over fame." She turned and you yelled after her. "You're not invincible, Gale! IN FACT, you're being stupid!"

She flipped you both off, putting on a mask and going in.

Randy rolled his eyes. "Forget her. We'll just have to drag her out dead or alive; cavalry to the fucking rescue."

You sighed but nodded. Gale was out of your control now. "Okay...But you better keep that attitude with Kirby too. If she doesn't come with us; we leave regardless. Like, 10 minutes from now max; we get in that car and we drive either out of town. Laws be damned or go to the police station and stay there till sunrise."

He nodded as you both finally walked inside. The music was loud and kids were dancing or talking. It wasn't long before you were spotted by none other than Charlie and Robbie as they handed you both red cups.

Charlie smiled. "YN! Randy!...I see you found our little shindig. Whaddya think?"

Robbie put an arm around Randy with that geadset on blinking in Randy's face."Isn't it perfect?"

Randy glared at him and moved away from Robbie. "Great, kid. It's a pretty decent party for an old timer like me."

Robbie tilted his head with a chuckle. "Oh come on, we were just joking!...How uh...How did you find this anyways? Just curious."

"We're looking for Kirby. Have you seen her?" You cut him off.

They shook their heads with goofy looks on their faces and you knew they were lying. Just not wanting Kirby to leave for whatever reason.

You grabbed Randy, shoving your cup on the table and leaving. "Come on, Randy."

"Yeah, let's go. Wouldn't wanna cramp you kids' style or anything!" Randy jeered over his shoulder before mumbling. "Little assholes."

He went to drink and you smacked the cup outta his hand. "DON'T. I don't trust them one bit not to drug us or something."

His eyes widened in realization. "Holy shit...You actually knew a horror rule before I did! I feel like you need a golden star sticker on your forehead or something." He joked with a smirk.

"...Let's just try and spot Kirby." You huffed, both of you reaching the corner of the barn as you felt anxiety hitting. The noise, crowd, everyone in a Ghostface mask. You felt like a caged animal and wanted OUT. "Ray, can't you call her or something?!"

"I don't have her number."

"Look her up on facebook or something! Message her."

Randy looked at you with wide eyes. "Damn smarty pants, got it!" He went to get his phone and furiously felt his pockets. "Fuck."

"What?"

"My phone's missing!"

"Did you leave it in the car??"

"No, negative. I definitely had it when we walked in. Shit."

You nodded and got your phone out. "Alright, let's not panic. I'll just call it. If you got it on silent, I swear to God-" You dialed Randy's number, seeing if you could hear it but couldn't over everyone talking and the music.

Randy ran a hand over his hair. "YN, we gotta find it! I don't have a password or anything and my wife is on there! What if the killer gets it and-"

You put a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, okay, breathe. It'll be alright...We'll find it."

"Find what?"

You both turn to see Kirby. A red cup in hand as she smiled. "About time you guys made it here. I was beginning to think you all were gonna stay home."

You breathed a sigh of relief. "Kirby, we came here to get you."

She came closer with an odd look. "Me? Why?"

Randy huffed. "Why? Kid, because this is act 3. The killers are gonna strike at this party and you need to get out of here."

She rolled her lips but you chimed in as you told her. "I'm so serious, Kirby. We've been through this 3 times now...Multiple people in your circle or ours are dying tonight especially at this party. Just please, let's go. We can all go back home, you can stay with Jill or go to the police station with us but we need to get the fuck out of here."

She stared a moment, seeing how serious you both were before nodding. You smiled in relief as she nodded. "Okay...Okay, whatever. This party is lame anyways and the movie hasn't even started. Besides, fucking Trevor won't leave me alone. He keeps hounding me for info on Jill."

"Stay away from him." Randy warned. "He is my number one suspect other than either someone on Dewey's police force or Charlie and Robbie."

Kirby smirked. "So, four contenders then?" You all went to walk.

"Looks like it. One problem." You told her. "Randy dropped his phone somewhere in the barn...I say he just leaves it and gets it shut off by the phone company or something." You grumbled.

Randy huffed with an eyeroll. "I will IF I can't find it. 5 minutes of searching and then we'll go."

Kirby nodded. "I can help with that."

They walked ahead of you and you gasped when someone's shoulder clipped yours. You both locked eyes on each other, time slowing down as you saw those impossibly dark eyes widen in surprise as he saw you. He had on a leather jacket and his hair back a bit like what he had in High School. He instantly grabbed you and dragged you close to him, back facing Randy as he hissed out. "You dumbass, what the fuck are you doing here?!"

You spat out low with the same outrage on your face as well. "Firstly dickhead, what the fuck are you doing here?! Is Stu-"

"Shh! Yes, now get out! We have a suspect and we're watching him and we don't need you getting in the goddamn way."

"Who?"

Billy exhaled through his nostril, lips in a thin line. "...Not here. I don't want to say it here where he's probably got a rat listening in."

"I can't leave Randy!"

"It'll only take a moment! As long as Meek Geek stays in the center of the barn with that girl there; he's fine."

You looked back to see him and Kirby talking while looking. In the lights where a killer would have to be stupid to attack him. Billy turned so a barn pillar obscured him as you shouted to Randy. "I gotta go find Gale real quick!"

Randy exclaimed. "What?! I'll go-"

"No, stay with Kirby! I'm the most armed, I'll be fine! Be back in 5."

You hated lying but you needed to know this new killer so you could end this before they ended you or someone you cared about. To your surprise, Billy grabbed your jacket sleeve near your wrist to lead you out of the crowd.

Randy threw up his arms in exasperation as you left...His brows furrowed as he caught a glimpse of the man you were with. Realization dawned on him as not only a bit of anger over you lying seeped in but that deep anxious thought that Dewey shoved into his brain earlier...Who was this man you were clearly seeing? Why was it a secret?

✦

Billy took you outside where Stu stood near a barn in the dark, a surprised look on his face as he exclaimed. "Sweetcheeks! Whaddya doing here?!"

Billy finally let go of your sleeve as you told them. "Kirby Reed. Me and Randy came here to get Kirby and get out...We heard something at Randy's house and had to come here."

Stu scoffed with a comical look on his face. "You risked your life for some teenage girl that's probably dead meat anyways?"

You glared. "You don't know that and she's like a little sister to Randy, okay!? Now we're just looking for Randy's phone that somehow fell out of his pocket."

Billy shook his head, arms folded. "Killer did it. Can guarantee it. It's a trap and you idiots are falling for it."

You nod before you swore you saw Gale and ducked, shoving them both to the nearby smaller barn. "I get that but first; We can't talk in the open like this!"

They agreed as you went to a smaller barn where you all were greeted by a teen couple doing it on a hay bale. You blinked in surprise and Stu chuckled.

Billy rolled his eyes and ordered them. "Alright, get out. Go fuck in the car or something."

The teen guy got off the girl. "Or what, asshole? You gonna do something?"

Billy got that deadly smirk on his face and you instantly grabbed the girl and shoved her out as she yelped and tried putting her pants back on. "Get the hell out of here! Now." You demanded, trying to save these stupid kids lives from two serial killers.

The guy still stood tall glaring at Billy like he had a death wish. "Or what? You can't hit me, I'm 17! I'm a minor! I can hit you though-" He reeled his arm back.

The hit never came as he gasped from Stu picked him up by the shirt collar and dragging him with a smirk. Walking him like a dog out the barn as the guy was struggling to keep up.

"Nah, that's just a minor offense, bitch." Before tossing the kid out and seeing him roll a few feet on the grass before shutting the door. You gave him a look, trying not to smirk as he threw his hands up. "What? We're alone now, aren't we?" He shoved a heavy metal container at the door so it would take a harsh shove to open it.

Billy smirked a bit before getting serious again. Looking at your face. His brows furrowed as he pointed at your cheek. "...That from an attack by this new killer?"

You touched the bruise on your face as Stu whistled. "Yeah, babe. Did the killer give you that shiner or do I gotta kick Randy's ass?"

You huffed with an eye roll.. "Please, Ray would never...No, someone's Mom did this; believe it or not. An angry mob of parents formed outside the school today wanting to attack me because where I go, the killer goes. Everyone would be fine if I was dead at this point because to them that means no more kills. No more Final Girl; no more Ghostface. "

Billy huffed. "That's...Damn." He didn't seem to know what to say.

You lightly glared at him. "You should be elated, Billy. Isn't this what you wanted? If I don't die then I have my life ruined. Can't even go outside without someone threatening me."

He faltered, eyes narrowed as he frowned but said nothing. You shook his head and told you. "Let's get to the fucking point. Some kid named Trevor Sheldon is definitely Ghostface. He's been stalking around here, stalking near Randy's house. It's obviously him...Kill him, we'll be home free."

You rolled your eyes. "Not saying he ISN'T the killer but he's not stalking Randy's house. He's stalking the Neighbors; Jill Roberts."

He raised a brow and Stu leaned against a pillar with a perplexed look on his face as he asked. "Jill? Who the hell is that?"

"A teen girl that's friends with Kirby, Charlie, Robbie and that Olivia who got killed. She's apart of this new group that we think might be the targets. Trevor is her ex."

Stu mumbled. "Still Suspicious. It's always the boyfriends." He gave with a smirk.

You hummed a bit. "... Something feels deeper than that. If it is Trevor, he has help...Randy thinks it's Charlie and Robbie; the film nerds that hosted this party. Anyone who hosts a party during the final act is suspicious." You pointed at Stu who grinned.

Stu chuckled. "Guilty. It was a real Scream too, huh baby?"

You lightly glared at him before turning to Billy. "I think we're dealing with a Franchise like Randy says-"

Billy rolled his eyes and interrupted. "Who cares? Just tell us the suspects already."

You huffed but listed on your finger tips. "Trevor Sheldon...Charlie Walker and Robbie Mercer...Judy Hicks."

Stu raised a brow." Judy?...Judy Hicks?...She sounds familiar."

"She apparently went to school with us and now she's a deputy here in Woodsboro. "

Billy huffed in mild amusement. "A cop as the killer? That's a first. But if she knew us in school, she's definitely a suspect. That actress in Hollywood all over again."

"Yeah well, it's 2011. The most outrageous ideas don't seem too crazy anymore and you're right; she has the motivation."

Billy shook his head, going to say something when the barn door opened. You all jumped as you heard someone shove the metal container away with force. Clearly determined to get inside...They went to hide in the barn till whoever kicked it. They knew you were in there and determined to get in. You all got on alert, thinking the killer was ballsy enough to do it. Billy and Stu hid in opposite direction.

...

Time slowed, your heart thumping in your ears as you felt your face twist in horror. The voice made your heart drop to your stomach and a chill ran down your spine...

"Okay, YN. I found my phone so let's go!" Randy scowled as he stood in the doorway. Throwing his arms up with a bewildered look. "What the hell are you doing out here for?"

You swallowed hard, trying to look calm. "Looking for Gale, she's not here...So we can go."

You went to go to the door before asking him with an odd look. "Why the fuck are you practically kicking the door down to get in for anyways? I could've shot you thinking you were the killer!"

Randy gave you an annoyed look before sighing heavily and closing the door behind him as you raised a brow.

You asked. "...What are you doing? We need to leave."

"No, first we need to talk. This place seems safe enough I guess..." He was struggling more than Stu but still putting that metal container in front of the door. Ge stood back up fully and frowned. "I barged in because I'm irked right now, YN...I'm disappointed and pissed and a little hurt, honestly. You're lying to me...Gale's not here and you knew that...You're not looking for Gale, are you?" He folded his arms with a raised brow.

You stared trying so hard to keep your nerves in check. "W-What?" You forced yourself not to look at Billy behind the hay bale and Stu behind the pillar. "Lying?"

"Yeah, lying!...YN..." He sighed again, seeming to dread it himself before gesturing to you with a glare. "Look...I didn't want to bring it up but I'm kind of bothered by it more than I thought. Especially with you lying to me AGAIN at a time like thid!"

"Again?!...What are you talking about, Randy?"

"...Dewey showed me the photo... I know."

"Ph-Photo?" You drew out, genuinely confused but getting a bit nervous.

"Yeah...There's no easy way to say it but apparently, you lied to us a decade ago and you're lying to us now." You felt a sweat break out on your palms and a chill down your back as he continued. "Dewey found a picture of you with two men in your motel room at the crime scene where Neil was staying. Now I told him it's none of our business and it's not! But now he has evidence you went and saw these same men last night...You snuck out while I was gone and lied to me about it."

You barely heard him, your ears were ringing and your body was frozen in place.

"Now, why lie? Especially for a whole decade! Look, if these guys are booty calls or you're in some brother husband poly type of thing or they deal you drugs or something; you don't need to hide it! You could've gotten hurt! I just can't imagine you hiding these guys from us unless they're bad news or you're that scared of how we'd react which kind of sucks. Just...Just tell me the truth."

You swallowed, brain still stuck on the factor that could ruin everything as you mumble, "Dewey...Has evidence?"

"Yeah, he does. No more lying, okay? Just be real with me right now."

"T-T-Theyre my...The ones a mechanic and the other is um a friend-"

Randy gave you a disappointed look. "And you're lying again...I thought it was crazy but...That guy is Dennis Rafkin, isn't he? You hooked up with that actor on Stab 3. He's uncanny in the picture and it would explain why you acted weird watching Scooby Doo the other night."

You couldn't keep a pokerface at that and you knew Stu was probably sweating bullets too...Randy knew too much. What do you do? What do you say?

