#oh n last night i couldn't fall asleep for like 4 hours n i realized that eddie is “the party” by regina spektor coded to me

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrandom comic related sketches 👊👊👊👊

1) eddie's family ie his cousin (her name is arabella now im super bad at names it's just one from list of "Italian women's names" that i liked 😭), lisa in her youth, his father i dont remember what his name is & silvio, cousin's husband from fp files 2) eddie n arabella. he's a proud sibling. not sorry for writing him this way (im lying maybe i'll rewrite this 😭 but this thought is so old idk i got used to it)

3) i'll probly cut this dialogue but eddie n carlo discuss marriage as a phenomenon and. eddie realizes that carlo is probably a 🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌🦌

4) carlo n rocco in 1932 my beloved. 5) pathethic beaten man aka carlo before attempt on moretti

6) baby 😔

[rimunagenius]

The One Where You Royally Screw Up.

ʚ pairing: Kate Martin x Roommate!reader

ʚ word count: 3.1k words

ʚ warnings: RPF!! , slight smut, fingering, angst, use of ‘y/n’ if that even is one

ʚ rimunagenius speaks: part 4 is FINALLY here!! i’m so sorry for the delay, it was supposed to release friday but the cold i had thought i was getting over got worse in a span of hours so i said id release it on saturday, but i spent all my saturday in bed asleep bc i have the worst headache and nausea from the cold, and then today it was supposed to release early but the ending never got saved and i realized i had a communications test to take so i had to finish writing it and revising after…but it’s here!! finally. so this is angst so sorry, but trust, the pining and sexual tension that’s to come is gonna be worth it!!!

Part 4

| Series Masterlist |

This felt wrong. You knew it wasn't the best way to cope with the feelings you had realized you were harboring for Kate.

But you needed to get over it. You couldn't possibly be this self destructive, and let yourself fall your roommate. She let you live in her apartment, and gave you grace when you didn't help pay rent for the first two months, trying to find a new job.

She deserved better than to have a friendship ruined just because you loved liked her. It wasn't fair. But this didn't feel fair to you either. Kissing Juliana in the backseat of her car was the last place you wanted to be. This should be Kate. For a moment you thought it was.

That's how you ended up here. Over the span of several months since reporting Nick, he was removed off  campus and was doing time. You and Kate had celebrated the accomplishment and never spoke about it again.

Since then you two have been a lot closer. "Sleeping over" in eachothers room. Cuddling more on the couch. It all started that night you both skipped practice. You knew where it was going, so did she. But the inevitable outcome if the actions you two were so good at doing were going to ruin you both. You couldn't have that. That's why you took Juliana up on the date two months ago. You guys made it official that month.

You couldn't have what you and Kate so desperately wanted, cause when you were getting ready, you saw the way Kate watched you. The longing looks she gave you as she sat on the couch next to you, while you did your makeup.

The way you looked absolutely gorgeous in the outfit you wore out to dinner, how she wished she was the one having you on her arm, how she was the one seen in public with you, and got to bring you home at the end of the night. But she wasn't, so she tried not to make it a thing when you came home the next morning. Or when you two made it official.

"You like that?" Juliana whispered in your ear, a small giggle escaping her lips that you could feel throughout your body.

Your panting echoed in the car, while your hands traveling all over her body. Throwing your head back, you moaned as her fingers curled inside of you, fingertips brushing against the soft spongey part inside you. "Oh—Kate." You moaned it before you could even think.

Your body froze, any expecting orgasm thrown out the window. Her fingers paused, softly but swiftly removing her fingers from your sopping cunt. Grabbing a towel in the pocket behind the passenger seat, Juliana avoided looking at you while she cleaned the remnants of you off her hands.

"So, you guys aren't just friends?" Juliana knew that you and Kate were close, she didn't mind. Really. But she saw the way you looked at Kate when she'd leave after dropping you off at class. She saw the way Kate watched everything you did with a look on her face that made it seem like you hung the moon.

"What—that's not—I didn't mean—" You couldn't even think. How could you totally embarrass yourself and do that to Juliana. You didn't even know why you said it. In the far back of your mind, you guess you wished it was Kate. But you thought that was just the mere thought of your fantasies talking.

You've imagine what'd it'd be like to sleep with Kate, hell, every gay woman in America probably has. But that was just a fantasy. You liked Jules. Atleast you thought you did.

"No, tell me right now. Are you and Kate more than friends? I need to know so I don't think I have a chance with you." Julianas eyes were pleading. Sad. She wanted you two to work; she really liked you.

"We're not more than friends." You made sure to look her in the eyes when you said it. You didn't know if it was convince her, or to convince yourself. Maybe if you looked sincere and she believed it, then you would.

"But you want to be, right? Why else would you moan her name while i'm trying to fuck you?" Juliana wasn't mad, she just wanted to know why. Why did you go through with this, sleeping with her, knowing you wished she was someone else.

You couldn't answer her. You didn't know how. You looked down, grabbing your black tank top and sliding it over your head.

"I honestly have no idea, Jules." The name suddenly felt so foreign rolling off your tongue in this context. Juliana winced at the nickname. Suddenly feeling angry about it now.

"Don't call me that. Why did you say her name?" The next pieces of clothing to go on was your black biker shorts and underwear. Fixing your white tube socks, you searched for your shoes.

"I don't know." Was that all you could say to her? She surely deserved more than what you were giving, and you sure as hell weren't giving her anything.

"Stop saying I don't know and just say you like her. That's all I need to hear." Juliana's voice rose as you grabbed your ankle boot docs, sliding them on your feet.

"I don't like her, Jules—I mean, Juliana. I don't like her, okay?" Who were you kidding? Repeating the four words wasn't convincing anyone in the car.

"Jesus Christ, Y/n! Are you fucking kidding me!?" Now she was getting irritated. "You do! There...it's out in the open. Why didn't you just tell me before letting me think that I had a chance?" Her eyes went glassy, now turning pink.

"I don't know why I said it, okay? I think I do like her, and I know it's wrong for imagining her instead of you. You don't deserve that—"

"You're right. I don't." Juliana stepped out of the car, her never taking her clothes off, only aiming to please you, missing. She held the door open, so you could slide out. "Look, I'm not mad at you. I guess it's my fault for falling for you even after I saw how you looked at her."

Watching tears fall down her face, it brought tears to yours. You didn't mean to hurt her. You should've figure your shit out before starting anything. You should've figure out your feelings for Kate.

Thinking you could fill the void with a relationship and sex with another woman, without talking to someone about how you felt, was something only transactional on your end. You hurt someone's feelings because you couldn't figure out your own. How could you jump into a relationship with her?

"No, it's not your fault. I was so stupid for starting something with you—not that you're not great, because you are. But because I should've known what I was doing was wrong. It wasn't fair to you, I'm so sorry." You wiped a tear off her face, your frown deepening as you saw the hurt in her eyes grow.

"Give yourself some grace. I wouldn't know what it's like to fall inlove with someone i've been friends with for so long. It must be hard. But just—don't do this to someone else. Figure out your feelings first." Juliana turned and opened the passenger side door, you closing the backseat passenger door. She handed you your clip and your bag.

"Figure it out with Kate." She gave you a tight lipped smile, before waking around the front of her car and getting inside the drivers seat. You nodded your head, and decided you had to tell Kate.

Walking back to the apartment gave you plenty of time to think. You've been doing that so much lately, you don't know how to anymore. What happened to you?

You haven't recorded vlogs, get ready with me's, or any content for your channel in months. Opting for the vague communication with family and friends. The spiral of trying to get Kate out of your head, and trying to shove her back into the friend zone, was so consuming. You haven't even lived your life.

You needed to say it. You needed to tell someone. You needed to figure it out.

Walking inside, you set your bag and keys down on the counter. What the fuck were you going to say? How could you tell Kate that you and your girlfriend were hooking up, and the whole time you wished it was her.

Struggling to decide on who to tell, you settled for embarrassing yourself to a friend, who you knew would help you. Scrolling to find Jadas name in your contacts, you pressed her contact and listened to the phone ring.

"Hey, Jada!" You said when she answered the phone.

"Hey! What's up? You're coming to practice later, right?" Today was an off day. You usually only ever needed to be at like two practice a week.

"Today's an off day for me, and I would go as a spectator but that's why i'm calling." You swallowed the lump in your throat and sighed. This was gonna be so awkward to explain.

"Wait so you're telling me that...you're actually inlove with Kate...but you can't tell her that and because of that, you moaned her name while you were having sex with your girlfriend? Oh, that's bad, babe." You could see her face without having to see it. When you looked down at your phone, you were correct.

"I know, I know. It's super bad. I don't even know what's worse, the fact that I did that to Juliana, or the fact that she wasn't even mad about it." Recalling earliers incident, she didn't even overreact.

"Probably because she already knew. She just didn't want to see it until you did what you did. She just wanted to keep you while she had you. I get it. Happens to the best of us." Jada nodded her head and ate chips while she watched her show.

You guys ended up Facetiming halfway through the phone call so you could give proper recollection to the incident. Jada needed to see the facial expressions and everything to give her proper advice.

"Oh my god, Jada. Why do I have to feel this way for Kate?" You put your head in your hands and cried a little. You were emotionally overstimulated, the weight of your actions now weighing on you. You looked up, looking to the ceiling. Taking a deep breath, you looked down at Jada.

"Aw, you'll be okay, babe. I promise. We are all human, we all make mistakes. Don't beat yourself up about it, just learn from it. As far as telling Kate goes, I wouldn't tell her unless you were one hundred percent sure that what you're feeling is real. And when you're ready, sit her down, don't ambush her, but sit her down and talk about it."

"What if she thinks I'm literally crazy and so weird and she kicks me out?" You started to spiral.

"Hey, that's not gonna happen. She's a very understanding person and you know that. You've lived with her all these years for godsakes." Jada slapped her hand down on her bed, flipping her bowl of chips. "Oh my god!" She screamed. You laughed at loud, watching some fly across the screen.

The front door opened, a sluggish Kate walked through the door. She had been very tired recently; basketball and finishing school were growing to be very exhausting. She watched you laugh so hard that tears were falling down your face. A scream laugh, that grew quiet, a loud gasp following which she recognized as Jada's laugh through the phone speaker. She walked over and sat down on the couch next to you, resting her head on your shoulder to say hi to her other best friend. "Hi, Jada!" She smiled big into the camera, her sleepy and drowsy mood suddenly vanishing.

You put your hand on Kate's cheek, patting it softly. You looked at Jada through the screen. Your eyes stare into hers. She nodded softly, covering it with leaning down to grab the fallen chips. You knew she was right. Kate wouldn't give you a hard time but you couldn't help but panic.

You three stayed on the phone for a little while before Jada hung up so she could leave for practice. You placed the phone in Kate's room while you sat on her bed, so she could still talk to you both while they both got ready.

Kate was on her way out the door when you stopped her, hand on her arm, "Hey, can I talk to you when you get home? It's kinda important." You were so scared to tell her. But you had to rip the bandaid off right?

"Yeah, of course. I'll see you when I get home. I love you." She closed the door behind her. You stood there for a moment, staring at the door. You had three hours to prepare yourself for tonight. How the fuck were you going to tell her?

You drove yourself insane for the last 3 hours that you were alone in the house. You cleaned the kitchen, the living room, your room, mopped the kitchen, and vacuumed every surface that could be vaccummed in the house. You took a shower, and almost changed your pajamas twice.

You finally sat on the couch, watching whatever was on, literally fucking panicking. Kate had walked through the door thirty minutes ago, cleaning herself up.

"Okay, so what did you need to tell me? You okay?" She sat on the couch next to you, smiling softly to herself when she saw you were wearing one of her old hoodies. She hasn't seen in it in so long.

"What?" You looked at her, noticing smile on her face. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Just haven't seen that sweater of mine in a long time." She adjusted how she was sitting.

"Oh, I forgot I stole this from you a long time ago." You looked to her, instantly regretting it. She was manspreading and she looked so good. You could not look at her when you told her this.

"Okay, anyways. Back to what I needed to tell you. So, Juliana and I broke up." You paused. Her face pulled into a frown.

"Aw i'm so sorry. Are you okay?" Kate reached her arm around your shoulder, pulling you closer. You didn't fight it. Choosing to lean into her touch. You closed your eyes, gathering the sheer will to be able to tell her what the hell happened.

"I'm okay, Kate. I promise. But we broke up because we were hooking up in her car, and I know you said not to give you details, but it’s relevant because I moaned your name. While she was trying to fuck me.” You finally got it out, but it wasn’t helping that Kate’s face didn’t express any telling emotions.

You lifted your head from her shoulder, wincing slightly when she immediately moved a small distance on the couch. You needed her to say something but you’d get it if she didn’t. You couldn’t begin to understand the digestion of something like this.

