#my computer is frozen my grandma keeps taking things from my desk and when I asked them where did she put them just goes

[andromacheflints]

high key having an awful day. if you couldn't tell.

[stardew-mermaid]

im WEAK for my faves as parents and i know lots of y'all are too so here are

bachelors as dads vibes

(bachelorettes as moms will come soon too ❤️ under cut cause it got very long lol)

sebastian

a chill dad. when u were very little he'd let u sit in his lap while he codes and consequently u find heavy metal soothing cause he would be playing it while he works and u would always fall asleep against him

if he wasn't using his second computer u could play around on it while he works. 'existing in each other's company while u both do stuff' time becomes a regular thing even as u get older, u would do ur homework next to him at his desk and he'd help if u were confused

the first time u were deemed old enough to go for a ride on his motorcycle u were SO fucking hyped even if u had to be absolutely decked out in protective gear. sometimes while u were in high school he'd help you flex by picking you up/dropping you off on the bike

would bundle u up in his hoodies as a toddler and there's a few pics of u absolutely SWIMMING in them with the hood all the way over ur face pretending to be the grim reaper. he'd never been so proud

elliott

an eloquent dad, but still has goofy dadlike tendencies. he may be the picture of a dark academia dilf with his slacks and button ups sipping coffee in the morning over a manuscript, but he'll still make the jokes. calls u things like little one and taught u to play piano

he got u ur own little bookshelf for all ur baby books and he'd read to you every single night without fail. he'd make up stories too and u would help and make a collab tho it often got u more excited than relaxed for bed but it was worth it!!! when u were grown up u helped him compile the short stories u made up together and published it. he'd also share with u poems he wrote for you and about you over the years, lots of them to do with the wonder of watching a whole tiny person grow into a big person

would always take u on nature walks and play at the beach!!! u would find shells and rocks to give to him and he'd always look like u just handed him pure gold

u made a pact that u would sit still for him while he did ur hair if u could braid his hair in turn. u both looked very stylish

sam

cool dad!!! fun dad!!!! watches anime with u when u get into it and is forever ur player 2. if u had a skateboard or a scooter he'd always show u up by pulling off sick tricks and it became a friendly rivalry. taught u to stick it to the man at a very early age. teaches u to play guitar and took u to ur first rock concert when u were like 8

there are baby photos of u wearing sunglasses that cover half ur face and when asked about it he'd say 'u were just a rly cool baby!!!!' in some of them he's wearing matching sunglasses and carrying u in one of those front baby pouches. he'd also always sing to you as a baby and still does it idly sometimes and has written songs for u!!!!

ur #1 hypeman. praises u for everything and always makes sure u know how cool u are just for existing. he loses his mind at ur grade school talent show and at ur graduation he's there holding up his phone and crying like FUCK IT UP KENNETH!!!!! 😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

tho alongside all the fun he teaches u to be very responsible and polite and above all extremely kind!!!!

shane

has the most potent typical dad energy. the socks with sandals, the jokes, the ac/dc, the funny hobby projects, the rivalry with other pta parents, all of it. calls u squirt and kiddo and the kind to ruffle ur hair. always gives u piggy back rides even as u get older, says it helps him stay in shape. when u were little you'd always bap ur baby hands against his stubble cause heehee funny scratchy face

u loved when he was in charge of dinner growing up cause it was often takeout pizza/burgers. 'hey im making a pot of kraft dinner should i double it for u' kind of guy, adds cut up hot dogs and after ur other parent voices a need for nutrition adds frozen veggies too. VERY good at cooking all kinds of eggs tho, would always feed u eggs from his own chickens and would accept nothing less!!!

teaches u a lot about chickens and some of ur fave memories with him are in the coop or chillin in a field in spring with him and the new chicks. some other faves include the regular tea parties with him and cousin jas, and even as u both get older u all sit down and have tea together sometimes and occasionally break out one of the old barbie movies for funsies

u learned how to say fuck from him when u were 3 and he died laughing. if called and told that u got into a fight at school would reply with 'did they win'

harvey

sweet, dorky doctor dad. would get SUPER worried whenever u got so much as a cold, made u stay home and rest and HYDRATE. taught u proper medical standard handwashing from when u first learned how to turn on the tap, also taught u a lot of basic first aid. when u were fussy he would read u his old textbooks from med school and it'd get you to sleep in minutes

refuses to let u leave the house without eating something first and would often get up early to make u a big breakfast before school (it's the most important meal of the day!!!!). yes it's ok if ur late ur english teacher can wait until you've had ur veggies. when u were a baby his standard of keeping u fed was 'if i had to change less than five diapers a day it wasn't enough'. encourages taking a snack and water everywhere

as u got older u realized how hardworking he is so u make sure he knows how much u love and appreciate him, goes all out for his bday and father's day like how he goes all out for u every day and it makes him cry. he cries at ur first birthday and ur graduation too, cried when u got him a #1 DAD mug specifically for his morning coffee, he just cries a lot and it's very endearing, dad taught u it's okay to be emotional. u also gift him funky socks to wear at work and he goes bananas for them

he taught u how to assemble model planes and u would sit with him while he tuned his old radio, u liked the bwee bwee sounds. he would play jazz and swing and dance with u standing on his feet. when u were little u liked to play with his moustache and occasionally he would fall asleep while watching u but the most u ever did was add a goatee to the stache with washable marker which he thought was pretty funny

alex

strong dad!!! jock dad!!!!! would flex and let u hang off his bicep, play wrestle (u would always win), sit u on his shoulders and run around making airplane noises, play sportsball in the yard and would come up with fun challenges for u if u got bored of catch. pretty much the master of keeping ur baby self entertained and was always there to tuck u in for a nap when u got tired out

makes an extra protein shake for u every morning and loads of scrambled eggs, will also sneak u a cookie tho

he's always super encouraging and positive and enthusiastic about everything u do which u pick up fast. u go to his games and even if sports turns out not to be ur thing the fact that ur there rooting for him makes him put in 1000% effort, calls u his good luck charm!!!! he will also throw u over his shoulders and use u for weightlifting while u shout encouragement directly into his ear. this continues until ur grown up (and sometimes even then so he can flex even as an 'old man')

gets really really worried about you whenever ur sick or get hurt and will lose sleep over it but stays upbeat for ur sake. he will cuddle u tho. sometimes you'll ask for stories about ur grandma and he'll tell u and it's so nice to him to talk about his mother and smile instead of being sad, you help him heal because it's so wonderful to think of her as a grandmother and how proud she'd be. he plays her music box for u to help u sleep when ur little and it still makes u feel sleepy and safe when ur older

[lallyloo]

It’s Complicated

(This was just supposed to be a short little thing but it kind of got away from me..)

By the time the 3pm video call happened, Spencer had already talked to his parents. They were old hippies who didn’t know how to Zoom, so they just called from their landline. Brady stayed on his bunk while the phone call happened, trying to mind his own business, but he heard enough to know that Spencer’s parents really wanted him to come home, quarantine be damned, and they spent most of the call arguing. Spencer tried to tell them that even if he could come home it was too late to travel, and it was safer for him to just stay at school anyway.

The call ended quickly and Spencer suggested drinking after that.

They did a few shots before connecting to Brady’s aunt’s Zoom call, and when they did introductions he called Spencer his roommate. It was technically true, but it felt like there should’ve been another word for it – and Brady wasn’t sure yet what the word might be.

They fooled around a lot. Got naked together. Jerked off. Sometimes if they got too drunk they spent a lot of time kissing. Brady liked that a lot. Sometimes they’d wake up cuddled together on the same bunk and Spencer would slick himself up and fuck Brady nice and slow.

Sometimes Brady felt like he loved him.

They never really talked about it, and Brady wouldn’t say Spencer was his boyfriend, but he also wouldn’t say he wasn’t. He didn’t like to think about it too much. It was complicated.

So ‘roommate’ was the word he went with.

They’d put their masks on earlier in the day and managed to socially distance their way across campus to a little convenience store. Brady had been searching the freezer when Spencer came up beside him with his arms full of snacks.

“Dude,��� Spencer held up a box of Ding Dongs, with his hand over the word ding. “Check it out – dongs!”

Brady laughed and high-fived him. It was stupid, but sometimes Brady liked stupid.

They bought the snacks and Ding Dongs, along with some frozen TV dinners and a tub of ice cream. They’d both been hoping for pie, but they knew it was a pipe dream when they were getting their Thanksgiving supplies at a campus convenience store.

When they got back to their dorm room, Spencer tried his best to shove the ice cream in the frost-coated freezer of their mini fridge, while Brady read the instructions on their tv dinners so he’d know when to start cooking them.

Spencer’s phone call happened shortly after, and then Brady was breaking out the vodka and trying to distract Spencer with a drinking game. Spencer suggested the Thanksgiving theme and they did a couple shots before the Zoom call, just to get themselves loosened up a little.

When the inflection in Spencer’s voice changed and he went a little nasally, Brady knew the alcohol was kicking in.

Just before three, Brady went down to the common area and put their dinners in the microwave so they’d be ready in time to join the family. He was a bit nervous about bringing Spencer to dinner, but a bit excited too.

When he got back to the room Spencer was wearing a dress shirt and his fake leather jacket.

“Dude, you dressed up?”

Spencer glanced down at his outfit. “Gotta make a good impression, man!”

“You obviously haven’t met my family.”

“I’ve seen your mom on your computer.”

“Yeah, so you know she’s nuts.”

Spencer shrugged. “She’s still your mom. I gotta make a good impression.”

Brady wasn’t sure if Spencer was forgetting the shot glasses and the fact that they planned to get completely shitfaced over dinner, but he didn’t have much time to think about it because the clock in the room said 3:01 and they were already late.

Brady set the TV dinners aside and quickly joined the video call. Spencer sat down a few seconds later, sliding in beside him in his pleather jacket, and they ended up having a great time. Brady’s family was ridiculous enough to encourage several more shots, and they got good and drunk while they ate some hot food. It was nice. The food wasn’t much different from their terrible cafeteria food, but somehow eating it together at a family dinner made it taste better.

Brady was feeling a little sappy by the end of it, and he was sad to miss out on his mom’s pumpkin pie, but watching Spencer smile at him from beneath an ice cream mustache seemed like an okay trade-off.

When Brady finally logged off and closed his laptop, they were both drunk and full and happy.

“You wanna lie down?” Spencer was looking at him with heavy eyes.

Brady nodded. “Yeah, dude.”

Spencer slipped off his jacket as they made their way to his bunk, and as soon as he was lying down Brady crawled in beside him.

They spent a good long while reliving the Zoom dinner and laughing about it.

“My Uncle Gary with that stupid turkey hat..”

“Turkey! Drink!” Spencer raised his hand as if he was still holding a shot glass but quickly remembered they were done drinking.

“It was turkey noises, drink.”

Spencer just waved him off with a smile. “Whatever dude.”

They talked about his Uncle Philip and Aunt Diane and Brady told a story about his younger cousins and how one Christmas they nearly set his grandma’s tree on fire.

The mention of Brady’s grandma suddenly had Spencer in hysterics. “Oh man, she was talking about her dookie!”

