#not as bad as when i found someones actual plane ticket folded up in a bill bryson book lmao

[neighbourhoodtwo]

bought a copy of much ado about nothing and a third copy of julius caesar today in a charity shop and both of them had notes from previous owners inside huge win for me

[tteokggukk]

summer heat → jjk

–pairing: twin!jungkook x reader

–genre: fluff, mature (? but no smut), drabble, a minor attempt at humor, best friend’s twin brother type of thing

–words: 2.9k

–warnings: explicit language, sexual tension, tiny bit of humiliation, a hint of jungkook and reader having some sort of “history” if u squint hard enough

–summary: in an attempt to calm you down and prevent your mood from swinging due to the blazing heat, your best friend decides to go out and buy you some ice cream. you’re shocked, however, when he quickly returns and looks different, making you see him in an entirely new light and leaving you trying to resist the urge to give in to your raging hormones and just jump on him.

–a/n: i was thinking of this scenario in the shower but didn’t have the brain power to turn it into a full length story so i might just add this to a pile of drabbles that i may or may not develop heh + ive been in my jungkook feels too lately sigh + also this is unedited 

permanent taglist: @100percent-dum-dum  @mochisjoon​ @boraength @rageyoudamnednerd​ 

It was a scorching hot summer’s day. Sweat was beginning to trickle down your temples and your shirt was getting stuck to your skin, causing an irking feeling of discomfort. Looking around, you quickly grabbed an empty long folder from your best friend’s messy desk and began fanning yourself to cool down. The two of you were just there, sitting in his room in a not-so-comfortable silence.

You were currently plopped down onto a chair with your legs resting on the desk in front of you, too lazy to come up with ideas to kill your boredom.

It was a tradition for your family to travel every summer and visit a new country you hadn’t been to, but this year you had to pass the plane tickets and sight-seeing due to your best friend, Junghan, asking begging you to help him out with a month-long film project. You didn’t have the heart to decline, so you told your parents you’d stay behind and help him out which resulted in you having to stay over at Junghan’s place for the rest of the summer.

You had to admit though, a small part of you felt disinclined to stay because the project sounded like it would’ve been a tedious workload, but working with your best friend was so much more fun than you’d imagined and even the project itself turned out to be enjoyable. So far, your summer break has been spent filming and hanging out with Junghan—though hanging out usually meant staying in his room and watching romcoms all day while crying over fictional characters, ranting about how you two would never meet such perfect men in real life. It was great.

Until the air conditioner broke down.

You glanced over at Junghan, who seemed to be just as spiritless as you were while he sat in front of a fan, eyes looking empty and distant.

“I told you the air conditioner needed to be fixed,” You sighed and looked up at the ceiling, completely missing the harsh glare he sent you.

“I said I was gonna get it fixed,” He replies and turns back to the fan, his voice quieting down a little, “But the number for repair wouldn’t answer.”

“Right,” You muttered absent-mindedly, eyes staring at the ceiling while your mind was too busy trying to come up with suggestions to beat the heat, “We could go to the pool?”

“Closed,” Junghan grunts, “The mall?”

“As if we’d both drive in this state,” You rolled your eyes as you tried to get your shirt to stop sticking to your skin. Junghan glances over at you when he hears you grumbling, one of the many cues that you were beginning to feel peevish. Deciding that it was pointless to keep tugging on your shirt, you opt to take it off instead.

“You don’t mind do you?” You asked before completely removing your shirt, only leaving you in your bralette. Though you knew he never did because of the countless times he’s helped you change and pick out different outfits, you always asked out of politeness. Additionally, his zero interest in women made you feel much safer and comfortable enough to undress around him.

“I really don’t care,” He says and stands up. You hear him rumbling for a moment while you were neatly folding your shirt, and seconds later you recognize the jingling sound of keys.

“Where are you going?” You asked.

“The nearby grocery. You’re about to get grumpy and I am not going to listen to a rambling bitch for the rest of the day,” He says, rubbing his temples as he makes his way to the door.

“So you’re just gonna leave me here?” You asked, too exhausted to even glance at him. He probably wasn’t, you only asked for the dramatic effect.

“No, dumbass. I’m just gonna go and buy ice cream. See you in a bit.”

And with that Junghan leaves and closes the door shut. Only a few minutes later after the sound of the engine had gone did you decide to exert a little effort and move over to his previous spot to sit in front of the fan, the air immediately cooling your skin. You sighed in relief and grabbed a few tissues to wipe your temples dry before grabbing your phone and texting Junghan to buy some lemonade, followed by a second text telling him you’d pay him back once he returned.

You were surprised to hear, not even ten minutes later, that the car was already back and pulling up in the driveway. It couldn’t have been Junghan’s parents as they were out working, and it was only you and Junghan around—not like you two had many friends who would come and visit. Instead of rationalizing with yourself on how Junghan came back home in supersonic speed, you decide to drop it and wait for him to come up back to his room.

Someone knocks on the door, causing your brows to furrow in confusion. Since when did Junghan knock?

“Come... in?” You answer, though it came out more as a question. Your head turns at the sound of the door opening, and your eyes widen at seeing Junghan standing by the doorframe.

Looking oddly different.

“Dude,” You stood up from your place and stared him up and down, “Is that what you were really wearing when you went out?”

His eyebrows raise in shock and you catch his eyes taking a quick glimpse from your chest before quickly looking back at the perplexed look on your face, a small smirk forming on lips. You decide to ignore it.

“What a warm ‘welcome home’,” he chuckles.

“You didn’t answer me,” you replied, still oblivious to the difference in his tone.

He was wearing an all-black ensemble—a black cap, a black leather jacket, black pants that outlined his toned thighs (how have you never noticed?), and some chunky black boots—a huge contrast to his normally colorful and baggy clothing. You were genuinely curious because you hadn’t noticed what he looked like before he left the house as you were too tired and lazy to even look up and say goodbye.

“Uh, yeah. This is what I was wearing?” He narrows one of his eyes, looking confused, “Why?”

“I don’t know… since when did you wear all black?”

“Since way back then? I don’t know,” He replies, and you now noticed how his voice was unusually low. Junghan steps inside and averts his eyes from you, looking around in his room before scrimmaging through drawers as if in search for something.

“What are you looking for?” You asked, folding your arms and following him around.

“A charger,” He replies, and a chill runs down your spine at the sound of his voice. You thought maybe you’d detect how he was just trying to change his manner of speaking, but it was effortlessly low; like he wasn’t faking it or anything. It was weird because Junghan normally sounded a little more high pitched. 

“What charger?”

“A laptop charger, mine broke,” He continues searching and not once does he meet your eyes.

“Oh okay, let me help you then,” You begin to look around and help him search, “Though I don’t know what it looks like, I’ll let you know if I see a charger.”

He looks up at you and smiles, but you don’t catch him watching you as you were already busy searching, “Thanks.”

The two of you continue searching in silence, though occasionally you’d look up and glance at Junghan. What exactly was he doing? Was this for his film? Is he supposed to be in character? This new look and manner of talking that he somehow adopted after a quick trip to the grocery store did things to you. Every time he grunted in annoyance after a failed search, something in your stomach would twist and you found yourself suddenly feeling drawn, or maybe even more than drawn, to your best friend. Your gay best friend.

You shook your head to get rid of those thoughts.

Only a few minutes later did you find something that looked like a charger hiding underneath a pile of unfolded clothes before presenting it to Junghan, “Is it this?”

“Yes! Exactly that,” He jumps up from crouching over one of the drawers at the bedside and walks over to you, “Thank you.”

“Yeah, sure. I don’t know why you took such a long time searching for something in your room, though,” You rolled your eyes.

“My room?” He smiles, voice a little deeper but with a hint of amusement.

God, you could just jump on him right now.

“Yeah?” You knit your brows, “And stop doing that!”

“Stop doing what?” He asks, sitting down on the edge of the bed so he was looking up at you. He leans back a bit a folds his arms, a smile still tugging on the corner of his mouth.

Maybe it was the summer heat doing things to your head and making you think about all these things that you never thought you’d ever want to do with your gay best friend, but he seemed so in character it was actually beginning to bother you. What store did he go to exactly? And where the hell is the ice cream?

“That! What’s up with your voice? And your outfit? You look so different, it’s weird,” You folded your arms as if to mirror him.

“Weird, huh?” He asks and looks at his clothing before looking back at you.

“Not in a bad way. It looks good, it’s just not you,” You squirmed slightly before shaking your head to snap out of it, “I don’t know what store you went to that made you look like this—and congrats I guess, if you’re trying to switch up your fashion, but you completely missed the ice cream, so good luck trying to handle this rambling bitch.”

He laughs at the words “rambling bitch” and oh god that is not what his laughter sounded like before. When did the sound of his laugh sound so deep and sultry? You subconsciously sucked on and bit your lip at the sound of his laughter, trying your best not to visibly drool in front of him. He catches your subtle action and his brow raises at the sight.

“Despite all the things you said, you think this looks good?” A playful smile rests on his face and your heart beats erratically at his expression.

“Y-yeah, I don’t know,” You mumbled. He shifts on the edge of the bed to move closer to you.

“And because there’s no ice cream, you’re going to turn into some rambling…” He reaches his hand out, the back of his fingers feeling the skin on your exposed waist before resting his hand on your back to pull you in closer.

“…person?” he continues, brows raised and eyes staring intently at yours, not using the vulgar word you had just used to describe yourself (or the word he had just called you before he left to go to the store).

“I...um, we’ll see,” you replied, and he only chuckles deeply. Your voice had transformed into a murmuring mess and it annoyed you, but you couldn’t really do anything about it, right now he reminded you so much of—

“I think you look good too, you know. Maybe I did miss you a lot more than I thought I did,” he whispers, pulling you in even more so you were now standing between his thighs.

Missed you? After an eight minute trip to the grocery store?

You didn’t question it. Your mind was blanking out, malfunctioning, even. Here was your best friend, your gay best friend (as you had to keep reminding yourself), placing his hands on your bare skin in a way that you knew wasn’t going to turn out to be so innocent. Right now you were extremely attracted and possibly even turned on by whatever the fuck he was doing, all you could do to save yourself was blame it on the heat. Was this absolutely weird? Hell yes. Did you want to stop him? Fuck no.

Were you now completely devoid of all reason and logic?

Definitely.

Softly, he tugs on your arm and pulls you into him so you were now sitting on his lap with your hand resting on his chest. One of his hands was still attached to your waist, the other was resting itself on the bed, gripping on a blanket.

Chills run down your spine for the second time now as his mouth moves closer to your ear, “Lucky for you I know the perfect way to handle rambling bitches.”

Your breath hitches for a moment and Junghan moves back to face you, his lips grazing your cheeks a little before you meet each other’s gaze. The summer heat was definitely nothing compared to this, but you didn’t mind. Your faces were only mere centimeters apart now and you could’ve sworn he was beginning to lean in by the look in his eyes, which were now fixated on your lips.

Seriously, you could just grab him by the collar right now and speed things up. He’s the one who pulled you in first, anyway, you just wanted to get things going. Though you haven’t exactly a clue as to where this would end, you wished he would hurry up a little to find out.

But for some strange reason, your senses were enveloped with the distinct smell of a signature fragrance that you knew did not belong to Junghan and it snapped you out of your thoughts. The scent was strong enough to flash some memories back in your mind, making you frown. Did he use this perfume on purpose? Or was your mind just playing tricks on you? In a flash, you could suddenly think straight and you couldn’t help it, the moral side of your brain had turned far stronger than your currently raging hormones (thank goodness). Something was definitely off.

“But, Junghan… aren’t you… gay?” You asked, your voice trailing off a little.

His eyes widen and he pulls back from you. He stares at you for a few seconds before it hits him, and he starts erupting in laughter. You narrowed your eyes at him and got off his lap, moving over to the side and sitting beside him instead.

“Junghan?” He stresses on the name. You’re staring at him blankly now, like you knew he was just messing with you. His laughter eventually dies down and he places a hand on your thigh, though it seemed much more innocent now, “I’m so sorry, ____, you’ve got the wrong person.”

With one hand, he quickly grabs the blanket off the bed. The back of his other free hand endearingly caresses your jaw, and you notice how he lingers for a while as he moves a bit lower down to your neck—before wrapping the fabric around you and covering your whole torso with it. Your face immediately turns pink as you clutched onto the blanket to further cover yourself, feeling slightly humiliated, though you were still confused.

“Wrong person? What do you mean?”

“I was wondering why you had no shirt on, I thought that was just a regular thing for you now. But it’s probably cause you’re more comfortable around my brother, huh?”

“Your brother…?”

“Has it really been that long?” He chuckles, and instantly your mind began connecting the pieces together. Could it actually be him? You haven’t seen him in years, and no one even bothered telling you he was coming back today. No way, surely this was Junghan playing a joke on you.

“I’m not Junghan. I’m his twin brother, Jungkook. Remember?”

You hastily stood up in defense, still clutching the blanket close to your chest, “Shut the fuck up, Junghan. No one said anything about Jungkook coming back today!”

Junghan Jungkook only laughs and stands up, the melodious sound filling the room, followed by the sound of footsteps approaching the wide open bedroom door. 

“What a shame, but it was a surprise. I didn’t tell anyone I was coming home today,” He folds his arms, “And if I am Junghan, then who is that?” He points at the doorframe and true enough, Junghan was standing there holding grocery bags in his arms wearing his usual oversized colorful jacket and khaki colored pants.

You and Junghan both looked at each other with mouths dropped down to the floor before you looked back at Jungkook, who had the same smirk tugged on his lips, clearly amused at the whole situation.

Jungkook bends forward and leans in to your face, his voice in a lower tone but still audible enough for his brother to hear, “Probably shouldn’t take your top off so leisurely around the house anymore, huh?” He grins and winks at you, causing you wince and force an awkward smile, internally cursing yourself at everything that just happened.

“Anyways, I should probably rest up in my room. See you around,” Jungkook flashes you a smile before placing a chaste kiss on your (now dry, because your body had frozen up) forehead before walking away from you, taking the charger and dangling it in his other hand. He taps his confused looking brother on the shoulder before turning his head back to take one last look at you before walking out, leaving you and Junghan staring at each other in shock.

Junghan walks in slowly and sets the bags of grocery on the floor, shutting the door behind him.

“What the fuck just happened?” He asks you, eyes wide in anticipation.

Your mind replays everything that had happened between you two. Was Jungkook really just about to kiss you minutes before? Heart racing, you clutch on your chest from underneath the blanket he had covered you with. No way was Jungkook back. No way is he back and looking even more attractive than he did the last time you saw him. Not when you had just gotten over your small crush on him a couple of years ago.

The heat returns to your body, but it mainly pools on your cheeks. You look back at your best friend, but no words of explanation come up. 

“Believe me, I’m asking myself the same thing.”

↣ all rights reserved © 2021 tteokggukk. please do not repost. translations/modifications are not allowed.

[wizkiddx]

a friendly face

a lil one inspired from seeing the recent interviews abt cherry - yes im a couple days late but am very slow. This is basically stolen and adapted from another of my stories so I don't think there's any bits left over by my dyslexic proof reading isnt that great so apologies!!! very speech heavy so sorry am trying to balance my writing more

Summary: Tom is having a hard time filming Cherry and dealing with the emotional baggage of it, so Harry recruits someone to make everything that little bit better.

tomhollandxreader

fluff and a little angst I guess?

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Harry, Tom and their driver Sian where all sitting in the car having left the set 20 minutes ago, heading back to their accommodation. Or more precisely, Harry and Sian sat in the two front seats- Harry only in the front as to allow Tom to lie down across the three back seats. He was asleep, or at least looked asleep, but Harry knowing his brother so well knew he was just wishing he was. The day had been torturous for Tom, they’d been filming a hospital sequence in which his character was heart broken. The sequence had involved him being thrown onto the floor multiple times, by a heavy handed stunt double who was not nearly as precise as those he’d worked with at ‘marvel’. Furthermore, there was also multiple scenes of him having to properly cry on camera, which although it sounds tame, is one of the hardest things you can ever ask an actor to do. At least, someone who commits half as much as Tom. For him to show that emotion, he had to go back to a place in his life where he didn’t really ever want to venture again. But even then, this character was such a fuck up, he had to do deeper.  He felt completely drained, emotionless and cold. But he couldn’t sleep, not for the guilt he felt for being short with everyone on set- he had never been like that before, he just felt like no one was respecting or understanding what he was going through. So instead he just lay on his side, facing the backs of the leather seats, arms folded in stubbornness- even if he had no idea why.

“Tom?…Tom, I know you’re awake… Look, we need to make a quick stop. You gotta come out.” Harry was actually slightly nervous his brother would just point blank refuse, even if he needed this so bad.

“I just need to get back to the apartment. Please Harry. Can’t we do it tommorrow?” The desperation dripping off Tom’s voice actually pained Harry to listen to. He knew Tom was having a crisis about how he treated everyone today, so chose to ignore his please in favour of some assurance.

“You know everyone understands… They just kept asking me if you were alright?” Harry could see the guilt radiating off Tom. It hurt him to see his big brother like this. 

“Please… I just need to get back” His small voice barely made it to the front of the car, but Harry heard it all. 

“It will take 2 minutes tops, I had a delivery but I need a hand carrying it, come on” Harry spoke as Sian turned on the indicator to pulled up next to the sidewalkpavement; the car slowing to a gentle halt. Tom didn’t reply, instead huffing as he used the head rest of the middle seat to pull himself up. Already out the car, Harry opened the door for him waiting patiently, because Harry knew he would be a hundred times better off in just a few moments. 

“What the hell have you even ordered that’s so big?” Tom sighed while ducking through the door into the cold Cleveland air, keeping his eyes on the sidewalk as Harry motioned for him to follow his feet. 

“Oh um don’t know, a good friend sent it actually” Harry tried to hide the grin that was spread over his face from showing in his voice, as he saw a very familiar head of hair running toward them.

“What friend?” Tom looked up sassily toward Harry, shortly questioning who would send Harry a parcel from England that was too big to be delivered or carried by himself. Only then, nearly 5 metres away from Sian in the car, did Tom look up to see where they were. It wasn’t the nearest post office or delivery warehouse - they were at the airport. “Harry what’s going on?” Tom questioned with a low and warning voice, skipping a step or two in order to catch up with his younger brother. 

“We’re collecting her” Harry smiled as he nodded forward. Following his gaze with eyes wide open, Tom turned forward just in time to see Y/h/c  flying over his face as he was engulfed by someones arms. Immediately sensing exactly who this was, Tom did not hesitate to wrap his arms around your waist and push his head into your neck. Smelling the familiar perfume, Tom couldn’t help but scoff, allowing a the jerky breath to leave his lungs as you arched away from the hug, cupping Tom’s face with both her hands. 

“I’ve been reliably informed you could use a friendly face” you smiled, noticing his raw emotions threatening to overtake him, so swiftly pressing just pressing your lips onto his. Seemingly frightened to move, Tom barely reacted to the kiss, so you pushed and deepened into it a little more- till you felt him relaxing against you. With that, you arched away again and smiled massaging his stubbly hair behind his left ear.

“How are you here?” He croaked staring deeply at her, switching between her left and right eye as if that somehow would confirm that this was real, not some cruel dream he was having. 

“Someone somewhere knew you were in need and bought me a plane ticket over… I’m coming home with you on monday” You grinned while  watching Tom’s eyes light up, he leaned in again to your lips instead of replying. 

“Er-cuh-huh” Harry loudly cleared his throat, causing the two to pull away from each other. “Sorry to interrupt, but Sian isn’t really allowed to stop there long sooo” They both nodded, before Tom lunged at his brother, holding him close and whispering thanks too. It was clear this was at least partly Harry’s doing, and he could never thank his brother enough.

“Umm.. as much as I’m enjoying this brotherly love we really do have to get back in the car” Harry awkwardly spoke as he almost pushed Tom off him. 

“Awww my favourite little brother being all mature” You giggled, taking your turn to hug Harry, admittedly a little shorter than Tom’s, but still with lots of gratitude.

“Please get stop loving me and get back into the car!” Harry yelled as he stormed off to Sian, leaving both you and Tom in fits of laughter. Grasping each others hand simultaneously the laughter continued as you followed Harry down the street to the car. 

Seeing you standing there; feeling your arms wrapped round his neck ; hearing your oh so sweet voice had Tom feeling…. Feeling lighter. It was as though your mere presence gave him the strength to carry all the things that were previously weighing him down like a truck. What was extraordinary though, was how it wasn’t just psychological. He literally felt his joints feel looser, he felt his body flood with warmth and he felt his heart calming down. When you’d first been getting close to each you’d had rather the opposite effect. Which was surprising because that was at the point Tom had never felt more confident - he had just returned form a avengers press tour, where naturally everyone had just loved him and played up to his every whim. He had legions of girls, some of them drop dead gorgeous where falling at his feet. And yet, when he met you it was as though he was transported back into his incredibly awkward teenage years. It was infuriating, he knew he could act cool and unbothered and smooth however as soon as you stood informant of his it was like his mind melted, filling it with utter gibberish and garble. In fact, he was plainly floored by you - how kind and pure hearted you were, how respectful and how you found hhis jilted flirting adorable and not to forget how drop dead gorgeous you are. 

It had taken a while and a hell of a lot of opening up, but over time he found the opposite happening. Your presence became something else entirely, not one that would put him on his toes and have his heart racing - more of a comfort. He slept better when you were beside him, his nerves never got the better of him if you were there to cheer him on. He could relax completely without any fear of judgement, any worry at all with you. What you had done is change the definition of something so fudemental and a given in life. You’d changed home from a place to something much more intangible. A person; a feeling; a connection. You were his home.

“Sian are we close?” You asked, turning your attention away from the two brothers annecdotes from filming, realising Sian must’ve been driving for about 30 minutes. 

“Yep just the next right I think” Sian replied gently while turning the wheel as the indicator clicked.

“Where are we going?” Tom asked, looking first at you then pleadingly at Harry- knowing he had more of a chance with his brother. 

“Well” You started and he whipped his head back round “I know it’s late and you’ve been working all day, but you have alater  10 o’clock call time tomorrow instead of 6, so this is the best night to do something. We found a driving range-with heaters” which was a very important factor since Cleveland was bloody freezing “- that we thought you’d like to play a game or two?” The massive smile in response meant you’d hit the nail on the head.

“And soz but I’m crashing the game otherwise- and no offence, but you would win waayyyy toooo easy Tom” Harry butted in and sniggered as he interrupted the lovey-dovey stares. You gasped at that in mock offence, holding your hand over your chest. 

“Oi you, Paddy has been teaching on the Holland boys days out you both missed- I’ll have you know I now am aware that you have to get the ball into the hole, not a goal as previously thought.”

The boys both groaned in unison and Y/n wiggled her eyebrow grinning, elbowing Tom slightly in the side. “Things might have changed since you left you know?”

Yet another thing Tom loved so completely about you, was how effortlessly you had fitted into his family. Honestly, none of the Hollands could imagine life without you anymore - especially Nikki, who had quite literally attempted adopting you so she officially wasnt the only female in the immediate family. Sam used you as an expert taster for all his marvellous culinary creations (even if your judgement was always the same, it was very good); Dom often ended up picking your brains about your work, he found you ‘actual proper’ job as a doctor simply amazing , where all his family had never been especially acadmeically gifted; and Paddy just plain saw you as his older sister. So it was hardly surprising at all that when two of their actual kids flew across the world , you’d been the obvious placeholder. Yes, golf was most definitely your forte - but you were enthusiastic, with a positive (if flightily misguided) give it a go attitude. 

The try-try-and-try-again attitude that never really worked … until Paddy taught you how to hit a clean drive.

“I am not joking, I am asking the lady at the desk there’s no way!” 

“Tom you are the worst looser I have ever met! I didn’t cheat, I’ve just taken up a new hobby”

“There is no way Tom… no way she can get that good” Harry huffed as he ran straight past you to catch up with Tom, making sure that you did see the harsh glare he shot him. The outrage that Y/n had beaten them both at the driving range was way worse than anything you could’ve predicted- now you sort of were wishing you’d let them win. Oh wait…. Of course you weren’t  - this was priceless. Especially their faces when you’d launched your first ball super accurately inn the centre of the second furthest away target. They had reacted as if you had just stripped butt naked, you thought; standing their jaws hanging with a look of almost fear in their eyes.

“You could see the balls land with your own eyes! Practice makes perfect!”

“Thats not fair though! It took you like 8 weeks to be like that?”

“I mean you were obviously just taught by the wrong Holland, Paddy’s a  pretty good teacher!” You smiled as your trio turned the corner and walked through reception, seeing Harry desperate to ask the receptionist but Tom just looking over his shoulder to give a hurt look to at you.

“I’m going to ban you from being closer to my brothers than me”

“I can’t help if he’s cuter then you alright?” You smirked and raised an eyebrow, as Tom stopped in his tracks and turned to face you.

“That’s it… your gonna get it” he spoke in a low voice, with a mischievous look in his eye, abruptly he launched himself at you -  barely having  time to swerve away from him and start a sprint towards the exit, giggling as you took a glance back to see Tom chasing you out, Harry quickly in tow too. 

“Your not allowed to beat me at golf!” In a jokey voice, you heard Tom yell, just as you reached the sleek black 4x4 and hurdling yourself into it. 

“I’m in the car it’s a no fight zone!” You cowered in the corner,back pressed up against the opposite door and  arms crossed to make an ‘x’ sign in front of her body. 

“That is not how it works” Tom and Harry grinned from the open door. As fast as lightning they both vaulted in and started tickling you, making you screech curses at the two of them.

“Alright alright kids, no fighting while I’m driving thats an order.” Sian calmly spoke, trying to hide the laughter from her voice, as the two men retreated and helped to pull you up from the position half on the floor that your squirming had gotten you to. 

“Get off my leg Tom… arghhh… thanks Sian, I’m sorry they’re so moody, I just whipped their asses at golf”

“You’re here to make me feel better right? Not doing a good job so far” Tom’s snide remark meant you scrunched up your nose while plugging her seatbelt in, making sure to jab Tom’s side hard as you did so.

“How did I end up sandwiched in between you two twats then?” You grinned from the middle seat as Harry just rolled his eyes looking out the window, and Tom gave you a loving smile- not able to hide his relief of your presence.

“Think it’s about a 40 minute drive you gotta enjoy” Sian smiled looking at you via the rear view mirror, to which Tom couldn’t quite stifle the yawn that escaped. 

After all he had done much more than the typical 9-5 hours work, and the golfing was an unexpected addition to the already long day. His excitement and just pure joy at having you here had made him forget about It all for a couple of hours - but now his exhaustion was catching up with him with a vengeance. Instinctively you wrapped you arm round Tom and in doing so pulled him into your side. 

“Get some rest huh?” You whispered into his forehead, and all Tom could do was reply with a weary nod, letting his eyes slip close to the constant beat of Ally’s heart. You immediately sensed Tom was properly out of it, and contented yourself looking out his window for a few minutes,  before you felt something heavy briefly whack your other shoulder. Jumping a little at the contact, you looked round to see Harry’s head bobbing side to side in a light slumber. In the midst of worry for Tom, you hadn’t realised the kid had been doing the same long hours as him. Plus dealing with Tom and being Tom’s support, which surely took it out of him. Harry had always been ‘the most important brother’ in your eyes. Just because Tom trusts him so implicitly and completely, they had an understanding only real brothers could get to but also extended far beyond blood. When you’d first been introduced Harry had been colder to you. It wasn’t personal though, he just wanted to be sure on you and your intentions with Tom because as he well knew often when people saw Tom they didn’t just see an opportunity for love. It was an opportunity for a lifestyle, for fame, for relevance. Harry took a while before he trusted you but now you were miles and miles beyond that point. So now, being at a stage with Harry where he was phoning you to come and fly out to save Tom (and him too). It was not to be taken lightly.  Therefore, you gently pressed your hand to Harrys face and pushed him to lean against her other shoulder too- hoping to cure the dark circles under his eyes a little bit too. 

You were quite content for the rest of the journey, feeling warmth radiate through your body as the two men breathed deeply and calmly either side of you. You sort of didn’t want the car journeyer to end - but sure enough it wasn’t long till Sian was pulling into the hotel entrance.

“Get you a girl that can do both, beat yo ass at golf and look after your family” Sian whispered as she handed the phone back to you, after having taken some of your favourite ever photos, the 2 boys asleep on your shoulders while you pulled a variety of different faces. Smiling back at Sian, you then sighed-knowing she had to wake the two up, given their exhaustion you didn’t really want to either. 

“Boys…boys… hey let’s get you both into bed yeh?” You spoke softly, gently raising your shoulders in order to disturb them both. Harry’s head immediately shot up, his eyes puffy and half open, but a sheepish look on his face as he realised how he was sleeping. Just responding with a smile that said it was all okay, before  you turned her attention to Tom- forever stubborn to wake up, at least nothing had changed there. 

“Come on Tom, can’t have you sleeping in the car all night” You pushed again, this time lifting Tom’s head, earning a very deep groan as his eyes slid open and he pushed against the movement. It was at this point Harry slammed the car door shut, making Tom jump out of his skin, you loosing the hope of any serene wakeup call. Rubbing Toms arm, relaxing the tension now present in his body you encouraged him once again. “Come on lets get inside mister” 

His hotel room was exactly what you’d expect for an a-lister and lead actor in a million pound film. Large, modern, squeaky clean and posh. It was almost too big to be filled by one person though, Tom had always found it a bit cold and just not cosy - why he opted to spend the majority of his down time either fast alseep or in somebody else’s company. Both of those also stopped him getting too much in his head - or more accurately in his characters head. Cherry was a weird character and from interviewing all the veterans and lengthy discussion of his past, Tom almost felt as if he had in some small way experienced what Cherry had. Felt what Cherry did. Thought like Cherry did. 

And that was a sure fire way to fuck yourself up.

Now, with you here in his room haphazardly digging through your case, if felt warmer. The cold but brilliant white lights seemed to have softened to a gently warm glow that bounced off your skin and made your figure look almost angelic to Tom. You were his home. 

“What are you waiting for?” You mused while turning away from your (now) inside out suitcase, proudly carrying her pyjamas which you had found hidden at the bottom the whole time- not the most practical packing in the world. All the while Tom sat on his bed, back leaning against the headboard and arm bent behind his head too.

“Just thinking that I need to go through all the scenes for tomorrow” A monotonous tone laced his voice, for he knew he couldn’t spend the night the way he really wanted to, safely wrapped up with you.

“Oh… well let’s go through it together then hey? We will be done in no time; but if you want we can go over them again tomorrow morning.” It was a practical suggestion, a helpful action you could implement - even if you had a feeling Tom wouldn’t just agree. Since his lines clearly weren’t the only thing on his mind this evening. 

“Yeh but everyone on set is already sick of me after today… I can’t be being shit as well as horrid” his voice was small as the memory of how he snapped at some of the extras had him cringing inwardly at himself. He shouldn’t have been that rude, shouldn’t have blurted it out, should of offered a solution rather than just critiquing.

“Hey would you kindly shut it? No one is sick of you, everyone is just ready for christmas and missing their families. Now get changed” Your soft tone turning into an imperative order, as you threw his pyjama bottoms at the him, smashing into his face before falling into his lap.

“Oi” he shouted, but followed instructions and stood up reaching round to pull his hoodie off. Stood shirtless, his side was exposed to the now changed you, the sight making you gasp and clamber over the bed to gently touch Tom’s back. You followed the outline of an impressive patch of bruising, stretching from the bottom edge of his shoulder blade all the way to his hip. 

“Tom, what the hell happened?” Whispering in fear, Tom turned round to face you, seeing your eyes watering up as you kept glancing at his back. He was littered in a variety of purple, yellow and slightly green marks on the whole of his left flank. It looked like a minor crush injury, not something a pampered actor gets after a day of filming infront of tens of people including an onset medic and health and safety risk assessor. 

“What?” Tom asked before turning to the mirror and looking back over his shoulder to see the bruises for himself. He hadn’t expected the ache to look that bad. “oh - I - er… Today the scene, I get smashed to the floor by someone and I kept doing it wrong so we had to do it lots I guess.” He looked away and down at your feet, not being able to meet his girlfriends eyes suddenly. You just nodded, trying to blink back the tears-  he had truly been broken by this role both physically and now mentally- he hadn’t even put a stop to the constant and clearly severe pain. 

“Put your stuff on” your  voice was muted, as you waited for Tom to get prepared. He turned around again and then replaced his trousers and quickly pulled a top on to hide the marks, suddenly embarrassed. In the silence the sound of his clothes dropping to the floor, then of him sitting on the bed again- throwing his legs over so now he mirrored your position - the sounds were pretty defeaning.

