#my roommate saw him sitting on my bookshelf the other day and was like “...what the fuck is that” lmfaooooo he's so jealous of my swag

[doubledyke]

man courage the cowardly dog plushies are almost as fucked up looking (affectionate) as eene plushies

[cloudsmateria]

college roommate - leon kennedy x reader

nerdy!reader x leon kennedy

synopsis: you and leon have just started university, finding yourself in the same university visit, he comes and visits your dorm as he's been struggling in his classes. you kick it off, and you invite each other into your different, interesting lives.

words: like 4500

disclaimer: this isn't proof-read and i actually do need to proofread it and i will when i finish it, this also isn't finished. so if u don't wanna read it now and wanna come back to it when it's pristine and complete be my guest, the edit of this will be very edited like literally whole chunks of texts will be different, i just wanted to post something

content warning: kissing, bit of angst, slight smut/almost smut, sexual themes

A loud knock rings through your door, if it had come even a second later you wouldn’t have heard it at all as you were on a one-way path to passing out on top of your notes. 

“Come in.” You mumble, picking your head up off of the desk and watching as a dirt-blonde hunk of a boy you don’t recognise comes through. Maybe it’s one of the frat boys trying to get to know all the girls in his dorm house. 

“Hey. Can I ask a favour?”

“Who are you?”

"I'm Leon, I saw you in my engineering lecture the other day and you looked like you understood what was going on. Then I found out you were in my university building. So here, I am. Help. Please. I’m going to fail and we’re only 3 weeks in." His desperation makes you laugh, something you were shocked you could do in this dazed state after a mind-boggling 8 hours of completing work.

"Oh Leon, I'd love to but I think if I even think about that engineering class for another second right now I might actually drop down and die."

"It can wait, you busy right now? Other than you know, spilling drool all over your papers?”

“Yeah, I was just about to go spill some on my pillow too, I'm exhausted." You say, not entirely joking, and begin to gather your things.

“I get it.”

“We have another engineering lecture tomorrow anyway so you can just catch me then."

"You sure, though? I mean I'm already here." He shrugs and picks up a book from her bookshelf. "How do you read any of these? There are no pictures." You laugh again. 

"You're asking me how I read physics books when you take engineering… Are you sure you picked the right course? You know, you can read it if you want, and would probably benefit from it. If you can even read."

"No thanks, I'll just get you to teach it to me tomrrow. I’ll see you in a bit, Einstein.” 

"You should watch what you call me if you want me to tutor you, that’s usually not free."

"Oh, but the thing is I don't think you're actually going to make me pay for anything. You're too nice for that."

"That's a very bold statement to make to a stranger."

"You'll come round eventually."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

"Can I just ask you another question? I'm not going to stop annoying you until you answer it the way I want you to."

"Go on." You sigh.

"Have you eaten today? Cause I haven't and I'm hungry."

"Leon-"

"Please."

"Okay, okay, God, you're persistent. Gonna give me a headache." You groan and sit up.

"It’s worth it, you'll need me to keep you sane later in the year."

"Oh really? You think we’re gonna stay friends that long?"

"I know you've got your nerdy brain, but I've been told I have a great personality." You can't tell if he's implying something with that disgustingly stupid joke or if he really is just an idiot. To be fair, he's funny and managed to pull you out your the room you had been hibernating in for the past few days to get ahead of work. You suppose there are worse people you could be forced to talk to.

"Whatever. Just get out of here." You push him towards the door.

"You're not going to eat with me?" You roll your eyes and lock the door, getting dressed into something that wasn't your pyjamas.

…

Now here you were, eating outside with this boy from your lectures when you had just wanted to be at home sleeping. Although it was nicer than you thought it would be, he had insisted on buying you an energy drink to keep your eyes open as you were eating in some random burger shop.

"How come you're struggling?" 

"Been going to too many parties, I've got different priorities."

"..."

"What?" He says defensively.

"Don't make me slap you. You can't be stupid because you got into this university, you're wasting your potential."

"I am not!"

"You're struggling! We're only 3 weeks in! I mean, come on, Leon."

"I don't understand what your problem is, maybe you need to live a little."

"That is rich coming from you. You're going to peak in college and fuck up the rest of your life if you ruin your chance now. And I live fine right now, I go out often enough and put the rest of my time toward my course, like a responsible human being."

"So you're boring?"

"So you're an idiot and can't plan for the future?"

"No, I'm not." He smirks. "And also, I never said I couldn't plan for the future, just that it isn't the only thing I want to focus on."

"Okay, fine, that's it. This is your problem, I'm not tutoring you."

"Got under your skin?" He smiles.

"I'm serious. You're smart if you got into this school, but you're wasting your talent partying and sleeping around."

“You’ve only known me for 20 minutes and you’ve managed to start an argument.”

“I just don’t want to waste my time. If you want me to help with assignments you need to make an effort, and if you want to be my friend, you’re also going to need to make an effort because I’m not going to care about someone who can’t even care about themselves.”

"I care about myself. Why else would I come to you for help on this?"

"Because you can't do it yourself and your friends are too stupid to ask them for help."

"No... Well... Okay fine, yeah that sounds pretty accurate. But in all honesty, I do care about my grade, that's why I'm coming to you. Now you know my intentions, I beg talk about something else, this entire conversation is reminding me of my mom."

"Like what?"

"Like, there's a party next Saturday, and I think you should come with me. You’re pretty entertaining."

"Oh, Leon. You're so clueless, it's pitiful."

"You have to go to the party, it will be fun."

"I have been to parties, I've gone to 2 since the start of the semester. But we have assignments to work on this week."

"One more little party isn't going to kill you. It'll be good, and then we can do the work."

"That's a very backward mindset." 

"You'll thank me, trust me."

"You say the reason you’re struggling is because you’re going to many parties, and immediately proceed to invite me to a party." You shake your head and laugh. “You are something else.”

“So are you coming?”

“I’ll think about it.”

… 

You and Leon had been going to the lectures together ever since, having lunch at points when he wasn’t hoarded by his friends and even managing a few study sessions into his schedule. You came 5 minutes early for the engineering lecture the next day. Flipping through the textbook notes to top up on your pre-reading beforehand, you had right at the back as Leon begged you to over text the previous night to sit there rather than the front so he’d feel comfortable sitting next to you. It doesn't take long for people to start filtering in, and eventually, that blonde-headed boy pops up next to you, leaning his head on your shoulder immediately. 

"Didn't get enough sleep last night." He mutters.

"Up studying?"

"You know me so well." 

“I'm not even going to ask what you were doing." You sigh, fully believing he had either gone clubbing or to another party last night.

"I promise you, I was studying. And you can ask me all the questions you want, I'll try my best to answer. I did go a little off track and I'm not doing well at it but your inspirational speech convinced me to try a bit."

"Really?" You ask excitedly, looking down at him. "Leon, that's great!" You feel his cheeks crease into a smile against your shoulder at your enthusiasm.

"You're more excited about it than I am, that's cute." He chuckles. "Keep talking, my head hurts, your voice helps."

"The lecture starts soon."

"Don't care." 

"I’m not going to talk over the lecturer." You say, flicking his forehead.

"It's just a lot, okay? I'm trying my best, but I might have reached my full capacity last night." He sits up and sighs, rubbing his temples.

“Welcome to university."

"Yeah, whatever. Can we go back to your room after?"

"Sure."

"Thank you."

"Of course." 

The professor finally steps into the lecture hall, and everyone quiets down, preparing for the lesson.

Halfway through, Leon couldn't help but pass out on you again. Your body went rigid, trying to make sure his head wouldn't fall off your shoulder. You pick the paper off of his desk, dragging it toward you as you start to write notes on your own and his paper so he won't miss out on anything.

He's surprisingly cute when he's not cracking annoying jokes and snapping back with snarky remarks. He was even making you lose track of the lecture a bit.

After class, you wake him up and walk him back to your dorm with him, chatting and catching him up on what he missed briefly. When you think about it, you're surprised you only met him yesterday. He feels like someone you've known since secondary school, or maybe he just treats everyone this way. Either way, you wouldn't complain about spending time with him.

"So, we're alone. What do we do?"

"Study?" You say, throwing him a pencil and paper. "Don't ask me stupid questions like that again."

"Come on, we just got out of an hour lecture, we basically already studied."

"A lecture that you slept for half of-"

"And that you caught me up on after."

"We need to make up the time. Now come on, let's work."

"But-"

"Now, Leon."

"Ugh."

…

The next hour wasn't as bad as you had expected it to be, you could still get your work done while simultaneously teaching Leon that content he missed out on. His demeanour quickly became enthusiastic when he saw how proud you were when you understood a concept, and you were genuinely impressed, he caught onto things quickly. After an hour, you both took a break sitting on your bed, him replying to some messages on his phone.

"Hey." You say, poking his arm to draw his attention.

"What?"

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"Making the effort to try, even if it is just a little bit."

"You're definitely making more effort than me." He smiles, leaning his head on your shoulder again.

"If you want to sleep you should just go home, you must be exhausted."

"I'm not leaving you in this depressing room, I'm keeping you company."

"I’m not keeping you from anything? Your phone was blowing up a second ago I assume you have somewhere to be."

"They can wait, I want to stay around for a bit longer. I like the change for once."

"Change?"

"It's quiet, I can think for once. You’re different from the people I’m around smart and stubborn,”

“So you’re aware of the poor choice of people you hang around, you had me fooled for a while.”

“Wait I’m not done, and even after all of that, I can tell that you're a little shy which is adorable. Oh, and my favourite part is how easy you are to annoy."

"I am not."

"You're blushing right now, I can feel your cheek getting hot. Adorable."

"Don’t you even close your mouth?"

"You know I can't, come on, it's not like you mind."

"Oh my god."

"Admit it, I'm fun to be around."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Tell me what you think of me."

"What?"

"Tell me, come on. Please, I'm dying for validation."

"Well. You're nice, and I've never seen you without a smile on your face, it's refreshing.”

“A little more… I know you got it in you.”

“You're not as stupid as you make yourself out to be,. And I honestly can't tell if I'm special or if you treat everyone else this way because you make me feel way more important than I really would be for someone like you."

"You're special, trust me. And that's a stupid question to ask. Do you want a list of the people I've met? The people I’ve made friends with?"

"What?"

"I can count on one hand the real people I've managed to keep around and one of those is my dog. Don't worry about that, because I know you’re gonna be on that list too. I know you think that I have so many friends and I'm surrounded by people all the time, but they're all fake. They're just fun for parties and clubbing when you have nothing else to do."

"But-"

"It's true." He looks at you, his expression becoming serious for the first time since you've met him. "And I've got to tell you, you're different."

"Different?"

"Yeah, you're interesting. You're not fake, and you're actually doing something with your life."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that, I think you’ve just surrounded yourself with one particular type of person, and now you’re shocked when you meet someone who’s not an idiot."

"Come on, I've seen the work you've done in these past 24 hours. You were working for at least 25 of them.” 

"You know how to flatter me."

"That's another reason why you should hang out with me more."

"Oh, and why's that?"

"I'm not afraid to admit how much I like you, Einstein. Makes you feel good, doesn’t it?"

"I can't even think about what I should say to that." You say, laughing and burying your head in your hands. "God, you're a mess."

“I suppose, yeah. You’re changing that though.” He lifts your chin up to face him, smiling at your red cheeks. “See? So cute.”

"Why do you have to keep saying things like that?"

"Because you react this way." He grins.

"I hate you."

"Let me ask you something again. Are you going to go to the party on Saturday?"

"I don’t think so."

“Since I’ve got the chance, I think I can change your mind.” He smiles and pulls your face a little closer, close enough for him to feel your shallow breaths against his lips.

"I-" You can't find any words, you're stunned. He's gorgeous, and you can't deny that, but the idea of kissing him feels wrong, you can't do it. Not right now. The thought of getting with someone you're starting to have feelings for is setting off alarm bells, the alarm bells imprinted by your bad experiences from secondary school of guys playing with your emotions. No matter how much your heart is screaming you want to, your mind is screaming no. 

"You're gonna go with me right?" He whispers.

"Okay." You say hoarsely, your legs desperately pressed together.

"Good girl." He smiles, getting up and putting his shoes on. "I'll see you on Saturday." He says, before leaving.

"I'm screwed." You mutter.

… 

Saturday finally rolled around. You weren't even sure how much time you spent with Leon the day before, but you knew you wanted more.  This was starting to become a concern for you. You remember last year, when you were hurt so bad you pledged to never fall for someone again. You can't do this, not with him. You know Leon is exactly that kind of guy, he’s charming, an athlete, with too many friends for his own good, someone who has no reason to be associated with you unless he wanted something, and was patient when it came to getting it. 

And yet, here you were, wearing a simple little black dress and the heels Leon said would match. You pray that the feelings are cut off here, hopefully he sees you as just a friend and just likes to tease. But a little part of you has a sliver of hope that maybe this is real.

Leon came to pick you up from your room, as he was only a floor away. When you opened the door you were met with Leon dressed in a black bottom down with the top two buttons undone and the sleeves rolled up which definitely made you feel some kind of way.

"Leon, hi." You say, overly aware of the fabric hugging your skin, you rarely wore tight clothes. 

"Wow." His eyes were stuck to everything that wasn't your face.

"Hey! My eyes are on my face, not my chest."

"I know."

"Leon!"

"Just admiring the view." You ended up crossing your arms to try and hide a bit of your figure.

"Can you stop looking?"

"You look great, don't worry." He says.

"Whatever."

"No, I'm serious. I mean it, you look amazing. Just relax and have fun, okay?"  He puts his arm around your waist, pulling you close. "You look hot. And it's only going to get better. Just try to have a good time, I'll be by your side the whole time.”

"I've been to a party before, you don't need to baby me."

"I know it’s just this one is a big one. They always end in a mess. I've had a couple of close calls with the police."

"That's not what I'm worried about." I'm worried about what I might end up doing with you, she thinks.

"Just tell me if anything makes you uncomfortable and we can go." He smiles and leads you out of the dorm building and into the street.

"How far is it?"

"Only a few minutes away." He says, leading you along the sidewalk.

The walk wasn't too far, it was about 20 minutes of you both drinking from a wine bottle for some pre-game. Time seemed to fly by as you came to the house. Whoever was hosting this party, probably one of Leon's friends no doubt, was rich. The house was huge and the whole thing was vibrating with the music that blasted through it.

"We're here."

"I think it’s going to collapse.."

"Wait until you see inside." He grabs your hand and drags you in, the house packed. You didn't recognise anyone and felt a little intimidated as Leon led you through the crowd of people, pushing them aside. You couldn't believe there were this many students in the town.

He stops at the kitchen, handing you a drink. You hadn't gone to a party this big before, and that was voluntary, this was just too much. You drink it in one to hopefully get you drunk enough to gain a bit of confidence and hand it back to Leon for it to get refilled.

"I didn't know there were this many people here."

"There's usually a lot." He smiles, handing her another drink. "Don't worry, I'll be with you the whole night. You take a shot before starting to sip on the more tame drink Leon had gotten. 

"What do you want to do first?"

"Let’s go find some of my friends.He says, taking your hand and dragging you through the sea of people, most likely dancing, grinding, or drinking.

He pulls you into the living room, finding his friends from one of the lectures and joining in on their conversation. You're introduced and you talk with them, they're all quite funny and sweet. You were happy to have found a fun little group.

The rest of the night is spent with them, the five of you getting progressively drunker and drunker and talking about more and more stupid shit before someone suggests the group should go and dance, you immediately go and hide behind Leon. 

"Dancing is definitely not my thing." You whisper.

"You have to come."

"No way."

"Please." He says, looking into your eyes.

"Why?"

"I want you to."

"Leon."

"If you hate it, I'll make it up to you. Please." He whispers, and you sigh, giving in. "I know you'll enjoy it." He smiles and leads her by the hand into the living room where everyone is.

"Everyone's too drunk to be paying any attention anyway." He says, and the group joins in on the dance. 

After a few more drinks the alcohol started to hit.

"Isn't so bad, is it?" He says after the first few minutes, watching you find your rhythm.

"No, it's fun."

"See, told you."

"Don't let it go to your head, I'm just drunk."

He smiles, spinning you so your back is pressed against his, the two of you continue to dance. He leans down and kisses your shoulder, wrapping his arms around your waist and grinding into you.

"Leon-"

"It's hard to control myself with you, almost kissed you that time I convinced you to come to this party, could tell you weren’t sure though."

"Because I thought we were just friends."

"That never lasts long, does it? Did you really think it was going to stay that way forever?" He says, running his hand down your thigh.

"We're drunk." You mumble, leaning your head back onto his shoulder. God, you wanted it. You were trying with everything you had to rationalise with yourself. He knew what he was doing.

"That doesn't change the fact that you're irresistible. And that's not the alcohol talking. I've been wanting to do this for a while."

 He smirks, spinning her back around to face him and lifting you up, your legs wrapping around his waist.

"Let's go upstairs,"

"Leon-"

"Shh." He puts a finger over her lips and leads her away, finding the stairs and walking up. “Stop doubting yourself. One thing about you is that you always say no, or doubt yourself, let’s change that for once.”

He takes you to the first room he finds, happening to be a bathroom, opening the door and stepping in, kicking it closed and locking it. He sets you down and starts to kiss you, the alcohol making it a lot more forceful than usual. You kiss back, letting him guide you and set the pace, his hands sliding over her body. 

"You're so fucking beautiful." He mutters, his lips trailing down to your neck. You feel the pressure of his hands pushing you backwards. Your back hits the counter, he lifts you up and settles himself between your thighs.

"Leon-"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure? About me?"

"Yes." He smiles, lifting his head. "Now stop doubting yourself, will you? You're too perfect for that." If you were sober, your mind would've had red lights blaring, trying to protect you, but the alcohol flattened out all thoughts. A hint of doubt crossed your mind instinctually. But his touch is so good, and he's making you feel things that you haven't in a long time.

"I-"

"Come on, tell me how much you want me."

"I really like you, Leon. It's just...I have this feeling that I'll get hurt."

"What are you so afraid of? What can I do to change your mind?" He whispers. "I'll do anything for you." He says, pulling your head down to kiss him. The sweet nothings bring back some bad memories, it's starting to feel a bit like deja vu.

"I've been hurt before, Leon."

"What's his name? I'll kick his ass."

"It was in high school, but it happened too many times."

"You have to stop thinking, just focus on me, okay?"

"Leon."

"Come on." He sighs, pressing a finger to your lips. "I won't let anything bad happen to you. I don't want to lose something because someone in your past ruined everything for you, okay?"

"I don't know."

He sighs. "Do you wanna head home ?"

"I'm sorry."

"I'm not upset. Come on, I'll take you back."

"I didn't mean to ruin the night."

"No, I'm not letting you leave thinking you ruined it. I'm sure a million more parties are happening this week if you feel so bad."

"I'm a mess, Leon. Why do you even like me? I'm not worth it."

"Of course you are." He says, cupping your cheek."You're the only person I can stand to be around for hours while sober. And you can't argue with that."

"Okay."

"I'll get us out of here and you can crash in my room."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. Now come on, we're leaving." 

...

The taxi ride home was short and sweet,  but still awkward. You were scared he'd be mad at you for ending the night so abruptly, but when you got into the room he made sure to put his arm around you, whispering reassurement into your ear, stroking your hair.

"You don't have to worry. I'm not angry."

"Really?"

"I don't blame you for wanting to wait."

"It's just, the last time-"

"I'm not him, you can trust me. I've been trying to prove that to you."

"I think... Maybe I can learn to trust you."

"You will, eventually." He says, holding his arms open, gesturing for her to cuddle with him.

"Thank you."

"Anytime."

You cuddle him for a bit, the silence being cut by the sound of the two of you breathing. Leon leans down to kiss capture your lips softly, it feels a lot easier to kiss him back, pressing your body against him.

"I don't know why anyone would ever hurt you." He whispers between kisses. "You're perfect." He runs his fingers through your hair.

"I don't know about that."

"I don't know why you doubt yourself either. Go to sleep, you'll feel better in the morning."

[hanniology]

two umbrellas | jeon wonwoo

Synopsis: wonwoo doesn’t believe in love at first sight, but you do after meeting him. genre: fluff, sick fic, kinda angst. warnings: none I think besides the fact yn makes a bad pick up line. calls wonwoo, wonuwu, im sorry. word count: 1528. pairing: jeon wonwoo x gn!reader. Note: another repost until i have time to post some new stuff later. 

“Hey there Wonuwu.” 

The boy you addressed the new nickname to lifts an eyebrow. 

“Wonuwu?” He asked with a slight face of disgust. 

“Yea I think it’s a really cute name for you, what do you think?”

He turns to face you with a straight face, “No.” 

Rolling your eyes at his response as he goes back to take a tour of the library to make sure everybody has left the building already. Knowing you’re gonna follow him. 

“OUCH!!” He hears you exclaim behind him. 

“Wonuwu, my face hurts.”

Not looking behind him because it was probably just a line to one of your cheesy pick up lines you’d always make. 

“Did you walk into a bookshelf again?” 

“What no that was one time-it’s because I fell face-first for you~” You explain, he was right about it being a part of a pick up line but he still cringed. 

“You ruined the joke.” You grumbled while pouting. 

You’ve always been like this, making really bad, cheesy, overused pick up lines thinking it’d impress him. 

The two of you met in a coffee shop that you worked at, Jihoon, one of his roommates recommended it to him saying it had good coffee and was nice and quiet as long as you don’t go in at rush hour.  So he decided to go one day when he didn’t have work, and that day you were working. You remember that day when you saw him, he was absolutely beautiful. 

You were taking his order and well when giving him his coffee you thought of giving him your number on his cup. Wonwoo received the cup with the number on it and walked out of the coffee shop to meet up with some friends. He didn’t notice until later when Mingyu pointed out and convinced (read:begged) him to text the number. 

He obliged and texted your number asking who this was. You introduced yourself as the person who was serving him and told him he was so pretty and was gonna try and win him over.

 He blocked your number. 

He didn’t want to seem rude but he didn’t want to deal with some random person he doesn’t know that’s trying to woo him. He’s also just been a strong believer that love at first sight just doesn’t exist. 

No one can just grow feelings towards someone that quickly. 

He thought that'd be the end of you but that wasn’t until he found you sitting in the living room in his dorm. He thought you were trying to stalk him and threaten to call the auditory. To then realize you were in the same performing arts classes as hoshi and jun, his other roommates and are good friends with them and they invited you over. 

And as time passed you two became friends (?) it’s complicated, the two of you would hang out because of friends and sometimes just the two of you. You’d always go on with your lame pick up lines and he'd just simply ignore them and move on. 

“Why do you always insist on coming here? You could just go straight home from work. And it’s raining today.” 

“Eh, just thought I’d give you some company, you know, it gets quiet in the library when it’s closing time. It gotta be boring.” You shrugged. 

Wonwoo finished the turn of the library and went to go get his stuff and you as always followed him. You always did and it wasn’t anything weird. He was used to it but you wouldn’t do anything he wasn’t comfortable with; you always respected his boundaries. 

The two of you were outside now with rain falling down crashing to the ground, the sound of it much louder than it was when you two were indoors. 

You watch the frown slowly grow on Wonwoo’s face as he looks at the rain. 

“Here,” you hand him your umbrella. 

“No, no it’s fine the dorm isn’t too far from here, I don’t want you to get sick because of me.” He declines the umbrella, dropping it back into your hands. 

“Aww you care about me~” you coo. 

He scoffs before mumbling a “whatever”. 

“The dorm is not too far from here so I could make a run for it.” He says before dashing off with just a hood over his head. 

“Wait!” You yelled at him trying to get his attention, “I brought two just in case.” Take out the other umbrella from your bag. 

He didn't hear you, he was just running and you watch his form become smaller and smaller as he runs with you standing there with two umbrellas. 

Putting one back in your bag and opening the other, you started walking to your place. Stopping in your tracks when you remember his dorm is not that close to the library. 

The next day you weren’t too sure what to do. You didn’t have any classes today and you had a day off from work. Soonyoung and Jun were planning on going to some tiger sanctuary , you didn’t really feel like going. 

Ding noise came from your phone, rolling to the other side of your bed to reach over for your phone. You see a text message from Jihoon. 

Unplugging the charger from the phone opened up the message. 

It was weird for Jihoon to be messaging you, you always thought he hated you. He always looked somewhat annoyed when you were around, but Jun said he’s just always like that. You weren’t even sure if you guys ever exchanged numbers. 

Jihoon: yo I got your number from wonwoo’s phone. 

Jihoon: Can you come over? Wonwoo is sick and I got work and Jun and soon left already. 

Yn: sure but how’d he get sick?

Jihoon: The rain I think he came back soaked yesterday. 

So you were right that he would have gotten sick. And he calls himself smart. 

Yn: ok I’ll be there just need to stop by somewhere

Wonwoo slightly wakes up at the sudden noise he hears someone enter the room. Jihoon most likely already left, but he did say something about someone coming over, not remembering who because he was too tired.

He hears the footsteps gradually become louder and closer until the footsteps seem to stop in front of him. Looking up to see you, you were putting down a big bag on his nightstand.

“Oh you’re awake? Did I wake up? Sorry.” 

“Eh, it’s fine.” His voice sounded scratchy. Before he could even sit up he felt your hand pushing him down back to his previous lying position.

“Rest.” You demanded.

“What’s in the bag?” He sees you in the corner of his eye, as you slowly take everything out of the bag.

“Oh, well Jihoon said you were sick, but I didn’t know exactly what kind of sickness, so I just took one of everything from one of the shelves at the store.”

“Even got you some corn patches.” Holding them to him. With the sleepy boy giving you a strange look, giving him a shrug back.

“But why are you here and buying all this stuff for me?”

You finish taking out everything from the bag and take a seat on the ground next to his bed. “Because I care about you.” You say simply. 

“Yn-’’

You interrupted him knowing what he’s gonna say.

 “Yea Wonwoo I know you don’t like me the way I do but I mean I still like having you as a friend. Don’t worry the feeling I have for you will leave eventually, but I still care for you, you know.”

There was a silent pause after you said that, you weren’t looking at him, you were looking at the ground kicking your feet side to side at each other. So you just assume that sleep took over him. 

“Don’t.”

“Huh?” Lifting your head, seeing his body facing you and watching you with soft, droopy, sleeping eyes. 

“Don’t stop having those feelings for me. I don’t want those to leave while mine are starting to arrive.” He mumbled quietly, before taking a sneeze. 

Handing him a tissue, letting the gears in your head turn. “Wait, Arrive. What??”

“Yeah, I kinda wish I’m not all snotty sick and sleepy when I confessed.” He admits, letting his head fall back onto his pillow. 

“Well you wouldn’t have to if you just took my umbrella yesterday.”

“I didn’t want you to get sick.” He mumbled. 

“Awwww, you really do care about me.” You coo pinching his cheek. 

Rolling his eyes. “Yeah, whatever.” He scoffs. 

“Ok maybe I do care about you,” he quickly mumbles. 

“So you should leave or you’ll get sick too.”

Shaking your head, “No it’s fine, if I get sick you’ll take care of me I’m not too worried.” You smile at him. 

Letting out a sigh knowing that you aren’t gonna leave. 

He starts to toss in the bed pulling the blanket higher, looking like he’s ready to go to sleep. You watch as his eyes fall close and his breathing becomes slower. 

“You know I had two umbrellas.” You fall backwards giggling at Wonwoo’s reaction. 

[desideriumwriter]

Just As Friends

Description: Reader transferred from Quantico after a bad argument with Spencer, five years later she’s transferred back. Will things work out between her and him?

Pairing: Spencer x fem!reader

CW: fighting, yelling, alcohol, kissing, bad writing.

WC: 2k

A/N: another angsty fic cause it’s my favorite genre or whatever, anyways criticism is always accepted (and needed), I hope you enjoy!

You and him were best friends, ever since you walked through the doors of the BAU. You immediately clicked within the first hour of being there. The team would always tease the both of you for being so close, Penelope would always be urging you two to “get together already”. But your relationship was platonic, like Penelopes and Dereks, strictly platonic.

You would kiss him on the cheek as a greeting or a goodbye or whenever you felt like it, just as friends.