“Oh, wow. That’s crazy.” Kate stared blankly at her slippers that she had been wearing. She was tugging on the strings of her hoodie.

“Yeah…” You were kinda let down at the reaction she had. You were expecting an immediate blow up at what you had just announced. Or some type of general reaction.

She wasn’t saying anything. You could see the gears turning in her pretty head, but nothing was coming out of her mouth. It made you more nervous than before you even told her. “Is that it? Kate?” You watched her blue eyes meet yours.

The shade of blue so pretty, and so relaxing. “What does that mean? Why?”

“Because I love you, Kate.” The sincerity in your voice hitting her like a truck. There’s no way you were finally saying these words to her. You finally said them but at the worst possible time.

“I love you, too.” She replied in the quickness. Almost instantaneous as you said them. She loved you, possibly with every bone in her body.

“No, like, romantically. Not platonically.” You clarified to make sure you heard her correctly. She sighed before speaking.

“I know, that’s why I said it back. But you know we can’t do anything about it, right?” That’s when it hit you. She wasn’t mad, she was just playing it smart. You nodded your head shortly, looking down at your hands.

“Okay, what does that mean for us, though. How exactly are we going to live together knowing there’s something here, and not do anything about it.” You thought about it, and it made sense. The final four tournament already coming. This year was crazy and passing by so fast.

They won the Big Ten tourney almost a month ago. The stress of the biggest tournament this season was coming up and a relationship, the additional stress and possible blow up of a relationship, was hard. Cultivating a new relationship at this time was stress Kate didn’t need. You couldn’t do that to her.

Kate prided herself on being level headed. That’s how she led her team so good, on and off the court. Her ability to take accountability and responsibility was unmatched, so she couldn’t understand why coming up with this resolution was so hard.

She knew it was wrong to start something she wanted to put her all in, at this moment, because she wanted to put her all into basketball. It was more important to her at this moment in time. She knew you’d understand.

“Tell me this again in a couple months, yeah?” Kate said, a small smile on her face. Trying to lighten the mood, she held her hand out.

You looked at her and then at her hand. You shook it. It was quiet for a beat, “And about the living situation, we just do it how we’ve been doing it all these years. Day by day.” Her hand that still remained in yours, pulled your body closer to hers.

This wasn’t the way you wanted to tell Kate that you were inlove with her, that you accidentally almost got off to the idea of her when your girlfriend was indeed not her, or the fact that you couldn’t start a relationship right away. But laying here, against her side, while you sat and watched whatever was on the tv to distract from the overwhelming expression of emotions was okay for now.

You knew you just needed to give it time. You two would come together. For now, you’d just have to wait. So you both sat there, counting down the days until you knew you could be together.

It was already the most insanely slow countdown of your lives.

[suwya]

Till the Stars Had Run Away - Chapter 6

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Summary: Killian Jones was a voyager. Actually, he was many things, or at least he had been - a lieutenant, a brother, a loving boyfriend - until everything had turned upside down and his life had hit an all time low. So, he gave up. Aboard his spaceship he abandoned Arcadia, his planet, navigating the stars and other solar systems in search of... well, he still didn't know what he was searching for, but his rule was "never remain in the same place longer than necessary."

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Rating: M

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Prologue; Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5

AO3

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A/N: Sorry for the waiting, but real life came along and I had to stop writing for a couple of weeks. Thank you @thisonesatellite for being the best beta reader I could ever ask for. And thank to all of you who are reading this. Happy Labour Day!

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Chapter 6 . .

Be not inhospitable to strangers,

lest they be angels in disguise.

(W. B. Yeats)

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When Killian regained consciousness he found himself in what reminded him of a military hospital. There were thin white curtains around his bed, but through them he could spot other beds like his, most of them empty. The room seemed large and dimly lit.

He closed his eyes and remembered the crash landing, the unknown desert planet, the great rock that was about to crush Henry, and that feeling of unease and imminent danger he had felt just before the impact. Where was he? And above all what kind of situation was he in, a good or a bad one? He opened his eyes again, and noticed he wasn’t alone. A woman was checking his IV, and a nearby monitor was beeping intermittently.

Killian tried to sit up, but a stabbing pain in his lungs made him desist immediately. He groaned loudly.

“Look who’s awake.” Said the woman, who was now staring at him. “Hello, handsome.” She added cheerfully.

Killian had found himself dealing with uncharted waters several times in his life. He decided to play the waiting game. “This is usually my line, well, more or less.”

“Really? In this case, I'll warn my husband not to approach you.”

“Don’t worry I'm not into men, not recently at least.” He smirked.

“Oh, but my husband is quite the charming one.”

“I still prefer the company of a fair lady, if I could choose.” He winked and chuckled, and a dull pain made him gasp.

“Take it easy.” She immediately shifted her attitude from playful to worried. “How do you feel?”

“As if I've been hit by a rocket.”

“Not a rocket, but yes, you’ve been hit hard. You’ve suffered two broken ribs. And believe me, you were lucky, it could have been worse. Do you mind if I run some tests and see how you react?”

“No problem.”

While the woman was busy measuring his temperature, making him follow a small blue LED light with his gaze, and extracting some blood to examine later, he took advantage of the opportunity to observe her more closely. She had short black hair and green eyes, bright and lively in contrast to her very delicate skin. Killian found himself thinking of another pair of green eyes, which had been filling his thoughts frequently lately. The memory brought him back to reality quickly.

“What is this place?” He inquired, eager to know what had happened while he was unconscious.

“Welcome to Vernal-Den.” She answered smiling.

Killian tried to remember if he had ever read about this planet. “Never heard of it.”

“Yeah, we’re not very popular.”

Was she too concentrated on checking-in his vitals, or was she being too concise on purpose? He didn’t know, but he intended to keep an eye on her. “How long was I out?”

“A while.” Another elusive answer.

He decided to test the waters. “Were there ….other injured people with me?”

“If you’re referring to Henry and Emma, they are perfectly fine.” She seemed sincere. “They are staying at our place. Henry has visited you every day since you came in.”

“And Emma?”

“Well, she can’t come in. She’s not a relative of yours. But she has spent long hours sitting just outside that door.” She said pointing towards the exit. “I had to order her to go home and get some rest.”

After that she excused herself, saying that she had to attend to other patients.

He realized she hadn’t even told him her name. He didn’t know if he could trust her or not. The fact that she had avoided some of his questions sent chills down his spine. And most of all there was the Emma problem.

Why couldn’t she visit him? Was it true that it was only a matter of rules? Or was she in some kind of peril? He needed to know what was happening behind those doors that separated him from the woman that had been pestering his dreams in the last ten years of his life. He had to know that she was alright. To hell with rules! He thought. And by the way, when was the last time he followed one. He had to get out of this place. He tried to sit up, but the pain in his lungs was so strong that his vision started to blur and cold sweat formed on his temples. He lay back down on the bed, aware that in his conditions he couldn’t have gone far before collapsing unconscious on the floor. He promised himself to solve the problem as soon as he had enough strengths, but he couldn't dwell too much on that thought, because sleep was reclaiming his mind again.

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~·~·~·~

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Time passed very slowly, or so it seemed, but maybe it was simply the fact that every day looked the same. Killian was mostly asleep, probably due to the painkillers introduced through the IV, and when he woke up he couldn't tell how long he had been out, he couldn't even tell if it was day or night. There were no windows in that room.

During one of the moments when his mind regained consciousness, he felt the mattress drop slightly to one side and he slowly opened his eyes.

“You are awake! How do you feel? Can you breathe? Of course you can, you would be dead otherwise! Does it hurt?” Henry was sitting at the end of the bed, and he was asking a lot of questions, as usual. “Sorry.” He suddenly looked contrite. “I should let you rest, but…”

“It’s ok, lad.” Killian cut him off. “I’m glad to see you’re all in one piece.”

The boy greeted him with a wide grin.

Killian remembered the last moments before getting injured, and he was relieved to know that he had been able to prevent that rock from hitting Henry. But other worries crowded his mind. “How about your mom?”

“She’s fine. She’s outside. They won’t let her in. You know, only relatives and all that stuff.” He explained.

“I see. And why are you…?”

Henry didn’t let him finish the question. “I told them I’m your son.” He whispered with a conspiratory smile.

“Clever boy.” Killian’s chuckle turned soon into a cough due to the pain.

“Does it hurt?” The boy asked, frowning.

The man dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. “It’s not a big deal.” He didn’t want the lad to feel responsible for his well-being. “How many days have passed since we landed here?” He asked, changing the subject.

“I don't know exactly.” And at Killian’s questioning look, he added, “It’s complicated.”

“How so?”

“People live underground here,” The boy started to explain, “With no opportunity to look outside. And there are no clocks. My watch had probably broken when we arrived, it doesn’t work anymore.”

The man hummed, he was starting to understand. The lack of windows, the elusive answer he had received from the dark-haired nurse… everything was beginning to tally in Killian’s head. “I want you to think carefully about everything you saw outside this room. Did you feel something was wrong?”

The boy shrugged. “I don't know.” He seemed to ponder. “This place is strange. Lots of corridors and passages underground. We are not allowed to go out into the open. They say it’s dangerous. But I never felt a threat or something. I would rather say it’s boring.”

“Why boring?”

Henry was trying to find the right words to explain it. “All the days are the same, people repeat the same actions every day. They say it’s useful to maintain a routine. But I don’t think Mary Margaret and David are bad people.”

“I’m sorry, who?” Killian asked.

“Oh, yeah, Mary Margaret, she is your nurse. We’re staying at her home. She is very nice. And David is her husband. He showed me the greenhouse. It’s awesome and huge, you should see it! But I don’t think he works there. I don’t know what his job is.”

Routine? New people? A greenhouse? Well, that was a lot of information to process. But Killian felt sleep calling him back. Next time I see that lady Margaret, I’m going to ask her not to put more painkillers in my IV. He thought. “Thank you, Henry, for everything. But I may need to rest for a while now.” He managed to say before falling asleep again.

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~·~·~·~

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Emma knew Killian was feeling better, Henry had told her about their short chat, and some of her child's enthusiasm had even infected her positively, but she continued to feel restless, she wanted to make herself useful. Most of all, she wanted to see Killian again.

All this absurd situation was her fault. And no, she was not thinking about the fact that Killian was lying on a hospital bed because of some bad decisions she had made lately. No. She was not going down that path again. She had already spent a lot of hours regretting many choices done in the last month.

But this was nonsensical, why couldn’t she visit a friend that was hurt and maybe in need of some company? She had actually had a chance to say that she was his wife; after all in the eyes of her guests, she and Killian had a son together, so why not lie a bit more and make Mary Margaret believe that she and Killian were married. But the thought of a possible long time spent together on this planet feigning to be a happily married couple scared her, and she couldn’t go on with the lie.

So there she was, sitting on a very uncomfortable metal chair in the waiting room. She had spent more hours there than she could count.

David had passed by to greet his wife, and he had offered to take Henry with him, on the way back home. So she was left alone with her thoughts.

Mary Margaret peeked out the door with a steaming mug in her hand. “Take this. It will help.”

She agreed with a nod. “Thank you.” She sipped some of the hot liquid and it felt like her nerves were starting to relax a little.

“You should go home and rest. It's late.” The woman said.

“Mary Margaret let me enter.” Emma pleaded for the umpteenth time.

“We have already talked about it. You know I can’t do that. There are strict rules down here, and the best way for us to survive is to follow them.”

“This is insane. I’m not a dangerous criminal or someone who is plotting to destroy this planet. I just want to see him. Please.” She begged.

The dark-haired woman seemed to be pondering all the possible consequences. “All right.” She sighed. “Let’s just say that I’m going inside and leave the door ajar, by mistake, of course. I have to check some very important documents, so I’ll be busy and concentrated. I’m not going to ask you what you’re going to do in the next... fifteen minutes or so. Okay?”

“Thank you.” Emma handed her the cup back, rising from her chair. “You won’t regret it.”

After Mary Margaret disappeared behind the door, Emma waited some minutes before going after her. The room was large and there were many beds, she had no idea where Killian was, but after a quick look at the surroundings, she discovered that only a couple of all the beds were occupied.

She approached one of those and gently opened the curtain trying not to disturb the patient lying inside.

Killian seemed asleep. He was pale, with dark circles under his eyes. She could only imagine the pain he was going through. She had her heart in her throat because she felt responsible for the situation. If they hadn't taken a detour because she had requested it, they'd probably all be home safe and sound by now.

“Hey, beautiful.” He greeted her with a painful grin.

Immersed as she was in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed that he had woken up. She smiled, trying to be strong and not show her inner turmoil. “Do they treat you well here?”

“I'm not complaining. The nurse is kind and the food is edible.” He tried to downplay the situation. “Although I would prefer the care and attention of a certain blonde.” He winked.