Randy pouted a bit. "And the other guy? Is he really your mechanic that you keep calling?...Or is that a lie too?" His eyes widen in realization. "...He's hiding in here, isn't he? HEY! HEY, COME OUT! I'M SERIOUS! WE CAN MEET AND GET THIS OVER WITH AND MOVE ON WITH MORE IMPORTANT SHIT AT HAND HERE!" He yelled out so the 'mystery man' could hear.

You shhed him, panicking now. Because Billy and Stu WERE nuts enough to pop out just to kill him. You couldn't contain the panic. "RANDY! What I do is none of anyone's fucking business and...Even though I DIDN'T do that; what if I decided to met a fling out here for some quick bang?!"

"Uuh...BECAUSE THE RULES, STUPID! I have nothing against comfort sex but not right fucking now when a killer is on the loose! My God, what if he's the killer? Ever think of that? You making us worry by getting some in the barn with a potential suspect?...I DON'T CARE IF YOU HEAR IT BY THE WAY, BUDDY! You're a SUSPECT!!" He yelled out with a sneer.

"Randy, just...Stop! Okay, you have your life here in Woodsboro and I have mine. I'm sorry for lying and I'll tell you one day but not right now...But no one is here! I didn't meet a guy here, damn it!" You couldn't help getting angry out of blind panic taking over you. You wanted him out of this barn..NOW. "Goddamn it, let's just go, okay?! We can argue in the safety of the car."

Randy glared before giving a condescending smirk. "Okay, FINE! Even though you're lying again and I SAW you walk out here with him! God, do you think I'm dumb or-" He turned before he tripped over a pitchfork on the ground. You saw it was near Stu who tried to move away but hit a lantern hanging off the pillar. Randy saw him, huffing in anger, clearly thinking he was just some guy or Dennis till his eyes traveled up with Stu having nowhere to go.

You froze...You saw it on Randy's face. 'Dennis' with the Shaggy voice and long hair or wig or whatever could be dismissed...But...Stu's hair, clothing style, his looks...Up close...Randy knew. He knew that wasn't 'Dennis' or just some guy and you felt like your heart was just gonna stop beating.

You all just stood there. Wide eyed, staring at each other. Everyone held their breath as the worst possible thing other than death could happen...You finally all got caught. Billy and Stu tried to hide but it was too late. You all were so careful for so long but you were finally caught. Not only that, but you were caught by an original survivor to Woodsboro. A guy that knew Stu and Billy from childhood practically ... Your mind was racing.

"Oh fuck...fuck...No fucking way-" He mumbled in shock.

You tried stammering out. "I-I-It's Dennis that actor, okay?! You were right, Randy! You were right! I'm sorry!-" You were babbling now, trying to find a way to fix this.

Randy's eyes were saucer plates. Stu just HAD to be Stu. Giving a cringe of a grin. His mannerisms very very Stu Macher. His smile, his teeth, his facial expression...Even without talking; Randy knew.

Stu spoke in that cheesy fake Australian accent, moving forward to try and defuse the situation. "Hey there, mate. Just wait a-" His knee hit the pillar as he moved and hissed out in his normal voice. "Ow, shit man!"

Randy's face widened in horror as he yelled, "OH FUCK!!" Going to run to the door when Stu grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back. Shoving him against the pillar he hid at.

Stu had a sadistic smirk on his face as he told him. "Hold on there, Ray! Let's chat, for old times sakes, pal! It's been 15 years, man." While shoving Randy against the pillar while Billy came out of hiding with a dark look in his eyes.

You instantly whipped your gun out, pointing at Stu as your hand shook with adrenaline. "Let him go! NOW!"

Randy looked white as a ghost when he heard the other voice behind Stu. "He saw our faces, he knows we're alive, I say we have no choice now but to kill him." Billy leered before smirking. "This was a long time coming, Randy. You got lucky with the first shot I gave you...My mistake, kid." As he got his knife out of his jean pocket, twirling the hunting knife in his hand like an expert at this point.

You aimed your gun at Billy as he looked offended before a dark look crossed his face. "You got one pass at Windsor, you aren't getting that pass ever again YN!"

"Yeah? And you're not making threats on our lives, Billy!" You spat out his name accidentally. Cursing under your breath realizing it was all far too late to hide now. You glared right back at him and yelled in a more urgent voice at Stu. "Goddamn it, I said drop him! NOW, Stu!! DROP HIM OR ELSE I SHOOT AND DRAW A LOT OF ATTENTION TO US!"

Stu let him go with a grin, literally dropping Randy like a sack of potatoes and stepping away. Stu and Billy begrudgingly stood back.

Randy stood up, fear and shock on his face as you got closer to him. "Ray...Randy, listen to me." You went to touch his shoulder and he jerked away from you in outrage...Hurt, anger, betrayal, shock all written on his face.

"You..." He shook his head still trying to process all this.

"Ray...Randy, come on. They won't hurt you if I'm here, let's just talk, okay? It's okay!" You tried reasoning. Whether to yourself or him was debatable.

"You...You fucking lied. All these years...All these years you've been fucking lying to everyone!" He growled out with a heavy voice as he backed away, grabbing the nearby pitchfork on the ground as a weapon. "All this time, you were hiding them! All this fucking time!"

Billy and Stu seemed amused by this. Their sadism to this made you grit your teeth as you told Randy, your voice heavy as well. "Randy, I didn't! I swear!"

"Then what the fuck is this?!...Oh my God...Oh my fucking God-" He looked faint, sick, like the worst news he could ever hear was told to him and punched him in the gut with the hurt of it all. That his closest friend was what everyone said she was, that she lied.

"...All this time. All this fucking time." He mumbled, covering his mouth with wide eyes while looking away.

"Randy-"

"And...At Hollywood...The photo was them! The other night was them!...Windsor? Oh Jesus Christ...Jesus Chrriisstt!" He looked ready to have a breakdown as he yelled it out.

You felt burning in your throat as you softly told him. "Randy...No. Not Windsor."

He shook his head with a pained look and wide eyes. "And when we dated...A-And I thought your feelings were occupied with Derek and that's why you seemed distant and I wanted to just be friends when really...I was right and your feelings were for....Oh, God I think I'm gonna be sick." He clutched his stomach supporting his weight on the pitchfork. Utter shock and devastation on his face.

"Ray, just calm down a second-"

He jerked around to yell at you. "Don't tell me to be calm about this, YN! You've been lying for 15 fucking years! Our whole 'friendship' you hid this from me and you want me to be calm?! You've been lying since the beginning!"

"It has NOT been 15 years!" You desperately yelled back.

"The hell it hasn't!" His voice was deeper than normal, so distraught over the information bombarding him...He looked up at you with a devastated glare. "...You were in on it, weren't you? Gale was right...You helped them. You..You helped kill our friends." I growled out, teeth geitted and pain on his face.

"No, no listen!" You held up a hand with wide eyes and a deep frown on your face. Feeling like you might cry with your eyes burning. "I did not lie at Woodsboro, okay? I swear to God! I swear on my life, on anything, I did not lie to you about Woodsboro! I didn't kill our friends! I didn't help them!...Randy, you know me. Please, you know me." You felt your voice cracking, tears in your eyes over how one of the few people you had in life was looking at you now.

He huffed and shook his head, putting a hand over his mouth before narrowing his eyes. "Oh, okay...The liar claims she didn't help them. So when EXACTLY did you start hiding the fact YOUR FRIENDS MURDERERS ARE ALIVE?!" He shouted.

Stu huffed. "So dramatic-"

"STOP!" You screamed at him behind your shoulder, gun still in hand as he and Billy looked a bit shocked at that. "Can't you give me the most basic human decency of letting me talk to him without your smartass remarks?! Just this once?!" You felt the tears starting to form in your eyes as you felt backed in a corner.

They both stared in surprise but said nothing. Faces souring as you turned back to Randy.

Randy gritted his teeth and forced it out again. "How...Long?"

You stared at Randy, cringing inwardly at the number you had to say. "...10 years."

"...10 freaking years." He repeated in disbelief huffing with his brows up and a bitter smirk on his face.

You looked down with a hard swallow and a frown. "...Technically, 13...If...We're counting how long I knew they were alive..."

He threw up his arm and walked away from you with the pitchfork in one hand and a hand over his head. Close to breaking down. "Wowww...Fucking wow."

"I tried telling you at Windsor but you didn't believe me! I tried to fucking tell you all!"

Randy shook his head. "Oh, so I didn't believe you one time and you just decide to never mention it again?!...And they're here, and you're meeting up with them, and talking to them!"

You rushed over to him to talk to him closer, keeping a foot of distance no matter how much you wanted to hug him and beg him for forgiveness as your best friend. "Listen to me Randy. When you confessed to me at Windsor behind the building, you know, before you were attacked? I wasn't lying! I was attacked by them and I wanted them caught!...But...After that night, Stu helped me and Billy left and things just...Changed."

He shook his head with scrunched brows. "W-What? That doesn't even make any-" His face fell in realization as he pointed at you. "...It was them, wasn't it? Tim and James were fucking Billy Loomis and Stu Macher; you were fighting them on that stage and they killed Derek and-"

"No!...No. " You held up a hand trying so hard to tell the truth while keeping him from exploding. "Mickey and Halie and Billy's Mom killed that couple at the theater and Cici and Derek, Mrs. Loomis attacked you and me, Halie killed Louis and Murphy. Billy and Stu killed no one that time-"

Randy's face contorted in an outraged smile that faded as soon as it came. "OH! Oh, so they got a pass then, huh? He was probably helping his fucking Mom!"

"Randy." Billy growled out his name in warning as Randy stiffened and you could see the fear he had for Billy and Stu clear as day. Billy continued, taking a few steps forward with a menacing glare. "...I wasn't involved with helping my Mom. She didn't even know I was alive. Just so we don't have a damn blood bath here to rival Texas Chainsaw Massacre; keep my Mom's name out of your fucking mouth."

You quickly ignored Billy, urgently telling Randy. "They didn't kill anyone at Windsor and they let us go. I couldn't call the cops after that!"

Randy glared back at you. "No, you let them go and called Gale a liar! All because they didn't kill anyone THAT time?...Is that what you're telling me right now?"

"Because Gale was a liar! I didn't help them, okay?! I NEVER helped them kill! I had to let them go. Ray, you know how dangerous they are!"

Billy and Stu nodded with smirks, not seeming too empathetic of this situation. Taking your comment as a compliment while watching.

You continued. "So, why would I risk getting killed to get them caught? They were long gone, Police would have never found them, they already almost assaulted me behind stage and Gale was itching to get leverage to put me away-"

"So, you did this for yourself? Is that it? Just so you won't get caught up in a scandal?" He had disgust and anger on his face.

"No!" You shook your head and felt your heart shatter. "How can you fucking say that? Do you have any idea what I did after I saw you getting wheeled away in that ambulance?... Do you know I took a knife and hunted them down and tried to kill them because I thought they were the ones to do that to you? I did this for us, Ray! You were in a coma on life support in the hospital. I wasn't risking getting the police involved so they could get revenge by sneaking into the hospital and taking you from me! I'd never forgive myself!" You felt tears pricking your eyes and slowly rolling down your face as he stared at you.

Randy seemed hurt by that, faltering with a frown before shaking his head with a glare once more. "Okay...So, you lied and acted like they didn't exist. You let me and Dewey believe that too...You hid their existence from us since Windsor."

"...Yes." You shook your head, voice heavy. "Okay, yes! I did!...I'm so sorry. I thought I was doing the right thing, I'm sorry!"

You caught a glimpse of their expression by accident as Randy kept pacing and you turned your head to follow him...Seeing you cry made Stu look..Surprised and even Billy seemed to have a poker face but his brows furrowed.

"So, how long have you been in contact, huh? Because you LOOK like you're in a fucking relationship with them like everyone said you were-"

"STOP." You snapped, voice cracking. "I am NOT with them, okay?! Do you think I'd do that?! What Gale said was a lie! I was not in a relationship with them behind Sid or Tatum's back at Woodsboro and I was trying to get them caught at Windsor when I realized they were alive."

Randy threw up his hands. Both of you were so heated its like Billy and Stu weren't there as Randy demanded. "So what is it? Why? Why are you talking to two guys that killed your best friends and tried to kill you?"

"I...Stu was persistent after not wanting to kill me after Windsor and...I...I needed the company, okay? Is that what you want to hear?. After Gale did what she did, I only saw you and Dewey here and there with this GIANT secret I hid to protect you both! Stu saw the worst parts of me and didn't care...I needed that after the fucking Court case and he forced his way into my life anyways! I didn't have much of a choice so might as well make the best of it. And Billy? He didn't come after me anymore after Windsor so we said fuck it and called a truce. That's all! I haven't seen either one in over a decade, Randy! Not until the last night or two!"

"Hold on! 10 years?...Windsor wasn't 10 years ago...But that photo sure was." He pointed an accusing finger your way and you deflated.

You sniffed and drew out. "...We all...They stayed with me in Hollywood and we helped take down Roman and Neil."

"Are you fucking kidding me?...Listen here, YN. Maybe you see some bullshit 'my hero' crap towards them for killing James who was abusing you and that probably was the only semi decent thing they ever did or maybe Stu just whispered the right bullshit in your ear and Billy lied through his teeth to you but they are MURDERERS. They killed your best friends! Sidney...They killed her in front of you. They tried to sexually assault you in the theater, at least, that's what you told me. They tried to kill you AGAIN. They made me hate you for 2 years till I saw you at Windsor but we still won't get our senior year back we could have had together because I couldn't rationalize how you could save Billy fucking Loomis over her... They took Dewey's little sister away, dangled her in the garage like a bloody piece of meat on a hook. They ruined our FUCKING LIVES, YN!!" He screeched, voice cracking as he hung his head again and leaned against the pillar.

