#like this one girl pushed me down a steep hill

[fromfaewithlove]

🌕

[upsidedownwithsteve]

DAY FIVE: Eddie Munson x fem!reader 18+

“That’s way too steep.”

Behind you, the boy snorted. “Nah, c’mon, babe. S’fine.”

You’d spent the entire afternoon throwing yourself down hillsides with Eddie and the rest of his friends, watching the kids with wide eyes as they went down head first, sliding on trash can lids and stolen cafeteria trays. And when each of their noses got too red, too cold, fingers frostbitten and numb, they’d stumbled home one by one until it was only you and Eddie left.

He’d monopolised the only good sledge from the get go, throwing snowballs at anyone who tried to wrestle him for it. He didn’t need to try too hard to get you on it with him, looking far too handsome with pink cheeks and snowflakes caught in his curls. One smug lift of his brows and you’d been between his spread legs, nestled to his front as you let him push you both down into piles of snow.

And now, alone with you in the twilight, he grew braver, grabbing at your waist to pull you in tighter, letting his frozen nose skim at the space between your hair and woollen hat. The sky was pink even though the sun was long gone, a deep, dusty rose with huge clouds, the kind of sky that promised more snow.

“If we fall off, you owe me a hot chocolate, Munson.”

Eddie snorted, pulling you against him, closer still. He arched his hips, pushing into your ass and even though he couldn’t see your face from your position, you bit down on a grin.

He wasn’t as smooth as he thought.

“Sweetheart, I’m wounded.” Eddie placed a ringed hand against his heart. “You think I’d let my girl fall?”

You shrugged, a barely seen move under your bulky winter jacket but you squirmed all the same, bum shifting backwards on the cheap backwards sledge until you heard Eddie stifle a grunt.

There was too much between you both, thick denim jeans and the tails of scarves, layers of wool and cotton. But still, you felt something - someone - twitch against the small of your back, just curving over your ass.

You snorted, covered it up with a cough and then made a show of leaning forward, as if peering over the edge of the stupidly high hill Eddie had perched you both on. “That’s like, a ninety degree angle, Eddie.”

It was Eddie’s turn to laugh. “And everyone says I’m dramatic,” he tsked. “Here, just hold onto me, s’fine.”

So you wiggled your way back into the boy, into the cradle of his hips, shifting and sighing until your ass was pressed into his crotch and you were more sure than ever that you could feel his cock pressed against you. You pretended to stretch, moaning slightly at the arch of your back and the click of your neck and you didn’t stop running yourself back onto the boy until he was swearing into your hair.

His hands grabbed at your waist, fingers digging into your jacket.

“Quit it,” he groaned, trying to sound annoyed.

“Edward Munson,” you gasped, theatrical as your boyfriend liked to be. You peered over your shoulder at him, at his flushed cheeks and heavy lidded eyes. “Are you hard right now?”

“As a fuckin’ rock, sweetheart,” Eddie admitted with zero shame, even less hesitation.

“This is a public space,” you tutted, ignoring the way he glared at you.

“It’s your fuckin’ fault—”

“There’s a kids play park not even a stones throw—”

He was scowling now, face beetroot. “Hey, you started this! With your wiggling ‘n squirming about ‘n shit.”

“You’re diabolical,” you whispered, all faux outrage. But your eyes were glittering. “What I’m I gonna do with you?”

Eddie grinned and he didn’t notice the snow start to fall again. He blinked down at you, brown eyes full of mischief. “Take me home and fuck me, hopefully.”

“Eddie!”

But he was already moving, lifting himself up from the sledge and he laughed when you squealed, the shift in weight making the red plastic tip. Your ass landed in snow, the strip of exposed skin between your jeans and your jacket shocked with the cold.

“First one to the van gets to come first,” the boy declared and by the time you got your bearings, Eddie was half way down the hill, curls flying as he kicked up snow behind him.

[mlqueen89]

One | Flyboy 

so cross your thoughtless heart  she's the albatross  she is here to destroy you 

The Albatross by Taylor Swift | TTPD |     

pairing: jake “hangman” seresin x f!oc (top gun: maverick) 

rating: 18+ (minors dni) 

w a r n i n gs : smut, mentions of masturbation, oral (f receiving), fingering, p in v sex, multiple orgasms, one-night stand, jake being a cocky, self-assured man who leaves no crumbs after he eats. 

word count: 8,997

summary: in affairs of the heart, eleanor rigby has one strict rule: no pilots. Less than 24 hours back in the US, she breaks it. 

A/N: this whole entire fic literally started with the (full) name of eleanor. i also have a radar tech in the family, so that helped a bit. snowball met a steep hill and picked up speed. i've planned for ~10(ish) chapters, but it may be open ended with a few more random scenes/chapters here and there.  

proud to say that this one was beta read by my bestest friend, so you know she was mean to me helpful. 

also! i saw the asks - super excited to dive into those, tysm. ♡♡

❥ playlist ♡ masterlist ♡ taglist ♡ next chapter ❥

Eleanor Rigby hadn’t wanted to go to the Halloween party, not really.    

The boxes stacked in the spare bedroom of her friend Nicole’s four-bedroom house desperately needed unpacking and the 10-hour time change from Western Turkey to San Diego was kicking her ass. She’d done about as much unpacking as was required to find a suitable outfit for her new job in the morning, folded them carefully and set them out.   

When Nicole had invited her out, Ellie had fallen asleep, mid-unpack of the rest of her belongings, waking only when the bubbly blonde burst into the room and jumped onto the foot of her bed, dressed in all her glory as Barbie.   

“Ellie does San Diego! Let’s goooo.” Nicole tugged at Ellie’s arm as Yanique flicked on the light in the ensuite, reapplying a purple-ish shade of lipstick as Ellie blinked against the sudden light in her dim room, her arm jiggled aggressively by an enthusiastic Nic.   

Bleary-eyed, her voice just a croak, Ellie politely declined, muttering something about starting her new job early the next morning and making a good impression. Nicole eventually relented with a huff and left, a little less than impressed, with their other two roommates, Yan and Sophie, in tow.   

Within 45 minutes, her phone buzzing against the hardtop of the nightstand, the voice messages started flowing in.   

Nicole’s first voice message was short, 12 seconds. Ellie’s thumb jabbed at the play button as she gathered the dishes from her girl dinner of toast and coffee and used her elbow to push down on the paddle door handle, making her way to the shared kitchen.   

Ellieeeeeeee... Eleanor Rigbyyyyyy ....   

There was a dull thud of base in the background somewhere, behind the long, pronounced whine of Nicole’s voice as she sang the beginning of her namesake Beatles song, horribly off-key.   

Ellie, please you have to come out. It’s Halloween, the most magical night of the year! Just make an appearance. An hour, tops. Please?   

Ellie moved through the kitchen, rinsing out her cup and placing it on the drying rack. Her head was in the fridge, scrounging around for an apple in the crisper drawer, when the next three messages came in.   

Please, pretty, pretty, pretty, please with like, a million cherries on top, even though I know you hate cherries.    

Bradley’s not here yet, Yan already left with a weird guy in a Frankenstein costume—do we know what kink that is? That has to be a kink, right? I’m not kink shaming though, I promise. He was just like... weird. Do you think I should get her to drop her location? Like, just in case?   

Soph is requesting Chappell Roan for the like, twentieth time, and I think she’s going to start a fight with the DJ about being an anti-feminist incel if he doesn’t play “HOT TO GO!” again... did you know that she broke up with that witch, wiccan girl from Hinge? HingeWitch? The one that had that study of cheeses in her bio, that blue cheese description—Ellie thought she heard Nicole pause to gag—anyway, I think she thinks she got cursed or something...    

The voice message cut off even though Nicole’s tone suggested that she wasn’t finished talking about Sophie’s ex.   

There was a garbled message in between the last one and the next, one in which Ellie could hear Nicole begging the DJ not to leave and promising to talk to her friend about the excessive requests for Chappell Roan.   

Don’t abandon me in my time of need, El. Desperate need. Like, jumping off of very tall somethings desperacy.   

Ellie smirked. Nicole, her very best friend in the whole wide world, quite possibly the vast universe, was, in fact, very dramatic.   

Quickly, before another voice message could roll in, Ellie hit record on her own before she bit into her apple, wrestling the third box out of a teetering tower of boxes in the corner of her room and hit send.   

Fine. I’ll be there in twenty.   

The response pinged back quickly.   

Ohmygodohmygod, thank you! Remember, the theme is Icons through the Ages!   

Wear something sexy. Iconic sexy. Iconically sexy? But not Hawaiian Barbie. Or whatever Soph is dressed up as. I want to say is either Frida Kahalo or Mama Imelda from Coco. Basically, avoid anything with a Mexican gothic vibe.

Once Ellie had managed to pull her vintage leather aviator jacket from the box, the one she’d mislabeled in her hurry to pack everything up, the rest of her costume came together fairly quickly.   

When she found the venue, a small bar off a main street, she still had around 30 seconds to spare on her twenty-minute promise to Nic.   

Eleanor had always known that Nicole was popular, but the Halloween party, a party which Nicole had demurely announced was just “a small thing” with “a few work friends” was in actuality, not quite a small thing.  

Weaving her way through the crowd, Ellie scanned the room, trying to pick out the hot pink of Nicole’s costume or the flower crown Sophie had carefully woven into her voluminous red hair.   

Squeezing her way through a group of Spanish Conquistadors (notably with less armour and more exposed skin than was historically accurate) Ellie paused short of the small DJ booth in the corner of the bar, her eyes still scanning for Nicole when her eyes fell on him.  

Sandy blonde hair peeked out from under a neon sweatband, shoulders stocky and solid in a sleeveless denim vest over a t-shirt that read, No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem. The white sneakers, short shorts, and that unmistakable lanky sway to the beat of Footloose pumping through the venue that could only belong to one person.   

It was Ken.  

Specifically, the Ken to Nicole’s Barbie.    

“Bradshaw?” Ellie called, squinting.  

Ken spun around with the beat of the song, a lopsided grin already on his lips as he faced her. “Holy shit, Rigsy?” Swiftly, Bradley Bradshaw was over to her, scooping Ellie off her feet, squeezing her tightly in a bear hug, shaking her frame slightly with a growl, before she groaned and he set her back down, feather light.   

“You didn’t say you were back stateside.”   

“My flight got in last night.” Ellie shrugged, straightening her jacket and adjusting the thin white scarf around her neck, “Just wanted to surprise you, Rooster.”   

“Well, damn it,” Bradley nodded in approval, all dimples and easy charm, “colour me surprised.”  

It was no wonder Nicole had fallen for him, head over Barbie heels. Even Ellie liked him, and that was saying something.   

Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw was less pilot and more golden retriever, a good heart wrapped in an all-American charm with an easygoing, dopey grin that made people feel like they’d known him for years. He was the kind of guy who’d lend you his jacket and forget to ask for it back or show up at your door with takeout and Sleepless in Seattle cued up on a streaming service he had to pay an arm and a leg for, because he “just had a feeling.” The Batman who responded to the Emotional Needs and Mercury Retrograde Bat Signal™. The hero the people deserved. Ellie was pretty sure she caught him watching videos of a baby hippo getting into shenanigans at a zoo in China on loop for 14 minutes while Nic tried to pick an episode of Keeping Up With the Kardashians that would really pique his interest and get him invested enough to make it his “new Roman Empire”.  

Ellie remembered the night Nicole and Bradley had met with perfect clarity.   

Nicole had been in the middle of swearing off all men for the foreseeable future, her voice thick with the brand of determination that came with a prosecco-fueled resolution. Ellie had watched as her friend declare a new era of singlehood and Taylor Swift before turning to Sophie, slurring out a request for “gorgeous, single women willing to humor an experimental phase.”   

It wasn’t two minutes later that Nicole lurched forward, losing all her resolve—and her prosecco—in a sudden, graceless bout with the sidewalk.  

As Ellie rubbed her back and tried to get her standing, a group of pilots had come down the street—Bradley Bradshaw among them, flanked by two others they’d later get to know as Phoenix and Bob. Bradley had been the one to stop, eyes quickly scanning the situation, assessing and then moving in with expert precision. He’d peeled off his jacket immediately, holding it out to Nicole as she moaned her embarrassment and weakly gestured at the puddle of what had once been bubbly and appetizers a few feet away.  

“It’s okay,” Bradley had told her, voice soft and reassuring. “If you throw up on this one, I’ll just get another jacket tomorrow.” When she’d protested, he’d grinned, shrugging in that effortless way of his. “Honestly, they just give these jackets to anyone,” he’d joked, as if he hadn’t spent years earning the right to wear it and every single patch stitched on it.  

Nicole had blinked up at him, mascara smudged, his jacket draped over her shoulders, looking at him like he was some knight out of one of the many cheesy rom-coms she loved. And for once, Ellie hadn’t blamed her for it.  

That night, Bradley Bradshaw had seen her best friend at her worst and treated her like she was worth sticking around for.  

And that was Rooster in a nutshell—a steady warmth that lingered long after he was gone, the guy who would do just about anything to make Nicole smile, including, but not limited to, dressing up in the ridiculous costume he was currently wearing.  

Nudging her, Rooster grinned. “So,” he drawled, “does this mean I finally get the best friend stamp of approval?”  

Ellie rolled her eyes, feigning a reluctant sigh, but she couldn’t help the small smile tugging at her lips. She didn’t want to tell him that she’d approved of him long before now. “Don’t let it go to your head, Bradshaw.”  

“Too late,” he laughed, mimicking his head expanding dramatically before throwing an arm around her shoulders. “Already there.”  

Rooster grabbed his drink off the small table bordering the dance floor, draining the glass. “Love the costume, by the way," he sucked his teeth against the burn of the whiskey he’d downed, “I’ve not seen one Amelia Earhart here.” He craned his neck, searching in the dimly lit room.  

“You think the goggles are too much?” Ellie adjusted the strap on her head, pushing a loose strand of hair up underneath the band. “I think they might be cutting off circulation to my brain..."  

“An aviator is only as good as their headgear,” Rooster tapped the top of his head. “You’re just missing your call sign.” 

“Guess you must not be a very good one, then.” Ellie smirked, snapping the neon sweatband on his head with a laugh.  

Rooster levelled her with a narrowed gaze, but there was no heat behind it, “one day someone is going to love that you’re kind of mean.”  

“Sorry, Bradshaw—” Ellie pointed at her ears, shrugging as she stepped back, a smirk on her lips, retreating into the crowd “—I can’t hear you.”  

Rooster flipped her off, in an affectionate way, she assumed. “Sit and circumnavigate, Rigby.” 

With another laugh, Ellie turned and set her sights on the bar, squeezing her way through a grouping of zombies and a Michonne, who stood shoulder to shoulder with a Negan, complete with Lucille, tugging her scarf out of Zombie #1s grasp on the other side. 

The last tug, sharp and forceful, sent her stumbling over the tattered chiffon hem of the La Llorona’s dress at her back.  

Ellie braced for the rough landing as she attempted and failed to steady herself. She felt the fall in her stomach, the way it pitched as gravity pulled her down. She figured it served her right, the swift intervention of karma coming for her after she’d insulted its favourite pilot — Rooster was going to have an absolute field day over this. 

Ellie had been so lost in the idea of bracing for the impact of the ground, hard and sticky, she didn’t notice that she hadn’t fallen until she looked up and saw a lopsided smirk and green eyes, looking down at her. The realization there were hands hooked under her arms, holding her up came quickly after. 

“And here I was thinkin’ that Amelia Earhart had a reputation of staying upright.” The man was all smirk, dimples ghosting his cheeks, as Ellie blinked up at him, processing the situation. 

“Guess I’m overdue for a refresher course on emergency landings.” Ellie cleared her throat, righting herself with his help before she tugged her bomber jacket back into place. 

When she glanced up from her improved angle, Ellie could see just how striking he was—sharp jaw, confident eyes, and a natural swagger that suggested he knew it, suggested he knew women sized him up in more ways than one. 

“What are you drinking, Amelia?” 

“Nothing, yet.” 

“Let’s fix that, shall we?”  

The music pumped anew, the DJ spinning a Thriller remix, as she approached the bar, the presence of the man at her back as she weaved her way through the crowd. She could feel the hover of his hand at her lower back, ready to catch her if she took another tumble. She hadn’t been expecting much from the night—just a few drinks, maybe some small talk with Nic, a short discussion with Sophie on Chappell Roan’s representation of duality in the midwestern identity to prove that she’d come out and spent the appropriate amount of time there. But as she took the beer the bartender slid her way and the man leaned against the bar next to her, she couldn’t help but smile. She definitely hadn’t been expecting this. 

“Let me guess,” Ellie’s eyes scanned his costume then, taking a moment to take stock. Carefully, she scanned the skull patch, dagger in its teeth, VFA-151 stitched in below, the chevrons, patches, carefully piecing the images and small details of his costume together before she replied, eyebrow raised, “you’re a pilot—” she paused to sip her drink, her eyes falling on the patch on his bicep, “—Navy.”  

A grin pulled up the corner of his mouth as he gave her a slow once-over, a scan he didn’t bother to hide, before he leaned casually against the bar beside her. “Hangman,” he said with a smirk, and Ellie’s eyes dipped to the patch on his chest, the golden wings stitched above the call sign. “Best pilot you’ll ever meet.” 

She tilted her head, gaze sliding from his call sign back up to his face. “Best pilot, huh?” She gave him a once-over that was part skepticism, part intrigue. “You Navy guys really know how to sell it.” 

Ellie leaned into the bit hard. Tonight, she was Amelia, and he was Hangman, the name stitched into hundreds, if not thousands, of storebought costumes. If she were Navy, she might have been insulted. 

If he heard the skepticism in her tone, he ignored it and chuckled, not breaking eye contact as he matched her smirk. “Only because it’s true. Besides,” he said, letting his voice drop lower, “don’t have to sell anything when you’ve got it all.”  

Ellie raised an eyebrow, meeting his challenge head-on. “Big words for someone who still hasn’t proven a thing.”  

“Oh, don’t worry, darlin’,” he drawled, leaning in just close enough to lower his voice to a rumble, “I’m very good at proving myself.”  

She laughed softly, a glint in her eyes as she set her drink down. “Okay then, why don’t you start with this—” Ellie leaned in, her finger tapped lightly on the golden wings over his heart, her touch lingering. “Explain why they call you Hangman.”  

She waited, waited to see if he’d squirm, held his gaze and paused for the story that was sure to come. Some feeble attempt at role playing for an unpracticed character, just a call sign with no real bite, no real story.  

He smirked, clearly used to that question but still savoring her attention. “I’ll leave that for you to figure out,” he teased, straightening, “after all, you strike me as a curious type. And I’d hate to ruin the mystery.”  

Ellie chuckled, leaning back as she looked him over. That was his game, wasn’t it? A tennis match, a steady volley and lob. Two could play at that game. “Maybe I’ll get bored before I do.” Ellie added a shrug to punctuate her words for effect.  

“Somehow, I don’t think so.” His voice held a hint of challenge, his gaze lingering, his grin lazy but sharp. He straightened up, hand resting on the bar, close enough that she could feel the warmth radiating from him.  

“Guess we’ll see,” she murmured, lifting her drink to her lips, her gaze unwavering as she took another sip. She looked away for just a second, but not before she caught his confident grin widening.  

“Believe me,” he said with that maddening confidence of his as he leaned in, so close that his voice was low, the heat of his words warming the shell of her ear, “I’ve got plenty of ways to keep you entertained.”

Ellie had barely unlocked the front door to Nicole’s place when he was on her, his hands on her hips as he pressed her into the wall at the bottom of the stairs. He kissed her like a man starved, his fingers reaching up to tangle in her hair at the base of her neck, anchoring her to him.  

This was the culmination of the barely veiled innuendos, the heavy-handed flirting that had gone on all evening.  

When he’d slipped out of the bar and onto the street with her, Ellie knew what would happen. He knew what would happen. She could tell in the way his eyes raked over her, all want, pupils blown wide. He wanted her and she wasn’t shy to admit, maybe not out loud, but to herself, that she wanted him too.  

“Maybe we should—” Ellie’s breath was uneven, her mouth missing his the moment they broke apart, just long enough for her to tip her head in the direction of the stairs.  

“Yeah—” his reply was equally breathy, his eyes on her lips even as she spoke, his tongue jutting out to whet his lips. A thrill shot through her, one that dipped low and pulsed between her legs.   

She was wet already, she could feel the slickness of herself, the material of her panties weighted with the evidence. In response, in a swift motion, he picked her up and Ellie instinctively spread her legs so that they framed his waist, her ankles locking at his low back. Ellie didn’t need to be told, she gripped him with her thighs, squeezing tight as he chuckled.   

“Good girl,” he smirked against her mouth before he kissed her again, deeply, his tongue pushing inside to taste hers.  

When they reached the top of the stairs, she broke from him only just long enough to give directions to her room in as few words as humanly possible, reaching out to grip the door frame of her room as he carried her down the hall and almost walked past it.  

Shutting the door behind them with his foot, he wasted no time in pressing her up against the wall. His fingers worried the buttons, slipped each from their place, starting from the bottom up as Ellie took her bomber jacket off, tossing it and the goggles to the floor before she joined him in working on the buttons from top down.  

“So many—” his breath came out with an edge of frustration and Ellie gave up on her buttons to tug the zip of his flight suit down to where her hips met his waist.    

“Just rip it,” Ellie huffed out, voice unsteady as his lips dipped to her neck, teeth grazing the spot where her collarbone met the base of her throat. One less thing between his mouth and her skin warranted the sacrifice of a shirt.  

He didn’t waste time, didn’t question and the sudden coolness on her skin and the sound of the buttons hitting the floor, scattered, had her grinning. She liked a man who followed orders. “You owe me a new shirt, Captain.”  

“Lieutenant,” his voice rumbled into her skin, making quick work of her bra next. By the time it hit the floor to join the other articles of clothing, his hands were on her breasts, teasing her nipples, every pinch and pressure, every touch of his lips, every nip of his teeth sending surges of raw pleasure pulsing down.  

Ellie hated the way he ripped the sounds, raw, unabashed, desperate, from her. Hated how she’d folded under his smooth charm — she could have stopped it, could have said good night and left him at her door. Touched herself, alone, in bed, thinking about the way he’d been so eager to prove he was the best, picture how his touch would have felt, how he would have filled her as she coaxed herself over the edge and leave it at that.  

But she hadn’t, she’d wanted him —she’d own that. She wanted him to fuck her stupid. She could feel him, the hard outline of his cock pressing against her as he held her to him. 

“Easy, darlin’,” he chuckled lowly, rough around the edges as she shifted, reaching to touch him over top the Nomex. “We haven’t even started yet….”  

He was across to her bed in a few easy strides, carefully setting her back so that she sank into the pillows, his hand lingering at her waist as he leaned over her, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. His gaze held hers, steady and unhurried, as he let his fingers trace lightly over the edge of her jaw, his index finger coming to rest under her chin, his thumb smudging her bottom lip.  

As his thumb traced her lip, smudging her lipstick, she caught his hand and pulled his index finger into her mouth, closing her lips around the digit, tongue tracing purposeful patterns as she slowly dragged it out. Her eyes never leaving his as he huffed out a heavy breath, a thrill running through her. 

“You should know that I have a rule, sweetheart.” He murmured, leaning over her so that his arms framed her, so close that his nose brushed hers as he spoke, his voice low, deep, edged by the hard edge of desire. “Ladies first.” 

Her pants were off quickly, leaving her in nothing but a whisp of material separating her from the man who wanted all of her. She heard the jingle of dog tags as he lifted the white shirt that had been under the flight suit over his head and abandoned it. 

Before she could sit up to see him, stripped down to his boxers, he was back on her, lower.  

Softly, he kissed her inner ankle, the next kiss trailing higher, her calf, another on the inside of her knee and the next, on her inner thigh, so close to where she wanted him, she was sure he could feel the heat radiating from her core.  

She was a wreck, a hot, wet wreck and she was barely holding onto the part of her that was ready to beg him to touch her. The part of her that wanted all of him in a way that was driving her mad every moment he wasn’t touching her.  

“What do you want?” His voice was steady, measured as he touched her over her panties, his rough fingers brushing over the dampened spot of the material. The sound that left his lips, a quiet hissing intake of breath, told her he knew what he was doing to her, knew that he had her right where he wanted her.   

In response, Ellie writhed, sensitive to even the smallest brush and despite herself, a small moan left her lips, one she couldn’t have contained even if she had wanted to. What was the question again?  

He moved up from the altar between her legs, nipping a sensitive spot on her side where her ribs ended before he remedied it with a soft kiss, blazing a trail up her body with his mouth. Carefully, holding himself just above her, he bent to tease her nipple with his tongue, whetting the already hard peak, before he closed his lips around one and then moved to the other.  

Ellie was barely holding on, her vision edged with haze as he looked up to finally locked eyes with her. If he kept it up at this rate, he wouldn’t even need to fuck her.  

“What do you want?” His voice was husky, his body propped up over her as Ellie tried to order her thoughts, process them into coherent words. “You going to tell me or am I going to have to guess?”  

She could feel him against her thigh, hard, ready, the thin material of his boxers the only thing between her and all of him. There was some small satisfaction, a thrill that swept through her and coiled low in her stomach, that there was a part of him he was barely controlling a part of him that wanted to be inside of her now. The wet spot of precum on his underwear ghosted against her bare skin and she swore she could feel him twitch.  

Hangman, she’d asked at the bar, explain why they call you Hangman.   

Mystery solved.  

“I want—” she started, barely a whisper as he kissed the corner of her mouth, kissed her jawline, his fingers slipping under the top waistband of her panties as he continued to nip at the most sensitive spots on her neck.  

“You want…?” He prompted, waiting, even as his hand slipped lower, slow, calculated.   

“I want you to—,” Ellie lifted her head and muffled her moan into his shoulder as his fingers found her slick clit, massaging lazy circles, steady, calm, “Mmm.” Her nails bit into the muscles on his back as her head fell to the pillow, arching into his touch.  

“Guess, it is then.” He murmured, that infuriating smirk in his words as he pulled his hand away from her slick, stopping the steady rhythm she’d just gotten used to. She whined after the loss, but he didn’t give her much time to mourn before he was down between her legs again, his fingers dragging her panties off.  

Swiftly, he pulled her to the bottom of the bed, throwing her legs over his shoulders. Ellie gasped, her hips bucking up into his tongue as he swept it up through her folds. Calmly, as she inched closer to unravelling completely, ascending the slope at dizzying speed, he gripped her hips, controlling her movements as she pressed down against his mouth. 

She could feel the pressure building with every expert movement of his tongue over her, through her. Reaching down, she combed her fingers through his hair, gripped into it and tugged him over, directing him to her need.  

“Oh, god….” Ellie whined, the words just barely words as they dissolved into a moan, her free hand gripping the mess of sheets underneath her.  

“Hangman’s fine, gorgeous.” The response was quick, cocky. The response of a man who knew exactly what he was doing to her and taking his time. 

“Wait,” Ellie’s hips chased after his mouth, a groan on her lips as she threw her arm across her eyes. “Don’t stop—.”

He was torturing her now, bringing her just to the edge and then allowing her to come down just enough to bring her back up again. He was fucking good and he knew it. It was going to drive her insane with want. 

“You have to say please, sweetheart,” he murmured, the heat of his breath on her inner thigh almost too much, carefully, he touched her with his thumb, a light pressure as he teased her. Ellie could hear the smirk in his words.  

Words. What were words? Ellie's mind was short-circuiting. Short-circuited, past tense. Already gone. Wires crossed— leads jammed in the wrong place, signals crossed.     

She hadn’t wanted to fall apart under his touch so easily, she'd wanted to seem like she wasn’t desperate for him, but his touch was a warm fire on a cold night.    

