#more importantly how am i supposed to go to WORK tomorrow. and be a NORMAL HUMAN BEING. what the FUCK

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

CAN WE TALK ABOUT THAT SCENE SOME MORE. IM DYING TO TALK ABOUT THAT SCENE SOME MORE

[kiyoominous]

who's a good boy?

blurb: your beloved has been magically graced with... animal ears! and a tail to boot! i wonder how they feel about them... but most importantly, how do you feel about them?

characters: kaeya, diluc and thoma

content: fluff, crack, alcohol mention in kaeya's

author's note: i saw a similar prompt a while ago that was like this but reversed but i cannot for the life of me remember who wrote it. i'll link it when i do end up finding it! i am also going to say that i'm not an animal expert so some of the body language may be incorrect!

kaeya with bunny ears!!

the cavalry captain with bunny ears and a ball of fluff for a tail. now wouldn't that be a sight for sore eyes?

it's exactly what he deserves after absentmindedly pouring a few strange liquids into one of albedo's abandoned experiments and then drinking it afterwards.

kaeya will not shut up about them. in fact, he'd plan out his wardrobe specifically to be able to show off his new ears and tail. sure, it's not the most professional but you've got to flaunt what you've got, right?

if he catches your eyes lingering on his recently sprouted parts, he'll do anything in his power to tease you for even glancing at them in the first place. whatever, you still win anyway. kaeya will eventually cave in and let you pet them.

on one your regular visits with him to angel's share, he had a few too many to drink. as you coaxed him out of another drink, you spotted his tail wagging. only a rabbit expert would know that it was... a sign of defiance.

"another... death after noon, charles." kaeya drunkenly mumbles. in a sudden mood of contentment — or perhaps just a normal after-work thought — kaeya insisted on sojourning to the tavern for a few drinks and a laugh with his new ears and tail.

he had a few drinks, alright.

charles looks curiously at the blue-haired man, clearly wanting to avoid mixing him another glass. to his fortune, you sat right next to him making all sorts of gestures to tell him 'absolutely no more drinks.'

"sorry captain, no can do. you've downed quite a few death after noons this evening." he quickly replies.

"you're no fun, charles." the drunken man of interest sulks. the bartender simply chuckles under his breath and your laughter follows.

kaeya's bunny ears lay flat behind his head as he drowns in his sorrows, as one may dramatically put it. this is definitely not an image you'd see during the day, when he stands tall as a leader of the knights. with his ears usually perked and alert, it's cute to see him reduced to floppy ears.

as you observe his slumped figure, something catches your attention from the corner of your eye. a movement of white. your eyes follow the curvature of his back until they reach his rear, where his tail is swinging back and forth.

"charles, look." you quietly gesture to kaeya's wagging tail. "do you know what that's supposed to mean?"

"that's usually an act of rebellion, almost like he's saying 'you're not the boss of me' or something to that effect."

oh holy barbatos, spare your weary soul. you already knew your partner could be a dramatic man but to see it manifested in a flicking tail? what an affectionate stake to the heart. fawning over your boyfriend aside, there was a much bigger mission to attend to; getting his more-than-tipsy self back home.

"you're way too drunk, my love. we're going home." you whisper in his ear.

"nooooo..." his whine is accompanied with a quick flick of his tail.

"come on, let's go now."

"not... yet..." another wag from his tail.

"you have work tomorrow, kaeya." an unintelligible noise leaves his lips as his tail shakes side to side once more.

it takes a prayer to the anemo archon and the willpower of a boar to lift kaeya from the bar and then promptly dragging him out of the tavern. you shouts your thanks to charles as you walk through the door, being quick to turn to your lover. he hasn't quite passed out yet but his ear's are flopped forward this time, almost obscuring the gentle smile he's wearing on his face.

oh you are going to have a field trip with this after kaeya sobers up.

diluc with cat ears!!

cats are adorable, diluc is adorable, so the both combined would be wonderful!

a new set of ears isn't something he'd normally wake up to. he didn't eat or drink anything weird... perhaps it's delusional but something tells him that this is the work of an abyss mage.

the young ragvindr is not happy with this outcome. displeased, undignified and embarrassed are all appropriate words to describe his emotions towards his new appendages.

you, on the other hand, are so enthralled by diluc's new look. seeing the twinkle in your eyes as you pet his pointy ears makes the moment a little more bearable. only just a little though.

to humour yourself, you tried meowing at him to see if he'd return the favour. all you got back was a deadpan stare and a half-hearted huff. guess the abyss mage's spell wasn't strong enough to turn him a little more animalistic.

it's a quiet afternoon in the manor. diluc is busying himself in the love seat with another thick novel and you're lounging on the chaise next to him, watching in awe. it's quite amusing to watch him read as it is but adding cat parts to the equation? hilarious. occasionally, his ears will twitch a little and if you're lucky, his tail will swish from side to side.

his new body parts were cat-like enough but how much of a feline was he? you muse that there's no better way to get your answers than to test a hypothesis.

so, you start meowing.

you only get a few quite mewls in before diluc places his book down solely to give you an unimpressed look.

"what are you doing?" there's a discontented tone in his query. though he sounds serious, you can find a silver of mirth dancing in his eyes if you look for long enough. determined to continue your experiment, you simply shrug off his irritation with a guilty grin.

"i, uh- just wanted to see if you would meow back?" with a snap of the fingers, his huffy demeanour cracks to reveal a half-hearted eye roll and a chuckle.

"you would enjoy that a little too much, wouldn't you?"

maybe you would. maybe the sight of seeing the all-business-no-party heir of dawn winery meowing like a new born kitten would entertain you to no end.

"i don't feel anything different if that's what you're wondering. i feel normal aside from the obvious... recent growths." diluc continues. surprise may not be evident in your face — what, with the way you're still blankly observing him — but you're astonished to know that after all this time, he's picked your brain apart enough to know exactly how you'd approach his cat parts.

a gentle silence passes and diluc has yet to return to his book. his ruby reds are too busy gazing into yours to even consider picking it back up. words always have a chance to bore him but your glittering eyes never will.

perhaps this little cat situation is... less than ideal but if there's anything he could do to see your sparkling smile, he would jump at the chance to do it. even if it's at the expense of his own dignity.

diluc brings a hand to your chin and pulls you closer to him, from the comfort of the chaise to the armrest of the love seat. "so, shall i humour you with your query?"

your eyes light up and giggles begin to quietly spill from your lips.

"oh i would be honoured to hear a meow straight from the diluc ragvindr's mouth."

thoma with dog ears!!

oh, thoma with a pair of dog ears and a beautifully fluffy tail would be a sight to behold indeed.

looks like ayato managed to make a meal so terrible that a pair of furry ears and an equally fluffy tail sprouted from thoma's head and back after he ate it. oops!

to be honest, he doesn't hate them! in his words, "they don't look too bad on me!" perhaps the only drawback would be how much more obvious his emotions would be.

the only thing that truely matters to him is your reaction to them. he would most definitely eat up all the attention you're showering him in, ears twitching and tail wagging in delight.

even though he's still thoma, just with a few extra parts, he has had the urge to bark like a dog more times than he'd like to admit... please don't tell anyone though

"you know, i've always wondered how it feels to be a dog getting head pats." thoma practically thinks out loud. he's lying with you on the plush mattress you share, head sitting in your lap and the rest of him curled around himself. both of your hands have found their way to his scalp, massaging and scratching the sweet spot between his ears.

"guess you don't have to wonder anymore then." you quietly reply.

"guess not."

a five minute petting session turns into a half-hour head and ear massage too quickly. your eyes flicker towards the window of your bedroom — the sun is starting to set. crap, both of you need to start dinner now.

with a knowing sigh, you turn to the quarter dog sitting in your lap. full dog even, with the way he simply is. thoma's eyes are contently shut and his euphoria is so clearly painted on his face. oh, it would break your heart to slip your fingers from his hair. unfortunately, duty calls and both your stomachs must be served as soon as possible.

carefully, you remove your fingers from his blonde locks and quietly rise from the mattress. but before your feet can even touch the hard wood flooring, you hear a squeaky whimper. there's no need to question where it came from when thoma's hands immediately clap over his mouth.

"i won't say anything. promise." you blurt out. there's a fear in his eyes that you've never seen before.

"please don't. if ayato even catches wind of this, i'll never hear the end of it."

a solemn nod and the promise is sealed. you feel a half-smile creep on your face as you grasp onto his hands, pulling him from the bed. "come on baby, time to make dinner." you coo.

after successfully dragging him from your bedroom, thoma lazily wraps his arms around your figure and settles his head in the crook of your neck. instinctively, you reach up to pet him and he instantly nuzzles into you. oh how he made you melt. as you both waddle your way to the kitchen, you feel a cool breeze around your hips that's also accompanied by something swinging back and forth.

thoma's tail is wagging very enthusiastically.

right then and there, you decide that now you could finally die happy.

[bnhabadass]

Pairing: Bakugou x reader Genre: Smut, 18+, Mafia AU Trope: Woke up married Dialogue Prompt: “Aren’t we supposed to be working?”  Warnings: overdosing on cold medicine, mixing cold medicine with alcohol, dub-con, mentions of sex while unconscious, vomiting Word Count: 4,480

This is my contribution to this month’s bnharem collab. I was so happy when I spun the roulette wheel and it landed on my favorite au, the mafia au. I hope you all enjoy and make sure to check out everyone else’s contributions here. Also a big thanks to @doinmybesthere​ for being my beta reader and putting so much work into creating the master list for this collab.

“A fever? Are you fucking kidding me?”

You winced at the voice coming out of your phone. You were curled up in bed, a heavy futon draped over your achey, chilled body. “I’m really sorry,” you croaked into the receiver. “I can’t get out of bed; there’s no way I’ll be able to come into work today.”

“You know how important tonight’s meeting is.”

You could feel the fire in the eyes of your underboss as he spat at you about how important tonight’s festivities were. You couldn’t care less. You hated the guy, but more importantly you hated your father for getting you in this mess.

A debt needed to be paid and your family couldn’t afford to take out a second mortgage on the house. So your father, as smart as he thought he was, went to the nicest restaurant on the far side of town where the boss of one of the most dangerous mobs in the city stationed his office.

A debt for a debt. That’s what he told you as he came home smiling with a big check in his wallet. No one in your family knew where he got the money, but he seemed confident enough that he’d be able to pay it back.

A month went by and one day, three scary men knocked on your apartment door. They said they were there to “collect”.

You were terrified. You thought they were there to rob you, to take the money you had been saving in a rainy-day fund. But no, they came to collect you. Now, it’s been four months and you’re still stuck doing odd jobs for them--grocery and coffee runs as well as spending reports and other money related things you are less than qualified to do.

You hate your job. You hate having to put up with the unorthodox hours and the unsavory jobs and the complaints about your work ethic and the having to do it over again because you didn’t do it right the first time. You want out. If you weren’t positive that if you left they would be able to hunt you down, you would have fled the country by now.

But your father’s debt still hasn’t been paid.

“Look,” you pleaded. “I can come in tomorrow and work double my usual time. Please, Kirishima-san, I just need the day to rest.”

“Not a chance. You’re coming in today and that’s final. If you don’t, well, then maybe we need to take an extra payment from your parents.”

Before you could even process what he just said, he hung up the phone.

Another payment from your parents. You couldn’t possibly let them take any more from your family. With a new threat looming over your head, you mustered up enough strength to push off of your futon and get dressed for the clients’ dinner.

By the time it was 7:00 in the evening, you had taken a large swig of cold medicine and were ready to spend the night serving these criminals.

Outside of the restaurant, two bodyguards were stationed at the front door and one at the back entrance. All three of them were dressed in black from head to toe. You, on the other hand, were tasked with serving your boss’s clients, so your outfit differed from theirs.

You were dressed in attire suited for waiting tables. Black slacks stretch across your legs and your pristine shirt was smoothed against your body. A tight black vest clung to your chest and pressed against your boobs, squishing them together. If it weren’t for the fever, chills, and headache, you would look like you belonged with this crowd of criminals.

You flashed your ID to the guard at the back door and he nodded you in. Your eyes had to adjust to the fluorescent kitchen lighting, but once they did you saw how busy everyone was. It truly was one of the most important nights for your boss, so you understood why you were needed. Still, this night would truly take the most out of you.

“Oi, (L/n),” one of your boss’s associates called for you. “Take these to table four. I’ve been covering your ass for the last twenty minutes.”

“Of course, Kaminari-san.” You bowed your head and skirted over to the table where two well-dressed men spoke with one another in a hushed tone. You placed their meals in front of them and bowed your head.

“Wait,” one of them called as you began to walk away. “I asked for a Jasmine tea. This is Sencha.”

“Yeah,” the other one piped up. “And I asked for a Sencha tea and this is Jasmine.”

You wanted to scream. You wanted to yell into the abyss and slap those men across the face. But of course all you did was bow in apology and take the cups back. Kirishima’s words to you over the phone rang loud and clear in your mind.

“Anything they need, you get it for them. These are important people the boss works with and we can’t have idiots like you messing this up for us.”

The men smirked at you and as you turned around to grab their “correct orders,” the man who ordered the Jasmine tea leaned over to leave a hard, painful smack across your ass.

You froze but didn’t say anything and walked away.

It was still early in the night but you had run yourself thin. You needed to sit down or to at least take a sip of water, but there was no room for breaks as you bounced from table to table getting the people what they wanted. You had even left the venue a couple times to retrieve items like the proper creamer one client required in their coffee.

Your throat was so sore and dry and it was aching for a break. Your entire body was aching for a break. But as you saw someone sitting at one of the tables raise her hand to wave you over, you had to put all of your aches aside to tend to her needs.

“Good evening, ma’am.” You bowed your head. “How may I assist you?”

A small smile was on her dark red painted lips. She seemed to be searching for something as she eyed you up and down. “Do you happen to know when Bakugou-san will be joining us?”

Bakugou-san… Were you supposed to know who that is? You had never heard the name before, although you knew your boss had many ties throughout the district. It could be one of them.

“I’m not sure,” you answered honestly. “I could ask my supervisors if they happen to know.”

She waited a moment. She seemed to be searching for something in your expression. “That’s all right. You may go back to work now.”

You bowed and thanked her.

Bakugou-san.

The name did sound familiar, but you’re not sure where you could have heard it. It wasn’t until you were deep in thought, trying to recall where you had heard the name, that you could feel something pushing up against your throat. Oh god. Your stomach was churning.

You ran to the bathroom, pushing someone out of the way to get there. You’d probably hear an earful from Kirishima for pushing a guest, but you needed to find a toilet before--

Oh no.

You barely made it into the stall before emptying the contents of your stomach onto the white tiles of the bathroom floor. Your legs collapsed from under you and you kneeled in your vomit as you coughed up your stomach lining into the porcelain bowl.

Tears fell from your eyes as you struggled to breathe while hacking everything you had into the toilet. The black eyeliner you threw on before leaving the house had smudged into raccoon eyes around your lashes.

You rested your cheek against the toilet, ignoring all of the germs that were most likely crawling up your skin and into your pores. The toilet seat felt cool against your burning cheek and watering eyes. You thought you could die happily here, kneeling on the bathroom tiles in a pile of your slowly cooling vomit.

“Aren’t we supposed to be working here?”

Your eyes shot open, and in trying to stand up you slipped. Your ass landed in the smeared vomit. You winced and let out a drawn out, “fuuuck.”

It took you a moment before opening your eyes again and looking up at the man in front of you. And boy did your eyes widen. He was clearly a guest at the clients’ dinner. His blonde hair was slicked back and the bulge of his muscles under his crisp black button down didn’t go unnoticed by you. His sleeves were rolled up, revealing his forearms and as he crossed his arms over his chest, his sleeves began to tighten.

“Who the hell are you and why are you puking on the floor?”

It took you a second to find your voice. “I’m, um...” you trailed off. “(L/n), sir.” You cleared your throat. “I am a worker for the person hosting this dinner.” You tried to stand up and bow, but he put a hand up to stop you.

“You work for them.” It was a statement not a question, but you nodded anyway. “Why? What do you owe?”

You’re not sure why he was asking, but his intimidating glare compelled you to answer his every question. “My dad owes them money,” you admitted. “And he wasn’t able to pay them back.”

“Who do you mean by them?”

You weren’t sure how to answer. You didn’t even know what these people did. For all you knew they were drug mules or assassins. You never wanted to know what they did when you were roped in. After all, the less you knew meant you could have more of a normal life. “The boss,” you finally answered. Who the boss was, you weren’t sure. You answered to Kirishima but he didn’t have much power aside from ordering around you and every other person unfortunate enough to be roped into working for them.

The man in front of you scoffed. “Get up.”

You scrambled to your feet, ignoring the wave of nausea that hit you. The man led you out of the bathroom, and as you walked behind him, people who passed the two of you stopped and stared. Oh no, it had to be from the vomit stains on your leg and down your shirt. You probably stank to high hell and your eyes wouldn’t stop watering from your fever.

The man stopped and you had to keep from bumping into him. “There’s an extra work shirt in the closet,” he said. “There should also be some slacks in there. Leave your dirty clothes in a pile and I’ll have someone collect them.”

His voice was demanding and it took you a moment to register what he said. It wasn’t until he snapped in your face that you moved.

“We don’t have all day, princess.”

You flinched and nodded before scurrying into the closet and flicking the light on. Inside the closet was the restaurant’s sad excuse for a boiler room. The low humming from the machinery brought you back into the present as you searched for the change of clothes you were promised.

There was a crisp white shirt folded on one of the shelves as well as a few different slacks in varying sizes. The shirt was a size too small, so you had to leave the first couple buttons popped open. Before leaving the closet, you tried to think about who the man was and why he was helping you. Was it possible that he wanted something in return?

When you emerged from the closet, he looked you up and down. You were too tired, however, to notice his lingering glare on your chest and the way the button down squeezed your breasts closer together.

“Thank you,” you mumbled, looking down at your shoes. You’re not sure why you were too scared to look into his vermillion eyes, but the way he called you princess earlier as he snapped at you had definitely made you tremble in your core, and you swore that if you looked up to meet his eyes, your fever would only go higher and higher.

“Why the hell’d you come here if you were sick anyway? Are you trying to poison everyone in the damn building?” His words were like little bullets that shot at every one of your doubts of coming in tonight.

You thought back to why you had come in the first place. You were huddled up in your futon that morning when Kirishima called. You begged to stay home, right? But you couldn’t. You squinted hard as you tried to remember why you weren’t allowed to rest. “I was threatened,” you thought out loud. It wasn’t directed towards the man but he nodded in any case.

“(L/n) was it, right?”

You finally managed to look up at him with bleary eyes. “Yeah, um...” You couldn’t seem to remember what his name was. Wait, he hadn’t told you. He had just led you around and given you new clothes, but he never properly introduced himself.

“Bakugou Katsuki,” he said as if he could read your mind. His lips turned up into a smirk. “But call me Katsuki.”

“Katsuki,” you mumbled. “Bakugou Katsuki.” You had heard that name before, but where. “Bakugou,” you mumbled again as if you were trying to put the pieces of a puzzle together. “Bakugou-san.”

He quirked an eyebrow up at you.

“Oh!” It hit you like a ton of bricks and as soon as you shot up, you had to recoil because of the ache in the back of your neck. “There’s a woman looking for you, Bakugou-san, er, Katuki,” you bowed.

He just chuckled. “There’s a lot of people looking for me tonight. Who was it?”

That’s a good question. You squinted as if you were looking deep into your memories to remember who it was who asked for him. “She was a woman,” you remembered. “With long dark hair and dark red lips.”

Katsuki nodded. “I see the Yaoyorozus are here.”

The Yaoyorozus. You weren’t sure what that could mean but you didn’t feel like questioning it, so you nodded instead.

Katsuki was looking down at you. His arms were crossed over his chest but a smirk that had been playing across his face all night wouldn’t seem to go away. “Feeling better?”

You didn’t feel better. Although you felt cleaner in the new clothes, there was still a throbbing in your head that wasn’t going away and the overhead lights made your eyes water. But the way that Katsuki looked at you like he was expecting you to say yes just drew you in.

He could tell that the way you nodded a yes in response to his question was a lie, and his face fell before pushing a hand up to your forehead, checking your temperature. “Have you taken anything today?”

You had to think back to earlier that day when you brought the bottle of cold medicine up to your lips, not even reading the recommended dose before downing what you could and leaving your home. “Yeah, um, I took some medicine.”

The grin that had been spread across Katsuki’s face returned. “Well I guess we’ll have to get you some more.”

He grabbed your wrist and led you through the halls and over to the bar. You didn’t pay attention to where you were going. The world seemed to be going too fast for you to keep up. What you were able to notice was that everyone’s eyes were on you as you gently swayed back and forth, trying to settle yourself down. As you were in your own head, you couldn’t start to picture what everyone else saw when they looked at you. You with your raccoon eyes due to streaky makeup that you couldn’t stop rubbing.

“Here.” Katsuki shoved a glass in your face. “Not necessarily traditional medicine but it’ll get the job done.”

You looked up at the whiskey glass in his hand. The ‘medicine’ was a deep brown color which swirled around as he handed it to you. Your fingers brushed against his thick ones as you took the glass. You lifted it up to your nose and took a deep breath in, gagging at the smell. “Um, I don’t think I should.” You had been warned about mixing alcohol with drugs and the dangers that came with it, but no one had ever told you not to mix drinks with cold medicine. Still, that couldn’t be right, right?

“Come on, it’s good for you,” he egged you on. “Besides, it’ll get that nasty taste out of your mouth.”

You had never tried whiskey before. You were used to lighter drinks, something bubbly with a shot of vodka or two in it. But this was almost too much. You lifted the glass up to your lips and tilted it back. Your lips stung as they made contact with the drink, but you didn’t want to seem weak to Katsuki. He’d taken care of you so far and seemed pleasant enough, albeit intimidating.

As you tipped it back further and took more of the drink into your mouth, Katsuki pushed his hand against the bottom of the glass so you couldn’t tear it away, making sure you would drink every last drop. It stung going down and the cubes pressing against your lip were colder than you expected. You gagged as a couple loose tears rolled down your face from the drink’s burning sensation. You bet you looked even more of a mess now.

“Good girl,” Katsuki said with a low demeanor. With his thumb, he wiped away a drop of whiskey that rolled down your chin.

“And this’ll make me feel better?” You didn’t think you were supposed to drink when you were sick, but you were far too tired to even think about what was wrong and what was right. If he said that it’d make you feel better, then that had to be a good thing. You’re sure of it.

“Sure will.” He placed a firm, calloused hand on your head and stroked down your hair. You nuzzled into his warmth.

It was such a nice sensation that it almost made you forget that you were supposed to be working. That there were people waiting on you to bring them their food and fetch their creamer, people who were ready to slap your ass and laugh as soon as you turned away.

“I have a,” you started, not really sure where that sentence was going. “I have to go back to work.”

As you began walking away, Katsuki stopped you, pulling you back over so your face was practically pressed up against his chest. “No you don’t. You’re sick, remember?”

Right, as if you hadn’t forgotten. But he was right. You were sick and your medicine hadn’t kicked in yet. You couldn’t risk spreading your germs and getting anyone else sick.

You watched the dinner guests from afar. You leaned in to hear conversations about hitmen and other rivaling mobs around town. Some were about money laundering and clients that needed to be taken out, whatever that meant.

At one point, someone asked to pull Katsuki aside and talk alone, but instead he just pulled you closer.

“The hell do you want, Yoarashi?”

Yoarashi was a big guy, bigger than Katsuki, but it was clear even to you that he was intimidated by the blonde in front of him.

“You owe me for what I let you borrow last month.”

“I don’t owe you shit.”

To you, they sounded like they were underwater and you weren’t sure what they were discussing, but you were curious to learn more.

“Come on, Bakugou. Work with me here.”

“I’m a busy man, Yoarashi. Now get out of my face before I have my men take care of you.”

Something about the raw power and the threatening tone behind Katsuki’s voice made you excited. You wanted to melt into his words, but you weren’t sure why.

“Busy man?” Yoarashi scoffed. “Come on, Bakugou. You’ve barely been seen all night. Where have you been, fucking this little lackey of yours?”

He didn’t mean you, did he? Before you could even comprehend what he just insinuated, Katsuki turned you around and pressed your face up against his chest. You could feel yourself growing even hotter as you were pushed into one of his pectorals. One of his hands cupped the back of your head. Was he protecting you?

“Listen here,” you heard him say. “Don’t contact us ever again unless you want to end up like your first boss did. I can make your life a living hell and I will, got that?”

“Don’t think I don’t have other contacts, all right? You aren’t the only one in this town with resources, Bakugou.”

You felt something jab into the other side of Katsuki’s chest. Did Yoarashi hit him? A few seconds went by before you heard the snapping of fingers and two men came over to drag Yoarashi away.

Katsuki released the hold he had on you, and you watched as the tall man struggled out of his hold. “You aren’t gonna tell anyone what you saw here tonight, right princess?”

You shook your head. You weren’t sure what exactly you felt when you saw that man being dragged away. You were scared, of course; scared for your own life and of the raw power that Katsuki seemed to hold. But on top of fear there was something else. There was a tingle between your thighs that wouldn’t seem to go away, and there was also a sense of excitement. Out of all the people here, this man was paying attention to you. You were far from Mafia material, but he clearly saw something in you and you wanted more of his gaze lingering on you.

Your mind felt hazy with Katsuki and you wanted even more. You didn’t know what to do when you felt him smooth his hand down your back. You didn’t know what to do when his usual smirk turned into something much more dangerous. And you didn’t know what to do when he leaned over and pressed his lips against your own.

His lips felt heavenly as they explored you. They were soft and welcoming despite his cold and dangerous exterior. His tongue probed its way into your mouth. He tasted like whiskey and something else which you assumed was just him. He bit your lip and it felt like he smiled when you let out a moan.

When he released, you felt as if the whole world was spinning with Katsuki. You wobbled around a bit and he chuckled. You tried asking if you could sit down, but the words refused to come out. The last thing you remember is seeing the world go black, the sound of the clients’ dinner fading out of earshot, and two strong arms carrying you away from reality.

You were in pain by the time you woke up. Your body, especially your head, ached tremendously and you wished the sun would stop shining so bright through your window. But wait, the window in your bedroom at your apartment faced another building. The sun never shined too bright in the morning when you were at home.

Slowly, you peaked your head out from under the covers and looked around. You weren’t in your bedroom, but you were in a bedroom. The bed you had been asleep in was enormous, but aside from that there was not much else furniture in the room or even any pictures to signify who the room could belong to.

It wasn’t until you sat up that you realized just how exposed you were under the covers. You couldn’t find your clothing anywhere. What were you even wearing last night? Where were you last night?

You remembered being sick and being called into work by Kirishima. You were stressed. You were nauseous. There was a beautiful woman who asked for someone in particular but you were too sick to remember what their name was, right?

And then you raced to the bathroom and met--

A groan from beside you shook you out of your thoughts, and as soon as you saw the person lying in bed next to you, all of your memories came flooding back.

“Morning, baby girl,” Katsuki said.

You didn’t know what to say. Your mouth hung open and you felt lightheaded.

Katsuki was shirtless under the covers and you were too scared to ask if he had anything on covering his lower half. “You put on quite the show last night.”

Last night. Where you met him. What did you do last night? “I...” You didn’t know what to say, and that made Katsuki let out a booming laugh.

“Come on, you remember at least a little of it don’t you?”

You shook your head. Then you shook your head again. You couldn’t stop shaking your head.

Katsuki put a hand on your shoulder and you stopped. He had a shit eating grin spread across his face that you wanted to both punch and kiss at the same time. “First throwing up at my party and then getting blackout drunk in front of all my guests.”

“What?” You could barely remember anything. What did he mean ‘his party’? The clients’ dinner was run by…

Your eyes widened as you realized just who you had found yourself naked in bed with. Who had found you puking on the bathroom floor. Who that stunningly gorgeous woman was asking for earlier.

You clamped a hand over your mouth and Katsuki let out another chuckle. “You really were the life of the party.” He grabbed your wrist and dragged you over to his side of the bed, and you let him. He dragged his hand up and down your exposed body and roughly cupped your sex. “I had a blast toying around with you last night, but now I want you to be able to remember what it feels like when I bury my cock inside of you, sweetheart.”

You hated the way he was grabbing you and the way he forced your legs to open up for him, but what you hated more than any of that was the way his words made your inner thighs ache and how they instinctively parted just for him.

You turned away as he leaned down to smother your chest with rough kisses, and as you looked over to your left hand, you couldn’t help but notice a diamond ring that wasn’t there the night before.

[redpandaramblings]

A Matter of Admiration Alpha Gang Orca x Omega f!Reader

Hello Hello! Here is my very VERY late submission for the SFW portion of Spudcorner's Valentine Blood and Chocolate Collab. This was meant to be a two page drabble. 13 pages later it's a bit more than that. Regardless, I do hope you enjoy!

Sequel/Epilogue Here

Content Warnings- Omegaverse, SFW, Insecurities, Misunderstandings, Pining, Fluff, Lots of food mentioned, Kugo being very down on himself, very minor mention of blood and stitches needed.

“Really? Again?”

The large alpha seemed to shrink under your judgemental glare.

“I am sorry, Y/N. The fight got intense and it slipped off. Someone must have stepped on it.”

You sighed heavily, your gaze turning to the workbench where the shattered remains of your creation sat. This was your seventh attempt at outfitting Gang Orca with a communicator headset. It was dangerous for him to keep fishing for a handheld during the heat of battle. Unfortunately, his lack of outer ear made keeping a headset on him difficult. Shaking your head, you gave a small smile.

“Not your fault, Sakamata. We knew this was going to be tricky. Though at this rate I’m tempted to just glue a headset on you and call it a day.”

Kugo snorted, his posture relaxing. “I wouldn’t blame you if you did. I hate to see your hard work go to waste.”

“It’s not a waste if I learn something from it. This one lasted a couple weeks of normal patrol work, so that’s an improvement. We just need to figure out what was different about this fight. So, sit. Talk.”

Kugo shook his head with an amused huff. He admitted he had been slightly dubious when you had first come to his agency. He’d encountered many hero support workers claiming to specialize in mutation quirks that seemed to be looking for lab rats for their creations. However, you always listened to what he said, and made suggestions that would actually make his job easier. You made sure your support items not only were functional, but comfortable at well. If the few years you had worked for him, he was pleased to say you had become good friends.

“I can’t right now, Y/N. I need to get cleaned up, then complete my report before I forget the details. I’ll come back first thing tomorrow.” You frowned, tapping your foot. Kugo fought to keep a neutral expression. You’d never forgive him if you knew how much he enjoyed your expressions when you were annoyed.

“Alright. Fine. First thing tomorrow. But make sure you get some rest tonight, you’ve been working too hard lately!”

Sakamata waved a hand in answer as he walked out the workshop door. He’d try to follow your request, but a hero’s work is never done.

~~~~~

Gang Orca shuffled through the door to his agency with an aura of gloom about him. In the past five days, he had broken five more communicators, gotten into several serious fights, and had allowed a villain to escape. And that was just his work life. Some of his friends had set him up for a speed dating session. He didn’t blame them for trying, but it ended exactly how he knew it would. Most of the omegas who had been present were scared of him, and those that weren’t were clearly only interested in his pro hero paycheck. Kugo trudged toward his office, his thoughts gloomy. A man with a quirk like his would never have a normal courtship. It hurt sometimes. How nice it would be to come home to a sweet smelling omega. What wouldn’t he give to home filled with pups, and laughter and love? He sighed softly as he swung his door open. Such a life was not meant for him, so no point in even dreaming. On autopilot, he hung his coat on the coat rack, and turned to set his briefcase on his desk. However, the desk was already occupied. Kugo tilted his head as he stared at the object resting on his desk. It appeared to be a large bento box, wrapped in a rather feminine handkerchief, patterned with some sort of flowers. Kugo set his briefcase down on a chair before coming closer to investigate. Gingerly, he untied the knot, setting the cloth aside as he looked at the contents curiously.

First and most obviously, was the strawberry shaped sticky note attached to the top. “You looked like you had been having a rough week. I hope this can make it better!” The writing was… painstakingly cute. The “i”s were dotted with little hearts. Each letter having just a little bit of flourish, while still being legible.

Kugo hummed quietly to himself. Clearly this had been left on his desk by mistake. A bit awkward, considering his name was on the door, but there was no other explanation. He drummed his fingers on the desk as he considered his options. He could take a guess at who the bento was for. There were several popular alpha heroes working for him that got their share of gifts from admirers. The soft omegan scent coming from the handkerchief that had wrapped the bento was a solid clue the gift was likely meant for one of them. But really, there was no way to tell for sure who it was supposed to end up with, and he really didn’t want the hard work to go to waste. Yes. Best thing would be to eat the bento, and place the box in the break room with a note inside the box apologizing.

His course of action decided, Kugo opened the bento, quietly sucking a breath as he saw what was inside. There were sausages cut to look like little octopi. A large slab of teriyaki salmon. Rice balls shaped like teddy bear heads, complete with little seaweed faces. He tried to tamp down his delight at seeing over half of the bento was dedicated to tamagoyaki. While he lived up to his stereotype of loving fish, the egg dish was a secret favorite of his; something his mother had made for him whenever he had a bad day when he was growing up. The second layer of the bento had even more. Rice, vegetables, and surprisingly a small but adorable piece of cake. Kugo put the bento back together with a small smile on his face. Perhaps it wasn’t meant for him, but it had been a long time since he had been able to enjoy something like this- cute and homemade, clearly filled with a great deal of care. He couldn’t quite feel guilty as he looked forward to lunch. He could pretend, just this once, that a sweet smelling omega had put so much care into something for him.