“I love you so much….” Barely whispering, you suddenly ripped the duvet out from under you both holding it over you as you swung a leg over Tom so you straddled him, slightly leaning over him and letting the blanket rest on top of your back.In your position you looked down in an almost scary way to his warm brown eyes. Tom swore you were literally reading his thoughts, your intense gaze absolutely crumbling any walls he thought he’d be able to hold up. Pressing a gentle peck to his lips you then whispered onto his lips, letting him feel your words as well as hear them. “ …So that’s why we are going to sleep right now and you can worry about all of that tomorrow”

“Y/n I-“

“Your safe with me.” You were not standing for his nexuses and arguments, as you slid down his body - ending with your head resting on his chest, you legs tangled with his. Once you’re properly rested you’ll learn them ten times faster than what you can now… Before you get ill I am telling you to take a break. I’m not going to let you not. So relax and-….Tom?” Ending with a whisper, you delicately lifted your head off his slowly rising chest to see your broken boyfriend already asleep; lips parted as soft snores crept through the silence. In reality as soon as you’d said that he was safe the exhaustion had completely over taken him. Desperately needing to recharge his batteries, no matter how much he had wanted to stay up and work late it could never really happen - at this point physically impossible.

“Sleep well Tom” she smiled, planting a kiss on his cheek with a sad smile.

///////////////////////////////////////////

The next day rolled around all too quickly, but the morning was much better than any of the past couple of months because you were together. Tom, having had a solid 7 hours of sleep compared to his normal 5, was for once ready for the day. He’d gone through the script with a certain someones help in record time, and now the three were just pulling up at the set. 

“You’ve been awful quiet this car ride…” you grinned as she clasped Tom’s hand across the empty seat, making Harry turn around and give you a warning glance. Oops. In a moment where Tom went to the loo at breakfast, Harry had fully disclosed everything that had happened on set yesterday- especially the  burst of anger. So naturally, Tom was feeling nervous and scared to face everyone. 

“It will be fine I promise… and if not tell them I’m your personal body guard- no one will be rude to you if me and Harry are ready to attack” Tom let out a breathy nervous laugh, only then meeting your eyes.

“ A fly wouldn’t be threatened by you two. Harry would just take a photo while you’d check their pulse or something”

“Errrm” Harry furrowed his eyebrows as he contorted round from the front seat so Tom could see his disapproving look, meanwhile Tom was dodging your affectionate fake-slaps.

“Children we’re here” Sian sighed as she brought the car to a steady halt “and if you could get through the day without killing each other I’d appreciate it, otherwise I’m out of the job”

“Not promising anything when I’ve got these pair to deal with” Tom grinned as he opened the car door, before anyone else could retaliate.You laughed before quickly following suit, joining Tom at the front of the car and interlocking your fingers with Tom’s. Hesitating for a moment Harry took a second before unplugging and leaning for the door handle.

“You see what I mean?” Turning his head to look at Sian “It’s sickening how happy they are.”

“Yeh but your glad about it don’t lie” she grinned, before practically shooing the poor boy out her car.

“But dont tell them!” Shouting in reply, as the car was already pulling out. 

Tom’s body seemed to tense more the closer you walked to the crew tent, you could feel the way he squeezed his shoulders back and his jaw tensed and untensed. There was little you could do apart from squeezing his hand that little bit tighter - further reiterating the fact you would always always be in his corner. Perhaps the most telling about Tom’s own character was how truly guilty he felt for the way he was with the crew. Normally, he was one of the most down to earth actors around - no trace of an ego or superiority complex. It didn’t matter if you were a cleaner or head of a multimillion dollar studio, Tom would pay both the same amount of respect. He always out that completely down to his upbringing and mum and dad, but even that was being humble. He was just a good person to the core, no one saw that more than you either. It’s part of love, you see the good and the bad parts of a person and promise to unashamedly love them all. 

Just before you both had made it into the main tent, Tom was pulled away. “Oh Tom we wanted to talk to you about yesterday!” The familiar voice of Joe Russo called, as he and Anthony  ran up to Tom from his left, giving a little nod of greeting to the actor, before falling in step with him.

“Morning, I-uh I wanted to apologise actually-“Tom was cut off while you hung back off to his right, not wanting to intrude on this conversation.

“No we should. The team were all being slow yesterday, and they were making some hard scenes harder on you. We really appreciate what you are putting yourself through for the sake of the film.”

“But still I acted like a brat and I’m sorry”

“Tom” Anthony spoke up for the first time. He was a man of limited words- but whenever he spoke everyone listened. “ You are one of the best, most-dedicated actors we’ve ever worked with. We’re all overtired, run down and ready for the holidays. You’re missing your family too. It’s already forgotten… So let’s just get on with the movie?” Tom smiled, pressing his lips together to stop their kindness overtaking his emotions. Tom always felt safe with the Russo’s. They’d dealt with him when he really just was a kid actor - overwhelmed and without a clue what was happening. They’d dealt with hiM adjusting to fame and the much bigger part Marvel seemed to want him to play in the future. They trusted him with this, most incredibly complex and also personal film for them. So when they spoke and they said it didn’t matter, Tom was much more likely to agree.  Then proceeded the bro-hugs, as the men all showed they were good with each other. 

“Well lets make a motherfucking movie!” Tom exclaimed once they broke the hug and the brothers laughed at him. “Oh where-d….” He muttered as he looked round before meeting your eyes, still standing rather awkwardly a couple of meters behind them. “ Joe, Anthony you remember Y/n?” Nodding and smiling the brothers beckoned you over; both greeting you with a warm handshake. 

“Good to see you again!” You grinned and the directors responded nodding.

“We didn’t know you were coming! I would’ve made a list of all my doctor question for you.” Joe winked, knowing your pet-peeve was people asking you all their gory body questions as soon as they found out she was a doctor. You didn’t need to know about you dentists acid reflux issue, you didn’t need to know about your granny’s friend’s constipation, and you really really didn’t need to know about an old friends erectile dysfunction.

“Ha ha ha “ You rolled your eyes sarcastically “ and no it was a bit of a spontaneous trip, I just landed last night.” Throughout the whole of the exchange Anthony had taken an aloof stance, just  observing you and Tom. Observing the bright smile Tom gave you, even when you were simply making small talk. The way he looked so much healthier, well rested and just happy, in the space of a single evening.

“I’m glad you’re here” Anthony basically interrupted the conversation, addressing you then immediately turning on his heel towards the set. 

“Uhh right- get to make up we’ll call a cast meeting in a bit” Joe stammered, giving his brother a funny look before addressing Tom “ and we’ll have to have a proper catch up later.” You nodded in response, as Joe turned and did a half jog to catch up with his brother. 

“That was weird!?” You frowned as you looked up at Tom. He explained the encounter in rather simplistic terms.

“That was Anthony.”

The morning was spent with Tom doing what he does best in front of the camera. They were shooting a larger scene for the army section of the movie, with at least 100 actual soldiers as extras, all geared up in full camo outfits. It was impressive, but also gave you a chance to meet Ciara - you’d been dying to meet her since Tom told you what a laugh she was. Fair to say you weren’t disappointed at all, you guys hitting it off instantly and you going as far as giving Ciara some embarrassing Tom stories that she could wind him up with in the future. Of course though, the main attraction was seeing Tom act first hand. Every time it astounded you, even though you knew that face so completely, in all his movies he fully had you believing he was someone else. It was mesmerising and you couldn’t be any prouder. 

“You’re amazing! I seriously forgot how good you are!” You ran over as Joe Russo called cut to the end of the morning shoot. 

“Well er thanks I guess” Tom furrowed his eyebrows as you wrapped him in a hug. He’d just canned a pretty hard scene and everyone was more than ready for a lunch break. You’s been watching from behind the cameras with Harry the whole time, after Tom gave you permission to sit in his special set chair.

“Seriously I’m very…. “ Her speech broken with an impressive yawn “….very proud of you.” In thanks Tom gave you a kiss first to your nose and then lips. 

“I take it someones not adapting to jet lag?” He chuckled as he pulled away and cupped your face in his hands.

“Which I’m totally ashamed about considering I work night shifts… my body clocks supposed to be better than this” Angrily, you vented, frustrated at your own body when all you wanted to do was stays within reaching distance of Tom. Even if Tom had had the best sleep of this whole shoot last night, you’d been to over excited and enthralled just absorbing every little thing about him that you’d missed so much that you’d been wide awake the majority of the night. If you blamed you fatigue on jet lag alone, it would be an impressive lie. 

“Go take a nap in my trailer… Harry can you take her?”

“Yes master” Harry bowed down and wobbled his head sarcastically, making you giggle. 

“At least this way you get a break from him” You grinned to Tom’s brother, which Harry could only agree with. Giving Tom a parting kiss , you followed Harry away from set. It was at this point that Anthony excused himself from the monitors reviewing the footage, and approached Tom.

“Kid… that was great that scene.”

“Thanks mate, means a lot” Getting his directors approval forever reassured Tom, letting him relax his shoulders a bit as he nodded gratefully to Anthony. 

“Well it’s just truth… so your girlfriend, Y/n right?”

“Yeh that’s her” Tom nodded, suddenly a little concerned as to where Anthony was going with this. You had met the Russo’s a number of times, and it never before seemed as though Anthony had an issue with you- at least to Tom’s knowledge.

“Right well um… you know how I don’t really get involved in all this stuff…” Tom nodded, folding his arms apprehensively. “But I just thought I should say that she’s really good for you.” Tom silently breathed a sigh of relief and waited for Anthony to get to the point. “Joe told me you had a rough patch at the beginning of the year so… I don’t know our industry is hard. And harder for you and her in the spotlight… Just seeing you with her today…Don’t be afraid to take the next steps with her…Don’t let her get away.” Tom was stunned to say the least. Anthony is the last person he had ever expected to get relationship advice from. 

“I um yeh… I don’t know I hadn’t really thought about it. I mean we’ve been together for 2 and a bit years, well including the break… she means the world to me-“

“Well don’t waste it”

And that was the end of the conversation. Anthony turned to his trailer to get lunch and Tom just stood, replaying the conversation in his head. Weird to say the least. 

But it did get the cogs turning. It did get Tom really seriously considering his future. Or rather considering your future together.

And that was for certain. It was you and him, always. 

[another-dr-another]

insert those coins babey! no point in holding onto them if they aren't used !

You Now Own:

001 - Mineral Water (x2)

Drawn from the ocean depths and rigorously purified. Ideal for a modern on-the-go public unsatisfied with tap water.

002 - Sea Salt

A basic seasoning produced from the evaporation of seawater. It also sees use as a preservative.

003 - Ration

A set of canned and vacuum-sealed foodstuffs. The taste isn't bad, and a certain snake that wants to play hide-and-go-seek is just crazy abou- wait, what?

005 - Ramune

A sweet, lemon-flavored carbonated drink. A marble plugs the opening of the uniquely designed bottle. The bottle can also be reused if you bring it to the ramune store.

010 - Ship In a Bottle

A intricate creation, a model ship within a bottle. Made with time, love and care.

012 - Envy-Enducing Envy CD

A CD of songs by Japanese band Envy. Full of unreleased tracks/first recordings.

014 - Children's Book

A children's book about family and forgiveness! The plot is about a sister who can't get along with her younger brother, but they find common ground and bond over causing trouble for their parents.

016 - Sour Soda (x2)

No flavor is listed on the bottle other than sour, which may just be a flavor in and of itself. It's a near black shade of blue... I think.

017 - Gentleman's Guide

A book that's meant to help shape you into the perfect gentleman. However, it's rather demeaning towards the reader, which doesn't feel very gentleman-ly.

018 - Masculine Cologne

Very masculine, can only be used by masculine people. No weaklings allowed, or people with the common sense to smell it before purchasing, and realize it smells really bad.

019 - Fancy Sword

True to it’s name, it looks very fancy, and very intimidating. However, it's only for show, and rather blunt- perhaps inexpensive?

022 - ??? Alcohol

It's something alcoholic. This is a school, it should be confiscated, and you won't be receiving any more information.

024 - Hair Cutting Scissors

Snip snip snip, meant for hair-cutting at home, as these aren’t professional grade. Still though, try and make it even, okay?

025 - Purple Hair Dye

Pretty purple hair dye guaranteed to not come out of hair for weeks! More of a pinkish-purple than the box advertised, but still pretty.

028 - Constellation Skirt

With patterns matching actual real constellations. Despite matching the night sky, it almost seems sun-rise themed, with its pink background and pale gold stars.

030 - Bottled Tea

When heated up, it's meant to help soothe upset stomachs, and muscle aches. Popular among student athletes.

031 - Alarm Clock

It's a digital alarm clock. One of the few normal and functional things here, and it's the thing that screams at you to wake up every morning.

032 - Broken Stopwatch (x2)

It won't stop running, no pausing or restarting. You can however make it record different laps.

034 - Baseball Cap

Perfect for keeping the sun out of your face! This one is all black though, so it'll retain a lot of heat.

038 - Card Game (x3)

One easy to play, and popular among kids. The front side of the package shows a family of four playing.

039 - Reminder Booklet

A small pamphlet that gives reminders for daily things, such as eating, drinking, taking meds, etc. Also has room for you to add in unique personalized reminders.

041 - Tiovita

A Japanese energy drink sold at most convenience stores. Pretty inexpensive, and with a nice fruity flavor- but hey, only one per day!

044 - Lie Detector (x2)

Fun for the whole family! Though not incredibly accurate... wait, how do you know that?

045 - Evidence Encylopedia

A book focusing on evidence found in crime scenes. From most overlooked to most common, this book talks about it all.

049 - Track Award

A award from a middle school track and field award. The recipient of the trophy seems to have come in second in two events, and first in one.

050 - Plane Tickets (x2)

Anywhere, anytime, round trip tickets. Probably given as some sort of thank you for volunteering to get off of a accidentally over-booked flight.

051 - Therapy Advertisement (x2)

Some therapist endorsing themselves. Upon looking at the services they offer, I don't feel very inspired to go there.

056 - Soulmate Sweatshirt

A sweatshirt that supposedly brings the most comfort not when you wear it, but when holding someone wearing it. Currently smells strongly of... lavender?

057 - Scrap Metal x3

Seems to be broken bits and pieces of some sort of engine. Could be repurposed, or simply a cool trinket.

059 - Old Journal

It seems to be from the late 80s, and kept being written in up to the early 90s. There's a entry on the last page, synopsizing the birth of the owners son, and how proud the owner is of his now five year old.

060 - Paper Boat

A piece of paper that's been folded into a boat. Apparently you can fold and tear it as you tell a story to provide a visual aid for the story, but no one here knows how.

061 - Calendar

It's got pictures of internationally famous towns on it! This particular one has been written on with a note on almost every day.

064 - Face-paint Kit.

A professional face-painting kit. However, it’s missing it’s red, yellow, blue and white paint- those colors have been all used up.

065 - Life Quote Sign (x3)

A sign with some stereotypical life quote written on it in flowery lettering. Most likely to be seen hanging in a kitchen.

066 - Throwing Rings (x2)

Meant for fair games. If you have good enough aim, maybe you'll win a prize!

067 - Pleasant Savior

Seemingly a CD filled with various performances by the same person. I haven't played the CD, so I don't know what kind of performances he does though, and the name is off-putting.

069 - “Fresh” Bouquet (x3)

Somehow still smells sweet with flowers that look flawless. It's comprised of roses that have been dyed rainbow, all of them.

070 - Hair Ribbons (x3)

They come in a variety of colors, but the Monomono Machine only dispenses yellow. Guaranteed to make the wearer feel a certain sense of self-satisfaction.

071 - Girls Profile

A student profile from a all-girls academy. The paper is water-stained and some of the ink has run, so it's hard to make out what's on the paper.

073 - Baby Doll

It seems to be from around the 90s and... not quite well-loved, but well-played-with. Doesn't come with the original clothes... or hair.

075 - Dream Catcher

Made by a past SHSL. It's actually been pretty effective, and is part of the reason they got scouted.

080 - Retro Game

It's handheld, old, and extremely broken. The screen has been shattered so it displays wrong, all cracked and distorted.

081 - Blackout Curtains (x2)

Completely block out any and all light. Strong enough to plunge a room into darkness.

084 - Noise-cancelling Headphones

They completely block out all sound! Also come with the ability to adjust the size of the band, and will stay on your ears even if you pull the band down to your neck.

086 - Wall Decals

Stickers you can put on your wall. They do a decent job of covering up holes in said walls.

087 - Antique Stuffed Animal (x2)

It seems to be bunny themed, and dressed in clothes you'd see on babies in the 1930s. It's in pretty good shape, other than a few tears where the lace trim at the end has had it’s stitches removed.

088 - Embroidery Kit

Or rather, a needle and thread to be used for embroidery. There's only one needle, and one spool of thread, but hey, it’s something.

090 - Scented Markers (x2)

A full rainbow set, all with their own unique smell! Be careful though - it's hard to get these out of clothes.

092 - Fake Christmas Tree (x2)

Too plastic to be a real tree. It's also incredibly small, but real trees can be small too, so that doesn’t really mess with the realism.

093 - Hair Gel

Top of the line hair gel, and completely unopened! Helps you style your hair and keep it in place, but doesn’t give it the nicest texture.

095 - Instant Noodles

Just add water to get something hot, salty, and/or spicy! A nice meal if you're looking for something that's quick and easy, you can dress it up some too.

097 - Drink Mix

A powder used for ??? warm drink, made with milk, tastes like... something? You try it and tell me, but it smells good at the least.

099 - The DSM-I

Self-explanatory, it's the original version of the DSM, from 1952. Index cards have been slipped in-between most of the pages, talking about what happened with the information listed there.

100 - Collection Of Old Ads

Dating back to the 1920s. A magazine full of ads from a different time, it’s somewhat of a miracle the paper held up while the ideas in it didn’t.

101 - Wooden Ruler

It's a wooden ruler. Used for measuring things, nothing else- why do you ask?

102 - Building Blocks (x3)

Stacking and stacking, and sending it all crumbling down. And then you rinse and repeat.

104 - Cutesy Hair Clips

Snap clips in pastel colors and covered in designs. Oddly enough, there isn't any non-pastels, unless you count the few white clips.

106 - Newspaper Collage

Seems to be a collection of snippets from newspaper articles. There must be hundreds in here... it's a big collage.

107 - Cropped Sweatshirt

Cropped specifically due to a parent saying not to. The sweatshirt seems to be related to some organization, with the big fancy emblem on it.

109 - Pins And Patches

A mix-and-match bag full of enamel pins, buttons, and iron-on patches. Good luck finding something to do with them all.

110 - Origami Paper (x2)

Simple origami paper, in a variety of colors and patterns! Comes easy to tear out of a book, which includes instructions on basic origami types.

112 - Colorful Band-Aids.

They come in many colors, designs, even different sizes. Some seem to be made to cover up paper cuts, others meant to help skinned knees and scraped elbows.

Thank you for visiting the Monomono Machine!

~*~

Maeda, narrating - And I thought the coins were kinda heavy...

Maeda - What now?

[Free Time Event - Uehara]

{Head to Your Room}

[soundofseventeen]

Circles (Lee Jihoon)

I can’t remember why I had emo hours anymore, but this was the outcome of it. The harder the hit, the softer the content. I really love Pierce the Veil more than usual at the moment, so there's that.

Song inspo: Circles

Word count: 1117

“Jagi, I’m home,” Jihoon called out. His favorite part of the day was knowing you’d be there before him. Then again, anytime you came home made him happy beyond belief. The living room hadn’t changed from last night, with the exception of you having folded the blanket you used the night prior sometime during the day. He made his way to the kitchen to put his coffee cup in the sink when he saw you on the table, papers scattered everywhere. If he hadn’t heard you groan, he would’ve assumed you had fallen asleep. “Jagi?” he said, sounding amused.

“How many people decide to get married the same day we do?” came your greeting.

He placed a kiss on your head, dropped the cup where it belonged and took a spot next to you, humored at the fact that you hadn’t raised your head to properly acknowledge him. “No luck?” He often found it endearing how much you stressed finding something you considered perfect, but he didn’t like the fact that you actually stressed over it. He supposed the perfectionist trait is what made him fall in love with you in the first place. 

“This is the fifth venue I called today and apparently no one has a time available for that day.” You inhaled deeply. “There go my top choices, and the ones that are available left bad reviews because of their bad experiences and if we get a mediocre venue, everyone’s gonna think you ended up with someone mediocre and I just wanna prove that we can get it right.”

“Alright…” He stood up and you finally looked at him, frowning at how he looked entertained. He wrapped his arms around your head and pulled you close to his chest, right over his heart. “My sweet, sweet love, talk to me.” 

“If this wedding isn’t perfect, never ask me to renew our vows,” you mumbled after awhile. “It’s so hard Jihoon. Everything has to be perfect. The outfits, the venue, the ceremony, the vows, the cake, the reception party, everything, and I feel like I can’t get anything right.”

“This is still months away. Why are you stressing so much about everything now?” He thought about reminding you about you refusing to hire a wedding planner so they could take care of it, but he knew you’d either yell at him or cry from the frustration so he stayed quiet. The “I told you so” banter could come another day.when you were in a better mood.

“Because when the day is around the corner, I don’t want us to be panicking over anything.” You took a deep breath. “I want this to be the best day of our lives and I don’t want there to be any problems or regrets because I can’t do something as simple as this.”

“Jagi, I love you, but I can’t understand you when you switch languages on me like that.”

“You’re not even concerned by all of this. Why aren’t you giving me your feedback and opinions to help me?”

“Truthfully, my dream is slipping a wedding ring on your finger and you living your daydream of trying to burn the wedding certificate so I can’t return you,” he chuckled. “I want you, and however many kids we can agree on to complete our family. I want us to move out of this apartment, get a house, turn it into a home and see you here everyday.” He paused for a moment to control the blush making its way to his face. “I want to hold you like this so you know that you’re never alone.” He dropped a kiss on your hair, tightening his hold on you. 

“But what about all this?”

That he understood. “Jagi, we don’t have to go through all of this. If you want, we can buy plane tickets right now, do what Joshua hyung did, and go to Las Vegas in America and elope.”

He heard you sniffle and then laugh. “Soonyoung would never forgive you. Jeonghan still gives Joshua the cold shoulder from time to time.”

“They’ll make an exception for me,” he said confidently.

“Said Joshua before Seokmin shoved a slice of cake in his face when they met up after he came back from that.”

“Okay, maybe we won’t elope.” He rocked you gently, your soft laughter being music to his ears. No song he ever made could compare to that and he long ago stopped trying to recreate it. “What if we get married at the beach? Who needs the piano when we have the ocean waves?”

“Ji, it’s gonna be freezing and no one is gonna hear you when you’re saying your vows.”

He kissed your hair again, voice mumbled. “No one needs to hear me saying anything except I do, so you don’t have to worry.”

“And the sand? If you fall and eat shit, you’ll be in a bad mood for the rest of the day, and I need you happy, no matter what happens.”

“Backyard wedding?” Maybe planning it was a little harder than he thought.

“You’re really gonna shut off the music and send our guests home at the peak of the party just so you can sleep?”

“What if we just go to another country and hold the wedding there?”

“My family just can’t up and do that Ji. They’re already sacrificing too much by coming here. I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“It’s a lot harder for my family to do these things.”

“Don’t apologize for that, my love. We still have a lot of time to figure something out. As long as I can spend the rest of my life you, then everything else can wait.”

“Are you really that excited?”

“Do you know how long I waited for you?”

“For me, or someone like me?”

“For you.” He placed another kiss to your hair. “Someone like you would’ve been out of the question.”

“What’s the difference?”

“You let me hold you like this as long as possible. Someone like you would’ve made me let go by now.”

“Lee Jihoon, anyone who says you’re not a romantic hasn’t been in love with you long enough.” You finally looked up at him, meeting his gaze and watching the way he started to blush again at the sudden attention. “I can’t wait to have you for the rest of my life either.” You puckered your lips and he happily complied to give you a well-deserved kiss.

“Lee Y/N,” he said when he pulled away. “I love the sound of that.”

You rested your head on his chest again, the rapid beating of his heart being a comfort to you. “I love that too.”

[saysomethingspiderman]

Something Wonderful (PT. 8)

Synopsis: During your time as a professional photographer, you had come across incredibly good looking men, but there was just something about Tom that stood out. Who would have thought shooting the self-titled “walking meme” would change your life forever?

Chapter word count: 7.4k

Warning: some smut

Part One // Part Two // Part Three // Part Four // Part Five // Part Six // Part Seven // Part Eight

Tom surfaced the next day around lunch time. He shuffled out of your bedroom looking more than a little sorry for himself; his hair stuck up at all angles, his face had a sheen of sweat and he held the duvet around him like it was the only thing helping him hold himself together. Without that duvet, he would simply crumble into the hungover mess he was. When you heard a small groan from behind, you turned from the microwave in the small kitchenette and burst out into a fit of laughter.

“Wow, I’m glad you didn’t look like this when we first met,” you giggled and immediately switched the kettle on. He needed a coffee. Immediately. With a nod towards the couch you told him to lie down and grabbed a couple of paracetamol from the drawer by the sink. “Out of ten, how bad you feeling?”

“That’s too small a scale,” Tom grumbled into the cushions after dropping down onto the couch. He lifted his head just enough for you to feed him the pills and then he curled back up with the duvet over his entire body to block out any light. “I don’t even remember leaving,” he said after a pause.

Ah. So he didn’t remember what he’d said. Typical.

Giving a shrug of your shoulder, you moved over to make yourself busy with making Tom a coffee. “It actually wasn’t that late a night. Well, not as late as I thought it would be. I think we got back around… Half two, maybe? Something like that. I actually wish we’d stayed longer to have another go on the karaoke,” she smirked and saw Tom’s body suddenly stiffen.

“How much of an embarrassment was I?” he asked slowly, expecting the worst.

After adding a splash of milk and a little sugar, you placed the steaming mug of coffee on the table in front of Tom. The smell forced him to sit up and he reached over, taking the drink in his hands. You gave a smile and sat on the smaller couch by the window as you said, “You actually weren’t that bad. Said a few things I know you didn’t mean, though.” With slightly squinted eyes, you watched his reaction to see if there was any recognition in what you were talking about. Had he really forgotten such an important thing? 

“You just said I wasn’t that bad!” Tom argued in his croaky morning voice the coffee had yet to help. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I was an arse, wasn’t I?”

“No, no, you were fine. Honestly, Tom, you were fine. Anyway, it doesn’t matter what you said since you don’t remember.” The harshness in your tone wasn’t intended and it shocked not only Tom but you too. You gave a heavy sigh. “Sorry, I’m just a bit tired.”

Although you found the humour in Tom not remembering the night before and the drunken, silly fool he’d been, you had to admit that him not recalling the words he’d said grated on you. It was such an important moment in your relationship and had he stayed awake long enough after speaking, he’d have heard you return the feelings. How could you not love him? You felt it every time he woke up and smiled when he saw you lying next to him, every time he gave Tessa special smooches, every time he laughed at one of your jokes that was definitely not that funny. The way his eyes crinkled at the sides when he grinned away like an idiot made the butterflies in your stomach flutter like crazy. You would tell him, of course you would, but only when he was ready to hear it. That wouldn’t stop you teasing him, though. That was a good way to get rid of the annoyance, right?

“Just know that I really loved what you said,” you said and stretched out across the couch, ignoring his look of pure confusion as he racked his brain for anything memorable he could have said.

Tom shook his head a little and took another sip of his coffee. “I’ve no idea. Can’t you just tell me?” He stuck out his bottom lip like a child begging for one more cookie before dinner.

“Nope, figure it out for yourself, lover boy.”

The sound of your laptop dinging with a notification made you look over to where it was sat open on the kitchen table. You’d been waiting on an email so you hurried over and read the message, barely making it halfway through before a squeal of delight escaped from behind your lips.

“Are you purposely trying to make my head explode?”

You laughed at Tom’s miserable face and gave his hair a ruffle on your run back to your bedroom. “I have to pack!” The clothes were thrown from your wardrobe, landing here, there and everywhere. The small suitcase of summer clothes sat at the back, untouched since you returned from the States all those months ago. Even though it was summer, England had yet to actually realise that; there had only been a small handful of days where it was warm enough not to wear a jumper.

“Care to share what you’re packing for?” came Tom’s voice from the doorway as he pulled a tank top off his head, having been tossed in his direction. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the doorframe. “Are you leaving me for someone much more handsome?”

“Oh don’t be silly,” you said flippantly and tugged the suitcase out onto the carpet. “If I was, I’d do it while you weren’t here. It’d be a bit obvious, don’t you think?” You glanced his way and gave a cheeky grin, then unzipped the suitcase to go through what would be suitable.

“Well where are you going then?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside where you sat on the floor. His eyes widened slightly when he took notice of the contents you were rifling through and he reached down to pull up an incredibly skimpy red swimsuit. “Also, more importantly, why have I never seen this before?” He twirled it around his finger, the little piece of material barely skimming your face.

Before it had the chance to scratch an eye out, you grabbed it from his grip and threw it to the side. “Because it’s not suitable for children. And sorry, I sort of didn’t explain myself,” you laughed and leaned against his leg. As though on instinct, his hand found your hair and began to twirl a strand. “Guess who wants me to shoot their cover?” The excitement was evident in the way your whole body practically shook, almost bursting to scream. “Vogue! Vogue want me! Me!” 

Tom’s arms had wrapped you into a squeeze before you’d even finished the sentence. He kissed your neck and jaw and side of your head, wherever he could reach from where he was sat. “That’s amazing, bub,” he said softly, holding you tightly enough to push all the air from your lungs, but you didn’t care. He managed to catch your lips in a kiss when you turned towards him. “Really, darling, I’m so proud of you.”

The skin on your cheeks warmed and you gave a shy smile. “Well I wasn’t their first choice,” you said quickly, for some reason not wanting him to think you were that successful. “They had someone else who had to pull out so I was their second choice. Or maybe their third or fourth or whatever since it’s such short notice and not everyone would be able to do that…”

“Hey, don’t put yourself down like that,” he said sternly, brows furrowed slightly. He held your chin between his fingers and tilted your head up so he could give you another kiss. “First choice or not, they still want you. And I don’t see why they wouldn’t. They’d be stupid not to have you.”

Being your own worst critic, it was nice to hear those words.

“Anyway, where are you going?” he continued, glimpsing the amount of bikinis you’d piled up.

“Oh. Right. Yeah. Uh, Greece,” you said and chewed the skin on your lower lip. It was usually Tom’s schedule that changed at a moment’s notice and now he had the time off work, it was yours that was doing a complete one-eighty. “Milos, to be precise. One of the islands.” A thought then popped into your head and you sat up a little straighter as you turned fully to him with a big grin. “Do you want to come? We can make a whole long weekend out of it! I’ll just change my flight coming back home and pay the difference. It’ll be fun!”

Tom couldn’t help but smile at how giddy you were. He took a hold of your shoulders to stop you from wiggling around so much, jittery from the buzz the email had given you. “You know what? That sounds perfect,” he smiled and kissed the tip of your nose. “When do we leave?” He pulled his phone from the back pocket of his jeans and opened one of his apps to look at getting a plane ticket for himself.

“Yeah. Um, that’s the short notice part,” you said with a slightly nervous laugh and moved your attention back to what you were packing. “The flight leaves in six hours.”

Without missing a beat, Tom gave a nod, kissed the top of your head and then hurried out of the flat with the promise to pick you up in a couple of hours. While he was gone, you went through the holiday clothes you had from the year before and packed them neatly back in the suitcase, leaving the unwanted clothes in a pile in the corner of your room to be dealt with at a later date. There was no time for that now. After a quick shower to prepare yourself for the ten hour flight, you shoved on your usual travel outfit of leggings and a comfortable sweatshirt, and double checked you had all your equipment for the photoshoot packed securely in a separate case. There’d be no point in going at all if you forgot any of it.

As expected, Tom arrived in a taxi outside your flat the second you managed to track down your passport. You hauled your cases into the boot of the car, then climbed in next to Tom. He’d freshened up with a shower, too; the smell of his showergel made you want to lick every inch of his sweet skin. But that could wait until you arrived in Greece. Or at least were in the air.

“You’re looking a lot better than before,” you said after checking in at the airport and making your way through security. So far Tom hadn’t been recognised and as long as he kept his hat on, you prayed it stayed that way.

“Well I’ve probably overdosed on ibuprofen,” he said, rubbing his tired eyes. He followed close behind you as you strolled through the perfume stands, stopping to spray one every so often. “Can you even overdose on that or do they just say it to scare people into only taking one or two?”

You shrugged a shoulder and spritzed the newest Chanel onto your neck, the floral scent almost convincing you to buy it right then and there. “I dunno. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if you lose consciousness. At least I’ll be somewhere nice and sunny while I mourn.”

“That’s all that matters,” he laughed and wrapped an arm across your shoulders as you continued browsing what the little department had to offer.

After a few makeup purchases were made (“Do you really need another nude lipstick? It’s the exact same as the one you always wear!” “It’s a completely different shade, Tom.”), the two of you just relaxed in a private lounge until the flight was ready to board. There were a few people who turned their heads when they recognised Tom but fortunately the two of you were left alone. It didn’t take long to get settled on the flight. You swapped your trainers for the slippers you’d shoved in your bag and relaxed in the seat next to Tom, who had already got comfortable with his neck pillow.