“Ple—fuck,” Ellie moaned, her words dragged out, long and torturous as she felt his thick fingers slip inside her, slow and deliberate.     

She didn’t even know his real name, wasn’t even sure if she could manage to say it even if she did. He was undoing her carefully, piece by piece, sensation by sensation, she was malleable under his touch.    

“What was that darlin’?”    

Ellie might have been embarrassed at the squelch of her wetness as his fingers stroked in and out, excruciatingly measured, but she couldn't think about anything. Just the way he filled her while still leaving her wanting more, more, more.    

“Please—” her nerves crackled like livewires as she moaned, her hips moving against his fingers with each stroke, her movements almost involuntary, the wild need in her chasing the high, just out of reach.     

“Well, since you asked so nicely…” his voice was husky, lower now. He gripped her hip, holding her, steadying her rhythm before he added another thick finger, three deep in her now, his thumb moving in circles around her swollen clit.    

“Jesus,” he breathed, taking a moment before his mouth dipped to her hot center, alternating between sucking and the slow caressing tip of his tongue, creating just the right amount of excruciatingly perfect sensation, his fingers stroking and curling inside her. “You're so tight, sweetheart. Might not—” 

He might not fit. She finished his words in her mind, a secondary thought, one that made her mad with want. 

She breathed through the sensations, jolted and writhed as his pumping digits searched for the spot that made her see stars. She felt drunk, high, soaring, just on the edge of release, her muscles aching to reach the peak before she tumbled over, completely undone.    

When she finally broke, her back arching off the mattress, her hips grinding harder into his hand, she moaned into her forearm to muffle the sound. 

That air of self–assured cockiness he carried himself with at the bar, the swagger. It was all well–earned, she was coming to realize. Pun intended. 

“You know what they call a pilot with at least five confirmed air-to-air kills?” His voice was low as he drew his fingers from her, slipping his arm behind her still arched back as he leaned over her, his heavy cock pressing up against her throbbing pussy through his boxers, hard, ready.  

She was hyper aware that she still wanted him, inside her, filling her, spreading her to her limit in a unique mix of pleasure and pain. 

“Hmm—Ace?” Ellie’s mind was still hazy, vignetted around the edges as her heart hammered against her ribs. 

It happened in a moment, a quick change of position, as he lifted and turned, positioning himself under her so she straddled him. Smooth and calculated, precise and fast, an expert maneuver.  

Ellie could feel her bare wetness against him, her hands bracing on his chest, feeling the defined muscles beneath her touch. In the dim light of the room, she could see the glint of his dog tags hanging off to the side, a small detail of his costume she wished she might have looked at before, in the bar.  

“Ace.” He smirked up at her before he shifted her hips up and he pulled her down over his face. 

Ellie gripped the steering wheel tightly, the worn pleather creaking under her hands as she leaned forward and angled the rearview mirror sharply so she could get a better look.   

“Fuck,” Ellie hissed, her fingers hovering just over the purple mark on her neck, just above her collarbone. How she hadn’t noticed it in the mirror this morning, she wasn’t quite sure.  

“Seriously? A fucking hickey?” She was already digging around in her purse as she huffed, her fingers blindly searching for the concealer she knew wouldn’t be there because she could see it in her mind’s eye, sitting on the edge of the porcelain countertop in her ensuite bathroom. “Are we fourteen?”  

This was definitely topping her list of things she didn’t need her first day on a new job site, especially not Miramar.  

When Ellie had woken up that morning, the sun barely peeking through the half-shut blinds, she wasn’t surprised that she was alone in bed. There was no note, no forgotten sock, no evidence, save for the dull ache between her legs and a tender, purple love bite on the inside of her right thigh as evidence that last night had even happened.  

That was what one-night stands were though, right? One night.  

Even under the hot stream of water from the shower in the ensuite though, Ellie closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift back, only shaking herself from the thought of him when the alarm from her phone buzzed it right off the counter.   

Groaning, Ellie blew out a noisy breath, abandoning the purse search when she found nothing other than a stray mint.  

Guess today was going to be a hair down kind of day.  

It wasn't the look she normally felt comfortable with on military bases with all the formality of rank and protocol, but she was a civilian contractor, it was unlikely anyone would notice. Hair down was better than the talk that might follow her around if anyone saw the mark on her neck.  

Sighing, Ellie pulled the pins out of the bun she’d spent her morning perfecting and allowed her hair, dark, still damp and wavy from the shower, to fall around her shoulders. Carefully, she pulled the tresses forward, over the rouged mark on her skin, peeking just out from under the collar of her white blouse.  

It wasn’t the best, but it would have to do in a pinch. She made a quick mental note to head off base on break to stop at a CVS to grab some concealer before she twisted the rearview mirror back into place.  

Tony Cudmore, the Crew Staffing Supervisor she had been coordinating with solely through email before now, was already waiting for her just outside the gates, his eyes on his wristwatch as Ellie approached. “Rigby, glad to have you on board. Heard we snagged you from your work on base in Turkey.”  

“Yeah, well. When Uncle Sam comes knocking, right?” Ellie snagged a tress of her hair as it lifted from her shoulder in the wind, carefully patting it back into place.  

“Don’t I know it,” Tony chuckled, his white, push broom straight moustache blustering as he waved at the officer stationed in the booth by the gate before he scanned his security pass. “How’s your old man?”  

“Ah, you know the type, Tony.” 

Ellie had perfected the art of sidestepping questions about her dad and Tony didn’t push further, seemingly content with the non-answer. 

As they reached the security clearance office, Tony slid a few documents under the glass and Ellie stepped up in front of a camera, the flash going off quickly before she had a chance to adjust.  

Whoever thought DMV photos were bad had clearly never had their photo taken by a Naval Officer a few months away from retirement.  

“Given name?” The man behind the glass murmured, so low that Ellie had to strain and lean toward the hole at the bottom of the glass to hear him.  

“Eleanor.” 

“We have a lot of work here that could really benefit from your expertise. The boys are flying Super Hornets nowadays, so the tech is good, but the improvements from your research could really give ‛em the edge.” Tony continued at her side, distractedly flipping through emails on his phone as he waited, “Now of course, those Super Hornets are far and away from the Tomcats your dad would have been flying in his heyday here, let me tell you….”  

“Surname?”  

“Neven - but you can just put Rigby.” It was Ellie’s turn to murmur now, edging closer to the slot in the glass, her voice just loud enough to be heard over Tony’s absent chatter behind her.  

The Security Officer paused, fanning out Ellie’s passport and glancing up at her for a moment, eyebrow raised before he punched something into the computer. She offered him a tight smile a beat too late.  

When the man slid her the newly printed security pass, Ellie’s eyes scanned for any sign of the hickey and was thankful that, though her hair looked like a bird's nest and her eyes were half-closed in mid-blink, at least the hickey wasn’t memorialized in her security pass.  

As they stepped out of the security office, Tony untucked a manila folio from under his arm and passed it to Ellie as they walked. “I’ll take you around. Give you your bearings. You’ll be working with the tower crew lots. Some good people up there.”  

They were out of the outbuilding now, Ellie’s heels clicking across the tarmac, past the line of F18s lined up on the hardtop and gleaming in the early morning California sun.  

“The ground crew might ask for some help with the planes, so you’ll be in the hangars. I’ll take you for a quick flyby,” Tony chuckled to himself, pleased with the pun, “we’ll pick up the tour after since the meeting with Admiral Simpson and Rear Admiral Stark is at 0900 sharp and those suits don’t mess around.”   

Tony’s strides were long, and it took Ellie a moment to jog after him, catching up just in time for him to open the door for her.    

“If you’re not five minutes early—” Ellie started, half playing into the old Navy saying she had grown up hearing as she slipped into the hangar.  

The nostalgic scent of jet fuel and oil hit Ellie hard in the closed space — it didn’t seem to matter how long she did this, how long she worked around planes and crews, in different countries, different airfields, this part never changed. Part of that was comforting in an odd way. It felt like home to her. 

Tony snapped his fingers in response, the sound of agreement. Tony opened his mouth to speak when a loud peel of laughter echoed in the closed space. Tony glanced at his watch, confused for a moment before his face turned toward Ellie, excited. “Oh, well, will you look at that, lucky you, we’ve got some of our Flyboys here. Must have some free time before drills.”    

Ellie followed a few steps behind Tony as he rounded the front of a line of Super Hornets, a spring in his step. As they approached, she took in the group of aviators in their flight suits from a distance, casually talking and laughing — and then her stomach twisted, her gait faltering for a moment. 

There, leaning against one of the jets, was the last person she expected to see again, let alone here: Hangman.

He looked almost exactly as he had last night, though somehow the daylight amplified everything about him— his height, the confident set of his shoulders. He turned, mid-laugh and Ellie watched as his eyes caught on her, like he recognized her for a fraction of a second before the look was gone just as quickly. 

Hangman’s easy smile shifted when he saw her, an eyebrow shooting up, surprise flashing across his face before his expression settled into something like amusement.

The last time she’d seen that look, she’d been over top of him, hovering, before he pulled her down over his mouth greedily, his tongue painting pictures over her most sensitive nerve endings as she moaned. She was pretty sure she’d broken one of her fingernails as she gripped the headboard, biting into her bottom lip so hard she could taste blood, his other hand reaching up to cup her breast roughly.  

Yet here he was now, in the light of day, truly in his element, looking like he belonged here as much as the jets around him. 

Ellie felt her heart kick up a notch, a reaction she’d hoped she’d managed to stow away. She forced herself to play it cool, lifting her chin slightly as they neared the group. She didn’t have a choice – there was no running from this. The consequences of her own actions coming back around to haunt her. 

“Hangman, Payback, Harvard,” Tony greeted, nodding to him and the other pilots. “Good to see you guys. Just giving our new radar tech a tour.” 

Ellie felt her pulse quicken as his gaze slid back to her. He wasn’t going to say anything, right? They were strangers here, well, coworkers now. She wasn’t Amelia Earhart, and he wasn’t the pilot from the party, except, he very clearly was and Ellie had miscalculated, mis-stepped. A TOPGUN pilot no less. 

As she held his gaze, she could see the recognition flickering behind his eyes. He knew exactly who she was, but his mask didn’t slip, not for a second. 

“This is—”  

“Rigby. Eleanor.” Ellie interrupted Tony sharply. The introduction as herself, not as Amelia, would be on her own terms. At least she could control that. Here, at Miramar, she was Eleanor Rigby. 

“Welcome to the team, Rigby,” he said smoothly, holding out a hand as if they hadn’t already met in the most intimate of ways. The way he said her name sounded off, like he was testing it out in the context of their previous… encounter. 

Ellie held her breath, pausing only a moment before she forced herself to shake his hand. “Thanks,” she replied coolly, her voice even, though she was silently praying for the ground to swallow her whole. She refused to let him get the upper hand. Not here, not in front of people she had to work with.  

His grip was firm, his eyes amused. Ellie caught the brief flicker of his gaze to her neck, his eyes resting where Ellie knew she’d tried to hide the hickey, admiring his work, likely.    

Tony chuckled, oblivious to the tension. “Lieutenant Seresin’s one of the best we’ve got. You’ll probably end up working on his bird now and then.”  

Ellie forced a smile, though she could feel the bottom of her stomach drop out and she cleared her throat in an attempt to press down the nervous, incredulous laugh that threatened to escape her. Technically, she’d worked on it last night, right?   

“Looking forward to it,” she said instead, even though the last thing she wanted was to be anywhere near him right now.  

He released her hand, stepping back into the group of pilots. “Catch you around, Rigby” he said casually, before turning back to his crew, who began to stalk off, out of the large open hangar doors, not looking back.  

“Anyway, you’ll be working here between—” Tony continued, oblivious. 

Ellie let out a breath as Tony waved at her to follow him, continuing the tour. She kept her eyes forward, focusing on Tony’s voice, but she couldn’t shake the feeling of Hangman’s eyes on her or the memory of last night still lingering between them. This complicated things. This really complicated things. 

At least he’d set a standard: he didn’t know her and Ellie was only happy to play along with that pretense. She didn’t know him either. At least, that’s the story she was sticking to. 

The fluorescent lights in the conference room felt harsher than usual, and Ellie shifted uncomfortably as Admiral Simpson and Rear Admiral Ingrid Stark watched her closely, their expressions unreadable.  

Standing before two of the Navy’s highest-ranking officers, Ellie tried to steady her breath, tried to ignore the slow trickle of panic coursing through her. The same panic that churned the small bit of breakfast she’d managed to eat while maneuvering in and out of San Diego traffic all the way to North Island.  

All she had to do was focus, recenter her mind on the presentation. The presentation that culminated the last three years of her career, it was important, she knew – it had been the sole focus of her work in Turkey and yet, here she was, hiding that stupid hickey and thinking about the man who made it. Thinking about how he looked at her in the hangar not but twenty minutes ago, a glance exchanged that held a shared secret between them as he took her hand and treated her like a stranger. Cool, calm, collected, all charm.  

It was the same easy charisma she’d leaned into just last night, at the Halloween party, blissfully unaware of who he really was. Except now she knew he’d been telling the truth the whole damn time and she’d just called his bluff wrong. And now, now with all those thoughts running through her mind at Mach 2, she was standing here, in front of the highest-ranking personnel on base, expected to deliver a groundbreaking presentation on her research, trying to ignore the lingering flush of that unexpected run-in this morning.  

Ellie cleared her throat, tightening her grip on her tablet as she began walking the Admirals through her research. Running through her practiced script, she carefully outlined her new detection algorithm—a project that had garnered their attention in the first place, the same work that had pulled her back here, to Miramar.   

Truthfully, if they’d asked any probing questions, Ellie would have to confess that the technology was in its earliest stages but had the potential to counteract enemy jamming of GPS signals. In theory (because that was the key word theory), the algorithm she’d developed, on paper, had the potential to become an un-jammable navigation system.  

Ellie clicked through to the next slide, “The reason this algorithm has the potential to give our pilots the advantage is because the enemy would have -”  

You have to say please, sweetheart. 

The memory from last night, his words a steady command, sent a pulse through her, from her chest, down into her core, where it settled, hot and pulsing. 

Ellie’s voice caught in her throat, and she coughed, before holding up her index finger and pouring herself a glass of water from the pitcher at the head of the table. Quietly she sipped the water, her eyes landing outside the window at the tarmac as ground crew guided an F18 out of the hangar. She waited for a beat, measuring her sips as she calmed down. 

Get your shit together, Rigby. She coached herself, draining the last of the water as she caught Admiral Simpson checking his watch from the corner of her eye. You are not going to screw this up because you had sex last night.    

Incredible sex.     

The best sex you've had in the last two years... possibly in your entire life.    

Top tier sex... with your new co-worker. Who just so happens to fall into the off-limits category. 

If she could have shaken her head without it seeming strange, she would have, but she suspected she was getting into foot tapping territory. With Admirals, time was money. 

“I’m sorry, as I was saying—” Ellie straightened her blazer, setting the glass down and resuming her presentation, determined.      

When she finished, Admiral Simpson leaned back, giving her a thoughtful once-over as he drummed his fingers on the folder containing her research on the table in front of him. “Well, Ms. Neven,” he said, a slight smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “The best of the best. That’s what they told me about you. I suppose that must run in the family.”  

The weight of the comment hit her immediately, and her mind reeled again. This time for an entirely different reason. She hadn’t anticipated Rick’s reputation coming up so soon—or at all.  

She managed a quick nod, hoping it looked confident. “Thank you, sir,” she said, barely keeping her voice steady.  

Simpson’s smile deepened. “When we saw you were one of the top minds in the field, it was a no-brainer to bring you in for this project. Your research is intriguing.” His gaze softened slightly, just enough to give her a glimpse of the man behind the rank and she wondered if, for half a second, it had anything to do with the fact that he had a daughter her age. “You’re going to do great things here. Your dad’ll be proud, no doubt.”  

Ellie nodded again, murmuring her thanks, feeling an odd pressure bubbling under the surface. Truthfully, she had expected some bluster about her family, some comments about her father and his Radar Intercept Officer being wingmen for the late Fleet Commander Tom “Iceman” Kazansky. She hadn’t expected it this soon. 

“Admiral Stark and I will take a look over your documentation and see how best to get the testing started. I trust you’ll let us know if you need anything in the meantime?” Admiral Simpson stood then, and an Officer stationed outside the boardroom opened the door from the outside.  

The meeting adjourned, and as everyone began to filter out, Ellie felt herself unraveling by the second, anxiety pushing its way to the forefront. She wanted to scream or laugh, possibly both. Instead, she was rooted in place, unable to decide whether to escape to the nearest empty room or brace herself against the wall and breathe. If she didn’t leave this room for the rest of the day, what were the chances she’d run into him again? Probably slim. 

This was her first day here. The first day and she was thinking about how she’d been laid bare and fucked out of her mind by a man she’d never thought she’d see again, much less work with. All in the middle of one of the most important presentations of her entire life, in front of the people who could make that research into something tangible, a finished product, a cornerstone of new technology in aviation, a reality.   

The lights in the boardroom automatically flicked off and Ellie sighed, gathering up the last of her things before exiting the room. She could hide in the women’s bathroom, right? 

“Ms. Neven.” RADM Stark’s voice approaching from the hallway behind her startled Ellie. As she turned, Ellie watched as Stark appraised her with a mix of curiosity and approval. “Impressive work. It’s good to have some estrogen in the room for once.” Her lips curled into a slight smirk, and Ellie let out the measured breath she’d been holding.  

“Thank you, ma’am. I’m—excited to work here,” Ellie's voice was a little steadier now, a bit of genuine enthusiasm breaking through her nerves as she reminded herself why she was here in the first place. Her work. Her career. Her tech.  

Stark raised an eyebrow, amusement flickering in her eyes. “Don’t get too excited,” she said, producing a small stick of concealer from a crisp tan pant pocket. She held Ellie’s gaze, a message or a warning behind her cool eyes, Ellie couldn’t be sure, as the ranked Officer handed the makeup to Ellie. “I think we might be the same shade.”   

Ellie’s heart stuttered as the realization hit her, broad-sided. Her hand shot to her neck before she could think, the heat in her cheeks flaring brighter than before as she accepted the concealer, mumbling a mortified thank-you.  

Stark gave her a knowing smile, a curt little nod as she tapped the side of her nose, before walking away, her stride as calm and confident as when she’d approached.    

Ellie waited until the RADM was clear from sight before making a beeline for the bathroom, practically stumbling into the mirror over the sink. She tilted her head to confirm what she already knew was there: a very visible, very damning mark on her neck. The scarlet letter.   

Great.    

She didn’t waste a second applying RADM Stark’s concealer, muttering under her breath as she blended it carefully with the tips of her fingers, dabbing. “One day at Miramar, Ellie. One day.”    

As she swiped on the secondary layer of concealer for good measure, she felt the rush of everything hit her again. The tension of the presentation, the equal parts pride and pressure from the Admiral’s praise, and him—Lieutenant Seresin, Hangman, with his easy, cocky grin and the piercing eyes that, despite everything, she could still feel on her.  

tags: @mrsevans90 , @avengersfan25 , @hookslove1592

taglist if you want to be added/removed!

[thetriumphantpanda]

The Way You Miss Me | Joel Miller (Chapter Seven)

Chapter Summary | Joel has been MIA for a week since he kissed you on the porch. You're paired up for patrol, alone for the first time and Joel has twenty years of time to make up to you.

Pairing | Joel Miller x Female Reader

Warnings | SMUT. MY BABIES ARE FUCKING AGAIN. Unprotect PiV sex, oral sex (F receiving) and some dirty talk for good measure.

Authors Note | It took me so long to get this right in my brain, but these two idiots are finally together again and I'm so happy that they get aa happy ending. This is the last full chapter of The Way You Miss Me - I have a small epilogue planned coming out soon to round their story off. I'd love to know what you think - you can pop into my ask to let me know and as always, reblogs, comments and likes are my life blood.

Series Masterlist | Main Masterlist

It’s just past 9am when a knock at your front door pulls you from the bottom of your coffee mug. You set it down on the coffee table and answer the door. It’s Tommy. 

“Good mornin’, sunshine,” He greets as usual, “Nice day, right?” 

You lean against the door frame, “Morning Tommy,” You smile, you know he wants something, “Absolutely, looks like it’s going to be a scorcher.” 

“Perfect day to get out and about, right?” 

You smirk, “What do you want, Tommy?” 

“Ben is sick, he was due to head out on patrol up to the lodge, I was wondering if maybe you’d consider taking his duty today?” 

It had been a week since the last time you’d gone out. Since the close call with Ellie and Joel. Since Joel stood on your front porch and kissed the life out of you. Or back into you. You still couldn’t decide. A week since you’d seen him. You didn’t know where he was hiding. 

“Yeah, I don’t see why not, what time was he due to head off?” 

“He was down for midday patrol, should mean you’re back in time for dinner later,” His hand moves to the back of his neck, like it always does when there’s something else, he’s not telling you, “You should know Joel is down as his patrol partner, I know things haven’t been easy between you two, so if you’re not comfortable, I can take it instead.” 

You shake your head, so Joel hasn’t told Tommy about kissing you. Interesting. Were you about to go back to being a secret again? 

“It’s alright Tommy, I’m a big girl,” You shrug your shoulders, “Plus, Maria will have my ass, you’ve got a baby to think about now, can’t have you out there risking life and limb just yet.” 

“I owe you one, thank you,” Tommy reaches out to squeeze your arm, “I’ll make sure he’s on his best behaviour.” 

“I’m capable of putting that man in his place Tommy,” You say, pushing yourself off the doorframe, “We’ll be fine.” 

*

There’s a slight breeze through the trees as you walk which makes the heat pleasant. You’ve got a rifle strapped to your back, much like you had when you’d taken Joel and Ellie to the lake, and a handgun resting in the back of your jeans. Joel is walking a few steps behind you; he’s been like that since you left Jackson an hour ago. 

“Enjoying the view, Miller?” You shoot over your shoulder. 

“Always have.” Is his response. He can’t see your face but you’re smiling. 

You have to admit, this is weird. When you’d met with him at the gun store, he’d been polite, saying hello, but keeping his distance. You thought maybe once you’d left the confines of town he’d lighten up, walk closer to you, maybe even hold your hand, but he’d kept a few steps behind you all the way. Maybe it had something to do with the tight jeans you’d decided to wear, but something in you suspects he’d a few steps behind to keep an eye out, to protect you if something goes wrong. 

It doesn’t take long for you both to reach the bottom of the hill that leads to the lodge. You stop and prepare yourself. You’d first done this run with Tommy in the winter and it had almost killed you. The snow had made walking up the steep incline even harder, and when Tommy had announced you were halfway you thought you might cry. Your lungs were screaming, the calf muscles in your legs threatening to cramp. 

“You alright?” Joel asks, finally standing side-by-side with you. 

“I hate this fuckin’ hill.” You reply simply. 

Joel laughs, “Come on, you’ve still got youth on your side, I’m old and this is fine.” 

“I’m forty-five years old Joel and my knees have gone to shit,” You hit his arm, “And my lungs are not what they once were.” 

He’s stepping forward to start walking, “That’s what you get for starting on cigarettes,” He scoffs, turning around to you, “You should really give up.” 

“Don’t try and take the high ground Miller, it won’t work.” 

He holds out his hand to you now, “Will you take my hand, for God’s sake,” He chuckles, “It’s not going to burn you.” 

You slip your hand into his and he’s pulling you up the start of the hill. His hand is still large against your own, his skin still rough and calloused, like it always had been. You’d expected him to let go of your hand once you got moving, but instead, he moves to lace his fingers through your own. You look down at your entwined hands and up at his face, which shows a smile you hadn’t seen in forever. 

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around much,” He speaks softly as you tackle the hill together, “Tommy’s been bustin’ my ass with patrols all week.” 

“It’s alright Joel, you’re here now.” You give his hand a squeeze and a comfortable silence falls between you. 

“Listen, I wanted to say sorry for what I said before,” You can tell he’s a little out of breath, but you don’t know whether that’s from the hill or the nerves you can feel radiating through him, “It was wrong of me to tell you I hadn’t thought about you, truth is darlin’ I never stopped, always wondered what happened to you, where you were, what you were doin’, it drove me crazy the whole time,” He stops to take a deep breath, “I’m fuckin’ awful at this,” He grumbles to himself, “I guess what I was tryin’ to say to you was that thinking you were dead helped me stop thinking that maybe you weren’t safe, that someone had you or somethin’ like that.” 

“Joel, stop, please,” You give him another squeeze to his hand, “It’s fine, I get it. There were times when I tried to do the same, although I suppose if anyone was going to make it through this whole ordeal then it was always going to be you,” The hill is becoming steeper and you’ve both slowed down, “I guess I just always knew if it wasn’t going to be you, you know, that I ended up with, I didn’t want anyone else, that’s why I kept telling myself one day, one day I’d find you, and all that matters now is that I did, we can forget everything else, let’s just focus on moving forward.” 

It takes another thirty minutes or so of walking before you’re cresting the brow of the hill and the lodge comes into view. Joel let’s go of your hand for the first time since he took it, letting you press your palms to your knees, bent over to catch your breath. He’s right, you need to give up the smoking. 

Once you’re both sure the lodge is still secure with no signs of infected or raiders, you move to the guestbook which Tommy had set up and write both yours and Joel’s name down, with the date and any observation notes. When you turn around, he’s leant against the railings, arms crossed over his chest with his backpack and rifle placed against the wall. The sun in framing him like he’s straight from the pages of the bible, creating a halo around his head, and you think he’s the most beautiful man you’ve ever seen, but then again, he always was. 

“C’mere darlin’.” He reaches a hand out to you and you walk the short distance, taking hold of it. 

He tugs you to his chest, arms wrapping around your shoulders as yours circle his waist. You can feel him take a deep breath at the top of your head and instinctively you do the same, soaking in his smell. You feel content here, he always was your safe haven. 

“I’ve missed you so much Joel.” You speak softly, feeling one of his hands drop to your lower back, pressing you further into his body. 

“I missed you too darlin’ girl,” He presses a kiss to the top of your head, “But I’m here now, and I’m not goin’ anywhere, I promise.” 

You tilt your head towards his face, pressing yourself up on your tiptoes to press a soft kiss to the corner of his mouth. You try to pull away but instead, his firm hand presses into the small of your back to keep you still and then his mouth his on yours. It’s slow, his lips pressing against your own softly, so soft that you could almost convince yourself you were dreaming. He pulls away slightly, tilting his face so his nose bumps against your own, then his mouth is back on yours, this time with more force behind it. 

One of his hands is tangling in the hair at the nape of your neck, pulling your face towards him and as your mouth opens for him and your tongues are working against each other, you feel the hand that was at the small of your back work its way down. His hand slides into the back pocket of your jeans and he squeezes, earning a moan to fall from your lips, only to get drowned out on his tongue. 

He pulls away and presses his forehead to your own, eyes closed, and you can tell he’s just as content as you are right now. 

“I’ve thought about this for the last twenty years Joel,” You whisper, “Please, I need you.” 

He smiles with his eyes still closed. He moves, turning your position so he has you pressed up against the railings this time. His lips are back on yours as his hands move to undo the button of your jeans, undoing it with the same prowess as he always had. He tugs the zipper down and then he’s dropping to his knees in front of you and you think you might combust with excitement. He’s pulling your jeans down your legs, trailing wet, open mouth kisses to your skin as he does. He’s unlacing your shoes and pulling them off before his husky voice is speaking to you again. 

“Step out of this darlin’ girl.” 

You do as he says, lifting one foot and then the other so he can pull your jeans right off. They’re discarded somewhere behind him, then he’s hooking one of your legs over his shoulder. Your head tilts back as you feel his mouth pressing kisses around the outline of your underwear. His hands are gripping the back of your legs, where the curve of your ass meets the back of your thighs and you think that if you have to wait any longer for what you want, your heart might stop. 