~~~~~~

Later that day, when most of the day team had left, Kugo made his way to the common break room. He carefully cleaned out the bento box in the sink, setting it to the side to dry. He folded the handkerchief it had came in, and placed it next to the box before sighing. He was in the process of scribbling a brief apology note when he heard a cough. He glanced up to see y/n leaning against the doorway.

“You okay, chief? Thought your shift ended an hour ago.”

Kugo nodded as he placed his note on top of the handkerchief. “Yes, just had a few things I needed to wrap up. What about you? I know you were supposed to be done several hours ago now.”

You fidgeted, embarrassed, shrugging your shoulders as you glanced away. “Had an idea for how to improve a few items and, well, you know how I get when I have a project. But what have you got there? You never struck me as the homemade lunch type.”

It was Kugo’s turn to look uncomfortable as he shuffled from foot to foot. “It was left on my desk this morning by mistake. I had no way of knowing who it was actually meant for, and I didn’t want it going to waste, so I ate it.”

You frowned as you walked into the room, opening cupboards and starting to retrieve things to make tea. You held a mug up toward Kugo in a silent question, grabbing a second one when he nodded. You were quiet for a few moments, going through the motions. After a while you asked “How are you so sure it wasn’t for you?”

Kugo snorted, leaning back against the counter and gesturing at himself. “Omegas aren’t exactly lined up around the block. I don’t place high on the ‘heroes that look most like villains’ list every year for no reason. Some unfortunate omega got confused about whose office was whose. It’s a shame I couldn’t give it to whoever it was meant for, it was a beautifully crafted bento.” Kugo doesn’t mention the note. Kugo especially doesn’t mention the note had found its way into his desk drawer to save as a memory of how nice it had been to receive the bento, even if it was an accident.

You laughed, passing him a steaming cup of tea, made just how he liked. “Sakamata, don’t talk down about yourself like that. You’re big, strong, and prime alpha material. You’re one of the top heroes! And even more importantly, you’re a gentle kind man that any omega would be lucky to have. I’d bet good money that that bento absolutely was made just for you.”

“A nice thought, but I doubt it. You’ll see. In a few days I bet a bento will make its way to who it was meant for.”

~~~~~~

Kugo stood stock still in the doorway to his office. Sitting on his desk was another cloth wrapped package. Once was a mistake, clearly. But two days in a row? Why on Earth was there another bento on his desk? He approached the desk and slide the bento to him. He untied the scented fabric with care. A cat shaped note greeted him.

“I’m sorry if it wasn’t clear before, Sakamata. I wanted to make this for you because I admire you so much. I’m not always great at saying my feelings, so I hope my cooking says enough.”

This was… for him. The bentos… were for him? He sat in his chair, leaning his head against his hands as he regarded the innocent looking lunch. If it wasn’t a mistake, then what could it be? Probably a fortune hunting omega trying to get in his good graces, if he went off his past experience. Though usually those types of omegas were more likely to offer favors of a different sort. Kugo winced as another thought occurred to him. There was a good chance this omega pitied him. Ugly, intimidating, unmatable. Someone had seen him and decided he needed looking after because clearly he’d never get someone on his own. Yes. That had to be it. He should leave the bento in the break room and end this farce as soon as possible.

His mind made up, Kugo picked up the bundle to do exactly that. The subtle smell of the contents hit his sensitive nose, causing him to salivate. Tempura? Definitely egg. Well, it would be a shame to not even look inside to make sure.

Clearly just as much care had gone into this one as the last one. The rice balls were shaped like little cat heads, to match the note. An assortment of tempura seemed to be the main dish, cute cat shaped food picks stuck in some of them. There were even paw print shaped gummy candies for the dessert. Every inch of the lunch was absolutely adorable. And it was all done for him. There was no way Kugo could let it go to waste. It hurt to know it was a gift given out of pity, but maybe, just for a while, he could pretend there was someone out there who loved him like this. The omega would grow tired of this eventually. Until then, he’d let himself enjoy this.

~~~~~

It was surprising how easily this had become routine. Every day when Kugo walked into his office, there was a new bento waiting for him. And every day he’d unwrap the bento, indulging a brief moment in the cutely patterned handkerchiefs. Every bento was unique and cute. They seemed to show a good understanding of his tastes and preferences. It was a pleasant break on the quiet days and a welcome comfort on the rough days. Each day there was a sweet written note that Kugo gently stored in his desk drawer. It was perfect.

Until it wasn’t.

~~~~~~~

Kugo hated attending charity events. It wasn’t the charities, he always supported good causes. It wasn’t the dressing up, or the fancy atmosphere. It was the people. While a few of his friends were around somewhere, there were many many others who didn’t know him well. Others who were intimidated by his appearance. Others who apparently had no idea just how sharp his hearing was.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe Gang Orca is here.”

“I know! Well, I suppose he is a hero. Allegedly, anyway.”

“Did he come with anyone?”

“Of course not. I mean ew. Look at him. Can you imagine cosying up to that at the end of the day?”

“I know! And those teeth! If he tried to bond someone, he’d take their head clean off!”

“As if anyone would want to bond with that.”

“I don’t know. He’s in the top ten pretty often. He has to be loaded, right?”

“Would have to be a lot for me to even consider it.”

“It could be all the money and I still wouldn’t!”

“Oh don’t say that! Poor bastard can’t help he’s unmatable.”

Kugo walked away from the refreshment table as he tried to tune out the unkind comments and mocking laughter. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t heard before. He knew full well what he looked like. He had had enough failed courting attempts to know exactly what omegas thought of him. But it still stung. Stung more than usual, actually. The daily bentos with their scented cloths and cute little notes had almost made him forget. The only omegas who were interested either pitied him, or wanted his money. He could never forget that.

~~~~~

What he could forget, apparently, was that the number two pro hero was scheduled to be at his office the morning after the charity gala. Kugo stifled a sigh when he saw the red winged hero waiting outside his agency’s door. Of course he’d have to deal with this on a day when he wasn’t in the best of moods. “Orca! My man, good to see you again!”

Kugo nodded as he held the door open. “Hawks.”

“Didn’t get a chance to talk to you at the party last night. You know how it is. Go to one of those things when you're single, and you get swarmed.”

Kugo gave a non committal grunt. No, he didn’t know. He just wanted this morning to be over with. He perked up slightly as he saw you hurrying down the hallway toward them. Hawks gave a low whistle. “Who's the babe?” Kugo half growled. “That is Miss Y/N. The support item engineer you allegedly came here to see. You will be respectful and refrain from flirting with my staff.”

Keigo held up his hands and laughed. “Hey now big guy, don’t mean any offense. Just saying you’re lucky to get to work with that every day.”

Kugo jerked his head in an abbreviated nod. You slowed down your quick walk as you got closer, not wanting to interrupt the heroes’s conversation. Kugo waved you closer. You smiled at him so brightly as you joined the group. Yes. He was lucky to work with a friend such as you. Kugo’s nerves started to cool a bit as he introduced you and the three of you began to make your way to his office. Hawk’s casual questions were more inquisitive than flirty, and Kugo knew from long experience just how much you enjoyed being able to talk in depth about your work. He was smiling by the time he opened the door to his office, ushering the two or you in. Hawk’s next words hit him like a bucket of cold water to the face.

“Dang! Either you got one hell of a cafeteria service at this agency, or Gang Orca has himself quite an admirer. Delivered right to your desk, pretty bold, man! That’s exactly why I keep my door locked. There’s only so much lunch a man can eat, am I right?”

The bento. He had forgotten about the stupid bento. There it sat, as always. The handkerchief was especially cute today, some sort of pattern with teddy bears hugging and kissing. Any other day, the sight would have calmed him. Any other day he would have sat down and quickly poked through to see what surprises lay inside that day, would have read the note meant just for him with a smile.

But today was different. Others were in his office. The number two hero, handsome and popular. His support engineer, pretty enough to probably have plenty of suitors of her own. And then there was him. Large. Scary. Consistently told he looks like a villain. Has never had a relationship that wasn’t pitying or profiteering. Kugo remembered the whispered remarks from the party. Usually he’d be able to brush off Hawks’s commentary. But today…

Kugo snarled, his scent agitated as he swept his arm across the desk, knocking the bento roughly into the trash. “They are a nuisance that need to cease! I’m so tired of some desperate piting omega shoving their unwanted, unneeded efforts at me! Enough is enough!” At the end his voice was raised to a shout. He was dimly aware of his nails digging deeply into his palms. Kugo leaned on the desk, breathing deeply as he tried to calm himself. He could hear the others shuffling behind him awkwardly.

“Come on,” You murmured and lightly tugged on Keigo’s sleeve. “How about I show you my lab and take some measurements before we get started.”

“Yeah. Um. Yeah.” Keigo allowed you to lead him away. You softly closed the door behind you. Kugo remained, hunched and breathing raggedly. It took him several minutes to calm down. It took him a few minutes beyond that to gather the nerve to make the trek down to the support lab. He slipped into the room as inconspicously as a man with his fram could manage. You were taking measurements off of Keigo and muttering to yourself as you tapped out notes on your tablet. Keigo noticed Kugo’s entrance and greeted him cautiously. “You good?” Kugo nodded. “I… apologize. It’s been a rather trying week, but I should have composed myself better.”

Keigo waved him off. “No worries, man, no worries. Y/n was just telling me she thinks that she’ll be able to rig up something for me that would help slow my fall in situations where my wings get damaged.”

You hummed an affirmative, taking a few more measurements before you started describing your process. Kugo couldn’t help but notice you didn’t look his way. You looked at the ground, at your tablet, at Keigo, but you were clearly avoiding Kugo’s gaze. He mentally winced as he settled onto an out of the way stool. It was rare for him to have that kind of emotional outburst. It probably could be heard even from outside his office. He’d make sure to apologize to you better when he got the chance. But for now, it was looking like it would be a long, awkward day. Goodie.

~~~~~

Kugo growled under his breath the next morning when he saw the cloth wrapped bundle sitting on his desk. Yesterday’s embarrassment was still fresh in his mind as he stalked forward. His thick fingers quickly untied the surprisingly unpatterned piece of fabric. There, under the cloth, on top of the box, was a note as there always was. Kugo’s anger was cooled by confusion when he saw it, however. The paper was a plain yellow post-it note. Instead of the painstakingly cute handwriting with the heart dotted “i’s, there was a clearly hasty scrawl.

“I’m sorry. I never meant to annoy you. This will be the last one.”

Kugo frowned, shifting in his seat. Clearly the bento maker had heard about his outburst from yesterday. That was… unfortunate. But perhaps for the best, since he had no way of directly telling them to cease their nonsense. Unconsciously, his hand balled up the handkerchief and as he had been doing for a while, he scented it.

The cloth had a slight smell of salt to it. Tears, Kugo realized uncomfortably. The smell of tears slightly diluted the normal soothing smell of whoever had carefully packaged these bentos. He had little appetite as he looked over what was there. Tempura. Salmon. Vegetables. A large portion of tamagoyaki. But the part that caused an uncomfortable weight to settle in his chest was the little red box, filled with slightly clumsy, clearly homemade chocolates. Kugo closed his eyes, sighing as he set the box to the side to wait for lunch. This was good. This was what he wanted, to be left alone instead of some kind hearted omega taking pity on him. He had lived a long time without homemade bentos and little notes. He certainly didn’t want the small offering of chocolates. When lunchtime came, he certainly didn’t linger over the food longer than usual, savoring each bite. He tried to tell himself that this was for the best. That this was what he wanted. He refused to think about why he tucked the handkerchief and the box of chocolates into his desk drawer instead of leaving them in the break room as usual.

The next day as Kugo opened his office door, he looked toward his desk out of habit; searching for the lunch that had been left. His chest gave an uncomfortable lurch when he found the desk was bare. He shook his head in an attempt to clear it. This was fine. This was what he wanted. The sooner he forgot about all this nonsense, the sooner things would return to normal. He settled into his chair and began sifting through the paperwork he had to deal with. No better way to take his mind off his troubling thoughts and distract the whine of his inner alpha. He was certain. Things would be back to normal soon.

Two weeks later, Kugo listlessly picked at the limp lettuce of the poor excuse of a salad that he had picked up at a convenience store. He sighed, putting the lid back on the barely touched meal resolving to throw it away when he next passed a garbage can. He didn’t like to admit it, but he missed the carefully planned meals. Wondering what cute surprise was going to be next. It was nice that someone thought he might enjoy seeing animal shaped onigiri and cheesecake flavored kit kats. His alpha whimpered when he thought about the contented omega scent that gently perfumed every handkerchief, except the last. But just as the note had said, he had received nothing since that last bento. His thoughts remained gloomy as he entered the agency, quickly making his way into his office, locking the door behind him. He knew better than to hope as he looked towards his desk. Bare, once again. Sighing heavily, he slumped into his chair. He gently pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk. Carefully nestled into it was the cleaned, empty bento box from the last meal, the small box of dwindling homemade chocolates, and that last precious handkerchief.

Kugo carefully removed the handkerchief. He brought the cloth to his nose, inhaling deeply. Stabbing pain shot through him as he realized the scent was barely there anymore. The faint scent of tears almost completely overpowering the last lingering trace of distressed omega. His hands clutched the fabric tightly, squeezing until he realized the stress he was putting on the fabric. He quickly placed it on the desk and tried in vain to smooth out the wrinkles. After a minute of fussing, he gently refolded it and placed it back in the drawer. Kugo stared at the contents, unblinking before slowly sliding the drawer closed. It was almost gone. Everything was almost gone. And he didn’t know how to get it back.

With a low growl, Kugo pushed himself up. Today was a rare day where he hoped for trouble on his patrol. A fight would certainly take his mind off things, and just maybe calm the whining alpha that echoed throughout his entire being.

~~~~

He really needed to be careful what he wished for. Kugo winced as he limped toward the support lab. He had gotten a fight alright. He had gotten three fights, a twisted ankle, and a once again smashed communication headset. It wasn’t his fault that he had gotten thrown backwards into a rather solid concrete wall. Y/N was going to kill him.

Kugo pushed the lab door open, stepping inside. His forehead creased in worry. The lab felt off. Wrong in a way he couldn’t immediately place a finger finger on. Well, he’d have to think about it later, he decided as he made his way to where you were sitting. You were at your workbench, tapping your pen on the table and staring at nothing when he settled down on the stool next to you. You glanced over as Kugo sat down, did a double take and let out a small noise of surprise.

“Sakamata! What happened to you?”

The large man shrugged, trying to act nonchalant. “The usual. Villain didn’t behave exactly how I thought, and I paid for not being vigilant enough. Nothing too bad. Twisted ankle and roughed up a little. Unfortunately though…”

Sheepishly as a scolded schoolboy, Kugo pulled the shattered remains of his latest communicator out of his pocket and placed them on the workbench.

“Kugo!”

He couldn’t help but smile. He loved the times when you got worked up enough to call him by his first name. He watched as you gingerly sifted through the sad shattered remains.

“What did you do, hit it with a rock?!”

“Concrete wall, actually.”

You stilled before turning to look at Kugo, sharp and suspicious. “And I assume you were wearing it at the time?”

Kugo had the decency to look embarrassed as he nodded. Suddenly he was being fussed over, gentle hands touching his face and turning his head this way and that. An exclamation and curse left you when you found a large, sluggishly bleeding gash on the back of Kugo’s head.

“You! You Alpha!” You huffed as you started digging through the pockets of your lab coat. Kugo got a brief glimpse of colored fabric before the handkerchief was softly dabbing at his wound. Kugo hissed, only half listening as the scolding continued about how knot headed alphas needed to learn to go to the medical ward first before worrying about stupid replacable tech. He was brought back to the present when a hand, so much smaller than his own, grabbed his hand. You easily maneuvered him so that Kugo was now firmly holding the handkerchief over the cut. You hummed, satisfied for now.

“Now Sakamata, please hold that there until you can get medical to look at it. Doubt a hard headed man like you has a concussion, but might need stitches. I’m not exactly an expert. Don’t worry about the headset. I should be able to get a new one to you before my replacement takes over. And if not, I’ll be leaving some blueprints behind anyway.”

What?

“Replacement?”

You stilled, looking away from him. “Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I just… I never found the right time to tell you.” You fidgeted, rubbing your thumb over your knuckles. “I’m going to be going to America soon. I’ve gotten a good offer to work with a few heroes over there that need someone specialized in mutation supports. It would do a lot to boost my career…”

Kugo reached out, grabbing your hand, and stopping your nervous motions. He tried to find words in his stalling brain. “This is really sudden, Y/N.”

“Yeah. Sorry.” You wouldn’t meet his gaze.

He gently shook his head, giving your hand a squeeze. “Not scolding you. Just, is everything alright? Is something going on?”

You pulled away, digging your hands into your hair with a sigh. “You know me too well.”

Kugo gave half a smile. “I would hope so. I like to think we’re friends. Is there anything I can do? Are you in trouble in some way?”

You shook your head. “No. No, nothing like that. It’s kind of embarrassing. Just… A courtship that really didn’t turn out well. And I just… I could really use some time away to get my head back on straight. Eagle Pride’s office has mentioned wanting me to go over and collaborate with them for a while, and what better time than now?” Your laugh sounded bitter.

Kugo sat silent and stunned. He hadn’t known you were courting. Being courted? Honestly, he wasn’t even sure of your dynamic. If you weren’t beta, then you certainly hid your scent well. He cleared his throat before speaking hesitantly.

“I certainly won’t stop you if you truly wish to go. It is an excellent opportunity. Might be a step in having your own support company if you wish. And if not, you’re always welcome here, Y/n. You must know that.”

You give a small smile, finally looking him in the eye. His chest tightened when he saw tears there. “I know, Kugo. You’ve been nothing but kind to me. You’re a good friend for putting up with me.”

“There’s no putting up with. I enjoy your company, always.” Kugo reached out slowly, but you turned away and wiped your eyes with your sleeve. He frowned, placing his hand back in his lap. “And you sure you’re alright, Y/N? No one is threatening you, are they? Someone unsafe taken an interest in you?”

You snorted, “Nothing like that. And people think I’m the dramatic one. No. I just got rejected is all. I miscalculated. Thought they were interested, but they made it very clear they aren’t.”

“Then they’re an idiot.” The words escaped Kugo before he even realized what he was going to say. But it was true, he was sure. You were beautiful, kind, smart. Anyone would be beyond lucky to hold your interest. On the rare days he allowed himself to dream, he often thought he’d love to have someone like you as a mate. Someone who knew him well and cared for him as much as he cared for them. He felt pains in his chest and his eyes widened as realization hit him in the face like a wet mackerel. Oh. He was jealous. He was jealous of whoever it was that y/n had tried to court. And he was angry. Furious that some fool had rejected her. Hurt her. But he was glad she was still here. Yet she was going to leave. Going to leave him here alone. His thoughts swirled and tumbled, and he swayed slightly in his seat. And hand on his shoulder stilled him and he looked up into your concerned eyes.

“Hey, you’re not looking too good. You really should get to medical. Do you need me to help you?”

“No. No. I can make it down a few hallways, thank you though.”

Kugo stood, and tried to give back the cloth he had been pressing to his head. You pushed it back, gently scolding him. “I said leave it there until someone can look at it. If you insist on returning a silly old rag, you can wash it and give it back later.”

Kugo nodded and mumbled out a goodbye. He had a lot to think about as he slowly made his way to medical. So. He liked you. The more he thought about it, the clearer it seemed to him. He’d liked you for a while. Things were always easy with you. But now, you’re leaving. He couldn’t stop you, and wouldn’t even if he could. You clearly felt like you needed to go.

He was still ruminating on his thoughts as the doctor ushered him to a bed. He was poked and prodded. Kugo managed to mumble out what must have been coherent answers. In the end, he did end up needing a few stitches. And just like that, he found himself fixed up and back in his office. He snorted a laugh at the absurdity. How can a day like this somehow manage to be just another day? Kugo sat in his chair and twisted the cloth in his hands absently. He brought it to his nose and sniffed out of habit. Oh course, the scent of his own blood was the most dominant. But underneath that was the usual calming scent of omega. His shoulders relaxed as the tension ran out of him. He pulled that cloth away, idly looking at the pattern. It was cute. Floral. Reminded him of the cloth that the first bento had been…

Wait.

Wait.

He hastily brought the handkerchief to his nose again. There was no mistaking it. He knew that smell. He had missed that smell for weeks. It was faint. But it absolutely was there. Omega, soft and sweet. Not any omega. His omega. His bento maker. His y/n.

Y/n.

Y/n who had seen him toss her courting gift in the trash, who thought he had completely rejected her, and who was moving to America.

Kugo was on his feet in an instant. He’d never made the trip to the support lab that quickly before. You jumped when the door flew open, hitting so harshly that the doorknob dented the wall.

“Sakamata! What?”

He dropped to his knees before you, arms wrapped tight around your waist and his head pressing against your stomach.

“Kugo?” You asked softly, hesitantly stroking along his fin. “Kugo, what’s wrong?”

“You’re the best thing life has ever given me. Please don’t leave. Please.”

You made a soft, wounded sound. You kneeled slowly, and took his face in your hands. Kugo leaned into your touch like a man who had been starved of affection his whole life. You stroked your thumbs over his cheeks.

“Kugo, I’m going to need you to speak plainly, so I’m sure I don’t misunderstand. What’s going on?”

His large hands came up, taking both your hands in his.

“I’m an idiot.”

You snorted and tilted your head, confused. He met your gaze as he continued.

“I’m an idiot and I love you.”

You inhaled sharply, looking at him in disbelief. He pulled the crumpled, bloodstained handkerchief from his pocket.

“I’m an idiot because I love you and yet I never even noticed that you loved me too. You showed me every day. You knew I like eggs just as much as fish. You cared enough to make them cute. You gave me extra sweets on days when I was working a double shift. I loved every bento you made me. I have every note saved. And I might be an idiot, but I’d be an even bigger idiot if I let you go without saying something. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, and I love you and please don’t go.”

“Kugo.” You smiled sadly. “I’m sorry. I already promised I’d go.”

Kugo inhaled a shaky breath, his eyes lowering to the floor.

“But,” you used your hands to lift his chin. His gaze snapped back to yours. “It’s just for six months. Six months, and then I’ll be right back here. With you.”

“With me?”

“Mmhmm.” You gave his nose a quick peck. “Always. You’re the best man I know. I don’t think there’s anyone else in the world for me.”

Kugo groaned and pulled you close, burying his face in your neck. From here, although it was very faint, he could smell your soothing scent. “You can’t say things like that and then tell me I can’t have you here for six months!”

You chuckled as you hugged him close. “Well, we have two weeks before I leave. We have a little time. And once I’m back? We’ll have all the time in the world.”

“Even that won’t be enough time to spend with you.”

“Dork.”

He hummed his agreement. “But it’s true. Eternity would be enough time to spend with you.” Before you could protest, he pulled you in for a gentle, but determined kiss.

[renjuseyo]

I'm the one that ask about poly. I want to make request now if you're okay with it about male reader jihoon and seungcheol. Seungcheol being jealous when reader babied jihoon even though Seungcheol get it most of the time. While jihoon hate it when reader doing that but only whine and do nothing at all. Reader didn't stop because he know Jihoon enjoy it and also watching Seungcheol pouting and making a fuss is one of his entertainment.

pay attention to me ; s.coups & woozi

group: seventeen

pairing: choi seungcheol / lee jihoon / reader (male)

synopsis: just because seungcheol’s dating you two doesn’t make him less jealous when you direct your attention to jihoon, even if he always receives your pampering.

genre: fluff

i hope you liked this anon! i think this is a very cute prompt, and i had fun playing with jicheol’s dynamics. i kind of lost inspo if you couldn’t tell though lol... anyways, feedback is always appreciated!! ^^

age order goes as: seungcheol > reader > jihoon

jihoon: i won’t be home until late, so don’t wait up for me [11:58 PM]

that was sent to you and seungcheol four hours ago. seeing how seungcheol had gotten off work at a decent time (if you consider ten-thirty decent) compared to usual, you had assumed it would be the same for jihoon, too. apparently not.

normally, by the time the clock strikes three am, you would be fast asleep, squished between seungcheol and jihoon. but instead, you’re parking your car outside of the pledis building, with seungcheol struggling to stay awake in the passenger seat. “you know, i could’ve driven here instead,” the older offers, yawning.

you roll your eyes, pushing your door open. “don’t be ridiculous. you can barely keep your eyes open, and you’ve worked all day. driving is the least i could do.”

you two step out of your car. after locking it, you begin walking towards the studio. the dim glow of the lamp posts and the faint twinkle of the stars are your only guides to the entryway, and you’re reminded once again just how late it is when you take in your surroundings. not a single sound can be heard, and the sky above you is blanketed black. what in the world is jihoon doing so late?

(well, there’s only one thing he could be doing this late. but most importantly, why? the members of seventeen are supposed to have the weekend off, so he has plenty of time to finish up any projects.)

once seungcheol unlocks the door, you two trudge inside, yawning. it takes a few minutes for you both to find jihoon’s studio, but it isn’t hard to spot. in the dark hallway, there’s only one room lit up, with a blue, fluorescent light splashing its walls. you glance at the small window, and just as you had suspected, your boyfriend is perched on his chair, hunched over his desktop.

luckily his door isn’t locked, so seungcheol twists the doorknob and pulls it open. the intrusion startles jihoon, evident by the way he flinches in his seat. when he spins around, you frown at the weary look on his face. the bright blue of his room highlights his eye bags, and you can see him struggling to stay awake. “what are you two doing here? you should be asleep,” he says.

you stride towards him, eyebrows furrowed. “that’s what we should be saying. do you have any idea what time it is? you’re supposed to be at home with us.” seungcheol nods in agreement, probably too tired to engage himself in a conversation.

“not until i finish this,” the younger protests, gesturing at his monitor. you peek behind him to look at what’s pulled up, and unsurprisingly, there’s a new project loaded up, probably one of the songs he’s working on for seventeen’s next album. “management said i have to get this done by next week.” he glances at the clock. “plus, it’s only three am. i’ve had less sleep.”

“by less sleep you mean no sleep,” you correct, propping your hands on your hips. you almost look the part of a disappointed parent. “that’s so bad for you, you know.”

“hoon, we have this weekend off. you can work on it then,” seungcheol replies, yawning. “come sleep with us. anyone with a pair of eyes can tell that you’re tired.”

jihoon rolls his eyes, but the yawn that leaves his throat is evidence enough. “i’m just fine. i already downed a whole bottle of soda, anyways.”

you tiredly trudge over to him, tugging at his sleeve. he raises a questioning eyebrow, but he doesn’t say anything as you drag him over to the couch by the wall. “hoonie, you’ve been up since six am. it’s not good for babies to sleep so late.”

he flushes at the implications, frowning. it ends up looking more like a pout, though, further proving your point. “i’m not a baby. you’re acting like one right now,” he protests.

you pull him onto the couch, arms trapping him. “but you’re the youngest, so you’re the baby. right, cheol?”

instead of agreeing with you, the oldest of you three pouts, flopping down beside you. “that’s no fair, (name). both hoonie and i worked today, so why are you only babying him?” he whines. for someone who’s supposed to be the oldest, he sure craves attention like a child.

you wave a dismissive hand, scooting over so seungcheol has more room. this causes you and jihoon to squish even closer together, and as discomforting as it is for all three of you, no one makes any moves to go to a more comfortable area. but then again, you three usually wound up like this more often than not, so you all stopped minding altogether. “hush, cheol. we cuddled for like, an hour when we were home. hoonie hasn’t had anyone to take care of him yet.”

jihoon rolls his eyes, pressed against your chest. “i’m right here, you know.” as much as he dislikes skinship, he’s too tired to move, and your embrace is comforting, though he’d never admit it.

you hum, snuggling closer to him. “lack of sleep makes babies grouchy. you can worry about your project tomorrow.”

“but-”

“don’t talk back to the adults,” you murmur, dozing off, pressing your forehead against his.

jihoon grumbles, though he doesn’t try to move. “this is crazy. i’m only a year younger than you and seungcheol-hyung. what do you mean don’t talk back to the adults?” he snorts.

when you don’t respond, he can only assume you’ve fallen asleep. he rolls his eyes and cranes his neck to peek at seungcheol. his eyes are also fluttering close, arms firmly wrapped around your waist. sometimes he wonders why you call him the baby when seungcheol is right there, constantly whining for your affection. if anything, he’s the baby of you three.

seeing how he can’t wriggle his way out of here (not that he would. drinking a whole bottle of coke-cola has done nothing to lift his drowsiness), he can do nothing but surrender to your clutches and lay limp in your arms. he closes his eyes in an attempt to fall asleep, but hearing your voice in his head makes it a tad difficult.

you’re the youngest, so you’re the baby~

jihoon huffs, glaring at you, who’s oblivious to his piercing eyes. “says the one who always needs to hug something before he sleeps,” he quietly grumbles, poking your cheek.

to his surprise, the subtle motion is enough to stir you awake, and he feels himself heat up when your eyes flutter open. even when you’re tired, you still manage to look breathtaking. “go to sleep, hoonie,” you remind again before dozing back asleep.

when jihoon glances at the clock, the white, neon digits show him that it’s nearly four am. so this is what he ends up doing, but not because you told him to.

jihoon knows that despite your constant babying, you recognize that he’s a functioning adult who’s more than capable of handling responsibilities. even more than you, he might argue. you just have an affectionate nature and make it your sole duty to take care of everyone around you, even if they’re older than you, like seungcheol. plus, you just like calling those younger than you babies. if it weren’t for the fact that you’re only a few months older than him, he would’ve thought you were the oldest of you three.

though he claims to despise your affectionate nature, he’s thankful to have your presence, especially around him and seungcheol. he knows that as the leader of one of the biggest boy groups - both metaphorically and physically - the stress is undoubtedly more burdensome than the ones the other members have. he knows that seungcheol spends more time structuring himself as a strong leader and wise oldest member than as a twenty-five-year-old man who likes music and video-games. which is why he’s grateful that you’re around to give him the pampering and leisure he deserves, reminding him that it’s okay to be taken care of sometimes.

he isn’t mad that you direct most of your pampering at seungcheol. if anything, he’s more than happy, because now you’re there to give him the attention he complains about when he can’t. your presence, for a lack of better words, acts as a balance for you three. but there are times where you choose to baby (read: pester) him, simply because he’s the youngest and needs attention once in a while. your words, not his.

now is one of those moments.

jihoon blinks, staring at the shoe box perched on the table before him. he looks at you, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. you gesture at the shoe box in a flourish, widely grinning like a child who’s won candy. “ta-da!” you exclaim. seungcheol, who had been immersed with a mobile game, is now looking his way, curiously staring at the box. judging from his expression, he guesses he doesn’t know what the contents are, either.

“and what exactly am i looking at?” he asks.

“open it!” you exclaim.

he does as he’s told, lifting up the lid of the box. to his surprise, they’re a pair of black slide-ons. he remembers eyeing a pair a week ago at a mall he had gone to with you and soonyoung, but had dismissed the thought after seeing the number shopping bags soonyoung had on each arm. he isn’t sure if you remembered or if this is a mere coincidence. either way, he’s surprised you bought him a pair of shoes out of the blue.

“what!” seungcheol exclaims. he throws his phone onto the couch, the device bouncing on the cushions. he walks towards you, instantly wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on your shoulder. “you bought shoes for hoonie, but not for me?”

you roll your eyes. “cheol, you’re the one giving people your credit card information. you’re quite capable of buying your own shoes... actually, you’d buy them, unprompted.”

“but it’s different when it’s a gift,” he whines. “i want you to buy me shoes, too.”

ignoring your whiny boyfriend, you gesture at the sandals. “i saw you looking at them when we were at the mall with soonyoung last week! i know you don’t have a lot of time to go shopping, so i bought them for you,” you explain.

jihoon frowns. he’s the one practically swimming in a pool of money, so he should be the one buying you nice things, not the other way around. “oh... you didn’t have to.”

when he looks up at you, he sees the excitement vanish from your face, being replaced with a pout. seeing you like that makes him wonder why he and seungcheol never try babying you, especially when you have the audacity to look as cute as you do now. “do you not like them? i can always return them and get you something else...”

he practically flies out of his seat, eyes wide. “no!” he blurts. you and seungcheol are startled by the sudden outburst, your eyes mirroring his. “i mean-” he clears his throat, “i like them, i really do. but i should be the one buying you things, not the other way around.”

thankfully, you smile. “don’t worry about it! a baby like you should be bought nice things, even if you probably have better versions of them,” you tease, blowing him an air kiss.

jihoon scoffs. "you know, now that i think about it, you always pay for my things even though you’re the, and i quote, broke college student. what’s up with that?”