It only took a few episodes of New Girl for Tom to get bored of being on the plane. He tried to occupy himself with the games on his phone, eating food he wasn’t particularly hungry for and walked up and down the aisle a number of times to pass a whole five minutes. It even got to the point where he sat scrolling through the photos on his phone because he had nothing else to do. When he got to the very first pictures on his camera roll, he locked his phone and leaned over to your side. With a cheeky grin, he pushed your headphone to the side of your ear, bringing your attention away from Mamma Mia.

“You ever had sex on a plane?”

For a moment, you weren’t sure you’d actually heard him right. Was he serious? For one, you were right in the middle of arguably one of the best numbers in the film so it would simply be cruel to drag you away from watching Donna and the Dynamos perform “Souper Trouper”. And two… Well, there wasn’t another reason. But you still shook your head and said, “I’m not having sex on a plane, Tom. What if someone hears?”

“Then we can be quiet,” he said, though you knew full well he meant you would be quiet as more often than not, you made enough noise for the both of you.

“I can also be quiet while I watch this,” you replied, nodding your head at the screen attached to the back of the seat in front of you, the scene paused.

Tom leaned closer and pressed his lips to the spot just below your ear that made your legs instantly weak. “Are you sure?” he whispered and kissed your skin again.

Clearing your throat quietly, you took your headphones off and placed them inside your bag on the floor. Then, without so much as a smile to let him know he had won so easily, you stood and made your way through the aisle to the small toilet room at the back of the plane. A knock came just minutes later and you slid the door open to let Tom inside.

“Alright, if we get caught then I’m going to kill you,” you chuckled.

Tom’s only response was to lift you up onto the tiny counter and pull you close into a hungry kiss.

The two of you tried. You really did. It started off well with Tom’s hands working wonders between your legs, but at one point the tap turned on and soaked your bum, then a bit of turbulence shook the plane and caused his chin to whack your eye. You’d have been happy to ignore the little incidents had Tom’s foot not slipped into the toilet. It was a complete disaster that you couldn’t stop giggling at. 

“I don’t think this is working,” you laughed as Tom shook his foot to try and get rid of as much water as he could, his nose scrunched up in disgust.

“Oh, you think?” he snorted and zipped up his fly before taking his trainer off so he could use the air dryer on it. “Maybe we can make up for it on the flight home.”

Not wanting to give people the wrong (or completely right) idea, you pulled your leggings back up, hopped off the counter and gave Tom’s cheek a kiss on your way out, leaving him to sort himself out. The silver lining was that you could now watch Mamma Mia in peace. 

Tom’s trainer managed to dry out by the time the plane landed. The heat of the early morning sun instantly hit as you headed down the steep steps and you were tempted to just strip into the nude to help with the warmth. Without much trouble, Tom hailed a taxi outside the airport and you headed to the hotel.

“Well who knew when we woke up this morning, or yesterday morning, or whenever the fuck it was,” Tom laughed when the taxi pulled up outside the hotel, “that we’d be in Greece within a day.”

“Well you deserve this time to relax,” you said, unable to take your eyes away from the hotel.

It was simply beautiful. The white stone building looked as though it was cleaned multiple times a day with how bright it was against the sun’s beams. Porcelain tiles in colours of blues and whites paved the way to the entrance, where you were greeted with an enthusiastic receptionist. She’d definitely had their coffee this morning. After checking in, you headed to the room you had booked. The breeze from the open windows was a welcome feeling as you opened the door and Tom took the bags to put in the bedroom while you headed straight for the balcony that looked out onto the beach. For a moment, you closed your eyes and listened to the waves.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?” Tom’s arms wrapped around your waist from behind and he left a kiss on your shoulder. “What time do you have to start work?”

“I don’t think I’ve got long, maybe an hour or so,” you said, though made no move to check all your equipment was safe and able to be used for the shoot. “What’ll you do while I’m out?”

“Hm, I’ve got an idea,” he said and gave your shoulder another kiss.

“Should I be worried?”

He chuckled softly and shook his head. “No, be excited. I hope you like it.”

“Okay, now I’m definitely worried,” you laughed and turned in his arms to catch the cheeky smirk on his lips. “Yep, definitely worried.”

“Don’t be, you’ll like it, I promise. Anyway, go get yourself sorted for the big shoot,” he smiled and gave your bum a light slap on your way back into the room.

It turned out that you didn’t have as much time as you’d thought so after rushing about to have a quick shower to wash the airplane from your skin, you hurried out to grab a taxi to take you to the other side of the island, mind still on what Tom had planned for your return.

*

With the help of a few members of staff at the hotel, Tom’s plan slowly started coming together. You were gone pretty much the entire day so he knew the risk of you accidentally stumbling upon what he was doing was low. He found the perfect spot on the beach beneath a couple of trees that he’d wrapped in fairy lights, and set a small table and a couple of chairs beneath them in the shade. The hotel had a spare sheet to cover the tabletop and he placed a candle right in the centre, waiting until you arrived to light it. Throughout the day he sent you texts to see how close to finishing you were but, understandably, you were only able to reply a couple of times because of how busy you were. It was only when the sun started to lower that you texted him, letting him know you were on your way back. Tom sprung into action. He hurried up the small hill to tell the chef to get started on the meal he’d organised and then headed to your room where he wrote a note and left it on the bed for you to find. After changing into the only shirt he’d brought, Tom gave himself a onceover in the mirror and went back down to the beach.

You only just missed Tom when your taxi pulled up outside the hotel. It hadn’t been the best day; the model had been an absolute diva, the rocks had been more slippery than they’d seemed (almost resulting in you having a broken leg), and there had been no food on site, meaning you’d gone pretty much all day with only having water to keep you going. All you wanted to do was get in bed and cuddle Tom. But you came to realise Tom had other idas when you found the note on the bed in your room.

Meet me out on the beach. Follow the petals. - Tom X

“Follow the petals?” you murmured with a small frown and looked around in confusion. Your face softened when you spotted the beginning of a trail out on the balcony, leading you down the steps. Following the red and pink petals on careful footsteps, not wanting to ruin them, you found yourself on the beach. The sand was clear so you took off your trainers and walked the rest of the way barefoot. Then you spotted Tom. He sat beneath one of the trees, the glow from the fairy lights giving his skin a golden hue. His leg was bouncing. Was he nervous?

Tom turned from looking out at the sea and his whole face visibly lit up at the sight of you. “Is this cheesy?” he asked with a quiet chuckle and ran a hand through his curls. “I know you don’t like things that are too cheesy.”

For a few moments you didn’t know what to say. He’d spent the day doing all this for you. “I love it, Tom,” you replied in a voice soft enough that you were afraid he hadn’t heard. “You didn’t have to do all this,” you said, a little louder this time as you joined him at the table.

“I know I didn’t,” came his simple reply as he lit the candle that sat between you. As if on cue, a waiter appeared with two dishes and placed them on the table. “I’d planned on taking you out anyway while I’m off work and since you completely changed my plans and dragged me along to Greece,” he laughed, “I thought I’d still go ahead and do it, with a few alterations.”

“Alterations meaning we’re on a beach instead of a restaurant and you having sand in your hair,” you chuckled, digging into the prawn starter.

“Yeah, exactly that,” Tom grinned and leaned away from the food to shake the sand from his hair.

While you demolished the mouthwatering prawns, you caught Tom up on your day, finally having a chance to moan. It wasn’t until the mains arrived that you realised how much you’d actually been talking about yourself and hadn’t taken the chance to ask Tom anything about his day.

“What? I mean, it’s pretty obvious what I’ve been up to all day,” Tom said with a shrug and took a sip of his beer. The sun had moved to its lowest point behind him and you took a moment to just stare at how gorgeous he was. He raised a brow. “What are you looking at? Have I got more sand in my hair?”

“No, no, you’re just pretty,” you grinned, reaching over to take a hold of his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. “It’s so sweet of you to do all this. Really, Tom, it’s amazing.”

“Well I like to spoil my girl.” He returned the squeeze of your hand and then shifted in his seat, looking as nervous as he had before. He went to say something but something stopped him and he just smiled instead.

“Are you all right?” you questioned as he shuffled again.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine,” he assured and pushed his empty plate to the side so he could lean closer. “Great, actually. Well, more than great, I’m perfect, I’m-”

“Tom, you’re rambling,” you laughed, causing his cheeks to redden.

He shook his head as though to rid himself of whatever he was feeling. “I just… I just want to tell you that I… I, uh, I didn’t actually forget what I’d said the other night.”

It took you a moment or two to understand what he was talking about and when it hit, you brushed a piece of hair away from your eyes that the wind had blown into your face. Now he was making you nervous. Was he going to tell you that it was just a load of drunken nonsense? 

“I hadn’t planned on saying it while drunk,” he continued, pulling you from your worries. “I wanted to tell you I love you while sober.”

A surge of happiness exploded in your chest, sending goosebumps along your arms and legs. A blush rose high on your cheeks and your eyes sparkled as they crinkled at the sides, your grin taking up your entire face. “You’re saying you love me, then?” you asked giddily with a slightly raised brow.

Tom licked his lower lip and gave a small nod. “Of course I do, darling. I love you. I think a part of me has loved you since I first laid my eyes on you.” He sat up straighter now he had a little more confidence. “I mean, if you don’t love me too then I take it back. I take it right back, I’ll give my love to someone else,” he laughed, nudging your foot under the table with his.

You joined in with his laughter and moved around the table so you could take his face in your hands, squashing his cheeks. “I love you too, you big idiot.”

The dessert of strawberries and ice cream was eaten through giggles and kisses with you sat on his lap. You would have given anything to take Tom’s hand and drag him back to your room but the temporary dining area had to be cleaned up. You didn’t really care that much. Now that the words had been said, it felt like there was a new type of connection between the two of you. A stronger spark of electricity. You pulled the lights from the trees while Tom collected the plates and tablecloth, then you carried everything back to the hotel.

When you got back to your room, Tom pushed you against the wall and kissed you hard, hand yanking up the skirt of your dress. His fingers were frantic as they stroked over you and he impatiently pushed aside your knickers to thrust one into you. As you moaned into his mouth, he sped his movements up and rubbed his thumb over your clit. Your toes curled and you pulled his hair roughly. He pulled his hand away and moved it to your waist as you shifted so you could wrap your arms around his neck. This time the kiss was slow, languid, a deep longing between you as though it had been weeks since you’d seen each other. Your fingers massaged the nape of his neck and he pulled you closer to his chest, sinking into his warmth. 

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” Tom said against your lips as you pushed him back in the direction of the bed. “I know you’ve had a long day.”

“And what better way to use the last bit of energy I have?” you smirked and gave a sudden squeal as he lifted your body and threw you onto the mattress.

“Well that’s a very smart idea, darling.”

He looked fierce, like he knew exactly what he wanted: he wanted you. Seeking your lips, he lifted your chin. You sank back into the cushions as he kissed you over and over. With a little push from his fingers, the thin strap of your dress slipped from your shoulder and he pulled the material down to your waist, exposing your breasts. He played with your nipple, teasing it with his tongue before finally clamping down and sucking. The moan that escaped you was almost animalistic. Every flicker, tug and tease was felt in every inch of your body, growing into the warmth between your thighs. His hand palmed your other breast and you bit your lip. Had it always been like this, or was this because of the new feelings?

A part of you felt helpless because you wanted to please him but each tug on your nipple he did with his teeth made your mind go completely blank. You wanted to show him how much he meant to you but any ideas you had of blowing his mind (and other parts of his body) were forgotten as his hand found its way back up your dress and tore your knickers off. His fingers found his favourite spot between your thighs, feeling the wetness.

“Tom,” you breathed, unsure of whether you wanted him to stop so you could ravish him or if you were begging him not to pull away.

“I want to taste you,” he said, looking up at your through hooded lids, his eyes dark with lust.

Without much more than a nod, you pulled your dress the rest of the way down, kicking it to the floor when it settled around your ankle. You were desperate to have it away from you, wanting nothing more than to be completely naked with him and feel all of him. Tom flashed a grin as his eyes roamed over your body, taking in every inch with hungry eyes. He quickly ditched his shorts and shirt, tossing them over by your dress. Wasting no time with hesitations, Tom leaned down and kissed along your breasts and your stomach, pulling your knees apart as he finally kissed your most sensitive part. Your head fell to the side as you gave a soft moan, fingers tugging at his hair. A thin sheet of sweat built up across your skin as he did the most delicious things to you. Tom gave his own groans of pleasure as he tasted your sweet juices. Slowly, a tight need swelled up inside you, getting closer to the edge before breaking on a hot, intense orgasm. As you writhed on the bed, you pulled harder at his hair and bucked your hips against his mouth.

“God, you’re perfect,” Tom whispered as he began moving back up your body, leaving a trail of kisses along the way.

“My go,” you smirked when he started kissing just under your jaw, and reached down to stroke his throbbing cock.

“As much as I’d love that, I don’t think I’d last,” he replied into your skin with a small chuckle. A noise of protest came from him when you pushed him onto his back, releasing his lips from your neck. “Hey, I was enjoying that.”

“Oh, so you don’t want this then?” you asked, sitting up as you straddled him. With a teasing glint in your eye, you painstakingly slowly began moving your hips, pressing your heat against him.

“Darling, I’ve never seen such a beautiful sight,” he said and took a hold of your hips, just watching you for a moment, biting his lip. When he was unable to take the teasing any longer, he leaned over to the side table and pulled out a condom, hurriedly rolling it on. His hands went to your hips again and moved you back over him. You lowered yourself and guided his cock into your walls, gasping softly as he filled you. His grasp moved to your bum, fingers digging into your flesh as he lifted you up and down on top of him. Wanting to feel every part of him, you leaned down and buried your head in his neck, kissing his skin that was salty with sweat. He lifted you faster, pounding harder, moaning your name into your hair.

“Oh, fuck, Tom,” you cried over the slapping sound that filled the room as his thrusts quickened.

He rolled you back over so he was on top and you reached above your head, gripping the headboard. His mouth dropped to your breasts, pulling another desperate cry from your throat.

“Fuck, you feel so good,” he growled, thrusting again deeper into you.

A shiver moved through you as his hand slipped between your bodies, finding your clit. He was driving you crazy. He pushed faster, harder, filling you completely. Every time your inner muscles spasmed around his cock, he moaned and sped up, receiving groans of his own name from you, begging him not to stop. With a final stroke of your clit, your body trembled with an explosive orgasm. Tom’s fingers dug into your thigh as he joined you, spilling himself with a grunt.

“God, I love you,” he panted and pressed a gentle kiss to your shoulder before rolling over onto his back, slipping out of you.

You released your hand from the tight hold it still had on the headboard. “Ditto,” you managed to whisper, panting almost as hard as he was. There was a huge ache between your thighs and even though you wanted to do pretty much anything else, you knew you had to go to the bathroom to clean yourself. After leaning over to give Tom’s cheek a quick kiss, you pushed yourself up from the bed, only to fall down on the floor before you’d even taken the first step; your legs had become too weak to hold up your weight. On the bed, Tom burst out laughing.

“This has never happened before!” you laughed, not bothering to even try and move.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” he giggled and leaned over the side of the bed with tears in his eyes, struggling to stop laughing. The sight of him looking so blissful warmed your heart and you couldn’t help the grin that lit up your face. Was it normal to be this happy? Normal or not, you craved it like a drug and never wanted it to end.

*

The weather was a blessing during the rest of your stay in Greece. There was only one other day where you had to work and finish the rest of the shoot off, but after that it was just you and Tom. Every free moment you got that wasn’t spent sunbathing on the beach (mainly in that swimsuit Tom had found in your flat. Teasing him had become your new favourite hobby, especially when it led to him carrying you back to the room to have his way with you) or taking walks to enjoy the local culture was used to show each other exactly how much you loved one another. Whether that be in the bed, in the shower, the bath, even the balcony, you were making the most of it. Tom’s touches and whispers of your name was something you would never get used to. You never tired of listening to him.

“Oh come on, [Y/N], I’ve no one else to go through it with me.”

The sun had started to set on your last day on the island, painting the sky in a mixture of golds, oranges and reds. You leaned back in the chair on the balcony and took a bite of one of the watermelon slices you’d ordered from room service. Tom had his legs stretched out in front of him, crossed at the ankles. He pushed up his glasses and looked back over the script for Cherry he had resting on his lap. He’d been asking non-stop for almost ten minutes for you to read it with him, but your only acting experience went as far as being cast as a lamb in the school nativity when you were seven. Feeling your stare, Tom turned back and gave you the puppy eyes that were impossible to resist.

“Oh alright, give it here,” you sighed and accepted the script. Tom pointed out where to start from and you sat up a little straighter in your seat, pulling a leg up underneath you. “Before we start, you should know that I’m no Meryl Streep.”

“Nor am I,” he said with a shrug of a shoulder. He kept his eyes on you while you read, feeding off your reactions. There were a few lines he completely forgot or muddled up with another. Watching him turn into a completely different person was fascinating. How could someone so sweet and innocent instantly switch to a man struggling with a drug addiction? That was talent. Pure talent. There were a few scenes you went over multiple times. Tom wanted to get them just right. You only stopped when the sun got too low to offer any light to read the lines. The gentle breeze from the sea picked up, sending a shiver down your spine. Seeing the cold affect you, Tom went inside to grab a blanket, so you picked up your phone to read your messages.

There were messages from the usual group of friends and your mother, which you swiftly replied to, then decided to check Instagram. Since people had found out about your relationship with Tom, you’d found yourself steering away from posting and avoided looking at any comments or private messages. But what was the harm in having a little look now? The abuse had calmed down a lot since it first started, though there were still messages here and there calling you names and reminding you that Tom deserved better. You scrolled through your private messages, deleting ones you didn’t like the look off just from the preview. Then one caught your eye. After a quick glance behind your shoulder to check Tom was still busy inside, you read what one of Tom’s apparent fans had sent.

Disgusting wasn’t even the word. You read the message over and over, feeling more nauseous each time. It wasn’t a secret you kept from anyone that you were adopted, but that information would only be found on your personal account that you kept private from those you didn’t know. But this person knew and they weren’t shy about expressing how your biological parents should have gotten rid of you instead because clearly they didn’t want you. And if they didn’t want you then no one else would? Who would be crazy enough to love someone else’s throwaway? Tom deserved someone more on his level and someone who wasn’t using him for fame, they said. Someone he’d be proud of. To finish it off, they gave their wishes for you to end your life.

The phone fell from your hands when you jumped out of your skin at the feeling of a blanket being wrapped around your shoulders. You hadn’t heard Tom come back out.

“You reading a story or something?” Tom asked with a chuckle, having caught a glimpse of the length of the message.

You cleared your throat to get rid of the lump that had formed and picked your phone up from the ground. “Oh. Um. Y-yeah, a story,” you agreed quickly and mentally cursed at how your voice wobbled. After locking your phone, you curled up on the chair and pulled the blanket tighter around your frame.

“Hey, what’s up?” His voice was soft and his frown deep after catching the shakiness. He reached over and brushed some hair from your face. “Darling, what’s wrong? Was my acting really that bad?” He flashed a smile, but it failed to ignite and fizzled out.

Through tear-filled eyes, you looked over at him and bit your lower lip. He deserved to know, right? If it was the other way around, you would want to know if he was getting sent messages of this sort. But would that just be running away and hiding behind him, using him as a shield against the people who sent hate? You took a deep breath and unlocked your phone to the message, then handed it over. As he read his face hardened and his jaw clenched. You’d never seen such fury in his eyes. After reading that message Tom flicked back to the other messages you’d yet to delete and read through a few of them, his anger continuing to build up.

“Why’ve you never said anything to me?” he asked quietly, running his fingers along his stubble. He put the phone back on the table and sighed heavily. “There’s hundreds of them, [Y/N]. How come you haven’t told me you were getting this sort of abuse?” He was angry at the senders, yes, but there was some anger directed towards you. All you could do was shrug lamely because what excuse did you really have? That you didn’t want to bother him, that you didn’t think he should know because it would mean even more work for him to deal with? There was no excuse, not really. “Oh come on,” he huffed and stood to lean against the balcony fence. He ran his hand through his hair and pulled at it a little, then turned back to you. “How long has this been going on?”

You couldn’t bear to look at him and see the frustration on his face so you focused on picking at your nail polish. “Since we were first spotted together,” you mumbled and chanced a look to see him shake his head. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” you said, voice a little louder now. “I just… I didn’t want to burden you with my problems.”

“Your problems? Babe, you wouldn’t be getting this sort of shit if you weren’t seen with me.”

“Well maybe we should be more careful,” you huffed and pulled the blanket closer as the wind picked up.

“What, so you’d rather not be seen with me?” Tom questioned with a harshness to his tone.

Your head shot up at his words. “What? No, of course not! I just…” You looked around as though searching for the right thing to say. “I just wish this wasn’t part of our relationship.”

“It’s not, [Y/N]. It shouldn’t be.”

“Yeah, well it is.”

With a heavy sigh, Tom pushed himself away from the fence and moved back over towards your side. He knelt down next to your chair. “I’m sorry you’ve been spoken to like this.”

“Sorry?” you frowned. “Why are you sorry? You’re not the one sending the messages.”

“No, but like I said, you wouldn’t be getting them if it weren’t for me.”

“Oh come off it, Tom, it’s not all about you,” you said with a slightly forced chuckle and took a hold of his hand. He brought your hand to his lips and kissed your fingers.

“Would you like me to say something?” he asked softly and brushed that stubborn piece of hair from your face again. “I can message all those people back and tell them to basically fuck off.”

You shook your head quickly. “No, they’ll probably get off on that and convince themselves that you’ll then fall in love with them or something. Really, Tom, it’s fine. I can deal with it myself.”

“Clearly,” he said quietly and took his phone from the back pocket of his shorts. When he opened up his Instagram app, you sighed.

“No, Tom, really. It might get people to send me more shit because it looks as though I’ve just ran away crying to you about it, which I definitely have’t,” you added quickly and pointed a finger at him, wanting to keep at least a little bit of pride.

“Well what else do you expect me to do?” he asked, ignoring your finger as he typed a message to add to his story. When you didn’t reply, he turned his screen for you to proofread. It was simple, reminding people to respect his privacy and to stop sending abuse to those he loves. It wasn’t directly pointing the finger towards you but hopefully it was still enough to at least ease the trolls even more. After your nod of approval, Tom posted it to his story and then put his phone away. “There,” he said and kissed your nose. “Now promise me that from now on you’ll tell me things like this? I don’t want you keeping secrets from me, especially when it’s something like this.”

The promise was made and a kiss was given to seal the deal. You felt better after letting Tom in on what had always been niggling away at the back of your mind. Things had been sorted. At least for now.

Gif belongs to @ptrbprkrs​

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[wordywarriorwrites]

Chapter 13: Settled Scores

Masterlist: The Boss of Brooklyn A03 Link Author: @wordywarriorwrites Summary: When it comes to being The Boss, James Buchanan “JB” Barnes rules with an iron fist. For him, there’s no room for sentiment, and certainly no time for distraction, even if it is in the form of an old flame. Steve Rogers had bowed out of the life a long time ago, but a twist of fate brings him right back into the fold, and face-to-face with a man he once loved. When a game of cat and mouse turns into a matter of life and death, both will be forced to decide whether they’ll be loyal to the business, or faithful to each other. A/N: Bucky Barnes Mob Boss AU. Stucky. For: Star’s Multi-Fandom Follower Celebration & Sherry’s Fall Into You Challenge. Warnings: Language, violence, drug use, alcohol, smoking, explicit sexual content, illegal activities.

As soon as he got back to Brooklyn, Bucky put everyone to work.

The Families were stronger together, and their combination of intelligence and brute force had never failed them before. The business may have been nearly destroyed, but it wasn’t irreparable, and they were nothing if not resilient.

Everyone had expected the fight to come to them. They’d planned for it and were ready for it, but nothing could have prepared them for what actually happened.

The first indicator that something wasn’t right was the sudden, unexpected lift on an offshore account they’d frozen months ago. When Bruce and Wanda dug into it, they discovered the money taken had belonged to Steve, but neither of them could figure out who had gotten their hands on it, let alone where the money had gone.  

Then, a few days later, Natasha found an article in the newspaper. Page six, below the fold, buried beneath the rest of the international news – an abandoned warehouse in Barbados had been blown sky-high. The local authorities suspected foul play, but other than the remnants of what appeared to be shell casings, cages, and camera equipment, they had nothing to go on.

Things went quiet for about a week, but eventually, another bombshell dropped. Barton had been overseeing a product shipment when Sam Wilson was found passed out in the back of a cargo container. Though the man hadn’t eaten, bathed, or slept in days, the first thing he asked for was a meet with the Boss.

At three o’clock in the morning, in the back seat of an Escalade parked by the docks – that’s when Bucky learned Steve had uncovered the truth and discovered who had sold him out. Sam wasn’t able to tell them where Fury and Steve had gone, or give them any names, but he insisted the only reason he was alive was because of Steve.

In the month that followed, there were a lot of whispers, but no actual confirmed sightings. Cuba, Haiti, Dominica, Grenada, Venezuela – it appeared they were hopping all over the West Indies, but nobody could be sure whether they were in pursuit of the betrayer or if they themselves were being chased.

It all eventually came to a head when Bruce uncovered suspicious movement in Tobago. Apparently, several plane tickets to New York had been purchased all at the same time. Since they’d been bought with cash, Bruce hadn’t been able to trace the buyer, but in the end, he hadn’t needed to.

Of all the people he could’ve called, Steve reached out to Thor; he said to expect them in five hours, and asked him to send Sam and Natasha to retrieve them at the airport. Their imminent arrival meant Bucky would get the answers he was owed and get his revenge, but first, he needed to prepare.  

Another day, another grave, and this time, there would be no mourners.

Wanda and Thor had provided the supplies. Tony made sure the police steered clear. Clint ensured those who worked the territory were given the night off and compensated for their troubles. After the four of them made their contributions, they let him alone to handle the rest.

Bucky could’ve easily paid someone to do the digging for him, but this particular hole in the ground was special, and he wanted it done right. The land was hard, nearly frozen solid, but that didn’t stop him; he forced the soil to give way and steadily worked toward making a six-by-six-foot chasm.

The blisters on his palms, the sweat on his brow, the ache in his back, the burn in his lungs and arms – it was cathartic. As the shovel moved and the dirt pile grew, he was also taken down into that silent, dark space inside himself, and he admittedly enjoyed the slow crawl into it.

Part of being Boss was ensuring that what occurred back stage stayed backstage. They always put on a show to distract the public, because what happened behind the curtain was bloody and violent, and those with delicate sensibilities couldn’t be permitted to know or see how shit really went down.

Things had gotten out of hand, and unfortunately, the masks had slipped, and they’d exposed themselves a bit too much. Outsiders had been allowed to infiltrate and rewrite the script, but he would no longer tolerate it. Steve may have selected the time for the song-and-dance, but Bucky had chosen the venue, and he was for damn sure running the show now.

This was his fucking city. These were his fucking people. And he was done fucking around.

When Bucky was satisfied, he tossed up the shovel, and used the small step ladder to climb out. The old paper mill he’d chosen for the meet was vacant and tucked out of the way, which meant there was nobody around to see him ready the center of the factory floor with thick, plastic sheeting. He’d just finished laying it and taping it down when the front doors opened and Natasha stepped over the threshold.

It only took a minute for everyone else to make their way inside, and those sixty seconds were very telling. The dead Senator’s wife and Sam’s little helper had huddled up close, and their expressions conveyed they’d chosen to cling to each other for safety, not warmth. Fury and his crew entered next, and their stoicism suggested they knew what was coming. Bucky fully expected Sam and Steve to bring up the rear, but when only Sam appeared, he looked to Natasha for an explanation.  

“He’s not here, but asked me to give you this,” she murmured. “Said it’s his payment in full.”  

A small tablet in a protective, leather case. Innocuous in and of itself, but once turned on and perused, the contents shook the very foundation of the business. There were dossiers on all of the heaviest hitters in both Brooklyn and the West Indies, and the material had the potential to completely shift the balance of power. On top of it, there were other records, which included detailed profiles on Fury’s crew, along with evidence that proved who was responsible for the debacle that had been his life for months.

Bucky lifted his gaze from the tablet and locked eyes with Fury. He didn’t have to ask if the man knew everything, nor did he have to wonder if the rest of his crew knew they had a traitor in their midst. One look at Sam and Natasha was all it took for Bucky to know they were also well aware of what had to happen.

Perhaps if it had been any other time, in any other place, Bucky would’ve shown mercy, but he’d run out of compassion long ago. He had zero sympathy for the so-called innocent and absolutely no desire to show a single ounce of leniency toward the guilty. The only recompense for treason was blood, and as Bosses, he and Nick were responsible for putting their perspective conspirators down.

“You know what you need to do,” Bucky stated calmly.

Fury said Maria’s name and both Natasha and Sam sprang into action. The rest of the crew gave them a wide berth, and while the other two women had to be forced onto their knees, Maria knelt willingly, and she was the only one who didn’t scream and beg for her life.

Bucky retrieved his gun from the base of his spine and disengaged the safety. He didn’t torture them or allow them any last words, and the only small courtesy he offered was a quick, clean death via a well-aimed bullet to each in turn.

Sam gave Fury his weapon, and though he’d accepted it without reluctance, he didn’t immediately pull the trigger. It could’ve been because they’d known each other a long time, or maybe it was because he just needed closure – whatever the reason, he hesitated, and asked her why she did it.

The litany of excuses was as predictable as it was pathetic. Maria accused Fury of replacing with her with an amateur; said it was her plan that got them into the United States; insisted Nick was the one who screwed it up because he was weak, old, and allowed sentiment to get in the way.

Fury reminded her Steve only got caught because she’d set him up; told her the man didn���t deserve to die because of her greed and jealousy; explained he did what he did in order to save Steve’s life and avoid a war. Maria retorted that Fury was going to retire and leave everything to Steve, and she did what she had to do to protect the mantle that was rightfully hers.

The back and forth went on for some time, and Bucky managed to tune most of it out, but when she said Steve was feeble, treacherous, and pitiful, he couldn’t help but be drawn back in.

“Unlike your precious, golden boy, my loyalties have never been divided,” she spat. “And you’re an idiot if you think Steve’s so-called respect for you will ever outweigh his obsession with Barnes.”

Fury shook his head, but before he could say anything more, Maria shifted her ire, and focused it on Bucky. She sneered that Steve was a chatty drunk, and all it took was a few drinks for him to get sloppy and start blubbering on and on about how James Barnes was, “the one who got away.”

“Bucky, Bucky, Bucky,” she jeered. “You pity-fucked him once, and he still cried out for you like that in his sleep. And I knew – I knew when he caught up with us that he’d crawled back into bed with you. He sold us all out! He’s nothing more than an unworthy, ungrateful, deceitful whore!”

Rage, threadbare patience, and itchy trigger fingers – it was a bad, bad, bad combination, but it wasn’t Bucky or even Fury who decided to finally shut her up.

Natasha tersely muttered, ‘that’s quite enough,’ aimed, sent a knife flying.

Whatever else may have spewed out of Maria’s mouth was cut off, and the next sound she made was little more than a wet gurgle. Blood dribbled down her chin before it bloomed across her chest.