“Joel…” You breathe out, fisting a hand in his hair to pull his attention to you, “I’ve waited too long for this for you tease me.”  “What do you want, darlin’ girl?” 

“Take these off and put your mouth on me, Miller.” 

You can feel his smirk against your inner thigh as he pulls your leg from his shoulder. Your underwear is swiftly discarded, and your leg is back over his shoulder, his hands cupping the round cheeks of your ass in order to keep you upright. 

He licks the pad of his tongue from your aching entrance all the way up the seam of your pussy until the tip of his tongue flicks at your clit and you crumple. His hands on your ass are doing a fine job of keeping you up as he circles your clit with the tip of his tongue. Your hand is fisting his hair and you’re pulling so hard you think you might hurt him, but judging from the depraved sounds that are coursing through your pussy, you don’t think it matters to him. He keeps you like this for what feels like forever, teasing your clit with his tongue until you’re practically grinding onto his face. 

“Joel… fuck, oh my god, I’m so close, please…” You beg. 

“Please what?” 

“Make me cum.” 

He wastes no time. He does exactly what he used to do all those years ago. He pushes two of his fingers into your weeping pussy, curling them in just the right way that you’re keening at him, shallow breaths heaving through your chest as his lips suction around your clit. It’s too much. It’s always been too much. Before you know it, your legs are shaking and cries of “JoelJoelJoel…” are falling from your lips as he works you through the first orgasm you’ve had since you last saw him.

He presses kisses to your inner thigh, rubbing his stubble on your skin to wipe off most of your slick before he’s standing. There’s concern in his eyes because you’re crying. Genuine tears of happiness that the man you had wanted all along really was here and was still able to pull earth-shattering orgasms from you like it was nothing. 

“I’m okay,” You reassure him, “Just happy.” 

He kisses you and the taste of yourself on his lips is sinful. You drink the taste of yourself from him, letting your palm run over the growing bulge at the front of his jeans, “You going to fuck me, Miller?” You ask, looking up at him through your eyelashes. 

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

He’s turned you around now, the front of your body pressed against the railings. You can see the whole world in front of you. The sun just beginning to set, the wind rustling the trees, and Jackson out in the distance. You hear Joel undoing his belt buckle and the sound of his zipper being pulled down. Then you feel his skin against your own, the hardness of his cock pressing into your ass. He takes a moment to push his fingers back inside you, gathering your slick which he then uses to coat his own length, before he’s lining up to you and gently pushing himself inside. 

If you thought the feeling of his mouth had been a relief, it was nothing compared to this. He had always been a snug fit inside you, the friction of his size sending tingles up your spine as he slowly edged himself inside you. He’d never fucked you bare before, too risky, but now you didn’t care. You could feel all of him inside you and it was like you’d never been apart. Fit right back together like two pieces of a puzzle. 

He starts thrusting into you in earnest, clearly as overcome with the feeling of being back inside you as he always had been, “Fuckin’ hell darlin’, you’ve not changed a bit,” He pulls you flush against his chest, one hand resting at your throat, the other wrapped across your lower belly, mouth right against your ear, “Still fit me like a glove.” 

“Oh Joel,” You moan, hands gripping the railing in front of you, “Harder, please.” You beg. 

He obliges, just like he always has done, “Darlin’, I’m not gonna last much longer,” He breathes out, hand snaking down to your clit where he starts to rub tight circles around you, “Fuckin’ old man, I want to spend eternity buried inside you.” 

“Ohhh Joel, don’t stop,” Your head falls back against his shoulder, “I’m… ah! Oh god, I’m going…” 

“Go on, give me one more, always such a good girl for me.” 

You do just that, the tight circles he’s rubbing on your clit and the filth he’s whispering in your ear, topped off with how his cock is slipping in and out of you, has you screaming his name out into the world below you as your feel your pussy clench around his cock. He’s not far behind you, he pulls out of you just in time to paint your backside with thick ropes of his cum as he fists himself through his own orgasm. 

You fall forward, pressing your forehead into the railing whilst you catch your breath. Joel follows suit, his chest falling against your back whilst you both gather your thoughts. 

“I have to admit, this is not how I thought I’d fuck you after all these years.” He’s chuckling into your ear as you both stand up, aware that you need to start heading back soon. 

“We were never conventional Joel,” You smile as he hands you your clothes, “I’d have thought something was wrong if there was a comfy bed or I had to be extra quiet, so we didn’t wake anyone up.” 

The walk back to Jackson is much easier downhill than it was going up it earlier. The sun is almost set when the gates open for you both. Joel had been holding your hand the entire time and you’d expected that once you got back to the safety of the commune, he’d let it go, but he does the opposite. He wraps an arm around your shoulder, and you find your hand slipping into the back pocket of his jeans, just like his had up at the lodge. 

You can see Tommy in front of The Tipsy Bison, he looks like he’s seen a ghost at the two of you, claiming each other in front of everyone else. And then he’s cheering, confusion written on the faces of the people around him who don’t know your history. It’s reminiscent of high school and you bury your head in Joel’s shoulder to hide your embarrassment. Joel shrugs his shoulder, so you lift your head. 

“Not embarrassed to be seen with me, are you?” He’s joking, and you know it. 

“Never.” You smile, pressing a kiss to his lips for everyone to see. 

You’re done hiding from everyone else. Joel Miller was yours and you were his. No more secrets. 

PREV | NEXT

[stevesjockstrap]

Cold Beginnings

@steddiemas day 12: Hallmark movie tropes

Rated: M to be safe | cw: alcohol | tags: modern au

Swinging his guitar case onto his shoulder, he grabbed the last of his belongings from the car and prepared himself to walk up the steep hill to the cabin again. This part hadn’t been on the fucking website. But it was beautiful, he had to begrudgingly admit. This writing retreat was desperately needed. The record agency wouldn’t wait any longer for a new album.

Hours later as the sun was starting to set, he looked up from his notebook when he heard the distinctive beep beep of a car locking. Eddie frowned. One of the selling points of this cabin was that there were no other houses around for miles. No way should there be anyone close enough to hear.

He went to the front window but he couldn't even see where his car was parked, let alone anyone else’s. It had been snowing steadily since before he arrived and now there was a thick coat on everything in the woods around him. All of his earlier footprints had been covered over quickly.

After a few more moments of looking outside, he shrugged and went back to working. Maybe he was imagining things. His brain was probably playing tricks on him since he’d never been somewhere so eerily quiet before.

A couple strings of lines jotted down later, he went to the kitchen to throw something together for dinner. He screamed as the back door opened and a blast of snowy wind circled him. Then an echoing scream made him scream again. Big brown eyes stared at him. He took in the red cheeks dotted with freckles and the long eyelashes with snowflakes sticking to them.

“What the fuck?”

“Who are you?”

Eddie stormed over to the stranger, who put his hands up in front of him placatingly, but Eddie scoffed and instead pushed the door shut behind him.

“What, were you born in a barn? And you’re dripping all over the floor,” he admonished.

The stranger blinked at him. “I’m… sorry?” He shook his head quickly before frowning at him. “Why are you here?”

“I’m staying here. Why are you here?” Eddie leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms, sizing up this intruder. He knew he looked intimidating with the tattoos and long hair and dark clothes. This guy didn’t seem very rugged. He was wearing a puffer coat for Christ’s sake.

He pulled in a long breath before excitedly saying, “I’m renting this place this week! Get away from the big city, right?”

Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. That had been one of the bullet points on the website. “Uh huh,” he deadpanned. “Well you must have your weeks confused, buddy. Because I’m renting this place this week.”

“No, I don’t think I do. I’ve had this scheduled for months. Maybe you have your dates wrong.”

Eddie smirked at him, sizing him up again. Maybe he did have some fight in him after all. “I talked to the owner yesterday, man. So maybe you’re at the wrong place or something.”

He grumbled as the man set down his duffle bag and pulled his cell phone from his back pocket. “There’s no service here, dickbag. Or WiFi. So that’s not going to help. Why don’t you just-“

“I took a screenshot, dickbag. And yeah, I know that. It was why I picked it, actually. No contact. Here,” he held the phone up for him to see. “Confirmed. One week, December third through the ninth. See the little picture of the cabin?”

Eddie almost took the phone from him in shock, but growled instead and threw his hands up. “Well that’s just great. Let me find all my shit and I’ll get out of here.”

“You can’t!” The man nearly shrieked.

“Now you’re telling me what I can and can’t do?” He said through clenched teeth. This idiot was already grating on his frayed nerves.

“Um. No. But, look, okay?” He pointed out the big window over the sink. Outside it was now basically blizzarding and the sun had fully set. “I barely made it here. Thankfully the girl at the car rental place convinced me I needed four wheel drive. The road up here hasn’t been touched and it’s- it’s like, really really bad. That’s why I’m so late. It took me hours to get here from the city. Now that it’s dark it’d be even worse. We’ll just have to-“

“I���m not staying here with you,” he hissed.

The man took a step back but looked at him determinedly. “It’ll be fine. I’ll take the couch. I’ll stay out of your hair. Maybe the weather will get better and tomorrow we can take my truck somewhere we can get service,” he shrugged when Eddie just continued glaring at him.

“That’s very noble of you…?” He raised an eyebrow at him.

“Steve.” He straightened up and actually pulled the glove off his right hand to stick it out for a handshake.

Eddie chuckled and shook it, squeezing hard enough that he watched with satisfaction as Steve’s jaw clenched. “Eddie.” He dropped his hand and sighed, the bag on the floor catching his attention. “This is all you brought?”

Steve looked down at the duffle and nodded. He only had that and a book bag on his back. “Yeah, didn’t figure I needed much.”

“Alright.” He scrubbed his hands over his face with another sigh. This was actually happening. Fuck his life. “What’s your stance on frozen pizza?”

Steve had stayed out of his way and had slept on the couch. But Eddie was still distracted by him. He had a pile of papers at the dining room table that he was reading over and would make little concerned noises or huff a laugh or sigh.

Rereading the words in the notebook in front of him, he was surprised that they were about big brown eyes and full lips (a helpful ‘dat ass’ scribbled in the margin). He closed it with his own sigh, throwing it on the coffee table and walking over to look out the front window.

Outside, it was still snowing. They’d found a radio in the kitchen last night and the weather report for the next few days wasn’t hopeful. It made the hair stand up on the back of his neck, staying here intentionally alone to get work done was a different vibe than being trapped here with a stranger, even an annoyingly attractive stranger. He wanted to get in his car and take off. Grumbling to himself, he yanked his hair off his neck and up into a bun. All this anxious oppressive energy was making him even grumpier than usual.

Grabbing his notebook and guitar, he stomped up the stairs. Ignoring the head tilt Steve sent him from the table.

Hours later, he had some pieces of a melody and a chorus. Only a million more pieces to go. But he had neglected eating and drinking and he was feeling rough.

He couldn’t hear Steve but he obviously knew he was still around. A part of him wanted to hide out upstairs for the next five days. But his stomach squeezed again and he sighed. He was not the type who could survive a hunger strike.

“Hey, I like your hair like that. And the guitar sounded good.”

Eddie bristled. He looked at the clock on the wall, wondering if it was an acceptable time to drink yet. Fuck it.

“You want a beer?” He grunted as he ducked into the fridge.

“So there’s you, Gareth and Jeff? What’s the other guy’s name again?”

“No one knows,” he said mysteriously. He found himself trying not to smile, actually enjoying messing with Steve after a handful of beers and some swigs of the bottle of Jack he’d miraculously found in a cupboard.

Steve blinked. “You’ve been in a band with this guy since high school and you don’t know his name?”

He shrugged, chuckling darkly and took another swig from the bottle. Steve shook his head. “You’re insufferable.”

“That, Steve, everyone does know,” he said in a conspiratorial whisper, before throwing his head back and laughing. He settled himself further into the couch.

“Somehow it works for you, though,” he shot a sideways grin at him while taking a sip from his beer. He’d only had two, and waved Eddie away when he’d offered the bottle. But it appeared that he was a lightweight. His cheeks had turned red instantly and his eyes seemed glazed. Eddie had insisted he eat more of the pasta and garlic bread he’d thrown together.

“Oh? Because I’ve been so very pleasant to you during this hostage situation, huh?”

“Could be worse,” he shrugged. “It’s been kind of fun. And you’re not as grouchy as you try to be, you know? I like you better when you’re being the real you.”

Eddie choked on the alcohol he had been about to swallow. As he tried not to throw up everywhere, a hand on his chest was pushing him back, straightening him up and he found he could breathe better.

“Fuck. Thanks,” he gasped as he leaned back and took some deep breaths.

Steve watched him intently like he was making sure he was going to keep breathing. He found himself liking this different attention, not having to put on the show or theatrics he always felt like he had to pull around everyone else.

He also realized Steve had moved closer and stayed, his hand hovering even closer between them in case he needed help again. It almost made him want to start choking again. They just sat there for some time, looking at each other until Eddie’s breaths evened out and then it seemed awkward for him to say anything. He memorized the moles and freckles dotted across his face and neck.

When he traced the shape of Steve’s lips with his eyes, he watched them part in a gasp. When he looked up into his eyes again, the full bottom lip was pulled in and bit into and a small noise escaped Eddie. Steve’s eyes dropped down to his lips and something snapped in him.

“Get over here,” Eddie growled, unable to wait another second.

They met in a heated collision of lips and teeth. He cupped his jaw with both hands and held on, keeping him where he wanted as he deepened the kiss. Steve pushed against it a bit, which Eddie found he liked. He allowed him to angle their heads and he gasped as teeth found his bottom lip. He was surprised when a warm tongue caressed over the bitten lip, taking away the sting. Sassy then sweet. Heat pooled in his belly and he wrapped an arm around Steve’s lower back, pulling him closer.

He groaned as suddenly his lap was full of Steve. He brought his hands to his hips to slide him even closer then gave into his desperate desire to grab handfuls of his ass.

Steve pulled away to breathe and he slid his lips across the pair of infuriatingly attractive moles on his neck. Scraping his teeth across his skin and reveling in the little needy noses Steve was making, his own embarrassing noise punched out of him when he was pushed back, not very gently.

“Ed- Eddie,” Steve panted from above him. His eyes were even more glazed over and his lips were red and wet and Eddie started leaning in again. He hadn’t even gotten to bite them. Steve pushed on his chest again, pulling him out of his stupor.

“Yeah? You okay?” He moved his hands off his backside and cupped his face again.

“Yeah,” he huffed a laugh. “Definitely okay. But I’m realizing I’m more drunk than I thought. Uh, more drunk than I’d like to be, to continue this.”

Eddie nodded quickly. “Sure. Of course. Got a little carried away, I think.”

“I definitely did,” Steve laughed. Looking down, maybe just realizing he was still in his lap, he blushed and Eddie helped him maneuver to sit next to him. “But I don’t want you to run away. I dunno, can we just keep talking?”

He pulled him close again, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips. “Not going anywhere. Even if I could.” They stared into each other's eyes for a moment. “Hey, you wanna hear the song I’m writing about you?”

“Oh,” Steve covered his shocked face quickly with a shy smile. “Y-yeah. That’d be amazing.”

Eddie grinned at him, running to go grab his stuff.

He decided on the stairs that this week was going to be a good one.

[valyalyon]

2 Roadside Rhapsody

Previous Post | Next Post SEA MASTER LIST OR #LYONSEA DIVIDERS

CW: explicit language, descriptions of sexual intercourse in public where couple is nearly caught. MDNI. 3.1K words

The Red Highway isn’t the same when you stay out of the dark. There were deserts, and high cliffs, winding mountains and endless nothingness. Then it opened into the Lilac Gorge.

A flatter area within a valley, with the road exiting up a steep hill. Rocco and Angel stopped here for a few days, as fall weather conditions continued being absurd and dangerous that year.

The Lilac Gorge was a safe haven from the crime found along the Red Highway, with three tiny towns occupying the entirety of the valley floor. The gorge was named after the abundant lilac fields, throughout the towns and all over the valley floor.

It was a little piece of paradise among the vast scariness that was the road of Angel’s nightmares. She wondered if maybe it was the Lilac Gorge that she always dreamed about ending up with Lazarus in.

Still, she didn’t try to ponder too much on that thought. Whenever she did, her world would spin out of control again.

Rocco parked the van in a little lot, “this trailer park is gorgeous, Star, there’s flowers everywhere.”

Angel got off the bed and made her way to the passenger seat of the van as Rocco got out and opened her door.

She hopped out onto a field of green grass that was trimmed short for the lots to be easily distinguished. Then, just outside the trailer park there was a field of lilacs beside one of the high mountains that isolated the valley.

The trailer park was pretty empty, and no one was awake to play in the fields, so maybe that’s what made Angel want to go out there. She looked over her shoulder at Rocco, “I’m going to go walk through those flowers.”

“Looks like there’s paths in there, so you just might be able to,” Rocco said, closing the van and locking the doors.

Angel made her way across the grass trailer park to the open field of lilacs. The field was pale pink, and the smell of them was so strong that she was hypnotized.

She walked along the edges between the flowers, occasionally touching a petal and letting the smells fill the air.

Rocco chuckled from behind her, and Angel turned around with her furrowed brows, “why you laughing?”

He pointed at her and smiled, “you’re adorable. You’re so excited to be here and be outside. You’re one with nature and it’s cool to see.”

Angel softened up, realizing he meant no harm, and wrapped her arms around his neck. She was on her toes to reach the tall man, but dangled her arms gracefully, “Want to get closer to nature?”

Rocco raised his brows as he looked down at her, holding her waist in his strong hands, “I’d have to get a condom out the van.”

“You want to fuck nature?” She asked curiously, further teasing him.

He laughed and pushed against her, kissing her as his grip on her waist tightened, “don’t act like you aren’t offering your body to me.”

She stared up at him with her sweet green eyes, her bottom lip pouting, “I’m a good girl, I could never…”

“That you are, but you definitely did,” Rocco agreed partially, and then squeezed an ass cheek in his hand tightly.

“Oww,” Angel moaned helplessly.

“You need it, don’t you?” Rocco asked, kissing her lips with an open mouth again.

“Mmm… just a little,” She whimpered out, holding onto his collar and pulling him down to her.

“You taste amazing,” he let it out in a groan, grabbing her by the back of the hair and pulling her into another kiss.

He squeezed her before letting one hand search his pocket, then switching to search with the other hand. Finally, he said, “score. I had one in my pocket.”

Angel guided him through the field, then she knelt down in between the bushels of lilac. She looked up at him as her hand felt his bulge through his pants, her hand tightened around the print of his length.

He groaned from the pressure, looking around and then unzipping his pants, getting his cock out for her.

She took his cock into her throat, her tongue sliding along the 9 inches happily. She was moaning and her tongue worked wonders along his throbbing shaft.

Rocco’s voice was lowered into a grumble, his joyous groans muffled by his choice to bite on his lip, but finally, “fuck, Angel… my Star…”

She looked through her dark lashes at him, and then closed her eyes to get him deeper in her throat. She loved the way he felt, she loved having sex and she hated admitting that.

She definitely felt like a whore, having jumped so quickly from loving Lazarus to deep throating another man in a field… She told herself that it was inevitable though, she couldn’t live hoping to rekindle anything with Lazarus.

Why wasn’t she allowed to move on? She was more than confident that he would be moving on soon anyway.

She didn’t feel any need to wait around for Lazarus to find her again, she wanted to enjoy her life. And Rocco… he was beautiful, his voice amazing, he was kind, and he felt easier to trust and believe in than Lazarus.

Of course, there was no shortage of attraction between Rocco and Angel either. They each found the other sexually appealing and were very hungry for one another.

That was one thing, of course, that it was always less aggressive with Rocco. Not to say he didn’t squeeze her or smack her ass, but he couldn’t slap her face. He’d happily choke her though, so he started to pump his cock deeper into her throat, holding her in place by the head.

“Mmm,” Angel mumbled hotly against Rocco’s cock, and her tongue swirled on his tip as her head moved in a rhythm.

His breathing hitched and he held his cock all the way down her throat, as his balls started to lurch with his orgasm. He sighed heavily and then let out a laugh, “you’re amazing.”

Angel lapped up all his cum, sliding her mouth off his cock and opening her mouth to show him the prize she’d won. She swallowed his hot load and looked up at him from her knees, “you’re not done, though…”

She was right, Rocco desperately wanted to fuck her in that field. He got down on his knees with her and the two shared a passionate kiss, as Rocco’s hands began to lift Angel’s top.

Her breasts came out and Rocco moved down, sucking on the nipples and playing with them, before leading his hand down and removing her pants, “you’ve got such a fat ass… You need to start wearing dresses to make fucking you easier.”

“It’s getting cold, I can’t,” she moaned in protest, as his index and middle fingers began to enter her pussy.

“It’s not that cold here, remember? We won’t be leaving for a little bit… I want to see you walking these streets in summer dresses, I want to be able to lift your skirt and fuck you anywhere,” he explained his needs and desires to her, spitting on his fingers and lacing the spit along her wet pussy.

Her clit was throbbing and her legs shook as she felt him touching her, “Let me feel your cock, Rocco, please…”

Everything came out like choked moans, her hips grinding to the rhythm of his finger fucking.

“You’re so fucking horny,” he called her out, ignoring what he had previously said, and lining his cock up with her entrance. She was wet and ready for him, so he just pushed himself in, groaning, “fuck… you’re still so small…”

“Do you hate it?” She moaned.

He chuckled and pulled her hair, “I could never.” Then, he slowly began to fuck her, pulling his cock out nice and slow.

Rammed it right back in, pulled it out, rammed it. His precious Star was a moaning mess, and Rocco wanted so badly to finish inside of her.

He played with her tits and then smacked her ass real hard, quickening his pace to speak, “can I finish inside of you?”

She wasn’t thinking, busy enjoying every rough thrust he shoved deeper into her gut. Her eyes were half closed, her mouth hungry for more of his lips.

He kissed her and pulled her hair, harder, this time his voice slightly meaner, “can I finish inside of you? Yes or no?”

“Will you be mad if I say no?” She asked him in between thrusts, her moans loud, her legs trembling.

“I won’t be,” Rocco promised her, loosening his grip on her hair and patting her head gingerly, “I want you to want it. If you don’t want it, I’ll just cum in your mouth again if you’re okay with that.”

“That sounds better… Too soon…” She tried to explain, not wanting to say no but not wanting to argue with him either. If it had been Lazarus, and if Lazarus had kept going, she would have let him have her way. She thought she’d probably feel the same way about Rocco soon.

He just nodded his head, kissed her on the mouth affectionately and continued slamming his hips rhythmically into her, leading her into a first and second orgasm simultaneously. As she came, her cream covered Rocco’s veiny cock and painted it white.

Rocco groaned, just brought to the brink by the hot sight of her cream all over him, he pulled out quickly, moving Angel onto her knees again.

He stood back up and slipped his cock back into Angel’s mouth, pulling her in close as he finished down her throat.

She gagged, then moaned, taking it all down her throat as soon as she adjusted herself. She held her head firm, making sure to suck him off as he pulled back out of her throat.

“Perfect,” Rocco said, and reached down for her, helping her off the ground, “You’re fucking perfect… Okay, breakfast?”

“I already had so much protein,” she teased him, kissing him happily after she had swallowed his load, “but breakfast does actually sound really good. We’ve been working up a sweat.”

“That, and we go into each town until we find a place to get you dresses,” Rocco added to the itinerary, smacking her ass then making sure she was dressed.

“My legs are going to be cold,” the girl protested, following Rocco back to the van.

“I’ll make sure to keep you warm,” Rocco promised her.

…

There was one store that sold exclusively clothing, and luckily it was a short walk from where they’d left the van. Rocco and Angel were always going back and forth with song ideas.

Rocco usually started it with some kind of abstract sound or rhythm, a guitar chord or a drum beat done on the floor of the van. Quickly, she would add lyrics.

At first, the lyrics were just a hum, a word or two, a hum. The more they spent time making songs though, the quicker he began to notice a sharp light in Angel’s eyes.

By the time they were walking to that store, Angel was nodding her head to a rhythm that he had made the night before when he couldn’t sleep.

Rocco glanced at her, “I thought you were asleep.”

“No, I heard you… I was pretty exhausted so I couldn’t move but I heard you doing that before you came to bed,” she tried to explain, and then ignored him again as she tried to place the lyric.

Her eyes seemed to bounce through so many stories, and she finally seemed to come to one, “In my bones mmm… burning me close mmm… Do you hear what I’m hearing?”

He nodded his head, remembering the sound and beat-boxing a similar sound rhythm for her. He liked surprising her with all the things he knew, and her eyes grew wide in excitement.

“I didn’t know you could beat box! You sing, play guitar — you must play drums too? And you can beat box too?” She swooned all over him, hugging his arm.

Angel’s affection always spun his heart. Rocco didn’t know what got into himself, barely having spent two weeks with this girl. She wasn’t fake, she fell into the pleasures of life and lived it freely. He admired that about her.

He wanted to know so much about her, but he realized how much he had done knowing so little about her. She was a transient, and so was he but — it wasn’t the same.

“I can do a lot of things… before me, Angel, who were you with?” Rocco asked curiously, and then explained, “I lost my virginity to my first girlfriend. We broke up a year ago and I’ve had sex twice since.”

She stared up at him, a little confused about his line of questioning, then coming to understand his worry. Clearing her throat, “I lost my virginity to my gang leader ex-boyfriend, and I got raped by a gang member the night before I met you.”

“How did you get to the convenience store?” He asked, his face displaying his concern for her. There was no judgement on his face.

“I walked through the woods all night until I arrived there that morning,” she explained, her fingers lacing in between his.

“You’re really brave,” Rocco told her sincerely, hugging her tightly and then kissing her head, “maybe tomorrow we go to a doctor together and we both get STD tests.”

She actually liked the idea of that, as well as have the doctor touch around to make sure she still had an implant in her arm that would help her not get pregnant. She nodded her head, and agreed.

Rocco opened the doors of the store as they walked in, and instructed Angel to pick out nice dresses, a puffer jacket she really liked, and some cute boots.

Angel went through the selection of dresses, picking out a lilac pink dress, a lavender dress, and a third more blush pink dress. She moved on to picking out a white puffer jacket, with cute white boots that were slightly fluffy on the outside.

Once everything was picked out, they went to the changing rooms and Rocco noticed immediately that there wasn’t an attendant, so he told her to go and that he would follow.

Angel picked out one of the bigger rooms so they’d have space, and she hung everything up as Rocco sat down in a chair in the corner of the room.

She started to undress, taking her top off and setting it down. Next she took her shoes off, followed by slipping out of her pants.

She tossed the first dress over her head. It was a lilac baby doll, and was mid thigh length, her fat ass barely covered by the dress, “this one is definitely a no.”

“Why is that?” Rocco asked, reaching out to touch her, “come here, lemme see you.”

She turned to face him, and his eyes were hungry and warm, beckoning her forward. She walked a couple feet forward and gave him her hands when he asked for them.

He admired her bare legs, looking up her frame in the dress, finishing on her cleavage and hard nipples, “look at those tits, Star… fuck… let me touch them.”

“Feel the dress, focus on why we’re here,” she told him, but she leaned forward for him to play with her tits.

He groped each breast from outside the dress, his grip hard and hot, but then he forced her tits out of the dress, and started sucking on her nipples. He bit a little and she moaned, her fingers curling in his brown hair.

“Mmm, Rocco…” her legs shook a little, but he let go of her suddenly. She looked confused at him.

Rocco chuckled and pointed at the dresses, “finish up. You’ve got more stuff to try on.”

She slid off the dress right in front of him, making sure her fat ass touched his knee, then standing back up slowly. He smacked her ass roughly, but stayed sitting, watching her.

