#me yesterday asking discord if I should wear a skirt | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

monabela · 4 years ago

Text

hello! it seems to be @aphrarepairweek2021 and I'm not one to ignore that! here's some... domestic denfin stuff for day 1, language. I've gone for a pretty liberal approach to the prompts this year, but that's mostly so that all my fics will fit into the same universe :> (it is also the same universe as two of last year's rarepairweek fics! I'll make a tag for it) (that is also the reason I had to call sve berwald and not torbjörn like I usually do ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) they will all be standalone little fics but take place in the same au, over the same sort of time period!

in major scale

pairings/characters: Denmark (Søren)/Finland (Tuomi), Estonia (Eduard), Sweden (Berwald), Hungary (Erzsébet) + past SuFin mentioned word count: 2219 summary: Tuomi admires how much Søren cares about other people. It inspires him to do the same.

A series of thumps and clomps heralds Søren’s arrival home. Tuomi looks up with amusement when the door of his little home studio in the back of their house bursts open.

“Tuomi!” Søren shouts. He brings with him the smell of recent rain and early spring blossoms.

Eduard, who is sitting behind Tuomi at his keyboard and wearing headphones, very nearly tumbles off his stool in shock.

“Søren!” Tuomi just returns, while his brother rights himself and glares. “You seem unusually excited.”

Eduard snorts, which makes Søren grin. ‘Unusually excited’ means something different when applied to him than most other people.

“Guess what!” he says, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. His socked feet are both tapping on the ground, with no rhythm to it. Tuomi is sure he couldn’t say what’s got into him; as far as he knows, Søren was just looking after his young nephews for the afternoon.

“Your brother didn’t hide the sugar well enough,” he guesses.

“No, that’s—well, he didn’t, but that’s not my point. Berwald’s gettin’ married!” Now, he waves his arms around wildly. “My brother’s gettin’ married, Tuomi! I’m so proud of him.”

Turning slightly, Tuomi exchanges an amused look with his own brother, who has taken his headphones off and is leaning forward over his keyboard, elbows planted over the keys.

“Now, Søren,” Eduard starts, using his haughtiest voice, which is very haughty. It’s an odd talent.

“Don’t you dare,” he interrupts, though he’s still grinning, “bring up the time he and Tuomi were plannin’ on gettin’ hitched, ‘cause that was ages ago and ain’t relevant anymore.”

“Alright, alright.” Eduard holds up his hands placatingly, and Tuomi just snickers. Søren’s right, he thinks; it’s been over fifteen years since then, and although the whole thing where he took up with the brother of the man who was nearly his husband was awkward at first, for all that it happened several years later, he’s since become good friends with Berwald again. It’s probably better this way.

“That’s great, Søren!” he just says. “And you’re gonna be the best man, I assume?”

“Of course!” His dark blue eyes crinkle at the corners, scrunching up his many freckles in laugh lines and dimples. Tuomi really admires how much Søren cares about other people, even if sometimes it comes at the expense of himself. Tuomi can always remedy that, after all.

“That means you’re gonna have to help with a bunch of organizing, isn’t it?”

“Don’t sound do skeptical of me, Eduard!” Pushing away from the door, Søren lightly strums the strings of an uncovered acoustic guitar sitting in its stand before taking a large step towards Tuomi and bending down to kiss him over the microphone between them, Tuomi angling his own electric guitar out of the way. He smells like sea wind and hair gel, and does taste distinctly sugary behind the smile his lips are still curved into.

Tuomi mutters, “I think you’ll do great. Berwald’s lucky to have you.”

“I hope so. Y’know, the boys are excited as anythin’.” Now, he practically melts, draping his long limbs over Tuomi and his guitar. He always does this when he as much as thinks about his nephews, Berwald’s young sons. Tuomi and Søren are very much the fun uncles. It is a title they both wear with pride.

Patting his jeans-clad ass affectionately, Tuomi pushes his nose into Søren’s wild coppery hair.

“Yeah? They’ve given their blessing, then?”

“Already fightin’ over who gets to be ringbearer.”

“Cute.”

The door of the studio opens.

“Whoa! Am I interrupting?” shouts Tuomi’s half-sister, bursting in.

Eduard, now leaning his head in his hands, says, “Please save me.”

“Berwald’s gettin’ married!” Søren shouts, into Tuomi’s ear. He gets along with Erzsébet far too well.

“Tuomi’s ex?” she yells back, and Eduard promptly loses it. He doubles over his keyboard in hiccupping laughter, shaking and pressing almost all the keys in a horrifyingly discordant tone. Søren looks betrayed in a very comical way. He crosses his arms as he turns to Erzsébet, folding his hands into the sleeves of his red knit sweater. Berwald made that one.

“She not wrong,” Tuomi tells him, holding back laughter of his own. Now even more comically betrayed, Søren turns back to him, with his dark eyebrows raised high and ready to deliver a quasi-outraged speech, but Erzsébet forestalls him.

“You need to make a song for the wedding!”

“Yes!” Tuomi perks up, almost poking Søren in the hip with the neck of his guitar.

“A song?” the man echoes, looking between all three of them. Eduard is now only playing a couple of notes at the same time, thankfully, and he straightens up fully to explain their family tradition.

“We always do it for weddings. It has to be something they’d like, and something the couple can dance to.”

“And then we give it funny lyrics,” Tuomi finishes, “about the person getting married. But we always make sure it’s good.”

“Well, I ain’t surprised about that part, ya snobs.” Søren shakes his head affectionately. He has absolutely no feel for music, but that just means that he appreciates things that most other people wouldn’t give their time of day.

It also means that he somehow considers Tuomi’s very musically inclined family to be elitist about music, which Tuomi thinks is dumb, but he’s not one to argue. He’ll leave that to his brother; it’s very amusing. As a matter of fact, Eduard is already narrowing his eyes at Søren, but doesn’t say anything before he continues.

“I don’t know if Berwald would like that, honestly. It’s not really something we do.”

“Come on, everyone likes music!” Erzsébet enthuses, walking further inside and skirting around Søren and Tuomi in the small space to lean an elbow on Eduard’s shoulder.

“Sure, he likes it, but, I mean—we ain’t like you guys, is all.”

No one is quite like his family, Tuomi thinks, but he appreciates that all the more these days. Søren is the most generous, openminded person he knows, and has broadened his worldview amazingly in the time they’ve been together. Not that his family isn’t openminded; they’re just less inclined to explore than Søren is.

Still, “Music is a universal language, isn’t it?” Tuomi asks him, bumping his shoulder into Søren’s upper arm. He inclines his head in agreement. “It doesn’t even have to have lyrics if you think Berwald wouldn’t like it. Or his fiancé, of course,” he adds, because he doesn’t know the man that well but knows he, like Berwald, doesn’t really appreciate being made fun of, even in good humor.

This is, again, unlike Søren, which is probably why it didn’t work out with his brother and does work with him.

Well, it’s part of it.

Erzsébet, the lyricist of the family, gasps dramatically at the mention of not having lyrics to go with the song, and coughs. She should really quit smoking. Eduard pats her back awkwardly, getting a face full of long brown hair for his efforts.

“And then?” Søren’s asking, but his head is still tilted thoughtfully, as if he’s considering it.

“Well, then it can be for a dance! Consider it a wedding gift from me.”

“His ex,” Erzsébet murmurs, recovered, and Eduard starts giggling again.

“His brother-in-law.” Tuomi blindly throws a guitar pick at her over his shoulder, which, going by the plink and following yelp, hits Eduard’s glasses instead.

Huh. That’s pretty impressive.

“Well, someone will have to teach him how to dance first—”

They all look away.

“—but that sounds awesome, actually! Would you guys be willing to play it?” In his excitement, Søren has leaned very close to Tuomi again, vision filling with his grin and his many, many freckles, and Tuomi can’t help but kiss the corner of his mouth.

“I’d love to.”

His siblings make agreeing noises.

“Right! Well, should I—what’re you guys workin’ on, actually?” Søren gazes around the small space as if hoping to glean clues. Which clues, Tuomi is not sure. He can’t really read music, after all.

“Just tinkering a bit,” Tuomi says. Eduard plays the first few chords of the most recent wedding song they’d written, several years ago already. Erzsébet slaps the cymbal of her drum set in apparent agreement, reaching behind her.

“Hey, I wrote some lyrics, actually,” she says. “I think they’re pretty good.”

It’s been years since they actually made original music that they deemed good enough to send out into the world, but their songs are still getting decent amounts of listeners on Spotify, which is nice; it’s mostly a hobby for all three of them, after all. Lately, though, Eduard and Tuomi have started seriously considering making some new material, and Erzsébet seems to be on board. She promises to send the lyrics to both of them. Although she, like both of her half-brothers and much to Søren’s amazement, plays several instruments, she doesn’t have much talent for composing.

Tuomi tried to teach Søren guitar once. It was fun, but very unsuccessful. He does like the drums.

That’s probably why he gets along with Erzsébet so well.

Deciding that today is probably not going to be very productive, all four of them go into the house instead, and Tuomi makes coffee while Søren hands out some cupcakes that he made yesterday, because Søren very much believes that food is a universal language. He isn’t wrong, if you ask Tuomi, but that’s mostly because Søren is very good at making food, unlike Tuomi.

They’ve all got their talents, he supposes, and it’s how they use them in combination that matters. Even if he’s been banned from using the oven for anything more than frozen pizza.

Eduard, of course, asks for the recipe, because Eduard didn’t get that memo about talents and has too many of them.

Tuomi’s siblings don’t actually stay around for very long after that, both promising to think about the wedding song for Berwald. It is mostly an empty promise on Erzsébet’s part, but that’s okay. Eduard walks away while muttering about waltzes, which Tuomi appreciates, because Berwald seems like a man—is a man, he knows this—who appreciates a bit of tradition, and he’s never tried to compose an instrumental, mostly classical song before.

“You’re adorable, you know,” he tells Søren, who’s standing behind him in the hallway of their house after having seen his siblings off. Søren just grins, rocking back on his heels, hands clasped behind his back and looking much younger than he is.

“I’m just happy for my brother.”

“I know.” Tuomi reaches up to flick some errant hair out of the way. “It’s really cute.”

He gets excited about the smallest things, Søren. Random dogs on the street and odd world records and warm coats and almost everything that’s even a little bit nice. It’d get annoying, Tuomi’s sure, if he weren’t so sincere about it all the time. He got very excited about their civil union as well, which was honestly mostly practical. Tuomi had almost wanted to get married, just to see his reaction to it, but he’d decided years before that marriage wasn’t for him, and remains glad that he stuck by that belief, in the end.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Søren suddenly asks, blue eyes searching Tuomi’s face.

“What? Oh, no, of course not. Berwald’s a good man, and he deserves to be happy.” He shrugs. “I know he’s always wanted the whole… Domestic thing.”

“Guy’s had a plan for a wedding since he was twelve or something,” Søren confirms, grinning. “Only took him thirty years and a couple kids.”

Tuomi knows; he was shown the plan, sixteen years ago, but he decides not to mention that. It’d been quite intimidating at the time; he’d only been 22 and much more interested in… Well, practically anything besides marriage.

Søren slings an arm across his shoulders, squeezing him tightly to his lanky form, and starts walking them both back to the kitchen.

“You’d know, I guess,” he muses, then pulls a face. Tuomi laughs.

“That one was your fault!”

“I know, I know. Don’t remind me.”

Tuomi stops walking, tilting his head up at Søren.

“You don’t mind, do you?” he asks. Turning back, Søren blinks at him.

“Obviously not,” he says, but he bites the inside of his cheek and furrows his dark brows, so there’s evidently something more there.

There’s another thing Tuomi had to be taught by Søren; reading body language. It’s not his fault his family is so unexpressive!

“But?” he prompts.

“I just hope I can do well for him.” Søren shrugs. “He’s my big brother, y’know, and I do kinda feel like I ruined his first chance of marriage sometimes. I know that’s dumb,” he adds hastily.

Tuomi mumbles, “Yeah, that was definitely me.” And then, “Like you say, he’s your big brother. He loves you. Speaking as someone with two older siblings, they might razz you a bit—”

“That’s just your siblings, Tuomi,” Søren interrupts, but the grin is back on his face and just as bright as before. “But I get what you’re saying. Thanks.”

Tuomi boots him with his shoulder, and he laughs, clomping ahead. Tuomi follows, quickly.

Before he eats all the other cupcakes.

14 notes · View notes

sweeethinny · 4 years ago

Text

Trick or treat, sweetie?

I wanted to do something for Halloween, but I'm a little skeptical, and spirit stories and these things don't really do much to me BUT thinking about Sharp Objects and all the True Crime cases I’ve heard, I managed to write this, and I think I did something decent thanks to the hinny discord that helped me choose the costume for our couple

It was Halloween day, which meant that almost all teenagers in town would lie to their parents saying they were going to get candy when in fact, they would be in the forest drinking, making out behind the rocks, or throwing themselves into the clearing that was there close by.

Ginny would be no different.

She had convinced Harry to wear a couple costume, not because it was just tacky and funny, but because his ass would look much better on Princess Leia's costume than it did on her. Also, she was much more suited to Han Solo than Harry.

‘’You look great.’’ She said, hitting his ass as soon as her boyfriend came out of the bathroom, still fixing his wig on his head

"This shit itches" Harry complained, sitting on the edge of his bed so that Ginny could straighten the clip that held the fake hair back. "You look hot." His hand also hit her ass, staying there. "Your mother would die if she knew we were like this.''

‘’She knows, and she said that as much as you look good in white, you should wear Han Solo’s clothes’’ Ginny kissed him quickly, squeezing his chin and sucking on his lip ‘‘I disagree. I think men in skirts are sexy’’

‘’I’m happy that I like your beauty standard’’ The boy stood up, putting the last details before looking at her ‘’Ready?’’

‘’I’ve always been’’ Ginny lifted her chin, taking his hand and pulling him out of the room. Of course Lily asked the two of them to stop for a photo, commenting to James about the two being beautiful and that Harry should start wearing a cape like that more often because it did so much for his shoulders.

‘’Behave yyou two! I don't want to go to the police station to take out two stupid teenagers'' James warned them before they left the house, which Harry promptly confirmed and calmed them down about the two of them being home before one in the morning (everyone knew it was a lie, but at that day they would all pretend to be true)

‘‘Han Solo who should drive’’ Ginny reminded him, sitting in the passenger seat while warning Hermione that they were already on way

‘’If he had a driver’s license, for sure. For now, let me do it.'' Harry left his hand on her thigh, as he always did, following the old path they used to reach the clearing, passing through the town square where the children were having fun, gathered to start picking up sweets or throwing toilet paper at someone's house, and going straight until they reached the street of the pig slaughterhouse, to finally reach the road.

‘’Mione said she’s also going’’ She said ‘‘Do we have to buy anything?’’

‘’No, I left the drinks with Seamus yesterday. We just need to get our nice ass over there’’ Harry smiled ‘‘I hope you won’t be jealous when everyone looks at mine, instead of yours’’ Ginny laughed, denying and shrugging

‘’Feel free, I’m not jealous’’

‘’Ah, sure’’ Harry used all his sarcasm, barely taking his eyes off the empty road ‘‘It’s ugly to lie, Han’’

‘‘I’m not lying’’ She defended herself ‘’When did you see me jealous?’’

‘’Yesterday when that girl flirted with me at the market’’ He barely stopped to think, which made her a little irritated, even though she was amused

''Ah, so you admit it was a flirtation'' Ginny tossed her hair behind her shoulders, crossing her legs and looking out the window, seeing the city a little further away now ''I remember you saying it was just her way''

‘’But she’s like that. Ask Nev’’ She looked at him, arching an eyebrow and holding back laughter

‘’Nev didn’t have sex with Kimbely’’ Ginny argued

‘‘I don’t know’’ Harry shrugged ‘‘She is very friendly’’

‘’And what do you know about that?’’ She poked, still staring at him with a raised eyebrow and a smug smile on her face

‘’Nothing, just what-- What the fuck!?’’ Harry braked the car with much more speed than was recommended, the noise echoing down the empty road, seeming to shake the trees that lay there. Ginny bounced forward, her body being stopped by her seat belt, but her head hit the panel, causing an irritating pain.

When she looked up to look at the road in front of her, a curse escaped her mouth, staring at the woman standing in the middle of the road, all dressed in white while carrying an ax dripping with blood.

‘’Do you think we should see if everything is okay?’’ Harry asked, gaping at the scene, still staring at that woman

''I think you should back up and runaway from here'' She replied, scared to death ''It's the fucking woman in white, what are we still doing standing around?'' The woman in white , the urban legend of that small town that, a few years ago, had been the local of three brutal deaths.

The three girls were not even fifteen when they disappeared, one at a time; the first disappeared in the summer, some said that she had run away with her boyfriend, others said that she had killed herself in the clearing, and it was only after three weeks of searching that her body was found, on the roof of the pig slaughterhouse, all dismembered.

The second was in the fall of that same year, but she had not been gone for more than three days, and her body was found hanging from the traffic lights on the main street, exposed for all to see.

In the meantime, the parents were already in a panic, and no more children or teenagers were seen alone on the street, the doors were closed before six and no one left the house at night. For a city with less than 5,000 inhabitants, that was the biggest terror they had ever faced.

The third disappeared after a year, on the anniversary of the death of the first, she had disappeared after going for a bike ride on the way to a friend's house, and for months no one had any news or evidence of the disappearance. On the anniversary of the death of the second, her body was found half on the roof of the slaughterhouse, and the other half, hanging from the traffic lights.

It was chaos.

When a truck driver pleaded guilty - a few months of panic and terror for everyone in the city afterwards - everyone pretended to be more relieved. He never confessed the reason for killing the three girls so brutally, but it didn't matter, the population would pretend to be peace again. Even if one of the boys who lived on the way to the clearing, claimed that he had seen a woman in white carrying the body across the road, dragging it into the forest.

The police always denied it, saying that there was no chance of a woman committing something as horrible as that, but the population never let themselves forget the legend. Sometimes, someone said that he had seen a woman dressed in a great bloodstained robe walking around the city. Another said he had seen her in the clearing. Another said that she was always around the slaughterhouse ..

And now, there was a woman in a white dress full of blood, an ax in her hand, in front of Harry's car, looking like the devil as she looked at them.

Her hair was blond and looked dirty with dirt and something Ginny hoped was not dried blood, her eyes were big and dark, like two holes in her pale, almost skeletal face, and all over her bust were marks of scrapes and cuts.

‘’The car doesn’t want to start’’ Harry almost screamed, turning the key and seeing that nothing was changing

''What?! No! I will not die! This shit will call and we'll go over that motherfucker'' Ginny shouted in response, nervous to the last strands of hair for seeing that the woman was starting to walk, using her free hand to clean what looked like blood dry, from her cheek.

''I do not know! Damn!’’ Harry hit the steering wheel, and the horn barely seemed to startle her, and maybe, she was already less than two meters away from them

‘‘Where’s the knife I always leave it here?’’ Ginny opened each compartment, shivering as she rummaged through Harry’s mess looking for metal

‘’She has a fucking ax, what the fuck are you going to do with a knife? She will kill you before you can say the word ‘Please’ ’’ He looked at her, looking like a piece of paper so white, then turning forward and moving the key again

‘’Harry, she’s getting close’’ Ginny whispered, terrified that the woman could hear her trembling voice

‘’I know, I’m trying’’ The blonde was walking more and more, starting to laugh like crazy, loudly and laughing with her head back, dragging the ax on the road floor, causing a terrible sound of the blade on the asphalt

''Trick or treat, sweeties?'' Her voice sounded loud but at the same time it seemed to be whispered, her black eyes blinked towards them both, and the moment she got close enough to touch the hood of the car, lifting her ax and ready to break the windshield, Harry managed to turn the key.

The noise of the engine echoed and the tires sang with the sharp reverse they made, moving further and further away from the woman who now ran towards them

‘’Go over it !!’’ Ginny screamed, terrified of how fast she could be

''I'm not going to jail!'' He also shouted, changing lanes so he could accelerate and got out of there, but he couldn't avoid when the woman threw herself on top of the car, rolling over the hood and falling on the road, staying still dirtier than before, but not looking dead. She was still laughing out loud and was able to move, looking like she wanted to get up.

'’Don't you dare stop. I swear Harry, I'll kill you!’’ Ginny felt her heart racing to the point of thinking she was having an attack, barely able to breathe properly ‘’ Accelerate and let’s go ’’

‘’Shit Gin!’’ Harry stepped on the gas, much faster than the law allowed, and left, feeling completely shaky ‘‘Damn I think I’m going to pass out’’

''I swear to you, if I hadn't gone to the bathroom before we left, I would have peed in my pants'' She took a deep breath ''What the fuck was that?'' Ginny asked, still looking back as if she expected see her again

''I do not know! Where did that fuck come from?’’ He said

‘’From hell’’ Ginny said. Harry had the audacity to laugh, but he didn't seem very happy ‘’I need a strong drink’’

‘’Me too’’ He replied, parking the car in the middle of the trees and listening to the sounds of music and conversations, some headlights were on and you could see the bodies walking from side to side. Harry squeezed Ginny's thigh, as if to confirm that she was there. ‘’Do you want to drink and then have sex in the back seat? I think I need to discharge the adrenaline’’

‘‘I don’t think you’ve ever come up with anything as good as this’’

#hinny #hinny au #harry x ginny #Harry Potter #Ginny Weasley #Harry and Ginny #halloween

42 notes · View notes

beholdme · 4 years ago

Text

All the Many Shades of Gerry - Chapter 10

Chapters: 10/19

Fandom: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Gerard Keay/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Martin Blackwood/Gerard Keay, Martin Blackwood/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay/Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist

Characters: Martin Blackwood, Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Gerard Keay, Tim Stoker (The Magnus Archives), Sasha James, Gertrude Robinson, Elias Bouchard

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Library AU, Librarian Jon, Artist Gerry, Trans Male Character, Trans Martin Blackwood, Canon Asexual Character, Asexual Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist, Ace Subtype - Sex Positive, Polyamory, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Romantic Fluff, Falling In Love, Boys in Skirts, Kissing, Demisexual Gerard Keay, Minor Character Death, Past Character Death, Canon-Typical Child Neglect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Flirting, Minor Jonathan “Jon” Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker, Adventures in Hair Dying, Happy Ending, Banter, Gerry has a lot of sass, Gerard Keay is Morticia Adams, Jon is a very grumpy Librarian, Martin adores them anyway.