Emma chuckled. Then she went closer to him and sat down on the side of his bed, trying not to cause him any more pain. She looked him straight in the eye, and then, gently, she took his hand in hers, intertwining her fingers with his. She saw him swallow hard, and the beeping of his heartbeat accelerated on the monitor. She smiled softly again. “Thank you for saving my son’s life.”

She saw how he wet his lips before answering as if his mouth had been suddenly dry. “It was the right thing to do.” Was his answer, but his voice came out slightly choked.

Emma looked back, checking if any hospital employee was nearby, “I shouldn’t be here, and unfortunately my time is running out. But I wanted to see you... needed to see with my own eyes that you are ok... well, more or less.” She whispered, with her gaze lowered, avoiding eye contact. The physical connection of their joined hands was already arousing too many contradictory emotions inside her.

“Aye. I know the feeling.” He replied, letting her know that he had been eager to establish contact with her throughout his stay in the hospital.

At those words, she stared at him again. “Get well soon.” She bent down and dropped a mild kiss at the corner of his lips. “We need you.”

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~·~·~·~

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Killian was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. This time there was no way he would fall asleep again. Every time he thought about what had just happened his beeping monitor sped up. He blushed. It had been just a chaste kiss, nothing compared to the hot and breathtaking one they had shared a few days before. But she had said it had been a one-time thing and he had promised himself not to indulge in those lustful thoughts anymore. Yet, this last kiss had seemed much more real, and meaningful... it had left him with a feeling of hope.

Hope and distress. Emma was such a strong and beautiful woman, a marvelous creature, as he liked to describe her in his mind, and a princess even. And what was he? A rebel, and a scoundrel. Or a rapscallion... whatever. Okay, maybe not anymore, but he had been in the past, for many years. He had been trying to redeem himself lately. But was he worth enough of her? That was the million dollar question.

He was still ruminating on it when the known brunette peeked out the curtains. “Hello. How are you today?” She greeted him with a bright smile, as usual.

“Better.” He hoped the monitor on his right wasn’t showing his state of mind.

She came closer. “Do you mind if I check your ribs? It's time to change the dressing.” After a short pause, she added, “I'm sorry, but we don't have the best equipment to assist our patients. We have to work with what we have available on this planet.” She said pointing to the bands that covered his chest.

Killian nodded, and Mary Margaret started to untie the bandages. She seemed concentrated on her task, probably she was trying to avoid causing him any pain. It was only when she started to apply an ointment on the bruises, that she spoke again. “You love her.” It was just a whisper, and Killian doubted if he had heard correctly. But then she added “Emma.”

It wasn’t a question, and he pondered what was the correct answer, or if she was expecting one. “I'd go to the end of the world for her… Or the multiverse.” He said eventually.

“And she for you, I take it?”

Killian chuckled and shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“What’s the problem?” She looked at him surprised. Then took some clean gauzes and started to wrap them on him.

“She's bloody brilliant, an amazing woman. She fights for her son and always does what’s right.” Killian’s voice was so full of admiration.

“Is there something wrong with it?” Mary Margaret inquired.

Killian shook his head again. “She raised the bar very high. The fact is, I don't think I measure up.”

The woman folded the old bandages and took the ointment bottle, then she stood up, she was making an exit when she stopped short. “Since you came here I've been watching you.”

“I don't know if I should be flattered or scared.” The man tried to ease the tension of the moment.

“We don’t have many foreigners on this planet, but believe me, you're not one of the bad guys. You sacrificed yourself for the sake of a young boy. There's good in your heart.” She smiled at him softly. “I’m going to look for the doctor; I bet you’ll be leaving this room soon.”

.

.

~·~·~·~

.

.

The following day started the same as the previous ones. But during the first hours of the evening a man in a white coat came to visit Killian. He explained the medications and precautions to be taken to him, some movements that he should avoid for a while, and other tips for a speedy recovery. Then he handed over some papers for the patient to sign to be discharged. Finally some good news.

After a while redressing and packing up his few belongings in his satchel Killian went to the door. Walking hurt a bit but nothing he couldn’t bear.

Mary Margaret was already waiting for him, and a tall blonde guy was with her. “You must be Jones.” He said. When they shook hands, Killian learned his name was David Nolan, and he remembered Henry had mentioned him in his conversations. “I’m going to take you to our humble abode.”

Nolan's house was in fact modest. A loft with a large dining room, a kitchenette, a bedroom, and a small bathroom on one corner, all open, without doors, except for the bathroom. There was a raised bedroom opposite it, whose access was a metal stair.

Dinner was good, if a little awkward. Emma didn't interact much, and Killian wanted to ask if something was troubling her, but he preferred to wait for a better time, perhaps a less crowded one. Henry entertained them with what he had done throughout the day and kept repeating how glad he was that Killian was back with them.

But the man was still a bit cautious with those new people around him. He didn’t know them, especially the Nolan guy, who had been silent for most of the dinner, glancing sidelong at him as if he wanted to study him thoroughly before making a personal judgment. The feeling was mutual, Killian thought.

Just after dessert, David started to speak. “What will you need to restore your ship?” He asked.

“Uh… a new stabilizer, I think, and some parts of the propulsion engine for sure. But I’ll have to look closely at the damages to be sure there’s nothing else broken.”

The blond man nodded. “Not many ships come and go from here. But I hope we can find all the pieces you need.”

“Thank you, mate.”

“Tomorrow I’ll take you to the hangar where your ship is. We’ll have a look at it.” He seemed sincere in his generosity.

“May I help?” Henry barged in.

A chorus of “No!” echoed the room.

“I appreciate the support, but it could be dangerous.” Killian explained.

“I hate being here. I feel trapped.” The boy complained.

Mary Margaret sighed. “This is a feeling that will vanish with time.”

The woman was no doubt trying to instill some optimism, but Killian didn't like the idea of staying in that place longer than necessary. “Well, then, let’s hope we could leave this planet before the feeling has entirely vanished.” He made a grin and passed his hand on his side.

“Time for resting.” The brunette stated although it sounded more like an order. “But before that, we should change those bandages. Emma, would you like to help me?”

“Me?” Emma, who had been silent and a bit on the sidelines all evening, seemed to re-emerge from wherever she’d gone.

“He won’t be able to do it by himself when you won’t live here anymore. It’s better if you learn how to help him.” Mary Margaret clarified.

Emma looked like she was going to object, but in the end, she asserted. “Sure.”

.

.

~·~·~·~

.

.

If a certain nervousness had taken hold of Emma as she climbed to the upstairs room, it disappeared the instant Mary Margaret helped Killian get rid of his shirt. That wasn’t a thorax, it was a nautical chart. Most of it was covered by gauze, but she could still spot many marks and scars.

There was a tattoo, two of them to be exact, but Emma saw just one at first. It was on his right forearm; it was a big red heart with a dagger running through and the name “Milah” across it. Emma made a mental note to ask him later who she was.

Mary Margaret showed her how to unfasten the bandages, and then she ordered her to stand behind him, to help better in removing them all.

On his back, Emma saw the second tattoo, on his right shoulder. It was an old nautical instrument she had read about in a book when she was younger, but she couldn’t remember the exact name. The drawing was beautifully detailed, even if it had faded, it was probably older than the other one, she thought.

And when all the gauze was out of the way, she saw them: tiny, blurred, old scars that studded most of his back. Emma wondered what kind of life he had to endure when he was very young.

Mary Margaret asked her to help with the ointment. She had already opened the bottle and was showing the blonde woman how much cream to use. But Emma wasn't listening, standing now in front of the man, her attention was caught by the glorious chest hair that was covering most of his torso.

Okay, there was also a big, horrible bruise on his right ribs, but Mary Margaret was saying that it seemed on the way to a fast recovery, if the yellow and purple veining was some indication.

Emma was ogling and she wasn’t ashamed of it either. The amount of hair decreased in the lower part of his chest, leaving a black trail that disappeared under the hem of his pants.

"See something you like?" Emma was abruptly taken back to reality by a smug Killian that was smirking at her while arching an eyebrow. She blushed. She was caught red-handed, but she couldn’t let him win. She took advantage of the fact that Mary Margaret was looking for something in a nearby drawer, to get closer to him. She looked at him lasciviously from under her lashes. “Maybe?” She purred.

Now it was his time to blush, he looked intently at his feet, but she found the bright red that appeared on his ears extremely endearing. Point for Emma.

Mary Margaret taught the other woman how to fix the bandages, and Emma had to use some tiny hooks to hold them together. She did not miss the opportunity to casually slide her fingers over a part of his chest hair that came out of the bandages.

“Bloody Hell!” Killian muttered.

Emma retreated her hand immediately. “Sorry. Did I hurt you?” Worries that she had done something wrong clouded her gaze.

“Apologies.” Killian was scratching behind his ear, in evident embarrassment. “While I do enjoy two lovely ladies attending to my needs, I'm not used to someone taking care of me…” He smiled and brought his mouth close to Emma’s ear: “I’m usually the one who devotes full attention to a woman’s needs.” He whispered, but clearly not as quietly as he would have liked, because Mary Margaret's answer - “Well, you will have to put that off for a while” - made him blush again like a schoolboy scolded by his teacher.

.

.

~·~·~·~

.

.

Suddenly it was bedtime. Everyone was busy making preparations and taking shifts for the bathroom to change for the night. Killian was upstairs, staring at the bed he knew he had to share with Emma, who was arranging a pillow on the nearby sofa. He passed a hand through his hair and then scratched a spot behind his right ear. “I'll crash on that couch.” He stated as if it was the most logical conclusion to a battle he was fighting inside.

“Don't be ridiculous,” she scoffed. “It's barely long enough for Henry. Plus, you’re still recovering, you absolutely need to rest.”

He didn't seem very convinced. “Emma, I'm not sure this is a good idea.”

“And why is that?” Was her exasperated reply, turning towards him with her hands on her hips. “What are you going to do? Seduce me with a couple of broken ribs and a ten-year-old boy sleeping next to us?”

He lifted his arms and surrendered. “Fair point.” He conceded.

In no time they were all ready for the night and Henry was snoring softly on the sofa. Killian was supine, staring at the ceiling and thinking about the events of the day. In any case, sleep had no intention of coming, but he tried not to move. He didn’t want to wake up his roommates. Emma was lying close with her back to him and he didn’t know if she was already in the arms of Morpheus.

He turned his head to observe how her upper body moved with the rhythm of her breathing, blond curls covering her shoulders. Killian had to repress the urge to touch them. And as if responding to his call, she stirred and turned to face him.

Her eyes opened lazily. “Still awake?” She murmured.

“I have the feeling that I’ve slept enough for the rest of my life.” He whispered. “But you can’t rest either, I see.”

She didn’t answer.

Perhaps it was the closeness, perhaps it was the fact that they had spent the last few days apart. Killian didn't know how he found the courage, but he lifted his left arm as an invitation. “Come here,” he said.

She seemed to ponder the situation, chewing her bottom lip. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

He decided not to think about all the possible implications of that sentence. He was falling in love with her, he was aware of it. Probably the simple doubt that she might not reciprocate was already hurting him, but he knew that at that moment she was referring only to his physical bruises. “You won’t.”

She slipped under the sheets towards him, resting her head gently on his left shoulder and placing a hand on his chest, avoiding the bruised part. Not many minutes passed before her lids grew heavy and she dozed off to the rhythm of his heartbeats. Killian placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

[strawberriesndaisies]

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones But Words Also Fucking Hurt - Sebastian Stan & Anthony Mackie x Teen Reader (Platonic)

Summary: You're an upcoming actress who plays Bucky's long-lost Daughter from Russia on The Falcon And The Winter Soldier. The people at your school are assholes, and one day the bullying causes you to have a mental breakdown on set.

A/N: I haven't watched more than the first episode of tfawts cause I've been so busy, so the character that Y/N plays probably makes no sense lol.

Y/B/F = Your best friend T/M/G = The mean girl M/G/F = Mean girls friend Requested by: Flower Anon REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!!

You sigh as you walk through the hallways of your school, gripping onto your Starbucks latte. You had to do a long fight scene last night, which had to be re-recorded multiple times because you couldn't perfect the move.

The directors had wanted your character, Anastasia, to throw up a knife and then use it to attack Sam, as a cinematic parallel to when Bucky attacked Steve with a knife as the Winter Soldier.

You were extremely happy to be working on such a big project, but it didn't stop you from being tired. So you staggered through the halls, making your way to your social studies classroom.

"All right class, settle down," Your teacher had stated when everyone sat down, "You'll all be working in groups of four for your project on Ionic and Covalent Bonds. Feel free to choose your groups."

You turned around to look for Y/B/F, only to realize she wasn't in the class. Mentally facepalming yourself, you remember the text she had sent you yesterday about her swimming competition.