“Dude. Sick.” Brady grimaced. “Let’s not talk about it.”

When Spencer’s laughter died down he swiped his hand over his forehead, trying to get the hair out of his face. Then he looked over at Brady and smiled.

Brady smiled back at him.

He really liked Spencer but Brady secretly thought that his hair was pretty bad. It was too long, and cut weirdly, and dyed an inky black color which seemed to clash with his reddish beard. Brady didn’t even acknowledge the blue tips. It was just a weird combination over all.

He would never want to tell Spencer what to do or how to cut it, but the alcohol seemed to be making him brave. Or making him an asshole? Brady couldn’t really decide.

“Dude, you ever get tired of your long hair?”

Spencer seemed to consider the question for a moment before replying, “yeah maybe sometimes, like when I’m eating, and when I’m trying to watch tv, and when I’m sleeping.”

“You think–”

“And when I’m in class and the prof is writing stuff on the board.”

“Do you think– ”

“And when I need to brush it.”

“Dude.”

“And when– ”

“Dude.”

“Yeah dude?”

“What if.. like.. what if I cut it?”

Spencer didn’t respond so Brady continued.

“I’m good at cutting hair, I cut my hair all the time.”

When Spencer still didn’t reply, panic started to hit Brady a little. He wasn’t aiming to hurt Spencer’s feelings, but he was suddenly afraid that maybe he had. He silently cursed the stupid alcohol making him say stupid things.

“But if you don’t wanna” Brady stammered, “that’s cool too.”

“Yeah, dude.”

“Like, yeah that’s cool?” Brady asked carefully.

“I mean, like, yeah you can cut it.”

“Are you serious?”

“For sure,” Spencer nodded, pushing hair off his forehead again. “But we gotta wait until we’re not drunk. You got those shaky hands, bro.”

Brady raised a hand up to take a look at it. Spencer was right – his hands always trembled a little but it was worse when he’d been drinking.

He lowered his hand and looked over at Spencer. “Tomorrow?”

“Sure dude, in the morning.”

Brady smiled. “Awesome.”

He convinced Spencer to get up with him and they walked to the communal bathroom together to pee and brush their teeth. It was still pretty early, but Brady knew with the alcohol in their systems and the Thanksgiving dinner they’d both be passed out long before midnight.

When they got back to their dorm room Brady pulled his shirt over his head and Spencer unbuttoned his dress shirt and tossed it on the floor.

“You wanna kiss or something?”

“Yeah, man.”

Brady followed Spencer back to the bunk, and kissed him until he was too tired to keep his eyes open.

Brady woke to the feeling of Spencer’s hand on him, smoothing over his back, and when he opened his eyes the room was bright with morning light.

“You awake?” Spencer asked and Brady nodded into his pillow.

He secretly liked their early mornings together. The inflection in Spencer’s voice was different, softer and calmer, with less of the nasal twang he always had when they drank. Most mornings Spencer’s hands would be on him and they’d touch a bit and fuck, and Brady would happily go along with everything. It was in those moments he thought maybe he was in love. Maybe Spencer was his boyfriend.

But as the day went on Brady would push those ideas away. They were roommates.

It was complicated.

Brady thought back to the conversation from the night before and he really wanted to ask Spencer about his hair, but being sober made it a little more difficult and he definitely didn’t want to risk hurting Spencer’s feelings. So Brady kept quiet and just rolled over to look at him.

Spencer’s hair was pure chaos, a messy black and blue mop on his head, and maybe Brady gave himself away by staring at it, but Spencer was soon grinning at him.

“You wanna get the scissors?”

“Only if you want to, man.”

“Yeah, dude,” Spencer ran his hand through his hair, giving it a shake, “go get them.”

Brady jumped out of bed and searched his desk drawer for the scissors he always used on his own hair. He grabbed a towel from the closet, and a comb, and then pointed to his desk chair.

“Sit there.”

Spencer did as he was told, and Brady draped the towel over his shoulders and pulled it closed over his chest.

For such a chaotic pile of hair, it was surprisingly free of tats. Brady combed through it, brushing it down over Spencer’s face, completely covering his eyes. He needed to see where to cut and how much, and when Brady felt like he was ready he paused to look at Spencer.

“You ready?”

He could see Spencer’s mouth form into a grin beneath the smooth black hair. “Yeah, man, go for it.”

Brady went for the blue tips first, happily lopping them off, and then he surveyed Spencer’s head again. The loss of the blue tips left him with some sort of bowl cut and Brady considered it for a minute before moving around Spencer and snipping away at the sides and back.

Black hair continued to fall as Brady cut, and Spencer sat quietly, and if he was worried about his hair he didn’t say so.

Brady managed to cut the sides short, uncovering Spencer’s ears which he was pretty sure he’d never seen before. He stood in front of Spencer and looked back and forth, trying to make sure he’d cut everything evenly.

Then he nudged Spencer’s knee, pushing his legs apart, and he stepped between them.

“Time for the front,” Brady said, taking a deep breath. “Hopefully I don’t wreck it.”

“You won’t, man.” Spencer placed his hands on Brady’s bare hips and left them there as Brady started cutting.

It didn’t take long, just a few cuts, but Brady went slowly – holding out pieces and trying to cut things a bit jagged so Spencer wasn’t left with a blunt cut straight across his forehead. When he felt like he was done, Brady ran his hand through Spencer’s hair, trying to force it into some sort of style.

“If you put some wax in it I think it’ll look pretty good,” he said as he removed the towel from Spencer’s shoulders.

“Do you have any?”

Spencer glanced up, and Brady’s only response was to stare at the green eyes looking back at him. He’d seen Spencer’s eyes before, of course, but never so clearly.

“Dude, you’ve got nice eyes.”

“So do you,” Spencer smiled. “They’re so blue.”

“Yours are green.”

“I know, man.”

Brady leaned in to kiss him.

It was the first time they’d kissed without being drunk first.

Spencer’s hands strengthened their grip on Brady’s hips, and Brady couldn’t keep himself from touching Spencer’s face. His beard was still wild and scratchy, and it still clashed with his black hair, but it didn’t really bother Brady.

His hands moved lower, sliding down to Spencer’s shoulders and touching over him and when Spencer sighed against his mouth, Brady slid down onto his knees and unzipped Spencer’s jeans.

Brady had seen his dick before, usually when they jerked off or after Spencer fucked him, but they generally didn’t touch each other that way. But Brady knew what Spencer looked like, how long he was, and that he was uncut. Brady liked the way Spencer’s cockhead hid sometimes. He’d always been interested in it, wanting to explore because it was different from his own dick, but they never did that kind of thing, with his face in Spencer’s lap and Spencer watching him.

Brady thought maybe they should start.

He paused before reaching beyond Spencer’s zipper.

“Is this okay, man?”

Spencer just nodded slowly, “oh yeah, dude..”

Brady was slow about it, wanting to touch and look, and he watched the way Spencer thickened in his hand and the slit of his dick peeked out a bit as the hooded skin uncovered it. Brady gripped a little tighter, sliding Spencer’s foreskin down to uncover the wet cockhead underneath. He tried it again a few times, sliding the skin up and over the head of Spencer’s dick and then back down, pulling it taut as Spencer’s cock strained and leaked.

Spencer was sighing above him, “ahh Brady, please..” so Brady leaned forward and took him into his mouth.

Spencer’s dick was slick and salty and Brady licked over him, thinking about the way he liked his own dick sucked and trying to emulate it. Brady took him as deep as he could before realising it made him gag and he didn’t like that much, so he focused on licking and sucking on the end, using his hand to jack Spencer’s foreskin a bit. Spencer was writhing above him, making soft little whining sounds as he gripped the arms of the desk chair.

“Oh god, dude,” he gasped, “oh Brady, please, please keep going.”

So Brady did. He licked and sucked until Spencer was whining and coming down his throat. Brady had tasted his own jizz before and Spencer’s wasn’t much different, and it didn’t make him gag like the deep throating did. He moved his mouth over Spencer one last time, leaving him wet and licked clean, and Spencer leaned down to hold Brady’s face and kiss him.

“Oh man, you taste like me.”

“Obviously,” Brady grinned, “you just jizzed in my mouth.”

“I sure did,” Spencer smiled back, and then he slid down from the chair and joined Brady on the floor.

Spencer gave him a soft push, “lie down.”

Brady laid back and watched as Spencer knelt over him and loosened the ties on his joggers. His dick was tenting the fabric and Spencer looked at it before looking up at him.

“Can I suck you, dude?”

Brady’s eyes went wide. “God, dude, YES.”

He watched as Spencer pulled his joggers down and his dick sprung free, and then Spencer’s mouth was on him, wet and warm. Brady wanted to buck his hips up because it felt so good, and maybe Spencer knew it, because his hands moved to hold Brady’s bare hips again, pressing him to the floor as he took Brady’s cock as deep as he could. Spencer nearly gagged on it, and then he pulled his mouth back and completely away to watch the trail of spit and precum stretch between his lips and Brady’s cockhead.

“Spencer,” Brady gasped, wanting his mouth back, and Spencer moved down again, sucking over him nice and slow.

He’d had his dick sucked before, plenty of times, but Spencer’s mouth on him felt different. Sweet almost, and it gave Brady an odd feeling in his chest. He reached down to touch Spencer’s head, running his fingers through the fresh haircut, and Spencer glanced up at him, his green eyes soft and wanting as he smiled around Brady’s dick.

Brady watched him a little longer, enjoying the way Spencer’s lips moved over him, sucking him a little deeper each time. And when Brady felt himself teetering on the edge, he tipped his head back and pushed his hips against Spencer’s hands as he pulsed inside Spencer’s mouth. Those wet lips stayed tight around him, sucking every bit of jizz out of him until Brady was spent and unable to move another muscle.

Spencer flopped down next to him and after a moment he felt Spencer’s hand reach for his and they entwined their fingers.

“We should do that all the time.”

“Yeah, man.”

“Like, every day.”

“Yeah.”

Brady looked over and smiled at Spencer, and Spencer grinned back at him as he leaned in for another kiss.

It wasn’t really that complicated.

Brady was pretty sure he was in love. And Spencer was definitely his boyfriend.

[pixiegrl]

I’ve Got The Recipe

Michael keeps going back to the same coffee shop and no, it has nothing to do with the cute barista.

Or 3 times Michael went to Luke's coffee shop to see him and 1 time Luke visited Michael at his job

This is for @redrattlers! Happy birthday darling! You're a sweetheart and lovely, fellow Luke fan and Muke lover. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and getting to hang out with you in The Club. I wish you the happiest of birthdays and the happiest of years! Enjoy your day you deserve it!

On ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29146482/

It starts on a Wednesday. Michael’s bored, scrolling through his phone at the front desk, trying to avoid doing work. He knows he should go shelve some books, or do a lap around the library to check on things, but he can’t focus on anything. He’s trying to kill time until it’s acceptable for him to go on his lunch break and grab something to eat or drink.