Summary: In which Gerry is a kaleidoscope and Jon and Martin can’t help falling in love with him.

He happens to love them back.

Find it on Ao3

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

"When was the last time we saw Gerry?" Jon asks in a panic. Martin looks up from the other side of the dinner table. The pair of them are at their typical Thursday night date, in Jon’s favourite Italian restaurant.

They had previously been studying their menus, but Martin had felt Jon’s tension from the moment they met outside the library. It wasn't exactly surprising, considering the recent developments in their relationship, but he was still acutely aware of it.

“You saw him yesterday morning before work, and I saw him today when he came into the bookstore to drink tea and read an entire book without buying it.” Martin reminds him. He’s already told Jon about seeing Gerry today, and he was there when they had all said goodbye the previous morning.

Martin is fairly sure that Jon’s issue is more with the fact that Gerry was pale and tear-soaked as Martin had kissed him goodbye, and that Gerry had clung to Jon like an oversized barnacle as they rocked together for a final moment before they both left him alone to his thoughts. Martin knew he had slept and painted, or at least, that was what Gerry had told him in the quiet moments Martin had taken to spend with him in between the aisles of books that morning.

“You should go over and see him if you’re concerned. We could go to the bar after we eat, and then you can go stay the night with him.” Martin tells him gently, nudging his foot under the table.

"Maybe it would be better for Gerry if you go alone," Jon replies quietly, staring at his menu and refusing to make any kind of eye contact.

Martin closes and sets aside his own menu, leaning forward on the table to focus his full attention on the idiot love of his life.

"Why? Because he and I sleep together and you think that makes our intimacy more important? Or because you perceive it's your fault that his heart is broken and because of that you think you don't deserve to feel any comfort you might get from seeing him?" Jon goes shock still at Martin's words, eyes simply downcast now, instead of pretending to read the menu they both have memorized. "Or was it both at the same time?"

"Yellow," Jon says unhappily.

Only Jonothan Sims could safeword out of a conversation. Martin thinks tartly. I bet he learnt that from Gerry.

Martin sighs and leans back, out of Jon's atmosphere. "I won't push a conversation you don't want to have, love, but you have to know that neither of those things is true."

"No?" Jon snaps, finally jerking his head up to look at Martin. "Not even you can deny that I demanded that confession. I don't know what I expected him to say-" Jon cuts off, words choked off. "But not… Not that. Not those awful, horrifying things. All that trauma dragged out and put on display like some kind of, of-" Jon stutters to a halt, pressing his eyes tightly closed as if to escape the thought that anyone had ever laid hands on their bright, beautiful boy.

"Like some kind of bloody museum exhibit? You couldn't have guessed. And you have a right to closure as much as anyone." Martin says emphatically. He reaches out to clasp their hands together, and Jon thankfully allows the contact. "No one could ever look at Gerry and guess that those skeletons live in his closet. That he hides those scars behind his sweet smiles and paint-stained hands."

"I was there, Martin. I was with him the night before he ran away. He already knew, had already decided to go, and I didn't notice." Jon bites out the final words, bringing his hand down on the table in frustration. It's the ultimate recrimination in his own mind.

"You can't know what you've never been told Jon, you aren't omniscient. You can't know what Gerry and I are thinking and feeling unless we tell you. Just like Gerry and I can't know what you're feeling when you avoid telling us things." Martin sighs, the exhaustion of several days of tears and worry dragging down on him. "We can pick up on it sometimes though, and we aren't scared teenagers anymore. Gerry will know you're avoiding him if you send me to check on him tonight and it will hurt him. If you're committed to him, and I know you are, then you owe him your bravery now. We all have to overcome our insecurities if we want to make this work."

Jon and Martin sit looking at each other for a few heavy seconds.

"I don't feel brave," Jon whispers across the space between them.

"I know, my love. Neither do I. But we are." Martin lifts Jon's hand to press a kiss to Jon's palm, just as Gerry had on their initial date in the bar. "We can be brave together, the three of us."

Gerry is not at work. They share a look of sinking fear when they don't find him working his shift at the bar.

He is at home when they let themselves into his loft, much to their relief. His posture and the general disarray fills Jon, especially, with fresh anxiety.

He leans against his art table, smoking a cigarette and looking up at the most jarring painting Jon and Martin have ever seen him create. If the angry swirls of color and violent-looking paint slashes even constitute a painting.

Gerry is wearing the same going-out clothes he had been wearing when Martin had seen him earlier, rather than his typical comfortable home clothes. He is covered in paint, and his makeup is smeared across his eyes from repeated rubbing.

Martin nudges Jon in Gerry's direction and moves off towards the kitchen.

"I do not want tea, Martin." Gerry's quiet voice manages to fill the space, hollow and empty, much like his facial expression.

"Good," He responds, hardly missing a beat. "I was going to look for the whiskey."

"Stop looking like a kicked puppy Jon, you didn't do anything wrong," Gerry says to him, offering his cigarette. Jon eyes the doorway that Martin just disappeared through, but ultimately goes over and takes it. They lean together, shoulder to shoulder, smoking and each trying to draw warmth from the other.

"Do you know what I thought about for years after you left?" Jon eventually whispers softly.

"What?"

"That last night we were together. Do you remember?"

Gerry laughs breathlessly at the question, pressing his eyes shut and curling slightly in on himself. "Yes Jon, I remember. How could I ever forget."

"That was the last time I had sex." Gerry finally looks over at him, no shock, no visible reaction at all really, but his attention focuses on him. Jon focuses his own attention on the painting, which is easier to look at than Gerry's face right now, despite its discordant energy. "I could never let go of that feeling I had after; like we were one soul separated by our ridiculous bodies. Like our intimacy, however desperate and hormonal, brought us closer together than anything else we could ever do together in this life."

Jon releases the confession into the room around them, finally releasing himself from the weight of it.

"And then I was gone," Gerry whispers back, voice small.

"And then you were gone. I was never very interested in sex as it was, and then even when I was in relationships after that, I never wanted to risk lying in someone's arms and finding a hole where that feeling should have been. Or maybe even worse, finding it there again, as if what we had wasn't as special as I had thought, and that was why you had just been able to walk away so easily."

"It wasn't. It was the worst thing I ever did."

"I know that now," Jon says, taking a long, grounding drag of his cigarette, "But that was the fear that sat in my chest and kept that wound bleeding, right up until the day that I watched you walk out of my library stacks, like some kind of literary saviour, reborn from my desire and ink and old parchment paper."

Gerry pushes off from the table they are perching on. "I understand if you don't want this anymore. I wouldn't want to be with me, either, if I were you."

"Gerry-" Jon tries to cut him off, but he plows on ahead, apparently deciding to just get the words out from where they've been suffocating him.

"You can keep Martin, obviously, you knew him first. You two were happy together before I plowed into your lives like a fucking freight train."

Martin himself, listening in the other room, doesn't particularly appreciate Gerry attempting to hand him off like a negotiating chip, but keeps his opinions to himself for the time being, in the hopes that Jon will handle the situation.

Jon watches Gerry for a moment as he starts moving things around, shoulders tense and movements aggressive. He rolls his next words very carefully around his mouth before he allows himself to speak.

"You did plow into our lives like a freight train." Gerry releases a sound of distress at the repeated words, and Jon slowly walks up to him and takes his shaking hands, turning Gerry towards him and hoping to finally encourage eye contact between them. "But we don't think that's a bad thing. We love you, Gerry Delano. I love you. I loved you when you were Gerard Keay, and I love you now and I loved you in a tiny box in my heart for all the years we were apart. I would be an idiot if I let this hurt between us keep us apart for any longer than it already has, and the last thing I could ever want is to watch you walk out of my life again."

Tears slip down Gerry's messy cheeks and Jon reaches up to brush them gently away.

"Please," Jon begs him, voice hoarse. "Please stay with me, please keep us here in your loft and teach me to paint my nails and be brave. Let Martin braid your hair and keep going into his store to read his books without buying them."

For a moment they simply stand, tears pouring from Gerry's tightly shut eyes while Jon clings to him and tries desperately to occupy the same space in the universe as Gerry does.

Gerry's eyes open slowly, teal irises only enhanced by the brightness of his tears.

"Yes," he tells Jon.

"Yes? You'll stay with us?"

"Yes. Always." Gerry pulls Jon further into his embrace and they cling together, crying quietly.

"Thank God," Martin mutters in the next room, running his hands up his face and through his hair in relief. Shaking it out and releasing the tension that had wound itself up in his gut, he gets up and starts moving about with purpose.

"Is Martin cooking?" Gerry asks incredulously as the scent of frying bacon reaches them through their tearful haze.

"Oh," Jon says, glancing up at the kitchen doorway. "I guess so. We never ate any dinner."

"Why not?" Gerry asks, sniffling.

Jon sighs, full of gratitude and long-suffering. "Because Martin wouldn't stop emotionally stripping me naked in public."

Gerry laughs wetly, imagination running wild.

"Also," he says, full of exhausted affection. "Because we love you."

"Oh." Gerry curls around Jon even more. "I'm glad."

Martin feeds them, and sends Gerry to shower, and puts on a movie for Jon to start. He doesn't touch any of the art things, but he tidies a little as he hovers around, waiting for him to emerge from the bathroom.

When he does, Gerry looks much, much better. The smudged makeup and paint are washed away, and his hair is wet. It all combines to make Gerry look very young, and Martin is reminded that he is actually the youngest of them, despite always seeming so settled into his life.

Martin takes his hand and tugs him towards the lounge section of the big main space.

"Martin, I-" Gerry starts.

"Not now, love. You and I will sort things out later when you've slept and had time to process everything else." Martin's tone doesn't invite any argument, and Gerry's teeth snap together as he closes his mouth.

The movie plays, but Gerry sleeps through it and so does Jon, mostly.

As the credits roll, Martin giggles to find himself somewhat drowning in sleeping men, despite the quiet heaviness still hanging in the air. Jon wakes at the motion, since Martin is almost directly beneath him, and yawns and stretches.

"How are we going to get our lumberjack to bed?" Jon asks, eyeing Gerry's long form with some trepidation.

"I could carry him, probably," Martin says, with no real confidence.

"Please don't," Gerry mutters into the side of Martin's neck, where his face is buried.

"Ah, problem solved," Jon says, leaning over Martin to kiss Gerry.

Martin hopes they wake each enough to walk to bed, lacking the desire to carry anyone anywhere at this time of night. Especially up the stairs to Gerry's loft, where the bed lives.

They make it up to the bedroom eventually, and collapse together, sleeping soundly through the night.

Gerry doesn't always like lying in the middle when all three of them are in bed together, being the warmest and the longest of the three of them, but the next morning that's where he finds himself.

The window lets in the cool, gentle light of pre-dawn, and Gerry shifts around, trying to orientate himself.

Jon is lying right on his edge, on his stomach, absolutely dead to the world, a halo of wavy black and silver hair surrounding him chaotically.

Martin is lying on his back, one arm threaded through Gerry's, the other thrown over his head. He breathes deeply, but shifts periodically, as if unsettled. Gerry turns towards Martin, bare chest pressing against his shoulder and feels dread settle into his stomach as he watches his partner sleep fitfully.

Gerry knows he won't be going back to sleep, but doesn't even consider getting up and moving away from the men in his bed.

Martin stirs at his movement, moving his arm to curl around his waist and draw him in close. Gerry buries his face in Martin's shoulder, arm thrown across his waist.

"What’s the time, Ger?" He mutters.

"Early still. Almost six." He whispers in return, peering over Martin to check the bedside clock.

He groans. "You alright?"

Gerry hums back, pressing a kiss to Martin's chest since it's so conveniently close by.

They lie together for a while, cuddled up close, sharing body heat and gentle comfort, until eventually, Martin surfaces properly, mostly to use the bathroom.

He comes back with a glass of water, which Gerry shares with him before they settle back as they were before.

Martin runs his fingers through Gerry's hair and Gerry traces patterns along Martin's chest through his shirt.

"I'm sorry," Gerry whispers into the cool semi-darkness.

"For having a breakdown?" Martin's tone is carefully even, although he continues to hold Gerry close.

"No, not that."

"You mean the part where you assured Jon he could keep me as if I were an unwanted child in a divorce. A feeling I'm plenty familiar with, actually." The carefully natural tone continues, and Gerry presses his fingers into Martin's side, hurt sliding through him at his own stupidity. His heart breaks to imagine how the careless words had made Martin feel.

"That's not what I meant." His voice is small and he hates the useless words, but he can't push any others out.

"Don't worry about it. I'll admit, I do normally prefer to be involved in the plans for my own future, but I'll let it slide this time." Martin smiles just a little, an edge of bitterness creeping in. “On the grounds of emotional distress.”

"Martin…" Gerry presses the word into his skin, curling even closer.

"I'll ask you this though. Did you really think I would just walk away with Jon after what's been between us?" Martin's voice finally, finally breaks just a little. Through the entire Mary confession, Jon's emotional struggle, their confrontations, and the oceans of tears, Martin had been completely steady, calm, logical, never falling into the erratic emotions of his partners, but this is what finally gets to him.

"I-I don't know what I thought. I guess I just couldn't fathom at that moment that you and Jon could ever want me again." Gerry slides his hand up, curling it around Martin's face and drawing it down to face him. "I'm broken, Martin, and I don't want my brokenness to break you."

Martin signs softly, turning over towards him, so they press together. Their foreheads touch and he kisses him gently, just once.

“You are not broken. What happened to you is fucked up, and anyone can understand you being messy and volatile sometimes, especially with how balanced you normally are. Maybe next time, ask us how we feel. Instead of, you know, staying up for two days, trashing your flat, and coming to my job to say goodbye to me without actually telling me anything.”

“Noticed that, did you?” Gerry asks, flushing.

“Yes, love. The complete lack of flirting, winking, and ass grabbing rather gave it away. You also paid for your drink. Very out of character.”

Gerry laughs and presses closer into him. “I have to keep you in business. Got to pay for something.”

Martin squeezes him reassuringly, rubbing their noses together.

They are quiet for a moment, and Martin frowns in consideration, before going on. “You and Jon aren't the only catalysts here. I would have fought for you if Jon wanted to pack it in and walk away. I chose you just as much as I chose Jon. Just as much as you chose me. Please remember that the next time you're tempted to treat me like a pawn in this arrangement, because I am not.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Gerry tells him, sincerity heavy in his voice.

“Then we'll say no more about it.”

#the magnus archives #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #gerry keay #jongerrymartin #fic #also on ao3

6 notes · View notes

lucinami · 5 years ago

Text

My Kitten. (Obey Me! Satan x Reader)

This was a little request from someone in the Obey Me! Discord server. I wanted to indulge a bit more, but maybe a part two will come later~

Requests are open! I do NSFW and SFW.

Your name: submit What is this?

It started with the occasional graze of the hand on his right arm. Soon it devolved into her finger running against his chest. All because there was something on it. Sometimes she would surprise him with a book. Not like he minded the gift, but.. He would have to be a fool to not notice what Y/N was up to. After all, she had that pleased look on her face whenever he blushed and stormed away when the task was complete.

He was not born yesterday- it seemed like he had to remind the girl that.

Satan sat on Y/N’s bed as he awaited for her to return. The plan was simple and she should have known that every action has a consequence. He tried his best to contain himself when she showed up after helping Beelzebub amd Belphegor in the kitchen. Her hair was a bit messy, chocolate batter dried up on her cheek. Her white apron even had splotches of batter on it. It seemed like the baking sweets went to be a disaster.

“My, my.” He simply tsked as she made eye contact with him. “Did you enjoy yourself?”

Y/N jolted backwards with a scowl upon her face. “Satan, you shouldn’t be here,” she told him as she began to take off the apron. She set it aside in her laundry bin. His eyes never leaving her figure as he watched her every move. It sent shivers down her spine when she made eye contact once more with him.

“What do you need? I need to clean up before dinner.”

Satan seemed pleased at her annoyance. “You should know what I need, kitten.”

That one word froze her entirely. Her cheeks were rosy pink as she saw the smug look on his face. She gulped and knew exactly what this was for. “Satan-”

“What was that, kitten?”

“I-I mean… Master,” Y/N said meekly. “Mammon, Asmodeus, or even Lucifer could-”

“On your knees.” Satan ordered as he stood up immediately from her bed. He didn’t wait as he made his way to the girl. “I said… On. Your. Knees.”

Y/N didn’t utter any other words of protest as she got on her knees in front of him. She knew the error she made. That was their one rule. Never mention the others when they are in this headspace. Especially Lucifer. It seemed like she’s been messing up lately and had to pay the price.

Satan reached down while rubbing the top of Y/N’s head. “Good kitten,” he praised in a low voice. “It seems like I need to train you more properly. Let’s get you ready for today’s session, shall we?” He mused out loud.

“Yes, Master,” she responded, keeping her head down.

The Avatar of Wrath walked back to her bed as he reached underneath to pull out a small container. It was a wooden box that was locked up with a key Satan always carried on him. He dug it out of his pocket and used to unlock it. He set the box down to the side as he pulled out a black leather color. It had a metal heart shaped ring on the front. There was even a little bell attached to it that jingled in the air.

“Do you hear that, kitten?” He asked her. “Your collar is lonely. Come over here.”

Y/N hesitated for a moment. She almost got up to walk over, but he cleared his throat. He didn’t have to do anything else as she began to slowly crawl over to him. Her face was heating up from shame as he continued to stare at her. Y/N stopped right at his legs, peering up at him as she bared her neck to him.

He didn’t waste any time before placing it around her neck. His index finger flicking the bell in mockery of her position. “Good girl.”

“Master-”

Satan shushed the girl as he shook his head. “Not yet, kitten. You’re still dressed in your clothes. Strip for Master. Put on a show.”

Y/N nodded her head as she figured that this was the time she was allowed to stand up. She started with her stockings. Her hands sliding off her legs one by one . He always loved her legs and thighs. He let out a noise of approval as she turned around. The collar jingled as she bent over to pull down her skirt. She slowly came back up and unbuttoned her blouse for him. The human woman took her time until he tapped his foot impatiently.

She hurried up a bit as she revealed that she was wearing the lingerie he picked out for her that morning. Her breasts squeezed together in a black bra that had a kitten head shape cut out in the middle. She wore match black panties with ribbons on each side that could easily be unraveled.

“Beautiful,” Satan breathed out, his finger hooking around the heart shaped ring as he pulled her back down to be at her knees. “Absolutely beautiful. They had no clue what you looked like underneath... What a pity they do not get to see this. My lovely kitten.”

Y/N noticed the growing member that was confined back by his slacks. She took this opportunity to try and get close to it. Thought his right hand quickly grabbed her by the hair and pulled her away.

“Who said you were getting spoiled today with treats?” Satan questioned.

“You’re being punished for teasing me all this time. It’s only fair, right, my kitten?”

Y/N froze at the realization that him visiting her after the task and where she teased him… He was going to punish her for that? Y/N looked up at him.“Not fair at all, Master!” She pouted while shaking her head.

Satan laughed at her pouting. She was adorable, but it wasn’t going to work on him. He pulled out a familiar remote that caused her to shudder. He pressed the ‘on’ button as the woman gasped. The vibrator he had her wear always finally came to life and she couldn’t help but clutch onto his slacks.

“Good, kitten,” he cooed, petting the top of (Y/N)’s head. “Let’s play now until it’s time for dinner.”

“Y-Yes, Master.”

#obey me #obey me satan #obey me lucifer #obey me imagines #obey me mc #obey me reader #obey me beelzebub #obey me asmodeus #obey me mammon #obey me leviathan #obey me simeon #shall we date

1 note · View note

longliveninokuni · 6 years ago

Text

Love Letters

Part of the EOA Ship Appreciation Week on Discord.

It's time for the Festival of Love: where Avalorans give letters to the people they love. But what happens when Naomi gets a letter from the anonymous person who usually gives her one asks her to meet in person? Will she meet them? Who could this secret admirer be?

Ff.net link if you prefer: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13207795/1/Love-Letters

A/N: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! Also, I'm sorry that I'm getting this story to you just now, yesterday's story was tough to write. So, I'm saying I just finished this story. Today's theme is "Valentine's Day," but I don't recall if the Ever Realm celebrated it. So I came up with another holiday to compensate. Enjoy! And hopefully, tomorrow's story will also be finished tomorrow.

Disclaimer: The following is a non-profit, fan-based, fanfiction. Elena of Avalor is owned by the Walt Disney Corporation and Craig Gerber. Lady Elma is my OC; thus she belongs to me. Please support the official release.

"Aww, did the loser not get any letters for the love festival? Boohoo. Hahaha!" Said one of the many bullies Naomi must deal with daily.

In Avalor there is currently a festival going on for the day: The Festival of Love. No, not the one associated with Dia de Los Muertos. This one, this is associated with showing love to those who have meaning to you, be they friend, family, or lover. And at the end of the day, there is always a ball where the people can gather and dance with the people they love and cherish.

But before that, every citizen gives letters to the people they love, be they platonic or romantic. It helps sets the mood for the ball.

Naomi, however, has never gotten any letters, except her friends and parents. She was always sad, especially during her first festival. No one from school gave her letters.

But then she got her first letter that wasn't from her friends or her parents. "You look better when you smile." It read, and in the bottom corner was a drawing of her smiling. No one signed it, and she didn't recognize the handwriting. It was her favorite letter. And when she showed it to everyone in the palace, they were all thrilled. Estéban however only came up with a snarky remark but kept it in his usual teasing tone.

Her second one, she got another letter from the same person. "Did you have to score the winning point in olaball? Now I have to be impressed." Then there was a drawing of her scoring the winning point in olaball. It was still her favorite. But while she did get a letter on her third one, this one complementing her book smarts with a drawing of her sleeping face down in a book, she got another letter from a guy in her school who wanted to dance with her at the ball. She was excited and said yes, making some of her female bullies jealous.

During the ball, the two danced and were having fun, but then the guy pulled her out of the ballroom to a random hallway and tried to push himself on her. He only wanted to bed her. Naomi didn't want it, she tried to push him off, but he had a knife. He cut her cheek a little, enough to draw blood, and warned her to stay still and let it happen. Before he could use his knife to cut her dress, his hand was stopped by another one, and it was squeezing the boy's hand painfully tight. When the two looked over, it was Estéban who had stopped the boy's hand. And he was giving the guy a death glare. "If you don't want to spend the rest of your life in the dungeon for assaulting a member of the Grand Council, then I suggest you stop what you're doing right now and leave." He said in a low, threatening voice — all while tightening his grip. The boy shakenly nods his head and was in tears.

