#my days at work went by faster if I had a pleasant interaction with someone

[longliveustherecklessandthebrave]

There’s a quote from a novel I read, where the main female lead has a distaste for small talk because she thinks if one should speak, one should say deeper things with deeper meanings, and her perspective changes when she’s talking to her soon to be father-in-law and he says:

“—most people need to be guided into a feeling of safety before they dare reveal their opinions to someone they’ve only just met. There’s a beginning to everything, after all. Every opera has its prelude, every sonnet its opening quatrain. Small talk is merely a way of helping a stranger to trust you, by first finding something you can both agree on.”

the allergy i am seeing grow up around small talk in any form is troubling to me. do you know how to make friends with people in your physical environment? it typically starts with small talk. do you want to live in community? small talk. do you want to have the type of relationship with your neighbors where you can run over and borrow a battery for your smoke detector when it starts beeping at 10pm? small talk!! do you want leeway from your coworkers when you fuck up something small? you gotta be able to build a relationship and that's small talk, baybeee.

"but i don't need friends and i don't care about community!" okay, lone ranger, what about the people in your community who need you? "but i have social anxiety!" me too, bud! we simply must soldier on. making up lists of questions to ask people helps. and people are predisposed to be generous, i've found. even if you make some kind of mistake, what is this but the natural give and take of human interaction? nobody is perfect.

you were not put on this earth to live by yourself and then die. you need people and people need you. treat those around you with curiosity and generousness of spirit and you will gain so much goodwill in return.

[wildestdreamsblog]

In wildest dreams, I never dreamed of this

Pairing: Soft!dark Ari Levinson x Reader

Summary: You were just trying to escape your past, and Ari was trying to chase his future.

Warnings: Soft!Dark Ari, Swearing, Possessiveness, Manipulative behavior, Sexual themes, If you’re not 18+ please, PLEASE, do not interact. Be mindful of the warnings. Let me know if I miss anything.

A/N: I am loving the slow burn romance in this series :( this was so different from my usual insta-love thing and I’m thoroughly enjoying their bickers. I hope you do, too! While likes are well appreciated, kindly also support your content creators by reblogging and/or leaving comments.

Masterlist

“She’s not here.”

“What do you mean she’s not there?”

“She’s gone. Your fiancé left. Her family doesn’t know where she is.”

“Go find her. And once you do, I will personally go there.”

If she thought she could escape decades old agreement, she couldn’t be any more wrong.

Your lungs were protesting so hard and if it could speak, it probably swore to you right now with the way you were pushing yourself to reach your three-mile goal. Your legs carried you rapidly, the sweat on your forehead slipping down to your cheeks, your muscles aching as you pushed yourself to run further. The wind was pleasant against your skin. Truly, the rural area was better in every aspect. Here, people were kinder. Here, time ran a little bit slower, making you appreciate everything more. Here, you could run faster without running away from someone.

But perhaps, you spoke a little too soon because when you slowed down, your hands on your now healed knees, as you tried to catch your breath, you heard him, the bane of your very existence.

“Little winded down there, sweetheart?” His words were pleasant, but god, they way he said them made all the dopamine you got from working out vanished with the wind.

Ari Levinson, his name was even annoying. The whole town talked about him for the past few days. They were so elated that he visited, that he was the most dependable man they knew. And that he was kind. How? How was he kind?

Your hair was in a pony tail and you could feel the end of it sticking to your skin from sweat. Your running shorts bared your knee to his inspection of your now healed injury, before he brought his tumbler of water to his lips, drinking leisurely. Meanwhile, you looked like you were dying from your run.

You wheezed as you brought your hand to your chest, trying to steady the elevated beating of your heart down to normal. “I hate you.”

“Why? I’m lovely.”

He was propped up on a mini-wall, seating comfortably with a cigarette on his one hand, the water and a too-expensive phone for this town resting beside his muscular thigh. He took a long drag of the offensive cigarette on his hand.

You glared at him, irritated that the peaceful night you were having was being destroyed by this insufferable man. You straightened your back, your breathing now more normal and it didn’t sound anymore that you were dying, you were poised to turn your back to him when the tumbler was thrusted to you.

“Water?”

You glanced up at him, squinting your eyes at him as you thought if you would rather suffer dehydration than accept his offer.

He smirked at your untrusting face, before grasping your tiny wrist, forcing you to stand nearer to his seated form. “Drink.” He ordered lowly, “You look like you’re dying.”

You couldn’t helped but notice how his large hand completely enveloped your wrist, his fingertips overlapping. You squinted your eyes to him for a moment, to which he just carelessly shrugged his broad shoulders. Only when you accepted his offer did he let go of your wrist. You turned away from him, tipping your head up as you drank, your parched throat thanking you. Your eyes went to the dark surrounding only illuminated by lamp posts, to the clear sky untainted by the pollution, to the stars that twinkled down at you. This was such a beautiful place. If heaven was real, you had always thought it would looked like this. There were flowers everywhere, no pollution, everywhere you looked was clean. This was a place untouched by the urbanization, of the commercialization. It was the perfect place to start anew.

Too bad, you could not stay here forever.

You discovered how therapeutic it was to run a few months ago when you were becoming antsy. Your anxiety was getting the better of you, and you couldn’t let it. When you ran, you felt… free. You felt like you could outrun everyone who was after you, you felt like you could escape the clutches that held you back. You started running after you closed your bakery, the silence of the night peaceful to you. If you were in the city, you would be scared to run at night. Not only were there limited places to run, but there were crimes everywhere. You hated to admit it, but it was unsafe for people, more so for women.

The world was crazy.

But this place was not, this place was like a slice of heaven.

You were so lost in thought that you didn’t notice the way Ari was looking at you. And the small smile he had in his lips.

You breathed the fresh air into your lungs, before turning to him, “Thanks,” you said before passing him his tumbler. He accepted it lazily, his cigarette held between his index and middle finger.

“You smoke?” You crinkled your nose at him, letting the judgement seeped into your eyes.

He smirked at you, before tilting his head, “You’re trespassing,” he announced calmly. He pointed at the sign you missed, ‘Property of Levinson. Do not enter.’.

“Noooo.” You exclaimed incredulously, your eyes wide before looking at the sign and then to him. “Dude seriously, do you own this town?”

He chuckled because he did, more or less. He just shrugged before hopping down. He started walking ahead of you. He was a few feet away when he looked back at you, “Come on. I’m walking you home.”

“Completely unnecessary.”

And then you walked faster than him, away from him and his properties.

You were out of his properties, but the sound of footsteps behind you made you sighed so deep, silently asking gods to gift you tremendous patience. You needed that when dealing with this man.

You turned to him, a smile on your lips as you oh-so calmly asked him if he was following you.

He looked on his sides, teasing you before pointing to himself. “Me? Following you?”

Your crossed arms on your chest was your only response. “Are you?”

Ari nodded his handsome head, “Yes.”

God, he wasn’t even denying it.

“Why?”

He looked around before walking closer to you, his shoulders so wide, his form so tall that you had to tilt your head up just to deliver your glare from hell to him. To which, he just shrugged.

“It’s dangerous to walk home alone this late at night.”

“It’s not.” It was true, no crimes ever happened here. For fuck’s sake, the policemen here were so bored that they started changing careers. This was a peaceful town, and maybe if he kept annoying you, the first crime would be what you would do to him. And maybe then, the police would have something to do. But alas, this town was too pure for you to taint just because of this annoying monkey.

“My mom raised a gentleman.”

No matter what you said that night, it fell on deaf ear as he walked you home, kept watched as you locked behind you, and only left when he was satisfied that you were safe.

What an annoying man.

You sat down in front of Molly, her face happier than the usual, her lips painted with red. You immediately agreed when she invited you out for lunch. The local restaurant was pleasant. It looked old, in the way that it looked taken care of. It was a place that saw the history of the town. Pictures of the people were affixed to the wall near the entrance, showcasing decades-old memories. Molly even pointed out her young self, together with her husband who passed away a few years ago. She was beautiful then and now. And she was laughing at the camera as he husband planted a kiss on her cheek. They looked so in love. You could not fathom the pain she felt when he left early. You turned to look at Molly. She looked nostalgic, as if she was transported to the time when she had him.

“You’re looking radiant, Molly,” you observed as the waiter left for your orders.

She smiled sweetly at you. “Oh dear, thank you,” she blushed profusely at you, “By the way, I’ve been meaning to ask, how are you getting along with Ari?”

“I’m sorry?”

“Oh it’s just that, our neighbor, Susan,” the gossip of the town, “saw you the other night with Ari.”’ Oh.

You had to think before you said anything. You needed to remember that Ari was like, per Molly, a son to her. She was fond of him. And in turn, he was fond of her. He treated her as if she was his grandmother, visiting her every couple of months. And on the months he couldn’t, he made sure to send her presents. You couldn’t very much tell her how much he annoyed you to the ends of the earth…right?

“He, uhh, walked me home that night.” You explained nonchalantly, your eyes roaming over the small restaurant, eagerly waiting for your food.

“He did?” She had this thoughtful look on her face as she processed what you said. “That’s weird. He usually doesn’t-Oh there he is!”

This must be why they told you not to say the devil’s name, because he shall appear.

You refused to look at him, you honestly thought you had enough of Ari for this month. You could not move an inch and not see him. Granted, this was a small town. But still.

Ari lighted up when he saw Molly from across the room. The months he spent here humanized him. It grounded him. If people outside this town saw him smiling, they would be terrified. They knew a smiling Ari Levinson was worse than a stoic one. And sometimes, he thought he was far too gone. But then he came home, and the town reminded him of his mother, of how warm she was, and of how kind and loving she was.

His eyes shifted to the woman sitting in front of Molly, the one plaguing his very waking thoughts. He could not pinpoint why he had this compulsion to be near you and annoy you, and frankly, he did not mind. He thought you were a splash of bright color on his dark world. You were something new, something interesting. Your reactions and aversion to him made him more interested on unearthing who you were.

After all, no one moves to this town. But you.

You were a mystery.

You felt Ari’s hand rested on the back of your seat, his masculine scent reaching your senses. He was so…manly. Despite how annoying he was being to you and only to you, as if his maddening and quite tiresome attitude was reserved to only you, it would be a blunder to not see his virile beauty. He was, for lack of better term, beautiful. Ari Levinson was a bewitching man. But then the two of you started off to a bad start, and you didn’t want to look past how he dropped you on the ground that day.

Fun fact, you could hold a grudge for so long. You had always said you’d take your grudge on certain people to the grave, and you would.

“Good afternoon, ladies,” he greeted before he slid himself in the booth beside you, prompting, or rather forcing you to move to your right to make way for his muscular form. Not that you had a choice, you were completely enclosed with the wall to your left, and the form of the most irritating man on earth to your right. Sometimes you thought it was a terrible joke, how someone could be this pretty until they opened their mouth.

You sighed.

“Sit over there,” you gestured to the seat besides Molly. And when he didn’t move his ass, you started actively pushing him out of the seat with all your might. The asshole didn’t even budge. He didn’t even spare you a glance, just continued smiling at Molly. They began talking to each other as if they couldn’t see you pushing him out of the booth. You only stopped when the food came.

“Ari, it’s on the house!” The owner of the restaurant, the kind middle-aged woman said as she placed the plates down carefully. She smiled fondly at Ari before looking at you with warmth but intrigued eyes.

“That’s not necessary, Mildred-“

“I insist,” she cut him off with a smile. “It’s the least I could do when you paid for my son’s surgery-“

Ari placed his large hand over hers, effectively stopping her with his kind smile and authoritative voice, “Mildred, you don’t need to pay me back, okay? I’m glad to help.”

“But-“

“If you really want to thank me, let me pay for this, hmm?”

You watched their interaction, you couldn’t helped but notice Ari’s earnest face and Mildred’s gratitude. You couldn’t process how this brute, the one that could annoy you forever, the one that dropped you on your ass, could also be the same man that the whole town loved, the man who was always there to help without expecting anything in return, the one that got out of town but still visited as if this was his home.

You ate silently, savoring the food and the taste and the peace. The spicy pasta you ordered was heaven in your mouth. This was something you could not indulged in back in your hometown. Your mother would shame you if she caught you polishing off the whole plate. She would be livid and would sent you straight to gym with her personal trainer. It took you your whole life to learn that there was nothing wrong with you.

You were snapped out of your reverie when you noticed a sliced of Ari’s food on the side of your plate that you had been side-eyeing at for the whole duration whilst Ari and Molly talked. You slowly lifted your eyes at the large man sitting beside you as he laughed lowly at whatever Molly was saying. Did he just..give you his food?

“-I’m getting married.”

Your head whipped at Molly, only catching the end of the sentence. She was?

“And I’d like you dear to do the cake,” she smiled sweetly at you shocked face, Ari’s frozen-like and silent state making you unsettled but Molly just shrugged at him before reaching over the table to hold your hand in hers. You glanced at Ari first, before nodding slowly at the sweet Molly. “Of course, I’d love, too.”

Molly’s smile could light up the sky, her face looked so at peace and happy. You didn’t know her for a long time, but you knew everyone deserved a second chance at love.

“Ari, I would really appreciate it if you walk me down the aisle,” she asked so hopefully that Ari’s stoic face melted under her motherly love. Ari sighed, swallowing down his reluctance and protective nature. “Are you sure about marrying Pablo?”

Pablo was the sweet, old, gentleman who owned the only hardware in this town. In comparison to Molly, this would be his first marriage. It was amazing how love knew no age, or time, or gender. It was just that- love.

“He’s my first love,” she said as if it was self-explanatory, blushing as she told you the story of them being childhood sweethearts. Sadly, it wasn’t the right time. Everything was a chaos back when they were younger. It was as if the universe didn’t agree they should be together, as if the universe was against them. They lost each other, they loved other people, they accepted that and they moved on, and now decades later, they were getting married. Truly, the universe falls in love with stubborn hearts.

“I guess it’s true. First love never really dies,” you mumbled as you took a sip of your milkshake.

Ari’s head whipped at you, his eyes squinting as he rested his muscular arms on the table as he leaned closer to you. “Why? Do you have a first love? Are you going to end up marrying him?” He asked in a menacing manner that you rolled your eyes at him.

“I don’t believe in marriage, Mr. Levinson.”

“Why not?”

You shrugged carelessly, enjoying the way your simple gestures irritated Ari. “I just don’t. Do you?”

“Of course I do,” Ari answered with a huff, “It’s my goal in life.”

“Then why aren’t you married yet?”

“I haven’t found her yet.” He said so simply, his arm now casually thrown on the back of your seat as if it belonged there.

“Ah,” you nodded before wiping your mouth delicately with napkin, “you haven’t found anyone who would agree to marry an oaf.”

Ari chuckled humorlessly, before glaring at you. “So now I’m a monkey and an oaf. Real mature, sweetheart. Real mature.”

Unbeknownst to the two of you, Molly was having fun watching you bickered with him. She had never seen Ari as engaged as he was now to other people as he was to you. You brought out the life in him, you somehow brought out who Ari was when he was younger, playful, happy, and full of life. Not the person he was that Molly saw glimpses of when he returned from his other life.

Perhaps, him annoying you all throughout the meal was just the tip of an iceberg because when you proceeded to follow the pair out of the restaurant, Mildred stopped you with a small and shy smile on here face before handing you the bill, relaying to you what Ari said to her before he exited, “Give this to the non-believer of marriage,”

The fucker made you pay for your meal and the portion of his food that he gave you.

An annoying knock on your door startled you. You looked at the clock hanging on your wall, it was barely thirty minutes passed five am. You opened at six am. Who was banging down on your door like a lunatic?

With an annoyed sigh, you wiped down your hand on your apron, your hand picking up a rolling pin just in case it was an unwanted visitor, before walking to the door.

And lo and behold, it was the insane man himself, Ari.

He knocked once again against the glass door despite already seeing you walking closer to him. You gestured exaggeratedly to the Closed sign to which he just smirked before knocking loudly once again, startling William, the old gentleman across the street as he was sweeping the fallen leaves. He glared at you and you just smiled sheepishly before unlocking the front door. Ari wasted no time, barging in calmly as if he didn’t start your day off annoying you. His shirt was wet. He was sporting a running shorts, his hair damp from his run. The 6’4 man proceeded on the counter, looking down at the display.

“What are you doing here? Shop’s still closed, Levinson,” you stated menacingly, your rolling pin pointed at him. At this point, you wanted nothing more than to kick him out of you shop. But it wouldn’t take a genius to see that you couldn’t physically moved him, unless he really wanted to. His 6’4 frame towering over your small one as he glanced back at you.

He pointed casually at the bread you remembered giving him back when he delivered the bags of ingredients in your shop, much to his reluctance. “I want this.”

“Noted. Too bad we’re still close.”

“I’m starving, sweetheart. Are you just going to let me pass out from starvation?”

“Yes.”

“I thought they said customer’s always right-“

You chuckled at that, “Not when the customer’s being an annoying asshole.”

He sauntered closer to you, his masculine scent engulfing your senses. You had to crane up your neck just to glare at him. This close and you could see the blue in his eyes, one that rivaled the ocean. This close and you could see the mole on his cheek, the mole that was carefully placed by the god there, making him looked more gorgeous and human. This close and you could see his lips, and how the lower lip looked a little bit fuller than the top. Any close and your heart would explode from it beating faster than the normal. God he was so beautiful, as if hew as Adonis himself. He looked so ethereal, but why did he have to open his mouth?

He tilted his head as he looked at you with a grin on his face, “I’m just going to stay here until you opened if you don’t give me food.”

Five minutes later, he was happily munching on the freshly baked bread. You shook your head as you placed the last batch of the pastries on display shelf. ‘What a brat’, you thought to yourself.

Once he finished with his food and the coffee he ordered, he placed the bills on the counter. Wordlessly, you worked on the counter. If only you didn’t have a pride when it came to him, you would have happily accepted his hundred dollar bill tip. But alas, you wanted nothing to do with the man who could annoy you to the ends of the world.

With a renewed strength, you ran to him. His long legs brought him much quicker to the door. Your voice resonated to the small bakery. You were running when he stopped walking. You were almost to him when he suddenly stopped walking and glanced back at you. He stopped so abruptly that you didn't expect it, you didn’t have time to stop yourself.

You lost your footing. You knew you were falling, your arms lifting to catch yourself before you fell to the hard ground. Everything felt like a slow motion- birds flying slowly, Ari’s face morphing into a surprised one, his body maneuvering to catch you as you fell, twisting his muscular body just right so he could absorb the force from your collision, and before you knew it, the two of you were falling.

And oh boy, did you fall hard.

It was quiet. It was too quiet. His eyes were wide, his arms securely around you, your body completely plastered on his. You blinked before you could even processed that your lips were on his soft ones. You were too flabbergasted to process how warm his lips were…and how it made you feel.

God, what a fucking cliche.

Next Chapter

[myherowritings]

PART 4. HOW THE RICH SUCK THEIR OWN DICKS

SUMMARY. Todoroki Shouto was a wealthy, young CEO who inherited his father’s enterprise. You were a barista at a local cafe who wouldn’t mind some extra cash. One day, Shouto came in during an early morning shift and tipped you such a large sum of money, you were certain it had to have been an accident. To your surprise and complete pleasure: It was not.

PAIRING. ceo!todoroki shouto x barista!reader

WORD COUNT. 2.9k

GENRE. ceo/barista au, fluff, eventual smut

WARNINGS. enji makes an appearance bleh, enji being classist, enji...ew, okay i swear most of the chapter is shouto and y/n being cute though 

A/N. ngl i have genshin brainrot real bad at the moment but i still have motivation for ceo!shouto and ceo!shouto only u.u there are only 7 parts to this series so we’re at the halfway mark already AHHH i hope u enjoy reading and lmk what u think!! :3 xx sof

SERIES MASTERLIST

© myherowritings — all rights reserved. reposting, modifying, copying, or translating of any kind is not allowed. do not read my writing as asmr. do not plagiarize.