The next dress was pink, the top a corset of flowers, and the skirt short tulle again barely covering her beautiful ass.

He watched the dress come on and saw the way it hugged her curves, just in awe of her. Rocco grabbed her again, but this time lifted her skirt and lowered her onto his lap, where she could feel his bulge.

“Fuck… I don’t think we should, Radio Boy…” she pleaded with her lover, hoping that using his nickname would level him.

His greedy hands were feeling the boning of the corset, and then feeling her breasts. He squeezed her tits firmly and sighed against her neck, “you feel the way your ass rubs against me? How could I ever stop craving you?”

“You have to learn restraint,” she moaned, rubbed her ass against his cock one more time, then got up and started to change.

The next dress was more purple, and the sleeves hung off her shoulders. For this one, Rocco already his cock out of his pants, and was stroking it as he watched, “come give me head, Star.”

She couldn’t say no to him. She turned around and kneeled down in front of him. As she took it in her mouth, her tongue came out, licking the base of the shaft. His veins were exposed and his cock was throbbing.

As she happily slurped him up, she heard someone coming into the changing room. Rocco, not perturbed, sped up his assault on her mouth, cumming in her throat just as they heard a voice clearing their throat from the mid way point of the room.

He pulled away and fixed his pants immediately. Angel stood and switched into her pants, throwing on her shirt. Rocco stood from the chair and she sat down to put on her shoes, as a knock came to the door.

Rocco opened it, playing it cool, “yeah?”

“Are you two done in here?” the store clerk asked, irritated by Rocco.

Angel nodded her head, tying her shoes. Rocco grabbed all the clothes off the hanger for her, and said, “we’ll be getting everything.”

The store clerk nodded her head and walked away from them. They followed suit momentarily, Rocco handing the lady cash to pay for their items.

Then they headed on their merry way.

Not sure how I'm feeling about author's notes and polls at the end -- kind of a fan of the polls but not sold on the author's notes, excited to see what you all prefer. Hope you enjoyed the story <3

[lordgrimwing]

In The Woods #1

Fëanor rode through the forest, hood pulled up against the drizzling rain. He'd gone out to check on a few talismans he left in the woods and was eager to return home. 

Something moved in the trees to his right. He twisted in the saddle to look, tugging the reins to get the horse to stop. Something was out there. He saw it move. Feanor froze, hardly daring to breathe as he squinted into the dim brushes and brambles. 

A faint sound on the edge of the wind, nearly covered by the patter of rain on the leaves: a child's wail. 

"Help!"

The horse snorted, her ears pricking to the left. He sat straighter in the saddle, hand reaching for the rifle lashes behind him.

The cry came again, hoarse and weak as though worn through many hours of use. It was small and shrill, like a young child, like one of Elrond's sons.

The horse turned her head now, looking to where the sound came from. He pulled sharply on her reins when she took a step forward. 

There were no children so far from their home. Everyone knew not to wander in the woods or stray far from the marked path without protection. Whatever called out, it was not a child. There was only one thing that might seek to lure him away, to entice him into the thick undergrowth.

Another cry. 

"Help me!"

Again the horse stepped forward, and again Fëanor halted her. She threw her head back, protesting his rough treatment. He pulled at the reins and dug the heel of his boot into her side, urging her to return to their journey. They should not linger here.

She snorted, her ribs rising and falling between his legs in a great breath, but did not move. One ear tilted back toward him before flicking forward to focus on where the sound came from.

Of all the lessons he'd taught his sons and grandsons (his great-grandsons were still too young to need to know), one of the first they learned before venturing out on horseback, was to never dismount if there was any hint that something hidden wanted them to do so. The horses could navigate the trees and steep hills with more skill and speed than any elf, and their instinct made them quick to flee from the unnatural presence. Most of the time, anyway.

"Hold," He murmured to the mare, patting her neck. Slowly, eyes scanning the brush and trees for anything out of place, he slipped his feet out of the stirrups, drew one leg over her back, and slid to the ground.

She swung her head around to watch him dismount, ears swiveling to stay pointed toward the cries. She turned her head away when both his feet were planted in the dirt. Keeping one hand on the reins and the other on the damp fur of her neck, he walked to her head.

She shifted her weight, anxious to move forward, to go to whatever was calling them. He slid the hand on her neck down toward the front of her chest, pushing with his fingertips. She tossed her head to the side but stepped back a little.

"Good girl," He murmured, stroking her fur.

A twig broke. He spun to the left, falling into a crouch and unsheathing the heavy knife at his belt. 

A squirrel fell from a tree. It froze when it hit the ground, staring back at him for a second before turning tail and scurrying away.

He put the knife away, hand shaking slightly as his heart pounded. They had to get out of here. 

He rose and grabbed the mare's halter. He pushed her head until she looked up the hillside, toward their home. She tried to turn back but he jerked her head sharply back.

"No," He hissed. "We're going." 

She snorted, hot breath puffing against his face, but when he took her reins and turned to lead them onward, she followed. She went slowly at first, each step reluctant, but after a few yards, she picked her hooves up higher, ready to go home. 

Fëanor remounted, and they cantered away from the dark spot in the trees.

[blueeyesspitfire]

Osceola Tug Hill Dryland Challenge

We had a great time at the first ever Osceola Tug Hill Dryland Challenge. The weather was perfect, friends and family came to spectate, and the trail was (as stated) a challenge! Although the main route was only 2.2 miles, it was a bit like a roller coaster, with a steep climb in the beginning and lots of rolling hills throughout.

I registered for the 6-dog class, the 2-dog bikejor, and the Fun Run (Saturday only). Since I have a heavy rig, I figured it would be best to put my strongest dogs on the rig team. I also didn't love the idea of having super strong dogs yanking me around on the bike, so I put Willow and Laika in the bikejor class. I even decided to use my fat bike for added weight.

Most sprint mushers are doing everything they can to reduce the weight of their equipment. This is usually the best strategy for winning! I was cursing my heavy rig and heavy bike on all the uphills, as I was running and pushing to help the dogs climb.

What goes up, must come down. And those downhills were something! I was glad to have the extra weight and the extra braking power of my heavy equipment. Several teams crashed, but (for the most part) we stayed upright. I was able to control the speed, especially in 6-dog, which allowed us to finish strong both days.

6-dog rig: 2nd place all breed, 3rd out of 6 overall I ran my two Alaskans on this team, which meant we were'n’t eligible for the registered breed class. There was only one other team signed up for all breed—Tabetha’s super speedy Border Collies (who always whoop our butts). We received an awesome trophy for this win (made by musher, Steven Davis!) but I am more excited about our third place overall finish. Staying in control on those downhills made the difference.

2-dog bikejor: 6th place all breed, 8th out of 14 overall When I registered for this race, I didn't know which dogs I'd select for the bike team, so I entered the all breed class. This put us at a disadvantage, since I ended up running two purebreds (Willow and Laika) who can't really compete against houndy teams. It's okay, though. The girls did great and I'm particularly impressed with how hard Willow worked. Even at 9-years-old, her tugline never went slack. Not bad for my “B Team”!

Fun Run (2-dog bikejor): 2nd out of 9 overall Sagan and Kuiper did an awesome job running in the shorter Fun Run class. Worth mentioning other teams consisted of single dogs and some canicrossers, so second place isn't a huge deal as the field was not evenly matched. Nevertheless, a great first race experience for the new kid!

I’m really pleased with how the team performed, especially since training has been a bit of a struggle this fall. We head to North East, PA this weekend for our second (and last) fall dryland race this season. The competition is going to be a lot more intense, so we’ll see how the gang does on much flatter terrain!

[90sloverwithinsomnia]

Vol 1 - Battle of the Boy Bands - Chapter 6/23

This is one of many archived fanfics featuring 1st and 2nd generation K-pop acts that I've come across recently. It's all in good fun, and maybe a bit cringeworthy! Just to clarify, I don't post fanfics, so I hope to the people that post and read K-pop fanfics makes sense. Credits go out to the original creator (hgiel) Anrui, Kyorei, and Jacqui.

*Note: Nothing in their post will change (unless necessary), other than being posted here, and the (Link) will be provided to the page that i found it on.

Characters:

Choi Dongwook (Se7en), Wheesung, Moon Heejoon, Ahn Chilhyun (Kangta), Jae Joong, Yun Ho, Mickey, Max, Xia, Young One, Woo Hyun, UBin, Dong Hwa, Jumin

Chapter 6:

Se7en lead the two teams away from the mud pit and up a steep hill.

"Why the hell do we have to go up here?" Young One barked, trudging up the hill behind his band mates. He accidentally bumped into Hero.

"Get away from me, dick!" Hero screeched, shoving him away so hard that Young One lost his footing and began to roll down the hill.

"You bastard!" Young One cried, his body tumbling over and over all the way to the bottom of the hill.

"That's what you get for throwing us out last night...stupid ass," Yun Ho yelled after Young One. Then, instinctively he wrapped an arm around Hero's waist, pulling him close as if to protect him.

"Wait a minute...what kind of game is this?" Ubin asked. He kept sliding his foot underneath Xiah's in an attempt to trip him whenever he took a step.

"Look bitch..." Xiah finally said, turning around to face Ubin.

"What!?" Ubin asked sarcastically, moving closer to Dong Hwa, who was walking like he had no direction.

"Just stop it, you guys!" Se7en yelled, stopping to turn and face both teams with an angry look on his face. "We aren't doing this for you guys to fight all the damn time, we're doing this for the sake of the fans! Just lighten up a little and get over it!"

"Geez...you'd think he would be a little more hardcore and say "shit" at least..." Micky whispered to Chang Min, who nodded in agreement.

"Okay, here we are," Se7en said, stopping at the top of the hill before anyone else got there. "Hurry the hell up, we haven't got all day...I have to go film my new video you know!"

"Made it!" Jumin exclaimed, giggling in delight as he observed two long tables with the same dish set up in five places on each table. "What is this?" Jumin asked, walking over to the table to stare at the food. "We haven't since yesterday! A-Are you really going to feed us now?"

"Well...I guess you can say that," Se7en replied, looking quite confused. The rest of the group finally joined Jumin and Se7en at the top of the hill, while Young One was still only half way there.

"Are those...cupcakes?!" Woo Hyun shrilled, darting over toward a table. Se7en did a handstand and made a 7 with his legs, then slung a free hand out to grab Woo Hyun's leg. Se7en tightly held Woo Hyun's leg and pulled it backward quickly, and watched Woo Hyun fall flat on his face. Everyone stared as Se7en landed perfectly on his feet, and Woo Hyun began to spit out mouthfuls of grass and dirt.

"Yes, they are cupcakes. 50 cupcakes, for each member, on both teams to be exact! Now this is how the game goes. The first band member to finish their OWN plate of 50 cupcakes on their team, wins. Then we go to the third game. Which will decide who sleeps in the Hilton, and who doesn't." Then, Se7en pointed Dong Bang Shin Gi to their table, and did the same for K'Pop.

"50 cupcakes!? We can't eat 50 of those damn things! We're not girl scouts!" Ubin exclaimed, staring at the cupcakes with wide eyes.

"I want the plate with the purple cupcakes!" Xiah cried, pushing Micky out of the way before he could sit down. Xiah took his seat happily, then the other members took their chosen seats after him. Micky had a plate of yellow cupcakes, while Chang Min had blue ones, Hero had pink ones, and Yun Ho had green ones.

"Why the hell are they all girly colours? Aren't there any chocolate cupcakes?" Micky said, flicking some icing off one of the cupcakes on his plate.

"We coloured them different so you little bastards don't cheat. We wouldn't want you putting cupcakes onto another member's plate so you'll have to eat less. If you do, we will notice the colour difference, and your team will automatically be disqualified!" Se7en said all together in a big gush of air.

"We never cheat!" Chang Min spoke up, glaring at his blue cupcakes.

"Keep telling yourself that. Now-"

"Wait! Why are our cupcakes like theirs, but with these gay little sprinkles all over them!?" Young One said, after reaching his seat only seconds ago.

"Just shut up everyone! This game wasn't created for you to bitch and complain about the color of your fucking cupcakes okay!? Just play the damn game and win or lose!" Se7en fumed, his face turning red. Everyone backed down and sat uncomfortably in their seats. "NOW..." he looked around to make sure everyone was paying attention, "when my assistant says g--"

"READY! SET! GO!" Se7en's assistant and ex-Woo Hyun fan cried. The cameras panned off of her just as she blew a kiss and focused on the both teams.

"Does that mean we start?" Xiah asked. He turned toward Yun Ho, who was already stuffing his face.

"YES! GO!" Micky said from the other end of the table, as he began to shove a handful of cupcakes into his mouth. Xiah took the hint and began to eat as well. Hero just picked at the icing on his cupcakes, but no one cared, they knew he preferred flesh over real food. Dong Hwa hadn't even touched his plate, he was too busy trying to get a stain out of the table cloth by rubbing his own spit into the fabric.

"Damnit, Dong Hwa, leave the table alone and eat!" Young One said, smacking Dong Hwa upside the head.

"Don't hit him!" Ubin cried, kicking Young One in the shin.

"We're gonna lose if he doesn't eat!" Young One retorted, then threw a cupcake at Ubin, hitting him right in the face.

"You asshole!" Ubin screamed, falling back in his chair as he was blinded by icing. Woo Hyun and Jumin had already eaten nearly 10 cupcakes, and were making faces of sickness, although they kept going. Xiah and Chang Min were swallowing them almost whole, not caring at how sick it made them. Micky was already up to 12 cupcakes, and he didn't show any signs of stopping. Yun Ho had conjured up an interesting idea of smashing the cupcakes to make them easier to swallow.

"This is insanity, we are really going to have to edit this entire tape like mad. We have stuff that would make us a lot of money, but would also get us all fired..." Se7en mumbled to himself, watching the side show from a safe distance. His assistant was busy glaring at Woo Hyun, and he saw the hamster wheel of revenge spinning in her head.

"You asshole...I'll kill you..." she whispered, crossing her arms in disgust.

"Um...miss...maybe you had better go survey Ping Bin's progress. If you kill him now, we have no show..." Se7en said, pulling the girl over toward Dong Bang Shin Gi's table. The girl just huffed and sat on the grass next to Xiah, not paying attention to their progress at all. Young One and Ubin had proceeded to beat the crap out of each other on the ground. Their other three band mates kept eating, aware of the fight, but ignoring it out of desire to win. Xiah was close to passing out on his plate as he stared at it with a grossed out look on his face. Yun Ho patted him on the back and told him to keep going, but that was all XIah needed. Suddenly, Xiah's eyes bulged and he turned away from the table and spewed bunches of cupcake and icing everywhere onto the grass.

"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Woo Hyun's ex fan screamed, shooting up from her seat on the ground. Xiah had apparently pelted her directly with his barf, and she was dripping with it. "DISGUSTING!! I HATE YOU ALL!" she screamed again, grabbing Xiah's hair. She pulled him from his seat and threw him down the hill. Wiping the vomit off her face, and brushing it out of her hair, she made little sounds of disgust.

"Holy shit..." Yun Ho said through a mouthful of cupcakes, "we just lost Xiah...hurry guys!" Xiah hit the bottom of the hill and passed out cold. Jae Joong had proceeded to finally begin nibbling on his first cupcake. Micky was up to his 45th cupcake, and Chang Min was face down on his plate.

"They cheated!" Jumin cried, standing up from his seat as he noticed only 5 cupcakes remaining on Micky's plate.

"Screw you, bitch, I ate all this myself," Micky replied, stuffing his 46th and 47th cupcake into his mouth.

"Bitch!?" Jumin said, darting away from the table as he charged at Micky. Jumin ran head on into Micky, knocking him out of his seat just as he picked up his 48th cupcake to eat it. Ubin and Young One had already rolled halfway down the hill, now bloody from several kicks and punches. Jumin and Micky were now rolling around under Dong Bang Shin Gi's table trying to beat each other to a bloody pulp. Xiah was at the foot of the hill, passed out cold, and stained with his own vomit. Yun Ho was still eating, although rather slowly now. Hero was now waving a cute little 'Go, Go, Yun Ho!' flag he had apparently just pulled out of his ass. Dong Hwa had long since abandoned the game to help Woo Hyun's ex fan to clean the vomit off of her. Woo Hyun was still eating, but at about the same pace as Yun Ho, now. It was apparently just between Yun Ho and Woo Hyun now. Yun Ho was on his 44th cupcake, while Woo Hyun was on his 45th. They both chewed hard, and swallowed even harder, trying desperately to keep from throwing up.

"You're such a pussy! No wonder SM didn't sign you guys onto the label, you're not even REAL men!" Micky screamed, punching at Jumin's face.

"Then how the hell do you explain the cannibalistic, rooster haired, pretty little bitch boy you have in YOUR group!?" Jumin screamed back, unable to dodge the punch.

"I'm super hot, and my fanbase alone is bigger than your entire group's will ever be!" Hero chimed in, without even turning away from his lover, and kept waving his flag.

"That's it...these Ping Pong bitches have pissed me off for the last time!" Se7en said, making a quick call on his cell phone, which was in the shape of a 7. Seconds later, 4 security guards rushed up the hill and they apprehended each of the four fighting members. The contest finally ended when Yun Ho stuffed and quickly swallowed his 50th cupcake, then passed out cold in Hero's lap.

"Yay! My baby won! We won!" Hero shouted happily, cuddling Yun Ho's head.

"THANK GOD!" Se7en yelled loudly to no one but himself, then he blew a little whistle that was also in the shape of a 7--ending the competition. Then, as he took his cue to end the session, Se7en did another handstand and this time he twirled around. As he landed on his feet, he turned to the camera and winked 7 times. "Stay tuned for the next event everyone, right after some words for our sponsor!" As the camera men made it clear they were on a commercial break, Se7en sighed deeply.

"Let me go, you fat ass son of a bitch!" Jumin screamed at the guard, while simultaneously clawing at Micky.

"What do we do with them, boss?" one of the security guards asked.

"We're gonna end this shit now you pussy!" Young One yelled at Ubin. Although, Ubin wasn't even paying attention, he was looking around for Dong Hwa. He noticed that Woo Hyun had passed out, barely breathing, on his plate of 2 cupcakes.

"Get all these bastards to the next game, boys. And...that girl...take her....away....just...take her away. She's too much trouble even for me to handle. This shit can't go on again...if it does...those two gay den mothers will have to pay for it. I can't take the blame for this..."

"Gay den mothers!?" Kang Ta screeched, as he and Hee Jun came toddling up the hill while pulling their pants up.

"Yeah..." Se7en said, putting his hands to his temples. "Gay as hell den mothers." Hee Jun and Kang Ta just shrugged and surveyed the scene.

"Oh my..." Kang Ta whispered, as Hee Jun nodded in agreement.

[elswif]

SOOOO you guys know how I said I was going to swing on the rope into the river?? Wellllll~ That uh... didn't QUITE happen... Someone MIGHT have bashed their head in front of us on the rocks because they slipped trying to get to the rope and my parents MIGHT have said I wasn't allowed to go on the rope 😅 BUT we're pretty sure the person is okay... heh...

I didn't see her fall, because I had been looking down for the moment, but when I looked back up I had seen her flip into the water. She stayed down, and didn't really get up, as her head was in the water and she was just... floating. So people rushed over and helped her up, which we didn't get the best glimpse of her but I saw a lot of blood... again she bashed her head... but uh... OH, so after almost thirty minutes we were farther down the river but as the ambulance was leaving it honked at the site where she had fallen, which everyone took as the "she's fine" SOOO we're pretty sure she's alive because why else would they honk? Welp I did find one rope where there was a rock in the water that I pushed off of and it looked like I was swinging 😛. GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME. Okay, so the rope the girl got injured at was frayed, right? You had to walk up a steep rocky hill and climb a bit onto a tree, pull the rope to you, and swing over a bunch of sharp rocks into the water. The thing is, there were no knots on the rope and people's hands are WET from the river, so it's difficult to hold on to. Plus, it's hard to keep a grip on the tree to even grab the rope with your wet body, because you had to of just gotten out of the river. So, the girl had, I'm guessing, slipped on the tree and fell head first into the rocks (which weren't small btw), and then practically (my friend said) flew down and hit the other rocks. That's when I had looked over, seeing her hit the rocks at the bottom and flip into the water. I had heard whispers, "did you see all the blood?" and stuff like that. AND OF COURSE MORE PEOPLE GOT IN LINE FOR THE ROPE AFTER THEY MOVED HER TO LAND. BECAUSE WHY NOT. ngl, I still wanna do it...

[upsidedownwithsteve]

The Second Day Of Christmas

Eddie Munson x fem!reader [1.2K]

“This is a bad idea,” you huffed, lips twisted into a worried pout.

“Sweetheart, you worry too much,” Eddie grinned from beside you, not nearly as wrapped up as you were, barely feeling the chill that was nipping its way over your skin. “What could go wrong?”

He was in a sweater, a deep forest green knit that made his eyes look darker and he’d had the common sense to tuck his jeans into the tops of his boots. Even if they were untied.

“So much,” you stated bluntly, staring over the precipice of the hill. The snow made it seem taller than usual, an endless expanse of white that was already way too steep. “So, so much.”

You crossed your arms, curling into yourself, holding your coat tighter to your body, as if Eddie’s borrowed hoodie underneath wasn’t enough warmth for you. It was, it was edging on too big and the sleeves were too long but it smelled like him, like cologne and smoke and something vanilla.

But no one else seemed to heed your warnings, or your worries, and you sighed unhappily when the kids all lined up at the edge of the slope, giddy with excitement, noses red and cheeks pink with the cold.

An unanticipated snow day had everyone acting like ten year olds, old sledges pulled from the messy depths of garages, makeshift toboggans conjured from cardboard sheets and trash bags.

You watched as Dustin and Mike piled together on a cherry red sledge, plastic and flimsy looking. Your eyes were squinting with worry and you didn’t even want to argue with Max as she sat on nothing more than an old breakfast tray, fingers curled around the sides with her knees tucked under her chin.

“Someone’s going to end up in the hospital,” you told everyone morosely. “And I’m gonna have to be the one driving.”

“Nah, you won’t,” Steve seemed to assure you. He wasn’t even looking at you as he busied himself with Will, kneeling in the wet snow to tie a scarf around the younger boy's waist, strapping him onto the decades old sledge that had a crack in the middle. “We’d call an ambulance, you don’t drive all that fast, y’know.”

You grumbled, shoulders dropping in despair because, oh my god, someone was going to die.

But Eddie was crowding you, smiling that smile you swore was just for you, knuckles tucking under your chin to lift your face to him. You were pouting still and it only made the boy grin, eyeing that soft crinkle between your brows that he seemed to kiss away on a daily basis.

“You’re such a worry guts,” he said fondly, lowering his voice so the kids wouldn’t hear, so Steve wouldn’t poke fun. “It’s fine, sweetheart, the kids have handled worse than a face full of snow.”

“S’not the point, what if there’s a rock underneath? Or, or, they get ice in their ey—”

Eddie cut you off with a kiss, a smooth move, you couldn’t deny, his lips slanting over your own and they were warm, so warm. Your cold nose pushed at his cheek and you squeaked at the feel of him, flushing at such a public display. But you felt him smile against you, one large hand curling around the edges of your scarf to keep you close.

Not that you were planning on going anywhere. Instead, you pushed up onto your toes, boots sinking into the slush as you chased his kiss, bottom lip trapped between his. It was sweet and adoring and Eddie tasted like coffee and peppermint candy canes.

He barely pulled away to whisper to you, nose brushing once, twice, three times over your own and his lips brushed yours as he spoke.

“Now—”

You hardly registered the scuff of the sledges pouring over the edge, the shrieks and yells of the kids on their descent.

“—what does a boy like me gotta do, to get a pretty girl like you—”

Will flew down next, chased by Steve, all whoops and shouts as they raced to the bottom.

“—to sit on my lap and take a ride?”

You burned at the words, the implications, the dirty grin on Eddie’s face. He seemed to understand though, noticed the way your eyes got softer, a little droopy and cherry balm stained lips parting in anticipation.

He huffed out a laugh, quiet and pretty, one hand warm and cupping one side of your face, long fingers splayed over your jaw and cheek. He thumbed over the soft skin, pulling a little at the bottom curve of your lip, playful and teasing.

“Eddie,” you warned but there was no heat there and it came out like a soft whine instead.

“C’mon, pretty thing, it’ll be fun,” he promised you, “I’ll hold you real tight.”

He winked, salacious and all flirt and charm, and god, Eddie Munson had been your boyfriend for almost two years now, but it had only taken a few days of knowing him to realise you could almost never, ever say no.

“Teddy,” you tried again, softer and with puckered brows. This wasn’t your idea of fun. The cold, the wet, the imminent threat of being thrown off a piece of fast moving plastic….

But Eddie was already pulling away from you to sit on the sledge, one that was comically small for him, his knees bent up and spread. He looked up at you, all soft curls dotted with wet, tiny spots of melted ice that glittered. He was unfairly pretty and then he pouted, brown eyes doe like as he held out his hand, silver rings enticing you.

“For me?” He asked sweetly.

Well, fuck.

You sighed, let your head drop back as you groaned, all amatuer dramatics and it made Eddie grin. But he waited, knowing this was you giving in and he laughed brightly when your smaller hand curled into his own.

“Atta’ girl,” he praised and he held you steady as you stepped between his legs, slotting yourself between his thighs. You were frowning, undeniably adorable and Eddie loved it. “So brave,” he half joked.

“Shut up,” you told him weakly, feeling marginally better when he pulled you against his chest, wrapping his arms around you like he promised. You grabbed at his knees, fingers cold and vice like as he scooted you both towards the edge of the hill.

Hawkins was all white from this viewpoint, glittering in the daylight, the sky as fluffy looking as the ground, cloud covered and heavy, threatening more snow.

And from the bottom of the hill, the kids were standing with Steve, looking up and cheering as they saw you ready to fly down. Even from here, you could see Steve’s smirk.

“Ready?” The boy asked, a soft whisper by your ear, lips over the shell of it.

“Don’t let me go, Munson,” you warned him, eyes wide as the huge drop came into view. God, it really was steep. “You owe me a hot chocolate after this.”

“With extra marshmallows,” Eddie promised solemnly.

“And I get to pick the movie tonight,” you added on quickly, pushing yourself further into the boy, his chin resting on your head. You felt rather than heard him laugh.

“Whatever my girl wants,” Eddie assured you.

“Even if it’s Pretty In Pi— waitwaitwait, no! EDDIE—”

You didn’t get to finish your bartering but after Eddie had to pick you up from a particularly deep and wet hump of snow, brushing ice from your lashes, from the inside of your collar, you were pretty certain he’d say yes to anything you asked for.

[picklesabroad]

Athens Again

I have made it back to the big city of Athens and we are nearing the end of the Greece chapter of our travels. 

I have had a completely different experience in Athens this time around. The accommodation I booked us is in an interesting neighbourhood called Exarcheia. Exarcheia has historically been an area that has housed a lot of the free thinkers, students, artists, book binders, and creatives. It also has been a hotspot of left wing anarchist activity, and has a very healthy and permanent riot police presence. The streets are covered with graffiti, some cool, some menacing and anti-tourist. It was hard to feel instantly at home. Despite feeling unsettled for the first night, we soon realised that the ‘fuck tourists, go home’ graffiti all over the streets only accounted for a small percentage of the local populations views on tourism - the extremists, and for the most part the locals were indifferent to us being there. The clash of graffiti and leafy streets with tavernas and op shops was quite lovely really.  

We had a big hill behind our house where we could look out over the entirety of Athens - very cool. 