You half-raise your hand, trying to get the teachers attention. "Y/B/F isn't here today because she has a competition, can I work alone and then work with her tomorrow?"

The teacher winces slightly. "Sorry Y/N. It's 4 people in a group, max. You and Y/B/F can work with T/M/G and M/G/F though!" You groan internally as you move your pencil and your laptop to the other table.

You feel a nail tapping into your shoulder blade repetitively. "Oh my god, Y/N! Can't you do anything without falling asleep? You're so lazy!" You look to the side to see T/M/G poking you with her pink acrylic.

"Sorry," you mumble, "I had to do some filming last night. I'm working on a show you see, and-"

She groans. "I don't care, Y/N! If you're on the show it's probably going to be a bunch of bullshit anyway!"

You stay quiet after that, silently doing the assignment. You're allowed to leave school after your second class thanks to the directors sending a cab. You're lucky that the set is only an hour away from your place, and not halfway across the world.

When you arrive on set, you lock yourself in a trailer for a few minutes, regaining your composure until you feel strong enough to get out and talk to your coworkers. After ten minutes, Emily knocks on your door, letting you know that you're needed in hair and makeup.

That's where you see Anthony and Sebastian. "Hey guys." You greet, leaving the two of them slightly confused.

Normally, you'd say something along the lines of "Hey losers," or "Whats up fam."

"You alright, Y/N/N?"

You hum in response to Sebastians question. "'M fine, Seb."

You register Anthony scoffing. "The hell you are. What's going on?"

Your eyes start tearing up. "I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing with being on the show. Don't get me wrong, I love it and I think it's such an amazing opportunity, but I feel like, being so inexperienced, people are going to think that I'm ruining the show."

"Who the fuck put that idea into your head?" Anthony states, eyebrow turned upward.

Sebastian's pulled you into a hug. "You listen, to me, Y/N Y/M/N L/N. You are an amazing actress and overall an amazing person. Don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise. Okay?"

"Okay."

[judgement-free-sideblog]

Ghosts from the rainforest

Summary: A simple rescue mission will bring him back to a place full of nightmares, and maybe this time he could find redemption. Situated in 1975, 2 years after the events of Skull Island.

Warnings: Violence, blood, wounds, mentions of war, cursing, implied smut, smoking, angst.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 6: Family

The piercing blue eyes search for you in the dim light that came from the sunrise outside the shack, he found you and attempt to stand up getting down immediately from the pain.

"Don't even try" You said to him, sad to look at his face covered in dry blood and a still fresh cut on his cheekbone. Two days after arriving Walker had decided to inspire moral in his troops by beating him and putting you to treat their wounds "I suspect they broke one of your ribs when you call them bastards, also even if you could move there is also this" you pointed to the fetter around his ankle and he looked at yours too, your shorts were stained from the truck and the dirt floor of the shack, and the clear sign of a lash on the naked skin that you cover with a blanket when he looked at it.

"How is your head?" He asked finally trying to sit still "How long have we been here?"

"It has been better, it will take more than that to take me down, don't worry" You said taking a piece of cloth and wetting it on a small bowl "Well after you passed out I kept fixing a couple wounds here an there in the camp, so he won't kill you, that was three days ago, at least they left me this to fix you up, hold still" You approach as much as you could to him and start cleaning up his wounds.

"I have nowhere else to be love... hey!!" He pull apart when the alcohol touch the open skin, and gave you a panicked look when you show him the suture you will use to close the cut

"Oh Captain don't be a baby" You hold his face on your hand while continuing to clean the cut "You must be used to deal with vicious animals like that by now, because that frien of yours can call himself a man"

"You are right, Walker is a poisonous snake who will kill anyone on his way, the only reason we are alive is because he believes he may get something valuable out of you, which reminds me, what did he ment by next time he'll go for the throat?" He had his hand was clenched and his eyes firmly shut down when you passed the needle trough the skin.

"I have met Walker before, Shukri used to help him pass his weapons and stuff through the border so he send me as a symbol of friendship, but the man he wanted me to help die, wich of course he will because he had severe sepsis and many bullet holes, and I'm far from being an actual medical doctor"

"You really have a way to reassure people" He joke and you rolled your eyes at him.

"Anyway he went crazy and kill the men Shukri send to guard me and stab me in the stomach, and leave me for dead in the jungle, thankfully it wasn't a cut deep enough and I managed to walk to the next village". You finish and he looked at you surprised by how casually you talk about those horrible memories. "What does he meant by your taste still being constant?" His face darkened and the guilt and remorse appear again in his eyes. "I'm sorry, I didn't meant..." You tried to stand up but he grab your wrist and you sit next to him.

"As I told you Jenny's mom was the lover of a British ambassador, and we actually met before we were send to find her, one night Sargent Walker was drunk and tried to force himself on her, and I stop her" He said with a sad smile on his face.

"You were together? You and her mother I mean" You tried to hide a hint of jealousy in your voice, it was funny that in this threatening situation you could still be thinking about you two.

"Of course not" He said and a grin of satisfaction show on his face when you sigh in relief "Although I had feelings for her, and maybe she had them too, but I knew I had a mission, then Walker betrayed us and Jenny die... well I guess she blamed me for it" you didn't say anything and just let him lay his head on your lap, the fetter was biting in your skin and your ankle was about to start bleeding but you feel the need of comforting him.

"How could you look this handsome aan peaceful cover in bruises, and cuts?" You ask yourself outloud after a couple minutes once you thought he was asleep.

"I could ask you the same Y/N" He responded opening his blue eyes, and you almost pushed him down but remember his bad shape. "Don't worry, the guys are looking for us, they will get help in Borneo and come back"

"That's what I'm afraid of, I heard them talking about asking for ransom money to the US Embassy in Borneo, what if they get too late, he is gonna kill me when he realizes I lie to him".

"I will like to him try" He said trying to stand hurting himself again.

"Easy there prince charming" You said holding him still and locking your hands together in the process, neither of you trying to pull apart. "I do know what I will do if we actually get out of here".

"And what is that?" Conrad asked trying to ignore how helpless your if was.

"I'm writing a strong worded letter to Houston Brooks about the terrible job of his tracker, since he keeps trying to charm the women he works for" You said and he smiled at you.

"Is it working?" He asked, trying to incorporate.

"Maybe" you said but before you could follow your instinct, some loud steps approach to the shack and you gently put him on the floor to curl in your corner pretending to be asleep.

"Ibu? Cepat! Kita perlu pergi" Mother? Quick! We have to go A young boy enter the shack carrying a big shotgun, and he open the fetter setting you free.

"Dia akan datang bersama kami" He is coming with us You said and he went to set a surprised James free.

"What is going on? Ibu?" He asked once you help him stand up, he was not as hurt as you thought since he could walk without help, but he was definitely not in his prime.

"You have your family Captain, I have mine" And since that explanation was not enough you had to continue "One of the men guarding me years ago was Shukri's nephew, he hates Wlker ever since, and has many of his children inside his little army so he can eventually sell them to the authorities"

"He is a layered man isn't he?" He said while you and the boy help him walk outside the camp, another infiltrator was already waiting next to a truck ready for you to flee, waving in the distance, and then the sound of a thunder brake the morning air, and he made a funny surprise face, and a blood stain start growing in his chest and he just fall on his back, and then all hell broke loose.

Walker men were following you, and since James was hurt it was so little that your young hero could do for you.

You run into the jungle just to be stopped in an open area where a tree had fallen an then four men were surrounding you, ready to kill.

"Drop it big guy!" Reles voice said, making your hear stop and race with happiness. The man in front of you turned around to meet Reels surprised by how calm he was.

"Didn't you listen? Drop it!" Slivko said coming out of the jungle with another six guys that you were sure were part of Shukri's village.

"I got you doc" Glenn said passing between the men who were already unarmed.

"I'm fine, help the Captain" you said and without thinking you took one of the weapons that had been dropped in the ground.

"I thought you didn't like those" Slivko said while Reels help the boy tie Walkers men.

"Desperate times Reg" You said, and hug him. "How did you find us so quickly?"

"Oh wow, sorry Captain" He said looking embarrassed "The guy, the weird guy that says he is your husband he meet us half way when we came after you guys, apparently one of the guys here told him what happened and he came with us and many men along to help"

"I knew it! Wait a minute Shukri is here?" You hold your breath because the feeling that something was wrong was strongly hurting your chest, and Conrad's words about Walker resonated in your ears.

You run back to the campsite, the ambush had worked out, the rest of Walker's men were dead or prisoners and unarmed, only their Sargent was too stubborn to surrender and both him and Shukri were aiming at each other in the middle of the camp. Shukri with a shotgun and Walker with two pistols.

Again without thinking and with the adrenaline running through your veins you pointed your gun at him and order him to drop it. As all response he aimed one of his pistols at you.

"You can't win this" You said to him not backing off and looking James concerned face approaching, but he was not looking at you, all his attention seemed to be focus on Shukri.

"Oh I know that doctor, but I have a question for you, who will be faster? Me or this little idiot here who came to rescue his princess??"

Things happened in the fraction of a second and by the time you understand what have happened both men where in the ground.

In the moment Shukri nod to James and he jump to take you out of the line of fire, Walker shoot his guns missing you, but not Shukri, but he didn't miss either.

"Hey, hey Shukri man, come on" Mills said approaching pressuring the wound, you stood up and walk away from James who was breathing difficulty from the jump, but overall okay.

"Shukri, you win, he is dead, please don't give up now" You said now no longer holding on the tears.

"Tears? Isteri if I had known that this is what I needed to do I would have let someone shoot me long ago." He said holding your hand with almost no strength. "Captain Prince charming?" He called for James and he kneeled by his side respectfully "Anda menjaga isteri saya" You take care of my wife

"I will" James said solemnly, and Shukri nod, then he hold your hand tightly and then after one last breath he and a quiet smile to you he was gone.

After a couple minutes people dispersed and you could hear his men arranging how will they move him, but it was wrong and you couldn't yet set what had happened in your brain, after one hour you felt like if you keep looking long enough he will smile again and wake up to tease you and life will be normal again.

"It's time" James said but he didn't force you to stand, he only gave you his hand, and stood there waiting, after a minute that felt like an eternity you took his hand stand up, and then you let all your unspoken feelings to come out, about Randa, about Shukri, about watching him almost be beaten to death two days ago, you cried and cried and he simply hold you, even when his rib was probably killing him, even when you were nothing to him but a job, he keep holding you.

[fairytales-of-yesterday]

My Lonely Days Are Through

A/N: okay so I finally wrote a fic! this is my first fic in like,, 4 years or so? so be gentle with me I guess lmao

I am pretty content with this though! I'm soft as hell so,,, here we go :)

@gardnerlangway this one's for you, lovely

(no editing we die like men)

A yawn escapes your lips as you stretch out and then curl back up. Tim's heart flutters as he watches you rub your nose, your brows furrowed. You're currently curled up on his couch, fast asleep. It's a typical Friday night for the two of you, one spent together. After meeting Tim when you started working in the museum a few months back, the two of you had built up a routine around each other. You would eat lunch together on your break, stay after hours working and keeping each other company, you would even go grocery shopping together on weekends. Today was no exception to your intertwined schedules. Upon leaving the museum for the day, you had grabbed a late dinner and ended up back at his apartment. You had started the night working, but the stress of the week and your recent lack of sleep had taken its toll, and you dozed off relatively quickly after 2am hit.

The soft light of the television dances colors across your face as Tim looks on in complete adoration. Your eyelashes cast tiny shadows on your cheeks as your chest rises and falls steadily. You had borrowed a shirt and some shorts from him, you both agreeing it would just make sense if you spent the night, and his eyes couldn't help but wander to where the tshirt had ridden up to expose a bit of your stomach. His breath catches in his throat as he finds himself thinking about what it would feel like to hold you there. What it would feel like to just have you close. To run his hands along your soft skin and-

"Okay wow, Tim." He quickly looks back at the bright screen of his laptop in order to rid his mind of these compromising thoughts. But, as his eyes make their way back to you, he runs a hand through his hair and breaths a quiet laugh. "I really do have it bad, don't I?"

He quickly covers his mouth though as he sees you slightly stir, not wanting to wake you. He had seen the effect the last week had had on you, his heart slowly falling more and more as each day you seemed to become a little more quiet, a little less peppy, and a little less yourself. The project you had been working on was one you were very passionate about, but it had become quite the endeavor. Though you had been thrilled to take it on, the universe had not been on your side, with people forgetting to follow through with their promises, paperwork getting mixed up, and even artifacts getting misplaced for a bit due to the lack of a proper cataloging system when the museum first opened. It nearly broke Tim's heart to see you become so unhappy with something that had made you so ecstatic before. He had done all in his power to keep you smiling, with funny stories, bad jokes, and any help he could offer, but you couldn't help still being discouraged. He had even mustered up the courage to give you a little kiss on the forehead as he left your office at one point, and the smile it brought, along with the blush that rose to your cheeks, was definitely worth the ten minutes he spent panicking over whether or not he should even attempt it. Just the memory of your flustered face makes him grin.