Estéban scoffs and lets's go of the boy, letting him run off. He then turned to Naomi, who's been crying tears of fear. Estéban pulled out his handkerchief and carefully wiped her blood and tears off of her cheek. "Let's get this blood off you, get rid of the tears, then make your schoolmates jealous of your dancing." Naomi raised a brow. "You don't think I know what's been going on? When it comes to unnecessary pettiness, I think I take the crown." He smirked at Naomi's small giggle then holds out a hand. "Shall we?" And the two danced better than everyone from her school.

That was a good year, but now Naomi faces a new dilemma. "I want to meet you face to face tonight at the ball. Meet me at the fountain in the palace gardens at 6:00." Along with the info was a drawing of a rose in bloom. Naomi has no idea what to do. Should she meet him? Well, of course, he could be the love of her life. Or she. She's not one to judge.

"Ms. Turner, if you could so kind as to stop focusing on your letter, and start focusing on the task at hand, that would be splendid." Estéban just had to ruin her mental conversation, but he was right. Right now, they were discussing new ideas for tonight's ball.

"Hey, blame whoever left the letter here on my section of the table." Naomi found her letter here in the council room, along with everyone else.

Estéban growls but backs off and went back to discussing what ideas could be included in this year's Festival of Love.

Naomi tried to focus, but she couldn't. She kept thinking of who the author of these letters could be. Sure, there were only four, but she's already smitten with whoever wrote them. I wonder if they're anyone I know? She thought.

"MS. TURNER!" Ah, she's been caught daydreaming again.

"Naomi, we should get you a new dress for tonight's ball." Elena said out of the blue after the meeting. The only thing they could add to the ball this year was new food and a showcase of the letters given hanging from the ceiling.

Naomi raised a brow. "What? Why?"

Elena winked. "Because I want to see you in a new dress. You wear the same big purple dress to all the formal balls, and while it looks good, you can do better."

"But, you also-"

"No time to argue, I know of a new boutique that has gorgeous dresses. Let's go!" Elena said in a rush, leaving no room for Naomi to argue or refuse as she pushes her along.

When the two reached the shop, they were both amazed by the sight: dresses in different colors, body types, style, and most notably…

"No hoop skirts." Naomi stated. Yes, none of these dresses have the hooped skirts that most formal dresses usually have. All these dresses seem to fit the bodice from head to toe. "What is this?"

"The future of dress fashion." Said a voice. Then a woman came up from the back of the store. She has short dark green hair, glasses, blue eyes, wearing a plain orange apron, slippers, a long-sleeved yellow shirt, black pants, and is sucking a lollipop. She gives the women an intense stare. "Hoop skirts are out. Old fashioned. Dead. These dresses will make any man, or woman, crumble to their knees at the sheer beauty anyone would give off when wearing my designs."

Naomi was getting nervous. "Uh, Elena…?"

Elena however just pushed Naomi to stand in front of the woman. "Hi, I'm Elena, and my best friend Naomi needs a dress for the ball tonight!"

The woman looks over Naomi with a critical eye. "Hmm." She strikes her chin in thought. A few moments later, she snaps her fingers. "I got it." She grabs Naomi's wrist and pulls her. "Come! Fashion waits for no one!" And the two disappear to the back.

An hour later, the store owner came out with Naomi to show Elena the dress. "Well?"

Elena's eyes lit up, and she smiles big. "Oooh, Naomi, when your secret admirer sees you, they'll be fawning all over you!" She then turns to the store owner. "Thank you so much Lady Elma."

Lady Elma pushed her glasses. "Of course, I do my best." She then gets angry. "To rid this world of THE DREADED HOOPED SKIRTS!" She yells. She then feels a pull on her sleeve. She calms down and turns to the source, Naomi. "Yeah?"

"Uhh, where's the corset?"

"There isn't one. Those things are dreadful and unnecessary. My design is made to be sure of that." Lady Elma explained.

Naomi whimpers while Elena pays for the dress and thanks Lady Elma again.

It was now an hour before Naomi meets her secret admirer, and she's nervous. Especially with her dress. It seems too revealing; it leaves her whole back uncovered, and the only thing keeping it up is the tie at the back of her neck. She's blushing hard. "Elena, are you sure this dress isn't too...risqué?"

Elena smiled. "No, not at all, your secret admirer would fall to their knees and beg you to be with them."

Naomi sneered. "Elena, why are you so insisted that they'll react that way?" Then she gasps and points an accusing finger at her. "Do you know who it is?!"

Elena shifted her eyes. "Whaaaat? Nooooo. I don't know who it is." She scoffs, then stands. "Well you should get going, you're about to see the love of your life, bye!" And she ran.

Naomi groans and looks back at the mirror. "Well, guess I should get going." Then she leaves.

It was now 5:58 PM. And Naomi's starting to doubt herself. What if this person is pranking her? Or worse, what if they only want her for other stuff? What if they were in love with her then decide not to be once they see her in person?

It was now 5:59. Naomi takes a deep breath. "Okay, no need to panic. If they turn out to be a jerk, kick them in the shin and run." That's what Estéban told her to do the next time someone assaults her. Naomi cracks her neck, then looks at the time.

It's now 6:00 — time to get out there.

And when she does, her eyes widen in surprise, and she gasps. Standing in front of the fountain is Estéban. And when he looks at her, his face is immediately covered in a blush.

Naomi's stammering. "Uh, eh, Estéban? You wrote the letters? You?" She's also blushing.

Estéban cleared his throat and looked away, but still blushing. "...Yes." He said quietly, but Naomi still heard.

"Wha-What? Huh? Why? Was this all some sick prank?" She was starting to panic.

Estéban looked back at her, shocked. "What? No! It- well- ugh." He groans. He takes a deep breath, then exhales. "I was only trying to help."

During the first Festival of Love since Shuriki's supposed demise, Estéban immediately gave his letters to his family. Forty-one years of not seeing them and thinking one of them was dead can really do a person in. And after each letter was given, he'd give the family member a hug, which surprised all of them, but they returned the gesture. He didn't feel the need to give any more letters to anyone else.

But then he saw Naomi. She was down since no one from her school gave her a letter, probably due to jealousy. She didn't argue with him on anything, no matter how much he teased her. It gave him a strange feeling, seeing her so down. He deduced it to either pity or relatability. Yes, there was a time when Estéban never got letters from people other than his family. These days, he knows that the family ones are all that should matter. But Naomi? She's a teenager; it matters to her. Might not matter later, but it mattered at the time.

So, he decided to leave an anonymous letter for her. Anonymous because he doesn't want her teasing remarks about him caring about her or something like that. It's only so she can focus on Council meetings...and maybe their usual banter. Same thing for the second year, but this one he meant. He really was impressed with her winning the olaball match. But he would never admit it aloud.

But things changed when the third year happened. He wasn't jealous when she got a letter from a supposedly popular boy in her school; he was happy for her, which was weird because he didn't really care about her personal life. Must've been the festival. He didn't feel anything when he saw them dancing together. But when that boy pulled her out of the ballroom, he got a bad feeling. He didn't know why he just did. So, he followed them. So, when he saw that idiota forcing himself on her when he saw her bleeding, her terrified face, her tears, something in him snapped. He. Was. PISSED. Before he knew it, he had grabbed the boy's hand in a painful grip. And when the boy ran off, he was surprised that he helped clean her face. Even more surprised that he offered to dance with her. And when they danced, he realized why he cared, why he wrote the first letter, why he kept writing them, why he's dancing with her now to make her schoolmates jealous. He wasn't pitying her, or because he related to her situation. He likes her. No, he loves her. But he can't love her, she's too young, and he's too old! They would never work.

Then Doña Paloma noticed him sulking a couple of weeks after and pressed for information. The response…

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA! YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH NAOMI?! AHAHAHA! What's next, you ask her to marry you?" She continues to laugh for ten minutes.

Estéban growled. "You don't need to laugh; I already feel awkward about it. And no, I'm not going to marry her. I won't even seek a relationship with her!"

That got Doña Paloma to calm down. "Really? I thought you would."

Estéban looked at her wide-eyed. "Have you lost your mind?! I'm too old for her! She's too young for me! It would never work, much less be appropriate."

"NOT TRUE!" Yelled a voice from the back of the store. When they both turned, they saw a lollipop-less Lady Elma, who back then was just Elma. She then pointed to Estéban. "Love like yours can be very appropriate and can work! I've seen it back in my old kingdom. I've met it back at my old kingdom. The King has done it back in my old kingdom."

Estéban looked at Doña Paloma. "You know her?"

Doña Paloma shrugged. "She came in looking for fabrics."

"DO NOT SPEAK LIKE I'M NOT HERE!" She yelled.

Estéban sighed and turned to Elma. "Okay, how were these people able to do so?"

"Simple, just need to know three things." She held up three fingers.

"And those things are?" Doña Paloma asked, now intrigued with the situation.

"One: Do you love her?"

Estéban is silent, but his face is super red. "Uhh, maybe?"

"Maybe is not an answer; yes or no only."

Estéban groans then covers his eyes with his left hand. "Yes."

"Two: Is she a legal adult in terms of your laws?"

Estéban sighs. "No, but she will be in May."

"And three, and this is the most important part: Do you intend to harm her in any way, shape, or form?"

Estéban looked up at her with wide eyes. "What? No! Even if I didn't have these feelings, I would never want to harm her!"

"Then why are you questioning on what to do? You just answered your problems." Elma said.

Estéban and Doña Paloma stood dumbfounded. This random woman came up and solved Estéban's problem as if it was a simple question. Huh.

Elma then turned to Doña Paloma. "Also, do you know where I can find crystals that can be sewn onto fabric?"

So, now that Estéban acknowledges his want to be with Naomi, he's developed a plan. It won't happen in May, that's too soon. No, it'll happen the same way he did for the past three years: The Festival of Love.

And that's how he came up with the plan: Plant the letter on her table section, meet her in person, and see if she also wants to pursue this relationship. There was just one flaw in the plan.

"ESTÉBAN?! YOU'RE NAOMI'S SECRET ADMIRER?!" Elena yelled. Yup, Elena walked into the Grand Council room early so that Estéban wouldn't chew her out for being late.

Estéban stood there blushing, not knowing what to say. What to do. What to think. What will Elena do now that she knows Estéban is Naomi's "admirer?" "Are you mad?"

Elena grabbed the letter from him, grins mischievously, gave the letter back, and then ran out of the room.

"And now I see why she grinned so mischievously." He motions to Naomi's dress. "You look...beautiful." He's still blushing.

Naomi, however, is still standing in the entranceway to the garden in shock. Estéban, Estéban, wrote the letters. All of them. He's in love with her, her. She doesn't know what to do.

Estéban notices her hesitance and confusion, then sighs. "I get it. It's too much. We usually argue and tease each other, what good would a relationship be between us? And the age gap, it must be too much for you. I'll accept your rejection with dignity and leave you to your own devices for the rest of the night." He bows then turn to leave to another exit.

"Wait!" Estéban stops and turns to Naomi, who walked outside into the moonlight, making Estéban's breath escape him.

Her dress is a floor length, ocean blue dress that has the straps tied to the back of the neck. But what stunned him were the crystals that glimmered in the moonlight, making the dress and Naomi shine. It was astonishing. She was astonishing.

When Naomi finally reached him, she spoke. "Don't assume what I think just because I didn't answer! I was just...shocked that you wrote the letters."

Estéban smirked. "Because of who I am?"

"With me."

Estéban raised a brow.

"I know you write letters to your family every year; I know you aren't incapable of having feelings. I saw how you were last Navidad. It's just; we always do three things: fight, bicker, or tease each other." She looks down while blushing. "We rarely have moments where we're completely civil with one another; so of course, I was shocked."

Estéban shifted his eyes away. "And, the probability of us...courting?"

Naomi keeps looking down. Does she want this? Does she want to pursue a relationship with Estéban? She may have developed some feelings for him at last year's ball, but is it enough? Should she do it? Then a thought came to mind, and she smirked. Then she raised her head while smirking. "I don't know? You haven't asked me."

Estéban blinked. "Eh?"

Naomi snickers. "You didn't ask me out; you only wrote to meet you here at 6:00. And what's with all the 'probability' talk? You want my answer, ask me out."

Estéban stood shocked before also smirking and doing a partial bow. "Naomi?"

"Yes?"

"Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the ball this evening?"

Naomi raised a brow but was smiling coyly. "Just the ball?"

Estéban still smirked. "Well, I can't ask to court you before having an outing, now can I?" He offers his hand to her.

Naomi giggles. Then she meets his partial bow and grabs his hand. "Then yes, I will go to the ball with you."

Estéban smiles and kisses her hand. Then they both went to the ball.

The next year, Estéban personally gave his letter to Naomi.

"This has been a wonderful year, but should we possibly take it further?" And in the bottom corner is a drawing of a ring.

When Naomi lowered the letter, Estéban was on one knee holding out a ring.

The only answer he got was being tackled to the ground while getting kissed.

A/N: Finally! It's done! Now I just need to write the last one, and hopefully bring it to you guys before the day is over. Forgive me for being late! Hope you enjoyed the story, and try not to get yourself killed. ;)

#eoa ship appreciation week #elena of avalor #esteomi #chancellor esteban #naomi turner #Princess Elena #dona paloma #my own oc #lady elma #look at this story #it's late #but still GLORIUS #sorry it's late #Happy Valentine's Day

29 notes · View notes

frangipanidownunder · 6 years ago

Note

Would you write a sequel to your last One Son fic, maybe before The Unnatural where Mulder tries to apologize? Your fic hurt me in the best kind of way.

Healing: fic

A/N You can read the original fic Superficial Burns but you don’t have to read it to understand this sequel, but it might help.

Thanks for the prompt, anon. This is set post One Son through to The Unnatural.

They play house too soon. He presses to share the master bedroom,“to add authenticity”, but she pushes him out. She’s being petty, she knows, pointingout toothpaste tube and toilet seat misdemeanours. Still, he’s genuinely playful,attentive for a while, but she flips her gloves at him, bats away thecamcorder, turns her cheek as he goes to kiss her. Ironically, their discordonly gives them more authenticity as a couple.

She shut him out and sheshouldn’t have been surprised when he drops her home and doesn’t ask to carryher bag up. Her apartment is as empty as she feels. She goes to bed and punishesherself with the desperate noise he made when he came inside her, the way hislips pressed against the juncture of her jaw and ear lobe, the slow opening ofhis eyes, pupils dilated, surprise followed by awe followed by guilt.

She should have quit. She shouldhave walked away. He did.

Arthur Dales tells Mulder she saved his life, that she issavvy and Mulder has the good grace to look contrite. He’s mysterious about therobbery in the bank, about how he knew the female accomplice. He rambles onabout déjà vu and Scully can’t help but review the past through the lens of thepresent. Like the memory of their frantic coupling in her kitchen is trapped inthe wrong spot in her brain. Like if it only happened yesterday, she would saysomething to him, he would say something to her.

And then he admits to an onlinefriendship with Karin Berquist, a woman enamoured of him yet he acts like hecan’t see it. She wonders just how ignorant he can really be.

He fucked her in her apartmentand hasn’t talked about it since.

She saves a boy in a phonebooth.Saves a child. What she can’t do is save herself. Padgett’s words burn throughher. Agent Scully is already in love.She hates it. She fucking hates that it’s someone else telling her the secretsof her own heart. And that it is so fucking obvious.

She should have quit.

After, Mulderbooks a motel room. He won’t leave her alone. Part of her wants to yell at himthat he’s as bad as Padgett, always there, hovering. He keeps looking at herchest like there’s a gaping hole there. It’s not that her heart is missing,that’s the thing. It’s that it’s still there. Beating. Full of a secret, hersecret. And she’s sure he can see it.

“Scully,there’s something I’ve been meaning to say to you for a while,” he says buthe’s lying across the bed with his long legs stretched out and his tee clingingto his frame and that soft expression he wears when he’s off the clock.

“I’mtired.” She sounds like Laura Petrie.

His lipspush out and his eyes flick to the television screen briefly. When he turnsback to look at her he sits up and rests his elbows on his knees, rubbing atthe back of his hair. He’s tired too. “I thought I’d lost you,” he says and he’salready taking a huge gulp of air in. He slaps the bed linen and she sees thathe is trembling. “I thought you were dead. In my apartment. On my floor. Yourheart gone.”

“I’mfine, Mulder.” She’ll always be fine. Heart or not.

Hecovers his face with his hands. Beautiful long fingers. His strangled moan is ashock. For a split second she thinks he’s weeping, but when his hands fallaway, his eyes are dry and angry. “You’re fine,” he says. “Well, that makes itall right.” The low rumbling is not, she finds out, on the television. It iscoming from him.

Sheslips under the covers of her bed and turns out the lamp. He doesn’t move. Justgrowls like a wounded, angry Alpha.

The case in Las Vegas is nothing but a fever dream. Mulderpries her for more information but she can’t tell him anything. He accepts it,offers to buy her a bagel.

“Realcream cheese,” he says and she laughs. It feels like her heart is beating to adifferent rhythm. A lighter one.

Thediner is too shiny but she lets him yammer on as she tries to hide her eyesfrom the brightness. The bagel is good. Mulder is relaxed, smiling. These arethe times she knows she’ll never quit. He sips his second coffee so slowly shebegins to wonder if he’s building up to something.

“You okay,Mulder?”

He looksout to the street where an old couple wander past, arm in arm. “They seem happytogether,” he says. “How do you suppose that feels?”

“Are youreally asking my expert opinion on the longevity of relationships, Mulder?”

Hisfingers thrum on the table top, scattering grains of sugar. He chuckles. “We’reshit at this, aren’t we Scully?”

“This?”

“Talking.”

“Ah,yes. That.”

He doesthat slow blink again and she sees them in her apartment, rutting. Baseemotion. Need. The burn on her fingers.

“Ishould have told you earlier, after…you know…that night. I was out of line.What I said to you about making it personal. Diana…she believes in me and I…”

“Ibelieve in you, Mulder.” She stands up. He says nothing more. No scramblingbackwards, no apology, nothing. He fucked her in her apartment and then walkedaway. She holds his gaze just enough to make his lips press together. “I alwayshave.”

He letsher leave. She should have quit.

He callsher later. Wants to come round. She tells him she’s busy. He whispers a sorryas she cuts him off. He arrives 30 minutes later. He walks past her, goes tothe kitchen. To the same spot.

“Why areyou here, Mulder?”

Hestands where he stood, where he put his hands on her. Where she unzipped hispants and he bunched up her skirt. “You said that before,” he says, “And thenwe…”

Shefolds her arms around her ribs. Covers her heart. “Fucked.”

Heflinches.

“It’swhat we did, Mulder. You could hardly ascribe a more romantic name to it. Didyou tell Diana?”

“What?No!”

His too-quickoutburst makes her feel unexpectedly superior. He fucked her and walked away.And maybe he has pushed it deep inside ever since, too.

Hescratches his chin. “I stood outside your building for ten minutes that night, arguingwith myself about whether to turn round and go back to you.”

“You’repretty hard to argue against,” she says. “You have this way of twistingeverything into the neat theory you’ve already designed.”

“Scully.”It’s more resignation than warning. He leans back against the counter, one kneebent towards her. “I came here to say what I should have said then. That I’msorry I said that to you, about Diana. That I should never have reduced yourinput into our partnership to something purely emotional. I…” His hand slamshis bent thigh. “I am sorry, Scully. Truly. I never meant it to happen…”

“Youneed to leave.”

“Thatway,” he adds but he’s already nearly at the door. He looks back, framed in thedoorway. “I never meant it to happen that way, Scully. You mean more to me thanthat, much more.”

He shutsthe door and she leans against it listening to him leave again. Footstepsfading. He won’t wait outside tonight.

Shetries to sleep but her skin is crawling, burning. Her heart is red hot andheavy in her chest. She imagines strips of it peeling away, shavings of herlove falling deep into an empty cavity. But this time, she doesn’t think sheshould have quit. She knows she can never.

At 2am she drives across town.She knocks quietly. On his couch, he is backlit by the soft ocean colours ofhis fish tank. His stubble cuts a line across his jaw that is as sharp as thestabbing in her chest. Her fingers slide in and out of each other, knucklesrubbing together.

“You mean more to me too, Mulder,”she says. “And I’m sorry for asking you to leave. I…” she licks the dry patch onher lip and the couch creaks as he stands up. “I just wanted to say I’m sorrytoo. I am not good at this.” There is a tear building at the corner of one eye.It’s a weakness she dislikes. A demonstration of her vulnerability that she’sspent years trying to overcome. But he presses his thumb to it, collects hersoftness and lets it run down his wrist.

“Can we start again?”

“Ignore six years of partnership?”

His hand is a familiar comfort onher lower back as he urges her to sit. “No, use six years of partnership to ouradvantage instead of using it as wedge between us.”

One of his mollies floats to theside of the tank and she watches its graceful fins and tail fluttering in thewater. “How do we do that?”

“Doing more of that thing we’reshit at?” He laughs and she cuffs away the tears streaking her cheeks.

“And Diana? Where does she fit inall this?”

He looks ahead, at the posters onhis wall that catch the passing headlights from the street below. “Where shealways did, Scully. In the past.”

They flirt over clichés in the basement office. When hegrapples her tofutti rice dreamsicle from her hands, their skin sparks togetherin way that tingles but doesn’t burn. He kisses her lips and tells her he’sgoing to see Arthur Dales.

“InFlorida?”

“No, he’shere in Washington.”

She watches him for a while. The ease with which he swingsthe bat. The movement of his shoulders. He’s in his element.

“So,uh… I get this message marked urgent on my answering service from one FoxMantle telling me to come down to the park for a very special very early orvery late birthday present. And, Mulder… I don’t see any nicely wrappedpresents lying around so, what gives?”

It’s notuntil he tells her to “get over here, Scully,” she fully understands what thisis. Sure, it’s baseball. Sure, they flirt. Sure, it’s a date, Mulder-style. Butit’s more than the sum of its parts.

It’shealing.

#txf fanfic #my fanfiction #angst #fictober #post one son pre the unnatural

162 notes · View notes

tayegi · 7 years ago

Text

Equilibrium Ch. 14 (m)

Word Count: 4,708

You wake up feeling so suffocated that you can barely breathe the next morning. In the enormous king sized bed back in Jimin's apartment, there was always room to twist and turn from excessive body heat. But here in Jungkook's cramped twin in his dorm room, there's barely enough room to fit his broad frame, much less an additional body. There's nowhere to run, especially when Jungkook has his strong arms wrapped tightly around your waist, body pressed against every inch of your backside and face buried in the crook of your neck such that the heat of his breath fans against the sensitive skin with each exhale, making it impossible to forget your captivity.