As a side note - the people who were anti-tourist were pushing back against the gentrification of their neighbourhood - namely the conversion of a lot of the student housing in the area into AirBNBs. When we realised what they were fighting for (the place they call home) it made more sense to me why they wouldn’t like us being there. 

We had 4 whole days in Athens, in a house with a washing machine and a bit of room to breathe. We read books, pottered in our neighbourhood, and the other two girls went and looked at all the history things. 

In Athens, there seems to be a travelling fruit and veggie market that pops up in different streets around Athens every day. You can buy all the fresh produce your heart desires here - some of it grown in Greece and some imported from other parts of Europe - tomatoes and melons from Italy etc. The streets smelled like sun ripened fruit - all of the in season nectarines, berries, peaches and apricots. I bought a wedge of watermelon, a bouquet of dill and some strawberries. 

Soph and I found a cool little cafe on our first morning in Athens called Flake, and we had a coffee and a babka (a sweet bready twist thing with Nutella or pistachio cream filling) and we found a guide to Athens which I bought. The guide had some great spots in it which we got straight on to finding. 

The spots included a hidden burger bar that was on top of a building with a view of the acropolis. The bar has no signage anywhere or street frontage so it is an ‘in the know’ kind of set up. We had some visual clues in the book and with a little bit of searching found the right spot, in a very inconspicuous office building. We did as the book suggested and jumped in the lift and took it to the top floor, hoping we wouldn’t be treated by a boardroom of accountants when we got to the top, and the book came through! A basic little terrace greeted us with some tables set up, where you could plop yourself down and enjoy a pita/burger, a greek salad, and a beer with a view right out to the parthenon. 

One of the other spots was an underground taverna accessed by walking from street level down a steep flight of stairs, through an iron trap door and into the basement of the building below, where tables and wine barrels adorned the space. There was no menu and the staff spoke very little English, so you were served whatever the chef was cooking at the time. We had sardines with lemon, barley and dill soup, chickpeas, and potatoes cooked in tomato. It was delish. Also, red wine that we never ordered. Lovely. 

One of the evenings we walked to dinner in the middle of an electrical storm and a bolt of thunder and lightening cracked right over our heads. The Athenians around us who had been so aloof and unsmiling are instantly transformed into screaming, giggling, friendly people. Funny what a bolt of lightning can do. 

Our last day, we visited the National Archeological museum which was very cool. There was an entire exhibition dedicated to Egyptian history which was a bit of a welcome change up to the Greek history. 

Having a house to ourselves was a lovely treat. I took some time to read a book, have a long, lukewarm/cold shower (the hot water system wasn’t great) and to sleep in. 

After 4 busy but good days, we said toodle pip to Stacey and our dear dear greek yoghurt breakfast, and Sophie and I carried on to Istanbul - (where the yoghurt is fine - but she ain’t no Greek). 

[pedallingthepyrrhicpindus]

DAY 5 - TSEPOLOVO TO VIKOS GORGE AND THEN ELATI

Trails Leaving the haunted Scottish girls school we follow the side of the valley. At the top of a small hill, Alex points across the ravine to a zig-zag wall going up the steep side of the slope. He says it’s the sort of trail that covered the whole country. Hardy mountain folk would use them to travel between villages and to trade.

These trails are one of his passions. He spends much of his time maintaining those that still exist. (2% of what used to be.) In the old days people would walk with a knife in their hand and cut off any overhang - “trees have memories, they can sense the passing of people and animals and they grow away from the path.”

Then the fascists came and built roads across the whole country. “Many of them useless, but good for us!” And off we go downhill, just the right gradient, no need to use our worryingly worn brakes.

Gorgeous climb. The sun is out. At the bottom of a valley we turn to follow the river. Stop for an impressive arched stone bridge. There are other people. Tourists! In coaches! But not enough to bother us.

The big climb approaches. John senses his opportunity. And pushes for the summit coached by Toren. The landscape is different. Heavily stratified rock cliffs and columns - some either side of the road look like monumental gates.

The verges are strewn with brightly coloured spring flowers. Daisies, forget me nots, vibrant pink little flowers with five petals stretched to the fingertips, thistles with their pink furballs.  And the broom, yellow and fragrant.

A flock of sheep and goats, with shepherd - not sure which smells more. The little dog started it. Got the big one angry and it was he that bit my back tyre. The police turned up in a car and intervened using a special clicking siren.

And I was back to climbing in pastoral bliss. Keeping heart rate below 140bpm. Don’t look back.

At the top we change shoes and walk the pretty path  to the viewing point for the Vikos Gorge, the deepest gorge - relative to its width - in the world. Forget the Guinness Book of records - it’s quite a show, made all the more exciting by the lack of guardrail. Vertigo!

Back down the hill we race. Coffee and lunch. Less meat more vegetables was the order of the day.

Rain We leave the roadside taverna as another coach pulls up. And it starts to rain. Then rain heavily. We all stop to put coats on. Twenty minutes later it stops.

Climb frenzy Suddenly it goes all lord of the flies. Mark starts beating the drum for a race between me and Hamish up the next big hill. It’s all a bit cruel. “My money’s on Piers but I’m coaching Hamish”. The chatter and jabber intensifies as the hill approaches.  War cries echo across the valleys. “Hamish, Hamish…”

We start together. Matching each other’s pace. It’s going to be a long climb. The road flattens out a bit, Hamish shoots off ahead and gets a lead from his superior cornering skills. As the climb resumes, I wind him back in. “Don’t worry Hamish, I know Piers, he always goes out too hard and blows up,” Mark needles.

I pull ahead, Mark pushes past to encourage me to ’blow up’.  But I’ve been watching Mark all holiday. He’s a really impressive climber, with a super light bike and bucket loads of confidence. But… when the climb really starts to bite, when it starts to hurt me, it’s hurting him more. 

And it’s he who cracks. With still 100m to climb I pull past him and he’s left behind. Broken.

He won’t admit it, but the race was always between me and him. He’d used Hamish as a straw man. And now a shield for his pride.

Actually that’s a bit harsh. It’s all been about that special connection that comes from competion. The sheer unalloyed joy of pitting yourself against another human. The shared experience. It really is all about the taking part. Mark loves it. And we love him for it.

Of course, Toren has watched all this and is calmly up ahead enjoying the view, first to summit, as always. A racehorse travelling with donkeys. History lesson A few more km and we arrive at our hotel run by two lovely sisters. Big rooms. Lovely food. And Yannis gives the most extraordinary history of Greece - he spoke for two hours without notes starting with the first settlers and ending in the current day. Answering questions along the way.

It was striking how modern day Greece was created on the basis of an idea - about Ancient Greece, about the birthplace of civilisation. And how that idea was imposed from outside.

Ants in my bed though. 92.86km  1,837m ascent

[blatantlyright]

Against the Wind

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie x Reader // 18+ MDNI // Kinktober day 24

Kinktober Masterlist

Eddie picks you up to smoke you out because you’re low on funds.

Tw/tags: outdoor sex, p in v (unprotected), no panties, some degradation-ish?, marijuana, creampie

When you told Eddie you were low on cash but you needed to get high, he agreed to pick you up and smoke you out. His van trembled as he pulled over by the guard rail and turned off the engine. Before you could open the passenger side door, he was there with his hand out to help you climb down. You thanked him and he smiled, slamming your door shut behind you.

His hand reached out to you again as he guided you down a steep hill. “I probably should’ve warned you not to wear heels,” he laughed. His rough skin was warm in your palm. “I shouldn’t have wore a dress to smoke pot,” you laughed back. Once down the decline, you slipped off your shoes and shoved them into your bag. “You’ll rip your tights,” Eddie warned. “I can take those off, too, if you want,” you retorted. It came off a little more flirtatious than you had intended. Eddie blushed.

You both walked in silence, still holding hands, until you reached Skull Rock. Everyone knew this was where Eddie took girls to make out. Your heart thumped heavy in your throat. Eddie wiped his palm against his jeans. “Are you scared?”, he asked. “No, why?”

Eddie laughed, “Your palms are sweaty. Either you’re scared or you’re nervous.” You shook your head and folded your arms. “Your hand was sweaty. I noticed the whole way down here. So what are YOU afraid of?”, you teased.

He lit his pre-rolled joint, spitting out a seed from the top of his tongue. “I knew I shouldn’t have let Gareth roll for me,” he groaned. “Here,” he spoke softly, holding the joint up to your mouth. As you inhaled, the wind blew up your dress; your lack of underwear was no longer concealed. Eddie’s eyes widened. You stole the joint and took another puff, grinning from ear to ear.

You reached out and caught his hanging jaw in your grip, pushing him back against the hard cold stone. You leaned into him, exhaling the smoke into his agape mouth. Your lips barely brushed against his as he took a deep breath. “You want it right here?”, he asked, licking his lips. With a nod of your head, Eddie snatched the joint from you and took a short, fast breath. His fingers greedily fumbled between your folds, seeking out your clit.

His tongue fell into your mouth, heavy and wet. You hovered, thighs apart as his fingers slid up into you. Each time his hasty thumb pressed against your clit, you rolled your hips. One of your hands steadied yourself against the rock. The other undid his jeans, feeling past the soft curls down into his underwear and wrapping around his rapidly swelling shaft. He gasped into your mouth.

“I knew when you told me you were broke you were going to throw pussy at me for some free bud,” he taunted. He turned you around, pressing your back against the rock. As he lifted your legs and cupped where your ass meets your thighs, you ruffled your dress in your hands and pulled it out of the way. It was never your intention to end up with Eddie buried deep inside you, but you weren’t about to turn him down.

His dick slid up into you, splitting you wide. “Fuck you’re so big Eddie,” you cried out. His lusty chuckle shook his length inside you. “Nah, babe, you’re just tight as hell.”

The wind tickled at your thighs as your body adjusted to his presence. Your walls grew wetter with the subtle movements. In unison, you sighed at the sensations, the pressure, the pain. “I knew you’d feel like a dream,” Eddie smiled, brushing his nose against your forehead. “You’ve been making me chase you for years, never knew how worth it this would be. Fuck, you’re dripping down my legs you’re so amazing.”

The smacking and squelching of your pussy echoed off the rocks. The hairs on the back of your neck stood up, partially from the cool stone pressing against your lower back, and the rest from your impending explosion. You remembered every time he made eyes at you across the cafeteria and you thought you were imagining it, the barely and almost touches as you passed by in the halls, the way his eyes went dark when you’d show up in a low cut shirt or a mini skirt. It was always real, and you were finally feeling him.

Leaves crunched as Eddie shifted his weight, angling so he could push even deeper into you. “Oh shit, I’m gonna cum,” you whined into his chin. You closed your eyes and arched your back, bouncing yourself up and down as much as you could against his pelvis and the rock. “I’m not far behind,” he coughed, filling you up just as you clenched around him. You both swore into the air, trees the only audience to your quiet confessions.

You felt like a newborn giraffe, wobbling on your bare feet to steady yourself against the rock. In the afterglow, you held eye contact and shared a wave of pure warmth. As it faded. Eddie patted you on the shoulder and raised his hand for a high five. “Really?”, you asked, smacking into his hand with yours. He wrapped his fingers in yours and pulled you in for a kiss. “Next time you want some dick, just come to my place.”

[nsheetee]

109 Steps To You

this is a part of the “almost” collaboration hosted by @hyucksie​

Pairing: Haechan x Reader Genre: romance, fluff, angst, mature content, soulmate!AU, college!AU Length: 19k Summary: Everyone is born with two marks on their body: one that is identical to your soulmate’s, and one that is identical to the person who will cause you immense pain. No one knows which mark means what until they live out their life and meet the people destined to bring them love and hurt. However, you were only born with one mark. Out of all the places you thought you would meet the person with the mark identical to yours, you never thought it would be on your first day of college. Warnings/Details: female reader, mentions of other nct members (and yuqi from g-idle), explicit sex (unprotected + the consequences that come with it), mentions of a dysfunctional family, swearing

— read epilogue here

a/n: if you’re a minor: beware! there is explicit and mature content in this fic.

“I want to thank you guys, again, for helping me out today.” You shyly announce to the table, swirling your spoon through your froyo and glancing back and forth between the other people sitting before you.

“Oh, it’s no problem, we weren’t doing anything today anyway.” Xiaojun softly knocks his elbow into yours, sending a reassuring smile your way. If it wasn’t for Xiaojun, an old childhood friend, you weren’t sure how moving into your dorm room and getting settled into campus would’ve gone; you would probably still be a mess right now.

“He’s right. Plus, I really wanted to meet the girl Jun kept raving about, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much we would like you-” Mark’s comment is quickly cut off, a thud under the table and a pained look on Mark’s face giving away that Xiaojun just kicked him.

“I just hope I lived up to the hype.” You laugh at their antics.

“Oh, definitely,” Yuqi quickly buts in before Mark can retaliate back at Xiaojun, “And I live a few floors below you, so just let me know if you need anything at all.” She adds on, her warm deposition and all around friendliness from today making you let out a small sigh of relief, some stress falling off your shoulders when you realize just how many people around you are here to help you out.

“I appreciate it so much, really.” You lean away from Xiaojun and Mark, closer to Yuqi and Lucas who are sitting on the other side of the table, “By the way, I love your guys’ marks. They look so good on both of you.”

At your comment, Lucas puts down his phone and gently grabs Yuqi’s hand, their matching chamomile flower marks touching as their fingers intertwine. You almost didn’t notice their matching marks earlier today when they were helping you set up your dorm room, but when you did, you couldn’t help but stop what you were doing and stare at their hands. Such a simple mark has never looked so pretty to you, maybe it’s because Lucas and Yuqi made such a good pair that their fated marks looked so right for them.

“I still wish I got a cool dragon mark down my back, but I’ll let Jun be the one to deal with that in this life.” Lucas smirks at Xiaojun, who just rolls his eyes at Lucas’ fake jealousy. “Yours looks good, too.” He finishes and glances down at your left hand. There, a dragonfly mark stains your skin, the long tail trailing over your thumb and the wings spreading out over the back of your hand and your wrist.

“Thank you.” Your reply is genuine, however you can’t help but remember the solemn fact that surrounds your mark, your voice inadvertently dipping down as your eyes trace over the wings of your dragonfly.

“So, what kind of classes are you taking this semester?” Xiaojun changes the subject, no doubt hearing the lament in your voice.

“Oh, just some required classes. Nothing for my major, really, except Intro to Ethics for my humanities credit.” You reply as casually as you can to bring the mood at the table back up, but your comment makes Yuqi gasp and all four pairs of eyes at the table turn to you. You slouch in your seat at their sudden attention on you.

“Why would you do that to yourself?”

“What is wrong with you?”

“Do you know your advisor's email? Let’s send them a message right now to get you out-”

“Stop.” You shake your head, laughing a bit at the overreaction from your new friends, “What’s wrong with Ethics?”

“It’s in the Hauss building.” Xiaojun says as if you should already know what that means. You roll your lips in and shake your head; you do not know what that means at all.

“It’s the building all the way on top of the big hill on the west side of campus, by the auditorium.” Xiaojun explains more.

“They only teach three classes over there: Ethics and Music Theory 3 and 4.” Mark sets down his melted froyo, not realizing he has some sticking to his upper lip.

“I’m failing to see what’s so horrible about that?”

“When Xiaojun says it’s a big hill, he means it’s a really big hill-”

“Didn’t someone count the steps once and it came out to be, like, close to 100?” Lucas asks, one hand still tangled with Yuqi’s and the other now rapidly slurping his triple chocolate froyo.

“That was me, and it’s 109 steps.” Mark shutters, “I took Music Theory 3 last year and I ended up skipping half of the time because I couldn’t find the energy to climb up and down those steps three times a week.”

“Why 109? Aren’t groups of steps usually in even numbers? That’s not very architecturally smart.” Yuqi purses her lips and her eyebrows screw together.

“Screw architecture. Are you telling me I’ll have to climb up and down 109 stairs three times a week just to go to Ethics?” You can already feel a headache growing at the back of your head when you think about the complications of dealing with this big staircase. You needed that class for your major, and you thought it was going to be a class that you could pass with flying colors, but it seems like it might just be a nuisance to you more than an easy A.

“Talk to your advisor. Try to drop out and take a different class. Trust me, 109 steps don’t seem like much until you actually have to climb them.” Mark gives you his piece of advice, sticking his spoon filled with froyo into his mouth and then immediately scrunching his eyes and mumbling about brain freeze.

You’ll have to send an e-mail to your advisor real quick, but for your first day of classes tomorrow, you’ll just have to deal with those 109 steps.

The walk to your ethics class the next morning is very calming, the university’s nice landscaping and the warm weather calming your nerves down for your first day of classes. When you round the corner of the stonewall you had been following, you’re met with the infamous set of steps.

You have to crane your neck to look up at the top of the staircase, your jaw slightly dropping at how steep of a hill the stairs were built on. There are other students around you walking up and down the staircase, their headphones shoved in their ears and their heads down as they make the climb to and from class.

The stonewall you had been following all the way here continues up the staircase on your right and on the left is a thick wall of trees, their branches hanging over the stairs and giving protection from the sunlight to the students below. You begin to count every step on your way up; four regular steps, the fifth one a bit longer than the rest, and then repeat. It’s not that you don’t trust Mark’s words when he said there’s 109 steps, you just want to count for yourself.

You hear some rowdy boys coming down the stairs, but the noise is not enough to pull your head up from the ground or to stop you from counting, until you’re forcefully pushed into the stone wall on your right. Breathing in through your teeth sharply, your left hand clutches your collarbones where the pain is the worst.

“Oh, my god. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to push you.” The guy laughs through his words, a high-pitched and almost squeaky laugh, making him sound not as sincere as he probably meant to be. When you turn to face him, the first thing you notice are his eyes. Chocolate colored and almond shaped, some laugh lines showing from the remnants of his shenanigans with his friends.

Looking back, you realize you fell in love with his eyes first. How they don’t hold back from showing any emotion, and the mischievousness they hold no matter what.

Even when his smile falls, his face looks pretty; long hair hanging down over his forehead and ears, and plump lips spreading into an ‘o’ shape as he looks at your dragonfly. Every line and detail is just the same as his own, as if fate spent a little more time with you two to make sure you know you’re each other’s soulmate the moment you meet.

“Your mark…” The man points at your hand, and that’s when you realize who you’ve just met. His brilliant eyes fill with excitement and he starts to breath harder, taking a step back from sheer surprise that you’re here. His soulmate. His one and only for the rest of this life.

However it all fades away the moment you drop your hand from your collarbones, stepping past him to continue up the staircase.

“Next time, watch where you’re going.” The first words you ever say to him are filled with so much indifference that Haechan can only follow your back with his eyes, his jaw slack and his hand still reaching out for you.

“Hey, wait-” Haechan is about to run after you, but he’s held back by Renjun, his best friend and the one who pushed Haechan into you in the first place.

“Was that-” Renjun begins, holding onto his friend’s elbow as he also watches you walk up the rest of the 109 steps.

“Yeah… Why did she ignore me like that? She saw that I have the same mark. We’re soulmates!” Haechan almost cries out in confusion, his heart and mind in a mess. Can you blame him? He’s been waiting to meet his soulmate since he knew what the dragonfly on his hand meant. Haechan has never been a patient person, and even waiting several years for you to come to him was testing him. Now that you’re here, he isn’t going to let you go easily.

As Haechan begins to walk back up the staircase to follow you, not caring about his Literature class in 15 minutes, Renjun’s grip on him tightens and pulls him back.

“You can’t just go harass her about this.”

“I’m not going to harass her. I just want to talk.” Haechan tries to pull out of Renjun’s grip again, but the little man has the sturdiness of a boulder and pulls his friend back.

“Maybe she doesn’t want a soulmate?” Renjun and Haechan stop their tug of war at Jaemin’s words. He had been leaning against the handrail by the trees the whole time while watching the scene unfold in front of him, his arms crossed over his chest and his baseball cap covering his eyes. “It’s not that uncommon these days.”

Haechan and Renjun let go of each other at their friend’s words. Jaemin sends them a bitter smile and all three of them recall the incident that happened last year when Jaemin met his own soulmate:

A rejection.

Jaemin took it hard; if it hadn’t been for his best friends, he doesn’t know where he would be in life right now. Jaemin can’t help but let the memories surface as he continues to walk down the stairs, slower than before, his head bowed and his hands shoved into his pant pockets. Renjun sends Haechan a look that tells him to not push the situation further, following Jaemin down the stairs.

Haechan sends your retreating figure one last look, watching you reach the top of the staircase and walk into the Hauss building. He retreats and follows his friends dejectedly, the promise of you showing up on this staircase at the same time on Wednesday being the only thing that lets his legs follow his friends down the stairs.

“Hey, ___, come in.” Mark smiles brightly when he recognizes you at the door, stepping aside to let you into the dorm room. “Xiaojun is in the shower still… Will you be okay by yourself if I leave?” He looks unsure as you set your backpack down on Xiaojun’s desk chair.

“Oh, I’ll be fine. You do whatever you need to.” You state and then plop down onto your friend’s bed. You hear Mark laugh and say something about how all the first years look tired at the end of their first day and then leaves the room, shutting the door behind him. You lay sprawled out on the bed, the only sounds surrounding you is the water from the shower and the ticking of the analog clock on the wall.

Even though the whole ordeal happened several hours ago, you haven’t been able to get the moment you met your soulmate out of your mind. It was almost impossible for you to turn around and walk away. Even now, your feet still itch to go back to that staircase and find the sweet looking guy who you no doubt left confused.

However, you can’t do that— you won’t let yourself do that. And that’s partially why you’re in Xiaojun’s dorm room after your last class today: so that he can knock some sense into you.

The shower turns off and a few moments later, the bathroom door opens and Xiaojun steps out. He has a towel wrapped around his waist and a smaller one on his shoulders to catch the droplets from his hair; when he sees you laying on his bed, he jumps in fright.

“Good, God,” He sighs and clutches his bare chest with one hand, the other protectively going to the towel around his waist. “Can you say something the next time you come over? I almost had a heart attack because of you.” He walks over to his closet on the other side of the room, rummaging through some clothes as you sit up.

“Sorry, I thought you heard the door open…” You trail off, getting distracted by Xiaojun’s mark. The dragon on his back is huge, taking up most of the area and spreading to his shoulders and upper arms, too. However, that’s not the mark that caught your attention. Right on his ankle sits a three-leaf clover, so small and such a stark difference from the monster drawn on his back.

You’re pulled away from your thoughts when Xiaojun turns around and walks back into the bathroom, this time leaving the door open, “So, how was your first day?”

“Oh, well, it was okay…” You trail off, speaking a bit louder so that he could hear you from the other room. You stand up and start pacing in the space between Mark’s and Xiaojun’s beds, a nervous habit of yours.

“But? I know there’s a ‘but’ somewhere.” Xiaojun replies.

“Well, something happened…” You trail off, not sure how to make the words leave your mouth yet.

“What is it?” You swallow at the question, your throat dry and hands clammy. You must’ve been taking a long time to answer because Xiaojun walks out of the bathroom, now fully clothed, and stares at your pacing form. “What’s wrong, ___.”

“I met him.” You say simply, hoping Xiaojun gets what you mean, but he doesn’t. You sigh and sink down to the floor slowly, catching yourself on Xiaojun’s bed. The action makes his eyes widen in fear and he crosses the room in a few short strides, kneeling down next to you and searching your eyes for the answer.

“What? What is it?”

“The person with the same mark as me. I met him.”

“... Oh.”

Xiaojun slowly slides down onto his butt in front of you, folding his legs. He’s not sure what to say, or how to comfort you in anyway. He didn’t expect to be the only person around that you trust when something like this happens. He sees the lost look in your eyes and slides towards you to pull you into a hug.

Unlike Xiaojun, and most people in the world, you do not have two marks.

Xiaojun’s dragon and clover match with two different people in this world; one who will be his soulmate and the other who will bring him immense pain. Everyone has two marks— except you; it even states it on your birth certificate, your parents can testify that they’ve never seen a second mark on you, just the lonely dragonfly that spreads its wings over your left hand.

When you were younger, you were curious about what it meant to only have one mark. The people around you always had two marks, the people on the TV shows you liked to watch always had two marks, even anatomy books have depictions of humans with two marks. Why were you different? What did it mean?

After gathering up the guts to type the question into the Google search engine, you found your answers, and it changed your thoughts on your one and only mark forever. The people in the world who only had one mark testified to the same story online: the person who’s mark matched theirs were both their soulmate and the person who hurt them the most.

After learning about that, you promised yourself that if you ever met the person with the same mark as you, you would not meddle with them in any way if they were only destined to bring you pain in the end.

If you knew jumping off a bridge would definitely kill you, you wouldn’t jump, right?

Xiaojun is the only person, other than your parents, who knows about the situation. Which is why when he hugs you, you lean into him and accept his comfort.

“Tell me what you’re thinking about. You must have so many questions.” He mumbles into your hair.

“Not questions. I’m just curious about what I am to him.” You reply, whispering into Xiaojun’s shoulder.

“About what you are to him?”

“I know he’ll be the person I’m meant to love the most, and also the person who will hurt me the most. But am I the one that’s supposed to love him or the one that’s supposed to hurt him?”

“Lots of people say that they can feel it when they meet. Like Lucas, he said he instantly knew Yuqi was supposed to be his soulmate.” Xiaojun thinks back to all the people who have told him the exact same thing, even his parents.

“The guy… he kept calling me his soulmate. He sounded so sure about it, too.” You lean away from Xiaojun to look into his big and curious eyes.

“What about you? What did you feel?” He asks.

“It felt… like I left a part of myself with him.” Xiaojun’s eyes widened at that, “Is that crazy? I was only around him for a minute, maybe less, and I can’t stop thinking about how I never wanted to leave. It was so hard to walk away from him..” You trail off, feeling tears suddenly gather at the edges of your eyes.

“Xiaojun…” The edge in your voice makes him grab a hold on your hands, “I don’t want him to hurt me. I’m not ready for it.”

“Hey, hey…” Xiaojun squeezes your hands before gently guiding your face to his, meeting his eyes with your own, “He’ll hurt you eventually, yeah, but he’ll also be the person who is supposed to love you unconditionally. The person who is going to know you so well, better than yourself. Maybe you should see where he takes you in life? Destiny still wanted you to meet each other no matter what the end game is going to be… Are you really going to tell fate to fuck off?”

“Can’t I?” Your response makes Xiaojun laugh, which he apologises for laughing in a serious situation right after, but the mood is already broken and you laugh at yourself a bit as well.

“C’mon, let’s order something to eat and get your mind off of this, even if it’s just for a few hours.” Xiaojun pulls you off of the floor and reaches for his phone, trying to find the phone number to his favorite delivery place.

You sit on his bed once again, your hands limp in your lap and so much appreciation for Xiaojun in your chest. You probably would’ve gone insane if he wasn’t here for you. His suggestion on giving the guy you met today a chance plays like a record in your head, but the record scratches when you remember the promise you made to yourself a long time ago.

Don’t mess with him. He will only bring you pain in the end.

On Wednesday, Haechan is the first one out of his seat in his Music Theory 3 class, not even waiting for the slow Renjun and even slower Jaemin before sprinting out of the classroom and outside, waiting at the top of the staircase for your figure to appear at the bottom.

Students float up and down the stairs, but he doesn’t see you anywhere amongst them. Eventually, Renjun and Jaemin catch up to him, standing behind him and also staring down the long staircase.

“C’mon, Haechan, we need to go to our next class.” Renjun is the first one to step down, followed by Jaemin. Haechan takes a good look at everyone’s faces on his way down, getting some weird looks sent his way for staring, but he doesn’t care.

“Haechan.” Jaemin suddenly calls out, making his friend turn suddenly to look at him. Jaemin only nods his head to the bottom of the stairs where you just turned the corner. Despite his hurry from before, Haechan stops at the sight of you. His usual confidence is lost when he sees you climb the stairs. Now, he’s not sure if he should approach you.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Renjun nudges Haechan, but the younger only turns around to look at his friend.