A small whine draws him from his thoughts. He looks up to find you rubbing your eyes and slowly pushing yourself to a sitting position. He tries his best to maintain his composure as you sleepily pull down your shirt and run your hand through your hair.

"Good morning," he chuckles quietly. You look at him in sleepy confusion before realizing what happened.

"Oh nooo," you groan, putting your face in your hands. He laughs a little louder this time, scooting over on the couch to bump your shoulder with his. You smile into your palms, your face flushing pink at the contact. He bumps you again, drawing your face away from your hands. Peeking through your fingers, you can see the soft but wide smile on his face.

"Have a nice nap?"

It's teasing, but you can see something resembling concern in his gaze. You just nod in response, running a hand through your hair. "I don't think I've ever seen you fall asleep this fast," he cautiously approaches the subject, "have you slept this week?"

The laugh that escapes you in response only makes his concern grow. He asks again, softer this time, and you look up at him with tired eyes.

"I uh... I think I got ten hours this whole week."

"Ten?"

You wince slightly at his tone, cursing yourself for not adding a few hours to make him feel a bit better.

"But that's like... two hours a night! You've gotten ten hours of sleep this whole week?" You can't tell if it's shock or sadness in his eyes. Maybe both.

"Eleven if you count the nap I just took?" You joke, trying to calm him a little. "Tim, I'm okay I promise, I've been through a lot worse, honest."

"Worse?!"

Okay, so that didn't help. But before you can say anything else to try and defend yourself, he wraps you up in a tight hug. You tense up for a second, taken by surprise, but quickly you melt into him. You don't even realize you've started crying until you hear Tim trying to comfort you.

"I'm- I'm sorry," you hiccup into his shoulder, tears beginning to stain his shirt.

He rubs your back slowly, quietly shushing you, and telling you that it's absolutely okay, and you have nothing to apologize for. You shiver at his touch, burying your face in his neck, breathing him in. You stay like that for a few minutes, you trying to stop your ragged breaths and the tears spilling from your eyes, him rubbing your back, occasionally switching to run his hands through your hair, whispering words of comfort. However, eventually you pull away with a pitiful laugh.

"Sorry about your shirt," you whisper, trying to simultaneously brush your tears off of his shoulder and wipe your eyes.

"Hey, it's completely okay. I know this week has been rough. You have every right to be upset. But, it's over now, okay? Next week'll be better, yeah? I'll make sure it is."

He's relieved to see a watery smile grace your lips. No, that's an understatement. He's almost on the verge of crying himself, never having seen you in this state before. He brings his hands up to cradle your face, wiping the still falling tears with the pads of his thumbs, somehow not noticing the deep shade of red you're turning. With his hands still around your face, he tilts your head so you're looking up at him.

"Now, what do you say I pop some popcorn and you turn on something you like?"

A breathy laugh escapes you and you nod, not really trusting your voice with him this close to you. You can see the masked worry in his features as he smiles, and you mentally kick yourself for stressing him out. But, that thought leaves you as he stands up, giving you a chaste but firm kiss on your forehead. You're eternally grateful that he goes to the kitchen immediately after bc you can't stop the blush that rises to your cheeks.

"Dear god, that boy's gonna kill me," you whisper, wrapping yourself up in one of the blankets that had been resting on the back of the couch.

You start to flip through the channels, eventually landing on a documentary, and you hear a chuckle behind you. You turn to find Tim with a bowl of popcorn in his hand, looking at you in what you could only describe as fond adoration. You flush again, and he laughs fully now, plopping down beside you. You lift the blanket, inviting him in, and he gladly accepts, scooting over close enough to bump knees with you.

You fall into a comfortable silence, both of you enraptured by the bright images on the tv. Every now and then your hands brush when trying to reach for popcorn, and you mentally curse yourself for getting so worked up over cliches, not knowing that Tim was doing the exact same thing.

You're the first to speak.

"Thank you."

It's a quiet whisper, accompanied with a shoulder bump. He bumps you back and gives you a lopsided grin.

"It's the least I could do."

“What?”

“Y/N, you've spent the last few months I've known you being so amazingly kind to me. You bring me food, you save me seats in meetings, you laugh at my jokes, you-”

You cut him off very seriously, “Okay they're good jokes, Tim.”

At that he laughs, breathlessly.

“Not good enough for you to cry in the middle of a meeting! I was trying to be quiet and you almost spit your water everywhere!”

Now you're both laughing, remembering that stupid planet joke and how you just about died of embarrassment, and before you can think or stop yourself, you say it.

“God, I love you.”

It's like all the oxygen leaves the room. Both of you are immediately gasping for breath, as if the air had been knocked out of your lungs. Before you can sputter out an apology, anything to make things go back to how they were before you blurted out what had been your most well-kept secret, Tim manages to get out,

“You… you what?”

His eyes are wide, and you're sure yours are as well. You're in love with him. You're in love with him. You had never even said it to yourself before. It had always just been little sighs, thoughts of him basically all the time, or little whispers to yourself about how bad you've got it. Never an outright, ‘I'm in love with Tim Murphy.’ No, the first time you said it just had to be right to his face.

You start to say ‘sorry, no, wait,” to say, ‘hold on I shouldn't have done that,’ but then you stop. And you look at him. Tim. Tim, with his sweet words and his brilliant mind. Tim, with his adorable laugh and beautiful smile that he had come to trust you with. Tim, with his tight hugs that make you feel safer than almost anywhere else. Tim, with his strong arms and gorgeous face and Jesus Christ his HANDS are just about the hottest things in the world like oh my god the things he could- you've gotten off track. The point is, you don't want to apologize. You don't want to take it back. You love him.

So you say it again.

“I love you.”

And then it's quiet. He looks honestly shell-shocked. You can almost see his gears turning behind his eyes, trying to figure out what to say after that. Immediately, your brain jumps to the worst possible scenario, and you begin to backtrack.

“I'm sorry. Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable, I just- you're so lovely, but you can completely ignore any of this just hap-”

And then he's kissing you. It's a short kiss, just a sweet, small one, but you're out of breath when he pulls away. You open your eyes to see him in a similar state, his face completely flushed. But he quickly finds his voice.

“I can't tell you how long I've wanted to do that.”

All you can do is laugh, still trying to remember how to breathe.

“The feeling is mutual.”

He blushes and gives a bashful smile, then hesitates again, opening his mouth, then closing it, once more unable to speak. However, he manages to regain his composure enough to ask,

“Can… can I kiss you again?”

Not even bothering you answer, you close the gap between you. You feel Tim smile against your lips, and you can't help but do the same. You don't know how it happens, but somehow you end up on his lap, straddling him. Your hands are on his chest as your lips move in sync, slowly, but desperately. Passionately. His hands make their way into your hair, and you whimper quietly into his mouth as he gives it a slight tug. Your face heats up immediately, but you just keep going, pretending it didn't happen and hoping he missed it. He definitely heard it though, and you feel him smirk against you.

Shit, that's hot … everything he does is hot.

You roll your hips experimentally to retaliate, still on top of him, and the moan that leaves his lips is one of the most beautiful sounds you ever heard. It goes straight to your core, and you let out a groan yourself. You start to roll your hips once more, desperate to draw that sound from him again, but his hands come up to your waist and stop you. You can see he’s panting, and his hair is all disheveled.

“Okay, as much as I want to do that, and I really wanna do that,” he pauses as you giggle, “you just told me that you got 10 hours of sleep this week. I promise we can continue another time, but right now, you need to sleep.”

You pout, knowing he's got a point.

“Okay, but only since you promised.”

He helps you off his lap, letting you use him as support, and gently guides you to his bedroom. He makes a big, dorky show of tucking you in, making sure you're comfortable, offering to make you a glass of water. Finally, he gives you a soft smile, says a quiet goodnight, and gives you a quick kiss on the forehead. Your face immediately flushes, and you whisper a soft goodnight back as he turns to leave.

"Wait, where are you going?"

He turns around, confused.

"The couch?"

You give him a grin, suddenly a bit shy, and wordlessly lift up the covers next to you. He stares at you for a moment, still sporting that confused expression, and then suddenly it's like a lightbulb goes off in his head.

"Oh. OH! You want..?"

You giggle sleepily at how flustered he is. Just a few minutes ago you were about to rip each other's clothes off, and now he's getting stuttery about sleeping in the same bed as you.

"I hope you like to cuddle."

At that, he smiles sheepishly, and nods without a word. You watch as he changes into pjs, his boxers and an old band tshirt, and it takes all your willpower to not start anything again. After turning the lights off, he slides into bed next to you. There's a moment of hesitation, a moment where it seems like he can't quite decide what he wants to do, but then you feel him move closer to you, and suddenly, he's holding you. He nuzzles his head into the crook of your neck and you can feel his smile against your skin. He presses a tender kiss to your shoulder, and you turn to press one into his hair. You both sigh, more comfortable and safe than you've ever felt in your life.

"Goodnight, Tim."

"Goodnight."

A beat.

"I love you."

You smile.

"I love you too."

[agentunwin]

WHY [POPSTAR!Y/N X SHAWN MENDES] [PART 6]

A/N: I recommend you listen to this song while you read, it’s super cute. I think this series is gonna have one more part. I just wanted to say thank you so much for all the support on this and my other writing <3

Prompt: Day two at the studio, and the two reach an agreement. [Based off Shawn’s song Why]. 

Warnings: Nothing!

Words: 2,057

Tag: @yourwonderbelle @coldluvr @marvel-mendes8 @xoxohannahlee @maddieeelizabeth @irwie-cake @coolgirlthemonologue

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4*, Part 5, Part 5.5,

Masterlist

-

When you woke up, you immediately found yourself in a compromising position.

You felt the steady rise and fall of a hard chest behind you, the person's arm draped over your waist to hold you close to them. As if you didn't already know who it was, the familiar brown curls were just next to you, flopped loosely against his forehead. You couldn't deny that you missed being this close with him, but it was his fault that there was a barrier between the two of you.

Your mind still groggy, you tried to remember what had happened the previous night. You must have accidentally fallen asleep next to Shawn when you guys were wrapping up the writing for Like To Be You, which only ended up taking an hour or so once you two began to pour your hearts out.

A lot was said that night, but nothing was said directly. Everything they wanted- needed to say was spoken through their lyrics, left to the other's interpretation.

Lines like "There's nothin' left to say, let's call a truce, 'Cause I don't really wanna go to bed like this," and "Can I kiss you or not, 'cause I'm not really sure right now of what you want," stuck in your mind as you fell asleep that night on the hardwood floor, definitely not with Shawn. He must have fallen asleep soon after.

You sighed heavily and listened to the birds outside of the studio beach house whilst you pondered your options. Either you wake him up by breaking free of his grasp, or you stay put and wait for him to wake up beside you. Either option seemed equally awkward.

That's when Shawn's grungy morning voice startled you, his breath tickling the hairs on the back of your neck. "Mm. Good morning."

As soon as you realized he was awake as well, you separated yourself from him, sitting up in front of him as he slowly rose to a sit as well.

"Sleep well?" He asked, running a hand lazily through his curls.

Shawn noticed the spaced-off look in your eyes and frowned, realizing that he may have unintentionally crossed another line. When you didn't answer, merely stared at the ground, he sighed and got up, looking over the mess the two of you had made.

A few beer bottles were spread throughout the room, a few blankets strung here and there, candy wrappers on the floor. The computer was still up and running, ready to play the few clips you'd managed to record.

Today was the last day the two of you had alone before the production team came in to help, and he intended to make the most of it.

"What's this?"

Your voice comes as a shock to him and he whips around to face you, face paling when he notices you holding his leather journal. You're flipping casually through the pages when he pounds across the room, ripping the book from his hands.

You give him an odd look when he holds it behind his back, pursing his lips awkwardly. "Nothing! Nothing. Please don't touch my things."

You hold your hands up defensively and nod, leaving it at that. He sighs in relief and puts his large hand to his chest, awkwardly messing with the collar. "Uh, do you wanna go back to the house and have breakfast?"

Giving his nervous tendencies a tiny grin, you nod and then you're walking out the door with him hot on your trail.

-

"Milk."

Shawn hands you the milk, watching you pour it into the mixture.

"Flour?"

He scurries to the cabinet and grabs the bag, running back to hand it to you.

"Egg."

"Ya'know," Shawn chuckles, handing her the carton. "Playing the messenger is getting pretty boring."

You glare at him jokingly and crack the egg into the batter. "Sorry I don't trust you enough to not to mess this up."