You would watch movies and eat popcorn with him, cuddle up next to each other on the couch and share a blanket, just as friends.

You would sleepover, you would always steal his clothes to sleep in, never changing out of them in the morning, just as friends.

When you were at dinner or the bar with the team, he would tap your foot with his, trying to play footies, you would tap his back, just as friends.

When he’d lay his arm next to yours on the table, you’d keep yours there. One of you would eventually move your hand on top of the others and interlock fingers, just as friends.

That’s all you ever were, friends. But not anymore. The day you had that argument is the day it all fell apart.

You asked him about why he was being so distant, why he wouldn’t joke around or have conversations unless it was work-related, why he wouldn’t hang out with you anymore.

“You’re fucking kidding me right? You’re not gonna talk to me because she told you not to?”

“I’m not not going to talk to you, it’s just that…Eve has boundaries and I’m going to respect that.”

“So you're just gonna avoid me? Throw our entire friendship away for what? Some girl?” 

“She’s not just “some girl”, y/n. She’s my fucking girlfriend.” He spat.

“What?” Your face softened.

“Yeah, we’re dating, everyone knows.” 

“Not me.” You shrugged and stomped out.

After that, it became too hard to work around him, you wouldn’t do well together on cases and it was just…difficult. You made the decision to transfer for your own good. After your departure, he tried to call for a few weeks. You wouldn’t pick up, you would just set your phone down and let it go to voicemail. The only he would get an answer is when Jasmine, your roommate, would pick up.

“Hello?” Jasmine groaned annoyedly

“Hey, Jasmine? Um, is y/n there?” He said awkwardly

Jasmine glanced over to you sitting on the couch, you raising your eyebrows, shaking your head, and mouthing “NO” to her

“Uh, no, she's at the…bar.” You looked at her with your face twisted in confusion, she gave the same expression and mouthed “I don't know!”

“Oh, okay, when she comes back can you tell her to call me?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Okay, thank you, bye.”

“Yep.” She hung up

It was the same thing every time she picked up the phone, telling him you weren’t there or busy, and him asking for her to tell you to call him back. After a little over two weeks, he stopped. You didn’t get any calls or texts from him. He stopped, he was out of your life.

But after nearly five years, you got transferred back to Quantico.

___________

Your heart started beating faster and there was a knot in your stomach, you were hesitating to walk through the doors. You weren’t nervous about seeing the team, you still kept in touch with them, hanging out with Penelope, Emily, and JJ on the weekends and sometimes Derek too when he would come along with Penelope to the bar.

Spencer. It was Spencer you were worried about.

You hadn’t seen him in five. fucking. years. 

The last time you saw his face was a month after you left, you were in a bookstore, he walked in and you hid behind a bookshelf, then eventually ran to the bathroom and hid in there for a good thirty minutes.

You took a few deep breaths and finally walked in.

Immediately you were met with Penelope rushing towards you and giving you a rib-crushing hug. Then came the rest of the team, giving hugs and handshakes and greetings, telling you it was good to have you back and how they missed you, but all of the sudden it had gotten weirdly quiet. Everyone was staring awkwardly behind you, you turned around to see who it was.

Spencer. Just as you expected.

“Hi, it’s nice to have you back.” He tucked his lips into a straight line.

“Yeah..thanks.”

Thank god Penelope interrupted and broke the tension.

“Oh! I have some welcome back treats for you in the break room!” She said wrapping her arm around yours and making you walk away with her.

__________

A week into your arrival you already had a case, after everyone was leaving to go to the jet, you and Spencer were the only ones there, you walked up to him.

“Look,” You sighed as you leaned onto his desk.

“I don’t want us to be weird around each other anymore, because now it’s painfully awkward, and it’s probably gonna interfere with cases like it used to and- you know what I’m getting at?” He slowly nodded with a confused expression.

“What I’m trying to say is, we shouldn’t be stuck on…it’s in the past, so we can keep it all in the past. I wanna be friends, we can still be friends. Just like we used to, okay?” You shrugged.

“Okay.” He stammered.

“Cool, see you on the jet, genius.” You grinned as you grabbed your bag off your desk. 

“I’m not dating her anymore. She broke up with me” He blurted out.

“Oh, I’m…sorry.” You froze while you slung your bag over your shoulder, turning around and making your way to the jet.

Things between you and him got easier. There was no more tension between the two of you. You both started hanging out again, having long conversations while sitting next to each other on the jet or in the break room. You were back together…as best friends.

There were a few little changes in your friendship though.

You still don’t kiss him, you give him quick hugs instead.

You still watch movies and eat popcorn together, but you won’t share the couch, one of you would either be on the floor or on a separate chair.

You still sleepover, but you won’t borrow his clothes to sleep in, you bring your own or just sleep in the same clothes you were wearing.

When you were at dinner or the bar with the team, he would tap your foot with his, trying to play footies, but you wouldn’t tap his back.

When he’d lay his arm next to yours on the table, you’d lift yours off and scoot over a bit.

Just small things that felt better off to not do anymore.

____________

After the unsub was caught and the case was over, the team did the normal tradition of going out to the bar, but it was different this time. Spencer came along and actually drank. The times he’s drank he only got a few so he would get tipsy at most, but this night was different. He got drunk…blackout drunk. He was stumbling everywhere and started yelling when the bartender cut him off. When you and Derek ran over to get him, he didn’t recognize you. He didn’t remember your name or who you were, he couldn’t remember you.

Derek had to drag him out and got in a taxi with him to take him home.

You apologized to the bartender, gave a tip, and also left.

You had to hold yourself together until you got back to your apartment. Jasmine was working the night shift at her job, so you didn’t have to hide and cry silently in your room.

Once you closed the door, you burst into tears, you sat down with your back against the door, sobbing.

Why were you crying? What’s upsetting you this much? Was it Spencer?

No. It wasn’t Spencer, everything has been going fine with him. You were best friends again. Everything was back to normal.

But he’s never been like that, been that drunk. He seemed upset though at the table. What was bothering him? Did he mean to get that drunk?

____________________

After that night, the tension started to rise again. Spencer was being strange around you, almost like he was trying to avoid you. Anytime you tried to come up to him he would stop whatever he was doing and go somewhere else, when you were able to talk to him he would just give one-worded responses.

It was back to how it used to be. You couldn’t let this happen again. You drove to his apartment and hesitantly knocked on the door. In a few seconds, you heard footsteps towards the door, and then the locks clicked.

“Oh, hey y/n. What are yo-” You pushed past him into his apartment.

“Is everything okay?”

“Why have you been acting weird around me?” You stood with your arms crossed.

“What? What do you mean weird?”

“Spencer, you barely talk to me anymore or hangout, you run the other way when I walk towards you. You’re acting just how you fucking used to!” You didn’t mean to yell, but you were too angry, you couldn’t help it.

“I….I don’t know.” He whispered.

“You don’t know? You’re supposed to be a genius. What have I ever done to you to make you treat me like this, huh?” You barked. He stood there silently, staring at the ground, his silence was only making you more pissed off.

“Spencer. What have I done?”

“Y-you left! You left me! Why? Why did you leave?” He snapped before you were even done with the last word of your sentence. 

Is he fucking serious? Your brows were furrowed and jaw ajar.

“You left me first! You avoided and completely ignored me, acting like you barely knew me. We were friends and you fucking threw it all way! It fucking hurt, you hurt me, Spencer.” You clenched your jaw as you fought back tears. He went silent again.

“That’s what I thought.” Your jaw tensed. 

“You didn’t have to leave. I want to know why you left!” He seethed.

“God, I was in love with you asshole!” You cried out.

“And you didn’t love me back, you threw away everything we had, everything got fucked up.” Your voice broke and hot tears started to stream down your cheeks.

“Shit” you mumbled to yourself as you turned your face and wiped away tears frantically.

“y/n…” Spencer whispered. You bit your cheek looking up, trying to keep yourself from crying anymore.

“I-I never knew- I never meant- I never wanted you to feel like that. I didn’t mean to leave you like that. I fucked up, I’m sorry.” He stammered softly.

“Yeah, you really did.” You said sternly and headed for the door.

“I was in love with you too. I still am.” He sputtered out. 

You froze, it was like your feet were glued to the ground. Your hand was stuck on the doorknob.

“I only dated Eve because I thought it would get me over you, I thought I was over you, but I wasn’t. The reason I got so drunk that night was that I wanted to try and forget…about you, the feelings I had, I know you’ve moved on and I was scared because I didn’t want to mess things up again. The last time you walked out of here, I lost you, and I can’t have that happen again.” His voice quivered.

You still had your back turned to him, hand still on the doorknob while trying to decide if you should walk out.

“Promise me you're not just saying that to keep me here.” You took a shaky breath.

“What?” His brows furrowed.

“Promise me, you’re not saying this so I’ll stay, tell me that you’re being honest.” You turned and looked at him dead in the eyes.

“I promise, I promise. I’m telling the truth, y/n. I love you.”

“Spencer, I'm still in love with you too.” You turned around.

Before you could have even a second to fully finish the last word his lips were on yours. His were soft pressing into yours, his hands were on each side of your face while yours were tangled in his hair. You both slowly pulled back, still holding each other, chests heaving in sync.

“You know we’re gonna have to go through the fraternization policy.” You joked.

[ragingbookdragon]

All I Wanna Be Is Somebody To You

A Jason Todd x Reader One-Shot

Word Count: 2.6K Warnings: None

Author's Note: For the one anon who wanted a nervous reader! I hope I did this justice for you, darling! Enjoy! -Thorne

**********************************************************************

She didn’t hate talking. Not really. But the idea of holding conversations with people she didn’t know sent her heart fluttering and her throat tightening until it was impossible to breathe. More often than not, she found herself apologizing a lot for the stuttering or the repeating of things she said. Most people gave her odd looks, told her to stop apologizing so much (like that ever helped anyone), or laughed and told her she was cute—which was nice until she realized they meant in a childish sort of way rather than an endearing one.

But it wasn’t always like that. According to her parents, there’d been a time when she couldn’t stop talking. Always had something to say and had somebody to tell. Something changed during her years, she knew when, even if she didn’t want to admit it to herself or her family when they asked what happened to their outgoing and talkative daughter. Too many times she’d heard, “You know no one cares about X, right?” or “Oh my God, will you shut up?” and every time she heard it from a friend it dug into her a little deeper, made her shut her mouth tighter, and tore her heart much harsher.

And because she chose to be the silent type instead of the outgoing one, people assumed her arrogant and cold, distant and rude, and she found herself spending most of middle school and high school by herself. She was glad when graduation came, and while she’d dreaded giving her valedictorian speech, she did manage to get through it without too much trouble. It did feel like her one triumph against everyone who ignored her throughout school.

College freed her. Allowed her to make a flexible schedule, take smaller classes, and be solitary when she wanted. She’d refused a dorm room on the campus, living only fifteen minutes from Gotham University, instead choosing to commute daily and she liked it a lot more than having roommates in a four-bedroom apartment on the school grounds.

When she wasn’t in class, she stayed home a lot. It came with being a homebody, but when she did go out into the great big city, she liked to shop. Little antique shops or bookstores. She went to bookstores more than she did school. There was something so wonderful about finding a book in the shop and sitting down at a café and reading quietly. Which is how she met him, and for the life of her she couldn’t figure out why he wanted anything to do with her. She was quiet and shy, and he was open and flirty. They obviously didn’t match in any way, shape, or form. At least, that’s what she thought.

***

She drew her gaze along the wall of books before her, chewing on the inside of her cheek as she searched for the novel. It’d been a long time since she’d read The Count of Monte Cristo, a copy of her father’s that he’d had when she was just a child. Something had reminded her of it the other day and all she could think about was getting her own so she could annotate in the margins.

As she came across it, she started reaching when someone got to it first, one finger pulling it out by its spine before taking it into their hand. She visibly deflated with a soft sigh as it was the last copy and hung her head in defeat.

“I’m sorry, were you wanting this too?” Her head cocked up and she gazed at the young man before her. He smiled and she felt like she’d been shot in the chest at how dazzling it was. “Here, you can have it.”

Swallowing thickly, she shook her head, “You got it first.” Nodding, she added, “It’s yours.”

He cocked a brow at that. “Well, from the devastated look on your face, doll, you want it to be yours.”

Her cheeks warmed at that, and she felt nervous where she stood, resisting the urge to fidget under his scrutiny. “N-no it’s okay.” She said. “You take it.”

“Oh no you don’t. That’s not how this works.” He chuckled and took her hands, pressing the book into them, then he winked at her. “The doll deserves to have her book.”

If there had ever been a time in which she wanted to explode from embarrassment, it was then, and before she knew it, she shoved the book back into his arms and so hard that it must’ve knocked the wind out of him because he gasped. She spun around and took off down the aisle and out the front doors as fast as she could, wanting nothing more than to disappear in the crowded streets. That or sink into the ground. Maybe next week she’d come back and get the book. Hopefully, he wouldn’t be there again.

***

Then again, her hopes were always wrong, and she picked up the copy of The Divine Comedy, flipping it open to read the first page.

“I see you’re a fan of the classics, aren’t you, doll?”

She snapped the book shut when she heard his voice and looked over at him. Something inside annoyed her at the cocky smirk he wore, much more was the arm he had resting on the top of the bookshelf as he gazed at her.

“You know, you left a nice bruise on me the other week.” He quipped, shifting his weight to cross his ankles. “You’re pretty strong.”

“Thank you,” she muttered, turning to look back at the book. “Sorry I hit you…it was an accident.”

“Well, I can accept your apology if you tell me your name.”

“Why?” she questioned quietly, wiggling her toes.

“Because I wanna put a name to such a cute face. Why else?” he flirted, and she scowled at the book cover. “Oh, that’s an even more adorable face.”

“Quit doing that!” she hissed. “It’s not funny!”

He chuckled. “Oh contraire, it’s actually hilarious.” He took a step towards her. “I’m Jason, by the way.”

Her eyes darted to the outstretched hand, and she stared at it for a split second before softly shaking it. “(Y/N).” she murmured.

Before she could pull her hand back, he raised it and pressed his lips to her knuckles. “Enchanté ma chérie,” he professed, breath hot against her skin and just like before, she was so absolutely flustered she was yanking her hand back and poor Jason’s grip slipped, and he whacked himself in the face with his own hand.

“Nice to meet you!” (Y/N) yelped and scurried off down the aisle and to the register where she purchased her book in record time. Third time was the charm and she prayed that he wouldn’t be there again.

***

And whoever lived upstairs must’ve really had it out for her because she flipped the page in her One Thousand and One Arabian Nights and heard an exaggerated cough. Looking up through her eyelashes, she saw Jason standing there with a grin on his face. “Hello (Y/N),” he purred, and she immediately felt her cheeks become hot.

“Hi Jason,” she muttered, gazing at her book, listening to the chair screech as he sat down across from her.

“How are you doing today?” he asked, setting down his own copy of Arabian Nights.

(Y/N) cleared her throat, finding it harder to focus on the book over the smell of his woody and oriental cologne. She thought she smelled a twinge of tobacco with it. “I’m fine.” Her eyes found his teal ones for a moment. “And you?”

He smiled, making her heart pick up a beat. “Doing pretty good.” He winked. “I got to see you again. Though I’m hoping I don’t get hit again. Either by a book or my own fist.”

“Sorry…” she cringed, sinking down in her seat. “That was an accident.”

Jason shrugged and propped his elbows on the table, placing his chin on his fingers. “Don’t worry about it. Say, do you like coffee?”

“I do,” she murmured.

“Great, want anything from the café?” he asked, nodding at the board and she looked over at it.

“I guess I could order a latte,” she replied more to herself than him, starting to pull her wallet out.

“Nah, I got it.” Jason said, standing from his seat.

(Y/N) blinked. “Wait, what?”

“I said I got it.” He quipped and she jumped from her seat to stop him, but caught the leg of her chair, and she flailed, stumbling right into Jason. They went tumbling to the floor and she landed atop him. For a minute they were both stunned silent as the people in the store looked at them and he smirked at her. “Well, this saves me the trouble of asking you out to dinner.” He winked again. “Should’ve told me you had a bold streak, doll.”

She immediately scrambled up, placing one of her hands on his chest to shove off him when her leg slipped, and her knee went into his groin. He groaned and rolled over, holding his crotch and (Y/N) was so mortified all she could do was apologize profusely and at one point she was sure she was mixing up her words, but it didn’t matter. Grabbing her things, she started running off a third time.

Though she’d made it ten feet out of the door and down the street before someone grabbed her round the waist and hauled her to a stop. “Oh no! We’re not doing this pattern again! I am not getting hit a fourth time!”

(Y/N) spun in his arm and gaped at him. “I’m sorry!”

Jason sighed heavily and lowered his head. “Holy crap, I’ve never had such a hard time getting a girl to go out with me.”

“You wanna go out with me?” She pointed to herself despite her flustered state. “W-with me?” she gave him a dubious look. “Really? M-me?”

“Well, if you wanna hit me a fourth time to be sure, go ahead, but yeah,” he retorted then heaved another sigh. “Jeez, talk about getting hit on.”

(Y/N) spluttered at that. “I did not hit on you!”

“Right, you just hit me instead.”

“It was an accident! And I said I was sorry!”

Jason grinned at her and arm away. “Well, I’ll accept your sorry’s if you go on a date with me.”

She blinked at him. “A date? When?”

“Tonight.” He said. “There’s a bookstore down in the town square for insomniacs. Open until seven A.M. and serves a mean cup of hot cocoa.” Jason smiled and took her hand. “So? How ‘bout it, doll? Wanna go out with me tonight?”

All she could do was simply stare at this gorgeous man that obviously had a thing for her for some god forsaken reason. “Why?” she asked blankly, and he seemed to falter at that.

“Why what?” he repeated, confusion etching across his face.

“Why do you wanna go out with me?” (Y/N) gestured to herself. “I’m weird.”

“So am I.” he agreed.

“I stutter a lot.”

“So does my brother.”

“I don’t talk a lot. I don’t like talking a lot. People get mad at me when I talk a lot and I prefer to listen and you’re not going to like going out with me because I’m going to be super quiet because I get flustered easily and I—”

Jason put his hand over her mouth and stared at her. “Do you ever take a breath?” she nodded silently, and he sighed. “Look, (Y/N), it’s only taken getting shoved in the stomach with a book, getting punched with my own hand, and getting nut-shot to understand that you’re not exactly comfortable with the public.”

He removed his hand. “That’s why I invited you to the bookstore. Because even in the few weeks we’ve known each other, I know you like quiet places. But if you don’t feel comfortable going with me right now, that’s okay. We can take it slow.” Jason smiled at her. “Doll, all I wanna be is somebody to you.”

(Y/N) swallowed thickly and looked at her feet, whispering, “I…don’t wanna go out right now…but I’d like to give you my number…if you’re okay with that?” she shrugged. “We can text.” Feeling hopeful she reached out and placed her hang on his arm. “And get to know each other better? Maybe tell each other our favorite books? That’s…the best way in my opinion.”

His face lit up and he murmured, “I’d love that.” He pulled out his phone, tapping at it before he handed it over to her. “Here you go.”

She took it and looked at the contact name he’d already put in. My Flustered Doll. She glared at him. “You think you’re pretty cute, don’t you, Jason? You’re not. At all.”

He smirked. “Oh, is that so?” She nodded and he quipped, “We’ll just see about that then.”

(Y/N) rolled her eyes and typed in her number, handing him back his phone. “There you go.” He glanced at it, seemingly satisfied before he locked it and put it back in his pocket, then they met each other’s gazes and she awkwardly pointed over her shoulder. “I’m going home now.”

Jason caught her hand and kissed the back of it. “See you later, doll. Stay cute.”

She was hurrying off again, his laughter in her ears, unaware that their exchanging of numbers was going to evolve into so much more in the coming months.

***

“—And I’m pretty sure I can never show my face again at school, Jay. I’ve never been so embarrassed in all my life.”

He hummed, fingers gently dipping into her spine. “Well, this is coming from the girl that nut-shotted be in the middle of a busy bookstore.”

“Why would you remind me about that?” (Y/N) scowled. “It was an accident.”

“And yet it can’t be more mortifying than telling a guy to shove his head up his ass.” He retorted, eyes still closed as they basked in the sunlight streaming through the window. “This is at least a five on the ten scale.”

“More like a hundred.” She muttered, tucking her head under his chin. “I can’t believe I said that to him. Oh, I was just so—just so mad at what he said about my poem! He was just being mean!” (Y/N) gripped his sweatshirt. “You understand right?”

Jason nodded, his other hand resting at her hip. “Mhm.”

“You don’t think I’m overreacting, do you?” she frowned. “Everyone else thinks I am.”

“Telling someone that their poetry isn’t good because it isn’t iambic pentameter isn’t following constructive criticism, doll. It’s called being a douche.” She giggled and he bent his neck, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Call me next time Lord Douche-Canoe starts on your poetry again and I’ll school him on face-time.”

(Y/N) giggled again and rolled over, pressing them chest to chest and she grinned when he whined at her moving. “Thank you, Jason.”

He smiled at her. “I only take my thanks in kisses. Sorry, doll.”

Rolling her eyes, she bent down and pressed her lips to his. “I love you,” she murmured against him, and he hummed, hands grasping her hips.

“I love you more.”

“Nonsense.”

“Nonsense?” he scoffed, pulling back to look at her. “I am willingly in a relationship with the girl who nut-shot me in—MMHPF!”

(Y/N) shoved a pillow into his face, face hot as she shouted, “Stop bringing that up! It was an accident!” All she got in return was his laughter.

[starlight-loki]

Precautionary Surveillance (Loki x Reader)

Or, That Time You and Loki Became Friends

Word Count: 2.8k

Warnings: none :)

A/N: this is platonic (and gender neutral! :D )

As this is my first imagine, I kind of just wanted to establish how the reader first meets Loki, but I’ve got plenty more fluff in the works! ;)

also this takes place post-Ragnarok, but Infinity War doesn’t exist here, shHHHH

Despite the long list of risks and expectations that came with living with the Avengers in their compound, you never thought that babysitting Loki would be included. And yet, a mere two weeks after having moved into the compound, Tony sheepishly approached you with the news.

He didn’t word-for-word call it ‘babysitting’ of course, but you knew it was definitely implied. 

“Think of it as... precautionary surveillance.” Tony had explained to you that morning as he packed a small backpack, supposedly containing enough supplies to last for a week-long mission. “Or if that’s too much, just be normal roommates. But check in on him every few hours. Make sure he’s not destroying anything. And don’t let him go out. Or to my lab. Or Bruce’s. Or the roof-”

“Okay, I get it Tony,” you rolled your eyes as you heaved out a sigh. “You want me to babysit Loki.” 

Tony shrugged, and patted your shoulder empathetically before zipping up his backpack. “Your words, kid. Not mine. Like I said, it’s just precautionary surveillance, we’ll be back before you know it.” 

“I don’t understand why you can’t just bring him along with you!” You protested, throwing your hands up in the air. “His fighting skills and abilities would be really useful for your mission, you know that right?”

You were fine with the fact that Tony and Steve weren’t confident enough in your fighting abilities to bring you along on missions just yet -- frankly, you were completely happy staying behind and burying your nose in a book. But now Tony wanted you to babysit Loki, going so far as asking you to log any ‘suspicious activity’ from the god. You thought the entire thing was ridiculous.

“You know why, Y/N.” Tony began sternly, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and starting towards the quinjet hangar. He was walking briskly, and you scowled as you had to practically run after him. “The New York Incident? The two-hundred or so times he’s betrayed Thor? That time he stuck his dad in an old folks home here and just paraded around Asgard in disguise for two years?”

“New York was nearly ten years ago!” You protested. “Look at him now, all he does is putter around the compound in sweatpants because you won’t let him out-”

Tony sighed loudly, cutting you off mid-sentence. “Look, I know you’re new here and you mean well, but we don’t trust him Y/N. Thor dragged him here because Asgard’s gone and there’s nowhere else for them to go, but Loki is not one of us. It’s going to be a damn long time before any of us think anything different of him.”

You glowered at Tony, fighting the tiny glow of anger that sparked in your heart when you heard him talk about Loki like that. 

You had stolen glances at Loki last week when he thought no one else was looking, and you knew he was far from the dysfunctional maniac who tried to take over New York all those years ago. Sure, the dysfunctional part may still remain, but he was far from a maniac -- you could see that in his features when he sat on the couch alone that day, flipping through a small worn book. 

He looked... lost. Empty almost, as if any possibility of a joyful life had been stripped from him. It hurt your heart to see someone sit with their own melancholy the way Loki did. The fact that no one else in the Compound trusted him -- evident from the fact that you were being put on babysitting duty this instant -- didn’t make things any better. 

“Take care of yourself, kid.” Tony said, pulling you in for a fairly awkward one-armed hug. “Keep an eye on Loki, but don’t do anything stupid.”

You frowned. “What does that mean?” 

“Just... keep your distance from him.” 

Tony’s words brought the image of Loki sitting alone in sadness back to the front of your mind, and you decided right then and there that you were going to do exactly the opposite of what Tony was suggesting. 

The first day felt like an eternity. Loki remained in his room with the door shut, and with no one else to chat with and pass the time, time seemed to crawl at an eerily slow pace. 

You made pasta for dinner. You figured the sound of pots, pans, and kitchen utensils clanging every now and then as you cooked would summon the lonely Asgardian out of his room to eat at the very least, and you couldn’t help the little sting of disappointment that appeared when you finished your meal as alone as you had been earlier. 

After placing your own bowl in the sink, you grabbed Loki’s portion you had set aside and padded down the hall to his room. You tried to ignore the slight tremble in your hand as you knocked on his door. 

“Loki?” You asked gently. “You there?”

You were greeted with a faint shuffling noise, but otherwise there was nothing but silence. 

“I made you dinner. I haven’t seen you all day, you must be hungry... um... I mean, you don’t have to eat of course if you don’t want to, but I’ll just... I’ll leave this here at your door if you want it. No pressure.” 

You felt fire rush to your cheeks as you cursed yourself silently for rambling, and carefully set the bowl of pasta on the floor. 

“If you want anything,” you added quickly in a voice that was barely louder than a whisper. “More food, tea, some company... I’m in the other room.” 

You stood frozen at Loki’s door for a moment, waiting for any sort of response. Earning nothing but more silence, you nodded to yourself before turning on your heel and heading back for the kitchen. 

You looked back over your shoulder before you rounded the corner at the end of the hall, and the pasta bowl was gone. You couldn’t help but smile to yourself. 

The second and third day passed much like the first. If it weren’t for the fact that Loki was constantly on your mind, it would’ve felt like you had the entire place to yourself. You would have enjoyed the quiet, but there was a part of you that couldn’t stop worrying about Loki. 

After the god failed to leave his room once again, you brought dinner to his door which was hastily accompanied by another short little babble of an invitation to join you in the living room if he wished. Just like day one, you were greeted with silence and a meal that vanished out of the hall just before you turned the corner. 

On the fourth day, you couldn’t get Loki out of your head no matter how hard you tried. Was he lonely? Bored? Did he sleep the entire day? Did he even sleep at all? The rooms in the Compound were just about the same: spacious, yet minimal in decoration. Everyone got a TV and a small bookshelf in the corner, but that was about it. Judging by the fact that Tony and the rest of the Avengers weren’t allowing Loki to leave the Compound, you figured he probably didn’t have much for entertainment. 

Before you could convince yourself otherwise, you dashed off to your beloved little bookstore in the city. You ransacked the shelves for anything you felt Loki would’ve liked, as well as books you adored and would’ve wholeheartedly recommended to anyone else. If Loki was going to spend all day in his room, he deserved to have new books to keep him company, at the very least. 

Two hours later you returned home, your shoulder aching from the countless books that were weighing you down in the best way, and to your surprise you found Loki with his back to you in the kitchen. 

Was he... doing the dishes for you? 

You dropped your tote bag of books to the ground in surprise, and Loki flinched almost imperceptibly at the dull thud that echoed throughout the open space of the Compound. 

“Hi,” You managed breathlessly as the god turned and looked at you with wide eyes for the briefest second. You blinked, and just like that Loki had regained his cool composure. “You’ve finally come out of your room.”