“I don’t know what to say to her. What do I say to make her see I’m her soulmate?” Haechan asks, helplessness seeping into his words.

Renjun rolls his eyes; whenever his best friend needs to be the usual confident man he is, that’s when the confidence is most likely to drain out of him. Renjun shakes Haechan’s shoulders with a tight grip on his jacket, making some more people send the two of them some weird looks.

“She’s your soulmate, right? Fate already gave you everything you need to know about how to talk to her.” Renjun then pushes his friend towards your direction, “But for the love of god, don’t harass her.” Renjun ends with a pointed look and continues walking with Jaemin down the stairs.

Haechan slowly makes his way to you, crossing over to the middle of the staircase and stopping you in your tracks. You look up to inspect who it is that just stopped in front of you, and your surprise fades when you realize it’s the same guy from Monday.

“Hi.” He says simply. You only nod your head, lips pursed, and then move around him to continue walking to class.

“Wait…” Haechan calls after you, but you don’t stop this time. So Haechan keeps walking after you, only one step behind, “I’m not sure if you’re aware, but you’re my soulmate. I’ve been waiting for you for so long—” You sharply turn to face him, making Haechan cut off and tilt his head up to look at you.

“How do you know I’m your soulmate? What if I’m not?” You ask. Haechan shakes his head softly at that, his golden hair moving over his sun-kissed skin as he does.

“That’s not possible.”

“How do you know?” You ask. Haechan loves how curiosity burns in your eyes. He takes longer than normal to speak only so that he can look over your features and memorize them to the best of his ability. Last night, he tried to recall your face but the image came out so blurry since he only saw you for a moment on Monday. He wants to clearly remember what you look like.

“How about I take you somewhere, and then I’ll tell you?” The proposition stuns you, and your burning curiosity makes you want to say yes. However, going anywhere with him would be breaking your promise to yourself, so you decide to forget it.

“Nevermind…” You mumble, turning around to walk up the stairs again.

“You seem like you really want to know how I’m sure we’re soulmates… Aren’t you curious?” Haechan asks, making you stop in your tracks again. This man has only known you for a day, only talked to you for a few moments, yet he already knows how to get you to do something. “I promise I won’t hurt you, and I’m not lying either.”

You take a moment to think about the proposition. You’re really curious about how he’s so sure that you’re soulmates. Sure, you know you’re soulmates, but why is he so sure you aren’t the person who’s supposed to hurt him? You consider taking up the offer, but can you stay strong to your own promise while being close to him?

Curiosity wins, and you turn back around to face him, nodding and making him smile widely. There’s that crinkle in his eyes again, that sparkle against the sun that makes saying yes to him so much more worth it.

“My friends call me Haechan, but you can call me Donghyuck. That’s my real name.” He sticks out his hand for you to shake. You once heard that physical touch brings soulmates together quicker; you’re not sure if that’s true, but you don’t want to test it.

“I’m ___.” You nod at him and grip onto your backpack straps instead of accepting his handshake.

“Haechan, hurry up or we’ll be late!” You both hear Renjun shout out from the bottom of the stairs, “And on our second day, too.” You hear him groan.

“Okay, ___, I’ll see you here at 7pm tomorrow night.” Haechan turns around to run back to his friends, sending you one last wave goodbye and almost tripping down the stairs as he does.

You take a deep breath and turn around to walk up the rest of the steps. You’re unsure if you did the right thing by agreeing to see him tomorrow night, but the deed is now done, and you can only wait for Donghyuck to quench your curiosity.

As promised, you meet Donghyuck at 7 o’clock sharp the next day. He’s already waiting for you at the bottom of the stairs.

“So, where are you taking me?” You ask after saying your hello’s.

“It’s a surprise.” He smiles and nods his head to make you follow him. He leads you through parts of campus you haven’t seen yet, the buildings looking older and older the further down the path you walk. Soon, Donghyuck takes a sharp turn into what looks like the middle of the forest but is really just a small, hidden extension of the trail.

Under a canopy of tall trees that wave with the wind to you and Donghyuck, there is a skinny trail that leads to glimmering water. It draws you in, your curiosity struck and your feet now moving on their own accord. Bushes tickle your ankles and the smell of some sort of flower you cannot identify floods your senses, but you can only keep walking towards the sparkling water.

The scene in front of you takes your breath away, a crisp gasp that you have no control over leaves your lips. The pond before you is big, stretching further than what you can see. The water is blue and the setting sun’s light reflects off of it to create rippling sparkles. There are some lily pads floating around, their flowers gone due to the temperature dropping recently.

You didn’t even notice that you stopped walking, your eyes wide as you take in the scenery before you. You almost forget who you’re with and why you came, but Donghyuck doesn’t let that happen. You snap out of it when he continues to walk along the trail that leads around the pond. You walk alongside Donghyuck, a few feet away with your hands awkwardly tucked into your pockets.

“C’mon, let’s sit.” He motions to a weeping willow tree. It’s tall and the branches sway pleasantly in the wind, completely unaware and indifferent to the years of history in the area. Underneath the tree is a sturdy bench, you sit on the left side while Donghyuck sits on the right side. Then, you both take a few moments to stare at the mesmerizing water that led you all the way to this seemingly magical place.

“Why did you bring me here?” You ask after a bit.

“Do you not like it?” Donghyuck asks back.

“No.” You quickly reply, looking over his side profile before turning back to the water, “I’m just curious.”

“Something in me knew you would like this place, that’s all.” Donghyuck replies while trying to hide his proud smile, looking down at the grass. “You’re curious about a lot of things, huh?”

“Yeah, I can’t help it. There’s just so much I want to know.” It’s easy to talk to him, a bit too easy. You have to keep reminding yourself that you’re supposed to have your guard up in front of him, but it’s proving harder than you thought it would be.

“Like how I’m sure that you’re my soulmate and not the person who is supposed to hurt me?” Donghyuck leans his weight away from you, his eyebrow cocked in a question. You nod your head lightly, playing with your hands on your lap.

“It’s because I’ve already met the person who’s supposed to bring me pain. I’ve already been hurt.” At his words, surprise fills you up and you turn your head to look him straight in the eye.

For some reason, you always thought that when people meet the person who brings them the largest amount of pain to their life, they couldn’t be the same ever again. How does one get hurt so badly, and still live on?

There are so many ways to hurt someone. Some people become bankrupt, some people lose all of their belongings, some people are even physically hurt by the person who has the same mark as them. How does a person go through any of that and still be themselves afterwards? More importantly, how did Donghyuck go through immense pain and still be able to smile at you like he is right here, right now?

“Here.” He begins to explain, pushing his pants around until you can see his second mark through one of the holes in his jeans, a sunflower on his knee, “My dad had the same mark as me.”

“Your…. Dad?” You ask, still confused.

“Mhmm,” He nods, now tracing the petals of the sunflower mark absentmindedly, “My parents immediately knew something was wrong when I was born. Why would a son and dad have the same mark? When I was growing up, he worked a lot, so I spent lots of time with my mom and grew closer to her. I don’t remember much from that time, but I do remember we were happy. We didn’t have a lot, but we had each other; that kind of feeling.” He looks over at you to see if you’re keeping up with the story. To Donghyuck’s surprise, you already have tears lining your eyes.

“Then one day, Dad comes home and tells us he lost his job. I remember my parents fought a lot the few weeks after that happened, mostly about how to raise me if they had no income. Dad would go out and look for work, but always came back with no luck. So eventually, my mom started working. For a while, the reason we could keep living was because of her.” Donghyuck swallows and pauses for a moment before continuing.

“And then one night, dad came home and told us he gambled. Everything, he gambled everything away. Even the little that we had, it wasn’t ours anymore. That night, my dad told me I was a mistake. My parents never meant to have me, and he said…” Donghyuck purses his lips for a moment. It had been a while since he thought about this. The scar on his heart still hurts when he picks at it. “... He said that he wished I had never been born. Then, we wouldn’t have been in that mess.”

“How old were you?” You speak up after a moment.

“Seven? Or eight.” He nods and sniffs his nose, looking down at his knee. The whole day, Donghyuck was preparing himself to tell you this story. He felt that the only way to get close to you was to open up like this first, to show you that he isn’t someone scary or bad. To Donghyuck’s surprise, telling this story hurts less now than it did earlier in this life. Maybe that means time is working, and his heart is being mended bit by bit.

Donghyuck leans his elbows against his knees, looking at the water once again while waiting for you to say anything. Are you still curious? What do you think of him now?

He was in no way prepared to feel your arms wrap around his waist in a hug, your head resting against his shoulder and your chest pressed against his side. He freezes for a moment, and then melts into your embrace completely. He’s overcome with lovesick softness for you, lightly griping the part of your arm that’s across his chest as his head turns to the side to press a kiss to the top of your head. It’s so quick that you don’t even have time to move away or to react. You just let it happen, as it’s supposed to be.

“You said that something in you knew I would like this place,” You mumble against him. He hears your voice straining with emotion, “Well, something in me knows that you need this right now.”

You and Donghyuck sit there until the sparkling water is no longer fueled by the sun’s light, but by the moon’s. It seems as though now you’ve touched Donghyuck, you never wanted to stop. You’re almost one hundred percent sure that it’s because of the soulmate bond, and a part of you nags at yourself for already chipping away at the promise you made to yourself when you were younger.

However, younger you never knew what it would be like to have a person sit in front of you and share a part of his past with you in an act of confidence and security. Your younger self never knew what it would be like to feel the same pain as someone else, and the pull you felt to touch him after sensing that physical affection would help ease that pain away.

Your younger self had no idea it was this easy to fall into a person, especially when you know they’ll catch you.

“God, I’m so sick and tired of Accounting. ___, I’m quitting school.” Xiaojun gravely tells you, his eyes not wavering from his computer screen.

“Shut up and do your homework, Jun.” You mumble, your eyes not leaving your own computer screen as you type up your Ethics essay. Three weeks into school and you’re already fully emerged in your classes. The newness of college has faded and now it’s time to start the next four years of studying endlessly for the future.

“Are you guys… okay? You haven’t moved over there in a few hours.” Mark asks from the other side of the room where he’s doing his own homework. He eyes you and your best friend from where you’re sitting on his bed, “Are you even comfortable?”

You and Xiaojun are sharing a blanket, he’s leaning against his headboard and you’re leaning against the wall. Your legs are thrown over his and several textbooks are scattered over the blanket. You’re not even sure which of these books are yours or his, or which papers laying in messy stacks belong to who.

“Yeah, I think we’re okay. We’ve been studying like this since high school.” Xiaojun answers, his fingers moving along his keyboard at the same time. You nod at Mark and he shakes his head, not understanding you two but accepting the answer.

You’re over at the guys’ dorm room enough that Mark is not surprised to see you here anymore, hanging out with Xiaojun or waiting for him to come back from class. It’s not that you don’t like your own dorm room, but it’s always so quiet in there since your roommate always studies at the library. You only hear her come into the room late at night when you’re on the verge of sleep, and when she leaves early in the morning before your alarm rings. Weekends are the same. You don’t really care, but you’ve started to hate the quiet, so you’re glad that Mark and Xiaojun don’t mind you chilling here.

“Argh,” Mark yawns and stretches after a few minutes, throwing his computer to the side and standing up, “I’m getting some snacks from the vending machine. You guys want anything?”

After you and Xiaojun answer with simultaneous shakes of your heads, which creeps Mark out, he leaves the room to get food. The room is silent for a few more moments until Xiaojun angles the lid of his laptop down to look at you.

“So… How’s the guy?”

“What guy?” You ask, still preoccupied with your essay.

“Your soulmate, ___, what other guy is there?” Xiaojun answers exasperatedly, “You never told me his name, so I don’t know what to call him. Actually, I haven’t heard you talk about him since the first day of classes. I was hoping you’d tell me what happened with him, but I guess I have to go digging up your dirt myself.” He rolls his eyes.

“His name is Haechan.” You answer, moving your computer to the side, “And I haven’t said anything to you about him because… I haven’t seen him in weeks.” You admit quietly.

“Huh? Didn’t you say you were meeting up so he could tell you why he’s sure you’re his soulmate?” You nod your head at the question, “So, what happened after that?”

“Well… I kinda, maybe, sort of…. have been avoiding him.” You answer quietly, stealing a glance at your best friend to see him staring at you blankly. When he sighs and reaches for his pillow, your eyes widen and you hold up your hands in front of you, spewing pleas and ‘wait’s. Xiaojun doesn’t care, though, flinging his pillow from behind him and into your face.

“Ow?” You whine after the pillow makes contact with your head and forces you to turn to face the other way, “Was that necessary?” You rub your nose, the part of your face that hurts worse from his attack. You’re used to Xiaojun doing this to you whenever you did something that both of you know you shouldn’t have so that you can “get some sense knocked into you, hopefully.”

“You’re so dumb. So, so dumb. Why would you avoid him.” It’s not a question, more of a confused statement to the general air. “You realize people would kill to meet their soulmate, right? People would do anything to be in your position, but you just hide away?”

“People would do anything to meet their soulmate, but people would also do anything to stay away from the person who shares their other mark.” You retaliate, “You don’t understand. To me, Haechan is both of those people.”

“There you go again, worrying about the future when you’re not even sure about what is going to happen. When will you stop worrying about something you can’t control and start thinking about today?” Xiaojun sounds so tired talking about this topic, a conversation you’ve had many times in your friendship. You wonder if he’s so tired of it, why he keeps bringing it up himself.

Before you can answer, the door to the room opens and Mark walks in, several snacks in his arms, “Hey, everyone, I hope it’s okay I brought a friend. He’s in the same major as me, just a year younger—”

“___?” Mark stops talking when his friend speaks, surprised that he already knows one of the people in the room. Your eyes widen, jaw slackening as you’re unable to even let out a peep from your mouth.

“You know each other?” Mark asks, looking between his two friends.

“Yeah, you could say I know my soulmate.” Donghyuck replies, making both Xiaojun and Mark’s eyes widen. You suddenly realize the situation you’re in: under a blanket with Xiaojun, your pajamas on, and your soulmate in front of you after you ghosted him for weeks. For the first time in a while, your eyes meet.

Donghyuck is mad. You can tell by how his fists are clenched and his jaw is tightened. Slowly getting out of the bed, you try to form some words, but Donghyuck snaps and walks over to you quickly. Grabbing your hand, he pulls you out of the room and down the hallway until you get to the lounge area. When you reach the empty room, that’s when you come to your senses.

“Donghyuck,” You pull your arm out of his, making him turn to face you, “I’m not even wearing shoes.” You hiss, pointing down to your feet as if to prove some point.

“What was all that?” He disregards your comment and hisses back at you, stepping closer so that you’re barely a few inches apart. “You were under a blanket. With some guy. Don’t you feel wrong doing that?” He asks, his hands now on his hips. You feel slightly like you’re being lectured to.

“That guy is my best friend.” You spit out.

“So, do you go around and do that to all of your guy friends?” Donghyuck chuckles vehemently, you can tell he’s angry and jealous, and that those emotions are clouding his brain at the moment. That doesn’t mean his words don’t hurt, though.

“Xiaojun and I have been best friends since we were in diapers. I’ve known you for three weeks, barely. I’m more comfortable around him than I am with you. You think just because I’m your soulmate, I’ll automatically trust you and we’ll all of a sudden be a happy couple? It doesn’t work like that, Donghyuck. I don’t even know you.” You can tell you hurt him by your last words because he turns silent, his shoulders slouching and his anger subsiding.

You can tell you hurt him, hard, because you feel the hurt, too.

It makes you realize how scary the bond between soulmates is. Even though you and Donghyuck haven’t spent that much time together to strengthen your bond, it’s still strong enough to allow you to feel his emotions. It makes you wonder if Donghyuck will be able to feel your pain in the future when he hurts you, like he’s destined to.

“Have you even tried to get to know me? You’ve been avoiding me ever since I took you to the pond.” At his comment, you fold your arms over your chest and look away, not ready to answer that question.

“I’m… just scared, is all.” You manage to reply. Although not the complete truth, it’s not a total lie. Donghyuck completely softens at your words, his close proximity to you feels less threatening and turns into something more gentle. His hand softly slips into yours, but this time with a lighter touch than before.

“You don’t have to be scared, not around me. I’m new to this too, so I don’t know how it all works yet, but this is something we can figure out together. That’s what we were fated to do.” Donghyuck can feel his words pulling you closer to him, he can feel you on the edge and he’s ready to catch you with his arms wide open.

But in the last second, you take a step back and slip your hand out of his, making his drop limply to his sides. You send him a look, something he can’t read, and then turn around and walk back to the dorm he pulled you out of.

He almost had you, almost.

When midterms come around, you use your upcoming tests and projects as a way to dive deep into your work so that you don’t have to think about Donghyuck. It’s a good plan overall, however your friends quickly start worrying for you and your health. Staying up late several nights in a row and not even being able to remember when the last time you ate is where Xiaojun pulled the plug on your bad studying habits. He confiscated your backpack and dropped you off in front of your dorm building with the promise that you’ll have all of your things back tomorrow morning only if you rest for tonight.

On your way to the elevator, you run into Yuqi, both of your facial expressions brightening when you recognize each other.

“Oh, ___, Hi!” You stop in the middle of the hallway to greet her, a smile pulling at your lips due to her bright hello. “How are you?”

“Midterms are kicking my ass, but other than that I’m fine.” She laughs at your answer, throwing her head back and letting her new short hair ruffle her shoulders.

“I wish I could tell you it gets better, but that would be a lie.” You nod your head in solemn understanding, “Listen, I can’t talk for long since I have a night class, but promise to text me when things slow down, yeah?”

“Of course, I promise.” You nod, just the thought of spending some time with a good friend already pushes away your stress. You wave bye to Yuqi as she begins to turn around but after a loud “oh!” leaves her lips, she turns back to face you.

“Your roommate, her name is Mya, right?” At her random question, you tilt your head in confusion, “She has really long, black hair and big glasses, right? I think I saw her when I was helping you move in?”

“Yeah, that’s her.” You nod, “Why?”

“She found her soulmate today.” You would’ve been more interested in the news if you knew Mya beyond when she goes to class and when she gets back to the dorm, but you feign surprise and nod your head absentmindedly.

“Lucas managed to get a video. It was a whole performance in the quad today, you’d think someone was getting married. I’ll send it to you later.” And with that, she says her last goodbye and runs off. You slowly turn and continue walking in a slow pace up to your dorm room, taking the stairs just so you can have some time to think and be away from people you could potentially run into if you use the elevator.

You’re genuinely happy for Mya, even if you barely know a single thing about her. However, something about a person close to you finding their soulmate makes you sad, considering the situation with your own soulmate. You can’t help but feel a little jealous that there are people who can meet their soulmate and fall into each other’s lives easily.

In times like these, you crave for Donghyuck.

You crave his touch and his words, you crave that comfortable feeling of belonging somewhere you get when he’s around. It’s insane that you haven’t spent much time together, yet you can yearn for someone to the extent that it hurts. It’s been like this ever since Donghyuck pulled you out of Xiaojun’s dorm and you rejected him.

Turning away from him all those weeks ago still haunts you. When you’re struggling to fall asleep, your mind goes to that night. When you let your mind wander, it wanders to that night. You constantly think about stepping away from him, but you’re not sure if you keep remembering the moment out of guilt or shame. One of the questions you keep asking yourself is if you did the right thing. You still do not have an answer.

When you walk into your dorm room, you kick off your shoes and turn on your bedside lamp, falling onto your bed with a deep sigh. You close your eyes for a second, but the peace and quiet of your room is ruined when your phone dings with a notification.

Yuqi’s message pops up, and when you swipe your phone open you can see she sent a video. You click on it and turn the volume up. This was no doubt taken earlier today in the quad, the sun shining and lots of professors and students walking in the background. Under the huge clock tower stand two people, one of them holding a large bouquet of roses. When the clock strikes noon, the bells on top of the tower begin to ring a familiar melody that can be heard all over your big campus. You see the exchange of the bouquet and the two people hug, and then applause rises from the people walking by. You smile when you hear Lucas’ whooping and hollering from behind the phone.

You’ve heard about the tradition of soulmates meeting under the clock tower at your university. Yuqi told you about it when she was giving you a tour around campus at the beginning of the semester. You remember her telling you that it’s really romantic, probably due to the history of so many people getting together in the exact same spot.

Although the idea is rather plain, you do feel your heart strings tug at the beautiful display, glad you could see something like this through a video. Then, as the camera gets closer to the couple, your smile fades and you pause the video, zooming in to get a better view. Mya is no doubt the one who received the flowers, but you can’t help but furrow your eyebrows as you recognize her soulmate.

It’s one of Donghyuck’s friends.

Not the quiet one with black hair that hangs around on the outside of their group, but the shorter one who seemed to simultaneously love and hate Donghyuck, or at least that’s what you gathered from seeing him a few times.

After the realization, you drop your phone to the side and stare up at your ceiling in defeat. Is this fate? If you didn’t meet Donghyuck on those steps two months ago, would you eventually meet him through your roommate and her soulmate? Or is this all just one big coincidence?

In this world, coincidences are harder to find than the work of fate.

Your train of thought is quickly cut off by the opening on the door, you quickly sit up to watch a huge red bouquet of flowers enter the room, followed by your roommate. You’ve only seen her face a few times this semester, but never have her features looked so bright and happy. She also looks startled when she notices you’re in the room, but her happiness doesn’t fade.

“Oh? You’re here?” She asks.

“I could ask you the same thing.” You both chuckle awkwardly, “Congrats, by the way. For finding your soulmate.” You motion to the flowers in her hand.

“Thank you! To be honest, Renjun wasn’t at all what I expected in a soulmate, but I think I love him already.” The sweetness drips from her eyes and words, and you nod and smile, remembering that Donghyuck’s friend’s name is Renjun. Her phone begins to ring and she shuffles the flowers in her hand to look at the screen, “Oh, it’s him.”

She answers the call, speaking quietly as she walks over to her side of the room. You weigh out the options of sneaking out of your dorm and finding a place to chill until your roommate falls asleep. You're not sure if you can talk to her about soulmate stuff and keep up this happy look on your face.

However, all thoughts of those plans leave your mind when Mya turns to you and holds out the phone, “It’s for you?” She says it more like a question, but you’re sure you’re the one who’s more confused.

“Hello?” You ask into the phone, awkwardly looking around the room.

“___? Oh, thank god. It’s Renjun, Haechan’s friend. I need your help.” He talks quickly and shallowly, like he’s out of breath and currently moving somewhere.

“How did you know I’m Mya’s roommate?” You ask, disregarding his cry for help.

“It’s a long story, I promise I’ll explain later, but can you please come to the auditorium? The back entrance.” You hear more voices in the background of the call, but you can’t make out what they're saying. One of them is definitely Donghyuck.

“What’s going on?” At the sound of your soulmate’s unique tenor, you suddenly become more aware of what might be happening. Is Donghyuck safe? Did he get in trouble?

“Donghyuck drank too much and he won’t go home, he keeps asking for you.” At that, you hand the phone back to Mya, who takes it from you with an unsure look. By the time Mya says her worried goodbyes and hangs up, she turns back to an empty dorm room, your phone snatched from your bed and your scattered shoes gone.

You must’ve made it to the auditorium in record time, not even the climb up the 109 steps could slow you down. When you reach the auditorium, you can hear Donghyuck and his friends conversing loudly and you follow their voices, which eventually leads you to the dingy backside of the auditorium. Donghyuck is sitting on the ground with the hood of his coat pulled up and covering his eye sight, arms crossed over his chest and his lips in a pout. His two friends, Renjun and the black-haired kid, stand above him. The quiet one is shivering in his spot while Renjun practically yells at Donghyuck on the ground, who doesn’t seem to be moving any time soon.

“Hi, ___.” The quiet one notices you first and then all three guys turn to look at you.

“___…” Donghyuck whines out your name and tries to stand up but Renjun gently pushes him back down.

“What happened?” You ask, sniffing your nose when the harsh, cold air nips at it.

“He said he wanted to unwind before his midterms tomorrow but then he went out and had some drinks, a few too many as you can see.” Renjun explains, “We followed him here, he said he won’t go anywhere unless it’s with you.”

“It’s strange. Haechan is a good drinker, I didn’t think he would get drunk so quickly… Oh, I’m Jaemin, by the way.” He introduces himself with a bright smile, as if you weren’t just discussing the drunken state of his friend.

“I’m Renjun, I called you earlier. I promise I have a good explanation for how I know you’re Mya’s roommate, I just don’t think right now is the best time to talk about it.” Renjun explains, his hands pointing towards Donghyuck.

“Right, about him… I think you guys should leave.” Both sober men widen their eyes, looking at each other and then back at you.

“Are you sure you want to handle this yourself? He looks small, but Haechan is kind of heavy.” Jaemin warns.

“Hey!” Donghyuck speaks up, but even his verbalization sounds slurred. When he points an accusing finger at Jaemin, he sways and misses Jaemin’s figure by a whole foot, “Don’t say that kind of stuff to my girlfriend.”

At his use of the word, Jaemin and Renjun stand straight with awkwardness and you sigh, white puffs of air leaving your mouth, “Yeah, you guys should go.”

Renjun and Jaemin give you an unsure look, but turn around and leave the area anyway. Renjun sends one last look over his shoulder with a wave of his hand. You look at Donghyuck after they turn the corner, kicking his shoe gently.

“Hey, get up. How much did you drink?” You’re not actually curious about how much alcohol he consumed, you just want to know if he can even respond to simple questions.

“Babe!” He exclaims when he looks up, “Oh, not much. I could go for another round right now, actually.” His words slur together and he sways in his sitting position against the brick wall of the auditorium.

“You’re not going for another round, you’re going home. C’mon.” You grab onto the sleeve of his puffer jacket, pulling him up so that he’s standing. He immediately falls onto you, his arms around your waist and his legs spread wide so that his head is hidden in your neck.

“Hyuck, you have to walk. Get up.” You pull him up once again, putting one of his arms around your shoulders and giving him more support around his waist. Slowly, you begin to walk away from the auditorium with Donghyuck’s drunk mumbling filling the cool air. His legs barely work underneath him, and he turns his head and leans into your ear every once in a while to sing some random lyric that pops into his mind at that second, like a small concert that he allows only you to hear.

Once you reach the top of the staircase, you stop and take a long look down to the bottom, “Why did you have to come all the way up here? How are we getting down the stairs?” If you start to climb down, Donghyuck could fall and hurt himself. You’re not that strong to begin with and your shoulders are already feeling sore from carrying most of Donghyuck’s weight.

“We can ride this.” He giggles and breaks away from you, one of his legs swinging over the handrail so that he’s straddling it.

“No, no, no.” You pull him off, but his shoe gets caught against the rail and he comes falling down onto you, both of you landing on the top step of the staircase. You wince in pain at how your back hits the concrete, but you don’t think about it much as you push Donghyuck off of you and into the space next to you on the top stair.

“Oh, no. Are we stuck up here?” He asks as you brush your hands together to get rid of the little pieces of concrete in your skin.

“Yes, and it’s all your fault. What are you gonna do about it?” You reply, so sarcastically that even Donghyuck’s drunk brain registers the joke. Your heart almost leaps out of your throat when he grabs your hands and pulls you closer to him, gently picking out each little ball of cement in your palms.

“I’m sorry I keep hurting you.” He apologizes. This close, you can smell the alcohol in his breath, mixed with his shampoo and cologne. He smells warm in this cold weather, and you feel like falling into him and drinking up his scent, not even minding the alcohol stench.

“Keep hurting me?” You ask.