You frowned, lip quivering. "Randy, I-I know that. I swear not a day goes by that I don't think it but it was better to let them go and let them get caught on their own. Okay, there were no attacks from them after that because of what I did! I haven't talked to them in a decade till I came back here and these new murders happened...They're not involved."

"That's what you think-"

"No, I know. I know for a fact because..."

He jerked and glared up at you with tears still in his eyes. "...WHAT?"

You sucked in a shaky breath. "...Because...At Hollywood...The reason Neil targeted us was because he knew. He knew I let them go at Windsor and he wanted revenge. That was the entire reason he attacked us...It's why they were staying in my motel. They had ample opportunity to kill me but didn't and vice versa...We made a pact to kill any new Ghostface killers if they showed up since then for our own safety so the secret doesn't get out."

"...And how did he know?" Randy demanded, still not looking at you.

"What?" You asked with a confused face.

"Where was his evidence? HOW did he know that they were alive and you were hiding them, YN?"

"I-I don't-"

"Don't lie to me." He growled out before you heard the tremor in his voice. "Don't...Lie."

You almost lied but the more you lied, the more you dug a hole. You wanted to tell him everything and pray one day he'd understand...So you were. There was no going back now.

"...Because he tracked down Stu through Roman...And then me through Stu because...Because Stu was staying at my house and he saw it." You gave, forcing it out. "He found me through following Stu. That's how he found out where I lived."

Randy slammed his hand against the pillar with enough force to break his wrist or hand. He quickly tried rushing away to the door and you chased after him. "Ray, please!"

"DON'T!" He yelled, shoulders stiff. "Don't fucking call me that."

You felt your heart sink so low as you shook. Terrified at what he was about to say before a voice ran out behind you.

"Or what, RAY?" Stu jeered finally after probably struggling to stay quiet. Jead tilted with his brows raised. Randy slowly looked over his shoulder and clenched his fist as Stu continued with a smirk. "It's true. I was at her house."

You looked at Stu with you knew were tears streaming down your face, silently begging him not to lie and build up something that wasn't there just to get a reaction.

Stu stared back at you before sighing and saying. "...And nothing happened. YN was beyond generous and probably because she was scared to death of me hurting her or killing you and Dewey. I kind of threatened her if she didn't let me crash once in a while...You don't know the full story, man. She wasn't helping us. She was trying to keep you and herself from getting killed." Randy glared at him as he continued. "Man, just...Don't take this out on her. I twisted her arm behind her back, okay? She didn't have a choice. She didn't have choice in Ohio, she didn't have a choice in between that and Hollywood...The only choice she had was after Hollywood and she didn't call me for 10 freaking years."

Randy sneered at him. "Yeah?...She still lied. She hid this for years, doesn't matter the years, it was years..." He looked at you. Blue eyes were boring into you even in the dim lighting of the barn. "...I trusted you all these years. We all did! I defended you for years just to find out there was truth to it. Even if Gale wasn't completely accurate, she had it right...You lied about everything..." He looked away with a pained expression. "We're done."

You stared, feeling something in you break. "...What?"

"We're done. I don't want you in my life after this...I don't want you near my kids...If you can hide this, I just...I don't know who you are anymore. I can't trust you. I can't even trust that what your saying is true...You're selfish YN. You did this to save yourself. "

You stared in shock, he went to leave and to your even greater shock, you heard Billy scoff loudly.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Randy looked back with his shoulders squared as Billy stepped forward. If anything, he was more intimidating now then as a teen as he berated Randy on your behalf which had you...Lost for words. Stu was surprising but this was shocking to say the least.

"This...Woman has saved your cowardly ass and Doofus and Reporter Barbie's lives more times than any of you fucking dunderheads could've ever done! You all think you'd be alive if it wasn't for her?!" He stood beside you, jaw clenched as he pointed at you. "This crazy bitch threatened me with a knife when she thought I had attacked you. Okay, she hunted us down to threaten us. US and she didn't care. THAT is the type of girl she is...All for you. She would defend any of you! She's only risking her life at this fucking barn party for you, you dipshit! She would probably jump in front of a train if it meant saving you or your kids, she has risked her life so many times to save yours and your gonna throw her aside because she lied trying to save your ass?"

You were shocked...Completely shocked of all the people, Billy was defending you...He was actually defending you.

Randy turned around fully. Rage on his face as his jaw ticked and his lips formed a thin line.

Billy stared him down, continuing after releasing a huff. "Ya know what?...She deserves better than you, better than Sheriff Riley as scary as that title is, definitely better than that twat Gale...She deserves better. I couldn't be so goddamn lucky to have someone like her in my ballpark like she is for you...What?" Billy gave a disbelieving smirk. "Was Sidney that worth it? Huh? She didn't even know you existed, Geek! You were a lost puppy following her around. The loser she didn't even pay attention to! She talked to you because she felt sorry for you. Do you think she'd hang onto your death like you have her's? HUH?!" Billy demanded. "Tossing a friendship with this one that for whatever reason actually interacts with you for some dead chick that didn't know you existed?! Sidney wasn't your best friend, she was the girl you were never gonna have and you fucking know it! Trust me...I had that. Wasn't that special."

Stu chimed in.."No shit, Sid was hot but she wasn't all that...Dumping YN? Now, you need your head examined for that one."

"Shut the fuck up...Shut the fuck up, Loomis. Both of you. You don't get to talk about what happened. You ruined our lives, you sick fucks." Randy hissed out in both rage and fear.

You were still shocked, trying to process all this. You should be snapping at Billy and Stu but you were too shocked to do so.

Stu grinned darkly as Billy snickered and told him. "Make me, Geek. Aww...Boo hoo. She's dead and I gave you a bullet wound which is the only interesting thing about you. Get over it. Because I'm here...And she's not. And it's staying that way."

Randy sneered at Billy. "I have a wife I adore, okay? This has nothing to do with Sidney or Highschool drama bullshit. This has everything to do with you being an annoying thorn in my side and ruining Dewey and YN's lives! She can't even live life because of you and Dewey lost his baby sister!"

Billy huffed. "Tough. Because ya know what? I don't care...You all deserved it." Billy had that dark, challenging look in his eyes and you knew he was baiting Randy.

You jumped. Randy charged at Billy. All those years of rage and hurt building up as he raised the pitchfork that Billy easily swatted aside and shoved Randy against the pillar. Knife at his throat as Stu quickly cornered him as well. You snapped out of it, cocking the hammer back and pressing the gun at Billy. "Let him go! He didn't mean it!"

Billy raised his brows at Randy who jerked and struggled against him in rage. "Deja vu, huh? You're a lot stronger than you were at the lockers that day." He gritted out as he shoved Randy harder. Making him hit his head and falter a moment.

Stu laughed a bit. "Well shit...Look who's balls finally dropped."

Billy chuckled as well, a dark look in his eyes. "Yeah...Too bad it was at the wrong time."

"LET HIM GO OR I SHOOT!"

Billy gave you an annoyed glare. "You're gonna shoot me over him? The guy that's tossing you aside?"

"He's my best friend, Billy! You don't need to like me, I know you don't. But if you respect me, even as an enemy...You'll let him go...Please...Please...If you have any respect for me at all." You felt your resolve finally crack after all these years. Finally admitting it. "I don't want to kill you...I don't want you dead, Billy. But I can't let you hurt my friend."

Billy slowly looked at you...Finally, some shock on his own face at the realization. Randy used the opportunity to shove away and bolt for the door. They went to run after him and you intercepted the gun in their faces. "DON'T! Just because I don't want you dead doesn't mean I won't shoot if I have to!"

They glared at you. Stu yelling. "He's gonna rat us out!"

"And I'll deal with it, now back off!" You yelled back.

Stu relenting first with an eye roll as Billy huffed and backed down for now. You ran after Randy and so did Billy and Stu.

"Ray!" You called out desperately.

"Stop! Don't follow me...Just don't. I can't even look at you right now." Randy didn't even spare you a glance as he stalked to the main barn. His voice cold and his shoulders square.

You faltered, standing outside the barn with nothing but utter devastation. What do you do?...What can you do?" You sucked in a breath, pain on your face as you saw your best friend leave knowing...Nothing would be the same ever again. He went to the main barn and you could do nothing about it. His friendship, your friendship with Karla, your relationship with your God kids...It was all gone just like that.

You felt a hand on your shoulder, turning to see Stu looking down at you...He looked genuinely remorseful as he tsked and gave you a thin lip frown. He pulled you into a hug before you could think, sighing heavily against you. "Damn...I'm sorry, girl...I really am."

Despite yourself...You gripped onto him. Feeling your face screw up into a quiet sob. He gripped you tightly...It was the first true hug like this you had in entirely too long as he held you close...It was like at the cemetery all those years ago only this time you were the one that needed that embrace.

You allowed it for a moment before hearing Billy clear his throat. A frown on his face with his arms crossed. "...We gotta go. Randy is gonna inform Dewey..."

You nodded and gently pushed Stu. "Go on. Both of you get out of here."

They looked at you in confusion as Stu mumbled. "And you-"

"No, Stu. It's my word against Randy's. Just...Get out. Escape. I'll deal with whatever happens."

Billy stared at you with some newfound respect in his eyes. "You'd take the fall for us?...Don't be stupid. People will hate you, Gale is gonna have a field day, you'll lose your house...You might even lose your life."

"Just go! Damn it, go." You screwed your eyes shut and ran a hand over your face at how bad this was. How awful this was.

Stu protested. "We can't leave you here alone with the killer! Are you freaking loco or something?!"

"Stu!...Go. I'll be okay...If not...Well, at least you both got away. You are two terrible, horrible, low down monsters. Randy's right, you ruined so many lives but...I don't know your lives now but...Go home. The killer doesn't seem to even know you're here so go home and forget me and Woodsboro exist...If I go, they'll find me and it'll lead me back to both of you. Just get out of here...And...Thanks for defending me..." You almost whispered that last part with a hopeless sad smile.b

Stu shook his head, panic and outrage on his face. "No, fuck that! I'm not letting you get killed or sent to prison after everything all because you didn't let us kill Randy! Fuck that!"

Billy tugged at his sleeve. "Come on, Stu-"

He jerked his arm away. "No! She has no one now, you heartless prick! She needs us!"

Your heart broke at his words as you closed your eyes.

Billy had more emotional understanding and maturity than Stu but Stu tried. He frowned but tugged at Stu. "We can't help her in prison...We gotta get out before cops come and we'll figure this out afterwards. " He looked at you with a firm nod. "Good luck...Just don't do something stupid because I'm gonna be pissed if someone kills you before me." He offered a slight smirk and you nodded in return.

Billy dragged Stu as Stu reluctantly went. Watching you the whole time as you stood there near the barn. Leaning your head back to look at the night sky with tears streaming down your face and a choked sob trying to come out...You quickly wiped your tears. Knowing now wasn't the time. You needed to think. You needed to make it look like Randy was confused. You needed to get away and find Randy and hopefully he'd at least try to hear you out again...Tonight was the Final Act and someone was dying.

#God this is getting intense 😭#scream #stu macher #billy loomis #my writing #scream fanfiction #yn fanfic #she her yn #my stories #scream 4 #fours a franchise

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winter-dayz · 11 months ago

Text

A Year Together

Pairing: Bang Chan x Reader Inspired by Holidate (2020) Genre: Angst; Fluff Words: 5574 Warnings: mentions of excessive drinking, smoking, and drug usage; strong language; suggestive content

Masterlist | 12 Days of Ficmas Masterpost

Taglist: @soobin-chois

She stubbed out her cigarette, sprayed on some perfume, and huffed into the cold air, before gathering the courage to enter her childhood home.

“Merry Christmas,” she called, barely over a speaking voice, hoping no one heard her.

Her mother rounded the corner, displeasure written plain as day. “Finally.” She glanced over her daughter, eyes narrowing on Y/N’s hoodie and leggings. “This is what you’re wearing for Christmas dinner? Would it kill you to dress up a little?”

Y/N ignored her mom’s criticism, as she had for years, and looked around at the meticulous decorations. “The house looks beautiful.”

She hummed, motioning her daughter to follow her. “No thanks to you or your aunt. She brought a date, at least, unlike you.”

“Speaking of plus-ones…” Y/N’s older sister, Nayeon, cut in. She pulled Y/N to the kitchen. “Why didn’t you call Seungmin?

“I just wasn’t feeling it.”

Nayeon sighed, “It’s been six months. Eventually, you have to start dating again.”

“I mean who’s surprised no one wants to take her out when she just sits at home looking like that,” their mother snarked, coming into the kitchen.

Y/N’s eye twitched, the urge to smoke rising. “I work from home, Mother. My boss and coworkers don’t care if I wear pajamas. You know what they do care about? You constantly calling while I’m working.”

She ignored her daughter and leaned closer. “Are you still smoking? You’re going to die alone for sure then. No man wants a smoker who can’t be bothered to dress well.” Her mother scowled at her and left the room, Nayeon in tow.

Y/N rolled her eyes, throwing her drink back, and mumbled to herself. “And no man wants a bitchy mother-in-law either. So, I guess that’s three strikes.”

The rest of the afternoon and evening went exactly as she expected.