"How hard can pancakes be?" He bluffs, tossing a water bottle back and forth between his hands. "You just add the things and stir it... Simple."

You shake your head and laugh a bit, "Just let me do this, you're so annoying."

Shawn doesn't respond and you go back to stirring, humming a tune peacefully to yourself when you're suddenly hit with something, your jaw dropping to your chest.

An egg's contents were dripping down the side of your face, seeping into your hair and skin. Shawn lets out a booming laugh, holding the carton of eggs in his hand.

You reach for the bag of flour, grabbing a fistful of the substance and flinging it his way, immediately shutting him up as he coughs and waves it out of his face.

"Oh, it's on!" He yells, beginning to chase you around the kitchen.

"You started it!" You laugh genuinely, dodging his attempts to throw more eggs at you.

At one point you make a mistake and slip on one of his eggs, your body hitting the ground causing him to put the eggs down and run to your side.

He kneels next to you and his eyes run over your aching body, checking for any bad injuries.

"Agh, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" He asks frantically, watching as you prop yourself up on your elbows.

"Yeah, yeah." You huff, looking up into his golden eyes. "I think I'm good."

"Oh." Shawn mutters, his face looking much more serious than it did just 30 seconds ago. "Well... In that case.."

Shawn's hands are on your sides in a split second, his fingers tickling over the skin. You yelp and try to swat him away, his assault pulling boisterous giggles from your lips. "Shawn, stop! Please!"

He chuckles as tears begin to leak from your eyes, his fingers never stopping. You looked so perfect underneath him like this, face shining happiness and laugh lightening his heart. Nobody else could ever make him feel this way, he was convinced.

"Uncle! Uncle!" You tap out, your laugh dying when his fingers finally stopped.

He licked over his lips when you looked up at him, your eyes glazed over and hopeful. Shawn wished he could keep you here all day, just studying your beauty until someone pulled him off of you. But he knew that couldn't happen.

You cleared your throat and he snapped out of his daze, helping you up to your feet.

"So.." He bit his lip, "Who's going to get in the shower first?"

"You go ahead." You look down at the ground, unable to hold that mesmerizing gaze with the man anymore. "I'll finish the pancakes."

Shawn nods and walks off, going to wash himself from all of their shenanigans.

The pancakes are done far before you find yourself leaning against the wall next to the bathroom door. Shawn's silky smooth voice was belting out his own lyrics as he practiced runs and different progressions, and it blew you away just as it did every other time he sang.

You could imagine him in there, shower steam making his cheeks rosy, hair wet and stuck to his skin.

Oh, how you wish he hadn't been such an asshole.

You must not have noticed his shower stopping and before you could run away, Shawn's exiting the bathroom, dripping wet with only a towel wrapped around his waist. You stand there like a deer in the headlights at the fact that you'd been caught, however Shawn barely reacts. He merely smirks at you and nods towards the door.

"Shower's free."

-

Shawn watched you with the upmost adoration in his eyes as he witnessed you belt out the final lyrics to the song. When you finished, you stood there with your eyes closed and your right hand on the headphones, basking in the glory of basically completing a song.

Your peace is interrupted when Shawn lets out a whooping cheer, clapping his hands together and rushing towards you. You gasp loudly as he picks you up by your knees, spinning you around and holding you close to him. Both of you are laughing at his actions and he sets you down after a second.

His face is still rosy and radiant when he holds your shoulders, shaking you gently, "God, you're such an amazing singer. How did I get so lucky to get this collab with you?"

"Oh, stop it." You swat him away while simultaneously pulling him into a hug.

He cradles the back of your head and rocks the two of you back and forth, never wanting to let go.

"This is gonna go #1." You mutter into his chest. "I can feel it in my bones."

Shawn doesn't reply, only stops rocking you and pulls back the slightest bit to look at your face.

The open windows let in a slight breeze, strands of your hair gently tickling your face. The only light in the room came from the dimmed lights overhead, and the only noise that could be heard in the room was the noises of the night creatures outside.

Shawn's hand comes down to cradle your jaw, smiling when you nuzzle your cheek into his rough palm. His eyes flutter as his mind races, thinking of something to say, and quick before he loses you again.

"Y/N, I-" He begins, licking his lips nervously but keeping adamant eye contact with you. "I miss you. And maybe not in the way you're thinking. I would love to be with you in that way, yeah, but I understand if that's not what you want. If you want to stay friends forever, that's fine with me. I just need you in my life, in one way or another."

You grin at his small rant, squeezing his arm. "You're too cute."

Shawn lets out a quick breath in place of a laugh, shaking his head. "Okay.. I don't know what that means.."

"It means I miss you too." You quirk, rolling your eyes. "I just.. I'm not ready to try again. Not like that, not yet. But, I miss those conversations we would always have in between interviews and shows, and how you always supported me, even through my dumbest decisions. You never failed to put a smile on my face. And I miss having that kind of friendship."

"I'll literally take anything you give me. I'd wait 500 years until you're ready again." Shawn breaths out, finally feeling like he can breathe again. "Thank you so much, Y/N. Thanks for not completely giving up on me."

You nod, standing up on your tippytoes to ruffle his hair. "No problem, Shawn. Now what do you say we go celebrate our last day alone here and pop that bottle of champagne?"

-

Shawn's curly head pops into your room 2 days later, eyes saddening when he watches you packing your things into your last bag. "You ready to go?"

You zip up your suitcase, looking back at him with a smirk. "Jeez, are you rushing me?"

"The opposite, actually." Shawn snickers.

The song was completed with the help of the team that came in that next day, and today, it was finally time to leave. Your flight was leaving earlier than his, meaning that you'd be leaving him earlier than he preferred.

"I'm sure you'll see me soon, Shawn." You grin at him, pinching his cheek with one of your free hands. "Besides, when this song hits the charts, you're never going to be able to shut me up about it."

"I look forward to that." Shawn quips quickly, walking you to the wide open front door. The black truck was already in the driveway, ready to bring you to the airport.

"Be very careful what you wish for," You joke, pulling him into a small hug that turns into a huge one when he pulls you tighter against him, his blunt nails digging into your sides.

He breaths in heavily and mutters, "I'm really gonna miss you. Even though you drive me absolutely insane."

You laugh at this and shake your head as he lets you go, "I'll text you when I land, alright?"

Shawn nods and blows you a joking kiss as you walk away, loading your things into the truck.

You climb into the passenger seat without looking at him and your phone dings just before you pull away. Pulling it out, you're positive your heart skips a beat.

From: Shawn

See? Missing you already :(

You look out the window to see him frowning, waving at you as the wheels below you begin to turn and you're waving back sweetly.

And Shawn merely stands there, watching you ride off into the distance until all that's left of your vehicle is a tiny speck disappearing over the mountain.

[seungminty]

For granted //Jisung

words: 2.1k

genre: a n g s t 

It’s 1am and I’m trash for angst and Jisung, enjoy.

-mads <3

part 2

Friday, 11:54pm

I sighed when I saw the time as I checked my phone yet again. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I mindlessly clicked on another episode of Brooklyn 99, snuggling deeper into my blanket in an attempt to distract myself from the tears that were slowly gathering at the corners of my eyes. Jisung had said he would facetime me after rehearsals, but after 4 hours of radio silence, I was quickly losing hope. 

Not like I should be surprised.

This had become a regular occurrence in our relationship throughout the past few months; I’d plan dates, he’d cancel them. We’d hang out, he’d work the whole time. We’d argue, he’d come back a few days later, full of flowers and apologies, and I’d fall for him all over again. 

Don’t get me wrong, of course I knew that dating an idol would bring challenges, especially since Stray Kids were so well-known, as well as being self-producing. And for a while, we actually made it work. Yeah, Jisung worked most of the time, but I was also busy with college and my waitressing job. However, we always found time for each other, even if it was just Jisung popping into the cafe to give me lunch, or a pizza night with the boys. 

So yeah, I knew it would be hard, just not... not this hard. 

It wasn't like he’d gotten busier, he was always busy, so was I, but he just didn't make the effort anymore. Every time he cancelled on me to hang with the boys or ignored my good morning texts, my heart broke just a little bit more. We’d argue about his newfound attitude often, but it seemed to tear me apart far more than it did him. Before I could fully explain the extent of the loneliness I felt inside, he would cut me off and accuse me of being too clingy, with many insults thrown in too. He would later blame his foul words on stress, but I had heard that excuse so many times I didn't know what to believe anymore. One thing was certain, though, Jisung had changed. We had changed. I wasn't a priority anymore, and it was destroying me. 

 There had always been a small part of me that still believed this was just a phase, that we could go back to the old us. But I soon realized that that was impossible. I knew that Jisung still loved me, and I knew that he still had a heart of gold, but I couldn't figure out for the life of me why he didn't want to invest time in us anymore.

I guess we're just on different paths now. 

I was suddenly pulled from my depressing train of thought by my phone. Jisung’s name on my phone screen had become such a rare sight that I stared at my lock screen for several seconds before actually reading the text.

Sorry went to the studio after practice and lost track of time.

The studio. That damn studio. 

It was once a place filled up with happy memories, memories of Jisung giddily showing me a hook he’d finally perfected, or lyrics that he’d say I inspired him to write, which always caused both our cheeks to tint pink.

But now, it was the place my boyfriend chose over me, time and time again. I always admired his passion for music, and the last thing I wanted was to be one of those annoying girlfriends who want their boyfriend to only ever spend time with her, but was it really so bad that I wanted my boyfriend to make me feel important every once in a while?

These were the thoughts circulating in my head as I quickly pulled on my shoes and walked out the door towards the studio. By this point, I was so hurt and confused, I didn't have the faintest idea of what I was going to say to Jisung, I just knew that I had to see him. I had to make the pain stop.

I arrived at the studio sooner than I had expected, and a quick glance at the clock above the desk in the darkened reception area revealed that it was a little past 1am.

Wow, what a fun way to be spending your Friday night, y/n.

I sighed as I stood outside his studio door, doing my best to prepare myself for what was to come, whatever the hell that was.

Eventually, I plucked up the courage to open the door, and it creaked open agonisingly slowly to reveal a mop of tangled blonde hair, slumped at a mixing board. I walked up to him, thinking he was asleep, and was about to wake him up when he suddenly spun around towards me, eyes wide and mouth agape, clearly startled by my visit.

“Hey” he stated, his voice deep with exhaustion.

“Oh, hey” I managed to breathe out, my mouth had become dry the moment I walked in, like my subconscious knew that something big was going to go down tonight. 

We remained in an awkward silence for a while, none of us knowing how to react to this new dynamic. Life was Jisung was never quiet, ever. 

“I’m sorry.” He said suddenly. 

I looked him properly in the eyes for the first time that night, and I couldn't hide the puzzled expression on my face.

“Oh...uh, what for? It was just a facetime call, no biggie.”

No biggie? Really? Not like you wallowed in your sadness while finishing off a whole damn tub of ice cream, y/n.

Jisung looked even more shocked than me now, shaking his head and laughing lightly before speaking again.

“Oh, ok that’s fine then. Thought I missed a date or something like that. So how come you’re here then, shouldn’t you be asleep?”.

Even though I had played it off as nothing earlier, I still felt my heart sink at his statement. There was a time when Jisung would've apologised a hundred times over for forgetting to text me goodnight, now he’s so distant he doesn’t even really know what he’s apologising for.

“I, I uh, I just wanted to see you, and I don’t know, have a chat about stuff?” My words came out more like a question, and I cringed at how awkward it sounded. Jisung sighed, running his hands down his face.

“I guess, but I’ve still got this guide track to finish and its getting late, maybe some other time yeah?” He said, already turning back round in his chair.

“No, Jisung, I need to talk, and you need to listen to me,” I stated, my voice so loud that it startled both of us. 

“Right... Y-yeah sure y/n, um... what’s up?” He gulped, wide-eyed and still taken aback by my tone. I was never really one to raise my voice, but I was desperate now, trying to stitch up our fractured love before it disappeared forever.

But then, I realised. I don't think there’s any love left to fix.

I took a deep breath, trying my hardest to steel my nerves before saying the words I vowed I never would.

“Ji, this isn’t working. We... we aren’t working anymore.”

Those words hung Over the silent room like a thick black veil, suffocating me, and as I hesitantly looked at Jisung, it seemed like they were suffocating him too. He was frozen, staring at the ground in shock, before jerking his head up to search my face with panicked eyes as his hands began to shake.

“I-I... no, you can’t... we’re not, it’s fine-” He spluttered, his eyes glistening with unshed tears. I watched with pained eyes as the man I loved unravelled before me, and it was all my fault.

His mouth opened and closed like a goldfish, and when it became clear that he wasn’t going to actually say anything, I began to speak, doing my best not to burst into tears.