“Oh god, I found the perfect drink for you,” Calum whispers next to him, tugging lightly on Michael’s sleeve. Michael frowns, glancing over at Calum, getting a phone shoved into his face in response. Michael pulls his head back, grabbing onto Calum’s wrist and trying to adjust it so he can see the screen better. It’s an instagram post on Calum’s feed, advertising a coffee from the local coffee shop. The caption claims that it’s a vanilla rose latte. Michael hates that Calum knows him well enough to know that Michael will 100% drink anything with floral flavors in it.

“Don’t act so disgusted,” Michael mumbles, shoving Calum’s phone back to him. Calum laughs.

“It’s just weird that you want to put florals in your coffee. It tastes like soap.”

“It does not. Stop insulting my taste,” Michael says, voice rising a little bit at the end of the sentence. He ducks his head when one of the reference librarians looks over at them. Calum raises his hand in apology, turning to face Michael.

“You like weird coffee. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Just thought you might be interested. It’s that new place too. Down the road.”

“Is this your way of trying to bribe me into getting us sandwiches from the Vietnamese place for lunch?”

“Pretty please?” Calum says. Michael sighs, pretending to be put out.

“Fine. Text me your order. I’ll swing by. You owe me dinner though,” Michael says, standing up. Calum brightens up, smiling. Michael heads into the back, clocking out for his break and telling his supervisor he’s going to grab lunch. They nod, waving him out when Michael grabs his bag from his little station and heads out to his car. Michael calls in their lunch order from his car and decides to stop and grab coffee first on his way there.

Luckily, the coffee shop is a quick drive. Their town is small enough that everything sits within a ten minute drive of each other. It makes it easier to pop out and grab lunch on the days he’s too lazy to make it. Michael knows where the coffee shop is, even if he hasn’t been yet. It’s only been open for a few weeks and everytime he and Calum mean to go, they get distracted and go somewhere else or forget. Today though, Michael is determined to get his rose coffee from this place. 

Michael parks in the lot, grabbing his wallet from his backpack and leaving his car, locking it behind him. He pushes open the coffee shop door, relieved to see it’s still empty and quiet inside, little bell over the door jingling. 

A tall blonde man, pops his head out from behind the back area, grinning widely when he sees Michael.

“Hi! What can I get you today?” he asks, coming up to the counter, beaming. Michael’s offended that the barista is pretty and therefore, Michael has completely forgotten his order. It’s not his fault the guy is tall and blonde, with blue eyes and dimples, curls pulled back into a messy bun. His name tag reads Luke. Michael doesn’t stand a chance.

“Um, I saw your post. About the vanilla rose latte. Do you still have it? I know it’s been a few days.”

“Yes! You’re the first person to order it. I got these little sample bottles of different flavors, but so far no one has asked for it,” Luke says, beaming widely as he grabs the bottle and holds it up. Michael blushes.

“Well, I’m your guy. My friend teases me endlessly about the fact that I like adding weird flavors into my coffee.”

“You’re just the kind of guy I need then,” Luke says, winking. Michael blushes. He’s never going to be able to come back here.

“Can I get a small?”

“Sure. Regular milk fine?”

“Yeah,” Michael says. Luke rings him up, rattling off the price. Michael swipes his card, signing on the screen as Luke starts to make his drink.

“So, do you work around here?”

“Yeah, I work down the block at the local library at the front desk. Wanted to stop in on my lunch break.” 

“Well, I’m glad you stopped in. I can finally tell Ashton someone likes my drink, ” Luke says, moving around behind the counter. 

“Ashton?” 

“My partner. Business partner. I am very single,” Luke rushes out, blushing red and turning his attention to the coffee. Michael blushes too, worried he’s been caught out staring at Luke. Just because he's a pretty guy and Michael never gets the chance to see anyone under the age of 60 who isn’t a child doesn’t give him the right to stare at Luke. 

“Well, it’s a good thing you have him,” Michael piped up, blushing harder when Luke glances at him over the espresso machine, smiling. 

“Yeah. He’s a wonderful friend. Terrible coworker,” Luke says. Michael laughs, earning him a wide grin from Luke. 

“Well, here you go! One vanilla rose latte! You’ll have to let me know how it is,” Luke says, sliding the drink across the counter. Michael takes it, sipping from it. 

“Good. The rose isn’t too overpowering. Just the right blend,” Michael says. Luke beams and it fills Michael’s chest with a flare of something. He checks his phone, swearing when he sees the time. 

“I gotta go, break’s gonna be up before I know it. Thanks for the drink Luke,” he says, turning to the door. Luke calls out a goodbye behind him as Michael rushes out so he can get their sandwiches on time and make it back to work. 

Michael manages to make it back to work on time with enough time to finish his sandwich. The coffee sits with him the rest of the afternoon, keeping him warm and reminding him of Luke’s smile. Maybe Michael will have to go back more often for coffee from the shop. 

***

Michael lasts about three days before he goes back. It’s late Saturday morning and Michael’s finally dragged himself from his bed and his apartment to run errands on his day off. Well, run errands once he gets some coffee, which has nothing to do with wanting to see cute barista Luke again. Even if Michael’s foregoing Starbucks and Dunkin’ just to go out of his way for Luke’s little coffee shop. 

Calum has teased him endlessly for the last few days about it. All it had taken was Michael mentioning that maybe the barista was cute and Calum had lost it. He keeps teasing Michael about going back just to see Luke or making dumb coffee puns for flirting. Michael’s relieved that Calum’s working today, so he can go to the coffee shop without being teased for it.

The shop is empty when Michael shows up. Granted, it's mid-morning but it’s still a Saturday. Michael was expecting a least a bit of a crowd. Not that he’s complaining. More personal time with Luke. Which, maybe Michael shouldn’t be thinking like that about the barista.

Luke’s behind the counter already this time, head popping up when he hears the bell ring. He beams widely when he sees Michael, bouncing on his heels.

“Hi! Vanilla rose guy!” He says brightly, waving as he does so. Michael blushes. 

“Michael. It’s Michael. Only fair since I know yours,” Michael says, embarrassed immediately. Luke smiles, dimples popping on his cheeks. 

“Nice name. Now I don’t have to call you vanilla rose guy. Ashton was starting to think I made you up just to prove my drink idea was good.” 

“All real. Just back for more coffee,” Michael says. Luke’s got his hair down today, curled around the base of his neck as he grins. He has butterfly wing eyeshadow on today, orange and blacks swirled together and drawn on. It’s so enchanting, Michael can’t take his eyes off of Luke. It’s distracted him completely from placing his order, going red when he realizes he’s been standing here for a few minutes in silence, staring at Luke. Luke giggles, tucking a curl behind his ear.

“So, coffee?”

“Yes. Coffee. The thing I am here for. What flavors do you have today?”

“Vanilla, hazelnut, mocha, raspberry, caramel, and the rose one. A few other floral flavors. Nothing too exciting.” 

“Will you combine something?” 

“Oh?”

“The mocha and the raspberry. In a small iced coffee.”

“Oh! Yes! That sounds really good actually. Why didn’t I think of that?” Luke says, grabbing a cup and spinning around to start making it. 

“I just like weird flavors is all.” 

“Not that weird. Sounds pretty good. Maybe you should work in the coffee shop, not me.” 

“Nah. They need me too much at the library. Who else is going to help stressed parents find the last copy of Frozen or show someone’s grandma how to use the computer?” Michael says. Luke laughs, pouring coffee from a pitcher into the cup. 

“Well, I’m sure you’ve saved many a tired parent whose daughter wants to hear Let It Go for the 100th time. Are you on break today?” 

“Day off. Wanted to run some errands while I’m alone, but figured coffee would be a good place to start. Library can survive without me for two days.” 

“What if someone needs the last copy of Frozen?”

“Calum can help them for a day,” Michael says. Michael likes working and living with Calum, but he likes the misalignment of their off days. Michael usually gets Friday and Saturdays off and Calum usually gets Sundays and Mondays. It gives them a few days to breathe without each other and it means that for a couple days, they get to alternate who cooks instead of them rushing to finish cooking one meal together. Michael has to go to the grocery store after this to get the ingredients for cheese quesadillas, his promised meal for the night.

“Calum?”

“Co-worker. Roommate. Pain in my ass.”

Luke giggles, shaking his head and sliding the coffee across the bar, “Well, I’m glad you get the day off, so you can come visit me and get coffee. You certainly keep my day interesting and exciting.”

“You’ve met me twice,” Michael says, taking the coffee and biting at the straw. 

“Yeah, but you have the most interesting coffee orders. Who else would think to combine chocolate and raspberry? I didn’t.”

“I’m just a librarian with terrible taste.”

“Hey, no mean talking about yourself. You have interesting and exciting taste. How’s the coffee?” Luke asks. Michael takes a sip. It’s good, rich without being overpowering, the raspberry a subtle aftertaste in it. 

“It’s good,” Michael says. Luke beams, smile lighting up his whole face with cheer.

“Good! I’m going to put it on my February drink list. It’ll be a good drink for Valentine's Day.”

Michael checks the time on his watch, frowning when he realizes how late it is, how much time he’s spent here with Luke chatting. He really needs to get to the store so he can buy food and start cooking. He was supposed to clean the apartment too today. Calum’s gonna chew him out if he doesn’t at least get something done because he’ll certainly realize Michael went to get coffee and he’ll mention Luke again.

“Do you have to go?” Luke asks, voice sad. 

“Yeah. Gotta go buy dinner and then cook it. My turn to cook for the evening. Perks of having the day off.”

“Well, thanks for coming in again. You should come back when you have more time.”

“Don’t you have to work?”

“I’m co-owner. I can take a break to talk to my favorite customer,” Luke says, resting his elbows on the counter and grinning, leaning forward just a bit. It gives Michael a good view of his collarbones where the collar of his shirt dips low. Michael swallows, mouth dry.

“I have Fridays off. Maybe I’ll come in next week.”

“Please. I’ll try to come up with a drink for you to try,” Luke says. He smiles, biting the corner of his lip as Michael walks towards the door. He walks into a table nearby, stumbling when he’s distracted by Luke and blushes as he darts out the door. God, maybe one day Michael will stop making a fool of himself in front of the cute barista.

***

It’s been almost a week since Michael went to the coffee shop on his day off and he’s been psyching himself up to go back. He’d gone a couple other days during the week on his lunch break again, but Luke hadn’t been there. Instead, Michael met Ashton who had raised his eyebrows and gone “Oh you’re Michael,” causing Michael to blush and avoid the coffee shop for a few days to get over his embarrassment. 

It’s Friday though and Michael can’t deny that he wants coffee. He wants coffee and he misses Luke and he wants to go in anyway. So, Michael sucks it up, puts on his best jeans and nice t-shirt and brushes his hair before going on his mission for coffee. He brings a book with him this time, promising himself that he’ll sit around and actually spend time at the store.

He gets lucky today, pushing the door open and seeing Luke behind the counter, humming along to the pop song on the radio as he dances around behind the counter. He brightens up when he sees Michael, grinning and waving, curls falling into his eyes.

“Hi Michael! It’s been a few days. Ashton mentioned you came in a couple times.”

“Yeah, I needed my coffee fix. Kept missing you though.”

“Yeah, it was a weird week for me, but I’m here now. I know it’s your day off and I couldn’t risk missing you,” Luke says, earnest. Michael blushes.