When her brother, Jeongin, arrived, he lightly taunted her about showing up alone again. His girlfriend, Chaeryeong, scolded him for teasing someone for being sad. Y/N insisted she wasn’t sad. Then Nayeon’s husband asked her why she didn’t just call Seungmin. She had tried to argue back but was interrupted by her mother calling everyone to open presents—Y/N received dresses from her mom that didn’t fit, pajamas from her sister that were definitely a regift, and a gift card from her brother. When Y/N managed to escape (finally) from the judgment of her family, she refilled her drink in the kitchen, and her aunt joined her.

“Isn’t he so fun?” Her aunt giggled drunkenly, nodding in the direction of her date playing with some of Y/N’s nieces. “He’s Santa at the mall this year. You’d be surprised about the kind of men you can meet there.” Y/N didn’t respond, not wanting to come across as judgy as her mother was of everyone, but her aunt sensed the hint of criticism anyway. “Calm down. I’m not gonna marry the guy. He’s my holidate.”

Y/N laughed lightly, “What is a ‘holidate’?”

“A date just for the holidays. No commitment, no strings attached. Just fun.”

Y/N hummed but didn’t get a chance to respond as dinner was announced to be ready. She wasn’t even surprised to find herself at the kids’ table.

“Could I have everyone’s attention?” Jeongin asked from the main dining room. Y/N stood from the kids’ table just in time to see Jeongin kneeling before his girlfriend. “Lee Chaeryeong…” Y/N felt her eyes widen, her head shaking no. Her baby brother couldn’t be getting engaged before her… “Will you do the honor of becoming my wife and marrying me?”

“Fuck no…” Y/N whispered to herself as Chaeryeong jumped up with an excited “Yes! Oh my god, yes!”

“Two down… One to go.” Y/N’s mother smiled at the young couple before flicking a snide glare to Y/N in the doorway.

🎄

It was in line at some store in the mall a few days later that she met him.

Chan had been trying to return khakis that were very much not his style, and Y/N was trying to return the dresses and pajamas she had gotten. They had gotten to chatting about their awful Christmases, when her aunt’s Christmas date recognized her.

“Have your aunt call me!” The man called out, Y/N embarrassedly pulling Chan away from the food court.

“So what was the deal with that?” Chan laughed goodnaturedly.

“He was my aunt’s holidate.”

“Wait, wait… A holidate? Like a date for Christmas, or does it work for all holidays?”

Y/N shrugged, “I assume all of them. But then again, my aunt doesn’t stick around with one man long so she might find a new one for Easter.”

Chan breathed out a laugh, “That’s what I need for New Year’s…”

“Why would you need a holidate?” Chan glanced over at her in confusion, and she shrugged. “I can’t imagine you’d really have that much trouble finding a date. You’re extremely good-looking. You seem sweet. Look pretty dependable… I mean, you have dimples for Christ’s sake! That’s every girl’s dream!”

Chan hummed, “I’m also a workaholic.”

“Oh…” Y/N nodded, “Okay, I get it.”

“And casually dating on the holidays…” Chan shook his head, “It just becomes a lot of pressure. People expect more than I can give them, especially once the holiday is over.”

“That sucks… Try being the only single person left in your family, though. I’m so fucking sick of the pity party and them trying to set me up.”

“I get why they do it though. They don’t want you alone on the holidays… We’re not meant to be alone. Humans need companionship, warmth… someone to drunk-mock strangers with at parties.”

“I do enjoy drunk-mocking strangers at parties…”

“Great, so be my holidate for New Year’s.”

A laugh bubbled out of Y/N, “I don’t even really know you.”

Chan stuck a hand out to her, a big grin with crescent eyes and dimples shining. “Hi, I’m Chrisopher Bang. I go by Chan, though. I’m a music producer. A perfectionist and workaholic. I have VIP tickets to the JY New Year’s party. Would you like to go with me?” When she hesitated, he pulled out a business card and passed it to her, “Think about it? There’s no pressure, no expectations. I mean…” He cleared his throat and darted his eyes away for a moment, “I don’t even find you that attractive so no worries there either.”

“Wow. I’m so flattered.” Y/N scoffed, snatching the card.

The tips of Chan’s ears colored red, but Y/N didn’t notice as she stared at his business card. “Just think about it and text me.”

Y/N hummed and shook her head, waving him off as she headed to her car. She would think about it, but she definitely wasn’t going to text him…

Well, she probably wouldn’t have. Except the next day her mom video-called her while she was working and proceeded to berate her for wearing another hoodie (even though she was just working from home and had no virtual meetings that day). After the berating was done, she moved on to trying to insist that Y/N go on a date with their new neighbor, Felix. It ended with Y/N snapping that she already had a New Year’s date and hanging up on her mother to make a new call.

She heard the smile in Chan’s voice as he answered, “Hello~ I thought I said text me, not call me.”

🎄

Y/N pointed out another couple from their balcony booth. “They’re for sure getting engaged at midnight.”

“You think?” Chan asked, sipping his fifth? sixth? drink. Y/N nodded, finishing her own and taking new glasses from a passing waiter.

At some point the conversation turned away from drunk-mocking strangers to their thoughts on romantic comedies.

“So who ruined love for you?” Chan asked, leaning in close so Y/N could hear him.

She shook her head vehemently. “You don’t really wanna hear about him.”

“Why not?” Chan shrugged, “We’re already on the topic… At least give me a name.”

“Minho.” Y/N swallowed the rest of her drink. “He was handsome and smart. I loved his dry humor, a bit mischievous. He was a dancer, sexy.” Y/N groaned in memory.

“So what happened? If he was so perfect…”

“We wanted different things. I wanted someone to bring home for the holidays. He wanted someone to fuck behind my back. So…”

“Oh damn… I’m so sorry.” Chan frowned, trying desperately not to sound like he was pitying her. He already knew she hated that.

Y/N shrugged, “It’s my own fault. My sister always told me to date down, but I didn’t listen… He was just too hot to be trustworthy…”

“Still sorry he screwed you over like that. No one deserves that.” Chan hesitated looking around, while Y/N simply hummed in thought. “I’ll be back in a few. Gonna run to the bathroom and get us new drinks on the way back. Sit tight, yeah?”

Of course, as soon as Chan had left the announcer began the ten-second countdown. Y/N looked around frantically, not wanting to be alone when they got to–

“Happy New Year!”

“I’m so sorry,” Chan huffed, running back through the crowd to her side. He glanced over to her and pressed a quick kiss to her cheek. “Happy New Year.”

🎄

She was alone on a holiday again, save for her overflowing basket of candy. Even though New Year’s was fun with Chan—probably the best holiday she’d ever had—she couldn’t find it in her to call him again for another holiday. Especially Valentine’s Day.

“Y/N?”

She wished she had called Chan.

Her eyes widened, and she whipped around, truffle hanging out of her mouth as she ate from the basket she had yet to pay for.

“Minho? Oh my god! How’ve you been?” Y/N rushed to wipe her mouth clean as she came face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend.

Minho didn’t get a chance to answer since a young woman ran up and did it for him. “Baby taste this! Isn’t it good?”

He had a new girlfriend. A new, adorable, perfect girlfriend.

Lost in her self-deprecating thoughts, Y/N felt an arm slide around her waist. “Hey love, I thought we were gonna meet over by the little ice cream stand? You told me you wanted to try that new flavor.”

How was he here? Why was he helping her?

“Oh, hey there mate. I’m Chan, Y/N’s little boy toy. I’d love to get her to commit long-term, but she’s just so strong and independent. Fingers crossed though!”

“Stop it,” Y/N finally snapped out of her reverie and hissed under her breath to Chan as she fake nuzzled him. He covered it well with a laugh.

“Yeah, nice to meet you…” Minho smiled down at his girlfriend. “I’m Minho, and this is Tzuyu.”

“Cool, well did you get everything, love? I wanted to get you something from Victoria’s Secret. Let’s go,” Chan grinned secretively at her. A show for Minho, she knew. “Anyway, lovely to meet you both. All the best, bye Julie~”

“Um, it's Tzuyu!” They called back to Chan as he dragged Y/N out of the store.

She was dragged past the ice cream store he mentioned and the Victoria’s Secret, all the way to Chan’s car, as she continued to mumble about feeling sick. Finally, in the privacy of his car, she let out a shaky sigh and a single sob.

“I need a cigarette.”

Chan’s head ticked to the side, “You smoke?”

“Sometimes… Not regularly, just in high stress situations. Holidays are the worst…”

“Why didn’t you call me?”

“I thought about it but… I was embarrassed that nothing had changed since New Year’s. I’m still bitter and single.”

Chan laughed lightly, nudging Y/N to lighten the mood. “That’s the point of this whole holidate thing. We both get to avoid the pressure of a real relationship and the judgment of not having one yet. So… Let’s just make it official, yeah? Holidates until further notice?”

🎄

St. Patrick’s Day came and went smoothly. Chan and Y/N met up at a pub, drinking until all the green in the room began to blur together, and surprisingly ran into Nayeon, Jeongin, and Chaeryeong. None of them quite understood the arrangement the two had, but they were supportive of their sister getting out of the house, having fun, and letting loose.

After St. Patrick’s Day, Easter rolled around, and with Easter came a family brunch.

“Hoppy Easter, my little bunnies,” Y/N’s aunt strolled into the backyard wearing a Playboy outfit. She motioned to her own holidate, who was wearing a long white robe, “This is Jesús.”

“What in God’s name are you wearing?!” Y/N’s mom shrieked at her sister. “This is an Easter brunch; silly costumes are not allowed.”

As she spoke, someone came literally hopping into the yard wearing a full pink bunny suit, tossing candy-filled eggs to the kids.

Y/N choked on her mimosa at the sight. “Looks like someone didn’t get the memo.”

“Felix!” Her mother beamed. “I’m glad you could make it. Honey,” she turned towards Y/N, dragging a freckled, ball of sunshine with her, “This is our neighbor that I told you about.”

“Hello,” he smiled at her. His voice was deep—deeper than she anticipated—and sent a subtle chill down her spine. His freckles stood out, even against his lightly tanned skin, and his smile warmed her from the inside out. “I’m Felix… Sorry, I volunteer at the kids’ cancer ward and was doing a bit of cheering up. Came straight here… Wow, you are prettier in person.” Y/N blushed deeply, dipping her face to hide her grin. Chan glanced between the two. “Thank you,” she mumbled out at the same time that Chan piped in, “I’m Chan. Y/N’s date. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m so sorry, Felix. We weren’t expecting Y/N to bring a guest.” Her mother cut in, sneering down at Chan and Y/N.

The warmth Felix had brought drained out, and Y/N glared up at her own mom. “That’s odd to say since I explicitly told you that Chan was coming.”

“Um… I’ll go say hi to the kids. I have some more treats for them…” Felix excused himself, glancing between the staredown the two women were having.

“You see what you did!” Her mother hissed. “He’ll think you aren’t interested.”

“I’m not interested.” It wasn’t totally a lie.

Y/N’s mother fussed with her hair. “I just want you to find someone with real potential.” She glared over at Chan again. “I don’t want you continuing with this holidate crap. Do you want to die alone like your aunt?”

After remaining silent, her mother huffed and dispersed to nag at someone else. Chan waited a few minutes and then cleared his throat. “You know… Maybe you should actually give that neighbor guy a chance?” When Y/N simply stared at him like he was crazy, Chan continued, “I mean he has nice hair, freckles, volunteers with kids… That’s gotta be a dream guy, right?”

“I just don’t think I’m ready yet.”

“Hasn’t it been almost a year?”

Y/N pouted down at her crepes. “I mean… yeah,” she said softly, a bit broken. “Women take their time to process though. We don’t just dump and move on like men do.”

“To be fair, women can be brutal too.” Chan breathed out heavily, “My ex… I mean, my friend’s ex. She crushed him. Pretended to like his friends and hobbies. Started leaving things at his apartment until he just suggested they move in together. And it was great at first, or maybe she was good at pretending… They started exploring more things sexually and talking about the future. But then one day, she was just gone. All of the stuff she had left around was cleared out, her phone number was changed, and I was blocked on social media. I mean, my friend was blocked.”

Y/N looked over at Chan, really looked at him. He looked as broken in that moment as she often felt inside. She rubbed his arm lightly, and he gave her a sad smile. After a few more minutes, Y/N cleared her throat.

“So… what kind of sexual things are we talking?” She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

It worked, and Chan laughed loudly. “I am not telling you that.”

🎄

Much like St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo was spent at a fiesta party getting blackout drunk together. This time without the interruption of Y/N’s siblings.

Several rounds of tequila shots in, Y/N finally asked about the “sexual things” Chan had explored before since he never answered at Easter. He just laughed her off again. A few more rounds, and some light flirting, and Y/N was taunting that he probably hadn’t even slept with anyone in a while and lost his touch. He corrected her that he had actually met some waitress at St. Patrick’s Day that he’d taken home. She downed her next drink after hearing that, not stopping to think about why it bothered her. More shots, more drinks.

And the next thing they knew, they were waking up in Chan’s apartments and promptly going their separate ways until Mother’s Day.

“Can we please not talk about my personal life for once?” Y/N questioned, sipping her drink, while Chan sat silently beside her eating brunch.

“It’s my day. I have a right to know what my only child is doing with their life.” Her mother snipped.

Y/N grumbled about her siblings, and her mother cut her off, “They aren’t single.” She spat the word like it was a curse. “I just worry about you… And you,” she turned her glare to Chan, “I don’t understand why you’re wasting my daughter’s time.”

“It’s not a waste. We’re friends, Mother.” Y/N defended immediately, and Chan perked up, glancing over at her with a small smile.

“You don’t need a friend. You need a husband. Or at least a life partner. You need someone legally bound to be there when you go through chemo.”