Loki opened his mouth to reply, his eyes scanning the room as he searched for an excuse. After a moment of silence, he sighed. 

“Thank you for the meals. I appreciate it.” 

You took off your coat and hung it on the chair as you approached him. Your heart sank ever so slightly as you caught Loki take the smallest step back. 

“Of course, I mean... we all gotta eat right?” You laughed quietly and looked away as you ran a hand through your hair. “You don’t have to clean up, I can do that.” 

“It was the least I could do in return.” 

The silence that grew between the two of you seemed to amplify with every passing second. Loki nodded, almost out of resignation, and began to walk back to his room without a word. 

Now was your chance, if you wanted to make him feel welcome like you had hoped to. 

“Wait!” Your voice came out more as a squeak and you tried your best to ignore the fire that rose to your cheeks. “I, uh, I got these for you.” 

As you bent down to retrieve your fallen bag of books, you heard quiet careful steps as Loki approached you cautiously. He kept his distance, but leaned a little closer to you as you began laying all the books out on the table for him to see. 

“I picked out a few books I’ve read and love dearly. I figured you could give them a try. And... I, uh, saw you reading Shakespeare last week, so I thought you might like these two.” You gestured to the novels closest to him. “They’re  Ancient Greek tragedies.”

You glanced at Loki, and noticed how he picked up Oedipus Rex and began flipping through the pages carefully, as if the book were to vanish from his hands at any moment. 

“I’ve never read this one before,” Loki mused quietly. Your heart skipped a beat as his steady gaze moved to meet your eyes. “When would you like me to return these to you?”

You blinked in surprise. “They’re for you to keep.” You smiled. “I bought them for you.” 

You watched as gratitude, then confusion, then what almost looked shame flash across Loki’s features. He almost seem to clutch the book tighter in his grip.

“...Why?”

You pulled out the chair that you were leaning against and sat down with a sigh as you looked up at Loki. 

“I don’t like how everyone’s been treating you.” You admitted quietly.

“So this is out of pity?” Loki asked cooly, nodding at the books on the table with narrowed eyes.

 “No!” You exclaimed, shaking your head rapidly. “No, Loki, that wasn’t my intention at all. I mean, I’ve only been here two weeks and I could see immediately that everyone keeps their distance from you. You’re not allowed on missions-”

“Neither are you.” Loki cut in. You dismissed him with a wave of your hand. 

“Yeah, but I’m the weakest link at the moment. I don’t count.” You replied quickly, trying your best to ignore the intrigue on Loki’s face as he gazed at you. “I saw you last week, reading your book. You looked so lonely. I thought maybe you just wanted some space, but I’ve noticed how the others treat you. Tony and everyone else, they leave you out of everything! They don’t try to include you in conversations at dinner, you wear the same two pairs of clothes everyday because no one’s bothered to get you any decent clothes besides sweatpants. Hell, Tony kept me off this mission to babysit you and it makes me so mad! You’re an adult! You deserve your own freedom, Loki!”

You slammed your hand down on the table in frustration, and winced as your words replayed in your head. You definitely went overboard this time. You should’ve just given Loki the books and left.

You were certain Loki was going to retreat back to his room as he moved away from you and around the table, but to your surprise, he sat down in the chair across from you, his hands clasped carefully together.

“Perhaps Stark is right, this is what I deserve.” He said quietly, breaking the silence that resided between the two of you. “I haven’t exactly been... welcoming to anyone.”

You shook your head. “You lost Asgard, your family... Thor brought you here with the intention of this being your new home. The least everyone could is treat you like a person, not a hostage. This isn’t a prison. You deserve so much more than that.” 

“They don’t want me around.” Loki said simply. 

“I do.” You held his gaze unwaveringly, and reached out to place your hand gently over his. To your surprise, he didn’t pull away. “I want you around. You matter to me.” 

Loki sighed, his eyes fluttering closed for a brief second as he took in your words. 

“Thank you.” He spoke slowly. “Your words -- and your actions -- mean more than anything Stark or anyone else has done in the time I’ve been here.”

You smiled in response, giving his hand a gentle squeeze before pushing his books towards him. 

“You’ve got plenty of things to do while you’re in your room now.” You grinned nodding towards the books on the table. Anyone else would’ve missed it, but you caught Loki return your smirk for a split second. 

“I think I would prefer to read my books out here... with company.” 

The following day was nothing like the others. To your surprise, Loki greeted you with a small smile from his spot on the couch as you trudged bleary-eyed into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

“You look tired.” He remarked quietly as you began searching the cupboards for something to eat. You managed a shrug.

“I don’t sleep that great most nights.” You admitted. You heard Loki get up from the couch, setting his book down on the coffee table gently before approaching you. He still kept some distance -- the kitchen counter did a good job of separating the two of you -- but he leaned in, almost grateful to be in the presence of someone who truly saw him. 

“Me neither.” Loki chuckled. “Thor sleeps like the dead, but I rarely sleep well. That’s how my love for books began, actually.”  

“Me too!” You exclaimed excitedly. “I’d stay up reading till 1 or 2 AM some nights as a kid. I’d have to use a flashlight and hide under the covers so I wouldn’t wake anyone up.”

That earned a genuine laugh from Loki, whose smile suddenly began to look like sunshine in your eyes. 

“I used magic to see in the dark, but hiding under the covers was the only way I could read at night without waking Thor up.”

“You shared a room with Thor?” 

Loki nodded, scoffing a little. “My mother thought it would help reinforce our bond as brothers. A lot of good that did.”

You leaned in towards him, your posture mirroring his as you rested your arms against the kitchen counter. 

“Thor still loves you.” You said quietly, a small smile touching your lips for a brief moment. Loki rolled his eyes.

“Sure he does.”

“No, really. He wouldn’t have brought you here to live with him if he didn’t. You guys got here before me of course, but I’m sure he had to pull a lot of strings to get Tony to agree to have you live in the Compound.” 

There was that silence again, like the day before, settling down gently between the two of you. You lowered your gaze to your hands. 

“Sorry. I meddle too much. I should stop.” 

This time, it was Loki who placed his hands over yours gently. 

“No,” he replied softly. “You speak your mind, I admire that. It shows you have strength.” 

“I don’t always feel strong.” You admitted quietly. 

“Only the foolish admit their own strength.” Loki whispered.

“...Does that mean Tony’s a fool?”

“Your words, not mine.”

A laugh bubbled up out of you at Loki’s words, and as your eyes met his, you noticed the loneliness you had seen before was gone. 

In their place was the warmth of a thousand suns. 

The two of you stood there, hands intertwined almost as if to keep the other afloat. Loki’s hands made yours seem small, but his were warm and soft and surprisingly gentle.

You closed you eyes, taking as much of this moment in as you could.

“I wish they’d let you outside.” You sighed quietly. “There’s so many shops and restaurants I think you’d like. You’d love Central Park, too.”

Loki frowned. “When is everyone due back?”

“In two days. Why?” 

You got a smirk in response. “Let’s go now.”

You let out a surprised laugh at Loki’s suggestion. It thrilled you to see this side of him.

“We can’t! Tony’s got cameras around the building, he’ll see us if we leave.”

Butterflies filled your insides for a brief moment as Loki suddenly winked at you. He raised his hand, which had begun to glow with a green hue, before snapping his fingers. Green sparks flashed briefly from the windows as he did so. 

“I believe Stark will be needing to replace his cameras once everyone returns. Where do you suggest we go first?” 

[youarejesting]

Mad

[MASTER LIST] Beta: @fluffy-fluffu​ Rating: 18+ Pairing: Taehyung x Reader x V Genre: SMUT, mature, angst, fluff, mystery, thriller Words: 4.9k WARNINGS & TRIGGERS: psych ward in a mental asylum from back in the 1920’s, misguided medical practices; Electroshock therapy etc. Multiple personality disorder/alter ego’s/Dissociative Identity Disorder, Sex, Dirty Talk, Masturbation, Fingering, Exhibitionism, Voyuerism, blow jobs, Yandere V. If you squint for a split second there is like a slight hesitation in the reader but they consent. Nurse sleeps with the patient. Sad boy Tae, Tae vs. V, Talks about cum, Restraints, Sedation.

Summary: Taehyung from room 10 on the ward is being haunted by V a mischievous sexual deviant. Taehyung likes puzzles and his friends which includes you. But V likes you, your hair, your face and the warmth between your thighs. It’s a fight between Taehyung and V who will win?

Authors note: This is in no way shape of form a diagnosis of DID or multiple personalities nor is it an accurate depiction of said mental disorders or illnesses. This is purely fictional. If you are triggered by old medical horror please don’t read. If you identify anything you think should be added to the warnings and triggers let me know so I can warn others.

“The patients on this ward are docile, they won’t hurt you” the nurse explained, smiling softly. It was your first day, you were a fresh new nurse and it was safe to say you were a little scared of your new working environment. “The only one we want you to look out for is um, the patient in room number 10” 

“Number 10?” you repeated. 

“Let me introduce you to some of them.” You had already met some, there was a group who thought they were kittens and puppies and it was adorable. “Hyuka, don’t scratch the mattress” the head nurse chided before guiding him to the bathroom. 

You heard a noise from room 10. It  sounded a lot like something fell. You walked over and quickly scanned over his chart. “Patient is manipulative, he can do whatever is needed to get what he wants, compulsive sexual behaviour, the patient has two prominent altering personalities, Taehyung and V. When the patient addresses himself as V it is best to leave.”

You unlocked the door, peering inside you saw him cuddling his pillow in deep slumber. He seemed to have knocked something off from the bedside table in his sleep. You sighed softly before walking over, trying not to wake him while doing so. 

He had a beautiful face. It was honestly making you feel self conscious to be around him, you fought the urge to brush your hand through his soft curls and crouched down to pick the book up off the floor. 

You stayed crouched whilst examining the book. It seemed to be a comic book you concluded, a famous one that you knew of. You moved to put it back to its original place. As you were about to stand you turned to the patient to see his eyes open, staring directly at you. 

“Hello?” He yawned rubbing his eyes “I am Taehyung”

“Hello Taehyung, I was just picking up your book, how are you feeling this morning?”

“I’m tired, who are you?”

“I am the new nurse” you smiled as he sat up rubbing his hand over his arm casually scratching an itch.

“You are new, that’s exciting” he smiled sitting up properly on his hospital bed showing his impeccable manners “What’s your name?”

“My name is Nurse Y/L/N,” you said with a soft smile trying to appear friendly. From the hall you heard the head nurse call out.

“Kim Namjoon, please don’t try to escape this morning. We are about to serve breakfast okay? You know breakfast is important to fuel that big brain of yours, so sit back down while I will get you a book. How does that sound?”

You turned to look at the door which was still a fraction open, when a hand touched your hair.  Your body went stiff, heart racing in fear. You had turned your back on him. One of the most important things to remember on your first day and you had to let him get the upper hand. 

“Your hair is really pretty, I like the colour” he smiled and you turned, giving him a polite and gentle smile. 

“Thank you Taehyung, you are so sweet” you smiled. “Are you hungry? I can bring your breakfast in, if you would like?”

“I have to shower first, I have a schedule; shower, breakfast and then I get to do some activities” he said 

“Nurse y/n?” The head nurse said “is everything okay?”

“Yes of course Taehyung and I are just talking, he is telling me about his schedule” you smiled 

“Well aren’t you nice this morning Taehyung,”

“Hello Taehyung, are you ready for your shower?'' the male nurse appeared at the door smiling. Stepping past you he uncuffed the patient's ankle chain that restrained him to the bed, there was raw skin where the metal dug into his flesh and some blood stains on the corner of the sheet. 

“You must be the new nurse. I am Jihoon, a resident nurse on the ward, if you need any help, or there is something you're not comfortable with you can call me,” he grinned, shaking your hand. You thought you heard Taehyung scoff which made you blink up at him curiously. You shrugged it off thinking maybe it was all in your head. 

“My name is Y/n,” you prompted yourself to move on, “it’s nice to meet you” 

“Nurse Y/n, could you get some spare clothes and bring them back?” Jihoon asked softly, “Tae’s clothes are in the green cube on the shelf.”

You went along the corridor and found the cubed shelves. Each cube seemed to have a coloured basket, the green one had Kim Taehyung written on it. “Hello?” A voice called behind you, you turned to see two young men sitting playing cards at a table. 

“Hello, my name is nurse y/n, What are your names?”

“My name is Hoseok” the man laughed

“And I am Jungkook-ah” the other said sweetly “we are roommates, will you sit with us at lunch?”

“I will have to see if I am allowed. I don’t want to get in trouble,” you grinned before waving and heading back to Taehyung’s room where you heard the sound of banter coming from the bathroom. 

“You don’t want to miss breakfast,” Jihoon said standing in the doorway, keeping a lookout for any sudden movements. “Oh Y/n! Thanks, you can leave the clothes anywhere”

You took it upon yourself to make the bed and tried to disregard the blood and other intimate stains on the white sheets. You looked up and caught sight of Taehyung in the reflection of the mirror, he was watching you. His eyes were not wide with curiosity as you thought it would be, no rather they were hooded with something darker. 

“Nurse Jihoon, I am almost finished with my shower” he moaned, still staring at your reflection, you saw how his arm shook and how his lips fell open in ecstasy. “I just have to finish this, it would be quicker if it wasn’t my own hand for a change”

Once the bed was made you ran off into the hall trying to ignore the sounds and clear the images from your head. 

You helped serve breakfast and smiled sitting with the two young men from earlier. The nurse who showed you around had approved of the two boys, saying they were harmless. She did however have a bit of a laugh, “this one is Hoseok and that one isn’t Jungkook, his name is Jimin, they are roommates one has narcolepsy and the other is a pathological liar”

You sat down, talking with them about their card game and laughed at some of their jokes. Jimin promised you the world and told you sweet nothings. He even proposed to you several times, you concluded he was a shameless flirt. 

“Hey Jiminie?” Taehyung said walking over, and brushing his fingers along Jimin's neck, “you want to play a game of cards?”

“I can't, I have to go to a photoshoot today.” He said before standing up, “I should get ready.”

“What a shame, maybe next time?” He smirked. The boy across the table started to draw frantically. You looked over and saw it was a general shape and the clothes and hair were that of Taehyungs but the face was distorted. You hummed at the boy's work.

“Nurse, the young ones are going to play outside.” The head nurse in charge of this ward announced, eyeing Taehyung carefully. “Would you be so kind as to watch over them? Please make sure they don’t eat anything strange.”

“Of course. I will be back in a little while,” You told the boys, they were so cute, it was like playing make believe but there was no turning it off. They really thought they were cats and dogs and you loved them already despite it only being your first day. You wanted to protect them while they were in this headspace no matter what.

Looking up at the second floor of the hospital you saw Taehyung pressed against the glass looking down at you. He seemed to be angry at the fact that you were playing with the boys. You saw him get dragged away from the glass and you could not help but feel concerned, hoping he hadn’t gotten hurt.

You didn’t see him for the rest of the day he had been confined to his room and when you walked past all you could hear was crying and begging. You went to open the door but Jungkook, the silent patient grabbed your wrist gently. He handed you two sketches one was labeled Taehyung and it was him smiling and looking happy and genuinely adorable. The other was labeled V and it was the distorted picture from the morning. You flicked through the rest of the book and saw the others drawn, they looked a little different from real life but you knew who was who. The five young boys were drawn as cats and dogs making you smile.

The next day started a little differently, your shift started at lunch and you saw Taehyung sitting at the table looking forlorn, he was bandaged and looked weak. “They sedated him yesterday”,one of the nurses gossiped, “apparently he was trying to come onto one of the nurses working yesterday”

“I wish it was me, I would let him do whatever he wants,” Another nurse whispered back, you ignored them as you walked over and smiled “Good afternoon, how are you all feeling today?”

“Nurse y/n! You are here” Namjoon said, “Tell me, do you have any books to read at home?”

“I have a small bookshelf, why?”

“Well, I am bored and I would like some more books to read” He said and you hummed, “How about instead I tell you a story little by little so you have things to think about throughout the day?”

He reluctantly accepted and you started the story. There was a small giggle at one of the jokes made by Taehyung and you smiled, he looked so tired and soft in his little blanket, his wrists and ankles bandaged.

You were there for a while and the group began playing different card games, you had to explain some of the games and they picked up the concept quickly.

Taehyung left after a while, yawning while stating he was too tired to continue playing and the boys waved goodbye to him. 

Jimin who just yesterday was afraid of him, walked him to his room, practically carrying Taehyung on his back while singing that they were soulmates.

It was odd because Taehyung didn’t seem that strange and when he did it wasn’t as extreme as people made it out to be. You had noticed Taehyung was a sweet boy, whilst V was just a little more forward and flirty. 

Sure he still had his tendencies to do inappropriate things but you tried to ignore those moments and be professional at all times. 

The problem was they began haunting you at night and you were finding it hard to keep your fantasies at bay. He was charming, flirty, and pleasing to the eye, could you really be blamed for being attracted to him? 

The first time you met V and you mean really met V was when you were greeting him one morning and he sat there smirking at you. 

“Hey there bad kitty, you want some milk?” He had his hand wrapped around his hard shaft. It was thick and the tip was an angry red, oozing out precum.  “I want to give you all my milk, but you're a bad kitty and won’t take it”

You tried repressing the images from your head, squeezing your thighs together for some sort of friction, nothing has ever aroused you and made you this wet so quickly. Ignoring him as he jerked off on the bed you continued your act of nonchalance at his actions. You picked up his clothes off the floor and placed them in the wash basket. 

You dodged his hand reaching out to grab you and he frowned before going back to his previous task. You cleaned his bedside table, he was becoming very vocal and more profoundly dirty as time went on. He had resorted to explaining everything about what he wanted to do to you in great detail. 

Your underwear was soaked at this point and you were finding it hard to breath. You had to leave right then, you didn't know how long you could remain professional. You moved to pick up the book that had fallen off the bed, losing focus of your distance from the bed. You were briskly reminded when he took a firm grip of your hair. 

Fuck. 

You cursed at yourself, you made a huge mistake letting your guard down. Stupid stupid stupid. He pulled you up by your hair. “Open your mouth.” He growled as he came on your face. You watched him as his face contorted he growled and came hard as you kept your mouth firmly shut. When he finally finished he let go of your hair. 

“You wasted my milk bad kitty” he huffed watching you clean your face in the sink before you promptly rushed out of his room. 

Taehyung sat confused after breakfast. He took a puzzle and started working, “You okay Tae?”

“Oh hey, yeah I am just working on this puzzle, I am just a little confused” he smiled as the two of you sat and started working on the puzzle. It was a basket of kittens. 

“This one looks like you” he laughed “you are a kitty”

The words and context were so innocent but you couldn’t help but remember what happened that morning and you glanced at the young man from the corner of your eye. 

“What did he do?” Taehyung asked

“It was nothing you should be worried about” you smiled patting his head. “We should only worry about finishing this puzzle”

The night shift was different, you ate dinner with the residence and you all sat and watched a movie afterwards. It was a general audience movie with nothing bad in it. 

Taehyung leant his head on your shoulder as everyone else including the other nurses sat watching the movie as well. The male nurse was sitting with the five young boys. They laid their heads in his laps and he gave them pets on their backs, trying to give all of them equal attention, otherwise one would whine and rub their heads into his arms. 

The female nurse sat with Namjoon painstakingly discussing the movie instead of actually watching it. You and Taehyung were wrapped up in his blanket and you felt his hand start slithering down towards one of your thighs rubbing it tenderly. You glanced at him to see him smirking at you, “You’re such a bad kitty aren’t you?” 

His hand slipped under your dress and into your underwear. His finger grazed your clit gently making you shift in your seat. Taehyung snickered as you bit back a moan, he moved inconspicuously a little closer and whispered in your ear. His voice was deep and barely audible, his breath brushing the shell of your ear.

“You are a bad kitty aren’t you?” He pressed his nose against your neck and inhaled deeply, “Bad kitty smells nice”

Your mouth fell open, a silent gasp escaping as he pushed a single digit inside of you, “Taehyung, stop” You warned him and he chuckled darkly.

“I am not Taehyung, I am V” He took your free hand under the blanket and brushed it against his dick, letting out a small satisfied moan. He tried to pry your fingers open but you refused, he growled lowly and pushed another digit inside you. Whilst you were distracted he slid himself into your closed fist letting it mould around his shaft.

Unintentionally your fingers clenched around his boner as he gently guided your hand along his length back and forth. You kept your mouth firmly shut but it didn’t seem to stop the feelings from building, you were panting softly, the wet sounds coming from between your legs becoming more audible to you and you sighed in relief when you sawa loud action scene was underway in the movie. 

He pumped his fingers and moved your hand faster as his breathing became sporadic. V turned to you, biting your shoulder hard and coming into your hand. Without hesitation V pressed his thumb against your clit as he pumped his finger into you harder and you came, your body almost doubling over in pleasure.

“You are a bad kitty” He grinned, pushing your hand to your mouth “Lick your milk.”

“No,” You muttered seemingly uninterested and his smile disappeared.

“Bad, bad kitty” He watched as you got up and left.

As the days passed you understood more and more the difference between Taehyung and his counterpart V. You loved Taehyung, he was such a sweet boy who could do no wrong, but, you longed for the thrill of V, it took everything in your power to refuse his advances. 

An easy way to establish who you were talking to was their nicknames for you, Taehyung called you a Kitty after that fateful day of doing a puzzle together. Whereas V called you Bad Kitty for reasons unknown.

One day during the night shift you heard Taehyung crying. Stepping into the room you saw how he wiped his eyes quickly, feigning that he was okay. “Hey, Taehyung, tell me what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing please, you can go?” He sniffled, choosing to ignore his request you got closer and sat on the edge of his bed concerned.

“I am here now, I want to know what has got you so upset?”

He looked up at you innocently. The bedside lamp was his only source of light and it was quite dull. It made the room feel small as the shadows waited on the edge.

“I remember less and less, V is taking over and I can’t remember things, the boys sometimes get really nervous with me, Jungkook’s pictures are horrific.” He sniffed, “I have never been with a lady, let alone kissed someone and he has done such vulgar things”

You leaned over and kissed him before leaning back and smiling softly, “You have kissed a girl now”

He was frozen, fingers slowly pressing to his lips in shock, “Wait, nurse can I um, can you kiss me again a real kiss, I want to know what it feels like” 

You knew you shouldn’t have but you let him. Yet you kissed him and he kissed back, it was soft and timid. He pulled back, “That was amazing, if I was just a normal person. Would there be a chance that you would ever like me, Kitty?”

“I would.” You smiled brushing his hair back and smiling at the innocence in his eyes.

“Would you let me take you out to dinner?” He asked softly, you nodded “Would you let me kiss you and maybe even spend the night together?”

You nodded and he frowned, “I wish I was normal, I just want to be normal” He cried into your shoulder hugging you and as you held him he kissed you softly. You didn’t have the heart to stop him with how gentle and kind he was. He pleaded sadly, “Please, just once, just tonight”

You were helpless to the look in his eyes and you shut his door climbing onto his bed where you kissed him, touching his body as he did the same. The light tinkling of his ankle cuff was the only thing keeping you alert to any possible dangers. But he was gentle. Taehyung wasn’t V.

“Does this feel okay?” He whispered “I am not hurting you?”

Riding him was like a dream, he guided you with his hands on your hips and you felt his heart racing against your hands that were on his chest. Right before he was going to finish, you got off and took him in your mouth, you weren’t going to take any risks without any condoms.

“Yes kitty,” he whispered as he grabbed your head and came. You managed to pull away and he came all over the two of you causing him to frown, “bad kitty you got us all dirty”

Alarm bells rang but he still looked so innocent and carefully wiped your face with a tissue, apologizing the whole time. Taehyung helped you dress and even helped you tie up your hair. “I am really thankful that you helped me experience something, I won’t tell anyone, I don’t want you to lose your job or anything”

“It’s okay, Taehyung, I trust you.” He gave your hand an affectionate squeeze and you slipped out the room before people would start to suspect something.

You and Taehyung spend the next few days bonding, he warns you when he feels himself slipping away and you have enough time to prepare before V emerges. Whilst painting in the garden Taehyung is talking about all the things he loves, his favourite style of music and his favourite colour and the two of you talk about what you would do if you could do anything.

On your way back Taehyung is telling you about a new electrotherapy that has been said to remove alternate persona’s from one's mind. “It is worth a shot don’t you think?”

“It sounds a little scary, what if something goes wrong, what if you die?” you asked

“I would rather die than spend my whole life in this ward trapped in my own body because someone else is taking control of me, making me do things I don’t want to” He exclaimed, laughing almost bitterly.

“Sorry Taehyung, I didn’t know” You whispered “It’s not something I can truly comprehend.”

“That’s right because you are perfect and everything is normal,” He hissed getting aggravated, he was being restrained when he panicked and started apologizing. “Wait I am sorry, I am sorry, please let me go.”

He was taken to his room and your heart felt like it was breaking, he was afraid of himself and he wanted to get better. He was alone, longing for someone to love him for who he was. Could you be that for him perhaps?

After dinner you went to the room to see him, he was hunched over his shoulders shaking as he sniffled, “I’m sorry,” his voice was small. You stepped over and touched his shoulder, his hand came up and squeezed yours. “You should go, I am not the person you should be with”

“I want to stay, I want to be with you. If there was a way, I would love to get married, have a family and live happily ever after.”

His grip tightened and the sniffling turned to laughter, you were pulled on top of him, his grip was harsh, “You want to get married, my bad kitty, you want me to put some babies inside you?”

You were grabbed and one of the male nurses sedated him, you were crying and you left the room, “I just tried to comfort Taehyung, I am fine I was just startled and scared. I will go for a shower and I will head home for the night.”

You came back to work the next day but you didn’t step foot into Taehyung’s room. You spoke over meals with everyone and he was his usual nice and gentle self. He told everyone that he was getting electroshock therapy. He was saying if it all went successful he would be allowed out of the asylum and allowed to live like a normal human again. 

It took three whole weeks before you had willingly stepped into Taehyung's room, it was his first interview about him and his illness they were recording data to compare with afterwards. You walked him to his interview and walked him back, opening his door and stepping inside.

The door shut behind you and you knew he was behind you. The number one rule is don't let the patient block your exit. And here you were stuck in the room blocked in by Taehyung. 

“Hey Taehyung, you want to play another game of cards” you said, watching him look at the door shoulders hunched over. He slowly turned, looking up with a dangerous glint in his eyes. 

“I’m not Taehyung.” he said,his face void of any expression. 

“Who are you, then?”

“You know who I am!” He shouted before reigning himself back in, “I am V, I am the one that scares you bad kitty, that day when they sedated me, I almost had you” 

“You liked what I said though didn’t you, you pressed your thighs together and the sweet scent of arousal filled the room. You want to get fucked and you want it hard” he said, gripping you by the hair and pushing you so your chest is flat against the bed. 

You wanted it, god you wanted it and he knew it, but you would get fired. As if reading your thoughts V softly whispered into your ear, “you can blame me if they come in sweetheart, no one has to know you were willing, just tell me you want it”

“I can’t” you whined into the bed cursing that you couldn’t. 

“You let Taehyung fuck you but not me?” He pressed himself against you letting you feel how hard you made him.

“Because Taehyung was sweet,” and upset. You were trying to comfort him and had forgotten you were at work, but you didn’t say the last bit out loud.

“Listen to me. Taehyung doesn’t control me but I can control him, that was all me, you know it because I called you by my nickname. Didn’t he call you bad kitty that day?”

You looked at him in shock as he continued, all the while lifting your dress and pulling down your soaked underwear, “That’s right it was me all along so what’s the harm if we try it again?”

“Fuck me, please” you moaned throwing caution to the wind, if you lost your job then so be it. 

He pushed himself into you in a single, hard thrust and you felt your walls stretch around him. He felt bigger then Taehyung but that had to be impossible.

Where one was timid and soft, he was rough and ferocious, his hips pistoned in and out as he fucked you hard. He was vocal and unrefined, he didn’t have any other thought except the primal urge to fuck you. The lewd sounds bounced off of the walls as he pounded into you. He thrusted deep, you could feel him deep inside in your inner walls.