You keep your eyes shut tight, feigning sleep as you cautiously shift around in the bed, subtly testing the cage of muscle around your body. He doesn't budge one inch, even when dead unconscious. Undeterred, you try again, this time reaching a hand back to press against his bare chest to try to separate from this smothering heat.

Unfortunately, the moment your hand makes contact with the chiseled steel of his chest, Jungkook stirs in his sleep, groaning softly as he abruptly rolls over on top of you. Your heart drops as your plan backfires. He's not just spooning you now, but trapping you to the mattress with his full weight.

You lie there for a few minutes as the overwhelming heat burns your skin and sweat trickles down your spine. There is no escape. You're probably going to suffocate in the excessive heat and die… Until an idea pops in your mind.

Jungkook's torso is pressed down against yours, but your limbs are free and unbound. So you slowly trail both hands down the expanse of his muscled back, nails gently raking down his spine, while your legs twine around his waist. One thrust of your hips up has the cock resting against your lower abdomen stirring to life. He shifts in his sleep, unconsciously rubbing against your stomach, but continues snoring—until you bite down on his earlobe.

"Ah, what the hell?" Jungkook grumbles as he's finally forced to wake. He's disoriented at first, clearly oblivious to his surroundings as he slowly attempts to unstick his body from yours.

You respond by giving his lobe another suck, "Good morning, Jungkook," you purr in his ear.

He jerks back to look at you, eyes widening as he processes the situation for the first time, "___?" he asks in shock.

You wink at him before slowly rolling your hips up against his quickly hardening length in his boxers, "What's wrong, hon?"

"N-nothing," he stutters, biting back a moan as he rubs back against you, "I just—oh god, am I dreaming right now?"

"Does this feel like a dream?" you laugh as you spread your legs wider to allow him to grind directly against your soft heat.

"Oh god, I can't believe this is happening… Is this seriously real?"

You really hate morning sex. You hate how dirty and disoriented you feel. You despise morning breath and any physical activity at such an ungodly hour with every fiber of your being. But Jungkook loves it. And after what happened last night… You need to do this for him.

So you lift yourself to begin tugging at your clothes. He is mostly disrobed, with only his boxers to keep him modest, but you are still fully dressed in the clothes from yesterday, not having had time to change in the midst of all the drama.

Never have you initiated anything before. Never have you been so willing to have sex with him that you'd wink and teasingly shimmy out of your clothes in a way that makes his throat tighten. Jungkook doesn't dare move and break the spell as he watches you undress in front of him, his eyes as wide as saucers.

"___," Jungkook whispers your name once the last of your garments hit the ground, "Come here."

You accept his hand with an uneasy smile, though the smile falters when he impatiently pulls you onto his lap. This means that he wants you to ride him… this early in the morning when you've barely had any rest. Still, you willingly comply, pulling his hardened length from his boxers, then positioning it at your entrance. Jungkook watches you with equal parts lust and utter wonderment. You take a deep breath. Then you sit down.

Jungkook's breath slams out of his chest and his hands dart out to grab your hips hard enough to leave pink fingerprints in the sensitive skin. "Fuck, you feel amazing."

You smile faintly at the awestruck expression on his face, "You too," you say, and it's not entirely a lie. He does feel pretty good between your legs, stretching you out with his thickness. You might enjoy this on a different day, but you're not in the mood today. So you bounce in Jungkook's lap as fast as you possibly can, determined to get him off.

There's a few minutes of silence where all that can be heard in the room are Jungkook's heavy pants and the sound of your ass slapping his thighs with every hard thrust. Everything is going well, up until Jungkook abruptly sits up against the headboards, pulling you flush against him in the process.

You ruefully groan when this new position gives him the mobility to thrust up from under you, allowing him to set the pace for the first time. After all this time, he knows exactly what you like in bed, and what it will take to unravel you. Unsurprisingly, you feel his right hand slide between your bodies to rub your clit.

Against your will, heat surges in your lower stomach from his experienced touches. You've lost all control in the situation, and are helpless to do anything but rest your head against his shoulder as he brings the both of you to your highs.

You still feel fuzzy from sleep and this strenuous activity makes your body uncomfortably hot. The way your heart pounding makes you feel like you're having a heart attack and the dehydration from sweating so profusely makes a migraine form in your temples. You just want to get this over with. So you squeeze yourself around him as tightly as you possibly can, conscious to moan his name lasciviously in his ear at the same time. True to your prediction, his steady rhythm falters under dual assault, his mouth hanging open and his brow furrowing from the intense pleasure.

"___," he moans your name over and over, uncontrollably.

"Shh," you coax, biting back a moan of your own when his fingers spasm on your clit, revving you up against your will, "Just let go for me, sweetie."

Jungkook curses at that, clearly wrecked by your words. "Fuck, ___," he moans, free hand grabbing your jaw to tug you down for a hard kiss, "I love you so much."

Your head snaps up in shock, taken aback by the unexpected statement. A sense of unease trickles into your stomach, but Jungkook's nimble fingers rubbing digit eight's into your clit make it impossible to think of anything else. Shoving all the discordant thoughts from your mind, you squeeze your eyes shut and cum hard around his dick.

A strangled gasp tears from Jungkook's throat at the feeling of your walls caving in all around him. He helplessly bucks his hips up to chase your warmth before he joins you in your pleasure.

Your brain is hazy from the aftereffects of your orgasm for a few minutes, and all you can do is lean heavily against him, allowing him to cover your flushed body with kisses, as you try to recover your breath.

"I love you," he whispers again with a tender kiss to your jaw.

His words inspire the same feelings of uneasiness as before, and you quickly pull yourself out of his lap, wincing when an unholy mix of both of your bodily fluids trickles down your thigh. "Ah, it's getting late," you say, praying that Jungkook doesn't notice how you've ignored his confession, "Let me shower and we can get going."

The dark-haired man licks his lips as he watches you rush across the room, completely nude, "Can I join you?"

You pause in the middle of the room, heart stuttering to a stop when you realize the implications of his words. It hasn't even been five minutes since he came inside of you and he already wants to go again…? You are so fucked.

But somehow, you manage to plaster a smile on for him, "Of course, hon."

A few hours later, the two of you finally make it out of Jungkook's bed and back to the apartment. Jimin has long since left for work, leaving the apartment thankfully empty. You're not sure Jungkook is in the right mind to deal with him yet.

"Have you seen my black skirt, Jungkook?" you call out to where he's lounging in bed, watching your every movement like a hawk.

"Don't wear that," he says at once, "What's wrong with the jeans you were wearing earlier?"

"Jungkook, it's boiling outside," you gently inform him, "I was sweating on the entire car ride over here."

But he stubbornly shakes his head, "That black skirt is much too revealing… You should only wear it for me."

A muscle twitches in your cheek, but you choke down your annoyance, "I am wearing it for you, honey," you say in the sweetest tone you can muster, "I thought you said once that you like the way I look in it?"

"Yes, but it should only be for me," he growls as he suddenly rises off the bed to stand directly behind you, "I don't like the idea of other guys checking you out."

Bile builds in your mouth at his excessive jealousy. You don't understand why the media glorifies this trait or how so many of your female friends fawn over it in their smutty little romance novels. It's objectifying and so gross. You feel like a slab of meat for the dogs to fight over, not like a human being with rights.

You choke back the bile and demurely nod your head, "Sure, Jungkook. What do you think I should wear?"

Jungkook gently nudges you out the way, "Let me just pick for you."

An hour later, you find yourself decked in jeans and one of Jungkook's stuffy flannels as the two of you walk hand in hand throughout the amusement park. You glance over at him and how refreshingly cool he looks in a thin white tee. A grimace overtakes your face before you stifle it back with a hastily plastered grin.

"Isn't this romantic?" Jungkook asks as he happily swings your joined hands back and forth, oblivious to the turmoil of your thoughts, "I've always fantasized about this—playing hooky and ditching school to go to the amusement park with my girlfriend. Isn't this fun?"

"Yes, Jungkook," you meekly reply as you wipe a bead of sweat off your forehead with your free hand, "This is really fun."

He beams at you, his smile so wide that his cheeks stretch and his eyes crinkle, "I bet Jimin wouldn't take you on a date like this, huh? We are so compatible."

You have no idea how to begin to address just how wrong he is, and your stomach sinks, "Let's go on the merry-go-round," you say instead of responding.

Because how could you respond? How could you let him know how much you hate this? How you've never failed to become ill from roller coasters? How you can't even think of having fun when the consequences of ditching work twice in a row hangs above you like an ominous black cloud?

For a moment, the accumulation of stress makes you feel faint. Your knees quiver for a split second before you catch yourself. Smiling brightly at Jungkook, you wipe your sweat again and follow him through the park.

When the sun sets until there are only a few purplish rays peeking from the horizon, Jungkook finally decides that he's tired enough to leave the park. At this point, you are so wracked with stress that you've almost popped a blood vessel, and you've never felt more relieved.

Jimin has called you three times already, probably to ask why the two of you still aren't home, but you don't know how to respond at this point. You're completely out of excuses and it feels like your whole world is crumbling down.

"Why aren't you eating?" Jungkook asks, interrupting you from your thoughts.

You look up to find him curiously examining you from across the table. You hastily flash him a grin, "I'm just not hungry, I guess."

At that moment, your phone vibrates again, making you jump in surprise. You don't have to look to know that it's Jimin again. Your stomach twists and clenches, and the anxiety is so potent that you can't breathe for a moment.

As always, Jungkook fails to pick up on the nuances. "Ok," he easily agrees, "Let's go get a drink then."

The bar that he leads you to across the street from the restaurant is not your style. The interior is dark and grubby and the deafening sound of sports blasting from the TVs that line every wall makes it impossible to hold a conversation. A group of guys playing pool in the back corner look up in surprise at the sight of the two of you, but Jungkook doesn't notice.

He plops down on the nearest barstool and pats the empty seat next to him, "Come sit with me, jagiya. Isn't this nice?"

You hesitantly clamber up onto the offered seat, wincing when the hard wood digs uncomfortably into your backside, "Oh, they allow smoking in here," you comment, trying to keep the judgment out of your tone when someone on the other end of the bar blows smoke in your direction.

Jungkook doesn't hear you as he scans the list of beers scrawled in chalk across a blackboard crudely propped up against the counter as a makeshift menu. "Wow, they have great variety here," he says, although you can't agree with the sentiment.

You don't have to ask to know that they probably don't serve the red wine you prefer. You haven't had to drink shitty beer since college, and the very smell of this place brings back undesired memories… not that you've attended many functions in dingy bars like this one. It was always more of Jungkook's scene. You weren't nearly popular enough to get invited to these hangouts anyways.

"Can I get you guys something to drink?" The bartender asks, interrupting your thoughts.

You open your mouth to politely decline, but Jungkook beats you to it, "Yeah, we'll have two of your stouts on tap."

Surprised, you look over at him, but he's already pulling out his credit card with a wink. The bartender checks your ids before preparing the beers, but you can't stop staring at Jungkook. Does he actually think he's being charming right now? You've never felt comfortable having your boyfriends buy you anything, and you've expressed this feeling multiple times. Is he joking right now?

But then the bartender plops two foaming glasses of beer in front of the two of you, distracting your attention. You stare at the dark liquid swirling around in your glass while Jungkook thanks the bartender and takes a hearty swing.

"Ah, this is so refreshing!"

You simply hum in response and push the beer away from you on the countertop.

Jungkook notices at once, "Jagi, what's wrong? This is your favorite!"

"What?" you look up in confusion, "What makes you think that?"

"You loved this last time we went out together," he says, bewildered by your response.

Your brow furrows as you try to recall this memory. But red wine has always been your drink of choice and you draw a complete blank, "What do you mean?"

He chuckles and reaches over to affectionately pat your head, "Silly girl, don't you remember meeting my friends a few weeks ago? This is exactly what you ordered back then, too." He continues to touch your hair, lovingly pushing it out of your face and tucking stray strands behind your ears. But you can't bring yourself to react to his touch the way you normally would.

You know you should just brush this off. You know that you should just drink your beer so you can go home to Jimin and start fixing this huge mess. Then, things can finally go back to normal.

But you can't bring yourself to move as you continue to stare at the black liquid in your glass. It's so thick that you can't see through the material to the bar on the other side. Everything is completed obscured by the darkness. You take a deep breath, then reach up to pull Jungkook's hand away from your head. Surprised by the action, Jungkook instinctively reaches for you again, but you stop him with a single look.

"You really don't know me at all."

Startled, Jungkook can't respond for a moment before he awkwardly chuckles, "What are you talking about, baby?"

"Drinking stout? Ditching work to play? Do you really even know me, Jungkook?" Your voice is unnaturally quiet as you question him, like the calm before a storm.

"Uh," he nervously scratches at his ear, "Do you not like it? I'm sorry if I made you feel coerced into doing those things. We can do what you want next time."

"No, you're not understanding," you interject, in too deep at this point to let it go. Your heart is pounding and your system flushed with adrenaline, but you can't stop now even if you wanted to, "How can you claim to love me if you know nothing about me?"

"Wh-what?" he stammers, completely taken back by this unexpected attack, "___, where is this even coming from?"

"This is long overdue," you murmur, "Jungkook, you don't actually love me. You're in love with the idea of me, but that's it. I'm not the person you think I am."

"What are you talking about? Why are you acting like this? Of course I know you," he snorts.

"Really?" you ask, eyes flashing up to meet his, "Then how was I like in high school?"

"What?" he says, bewildered by the request, "What does that even mean?"

"Just answer the question, Jungkook," you growl, uncharacteristically aggressive for perhaps the first time in your life, "What kind of role did I play in my high school?"

"I don't know," he says, staring at you like you've grown two heads, "You're really pretty and smart though. So I'd expect you to be pretty popular in high school… But you're too nice to be part of the super popular bullies. So maybe… second tier popular?"

You stare at him for a long time, shocked silent by the complete absurdity of his words. You, popular? You've never heard of such an inaccurate description in your life.

"You really don't know me," you choke out in a broken voice, "Jungkook, the girl you're in love with isn't real. None of this is real."

"What is up with you today? You're talking crazy!"

"Am I? Or is this the first honest thing I've said since we've entered this fucked up relationship?" You snap at him, "Because let's be real here: your so-called 'love' for me cannot even hope to compare to the way Jimin loves you. Or the way I love him."

"What… what did you say?" Jungkook asks in a whisper, as though the breath has been knocked out of him entirely.

You summon the courage to look him in the eye, "Isn't it obvious, Jungkook? I am completely, entirely in love with Park Jimin."

It looks as though you have punched him in the stomach, the way his entire body crumples in pain, "But… but that night when I confessed," he stammers, wildly searching for any way to hold onto you, "You said… you told me that I had a chance."

"I said that I cared about you, Jungkook. And that's true. I do care about you… but not the way I care about Jimin. I love him. And I've loved him for the past two years."

At that, he breaks eye contact, back hunching and head drooping as he buries his face in his hands. There's a moment of unbearably tense silence in bar where all you can hear is the noise of the blaring sport game in the background. Guilt fills your chest, but it's too late now. And more than the guilt, you feel an overwhelming sense of relief. Like it's the first time you've felt free in months. You inhale deeply through your nose, enjoying the sensation of oxygen filling your lungs in what feels like forever, before you continue to study his broken appearance.

Jungkook reaches for his beer, and it doesn't go unnoticed the way his hands tremble so much that the dark liquid sloshes over the top. He drinks long and deep, swallowing harshly, before he can continue.

"In a way, I think I always knew," he tells you in a hoarse voice, "But I never said anything… because I was afraid that if I did, it would make it true… I've been such an idiot, haven't I?" he says with a bitter laugh.

For a moment, sympathy clouds your judgment. You know the pain of unrequited love oh-too-well, and your first instinct is to comfort him. "Jungkook," you sigh, reaching across the bar for the hand wrapped so tightly around his drink that you fear the glass might shatter.

But he flinches back when you make contact, "I'm going to make this right again, ___," he says, suddenly looking up to hold your gaze again.

You shiver at the unexpected fire in his eyes, "What do you mean?"

"Don't worry, ___. I'll fix this."

"What? What are you saying?" But he ignores you to scrape his seat back and jump to his feet. "Jungkook?" you ask in confusion, "What are you—wait! Where are you going?!" But it's too late and he's already walked straight out the door.

You are left sitting there for a few minutes, reeling in the aftermath of your confession. There are no traces of Jungkook left at the bar, except for the half-drunken beer and the ring of liquid around the glass from where he split his drink. When not condensed in a glass, the beer appears an innocuous amber color, and so clear that you can see the grimy wood of the counter underneath… It's only a little bit of spilt beer. The bartender had filled the glass to overflowing anyways, so a bit of spillage was expected… but why do you feel like you might cry?

After what feels like an eternity, you finally pull yourself together enough to go looking for Jungkook. Expecting him to be right outside the bar, you call out his name right as you cross the threshold of the doorway, "Jungkook?"

But to your surprise, he is nowhere to be found. Worried, you pull out your phone to call him. But he declines your call on the second ring, directing you to his voicemail. Confused, you try again, only to be met with the same fate. Why is he ignoring you?

"Excuse me," you call out when you notice a group of men smoking in front of a convenience store right next door, "Have you seen a guy in his early twenties wearing a white shirt leaving this area recently?"

"Was he a good-looking guy with dark hair?" One of the men asks as he snubs out his cigarette.

"Yes, that's him!" you exclaim, ears perking in excitement, "Have you seen him?"

"Yeah, just a few minutes ago," a second man pipes up. "He got into a taxi and left."

"A taxi?" you repeat in surprise.

"Yeah… are you his girlfriend or something? It looks like your man ditched you," he laughs.

"You can just hang out with us instead, sweetheart," the first man offers in a suggestive tone.

Your stomach turns and it takes a great deal of effort to keep from wrinkling your nose, "No thank you." And with that, you turn to your phone to call up an uber. Where the hell could Jungkook have gone? You have your suspicions… And the prospects don't look so good.

Your anxiety increases tenfold when Jimin fails to pick up your call for the third time in a row. Cold sweat slides down your back when you're directed to his voicemail. It's completely out of character for Jimin to ignore your calls like this. He is normally receptive… Unless there is something keeping him occupied…

"Please hurry, sir," you urge the uber driver, fear getting the best of you.

Jungkook is infamous for his fiery temper. And the way he had looked at you back in the bar, promising that he'd fix this… Could he mean what you think he means…? If so, you need to get back to the apartment as soon as you possibly can. And you'll do anything in your power to protect Jimin. Whatever the cost.

Before the uber fully pulls to a stop on the curb, you wrench the door open and throw yourself on the pavement. The driver angrily curses after you for your recklessness, but you pay him no attention as you burst into your building and rush up the stairs as quickly as you possibly can.

Within seconds, your thighs burn and your breath weakens, but the fearful adrenaline flooding your system keeps you going. The only thought racing through your mind is how to get to Jimin… how to save him from Jungkook.

The apartment door is ominously left open a crack when you finally arrive. With your heart lodged in your throat, you cautiously push the door open… and are immediately regaled by the sound of Jimin's heart-wrenching sobs.

"Please, Jungkook," he begs, "Please don't do this to me."

The blood in your veins turns to ice. You move to rush into the room, but at that moment, you hear Jungkook's stony response.

"Get off of me, hyung. It's over."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Jimin chokes out, "Jungkook, I love you. Please don't leave me."

It feels like a hot needle has pierced through your heart at the sound of his genuine confession. This is fucked up. This is all so fucked up.

"But I don't love you," is Jungkook's blunt response, "I'm sorry if I've led you on. But I can't do this anymore. Goodbye, Jimin."

"Wait, Jungkook!" The older man exclaims, "Jungkook!"

But it's too late, and he's already left.

You nearly topple over in surprise when the front door abruptly swings open, leaving you and Jungkook face to face. He pauses in the doorway for a split second, his cold gaze piercing through to your very core. For that moment in time, you feel helpless under his stare, like you're naked and laid bare for his scrutiny.

Then he exhales deeply in one, long stream of air, "I hope you're happy."

There's something strangely poignant in the way he phrases that. You open your mouth to respond, but he's already brushed past you in the doorway. You whirl around on your heel to stare after him. You know that you should intervene in some way. You're probably the only person who can fix this mess and bring him back. But you can't bring yourself to say a single word as you watch him walk down the hall and out of your life.

In the background, you hear Jimin's semi-hysterical crying echoing off the walls. But somehow, even this is suiting.

You feel entirely numb as you watch the perfect glass sphere of your life shatter into a million pieces. Jungkook is gone, and now it's all over.

The meticulously piled crystalline drops of water have built and built until their bursting point.

Ten… Twenty… Thirty drops…

Who knew that it'd all fall apart so easily?

End of part 1.

A/N: Thank you to everyone who called/emailed their legislators! And even though we didn’t hit our goal, I am still proud of all of you!!! And it’s not over yet, so please keep calling and emailing!

Anyways, sorry for taking so long with the update, but it’s here now :)

#equilibrium #bts scenarios #bts scenario #bts angst #jungkook scenarios #noonanet

1K notes · View notes

fanfictionconnectionwordpress · 7 years ago

Text

Mystic Messenger Fanfiction | VanderwoodxOC Cerise - Tagged | Ch. 18 Proposed Cooking Lessons

***My apologies for last week's lack of post. My puppy was diagnosed with a dreadful disease which we are lucky he survived followed by myself getting a terrible cold. I hope this week's sweet fluffy chapter will help. There is a deleted scene chapter before this available to my patrons. It’s called ‘Preparations Apart,’ and is all about Vandy gettin that ring and there are shower selfies involved. ~Let’s Connect! FFC***

*Remember, this is a sequel to Vanderwood Backstory, and Cerise has a bio. You can support my writing on patreon and get access to my VIP Discord Server or other goodies like early chapter releases and hidden scenes. Tagged Chapter Directory*

They had spent the last day apart, and boy did he feel it when he woke up. Vanderwood pulled away from the mass of pillows that he’d cuddled into because they smelled like her, grumbling softly as he hadn’t slept nearly as well without her. He’d gotten her ring yesterday, that and hurt himself again by exercising after their exchanged after-shower selfies had caused him a pants tightness problem. Jesus…by now she’d probably also gotten her pills, too, not that that would do him any good. Yet. Bloody Hell, what kind of a man was he that that was what he was focused on?