Chan looked worriedly, “chemo?” at the same time Y/N spat the word out.

Y/N’s mother turned back to her daughter. “Let’s not kid ourselves. You have bad genes, and you smoke. Bald women don’t get a lot of dates. You need a husband now.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Ms. L/N.” Chan interrupted, noticing how she curled in on herself. “Y/N is an amazing girl. Even bald.”

🎄

For Independence Day, Chan and Jeongin gathered fireworks and drove up to the lake cabin separately. Y/N met up with Nayeon, Chaeryeong, and her aunt to ride up: girls’ trip style. With the addition of her aunt’s holidate…

“What’s that smell?” Chaeryeong asked, sliding into the backseat beside Y/N’s aunt and her date.

Nayeon breathed deeply, “Is that marijuana?”

“It’s medicinal.”

“Don’t care,” Y/N laughed, “pass it over!”

Slowly but surely, the girls hotboxed Nayeon’s car, arriving at the cabin happily high. Upon arrival, they settled in with munchies while the boys ran down to the lake to start shooting off the fireworks, shouting excitedly while they did.

“What is it about men and explosives?” Y/N laughed, watching from the balcony as Chan gleefully shot off fireworks.

“It’s like jacking off.” Y/N’s aunt giggled back, “Men live for the orgasm. If they’re not fucking then they’re dreaming about fucking… Or blowing stuff up. It’s the next best thing to fucking.”

The girls burst out laughing, but petered off as Jeongin ran up frantically. He was shouting about a freak accident and how Chan shot off a firework and the kickback knocked him over and the explosion hit the tree and a branch fell on him and he broke his leg.

Which led to Y/N, miraculously the most sober person at the cabin, taking Chan to the hospital.

“All right, so it looks like you only fractured the bone,” the doctor said coming into the hospital room.

“Felix?” Y/N asked, confused.

“Y/N! Are you hurt? You’re okay, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine… I didn’t know you were like a doctor doctor; I just thought you volunteered.”

“Well, I’m technically still a resident. But I also volunteer in the cancer ward.” Felix smiled at her.

Chan glanced between Y/N and Felix as the two grinned shyly at one another.

“That’s so amazing… You’re just… Wow. Doing amazing things.” Y/N breathed out. (Maybe she was still a bit high).

“I’m just trying to help people,” Felix blushed. “Anyway, I was disappointed I never heard back from you…”

Chan couldn’t stand their flirting anymore. “You know what I’m disappointed about? This broken leg.”

“Ah, yeah, man… It shouldn’t be too long now. We’ll give you some pain medication and a prescription and make sure it’s set and cast properly. Then you can go.”

“Sounds good.” Chan smiled, although the grin was tight around the edges.

Later that evening, Y/N had managed to gather the necessary prescriptions, taken Chan home, and ordered him food.

“I’m sorry I ruined your Fourth of July…” Chan pouted at her, grabbing her hand when she turned away to leave.

She pulled away gently but moved to push his hair out of his eyes. “It’s no problem, Chan… Holidate rule number three: leave no holidate behind.”

🎄

The next holiday did not come as smoothly. Since Labor Day was also the weekend of Jeongin and Chaeryeong’s wedding, Y/N and Chan decided to take different dates.

Not that either necessarily wanted to, but neither knew that the other wanted to take each other. It was unnecessarily complicated.

Instead, Y/N brought Felix and Chan brought the St. Patrick’s Day waitress, and the whole event was awkward overall.

At some point, though, the two found themselves at the bar, and it went from awkward to horrible as they argued. But, their tempers were smothered upon finding their dates making out near the dessert table, and they both sighed and smiled sheepishly at one another.

“So you got any ideas for Halloween?” Y/N pouted.

“Already on it.” Chan shrugged, planning out matching outfits for the two of them.

On Halloween, Chan spotted Y/N first, calling her over with wide-eyes at the corset wrapped tightly around her. “I’m glad it fits… Perfectly, actually.” He eyed her pirate costume, gaze dragging up-and-down her body. He hadn’t anticipated how good it would look.

“Ahoy!” Y/N smiled and held a flask out to Chan, “Rum?”

The party, hosted by Jeongin and Chaeryeong, was going well. Y/N and Chan were having a blast with her brother and sister-in-law, along with Nayeon who had come out. It was fun… Until…

“Happy Halloween!” Minho cheered, heading towards them.

Y/N whipped around to hiss, “Who invited them?” Chan’s hands came to rest on her shoulders, giving a reassuring squeeze.

“I love the slutty pirate costume. Classic!” Tzuyu smiled.

She was being genuine, and Y/N wanted to hate her for it. Wanted to hate how genuinely sweet and pretty she was. But she couldn’t. Because at the moment, she was busy hating her for the obvious baby bump she was sporting.

“Um…” Y/N smiled awkwardly, “So, baby?”

Tzuyu’s eyebrows rose, “Oh, yes… Minho and I are expecting. Isn’t that great?” She looked so happy.

Y/N felt sick.

“Wow… Pregnant. That’s– that’s great! She’s pregnant everyone! Isn’t that great?!” Y/N babbled frantically.

“Alright, love, let’s go get another drink!” Chan interrupted, pulling her away with Nayeon following closely behind.

Once out of earshot, Y/N grabbed Chan’s hand. “I don’t feel well.”

“Do you want me to take you home?” Nayeon offered, but Y/N shook her head, insisting that her older sister enjoy her night out.

“I’ve got you. I’ll take you home.” Chan said. No room for argument. “Holidate rule number three: leave no holidate behind. Let’s go.”

Back at her apartment, Y/N rushed to the bathroom. She slid down to the floor, the panic attack pulling dry heaves out of her. Chan settled next to her after a few minutes, passing her hot tea to soothe her nerves and rubbing her back. She let out loud sobs and fell into his chest.

When she had settled down, he helped her up and into her bed. He moved to leave, but Y/N grabbed his hand, pulling him back onto the bed. “Please stay…”

“Are you sure? You’re really upset about this.”

“I’m upset that he gets to cheat and still finds love, and no one will love me. I’m upset that my mom is right. There’s something wrong with me…”

Chan’s brow furrowed, and his jaw ticked. “There is nothing wrong with you. You deserve love, and…” He paused, head tilting in thought slightly. “Someone will love you.”

She nodded and slid down into the blankets. Chan followed, curling around her and holding her close to him.

She’d never fallen asleep so quickly.

In the morning, Y/N woke up with Chan only a hair’s breadth away. He looked so soft. She reached up, finger tracing his pouty lips, but froze when his eyes fluttered open. His own hand reached up, grabbing hers and placing a gentle kiss on her knuckles.

As a small smile tugged on both their lips, Y/N leaned forward. Her hand slid over his cheek and into his hair while their lips met. When she started to pull away from the chaste kiss, his grasp tightened on her, and he pulled her back in for another. And another. And another.

Before either knew it, the October morning chill had turned heated. Their kisses turned into bites and licks. The gentle caresses turned into scratches and roaming hands. The early clouds turned into the midday sun.

And both flopped back onto the bed, exhausted and sweaty.

“Wow,” Chan breathed heavily, “So should we…”

As he trailed off, Y/N felt the panic rise again. “You can go if you want.”

Of course that’s what he would want. They were holidates, friends at best. He had said he wasn’t even attracted to her…

Chan’s smile, that she hadn’t noticed yet, fell. “You want me to leave?”

“I mean… I don’t want you to feel obligated to stay.”

“Why would I feel obligated?”

“Well, Halloween’s over.”

Chan’s eyes widened, brows raising. He nodded, “Right.”

“So… I’ll see you at Thanksgiving?”

🎄

“Are you sure he’s coming,” Y/N’s mom snarked, moving about the house to finish preparations. “I don’t want to put the leaf in if he’s not.”

“Yes, Mother. Put the leaf in. He’ll be here.”

“Well it’s all the way in the basement…”

“Mom–”

She didn’t stop walking, ignoring her daughter, “We could just use the piano bench somehow.”

Y/N snapped, “Put the goddamn leaf in!”

“Fine, no need to shout…” Her mother started to chastise but was cut off by the shrill of the fire alarm. “Oh no! The pies!”

Since her mother had burned both pies and several of the sides to a crisp, Y/N was being ushered to the store. As the door was pulled open, though, Y/N was met face-to-face with Chan.

“Hey?”

“Hi… I have to go to the store, if you want…?”

Hearing her mother fussing in the background, Chan grabbed her hand. “Let’s go.”

At the store, the two mostly shopped in silence, awkward chit-chat kept to a minimum, but eventually, Chan couldn’t take it anymore. “So are we really just going to pretend we didn’t have sex?”

“Sounds good.” Y/N smiled, albeit obviously fake.

Chan shook his head with a scoff. “Fine. But, for the record, I didn’t want to leave afterwards.”

“Sure,” Y/N rolled her eyes, “You didn’t even want to have sex with me. You told me you didn’t find me attractive, but sure. You definitely wanted to stay all day and talk about our feelings.”

“What did you want me to say?!” Chan snapped back, pulling Y/N to a stop. “I was some stranger in the mall. Did you want me to scare you off by telling you how beautiful I thought you were, even in your sweats. Did you want me to tell you that on New Year’s I ran away to the bathroom because you have these lips that just beg to be kissed. And on Valentine’s Day, I could see from outside the store that your eyes were filled with tears, and it crushed me. Is that what you wanted to know?”

Y/N felt her heart constrict, turning away to stare into a freezer. “No. I didn’t want to know that. In fact, I don’t want to know any of those types of things. You can relax and keep sleeping with St. Patrick’s Day waitresses all you want.”

“Wow…” Chan breathed out in disbelief. “You’re really trying so hard not to feel anything, huh? Well at least that makes you the liar and asshole and not me.”

Storming out of the store and leaving her alone in the frozen section, Y/N felt her heart crumble and eyes fill with tears. She wanted to scream and cry, but instead, she checked out and headed home, already anticipating the fight that would be waiting for her.

“Where’s Chan?” Nayeon asked as soon as Y/N walked through the front door alone.

“I don’t know…” Y/N whispered, moving to put groceries away and start helping to make some of the replacement dishes.

“I knew it!” Her mother called from the dining room. “No leaf!”

“What did you do, Y/N?” Nayeon sighed heavily.

Y/N whipped around, trying desperately to ignore the snide remark from their mother. “What makes you think it was me?”

“Well, honey, you don’t have the best track record.” Her mother chipped in again. Jeongin, having come in to get a drink, glanced between the two.

“Excuse me?! Minho is the one who cheated on me. Chan left me in the store.”

“Well maybe if you were honest with him…” Nayeon mumbled.

Jeongin shrugged one shoulder, “Yeah, if you just told him how you feel we could get through a holiday without your personal life being such a mess.”

Y/N started to argue back when her aunt’s holidate collapsed. The fighting promptly cut off, an ambulance being called, and Y/N somehow getting roped into the back with her aunt.

“You know… I barely even know him.” Her aunt whispered as they sat in the hospital waiting room. “I even had to write his name on my arm… And I know how sad it is; I know what everyone in the family thinks and says. It’s my own fault, too. I had so many opportunities with good men, kind men, who liked me. Loved me even… But as soon as they got too close, I ran away. Ran away and found someone who wasn’t good or kind. Someone who cheated, but was sexy and fun. And now I’m in my fifties, waiting in a hospital for a man I don’t really know…”

Y/N hummed, realization hitting her.

🎄

Inspired by her aunt, and a few very-much-needed therapy sessions, Y/N found herself outside Chan’s production company a week before Christmas.

Her chest felt tight, and despite the cold, her hands felt sweaty.

She could do it. She could confess. She just needed to walk in there and tell him.

“So… Are you going to go in, or just keep standing outside stalking me?” Chan’s voice came from behind.

Y/N spun around so fast she almost slipped on the icy ground, Chan reaching out to steady her.

“Chan! Hi. I just…” She exhaled heavily, breath coming out in a puff of steam against the freezing cold. “I just… I fucked up.” His brows rose, but his hands remained on her arms. She took it as a good sign and continued. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ve had more fun with you this past year than with any other loser I thought I was in love with. And I know I fucked it up because I was scared, but letting you go was the biggest mistake of my life… I miss you so much. So much that I even quit smoking and eating junk food all the time and drinking so much. You really ruined all my vices for me… Anyway…” She swallowed heavily, gaze traveling across his blank face to gauge his reaction so far, despite him not giving any. “You were right. I do have feelings for you. I thought I wanted a holidate, but the truth is that I just want you. For all the holidays. And the weekends… And weekdays would be nice too. I know I’m probably too late, but honestly, you’re the only one I’d wanna go through chemo with.”

Chan’s lips quirked into a small smile, and he stepped closer. He rubbed his nose against her freezing one and pecked her lips, pulling away just enough to say, “Yeah, why not… I bet you’d be hot bald.”

#stray kids #skz #bang chan #reader #bang chan x reader #stray kids x reader #skz x reader #angst #fluff #holidate #holidate 2020 #oneshot #ficmas

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merakiui · 2 years ago

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the idea of rollo staying at NRC in ramshackle will forever remain soooo fun to me especially with all the other characters freaking out about it HAHA thank you for blessing my dashboard with it <3 it's incredible. maybe one day i'll write a little drabble abt that idea but i'm currently 18.000 words into a rollo/reader longfic (and not even halfway done yet. yippee! what burden did i put on my own shoulders... OTL) and i don't wanna write anything else until i have this monstrosity finished LMAO but if you have any other rollo at nrc ideas pspspspsppspsp thank you

Good luck with your Rollo fic, anon! I know how it feels to subject oneself to long fics, so I wish you all the best with your writing process!!!