“Well, I brought my book with me, so I can hang around for a bit today,” Michael says, holding the book up.

“Lovely. I’m here all day for coffee while reading needs. What can I get you?”

“Caramel vanilla iced coffee. The larger size,” he says. Luke nods, going about making the drink.

“You must know some good books, being a librarian. You get to see all the new releases.”

“Most of them are those cheesy romance novels. So if you like reading about running away with a duke, I’m not sure what I can recommend. Unless you like horror novels.”

“I like fantasy. And mystery novels.”

“You should read A Cosmology of Monsters. It’s mystery and fantasy with a dash of horror. A good twist. I read it in one night,” Michael says. Luke hums, snapping the lid onto the cup.

“I’ll have to give it a look. What are you reading now?”

“If We Were Villains. Murder mystery novel, very who done it. But they’re theater students, so it’s an interesting read. Even though it’s very predictable.”

“Well, don’t tell me! What if I decide to read it?”

“Hey, I’m just giving you the plot summary. I just think it’s a little predictable,” Michael says, taking his coffee. Luke rolls his eyes.

“Well, take your coffee and your spoilers and go read your book. Don’t give it all away.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Michael says, teasing. He takes his cup, finding a table in the corner and sitting down so he’s facing Luke. Usually, Michael wears headphones and listens to music while he’s reading, but this time he doesn’t, preferring to keep them in his bag, so he can talk to Luke. It works, Luke commenting on the music playing over the coffee shop speakers or asking Michael for his opinions on muffins. Eventually, he takes his break, coming to sit across from Michael with two muffins, blueberry and chocolate, and his own cup of coffee to share with Michael. They exchange stories about their families and their jobs, until Luke has to go back to work and Michael realizes he has to head back home to finish cleaning and start on dinner. Luke looks a little sad to see Michael go, but he waves him goodbye as always, sends him off with a couple of chocolate chip cookies he’s made for Michael to take back to his place. Michael tries not to read into it too much, that the cute barista is giving him baked goods and hanging out with him and that Michael has spent a whole afternoon with Luke. He knows Calum is going to tease him when he goes home with the cookies, that he spent the whole day with Luke, to the point he’s running behind on his chores, but Michael thinks it was worth it to get to spend some more time with Luke and his curls and his laugh and his dimples. It’s always worth it to spend time with Luke and getting to see his smile.

***

It’s Tuesday and it’s boring. Nothing ever happens on a Tuesday. Which, sometimes is nice at the library. Yesterday, Michael had to deal with telling someone who was watching porn to get off the computers and arguing with a mom that no they didn’t have a movie in stock and no, Michael can’t go to another library to get it for her. It had taken Michael’s supervisor to step in and take over before the woman finally got it and left. Michael likes his job but god, does he hate people sometimes.

Calum’s been put on shelving today, leaving Michael alone at the front desk. He’s resisting the urge to spend the chair around in circles to combat his boredom. He could probably read a book or do something else productive, but Michael can’t get away with reading at the front some days and if he pulls his phone out, someone will probably walk by and comment on it.

Michael’s in the middle of making faces at Calum across the way when the doors to the library slide open and it pulls Michael’s attention over. He’s startled to see that it’s Luke coming through the doors, cheeks pink from the wind, and carrying a cup of coffee in his hands. He looks nice today, now that Michael can see his whole outfit. He looks nicer than he should, wearing leather trousers, heeled boots, and a leather jacket over a plain black shirt. He has no right looking this nice at a public library. Michael can’t physically take it.

Luke spots Michael, eyes lighting up and face breaking into a grin when they make eye contact. He makes a beeline for Michael. Michael looks over at Calum, frantic. Calum raises his eyebrows, mouth forming an “o” as he watches it all unfold.

“Hi. So this is your natural habit,” Luke whispers when he gets to the front desk.

“Here it is. Me and all the grandparents and small children.”

“Should I leave and come back so I can watch your heroics in action?”

“Could be awhile. Slow day today it seems like.”

“Too bad. You sold me on you being the big librarian hero.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

“Never,” Luke says, grinning. 

“Can I help you find something today?” Michael asks, figuring he should redirect them back to the fact that Luke’s at his place of work and eventually his boss will ask if he’s goofing off.

“Actually, I wanted to bring you a treat. You keep coming by my place of work, so I wanted to come visit you. Return the favor.”

“I come to your place of work to buy coffee. My work is pretty boring.”

“All I do is make coffee. You get to help people all day and see all the kids. I’d call that exciting.”

“I wouldn’t call it that,” Michael mumbles. Luke stands there, cocking his head to the side watching Michael. It reminds Michael of a puppy dog staring at him. Michael glances at the clock on his computer, figures it’s close enough now for him to take his break and talk to Luke outside.

“Let me punch out for lunch. We can sit outside on the bench and talk,” he whispers. Luke nods, heading off to the outside to wait for him. Michael darts to the back, letting his boss know so someone else can go sit at the front. Michael makes a point to avoid looking at Calum as he leaves.

Luke’s sitting on the bench by the door, ankles crossed and coffee sitting next to him. Michael crosses over, taking a seat next to Luke, who beams when he notices Michael. 

“I was worried about coming to see you at work, but I thought it might be nice to bring you an afternoon pick me up. Mid week blues are always the worst.”

“Thanks. I need this. What’d you make me today?”

“Mocha with caramel sauce and coconut milk. I remember you ordered it last time. Thought you might like the sweet and warmth today.”

“I do. How do you know me so well?”

“Perks of being a barista. Good at reading people,” Luke teases. Michael huffs, closing his eyes as he takes a sip of the drink, humming his appreciation when he gets a taste of it.

“Good?”

“Just what I needed. The best yet.”

Luke claps in excitement, curls bouncing with him. Michael takes another sip, closing his eyes again to savor the taste.

“How much time do you have?”

“Can probably get away with 15 minutes before I should head in and actually eat my lunch.”

“Tell me how your day’s been going,” Luke says, turning to face Michael. His face is earnest and open. Michael blushes, launching into a story about trying to run the children’s reading group this morning. Michael would take any kid over their parents anyday. The parents are the kicker, always trying to one up each other to prove their kid is better. Michael gets so lost in the story, caught up in Luke’s laughter and snorting that he doesn’t realize how much time has passed until he catches sight of Calum waving at him through the door.

“Shit I gotta go. Breaks almost up,” Michael says, rushing to stand. Luke looks crestfallen and a little sad.

“Oh really? I didn’t realize how much time had passed. I’m sorry.”

“No, no it’s not your fault. I need to get better at time management. You always distract me,” Michael confesses, blushing a little at the admission. Luke blushes too, cheeks and nose a little red.

“Well good. I like being a distraction. I mean...hmmm...you know what I mean,” Luke says, blushing harder.

“I do. Thanks for the coffee. I’ll come by the shop tomorrow?”

“Yes! I’ll be there. Enjoy the coffee Michael,” Luke says, waving as Michael rushes back in. 

“Have fun with Lukey?”

“Shut up. Which of us got free coffee?” Michael says, sticking his tongue out and holding out the cup for Calum to see. Calum squints, leaning in to look at the cup.

“Oh shit,” Calum whispers, pointing at the side of the cup. Michael turns it around, eyes going wide when he notices the handwriting on the side.

“You really grind my beans. Text me- Luke,” the handwriting says, a number written out next to it.

“You have to text him,” Calum hisses.

“I cannot.”

“Do it! The cute barista came to visit you at work and gave you his number! He wants you to visit,” Calum says urgently. Michael looks at the writing, brow furrowed. It’s impossible for Luke to like Michael, but this says otherwise. Maybe Michael should take his chances and text Luke. See what happens.

(It gets him a date on Friday with the prettiest blonde barista in town. It gets him breakfast on Saturday with the same boy. It gets him a cheeky grin from Calum when he goes home Saturday night, covered in hickies. It gets him a boyfriend, who brings him coffee on his lunch breaks with silly little coffee puns. It gets Michael happiness.)

[bbugyu]

my happiness + lee jihoon

even in this maze-like world, jihoon made you feel a little less lost

wc.4563 | fluff, uni/hs au, gender neutral reader, seungcheol is a protective bigbro

my friend ulted jihoon recently, so <3

If there was one way to describe your brother, it was protective. You were always his baby growing up - an annoying little sibling, but he was the only one allowed to beat you up. When your neighbor made you cry when you were six, a ten year old Seungcheol went marching over to him at the park near your apartment complex and kicked over his sand castle. In hindsight, he might have been a bit of a bully, but only when other people hurt you first, and you had always been grateful for it as a child.

Now, though, it scared you. Because you had a boyfriend. And Seungcheol didn’t know.

Seungcheol had gone off to college, getting an education doing what he loved with a ton of friends. He lived in an apartment an hour bus ride away from your family home, where you spent the week in high school. 

On the weekends, though, you had free reign. And most weekends, you took that hour bus ride to spend a couple nights on the couch in his living room. In the beginning, it had been because adjusting to him being gone was hard for you. For the first 18 years of your life, you had spent the evenings playfully fighting with your older brother as your mom yelled for you to sit your asses down and eat. Now, you sat at the table and shoved your food around the plate, feeling like an only child. Seungcheol knew this, and had opened the invitation - whenever you had a hard week, you were welcome, no questions asked. As long as there was a confirmation before you got on the bus, he would happily meet you at the bus stop and buy your favorite ramen and ice cream at the convenience store on the walk back to his place.

Now, though, you went just to hang out. His roommates were fantastic, a group of music-making friends Seungcheol had made in his course, not to mention the rotating cast of friends that would show up unannounced or to work on music. They were somehow just like him, yet simultaneously so different. You felt the same older brother vibe from Jeonghan that you did your actual brother. He took care of you, tossing you a tangerine when you were starting to get hangry, or sneakily adding your favorite songs to the music queue when you were pouting about something you didn't want to talk about. He lounged on the couch with a look on his face that made you wonder if his eyes ever opened fully, yet he noticed everything. Sometimes, when you were mad at Seungcheol for indescribable sibling reasons, Jeonghan would shoot you a message on kakao, and you would jokingly tell him he was better than your real brother. He always scolded you for thinking so, but it was his own fault for being so understanding.

Soonyoung and Seungcheol had the same way of expressing their passion, diving head first and only coming up for air when they were done. You had watched Soonyoung shove the small table in their apartment against the wall so that he could use the giant mirror leaning against the wall to bang out a detail in his choreographies more than once, and you recognized the look on his face as the one Cheol had as he wrote. He made you laugh the most often, always sacrificing his image to commit to a joke. The way he could transform from a striking performer into a grandma at a moments notice was maybe one of your favorite things anyone has ever done, but you refused to give him the ego boost by telling him, even if your uncontrollable laughter gave you away anyways.

And then there was Jihoon.

