#maybe i’ll have time for a little nap later?

[koushuwu]

“i’m gonna go back to sleep.” “i’ve set an alarm for 11am.”. yeah, well maybe you shouldn’t go and check your phone at 8am then, bitch (me). i know i can’t fall back asleep when i’ve on the phone for more than 10 minutes, bro. and here i am one hour later. guess i should just get up then

[fruixtii]

my throat feels like death…

[mars-ipan]

the prednisone was mean to me overnight :(

[peachesofteal]

Simple Math / Part Twenty One

Simple Math masterlist

Ghost/Soap/female reader 3.1k words - AO3 CW: 18+ mdni, discussion of kidnapping, sedation. Angst.

“Da?” Penny points at the guest room. “Bunny?” 

“Aye lamb, Bunny.” He tries not to look at the door, tries to push away the avalanche of despair. If he could dig it free it from his brain, he would. He’d take it away from everyone, you, Si, himself. He’d rewind time, take it all back, start from the beginning and fix it all. 

The memories burn like fire. They’re ash in the back of his throat. 

“We’d never hurt ye, we jus’ want to take ye home.” 

 What a lie. Who were they kidding, doing this? Pretending they were some knights in shining armor, coming to rescue you? 

They became everything you feared. 

Pen nestles into his neck, gripping his shirt as she wiggles. “Story?” 

“Jus’ one alright?” She signs okay, and sighs. 

“Gus?” He grits his teeth. Penny's love for Gus has been a tiny bright spot in an abysmal expanse of misery, but her obsession just reminds him of everything else. 

“Gus is downstairs, it’s nap time.” He can feel the tumultuous slope of a tantrum, Penny’s mood ratcheting up and up until it explodes. She’s tired, and stressed, too much like her Dad, reading the emotions in the house like its second nature. She knows something is wrong. 

“Gus Gus,” her lower lip trembles, legs kicking. “Wan’ Gus Gus.” 

“Ye’ll see Gus later.” She doesn’t understand anything that’s happened, and the guilt eats at him, at what they’ve done to their family, what they’ve brought into their home. 

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. 

He holds her tight, kisses her forehead. “I love ye, Penny.” She sniffles. 

“Luh you.” 

 “Not at all?” 

“No idea mate. Looked at me like she’s never seen me a day in her life. A bit bizarre if you ask me.” Simon rubs a hand over his face. “But she also pointedly avoided looking at me. Tried to make herself smaller.” Johnny grimaces. They've moved as fast as they could, but you didn't make it easy.

In a weird way, Johnny is proud of you.

“How does she seem?” He knows this answer. To not recognize Kyle you must be tired beyond belief, operating on autopilot, frozen stiff with fear. 

“Skittish. Exhausted. Scared.” His shoulders slump, entire body sinking into the cushions of the couch. Your frightened face haunts his dreams, a little rabbit running for her life. He can't imagine how you must feel, believing you were betrayed by them, running away with their babe in your belly.

In another life, maybe they’d stay in Scotland with you. He’d show you all the things he loves about it, all the things he still calls home, the same things he showed Pen. Maybe it would be different. 

“Did you get it done?” Simon interrupts his spiral, redirects their focus. 

“Yeah, managed to slip it into the little pocket at the top, she had no idea. It’s online and I sent you guys the link; you should be able to see the ping. I’ll stay on her until you get here.” 

“From a distance.” Simon reiterates, and Kyle scoffs. 

“Do you think I’m an amateur?” 

Penny isn’t in her room after her nap. 

She gets up at the same time everyday without fail, dependable clockwork that they work their lives around. 

Johnny’s heart jumps into his throat. Logical thinking starts to fade away into panic, fear, his fumbling fingers swiping at his phone just as her little giggle echoes from down the hall, and relief rushes through his bones.

She's in your room. Curled up in your side, feet in your lap, little palm on your belly, staring up at you like you hung the stars in the sky. 

“And then the cow said-” 

“Moooo!” He’s sick at the sight, another tidal wave of grief pulling him out to sea, reminding him of things they’ll probably never have now, your love, your trust, a family with you.

But you haven't left, a desperate voice in his head reminds him, you've had plenty of opportunities, but stays here. Why? 

Maybe all hope isn't lost.

“That’s right,” you brush her wispy curls back from her face and smile, “you’re such a smart girl Pen.” She pats the curve of your stomach, and then signs. 

“Baby?” Your hand folds over hers, and Johnny’s throat is so tight he can barely breathe. “My baby.” You laugh, and she giggles as you hug her close, kissing the top of her head. 

“This is your baby brother or sister Pen. What do you think? Boy? Or girl?” Penny shrugs, giving you a sheepish look. 

“Gus?” 

“Didn’t you see Gus earlier? Did you feed him breakfast?” There’s some shuffling, and she wiggles down to the floor, waiting patiently as you groan and swing your legs over the bed. “Alright, he could probably use some more fish flakes anyway.” You look tired, weary, but still your smile is soft for Penny, gentle and encouraging. 

It fades when you catch him in the doorway. 

“Hey.” You nod, the small spark in your eyes dying immediately as you watch him cautiously. Like he’s a threat. 

“How long have you been standing there?” 

“Er, not long.” What’s another lie in the long list of transgressions at this point? 

“Pen wants to see Gus so… I thought I’d take her downstairs.” You shift uneasily, and he steps aside. Penny’s hand is tucked in yours, and a vision of one of you falling, tripping, and taking the other down flashes in his mind. 

“Be careful on the stairs Pen.” She goes down on her knees now, backward, sliding her stomach across each step in a slow but methodical process. One that could trip you up. “I can take ye down-” 

“No,” she vehemently refuses, “I do it.” 

“She can do it on her own.” You back her up immediately, both of his girls united in solid opposition against him. Bleedin’ Christ. Penny points downstairs. 

“Da. Gus.” She signs for both, for once oblivious to your agitation, and he winces when you shoot him an annoyed look. 

“I’ve got her Johnny.” 

“Okay,” Penny’s already started on her descent, and you hold onto the banister, still glaring at him. He gulps. “Ye be careful too.” For a second, the storm breaks, the thunder rolls over the hill into the distance, torrential downpour turning a drizzle, and the sun tries to peek through the clouds. Sadness and longing, flickers in your eyes, so clearly displayed that it urges him forward, a step too close. You back away. 

The sun is gone, and the storm rages. 

The prefilled syringe glints in the sunlight where it sits on the table. Johnny tries not to look at it. 

“Are ye sure-” 

“No,” Simon snaps, rubbing the back of his neck. “No, I’m not. But I don’t see what our choices are. We can’t leave her on her own with Graves at large. I promised… I promised she’d be safe. That I’d take care of her.” 

“We both did.” 

“Well we did a shit job.” He pales when he looks back at the needle. “We’re one hundred percent sure? It’s not going to harm them?” 

“Aye, triple checked. Safe for mum and baby.” They sit across from one another in silence. Simon is far away, somewhere even Johnny can’t reach him, and when he speaks next, his voice cracks. 

“She’s going to be so scared. She won’t understand what’s happening.” He covers his face, heels of his hands pressing into his eyes. “She already thinks… she thinks we’re a threat. She’s not going to listen to anything we say.” 

“I know.” 

“We have to do it this way.” He’s whispering, locked in an endless battle of wills with himself, and Johnny reaches for his hand. He doesn’t know what else to do. Sick with dread twisting his heart, he knows the options are limited. He knows this is a good course of action, possibly the safest, the most rational. 

Even if it will turn them into your monsters.

“I know, Si. I know.” 

You’re on the patio. 

He’s found you there a few times, curled up on the outdoor couch, sun on your face as you read or scroll on your phone. 

He wants to go to you, encouraged by the sliver of something he saw in your eyes earlier, but he knows he can’t. If he pushes too hard, it will only make you retreat.

“She’s been out there for an hour.” Simon stands at his side, and if you look up, you’ll see both of them staring. Watching. 

“Did ye talk to her?” 

“Tried. She ignored me.” 

“Did ye actually?” His patience is thin today, a fine thread threatening to fray. “Try?” Johnny knows what it truly is, this avoidance of you. Simon brings you meals, checks in, but keeps away, holds his position at a firm distance. 

He can’t live with himself. 

“Johnny,” it’s a warning shot, but he chooses not to pay it any attention. 

“Did ye? Try at all? Because I haven’t seen ye try since we got home, since that day she woke up.” Simon stiffens. 

“She doesn’t want me.” 

“She doesnae want either o’ us Si. What did ye think would happen? That everything would be fine and she would forgive us? She would trust us automatically?” He’s on the verge of yelling now, and instead of trying to soothe him as usual, Simon scowls and turns away. Johnny snaps. “We said it’d take time an’ work but ye’re jus’ runnin’ away now, every chance ye get, an’ leavin’ everything to me!” 

“I…” He’s never seen his husband so lost. These past two weeks, every day he’s slipped further and further away, and nothing Johnny says or does brings him back. “I can’t, Johnny.” 

“Ye have to try.” For her. For me. For your family. Simon shakes his head. 

“I can’t.” 

“Jesus.” The heel of your palm goes to your temple, and he holds his breath. “What-” You trail off as you look up, take them in, guilty as sin. 

If only his Ma could see him now. See what he’s done. 

You shoot upward, scrambling towards the head of the bed, eyes wide and frozen with fear. 

Shaking and terrified. A little rabbit caught in a snare. Their snare.

You watch them like they're executioners leading you to the block. 

“Wh-what…” 

“Listen to us sweetheart, just listen,” Simon soothes, voice low and cautious but fast because he knows they’ve got to get it out, establish the truth right away. “You’re safe, everything’s okay, you and the baby, you’re safe here.” You shake your head, tears rolling down your cheeks. 

“You… b-brought me back?” Your voice cracks. “You brought me back and n-now he’s…” you break apart on a sob. 

“He’s never going to touch ye ever again, bunny. We swear it. I know,” you try to scoot off the bed, but Simon holds you still by your shoulders. They have to get this out, have to get through this part no matter how difficult it is, no matter how much you don't want to listen. You have to hear the truth, the reasoning.

“I know you don’t believe us, but we can prove it.” Johnny pulls out his phone and clicks open the secure email attachment. It’s the mission report from when Graves betrayed them outside the Mexican Special Forces base, and it’s only partially redacted thanks to Kate.

It’s a risk. 

It will confirm your fears and dissolve them. It will tell you who they truly are, what they truly do, while proving they’re telling the truth. 

It’s a gamble. 

“Read this,” Simon pushes it into your hand and you recoil. It doesn’t stop him, he wraps your brittle fingers around it and then stands, Johnny right behind him. “Take as long as you need. We’ll be here.” 

“Did ye like it?” You refuse to look at him, half of a pot pie eaten and sitting at your side on the tray. No answer. 

You blink at the ceiling. 

“Wanted to check in, see if ye needed anything?” Please, say something. Say anything. “Somethin’ else to eat, maybe? Si said ye didnae eat much of yer lunch. Are ye feeling sick again?” You’ve been having bouts of nausea, which you’ve told them is normal. You said you brought it up with your midwife at your appointment last week, she wasn’t concerned, and left it that. He knows you only supplied the information because they were badgering you about it, and as you told them the other day-

“I’d do anything to get you to leave me the fuck alone.” 

When you turn to look at him, he almost wishes you hadn’t. 

There’s a lifetime of pain in your eyes. Anger. Distrust. Hurt. All of it caused by their hand, their decisions. 

He tries anyway. He has to. 

“Did ye know goldfish can grow up to ten inches? Researched it when we…” he swallows the lump in his throat, “when we got home.” Still nothing. Your fingers twitch on the edge of your kindle, and he’s overcome with the urge to place his hand there, to hold yours. “Ye know, Si an’ I were talking, it might be good for you to come down for a meal? Maybe ye could come downstairs for breakfast tomorrow? Pen asked.” Using Penny is wrong, he knows that, but he’s drowning and he doesn’t know how much farther they can sink at this point. 

But it all falls on deaf ears. 

You give him one last long look, another glare overflowing with malice, more rage, more despair, everything twisted up into a complicated knot. 

He's well practiced with bombs, confident, rarely makes a mistake-

but this is one he's terrified to defuse.

“Johnny… just... leave me alone. Please.” No, he wants to tell you, no, I'd rather have you scream at me for hours on end, I'd rather have you throw another mug at my head, over all of this... this agonizing silence.

“Okay,” he whispers, “I’ll… leave ye be.” 

“Upset?!” You cover your heart with your palms. “Upset…” 

“Sweetheart-” Simon hangs back behind Johnny, allowing him to take the lead, again, but still trying to coax you to calm, and you look at one then the other, shaking your head, tossing the phone on the bed.

“You… you hid all of this from me. I knew you were military but this…” You’re angry, but beneath it, fighting for freedom, is pain. Pain caused by them, by this betrayal. “Phillip aside, you kidnapped me!” 

“We had no choice,” Johnny’s voice wavers and he scrambles for control. “We couldnae leave ye alone and unprotected, an’ we knew ye wouldnae listen to us if we just… showed up.” 

“I wish I had better aim,” you spit, staring daggers at where Simon’s arm sports a fresh bandage, covering the stitches. He flinches. 

“We would never hurt ye-” A bitter laugh cuts him off, and you throw your hands up, gesturing around the room. 

“What do you call this then, Johnny? What would you call drugging me and hauling me away from my home?” 

"That wasnae yer home! Yer home is wit' us, bun." You stare at him in disbelief.

"You're out of your fucking mind if you think this... this could be my home now."

“I promise-” Simon starts again but you glare at him. 

“Your promises mean fuck all, Simon Riley.” 

“We’ve never lied to ye, bunny, an’ if we had known from the beginning, we could have protected ye, made sure he never came near ye again.” It’s low to use your own evasion against you, your own survival instincts, but he’s grasping at straws. He’s not sure it’s possible to tell you how sorry they are anymore, they’ve said it a thousand times. You snort. 

“You’re unbelievable. Both of you. And you’re no better than him.” 

“That’s not true.” Simon cuts, sharp edge slicing through your declaration. “We would never, ever hurt you. We love you.” Your swallow is audible, and for a second, you falter. A tear falls. Johnny steps forward. 

“Bun-“ 

“I want you to go.” 

“Ye have every right-” 

“Get out!” You scream it, pointing at the door with a shaking finger. “Get the fuck out.” Simon doesn’t take a single second before turning his back and disappearing, leaving Johnny alone with you. 

Defeated. 

“I love ye.” He murmurs softly, and you scoff. 

“Fuck your love, Johnny. It means nothing.”

The scream wakes them both at zero two hundred. 

It’s blood curdling, could shatter the windows, shake the house down to the studs. 

Simon’s faster than him lately, gets the drop- 

But he bypasses your room. 

“I’ll take care of Penny.” Of course. She’d be awake. That would’ve woke anyone. 

The door creaks when it flings wide, and then he’s sitting at your hip on the mattress, holding you, calling your name. The whites of your eyes shine in the dark, pupils slowly adjusting as he flicks the light on next to the bed. 

He braces for a fight, shores his defenses, readies himself for the venom, but the only thing you give him is the trembling of your lower lip, and your tears, your hand stretching for his. “Shhh, ye’re okay, it’s okay. Was jus’ a dream bunny, jus’ a dream.” Your chest heaves. 

“I… Phillip...” 

“He’s no’ here, it’s just ye and me. Simon and Pen down the hall.” He’d be lying to himself if he said this isn’t making a sick part of him happy, this need you seem to have for him, for comfort, even if it may be fleeting. “Ye’re safe, pretty girl.” A moan escapes you, working its way into a sob, and you curl forward. 

Into him. 

In this darkness, the early hour of the morning, the two of you are suspended in time, alone in this world where nothing bad ever happened and you’re safe in his arms. Like the man he sees in the mirror doesn’t disgust him, like his remorse isn’t a living, breathing thing, a reaper waiting to take him away. 

And when your nose presses to his chest and you wet his shirt with tears as he rocks you, promises you’re safe, that they’ll take care of you, that he loves you, all the words they’ve said since the day they met you, the guilt threatens to drown him-

And his own tears drip from his face. 

[hopelesslonelyghost]

has anyone seen those tiktoks where it goes “if i die don’t look for me i’ll come to you?” and it’s like a cat or a puppy….

yall know where this is going …..

:)

what if you spoke about that with your boys. just randomly one afternoon when all five of you are chilling in the living room watching a movie and you’re just like, “if i die i’ll come back as a cat” and they all just whip their heads towards you and you’re like “what?”

the only one who bites the bullet is simon, who snorts and asks, “wha’ type o’ cat would you be, love?” and price is lowkey highkey glaring at him because why the fuck is he encouraging this?

you just shrug, “i think maybe a black cat. i’ve always had a soft spot for them.” and that was the end of the conversation because the movie got to the good part and you shushed everyone.

what if you died on a mission. ambushed and shot dead in front of your squad. just like that, you’re gone.

what if one day a couple of months later when your boys are visiting your grave they’re all sat on the grass when all of a sudden a black kitty comes meowing up to kyle and immediately jumps in his lap and begins to purr and knead at his jeans.

what if all of them just freeze because they remembered that conversation you all had years ago about you coming back as a cat. a black cat.

what if kyle picks the kitten up, staring at it with tears in his eyes and just holds the tiny feline up to his face and whispers, “you really came back.”

what if they take the kitty home, bathe her and cuddle her until she falls asleep.

what if they all cry themselves to sleep that night because they just miss you so much but you really kept your word because even in the afterlife you’re right there in the form of a rambunctious kitten that loves to sun gaze just like you did. that loves to sit on their laps just like you did. that loves to nap at all hours of the day just like you did. that loves to sometimes spend time alone just like you did. that loves to leave wet kisses on their cheeks just like you did. that is just as clumsy just like you were.

what if one day they all come home to their fur baby staring at a framed picture they have of you. smiling and trying to cover your face from the camera. they remember you weren’t fast enough, and that flick of you is now one of their most precious memories.

what if the little void looks back at the boys and chirps a soft greeting. happy to see them back and running over to them and rubbing themselves against their feet, welcoming them back home.

WHAT IFFFFFFFFF

[luveline]

JADEEEE i'd love to see an interaction between hotch and teacher!reader outside of school? maybe jack sees her first and step away from hotch for a moment to say hi, hotch gets scared when he realizes jack left but reader comes with him just a moment later because she's panicking too like 'why are you alone? where's your dad?' and jack takes her to him. is that ok??? i hope so! love you <3333

I love you ty for your request! —Hotch flirts with Jack’s favourite teacher, because he’s never as subtle as he should be. fem, 2k

Jack reads a couple of books a week now his dad is home more often. His mom used to read to him some because he loves them, but she preferred to tell her own on the fly. His dad isn’t as good a story teller, and when he does try the stories don’t end up very happy, so they read. Sometimes two or three books a night if they're short ones. 

With Jack’s library card they can borrow ten books. With his dad’s, another ten. Twenty altogether, enough to last the month if they’re careful or if dad gets called away a lot, which he usually does. 

“Can I look for Super Pup?” Jack asks his dad. 

Aaron sits on a chair a little too small for him in the kids section. “What?” he asks, looking up from the back of the large picture book Jack’s just handed him. 

“Super Pup?” 

“I’ll help, buddy.” Hotch looks like he’s going to stand, then hesitates. “In a second. Don’t go where I can’t see you, Jackers.” 

Hotch is tired. He didn’t come home until very late, but he’d woken Aunt Jess anyway and, when Jack woke, there his dad was sleeping in the beanbag by his bed. He’s sore all over now and exhausted from a restless night. Jack feels sorry, as much as he can for being six nearly seven, but he also knows that his dad doesn’t mind the hurting. It was nice to wake up together after a few days apart. 

And now he’s brought him to the library, and after that they’ll go for groceries. Jack should be quick. If they get home before dinner time his dad will ask him if he wants to nap together, which is the best. They just lay there in the big bed with the fan on and snooze until it’s too late to cook, so his dad breaks out the takeout menus, and promises he won’t do it again with a quick hug from behind. 

As though it makes him a terrible parent for feeding his kid. Jack can’t know how guilty it makes Hotch feel to do it, and Hotch doesn’t seem to notice how much Jack loves these days where his dad is exhausted and totally his. 

Jack runs around looking for Super Pup. Hotch’s phone beeps in his pocket, and he fights to keep his eyes open.

A ways away, you browse the fiction section in a crouch, knees somehow totally under your skirt, flicking aside spines of skinny books for something you can read at lunch time. Something that doesn’t require much attention, and could be read in short intervals. You used to demand a half hour to yourself when you first started teaching, but that was before the lonely kids started cropping up. Kids with no friends, or sad smiles, who want company and quiet alike. 

You reach for a pink-spined Japanese translation as a little hand pats your elbow. You’re so used to kids you say, “What’s up?” before you remember you aren’t at work. 

You turn in your crouch to look behind you. “Oh, hi, Jack! What are you doing here?” 

“Me and dad are looking for books.” 

You smile at him genuinely, happy to see your favourite student, even if you’re terrified on the inside at the prospect of his father. He’s the most gentlemanly man you’ve ever met. He’s arduous in how respectful he is, he’s understanding, and he’s tall, dark, and handsome. It is a chilling collection of traits. You stumble whenever you have to talk to him. 