As for Rollo at NRC, allow me to share a few thoughts:

✧ Rollo braving the busy cafeteria line when they’re selling the bakery goods once every month. He insists on doing this because he doesn’t want you to get trampled by ignorant mages who don’t know how to be respectful! He always returns with your favorite, sometimes even forgoing the chance to get his own favorite item because you’re way more important to him than a croissant.

✧ PE class with Rollo, but he offers to do the same exercise routine Vargas has created for you since you can’t exactly fly on a broom. He’ll run laps on the track with you (even though he’d rather not) just to be beside you so you won’t feel left out. The two of you slack on sit-ups and push-ups when Vargas isn’t looking, usually just sitting cross-legged in the field and talking about anything and everything.

✧ Since you’re comfortable with letting Rollo stay and sleep in your bed, the two of you will lie on your sides and occasionally whisper to each other through the darkness, mumbling about simple things like tomorrow’s weather, or the next alchemy exam, or how you should both spend this upcoming weekend. Grim usually has to get up and lie between the both of you so you’ll stop talking, but with each nightly conversation Rollo loosens up a little and even seems friendlier and warmer to you and Grim. You think you might’ve heard a genuine chuckle when Grim had gotten up and moved between you, all while sleepily complaining about how neither of you will shut up. Rollo won’t admit it outright, but ever since he started sleeping beside you he’s found that sleep comes much easier now.

✧ Rollo doesn’t like mages, but he’s deemed himself the only mage safe and capable enough to be around you. So when you’re dejected that you can’t experience what it must feel like to fly on a broom he offers to show you without thinking. But then Ace and Deuce are offering, and now Rollo really has to commit to his promise. Ace is too carefree with his flying and Deuce gets too nervous sometimes, so they’re definitely not suited to take you up into the air. Rollo never really thought that something so normal as flying on a broom would appeal to someone who’s never seen or heard of such a thing before, but once he’s in the air with you—and you’re wrapping your arms firmly around him to hold on—he hears the breathy excitement in your voice as you wave and yell down to your friends below. Rollo almost confesses to you right then and there because the sky is the only place private enough for a sudden confession, but he holds his tongue and smiles softly instead. You’re cute when you’re happy.

✧ Rollo likes to study in the library with you, either in one of the alcoves or at a table in the very corner. The two of you might get interrupted by whoever happens to stumble upon you, and it’s annoying when you ask the intruder to stay and study alongside the both of you. But he’s always rewarded after every moment spent with you when you get sleepy and lean against his shoulder, using it as a pillow. Your relationship has become really friendly and casual lately, which is a bond Rollo thought he’d never be able to have. But oh the pride he feels when he looks at Ace or Azul or even Riddle and can see them withholding an envious comment.

✧ When you first took Rollo into the town alongside some friends, wanting to show him around in the same fashion you’d been shown around many months ago, he finds himself thinking about all of the places here that could serve as good date sites. Naturally, taking a walk through the town could be a date in itself, but he sees the cutest restaurants and cafés and shops. And he makes a mental note to return with you next time so that he can properly immerse himself in the atmosphere and pretend it’s a date with only you.

✧ Rollo is there for you if you ever get homesick, much like how you’re there for him when he recalls his past and has to fight tears and sadness so he won’t burden you with such feelings. Rollo doesn’t experience hugs often, but ever since he transferred to NRC you’ve always offered a hug when he looked tired or lonely or saddened. Rollo had pushed you away each time, but when he’s particularly emotionally vulnerable he’ll pull you into him and never let go, holding tightly and burying his face in the crook of your neck.

✧ Stargazing with Rollo when neither of you can fall asleep. Maybe you’re plagued with confusing dreams, maybe it’s his insomnia, or maybe the both of you are kept up by Grim’s loud snoring. Either way, you’ll meet each other in the hall and just silently agree to watch the stars in hopes of getting sleepy. Sometimes you’ll sit at the window; if it’s not too chilly outside you’ll grab a blanket and sit out there, the both of you wrapped up, your gazes turned skyward. Sometimes you’ll talk about deep topics. Sometimes you’ll just wordlessly admire the sky. Sometimes Rollo thinks of telling you he loves you, of reaching out to turn your head towards him so you can taste the confession on his lips. But instead he chooses to admire the brightest star in his world: you.

#twisted chit chat

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angel-shaw · 5 months ago

Text

First draft of my Magnus Archive Fic!

This is the first “chapter” of my first TMA fic:) I am still working on it and I haven’t edited this at all yet but I really want some input and praise:3

I started this fic off of a dream that my TMA obsessed bf begged me to wright. I haven’t reached the main part that I am super excited about yet so expect more! For those who read this let me know if I should post this as a multi chapter fic and post this rn to Ao3 or if I should wait till I am done with it:)

Summary - Tim and John are trapped in a concrete room inside the Achrives, Nether knows what happened or how to get out so they have no choice but to sit in their together. (Takes place after season 1 and definitely before season 3, might make it so Sasha is fine because I can )

Currently at 8016 words:)

Tw: being trapped, paranoia, etc kinda stuff (lemme know if more needs to be tagged :). )

“Tim,” John said, shaking his counterpart.

“Tim you need to wake up, food is ready and you need to eat it hot.”

Underneath several thick blankets John heard heard tim mumble something along the lines of

‘I’m cold, fuck off.’

John sighed.

“I know your cold Tim but the warm food will help with that, please i don't want to fight you on this every time.”

The blankets shuffled quickly and John flinched back as Tim pulled the blankets down from his, very tired looking, face.

“Then don't! Leave me be! Why do you even care John? It's not like anything can be done about this so why not do what you've always done and either leave me alone or go speculate about whether or not I'm some possessed version of myself who will randomly decide to try and kill you for some obscure reason only you understand in a corner?!”

John stood frozen for a few seconds as Tim glared at him. When Tim started to shiver despite the blankets it snapped John out of his stupor. Instead of responding he instead held a hot bowl of soup out for Tim to take.

“This should help,” John whispered as Tim frowned.

It took a minute but Tim shifted to prop himself against the wall and took the bowl.

John took his own bowl and sat a little ways away from Tim as they both ate in silence.

This was their routine, minus Tims outburst normally. For the last 2 weeks Tim and John have been trapped in this room. It reminded John of the archival room without the shelves and boxes of statements. A stone room with no windows and only one door. John couldn't even remember how he and Tim had gotten there. He couldn't explain why they were stuck in there and even less of a clue where the food and resources came from. It felt like some kind of thing fucking with them. Giving them what they need to survive but not to get out.

At first he and Tim argued a lot, both scared and confused. Johns added paranoia didn't help that ether and seeing as how they were stuck together now 24/7 they had plenty of time to fight. That was until Tim started to get sick, it was so easy for John to notice the change. Tim started to shiver, at times John could even hear his teeth chattering. He stopped moving around the room and just stayed curled up under his blanket. One night John had waited till Tim had fallen asleep and threw his own blanket on top of Tims shivering form. The days following John had asked Tim if he was alright but was met with hostility. And that's how it had been the past week and a half. When Tim stopped eating John took it upon himself to make sure Tim had food to eat. He noticed when he ate Tim stopped shivering for a time so he made sure there was almost always a hot food for Tim to have when he started to violently shiver.

John and Tim rarely talked because it seemed it could only lead to another fight. So the silence the two fell into well eating no longer felt awkward.

When Tim placed his bowl down onto the stone floor he immediately withdrew into the two blankets.

“Do you want more?”

A muffled mumble.

Because John couldn't hear him he decided to move closer. He scooted up to the blanket and leaned down.

“What was that?’’

The entire blanket flinched and before he knew it a flash a pain shot through his nose. John flinched back and cried out, bringing his hands up to his face.

John's eyes were shut tight and he could feel the tears welling up behind his eyelids. He was too preoccupied feeling a hot wet liquid start to run down his hands and wrists to notice Tim and sat up and threw the blankets off of himself.

“Oh holy shit! John, I didn't realize you got so close. What the hell where you doing?! Shit are you ok? Oh holy fuck thats alot of blood. Shit shit SHIT! Here uhh just, just stay here. I'll go and find something, oh fucking hell theres so much blood’” Tims rant could barely be heard by John who was still sitting in shock and pain.

A few seconds later John felt Tims strong hands envelope his own, distantly he could hear Tims voice. It sounded…calmer than usual? No, not calmer… nicer.

“John come on, lemme see.”

John could feel his head shake, there weren't any real thoughts going through his mind really so he didn't know why.

“Hey come on, I kinda know how to fix it….a little…I won't make it worse at least.”

John felt his head shake harder. He really needed to stop doing that. It made his head hurt and him feel dizzy.

“Come on John, please let me help.”

Finally John let Tim pull his hands down, his eyes still shut tight and still in an immense amount of pain.

“Shit…Ok here,” Tim's voice was quiet as he started wiping around the nose, clearing some of the blood before holding it to John's face firmly.

“See that's not too bad right? We got this…no problem.”

Tim took a deep breath, “Ok John can you hear me?”

Again John could distantly feel himself nod, nothing felt real.

“Good, good. Ok so this next bit is gonna sting like a bitch right? It will be over quick though ok? Can I?”

Another nod, what was he even agreeing to?

And then the grasp on the cloth over his nose became much firmer before there was a loud crack and a fresh wave of pain with an overwhelming nausea flowing through him.

“Fuck!”

He could hear a lot clearer now, so much so that he could hear the hiss of Tim sucking air through his teeth.

“See,” Tim meekly tried, “Wasn't too bad ay?”

John finally opened his eyes, he could still feel how wet they were and to his displeasure he could feel that wetness stream down his face. Tim was still sat in front of him holding his nose with a weird look on his face.

It was a look John couldn't quite place, he had never been the best at reading people. Somehow always coming to the seemingly worst concussion possible.

“You ok John?”

Tims voice was quite soft, it was something John had noticed. Whenever Tim spoke to others, others like the random people who visited the archive or the food attendees at the outings he was forced to go on. He would question why talking to Tim made those people feel better, or at least good judging by their smiles. Now that that softness was directed at him he understood why those peoples smiles got bigger. He wanted Tim to keep talking to him like that.

“John?”

John looked up at Tim, still in shock from Tim REBREAKING HIS NOSE.

“Did you just break my nose..?”

Tim shifted uncomfortably, “Ya I'm sorry, I had to set it so it won't heal wrong…”

“That really hurt, like a lot….It still really hurts”

“Here just hold the cloth to it for now and the bleeding should stop soon, plus the pressure might help with the pain. It's what i did when i broke my nose”

John stared at Tim increadisully but talking moved his nose and made it hurt more so he decided to stay quiet.

Until he looked down and saw how much blood there was everywhere.

—----------

Tim watched as he saw John's breathing get faster, his eyes were huge as he looked at his hands and arms. The blood was still wet and dripping down his arms to the stone floor.

“John?”

No response from him, John didn't even look up at him.

“Jonathan, man are you ok?”

Again, no response. Faster breathing, it was starting to freak Tim out. Was John having a panic attack? Sure Tim had seen plenty, hell just working at the Archive meant a lot of people who were giving statements had a lot of them. John though, he was always so…well not really confident but he held himself in a way that made him seem untouchable.

Tim had seen him with his paranoia but it was never like this, he was always looking for a way to fix whatever he was paranoid about, even if he was bluntly wrong and being stupid. This…this was so different. John was panicking, worse than the panic Tim had seen during the Worm incident. Why was a broken nose worse than a worm burrowing itself into his skin?????

“John!”

Nothing.

“John, look at me.”

Tim was still holding the cloth, John had never reached his hands back up to take it himself. He was too busy…working himself into a panic attack???

Tim used that to his advantage, he tilted John's head up until his eyes shot to him.

“It's ok, you're ok. Nothing really happened right? You're all good. The pain will go away soon, you just need to breathe.”

John shook his head and looked back down at his hands.

“Is…is it the blood freaking you out?”

John didn't reply but as Tim contoured to follow his eyes he was pretty sure he was right.

“Shit ok, umm here, John.. John!”

John startled to look back up at Tim, he really did look panicked. Shit….

“Look John, just close your eyes ok? I'll take care of it. Come on, just close them. I'm not going anywhere…it's not like i can really, But I swear i'll take care of it”

John finally squeezed his eyes shut again, his breathing was still way too fast but it seemed like he was trying to calm that down so that was good.

Tim wasn't quite sure what to do after that. Now that he knew what the major problem was he should try to fix it right? But he was still holding on to John's nose so he couldn't go to the sink to get anything to help so what the hell was he going to do?

It was really cold out from his blankets, not as cold as before but still. He might fight John on it but the warm food really did help. John was so confusing, one day he was acting like Tim would snap and go on a random killing spree and now he was…trying to help him? It didn't make any sense.

Then Tim had an idea.

“Hey John, can you stand up?”

John nodded his head slowly.

“Ok good, well I need you to stand, I'll be right here k? You don't have to open your eyes, i'll lead you where we need to go.”

John nodded again. It took another moment for John to try to start standing, he almost fell and grabbed onto tims arms to stabilize himself.

Shit he has a weak ass grip-

“Hay it's alright,” Tim said quietly, “You can hold onto me.”

John's hands somehow ended up on Tims side as he stood, the two of them stood there letting balance be regained before struggling to move around the room.

—-----------

It was hard to stay standing with his legs shaking but he could feel Tims free hand helping to hold him up as they shuffled somewhere.