Jihoon was quiet and thoughtful, like your brother. He seemed to do better assessing the situation completely before inserting his opinion, which was always well considered and well explained. He leaned back in his roller chair, hand on his chin as he listened to the opinions of his room and bandmates, then somehow managed to have a suggestion that solved all their disagreements. He dressed comfortably at all times, but the clothes suited him well. You cursed him for being able to look put together while wearing sweats and sandals, all his platinum blonde hair tucked into a hat. At first, you wondered if he didn’t like you, considering how close you had gotten to the other two, but when you asked Seungcheol what his deal was, he just told you he’s shy around new people. That didn’t stop you from crushing on him. Hard.

More than once, he had looked over at you, catching your starry eyed gaze while he was working on a beat. You would always blush and look away, mortified by being caught practically drooling, but you noticed that when you stole another look, he was blushing too.

Seungcheol always grilled you about the boys at school. He always made you promise that you wouldn’t go on any dates with any of them before getting his approval, and you sighed and agreed, thinking specifically about how he had said “high school boys aren’t worth your time.”

Jihoon had been around for a couple of these conversations, and while he always stayed seated, facing his computer and away from you, you could see his fingers falter over the keyboard, his creative function pausing as he heard you insist to your brother that none of the guys at your school interested you.

One weekend, you were cramming for an exam, seated on the floor and laid out on the table at the apartment. Around 2 in the morning, Seungcheol told you to not stay up too late, told Jihoon that if he kept you up he would end up dead, then retired to his bedroom. You had yawned once in the half hour since then, and Jihoon immediately spun around in his chair, tearing off his headphones.

“I should let you sleep,” he said, saving his files. 

“No, no,” you insisted. “I’m gonna be up for at least another hour, don’t stop working for my sake.”

Jihoon pursed his lips, a habit you had noticed in the time you had known him. He nodded, acknowledging that he trusted your judgement and that he could keep working as he spun around slowly to resume. You watched his profile a moment, noticing the way his eyes scanned his screen while he was frozen, seemingly lost in his own brain versus processing what he was viewing.

“Can I hear what you’re working on?”

He blinked at you hard. “Hah?”

You giggled, trying to keep quiet, knowing his roommates were all asleep. “Can I listen? It might give me strength to keep studying.”

“I-I, uh-” Jihoon stuttered for a moment, clicking around on his screen. “Y-yeah, one second-”

Your lips pursed to hide the creeping smile on your face. Seungcheol had told you ages ago that Jihoon never went on dates. You had slept over at the apartment when Soonyoung had come home late after nights out, or Jeonghan not returning until morning. You had even stayed home a few weekends for the express reason of letting your brother go on dates without worrying about you being at his place alone. Jihoon, though. He was always home, either sleeping or working. You wondered if he even went to class. It was hard to imagine him anywhere but his desk in the living room.

You crawled over to the desk from you spot on the floor, and Jihoon stood up as you got near, gesturing for you to take his seat. As you sat, he handed you his headphones and kneeled, hand on his mouse as you put them on. He looked at you briefly to make sure they were on the right way, then hit the spacebar on his keyboard.

As the beat started, you immediately smiled and let out a small “ooh,” turning to Jihoon as he tried to look anywhere but at you. Your head bobbed as you listened to the cheerful beat. “I love it. What melody are you thinking?”

He cocked his head. “I haven’t gotten that far. Cheol already wrote a few bars, so I made it for that mostly, but I don’t have a hook yet.”

You nodded, humming a quiet accompanying melody absentmindedly.

“Oh,” Jihoon said, suddenly looking at you. “That’s good? That was really good. Hang on.” He paused the playback and grabbed the microphone, and you watched in shock. “Can you do that again?”

“I-I, me?” You gulped. “I’m not a singer, you should do it.”

“You came up with it, how am I supposed to know it?” He asked, clicking around quickly. You leaned back in the seat as his arms reached across you to access the keyboard better. “You should record it, quick, before you lose it.”

You stared at the microphone he put in your hand as he went back in the song to where you ad-libbed, still slightly shocked at the difference in Jihoon’s personality when he started entering producer mode.

“Ready? Just do it naturally. Whatever feels right.”

You looked at him, nodding. The music resumed in your ears, and you sang the melody you had hummed into the microphone with no real lyrics. When you finished what came to you, you pulled the microphone away from you, giggling suddenly. “This is so embarrassing.”

“Why, why?” Jihoon took the mic from you and smiled, after saving the recording. “You sounded good! The Choi siblings are talented.”

“No,” you groaned. “Seungcheol got all the musical talent.”

“Yah,” he furrowed his brow at you. “Are you saying I’m not a good judge?”

You laughed again. “No, no, I’m not!”

“It sounds like you think I don’t know a good voice when I hear it.”

“Stop!”

“Then admit you sounded good!”

You pouted at him, and he laughed. Your frown broke slightly, only to end in you giggling as he looked back at his screen, adjusting a couple things. You wanted to watch what he was doing, but you were lost in his profile. He gave you a sideways glance quickly, then again when he realized you were staring.

“What?”

You shook your head, but didn’t stop looking at him. “Nothing.”

This was the closest you had ever been to Jihoon, sitting in his chair with him beside you, and your heart felt like exploding just by the way he was looking at you.

Then you heard a door.

Jihoon stood suddenly, instinctively clearing his throat and focusing on the screen as you spun in the chair to see Jeonghan emerging from their shared bedroom.

He paused outside of the door, staring at the two of you, processing the scene he had just walked into. “What’s all this?”

You blinked, and Jihoon cleared his throat again.

Jeonghan sighed, grabbing his jacket off the back of the couch. “You guys are too obvious.”

“Where are you going?” You asked suddenly, remembering the hour.

He eyed you, knowing what you were thinking. “Nothing like that. My girlfriend just accidentally played Animal Crossing for ten hours straight and has an exam in six hours. I’m taking her to a cafe.”

You nodded slowly, remembering the girl you had met a few weeks before, then wondered what class has an exam at 9 on a Saturday. “Stay safe.”

“I should be saying that to you.”

“Hey,” Jihoon said, feeling accused. “What’s that mean?”

Jeonghan laughed as he grabbed his wallet and keys, shoving them into the pockets of his denim jacket. “You do know that Seungcheol will literally kill you if you make a move on his baby, right?”

You bit your cheek. Jihoon stuttered behind you.

“I’ll keep your secret,” he said, shoving his feet into a pair of vans. “But if you guys are this obvious in front of him, don’t blame me when he finds out.”

It had been a month since Jeonghan had called you both out for having feelings for each other. A month since Jihoon shyly admitted that he had liked you for a while, but hadn’t expected you to feel anything for him. A month since you, a blushing mess, said that you had a crush on him the second you met him. A month since he gently put a hand on your jaw and kissed you.

A month since you started avoiding your brother’s questions about boys. And he was starting to get annoyed.

“None, Y/N? Really? No guys?”

You rolled your eyes, pausing your note taking. “No, bro. Boys at my school are stupid.”

“What about outside of school?”

This was the first time Seungcheol had suggested that you might know people outside of your class, and your panic must have shown on your face by the way Jihoon snorted from behind Cheol. He spun around and looked at the younger. “What? Is it crazy to think that Y/N might know people outside of school?”

“No,” Jihoon said, straight faced. “I just don’t get why you’re so insistent on them having a boyfriend when you wouldn’t approve of any of them anyways.”

You chewed the inside of your cheek, refocusing on your textbook. “Can you guys shut up, I have a quiz on Monday.”

“You have all weekend,” Cheol said, grabbing your notebook as you protested. “Whats up, my precious little sibling. Why aren’t you dating? You’re graduating this year.”

“Because I have an oedipus complex and no one compares to my brother,” you said, trying to snatch your notebook back as Jihoon broke out into a laugh. “Can you leave me alone for one weekend?”

“If you want me to leave me alone you shouldn’t come to my apartment.”

You didn’t tell him you only came because you wanted to see your secret boyfriend, who just so happened to be his roommate.

Jihoon was good to you, you thought. If he woke up early enough, he would facetime with you during your lunch period at school while he walked to his first class, bleary eyed and swollen from sleep. You shoved your classmates away as they teased you for your older man and he would just laugh, rubbing his eyes in the afternoon sun. He’d send you pictures of random things all day, sometimes in class, or in the library. A book cover he thought you would like the design of. The way the clouds looked in the sunset when he was walking back to the apartment. You often got selfies of him pretending to be asleep during lectures. You would send pictures back of your sneakers while you walked home from school, or selfies you took with the mirror in your room. Every other afternoon, he would facetime you again after Seungcheol left for his afternoon class, and you would study while he messed around on his computer, letting you listen to his music making process.

Then, Friday afternoons, you would skip up the stairs to your family apartment and rush to pack an overnight bag, telling your mom you were headed to Seungcheol’s. She would tease you for spending more time there than at home, but was secretly glad that her kids were staying close. On the bus, you would switch your wallpaper back to an edit with lyrics to some Jonas Brothers song from the picture that Jihoon had sent you earlier that week. You texted both Jihoon and your brother, separately, letting them know you were on your way.

Your phone rang in your hand suddenly while you were watching Jihoon type on the other side of the conversation. Seungcheol. 

“Hello?”

“Hey, kiddo! Something came up and I can’t get you at the bus stop.”

You paused. “Okay?”

“So wait until later.”

You paused again, looking around the bus you were seated in. “No?”

“What do you mean, no?”

“Seungcheol, I’m not a little kid. I know where you live. Besides, I’m already on the bus.”

You rolled your eyes when you heard him groaning. “You’re so annoying. Okay, hang on.”

“You’re the one being annoying, bro-” you were cut off by the sound of a door opening and Cheol yelling a sustained “YAH!”

“Can you go get this stupid kid at the bus stop? By the 7eleven?”

“Bro, I’m not a stupid kid-”

“Okay I’m back. Jihoon says he’ll come meet you.”

You paused. “Fine.”

“Ah, you’re fine if it’s Jihoon but not me. I see how it is.”

You laughed. “What do you mean?”

“This kid,” he muttered teasingly. “Doesn’t even care that their big brother just wants to take care of them. Prefers the other brothers. I get it. I’m not hurt.”

“Shut up,” you laughed. “I’ll see you later?”

“Yeah whatever. Love you!”

“Love you, too.”

Then you sat, vibrating, on a bus for forty-five minutes. 

You stood by the back door as the bus stopped in front of the 7eleven, grinning when you saw Jihoon leaning against the wall, waving at you through the bus window. You hopped off and excitedly skipped towards him, making him laugh as he pushed off the wall.

“Hi,” you said, grinning.

“Hi,” he said back, quickly leaning into you for a kiss.

You really cherished the moments you could act how you wanted with Jihoon. You knew that if you let yourself get soft and sappy with Seungcheol around, it would be a dead giveaway, so you kept your normal attitude at the apartment. But, what you wanted to do was hook your arm into Jihoons, plant a kiss on his cheek, and happily tell him about your week as you walked. So that’s what you did.

Despite the fact that you had talked over facetime the day before, you still found something to tell him about, making him laugh when you imitated one of your classmates. He told you that he started a new song the night before, and you begged him to let you listen to it when you got home, but he said you had to wait until it was done.

Your fingers fit well between his, you thought, when he suddenly asked if you were hungry.

“Kinda,” you said, looking over to him. “You?”

He nodded, looking down the street at what was around. “I haven’t eaten yet today. Do you wanna go to the snack bar?”