Shouto’s day went from good to bad faster than it took to pull an espresso. 

It started off with a good morning text from you and having a brief, but pleasant, interaction at your work. Actually, the past few weeks have been going along a similar routine that he found himself settling into all too comfortably. You even upheld your promise of stealing him away one weekend to walk around the park, get food, and just have time to relax and be happy for once. 

Getting to be in your presence almost daily became so normalized in his life that even some of his employees heard about the cute barista with the best pastries. Yet, although he saw you often, he found himself wanting to talk to you more and more.

But for now, Shouto told himself to settle with starting the mornings off with you. They were the best mornings he’s had in a while and he didn’t want to sound ungrateful. 

Today, however, went sour fast after he heard his father was coming up to the top floor for a meeting with him. He didn’t find the idea of Enji visiting to be the most abhorrent thing, but the moment his father opened his mouth, Shouto quickly took that back. 

As expected, his father reminded him about the annual charity gala Todoroki Enterprises was expected to attend. Handfuls of galas ran through the year, but the once hosted by Naruhata Industries under the guise of raising money and awareness for the charities of choice.

In theory, a charity gala ball sounded humanitarian and a way for the upper class to give back, but in reality, most of the funds collected didn’t go to the actual charities, instead they went to paying for the venue, live bands, entertainment, the most expensive catering, decorations, and more. What presented itself as a charitable event in the eyes of the public was really a way rich people could flaunt their wealth and feel good about themselves for doing absolutely nothing to benefit society. A way for the rich to suck their own dicks, if you would. 

Shouto absolutely hated it. 

It was also a press opportunity and, in his father’s eyes, a way to gain public favor for the Todoroki business. Today, Enji attempted to tell him that bringing a date that fit the mold of high society was the best way for him to establish rapport through media coverage. Apparently, the image news outlets have placed on Shouto were either a heartbreaker and playboy with no care for other’s emotions, or a monotonous stoic who seemed like a robot with no care for other’s emotions.

In either cases, there seemed to be a theme of Shouto not caring for others. 

He sighed. 

“You can’t keep that image, Shouto,” said Enji with his arms folded across his chest. “If the media sees you with someone—a nice girl with a good upbringing—then your likeability will increase tenfold. If there’s no one you like, I’ll have to set up a date for you.”

For a while, he was torn between telling his dad to fuck off and trying to do as he said to keep peace within the family. But then, an image of you popped into his head.

“Actually, there is someone I like.” 

Enji narrowed his eyes. “Oh? An educated girl with wealthy parents?”

“There’s someone I like,” he simply repeated, the tone in his voice growing cold. 

He didn’t know anything about your upbringing or family nor did he exactly care. Shouto didn’t want to bring a date to the dumb gala, but if he had to, he would want it to be you. Only if you agreed, of course. But if you weren’t willing, then he had to face the facts that his father would most likely force a date of his own choosing upon Shouto. 

“That’s good you like someone, son,” Enji said through his teeth, “but we have to make sure it’s not some sort of...loose woman. That’d be even worse publicity—”

“I like someone and if you really cared about my happiness like you said you did, that’d be enough.”

There was a tense silence in the air. Shouto didn’t have enough fingers to count the number of times Enji had told him and his siblings that he would try to be a better dad. A caring dad who only wanted what was best for his children. A better husband for Rei. A better example for the public. The first few times, Shouto believed it. But Enji said the same things over and over again with no lasting change and Shouto was just fed up. 

After hearing the same lie told to him over and over again, it seemed to lose its weight. He seemed to lose his hope in his father ever changing.

Still, Shouto had to deal with him for as long as he lived. That much he knew as a son living in this society. 

But he hoped Enji at least had enough guilt to let him have this.

“Fine.”

Shouto blinked in surprise. 

Enji stated, “If you think your date can help your public image and not be a complete embarrassment to the business, you can bring them.”

That was the closest thing to approval Shouto would get today. He nodded and listened along to whatever else his father had to say, the only thing actually on his mind was thinking about how he would ask you out on a date to some stuffy gala. And hope that you’d say yes.

— ✩ —

“Wait, so, let me get this straight— You’re the CEO of Todoroki Enterprises and even after almost two months of knowing you, I had no clue?”

He inclined his head, looking solemn. “Yes, I’m sorry. Are you upset with me for not telling you sooner?” 

Initial shock aside, you couldn’t say that you were too surprised at the revelation. You knew Shouto was wealthy and probably in some high-up position in the business industry, but you never knew to what extent. A CEO? That had to be the highest rank in a company! And a company as well known as Todoroki Enterprises? 

The thought made you a little nervous. The guy you slowly befriended over the course of short cafe visits and silly texts was Mr. Todoroki? Or worse— The guy you stole away from doing work for a whole weekend was someone as busy as a CEO? You internally groaned. That had to be against laws of the universe or something. 

“I’m not upset, no,” you said with a shake of your head. “I just...can’t believe it I guess.” Eyes widening, you were quick to amend your words. “Well, I can believe it. You seem very intelligent and well-put together and, uh, rich! But I guess I just didn’t think a CEO would be so funny and kind.” You winced. “Oh no, is that mean to say?”

“I don’t think it’s mean.” He shrugged. “You’re right to say most people in this field aren’t known for their delightful temperaments.” 

You absentmindedly drummed your finger against your thigh, trying to process this new information. “So you’re Todoroki Shouto...and you want me to be your date to the Naruhata Charity Ball?” 

“Yeah. I know it’s a huge favor to ask, and I promise you can say no if you choose,” said Shouto in earnest. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to agree.” 

With a hum, you stretched your legs out under the table before crossing one over the other again. It was a Saturday afternoon where you had no work and Shouto managed to escape from his for a few hours of the day. You took him to your favorite ice cream place nearby and the two of you ate at a dining area outside the establishment. 

Just a mundane day as two friends hanging out with each other where you found out one of those friends was the chief executive officer of a billion dollar business headquartered in Japan. 

Totally normal, everyday occurrences, obviously. 

“And you need a date for this event?” you asked. In all honesty, you would be more than happy if Shouto asked you out on a date. He was fun and you enjoyed getting to know him. But these particular circumstances made you a tad bit more nervous.

“I normally wouldn’t need to bring one, but my father insists it’d help my public image and in turn the image of the company.” With a pinched look on his face, he took a bite of his ice cream. “In other words I bring a date or he picks one for me.” 

You weren’t the most caught up on super rich people drama, but it was almost infamous how estranged the Todoroki family was. Again, you didn’t know much but you did know enough to say that Todoroki Enji seemed like a Class A asshole. If you could help Shouto out with his weird dilemma, you saw no reason not to. 

“So this charita gala is like where they have those live auctions and silent auctions and get tipsy on fancy wine and champagne for hours right?”

He tilted his head to the side. “Yeah. Have you attended one?” 

“Not quite,” you said with a sheepish smile. “I’ve volunteered at one in school though. As one of those runners? It was fun. I got a bunch of those tiny complimentary candies!” Your mouth watered at the memory. “What kind of drug were in those candies? I’ve never had candy so good before!”

“The tiny, circular candies with the excessively big wrapper? The fruity ones?”

You shot up in your seat, excited he knew what you were talking about. “Yes! That’s the one!” 

The corners of his mouth quirked upwards. “I always see those at these types of events.”

“So… The candy will be there at the gala you want me to accompany you to?” 

“Most likely.”

“Can I take a bunch of those from candies there…?” you asked with an optimistic grin.

“I’ll be your accomplice in sneaking them out.”

“It’s a date!” you said before Shouto could get another word out. 

You’d be reunited with those yummy, fancy candies you’ve been separated from for far too long. What other reason did you need to agree? 

With a determined look on your face, you held your hand out for Shouto to shake to seal the deal. 

He blinked. “Wait. Did you want to discuss it some more? Maybe have a few days to think it through? I’m grateful, of course, but I don’t want you regretting anything.”

“No. I won’t regret it. I’d do anything to taste those candies again.”

Shouto looked unsure what to say. “Isn’t there some parable warning people not to be bribed by candy?”

“Not to take candy from a baby?”

“No. Not that one.”

“That’s the only one I know.”

“Never mind then.” 

The two of you exchanged confused looks before letting out fits of laughter. You weren’t sure if either of you knew exactly what the other was laughing at, but the moment was an enjoyable one nonetheless. 

“Yet another reason to bring me to that fancy event— I’ll make sure you’re entertained all the way through,” you playfully bragged, smoothing down the front of your shirt. 

“The event will definitely be more bearable with you there.” He licked a small bit of his ice cream from his pink spoon, making a sound of approval. “But you can change your mind about coming at any time, Y/N.”

“I won’t,” you said, holding a pinky out. “Pinky promise.”

With what seemed like a bashful expression on his face, Shouto extended his own pinky to interlock yours. You sealed it with a kiss and a heart, like you were a kid again. 

“Now, am I supposed to be in love with you at the gala?” you asked nonchalantly, finishing off your last bite of ice cream. He offered you a spoonful of his and you tried not to grow too flustered at Shouto feeding you his dessert. You murmured a quiet, “Thanks.”

He gave you a small smile. “You’re welcome. As for being in love… I don’t think that’s necessary. Just pretend you like being around me, I think.”

Under the table, you nudged his shoe with yours, pulling a face. “I don’t have to pretend about that, silly.” 

“Ah, well,” he paused, offering you another spoonful of ice cream, “I don’t either.”

“I’m glad.” Then, “Is this strawberry? I was never a big strawberry ice cream fan but for some reason this tastes so good.” 

You ignored the nagging voice in your head that said maybe it wasn’t so much the ice cream flavor but who you were enjoying it with. 

The two of you finished his dessert in peace and after cleaning up the area with a napkin, Shouto turned to you with an intent look on his face.

“Before the gala, would you mind if I talk you shopping so you could pick out what to wear?” he asked. “I would pay of course— It’s the least I could do to say thank you.”

You shook your head. “You don’t have to thank me! You’re my friend and I want to help.” You thought about it for a moment. “And get the candy.”

“Anything for the candy.”

“Exactly,” you said in complete seriousness. “But I wouldn’t mind going shopping with you. You could help me decide what to wear! I’m not exactly sure how to dress for an event as fancy as this.”

“You could wear anything to the event and still look amazing.” His words were ones of flattery but his tone sounded completely genuine. 

Heat rose to your cheeks at the compliment. “Look who’s talking— You’re practically runway ready no matter what time of day.”

“I’ve never walked a runway before.”

You stifled a laugh at his literal interpretation of your words. Cute. “Me neither.”

He looked confused at why you were grinning, but it still brought a smile to his own lips.

By now the sun had begun to set and Shouto was walking you to the train to see you off before you went home.

“Can I pick you up next weekend in the morning?” he said. “So we can get your outfit for the gala?”

“Sure! I’ll text you my address.” 

He nodded in contentment. “And again, you don’t have to worry about any costs.”

“Is this why my friends have called you a sugar daddy?” you teased, bumping your shoulder against his as you walked down the street, side-by-side. “But thank you. Shopping will be fun— We can even match colors!” 

“Mn.” He looked between the both of you, as if trying to picture what colors would complement each other. 

You crossed the sidewalk in a comfortable silence, enjoying the scenery by Shouto’s side. A few times, you even felt his knuckles brush against yours and you had the undeniable urge to hold his hand. Would that be weird? you asked yourself before deciding against it. 

Just because he asked you to be his date for the Naruhata Charity Ball didn’t mean he actually liked you, right? It was just a favor from a friend to a friend.

Something about that though made your stomach unsettled. Maybe part of you wanted it to be a real date— Wanted this to be a real date. 

“So I won’t be seeing you tomorrow,” you said after a moment’s silence, trying not to look too dejected. 

You knew he’d still text good morning and good night and ask you random things throughout the day (all of which you found really endearing, by the way), but it was still different from seeing him in person. Even though your time together in the morning was small, they still were enough to make your day. The thought of your waking hours being so entwined made you nervous, but for some reason it didn’t bother you as much as you thought it would. In fact, it was sort of...nice. 

“I’ll see you Monday morning, right?” you asked hopefully, though you were already fairly certain of the answer.

Shouto nodded. “Of course. It’s already marked on my calendar.”

“Ever the flatterer, hmm?” 

“Not flattery, just the truth.” He pulled his phone out and showed you his (rather packed) calendar app. To your surprise, a little reminder that said ‘See Y/N :)’ was marked on his Monday schedule. 

Unable to stop the beam from spreading across your lips, you hid your face in your hands. Gosh— Did he have to be so cute? He was making it harder and harder to only like him as a friend. And even now, you weren’t sure if you liked him only as a friend.

But you pushed those thoughts away.

That was something to deal with at a later time.

When you reached the train station you normally took home, you turned to Shouto, giving him a big hug. He was tall and warm. You could feel his lean muscles through his button-down shirt as you rested your head against his chest and arms around his waist. 

“Thanks for today,” you mumbled. “I’ll see you again soon.”

After a pause, he gave you a hug back, hands rubbing hesitant circles on your back in a way that made you smile. “Text me when you get home safe,” he said as you both reluctantly released each other from an embrace.

“I will,” you promised. “You do the same! Later, Shouto!” 

And with that, you waved goodbye and boarded the train, unable to shake the unwavering grin on your face all the way home.

a/n: when shouto started feeding y/n spoonfuls of his ice cream i cried (Ｔ▽Ｔ) that’s so cUTE OF HIM LIKE PLS SIR STOP BEFORE I FALL MORE IN LOVE WITH U !! >:O he’s such a sweetheart ahhhh,, i hope all the fluff made up for the brief appearance of endeavor ಠ╭╮ಠ  FHDJKF 

what to expect in the next part:

shopping for the gala time !! 

y/n struggles with their fEeLiNGs~ part 2

oh my, y/n has to try on dresses? oh my, it’d be a shame if they needed help putting it on :o *fake gasp* 

yeah things get just a lil steamy but shh

[xmalfoyweasleyx]

Years and years (part 1/2) - Draco Malfoy (smut + fluff)

Summary: A walk through the years of your relationship with Draco, all the ups and downs, all the passion and al the love in one story <3

Includes: a LOOOT of SMUT 18+!! more parts of smut! , also a LOT of fluffy stuff and a little bit of angst, dad!draco at the end.

THIS STORY WILL HAVE 2 PARTS!

Warnings for THIS PART: Umbridge her quill , sad Draco, the war and its injuries, alcohol, let's pretend they are already old enough for everything!!!!, masturbation, very dirty thoughts, fingering and oral (fem receiving)

3,2k words

September 1991

Y/n was nervous. It was her first year going to Hogwarts. The excitement tickling inside of her tummy was pleasant and horrible at the same time.

The castle was right in front of her, it was astonishing. Lots of other kids around her age were walking to the boats. A hard beat on y/n's shoulder made her almost fall into the ground.

"Get out of my way" she heard a little blond boy say. His hair was blonde and ashy and his eyes were like ice. Y/n already hated him. "Prick" was the only thing she answered when she quickly walked away. It made an anger boil inside the little bully. Draco already hated her too. Nobody walks in his way on the first day of school, the day he looked forward to for already 11 years. AND how dare she? Talking to him like that?

March 1995

Draco was bored. He was sitting next to the window, the only amusing thing was the view outside. It was snowing in march. Not that common for this time of the year. He messed a little with the badge on his robe, the badge Umbridge gave him. He was proud of himself. No actually he wasn't, he was just delighted with the fact that his father was going to be proud. A big plus was the fact that those stupid other houses were finally put in their place.

Y/n came out of Umbridge her office. Relieved. Finally, her tears could come out. She was holding them in for so long now. The burning sensation on her arm wasn't the only reason. Umbridge hated her. She abused her mentally and physically.

Tears rolled down her cheeks like a river, finally coming out after so long. And like it couldn't get any worse Draco Malfoy was right in front of her, and he saw her. He saw her tears and he heard her sobs.

"Don't you dare laugh at me, not this time, please" y/n begged, not even embarrassed about how pathetic it looked.

Y/n and Draco had a weird history. From the first day they met until now. It was an abnormal relationship. Of course y/n hated him like everyone else hates Draco Malfoy. And of course he hated her like Draco Malfoy hated everyone.

But there was this tension, an unexplainable one, the both of them never understood.

"What happened?" Draco asked by y/n her surprise.

"I- uh- I, Umbridge, she.." y/n stuttered confused while unconsciously rubbing her arm where Umbridge had harmed her.

Draco automatically looked at it and had a thoughtful look on his face. Then he saw the wound on her arm 'blood traitor'.

Without thinking he grabbed her arm, a shock of concern went through his body. He didn't know what happened to him.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

Y/n was in shock, not knowing what to say. But she wasn't the only one confused because of his sudden concern, Draco was too. It was the first time he realized how vulnerable she was. He had the sudden urge to take care of her, to make sure she was okay.

It went as fast as his first time riding a broom. Out of the blue it was like his mission to make sure she was okay, to make sure she was safe. Even though he still had that primitive hate towards her.

"Sit down, I might know something" he promised.

Y/n sat down next to him, a tear still running down her cheek.

"Episkey" Draco whispered carefully with a wave of his dark colored wand. With his other hand he held her arm still. The soft and warm touch surprised her. She imagined them cold and harsh but his fingers were the opposite. Even his eyes were soft now, the cold grey was a little more warm and blue now.

The cuts in her arm healed. Not completely, you could still see a scar, but it didn't hurt any more. "Wow, thank you Draco" she whispered with a smile. For a moment Draco's eyes softened and he felt his body warm up when she said his first name. It was an unknown feeling to the Slytherin boy.

A moment of silence followed when they looked in each others eyes. But then they realized he was still holding her hand. They both let go awkwardly and the moment was over. Leaving both of them confused.

April 1995

Y/n was already getting tipsy. She poured another shot of firewhisky down her throat while laughing with Hermione. The music at the party was loud and made y/n even more dizzy.

"Mione, guess who was nice to me today, you'll never guess" I mumbled. Hermione was of course, taking this seriously. So she kept thinking and thinking, leaving y/n impatient. "Okay I'll just say it, it was Malfoy" she tells her eventually.

"The Draco Malfoy?" she mouthed confused. Y/n nodded. "He healed my arm after Umbridge's detention" y/n confirmed. Hermione's mouth hung open in response.

What y/n didn't know was that Draco was watching her from a distance, trying to figure out what the hell was wrong with him. He noticed how pretty she actually was. He spent the past 5 years despising the girl. From the day she called him 'a prick' until now, until he suddenly had this weird feeling. She looked hot, y/n was sexy. She had a nice ass, Draco noticed. He was a little drunk and that always made him horny.

"Okay, y/n. Believe it or not but Draco is checking you out" Hermione told y/n. She immediately turned around and saw Draco looking straight into her eyes now.

"I'm going to say hi, I think he wants me " y/n boasted full with confidence because of the alcohol. Draco was still watching her when she strode up to him. She stopped right in front of him and looked him up and down.

"Well well Draco Malfoy, you were checking me out, weren't you? You like my new dress?" she joked drunkly.

"You're drunk" Draco laughed. It made y/n furrow her eyebrows.

"I think you're drunk because you're actually laughing!" she answered mocking him. Draco smiled and took a closer look at the girl in the party lights. He never noticed her y/e/c eyes and her pretty lips. Oh how they would look so perfect wrapped around his co-

"LET'S DANCE!!!" y/n screamed, cutting off his daydreams.