Where were they going? It couldn't be far of course, the two had stuck in this one room for what felt like so long now. Unless Tim had been lying and he had known a way out this entire time. What if all this was a plan?

No he was being unreasonable, he knew Tim. Tim wouldn't.

Before he could think anymore on it he heard tims muffled voice again.

“Ok I'm gonna lean you again here kk? Just lean here and I'll clean you up.”

John just nodded again.

See? He thought to himself. Tims good, Tim wouldn't lie like that. As prickly as he had been he hadn't done anything wrong and he was stuck here too.

Jonathan had always struggled with paranoia, he always needed someone or something to blame for everything. Even if it was himself that at least gave it a reason to happen, it gave an explanation he could wrap his head around. But when something he didn't understand or explain happened he always tried to reasonably put the blame onto someone. That someone just tends to be who else was with him. Even hard evidence against his accusation did little to rest his mind.

It had gotten worse over the years, working at the institute had started to help. Sure the stuff he knew was real was terrifying and he wished it were not, hense his dismissal of the cases, but they gave explanations. It gave him an odd sense of calm, knowing that. But the second something happened that he couldn't explain, something that just possibly could have been one of his coworkers, he fell deep into a rabbit hole of mistrust and dishonesty. His pariona got so bad, he knew it affected his coworkers in negative ways, because they told him. Tim expressly got fed up with his actions.

In the time Tim and himself had been stuck John had started to try and think his way through his paranoia. That was hard when his tactic was to blame something and the only thing he could think of at first was the one he was trapped with. But eventually he noticed his parinona of Tim go down. It really started when he noticed how sick Tim had gotten. It sprung something in his mouse brain that it just couldn't be Tims fault, Tim was sick and needed help. It started to override his paranoia.

At least of Tim. Everything else though was fair game. The vent? Something was in it. The wall? More worms.

There were multiple nights where John stayed up and checked every coroner of the room for something, anything. But night after night he found nothing.

Now everytime he had some paranoid thought about Tim it seemed so much easier to work through it. It was a nice change, being able to work through it.

And now Tim was running warm water and slowly wiping John's own blood off of him. Honestly John was surprised Tim didn't just leave him sitting there on the floor in his own panic bubble. But distantly, he knew Tim wouldn't do that, couldn't. Tim was so kind, even when they yelled at each other Tims concern for John seemed so obvious. Though the anger and everything, it was still clear Tim was worried about John. Just like he was worried for everyone else.

John could feel the warm cloth down his arm, it was soothing. Tim was still holding his nose, it must have been getting annoying.

So John lifted the arm Tim wasn't currently working on and tried to take the cloth himself. His eyes were still closed but he could swear he heard Tim jump when his hand touched his.

“ i can hold it..,’’ John said quietly. It felt like talking too loudly would break whatever was happening right now. And John didn't want that.

—------------

Tim was in fact shocked when John's hand grabbed his own, he was so focused on trying to get the blood off with only one hand that it caught him off guard.

But he let John hold up the cloth and was finally able to use both hands. John's breathing had evened out a lot, Tim hadn't noticed at first but as he worked he could feel John taking long deep breaths. It was the first time Tim had actually seen John even try to self regulate.

That was one thing about John that pissed Tim off, it always seemed as though he just let his pariona dictate everything. He never even seemed to try and reason anything, just letting the fear take over and start running everything. It was good to know John COULD chill himself out a bit.

Tim continued to wash John’s arm off before rinsing the cloth and continuing. There really was a lot of blood, it was suppressing John hadn't fainted or something. Sure when he stood he was wobbly as all hell but being dizzy was expected.

The two of them stood in silence for a while, Tim at one point lifting John's free hand up to hold the cloth so he could clean the other but it was a comfortable silence.

John's eyes, despite still being closed, looked much more relaxed than just a few minutes prior. Granted the dark circles that came with a broken nose were starting to show, Tim frowned at that even after his nose had healed those bruises would probilly stay there for quite a while. Tim thought about it for a second longer, overall they weren't too much different from John's massive eyebags he had all the time. Given the nights Tim knew he had been staying up just walking around the room muttering to himself.

That was another thing about John Tim noticed, he talked to himself a lot. Not in a creepy way like in movies, ok well sometimes, but mostly it felt like he was just trying to think. Like just saying his thought process out to make sure it sounded right. There was once he had heard one of John's tangests when he thought he alone and John had said something, stopped and said “well that didn't make sense” it was quite funny. Probably would have been funnier if Tim hadn't been so upset with him at the time.

Only when John's arms were clean did Tim break the silence.

“Here John, your arms are clean. Lemme see if the bleeding stopped.”

John still didn't say anything, just wincing as Tim pulled the bloody rag away from his face.

Tim winced, “Ya…no keep that there im gonna get some toilet paper.”

As he walked away Tim heard John mutter something under his breath so he wheeled himself around on his heel. He felt himself getting angry, he was trying to help him and John was still making comments and shit?? God this was why he stopped respecting him, all his damn paranoia and bullshit.

“What.” It wasn't really a question, whatever John’s answer he wasn’t going to like it. So technically it could be considered a trap.

John of course didn’t notice the massive shift in Tims face as his eyes were closed, but he did hear the change in his voice.

“Thank you, I said, this hurts, a surprising amount actually. I don’t think I’d know what to do if you weren’t helping me….so thank you”

For once, for once in the entire damn time Tim had known him, John said something right.

Tim immediately felt stupid for getting mad so quickly. He might not understand what the hell John’s switch up was about but it pissed him off.

“Right.”

Even if he was wrong he was still annoyed, none of this made sense, if anything John suddenly tried to help him or whatever this upset him more. Hell the only reason he was helping him right now was because he panicked once he heard the crack of John’s nose.

—-------------

John held his nose until Tims bigger hands pulled his own away. Quickly John felt the wads of toilet paper touch him as Tim tried to shove them up his still bleeding nose.

As it stood, his nose still hurt like hell evidently. So John flinched hard, abruptly pulling back from Tim. Even more unfortunately, the sink he was leaning most of his weight on was not big. So when he flipped back he had thrown his weight into….well nothing.

All the shit people said about falling in slow motion, was in fact just that, shit. John didn't have any time to process he was even falling before he felt Tims arms wrap around his waist. John by all definition was a small man, he knew that, but when Tims arms were so solidly wrapped completely around his waist he /felt/ small.

“Shit! Fuck I'm sorry are you good? Well obviously not, fucking duh. Shit here, Im just gonna….uhh…I'm gonna get you over on the chair that way you don't rocket yourself on the floor ya?”

Johns face was burning again, strangely not just around his nose, but it must have been from irritating it. He made and tried to help make it at least not a struggle to move him, which was hard considering his legs were not planted on the ground, tangled between Tims.

Somehow Tim was able to move him without ended with both of them on the floor. John's only real thought during the short journey was that Tim didn't radiate heat like most did, he wasn't cold per say but he missed the warmth someone would expect.

“Damn you're warm, you know that?”

“Hmm?”

John was pulled from his thought by Tims comment’ “I think you’re just cold”

Tim sat John down on the wooden chair.

Tim rubbed the back of his neck with his hand, “ nah I think it's you”

John hadn't realized it but he had finally opened his eyes. His own arms weren't covered in blood thanks to Tim. Tims arms however were not so clean. He had been trying to help John stop freaking out and gotten blood, John's blood, all over him.

“Oh shit! Right, you're still bleeding; give me a sec!”

John honestly hadn't noticed his nose still leaking blood down his face until Tim reminded him, he lifted his hand to catch the blood but before his could Tim was back and stopping him.

“Put your damn hand down. I just cleaned your amsnup I don't need you fucking that up already. Ok it looks like I set it ok so it should be good.”

“Ya did hurt a lot by the way”

“Ya I know, I'm sorry. I mean if you would have rather it healed in the wrong place we could have left it but I figured if I just did it then…” Tim trialed off, he had an odd look on his face.

“ No no,that was uh fine. It hurt though. How did you know to do that? I figure it's not something you just picked up from tv….at least I hope not.” John tried to joke, but he really really hoped that Tim didn't just do that just because of a bad tv show.

“Haha ya, I umm, I broke my nose quite a lot as a kid so I learned how to handle it. If I'm being honest I did originally try it because of the show…it was a really bad cop sitcom that I watched all time.”

“You watched sitcoms?” It genuinely caught John off guard, he expected Tim to watch a bunch of horror or something like that.

“There a problem with that?”

“No no of course not, I just… didn't expect it”

—------------------

As they talked Tim noticed that it seemed to draw Johns attention away from his injury. Would he normally talk about stuff like this to him? No of course not, hell if he tried John probably would have had a paranoid delusion about it or something and accuse Tim of being a clone or some shit like that.

But if tim helped keep him calm, and he wasn't going to freak out over it, fine.

He started to clean Johns face as he talked. He tilted John's face back and actually managed to get the paper in his nose without a mass spasm this time.

“Ya, normally it's not my kind of thing but I watched it a lot when I was younger. The….uh..guys I hung out with could tolerate it and it didn't make me cry so it was always on. Heh, I love the show. It's actually pretty funny, not accurate but I get enough action with cops nowadays that I don't need accuracy about ‘em” Tim laughed.

He could see John's smile, Tim distantly thought it would be better without all the blood.

“That's…nice. ,my grandmother wished I would get into a show. It could never keep my attention for long. I was better with books.”

This was weird, this entire thing was weird. John being civil and…nice. The two of them talking casually about things Tim had never told anyone. It wasn't like Tim was telling John everything that was part of it but John now knew more than anyone else and it was so casual. The two of them had been stuck in this place for what, 2 weeks now? And now here the two of them were, talking after Tim had broken his nose.

“Never had the time to read books, I uh, got busy alot so shows where a lot easier you know?”

“That's fair enough.”

Tim finished cleaning John's face and backed up,” there you go, you gonna have raccoon eyes for a while.”

John's head tilted to the side, holy shit he looked like a….a confused puppy.

“Racoon eyes?”

Tim laughed, he couldn't help it, “ ya when you brake your nose for the first time you get bruised around your eyes and they look like the face of a raccoon. It hurts but it looks cool once they heals a bit. I probably still have a picture of me with ‘em somewhere actually.”

John already had the circles forming around his eyes, they were gonna get a lot darker in the next few hours but they should clear up pretty quick.

“I see, well thank you for telling me. I'm sure it would have been quite a nasty shock to see that in the mirror with no warning.”

“Ooooooh ya” Tim laughed’ “ the first time it happened to me the guy who broke my nose had to burst into the bathroom to see why I was sobbing after I saw, God that was a daaaay. Hurt like a bitch.”

Tim saw Johns frown, he obviously saw the problem in Tims word and for a second Tim really thought he was going to ask and he would have to shut the entire conversation down because he fucked it up.

But instead John just kept it going, “ Well I'll try to keep my shock to a minimum to not startle you then.”

Tim smiled.

—------------

John saw the change in Tims demeanor when he had said that, if there was one thing John was good at t was avoiding conversations. Sure he was curious and a little worried but it wasn't any of his business. It was Tims life and childhood, whatever had happened he was fine now so there wasn't any need to push it.

It was then when John saw the blood on Tims shirt. It made Johns chest tighten, that was one of Tims favort shirts, and quite frankly one of the only peaces of clothing's he hadn't the moment well trapped in the room.

“Oh Tim your shirt…”

Tim looked down, apparently also having forgotten he was covered in Johns blood.

“Damn it! Oh fuck that sucks. I don't think I have another shirt clean…”

John had been cleaning what he could and for some reason it seemed that the cloths they put in the laundry basket occasionally got cleaned but it seemed to be at random times and if Tim said he didn't have another he didn't.

“Damn…I liked this shirt to. Ya think I’ll be able to get the blood out?”

Tim was back to rubbing his neck, like it was a nervous habit or something. Most of the blood has dried and because Tim’s shirt was a relatively light color there was little hope for it.

So John shook his head, “I think you got it on your neck…”

“Hmm? How the hell would I have gotten it on my neck??….oh..”

Tim pulled his hand from the back of his neck, and stared at it.

“Fuck.”

“You say that a lot.”

Tim’s eyes snapped back to him. Oh that was the wrong thing to say.

“Ya I do. Ya I fucking do John. You know why? Beacuse for the past two week I’ve been stuck in a freezing fucking room with my boss who suddenly 180ed how he’s acting and that’s fucking confusing. I’m cold all the time and every night I hear you walking around the room muttering to yourself about whatever the fuck you are, you have been insisting on feeding me and ahit when you never cared before. Hell apparently you wanted to feed me so fucking bad I broke your fucking nose and now I’m standing out in the cold open air well cleaning you up and now I have my only shirt covered in blood. I think I’m allowed to swear when all this shit keeps happening,” Tim took a deep breath breath

John was frozen in shock from Tims outburst. Sadly he wasn't done.

“No and you know what John? I have tried so fucking hard to bond with throughout my years working with you and all I was met with was a complete wall and hell later I was met with worse then a wall! All I got from you was distrust and a fucking staucker! We worked together for how many years before you became the head Archivest and you still thought I was some fucking monster! You took pictures of my house and I still was trying to give you grace but at every turn you just proved it was useless. What changed? Why the hell are you trying to be so fucking nice to me now?? I'd love to know!”

John sat silently staring up up at who had began rubbing his arms well pacing. He had no idea what to say, he knew after everything he hadn't treated Tim, or any of his staff really, well. Much less the respect they deserved. Tim had gone though the exact thing John had just with the extra stress of having to run through the tunnels alone. And still John treated him as a threat, he knew Tim and still was so cruel.