You grinned, giving him a look. “Lee Jihoon, are you asking me out?”

He laughed, tugging your hand with his. “Shut up. Let’s go.”

You decided to let it slide that it was almost four in the afternoon and he hadn’t eaten yet, giggling as you got pulled down the street. You had always liked Jihoon, obviously, but you especially liked the Jihoon you had gotten to know. The one that was relaxed and laughed at every chance he got, rather than the shy and hesitant Jihoon you had met. Now that he wasn’t trying to hide his feelings from you, he had become a cooler, calmer version of himself when you were around, not just when he forgot you were sitting on the couch while him and the guys worked on a song. 

When you entered the snack bar that your group frequented often, you realized you had never eaten anywhere alone with Jihoon, much less there. It was starting to kind of feel like a real date, you thought, as he led you to a small table, looking over the menu when he sat despite probably having it memorized. You quickly got up and retrieved a pitcher of water for you both, asking him what sounded good.

“Everything,” he said, leaning back and stretching his shoulders. “What do you want? My treat.”

You bit your cheek, looking at the menu, despite also having it memorized. It really was starting to feel like a date. “Rabokki?”

“Oooh, I like it. With cheese?”

You scoffed, pouring the water for both of you. “Always with cheese.”

He laughed as he pulled the cap off a felt tip pen to mark out your order. “Do we want the fried rice at the end, too?”

“Wah,” you said, eyes wide. “I haven’t had that in so long. Are you hungry enough?”

He looked at you. “Are you being serious?”

You giggled, letting your hand find his free one beside the inset grill, fingers slipping between his. “Order it, then.”

He inhaled sharply, cocking his head at the menu. “Should we also get kimbap?”

“Jihoon, there’s only two of us.”

“And?”

He played around with the idea for a bit longer, making you laugh, but he decided against it so that he could justify ordering chicken for dinner. After the older woman that ran the place took the marked menu from Jihoon, he stared at you for a minute, then smiled.

You pouted, suddenly shy under his gaze. “What?”

“You’re really cute.”

You pulled your hand away from his and leaned back in your chair, crossing your arms. “Shut up.”

He laughed, leaning forward to pull your hand back. “Hey, hey! That’s mine. You can’t take it.”

“My hand?”

“No, mine.”

You held it up. “This one? The one attached to me?”

“Yeah, it’s mine. Give it back.”

You wished you didn’t blush so hard as you pouted and muttered a “fine,” letting him take it back and rest it on the table again. 

Then there was thunk on the window, making you both jump and look over, along with the few other patrons. Your eyes got big as your big brother pointed at you, a balled fist against the glass.

“Yah!” His voice was muted from through the glass, but his tone was obvious. You looked at Jihoon, then at your hands, and you both pulled away as soon as you realized, but it was way too late. You groaned and collapsed onto the table as Seungcheol marched to the entrance and entered the snack bar.

“What the hell! You didn’t tell me?”

Jihoon stood up, but stuttered. “H-hey, calm down, bro-”

“Y/N.”

You didn’t lift your head. “What.”

“Look at me.”

“No.”

“I’m sorry,” Jihoon interjected. “I asked them to not let you know. It’s my fault.”

“What?” Seungcheol stared at him. “Why? Why would you think I wouldn’t want to know about this?”

“Because you would have said I wasn’t good enough, and you’re right.”

That made you pop your head up, squinting at Jihoon. “What? No. That’s not true.”

“How can you judge?” Seungcheol asked, nodding at you. “You don’t have experience with guys. You barely even know him.”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes. “Oh my God, Seungcheol, I’ve known Jihoon for almost a year now. I probably know him better than you do. And I don’t need you telling me who’s worthy of my time.”

Seungcheol pouted at you, his brows giving away that he was more hurt than angry. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

You paused. “Are you serious?”

He exhaled, sitting in the extra chair at your table, completely ignoring the group of people he had been walking with that were now just standing outside of the restaurant. “How long?”

You eyed Jihoon, who quietly sat across from you. “About a month.”

Seungcheol clicked his tongue, as he looked around, concealing a curse and clearly annoyed that he hadn’t figured out sooner. “How serious?”

“I really like Y/N,” Jihoon said, pulling both of your attention. He adjusted his baseball cap, another habit of his you had noticed. “A lot. I would like it to be serious.”

You pursed your lips, trying to hide a smile. “Me too.”

“God, I hate this,” Seungcheol said, rubbing his face. “This sucks so much.”

You shoved his shoulder. “Why, why?”

“Because I want to beat up your boyfriend but I don’t want to beat up my producer.”

“Nice,” Jihoon deadpanned, looking at you with a raised fist in victory. “We found a loophole.”

You couldn’t help but laugh as Seungcheol groaned, pulling himself out of the chair. “Are you paying? You better be paying.”

Jihoon laughed, hands up in surrender. “I’m paying, I promise.”

“He already offered, Seungcheol, seriously. God, you’re so annoying.”

“I can’t believe I’m leaving you two here.”

“Are you?” You asked. “Because it seems a lot like you’re still here.”

“Oh, nice,” Jihoon raised a hand and you laughed as you high fived him. 

“I’ll kill you both if given the opportunity, I swear,” Seungcheol said, walking towards the door. “Take me seriously.”

“Of course, big brother! I love you!”

Jihoon made a heart with his arms and you held your face, trying to not snort at the way Seungcheol pointed and looked at him. 

“God, this sucks,” he repeated before opening the door, sounding completely defeated. "Oh my God the song you were writing yesterday-”

Jihoon cleared his throat. "Hey, bro, shut up."

You eyed Jihoon and he shook his head. Seungcheol leaned against the doorframe in anguish, still complaining about how much he hated the situation. You waved to him as he rejoined his friends, all of them slapping his back as he huffed. You exhaled deeply and looked at Jihoon. “Well, that went better than expected.”

He exhaled, nodding, rubbing his hands on his thighs. “I think I saw my life flash before my eyes.”

You giggled a moment, then paused. “Were you serious earlier?”

Jihoon looked at you, wide eyed. “About what?”

“That you don’t think you’re good enough.”

His tongue clicked and he inhaled, fidgeting with his hands. “I- yeah. Kinda?”

“Why?”

He shook his head. “I just don’t get you.”

You frowned. “What?”

“I don’t get how-” he paused, clearing his throat and straightening his spine. “I don’t understand it. You’re so funny and cute and smart, I’m sure people are asking you out at school all the time. Wouldn’t it be easier to have a boyfriend you could actually spend time with?”

“We do spend time together,” you said, thinking of all the video calls and the weekends hanging out.

“Not really,” Jihoon said. “Not like a couple.”

You faltered. “You mean like going out?”

He pursed his lips, clearly not sure how to express what was going on in his head with you pushing for an answer. “I guess? Don’t you think you should see your boyfriend more?”

“Yeah, of course,” you said, trying to get him to look at you again. “But only because you’re my boyfriend. I like you, Jihoon. I don’t wanna be with anyone else.”

He sniffed suddenly, a smile breaking through. He raised his eyebrows a bit, and you almost laughed at his playful look. “You don’t wanna be with anyone else?”

You giggled. “No. Only you.”

“Wow,” he said, putting his hands on the table. “No one, huh?”

“Shut up,” you said, recognizing his jokingly cocky tone.

“Wow, this feels good, huh?” He grinned, committing to the bit by speaking in dialect. “I like this feeling. Turns out, happiness isn’t just a word.”

Your eyes closed as you laughed. “You’re acting so weird, stop.”

He laughed with you while your pot arrived and the server turned on the burner. Jihoon immediately began breaking up the ramen, smiling sideways while you watched him.

“What?” He asked finally, wondering why you stared at him instead of the food.

You smiled. “I like you.”

He exhaled with a smile. “I like you, too.”

[bangtanoneshotsx]

Sacrifices part 2-J-Hope

Part one

You gave a warm smile as your daughter giggled, trying to bring her small foot to her mouth. Giving up, she dropped her foot before looking up at you, a small smile on her face. You giggled, bringing your hand down so she could grasp your finger. She was four months old, which meant you left Hoseok just over a year ago. You had heard from the boys, begging you to give him a reason he would accept. But the thing was, you couldn’t do that. You knew if given the chance, he would help raise your child, he would drop anything to be a great father to her. But you didn’t want him to, you didn’t want him to have to give up everything he had worked so hard for. He might hate you for it, but you thought you were doing the best for him.

“You’re going to see Grandma, aren’t you?” You spoke quietly, in a high pitched voice, watching as your daughter listened curiously before babbling, almost in a response. You kept your focus on your daughter as you pushed the stroller down the street, eventually coming to a set of traffic lights. Your hair fell down, acting as curtains as you bent over the stroller, fixing your daughter’s sunhat. This meant you didn’t see the man who waited at the other side of the road, his head bent down, looking at his phone. The long blonde haired male looked up to the sound of crying, his heart skipping a beat as he recognised your figure, a stroller in front of you.

“It’s okay, you’re okay.” You whispered, trying to comfort your daughter, your heart racing slightly as you couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

“Y/N?” You heard someone shout. Looking up, your body froze as you noticed him. Cursing under your breath, you tried to locate escape routes before being stopped by a loud beep, the green man appearing. You seemed frozen to the street corner as Taehyung got closer to you, a boxy grin on his face.

“Y/N! How are you?” He was almost like an excitable puppy as he greeted you, bringing his arm around you in a small hug.

“Taehyung.” You spoke quietly, waiting for the inevitable, when he would mention the small human with you.

“How have you been?” He asked, curiosity filled his eyes, instead of the hurt and disappointment you were expecting. Sighing, you responded, noticing your daughter was studying Taehyung, a confused look on her face.

“I’ve been okay Tae.” Taking a deep breath you decided you had to know.

“How are you and the boys? How is he?” Taehyung sucked in a breath, his eyebrows furrowing.

“Y/N. Hoseok was heart broken. I didn’t know you were trying to say goodbye to me outside the restaurant, I would have stopped you if I knew. Hoseok loved you Y/N, what happened?” Taehyung’s voice had grown smaller as he tilted his head in wonder, waiting for your answer. Realising you weren’t going to give one, he turned his attention to your daughter.

“And who’s this?” Taehyung asked in a high pitched tone, his grin returning as he gave your daughter a finger to hold, giving a small chuckle as her small hand took it slowly, her hand almost disappearing in Taehyung’s. “It’s strange, she looks a lot like Hoseok when he was a baby.” Taehyung mentioned absentmindedly before he froze, his hand dropping your daughter’s. Standing up straight, he turned to face you.

“Y/N.” He whispered. “Please don’t tell me it’s what I think it is.” You sighed, lowering your head, staring at the ground. “Y/N please.” He whimpered. This was exactly what you were frightened of. He wouldn’t accept your daughter. He would say she’s a burden to him, you couldn’t have that. You wouldn’t allow your daughter to go through that.

“Please don’t tell him.” You begged, desperation evident in your voice. “Please Taehyung, I kept her away from him for a reason.”

“And what reason is that Y/N? He deserves to know he has a daughter!” You gave a sniffle as you felt tears start to build up.