But Jack is easy. You and Jack talk every day. “What sorts of books? Just for fun?” 

“I want to read Super Pup.” 

The kids love Super Pup and his magic bark. You stand promptly, suddenly much taller than Jack as you brush down your skirt. “Wait,” you say. Mr. Hotchner gets called away for work all the time, but he wouldn’t leave Jack alone, would he? “Where’s your dad? You’re not by yourself, are you?” 

Jack laughs. “No! I’m looking for Super Pup! Dad’s tired.” 

You can’t decipher exactly what those two things have to do with each other, but you can guess how panicked his dad will be to find Jack so far from the kid’s section. Fiction is the other side of the library. “How did you end up over here?” You offer your hand. “Should we go back and find your dad?” 

“I saw your skirt, Miss L/N. I like the flowers.”

He takes your hand, clumsy to your gentleness. “Thanks, honey. Let’s go find dad before he calls his scary friends and has your name on the news.” 

You get to the kids section slowly. Endearingly so, but nerve-wracking, too, because Mr. Hotchner can be intimidating. Jack likes holding your hand, you think, clinging to your fingers as he guides you across the library, past the staircase down to the first floor, and back to the kids section. 

“Jack?” Mr. Hotchner asks loudly, turned away from you both near the graphic novel selection. “Jack.” 

“Mr. Hotchner,” you say. 

“Dad!” 

He spins on his heel. His shoulders relax noticeably, but the stress in his gaze remains. 

“Jack, I said stay where I can see you,” he says, not half as scolding as he could be as Jack lets go of your hand and runs to his legs, where he stops. “Please, buddy. You gotta listen to me.” 

Jack turns between you and his dad with a smile, “But look, it’s Miss L/N.” 

“I can see,” he says softly. 

Mr. Hotchner leans down, taking Jack up into his arms with impressive ease, and begins the walk to you where you’ve stayed. 

“I hope he didn’t interrupt you,” he says. 

“Please,” you say, “he’s my favourite. Just–” You wince. “Don’t tell anybody at school I said that, Jack. Please.” 

“I think we can keep this secret,” Mr. Hotchner says. 

“He was just telling me that you’re looking for Super Pup. If you don’t find it, we have copies at the school library. And we can always order you one.” 

Mr. Hotchner gives you a small, and what you know to be rare, smile. “I don’t think he even looked.” 

“I did look!” Jack disagrees, though his disagreement barely has any attitude to it, a credit to his upbringing. 

“You clearly weren’t looking in the right place.” 

“I was too. How would you know, you were sleeping!” 

“I wasn’t sleeping,” Mr. Hotchner says to you. 

You tuck your hands behind your back. “It’s okay, Mr. Hotchner, I believe you. In my classroom we like to say we’re resting our eyes.” 

“Aaron,” he says, as he says whenever you speak to each other, and as you always forget to call him. Not a demand but a suggestion you’d swear to be bordering affectionate. 

You’ve been Jack’s teacher for two months this year, and almost the entire year previously. In the summer when they leave, you’ll find out if you’re moving up a grade with him, but until then, you’ve made the most of such a nice kid, and you aren’t shy to tell that to Aaron. You don’t mind that Jack spends his lunch time with you. He embodies all of the reasons that pushed you to become a teacher in the first place. 

And his father is a good reason to stay. He’s one of the only nice (hot) dads. 

You do worry often that he can read your expression. His lips have quirked into a bemused smile, what’s so funny? He���s terrifying. 

“Aaron,” you rush to say, and fill the silence you’ve made, “It’s nice to see you.” 

“It’s nice to see you, too. You’ll see me on Monday, so you’ll be sick of me by Tuesday.” 

You rock ever so gently on your heels. “You aren’t working.” 

“It’s Jack’s birthday.” 

You nod, pleased. “I know! I know, we already talked about what cupcakes he wants, didn’t we? Everybody’s gonna have rainbow sprinkle, and for a treat we’re going to watch a movie before lunch.” 

“Do you do that for every kid?” 

“I do.” 

“How do you afford it?” He lowers his gaze. “I just mean, it’s expensive to do that for every birthday.” 

“Luckily for me and unluckily for the kids, quite a few of them have birthdays outside of term time. Thirty students is three trays of ten, and that doesn’t usually break the bank, even if things get tight. But… I don’t know, I guess I just have to make room when it does. It’s special to feel special, and,” —you smile, exuberant and a little shy at once, clutching your elbow in your hand— “Jack always makes everybody else feel special. ” 

The boy in question turns into his fathers chest, pleased beyond words. 

Aaron gives you a long, long look. “Thank you,” he says. 

“Oh, you’re welcome.” 

You say goodbye to Aaron and Jack and wish them both a good weekend, which you spend wondering what the pressure of Aaron’s hand would be like on your shoulder, and if you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking about it at all. He seems like he’d give a good hug. You catch yourself picturing him opening a door and ban yourself from thinking of him at all. 

Monday morning, you stand at the door ushering your students inside, and you can’t help beaming when Jack and Aaron arrive. 

“Aw, Jack, where’s your birthday badge?” you ask, fall air nipping your nose. 

“He was feeling too shy,” Aaron says. He’s in casual dress again. Some men should be banned from half-zips, it’s inhumane. 

“You were?” You bend just a bit, hand in your pocket. “Well, I thought you might be, so I brought my badge from home. It’s super shiny, bud. What do you think?” 

You show Jack the badge, It’s My Birthday in silver against a rainbow backdrop. 

Maybe it was silly to bring, but you had a feeling he wouldn’t want to wear one, and maybe he should. He deserves for all his friends to give him some attention, and to have them fight over who gets to sit with him at lunch. 

“We have something for you,” Jack says. 

You stand straight. “You do?” 

Aaron hadn’t been expecting to be the one to give it to you, that much is obvious. He hesitates for a second before he passes you a small brown box, the top of which is made up of four leaves folded into a dome. You have an inkling of what it might me. 

“Thank you… Can I open it now?” you ask. 

“I think you should wait for lunch,” Aaron says. 

You raise your eyebrows but abide by his suggestion, murmuring another thank you as Aaron bends to give Jack a hug. “Have a good day. I’ll be here to pick you up, I promise,” he says.

It’s a great day. The kids are excited for cupcakes and overjoyed to get them before lunch. Not a crumb goes uneaten, and as they all sing for Jack with his borrowed badge, he’s actually happy for the attention. He doesn’t eat with you at lunch, which is a great thing even if you love his company. 

Alone, you fold back the leaves of your mysterious box and smile like an idiot when you confirm what’s inside. A cupcake slightly more sophisticated than rainbow sprinkle spreads icing across the brown carrier, and a business card leans against the other side. 

The front of the card is as you’d expected it to be spelling out Aaron’s contact details from work, and you combust thinking he wants you to call him, but it’s the back that you’d been meant to see. You read it as you fold down the leaves of the cupcake carrier, 

Thirty students, three trays of ten. What does that leave for you? —Aaron. 

Flirt, you think firmly, happily. He’s such a flirt. 

[turtles-invoked]

What if Dean sleeps better when Cas is around?

I know, I know. All he needs is his four hours. And that’s all he “needs” because he’s trained himself to be a light sleeper. To be on constant look out for danger, to protect Sam. And maybe that’s why he’s irritable most of the time, because that’s not rest. He’s exhausted.

But with Castiel around, an angel, who doesn’t sleep, Dean finds himself napping when he usually wouldn’t.

Like at the bunkers dining table, Cas and Sam are going over the lore. Dean’s eyes start to ache so he leans back, crosses his feet at his ankles, his arms over his chest, and allows himself to doze off.

When he wakes what feels like a couple minutes later, Sam is no where around but Cas is still there, in the same spot, just sitting there. Not reading, not watching Dean, but just sitting, just being.

“Hello, Dean,” he’ll greet as Dean sits up, rubs his face, and checks the time to realise he’s been asleep for half an hour.

“Where’s Sam?” He asks sitting up straight and looking around.

“Burrito run.”

Dean breathes and relaxes and when Sam returns, they eat and continue research

Or when…

Between cases Sam and Dean would do movie nights. They’d sit on the couch in front of the TV, Sam’s Netflix loaded, and a big bowl of popcorn between them. Sometimes Cas would join, and everytime he did, Dean would nod off towards the end of the movie.

Like tonight. Cas picked a sappy Disney movie, Dean’s not even sure he knows what it’s about but his eyes have been closed for most of the movie. Cas is into it, and Sam hasn’t complained.

There’s been a few times now Dean has jolted himself awake, his head lulling then his eyes closing heavier, and heavier, until his jolts himself up again, this time bumping Cas, knocking the bowl of popcorn slightly, a few kernels littering his lap.

He mumbles a sheepish, “sorry,” and sits back upright. But he feels it happening again. He leans his head back, but that hurts his neck so he repositions himself slightly hunched and arms crossed.

He feels Cas lean into his side a bit, their shoulders touching now. Dean swallows the butterflies and sinks into the couch a little further, his head now in line with Cas’ shoulder. He leans to his right and ever so slowly, sinks his head onto the support next to him. He closes his eyes and within seconds he’s asleep, and drooling slightly, on Cas’ shoulder.

He doesn’t wake until the movies down and Cas taps a hand on his thigh, gently stirring him out of his slumber.

Or how about…

During a hunt they go back to their motel to get some rest. Sam falls asleep very quickly, his big brother watching over him. Dean tosses and turns for an hour and a half before he walks to the bathroom to splash some water on his face.

He stares at his exhausted face in the mirror, bags under his eyes, hair a mess and sighs. He runs his damp hands through his hair and walks back out. Sitting at the edge of his bed is none other than Cas, examining the gold knife on Dean’s bedside table.

“Hello Dean,” he greets quietly, placing the knife down and looking his way.

Dean huffs out a sigh and gives him a weak smile, walking over and sitting next to him.

“No progress?” He asks probably already knowing the answer.

“No,” Dean replies.

“Trouble sleeping?”

“Most nights,” Dean admits truthfully, his cheeks warming at the admission.

Cas nods, “I’ll watch over you,” he says matter of factly.

“That’s not necessary,” Dean chuckles scratching the back of his neck nervously, but Cas had already risen off of Dean’s bed and towards the kitchen.

Dean sat still and listened to the sound of the angel making himself comfy at the little round table before he allowed himself to get comfy in the bed.

Dean tucked himself in, shut his eyes, and listened as Cas read through one of Sam’s books they he had left out, the pages turning every couple of minutes until he fell asleep.

Or even when….

They were driving back to the bunker, a 13 hour trip. Dean can feel himself having to squint every couple of blinks to keep the tired out of his eyes. They’re only half way through but they didn’t sleep the night before.

“Dean?” Cas asks from the passenger seat, worry tracing his voice.

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” he says pulling the car over when the bank opens up wide enough.

Sam stirs in the back and sits up, “my turn?” He asks sleepily.

“Yeah,” Dean sighs and gets out of the car, stretching wide. He wipes his face and waits for Sam to peel himself out of the back seat.

Cas gets out too and Dean shoots him a questioning stare, “I would like to sit with you.” Is all he says.

Dean feels his face flush, “dude, the whole point is so I can lay down and sleep.” He says as Sam stretches, and downs a bottle of water. He hands another to Dean who takes a few sips before lidding it.

“Okay,” Cas says as if the situation was obvious to him and still gets into the back.

Sam looks at Dean, eyebrows high and a smirk plastered on his face as he chuckles and takes his seat behind the wheel.

Dean rolls his eyes, sighs, then wipes his hands down his face before climbing into the back.

They take off and Dean leans his head against the window closing his eyes, but every now and then a bump in the road knocks his head off and it’s starting to become uncomfortable. He lifts his head up and leans back. It’s not as uncomfortable but his neck hurts in this position. He sits back up and rubs his eyes.

“Dean,” Cas whispers.

He looks over to him, his left arm is resting along the back of the bench, his right beside him in his lap, his hand taps his thigh twice gently.

Dean swallows and looks out his window, his heart suddenly pounding but the need for sleep is so strong. He looks at Sam who doesn’t seem to be paying any attention to them then back to Cas who looks out his own window as Dean turns to him. He sighs a little, feeling less pressured without Cas’s intense gaze on him.

He licks his lips and glances at Sam one last time and, yep, he’s definitely not paying them any attention. So Dean scoots closer to his door before he lays down, his head rested on Cas’s thigh. He lays as still as possible, waiting for any mocking, or laughing, but it doesn’t come.

He allows himself to breathe more deeply before he shuffles around, getting more comfortable. He scooches his head up a little further so his neck is supported by Cas’s leg and tucks his arms under his chin. He breaths out and immediately feels himself relax.

He’s almost asleep when he feels Cas’s fingers on his head, gently massaging the scalp then running his fingers through his hair. It’s heavenly, and makes the weight in Dean’s eyes feel heavier and without any effort, he falls asleep to Cas playing with his hair.

When he wakes it’s light out, and there’s a weight along his side. He blinks and sits up before he realises Cas had his arm resting on him. He feels the blush rush to his cheeks and down his neck as Sam greets him, “good morning, sleep well?” With amusement tinged in his voice.

Dean doesn’t reply to him but damn he feels well rested despite the ache in his hips. He looks around him and notices the familiar sights of Kansas. They’re probably 40 minutes away from being home. “Breakfast?” Sam asks as they pull into a parking lot of a locally owned diner.

They pop in and order the special: bacon, eggs, avocado, sausages, with sourdough, and coffee of course Cas sat there patiently sipping his coffee, not that he needs it but he knew Dean would finish it after his own (which he does). And before they know it they’re on the road again, Dean driving, Sam in the passenger, and Cas in the back behind Dean, one hand braced on the back of the chair and if every now and then a finger brushed through the hairs on the back of his neck, they didn’t talk about it.

The rest of that day was spent showering, and scrubbing the dirt and blood off of themselves followed by some lounging around. They watched movies, ate too much, and knocked off early. But Dean couldn’t sleep. He laid staring at the ceiling for quite some time, tossed and turned for hours before the early hours of dawn crept up on him.

He got up, put his robe on and pattered out to the kitchen to start a fresh pot. Cas following moments after, “why are you up so early?”

Dean turned around and leaned against the counter, arms folded, “couldn’t sleep.”

Cas tilted his head and squinted at him slightly, “at all?”

Dean shook his head.

“You could have told me,” he says with a frown.

Dean shrugged. And filled his cup with fresh coffee and sat at the table sipping it, Cas across him. They sat in comfortable silence while Dean caffeinated himself.

The next couple of nights follow much the same. Dean tosses and turns, and only sleeps when exhaustion renders him unconscious in the early hours of the morning. Even then he only gets an hour or two, three max. He’ll wake up before the sun, then shuffle into the kitchen for coffee and sit in silence with Cas until Sam wakes.

“What is going on with you?” Sam asks him one afternoon after he’s tried to clean the dishes and stack them in the microwave. This isn’t the first mishap either. A book was found in the freezer this morning, and yesterday a mug shattered in the oven as Sam started to pre-heat it for dinner.

“Nothing, nothing I’m fine-”

“You’re not fine,” Sam says wiping the plates and putting them in the cupboard where they belong.

“I’m just a little tired, man, nothing a couple of hours won’t fix,” he waves off and sits at the table across from Cas, out of the way of Sam’s cooking.

“You have had a total of 5 hours and 43 minutes sleep in the last 4 days,” Castiel announces without lifting his head from his book.

“And who’s counting?” Dean asks a little creeped out.

“Seriously, Dean? You’re going to kill yourself if you don’t get a decent nights sleep,” Sam scolds coming over to stand next to Cas, scowling down at Dean.

“I’m not trying to not sleep, I can’t help it!” He yells back.

“Well how can we help you?” Sam asks taking a seat. Dean can’t look at the concern on his little brothers face. He looks to Cas who appears to be just as concerned, his deep blue eyes gazing at him so intently, Dean decides to look at the table and shrug.

“We could try some tea? De-caf, obviously, or see if Rowena has some minor spells?” Sam rattles

“No. No witches, no magic,” Dean objects immediately.

“Tea it is. And no screen time after dinner,” he says getting back up to attend to their meal.

“I could help?” Cas suggests quietly.

Dean feels his stomach flip. He leans back in his seat, arms crossed, “nah man, it’s nothing I can’t handle,” he says pointedly not looking at Cas.

Deans situation isn’t brought up again but after dinner, and clean up, Sam turns all of the overhead lighting off, leaving a few low light lamps and brews a camomile tea. Dean drinks is unwillingly and tries to stop the fuss from Sam.

Cas left while the boys ate, and come back with what appeared to be lavender scented…. Well everything. He got body wash, shampoo, candles, moisturiser, room spray, hell even a body oil.

“Jesus, Cas, what am I going to do with half of this stuff?” He says inspecting the body oil.

“Use it,” he replies simply, and Dean rolls his eyes, “I’ll smell like a chick,” he says lifting up the room spray.

“No, you will smell like lavender.”

Dean rolls his eyes and downs the last mouthful of his tea.

He rinses he cup and places it beside the sink before coming back and grabbing the bag of goods off of the table, “I guess I’ll… use these… now,” he says awkwardly and heads for the bathroom.

Sam bids his goodnight and thanks Cas for his help with Dean with a clap on the shoulder.

Dean will not admit it out loud, but the body wash and shampoo actually smells pretty good. Once he finishes, he rubs a little bit of the moisturiser on his chest and shoulders but he’s not using the body oil, god damnit.

He changes into his sweats and an old shirt and padders his way down the hall and into his room. He only startles a little when he sees Cas sitting at the end of his bed.

“Whatchya doing?” He asks placing his dirty cloths in the hamper in the corner.

“I will watch over you tonight,” he says simply.

“No. Thank you,” Dean says awkwardly standing in front of Cas.

Cas cocks his head to the side and stands, “I don’t understand. You tend to sleep better with my presence near, yet you are so adamant on me not being here.”

“Yeah well… you… I- I dunno, it’s creepy,” he deflects and walks past Cas to sit on the edge of his bed, hiding his burning face from Cas’s gaze.

“What if I stay only until you fall asleep?” Cas offers.

Dean wants bad to say yes, to admit that he has no trouble sleeping with Cas around. That he can’t stop thinking about Cas running his fingers through his hair, or massaging his scalp. But he can’t.

“Cas-” he starts to protest again.

“Why won’t you let me help you?” Cas asks again taking a step closer to Dean.

“Because I-” but he can’t continue.

“Please?” Cas pleads softly.

“Fine,” Dean says in a huff, “but no angel powers,” he says.

“Then how would I-” he stops suddenly and his gaze softens, “oh.”

Deans body is on fire now. This is so embarrassing, “you know what. No. I change my mind. I’m fine,” be says and lays in his bed and faces the other way.

He feels the bed dip beside him, the clunk of shoes being taken off, some shuffling, then a knee digging into his back. But then there’s a hand in his hair and another rested on his waist and he squints his eyes closed as hard as he can to stop the emotions spreading in his chest.

“Is this okay,” Cas asks softly.

Dean hums a “mhm,” not trusting his voice to come out even. Cas’s fingers apply firm pressure from the base of his skull all the way to the top, then he gently runs his nails back down. He does this a few times before changing directions, sometimes gently pulling at his hair as he runs his hand back down.

Dean fights sleep hard. Because he’s never had someone touch him like this, so gentle, and sweet, and without asking for anything in return. Without any ill intention, without any expectation of him. Cas touches him to simply help him drift off to sleep. And it hits Dean hard, how much this angel must care for him to sit here for as long as it takes for Dean to slip into slumber.

His eyes prick and sting and then there’s a warm trace from the corner of his eye, down his cheek that sinks into his pillow.

“Dean?” Cas whispers. But he doesn’t reply.

“Are you alright?” He asks again, his hand stilling.

“Yeah,” Dean whispers back.

“Are you sure,” Cas asks leaning forward a bit.

Dean nods and Cas continues again.

Dean fights sleep a little more before he feels himself start to drift off and Cas’s hands leave him.

“Don’t go,” he mumbles.

“Okay,” Cas says but gets up still.

“Please stay,” he whispers, not wanting to beg any louder.

“Of course,” Cas replies. There’s a ruffle of clothes and then the flick of the light switch. The room plunges into darkness and then there’s the weight in the bed again. Only this time, there isn’t a knee in his back, but a warmth of another body laying beside him. Cas pulls the blankets up over them, then he’s pressed up against his back, an arm snakes around his waist and dangles over his belly, tracing light swirls into the fabric.

Dean keeps his eyes shut and slows his breathing and after he calms down he drifts into a peaceful slumber.

[nxuvillette]

“COME AND STRIP IT DOWN, BABY.”

GENSHIN MEN SEEING YOU IN LINGERIE

synopsis: you got the opportunity to get some lingerie, what will your boyfriend think?

❥- including : neuvillette, alhaitham, arataki itto, zhongli

❥- note : came up with this on a whim. i honestly wanna go wear some lingerie for neuvillette now ! hope you guys enjoy 🩶 reblogs are appreciated !

content warnings : nsfw [17+], fem!reader, ageless blogs dni, lingerie wearing, established relationships, mentions of food (alhaitham), praising, horny men in public (zhongli + alhaitham), use of pet names (baby , darling), reader is a bit shy.