Draco did something very surprising and followed her to the dance floor. Y/n swayed her hips to the music seductively, moving very very close to Draco. Of course she did that on purpose but she didn't want Draco to know.

When y/n turned around and rubbed her ass against his clothed cock, Draco was afraid he would cum in his pants already. He was used to be dancing like this at parties with girls, but this felt different. Draco tried to convince himself this was just because he was extra horny, but deep down he knew it was because of the girl in front of him.

Without thinking Draco turned her around again. He pressed y/n close to him and before he knew it their lips were pressed against each other.

Her soft lips moved slowly against his. Y/n grabbed his neck and pulled on his hair softly while Draco pushed her hips closer.

The kiss was heated and full of passion. A soft moan escaped her lips. Draco's erection appeared in his pants. Suddenly the boy realized the effect y/n had on him.

He couldn't let this happen. He couldn't ruin the reputation he worked on for years! So he searched all his willpower and pushed her away.

"What are you doing, stupid girl!" he screamed.

Y/n was surprised and a look full of hurt appeared on her face.

-

That night Draco was still horny. The mix of emotions was unbearable.

He didn't want to, but he had to.

So he pulled his pants down slowly, a big sigh left his mouth when his erection finally came free. Draco had never been this horny, especially not after hurting someone. Because he did hurt y/n, he knew that. But eventually this was normal, she wouldn't mind that much... She's used to him being like that. At least that's what Draco thought.

So he wiped the precum from is tip and sighed. Draco started to pump very slowly, a grunt of relief left his mouth.

He tried to come up with something else in his head, he tried really really hard. But the only thing that came up was how y/n danced against him, how sexy she was. He thought about her beautiful lips and how perfect they felt on his.

He imagined how it would feel if she was in front of him, pumping him slowly, with her innocent eyes locked with his. How her eyes wouldn't be leaving his, looking so so desperate for him.

He imagined how she then would put her mouth around his cock. Draco started to pump faster and faster. Because of his drunk state it felt almost real. Her warm pretty mouth...

Draco grunted loudly now, imagining how he would slap that ass of her, how he would completely destroy the girl. A soft moan left his mouth, he was imagining her boobs now. How they would bounce right in front of him.

His stomach began to tingle more and more. He was cumming very soon. His hips started to buck op when he imagined how he would just pound into her mercilessly. It was almost like he could hear her pretty moans and screams.

And with one last pump he came. Hard. Moaning her name when his head fell backwards.

He just laid there for a moment. Panting very loudly. He never came that hard.

Fuck Draco Malfoy, what's wrong with you, he thought.

November 1996

Being in 6th year for almost 3 months now, y/n and Draco only saw each other from a distance in the great hall. The only interaction they had were little glances and a lot of staring.

Y/n was still mad. How could that stupid fucking Slytherin boy just kiss her and talk to her like that and then leave and get mad?!

It was stupid.

It was stupid how sometimes their eyes met during dinner and how it made their hearts beat like crazy.

It was stupid how they still thought about each other every day because of just one stupid kiss.

February 1996

5 months later they finally talked again. Their anger towards each other was mostly gone now. It was time to call a truce now.

Y/n decided it had been enough of all this silliness. So when she bumped into Draco she decided to finally talk to him.

"Who do we have here" she tried sounding polite and playful.

"Hey" Draco said. It was now that y/n saw how tired he looked. All these months they had non-verbal conversations from a distance, but now she really saw him and how terrible he looked, almost ill.

"Draco, are you okay?" was the first question that came up in her mind to say.

Draco just nodded. The last thing he wanted was to show her how terrible he felt. His task, becoming a death eater,...

So he just decided to nod and walk away.

"Oh and sorry about getting mad at you last year" he said from a distance when he quickly walked away.

It left y/n worried and surprised. He apologized?

June 5, 1996

It was the last month of the school year. Y/n heard sobs when she walked past the prefects bathroom. Never had sobs been so recognizable. It was Draco. She knew that immediately. So she didn't hesitate to walk inside the bathroom.

Draco and y/n had been talking last months after all. What you can call talking. It were silly little talks and her friends even judged her for doing it. But the talks didn't really represent that much. Draco felt too bad and she wanted to ask what was going on but she couldn't.

The sight broke her heart. Draco looked at her with fearful eyes.

"Draco" y/n gasped "come here" was the only thing she said. The right words didn't come up in her mind so she just stepped closer to him.

She grabbed his back and pushed him in for a hug. Draco didn't fight it but also didn't hug back. He didn't know what to do. Only his mother hugged him. But y/n started to stroke his back and her smell was so comforting.

"It's okay Dray, you're safe with me" she whispered.

Draco felt calm now. After all those months he finally felt good. So he hugged her back and started to cry again.

"Yes Draco, you can let it al go now" she promised when Draco kept crying harder en harder finally feeling free and safe to let go.

They stayed like that for a while. When Draco calmed down completely he explained her everything and y/n listened. They talked for hours. He told y/n it was his birthday and no one said happy birthday to him today. After all the serious talk they even talked about more fun stuff.

Draco was happy. He hasn't been in years.

June 31, 1996

Believe it or not, but y/n was laying in Draco's bed. Summer was there and everyone was packing to go home for the break.

Y/n has been Draco's girlfriend for a few weeks now. It was a secret. She secretly came to his dorm every night and sometimes she stayed to sleep in his arms.

Y/n got to know the other side of Draco, a part she actually loved.

Draco got to know his own new side and still tried and struggled with being in a relationship now. But he was so so so in love, he realized that now.

His heart fluttered in his chest again when y/n snuggled her nose deeper into his shoulder, trying to be closer to him than before. She laid on him with the half of her body and stroked his arm lightly.

"So we're not going to see each other this summer?" she asked.

"We'll figure it out, I promise we'll see each other" Draco smiled while stroking her hair, making y/n shiver a little.

Y/n stroked up and down his chest now. "I want to try something before we leave, I want to have sex" she suddenly said.

"What?" Draco answered a little bit shocked. Not that he didn't want it he was just surprised.

"If-if.. if you don't want to it's okay, I don't know how experienced you are and..." y/n stuttered.

Draco laughed a little at the thought. She thought he didn't want this? He wanted this for so so so long now. "I want to, but we only have 15 minutes till the train leaves. And.. are you... are.. have you ever had sex before?" he asked getting nervous now.

"No, but I want you to take my virginity, did you do it before?" she asked interested.

"I'm not a virgin. No. But, you are, I don't want you to lose your virginity when we're rushed. We'll see each other this summer and I'll make it perfect, okay?" Draco assured her.

God how he wanted to fuck her there and then, destroy his little innocent girlfriend. But not when it's rushed.

Y/n looked disappointed and she really really was. It took her a lot of courage to ask this.

So Draco had an idea.

"But, I can do something else, if you trust me" he smiled while stroking under her skirt, going closer and closer to her pussy.

"You said we have only 15 minutes" she whispered with flushed cheeks.

"I can make you cum in less than that" Draco promised. Y/n bit her lip and nodded.

He started slowly stroking her clothed pussy now, making y/n gasp a little. Y/n still laid partly on him and her hand was on his chest. Draco had a perfect view on her face and she was so close, it was the perfect position.

"Do you touch yourself?" he asked while pushing her panties down very slowly, lightly touching her pussy now.

Y/n nodded while biting her lip to hold in the moans.

"You don't have to be shy princess, you can let it all out for me, okay? Now tell me what you think when you touch yourself" Draco asked huskily while drawing little circles on her clit now.

A soft moan left y/n her lips and her cheeks were already flushed. Her pussy already wetter than ever.

"I- I think about you, how you would touch me" she moaned. Draco answered with a soft moan too, not able to hold it in. He imagined how she would be thinking of him while pleasuring herself, and moaning his name.

He entered his finger slowly. Y/n gasped. "Draco" she moaned when he started to pump into her softly.

"Good girl" he praised.

"Go faster Dray, it feels so good" y/n moans.

Draco did what she told him and started to pump faster while adding another finger. "You're so tight for me baby, I can't wait to feel you wrapped around my cock this summer when I fuck you so hard" Draco grunts.

Y/n was a moaning mess now. His name left her mouth multiple times. Something he would remember for ever.

"God you're so fucking sexy y/n" he moaned. Draco was surprised how turned on this made him.

And then Draco stopped and pulled his fingers out.

"What are you doing?" she asked when Draco left her side.

"Can I do this?" he asked when going down with his mouth now very close to her pussy.

Y/n nodded eagerly.

Draco attached his soft lips to her clit, sucking on it gently. She was already very sensitive from before so a loud moan came out.

Draco started to suck harder and moaned on her pussy, sending vibrations that went through her whole body. Y/n automatically grabbed his hair and pulled harder than she meant to.

Draco absolutely loved it. It was the hottest thing ever to him, the way she moaned and how she pulled his hair but pushed him closer at the same time.

"I- I think I'm cumming Dray" she gasped.

"Yes, my good girl, cum for me" he whispered.

A loud moan of his name filled the room and her eyes scrunched shut. Y/n panted loudly. "God I think I saw the stars" she breathed.

Draco chuckled and came back up to her pulling her close to him like before. "Told you I could do it in less than 15 minutes" he joked.

"I'm going to miss you Draco" y/n said more serious now with a big frown.

"Me too. But we'll see each other again soon, I promise. I'll be showing you more than just the stars then, princess" he promised her, his heart full of love and joy. He placed a little kiss on her head.

She made a new Draco Malfoy come alive, but what they didn't know yet, is that it will get much much more difficult in the future...

❀

Okay so part 2 will have more (and better) smut in it, like promised, if you want the be tagged in it you can just fill in my taglist

Thanks for reading loves x

new taglist: @rudypankowisdaddy

[reids-rendering-reality]

Blind Date

Summary: Derek Morgan sets up two of his friends for a blind date. They have never heard of each other or seen each other. But something tells Derek’s intuition they would get along well.

Type: fluff

Warnings: talking about serial killers

Word Count: 1.9K

Spencer Reid’s POV

I walked into work on a regular Tuesday morning, coffee in hand, a book tucked under my arm and my bag draped over my shoulder. I wasn’t expecting anything at all, being the first to walk in as per usual. Following my typical routine for paperwork day I sat down at my desk and went through file after file on that big pile in front of me. After about 30 minutes the others walked in. Still, everything appeared completely normal. So normal in fact, that it was almost suspicious.

“Hey, pretty boy,“ Derek said loudly as he walked directly towards me, without even stopping at his desk first, “I have an idea that you’re not going to like at first, but you’ll agree to anyway.“

“If I’m not going to like it, why would I agree to it?“ I asked curiously and looked up at him as he came to a halt right in front of my desk.

“Because I am asking you to and you will thank me later. Now hear me out please.“

“Alright,“ I responded, shifting in my seat towards him and pushing my glasses up a little.

“So, you know how the other day you said that you never go out on dates?” He obviously noticed my face flush as my eyes darted around the room to check if someone else was listening, “I was thinking, how about I play the wingman to help you get a date?”

“You want to play the what?” I asked confused and shocked simultaneously.

“Forget it,” he said hastily, “what I’m trying to say is, I set you up for a date.”

“You did what?” I could hear my voice getting louder the more shocked Derek made me. Again looking around, I noticed Emily exiting the elevator.

“A friend of mine – a female friend, who is also single – recently complained to me how she always dates the bad guys and how she just wishes for a good guy to come along and sweep her off her feet. So I set up a blind date for you guys. Listen, Spencer, I know this is uncomfortable for you, but it’ll be fun. Just agree to it and see what happens. You can become friends with her or never speak to her again afterward. But just give it a shot, maybe you’ll even get lucky,” Derek grinned at me.

I thought about it for a moment. Why was I even considering it? This is a crazy idea! She probably wouldn’t like me anyway and I would just embarrass myself for a few hours before going home and reading the book just as I had planned. But the way Derek was looking at me like he would never let me say now, and just that little sliver of something similar to hope made me nod my head slowly and uncertainly.

“Great! Wait – it was that easy to convince you?” Derek asked, a little shocked.

“It was this easy to convince him to do what?” Emily, who now reached us, interjected.

I went to yell a quick “nothing” before the situation got out of hand, but Derek was faster and began explaining the scenario.

“And he agreed to a blind date? Looks like our genius isn’t that much of a recluse after all,” Emily mused as she walked away towards her desk.

---

Y/N’s POV

To say I was nervous was an understatement. I hadn’t been on a proper date in like forever plus 2. But I promised Derek I wouldn’t bail on him and go to the restaurant anyways.

So here I was, entering a beautiful Vietnamese restaurant that Derek picked out 5 minutes before 8 pm on a Friday. To ensure the blind-dateness of it all, the table was reserved in Derek’s name. And he picked the perfect spot. In the back corner, a little bit further from everyone else, but with a view out the window into Washington D.C’s buzzing nightlife.

The waitress led me to the table, which was not yet occupied. I sat down against the wall to make sure I would see whoever came in. Taking off my coat to reveal my satin dress underneath I shivered lightly at the lack of warmth. Maybe it was the nerves too. Taking a deep breath and looking out the window into the night, I tried to force myself to calm down. I did not want to make a bad impression on one of Derek’s friends. If he was one of his friends? I knew nothing about this man. Just that it was one. A man.

Just as I began getting lost in my thoughts of who would be my dining partner, I noticed footsteps approaching me. My clock read 7:58. At least he’s very punctual. Looking up towards the body the feet belonged to, my heart began beating faster.

In front of me was a tall, handsome man with longish hair, dressed in a fine black suit and a deep crimson shirt. He looked shy, his eyes wide open and his lips slightly parted. He turned to thank the waitress and I examined his portrait. Ugh, he was definitely attractive. I thanked Derek in my thoughts for knowing my type and giving this man a head start.

“Can I sit here?” his voice was quiet as if he were as uncertain as I was. I nodded and smiled slightly, to calm both his nerves and mine. He sat down and for the first time our eyes properly met. And for a second we just stared.

I was the first to look away, my nervousness taking over, “um- I’m Y/N”.

“Hi, I’m Spencer,” he said more confidently now.

After exchanging the expected small talk about how we both knew Derek and what we did for a living, we ordered our food. This is the moment I feared. Chitter chatter out of the way, waiting for the food. What if there was nothing to talk about now?

“You’re studying medicine?” he asked to draw my attention and I nodded, “how are you enjoying it?”

And boy, he should not have asked that. With my heart racing in my chest, so were my words. I began a ramble on how I always wanted to study it and what excited me the most. When I realised how much I was talking I abruptly stopped with an awkward, “so yes. I am enjoying it.”

He grinned slightly, which eased some of my nervousness. I smiled back at him slightly.

“I’ve been meaning to say, you look beautiful tonight,” he said and for the first time that evening, he sounded confident. I guess my ramble eased his nerves too. Tucking a strand of hair behind my ear, I quietly thanked him.

Right then, the waiter came and brought our food. We ate in silence for a little while, but it wasn’t awkward. If anything, it was serene. We looked at each other occasionally, appreciating the other’s presence.

After a while, Spencer spoke up, “did you know that the reason why Vietnamese food is so healthy is partly because they don’t use that much oil? And of course also because the food contains so many vitamins, like C, B1, B6, and B3, but also many trace elements, for example, zinc, copper, magnesium, and potassium.”

I looked up at him as he started talking and nodded attentively, “no. I did not know that. But now I feel encouraged to eat Vietnamese more often.”

 We finished our dinner with pleasant conversation, Spencer interjecting a few interesting facts here and there. I quickly realised he must be incredibly intelligent, which made me even more attracted to him. But I must admit, I was pretty proud when I knew some of his facts and could even add to them with my knowledge. For example when we got to the topic of serial killers (which of course was unavoidable given his job):

“So one gene that could make a person psychopathic is the gene coding for monoamine oxidase A. If you have one version of it, the protein becomes ineffective and can’t break down your brain’s monoamines like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine. One study on a family in Holland found that they all had a version of it where the protein was completely ineffective. And they had unusually high levels of aggression and violence in that family,” Spencer said. His speed was almost hard to keep up with, but me hanging onto every word he said helped.

“I know! But the gene alone doesn’t suffice to make someone more aggressive. A study found that which gene version you have interacts with your environment during childhood. In maltreated children the effect on aggression can be seen way stronger than in children with a normal childhood,” I responded excitedly, leaning forward onto the table.

But Spencer didn’t respond. Instead, he froze, his lips parting as his jaw dropped a little. He stared at me with an emotion that appeared to me like shock mixed with fascination – and maybe awe? I didn’t know what to do so I just looked back at him shyly, feeling a blush creeping onto my cheeks.

 That night, Spencer drove me home, like a gentleman. When we arrived at my apartment, he got out of the car and walked me to the door.

“I had a really nice time tonight,” I said softly looking up at him.

“Me too,” he smiled, and then a sudden wave of nervousness washed over him, “would you maybe – I don’t know – want to… do this again some time? Only if you want to of course.”

A smile spread onto my lips as well, “I’d love to.”

---

Spencer’s POV

The Monday following my dinner with Y/N, I walked into the office with a slight bounce in my step. I was still ecstatic over how well it went, and that I even had a chance with her. We had texted all weekend, about anything and everything.

“Hey Reid, come over here,” Derek shouted at me from his desk.

My face instantly flushed as I realised I would now have to spill all the details to him.

“How did the date with Y/N go?” he asked curiously. I could feel the eyes of Emily and JJ on the back of my neck from Emily’s desk.

“Um- it went well, I guess,” I said, shuffling my feet around awkwardly.

“It went well? Come on, Spence, give us more details!” JJ said as the two of them came to join me and Derek as well.

“Yeah, I mean we talked a lot and she enjoyed my fun facts. We will go on a second date soon, we even texted all weekend,” I stuttered, not meeting any of them in the eye.

“See? What did I tell you, Reid? You would not regret this,” Derek told me and then turned to the girls, “am I one hell of a matchmaker or not?”

They giggled slightly as my hands reached up to feel my burning skin.

“I knew she would be your type, just like you’re exactly hers. Enjoy it, kid, she’s a keeper for sure,” Derek said while patting my shoulder as he left for the coffee machine.

[karasuno-chaos]

Morning Runs (Ushijima x Reader)

I had so many little scenes that I wanted to include in this but it was already becoming longer than I wanted it to be, so I’ll save those scenes for some other time. 😉-Giz

Word count:  1,481

Fluffvember masterlist

You leaned to the side, stretching and urging your tired muscles to wake up.  Normally you’d let yourself sleep another hour before setting out on your daily run, but your fiancé liked to get an early start.  On your days off, you’d rather skip the exercise and treat yourself to a lazy morning, but you’d learned long ago that Ushijima had his own way of doing things.

“What route do you want to take?” he asked, stretching beside you.

“Well, how far are we going?” you responded with some trepidation.  Normally he ran much faster and farther than you so you pursued your exercise separately.  But as it was his day off, he was allowing himself an easier run, which meant you could run together.

“I was thinking a few miles,” he said, and you grimaced a little as you stretched your calf muscles.

“Okay,” you grunted, “but only if the pace is moderate and we avoid any major hills.”

You discussed the details of your route while you finished stretching.  Then you put your earbuds in and stepped to the sidewalk.

“Ready?” you asked, and he nodded.  You started your running playlist, and then you were moving.

You settled into a comfortable pace that matched the beat of the music, and Ushijima fell into step beside you.  You didn’t know how he could run without listening to anything.  You needed the music to distract your mind from the physical effort or overly introspective thoughts.  Running in silence sounded like madness, but you wouldn’t be surprised if your fiancé found it peaceful.  He probably had some meditative exercises to think through during his workouts, or maybe he just let his mind go blank while his body went through the motions.  Even after two years of being in a relationship, the rhythm of his thoughts could still be a mystery to you.