“I know, I just don’t want to go through the pain of him denying her. He can’t have a child just now Tae, you should know that. How many hours of sleep is he getting just now? I know you know that would be cut in half with a young baby.”

“He wouldn’t care! Y/N he loves you, he dreams of a family with you! Sure it’s earlier than expected but he wouldn’t care. He just wants you back, he wants you with him.”

“Taehyung I don’t know if I can.” You took another look at your daughter who was slowly falling asleep. Hearing Taehyung give a sigh, you look to the second youngest once more. “Do you really think he’ll be happy?” Taehyung let himself give a small grin, the possibility of you accepting becoming more real. Eagerly, he nodded, a boxy grin appearing as you accepted.

“But on one condition. We meet on mutual ground, I don’t want to go to the dorms with her just now. I need to take this slow.” Taehyung nodded, saying he understood before walking ahead of you in the direction of the park, his phone to his ear as he eagerly called the rapper.

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

Hoseok gave a groan of frustration as he crumpled another sheet of paper throwing it onto the pile in the bin by his desk. Running a hand through his hair, he gave a tired sigh, allowing his eyes to fall on the framed picture of the two of you. His big grin as you surprised him with a kiss on the cheek. He gave a chuckle as he remembered that if you looked closely you could see a blur of Jin running after Jungkook. Hoseok closed his eyes briefly, only to open them again when his phone rang, creating a soft buzz on the wooden desk. Reaching under the pile of paper his phone was hidden under, Hoseok frowned when he noticed Taehyung’s name. He was in the dorm so why was he calling?

“Taehyung?” Hoseok listened as the younger let out a shaky breath, trying to think of the right words.

“Hoseok I need you to meet me at the park near Namjoon’s favourite restaurant.” Furrowing his eyebrows, Hoseok’s attention was brought to his computer, an email lighting up the screen.

“What’s wrong?” The elder could sense panic in Taehyung’s voice as he gave the unusual request. Taehyung gave a gulp, turning back to face you, a small smile of reassurance, as he tried to persuade the elder to meet you both.

“You just need to get here hyung. Hurry.” Quickly, Hoseok hung up, grabbing his jacket before racing out the studio.

Taehyung hung up the phone before turning to face you, a small, shaky grin on his face.

“He’ll be here soon.” You gave a small nod as you sat on a bench, bringing the stroller in front of you, watching your daughter as she slept, her thumb in her mouth. You sighed, looking to the young singer.

“It’ll be okay, won’t it?” Taehyung nodded, though unsure himself.

“I’ll be here to back you up. Don’t worry Y/N, he��ll be happy to see you.” You gave a hum before relaxing into the bench, keeping one hand on the stroller.

Ten minutes went by and you were growing restless with no sign of the rapper. Opening your mouth you turned to face Taehyung, only to be interrupted by a shout.

“Y/N?!” You turned to face the entrance to the park, finding a black haired male frozen in his tracks. Gulping, you let Taehyung take the lead, shouting ‘hyung’ before beckoning him over. Slowly, Hoseok approached, he had been too caught up with seeing you for the first time since you left him, he didn’t see the black stroller in front of you. Hoseok finally stopped in front of you, his mouth still gaped open.

“Hyung.” Taehyung spoke, breaking the silence that hung over the three of you. Before Hoseok could respond, your daughter slowly woke up, releasing a small yawn as she stretched, drawing Hoseok’s attention to the stroller. His eyes widened and his eyebrows rose as he took in the baby who’s brown eyes were now curiously staring back at him.

“She’s called Y/D/N.” You spoke softly, trying to avoid looking at him, instead focusing on your daughter. Hoseok’s breath hitched as he repeated her name under his breath, his mind racing.

“Is she?” He asked, looking to you, trying not to get his hopes up. You nodded, looking up at him.

“Yeah, she’s yours.” Hoseok let out a high pitched sob as he stumbled backwards, clutching onto the back of the bench. “I know it isn’t what you wanted, and you’re at the top of your career, and I didn’t tell you. But she is yours, and I know you both have the right to know each other. I’m not expecting us to be back together, I just think you should know her.” You rambled on, fueled by fear from Hoseok’s reaction. Taehyung moved, standing up from the bench.

“I’ll leave you guys to talk, I’ll be nearby if you need me.” You gave a small nod, thanking him. Silence followed as you both tried to find the right words.

“Is she why you left me?” Hoseok timidly asked, keeping his eye on the stroller as he replaced Taehyung on the bench.

“Yeah.” You whispered back, letting out a small sigh. “I’m sorry I ran, but I was scared, scared you wouldn’t want us and scared it would mess up your career too much. I couldn’t let myself destroy something you had worked so hard for.” You could feel a tear roll down your cheek as the fear of rejection loomed over you.

“Can I hold her?” He asked, ignoring your apology. Letting out a small ‘sure’ you took your daughter from her stroller, giving her to Hoseok. Carefully, Hoseok took his daughter from you, placing her on his lap, a big grin on his face as she reached out, fascinated with the buttons on his shirt.

“You should’ve told me.” He spoke, taking his eyes off of his daughter to look at you. Gulping you whispered,

“I know.”

“I wouldn’t abandon you Y/N. I thought you would know that. I’ve always wanted to have a family with you, sure it’s unexpected but it doesn’t mean I love the idea any less.”

“What about your career? BTS?” Hoseok sighed, moving his hand so it gave more support to his daughter.

“I love BTS, and I love what I do. But I’d do anything for my family, BTS will eventually stop, but my family will always be there, I need to put you first.” Hoseok took inn a deep breath before asking a question both of you were dreading.

“Could we ever get back together?”

“I think so Hoseok. But, just now can we focus on Y/D/N, take things slow. I need to get used to the idea of you being here for her, I can’t focus on a relationship just now.” Hoseok nodded, a small smile on his lips, unsure if he just got rejected. A proud grin covered his face as he thought of an idea.

“Let’s take her to the dorms!”

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

“I told you it was too cold to go to the beach.” You laughed as Hoseok wrapped his coat tighter around him. A small breath left him, creating mist in the air.

“Nonsense. I want to show my daughter the beach before winter sets in.” You rolled your eyes before looking at your daughter who stumbled to you, a small sea shell in her grasp. She was just learning to walk, an achievement that was celebrated by Hoseok with shouts and a lot of videos to the boys, family and Twitter. She waddled over to her father, gifting him the shell, which he received happily, before going to find some more. She was the spitting image of Hoseok. Both wore a black trench coat, black boots and a beanie to match. Hoseok leant back, using his arms to support him as he watched you interact with your daughter, talking about different sea creatures. He watched as your daughter sat on your lap, a smile on her face as she looked up at you.

Reaching into his pocket, Hoseok felt the velvet box, his heart starting to race, his mouth drying up. Slowly, he took out the box, opening it to reveal a glistening diamond ring.

“Y/N.” He spoke, his voice croaky. You looked back towards him, your smile quickly turning into a gasp.

“Will you marry me?”

[likeshipsonthesea]

for the friends prompt: the one where [ross] can’t flirt

Thank you so much for this prompt! To those who don’t know, it’s from this thing I reblogged. Sorry for the wait, but I had a little trouble finding inspiration for this one. I wrote like two thirds of a version of this and decided I didn’t like it (idk maybe I’ll finish it one day) so I went in a whole different direction, but I think I like how it turned out. It’s a bit of a weird interpretation of the prompt but I think it works. So, without further ado, I give you

The One Where Dex Can’t Flirt

           It startswith some shelves.

           The roomin the Haus (Shitty’s, Lardo’s theirs, whatever) isn’t actually that big.There’s a reason why only one person has been living in it. They get some tipsfrom Ollie and Wicks about maximizing space, they bring in some dressers fortheir clothes, buy a whole bunch of those containers that slip under beds forextra space, but still. They both have textbooks, their own wardrobes, hockeyequipment. They manage to fit it all somewhere but they wind up with no spacefor Nursey’s books.

           “It’sfine, dude,” Nursey says, as he repacks the box he brought his books in. “I’llput them downstairs somewhere, it’s no biggie.” It does irk him a little,though, because he likes having his books close. Some of them are old, giftsfrom his parents with little inscriptions wishing him a happy birthday. Othersare well-worn from rereading, familiar stories he likes to have around wheneverthings get heavy. Some are new and have yet to be read and probably won’t beread unless they sit in Nursey’s face constantly and yell at him to do so.

           Nurseylikes having books around. The simple presence of them comforts him. He likesto be able to look over and see a lifetime of stories that he’s gotten to liveand settle in the knowledge that he’s got them to go back to whenever he needsit.

           Butthere’s no space in their new room and he isn’t going to make a fuss,especially since he’s actively trying not to fight with Dex this year. So hepacks up his books and keeps them in one of the downstairs closets and moveson.

           A weekpasses. Nursey comes back from class a little disgruntled, half because hedoesn’t like his new professor, half because it’s raining and he tripped andfell in a puddle on his way back to the Haus. Bitty isn’t in the kitchen, butthere’s a plate of cookies sitting on the counter, so Nursey snags two andheads for the stairs. He tries to remove his shoes while walking there, and thecoordination it takes to hop while removing a shoe and eating a cookie is notsomething Nursey possesses, so he ends up face planting into the couch. Heloses his cookie in a crease between the cushions and now his nose hurts tooand it is just turning out to be a monumentally shit day.

           He walksup the stairs with only one shoe on and waits until he’s pushing open the doorto his room to try and get to other off and he’s mid-hop when he notices Dex,wearing a deer-frozen-in-the-headlights look on his face, transferring booksfrom a box to a newly installed shelf.

           “Wha,”Nursey says around the cookie in his mouth.

           Dexflushes straight down to his shirt collar and starts stammering. “I—you lookedsad about the—I put up some shelves for more space and—so I thought that, um.”He winces slightly. “There’s room for your books?” It goes up at the end like aquestion. Dex is turning redder by the second.

           “You putup shelves,” Nursey says, swallowing his cookie. “For my books.” He’s a smartguy, really, but something about this is not computing. Dex put up shelves soNursey would have room for his books because Dex noticed that Nursey was sadbecause he couldn’t have his books in their room. What the fuck.

           “Not justfor your books,” Dex says, defensive. He shakes the book still in his handnervously. It’s a copy of The HappyPrince and Other Tales that Nursey’s had since he was a kid. It was apresent from his mama when he was a baby. It’s old and worn and Nursey halfwants to warn Dex to be careful with it, but he doesn’t seem to be damaging itat all. If anything, his touch is gentle and cautious and what the fuck is going on. “I can put things on the shelves too.”

           Nursey hasthis reflex thing where, when Dex is defensive, he immediately has to pokefurther. He smirks. “Yeah, like what?” He doesn’t really know why he does it.

           Dexflushes even deeper and those cute wrinkles show up on forehead. Oh yeah,that’s why he does it. “Like—like—” Dex glances down at the desk next to himand grabs his pencil case. “Like this,” he says, and puts it on the shelf. Theyboth stare at it for a moment before Dex mutters a curse and takes it off.“Whatever,” he grumbles, staring at the floor like it killed his mother orsomething.