You were drooling, biting the blankets on his bed clutching them between your fists trying to muffle the sounds you were making. 

Taehyung had thrust hard one last time before you felt heat spreading inside you and your eyes shot open, “Fuck, Tae what about a condom?”

“You are mine.” he growled, punctuating each of his words with a thrust as he went, leaving you a writhing mess. 

You quickly got dressed and stormed into the staff bathroom and took a shower.

You changed your clothes and hurried home. You spent the night huddled in your blankets crying yourself to sleep. 

You left for a while after that incident, you spent christmas and new years with your family and when you came back you went back to working right away. The shift was awkward as Taehyung kept staring at you, you didn’t know what it meant but you tried to pay it no mind. The end of your first week back was the day Taehyung would undergo Electroshock therapy.

When it came around you walked him to the theatre and stayed in the hall, you didn’t want to witness it but you wanted to be there by him as soon as it was over. What you didn’t expect was the screaming. What felt like after an eternity but was only half an hour later they stepped out wheeling Taehyung on a gurney, he didn’t look so good. 

It took awhile but Taehyung was starting to grow stronger and he would chat and seemed to be getting healthier and there was no sign of V. You were extremely happy and a month later he was reviewed and approved for discharge from the asylum. He was finally moving in with you and you two were going to live together and start a family.

He waved to the boys but they hadn’t stopped crying all morning, they didn’t say a word, only sobbing more when Taehyung hugged them before leaving. “I wish I could take you all with me,” He said, wiping his eyes.

Taehyung moved in and you two started decorating the apartment to make it more homey. You were cooking dinner for him one night, everything was going well so far, it had been two months since his discharge and the two of you were happy.

“We could try for a baby, if you wanted?” Taehyung shuffled his feet looking at the ground. You giggled, grabbing his hand and leading him to the bedroom, he undressed you and laid you on the bed before undressing and settling in between your legs. You hadn’t been intimate since Taehyung had been discharged from the asylum and it was just as amazing as you remembered, slow and sensual just like your first time with Taehyung. 

Taehyung lifted your hands above your head, kissing and licking your breasts. Panting against you when his hands tightened his grip around your wrists. His hips drove deeper inside you, he was soon going faster and harder pounding into you with all his force and you whined in pleasure. “Yes please.”

“Do you like that bad kitty?”

If you enjoyed this story don’t forget to Like | Reblog so others can enjoy it too.

[crimson-cring-art]

Monster?

One Shot 1

Credit to @dannydarzuski for commissioning my story.

   

It was bigger than the pictures showed, and when she visited it with the realtor it was pretty good for its price...although it was a fixer upper. So once the payment was given and the deed was signed Ming Yue packed up a moving van full of her things and was on her way home.

    Yup she had a home, something to call her own, hang her hat, a place that was permanent...although...dirty…

    She ran her fingers over the wall and cringed. Well it was an old temple that had been repurposed into a home. It was good enough for her, and probably a roommate some day. 

Walking back in from the linen closet she had her hair under a cloth, and her sleeves rolled up. With a bucket in one hand, and a mop in the other she began to pull up the bamboo board and wash underneath. Patting the boards which were full of so much dust. Spraying them down, and then began washing the walls, and windows. Grabbing a broom she pulled down the cobwebs and smiled at her work. 

That was when she noticed a door. She immediately thought it might just be a closet, but a look at the blueprints told her it was the basement. Oh she would need to be able to go down there if something busted in the winter and there was supposed to be a few hook ups. 

She thought nothing of it, and turned the knob. 

Nothing happened…

The door wouldn’t budge. It was locked, she reached into her pocket pulling out the gaggle of keys. 

One right after the other she tried each and every one of the keys. She sighed, she’d have to figure out a way to open it. 

Her stomach growled loudly and she jumped up looking down at the accusing feature. 

“Oh fine! I’ll go to the store.” She said to her stomach. She did need to go grocery shopping. There was literally nothing in the fridge. She pulled down her hoodie sleeves and pulled the cloth from her hair. 

“Yes!” She picked up her purse on the way out. 

The store luckily wasn’t too far away and the walk there felt a bit rushed since the sky looked as if it were about to spill buckets of water everywhere. There was a light rumble off in the distance too, adding to the momentary threat. 

The door gave a soft ding as she walked inside. The cashiers gave a soft welcome as she walked inside. 

“No one saw his face!” The woman said as she unloaded the cart onto the belt. “But my cousin Madi said she saw him in the trees laughing before he flew off with a woman.” Walking through the meat it wasn’t hard to hear the ladies. They didn’t try to make it hard to hear them. They were loudly chatting. Almost like they wanted her to hear it.

“Did they ever find out who it was?” Ming Yue could hear them as she walked through the veggies. Picking up an onion, pepper, and garlic. 

“It was one of the school teachers! She had been turning on the sprinklers when he snatched her up.” The woman looked through her purse and handed money to the woman as Ming Yue tried to listen.

“That's horrible. Stay in doors, that's for sure Yona. It isn’t safe at night.” The cashier called out as the woman waved. Ming Yue picked up a small bag of rice. 

The cashier looked back up from her phone as Ming Yue walked back up to the front of the store. 

“You should be careful too. You are about the age he’s looking for?” The woman said as she started to ring up her things. Ming Yue looked twice as confused about this as she did about some monster running off with school teachers. 

“The vampire.” She whispered as she looked around as if he would jump out of nowhere to grab her. Ming Yue wanted to laugh, she didn’t believe in monsters. It was fantasies used for movies and nothing more. At best it was a hungry demon. 

“Oh! Yes, the one you two were talking about when I walked in. I’ll be careful.” The woman nodded as she handed the two small bags to her. 

With the small bag of veggies, and rice she walked back into her house and into her neatly cleaned kitchen. Sitting down she began to cut up the onions, peppers, chicken, and put the rice in the cooker. 

Turning to throw away the peals there was a splintering noise and down her foot went through the floorboards. It hurt like hell, and she couldn’t pull her foot out too well so she began to pull at the floor itself. 

Ming Yue pulled out her foot and the small section of flooring so she could fix it when she was done eating. 

When she looked into the small area she spotted a black box, and purple finish. She picked it up and looked over it. How odd to hide something so intricate in such an odd place. 

She wiggled the box, it made a soft rattling noise. Opening the box she saw a littering purple key. No instructions, no letter, and no marks. She shrugged as she put the box down. 

“We’ll see if you fit into the basement door key.” She told no one. There was a light click from the rice cooker. She stood up to throw away the fallen items before turning back to the stove and cooking the veggies. 

Going down toward the basement, Ming Yue  found that she was a little bit scared. The sky had begun to rumble louder as she ate dinner. It was rumbling so loud now that it would shake and rattle the house. She was afraid that it would blow away the temple. 

Inching toward the basement door, flinching when the power flickered and caused her to back pattle a bit looking around at the windows to see that the other people down the hills power was flicking too. 

“Stick together. I just bought you.” She patted the door frame before pulling out the small ornate box. Within housing the odd key. 

Pulling it out and lightly pushing it into the keyhole. At least it fit, that was a good sign. Especially as it turned pretty easily. 

There was a soft click, Ming Yue was amazed by this and opened the door. She had to push past a web, which wasn’t unusual seeing as the room hadn’t been opened in centuries or so she thought. Seeing as they didn’t have a key and she found it under a floorboard in the kitchen. The first thing she spotted was a bookshelf with old dusty books. They weren’t dusty like the door was. Actually they looked well taken care of, and was that a manga, a lot of national geographics, and oh no...not Twilight? She turned around and jumped, seeing a large onyx box, with amethysts all around it. Its black glaze, and purple jewels caused it to glisten in the light left by the door. 

There was a soft click and the coffin opened with a soft snap. 

Ming Yue couldn’t help but stare at the handsome face within. It was a coffin...there was a dead guy inside. Probably the former owner of the temple. She had heard this happens sometimes, the owners being buried on their land, but she never heard of it under the house. 

She slowly backed up away from the pale face of the dark furred monkey. She could just make out the fanged teeth over his bottom lip. Oh geez, was that blood on his shirt? Her heartbeat quickened as she turned to run but slammed right into the book shelf. She bent down to pick up the books on impulse because that's what one does when they mess something up. They fix or clean it. But in her bumbling she just knocked down more books. 

There was a chuckle from behind her, her blood turning to a puddle of ice as she stood there. Her heart was freezing cold, and almost all of the fur on the back of her neck was standing on end. 

She slowly turned around to see the smile along the vampire's features. 

“Why, what's a little snack like you doing down here in my shadowy basement?” He leaned in looking over her features. 

“Who...Who are you? What are you?” She asked, obviously ignoring the question he threw at her. He chuckled sniffing the air, she smelled like the rains outside. 

“Names Macaque.” He ran his finger over his tongue and smiled at her. “Six-Eared Macaque.” She wasn’t sure what he meant by six eared. Did he have...she gasped seeing the ears and she blushed looking down. 

“Come on beautiful, how about you and I have a bit of fun?” He smiled showing his fangs. It was obvious now what he was and what he implied. 

“No, No. I just want to go home.” She backed away looking up into his eyes.

His purple eyes looked as if he were pulling her into his soul. She wasn’t aware of him moving in, until she felt the pain of his teeth, and the soft caress of his lips around the bite mark. She wanted to push him away, but she was afraid his teeth would rip out her throat if she did. So she did the one thing she could. She grabbed hold of his shirt and held it. Almost pleading with him to not do just that. She liked her neck not ripped out thank you.

She felt her whole body beginning to grow numb. The fangs began to pull out and he licked her for a little while. Being weak she couldn’t do much about it. But there was blood on her shoulder, and fresh blood on his chin. 

He picked her up and walked toward the coffin. He planned on taking her in there with him? Oh hell no! 

Ming Yue pushed at him, grabbing at his fur, even biting at him to try and get him to stop. It was for not as he lay her down and held her into place as he climbed in. The lid slowly closed on them with a soft click locking Ming Yue within. 

[moonlit-han]

you can’t learn that from books ↠ kim seungmin

genre: friends-to-lovers, college au word count: 2.4k warnings: suggestive as hell, swearing request: yes (anon) a/n: I hope this lives up to your expectations for passionate kissing with Seungmin, anon! It turned out a lot longer than I expected. Enjoy a study session of a different kind~

✧ masterlist in bio ✧

You hurried along the walkway to the library, your shoulders hunched against the fine mist that was covering every inch of you, and your things, that it could get to. Sighing in relief, you yanked the main door open. It was so nice and warm, and most importantly, dry. After slithering out of your raincoat, you passed a hand through your hair, trying to soak up the clinging moisture with your sleeve. You grinned as you spotted Seungmin sitting by the windows, hunched over his notebook and occasionally chewing on his pencil.

Right after class on Friday, Seungmin had asked you to study with him and you’d gladly agreed. You were really quite excited to study with him, since you needed help editing an essay and Seungmin’s meticulous nature would be a welcome benefit.

You sat next to him in two out of your three Literature classes, and talked incessantly with each other. Well, more like talked, whispered, wrote notes, drew hilariously bad pictures, and even perfected the two-people-stare-at-each-other-and-suddenly-they’re-telepathic form of communication. Your professors had resigned themselves to the fact that you would quietly giggle in the corner together no matter what. However, you still managed to come up with the right answers and take surprisingly detailed notes.

Seungmin made classes that you already enjoyed even better—it was like he could magically brighten a room with just a smile. And, he flirted shamelessly with you, making it painfully clear that he had a crush on you. You’d kind of glaze over whenever he smiled at you, and more than once, he’d had to wave his hand in front of your face to get your attention. Those were not your finest moments, and included much spluttering, blushing, and shakily constructed bravado.

This was all because you had had just as intense feelings for him as he did for you. In short, you were sunk for Kim Seungmin—absolutely smitten.

Surprisingly, there were fewer people in the library than you’d expect on a rainy day. Not that this was a bad thing, though. As you approached the table Seungmin had chosen, he looked up, his eyes sparkling with a smile.

“Hey, Y/N,” he chirped. “Wet enough out there for you?”

“You’ve no idea,” you said, sighing dramatically. “It’s like mist can get through anything. I feel like a drowned rat and it’s not even raining properly.”

“At least it’s warm in here, though, right?” Seungmin said, pulling his bag up onto the table.

You grumbled in agreement, pulling out the chair across from Seungmin and slumping into it. He just watched as you extracted your laptop and several books from your bag.

“So, what’s up?” Seungmin rested his chin in his hands. “Didn’t you want to work on an essay or something?”

“Yeah, let me pull it up.” you said, relieved he’d brought it up, so you wouldn’t have to go through the awkwardness of asking for help.

Seungmin was patient and kind as he helped you edit your paper. He let you learn from experience and through thorough examination of what you were trying to convey, rather than just telling you what to write. It was a good system, and you were pleased with how the paper was turning out. The entire time, you were keenly aware of Seungmin’s presence next to you: the warmth of his arm as it brushed against yours when he went to type something, the resonance of his voice, the way he stared intently at you while you were rambling about what you wrote. You tried to ignore the warm feeling growing inside you, but couldn’t—it was just so damn distracting.

Once you were done, you went to roam among the shelves as Seungmin tried to complete a few paragraphs on an essay of his own. The library was quiet, the smell of the books and the glue used in their bindings a calm counterpoint to the frenetic energy of students researching and writing. You liked the muffled silence of the library, and you imagined you could feel the combined knowledge of thousands of books surrounding you like a cocoon.

You leaned against a bookshelf, opening a book of Korean mythology, specifically on tricksters. After a while, you felt a presence behind you and a light touch on your shoulder. You nearly jumped out of your skin with surprise.

“Sorry, Y/N,” Seungmin said sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to startle you so much.” He kept his hand on your shoulder, though.

“It’s okay,” you said softly, not daring to move with Seungmin so close.

“Is that a good book?” he said, now resting his chin on your shoulder. You weren’t quite sure what to do with him so close, but, then again, you weren’t complaining. Suddenly, you felt like someone had shaken you up like a fizzy drink and that you’d burst from the bubbles of excitement now careening through your body. Trying to calm your pounding heart, you nodded, turning your head slightly.

The brush of Seungmin’s lips against your cheek was so light that you weren’t sure it had really happened, that is, until he kissed your cheek again a little closer to your mouth. You smiled and turned, Seungmin’s hands resting solidly on your shoulders as you held the book of mythology in front of your chest as if it could somehow stop what was already in motion. Seungmin looked down at you, his expression open and completely honest. You could almost read his feelings in his eyes as you saw them flick down to your lips and back up to meet yours.

“Um, can I put the book down?” you asked, causing Seungmin to chuckle and let you go.

“Yeah. Ooops, didn’t think about that before—” Seungmin stopped himself, a blush creeping up his face.

You placed the book back on the shelf, careful to return it to its proper place. “Before?” you prompted with what might have been a smirk, stepping close to him again.

“Before doing this,” Seungmin murmured, and leaned in to kiss you.

It was a fleeting kiss, tender and sweet, just a brief brush of lips together. Even so, you felt like a jolt of electricity passed through your body and gasped a little at the contact. Reaching up, you twined your arms around Seungmin’s neck, completely forgetting that you were in the middle of the library. You couldn’t help yourself—this was exactly what you’d dreamed of in the small hours of the morning.

Seungmin drew back slightly, whispering, “I like you so much, Y/N. Is this … May I ….” He let out a shaky breath, a question in his eyes, and you pressed your lips to his as an answer. He gently moved his mouth against yours, catching at your lips over and over, sighing happily as you hesitantly ran your fingers through the soft hair at the nape of his neck. Seungmin moved one hand to between your shoulder blades, while the other cupped your cheek—his hands were surprisingly soft and you could practically feel the tenderness flowing from him. You swiped your tongue along the crease of his lips, smiling as he opened to you immediately. Each of you eagerly explored the other’s mouth, feeling, tasting, savoring.

By now, you were sharing breaths as you kissed. You knotted your fingers in his hair more firmly and he moaned, roughly pulling you to his chest. Every place your bodies met felt like it was on fire, as if just one more point of contact would surely make you blaze up like a bonfire. With a gasp, Seungmin reeled back from you, his cheeks flushed and his hair cutely mussed.

“Woah,” he breathed, running a hand through his hair to try to straighten it. You put a hand to your cheek, trying to keep your composure. “I wasn’t expecting that,” Seungmin continued. “Um, we probably shouldn’t make-out like that in the library.”

“We could go back to my apartment, if you want,” you suggested as you caught your breath. You couldn’t quite believe you’d just said that so boldly, but now that that ship had sailed …  “My roommate isn’t going to be back until Sunday night—she had to go home for the weekend.”

Seungmin’s eyes widened and he nodded. “I— Could we? Even if we just watch a movie and cuddle.” His voice trailed off, the implication of what you might do instead hanging in the air between you.

“Yes, definitely,” you said, and took his hand. “Let’s grab our stuff and go before someone comes over here.”

Twenty long and tension-filled, not to mention wet—it was actually raining now—minutes later, you opened the door to your apartment and ushered Seungmin inside to your living room. You both dropped your belongings onto the floor and stripped off your raincoats as fast as you could, not caring how eager you seemed. As soon as he’d kicked off his shoes, too, you pulled Seungmin toward you, crushing your lips to his. You hooked your fingers into his belt loops as Seungmin cupped your face, one hand at your neck. His kisses were addictive, like if you mixed the slowness of hot caramel with the effervescence of sparkling water. You wondered how you’d ever survived without them.

After a moment, Seungmin broke your kiss. His pupils were blown wide with desire, and you knew yours were, too.

“Y/N, are you sure?” he asked. “Do you want to do this? I only want to if you do.” His tone was serious, and you felt a swell of emotion at how earnest he was. (That would definitely be twenty points to the Future Boyfriend tally. Not that you’d actually made one …).

“Yes,” you breathed as you stood on tip-toe to kiss Seungmin again. You could kiss him more slowly now, and lingered at the corner of his mouth, teasing as you then switched to bite at his lower lip.

Suddenly, you were against the door with Seungmin’s arms braced on either side of your head. You let out a surprised “Oh,” liking the confidence radiating off of Seungmin. His mouth met yours once more before he kissed along your jaw and down your neck, pressing kiss after kiss to the sensitive skin. You leaned your head back, exposing more of your neck for him, and moaned as Seungmin stopped to suckle where the curve of your shoulder began. Your breathing quickened as you felt the heat of his body against yours, and you held onto his hips to steady yourself.

“Min, oh my god,” you said, trying to keep your voice steady. It was quite difficult as Seungmin now drew down the collar of your shirt to kiss across your shoulder. You hadn’t even realized how good that might feel.

You wanted to be closer to him, wanted to feel the extent of his desire. Reaching up to grab ahold his wrists, you ducked your head to kiss Seungmin again. He smiled against your mouth. You placed Seungmin’s hands on your waist, then began to walk forward as you continued kissing him. He almost stumbled, catching himself as he was still holding onto your hips. Finally understanding, Seungmin moved backward into the room, trying to navigate around a chair and a lamp, until he bumped into the coffee table.

“Ouch,” he muttered, frowning, but went back to kissing you all the same. You giggled and kissed him more thoroughly as an apology for any pain he felt. At last, you reached the couch and Seungmin sat heavily, drawing you down with him.

You knelt above Seungmin’s lap, holding onto his shoulders for balance. “Are you comfortable?” you asked, not wanting to hurt him. He nodded.

“God, you’re so beautiful,” Seungmin said in wonder as he gazed up at you. You looked away, shy at the compliment. He reached up to stroke your cheek with a finger. “No, Y/N, you really are.”

You sat back on Seungmin’s knees, covering his hand with yours. “You are, too, you know,” you murmured, then leaned forward to kiss his cheek. “And you have my heart.”

You shifted a little so you were closer to Seungmin on his lap and you felt a slight, hard pressure under you. You settled yourself more squarely on him, grinning as he let out an involuntary groan. As Seungmin moved his hands to your hips—nearly to your bottom—you kissed up his neck and, feeling bold, nibbled at his ear a bit. A shot of excitement coursed through you when his slipped his hands under your shirt—his hands were smooth and warm against your skin.

You nuzzled Seungmin’s neck as he asked, “Is this okay?”

“Yes, your hands feel good,” you said, then brought your lips to his, combing your fingers through his hair.

Seungmin slowly ran his hands up and down your back, leaving little tingling lines all over your skin. You still couldn’t believe you were doing this, but, then again, you and Seungmin had been very obviously courting for months now. He continued to caress your skin, moving steadily upward, until his fingers found the clasp of your bra. You sucked in a breath, drawing back from Seungmin.

“Not yet, please,” you murmured, looking down and away.

“Of course,” Seungmin responded, immediately withdrawing his hands from your back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

You smiled. “Min, no, don’t worry. I didn’t mean never—just not in this moment.”

“Okay. Just tell me if you want to stop or do something differently or anything, okay Y/N?” Seungmin gently threaded his fingers through your hair as he spoke.

“Same goes for you, Min,” you said, leaning into his touch, and he nodded. You enjoyed the feeling of your hair being finger-combed for a while longer. “You can hold me again, you know,” you said, and leaned forward to ghost your lips over his.

Seungmin chuckled and returned to rubbing small circles over the planes of your shoulder blades before slipping his hands back under the hem of your shirt. You sighed against his mouth, and Seungmin pulled you closer, tipping his chin up as you were above him. You could feel Seungmin’s heart racing as you ran your hands over his chest and shoulders, even as your kisses remained languorous.

You gently ground your hips against Seungmin’s, feeling that the hard pressure underneath you was no longer slight. Seungmin groaned low in his throat and kissed you with renewed vigor, continuing to explore the shape of your body with his hands. His hands were now dancing across your belly, your sides, all your curves. Your tongues fought for dominance as you tried to learn each and every part of each other. Feeling as if you’d melt from kissing Seungmin, you let yourself get lost in the feeling of him.

Seungmin pressed his hips up to yours, seeking some sort of friction, which caused the deep well of heat inside you to grow. You rocked back and forth a little over his lap. You cupped Seungmin’s face with your hands, kissing him hard, and pressed yourself against him as closely as you could. Even though he looked at you like you were the most precious, delicate treasure, Seungmin’s grip on you was firm. You shivered at the sensation of his hands digging into the skin of your hips, just under the waistband of your jeans.

You wanted—no, needed—more now.

You drank hungrily at Seungmin’s mouth, your kisses becoming more heated, even desperate. It felt like little bolts of lightning flitted between you. His lips were warm and soft, yet firm and insistent on yours.

“God, oh Seungmin,” you moaned as he sucked and bit at your neck again. “That feels so good. Shit. Please,” you breathed, “more. You can do more—I want you to. I want you.” As you spoke, your heart was pounding so hard that you were sure Seungmin would be able to hear it. Self-consciousness be damned, you pulled at your shirt and, suddenly, you were sitting on Kim Seungmin’s lap in just your bra and jeans.

Seungmin was a little stunned at how needy you’d become and a hard knot of pressure built below his stomach as he was, yet again, amazed by your beauty. He couldn’t deny that he was just as eager as you—he had, after all, wanted this for longer than he cared to admit.

“Anything for you,” he promised, moving his hands to your back again, then kissed across your collarbone before dipping his head lower.

[fallingfor-fics]

Teachers Pet-chapter 17: wanting

All chapters

chapter 16

Potions seemed to drag on forever, Snape was just teaching a lesson, his velvety monotone voice going on and on about a potion we were gonna brew soon. I was trying my best to stay awake, I was still very exhausted and his voice was slowly lulling me to sleep. My eyelids felt heavy and I let them close for one second, or so I thought. I began drifting off and it was too difficult to open them again. I could hear his voice get quieter as I slipped into unconsciousness. I should have known better, I saw a kid fall asleep in his class once and he practically hexed them, he took away house points and yelled at the boy, which ensured he never made that mistake again. 

I jumped awake to a tap on my shoulders. My head was now on the table on my arms and I opened my eyes to see Draco staring at me. "Y/n, come on class is over." he said, collecting his books. "What?" I looked around and saw most of the kids had already left and Snape wasn't anywhere to be seen. "Where's Professor Snape? Why didn't he wake me up? Why didn't you wake me up!" I said lightly shoving his shoulder as we headed out of the classroom. "He left as soon as the bell rang, and I didnt think I needed to, I mean I tried and you didn't move so I figured you needed the sleep." He said smiling. "How odd that he did not get angry with me, did he even say anything?" I asked as we went to the Slytherin common room. "No, when he looked and saw you asleep he just rolled his eyes and kept teaching, I guess he figured if you have the time to sleep, then you don't need to learn haha" I thought over what he was saying, that's not like Snape at all why would he do that? And he knows I'm bad at potions so you would think he'd want me to pay attention.

We went to our rooms for our free period and I said I'd see him at dinner. I was alone in my room and decided to get the book out I had stolen from Snape's room earlier. I began from the start and read the first few chapters, I noticed it began getting dark out and looked at the clock, "Great I missed dinner." I realized I had gotten through almost half of the book, it was very informational, and sadly to say, was giving me some ideas. I mean there's no way I could earn Severus' affections but a girl can dream right? I got my bag and quickly headed out to make it to Snapes lessons. "Draco! So sorry I missed Dinner I got caught up reading!" I said seeing him in the common room, "Oh that's ok I actually saved you this dinner" he said handing me a dinner roll. I smiled taking it from him, "thanks so much I'll catch you later!" I took a bite of the roll not realizing how hungry I was and headed to the potions classroom. The door was closed so I stood there and knocked on it. Recalling when Severus rescued me from the weird encounter with Lockhart that one day, I smiled to myself thinking about how he's always been there in my times of need, so conveniently.

"Come in" I heard him say from the other side and I walked in smiling, taking another bite of my roll. "Evening Professor," I said, sitting down in Dracos seat. It was closer to Snape's desk, easier to hear him from here of course, no other reason. "Today I figured we would look over the Amortentia potion" he said looking up at me, I dropped my smile, that was the potion he was teaching earlier that I so happened to have fallen asleep during the lesson. "About that," I said, getting up and walking over to his desk, "I wanted to know why you didn't wake me up during class." I said fiddling with my fingers. He looked down at his papers thinking for a moment. "I figured you deserved it after last night, although you should have indeed been awoken, I didn't want to disturb the lesson either." He said not looking up at me. "About last night.." I began "No need to discuss the matter Ms.L/n, It was wrong of me to have not sent you back to your dormitory immediately." He interrupted. "What? No..I wanted to thank you once more, It was almost a miracle you showed up when you did, and not punishing me, it helped a lot, I've been having a rough time and i'm glad you were there." I said within a small smile, I hoped this wasnt to far a reach and he didn't find it weird, I mean he was just comforting a student, nothing more. He didn't say anything he just stared down at his papers, I had said too much. I turned and sat back down. "We should get started." he said, stacking his papers. "Right." I said not looking up at him. It fell silent and I needed to break the silence, "Professor how well do you know Professor Lockhart?" I said looking up at him. "As well as any teacher I suppose why?" he asked furrowing his brows. "If I tell you something will you promise not to get angry and get me in trouble?" I said looking around and then pulling my chair up to his desk. He straightened up and looked at me with worried eyes.

"I might regret it, but sure." he said with a sarcastic tone. "Um, well... During Defense Against the Dark Arts today, we were practicing the protection spell, and I didnt have a partner again, and so Lockhart made me practice with him. He said to do easy spells to practice against. And at the end of class I was arguing with him because he used a dueling spell and he proceeded to say it was because he knew I could 'handle' it," he continued listening to me closely growing more and more confused and concerned as I went on. "And he was like 'watch' and raising his wand, and I wasn't prepared and I didnt know what he was going to do.." I looked down at my hands scared to let out the last part, "And so out of defense I hit him with Expelliarmus and he flew across his desk." I said breathing out the last part. Snape's eyes went wide for a moment and then his mouth grew into a small smile. I let my shoulders relax at his response and let out a light chuckle. "Wow Y/n you really like to test this mans limits." he said back in his normal tone. "He just makes me so furious, and I was so shocked he pulled his wand on me without a heads up so I got afraid." I added. "Are you gonna tell Dumbledore?" I asked with furrowed brows. "Well what did Lockhart do about it?" he asked looking in my eyes, I shifted in my seat, he had such an intense stare and his dark eyes looked so strong. "You see, that's the weird part, he didn't do anything," at this he returned his face to its normal stern look and looked a tad shocked, "All he said was 'be careful, you never know the consequences of your actions' and then let me leave." I said using air quotes and mocking his voice.