“Yeah, that must be why you don’t want to be with me. I have to be doing something wrong for you to hate me.” He sighs, sniffling and enclosing your hands in his, his glassy eyes looking up at you and his long hair hangs down over his forehead and tickles his eyelashes. “I’m a bad soulmate.”

The way he says it makes your heart break. It makes you feel regret 1000 times worse than what you’ve been feeling these past few weeks; as if all of the worry and sadness hit you all at once, you feel like crying.

Isn’t he supposed to be the one who hurts you? Why does it feel like you’re the only one doing the hurting?

“You’re not a bad soulmate,” It’s not Donghyuck’s fault that he got stuck with you, or that things will turn out the way that they’re destined to, “And I don’t hate you.”

“You don’t?” He looks up into the night sky and sways a bit as he thinks, “Then why won’t you be with me? Hm?” He tilts his head, his lips pouting as he thinks. You desperately want to find an answer that’ll soothe him, but nothing you can come up with will give you that result, the truth included.

“It’s complicated…” You trail off, and your answer makes Donghyuck snort.

“How? I’m your soulmate, you’re mine. What else matters?” He laughs incredulously.

“What if you’re not just my soulmate?” You ask him, surprising yourself with how easily you can ask the question, probably because the influence of alcohol over him has you more at ease, “What if something happens in the future? I’m just… looking out for me, and for you.” You explain, trying to sound as vague as possible.

When you glance at Donghyuck, he looks dead serious. You think that maybe he has suddenly sobered up with how deep and calculating his eyes look. One of his hands tighten around yours while the other slowly raises to your hair, pacing himself along the way, and pausing before he touches you. When you don’t stop him, he gently caresses your hair and moves it away from your face, his nimble fingers sliding to your jaw. He moves your face so that your eyes meet his.

“I know I’m drunk, but I can make this promise again when I’m sober. I’ll make this promise every single day for the rest of my life, only if it means you can be there with me to fulfill it.” The severeness in his tone is like a wake up call about how serious this is for him.

“What promise?” You whisper back.

“It’s not just a ‘you’ or just a ‘me’ now. It’s an ‘us.’ And I will do everything I can to not hurt us.”

He says it with so much conviction that you somehow believe him. You finally fall into him and rest your tired head on his shoulder as he welcomes you into his warm arms. Maybe it’s foolish of you to think you two can go against fate’s words, but with him by your side, you feel like you can conquer the whole universe.

“Stop smiling like that, you’re making it very obvious that you got laid for the first time.” Donghyuck peers over his laptop screen to Renjun, where he has had a permanent smile on his face ever since he, Donghyuck, and Jaemin met up today to study in the lounge center of their dorm building.

“You know, Haechan, I’m not even mad at that. It’s more than what I can say to you.” Renjun tries to hide his widening smile while looking down at his own laptop, but that paired with Jaemin’s quiet laughter leaves Donghyuck bitter. “Didn’t you and ___ make up?” Renjun asks.

“They were fighting? I thought they just weren’t talking to each other?” Jaemin asks.

“Isn’t that fighting?”

“Kids.” Haechan cuts them off, “Not that it’s any of your business, but we were not fighting and we did make up.”

“That makes no sense.” Jaemin mutters and squints his eyes at Donghyuck.

“I’m older than you.” Renjun retaliates, but Donghyuck pretends like he doesn’t hear.

“We’re just… taking it slow.” Donghyuck ends his explanation with a firm nod of his head, and Renjun shuts his laptop and turns to his friend.

“Can you take it slow during the Fair this weekend? I’m planning to go with Mya and accidentally bought two pairs of tickets. I’ll give you the other pair.” Renjun leans into his friend’s side and wiggles his eyebrows.

“At what cost?” Haechan leans in as well and raises an eyebrow.

“Help me with my English project.”

“No way,” Haechan leans back and focuses on his own laptop screen again, “I haven’t even started mine, I don’t have time to help you with yours.”

“Please,” Renjun draws out the word, grabbing Donghyuck’s sleeve and tugging at it so hard that he can’t properly type, “I suck at English, and unfortunately it’s the only thing that you’re better at than me.”

“The only thing?” Donghyuck glares at Renjun. “Now I’m definitely not helping you.” When Renjun whines at that Donghyuck gets a devilish idea, and it shows by the smirk on his face, “... Unless, you’d like to show us how you really need help.”

At Donghyuck’s proposition, he leans back in his chair with his arms folded across his  chest while Jaemin mirrors his actions, his own goofy smile on his face as he waits for Renjun to either accept or deny the proposition, but he hopes he’ll accept it.

Renjun looks between his two friends and sighs, dropping his head down as he mentally prepares himself. When he lifts his head, he looks at Donghyuck with his lips pursed, his pointer finger over them and makes a “kyu” sound that is way higher than his original speaking voice. Jaemin and Haechan immediately burst into as quiet of laughter as they can, Jaemin reaching over the table to poke Renjun’s cheek at his cuteness.

“I never said to act cute, I just wanted you to say please again.” Donghyuck jokes through his snickering, and Renjun immediately stands up from his chair to take a fistful of Haechan’s jacket and pull back his other fist, all cuteness gone from his facial features in a split second.

“Okay, okay, sorry, sorry.” Haechan tries to pull away, his voice rising as Renjun holds onto his jacket tighter and threateningly leans in.

“Hey, quiet down.” Someone whisper-shouts from a few tables away, and it makes Renjun let go of Donghyuck and slowly sit back down. “This isn’t even a library, why are they shushing me.” He grumbles.

“You guys have fun on your date,” Jaemin sighs as he begins to put away his things, satisfied with the study session and with his friends' mischief, “I would go too, but I don’t feel like being a fifth wheel.”

Once your classes end on the day of the Fair, you and your roommate meet up with Donghyuck and Renjun outside of the Fair grounds. You and Donghyuck walk side by side, a bit behind the other couple as they lead the way, practically in their own little bubble. Your hands are shoved in your pockets to keep them from turning numb from the cold and you try to shove your head as far into your jacket as you can to keep your face and neck protected from the wind. Other than the chilly weather, it’s a perfect day for a Fair.

You don’t seem to notice Donghyuck’s predicament right beside you; he’s trying to find a way to hold your hand, but you don’t move them out of your pockets. Actually, Donghyuck is sure you’re doing this on purpose, since he has been trying to touch you the moment you met up with him tonight.

“So, what do you wanna ride first?” He asks you. After looking around the area, your eyes land on a tea cup ride, where the large cups move in circles and also spin in their spots.

“That.” You point to it. Before you can move, Donghyuck latches into your hand that was pointing into the air and pulls you to the ride, a smug smile on his face at how he succeeded in finally sharing some skin to skin contact.

The ride was, to say the least, nauseating. Not that it was disgusting, but Donghyuck wouldn’t stop spinning your individual cup around in fast circles, and you were so sure that you would fling off any second due to the strong velocity those tiny cups have when they go at full speed. However, walking off of the ride with wobbly legs and not being able to see straight was funnier than you thought it would be.

Donghyuck was actually still pretty dizzy when he tried to win a stuffed octopus for you with a dart game. However, he ended up losing $15 while trying to win the game, and you’re sure he would’ve spent more if you didn’t pull him away. After eating some good food and refilling your energy, the sun begins to set on the horizon in a colorful display of red, orange and pink, and people start to make their way to the ferris wheel.

“C’mon,” You hear Mya say from behind you, “We need to get in line first or else we’ll be waiting for half of the night.” She pulls Renjun by his sleeve and passes you and Donghyuck, practically running to the end of the growing line for the Ferris Wheel. When you see where she’s running to, you stop in your tracks which in turn makes Donghyuck stop. Your intertwined fingers pull you back to each other as he looks at you with a puzzled look.

“I’m… not good with heights.” You confess and look towards the top of the ferris wheel, shivering just at the thought of going that far up into the sky in a metal contraption, “Or small spaces…” You add on.

“That’s okay,” Donghyuck gently reassures, smiling lightly at your sudden timidness about your fears. Honestly, he’s just happy you now trust him a bit more to even tell him what you’re afraid of. “We don’t have to go. We can do something else.”

“Like what?” You ask. Donghyuck purses his lips and looks around, until a set of stairs on the edge of the fairgrounds catches his eye.

“I know a place where we can still get a good view of the sunset without going too far up.” He replies and tugs you along with him towards the set of stairs. They lead down to the park that’s nestled in the middle of your University, which eventually leads to a pedestrian bridge that crosses over a river that runs through your town.

The river isn’t that big, nor is the bridge, but it’s big enough to have your head tilting up in wonder as you gaze at the lights adorning the sides of it, lighting up not only the bridge itself by the sky as well. You’ve seen this bridge from your dorm room, but you’ve never once stood on it, and it looks remarkable from this close up.

Donghyuck continues to lead you over the pedestrian bridge onto the other side, where an outdoor museum that was constructed by art students a few years ago holds several different abstract paintings. His hand in yours, which has been it’s resting place all night, keeps yours warm. You try not to think about how your hands fit into each other like the gears of a hand-crafted watch. The lines on your palms connect with the lines on his; it’s painfully obvious he was made for you and you were made for him.

When you reach the end of the outdoor museum, you turn west and face the sunset just as it’s setting over the skyline. Even though some tall buildings obstruct the view, the colors of the sky stretch overhead and make both you and Donghyuck stand still and appreciate the artwork in the sky.

“You like these kinds of things, huh? Sunsets, and ponds, and that kind of stuff?” He suddenly asks, not talking his eyes off of the sky. You, however, turn to look at him. He has his eyes screwed as he tries to look at the sunset, obviously not liking the bright sunlight.

“You don’t?” You ask back.

“I think... there are more enjoyable things.” Donghyuck takes a while to make up his mind about what he wants, obviously trying not to make the things you enjoy sound bad to him.

“Then we should go.” You turn around, but he pulls you back to your original spot.

“We walked all this way, we’re watching this sunset even if my feet freeze to the ground.” He tightens his grip on your hand and speaks through his teeth, making you sputter out a laugh and hit his shoulder with your own lightly.

“Sometimes, I wonder why fate put us together.” You ask, watching as the sun moves bit by bit, leaving behind trails of light and the beginnings of stars and the vast universe on the other side of the sky. “We’re different. I don’t know about you, but you are not who I imagined my soulmate would be.” You speak truthfully.

Even though there are some strings attached to Donghyuck’s relationship with you, it didn’t stop you from thinking about what kind of person he’d be— what kind of person fate would pick to be your perfect fit. Maybe they would have some sort of major flaw, like an anger problem or a lack of common sense. Maybe they would be an alcoholic or someone who commits crimes.

When it came to your soulmate, you always thought of something bad considering that they were also going to hurt you in some way. You never thought that your soulmate would be someone as unique and fun as Donghyuck. Fate made it way too easy to be with him, and you’re not sure whether to feel bitter or thankful.

“Well,” He blows some air through his nose, “You’re exactly what I thought my soulmate would be like” Your heart jumps into your throat and beats irregularly when Donghyuck says that, struck with the feeling of surprise once again.

“Mark tells me you’re smart and get good grades, and I know it was you who ordered that soup for me the morning after you took me home when I got drunk. Not to mention, you went out when it was dark to take me home in the first place.” Donghyuck explains, his hand that’s still interlocked with yours waving around as he does so, “You’re willing to help others, you have a good head on your shoulders, and not to mention you guard your heart to the very end.”

“Guarding my heart… That’s an admirable quality? If I remember correctly, it caused you some pain in the past few months.” By now, the last rays of the sun are disappearing over the horizon and night begins to blanket the sky. You turn to your soulmate when he takes more than a moment to answer, watching the way his face reacts to the thoughts turning in his head.

“Yeah, it is a great quality. I think if you completely trusted me the moment you saw me on those stairs, we wouldn’t end up here now. You wouldn’t be the perfect fit for me if you loved me so easily.” He turns to you, a teasing smile playing on his lips. Your interlocked fingers are basically frozen together at this point and maybe your feet really have stuck to the ground, but his words warm you up from the inside out.

“I think I would’ve fallen in love with you even if we weren’t destined to be together.”

Somehow, he manages to remind you of one very important fact that you’ve set aside since the moment you met him. You’ve always put the fact that he’s supposed to hurt you first, and the fact that he’s your soulmate second. However, he is a human and so are you, and you’re both given the opportunity to love one another wholly and truly. People die to have this type of moment. People live their whole lives without experiencing this type of emotion.

It’s time to remember that Donghyuck is your soulmate, first and foremost. He is deserving of love, and you’re now willing to give it to him.

When you pull Donghyuck into you, he feels like it may be a hallucination. Surely your lips can’t be that close to his own. But when he smells the cinnamon on your lips from that churro you had and your fingers sliding up his arm to grip his jacket, he becomes scared that this might actually be a hallucination.

You slowly lean in, almost painfully slow, but Donghyuck doesn’t dare rush you. When your lips do meet, both of you feel complete. The feeling of finishing a lifetime’s worth of work with one gentle kiss is the most delicious feeling ever, different from anything that either of you have ever experienced.

It’s slow and careful, but passionate and full of true love. No matter what happens in the future, it will always be your memory to savor and remember for the rest of your lives.

“___!” You hear Mark’s voice from your right, turning your head quickly to see him stick his hand up in the air and begin to make his way through the throngs of people between you two. You move towards him, attempting to meet in the middle, but somehow he ends up behind you, and you laugh as you attempt to meet again.

“Hey, Mark,” You look over him, noting how well he manages to pull off the choir robe that everyone else seems to look like a sack of potatoes in, “I didn’t know your concerts could get this packed. You guys could start your own group and make it big.” You look around while adjusting the flowers in your hand so they don’t get squished against your chest.

“Nah, it’s mostly just families that come to these concerts. Since there are a lot of vocal majors, there are a lot of families that show up.” He explains.

“So, what does that make me?” You joke, but Mark doesn’t seem to get it and tilts his head to the side.

“You’re Donghyuck’s girlfriend. That makes you family, right?” At the mention of your relationship, you glance down at the flowers in your hand, the flowers that are meant for the aforementioned boy. You nod, mumbling something like a ‘I guess’ before Mark looks down at his watch and sucks a breath through his teeth.

“Okay, I have to go warm up. Make sure you get a seat in the middle, that’s where it sounds best.” He gives you a quick wave as he walks away, and you manage to send one back. Before you know it, the doors to the auditorium open and people flood in to grab the best seat they can.

You barely manage to snag a seat in the middle, an older lady to your right and a grandpa to your left who seem to be unrelated and didn’t mind you sitting between them. You shrug off your coat as you look around, feeling anxiety build up in your chest. You know you don’t have anything to be anxious for, so you deduct that it’s probably Donghyuck.

He invited you to the concert today. For him, it’s part of his final grade for his vocal class and for you, it’s a chance to see him sing on stage. Strangely, he has talked about how much he loves to perform but never wants to sing in front of you. When he told you he auditioned for a solo in one of the songs, and ended up getting the part, you knew you absolutely had to come today.

Pulling out your phone, you send Donghyuck a text saying that you’re seated and that you wish him to break a leg. You see the read receipt pop up next to your text, and although he doesn’t text anything back, the anxious feeling in your chest subsides and you smile to yourself.

“Those are pretty flowers.” Turning your head to the lady on your right, you glance down at the bouquet of black-eyed susans on your lap.

“Oh, thank you.” You put your phone on silent and slip it into your pocket.

“They’re my mom’s favorite.” Your attention turns to a kid who sits on the other side of the woman. He can’t be any older than ten, and his feet don’t touch the ground as he swings them back and forth and looks up at his mother.

“Oh?” You ask, turning back to the older woman, “Would you like some?”

The woman seems to be stunned by your question, obviously not expecting you to hand over flowers at such a comment from her son. She looks almost flustered as she shakes her head at you.

“No, it’s okay. I bet those are for someone special?” She asks while nodding towards the stage.

“They’re for my… boyfriend.” You mumble, still not used to the words leaving your tongue, even though it has been more than a few weeks now.

“Then you should save them for him.” She nods and you smile back.

“But I want one.” The woman’s son pouts, and the mother nudges her foot against his leg. You laugh a bit, using your right hand to hold down the bouquet and your left to pull out a flower. Carefully, you hand it over to the little boy and he grasps it, his pout turning into a smile while he sings a ‘thank you’ and counts the petals on the flower.

The woman gives you a nod, and you all turn to face forward where the students are beginning to walk onto the stage.

The concert went well; you weren’t familiar with any of the pieces of music the choir performed, and many of them were in different languages, but you still enjoyed the performance by the many music students from your university. You managed to catch sight of Donghyuck fairly quickly, and Mark was just a few rows behind him.

Donghyuck’s solo fit his voice perfectly. Maybe you’re biased, but you think no one would be able to match his tone and technique to fit the song as perfectly as he did. Since it was the first time you heard him sing, you were a bit taken back by how amazing his voice sounds and how much control he has of it. It didn’t look like he struggled to hit the notes, and he looked like he was in his element on stage.

After the concert, you wait on the staircase outside of the auditorium building where you agreed to meet up with Donghyuck. You roll on your feet, jumping up and down slightly to keep warm. You clutch the flowers to you, scared that the cold weather might cause them to bend and begin to wilt quicker.

“Oh, it’s the flower lady!” You hear a familiar voice call out, and you turn your head to see the little boy and his mom from earlier… walking with Donghyuck? He has his choir robe hanging from one arm and his other hand intertwined with the little kid.

“Do you guys know each other?” Donghyuck asks, looking between the three of you with confusion.

“We happened to sit next to each other during the concert.” The woman explains, a grin growing on her face as she looks between you two. “This is your soulmate.” She doesn’t say it like a question, she says it plainly and nods her head in content.

“I’m sorry, did you already know who I was when we met?” You ask her.

“No, until I saw the mark on your left hand. I would recognize my own son’s mark anywhere.” Son? This is Donghyuck’s mother?! Your eyebrows must be up to your hairline and you think your mouth might be open, but you can only focus on remembering every little thing you said to her before the concert started to recall if you said anything dumb.

“Let me introduce you properly. This is ___, my soulmate and my girlfriend. ___, this is my mom, Sara, and my half-brother, Hyunjin.” Donghyuck gently takes your elbow and pulls you closer to him.

“It’s nice to meet you.” You politely greet them as if it’s the first time ever.

“Well, I like her. She gave me a flower.” Hyunjin exclaims.

“Back off, she’s mine.” Donghyuck jokes with the kid. “Thank you guys for coming today, by the way.” He continues, “I appreciate my favorite people being here for my first college performance.”

Donghyuck goes to hug his mom as she sets a kiss to his cheek that makes him cringe away slightly. However, you’re still struck to your spot from being included into Donghyuck’s group of favorite people. There’s a warm feeling in your chest at being included into something so special so early on in your relationship. There’s also some anxiety that comes with it, since promises that are made too early hurt the most, but you push the feeling away and soak in Donghyuck’s unconditional love.

After you all bid farewell to each other, and Sara and Hyunjin leave, you turn to Donghyuck with a deadpan expression, “You didn’t tell me I’d be meeting your family today.”

“Would you believe me when I say that I forgot they were coming?” He asks and you roll your eyes, not believing his words at all.

“These are for you.” You push the flowers into his chest and dig your hands into your pockets so that they can finally get warm, “Your solo was… interesting to listen to.” You say with annoyance dripping from every word.

“Thank you,” He replies cutely, not affected by your irritation. You roll your eyes again, but a smile tugs at your lips as well. “What kind of flowers are these? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them?” He asks while digging his nose into the bouquet.

“Black-eyed susans.” You reply, and Donghyuck gives you a weird look.

“That’s such a random flower.”

“They attract dragonflies.” You explain, nudging his side with your elbow. When you glance over to him, he has a smile playing on his lips.

“Should I be giving these to you, then?” He hands them over, but you push them back at him.

“No way. I’m already attracted to you.” You state, turning around to walk back down the staircase. When you don’t hear any footsteps following you, you turn around to find Donghyuck kneeling over with the flowers clutched close to him.

“Are you okay?” Alarm rises in your chest, especially when he shakes his head at your question.

“No, you just made my heart beat really fast and I’m afraid I’m gonna have a heart attack.” You would roll your eyes again, but you’re afraid they might roll out of your head at this point. You climb back up the stairs and yank on his sleeve jacket to make him walk alongside you.

“___, feel my heart. I swear it’s going to beat out of my chest.”

“Shut up, Donghyuck.”

“No, seriously, I think we should go to the hospital.”

“Shut up.”

In the morning, Donghyuck loves to wake up next to you. He has always been a spread-out type of sleeper; arms to the side, legs open, laying diagonally across the bed. Once you two moved out of your dorms and moved into an apartment together during your second year of college, Donghyuck’s way of sleeping changed dramatically.

Now, he can’t help but snuggle in, wrap his arms around you, tangle his legs in with yours, and do everything he can to sleep as close as he can to you. Maybe that’s why he suddenly woke up. The absence of you next to him made him shuffle awake, missing the frame of your body next to his like how it usually fits.

He groggily opens his eyes and immediately shivers, catching the open windows in the bedroom letting in fresh, cool, morning air. Donghyuck shivers once again, blindly reaching for the blanket and wrapping it around his head and shoulders, then making his way out of the bedroom in search of you.

He checks the kitchen, but you’re not there. Then he goes to the living room, and he sees your figure outside on the balcony, the curtains that are supposed to be hanging up in your bedroom moving with the wind as they hang next to you. He tightens the blanket around him and opens the glass door. Even though you definitely heard him come outside, you don’t turn around. You have a cup of something warm next to you and you’re leaning against the balcony while staring out into the city skyline, watching the sun rise into the sky to welcome the new day.

“Good morning.” Donghyuck mumbles as softly as he can. When you mumble back a reply, he opens the front of the blanket so he can swallow you into his embrace. His chin rests on your shoulder and tries to guess exactly what you’re looking at, but when he lifts his head to look at your face, your eyes are closed.

“So, do you want to tell me why our curtains are out here and not on our windows like they should be?” He rests his head against yours, also closing his eyes.

“I woke up and suddenly felt the urge to clean them, I don’t know.” You laugh a bit, making both of you move with the movement of your chest. Donghyuck smiles at your reason; one of the things he learned about you when you moved in together is that your work ethic comes in random bursts of energy, rather than carefully planned out schedules to follow. You always have a small goal for every day, and sometimes you don’t even know what it is until it randomly pops into your head. Although he doesn’t really understand how you’re able to work like that, he loves this little quirk anyway.

“Did I wake you up?” You whisper and nudge your head into Donghyuck’s, nuzzling back into him when a particularly strong gust of wind blows over the balcony.

“Not technically, no. You not being next to me woke me up.” He replies.

“Well, I’m here now. How about we sleep some more?” You ask, leaning back against him and looking at his face.

“Best thing I’ve heard today.” He sighs. Without letting you out of his blanket trap, he walks you both back into the apartment and into your bedroom, both of you beginning to giggle at one point when you almost trip over the blanket and crash into the ground.

Thankfully, you both made it back safely to the bed, falling into the soft mattress. Immediately, Donghyuck gathers you in his arms and cuddles you to him, almost like he’s latching onto you. You wrap your arms around him slowly and lean into his shoulder, placing a kiss against his collarbone. You were going to stop there, but when he lets out a whimper at the small press of your lips to his skin, you continue moving up his neck.

When you reach the space underneath his ear, he twitches at how you suck on the sensitive skin, not expecting you to pay closer attention there. His hand slides over your back, between your shoulder blades, and back down, pressing you to him as he caresses you and silently hopes you don’t stop what you’ve started.

You don’t seem to have any intention to do that when you lean back, looking up at Donghyuck’s big, round eyes as they stare down hazily at you and quickly connecting your lips. He kisses back slowly, as if taking his sweet, sweet time in loving you.

“I thought we were supposed to sleep?” You ask between kisses.

“We can sleep later…” He trails off, grabbing your hand and pulling you on top of him so that you’re straddling his hips. “... If you’re really tired we don’t have to.” He suddenly pulls away, his hand comfortably resting over your waist.

“No way. It’s too late for that.” You answer, pulling your shirt over your head and tossing it to the other side of the bed. A chill runs through you at the cold temperature in the room, goosebumps forming over your arms and your nipples hardening. Donghyuck wraps his arms around your middle and presses a kiss in the valley of your chest, moving over until he reaches your left nipple and taking it into his mouth.

Biting your lip, your hands find his hair and tug on the long strands. Donghyuck’s hands squeeze your sides and his fingers draw random, little lines over your bare skin as he sucks and plays with your nipples, switching between each one.

“Hyuck…” You whine, giving a particularly sharp tug to his hair when he bites down onto your right nipple. “Please…” You trail off.

“Hmm? Please what? What do you want.” He leans back and looks up at you. You comb your fingers through his hair, pushing it back away from his face and behind his ears. His eyes are clouded and hooded over by the thoughts of you that are speeding through his mind.

“Please, make love to me.” You say it shyly, your eyes looking over his face but not meeting his own. He can’t help but smile at your timidness. You act like it’s the first time those words came out of your mouth. He can’t help but find it endearing how you ask him to make love to you every single time you find yourselves in this position.

“Of course, anything for you.” He connects your lips again, keeping the slow and steady pace from before. He shifts around as he moves his boxers away. Breaking the kiss, you move his hands away and pump his shaft, glancing up at him as he leans back with his weight on his hands and his head leaning back.

He lets out whines every time you twist your wrist, and you almost want to take a moment and stay this way, loving the sounds coming from Donghyuck’s mouth and how he looks as he pants beneath you. However, the tension growing between your legs makes you stop and sit up, pulling off your own pajama bottoms and underwear, throwing them somewhere along with your shirt.

Donghyuck grips your hips with one hand, the other pressing his middle finger to your slick folds, watching you squirm from above as he slides his finger through slowly.

“Just— Can you just do something already?” You almost whine out, grabbing onto his arm hard enough that you leave crescent moons in his skin.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes, I’m sure.” With your permission, Donghyuck positions himself at your entrance and slowly brings your hips down, watching your reaction throughout it all. The way your jaw slacks and drops open to the way you swallow when your hips meet with his, closing your eyes in pleasure at how he manages to fit inside you so perfectly. When everyone says your soulmate is made specifically for you, they really do mean in every way possible.

You sit like that for a moment, before opening your eyes and looking at your lover. He helps you move your hips up and back down, you let out a gsap at the sparks that fly up your spine. Your hips start to move in unison, yours grinding down and his moving up to meet yours in a steady rhythm, like a dance to music only you two can hear.

Your nails hurt when they move over his shoulders and chest, leaving temporary marks, but Donghyuck doesn’t mind. Actually, he loves it when you tug on his hair and scratch up his back, his whines turning into full out groans when you lean in and attach your lips to the side of his neck, pressing hot kisses down to his collarbone and biting down gently in the same place this whole situation started.

“H-Hyuck, I—” Before you know it, you’re so close to your orgasm, it’s basically right in front of you to reach out and accept.

“I know, baby, I know. You can come, I got you.” He answers back messily, using the last of his energy to keep your hips in place and drive himself into you. You let out a shriek at the sudden pleasure, only a few more deep thrusts into your hole and you’re falling over him as your orgasm spreads to every crevice of your body.

Donghyuck loves the way your muscles seize and flutter around him, making him pant and his thrusts become sloppy as he comes as well, his warm seed filling you up as he rides through his high. You both fall into the mattress below, you on top of Donghyuck, too tired to roll over and opting to just rest on his sweaty chest.

“I think that was way better than sleeping.” He says, his chest rumbling underneath you as he speaks.

“What a good way to tire ourselves out.” You yawn.

In the last few moments before your tired bodies fall asleep, you find Donghyuck’s hand and intertwine your fingers together, happily and contently falling asleep with the fresh air coming through the window and the sunlight now fully streaming into the room.