“because babies shouldn’t be paying for things.” you size him up, feigning innocence. “are you even allowed to have a debit card?”

seungcheol snorts at your comment, stifling his laughter by burying his head in your shoulder. on the other hand, jihoon’s jaw drops in disbelief. “this is bullying!” he yells, exasperated. “i’m being bullied by my boyfriend. hyung, you can’t be siding with him.”

the older shrugs, nuzzling his face into the crook of your neck. “when i do it, you always kick me, but you never do anything when it’s him. it’s so fun, seeing you get all flustered.”

he glares at you both. “i actually hate you two. especially you,” he seethes, pointing at you.

you lean over to whisper in seungcheol’s ear, but you’re side-eyeing him, obviously trying to get him to hear you. “has he been fed yet? you know babies get grouchy when they don’t have food in their system.”

“(name) (last name)!!”

seungcheol knows that like him, you’re usually the oldest in most situations. because of this, taking care of those around you has practically become second nature. making sure everyone around you is healthy and happy has become instinctive, and you’re willing to go through hoops and hurdles just to achieve that. it’s one of the many traits he loves about you.

he’s grateful to have you around to take care of him, but most importantly, he’s glad that there’s someone like you taking care of jihoon. sure, he whines about not being the center of your attention, but he knows that there are times when jihoon needs it more than he does. viewed as the genius producer and leader of the vocal unit of seventeen, there’s no doubt that the pressure he receives to repeatedly produce big hits is unimaginable. though it’s something that the two of them share in common, he knows he would never willingly open up about his thoughts, afraid of burdening the already stressed leader.

thankfully, there’s you, with a warm and loving aura encompassing you. you just have this aura that makes people want to lower their guard, even for those as whole and reserved as jihoon. it undoubtedly helps relieve the tension that the young producer has, even if he claims to hate it.

even if he knows this, though, that doesn’t stop him from wanting all of your attention. you’re the only person jihoon allows to pamper him (even if he denies it), so it’s not surprising that you take every opportunity you get to do so. while it’s fun to see him get riled up, seungcheol can’t help but act bratty when your attention isn’t on him.

on an exceptionally mundane day where the members of seventeen are lounging in the practice room, taking a break after excruciating hours of nonstop dancing, you knock on the door, arms loaded with bags of takeout. a few seconds later, the door swings open, and you’re standing in front of a sweaty chan. “oh, hyung! what brings you here?” he asks, surprised.

“hey chan,” you greet with a smile. he moves to the side, giving you space to enter the room. when you do, you’re greeted by twelve boys who seem equally sweaty and exhausted, who slur their greetings. “i was going to drop off some food for cheol and hoonie, but i figured you guys would be hungry,” you explained, gesturing towards the bags. from the way their eyes light up, you can tell they’re pleased with the surprise. “i have fried chicken, tteokbokki, japchae... just a bit of everything.”

immediately, the thirteen boys gather around you, salivating at the scent wafting out of the bags. “thank you hyung, you didn’t have to do that for us,” dokyeom smiles.

you shrug, seating yourself between seungcheol and jihoon. “it’s the least i could do, don’t worry about it. now eat up! you all are probably starving.”

another chorus of thanks echoes throughout the room, and soon, everyone begins to dig in. as you chat with the other members, catching up on each others’ lives and learning about comeback preparations, you suddenly feel someone pulling you up by the armpits before placing you down on their lap. startled, you crane your neck and see seungcheol, who responds by pecking your forehead. “what was that for?” mingyu asks from across you, voicing your question.

“you haven’t paid attention to me at all,” he murmurs.

you simply hum, leaning forward to stab a piece of fried chicken. you aim the fork at seungcheol’s mouth, who eagerly sweeps in and takes a bite. from the corner of your eye, you can see the other members eyeing you two with disgust. “sometimes i forget this is a three-way relationship, seeing how you both react so differently around (name)-hyung,” seungkwan snorts, scooping more japchae onto his plate. “why can’t you be more like jihoon-hyung? at least he doesn’t whine when (name)-hyung isn’t around every five minutes like you.”

you roll your eyes. “please. hoonie likes it when i baby him, too.” you send him a wink, to which he responds with by rolling his eyes.

“you’re talking nonsense.”

“don’t lie~” you coo, leaning over and ruffling his hair. “our cute baby hoonie~”

above you, seungcheol pouts, resting his chin on your head. “why don’t you ever treat me like that, (name)? this is unfair.”

you add more tteokbokki onto your plate. “it’s fun, seeing both of your reactions. hoonie’s more fun to tease, and it’s fun seeing you get all mopey.” he pouts, though he can’t refute your claims. jihoon does have funnier reactions than he does, and judging by both the amused and unimpressed looks the other members give him, he’s sure that he looks nothing short of glum.

“you know,” wonwoo begins, “i never would’ve imagined that jihoon would’ve gotten together with them. maybe with (name), but not with seungcheol-hyung. you both cling onto him more than to each other, anyways.”

“cheol here just comes to me more because he’s scared of hoonie,” you laugh, patting his thigh. “besides, they have each other when i’m not in the picture.”

“(name), you shouldn’t spoil cheollie so much. he’s already so bratty when you’re not here,” jeonghan sighs. “i’d love to see you tease jihoon more, though. you’re the only person who can get away with it unscathed, anyways.”

both seungcheol and jihoon darken in embarrassment. “shut it, yoon jeonghan,” they snap in unison.

when seungcheol and jihoon wake up one saturday morning, they don’t expect to be clinging onto each other in bed. they also don’t expect you to be awake already, seeing how you’re usually one of the last people to get up.

“where’s (name)?” jihoon groggily asks, scooting closer to an equally tired seungcheol. though he rarely lets seungcheol hold him, his need for warmth overpowers his disdain for skinship.

the older doesn’t seem to mind his sudden touchiness, wrapping an arm around him. “dunno,” he mumbles.

neither of them further questions your disappearance, cuddling closer to each other. they both begin to drift back asleep when the floorboards of the hallway creak, signalling a new presence. the bedroom dear squeaks open, so when they both turn to face the source, they see you tiptoeing your way in. “oh, morning guys,” you whisper, sheepishly smiling. “sorry for waking you two."

“it’s fine,” jihoon yawns, slowly sitting up. beside him, seungcheol turns to dig his face into his pillow, stretching his limbs. “why are you up so early? it’s-” he pauses to glance at the clock, which reads 11:30 am. “okay, maybe it’s not so early. but what are you doing up?”

you shrug. “cheol elbowed my face earlier, and i couldn’t fall back asleep again, so i decided to get out of bed.”

seungcheol turns around and looks at you with guilty eyes, sitting up. “sorry babe,” he apologizes. he grabs your arm and pulls you onto him. “is your pretty face okay?” he asks, rubbing your cheeks.

you thread your fingers through his hair, untangling the knots as jihoon rolls over. “why don’t you come back to bed and sleep some longer? i know how irritable you can get when you don’t get enough sleep.”

you shake your head at his offer. “it’s okay, but thanks.” you reposition yourself so you’re sandwiched between seungcheol and jihoon, which is when they notice the navy apron hanging around your neck. “i made food not long ago, it should be warm still. come eat with me.” you wriggle your way out of the human sandwich, standing up again. “get up, lazy bums!”

“kiss me first,” seungcheol jeers like the brat he is.

you lean in close until your breath fans his lips. when he looks like he’s going to reciprocate, you move your lips last minute and peck his forehead instead. “brush your teeth first, brat. your breath smells like ass.” before you leave, you swiftly move your head and place a kiss on jihoon’s cheek, running out of the bedroom before either of them can do anything about it.

half an hour later, jihoon steps out of the bedroom and trudges into the kitchen. seungcheol’s still in the bathroom washing up. when he rounds the corner, he nearly screams to see you so close to him. you take this opportunity to wrap your arms around him and lift him up, to which he responds with a yelp. “put me down!” he shrieks.

you pay no mind to his shrieking, walking towards the counter. you plop down on a stool and seat him on your lap. he’s still squirming, but your grip is tight, so his fidgeting proves futile. “good morning, my baby~”

for someone who claims to hate the nickname, he always flushes a pretty red when you or seungcheol use it. even after getting together, he still isn’t used to it. “how many times do i have to tell you to not call me a baby? i’m only a year younger than you.”

“then what should i call you then?” you pucker your lips, which are met with jihoon’s palm. “my liege? my love? which do you prefer?” you flirt.

his blush darkens, and he can only look away in embarrassment. “shut up.”

your laugh is so loud it hurts his ears, but it’s endearing and true, something he never gets tired of listening to. “our baby is so cute when he’s flustered~”

“is today a bully seungcheol or a bully jihoon day, i wonder?” a voice in front of you asks. he cranes his neck as much as he can and sees seungcheol pouting in front of you two, bangs wet. “do i not get this treatment because i’m the oldest?

you stick your tongue out at him before flicking his forehead. “come on, let’s eat! you two took forever.” fortunately, seungcheol pulls out a stool for jihoon to sit on, so he’s all too eager to hop away from your clutches.

you’re sitting across from the duo, who are seated beside each other. the kitchen is mostly silent, save for the clinking of utensils. it isn’t when seungcheol takes a bite from an egg that you notice a band-aid plastered near his chin. “did you hurt yourself?” you ask, aiming your fork at his wound.

he absentmindedly runs a finger against the band-aid. “oh, this? i was shaving earlier and accidentally cut myself,” he explains. he gauges your reaction, from your furrowed eyebrows to worried eyes. just then, he lets out a cry, startling you and jihoon. “oh (name), it hurts~”

you laugh at his silliness, while jihoon snorts. “you’re so embarrassing. gosh (name), this is what happens when you spoil him too much. one single mishap and he comes running to you with fake tears. look at the monster you’ve created.”

you glance at seungcheol, and the mischievous smirk on your lips only spells for disaster. “cheol-ah, you were just fine a moment ago. i think you’re strong enough to handle a tiny cut, aren’t you?”

normally he would never allow for someone to question his strength, but when it comes to you, all he wants is your pampering, even if he makes himself look like a fool in the process. “don’t tease me, (name)~ don’t take jeonghan’s words so seriously!”

you laugh, recalling your friend’s words. you love to indulge your boyfriends, though teasing them is also fun, too. you used to only tease jihoon with your sickening babying, but seeing how seungcheol whines only fuels your mischievous nature. “i think you can handle it, cheol.” changing the topic, you smile at jihoon. “how’s the food? i think i did a good job for someone with abysmal cooking skills.”

“babe~” he whines.

“the food’s good, although your chopping skills could use some work,” jihoon comments, poking at an unevenly cut tomato.

you snort. “i’m cooking for you guys, not gordon ramsay. as long as it tastes good, it should be fine.”

“this is bullying.”

you turn to face seungcheol, who’s still pouting. “why don’t you ask hoonie?”

“because he’s going to say no. or worse, he’ll kick my shins.”

you laugh, getting up to refill your water. before you enter the kitchen, you cup seungcheol’s face and press a chaste kiss on his band-aid. “there. happy?”

the dopey, lovesick look he gives you is answer enough, and as confident and nonchalant as you are when it comes to flirting, you can feel butterflies swarming in your stomach. it never gets less exhilarating, knowing you have him wrapped around your finger. “suddenly, my cut doesn’t hurt anymore.”

jihoon gags. “disgusting.”

“you like it when we’re disgusting,” you mumble, pressing a kiss on his hair. before he can react, you swoop down and squish his cheeks, leaning in to press your lips together. he makes a disgruntled noise, though he doesn’t make any attempts to pry your hands off or to move away. when you pull away, a satisfied smile rests on your lips. “see? i knew you liked it when i babied you.”

you move your hands away from his face and lay them atop his hair. on the other hand, seungcheol squishes your cheeks together and begins peppering kisses on your face, drawing out little giggles from you. below you, jihoon frowns, folding his arms. “you’re so annoying. i could step on your toes if i wanted to.”

“if you wanted to,” you reiterate, turning your head so seungcheol doesn’t muffle your words with his lips. “key word is if, my dear. you would never actually hurt me, our cute baby.”

seungcheol relinquishes his attacks, sitting back onto the stool. “i wonder what would happen if i called him that?” he wonders out loud. suddenly, he squishes jihoon’s cheek, mirroring the fond look you always give them. “our cute baby jihoonie~”

right when he does this, seungcheol decides then that is the first and last time he’ll ever try to baby jihoon again - at least, if he wants to stay unharmed. pampering is more of your forte, anyways.

[five-rivers]

Danger First

Chapter 6

@pocketramblr another :)

.

Shouta trudged back to the staff break room. His counseling session with Midoriya had lasted a little over an hour, so while there were still teachers in the building, many of them had left. With the exception of semi-retired heroes like Recovery Girl, everyone working here had two full time jobs. Hizashi, despite his carefree air, had even more than that in the form of his radio show. Hizashi had probably left with the students.

But Hizashi wasn't either of the ones he wanted to talk to. Not today.

He opened the door. Three, no, four teachers were there, but Snipe didn't count, seeing as he was completely passed out on one of the couches with his gas mask half off. He must have had an early shift patrol today, poor sucker.

Nemuri was there, too, with most of her hero outfit on. She was applying her hero-grade makeup (water proof, resistant to three common contact poisons, and guaranteed not to react badly with mace).

More importantly, Kan and Yagi were both there, poring over papers on the same desk, no less. Shouta walked up to the table and looked down at sheets and sheets full of incomprehensible numbers.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"We-"

'Don't tell him!" said Kan, urgently. "This is going to be my class's leg up on Aizawa this time around."

"Haha! Good one!" Yagi slapped Kan's back, and apparently even in his skeletal form he could pack a punch, because Kan had the air knocked out of him. Before he could recover, Yagi continued, "I'm making personalized nutrition plans for his class!"

"What?"

"One of my undergraduate degrees was in nutritional and health sciences, after all!"

Wow, there was a lot to unpack there, but Shouta was more than happy to leave it in its box. He had other fish to fry and topics to interrogate. Small talk requirement fulfilled, he moved on.

"How well do you know Midoriya?"

Yagi blinked and put down his pencil. "Moderately so? We met about this time last year and have been meeting regularly since then."

So, so much to unpack.

"Why?"

"Ah, he... impressed me, I suppose? He was involved in the bodysnatcher incident last year."

That was an understatement.

"He had a lot of heroic spirit!" continued Yagi. "But... not so much in the, ah, body category. I thought it would be a shame, a waste, really, if he wasn't able to pursue his dream, and a hero school prep course wasn't really in the cards for him, considering his quirk status and the timing... And I did have this degree..." He waved his hands vaguely at the table. "I just gave him a little help."

"What brought all this on, anyway?" asked Nemuri. "Midoriya is the little green haired kid, right? One of Chibiida's new friends?"

"If you keep calling him that, I won't be held responsible for when he snaps and attempts murder. But, yes, that's Midoriya."

"So...?"

"He told me I was the best teacher he'd ever had."

Nemuri started laughing.

"Oh," said Yagi. "I'm glad the two of you are getting along so well."

"I think he's pulling your leg, Shouta," said Nemuri, coming over to pat him on his shoulder. "Man, I didn't think a friend of Chibiida's would have it in him. Such youth!"

"I cannot even begin to tell you how much he wasn't."

Nemuri's laughter died off.

"Judging from some comments he made today," said Shouta, "not to mention the discrepancies between his record and his observed behavior in the classroom, I'd say he's been the target of severe quirkism in the past, particularly from his teachers. Did he ever mention anything like that to you?"

Yagi's face darkened and the mood in the room grew much more somber. "Not in so many words, no. However... some of his comments about his teachers disturbed me enough to bring it to the attention of the Musutafu Educational Services District, but as an unrelated stranger without concrete proof..."

("You can use the acronym, you know," muttered Vlad.)

"You're telling me they ignored the number one hero."

Yagi made a face. "I didn't go to them as All Might. Can you imagine the media frenzy if I did that? I didn't want to paint that kind of target on young Midoriya's back."

That was fair, actually. If largely-anonymous Shouta had enemies, All Might had ten times as many. Not to mention supposed fans.

"Other avenues of inquiry were also fruitless," said All Might, countenance darkening. "I asked some of my police colleagues, but they don't have full discretion over the direction of their investigations, and, again, if I were to use my weight to move them... It would get out, and people would wonder why I was so concerned with an apparently normal middle school."

"Did you try talking to Nezu about it?"

"No? Why?"

Shouta reminded himself that although Yagi was an alumnus, he was also very new as a teacher, and was as of yet unfamiliar with Nezu's more interesting traits.

"I'm going to," said Shouta, "and you're going to come with me." He turned to Kan. "Have you heard anything from Bakugo about quirk discrimination?"

"All I've heard from him are explosions, threats, and some kind of complex I don't have nearly enough psychiatric training to- They're from the same school," he realized.

"Yeah."

Kan pinched his brow. "So, the sweet shy kid you keep gushing about-" Both Shouta and Yagi attempted to reassure Kan they weren't gushing, "-and the demon brat are from the same school."

"That is what their records say," agreed Shouta. "Did you know, Yagi?"

"Oh, that they knew each other? Yes. Actually, I was rather under the impression they were childhood friends, as Midoriya ran out to help him during the bodysnatcher incident."

Shouta grunted. It was possible. He hadn't seen the two of them interact, at any rate.

"I'm going to Nezu with you," said Kan, standing up. "No matter what else this hell school did, they deserve to suffer for inflicting Bakugo Katsuki on me with those recommendations full of lies."

"Why don't you just expell him if he's that bad?"

"Because he's talented, hardworking, and hasn't actually broken any rules except for the swearing. He's just a pain I wasn't prepared to deal with and will probably contribute more to my hearing loss than Yamada by the end of the year."

"Wait, wait," said Yagi. "What exactly are you expecting Nezu to do in this situation?"

"Well," said Nemuri, who still hadn't left yet, "let's just say there's a reason hid name is 'god' in the staff group chat."

.

Terrible did not even begin to describe how Izuku felt when he woke up. His skin was static. His mouth was dry in a way that hurt. It felt like a siren was going off in his brain, and also like it was too quiet. He wanted to both run all the way to the school and hide in his closet.

This, of course, left him paralyzed in bed.

He hadn't felt remotely like this since the first time someone had left spider lilies on his desk at school. What was wrong with him?

No, that was the wrong question. All signs pointed to him having Danger Sense. He was in danger. And also immobile in bed.

With a great deal of effort, he turned to his bedside table and grabbed his phone. The clock in the corner read 4:42. Far too early to call anyone. And yet...

With shaky fingers, he navigated to Mr. Yagi's contact information and pressed dial. To Izuku's surprise, it only rang once.

"Young Midoriya? Is something wrong?"

The sound of his voice loosened the terrible knot under Izuku's breastbone. "I- May-maybe? I don't- I don't know, I think so."

There were sounds of movement on the other side of the line. "What happened?"

"I just- just woke up, and I- I think it's Danger Sense. It- Something bad is going to happen."

"I'm on my way. Is your mother with you?"

"N-no. She's at a- at a tech conference in Tokyo. She won't be back until- until tomorrow. Mr. Yagi, I don't- I don't think it's something here. I think it's later... at the school."

There was a pause. "My boy, are you quite sure?"

Izuku's laugh was just a little hysterical. "I mean, I'm- I'm pretty new to this, but..." he'd like to think his flight or fight reflex would have a more constructive response to am immediate threat. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you up, I should have waited-"

"Nonsense! Forewarned is forearmed, and time is one of the most valuable resources a hero can have! I'm still picking you up, I'll just-" Mr. Yagi coughed, "-take the car instead."

"The car? You mean Hercules!?" The excitement was enough to free Izuku from his paralysis and propel him into a sitting position.

"Well, yes, but, my boy, how did you know? I don't think I've ever mentioned the name in my interviews..."

"But you did! In one of your American interviews. It was for a local station and you and Mr. Shield were on together."

"But those were in English."

"I know! When I found out about them, it really motivated me to work on my English! I think I could probably pass the Level Two fluency test..."

"Young Midoriya, have I ever told you how glad I am that you aren't a villain?"

.

"Hikage, did Danger Sense ever make you feel this bad?" asked Nana as Yoichi fussed in the background.

"Super Anxiety made me feel this bad all the time. Sometimes, it made me feel worse. I got used to it."

Nana let out a sigh of relief. It sucked to Ninth right now, but if it was normal for the quirk...

"That's good, then," said En. "Not for Ninth, obviously, but if that's just how the quirk works, he'll be able to figure it out. What did it usually mean, when you felt like this?"

"Generally, that someone was planning on killing me in the next few hours."

Dead(er than usual) silence.

"Ah," said En.

"You know," said Nana, "sometimes the kinds of lives we led slips my mind, but then the universe is always real happy to turn around and slap it back into me."

Yoichi started screeching.

.

"Do you feel any worse now that we're here?" asked Mr. Yagi after shutting Hercules down.

"Not really," said Izuku. He slumped down in his seat and looked away. "I'm sorry, I dragged you out of bed and this is probably just a stupid pointless meaningless panic attack..." He felt tears begin to prick at the edges of his eyes. He was so stupid. And selfish. All Might could be out helping people right now. Or taking care of himself (which, according to Recovery Girl's comments during their training sessions, he didn't do nearly enough of).

"Hey, hey, there's no need to cry, it's alright."

"Because you're here?" asked Izuku with a sniffle.

"Well, yes, but also, even if it was 'just' a panic attack, I'd still want to be here for you." He reached across the central console to pat Izuku on the shoulder. Then his face twisted into something rather sheepish. "But on the subject of panic attacks, something did occur to me on the way here."

Izuku looked back down at his knees. "What is it?"

"This is the anniversary of the day we met."

Izuku... had known that, actually. Waking up as he had had driven it from his mind, but the date was marked on his calendar. He'd even gotten All Might a gift, although he hadn't yet talked himself into being brave enough to give it to him, and with what happened today, it would most likely languish in his desk drawer for an indefinite period of time as the idea of giving it became progressively more awkward.

"My boy? I can't quite make out what you're saying. You're mumbling."

Izuku clapped his hands over his mouth. "Sorry."

"It's quite alright. I'm just an old man with hearing problems."

"You're not old! It's... I just- I just don't see how- how that's connected to this." He gestured at himself in all his vaguely-trembling glory.

"Young Midoriya... you almost died three separate times that day. That's traumatic. And sometimes anniversaries are... reminders."

"I only almost died once?"

"The first time with the sludge villain, grabbing on to my leg- and I don't think I ever apologized for telling you to let go, I was just so surprised- and then the sludge villain again."

"But I only almost died the first time..." He trailed off as Mr. Yagi gave him a look. He'd thought his mother was the only one who could give looks like that... "Do you really think this is connected to that?"

"I don't know," said Mr. Yagi. "Do you feel like it might be?"

"I don't know," said Izuku. He bent over and knotted his fingers in his hair.

"Do you think it might help to stay home today?"

"No!" yelped Izuku. "No," he repeated, trying to calm his racing heart.

"Alright, alright. Never fear, my boy." Mr. Yagi gave him another steadying shoulder pat. "In that case, let's go into this with the assumption that this is danger sense, and it is attempting to warn you of a real threat."

"Okay," said Izuku. He rubbed at his eyes. "What do we do first?"

Mr. Yagi tensed and looked up at the top floors of UA. "Well..."

.

"Hm!" said Nezu. "That is something of a conundrum! The extent of your quirk is unclear, and it is not properly registered, so we cannot go through the official routes we normally would for a warning given through a precognitive or clairvoyant quirk, even given that we are aware of One for All and the probable nature of Danger Sense."

Nezu knowing about One for All had been a bit of a surprise. In retrospect, maybe it shouldn't have been. All Might would have had to tell Nezu something so that Izuku was allowed on campus before he was really a student, and seeing as how All Might was originally teaching here to find a successor... well, it made sense. Izuku just wished he'd been told.

How many other people knew was a question for later, however.

"Your inexperience with the quirk and other circumstances further complicates the matter."

"Sorry," said Izuku.

"Whatever for? It isn't your fault." Nezu did not wait for an answer. "Then there is yesterday's incident to consider... You say you felt something with the reporters?"

"Y-yes, sir."

"Hm. Yes. Toshinori, I so believe you have a contact who could clear this up much more efficiently."

"I know," said Mr. Yagi. "He isn't picking up his phone."

"You don't think-?" started Izuku.

"No, no, he just hasn't been speaking to me lately."

"Oh? I was under the impression you had been communicating with him regularly since returning to Musutafu."

"He thought I would change my mind about something I didn't change my mind about, apparently. It doesn't matter. What else can we do?"

"A good number of things, luckily. Midoriya, I am going to make a series of phone calls. I would like you to tell me if the sensation you are experiencing changes at all while I make them."

"Yes, sir."

Nezu began methodically going through Izuku's list of teachers, warning them that something 'like yesterday' might happened and going over lesson plans and safety procedures. Nothing really changed. Until Nezu called Thirteen.

(Oh, gosh, they were going to go to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint on a field trip today? That was so cool!)

But after Nezu talked to Thirteen about checking safety systems, a little bit of the tension he'd been holding onto leaked away.

"Interesting," said Nezu. "Perhaps we should reschedule rescue training until-"

Izuku dove for Nezu's garbage bin.

"-or perhaps not," mused Nezu as Izuku expelled the meager contents of his stomach.

It was a good thing he hadn't eaten breakfast.

.

"Hikage," said Banjo. "I'm sorry for calling you a dead-eyed emotionally stunted bastard with a warped sense of humor if this is what you had to put up with all the time."

"You called me a dead-eyed emotionally stunted bastard?"

"Not to your face, but yes."

"Well. It isn't as if those things aren't all true..."

.

"I'm okay," said Izuku. "That just... felt bad."

"No cancelations in that case," said Nezu as Mr. Yagi hovered.

"Y-yeah. Oh gosh, now I know how Uraraka feels..."

"Perhaps you should stay home-"

"No! I can't! That would be..."

Nezu held up his hands- paws? "It was merely a suggestion. Can I offer you some tea?"

"Yes, please," said Izuku, voice catching uncomfortably on his raw throat.

"I do have a few more calls to make. Do you feel up to staying, or would you prefer to head down to Recovery Girl? Or perhaps even the cafeteria? I imagine you haven't eaten breakfast."

"I'd like to stay."

"Very well." Nezu picked up his phone again. Izuku could just make out the click on the other end when it was picked up. "Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? One thing's for sure! I'm the principal!" There was laughter on the other end of the line. "No, not at all! I am in fact calling for you, Tensei. Or should I say, Ingenium? I'm aware this is last minute, and you were planning on taking the day off- How do I know? It was quite simple, really- but between the break-in yesterday and a tip I received this morning regarding a threat to the school, I would like a few more hands on deck than usual. Why, yes, you can stay with your brother's class. Do try not to tease Shouta too much. He has a reputation to maintain." After a few more pleasantries, Nezu hung up. "Midoriya?"

"I... think that's better? I'm sorry, it's hard to tell what could be the quirk and what's just me feeling bad."

Nezu nodded. "In that case, I do recommend that you head to Recovery Girl's office. My other calls will be similar, and the other heroes will not be with your class."

"Why not?" asked Mr. Yagi.

"Because Midoriya's reaction to the field trip being canceled suggests that the danger may not be limited to himself or his class. Oh! And one more thing. Midoriya, I noticed that you put in some costume alteration requests. Naturally, most of them will not be finished until some time next week, however, some of the support items you mentioned are fairly common. If you have time before the field trip, you should pay a visit to Power Loader."

.

Izuku hadn't expected it, but he did feel much better after eating, despite his continuing sense of impending doom. It was also about half an hour from the beginning of homeroom, so he had the time to go to the support department and check if they had anything he could take.

He hoped they had grappling hooks. Izuku had always wanted a grappling hook.

Mr. Yagi took him most of the way there, but students had started to arrive at this point, and Izuku convinced him to go prepare for classes (and hide in the staff area so that no one would wonder why he, a skeleton man not recognizable as a hero, was at the school). Before too long, Izuku stood in front of a rather sturdy-looking metal door. He hoped this was the right one.

He raised his hand to knock just as something crashed into him. Ah. This was it for sure. The way he would die. The danger he had foreseen.

No. Wait. Never mind. He was fine, just on the ground.

"Oh! There was a person there! You okay?"

"U-um," said Izuku, sitting up and rubbing his head. "I'm fine, just a little startled."

"What're you doing here, anyway?"

"I- I'm here for... support... gear?" He sort of trailed off as he looked up.

It was the intense pink haired girl from the other day. As he watched, her expression changed from one of mild concern to calculating interest.

"Support gear, you say?"

.

Shouta answered his phone as he walked down the hall. "Nezu, I've already done every security check I can think of that'll fit-"

"Not quite why I was calling, although I can see why you would think so. One of your students needs to be rescued from the support department."

Shouta changed direction without missing a beat. "It's Midoriya, isn't it?"

"Why, yes."

"Did you send him down there without warning him?"

"Yes, again. You know me so well!"

Shouta hung up.

[poprock-the-baker]

Daddy's Work Trip

(My First Ever TF Story I Made, Enjoy!)

-[The Past Week]-

My dad had been ordered on a business trip, he was to be going off across the states for a good solid week. Now normally that wouldn't be a problem at all, normally I say. But he just so happened to ground me earlier this week had taken all my electronics other than my phone. So before he leaves on his trip I need to find them so he can't hide them before I can get them safe. Today I just so happen to have the chance to go and search.

-[Present Day]-

"Now don't you think about finding your stuff James. I will return it all to you and get you something else if you don't try to pull one over on me. I need to go get another suitcase at the store before my flight. So I will see you when I get home to say goodbye before my flight out." My dad said before he kissed my forehead and turned to the door. "Don't be mad. You were the one who decided to break coffee pots with your fucking stupid soft drinks. See you soon Jamey." He reached for the door and proceeded to walk out and headed to the store.

About ten minutes when by and I felt it was a good amount of time by then. "Ok so he should be gone for now. Now let's check around his took for my laptop. He will just easily think he misplaced it when he gets home. So lets check his suitcase first. He might take it with him on his trip to keep it out of my reach the entire time." Proceeding to his room I looked around for his casually vibrant pink suitcase. You could guess he was either a very feminine man, or he was gay. Him being the latter. He came out to me about 8 years ago when I was 11. So I have known his sexuality for a while, doesn't bother me though. I pull his suitcase onto his bed and zipped it open. "Ok dad. Lets see what you are taking on your trip." Looking inside I couldn't really see anything other than his clothes. "Please don't tell me I betrayed his trust for nothing." As I say that I move the clothes over and see my computer. "I KNEW HE WAS GOING TO TAKE IT WITH HIM! Well, don't mind me while I just take my property." I reach inside and go to grab my computer. As I do I brush my hand against something sharp and get pricked a little deeply. "Well shit! That hurts. But it isn't like i got blood on anything. He won't be able to know. I just-" I start to feel lightheaded. "I just need to… To… To rest…" My body gets extremely heavy and starts to burn and soon they all end and I pass out.

-[2 hours later]-

"H-Huh… What happened?" I try to go rub my eyes as I opened them but I realized I couldn't move my arms, and not just that. I soon realized my entire body was paralyzed. As I started to panic I could hear a car pull up. "Shit! What do I do?! I guess I just need to tell him I'm sorry and get his help." I waited in my dad's room for about ten minutes before I started to worry. But they are soon brushed over as my dad stepped into his room. "Oh thank god. Dad! Something happened! I can't see to move, can you call the hospital?" Nothing. "Dad? Why aren't you answering me?" No answer. "Dad?" I don't understand whats going on. Not until he gets closer to the bed, and he keeps getting larger. "Where did that damn boy go, cause it looks like he tried to get his computer Cyrus.." He wasn't talking to me, but he turned and I saw her had his ear piece in and was on the phone. "Yeah I know I was just a bit hard. But he can't just decide he has the right to break everything and leave it for me to pay for." Is he still upset? Why can't he notice me! "Do I see the piece you sent for me to buy? Yeah I'm looking right at it babe. Are you sure its ok to if I wear it? It looks very beautiful and I don't want it to get saliva on it. And before you say it, yes I know a tongue piercing is supposed to get saliva on it but you know I collect some and just dont wear them." As he spoke I got worried. He was speaking of a gift he bought as he looked at me. What is going on. "Ok fine I'll wear it babe. Thanks for getting me the piercings babe. I love you." He hangs up the phone and then gets on his knees and looks at me. "You are one lucky piece of jewelry little guy. I'm positive James would have stolen you if he found you. But now you get to come along with me for my trip. And get to see the inside of my mouth as well!" "Dad? What are you doing. What do you mean jewelry! It's me! James! Why can't you see me! I'm your son not jewelry." I said to him. But nothing seemed to register for him. It was like… I wasn't me. And soon I realized what was happening. Jewelry? Tongue piercing? Not noticing me? I couldn't believe it and didn't want to. But soon my dad grabbed me and took me into his mouth, and having taken out his old piercing, he put me in. I started to panic and soon, even though I seemingly had no brain anymore, my anxiety kicked in and, having an anxiety attack, I passed out. Days passed without me waking. By that time my dad was already out of our state.