But Snape did not seem amused, he just looked away and dropped his gaze on my eyes and looked at the wall in thought I presumed. He didn't say anything or the next minute and I grew worried, "What?" he didn't respond. "Severus what is it?!" I said raising my voice a tad looking in his eyes. He snapped his gaze to me and opened his mouth to speak, "Dont scold me for using your name, what are you thinking about." "Nothing Ms. L/n, it's fine I just wonder why he did not assign you a detention. And I told you not to call me Severus'' Wow. The way he said his own name was beautiful, but now's not the time for this. "Well we are friends now, and friends don't use formalities such as Ms. L/n and Mr. Snape" I said jokingly but he didn't seem amused, "Definitely do not call me Mr. Snape" he said in a cold tone, I guess I hit a soft spot, I mean it makes sense, he didn't like his father and I'm guessing that was what he would hear a lot. "We are friends though, I mean at least here in our lessons, I won't do it during school.." I said reassuring him. "If it will make you focus then fine, now let's get started we have wasted enough time."

Hours had passed and I suggested he teach me how to brew the potion now for practice, and to prevent me from any mishaps in class. But he refused and said to just wait until we did it as a class since it was already so late. I was sitting next to him at his desk since we were going over stuff in the textbook. I went to close it and my arm brushed against his, I paused for a moment and let the feeling linger on my arm, I looked over at him and made eye contact with him, I got up and walked over to my table putting my book down. "I uh was organizing the books today but didn't get to finish, I can do that quickly if you'd like?" I asked, looking at the last bookshelf. "No that's alright" he said, not looking at me. "I-I should probably go now anyways heh '' I said awkwardly collecting my things, "Yes that is probably best" he said shuffling random papers around. "Ok um I will see you in class tomorrow, Goodnight Severus." I said walking to leave, "Goodnight Y/n" I smiled and walked out down the hall. I got to my room and one of my roommates was still awake, I smiled at her as I sat my bags down and sighed, "Y/n you like to read right?" my roommate asked, her name was Ruth and she was pretty popular, she had long dark brown hair and beautiful green eyes. Lots of the boys liked her, but we never became friends, but she was nice. "Yeah I do" I said looking up at her. "Good here, my muggle friend had this sent to me, but I'm not gonna touch it so you can have it." she said, extending the book to me. "Oh t-thank you! Are you sure?" I asked looking up at her hesitantly taking it from her hand, "Yeah at least i'll get some use if you have it." she said smiling, "Well ok thanks" She just nodded and said goodnight turning out her lamp and going to bed. I laid it on my bed and went to get ready to go to sleep.

When I finished I sat on my bed picking up the book, "Lolita" hmm I said reading the title to myself. I put it in my bag and told myself i'd read it once I was done with the one I stole from Severus, I grabbed the small book and continued to read through it, it was actually very helpful, except for the fact I wasn't going to get to try any of these things with him. "If the one your heart desires, does not at first glance your way, find someone to make them envy and draw attention to thine self." Merlin this translation was kind of hard to interpret, unless it was really suggesting to make them jealous, my only issue was no matter who I dated, Severus still wouldn't look at me the way I want him to. I needed to get this idea of him eventually falling for me out of my head. I looked in the margin at at a note that was scribbled in, 'she has found someone' I frowned reading it. This poor person, they must have really wanted things to work with this other girl. I flipped to the beginning to where I left the flower. It was a little white one flattened from the pages. I grabbed my wand and murmured a small "Appare Vestigium" A swirl of gold went over the pages and the flower and a few small fingerprints appeared on the flower. This would show me any magic that was lingering but it was not helpful in finding out where the flower came from and who wrote in this book. I guess I was just gonna have to tell Severus I took it and ask him whose it was, that was going to be fun.

[valkyriesryde]

The Dynamic Between Us

Pairing: Modern!Bucky Barnes x F!Reader (with a hint of Sam Wilson x Steve Rogers because I can’t help myself)

Summary: You need a ride and god forbid you have to call Bucky in your time of need. That damned man and his stupid ways of being in your life.

Warnings: angst, happy ending, fluff, cheating (but not between the pairing), sad boi hours with a sprinkle of miscommunication because we a sucker for that kinda trope

Word Count: 2,900....

A/N: This is for @flowerymoonlight ‘s challenge which was uhh a couple weeks ago I’m sorry babe lmao but it’s here! The theme was enemies to lovers and I tried my best. It’s also for @stuckonjbbarnes Fluff vs Angst challenge, the prompt is bolded. I hope y'all enjoy!!

Masterlist

I can’t call Steve or Sam because it’s date night.

I can’t call Wanda she’s with Pietro

I can’t call Natasha, she’s having dinner with Clint and his family.

Goddammit!

I don’t want to call him

I have to

I don’t have a choice

The contact sat on your phone as clear as day though you struggled to actually read it properly through the water in your eyes. You could still tell who it was, your last option, the one you really didn’t want to call but damn you had to.

Calling Long-haired Roommate

“Hello?” The deep voice answered, slightly annoyed and you knew he was annoyed it was you calling.

You struggled to control your breathing enough to answer him, the sob sitting in your chest heavy as you held your hand over your mouth to conceal it.

“Hello? Dammit, did you buttdial me, fucking hell, why me? Come on ma-”

“Bucky?” Your voice strangled and desperate.

“Doll what the hell?” He still sounded annoyed but there was a hint of worry, it can’t be.

A deep breath and you closed your eyes, trying not to think about the events that led to you sitting in your car balling your eyes out and calling the one person least likely to help you in any situation.

“Um, I’m having car issues and I wouldn’t be calling you if I didn’t have another choice, can you please just come pick me up?” You rushed out the lie in one breath then held another in to stop the tears.

“What about Jake?”

Don’t say his fucking name.

“He’s at work, can you please just come and get me?” Another deep breath, control yourself. “I'm frustrated and I-I just need you to come pick me up. I’m outside his apartment…” Your voice was strained and Bucky had a feeling something was wrong, you knew he did, you were never the best liar but you weren’t ready to say the truth out loud yet or admit it happened to anyone, especially him.

Nonetheless he begrudgingly agreed and so you waited in your car for your knight in shining armour...or well Bucky in his beat up pick up truck.

When you heard the truck pull up next to you you immediately got out and made your way to his passenger door, you were already standing in front of the car when Bucky got out of his side and that’s when you saw it, the jumper cables.

“No,” you groaned and he furrowed his brows at you.

“What do you mean no? Your car isn’t working, this is literally my job to find out what the problem is and fix it…” he trailed off as he walked towards you and his eyes caught sight of something behind you. The confusion on his face was replaced by rage and Bucky shook his head. “Are you fucking kidding me?! That’s Jake’s car! What, you got into a fight so you didn’t want to call him? Fucking hell, I’m not your goddamn chauffier!”

Bucky turned around and threw his cables into the backseat of the car but he paused before he got back into the truck. He was a second away from driving away, from leaving you here because your boyfriend lived upstairs and you were a goddamn adult who should be able to communicate with your significant other. But in that second you didn’t reply with a snarky comment, you didn’t tell him to fuck off, you didn’t tell him Jake was a dick, you didn’t say anything.

When Bucky turned around he saw you standing there, your eyes staring blankly at him, your chest moving rapidly and he realised you were crying.

“Your car is working isn’t it?”

You nodded, Bucky stepped towards you again.

“Jake’s not at work is he?” You shook your head, Bucky stood in front of you now, toe to toe and he looked over his shoulder and saw red.

“Right then.” He pushed around you and stormed towards the building’s entrance, his hand on the hand as you could grab his other arm and stop him in his tracks.

“Bucky no please, it’s nothing okay I just want to go home.” You continued to cry and beg him to just leave this godforsaken place and he was so tempted to brush you off and storm up there and give Jake a piece of his mind but when your hand slid into his it was like the heat of his skin cooled and his mind started to become clear again.

When he looked at you he saw you like he never had before, you were small, you were broken and you were pleading for him to just do this one thing. Why did he want to stand up for you? Why did he feel so protective over you? Why can’t he just be his normal asshole self and take you home?!

“Okay, but I need to know what the fuck is going on?” He demanded finally.

“I’ll tell you okay...on the way home.”

Sam and Steve were out, they would be until midnight at least, date night always went on forever for them. It was currently just past ten as Bucky drove through the near deserted streets home, it wasn’t a long drive, ten minutes or so.

“Please don’t tell anyone,” you asked into the silence that sat around the two of you.

Bucky gripped the steering wheel he tried so hard not to be angry, you didn’t want that but fuck it was hard not to turn the car around and pummel the guy.

“They’re going to want to know what happened,” he muttered and glanced over to you, you’d stopped crying but it was so obvious that you had been. “I won’t tell them, but what are you going to tell them?”

“I don’t know,” you shrugged, “we broke up, it wasn’t working. Isn’t that enough?”

“They’re nosey, they’ll want to know and they’ll probably figure out that there’s something else-”

“I don’t care Bucky!” You yelled as he pulled into the carpark. “I really couldn’t give a shit what they think or what they want to know! I got cheated on. Is that what I should tell them? I walked in on him fucking a girl on the table and he said it was my fault. It’s my fault, I pushed him to it, I’m the one that should be to blame. Is that what you want me to tell them? Tell them how he told me he was sorry,”

Bucky got out of the car and walked around to your side, you sobbed and tore off your seatbelt, throwing open the door and slamming it shut behind you.

“About how he suggested we have an open fucking relationship? You know what Bucky? Thanks for picking me up but I don’t need your fucking opinion on what I should do! When have you given a shit about what I do?!”

Bucky ignored you, you yelled and cried at him and he ignored you. He pulled out his phone and started scrolling.

“God you’re INSUFFERABLE!” You yelled, then he held out his phone for you to see.

“What? When is this from? Is this about me?” He took the phone back and put in his pocket, he shrugged his shoulders and leaned against the truck.

“Couple weeks ago. I saw ‘he who shall not be named’ out with a group and he and this one chick looked too close for my liking. Steve said I was probably overreacting so I forgot about it until now. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, I never trusted him to be honest-”

“Bucky what the hell?!” You yelled again, you kept yelling at him and you couldn’t stop, your emotions were on high. “You knew?! Steve knew?!”

“No. You’re not listening to me.”

“Then explain it?” You folded your arms and Bucky had the audacity to chuckle, he reached out and pried your arms apart, his hands running up your sides.

“I didn’t like what I saw, but I didn’t see anything actually out of the ordinary, I just wanted a justification for despising him that wasn’t my jealousy. Steve said it was probably nothing, he didn’t think anything of it either and played it off like I did, I was jealous.” He sighed as his hands came to the top of your shoulders, the base of your neck, your jaw and he was standing chest to chest.

“I don’t need this right now, you picked the worst possible time you know that?” You pushed him away and pressed the palms of your hands into your eyes, Bucky didn’t stand his ground, he stepped backwards and let you have your space.

“You called me, remember?”

“You were my last option.”

“You still called,” he shrugged, “and I came running, like I always do. I know this is shit timing but are you blind? You know who told those chicks in senior year to back off? Me. You know who almost got expelled in our second year of college because two fratdicks wouldn’t stop harassing you at a party? Me. You know who got and made that bookshelf you love so much? Me.” Bucky began pacing, you watched him in shock, you had no idea.

You thought it was Nat in high school, she was always threatening to do something. You thought the frat boys got bored and left you alone but Bucky had gotten them to back off. You thought it was Steve and Sam that got you the bookshelf for your birthday, you gushed about it for weeks, but it was Bucky. It was Bucky.

“You could have told me? You could have said literally ANYTHING Bucky!” You were crying for a whole nother reason now, no longer about Jake but Bucky, about all the years you could have had any sort of positive relationship with Bucky, if he hadn’t let you believe that you despised each other.

“I WAS SCARED!” He yelled and turned his back to you, he heard the garage door at the top of the ramp start to open and his eyes went wide as he turned and stepped towards you. “I was scared and so I lied and I’m sorry for that. I don’t do feelings very well and I didn’t know how to express them except for actions but then I hid what actions I was doing because I was scared. Now you know, I’m sorry it was shit timing but I’m not going to let you believe what Jake did was your fault when I’m standing here living proof that you don’t deserve to be treated like that because it’s his fault. He did that.”

The car came down the ramp, its lights blaring through the windows of Bucky’s truck and came towards the two of you before slowing down.

“And you wouldn’t?” It pulled into the spot beside his truck, Steve’s spot.

“No, never.” Before you could say anything he stormed past you and into the stairway, he ran up the stairs two at a time until he got to his floor but he couldn’t bear to open it and walk into your apartment. So he sunk to the floor against the wall and waited for his heart to slow down and his mind to stop reeling.

“What’s going on here?” Sam asked with a smirk but it quickly dropped when he saw your tearstained face and Steve rushed towards you.

“What happened?”

“Jake and I broke up,” you said looking at the stairway, “and Bucky picked me up because I didn’t trust myself driving home.”

“Oh darling,” “you could have called us,” they both enveloped you in a hug, you stood there in their arms for a few minutes and then the two men guided you towards the elevator and you went up to your shared apartment.

No one mentioned Bucky’s running off. Not until you were walking down the hallway and Sam asked if you had gotten into a spat, you brushed it off and said “yea, I should probably apologise,” but he wasn’t in his room, he wasn’t in the apartment.

“He’s probably just cooling down, maybe he’s on the roof? He’ll be fine.” Steve told you but you could tell he was worried too.

The stairs were the only way to the roof, you only made it to the door and then you saw him, through the little window, leaned against the wall with his eyes closed. You slowly opened it so as not to startle him but Bucky’s eyes opened as soon as he heard the door and he watched you close it behind you and sit next to him without a word.

One beat, then two before either of you spoke.

“I used to have a massive crush on you,” you said quietly, “in highschool, way back when. But you were off limits in my head because you were a part of the group. Then we started this whole banter dynamic that we have, and then it just kept going and you got with Dot and then she did not like me and so our relationship took a hit. When you broke up it wasn’t quite the same. Our banter was a lot angrier, there was less joking in it. Then it just never went back to the way it was, we got into the rhythm of it I suppose.” Bucky’s eyes were on you and yours were on the wall as you spoke. “You have terrible timing.”

“I saw an opportunity,” he whispered as you turned to  face him. “You called me.”

“What did you do to almost get expelled?”

“Threatened large amounts of violence on campus...they couldn’t prove it but I could prove they were harassing girls, so it all worked out,” Bucky shrugged his shoulders and smiled shyly. “I’m sorry I threw all that at you. I really am, I just-” “You saw an opportunity I know.”

“I wanted you to know someone does love you…”

“Bucky…”

“I know,” he stood up from the floor and held his hand out for you, “shit timing, I’m aware. You don’t have to do anything or say anything but I just wanted you to know.” You grabbed his hand and he pulled you up, waiting a second longer before letting go.

“I’m not saying no, or that I don’t think there’s anything there, but I’m not in the headspace to be making any sort of decision right now.”

“I know,” he smiled again and you cursed yourself for ever thinking he could hate you when he looked at you like that. “How about we start with stopping pretending we hate each other?”

“Sounds like a deal,” you laughed and the both of you shook on it.

Bucky pulled open the door, “you first,” he told you and you stepped into the hallway, he let it shut behind him but before he could make a move to walk to the apartment your fingers gripped his collar and your lips were on his.

Bucky was initially taken aback by it but soon enough you were moving insync and he had you against the wall of the hallway. His hands gripped your shit and held your waist. One hand goes into your hair to hold the back of the neck as the two of you part slowly, a shy smile on his face as your face is in a slight state of shock, you were expecting that reaction.

“I’m sorry I-”

“No don't be, I’m not mad about that,” you’re both whispering, like if anyone heard it’d be the end of the world, or like you’re in your own little world and it's only big enough for the two of you.

Bucky’s head dips again and his lips brush over yours, “I thought you said?”

“I know what I said,” and you capture your lips with his again. It’s slow and soft, different from before but the feeling is still there. It’s different from any other guy you’ve kissed, there’s no confusion about what Bucky feels as he kisses you, it’s like you can feel his love, his adoration for you in every movement of his muscles, in every touch of his fingertips and movement of his jaw.

“I thought the timing-” he backs away slowly but only an inch so he can look in your eyes, though his view switches around the entirety of your face and body between his and the wall.

“It is, we shouldn’t, fuck,” you start to panic and Bucky is there in a flash with his hand holding your jaw and reassurance on his face.

“We don’t have to do anything more than that tonight, for the next week, month, I don’t care.” He says with so much confidence that you almost miss the pain in his voice from knowing he still can’t have you after kissing you.

“What if I want to?”

Bucky chuckled and leaned his forehead against yours, “then I’m not going to say no,” he bit his lip.

“Can we take it slow?”

“Of course,” he steps back and his hands fall to yours as he pulls you towards the apartment door, “why don’t we go to your room, because your bed is bigger than mine, and watch a movie, or talk,” he shrugged his shoulders, “anything we want, and we’ll take it slow.”

He leaned against the door and smiled at you as you gleamed back, “that sounds good to me.”

“Maybe we should keep it from mum and dad though,” he gestures with his head and you laugh, agreeing with him.

“All in due time,” you smile as you open the door behind him. All in due time this will grow from the wounds and you and Bucky will find your footing in this new dynamic.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

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[callemreine]

Key To My Story Chap. 1

I changed my mind. I’m posting it now

This is my first proper fanfic, and it’s inspired by this post by @sanderssides-prompts ! It has 3(three) chapters cuz I got a bit carried away.

Ship: Prinxiety

Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3

Word count: 995

A door slammed shut.

This is what Virgil always wakes up to every day. Although, on some rare occasions, it was the loud songs that his roommate sings that wakes him up.

A groan.

Probably the only response Roman thinks Virgil knows how to do. Roman didn’t sign up to have a roommate, but it was necessary if he didn't want to be broke. Two jobs were already barely enough to keep him stable. Uni life was nothing like he imagined it would be. Yes, he knew that he would be having a lot of work, but life outside the school was a different situation.

Roman did everything he could to prevent any interaction with Virgil. The moment Roman laid his eyes on the emo for the first time, he knew he’d just be a nuisance if Roman acknowledged him or be friends with him. He just needs to graduate and he’d be out of here.

The moment Virgil entered the apartment, he vowed not to be a nuisance as much as he possibly could. Until graduation.

The atmosphere in the apartment was always awkward whenever the two were home. Both have jobs that let the other be alone in the apartment while the other is at work. School was a different situation. And being seated alongside each other was not helping with the unspoken “no interaction" agreement.

It was a Saturday and Virgil had the whole apartment to himself since Saturdays are his days off. While Sundays were Roman’s. 

Virgil finishes all of his schoolwork during weekdays to save weekends for his “hobbies.” It was already midday when he gave up trying to search the TV for entertainment. He roamed around the apartment, looking for something to do. He spotted something placed in between the side of their bookshelf and the living room wall, it was a black bag. It was half the size of him. He knew not to invade Roman’s privacy, but Roman wouldn’t be home until 8 in the evening.

I’ll put it back right after I see what it is.

He grabbed the bag and was surprised that it wasn’t as heavy as he thought it was. He placed it on their dining table and opened it carefully, remaining cautious in case it was something fragile or valuable. But what he saw was something he hasn’t gotten ahold of in years.

A keyboard.

Virgil was awestruck. Memories flooded him.

Those moments when he was sitting on the dining table, fingers pressing random keys on the keyboard in an attempt to make a tune. Until he was joined by another pair, guiding him on which keys to press. 

A beautiful woman that he owed his life. Watching him adoringly as he read the paper in front of him and interpreted them in such a mellow tune as his fingers glided smoothly through the keyboard. 

A best friend that always listened to him. Telling him to play a tune whenever he was down. Eventually, he would get carried away with the song and immediately forget why he was ever upset. The woman staying beside him with that same smile and stare she always had whenever he played.

A keyboard. A note placed delicately on it. “Play whenever your heart calls for it. There is music within you. Find it. Let it out. For you are not the one listening to the music, instead, it is the music that listens to you. Play for me, stormcloud. I shall be listening as well. -Mom”

A tear dropped on a key. He immediately wiped it off, same with ones in his eyes. Deciding if he should just put the keyboard back or do something he hasn't done in a very long time. 

Just one song.

He set the keyboard on the table and placed the bag carefully on the floor. Once he plugged it in, the notes flowed through him like the last time he played was just yesterday instead of years ago. The songs he played were the same songs he knew back then. Back when he played for her. He doesn't know how long he has been playing but he knows that he will never get this chance again. He wants to keep playing. For her. He started playing 'Go the Distance' from her favorite Disney movie, 'Hercules.'

But to look beyond the glory is the hardest part

For a hero’s strength is measured by the heart

He finished the song with tears in his eyes. The last note lingering in the air.

“That was beautiful,” Virgil fell off the chair, only to look up and see his roommate leaning against the wall. 

“Oh my zeus! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” Roman helped him up. Virgil knew that he shouldn’t have let himself get carried away. “I am so sorry. I didn’t mean to touch your things. I was just curious about what it was when I saw it by the bookshelf. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let myself get carried away, it’s just that-”

“Virgil!” Roman interrupted. Virgil stared at him knowing that he deserved to be shouted at. “It’s alright. Okay? I don’t really use it anymore so it would’ve been a waste if it wasn’t used by such an amazing player.” Virgil stared at his roommate dumbfoundedly.

“You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because I invaded your privacy and touched your stuff.”

“Nah, it’s chill,” Roman said as he walked towards the keyboard and inspected it. He was silent for a while.

“Do you want it?” “Huh?”

“I’m giving it to you” Roman looked over to him.

“Wha- I- Uh- Y-you don’t have to,” “But I want to,”

“That is unless you teach me first how to play ‘Go the Distance’,”

Virgil was more than willing to take the keyboard, but teaching someone how to play? He doesn’t trust himself enough to do so. But, Roman was a very persistent and very persuasive person.

[gravelyhumerus]

Criminal Minds College AU - Chapter 6

Title: “I may just take your breath away”

Relationship: Jemily

Summary:

The team takes on trivia. Emily strips in front of JJ. It's quite an evening for all.

Slow-burn Jemily college AU where they live across the hall and despite all odds, the universe pushes them together. AKA they’re silly gay babies who pine after each other for months.

Read it on AO3

Tumblr:  One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten, Eleven, Twelve, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Sixteen, (bonus scene), Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty, Epilogue

“Come on, Jayje,” Penelope whined. “It’ll be good for you to go out.” 

“I’m sick,” JJ said, fake coughing. “And I need to get a head start on my project for my new media course. It’s worth forty percent.”

“Bullshit.” Penelope said, “I know for a fact that that isn’t due for two weeks. Tonight is NOT the make or break point in that assignment for you.” 

JJ sighed. 

“You need to get out. See the world. Do more than just play soccer, work out and do homework. You’ve been hiding since your break up. It’s not healthy.”

She had told herself she would stop avoiding Emily after she had figured out what her feelings were. Despite JJ’s realization that it was a genuine crush, that JJ truly liked Emily, JJ needed to also be sure that she wasn’t simply rebounding onto someone nearby. 

Someone pretty and smart and kind and who lived right across the hall.

“It’s trivia night JJ,” Penelope said, “and we have Spencer on our team it’ll be fun.” 

JJ sighed, looked up from where she lay on her bed. 

“Fine.”

“Make yourself pretty, you know who will be there,” Penelope replied, turning back to her make-up mirror to finish applying her purple lipstick. 

“Yeah thanks for that,” JJ said sarcastically, “I saw what you did there.”

“Who, me?” she feigned innocence. 

JJ changed from a plain t-shirt to a tighter, low cut long sleeved blue shirt. She then took her hair out of a ponytail, brushing it out before tucking it carefully behind her ears. On principle, she huffed the entire time, so that Penelope would know that she wasn’t happy about the situation, despite the butterflies in her stomach at the idea of seeing Emily again. 

She took care to apply some eyeshadow, some blush and a pink lip gloss that tastes like strawberries. There was something intimidating about Emily. She looked so… put together. With Will, he never really noticed, or cared, if she wore makeup, but Emily definitely would. 

God. This was stressful. Is this what liking girls was like? If it was, JJ was not sure she was cut out for it. 

At least she was going to be on home territory, as trivia was their thing, something that Penelope and JJ had been doing since their floor was forced into going back in first year.  

JJ was working hard at learning to relax a bit. Between maintaining her grades, soccer, and her new job editing press releases for the student government, she was already being pulled in multiple directions. A night out would be fun, she reminded herself. 

She tried to quell her nerves at going out with Emily. It wasn’t a date or anything. Just friends hanging out. JJ’s friends and Emily’s friends. Penelope’s meddling was further tying her to the girl across the hall by blending their friend groups. 

While half of her mind wanted this to happen, wanted to see Emily all the time and have an excuse to see her, smell her, hear her laugh…. JJ frowned as she realized that her crush complicated everything. Emily was already across the hall, and if she admitted her feelings, and they weren’t reciprocated, she would run into her all the time. Now, with Derek Morgan befriending Penelope and Spencer, and all of them going out together, JJ’s silly crush could send ripples across more than just her own life. 

JJ ran her hands through her hair, worrying about the possible ways she could fuck this up. She did not entertain the possibility that Emily could possibly like her back. First of all, she had no idea if she was straight or not. JJ didn’t even know how to tell. 

JJ glanced over to Penelope, who was finishing up her makeup sitting at her desk, looking into a small mirror on the desk. JJ knew Penelope was queer, as her roommate was not shy about it whatsoever. In her mug full of pens was a pride flag from last year’s pride parade. It was in June, so JJ had been back in Pennsylvania then, but she remembered seeing the joy on Penelope’s face in the photos she posted on Instagram. Penelope wasn’t the person she knew that identified as queer. In fact, Spence had recently told them that he was bi. It wasn’t like JJ was not aware of the community, she thought she was just supporting LGBT+ issues on principal, and for her friends. 

She hadn’t considered that when, in her politics class in high school, she was viciously debating on gay marriage for someone like herself. The topics always felt distant. Like something that affected someone else. She was so certain in her heterosexuality that she had joked about it to Penelope earlier in their friendship. 

The token straight friend, she had said. So much for that. 

“Pen,” JJ said, trying to force a neutral tone to her voice, and failing. “How did you know you weren’t straight?”

Penelope turned and simply stared at her for a long moment before giggling and saying: “Are you finally realizing you have a crush on Emily Prentiss?” 

JJ sat up in her chair. 

“What?” 

“Aw darlin’,” Penelope said to her, tilting her head, ”You barely talked about your break up. You were too busy literally running from your feelings for her ever since you ran into her at the library. I had to finally ask her out for you.”

“I–” JJ stuttered. “I talked about my break up.”

“So to answer your question,” Penelope said, matter-of-factly, “I realized when I had my first crush on a girl, just like you’re doing now. Don’t worry about it too much, you’ll drive yourself crazy.”

JJ’s jaw had dropped. 

“Babe, you came home one night babbling about how she taught you French,” Penelope giggled, “You might as well have held up a sign.”

JJ buried her face in her hands. 

“Oh god,” JJ said. “Am I gay? What am I?”

Penelope walked over and tossed her arm around JJ’s shoulders, pulling her into a hug. 

“Aww baby’s first girl crush,” she cooed, “So happy to witness it first hand. You might be gay! Or bi, or something else. Don’t worry too much about the terminology right now.”

Unfortunately, JJ was worrying too much. About not just the terminology. 

Even if Emily was gay, or bi or whatever, she wouldn’t like someone like JJ. She was always a bit of a tomboy, barely knowing how to do make up and dressing like she was going to practise most days. JJ always felt a bit awkward when she dressed up, feeling most at home in joggers and a hoodie. 

Emily, on the other hand, was all elegant with her pretty black hair, her perfect eyeliner and the way she always looked out together when she went out. Moreover, Emily was cool. She listened to music on vinyl and her bookshelf was filled with classic novels and smoked cigarettes. She lived in multiple countries, spoke more languages than JJ hoped to ever learn.