“Things are just different now. You’re always so busy and that’s great, I'm so so proud of you, but there just isn't enough room for me in your life anymore. We never hang out, and when we do we just argue. And I'm sorry, but I just can't take it anymore, I can't take anymore cancelled dates or ignored messages, because it's destroying me, Jisung. And yes, maybe I am just weak and clingy, but I've got to put myself first for once because god-fucking-damn it Jisung, I've been so sad for so fucking long, and my own boyfriend has no idea!” By the end of my speech, I was nearly screaming, and I quickly realised that the dampness on my cheeks was from the many tears that were now uncontrollably cascading down my face. 

Now, the only sounds in the room were my slight panting and the occasional sniffle. Jisung remained unblinking, still frozen in the same position. It wasn't until I shook my head and turned towards the door that he reached forward and grabbed my arm.

“No!” he shouted, panic clear in his voice. I looked at him, he too, had tears streaming down now, the sight making what was left of my poor heart shatter.

“No... you can’t leave, I’m sorry ok? Really sorry. I-I took you for granted. You were always by my side so I guess I thought you’d stay there forever, because I honestly can’t imagine my world without you in it y/n, standing right next to me. I know I’m a shit boyfriend, and hearing how hurt you are because... because of me, kills me more than you’ll ever know. Honestly, this comeback had me feeling stressed out and down I didn't know what to do, but now I realise, that the only thing that could've made me feel happy again.. was you. Of course it was you. You are my heaven y/n, and I swear I’ll never desert you again. I’m such a fucking idiot, I was so sad that I pushed you away, even though you're the only one who can make me happy.” He laughed bitterly, but his expression quickly reverted to fear as he saw me shaking my head, tears still endlessly falling. 

“I’m sorry Jisung... but I just can’t fall for your apologies again. My heart can’t take any more of this, but I'm sure you'll find a-a nice girl... maybe an idol, someone who’s pretty and isn't so weak that they fall apart like me.” I began to walk away again, determined not to turn back again, in fear that I’d break down even further. 

Behind me, Jisung was really panicking now. He couldn't believe this was actually happening. He knew hed been a shitty boyfriend. But he thought that soon he’d feel less stressed and everything would go back to normal. They were Jisung and y/n, they were madly in love and everyone knew it, they couldn’t just break up like this. It was only when I had reached for the door handle did he react. 

“Angel, please.”

I hesitated at those words. 

 Angel. Even thinking of his pet name for me made me want to break down. It reminded me of happier times, when we were so in love we felt we were invincible, a feeling that was all but a distant memory now. 

Against my better judgment, I turned round to see Jisung slumped on the floor on his knees, head bowed and body shaking with sobs. 

I knew what I had to do. I knew what was best, for both of us. 

“I love you Jisung, and know that I’ll always be cheering you on, always.”

I took one last look at the boy who held my heart so tightly that he’d crushed it, before moving to the door, shutting it quietly behind me.

 FIN.

[bizarrewritings-blog]

Knock Hard Life / Pt. 4

Bucky Barnes x reader

Being the new one is always problematic. Being the new one while thirsting over a new companion is even more problematic, especially when he shows no interest at all towards you.

Warnings: slight smut (blink and you'll miss it), Angst

A/N: The next part will be the last one sooo hope you enjoy this!

Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4 | Pt. 5

The following night was rough. You've been tossing your body around the sheets for at least 3 hours resisting to fall asleep. You sighed heavily, sitting up and rubbing your palms over your face. Since you moved you always slept perfectly, the comfiness of the mattress lulling you to sleep easily. But even the softest sheets didn't bring you to doze off.

You turned on your bedsite lamp, picking up your favorite book from its place on the nightstand. Maybe this would help you to get a little sleepy. Making yourself comfortable against the headbord you started reading, almost immediately feeling in your own little world where only you and the story the pages infront of you pictured existed. You had no idea for long how you've been reading until a noise ripped you out of your trance, making you flinch. It was a knock at your door. Confused, you looked at the clock. 2:26 am. "Come in." You called, closing the book on your lap, still suspicious why someone would be up this time. Your features softened when a nervous looking Bucky took a step in your room. He wore a grey shirt to his sweatpants this time. Sadly.

"What's up Buck?" You asked, puzzled why he kept his gaze at the floor. You really thought he was finally over the 'I won't look at you' phase. "'M sorry for bothering you." He murmured, something lingering in his voice that you couldn't quite name. You crossed your leg under your blanket to sit up straighter, putting your book back on your nightstand. "You're not bothering. What's wrong?" He run a hand through his hair, his gaze still on his feet which were nervously scratching your grey carpet. "I normally go to Steve with stuff like this but...I walked by and your lights were on, and the talk we had in the kitchen was nice, so i thought... i don't know, if you want to...maybe I shouldn't have come..." He was unbelievably adorable when he was all nervous, but you really wanted him to form his thoughts into proper sentences. "If you want to talk, we can." That's when his gaze finally lifted from his feet to you. His eyes were a little puffy and red, the usual sparkling blue in his eyes turned to a cloudy grey. You gave him a sad smile, shifting a little to the side, petting the sheet to your left, telling him to sit down. He walked over to your bed slowly, sitting at the edge of the mattress. You giggled at his actions, making him throw a confused look at you. "You can sit on the bed normally, you know? You don't have to keep yourself so far from me." He only nodded, carefully taking his place beside you, making himself comfortable against the headboard as well. "Great. Now, talk." He took a breath before speaking. He told you about the nightmares he had for years, flashbacks of his years as The Winter Soldier, completely under another persons control. He talked about how the dreams where always different yet the same. Sometimes he would get pictured flashbacks of missions, the feared faces of people around him. Other times eveything would be a blurry imagine, but he heard the screaming, yelling, gunshots. And rarely he could feel the pain he went through everytime they messed with his brain, he even heard his own suffering screams.

You only looked at him while he talked, not saying anything. You wanted him to talk without being interrupted. When he finished you took all your confidence, carefully putting your hand in his flesh one, squeezing it lightly. He gave you a little confused look but didn't pull away. "I can never imagine the way you have to feel. It has to be absolutely horrific to be reminded of the things those bastards forced you to." You gave him a heart warming smile. "But you have to remember one thing. You're still here. You've made it through all of that and now you're here, being one of the toughest fighters the world has ever seen, with a group of friends everyone would love to have." He smiled brightly at your words, carefully squeezing your hand which still remained in his. "You're even better at these speeches than Steve." You both chuckled at that. The sound of his laugh spread warmth in your belly, it was such a beautiful thing to hear. You decided to be even bolder, shifting a little closer to him to lean your head on his shoulder. You felt him lightly tense again, his metal arm stirring lightly, but he relaxed soon after, making you sigh in relieve. None of you said anything, just enjoying each others company. You wanted to stay like this forever, the peaceful silence, the warmth of Buckys Hand around your own combined with the scent of him making your eyelids feel heavier by the second.

Bucky was the first to talk again. "Thank you, for all this. I hate bugging Steve all the time, waking him up and stuff, even if he says it's okay i still feel bad." You slightly nodded, you completely understood him. "I have to thank as well. You finally make me feel sleepy." You lifted your head from his shoulder to look at your alarm clock. 3:19 am. You really talked for almost an hour. You felt Bucky shift, his hand about to leave yours. "Maybe I should go then. But really, it was n-" "Wait." He stopped his movements, watching your face while you felt it going red. God you sounded really desperate there. "Y-You can stay if you want. You often stay at Steves as well right?" His eyebrows furrowed together in question. "How do you..." "Steve told me." You admitted. His face dropped a little, making it your turn to give him a questioned look. His gaze falling to his hand still intertwined with yours. "So you knew all of this and still had me explain it?" "No, no, i didn't know!" You instantly protested, fearing he might get mad at you for putting him through the misery of remembering all his dreams. You softly squeezed his hand, signaling him to look at you instead. His gaze met yours, a hurt expression on his face. "I promise, okay? He only told me you that when you had nightmares you would go to him to talk and sometimes staying there for the night. That's all. Really." Your eyes practically begged him to believe you. You didn't want him to go, you would do anything to convince him to stay. He took a breath before nodding. "Okay, okay. I'm...I'm sorry for accusing you like that." You sighed and shook your head. "It's alright, really." You ran your thumb over the back of his hand before lifting your gaze back to his eyes whose colour had returned to sparkling blue. "Stay, please." He smiled softly before nodding.

He stood up, the warmth of his hand leaving you. You shifted under your blanket to give him enough material to crawl under. After he joined you under the covers, laying on his back, he went full nervous again, you could almost see his rapid heartbeat trough the thin material of his shirt. You suppressed a chuckle but didn't accept that he wasn't at all close to you. With help of your new found confidence, wherever that came from, you lifted his arms and maneuvered yourself next to his body, your head on his chest. Now you could also hear his racing heart and you actually feared he might have a heart attack. He's an old man after all. "This okay for you?" You asked carefully as his heart didn't slow down. You feared you might have taken it too far. He answered by moving his flesh arm, which was laying somewhere behind your back until now, setting his hand at your hip, softly squeezing. You smiled at that, making yourself even more comfortable, soon after drifting off into your well deserved sleep.

Both of you actually slept longer that night, enjoying the comfort. What you didn't know was that at the same time you were the number one topic in the kitchen. "Has any of you seen Bucky?" Steve asked, nervously looking at Tony, Wanda and Sam. "Nope, barely see that guy." Sam shrugged. "His door is open and I usually always meet him here." The blonde stated, feared for his best friend. "Gym?" Wanda suggested. Steve just shook his head. "Already checked." "You know we have a AI in this house right?" Tony chuckled. "FRIDAY? Where is Barnes at the moment?" "Sergeant Barnes is asleep in Miss Y/L/Ns room." All four exchanged suprised glances. "Never thought Tin man would actually get laid." Tony laughed, Sam joining. Steve rolled his eyes with a smile. He was happy for you two but damn that went fast.

You woke up slowly, prying your eyes open to adjust to the dim light in your room. You tried to move but failed, something heavy keeping you in place. You turned your face, the glistening of metal catching your attention. Buckys left arm was draped around your waist, making you smile. Thank god it wasn't a dream. You managed to turn on your back, Buck immediately shifting even closer to you, pressing his body against your side with his face in your neck. You felt something hard against your thigh and gulped hard. Morning woods were awkward, but having Buckys pressed against you was torture. Suddenly the door swung open, making you jump. Steve entered the room, smiling wide. Bucky stirred in his sleep, slowly waking up with a mumbled "What the hell?"

"Good Morning, Lovebirds! I would've liked my best friend to tell me about this, but the AI took this job." Bucky and you both sat up, giving him a confused look. "What are you talking about?" The dark haired man rasped, the sleep still lingering in his voice. "Don't treat me like a goddamn fool, Buck. That between you two! I mean i knew you were meant for each other and as soon as Y/N told me she liked you I-" "STEVE!" You interrupted him with a shout, your eyes wide and entire face heating up. He shot you a confused glare before realizing. "Oh- You didn't...?" You let your head drop back against the headboard with a sigh. When you felt Buckys gaze you turned to look at him, Nervousness written over your face. "You like me?"

[narnian-neverlander]

Hot Stuff [AceXF!Reader] [Modern!AU One-Shot]

So apparently I've caught a flu and I've been feeling like shit for days and basically running on 4 hours of sleep and I have to get back to my apprenticeship on Monday and honestly I'm just so sick of being sick. Long story short, I needed some cute fluffy fire boy to cheer me up, so if anyone else isn't feeling well, I hope this helps ^^

Hot Stuff

Fic Summary: Being sick always sucks. But when you have a walking heater as a boyfriend to take care of you, it might not even be that bad.

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: None, maybe like two swear words if you wanna be nitpicky about it

She couldn't remember the last time she'd wanted to just curl up in bed this badly. Or maybe she just needed to kill someone to make her feel better, at this point, it was hard to tell.

She'd barely managed to drag herself out of bed this morning and she was pretty sure it was because she'd felt the fingertips of a beginning flu or cold starting to grasp at her. Granted, her boyfriend reenacting Sleeping Beauty with her as the mattress and himself as the impossible to wake damsel in distress probably hadn't helped, either. Think of the devil; her phone buzzed, indicating a message from said princess. She quickly took a look at her screen and didn't know if she should surpress an eyeroll at the realization that the idiot had changed his own name in her phone again, or a groan at what the message actually said.

Hot Stuff ;): Hey darling, the cover-up tattoo for this guy is gonna take longer than expected, so I can't make it to the store, you think you could pick up the order for tonight?

Shit.

She'd completely forgotten about his brothers coming over. She let her head hit the desk with a sigh. She loved those two like her own family, but she could picture better ways to spend her evening today - and definitely less exhausting ones, too. Nonetheless, she quickly typed a reply, telling him not to worry and that she'd take care of it.