-[3 Days Later]-

I hadn't figured out where James went before I left for my trip and I hadn't gotten a call or message from him either. I was now in Portland, Oregon. My business meeting was taking place later today but I was currently eating at a cafe and waiting for my boyfriend to meet me here. I finally see him and wave him in. "Hey Cyrus! I'm glad to see you again." I got in and take a hug before I kiss him and slip my tongue inside his mouth and letting our tongues play for a second before I go back and sit down and drink my coffee.

I wake up to a harsh and assaulting situation. I was in a dark place and there was no light coming in at all. It felt really damp and humid. And something kept on hitting me under and over me. Soon, I figure out where I was. My father still hasn't noticed I was his tongue piercing. What just happened was that I had taken a part in my dad's makeup session. I feel like it can only get worse from here.

Cyrus comes and sits next to me and I kiss his cheek softly. "So you are gonna meet me again tomorrow after my business duty is over right? Its gonna be the last day I'm here so I thought we could enjoy our special time together doing some special things. What do you think?" He seems to be thinking it over and I soon know he is just playing with me. "Of course babe! I got a new place as well and we can bust it in when you stay before your flight home." I lean in for another kiss and decide to whisper in his ear. "how about we feel you up and suck your off big boy? Let's let this new piercing get broken in as well, not just the bed~" I bite his ear playfully before he speaks. "I actually have a gift for you to have once we get to my place. So just you wait and you'll be having tons of fun! I got to jet now though. See you at my place tomorrow?" I accept and wave him off before finishing my coffee and heading to my business conference.

Over the course of the next hours I am assaulted his hot beverages that burn my skin, cold water that chills by metal bones, gritty food that hits my head, and so much more. I am just excited for this trip to be over. Hopefully my dad will find a way to get me back to normal. Surely he can figure out I'm in his mouth. The final test approached as he drove into a driveway though. His boyfriend greets him and he locks the car and proceeds inside.

Enjoy in the drive I finally get the embrace of my boyfriend and we head inside. "So what is this gift you have for me babe? I already have this piercing." He looks over at the table and I soon proceed to as well. It is another tongue piercing. But it is a special one. The exact one I lost the first tike I met him. "Took me a while but I figure out where it was. Someone turned it in a bit ago after finding out it wasn't worth much of anything. I cleaned and disinfected it for you. So now that old one you are wearing now can just be tossed out. Cause this one is more important than any." For a second his smile seemed to be hiding something sinister it seemed but I brushed it off. "Babe… I'll put it in right now!" "NO DON'T! I meannn… Um lets still break that one in while you can. I'm sure you won't take this one out for a while. So lets start getting dirty. Starting with this." He soon proceeds to undress, my predator instincts kick in and I tackle him and start our session of intercourse.

I didn't like any of this. Was I going to be thrown away? Disposed cause of a new old sentimental relic? But most importantly, what is cyrus doing. I don't have a lot of time to think before my father starts to tongue at Cryus' asshole getting in and feeling all around. I can still somehow smell and I can only describe it as revolting. The smell was so bad and the experience only got worse. "Get ready big boy, someone is gonna get some rod suction." Then my dad proceeded to give Cyrus a lot and agonizing blowjob that lasted for longer than thirty minutes. It was so painful. His hot and throbbing shaft kept rubbing into my bulbs as he kept on pumping my dad's face over and over again until finally. *Release* "Be a good boy. Take all of daddy's seed. Swallow it all. Not one drop left." My dad did just that. He swallowed every single bit of Cyrus' semen. Afterwards they cooled down but stay naked. "You wanna try the old piercing on babe? See if it fits?" "I'd love to. You want to hold this one?" "Dad. Dad no. Dad don't take me out! No please don't! Dad!" The plees go unheard as I'm undone and placed into Cyrus' hand. "You mind if I wear it from now on? My old one just broke and I could use a good and new one. I would really like it if I could use this one." Say no. Please dad say- "Sure! As long as you take good care of it I don't mind. Its not like I'll need it back anything soon. So just have it." No… Please… "Good! I'll put it in right now!" Cyrus takes me undone into his mouth and secures me into his tongue as he sticks it out. "Like it? It feels so good." "You know I do. If James was here he would have a hoot. He is in love with piercings and he would want that one so badly." "Don't worry Malcom I'm sure he knows it very well. Don't worry." The smile I see him produce chills my very core. "Hahaha. Yeah he probably already has it. Well I'll be heading to the airport. I'll text you when I'm home. You get some sleep ok?" "I will. I'll enjoy this gift from you. Something tells me it will be just perfect. And I have a feeling it won't ever break." What…

After exchanging the piercings I kiss Cyrus goodbye and head to my car and start driving away. Still nothing from James. I'll have a talk with him when I get home. Until then its me time.

I see my dad's car leave from the view of cyrus' mouth. His next words chill me even more. "Your dad sure is hot isn't he right?" Did he just talk to me? "If you are wondering, yes. I was the one who did this to you. I'm what they call, a channelist. I have the ability to change anyone I seem unworthy into objects for as long as I need. Now you have a choice. Well two." I don't pay attention to him as I'm processing all that has just been said. If I cry I would. But I can't seem to feel anything other than Chris' hot and humid breath passing by me. "I can tell you aren't listening. I give up on trying to help you. I will make you become so close that you wont ever be able to get away from your father." He proceeded to call and ask my dad back over so he can give him one final gift and do it one more time. The answer my dad gives us clear. "Yes."

I had dumbly forgotten my flight was tomorrow and was about to just wait the night out alone when Cyrus called. He invited me back and I immediately accepted. I rushed back to his house and opened the door. I saw him sitting in a spinning chair as he spun to face me and I saw him holding a small crystal human figure. "What's that babe?" "I thought we could have a final go at our experiment from long ago. Remember your cock vore days? Well I had been saving this little guy for such a day. So what would you think about sending this little dude down yous shaft to be trapped inside your sentence tank forever?" "Oh hell yes."

The motions were going so fast. I couldn't believe what was happening. My dad walked into the room and the conversation was going good until they noticed me. Then cyrus said they should put me inside his cock. The closer my dad got the more terrified I became. Slowly he undid his belt them his shorts and finally lost the underwear. He went and grabbed me and held me in front of his face. "I feel bad for you little guy. Only now getting to see a real man. But don't worry, I'll keep you with me all the time till I die. You'll be a good company for my semen. Just you wait. I cant wait for this pleasure to come, so I am gladly going to enjoy using you." His words didn't show a sign of concern. Cyrus was giggling as he later back and watched. My dad stuck me in his mouth and slowly coated me in saliva before spitting me out and grasping his erect and lethally large cock. "Down the hatch fucker." He showed no sign of compassion. He was a harsh and cruel ruler as he lowered me into his slit and I cried out to no avail. He slowly worked me down as he kept me traveling closer and closer to the end before. *plop* I fall into his sentence chamber and I hear his moans loudly. "Best gift ever babe."

Cyrus never told my dad about me. And after he got home he never found me. I was declared missing and search parties started and ended. Days turned to weeks which turned to months then years. My dad and Cyrus got married and all the time I never despise inside his semen, I was there since that day and I was part of everything. From the beginning I never should have been ungrateful. Cause I would still be a son instead of a cock toy. But there isn't a way to save myself now. This is my life now. As my dad's work trip toy.

-[END]-

🍞🥐🥖🍞🥐🥖🍞🥐🥖🍞🥐🥖🍞🥐🥖🍞🥐🥖🍞

[violetsoju]

overdrive

iwaizumi hajime · fluff · 1.7k

summary: iwaizumi seriously needs to get work done, without his mind going into overdrive

a/n: the product of spending too many nights in the library because i can't get work done back in my room

The reason why Iwaizumi doesn’t like studying in the library open space is because there’s too many people.

High school students hogging seats that are evidently not enough to cater for the university’s own students. Half-zombified students surviving on energy drinks sprawled on the table, escaping reality by taking a catnap. Students with earbuds stuck into their ears, tapping away on their phones or watching videos under the cool air-conditioning instead of the scorching heat outside. Or those who Iwaizumi wonders how they even got accepted into university because they’re clearly illiterate, making sure everyone around them knows what’s on their mind despite the big red ‘quiet please’ sign hanging on the wall next to them.

“It’s distracting.” he grumbles. “How am I supposed to focus with so many people roaming around, not to mention the background noise I didn’t ask for.” The endless flow of people rolling before his eyes has him rubbing his temples in distress.

“It just means that you’re not focused enough, Iwa.” Your eyes never leave the laptop before you, fingers swiftly tapping on your keyboard.

He shoots a glare to your direction. “Why don’t you try sitting in my position and see if you’ll say the same.”

A scoff sounds in the air. “As if it’s not the same on my end.”

Iwaizumi should be used to squeaking noises on the polished concrete surface, given the years of spending most of his youth living in the school gym. But the shuffles and squeaks behind him now has his jaw clenched tight, fingers coiled together.

“Admit it. You’re just distracted by me.”

Two pairs of eyes lock. One with a glint of tease and mischief, one with a glint of exasperation and fatigue.

“As if.” You smirk at his response, clicking your tongue knowingly as you trail your eyes back on the bright laptop screen.

As if you’re the reason why he’s distracted. What absolute nonsense.

But if you’re not, why did he reply so hastily, mouth working faster than his brain, as if he was trying to hide something? As if someone broke the passcode to his closely-guarded safe that safeguards his hidden stash of valuables and treasures?

Is that why he firmly insists on studying in the quiet area, all the way in the deep end of the library, where one is confined to a study pod each? No random humans lurking in sight, just a laptop screen, and three mounted walls enclosing the small yet breathable space. The cries of help from keyboards being murdered mercilessly by the rapid finger smashing filling the air.

A space where everyone has their minds shackled to the device before them, head swimming in overloaded information too much for poor brains. A space where the only distraction is the faint cries only audible to oneself screaming this is too much.

That’s the space Iwaizumi needs to be in. And that’s the only distraction he needs.

Or the only distraction he can afford to have.

Because the rest are definitely too much.

One, in particular, is definitely too much.

His eyes act on their own will, something he can’t hold rein of.

It captures every small detail of the figure seated opposite him. You, to be specific.

The way your brows furrow together in complete concentration. He’s sure that you’ll be the one having wrinkles earlier than him, despite your constant nagging of how he shouldn’t crumple up his face in disgust at the sight of couples making out on campus in broad daylight.

The way you heave out heavy, long sighs every half an hour, like a fire-breathing dragon spouting flames from its mouth. Not as scary as Godzilla though.

The way you rest your temple against your knuckles, gradually tilting sideways like the Leaning Tower of Pisa as your elbows slip further. It’s a miracle you don’t lose balance at that angle.

The way your hand travels downwards towards the side of your neck, knuckles planted behind your ears to keep the weight of your head in place. Sometimes they’re curled together in a straight neat line. Sometimes they trek little lower, tucked under your jaw near to your ear. Sometimes just a finger is all you need to support the mass above your shoulders. Iwaizumi has honestly lost count of the number of poses you can make, which he has to admit, are better than those watch or jewellery models plastered on glossy magazine pages.

When your fingers wrap the side of your neck, or when your fingers splay across your neck and collarbone, he wonders if he can cradle your neck with his hand like a snug pillow. He knows how small your hands are compared to his large ones, how soft your palms are compared to his calloused ones, worn from years of practice. He wonders how it’ll feel against your smooth bare skin.

He wonders if he has his fingers wrapped around the nape of your neck, closing the gap by pulling you towards his chest to feel your heartbeat thumping against his, would your breath hitch, shudder under his touch from the sparks ignited from the sudden difference in skin texture, or would you melt into his touch, into the warmth of his palm that’s just a quarter of the fire in his burning heart that’s set ablaze by you?

When you part your lips to apply lip balm onto your dried lips caused by the low humidity, he wonders which lip balm you’re using today. Is it the normal original one? The peach flavoured one? Or the manuka honey one?

He licks his own dehydrated lips although he knows it would make it worse. When you smack your lips to even out the wax-like substance, he wonders how it feels like, how it tastes like. Does it really taste like peaches? Or like sweet honey dripping from your eyes at the sight of food?

He could find out by reaching out his hand to borrow it from you. But he wonders how it would feel like from your lips, how it would taste directly from your lips.

It’s a childish thought, but using a lip balm that has touched your lips on his is like an indirect kiss. High-school Iwaizumi would be a blushing mess at the thought. But Iwaizumi is all grown up now. If he were to want a kiss, he would want a direct kiss. Lips on lips. Flesh on flesh. Nothing in between.

But he remembers that his lips are slightly dry and chapped, which would be such a turnoff to mould it with your moist plump ones. But what better way to moisturise one’s lips with another?

When you tap your lips, deep in thought – as if taunting his previous thoughts – he wonders if he’s ever met anyone who does that instead of tapping their chin. And when you jab your thumb on your lower lip, knuckles brushing your upper lip, he wonders how your lips feel like. He has wiped away food stains from the side of your lips numerous times, but it was always the napkins that had the honour of gracing your skin. Are they as soft and plush as they seem?

Are they as dreamy and kissable as they seem?

He wants to find out for himself, to feel for himself. He wants to trace the curves of your lips with his fingertips, to feel each line carved on your lips, to memorise each slope and dip of your lips. If he can’t use his sense of taste to recognise your lips, at least he’ll know it’s you with his sense of touch.

Oh, just when he thinks that you look good in a certain lipstick colour, you prove him otherwise when you appear with a different shade the next day. It’s funny how all the shades of red and coral displayed look disturbingly identical in the shops you drag him into, but he can tell at first sight that they’re a different shade when it’s on your lips. He always finds it amazing how you blend different tones together to make your already desirable lips more alluring. It isn’t the colour that brings out the extra shine in you; it’s you who brings the pop of colour alive.

And he wonders how that pop of colour would look like on his bronze skin tone.

When you run your fingers through your hair in frustration, he wonders how it’ll feel like if those were his fingers. He’d run through them gently, soothing them out affectionately. He’d comb through each strand of hair with his fingers delicately.

He wonders how it’ll feel like with your fingers running through his hair, featherlike fingers caressing his scalp tenderly. It’s such a soft gesture that melts even the toughest of hearts. He wonders if you would tug his hair, if you would curl your fingers over his short cut. Would it be in playful manner? Or a desperate manner? Most importantly, when, why and where you would do that.

Let’s not get started on how your tongue peeks out the side of your mouth, running along your sharp yet cute fang teeth that could shred one into pieces. Or when you stick out your tongue teasingly at him when you catch him staring.

What’cha looking at? Eyes on the laptop, not me.

It’s a cute harmless gesture for you, but god knows how it’s a gesture drives his mind into overdrive. Something you're not ready to know about, yet.

There are too many wondering thoughts, thoughts deemed unnecessary and distracting when he’s with you. That’s why he insists on having a barrier wedged between the both of you, especially when he needs to get actual shit done. All he can see now is the crown of your head, and your sneakers beneath the table that are a few inches away from his. That’s all he needs and can handle on his plate right now.

Right now, there’s more important things to be done. Not that you’re not important. If you’re not important, you wouldn’t be driving him up the wall with such subtle movements and gestures.

Important things that require his attention right here, right now are things like the two thousand essay that’s due tomorrow. The e-mail from his professor regarding the group assignment progress that he has yet to reply. The mini army of tabs armed with journal articles waiting to be read.

Like any other day, Iwaizumi hopes and prays that his mind will cooperate with him to set gear into the right direction. If he could put off pouring his heart out for so many years, then these crazy yet valid thoughts could wait too.

He knows they’ll be worth the wait too.

[libraryofloveletters]

passing ships

Evan Buckley x Eddie Diaz

Warnings: nothing, just being being idiots really 

Category: Angst 

Word Count: 2.6k

Author’s Note: Takes place right after Buck’s return after the lawsuit 

AO3 Link 

----

Silence. 

No bickering, no fighting and no stupid jokes. 

Pure deafening silence. 

The two were no longer speaking, although they had the clear to- he couldn't bring himself to forgive him, not yet and truthfully he didn’t know if he would ever be able to forgive him. 

After what he put the team through, what he caused them and what he did to them- to their relationship. 

Buck and Eddie sat on opposite ends of the station, the blond on the couch and the brunette in the kitchen. Both glancing at the other when the other isn’t looking, hoping they’d think of something to say to each other. 

Everyone can feel the tension, it hits whoever enters their vicinity like a brick wall. 

Eddie blew up at Buck the day in the grocery store and since then, neither of them had spoken to the other unless they were in the field. They worked seamlessly there. Wordless communication, in-sync as always yet the moment they step off the truck, all of that goes out the window and they go separate ways. 

Buck came close to talking to him one day while unpacking the halloween decoration. Eddie had walked past him, the urge to call for him and tell him that he was sorry but he didn’t. 

A part of him knew that Eddie would forgive him but another part of him felt that Eddie would still hold it against him somehow.

Buck didn’t know Eddie as well as he thought he did. 

Eddie’s pace was much slower than normal as he passed by, his heart pounding in his chest just waiting for Buck to call out to him and to fix what had broken but he didn’t. 

---- 

“Dad?” the boy called from the kitchen table, his father’s back to him.

Eddie was washing dishes, the sponge in his hand and the tap running but his eyes were fixated on something outside the window. Christopher gets up and walks over to his father, turning off the tap then Eddie looks down. “Oh sorry bud, did you ask me something?” he puts the sponge down and turns to his son. 

The look on Christopher’s face was enough for Eddie to internally groan, not because of Chris but because of what he was about to ask. 

“Where’s Buck?” 

And there it was. 

“Buck’s been busy bud” Eddie tells his son. This wasn't a complete lie, from the overheard conversations in the station, it seemed like Buck had been busy. 

“When is he coming over? We were supposed to have movie night” Chris sounded sad. Eddie knows how much Chris loves and looks up to Buck and for him not to be around was killing him.. because of Christopher of course. 

“I’ll ask him tomorrow,” Eddie leans and kisses the top of the boy’s head. 

“Bed now, I’ll come tuck you in, in a minute” Eddie smiles until he can no longer see Chris then a heavy sigh is let out. Chris isn’t the only one that misses Buck. 

He did too. 

Regardless of what had happened, Buck had been his best friend for the last year and a half. The person he confided in, the one who had his back and most importantly, the guy who was basically raising Christopher with him. It had been so hard not being able to talk to him those few weeks that the lawsuit was happening and now that they can talk, he doesn’t know what to say. 

Where do you begin after that ? 

What you did was fucked up and I hate you but I don’t because I actually love you and I need you in my life. 

Yeah, there was no way he was going to say that to Buck. The thought of Buck was pushed back when Chris shouted that he was waiting. He shook the worry from his face, mustering up a smile as he stepped into Chris’s room. 

“Alright kiddo, bedtime” Eddie pulls the blanket over his son, sitting on the bed beside him now. Chris looks up at his dad, “are you okay?”

“Hm?” Eddie’s brows furrow, unsure as to what brought up the question.

“Are you okay?” he asks his father again. 

“Yeah, why wouldn't I be?” he chuckles, his hand patting Christopher’s leg. 

“Okay” Chris smiles at his father, deep down he knew something was wrong and Eddie knew that his son knew that he wasn't okay but there wasn't time for that now. Eddie held himself together, he only had him and he had to be strong.

Eddie kisses Chris’s cheek, tucking the sides of the blanket in and turning on his night light. “Goodnight bud” he smiles from the doorway, about to shut the door. Chris calls out for his father once more and Eddie sticks his head back into the room, looking at Chris. 

“I love you” he says from bed. 

Eddie smiles, “I love you too.” the door shuts and his smile falls from his face. 

How much longer would he have to keep up this facade? 

When and how would they fix things? 

Because no part of Eddie wants to explain to Christopher why Buck isn't around anymore and honestly, Eddie doesn't want to lose him but he lacked the words to tell him exactly how he felt.

His room feels cold and empty, it usually is but this time feels like the house is running out of happiness and warmth and there’s nothing he could do to fix it. 

As he lays on his bed, his phone lights up. A notification from Chim, asking if he could help him move some furniture around. He answers and then he stares at the phone in his hand. 

“l’ll ask him tomorrow” his words rang in his head. He hits Buck’s contact- what to say and how to say it. 

To Buck: Are you free Saturday ? Chris wants to see you. 

Less than a minute goes by before his phone chimes. 

From Buck: I am. What time is okay for me to come over?

From Buck: Should I bring anything ? 

To Buck: I’ll drop him off at your place. I have something to do. 

From Buck: Okay. Is 6 okay ? 

To Buck: Fine. 

It was utter bullshit and they both knew that. Eddie had absolute nothing to do, in fact he was probably gonna go back home and hang out. It’ll be weird for him to be there when they aren’t speaking, hence why he's taking Chris to Buck and not letting him come to them because if they were at home, there would be nowhere for Eddie to avoid him. 

---- 

“Buck!” The little boy’s face lights up when he opens the door. 

“Chris!” Buck smiles with the same happy energy. The two of them hugging for a moment before Chris turns to say bye to Eddie. 

“Be good mijo, I'll be back later” Eddie kisses the top of his head before he walks off into the apartment. 

Buck looked at Eddie, his brows furrowed and he was chewing on his lip without even noticing. “You- You’re not coming in?” Buck asks quietly, his words barely coming out. 

Eddie shakes his head, “got stuff to do, text me when he’s ready to come home.” he hands Chris’s backpack over to him and turns the other way and down the hall. Buck steps out of the apartment, in the hallway in front of his door and he just watches Eddie leave. He wanted to run after him and tell him that he’s sorry but he doesn’t. 

The afternoon went by rather quickly, Buck and Chris catching up on what Chris had been doing at school, they began playing the new game Buck had gotten and they had pizza for dinner and ate on the couch while watching the sonic the hedgehog movie because Buck promised him that they would watch together.

Chris sat on the couch, his eyes glued to the tv screen until the end credits began rolling, then he yawns and sinks back into the pillows on Buck’s couch. 

“Tired?” Buck looks over at Chris who gives him a sleepy smile and nods. 

To Eddie: Chris is falling asleep, I think it’s time for him to get to bed

From Eddie: Ask him if he wants to spend the night. There are clothes in his bag

Buck was taken back by the message, not by Eddie suggesting that Chris spend the night because the 3 of them had sleepovers on a regular basis when he and Eddie were speaking but that Eddie was allowing him to stay. He assumed that because they weren't speaking that Eddie would want Chris to come home. 

“Bud, do you want to stay over? Dad said it’s cool” 

“Mhm, yeah” Chris’s eyes were shut, he was already halfway to dreamland by now. Buck smiled at the boy. 

To Eddie: He just fell asleep, you can pick him up around noon ? 

From Eddie: Okay

---- 

Saturday at 11:58am and Buck is dancing around his kitchen with a glass of orange juice in his hand. Chris had slept in and he made him breakfast. Buck was on his way to handing Chris the juice but he got caught up in the song that was playing. 

Christopher sat at the counter, laughing as Buck danced. Buck was slowly but surely making his way over when there was a knock at the door. He sat the juice beside the plate, pressed a kiss to Chris’s head and shouted that he was coming when the person knocked a second time. 

He pulled the door open, Eddie stood at the door with his arms folded. 

Buck gave him a small smile, “at ease soldier” he said jokingly, the joke had delivered and failed all in one, the smile on his face dropped too. 

“Is he ready?” Eddie looked at him, Buck stepped back so Eddie could see in. Chris was still sitting at the counter eating his breakfast, he smiled and waved when he noticed his dad at the door. 

“Do you want to come in?” Buck’s eyes silently pleading for him to accept the offer. 

“Sure” the one word was all he got from Eddie for the next 20 minutes. 

He spoke to Christopher and waited for his son to finish eating so they could leave. The tension in the apartment was heavy and uncomfortable, Eddie egging Chris to finish up every 5 minutes so they could get out of there. 

Buck had opened his mouth to speak multiple times, at this point there was nothing more that he wanted more than for Eddie to forgive him. 

The way his heart clenched in his chest whenever he saw Eddie or had to work with him wasn't normal. 

The way he smiled lovingly and stared adoringly at him wasn't normal either because friends don’t look at friends that way. 

Buck loved Eddie more than the average friend. He didn’t know if Eddie reciprocated those feelings but now he’d never know. 

“Bye Buck!” Chris’s arms wrapped around Buck snapping him out of his thoughts, his hand reaching down to rub his back softly. “Bye bud, thanks for hanging out with me” he smiles sweetly at the boy before looking at his father who was already waiting by the door with his bag. 

Buck walks Chris over to the door, they share one more hug before he steps out. Once again, Buck finds himself in the hallway wanting to go after them- after Eddie- but it’s like he’s frozen in time, he can’t bring himself to move towards them. Christopher smiles and waves before he steps on the elevator and Eddie, he just looks at him. Opening his mouth like he was going to say something but instead a sigh comes out, his gaze lowers and he joins Chris. 

It was a while before Buck heard from Eddie again. Usually, he would have texted to let him know that they got home and were okay but instead radio silence for the next 6 and a half hours. 

His phone chimes, rolling over and grabbing it off the table, there’s a notification from Eddie. 

To Buck: Thanks for last night, he had a good time 

From Buck: Thanks for bringing him over, I didn’t realize how much I missed him

To Buck: He missed you too

Buck was about to type a response when the little grey dots appeared, disappeared and reappeared. He waited, looking down at the phone in his hands watching as the dots appeared and disappeared. At some point, Buck put the phone down, he got tired of waiting. 

On the other side of the screen, Eddie sat on his couch with the phone in his hand. His last message to Buck telling him that Christopher missed him and he quickly typed out I missed you too but his finger hovered over the send button. Now reaching for the delete key, erasing the message. Eddie tried a few versions of that message. 

To Buck: I missed you so much you don’t even understand 

That one didn’t sound like him and made him seem desperate. 

To Buck: Chris wasn’t the only one that missed you 

What was he trying to do? Flirt with him? well.. maybe but this is not the time. 

To Buck: Come over, let’s talk 

Yeah if let’s talk is code for we’re probably gonna end up in bed. 

To Buck: I don't know what I want to say but I need you here, things aren't the same without you. 

This one felt right because it was the truth. Eddie had absolutely no idea what he wanted to say to Buck or if he would even say anything to him but he needed him. Things aren’t the same without Buck around, home didn’t feel like home without him. 

Finger hovering over the button but he deletes the message, the phone getting tossed to the other side of the couch before getting up to check on Chris. 

----

The men find themselves in this situation rather often. Eddie texts Buck asking when Chris can see him, Eddie drops off Chris or sometimes Buck picks him up and then when Chris comes home, Eddie texts Buck to say thanks.

Sometimes Buck is the one watching the little grey dots appear and disappear but sometimes Eddie is the one who finds himself in that spot. 

It was as if they were two parents sharing joint custody of their son and having that awkwardness of what to say when the kid isn't around and honestly, that was exactly their situation. They played nice and spoke the bare minimum when Chris was around or if Chris had a school event and asked for them both to be there, they would both be there with their best smiles on and they'd make small talk with the other parents but the moment they stepped back out of that building, all of that went out the window. 

Without Chris around, their conversations were nonexistent. 

Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and they turned into passing ships in the night. 

--- 

taglist: @mrs-dr-reid​ @yelenabelous​ @ickletheficklepickle​ @dralexreid​ @imaginebuck (cause you wanted some buddie angst)

[enthusiasticharry]

Baby Steps

summary: you’re harry’s sons therapist, and he isn't the only one you end up helping.

word count: hi! it has been a long while since I’ve posted on here so I hope you enjoy this 8.6k piece of pure fluff and smut!

masterlist  |    asks

As a child, Harry had never been given many opportunities to freely express himself. He grew up in a rural area where the sheep overruled the people and the only extra-circular activity available was playing football at the park with his friends that weren’t truly his friends. He was only a mere teenager when he decided that whenever he had kids, he would give them as many opportunities as possible. 

He tried in school, don’t discourage him about that, but it didn’t work out as planned. That’s how he ended up working within the company he did. He started from the bottom, working 9 to 5 within a cubicle everyday until he had worked up to become chief editor. He had his own office, with his name written on a plaque upon the door and his photos sat upon the desk. It made day to day that little bit more enjoyable.

“Finishing early today, Mr. Styles?” Genevieve asked, watching as he closes his door behind him. 

“Yes, I am.” He smiles politely, “It’s been in the calendar for weeks.” 

“I’ve noticed.” He knew she hadn’t. Genevieve was okay at her job, he supposed. She was an apprentice the company had hired straight out of university and of course he didn’t mind that she was still finding her feet, “Enjoy your evening, Mr. Styles.” 

“You too, Genevieve.” He nods his head at the girl and walks towards the exit. 

At the ripe age of twenty-eight, Harry knew that he still had his entire life ahead of him but at the same time he was pretty content. He had his job, his small town house and more importantly his son, Theo. He hadn’t expected his girlfriend of a couple of months to get pregnant but in his mind he knew what had happened and that it was something that the two of them had to take responsibility for, but she didn’t think the same thing. Harry had loved her, and he had hoped that she had loved him and their son as much as he did but it just wasn’t meant to be. He had suspected that she was going to leave, he just hadn’t expected it to be in the middle of the night whilst their son was a month old and still nursing. 

It was the following morning that Harry knew that he was going try his damned hardest to be the best Father possible for his son, try to give him the world and everything good that came along with it. 

“Harry!” Mrs. Walters, the woman who lives next door exclaims as she throws the door open, “Please come in.” 

“Hi Mrs. Walters.” He smiles, following the elderly woman into the living room, “Has he been good today?” 

“We had a little disagreement at nap time but apart from that he’s been perfect!” 

“I’m glad to hear it. He’s never been the biggest fan of naps.” 

Just seeing Theo’s little face light up as he walked into the room was enough reason to keep his heart beating for centuries. Theo was the absolute double of Harry, and he could even see it himself. Even at three years old he had his father’s green eyes and curly brown hair and it was another thing that caused his love for his little man to grown everyday.

“Dada!” He toddled over to his father, only just starting to feel confident upon his feet, and wrapped his arms around Harry’s legs, his chunky cheeks pressed against his shin. 

“Hi bubba.” He picks his son up and rests him upon his hip, “Did you have a nice day with Mrs. West?” 

Theo nods and drops his head down upon Harry’s shoulder with a light sigh of content.

“He’s been amazing, Harry, don’t worry.” The older woman drops her head to Harry’s free shoulder, “I’ll see you two tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow, Mrs. West.” 

Theo’s little hand rests comfortably within Harry’s as they walk through the door of community centre, his little feet tapping upon the wood in his trainers. 

“Harry! Theo!” You exclaim, walking over to the two of them with a large smile across your face, “I’m so glad you could make it this week!” 

“Yeah. Sorry about last week, I couldn’t get out of work on time and then once I did he wasn’t in the best of moods.” 

“Don’t worry about it! It’s totally fine, we understand that you can’t make every week.” 

Harry nods his head. 

“Anyway.” You have a nice smile and it was probably the first thing that Harry noticed about you when you met, “We’re just about to get started.” 

Harry sits down, crossing his legs as he does so. Theo drops down upon his father’s lap straight afterwards, his face pressed into the material of Harry’s crisp white dress shirt. Harry’s eyes bounce to look over the other children, the ones who acted similarly too Theo when they first joined. They all either sat in their parents laps comfortably or on the floor now, not one with a flicker of anxiousness across their features.

Theo and Harry have attended three of these sessions to help with confidence, and Theo had only just started to leave his shell in the last twenty minutes of the last session they went to and now it felt as though Harry had messed everything up again. He felt as though they were back to square one.

Then he feels a hand upon his shoulder. 

“Its okay.” You smile, squeezing gently, “He’ll be okay, don’t worry.” 

He will be, Harry knows that. 

Another week had passed and Harry was yet again sat in a circle in the children’s room of the community centre with Theo sat upon his lap. Harry felt a little more at ease this week, since his little boy sat forward with a small, very small smile on his lips as he looked at… you? You hadn’t been there to greet them like you were last week, and he certainly hadn’t had the chance to say hello yet. It had been a warm-ish day today and Harry concluded that was probably why you were wearing a cute yellow sundress with small white flowers on it, something he had never seen you in before. You still wore your smile, Harry had noticed. 

“Today.” You always overplayed your facial features to interest the children, “We are all going to write a story together.” 

Theo’s little eyes widened in excitement. 

“You like that idea, bub?” Harry whispered. Theo nodded. 

“So I’ll start.” You touch your chest, “Then we’ll pass to Edith’s mummy and then Edith and we’ll continue that way around the circle!” 