Emily’s mom was an ambassador. She had a nanny growing up. She had a single room and was paying out-of-state tuition. Well, her mom was probably paying her tuition. 

JJ could only afford to be here because she was on a soccer scholarship, and barely had enough money to cover her caffeine addiction. The surprise small stipend from her new student government job was probably the thing keeping JJ from applying for a job off campus. 

Emily would never like someone like JJ, she thought. 

After checking herself in the mirror one final time, she looked at the time. 6:54. Emily and her friends would be there soon, and if JJ knew Spencer well, he would be showing up in just under a minute. 

There was a knock at the door. She was right. 

“Hi guys!” He said, entering their dorm room and taking his customary seat on the very edge of JJ’s bed. “Am I dressed properly? I wasn’t sure what to wear to a bar.”

He was wearing a button up, with a beige sweater vest over top, with slacks and converse to complete the outfit. 

“Aw Spence,” JJ said. “You look great, I promise.”

“Remind me to take you to the mall to get some party clothes,” Penelope quipped. 

“Those were two contradicting statements,” he complained. 

Once Penelope had finished adding rhinestones to her makeup look, they opened the door to find Emily flanked by two boys, waiting in the hall. 

Derek Morgan, JJ recognized, but the other one JJ hadn’t met before. 

“Hello all!” Penelope called out from inside their room. 

“Hi Derek, Emily,” JJ said politely, “I’m not sure we’ve met–“

She reached her hand out to shake the new boy’s hand. He was tall, with a shock of black hair and a serious expression on his face. 

“I’m Jennifer, but my friends call me JJ.”

“Nice to meet you,” the boy said with a small—almost non-existent—smile, shaking her hand with a firm, confident grip. “I’m Aaron Hotchner.”

“His friends call him Hotch,” Derek piped up punching his shoulder in a friendly way. 

“He’s pre-law,” Emily informed her, “we have a bunch of classes together.”

“I do not have that much experience with trivia,” Aaron admits, rubbing his shoulder and feigning injury. 

“No need!” Penelope says, rounding up on the group, “Spencer here is basically a genius. You’re just a warm body.”

“I just have an eidetic memory!” He said, piping up from in the room. 

With introductions complete, they headed to the small pub just off campus. It was a squat brick building tucked between a restaurant and an old book store. It had a nice back patio in the warmer months, and each Monday was trivia night. 

Just inside, the bouncer drew big xs on their hands to indicate that they were underage, which were all promptly wiped off once they were inside and found a table. The atmosphere inside was relaxed, the staff not really caring if people were drinking underage on a Monday night if they didn’t cause trouble.

JJ loved this bar. It was old, with exposed brick walls and large wooden rafters over their heads. The ceilings were low and the bar was packed and loud, making the place feel cozy, yet not quite claustrophobic. On weekdays, it was mostly locals or upper year students, as their peers were more likely to try to drink underage on the weekends. The crowd was quite a few younger adults, with the occasional older couple or group of middle aged women having a girls night. 

They found a table big enough for their group by just to the right of the bar, tucked out of sight, far from the bouncers. The six of them squeezing tight onto the rustic booth and shrugging off their coats.  

Trivia started at 7:30 pm, so they still had time to get settled and acquire some drinks. JJ was squished between Penelope and Emily’s friend Aaron, who was explaining that he played forward on the men’s hockey team. JJ knew he seemed familiar, realizing that she and he had probably crossed paths at athletics functions. 

“Did you guys rub the marker off your hand?” Spencer asked, too loudly, receiving a chorus of shushing in response.

“Dude,” Derek laughed, “Not so loud you’re gonna get us kicked out!”

“What do you mean?” He asked, the classic Reid obliviousness shining through. 

Emily tossed a casual arm around his shoulders. 

“You see,” she said, “we would like to drink this thing called alcohol tonight. If we have an x on our hands, we don’t get served.”

She pointed to the x on his hand. 

“Speaking of which,” Aaron said, standing up, “I’m grabbing a beer, who’s with me?” 

“Me!” Emily jumped up, with Derek on her heels, “What are you guys drinking? This rounds on me!”

JJ balked, drinks here were expensive. Did Emily actually want to buy them drinks? Or was she simply being nice. JJ should say no. 

“Vodka cran, por favour!” Penelope responded before JJ could politely decline. “JJ drinks beer, and Reid will take a soda.”

“What kind of beer?”

“Whatever’s on tap,” JJ said sheepishly, feeling guilty about someone spending money on her. At the same time, with JJ’s baby face, there was little chance the bartender would buy that she was already 21.

“Root beer please!” Spencer called out after her, though Emily had already turned around, following the boys over to lean against the bar. 

The bartender, a gorgeous young woman with shoulder length brown hair was serving Emily, leaning over the bar. Her eyes were rapt with attention as Emily ordered, even giving her a once over before she left to make their drinks. 

Emily seemed to flirt back, but JJ could not hear what she said, the two women going back and forth for a few moments, their attention hardly broken by the other patrons. 

JJ felt jealousy flare in her stomach. 

As Emily’s fingers grasped the glass, the other girl’s hands lingered, and JJ watched the bartender wink at Emily before turning towards the other patrons. Emily had a cropped tank top, with a plaid shirt on top. Her tight jeans gripped her long legs, and her heeled boots gave an extra inch or so to her already impressive height. She looked hot. The bartender clearly saw it too.

She tried to push back that jealousy. She had no right to be possessive, Emily and she weren’t dating, or anything, they were friends. New friends.   

“Your girlfriend is so good to us!” Penelope cooed, breaking JJ out of her thoughts. 

JJ felt a blush spread across her face. 

“She’s not my girlfriend,” she sputtered. 

“Have you told her you like her yet?” Spencer asked. 

“Guys,” JJ exclaimed, “this is not the time. She’s right there.”

“She has not,” Penelope replied. “Even though it’s so obvious that Emily likes her back.”

“Pen!” JJ said as she buried her face in her hands. 

“Spencer you wouldn’t believe it!” she continued, unheeded, “Emily brought her cookies to the game!”

“She was just being nice!” JJ said, peeking out from between her fingers. 

“She didn’t give me any cookies,” Spencer pointed out. “And we spent almost three hours in class together.”

As he said that, Derek, Aaron and Emily returned with not only alcohol, but also nachos and fries for the table. JJ, too polite to protest when being offered food, and who had the appetite of an athlete, dug in. She took a guilty sip of her beer, and felt Emily’s eyes on her. 

Did Emily like her back? That couldn’t be true. JJ was just… Jennifer. JJ. No one special. Not like Emily. JJ decided not to linger on that thought, it wasn’t like JJ would risk their friendship by admitting she had feelings anyways. 

“You know,” Spencer said between mouthfuls, “I’ve never done trivia before, but I’ve been told I’d be good at it.

“No shit, kid,” Derek replied, talking through a mouthful of nachos, “You talk like a textbook.”

Spencer looked like he was unsure whether or not to take that as a compliment. 

“What are the topics?” Emily asked. 

“They don’t tell you until you get here,” Penelope replied, “Someone should be by with papers and pencils. 

As if summoned, a tall girl with short black hair came by, dropping off a pencil and a paper, split into four quadrants with ten blanks on each page. 

“Who wants to write?” JJ asked, looking around the table. 

Hotch was busy scanning the page for the topics: science, television, sports and music, and he didn’t realize the activity going on around him. Everyone, including Reid somehow, (Derek helped him) had stuck their finger to the tip of their nose, the official sign for ‘not it.’

He looked up, seeing the fingers and without comment he grabed the pencil.

“It’s for the best,” Emily said, “My handwriting is illegible.”

“Can vouch for that,” Derek laughed, “It’s like half cursive half something inhuman.”

Emily punched his shoulder and took another drink. 

“So how does this normally work?” Hotch asked, gesturing towards her paper with the pencil.

“Question, two minutes to write down your answer, no phones,” Penelope replied, “Then we swap with a nearby team to mark it! And so on for four rounds.”

“There’s prizes,” JJ added. “Whoever gets the most right in the end wins, we hand in the sheets to the MC to enter.”

“Sweet,” Derek said. 

“We need a name,” JJ said, looking up. 

“The twinkies,” Emily blurted. 

“The… twinkies?” Hotch repeated, incredulously. 

“I don’t know,” Emily muttered, “I panicked.”

The group burst into laughter, which Emily laughed along with. She was a good sport. 

“Let’s get Quizzical,” Penelope offered. 

“I don’t get it,” Spencer said. 

“Quiz me, daddy,” Penelope tried again, winking at Derek. 

“Settle down now, little lady,” Derek said, laughing. 

“We’re not doing that,” JJ laughed. 

She wasn’t sure who looked more horrified at the idea, Spencer or Hotch. 

“Counter intelligence,” Derek proposed instead, it has a nice ring to it and works with the trivia premise. 

“That’s funny,” Penelope said. “And seems ok for the prudish ones amongst us.”

Hotch wrote that down on their page. 

“Hello everyone,” the MC said through a microphone as the music quieted, a hush fell over the bar, with everyone listening to the women speak. “My name is Tara and I’ll be your MC tonight.”

Tara was beautiful, with curled hair tucked behind her ears and a friendly smile, she was tall, wearing high heels making her stand tall over the seated audience. JJ thought she might be a student, as she looked a bit familiar. 

“Hi Tara!” Someone yelled out from the other side of the bar. 

Tara chucked, “Hello Dave. Welcome all to Trivia Night at O’Keefe’s, we have brand-new questions and prizes for you. Are you excited?”

The audience whooped, Hotch pulled the paper close to him and readied his writing hand, taking a quick swig of his beer to prepare himself. 

“We’re going to start off with some science questions,” the MC said.

The group looked expectantly at Spencer, who looked slightly nervous. 

“First question,” Tara announced, “We’ll start by looking outside of our planet, at the others in our solar system. Scientists have long been able to calculate the masses of most planets, including Earth. It has taken longer to measure the masses of Venus and Mercury, primarily because these two planets lack what?”

“Moons, obviously,” Spencer said, too loudly. Other groups clearly overheard, writing the answer down on their cards.

“Reid,” Penelope scolded, “You’re on our team. Whisper please.”

“Sorry,” he murmured, taking a sip of his soda through a small straw. 

“Question two: of what material is a rhinoceros horn made?”

“Bone?” Derek whispered to them, “They look boney.”

“That’s actually a common misconception,” Reid replied, “They’re actually composed of keratin, which is essentially hair.”

“Huh,” Derek tilted his beer in acknowledgement. Hotch wrote that down. 

“How many hearts do octopuses have?”

“Three!” Emily hisses, before Spencer has the chance.

“Nice one,” Hotch murmured back to her.

“I like cephalopods,” Emily said, as explanation. 

JJ desperately wanted to comment on that, but the game moved too quickly. 

The next few questions were rapid fire, covering everything from the speed of a sneeze, to the surface area of the lungs, to the oxygen in the atmosphere, to which letters from the alphabet were missing from the periodic table (the answer was J and Q.)

JJ perked up when she heard the last question: “What are people who study or collect butterflies called?”

“Lepidopterists!” She said, triumphantly before the MC even listed the options.

Everyone looked at her, surprised about her beating even Reid to the punch.

“I- uh,” JJ stammered, “I collected butterflies as a kid.”

JJ caught Emily smiling at that. She looked away, embarrassed. 

Next was music, which, between Hotch and his impressive understanding of dad rock and Penelope’s encyclopedic knowledge of current pop music, and Derek’s well-rounded passion for all genres, they did fine. Reid pouted, as his eidetic memory doesn’t quite work for things he hasn’t read. 

JJ, unfortunately, was not any help. JJ liked music, but she did not bother memorizing facts about writers or sampling or anything like that. She just liked listening to it. 

After that was sports, and that topic went by quickly with JJ, Derek and Hotch answering the questions with a high degree of confidence. 

Hotch, who was already writing aggressively and getting into it, wrote more and more excitedly, and on the second to last sports question—about the composition of a baseball—he snapped the lead off the pencil right off. 

This caused sheer chaos. 

With no writing utensil, one more answer to write down, they scrambled. JJ shrugged helplessly, typically known as the mom friend in her group, she felt bad that she had nothing to offer. After a moment, Penelope discovered a fluffy pink gel pen she found at the bottom of her purse. 

“Is the ink pink, too?” Hotch asked, raising an eyebrow. 

He tried writing. The ink was pink and sparkly. 

“Yes, sir,” Penelope replied. 

“Did you just call me ‘sir’?”

“I don’t know what came over me.”

During the brief intermission between Sports and Television, somehow the Salem witch trials came up in conversation. (It was actually because Penelope had mentioned the Blair Witch Project and Spencer misheard, but that’s neither here nor there). 

“She was four?” JJ demanded, “That doesn’t seem right.”

“Oh I read about this,” Penelope said, “Dorothy something, she was accused of witchcraft alongside her mother.”

“Dorothy Good, also referred to as Dorcas Good, was only four years old when she was arrested in 1692. According to her accusers, she had allegedly bitten them on their arms. She was actually placed in jail and interrogated by Salem officials where they took the fact that she had a pet snake as proof that she was a witch, as the snake would serve the role of her animal familiar.”

“She was a child,” JJ said, horrified.

“Yup,” Spencer replied, unfazed. JJ frowned but continued writing. 

The last one was television, which was very clearly Penelope’s favourite. 

“Friends ended in May 2004 after how many seasons?”

“Oh I know that one,” Hotch said, “Seven.”

Hotch wrote that down in pink ink, the fuzzy pom-pom danced as he wrote.  

“Amy Poehler, Rob Lowe and Chris Pratt worked together on which US comedy series?”

“Parks and Rec,” Penelope said, “Parks and Recreation, God, I should rewatch that. Such amazing girl-power vibes in that one.”

“What were the names of the two government agents played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson in the 1993-2002 series X-Files?”

“Special Agent Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully,” Emily said with a smile. 

“Wait, you too Prentiss?” Derek said. “Nerding out with Reid tonight.”

“Guilty as charged,” Emily said, “What can I say, I’m a sucker for Gillian Anderson.”

JJ’s mind stuck on that comment. Was she simply a fan of the acting? Or was she implying some sort of attraction to the actress. JJ did not ask. Her mind was wandering for too long, all while looking at Emily, that she missed the next question. 

Whatever it was, Hotch was informing her that the answer was ‘72 survivors’. 

Questions about Saturday Night Live, The Office, Scooby-Doo and a few old-timey shows that they didn’t recognize followed. 

“The last question for the night!” Tara announced, “It’s been lovely being your MC for tonight. I hope you all had as much fun as I did. You ready?”

The crowd cheered.

“Ok this one’s for all the nerds out there: what sci-fi series premiered in 1966?”

“Star Trek: The Original Series,” Reid hissed, struggling to keep his voice down. “Which was the beginning of a franchise that has now lasted over fifty years, spanning nine television series, thirteen films and assorted shorts, video games and novels.”

“Ok Mr. Spock,” Emily laughed, “Thank you for your brain.”

“Spock’s Brain is actually one of the best episodes in the Original Series,” he replied, JJ couldn’t tell if he had made a joke or was simply spouting another fact. 

As trivia wrapped up, and the scores were being tallied, the bar roared back to life, with music booming and the attendees milling about near the bar, back at the darts and grouping around the tables.

She found herself chatting with Hotch and Penelope, about some question they were unsure about, but her eyes were fixed on Emily and Derek. Derek had a hand in the small of Emily’s back, guiding her past the crowd near the bar. 

JJ wondered if there was really something more there, despite Penelope’s encouragement of her crush on Emily. Maybe she was already into Derek? He was very affectionate with all of his friends, especially Penelope, so maybe it was nothing. But still, Emily seemed to be reciprocating. 

But the hand didn’t leave, it held her close, almost protectively, something a boyfriend would do. 

JJ turned away, pushing the thoughts away and slamming the last of her third beer, scanning for where Spencer had run off to after the game wrapped up. He was seated with two other people at a table near the back, talking excitedly at them while they looked at him with rapt attention. Out of curiosity, she wandered over.

Maybe she can hang out with Spence as she banished the strange feelings of jealousy burning in her chest.  

“Return to tomorrow?” the girl asked Spencer, leaning over the table in excitement.  

“Return to tomorrow, season two, production number fifty-one,” Reid replied, “An alien named Sargon takes over Kirk’s body while two others take over Spock and Dr. Mulhall.”

JJ frowned, she had no idea what he was talking about, but recognized that it seemed like the plot of an episode of Star Trek.

“Alien races appearing?”

“Trick question, a race is never identified. Sargon is a disembodied mind?”

“Dr. McCoy quote?”

He looked stumped for a moment. 

“Five, four, three, two-”

“I will not peddle flesh, I’m a physician!” He concludes enthusiastically. 

This all appeared to be an extension of his trivia game. JJ was happy that he was making friends, despite him worrying that he wouldn’t fit in at a bar, he seemed to have found his people. 

JJ gave him an affectionate pat on his shoulder before passing, on her way to the dart board. With Reid occupied, Derek and Emily flirting at the bar and Hotch and Penelope hitting it off, JJ decided to show some random boys up.

It would make her feel better.

There was a pair already at the board, tossing the darts fairly inaccurately. JJ asked if she could join, batting her eyelashes in a way she knew would grab their attention quickly. 

They immediately welcomed her in, handing her some darts. She hit the nineteen, twenty and dead centre in quick succession. The rush of the game kept away her earlier feelings of jealousy, centering her in the moment and her goal.

The boys were floored. JJ was good at darts. 

She played three rounds, slamming them each time easily. Amateurs. They were drunk, aggressive with their throwing, all force no finesse. Typical men.

After the third round, they left for the bar, offering to grab her a drink to celebrate her win, she followed close by, knowing better than to leave a drink unattended, but also not passing up the opportunity to drink for free when it was a silly boy paying. 

Maybe she should rebound after her break up and sleep with a random man. She looked at the man in front of her, he was tall, with dark hair and hazel eyes, wearing a tight fitting white shirt. His companion had sandy brown hair and dark eyes, but neither of them were stirring anything in JJ’s heart. Both were objectively attractive, but neither were the beautiful brunette that lived across the hall. 

JJ accepted her drink graciously, knowing she had to fill another few minutes of small talk before it was appropriate for her to rejoin her friends. 

The one boy was telling her about darts, in detail, despite the fact that she had informed him that she did know how to play, and had just beat him at the game. 

“Can I steal JJ from you guys for a sec?” She felt a hand on her bicep and Emily’s sweet voice in her ear.

JJ turned and the taller girl was next to her, her hand resting lightly on her bare arm, feeling electricity where their skin touched. 

“Uh, yeah,” the brown haired boy said, JJ didn’t remember his name, “Of course.”

JJ smiled apologetically before allowing herself to be led away.

“Thought you could use an out,” Emily whispered in her ear, “You looked bored.”

“Thank you,” JJ replied. “I was.”

They stopped further down the bar, standing close, with Emily looking down at her, their hips brushing each other. JJ could smell her perfume over the ambient smell of alcohol, bar food and the old building. 

“Men,” Emily laughed, “Am I right?”

They laughed. JJ wasn’t sure exactly what she meant but she thought she got the gist. JJ gulped down a sip of her drink, a vodka soda that the boy had chosen for her. 

“Speaking of, are you and Derek, uh,” JJ asked, nervously, “A thing?”

Emily’s eyes widened, and her lips tugged into a smile, she began to laugh. 

“Derek Morgan?” She guffawed, “Absolutely not, that boy is like my brother. Oh my god, JJ you thought we were together?”

JJ felt herself sigh a breath of relief, hoping that it was not visible on her face.

“I just saw how he was at the bar,” JJ explained, “I just assumed.”

“Oh that,” Emily smiled, “I asked him to basically pretend to be my boyfriend, a beard if you will. Keeps guys hands from wandering.”

JJ frowned, that she could empathize with. 

“But no, we’re very much just friends.”

JJ looked over to their table: Derek, Hotch and Penelope were currently playing a game that seemed to consist of tossing coins into Reid’s empty soda can. 

There was a comfortable silence for a moment, both girls listened to the music, standing closely, closer than they needed to. 

Emily ordered them another round, and by that point JJ had given up protesting, realizing that this is just what Emily did. 

Grabbing their drinks, Emily handed JJ’s to her. They smiled and raised their glasses in cheers. 

“To new and old friends,” Emily said, “and to us winning at trivia!”

“I can drink to that!” 

Both accidentally raised their arms too enthusiastically, their glasses crashed together. Emily’s grip slipped and the glass went tumbling out of her hand, right onto JJ. She was suddenly damp and sticky, the liquid soaking through JJ’s thin shirt. 

“Oh my god,” Emily gasped, “I’m so sorry.” 

“Shit,” JJ gasped, putting her own drink down onto the bar and stepping back. “It’s ok, it was both of our faults.” 

“Let’s get you to the bathroom,” Emily said, with a hand pressed to the small of her back, leading her away from the bar. As an afterthought, Emily grabbed JJ’s drink and carried it with them.

A few people gave her concerned glances, one patron offering her a small napkin that did basically nothing. JJ wasn’t mad, it was fully an accident, but now she was just desperate to dry off. 

Now, JJ was acutely aware of Emily’s hand on her lower back. Warm and firm, it guided her into the bathroom. 

As soon as the door shut, the silence made JJ’s ears ring. Emily had turned to the paper towel dispenser, yanking probably four feet of it off and bunching it up before handing it to JJ.

It was a small bathroom basically just the room, one sink and no hand dryer, much to JJ’s sadness.

JJ hoisted herself up onto the counter, taking the paper towel from Emily, patting her shirt hopelessly. The alcohol soaking into the cotton and leaving the shirt a noticeably darker blue. JJ sighed. 

“I’m such a klutz,” Emily said apologetically. “My mom always was on my case for it.”

“It’s not your fault, Em,” JJ said, “it was an accident.”

Emily grabbed more paper towels, moving closer and helping her, patting on the shirt, over her stomach. 

JJ held her breath, realizing that Emily was so close. JJ could look up, see Emily’s face, looking concentrated, with her perfect red lips right there. Her strong hands were carefully dabbing at her shirt, fussing over JJ in a way that made her heart skip a beat. Emily’s collarbones led down to her chest, visible with her low cut chest. JJ felt herself blush, looking up to the ceiling, feeling embarrassed at these thoughts. 

JJ’s top hadn’t changed much, besides it feeling a bit less damp, it still showed the liquid clear as day. 

“This is doing just about nothing,” JJ sighed, clearing her throat. “Maybe I should just go home. It’s getting late anyways.”

“Nonsense,” Emily said. “You can wear this.”

JJ’s jaw dropped as Emily shrugged her plaid shirt off her shoulders, revealing her tank top underneath and handed it to her. JJ took it, dumbly, closing her mouth but saying nothing. 

Emily turned around, clicking the lock on the door, and leaning her shoulder against it, just in case. She took a sip out of JJ’s glass, casually, as if JJ was not about to take her shirt off behind her. 

Emily’s back was to her, but JJ sat, frozen, holding this new shirt in her hand. JJ pulled her wet shirt off, very aware of being naked in front of Emily. Well, shirtless, with her white bra visible, but still feeling incredibly naked. 

She quickly buttoned up the plaid shirt, it was oversized and a warm grey with hints of green and navy, feeling very incredibly soft. 

Warm and dry, JJ felt the shirt envelop her in what felt like a hug. A hug from Emily. 

JJ hopped off the counter and smoothed out her new shirt, Emily’s shirt. JJ folded up her wet shirt and held it in her left hand. The other girl turned and looked JJ up and down, with an unreadable expression on her face. 

“You look good,” Emily commented. 

“Thank you,” JJ managed. 

They stared at each other, for a moment, the room filling with a tension that made her shiver. The music thumped from the other room, but JJ’s heartbeat was deafening. She had accidentally stripped a layer off of Emily, and desperately wanted to take more off of her. Emily’s black tank was riding up, revealing a small strip of her stomach above her high waisted jeans. Emily’s face was flushed from the alcohol, her pale skin becoming pink on her cheeks and nose. JJ thought back to that morning when she had caught Emily in her PJs, of what she knew was under her shirt. This too hugged her curves, revealing hints about what lay beneath. 

“We better get back,” JJ found herself whispering. 

The bathroom was small, so the two of them were packed together in the tiny space. Emily suddenly leaned forward, closing the distance between them, reaching her hands out towards JJ. 

JJ’s heart raced, unsure what to expect. Was Emily going to kiss her? No. Why would she? Oh my god what if she was? 

Emily’s hand carefully fixed her collar, tugging on it slightly. 

“There,” Emily whispered, “you’re perfect.”  

JJ closed her eyes at the feeling of Emily’s hands on her. Sighing slightly. 

She chastised herself for being silly. Emily was just fixing her collar. Being a good friend. 

“Let’s get back,” JJ said. 

“If we have to,” Emily replied. JJ tried not to read into that too much.  

They returned to their table, squeezing back in tightly with their overcrowded group of friends. They were in a heated debate about the Zodiac killer. Neither girl knew how the conversation got there, but Emily immediately joined the conversation. 

After a few minutes, and after quite a few sly looks from Penelope, the MC tapped on the mic, gaining the audience's attention. 

“We officially have a winner!” Tara announced, “With 36 points, it’s Counter Intelligence!”

Their table erupted in cheers. They had won! There were a flurry of high fives, hugs and fist bumps in their celebration. 

Tara, the MC came over to their table to congratulate them. She told them that they had beat out the second place by one point. 

“Impressive work everyone,” Tara said, “that’s close to a high score, and these were hard questions.”

“We have a great team,” Penelope said with a grin. 

“I can tell,” Tara replied. “Are you all going to come back next week? It’s Halloween themed!”

They looked at each other, then nodded at her. It was a plan. 

“See you then!” Tara said. 

She gave them their prizes, which were mugs with the bars logo printed in white on the green mugs. She would treasure it. 

JJ finds herself yawning, catching the eye of Emily, who said: “we better get JJ to bed, looks like she’s fading.”

Please, JJ thought sleepily, resting her drunk head on her hand, take me to bed.

Sitting down, JJ’s five or so drinks had hit her hard, and she dreaded standing up and risking stumbling. She was drunk. JJ wasn’t a light weight, but over their time at the bar, she had gotten quite a bit of alcohol into her system. 

“Come on, sweetheart,” JJ could feel Penelope grab her arm and hoist her up. JJ leaned on her, feeling a warm affection for her friend in the moment. 

Together, they walked home in the cold night air. Laughing, chatting and walking together amicably, all holding their prizes in hand. JJ leaned into Penelope’s side, feeling warm despite the chill of the air. Something felt incredibly right about that moment, those people. 

She didn’t want it to end. 

They went their separate ways from Hotch once they got to campus, bidding him farewell, not before Penelope added him to a group chat titled “The Team 🕺” in reference to their trivia playing. Hotch promised he’d join them all again next week. 

Once they climbed the stairs to their floor, Reid continued up to his room and the four of them found themselves trying to quietly return to their rooms without getting caught by the RA. 

Despite being served for the entire night, if they got caught drinking underage they would get in a lot of shit, especially Derek and JJ on their athletic scholarships. 

Muffled whispers and giggling filled the air as they walked through the common room.

Derek hugged them all goodbye—he seemed to be a hugger JJ surmised—and went to his room down the hall. 

“Oh!” JJ said, spinning to face Emily in the hall. Penelope had already entered their dorm, with the door closing behind her. “I can give your shirt back tomorrow! I can… er… wash it for you. It probably smells like beer now.”

Emily gazed at her, from over her shoulder as she unlocked her door, looking JJ up and down.

“Keep it,” she said. “It looks good on you.”

JJ would swear she saw Emily wink at her, but couldn’t be sure. 

Emily disappeared into her dorm room, and JJ went into hers. 

She slept with the shirt folded neatly next to her pillow, the smell of Emily’s perfume filling her senses as she dreamt. 

[cakesunflower]

Just My Kind [Teacher!Calum AU] Part 2

Previous Part: Part 1

One of the biggest changes from teaching in a small town in Nevada to a high school in Los Angeles was the technology. It wasn’t that Odessa was technologically challenged—she was aware of most of the software the school used and was able to get around it pretty well. But Monday was proving to be a challenge as her computer kept crashing, preventing her slideshow from appearing on the Smart Board, and Odessa had been trying her best not to get flustered in front of the ninth and tenth graders even as they tried to help her out. It only made her feel worse when she failed to remember a couple of their names.