As you fell into your groove, you begrudgingly allowed yourself to appreciate the experience of running this early in the day.  Few other people were awake, and there was a special camaraderie you felt with them as you passed.  Everyone had a specific purpose for being up and about at this hour, and the intentionality was invigorating in a way.  You also appreciated the peace of your neighborhood as the sun just began to creep through the streets.  The calm itself felt productive and full of potential.  You had to admit that experiencing this feeling was a good way to start the day.

Despite matching your pace, Ushijima’s longer legs meant he was gradually pulling ahead, but you didn’t mind.  He outperformed you in nearly all physical activities, so you refused to consider this a competition.  Besides, letting him pull ahead gave you yet another pleasant sight while you ran.  You wondered how he’d gotten such good posture.  Even while running, he towered tall and proud and confident.

That self-assurance had been what first caught your eye.  You’d seen him out running a few times, and it baffled you how he could look so calm while maintaining such a fast pace.  You wanted to know the secret to his energy, but you weren’t confident enough to approach him and ask.

Your introductory encounter happened early one morning a month and a half after you’d started taking an interest in him.  You’d gotten up a little earlier than usual for your morning run (admittedly to have a better chance to see him, but he never needed to know that).  You hadn’t been particularly excited about cutting your sleep short, so you hadn’t been as thorough in your pre-workout stretches as you should have been.  Sure enough, about a third of the way through your route, you had a stitch in your side and an incredibly painful cramp in your calf.

You were doubled over trying to massage the pain out of your rebelling muscle when a deep voice asked if you were okay.  When you realized it was the guy you’d been hoping to see but were unprepared to talk to, you were temporarily tongue-tied.

“Um,” you stammered, then winced as your nerves reacted to your fingers pressing on your leg.  “Yeah, I’m okay.  It’s just a cramp.”

“Ah.”  You couldn’t read his expression as he looked at you.  “Stretching is good for that.”

“So I’ve heard,” you grunted.  “I just didn’t give myself enough time this morning to properly warm up.”

“That was negligent.”

“And now, as you can see, I am paying the price.”  You had the impression that he hadn’t meant to offend with his last comment, just that he was observing your predicament and stating the facts.  You wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially as your conversation continued to pique your interest.  He spoke with the same confidence he exuded while running.  Where did that assurance come from?

“Where exactly is the pain?” he asked.  His interest was strange, but you described the area of your leg currently causing problems.

“May I?”  He gestured toward you.

“Uh,” you stuttered, perplexed why someone who, for all intents and purposes, was a stranger had taken such an interest.

“My father is a physical trainer, and I have a lot of personal experience overcoming cramps,” he explained as though responding in a job interview.  The longer you interacted, the more he surprised you, and the more curious you became.

“Sure,” you decided.  He told you to sit and extend your leg.  Squatting in front of you, he elevated your leg slightly and gently but firmly pushed your toes back toward you.  Your breath hissed between your teeth at the stretch.

“The pain is temporary,” he said, and you couldn’t tell if he was attempting to encourage you or pose a philosophical truth, but you were too busy trying to control your reaction to the pain to really consider it.  Luckily it did begin to ease after a moment, and you sighed in relief.  Noticing the grimace leave your face, he took the heel of his hand and rubbed it along your calf to help work out the rest of the cramp.

“Thank you,” you said when you felt you had enough control over your limbs again.  You were also becoming aware of how intimate this contact was, and how you were still technically strangers.

“You’re welcome,” he replied.  He dropped your leg and stood before offering you his hand.

“I’m L/N Y/N, by the way.”  You figured you ought to actually introduce yourself before parting ways.

“Ushijima Wakatoshi.”

“It’s nice to meet you.  Thanks again for your help.”

“You should probably stretch again after your run.”

“I’ll be sure to do that,” you reassured him.  There was an awkward moment where you just stared at each other before he turned.

“Have a good day,” he said before continuing with his run.

“You too!” you called cheerfully.  You allowed yourself a few moments to feel the full embarrassment of the encounter before forcing yourself to start running again.  At least you’d finally met him, though your brief interactions had only made you more curious to know more about him.

You ran into each other more often on your runs after that.  Those encounters led to brief conversations and then to longer conversations, and eventually he asked you on a date.  Now here you were two years later, engaged and still using morning runs to bond.  It was funny how the situation was the same and different all at once, and you were learning to enjoy that duality in every experience with your fiancé.

Ushijima had lengthened his lead to half a block when you saw him pause at the next corner.  You thought he was waiting for the morning traffic before crossing, but he turned back to you.  Even after a mile and a half, he still looked remarkably composed.

“What’s up?” you asked, turning down the volume of your music.

“We’re getting married in three months.”

“Yes,” you said slowly, wondering where this was going.

“We’ll get to do this all of the time.”

“Maybe not all of the time.  I still can’t keep up with you.”

“I mean we’ll get to spend every morning together.”  He met your eyes with warmth and love.  “I’m really looking forward to it Y/N.”

“Me too,” you agreed, a pleasant blush rising in your cheeks.  Ushijima didn’t feel the need to stop and share his feelings very often, so you treasured these little moments when they came.  He bent down to press a kiss to your lips, and you didn’t mind that he was a little sweaty because you loved him.  Then he was turning away to continue the run as though nothing had interrupted it in the first place.  You chuckled breathlessly as you followed.  If running with him would include more of these moments, you might not mind getting up so early more often.

[thebountyfucker]

Overstimulated

Embo x F!Reader - 18+ ONLY (Very NSFW)

Tags: PiV, fingering, dry humping, wet and messy, overstimulation/multiple orgasms

Embo was the curious type.

Looking at him, you would never have guessed this. He was so… quiet, so serious, with a laser focus. He seemed like he should know all there was to know about the galaxy, and about you. And yet, you quickly learned otherwise.

Embo was always asking questions, though maybe not always aloud. You realized this was why he read so much - his bedside stands were constantly covered in paper and holo-books, and on off days, he could read through a few in a day. Though, not all questions he had could be answered by books. Those questions were usually broached in a tentative, proper manner; in many cases, you couldn’t help but laugh at how deadly serious he was.

These questions generally centered around you, or about humankind as a whole. Why did you leak blood sometimes? Humans are so soft, why? Why do humans have so much hair in certain places, but not in others? Why do human men and human women look so dissimilar? You didn’t always know the answers, but you shared what you did know with him. He seemed to understand, and adapted his care of you to suit this new information. Sometimes, though, his questions weren’t so chaste.

“How many times can a human cum?” He asked you one night. You were both sitting on your couch, watching some nonsense on the holo; your legs were draped over his lap, and he rested a hand idly on your calf.

This question caught you by surprise, only because up until then, your interactions had been nothing but chaste. His gaze met yours, his golden eyes betraying his curiosity rather than his lust. You shrugged at this after taking a moment to think.

“It… depends.” You answered, sincerely. You assumed this answer wouldn’t sate him, so you continued. “Those with cocks can usually only cum once during a session. People like me, with pussies, can cum as many times as they want. After some time, it can get painful.”

“Hm.” Embo hummed in acknowledgment, taking his time to process this information. The hand that rested on your leg mindlessly wandered up and down the length of your leg. “How many times have you orgasmed?”

“At a time?” You asked, and he nodded in response. “Three or four times… why?”

“Just curious.”

He was always curious.

For a while, it seemed that’s all he was - curious. But, you noted, his hand slowly trailed further up your thigh, and then swept between your legs. He gave your thigh a squeeze, but didn’t move closer to your cunt. His gaze was focused still on the holo, but you didn’t buy him doing this by accident. You slipped your hand over his, and that was enough to tear his gaze away, and center it on you.

“Are you looking for something?” You teased, and his eyes brightened.

“I suppose I am.” He replied. “If that is what you desire.”

You answered him by parting your legs and pulling your hand away from his. He shifted toward you, his large hand moving to cup your pussy. He pressed the heel of his hand against your already-sensitive clit, and you let out a small whine.

“Can we see how many orgasms you can take?”

You whimpered at the thought. How many could you take? Five? Ten? More? You hadn’t explored this yourself. But you knew that he would work you to the bone. His stamina outpaced anyone you had ever been with, and he had told you himself that he could last an entire night, maybe longer. Though the prospect was thrilling, you were nervous.

“I… I worry.” You admitted and he stopped his hand. “What if it’s… too much for me to take?”

“Then, we stop.”

“I don’t want to disappoint you.” You felt silly saying this; he had never given you any indication before that he was disappointed in you. And yet, you still felt this need to constantly please him.

“You will not.” Embo promised you, his voice surprisingly gentle.

You thought for a moment, before nodding. “Alright. Let’s do it.”

You leaned back on the couch, making yourself comfortable as he teased you through your pants. He cupped his hand against your pussy, creating this delicious friction as you rocked your hips. His other hand slid up your torso and rested on a breast; he rubbed the pad of his thumb over your nipple, humming in appreciation at the way your nipple hardened. This, in itself, was not enough to get you to orgasm, but your pussy was pleasantly wet.

“Get undressed.” He told you with a commanding edge to his voice. You stood, eagerly shucking your shirt and pants off. You tossed them aside, not caring where they landed, and went to pull off your panties. He stopped you, however, and pulled you closer. “Keep them on.”

You climbed up onto his lap, planting yourself on his hips, and wrapped your arms around his neck. You slowly rocked your hips against his cock, hissing as you felt it twitch against your pussy; the thought of his inhumanly long cock and what he could do with it made your cunt twinge. The gusset of your panties grew damp, and though you did worry about soaking through his skirts, it felt too good to stop.

He drew the pad of his index around one of your nipples teasingly, waiting for you to beg him to please you. You met his gaze and whined softly, placing your hand over his and moving it to cup your breast. Perhaps this wasn��t begging in the traditional sense, but he understood what you wanted. He gave it a squeeze, while his other hand snuck down to rub your clit.

The delicious warmth building in your belly spilled over into orgasm, and you threw your head back with a whine as you soaked through your panties and his pants. Your body felt electric, in a pleasant way, and your head felt like it was floating in the clouds. When you came back into yourself, Embo was helping to work your panties off your hips.

You lazily lifted your hips, a happy pink blush to your cheeks. He tossed your panties away, and then laid you back down on the couch. He parted your legs to inspect your slick pussy, and drew a thick finger through the folds.

“What I would give to taste you…” He sighed longingly, looking up to meet your gaze. His glowing gaze betrayed how serious he was, but you both knew how dangerous it would be for him to try right now.

Instead of dwelling on it, he returned to stroking your pussy with a finger, drawing it up and down the slit, around the lips, and along your clit. Every time he approached your entrance, you whined, trying to convince him to enter you. He would tease you, dipping the very tip of his finger inside, before pulling it away to continue stroking around your pussy. You wriggled, your pussy absolutely drooling at the touches, and tried to find some relief for your clenching pussy.

“Please, Embo.” You whined softly and he glanced up at you.

“Hm?”

“Please… I want you inside.” You didn’t care how pathetic you sounded. You could tell he was smiling behind that mask by the way the corner of his eyes crinkled up.

“Already?”

“Yes!” You cried, tensing when he circled the entrance of your pussy with his index finger. You were about to beg again when he slipped his finger inside; you gasped, feeling it slide in to the last knuckle. He eased it in and out slowly, just barely curling his fingertip toward your g-spot at each pass. You rocked your hips, trying to drive his finger in deeper. When he felt you were ready, he added a second finger; you stretched to accommodate his larger fingers painlessly.

He thrust his fingers into you faster and harder, curling them against your g-spot every time he pulled his hand back. Tension built in your body and your limbs went stiff; you desperately grabbed fistfuls of the couch cushions beneath you, squeezing it for dear life. Your orgasm built, looming over you, until finally the tension snapped.

You cried out, your legs shaking, your pussy clenched tightly around his fingers. That same electric feeling - still pleasant, but much more intense - rocketed through your body. It took longer to come back this time, and you felt more sex-drunk than before; your entire form was warm, and sweat was beading down your skin. Still, you had fight left in you.

Embo waited until you were done orgasming to remove his fingers from you. When he did, he brought his slick fingers to your lips, and you licked them clean. The taste of your release danced on your tongue, and you moaned around his fingers.

“Two.” Embo noted as he removed his fingers from your lips. “Are you finished?”

You shook your head vigorously. “No! Not at all!”

“Alright, then.” He wiped his hand on his skirt, before standing. “Do you want my cock?”

“Yes!” You whined, sitting up and watching as he started shedding his clothing. Unlike you, he wore many layers and it took quite a bit more time for him to undress. You lazily touched yourself as he did so, taking in every inch of his green form as it was revealed. He was surprisingly thin-framed for someone so strong, and his body held no softness; the density of his musculature made him as hard as a rock, but this didn’t bother you. You liked the way he felt against you, even if cuddling was sometimes a bit uncomfortable.

A giddy sensation rose in you when his long cock sprang free from his undergarments; you reached for him, wanting to feel its weight in your hands. He drew closer, and you wrapped your hands around it. You leaned forward, licking a wet stripe over the pointed head of his cock; you went to wrap your lips around him, but he stopped you.

“I am pleasing you, remember?”

“I know… but I like your cock…”

“Maybe another time.” He reassured you as he sat down on the couch; you climbed up onto his lap, and he helped angle his cock toward the entrance of your cunt. The head of his cock breaching you was enough to draw another orgasm out of you; you cried out, squeezing your eyes shut as your body went rigid, and then limp. Embo chuckled, not moving until you opened your eyes and met his gaze. “Sensitive.”

“Mmm…” Was all you could manage, and he slowly inched deeper into you. He was one of the largest cocks you had taken. Fucking him felt like constantly being impaled, but you wouldn’t want it any other way.

You stretched around him, relaxed enough that there was no pain. Those goddamned nodes of his brushed along your g-spot as he entered, drawing a moan from between your lips. He gripped your hips as you took him to the hilt, and waited for a signal that you were ready. You slowly nodded, and he eased out of you, before sliding back in to the hilt.

“Fuck!” You moaned, savoring the way his cock slowly slid in and out of you. He was quick to pick up the pace, jacking his hips up into you to hit harder, to reach further. You rocked your hips against his, feeling rather cock-dumb already; you felt silly for falling so easily apart after three orgasms, but you were determined to hang on.

Soon, he was going at a pace you were unable to keep up with, and he used his hold on you to lift you up. His nodes brushed along your a-spot and g-spot with every thrust, and your head began to spin; arousal built in your stomach again, this time a bit sharper and more electric. You let out a long, high-pitched whine, your head lolling back on your useless neck. Your orgasm came with a gush of fluids, and you went entirely limp on him.

“Four.” Embo noted, stilling his hips while you came to. Your body was drenched in sweat, your hair plastered to your face and neck. The cute pink blush was now a red flush marring your entire face and down your neck. Your eyes were half-lidded, and your mouth hung open rather dumbly. “You seem done.”

“No.” You whined. Four was not enough. You wanted to prove that you could take it. Besides, he hadn’t even orgasmed once. Embo gripped your chin, tilting it up so you could look him in the eyes.

“Are you certain?”

You nodded enthusiastically, your voice caught in your throat. He looked you over, tilting your head from one side to the other. He slowly nodded.

“Alright.” He lifted you off of his cock, and you winced a bit; instead, he picked you up and carried you to your bedroom. You were thankful for this, as you were sure you couldn’t walk at all. He gingerly laid you, stomach-down, on the bed; you lifted your hips and he slid up behind you. He drew the warm head of his cock up and down the seam of your pussy, spreading your slick fluids around. Your pussy, thighs, and even your ass were slick with your orgasm, but you knew it was only going to get worse.

He slipped his cock in you again, wasting no time in starting to thrust; you were well adjusted to him at this point. Your pussy felt gaped and used, but the feeling of his cock sliding against your walls kept pleasing you regardless. You rocked your hips back against his, less elegantly than previously. He leaned forward, and whispered in your ear.

“You are doing so good.” He praised in his native tongue. “You are taking my cock so well.”

You whimpered in response as his hands traveled all over your quivering form. He briefly rubbed against your nipples, which sent a pleasurable pin-like sensation to your nethers.

“Would you like me to cum in you? Hm?” He inquired, his voice holding steady despite his question. You nodded, almost desperately, and he jacked his hips up into you, holding you tight against him. He let out a hiss, and you felt his fiery hot cum shoot into you. It kept coming and coming, filling you up; you orgasmed again, milking his cock for all the cum he could give.

Your entire body felt like it was on fire, though there was immense pleasure in this pain; you fell face first into the bed, your body twitching as you rode off the high. Your mind was blank, centered only on sex; you wanted more. You needed more.

“I think five may be your end.” Embo noted, pulling out; his cum leaked out, dripping down onto the blankets beneath you. When you sat up, you realized you had been drooling.

“No… I can still go.” You pleaded, so goddamn cock-drunk that it was all you could think about. You reached out to touch his still-hard cock, crazen.

“I am not certain you can.” He said lightly.

“Please.” You whined, looking up to meet his gaze. He cocked a browridge at this. He was nothing if not accommodating, and laid you down on your back. He brought your legs up toward your chest, and slid in again.

The walls of your cunt felt tender - almost bruised - as his large cock bucked in and out of you. The lubrication of his cum helped ease some of this aching, but only barely. You held steady, though, whimpering and whining as he thrust harder, deeper. He leaned down, resting a bit of his weight on you, and nuzzled against your neck. What you wouldn’t give to kiss him right now…

“Are you holding on?” He inquired, his gaze flicking over your lusty features.

“Y-yeah.” Your voice quaked. You didn’t think you could say much more as he bore down into you with a reckless intensity. You knew he could orgasm more than once, but you knew that each time he orgasmed, he grew more and more out-of-control. Judging by how he ground into you, he was chasing a second orgasm.

“Too rough?” He asked.

“No!” You gasped, digging your nails into his back. He growled softly at this, grabbing at your cheeks and leaning down to press his forehead against yours. He muttered in his native language, much too quick for you to try to translate. He moved his hands from your cheeks and pressed a thumb to your clit. Suddenly, something in you snapped, and you came again; it was quick and sharp, pleasurable yet painful, as you gushed around his cock.

It took little time before he, too, came, shooting more cum deep inside you. When he finally stopped, he eased out of you, and backed away. A part of you begged for more, though another part knew you were spent. There was little more you could do before things got out of hand, and you got hurt. You panted, glancing over at him, wondering what was going on in that mind of his.

His glowing eyes were bright and near feral, but he slowly and gently calmed down.

“There we go.” He patted your tummy, which was distended slightly by the amount of cum he had shot up into you. Your bed was a mess. You were a mess. But goddamn, if pushing yourself didn’t feel good… “Shall we get you cleaned?”

You nodded at this, and he scooped you up and carried you into the bathroom. He started a nice warm bath, and climbed in.

“You did good.” He cooed in your ear as he washed you. “You did good.”

[matchasprouts]

Listen Closer - Chapter 4

[ girl help i can't stop writing this ]

First || Next || Previous || Last

He woke up to someone pounding on the door, which only successfully left a pounding in his head, therefore setting him up to be a little bitch for the rest of the day.

Since he was off on weekends, he usually spent them working on traps, or helping facilitate traps for John. Today was Sunday, which meant he needed to spend the whole day working on the furnace, or it wouldn’t be finished in time, which is probably why someone was banging on his door.

That realization didn’t make him any less pissed.

After a moment of fumbling around blindly without opening his eyes, he grabbed something solid and flung it vaguely at the door. He heard it hit the metal door with a thunk, followed by someone cursing in surprise. Amanda. Of course.