Harry and Theo would be third, which wasn’t too bad. He just hoped that Theo would get involved, he loved stories enough to have a mind spiralling with ideas. 

“Once upon a time, in a land far, far away there lived a princess…” You start, smiling to the person next within the circle. 

“…in a big castle with a swimming pool!” 

“She has dog!” 

“…called muffin who she loves to play with in the…” 

“Park!” 

“Then.” Harry started, leaning so that he was speaking to Theo as well as the rest of the group, “One day, something magical appeared in front of her…”

“Dinosaur!” 

Harry beams and whispers, “Well done Theo!”

The story finishes with the princess riding the dinosaur along a rainbow, courtesy of the little girl called Tara who finishes the circle. Normally the children disperse the last twenty minutes or so to play amongst themselves whilst the adults talk about what type of week they’ve had. They were doing just that, but today, Harry’s heart stopped at the sight of his little boy sat with little Tara drawing at the tiny desk when usually he just does that on his own. 

Harry had honestly never thought that he would be going to group behavioural therapy for his three year old son, but, he promised he would do anything for his little boy.

“Hi everyone.” They were now sat around a table, one fit for adults, whilst a few of your colleagues watched the children, “I’m excited to hear how all your weeks have been!”

Tara’s mum starts, explaining that this week the nursery had phoned up to explain that she hadn’t spoken to anyone at lunchtime but there had been the odd time where she’d had a small conversation with a couple of classmates. 

Harry listens to a few others. How Ryan had bit a kid at school the other day, how Delilah refused to say anything for a couple of days that week. Harry had never experienced Theo biting or injuring other kids but he had experienced him shutting down and not speaking to anyone. 

“Harry.” You smile, “How has little Theo been this week?” 

“He’s, uh, been okay I suppose.” He runs his finger across his bottom lip, “Nothing out of the ordinary. Had an odd hour or so yesterday.” 

“Has he made any friends at nursery, yet?” 

“No. I don’t think so. I’m trying to get him in everyday but it’s proving to be difficult.” 

You smile, “He’ll get there Harry. It might take him a bit longer than normal but he will get there.” 

After listening to the other parents, the meeting for that week finishes. Harry waits for Theo to finish his drawing before helping him into his coat. Your words pondered through his mind — he certainly hoped that Theo would get better but it was a walk, not a sprint. 

“Hi Theo.” You beam as you walk towards the two, “Can I see your drawing?” 

After a few moments of contemplation, he passes the drawing to you.

“Wow! It’s beautiful! Can you draw me one whilst I talk to your Daddy?” 

Theo listens to your request and starts on the drawing straight away, picking up colour after colour whilst Harry looks at you with furrowed eyebrows. 

“I just wanted to have a quick word, nothing bad, I promise.” 

Harry nods. 

“Theo is making excellent progress in the program and I’m sure you’ve seen the results for yourself but as you know he is going a little slower than the rest of the kids.” 

“If this is because we missed one then it’s completely my fault—”

“It’s not! Don’t think that, it’s not!” You’re quick to say, “I was thinking the other day of ways to help and I remembered that my friend runs a group at the weekend for children that are struggling to cope with the loss of a parent.” 

“But I thought he was too young to be affected by that?” 

“I thought so too but I did some more research and even though he was very, very young when his mother left, it could still be affecting him.” You swallow and tuck a piece of your hair behind your ear, “He will have noticed that he doesn’t have two parents and that could be the stem of all of the problems.” 

Of course this had run through Harry’s mind a few time but he always brushed it off because he was so young when it happened. The fact that woman might be the reason his son was so quiet and not himself all of the time caused his stomach to flip. He hadn’t seen her since that night but she was still affecting him day upon day and he hated it. 

“When is this group?” 

“Oh!” You exclaim, happy that he hadn’t just shut the idea down, “It’s on Saturday at ten whilst twelve but you can come and go as you please.” 

“Will you be there?” Why had he just asked that? He probably sounded like such a weirdo. 

“I will.” You smiled, “Just for you.” 

Harry certainly hadn’t expected to spend his Saturday morning sat at upon a bench outside the community centre watching Theo play with other kids. He was surprised how easily Theo had left his shell around all of these kids but he supposed they all had something in common, that they were raised by only one parent. 

Another thing he hadn’t expected was to be sat sharing the said bench with you, but he wasn’t complaining. 

“Black coffee.” You smile, holding out the cup for him to take. 

“Thank you.” 

“It’s no problem.” You take a sip of your own cup of tea, “He seems to be doing well.” 

“I’m really surprised. The last time I saw him gel to someone so quickly was when he met our neighbour, Mrs. West.” 

You smile, “It’s good. You’ll be able to figure out which group works the best for you both.” 

“Will you be here every week?” 

Is he flirting? You certainly weren’t complaining, anyone with eyes could see that Harry is a very handsome man but never in a million years did you think that he would be flirting with you. Maybe he wasn’t even flirting and you were just letting your imagination run a little too wild. 

“I—”

“I’m sorry.” He’s quick to say, “What I meant is that he’s comfortable around you, and I would hate for him to loose that sort of comfort.”

“I completely understand.” You nod. So he wasn’t flirting with you. There was a part of you that was sort of disappointed and wished that he had been flirting with you, “Well he seems to be enjoying himself here so how about we slowly introduce him to just coming here. I’ll come for the first couple of weeks so that he’s comfortable.” 

“Thank you. I haven’t said that enough but I honestly can’t thank you enough for what you’re doing for my son.” 

“It’s my job, Harry. I do this for a reason.” 

“But you didn’t have to do this. Spend your Saturday morning sat on a bench with me to make sure that Theo is okay. You didn’t have to do this.” 

“But I am. I’m doing it because I care about that little boy and I want him to get better. And you’re certainly not bad company.”

Harry smiles and looks away. It probably makes it more obvious that his cheeks are flushing at her words. You have always made Harry nervous, even from the first meeting when he asked whether you could help his son. Was it wrong? Probably. Did he care? No, as far as he knew this crush was harmless and it wasn’t as though it was reciprocated he supposed. 

“I know I’m not as exciting at Theo but I do try.” 

“I can tell.” You smile, “Was he okay at nursery yesterday?” 

“The same I think. Nursery didn’t say anything when I picked him up and they usually do if something happened. Good or bad.” 

“That’s good. Some will just ignore the problem. I’ve helped a few parents who have struggled with that.” 

“I’m lucky.” He nodded, “We’re lucky.” 

“How are you?” 

“I’m fine. Theo’s getting better, that’s the most important thing.” 

You sigh, “Not Theo. How are you?” 

“I’m getting there. I’m taking each day as it comes, I suppose.” 

“Do you have people that you talk to?” You ask before immediately trying to retract your question, “I understand if you don’t want to tell me. I can be nosey sometimes.” 

“No. It’s fine.” He coughs to clear his voice, his eyes watching as Theo sits in the sand pit with a bucket and spade, “I talk to my mum and sister if there’s anything really wrong.” 

“Nobody else?” You’re daring, and your eyebrow raises in nervousness. 

“I’m single if that’s what you’re asking.” He chuckles. 

Your eyes bug, “Well I—”

“Its okay, YN.” He laughs now, his dimples deepening, “Are you single?” 

“I am.” You smile, “I’m glad you have someone to talk to that isn’t your three year old son. It’s important.” 

“I know. I kept a lot of it to myself at the start and just tried to be the best that I could be for Theo but it hit a point where I needed help, and I knew I did.” 

“It’s commendable that you did that. Too many single parents try to do it on their own and it just doesn’t work. It not only causes them to fizzle out but it causes strain on the kids.” 

“Have you got children?”

“No.” Your lips curl, “I just enjoy working with them — to a degree obviously.” 

A chuckle passes. It’s at this point that Harry realises that this is the first conversation you have had with him that passes the point of being somewhat professional. You’re dipping your toes in the idea of the conversation being about getting to know each other rather than being about Theo or any information about the group. 

“I can’t imagine.” 

“You never know what the days going to hold when you walk through the door. They say to never work with children and animals.” You laugh, “Where you do you work?” 

“I work at a publishing company. I’m the chief editor. It’s not the best but it pays the bills.” 

“It sounds very interesting.” 

“It isn’t. The amount of articles about interior design I read on a weekly basis is sort of absurd.” 

“Interior design?” 

“I work for an interior design magazine. I probably should’ve explained that first.” 

You giggle, “I bet your house is immaculately decorated.” 

“To a degree.” He chuckles, “Living with a three year old sort of means you’re house always looks like a bomb has hit it.” 

“I can imagine.” 

“I wouldn’t change it for anything. Yeah it is a mess but it isn’t too bad and he’s leaning that he won’t get treats if he doesn’t clean up after himself.”

“Nice. I’m sure that works a treat.” 

“It does.” He laughs, “Literally.”

“He’s a good kid, Harry. You can tell. He’ll be perfectly fine.”

You keep saying that. 

Harry received a message the following Wednesday around lunch time that he hadn’t expected. He was just about to tuck into the salad he had pre-made this morning fort lunch when his phone lit up on the desk. A small message box covers up his wallpaper which was a photo of Theo in the bath, bubbles on his head in a cone shape and upon his chin like a beard. 

Hi Harry, Its YN. I promise I’m not weird I just got your number of the system to send this. I’m just letting you know that tonight’s group is cancelled, I’m bunged up with a cold and would hate to pass it onto any of the kiddies :) Hope you are well.

Hi YN. I’m sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon. See you next week. H. 

Harry couldn’t hide that he was a little disappointed. He was starting to enjoy going to the centre every week. He could say that it was because his son was slowly coming out of his shell, and that was part of it, but ever since your conversation he had that one weekend he enjoyed the few words you spoke to each other. 

If he was more confident in the way you felt about him, he probably would’ve messaged to ask if you needed anything bringing but he thought that it would’ve been a little bit odd. Hopefully in the future it wouldn’t be as odd. 

\\

“You can’t eat your chips yet, buddy, they’re too hot.” Harry explains, picking a couple of the chips from Theo’s plate and blowing on them. The young boy sat and watched his father, waiting for his chips before chewing them happily. 

“Oh! Harry!” 

You’re stood with a drink in your hand, jeans and a floral blouse hanging loosely upon your figure. You looked cute and cuddly, something that Harry had missed seeing over the past week or so. 

“Hi YN.” He smiles, wiping his mouth with his napkin momentarily, “How are you feeling?” 

“Much better, thank you very much.” You smile. 

“Would you like to sit?” He asks, motioning to the spare seat, “You don’t have to if you’re busy or anything.” 

“No. I would love to. Are you okay with that Theo?” 

For the first time since you’ve arrived the little boy looks up at his  eyes immediately light up at the sight of you stood there. 

“Miss YN!” 

“I’m guessing he’s okay with it.” Harry smiles, watching as you pull out the seat and seat and sit down. “You weren’t in a rush, were you?” 

“No.” You smile, sipping on the hot cocoa you had just bought, “I had just finished for the day actually. Did a bit of shopping and then decided to walk over here.” 

“Sounds lovely. Anything exciting?” 

“If fruit and veg is exciting, then exciting.” 

“Hey, take it from me, trying to make fruit and veg exciting for your kids is the most exciting thing about fruit and veg.” 

“Not a fan?” You ask, looking at the young boy who had started to munch on his chicken nuggets. 

“Not really. Can you not tell?” 

You laugh, looking at Theo’s plate which just had chips and chicken nuggets on with a blob of ketchup on the side. 

“He seems to be enjoying those?” 

“Oh god yeah.” Harry laughs, “He can eat for England. Takes after me in that sense.” 

“That’s good. Some parents sometimes come in saying that their children don’t eat and it’s worrying them.” 

“He went through a phase when he turned around two and a half of not eating but he rectified that very quickly himself.”

“That’s good? Have you had work today?” 

It was only then that you had noticed his attire. Jean flares and a shirt that said something about eating honey. On anyone else you it would’ve set warning alarms within your head but he made it look suave and quite attractive. 

“No. I have weekends off so I can spend them with Theo. I sometimes do a bit of work from home but not a lot, do you?” 

“Sometimes. If there’s an emergency I’ll sometimes have to go in.” 

“Is it hard? Do you find working with vulnerable children hard?” 

“Challenging, I’d say. Maybe not hard. Some of the things that have happened to the children to cause them to behave the way they do are hard to listen to. Trying to get them to talk or just explain how they feel is even harder.” 

“You do God’s work, YN.” 

“I wouldn’t say that. I hate the though of children suffering, and I’d like to think I do my best to help with that.” 

“You do. From experience you do.” 

“You’re forever feeding my ego. I kind of like it, keep it coming.” 

“Eh.” He curves his lips and moves his head from side to side, “You’re not that bad to look at either.” 

“Cheeky! But you’re not too bad yourself, Styles.” 

“Daddy!” Theo interrupts, “Toilet, please.”

“Okay bud.” Harry stands up and so do you, “You don’t have to go, I’ll be back in a minute.”

“No it’s okay, I probably should leave.” You smile, “I told Norman that I’d only been ten minutes and that was half an hour ago.”

“Norman?” 

“My dog! God, I probably should’ve specified that. Norman’s my dog.”

“Ah.” Harry laughs, “That makes more sense. I’ll see you later YN.”

“Bye Harry.” 

When you got home that night, you see the majority of the time sat staring at your phone whilst Norman stares at you as though you’ve gone crazy.

“I should just text him.” You sound crazy talking to your job but it is oddly comforting, “What’s the worst that could happen?” 

Hi Harry! It was lovely seeing you and Theo today. I hope you had a lovely rest of your day :)

You immediately regretted sending the message. Would he think you were weird? Had you just ruined any chance you had of it going any further? Your stomach twisted and your phone lit up. 

We did thank you, YN. I hope Norman wasn’t too mad that we kept you out longer than expected. H.

You giggled. He remembered. 

He got over it pretty quickly. Gave him a treat and everything was back to normal.

That’s good. It’s a good thing dogs are forgiving creatures.

Rather I bribed him to forgive me. He can be stubborn when he wants to be.

I think you might be describing my son. He certainly didn’t get his stubborn side from me.

Good. I would hate to have to bribe you to speak to me.

Well that depends what you would have bribed me with. But hopefully you’ll never be in the bad books.

You seem to have very high expectations of me, Styles. I might just surprise you.

I’m going to hold you to that. The next time I see you I expect to be surprised.

Are you free any time soon?

Not until next weekend really. I finish work at five-ish everyday.

Is there any chance that you’d maybe want to do something after work? I can hopefully surprise you?

I’d like that very much. Tuesday okay?

Perfect! See you then, Harry.

Sweet dreams, YN.

Tuesday couldn’t come quick enough in your eyes. You were pleasantly surprised that you’d even managed to bag yourself a date with the man, usually you’d shy away from the male species as much as possible. That didn’t mean that you didn’t spend the entire time messaging Harry the other day with warm cheeks and a fuzzy tummy. The fact that he could’ve thrown everything back into your face being the thing that scared you the most. 

You had messaged Harry last night that you were going to a restaurant, not a fancy one but one that required a smart/casual dress code. You spent probably a little too long getting ready, curling your hair and applying the make up you wore too perfection, dressing in some high-waisted trousers with a long-sleeved tucked in to reserve the warmth that the British summertime had selfishly taken away. 

You had hundred’s of thoughts bouncing around in your brain. It wasn’t everyday that you bagged a date with the man of your dreams and even if it didn’t work out — at least you could say that it had happened. If it didn’t work out it was probably a good thing that Theo had started to make the move from your group to your friend’s to avoid uncomfortable confrontation. 

The reservation at the restaurant was for eight, so you had arranged to meet there for around politely declined. The drive was quick but the wait for Harry seemed to take hours. 

When he did arrive, your breath caught within your throat. He was wearing simple dress pants with a silk floral shirt tucked in, the first couple of buttons undone. It revealed tattoos that you were shocked to see that he had upon his chest and stomach. It intrigued you to know whether he had more tattoos. A part of really wanted to see them. 

“Hi.” He smiles and wraps his arms around you in a welcoming hug. He smelt really good. 

“Hi.” 

“You look lovely.” 

“You don’t look so bad yourself, Styles.” 

“Shall we go in?” You nodded. 

The table reserved for the two of you was small but lovely, located in the corner of the restaurant by the floor to ceiling windows. You had been to this Italian plenty of times in the past and it had become one of your favourites. As you sat down, you had ordered a bottle of wine to share between the two of you. 

“Is that your first surprise?” He asked as the two you tapped your glasses together in cheers, “Drinking on a work night?”

“It’s a special occasion.” You shrug, “You’ll have to figure out yourself whether it’s part of the surprise or not.” 

He raised his eyebrow at you before he broke into a smile. 

“I’m looking forward to it.” 

The waiter comes a few ticks after that, asking what we would like. I order a bowl of pasta whilst Harry orders a pizza of some sort. 

“How was Theo when you left him today?” You started to tuck into the bread and dips that the waiter had brought as an appetiser. 

“Absolutely fine. I’ve never seen someone so exciting to spend time with their grandmother.” 

“Weekend’s with my Grandma were the shit!” You exclaim with a smile, “We used to bake and she’d cook me all of my favourite dinners.” 

“You were spoilt rotten, to say the least?” 

“Of course I was! That’s how little Theo is feeling.” 

“Are you close to your family?” 

“Yeah I am. More so my Mum and Grandma. I don’t really have the best relationship with my Dad.” 

He nods, “My mum and Dad divorced when I was young so I was brought up my Mum. She remarried when I was nineteen.” 

You hummed, “Are you close with your stepfather?”

“I was.” Harry coughed to clear his throat, “He died in 2017.” 

You immediately felt bad. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.” 

He stops the sip of his drink quick, “You haven’t, I promised. How are we supposed to get to know each other if you don’t ask questions?” 

“We sort dived right into the deep shit straight away.” You laughed, “Quick fire questions: favourite band?” 

“I honestly couldn’t pick one.” 

“Well.” You sighed, “I tried but that answer was boring. Pick one!”

“I don’t know.” He shrugs, his smile growing, “I love Fleetwood Mac, The Zombies, The Kinks—”

“Basically anything from the past?” 

“Pretty much.” He laughed, “I grew up listening to Shania Twain and Joni Mitchell with my mum.” 

“I would’ve loved to have that childhood.” You laughed, “My mum was all for Bon Jovi, Meatloaf and Prince. Always said ‘I could’ve been a rock chick’.” 

He laughs and sips his drink. 

The conversation for the rest of the evening flowed better than you could have expected. You honestly don’t think you’ve ever been on such a lovely date before in your life, if you could even call it that. 

You learnt about his childhood living in Holmes Chapel whilst he learnt about yours. You hadn’t expected to enjoy his company so much and even as the night came to a close you found yourself not wanting to leave. 

“I must admit.” He starts as her walks you towards your car, “I was quite disappointed when you said I couldn’t pick you up.” 

“Why was that?” 

“Because I’m not able to drive you home, walk you to your door and hopefully give you a little something to remember me for the night.” 

“Really? Who said that I would have let you?” 

“You wouldn’t have?” 

“I don’t know.” You tease, “Why don’t you come over and try?” 

The smile on his face as he leaned in is something that will haunt your dreams at night for the better. Your eyes flutter closed and sigh in content as his lips touch yours. It was a little embarrassing, but there had been a few moments late at night where you have wondered what this would feel like. Those were enjoyable dreams but the real this was so much better. 

No tongue was involved but you already knew that this was something you could become addicted to. The feeling of his large palm against your cheek as his kissed any worry you had away from the night. Your whole body tingled and if you weren’t in a public car park, you wouldn’t know whether you’d be able to contain yourself. 

You both pull away breathlessly. 

“I think you would’ve let me.” 

“I certainly fucking would.”

If Harry had any other option — he would’ve taken it in a heartbeat. 

When Harry had woke up this morning, he had expected it to be like his normal Monday morning. Waking up early and making breakfast whilst Theo sleep in. Then he’d wake Theo up to have breakfast and then Harry would dress him for the day. 

That hadn’t happened this morning. 

When Harry had walked into Theo’s room that morning he found his son, already awake with tears streaming down his face. He tried to comfort his son, and tried to get him to talk but he just didn’t stop crying. 

That’s how he ended up stood in the corner of his son’s room with his phone pressed tightly to his ear. 

“Harry? Hello?” 

“Hi.” 

“Is everything okay?” 

“Yeah, well uh, not really.” He scratches the back of his neck, “There’s something wrong with Theo.” 

“Is he okay?” 

“No. I came into his room this morning and he’s non-stop crying and he won’t talk to me.” 

“I’m on my way.” 

You drove as fast as you could. The sound of Harry’s voice, mixed with his words and the faint sniffles in the background was enough to send your heart spiralling. You used the message that Harry had sent with address to navigate your way towards his house. 

Doors unlocked. 

You raced your way up the stairs, taking two at a time and saw Harry waiting at the top of the stairs. 

“Thank you.” 

“It’s no problem.” You squeezed his arm in reassurance, “Is he in there?” 

“Yeah.” 

Then you saw him. The small boy with the brown curly hair and the green eyes that matched his Father’s peering up at you, small sobs leaving his lips. 

“Hi bud.” You smile, “Is it okay if I sit down?” 

The small boy nods and you do so, a small sigh escaping your smiling lips. 

“Your Daddy phoned and said you were feeling a little upset this morning and asked if I could come and talk to you. Is that okay?” 

He nods again, sniffling slightly. 

“Is there anything you want to tell me?” 

He shakes his head. 

“Can you tell me why you’re crying?” 

“Dream.” His chest heaves up and down. 

“Did you have a bad dream?” A nod. Okay, you could work with that. 

You hadn’t realised that Harry was stood at the door, leant against the frame with his eyebrows furrowed and his thumb running across his lip. He honestly wouldn’t know what he was going to do if you hadn’t been so lovely and come to check on Theo at such short notice. 

“Was your dream about Daddy?” Another nod. 

It honestly broke Harry’s heart. He had never ever though that something like this was the reason his son had gotten himself into such a state. 

“Have you been having a lot of these dreams?” Nodding. So much nodding, “Are they scaring you?” 

“Daddy hurt.” His voice was so quiet and unsteady.

“Daddy gets hurt?” Your palms start sweating, “Is that why you’re so upset? And you go quiet sometimes? You think Daddy’s going to get hurt?” 

“I’m right here Theo.” Harry walks over and drops down to be face to face with his son, “I’m not hurt, and I’m not going to hurt.” 

“You don’t move.” He cries become louder and louder the more they spoke. 

Harry leans over and pulls his son off the bed, dropping him onto his lap and wrapping his arms tightly around him. You watch as Harry smooths his hand across his son’s back, hoping that it will calm him down and stop the crying. Harry’s catch yours and your heart physically breaks for him. You’d never seen anything like this in your four year career. 

“Listen to this, bud.” Harry wipes his tear stained face briefly, “How about we take today off nursery and work and we’ll spend the day together.” 

Theo nods and you smile, gently standing up and removing yourself from the situation. For the first time you can look at Harry’s house. It was exactly how you had pictured it to be — immaculately designed with a splash of Theo in ever corner. You drop down upon the sofa with a sigh and use your hand to try to rub the fatigue away from your face. You hadn’t had a morning like this in a long time. 

Twenty minutes or so later, Harry joins you on the sofa with a deep sigh. 

“How is he?” 

“He’s asleep right now. I laid with him and he drifted off.” 

“That’s good.” 

He reaches over to grab your hand that was comfortably rested upon your thigh, threading his fingers nicely between your own. 

“I’m sorry for calling so early. I know you were probably busy and this didn’t help.” 

“It’s okay.” You give his hand another squeeze, “I told you that I’d help in any way that I could.” 

“I know.” He nods, his voice starting to break, “It’s just so fucking hard YN.” 

“Hey, don’t cry.” You move so that you can wrap your arms around his shoulders, pulling him into a comforting hug, “I know it is but we can sort this out, I promise.” 

“Just knowing that this was because he has been worried about me. What kind of parent does that?” 

“I want you to listen to me now, Harry.” You place your hands upon his cheeks, pulling his head up from your shoulder so that he’s looking directly at you, “You have done nothing wrong. This was completely out of your control.” 

He nods and you wipe the tear that had fallen down his cheek away. 

“I’m going to help you now and we’re going to get Theo better.” 

He leans forward and to your surprise places a deep kiss to your lips. 

“Thank you.” 

Harry had invited you over as a thank you a couple of days later. You had told him multiple times that he didn’t have to thank you for anything and that you’d do anything for him and Theo but he insisted. Theo was still next door with Mrs. West after being picked up from nursery and she made it complete aware that she didn’t mind watching him for a few extra hours so that he could do this for his friend. 

If Harry was honest, he doesn’t have many friends. Mrs. West has spoken to him about it on many occasions and he supposed that the old woman was just excited that he might actually have a friend that wasn’t herself or his son. 

You had arrived at Harry’s house to see the dining room set out with plates and cutlery and wine glasses with delicious smell coming from the kitchen. He greeted you with a soft kiss upon the lips and a small hug. 

“Has Theo been okay?” You ask, leaning against the counter as you watch Harry fry the vegetables for the stir fry.

“He’s been better. He’s been talking a little more according to to the teachers.” He starts to plate up the noodles, “For the first couple of nights he stayed in bed with me, as you suggested but last night he stayed in his own.” 

“Did it go okay?” The two of you walk with full plates to the dining room.

“There were a few tears but he slept through the night.” 

You honestly couldn’t have been happier for the two of them. You have worked with the two of them for a couple of months and now finding out that things were actually starting to work left you feeling happier than you had ever expected to be. 

“That’s really good. I’m happy for you.” 

Before you knew it the time had escaped from the two of you. Somehow, you had made your way to the sofa and now sat with large glasses of red wine in your hands. 

“Are you sure you don’t need to get Theo?” 

It was nearing seven, and you started to worry. 

“If I go now he’ll probably kill me.” He laughs, “Mrs. West brings out the sweet treats around this time.” 

You giggle and lean forward to capture your lips upon his. His hand reaches up to cup your cheek, the other resting lightly upon her thigh. In one confident movement, you shift your body so that your knees are either side of his hips. A part of you still couldn’t believe that this was happening, not only with anyone but with Harry. 

This had all happened quicker than you had expected but you weren’t complaining. 

“YN.” He pulls away breathlessly, “Hey, are you sure?” 

“God yes.” 

“Okay then.’ 

He skilfully picks you up, wrapping your legs around his waist as he carries you towards his bedroom. You land upon the bed with a small thud that causes you both to giggle. He presses his lips to yours one last time in a breath-taking, heart-stopping kiss. 

“Move up.” You shuffle your bum up the bed so that your head is rested upon the lush pillows. Harry’s fingers toy with the zipper of your jeans, his eyes looking for any sign of uncomforted on your face, “This okay?” 

You nod quickly, “It is.” 

He sighs shakily, his fingers slipping into the band of your jeans, pulling them down your legs. You lift your hips up to aid him in the movement. At this point you were glad that a day ago you hd decided to have a pamper session and shave your entire body. 

His lips place small kisses along the inside of your thighs, your body withering under his touch. It had been a long time since someone had touched you in this way, and your senses felt as though they were on override. 

“Harry.” The small moan escapes your lips as he licks a stripe along your clothed centre. 

“God.” He hooks his fingers into the material and pulls them down your legs, “You’re so fucking wet.” 

You hum as his lips wrap around your clit, your chest heaving up and down as he uses his tongue to flick the sensitive nub over and over again. This had all happened so quickly and you felt so overwhelmed that you had no idea if you were going to last very long at all. 

“Fuck.” You moan, “Harry.” 

“That’s it.” He murmurs against your centre, giving your clit a few kitten licks afterwards, “Say my name again.” 

“Harry.” 

He suckles on your clit so quickly that you’re left breathless, your fingers threading through his curly brown hair. You tug on it causing a groan to escape his lips against you, sending your orgasm rushing in. 

“M’coming.” Your chest heaves, “Fuck, baby.” 

Harry pulls away after coaxing you through your high, his lips and chin glistening with your juices. He licks what he can before lifting up so that you can kiss him. He drops down, his head falling into your neck and for the first time you can feel him against your exposed thigh. 

“Do you want me to help?’ 

“No.” He smiles, pushing your hair away from your face, “Tonight was a thanks to you. Hopefully there will plenty more opportunities for you to repay me in the future.” 

“I’m excited for that.” 

“Daddy?” The little voice wakes the two of you up from your slumber, “Miss. YN?” 

“Hiya buddy.” Harry’s quick to pick the little boy up and drop him in the middle of the two of you, “Did you have a good sleep?” 

Theo hums and cuddles into his Dad’s chest, “Morning Miss. YN.” 

“Morning Theo.” You smile, “I’ve told you before, you can call me just YN.” 

You and Harry had started to see each other frequently since the last date and very recently, in the past few days or so you’ve both made the jump of having sleepovers. With Theo it made it difficult for Harry to stay over at yours so you stayed over at Harry’s — not that you minded one bit. 

“Okay, YN.” He smiles, leaning forward to place a kiss to Harry’s dimpled cheek. 

“What do you fancy doing today bud? If you ask nicely YN might be able to stay with us today.” 

“Really?” His eyes widen in excitement. 

“Of course.” You smile and ruffle his hair, “But it’s your day, what do you want to do?” 

“Can we go to the cinema?” You both nod, seeing as though that’s a very doable request from the little man. 

“What do you want to go see?” 

“Frozen 2 please, daddy.” 

“Of course.” Harry kisses his cheek and your heart swells at the sight. 

Theo sat the entire time in the cinema contently chewing on his popcorn as his eyes never left the screen. Harry’s hand was firmly grasped within yours and you both repeatedly picked it up to kiss the back of each other’s. It was the simple gestures that drew you to Harry in the first place, from that very first day at the centre. 

“Did you enjoy it?” You both have one of Theo’s hands in yours, swinging him up as you walk along the pavement. 

“Yes Daddy.” He beams. 

“What do you fancy doing now? Fancy a McDonalds?” 

“Can I have an ice cream, please?”

“Of course, baby.” 

It was rare that you and Harry managed to get a night alone with each other, but this specific Saturday night Anne had offered to take Theo and the two of you weren’t complaining. It had been two or so months since your relationship grew from being professional into something more and you were yet to fully consummate your relationship. 

You did other things, of course, in the dead of night when Theo was fast asleep. You were both just uncomfortable with the idea of having sex and reaching that last level of intimacy whilst he was in the other room. 

The thought physically made you shudder. 

“Are you hungry, baby?” 

“I could eat.” You respond, sitting across from Harry as he scrolls through his phone whilst leaning upon the kitchen island. 

“Pizza?” 

You scoff, “Is that even a question?” 

Once the delivery of your pizza’s arrive, you don’t think you’ve ever seen someone inhale a pizza as quickly as Harry did. He even ended up eating a slice of your own. 

Cleaning up was easy and before you knew anything, you were both changing and getting ready for bed. It was at this point you could go through the plan that you’d created a week or so ago when you learnt that this day would be happening. 

You dressed yourself in delicate white lingerie that would have anyone swooning and dropping to their knees. You tousled your hair, applied some lip balm to your lips and walk out to the bedroom. 

“Fucking hell.” He drops his phone onto the bed beside him, “Where have you been keeping that?” 

“It’s one of the surprises I always ramble on about.” 

“Totally worth it.” He throws his hands up and makes grabby movements towards you which you give in to. 

His arms wrap around you waist and pull you down so you could press your lips to his. There was something different within the air today and you could both feel it. 

“You wanna feel me?” 

“Always.” 

His fingers reach up to unclasp your bra, dropping the lace material to the floor as you clamber upon his lap. His lips wrap around your pebbled nipples, the feeling of his swirling tongue earning breathy moans to escape your lips. 

“Sensitive?” 

“Just finished my period.” 

“Ah.” You thread your fingers through his hair, tugging slightly. 

You drop to your knees, looking up at him through your eyelashes as you use your hand to palm him through his boxers. You place two kisses to each of the ferns, another one at the top of his happy trail before you hook your fingers into the material of his briefs, pulling them down as he lifted his hips to help. 

This wasn’t your first rodeo with Harry’s dick, but that didn’t mean that you became any less nervous every time you saw it. 

“Are you just going to stare?” 

“I’m contemplating?” 

“Contemplating what?” 

“Whether or not you deserve me to suck your dick. Leave me to it, baby.” 

He shuts his mouth the second to place one kitten lip to his base, your eyes watching as his stomach heaves up and down at the feeling. Wrapping your lips around the tip, you start to bob your head up and down, using your spit to ease yourself into it. Harry’s hand reaches out to grip your hair, guiding your head up and down but making sure to not go too far. 

“You’re amazing. Fuck, YN baby.” 

You use the free hand that wasn’t aiding you by jerking the length that you couldn’t take to squeeze his thigh, right by his tiger once before allowing your finger to rub over your sensitive nub through your panties, allowing any sort of friction to be released. 

“Gotta stop baby.” He gently pushes you off of him, your mouth releasing him with a pop, “Need to last for you.” 