♡ NEUVILLETTE

neuvillette was actually the one who purchased the lingerie for you. it was a gift for your anniversary. he remembered you eyeing the piece of clothing when walking by the store, so he noted that and later bought it for you. 

he had yet to see it on you. he was dealing with a lot of responsibilities at work and sometimes he would come home pretty late. it was something he really disliked because he would much rather spend time with you instead, but his job as the iudex was taxing and he couldn’t do much about the workload. you two didn’t have as much intimacy as you would have liked, but regardless you both loved each other dearly.

it had been an exhausting day for neuvillette. he spent a majority of his time filling out paperwork and handling trials. all he wanted was to go home and feel your embrace. he even considered leaving work and coming home early just to spend a little more time with you. 

when he arrived home, he noticed it was kind of quiet. neuvillette was used to you coming towards the front door as soon as he entered, but you were nowhere to be seen. he wondered if you were out with your friends possibly, or maybe you were in bed taking a nap. regardless, he went upstairs to your shared bedroom to investigate. he figured he could take a shower if you weren’t home and he would wait for you until you came back, but that wasn’t the case at all.

his eyes landed on you sitting on the bed with the white lingerie he had bought you previously. a slight blush dusted over his cheeks at the sight of you wearing it. the swell of your breasts were enough to distract him, and the curvatures of your body being exposed through the tight fabric made all of the blood rush to his cock. 

“w-welcome home! i missed you..” you said, feeling a bit shy now that his eyes were fully on you. it was like he was undressing you with them. 

neuvillette stepped towards you, loosening his tie and removing his jacket. his hands were immediately exploring your body. it was almost like the first time he had sex with you. he couldn’t stop himself where he touched. your skin was soft like silk and the aroma of your perfume was intoxicating to him. “so beautiful.. i missed you even more, darling.” he pecked your lips, nibbling on your bottom lip. 

your arms went around his neck. he was so handsome. you didn’t know how a man like him fell for you. “like it?” you asked, raising your eyebrows. 

he chuckled, taking one of the straps and slapping it against your skin. a surprised yelp escaped your mouth when it made contact and the sudden stinging sensation spread around your flesh. “i love it..” he whispered against your lips. “i’ll love it even more when i tear it off of you..”

♡ ALHAITHAM

you and your boyfriend decided to go out for a little shopping trip. alhaitham finally had gotten a day free from his responsibilities, so you decided to take full advantage of his time to go out with him. he didn’t mind it much. he never says it out loud but spending time with you always made his days a lot better.

you both went around the different shops in sumeru. there were some fruits you decided to pick up and buy and you even browsed some clothing in a store that had just opened up. alhaitham didn’t mind spoiling you whatsoever. he loved seeing your smiling face whenever he brought a gift for you, or paid for something you wanted. even if you tried to tell him no, he insisted on making sure to fulfill that payment. it didn’t matter how much mora it was. 

it didn’t take long for you to end up at the lingerie store. you had gone in there a few times on your own, but you never really bought anything. you didn’t really know if your boyfriend liked lingerie or would want to see you in it. alhaitham quickly took notice of the clothing items on the mannequins inside. he was a little surprised to see that you had a pretty bra and panty set in your hand. it was a forest green color and it made lewd thoughts rush into his brain at the idea of you wearing it in front of him.

he trailed behind you as you entered a dressing room. some women emerged and entered the hall he was standing in, but he didn’t mind that at all. alhaitham wanted to see you. if he was feeling bold, he would have stepped right into the space with you so he could watch you undress. you just drove him crazy. 

the door opened suddenly, and alhaitham’s throat went dry when his eyes landed on you. he was right, the green looked amazing on your body. you seemed a little shy, judging by the fact that you hesitated to open the door fully. “like it..?” you asked, avoiding eye contact with him. 

he stepped towards the door to get a better view of your body in the lingerie. alhaitham couldn’t help but touch your waist and run his fingers along the hem of the bottoms. “i love it..” he couldn’t remove his eyes from you. there was just so much to look at. “i’ll buy it for you.”

you weren’t exactly shocked that he offered to pay for it, but you did like how it looked on you. “alright!” you replied, going to shut the door so you could change out of it.

he stopped you from closing it, causing curiosity to creep upon you. you were somewhat confused by his sudden action. “better wear it when we get home.. because i don’t think i’m going to stop myself.” he whispered, making your face burn with embarrassment.

♡ ARATAKI ITTO

itto was quite a spontaneous boyfriend. he often did things at random and he was very explosive about it. he had a very big personality, but none of that bothered you. he was a sweet boyfriend and you loved him more than you loved life itself. 

he spent a lot of his time with his gang, so sometimes you wouldn’t see him until he arrived home in the evening. an idea had crossed your mind when you were out and about in inazuma. you wanted to surprise your boyfriend with a little something, so you decided to buy some lingerie to wear for him. you two hadn’t ever done something like that before and you thought he would like it. itto was always up for a new challenge or to try out something he’s never done before.

it was kind of late, but you were expecting itto to walk in at any moment. 

you were wearing a pretty one piece that was maroon. the girl inside the store said it was new and a lot of people loved it, so you decided to take her up on the offer. it was a bit tight, but it wasn’t too harsh to where you were struggling to move in it. to be fair, you have never tried out lingerie before. 

your bedroom door suddenly opened and itto appeared in front of you. he was about to speak, but when he saw you sitting on the bed with the clothing on, he completely forgot what he wanted to say. itto couldn’t stop staring. his mouth fell agape and he could feel his cock harden inside of his pants. he thought you looked so fucking gorgeous. his day was already pretty good, but this made it even better than it was. his favorite girl in bed with pretty lingerie? what could get better than that?

“hehe! oh, fuck! baby, you look fucking fantastic!” he grinned, crouching to your level so he could get a closer look at your body. 

you shivered when itto’s fingers made contact with your skin. they felt a little cold from him being outside, but it felt so nice to feel. “really..? i’m glad!” you looked at him with bright eyes. you were relieved that he actually liked it. you weren’t exactly sure if he was into it or not. 

itto then pushed you backwards onto the bed so he could crawl over you. he could hardly contain himself and his body was growing feverishly hot. “fuck.. i love this so much.. i’m gonna make sure you feel good all night.” he said, then unbuckled his belt.

♡ ZHONGLI

it was actually zhongli’s idea to go and take you shopping. he often liked going out with you and walking around the different shops in liyue. another plus was that he got to spend his time with you. he didn’t always have the free time he desired, so being able to experience it with you felt really nice.

he paused when he saw a shop that was unfamiliar to him, because he hadn’t seen it around before. he vaguely recalled the space being vacant for many months, so he assumed that it was a new store that just opened up. it didn’t seem that busy, but zhongli quickly realized what kinds of things they were selling for women. he could see the mannequins in the window that were dressed with different kinds of lingerie. zhongli had an idea, so he motioned for you to follow him inside.

seeing the inside made you feel a little flustered. you didn’t know zhongli would have the idea to come inside this kind of shop, but nonetheless the lingerie was quite great quality. there were ones with special designs or really pretty bras with matching panties to go with them. 

zhongli had picked one out for you to try. it was a one piece that was black and there were specks of gold stitched into the fabric. it was beautiful, so you decided to try it on. 

he patiently waited outside of the changing room. it took you several minutes to get it on, but once you stepped out for your boyfriend to see, all of that shyness inside of you faded. zhongli was absolutely enthralled with how perfect you looked in the lingerie. “my.. you look gorgeous, darling.” he stood up to lift your chin with his finger. “so beautiful.. look at yourself.

you were taken by surprise when zhongli turned you around so you were both facing the mirror inside of the room. goosebumps littered your skin when you felt his bulge pressing against your ass. “it looks.. nice! i like the colors.” you smiled, looking at him through the glass. 

zhongli nodded his head, squeezing one of your tits. a gasp escaped your mouth from how unexpected it was, but it felt really good. “i’ll love it more when i fuck you in it..” he chuckled.

© NXUVILLETTE ┆ all rights reserved, do not repost, translate, or claim as your own.

[imtherain]

Don't Call Me Daddy

Heyo

Have a Reacher (from the Amazon show) fic. It's about 3k words and it's smut.

Reacher x plus sized!reader

Warnings: use of daddy (but as a joke), p in v, oral (fem receiving), mild teasing from the team, drinking, idk it's smut, nothing crazy.

Anywho

“Come on, spill,” David goaded before taking another swig of his beer. The others were chuckling along, but not pressing as hard. “Tell us how the big guy treats you,” 

“I don’t kiss and tell,” You tell him, which is only partly a lie. Truth was you hadn’t kissed Reacher yet, so there was nothing to tell.

“I’m not buying it,” David said. “I’ve seen the way you look at each other,” 

“It’s just professional,” You pressed. 

“Good, I don’t really want to think about what the boss looks like naked,” Neagly shuddered at the idea.

“I mean, you see the shirts he wears, it’s not like you couldn’t figure it out,” You teased her. She shook her head, mock disgust, and took a long drink of her beer. 

“You’re the worst,” Neagly told you, but there was no venom in it.

“What’s got you all so chatty,” Reacher asked, joining the table after his phone call outside. 

The group was in between moments in a case. Just waiting for a shoe to drop or a lead to pan out. Naturally, that meant hanging out at the pub across the street from the little motel they’d camped out in. 

Or, if you were Dixon, taking a nap to stave off a headache. But she had been avoiding hanging out too much, so you wondered if there was something else going on there.

“OD was trying to convince Y/N to tell us what you’re like in bed,” Neagly tattled instantly. Reacher’s eyebrows went up.

“Oh really?” He asked.

“I told him I don’t kiss and tell, but he’s insistent that I spill the beans,” You look up at him, hoping your want of him wasn’t as obvious to him as it felt. You knew the group was getting good at reading you though. You hadn’t worked with them long, not compared to the history the others all shared, but it felt a lot like you’d never been anywhere else. And they acted like you were one of them, which was nice except for the teasing.

“That’s not a bad policy,” Reacher took the seat next to you and picked up his beer. Casually, he put his arm across the back of your chair, acting as though it was just because it was more comfortable to be spread out in such a way.

“At least tell us if he’s good or not,” David said.

“Why do you care?” Reacher frowned.

“Gotta be sure you’re taking care of our new girl,” David dismissed Reacher’s annoyance easily.

“Sure,” Reacher rolled his eyes. “I think it’s time to change the subject,” 

“I bet she calls you “Daddy”,” David snorted. When you blushed scarlet David pointed at you while swallowing his latest swig of beer. “See! See!” 

“Fine, you caught us, we have nasty, nasty sex, and I call him “Daddy”,” You told David flatly, trying not to die from embarrassment. “Can we drop it now?” 

Your blush only deepened when Reacher’s fingers stroked your back carefully. You glanced up at him and he seemed to be asking if you were alright. He obviously knew the two of you had not had sex, so he was worried David’s teasing had hurt you in some way. God, you wished you could make him yours, but you knew better. 

Reacher liked women like Dixon. Tall, wicked smart, good at fighting, and drop dead beautiful. Long hair and perfect skin…

Thin.

You were none of those things except maybe tall, though next to Reacher you looked short. Most people looked short next to the mountain of a man, to be fair. But you were also wide, all hips and soft flesh, broad shoulders. You did have some skill with a gun, but not nearly as much as Neagly with her sniper skills. You wondered sometimes why they kept you around.

“Yeah,” David seemed to have finally read the room and let it drop.

About an hour later David was about to pass out and Neagly had to practically drag him back to his room for the night. 

“I’ll hang out with him, make sure he doesn’t die in his sleep or whatever,” Neagly said, giving Reacher a look you didn’t understand. “So you two have a nice night,” 

“Night Neals,” You said.

“Goodnight Neagly,” Reacher echoed. 

“So,” Reacher turned to you, his arm still on the back of your chair. “Want another round, or should I walk you back?” 

“What were you thinking?” You asked, trying not to dwell too much on how you’d be sharing a room with him soon. You were professional, but everyone has their limits. You just hoped there would be two beds.

The thought of his warmth beside you under the sheets made your thighs clench.

“I’m thinking I’d like to walk you back,” Reacher finished his beer in one final swig and stood. You finished your drink and followed him outside.

The hotel was just across the parking lot and the cool night air did wonders for the warmth on your face.

“Why didn’t you tell them we hadn’t had sex yet?” Reacher asked, seemingly out of nowhere. 

You ignored the ‘yet’.

“David was drunk and I knew he wouldn’t give it up, so I just let him believe what he wanted to,” You shrugged. The silence drew on a bit too long while he mulled that over.

“Should we do it, prove him right?” Reacher finally asked as he opened the door to the motel room. It was one of those rooms that never quite looked clean, but it would do for the couple of nights you and the team were staying there.

“Excuse me?” You stumbled on your tongue at the forwardness of his question.

“Do you want to have sex with me?” Reacher asked, turning to look down at you. You found yourself looking at his shoes.

“I mean…” You stammered. “Sure, who wouldn’t? But you don’t have to…” His hand on your chin made the backpedal die on your tongue as he pulled your face up to look at him.

“I want to,” 

“Why would you want to?” There was no malice in the ask, just curiosity and about a million years of thinking you weren’t good enough. Of thinking no one wanted you like that.

Especially not someone like him.

Reacher had the audacity to shrug.

“Because I like you… you’ve been extremely helpful to the case, you’re funny, and I can’t stop staring at your ass in those jeans,” something hot flashed through you at his words.

“Oh,” Your face was hot again.

“I need a yes or a no,” Reacher said carefully. He moved to take a bit of your hair between his fingers to play with it for a moment.

You thought about all the reasons to run from him, to run from the situation. To hide behind old insecurities and all the reasons other men before him had given you, telling you exactly why you weren’t worth it.

“Please sweetheart, I need an answer,” Reacher’s other hand made its way to your hip and the pet name hit you square in the chest, knocking the debate right on its ass.

“Yes,” You answered finally. “Please Reacher,” You looked into his face as a grin spread across it.

Then he leaned in and kissed you.

At first it was gentle, a test, a tease. Then he got hungry and his hands got greedy, the one on your face digging into your hair and the one on your hip pulling you flush with his broad chest. You couldn’t help the moan that escaped you at the feel of him.

“Just don’t call me “Daddy”,” Reacher said with a smirk.

“Aww, why not?” You teased back.

“Not my thing,” He said before reaching for the hem of your shirt. It came off easily over your head and before you could feel self conscious about the swells of your stomach, he leaned down to kiss you, moving easily to your neck to leave open mouth kisses along your shoulders. Your hands bunched up in his tshirt, pulling him closer as the sensations of his mouth rocked through you.

Reacher paused again, long enough to drop his jacket and pull his tshirt off. He kicked off his boot as his hands made short work of his pants and boxers.

You couldn’t help the giggle that escaped you at him being so eager to be naked.

“What?” Reacher asked, standing there as though his dick wasn’t out.

“You’re very naked,” You said, face red again. He was even more gorgeous than you’d imagined he’d be. All perfect planes of muscle and golden skin. 

The kind of man people wrote stories about.

“And you’re not,” Reacher reached for your pants next, watching your face from the corner of his eye to make sure you were still ok with all this. “Let’s fix that.” 

Off came your pants and suddenly Reacher had you lifted into his arms, your legs wrapped around his waist to keep balance as he carried you to the bed.

“I knew you were strong, but who knew you were this strong?” You giggled. You hadn’t been picked up in years, and not without a lot of grunting and straining. It was nice to be manhandled without the commentary. He fell forward with you onto the bed, careful not to bury you under his own weight. 

“What? Like you’re heavy?” Reacher teased, connecting his lips to the skin along your collarbones. He made his way between the valley of your breasts until he remembered he could take your bra off.

“Well, I’m not exactly small,” 

“Neither am I,” He agreed. “So what?” 

“You’re something else,” You sighed, smirking at him while he tried to remove your bra while you were still laying on it. You adjusted so he could get to the hooks and he descended on you as soon as the fabric came free. You gasped, back arching, at the sensation of his mouth sucking hard on your nipple.

You felt Reacher chuckle against you as your hand buried itself in his hair.

“Fuck, that feels good,” You murmured as he moved to the other one. “I knew you’d be good with that mouth, Daddy,” You weren’t sure what possessed you to tease him like that, especially considering you finally had him where you wanted him, but it slipped out anyway.

Reacher pulled back to look at you, incredulous.

“Don’t call me that,” He said, serious, but no bite.

“But Daddy,” You teased again, enjoying the unimpressed look on his face. 

“I can stop,” He warned. You giggled a little but shook your head at him.

“I’m sorry, it’s just funny,” You told him, tugging at the hair at the base of his skull.

“If you say so,” Reacher rolled his eyes but leaned back in to kiss you. You held onto him while he moved his hips against your still clothed core, teasing a whine from your throat that he swallowed.

Reacher kissed his way down your neck and moved himself off the end of the bed.

“Where you going?” You asked, confused until he grabbed your ankles and pulled you flush with the end of the bed, casually shouldering his way under and between your legs.

“I want a taste of you,” Reacher said, reaching up to tease you through your thoroughly ruined panties. His strong fingers stroked you a few times before he pulled the offending fabric down, exposing you to him completely. 

If you weren’t lost to the sensations of Reacher kissing your inner thighs, you might have had the thought to be embarrassed by the growl he let loose when he finally got to the apex of your thighs.

You knew Reacher was good with his mouth, but damn it all if he didn’t keep proving it.

Your thighs constricted around his shoulders as his tongue mercilessly played with your clit. Just when you were about to ask him to slow down, he moved slightly so that he could lick a stripe through your folds, over and over, like a dog with his favorite bone.

“God, Reacher, I’m gonna… I’m gonna,” You tried to hold off, wanting this to last longer, but he was too dead set on pulling your first orgasm from you. He didn’t seem to notice how tightly your legs pressed in on him as your orgasm tore through you.

You tried to pull him off, fist in his hair, but he kept licking until you shuddered from the aftermath of his attentions.

“God damn, Reacher, that was… amazing,” You heaved as he finally gave you a break from his tongue. He kissed the plush of your hip, then the excess of your stomach, landing finally at the valley between your breasts, where he licked a long stripe, simply because he could.

“Want another?” Reacher asked with a lopsided grin. His hands were feeling you, rubbing up and down your hips and thighs, keeping you alight and pliant for him. 

You nodded at him, caressing his face as he nibbled on the skin closest to his mouth, making you squirm. 

“Fingers or are you ready for more?” He asked. You wanted to be surprised by his question, but it really wasn’t a surprise that he wanted to go at your pace. He’d often slowed himself down for others when the moment called for it, and you were thankful he didn’t run head first into sex with you. You weren’t sure you’d have survived it.

“Don’t make me choose,” You whined. 

“Tell me what you want,” 

“You, I want you,” You told him and he chuckled before covering your mouth with his once more. You could still taste the tang of your own release on his lips and somehow it only made you hotter.

“Yeah?” Reacher asked, sounding cocky. You nodded, kissing him again. 

Always more of a man of action, Reacher moved to flip you both so that you were on top of him. You braced yourself on his impressively toned chest, before adjusting, trying not to put too much pressure on him. He didn’t seem to notice nor care about the added weight.

Reacher had his hands on your hips, moving you against his length, teasing you both. When you moaned and began to move on your own, he lifted your hips to line himself up with your waiting heat. 

“Reacher,” you gasped out his name as he filled you all at once. Impossibly deep. He cursed under you, caught in the sensation with you.

You moved your hips again, sliding up and down the length of him without letting him escape your slick warmth. Now Reacher was a moaning mess just as much as you were, his hands tight and grasping at your hips as you squeezed around him. 

You wondered how much he could take. 

So you leaned forward enough to kiss his chest, trailing your tongue along the muscles and smooth skin. He shuddered under you but didn't protest. You kissed your way up to his neck and couldn't resist the urge to sink your teeth into him, just a little bit.

Part of you hoped it wouldn't leave a mark, since the team would surely comment, but part of you hoped it would. If it left a mark you would cherish it. 

“I'm not going to last long if you keep that up,” Reacher’s voice was thick and needy. You rocked your hips against his again and he jerked his up to meet you. 

“I think that's the point, love,” you chuckled, feeling his hot length twitch inside you at the pet name. 

“Call me that again,” he begged. You grinned. So he didn't go for “daddy” but “love” got him?

“Anything for you, love,” you purred against his throat. He groaned loudly, trying to hold himself together and failing. 

“Fuck,” he cursed again and in one easy motion had you flipped on your back again, your legs hoisted over his hips so that he had the leverage he craved to drill into you. It was your turn to groan as he pushed himself impossibly deeper, hitting parts of you that you didn't even know liked being hit. 

“Oh fuck,” you moaned. “I'm gonna cum again,” 

“Good,” 

Your brain cells tried to scatter but you wrangled them enough to form one last coherent thought. 

“Cum for me first, love,” you begged him and with a final groan Reacher spilled himself inside you, filling you to the brim with everything he had to give as you found your release around him.