Then, she was gone. Chapter 14: Vortex

Everything: @jennmurawski13​ @nerdy-bookworm-1998​

Steve Rogers: @patzammit @hearttoearth​ The Boss of Brooklyn: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety @captain-rogers-beard

[illfoandillfie]

Ooh yess montreal roger fic plleaaaseee 😍

okay this has been on my ‘to write’ list for fucking ever lmao, so thanks for giving me an excuse to actually do it. Got a few of these sort of smaller concepts that idk if I could stretch into full fics so I might try and use a few of them next time I do one of those prompt list things.

~~~

You missed Roger. Tours were always hard, no matter how prepared for them you were. The idea that people existed in long distance relationships was insane. How could they stand it? Of course, they probably didn’t have to worry about their partner changing country every night or two. It was hard to write or call when you weren’t entirely sure where he was or what time zone he was in. You often waited for him to call you because even if you did manage to call at a reasonable hour and at the right hotel, it wasn’t always a guarantee he’d be around. Chances are he’d be half way through the extensive sound check the band liked to do. Or else he was walking around with camera in hand. They liked to explore the cities they visited, take photos and go shopping. He told you it was so he could share with you everything he saw when he got home. You had shoeboxes full of photos of the people they met and the places they travelled. Little knickknacks and souvenirs decorated your bookshelves. And of course. Roger wasn’t shy about splashing out for a fancy necklace or technological contraption that hadn’t reached England yet. Every time he brought you back something new you’d say the only think you really wanted him to buy you was a plane ticket so you could see him play to a foreign crowd. So when you opened a letter from him and discovered a plane ticket to Montreal you were beyond excited. You managed to pull some strings at work and get a whole week off which meant you’d be able to see both shows in Canada and still have a day or two to recuperate and deal with the jet lag.  

When you got off the plane Roger was waiting for you, pulling you into a tight hug as soon as you were within reach. “Missed you too Rog,” your voice was muffled by his shoulder. Once you were free from the bustling crowds of tired looking tourists and emotional parents and excited children, you found the car and made your way to the hotel. Roger gave you just enough time to drop your bags and quickly change into something that you hadn’t spent a stupidly long flight wearing, before he was dragging you back out the door. His hand was warm as he laced his fingers through yours, leading you into the city. He talked constantly, telling you about places people had recommended he take you, and the charming little bakery he and Freddie had discovered at about five in the morning when their body clocks were too out of sync to sleep any longer. The owners were fans and had let them take a few freshly baked treats back to the hotel and Christ he was sure it was around here, why couldn’t he find it again? The only times he stopped talking was when he made you pose for a photo or take one of him. You didn’t mind so much since he kissed you after every one. He was halfway through telling you about some historical fact he’d learnt from a brochure at the hotel when you cut him off by placing your hand over his mouth. “Rog, shut up for a minute.” “Rude,” he said into your hand before licking your palm until you pulled away again. “You’re such a chatterbox,” “I’m just excited that you’re here.” He wrapped his arms around your waist, “It’s nice sharing this with you for real, not just photos.” “It is, but it’d be even nicer if I could get a coffee.”

You got too caught up with your coffees, playing footsie under the table as you told him what’d been happening at home in his absence. Before you knew it the time had come to meet up with Freddie, Brian and Deaky. They ushered Roger away to rehearse, leaving you at the hotel on your own. It wasn’t too hard to amuse yourself. You had a long hot bath and a glass of champagne just because you could, followed by lunch ordered from the room service menu and TV. While you waited for the food you slipped into the lingerie you’d packed – a set Roger had picked out for you the last time he was in Paris – and grabbed the polaroid camera from his suitcase. You left the photos tucked inside one of his folded shirts as a surprise.  

When the time came to get ready for the show you slipped into one of the dresses you’d bought that morning on your trek with Roger, and spent a little extra time on your hair and makeup. The car arrived right on time taking you to the Montreal Forum where you got to watch the performance from side stage. It was incredible and exhilarating and fuck Roger looked good. You’d watched him drum hundreds of times before but something about his performance tonight was making it impossible to think of anything other than the filthy things you wanted him to do when you got back to your room. You couldn’t drag your eyes from his fingers as he twirled his drumsticks. Couldn’t stop watching as he pouted his lips and stuck his tongue out and threw his head back, so caught up in the music. And then the bastard had to go and do his solo, filling your head with visions of being bent over his tympani.  

By the time he came off stage you just about had to wipe drool from your mouth. All you wanted was to get him back to the hotel room as soon as possible.  “So what’d you think?” he asked, eyes sparkling as he looked at you. “That was insane. Fucking amazing,” you managed to get out, trying not to stare at his sweaty chest, completely exposed through his unbuttoned shirt. He caught you looking, raising his eyebrow as you sheepishly looked away. His eyes darted towards the others, standing a little further away talking to a few other people, and he leaned in as if he was going to hug you. “Think someone enjoyed the show a little more than she’s letting on,” he said into your ear. You shivered as his hand slid further down your back, his energy completely different from when you’d said goodbye to him earlier. You pressed yourself into his body but he pulled away with a quiet, “settle down love.” All the same he grabbed your hand and pulled you through the nearest door.  

You found yourself in a quiet hallway, the footsteps of the few people hurrying through it echoing off the walls. Roger peered through doors as he passed them until finally, he found one that he approved of. An empty office. You heard the lock click behind you and then you were being bent over the desk. “I promise that when we get back to the room,” he said as he pushed your dress up around your waist, “I’ll take my time. Fuck you slow, go down on you for hours, whatever you want. But right now,” he just about tore your underwear as he pulled them down your legs. “Again with the talking Rog. Just shut up and fuck me.” “You’re so...impatient,” he grunted as he pressed into you, pausing to allow you to adjust. As soon as you started rocking your hips back against him he grabbed your waist and began to move, thrusting into you at a ridiculously fast pace. You cried out, his hand coming up to cover your mouth instantly. “Jesus, Y/N, don’t wanna get caught,” But his hand wasn’t enough to properly muffle the moans slipping passed your lips. He stopped, his cock still buried in you, which only made you whine. “Rog, what the fuck are you doing?” you hissed as he removed his hand from your mouth. You were pinned to the table by his hips, clenching around him in a desperate attempt to get him to move again. There was a shuffle of fabric and then he was growling at you to open your mouth which you obeyed without thinking. He placed the bandana that had previously been hanging from his neck between your teeth, tying it off at the back of your head. It tasted like his sweat but that kind of just made it hotter. Roger gave an experimental thrust to test the gag. It did the trick, keeping your whines at a volume appropriate for a clandestine fuck in some manager’s office. Satisfied with his solution he began to ram into you again, pulling you up so he could squeeze your breasts. As he drew closer to his climax he dropped one hand down to your clit, rubbing insistently as he muttered into your ear about needing you to cum. It didn’t take much longer for him to have you moaning through your release as he bit down on your shoulder to muffle his own.  

He carefully slipped out of you, grabbing a few tissues from the box on the desk to at least partially clean up the cum dribbling down your thighs. You panted, resting your hands on the desk as you got yourself under control. He threw the tissues into the half full rubbish bin before pulling your underwear back up and smoothing your dress down.  “Those the knickers I got you from Paris? Kinda wish I hadn’t been quite so rough with them.” You tried to reply, tell him he’d owe you a new set if the damage was too bad, but it came out garbled because of the gag still in your mouth. “Sorry love, forgot about that,” he chuckled as he untied it, freeing you to talk again. “Where was that gag when you wouldn’t stop talking about that bloody bakery?” you teased, turning around and pecking him on the lips. “Hmm maybe taking it off you was a mistake. You did look very pretty like that,” “Save it for the hotel Romeo.” “Oh no, think I prefer hearing you scream. Whoever’s next door to our room is going to fucking hate us by the end of the night,” “I think that’s Bri and I think he already kinda does.” Roger laughed as he took your hand, “speaking of the hotel though, we should probably get out of here.” He eased open the door a crack so he could check the coast was clear before hurrying you out and back down the corridor.  

[dirtyblupjeans]

Charity Auction - Kinktober #9

After forty five years of traveling with these people, Lup hadn’t thought there were any surprises left. They’d seen the best and worst of each other time and time again.

And other than her brother, no one had been more observed by Lup than Barry Bluejeans.

Except this year he kept sneaking off. He still put in long hours in the lab - he was usually there before her lately- but in the evening he was nowhere to be found.

Asking him about it got her nowhere. He’d blush and stammer but never actually tell her what he was up to.

Lup had never before been the type to get jealous. But between him regularly missing dinner and being secretive? She was beginning to experience that emotion in spades.

It just wasn’t like him, she told herself. It wasn’t that she’d started thinking they had something special. It wasn’t that over the last half dozen years every time he had snuck off it had been with her.

She was just worried about him. That was all.

She’d just find out what was taking up his time, make sure he was safe, and then come back to the ship. That was all. Where was the harm in that?

That was her plan, anyway. It was just down to finding the right time to sneak off after him unnoticed. Then she overheard him mentioning something to Magnus about helping with something the fighter was working on, that he’d be around more soon.

It was enough of a relief that she almost ditched her plan.

But she still wanted to know what he’d been up to.

The next night she left before him then waited near the ship so she could see him come out. Feeling vaguely guilty, she followed him through the streets, leaving enough distance between them to just keep him in sight. Then, in a district full of bars, restaurants, and theaters, he turned down a back alley.

Lup hesitated. There wasn’t much cover to hide in. She slipped into the shadows at the end of the alley and watched. A few buildings down, he stopped, knocked on a door, and when someone opened it, was let in.

Fuck, she thought. If there was someone at the door then that was a dead end for her. Lup waited, hoping he’d come back out. Instead she saw others go in. Mostly the new arrivals were women but a few men showed up.

Lup left the alley and went around to the side of the street with the buildings that backed up to the alley. She was beginning to feel like she was crossing a line.

There it was - a theater. Why on earth would he be going in the back door of a theater? That voice telling her she was going too far wasn’t quite as loud as her interest in the possibility of seeing Barry Bluejeans on a stage.

It was another hour of milling about on the street waiting for the doors to open to the public but finally, people began gathering at the ticketbooth outside. When she got to the front, there was a small, beautifully handmade sign indicating that the show tonight was a “Library Fundraiser.” Lup paid and went inside, grateful that her outfit allowed her to blend in adequately. She was a bit more dressed down than most of the audience but not particularly noticeably.

Inside, people were mingling in the foyer area. Most of them seemed to be in large groups. Staying on the periphery of them, she tried to catch what they were talking about. None of it seemed relevant though. Apparently this was just another fundraiser on the calendar, albeit a newer addition, it seemed.

At last the doors to the auditorium opened. The seats weren’t assigned by tickets so people filled in as they pleased. Lup was surprised to see the stage wasn’t a traditional set up. There was a U protruding out, curving towards the audience and looping back around to the other end of the stage. It reminded her of a fashion show.

Once the seats had been mostly filled, someone came around passing out little numbered signs on handles. Lup accepted one, feeling mystified. Why had Barry kept his participation in some sort of charity auction secret? The whole crew would have happily come and helped, even if there wasn’t room on the ship for anyone’s donated furniture or antiques. Why had he felt the need to be so sneaky about it?

The question was answered as soon as the host took the stage and thanked everyone for attending the first library fundraiser date auction. He assured everyone that they had an excellent selection of companions and exciting packages for the dates they’d be bidding on.

Lup’s heart was pounding in her chest. Was Barry one of their dates up for auction? A thing like this was all in fun, right?

Others took the stage and had their date packages described. There was a gorgeous brunette with a picnic in the park. An older blonde woman would escort her lucky bidder to a private show at a planetarium. Lup watched them come and go but didn’t really see them. Every time someone took the stage, her breath caught until she realized it wasn’t Barry.

And then it was Barry.

Lup slunk down in her seat, trying to remain unseen. Barry wasn’t wearing his usual outfit of jeans and a button up. No red IPRE robe was in sight. Instead he wore an outfit similar to the tuxedos on their homeplanet. This had a shorter jacket with an angled hem, higher in the back. When he turned, her eyes were drawn right to his ass. She’d certainly noticed Barry’s ass before but never… so… much.

He pulled off the jacket, fumbling slightly.

Holy fuck, he’s so adorable, she thought as he nearly dropped the coat before slinging it over his shoulder. She watched the shirt pull across his shoulders as he moved. Had she ever noticed how strong his shoulders looked? How the material clung to the muscles when he…

“Can I get a bid of a hundred?” the MC asked, sounding unsure. Barry’s stride hesitated.

Oh hell no, Lup thought. She might not have been paying close attention but she felt pretty certain no one else’s bids had opened so low.

Come on, she thought at the crowd around her. Can’t you people see how amazing he is?

Still no one bid.

She couldn’t take it. Jumping up, she waved her paddle. “Five hundred!” she called.

Everything seemed to slide into slow motion. Barry turned towards her voice, clearly recognizing her. She didn’t care, she couldn’t let these people sleep on the amazing man he was. She’d show them and they’d wonder.

Someone a few rows up from her glanced back then called, “Six hundred.”

Lup should have sat down. She could have slipped back into the crowd, disappeared before Barry could be certain it was her, be back on the ship before he had a chance to find her.

But as bad as it had been sitting while no one was bidding, seeing someone else offer money to spend time with him was worse.

“Seven hundred!” Lup called.

From the other side of the theater someone else bid eight hundred. Lup topped them.

The woman who had bid six hundred offered a thousand.

“Fifteen hundred!” Lup yelled.

On the stage, Barry had begun to turn red.

“Two thousand,” the woman countered.

The arm Lup held the paddle with dropped, reality filtering in. She didn’t have that much on her. She wasn’t sure she had that much on the ship. She could ask Taako and come up with it but she knew Barry would never want that.

Lup dropped heavily back into her seat. Her head was spinning. Barry was going to be going on a date with someone.

Someone who wasn’t her.

The rest of the auction passed in a haze. Finally, the evening ended and people began to stand. Lup wanted to run out. If she could have phased herself out of existence and into her bed, she’d have done it. She wanted to be in her room on the ship, in her bed, covers over her head. She wished she’d never followed Barry. Not knowing would have been so much better.

As she stood, someone approached her, tapped her shoulder. She turned and there in front of her was the woman who’d won the bid.

“Is he a friend of yours?” the woman asked.

Numbly, Lup nodded. “Congratulations,” she mumbled, sounding as far from congratulatory as imaginable. “I hope you have fun.”

She hoped no such thing.

The woman smiled at her. “Sweetie, you’ve got it bad, don’t you?”

Lup toyed with the end of her braid. Of course she did. She’d been in love with him for thirty years. But if she’d never actually told him as much then what right did she have to expect him not to -

Nope, can’t even think the word ‘date’ there.

“It’s fine,” she said, managing a slightly friendlier tone. It’s not like he’d be around here in a few months, anyway. They’d be regenning together on some other plane and this woman would never see them again, never see Barry again.

“Hey,” the woman said gently. “I just wanted to donate to the library. I don’t want to screw up a relationship.”

The woman was being nothing but nice to her so she reigned her jealousy in. “Yeah, well,” Lup said, “I didn’t exactly bring my savings tonight,” she admitted. “I wasn’t expecting to be here.”

The woman nodded, looking thoughtful.

“Look, really, it’s okay,” Lup said, sounding much more charitable than she felt. That sick feeling was still twisting her stomach into a nasty, miserable little knot, but it wasn’t this woman’s fault. She put her hand on the woman’s arm and smiled. “I do actually hope you have fun. He’s a really good guy.”

“That’s a lovely bracelet,” the woman said.

Confused, Lup looked down at her wrist. It was a chain of plastic hearts in various shades of pink. “Um… thanks,” she said. She’d gotten it out of a gumball machine a few days ago.

“Would you consider trading it? For the date?”

Lup blinked at the woman. “I mean… you can have it?” She slid it off her wrist and offered it. “But I can’t really pay for the…”

“No, dear,” the woman said, explaining, “I meant I’d pay for the date and then trade.”

“Oh!” Lup said, surprised. “Really? Why would you do that?”

Her smile widening, the woman shrugged. “It’s a very lovely bracelet,” she said.

Lup leaned forward and kissed the woman’s cheek. “You’re amazing,” she said.

She pulled Lup into a hug. “Go get your man,” she instructed.

~

Lup waited nervously for Barry. She kept folding and refolding the certificate the woman had handed her. She didn’t even know what kind of date it was for. When the details had been described before bidding, she’d been too focused on Barry. And now she was too anxious to read the paper while waiting for him to show up and running over explanations and apologies for showing up, for bidding, for how she was now the winner even though she hadn’t been the high bidder.

Finally he appeared, still wearing the fancy suit from before, once again with the jacket on.

He paused, facing her.

“Hey,” she said, feeling her face heat.

“Hey, Lup,” he said, not meeting her eyes. A blush stained his cheeks as well. “I, uh, I thought I heard you.”

“Yeah, so, uh, listen. Sorry about that. I, um…”

“It’s okay,” he answered, running his hand through his hair nervously. The movement muddled the carefully arranged style someone had put it in. Instantly she liked it better. It was more Barry this way, mussed and rumpled, falling awkwardly across his forehead. “At least you didn’t win. That… uh, that would have been kinda weird, right?”

“Would it?” she asked. She’d never considered that as a possibility. Explaining to him? Yes. The actual date? Never.

His eyes jumped up to meet hers then darted away again. “I mean, I didn’t think anyone would actually bid,” he mumbled. “But they needed enough people to go with the date packages that were donated. I, uh, got drafted.”

“Well,” she said, plunging forward, “Sorry to tell you but, as it turns out…” She waggled the certificate in the air to illustrate her point. “I own you, buddy.” She smiled, hoping to lighten the mood. There was no reason he had to know how jealous she’d been, how bitterly disappointed when she’d lost.

Barry’s blush disappeared as he went pale. “You… But you…”

Lup’s smile faded. “It’s a long story. Well, it’s not, but it doesn’t matter.” She tucked the certificate in her pocket. “All gone, no problem, we don’t have to -”

“No! I don’t…” He ran his hand through his hair again and opened and closed his mouth a few times before finding the words. “We should go. Er, uh, if you want. Or not. Either...uh, either way.”

Lup studied his face for a moment. Each second the silence continued, Barry looked more anxious.

Good anxious or bad anxious? That was the answer she couldn’t guess.

She made a decision. It had been forty five years. Maybe it was cards on the table time.

“Barry, I really enjoy spending time with you.” She took the certificate back out of her pocket and tucked it into the breast pocket of his coat, smoothing the material with her hand. Letting her hand linger, she met his gaze. “So, it’s up to you.”

Once again, he could only open and close his mouth a few times. Lup waited for him to find the words.

This time, she had an idea of which kind of anxious this was. Or, not anxious at all, actually. Surprised, maybe?

Is this really news to him? she thought.

Deciding to dump a few more cards out on the table, Lup leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “No rush, babe. Take your time.” When she stepped back, he stared at her. Smiling once more, Lup nodded, then turned to go.

“Lup!” he called instantly. “Would you… uh,” he moved to her side and waited until they faced one another to continue, “Would you like to go to, um,” he pulled the certificate out of his pocket. Fumbling it open, it took him a moment to locate the details. “Bowl-a-rama,” he read, clearly disappointed. “Wow, they had no faith in me getting bids, either,” he apologized. “We don’t have to do that. We can go -”

Lup pulled the paper out of his hands and wound her fingers with his. “Sounds great, Barold.” She glanced at the page. “Includes nachos and shoe rental!” she enthused, grinning at him.

A smile spread across his face slowly. “Well, that does sound pretty exciting,” he said, voice deadpan. “Are you sure you’re up to it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Okay, uh, lemme go change. They, uh, they got the tux rentals donated so…”

“Shame,” she answered, running her hand down the lapel. “Looks good on you. I bet it’d really pair nicely with some bowling shoes.” Guiltily, she took her hand back, tucked both in her pockets.

Barry laughed and the sound made her feel better. This was going to be okay.

“Maybe so,” he said, still smiling. “Should I…?”

“Go change,” she told him, running her hand appreciatively down his chest again. “I’ll wait here.”

“Okay,” he said, not moving.

His reluctance to move was making her feel better and better but this new certainty required more than standing in this theater grinning at each other for the rest of the night. In fact, she was starting to have some ideas that absolutely required more privacy than a crowded theater.

“Barry?”

“Yeah?”

“Hurry up so we can get out of here. Unless you want me to help…”

“Help?” he asked, looking confused. Then his eyes went wide. “Oh! Uh, yeah, uh…” he swallowed.

“They might not appreciate that,” she suggested.

“Yeah, uh, probably not.” His adam’s apple worked, moving as he tried to respond and breathe at the same time. “I’ll just, uh, yeah. Do that.”

“Barry?” she asked, feeling brazen. “Are you very attached to the idea of bowling?”

“No?”

“Would you be averse to, say, going to dinner instead?”

“Yeah, that, um, that would be good, too! Do you have a place in mind?”

“What about…”

Barry waited for her to finish but her nerves had caught up to her before she could finish her suggestion. The thought of him getting out of that tux had put ideas in her head, ideas she wasn’t sure she should share.

Fuck it, she thought. Cards on the table, time, right? Let’s dump the whole deck.

“How about room service at that hotel on the corner?”

Barry was a smart man. She’d seen him make connections in the lab at lightning speeds, witnessed him recalling data he hadn’t studied in decades. But watching him grasp her meaning just then was an entirely unique experience.

“I…” He ran his hand over his face. She noticed the way the lines at the corner of his eyes pulled when he scrunched his eyebrows and the way his thumb scrubbed over the shadow of stubble on his cheek. Her hand ached to smooth his brow and caress his cheek.

Soon, she thought, and curled her hand closed at her side.

Barry reached out and put his hands on her upper arms, wrapping his fingers over her skin firmly. “Lup, I’ve… I think I’m dreaming. Or having a stroke. Or, I don’t know. Hallucinating? Maybe some kind of chemical leak in the lab. I don’t know. But, and this is very important, okay? Please, I need you to not wake me up. Okay? Promise me you’ll let me just have this hallucination. Promise me?”

Lup’s smile had gotten bigger and wider the longer he’d spoken.

Stepping forward, Lup leaned close to him. Delicately, she kissed him, just at the side of his mouth. “Deal,” she said. “As long as you don’t wake me either.”

Barry stood frozen, staring at her. Then he leaned forward and kissed her back, lips crushing against hers desperately.

When he straightened, he ran his hand through his hair and just stared at her for another moment. “Okay,” he said, voice shaky. “I… don’t move. Please, please, please don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Wordlessly, Lup just nodded. Everything in her was trembling.

He stepped backwards, unwilling to take his eyes off her. He bumped his way through the crowd in reverse until she could barely see his shoulder, a glimpse of his hair, then he was gone.

~

He was back so quickly the crowd hadn’t thinned much at all. Still, it had been long enough for her to wonder at the boundaries they were crossing. It had been long enough for the icy fears that had kept them apart for years to grip her again.

Except.

Her mouth still seemed to tingle from his kiss.

And then, when he caught sight of her, his anxious brown eyes fastened on her and she could feel the fears melting.

“You’re still here,” he told her, wonderingly. “I’m still dreaming.”

Lup nodded again. “Me too.”

“Do you still want to … go?”

“Barry?”

His eyebrows went up, the corner of his eyes crinkling in worry. “Yeah?”

“I really, really do.”

The anxiety faded from his expression as the smile took over. He reached for her and she took his hand. They wound their way through the crowd and out into the lobby, through the doors, and into the street. Every step they caught each other’s eyes again, checking that even with their linked hands, the other was still there.

On the street, he was glancing back and forth, eyes squinting in the darkness. “Which way?”

She laughed, overwhelmed with fondness and a joy so bright it felt blinding. “Come on,” she answered, tugging him down the sidewalk. “This way.”

They threaded through the busy street until she pulled him into a doorway, pushing through the entryway with her back while she faced him. She was still half dazed this was happening. A dream neither wanted to wake up from.

Like guilty adolescents, they requested and paid for a room. Then, laughing and still linked together by their clutched hands, they made their way to the stairs, up, and to their room.

At the doorway, Lup passed him the key. As soon as he unlocked it, he pushed the door open, then turned and swung her up into his arms. He carried her into the room, kicking the door closed behind him, and she felt a weight build inside of her.

This wasn’t a dream. This wasn’t a lark. This was Barry, real and serious, and what happened between them would change things.

Change things forever.

All the years that this feeling had been growing inside her, that thought had scared her into silence. Now it bouyed her like the feeling of being held by him with her arms wrapped around his neck.

He stopped, looked at her, and grinned. “Hi.”

The smile that took over her face felt like the match to his own. “Hi there,” she answered.

Taking a few steps into the room, he lowered her gently to the bed. He stood there watching her, a loose smile still on his lips. “Are you, uh, hungry?” he asked.

“Not for room service,” she answered, reaching to grasp a handful of his shirt. She’d seen this shirt a hundred times. It was so familiar to her she thought she could have picked it out of a stack of a dozen similar ones. There was the loose thread at the shoulder that she had always considered offering to trim but hadn’t, afraid to admit she was paying such close attention to him. She knew the button that had been sewn on with the wrong thread. She knew the exact shade of white.

But the texture of it, the feeling of it clenched in her fist. That was new.

This whole situation was new and delicious and she wanted to bite into it like a ripe peach.

She drew him down towards her, pulling him onto the bed with her. His hand found her hip and settled there as their lips met again.

Minutes passed with roving hands and shifting kisses until Lup was holding his face and staring at his mouth, her lips feeling kiss roughened. Again, that thought of biting into a ripe peach.

“Whatcha thinking?” he asked, his voice a soft rumble, so close that she shivered.

“That I don’t remember a moment that felt so… delicious,” she told him honestly. Her thumb traced along his jaw, her eyes watching that little spot of connection as it traveled.

“I, uh, think I know what you mean,” he told her before dipping his head back to hers to taste her lips again.

More time melted away and then she became aware of her hands tugging his shirt free of his pants and fumbling his buttons loose.

Barry caught her hand, pulled it up to his mouth, and kissed her knuckles. “Are we really doing this? Is… Lup, is this what you want?”

Lup’s other hand reached up and curled into his hair, studying his face. She slid her fingers down his neck, over his shoulder, along his bicep, until her arm backed down far enough to touch the bed, her hand resting loosely on his elbow. She skated her fingers over the fabric of his shirt. “Yeah,” she said softly.

“Yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she repeated.

This time, when he kissed her, he pushed her back, pressing her into the mattress. His hand was on her side, two of his fingers touching her skin where her sweater had pushed up. She ran her palm over the back of his arm, encouraging him to close the distance between them even more.

She bent her knee, angling her leg to hook it behind his. Their kisses were rough and insistent, leaving them breathless in no time.

“Hey,” Lup told him the next time they managed to pause long enough to speak. “You need to be about 100% less dressed than you are.”

“So bossy,” he teased, running his fingers along the hem of her sweater.

“Well, I do own you.”

His head jerked up to study her face. “Hmm?”

“I won you. You’re mine now.”

“Oh,” he answered, grinning. “So that’s how it is? Well, my mistress, what do you require?”

A surge of lust shot through her, sharp and shocking. She tilted her chin up and caught his bottom lip between her teeth, nibbling at it before sucking it into her mouth where she traced over it with her tongue.

His hips pushed into hers and his fingers slid under the edge of her sweater to trail softly up her ribs. Shifting, she pulled her arm back so she could grab his wrist. Taking control of his motions, she slid his hand up further until her sweater was pushed up and his palm cupped her breast.

“I require a lot more touching and a lot less clothes,” she told him.

“Well then,” he answered, aiming lust darkened eyes at her. “Your wish is my command.”

Barry raised up on his knees and pulled his shirt off in an impatient rush. At least one button was sacrificed and she found herself laughing, delighted, and impossibly turned on.

She reached for his belt but his hands were on her sweater hem, still hitched up on one side and exposing half of her bra and a tantalizing expanse off skin. She let him pull it up, over her head, and toss it to land with his own shirt.

Then his belt was momentarily forgotten as he pressed forward again to kiss her. This time when their hands traveled over one another it was along a trail of bare skin, shivering at the contact.

She pushed him away, panting for breath, and demanded simply, “Pants.”

Obediently he stood and she sat up, reluctant to allow space between them despite it being her own request.

He watched her as his hands opened his belt but then she was too impatient. Pushing his fingers away, she unfastened his pants and unzipped the fly, pushing the jeans and boxers down roughly.

Humming appreciatively, she reached for him. “I purchased some choice goods,” she teased, stroking her hand over his cock. He was already hard but her attention, touch, and words were a strong alchemy, sending more blood rushing to fill him even more.

She tugged at him, not quite gently and he stumbled forward with a rough moan, feet tangling in his clothes for a moment. Releasing him, she exchanged her hold on his cock for his forearm and pulled him onto the bed while he scrambled to kick off his boots.

They shifted, finding a new way to fit together in the space. Lup sat up on her knees and ran her palm along his bare leg.

“Are you going to…?” he asked, glancing down at her still mostly clothed body. “We’re a little uneven here.”

“It’s cold! A girl’s gotta have layers.” Grinning, she flopped over on her back and shimmied out of her skirt and leggings. When her legs were free she kicked the clothes to the floor and sat up again. “You gonna keep me warm, babe?”

“Anything you want,” he answered seriously.

“That is exactly the right answer,” she informed him. “I knew I made the right purchase.” Still in her bra and panties, she climbed on top of him and settled herself across his hips. Only the thin material of her underwear separated them and she shifted her hips to remind him of that fact.

His hands settled on the sides of her thighs as he tried to prop himself up on his elbows. “You didn’t exactly ‘purchase’ me, you know.” Any point he was making was lost on her as his fingers gently stroked the backs of her thighs.

Flexing her hips, she ground herself against him again. “You saying I’m only renting?” she asked, sounding distracted.

“I hope not,” he told her.

Reaching behind her back, she unhooked her bra and slid the straps down her arms, holding the cups in place. “No?”

“I’m hoping this isn’t short term.” His fingers were still stroking idly on her legs but the worried tone in his voice still caught her attention.

Dropping the bra and tossing it into the floor, she leaned down. “It’s not,” she said, then kissed his chin. “I told you, I bought you. I don’t actually have a receipt so I couldn’t take you back even if I wanted to.”

“I’m serious,” he said, looking at her so intently that her breath caught.

“So am I.”

He chewed his lip.

“Hey,” she said, her eyebrows pulling tight as she studied his face. “I’m serious,” she repeated firmly.

“Are you? If this is just…” he looked away.

“It’s not. I want you. Now. Later. Always.”

“Yeah?”

She leaned back down and kissed his jaw then his mouth then back to his jaw then trailed down his neck to his chest. “I want all of this,” she said, her voice a low breathy murmur. “It’s mine. I’m claiming every part of you.” She kissed his chest, running her hands down from his shoulders to settle on his belly.

He took a shaky breath, the movement making his body rumble under her. She tightened her legs around him.

“Anything, Lup, anything you want.”

“I want it all,” she reiterated. Her hand traced over his arm. “This is mine.” Fingers sliding up to his shoulder she repeated, “Mine.”

Each place her touch paused, she claimed. “Mine,” on his jaw, “Mine,” as she traced his mouth, “Mine,” and “Mine,” and “Mine,” again and again, laying claim to all of him.

Then she shifted and trailed her mouth along a similar path, kissing each part of her new empire. Each movement rocked her hips against him, grinding her panties against his cock. She wanted to claim that as well but was far too reluctant to stand up to remove the last piece of clothing.

“Lup,” he said, her name a whisper of sound as he pulled in rough breaths.

“Mine,” she reminded him, moving to his mouth to kiss him again, claiming his mouth and tongue and the very breath in his lungs. She wrapped her hands around his face as she kissed him, feeling the hard shape of his jaw under his skin. It seemed unbelievable that he could be built of such conventional stuff as bone and skin and blood. How could any of that unremarkable stuff contain everything he was? His determination and compassion and brilliance and devotion? And then he looked at her and the love and lust in his eyes was dizzying.

She rocked against him harder, impatient after waiting so long. Years it had taken, decades, to get to this point and now she couldn’t spare ten seconds to take off her underwear, couldn’t stop riding him, feeling him against her.