He sent her a good morning text, assuming she would still be sleeping. It took him a while to get up and make breakfast, opting for toast again and some juice to wash down pain pills. He felt exactly like he had yesterday now, so he really had set himself back a day. At least it wasn't horrendously painful. Vanderwood didn't have much time left before he was going to be asking the love of his life to marry him. It was all so fast, but he knew she was the one for him, and he knew that she felt the same way, even though he was still anxious and nervous. He snorted at himself, only because he’d gone from, ‘I’m going to ask her someday’ to, ‘Now.’

Vanderwood kept practicing the words, hoping they would come out right. As much as he had practiced, 'Will you go out with me,' he had found that, 'Will you marry me' sounded incredibly different. At least it had been good practice in learning more words? Vanderwood showered and got dressed, opting for his v-neck shirt and black shirt over the top rather than a t-shirt. He should look at least a little nice, right? They were going to stay together tonight, so he packed up a little bag and grabbed the ring box, placing it in his pocket with a deep sigh, trying to release all the nerves that were building in his gut. It was nearly time. Vanderwood sat on the edge of his bed as he watched the minutes tick by, sending her another text. `I'll see you soon, shortcake. I miss you.`

***

Cerise was woken up by the sound of her phone going off. Groggily, she unlocked it to check her messages. It had been from her boyfriend...He was going to come over soon. Cerise stretched and hopped out of bed, scattering a few pillows about as she did so. She padded over to her bathroom and discovered that she somehow looked like an absolute mess. Her hair was all over the place. "...Did I fight a fricken leopard in my sleep?" She mumbled to herself as she tried to tame her messy locks with a brush. When she was satisfied, she clipped off a section of her fringe to keep it out of her eyes and set off to find something to wear.

She opted for a pair of shorts instead of a skirt and a tank top with tennis shoes. Cerise threw a cute jacket over the top and didn't skip the stocking, because it was still winter, after all. Finally, she brushed her teeth and put on lotion before plopping down on her couch in the living room and turning on the television. Now she pulled out her phone to reply, a smile on her face. `Miss u 2. I'll b waiting <3`

***

His phone pinged, and by now he was tired of waiting around. Surely, she wouldn't mind if he came a little early? The anxiety was eating at him, and he felt like he needed to ask her now. Hell, he probably wouldn't make it through the front door at this rate. Vanderwood sent her a quick text before grabbing his things and tossing them in the car. `Can't wait. Coming over now.` The drive seemed even longer than before. It wasn't really that long, maybe 20 minutes, but eternity stretched out before him before he had finally parked and was at her door, taking a deep breath as he knocked, hand finding the little box in his pocket. This was happening, and it was happening right now.

***

Her phone pinged and buzzed again, causing her to grin. It was cute that he couldn't wait to see her; she felt the same way. Cerise was eager to see him again after spending a night apart. Judging by how her hair had been that morning, she’d probably tossed and turned all night. She decided not to text him back, since he was driving, and she didn't want him to be tempted to check his phone while on the road...Not that he would. He was so much smarter than that.

She didn't know how much time it had been before she heard a knock at her door, causing her to jump up and all but run to it. Cerise flung it open and threw her arms around him, forgetting that he was sore. "Oops!" She let go and laughed sheepishly, "I kinda forgot...I just missed you." Cerise tried for a hug again except a lot gentler that time. She just felt like she was brimming with so much affection and excitement just by him being there; she felt like she could burst.

Vanderwood grunted at the pain of her embrace, but it was swiftly followed with one much gentler. He wrapped an arm around her as he kept his other hand in his pocket. "I missed you, too...Cerise....I have to tell you something." He stepped away from her just a little, his hand finding her chin and holding it, so he could keep his chestnut brown eyes locked with her honey gold. Cerise was about to complain that it was really cold out there and that they should probably head inside if he wanted to tell her something, but the look in his eyes were so intense and captivating she couldn't find the words. All she could do was stare up at him, the cold making her breath visible in the air.

"I can't remember being so happy as I am with you. You've given me everything, and I can't help but want to do the same. You're ma moitié, my everything, the only woman I'll ever need." The words were coming so easily, flowing perfectly even as blush rose in his cheeks. "I need to ask you something...something really important." Here it came, he'd practiced over and over and now was the moment of truth.

The words that came out of his mouth made her blush, he was being so sweet this early. Did he really miss her that much? She nodded when he said he needed to ask her something important, but she got worried for a moment when he suddenly dropped to one knee and visibly winced. Marion was in that much pain? He should have stayed in bed. Cerise was about to interrupt him and tell him that he was in pain and needed to come inside to rest, that they could talk later, but his next question threw her off.

"Iras-tu sortir avec moi...No....wait..." No, no no, that wasn't right. A look of confusion washed over her face. He...was asking her to go out with him. For the third time now. Was this some weird British thing? Vanderwood bit his tongue as he tried to remember. He had royally screwed this up, beautiful. Think, you dunderhead. "Veux-tu m'épouser....Yes...veux-tu m'épouser?" God, he couldn't blame her if she said no and made him ask again later, because that really sucked. Vanderwood felt stupid on many levels, but he produced the little ring box anyway.

Before she could try to interrupt again, once she broke out of her confused daze, he had asked his apparently corrected question. Did he realize what he was asking her? Apparently, he did, because he also produced a ring box. So here he was, proposing to her in her apartment doorway. Tears began to brim in her eyes as she dropped down with him and threw her arms around him, hugging tightly and forgetting again about his soreness. This wasn't something that she had expected this early in their relationship or...at all, really. She would have been happy just being by his side. "Of course...yes. Yes, I'll marry you." It didn't matter to her that they'd only even known each other for a short while, Cerise already knew that she and him were meant to be together. Why prolong the inevitable?

He saw the tears first and when her arms wrapped around him just a little too tightly, he knew. Vanderwood knew she was saying yes before the words left her mouth. Even though he was a cheesy, rather blunt, damaged idiot, she still wanted to marry him. Vanderwood wrapped her up tighter in his arms, despite how much it was hurting his back and leg to sit there like this. Cerise was going to marry him, and he couldn't be happier. He shifted just a little to open the ring box for her and take out the ring to place it on her finger. "This was my errand yesterday...I'm so happy you liked it..." And he was, probably happier than he'd ever been.

He kissed her ring softly before nuzzling her nose, his hands on her cheeks, wiping away a few stray tears. "Je'taime, Cerise...You've made me the happiest man in the world already." Vanderwood really hadn't made it past her doorway after all. The relief and joy washed through him now; the joy he could see in her eyes, that was worth making a fool of himself on her doorstep, even though his leg was starting to cramp up.

So, that had been his errand...he did say that he thought she'd like it. Cerise absolutely loved it. The ring he had picked out was simple but completely beautiful. He really knew how to pick something out to compliment her. As much as she annoyed him and wasn't good at much of anything, this man had asked her to marry him. Her, out of all the people in the world. "I love you too, Marion." Cerise sniffled a bit before standing up, holding onto his hands to motion for him to follow. It was really cold outside, and she didn't want him to get sick on top of all the pain he was in.

Vanderwood tried not to wince too much as she pulled him along into the house. He really had cramped up, but with how happy she was, it was so incredibly worth it. Once they were inside and the door was closed, she was embracing him again; she didn't want to let go. Cerise was still trying to wrap her head around the fact that the man currently standing in front of her was going to be her husband and was now officially her fiancé. There was such an intense feeling of joy that she had never experienced before now, and she wanted to remember it for the rest of her life.

If Cerise had been taller, she would have just kissed him, but she wasn't going to ruin the moment by hopping around like some deranged bunny just to reach him. "Thank you...for choosing to stay with me. And for putting up with me." She nuzzled her face into his shirt, still holding him. "You make me happy~ I don't think there's even an emoji that can express what I'm feeling right now. "

His heart wouldn't stop fluttering, all thanks to her. "Cerise..." She just kept holding him, and he didn't want to stop holding her, although he did want to kiss her. Could he manage the pain to do that? Cerise was his fiancée now. It almost seemed surreal, but there it was. This woman, who for all intents and purposes should have run away from him, should have turned him away the moment they met, had agreed to become his wife.

Her comments had him smiling and pulling her closer. "I would choose you over anyone. And I'll ‘put up’ with you for the rest of my life." He gently stroked her hair, his heart warming further. Of course, she would want to use emojis to describe it. There was no resisting it now. To Cerise’s absolute delight, it seemed he was going to kiss her.

Vanderwood pulled away from her solely so his hand could cup the side of her face as he kissed her, deep and slow. He poured his love for her into that kiss, wanting her to feel just how much it meant to him that she cared for him, that she wanted to take care of him at all, the joy that she brought to his formerly bleak world. His Cerise, immature and irritating, but wonderful, strong, caring, open-minded; Vanderwood couldn't come up with enough praises, because nothing would ever be enough. His body was reacting to her now even past all of the excitement, so he pulled away, blush hot in his cheeks.

Just from that one kiss--their first as an engaged couple, he told her wordlessly how much she meant to him and how much he loved her. Cerise loved these intense moments where words weren't needed. She poured her own heart into her kiss, getting lost in the flood of their shared affection. It felt like he’d pulled away far too soon for her liking, but she could understand why...She was starting to get worked up, so she could only imagine how he felt. The blush on her cheeks matched his as she took his hand and led him to the couch. "Sit here while I make some warm tea for my future hubby~" Just saying it made her heart leap.

He was thankful to be sitting down, and now he was blushing even harder at being called her future hubby with such a sweet voice. He was a little cold; he realized that now. The winter air had sunken into him but not been felt past his excitement. Vanderwood watched her as she made the tea, taking in her appearance. She was wearing shorts and a thin top with only her stockings and jacket to really provide any true warmth to her. He bit his tongue looking at her. His future wife didn't know how to dress for the weather apparently...but she sure dressed in a way he liked. Vanderwood internally slapped himself, sinking into the couch instead.

As she made her way to the kitchen, she examined the ring he’d gotten her. It was real. He had really asked her to marry him. That cheesy vanderjerk. The blush was still taking up residence on her face as she brewed a cup of tea. She added only a little ginger to some green tea with lemon and a small bit of honey. While she was at it, she made herself a cup, too, sans the ginger and with a lot more honey. When she was done, she carefully brought his cup to him with a smile. "Here~"

Her sing-song tones would be the death of him. "Thank you...future wife." Vanderwood reached for her, gently tapping her lips with his pointer finger. "I feel like I don't tell you enough just how beautiful you are." Attack of the cheesiness. She really was, though, and the outfit only made her look even better. He shifted to indicate he wanted her to snuggle up to him, not worrying about soreness, just wanting her close to him. After their night apart, he didn't want to be away from her at all.

Cerise felt like she was on cloud nine, and nothing could bring her down. Him calling her his future wife made her feel like she was falling in the best way. The color dominating her face was redder than her namesake. The word 'wife' felt like it couldn't apply to her quite yet--she was only twenty. People got married that young, right? How old was he, even? She figured he couldn't be that much older than her, even if he did act like such a stick in the mud sometimes. Cerise couldn't help but giggle a little. He was being so very cheesy today...Though he had every right to be, especially if he was as elated as she was.

"Oh~?" Cerise took him up on his offer, snuggling up to him closely. "If you think I'm so beautiful, maybe we should start going out or something." She teased him and carefully reached over him to where she’d put her own cup of tea on the side table. Vanderwood wrapped an arm around her as she snuggled into him. Her tease had him coughing softly in embarrassment. "Yeah, I think I really would like to go out with you." He was about to say something to her about how much he liked her outfit, his hand at her hip so he could reach out and touch the soft fabric of her top. Vanderwood started absentmindedly playing with it, but then she completely broke his train of thought. "You know what, though?" Cerise took a sip of her tea and looked up at him, grinning. "I still think you look better in a skirt than I do~"

Fucking Seven. "I..." Vanderwood felt his eyebrow twitch just a little in irritation at the redhead. Someday, somehow, he would get that little shit back for showing that picture of him in a maid’s outfit by embarrassing the kid. If that were even possible. "I have to disagree with you." He bit his tongue before having some of the tea she'd made for him. There was a bit of ginger in it, but it wasn't nasty like the last time, and he would have been grateful for it even if it was. "Did you want to help me with lunch after we finish our tea, fiancée?" It felt ridiculously silly to keep repeating that she was in fact going to be his future wife, but it also gave him that warm fuzzy feeling he was coming to enjoy so much.

"Oh, but I think you're mistaken, dear Marion~" Cerise was definitely going to have to ask the red-headed man for any copies of that picture that he might have. She was sure that Vanderwood would protest as soon as he found out, but she'd find some way to convince him to let her keep it. He had repeated the word again; he was definitely as excited and giddy as she currently was. "I would love to help you, but I can't believe I get to have such an attractive teacher. Good thing I'm the only student, huh?" She took another sip of her tea. "Can't have the others getting all jealous that I'm marrying the teacher." Cerise glanced at her ring again, unable to get over how pretty it was or how well it had fit on her finger. How did he even know her size? She didn't even know her size.

Vanderwood snorted softly. "I'm more worried about me getting jealous if someone else were teaching you." That was most certainly true. It was a new thing for him, but he was definitely more jealous than the average person, and he had a feeling that his jealousy could be lethal in the right situation. Cereise nodded, talking into her cup of tea. "Would suck to be that person, huh?" She had already seen small glimpses of his jealousy, and there was no doubt he'd be quite a force under the right (or wrong) circumstances.

His eyes fell to her ring. It suited her so perfectly, and that just made him smile all the more, not only because she seemed to love it, but also because he felt damn proud of himself for picking something that matched her so well. "Does the ring fit okay? I made an educated guess." His fingers had continued absentmindedly playing with her shirt as he drank his tea, by chance slipping just under the fabric to brush against her scar.

"It fits perfectly, actually. I was surprised, it was a really lucky guess." They both sat there in silence for a little while just drinking their tea and enjoying each other's company after their time apart. While cuddled up to him, she could hear him breathe...it was such a comforting sound along with his steady heartbeat. She felt his fingers brush over her scar once more. Did he feel guilty?

Cerise tried not to think about that day, the words he had said. He didn't mean them, yet they still came out of his mouth. She shook her head and pushed those thoughts away. Of course, he didn't mean them, it probably hurt him to say them as much as it hurt her to hear them. Marion wouldn't have asked her to spend the rest of her life with him if he didn't want her around, if he didn't care for her--didn't love her.

Vanderwood had been tracing her scar for some time now, but then his fingers slipped down over the much smoother skin of her hip. He moved his hand, placing it up on the couch. Even just that one small touch to her skin had made him react to her. It had been too long and too stressful since the last time he'd had sex, clearly. He bit his tongue before taking a big swallow of tea, trying to hide just how red his face was.

When his hand moved from her scar to her hip, she began to automatically respond with a blush. Just as quickly as he had done it, he’d pulled his hand away. She looked up at him with a questioning expression, finding his face was totally red. Cerise was happy that he was doing so well, that he had so much better impulse control now. If he hadn't been so sore, she might have tried at teasing him just a little. Instead, she opted to just let him have his moment, pretending she hadn't noticed how flustered he was...which in turn made her more flustered.

He placed his tea to the side. Why was it that he already wanted to put his hand on her again, wanted the contact? Addiction based or just because he loved her? Really, he was doing much better than he thought he would ever be able to at controlling himself, although he still worried. She deserved the best of this world, and he only hoped he could make that happen...only hoped he would be able to keep her from getting hurt in his presence any further than the times she already had.

Just a day before after her brush with painkillers he'd said...some things. In the moment he'd meant them, and it was a fear for him that he would ruin her life, but...Vanderwood looked down at her. He would keep that from happening, and she was willing to risk everything to be with him, just like he was to be with her. She had that right just as much as he did.

Cerise kept her head down and focused on her tea. The silence was starting to be a little uncomfortable for her. "Marion...I never really asked you. How old are you? I guess it's kinda silly asking that now considering..." Cerise found the hand that he rested on the couch and began to play with his fingers. "I'm twenty...but I'm sure you already know that. Being a super-secret agent and all.”

Her question pulled him out of his thoughts. "Oh...well..." That's right, he'd never told her. "Yeah...I've known since the day after I brought you to the first hotel. Seven sent me a file...but I could only read the first sentence. Didn't feel right to read the rest." She probably had some idea of how old he was already, so it wouldn't be a huge shock right? "I'm 28. I'll be 29 soon."

Okay, so he was eight years older than her, that wasn't bad. At the mention of the word 'soon' her eyes lit up. "Soon? When is your birthday?" Cerise loved celebrating things. Holidays and birthdays made her so excited, but the birthday of her fiancé? Sign her right the Hell up! She was totally going to learn how to cook by then, so she could surprise him with something she made that wasn't terrible and burned. By now, she was pretty much hovering right next to his face, eyes sparkling with excitement.

Holy shit, why was she so excited? He leaned away just a little, furrowing his brows at her. It was just a birthday. Hell, he'd never even done anything for his birthday. "It's...December 23rd. Just about a month from now...but I'd rather not dwell on it." Vanderwood couldn't even remember people saying happy birthday to him. No wait, he could. Caleb. Caleb was the only one who remembered. Vanderwood wrapped his arms around Cerise, pulling her into his lap tightly and burying his face in her hair. His heart had felt like it was being suddenly crushed, her presence in his arms easing it somewhat.

She didn't even have a chance to ask him why he seemed so upset before he was pulling her into his lap. The atmosphere felt sort of…gloomy all the sudden...Had something happened on his birthday? Did he just not like celebrating it? If it was bad memories he had...she wanted to do her best to replace them with good ones. He was twenty-eight...and probably hadn't celebrated his birthday in a while. Cerise had a lot of work to do if she wanted him to look back fondly on it, but now she figured they had their entire lives ahead of them to make that happen. He had buried his face into her hair, probably not wanting to talk right now, so she just nuzzled into him, letting him enjoy the silence as he held her there.

The silence and just her warmth, it was comforting. It was exactly what he needed. After a few minutes, he felt like he could talk again. "I'm sorry..." He mumbled into her hair before he released her slowly. "That was a little sudden...Just...unpleasant thoughts." Vanderwood gave her an apologetic smile and a soft kiss to her forehead. "You do whatever you want for my birthday...but I can't promise you I'll be in a good mood."

Cerise shook her head and gave him an understanding smile. "Don’t worry, you know? We're gonna make happy memories." God help him if she forgot. Vanderwood internally winced at the idea, but Cerise wouldn't forget...judging from how excited she had been...she wouldn't forget. His hand found the side of her face, cupping her cheek as he had a tendency to do before he gave her a kiss, nice and slow, pulling away to kiss her nose. "Now...is my beautiful fiancée ready for her first lesson? I'm a little hungry."

He didn't really feel like talking about it right now, as much as he had promised her his honesty...it could wait. Those childhood memories were more painful than the stories of his scars and were overshadowed by Caleb's death in ways that made him feel like he couldn't breathe past the pain in his chest. It was strange; usually he'd never think about those memories, they were just locked up behind a wall of pain, but this memory, as painful as it was, it also felt good. His brother had loved him. Vanderwood bit his tongue to keep from turning into a mess again.

She didn't think even in a million years she would get tired of his kisses. Each one never felt like the last, but all of them were enough to always take her breath away. "I'm so ready." She hopped up off the couch and towards her kitchen at an incredible speed. Not only was she really hungry, but she was really eager to learn from him. Cerise turned around and motioned for him to follow. "Come on, slow poke! At this rate we'll be celebrating my birthday before you get your butt over here."

"Alright, I'm coming." He snorted softly at her enthusiasm, that and her birthday was almost a full year away, and he couldn't possibly be that slow, even injured. Vanderwood couldn't help but smile like an idiot as he looked at her, thinking about just how much she meant to him. "Let me go get the groceries. Wash your hands while I'm gone...And maybe find me a hair-tie?" Cerise teasingly saluted him and found him the hair-tie he had asked for before washing her hands. They were going to be cooking, so she made sure to wash them extra well.

He had left the groceries in the car in his excitement to propose, so now he went to get them before entering her house again and placing them on an open space of counter. "Alright...so we're making omelets with some vegetables, not too difficult and pretty healthy." Cerise was drying off her hands when he reappeared back in the house with the groceries, nodding as he spoke. Omelets sounded pretty easy, and vegetables weren't that scary either. She could totally impress him with how quickly she could pick this up. Eggs and vegetables were nothing. "That sounds delicious! I can't wait~" Cerise handed him his hair-tie. "So, what's first, Teach'?"

"I'm probably going to start by teaching you how to wash and cut the vegetables while I whisk up and cook the eggs." Vanderwood chuckled at her enthusiasm. Cerise was a marvel to him sometimes. He put his hair up before looking her over. She had a Hell of a lot more hair than he did. Considering the mess she'd made the last time she cooked, it was probably better for her to have her hair up, too. "But...I think you should put your hair up first, too."

He was not risking her lighting that on fire. Vanderwood loved her hair, more than he really cared to admit. "Oh, my hair too?" Cerise nodded and disappeared out of the kitchen and into her bedroom before returning with a thicker hair scrunchie and handing it to him. "You do it~" She didn't give him a chance to answer before she turned around, shaking her hair out with her hands for a moment.

A light blush appeared on his face. He loved messing with her hair, really, so putting it up, as dumb as it sounded, it was a little on the intimate side, at least for him. "Alright then." Such a simple task shouldn't really make your chest feel warm and fuzzy should it? Vanderwood took the hair scrunchie and put it on his wrist as he gathered her hair up carefully before sliding the scrunchie from his wrist to around her hair, making sure to get it tight enough that it would stay but not so it would hurt her head.

He gave her a quick kiss to the top of her head then moved to grab some carrots and broccoli from his grocery bag, handing them to her. "Alright...so, first we get them out of the bags. Then we wash them off. The carrots will need peeling, but the broccoli just needs a good wash." Vanderwood washed his hands quickly, leaving the water running to wash the veggies. "So...let's wash the broccoli first, since that doesn't need peeling."

Cerise bounced in place excitedly as he talked before taking the broccoli from him. “You got it~” Easy stuff; she was practically a broccoli-washing pro! Cerise hummed excitedly to herself before turning the broccoli over. He watched her, shaking his head a little. Lord, she was in adorable form. At least he could trust her to wash broccoli, right? That wasn't so hard.