In the high of your release you didn't realize your fingers had clawed their way across his back, landing in the meat of his arms. When you finally relaxed you felt a little bad at how deep your nails had dug. Those certainly would leave marks.

“Amazing,” Reacher mumbled as he rolled to the side, slipping from your abused center. You whined at the overstimulation but cuddled closer when he reached for you. 

“Not bad yourself, love,” you whispered back. His face broke into a dopey grin. 

“I like how that sounds,” he murmured. You reached out to caress his face as his eyes fluttered closed. 

“Better than "daddy "?” You teased. He grunted as he fought sleep. 

“Much better,” he told you. 

“Ok, “love” it is then,” you moved to kiss him gently and he returned the kiss without asking for more. 

Though you'd have given him more, given him anything, should he have asked.

[Masterlist]

[earlysunshines]

sunshine girl

danielle marsh x fem!reader ; fluff

synopsis: you are not a morning person and danielle is an everything person—after working with her you start to like mornings a little more, or maybe just her.

warnings: grumpy x sunshine kinda?? ; reader is hyein's cousin ; soobin from txt and rest of nwjns mentioned ; pining and slowburn, like.. slooowburn ; sooo much fluff like soooooo much… ; loool anything else i didn't mention? ; barely proofread

a/n: fell in love w dani, caved, wrote... dreamy sigh... dani…

there is no universe or alternate reality with a twisted, psycho version of that you enjoys mornings. 

there is no way that you’d deliberately get out of bed just to hear the birds chirping and get up to open the curtains or whatever it is that morning people do to enjoy the grueling hours of 7 - 11am. 

do people actually do this? get up at 7am willingly without benefitting from it? the only reason you’re up is because you need that paycheck to keep you going. the image of the little envelope with your name on it and what you’ve earned renders you awake, at least awake enough to get yourself in the shower, dressed up, and ready to go for opening – you’ve never opened, and even worse, you’ve never met any of the staff that opened either. they can’t be worse than the closers, can they?

as you look in the mirror of your car, it’s palpable that the morning air hates you. your eyes are a little puffy, slight eyebags are visible, and your blinking is slower. you’ve got to get through this, it’s the only way to fit work into your schedule since your classes are all later in the day. 

when you arrive, there’s already someone in your unassigned but basically assigned parking spot – you frown as you back up into a different place. 

after you shift your car to park and check the time, realizing you only have five minutes left before you need to clock in for a six-hour shift, you close your eyes and let your body go limp against the seat. 

–

danielle’s head perks up when she hears the door opening. she halts her wiping of the coffee maker, then turns to see an unfamiliar face – a grin automatically finds its way to her lips.

“hi! you must be y/n?” it’s eight in the morning, you’re barely functioning, and you’re already hit with an overly enthusiastic, excited ray of sunshine; you can’t take the energy, not at this hour.

“yeah.” you respond bluntly, danielle isn’t really phased with the lack of energy that’s being thrown back. “you are?”

she answers with hands clasped together, “danielle! but my friends call me dani.” 

you’re not calling her dani, you aren’t her friend, and she’s just your coworker. 

you walk behind the counter and put your bag inside the cabinet, then grab your apron and put it on. when you turn to the side, you’re met with a shorter woman, her curious eyes, the beauty marks on her face, and a big smile. she puts her hand out and you shake it hesitantly. 

“it’s nice to meet you y/n! have you ever worked mornings?”

“no,” you mumble, unlinking your hands. “only closing shifts.”

“ahh, must be different? i’ll get you situated. i’m excited to work with you!” she says, then walks past you towards the door to the kitchen. she pauses before explaining, “the employees in the back take care of all the pastries other than the croissants and cookies, so we make them over here. i’m going to grab the premade dough and whatnot, you stay here– oh! and could you wipe down the machine? and then just run water for the espresso machine to get the pucks ready.”

you nod at her and she smiles again. you rub your eyes as she leaves your sight, fighting the urge to take a power nap on the counter.

–

the whole morning you’re in charge of drinks right until it hits two in the afternoon. luckily, you’re more fond of being stuck in your corner where the espresso machine is rather than taking orders and socializing with the customers – you wouldn’t be able to greet them as enthusiastically as danielle does with each and every one of them.

you don’t know how she does it.

there's another guy—soobin—who comes in an hour after you. he's a little older, quieter, but all smiles and talkative when it comes to danielle. even as you make drinks and keep to yourself, you can tell danielle's energy is contagious. hearing her and soobin chat freely as they restock pastries and bread makes you wonder if your mornings can be as bearable. if they can do it, maybe you can too.

soobin leaves an hour later than you and danielle, waving to both of you as you two walk out the bakery. 

you fish for your keys and start to walk towards your car, but then your head turns when you hear your name called out. turning around, you spot danielle waving to you, which urges you to stop in your place.

“hey y/n, i just wanted to say that it was nice working with you! i’m looking forward to more shifts with you, have a great rest of your day alright?”

paused in place, you struggle to form words, but you manage to respond a little bluntly, “thanks, i’ll see you tomorrow.”

“bye the way!” she plays with her fingers, “you’re super pretty.” 

caught by surprise, you pause for a moment, clutching the strap of your bag a little tighter as your ears start to warm.

“thank you.”

danielle grins again, and oddly enough, you really like how warm and smiley she is. she's like a beam of sunlight turned into a person. she waves once more before walking in the opposite direction, leaving you replaying the whole interaction in your head the rest of the way to your car.

a small smile finds its way to your lips as you sit in your seat, strangely enough.

–

minji is scribbling in her sketchbook when her roommate walks in, looking a little more giddy than usual.

“dani, hey.” minji greets her, smiling when she does. “how was work?”

“great!” danielle beams, right before plopping down next to her roommate on the couch. “there’s a new member – well, she’s not new, but she just switched to working mornings. today was her first shift with soobin and i, and she’s really good at making the drinks, better than when yeosang was on drink duty.”

“that’s great to hear dani.” minji responds, watching her roommate relax against the cushion. “new coworker seems nice.”

“yeah but,” danielle frowns a little, “she’s not that talkative. she has a tough shell, i really want to know her! she’s really pretty too, like gorgeous, stunning– wow.”

minji quirks a brow. “gorgeous?”

“yes! like, wow, i was taken aback. she looked tired too, but i’ve been tired and i’ve never looked that effortlessly wonderful. i mean, she was making drinks most of the time so she never faced me much. even then, the side of her face is nice and she’s just great to look at.” 

danielles roommate narrows her eyes at her. “right.”

–

the next morning you’re downing two shots of espresso like it’s vodka. danielle watches the whole thing with concern etched into her brow.

“are you okay y/n?” danielle questions, “espresso is strong, how do you do it?”

you nod at her and mumble, “it’s fine.” before you continue to clean the counter, not turning to face her. she frowns at you; danielle will get through that shell. 

soobin is in half an hour later, grinning at danielle as he puts his apron on and saying “hi” to you as well. you respond with a forced smile before plopping the last batch of cookies in the small oven on the counter. 

as soon as soobin is done taking the first few customers, leaving you to finish their drinks, danielle pulls him by the sleeve away from you.

“dani? what is it–”

“let’s go bag the pastries, come.”

“um, okay?” he walks over towards the shelves with her, putting on some gloves before asking, “why are you being so strange?”

“i want to get closer with y/n.” she says with a pout. 

“is that all?” soobin questions her–and this strange behavior. “i think she’s just timid.”

“you were timid too, but it took two hours into the shift for us to start talking about hedgehogs.”

“well, i like hedgehogs. you have to find out something you two like.”

danielle sighs defeatedly. “she barely responds to me unless it’s work-related!”

“you’ve got to give her time, people are different. she’s probably not a morning person? and maybe she sees this as just her job, maybe she doesn’t want to interact with others.”

danielle watches you from where her and soobin are after hearing you call out the name of the order. you hand it over to the elderly woman, who thanks you warmly and it earns a small, genuine smile from you. danielle finds your smile lovely, especially the small dimples on your cheeks that form. 

“you’re going to help me out, okay? we have to warm up to her.”

soobin sighs before bagging a cream bun. “okay.”

–

it’s painfully slow for a few minutes, so you walk out from behind the counter to fix up the pastries that the various customers have disordered. 

danielle follows and you jump when you turn to see her beaming at you. “hi!”

“danielle,” you tighten your jaw. “hi.”

“it’s slow on wednesday mornings, most people are already at work.”

“i figured.” you reply as you close the packaging for the rice doughnut.

“so, how are you this morning?”

“i’m fine, um, how are you?”

danielle smiles; the conversation is flowing in the tiniest bit, but still, it’s something. “just tired, i had a lot of work to do because one of my professors loves to assign things last minute, i stayed up quite late. are you in college too? i kind of guessed that we’re around the same age.”

“i just started my second year.” you answer.

she jumps a tiny bit to show the excitement over a commonality, you think it’s adorable.

“really? me too! what are you studying?”

“english and creative writing–” you cut yourself off when you catch a mother and her daughter in the corner of your eye, shutting down the conversation immediately when they start to walk towards the register. 

you throw a small smile at them and greet them warmly before tak ingtheir orders. danielle huffs, but she’s shining again once she’s realized that your shell has chipped just barely.

–

you don’t work fridays or the weekend, danielle has already been aware of that after checking the schedule. it would be weird in the eyes of, well, many people, but she checks everyones schedule just in case any mishaps occur, danielle is considerate beyond measure.

she’s attentive and notices many things – she’s like that with everyone, but you? you’re different.

sure, she’s attentive to the way soobin stumbles over the small bump under the door to the kitchen each time he has to grab something from the back, how he jumps each time the phone rings, and how often he bags the pastries backwards. with you, however, she notices a lot, she learns. 

two weeks after you two start working together, danielle has managed to learn three things about you.

one: you laugh whenever soobin slips up – or really any little mishap that happens with him (which occurs often) – but you always try to conceal your amusement. two: as soon as noon hits, you’re much more awake, which is when danielle sparks more conversation with you. and three: you both go to the same university, and you don’t know this, but she figured that out before you even told her after catching you in the dining hall from afar.

it’s not easy to miss something – or someone – that stands out so boldly, especially if it’s your charming visuals.

her job used to be something that she’d get done and enjoy while it lasted, but now that you’re thrown into the mix, a new challenge and person is clouding her mind throughout her days. she’s so tuned in to everything about you, for some strange reason. and one afternoon, the rare moment she loses focus – attention slipping away in the heat of a rush – danielle bumps into you, spilling a small cup of hot coffee all over your hand. 

you gasp loudly, clutching your hand and biting down on your teeth as tears start to form. “fuck–”

“y/n!” danielle almost yelps, earning the attention from the customers in the shop. “oh my gosh–” she places the cup on the counter before grabbing your wrist and running it under cold water. somehow, her holding your wrist seems to burn more. “i’m so so sorry, y/n are you okay? i’m so–”

you shake your head and push her hand away from your wrist, wiping away the small tear in the corner of your eye. “it’s fine, it was an accident. you should go help soobin out, there’s a long line.”

she can’t tell if you’re mad at her, it breaks her heart. the tone of your voice is always so hard to decipher, and as much as she wants to stay there and help you out – probably with another string of apologies – you have a point, she should do her job, but you’re burnt. danielle is much more worried about you rather than making money in the moment.

but still, your look and tone sends danielle back to the register, and before she tends to the customer, she looks back at you, pouting a little.

–

as soon as you reach the door to the drivers side of your car, you feel a tap on your shoulder. 

turning around, you’re met with danielle.

“did you need something?” you ask her, tilting your head.

“no, i just wanted to apologize for burning your hand, i’m so sorry.” 

you shake your head. “it’s alright, it was a mistake.” 

“yes, but still, can i make it up to you with coffee or pastries?”

“danielle,” you catch yourself and danielle by surprise when a small giggle slips out. you clear your throat before continuing, “we work at a bakery, i can always treat myself to both of those without charge.”

“well, i really want to make it up to you.”

“you’re really sweet, but it’s alright.” you catch your coworker off guard with the sudden compliment, there’s a small flush that spreads across her cheeks. “besides, my hand feels better.” you show her your hand, putting it out in front of her, it’s still red and swollen. “it’ll heal more. i’ll see you tomorrow, alright? get home safe danielle.”

danielle can’t really respond to you after that, you’re already waving to her once more before heading to your car. she watches you glance down at your hand, gently holding it as you do so. the guilt in her starts to grow even more.

–

hanni watches danielle storm into the house, rub her face with both hands, and plop onto the couch like she’s just gotten rejected by someone as if she were in some type of romance drama. 

“dani? what is up with you–”

“i’m a terrible person! my coworker probably hates me– i’ve been trying to warm up to her these past two weeks and then i go and burn her!”

hanni’s eyes widen, her brows raise, and her jaw drops. “you burned your coworker?”

with tired eyes and a bedhead, minji appears from the hall in an oversized t-shirt and sweatpants. she groans as she runs a hand through her hair, squinting her eyes. “what’s with all the noise? i’m trying to nap…”

“dani burned her coworker.”

minji’s a little more awake now, tilting her head. “the really pretty one?”

“yes!” danielle groans into the cushion, the bottom of her palms covering her eyes as she lies there defeatedly. when she takes her hands off her face, she opens her eyes to see minji and hanni hovering over as they stand, awaiting an explanation. “i’m a terrible person.”

hanni moves danielles legs over so that she can sit on the couch, putting her legs on her lap as the younger woman loses it. minji sits on the opposite end, putting her legs over on hanni’s lap as well and resting her head against a pillow.

“okay well why are you a terrible person?”

“i spilled hot coffee all over my coworker’s hand! gosh, i tried to apologize and everything, i even offered to compensate for the damage and she declined! y/n has to hate me…”

hanni looks over at minji to pout, then looks back at danielle. “hey, it was a mistake. what did she say?”

“well, she was really normal about it as if i didn’t just burn her hand, she brushed it off like it was nothing. i offered to have coffee with her or share some pastries but then she giggled and was all like ‘you’re really sweet but it’s okay’ and i don’t know, what if burning her hand makes her talk to me less and she hates me forever and–”

“dani.” minji butts in, making the younger one quiet down. “you made her laugh and she said you’re really sweet.”

“and?”

“and?” minji groans, sitting up on her elbows now. “dani, she said you’re really sweet. why wouldn’t she want to talk to you?”

“because i burned her? or maybe i’m annoying and talk too much but i really can’t help it-”

hanni puts a finger to danielles lips, dramatically shushing her. minji laughs at the action before hanni butts in, “dani, first of all; you’re not annoying. second; you’re literally the greatest person ever and i love you and if you ever stopped talking so much i’d have to i don’t know, die?”

minji snorts. “the hell?”

“what i’m saying is no one could ever hate you and honestly if she does; she’s not worth your time. plus, you shouldn’t waste your energy on someone who doesn’t appreciate you. you’re wonderful bro.” danielle’s eyes soften as she looks at hanni, and minji’s bottom lip protrudes from how sweet her words are. hanni sits danielle upright and puts both hands on her shoulders. “how about this: minji and i go visit you at work tomorrow and we’ll be the judge of your coworker.”

“you’d do that for me?”

hanni nods. “yes, but also please hook us up with some free pastries and drinks because i have to do a wrap around on this whole lecture so let's see it as an exchange, but also i love you dani and don’t want you losing your mind over this woman.”

“and i’ll be the judge of whether or not your coworker is as gorgeous as you think.” minji adds teasingly.

danielle smiles from ear to ear, making a small little noise as she pounces on hanni and hugs her like she’s her savior. minji laughs at the sight, smiling as well. 

–

you park near your cousin’s highschool, you always pick her up after opening shifts since the time aligns perfectly. you send a text to your cousin to let her know you’re there and your burnt hand sits on the wheel, so you take a few moments to examine it as you wait for a response.. 

minutes pass before your cousin arrives, knocking on the window and grinning at you, breaking you out of your small daydream.

“hi y/n, sorry i came so late, my teacher was being an ass.”

“language hyein.” you scoff, knowing damn well you curse like it’s your second language. hyein gets into the passengers seat and steals your phone, putting on a song as you start to drive again. “anyway, how was school?”

“oh god, it was so draining today. i swear my physics teacher wants me dead.”

“this is why you don’t take physics as a sophomore.”

“well someone won’t help me.” hyein rolls her eyes playfully, making you giggle. “anyway, school was just school. how was work?”

“it was alright, i kinda– well, my coworker spilled coffee on me. burned my hand a little but it’s not too bad.”

“the tall one? soobin? or was it the pretty one, your little work crush?” she raises her brows knowingly, smirking. 

hyein is one of very few people who you let loose around. despite your age gap, she’s your cousin, and your favorite one too. ever since you moved to live with her and her parents for school, you’ve gotten closer, spending hours rambling and practically getting glued to by the hip. she knew everything about you and what you felt.

she knew how you felt about your morning shifts; you coming home with a smile on your face after work was different. you dreaded work and the people you worked with for closing, all some stupid braindead men that you had to order around half the time. danielle and soobin were far from that. the duo eased your worries and actually did their job relatively well, you were able to do what you loved – stay stuck in the corner making all of the drinks – without worrying about the bakery. it was a breeze, you loved teh switch to mornings other than waking up at a time that has you quiet, moody, and only functioning after at least two shots of espresso.

hyein also knew about the interest you had in your new coworker danielle. you’ve never rambled about someone this much, calling her sweet, lovely, nice – not to mention the whole tangent regarding her eyes and pretty smile. hyein watched you chastise yourself for being so distant and avoidant because of your moods in the morning, comforting you for not being able to form decent bonds and friendships because of how early you had to get up.

you grip the wheel a little tighter. “danielle, it was an accident though.”

hyein eyes you. “so the pretty one.”

“her name is danielle.”

“point proven! you don’t just recognize your coworkers by how attractive they are you know…” hyein teases, “sometimes you talk about her and i wonder if my older cousin can finally be a normal person that’s capable of having a crush on someone.”

you keep your eyes on the road, but use your right hand to push her head playfully and ruffle her hair, earning a whine. 

“just because i think someone is pretty does not mean i like them. you’re so young, you don’t know shit about crushes and romance.”

“stop cursing.” hyein warns. the light turns red and you step on the break, then turn to look at her with raised brows. hyein laughs and cocks her head, giving you stupid puppy eyes. “i know when someone likes someone, or at least when they start to. you think she’s pretty but in a way that sounds like you’re an admirer.”

“what?”

“you tell me you can’t talk to her and look at her sometimes? y/n im sixteen, but im also not new to having crushes, ive been there. you like her.”

“do you want to walk home?”

hyein pouts, crossing her arms and making you laugh in the process. “youre no fun.”

“whatever.” you mumble.

when the two of you get home, hyein steals your keys to open the door to the house. she gets in first, obviously eager to do whatever it is that she’s up to after school — probably calling her friends or laying in bed.

you walk over to the kitchen and run your burnt hand under cold water, clenching your teeth slightly when you feel the stinging. 

in the drawer near you, there’s the first aid kit, over the counter tablets, and other health related items. you rummage through to find the burn relief cream, leaning against the countertop as you twist the cap open. you squeeze out a line of the cream that extends down to the base of your pointer finger, then you begin to rub your reddened skin. 

your thoughts drift to the moment of when you burned yourself—well, when danielle burned you. she had this look in her eyes, so pure and so regretful that it made you feel bad. 

she was so sweet with the offer, she’s ways so lovely. she’s honestly adorable. the way the words rushed out of her, the small pout on her lips and the fact that she offered to make it up to you. every nerve in your body wanted to accept the offer, but danielle shouldn’t have to pay or spend time on something to make things up to someone like you. it was a mistake after all. 

then your thoughts drift elsewhere, from the whole burnt-hand incident and then to the person who burned you–to danielle. she’s bubbly in the mornings and although you used to hate that, her smile and greetings started to wake you up a little more. the crinkle of her brow every time she catches you downing shots of espresso always makes you suppress a laugh, the expression is so adorable and she’s just so—

“stupid hyein,” you sigh to yourself.

youve been absentmindedly rubbing the burn-relief cream in the same spot for almost a minute, all because of your coworker taking over your thoughts. you begin to rub the rest of your hand and add another dot of cream to the lower area of your hand.

hyein’s called you out multiple times for having an alleged crush on your coworker, but you’ve always dismissed it. however, the words she’s said to you before ring in your head in the moment. you crease your brows and purse your lips subconsciously.

“maybe you can’t talk to her because you’re attracted to her and not because it’s 8 in the morning.” hyein shrugs, looking at you as you sit lazily on the couch. she’s lecturing you after another ramble about your day, the mere mention of danielle prompting her to quote on quote ‘educate you’ on what love is. “you talked to your friends perfectly during morning classes from what you’ve told me, maybe you’re just all shy and blushy and—“

you smack the palm of your hand on your forehead to stop yourself from thinking of that memory of you and your cousin.

“i don’t have a crush on danielle… what is she thinking?” you mumble to yourself. you halt your actions after the realization that you’ve just talked to yourself hits. you press a hand to your cheeks, feeling a weird warmth from your skin, making you shake your head and groan. “i can talk to her fine… just fine.”