His fingers clutched at her just as feverishly, wrapped at her waist as if she might float away if he didn’t keep hold of her.

“I need you,” she said. “Now. Right now.” She squeezed her legs around his thighs again.

“Anything,” he told her again, “Anything you want.”

“Fuck me. Fuck me right now.”

And just like he’d promised again and again, he obeyed her demand. He rolled her over, pressing down on her for a perfect, intense moment. Then he moved back, quick and deliberate. He grabbed her panties and hauled them down her legs. Then he climbed back up with her, pushing her knees up and apart.

“Fuck, yes,” she encouraged. She felt drunk on everything that was happening, on lust and on Barry both obedient to her desire and forceful as he spread her legs apart and moved between her thighs.

He muttered a spell and then his hand was moving over her, spreading both her own slickness and his magically produced stuff through her. Her hips bucked against him and he pushed them down again.

Spurring him on with enthusiastic noises, she writhed under him, anxious for his cock inside her. He kept spreading lube and finally she demanded again, “Now, Barry. I need you now.”

And again he obeyed. Removing his hand he began filling her with his cock instead, pushing forward, finally mixing their slick heat. When he was all the way in he slid out again then pushed forward slowly.

Unsatisfied with his pace, she ordered, “Turn over.” He pulled out and dropped to his side, then rolled on his back. Lup climbed on top of him again and reseated herself, holding him in place as she dropped down onto his cock. Then she began riding him in earnest, rocking on him, lifting up, dropping back again, pushing his cock deep, deep inside her.

Leaning back, she angled herself to push further, to take the full length of him inside her again and again.

She could feel her orgasm building and she rode the edge between it, thighs shaking. “Not yet,” she demanded. “Not yet, I want more.” His muscles were tensing underneath her but again, he obeyed, grunting with effort to hold back.

She came, clenching around him, and still he waited, face strained, until she said. “Now, babe, come for me now.”  His hips pumped against her, dick drilling into her, and then she felt his release.

Lup flopped forward, sweaty and spent, reveling in the feeling of his cock twitching inside her. Sighing contentedly she collapsed on his chest, feeling the harsh rise and fall of his breath.

“That was perfect,” he said, still breathing heavily. “You’re perfect.” Smiling, he pushed her hair back.

“You were pretty fucking perfect yourself, babe,” she teased, squeezing herself around him and grinning, delighted, at the noise he made at the sensation. “Real fucking glad I followed you tonight,” she added with a laugh.

“Mmmhmmm,” he answered, trailing his fingers over her shoulder. “Best thing that’s ever happened.”

“Wish I’d jumped your bones years ago.” She bit her bottom lip, sucking on it thoughtfully. “But now I own you.”

Barry smiled. “You always did.”

The only suitable response she could find was to kiss him and she did, passionately. Then she laid back down on his chest, shifting so she could settle her ear against his sternum. Listening to his heartbeat, she repeated again, “Mine.”

[artificialqueens]

living on the edge of the law (biadore) - lily2

bianca is beginning to feel the heat from her old job in brisbane as a personal assistant and planner for a large cooperation record label and now she is being transferred and thrown in the middle of santa monica where she is assigned and paid to be on the tail of up and coming singer and songwriter, adore delano: who is definitely the most lazy and adolescent thing bianca had ever encountered thus far but things can change, can’t they? [ au where adore is a famous singer and bianca has to chase her around and be her personal assistant to get her income, mainly biadore but side ships and plots of course ]

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— *.✧

Bianca was a bit unsure what to think, what to do even, while she stood in the midst of Brisbane Airport. Clenching her carry-on as she just had her two suitcases weighed and sent off to what would hopefully be Santa Monica in thirteen damn hours, unless the Qantas airline staff somehow threw her luggage in the fucking Pacific Ocean she should be safe and so should her luggage which mainly was a accumulation of clothing, cosmetics, stationary & a dozen other things that Courtney had helped her pack yesterday as they shared one last drink before forcing themselves to wake up almost three in the morning for Bianca’s early, early flight. The coffee in her hand making her the only thing fully able to function, she prayed to get some sleep on the plane and was thinking she would since her best friend she should upgrade to the new business class seating, just to try it out and what better time to than a flight that would take more than half a day off her life, over the clouds, planning to do nothing but get wasted on discount white wine’s and gaze her eyes on her laptop which was already harboring a million emails from her transfer company about her position, her hours, schedule, whatever the fuck they wanted to write about they seemed to write about and send to her. “Wonderful.” She muttered to nobody but herself as she sat dull and already half asleep in her gate’s seating. It would be about another twenty minutes before her section would get to be boarded though Bianca didn’t expect so many on a casual six in the morning flight to Santa Monica, landing in LAX. — “I think you should accept the job.” Courtney spoke as she hit her best friend’s shoulder and grinned ear to ear, knowing it would be fun to be back in her own country of birth, “You’ve been trapped down under for almost six years, go and see the motherland again!” The Australian’s lips curling into a viciously attentive smile as the girl next to her simply rolled her eyes and clutched her glass in hand, swirling the alcohol around as their eyes meat briefly.

“I’ve never been to Honduras or Cuba—” correcting Courtney on the fact that America was indeed not the true motherland, it was where she was born and grew up and New Orleans itself could be considered a different fucking continent with all the culture and languages and diverse communities living in one big, united city. “I haven’t heard the best of things about America in general.” Referring to the news in which Courtney could only snicker, “Bad things go on in every country, every city and everywhere! Go and have fun, you know I will come to visit anyway.” They embraced in a small hug before the Australian girl wiped her growing red eyes, Bianca moaning.  “Bitch if you dare get one tear on me I will make sure to whoop your ass so you hard you certainly won’t need a ticket to be in Santa Monica, I’ll express mail you.” Her tone only teasing though she knew deep down, Courtney was the only real person and best friend she had currently, struggling to get back in contact with old friends from America as the time came. “And maybe you’ll meet someone cute—” elbowing Bianca until she almost rolled Courtney off the bed with a yell, “Don’t even think about it, I came to work and maybe party once in a while, get better money but not for love. Besides, name me one decent American who isn’t taken, straight or a celebrity? You can’t, that’s the point.“  “Whatever happens you know I’ll annoy you and call you constantly, just the usual and casual girl things.” She hummed, the singer folding one of Bianca’s last articles of clothing. “If you didn’t I would murder you and unfollow you on all your social media, don’t test me motherfucker!” She spat as Courtney collapsed into her lap, “You can cry on Instagram live to all your five million Instagram followers!“  — Finger tips pressing against her IMac’s keyboard she begun to respond to a work email, this was one of the more interesting ones, about as interesting as assignments and work went but still something to do in whatever time she had left before she would just repeatedly listen to whatever shuffled on her phone once the airplane was in the air. She had already found out that her job was basically to do what she did with Courtney: boss her around, manage her social media, make sure she was healthy, laughing, whatever shit she needed and help with planning any kind of events, concerts, meetings, anything the record label asked for and needed. To: biancadelrio@gmail.com Bianca,  We are so excited that you have accepted the offer and I’m hoping the weather pulls through for your flight, you are our first new hire in a few seasons if I may be honest, most can’t handle the pressure, American records and singers are far more different than what it sounds like in Australia!  I have made sure to tell Katya, our head in our department, to ship the packet to the address you provided! I understand the move, I went from Chicago to Santa Monica and it can be alot so please if you need a place to stay let me know! The packet should have exactly what you expect and a few other goods because we try and make it as welcoming as possible, not us being cheesy, us trying not to get fired to be completely real.  Do not lose your ID, even if you use the pin to get in, security is really strict especially with all the mass hysteria with guarding and violence in the past few years, it’s required to clock in, clock out and even enter the bathroom, it sucks, I know but safety comes first I suppose.  Thank you and see you Monday! — Shea (sheacouleee@me.com)  Atleast it was an actual human beyond the emails so far, better than some rich executive who was scarfing down his fifth coffee of the afternoon and forcing his personal assistant to quietly tap against the grain and send all emails with the same format, copy and paste all day. “Gate 10 will now boarding flight from Brisbane to Los Angeles, California.” She stood and reluctantly shut her laptop before putting it in her case, in her carry on and bringing out her passport and boarding pass, chugging some of her overpriced bottled water that she had to purchase after security along with a stash of dark chocolate large enough to last for most likely a week. Bianca made a very decent salary at her last job and would be making even more at this one however she was not ever one to spend more than she had to, Courtney for a singer who was booming in media and charts was suprisingly frugal with her spending most days, which made it twice as fun when they both would go all out and do their once a month goose chase of a spree around town, getting in all the stores they wanted in the span of one single day. “Well, let’s do this thing.” The words leaving her lips as she sent one last picture to Courtney of her passport and coffee, sending it with the text message of: If you don’t hear from me in twenty hours, I’m probably drunk!  *.✧ The announcement came on and the lights flashed for them to be able to take off their seatbelts and Bianca completely had crashed course after one Hallmark movie, some wine, a Sprite and one entire chocolate bar. She was quick to jump up before she felt completely lagged and dizzy, quickly sitting back down until the rest behind her had gotten their luggage and begun approaching the exit of the plane, cleaning her garbage before she tossed it and grabbed her carry on, absolutely bolting for the door as fast as possible knowing it was a good forty minutes in a regular car to make it to her new studio apartment for god knows how long, Courtney didn’t tell her a thing about it expect her cousin had hooked them up and leased it. Thanking the staff she quickly felt her entire body want to collapse and throw up, maybe both at the same time, on the rugged floor of LAX, turning her phone off airplane mode and turning on her date plan she had decided to buy the night before just so she could be ready and set for when she landed, knowing Courtney would throw a hissy fit if she wasn’t the first person she texted. Fingers gliding across her iPhone she grinned, I’m in fucking america! can’t wait to grab some damn takeout and just collapse, meeting someone to take me, call you probably whatever the next time I wake up is! She had done the math in her head, it was about 7:20 PM here but almost 2:20 AM in Brisbane, timezones were about to be hell on Earth but they would make it through. An absolute dumpster dive of suitcases later she had found both of her own luckily, now heading for the International Arrivals entrance, Bianca had only been to LAX recently and it was for Courtney’s tour, before that she hadn’t really cared for or visited California much, staying in her own bubble. It truly was the epicenter of an entire universe however, as far as crowded airports went, this one was definitely the winner! “Jinkx!” She shrieked to her auburn haired friend who quickly winced out of her own delusional fantasy and screamed, running towards her oldest friend and happy to have collapsed and almost blacked out in the one person who could understand what it was like to be sleepy and tired though Jinkx had explained a million times that narcolepsy was very different than what movies and shows showed it to be, it was just in very relaxing and quiet surroundings, when she wasn’t doing anything and wasn’t focused on a task. “I’m so tired but I don’t even care, it’s so great to see you—” Jinkx shaking her friend in her own arms happily before Bianca had to pull away, not wanting to cause a meltdown or throw up on the expensive sneakers she seemed to have on. Grabbing a suitcase much to her newly arrived childhood friend’s concern, “Let’s go, my car is parked and she’s all charger for the trip!” “I forgot you have a fucking electric car.” “It’s red to, it has a seat warmer! That’s the biggest perk but also you can program it to do some cool things, I only got the car recently, DeLa was begging me to—” the mention of her college roommate who was also from Seattle made Bianca realize how long she had actually been gone. “I hate to be an absolute prune the first ten minutes but can we please stop and eat if that’s okay, I don’t wanna eat in your car but fast food inside is fine by me, I texted everyone I need to so now I’m all yours and I’m sure traffic will delay us another fucking three hours.” Finishing her water she tossed the bottle as Jinkx almost smacked her across her back, causing Bianca to choke a bit. “You really think I won’t let you eat in my car! Jesus Christ, this isn’t our senior year of high school where I had to keep my car spotless, of course we will get food, since you’re in California now we have to start with the local favorite, ever had In N Out?” A stammer before a tilt of her head came, Jinkx gasping, “I can’t believe self proclaimed critic of food, Bianca Del Rio hasn’t even tried it, much less heard of it.” Cackling, Bianca raised a hand, “Now hold on you shady bitch!” They made their way to the wonderful Tesla after an influx of stop signs and people shoving to simply get out of the airport. Bianca was definitely impressed, she had seen the cars before but they weren’t her style, it was much more different to actually sit next to Jinkx who immediately pulled out of the car and had her music blasting before Bianca lowered it a bit so she and Jinkx could atleast have a conversation, the girl beside her seeming to know what to do and where to go from here. “You can type in your address after we go and get some food, so tell me about what it’s like down under, I’m sure you have some stories.” Smirking, Bianca relaxed into the leather seat and sighed in relief, leaving her phone to charge with her portable charger as she crossed her arms and stared out the front view with Jinkx who was barely even focused on driving given the fact she had the rules of driving out of LAX down, the clouds and sky beginning to turn into a wonderful assembly of warm colors mixed with a vibrant purple. “Well since you asked.”

[bandpreferences15]

When I’m With You

Tommy x Reader

Masterlist

A/N: So we all know Tommy’s romantic... so I can totally see him secretly being into this song and maybe singing or humming it to his love 😍😘 As far as sappy 80s love songs go, this might take the cake 😂 This is also reeeeeallllly long and also

Warnings: swearing, snuggly boi Tommy

When I’m With You: Sheriff

I never needed love like I need you

And I never lived for nobody like I live for you

 You swore softly as you entered the darkened hotel room, a pair of Tommy’s boots unsurprisingly sitting directly inside the door. You dragged your suitcase inside, using your foot to slide your husband’s shoes somewhere where they’d be less of a trip hazard. You glanced at the sleeping body in the bed and sighed with relief when you realized you hadn’t woken him. You tiptoed the rest of the way into the room, careful to avoid the dirty laundry and drumsticks littering the floor.

 You hadn’t seen Tommy in more than a month, the tour and your job keeping the two of you so busy you rarely had time to even speak on the phone. Two weeks ago, you received a letter that Tommy had written you. A Letter. An actual handwritten letter. Before you’d gotten married, you’d told him about how your father had written letters to your mother while he was away on business trips. You loved hearing about the places your father had been and the look on your mother’s face as she read them always mad you smile. Tommy had scoffed and called you a sap so, when you received a letter from him, you nearly burst into tears.

++Two Weeks Ago++

Hi, Y/N, wait. I can do better 

Dear y/n... shit WHY AM I BAD AT THIS

Hey Baby, 

We were in Chicago the other day and we had this pizza you would have loved. The little shop had those mismatched salt and pepper shakers you like. I wanted to swipe some to bring home for you, but Doc said no. I’m in my bunk right now so I’m sorry if my handwriting looks shitty. (I will totally blame it on the moving bus and not on the fact that my handwriting is shitty to begin with.) 

I miss you. I miss you so damn much. I’ve been trying to find a time to come home to see you, even if it’s just for the day, but we have so many gigs and interviews scheduled, they won’t let me leave. I know what you’re thinking. Don’t do it. I know how much you hate leaving work, you don’t have to take time off because I’m being a whiny bitch. Besides, if you take a few days off, you’ll be complaining that that Todd guy stole your stapler again while you were gone.

How are your mom’s rose bushes doing? Someone said the weather was getting chilly out there and I was worried about them. Did you notice how tiny the space on this hotel stationary is?! I can hardly fit anything between these little borders! You know who has cool stationary? Doc. It has his name on it and everything!

 Anyway, I miss you. See you soon, babe.

I love you,

Tommy

You laughed through your tears at your boyfriend’s scatterbrained letter. His little scribblings tugging at your heartstrings. He might be a reckless, badass rock star on the outside, but he was an absolute sweetheart on the inside. After reading the letter, you folded it carefully, placed it in your pocket and went off to book a plane ticket.  That was how you found yourself hugging Doc and murmuring a ‘thank you’ as he handed you the extra key to Tommy’s room.

++Present Time++

You picked up the miscellaneous articles of clothing on the floor as you made your way toward the bed. Tommy had kicked half the covers off, the duvet on the floor and the lower half of his body covered only by the thin white cotton sheet. He snored softly, a few strands of his long hair rising and falling as a result of the breaths passing his lips. You sat on the corner of the mattress, simply admiring him for a moment. His muscles rippled under the bare skin of his back as he shifted to lay on his stomach, his long arms circling one of the pillows as he nuzzled his face further into it. You slipped your shoes off, walking on your knees until you were straddling Tommy’s lower back. Smoothing your hands over his warm skin, he groaned as you leaned down to press a kiss to his shoulder blade. Suddenly, he stiffened.

“I don’t know who let you in here, but I have a wife. A wife I love very much so if you’re looking for a quick fuck, I suggest you go find someone else.”  

You chuckled softly to yourself, Tommy’s word warming your heart. 

“And I’m sure that wife of yours would really appreciate it if you’d roll over and give her a kiss.”

Tommy’s head snapped up from his pillow, looking over his shoulder to where you were seated on his back. His eyes widened comically and he struggled clumsily to turn over, his long legs getting tangled in the sheets.

“Oh my God!” He sat up quickly, nearly knocking your foreheads together. He took your face in his hands and blinked slowly as if he wasn’t sure if he was awake or dreaming. 

Bringing your fingertips to his jaw, you traced the light stubble that had grown there.

“Hi, honey.” you murmured, a soft smile gracing your lips as you smoothed down his messy bedhead. Tommy let out a huge sigh he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and threw his arms around you, pulling the both of you back down to the pillows so you were resting on top of him.

“You’re real. You’re actually here.” His thumb swiped back and forth against your cheek as you cuddled closer to him. Tommy took a deep breath, nuzzling against you as he closed his eyes again. 

“You smell nice” he said, his voice still raspy with sleep. “It’s so much better than the bus.” 

You laughed, sitting up a bit.

“Well I sure as hell hope I smell better than your bus!” Tommy pouted, making grabby hands toward you.

“You’re too far away. Let me love you, damn it!” He interlocked your fingers, pulling you down gently so you were leaning over him, noses nearly touching. You leaned forward slightly, bumping your nose against his. Tommy grinned playfully, arms gripping your waist as he attempted to flip you under him. His long legs, still tangled in the sheets, made this task difficult so he settled for being half on top of you, one arm under your head and the other lightly drawing shapes where your shirt had ridden up. He placed soft kisses on your nose, each of your cheeks, and finally your lips. This kiss was one you’d only felt once before: the moment after the two of you were married. Tommy didn’t need to speak to tell you how much he loved you... how much he missed you. Everything you needed to know was poured into that one kiss. Leaving you breathless, he pulled away. Laying his head on the pillow beside yours, he pressed his lips to your forehead, pulling you tightly to his chest and sighing in contentment.

You snuggled into him, thankful for the comfortable silence between the two of you. Tommy’s hand slid up under your shirt, gently tracing up and down your spine. You shivered slightly and he smirked when you snuggled closer to him, pressing a gentle kiss to his collarbone. 

“I love you” Tommy whispered.

[benhardyisdaddy]

Love Of My Life - Part 12

MASTERLIST 

(its been a while so im sorry!!! i hope u all like this fluffy af part cuz it was actually so cute and soft to write ugh BUT dont be fooled cuz the next part is going to be angsty af and like ummm yeah youll see 😌☕ also this gif is so cute wtf this is what i imagine his face was when u get excited about paris and are jumping around sksksk so cute)

Word Count: 1,903

To My Beautiful Wife, 

Remember when you first saw this postcard? You were so in love with, I couldn’t not buy it. Tickets are at the airport. Pack your luggage. Everything's ready for you. 3pm is your flight. You’ve been dreaming of this moment your whole life. I wish I was with you. Roger will make a good travel buddy, you know that now. Please soak in every last moment. I’ve been gone for a while now. You’ll be in the city of love, so open your heart. You never know what you’ll find. 

Yours Forever, 

John 

P.S. You’re the love of my life 

“I can’t believe it.” you whisper, still staring at the postcard. “He bought it. He knew how much I adored it and he… He bought it.” 

You look up to Roger with tears in your eyes as you smile. A slight grin is on his face as he watches how excited you are over this. You look back down at it and your smile drops. 

“Wait,” you start, looking back up. “Are we… Are we going to Paris?” you ask, your eyes narrowing. 

Roger fights off an even bigger grin as he looks half shocked and surprised. 

“It said the tickets are ready for you. I think we’re going to Paris!” 

Your eyes are wide with shock as you jump up and down, squealing and shouting loudly. You ignored how bad your head hurt, but you couldn’t believe it! John had all of this planned out for you. He didn’t forget how much you wanted to visit Paris. He didn’t forget. 

You pause and look around your apartment, suddenly overwhelmed. 

“Oh my god, it said we leave at 3! We have to hurry!” 

You run as fast as you can back to your bedroom and fling your suitcase on the bed. You pack everything you can grab, making sure to miss nothing. You grab all of John’s letters and tuck them inside, followed by the postcard. You look around in a hurry and spot the black and white photo of John that you had taken. You stare at it and smile as you reach forward and pick it up. You run your fingers over the image and safely tuck it beside the letters. It needed to go with you. 

You were in such a huge hurry getting everything around, you didn’t even realize Roger had left your place and went back to his. He asked no questions about anything as he packed a suitcase as well and hurried back. If his best friend’s wish was for him to go on a little vacation with his wife, he would never say no. The look on your face was priceless when you found out you were leaving for the one place you have dreamed of seeing. He was just as excited for you. 

Shower, change clothes, get around and you’re done. You have exactly one hour to get to the airport on time. Roger helped place your luggage in his car along with his. You were giddy and excited, not able to sit still. 

“I can't believe this is actually happening!” you squeal, looking out the window as you all drive. 

He smiles and glances over to you. He hasn’t seen you this happy in a long, long time. It was so nice. 

“Are you nervous?” he asks, looking back to the road. 

“A little,” you confess. “But I’m really happy you’ll be there with me.” 

Roger’s smile drops just a bit as he looks over to you fast. A sweet grin is on your face as you look at him, his heart speeding a bit. He smiles back and looks forward again. 

“Me too.” he says. 

***

“It’s only about an hour flight at least.” says Roger, holding your tickets in his hand. 

You’re officially at the airport and waiting in your gate area. It’s 2:50pm and they were starting to board the flight. You were next in line to have your ticket scanned and off you were. Roger was right behind you as you clutch your purse tight to yourself. You walk through the long hall like structure and spot the opening for the plane. You stop just right outside of it, greeted by three flight attendants that smiled at you sweetly. You close your eyes and take in a deep breath. You open them once more and smile as you take the first step onto the plane. You glance back down at your ticket and search for you seat. It was the second row and a window seat. John really did know you. You slide into your seat and immediately buckle in. Roger sits next to you as you both peered out the window and watch as people outside scurry around to get everything in order. 

“Ready?” he asks. 

You look over to him and grin, nodding your head. You reach your hand over and grab his, lightly squeezing. 

“Take offs always scare me.” you tell him. 

He gently squeezes your hand back as he leans in closer to you. 

“Just close your eyes and squeeze my hand as hard as you can. It’ll be over before you know it.” 

You smile and nod as you lean your head back and close your eyes, still gripping his hand hard. Roger is still leaned forward a bit as he watches you slowly take in a breath and exhale. This was the perfect moment for him to take you in. He stared at you and every feature on your face. He couldn’t look away. He continued to watch you until the plane takes off. It was bumpy at first, causing your eyes to squeeze shut and to squeeze his hand hard. 

“It’s almost over.” he whispered, causing you to relax. 

And just like he said, it was over.

***

Paris, France. The one place you had dreamed of always visiting and here you were. The plane ride was smooth and perfect, almost soothing. You couldn’t believe you were actually here. You were the first off of the plane, looking around like crazy. Even the airport was beautiful. Roger walked close behind you as you both enter the building. 

“What happens now?” you ask, looking to him. 

“Well, he said he had everything planned. Maybe-” 

Roger stops and looks at something, causing your head to turn around. A man in all black holds up a sign that reads Y/n and Roger. Your brows go up as you hurriedly walked over to him, a light smile appearing on his face when he spots you.

“Hi, I’m y/n.” you tell him. 

“Yes, ma’am. I know exactly who you are. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” he says, holding out his hand to shake yours and Roger’s. “Your husband John had to of been the most genuinely nicest person I ever got to meet. It was a pleasure to know him and to do this for him.” 

You fight back happy tears as he speaks. That was the John you knew as well. You smile and look over to Roger then back to him. 

“Oh, forgive me,” he says as he takes off his dark sunglasses. “I’m Samuel. You may call me Sam if you’d like.” 

“Nice to meet you, Sam.” says Rog. 

“You as well, Mr. Taylor. Shall we go?” he asks. 

“Oh, but our luggage-” you go to say. 

“It’s already all in the car, Mrs. Deacon. Your hotel is the next stop. I’ll be your driver for the next four days here. Anything you need or anywhere you want to go, I’ll be right there.” 

You look to Roger and smile as you slide your arm around his. This was so exciting yet nerve wracking. The three of you make it outside and to a large black SUV. Sam opens the door for you both as you thank him and slide inside. 

“I had instructions to take you to your hotel and then to your dinner reservation at seven.” he tells you as he begins driving. 

“My first ever Paris dinner!” you says excited. 

“Perfect, I’m starving.” teases Roger. 

***

Your hotel was large and beautiful. Breathtaking actually. It was about 15 stories high and the most elegant place you have ever been in. When you reached your room, your eyes were wide. It was humongous and gorgeous. A large chandelier hung in the middle of the room, a king sized bed caught your eye as well. A large glass table by the large TV stand had a bucket with ice and two bottles of champagne. You walk over to it and suddenly spot a piece of paper that’s folded in half. It has your name on the front and your heart flutters. You know it’s from John. 

My Beautiful Wife, 

Enjoy your time here. I know you will. Sam knows the schedule of what I have planned for you. He will tell you everything. For now, relax and get ready for dinner. Also, walk outside on the balcony. I think you’ll enjoy the view. 

Yours Forever,

John 

P.S. You’re the love of my life 

The view? You look over to the two large doors that lead to a huge balcony. You place the letter down and slowly walked over to them, feeling Roger’s eyes on you. You grab their handles and swing them both open. You take a step outside and peer around, freezing. You gasp and your eyes go wide. Roger rushes over to you and walks behind you, stopping as well. In front of you, the most perfect view, was the Eiffel Tower. It was tall and mesmerizing, just like you knew it would be. A warm, soft breeze brushes against you as you smile widely. You couldn’t look away from it. You had longed to see it for so long now and there it is. 

“John really knew what he was doing.” whispers Rog, his eyes glued to it as well. 

You turn around to Rog and smile. 

“He did.” you whisper back. 

The two of you look at each other for a moment, not breaking away. Something about the way Roger looked at you reminded you of something or possibly someone. You glance down at his lips and then back to his eyes, noticing him do the same. He’s close to you, almost too close. You find yourself moving in even closer, him doing the same. You look away quickly and clear your throat. 

“We should get ready for dinner.” you say fast. 

Roger looks down and nods as you walk around him and back inside. He looks back at the tower for a moment before following. The two of you are silent as you change into a long black dress and fix yourself up. As you're applying lip gloss, something suddenly hits you. You turn around and walk out of the bathroom, your eyes narrowing. Roger’s sat on the bed as he ties his shoes. He looks up to you and notices the look on your face, pausing. 

“What?” he asks fast. 

“We only have one bed.” you say. 

Roger turns and looks behind him, suddenly realizing it as well. 

“Oh…” he says. “I’ll sleep on the floor.” 

“You are not sleeping on the floor. We can make it work.” you say smiling. 

You walk back into the bathroom and for some reason, your heart’s beating fast. How is tonight going to go?

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[bangchanshehe]

Handsome Disaster (M) pt.19 (final)

When the school bad boy and womanizer Hoseok turns his attention on you it’s hard to ignore. Especially with your best friends being in a relationship and living five doors down from each other.

Hoseok X OC

Word Count: 6.4k

It felt unreal to be standing where you were. You were waiting for this moment now for years and you could feel the nervousness in your knees as you shook. You adjusted your dress as you stood just outside of the entrance to the large stage.

Deep breaths, deep breaths

You looked down at your feet and scanned your body one more time before you would walk out in front of everyone who mattered to you. Your only wish was that you wouldn’t trip on the stage and be an embarrassment on the biggest day of your life this far.

“Y/n” the announcer said loudly, summoning you on stage

You took a breath and followed behind the student who walked the stage just before you. You shook hands with the dean of your department and took your diploma from the president of your university. Cameras and lights flashed at the exact monumental moment when you received your diploma and you smiled brightly as you walked the remainder of the way across the stage.

You had worked hard and cried many nights as you struggled to get yourself to this point. And the moment that you had that diploma in your hands it was like a supreme weight had been lifted off of your shoulders. Now you could stop grinding your teeth at night, now you didn’t have to study anymore, and now you didn’t have to read or study for finals that quite frankly, murdered you.

You walked behind the stage and found your way back to your seat where you would sit until the longer that humanly necessary graduation process was complete. All that you wanted to do was hug Hoseok and receive your promised graduation kiss. You wanted to see Sera and Minhyuk dance and be happy with one another as they celebrated her victory as well.

Honestly at this point you were more excited watching the two of them love each other than anything else. Everyone thought that you and Hoseok would get married before everyone, but it turned out that Minhyuk and Sera were anxious to get married and start their life together and were now expecting a baby. And now that she was large and pregnant everything looked cute on her frame. Her skin glowed and you were busy planning out the details of the baby’s life like the proud aunt that you were.

And Minhyuk… my god he couldn’t keep his hands off of her. Any time that he could have his arms wrapped around her or lips on her’s he was doing it. And they were perfect. They were the living epitome of happiness and you were jealous of them. Very…very jealous.

You had made hints to Hoseok that you had wanted to get married many times, especially after he proposed to you almost four years ago at the mall. You shook your head. Really, you should have declined his proposal and made him do it again in a more romantic way. Or at least at a time when he was actually ready to get married. You huffed to yourself and pouted in your seat looking in their direction.

You giggled as you made eye contact with the boys and they waved their hands excitingly to you with wide grins on their faces.

So far you and Hoseok were just engaged to one another and you were angry with Hoseok for it. Shortly after you had been proposed to you were researching venues, dresses, themes and food. but Hoseok immediately put on the breaks. He said that it wasn’t that he wasn’t ready per say… but he needed more time for things to be perfect.

You rolled your eyes as you relived the whole scenario.

You had countless times tried to use sera’s marriage and pregnancy as an excuse to get married. But, Hoseok was dead set on marrying you the “right way” as he would say. Meaning that you were both out of school at a full-time job and on your feet enough to afford to get married.

You were going almost straight to the workforce after you graduated and Hoseok was successfully running his own gym. He was there most hours of the day and still fought as an amateur on weekends. He loved it and was making almost twice the amount he made fighting underground at the school.

Your phone buzzed in your pocket interrupting your thoughts. You looked down at your dress pocket and plucked your phone out.

Hoseok: congratulations angel, im so proud of you!

You smiled down at your phone and grinned to yourself as you typed out your cheeky reply

You: thank you. We’re one step closer to finally getting married!

The moment that you sent the text you looked up to him in the audience and waited for him to respond to the text. You saw his face light up as the screen on his phone was unlocked and he smiled down at the text, looked up to you and then shook his head.

Hoseok: yea but we still have a long way to go

You rolled your eyes at the message and looked up to him in the audience to make sure that he was watching you as you put your phone away in your pocket as if you were ignoring his response to you.

He dropped his jaw and opened his phone again hurriedly typing out a message to you. You inwardly smiled and looked away from him. Your phone buzzed once….twice… three times and you ignored them all. It felt good to have a little bit of power over Hoseok when it felt like he was stringing you along.