In the late summer before your and Donghyuck’s last year of university, you attend a wedding. Not just any wedding: Yuqi and Lucas’ wedding.

Although the ceremony is held outside, there’s a nice breeze that keeps the guests from getting too hot and sweaty in the summer sun. The whole wedding is held in a botanical garden and the place is decorated in white and purple, lilacs and daisies filling vases everywhere you go and freshening the air with their scent.

You and Donghyuck walk into the room inside the administrative building that’s designated for the bride. Yuqi is there, her face shining brightly with happiness and a glow that can’t be stolen from her today.

When you walk in, you let out a sound of delight at how pretty your college friend looks in her wedding dress, taking note of the chamomile flowers that adorn her hairpiece.

“Ah, I can’t believe you’re here.” She all but shrieks, embracing you tightly with her small bouquet still in her hands. After she gives Donghyuck a small, welcoming hug, she backs away to look at both of you.

“You look amazing today, I can’t believe you’re actually getting married. Congratulations.” You say sincerely.

“I can’t believe it either, actually. I feel like we’ve been planning this for forever, and now the day is finally here.” She recalls, a blissful look in her eyes even though you’re aware of how much stress she has had during the past few months over this one day.

“Are you nervous?” Donghyuck asks and you nudge his side and send him a look for asking a question like that.

“No, I’m not,” Yuqi laughs, “I feel one hundred percent happy. Like I’m starting the next part of my life with the one I love.”

“I’m glad you can spend the rest of your life with your soulmate, you’re definitely luckier than most.” You muse, and she suddenly softens her expression and takes your hand in hers, gently holding onto you.

“I’m not marrying my soulmate. I’m marrying the one I love. It just happens to be the same person.”

After bidding your farewells and good lucks, you and Donghyuck walk out of the room and head to where the ceremony will be held. He pulls out of sunglasses, propping them on the edge of his nose, and then grabbing your hand and strolling through the exhibits on the way to the ceremony grounds.

Yuqi’s words ring in your head throughout the peaceful walk, specifically how happy she looked to be marrying the one she loves. Somehow, you never thought about separating soulmate from lover; those two people have always been one in your head. You always thought that there can’t be a soulmate without a lover, and there can’t be a lover without a soulmate.

But the moment with Yuqi reminded you of the first time Donghyuck properly confessed to you, the words you can still hear floating through your head whenever your mind wanders off and thinks about him.

“I think I would’ve fallen in love with you even if we weren’t destined to be together.”

Maybe Donghyuck has been wiser than you this whole time. Not that you’d ever admit that to his face, unless you’d like to hear about it at least three times a week for the rest of your life.

Every memory— every year that has passed by with Donghyuck has only grown the idea of soulmate and lover further apart in your mind, and it took the matrimony of your close friends to realize it. You don’t think it’s a bad thing; in fact, you’re lucky that you can call your lover and your soulmate the same person.

You feel something tugging at your hand, and when you look over at your lover, he looks at you expectedly.

“Huh?” You say, dumbfounded since you’ve been in your own little world for who knows how long. Donghyuck laughs, bending over a bit at the funny, bewildered look on your face before straightening up and looking over to you again.

“I said, what colors should we do for our wedding? I personally think I look good in red, but I’m sure we can figure out something less contrasting.” He explains nonchalantly, you realize he’s kicking a random pebble around as you walk. Looking around, confused out of your mind, you turn back to him.

“Are we getting married?”

“Well, yeah,” He does something between a laugh and a scoff before leaning next to you, a serious look that permeates through the shade of his sunglasses, “You do want to marry me, right?”

Your brain is in a complete fritz. If you had a whole day to think about this you could maybe make up a sentence that resembles a sophisticated answer, but you can only shrug.

“Uh, yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?” Donghyuck stops walking, “I just asked you if you want to get married, and you reply with ‘uh, yeah, I guess.’” He mocks your tone and it makes you roll your eyes at him.

“This is the first time we’ve ever talked about this and I got nervous.” You explain, making him relax and stand in front of you with his hands leisurely resting in his pockets. “Of course, someday I would like to marry you. I guess you’re… tolerable.” Donghyuck pushes you away from him and quickly walks down the path, twice as fast as he was walking before. You laugh and follow him, running slightly to catch up.

“Excuse me, Miss, would you like to leave a wish for the happy couple?” A sudden voice stops you, making you turn back around. A man stands with a camera, looking at you expectedly.

“Uh, how?” You look from the camera and back up to him.

“I’ll take your picture. You can write a wish on it and hang it up over there.” He points to the dozens of polaroids already hung up a few feet away, random people posing in the photographs with different color writing on every picture.

“Let’s do it.” Donghyuck comes up behind you, no doubt catching the last part of what the photographer said and pushing you lightly over to where there’s better lighting while taking off his sunglasses and tucking them into his shirt. The photographer asks you to pose, and you and Donghyuck smile for the camera, your eyes slightly shut due to the sun beating down on top of you.

“Great, how about one more for yourselves?” The photographer asks as he waits for the photograph to develop and you agree. This time, Donghyuck wraps an arm around you and pulls you closer so that your back is against his chest. You feel him rest his cheek on your head and drape his other arm around your front. You grab onto his forearm, not knowing what to do with your hands, and then suddenly the picture is taken and the photographer hands over both of the developed photos.

You take the second picture out of Donghyuck’s hands, not being able to look away. The sun seems to hit both of you just right, and the slight candidness of the photo adds another layer of reality to the picture. Donghyuck has a small smile while his cheek is slightly squished against your head, but he still looks as handsome as ever.

“What wish should we leave them?” He asks, picking up a golden sharpie from the table nearby, somehow already having his sunglasses back on.

“Maybe just… Congratulations on getting married?” You suggest.

“And a million other people will have the same thing. We need to be memorable.” He stresses and taps the end of the sharpie against his head. “What do you wish for Lucas and Yuqi?”

“I wish…” You think about it for a moment, “For them to have a lifetime of memories that they can share until the very end.” You nod.

“Oh?” Donghyuck looks at you, “When did you become a poet?” He asks as he writes that down at the bottom of the first picture.

“I’ve always been like this. I’m glad you just now figured it out.” You reply sarcastically, to which Donghyuck replies back with his own sarcastic laugh. He hangs up your picture close to where Mark and Xiaojun hung up their’s, and then turns back around.

“Alright, let’s get this show on the road.” He pushes up his sunglasses with his ring finger and thumb, walking with swagger towards the ceremony and grabbing your hand while he’s passing by.

“If you’re going to be like this at our wedding, maybe I’ll have to change my mind…”

For one today being one of the most awaited days of your life, it started out pretty regularly.

You wake up from the ringing of your alarm, get ready, and go to your classes for the day. You had breakfast before you left, and lunch right before your last class of the day. Even work was boring as usual, but nothing beat going to the store afterwards.

When you got to the aisle filled with shoes, you were first puzzled by how many options there are. So many colors and styles, you didn’t expect to be so overwhelmed and accidentally spent almost an hour just looking at every individual pair. This had to be perfect. This was going to be a memory that you thought about for the rest of your life.

You call Donghyuck when you approach your front door, he answers almost immediately.

“Hey, love, what’s up?” He yawns through the words, and you can’t help but smile as you look down at the bag in your hands.

“Oh, I was just wondering when you’ll be home.” You open the front door and shut it behind you, taking off your shoes.

“I’m right outside of our building. Did you just get home?” He asks, no doubt hearing the front door from your side of the line.

“I’ll talk to you when you get up here then, see you.” You send a kiss through the phone and abruptly end the call. If Donghyuck is right outside of the building he’ll be up to your apartment in just a few minutes.

You drop the rest of your things down at the front door and hurry into the kitchen, setting down the small white bag with a lace bow on top in the middle of the kitchen table, clearing the table of anything else. You slide into a seat at the table, fixing your clothes nervously as you hear the front door open. Not even a few seconds later, Donghyuck walks into the kitchen, his eyes moving from you to the white bag and back to you.

“What’s wrong?” He asks, dead serious. Your nerves and anxiety, and maybe even some fear, must be strong enough for him to feel. You shake your head and pat the chair next to you. Donghyuck takes a seat, he came through the door so quickly that he didn’t even take his shoes or his jacket off yet.

“Open the bag.” You can’t help the excited smile and small clap of your hands as he reaches out and holds the bag. He gives you a quizzical look, but you only nod to encourage him.

Donghyuck unties the lace ribbon, looking down into the bag for a few moments. You can’t read his face and you can’t feel any emotions from him, and your anxiety grows tenfold. He reaches in and pulls out the little shoes, a light blue color with white stitching. They’re so small, they can sit in Donghuck’s hand perfectly.

“What are these?” He asks, still looking at the shoes in his hand.

“Well, they’re shoes… For babies. For our baby.”

At your reply, he does nothing. He doesn’t react at all, which only worsens your nerves and makes your leg twitch up and down as you wait for him to say something. He swallows and sets the shoes on the table, still looking at then with a blank expression.

“You’re pregnant?”

“Yeah…” You reply, reaching out to put a hand over Donghyuck’s, “Say something.”

“I’m not sure what to say, this is very… sudden.” He tilts his head. Your stomach drops at the lack of emotion in his voice. You aren’t sure what you were expecting, but it was not this stoic expression in his face. Whatever traces of a smile that you had on your lips vanishes and you grip his hand tighter.

“I know this is not what we had planned. I know this is kind of… not good timing, since we’re still in school and not married, yet. But this is what fate had planned for us, I guess?” You’re not sure if you’re trying to console him or convince him, but the icky feeling in your stomach tells you Donghyuck’s reaction to the situation is not good.

“Yeah, fate did us real good.” Donghyuck replies sarcastically and you drop your hands from his, resting them in your lap. You can see the tears forming in his eyes even when he tries to look away from you, and you can feel the fear that’s boiling and overflowing inside him.

“I know you’re scared, I’m scared too. But we can get through this to—” You’re suddenly cut off by Donghyuck standing up abruptly.

“I’m not scared. I’m worried.” He rubs his face with his hands. “I’m worried that I won’t be able to support this kid. I’m worried I won’t be able to be here for you through it all. I’m so worried I’m going to end up like my father that I feel like it’s going to eat me alive.” He runs his hands through his hair, pulling his head back as he looks at the ceiling and paces around the kitchen.

“I never knew your father, but from what you told me, you’re nothing like him.” You stand up too, your legs feeling like jello.

“No, you don’t understand. What if I say something wrong and ruin this kid’s life like my father did to me? What if I can’t find a job after we graduate? Are you going to support all three of us? I can’t let you live like my mom did, it was too hard to watch back then and it’ll be even harder to watch now.” He suddenly stops, not giving you a chance to speak as he looks from you, to the little shoes, and back to you. “I can’t.”

“You… can’t what?” There’s panic rising in your voice as he shakes his head and backs away.

“I can’t be here, not around you or this baby. I won’t be a good father.” He turns and walks out of the kitchen, leaving you standing dumbfounded with tears brimming in your eyes. You move to the front door, watching at Donghyuck’s shaking hands pick up his keys and wallet.

“Are you leaving me? Right now?” He doesn’t look at you and he doesn’t answer, opening the door, “Wait!” You cry out. He stops, his shoulders tense and his hand clenching the doorknob.

“What about that promise you made me? Huh? You said that it’s not just a ‘you’ or a ‘me’ now. It’s an ‘us.’ You said you’ll do everything you can to not hurt us.” You ask, recalling the promise Donghyuck made back when you two were young college students, and a promise he has repeated and vowed to you over and over again every time your relationship got into a rough patch.

“I think… that what I’m doing is what’s best for us. It’ll be better if I wasn’t here. ___...” He looks back at your teary eyed figure with one last look of regret, “I love you. I’m so sorry.” And with that, he closes the door, leaving you all alone in your cold and dark apartment.

You jumped off of the bridge. You jumped off a while ago, actually, but the fall took longer than you expected. You thought Donghyuck would be there to catch you at the bottom, but he’s nowhere to be seen now. The fall was peaceful and enjoyable, a soft limbo between making the hardest decision in your life and the ultimate consequence of that decision. The fall was long and made you feel faux comfort, so when you reached the very end, it ended up hurting a lot worse. You knew jumping off of a bridge would kill you, so why did you jump?

You’re not sure how long you stand by the front door, but it’s long enough that the sun sets outside and the room turns dark. You stare at the door, waiting for Donghyuck to come back. You wait for the door to open and for him to run through, hugging you and whispering that he’ll be here for you. You can only walk up to the door and slide down onto your knees, your forehead pressed against the cool wood as you wait.

Tears run down your cheeks silently, your eyes red and your head hurts. You keep your forehead pressed against the door for the whole night, waiting for him to come back. You wait, and wait, and wait. Donghyuck never comes back.

Your heart rips open from pain, it feels like it’s bleeding onto the floor in front of you. Your mind is numb from any other emotion, your body is cold from sitting on the floor, but you can’t get yourself to stand up. That’s when you realize, this is it. This is how Donghyuck hurts you.

What a sick and twisted way for fate to finally serve up her plan. You almost forgot who Donghyuck is supposed to be; the one who loves you, and the one who hurts you the most.

— read epilogue here

[clovermarigold]

Daggers and Daffodils Chap.6

Dagur x Reader

Today chapter is a bit longer than usual sorry, couldn't find a good stopping point that would keep the chapter interesting.

-Clover

Dagur POV

'A TERRIBLE TERROR!' I had to stop myself from laughing. A terror, she was being praised from across the isles for killing a terror. On one hand I was irritated that such an honor as earing a mark was even allowed for a dragon as trivial as a Terror. But on the other, it explained a lot.

My thoughts were interrupted by her voice. "Please don't laugh".

I had barely heard her; she was speaking so quiet. My smile fell as a weird feeling invaded my gut. Her voice had slightly cracked, and small crystals were forming in her eyes. I had seen this look on many of the girls I pranked back home and knew what it meant; she was going to cry. Normally I wouldn't care; often earning me a scolding from my parents. But something about the way her eyes looked at me made me feel a sort of guilt and pain, so much so that I knew I couldn't allow her to cry.

"Hey" I reached to... uhm ''what do I do?' I retracted my hand, which she was staring at. "I won't". She looked at me her forming tears rubbed away. "good" she sniffled turning to continue to walk. "we're almost there anyways".

The cliffside was like any I'd seen before, with the exception of a few makeshift targets.

"Ok, here's the rules, starting from the top of the hill and down the hill there are a number of targets, we each get 5 rocks that we can throw. Plain targets are 5 points, and targets with sheets on them are 10. Each target can be used once, and there are a limited number of targets with sheets. But whoever reaches the bottom first gets 20 extra points" she explained.

"This... is your training" I asked. "What don't think you can keep up" she raised an eyebrow at me, and I felt my face heat up again, 'ME!? Not able to keep up? oh hoho, this is going to be fun'.

"Of course not!" my voice went up an octave, and I felt my face become even hotter.

"Ok, then. Let's get started" I watched as she drew a line in the dirt and adjusted her boots.

Narrator POV  (Don't be surprised if I never use first person again after this chapter)                

Dagur took his place next to you and crouched into a running position. "3....2..." you began to count down before Dagur interrupted you "If I win you owe me a favor ""Wait what?" Before you could get a response from him, he broke out into a sprint, causing you to take off with a delayed start.

Dagur took the lead throwing his first stone at a target wedged between a tree and boulder, and his second at another target hidden (poorly) in a patchy bush."10 points!" he exclaimed, Dagur had taken the lead, but you knew this track like the back of your hand. Dagur was throwing with extreme accuracy, but he wasn't looking at whether or not the targets had sheets, as long as you made sure you hit more targets with sheets than him you could still win.

"You keep'n up back there?" Dagur laughed turning his head back to you with a crooked grin. You nearly forgot you were coming up on the first sheeted target due to the heat you felt spread across your face and the weird feeling in your stomach.

'Focus!' you scolded yourself before answering Dagur's taunting, "Of course I am! Pretty soon you won't be!" Dagur laughed at that facing forward again.

The quick exchange turned out to be exactly what you needed to give you the perfect window. With him distracted he didn't notice the Sheet covered target tied to a tree. You threw your first rock, it just barely hitting the outer most circle, "10 points!" Dagur looked back again wide eyed before his smirk changed into closed mouth smile and his pupils dilated on you with a squint of his eyes.

'Surprise won't work anymore, now he'll be shooing for sheet targets' you pushed a little harder, so you were now neck in neck with Dagur. You were coming down from a particularly steep hill of the cliff when your eyes locked on the target. Both you and Dagur threw your stones at it, yours hitting the outer rim a second before his. You turned to face him sticking your tongue "20". Dagur's once seemingly sweet smile returned to its competitive craziness.

Halfway down the cliffs you knew there were only 4 covered targets left. "You're a lot faster than I'd thought you'd be" Dagur complimented. 'ODIN! Why is my face so hot!?' you thought to yourself looking anywhere but at him. "20 points!" Dagur exclaimed now down to one stone. 'Ugh, forgot the one by the salvaged cart'.

In the distance you saw two upcoming targets, Astrid had placed a covered and regular target on each side. you would take turns switching which side each target was on, unfortunately Astrid was the last to move the targets.

"Time to choose it seems" Dagur let out a cackle that wouldn't have sat right with you if you weren't too captivated by his face. wait wut.

"What do you say, we each take one and hope for the best, aha AHAHAHA", Ok.... That most defiantly didn't sit right with you, "Ok?". Deciding to stick to the target on your side you threw your 4th stone the moment it was within reach. Only to be disappointed realizing you had hit the uncovered target while passing it. Dagur was now in the lead but out of stones.

"You know for someone who does this for training, your intuition could use some work" Dagur teased. "And your very distracting" nearing exhaustion you began to slow down, but for some reason you were still keeping up with Dagur.

"I'd consider that a good thing, you look ready to pass out-""DO NOT!" his roaring cackle was infectious and soon you were laughing as well. " you'll be the one-heh- passed out and tired when I beat you" you said in-between laughs.

"Oh? And how do you plan to do that with no stones" Dagur said with a mischievous look. "Huh? Wait. No! Dagur!" You yelled as in one swift movement Dagur dipped close to your side grabbing your stone. "I didn't realize we were playing street rules!" you laughed.

"What are you gonna do now princess?" Dagur taunted as you inwardly preened at Dagur's use of your title. "I'M going to beat you" you broke out into an all-out sprint using what little reserves of energy you had left, leaving a shocked Dagur in your wake.

"Well, it seems like I'm going to have to catch you then" Dagur called out for you as he picked up his speed. You and Dagur barreled down the final hill of the cliff. Dagur's delay had given you just the right head start for you to pass the marked finish line first.

"Woo Hoo! SUCK IT DAGUR!" You turned your head to gloat at Dagur as you slowed only to see him still running towards you at full speed. Dagur was now playing an entirely different game, one of cat and mouse. And though you were tired, you were having way too much fun to let it end there.

Area Skip (change in focus of character, but not POV)

Stoick stood at the mouth of the great hall as the feast was being prepared, they had just finished sorting the Berserkers gifts as well as making the standard introductions. He was thankful for the fact that chief Oswald had never thought the traditional tour was necessary, or they would have had to spend all day on it.

"Tensions are getting tight Stoick" Oswald said coming to his side while they began to walk down to the village center. "Aye, had break up three fights since this morn'in". It was apparent that the treaty did little to improve relations between the two tribes beyond an immediate call for war.

"With Dragon raids becoming more common the people are even more on edge". In the past year Stoick had, had many come to him with their fears mistrust of the Berserkers. "Times are changing Stoick, these beasts, their starting to turn us on our own". They were at the bottom of the stairs when Stoick spoke next, "If we don't figure something out before the time of our children, Berk and the Berserkers will go to war".

"It'll be harder than you think old friend, I haven't seen a pleasant interaction between a Berkian and a Berserker in the past two years " Oswald chuckled dryly patting Stoick on the back as they entered the village "Where is everyone?" he asked. The village seemed empty with only a faint sound of people echoing from across.

"What in Odins name?" The two approached the sound to see a group gathered. Momentarily they had both thought they would have to break up a fight until they had recognized the sound of laughter. In the center of the crowd's semi-circle was you and Dagur. Dagur had caught you soon after running you into the village and now had his arms wrapped around you from behind.

"Caught you, Princess!" you squealed loudly enticing a laugh from the crowd. "Put me down Dagur" you wiggled in his arms, but he had an iron grip. Dagur felt his smile widen and his heartbeat faster at your voice.  

Stoicks eyes searched the crowd seeing that it was made up of both Berk and Berserkers, laughing and smiling together. Meanwhile Oswald's eyes focused on his son, and the smile he himself knew all too well.  It was the smile he had whenever he looked at his wife, it was the smile he had when his son took his first steps, it was the smile he had when his daughter was born. It was a smile of love, a smile that showed when you loved someone so much you were willing to fight anyone and wait till the end of time for them. And Oswald's chest grew with pride and joy when he saw a smaller yet similar smile on you.

"Stoick" Oswald called as they tore their gazes away from the crowd. "I have a proposition" Stoick raised his brow.

Dagur POV (Thats it... If I EVER do first person again, I will set my house on fire)

I was holding Y/N in an arm lock when in the corner of my eye I saw my father and Stoick turn to walk away 'they must have been watching us'. I looked back down at Y/N whose face was bright pink while she was giggling. "Oh, Thor am I choking you?!" I let go immediately in fear of hurting her.

"No" she answered beaming at me. Murmurs broke out in the crowd, ' when I realized. 'Huh when did this crowd get here', it was made up of both Berk and Berserkers which took me off guard as they were getting along. But even more so what I heard from one of the onlookers; "Wow he actually seemed concerned for once" followed by a laugh. It had been said by a Berserker and made me think. I had never once cared if I hurt someone, I was known for playing ruff with other kids when I was younger, and I wasn't one to lighten up when training, regardless of who it was with.

"Dagur look" Y/N pointed to a number of the crowd disbursing and heading towards either their homes or the great hall. The sun was near setting, so people were likely either getting ready or heading over the great hall for the feast.

"We should probably get going" I told her while still looking at the passing crowd. Suddenly I felt her had wrap around mine, "Ok" she started to pull me towards the stairs while I felt my soul leave my body.

Narrator POV (It might have been a short section, but still too long)

The great hall was flooded with Vikings, you and Dagur were separated and taken to your designated seats. You sat down next to a rather dejected looking Hiccup. "Hey Hiccup" you greeted guiltily. "Hi" his eyes didn't meet yours and you felt your once delighted moon shatter, replaced with guilt. "I'm sorry I left you alone, Dagur was pulling me, and I didn't know what to do... Are you ok?" he finally looked at you with his nose a little pink and eyes returning to normal after once being puffy.

"I'll be fine... You won't leave me, right?" he asked. "Leave you? When? of course not!" you told him hoping to sooth his worries. "It's just... After hearing dad and Oswald, I thought you were going to leave" Hiccup murmured looking away from you again. "After they said what?" Hiccup looked to the floor embarrassed of his eavesdropping. "Hiccup, I promise no matter what I'll always be by your side, even when everyone else is against us. Ok?" Hiccup grew a half smile before he spoke "It's ok. you don't have to be next to me all the time, just knowing you'll always believe in me is enough. Promise?" he held ought his hand for you to shake, "Promise" you shook his hand before pulling him into a hug.

"Alright everyone quiet!" You heard your father call standing Oswald next to him. "As you know every year a treaty is signed between Berk and the Berserkers" he paused, his eyes landing on you for a few moments, and you could have sworn for a second a look of shame passed over them before he looked away and continued. "However, many of you have voiced your distrust of the other". The crowd began to rile arguing and defending themselves at being accused of treachery. "Thats enough" He shouted slamming his axe on the table, earning a flinch from both you and Hiccup. "Me and Stoick have come to an agreement to cement the trust and intentions of either side" Oswald said, "As of this afternoon Stoick and I have come to the agreement, of bringing our two tribes together, and the betrothal of Dagur of the Berserkers and Y/N the defender". Volume in the hall rose once again as a clash of disapproval support and confusion racked the crowd. Stoick's axe rose and cut back into the table once more silencing the noise.

"With this bond both Berk and the Berserkers will be unified through blood. Berk will gain the support of the Berserker armada, and the Berserkers will have their future queen" Oswald finished, while silence still filled the hall. Berkians within the crowd showed interest in the mention of the Berserkers armada however the Berserkers themselves stayed quiet "Y/N would make a capable future queen for our people. She has earned her mark before most of our youth, including Dagur" still the Berserkers were uneasy. "Unless you trust Dagur to find another woman willing to put up with him" Stoick added, and cheers of approval flooded the hall. Berkians and Berserkers speaking in agreement and Oswald sent Stoick a chastising look, "Got the job done didn't it".

You were very confused to say the least, your father and Oswald had announced that you were betrothed to Dagur, buuuut you had absolutely no idea what that meant. "Thats what I heard them talking about earlier" Hiccup leaned over to tell you, you watched as he flinched turning away at something behind you. Hiccup sat to your left your fathers chair to your right then Oswald and his company, specifically Dagur. You turned to see His eyes locked on you, no mischievous grin or smirk to be seen. Just a look of starstruck wonder, till his hanging jaw lifted and he looked at you in a way you had only seen when you saw Astrids parents look at one another.

"With this year's treaty signing comes not just another year of peace, but a promise of a future of unity" Oswald spoke as he signed the treaty followed by Stoick. The feast swung into full effect with music drinking and food. Stoick took his seat next to you and for a few minutes refused to look or speak to you as well as eat.

"Dad" you called quietly; Stoick sighed looking down at you "What's going on?". "Lass... Do you remember when you asked me why we can't get along with the Berserkers, because were not family" you nodded "Well, you being betrothed to Dagur means we can", "Really" you smiled "Why?". "Because it means that soon... we will be". "How?" you couldn't help but question each of your father's answers, as he seemed to be purposefully trying to hide something. "It means you're going to marry Dagur" Hiccup interrupted, "Hiccup!" Stoick scolded making Hiccup sink into his chair, Stoick sighed and gave Hiccup an apologetic look.

"I'm going to marry Dagur?!" When you had woke up this morning this was certainly the last thing you thought would happen. "I know you didn't expect it, and I know your probably angry" he looked back to you seeing you face scrunched into a pout of confusion. "And I know you don't entirely understand what's going on, but I need you to believe I'm trying to help our people. And if you really don't want to than you won't have to, and we can call it off after we have enough time to come up with another sol-", "I'll do it" you interrupted surprising Stoick and dropping Hiccups jaw. "Are you sure, lass?" He asked you one last time. "If It'll get everyone to get along, then yes" Your father pressed a kiss you your forehead and held you tight against his much larger frame. "Thank you, lass" he said before standing and turning to Oswald who was surrounded by a number of Viking who he shooed off upon seeing Stoick, "She agreed. Any luck with Dagur, he's a prideful boy, it'll take some time" Oswald held up his hand, "He agreed the moment I brought it up", "Really?". "You were there Stoick, today, in the village. I know that look they had" Stoick raised his brow, "It's the same look I have when I look at Dahlia, and it's the same look I saw between you and Valka" Stoick felt the knife in his heart twist at the mention of his lost love. "He loves her" Oswald said his smile growing, "Their children Oswald, they don't even know what that means". "Love is a feeling Stoick, and as a child you love more than any other time in your life. Before you know the pain of heartbreak. Who are we to say they don't understand". Stoick's hardened gaze softened at his words, "Besides, he's a Berserker. We don't fall often, but when we do; we fall hard", a chuckle escaped the two.

As the feast went on many came to you and Dagur to express their congratulations. At the end of the feast and goodbyes to the leaving Berserkers you gave a small wave to Dagur as pink tinted your cheeks. Dagur who watched you as his ship departed from the dock thought to himself, 'I love this girl, don't I?'.