“Sorry ‘Manda!” he tiredly yelled at the door, having expected it to be John or Hoffman. Amanda never woke him up because she never had the courage to- not that he would scare her on purpose.

“I’m gonna get you back one day,” Amanda replied, giving the door one last bang before retreating back to her work.

It took a good few minutes, but Garrett finally rolled directly out of bed, hitting the concrete floor with a groan. After yet another few minutes, he properly got up, finally taking that shower he didn’t have the energy for last night before getting dressed.

Logically he should wear things that would be good to weld in but he was gay, and dressed like it. So he simply pulled up the sleeves on his cropped sweater and prayed to whatever god that would listen that his exposed midriff would not get burned.

He emerged from his room only to retrieve his goggles- which he hadn’t meant to leave out on one of the public tables- before retreating back to his personal workshop.

The furnace was so close to done, really just needing some closed up gaps and other various touch ups, plus he needed to make sure the trigger for the flames worked. He could finish that in a day if he started early enough, so he dove into it.

A few times he could hear the door open and close, either Amanda or Nar coming in to make sure he wasn’t secretly dead or injured. Occasionally they brought him a glass of water too, or tried to have a conversation. They only sometimes got a response.

“How long have you been working?” Narcissus asked, setting a new glass of water on the desk next to where Garrett was sitting. “Have you taken a break in the last hour? You know you can’t work non-stop without a break.”

Garrett knew he wasn’t just going to leave without getting a response this time, so he leaned back from his work and pulled his goggles down so they hung around his neck. “I need to get this done,” he said, gesturing to the furnace, “the game is starting next week. This is like, a huge part. Everyone’s counting on me.”

“Please get therapy for that,” Nar replied, surprising Garrett enough that he let out a sharp laugh, quickly turning away to hide his grin. “Don’t launch into a spiel about how this IS therapy, I get enough of that from Amanda. But seriously, you need to take breaks. If you work yourself to death, you won’t be of use to anybody, least of all John.”

He, unfortunately, had a point. Garrett didn’t like accepting defeat, but he could at least get something to eat. “Alright, fine, but if this is some kind of ploy to get me to interact with people, I’ll lose it.”

Nar chuckled at that, patting Garrett on the shoulder as he headed over to the door. With a sigh, Garrett stood up and followed, making a beeline for where they kept snacks for while they were working. Now that he realized he hadn’t eaten all day, he felt like he was dying.

“So he lives,” Hoffman spoke up, scaring the shit out of Garrett, who hadn’t seen him in his rush to get something to eat. “We were beginning to worry you had gotten hurt in there and were just too prideful to ask for help.”

“I think out of everyone here, I’m the least likely to just die for the sake of my ego,” Garrett retorted, grabbing a mysterious muffin he didn’t know the origin of to be his very late breakfast. Or would it be lunch at this point?

He took a bite into the muffin, letting out a sigh of relief when he didn’t die instantly.

Amanda was known for baking stuff for the apprentices, but she wasn’t very good at it if it wasn’t strawberry shortcake specifically or donuts. Since the muffin wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever bitten into, his second guess was that Nar baked them instead. He tended to be able to bake without accidentally introducing poison to the ingredients list.

“Don’t you have a real job to be at?” Garrett asked, leaning back against the table Hoffman was seated in front of, standing next to him, like an idiot. “You know, pretending to be on the good guy’s side, throwin’ off the trail…”

Hoffman just looked at him like he was insane. “You do realize that detectives don’t spend most of their time in the precinct, right? No one is going to question why I’m not there. They’ll just call me in if they need me.”

Can’t imagine having a job like that. “Right, right. Have y’all ‘found’ Cara’s body yet? I wanna watch when you do.” Through the cameras, of course. Garrett found it amusing to be right next to a police investigation and, since he covered the ‘on’ light on cameras he used, they never knew he was there.

“What?” Hoffman asked after a moment of bewildered silence, and Garrett vaguely recognized what he said was weird but simply stared back at the detective.

“I said I want to watch. It’s fun watching cops scramble around for an answer, like they did when they discovered my game. One of them threw up when they realized it was teeth marks in that bastard’s throat. So, let me know when you ‘find’ the body.”

Garrett looked away, returning to his muffin, leaving Hoffman to process the fact that he DESPERATELY needed real therapy.

He went to continue the conversation, maybe to learn WHY Garrett was so weird about watching the investigation, but his phone cut him off. “Hoffman,” he greeted when he answered, immediately catching Garrett’s attention. “Right,” he continued after a moment, tucking the phone between his ear and shoulder as he pulled out a notepad and a pen.

After a few “uh-huh”s and “got it”s, Hoffman had an address scribbled down- one Garrett immediately recognized as where his game had taken place. “Speak of the devil…” he muttered, gaining a somewhat concerned look from the detective.

“I’ll be there soon,” Hoffman said into the phone, grabbing it from his shoulder and flipping it shut. “I assume I’ll be meeting you there,” he told Garrett, before standing up and heading out. Garrett watched him leave, just like he did last night, except this time he wasn’t out of the door before Garrett was following.

---

Garrett actually ended up getting a ride from Hoffman, which was undoubtedly awkward.

They hadn’t been in this confined of a space together yet, and Garrett was making it a point to not look at Hoffman, which in turn just made Hoffman nervous because usually that means someone is about to lash out.

It was not a pleasant trip.

Garrett practically lunged out of the car when they arrived, moving much faster than Hoffman thought he could in order to avoid detection by the police. The last thing he saw was Hoffman getting out to greet another cop before he was sneaking into the building through one of the windows.

The building had two floors- the room he used for the game was on the bottom floor, and the room he had the monitoring equipment set up in was on the top floor. The building was easy to scale, which is why Garrett had no problem getting up there. He wasn’t worried about being found either, because he blocked off the door to the room when he left after the game.

He would take every possible precaution under the sun not to be found if it meant he got to watch the chaos he created unfold.

Garrett dropped to the floor from the window as quietly as possible, avoiding any chance of the floor creaking as he made his way over to the single monitor set up for the game. He clicked it on, and settled down in the chair in front of it.

The camera came to life almost immediately, and he grinned at the sight of the crime scene.

They’d moved Cara out of the iron maiden, which was a little disappointing but understandable, since they needed to inspect her body.

He couldn’t hear what they were saying, having turned off the sound just to be safe. If he knew any more about this investigation than what he could see and slipped up… he just knew he couldn’t let that happen.

So he settled for silence, instead reading their lips as best as he could.

At some point, they’d closed the box, though he wasn’t sure why. Did they put the key back in there? Were they using it to store the tape recorder, which was nowhere to be found despite Garrett leaving it right where Cara had dropped it?

It was odd, and Garrett didn’t like not knowing why they had done it. He would ask Hoffman later.

Speaking of the detective, Hoffman looked very… in his element here, in the middle of a crime scene. He looked confident and sure of himself, which Garrett didn’t see much back at the Jigsaw base. Maybe it was because they didn’t talk often, or Hoffman just still wasn’t sure about this whole apprentice thing. Either way, he was very attractive when he knew what he was doing.

Garrett also noted that Hoffman didn’t struggle even a little bit to pretend he had no idea who had done this, or deciding he simply didn’t see the difference between a normal Jigsaw game and this one. Part of him wondered if he was playing along because he knew Garrett was watching, but a larger part of him appreciated that he was such a good actor.

John had told him about Hoffman’s copycat killing- the pendulum trap built for his sister’s killer- so he wasn’t totally surprised that this came naturally to him. Still, it was nice to know he wasn’t going to slip up and get them all caught.

They were looking at the iron maiden now, and Garrett tensed up without noticing it. He didn’t want to leave it behind when the game was over, but he had to, so the body could be found the exact way she died. And he’d worn gloves while setting it up and building, but seeing people inspecting it made him nervous, and he started fidgeting.

It started with just a bounce of his leg, but the longer they looked, the more nervous he got. By the time they finally moved away, he had bitten hard enough into his hand to draw blood.

“Shit,” he muttered to himself, running his tongue over the wound so the blood didn’t start dripping. They were wrapping up the investigation now, since he hadn’t really left many clues for them- they already had Detective Hoffman and Detective Mathers was already warned about his upcoming game.

He watched them leave the room and shut off the camera once it was empty, listening through the window for the retreat of the cars. When he was sure no one was left, he climbed out the window and back down the building.

Admittedly, he was a little surprised to find Hoffman still there, leaning against the side of the car and waiting for him. It made him smile, and he realized that being grateful for small shit like this wasn’t helping his case to not get attached.

“Better drive fast, detective, I’ve got a furnace to finish.”

[yeochikin]

video games and questions. | p. seonghwa

a/n: thank you anon for requesting this! ngl this was p difficult even if it sounded easier it my head so i’m sorry this is short fdfjf i hope you enjoyed this! ✨💖 also lemme tag @hwanami hehe lov u 

word count: 2.5k.

warning(s): i don’t think there’s any, just some multiple times of a video game character dying!

“hey guys, welcome back to my channel!” you beamed, waving into the camera as soon as you started your stream, then adjusted your gaming headphones. 

you weren’t a popular streamer nor were you unknown as well, just somewhere in the middle of it. honestly, you never really cared about the attention you received. merely, you enjoyed what you did whether it was for a vlog, a reaction video, an occasional mukbang, and more often nowadays, gaming. you aren’t a huge gamer yourself due to work life but somehow, you’ve grown really hooked to this game even if it came out a few years ago. 

“so, today i’m gonna play this roleplaying based game from before, and continue where we left off!” you grinned, excitedly wiggling in your chair as you waited for your computer to load the game. 

while doing so, you read the comments left by the viewers, some were words of encouragement and support, and some were interesting questions that would either make you think deeply to yourself (not at how the viewers would take a screenshot of your confused expressions and use them as a meme). suddenly, as soon as you started the game, fingers quick to control your character in the game, a particular question caught your eye.

“ah, seonghwa? he’s in the other room, saying he needed to practice a cover he’s about to do.” you chuckled, gazing into the camera before cupping your lips as if you were whispering to someone yet purposely making your voice loud.

“we all know he sings well, damn angels must have blessed his voice.” an amused laugh bubbled out of your lips upon hearing the muffled ‘i heard that!’ from the other room by a certain male. 

park seonghwa, your boyfriend, was who everyone adored. just like you, he has his own channel, though he would mostly do singing covers or even dance covers. sometimes, you would even ask yourself how the two of you got together due to having differences when it came to your contents in your channels but if it weren’t for a convention the both of you were invited to a couple of years ago where the two of you first met, maybe the two of you wouldn’t be where you are right now. though it was rather awkward at first, you slowly came to realise you had a pleasant time with the male during the time at the convention, which led to you exchanging numbers and social media. 

“woah, a dragon! i wonder if i could ride i- oh, oh..” your jaw dropped as you watched as how your character laid lifeless on the ground after a minor accident. 

your eyes stared into the camera, eyes wide yet somehow they looked so defeated while your jaw was open, pulling a round of laughing emojis along with keyboard smashes in the comment section of your stream. as your character respawned, you buried your face into your hands as soon as you realised that you forgot to save before deciding to… ‘befriend’ the dragon in the game. 

“hey guys, remind me to save every time BEFORE i do anything dumb in this game.” you laughed frustratedly, starting to go over the quests yet again, mimicking the npc’s voice every time. you were too busy playing the game while occasionally engaging with your audience between loading screens, and telling your character to quickly escape from the enemies, that you failed to notice your boyfriend peeking his head through the door to watch you, an amused smile playing over his plump lips. 

‘y/n, who is that behind you?’

“ha-ha very funny, guys. there’s no one behind me, see?” you deadpanned after reading the comment, turning around to face the door. 

but instead of seeing only the door, your eyes were met with seonghwa’s head. due to half of his body was outside of the door, it looked as if his head was floating, effectively making you scream out of surprise, which made seonghwa yell along with you. once you calmed down, you pressed a hand on your chest, then glared over at your lover. 

“you could have knocked?” 

seonghwa merely sent you a straight, unamused expression with his hand on his own chest, before parting his lips to retort. “if you weren’t too busy yelling at your character to run faster, you would’ve heard me knocking.” 

“no! i would have heard you, yelling or not.” you protested. 

seonghwa merely rolled his eyes then smiled out of defeat, he couldn’t stay mad at you. walking further into the room, he wrapped his arms around your neck from behind and leaned down to press his lips against the top of your head as he whispered a small ‘hi’ to you. grinning from the sudden affection, you reached a hand up, and pulled his face a little closer so you could plant a tiny peck on his lips. turning to look at the camera, you gently nudged seonghwa to properly get into the frame so the viewers could see him a little better, now pulling up his own chair from his desk in the room to sit next to you.

“say hi, babe. i’m sure the viewers would love for you to join us.” you patted his thigh, laughing at how most of the viewers in the comment section were gushing at how good looking seonghwa is. 

with a bow of his head along with a gentle wave of his hand, seonghwa introduced himself to your audience. “hello everyone, i’m park seonghwa. y/n’s unexpected guest.” 

he laughed towards the end of his introduction after seeing you roll your eyes in a playful manner at him, knowing full well at this point he’s an expected guest from the amount of times he spent peeking in your livestreams or purposely creating a random reason just so he could join you in your videos. and in return, you would sometimes even appear in his videos to sing a duet with him.

the introduction managed to pull another round of gushing from your viewers while some even gave a casual ‘hi!’. you only gave him a small nudge with your elbow, your boyfriend feigning a pained expression as if you punched him in the guts. deadpanning, you turned towards the camera.

“somebody come and pick up this dork, he’s acting up today.” you said, earning a laugh from the male who then ruffled your hair.

despite being annoyed at his teasings, you can’t help but smile to yourself at how seonghwa was finally warming and opening up the more he joined your streaming while he interacted with some questions left by the viewers, whether you invited him or the latter merely inviting himself in occasionally. 

believe it or not, he was rather shy in front of the camera when you first collaborated with seonghwa for a mukbang video despite him having his own singing and dancing channel. though you finally understood why after he explained how he was.. in his own world whenever he did covers. it was no wonder seonghwa has  a lot of fans due to how well he expressed his emotions through them.

“babe, you’re not gonna make it in that jump!” you exclaimed as seonghwa took control of the game now.

“what are you saying? there’s a river underneath, your character will survive!” seonghwa protested before pressing the key, much to your protests.

“seonghwa wait!”

silence filled the both of you as you watched your character who is now laying motionlessly in the waters due to the miscalculation of the jump, courtesy to your boyfriend. the both of you stared into the screen.

then at each other.

then at the camera, both wearing a poker face on your features before groaning at the same time. you grabbed onto his arm so you could shake him while scolding him at how he should have known better, seonghwa letting you do as you please with a guilty smile played over his lips. standing up from his chair, he bowed his head.

“i’m sorry, i should have known before jumping straight into things. or in this case, off of random cliffs in the game.” 

his last sentence made you burst out laughing, yet again making your viewers cut the certain scene as a highlight for the day’s livestream. feigning annoyance, you gave out a sigh as you took over the controls once again while seonghwa read through the comments being left. 

“ooh, this is an interesting question, babe! what are your sleeping habits?” seonghwa said, eyes still glued to the comment section with the corners of his lips quirking up due to some comments that were hilarious to him.

“sleeping habits?” you hummed, leaning your back against your chair with lips pursed in thought. crossing your arms, you looked over at seonghwa and hummed, turning to the camera afterwards.

“i don’t think it’s that serious but sometimes he talks in his sleep.” you said, snickering underneath your breath when seonghwa lightly swatted at your thigh.

“hey, i don’t do that!”

“oh? then tell me why you think that i was san or wooyoung to stop teasing you, huh?” you raised an eyebrow, a huge grin threatening to curl itself over your brims from the flustered expression of your boyfriend.

“at least i didn’t almost fall out of bed from the amount of times i toss and turn.” he pouted.

“that was one time!” you whined, a red tint covering your cheeks as you remembered the said moment, promptly giving your boyfriend’s chest a light slap in retaliation as he teased you more and more. cooing, seonghwa pulled you into his arms and pressed a couple of kisses on the top of your head.

‘omg the two of you will be the death of me!’

‘you two should do more livestreams togetherrrr’ 

‘still can’t get over how seonghwa just pouted lmao’

the both of you giggled at the amount of comments as you shook your head, then went back to your game. the room was now filled with the sounds of fingers rapidly clicking onto the keys of your keyboard, your occasional groans and laughs from the various moments you encountered throughout the game, and seonghwa’s praise whenever you defeated an enemy, along with the occasional questions being answered by either you, seonghwa, or both. 

you’ve been playing the game for quite a while now and soon enough, you’ve finally grown tired of the game. totally not because of the fact that you kept dying in the game. with the remaining few minutes you had to spend, you decided to interact more with the fans this time now that you are more focused. 

‘y/n think fast, forehead kisses or hand kisses?’ one person asked. without a heartbeat, you immediately answered with a huge grin. 

“forehead kisses, definitely! something about them seems more… intimate in a way? as if someone is making you forget the things around you momentarily even without the need to say anything. just one forehead kiss is enough to erase the bad thoughts away, i guess?” 

next to you, seonghwa couldn’t help but to smile at how awed you looked answering the question as he listened intently and arms crossed in front of his chest, the certain dazed look in your eyes never fails to make him want to gather your frame in his arms and just give you all the forehead kisses you needed. suddenly, your laughter rang in his ears, making the male look at what you were laughing at, eyes widening slightly in the process.

‘in that case, let me be the one kissing your forehead lmao’

scoffing underneath his breath, seonghwa wrapped his arms around your waist and playfully glared at the screen, making a gesture with his hand as if saying that he had his eyes on the commenter.

“no, no, only i can kiss the little bun’s forehead.” seonghwa mused, a playful jealousy tone in his voice, wagging a finger in front of him as he hugged you close against him. 

“that’s a no-no, okay?” he spoke, causing you to coo softly underneath your breath from how the tone of his voice was slightly high pitched as he spoke out the sentence, somehow going a tad higher from the ‘okay’ he did. 

“sorry, guys. i guess seonghwa can only give me forehead kisses.” you laughed, shutting your eyes briefly upon feeling a pair of plump lips pressing against your forehead.

wondering how long you have spent playing the game, you opened your eyes and looked at the time. you had noticed that you spent almost two hours of just playing video games that you finally noticed that you felt hungry. before you could even say anything, a low rumble that came from your stomach made the words you were about to utter suddenly disappear. seonghwa, who also heard the low grumbling noise, laughed at you with a hand over his lips.

“i think that’s our cue to finally get lunch, huh little bun?” he grinned down at your flushed cheeks, dainty hands over your stomach. 

“oh yeah, definitely. so i’m gonna have to stop the streaming right here guys. see you in my next video, bye guys!” 

“byeee!” 

the both of you waved into the camera for a few seconds, then you reached out to end the stream. you then proceeded to stand up from your chair and stretched your arms out, the little dinosaur-like noise leaving your lips upon feeling your tense muscles relax, seonghwa doing the same. 

“thank you for being in my livestream today, i had fun. even though you made my character die after that jump from the cliff.” you laughed once seonghwa deadpanned at you.

however, the unamused expression slowly melted away into a look of fondness. he then placed his hand against the back of your head as an attempt to pull you closer so that he could press his lips against your forehead. 

“i had fun too, maybe next time you should collab with me again the next time i film.” he suggested.

“we can talk about that later but for now..” you trailed off, patting your stomach.

“we need to find something to eat.” you continued, seonghwa playfully giving a light poke against your stomach, then made his way to your small kitchen with you happily trailing from behind, your hand clinging onto the back of his shirt as you do so.