 About an hour later all of the final ceremony acts were done and you were making your way through the large crowds searching for Sera and the boys. You wanted a photo with everyone to commemorate the moment before you all went back to your apartments.

You and Hoseok had taken over his apartment and sera and Minhyuk had both moved into yours. It was a perfect match and you and Hoseok were more than happy to be living together now. You used the extra bedroom now as a study that you and Hoseok use. There were two desks and chairs and a bookshelf of all of your favorite books. The space was a perfect little room for a study but you were dreaming of the changes that you would make to it to create the perfect nursery for future children.

You sighed as you thought about the future and smiled to the guys as soon as you spotted them. Sera and Minhyuk were hanging off of each other and Minhyuk was whispering sweet nothings in her ear making her grin and blush. You smiled to Hoseok who was pouting at you with arms crossed over his chest.

“hey handsome” you said to him poking him in his arm

“why did you ignore my texts?” he pouted

“because I didn’t want you to kill my graduation buzz” you responded and he dropped his arms

For the next fifteen minutes you all took photos in front of the school and with classmates who you met along the way. You smiled and laughed as some past flings asked Hoseok to take photos with them and he uncomfortably obliged.

All four of you piled into your car and headed home to enjoy the rest of your day. Initially you wanted to go out and celebrate but the longer that you thought about it a day at home with Hoseok was really all that was important to you.

As soon as you pulled into the drive way sera and Minhyuk practically ran home with each other, pulling each other’s clothes off. You giggled and watched them as they made it to the apartment and then turned towards your building. Hoseok was waiting for you and smiled when he finally had all of your undivided attention.

“are you ready for your graduation gift?” he asked

“have you ever known me to not be happy about gifts?” you asked with laughter in your voice

“come on then!” he beamed reaching for your hand and pulling you up to the apartment.

He pulled you up the stairs and down to the doorway and stopped, turning around to face you. He looked nervous and he bit his lip as he began to frantically untie his tie. You were shocked and looked around the hall hoping that no one was witnessing him undress himself.

“what are you doing?” you asked him nervous “you can’t wait until we get inside?”

He chuckled at you and smiled “pervert. It’s nothing like that.” He pulled the tie loose and then held it close to your eyes “I’m going to blind fold you so you can’t peek at anything.”

He gently tied it around your face and made sure that it was sturdy so you couldn’t move it around or peek. You could hear him open the door and he led you inside firmly.

The house smelt great as if someone had cooked Italian food and you could smell something fruity. You smiled to yourself as you guessed what was going on. You thought he was going to take you straight to the kitchen but he led you to the bedroom instead.

“yah! You said it wasn’t like that!” you were sarcastic “are you trying to spice things up with the tie?”

“its not!” he laughed “open your eyes!”

You slowly peeled the tie off of your head and you gasped when you saw the items that Hoseok had laid across the bed.

There was a large and small piece of luggage in the corner that looked sleek and expensive. You turned to him with wide eyes and he looked down at you with excitement. You turned back to the bed and gulped. There were three dresses all perfect and in your size. Two pairs of vans that you had been eyeing, heels and a purse that you had been secretly dreaming of. There were two bathing suits that were small and revealing. You rolled your eyes imaging Hoseok picking them out at a department store, finding the most lewd ones. There were shorts and cute shirts. There were two hats and lastly a camera with two plane tickets sitting on the camera bag.

You looked at the information on the tickets and your eyes went wide when you saw that it was for a two week trip to the Bahamas only a short two months from now.

You turned to Hoseok with tears in your eyes, so happy and excited that he would surprise you like this. He pulled you in for a hug and smiled. He rubbed your back and whispered softly

“do you like it?”

You slapped his back lightly “do I like it? I love it Hoseok!” you pulled away from him and turned back to the items. “you didn’t have to get all of this babe! Where were you hiding it?”

“I was hiding it at the gym” he said with a grin “there’s more, follow me” he dragged you over to the office space and opened the door wide so you could both walk in

As soon as you had everything in view you stopped in your tracks. there was a new desk and laptop where your old ones sat. there was a small plant and a bag filled with new stationary for your job. On top of your desk there was a speaker.

You walked over to the desk slowly and assessed everything that was laid out. You admired the sleek new lap top and your new desk. it was overwhelming and you knew that with the price of the electronics alone that everything was expensive.

“h-h-hoseok” you whimpered feeling the tears being brought back to the surface.

He quickly cut off your sobs with a back hug and a kiss to the neck. “I love you so much and im so incredibly excited for you to start your new adventures.”

You turned around in his arms and you kissed him on the lips. “I love you more than you could ever know! Thank you so much baby”

He pat you on the butt and stepped away from you “I know you’re really excited but let’s go eat. Ive been hungry since I cooked for you earlier”

You giggled at his always eager appetite and walked into the kitchen. On your dining table you saw your favorite pasta sitting in the middle of the table with salad, bread sticks and a strawberry cake.  You smiled and hummed at the delicious meal you were ready to have, and took a seat. Hoseok went into the kitchen and uncorked a bottle of wine and joined you at the table with two glasses in his hand.

“Seriously, when did you have the time to do all of this, you left the house not even two hours before I left for the ceremony” you laughed

“Minhyuk, Jooheon and a few other buddies came over and helped me put all of the stuff together while I did the cooking.” He said with a smile on his face.

You could tell that he was proud of doing so well and having successfully surprised you. You reached for his hand over the table and looked him in the eyes.

“I’m seriously the luckiest girl in the world to have someone like you, who genuinely cares for me! I have no idea what I’ve done to deserve you, but I’m so happy that I met you!”

Hoseok lightly squeezed your hand and gave you a soft smile

“I think it’s the other way around angel. Before I met you I was just wandering around and I wasn’t committed to anything in life.” He sighed before he continued “if I’m being completely honest with you, I think I knew from the moment that I saw you that you were the one.”

You looked at him shocked. He had always said that he knew at first sight, but you figured that It was just a cliché thing that all guys said

“when I first saw you I just wanted to know your name. but at that point I was such a loser that the only game I knew what hooking up and I thought that, that was all I needed to try on you. But you didn’t fall over me like other girls did.” He pulled his hand away now and sat in his seat looking at your with a reminiscent smile “and when you never fell for it, I knew that if I really wanted to get to know you that I would have to try a different approach. But with you I didn’t have to put on airs or try to be more than what I was. With you I was always calm and relaxed and speaking to you always felt to easy to do.”

“but more than anything else, you didn’t try to impress me either. The whole time you were always one hundred percent yourself and it was so refreshing to find a girl that was actually real. And the night that we went out to eat with each other I couldn’t stop thinking about you and how much I wanted to kiss you. How much I wanted to hold your hand. Or how much I really wanted to genuinely make love to you”

You rolled your eyes at his last confession and smiled at him

“I’m serious! I never had intention of just hooking up with you. I genuinely wanted to make you feel loved. To feel my love!” he finished

You were baffled by his confession and you had no idea how to respond. The only thing you could do was show him how he made you feel. You got out of your chair and walked over to his side of the table and straddled his lap. He gave you a smirk and leaned back into his chair to make room for the both of you.

You wound your fingers in his hair and gave him a long kiss. He eventually wrapped his arms around your back and pressed your body into his as much as he could and deepened the kiss with you. When you pulled away for air he smiled up at you and tucked some stray hairs behind your ear.

“baby as much as I would love to tear that dress away from your body I really do think I need to eat first.”

You moaned in defiance and wiggled in his lap a bit like a kid, and he chuckled at your reluctance. You kissed him once more on the lips and then got up out of his lap and made way to your chair.

As soon as you were out of his lap you hear his fork collect noodles off of his plate, and you smiled to yourself. You took your seat and had a sip of your wine as you watched him enjoy his food. Hoseok moaned and slurped his noodles, letting you know that he approved of his own cooking and you decided to try it for yourself.

“not to be nosy but… how did you get the money to buy all of that stuff hoseok? I know it had to have cost a fortune!” you asked in awe and confusion

He put down his fork and looked up at you as he chewed his food as if he was gauging what he was going to say to you. “Ever since I proposed to you your freshman year I’ve been saving up my money for moments like this, when I can spoil you and we can afford to have nice things and not struggle” he answered

It sounded like a good answer but you were still skeptical “okay but still were talking about thousands of dollars hoseok!” you exclaimed

Hoseok looked up at you through his lashes and smirked “babe do you know how much I made in the fight ring and how much I make with the gym?” he said

You rolled your eyes and bobbed your head all too aware of how much money he made. Hoseok wasn’t materialistic or flashy but he definitely made you aware that the two of you would be taken care of for the rest of your lives.

“eat your food before it gets cold” hoseok said with a grin, gesturing to your plate with his fork.

You grunted in defeat and finally dug into your plate. The pasta that hoseok made was really good and you gave him a thumbs up which he proudly accepted. Hoseok was an amazing cook when he wanted to be but if he had his way he would probably just feed you ramen for the rest of your life.

You finished your plate and drank your glass of wine and collected your plates to take them to the kitchen sink. You poured yourself another glass of wine at the counter and took a healthy sip before you started to scrub and wash your dishes. You were humming a song to yourself  and didn’t notice Hoseok come in shortly after you. He put his plates down in the sink and wrapped his arms around you tightly. He put his chin on your shoulder and closed his eyes as he listened to your humming. you finished doing the rest of the dishes and turned around to face him.

He smiled down at you at pulled your hips towards his own. “now where were we?” he asked with a grin

You giggled and stood up on your toes to give him a soft kiss. You pulled away and sank down on your feet, but Hoseok chased you down and bent over to give you another kiss. This time he wound a hand in your hair and held the back of your neck with the other. He continued to deepen the kiss and you moaned tasting the wine on tongue as he tangled it with yours.

He pulled away from you and quickly squat down and picked you up throwing you over his shoulder. You squealed in surprise and he chuckled darkly as he carried you out of the kitchen and to the bedroom. He put you down on your feet by the edge of the bed and hurriedly pushed all of the things he bought you to one side.

As you watched him pushed everything away you quickly unzipped your dress and let it drop to the floor around your ankles.  At the sound of the fabric hitting the floor Hoseok turned around to take a peek at your body.

“that dress looked amazing on you baby, but the way that you look out of it…. Holy fuck”

He quickly crossed the space between the two of you and kissed you on your lips. But this time it was no longer soft or sweet. Now his kisses were hot and needy. You kissed him back and fought with your tongues to earn dominance and he pushed you back on the bed.

Your body collided with the mattress and you watched with wide eyes as he slowly undid all of this shirts buttons. He was being a tease and you loved watching him strip just for you, but you were starting to get impatient. You sat up and you pulled his belt out of the buckle and tugged it loose from his pants. He chuckled and watched your hands make quick work. You unbuttoned his pants and quickly pulled them down to his ankles.

“woah, woah… settle down angel. We have all night” he laughed

“no baby I need you” you groaned.

Hoseok looked down at you darkly and leaned in to kiss you. He licked into your mouth and nipped at your lips. He grabbed your chin and turned your head to the side to give him access to your neck. He sucked, bit and licked you, marking you as his.

You didn’t notice him take off his boxers, but he cupped your pussy and teased your clothed clit before pulling your panties to the side and slowly filling you up with his rock hard cock.

You groaned at the feeling of him filling you up and rubbing against your slick walls. It was like an itch that needed scratching that only Hoseok could reach. You arched your back as soon as he was completely inside of you and you wrapped your legs around his waist. Hoseok looked down at your body for a moment and leaned forward, holding his weight up with his arms so he could kiss you on the lips.

You opened up your mouth for him and as he flicked his tongue over yours as he rose and dropped his hips making his cock fall into your soaking pussy with enough pressure and force to make your eyes roll back. You gasped and Hoseok started to make a pace for himself and kissed all over your face.

“god damn it… I love you so much” hoseok grunted out

You ran your hands over the expanse of hoseok’s toned back and planted them in the base of his hairline. You leaned up and met hoseok for a long kiss, stealing both of your breath away.

“I love you too” you whispered to him

He sat back on his haunches and snapped his hips into yours but quickly became tired of the fabric of your panties and pulled out of you so he could quickly pull them down your legs and on the floor. He admired your body for a moment and licked his lips as he looked down at your wet, glistening lips and held his hand out to you, signaling you to get up. When you followed through he put his hand on your hip and you flipped over on your hands and knees.

When you were situated you stuck your ass out farther than usual and shook it side to side, teasing him. He smiled down at you and ran his hand down your back but lifted it to land a firm slap on your behind, making you yelp and lose some posture. He chuckled at you and pulled you back to his erection so he could be planted all the way inside of you. He stilled for a moment and held onto your hips with a firm grip before he rammed his cock inside of you at a pace that made you lurch forward and grab the sheets for support.

“fuck!” you yelled and hoseok grunted in response

You closed your eyes, surrendering your sense so you could focus on the feeling of hoseok inside of you and dropped your chest to the mattress. Hoseok watched himself as he entered inside of you and pulled out repeatedly loving the feeling of sex with you more than anything else in this world. He didn’t have words to describe the actual sensation, but sex with you was more than just sex.  And this view of you bent over and taking his cock like a champ was his favorite. He loved seeing how your round ass bounced each time that his hips met yours, and the sound of your voice, screwed up and breathy did more things to him than he would like to mention.

He snapped his hips into you and held his breath, trying to steady himself as he could feel the tension in his body begin to rise. He was close and he knew that he was going to be spent pretty soon. But when your voice caught and you pushed your ass back into him, meeting every thrust with force as your orgasm rocked through your body making your pussy milk and convulse on his cock it was game over.

He let out a sting of grunts and let out a deep breath and his hips slowed down and he pumped all of his load inside of you. He stayed still as he came down from his high and didn’t pull out until he was done twitching and your writhing in pleasure subsided.

He crashed down in bed with you, catching your breath and mindlessly kissing each other and rubbing your hands up and down the expanse of each other’s body. In this moment Hoseok seemed to be in actual bliss, tired and glowing with his own sweat. He had a soft smile on his face but his eyes were lit up and glistening with love.

You smiled up at him and he reached out to place his hand in your hair. He brushed his fingers through your tousled strands and detangled them

“sorry… I made your pretty hair messy” he said with a smile but some sadness in his voice

You chuckled at his apology and shrugged your shoulders “Its okay, it was worth it”

He smiled wider and the way the light caught in his eyes made you stop breathing for a moment. You watched him for a moment as he closed his eyes and willed his body to calm and cool down. But you let your mind race as you thought about how lucky and in love you were.

To be honest you were concerned that your relationship with hoseok would only be temporary. There was a small doubt in your mind that made you wonder if hoseok would eventually get bored and go back to his old habbits and kick you to the curb, but after the first year with him things didn’t die down. Instead they became more exciting and you knew that you two were meant for each other. But had you asked yourself five years ago when you thought you would meet the love of your life you never would have expected that it would have been so soon or this extreme.

After a moment of your silent thoughts you sat up and wrapped a blanket around your body and made your way into the kitchen to get yourself a drink. You grabbed a cup from the cuppoard and filled it half way with tap water. Silently you took sips and leaned against the countertops.

After a few moments hoseok followed you in with boxers on and you offer what was left of your water to him. He accepted it and quickly chugged the remainder of the glass, before sitting it on the counter next to where you were standing.

“I have a confession to make” he said shyly

You looked up at him and gave him a curious glare “is it a good thing or a bad thing?” you aske him “do I want to know?”

He laughed and held his hands up in surrender “I promise it’s a good- no and amazing thing and I think that you’re going to love it” he said cryptically

“what do you mean “it”?” you asked your eyes getting smaller and smaller the more confused you became

“well…” he started and scratched the back of his neck with a free hand “I kind of have one more surprise for you” he said with a nervous chuckle in his voice

Your eyes went wide with shock and you looked at him now like he was completely crazy “what?!” you almost yelled “hoseok, no!” you began to protest thinking about what outlandish thing it was that was waiting for you now

“I think your going to want to take a look before you start protesting angel!” he said laughing at you hysterically now. He took your hand and pulled you back through the kitchen “come on!”

You followed him with some resistance scared as to what you would see and furrowed your eyebrow as he pulled you back into the office and you unconsciously looked around for anything that you might have missed. But when you didn’t see anything different you looked up at him in confusion

“okay…shit” he said now seemingly nervous “I’m-… I want to-… no”  he battled with himself and his words for a moment and then finally settled “why don’t you go open the closet?” he suggested

Your heart skipped a beat and you were now very concerned with what had hoseok so tripped up. You looked over to the closet, surveying its features and then back up at him with concern. “what’s in the closet?” you whispered concerned more than curious now

He giggled and bumped his shoulder into yours to shy to say “just go open it!”

“hoseok if something jumps out at me im going to beat you up!” you threatened with only made him laugh harder

You turned your head and focused back on the closet door. You took the shaky steps to stand in front of it and you flipped the light on before reaching for the handle. You turned the door knob and took a shaky breath before you opened the door and froze….

“hoseok-“ you said almost instantly beginning to tear up

You couldn’t believe what you were seeing in front of you but you knew that it was something that hoseok had to be working on for months if not years. The light from the hall closet cascaded beams of silver light down and across a beautiful white gown and a matching black tuxedo. There were bride and grooms shoes to match. Your side of the closet had jewelry, designer makeup and perfume while hoseok’s side had a new set of rings and the cologne that you loved him to wear.  

“Hoseok!” you exclaimed through your tears

He came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist and settled his head against your shoulder. “I know that you’ve been waiting for me to finally get married. And I know that I told you that I wanted to wait until we both had careers. But, lately the idea of finally doing it made me excited and hopeful that we could do it sooner rather than later”

You turned in his arms and kissed him on the lips firmly, putting every ounce of your love and passion into it. When he pulled away from you and you caught your breath you turned back to the closet and wiped the tears that spilled from your eyes.

You walked into the closet and ran your hands over the dress admiring its features and noticing that hoseok had it tailored and sized correctly. The shoes to match were a beautiful white pump with jewels that made them shine like treasure.  You couldn’t be more at peace with a decision and you turned to look at hoseok’s side. His tux was sharp and clean, made to look sleek and handsome. You admired his shoes but stopped when you noticed the new rings that hoseok set aside. You picked up the opened box and surveyed the rings and their shapes. They looked exactly like the ones that you had but only bigger and shinier.

“yours has a little something engraved in it” he whispered

You slowly lifted the ring out of its cradle and looked at the delicate tracing of the word ‘angel’ written inside. You were curious to see if hoseok also had anything engraved into his ring and lifted it out carefully to see for yourself. Inside it had multiple strings of numbers etched and you smiled as you noticed the first strand of numbers. It was the day that you two became a couple for the first time, the second was the day that you became a couple again and the last number you couldn’t decipher but if it was a date then it was almost two months from now.

You held up the ring and pointed it at him “what’s 061319?” you asked him and he smiled up at you softly

“well hopefully it’s the day that you and I will finally get married” he said confidently

You looked back up at him with shook and panic in your eyes “hoseok…that’s less than two months away!” you said with horror

He nodded his head and your mind went racing due to his lack of understanding. No one could plan a whole wedding in two months and have it exactly the way that they’ve always dreamed it to be. Wedding planning took a year if not years to do successfully.

“how am I going to plan it?” you asked outloud mostly to yourself but hoseok definitely heard your statement

“Sera has been a major help and actually helped me book the perfect church, food and plan the reception” hoseok confessed

“and the dress?” you asked him and he smiled up at you

“She told me what style you liked but I picked it out myself. I knew that it was going to be the one when I saw it.” He said with a sappy grin

You smiled up at him in amazement and laughed hysterically “im getting married!” you almost yelled “in less than two months!” you giggled

“I know its happening super fast, but I wanted this to be relaxing and pleasurable for you.” He spoke softly “I wanted it to be magical and everything that you hoped for”  he wrapped himself around you once more and whispered in your ears “are you happy?”

You closed your eyes and leaned your head back against his shoulder “im more than happy hoseok”

You stood there for a moment and allowed for the moment to really sink in before you looked back up at everything that was in front of you. You had the dress and man of your dreams, you had the job that you always wanted and financially you were way better off than you had ever imagined that you would be. You sighed a heavy sigh of relief and smiled at all that hoseok had prepared.

You always wanted to end up in a fair tale love but realized that this love was way more desirable than any of that magical crap. With hoseok you were safe and he took care of you in ways that you couldn’t begin to care for him.

Hoseok turned his head and placed a soft kiss on your forehead and you leaned into its warmth.

“I love you so… so much” you whispered

“I love you too” he said back equally as soft

“should we tell minhyuk and sera the good news?” he suggested and you giggled

“why they already helped you plan it, so they know!” you said with a laugh in your voice

“but they don’t know that you said yes” hoseok rebutted and then his brows shifted “wait… you haven’t technically said yes yet”

You raised your brows and looked around the room as if you were genuinely thinking about if you wanted to actually marry him or not.  You sucked in a large breath and then looked him in the eyes with a skeptical look

“I don’t know…. I think I saw someone kind of cute at the graduation ceremony” you said with a sarcastic voice

Hoseok looked at you with a smile and shock on his face “yah!” he yelled

You pulled away from him and put your hands up in the air to shrug. Hoseok laughed at you and pointed a finger at you in an accusatory way and you laughed before bolting out of the door.

Hoseok realized what you were doing and quickly chased after you pulling at your blanket and exposing your naked form to him. When he had finally got close enough to you he smiled at you widely and swept you up off of your feet bridal style. You yelped and laughed at how dramatic he was being while he looked down at you with a look of sarcastic betrayal in his eyes.

“If you don’t agree to marry me then I’ll become a monk!” he threatened

You laughed at his ridiculous threat and shook your head “hoseok there is no other person in this world I would rather marry than you” you giggled

His hurt look fell and his smiled radiated and beamed on his face making your heart beat pick up in your chest. he kissed you on the lips quickly and then ran with you in his arms towards the bed room once again.

No amount of drama, ridicule or anger could ever subside these feelings that you have for him now. And you would bet everything that hoseok felt the same way about you. Because no matter what fight or argument the two of you would ever be in, moments like these would forever wipe away all of the sadness and pain. Forever and ever… just a handsome disaster and his angel.

[feminarrie]

under the same moon - prologue

a/n: hello, hello! happy new year, my loves. i’m excited to be posting the prologue for the au that i have absolutely fallen in love with! 

please let me know what you think. lemme know if you’d be interested in a tag list for this fic, as well! 

banner credit ⇢ @booksncoffee

A nervousness twists Hanna’s stomach into knots as she stands in line, her position aligning with her boarding class. She’s settled a cheetah print neck pillow, a present from her mother, around the back of her neck. She bumps the top of it with her jaw as she nibbles the already jagged edge of her thumbnail. If the nibbling of her nails wasn’t enough to portray just how anxious she was to board her flight, her dark chocolate irises shift between the agent scanning tickets and passengers preparing to board the same flight. 

Hanna isn’t nervous about the flight. She actually enjoys the momentary butterflies and weightlessness she feels when they’ve begun to climb in altitude. The anxiety has more to do with flying across the globe—ten hours and over five thousand miles—to spend two weeks exploring all London had to offer. She is more than excited to see all of the sights and literary landmarks she has only dreamed about. But, she had a hard enough time moving down the coast of California. So, it really is no wonder that her hands are shaking as she hands over her boarding pass. 

She’s adjusting the straps of her backpack after a tight-lipped smile to the agent who had wished her a safe flight. The same toothless smile is repeated as she passes three flight attendants at the front of the plane. The remainder of the time before takeoff passes by in a blur and that’s likely because Hanna has already managed to tuck her nose between the pages of a book when the protocol for emergency landings was broadcasting across the screen imbedded in the back of the seat before hers. And truthfully, she should be paying attention, but she’s nearly finished reading A Christmas Carol and she’s invested in the happenings of Ebenezer Scrooge. 

In addition to it being one of the five books listed on her winter reading list for the course, Hanna had thought it was only fitting to start it during the holiday season. She managed to read fifteen page chunks between packing her bags and sorting through recently gifted items that she’d brought home from San Francisco. That had only been two days ago and typically, Hanna would have finished a hundred-page book within a few hours, but the nerves and packing, and repacking had consumed her time. But, as she’s nearing the final stretch during their ascent, she’s grateful for the distraction. 

Ten hours, a four hour nap, and a terrible in-flight movie later, Hanna and her group of fellow classmates are preparing for the descent. The lights above indicate that she should be strapped in to her isle seat while the pilot recites the temperature and time as they approach Heathrow. 

11:15am and 7 degrees Celsius. 

She attempts to convert the temperature in her head, but a furrow of her brow and a pout on her lips makes it evident that math still isn’t her strongpoint. She just knows that it was cold. Much colder than Los Angeles was when she had left. And she’s grateful that her outfit is a pair of leggings and a thick sweatshirt that very nearly reaches the top of her knees. The letters CSUN are written in red across the black fabric and the sleeves are much too long. 

“Right, everyone.” Her professor, Dr. Higgins, says in an attempt to gather the attention of those that are awake. “After baggage claim, we’ll be boarding a bus to our hotel. From there, you’ll get your room assignments and you’re free to do whatever you’d like until we reconvene for dinner at seven.” 

Hanna nods attentively, having turned in her seat to see and hear Dr. Higgins better. They make momentary eye contact and Hanna shares a polite smile. Dr. Higgins, though Hanna has come to a first name basis with them and often refers to them by Anneliese, has been a blessing during her years at the university. She’s worked with Hanna to better understand some obscure concepts hidden within an assigned novel or clear up any confusion regarding an upcoming paper. More poignant, however, Anneliese has opened her doors to Hanna when the stress of school and a dumb boy had almost proven to be too much for her. She had offered Hanna a shoulder to cry on and given her advice that kept her on the right path to graduate next spring. Something that Hanna doesn’t think she will ever be able to repay her for. 

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

Hanna’s grateful and relieved to find that Ira would be rooming with her. The first person to introduce themselves when Hanna had finally settled into her dorm room, Ira had quickly become a close friend. At least for a time, but it’s an age-old story. Someone becomes fast friends with the girl that keeps her door open, hoping that someone will walk in or agree to watch a movie just to ease the tension of move in. By the end of the spring semester, the two drifted apart as they found their individual friend groups. But, there’s no bad blood between them. Only a comfortable silence as they each unpack their carry-ons and luggage. 

Hanna wheels a nearly empty suitcase—brought with her just to store souvenirs and possible new outfits—into an open closet while the other sits at the foot of her bed. Eight books sit atop neatly folded clothes and barely differ from the five that Ira has sat next to her bedside. The covers seem less worn than Hanna’s, but loved just the same. 

“Ready to see what London’s got to offer?” Ira asks, zipping up her black cross body purse and smiling brightly at Hanna. 

With an anxious, but excited smile, Hanna nods and follows Ira into the historic city. 

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

The first week of her stay had gone by fairly quickly. It was a whirlwind of long bus rides to and from Stonehenge, a long day spent at Oxford, and the fair part of Friday was spent at the Tower of London. Each tourist trap separated by early nights and cups of tea in the dark corners of coffee shops. She had even managed to slip in a few beers and shots when she allowed herself to be torn away from the pages of Alice in Wonderland. 

Hanna’s finished all five books by the end of that first week. And true to the Hanna Reyes formula, a series of nights out before writing a paper were planned. She had even convinced Ira, who had only been out with Hanna once in the year that they had known each other, to try on one of Hanna’s outfits and hit the town. 

Now, three tequila shots and one beer deep, Hanna isn’t quite sure how she and Ira ended up in a fish and chip shop. Close to 2:35am, if the digital clock on her lock screen is accurate. But, as the smell of grease and fried food wafts through the air and overcomes her senses, she doesn’t really care all that much about the logistics of their journey. More preoccupied with finding something on the menu to appease her drunken appetite and lessen her inevitable hangover. 

Yet, the text of the menu blurs in front of her. Perhaps due to the alcohol in her system, but it’s more likely that the glasses sat on the bedside table in her hotel room have something to do with it. Ira’s managed to wander off to the bathroom while Hanna narrows her eyes at the red and black text. She even leans forward, black heeled boots lifting momentarily off the ground as she pushes off the top of the counter. 

“Halibut’s the best on the menu, if you ask me.” Someone speaks from behind her. 

Hanna sets her feet back down on the worn linoleum tiles before pivoting to see who had spoken to her. She’s greeted with a smiling brunette; whose glossy eyes and flushed cheeks mirror her own. His hair is messy atop his head and she can smell the beer that appears to have been spilt on him fairly recently. It darkens the navy blue shirt that hangs over the top of light blue skinny jeans. 

“Oh,” she offers a smile in his direction, “Thanks. Forgot my glasses.”

A deep belly laugh erupts from the stranger and it stretches the existing smile on Hanna’s face. It’s a joyous sound that bounces off the walls of the fairly empty fish and chip shop, only matched in volume by the rowdy group of boys he appears to be with. The three of them rival him in terms of intoxication, though. Stumbling and laughing while they stand behind him. 

“S��better than being too drunk to read, like this lot.” He gestures behind him with his thumb, a playful smile on his face that just barely shows his teeth. 

“I’m sure the tequila probably doesn’t help my vision, though.” Hanna replies, raising her shoulders in a shrug. 

There’s a short, comfortable pause that follows. The pair look at each other, eyes sparkling and glossy as a result of their separate nights out. The moment is only interrupted by the clearing of someone’s throat behind the counter and it has both of their faces flooding with color. 

Hanna pulls her attention away from the stranger, but her body is still angled toward him. Toe pointed in his direction and left hip jutted slightly outward. Hanna thinks the liquor in her system is rearing its head because before she can stop herself, she’s offering to pay for the meal of someone she’s only just met. Though, she’s done arguably worse things than this. She could even list their names if she dug deep enough in her memory. 

He attempts to tell her that he’s absolutely fine paying for his own meal, but the jeering of his friends behind him forces him to relent. A thankful and apologetic smile forms on his pink lips. Hanna simply waves him off with a few flicks of her wrist before she’s placing her order. 

“And whatever...” she pauses, glancing back toward the handsome stranger. 

“Niall,” he introduces himself, stepping forward and nearly pressing his stomach to the edge of the counter. “And I’ll have the same.” 

Hanna gives her name to the cashier after she has paid. Her name falls on Niall’s ears as he moves in tandem with her as she steps aside, his group of friends taking their place. And it’s then that Hanna sees Ira stood behind the group of university students. She’s tugging her hood from beneath the strap of her cross-body purse when she makes eye contact with Hanna. Ira smiles brightly at her, just as intoxicated as Hanna albeit slightly less wobbly on her two feet. 

