#oof what a strange year

[nopethatsnotembarrassing]

I posted 11,718 times in 2022

That's 1,530 more posts than 2021!

79 posts created (1%)

11,639 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cheekyquokka

@wooferdill

@chanstopher

@userhobi

@emery-night

I tagged 9,296 of my posts in 2022

Only 21% of my posts had no tags

#bang chan - 1,271 posts

#ranboo - 936 posts

#han jisung - 914 posts

#lee know - 755 posts

#minho - 722 posts

#seo changbin - 696 posts

#stray kids - 667 posts

#min yoongi - 627 posts

#suga - 579 posts

#tubbo - 545 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#or ''best case'' scenario for them was probably that the chat sees it but he didn’t so it consumes the chat and confuses him on how we know

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

He was talking about the difference of AR and Live AR and I heard him reference Zone so I immediately clipped it while he was live and I think he demonstrated the meanings very well for people to understand!

8 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

#4

Okay so in my catching up on the Dream SMP, I've been mostly sticking to the cardd list that was linked to me when I asked about how to catch up (with some supplementary Vods/videos from Ranboo, Tubbo, and Techno when I can figure out the timing of them)

And I just got to Tommy speaking to Dreams sister the second time and the whole video is funny enough that I'm smiling through the while thing but then Techno gets involved and is trying to help.

And then I got to the part where they listen to Pigstep.

And I got absolutely taken out by:

"I basically just realized this is basically the most powerful thing on the server, since it means you get copyrighted. I'm gonna steal it now."

*Tommy hits the disc out of the player and it flies into Technoblade*

"FUUUCCCKK!!"

See the full post

9 notes - Posted January 14, 2022

#3

See the full post

16 notes - Posted October 19, 2022

#2

I was gonna wait a little bit longer to say what I've been doing but the new comeback trailer released and I'm just so excited for it I couldn't help myself

I've been drawing the SKZoo characters in their different music video outfits! (It's transparent btw)

As long as it's not against any copyright I kinda wanna make them into stickers (if that's something anyone else would be interested in?)

44 notes - Posted September 8, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Okay so I just got to the part where Dream builds a wall around L'Manburg cause George's house got griefed

And I know its all written and acted out but I really love that Tommy's character never once sold out Ranboo. I mean he mentions that he was with him but when it comes down to it he confesses that it was just him that did it. And even when Tubbo asks 1 on 1 if Ranboo helped at All, Tommy said no.

The only other person we have really seen that level of care for from him was for Tubbo who he's known basically his entire life.

So your telling me this kid got so attached to the kid who couldn't remember (without really knowing the extent of his short term memory issues) that he didn't want to see him hurt since he just went along with it.

For someone who I've typically seen described as careless it seems that he does care quite a bit about the people around him.

71 notes - Posted January 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[mariocki]

Inspector Morley, Late of Scotland Yard, Investigates: The Case of the Scarlet Letters (1.3, WGN-TV, 1952)

"Mr. Mullins, I have in my possession sixty-eight letters, none of which has begun to outlive its usefulness. I'm quite prepared to admit that blackmail is risky, but then murder has its disadvantages too - that is why I gave up murder."

[lovsome]

just cried in the shower thinking about my bf !! who have i become 😳

[zylev-blog]

Danny was pissed. He was chilling in the Speedforce, waiting on his dad—the Flash—to show up when he felt something shift around him. He exited the speedforce to find that the timeline had changed again, and he had been written out of the timeline. He technically was a time anomaly now, and didn’t exist. So he talked to Clockwork, a ghost he’d gotten to know extremely well after Danny’s creation.

Danny was a clone of the Flash and Green Lantern(Hal Jordan) as part of an experiment that Lex Luthor had taken prior to cloning Superboy. Lex had wanted to know if the power ring was able to transmit anything genetically (it couldn’t. It was a wearable weapon, not a genetic thing.) but Danny had inherited Flash’s superspeed, so he wasn’t a complete loss. Danny wasn’t sure if he looked more like either man, considering they both wore masks. He had brown hair and green eyes. Beyond that, he tanned well, was tall for his age, and packed on muscle far easier than the Flash did. He hadn’t ever seen either man out of the costume.

After a talk with Clockwork, he decided he was just going to force his way back into his Dad’s life. Both of them, if possible. He arrived years before his creation by mistake, right near the start of the Justice League. By his estimates, the team had only been formed for a year before he’d arrived. It was strange; he both didn’t exist and was from the future. He guessed that it was around nine years before his birth, and since he was technically six months old, he was 9 years in the past. Thinking about this was going to give him a headache.

The Justice League was severely mistrustful of each other. They didn’t go out of their way for teamups, didn’t have weekly meetings, and almost pretended if the other members didn’t exist. The most recluse of them was Batman, of course. If any hero set foot in Gotham, they were booted out before they even got to downtown. Danny highly suspected Batman had the entire city on camera. The situation was weirding him out more than before. What had happened to the team?! He was used to everyone being one big family, and even the sidekicks having their own teams… speaking of sidekicks, why was Robin so small?! Wait a minute, that wasn’t the third Robin that he was used to, that was the first Robin! Baby Nightwing!