Vanderwood had gone to open the bag of carrots, so they could wash those as soon as she got the broccoli cut up, and then his thoughts were violently interrupted when he was splashed with water. She had managed to somehow make the stalk fling water at the both of them, getting in her eyes. "Sorry!" Cerise apologized and rubbed her eyes. She didn't know broccoli could be so...rubber-bandy and flingy. He looked over at her to see that, yup, somehow she had managed to mess up washing, but at least the broccoli was clean? He carefully took the broccoli from her and placed it on a cutting board, trying not to be bothered by the fact that there was a wet spot on his back. "That's alright." She really was rather clumsy.

Did he trust her with a knife? Vanderwood cut the stalk of the broccoli off himself before motioning for her to stand in front of him, demonstrating cutting the broccoli apart from the little cluster. He hadn't expected her proximity to be a problem for him, but she was so close, and he needed to get away before problems arose, so to speak. Vanderwood did just that, shifting away from her directly after showing her how to cut the pieces apart. "So...just cut them away from the bigger portion while I wash the carrots." She could get that, right?

"Yessir!" She answered with another salute, trying to ignore how close he had been to her. Cerise had cut things before. That shouldn't be hard...At least she couldn't get splashed. Except with blood once you manage to cut your finger off. Cerise froze. Whoa, what a terrible thought. She shook her head; she wouldn't be cutting any appendages off today. Carefully, she did as he’d instructed and managed to successfully cut the florets away from the stalks without much of an issue. How in the world could she do that but not wash the goddamn thing correctly?

Vanderwood had started on washing the carrots, snorting at her salute. Thankfully, cooking was a good mind clearer, but he kept glancing at her to make sure she wasn't cutting herself. Her voice got his attention. "I think I did this right." As he looked over, his eyes widened. "Yeah, you did great. And no blood." That was supposed to be an internal thought, but now it was out. "Um...I wasn't expecting any." He resisted the urge to rub the back of his neck, because then he'd just have to wash his hands again. "So...um...put that in a pot, and let's wash and peel some carrots."

Cerise couldn’t help but feel a little flush in her cheeks as he, apparently accidentally, pointed out the obvious. "It's okay...I'm actually surprised too." She confessed with a nervous laugh. That probably wasn't reassuring at all, but there it was. Cerise deposited the broccoli into the designated pot. "Okay...carrots." He seemed to be busy with washing them...which was fair considering how she had treated the broccoli, so she could just start on the peeling.

She grabbed the peeler and a carrot. He hadn't really shown her how to do it, but it couldn't be any harder than chopping broccoli. Vanderwood was surprised to see her grabbing the peeler already, apparently wanting him to wash the carrots while she peeled. Did she need to be shown how? Probably not…Holding the carrot, Cerise applied pressure with the peeler and peeled the top skin off. Well...it was more like half the carrot...which as she applied pressure to get the chunk of carrot off, suddenly shot across the room. Cerise just stared blankly and she watched the orange torpedo hit the wall and then the floor. Why? Why was she so bad at this?

He had been watching what she was doing, a little confused by how she was choosing to hold the carrot, but he wasn’t expecting the orange missile situation. Vanderwood just kind of stared at the carrot on the floor for a minute. "Um...let me help you with that." He tossed the carrot, grabbing another, a little wary as he took her hands from behind her again. His head bent to lightly press a kiss to the spot just behind her ear, an easy task with her hair up, before he bit his tongue and returned to the task at hand.

No time for nonsense...Vanderwood took the carrot and placed it in her hand, showing her how to properly hold the damn thing, because apparently that was too difficult for her clumsiness, God, she was cute...and slightly terrifying. Cerise cooking could probably be weaponized. Vanderwood had to suppress a snort as well as control the little side of fear that gripped at him as he envisioned her shooting carrots at someone. He shook his head before he helped her peel a few lines off the carrot. "It can peel both ways, but I think you should peel in the direction away from your body...To be safe." His concern for her safety was outweighing his concern for how close he was pressed to her like this.

For a moment, he seemed to be thinking, maybe in more reverent silence over what had happened to that poor carrot. Cerise was still having her own little moment of silence over that, quite frankly. It was becoming apparent to even herself just how bad at this she was. His comment about peeling away from herself for her own safety made her scrunch up her nose for a second before her face relaxed. "You know...that's fair." She peeled the carrot like he had shown her away from herself, and once she had started, she found it rather easy, as long as she held it correctly.

He stepped away to start on the eggs, but Vanderwood had found himself mostly watching her rather than dealing with the eggs out of worry. After the first carrot, it looked like she was doing okay. She managed not to maim any more defenseless carrots and successfully peeled the rest he had washed as he cracked the eggs into a pot for stirring together.

Cerise figured that cutting them was next as she finished, placing the peeler aside along with the final carrot. "Done with this part~" She sang out and went to go and grab her knife. Unfortunately, she had completely forgotten that she might not have peeled them over the trash can, causing her to slip on the orangey peels. The kitchen was not her friend. Cooking was not her friend. The Gods above obviously hated her.

He had snorted softly at her sing-song tone, having moved to place the eggs on the counter, and then he noticed her slipping. Vanderwood's heart was in his throat as he reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her into his arms successfully before she could hit the ground. Cerise had closed her eyes in preparation of hitting the floor, but it never came. She opened one eye to see that he had grabbed her before she could. It was a good thing she hadn't managed to grab for the knife; that would have been a disaster. Vanderwood was about ready to curl up in a ball in the corner. The mess too…the carrot peels on the floor he hadn’t noticed out of concern for making sure she didn’t launch the carrots about the room.

Obviously, she simply wasn't meant to cook. It was fate, clearly. Life had prepared him to be the housewife for her, because his future wife sure as Hell wasn't one. He realized he was holding her rather tightly and let go slowly. "Are you alright?" When he finally let go, Cerise looked down to see what it was that made her slip. Yep. That figured. She knew she should have peeled the orange traitors over the trash can. Cerise looked back at him and blinked. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Despite her saying so, he still felt the need to check her over, apparently. His hands went to her shoulders, moving down her arms and then to her waist and over her legs as he searched for any sign of injury, his face slowly turning redder. It was sweet how much he worried over her, even for super simple things. God, she was so clumsy...Maybe cooking would never be her thing. In theory, it seemed so simple, but she just was not able to pick it up. Maybe in time...who knew?

When he was done checking her over, she noticed that his face was at a new level of red. The touches were innocent, and she thought nothing of them, but the way his face was flushing only made hers match it, and she couldn't help but to look down at her feet, letting her hair obscure her face again. Marion moved to press a soft kiss to her forehead, which didn’t make it easier. "I think you've learned enough for one day, shortcake...Please go sit down before I have a heart attack..."

Cerise wanted to argue with him, tell him that she wanted to stay in the kitchen and learn more, but he did have a point. If she stayed in there today, she was either going to kill herself or kill him in some ridiculous freak kitchen accident. She didn't even blame him for shooing her away. Cerise stalked over to the couch and plopped down with a bounce, turning her head so she could watch him in the kitchen. It made her feel bad that she sucked at cooking so much that he basically had to do everything. Maybe she was just good at other things and hadn't realized it? Cerise let out a sigh and pulled her phone out, stopping to glance at her ring. If she was going to be someone's wife...his wife--shouldn't she be better at these things? Some woman she was...but she didn't think he was the type of person at all to ask her unless he was absolutely sure that she was what he wanted. She had time to learn things.

A smile played on her face as she opened the camera and took a selfie of herself with her ring in view, making sure to angle it to where Vanderwood could be seen cooking in the background. Cerise had her doubts about being a good wife, but she wasn't going to let that dampen her excitement. She figured she must have added like fifty tags to that photo and surprisingly opted not to put stickers all over it. It was a great picture how it was and didn't need any decorations--Cerise's ring was decoration enough.

As expected, as soon as she uploaded the picture, her phone began to blow up with messages and notifications. She couldn't help but giggle and read through the well wishes and congratulations. There were a few salty people, but she tended to ignore them. They were going to have a beautiful relationship, haters or no.

Vanderwood really wasn't sure he could take more kitchen mishaps, focusing on taking care of the mess that was making his skin crawl before he could start cooking again. Occasionally, he peeked at her from his periphery. It looked like she was on her social media. A little smile crossed his face. How had he, a guy who had tried all his adult life to avoid having any online presence whatsoever, fallen in love with a woman who was virtually famous?

It struck him as incredibly ironic. On top of that, it was a bit dangerous, but...Cerise was the love of his life, and he wasn't about to let any more danger come to her. It might show up at the doorstep, but he would take care of it. Vanderwood let the veggies cook while he worked on the omelets, adding a little cheese, which hopefully she liked. "Lunch is almost ready." He looked at her there on the couch. That woman, that perfect little obstinate woman, was going to be his wife.

Cerise perked her head up at his announcement. No doubt if she had stayed in there, it would have taken ten times as long. This incredibly domestic setting made her feel warm and fuzzy inside. There were no issues to worry about, no secret threats to speak of. Cerise hopped back up off of the couch and made her way back to the kitchen, coming up behind him to wrap her arms around his torso as he’d turned around. It could have waited, sure, but she just really felt she needed to hug him right then.

Vanderwood was portioning the veggies onto the plates with the omelets when she wrapped her arms around him from behind. He hadn't been expecting that at all, but his heart flipped in his chest, and his hands found hers as he hung his head and closed his eyes. It was such a simple little thing, just a hug, but he felt so happy, a moment of peace and quiet with his soulmate. His finger stroked lightly over her ring, the ring that said she was his wife to be. She felt him relax into her arms and they were able to share a quiet little moment. It was nice to just be near him, especially when they had recently spent so much time apart. Cerise decided she hated being apart from him and hoped that there was never another situation that he had to be away for so long, because his absence was definitely noticed.

How long did they stand there like that? It felt never ending, and maybe that's just what it was like to be truly happy. Vanderwood gently moved her hands away to grab her plate and turn to hand it to her. "I love you, shortcake...I'm so glad you said yes." He felt blush in his cheeks again, but that was just how today was going to be, it seemed. It was the best day of his life so far. "I love you, too." A light blush dusted her cheeks. Marion sounded so soft and sincere, and it made her heart flutter. "I'm glad you asked me. " Cerise shot him a smile before she was headed back to the couch with her omelet, waiting to start on it until he joined her. Not only had she gotten the cooking lesson she was promised today, but she’d gotten a proposal for something much better.

Like this? Want more? Become a Patron ~Let’s Connect! FFC

Tagged Chapter Directory

#mystic messenger #mystic messenger fanfiction #mysmes #mm #vanderwood #cherrywood #tagged

4 notes · View notes

rculettex · 4 years ago

Text

Discord Thread : Evie and Joon’s first date.

Summary: The day after the valentine’s party, Joon waits for evie outside her dorm and they go on a day date in the city. Lot’s of bad decisions are made resulting in them deciding to see each other in secret.

Joon Woo

Joon has gotten ready early that morning, over eager to see Evie again even for just a moment. Pulling a book out of his bag, he sat on the steps to the Dorm 30 minutes earlier than he thought she would be out and read.

Evangeline

Evie woke up normally, grabbing her phone instantly. She frowned seeing there were only a few texts from the girls and sighed. Maybe she dreamt it all. She got dressed, getting ready to head to the cafe to study like she did every sunday. She opened the door, surprised to see Joon sitting there reading. Her heart jumped out of her chest. "Hey."was all she managed to stumble out. he looked so good in the morning sun she might have fainted.

Joon Woo

Hearing Evie’s voice, Joon’s head popped up out of the book and turned to look at her, a soft smile covering his features. “Good Morning,” he shut the book. “I’m here for morning check in but I thought we could do it over coffee.”

Evangeline

It wasn't a dream then. she smiled to herself. "oh? uhm..okay. i was just heading to the campus cafe." she said to him. "so sounds uh...perfect." she wasn't expecting this and was clearly flustered, a red hue covering her skin.

Joon Woo

“The campus cafe works or you could chaperone me off campus and we could go to a cafe that’s ten minutes away without prying eyes.” Joon suggested, hoping she would get the hint.

Evangeline

"well the cafe has grea-" she started before it clicked. oh. Was this...was this a date? "yeah that sounds good." she agreed.

Joon Woo

“We don’t have to if you prefer the campus cafe,” he told her, shoving the book back in his bag and standing up. “We can speak more freely off campus though.”

Evangeline

" i'd go with you anywhere. i mean uhm, that it sounds nice to go..off campus! so yeah. i'm down." she rambled.

Joon Woo

“You’re cute.” He chuckled, offering his hand to help her down the stairs. “Follow me then.”

Evangeline

She blushed, embarrassed, but took his hand as they walked down the stairs. "are you sure this is okay?" she whispered to him. It was really early and she assumed most of the students would still be sleeping the party off. "and how did you know i'd be awake? you didn't text me."

Joon Woo

“Why wouldn’t it be okay? Nobody will be around to see us. If you don’t want to go then we don’t have to.” He said, letting her hand go once she was down the stairs . “You come find me at the same time every day. I just guessed and it worked out.”

Evangeline

"no no. i want to go. just..last night it seemed much more Romeo and Juliet. Mr. and Mrs. Smith sneak around kind of thing?" she shrugged. "wow. guess you're lucky." she teased.

Joon Woo

You want me to come scream at your window in the middle of the night?” Joon asked with a smirk. “I think it has something to do with you.” He said, beginning the walk towards the cafe, hands in his pockets.

Evangeline

Well if a boy won’t scream through a girls window what’s the point?” She sighed dramatically. She walked beside him, hands around her books, excitement practically radiating off of her. “I’ve never been to one of the ones off campus before.”

Joon Woo

“It’s not very subtle for sneaking around. If you want to get caught then it’s great.” He rolled his eyes, picking up the pace to get off campus faster. “Why not?”

Evangeline

hmm fine. Then at minimum we must fake our deaths but then really die.” She she said pushing his buttons a bit. He started to walk faster and she didn’t the same. “I don’t know. I just...didn’t? I went for like book shops or like a night out. I guess the campus one was just closer?

Joon Woo

“I can make that happen. It’s more subtle.” He replied, teasing her. “I wouldn’t have suggested this one if we didn’t have to be secretive but I want to be able to talk to you without having to think about Neith.”

Evangeline

“oh I can’t wait.” She giggled. “Hey, I really am excited to go. I love trying new things, and this one is even more special because it’s with you.” She blushed. “That probably sounds pretty lame”

Joon Woo

Once they were far enough away Joon reached out for her hand, wanting more than to feel her fingers intertwined with his. “One night together and now going to a cafe with me is special?” He smirked, messing with her. It was special to him too.

Evangeline

Evie almost instantly gave him her hand, a warm feeling covering her body. "well....yeah." she said suddenly embarrassed. she sounded like a love sick school girl. Cause she was one. "it's not for you?"

Joon Woo

“I didn’t say that,” he squeezed her hand reassuring her. “If I didn’t care then I would have gone to the campus cafe with you but I didn’t want that.”

Evangeline

Evie grinned, laying her head on his shoulder as they walked, getting closer to the campus gates. "Evangeline Clover. We're going off campus for a day." she said holding out up her badge for security to scan.

Joon Woo

Joon let go of her hand and moved away once they got to the gate. The last thing he wanted was for either of them to be in trouble and have to get a new sponsor.

Evangeline

After signing them out Evie lead Joon through the gates, the wind from the ocean below whipping around them as they got onto the bridge. "Want to drive?" she asked, holding up a pair of keys. "i signed out a car while you were getting scanned." she winked. Techincally VRP kids couldn't have sign them out. but nothing said she couldn't.

Joon Woo

“Drive?” Joon’s eyes grew wide as he looked at the keys in her hand. It had been a long time since he had driven a car, let alone touched one. “Do you trust me not to kidnap you and run away?” He joked, reaching out for the car keys.

Evangeline

"only if you promise to not bring me back." she joked, placing the keys in his hand. the tips of her fingers, grazing his palm a little longer than necessary. They student rental cars we're super fancy, but they were nice. They were made so if students needed to go to the city for any reason they could, without cluttering the campus with vehicles. All about aesthetic. "don't kill me okay?" she said walking to the passenger side.

Joon Woo

“Did Clyde bring back Bonnie?” he winked at her before turning his attention to the car. It was nicer than anything he had driven before. “I’m doing my best to keep you alive.” Joon told her, unlocking the car and getting inside to start it.

Evangeline

Evie slid into the passenger seat and once Joon was in, leaned over. She grabbed his face bringing in to hers, kissing him slowly before pulling away. "let's go." she smiled, sitting back in her seat

Joon Woo

Joon smiled into the kiss, happy to finally feel her lips against his again. “I think I need one more or I’ll be a distracted driver.” He smirked leaning over the console to try and kiss her.

Evangeline

"fine one more. than we need to go. we have to have you back before sunset." she laughed, leaning over to give him a kiss. granted, it was still early morning, but she wanted as much time as possible.

Joon Woo

Joon grinned when he got another kiss, pushing the key into the ignition and starting the car. “Cafe first?” He asked, turning to back out of the parking spot.

Evangeline

"This was your idea. I'm simply along for the ride." she smiled. She toyed with a strand of her hair, wrapping and unwrapping the green tips around her finger. "however, i do need coffee to function so ...”she giggled.

Joon Woo

“I wanted to spend time with you. alone.” He said, reaching his arm over to place on her thigh. Pulling out of the spot, he started driving in the direction of the cafe. “Coffee does sound good.”

Evangeline

"than alone you shall have me." she said trying to not squirm under his touch. Images of the night before flashed through her mind, and she pulled a little harder on her hair. "So uhm..have you been to this place before?" she asked.

Joon Woo

”Good,” he glanced over at her, noticing the way she was tugging on her hair. “Are you okay?” His brows furrowed together in worry.

Evangeline

Evie was sort of lost i her own world, part of her tom lip between her teeth. "YEAH" she answered to loudly. "I mean, yes. totally. im fine. why do you ask?"

Joon Woo

Glancing over at her, he responded, “Because you’re biting your lip the way you did last night.” Joon teased her, letting his hand slowly run farther up her thigh as he continued to drive.

Evangeline

Evie let go of her lip, hand gripping the door handle. "well uhm you're uh..hand." she said gesturing to wear his hand rested at the hem of her skirt. "it made me think of yesterday."

Joon Woo

Parking, Joon stopped the car and turned to face her fully, fingers playing with the hem of her skirt. “Did you enjoy last night? You never actually told me.”

Evangeline

Evie looked around. "is the cafe here?" she said not seeing anything when he parked. But then he was turned to face her and she flushed. "I uhm...mhm." she hummed with a nod.

Joon Woo

“It’s around the corner.” He explained, squeezing her thigh firmly. “Mhm?” he hummed back as a question for more clarification.

Evangeline

"oh poker chips." she muttered when he squeezed. "i enjoyed last night...." she said eyes staring at his hand on her. her breathing shallowed, in a good way. "joon...it's...really early."

Joon Woo

“Oh poker chips?” He chuckled at the saying. Leaning close, Joon whispered, “Then let’s go get coffee, baby girl.”

Evangeline

"do you enjoy making me more of a mess than I already am?" she asked him. "it's something i say to curb my cursing.

Joon Woo

“You aren’t a mess but I do like seeing you squirm,” he admitted with a smirk. “You’re cute but maybe instead I should occupy your lips a different way.” Joon said, leaning in.

Evangeline

Evie undid her seat belt, moving so she was facing him as well. "well you're cuter." she answered. "what did you have in mind?"

Joon Woo

Unclicking his own seat belt, he reached out, touching her cheek before he closed the space and kissed her deeply.

Evangeline WASNT really the hot make out in public type of girl. But something about joon changed that for her. She was putty in his hands or rather, on his lips. She let out a small moan, practically climbing over the rest test to him

Joon Woo

Joon’s fingers tangled in her hair as he kissed her, passion growing each second that went by. “Fuck,” he mumbled when she let out a soft moan and nibbled on her tom lip, hoping to hear it again

Evangeline

he bit her lip and she moaned again, finally making it across the arm rest to his lap. She kissed him hard before finally forcing herself to stop, burying her head in the crook of his neck. “We should uhm...cool down. We’re in public.” She panted, her lips grazing his neck as she spoke.

Joon Woo

His arms wrapped around her waist as soon as she was on his lap, holding her in place there. “I thought you liked a little danger,” he smirked at her. “But sure we can stop.” Joon’s breathing slowed back to normal, his heart rate threatening to rise again as he lips grazed his neck.

Evangeline

“what are you gonna do? Fuck me in the middle of the city? In broad daylight?” She asked him, thinking he was joking.

Joon Woo

“If you want me to,” he whispered, the feeling of her breath against his neck causing his brain to go into hyperdrive. The only thing he could think about was taking her into the backseat. “You’ve never been fucked in the middle of the city in broad daylight?”

Evangeline

“Joon...” She warned every though her body was pulsating. “I can’t say I have. I’ll add it to my to do list.” She shook her head, chuckling. “Calm down puppet.”

Joon Woo

“We could check that box right now,” he mumbled, one arm unsnaking so that he could touch her thigh again, his hand slowly moving up and down it as he made little shapes in her skin with his fingertips. “I’m trying..”

Evangeline

“are you ? Because it feels like...” she had to stop talking to compose herself. “It feels like you’re just reving me up more.” She got out. Placing one more kiss on his lips she reached behind and opened the door. She used a hair tie to tie up her hair in a messy bun, and breathe some fresh air. “I’m just,..not ready to take it that far in public just yet.” She said to him shyly, though her panties may have disagreed.

Joon Woo

“Maybe...” he trailed off, not sure what to tell her. Before he knew it she had left the car, leaving him alone in his seat. As disappointed as he was it was quickly overshadowed when he glanced outside to see her putting her hair up. How could someone like her be so beautiful? She was good which wasn’t a quality he usually went for but there she was being the most attractive person he had ever met so effortlessly. It was hard for him to comprehend. “Then coffee it is.” Joon said, turning the car off and getting out before locking the rental.

Evangeline

Evie turned, smiling at him before heading off in the direction he said the shop was. “Hey are you coming or you gonna stay there staring all day?” She teased.

Joon Woo

“It’s hard to focus on anything but that piece of art on your neck when you’re displaying it like that.” He winked, walking up to where she was and taking her hand in his.

Evangeline

what?”she said and remembered the hickey, her hand shooting up to cover her neck. “I completely forgot about that, I should put my hair back down.” She groaned. She was so hot though.

Joon Woo

“Or you could just keep it up.” He smirked, kissing the top of her hand. “I like seeing it.”