Odessa told herself she was still new at the school, and wasn’t used to teaching so many students since her old school was less than half the size of this one. It was understandable that it would take her time to put names to the faces she would be seeing every day, but that didn’t meant it didn’t make her feel like shit for getting names wrong or just not remembering them at all. She didn’t want her students to think she didn’t care.

When her last class of the day walked out of the classroom, Odessa let out a sharp breath and dropped her forehead to rest on her folded arms on top of her desk, shoulders sinking with the breath she expelled. She closed her eyes, hearing the bustling of the hallway outside as students lingered by lockers or made their way to their next class, and tried to calm herself down. Telling herself she was being overdramatic and that it was just one bad day wasn’t necessarily helping, but Odessa had never really been one to go easy on herself. 

“Alright, Miss Kline?” Odessa looked up at the sound of the deep accented voice, looking towards the door to see Calum watching her with raised eyebrows. He stood with arms crossed over his chest, right shoulder leaning against the door frame as he eyed her curiously.

Odessa ignored the embarrassed flush she felt heat her skin as she sat up with a deep inhale, shoulders straightening as she offered Calum a small, close mouthed smile. “Just one of those days, I guess,” she told him truthfully, hands bracing on her desk. 

Calum clicked his tongue. “Ah,” he sounded knowingly, one corner of his lips quirking up. “Rough one, was it?”

She scoffed, sound nearly defeated as her shoulders slumped. “That’s kind of an understatement.”

He chuckled lowly, pushing himself away from the door. “Right—come to my room,” Calum said, ticking his head to the left encouragingly before he took a step over and disappeared.

Odessa raised her eyebrows, curiosity itching at her as she stood up and followed him, stepping out in the hall in time to see him enter his classroom two doors down. The hallways were emptying out as students began rushing, and when Odessa entered Calum’s classroom, she realized he didn’t have a class this period, either. 

She liked his classroom; the desks were all placed in a U shape, his included, and he had told her it was because he wanted the set up to be the way he taught: open where everyone saw and heard one another. Just like Odessa’s room, he had a bookshelf in the back stacked to the brim, a closet where the textbooks were stored at the end of the year, and bulletin boards in the back with literary posters as well as some of bands and musicians, which wasn’t surprising. 

Odessa followed Calum towards his desk, watching as he sat down in his chair, giggling when the weight of his body and the wheels on the chair had him rolling away until he leaned forward the grab the desk and pull himself back. Calum merely grinned before he reached for the bottom drawer, pulling it out to show Odessa the snacks he had in there. “What the hell?” Odessa laughed, eyebrows shooting up as she looked inside.

Calum leaned back in his chair, hands lacing over his stomach as he told her, “They’re mostly for me whenever I get hungry, but sometimes I give ’em to a student who impresses me the most in class.” 

She felt an amused smirk curl at her lips, sitting at the edge of his desk as she raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you show favoritism?”

“I show appreciation,” he corrected her with a grin. Then he gestured to the drawer and added, “Go on—pick something you like.”

She blinked in mild surprise. “Really?”

Calum nodded. “It’s my dumb way of trying to cheer you up,” he told her, and his words had Odessa’s heart melting because the gesture was so kind and thoughtful—something she truly appreciated after the day she’d had.

“It’s not dumb,” Odessa told him, her voice as soft as her smile as she looked down at the drawer. Her eyes caught sight of the small blue bag of mini sandwich cremes, bending down to pull it out before straightening and letting her eyes meet Calum’s. He still wore that smile on his face, kind and charming, and Odessa nodded at him with a smile of her own. “I appreciate it, Calum.”

He used his foot to close the drawer and sat up, propping his elbows on the desk as he looked up at her with dark brown eyes, resting his chin on his knuckles. The two of them were close to one another, yet Odessa ignored the heat of his body and focused on his words as he spoke. “I know it wasn’t an ideal day, Odessa, but you’ll get the hang of it, yeah? The transition to a new school isn’t easy but, like I said, if you need anything, let me know. I’m here to help.” Then, with a return of his charming smile, he added, “And provide comfort snacks.”

Odessa let out a small laugh as she opened the bag of cookies. “These are my favorite,” she told him as she held up one small cookie between her index finger and thumb. “Thank you, though. I guess I’m still getting used to teaching in a school of this size compared to where I taught back home,” she reasoned with a tired sigh, dropping her gaze to the bag in her hand. “Everything’s so different.”

“I can imagine,” Calum hummed in understanding, tilting his head to let his fingers run through his blonde hair and muss them up a bit before she felt his gaze on her again.

“On top of that, I’m still trying to adjust to living in a city and that on its own is challenging.”

With a tilt of his head, Calum inquired, “You don’t like big cities?”

She shrugged after swallowing one of cookie. “Not really used to them,” Odessa told him, crossing her ankles, making sure she didn’t knock over anything on Calum’s desk as she remained seated on it. “Spent most of my life in my hometown in Nevada except for when I’d visit my grandparents or the four years at college, but—” she let out a small laugh as she shot Calum a look. “Berkeley isn’t the same as Los Angeles.”

“Yeah—L.A.’s in a league of its own,” Calum told her with a gentle chuckle before sitting up once more. “But it’s all about giving it time, y’know? Before you know it, you’ll be in love with the city. And if you need a little help with that, I’m happy to offer my services,” he added with arms crossing over his chest as he shrugged modestly.

Odessa felt a smile tug at her lips, lowering her chin as she laughed gently. “You’ll be my tour guide?”

Calum scoffed with a roll of his eyes, knocking her foot with his as he told her. “I’m your friend. Get that through your head, Miss Kline.”

“Sorry, Coach,” Odessa returned with a teasing grin, referring to him as what the students did. No one really called him Mr. Hood, Odessa had come to learn. Being the soccer coach for the boys’ varsity soccer team, all of the students called him Coach, whether they were his athletes or not. Calum grinned at her use of it, clearly fond of the title. 

She continued eating the cookies, a comfortable silence falling upon them for a brief moment. But when Odessa’s blue eyes landed on the instrument in the corner of the room, she raised an eyebrow. “You brought your guitar?”

Calum turned his head to follow her gaze, as if he’d forgotten it was there. “Oh, yeah,” he answered with a chuckle, looking back up at her. The fluorescent lights of the room glimmered against his dark irises. “I do this thing where for a couple of the stories I teach the class, I’ve got a song for them that I’ll sing for the class. The kids seem to enjoy it.”

Odessa blinked as both of her eyebrows rose, feeling the awe rush through her too quickly and the smile on her face widen as she took in his words. Why was that so endearing? The devotion Calum had to his students was just like Odessa’s, maybe more, and it made her all the more fond of him. She could tell, with the glimmer in his eyes, how much he truly enjoyed teaching, how he wanted to make it fun for his students, and as a teacher, Odessa admired that. “That’s great,” she sounded with a light laugh, the appreciation clear in her tone. “A coach, a teacher, a musician—you’re just gunning for Teacher of the Year, huh?”

Calum blew a light raspberry, pressing his lips together after as he waved her off. “’Course not—I do this for the kids.” Then, with a smirk, he added, “But the title isn’t too shabby.”

She laughed before popping another cookie into her mouth, shaking her head in amusement as Calum merely grinned, the crinkles by his eyes softening his otherwise sharp features. Odessa could easily say this budding friendship wasn’t too shabby, either.

*****

Wednesday evening found Odessa at a local Italian restaurant for an early dinner with Sierra, Crystal, KayKay, and Paige. She had just gotten off work, staying an extra hour or so in her classroom grading classwork before leaving to join the four other women, who made her feel welcome as soon as they all had been introduced. Odessa was grateful for the company, despite being with her college roommate and the mild discomfort she felt in Paige’s presence. Still, she wasn’t going to let it put a damper on her mood.

“How’re your students, Odessa?” Sierra questioned, sitting across from her as she ate her salmon. “Are they a handful?”

Odessa let out a laugh after sipping her drink. “Not for the most part, no,” she answered, picking up her fork. “They’re all so smart, you know? Some of them have such interesting perspectives on the books we read that I never picked up on. Sometimes I think they should teach me instead,” she laughed.

As her laughter subsided, KayKay asked, “And are the other teachers nice?”

“Yeah, totally,” Odessa nodded truthfully before scoffing lightly. “But for the most part, Calum and I stick together since we’re the only ones close in age and in the same department.”

The second his name fell from her lips, Odessa had a feeling she was going to regret it, her thought confirmed when she saw the subtle, almost unnoticeable quirk of Paige’s eyebrow. She liked Calum, Odessa knew, and when Paige liked a guy, she had the habit of becoming protective, eyes sharp and ready to defend what she believed was hers. Even if it wasn’t. “You two get to hang out a lot during school?” Paige asked as she reached for her glass of wine. 

To anyone who didn’t know Paige as well as Odessa did, her question probably came off as innocent, just conversationally curious. But Odessa could pick up on the skeptical undertones lurking within her voice, like she was digging for information. Would Odessa ever be able to keep her guard down around her? “Only when we don’t have class,” she nonchalantly answered, twirling some noodles around the piece of shrimp on her fork. “He’s good company.”

“Mm, speaking of which,” Crystal hummed, obliviously and fortunately cutting off whatever Paige may have had to say. Blue eyes landing on Odessa’s, she said, “Michael and I are having a little party Saturday night. I think he’s gonna DJ the whole thing and maybe we can get the boys to actually play something.” Gaze pleading, Crystal added, “Please come.”

Sierra and KayKay added on their pleads, and Odessa couldn’t fight the smile that upturned her lips. These new friends of hers were sweet and kind, and Odessa could easily admit their company was making her transition into living in Los Angeles easier. The friendship they offered her was one she was grateful for, easily putting her at ease as she agreed to come by to the party.

Once they ordered dessert, Odessa excused herself to go to the bathroom, only to press her teeth together as Paige shot up as well and chirped, “I’ll join you!”

Odessa wished it was socially acceptable to sit back down and say never mind.

Instead, she merely pressed her lips together in a close mouthed smile before making her way to the bathroom in the back, all too aware of Paige following after her. Odessa didn’t mind the silence between them—preferred it, actually—as the heels of her ankle boots clicked sharply against the floor of the bathroom, making her way into an empty stall. When she stepped out after flushing, she saw Paige by the sink, reapplying her nude lipstick as Odessa stepped up, a sink’s distance away, to wash her hands.

The silence between them didn’t last long enough. “I’m excited for Saturday—Michael could totally be, like, a professional DJ if he wanted to,” Paige hummed after rubbing her lips together.

Odessa didn’t want to, but she still made conversation as she pumped some soap into her hand. “Yeah, I’m looking forward to it. It’ll be fun if the boys play something, too.”

“Oh, hell yeah—they’re incredible,” Paige nodded in appraisal as Odessa dried her hands with a paper towel. As she then moved to reapply her own lip gloss, Paige turned to lean against the sink, arms crossing over her chest as she innocently continued, “I love when they have gigs. They’re so fun.” With a quick laugh, she added, “Most of the time Cal and I end up going home after, so I can’t wait.”

Odessa fought to keep the scoff from escaping—or keep the unwanted image Paige’s words conjured up out of her head—as she balled up the paper towel and threw it in the trash. The forced innocent, nonchalant tone in Paige’s voice told Odessa that Paige was only trying to get some kind of reaction out of her—not that Odessa would give her one. Or even had the right to have a reaction. Odessa prided herself in not letting her feelings run her too much, made it a point to believe that whatever attraction she may feel towards Calum was just that—an attraction. Physical, that’s all. It wouldn’t be the smartest idea for it to be more; he was a friend, her friends’ friend, and a coworker. No point in risking any of that.

Especially if Paige was involved.

Still, Odessa wanted to laugh at how hard she was trying to—to what? Fish for something? Trying to see if Odessa was interested in Calum because Paige already had a claim over him? Please. All Odessa wanted to do, in that moment, was point out that the boys didn’t have a gig and that Paige was just trying too hard—especially when she remembered Luke’s words from that night of Calum not being as interested in Paige as she was in him. But Odessa was nice. She’d never say it—to her face, at least.

So Odessa merely smiled as she glossed her lips, trying to keep whatever contempt she may feel for Paige at bay as she looked up, meeting Paige’s gaze through the reflection of the mirror. Odessa noticed the glimmer in Paige’s hazel eyes, sharp and purposeful. An easy smile quirked as Odessa’s lips as she offered a shrug. “Should be fun.” 

Whatever Paige was looking for, she wasn’t going to find it with Odessa.

*****

“Jeez—Grams, we don’t need all of these ingredients,” Odessa huffed, watching as Grams placed an abundance of the same items in their already filling shopping cart—all ingredients to make cookies, brownies, cakes, you name it. “You don’t have to bake every other day, you know.”

Grams scoffed dismissively, eyeing the different brands of chocolate chips. “It keeps me busy—plus, you know Grandpa loves his sweets. So do you.”

Odessa rolled her eyes, arms folded on top of the cart handlebar as they stood in the baking aisle. “Yeah, and so do you. Even though you have diabetes,” she responded pointedly with a raise of her eyebrows. If this kept up, Grams would be giving Odessa a heart attack—and not just from all the brownies and cookies.

“I take care of it, relax,” Grams hushed, not at all phased by Odessa’s words. Not that she expected her to be. 

It was Odessa’s turn to scoff. “Eating one brownie or cookie every time you bake them doesn’t mean you’re taking care of it,” she sighed, running her hands through her straight brown hair and used her free hand to push the cart into the cereal aisle. “That adds up, Grams.”

“You worry too much.”

Odessa stuck her tongue out at the older woman. “You don’t worry enough.”

Grams waved her off, clearly not taking Odessa’s worries too seriously, but Odessa knew Grams took some of it seriously. She had to, what with all of Odessa and Grandpa’s warnings and worries being sounded every time. It’s one of the reasons why Odessa decided to live with them—other than saving money and because they had all but pleaded for her to come stay with them. Grams always had the habit of running around to keep up with errands and housework, even when she was sick. She was the most stubborn person Odessa knew, and would often join in with her mom, a flight attendant, whenever she was on FaceTime with Grams and were all but yelling at her to sit down and relax. When she wasn’t working, Odessa made sure to take as much load off Grams’s plate as she could.

Clicking her tongue Grams said, “Can you grab that box? You’ve got long legs.”

Odessa scoffed as she glanced up at the family sized box of Cheerios, Grandpa’s favorite, sitting on one of the top shelves. Odessa already knew she wouldn’t be able to reach it, no matter the length of her legs, but tried anyway as she stretched her hang up and stood on the tips of her toes, grunting when she failed to grab the box.

“Damn,” she huffed, puckering her lips as she glared up at the box like it was mocking her. She settled back down on her feet as she glanced around to see if there was anyone who would be able to help, only to let out a scoff of disbelief when her eyes landed on the person turning into the aisle with a shopping cart of their own. With a gentle laugh escaping her, Odessa called out, “Hey, Calum.”

His eyes met hers upon hearing her call for him, and Odessa watched the smile upturn his lips as he continued his way over. The wheels of the shopping cart rattled as he approached them, greeting with a smile, “Miss Kline—fancy seein’ you here.”

Odessa chuckled as Grams spoke up, curiosity coloring her voice. “Who’s this?”

“Oh,” Odessa glanced at her grandmother, who came to stand next to her right when Calum stopped in front of them. “Grams, this is Calum. He’s an English teacher at the school and he’s also a friend of Luke’s.”

She watched as Grams’s eyebrows shot up, eyeing the tall, tattooed man in front of them as she smiled. Odessa could’ve sworn she saw a mischievous look in her grandmother’s blue eyes, which could never be a good sign. “Oh, the one you told us about?” With a chuckle and a gentle nudge to Odessa, she added, “He’s like your work-husband, isn’t he?”

“Uh—” Odessa nearly choked on her words as she gaped at Grams, her eyes widening in both amusement and embarrassment. Work-husband? Never had Odessa referred to Calum as that—or even thought of him as that, no matter how innocent the playful title may be. But Odessa knew her grandmother, knew the glint in her eye. The woman didn’t mean it as innocently as she uttered it. 

When Odessa forced herself to look at Calum, she wished for the ground to open up beneath her as she saw the completely amused raise of his eyebrows and the corners of his lips curled up, before pressing his smiling lips together to shoot Odessa a playful look. He looked too entertained by Grams’s words, and Odessa gave a shake of her head as she told him, “For the record, I never called you that.” Digging up some confidence, she added with a one shouldered shrug, “Besides, it’s a big commitment and I’ve only known you for a couple of weeks.”

Oh, God. Was she flirting with him in front of her grandmother? No. No, this wasn’t flirting, right? No matter how much it kind of felt like it was.

Next to Odessa, Grams chirped up, “Your grandpa and I married only after a month of knowing each other, so you two should be fine.”

“Oh, my God, Grams,” Odessa laughed, wondering if the nervousness in the sound was as evident as she could feel. Now her skin was heating up, cheeks flushing from the embarrassment she was faced with. She was all too aware of Calum’s gaze on her, could hear the deep, raspy sound of his amused chuckle as Odessa pulled her lower lip into her mouth. She never should’ve called him over. This was karma. Looking at Calum, though not entirely meeting his gaze, she asked, “Could you just—could you get a box of Cheerios down for us, please?”

Calum’s chuckles never subsided, and Odessa wanted to scream at the teasing tone his voice took as he responded, “Anything for my work-wife.”

Fucking hell.

Odessa exhaled sharply through her nose, fingers digging in her hair as she watched Calum easily reach up and pull down a box. He held it in his hands, grin apparent, as he offered it to Odessa. She pursed her lips, corners quirked, but just as she tried to reach for it, Calum’s grin widened as he pulled it away from her grasp and offered it to Grams instead. “Cereal for the lovely lady.”

Tongue pushing against the inside of her lower lip, Odessa scoffed as Grams let out a delighted laugh while receiving the box. She tapped it and said to Odessa pointedly, “I like him.”

She turned to drop the box in the cart and Odessa’s blue eyes locked on with Calum’s amused dark ones, a shit eating grin on his face as she stated bluntly, “We’re getting a divorce.”

Calum blew a raspberry before the boyish grin returned to his face. God—no wonder all of the students were obsessed with him. “We can talk about that at the Mike’s tonight,” he responded easily before quirking an eyebrow. “You are coming, right?”

Embarrassment slowly slipping away, Odessa found herself raising an eyebrow with a tilt of her head, replying, “Depends if you play something for us—I still have yet to listen to your band.”

The way his eyes lit up had Odessa’s smile widening, her heart giving a little leap at the excitement he so easily displayed as he gave a nod. “You’ve got my word.”

She smiled, all too aware of Grams watching them curiously, nosily. “Then I’ll be there.”

He nodded along, stepping back around his cart and tapping the handlebar with his fingers before gripping it and pushing it forward. “I’ll see you tonight,” Calum smiled before his gaze shifted over Odessa’s grandmother and added, “Good to meet you, Grams.”

Grams’s grin was too wide. “You too, honey!” His smile was charming as he left and Odessa looked at her grandmother, a pointed look on the young teacher’s face as Grams laughed. “I like him. He’s a cutie.” Then with a wink, she added, “Told you Luke would have cute friends.”

--

tags: @irwinkitten @loveroflrh @meetashthere @astroashtonio @loverofhood @captain-what-is-going-on @angelbbycal @singt0mecalum @hopelessxcynic @lfwallscouldtalk @bodhi-black @findingliam-o @softlrh @highfivecalum @calumsmermaid @erikamarie41 @quintodosuniversos @longlastingdaydream @babylon-corgis @lukehemmingsunflower @pastelpapermoons @conquerwhatliesahead92 @rotten-kandy @metangi @neigcthood @ohhmuke @mindkaleidoscope @5sos-and-hessa @trustmeimawhalebiologist @vxlentinecal @pettybassists @vaporshawn @lu-my-golden-boi @visualm3nte @isabella-mae13 @dontjinx-it @lifeakaharry @neonweeknds @antisocialbandmate @ixcantxdecidexwhosxmyxfave @calpalbby @grreatgooglymoogly @sunnysidesblog @miahelizaaabeth @madelynerin @dramallamawithsparkles @kaytiebug14 @hoodskillerqueen @bitchinbabylon @empathycth @xhaileyreneex @inlovehoodx @bloodlinecal @sublimehood @madbomb @raabiac @britnicole11 @outofmylimitcal @wildflower-cth @bloodmoonashton @vxidhood @gosh-im-short @thesubtweeter @mycollectionofnuts @cthwldflwr @everyscarisahealingplace @socorroann​ @csykychchng   

[cpd5021]

Runaway

This one is getting posted early because I’ll be insanely busy tomorrow. Enjoy!!

Happy Wednesday!!! One week closer!! They’re finally back to filming and I am soooo excited! Thanks to  @joy-meathiel  for this prompt!!

“Alright, listen up everyone. We’ve got a problem.”

Not the best words to hear first thing in the morning, especially from Voight who really didn’t see much of anything as a threat. It was my second week back from New York, but my first official day back in the unit. The first week had been spent filling out countless amounts of paperwork and doing debriefings to get caught up on everything I had missed while I was away. To say I felt nervous was an understatement. Not only was this my first day back under Voight’s noticeably watchful eye, but it was also the first day back with Jay. Not that we hadn’t been hanging out for the last week, enjoying the Bartoli’s I was promised and catching up over beers at Molly’s or my place. But something about spending the whole day with him had my stomach swirling in a way I couldn’t understand. I pushed the thoughts aside and turned my attention back to Voight, who, to my surprise, was staring right at me with a concerned look on his face. I sent him a questioning look, my eyes darting quickly to meet Jay’s who looked just as puzzled by Voight’s intense stare, before turning back to Voight. 

“Sarge?” 

I pushed when it didn’t seem like he was going to elaborate. He crossed his arms over his chest and let out a sigh, his eyes never leaving mine.

“We’ve got to get you out of town for a bit. Word is there’s a target on your back.”

His words set a panic rising in my chest, along with an extreme confusion as to how I could be anyone’s target after being gone for so long. 

“Who? How?” 

I asked, standing and moving to lean against the front of my desk. He chose to ignore my question and instead turned to address the rest of the bullpen. 

“Upton is going to be out of commission for a while until we get a handle on this thing. I’m going to assign one of you to get her out of here and somewhere safe. You’re to stay put until you hear from me and only me, is that clear?”

The room nodded in agreement, their faces a mix of concern and confusion. I looked to Jay again and my stomach did another lurch when I saw him raise his hand. 

“I’ll get her out of here, I know somewhere that’s perfect to lay low in.”

Voight nodded in Jay’s direction and then pivoted to walk back into his office, I was hot on his heels, grabbing the door before he could close it. He sat in his chair and motioned for me to sit down. 

“You’re going to go wherever Halstead takes you and you’re not to contact anyone until you hear from me. Got it?”

I nodded in agreement but still pushed for more information. 

“What is this about Sarge?”

He leaned back in his chair, letting out a sigh as he rubbed at his face. 

“The thing about those lines you crossed Hailey...they were big players. Gael has people in every corner of this city and he’s not stupid. At first he was targeting Roja’s but he’s smart enough to figure out she was too new for those kinds of connections.”

My heart ached at the mention of Vanessa. My first night back, after Jay had picked me up from the airport, we headed back to my place. I had been able to tell from his demeanor as we approached my house that something was up, but nothing prepared me for the blow that came when we walked into my place and found it void of any trace of my roommate's presence. Jay had explained all about how Voight had sent Vanessa back to narcotics and she was in a major undercover op. How I would likely not hear from her for a while because she had gone dark for the coverup. And how it all had to do with Gael. I had broken down at the realization that my actions had put her at risk and that she had been forced to uproot herself from this life that she fit so well into. Jay had calmed me down enough to give me the letter she left, stating that none of this was my fault and she would be so pissed if she found out I blamed myself. Her written words had brought a smile to my face but it wasn’t enough to ease the guilt that had settled into my chest. I swallowed hard and brought myself back to the present, looking at Voight and feeling lost over the mess I had put everyone in. 

“We’ll figure this out and we’ll get ahead of it. But for now, I want you out of the picture.”

I nodded again, blinking back the tears that were threatening to gather. He motioned for me to leave and I did so, feeling defeated as I went to find Jay. When I found him in the locker room, he was tossing some of his things into a black duffel bag in his locker. I sighed and moved to do the same. 

“Where are we going?”

I asked, assuming he had some remote hotel in mind and cringing at the thought of spending any more time in a hotel bed after the last month and a half in New York. He glanced up at me then, a slight smirk on his face that faded when he saw my own face. 

“I know somewhere good. It won’t be so bad.”

His avoidance of a direct answer had my defenses going up. I straightened my back and turned to face him directly. 

“Jay?”

He smirked again, his face turning the slightest shade of pink under my stare. 

“Ontario…”

My eyes bugged out at his reply. He was insane if he thought I was leaving the country.

“Canada?” 

I managed to choke out, causing him to chuckle at my hoarse voice. 

“No, sorry. Wisconsin. My family has a cabin up there…”

He trailed off when I still didn’t relax. I wasn’t sold on the idea of even leaving the city let alone the state. 

“Jay...hiding out is one thing but I’m not running away. This is all my fault, I should stay to help clean it up.”

I hated the way my voice sounded utterly defeated as I tried to argue with him. I knew I wasn’t going to win this fight anyway between him and Voight, so it was probably best to just go along with the plan. It didn’t hurt to try though. 

“Hailey, the most important thing right now is to keep you safe. Voight will figure this out and you’ll be back before you know it.” 

He took a step towards me, placing his hand gently on my shoulder to reassure me. I sent him a half hearted smile and then finished gathering my things. 

*****

The four hour drive up to the cabin surprisingly wasn’t that bad, we stopped once for gas and some snacks but Jay made pretty good timing to get us here. When he pulled up the long driveway leading up to the quaint little cabin nestled back in the woods, I couldn’t help but let my jaw hang in amazement. The setting looked like something from a Hallmark Christmas movie and I suddenly felt even more nervous about this whole situation. Spending an unknown amount of time with Jay was one thing, but here? This was going to be interesting. He informed me that we could settle in at the cabin and then head back into town later for some groceries and other necessities. I hopped out of the truck and lugged my duffel bag from the back seat, my jaw still slack the more I took in. I followed him up the steps of the covered porch, noting the adorable swing hanging from the rafters and gasped when we entered the cabin. It was floor to ceiling pine and it smelled amazing despite sitting vacant for who knows how long. There was a small couch propped in front of a fireplace with a tiny TV mounted on the wall above. I doubted there was any cable service this far out but the huge collection of movies on the bookshelf in the corner of the room looked promising. A long, solid wood table was in the center of the cabin, a top one of those old fashioned braided rugs and the kitchen looked just the right size for preparing some cozy food. I noted a door down a short hallway that I presumed was the bathroom and a set of stairs that led up to a loft above us. Under any other circumstance, this would be the perfect vacation spot. But the current situation was still leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Jay moved beside me, taking my bag and trekking up the stairs to the loft. I followed after him, curious to see more. At the top of the landing I noted a huge king size bed with what looked like a handmade quilt on top. Way better than the hotel beds I had been picturing. I was so busy admiring the comfyness of the bed that I didn’t notice Jay had come to stand in front of me. 

“So, there’s only the one bed. But I’ll take the couch.”

He rubbed at his neck, looking suddenly uncomfortable. 

“Jay, it’s your cabin. I’ll take the couch.”

He smiled sheepishly at me, glancing back at the bed before turning back to face me, a blush covering his cheeks. 

“We’ll figure something out.”

We headed back down the stairs and Jay gave me a brief tour of the tiny cabin. There wasn’t much more to see than what I had already noted but I enjoyed listening to the way he pointed out all the little details as we went. This place held memories for him, that much was obvious. 

After the tour inside, we walked around the property for a bit. He told me how him and Will used to come up here all the time and how their dad was a big hunter. His eyes lit up when he talked about all the delicious cooking his mother would do in the tiny kitchen and the sight made me melt a little on the inside. After a while, we decided to head back into town before the sun went down. Even the quaint little grocery store was enough to warm my heart and I kept picturing myself in a Hallmark movie. I picked up a sweatshirt from the little tourist section of the store, earning a grin from Jay. I had a limited wardrobe from what I had grabbed from my locker so the added warmth of the sweatshirt looked inviting. 