“ramen sounds good to you, little bun?” he inquired, checking the cabinets for said food. 

hopping on the counter top, you nodded your head in agreement. your stomach suddenly growled once again at the mention of food that it made you hug your arms close to your stomach in surprise, seonghwa laughing at the noise and prepared the utensils. while waiting for the water to boil, your lover leaned in to steal a little kiss on your lips. smiling sheepishly, you hopped off of the counter and helped him in cutting up the vegetables.

needless to say, the both of you spent most of the time in the kitchen just enjoying each other’s company along with playful hip bumps every time the two of you stood next to each other as you waited for the food to finish cooking. you couldn’t ask for anything more than this.

[agent-whiskeys-sweetheart]

You're So Warm

Pairing: Max Phillips x Reader

Summary: After a particularly hard day, Max decides to get a little more hands on in the hiring process. However, his plans quickly fall apart when he meets his newest employee.

Warnings: Some steamy kissing, one (1) bad word. Shitty writing.

part i part ii part iii

Max was seething. He threw himself down in his chair as soon as he stepped into his office. For the young up and coming star in the world of management, stress was a rare occurrence. However, even he was not immune to it. He had the unfortunate task of laying off a few employees this week. Usually that wouldn't have bothered him but the people he had sent out to deliver the sentence had been less than discreet. After the bodies of his ex-workers had been found by a snooping security guard, the company had gotten into some trouble. Legal had been up his ass all week as he dealt with the repercussions. He ran both hands over his face, letting out a deep sigh as he pondered the screwup. He needed a distraction. He looked down at the phone on the edge of his desk before picking up the receiver and dialing his secretary's number.

"Yes, Mr. Phillips?" She answered.

"Can I please see you in my office a moment?" No more words were exchanged as he quickly hung up and put his head in his hands. His secretary stepped inside his office shortly after. "Shut the door please."

One of the most important lessons he had learned about management was the power of delegation. Let your employees do the menial tasks so that you can focus on bigger things. That's exactly what he did. Of course, his style of management wasn't written about in textbooks, but it proved to be efficient. His secretary was the first person he turned. From there, he could delegate to her the task of "hiring" new employees. He hadn't turned anyone in months, it was no longer his job. However, after his impossibly long day, he felt that it might put him at ease to help in adding a new member to the team.

"What can I do for you, sir?" There was a small clipboard tucked under her arm.

"How many workers do we have in our employ that remain ... human?" She took the clipboard in her hands and flipped to a loose page, reading something quickly.

"Six, it would appear." He nodded.

"Send one of them in. I think it's time we expand our team." She shifted her feet.

"Are you sure? I could certainly take care of that for you." He looked up at her with dark eyes before smiling brightly to ease her.

"That won't be necessary. I can handle this one myself." The secretary nodded, not stopping to question her bosses motives.

Max picked a pencil up off his desk, twirling it in his fingers. He dropped it quickly when he heard a light knock on his door. "Come in," he replied warmly. He stood up as a young woman made her way towards his desk. He recalled seeing her a few times. She was certainly not unattractive which would make his task even more pleasant. He smiled at her kindly, holding a hand out to one of the chairs that sat in front of his desk. "Please, have a seat." She gave a small nod and sunk into the chair. He rested against the edge of the desk that was closest to her, crossing his arms. "What's your name, sweetheart?"

"Y/N, sir." Her answer was barely audible. Her shy nature would make this almost too easy.

"Y/N, nice to meet you. I'm sorry we haven't had a chance to talk face to face like this before now." She laughed lightly.

"It's alright. You're a very busy man, sir." He nodded, unable to look into her eyes because they were buried in her lap.

"You don't have to be so shy, you know. I don't bite." He joked. This caused her to bring her face up so that they were both looking directly at each other. He continued to smile. "There are those pretty eyes." He could have easily hypnotized her into doing what he wanted but the thrill of the chase was half the fun when it came to turning someone. She smiled back up at him. He took this as his cue to sit down in the chair beside her. She immediately tensed as his body came dangerously close, looking back in her lap.

"How long have you worked here, Y/N?"

"Three years, sir." He let out a low whistle.

"That is dedication. Have you ever been promoted in your time here?" She shook her head. "Now, that is such a shame. You may not have known this, but I have been watching you for a while. You're a very hard working young lady. You always stay late. Your reports are always very impressive. You don't goof off at work. You're a model employee." Her cheeks became flushed as she listened to his compliments. He ran his tongue along his lips as he watched the blood rush to her face. He could hear her heart beating faster. Normally he would be able to draw this out, enjoy every ounce of pleasure that came from turning her into a vampire but it had been so long. He didn't want it to be over too quick but he found it hard to restrain himself. "I think it's high time you got what you deserve, don't you?" She shrugged, not trusting her voice enough to try to speak. In an attempt to gain some confidence, she looked back into his eyes which she quickly realized was a terrible idea. They were deep and inviting. Even though a goofy grin painted his face, his eyes made it seem as though he wanted to devour her. She swallowed thickly, looking away.

Max couldn't wait another second. He had to taste her. Her pulse rung in his ears and he needed to feel it die out beneath his lips as they pressed into her neck. As he went to coax her closer, he pressed his hand into hers which was nestled in her lap. The feeling made his breath hitch. He pulled away for a moment before quickly scooping both of her hands back into his. He squeezed her hands tightly, closing his eyes as he felt their skin pressed together. She watched him intently. His breathing had changed, becoming much heavier and filled with need. Her eyes widened as she began to enjoy the intimacy of the act. After a moment, his eyes opened and he looked at her. She let out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "Are you okay?" Was all she could utter.

"Your hands are so warm." His response was barely a whisper. It had been ages since he felt something so hot against his icy skin. He hadn't expected such a deeply moving experience by something as simple as touching hands with her but he was taken aback by how good it felt. He didn't let go of her and she was secretly glad. His gaze wandered slowly from her eyes down to her lips which were slightly parted. He licked his own lips as he looked at her, wondering if they would be as warm as her hands. She watched him gaze at her. He didn't allow her any time to react before he pulled her mouth against his. His hands shot up to both sides of her face and he let out a groan. Her cheeks were scolding compared to her hands. She didn't fight him as he kissed her feverishly. Her hand came up to grab onto his jacket sleeve as she leaned into him. His tongue licked along her bottom lip, begging for entrance which she quickly granted him. He became overwhelmed by the feeling of her warmth all over him, her hands exploring whatever skin she could find. He began moaning into her mouth as she trailed her fingers into the open collar of his shirt around to the back of his neck. As she did so, he felt himself twitch against his tight pants which caused him to pull away. When he looked at her, her eyes were closed and she was panting heavily. He let go of her face and sat back in his chair. His eyes were wide as he processed what had happened. As she met his gaze again, he took the opportunity in her silence to stand up and walk back around to his large chair. When she saw him move away from her, she immediately shrunk back into the chair in embarrassment. When he was finally able to pull himself out of his strange trance, he realized what she might be thinking. "That was ... enlightening, Miss Y/N. I need some time to think about your promotion but believe me ... you will be seeing me again very soon." He winked at her, which made her smile. She didn't stick around to question what had happened.

As he watched her disappear out of his office, he leaned back in his chair letting out a sigh. How had he, the suave and powerful vampire, been enchanted by the touch of a shy little human? He was certainly confused by the interaction but he was sure of one thing; he couldn't wait to touch her again.

Tags: @zeldasayer @talesfromtheguild @ithinkhesgaybutwesavedmufasa @lannister-slings-and-arrows @readsalot73

[cami-chats]

A Professional Woman

Fandom: Jurassic World, Marvel

Pairing: Claire Dearing/Tony Stark

Warnings: Injuries in keeping with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Read on AO3 or below

Tony was signing through the pile of paperwork that was on his desk when Mrs. Arbogast buzzed him. He clicked at the intercom. "Yes?"

"Miss Claire Dearing is requesting to see you," she said.

He'd thought that she was going to be at work all day today-- and tomorrow too, for that matter. It's not as though they were living together, so he well and truly had not expected to see her for a couple more days. A phone call, maybe. An in-person visit? He hadn't dared hope. "Send her in."

"Yes, sir," she said.

Tony took his hand off the button and checked his appearance in the mirror. His jawline wasn't as smooth as he liked for it to be, but it was late in the afternoon so there was nothing to be done about that. A moment later, his door opened and he quickly tore his eyes away. Claire was, as expected, as beautiful as ever. She never had a hair out of place.

"Claire," Tony said, smiling. He got to his feet and walked around his desk. There was no point in sitting behind it like this was a meeting, after all. "This is a pleasant surprise." He took a quick glance at her outfit; it was professional, but not a suit like she used to wear when she was running the park every day. "I take it you're here on business?"

"Just came back from business, actually. Didn't have the time to change, but I wanted to tell you in person."

"Uh-oh," Tony said jokingly.

"I'm leaving tomorrow morning."

"Leaving?" Tony repeated, smile sliding away. "I thought your work was stationary to New York, now."

"It was when I was just making phonecalls."

"What changed?"

Claire's jaw went a little tight. "The hearing was today."

The hearing that she'd been waiting for ever since Isla Nublar's volcano went active. It had pushed her schedule from busy to insane because she was on a crunch now, where before, she'd had time to get all her ducks in a row, as it were. She'd been talking about it for weeks, about how this hearing could be the final judgment for what happened to the dinosaurs. "I thought that was the twentieth," Tony said, stomach sinking. He knew how important it was for her, and he'd had it in mind to make the time to be there for her.

"Today's the twentieth."

"Fuck," he breathed, rubbing at his eyes. "Sorry. How'd it go?"

"They decided not to intervene."

"I'm so sorry."

Claire shook her head. "The US government won't intervene, but there's another offer on the table. I'm getting on a plane tomorrow morning to help them track down as many of the animals as they can. Once they have them onboard, they are going to transfer them to a secure location."

"You're- I think I misheard something because it sounds like you're talking about illegal animal trafficking here."

"If there are no laws to protect them, then there is likewise no law in place to make it illegal to take them off the island."

"I wouldn't take that bet if I were you," Tony said, worried. He knew that Claire could handle herself, but she had a bit of a blind spot when it came to the dinosaurs; she felt responsible for them and for everything that had happened to them since the Indominus Rex had broken out. "And that's not what I mean. Selling them is going to-"

"Oh no, we're not selling them," she said quickly. She laughed, relieved. The stress that had been building up in her shoulders was gone, leaving her as relaxed as she'd been when she walked into his office. "No, they'll be brought to a privately owned island so they can continue living without human interaction. No visitors, no interference."

"When I offered you that, you told me to keep my nose out of it," Tony reminded her.

"I wanted to do this right, not ask my boyfriend to fix everything for me." She walked closer and gave him a quick peck on the cheek to soften any insult he might have taken from that. He put an arm around her waist to keep her close, so she put an arm around his shoulders as she continued to talk. "This is a legitimate offer from people involved in the Jurassic Project. I only came by to tell you that I'm going to be leaving tomorrow, and I'll be out of contact until I get back to the States."

Tony wanted to argue. He wanted to push for more information about these people so that he could vet them and make sure they were up to snuff, but her business was her business and she'd made it clear how she felt about him interfering. "Do you know when you'll get back?"

"The island's about to blow. Can't be more than two days, but I imagine it's only going to be one. We leave early in the morning tomorrow, and we should be leaving before tomorrow night. Day after, I could stop by, if you won't be too busy."

"I can honestly say that I don't know my plans. We could plan on you coming to my place for dinner?"

"I look forward to it," Claire said.

When Tony leaned in for a kiss, she met him. "I'm guessing you're going to be busy tonight?"

"I should go to bed early, and I do still need to pack a bag, but I could spare an hour or two." She cocked her head slightly. "What did you have in mind?"

"Nothing exciting. Pasta, maybe a movie in so we can be as dressed down as we like," he said with a smirk. "Does that sound at all appealing?"

"Extremely." She kissed him again. "For now, I will leave you to your work. See you at... seven?" she guessed. 

"Six thirty. I should be back by then, and if not, Jarvis will let you in."

"Or one of your other roommates," Claire said, ready-- as always-- to remind him of the fact that he lived with the other Avengers.

"Jarvis gets upset when they don't let him answer the door."

"I won't pretend to understand that."

Tony shrugged. "He's an old-school butler; he doesn't like other people doing his job. I'll see you tonight."

Since they were standing so close already, Claire gave him a hug and bid him farewell before leaving.

*

It was long past the time that Claire said to expect her back. Normally, Tony wouldn't be too bothered by that, since it had been someone else's schedule and she'd been guessing. However, he checked the news and saw that the volcano had erupted. There was no (reasonable) chance that she had been on the island when it happened, so she had to be back on continent. He called her phone and got no answer.

He gave it until she was officially late for their date to take action, which he thought was admirable restraint on his part. Tony did a little checking and was able to find out who she had been working for when she got on that plane. He did some digging and did not like what he found.

He rushed to go put on the suit. He'd be able to fly to the Lockwood Estate faster in the Iron Man suit than if he took the quinjet or went by car, even though he knew that Jim hated when he did this. Most of the time, Tony was understanding. Today did not count as 'most of the time'.

"Tony?"

"I'm busy right now, Jan."

"I can see that," she said mildly. "Do you need backup?"

"Unknown, but it's not Avengers business."

"Would you like backup?" Jan asked.

He glanced at her and saw that she was already suited up. "I don't know if it's anything, but if it is something, Claire's likely in danger."

"Claire... that's your new girlfriend, right? The one you don't want to meet us?"

"That's the one." Although ‘new’ wasn’t necessarily accurate to describe their dating status. They’d been together for a while. Granted a lot of that time had been long distance, so maybe that’s why Jan thought of her as being new. 

"She's the dinosaur lady, isn't she?" Jan asked, interest piquing significantly.

"Yes, and that's why I don't want you to meet." 

"Aw, c'mon, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I'd rather not guess. She might be kidnapped right now." At least, he was hoping she was kidnapped, because the other option was dead and the evidence would be buried under a volcanic eruption. "And if my suspicions are correct, it's tied up in animal trafficking."

"I think you mean dinosaur trafficking."

Tony shot her a flat look, and she tried, unsuccessfully, to smother her laughter.

"Sorry. So what's the four-one-one?"

"I'll tell you on the way."

"You got it," she said, giving him a mocking salute. Normally, she only did that to Cap, but Tony guessed it was fitting right now.

*

"So I know you said not to do you any favors," Tony said, closing the hospital door, "but I think this time should count as an exception."

Claire gave him a faint smile. It was hard to say if she was just tired, or if it was an effect from the oxygen mask she currently had on. It was only a faint stream to help with the smoke inhalation, so she moved it off to say, "I think I'll forgive you this time, because of the extenuating circumstances. And thanks. For saving us." Her and her team, she meant. They were next door and down the hall; Tony was going to check on them next. "What did you do with the dinosaurs?"

"I'm surprised that you waited a whole five seconds to ask about them," Tony teased. "They're on one of my islands. When you’re feeling up to it, I wanted to talk to you or someone in your office about the climate. I took my best guess at which one was the best fit, but I'd feel better if I had an expert's opinion." He knew pretty much nothing about animals, but they'd been dating long enough that he knew to actually care about climate.

"I'll see who's available," she assured him.

"Thanks." He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. "I'm going to go check on the others, and then I'll come back. Do you need me to get you anything?"

She shook her head. "You've done more than enough."

"I'm glad you think so, but that's not what I asked."

Claire chuckled. "I would really love a soda, if you can find one."

"Diet Coke?" he checked, and she nodded. "You got it, sweetheart."

"Thanks," she said. Tony left, and she moved the oxygen mask back on. The nurse had told her that it would be off by tonight, and she was looking forward to it. Moving it off anytime she wanted to talk was annoying. 

*

"Does Claire remind anyone else of Pepper?" Hank asked.

"Yes, but we all had the good sense not to say it aloud," Jan said without looking up from her sketchbook.

Steve, sitting next to her also drawing in his sketchbook, nodded. "They're both very professional women. It seems to be Tony's preference in partner."

"And it always has been," Jan added. "Trust me, Tony likes people who are competent. That being said, I suggest you not make that comparison to his face. Things are still... delicate, between him and Happy. And while we’re at it, don’t mention him meddling in Claire’s business. We’re not supposed to do that." 

“Yes, dear,” Hank said. 

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

Elliot, Just a Tech

Summary: Plagued by not having Admin rights on your work computer, you contact the IT department expecting to talk to your usual guy. However, you are greeted by someone new.

A/N: Consider this post-show

WC: 2596

Warnings: None

You looked over the icons on your desktop for the eleventh time, dragging the old version of Adobe into the trash for the tenth time, and growling with frustration as the error message appeared for what felt like the hundredth time.

Please enter an Administrator’s Username and Password.

After the great email phishing scam the month prior, the IT department had been directed to revoke all employee’s Admin rights to their computers. It wasn’t your fault your colleagues were too dumb to realize that you should not click on email that has been flagged as spam, even if it is a version of your boss’s name: Mattthew Whitman has scheduled a meeting with you at 9 pm!

As if Matthew spelled with three ts wasn’t enough to deter someone, scheduling a meeting at 9 at night should have been, not to mention the exclamation point to top it all off—no one ever enthusiastically scheduled a meeting. Ever.

Alas, no less than 13 people had opened the email, severely compromising the integrity of the network.

You needed to get rid of the old version of Adobe in order for your network’s cloud to allow the download of the updated version, so you were left with no choice but to submit a ticket to the IT department.

You and Matt, no relation to Mattthew your boss, had had several Zoom sessions since the start of the quarantine, mostly thanks to your need to actually get some work done. With so many more people on your network, the IT department was doing the best it could to make sure everyone was achieving basic functionality.

Opening a new work order, you quickly filled in your information and snapped a screen shot of the error message. In less than a minute, you had an email inviting you to a Zoom session.

“Matt’s really on it today,” you said while opening the link and waiting for him to start the session.

You had just glanced away to check your To-Do list when someone opened the Zoom session and you paused, staring at the downturned face of someone who was definitely not Matt.

“Hi,” you greeted awkwardly.

“Hi,” he answered, still not looking into the camera.

“Where’s Matt?”

The stranger looked into the camera, clearly caught off-guard.

“Uh, he’s off today.”

“So they finally unchained him from his desk—good for him!”

The stranger’s eyes widened a little in amusement, but he didn’t smile which caused your grin to quickly fade.

“Are you . . .” the stranger trailed off as he glanced at his other desktop monitor. “Y/N?”

“I am. And you are?”

“Elliot.”

“Are you the new Supervisor they were hiring for last week?”

“Nope. Just a Tech.”

“All right. Well, hi, Elliot, just a Tech. I’m in dire need of installing an update, which I cannot do because my colleagues are dumbasses.”

This time Elliot did smile, and you found yourself reaching up to fix the wild bun on the top of your head, wishing you had actually taken some time out not to look like a troll who had crawled out from under its bridge.

“I see that you can’t install Adobe’s update without administrative permission.”

“Yup. That’s my issue, I think.”

“I want to try something first,” Elliot said, concentrating on the task at hand as he looked away from the camera and to his other monitor.

“Can you locate your system preferences? You can find it by clicking on the appl-“

“Done. What do you want me to go into?”

Elliot looked back into the camera, then gave you a series of steps which you quickly followed.

“I am only semi-illiterate when it comes to technology,” you said, trying again to get him to smile and this time it worked.

Elliot adjusted his headset and lowered his eyes as he grinned. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to explain over the past few days.”

“Oh, I would absolutely believe them. I’ve talked three people in my department off a ledge just by explaining the magical powers of “Command + Z.”

Elliot chuckled, and the sound of his laughter filtering through the mic on his headset made you want to stay on the call as long as you could stretch it out.

“It looks like the program is not responding. I’ll need to take remote control of your desktop.”

“Have at it.”