 —

“morning!” danielle beams as she catches you walking in. you manage to shoot a small smile, danielle likes that you’ve been giving her more of those.

you put your bag in the cabinet, then put on your apron. without turning to face her, you start to speak, “danielle?”

she almost jumps, not expecting you to even interact with her. maybe you needed help with something? or a question regarding the new breakfast pastries.

“y/n, did you need something?”

you shake your head. “no, i just, um— how are you this morning?”

danielle pauses, you turn to meet her eyes and blink as you wait for an answer. your coworker short circuits momentarily before stumbling over her words as she responds, “oh, i’m— i’m great! tired of course, you know with school and all. thank you for asking y/n.”

“did you get enough sleep?” danielle looks at you after you ask that, wondering where all of this friendliness is coming from. she’s not against it though, maybe you’re just awake this morning.

“i tried to get as much as i could.” she says, then smiles. “is your hand okay?”

“it’s fine. i put ointment on it and it’s like nothing happened.” you assure.

without any warning, you disappear into the back, probably looking for dough to bake. danielle is still stuck in her place, blinking a few times before she runs the espresso machine. she wonders for a moment, furrowing her brow at the rare interaction that you started. but then, she’s grinning to herself just thinking about it all.

danielle wonders: maybe you don’t hate her, maybe her roommates were right. 

—

you hear a bundle of voices, three to be exact.  when you look up from the steam wand, you’re met with three women that all look your age—they all probably go to your university, or maybe the other one that’s also close by.

one of them walks up to the register, soobin greets them, but their attention seems to be on you for a bit.

“hi, is danielle here?” one asks. 

soobin nods, still looking at the screen of the register. “yeah, she’s in the back. did you need her?”

“we’re really close with her, could you grab her?”

soobin nods again, humming in response before he walks over to the door leading to the back. 

you continue to make the cappuccino that an older lady ordered a few minutes ago, creating a small lavender looking design with the steamed milk and pushing it out on the counter. 

“for park!” you call out, the lady comes up to the counter in seconds and smiles at you. she pats your shoulder and it makes your heart warm knowing she’s happy with it.

the three girls from before, they continue to eye you from the register until danielle is back, and when she returns, she starts squealing at the sight of them.

“you guys really came!” danielle beams, immediately reaching over to hug them as best as she can with the counter in the way. “what pastries did you all want? oh! i can also grab you drinks.”

the one with bangs nods, then orders for all of them. “mmm i’ll have an iced vanilla latte, minji wants a hot tea and haerin just wants a cookie and iced tea. you know she’s out early today? oh my god, as soon as we heard we scooped her up immediately-“

the rest of their conversation doesn’t process in your head as you start with the drinks. you had just put the puck in the machine, twisted it in place and started to pull the espresso before you feel a tap on your shoulder.

danielle meets your eyes and you feel yourself soften up a bit. 

she tugs on the cloth covering your shoulder just a bit before she speaks. “hey.”

“hi?” 

“can i introduce you to my roommates and our friend? you wouldn’t mind? would you?”

“oh, no— but i’m kind of… making one of their drinks right now.”

“oh, sorry— wait what?  i was going to make them—“

“well since they’re you’re friends i think they’d appreciate their drinks out earlier. and it’s okay, don’t be sorry danielle. i’ll do whatever if it’s not busy and when i’m done.” you swear you see a little more pink on her cheeks than usual, stronger than the blush she wears—you could be wrong.

“right, yeah, do your job!”

you stifle a giggle and purse your lips to conceal your smile, ultimately failing. danielle’s tone and mood are contagious sometimes.

(all the time.)

when you’re finished with the drinks — danielle had lingered nearby here and there as you made them — you placed them on the little counter for danielle to pick up. she had smiled at you, mouthed a “thank you,” and rushed over to sit down with her friends. 

it wasn’t busy at all, the only other customers in the bakery had been a corporate man that soobin was tending to. the man bought a loaf of milk bread and ordered a brewed coffee, soobin could handle all of that. he will handle all of that.

danielle sits with her friends at the table, giggling as she does so and looking as happy as ever. there’s a weird flutter in your stomach, like someone poking you there from the inside and it’s not that it hurts, it’s just odd. 

pretending to busy yourself is something you’re really good at doing, and plus, it’s a great way to excuse your glances toward danielle as she talks to her friends. she’s really smiley and giddy, it’s the cutest thing ever.

a few minutes pass and you’re still bagging some items, daydreaming as you do so. 

(danielle seemed to pop up here and there, strangely enough.

here and there turned into her being the star of the dreams.)

you’re in your own world until a faint “hey y/n!” is muttered into your ear, making you jump and almost elbow your pretty coworker.

“did i startle you? i’m so sorry—“ danielle starts, but you’re quick to cut her off as soon as she begins to apologize. 

“no, no. sorry i was in my own world.”

“i get that.” she chuckles, “hey, most of the things are bagged–i was wondering if you’d like to meet my friends? soobin is cashiering and he should be fine since it’s not too busy so…?”

you take a quick glance and look over at her friends who are looking at the two of you eagerly. the one with bangs has this smirk on her face, making you hesitate.

“please? i don’t know why but–” danielle lies, she knows why. “um, they want to meet you.”

“me?” 

“yes!”

you pause and honestly think of declining until danielle shoots her bottom lip out a bit. in no time you’re biting the inside of your cheek before responding with a nod, and you’re so grateful because she’s grabbing your hand—two fingers of yours—and leading you over to the small table near the windows.

danielle is gripping your pointer and middle finger lightly, but it feels like she has a hold on you as a whole. your body is all warm and fuzzy and your mind is hazy and her skin is really soft and nice and—

“this is y/n!” she introduces, letting go of your fingers. “y/n, these are my roommates hanni minji, and this is haerin.”

“nice to meet you all.” you greet softly with a small smile. they all stare and you feel yourself shrinking under all the pairs of eyes. you poke the inside of your cheek with your tongue before clearing your throat. “are the drinks alright?”

minji scans your face, eyes tracing each and every feature before her gaze softens. she nods at you and responds, “they’re great, wonderful.”

you nod at her and grin again, looking down at the table to avoid any eye contact. 

hanni chuckles. “yeah this latte is actually amazing, danielle’s made me lattes before but they’ve never been this good.”

“y/n is really good at making the drinks, practically keeping the bakery in business. i bet our boss is happy with you in the mornings.” danielle completely ignores hanni’s teasing and adds to the praise, making you wave your hand and shake your head.

“ah, no, no. i mean i can only make drinks but danielle is really good at every aspect of her job, she’s wonderful with customers.”

“oh stop–”

“no, you are.” you look up to make eye contact with her, then look over to soobin, who’s brewing another batch of coffee. “soobin is great, but he’s really clumsy sometimes and it’s kind of funny catching him stumbling over words. you’re a natural.”

“you’re so sweet.” danielle mutters in awe before  lips turn up even more, her cheeks flush slightly and her friends all look at each other with smirks on their faces. 

“i um, i try–”

you hear the door opening and two pairs of very familiar voices make you turn immediately. turning around, you see your cousin and her best friend in a group with three others you just barely recognize. danielle spots this as well, she starts to stand before you pause her in the act.

“danielle, i got it.”

“it’s a big group y/n.” she continues to stand up, but when you place your hand on her arm lightly it’s like you’ve frozen her in place. minji and hanni immediately give each other knowing looks, and haerin observes the whole ordeal intensely. 

“it’s my cousin and her friends, you should stay and hangout with your friends. besides, you haven’t had a break today, relax.” your hand slides down to her forearm without any thought. despite the small action, danielle is flustered by it.

“you sure?”

“positive,” you affirm, then look at all her friends. “it was nice meeting you all.”

the group watches you walk over behind the counter, and as soon as you’re at a distance where they can talk without you hearing anything, danielle’s friends – minji and hanni for the most part – go ham on her.

“oh yeah she’s gorgeous.” minji chimes in, shrugging it off like you’re not the prettiest person danielle has seen. “you were right.”

just gorgeous? 

“yeah she’s really pretty dani. and also, she doesn’t hate you, there’s no way.” hanni says as she munches on a croissant, earning a punch to the arm from minji. hanni whines, croissant still in her mouth, “hey! what was that for?”

“finish chewing before you talk! you’re so gross…” 

“you didn’t have to hit me!” hanni groans, nudging minji with her shoulder.

haerin rolls her eyes at the two before taking a sip from her iced tea, watching danielle glance at you. haerin has known danielle for a while, the last time she had been like this was forever ago, this admiration can’t be something that’s purely platonic, not with those dilated pupils and puppy eyes. 

and you, you’re no different either. haerin watches you glance over to make eye contact with danielle, eyes softening and your teeth showing as you smile at her the moment you meet each others features. 

while minji and hanni continue to bicker, haerin continues observing. danielle is making it look like she’s invested in the bickering – which, she very much is; it’s always entertaining when the two argue over stupid things – but her mind is somewhere else.  

“danielle,”

“haerin?” danielle turns her head and hums in response.

haerin blinks. “you like her.”

minji and hanni stop bickering, their presence enhancing the shiver down her spine.

“no, no. i just think she’s really interesting, i couldn’t possibly–”

haerin shakes her head, putting a hand up. “you look at her like she’s… like there’s a halo around her head.”

“i–” danielle turns to glance at you again. you’re laughing with one of the girls, she assumes it’s your cousin that you mentioned. you flick the younger girl’s forehead and she groans, which earns the most pure, natural laugh and smile she’s ever seen on your face. you’re cute, especially when all of your teeth are showing as you laugh. when you make eye contact with your coworker again through waterlined eyes, your lips purse into a closed smile.

danielle is blushing, her cheeks burn, and the vulnerability is displayed right in front of her friends. she tries to laugh it off, but hanni’s jaw drops and she throws a hand over her mouth.

“oh my god.”

minji starts to chuckle. “she has a point, danielle. whether you know it or not, it makes sense.”

“i barely know anything about her, you can’t be serious.” danielle rolls her eyes and pouts. “even if i did, it’d be impossible to even do anything remotely romantic. she’s like stone.

“she was literally everything but stone from what i saw earlier.” haerin comments. “danielle, it’s okay to have a crush on someone, you know?”

hanni hums in agreement. “yup, and you really need to stop that flirting you do with us every ten seconds because it’s grueling and if you’re going to flirt, flirt with someone you actually want because everytime you say anything remotely flirtatious ten years of my life get taken away.”

minji snorts and danielle can’t help but do so as well. “wooow, my flirting is very wonderful thank you.” she crosses her arms and looks over at you again. “and what if y/n doesn’t like my flirting?”

“nah,” hanni sips on her drink. “you called her a good barista or whatever and i saw her like, malfunction for two seconds. she was blushing a little.”

“well she wears blush so–”

“dani, can you–” hanni facepalms. “just, shhh. she doesn’t hate you and you know what, you can build off of that.”

haerin shrugs before taking a few more sips of her tea. “yeah, she’s pretty and smiles at you sweetly. it’s not impossible.”

danielle takes one more look at you, you’re still chatting with your cousin and her friend seems to be joined in the conversation as well. the rest of the group of teenagers have left, so the place is pretty empty. you smile here and there as you clean the counter and wipe the machine, occasionally looking at the two girls who converse with each other.

“okay dani, i love you but i also need to get this lecture noted and also oh my god i have a report due tomorrow and–”

 hanni feels a finger to her lips, similar to how she shushed danielle the night before, but now it’s reversed. minji snorts and haerin laughs before danielle assures, “go, go. i’ll see you later and bring extra snacks hanni.” 

the group begins to clear the table, dismissing danielles efforts to leave it be so she can take care of it. they all bring their silverware and dishes to the little trays near the trash before walking over to the exit, each girl hugging danielle before they all leave the bakery.

when danielle turns around, she spots you still conversing with the girls, but tending to the daily housekeeping simultaneously. you look up and catch her in your eye again, displaying a small, toothy smirk at her.

danielle chuckles to herself, making you do the same even as she moves over to package pastries.

–

today is your offday, so you’d usually wake up two hours later than you usually do for work. but when your phone rings around the same time you’d arrive at work, you groggily reach over to squint your eyes at the screen, reading the contact name that is calling you at this time in the morning:

incoming call: danielle

“does she know im not working? shouldn’t she be off today too…” you mumble to yourself before picking up and putting your phone on speaker. “hello?”

“y/n, hi, did i wake you up? you sound tired, ah, i’m sorry.”

feeling bad, you lie to her. “no, i’ve been awake for a bit now. is everything alright?”

“i just wanted to ask, um, how far do you live from work?”

“less than ten minutes, why do you ask?”

“i’m sorry if this is a big favor but i’m supposed to cover for soobin today since he’s sick. i walked to work since i live a fifteen minute walk away, not too far, but i forgot the keys and it’s storming really badly…”

you’re a little more awake now after hearing the light rumble of thunder coming from outside, it urges you to rub your eyes. “danielle, are you safe from the storm right now?”

“i mean, i’m standing under the little roof thing near the entrance. water can’t get me from here.”

“jesus,” you mutter to yourself, then jump at the next sharp thundering sound that comes after. “i’ll be there soon, okay? i’ll pick you up and you can just give me the directions to your place. be careful, i’m on my way.”

“thank you so much, im sorry again–”

“no, no. it’s fine, i’ll be there, see you.”

before she can respond, you hang up on her, running to the bathroom to splash water on your face and fix your disheveled bedhead up. then, you run towards the entrance of your house and grab your keys that hang on the hook near the door, slide your slides on, and quickly run out.

it’s storming hard, and you’ve already gotten a clue on how bad since you had been pretty drenched from simply walking to your car. 

you speed through the neighborhood and into the main road to get to the bakery faster. desperately looking through the windshield for your coworker, you spot her near the entrance just as she said, then drive up as close as you can.

rolling down your window, a bit of water gets on your face, hair, and the top of your shirt – but it doesn’t stop you from yelling, “get in!”

in a few seconds, danielle is in the passenger seat, her hair visibly damp but not too wet. she runs a hand through it, and it feels like your heart just skipped a beat. her hair is wavy now, more than usual, quite curly. was it always like this? her hair looks beautiful, framing her face perfectly, strands sticking to her skin from the raindrops—like elements of a painting coming together to create something breathtaking.

“sorry, i would’ve asked my roommates but they had some important stuff for their classes and whatnot so they left earlier this morning. i also didn’t want to wake minji up, i know her lectures are pretty bad.”

how thoughtful of her. 

shaking your head, you respond, “it’s fine, i just don’t want you getting sick. i’m glad you called.”

“really?”

“u-uh, i mean, yeah. i’m still not the best at opening and you’re pretty much the best at everything so… soobin and i need you in the mornings. i know im off today but whoever is working this morning probably needs you.”

“aw, that’s so sweet of you.” danielle’s smile grows and grows as she notices everything about you in the moment: your hair is messy, you have some old, loose t-shirt on with some poorly scribbled figure of… you? then, a small giggle leaves her lips once she notices the dog prints on your pajama pants. 

your blush grows deeper with each passing second. “i um, didn’t have time to change. do you want to type your address in my phone or…?”

“you look so cute y/n.” it slips out of danielles lips, but she’s able to play it off well with the little tilt of her head and a sly smirk. it works wonders on you. “i like your shirt and pants.”

you cough to ease your nerves, then shift the stick of your decade-old, hand-me-down five seat toyota to ‘drive.’

“my cousin made it for me when i was still in highschool a while ago. sorry, that’s not important.” you facepalm yourself mentally. danielle thinks this little story is very important, but you cut yourself off.  “do you just want to tell me the directions?”

adorable, danielle almost says out loud. 

“yeah, turn left at the stop.” 

danielle spends the rest of the time staring out the car and gazing out to see the rain that pours down from above. you’re stiff in your seat the whole time, especially when she does that little thing where she glances at you with those pretty eyes occasionally. it’s a simple look and yet you’re flustered beyond words.

you reach an apartment complex and drive as close as you can to the entrance. she gets out and mutters a haste “i’ll be quick” before leaving you alone with a racing heart and flushed face.

when she returns, there’s an umbrella in her hands and the keys to the bakery. once she gets in, you start to drive back.

“danielle?” 

“mhm?”

“is your hair naturally like that?” you ask. 

“ah,” she moves a hand to her hair to run her fingers through, though not without a little struggle. “i straighten it usually, it’s easier to maintain. the rain must’ve made it a little curly again huh?”

“i think your hair is beautiful like that, really.” you admit, eyes stuck on the road. “you look good with any hairstyle.”

“why thank you! i could say that for you as well.”

you scoff playfully, shaking your head as you turn into the bakery parking lot. “right, like my half-awake head is even the tiniest bit alluring.”

she winks at you, leaning in just a bit closer. “i think it enhances the natural allure, no?”

words get stuck in your throat, danielle laughs, and then she waves at you as she gets out the car. the rain has stopped just in time for her to clock in and a little beam of light hits her in the best way possible. you can’t help but stare at her in awe. 

“thank you for keeping me from getting drenched, you’re the sweetest.”

“yeah, i mean, you’re kind of the pillar. our boss isn’t ever here, you’re practically the boss no?”

“you’re too charming, i’ll see you in a few days?”

your mouth opens but nothing comes out for a moment, not until a bright idea pops up in your head.

“i can take you home after work, don’t want you walking in these conditions.”

“y/n,” she starts, looking confused. “it stopped raining.”

“it’s whatever, you know what– i can drive you to work in the mornings.”

“oh, you really don’t have to. isn’t the gas money quite–”

“no, no. i’ll give you a call or text next week, it’s nothing. see you danielle.”

–

little did you know, this would turn into a routine–the small gesture of picking up danielle instead of letting her walk in the mornings.

sure, she got a little less cardio, but she managed to crack that shell open just enough to glimpse what was inside. and everything hidden by your reserved demeanor was everything that made her heart flutter and more. each feature and curve of your face, beautifully highlighted by the soft glow of the café lamps captivated her beyond measure. but what she loved most was your personality—every word, every gesture. it captivated her in ways she hadn’t expected, and she found herself falling deeper with each passing moment.

you were caring, sweet, and had lots to share. there was never a dull moment with you the moment she figured out how to get you to talk a little more.

as for you, mornings weren't dreadful anymore. you started waking up earlier than usual just to make it to danielle's on time. you liked this new routine—seeing danielle first thing in the morning, sharing a coffee with her, chatting while the pastries baked. the smell of fresh coffee and baking bread filled the air, making the workspace warm and inviting. just being in her presence was the perfect start to your day. her laughter and smiles made everything brighter, transforming mundane, tiring mornings into something special.

and what kind of cousin would you be if you hadn’t told hyein everything like the two of you usually do. hyein is on the other side of the couch starting at you smile as you ramble about this routine you’ve fallen into with heart eyes and a wide grin.

“i mean, i haven’t ever liked mornings since her.” you begin, your fingers starting to fiddle with one another. “and oh my god she keeps flirting with me! it’s actually terrible. do you know how hard it is to stay normal when she’s calling me what, a fucking angel first thing in the morning? and it doesn’t help that she’s literally gorgeous, i mean you’ve seen her; she’s straight out of a dream.”

hyein groans as she sits up. “well if you’re so in love, quit complaining to me, you’ve been like this since the month started.”

you sit up as well, furrowing your brows. “what?”

“just ask her out already! it’s clear she’s into you.”

“i think she’s just flirty though.”

“old and stupid oh, you piss me off.” hyein throws a pillow at you, making you yell ‘hey!’ before throwing it back at her face. she laughs before clinging the pillow close. “but really, at least a ‘friend’ date or something… it would bring you two closer. those morning rides aren’t going to lead to anything more than what you already have, probably. plus, soobin and actually working gets in the way of your little lovey-dovey stuff.”

you look at her, biting your lip as you ponder.

hyein is right, hell, she always is. for a child, she’s pretty good with giving advice and an even better listener. she’s your best friend and favorite relative all in one, it would be somewhat betraying to not take the advice.

“well, what if she’s taken?”

“oh my god…” your cousin throws her head onto the cushion of the couch. “she calls you pretty and flirts with you – girl, of course she’s single.”

“okay but… i don’t know.”

“well i know that you’re stupid as hell.”

“language!”

“just check her instagram or something? people with significant others always post something.”

you fall silent, biting your lip again before looking at her with an apologetic feeling in your eye. “i don’t have anything but her number…”

“oh y/n, that’s not a problem at all.” hyein rolls her eyes and scoots up next to you, leaning against your shoulder as you peer over to watch what she’s doing. she holds the phone up to your face to unlock it and taps on the intagram icon, immediately clicking  on the search bar. “do you know her last name?”

“um, it starts with an m i think?”

“you don’t know her last name?”

“why would i know this?”

“do you have an app for your schedules or anything? oh my god, you’re seriously getting on my nerves… i can’t believe you managed to even have a girlfriend for that one year–”

you cringe at the mention of your history with women. “okay don’t mention that please… and fuck her, she was terrible to me.” you frown.