Back at the cabin, I relaxed into the couch that was incredibly comfortable after Jay had shewed me out of the kitchen, telling me he was going to cook for us tonight. I blushed slightly at the way my mind travelled at the thought, but managed to hide it before he noticed. I pulled my new sweatshirt closer, feeling a sudden chill as the evening air cooled down outside. Jay noticed and suggested I go take a hot shower while he finished dinner. I couldn’t object to the thought of some hot water so I grabbed my bag from upstairs and headed into the bathroom. For such a tiny cabin, I was surprised at the size of the shower in this bathroom. It had been redone to look like one of those spa showers and it was definitely big enough for two people. I shook those thoughts from my head and stepped into the hot water, letting my body melt in the steam. Once I was done in the shower, I tugged my new sweatshirt back on along with a pair of black leggings I had thankfully stashed in my overnight back. As I opened the door, letting the steam from my shower swirl in the short hallway, my nose was instantly filled with the most amazing smells. I followed them out into the kitchen and paused at the sight before me. Jay stood over the stove, stirring something in a large pot while another boiled away beside him. I watched as he bent to pull a pan of garlic bread out of the oven, adding to the wonderful aromas in the cabin. I shuffled into the kitchen, catching his eye and causing him to smile my way. I noticed a light blush spread across his cheeks but he turned back to stir whatever concoction was in the pot. I stepped up beside him, glancing into the pan and noting what appeared to be a homemade marinara sauce. 

“I didn’t know you could cook.”

I teased, sending him a smirk when he scoffed my way.

“There’s lots of secret talents I have that you don’t know about.”

His innuendo caused me to blush and it was my turn to dip my head down. 

“And you said I was aloof…”

I countered, trying to ease the sudden tension in the room. He chuckled at my response before motioning for me to go sit at the table while he plated our food. We enjoyed the meal, paired with a glass of wine he must have had stashed at the cabin as it wasn’t something we picked up in town. After dinner, I battled him over the dishes and he eventually conceded, letting me wash them up. Although he remained right by my side, drying them as I went. Once that task was done, I returned to the couch and drew my knees up by my chest, the chill back in the air now that it was fully dark out. Jay noticed my shiver and moved over to the fire place, expertly working to start a fire that cast a dim glow around the room. Once again I had the feeling that I was in some romantic movie and had to remind myself that this was Jay and we weren’t like that.  

“Add skilled fire builder to my list of skills you’re learning about.”

Jay smirked as he sat on the couch beside me. He sat on the opposite end but the couch was small enough we still sat incredibly close. There was no way either one of us would sleep comfortably on this tiny thing, a fact I would point out later. We fell into an easier banter, sipping on some beers Jay had grabbed from town and for just a moment I had forgotten all about why we were actually here. It didn’t take long though for our banter to bring up a joke Vanessa had once told and my mood instantly changed. Jay picked up on the shift in my mood and reached a hand over to grab my shoulder. 

“Hailey...none of this is your fault.”

He tried to reassure me but we both knew that wasn’t the case. I sent him a half hearted smile at his attempt to make me feel better. 

“Jay...we both know all of this is my fault. I never should have done what I did. I screwed everything up.”

We fell into a silence for a moment as Jay pondered how to proceed. 

“Hailey...what happened, yea you crossed some lines. But I think you’ve beaten yourself up enough for it. What’s done is done and eventually this will all work out. Vanessa is a tough girl, she’ll be alright and you’ll hear from her again. I promise you she isn’t mad. She made me pinky promise to make sure you know that.”

I smiled genuinely at the thought of that exchange between the two of them and Jay seemed relieved to see my mood lighten. 

“And New York wasn’t all bad right? I mean, it sucked not having you here for multiple reasons but you’re back now.”

His words confused me a little and I was asking him what he meant before I could think better of it.

“Multiple reasons?”

It was Jay’s turn to blush again and he brought his beer bottle to his lips, obviously stalling his response. I drilled my eyes into the side of his face, letting him know I wasn’t going to drop it. 

“Well yea...I mean, you’re the best partner...and everyone missed you…”

He stammered out a reply but I could tell there was more he wasn’t saying. Suddenly all the feelings I had pushed down after he got shot were front and center and there was a tiny spark of hope rising inside of me that he might feel the same way too. 

“Did you miss me? Aside from being your partner I mean?”

I picked at the label on my bottle, suddenly losing the confidence I had when I asked the question. 

“Of course.”

His words came out so sure that it caused me to look up and meet his eyes. I saw something within them that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. 

“I missed you too Jay.”

 I admitted softly, my words barely above a whisper. 

“Can I ask you something?”

His question threw me off a little but I nodded my head, waiting for him to continue. 

“What did you want to say to me in the hospital room? Before my phone blew it. I’ve been wanting to ask you ever since but it never seemed like the right time. But now, we have pretty much unlimited time so….what was it?”

My heart pounded the second he reminded me of that day and what I had truly wanted to admit to him. The fact that he brought it up made me think even more that maybe he did feel the same way, even though I had never finished what I was going to tell him. 

“It doesn’t really matter.”

I whispered, trying to cop out of this situation. As much as I did love Jay, I wasn’t sure he felt the same way and I couldn’t risk losing him. 

“It does to me.”

His soft response had me looking up at him again, that unrecognizable look even stronger in his eyes now. I smiled at him shyly, my head still dipped down as I picked at the label even more. Suddenly, his hand was over mine, taking the empty bottle from my fingers and setting it on the table in front of us. 

“I had just realized something after you got shot. But that would have been a horrible time to tell you.”

I mumbled out my words, really wishing he would let this go.

“So tell me now.”

He pushed, causing my heart to beat even faster. The way he was looking at me made me think he knew exactly what I was going to say and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. When I didn’t respond he started talking again, slower this time as if he wasn’t sure this was a good idea. 

“Well, when you got sent to New York...the first week was rough and I thought it was because I was missing you as my awesome partner. Adam...just not the same. But then I would go home and the first thing I wanted to do was tell you all about my day and listen to everything that happened with yours. And then I hated that we weren’t having the same days and that you were off on this big adventure, probably kicking ass and showing everyone else how awesome you are. I wanted to go grab a beer with you at Molly’s or stay home and watch stupid Office reruns on TV. I wanted to hear you laugh, to know that you were okay at the end of a rough day. I’d wake up in the morning and the first thing I’d think of is if you got your coffee...because we all know how that goes if you don’t. I wanted to pick you up and drive into work together, or at least have to fight you off of my pens when you forgot yours. Hailey I...I guess what I realized, when you were gone...is that I kinda fell in love with you. And maybe I’m totally off here and that’s not what you wanted to say to me and I’m probably ruining everything right now but I just needed you to know because it’s all I think about now. You’re all I think about now…”

He trailed off and I blinked away the tears that had gathered in my eyes. The sight seemed to alarm him and he shifted on the couch as if he was about to get up. My hand grabbed his arm, holding him in place as I shifted myself on the couch to face him better. I bore my eyes into his, hoping that he could see in them that I felt exactly the same way. I didn’t trust my voice to speak but I wanted to show him just how right he was. I placed my hand against his cheek, smiling back at him when his lip twitched up into a nervous smile. I closed the gap between us, bringing my lips to rest just above his so they touched when I finally spoke. 

“I love you too Jay.”

And with that I pressed my lips against his. He instantly returned the pressure, placing his own hands against my cheeks as the kiss deepened. Sparks ignited between us and I could feel my breathing coming in gasps as our tongues danced against each other. When we finally broke apart, our foreheads rested against each other and our eyes shared the same look of passion between them. Our lips crashed again and this time Jay was pulling me into his lap, his strong hands gripping my thighs as my arms wrapped around his neck. Without any effort whatsoever, he lifted me up and I could tell he was headed for the stairs. My life might be a huge mess, caused by my own doing, but for the next few hours...I was in one of those stupid romantic Hallmark movies.

[leland-chapman-the-bounty-hunter]

Murder Under The Cold Moon

So, I wrote a short story for my creative writing class. Underneath the cut is like the third (?) draft of it. It sits at about 4.8k words at the moment and I think that there might be some more content that I could add to it. Other than that, I think that is it.

TW for depictions of violence-none of it graphic & mentions of underage drug use.

Duke was never one to find his place with the other children on the street. It not like he couldn't just go up to them and ask them to play. They would easily bring him into his group. But he never felt connected to any of them, honestly. The kids were a few years younger than him. Just starting first grade or kindergarten while he was nearing middle school. They were just other kids that his mom forced him to play with whenever she was in sight. But since she wasn't, he wasn't about to pretend to play with these children. The ones who really only played with him because their parents forced them to do so.

Rather, his pants were rolled up to his ankles and his sleeves pulled up to his elbows. His shoes were half a mile down the creek and his jacket a mere quarter of a mile downstream. The water neared body temperature and if you were already in the water by the time its temperature started rising, you didn't feel it at all. Duke's hands finished in the water for tadpoles. Each time he dipped them in, his hands came out as red as a tomato but only a few degrees warmer than his skin. Not too hot but just warm enough to feel a difference.

Duke rummaged around in the water for a few more minutes before he came up empty-handed again. He had heard the frogs at night, so why were there no tadpoles? Were they just too far away for him to get to them? The calls of the other children neared. His cue to pack up and leave even though he wanted to wade in the water alone for a bit more. Duke rushed back to his clothing. The mud clinging to his feet with every step he took until the mud-caked on his feet was nearly a pound of extra weight.

Duke pulled himself up the bank and to the top of the drop-off. His church jacket-a light beige in color and too thick for the weather outside-was in the place he last put it, hanging on a small oak tree branch that still had some bend to it. He stomped off the mud as best as he could, wiping what little was left of the mud onto the grass. Duke only had to walk a bit before his dress shoes came into view. Then, his house which lay on the right side of the creek a mile and a half from where Duke had been before the kids had come. Even from all the way back where he was, he could see the smiles on their still chubby cheeks. No more than four years younger than Duke right now.

"Duke," His mother chastised as he walked through the door and into the mudroom where he began stepping down to his underwear. "I thought I told you not to play in the creek today."

"No, you said not to play in the creek tomorrow. That's when Charlie is coming."

"I said Sunday, Duke. Sunday. Not Monday." His mother let out a sigh. "I'll go put out some more Sunday clothes for you but no more playing outside, do you hear me? I want you to look nice when your cousin gets here."

It wasn't like Duke needed to make a good first impression on Charlie. He had already made the first impression when the whole family had a reunion at Kings Island and he threw up on Charlie after one of those tilt-a-whirl rides. Even though he barely remembered the memory, only the stories, Charlie had still been old enough at the time that he would remember the incident with more clarity than he did.

Duke placed his dirty clothes into the washer with the rest of the clothes that waited to be washed. From there, he headed to the bathroom to wash what little mud remained on his body. His own room connected to the bathroom much like his mother and father's room was. Soon, the number of toothbrushes would go from three to four with the arrival of his cousin. He wasn't all too sure about how he felt. On one hand, he was excited to see the cousin that he had seen so long ago. On the other, he wondered if Charlie would even feel the need to come out of his room. That he really only needed to come out for mealtimes and that Duke wouldn't see him for the year that he stayed at their house. Like a ghost that they couldn't get rid of.

His father said he was a troublemaker. That he had been sent here to straighten up as a last resort before he was off to military school. Charlie could not have been that bad. The last time Duke saw him, he was still blonde-haired and blue-eyed. The spitting image of Captain America. They only really saw each other at family reunions and those stopped back when Charlie was around eight or nine. His mother and father wouldn't tell him why How bad could he have messed up in the year or two since he had last seen him? Duke knew he had been raised in nearly the same God-fearing household as Duke did.

Duke wandered into his room. His eyes fixated on the small suit that had been laid out in front of him on his bed. Duke didn't struggle with putting it on. He had spent too many Sundays he now spent putting one on for church. Ever since he could dress, he had been tasked with doing it himself. His parents are too busy to help him anymore. Even if he wanted help, he wouldn't be able to get it since there was going to be a new arrival coming to the house was so soon. His mom was portably putting

"Duke!" His mother called from somewhere in the house. "Charlie and his family just pulled up. Get to the door!"

Duke hurried to the front door. Did he look okay? He checked himself in the mirror that hung above the bench one last time before he turned to the front door. His hair did not have a single strand out of place. His hair was still gelled back from that morning's service. Would his aunt and uncle recognize him if he opened the door? They had to, right? He didn't think he had changed all that much between when they last saw him and now. The car doors slammed shut. A rush of adrenaline ran through Duke's body. Three shadows appeared in front of the frosted glass. Duke rushed to place his hand on the cool metal of the doorknob before they did. Duke flung open the door with a little more ferocity than he would have liked.

Charlie now sported long, black hair. His jeans ripped and his eyeliner muddied. The leather jacket he wore looked new as if he had just bought it. Long gone were the days of a weirdly patriotic love for America that his blue eyes and blonde hair once said. It looked like he would end up kicking a kitten while it was down instead of picking it up off of the ground and carrying it five miles to the vet as Duke had once heard about him. Charlie looked like the kind of man that Duke's mom told him to stay far away from when they walked through the city. A far cry from the stories his mother would tell him when His face hardened with the rebellious teen years that Duke was only a few years away from.

"Well hello there Duke." His aunt smiled down at him. Her hair was just as blonde as Charlie's once was. "We haven't seen you in a while, it's been what? Two years?"

Duke's mom and dad rushed in before he could answer and ushered his aunt and uncle into the living room which left only Charlie and Duke to ponder in silence while awaiting further instruction. Charlie didn't look all too rebellious. Nor did he look like he was worried about the possibility of being shipped off to military school next summer if he didn't shape up. His face was stone cold. Tired, almost. Even though the drive from his aunt and uncle's house wasn't that far. Duke's mother soon came back with a smile on her face still. Her smile was surely more painted on than real.

"Please show Charlie to the guest room. We'll have dinner at five."

Duke began his walk in the opposite direction as his parents. Charlie's footsteps followed a bit later. The guest room was right across from Duke's and had stood empty aside from a bed for as long as he could remember. Only a few months ago had there been additions of a bookshelf and a dresser. Duke flung open the door to the room with a smile painted over his face and gestured for Charlie to take a few steps inside. His suitcase landed on the bed as he passed it. His hands rested on it for a few seconds before he began flinging the clothes across the room towards the dresser.

"So you're going to be my new roommate for a while." Charlie turned towards Duke. "Or I am going to be your new roommate."

Duke forced a smile as he continued to watch Charlie unpack his only suitcase. His backpack was just as thick as his suitcase and filled with books and records. Though, he had no record player to play them on. Everything from Prince to Guns N Roses. Charlie placed them onto the desk with a smile as if they were his best friends and he hadn't seen them in a while. It was odd but Duke wasn't about to call Charlie weird for it. Duke was the one who didn't talk to the local children because he'd rather find tadpoles that were 'too icky' for him. Charlie turned back to Duke and gestured to them for Duke to flip through a few of them.

"You can take one and listen to them if you'd like." Charlie seemed so nonchalant about it. He flung the last of his clothes-all of them black in color-towards the dresser.

"Mom wouldn't like it if I listened to these. She says they're of the devil."

"So I bet she doesn't let you play one of these then, either." Duke turned to see what Charlie was talking about. He held up a Gameboy. Duke shook his head. "Well then, your parents really are no fun."

"Dinner!"

His mother's voice echoed down the hallway and towards the pair. He had lifted one to inspect it even further. Duke nearly dropped the record in that he had in his hands to the ground. Charlie jumped from his spot at the edge of the bed and crossed the room in a matter of milliseconds. He turned from the window with a speed that Duke had never seen. What? How did he move that fast? Duke had never seen someone move that fast before in his life. He didn't even think that it was possible.

"Come on, dinner is ready. Don't be late."

Duke moved towards his mother's voice. But Charlie wasn't behind him. Charlie did not leave his room. Duke didn't hear his footsteps behind him as Duke made his way into the dining room. He shrugged. Charlie would have to come out eventually since he would eventually get hungry. He would have to get hungry sometimes. Duke's mother sat down at the table after putting the finishing touches on the dinner table. The ham steamed as did the mashed potatoes and gravy. Duke didn't even think he heard his mother heat up the asparagus in the microwave. He guessed he was too busy talking to Charlie to hear anything else. He was just ready to eat but his mom outstretched his hand towards him. Duke took her hand without thinking. Now the real praying could begin. They all bowed their heads down in silent prayer.

"I knew he'd want to unpack." Duke's aunt rolled her eyes. "You'll have to excuse him. His manners have seemed to have evaded him as he's gotten older."

"He seems like a sweet enough kid. I wouldn't put it past him to just want to unpack and decompress from the car ride here."

Charlie's dad bowed his head over the food once more. His hands folded in front of him. His lips moved fast. Too fast for any

"He's definitely not sweet," Charlie's dad lifted his head from bowing it to pray over his meal since none of Duke's family had said the prayer out loud. They had all been distracted by conversation to do it. "You wanna know what the final straw was?"

"What was it?" Duke's father scooted towards the table and bowed his own head over his meal for a moment before digging in. "What are we getting into?"

"What?" Charlie's dad smiled. "The old ball and chain didn't tell you all about her nephew?"

Her nephew? Charlie was their nephew, his cousin. If his uncle was joking then Charlie certainly didn't pick up on it.

"So what did he do?" Duke's dad let out a sigh as he dug into the food and began passing it out to everyone. "What are we in for?

"He tried burning down the high school. He kept rambling on about how the students there were worthless and needed to die."

"Well, that doesn't seem so bad." Duke's mom chimed in.

"It's arson, Susan." Charlie's dad turned towards her. "He's also been investigated for kidnapping."

"Kidnapping too?" Duke's mom lifted her head. "You didn't tell me that he was being investigated for kidnapping!"

Duke wasn't as worried as his mother. Charlie was a good kid from what Duke had seen over the years. When it rained at King's Island the summer before Duke turned six, he had given Duke his jacket. He helped a young girl find her mother after she lost sight of her when she got off of the ride. There was no way that he had even been a person of interest in kidnapping cases.

"He was never charged and he was only a person of interest. You still have to take him. We're not bringing him back to town after he kicked up so much trouble there."

Charlie's father let his head fall and began making good on his food. The rest of dinner was silent. None of them spoke and the only noises were the forks and knives on the plates. Duke wasn't going to make much noise. He was ready to finish dinner and do whatever he wanted. His suit was now fitting too tight around his neck. Like it was strangling him. Charlie was a good person, he reminded himself. Charlie is a good person. He is not the reason those kids went missing.

Duke wandered back to the closed door about a dozen times between the end of dinner and now, as he walked to his bedroom. He had cleaned up the dishes and put them into the dishwasher for further cleaning. His parents and aunt and uncle had gone into the living to talk. He didn't care for his mother's gloating. He didn't care for his father's pride in his work. His aunt and uncle boasted about their own achievements as well as if none of them were proud of each other.

"Alright, I think we're going to head out. We don't want to be too tired when we go into work tomorrow." Duke's uncle's voice echoed down the hall. His figure appeared a few seconds later and waved at Duke in the hallway. "See you at Thanksgiving, Duke."

Did they make plans for Thanksgiving already? Duke waved back to his uncle with a smile. "See you then, Uncle Jim."

"See you at Thanksgiving, Charlie." Duke's aunt called down the hall.

Duke waved back at the two figures at the end of the hall before they disappeared into the front room near the front door. Charlie's own parents were now gone. Charlie would only have Duke's parents for the next few months. Duke's parents came back to the bathroom a few moments later and spent the next twenty minutes cleaning up before both their room and the bathroom light went dark. Duke went to his room but didn't feel the need to change just yet. He wanted to stay up a bit longer and changing into pajamas now meant that the day was over.

Duke turned around in his bedroom for a few moments. He waited until the snores of his parents echoed off of the bathroom walls back towards Duke's room. That's when Duke made his way to Charlie's room. He needed to know if Charlie was the one who had kidnapped those kids. If someone dangerous was living in his house. Duke raised a hand, ready to knock but the door swung open before he could even have the chance to open it himself. It was almost as if Charlie had known that he was there.

"What are you doing up so late?" Charlie asked as he leaned against the doorframe. His hair was now tied back into a ponytail and only his jeans remained. He smelled of something that Charlie could not place but had smelled many times before when passing by the bathroom stalls at school. Duke had immediately forgotten the questions he was going to ask Charlie. "Your parents went to bed like half an hour ago."

Even though it was later than Duke had stayed up on most nights reading books by flashlight or waiting long enough to sneak out of the house and look at the stars. Especially on the night before going back to school. It was only seven at night the light had faded more than Duke would have hoped. He was too scared to admit to anyone that he was still scared of the dark even though he was ten. Charlie's face was hidden mostly in shadows but Duke could still see the contours of his face. Here, he looked like one of the monsters that Duke had imagined crawling through his windows at night.

When Charlie stepped into the light of the hallway, Duke noticed how pale Charlie's skin had gotten. So pale that his white skin had seemed to turn grey. His lips had crusted over. His blue eyes had turned a deep shade of blue.

"I could ask you the same thing." Duke straightened his back as if that would make him taller.

"I was just about to go out for a walk. Do you want to come?"

Duke pondered on it for a minute. "Wouldn't mom and dad be mad at us? We're not supposed to be out past sunset."

"Well I'm going out," Charlie pushed past Duke and towards the front door. "Don't feel like you have to lie for me either."

~

Millie Report had been told to go straight home after Sunday school. That her babysitter would be waiting for her when she got home. Her parents left on a business trip Instead of picking her up all the way across town, they would just meet in the middle back at her house. After that, they would end up going to the local diner for a late dinner. Then she would be sent off to bed. She had told her parents that she was old enough to make it home. After all, she was nearly twelve years old. The town was small enough that she had eyes on her every time she passed a house and even a little bit past that.

Millie checked her County road J would soon turn into county road K. As soon as it became K, she would take an immediate right. That's what the piece of paper she had in her hands said. Even though she and her family walked to church and back every Sunday, she had never really paid attention to what kind of turns they made. She was always picking up rocks or sticks alongside the road and messing up her pastel-colored dresses. Don't you dare mess up another dress, Millie. Her mother's voice rang out in her head as she spotted another pretty rock on the ground. No. She would keep her dress clean. She would make sure that she could be seen as someone who could walk back home on her own.

The sun had already set behind Millie and the roads were getting darker behind her. The fall air whipped around her and she chastised herself for not bringing a jacket. Each footstep crunched underneath her. The gravel that her parents had told her had once made these roads had turned into dust after years and years of wear. But that was long before she had been born and long before her family had been born.

Millie kept walking on county road J for at least half a mile before someone else appeared in front of her. A dark figure that she had never seen before. She squinted into the distance and tried to make sense of what was right in front of her eyes. She paused in the middle of the road. Her eyes scanned the shadow for a moment before it eventually got close enough for her to see who it was. A young man who she had never seen before. Even in her twelve years of life, she had been introduced to every family that lived in the town. Every face had been burned into her nearly photogenic memory. Though, her way home evaded her every single time she tried to make the walk home alone. What a terrible memory she had then, she assumed.

The man-made his way towards her as if he were going to the church. Millie checked her watch. It was nearing seven at night and in the hour that it had taken her to get this close to home, she knew that it would be closed down by now. She cursed herself for staying back to help out the pastor clean up from the Sunday evening mass. Even if there weren't many children for her to help with Sunday school. A lot of people had already come and gone that morning when most of the town had service. But a lot of people came back just for the fun of it. Even if it was the same service as before.

His body was only lit up by a few lights that the townspeople had put out onto the road so that no one would end up in a ditch. His feet crunched the bits and pieces of old and dried-out wood that had covered the ground. Where could he have been going? He turned his attention to her, his face lit up in flickers by fire that had come out of his lighter. He turned his attention to Millie. His long, gangly face lit up just as much as the light that appeared to come from a lighter. She didn't get a good look at what he was wearing which wouldn't help her if he did anything suspicious.

"Well hello there." His smile had grown inhumanly large. He moved closer to her. His eyes flashed dangerously dark as he flicked the lighter off. "What's your name?"

"M-my name is Millie." Her name felt odd on her lips. She had rarely ever spoken it. Fear flushed her face. She shouldn't have given her name to a stranger."W-who are you?"

"Millie. I like that name."

The man flicked on the lighter once more.

"I asked you what your name was."

The lighter flicked off.

"The name is Charlie. But I ask the questions here."

"What do you...what do you want to ask me?" Millie's voice caught in her throat as she tried to keep her composure.

"Where you're going," Charlie said that in a more matter-of-fact tone than the tone of someone who was asking a question. "What you're doing out alone this late at night."

"I'm-I don't think I should answer any of your questions. My parents said not to speak to strangers."

"But we're not strangers." Charlie flicked on the lighter to show off his inhuman smile, now adorned with rows upon rows of sharpened teeth. Saliva dripped off of his teeth and onto his bottom lip. "We're friends."

"We-we're not friends." Millie took a few steps back. "I should get home."

"Oh no," Charlie dropped the lighter down to the ground. "You should come with me."

Millie tried going around him but he had wrapped around her quicker than she could get away. Her whole body shook as he held her close to his chest. His breath-warm, hot, and sticky-brushed against her neck. Each breath was deep and heavy. He hadn't even said a word before Millie decided that she needed to put up a fight. She kicked and screamed until her voice was raw and her legs were tired. Each kick only brought her closer to him and each scream only came to crush her lungs. Her screams echoed across the trees.

Finally, she dropped her attention down to the arms that restrained her. Her mouth opened and laid a bit down onto his arm. Charlie let out a roar. Millie sprinted off into the darkness. Her heart pounded in her chest as she made her way down to her house. The sound of her heart echoed down to her bones. Her whole body ached. Charlie's footsteps weren't far behind her.

"Don't you dare run from a friend." Charlie's voice was louder than thunder on a rainy night. "Don't you dare run from me."

The footsteps came closer and closer to Millie. Millie had nowhere to turn. Nowhere to hide. The open road is what faced both of them. Her attention was on the road ahead of her and not the road behind her. Nor the road below her. Her foot caught on a stick and she tumbled down into the earth. The dirt kicked up into her mouth. Charlie's hands wrapped around her and flipped her over. His teeth flashed in the moonlight. His face was long and garish. Millie's screams echoed throughout the night. His teeth sank into her neck.

~

"This morning is a sad day for Archbold Township as we are looking for one of our own. Millie Report has come up missing." The newscaster's perma-smile had faded. "She was last seen walking home from Sunday school at six last night. She took country road J home. She was seen in a yellow dress and a pair of white converse, freshly bought. The police have no main suspects right now but if you have any information on the whereabouts of Millie Report, please contact the police at the number below."

Duke's family always watched the morning news before they headed out for the day. During the week-only in the summer-Duke had to follow one of his parents to work. This week, he was going with his mom to her secretary job it was still too early for Duke to comprehend most of it. His backpack rested on the bench where his mom had put it the night previous. Duke flattened out his jeans a bit as he tried to wipe the sweat that had pooled on his hands. He knew Millie. She went to middle school but her younger sister was in the same class as Duke.

Charlie had been outside that night. Duke had seen him head out but he had never heard him come back inside so he had no idea how long Charlie had been out the previous night. He couldn't be the one who kidnapped Millie. He hadn't even been there a whole day. There is no way he would cause trouble that soon.

Charlie stumbled out of his room and into the living room. He wiped the sleep from his eyes. His jeans were covered in a maroon substance that only Duke noticed before Charlie rushed back to his room to change. His mother and father turned their faces towards the noise but didn't catch Charlie's form. Charlie came out a few moments later with a fresh set of clothes and a smile on his face.

"Neither of you are to leave this house until Millie Report is found, do you hear me?"

Charlie and Duke frantically nodded. Duke's mother turned back to the TV and wrung her hands in worry. Charlie turned towards Duke as he flashed him a deadly smile.

He bowed down to Duke's ear, "Maybe if you took the opportunity to come with me last night, Millie wouldn't have had to run away from me."