Tim had every right to be angry, to be hurt. And after everything he deserved to question John.

“I….I'm sorry Tim. For everything,” before he could continue Tim turned on him again.

“Your /sorry/?! Your sorry that you completely disregarded everyone and pushed all of us to our wits ends. Your sorry for all the nights where we tried to stay late to help you with whatever you thought was going on? The multiple accusations you threw around without a second thought? Your sorry? Are you fucking kidding me John!”

John flinched and looked away from Tim. All the softness and concern drained from his voice and expression.

“Yes…I'm sorry. I…nothing I say will fix it…I was to deep in my own parking and could never stop to think about you all,” John whispered.

He heard Tim scoff but he stayed quite.

“I…thank you for trying so hard Tim…I didn't..don't, deserve any kindness your understanding from you. I know before this all I was not the best ether, I'm sorry for that as well. I can't tell you what changed..I don't even remember when it did. Just after we got locked in here….I was able to stop thinking about you like that. It seems so obvious now that you couldn't, wouldn't have done anything, especially not this. You wouldn't lock me in a room with you, you wouldn't let yourself get sick…you stuck in here too. I saw how you got sick, the least I could do after everything was at least try to help..”

—-------

Tim let his arms drop. He had screamed at John and instead of fighting him, John was apologizing.

He looked so…sad? Remorseful? Guilty?

Good.

He should feel bad, after all the shit he put Tim through.

As John sat there Tim could feel all his anger leave him,it was like a weight off his chest. Without the weight he felt empty, like he had nothing to keep him going. To keep him standing.

God it was cold.

So Tim sat. He looked up at John whose head shot up when he heard something hit the ground. Damn it, he really was worried about him.

He sighed.

“Keep talking,” Tim said as he pulled his knees to his chest and rested his head on them.

“W-what?”

“Just keep talking, I'm…I can't be mad any more John, I'm too tired right now. Anything you want to tell me, tell me now. The quiet is too loud.”

Tim stared at the wall. It hadn't changed at all, still a plain, windowless, slab of cold concrete. He could hear John's breath.

“Right then. I suppose I can do that. When do you want me to start?”

Tims mouth was covered in the curled up position so even to him his words were muffled.

“Don't care”

He cared a little bit, even if he didn't have the energy to be angry he still wanted to know. Granted what John already said was more then he had ever expected to hear. He wanted more, apparently John was going to give it so he would take what he gave.

“Right. Well, you know this part already, after Martin found Gertrude's body I spiraled into a panic trying to figure out what happened. I'm still convinced that someone, or at least something killed her…but I was so far in the panic everyone seemed suspicious, no matter how much evidence I had. I needed something to blame, a reason that wasn't just some random thing killing her in a way she had no chance of stopping. I…I felt I needed to know so I could stop it happening to me. You all were the people closest so I…I blamed you. Even if it didn't make sense.”

Tim knew that, it was obvious to everyone honestly. Everyone except John himself of course, Tim supposed it was good for John to finally realize it to.

“If I'm being honest….I wanted it to be one of you so I could prove to myself that I can't trust people. But..I know it wasn't, you all, you all are good. I don't know how to approach any of you, even before all this. I'm so distant from everyone because I believed everyone was just…plotting. A Lot of the times I was right but I wasn't with you all. You all were genuinely trying to be kind to me and I refused to meet you. I'm sorry again.”

Tim hummed. He understood that train of thought, that everyone was bad and out for themselves. Hell he thought that for the longest time too, it was the only thing that kept him alive for years. He didn't notice when he stopped thinking that, was it when he found the Institute? Meeting Sasha or Martin maybe? He couldn't be sure.

Thankfully John continued after a brief pause. Tim heard the deep breaths he was taking.

“When we first got stuck in here I was still going down my rabbit hole, I don't know when I first was able to stop and think properly again. I think it was when you stopped pacing around the room, strted to hide in the blankets. I knew something was wrong and it….flipped a switch and suddenly I was just able to…trust you.”

Tim lifted his lead and looked at John, who was looking anywhere but him.

“You..you trust me?”

Silence.

Tim thought he was going to backtrack or ignore him but,

“Yes. I trust you Tim”

John finally looked at Tim.

The bruises around John's eyes were starting to darken and Tim couldn't help but start to laugh.

After everything, after Prentiss and all the fucking worms, the servalance tapes, everything. This is what got John to trust him. He decked John in the face not even an hour ago and now he was flat out saying he trusted him!

He could see the confusion on John's face but as his eye crinkled so did the starting bruises and it just looked so ...so funny on John. John who was always so serious and methodical and paranoid looked like he had a painted on bandits mask.

Tims laughter dubbed and he ended up laying back on the hard floor. John to his credit stayed quite as Tim laughed, just as he didn't when he yelled. But that didn't make it any less funny.

“Holy hell John,” Tim barely breathed out between bursts of laughter.

“You, you make no sense!”

—-----------------

Tim was still having with laughter as John processed what was going on.

He had no idea why Tim was laughing. Just a few minutes ago he was angry and yelling but now? Right after John told him he trusted him..did he think John was lying?

If he were less worried about Tims sudden for of laughter he would have given himself the moment to just enjoy the sounds. Later that night he would think about it and realize it was the first time he really heard Tim laugh. Not just he chuckles and short huffs, a real laugh.

When Tim finally called down he stayed laying on the floor. His breathing was loud and felt exaggerated but John didn't say anything.

“You know John, you have the strangest mind.”

More beats of silence

“Do…do you really trust me or are you just fucking with me John?”

Finally John was able to say /something/.

“ When have I ever “fucked with you”? I am of course I do trust you I wouldn't just say that…”

Tim chuckled again, “ it's just odd John, I was so angry at you a bit ago but now, now I just ... .God I don't know.”

John sat there confused and frankly a little concerned.

The both of the sat there, John could feel the tissue in his nose collecting blood and it was weird.

“Hay John…”

John looked at Tim immediately.

“Yes?”

“You're a real prick, you know that?”

Although he was insulting him Tims voice didn't have any anger in it anymore, not as far John could tell. Then again John was shit at telling somehow knew. Not John.

“I..yes I am aware.”

Tim groaned

“ God you sound like one too! Seriously you need to lighten the fuck up and learn how to talk without sounding like a English teacher.”

“I think the way I talk is just fine,” John said defensively. His arms crossed over his chest.

“No, no you really do. I swear you give me flashbacks of falling asleep in 10th grade English. It's crazy,” Tim was still laying on the floor and while John couldn't see it, was smiling.

“Well perhaps the reason you think it's odd is because you were napping while being taught proper language.”

“Na, you're just weird. Also no one just says ‘perhaps’ John. Nobody.”

Tim finally sat back up. He leaned back on his hands and looked at John. He sighed.

“I'm sorry John.”

What? What could you be apologizing for? I-”

“Cuz I just started fuckin yelling at you man. You didn't even do anything and I just blew off on you,” John was about to interrupt but Tim held up his hand.

“I mean I had every right, have, for that matter, to be angry but I just blew up on you when you were probably just trying to mess with me. Fuck I broke your nose and then cleaned you up and then yelled at you! Here I am going on about mixed signals and doing it myself! It wasn't fair. I'm sorry.”

“Um, thank you?”

“Was that a question?”

“I…No?”

“Why are you just asking questions? I'm trying be sincere here man.”

“I know I just, I don't know what to do. I, I am not used to being apologized to..”

“Martin says sorry to you all the time?????”

“Well, ya, but that's ,Martin. He apologizes for everything, even when he's done nothing wrong.”

Tim agreed and laughed a little.

“I suppose that's true. But ya John, I should've, I should've handled it better. Especially cuz I just broke your nose well you were trying to do something nice to me.”

“I did catch you off guard. You can't be fully to blame.”

Tim laughed again. John felt himself smile. He didn't quite understand what was going on or how Tim reacted but he liked that he seemed calmer. He seemed calmed then he had been since the two of them had been trapped. John didn't want to ruin that. Tim deserved a moment of calm.

Then Tim had a full body shiver. It snapped John out of his semi-daze.

“Are you alright?”

“Fuck ya I'm fine,” Tim was rubbing his arms again.

It must have been a trick of the light but John could have sworn Tims lips where blue.

“I'm just a bit cold. Its fucking freezeing in here.”

“You should lay back down, maybe eat some more.”

“Oh shut it. I'm fine. It's just a bit cold. It's not like the floor is helping any though.”

John went to stand up, but when he did it felt like a rush of dizziness and nausea ran though his bones. He quickly sat back down. His eyes squeezed shut trying to stop the room from spinning around him.

“Oh shit, John.”

He felt Tims strong hand on his shoulder holding him up to prevent him was falling forward.

Strong hand? Why was he thinking that. It's just Tims hand.

“Hey, it's ok. Just breath, Itll go away soon.”

John nodded. He reached his hand up to hold Tim's arm he took deep breaths and slowly he could feel the world righting itself around him.

When he finally opened his eyes Tim was right in front of him kneeling on the floor. His arm reached him stabilizing John and the other rested on the chair, just shy of touching him.

Tims eyes were on his, the brown color piercing into Johns.

“You ok there John,” Tims said softly.

His voice was always so smooth, it never sounded bad. Tim was so close to him.

John nodded, he opened his mouth but when nothing came out he closed it again and looked away from Tims concerned eyes.

“You lost a shit ton of blood you know, you really should be more careful. You, of all people, should know about the dizziness man.”

“Right, I was just trying to-”

“Ether way man,” Tim interrupted “You can't be fucking stupid. Come on, I'll help you to lie down.”

“I can walk just fine on my own.”

John was trying but Tim had other plans. He slid his arm under johns and lifted him to his feet. John's head swam as he rose.

“Every time you have tried to walk in the past, however I've been out of my blankets you've almost fallen so I don't wanna hear it.”

Tim walked John over to his pile of blankets. Not Johns little spread but Tims own.

“And before you start bitching about this being my…. pile, I broke your nose and you lost a lot of blood, you need to stay warm. You can use my stuff tonight.”

As Tim sat John down he was able to catch up with what he was saying.

“What about you? I gave you all these because you've been shivering all night.”

“John….have you been watching me sleep.”

It didnt really sound like a question but John answered it anyway.

“Well it's not exactly hard to notice. I uh, I don't sleep a lot. I spend a lot of time trying to find something but I do….check on you occasionally. You shiver a lot so I have been giving you any new blankets that appear. I don't really need them.”

Tim stared at John. He could tell if he was angry or not, he looked almost passive. Well he wasn't holding John any more he could still almost feel a chill coming off of Tim. The little bit of his arms that were exposed were covered in goosebumps.

That's one thing John never understood about Tim, his style. He would wear a lot of more revealing clothes, nothing too scandalous during work but he seemed to be wearing it under his clothes.If John sent him to get information he always came back to the institute…wearing less then when he left. Right now, he was wearing one of his only long sleeves he currently had. The only problem was that his sleeves had holes at the shoulders. The shirt was designed like that. And it's not like it looked /bad/ on Tim, it just defeated the point of wearing long sleeves.

John realized he was staring at Tims shoulders and looked back up at Tims face. They both knew he was cold and before John could start to object Tim did something completely unexpected.

“Ugh fine. I don't want to hear a word from you about this. Got it? You did this yourself and the only reason I'm doing it is because your right about me being cold. Its fucking freezeing in here and it's crazy your not frozen to death with the week ass scratchy piece of cloth that we have been calling a blanket.”

Tim shifted to sit next to John and layed down.

“Well come on, I'm not going to sit with the cold air hitting me for much longer.”

John didn't say anything and lied next to Tim on the thick comforter he had pushed over the concrete floor to protect from the cold. Tim quickly pulled the other 4, yes 4, blankets over the two of them.

“There, now you can't complain.”

John nodded and watched as Tim curled his body so all of it was under the covers, even his head.

—————

Tim felt John shift around for a minute before finally laying still.

The blankets were big enough to cover both of them easily so it wasn’t like they were touching or anything but they were still quite close. He could feel John’s warmth under the blankets, his body heat being trapped in.

Tim had to admit it was really nice, the blankets helped but having John right next to him helped even more with the cold that continued to seep through him. He wished he could have John just fold around his body so he could soak up all his warmth. But that was asking way /way/ too much. He didn’t even ask about this, he just forced John to lay down somewhere that wasn’t on the freezing concrete.

He really did feel bad about snapping at John today. He felt justified in his anger but just because he was justified in it doesn’t mean it was appropriate. Over the past few days John really was just trying to help him, he kept insisting that he eat and he kept giving Tim his blankets.

It was really sweet when he stopped and thought about it, he could take a form of comfort in that. He also took a not so small comfort knowing John was right next to him. He could feel his warmth and feel the blankets shift as he did.

And even though Tim was always cold he usually held one tight against his chest. He just couldn’t sleep without holding something, when he was home he had a stupid stuffed animal that he would hold at night but here he didn’t. Any semblance of comfort Tim useily took part in was gone, for now and the foreseeable future. But he could at least have this for now, even if it was only for tonight.

Maybe he could convince John to sleep like this more. He thought as he curled even more into himself and tried to fall asleep.

That’s for what I thought would be a good chapter 1!

I do have more written and I am continuing to wright it:)

Should I start posting this to Ao3 now or should I wait?

I love feedback and suggestions!

If you want to be tagged when I post about this fic let me know and I’ll try! :)

Thank you so much for reading!

#the magnus archives #tma podcast #tma #tma tim #tma jon #tma john #season 1 #kinda season 2 #Tim/John #I am so excited about this omg

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