           A softspot in Nursey’s chest—one he doesn’t let out very often—pushes Nursey to letDex off. He lets his smirk soften into a smile. “Thanks, Dex,” he says, quiet.

           Dexglances up warily but when he sees that Nursey isn’t making fun of him heraises his head fully. “You’re welcome, or whatever,” he says, his eyes stillunwilling to meet Nursey’s.

           Nurseygrins and walks over, dropping his forgotten shoes on the floor near the door.“I’ll help you shelve them. You definitely didn’t put them in the right order.”

           “Rightorder?” Dex says, recovering from his embarrassment a little, his flushmellowing into a soft pink. “There’s no right order, they’re books.”

           “Of coursethere’s a right order,” Nursey says, and they fall back into bickering withease.

           When hegoes to sleep that night, Nursey smiles at his shelves before closing his eyes,and the deed doesn’t get forgotten, but he doesn’t think too much of it. Herefuses to be the kind of person who tries to interpret every little thing fromtheir crush as a sign of them returning the feelings. He can’t deal with theemotional rollercoaster that’d bring. So he loves quietly and provokes Dexwhenever he can and takes only what Dex gives him. It’s easier that way.

*~*~*

           Then comesthe food.

           Bitty ispretty busy this semester. He’s taking one more class than he’s used to, he’sgot his thesis to write, he’s dealing with the continued press from the kiss,he has his vlogs to record, he has the team to captain, and he talks to Jacknearly every night. He doesn’t exactly have a lot of time to bake—not for alack of trying, of course. A lot of the time they’ll wake up to find Bitty hasbeen up all night baking and they put him to bed, muttering about recipes andhockey plays.

           But thereis a significant drop in baked goods. Instead of there always being a pastry inthe Haus, it becomes a fifty-fifty chance one way or the other. Nursey doesn’tmind incredibly, as he can get the calories in other areas of his diet, but hedoes miss the sweets when he’s on a study binge, or has a particularly long,boring reading for class.

           The firsttime it happens, Nursey is struggling through a paper he detests and every wordjust fuels his hate. He takes frequent breaks that involve groaning and buryinghis head under the pillows on his bed. He’s halfway through when he can’t go onfor the life of him even though he knows it needs to be done tonight if he’sgoing to have time to revise it before it’s due but he can’t, okay? He knows it’s shit, he doesn’t want to hand it in, heknows he’s only going to disappoint his professor, and he can’t do it anymore, he—

           There’s aknock at the door, but Dex doesn’t wait for a response for entering. “Hey,” hesays, and it’s not tentative like Chowder and Tango’s greetings were, when theychecked up on him earlier. He and Dex don’t soften things for each other.

           “Hey,”Nursey says on a sigh, pushing his laptop away from him but not far enough thatit slips off the bed. Dex eyes it, prepared to catch it if Nursey does manageto drop it, but apparently deems it safe and comes over to the bed. It’s onlywhen he sits down on the edge of it that Nursey notices that he’s carrying aplate of cookies. “Are those for me?”

           “Yeah,”Dex says, pink dusting his cheeks. Nursey reaches for the cookies, smothering asemi-delirious thought about how fucking beautiful Dex’s blushes are.

           “‘Swawesome,thanks man.” He grabs three and shoves one in his mouth. He groans as thesweetness melts on his tongue. “Fuck, they’re good. Bitty back fromProvidence?”

           “Uh, no.”Dex coughs. “I made them.”

           Nurseygapes at him, which he knows is gross because he’s eating a cookie and his momwould scold him so hard, but holy shit.Dex made him cookies. And they’re fucking delicious. “What the fuck,” he says,and Dex just blushes more. “Dude! You’ve been holding out on me! These arefucking good.”

           Dexshrugs. “It’s my grandma’s recipe.”

           “Remind meto thank her next time I’m in Maine,” Nursey says. He visited Dex for theFourth of July this summer, and Dex came to his place early in August inreturn. “And when I say thank her, I mean reallythank her,” Nursey adds, just to hear Dex yell at him. Nursey smiles into hisbite as Dex settles back down.

           “How’s theessay going?” he asks, nodding his chin at the laptop that sits at the end ofNursey’s bed.

           “This hell-spawnof a paper is going to literally kill me,” Nursey says, sending it a dirtylook.

           Dex frownsat him. “Wanna take a break? We can watch an episode of B-99 if you want.”

           “No, Iprobably should—” Nursey looks at his laptop, the blinking black line next tothe last word he typed taunting him with every flicker. The thought of goingback to writing that fucking thing physically exhausts him. “Yeah, you know, Icould do with a break.”

           The set upan episode on Nursey’s laptop and watch it together, lying on Nursey’s bed. Afew minutes in, Dex shifts on the bed to get more comfortable and his shoulderpresses into Nursey’s. Nursey is suitably distracted by that one point ofcontact for another ten minutes and then he screws up his courage to scoot downon the bed and lean heavily onto Dex’s arm for a pillow. Dex simply moves hisarm to make it more comfortable and then presses his foot into Nursey’s.

           Nurseytakes it all greedily, trying to remember it for when Dex leaves. He eats hiscookies and pseudo-cuddles with Dex and by the time the episode is over and hehas to return to his essay, he feels calm, almost melty, relaxed. The essaystill sucks, but he’s got the phantom feeling of Dex all around him in the cozycocoon of Nursey’s bed, and that helps.

           It happensmore after that. Nursey will be working on something, schoolwork or his ownwriting, and Dex will just bring him treats. Sometimes it’s Bitty’s food, piesand cookies and even cupcakes one time, but other times Dex will bring himshortbread cookies that his grandfather used to make for every holiday, or sweetbread his aunt always baked for Dex’s birthday, or coffee cake that his parentswould make for barbecues that ended with flour fights in the kitchen andendless giggling.

           Dex willsit with him and tell Nursey the stories of his food, and they’ll eat ittogether, smiling over sweetness. Nursey tries to tell himself it doesn’t meananything—Dex is just being a good friend—but as time goes on, their littlebreaks start to feel more and more loaded. They start sharing stories fromtheir childhoods, breaking into well-worn insecurities and long-held fears,getting to know each other through quiet, stutter-stop sentences. Sometimesthey watch shows or movies, and they’ll cuddle without needing to communicateabout it, the tray of sweets between them. One time Nursey falls asleep and hewakes up to find Dex has been watching the credits of a movie just to keep frommoving and disturbing him.

           Nurseyknows how painful false hope can be, but with every bite of a pastry Dex madewith that careful attentive attitude of his, the hope tastes more and moresincere.

*~*~*

           Nurseyfinally realizes what’s going on when he comes home to find his room without afloor.

           The dayhas been pretty okay in Nursey’s standards, starting off with a delicious drinkfrom Annie’s that sustained him during his least favorite class. Then he hadstudy group with a bunch of chill people that understand Nursey’s feelingsabout literature in a way the guys can’t always emulate. Then it was nice andsunny when he walked back to the Haus and after all the chill recently it was awelcome change.

           He’splanning on chilling in his bed for an hour or two before dinner and thenworking on some homework, but when he gets up to their room, he literally can’twalk in. The floorboards near the door have been removed and now there’s just afoot and a half of empty space for Nursey to fall into and die.

           “What the fuck.” It’s not really addressed toanyone in particular, but the guilty looking ginger who’s sitting on a space offloor that isn’t gone seems to take it as directed at him.

           “Oh, uh. Ididn’t think you’d be home this early.”

           “Where is the floor?”

           “Um. Well.The old floorboards are kind of in the trash.”

           Nursey canfeel his eyes bugging out. “Why is the floor in the trash?”

           Dexflushes a deep pink and Nursey would typically take the time to appropriatelymoon over such a pretty color but his bedroom floor is gone and he’s a bitpreoccupied. “Uh. Okay. Um. You kept tripping over that raised floorboard bythe door so I thought I’d fix it but when I got it up I noticed it was warpedfrom water damage and a couple of the surrounding boards were too so I priedthem all up and bought some new planks to replace them but I only have ahandsaw so it’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would, but it’ll be donetonight I promise, I—”

           “Dex.”It’s weird to notice, because Dex doesn’t typically ramble—Nursey has neverseen him do it before—but Nursey realizes about four seconds in that that’sexactly what this is. Dex is rambling because Dex is nervous because Dex wastrying to do something to help make Nursey’s life easier and he didn’t wantNursey to know.

           Nursey’smind likes to make connections, okay, and the rule of three is ingrained in hismind. His thinks back to the shelves at the beginning of the year, the homemadepastries all through the past couple of months, the hundred other little thingsDex has done in the past few months to make Nursey’s life easier or make Nurseysmile or just be kind. Friends do that, of course, but they don’t and Nursey isn’t sure why Dex is doing this but it’smaking the hope in his chest swell to unmanageable proportions and he justneeds it to stop.

           “Why areyou doing this?” he asks, quiet and desperate and too honest, he knows. “Thefloor and the shelves and the cookies and—and just everything.”

           Dex openshis mouth but nothing comes out. He closes it and swallows visibly and looksaway. “Nursey, I…” He fidgets with the nail in his hand. “I’m—I’m sorry, Iwon’t—I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable. I just wanted you to behappy, I…”

           Nurseyisn’t reading this wrong, right? He hasto be interpreting this correctly. “Was all this you flirting?”

           Dex turnsthe deepest shade he has in his wheelhouse, a bright red that makes Nursey wantto sooth it back down to a pink. Dex says nothing but glares hard at the emptyspace where the floor used to be. It’s as much of an answer as Nursey needs.

           In a featof unimaginable acrobatics—especially for Nursey, the king of clumsy—Nurseyjumps from the doorway onto a space of actual floor, and throws himself down onthe ground in front of Dex. Dex stares at him, wide eyed and apprehensive, andNursey doesn’t hesitate before leaning in and kissing him. For a second or twohe’s terrified that he’s read it wrong when Dex doesn’t kiss back, but thenDex’s hands are fisted in Nursey’s sweater and he’s pulling Nursey closer andthey’re really actually kissing andholy fuck it’s better than even Nursey’s imagination had predicted.

           “Fuck,” hesays, pulling away for air, as the acrobatics kind of took it out of him. Hedoesn’t move too far away, instead choosing to watch as Dex flutters open hiseyes and they’re even more breathtaking up close. Nursey sighs. He can feel hisface spread into a wide grin and he doesn’t expect it to ever go away. “I can’tbelieve that was you flirting.”

           “Iwasn’t—” Dex’s protests die on his tongue when Nursey pushes forwards to shuthim up with another kiss. That is a lovely new, unforeseen perk to this wholething.

           “Youtotally were,” Nursey says, grinning, when he pulls back. “It was Mr. Darcylevel shit,” he says, brushing his thumbs over Dex’s cheeks to mellow hisblush. “Don’t get me wrong, I love that shit, but you definitely can’t flirtlike a normal person.”

           “Got meyou, didn’t it?” Dex grumbles, but his lips are twitching up at the corners.

           Nurseylaughs into Dex’s smile. “Oh, dude. You already had me.”

           This time,Dex is the one to initiate the kiss.

           (Spoilers;it’s fucking awesome.)