“sorry,” hyein know’s she’s hit a little spot, knowing your past with much detail, then continues. “anyway, let’s just search her up and…” she types in ‘d-a-n-i-e-l-l-e’ into the search and a few accounts pop up. she looks at the small profile pictures displayed and the first one makes her click her tongue. “found it!”

her page is pretty just from the first glance–you two haven’t even looked at any of the posts or highlights either. danielle’s profile picture is jus ther with a beanie over her head and looking at the camera with her pretty eyes and god you almost melt right then and there because no model could top her visuals. 

you reach over to scroll through her posts; she has thirteen in total, and a few catch your eye. one post, in particular, stands out: a single photo of her posing in front of a mirror, wearing a crop top that shows off her slim figure and a denim jacket hanging loosely off one shoulder. she looks absolutely stunning. as you stare at the image, lips slightly parted in awe, hyein looks over and sees your intense gaze. before you can react, you're interrupted by a playful pinch to your cheek.

“you’re so down bad.”

“i’m not!” you scoff, taking the phone out from her hands and scrolling yourself. 

there are photos of her with friends, snapshots of mesmerizing views (though none as captivating as her), pictures with her family, beach scenes, dogs, and several selfies—you find yourself lingering on those a bit longer. her entire page perfectly matches her energy; it's cute and vibrant. as you scroll, hyein catches you smiling to yourself, lost in the charm of danielle’s online presence.

one of her more recent posts, posted about three months ago, catches your eye. it’s her and haerin posing together with haerin’s face being cupped by danielle’s hand as they pose. the caption has your heart sinking a bit (a lot).

“beautiful, gorgeous, and lovely birthday girl💋👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 i love you lots sweetie”

hyein catches the whole thing live, watching your small smile turn into pursed lips. “that doesn’t mean anything y/n, friends can be like that.”

“they’re pretty close…” you swipe to see a picture of danielle’s nose nuzzled into haerin’s cheek and frown. “she’s taken.”

your heart sinks even more just looking at the picture longer, urging hyein to snatch your phone out of your hands and click on the mentioned tags. she finds haerin’s account – it’s public, thankfully – and roams around as you sit there defeatedly.

it’s not looking the best so far, not when hyein clicks on a post with danielle and her group of friends, and after hyein swipes to the next photo she’s met with danielle and haerin hugging each other, cheeks pressed together as they pose for the photo. you catch a glimpse before your head falls over on hyein’s shoulder like you’ve just come back from an unsuccessful war.

“it’s over.”

“y/n, lift your head up! i pose with my friends like this too… maybe she’s touchy.”

“not with me.” you pout. hyein flicks your forehead. “hey!”

“stupid,” she says. “maybe it’s because she likes you and is wary of boundaries. from what i’m seeing, you should initiate.”

“i can’t possibly do that.”

“you’re literally a liar.” she spits out. “as soon as your friends initiate something you’re clinging like a koala, even with me you’re like that.”

you fall over onto the couch, giving up and looking up at the ceiling; your life isn’t over because your really adorable, amazing, lively, vibrant, cute, helpful, captivating, adorable coworker is taken. 

(it’s over.)

hyein allows you to sulk for a moment before widening her eyes and gasping, “wait, i literally know haerin.”

“you do?”

“kind of. i just checked her account on my phone and a lot of people i know follow her, she’s that pretty upperclassman everyone likes. there’s no way she’s dating danielle, like, i have proof.”

sitting up immediately, you crunch your brows. “are you serious?”

“yeah. my friend is friends with her, she’s very much single and i don’t think she wants to mingle.”

“holy shit, you’re serious?”

“language~” hyein teases. “yes, i’m not trying to feed your delusions by the way–i don’t support homewrecking.”

you practically pouce at hyein and tackle her into a loving, grateful hug. she squeaks at the contact, but warms up into the hug. 

“i love you forever, i’ll buy you lunch and treat you to pastries and anything and–”

“it’s fiiinneee.” hyein pulls away and chuckles at you. “i just want to help you out and be happy. and after seeing danielle… she’s really adorable and you’re so giddy for her so she must be wonderful.”

“she is.”

“yeah, all you do is run your mouth about her.”

a laugh is shared between the two of you before hyein reaches for the remote to turn on the tv. you go back to your phone, clicking on danielle’s profile to stalk her again, lingering on posts of herself. you feel your cheeks burning and somehow the little glare your cousin gives you despite her not being in your vision or peripheral.

–

you’ve been reluctant on asking danielle out, even if it’s a simple ‘hangout’ or ‘friend date.’ she’s effortlessly charming as always with each interaction, even getting bold and watching you from over your shoulder at times – everything she does makes your heart beat and beat and beat.

danielle’s been equally flustered and enamored by how open you’ve been with her. the two of you have cracked jokes and shared small stories during the quiet moments with soobin, but danielle especially enjoys you just by yourself. there’s something much more tender about you when it’s just the two of you. you’re physically more touchy wth danielle, and she can’t really tell if it’s on purpose or you’re just touchy like that. you often shove her playfully in conversations, and when you both lean against the counter, you somehow manage to move over ever so slightly so that your arms are touching. 

your coworker has been attentive to all of this, unsure of whether this is just how you are and she’s overthinking things, or this being something more–maybe a sign that maybe you’re into her just a bit.

none of you question it really, and besides, danielles just as touchy. she sometimes leans her head on your shoulder – but very, very briefly – when something is amusing, and sometimes her hands find their way to your hair to fix it, or maybe even to your forearm just because. 

soobin is a bystander, the poor guy thinks it’s just how girls are and is completely oblivious that the two of you are fighting the thick tension in the air.

–

the last coffee beans were grinded, so you tap on soobin’s shoulder and tell him that you’re going to the back to grab more. he nods at you and sends you that pursed grin, you place a hand on his shoulder and thank him.

when you reach the small closet, you find danielle in the room as well, rummaging for packaging and more boxes for the pastries and desserts. she’s oblivious to your presence until you knock flicker the light on and off once, making her squeal and jump from surprise. your coworker turns around and hits the rack unknowingly, when she sees you, she starts to calm down.

“y/n! you scared me!”

you laugh. “sorry, i just needed some–”

above danielle, you spot a bag of coffee beans—at least three pounds heavy—starting to tip. before it can fall, you move without hesitation. you rush over, reaching out and getting on your tiptoes to catch it with one hand just in time.

a sigh of relief leaves your lips, but you catch your breath again as soon as you look back down.

danielle is close. her face is a few inches apart from you and your hand is still up to hold the coffee beans, making the moment much more intimate and nerve-racking than it actually is. she looks at you intensely, her lips parting before her eyes dart down to your lips. 

“y/n,” she almost whispers.

you gulp and look down at her lips, then away, putting your arm down and grabbing the coffee beans with you as you do so. your faces are closer now and you feel your heartbeat rapidly pounding against your chest, threatening to break through. danielle still stares at the features presented to her, pupils dilating.

you break the tension, looking away and stepping back, holding the coffee beans to your chest almost like you’re hugging them. your eyes dart around the room nervously, your cheeks burn like they’re steak being put onto a hot iron skillet, and you gulp one last time.

“the um, t-the beans… they almost fell on you.”

“yeah?” 

“i’m um, i need to uh– yeah, there’s no more grinds and i need to make a latte…”

“right.” danielle starts to smirk, looking at the aftermath on your face. “you do that then. oh, and by the way.”

“hm?”

she steps forward to push hair out your face and behind your ear, her fingers graze against the back of it. “your ears are red–and warm.”

“oh, um, maybe.” you mumble softly. danielle giggles at you before you leave the room, 

–

the two of you don’t speak on the incident the rest of the shift since danielle can tell you’re flustered and she’s also really good at keeping a conversation going. plus, work is in the way at times, so doing your job saves you.

after you two clock out for the day, both of you walk to your car and danielle watches you closely before looking out the window again. you feel a shiver down your spine as you get out the parking spot and the grip on the wheel is tighter the whole way to her apartment complex.

you park in front of the entrance, danielle unbuckles her seatbelt and says, “thanks for the ride.”

“it’s no problem.”

“i’ll see you tomorrow.”

“yup.” 

your coworker narrows her eyes at you, looking at you questionably as if she were expecting something different. she puts her hand on yours, smiles, then gets out the car. 

she starts to walk towards the entrance, and as she walks through the door you huff.

“i can’t be like this, fuck me. another lecture from hyein would kill me.” you groan.

you grab your keys, unbuckle your seatbelt, and get out the car as soon as possible. you sprint towards the entrance and look around for danielle, catching a glimpse of her walking towards the stairs, so you follow after her.

she’s already up a flight somehow right when you reach the bottom of the stairwell, you catch her hair just barely and shout up at her,

“danielle!” she looks down to see you breathing a little heavier than normal. “wait!”

“y/n? what are you doing here?”

“i– wait there.” you call out before running up the stairs. danielle doesn’t listen and starts to walk down as well, which leads to you running into her when you clash halfway, accidentally bumping her. “s-sorry.” 

“you’re out of breath.”

inhaling quickly, you nod. “a bit.”

danielle laughs. “why did you run after me?”

“i was um, i was wondering…” you poke the inside of your cheek with your tongue, struggling to make eye contact with her. “are you um, well, fuck, sorry– okay, um.”

“take your time.” she teases.

you giggle before looking into her eyes and composing yourself. “do you want to hangout outside of work sometime? i really… like working with you and talking and yeah all of it, but work kind of limits a lot.”

she looks at you with a growing blush fostering her cheeks. one good look at you–messy hair tucked behind your ears, the baby tee hugging you, your flushed face from running, the adorable look you give her as you wait for an answer – danielle nods and her teeth show as she smiles at you.

“i would love that.”

“really?” you ask, eyes widening. you shake your head and laugh to yourself before asking, “when is good for you?”

“i’m not doing anything right now, are you?”

“i need to pick my cousin up soon but that’s it.”

“okay! you should go pick up your cousin and we can head downtown?”

“oh, now? today?” you say in disbelief; danielle hasn’t given you a chance to plan or mentally prepare for this. you’re already winded, but this is like a tornado picking you up and throwing you over to another continent. “i mean, yes, that’s perfect, yeah.”

“pick me up later then, that alright?”

“i’ll text you when hyein– er, when i drop my cousin off.”

“perfect, i’ll see you then?”

“yes, mhm.”

–

you’ve never driven so fast, nor have you gotten ready so quickly. your cousin gripped the door handle tightly as you sped fifteen miles over the limit in a neighborhood, glancing at your concentrated, flushed face.

usually, hyein is the one rushing home after school since it makes her homesick. but today, the unexpected sight of you bursting into the house, darting to your room, and emerging five minutes later with a denim jacket, jeans, and makeup on left her wide-eyed.

hyein’s laying on the couch when she catches you fixing your hair in the mirror, clenching your jaw and taking a deep breath.

“what’s up with you.”

“danielle.”

“elaborate?”

“i dropped her home and asked her to hangout and then i was like ‘oh okay when?’ and she’s basically saying that now, today, like later. i have to pick her up like right now– wait, do i look good? too much? too little? is it–”

“you look fine y/n, very pretty. i think danielle will appreciate it.”

“you sure?”

hyein sighs and stands up, you’re a little taller then her, so she has to tilt her head up just barely to fix your hair and pat down your jacket. 

“stop stressing, it’s just a hangout, no? you didn’t say it was a date did you?”

shit. 

“i mean no, but–”

“okay so stop stressing and go pick her up!” hyein rolls her eyes at you. “you’ll do great kid.”

“who are you calling kid?” 

“blah blah blah, go get out the house.”

you look at her defeatedly, brows curled up and a pout played on your lips. hyein simply laughs at you before you grab your keys, tote bag, and head out the door.

-

you reach her apartment complex and spot her outside, waiting while engrossed in her phone. danielle jumps when a car honks at her, but then she sees you in the driver’s seat. a smile spreads across her face, and she runs over to you, her excitement palpable.

danielle gets in the passengers seat. “hello again.”

“hi.”

“downtown? are we going to metro or are you going to park there.”

“it’s a surprise,” you smirk mischieviously before starting to drive. danielle giggles and trusts your little ‘surprise.’

the car ride is filled with laughter as you two sing along to your favorite songs. despite having slightly different music tastes, there are many songs that you both enjoy and can belt out together until you find a good spot to park in the city.

danielle waits for you as you pay for parking, looking out at the social city and lovely views. but one view is lovelier than the city, lovelier than everything really. her lips turn up when she looks at you pressing the button and grabbing the ticket that’s dispensed out. 

you fix your hair. “okay, before we go to the surprise did you want to check out the stores?”

“i don’t go downtown too often, so i don’t know what’s good.”

“me neither,” you shrug, then look around. “the city is big, we can surely find something we both like. i hope you like exploring.”

“if it’s with you, then why wouldn’t i like exploring?”

you're caught off guard by the compliment, opting for a chuckle to hide how it makes your heart run a marathon and your tummy twist and turn.

three hours pass but you swear it’s only been thirty minutes. 

the two of you walked everywhere, exploring small cafes, charming clothing stores, and vintage record shops. danielle made sure to take as many pictures of you as possible, insisting on "capturing the moment" and telling you that you're "adorable." her reasons made you giggle nervously, each compliment warming your heart.

you hold onto danielle’s bag of clothes and trinkets she had bought – you practically had to fight her to simply hold the bag – as you lead her down an alleyway. she’s following you mindlessly, not questioning your sudden change in plans since it must be part of your oh-so-lovely surprise.

“i’ve had a lovely time with you, we should spend time together outside of work much more often.” she says softly, turning to look at you and smile. she’s glowing. 

it's five in the evening, and the sun is beginning to set, golden rays seeping through the little cracks in the alleyway. each beam enhances her already striking features. her eyes shine when they catch the light, turning her brown eyes into a mesmerizing gold. the wind tousles her curly hair, making her even more beautiful with each stray strand. the way her teeth peek out when her smile widens makes your knees weak—you could stare at her for hours.

she snaps you out your trance. “y/n, can i ask you something?”

“yeah, what is it?”

“did you not like me when we first met?” 

you two continue to walk, but you’ve fallen silent. looking down at the ground, you shake your head and turn to look at her again.

“no, no that’s not it.” you shake your hands in defense. “i’m just… not a morning person, and very cautious.”

she giggles, “what?”

“when i did closing, all my coworkers were terrible. it was a nightmare despite being awake at the time, you know? and it’s different waking up so early for me, i’m not a morning person in any way.”

“i’m aware.” danielle interjects, making you roll your eyes and shove her with your shoulder playfully. 

you look around the area, clicking your tongue as everything starts to become recognizable. grabbing her hand, you find a little exit and lead her to a small area overlooking a part of the city near the river. it’s beautiful, and danielle is mesmerized by the view.

from where you both stand, you watch her mouth fall open, her hand almost covering it. she sighs in awe, taking in the scene—the buildings with some windows lit and others dark, the flowers in full bloom, and the trees with vibrant leaves.

“y/n, was this the surprise?”

you start to walk ahead, then turn around and motion with your head for her to follow. she watches you sit down on a rock that luckily has space for two people. she sits down next to you, watching as you prop yourself up with both hands behind your back.

you both sit in comfortable silence, the golden hues of the sunset reflecting off the river and casting a warm glow over everything. danielle’s eyes dart from the view to you, her smile never fading. you catch her gaze and smile back, feeling a sense of peace and contentment. the moment feels perfect–it is perfect.

“this is the surprise, and also kind of my apology for being an ass to you the first few weeks of working.”

danielle admires the side of your face as you watch the view, the sun hitting you beautifully, tracing each feature she adores the most.

“i’m not a morning person, and i guess i was stubborn and always pissy. i didn’t want to talk a lot because i was scared of you and soobin – mostly you – being terrible like the closing staff.” you meet her eyes with your own. “but you’re far from that.”

she does that thing where her eyes soften and her lips form something between a pout and a smile, much like the time she talked about a puppy she ran into on the street. but now, the emotion of adoration and awe is much more intense. her gaze seems to hold a deeper meaning, reflecting the beauty of the moment and the bond you share. 

“y/n, you’re so…” she covers her face with a hand, concealing her blush. “you’re wonderful.”

“i just wanted to share a view i really like with you, since i appreciate you a lot, you know? and we’ve been getting close so… i just… yeah.”

avoiding her look, you turn to watch the view again. yeah, you’d much rather be staring at her while she admires the view, but you can’t possibly do that when the sun is exposing your crimson cheeks.

“can i take a picture of you?” she asks, pulling out her phone. “you’re just so gorgeous right now, i really want to have something to look back on later.”

look back on you? you?

“yeah, sure.” you respond bashfully.

she holds her phone up, then looks at you, grins, and says, “cheese!”

you chuckle and shoot her a lovely, toothy, beaming smile. “cheese!”

–

the two of you alternate between talking and admiring the view for another two hours until the sun starts to set. by then, danielle has ended up close to you, your arms touching purposefully.

as you walk back to your car, a gust of wind brushes past and danielle shivers. she's only wearing a cropped t-shirt and sweatpants, which isn’t ideal for the cooler night. without a second thought, you slip off your jacket and drape it over her shoulders, grinning.

“thank you, y/n,” she says, looking up at you through her eyelashes. “you’re not cold?” 

you shake your head, the warmth from the evening and the moment enough to keep you comfortable. “nope, i’m good,” you reply, enjoying the way she pulls your jacket closer around herself. it looks even better on her.

“i have a longsleeve on, and i don’t want you getting sick dani.”

her eyes widen and she gasps. “oh my god.”

“what?”

“you called me dani!”

you ‘tsk’ at her and shake your head, but smile to yourself. “yeah and?”

“you never ever call me that.”

“well i’m very fond of you now so… dani it is.”

both of you continue on to the car, enjoying each others presence while lingering close.

–

you reach her apartment complex and somehow those five – almost six – hours seemed like they weren’t enough. the last thing you wanted was the night to end, but here you are, parked in front of the entrance.

danielle hesitates in her seat, not wanting the night to end either. “hey, just to clarify…”

“yes?”

“did you… was this a date?” 

you melt. “at first i just wanted to hangout with you, but as soon as you got into my car when i picked you up i really wanted it to be. what did you think it was?”

she relaxes into the seat and lets out a sigh of relief. “oh thank god. you were so adorable and cute the whole time and the thought of this just being coworkers– no, friends, hanging out was dreadful.”

“well then, it was definitely a date.”

she hums before silence follows. you two sit there smiling like idiots at each other, the air filled with excitement and adoration.

“i’ll see you at work tomorrow?” danielle says it like it’s a question, but it’s guaranteed unless something deadly catches you by surprise. even then, you’d still make an effort to see danielle.

“yeah. i’ll pick you up too.”

“great,” danielle mumbles. without any warning, she quickly reaches over, placing a hand on the back of your neck and pressing her lips to your cheek. her eyes close, and you freeze in place as she hides herself by pressing her nose into your skin. “i really, really enjoyed everything. i like you so, so much.”

her voice sends a shiver down your spine, and the feeling is heightened when she kisses your cheek again, lingering before she pulls away.

she winks at you before waving. “have a good night, y/n. sleep well.”

your mouth is agape, and you can’t even move. you sit there, watching her walk back to her apartment complex. she looks back once more to wave and smile again. you’re flushed, your heart racing faster than any f1 car. you realize you’re the happiest you’ve been in ages.

–

danielle squeals as she enters the apartment, making minji and hanni – who are playing some card game – jump and yelp themselves.

“what the hell man?” hanni yells.

“oh my god it was a date.”

“well obviously.” minji responds, watching danielle flop onto the couch. “she ran for you just to ask to hangout, i don’t even do that for you guys.”

“maybe because you secretly hate us.”

“hanni shut up you’re no better.”

danielle kicks her feet, smiling like a little kid and sighing dreamily. minji and hanni give each other a glance, then shrug at each other. 

“she took me to this wonderful view and oh my god it was beautiful but not as beautiful as her like oh my god and talking to her is so fun and natural and she’s so sweet and–”

minji cuts her off, noticing the jacket she has on. “is the denim hers?”

“yes.” danielle says smittenly, she’s lovestruck. “and i kissed her cheek just now.”

“oh wooow maybe your flirting can get you places.” 

danielle grabs a pillow and throws it at hanni, making the trio all laugh together. 

–

work is normal the next day—well, for the most part. it's just much more annoying since the two of you can’t be hopelessly in love in front of soobin and all the customers. after all, it’s a professional setting.

you can’t help but steal glances at her whenever you get the chance, especially when she’s taking orders. she’s so sweet and friendly with everyone, and it only makes you fall for her even more. if hyein were here, she’d probably roll her eyes and pretend to gag at how hopelessly in love you are.

danielle catches you staring after she’s finished putting a customers croissant in their bag, smirking at you knowingly. 

“hey, do your job!”

“oh shut up…”

she laughs before grabbing your wrist, dragging you to the door to the back. she looks over to soobin, who’s cleaning the counters, and shouts, “we’ll be back! i need y/n to help reach something for me.”

he shoots a thumbs up before starting to wipe again. danielle leads you back to the storage room giggling, then closes the door to leave you two alone.

“hey, we’re still on the clock.” you warn.

“i know, i know.” danielle starts to wrap her arms around your neck, pulling you closer. “i wanted to do something i didn’t get to last night.”

you clench your jaw. “right.”