Evangeline

“it’s not very...appropriate.” Evie blushed, but removed her hands and kept her hair up. “So, have you been to this place before?” She asked trying to change to subject.

Joon Woo

“What do you mean? It’s obviously just a burn.” He smirked, winking at her. “No but I wanted to go somewhere new.” Joon told her, leading her to the front door and opening it for her.

Evangeline

a Evie pushed him playfully, butterflies in her stomach, they walked into the coffee shop and she smiled. “Oh it’s adorable in here!” She gasped looking at all the art work on the wall.

Joon Woo

Joon smiled at her, not sure why he felt the way he did. She made him want to be the kind of guy who opened doors for others and he had never been like that before. “You’re adorable,” he whispered, walking up behind her and kissing her cheek.

Evangeline

“shut up. “ evie smiled , holding his hands in front of her. She leaned back into him while she looked at the menu. “What are you ordering?” She asked tilting her head back to look at him

Joon Woo

Placing his chin on top of her head, he looked up at the menu. “A cappuccino. What about you?” Joon questioned, kissing her forehead when she looked back at him.

Evangeline

I like lattes. Vanilla,” she answered. “Oh I hope they have muffins. Id die for a blueberry muffin.” She said excitedly. She giggled when he kissed her forehead. So affectionate. He was so different from the person she had met a few weeks ago.

Joon Woo

“I’ll be right back then.” He pulled his body away from hers, walking to the counter to order for them. Paying, he waited for their items before taking them back to Evie. Handing her the muffin and latte, he smiled at her. Standing there in the moment he realized how different things had become, how much he had changed in such a short amount of time for a woman.

Evangeline

the cold from the absence of his body hit her and she sighed, going to find a table. She stared out the window, a content smile on her face. “Thanks.” She said when joon returned. “How much was it ? I can send it to you.” She offered. “What? Why are you looking at me like that?” Evie asked when he was staring at her.

Joon Woo

“You don’t need to send it to me,” he rolled his eyes at her. Was it a date if he paid? Who cared. Honestly he just thought she deserved something nice and he could afford coffee and a muffin so why not? “Look at you like what?” He frowned, realizing he had been staring too long, lost in his thoughts. “I wasn’t looking at you like anything.” Joon said, sitting down in front of her and take a sip from his cup.

Evangeline

“joon..,are we uhm. Is this a date?” She felt the need to ask. She should have dressed up prettier. Granted she didn’t know she was being hijacked but still. She sipped at her latte, staring into the form. “Yes you were.” She teased him.“What we’re you thinking about?

Joon Woo

“Do you want this to be a date?” He asked carefully, not sure what the right answer was. Truthfully he had never been on a real date. Neith was the only person that he kept around for long periods of time and she didn’t like romance as far as he knew. Every time he tried something with her she would tease him about it so he had stopped himself a long time ago. “How you’ve changed me in one night.” Joon admitted, letting his guard down for a moment before it raised back up.

Evangeline

“do you?” She asked wanting him to answer. “I don’t want it to be if you don’t want it too....” she explained. Without a word she moved to the other side of the table with him, their legs grazing one another. “I didn’t change anything. You’ve always been this person.” She shook her head. “He was just hidden away.”

Joon Woo

“I’ve never been on a date.” Was all he said before taking a long sip of his hot coffee, not sure what else to say on the subject. He had never been on a date. He didn’t know how they worked or what you were actually supposed to do. “No, I haven’t. You have too much hope for me, Evie. I’m here for a reason and it’s not because I wanted to be a hero like you.”

Evangeline

Evie was surprised to hear that. Joon was attractive, as certainly experienced. She has only assumed it was from practice. “ okay. Then we’re on a date.” She said scooting over some . “But it’s a first date so, no more touching other than hand holding.” She said to him. She disagreed. “You’re here because you made a mistake. But you can always turn it around. Everyone has good in them. The same as everyone has bad. You just didn’t know where to look for it.”

Joon Woo

“No touching at all?” He frowned at the prospect of no more kisses. If this was what a date meant then he didn’t want it, at least not when they were in private. He could live without public affection. “I don’t think we should talk about it anymore. It’s a draw out story. I’ve heard it a hundred times from lawyers, the judge, the teachers - everyone.” Joon sighed, finishing his coffee.

Evangeline

“not on a first date. Not until the end.” She answered, moving so their arms just barely grazed. “First dates are about getting to know each other. The tension of an almost touch.” She said softly, looking over at him as she placed her hand a inch away from his. “Okay. If it is what you believe. I will gladly take the blame for this change.”

Joon Woo

“And at the end?” He asked, the feeling of the missed touch causing the hair on his arms to rise, tension building. His hand moving slightly as his pinkie reached for hers. “Why did you want to become a hero?” Joon asked after she agreed to take the blame.

Evangeline

“ well depends...” She trailed off, a smirk on her face “ because....I’ve done bad things to people in the past. And I can’t make up for them. But I can help other people. Try to be better. “

Joon Woo

“Depends on what?” He asked, running his pinkie over hers softly. “I can’t imagine you doing a bad thing to anyone.”

Evangeline

“well, if it goes bad. I’ll kiss you on the cheek when we get back. But if it goes good...” she said leaning over to whisper in his ear. “I’ll let you fuck me in broad daylight.” She muttered before sitting back down, taking a bite of her muffin. “I told you,..I’m not as good as you think I am. I’ve made mistakes.”

Joon Woo

Joon’s eyes rolled back and he closed his eyes at the thought, biting his lip hard to not react immediately. He wanted it to go good before but now he needed it to go good. “You can’t say thing like that and then look so cute like you didn’t just say that to me.” He leaned back, watching her innocently eat her muffin. “What kind of mistakes?”

Evangeline

“Say a thing like what?” She asked him, eyes batting innocently. “Bad ones.” She sighed, starting to lose her appetite as she thought about it

Joon Woo

“You know what you did.” He mumbled, chewing on his lip as the thought consumed him. “I’ve killed people too but the fact that you call it a mistake means you didn’t mean for it to happen which doesn’t make you a bad person. Just a person who’s lived with tragedy.”

Evangeline

"hmph." she shrugged, ripping off another piece of the muffin and popping it into her mouth. Evie didn't respond to him. she didn't want to talk about it today. to ruin how he saw her. good. "do you want to try some of this muffin? It's really good." she said changing the subject. She ripped off some of the top holding it up for him.

Joon Woo

Joon noticed when she didn’t say anything in response to him saying she wasn’t a bad person. He understood what it was like so he left it alone, playing along with the subject change. “I don’t like blueberries.” He shook his head, glancing out the window of the cafe at passerby’s.

Joon Woo

Joon pouted when she called him a pervert, shoving his hands in his pockets to make her feel more comfortable. Turns out he isn’t great on dates. He was used to be handsy and only physical so everything else he was learning and it wasn’t as easy as he thought it was going to be. “I’m sorry.” He words came out as a whisper. It was the first time he had said it in years.

Evangeline

Evie saw the change in his demeanor and stopped, putting her hands on his face. "hey i was only teasing." she said to him. she leaned up kissing his cheek. "besides i like it." she said to him.

Joon Woo

Joon stopped before he ran into her, looking down at her in confusion. “I won’t do it again. I don’t know how dates work...I’m just used to...” He trailed off, feeling her lips against his cheek. The hint of a smile broke through and he gave a small nod.

Evangeline

"we're sort of doing this out of order. so i guess i'm not the best teacher considering every time you look at me i- never mind." she stopped herself from rambling something highly inappropriate. "point is, as fun as the physical stuff is. a point of a date is to spend time together. to get closer." she moved her hand from his face, down his shoulder and arm, until their hands were interlocked. "there's no right. or wrong way. just be yourself puppet."

Joon Woo

“Everytime I look at you?” He asked, encouraging her to finish the sentence as curiosity got the better of him. His features softened as she outlined his body, their hands locking together. It was a strange feeling to have her holding his hand - a good strange. “Okay, then let’s continue where we were at in my room. What’s your favorite animal?”

Evangeline

"it's not first date appropriate." she shook her head. "and you've got enough trouble keeping your hands to yourself. maybe i'll tell you later." she smiled. She lead him forward, their hands still interlocked as they walked. Evie, still walking backwards. "Hmm...turtles!" she giggled. "specifically sea turtles. but they're all cool. What's yours?"

Joon Woo

Joon raised a brow, only growing more curious as she spoke. “Only maybe?” He questioned, wondering what he could do to hear the rest of her sentence. “Sea turtles? Is it because they’re green?” He teased. “Mine are crows.”

Evangeline

"you're not gonna let this go are you? i'm telling you, you don't want to know." she replied, eyebrow raising. "No. i've liked them since i was a kid. and green wasn't always my favorite. they're just old and wise and have seen SO much of the world." she said to him. "I KNEW IT! I knew you had a favorite."

Joon Woo

“Nope. I definitely want to know.” He smirked at her. “What used to be your favorite color?” Joon laughed at her outburst. “I thought about it after you asked me.”

Evangeline

She sighed, pulling him to the side of the side walk. They were in public and the sidewalks were busy now. His funeral. She pulled him down to whisper is in his ear. "everytime i catch you looking at me, my entire body burns to feel you again. all i can think about is you hiking my skirt up and marking every inch of my body as your hands roam it." she said before taking a step back. "oh, and may favorite color used to be pink." she shrugged. "anyway, the pop up should be around here somewhere."

Joon Woo

Joon bit down hard on his lip as she spoke, trying his hardest not to think about the words, worried he wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else if he did. “Fuck Evie,” he practically moaned in desperation, moving his hands to grab her hips once she took a step back. “Oh no you don’t get to say something like that to me and then walk away.”

Evangeline

"I told you, that you didn't want to know." she said, letting out a gasp as he grabbed her. If she was a weaker woman, her legs may have given up right there. "Puppet, we're in the middle of a very busy street." she chuckled, looking up at him and placing a feather light kiss on his lips. "you have no choice but to let me do just that." she whispered against them. "now...come on. we're gonna miss our time slot." she smirked.

Joon Woo

“I did want to know,” was all he could manage before she spoke again. “I can’t get something better than that at least?” He huffed in frustration, his body screaming out for her.

Evangeline

"nope." she smiled, her lips making a popping noise one the P. she pryed herself from his grip and started around the corner. "come on" she said, pulling his hand. There was a line outside but it wasn't terribly long since it was still morning. "this is going to be so fun." she smiled, hands clapping a little.

Joon Woo

Joon groaned when she refused, sighing and walking with her. He smiled, happy to see her so excited. “I hope so.”

Evangeline

They stood inline for a few moments, but soon enough they were inside. it smelled like candy and there were tons of things for them to taste and take pictures of. "oh can we go to the illusion room first?"

Joon Woo

“We can go wherever you want to go first.” He told her, taking hold of her hand once more.

Evangeline

"yes!" she cheered, kissing his cheek again and taking them over to the illusion room. "okay climb into the table i'll take a picture." she smiled looking over at him.

Joon Woo

Joon lit up when she kissed his cheek, eye touch sending electricity through his body. “Are you sure?” He raised a brow at her. “Why don’t I take your picture instead?”

Evangeline

"i'll go next! come on come on please." she begged, eyes large as she stared up at him.

Joon Woo

Sighing loudly, he walked over to where she wanted him. “There will be proof you checked me out if you take this picture.”

Evangeline

"I'll put them in an extra locked folder." she promised him. "now smile " evie instructed holding up the camera.

Joon Woo

“What other photos do you have in that folder?” He smirked, thoughts getting the better of him. Instead of smiling he stood there like he normally would, waiting for her to take it

Evangeline

Evie raised an eyebrow, rolling her eyes. she took the picture staring at it for a moment. even not smiling, he looked like a model. she blushed a bit, looking back over at him. "okay, do that one." she said pointing to another one of the illusions.

Joon Woo

“Oh no, it’s your turn now.” He said walking up to her, reaching for her phone to take a picture of her.

Evangeline

"fine." she pouted and went over to the chair illusion. deciding to tease him, she posed seriously. "how's this?" she asked, making her voice deep in mock seduction.

Joon Woo

Taking the phone from her, he got ready to take the photo, winking from behind the camera. “Beautiful.”

Evangeline

she posed a few more times before coming over and looking at the pictures. “These look so good!” She said happily. She went over to the next attraction, a scene filled with fake clouds and pulled him next to her. “You better smile for this one.” She giggled, setting up her camera and placing the timer on. She pulled him next to her, wrapping her arms around his torso.

Joon Woo

“It’s hard for them to come out bad when you’re the focus of the image.” He told her, watching as she flipped through the photos. Following her, he stood in place as she ran to set up the camera, smiling as she wrapped her arms around him. Without thinking about it, he placed a kiss on the top of her head.

Evangeline

“no way. It takes forever for me to get a good photo normally.” She said to him. She felt him kiss her forehead and she looked up, reaching and arm out to bring his lips to hers. she had set the camera to burst so luckily had gotten all three photos. “I like this one best.” She said showing them to him, the image of his smile making her heart melt. She saved them into the locked folders. “Hmm let’s doo, ooh the daaaaaaark room.” She joked making her voice spooky.

Joon Woo

“I don’t believe that.” He replied truthfully. Kissing her, he closed his eyes letting the moment take him, forgetting the camera for a moment. It was nice to just in the moment with her. “All of the ones with you are the best.” Joon smiled at her, “I’ll follow you anywhere.”

Evangeline

“you’re so cute.” She giggled. She lead them towards the dark room. “Apparently it’s pitch black and the exhibit is all sound based!” She said excitedly. “It’s early so we should have to ourselves.” She explained.

Joon Woo

“Pitch black?” He smirked, thoughts going somewhere they shouldn’t have in such a public place. “Maybe I can finally get you to kiss me in there.” Joon joked, acting like she hadn’t kissed him at all.

Evangeline

“Yeah. You’re not scared of the dark are you?” She asked before he mentioned kissing her again. She smiled to herself, a devious a little plan forming. “Come on puppet.” She said pulling him in the door. They closed behind them, leaving them in darkness. She let go of his hand.

Joon Woo

“Scared?” He stifled a chuckle, finding the thought humorous. Letting her pull him into the dark room. Everything was just as she said, pitch black. “Where’re you going?”

Evangeline

Evie giggled in the darkness. “Lucky Charm.” she said and her eyes glowed green for a moment. Then the darkness was back. She moved around the room effortlessly, somehow avoiding him. “Catch me if you can.” She sang. She slowly removed her panties, tucking them in his pocket. Then she slunk back into the shadows.

Joon Woo

Joon caught a glimpse of her glowing eyes in the dark. “A game of cat and mouse?” He smirked, trying his best to find her in the dim lighting.

Evangeline

“Check your pockets.” She said into one of the pipes, making her voice echo around the room. “Find me before our time is up, and you’ll get the prize you seek. Good luck!” She giggled.

Joon Woo

Reaching his hand into his pocket, Joon raised a brow in confusion. The fabric hadn’t been there before. Pulling it out, he tried figuring out what the damp fabric was and then it hit him. “Are these yours, Sugar Cube?” He smirked, instincts taking over as he searched more desperately, his arms outreached.

Evangeline

“sugar cube? Do you think I’m sweet?” Evie giggled. “You do make me melt.” She said keeping sure to her distance as she circled him. “Tick tock puppet.”

Joon Woo

“I might, especially if you come stand in my arms where you belong.” Joon said, trying his best to convince her to join him while still searching.

Evangeline

“but wheres the fun in that?” She teased. “Fine I’ll give you a hint. You’re getting colder.” Her voice echoed.

Joon Woo

“I’ll show you just how much fun it could be.” He followed the sound of her voice, trying to catch her blinded by the darkness. “Sugar Cube, what am I going to do without another kiss? What if I disappear in the dark and never make it out?”

Evangeline

Evie stopped moving feeling him pass by her. She moved behind him. “I’ll always bring you back to the light puppet.” She whispered behind him, trailing a hand down his back before backing into the wall. “Lucky charm bring him to me. .” She said again, her eyes glowing for a moment again.

Joon Woo

Seeing her eyes light up again, Joon walked in the direction until he hit a wall. “Fuck,” he groaned in frustration. Backing up he backed into another body, quickly turning around and grabbing hold of her waist. “There you are, Sugar Cube.” Joon smirked.

Evangeline

Evie gasped hearing him hit a wall, almost reaching out for him. But then he finally got to her, holding her in place. “Are you okay?” She asked, the seduction gone from her voice as she held his face in her hands. “Sorry...I shouldn’t have used lucky charm.”

Joon Woo

“I’m good now.” He whispered, leaning his cheek into the palm of her head before moving to place a kiss in it’s spot. “I caught you, it doesn’t matter how.” Joon told her leaning in, he kissed her cheek before his lips trailed down her jaw, sprinkling kisses as it moved.

Evangeline

“Just so you know, this isn’t a normal first date activity.” she mumbled against his lips. She bit her lip too herself from being vocal as his mouth moved across her torso.

Joon Woo

“I wouldn’t know. It’s how my first day is going.” He smirked, pushing her softly against the nearest wall, his fingertips grazing the skin of her thighs softly. Joon’s lips found their way back to hers as he grabbed h of her thighs firmly, moving from the wall just enough to pick her up and hold her against it.

Evangeline

“are you having a good time?” She asked him. She laughed as he lifted her up hands and legs locking behind him. She shivered as the cool air hit under her skirt. “I didn’t realize how strong you were.” She said before lightly biting his lip.

Joon Woo

“I’m having a great time.” He responded, squeezing her thighs as she locked them. “Did you think I was weak?” Joon asked, letting his lips trail down her neck, stopping to make her old love bite even larger.

Evangeline

“I didn’t say that...” she breathed out, letting out a hiss as he attacked her neck. “Hey hey.” She said moving her head back a bit. “You can’t keep marking me up. Not visibly anyway. What about your psycho ex? “ she shook her head.

Joon Woo

“Where can I mark you up then? Everywhere else?” His smirk was mischievous as he thought about all the parts of body he could leave his mark. “She isn’t my ex. We’ve never actually been together. She just doesn’t like when I give other woman attention.”

Evangeline

“you can only mark me, if I get to mark you.” She said to him seriously. “Deal?” He mentioned neith not being his ex and she had to admit she was a bit confused. “But you ...did this ? Things....with her?” She asked.

Joon Woo

Joon stopped, pulling his head away from her neck with a sigh. “Then I can’t mark you. I want to but if Neith sees a hair out place she’ll know.” He hated that Neith was coming between them. It felt like a weight forever held over him. “We did things like this, yes.”

Evangeline

“Wait...you’re still gonna do things with her?” She asked, suddenly feeling very insecure. She had no right to tell him what he could and couldn’t do. They weren’t together but...she wasn’t sure if she was capable of knowing he would be seeing another girl and her. “Do you still have feelings for her?”

Joon Woo

Joon wasn’t sure how to respond to that question. He wanted to say no but it was likely that would be a lie. He couldn’t just stop being the way he was with Neith because then she would know something was wrong and it would put Evie in danger. “I don’t want to.” He stated simply no, deciding that was the best way to answer her question. “No,” he whispered to her.

Evangeline

“oh...okay.” she said softly, not sure how to respond to that. She knew he was doing it for her her own good but, at what point would it stop? “Joon I just....I don’t want to be hurt again.” She said to him seriously. “I...I really like you.”

Joon Woo

Joon sighed softly, wishing he could see her in the moment, wanting to do everything he could to reassure her that he liked her just as much. “I really like you too, Evangeline.” Moving one of his hands off her thigh, he pressed her closer to the wall to make up for the lack of support. Placing a finger under her chin, he moved her head up so that he could kiss her softly. “I want to protect you, not hurt you.” He whispered against her lips.

Evangeline

Evie felt the cold hard wall against her back. But she didn’t care. The boy she liked, liked her too. She had figured as much considering their positions but ....it was comforting to hear. Her head followed his command, lifting up. “I don’t need protection. I need trust. Can I trust you?” She whispered into the darkness.

Joon Woo

“I would never do anything to hurt you.” He said plainly, lips inches from her face as he spoke. “I just want to see you happy and hopefully that’s with me.”

Evangeline

“you’re so amazing.” She sighed. wanting to be done with the serious conversation, she simply brought her lips back to his, hands playing with his hair as he held her in place. “We’ve got about 10 more minutes before the doors unlock and open.” She said whispered to him.

Joon Woo

Joon smiled softly at her before their lips reconnected. “Do you trust me?” He asked, pulling away from the kiss. “I can make this 10 minutes the best you’ve ever had if you do.”

Evangeline

she tilted her head, not that he could see that. “Yes....” she trailed off worried what she may have signed up for. He was willing to fuck her in a car in daylight, she had a feeling he didn’t really care if they got caught.

Joon Woo

As soon as he had permission, Joon pushed Evie’s body further up the wall until her legs could wrap around his shoulders. “Just don’t lean forward too much, Sugar Cube.” He smirked before diving between her legs.

Evangeline

“Joon wait wait wait.” She said as he lifted her into the air. “What are you...holy aces.”she breathed out.

The lights came back in just as Evie’s feet hit the floor, holding on to Joon’s arm for support. Her face was flushed and red as she hyper focused on being able to walk.

Joon Woo

Joon smiled, proud of his work as he wiped his mouth clean. “Are you gonna be okay walking?” He asked, ready to carry her at any moment.

Evangeline

“what? Me? Yeah. I’m fine. Totally fine.” She muttered, still not daring to let go of his arm. “My leg is just uhm...asleep from its positioning that’s all...”

Joon Woo

“The position,” he nodded. “Right. Of course. Well if your legs are too jelly to walk let me know. Sugar Cube. I want you to enjoy this date.”

Evangeline

“shut up. And don’t let me go.” She said nudging him slightly. “I am. Very much. Even if the order is a little wacked.” She giggled. “Is there anything you wanted to try in the city ?” She asked.

Joon Woo

“I won’t.” He chuckled softly to himself. “I don’t think normal dates are for me. I like whatever this one has been.” Joon held Evie closer, trying to support her better as they walked. “I wanted to get real food before we head back.”

Evangeline

Evie smile fell just slightly, they couldn’t be like this on campus. This sucked. Majorly. “Okay we’ll do that. What’s your favorite kind of food?” She asked.

Joon Woo

"Hey," he cooed, noticing her smile begin to fade. "What's wrong?" Joon stopped in his tracks, turning to face her.

Evangeline

“what? Nothing? I asked what kind of food you liked?” She asked, feigning confusion. She forced herself to swallow that feeling. She could be upset about it later.