Once you’re stood up he pulls your panties down your legs, watching as you step out of them. You both switch positions so that you’re laid on top of the plush comforter whilst Harry fumbles through his bedside table, taking a foil packet out. 

Your eyes never leave him as he gives himself a few tugs before rolling the condom on, giving you a once over before bending down. 

“Are you sure you want to do this?” He questions once and you nod, muttering confirmation as he moves to hover above you. 

You feel a little discomfort at first, probably due to how long it had been since you last had sex. 

“Move, Harry.” 

“M’kay.” 

His lips are on yours again as he starts to move his hips, finding his rhythm as he thrusts in and out of you. You whine into his mouth whilst he groans into yours, the feeling becoming all too unbearable for the two of you. 

“Feel so good, H. So big, so full.” 

The chuffed face he pulled as he continued to thrust his hips to yours, his lips wrapping around your nipple briefly was enough for you to fall for him again. 

“M’gonna come, baby.” 

“I know, H, me too.” 

He slipped his hand down between you both to use his fingers to rub your sensitive bundle of nerves, sending you over the edge. A long moan of his name leaves your lips, your back arches and your eyes start to water. 

“That’s it. Fuck! Squeezin’ me so tight.” 

He moans as he comes, spilling into the condom whilst his movements halt inside of you. 

He head drops forward upon your shoulder, the two of you masking in the overwhelming thing your had just experienced. 

“There’s no one else I ever want to do that with.” 

“Looks like you’re stuck with me, then.” 

“YN.” Theo catches your attention as you wash both of your hands after the painting session you had both just had, “Are you my new Mummy?” 

Your movements halt as you look down at the little boy, his features becoming more and more like Harry’s everyday. 

You look up to Harry who’s stood drying his hand a couple of metres away, a goofy smile present on his lips as he nods at you. 

“If you want me to be Theo, but are you sure?” 

“I love you, YN.” 

“I love you too, now go dry your hands.” 

Harry passes him the towel to dry his hands which he does with little no disagreement. 

“Are you going to go turn the TV on whilst Daddy talks to Mummy?” 

The words felt odd leaving his lips, but a good kind of odd. You watch as he leaves the bathroom and bounds towards the living room. 

You wrap your arms around Harry and sigh contently into his chest. 

“I can’t believe he just said that.” 

“I can. There’s no one else I’d want to be his mother.” 

You stand on your tip toes to kiss his lips once. 

“I love you, Harry.” 

“I love you too.” 

[terrm9]

38 and 49 ethan and chiara 😊 from the i love u prompts

Dearest anon, thank you for the request and I am so sorry it took me so long. I truly hope you can still find this enjoyable.

Warnings: hurt/comfort, teeny tiny little bit of angst (maybe?), other than that just fluff

This is set in the time jump in Book 2 (after the gala)

Prompts: “I am not leaving you” & “If only you could see yourself the way I see you”

*** *** ***

It was 2:54 AM when the sharp sound of an incoming call interrupted Chiara’s already light sleep. All traces of it, however, disappeared the moment her phone started ringing, because nobody calls at three in the morning to tell you good news.

Cold sweat made her shiver and she felt like her heart skipped several beats when she noticed Ethan’s name on the display. What was happening? He was not working and he knew she wasn’t either. He would never call her knowing that she was sleeping if it wasn’t for something important.

Or serious.

“Ethan?” she picked up, holding her breath and biting her lip nervously. She was a second away from pacing her room.

“Chiara,” her name sounded like the most precious combination of letters that has ever been created in the moment.

There was no sign of panic or alarm in his voice as he breathed her name out, quite the opposite – was it relief? Could it be?

Why would it be?

“Are you okay?” they both asked at the same time.

Chiara decided to be the first to answer, as it became obvious that Ethan called her to make sure she was okay. She was beginning to understand what was going on and her heart dropped at the realization.

“Of course I am okay. I am at home, I was sleeping.”

The air around Ethan felt colder than he remembered from any other January in Boston and he wondered how big a part his feelings, his emotions, his state, played in the illusion?

It was not his most clever idea, to take a walk in the middle of the night. But the scotch was not working and he needed to escape his own mind - hoping to achieve that with the walk.

“I apologize for waking you up,” he said slowly and then, despite hating these moments of weakness, these moments that became more and more present in his life as of late, he dared to ask. “Could I come in?”

There was a long silence on the other side and he cursed under his breath, this was a terrible mistake, and then the door of her building opened and Chiara stood there, in her tank top and underwear, not caring that it was freezing, a sad smile on her lips.

Ethan stepped closer and he despised himself for being so uncertain, for hesitating before he reached out to her and cupped her cheek with his hand.

She took the hand and put a lingering kiss on his palm, the contrast between her soft and warm lips and his freezing skin so sharp he felt like the touch burned him.

It didn’t take him long to realize that he never wished to be burnt until now.

Without any words, Chiara interlaced their fingers together and led him into her apartment and then straight into her room, her expression soft and understanding and Ethan felt like a little boy that found his comfort and he hated that he needed to be comforted.

And he loved it too.

For a moment or two, Chiara felt the urge to ask him What happened? Are you okay? How long have you been freezing out there before calling me?, but she knew better now.

No matter how much Ethan hated to admit it – no, how much he avoided admitting it – under the mask of stoic, stable doctor, there was a man whose life was falling into pieces and he was failing to put them back together.

Chiara’s little encounter with death back in November was the first event that set Ethan off his axis and they both naively believed that it would be the only one, that they would get through it and life would go back to normal.

And then Luise crashed into Ethan’s life again.

And then the gala did not save Edenbrook and it was reaching its end.

Today, Ethan lost a patient. And it was the moment he insisted that Chiara spends her night in her apartment instead of his that she knew. She knew his night would be the one spent agonizing over what was, what is and most importantly, what will be. She knew that he would beat himself up for things he has no power over, but no matter how stubborn she was, Ethan managed to be more.

And so she left with Elijah after her shift and believed she would meet Ethan in the morning.

Just not three in the morning.

There was no point in asking him, because Chiara Ray knew exactly what was going on, just as she knew that Ethan was not okay.

She didn’t offer him a t-shirt as he took his clothes off, even though there were enough of his t-shirts in her room for him to pick up which one he would like to sleep in.

But Ethan hated sleeping in t-shirt almost as much as he hated talking about the emotions overriding him. And so Chiara didn’t offer him any and just quietly laid down next to him, putting her head on his chest.

“I am sorry for interrupting your night again,” Ethan whispered at last, his gaze pointed on the ceiling.

“I am glad you came,” Chiara smiled softly and put another gentle kiss on his chest, feeling his heart beat rapidly under her lips.

“We are going to be alright,” she spoke again after some time. “Not tonight and not tomorrow, but we are going to be alright one day. We are here and we are together and we are okay. I am not going anywhere, Ethan. I am not leaving you.”

His grip on her waist tightened, a silent acknowledgment of her words, a non-verbal thank you. It was all Ethan managed.

He knew her words were supposed to be soothing, that they had their purpose, a delightful lullaby of reassurance that should have brought sleep that was not marked by nightmares.

But just as Chiara knew without asking, Ethan knew exactly as much.

Ethan knew that her words carried more meaning that some sweet nothings whispered in the darkness of her room, Ethan knew that when Chiara says I am not leaving you, she means every single part of it.

And it scared him.

Did she realize how much was she putting into his arms? Did she realize the power she was giving him by promising to stay by his side?

The hospital was closing and what was he supposed to do? He cannot – he must not – jeopardize her career by expecting her to stay by his side, no matter what his next choice will be. She had the potential to blossom if only she could find the hospital that is worth her presence. And he cannot stop that.

Ethan could live with Chiara hating him for breaking her heart if it would mean that her career was as successful as it deserved to be. He cannot live with Chiara hating him for keeping her close and destroying her chances of becoming the diagnostician she aims to be.

What was he supposed to do?

“Stop doing it,” her soft, sleepy voice interrupted his thoughts and for a moment, he was confused.

“I haven’t done anything,” he defended himself, tilting his head slightly to have a better look at Chiara’s face – her eyes are still peacefully closed and hadn’t she spoken, he would think she was already back to sleep.

“You are spiraling. Analyzing your next steps, drowning in the sea of what if’s and what should’s and I know you think you need to break up with me in order to save my career.”

There was a long silence. Ethan wanted to ask how do you know?, but then he remembered it was Chiara he would be asking and so he didn’t.

In the months of knowing Ethan, Chiara was aware of the ways Ethan’s body responded to his anxiety. She could tell exactly how the fingers on his feet moved rapidly all the time and how a soft gasp left his mouth when an especially strong wave of uncertainty hit him.

“Don’t you ever dare to break up with me because you believe it would be better for me. I am capable of making my own decisions and I decided to be with you,” she went on, her voice sharper than she intended to. “We are not going to solve this whole situation overnight, but even in this moment I know that I want to be part of your life and I want you to be part of mine.”

There were so many things Ethan wanted to tell her. He wished to express his gratitude and he wished Chiara could feel how sorry he was for putting her through so much.

But words stuck in his throat and the only sentence that left him was not even on the list of those he wanted to say.

“I don’t deserve you,” he whispered.

Chiara let out a soft chuckle, the warm breath tickling Ethan’s ribs and despite everything, his lips twitched on the right side, a small smile forming on them.

“Life is hardly about what we deserve,” she whispered back. “Sometimes, we get more than we deserve and sometimes we get less. It is what it is.”

“I don’t think you don’t deserve me, though,” she added quickly, throwing a glance up only to find Ethan staring at her intently. “If only you could see yourself the way I see you,” she sighed but didn’t say anything else.

She didn’t need to, after all. Chiara was the first woman in Ethan’s life that never hesitated to let him know which parts of him she loved and for which she could tear his head off. He knew that in Chiara’s eyes, he was great. Worth love and worth happiness.

In her eyes, he was deserving.

There was another box of untouched thoughts in Ethan’s head and tonight, after he felt Chiara’s breaths getting steadier, he allowed himself to open the box.

Ethan was sure that there was no man, no woman, no person in this world that deserved Chiara. He was sure that Chiara was far too good for mere humans, with their flaws and their sins and their limits, to claim her as theirs.

He was more than sure that he was not deserving of her presence in his life.

But there she was, dedicated to stay, dedicated to show him the world the way she sees it. Dedicated to show him magic, because if Chiara was something, it was magical. Ethereal.

And in the chaos of his uncertainty, Ethan found out that there was one thought that he became certain of.

A frightening one, indeed. But certain.

He loved the woman.

[hyukmoon]

Class trip.

Synopsis | you're a teacher going along on a trip for a week with your class and a colleague you despised for a good amount of time now. Things turn around and you don't know what to think about him anymore.

Teacher!Xiaojun x Teacher!gn!Reader

warnings | kissing is the most rated things happening in this, all over awkwardness from you, terrible humor, pretty much just fluff and a there's only one bed situation

word count | 2.2k

things to note | this is the first thing I wrote here, so I'm open to constructive criticism, also [P/A] means prefered form of address bc you're a teacher and all that (not proofread yet)

Let’s preface this. You never really wanted to go onto this trip. You genuinely loved the children in your class, but to go onto this trip for an entire week seemed to be a compromise in the least. Neither were the other teachers your preferred ones nor was it your say where the class trip was going to take place. To be honest, you even found the colleague you were going with a bit annoying.

“It can’t be this bad, you might even enjoy it there. Our fellow colleague is pretty to look at and the worst that could be happening on that trip is that one of the children puts their finger into a pencil sharpener again.”, your friend Yasmin and also, teacher said. Your tired face was working, she shut up. Of course, your fellow colleague was incredibly handsome.

You would and could never argue against that, yet every time you heard their kind and expressive voice you felt like you were blinded by the sun. He just seemed to exude everything you lacked. It is not that you weren’t a good teacher, every time you were out of breath or already done with everything only half through the day, he almost smiled compassionately at you sometimes even winked for that matter.

Xiao dejun, who also went by Xiaojun was the topic of your discussion, a man that handsome you wouldn’t be able to make up in your dream and smart enough to make up for every “inconvenience” you faced with him.

Well, he was that smart to bring you coffee every morning into teachers lounge, share his chewing gum with you and sometimes write you notes if you seem stressed. “Jeez, what’s your problem in the first place? I’m kinda sure he is into you. Every time he looks at you, he literally has heart eyes and bringing you coffee every morning? Please.”, she rolled her eyes at you.

“I don’t think so, I just subbed some of his classes a few times. You know how nice he is.”, nervously you now shy away from looking into Yasmin’s eyes.

Xiaojun didn’t like you, you would feel terrible if he did. Tweaks of shame overcame you; this trip was not going to work out.

Fully packed and all over suspiciously you started counting again the fourth graders on the bus while also having a very good view of the chocolate brown hair of the teacher going along on the field trip. This time his hair didn’t fully cover his forehead, his glasses eyeing you as well. Suddenly his hands tapped on the seat next to him. Heat rose up to your cheeks gradually making it harder to move forward to sit next to Xiaojun. “Mila’s parents called me, she’s sick so don’t worry about her. Just sit down [Y/N], I brought some tea.”, he smiled while pointing at his thermos can. “Uh, sure. I have some cookies with me if you want.”, the last sentence closely sounding like a question as you quietly took the seat next to him.

Not only were you now stunned about the fact that there was a possibility for him to view you in a light like this in spite of you being so passive towards him in the past. Yet there is still the lingering feeling far, far up in your head that you were only imagining things and Xiaojun read everything wrong. “Are you feeling well? We can also sit farther in the front if you feel better there- “, he worriedly stroked your shoulder. “No, it’s completely fine. Just fine.”, you interrupted his ramble and put up your mouth into a cramped smile. His eyes returned that favor, crinkling up into a smile as well.

The bus drive didn’t take as long as you might have thought, your counterpart on the excursion was more than enough to keep you on your toes. Casual glances along a few accidental brushes over your hand kept you in your seat. Now counting again all the children in the lobby of the youth hostel you anxiously eyed Xiaojun again. The amount of children matched up, so your job was done for now, you were most likely only seeing them for dinner. The only thing to do for you now was to go up to your room and contemplate how to not have a physical reaction every time your favorite colleague called your name. Very obvious, you had of course no crush on him or anything like that. He was just blessed with beautifully shaped eyebrows and a voice that could make the worst words you knew sound like a ballade. You moved up from the hotel lobby with some of the grade schoolers to the elevator.

"[P/A] [L/N], do you think when I make Lasagna with my mum it’s the same as cake?”, Xia, a girl from Xiaojun’s music class asked while her classmates giggle about her question. A few loud no’s were to be heard with the occasional high pitched laughs from her friends. “That is a very good question I have never thought about before”, you stopped for a second, what exactly does it mean to be a cake? It is still baked in an oven with layers and contains the tomato sauce as frosting? “I am pretty sure it is. Even though I’ll talk to you about it tomorrow though, I am not a baking expert. I promise I’ll look it up for you, yes?”, you were pretty content with your answer. “Hmmm. Okay. They wanted me to ask.” Xia answered while pointing at the three boys in the back of the elevator which earned her some distraught faces from her classmates. The familiar sound of the elevator bell ringed. “Anyways, if you have as burning questions as these please come to me or …, we’re happy to help. Also, if you feel homesick or sick, I’m always in my room, just knock.” As soon as the last syllable was said stormed the children to their respective rooms and left you there looking at their body shaped dust cloud remembering the cartoons you watched at their age.

You walked down the long corridor towards the light brown lacquered door which showed in golden numerals written the 420. Your shoulders visibly sank down, finally you were able to take a nap. The door opened and closed maybe a millisecond later. Seeing a wide back heaving some shirts on to the rooms ear chair made you catch your breath. His glasses missing and his usually kempt hair was now chaotically drifting across his forehead into separate directions. More importantly though, he was most likely about to put on a fresh shirt, and you stood across the dark brown carpet in the door with a perplexed face.

“Sorry!”, you yelled and closed the door to just sink down with it in your back. Xiaojun packing out his suitcase along his pullover wasn’t what you were expecting to after talking about lasagna and wanting to fall asleep for at least good 30 minutes to then decide if it’s worth it to start to watch a movie. Yet you were barely discussing the fact that he was in your room. Neither did it make sense nor were you able to really comprehend the situation right now.

The door opened and you jumped up onto your feet. “[Y/N]? Why were you in my room?”, Xiaojun quiet voice slid through the gap of the door. “I swear there’s an explanation to this. I think they might have given me the wrong keys or something like that, I didn’t look at you or anything-”, he interrupted your nervous chatter to push the door open and face your confused state. “It’s fine, we’ll figure it out together.”, the usual quirky smile you normally saw when he was trying to cheer up one of his students appeared on his face. Your breath stopped at the together while a comfortable warm feeling churned in your stomach.

“Then let’s go downstairs and work it out with the staff!”, he gifted you another wink which not only gave you the final confidence to grab onto his arm before heading again into the elevator but to for the first time give him a wink back.

“The school only booked one room for the teacher. I can’t really do that much about it, most rooms are already full and other guests will arrive tomorrow, so I’m very sorry for the inconvenience.”, the hotel worker returned to the computer in front of them. “What are we supposed to do now?”, you sighed and gazed at the visibly pondering man. “Honestly, no idea. There isn’t much we can do, so I guess we could talk about it in my room?”

The walk to his room had to be filled with an uncomfortable silence, neither you nor he were able to say something that made the current situation less painfully horrendous. Almost as if the newly gained confidence left your body, you didn’t even dare to make more than an unfunny joke about your nonexistent room or more like transferred room for another alone soul. His room was already coddled with the scent of freshly washed clothes along his close to quiet cologne. “So here we are.You take the bed and I’ll sleep on the ground.”

“This is so inappropriate, dear god.”, you started to sigh again caressing your temples. “Also, no, please take the bed, the school probably forgot to book another room because I said yes to this trip so late.” Even though Xiaojuns throat seemed to struggle a bit with his next proposition, it was still loud and clear what he said. “We can also share the bed... We’re two grown adults.” He laughed awkwardly; you were pretty much speechless.

“Yeah, of course. Two adults. Nothing to worry or think about.”, you tried to brush off any thought you could possibly have about your opposition. No thoughts about his warm breath in your neck while holding you loosely in his sleepy state to waking up to his beautifully messy bed hair in the morning.

“I’ll take a shower if you don’t mind, some of the children were kinda fussy today and I just need a few minutes.” You nodded and unpacked your suitcase, followed by changing into some comfortable shorts and large shirt.

The second you were done; you sank into the still cold sheets of the large bed. He didn’t make you wait for him very long, barely noticeable however his eyes rested on you when he entered the small apartment again.

Neither did it take too long to sit along with you on the bed. “Are you sure you’re comfortable with us doing this?”, his soft voice hit you unexpectedly. “I can also sleep on the floor, or we switch everyday to do it.” You shook your head simply and crawled up the bed to make yourself comfortable under the duvet. “I’m so tired, just don’t steal the blanket, okay?”, barely able to keep your eyes open you sank even more into the mattress.

You really thought it would be easy to sleep next to him, yet the thought of holding his face in your hands didn’t leave your mind. Even asleep he had a stunning presence around him. “[Y/N]? Do you like me?”, Xiaojun turned around to see your surprised expression. “Of course, I do. I just thought that because you were so good at everything, you did all of these things just to spite me.”, you quietly confessed. “[Y/N], I wanted you to like me. You’re a wonderful teacher and I really admire you. You’re so funny with the other colleagues and generally so, so gorgeous.” Xiaojuns eyes lingered on your lips. They stayed there.

“Can I kiss you?” You nodded. His lips brushed softly across your bottom one. You took the opportunity to gain closeness to his warm side before shifting your hands onto his back. Slowly you began to pepper small kisses along his jawline resulting in a small whine from his side. His hands started to wander across your waist to rest on your lower back and pull you in even closer.

Not a lot longer after he started to skim your neck with his teeth. You rested your head now in his freshly scented neck. Again, his lips on yours moving over to just behind your earlobe, nipping on it and breathing into your ear: “Do you want me to continue?” Still resting his soft lips on your ear goosebumps rose up your spine. Waiting for another hint of pressed lips against your skin your arms lethargically crawled up and grazed his cheeks.

“Ah right, the children.”, your voice hitched he was still so close to you. “We could discuss this maybe on a date?”, he looked almost hopeful when his dark and strangely staring eyes met yours in the dim lit room.

“Us kissing and almost doing the deed? Sure. I’m much better at physical presentations though.” You pressed a delicate kiss against his lips. “Since when so provocative?”

“You bring it out in me.” “I’m glad it’s me and no one else then.”, he smiled into the kiss he gave you now. Not long from this you actually found the peace and quiet to fall asleep in his embrace.

[chaolie]

Fundywastaken week, Day 8 - Free Prompt

Here it is!! The last thing I wrote for @fundyfiles' fwt week!! I kinda got carried away writing it and it got somewhat long, but it's really cool I think! Can be also found on my Ao3 with the rest of my works for this week!

Characters: Fundy, Dream, Wilbur

Words: ~3.7k

When they parted ways the day before, Fundy promised he’d see Dream again first thing in the morning. At first, the man assumed that his boyfriend slept in. Then, he convinced himself something else must’ve come up and he’d be late. But now the sun was high in the sky, and it was well past noon. Finally, Dream started to seriously worry. What if something happened? Sure, the war was long over and there weren’t many dangers around, but still, what if? To feel better, he decided to go check on him.

He arrived at the gate to L’Manburg rather quickly, but was a bit hesitant to knock. Sure, he was on better terms with some of the people living there, but he usually was around them only with Fundy, there was no telling how they’d react to seeing him alone. With the worry for his boyfriend overpowering his nervousness, he knocked on the gate a couple of times and waited. He saw someone peek above the wall before ducking behind it again and heard their footsteps get further. Great. But just moments later, the gate slowly opened and he stood face to face with Wilbur.

“Hello. What brings you here?” the man asked. Dream took a deep breath before speaking.

“Is… Fundy here? I hadn’t seen him all day and I’m starting to get worried,” he answered. To his surprise, Wilbur’s expression seemed to soften slightly.

“...He is, but I’m not sure if he’d like to see you,” he answered. Confused, Dream tilted his head.

“Huh? Why?” he asked, and the man sighed.

“He’s just… He’s in his room, and he doesn’t want visitors. It’s just… I suppose he didn’t tell you?”

“...Didn’t tell me about what?” Dream asked, and Wilbur nodded. “Look, I just want to see him and make sure he’s okay.”

“I see,” the man sighed. “I can let you in, but if he tells you to leave, you’ll do so,” he said, and Dream nodded. The last thing he wanted to do was argue.

“Of course.”

“Good… Come inside, then, I suppose,” Wilbur sighed, stepping back to let Dream go through the gate.

Walking behind Wilbur, Dream couldn’t help but grow anxious. What did the man mean, what did Fundy not tell him about? Was it something very bad? He knew Fundy well, well enough to know that no minor inconvenience would stop him from keeping his promise and meeting with him. So what happened? How bad was it? Was he sick? Was he hurt? No, Wilbur was acting far too calm for that, and he probably wouldn’t let Dream anywhere near him if that were the case… So what was it, then?!

“...Fundy?” Wilbur called out, knocking on the door to the small house Fundy called his own.

“...Yeah?” came the answer. He sounded… okay. A bit sad, but okay. That in itself was a big relief for Dream.

“You, uh. Dream came to visit you?” Fundy’s father announced. After that, came a long pause. “You don’t have to-”

“It’s fine, it’s fine!” Fundy answered finally, his voice more muffled. “H-he can come in!” he assured.

“...Okay then,” Wilbur sighed before turning to look at Dream. He glared at the masked man for a second, as if telling him Don’t Do Anything Bad, and then left. Nervously, Dream put a hand over the doorknob and pushed the door open.

“Hi. Fundy?” he greeted, stepping inside.

“Hi. Close the door, please?” Fundy answered, and Dream followed the instruction. When he looked back into the building, he found his boyfriend on his bed, hiding under a blanket.

“...Are you okay?” he asked, and the shape under the blanket moved in a way indicating a nod.

“Yeah! Yeah, just-” Fundy tried to explain, but his voice suddenly fell. “Sometimes I just wake up, and… I don’t want anyone to see me?” he answered hesitantly.

“Is there… a reason?” Dream asked, slowly stepping closer to the bed. Again, Fundy nodded.

“Yeah, it’s… uh… It’s just… I really don’t want anyone to see me like… this. A-and that includes you, too. Uh, sorry, it’s dumb-” he stuttered out.

“It’s alright,” Dream assured. “I just wanted to check on you.”

“Oh, right- Sorry for missing our meeting, I’m just… Tomorrow, maybe? If I’m lucky?” Fundy suggested. Dream felt helpless, whatever his boyfriend was dealing with, he wanted to help. But how could he help if he didn’t know anything? He figured, maybe giving him some support would be good enough?

“Sure,” he nodded, carefully putting a hand on where he assumed Fundy’s arm to be. Immediately, the fox hybrid’s hand shot out from under the blanket and grasped at the material.

“Wait, don’t-” he gasped, holding it tightly.

“Oh, no, I wasn’t-” Dream shook his head and took his hand back. “Sorry, I was just…” he tried to excuse himself.

Just then, he looked at Fundy’s hand and… huh? It looked… very different from what he remembered it to be. It was… slightly bigger, the ‘claws’ on it were much duller, and most importantly… Well, it wasn’t fox-like anymore. Not at all, save for the black tint on the tips of his fingers, Fundy’s hand was… human. Surprised, Dream carefully reached over and put his own hand over it.

“...Fundy, what…” he tried to ask, but the moment he came in contact with the hand, his boyfriend yelped in surprise and hid it back under the blanket.

“I- It’s not what- Wait I- I can explain!” he stuttered, and Dream stood still in his place. Then, there came a pause.

“...So, can you explain your… hand?” Dream asked finally, and Fundy seemed to curl up under the blanket.

“...Are you… I don’t know, upset?”

“No!” Dream assured quickly. “No, of course not! Just… confused?”

“Oh. A-alright,” Fundy nodded, and let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, so…”

Fundy’s almost-human hand reappeared on the edge of the blanket, and he carefully pulled it back. Slowly, he revealed himself and he looked… different for sure. Not like the fox hybrid Dream got to see almost every day, but almost human. A ginger-haired human with just a few fox-like features, ears, tail, and the tips of his fingers. Carefully, he sat up on his bed and watched his boyfriend, waiting for his reaction. When the man stayed silent, he figured he should continue his explanation.

“...So… this happens. Sometimes. N-not too often, but I’ll sometimes wake up and it’s just… like this?” he stuttered out, and Dream managed to push himself to answer.

“I see. That's... interesting. N-not in a bad way! And what do you do when… this happens?” he asked, and Fundy shrugged. He did seem at least a bit comforted by the fact that Dream wasn't going crazy over his current look, though.

“Wait for it to go back to normal?” he answered. “It happens on its own most of the time. B-but not everyone is used to seeing… this me? So I usually just stay home and… hide. And if I’m honest, I don’t feel very comfortable like this either,” he admitted. Then, he looked at Dream again, and the man finally fully broke through his shock.

“I don’t mind seeing you like this,” he said, slowly taking a seat by his boyfriend’s side. “It’s still you, isn't it?” he pointed out. While he wasn't used to reading Fundy's expressions while he had a more human face, the relief on it was obvious this time.

“...Oh, you have No Idea how glad I am to hear this,” he let out a sigh of relief as Dream put his hand on his shoulder.

“So wait, are you like… a shapeshifter?” he asked after a moment of thought, and Fundy nodded.

“Yeah, basically! Well, I can look only like this, like I usually do, or like an actual wild fox, but it still counts, right?” he confirmed, and Dream nodded.

“That’s cool,” he hummed, and Fundy chuckled.

“Not when you can’t change back,” he sighed, his fox ears dropping slightly. “I just never learned,” he admitted, and Dream nodded again.

“Hm… Would you like to?” he asked, and Fundy looked up at him with a confused frown.

“...What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a few books about shapeshifting in a friend’s possession? Maybe there are some instructions there?” he suggested, and Fundy’s face lit up.

“Oh, yeah, I heard that’s a thing. I never got my hands on them, but... “ he paused in thought. “I think it’s worth a try?” he decided finally, and Dream nodded.

“I can go grab them fast, then. Do you want to come with me?” he offered, and Fundy hesitated.

“Uh… I don’t know, I mean…” he muttered, looking down at himself. Dream nodded. “...Unless…” Fundy remembered suddenly, “Is there anything I can cover myself with?” he wondered out loud, and Dream looked around.

“I don’t know…” he hummed, failing to spot anything that could help. Then, Fundy gasped.

“Wait, I think I still have some invisibility potions lying around!” he realized, and immediately grew more hopeful.

“Oh, that’s perfect,” Dream agreed, getting off the bed and looking around. Soon enough, Fundy got to his feet as well and… oh? “...Is it just me, or are you taller now?” the masked man muttered.

“Am I?” Fundy asked, looking down at himself before grinning. “I suppose that’s a plus of being more… human?” he concluded before making his way over to a small chest and reaching inside, pulling out a bottle with a blue-ish liquid inside. “Here it is!”

“Great,” Dream nodded. “So, are you ready to go?”

“Yeah!” Fundy confirmed before downing the bottle and disappearing in front of his boyfriend’s eyes. “Let’s go!”

“Right,” Dream nodded, searching around for Fundy’s hand for a moment before finally finding it and leading him towards the door. “Can we go tell your father we’re leaving first? I don’t want him to assume I kidnapped you or something.”

“Oh, sure. I don’t want to worry him either,” the fox hybrid shapeshifter agreed.

With just a few minutes of invisibility to spare, the two quickly managed to find Wilbur and briefly told him that they were leaving. They didn’t tell him the exact reason, they had no idea if it would work anyway, so Fundy just came up with a ‘short walk’ he wanted to take as an excuse. His father was very obviously surprised to see, or rather hear, him outside of his room, but didn’t say anything against their idea. Once that was handled, the two freely left the walls of L’Manburg and started heading towards the place Dream last recalled seeing the books, a friends’ library. They used the big forest separating the two places as a cover for when Fundy’s potion ran out, which luckily happened far enough from L’Manburg.

“Hm… I think I’m really taller,” Fundy admitted moments after collecting himself from a branch smacking him in the face. The branch that barely scratched the top of his head if he straightened his back before.

“You sure are,” Dream admitted, he figured that much was obvious from the very moment his boyfriend stood up.

“...How far is the place we’re going to, again?” Fundy asked after a short pause.

“Not too far from here, maybe just 3 or 4 minutes of walking,” the masked man assured, and his boyfriend nodded.

“Alright then.”

Just as Dream predicted, it didn’t take them too long to reach the library. It was far from any other buildings, so they weren’t being too risky in assuming they wouldn’t be spotted, but the masked man still went inside first. While he was checking the building for any other people, Fundy patiently waited outside and found himself thinking… it’s been ages since he last dared to go outside shaped not like a fox hybrid. And for the first time in forever, he didn’t feel bad doing so either. Dream’s presence really helped him, he supposed.

“It’s empty!” the man called out, his head peeking through the door. Fundy nodded at that and approached.

“That’s good,” he laughed quietly while the man pushed the door further to let him inside. As soon as he entered, he was hit by the all-familiar scent of old books.

“Right. And I’m pretty sure I saw at least one of the books we’re looking for over there?” Dream explained, already walking off in a direction.

“Wait, uh, Dream?” Fundy called after him before he could wander too far.

“Yeah?” the man asked, stopping and turning to look at Fundy.

“I just, uh… wanted to say,” he paused briefly. “Thanks for not making this the biggest deal of the century, or anything. And for wanting to help,” he finished, and the man stepped back to be at his side again.

“Of course. I’m always here, whatever you need,” he assured, carefully taking Fundy’s ‘new’ hands into his. “I promise I am. I love you,” he added, and for the first time ever, he got to see Fundy’s face turn bright red.

“Thank you. I love you too,” the shapeshifter nodded, unable to stop a smile from appearing on his face.

“Now let’s find those books, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“...But for the record, I can most definitely see you blushing,” Dream teased, and sure enough, Fundy’s cheeks grew even redder at that.

“Uh- I- A-at least I’m taller?” he stuttered out, and the masked man chuckled. “We’ll see who’s laughing when I can reach the higher shelves,” he muttered despite there wasn’t too much of a difference between them. It still counted, right?

Over an hour later, they still had nothing. They sat at a table with a couple of piles of books scattered all around them, some checked and some still to be checked. Of course, almost all of them were about shapeshifting, but very few had any instructions inside of them, and not even one was about changing from almost-human to an animal hybrid. So they still sat and flipped through the countless pages, searching for the right one.

“Hm…” Dream hummed quietly, reading one of the books more cautiously.

“Did you find anything?” Fundy asked, a glint of hope in his voice.

“...No, not really. This has some instructions, but about going from a human to an actual animal. Not really what you need, is it?” he explained, and the shapeshifter nodded.

“Yeah, not that,” he confirmed, but Dream continued to stare into the book.

“This seems really simple, though. Are all the instructions so simple?” he asked, sliding the book over to his boyfriend.