A few hours later and she wished she hadn't. Her boss had dumped another workload on her, which had resulted in her leaving her workplace last and barely making it to the butchery in time, because of course those three dorks needed a special meat from a special store that had the most ridiculous business hours she'd ever seen. To top it all off, her decision to walk this morning to try and clear her head of the sickness induced foginess came back to bite her when it started to pour. And of course her ever helpful boyfriend hadn't bothered to look at his phone and maybe pick her up.

She'd never been so glad to just be able to close her apartment door behind her and be done with the day, despite how upset she still was. She ran a hand through her drenched (h/c) locks and glanced at the watch on the wall. Good. At least she had another two hours or so until the ASL Trio would tear through her place and especially her fridge again. Enough time to freshen up, throw in some cold medicine and chew Ace out for literally leaving her out in the rain, unintentional or not. Or at least, that's what she thought.

"Luffy, spit that out, it's not done yet!"

"Bwut it's twasty alrwaedy!!"

"Luffy, for fuck's sake!"

Oh you've gotta be kidding.

She carefully peaked her head around the corner and wanted to scream at the sight of Ace and Sabo trying to pry some unidentifiable piece of food out of their brother's teeth. At any other point she probably would've laughed or even helped them, but right now it only added to her steadily increasing headache. And to the list of reasons to yell at the tattooed boy before her.

She stepped into view and chucked her bags to the ground with a loud thud, the contents noisily spilling across the floor, causing three pairs of eyes to turn towards her.

"(y/n)? Woah, what happened?" Ace asked, letting go of Luffy, who fell off and behind the counter as a result, and walked towards her. She immediately pointed an accusing finger at him, stopping him in his tracks.

"You happen to look at your phone recently, darling?" she hissed, stressing the last word.

He gave her a confused look before pulling the device out of the backpocket of his jeans. His eyes widened when he saw the multitude of missed calls and messages.

"Oh shit, babe,I'm sorry. Luffy and Sabo came over earlier and I--"

"Yeah, so I've noticed. And apparently you truly forgot how a phone works, otherwise you might've thought about giving me call to tell me." she snapped.

He furrowed his brows at her outburst. This wasn't like her at all.

"What's the big deal? Not like this is the first time they came by unannounced."

"Oh yes this is a big deal!" she yelled, stomping her foot in frustration like a child, a move she quickly regretted when it blurred her vision. "You send me on a goddamn errand you could've very well done yourself instead of goofing around wasting time! Not to mention you didn't even possess the fucking courtesy to maybe even consider picking me up so I wouldn't get drenched to the bone! But hey, no problem, after all your brothers aren't supposed to be here for another couple of hours, so I've got more than enough time to - oh wait a minute!"

"Ok I get you're mad, but I wasn't goofing off! I told you that cover-up would take longer and it did, I barely made it home ten minutes ago and they were already here! What was I supposed to do, leave 'em out in the rain?!"

"You had no trouble doing that to me!"

"That was an accident! Jesus, what the hell is wrong with you tonight?!" he questioned angrily. Sure he felt bad about not picking her up, but this was no reason to blow up at him like this.

"Nothing! Absolutely nothing! But if you think I pose a problem, do accept my apologies, I'll leave you boys to it!" she shouted, giving a mock wave to the ravenett and blond who had taken shelter behind the counter before grabbing her keys off the floor and storming to the door. "I'll just be outside for another couple of hours, after all, a little bit more rain isn't going to kill me, right?!"

With that, the door slammed shut behind her.

"What... was that?" Sabo asked carefully, coming to stand beside Ace.

"I dunno! She's never that easily upset!" he complained.

But when he thought about it for a moment longer, there actually was one situation when she got irritated quite quickly: When she was sick.

"Oh crap..." he muttered under his breath, guilt already starting to weigh down on him. He turned to his brothers. "I think I know what's wrong with her. Sorry guys, but we're gonna have to reschedule this."

The blond smiled understandingly and gave his brother a thumbs up, while Luffy started to pout.

"Naw, but we wanted to play video games later! Why don't you invite (y/n) to join, I'm sure that and some food will make her feel better!" he suggested happily. Ace sweatdropped at his little brother's optimism.

"Yeah, I'm not so sure about that, Luffy. But we'll do it some other time; I'll go after her." he said, grabbing his own keys and an umbrella.

"You sure you don't need any help searching?" Sabo asked in a concerned tone.

"Nah, if she really is sick, too many people are just gonna make her worse. You two just head home - and take the meat as an apology!" he shouted the last part, already out of the apartment and just hearing his younger brother's cries of joy before the elevator doors shut behind him.

Luckily, he knew her well enough by now to figure out that there were very few places she could and would have gone in such a short time. And just as he thought, he found her curled up on a bench under a tree in a nearby park, trying to at least partially shield herself from the rain. He jogged over to her and held the umbrella over her head. At the sudden loss of rain, she lifted her gaze, her eyes red and puffy, and a few stray tears still rolling down her cheeks. When she saw who it was, she immediately buried her face in her pulled up knees again.

"I'm sorry..." she murmured, barely audible.

He sat down and pulled her into a one-armed hug.

"Why didn't you just tell me you were sick?"

She sniffed and lifted her head to look at him again.

"I'm not."

He gave her the most exasperated Are you kidding me? look she'd ever seen.

"Ok maybe just a little. But not really, not yet anyways, and I didn't wanna ruin your night. But then everything kept piling up: the sickness, my boss being an ass, the rain... And I took it out on you. I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that."

"Well, I kinda did. But enough of all that, let's get you home and into bed, alright?" he said with a smile and stood up, offering her a hand.

She smiled back and grabbed his outstreched hand, only to wobble and almost fall right after she'd lifted herself to her feet. Whatever sickness she'd managed to catch, it sure was hitting her now.

"Woah, ok, there is no way I'm letting you walk." he stated with a sense of finality and placed the umbrella on the bench next to them before turning around and gesturing for her to get onto his back for a piggyback ride.

Even when healthy she never refused one of those, so she grabbed the discarded umbrella and hopped onto his back. Once he started the short walk back home, she rested her head against his shoulder blade and closed her eyes.

"You're warm..." she hummed happily. Her hazy mind registered what she'd said just in time. "If you make a pun about you being hot, I swear I'm locking you out of the apartment tonight."

He laughed in response and before they'd even reached their destination she was fast asleep.

When she woke up again, she was back in her own bed, tangled in the covers. She opened her blurry eyes to try and get them to adjust to the dim lighting in the room. She could make out the door, creaked open slightly to let in the light of the hallway. The next thing she noticed were the glaring red numbers of the alarm clock, telling her it was the middle of the night. Her eyes wandered over the several other things placed on the nightstand: tissues, various medicines and a thermos which she assumed to be full of tea. She slowly sat up, her head screaming at her to lay back down, and realized that she was wearing new, dry clothes, as opposed to the drenched ones she fell asleep in. That's when her ears picked up the sound of running water just down the hall. Was Ace still awake?

She decided to investigate and swung her legs off the bed, meaning to get up, but her feet had barely touched the ground when her vision was obscured by black spots and she let herself fall back down to the mattress. Ok, so standing up too fast was a no-go. Got it. She'd just heaved herself back into a sitting position and was about to try again when she heard the door creak open. Ace tiptoed inside, but when he saw she was already awake he straightened up and gave her his signature lopsided grin.

"Hey, you're up!" he stated in a quiet, yet happy voice. "How are you feeling?"

"Gross." she said through a stuffed nose. "But mostly everything's just sore; my back, my throat and my head feels like it's about to explode."

"Thought so." he said and made his way over to her. "I was just gonna wake you up, anyways, though. Come on."

Until now she hadn't realized that he was only clad in a pair of black boxers and socks. Of course.

He picked her up bridal style and walked out of the room.

"Where are we going?" she asked with a yawn and snuggled herself against his bare chest.

He didn't say anything at first, but simply kicked open the already ajar door to the bathroom. Her eyes went wide at the sight in front of her: a steamy bubble bath and candles placed around the room.

"How long was I out again...?" she asked, an awestruck expression on her face.

He snorted and pressed a kiss to her temple before carefully setting her down to sit at the edge of the tub and reaching across to switch off the faucet.

"Can you get out of your clothes yourself or are you gonna fall backwards and drown?" he asked with a small, mocking smirk.

"You're just looking for an excuse to get into my pants even though I'm sick." she quipped back, followed by a short cough.

"I've already done that once today, you know." he reminded her, gesturing at the new clothes she was still wearing, his smirk widening.

She gave him a half-hearted glare and a small punch to the shoulder, a smile spreading across her features.

"Perv..." she mumbled, but started to slip out of her clothes anyway and was submerged in the water not a minute later.

She sighed in happiness and relaxation, already feeling the pain in her head and back starting to dissipate, and let herself slip further into the tub, until only her nose remained barely above the water level.

"I actually used your favorite scented candles, but you probably can't tell, huh?" he asked jokingly and gently pinched her nose between his fore- and middlefinger for a moment before she swatted at his hand with her own.

She sniffed and scrunched up her face and he actually had the audacity to laugh.

"You're ridiculously cute."

"Well, I am glad my misery amuses you." she complained nasally.

"You're always cute. But would your misery maybe be lessened by some food? I'll make something."

She raised a sceptical brow at him. "You will make something? As in cook? Without setting the kitchen on fire?"

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly before answering: "Nope, make as in order something. Don't worry, I won't add a visit from the fire department to your list of worries - not tonight, anyways."

She genuinely laughed at that, not even regretting it when it worsened the scratch in her throat. Ace always managed to brighten up her day, no matter what.

He smiled and tucked a strand of wet hair behind her ear and placed his warm hand lovingly on her cheek. "So, what do you want, princess?"

Any other time, she probably would've grabbed the back of his neck, pulled him into a passionate kiss and said that she wanted him. But right now...

"Soup. I don't think I can get or keep anything else down."

"Gotcha." he answered and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead, before getting up and snatching his phone off the counter by the sink. He turned to her again once he'd reached the door. "Will you be fine without me for a bit or are you gonna fall asleep and I'll have to fish you out before you drown?"

She smirked mischieviously.

"I think you're confusing me with yourself, Mr. Narcolepsy."

"Oh come on, that was one time!"

Not much later, they were both sipping soup out of the delivered containers, herself still in the tub while Ace was sitting on one of the rugs, his back propped up against a cabinet next to her.

"Thanks, Ace. You really didn't have to do that, you know. Especially after how I acted earlier."

"Oh come on, everybody gets cranky when they've had a bad day, even more so when they're sick. I do, too."

"Still... Remind me to say sorry to Luffy and Sabo as well. They kinda got caught in the crossfire and I really don't want 'em to think that I don't like having them over."

"Nah, don't worry, they know you better than that. Sabo even offered to help look for you and Luffy... well, Luffy tried to help in his own way. And I already gave them the meat you brought as an apology, so I think you'll be fine."

"It's a good thing all problems with you three seem to be solvable with meat." she laughed and stretched, making her back pop. 

"It's getting kinda cold in here..." she stated, looking at Ace out of the corner of her eye, hoping he'd get the hint.

"Well then, maybe it's about time for you to get out of there." he answered, placing his cup aside and standing up to help her.

"Or maybe..." she started, reaching her arms out to him. "It's about time you got in here."

He contemplated it for a moment, then shook his head.

"I dunno, I actually really like the view from up here." he said with a smirk, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She splashed him with water in return.

"I'm cold and I don't wanna get out yet, so would you just...?" she pleaded, giving him her best puppy dog eyes.

The smile slipped off his face and he groaned, running a hand trough his black hair.

"You know I can't say no to you when you look at me like that..." he complained and started to tug off his socks.

"That's the point!" she sung happily, cursing herself when it made her cough, and scooted forward to make room for him.

"You know" he began while sitting down behind her and wrapping his arms tightly around her waist. "I'm really hoping our kids won't get that look, otherwise, I'll be totally screwed."

The silence that followed stretched on longer than what was comfortable.

"Our... Our what?"

"Nothing! I didn't say anything at all! You must be in some sort of fever delirium!" he sputtered out way too quickly and when she craned her neck to look at him, his cheeks were bright red under his freckles and his gaze was on anything but her.

A small smile spread across her face and she settled back against his warm, muscular chest and closed her (e/c) eyes.

"Whatever you say, freckles. Speaking of those, I hope they get yours~"

Knowing that she'd heard him perfectly, he desperately tried to shift the focus to something else: "So, uhm... you've got absolutely no concerns about me getting sick as well?"

She snorted.

"You never get sick, matchstick. It's probably that abnormally, inhumanly high body temperature of yours. Any kind of germs or bacteria gets burned before it could even make you sneeze."

"Well, duh. Even bacteria knows to stay away from hot stuff like me."

She could practically hear the shit-eating grin in his voice.

"Dear lord, I walked straight into that one..."