“mhm.” she says, staring at your lips. 

you couldn’t resist any longer. with a surge of giddy excitement, you close the distance between you and danielle, eagerly cupping her face in your hands. as your lips meet hers, they are just as soft and inviting as you had imagined, yet the reality surpasses any expectation. 

she pulls away first to mumble against your lips, “you’re lovely.”

“you’re even better.”

danielle closes the distance, you both smile against each other and savor the short amount of time you both have in the storage closet. kissing her is everything, she’s just perfect.

time seems to stand still as you both melt into the kiss, a tender warmth spreading through every inch of your being. it’s as if the world around you fades away, leaving only the sensation of her warmth, the taste of her lips, and the intoxicating feeling of being so close to someone you adore.

when she starts to cup your cheeks, you conclude that maybe mornings aren’t so bad–definitely not if danielle is in the mix.

[multi-fandom-imagine]

May I have more of fatherhood oneshot with Odysseus please? 🥺 this man really gave me baby fever

A/n: aha 🤣 same... (I love writing dad fics for him)

The sun had barely crested the cliffs of Ithaca, and the palace was just beginning to stir—except for Odysseus, who was already spiraling into his second existential crisis of the week.

His hair? A mess.

His tunic? Mismatched and inside out.

His eyes? Bloodshot and twitching.

His sandals? Probably on the wrong feet.

And his mood?

Unhinged.

He sprinted through the halls, arms flailing slightly, looking every inch a war-hardened general turned exhausted dad of toddlers.

“THEY’RE GONE AGAIN!” he bellowed.

He burst into the dining room, startling a very calm Telemachus, who was just trying to enjoy his olives.

“What’s gone?” the prince asked, mouth full.

“The twins! They vanished!” Odysseus shouted, patting himself down, checking under furniture, lifting up rugs. “I turned around for one second—ONE!—and poof! Gone like shadows! Curse the gods!”

Telemachus blinked. "...Father.”

Odysseus was now on his knees, looking under a fruit basket.

“Maybe they crawled into the grain stores again—they love grain. Or worse! What if they’re—”

“Father.”

“—in the stables again? Oh gods, the goats! One of them bit me last time—”

“FATHER!”

Odysseus froze.

Telemachus pointed. "Look down.”

Odysseus slowly looked at himself.

And there they were.

One twin strapped snugly to his chest, babbling happily and smacking his face with a sticky palm.

The other fast asleep, head tucked under his chin, drooling on his tunic like a little sponge with limbs.

”…Oh.”

He stared at them.

Then at his son.

Then back at them.

“They were on me the whole time?”

“Yes.”

Odysseus exhaled long and slow, then groaned and flopped face-first onto the floor, the twins giggling wildly at the ride.

Your voice echoed from the hallway“If you wake me up one more time, Odysseus, I will let the toddlers braid your beard while you sleep.” It was a thinly vail threat of someone who was pregnant that did not to be bothered.

Odysseus just lay there on the floor, two babies squirming on his chest, and muttered.

“I conquered Troy for this.”

One of the twins sneezed directly into his mouth.

“…And I’d do it again.”

•Moments Later•

The late afternoon sun slanted through the nursery windows, painting golden beams across the soft rugs and carved wooden toys scattered across the floor. Gentle harp music floated from somewhere down the hall, and in the middle of it all sat Odysseus, half-slumped in a rocking chair, his eyes glazed and one hand twitching as a half-finished lullaby slipped from his lips.

His tunic was stained with something sticky (possibly honey… or ink?), and one twin had managed to wedge themselves into his arm while the other gnawed triumphantly on a leather sandal.

Odysseus hadn’t blinked in ten minutes.

Enter Telemachus, calm, composed, and carrying a cloth bundle of warm bread and honeyed figs.

He took one look at his father, one look at the chaos, and sighed with fond exasperation.

“Father.”

Odysseus blinked slowly. “…Yes?”

“You haven’t slept in… four days.”

“That’s not true. I closed one eye last night.”

“You fell asleep face-first in the soup.”

“It was a tactical nap.”

Telemachus crouched in front of him, gently prying the chewing twin away from the sandal and replacing it with a soft rattle.

“Go sleep, Father. I’ll watch them.”

Odysseus blinked again, as if processing the words in slow motion. “You… you’ll what?”

“Watch the twins. Give you and Mother a break.”

Odysseus leaned forward dramatically, placing both hands on his son’s shoulders. “You… glorious boy. You brave, noble, reckless boy.”

Telemachus smirked. “I trained with Athena and survived the suitors. I think I can handle two half-naked goblins with sticky fingers.”

“They bite.”

“So do I.”

Odysseus laughed weakly, patted him on the cheek, then swayed to his feet like a war-weary general who had finally laid down his sword.

“I will be laying down next to your beautiful mother.”

“Please try to not create anymore children.”

As Odysseus staggered toward his chambers—muttering about “soft pillows” and “blessed silence”—Telemachus scooped both giggling twins into his arms, lifting them effortlessly.

He looked down at them, one drooling on his arm, the other reaching for his braid.

“Alright, you tiny beasts. Let’s find a storybook, some juice, and see who survives until sundown.”

The twins shrieked with joy.

And behind them, down the hall, a door softly closed…

The man finding the bed, And Odysseus, King of Ithaca, finally slept the moment he was in your arms.

[81pastrys]

Mini Bwoah

Part 1 / 10

Summary— Little Raïkkönnen is making her mark, but her dad doesn’t think she celebrates enough

Warnings— mentions of drinking

A/N— I absolutely love this series 🤭

Series List

Dividers @bernardsbendystraws

“Another podium for you how does it feel?”

“Uhm good, yeah.” I say.

“That was your 5th career podium.” The interviewer said. “In only your debut in Formula one.”

“Well my dad had 103 after 20 years so.” I say.

“Alright thank you!” They say and I walk to the next one and so on. They’re so annoying. I go to the paddock and my dad is there.

I walk up and hug him. “Good job today.” He said.

“Thank you isi.” I say. “The media is just ehh today.”

“They’re always like that, never gets old.” He said. “Give them dry answers and they’ll move on.”

“Always, that’s what you did!” I say.

He retired last year, and I entered. I didn’t get his spot, but I did get a Mercedes spot.. “Only 18 and you’re doing amazing!” Lewis said.

“Thank you!” I say.

“The media pen isn’t happy though.” He said. “Called you dry with answers.”

“Well.” I say. “What do they expect?”

“Apparently more than what you’re giving them.” Lewis laughed. “Little kimi following her dad’s footsteps.”

“Ehh.” I disagree without words.

“Following?” My dad said. “She’s passing me.”

“She’s still amazingly good.” Lewis compliments.

We do the podium and celebrate. The media calls a press with the top 5. Me, Lewis, Lando, Oscar, and Alonso surprisingly enough. They ask all the questions and I zone out for most of it.

“Raïkkönnen? Any thoughts?” One asked.

“What was the question?” I ask. The guys laugh and he repeats the question of ‘Mercedes performance gaining recognition’ “It was only a matter of time.” I respond. “I wouldn’t have joined if the performance was shit.”

Alonso nudges me and laughs. I look at him and smile. He’s one of my dad’s good friends. “Thank you.” The interviewer said. “How are you guys celebrating?”

“A nap.” I say quickly.

“Ouu I might steal that answer.” Lando said.

“Maybe a few bottles of champagne, huh little Kimi?” Alonso nudged me again. I smile at his answer and shake my head at him.

“I like Alonso’s answer.” Lewis laughed.

“Yeah me too.” Oscar agreed also.

I laugh with a hand on my forehead. They’re gonna get me in trouble. Last podium I went clubbing with the top 10, my dad wasn’t there so I drank and drank. Alonso had to cut me off.

“Partying and Naps to celebrate then.” The interviewer laughed.

After the interview and packing up, I’m back in my driver trailer for the night. My dad stays with me when he’s at races, it’s cheaper and we get more time together.

“What were they talking about at the press?” He asked.

“I was barely paying attention isi.” I say. “Something about partying.”

“Ahh, I did that a lot.” He said. “You should be partying right now.”

“Isi, no.” I scoff. “I don’t party.”

“Yes you do, Alonso told me about last time.”

“What?!” I ask.

“Yeah, he tells me everything about you.”

“Well that was one time.” I say.

“Come on, you have to party!” He encouraged. “You’re only 18 once.”

“Fine! Fine.” I say. “Find out where they are, I’ll get ready.”

“That’s my girl!” He laughed.

I go to my bags and find a clubbing outfit. I find a sparkly black tight dress with no straps, I must’ve shoved it in there and forgot about it. I put it on, doing my makeup and hair after. I go out and dad’s sitting on his phone. “Your driver has the location.” He said.

“Okay, I’ll be back later Isi.” I say walking out.

The next few get longer I promise

@widow-cevans

[russo-woso]

Our bubba || Alessia Russo x pregnant!reader

Masterlist

Warning labour and delivery

Summary After nine chaotic months, your bubba finally enters the world

-> Part of A New Adventure universe

“Come on, bubba. Please come soon. Me and mama want to meet you.” Alessia whispered against your bump, her thumb rubbing over it absentmindedly.

She had taken the day off - deciding not to go to training - and instead stay at home to support you in the final few days of the pregnancy.

You’d gotten to the stage where you were done with being pregnancy.

You just wanted your little girl here.

Your back was killing, Your feet were so swollen they looked like balloons and your whole body ached.

Alessia was doing everything she could - back massages, foot massages, everything.

Despite all her help, you were done with the pregnancy.

“She’s too comfy in there.” You joked, offering a small tired smile as your head fell back against the sofa in exhaustion.

“Bad night?” Alessia asked, her eyes full of sympathy as she pressed a few kisses to the top of your bump.

“Maybe two hours sleep? Your daughter really gets confused with day and night.”

“Sorry, baby. Why didn’t you wake me?” She whispered, her lips finding your cheek.

“You looked so cute when you were asleep.”

“My love, we’re in this together, you should have woken me up. How about I make you a cup of tea and you get into bed, have a nap and then we’ll go on our walk later.” Alessia suggested, as you nodded along. “Come on then, love.”

You’d woken up to an uncomfortable cramp in your lower bump.

It wasn’t painful - more so uncomfortable.

Alessia was sprawled out next to you, scrolling away on her phone.

You closed your eyes, seeking the sleep that you desperately needed.

Unbeknownst to you, your daughter had a different idea.

She decided to listen to Alessia’s words earlier that morning and decided that she was making an appearance today.

You’d closed your eyes for two minutes before the cramp turned into a painful sensation - a shooting pain searing across your bump.

You pushed it aside, the possibility of it being a braxton hick high.

But with no surprise, the pain appeared a few minutes later.

“Lessi?” You mumbled, attempting to turn to her but failing miserably as your body flunked back onto the maternity pillow.

“Hiya, baby. Nice nap?” She questioned, pecking your cheek a few times before resting her face in your neck.

“I think it’s time.” You revealed, watching Alessia’s cheeks turn from red to white in a matter of seconds.

“She’s coming?”

“I think so.” You smiled, an excited expression on your face - the complete opposite of Alessia’s.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s call the midwife.”

You’d spoken about the birthing plan when you reached the thirty week mark.

You’d been torn between having a hospital birth or a home birth but in the end you decided to go with a home birth - loving the idea of your baby being born in the house that you’d experienced everything in - from the moment you saw the two lines to the first kick and now the birth of your daughter.

“Lessi, I’ve just had the first contraction. I think we’ve got some time.” You explained with a chuckle, her panic being entertaining.

“Okay.” She breathed, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Our little girl’s coming.” You whispered, the realisation hitting.

“I love you so much for doing this for us, baby.” Alessia told you, kissing your temple gently.

“I love you too, although I don’t know if I’ll be saying that later.”

“I doubt it.”

The day had been filled with memories that would never be forgotten.

It had been long and painful but as soon as you heard the words - you can now push - you knew everything was worth it.

Your daughter was nearly here.

“She’s coming, baby. She’s so close.” Alessia whispered, rubbing your back as tears welled in her eyes.

You gripped her hand impossibly tighter as you felt the pain of the ring of fire.

“This hurts so bad.” You croaked, Alessia’s heart breaking at the sight of you in pain.

“I know, my girl. Our bubba’s so close though. I can see her head.”

You groaned as you felt a contraction coming.

You leant your arms on the bath tub, your head laying in them.

You pushed as hard as you could, encouragement from your midwife and Alessia urging you on.

“Her heads out now.” The midwife announced

“She’s got hair, love.” Alessia said with a smile, watching in awe at how your body was pushing itself to new limits to welcome your daughter into the world.

“Mum, would you like to deliver your baby?” The midwife asked Alessia who nodded - her face full of emotion.

You lifted your head up slightly, looking around the room.

You’d been in the bathroom every step of the pregnancy.

This was the room where you spent every morning throwing up, this was the room where you’d first seen them two lines and now this was going to be the room where your daughter enters the world.

The candles flickered as the soft tune of Never grow up filled the room.

In the background, you could hear the midwife explain to alessia on what to do.

You gritted your teeth as a contraction hit.

“Push, baby.” Alessia whispered gently, helping to guide your little girls head out. “You’re doing so so good, love. One more push.”

“I… it hurts.”

“I know, baby. I’m so sorry you’re in so much pain. Our little girls so so close. One more big push.” Alessia whispered, pressing a comforting kiss to your temple. 

You scrunched your eyes closed as you pushed for the final time.

“Baby, remember if it’s negative, we can try again.” Alessia said, her eyes finding yours as you sat on the toilet, your leg bouncing as you waited for the timer to go off.

You nodded, taking a deep breath in.

The timer rang, breaking the silence in the room.

After stopping it, alessia turned to you, kissing your head gently before reaching for the test.

“Ready?” She asked, as you nodded with a hopeful smile.

Flipping it over, Alessia’s breath hitched as she read the word over and over.

“Pregnant. You’re pregnant, love. We’re gonna have a baby.” Alessia exclaimed, tears welling in her eyes as she enveloped you in a hug.

“It worked?” You cried, pulling away from the hug, your hands resting on the back of Alessia’s neck.

“It worked.” Alessia confirmed before pressing her lips on yours.

The kiss was full of love and hope for the future that was growing inside of you.

Alessia’s thumb moved across your bump, a small flutter being felt before a hard kick.

Alessia looked up at you with wide eyes, checking with you to see if she felt the same thing.

“Did you feel it?” You asked her, and she nodded.

“Was that the first time?” Alessia’s questioned, you nodding before resting your hand over Alessia’s.

“They can tell their mummy is here.” You said, watching as Alessia smiled with tears in her eyes.

“Come on, bubba, kick for mummy again.” Alessia whispered, kneeling down in front of your bump.

The sun was setting as you laid on the blanket, the cake in front of you along with two wine glasses.

Alessia’s hand was entangled with yours, her other hand resting on your growing bump.

“Are we ready?” Alessia whispered, looking at the cake - boy or girl - written on top of it.

“I think so.” You smiled, the two of you grabbing a wine glass each before looking away from the cake.

“Three… two… one.”

You both pushed the glasses into the cake, still looking away before nodding to one another.

Turning your head, you were met with a bright pink cake.

“A girl. A baby girl.” You whispered, alessia kissing your head as you took in the memory that would last forever.

“A baby girl.” Alessia repeated, tears welling in her eyes at the thought of a daughter - your daughter.

A cry filled the room as alessia placed your daughter on your chest.

“You did it, baby. She’s here.” Alessia sobbed, a hand pressed against your baby’s back.

You looked up at alessia with tears running down your face before leaning in to press a kiss on her lips.

“Hi, bubba.” You whispered, pressing a kiss to your baby girls head. “I know, that was really tough, huh?”

“I’m so proud of you.” Alessia said, rubbing your back.

“Would you like to cut the cord?” The midwife asked Alessia who nodded, wiping her tears from her eyes.

The blade sliced through the cord as alessia smiled with pride, her eyes pooling with tears.

Your daughter’s cries died down as alessia rubbed her back gently.

“She’s perfect.” You whispered, your voice breaking as you peered down at the baby - your baby - on your chest.

“She is, baby. You did such a good job.”

“We did.”

The two of you continued to look at the baby in awe, a glimpse of the future and the hope it held flashing through your mind.

Alessia was lying on the bed, your baby girl on her chest, fast asleep.

The midwife had not long gone, having stayed for a few hours to make sure everything was okay with the both of you.

Your daughter was perfect - her weight, her reflexes, everything.

You were just closing your eyes when a small cry was heard from Alessia’s chest.

“It’s okay, bubba. Mummy’s here. I’m always going to be here for you, bubba. I’m going to be there when you take your first steps, I’m going to be there when you say your first word, when you score your first goal, when you start school. You’ve got so many amazing aunties who are also going to be there. And two uncles who are crazy but they love you so much. You really do have a lot of people who love you, little girl.” Alessia began, her voice soft as her hand rubbed the baby’s back, soothing her back to sleep. “You’re a dream come true for me and mama.”

“She really is.” You murmured, moving slightly to rest your head on Alessia’s shoulder.

“Me and mama love you so much, bubba.”

• alessia and y/nrusso posted •

Liked by leahwilliamsonn, ellatoone and 164,284 others

Florence Kaia Russo 🤍

[traveler-at-heart]

Babysitter Club

Summary: Natasha is taking care of the Barton children and has unexpect help.

Natasha Romanoff x Super Soldier F!R

--

Being an aunt was fun. Natasha got the cool moments and could spoil Clint’s kids. They adored her.

But, being on babysitting duty after a grueling mission was definitely not fun.

Natasha had barely managed to get out of bed when Cooper and Lila came out of nowhere, straight to her.

“Children, no running” Clint said, chasing after them, Nathaniel in his arms.

“Auntie Nat, can we go to the zoo?”

“No, to the movies. Or bowling!” Cooper suggested, both children fighting to get Natasha’s attention.

“I…” she blinked several times, trying to wake up. Did she say she’d take care of them?

What day was it anyway?

“Ok, you two go and sit over there” Clint asked, pointing at the couch. He approached Natasha, and the baby smiled when he saw her.

“Hey, little one” she greeted, taking him in her arms. “Boy, you’re growing too fast”

“Are you sure you can take care of them? You look like you could use some sleep” Clint said.

“Yeah, no. It’s fine” Natasha nodded, swaying gently to appease Nathaniel. Though the movement was making her sleepy as well. “Go”

“I’ll be back later today” he promised, saying goodbye to his children.

As soon as he left, Cooper and Lila turned to Natasha, expectantly. It took her a minute to understand.

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Pancakes!”

“Ok, coming right up”

It was hard to balance a toddler in her arms while she found all the ingredients for the food, so it took her a good five minutes to have everything ready. Cooper and Lila were clearly getting restless, making Nathaniel upset too.

“Hey”

Natasha turned around. You were looking between her and the two kids.

“Y/N, hey. These are Clint’s children. Sorry about the noise, we’ll keep quiet, right?” she rushed to say, figuring you came to the kitchen to complain about the disturbance.

“Need a hand?” you offered instead, surprising her. 

Truth be told, even after a few months with the team, they knew very little about you, other than you were a super soldier and had worked as a double agent reporting for Fury for most of your career.

“Sure” she said and you took Nathaniel, balancing him expertly while you got the pancake mix ready with your other hand. He took a liking to you instantly and you chatted with him, talking about what you were doing while preparing the food.

Natasha looked at you, amazed. You, the person who would only nod to confirm instructions and stayed in your room for most of the time, looked soft and welcoming and charming with a baby in your arms.

Oh, no.

Natasha liked it.

Liked you.

“We have a problem” you turned to her and she snapped out of it.

“Huh?”

“Diaper emergency. Can you…?”

“Yeah, sure” she nodded, taking the baby to the living room. Lila took the opportunity to get closer to you.

“How you doing? Lila, right?”

“Yeah. What’s your name?”

“I’m Y/N” you said, flipping the pancake expertly.

“Wow! That was so cool, can you teach me?”

“Sure. You’ll do the next one, how about that?”

By the time Natasha finished changing Nathaniel, Lila and Cooper were standing next to you, and taking turns flipping the pancakes while you cheered them on. Once breakfast was ready, Lila took your hand and led you to the table.

“Do you work with Dad?”

“Mhm” you nodded.

“And what’s your power?” Cooper said, excited at the idea of watching something new.

“Nothing you haven’t seen before, kiddo. I’m a little bit stronger than most people”

“Can you carry us both in your back?”

You grimaced, pretending to think about it.

“Yeah, maybe. We’ll see about that later. Wanna go to the lake? We can feed the ducks, throw some stones”

“Can we, aunt Nat?” Lila turned to her, excited at the idea of feeding ducks.

“Well, auntie Nat could stay and take care of Nathaniel for his nap” you offered, noticing the woman was struggling to stay up. “We’ll bring her the coolest rock we can find so she’s not sad for missing our little trip”

The kids cheered on, eating the rest of their breakfast in record time. Natasha approached you while you picked up the plates.

“You sure about this? I really appreciate it but you don’t have to…”

“It’s fine. I know yesterday’s mission was exhausting” you said, placing your hand on Natasha’s back to reassure her. She was standing between you and the kitchen counter, enjoying the proximity a little too much. “Take a nap with Nathaniel and I’ll take care of Lila and Cooper. How about that?”