You watched as Elliot worked, waiting for your mouse to start moving across the screen, but nothing happened.

“Uh, do you have any error messages on your end?”

“Nope.”

“Let me try one more thing,” Elliot mumbled, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

You sat quietly, letting him work, which gave you an excuse to just look at him and the more you looked at him, the more attractive you realized he was.

Elliot had a stylish haircut, although it looked like his fade had grown in quite a bit thanks to the lockdown. Tufts of straight black hair stood up on either side of his headset and you wondered if they’d be stiff or soft to the touch. His eyes were large, clearly the most enticing of the features of his face, except for his angular jaw that made you softly smile in appreciation of its masculinity. Elliot may consider himself “just a Tech,” but he was a damn good looking one.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” you blurted out, forgetting all of your manners thanks to the lack of social interaction.

Elliot fumbled as he was typing and looked into the camera, his lips parted.

“Oh, lord. That came out . . . blunt. I asked because Matt’s been loving working from home. His wife just had a baby and even though he’s chained up in his home office at all hours of the day he still gets to spend time with the people he cares about. Which is what I was trying to ask you—if you were enjoying working from home.” You finished with an awkward laugh, and a barrage of mental curses to yourself.

Elliot’s lip turned up with a quirk. “My sister stops by to bring supplies, but I live alone.”

“Oh—well, that’s nice you have someone to interact with. I still see my sister, too.”

“I like this. Not having to interact with people.”

“The only downside is the verbal vomit you spew when talking to someone new because you no longer understand social protocol.”

Elliot laughed again, that same breathy little chuckle that upgraded from drawing your attention to making you shift in your chair.

“I’ve never been particularly adept at social protocol. Hence . . . just a Tech.”

You laughed and Elliot must have liked the sound because he stopped to watch you, his eyes flicking over your face through the camera.

“You need to update the Zoom app for me to take over your desktop. I don’t know why yours seems to have this glitch, but are you ready for the steps?”

You grabbed your pen and a fresh post-it. “Lay it on me, Tech.”

Elliot smirked, then listed the steps. “I’m going to close the call, but as soon as you’ve completed the steps, click on our Zoom link again.”

“Got it!”

Your eyes connected and lingered for just a moment before Elliot closed out the call.

You missed him immediately.

“Oh, Matt. If I had known Zoom calls could be like this, I’d have dumped you long ago.”

You shook your head to clear it and began to go through the steps Elliot had listed for you. You wanted to get this right to prove to him that you weren’t incompetent.

Having successfully, and quickly, completed all of the steps on your Post-it, you reinitiated the Zoom meeting.

“You’re quick.”

“I’m sure you’re much, much faster,” you said.

“I can only go as fast as the web connection, unfortunately,” Elliot replied, staring into his other monitor again.

“Let’s try this again—remember the steps to give me remote access?”

“I think so . . .” you said, trailing off as you began to click.

You paused, then your mouse began to move without you.

“Excellent job,” Elliot praised and you knew you wanted him to praise you again . . . preferably away from a computer, maybe in a bedroom—

“All right. So I need to delete, reinstall, and wait for an error message that’s been popping up making this a little harder for people to do themselves.”

You watched Elliot control your computer, and once he got to a point where the app was updating, he paused and turned back to the camera.

“About that girlfriend thing you asked me earlier. Are you seeing . . . anyone?”

“I was . . . about six months ago. By the time I was ready to get back on the horse, the plague struck.”

Elliot chuckled. “Not exactly the best time to start dating.”

“No,” you said softly laughing, too. “I agree with you, about the whole nice not seeing people thing, though. For me, it’s more about setting my own schedule. I get so much more done without constant interruptions just to chat.”

“Kinda like we are now?”

“Hey! We are waiting on a signal to go to space and come back. It’s only polite to give it some time so it doesn’t feel like it’s being watched—like a watched pot never boils kinda thing.”

Elliot smiled, his eyes meeting yours and lingering as you smiled back.

A new box popped up breaking your eye contact and Elliot went back to work.

“Fixed. You shouldn’t have to worry about the next update. We’ve been reporting this glitch regularly so the developers should have it fixed by then.”

“Thanks, Elliot. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s my job,” he said with a slight shrug.

“Well, enjoy the rest of your afternoon,” you said, wishing you had a reason to stay connected.

“Yeah.” Elliot replied, looking at you again with those hypnotic, grey-blue eyes. If they could impress you through a screen, imagine what they looked like in person. “You too.”

You smiled at each other and when neither of you closed the call, you both laughed, Elliot looking a little shy and you looking a little embarrassed.

“I’ll close it. Don’t forget to fill in your survey so big brother knows I did my job.”

“Five-star service, all the way!”

Elliot chuckled again, and you shivered this time, the sound of his voice working its way through your entire body, filling you with a pleasant warmth.

“Bye,” he said, tucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he ended the meeting.

When the session closed out, you began to think of ways to break your computer so you needed to talk to him again, but before you could pull a purposefully dumbass move like downloading a virus, a sticky note popped up on your desktop.

212 555 0179

Probably breaking work protocol, but text me sometime if you want.

~Elliot, just a Tech

“Oh my god!” you gasped, glancing up at your camera to make sure you really were disconnected, unable to shake that feeling like someone was watching you. You reached for your packet of stickers and placed a fresh one over the camera of your computer—better paranoid than sorry!

“Should I text him now? Is that desperate? Or is it mean to make him wait? Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you said, pacing around your small office space.

“Just a simple hello,” you decided. “First, gotta find my phone.”

After walking through your apartment, you found your phone in the kitchen, unsurprisingly because snacking had become your favorite hobby since the lockdown began. It was a blessing and curse to be able to eat whenever you wanted.

You took your cell back to your computer and smiled again at Elliot’s virtual Post-it note and typed in his number and contact information.

Hi, Elliot ☺️

Hi, Y/N. I hope your emoji means I didn’t creep you out

That’s what this one 😱 is for

Lol. Got it. I don’t really do the emoji thing. They kinda confuse me

Well then! Maybe that’s why we met? You know all the real techy stuff, and I know all the silly techy stuff. I can teach you to emoji like a boss 😎

Sunglasses = boss? Shades? Because bosses are shady?

🤣more like the shades mean you’re just too cool to care. Like a boss attitude. But actually 🤔that’s a really great analysis!

See? Confusing 👽

Confusing as in no one knows what’s really “out there” huh? Wow. I like your way of emojiying (new word, just go with it)

Lol really?

I do!

Can I ask you something?

Sure

Which emoji makes you think of me?

👀🦋💬🧸🧨 😰📱😃  

You stared at Elliot’s text, a goofy grin on your face as you tried to puzzle out his emoji story. The eyes, okay, but the rest was sort of a mystery.

Lol! I need to do this in pieces so you can tell me if I’m right or wrong

Ok

So, you saw me and thought I was nice? Pretty? Delicate?

Lol pretty

Ok. Thanks, btw. We talked and then, oh boy, this is tough. An exploding bear? Talking to me made you feel like you were going to die? This is not good.

🤣 Poor choice of the firecracker, clearly, but take them as two separate things. What do you associate with a teddy bear?

Um, childhood . . . safety? Protection?

Close! Warm, safe. You seem like a warm, safe person to talk to.

I am grinning like an idiot right now. You are so sweet. But on to the firecracker? Wait! Like sassy? Like I have a firecracker personality?

Yes! You’re funny in a forward, witty way. I guess the “She’s a real firecracker” thing might be a bit outdated.

I LOVE IT. I gotta keep going now. This part is easy, I think. Sooo even though you felt nervous, you took a chance and left me your cell, and now you know it was a good choice because you made me happy.

Almost—when you texted, it made ME happy. Hence 😃 and I have big eyes so I used the big eye happy face.

I.am.dying. That’s the cutest thing anyone has ever done over a text in the history of the world!

Lol. Is there a dramatic emoji because I don’t think anything I’ve ever done is that great.

This WAS great. I’m serious

Do you wanna maybe have dinner over Zoom? God how lame is that?

You respect the quarantine—not lame at all. I’d love to!

They let me unchain myself around 6. I’ll send you a link at 7?

Perfect! But what are we going to order? Shouldn’t we order from the same place to make it more authentic?

Do you like Chinese?

Who doesn’t?

You looked at the location Elliot sent and laughed with the irony that it was your favorite take-out spot.

How did you know that was my favorite take-out spot?

Lucky guess 🤷🏽‍♂️

Well, lucky Elliot who is just a Tech. I’ll “see” you at 7. If we order the same dinner, I’ll consider it a sign that we are meant to take over the world together by eliminating one dumbass’s access to a computer at a time 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

Lol except that would leave me out of a job

We will find you something more meaningful, I promise

Make me a list 😃

You got it! Can’t wait for 7 ☺️

Me either

* * * * *

Tags: @ramimedley @clumsybookworm18 @r-ahh-mi @aboutthatmelancholystorm​ @alottanothing​ @sherlollydramoine​ @txmel​ @diasimar​ @hah0106​ @flipper-kisses​ @rami-malek-trash​ @ramisgirl512​ @dancing-disco-deacy​ @just-a-queen-bee​ @eightiesriot​

Maybe a Part II? 

[inkofamethyst]

September 11, 2021

Crazy how my country has been involved in a literal war for almost literally my whole life.

I wasn’t planning to post anything today at all, but events did occur!

I woke up early this morning to go grocery shopping for a few items (I’d intended on going during the week using the bus, but the process of timing everything out seemed so scary that I abandoned the idea), and it was quite pleasant.  I now understand why people who wake up early think they’re better than everyone else.  10/10, would get up early to walk to the store again.  Groceries are not cheap though, and I didn’t manage to pick up everything I wanted (namely, oreos.), but I got the chicken broth that I eventually used in a so-so buttered noodles dish I made for dinner, but we’re getting there.

I got back, put away my groceries, made breakfast, then started working on my hair.  I decided that today would be the day that I’d take out my extensions and do regular degular twists instead.  WELL I was soon reminded that I had a meet and greet with an organization I’m part of this afternoon.  I’m glad I started replacing my hair from the back because it doesn’t look so bad, and I decided that I’d only do four rows, go to the event, then finish upon returning.  WELL my dancer-friend texted me about going to a Harry Potter Trivia fall welcome event with her boyfriend, and I couldn’t say no to that.

So I go to the first event, volleyball on the campus mall.  Now, y’all know I’m not a sports person.  Ain’t got no coordination, and I’m only interested in the Olympics when those roll around every two years and I enter a deep state of bliss for a few weeks.  So uh, long story short, I got smacked in the face with a volleyball because I misjudged where it was going to land.  It worsened my already light headache by a few degrees, but I stuck out the event until the end.

Went back to the apartment and made myself some buttered noodles.  They were okay.  Too salty, I think (my fault), and the noodles weren’t quite as flexible as I’d like.  Improvements shall be made next time.  I added parsley and green onion to it which helped, and I heated up some meatballs and chopped them up to put in the dish and those were a nice touch for sure.

Then I went to the trivia with my dancer-friend and her boyfriend.  So, my dancer-friend is a huge Harry Potter nerd.  Like, sure, I might’ve been wearing my Ravenclaw jacket there, but all three of us knew that she was the one with the real chance of winning.  And wouldn’t you know it, we arrived just on time to be one of the last people let into the room (room capacity limit set due to covid).  The trivia was a 39-question Kahoot game (note: the app is faster than the web browser), where the first 30 were super ultra “basic” facts about the plot that anyone who’s read the books once, seen the movies once or twice, and perhaps participated in light fandom would probably just know without even thinking.  The final nine were super random questions about the case.  My dancer-friend worked her way all the way into first place out of sixty players with 37/39 correct, the most of anybody!!  She won a pair of Beats and I could not be happier; she came into the event lowkey stressed because this is one of her areas of expertise, and she entirely girlbossed it.

We went back to her apartment which is far livelier than my own in both decoration and interaction (we’re cordial in our apartment, but not, like, ultra close) and chatted for an hour and a half or so.  It was a lot of fun!  I have to remember to invite her to the climbing wall the next time I go because she said she’d be interested.  Also since I’ve never done the actual climbing wall it’ll be nice to go with someone (and hey if I happen to meet that guy there too then that’d be cool ig yknow if it just so happens that the fates want me to be happy and all (also I’d wanna test whether there might’ve actually been interest or if he was just being nice because the point of the event was to meet people and be nice to them (and also like,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I’m not entirely being a hypocrite here when I was all “i dont rly wanna date rn” earlier this year bc that was about dating apps, so... yeah, yeaahh,, yea (I hate potential crushes ugh because like, what am I gonna do with this, huh??  Am I willing to pursue this??  Idk at this point I just wanna know what another interaction might be like, is that too much to ask?  Then I can go from there (aghh this is turning into another thing like what happened at the beginning of senior year isn’t it??  I gotta keep my cool this time (it’s not even that big of a deal, this campus is huge and there’s a good chance we may never meet again)).)), also I hope I still feel as cute without long hair :/ like I’m trying to use the banding method to keep everything from shrinking up too much, but it’s still significantly shorter than my poorly-done extensions :/// (though most nonblack folk probably aren’t paying attention enough to tell the difference, especially not nonblack men but idk))).  After that parentheses fest... maybe I’ll invite her the second time I go.  We’ll see, we’ll see.

That was today, a good day.  I’m going to shower then see how much more of my hair I can get done before I’m too tired to continue.

Today I’m thankful that I got to hang out with my dancer-friend.  This is what I miss about being on campus.

Also, and this is a bit of a less-happy note, but it is notable: so my dancer-friend lost her grandfather over the summer and hasn’t been back on the Discord since.  We danced around the issue of feeling awkward about going back, not really touching on the whole “my grief felt all-consuming for a long time and I feel like it was too long and now I don’t know how or when or where to re-enter the group chat,” though I knew exactly how she was feeling.  I’m thinking about texting her about it.  I probably should. I might just do so.  We can go back together, maybe, if she’s ready.  I think I am.  I think I have been for a while.  I just haven’t quite taken the leap.

[k-writer1998]

Who Said Love Was Easy? (2/12)

      There are many different kinds of people who come and go from your life. Some will stay constant and sturdy like a river, growing alongside you, others will come like a whirlwind who wreaks havoc and leaves just as quickly, then there is everything in between. In this twisted maze of connections, that is where our story begins. A steadfast boy, a girl with a past, a little bit of alcohol, mistakes, and some love. Where can you go wrong with that?

angsty fluff

w.c: 1.7k

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

      I’ve been spending more and more time at the pub, partly because I was still trying to coax the weary Jeongin into friendship but also Jaehyung has been inviting me to come over more, his nosy-neighbor-senses kicking in. I’ve nearly broken Jeongin though cause he’s warmed up sufficiently since running into him. Gahyeon on the other hand seems to be cautious around me but as the saying goes “keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” It wasn’t like she was any bad, if anything I could see why Jeongin was so infatuated with her. She gives off girl-next-door vibes minus the naivety. Like Jeongin, she brought in a lot of customers with that personality but as the only female server a lot of guys come through in hopes to be served by her. That meant Jeongin’s eyes were constantly on her, ready to step in at any given moment.

“It’ll be faster if you just start barking at people. Then everyone would think you’re crazy and people won’t pay attention to her. Are you trying to burn holes into her skull?”

“Can you not for one day y/n?” he rolled his eyes.

“I’ll stop if you stop first,” I wink before adding, “If anyone so much as looked at her the wrong way Chan, Younghyun, and Jaehyung would be there in seconds you know.”

“There’s just been a lot more creeps lately and it’s been really packed.”

“It can’t be helped. It’s summer vacation for college students so everyone’s going out to de-stress from exams. Why so overprotective anyways?”

“She got bullied in high school. She’s the type to say what she wants so a lot of the girls didn’t like her and a lot of the guys bad mouthed her because she rejected them bluntly.”

“Oh? she looks so pleasant I would’ve taken her as a pushover.”

“Wait why am I even telling you this?” He blinked a few times at the realization.

“Because we’re good friends obviously,” I leaned forward with a smile.

“Whatever, I’m telling the hyungs you dropped the honorifics.”

“No you aren’t.”

      There was a call from the kitchen and he briskly walked away. I shrugged it off since he was still working after all but as I watched his figure disappear into the kitchen, the next thing I knew Jaehyung bursted from the door and stormed over. My mouth fell agape at Jeongin who was watching me from the kitchen door snickering to himself. Snitch.

“l/n y/n!”

“Jaehyung-oppa listen-”

      Safe to say I was thoroughly lectured but it was worth it to know I made him smile… albeit because of my sorrow but minor details. Jaehyung asked to go home together again so I sat quietly in my corner seat as they had a store meeting. Watching them interact, now and throughout my time here, their dynamic was really something. Jaehyung and Younghyun act like they hate each other and are at each other’s throats yet they match each other’s energy to work perfectly together, Chan is like the middle child who acts like the youngest but will step up when needed, Jimin always butts heads with everyone but she still makes sure everyone is cared for, and lastly there are the two newest members Jeongin and Gahyeon… long term friends from school with the same sunshine type energy that every one of the older employees love to dote on like some dysfunctional… family… 

      Allowing my mind to fill itself with thoughts of Jeongin recently, I nearly forgot what time of year it was. Almost. My thoughts betrayed me and not wanting to make Jaehyung’s worrying/nagging worse I stepped out into the summer night. First it was just the loneliness setting in but it's different now with certain annoyances making an appearance last year. It’s like they’re watching and waiting… haunting me to make sure I can’t be happy for the rest of my life. All because of something I had no control over. As I tried to collect myself before I went down the family trauma rabbit hole, I received a text notification and rolled my eyes at the message. A strong urge to throw my phone came over me as my vision blurred red for a second and felt my arm raise for a moment, phone in hand, before a voice brought me back to my senses.

“Regardless of whatever you saw on there, I would advise you not to break your phone unless you can afford a new one.”

      Of all the people, he was not the one I pegged as someone who would’ve followed me out here. My brain was racing to pull itself together, still spiralling from the earlier train of thought, that my response exposed how confused I was.

“Jeongin? What are you doing out here? Aren’t you guys having a meeting?” 

“Yeah but hyung keeps looking to make sure you don’t leave so I decided to take one for the team and tell you to come back in so he can focus.”

“And here I thought you came out for me,” I joke as my arm falls back to my side, my snarky smartass persona finally loading up again.

“Whatever makes you happy,” he rolls his eyes before asking, “Is something going on though? You almost threw your phone and hyung usually isn’t this antsy with you.”

      He noticed? I couldn’t help the small surge of happiness that shot through me but of all the things why did he have to notice this? As tense as I was at his observation, I threw on my usual smile and did what I did best.

“Awww so we really are friends, you care,” I tease and he glared back at me. “Everything’s fine, really. Jaehyung-oppa thinks I get kinda weird around this time of year cause something happened last year. He’ll be back to normal by next week.”

“... okay. Are you gonna stay out here? We’re basically done anyways,” he responded as he glanced at the group inside before eyeing me suspiciously.

“Yeah, let him know please. Also let him know to stop being a worrywart.”

“Tell him that yourself.”

      With a huff he walked back in and I was finally able to relax. Leaning against the window with a sigh, I wished it was winter so I could watch the smoke curl from my lips into the air. It’s oddly calming to watch it disappear and to feel the chill set in my bones. Instead I’m left with the stifling heat of summer and the slightly unsettling thought that Jeongin possibly saw through the act… I’m such a mess. I want him to pay attention to me and now that he has I’m getting antsy. Well this is the only exception I guess, Jaehyung only knows cause he saw it happen. If I had it my way no one would know. Once in the safety of my four walls, I fell into my bed with a groan. Today kinda sucked but I knew it would only get worse until that day comes. Looking at my desk in the corner of the living room with unfinished work strewn across its surface, I let out a sigh. Might as well work to get my mind off it.