“Cheers, Hanna. Didn’t have to pay for me.” And the two syllables sound heavy and thick with his accent, and Hanna thinks it’s the best her name has sounded. 

“Don’t worry about it,” she says, tucking her wallet back into her purse. “I’ve done worse things when I’m drunk.” 

.     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .

Perhaps going back to a near stranger’s flat wasn’t high up on the list of smart things she’s done while intoxicated. But, Niall seems friendly enough and Ira is sat comfortably beside her. Besides, his place doesn’t look like a serial killer’s lair. It does, however, look like the apartment of a typical college male. A couple bottles of beer are scattered across a well-worn coffee table and pizza boxes are folded into themselves in an attempt to fit them into a bulging trash bag. 

“Sorry ‘bout that. Me and my mate Liam weren’t expecting company.” Niall had said when they first arrived, collecting the bottles and tossing them into the recycle bin. 

Hanna just smiled at him, allowing herself to sink into the comfort of a well-worn couch. Now, Ira’s thigh is pressed tightly against hers as Liam, Niall’s roommate, squeezes to sit beside them. And it forces Hanna to move just a fraction of an inch so she’s pressed more against the arm of the black couch. 

Niall is bent over his laptop, the neck of a freshly opened beer bottle between his fingers as he searches for a playlist. He glances between Ira and Hanna before asking if they have any specific requests to be queued. Ira shakes her head silently, too caught up in watching the screen light up with the beginning scenes of Mario Kart. 

“Can’t Feel My Face, is a good one.” Hanna offers, unable to think of many other songs. 

Niall gives her a short smile, one that still meets his eyes but would’ve been missed had she blinked. The song begins playing from the laptop speaker and is accompanied by the video game sound effects before Liam is reaching to mute the television volume. 

And they spend the remainder of the night like that, really. Half lidded eyes trained on new acquaintances and the television. Tired voices talking about anything and nothing. 

Hanna is nearly in Niall’s lap when the sun begins to peek over the horizon. The sky is beginning to color with muted oranges and yellows, a sign of the impending sunrise. Hanna whispers a soft fuck when she looks between the time on her phone and the sun. It makes Niall laugh, and it is a scratchy noise that conveys his lack of sleep. 

“Ira and I should’ve been back long before now,” she says with a sigh. 

Ira is contorted in a seat that sits to the right of the couch. Her breathing is soft and even, and a tad bit of drool pooling on the pillow in Liam’s lap. And Hanna hadn’t realized the pair had fallen asleep until just then. Who knows how long they had been like that. 

“I could give you a lift?” He says, and the offer sounds nice. But, Hanna hardly thinks it’s fair to make him drive when he is just as sleep deprived as she is. 

“Ira and I can just get a taxi.” Hanna shakes her head, attempting to keep a yawn at bay as she speaks. “Thank you, though. I appreciate it.” 

And it’s Niall’s turn to shake his head, already nudging Hanna’s legs from his lap and pushing up from the couch. He stretches his arms above his head while simultaneously shifting his weight to his toes. Hanna can hear his should blades roll and pop, and it sends a shiver down her spine. She has never liked it when people cracked or popped their bones around her. It makes her skin crawl, if she’s honest. 

“Taxis are too expensive, love. All I require is a cup of coffee and the best way to contact you.” Niall says, a cheeky smile adorning his features and the lilt in his voice has her hanging on her words. 

And after Niall’s continued hospitality and sweetness, how could Hanna deny him such simple repayments?

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[wildroseofarran]

Moving Day || Tristan, Meg, & Jeremiah

Tristan: It had been nearly two weeks since Tristan's meeting with Jeremiah and a full week of Ronan telling him several times a day that he needed to get in touch with him so he could get laid.

Tristan didn't plan on doing that any time soon, but he did need to get in touch with Jeremiah. Especially once his mother had told him that she'd found a couple of potential places for Jeremiah to live.

{Text to Sunshine Man} Hey Sunshine Man :)

Jeremiah: Jeremiah smiled at the sight of the message. That must mean an apartment has been found, right?! Dobby will soon be a free elf!

{Text: Tristan} ACK! A WILD FISHERMAN APPEARS

{Text: Tristan} SUNSHINE MAN USES: HEY, HOW ARE YOU?

Tristan: Oh, god. He'd forgotten how quickly and easily this man could get a smile out of him.

{Text} I'm doing good!

{Text} You?

Jeremiah: {Text} Good!

He sent a picture of himself in a bright yellow hoodie, hugging a boxset of Batman: The Animated Series

{Text} I've clearly been VERY busy!! How's your 1000 injuries?

Tristan: Tristan chuckled.

{Text} They've mostly healed. Got some new scars to add to my collection.

{Text} Too busy to have breakfast with my mama and find a new place to live?

Jeremiah: {Text} That's good!!!

{Text} I sent that message too quickly before I finished reading what you wrote It isn't good that you're gonna have scars im sorry

{Text} Unless you think it's a good thing in which case it's totally a good thing and I take back what I said!!!

{Text} But if you think it's a bad thing I'm sorry.

{Text} You shouldn't think it's a bad thing though Im sure they look great and that you'll make peace with them!

{Text} Unless they ruin your self-esteem in which case I'll help you look into ways of removing scars, if that's what you want. In which case that's okay.

{Text} Tristan: Tristan's face already hurt, this was ridiculous. Completely ridiculous. He was far too old to be having this kind of reaction to a happy man being himself.

{Text} I'm just fine with my scars, sunshine man, your reaction is fine

{Text} How about tomorrow? I can come pick you up around 9 and we can go to the bakery

Jeremiah: {Text} 9? am? That still exists? They haven't cancelled that yet?

{Text} I'll do my best O Captain, My Captain! See you then! : D

Tristan: {Text} We could make it 9:30 if 9 is too early? Or 10 even

Jeremiah: {Text} NOW I FEEL BAD

{Text} Please make it for 10 my body would appreciate it...

Tristan: He laughed.

{Text} 10 it is XD

{Text} See you tomorrow!

Jeremiah: {Text} Thanks!!! See ya. Take care!

He should probably... go to sleep right now...

Tristan: After texting Jeremiah, Tristan called his mom and told her they'd meet her at the bakery tomorrow at ten and to save them a table if she got there first.

The next morning at 9:50, he was knocking at Jeremiah's door.

Jeremiah: Tristan would hear gasping.

"You're EARLY!!"

Tristan: "It's ten!" Tristan laughed.

Jeremiah: "Ten TO ten!" and now for frantic attempts of dressing and drying after spending forty minutes singing in the shower.

Tristan: "Close enough! Sorry, I tried really hard to be late."

Jeremiah: "You didn't try HARD ENOUGH. You have a BOAT, you could've been HOURS late!"

Tristan: "I didn't sail here!" he chuckled. "I drove. And being hours late would've been rude."

Jeremiah: He opens the door, adjusting the collar around his neck. Why is it so - oh. His shirt is on backwards. He'll just... slowly... close the door and fix that...

Tristan: Jeremiah would be greeted with a grin that slowly became a laugh as the door closed.

Jeremiah: Okay! The door swung open again to reveal Jeremiah and his wide smile.

"Hi!"

Tristan: Tristan smiled back. "Well good morning, sunshine man. Ready for food?"

Jeremiah: "Pff. Always." He checks he has everything and then steps forward to shut the door behind him.

Tristan: "Then follow me." Tristan led them back downstairs and out to his truck.

"It doesn't smell like fish, promise," he said as he opened the door for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah: "I'll be the judge of that, sir." he replies as he gets into the truck. He looks around, inspecting everything, especially what was or wasn't hung over the rear-view mirror.

Tristan: "It's clean!" He closed the door and made his way around the truck.

Which it was. He'd taken extra care to make sure his truck was clean in preparation for today, and had even hung an air freshener from his rearview mirror along with the various bits of sea glass and seashells that were already there.

Jeremiah: "Hey I've got a question." he says when Tristan joins him in the truck. "Why can people hear the ocean in seashells? What's that about?"

Tristan: "It's not really the ocean," Tristan said as he pulled onto the road. "It's the ambient noise resonating inside the walls of the shell. The pitch of the sound depends on the size of the shell, how much air is in it, that kinda thing. But, boring facts aside, that resonating happens to sound like waves crashing on a shore."

Jeremiah: "Hey! That's so not boring." He got comfortable in the seat, looking at the other. "Pretty cool, and sad. People think they're hearing something... big and open but they're really just hearing a small little shell. It's like... the illusion of freedom."

Tristan: "I think it's just this very human need to inject wonder into our everyday lives. It's sad if that's the only source of wonder in someone's life, though."

Jeremiah: Hmm...

"I think that's good. The injecting wonder into the mundane part. Like, there's nothing wrong in being amazed by everything. Look at this truck! How awesome is it that all you have to do is push your feet and move your arms and this super heavy piece of machinery does what you tell it to?! And how cool is it that your phone is literally just wires and electricity and you can TALK TO PEOPLE INSTANTLY?!"

Tristan: No one on earth would be short of wonder in their lives with Jeremiah around. His sense of wonder was healthy enough for ten people.

"You're absolutely right. We're literally living in the future we imagined as children. We've got electric cars and VR videogames and huge, colorful cities, and bullet trains and AI."

Jeremiah: "And yet we STILL haven't found a way to keep boats from tipping over when waves are a bit big!"

Tristan: "Ah well, Mother Nature can't be contained with technology."

Jeremiah: "What about with hover boats?"

Tristan: “Those defy physics.”

Jeremiah: "In WHAT WORLD?"

Tristan: “In this one,” he chuckled. “Mother Nature doesn’t keep you on the ground, gravity does.”

Jeremiah: "Listen. The more you learn about science, the less you know and understand. The possibilities are endless. Hover boats will totally be a thing one day!"

Tristan: “They kind of are. Don’t know if they actually hover but they’re called hover boats.”

Jeremiah: LOUD GASP.

"GET ONE!!"

Tristan: “I’d have nowhere to put it! Or any use for it for that matter.”

Jeremiah: "NO USE FOR A HOVER BOAT?!"

Tristan: "I already have a ship and a car!" he laughed. "Got land and water travel covered."

Jeremiah: "What about air travel, Tristan? What. About. That?!"

Tristan: “Plane.”

Jeremiah: "And DO you have a plane?!"

Tristan: “No, but it’s super easy to get a plane ticket whenever I need to fly somewhere, which is almost never.”

Jeremiah: "That's not the same. Soz, dude."

Tristan: Tristan laughed. “Be that as it may, I don’t think the hover boats we currently have actually fly. I think they float like...an inch off the ground?”

Jeremiah: "Huh. I wonder how much power it takes just to float an inch above the ground. They should make salt-water fueled boats and wind-powered airplanes. That just makes SENSE."

Tristan: “It does. But the people in charge rarely do things that make sense.”

Jeremiah: Jeremiah gasped, "Don't talk about the people in charge!" He whispered, "They're probably listening right now!"

Tristan: “You’re right,” Tristan whispered back. Then, at normal volume, “I mean of course they made the right decisions! And so smart too!”

Jeremiah: "SO SMART, WOW I WISH I COULD BE THEM. SO MUCH RESPECT."

Tristan: “Right? I feel so safe all the time!”

Jeremiah: "I don't know about you, but I never ever cover my laptop webcam with tape because of how safe I feel. Also Black Mirror should be cancelled."

Tristan: “Well of course not, there’s definitely not some random FBI dude watching our every move. Completely insane. Black Mirror is trash TV.”

He was trying his best not to laugh as he parked in front of the bakery.

Jeremiah: Jeremiah grinned tapped his index to his lips. Yep! Keep it shtum!

He stretched when the car parked and went to open the car door. "Is she already here?"

Tristan: “Um....” Tristan got out and looked around for his mom’s little convertible. “No, not yet. Let’s grab a table. Inside or out?”

Jeremiah: "Uhhhhh INSIDE 'cause otherwise you have to deal with flies!"

Tristan: “Inside it is,” he said with a grin.

The door was held open for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah: "Damn, you really know how to treat a lady!" His smile matched Tristan's as he entered and looked around.

Tristan: “I try my best. Hey, Laura!” he called to the woman behind the counter.

“Hi! I’m out of blueberry muffins, you have to wait for the next batch.”

“And my mama says she knows me better than I know myself.”

Laura chuckled. “Your mama stopped feeding you breakfast every day. Sit, I’ll bring you some coffee.”

“Coffee and...” Tristan turned to Jeremiah. “What would you like to drink?”

Jeremiah: Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tristan is a blueberry muffin man!! Muffins must look so small in his big beefy fisherman hands.

"A STRAWBERRY MILKSHA- I mean. Coffee. Pfft. I'm an adult. Coffee. Tea. Water. Taxes. I'm-" gonna go sit down now.

Tristan: Laura's face was a mixture of confusion, amusement of delight as she looked to Tristan for some clarification.

"Two coffees and a glass of orange juice," he said, following Jeremiah to the table.

Jeremiah: .............. Dammit Jeremiah doesn't LIKE coffee!

"So excited about my coffee." he sat down and folded and refolded the napkin. "So - such a - coffee. Caffeine.  Because I don't have enough energy naturally."

Tristan: Tristan just grinned and watched Jeremiah be flustered for a little bit.

"Coffee's for my mama. Ordered you juice."

Jeremiah: "... Oh. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Thanks." he pushed the napkin aside. "I lied, I don't like coffee and I'm not an adult, I'm sorry."

Tristan: "No problem. I don't think I count as an adult either so don't even worry about it."

Jeremiah: "Really?! Do you watch cartoons?"

Tristan: "Old ones, yeah. Looney Tunes, Yogi, that kinda thing."

Jeremiah: "Awwww that's cute. Little blueberry muffin man."

Tristan: "Wait, what?" he chuckled. "Little blueberry muffin man?"

Jeremiah: "Yeah! Didn't that individual over there say you're basically addicted to blueberry muffins?"

Tristan: "Addicted is a strong word. I just have one a minimum of three times a week and prefer them over all other muffins."

Jeremiah: "That's just what an addict would say!" Jeremiah placed a hand on Tristan's, "It's okay. We'll get you help."

Tristan: He laughed. "Just wait until you see these muffins, you'll understand completely."

That was the sight Meg walked in on. Her son's happy, laughing face as a handsome man she didn't recognize touched his hand.

Could this be...?

"Oh, hey, Meg!"

Laura's voice turned her attention away at the same moment it drew Tristan's away from his companion.

"Hey, ma!"

Jeremiah: Jeremiah looked up, standing with a smile.

"Hi!" he waved, "I'm Jeremiah, the homeless guy."

Tristan: Oh, goodness, there was a lot to process here. Focus, Megan, she told herself.

"Hello, Laura! And hello to the two of you!"

She approached the table and held out a hand to Jeremiah. "I'm Meg, the fisherman's mama. And I'd say you're far from homeless, the Wayside is lovely. Lovely but not a permanent home." She sat in the chair Tristan pulled out for her and kissed his cheek in greeting.

Jeremiah: Jeremiah hesitated but didn't want to be rude. He'll just ignore the visions. He can do it!!! He took her hand and shook it, smiling widely at them both.

"Awwww." He said to the little kiss, "I won't say that I'm jealous out loud but just know that I totally am. Parent kisses are the best kisses." He returned to his seat. "Did you have to travel far to get here?"

Tristan: Meg smiled. "Well all of Tristan's friends have called me mama for as long as I can remember so if the spirit moves you, go on and do the same." She shook her head. "Not at all, my house isn't too far off the square. Ya'll been waiting long?"

Tristan shook his head. "Nope, just got here a little while ago. Ordered you coffee. Here it comes now."

"Aw, thank you, baby. And thank you, Laura."

"No problem!" Laura set down two mugs of coffee and a giant glass of orange juice for Jeremiah. "What are ya'll having this morning?"

Jeremiah: Mama?? Jeremiah probably took that a little too to heart. He had never had a mother. He wondered what it was like.

"Thank you!!! Do you do waffles?!" The deep train of thought came to an abrupt stop at the thought of food.

Tristan: Laura grinned. "Yes, we do, and let me tell you I fought hard for them to be on the menu. We do them topped with powdered sugar and your choice of fruit."

Jeremiah: "Well then you're an ANGEL and I choose strawberries and you're the ruler of all the land. Also this orange juice is the best thing I've ever had and I haven't even tasted it yet, I just know."

Tristan: Watching Laura's reaction was like a flashback to watching Elsie's. Her face lit up and her cheeks colored ever so faintly.

"Goodness! You just made my whole entire week!" she chuckled. "You're getting a whole heap of strawberries." She turned to Tristan. "Your weight in blueberry muffins for you." Not a question, a statement that went uncontested by Tristan. "And for you, Meg?"

"Give me one of the cheese souffles."

"All rightie, will do. Back in a sec."

Jeremiah: "A cheese soufflé?? That's a thing?" Whispered to Meg, as if it was a secret.

Tristan: She nodded. "Not just a cheese souffle. A four cheese souffle."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah gasped. "People who are lactose intolerant must seriously hate it."

Tristan: "They really must. It's a shame, really. They're missing out."

Jeremiah: "I bet it's delicious. I hope you enjoy it!"

Tristan: "You should try it sometime! They make one with spinach, too."

Jeremiah: "I will! Will you come back here with me so I can? Wouldn't feel right without you. It would be like... if there was a bunch of leaves everywhere but no trees. Just wrong. And kinda scary."

Tristan: Another one bites the dust, Tristan thought, smiling as he watched his mother be utterly charmed by Jeremiah. The sunshine man had a real talent for that.

"Aren't you the sweetest? Where on earth did Tristan find you? All his friends are salty sailors."

Jeremiah: "It was my birthday so I was having a birthday meal and Tristan got sat next to me and told me happy birthday and I said 'you too' and then died and came back to life."

Tristan: Meg laughed, not unkindly. "Well it's good someone finally said it to him. He forgets it every other year."

Jeremiah: "FORGETS his birthday?" He looked at Tristan incredulously.

Tristan: Tristan squinted at his mother before saying, "I'm a busy man! Days start to blur when you have to get up before the asscrack of dawn every day."

Jeremiah: "When is it??" He brought out his phone so that he could make a note in his calendar.

Tristan: “March fifteenth,” said Tristan. “I get all the Caesar jokes.”

Jeremiah: "Wait... we met on February 28th... and it's been... so your birthday is..." He counts on his fingers.

Tristan: “In a couple of days,” Meg supplied.

Jeremiah: "OH MY - WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO FOR IT?! Or, y'know. What are you gonna do for it? I totally don't expect to be invited if you do something, even though I would definitely day yes, but you gotta do something!"

Tristan: Meg chuckled and looked at her son. “Go on, Tristan. Tell him what you’re gonna do for your birthday.”

“.....Work.”

Jeremiah: The light in Jeremiah's eyes died. He picked up his orange juice and leaned back in his seat, sipping and judging Tristan at the same time.

Tristan: “Aw, come on now. Tourist season is upon us, people are placing bigger orders.”

Jeremiah: "Theeeeeen let me help! One more person would make the whole thing quicker, right? We can do it, you can get off work earlier and celebrate without missing out!"

Tristan: “I can’t ask you to work for me on my birthday.”

“Just bother him until he takes the day off,” Meg offered. “He gets real annoyed if you send him multiple texts in a row.”

Jeremiah: Jeremiah laughed, "What?! I always send like a thousand in one go! I must seriously piss you off. Oops - sorry!" He covered his mouth, looking at Meg. "Ironic that I have the sailor mouth, huh?"

Tristan: “Oh honey, you’re fine, I’ve heard worse. The kind of texts I’m talking about aren’t multiple helpful texts.” She smiled at her son’s glare. “They’re the kind where you send one for every word in a sentence.”

Jeremiah: "I mean... I definitely do that. Do you hate me, Tristan?!" He gasped. "You should take the day off work on your birthday to decide whether or not you hate me. The fishes will still be there the next day."

Tristan: Tristan shook her head. “Nope. You’re nowhere near her level. She’s an English major, she finds the most complicated way to structure a sentence and then goes and sends me texts that only have a comma. She’ll break you.”

Jeremiah: Jeremiah grinned. "Please do it to me!"

Tristan: “Look what you did, Megan.”

Meg burst out laughing.

Jeremiah: Fear and confusion flashed over Jeremiah's face. He was ready to clear the table so that her swing wouldn't knock anything other... but she... laughed...

White people... are wild...

"Did y- did- uh-" he's broken.

Tristan: “Mama has a troll sense of humor, forgive her.”

“I hang around college students all day, blame them.” She smiled at Jeremiah. “I would love to send you whole sentences in individual texts. I also still say you should talk Tristan into taking his birthday off.”

Jeremiah: He leaned across the table and whispered to her, "Do you think I have that kind of power? With great power comes great responsibility..."

Tristan: She nodded. “I really think you do. I believe in you.” Look how much you already make him smile and laugh, she added in her head.

Jeremiah: He hummed and leaned back.

"Sir Tristan! I now declare you not working on your birthday!" He grabs a napkin and pretends to bang it on the table. "COURT ADJOURNED!"

Tristan: Tristan gave a good-natured chuckle. He should’ve known her mom would take to Jeremiah enough to gleefully enter into cahoots with him.

“What if I take a half day?”

Jeremiah: "Then I'll work with you. Is that what you want? Really? I'll end up making friends with the fish or feeling bad for them and sending them back in the water. You might as well take the whole day."

Tristan: "A couple of hours early in the morning then. I have traps I need to bait and check."

Jeremiah: "Can't the dude you work with do it?"

Tristan: "I'm the one with the ship."

Jeremiah: "What's the worst that could happen if you didn't work at all?"

Tristan: "Well..." Okay, you got him there.

Jeremiah: Jeremiah slyly offered his hand down the side of the table for Meg to give him a low high five.

Tristan: She grinned and high-fived him as Laura came over with their breakfast.

"Here we go. Waffle with strawberries, blueberry muffin, and four cheese souffle. Ya'll need anything else?"

Jeremiah: "Yaaaaaay!" He made room for everyone's food. "WAIT! You gotta put a candle in the muffin, it's almost Tristan's birthday!"

Tristan: "Aww, did he actually remember this year?"

Jeremiah: "Yep! He even got the day off."

Tristan: "Well how about that! I'd say that earns him a candle. Any preference?" she asked Tristan.

"Surprise me." Might as well lean into it.

"Will do."

Jeremiah: "Yaaaaaaay..." Jeremiah quietly cheered, clapping a little.

Tristan: Tristan smiled. "Proud of yourself?"

Jeremiah: "VERY."

Tristan: Tristan and Meg both laughed. "At least there's that."

Laura returned with a candle shaped like a mermaid tail. "Felt appropriate," she said, sticking it in the muffin and lighting it with a lighter she'd also brought with her. "Make a wish and blow it out."

Jeremiah: Ooooh, yeeeees! Jeremiah clapped more. A wiiiiiish! Yaaaay!

Tristan: Tristan thought for a moment and blew out the candle, while Meg and Laura joined Jeremiah in his quiet applause.

"Did you make it a good one?" Meg asked.

"Tried to. We'll see if it comes true."

Jeremiah: "WHAT WAS IT?! Wait don't tell me!" He covered his ears.

Tristan: He laughed. "You wouldn't wanna hear it anyway, it's boring."

Jeremiah: "Is it about fish?"

Tristan: "Nope, not about fish."

Jeremiah: "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm weather? More muffins?!"

Tristan: "You told me not to tell!" he chuckled.

Jeremiah: Dammit!

"I WAS JUST TESTING YOU." nice save. Now eat your waffle, Jer.

Tristan: "Uh huh, sure." He grinned as he took a giant bite of muffin and proceeded to sigh happily.

Jeremiah: He tucks in, making a similar noise of pleasure.

"Laura you're the best!!"

Tristan: "Thanks, honey!" Laura called from the counter.

Jeremiah: He gave a thumbs up in her general direction before continuing to chow down.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Literally the reason we're here. You think you've found me a place?"

Tristan: "Oh! Yes." Meg nodded and set her fork down for a moment. "I have a few potentials, one of which I strongly advise against unless you're willing to take the risk. Charlie Brandt, the owner of O'Charlie's bar, has a little 'apartment' above his garage that he's renting."

Tristan immediately shook his head. "No, not there."

Meg nodded, that's the one I was going to advise against."

Jeremiah: "... Why not there? Who's Charlie Brandt, the owner of O'Charlie's bar?"

Tristan: "Let's just say it's the grossest and shadiest bar in Edenton. Charlie himself isn't that much better."

Jeremiah: "... It's uh- it's gonna be a hard pass on that one, Meg. What else ya got?"

Tristan: She nodded. "I figured. Another possibility is renting one of the smaller cabins that are scattered around here. The man who owns them all isn't that fussy, he just cares that your rent is paid on time."

Jeremiah: "Where are they?"

Tristan: "Scattered near the coast and around the woods," said Tristan.

Jeremiah: "Like a dead body?" He whispered.

Tristan: "I promise there are no dead bodies, sunshine man. Just pretty, peaceful cabins in your choice of scenery."

Jeremiah: "A cabin. In the woods. There's LITERALLY THOUSANDS OF HORROR MOVIES ABOUT THAT!"

Tristan: "They're not murdery, they're nice. Lots of people rent all year, plenty of people nearby."

Jeremiah: "... What's the other option?"

Tristan: "Third option is an apartment. There's a complex of outdoor apartments that might work.  But honestly, I'd go for one of the cabins. One of the ones near the beach if you don't like the woods. They a little bigger and more private. But of course, the choice is yours."

Jeremiah: "Oooh a beach! That could be cool?" He was looking to Tristan for approval.

Tristan: "I'd go for that, too. Mind you the ones I've seen aren't right on the beach. Ultimately, price is the deciding factor."

"Price wise Charlie wins by a longshot," said Meg. "But once again, no offense to Charlie, I don't think that's a good idea."

Jeremiah: "... Oh." Uh... "I don't really have... that much."

Tristan: "In that case, I have another potential. One I was only going to bring up if I liked you, which I do."

Jeremiah: "Awww, yay! What is it?"

Tristan: Meg smiled. "I have a spare room I've been thinking about renting. I don't have any pets, I don't smoke, my neighborhood is friendly, quiet, and nice. I tend to stay up late to grade papers but my home office is in my garage which I converted years ago so the light and noise doesn't reach the bedrooms. If you feel comfortable--and feel free to think about it--you are welcome to rent the spare room."

Jeremiah: "Wh..." He blinked. "I mean I - for now at least I can't pay you by card, and..." He scratched his head, "would you be okay with that?" Asked to both Tristan and Meg.

Tristan: "Card or cash doesn't matter to me. I'd actually prefer cash, cards annoy me. And I'd be willing to discount your rent if you agree to mow the lawn. Those are my terms."

Jeremiah: .... Tristan???? This offer is sounding really good???? Are you okay with this???

Tristan: Tristan simply smiled. He wasn't even surprised; this was exactly the type of thing his mother had done all his life. Probably all her life.

All he said was, "Her yard isn't too big, it's a good deal. And there's always cookies in the cookie jar."

Jeremiah: "YOU HAD ME AT COOKIES. I'd love to! I swear I'll be SUPER clean! Thank you so much!"

Tristan: Meg laughed. "All right, good. I was serious about the lawn thing. I will discount your rent to avoid ever touching the lawn mower again."

Jeremiah: "I'm crazy clums- I mean. I'm epic at mowing. I promise you won't regret this! Yay! Thank you!"

Tristan: "I believe in you, sunshine man," Tristan said with a smile.

"I do, too."

Jeremiah: 'Awww. Gonna make me blush."

Tristan: "It's a risk we're going to have to take." Meg finished off her coffee just as Laura swept by with another. "Just let me know when you wanna come see it and then move in."

Jeremiah: "Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh now? Wait, this isn't like a Get Out kinda situation, is it?"

Tristan: "Sure, we can do it today," she chuckled. "What's Get Out?"

Jeremiah: "You haven't seen Get Out?!"

Tristan: "Name doesn't ring a bell."

Jeremiah: "Guess when we're living together we're gonna have to have loads of movie nights, huh? And Tristan can come! Have you seen Get Out?"

Tristan: "No, but I can tell you now you're neeeever gonna get her to watch it. Megan don't do horror movies."

"It's a horror movie!?"

Tristan smiled and gestured as if to say 'see?'.

Jeremiah: "ACTUALLY according to the Oscars or whatever some people think it's a comedy so you're okay!"

Tristan: Meg squinted. "But is it really a comedy?"

Jeremiah: "To... some people. Some parts. Kinda."

Tristan: "I'm gonna have to disappoint you, honey. Can't do it."

Jeremiah: "Even if Tristan holds your hand?!"

Tristan: "Tristan thinks it's hilarious to see me suffer during horror movies."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah gasped.

"Bad son!" He threw a napkin at him. "Actually I need that--" he's gonna have to reach over and get it. Waffles get messy.

Tristan: "I do not think it's hilarious to see her suffer," he chuckled, offering Jeremiah a clean napkin. "I just think it's funny when teeny little things make her jump."

Jeremiah: He took the napkin and shook his head. "I'll protect you, Meg!"

Tristan: “I couldn’t even watch those parody versions of scary movies. But I will give it exactly one try. And I reserve the right to go hide in my room.”

Jeremiah: "... We also have to have ice cream with us."

Tristan: “Oh there’s always ice cream in my house.”

Jeremiah: "We're gonna be best friends, Meg."

Tristan: "I rather think we are. Oh, almost forgot. My house pretty much doubles as a library at this point so you're free to borrow any and all of my books."

Jeremiah: "What kind of stuff do you read?"

Tristan: "Biographies, poetry, sci-fi, classics, plays, you name it."

"And, get ready for the ironic twist of the century," Tristan deadpanned around a bite of muffin. "She has a dedicated section of horror novels."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah laughed, "Aweeeesome! I'm super into philosophy and science and comic books! Do you read any comics? Oh! What's your favorite horror book and did you see the movie for it if it had one??"

Tristan: "Frankenstein, and yes, I've seen nearly all the adaptations of it. I've also read a number of graphic novels, but not really comics like the ones Tristan read when he was younger. I don't share the public's infatuation with superheroes."

Jeremiah: "Ooooooh shit. Oops, sorry!" Bad, Jer! Bad! "You don't?? You know I'm a superhero?"

Tristan: "You're fine," Meg chuckled, leaning back in her seat with her coffee now that she'd finished her souffle. She really was having a lovely time, and was so far pleased with her decision to bring up her spare room for rent.

There was always a chance it wouldn't work out, of course, but she doubted it wouldn't. Jeremiah seemed like a truly lovely man to know.

"Really, a superhero? What powers and qualifications do you possess?"

Jeremiah: "It's a secret... but I'm awesome." He wasn't exactly joking, but he wasn't exactly being direct, either... He had woken up to a strange man bestowing powers upon him. He didn't know what he was meant to do with them yet, but he's sure they held some greater purpose.

Tristan: “I thought superheroes were supposed to keep their identities a secret,” Tristan said with a grin. “He said I had to get to level 5 friend before he told me his powers.”

“Oh?” Meg smiled as well. “What level is he currently at?”

Jeremiah: "Hmmm... three. Not long left, but there's some room for improvement."

Tristan: “I’m already at three? That’s good progress. How did I get that high?”

Jeremiah: "You watched Star Wars with me and offered to help me find a place to live." Those are obviously on par.

Tristan: “That’s what any friend would do, regardless of clearance level.”

Jeremiah: "But you did it the first time you met me."

Tristan: “Call it small town hospitality.”

Jeremiah: "I've been in this town for fifty years and nobody else has done that!"

Tristan: Tristan laughed. “Fifty, huh?”

Jeremiah: He put on his best old man voice and trembled, "I'm old!"

Tristan: “Oh yeah, you’re ancient.”

Meg shook her head at them. “How long have you been here Jeremiah?”

Jeremiah: "I don't..." he laughed anxiously. "I don't remember."

Tristan: “Feels that way sometimes, doesn’t it?” She sighed wistfully. “Time feels like it moves slower here.”

Jeremiah: He rubbed his arm. Yeah. Let's go with that. He smiled sadly and finished off his food.

Tristan: Meg studied Jeremiah for a moment. She'd only known him for about an hour but already she could tell that wasn't his usual smile.

"Do you have family in the area?"

Jeremiah: "Uh... no." He twirled his fork anxiously.

Tristan: She gave him a sympathetic look. “That must be hard. But for what it’s worth, you’ve got us now.”

Jeremiah: He smiled, scratching his head. "Awww, don't make me cry in public!"

Tristan: She just laughed. “I mean it. Just call me mama.”

Jeremiah: Jeremiah gasped in excitement, "I've never had one of those before! I mean, y'know, apart from I obviously have some kind of mother. I'm not a test tube baby... that I know of. But, like, in the concept sense of a mother - growing up with one. In the grand scheme of things."

Tristan: Tristan was having real trouble not smiling. "He has two dads," he said, simplifying.

"Gotcha," Meg chuckled. "Well now you have a mama, too. My first act as your surrogate mama is to ask how your breakfast is. Good waffles?"

Jeremiah: "Delicious!" He grinned. "How's your orange thing I forgot the name of?!"

Tristan: "The souffle? Incredible. Josie--Laura's mama--really knows how to bake. Everything they sell is delicious."

Jeremiah: "Aww sweet! How's your muffin, Muffin Man?"

Tristan: Tristan just sighed contentedly in response. While the two of them had been talking Laura had brought him his second muffin and he was already halfway through it.

Jeremiah: With another laugh Jeremiah nodded. "I'm happy for you and your muffins."

Tristan: “So am I,” he said with a grin. “Want one?”

Jeremiah: "Ohhhh nooo I couldn't poooooss- yes, yes I do."

Tristan: “Laura! Can we get another muffin?”

“You haven’t even finished that one!”

“It’s for Jeremiah!”

“Oh, okay, I’ll bring it right over.”

Jeremiah: "Thaaaaaaaank yoooooooou!" He called out to her.

Tristan: "You're welcome, honey," she said, coming over with the muffin. "Anyone want more juice or coffee?"

"Coffee," said Tristan.

Jeremiah: "Uhh no thanks! I'm god - good. Not God. Yet. Wait is that blasphemy? I'M GOOD."

Tristan: "For what it's worth, I think we'd be better off if you were God," Laura said as she walked back to the counter. "Did you want any coffee, Meg?"

"I'm good, darlin'."

Jeremiah: Oh, that's an interesting compliment. He smiled at Tristan, as if silently asking how he felt about the whole God matter.

Tristan: Tristan found himself agreeing with Laura, although the only outward sign of that was a smile.

“Try the muffin, sunshine man. I promise your life will never be the same.”

Jeremiah: "YOU TRY THE MUFFIN." He was objecting for no reason other than to object. He'll reach out and break a little piece off to try anyway.

Tristan: He laughed. “What a contrary superhero we have. Whatcha think?”

Jeremiah: "Mmmmmmmmmmm OH! YOU KNOW WHAT THIS NEEDS?! WARM CUSTARD!!"

Tristan: "Laura makes really good custard," said Meg. "I think she only makes it in tart form though."

Jeremiah: "DIP THE MUFFIN INTO THE TART."

Tristan: Meg gave a sage nod. "Genius. Laura, honey, can you bring us a custard tart?"

"Coming right up!"

Tristan couldn't help but laugh again. "This has got to be the most unhealthy breakfast in the history of the universe."

Jeremiah: "YOU'RE WELCOME! Happy birthday!" He grinned and put his hands in the shape of a heart.

Tristan: "Thank you," he chuckled, finishing off his own muffin and his coffee as Laura brought Jeremiah his custard tart.

Jeremiah: "Thank you, Queen!" He pushed it closer to Tristan. "You try it first."

Tristan: "The tart or the dunking the muffin into the tart?"

Jeremiah: "Dunking. Dunk away, sir!"

Tristan: "All right." Tristan grabbed a piece of muffin and dunked--more like scooped really--into the tart. The grin that broke out across his face when he tried it was instantaneous and blinding. "Holy shit. That's so fucking good."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah laughed. "RIGHT?! Come with me and you'll see a world of pure imagination I guess?" It was his turn! Yum, yum.

Tristan: "Done. Got any other brilliant food ideas?"

Jeremiah: "Uhhhhh......................... OH! CANDY! ADD SUGARY CANDY TO IT!"

Tristan: Meg shook her head. "You two are going to have so many cavities."

Jeremiah: "WORTH IT! Try it, Meg?"

Tristan: "The dunking or whatever sugary candy concoction you're dreaming up?"

Jeremiah: "Dunking!"

Tristan: "I'll try a dunk." Which she reacted to in nearly the same way as her son.