Joon Woo

Joon sighed, knowing she was lying to him. It was obvious in the way she looked at him but he let it go, wanting to enjoy the rest of their time together. "Fine. I like Italian. What do you like?"

Evangeline

god why did he have to boat so much attention? But also...she kinda liked that he did. She kissed his hand a few times, one on each knuckle. “Oh that’s my favorite too! I know the perfect place.” She told him.

Joon Woo

Joon tried to hide his smile as she kissed his knuckles, the soft gesture causing an electricity to flow through him. "I'll follow you then."

Evangeline

"you're such a tom." she joked, leading him through the rest of the museum. they took a few more pictures before finally hitting the streets once more. "it's a small family own placed, but it's on the other side of the city. But I swear they have the BEST Italian."

Joon Woo

"I'm a tom?" He raised a brow at her, rolling his eyes. They h knew that was untrue. "I'll make you regret saying that later." After taking the photos, he pulled her in for another kiss, missing her lips against his. "Let's go get back in the car then."

Evangeline

"oh...poker chips. I was kidding." she said nervously. She wasn't sure if she could take much more of him today. Physically anyway. And it only 12:30. She kissed him back, putty in his hands. "okay." she smiled letting him lead her.

Joon Woo

“I’ll make sure you never want to kid like that again.” He threatened, only half joking. Leading her to the car, he opened the door for her.

Evangeline

evie let out a nervous whine as they neared the car. She only wanted to tease him a bit. "joon please, my body can only handle so much." she said to him as she got in the car. she did a small prayer for mercy as she waited for him to get in on the other side.

Joon Woo

Joon smirked, hearing her pleas. Closing the door behind her, he walked around the other side of the car and opened his door to get inside. “Aww are you all tuckered out? You can’t keep up?” His smirk grew mischievous as he leaned over and tickled her chin.

Evangeline

“don’t tease me.” She pouted, motioning to bite his finger. “I can keep up just fine. Thank you.” She crossed her arms. “Just drive.”

Joon Woo

“If you could keep us just fine you would want me to fuck you in the back of this car before we left.” He chuckled, turning the keys in the engine and letting it heat up.

Evangeline

“joon...” she warned the thoughts clouding her mind. Wh couldn’t she think straight near him. “Fine, my body needs a small break. It’s been awhile.” She admitted.

Joon Woo

“It’s okay, Sugar Cube.” Joon smiled at her, placing a hand softly on her thigh before pulling out of his spot. “Where to?”

Evangeline

Evie placed her hand over his, making sure to keep it in place. “Luigi’s. I’ll type it into the gps.” She said leaning forward.

Joon Woo

“Okay,” he waited for her. Driving once it was in, he followed the path to the restaurant.

Evangeline

Evie sat back, hand absentmindedly toying with his fingers. She stared out tige window, humming to the music lightly as Joon drove. She was...completely content.

Joon Woo

Parking, he stopped the car, unhooking his seatbelt and opening his door. Shutting it behind him, he walked to her side and opened her door. “Ready to eat?”

Evangeline

“for someone who’s never been on a date, you’re doing great. So chivalrous.” She said as he opened her door. She Hooked her arm with his. “Yes I’m starving. I don’t usually do this much activity so early.” She winked

Joon Woo

Joon smiled at the compliment, happy to hear that he was doing a good job. “I’m sorry you’re doing so much with me.” He said, closing the door behind her and walking with her inside the restaurant

Evangeline

“No you’re not. I’m not.” She shook her head and chuckled. “Table for 2 please.” She said to the women at the podium, hand going for Joon’s.

Joon Woo

"I'm not," he chuckled, glad to hear that she wasn't sorry about it either. Intertwining their fingers together as he felt her hand moving down to his, he pulled it up to kiss the back of it. The sweet gestures were new for him but he had always wanted to do them with Neith although she never really let him.

Evangeline

"Evie?" a voice called out and she turned her head. There stood a tall man, hair died in an ombre black to teal. Evie's face lit up.

"Luka!" she said surprised, and dropped Joon's hand. She went over hugging him and he easily lifted her into the air.

"ma belle Evangeline i really wanted to say that. What are you doing here?" he chuckled, placing her down. Their hands laid lightly on each other's forearms as they talked.

"Oh I'm uh...just getting lunch." she answered, looking back at Joon.

Joon Woo

Hearing Evie’s name, Joon’s head snapped in the direction of the voice, guard up. The strange man was unknown to him but by the way Evangeline reacted he guessed the same couldn’t be said for her. Who was this guy? His content look quickly turned to a frown as he examined the other man. Evie dropped Joon’s hand and his frown grew deeper. Jealousy boiled inside him, threatening to spill over onto his features. Lunch? That’s all this was now? Not a date? “Excuse me.” Join walked away without another word, needing to cool down before he did something bad.

Evangeline

"friend of yours?" Luka asked.

"yeah, this is...joon." she answered, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he walked off. "Okay.." she said softly, eyes watching him. oh no "Hey can give me a minute?" she asked Luka, leaning up to kiss his cheek before heading after Joon. "Joon? Joon. Joon wait!" she said catching up to him. "Hey is everything okay?" she asked.

Joon Woo

Hearing his name, Joon continued to walk, part of him hoping she would just walk back to the stranger and this whole thing would be over. He could get a new sponsor and she would be safe with that guy. “Yeah,” he mumbled continuing towards the car.

Evangeline

She actually ran this time, blocking his path. "Dammit Joon stop." she spoke, hurt laced in her voice. "what's going on?"

Joon Woo

Joon stopped, looking down at the smaller woman. "Go have lunch with your other friend." He hissed, the word coming out as a growl. With one flick of his finger, she moved out of his way involuntarily and he continued.

Evangeline

"Luka? You're jealous of Luka?" she sighed until she was literally forced aside. God he was being so childish. "Christ , He's engaged to my sister. " she called after him. "can you stop acting like this now?"

Joon Woo

"It's not about that." He mumbled, looking like a kicked puppy. Joon stopped, turning to face her. "We have to hide from people at school but you couldn't tell him that you were on a date?"

Evangeline

"Iwas getting there! Luka works at the school and sometimes has lunch with the professor's. i wanted to make sure none of them were here. he wouldn't say anything though. which you would have realized if you waited ten seconds instead of storming off." she snapped back. "this..whatever it is.....it isn't going to work if you can't trust me Joon."

Joon Woo

Joon's frowned lightened as he spoke. Jealousy had obviously gotten the better of him. "What is this?" He walked towards her until the space had closed between them.

Evangeline

"what?" she asked, exasperated. She stood with her arms crossed as he came over to her. She didn't meet his eyes."what do you mean?"

Joon Woo

"I mean what is this? What do you want this to be?" He questioned her, still feeling like it was possible he was just a joke to her - just like he was with Neith

Evangeline

"I don't know. 2 days ago I was convinced you hated me. And today...I can't go 2 minutes without wanting to hold your hand. I haven't been this happy in months." she explained to him. "I want to see where this goes. But I don't want that if you're going to freak out every time I don't tell someone. My career as a hero is on the line here. And because of your ex so is my life apparently."

Joon Woo

Joon nodded, it was too fast to tell anything other than he liked her but he used to like Neith too. He sighed, “She’s not my ex.” She was nothing. She never had been and here he was getting himself into the same situation with another woman. “I’m not hungry anymore.”

Evangeline

"right. sorry. i just don't really know how to refer to her I guess." she muttered.. the mood had been ruined again, and that's not what she wanted. "ok. we can go home." she said touching his chest lightly. "i do want to be with you Joon. I just want to take things slow okay? But the goal is to one day be able to call you my boyfriend." she said to him."you know...if that's what you want too I mean."

Joon Woo

“Slow is okay but I don’t-“He stopped not sure how to tell her he didn’t want to used again. “I wouldn’t be opposed to that someday.” Joon admitted, placing his hand over hers on his chest. “We don’t have to leave.”

Evangeline

“are you sure? If you’re not up to it, it’s really okay.” She said to him, a small smile on her face. “I just want to be with you. Where ever you are”

Joon Woo

“I don’t want to have to pretend again.” He told her simply, wrapping his fingers around her hand. “Once we get back to campus we have to go our separate ways.”

Evangeline

“it’s only for the semester. Next one I’ll get assigned a new sponsee and we can be together. We can figure out something about neith. It won’t be forever.” She said. But was she trying to convince him? Or her? “Okay.” She nodded. “Let’s go eat.”

Joon Woo

“You won’t have me after this semester?” Joon raised a brow in confusion. He was still figuring out how things worked at the school. “Okay,” he took her hand in his intertwining their fingers and walking back to the restaurant.

Evangeline

Evie shook her head. “Different hero kids get assigned to provide different perspectives. Because of my upbeat attitude, I’m only assigned to first semester students.” She explained. They walked back into the restaurant, where Luka was still hanging out. She didn’t drop Joon’s hand this time. “Luka, this is Joon.” She introduced them and the man smiled. “Pleased to meet you. I hope everything is alright.” He replied. Evie smiled wide, happy someone she cared for knew about them.

Joon Woo

“Oh,” he nodded the disappointment evident in his tone. It was better for them so they didn’t get in trouble but part of him was still sad not to have an excuse to see her everyday. “You too. I just wasn’t feeling well.” Joon explained with a lie, squeezing Evie’s hand lightly.

Evangeline

“What is it?” She asked him lowly. After a few niceties, Luka took his leave and Evie and joon sat at the table. “He likes you.” She smiled at joon from the other side.

Joon Woo

"Nothing," he told her. Joon had already opened up so much to her, it was exhausting. He just needed to keep some things to himself like he was used to. "You don't know that." He picked the menu up, browsing to see if anything caught his eye.

Evie

she let it go, not wanting to pry. this date had more turns than a rollercoaster, but she was still glad she was on it. “Yeah I do.” She said confidently. “As sure as the sky is blue.”

Joon Woo

"How?" He questioned, eyes scanning over the menu until they landed on something that caught his interest. Setting down the menu, he looked at Evie.

Evie

"Because when you're close to someone, you learn their signs. How their body language leaves clues to how they really feel." Evie answered him. She already knew what she was going to order considering she got the same thing every time.

Joon Woo

“Okay. Well maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t. It only matters if you do.” When the waiter walked up, Joon ordered his food.

Evie

Evie smiled ordering her food as well before going into a comfortable silence. She smiled, her imagination taking off as she gazed at the other customers. imagining what they may have been talking about. who they were outside of the small booths of the restaurant.

Joon Woo

Joon watched as Evie looked around the restaurant, his eyes focused on her. He took her features in, examine every inch of her face. She was beautiful - more beautiful than Neith could ever hope to be.

Evie

Finally snapping back into reality when their salads arrived Evie blinked a few times, gaze turning back to Joon. He was watching her, something she hadn't been expecting and she flushed. "so uhm....have you ever been outside the states? other than korea?"

Joon Woo

Glancing at the waiter, he nodded before grabbing his fork and stabbing at the greens. “No,” he shook his head. “I left Korea to come here and now you see where I ended up. I’ve only ever been here and Korea. Have you anywhere else?”

Evie

"I did an exchange student program when I was in Japan. It's how I even got into UA here. " she explained. "Other than that I haven't left the west coast really."

Joon Woo

“What did you think of Japan?” Joon asked, poking around his salad with his fork mindlessly

Evie

“Oh it was amazing. I’d love to go back someday.”

Joon Woo

"Do you plan to after you graduate?"

Evie

“Maybe but not forever. “ she answered. “This is my home, but I’d love to travel and see different things. Learn about different cultures and people. You know?” She shrugged. “What about you? What do you want to do after graduation?”

Joon Woo

Joon nodded, understanding what she meant. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it. Maybe I’ll go back to Korea or maybe I’ll stay here.”

Evie

”Do you miss Korea?” She wondered. “I heard it’s beautiful.”

Joon Woo

“No,” he admitted. There was nothing left for him in Korea. The only person that tied him back there was at UA now. “The rich parts are.”

Evie

“Well then maybe you can come with me. We can backpack and see the world together.” She said not thinking. “You uh, know not that I’ve thought about that for anything.”

Joon Woo

Joon hid his smile, looking down at his uneaten salad bowl. “Maybe I will if you want the company.”

Evie

“oh you know me...I always need someone to listen to my idiotic rambling.” She said before stuffing her mouth with salad. *stop talking Evangeline before he thinks you’re crazy. * she thought to herself.

Joon Woo

"Your rambling isn't idiotic," He shook his head at her. He wished she saw herself the way he did or the way he was starting to rather. She was more than the annoying girl who had followed him around his first day.

Evie

“well at least someone thinks so.” She smiled. It was nice. When she was younger she used to be told to hush constantly. The amount of energy she put out always too much for people. A few moments later their food arrived and she let out a low “yesssss!”. “If this isn’t the best Italian you’ve ever had I shall renounce my position as a hero.” She said seriously.

Joon Woo

When their food arrived, Joon pushed his salad bowl away. He was happy to have real food instead of the rabbit food that had preciously sat in front of him. “I’m sure it will be the best.” He said, confidently taking a bite. The taste him palate all at once and it took everything in him not to gag. Chewing his way through it, he smiled at her. It was the worst italian he had ever had but he was going to lie about it so Evie wouldn’t give up her title.

Evie

Evie smiled, taking a bite of her own food once she saw he liked it. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she stood up. “It’s my mom. I’ll be right back.” She said kissing his head and walking towards the exit to be able to hear better.

Joon Woo

As soon as Evie was far enough away, Joon scrapped the food off his plate and into his large cotton napkin. Tossing it over his shoulder, it landed in another customer’s lap. Making a scene, the man shouted getting up, unsure of where it came from

Evie

“okay mama. Bye-woah.” Evie said as she walked back to the table, a very angry man shouting as he pushed past her. “What was that about?” She asked rubbing her arm as she sat down. “Oh you’re already done? You must have been hungry.” She giggled.

Joon Woo

Joon shrugged innocently, pretending like he didn’t know anything. “Starving.” He rubbed his stomach, patting it softly.

Evie

“oh well I’ll just get a to go box and we can leave then.” She nodded. She wasn’t that hungry.

Joon Woo

“I don’t mind waiting.” He told her. “Is everything okay?” Joon asked in reference to the phone call

Evie

“oh yeah. She wanted me to come home this weekend.” She said rolling her eyes. “Some hot shot coming to the casino and she wanted to make sure the house won. I told her no. “ her voice was colder than normal. “I kinda lost my appetite it’s okay I can have it for dinner later.” She said waving down the waiter.

Joon Woo

“Are you going to?” He questioned curiously. “Oh. Why not?” Brows furrowing together, he tried to read her unsuccessfully. Something was wrong. “Okay, do you want to go back?”

Evie

“we’ve got a complicated relationship.” She answered him. “I don’t want to but I’m sort of out of ideas for things for us to do today.” She shrugged.

Joon Woo

He nodded, not pushing it any further. They weren’t at the point of asking questions like that, nor was this the place. “Is there a park nearby?”

Evie

Evie nodded, finger tapping on her chin. “Uhm...yeah actually. A few blocks down.“ she answered him.

Joon Woo

“Can we go?” He asked hopefully

Evie

“yeah of course.” She nodded , double checking the location. “ yeah it’s a 5 minute walk. I’m game. I don’t know the last time I went to a park.”

Joon Woo

“I’ll meet you outside then. Okay?” He smiled at her, wanting to pay without any protest

Evie

she opened her mouth to protest but knew better than to argue. “Okay.” She smiled standing up. As ordered she went outside, patiently waiting for him.

Joon Woo

Joon asked for a box and the check. Receiving h, he put her food in the box and paid for their food before tipping and walking out. “Hello gorgeous.”

Evie

Evie hummed to herself as she waited for joon. She spaced out and jumped a little when his voice was in her ears. “Hello handsome.” She saved herself, turning and pecking him momentarily. “It’s that way.” She said nodding towards the direction of the park.

Joon Woo

Joon grinned as she pecked him. “Then let’s go.” Taking her hand in his free one, he started off in the direction she pointed. “I got a box for your food.” He showed her.

Evie

“oh ! Thanks babe. I completely forgot.I’m such a space cadet.” she said tapping her forehead with her free palm.

Joon Woo

“What does that mean?” Joon asked in confusion, not sure about the expression.

Evie

“oh it just means like...I’m spaced out. Forgetful. My dad used to say it all the time.” She explained sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck. “I have a lot of weird sayings.”

Joon Woo

“What other sayings do you have?” He wanted to know everything about her.

Evie

“Oh I don’t know. They kind of happen in the moment.” She blushed embarrassed. “Atticus always says I have my own language.”

Joon Woo

“I guess I’ll have to wait then.” He said, squeezing her hand softly. Reaching the park, he found a bench and sat down with her.

Evie

“guess so.” She chuckled. standing at at least a half foot shorter than him, snuggling into joon on the bench was a simple task. She sat down, tucked under his arm, head resting on his shoulder. Her free hand trailed up and down his arm. It was a beautiful day, and she was happy to get a break from her schedule. “This was a good idea.”

Joon Woo

Joon leaned over, kissing her forehead. “I’m glad you can’t do this to me on campus.” He whispered, knowing it would only make his feelings grow for her faster if she could do things like this all the time. “I wasn’t ready to go back.”

Evie

“do what to you?” She said with an amused look on her face. She closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of his lips on her head. “Me either. We should just hide here forever.”

Joon Woo

“This,” he gestured to her, leaning against him. “I wish we could but they’ll come look for us and then I’ll have to go to prison.”

Evie

“and what’s so wrong with this?” She teased him. She threw her legs between his, turning to face him. “Is this better?” She giggled. “Nope. I’d break you out. We could be on the run. Away from the world! Bonnie and Clyde!” She laughed .

Joon Woo

“Nothing is wrong with it.” He smirked at her small figure. “Much better.” Joon said, taking his arm to pull her onto his lap. “You? A hero?”

Evie

Evie smiled as he pulled her onto his lap, looking around to make sure people weren’t watching them. “What? You think I couldn’t do it?” She teased him, eye brow raising in challengez

Joon Woo

“I don’t think you would risk being a hero for me.” He told her honestly. It wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth it.

Evie

“okay you’ve got me there. But it’s not cause you aren’t worth it. I’ve just been working towards this for a long time.” She answered him. “What about your bad boy? Would you go good for me?”

Joon Woo

“I’m not. It’s fine, Evie.” He reassured her. Joon had never been worth that kind of sacrifice and he didn’t expect that to change anytime soon. “I’m here.”

Evie

“hey. That’s not true okay? Everyone is worth saving. Everyone.” She said seriously, hand touching his cheek lightly. “And in so happy you are.” She smiled, arms wrapping around to hug him.

Joon Woo

“Not me,” he told her just a seriously. He had done enough bad in his life to be locked up and deserve it. Hugging her back, he kissed her cheek.

Evie

“yes you. Stop that.” She said as her eyes bore into his. “I’ll spend every waking moment providing to you that you are. You’re not you’re past.” She said softly. He kissed her cheek and she resisted the urge to turn her head. They were in plain view and she didn’t need that engine started, especially since she was still commando.

Joon Woo

“Maybe I am my past.” He suggested, not sure why he was pushing it. Part of him strongly believed he would never change from the villain he once was but Evie made things easier.

Evie

“then that’s a choice. Your choice. the past is a part of you. But it’s not what makes you who you are. What you choose to do each day, thats what does. ” She muttered, eye brows furrowing in frustration. She crossed her arms, not in a tantrum way but in a closing up way.

Joon Woo

“So then what am today? I chose you.” He frowned as she seemed to move inwards, wrapping his arms full around her. “Hey come back.”

Evie

I’m serious.” She said not wanting her words to turn into a flirtation. She needed him to understand. He wrapped his arms around her and she closed her eyes, letting the feeling calm her. “I didn’t go anywhere.” She said softly.

Joon Woo

“I know and I’m trying to change but it’s not who I am.” He sighed, leaning his head into the crook of her neck. “You did.” Joon whispered, placing a soft kiss on her neck.

Evie

“i know I just....” She trailed off not really sure what she was trying to do. She got so passionate about things sometimes her mouth spoke before her brain could catch up. “Where did I go then?” She asked.

Joon Woo

“You just what?” He questioned, encouraging her to go on. “You disappeared. I don’t know where you went but it wasn’t here. I could see it in your eyes.”

Evie

“I just want you to not think you don’t have any choice. I want you to be happy. Really happy. So happy you can’t contain it and it overflows out of you.” She said hoping the words matched what she hoped for him. “I didn’t know you paid that much attention to me.

Joon Woo

“I’m happy here with you.” Joon told her, not sure hot to show her exactly how he felt. “You must not be very observant.” Was all he said, kissing her neck again before pulling back to look at her.

Evie

yes. But are you happy with you?” She asked him. She didn’t want to be his only source of happiness. It wasn’t good for him, but also a lot of pressure for her. She knew from experience. “I am. I just I don’t know, I guess im used to being looked at but not seen.”

Joon Woo

Joon didn’t respond to her question, not wanting to lie but not sure how to respond. He wasn’t happy with himself nor was he sure he would ever be. “do you want to be seen?”

Evie

“exactly. But that’s what I want for you. One day.” She said when he didn’t answer her. “I think everyone does in their own way.” She answered, toying with his fingers .

Joon Woo

Joon nodded. He wanted it too but it felt like a far off dream. “I see you.” He said, catching her hand and kissing it.

Evie

Evie turned. a deep red at his words. It was probably the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to her. Especially while kissing her hand. “Where have you been all my life?” She thought outloud.

Joon Woo

“In Korea.” He chuckled, happy to see her blushing. Joon was proud that he was able to make that happen. “Where have you been all of mine?”

Evie

“oh gods I said that out loud” she wanted to sink into a whole. She took her hands and covered her face. “In Vegas.” She answered muffled by her hands.

Joon Woo

Joon reached up to try and remove her hands from her face. “Don’t hide. I’m glad you aren’t in Vegas anymore.”

Evie

Evie let him pull her hands down, looking at him through her lashes. “Me too.” She smiled shaking off her embarrassment. Joon never made her feel bad about being herself.

Joon Woo

“Do you miss it though?” He questioned, placing a soft kiss on her nose

Evie

“sometimes. I mean it’s my home. But so is UAU.” She shrugged, scrunching up her nose as he kissed it. He was tactile it was surprising with how stoic he usual was. “Maybe I’ll take to you one day. If you’re a good boy.” She giggled, sticking her tongue out playfully.

#discord:joon

0 notes