“It’s not simple, it’s hard to remember and easy to forget. Takes a lot of practice. And if you do one thing wrong, it won’t work,” he explained before sliding the book back.

“Oh, come on, it really looks so easy!” Dream groaned, picking up the book and holding it up in front of him. “Look, you just… hm… like this… and…” he muttered, and Fundy rolled his eyes at the man’s efforts.

“Dream,” he groaned. “It won’t work if you’re not-” he tried to explain, but was cut off by a sudden yelp, a bright flash, and the book falling to the ground. He stilled for a moment, staring at where his boyfriend was just seconds ago. “...Dream?”

With a small, confused grin, he got to his feet and walked over to the fallen book. He could swear something was moving under it, so he carefully reached for it. He gently pushed it up and found, well, something under it. Not an animal for sure. Rather, a small creature unlike anything he’s seen before. A tiny, white blob with a smile almost identical to the one painted on Dream’s mask. Which still made very little sense, even if the creature was technically Dream.

“...No, wait, Dream?” Fundy asked again, and the creature chirped quietly as an answer. At that, he couldn’t help but chuckle briefly. Still, when Dream seemed to glare at him, he did his best to calm down before reaching his hand out. “A-are you okay?” he asked, finally choking down the laughter. The blob nodded swiftly, and it almost brought a grin to his face. But no, he should focus... “Okay, good. So… what did you even change into?” he asked.

He didn’t expect Dream to answer, but seeing his boyfriend try to look himself over quickly just assured him that he wouldn’t get it. He looked at the book in his hand, and read the page it was open on more thoroughly. The first thing he noticed, while it did mention turning from a human to an animal, it later clarified that the correct term would be a “small-sized creature”. The second thing he noticed was the lack of instructions for turning back. A book just as useful as the other ones they have looked through so far.

“Well, look what you got yourself into,” he sighed. Still, seeing Dream like that was… a bit reassuring at least. Made him feel less alone. “Alright, we’re looking for two books now, right?” he asked, and when the blob chirped again, he carefully reached for him and picked him up. “Let’s get to work then.”

Fundy was the only one to work now. Not that Dream didn’t try anymore, of course. If anything, he was much more in a rush to find a book that could help at least one of them, but given his… current form and the strength that came with it, he wasn’t doing as good as he was before. So after a short while of struggling to open at least one of the books, he ended up agreeing to rest, and was now comfortably curled up in the collar of Fundy’s jacket and resting against his neck. At first, he served as a second pair of eyes, chirping loudly whenever he saw something looking remotely close to a guide on how to change shapes, but eventually settled down and stopped doing that. He trusted Fundy’s eyes, and his own felt so heavy he just had to close them.

“...Wait… Dream!” Fundy gasped another hour into the search, startling his boyfriend and almost making him fall down. With a quiet chuckle, he reached up and placed him back on the table. “Sorry, sorry… but look!”

And the tiny blob creature once known as Dream looked at the book next to him. A book with “Different shapes and how to achieve them” printed on its cover, and a small chart drawn under the words. Oh, now this looked really promising…. Fundy turned the first few pages, and paused. It was filled with different instructions for going from one shape to another.

“Yes!” Fundy beamed, and while Dream could only chirp in response, he made up for that with enthusiasm. “Hm, let me just…” he flipped a few more pages, stopping at one that seemed to represent exactly what he was searching for. “...Alright, it’s worth a try, right?”

It surely was, because just seconds later, he was finally back! He was the himself he knew, the himself he felt comfortable with. And oh, what a relief that was. Still, knowing what it was like to be stuck in a different form all-too-well, he wasted no time before flipping some more pages, searching for something Dream could find helpful. Again, it just took a moment to find.

“Here, try this. It should work,” he announced, holding the book up to make sure the tiny blob creature could see it clearly. Dream nodded, stared at the page intensely, chirped quietly, and… with another quick flash of light, he was now a man sitting on a table.

“Oh, thank God!” he exclaimed the moment he looked down at himself. And now, with everything finally under control, Fundy allowed himself to laugh.

“We did it!” he cheered, holding up the book. “Oh, where was this all my life?” he asked before carefully putting it down. Dream seemed to collect himself rather quickly, and soon enough he was off the table already.

“I think you should keep it,” he commented, still occasionally looking down at himself to make sure everything was okay. “I’m sure my friend won’t mind. And we can always make a copy,” he explained.

“...Yeah, let’s do that,” Fundy agreed. “I should probably head home soon, though,” he pointed out.

“Oh yeah, we don’t want your father getting upset too,” Dream nodded in agreement. “Let’s go now, and I can come back to make copies of this book later.”

“Sounds good,” Fundy hummed, starting to walk to the door. Dream took a couple of bigger steps to stay at his side.

“Also, Fundy,” he started, getting the fox hybrid’s attention. “We do not speak of what happened here,” he said, but his tone was nowhere near threatening. Rather, embarrassed. Fundy nodded, but the grin on his face stayed in its place.

“Sure, sure… But for the record, you look cute as a tiny white blob… creature?” he answered, finally getting his revenge for Dream making him blush a few hours before.

“Uh, I did not?” the man insisted, but with the face he knew he was making, he couldn’t be more grateful for his mask.

“Mhm, sure, yeah,” Fundy nodded, and Dream couldn’t find anything he could say to retaliate. Eventually, he managed to calm himself enough to steer the conversation to a more serious one again.

“Uh, by the way, I just want to mention… if you ever feel like being a full human or a fox or anything around me, go ahead. I don’t mind,” he assured, and hearing that made Fundy feel a bit better about his ability.

“...Thanks. Same goes for you. I won’t mind having a pocket-sized boyfriend,” he joked, but his answer was just as genuine. Dream nodded.

“Thanks.”

They’d go over the fact that they were somehow both shapeshifters and that Dream somehow didn’t know anything about being one so far some other day. Some other, much longer day. A day they could spend talking just about that. Because boy, would that be a long conversation. At least it could be a fun one, though?

[inacrowdofchoices]

closure {Open Heart}

pairing: Ethan Ramsey/ MC (Casey Day)

word count: 1344

rating: General Audiences

tags: angst, breakup

author’s note: as a lot of you know, i started reading open heart with my mc, casey day and i romanced ethan. i loved their story, and reread it many times. yet, after a few chapters of book three, i started to dislike ethan’s character so much, everything from his general behaviour to his interactions with mc. i wasn’t enjoying reading the book anymore and i decided to switch to another of my mc who was romancing another character; i’ve been much happier ever since. so this is probably the last content i’ll ever post about casey and ethan, and ethan’s romance in general. it’s their breakup and it takes place between chapter 9 and 10 of open heart third year.

synopsis: Casey now understood that disagreeing fundamentally on subjects that were at the center of their lives, that were pieces of who they were, could ruin everything.

tagging: @choicesficwriterscreations 

It's been a long time

And seeing the shape of your name

Still spells out pain

It wasn't right

The way it all went down

closure - taylor swift

“We need to talk.”

Casey was staring at the unsent message on her phone, the ghost of her fingerprint over the send button. After everything they went through, after almost three years, she never imagined she would find herself in this situation. She had believed, with every ounce of love in her heart, that they had finally figured things out. 

Maybe they had. Maybe that wasn’t enough. 

When she had joined the Diagnostics team, Ethan had told her the fact that they disagreed fundamentally on certain subjects allowed him to see her in a truer light; to know her better. At the time, Casey saw it as something to cherish; they were not together, but their relationship was a treasure to her.

Love did that to a person, she thought sadly. 

Casey now understood that disagreeing fundamentally on subjects that were at the center of their lives, that were pieces of who they were, could ruin everything. 

Maybe it was always supposed to end this way. 

She had tried to explain to Ethan how she felt, how his actions made her upset, sad and angry, sometimes all at once. He had moved on from all their conversations with an “agree to disagree” mindset that made her feel unheard, as if he believed she would always take his side in the end. But Casey couldn’t. 

Ethan thought he was above it all, perhaps even above caring about her feelings. And for a while, she had hoped things would change, that they would go back to how they were before Edenbrook became Bloom-Edenbrook. The time when they had finally come together, in front of everyone, Casey being able to be open and honest about her feelings for Ethan at last. He had been her rock through some of the most troubled times in her residency, the way she had been there for him.

Now she was standing at his front door, close to tears. Casey wasn’t ready for the conversation that was about to change everything. However, she knew she had to take that step forward; a text was not the way to start that conversation.  So she knocked on the door.

It opened a few seconds later, to a very confused Ethan.

“Casey? Is something wrong?” 

“I - Yes. Can I talk to you?”

He nodded and moved so she could walk in. Casey could read the concern on his face, and her first instinct was to sooth it, make it all better; but she stopped herself. She couldn’t do that, not anymore.

Casey had thought of a million ways she could tell him. None of them had felt right, and she realized this conversation would never be easy. So there she was, standing in front of him. She took a deep breath, and turned to face him. 

“What’s wrong?” Ethan asked.

“Everything.” She started. “ I’m … I’m done. I love you but it’s not enough. I can’t do this anymore.”

The concern she saw on his face disappeared in an instant, replaced by confusion. And hurt?

“Casey, what are you saying?”

“I think you know.”

“I don’t, actually.” He replied. 

“If you’d listened to anything I told you in the past three months, maybe you would.”

“Is this about Elijah’s clinical trial? About Bloom?”

“No, it’s about you. About us.”

Casey was close to tears, trying her best not to let the hurt show in her eyes. She took a step away from him, fighting her need to simply hug him and forget everything because she knew. Deep down, she knew because she had tried to forget and pretend all was well. It wasn’t. 

“I don’t recognize you. Maybe you changed, maybe I did, maybe I just didn’t want to see what was in front of me for years...” Casey said. 

“So this is about Elijah and Bloom.”

“No, it’s about what you did. And didn’t do. I can’t support your actions, and you wouldn’t listen. You didn’t care about anything I said, as long as you emerged victorious in your petty battle with Bloom.” 

“Of course I listened. I simply believe this ‘petty battle’, as you call it, matters” 

“You didn’t care that what you did hurt me. You only cared about winning.” 

“I never meant for any of this to hurt you. I thought you’d understand.” 

“I told you I didn’t. I told you so many times!” 

Casey hadn’t meant to raise her voice. She turned her eyes away from his gaze, and took a deep breath. She wanted to be heard, but never like this. 

“You didn’t want to hear me. You still don’t. And I want to stop pretending like us disagreeing about everything is okay. It’s not.”

“No one agrees about everything, you know that. It doesn’t mean I don’t care about you.” Ethan said in answer.

“Maybe about small things. I’m talking about things that matter. Things that make me who I am. Maybe you care, but try to see this from my perspective. It feels like you don’t care about me, not anymore. And I can’t … I can’t keep going, not when I’m feeling this way.” 

Silence fell between them. The tears Casey had tried to hold in were now quietly falling down her cheeks. As a doctor, she knew her heart wasn’t literally breaking in two, but in that moment, it truly felt like it was. The distance between them was insurmountable. 

“Casey …” Ethan went to take a step towards her, but stopped. “I’m sorry.”

“No you’re not. You’re just telling me what you think I want to hear. If you were, I wouldn't be here right now.” Casey replied, every word tinted with a bitterness she hadn’t realized she was feeling.

“That’s it then? You’re saying we’re done. After everything?” Ethan didn’t even try to deny what she said.

“Yes, after everything … That’s not how I wanted things to go. God, I believed … But I was wrong. I was wrong and I hate it.” 

“I don’t know what to say. I can’t imagine …”

The words he left unsaid resonated with her own. Casey couldn’t imagine what it would be like not to have him in her life the way he had been for so long. They worked together, which would make things even more difficult. But she had to remember that, even though it didn’t look like it right now, this was for the best. Breaking up with Ethan was the best thing for her. 

“What did you tell me when I joined the Diagnostics team?” Casey asked.

“We’ll make it work.” He whispered. “But that’s not how I meant it.” 

“No, it wasn’t…” 

There wasn’t anything else to say. This moment in time would be the moment Casey Day and Ethan Ramsey parted ways. From this day forward, they would only be coworkers on one of the top Diagnostics team in the world. 

“I should… I should go.” Casey said, holding her voice as steady as she could.

Casey hadn’t been ready to start this conversation when she knocked on his front door. Part of her still wanted to go back in time and erase everything she had said, but she also felt lighter somehow. Turning the page on this part of her life would not be as easy as simply leaving Ethan’s apartment and going home. Mixed feelings would be her new normal for a while.

“It… would probably be for the best.”  Ethan agreed. 

“Yes.”

Tomorrow was a new day. Casey would go to work and things would never be the same. But she made her way back to the front door, and without looking back, left his apartment. She was ready to go home, cry with everything she had, and have Sienna most likely give her a hug and whatever baked goods were left in their kitchen. 

Most importantly, Casey was ready to start the journey of moving on.

[icefire149]

An Angel’s Vow

Chapter Five (Read on ao3 | Read from the beginning)

Once the kitchen was clean, Claire put her other duffle bag on the table. She unzipped it. “It’s not much, but it works.”

Cas took everything out of the bag and examined it carefully. The bag contained: a machete, some silver bullets but no gun, a pouch of silver coins, an iron crowbar, a lock pick set, a coin Claire thinks is iron, a couple bottles of holy water, some spray paint, a half empty container of salt, a box of penguin band-aids, cleaning alcohol, and an angel sword. Cas frowned. “This is abysmal.”

Defensive, Claire crossed her arms. “The sword is basically a hunting equivalent to a Swiss army knife.”

“I don’t understand what military grade Swiss cutlery has to do with anything, but I do know hunting. You’re going to get yourself killed.”

“Oh, so here we go! Hit me with the speech.”

Cas turned around bewildered. “What are you talking about? There’s no speech.”

“So you’re not gonna tell me that I’m being stupid and I should go live a normal life?”

“I’m not going to yell at you or tell you what to do.” Cas tried to keep his voice even. “Am I happy that you’re hunting? No. Am I frustrated that you’re hunting by yourself? Absolutely. But it’s your life and I promised to keep you safe.”

Claire rolled her eyes with her whole body. She went over to the refrigerator and snagged a juice box out. With a loud pop, she stabbed the straw in.

Sighing, Cas put his hands on the table. He looked over Claire’s hunting supplies again. “I don’t think you understand.” His voice came out much softer than before.

The juice box was half way to Claire’s mouth when she froze.

“I know you’re not going to stop now that your mind is set. I want to help you be a better hunter.”

“What?”

Cas looked over his shoulder, and studied Claire. Obviously, she was grown by human standards, but he could still clearly see the small child he devastated…..is continuing to jeopardize. His chest started feeling unnaturally tight. For a moment he thought that he could still see the baby from the shreds of Jimmy’s memory that remains with him. “I’m willing to share my knowledge of the supernatural with you. Afterwards if you’re still willing to be a hunter at least you’ll be better informed about what you’re signing up for.”

“Are you serious?” Claire tilted her head, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “How are we supposed to hunt with the kid?”

“We’re not hunting. We’re studying.”

Claire’s whole body drooped. “Studying what? I can’t imagine where you have lore books stashed here. This house is pretty bare bones.”

“Lore books would be nice, but I have a library right up here.” He touched his temple with his index finger. “And besides we have a ton of ground to cover before thinking about hunts.”

“It’s not like I haven’t been on a couple hunts already.”

“Yeah, but do you have the exorcism chant memorized? Or recorded? Can you make hex bags? Draw various devil traps? Read any Latin or Enochian? Tracking spells? Draw angel banishing-”

“Okay!” Claire burst. She put the juice box down on the table. Her voice softened. “Okay, I get it.”

Cas nodded. “Would you be interested in learning any of that?”

“You’re seriously willing to teach me any of that?”

“Of course. I want you to be safe, and I want you to be happy.”

The next thing Cas knew, he was trapped in a bone crushing hug.

“Thank you,” Claire mumbled into his chest. She let go just as fast and sat in the chair she used earlier during lunch.

Cas pushed the juice box into her reach. She took it and started drinking. He smiled, feeling the tension loosen in his shoulders.

“So….” Claire spoke with the straw still in the corner of her mouth. “When does hunter school start, professor angel?”

“We could probably start tomorrow. Does that mean you’re planning on staying for a while?”

Sitting up straight, Claire’s expression morphed from jovial to serious. “Is that okay? Is it even safe with…”

They both glanced towards the living room for a moment. Cas crossed his arms. “Of course it’s okay. You’re free to come and go as much as you please.” He sighed, uncharacteristically running a hand through his hair. “But your second question...I honestly don’t know. And that frightens me.”

Cas pulled the chair closest to him and sat down. “You’re not safe if you leave now.” He gestured at her hunting supplies on the table. “I know Heaven is after Jack. I’ve been careful to keep us hidden, but it’s not without flaws. Jack’s birth should have attracted a ton of attention. I’m shocked we haven’t been discovered yet.”

“You’ve been doing good so far. Maybe they won’t find you,” Claire said, leaning her elbows on the table. She rested the side of her face in the palm of her hand.

“They will at some point….I just wish I knew what’s taking them so long. I feel like I’m missing something.”

“Is there any kind of warding we could put up? Spells?”

Cas smiled softly. “Angel warding would be useless in this situation. Yes, it would keep Heaven away from this house, but it would also keep me and Jack out.”

“So what have you done?”

“After Jack was born….the moment we could flee, I etched Enochian sigils into his ribs to hide him from every angel.” Cas subconsciously rubbed a hand over the tattoo on his side. “My body is hidden from angels in a similar way.”

Stunned, Claire stared at Cas in silent horror.

“Actually that reminds me-” Cas turned his whole body towards in Claire’s direction. “I wanted to give you those sigils as well for protection.”

Claire slowly leaned away in her chair. “Why….would I need protection from angels?”

Cas’ eyebrows furrowed. “There’s always a chance you might stumble into an angel related case, but most importantly you should be hidden from them in case anyone remembers your ties to me. You’re important.”

“Because I can function as your vessel?”

“That does put you in a lot of danger.”

Her whole body drooped as she sighed. “Great.”

“At this point I doubt that there are any angels that remember which bloodline begets my vessels, but I’d rather err on the side of caution.”

“Does it hurt?”

“No. You’ll never notice it.”

She nodded slowly. “Okay.”

Cas got up and positioned himself to stand directly behind her. Claire closed her eyes. He placed his hands on the top of both of her shoulders for a few seconds, and then he went back to his chair.

Claire opened her eyes. “You didn’t do anything?”

“I did and it’s done.”

She burst out of her chair, running her hands down her arms and looking over her body. “Everything looks the same.”

Cas smiled fondly. “Your ribs. You won’t be able to see anything without an x-ray.”

Her eyes snapped back up at him, wide with curiosity. “That was so cool! I can’t feel a difference.” She sat back down again. “What does the warding look like?”

“Oh.” Cas sat up straighter and glanced around the room. “I can draw them out for you, but…” He frowned. “We’re going to need to buy some pens and paper.”

That pulled a laugh out of Claire. “Figures. We need to go school supply shopping.”

Confused, Cas turned his head to the side just a bit. Then it clicked. “Yeah. We’ll need to go supply shopping.”

“So the warding will be enough to keep us hidden while we’re shopping?”

Cas sat back in the chair. “Technically, yes. The reason why it isn’t perfect is how angels communicate.” He touched the side of his forehead for a moment. “Dean calls it Angel Radio. I can turn it off when I want to, but in general angels can contact and find each other through our minds.”

Claire stared at him for several silent moments while his words processed, and then the gears turned. She glanced towards the living room.

“I don’t know if he’s connected,” Cas said simply. “And I don’t want to reach out to him that way until he’s older….and understands.”

“Huh.” Crossing her arms, Claire turned back towards Cas. “He’s really got us in a pickle.”

The puzzled look on Cas’ face was evident, but he chose to nod instead. Claire cracked a smile. “Hopefully Heaven is too scared of the idea of Jack that they’ll keep their distance.”

“Hopefully.”

After a quiet pause. “Sooo...does this place have decent WiFi?”

“I believe so. Kelly was frequently on her laptop.”

“Excellent.” Claire’s smile widened. “You wanna watch a movie?”

Cas’ expression softened. “I’d like that greatly.”

“Be right back then,” Claire said hopping up and leaving the room. On her way through the house she glanced at Jack sound asleep in his play pen. He was on his back, and the foot of a stuffed lion toy was clenched in his tiny fist. Amused, Claire shook her head and continued upstairs to her other duffle bag.

It was only a minute or two later when she descended down the stairs with her laptop charger clunking into each step. “Is there anything in particular that-”

Her voice cut off seeing the pained look on Cas’ face. He was seated on the living room couch, but he looked miles away. “Cas?”

Startled, his whole body uncharacteristically flinched. His blue eyes looked dull and sad. “Sorry. I didn’t hear you coming.”

Claire slowly walked over to the couch and put the laptop down at the opposite end. “Are you okay? You look sick.” She kicked the charger cord to the side and sat down on the middle cushion.

“I’m fine.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Wanna try that again?”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “I told you in the past that angels can pick up on more than just verbal prayers. Longing. Strong feelings of intent. They’re like…..indirect prayers.”

“Yeah. So who’s praying? Dean?”

Cas sighed. “He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it, but I can feel that he’s perturbed.”

“Well yeah.” Claire pulled her legs up, crossing them. She then turned her whole body in Cas’ direction. “Jody told me Sam is like ready to tie him down so he’ll stop clawing at the walls. He’s trying to find you.”

Mildly irritated, Cas shook his head. “He’s yet to actually pray to me so I can’t imagine he wants to speak to me that badly.”

“That’s fair. One point to Castiel.”

Cas raised an eyebrow at that.

“So why are we letting Dean sweat? What did he do?” Claire grinned. “Depending on what he did, I bet we can get Jody to boot his car.”

“I’m afraid to ask what that means, but I have no doubt that Dean would never speak to me again if we did such a thing to ‘his baby’.”

Claire shook her head. “Never mind that then.”

Cas took a deep breath. His gaze slid over to Jack’s sleeping form. “Dean and I didn’t part on good terms. I spent much of the past year tracking Jack’s mother. She wasn’t easy to find.” Cas’ head turned and he met Claire’s eye. He frowned. “And my original mission was to terminate the pregnancy.”

A sudden chill crept up Claire’s spine. “Oh.”

“Dean understood the complexities of my mission. I didn’t want to hurt Kelly, but….a child like Jack is…..he could cause a lot of harm.”

Arching her neck up, Claire tried to get a better glimpse of the baby. He seemed to be sleeping with his face squished into the playpen floor. “I get the idea,” she said quietly. “Archangel power. Prince of Darkness. But…” Claire pointed her thumb in Jack’s direction. “I don’t think he fits the bill.”

“When I did find Kelly,” Cas continued. “And I rescued her from Dagon, one of the Princes of Hell…..Jack called out to me. He showed me a peaceful world. A vision of the good he’ll be able to do.”

“And that’s why you’ve gone all dad mode.” Claire crossed her arms.

“He asked.”

“And Dean?”

“To hunt Dagon I had to trick Dean and steal a special gun he prized.”

Grimacing, Claire quipped, “I bet that went over well.”

“At the time him and Sam were pitching ideas of removing Jack’s grace.”

“What would that even do to him?”

“Make him human I suppose…”

“But you don’t know.”

“No. Not for certain. And Kelly wanted her son to be whole.”

Claire nodded in agreement. “She’s right. Jack should be allowed to be his entire self. No hiding. No changing or compromising for others.”

Cas smiled softly, and then it fell while he stared at his hands in his lap. “I suspect now that Dean is mostly upset about the disappearance act, but...I’ve been keeping the distance so I don’t have to lose everyone. My siblings already dislike both Winchesters.”

A small laugh escaped Claire. “Figures.”

“And….I do actually quite like this house. It’s peaceful here. Unlike their bunker...which is filled with rooms of unknown and dangerous items.”

A glint of excitement shone in Claire’s eyes. “Are you sure? Sounds like a fun place to explore and grow up in.”

Cas shook his head. “Jack deserves sunshine and windows...and a life unmarked by hunting…..well for as long as I can give him.”

Claire nodded, and they both sat there in silence with their thoughts for a while. Eventually, Claire’s eyes moved back to Cas and the sorrow exuding from him. “If Dean left the bunker to help you with Jack out here….would you want that?”

Cas was silent for a long time. Claire couldn’t make heads or tails of his expression. Eventually he spoke in a hushed whisper. “I miss him.”

“You should ask him instead of making his decisions for him.”

Cas’ eyes darted back to her for a moment. He stared, and then he pointed at the laptop. “So what kind of movie were you thinking?”

[wiypt-writes]

Riding High

Ch24: Kintsugi

Chapter Summary: Fliss has a final show down with her ex-John…

 Chapter Warnings: Bad Language words. Very light smut…NSFW and NO UNDER 18s!!!

 Chapter Pairings:  Frank Adler x OFC Fliss Gallagher

 A/N: Please bear with me…I’m a Brit so don’t have a wonderful knowledge of the US Health service… thanks to those of you who helped me with this one, you know who you are… ;-) 

Disclaimer: This is a pure work of fiction and classified as 18+. Please respect this and do not read if you are underage. I do not own any characters in this series bar Fliss Gallagher and the other OCs. By reading beyond this point you understand and accept the terms of this disclaimer.

Riding High Masterlist // Main Masterlist

Chapter 23

If I never get to see the Northern Lights, or if I never get to see the Eiffel tower at night, oh if all I got his your hand in my hand, baby I could die a happy man.

Fliss stared at her ex-husband as she continued to reverse, until her back hit the side of the kitchen unit.

“No hello?” John asked, cocking his head to one side.

“How did you…” Fliss took a deep breath “How did you know I was here?”

“Guess” John said with a shrug as he looked around the kitchen, his cold grey eyes scanning the wooden units, matching counter tops and stainless steel appliances. He wrinkled his nose, the décor clearly not to his taste, before he turned back to Fliss. “It’s not that hard to figure out really, Sugar…” Fliss swallowed as she stared at him, pondering whether or not screaming for Evelyn was the right thing to do. If she did so she alerted him to the fact that someone else was in the house, and risked riling him. He always hated it when she screamed. If she kept him talking, kept him calm, then Evelyn had to come downstairs at some point…surely…

Or at least she hoped.

 She licked her lips and looked at John, giving him a shrug “How could you know I was back in the area?” “I didn’t…” he said, “Not until this afternoon anyway…” And then the penny dropped. And Fliss felt like such a fucking idiot.

“Richard…” she let out a breath, cursing herself for not even considering the fact that his brother could have been in the hospital.

“Clever girl…” John smiled “Turns out Orthopaedic Surgeons are in short supply…he was doing some Locum work and spotted you.”

“That still doesn’t explain how you got this address.” “I didn’t. I followed you.” “You…you followed me?” Fliss frowned “So you were what? Watching me at the hospital?” “Watching the main door but…yeah…” Fliss shook her head, a soft huff escaping her “You that desperate to see me John? Seriously…” “Watch your mouth…” he said, sternly “You know I don’t like it when you take an attitude, Felicity.”

“You didn’t like anything full stop.” Fliss said, looking at him. “When I had an attitude, when I didn’t…” “I won’t tell you again…” John stepped forward.

Fliss swallowed, she was scared, there was no denying that. But as she stared back at John’s face, she realised that something was different. It felt like a different fear. She was afraid of being hurt, yes, but she wasn’t afraid of John. It was strange, almost liberating in a way to know that, despite the fact she understood she was in a precarious position, the man in front of her held no power over her now.

She was free, free from his mental abuse, free from his hold. Because she had a new life, a new home, both with Frank and Mary. And a new love, a real love, a love that was gentle and nurturing and…fucking normal. 

All John could do now was hurt her, physically, and if he gave her a beating…so fucking what?

She’d heal…just like she had before, but this time the only healing she’d need would be physical, because her soul and her mind had already mended. She was whole again, and no matter what he did or said John wouldn’t break her that way again.

She tipped her chin up to look at him, defiantly, and she saw the anger flick across his face. He hated it when she made eye contact with him like this, he saw it as challenging his authority.

Well that was exactly what she was fucking doing.

“You have no right to be here John.” she said, her voice calm and firm. “You’ll be back inside tomorrow…do yourself a favour and go home before your ankle bracelet sends a trip to say you’ve broken your curfew.” John’s tongue poked the inside of his cheek as he looked at Fliss, before he gave a snort.

“I know full well what’s at stake.” he shrugged “I go back inside, serve the rest of my sentence…be out in another 2 years…I’ll track you down again.” “Course you will.” Fliss said, shrugging “And then what? You come kick the shit out of me? And go back inside…it’ll be a never ending circle John, and for what?” At that John’s hand raised and he back handed her straight across the face. It was enough to knock her side ways and she stumbled slightly, before she steadied herself and raised her hand to wipe the thin trickle of blood away from her split lip. Taking a look around she realised he’d inadvertently knocked her towards the door that led to the lounge. If she could just make it in there, she had a chance…a chance of out running him…maybe.

“Don’t talk to me like that.” he snarled and her attention flicked back to him as he strode towards her. “You’re mine…you always will be…” “No I’m not.” she spat, glaring at him, standing her ground. “I don’t belong to anyone…” “Not even Frank?” John looked at her and she shook her head.

“I love Frank, I don’t belong to him, there’s a difference.” she shook her head “I’m not a fucking possession, I’m his girlfriend…”

“You’re my Felicity…” John’s voice was gathering in pitch and volume, the way it always did when he was annoyed but Fliss felt nothing but anger in response at that fact that he still thought he had any claim to her whatsoever.

“I’m Frank’s Lissy…” she shot back

“YOU’RE MY WIFE!” John roared. “NOT ANY MORE!” Fliss screamed back “You were the worst mistake of my life!” John’s hand flew out and he gripped her chin, painfully, forcing her to look at him.

“Don’t you dare speak to me like that.” he looked at her, shaking his head, his dark grey eyes flashing with rage.

“I’ll speak to you how I want…” Fliss grit through her teeth, as his left hand tightened its grip on her face before his right grabbed her wrist painfully and he twisted the joint sharply, an action she knew was designed to break it. As always, he stopped short of the point where he knew he would snap the bone and he looked at her curiously, as she stood stock still, not a whimper of pain nor a word of pleading or begging for him to stop slipped through from her lips. Instead she looked at him, and smiled.

“You can break every bone in my body and it won’t matter” she looked at him “Because you broke me, in a way I never thought possible, you isolated me, made me feel I was worth nothing. But you’re wrong. I’m worth everything!” “And I suppose Frank tells you that?” John said, his hand twisting a little more.

“Yes he does.” she said simply “But more importantly, he makes me feel it. Because he loves me with everything he has. He’s gentle, kind, warm. He cares about me, how I am, how I feel. And that makes him ten times the man you’ll ever be.”

She knew that would rile him, and as she watched his face contorted into a snarl. The hand that was gripping her wrist let go and moved to the side ready to strike again, but Fliss lashed out with her foot and kicked him as hard as she could in the shin. John, having severely underestimated exactly how different Fliss now was, hadn’t been expecting that. She’d never hit back before. His hand released her wrist and Fliss turned on the spot and ran for the door. However, he was quicker and she felt him grab hold of her hair, and at that point she started to scream.

She screamed and screamed as she kicked out behind her, and with a sharp tug she was yanked backwards. John turned them both, sending her flying back into the kitchen where she stumbled and her head connected with the corner of the wooden unit. With a pop she felt the skin split on her temple and the warm flow of blood as it trickled down her face. Dazed, she began to push herself up, scrambling forward but John was there again, his hand once more fisting in her hair as he pulled her to her feet.

“You little bitch!” He snarled, his hands closing around her neck as he pushed her up against the wall, “I’ll fucking kill you…” With that be began to squeeze her neck, the fury etched into every line of his face. Still fighting, Fliss hit out with everything she had, her hands connecting with his face, chest, shoulders, but the fact was he was simply too strong. As his grip tightened further, a silence started to wash over her, almost like she was floating, a sense she had felt once before when he had almost drowned her in the bath. But unlike then, she had something to fight for, something to live for. Or more specifically someone. She gripped at his fingers with her own, attempting to prise them off her throat but to no avail. So, instead she raised her knee, but the lack of oxygen was making her weak and John simply sneered, forcing his knees in between her legs, effectively rendering them useless.

The white spots started to float in front of her vision, and her mind flicked to Frank and Mary…before she couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore. She allowed her lids shut and she clung to the image of her Sailor, of their little blonde-haired Short Stack…because she was damned if John’s face was going to be the last thing she ever saw.

But suddenly the pressure was gone and her throat opened again.  Her legs buckled and she slumped to the floor coughing and spluttering as she took a huge, painful gasp of air. She continued to breathe deeply, her lungs felt like they were on fire, and then a pair of gentle hands softly came to rest on her cheeks.