"Next time I make muffins I'm making custard to go with them."

Jeremiah: "This is why you should always listen to random people you meet on their birthday after you've been attacked by the ocean."

Tristan: "That's a damn good quote for one of those inspirational posters."

Jeremiah: "You gonna make one?" He smiled, getting more custard and muffin into his face hole.

Tristan: "My artistic talents aren't good enough to make one."

Jeremiah: "I believe in yoooooooou - HOM." he stuffed his face.

Tristan: Tristan laughed and shook his head. “Thanks, sunshine man. Maybe I will one day.”

Jeremiah: He giggled with his mouth full. "Good! I'll be counting the days."

Tristan: "Just don't count too many." Maybe he could get someone else to make it, give it to Jeremiah as a surprise.

Jeremiah: "I can't count past twelve so you're okay."

Tristan: "Okay," Tristan chuckled. "I'll be right back."

He slipped away to the counter to pay before either of them could stop him.

Jeremiah: "Okay!" Jeremiah doesn't notice, he immediately starts having a chat with Meg about... nothing in particular.

Tristan: Meg noticed, but she said nothing. Just smiled and talked to Jeremiah until Tristan came back.

"Ya'll ready to go?" he asked. "Jeremiah's got a house to get acquainted with."

Jeremiah: "Yeah!" He grinned, standing. "I bet the hotel is gonna be SUPER glad to get rid of me."

Tristan: "You kidding? They'll be devastated."

Jeremiah: "No way. They're totally betting on how long I'll end up staying there for... maybe I should enter the bet and then take all of their money!"

Tristan: Tristan laughed. It...actually wouldn’t surprise him at all if the inn staff had a pool going. He knew for a fact they’d had them before.

“You’re too sweet to bet on. They know a good guest from a bad one, trust me.”

Jeremiah: "Sweet? You're full of compliments, Tristan. You're like a compliment machine- oh! They should SO have those! I bet everyone would want one!"

Tristan: "You know, they really should," said Meg. "Maybe you can invent the first one ever and make your fortune on making people smile."

Jeremiah: "THAT WOULD BE AWESOME! Gotta think of some good compliments though. Hmm.... oh! I can use inspiration from people around me..." he pointed at Tristan, "You're the type of person other people appreciate." then at Meg, "You're the type of person other people can rely on." he pointed at Laura, "You're the type of person who brings other people delicious food! Without you we'd be hungry!" he laughed, "I'm good at this!!"

Tristan: Tristan just smiled. "Yeah, he's going to make ten billion dollars without breaking a sweat."

"Ten? Don't be silly. Twenty, easily."

Jeremiah: "Twenty?? Who needs THAT much money. I'll give it all to Laura."

Tristan: "I knew you looked like an angel," came Laura's voice from somewhere in the kitchen.

Jeremiah: "Awwww. That's gotta be blasphemous."

Tristan: “God’ll forgive me. I make the communion wafers.”

Jeremiah: "So you're gonna turn his son into a wafer and you think that'll earn you points? Nu-uhhh."

Tristan: “Other way around,” Meg chuckled. “The wafer becomes his son. I think. I don’t know. Point is, you’re very sweet for giving Laura your imaginary twenty billion dollars.”

Jeremiah: "The secret catch is..." He whispered, "I want a lifetime supply of waffles."

Tristan: Meg laughed. “I say that’s a fair trade. Mine aren’t as good as Laura’s, but if you’re lucky I might make us some waffles for breakfast sometime.”

Jeremiah: "Ooooooh! Breakfast AND a bed all in one place - OH MY GAH - THAT'S WHERE 'BED AND BREAKFAST' COMES FROM!"

Tristan: She laughed again. “Exactly. Just with less cat themed decor. Oh! Speaking of, are you allergic to them? There’s a feral one that kinda lives in my yard.”

Jeremiah: "Uhhhhhhhhhh...." Is he allergic to cats...? "I don't... think so."

Tristan: “Okay, good. He doesn’t really get close enough to pet or anything but it’s best to be safe.”

Jeremiah: "What's his name?"

Tristan: “He doesn’t have one. I just call him Cat.”

Jeremiah: He frowned. "How could you be so meaaaaan?"

Tristan: “Names have significance. I don’t know him well enough to choose one that suits him.”

Jeremiah: "Maybe that's exactly why you should name him! Something like... 'Mysterious'... 'Secat' (instead of secret. Get it? Get it?)"

Tristan: Meg smiled. "Maybe 'Mysterious' is too on the nose. We should scour movies, TV shows, and literature for a name."

Jeremiah: "Hmmmmmm.... What colour is the cat?"

Tristan: “Orange and white.”

Jeremiah: ".... Garfield?"

Tristan: "Sold," said Tristan. "He'll be Garfield the feral cat."

Jeremiah: "Yaaaas! We should get him a cute little hat too! With bells!"

Tristan: Tristan chuckled. "He doesn't let people near him, remember? No hats."

Jeremiah: "That's because you didn't name him! It will all change now."

Tristan: "You hold on to that hope."

Jeremiah: "What do we have if not hope?!"

Tristan: Meg nodded. "A very good point. Shall we go meet Garfield and your new home?"

Jeremiah: Gasp! "YES! Please! Yay! Thank you!"

Tristan: "All rightie, let's go."

"We'll follow you," said Tristan, getting to his feet. "Come on, sunshine man."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah stood, waving to Laura.

"BYE QUEEN!"

Tristan: "Bye, angel!"

Tristan chuckled and shook his head. "Got better game than every straight man in this town."

Jeremiah: "Game? Huh?"

Tristan: "You've managed to charm three women in the short time I've known you." He held the door open for Jeremiah and his mother.

Jeremiah: Jeremiah gestured for Meg to go first.

"I have literally NO idea what you're talking about. Did Laura put drugs in your muffin, Mr. Sailor Moon?"

Tristan: "The muffins are the drug, sunshine man."

Jeremiah: "Ooooh. I'm banning you from muffins! No more! Ever again! Muahahaha!"

Tristan: "I regret to inform you that your ban is not enforceable. See you in a bit, ma!"

He waved to his mother and opened the passenger door for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah: "Thank you kind gentleman," he grinned, stepping up into Tristan's truck. The moment the other sat down he had a question coming his way. "You won't mind if I live with her, right?"

Tristan: Tristan shook his head. "Not at all. I think it's great, actually. You'll like living with her."

Jeremiah: "Do you visit her a lot?"

Tristan: "As much as I can. I try to have dinner with her at least once a week."

Jeremiah: "Huh. Guess I'll be seeing you once a week."

Tristan: "Guess you will. How you feel about that?"

Jeremiah: For some reason, that question had him fidgeting with the seatbelt he hadn't yet put in place.

"Uhh why don't you tell me what you think I feel and I'll tell you if you're right?"

Tristan: That caught Tristan off guard. He could suddenly hear Ronan's voice in his head.

"Well..." He pulled onto the road. "I like to think we're becoming friends, so hopefully the thought of seeing me on a regular basis doesn't disgust you."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah laughed. "You're just trying to wiggle your way to level five to get to know my powers. I've unveiled your evil master plan! You can't slip anything past Doctor Jeremiah Jordan!"

Tristan: "Sure," he chuckled. "That's exactly what it is." He paused for a beat. "Seriously, though. You okay with seeing me all the time?"

Jeremiah: Why this weird tension? This weird ENERGY? Jeremiah could cut it with a knife. A huge knife! Not a butter knife - it would need to be a butcher's to get through this air.

"Why wouldn't I be? Like you said we're... friends. It's nice to be around someone familiar. You're the most familiar I've got."

Tristan: Tristan's expression softened. "I'm flattered, sunshine man," he said softly.

Jeremiah: "Whaaaaaat about you? You okay with seeing my epic face all the time?"

Tristan: "Of course. Still gotta get to level five."

Jeremiah: "You've got a lot more movie marathons to sit through before you get there!"

Tristan: "Bring it on. Next time we need popcorn and slushies."

Jeremiah: "Oooooh yaaaas. I looove the way you think!"

Tristan: “We can turn the living room into a movie theater, like my mom did for me when I was little.”

Jeremiah: "That's so cute!!! We HAVE to!! When??? Tomorrow! Your birthday!"

Tristan: "Well since I'm apparently taking the day off, my birthday seems like the perfect time. We also need pizza."

Jeremiah: "Yaaas, Tristaaaaan! You read my mind!"

Tristan: He laughed and turned onto his mother's street. "Might as well lean into my birthday festivities, right?"

Jeremiah: "Damn straight!" He wiggled in his seat. "Your car is so comfy. I could totally take a nap in here."

Tristan: "Well thank you. I've taken it camping a few times, makes a great tent."

Jeremiah: "Ohhhh I bet camping here is awesome! Like, the stars and stuff!"

Tristan: "It is, accounts for a good bit of the tourism. Used to camp out in the woods behind my mom's house all the time when I was a kid. Found a frog once."

Jeremiah: "There's a WOOD behind her house?! Can we camp there?! We SO should! Are there frogs? I feel like there would be frogs for some reason. Am I right? Do I have froggy-senses?"

Tristan: "There's a little creek that runs back behind there so yeah, there are some frogs. And we definitely should go camping."

Jeremiah: "Yay! That's awesome! When? Tomorrow? Your birthday?"

Tristan: Tristan laughed. "Why don't we leave all the fun stuff for my birthday?"

Jeremiah: "But then it will all be over in one day!"

Tristan: "There's no limit on camping trips and movie nights, sunshine man."

He pulled up in front of his mother's eclectic, colorful house.

Jeremiah: "Ooooooh. You're saying you wanna spend muuuuuultiple days with me, I s- is this it???? I'M GONNA BE LIVING IN, LIKE, A DREAM HOUSE!"

Tristan: That got another laugh. Jeremiah would consider this a dream house, with its myriad plants and garden gnomes and sun catchers and windchimes. It was distinctly bohemian, a reflection of the woman herself.

"Wait until you see the inside. No two rooms are the same color."

Jeremiah: "WELL THEN!" he opened the door and eagerly went to jump out, but his seatbelt caught him flung him back. "Argh! I'm trapped!"

Tristan: "Jesus, come here." He fought a laughing fit as he freed Jeremiah from his seatbelt. Never in his life did he'd encounter this situation in real life. "There you go. And there's mama," he added, nodding over to her approaching car.

Jeremiah: "Yay, my hero!" He hopped out of the car and shut the door behind him. "This place is awesome!"

Tristan: "Thank you, sweetie!" Meg called. "I agree. It's a mess of styles but it's my mess of styles. Come on, I'll give you the grand tour."

As stated, the house was much of a cheerful mess on the inside as it was on the outside. Books dominated rooms painted in soft earth tones and all sorts of knick-knacks and photos sat on nearly every surface. It was utter chaos, yet somehow neat. The house was pristine and the various mess carefully and deliberately organized.

"Tristan says he thinks this is what the inside of my head looks like," Meg was saying as she showed Jeremiah around. "I'm inclined to agree."

Jeremiah: Jeremiah would be amazed and captivated by every single detail in every single room. It was the type of utter chaos he could get on board with. It was new, different, exciting! He felt right at home already. It was incredible. He was... so... lucky. He couldn't remember any other home, not really. He remembered bits and pieces, he remembered rooms, but couldn't put them together.

This house... it would be his first house. This would be the first of many, perhaps... but this is where it would begin. This is where he would start to create memories. Hopefully these memories would last.

"That's so cool! Can I make my room look like the inside of my head? What would that even look like? Really dark and probably kinda gooey?"

Tristan: "Absolutely, go crazy! Hang up posters, get plants, make a fort, whatever you want. Make yourself at home."

Jeremiah: "A FORT!" he grinned at Tristan and tugged his sleeve, "Tristan, a FORT!"

Tristan: Tristan ginned. "Do it, sunshine man. Make a fort around your bed."

Jeremiah: "I WILL! CHALLENGE ACCEPTED - it will be the mightiest fort of all time!"

Tristan: "In that case you should see what you're working with," said Meg, opening the door to a bedroom at the end of the hall on the second floor.

It boasted a big bay window, soft teal walls, and a queen-sized bed.

"This is it."

Jeremiah: "Oooooooooooooooooh! This is way too nice for me. We'll need to tone down the niceness by at least 40%."

Tristan: Meg laughed. "You kidding? This is the bare minimum. I've got some end tables in the attic that'll make great bedside tables. They don't match, but barely anything in this place does. One of them has a stained-glass top."

Jeremiah: "So fancy! I'll be sure to get a top hat so I can fit in."

Tristan: "Get outta here with your fancy, I got it at the flea market."

Jeremiah: Gasp! "You can afford FLEA MARKETS?!"

Tristan: "Oh yeah, we're living in the lap of luxury over here. More than half the furniture in this house came from flea markets."

Jeremiah: "Woooow. You never told me you were so fancy, Sailor Moon!"

Tristan: "Eh, I try to be modest. And get this, the furniture that isn't from the flea market is from garage sales."

Jeremiah: "Woahhh. I don't think I can stay here, sorry. Thanks for the offer but I'm just not comfortable living above my means."

Tristan: Meg laughed in utter delight. "Oh yeah, we're gonna get along just fine. You keep exploring. Tristan, come help me get the end tables."

Jeremiah: "Cool! Thanks!" Jeremiah would begin by sitting on his new bed.

Tristan: While they retrieved the furniture, Meg wasted no time in gushing to Tristan, utterly delighted with her decision.

"He's so sweet. He's gonna be a great roommate."

"Yes, he is."

"I'm glad you met him, you need more friends."

"Hey, I have friends."

"You need more friends who aren't Oliver and the cook at the Inn."

Jeremiah: If Ronan could hear the conversation he'd be offended. His name should definitely come before the Goddamn cook at the Inn! RUDE!

Jeremiah bounced a little on the bed before standing. He inspected the curtains with his fingers, felt the walls and drawers.

He was filled with sorrow that he couldn't share this with his fathers. He swallowed at the thought of moving forward with his life, this unfamiliar life.

Tristan: Tristan was also offended by this. "I have Ronan!"

"Ronan is married. You need single friends to do single man things with you."

He squinted at his mother. "You mean boyfriend."

"You said it, not me."

Tristan didn't get a chance to say anything else before Meg entered the room.

"We've got end tables!"

Jeremiah: At the sound of someone approaching Jeremiah quickly wiped his face. A smile followed a little sniffle.

"Cool! By the way, where should I leave my shoes? I still have them on but I know some people don't like other people wearing shoes in their house. Is it like a Leave-Them-By-The-Door kinda situation or a Take-Them-Off-Wherever, or?"

Tristan: "I don't mind either way. The floors are all hardwood so there's no worry about anything getting ruined."

Jeremiah: "Okay!" he stepped out of them and used his foot to push them aside neatly.

Tristan: Meg and Tristan each took an end table and arranged them beside the bed.

Meg looked at them thoughtfully. "You need lamps.  I might have some of those up there, too. Be right back."

"And a mirror," Tristan called after her.

"Oh, I'll grab the one you made!"

Jeremiah: "Thank you!" he grinned, bouncing a little, "You MADE a mirror?"

Tristan: "Not the actual mirror, just the frame. Used driftwood and sea glass."

Jeremiah: "That's so cool! Are you SURE you want me to have it in my room?! I'm suuuuper clumsy!"

Tristan: "It'll be on the wall," he chuckled. "It'll be fine."

Jeremiah: "That's a lot of responsibility!"

Tristan: "I'll still read it to you. I've actually never read it so we'll both get to enjoy it."

Jeremiah: "Awww CUTE! Okay! You've got yourself a deal, Mr. Sailor-Moon. I'll buy the books... I've never read them either, I just know they're long."

Tristan: “That means we’ll have plenty of reading material. I recommend getting them from my friend’s store. Gotta support local businesses.”

Jeremiah: "Mmm tooooooottally. Plus... friend discount, right?!"

Tristan: "Yep.  He calls it the childhood friend discount."

Jeremiah: "Sounds like we'll be spending a helllllllll of a lot of time together, huh?!"

Tristan: Tristan laughed. "Looks like. Gonna be able to handle seeing me that much?"

Jeremiah: "I could ask you the same thing, old man." he put his hand in a fist as if holding a microphone and moved it closer to Tristan, "Tell the audience, Mr. Sailor-Moon. How does it feel?!"

Tristan: "To be called Mr. Sailor Moon? Interesting to say the least. To be here with you? Great. To be helping you move? Also great."

Jeremiah: "Awww SO ROMANTIC!"

Tristan: He chuckled. "Yep, helping someone move is the absolute height of romance."

Jeremiah: "Daaaaaaaaaamn Tristan. ESPECIALLY moving in with his mom! You're just too good for me, I can't handle it!"

Tristan: Oh look, his face was starting to hurt from smiling again. “I’m a regular Mr. Darcy. I don’t know how I walk down the street with all the floating hearts and chirping birds I leave in my wake.”

Jeremiah: Jeremiah laughed but stopped just so he could jokingly gag.

"I'm more of a... Dorian Gray guy myself. Gotta have that bit of danger y'know? Corruption makes romance!"

Tristan: Danger was the last word on earth he would associate with Jeremiah, but he still smiled.

“Hopefully without the creepy secret painting.”

Jeremiah: "ESPECIALLY with the creepy painting. How dare you?!" Of course, he was being sarcastic.

Tristan: Tristan just grinned and shook his head. “We have interesting conversations, don’t we?”

Jeremiah: "Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm nah. Ya basic."

Tristan: “I’m wounded to my very core.”

Jeremiah: "To YA BASIC core?!"

Tristan: “To the very core of my core.”

Jeremiah: "That one-" he went to poke Tristan's core only to- "woahhhh, dude!" Poke, poke, poke! "You're, like, Iron-Man! What the hell?!"

Tristan: Tristan had to laugh. “It’s all the manual labor.”

Jeremiah: "Sharing is caring you know! Spread some muscle around!"

Tristan: “You want my to share my manual labor?”

Jeremiah: "Uhhh I really don't. Just the benefits. Thanks!"

Tristan: “Sadly it doesn’t work that way, sunshine man.”

Jeremiah: "Then be GONE from my presence. I have to jump out of your car now, your muscles offend me."

Tristan: “I’ll throw on a burlap sack when we get to my mom’s.”

Jeremiah: "That would be nice of you, thank you. Think about other people when you go around like that! UGH!"

Tristan: “You’re completely right, I should be ashamed of myself.”

Jeremiah: "Uh huh. Now eat some cake and think about what you've done."

Tristan: “I accept my punishment,” he said with a sage nod.

Jeremiah: "Good 'cause I'm gonna get you SO much cake for your birthday."

Tristan: "I am but one man, there's a limit to how much cake I can eat."

Jeremiah: "Hmmmmmmmmmm OKAY! How about this: I will get... three cakes. Just three. If you eat them all - you have the whole day, so you don't have to do it in one sitting - then... uhhh... you get one wish!"

Tristan: "Three cakes? You have a very high opinion of my metabolism."

Jeremiah: "So does your big buff... booty? I COULDN'T THINK OF ANOTHER WORD BEGINNING WITH B."

Tristan: Tristan told himself not to read too much into that particular choice of words. "How about body?" he chuckled. "A bit obvious, I know."

Jeremiah: "... OH, DUH! How did I miss that?! Anyway. Deal or no deal, sir?!"

Tristan: He just smiled as he pulled and backed into his mother's driveway. "Deal."

Jeremiah: "Ssssshhhhweeeet. Imma tell your mama about it and she'll referee!"

Tristan: “She’ll referee my cake eating?”

Jeremiah: "Yeah. Who knows if you might try to cheat!"

Tristan: “I never cheat. Especially when ice cream cake is involved.”

Jeremiah: "Can I trust a man who's been hiding an eightpack this whole time?"

Tristan: “How have I been hiding it? I don’t think wearing clothes counts.”

Jeremiah: "Uhhhhhh PRETTY SURE IT DOES."

Tristan: "I call foul. I'm innocent on all hiding charges!"

Jeremiah: "How DARE you!!"

Tristan: "Oh, I dare. I dare so hard." He grinned as he got out of the truck.

Jeremiah: Jeremiah gasped as he followed, pointing at the other. "You ADMIT it! I'm sorry, Tristan. I'm gonna have to arrest you now."

Tristan: He laughed. "You're gonna arrest me, huh? Can't eat cake if I'm arrested."

Jeremiah: "I didn't realize every cake business in the universe would shut down if you went to prison! You must eat a LOT of cake if you're the one guy keeping them all open."

Tristan: He nodded with great emotion as he grabbed the box from the truck bed. "It's a heavy burden to carry but I do my best."

Jeremiah: "Awww." He went to do the same, taking the suitcase and what contained his laptop, "Not all heroes wear capes, some wear... uh... scuba gear? What do sailor's wear?? Those little white h- OHHH Em GEE. Do you have a little white hat?! I bet you look like a little puppy in it! PLEASE tell me that's a thing. If it isn't I know what I'm getting you for your birthday."

Tristan: Tristan laughed his head off all the way to the front door. "The only place I've seen those hats besides a box of Cracker Jacks is on Navymen. I just wear work clothes. Boots, gloves, that kinda thing. The only time I wear scuba gear is when I'm diving for fun or diving beneath the ship to clean her up."

Jeremiah: "You mean you don't have a uniform?! Boooooooor-RING."

Tristan: "It's about utility, sunshine man. You know how many pairs of pants I go through?"

Jeremiah: He laughed, "No!? How many?!"

Tristan: "Six so far this year."

Jeremiah: "... What the heCK do you do?" he knocked on the door with his elbow.

Tristan: "They get torn, they get stained, they get wet, they get mysterious marine stuff on them, so many things. I put my work clothes through the wringer. Gloves, too."

Jeremiah: "Huh. I bet you keep the uh... clothes-washing... people... in business. Y'know the ones I mean. With the machines!"

Tristan: "Why yes, I do keep myself in business. I do great work."

Jeremiah: "You wash it all yourself?"

Tristan: "Who else is gonna do it? Ma, we're back!"

"Okay!"

Jeremiah: "Woooow, impressive! You must be a pro at getting out mysterious marine stuff by now! You should start your own show. I'd totally tune in every week."

Tristan: "Oh, I definitely am. Wanna know my secret?"

Jeremiah: Gasp! He leaned in closer. "Yes."

Tristan: Tristan leaned in conspiratorially. "Irish Spring."

Jeremiah: "Eh??"

Tristan: "Irish Spring soap. That stuff can get out anything."

Jeremiah: "I've never even HEARD of it."

Tristan: "Seriously? It's all over the place. I get out the stains with that and some hot water and then toss whatever it is in the washing machine."

Jeremiah: "You'd make SUCH a good househusband."

Tristan: "Good? I'd be the BEST househusband," he declared as he started up the stairs.

Jeremiah: "Wait wait WOAH WAIT-  what are your cooking skills like?"

Tristan: "Seafood wise? Excellent."

Jeremiah: "Hmm your husband will really have to get used to the smell of fish."

Tristan: "Well that's a given."

Jeremiah: "Maybe you should marry....... a merman!"

Tristan: He chuckled. "If there were any around these parts, I would've found them ages ago."

Jeremiah: "Take ALL the magic out of life, why don't you..."

Tristan: Another chuckle. "There might be one or two that managed to evade me. Hell, there might be a whole colony of them that's managed to live their lives without me ever so much as detecting their presence."

Jeremiah: "Let's hope that's true, Tristan!"

Tristan: “Let’s hope what’s true?” came Meg’s voice.

“Jeremiah thinks there are mermaids around here and that I should marry one.”

Jeremiah: "Yeah. Duh!"

Tristan: “I feel like my mermadic son-in-law would take issue with Tristan’s chosen profession.”

Jeremiah: "......................... Uhhhh... I didn't think about that!! Okay. Maybe some kind of pelican-man. Pelicans eat fish, right? I bet he'd appreciate it!"

Tristan: Tristan paused and turned to look at Jeremiah. "A pelican?"

Jeremiah: "... They're real right? Or was that just a thing for Finding Nemo?"

Tristan: "Oh my god, Jer. Yes, they're real. And real weird first choice for marine bird for me to marry."

Jeremiah: "... Is there a LESS weird option?!"

Tristan: "Ignoring the general weirdness of this conversation, there is a very obvious first choice, yeah."

Jeremiah: "... Like what? Owls don't eat fish, Tristan." DUH.

Tristan: "........Seagulls."

Jeremiah: Lips part and his back straightens. It's as if he has a response... but... "Fine. YOU WIN THIS ROUND. SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE... FISH-MAN. FISH- fisherman."

Tristan: Tristan just laughed and shook his head, continuing on to Jeremiah's room.

Jeremiah: Once in his new room he set everything down and collapsed back on the bed with a groan. "Arrrrrghhhhhhh so comfy!"

[wordywarriorwrites]

Chapter 12: Sabotage

Masterlist: The Boss of Brooklyn A03 Story Link Author: @wordywarriorwrites Summary: When it comes to being The Boss, James Buchanan “JB” Barnes rules with an iron fist. For him, there’s no room for sentiment, and certainly no time for distraction, even if it is in the form of an old flame. Steve Rogers had bowed out of the life a long time ago, but a twist of fate brings him right back into the fold, and face-to-face with a man he once loved. When a game of cat and mouse turns into a matter of life and death, both will be forced to decide whether they’ll be loyal to the business, or faithful to each other. A/N: Bucky Barnes Mob Boss AU. Stucky. For: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan Star’s Multi-Fandom Follower Celebration & @sherrybaby14 Sherry’s Fall Into You Challenge. Warnings: Language, violence, drug use, alcohol, smoking, explicit sexual content, illegal activities. *Re-blogs are welcome. Plagiarism isn’t. *

Steve left before dawn with nothing but the clothes on his back and his dogeared passport.

When he hit the lobby, he expected to find it deserted, but instead, it was teeming with pissed-off guests. It was way too early for check-ins, which meant there was only a skeleton crew on hand to receive them, and the sole desk clerk was struggling to appease the mob and contain the situation.  

The weary travelers were ripe for the picking and Steve took advantage of the chaos. By the time he stepped out of the hotel, he’d pilfered a suitcase, a backpack, and a dozen wallets. Given the situation, the doorman was overly polite and very Johnny-on-the-spot, and within seconds, he was in a taxi and on his way to the airport.

While the driver was focused on the road, Steve sorted through what he’d lifted; anything useful was put into the backpack or pocketed, and whatever remained was discarded in the suitcase. When the cabbie pulled up to the curb, Steve paid the fare, and disembarked. The airport’s entrance was bustling, and the throng of early-morning travelers were laden down with luggage, which made it all too easy for him to leave the stolen suitcase behind in the crowd.

Steve checked the departure schedule and found the first available flight out was destined for Mexico City. When he got to the ticket counter, the agent told him he was just in time, and that there was still plenty of seating available. By the time he paid, got checked in, and made his way through security, they’d announced final boarding.

It had only taken forty-five minutes to escape, but this time, Steve didn’t feel relieved when the plane took off. Instead, he felt nauseated, and the sensation stayed with him long after the flight ended.

A pit-stop at a tourist trap for toiletries, over-priced snacks, and new clothes. Then, it was on to a cash-only, no-names, non-descript motel. Four walls, a bed, and heavy, garishly patterned curtains. A bedside lamp that flickered incessantly, a television that didn’t work, and an air conditioning unit that puttered out lukewarm air in unsteady intervals. It wasn’t fancy by any means, but the place was clean, which was more than he could say for himself.

He undressed in front of the full-length mirror that hung on the back of the bathroom door, and the fluorescent light revealed everything that had been kept under wraps. Friction-burned knees; thighs smattered with fingertip-shaped bruises; hickey-covered throat; a bite mark on the crook of his neck; scratches on his torso; tenderness in the softest, most intimate of places.

It looked bad, but it felt so God-damn good.  

Half a fucking decade had passed. He should’ve been well and truly over it, but old habits were the hardest to break, and like an idiot, he did the one thing he’d promised himself he would never do again. Steve should’ve said no. He should’ve said no because he knew better. Damn it, he knew better, but he’d always wanted Bucky. He’d wanted him from the moment he understood what wanting someone actually meant, and he’d never stopped fucking wanting him…

The ache in his gut was compounded, because every time Steve took a breath, he could fucking smell him. Many things had changed, but Bucky had worn the same cologne since high school, and the all-too-familiar scent still clung to his own skin. Steve could still feel the voraciousness of their shared pleasure in his calves, at the small of his back, and in his arms. His groin and mouth and heart and conscience were still laden with everything they’d done, and all that blistering, bittersweetness was just too fucking much to carry.

A tiny shower stall, with a sheer curtain that kept clinging to his ass; travel-sized, off-brand soap and shampoo; a methodical cleansing that he knew would leave his skin pruned and bright red afterward. After Steve got out, he wrapped a towel around his waist, and brushed his teeth at the sink until his gums bled in protest.

The clothes he’d traveled in went into the trash, and though he was exhausted down to his marrow, he could find no rest. Detoxing meant avoiding temptation, so, instead of obsessing over Bucky, he turned his mind toward Fury, and tried to mentally untangle the web.

What Steve couldn’t understand – what didn’t make any sense at all – was why Nick had even bothered coming to the table if his ultimate goal was to take Brooklyn for himself. Fury was a man who didn’t like to share or compromise, but he would do it if it served his bottom line. He was also a man of patience and strategy, and he rarely, if ever, missed a target. It just didn’t make sense…

Steve knew there had to be more going on, but he couldn’t see the bigger picture yet. He may have lost a battle in Jamaica, but that didn’t mean the war was over, and leaving had been much more than a tactical retreat. He knew what he needed to do – what it would take to get it done and make it right – and for the sake of what remained of his sanity, he had to go it alone.

The journey began two days later on the shores of Table Bay in Cape Town, South Africa. The economic hub lured in real estate moguls and sightseers, but Steve hadn’t been interested in Clifton Beach, African penguins, or the architectural heritage. What he’d needed was information and he knew a guy who owed him a favor.

From there, it was on to Tristan da Cunha; an island completely isolated from civilization that required a seven-day boat trip to reach. There were no restaurants or hotels, credit cards weren’t accepted, and while most of the inhabitants made their living through trade and farming, he knew of one resident who wasn’t who she appeared to be.

After that, it was on to the Caymans, followed by Cuba. Then, Steve headed back to the States, and hoped to find the final piece of the puzzle at a swanky beach house in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“I heard you were dead,” Phil Coulson declared by way of greeting.

Steve smirked and stepped over the threshold, “Disappointed?”

“Impressed,” he countered. “And relieved.”

Steve knew there was no point in asking Phil to elaborate on his assertions. The man had been doing the whole espionage thing since before it became mainstream, and though he’d been in retirement for nearly a decade, he still had his finger on the pulse, and really enjoyed the build-up before the show-and-tell. Phil was also the last person left who owed Steve a debt, but it took a tour of the house, lunch on the patio overlooking the ocean, and a lot of small-talk before he was able to bring up the reason for his visit.

“What can you tell me about the players in New York and in the West Indies?” Steve prompted.    

“I don’t participate,” Phil said as he tapped at a wireless keyboard that fired up the flatscreen on the wall. “But I do like to watch.”

A map of Brooklyn appeared and it displayed the hierarchy and territories of the Families over time. After that, it was the West Indies, which showcased how Fury had slowly taken it piece by piece. Next came the reports of all the backroom talks, underhanded deals, blood, death, and destruction. It wasn’t anything Steve didn’t already know, but what Phil brought up next made his blood run cold.

Steve had lied to Fury – said he’d tied up all loose ends – but he hadn’t. Since he knew the woman’s death would bring nothing but trouble, he’d let the dead Senator’s wife go free, and his act of mercy had been both a mistake and the catalyst. Sam’s flunky at the shop came up and he recognized the trademark lollipop. Subsequent pictures showed the two women had met dozens of times. After that, there was a video of Sam doing what he did best, which was very illegal, and they’d used the tape to blackmail him and force him to play along.  

The series of clips that followed showed Fury locked in a cell by himself, but eventually, another person had been thrown in with him. The man Steve saw was supposed to be in a graveyard back home, but the date and time stamp revealed Sam Wilson was above ground, and very much alive.

Bucky’s private security – all taken out by a lone bodyguard who had been bought off and tasked to kill his own Boss. The men who had ambushed Steve on the street, in his house, and who had also raided the Families homes -- they, too, had received similar instruction and payment. All in all, they’d had enough combined insider-knowledge to get it done, but someone who had both clout and cash had helped them execute their plans.  

Steve ran a hand over his beard and started to pace. He hadn’t been able to see clearly or think straight, but now, all the madness made sense. Keeping the peace meant Steve continued breathing and someone clearly hadn’t wanted that. When he’d gotten captured by the Families, Fury should’ve issued a kill order; instead, he’d sent an unknown emissary to negotiate for peace, which meant the accord had actually been a contingency plan.

The agreement between the Bosses had been Fury’s way of trying to ensure Steve’s back was covered. The man had struck the bargain of a lifetime, but if half of what he’d learned was true, Nick’s hands hadn’t been on the steering wheel since the paperwork had been signed. Whoever had done this had managed to get him out of the way and that person now had full control over both the business and crew. What little protection Steve had been given had also been taken away, and somehow, they’d managed to convince the Families to cut him off completely.

Given everything Phil had shared, Steve knew someone had to have put things in motion before he ever stepped foot in Brooklyn. Whoever it was had maneuvered the Senator and his wife into Fury’s orbit; ensured they got caught double-dipping with the Families; planned for the job he’d been sent to do to go sideways. The torture, the ousting, the rumors, the staging of Sam’s death – they’d been responsible for all of it.

Whoever was behind it hadn’t been trying to prevent a war, they’d been planning one all along…

“When all else fails, follow the money,” Steve bit out. “Who bankrolled this?”

Phil had saved the best for last, and when the picture and wire transfers were revealed, Steve put his fist through the screen. Everything inside him was screaming in protest, and he didn’t even realize Phil was still present until he’d been given a towel for his bloodied knuckles.

“Why? Why would she do this?”

Phil shrugged slightly, “Fury’s getting up there in age and has been looking for a successor. I have a feeling Nick intended to hand the crown to you after the job in Brooklyn was done.”

He cursed and wrapped his hand, “I wouldn’t have accepted.”

“She couldn’t be sure you’d decline,” Phil asserted.

“Then, why even bother to play nice at all?” Steve snapped. “Why didn’t she just kill me when she had the chance?”

“Money, anger, fear, envy – they’re all powerful motivators. Sabotage takes time, but it’s less risky, and much cleaner. Killing you would’ve been easier, but you’ve got friends in high places, and it would’ve drawn too much attention.”

“Is anyone else involved?”  

“No. None of them had a hand in it or benefitted from it.”

Steve let out a ragged breath and stared at the destroyed television, “I don’t have it on me now, but I will send you money to replace it.”

Phil grinned and retrieved both a manila envelope and a tablet from the coffee table, “I thought you’d say that. I also figured you’d show up here eventually, so, let’s settle up, shall we?”

A thumbprint was all it took to bring the screen to life, and when Steve realized what Phil had done, the tightness in his chest spread right on up to his throat. He hadn’t just provided coordinates to Sam and Fury’s location -- he’d also somehow managed to unfreeze Steve’s money and assets, and had put safeguards in place to ensure they would never be taken from him again. The envelope contained two stacks of cash, a burner phone, a plane ticket, and a set of car keys.

Phil told him his chariot and the arsenal in the trunk awaited him, and since his flight departed in an hour, his driver was on standby to take him to the airport. The debt Phil owed had been paid in full, and though Steve was floored and overwhelmed, he still managed to thank him and shake his hand.  

“Give ‘em hell, Rogers,” Phil advised. “And when you’re done, get out, and don’t ever look back.”

Chapter 13: Settled Scores

Everything: @jennmurawski13​ @nerdy-bookworm-1998​

Steve Rogers: @patzammit @hearttoearth​ The Boss of Brooklyn: @star-spangled-man-with-a-plan @jamesbarnesappreciationsociety @captain-rogers-beard