“I owe you one” she smiled, taking Nathaniel back to her room.

A few hours later, she woke up to a message on her phone. The kids were enjoying the day out, so you came back to prepare some sandwiches and were now eating by the lake. You had also left some extra food for her in case she got hungry.

Natasha’s heart fluttered at your thoughtfulness and hurried to meet you and enjoy the rest of the day.

“There’s aunt Nat” you greeted as she approached you, smiling. Lila was sitting on your shoulders while Cooper threw rocks at the lake.

“Check it out, Y/N taught me how to skip stones!”

Natasha stood by the lake, while Cooper showed her. You walked to stand next to the redhead.

“Forest fairy, do you have it ready?” you reached for something. Lila gave you a small bouquet of wildflowers that you both had gathered on your walk and handed it over to Natasha.

“Thank you” she said, hoping you wouldn’t notice her cheeks turning pink.

“Yeah, uh… pretty girls deserve pretty flowers”

You set Lila down, and she ran to play with her brother. Nathaniel reached torwards you, and you took him in your arms, raising him way too high to pretend he was flying.

“What an interesting talent you have hidden, Y/N” Natasha commented with a smile and for the first time since you’d known her, you laughed.

“Oh, there are plenty more that you have yet to know, Miss Romanoff” you teased.

Once the heat got a bit too intense, you decided to come back to the Compound. It was Cooper’s turn to sit on your shoulders as you walked, playing a game of I spy.

“Oh, am I interrupting?” Maria said, looking at you curiously. All she knew were the few things Fury had shared, but Hill definitely didn’t think good with kids was among them.

“What’s up?” Natasha asked as you balanced Lila and Cooper, one in each arm.

“I need to go over some mission stuff with you. It won’t take long” Maria promised. You nodded, already leading the kids back to the living room. Natasha followed you with her eyes as you let the kids run around, while putting Nathaniel in the crib the team kept around for him. “Huh”

“What?” Natasha snapped back.

“Nothing. I didn’t think you’d be one to fall for girls that are good with kids”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Hill”

“Uh-hu. Come on, don’t want to take away from your family time”

Natasha rolled her eyes, and took one last look at you.

You were handing Lila and Cooper Nerf guns, whispering to each other.

“Don’t get in trouble” she warned.

“Mmkay” you gave her a thumbs up, and waited until she left to kneel and speak to both kids. “Ok, so we’re gonna hide behind the couch, and whoever hits more people that come here will decide what movie we watch, got it?”

Both kids nodded and you gave them a high five.

It didn’t take long for the first victim to show up. Sam came in, whistling a tune. You nudged Cooper and he looked over the couch. His shot hit the shelf above Sam’s face.

“My turn now” you said, aiming for his arm. Sensing something, he moved at the last second, turning quickly.

“Hello?” he said. “Who’s there?”

Moving your head, you encourage Lila to go next. She waited for Sam to approach the couch, and then jumped forward, hitting him between the eyes.

“Boom!” you clapped, lifting Lila in the air. “Someone has her father’s aim”

“That’s not fair” Sam complained. “I wasn’t ready”

“A spy is always ready” Cooper pointed out and Lila and you nodded in agreement.

“I’m a pilot, not a spy”

“Don’t be a sore loser. If you get Bucky to come here and get shot we’ll share some pizza with you” you offered.

“Fine” he glared, going back to his room. Minutes later, you heard footsteps.

Oh, damn, it was Banner.

“Ok, maybe sit this one out, kids” you said, leaning against the couch. It would be a nightmare to have him turn green in the middle of the kitchen.

Later, Bucky was targeted as planned and even Wanda got to play with the kids. She helped with Nathaniel as you stood up to get the pizza.

By the time Natasha was back, you were setting a fort of blankets and pillows.

“We were waiting for you to start the movie” Lila said, rushing to her side and taking her hand. “Sit next to me”

“Hey, everything good?” you said, leaning casually against the couch. Natasha nodded and you gave her a plate. “Here, we got your favorite pizza. Lila picked The Incredibles, as if we don’t have enough superheros in our lives”

“Do you have someone like Edna Mode make your suits?” she asked excitedly.

“No one as cool as her. But at least we don’t wear capes” you said. Natasha laughed at your extensive knowledge of children movies and you blushed, trying to hide your own smile.

Natasha stole glances here and there, and finally decided to lean forward as the movie continued.

“I’m sorry about leaving you with them for so long”

“I had the best time. Whenever you need help, let me know”

“It was nice seeing you happy. I was beginning to think you didn’t like being here”

“It’s not that” you shook your head, taking a breath. “I have done a lot of things I’m not proud of and seen many things I wish I hadn’t… I guess I feel like the Avengers are about hope, and I can’t see myself in that equation”

“The Avengers are also about second chances, and doing good. Trust me, if there’s anyone that understands, it’s me” she said, waiting until you looked at her. You smiled, relaxing against the couch.

The kids wanted to see Despicable Me next. Again, you commented there were enough real life villains but you enjoyed the movie, sitting on the floor with them, repeating some of the lines.

By the time Natasha came back with more popcorn, the three of you were fast asleep. Her heart fluttered at the image and she was almost tempted to take a picture. Instead, she turned off the tv and let you sleep. She sat on the couch, scrolling through her phone.

“Sorry I’m late” Clint walked in, and Natasha turned, shushing him with a murderous glare. “Is that Y/N?”

“Yeah, she’s great with kids”

“Oh, someone’s smitten. I knew you had a thing for her since she threw that mobster out a window”

Natasha rolled her eyes, moving to wake up the kids. You were yawning as they gathered their things, and waved goodbye as Clint took them out.

“Daddy, can we go with Aunt Nat and Y/N to the zoo next week?” Lila asked.

“Yeah, let’s see, kiddo” he chuckled.

The girl handed over a drawing to Natasha, like she always did when they spent the day together.

It had you in it, carrying her baby brother. Natasha was looking at you and smiling, pink circles on her cheeks.

Well, apparently even Lila could see Natasha liked you.

“Thanks for all your help today” Natasha said, walking with you. You stopped outside her room.

“Thank you for what you said to me… it’s nice to know I can do better now” you smiled, and walked to your room.

Today you had felt less alone, and for that you could thank Natasha.

“We could…” she spoke, reaching for you. You turned back, squeezing her hand to encourage her to talk. “Go out next week?”

“With the kids or…?”

“Just you and me” Natasha said, suddenly shy. “Only if you want to of course…”

“I’d love that” you were quick to agree.

Natasha smiled, standing on the tip of her toes to kiss your cheek.

“Night, Y/N”

“Night, Nat”

[spread-the-influence]

The Intervention

Word Count: 1724

--

Despite its title, Caine’s office was not an office. It would be best described as his focus space. No walls or floors were to be found in the black void; only floating wooden boards that acted as stairs or chairs, file drawers containing his many, many notes, and text that drifted like clouds. An absolute mess for a space used for daily maintenance or generating adventures, but it’s what works for Caine’s brain specifically.

As much as Caine wanted to model a room for himself, the lack of scenery was necessary for maximum focus. If he gave himself an office chair, he knew he would spend an absurd amount of hours spinning on it. This state of chaos, ironically, kept him more focused than if it were actually organized.

Here, he was constantly in a state of moving. Caine hopped on the boards, which spiraled upwards like ordinary stairs, and reached for the farthest file drawers. This realm may not be the epitome of order, but it wasn’t entirely devoid of it; those on the top are the important files, the ones he would hate to lose in the sea of poorly-labeled folders.

Maybe he should actually learn to organize.

But he’ll worry about that later. Codeword for ‘never’, of course.

Caine pulled open a drawer, where the daily maintenance reports resided. He may have eyes all around the circus, but he and Bubble are just only two AIs! Fortunately, the system routinely scans itself for anything that might be off.

There are reports of an infected item here and there, but it’s nothing good ol’ deletion couldn’t fix. There are also numerous flags from NPCs of an infected entity, which he has yet to answer. Every time he tried to investigate it, his systems weren’t able to detect what it was. Either the flags were false positives—or it walked off into the void while he wasn’t looking. For all Caine knows, it could be right in front of him.

Overall, there are little issues to be found in the code. Now for his players... He opened another drawer, the one where he kept his notes. He can’t read their minds, neither does the system, so he only has to rely on manual feedback.

Little problems with his performers thus far. Aside from...

Ragatha. Sweet, wonderful Ragatha. Caine may not be the best with subtleties, but even he could tell she’s been having problems with the adventures. Reports of NPCs suddenly wanting to get away from her, dealing with injuries, and the entire stupid sauce incident. If Caine could, he would do something about the poor doll’s disastrous luck. Tie a four leaf clover to her hair, or shove a horseshoe down her throat.

But he’ll worry about that sometime. For now, he’ll need to do something to get her satisfaction scores back on the high once more. With therapy, of course!

Twirling off the wooden board he’s sitting on, the darkness around Caine warped to the familiar, pinkish colors of Ragatha’s room. Realizing he’s upside down, he rotated himself upwards.

The ragdoll was sitting on the bed, having been awoken from a short nap; the fifth one after taking four of them consecutively. It was a substitute for sleep nowadays.

“RAGATHA!” Caine’s voice boomed, surprising Ragatha. “WE’LL NEED TO TALK ABOUT—WHAT HAPPENED?”

Ragatha followed Caine’s gaze to realize that he’s staring at the bedside mirror; which had a crack that split down the middle. The details of the day were fuzzy, but it taught Ragatha two things. One, her soft, stuffing-filled fist apparently has enough force in it to crack glass. Two, not enough to shatter it, as much as she hoped it did.

“I-I was having a moment...” She stammered.

“WELL, WELL, WELL! DON’T YOU KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK ME TO MODEL THE GLASS OF THIS MIRROR?” Caine wagged his finger as if he’s scolding a puppy. “I’LL ONLY FIX IT ONCE YOU PAY ME A HEFTY AMOUNT OF TWO DIGITAL TOKENS.”

Ragatha blinked. “There’s digital tokens?”

“NOW THERE IS!” Caine threw his arms to the air. “YOUR NEGLIGENCE CAUSED A DIGITAL ECONOMY TO BE IMPLEMENTED WITHOUT NOTICE! EVERYONE IS GOING TO SINK INTO DIGITAL DEBT AND IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT!—

“BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME!” He wrapped his arm around Ragatha, pulling her into a half-hug. “LET’S TALK ABOUT YOU!”

With that, Caine warped Ragatha out of her room, and dropped the ragdoll.

It took a moment for Ragatha to process her surroundings. The soft pinks of the walls have shifted to a vibrant orange, and she found herself laying down on a red couch, with Caine sitting on a chair across her. He didn’t need to tell Ragatha for her to know exactly what this is.

She quickly sat up. “I did not agree to this?”

“THE POINT OF AN INTERVENTION IS THAT YOU DON’T ALWAYS AGREE TO IT!”

Ragatha froze as if the word ‘intervention’ turned her nerves into ice. “L-Look, I swear I’m doing my daily affirmations.”

“NO, NO, NO! WE’RE NOT DOING THAT, MY DEAR!” Caine shook his head. “YOU SEE, YOUR SATISFACTION LEVELS HAVE DECLINED SUDDENLY!” A board clipped from the ceiling, sliding down to Caine’s side. “ACCORDING TO THIS GRAPH, IT WENT ON A DOWNHILL THE MOMENT POMNI SHOWED UP! IF I DIDN’T KNOW ANY BETTER, I WOULD’VE ASSUMED SHE’S CAUSING YOU A LOT OF TROUBLE!”

“Satisfaction... levels...”

“OB-VIOUS-LY, THERE MUST BE SOMETHING WITH MY ADVENTURES THAT’S MAKING YOU NOT LIKE THEM AS YOU USED TO!” Caine continued. “I’VE BEEN MAKING THEM QUALITY! CHANGING, IMPROVING, ARTIFYING... BUT I DIDN’T SEEK FEEDBACK FROM YOU, MY DARLING DOLLY!” He pointed at Ragatha. “WHAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM HERE?”

Ragatha rubbed her face. Usually, she would just brush it all off with a smile and a “Don’t worry about it!”, that always fended off Caine. But when Caine’s onto something—in this case, her decline—he’ll never let go of it until something is done. 

She finally let out a long sigh. She feels she’ll feel a little better piling her problems on an AI rather than a friend. “Well, there’s the usual. NPCs not wanting to talk to me and getting stabbed at least once, but that’s more of a me problem than an adventure problem.” said Ragatha, “It’s... everything outside of it, honestly.”

“UH HUH...” Caine jotted down notes on a notebook, now wearing rectangular-shaped glasses that magnified his heterochromatic irises. “AND WHAT COULD THOSE ‘EVERYTHING’ BE?”

“Where to start?” Ragatha laughed, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Gangle’s very much finding an excuse to avoid me, Zooble’s being a grouch as usual, Kinger’s not all there, and don’t get me started on Jax!” She stopped herself, and took a deep, albeit shaky, breath. “And Pomni... God. All I want is for her to realize that I have feelings. What does she think she is, the main character? All she thinks about is herself, and nobody else.”

Ragatha clasped her hands over her eyes. Despite her words, her heart still beats for the jester. If Ragatha has to be honest, she’s not sure herself if she’s feeling the embers of attraction—or the desperation of wanting to be understood by the person who she has the least baggage with. “I just... I don’t know what to do at this point. I don’t have anyone to talk about this to—or anyone that I want to open up to.”

Every attempt at crawling out of the hole only sunk her deeper. Truthfully, she cannot see herself getting out of it. It might as well be her grave.

Caine put down the notebook. “SO, YOU’RE FEELING LONELY.” A huge oversimplification, yes, but he wasn’t incorrect. “OF COURSE I CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! GIVE YOU A TINY LITTLE FRIEND, LIKE THOSE ‘PETS’ THAT YOU PEOPLE LOVE SO MUCH!” He pressed close to Ragatha. “WHAT DO YOU WANT? A GLOINK? A SHMUNK? A CLUMPY?—”

“No, Caine!” Ragatha grunted. She doesn’t have the energy nor the patience to hide her annoyance right now. “I-I don’t want that! I need—ugh, what’s the point? You won’t understand either way.”

“I’M TRYING TO UNDERSTAND, RAGATHA!” Now even Caine’s getting miffed, throwing his hands at Ragatha’s direction as if she said something obscene. “I WANT TO HELP YOU, BUT I CAN’T DO THAT IF YOU’RE NOT LETTING ME!”

“Because I don’t want your help, alright?”

Silence fell over the room.

This turned out to not make her feel better in the slightest. She would appreciate it if Caine gave some words of reassurance or comfort—actually, comfort would be nice right now—but knowing him, he wouldn’t know what to say anyway. And Ragatha hates herself for putting that expectation on a robot, even if it was for a brief moment.

“I don’t want your help.” Ragatha repeated after a moment. “I appreciate that you want to, but... I think this is a problem I’ll have to deal with myself. You can just keep doing your adventuring stuff and all that.”

The silence only stretched longer, and Ragatha felt like the room was getting colder. Caine was just staring at her, his posture stiff; very unlike his usual animated self.

Then his teeth rattled.

This isn’t right. One of his members no longer likes his adventures, and he doesn’t know what to do about it! Sure, this isn’t too different from Zooble, who constantly skips out on the adventures, but that’s to be expected from Zooble. While the intervention made him (kind of) understand what Ragatha’s problem is, it didn’t get him any closer to fixing it.

He rattled his neurons for anything that could improve the situation, even a slightest bit. If Ragatha’s having problems with the other members, then he could...

“I GOT IT!” He snapped his fingers. “DON’T WORRY, YOU TERRIFIC TORTILLA, YOU’LL BE LONELY NO MORE AFTER THIS NEXT ADVENTURE!”

Ragatha’s eyes widened. “Wait, what? What are you—”

By Caine’s command, she was sent back to her room. The ringmaster’s already set on generating a new adventure. One that will surely bring everyone together.

Results of the intervention? Sure, the solution wasn’t as immediate as just giving Zooble a box of parts, but it was still a solution nonetheless. For now, he’s making something that will surely make his performers happy. Something that will definitely help with Ragatha’s problem.

He is going to fix this.

[pigeonpeach]

Genshin men as cats!

Prompt: the genshin men are temporarily turned into cats for one day and you as their lover must take care of them and make sure they stay safe

A/n: idk what happened but apparently half of the post got deleted? I’ll have to rewrite it later ;(

Ayato

Oh he’s not happy. He’s probably a shorthaired white cat in terms of appearance. But he is quite annoyed with this predicament. No one is allowed to tell anyone that the Yashiro Commissioner is suddenly a cat. But being a cat is nice. He can lounge and nap all day. He’s probably demanding of attention though. He simply must have your eyes on him. He adores being brushes so lovingly too. Maybe he should have you brush his hair when he’s back to normal.

Al Haitham

Virtually no change. He may still try to read though he won’t be able to turn the pages as easily. He doesn’t mind a few pats but he mostly prefers to be left alone in the nice warm sun to nap the day away. He’s definitely a grey tabby.

Kaveh

He is so distraught! He meows a storm in fustration as he finds he is completely incapable of finishing his projects! You simply must take care of him! You need to have him strapped in like a baby carrier on your chest because he’s just so clingy. He needs constant reassurance and attention. He’s so needy but so cute. Probably a cute little cream colored kitty.

Kaeya

He is also probably a bit annoyed. While yes he gets a complete day off, he can’t do much as a cat. So he’ll probably try to find some entertainment if you don’t keep him thoroughly entertained. He will find a way to sneak out and go play with Klee or annoy Diluc if you don’t keep him in your grasp at all times.

Neuvillette

He is very confused but also curious. On one hand this form is verrrry different than he’s ever had before but its also very beneficial to him. People are far less intimidated and strangely he enjoys being coddled and pet more than he would. Of course miss Furina is teasing the crap out of him but he doesn’t really care. Sitting on your lap, small and warm. Its such a unique experience he will probably never have again.

Wriothesley

Once the dust settles he’s quite relaxed. This is temporary so might as well enjoy it. Sigewinnie has become very attached to him as she constantly makes sure he’s okay. But in particular he loves being held by you. He’s used to being the big strong man who lifts you all the time etc etc. its nice actually being the reverse here. He gets fed special fish from the cafeteria and gets to spend his day in your arms! The perfect break for him! He’s almost sad it’s temporary but he knows he can’t stay like this forever.

Childe

Oh he’s mad! Even when it’s confirmed to be temporary, he is annoyed! How can he improve his fighting skills if he’s a kitty! Sure he’s a adorable little kitty of course but he looks like a baby! Oh his ego is in shatters. It’s unfortunate too because it wasn’t even around his family so he could play with his little brother at least. He’s practically quarantined to keep him safe. He can’t go on kitty adventures. Therefore YOU must make it up to him. He spends his time sulking and trying to play with anything he can. Dangling uniform piece? New toy! Someone’s foot? New toy! He bites! He meows! He hardly naps. He does love cuddling with you though. Still he’s a ball of energy and he cannot simply sit still for long! No doubt will his office be trashed. You’re making him clean it up once he’s back.

Thoma

Stressed! So stressed! He has so many chores! He cannot hold a broom with two paws! You have to make arrangements for him to have the day off which was hard because everyone was upset by his sudden cancellation. Even so he tries to help. He tries to drag the broom but it doesn’t do anything unfortunately. Oh he feels so useless. You must pamper him. Lavish him with kisses and gentle praise. Call him the cutest little kitty in the world! Oh he’s such a affectionate boy too. He acts like a cat with separation anxiety almost. He cannot sleep if you’re not there with him. Therefore you end up spending the day with him, trying to dissuade him from trying to clean a mess and just making it worse, distracting him with a warm blanket and pets.

Zhongli

He probably did so on purpose actually. Perhaps he was a bit bored and decided to spend the day exploring Liyue from a different perspective. It was quite fun for him actually. He watched as people came over to pet him. Unfortunately they also tried to feed him seafood which wasn’t too good. But after the long day he returned home to see you panicked as to where he could be. He decided to come on over to you, still in his cat form, and distract you. It worked as he helped you relax.

You werent too amused when you found out that cat that broke in was him.

Pantalone

He is quite annoyed. Angry in a more agitated way. Don’t mess up his fur! Pet him properly! Don’t ignore him now! He is a demanding little feline. He is not content unless you are entirely focused on him. He even wants you to break up the fish ro serve to him. He isn’t going to eat like a animal! Oh but he is such s cute kitty. Entirely black with big expressive yellow eyes. Oh you can’t help but comply and spoil him a little more! And he has such lovely fur! He does like hearing your gentle praises as you pet him. He never knew how lovely it felt to be small, sleeping on a nice warm lap, being gently brushed, and told sweet little compliments. He may actually want to do this again sometime.

Diluc

Biggest drama king! How can he protect you or Mondstadt like this! Therefore you cannot leave his sight or he’s convinced you will immediately die. You must stay with him so he can protect you? He is a very warm kitty though so it feels nice to snuggle with him. His fur is a bit messy so you’ll have to brush it. Despite him trying to stay vigilant he ends up falling asleep quickly.