“Fliss…” Evelyn spoke, looking at her, “It’s ok…you’re ok…” Fliss coughed some more, Evelyn smoothing her hair back, speaking softly to her and as Fliss began to focus, her hand flew to her painful neck whilst her eyes fixed on the floor behind Evelyn.  John lay face down, unmoving, fragments of shattered glass all over the floor, glistening in the soft kitchen lights. Fliss tried to speak, to ask Evelyn what had happened but her words wouldn’t form and the woman gently shook her head.

“Shhh” she soothed gently “Just breathe…” “Police…” Fliss managed to croak and Evelyn nodded.

“Already on their way.” she said, “I called them as soon as I heard the screaming.” The tears then began to sting Fliss’ eyes and Evelyn gently wrapped her arms around her as she shook, staring down at John on the floor. Fliss gave an involuntary gasp as she saw the crimson liquid billowing around his head like some kind of macabre halo. Evelyn turned to look at him and gave a tut.

“That’s not blood, more’s the pity, it’s Malbec. And a damned good one too. What a waste.” Evelyn sighed as Fliss looked at her, before both their eyes darted to John as he stirred a little on the floor. “Can you stand?” Evelyn said and Fliss nodded. Together they both rose, Evelyn keeping hold of Fliss as she was a little shaky, led her down the hallway where she grabbed two jackets from the coat stand along with a set of keys and led her outside, locking the door behind them. She sat Fliss down on the step and gently draped a jacket over her shoulder, before she pulled one on over the towelled robe she was wearing and sat next to her, not saying a word.

Before long the sounds of sirens filled their ears and Fliss glanced up to see a number of flashing lights in the distance. A police car zoomed up the drive and skidded to a halt just in front of where they sat. Evelyn gave Fliss’ shoulder a squeeze as she stood up to greet the officers and spoke to them both before one of them nodded and walked to Fliss, crouching down in front of her.

“Ma’am?” his voice was quiet and kind. Fliss looked at him and he gave her a soft smile “You wanna sit in the car whilst we go inside?” “Yeah…” Fliss nodded. The officer helped her to her feet and walked her slowly down the steps, sitting her in the back of the car before he straightened up and spoke into his radio, before he looked at his colleague who gave him a nod. Evelyn said something and they followed her up the steps to the door which she unlocked and then moved back to allow the two men to step inside.

The rest of what happened was pretty much a blur to Fliss. She was aware of an ambulance arriving, and a paramedic checking her over, declaring that her neck would be sore for a while, as would her face…but Fliss knew that from various previous experiences of his beatings. However, the gash on her temple needed attention, or sutures to be specific. Evelyn assured the paramedic that she would have Fliss taken to the hospital to avoid them having to call another ambulance, and satisfied with that, the paramedic covered the wound temporarily and then headed into the house to where her colleague was attending to John.

The police spoke again to Fliss, this time asking her questions, and she explained what had happened. She told them how John had found her, how he had gotten into the house, how he had attacked her. The two officers were satisfied it was a pretty clear cut case of self-defence, especially as they had enough history on John as it was. He’d also broken his curfew too, which meant there was an instant warrant for his arrest even without this incident.

Eventually they wheeled John out of the house, he was moving and groaning slightly. Fliss followed him with her eyes before she heard Evelyn’s indignant voice hit her ears.

“Stay in the area in case you need to speak to me again? My son’s girlfriend has just been attacked, my granddaughter is currently in hospital recovering from an operation, where the hell do you think I’m going to go? Cape Fucking Verde for a holiday?”

Fliss turned to look at Evelyn, a small smile flickered across her face as the woman was glaring at the police officer, who was looking a little abashed at her fury.

“I know I’m not going to be winning any Mother of the Year prizes any time soon but give me some bloody credit…”  Evelyn shook her head before as she glanced at Fliss and her face softened a little before she looked back at the police officer “Now, I’m going to go back into my house, get dressed and then how about you make yourself useful and drop us at the hospital so I don’t have to call my driver?” *******

Frank was dozing in the chair when the door to Mary’s room opened. He looked up, blinking and frowned as he saw his Mother. She was dressed in a pair of sweat pants and a large, oversized knitted sweater.

“What…” he began to say but she jerked her head, gesturing for him to step outside the room. With a glance at Mary who was sleeping, he stood up and headed into the corridor.

“There’s been an incident…” Evelyn spoke.

“Incident, what do you mean?” he asked, before he realised she was on her own “Where’s Lissy?” “She’s downstairs…” Evelyn said, her voice calm.

“Downstairs?” Frank’s brow furrowed as his throat went dry “What the fuck is going on?” “Her ex-husband…” Evelyn said and Frank felt his chest constrict “He followed her home, got into the house…”

Frank let out a loud yell, and Evelyn softly touched his arm “She’s ok, Frank, just a few bruises…”

“I’ll fucking kill him.” Frank snarled and Evelyn shook her head.

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’ll end up inside yourself!” “It’ll be worth it.” “No, it won’t.” Evelyn said simply “The police have him. But if it makes you feel any better I gave him a good whack on the back of the head with a wine bottle…” Frank blinked, and he looked at his mother for a second, before his brain kicked in again.

“I need to see her…” “Yes, I know.” she said “I’ll stay with Mary, you go. She’s down on the ER…” “Ok…thanks…” He said, and without so much as a glance back he sprinted off towards the stairs, deciding not to wait for the elevator. He took the steps 2 at a time, ignoring the curious and occasionally annoyed glances he got from people he either dodged round or bumped into.

He burst out of the stairwell onto the ward and stopped, glancing around for someone to point him in the right direction when he did a double take as he saw a stretcher being wheeled in his direction, which was accompanied by a police officer and a security guard. He paused, and as it neared him he recognised the man on it instantly from the photo’s he had seen and felt the blood beginning to pound in his ears. Frank stood, stock still, chest heaving, fists clenching by his side as it came closer and then he got the first proper up-close look at the man who’d made his girl’s life hell. The group paused by the elevator opposite him and he watched as John looked round. When he spotted Frank his face fell into a look of recognition.

“Ah, here he is…” John smirked, “The boyfriend…” Frank’s eyes locked onto John's steel grey ones, the sneer on the man's face grew wider, goading, taunting him as he continued to speak, making various comments about Fliss, and Frank made towards the gurney, his striding matching his mood, murderous. He was going to kill the bastard, rip him limb from limb. But, as he crossed the linoleum floor, his Mother’s voice flickered in his head and then for some reason the warning she had departed less than 5 minutes earlier morphed into something Bill had said to him once as they had been sat outside with a beer… "He's a master manipulator, Frank. Anything anyone gave him could and would find a way to use it, and that's the only thing that stopped me beating him within an inch of his life that evening, the fact that it might have jeopardised the case against him." He stopped dead in the middle of the corridor. As it stood, John was fucked. He had breached his parole in countless ways and there was a fresh assault charge too. He was going back inside and he knew that, so he was trying to goad Frank into doing something stupid, something that would put him behind bars too, leaving Fliss broken. Because that's what this was about. Breaking Fliss. Frank knew that John would have realised by now that he couldn't break her in the way he once could. The card and calls would have proven that, which is why he sent the photo of Mary and why he was goading Frank. He was going for the one area in which he knows she has a weakness. Her Achilles heel...the people she loved. 

“What you stopping for?” John practically yelled as a police officer told him to shut up. “You know she told me before how gentle you are with her…we all know how rough she likes it at times…” Frank's chest heaved as John's taunts about Fliss continued to ring in his ears. As some further crude remark about her bedroom antics hit his consciousness Frank clenched his fist, simply trying to think of something to say, something that left the cunt in no uncertain terms as to why exactly he wasn’t going to give him what he wanted, and be goaded into kicking 7 bells of shit out of him... And then he suddenly why should he? If he gave the bastard the satisfaction of realising that the very thing Frank wanted to do he couldn't then he was letting John gain a victory. A small one, but a victory none the less... And Frank was giving him fuck all, well, almost fuck all. Because there was one thing he could do that would show the bastard the utter level of contempt he deserved.

In a flash Frank lunged forward, and as the officer by John's bed stepped into his path, Frank leaned round him, snapped his head back, and spat right in John's face.

There was a moment’s pause before John yelled out, jerking the hand that wasn't cuffed to the bed to his face, screaming every name under the sun at Frank who took a step back as the police officer sternly gave him a warning. "You're an irrelevant sack of shit." Frank snarled, looking at John, before he backed away completely, hands up in surrender to the officer who was pushing him back. "That the best you got?" John yelled, "what about the promise you made to my brother, about killing me if I came near your family or her?" At that Frank let out a bark of a laugh "I never said I'd kill you, just put you in hospital...but looks like my mother beat me to it. How does that feel, huh, ass hole? Being put in here by a 65 year old woman?" Another growl of rage and this time the police officer turned to Frank "Sir, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave...I'm assuming you're Miss Gallagher's partner?" Shit...Fliss... he needed to be with her. She was far more important. He nodded to the officer "I'm going..." and the man gave him a curt nod as he turned to leave. “How does it feel to know Felicity will never be over me?" John's voice continued to follow him as he walked. "That she's so broken and ruined? She ran from Boston even when I wasn't there anymore, what does that tell you, huh?” Oh now that really was pathetic! A desperate, final shot and Frank barked out a laugh as he turned around, folding his arms.

"Kintsugi." He said simply "Ever heard of it? It's an ancient Japanese art form. Broken ceramics, things like that are fixed with a glue laced with powdered gold. The repaired item is different, but no less beautiful than it was before, often even more so in some eyes." Frank shrugged with a smile "And that's Fliss. Is she the same person she was before she met you? Probably not…but I tell you something I will love the person she is now for a lifetime." John's face slipped, and in that moment Frank knew he had won. He had refused to give John any semblance of control and he couldn't help the satisfied smirk that spread across his face. "But you are right about one thing." Frank added "She did run. And she ran to South Pass, where I met her...so for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart." John sat still for a moment before he jerked up and began to try and get off the gurney, screaming threats of murder and whatever else he could conjure. Frank smirked as the police officers all piled in to restrain John, and he took one last look before he turned and strode away. Beating John on a cerebral level might not have given Frank the physical relief of kicking the crap out of him, but he knew that his words would stick with him much longer than a few broken bones and that was far more satisfying.

Frank eventually stopped a Nurse who kindly directed him to where he could find Fliss and he strode onto the ward where he headed towards the minor treatment room at the back. He yanked the door open and saw a Doctor was gently examining her temple which now sported a cut and a few stitches. But that wasn’t what got to Frank, it was the finger shaped bruises that covered her neck which made his breath hitch and he looked at Fliss as her eyes filled with tears.

“Oh, Honey…” he stuttered out and crossed the room. The doctor tactfully stepped away and Frank dropped onto the bed next to her as he pulled her to him and she buried her face into his neck as he pressed a kiss to the top of the head. He looked at the Doctor who gave him a small nod before he left the room, closing the door. Frank couldn’t think of anything to say, nor did he actually trust his voice at this moment so he simply held her close, his face pressed into her hair. Eventually he felt her pull back slightly, and he glanced down at her, taking her face in her hands.

“Let me see you…” he said gently, his eyes scanning the injuries he hadn’t already noticed and saw that her right eye was slightly swollen, and there was an angry red mark on her cheek which was going to bruise. She raised her right hand to gently place her hand over his and he saw the angry marks around her wrist too.

“I’m so sorry….” Frank looked at her, his eyes filling with tears.

“Hey…” Fliss said softly, her voice was raspy as her hands cupped his cheeks “This is not your fault.”

Frank shook his head, closing his eyes as Fliss gently placed a soft kiss to his lips.

“I fought back” she said, pulling away to look at him “Something I would never have had the courage to do if it hadn’t been for you. The last year we’ve spent together, you taught me I was worth so much more, and knowing that today…well, I wasn’t the same meek old little lamb he used to knock about.” “The lamb became a lion, huh?” Frank smiled, brushing her hair back.

“Something like that.” Fliss shrugged “And he’s going back in side. The Police reckon he’ll serve the original 2 years he had left and be looking at another couple for Assault, violation of his probation terms, breaking his curfew…” “With a bit of luck someone will kill him when he’s inside.” Frank spat and Fliss arched her eyebrow. “Sorry…” he said as she smiled, and shook her head. “I love you.”  he said again after a moment’s pause, his forehead pressing against hers “I don’t ever want to be without you. Ever.”

“You won’t be.” she looked at him “I promise.”

Frank smiled again, giving her a soft kiss before he pulled her back into her arms and she sighed, the tension in her shoulders, melting away at his embrace.

It wasn’t too long before the doctor came back and stated that, provided Fliss had someone at home, he was happy to discharge her. Frank assured him that she wouldn’t be alone and so, with care sheet that Fliss really didn’t need they both made their way back up to Mary’s room…well, that is after Frank made Fliss face up to the one call she didn’t want to make…

Bill was absolutely raging when he found out what was happening, so much so Fliss couldn’t deal with speaking to him so she passed the phone to Frank who had thankfully found his calm head at this point. After he spoke to Fliss’ dad, he managed to convince him not to hop on the next available flight, instead told them to come tomorrow when Mary had been discharged and things had calmed down a little. He knew it was slightly hypocritical, given the way he had hot footed immediately to Boston to be with Mary, but Fliss had begged him to put them off for at least a night as she was talked out after being interviewed by the police and wanted to rest. With a final gruff goodbye, Bill hung up and Frank curled his arm round Fliss as they walked towards Mary’s room.

They had been back in there for about 5 minutes when the Ward Sister appeared and at first was rather shitty with Frank at the fact Mary’s room was sporting 2 additional visitors out of bounds, until she spotted Fliss’ injuries. Her demeanour softened slightly but she was still insistent that Fliss and Evelyn needed to leave, but did allow them to wait in the room instead of the main reception until their car arrived.

Frank didn’t want his girl out of his sight, he wanted nothing more than to hold her all night long, humming songs into her ear the way he often did when they were huddled together, making her laugh as he changed the lyrics to various songs to include her name, his, Mary’s, Thor’s, Fred’s Cap’s, Heidi’s…or whoever else came to mind. He wanted her safe in his arms, wanted to be there when she woke up, but he knew she needed a good rest and even if she could stay, she wouldn’t get that on a camp bed. So, when the time came he reluctantly released her from where she had been sat on his lap and after she gently dropped a kiss on Mary’s head, the girl having slept through all of this, he followed them out into the corridor.

Evelyn turned to Frank but before she could speak he swept her into a hug and pressed his face into her hair, placing a soft kiss to the crown of her head.

“Thank you.” he said softly, before he released her. Evelyn stepped back, tears in her eyes as she gave him a small smile then turned to the elevator, leaving him to say goodnight to Fliss.

“Get some rest…and if you need me for anything, if you can’t sleep…whatever, call me ok?” he asked, his large hands gently cupping her face. “I love you.” “I love you too.” she said softly as his lips met hers in a soft but lingering kiss. He pressed his forehead to hers, their noses gently bumping against one another before she smiled and stepped away “I’ll see you tomorrow.

He held her hand for as long as he could, her fingers gently slipping out of his until eventually her hand was free and she turned and headed after Evelyn. He stood watching until they were in the elevator, giving them both one last wave before he turned back into the room. Once in there he cast a look at Mary before he slumped down on the chair he’d been in, the weariness seeping into every bone in his body as he bent forward, arms resting on his knees, face buried into his hands and he began to cry.

**** Frank climbed out of the car and lifted Mary onto his hip as he followed his Mother and Fliss into the cool hallway and he set Mary down and looked around his once childhood home. It looked, smelt, felt the same. He could almost see Diane sliding down the banister, him catching her at the bottom until their stepfather found them and threatened to flay them both alive if he caught them doing it again for fear of them breaking their necks. He could remember playing basketball on the large drive after Walter put a hoop up for him over the garage, the long nights of homework in the study, essays his mother made him re-write over when they weren’t good enough, always groaning when he was told it was time to practice his piano…he doubted he could even remember a single scale now, what a waste of time and money…

“Why don’t you go get some sleep.” Fliss looked at him, and her voice once again made him want to cry. It was so soft and croaky, but the doctor had said it might take a week or so for her vocal chords to recover. Another reminder of what the fucker had done to her. “I’ll wake you in a few hours when it’s time to go get Mum and Dad.” “You’re in your old room.” Evelyn said gently

Frank nodded and turned to Mary. “Don’t be running around like a lunatic, you heard what the doctor said.” Mary looked at him, her hands on her hips “I’m not stupid.” “Jury’s out.” he teased and she glared at him.

“We’ll watch some TV.” Fliss assured him, her hand rubbing at his back.

“Was kinda hoping you’d come lay with me.” he said softy.

“That sounds like a good idea.” Evelyn nodded, “Me and Mary can occupy ourselves.” “Oh, can we do some of those equations…” Frank glared at Evelyn, who held her hands up “I haven’t once made her do maths…” “They were in a book I found.” Mary looked at Frank. “They look really interesting…” “Frank…” Fliss soothed “If she wants to do Math, what harm is it gonna do? She’s gonna be missing a few weeks of school.” “Fine.” he sighed “But…oh,I dunno, just…” He trailed off shaking his head, he was too beat to argue anymore. He turned and headed up the stairs without another word.

“Is he mad at me?” Mary asked, her eyes wide.

“No, honey of course not.” Fliss shook her head, her hand cupping Mary’s cheek “He’s just tired, it’s been a long few days…” “Are you feeling ok now? Frank told me you got attacked but I wasn’t supposed to ask you, but I wanted to…”

“I’m fine.” Fliss assured her. “Just bruised…nowhere near as much recovery to do as you.”

Satisfied Mary nodded and Evelyn told her to go and sit on the sofa and Fliss headed upstairs. Frank was already in the shower by the time she got into the room so she kicked off her trainers and flicked on the TV, absentmindedly watching the news channel that filled the screen. She took a deep breath, her eyes flicking to the closed door of the en-suite. She knew Frank was hurting, beating himself up about both her and Mary, and there was nothing to do other than let him sleep for a while and hopefully wake with a clear head.

Her mind began to wander back over the last 12 months and everything they’d been through. From nearly not actually getting together thanks to his little Friday night fuck with Bonnie, to that day she had bared her soul, told him everything. With a fond smile she remembered how he’d held her that night, the way he’d tenderly washed her in the shower when she was too broken to do anything herself…and then an idea came to her. Maybe she could show him some of that strength he always provided her.

She stripped off, adjusted her pony tail so her hair was piled up on her head, out of the way, and walked into the en-suite, casting a look as Frank was in the large cubicle, his head bowed, water beating down on him. His head turned to look at her and he gave her a questioning look as she stepped in next to him.

“Lissy?” he asked, and she gently took his hands, lacing her fingers into his before she stood on her tiptoes to give him a soft kiss.

“Turn round.” she said softly.

He did as he was told, his back to her and she gently slid her hands up his back and began to work at his shoulders which were ever so tense. With a soft sigh he relaxed into her touch, her thumbs working at the stiff muscles along the blades and his neck. He rolled his head from side to side, and stayed still, hissing slightly as she hit a particularly bad spot but then told her not to stop as she eased off. It was bliss. Eventually he felt her touch lighten before she instructed him to stay where he was, reaching round for the shampoo that was hooked on the shelves at the side. She began to massage his scalp, her nails scratching at his skin and he gave a soft moan tipping his head back. When she was done he turned, rinsing off and then glancing down he gave Fliss a soft smile as he dipped his head and kissed her softly.

“Feeling better?” she asked and he smiled, nodding.

“Should be me doing that for you.” he said softly, and she shook her head.

“Frank, I’m fine.”

“I didn’t mean to be so crabby.” he sighed, and she shrugged.

“You’re tired.” she said, reaching behind him to turn the water off. “Tell me honestly, how much sleep did you get?”

“3, maybe 3 and a half hours” he sighed as she stepped out of the cubicle and wrapped herself in a robe, handing him a towel. He quickly dried himself off, wrapped it around his waist and followed her into the bed room. Fliss picked up her phone and smiled.

“Mum and Dad are at the airport already.” she said, “They’ll be here in about 5 hours…which means you can get some sleep.” Frank nodded before he pulled the towel away, slipped on a pair of clean boxers and then roughly rubbed at his hair. Fliss laughed softly as he emerged, his dark brown strands stuck up everywhere and she moved over, smoothing them down with her hands. Once they were finished they both slipped under the duvet and she gestured so that Frank could lay his head on her chest. She softly placed a kiss to his forehead, her fingers running through his hair.

Less than 10 minutes later, he was out for the count.

He slept for a good 3 hours and when he woke he felt a lot better. Things slid into perspective a little. Yes, John had hurt Fliss, but she was ok, and he was out of their lives. Yes, Mary had been taken ill, but the operation on the whole had been small all things considering and in a week or so post a final check-up she should be cleared to fly home. Alan had messaged him telling him not to worry about work, so he knew he could stay with Mary here until the time was right, and his mother wasn’t irritating him half as much as he thought she would. In fact, she was being positively maternal, making him a sandwich and a coffee, fussing over him as he sat at the table in the kitchen. Another time it might have freaked him out but not now. He knew something had shifted over the last 48 hours and so he wasn’t going to dwell on it, he was going to simply let it roll. Whilst she was playing ball, so would he.

Frank declined Evelyn’s offer of sending a driver for Bill and Verity, because he knew Fliss would want to be there in person, and as did he. So at just after 3 and an argument with Mary about the fact she was absolutely not going with them on account of her needing to recover, to which she had replied some smart arsed remark about Fliss also being hurt, which his mother had simply stepped in and uttered a line he had heard so many times growing up ‘you do as we say, not as we do…” she stropped off to the living room, seething and that had allowed them to slip out, borrowing his mother’s Mercedes SUV for the trip.

It wasn’t a long drive through to Logan, and they chatted away as they headed over into the city, Fliss smiling and telling him how much she was looking forward to New York, that is if Mary was ok enough to go. Frank had assured her she would be, the recovery time wasn’t that long and knew full well Mary would have a tantrum to end all tantrums if he stated it was a no-go. Besides, he himself had big plans for that trip. There was no way in hell they were missing it.

They parked up, strode through to the arrivals and bought themselves a coffee, settling down to wait and it was about half an hour later Fliss’s eyes flicked to a spot over his shoulder and she gave a huge grin. She pushed her chair back and jogged across the lounge, throwing herself at her father.

“Oh, Titch…” Bill mumbled into her hair, his voice cracking as she wrapped her arms round him and Verity joined them, the 3 of them embracing. Frank hung back a little, until Verity waved him over and he walked over, giving V a hug before he shook Bill’s hand, the man pulling him into a huge embrace. He didn’t miss the angry look on Bill’s face as he took in Fliss’ injuries, nor the tears in Verity’s but neither of them said anything about it. As they all moved to head to the exit, Frank offered to take their case, but Bill declined.

“Not quite over the hill yet, Frank.” he teased and Frank laughed.

“I wouldn’t dream of suggesting so.” he grinned as they made their way over towards the car.

“How’s Mary?” Verity asked, as Frank opened the trunk to allow Bill to toss his bag in.

“Still a pain in the ass.” Frank said, and Verity scoffed.

“You leave my little Pudding alone.” she said.

“She had a tantrum.” Fliss grinned “Frank made her stay home to rest. She didn’t appreciate being left behind.” “Clearly desperate to see me.” Bill said simply, as Fliss told him to get into the front passenger seat. “Everyone knows I’m her favourite.” “That’s because you ruin her.” Frank said simply. Bill shrugged, a smirk on his face.

“Isn’t that what Granddads do?” he asked. Frank smiled, and looked at him as Bill’s smirk grew wider and Frank sighed.

“What did you bring her?”

“Nothing…” he protested, “Well, except a new pair of Tigger Pyjamas and a few books…” Frank rolled his eyes “Like I said, ruined.”

The drive home was pleasant. Frank took the long way round so that Bill and Verity who, despite Fliss having lived here for some time, had never spent long in the city because of John, could see the sights. They made arrangements to have a day out, Fliss gushing about the shops she could visit to buy some stuff for New York, Frank smiling at her in the rear-view mirror, before he glanced at Bill, the man’s jovial nature seemed to be ebbing away with each mile they drove.

Once they arrived back home, Fliss led Verity up the steps to the house whilst Frank hung back with Bill, heading to the trunk. As soon as the women were inside, Bill rounded on him.

“What the fuck happened?” he said, his eyes searching Frank’s “How did he find her?”

Frank took a deep breath and explained all about Richard tipping him off, how he had followed her, how she wasn’t alone but his mother was upstairs, how she’d stupidly not closed the door properly, how Fliss had fought him back, but he’d still overpowered her until his Mother had smashed a bottle over his head. He didn’t miss the pained expression that crossed Bill’s face as the large man simply shook his head a growl erupting from his throat.

“I’m so sorry Bill.” Frank hung his head, and at that Bill’s eyes turned to see the man in front of him, looking down at his feet.

“Sorry?” Bill frowned “What the hell are you sorry for?” “I wasn’t there…I should have kept her safe…” “You weren’t there because your little girl was in hospital.” Bill said, looking at him. “Frank, you couldn’t have been in two places at once…” “She wouldn’t have been in Boston if it wasn’t for me…I should have made her stay home…” “Right, you listen to me…” Bill said, his hand gripping Frank’s shoulder. “Look at me Frank.” Frank turned his head up to look at Bill, who stared straight back.

“You DO NOT blame yourself, Son.” Bill shook his head. “You hear me? Christ knows I tortured myself for long enough about keeping her safe. She’s my daughter and…” he trailed off, his own eyes misting up. “But one thing I realised over the last few years, this is no one’s fault but his.”

Frank sniffed and looked away. He knew Bill was right, but that still didn’t ease the enormous ball of guilt he felt in his gut.

“You said she fought back?” Bill said and Frank nodded. “Well, if you want any evidence of exactly how much you have kept her safe that’s it right there…she’s a different person. She’s the old Fliss, the one we knew way back before he ever turned up.” Bill wiped at his eyes as he glanced at the house then back to Frank. “And I cannot begin to thank you for the change we’ve seen in her.”

“Me?” Frank frowned.

“Yes, you.” Bill insisted “None of us can go back, Frank. The only thing we can do is move forward and you’ve helped her do that. You’ve given her something, something else to focus on other than her work and memories…” he took a deep breath, his hand falling back to Frank’s shoulder, his eyes locking onto his “…and when the time comes, I want you to know you don’t need to ask my permission, because there’s no one else on this earth I’d trust more than you to care for her for the rest of her life.”

Bill’s words sunk in and Frank looked at him, his eyes misting over before the man pulled him in for a fatherly hug, gently slapping his back.

“Right, now that’s over with…” Bill stepped away, turning for his bag “Please tell me your mother has some decent scotch because fuck do I need a stiff drink.”

****** None of them stayed up late that night. They retired to bed at little after 9 and Fliss snuggled up next to Frank, her head laying on his chest. The only problem with that, was that Frank then woke at 3 the next morning, and couldn’t get back to sleep. He glanced at Fliss who was fast asleep besides him and gently climbed out of bed. The chilly air hit him and he shivered slightly, grabbing a t-shirt off the side which he shrugged on before he headed down stairs to grab a bottle of water. As he reached the bottom steps the soft sound of classical music hit his ears and there was a chink of light flowing from underneath the study door. He knew instantly it was his mother. He headed into the kitchen, grabbed a bottle of water and was about to head back upstairs when he paused, his eyes drifting to the study door. He hesitated, before he made his decision and walked back gently pushing it open.

Evelyn looked up, frowning slightly “Frank?” “Needed a drink, saw the light was on.” he said simply “Couldn’t sleep?” “Something like that.” she mused.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

With a soft smile she beckoned him over and he walked into the room, noticing for the first time she had a photo album open. Frank peered down and felt his own smile creep across his face as he looked at the photo of him, along with his Mother, Father and Diane on Francis Street Beach in Nantucket. It was the year before his Father died.

“I remember that trip.” Frank said softly. “Spur of the moment decision to go for a long weekend in the holidays. Dad capsized the kayak on purpose because I kept splashing him.”

“You were so excited to go.” Evelyn smiled. “Because the beach had the same name as you.” Frank huffed a laugh. 

“I know you’ve heard me say this countless times but you really are ridiculously like Preston.” Evelyn looked at him and Frank looked down at her as he straightened back up, cracking open the bottle of water he had. “Seeing you with Fliss…” she trailed off and sighed, “I loved Walter...but it was nothing compared to how I felt about your father.” Frank looked at her, as she gently ran her hand over the photo on the page “I often wonder if he had still been here how different things would have been, but then I remind myself that he was-“ she trailed off and stopped dead. “Anyway, no point-“ “He was what?” Frank frowned.

“Nothing…” “Mother.” he said sternly. Evelyn looked at him and he stared straight back before she took a deep breath and hung her head slightly.

"He was leaving me. He said he didn't love me anymore...hadn't for a while and once the issue with Diane’s schooling was sorted, he was moving out." Frank blinked. That had surprised him because as far as he had been aware his mother and father had been solid as a rock until his Fathers accident. He looked at his mother who was looking back down at the photo album, her face sad…and suddenly to Frank it all made sense. "That's why you wanted to hurt me, all the business with Mary?" Frank looked at her, folding his arms and Evelyn shifted slightly "Because I hurt you first. I left you, just like dad?" Evelyn sighed "I'm not proud if it...but yes, I expect some psychologist could boil it down to that. But, it wasn’t all about hurting you Frank…I failed Diane and when I heard about Mary, how she had inherited your sister’s talents…I saw it as a perfect opportunity to try and make amends”

Frank rubbed at his eyes. He didn’t have it in him to be angry about any of this. Maybe last year, but not now. His mother had simply confirmed what he had suspected, but he was glad she’d admitted it finally. That it had been partly spite, and partly because she accepted some responsibility over Diane. Evelyn wasn’t to blame for Diane’s death, he knew that and would never in a million years dream of accusing her of such, but Diane had suffered from a mental illness which Evelyn had chosen to ignore. But he now understood that she hadn’t been ignoring it because she thought it was a weakness, she had feared it.

“I'm not proud of how I behaved Frank” Evelyn looked at him and his eyes flickered back to her.  “Far from it. But knowing Mary now, I'm not sure I'd change it because...I love her. And I'm glad she’s in my life. And you too for that matter.”

“What’s done is done.” he said gently, “I’m tired of being angry and bitter about it.” “Me too.” Evelyn said.

“Well…” Frank said, thinking back to what Bill had said to him earlier “There’s nothing we can do about the past. I suppose it’s how we choose to deal with things going forward that matters.”

Kintsugi…

Evelyn looked at him “That’s very philosophical” she teased and Frank gave a chuckle.

“Old habits die hard.” he shrugged before he sighed "Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked quietly, “About Dad?” "Preston was your hero.” Evelyn looked at him, smiling softy “And rightly so, he was an amazing man. And I thought you deserved to at least have some good memories of one parent"

Frank looked at her as she held his gaze, her words echoing around his brain. She’d been trying to protect him, behaving again in a way that she thought was best. Shielding him from hurt and anger and pain.

Being a mom.

With a soft nod he acknowledged her point and with a final smile he bid her goodnight and headed upstairs. Slipping back into bed, he gently pressed a kiss to Fliss’ neck, holding her close to his chest, simply laying still, and then she shifted and turned to face him.

“Sorry, did I wake you?” he asked softly and she shook her head.

“No, but I woke up and you weren’t here…” she yawned as he brushed her waves off her face, his thumb gently skating her bruised cheek “Where did you go?”

“To grab a drink. Then I was talking to Mother.” “Everything ok?” Fliss asked and he took a deep breath, nodding.

“Yeah, yeah I think it is, or at least it will be.” She smiled softly at him in the dim light and he dipped his head to kiss her gently, his hand dropping to her hip. She moved closer, tipping her pelvis up to meet his and he gave a sigh into her mouth as he felt her rub up against his crotch.

“You want something?” he asked, and she gave a soft chuckle.

“You gonna make me beg?” she asked.

“Never, baby girl…” he smiled, rolling her over onto her back.

 Before long they were both naked, sharing kisses, soft teasing touches. Frank’s mouth softly caressed her bruised neck, her collar bone before moving down to her breasts, lavishing affection at her pebbled nipples causing her to arch her back, pressing into his touch. He loved the way she keened underneath him, her body begging him for more, so needy and so ready for him. When neither of them could stand it any longer, both aching for one another, Frank’s hands gently cupped her face as he pushed into her, causing her to gasp slightly. He gently rolled his hips, his movements slow, deep, rocking into her as opposed to thrusting, not wanting any inch of his body to be away from hers.

It was slow, soft and quiet. Everything about it was pure love and affection, not for one single moment about chasing that surge of ecstasy. But when that relief inevitably came, Fliss head tipped back in a silent cry, as Frank nuzzled at her jaw with his nose before he slanted his mouth over hers, kissing her deeply before he himself came, hard, with a surge that he wasn’t quite sure he’d felt before. As they lay there, tangled around one another, soft kisses and touches being shared in the afterglow, Frank found himself wondering just how on Earth she kept managing to make him fall deeper in love with her by the day.

He knew he would probably never get the answer to that, but he didn’t care. All he knew was this woman was his world, his home.

And he was going to make her his wife.

**** Chapter 25