      Ding. Ding. Ding. Drowsily raising my head from my desk, I rubbed my eyes in annoyance. The sun was up and Jaehyung knew my door code so who is being so irritating this early? Looking at the intercom monitor, I should’ve known it would be one of those vermin. With a groan I went to “greet” my half-sister, clad in her expensive private school uniform, as I glared and leaned against the door frame.

“To what do I owe the honor of a visit from the princess herself?”

“You weren’t answering mom’s messages and she wanted to make sure you’d be coming home for dinner this weekend.”

“Let me guess. Grandma is invited so I have to show up to make you people look good? Not interested so leave.”

“Don’t act so high and mighty. If you didn’t want to be a part of this family you shouldn’t have-”

“Get it right,” I sneered. “Your mother kicked me out for being a reminder of her husband’s infidelity and was forced to sign away my rights to the family and shares left to me in dad’s will just so I could get the money he left me for college. I’m sorry I actually care to visit dad besides his death anniversary and happen to run into grandma, nothing changes the fact that I’m the illegitimate child right? So run along before you’re late.”

      She stamped her foot and huffed at my indifferent face and challenging tone before turning on her heel and stomping to the elevator. I tiredly rubbed my face before running a frustrated hand through my hair. I did not need this first thing in the morning. Back inside my apartment, I grabbed my phone and called my best friend.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of this early morning wakeup call?” He groaned in annoyance. We both weren’t morning people.

“How early can we hang out?”

“Depends. On a scale of “I miss you” to “I want to pull my hair out,” how bad is it?”

“Younghee blew up my doorbell at seven in the morning to tell me to have dinner with them.”

“Oof. I’m shadowing my dad today but tomorrow night for sure, okay? I promise we’ll have fun and you can forget about them. ”

“Our handsome Changbinie is so great~ This is why you’re my best friend.”

“Shut up, I’m still two years older and I’m your only friend y/n.”

“No, I have Jaehyung-oppa and the others from the pub!”

“How can you be friends with someone who doesn’t like your best friend? I didn’t even do anything to Jaehyung-hyung to be hated like this.”

“I don’t like you and you are my best friend.”

“I- Nope, you love me by default because I’m the only one who knows all your secrets,” he countered.

“Who said you’re the only one?”

“Lover boy doesn’t count. He was drunk and probably doesn’t remember plus it’s not like you’ll see him again.”

“Wrong. I can since I have~”

“Young master, President Seo says you must get ready.”

“That’s me,” he groans, “you better catch me up! Maybe your life won’t be a revenge drama afterall," he gasped teasingly. "Is it a romantic comedy?”

“Shut up, does that make you the second lead dearest best friend?” He faked a gag and I chuckled, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

[starcountesseevee]

Just a cute Cliff x Reader one shot idea I had! First time doing a reader insert, hope I got it right!

Valentine’s Day

You had stalled in the break room until you were sure most of your fellow Grunts would be gone for the day before making your way to the locker room to change. As you opened the door two other girls were just coming out and you forced a smile and wave as they left before quickly dropping the cheery act as you headed to your locker. It was Valentine’s Day and you hadn’t intended to spend it alone, in fact, you still had reservations for later this evening for you and...No, you thought, you weren’t even going to think his name. He didn’t deserve it. Even though you hadn’t been together long, breaking up on today of all days was low. You yanked open your locker as you fought back tears, thankful that no one else was around to see you like this. Glancing at the small mirror in your locker you tried to push thoughts of him away but instead your reflection began to blur. You angrily swiped the tears out of your eyes with one hand while the other balled into a fist at your side, and you almost gave in to the strong urge to slam your fist into your locker. Instead an idea sparked in your mind and you grabbed a pair of leggings and tank top from your locker. 

You slowly pushed open the door to the in-house gym, wincing as it creaked, and listened for signs of anyone else. Not hearing anything you stepped in and made sure the door shut gently behind you. It felt silly, sneaking into somewhere you had every right to be, but you really didn’t feel like running into anyone right now. You made your way over to the piece of equipment that had sparked this idea in the first place, the punching bag. Dropping your water bottle and towel next to it you popped in headphones, confident that if no one was here now there wouldn’t be anyone later given what day it was. It didn’t take long, especially as you pictured your newly ex-boyfriend’s face on the bag, to get in a zone and work up a sweat. 

Cliff pushed back from his desk with a loud sigh, the last report of the day was finally finished and it was about time. He was the last one here, Sierra and Arlo had taken off early citing the holiday but Cliff didn’t have plans and figured he’d rather not let this work pile up for the next day. Standing up with a stretch he checked the time and was surprised to see it wasn’t as late as he had thought. Maybe there was some time to get a workout in before it got too late. He shut down his computer before changing in his office and heading down to the gym. As he opened the door he was surprised to hear someone else clearly going to town on the punching bag and was even more surprised to see who it was. You evidently hadn’t seen or heard him as you continued to take some kind of emotion out on the poor bag, something Cliff had to admit he wouldn’t have pictured you ever doing. You had joined Team Rocket a few months ago and had landed on his team. While the two of you had never had much interaction beyond a professional comment on training here and there you had definitely caught Cliff’s attention with your skill. And looks. Cliff thought as he found himself staring at you but quickly brushed the thoughts away. He was your boss after all, and he had heard you were dating someone anyway. Not wanting to startle you he cleared his throat to try and get your attention but was unsuccessful so he moved forward a few feet to try again. As he did you let out a shout and gave the bag a kick that sent it swinging right to where he had moved. He caught the bag with both hands as your hands flew to your face. 

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” You exclaimed as you yanked your headphones out. “I didn’t know anyone was still here.” Shit. Shit. Shit. Why was he still here?!

“No worries. No harm done, although I don’t know if the same can be said for the bag.” He joked before catching the look on your face. Were those tears? He frowned. “Everything alright?”

“Yeah, mhmm, all good here.” You tried smiling. “Just...um…” No, no, no, no, no! You mentally yelled at yourself as the adrenaline began to wear off. You were pretty sure all the anger at your ex had been taken out and now all that was left was the hurt. But dammit, you weren’t going to cry in front of the boss! “Actually I was just leaving.” You bent down and grabbed your stuff intending to make a hasty retreat to the locker room but a warm hand on your shoulder stopped you. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Cliff’s tone was gentle and sincere and you couldn’t stop the stream of hot tears that escaped your eyes this time. “Hey-” He began but you cut him off by standing up abruptly. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be...I should go.” 

“(Y/N).” Cliff looked at you with concern. He didn’t like that you were crying and had a sudden urge to know why and fix it. “Hey, you can talk to me, what’s wrong?”

“It’s...stupid.” You laughed at yourself as you brushed your cheeks with the back of your hand. 

“If it has you this upset it isn’t stupid.” 

You eyed Cliff for a long moment as you contemplated telling him. On one hand he was the boss and your ex was also on his team. On the other hand he did seem genuinely concerned right now. “It’s Steve. We...he just broke up with me.” You finally said, swallowing hard while not daring to look at your boss’s reaction. 

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.” Cliff had heard that you two were dating and while it wasn’t good that you were upset a small part of him was glad you were now single.

“I told you it was stupid.” You let out a small laugh. Now that you had finally let yourself cry about it you felt better and a little silly. “It’s just...today of all days, ya know? I had reservations and everything...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be complaining to you.”  

“No, it’s fine, really!” Cliff smiled warmly at you and placed a hand on your shoulder, giving it a little squeeze. “My door is always open if you need to talk.” 

“Thanks.” You smiled shyly back suddenly very much aware of the fact that you were alone in here with your boss. Your hot boss. You felt your face begin to turn red and knew you should probably leave before you made a fool of yourself again. “Well, I guess I should get going.” 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Now that you had said you were leaving Cliff realized he wanted to find a reason for you not to. 

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks.” You smiled at him again and Cliff’s heart beat a little bit faster in his chest. 

“What about your reservations?” He asked as you began to turn away and was glad when you turned back.

“What?” You tilted your head to the side with a laugh. 

“You said you had reservations for tonight. It would be a shame for it to go to waste. Why don’t I take you?” 

You froze. Did your boss really just ask to take you to dinner? 

Cliff took your reaction as a bad sign and tried backpedaling. “I mean, if you want. I would feel terrible letting you go home like this-.” 

“Yes.” You interrupted him before you could change your mind. Like he said, it would be a shame if the reservation, not to mention the little red dress hanging in your closet, went to waste. And if you cleaned up quickly you should make it just in time. “That sounds nice.” 

“Great. It’s my treat, you deserve it.” Cliff grinned. “For all your hard work, that is.” He added quickly hoping he didn’t sound too unprofessional, reminding himself again he was your boss. 

You told him you needed to get cleaned up first and gave him your address to pick you up at in an hour. As soon as you were out of headquarters you began running, thanking Legendaries you didn’t live far. Before you knew it the hour was up and your doorbell was being rung. You took another quick look in the mirror, smoothing your hair one more time before grabbing your keys and opening the door. 

To say Cliff was surprised would be an understatement. Aside from in the gym earlier he had only ever seen you in your Grunt uniform and seeing you in a dress, especially a dress like the one you had on, was a pleasant surprise. “Wow, (Y/N), you look stunning.” 

“Thanks.” You blushed as you stepped outside. “You don’t look half bad yourself.” Cliff had ditched his Team Rocket uniform for black slacks and a blue button up shirt; that was tight in just the right places you found yourself thinking. He hurried to open the passenger door for you before getting in himself, following your directions to the restaurant. 

The table you two were seated at was small and draped in a pink table cloth that was covered in red hearts with a bouquet of roses in the middle. You groaned internally having forgotten that you had chosen this place for the romantic atmosphere they were known for on this holiday. 

“Ahh, sorry, I forgot about all this.” You smiled sheepishly. 

“Don’t be.” Cliff seemed more amused than anything. “I understand, you weren’t supposed to be here with me.” 

“Right…” Your heart sank a bit as he reminded you of what had happened this morning. Seeing your expression Cliff immediately regretted bringing it up. 

“I’m sorry, (Y/N), I shouldn’t have mentioned it.” 

“It’s okay.” You forced a smile and reached for your glass but were startled when Cliff placed his hand over yours. 

“If it’s any consolation I think he’s an idiot. Any guy would be lucky to be here with you, (Y/N).” You met gazes across the table but you were fortunately saved from coming up with a response as the food arrived.

For the rest of the meal you avoided any mention of your ex and the obvious romantic setting this was supposed to be, soon forgetting about all that completely. Cliff was the perfect gentleman throughout and by the time the check came you were totally at ease and genuinely sad that you would be going home. It had actually been nice talking with him, he wasn’t all Team Rocket and protein powder like everyone assumed. And every time he smiled or laughed you felt a little flutter in your stomach. 

“Thank you, I had a great time. I needed this.” Your sentiment was genuine but your smile was nervous as Cliff walked you to your door, he had insisted on it even after you pointed out it was only a few feet from the curb he was parked at. 

“I’m glad. You deserved it.” Cliff surprised you, and himself, by reaching out to tuck a strand of your hair behind your ear. Realizing what he did he quickly pulled his hand back. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have-”

You cut off his apology by leaning up to kiss him. Maybe it was the day or the mood or the wine, not that you had had that much, or the way he had been smiling at you but in that moment you had just felt like it was the right thing to do. Your risk paid off when you felt his strong arm wrap around your waist and pull you closer to him. After a few moments you both pulled back. 

“Does this mean I’m going to have to quit Team Rocket?” You joked, biting your lip as you looked up into his eyes. 

“Quit? No. Change teams? Probably.” Cliff smiled again, melting your heart a little more, and brought a hand up to cup your face as his thumb traced a line across your cheek. 

“I can live with that.” You laughed before he leaned in to kiss you again. This was definitely a better Valentine’s Day than you had expected.

[fandom-necromancer]

1414+1438. Part2

This was prompted by the amazing @dead-outsides (If you wanted this anon, I will change it!). Enjoy!

Fandom: Detroit become human | Ship: Reed900

[part1]   [part3]

Gavin had planned on waking up at a comfortable time to face his suspension in a relatively good mood. Maybe stay in bed for a while cuddling his cats and then get some breakfast. Go for a run. Get home and curse the shit out of Fowler without anyone but his neighbours hearing it. Cursing himself for his bad luck. Cursing his mistakes that followed him throughout his life, chasing him always faster, always catching him in the end and pulling him down.

Instead of that well planned-out day of self-hate, his phone rang him up at five past seven. Gavin groaned, taking the damned thing from his nightstand and answering the call not even looking at the screen. ‘Reed?’ ‘Hello, Detective. You are late.’ ‘Hmmm phck off Connor, I’m suspended you asshole. Lemme sleep.’ ‘This is Nines and you are not suspended.’ ‘The phck?’ ‘As I said yesterday, I will be your partner and you won’t be suspended. I had a talk with Fowler and corrected him.’ ‘I… tin-can… phck. I’ll be there in a bit. Thought this was a joke or something.’ ‘I don’t really joke, Detective. Now hurry, please.’

True to his word, the receptionist let him through as Gavin entered the precinct and Nines was there sitting on the other side of his desk, looking up with a polite smile waving him over. Hesitantly Gavin followed, side-eying the breakroom but stopping as he found a fresh coffee on his table. He didn’t sit down. ‘What is this supposed to be?’, he asked sceptically. ‘A cup of coffee.’ ‘I can phcking see that. I meant all of this. And why?’ Nines sighed, taking his hand from the interface device. In a quieter voice he explained: ‘Gavin you saved my life. It’s only fair to repay you for that.’ ‘You don’t have to do anything, toaster, just leave me alone and we are good.’ ‘Gavin, I-‘ ‘It’s detective, dipshit!’ ‘Detective then. I let prejudice guide my actions and I can’t accept that. I have to make things right.’

‘No, you don’t!’, Gavin yelled at him, slamming his fist on the table sending ripples over the surface of his coffee. ‘You don’t have to do anything! No one in this goddamn precinct cares about anything I do, so why the hell do you?’ By now they had the retained attention of the whole bullpen on them. But Gavin didn’t care. Nines furrowed his brow in frustration and stood up, too. ‘I care because I want to be a just person. It is my job as well as my personal duty. And I horribly misjudged you. You are not what these people make you out to be.’ ‘Oh, I’m not? Then tell me, what did they say?’, Gavin threatened the android stepping around the table to stand in front of him. ‘What did you think of me before?’ ‘I was told you were aggressive, abrasive, that you didn’t care about anyone else but you. I was told you hated androids and wanted us gone. I was told you were unprofessional and regularly acted outside the law. That last bit I could disprove myself. The rest was shown to me yesterday.’

‘Well, then listen here, bot!’, Gavin spat, taking the android by the coattails and pressing him against the glass wall of their booth. ‘You were wrong. What I did yesterday was not letting you die! If that’s all you need to be a good person, well phck then I put a lot of good people into phcking jail. I am aggressive. I don’t care about anyone else but me, that’s why I don’t give a damn about what people think of me. I am happy when I’m alone or with my cats and when I can do my damn job, because maybe I can make this hellhole of a city a tiny bit better. I hate androids because you assholes are perfect. You are pleasant, you are good at everything, you phcking give a piece of shit like me another chance and another. You follow protocol to the word, not thinking about your actions at all because what’s law is automatically good! You got a lot better now that you are people, but Connor didn’t phcking change at all and look at you all high and mighty, thinking you can barge in and change this phck up of a human for the better by telling everyone how phcking nice I can be. Bullshit! I don’t need your pity; I don’t want someone to fix me. I concentrate on doing the right thing, not what other’s think is the right thing. So phck you, phck all of you! You won’t get empathy points from taking choices from me. I would seriously, in all honesty, advise you to get back to where you came from and leave me the phck alone!’ With that, Gavin turned on the spot and marched to the exit. Regardless of the consequences.

‘Nines!’ Connor was quick to stumble over to his brother, checking him once over. ‘Are you alright? What was that?’ But Nines only watched the man storming out of the precinct. ‘I’m alright’, he stated. ‘I may have a different problem.’ ‘What? What is it? Can I help you?’ Nines shook his head, eyes still fixed on the exit. ‘No, I don’t think you can. I think I am in love.’

-

The next morning Gavin lied awake in his bed. He lied awake in his bed at five past seven. He lied awake in his bed at five past seven and his phone was ringing. Gavin really didn’t want to pick it up. But he did in the end, waiting for the other end to begin speaking. ‘Detective, you are late. I managed to convince Fowler to-‘ Gavin hung up. The phone rang again. Curious. ‘Detective, Fowler accepted your absence yesterday in exchange for a vacation day, but you really have to-‘ Gavin hung up again. The toaster switched strategies by sending texts. >Gavin this is childish. >Get your ass to work. Gavin sighed. Maybe he could pretend he just hadn’t read them. >I know you are reading this. >I made you coffee. Well shit. Fuck off.< >No. Leave me alone!< >No.  :)

Gavin scowled at the android sitting opposite to his desk but sat down and started his computer. He pointedly ignored the coffee. At least this time the android kept his mouth shut, so Gavin could ignore him and get to work. >You seem to respond better to text. >Do you like this more? Gavin groaned. ‘Phck off toaster.’ >By the way, I am not trying to “fix you” nor do I want “empathy points”. ‘Then what the flying phck do you want?’ >To be your partner. Maybe even a friend? Gavin chuckled and turned his phone around, so the messages weren’t visible anymore. Then he returned to his work.

-

‘Oh, you are punctually today!’ ‘Phck off tin-can!’

‘I’m glad you decided to be here on time today.’ ‘Phck off.’

‘Good to see you today.’ ‘Yeah, yeah, phck off.’

‘Good morning, Detective. Did you enjoy your weekend?’ ‘Hmm, was nice to be away from you for a while.’ ‘Oh, didn’t you miss me?’ ‘Phck off.’

‘Good morning, Detective. How are you today?’ ‘Mornin’, tin-can. Phcking peachy.’ ‘Good to hear.’ ‘Phck off.’

-

‘Damn, Nines, you are persistent’, Connor sighed. ‘Why does it have to be this one?’ ‘He’s special’, Nines smiled. They were at Nines’ desk while Gavin was out on a smoke break. ‘Still can’t understand it. He’s an asshole.’ ‘Well, without this asshole I wouldn’t be here.’ ‘Okay, but…’ ‘His Fuck-offs have become less aggressive already. He will adapt.’ ‘Do you really want this?’ Nines didn’t even answer that. ‘Nines.’ ‘Connor. You are wrong about him.’ ‘Oh, really?’ Connor sat down on the desk. ‘Because nothing I’ve seen so far changed my mind.’ ‘Have a little patience.’

-

By the next week, Gavin drunk the coffee Nines had prepared for him. He answered Nines on most occasions, only pushing him away when the conversation went on for too long or too personal. Nines knew by now which topics to avoid. Their interactions got longer, and Nines counted it as a general success.

What was confirmed as one day, as the precinct was calm and mostly empty, Gavin came around his desk and sat down, initiating conversation himself for once. ‘Hey, toaster, I...’ Nines turned to him and waited expectantly. ‘I wanted to thank you for sticking around I guess. Few people do that.’ ‘Hmm, if only there were a reason for that…’ ‘Oh, phck off, tin-can. Just wanted to tell you, I don’t mind having a partner. Not if it’s you.’ The human flushed dark red, only to quickly slide from the table and go back to his own chair.

Nines couldn’t help himself and turned to Connor, throwing him a shit-eating grin through the bullpen. Connor just answered by impersonating a kicked puppy and let his head fall into his hands. Ah, this would be perfect.

[>next part]