Thankfully for him, he still had his costume on this entire time as he zipped around the country, spying on the younger members of the Justice League. It was surreal watching everyone try to capture him, but he wasn’t going to be caught that easily!

Eventually his presence forced the Justice League into another teamup. Batman laid the trap out, and Flash lured him into it. The plan was so beautiful that he didn’t even realize it was a trap until he was caught in it. Green Lantern took off Danny’s mask, and for the first time, he looked at his fathers without a mask. They didn’t make the connection to him right away. It wasn’t until Wonder Woman’s lasso made its way around his wrist that the truth finally came out.

“Who are you?” Wonder Woman asked.

“Oof , hard question—ow ow oww—I’m being honest!” He struggled against the lasso as it started to burn him. “My designation was Dn-y, I go by Danny, though. I’m a clone.”

“Of who?” Batman demanded.

“Flash and Green Lantern.” The lasso was glowing brightly, indicating that he was telling the truth.

“How did you escape?” Flash asked.

He didn’t answer right away. He was trying to think about how to phrase the whole time traveling—timeline erasure thing when the lasso started to burn him again. “Ow ow! Sorry, I’m thinking! Ow! Turn down the settings on that thing, holy shit—okay, okay.” He winced, his words coming out in one breath as he quickly talked, “What do you know about time travel?”

Diana’s eyebrows were rising. “How are you able to resist the lasso for so long?”

“I’m not really resisting it.” He answered, noting the obvious deflect of his last question, “I just-oww—okay! My mind moves too fast for me to put into words sometimes and it makes me stop to think about it, but like, I’m not good at controlling the speed in which I speak all the time—owww make this thing stop burning me! I’m speaking honestly!”

Diana revoked the lasso, and he rubbed his wrist where his costume was starting to singe. He was still trapped in an anti-speedster prison, so it wasn’t exactly like he was going anywhere anyway.

“Why were you asking about time travel?” Batman asked.

“Based on the crickets chirping I heard earlier, that leads me to believe you guys haven’t had any experience in it yet.” He leaned against the wall of the prison, wincing as it shocked him with electricity. “Seriously? How paranoid are you, Batman?” He rubbed his shoulder. “Honestly, I don’t know what I was expecting with you people, but I feel so attacked right now.”

“So we have experience with it in the future?” Superman piped up.

“Yeah?” His tone of voice equated to a ‘duh’ tone. “Why would I ask what you knew if I wasn’t from the future?”

“How far in the future are you from?” Green Lantern asked.

“Nine years, maybe close to ten? Timelines are weird. I’m technically six months old, but at the same time I’m sixteen. Cloning is odd, but I was like, the first clone ever, so I don’t really have a basis for this sort of thing, if you catch my drift.” He shrugged. He seemed like he talked a lot more than the heroes did, but he didn’t know if that was because he was a chatterbox, or because they weren’t comfortable in each other’s presence. Either way, the silence was odd to him.

“How did you end up here?” Batman asked.

“Honestly? I don’t fully know. Don’t give me that look, Diana! I’m telling the truth.” He added quickly as Diana fingered her lasso again. “All I know is one minute, I’m chilling in the Speedforce, and the next, the timeline is changed and I’m nine years too early for my birth. You’d think the timeline would at least have the decency to spit me out in my own year, but nooo, it wanted to—“

“What’s the Speedforce?” Superman interrupted.

He tilted his head at Superman’s question, then turned to the Flash. “How long have you had your powers?”

Flash shifted uncomfortably. “Two years.”

“Oh boy.” Danny’s green eyes widened. “You don’t know anything about them, do you?”

“I do know things!” Flash deflected, “My suit doesn’t catch on fire anymore! I can run up to Mach 2! I can get from either end of the country in thirty minutes!”

He groaned loudly. “Oh no. Oh no.” He chewed on his thumb, trying to recall everything he’d learned about his powers from his Flash. While he hadn’t learned his or Green Lantern’s identity yet, he knew almost everything about their hero personas and a lot of personal information. They were just worried of the Cadmus connection and didn’t want their identity to fall into the wrong hands if they still could see inside of Danny’s head.

“What’s wrong?” Diana asked.

“Okay.” He ran his hands through his brown hair, making it spike up. “Hypothetically—“ he cut himself off as Batman glared at him. “Okay, totally real, but uh, Flash, let’s just say that I’m faster than you right now. A lot faster.”

“How much?” Flash took a step forward, obviously curious.

“From what we can tell, I’ve topped out at Mach nine.” He responded with a dry laugh, “But your speed was still a lot faster than mine. You’d never tell me what it was. I’m still growing though, and I’m getting faster. I’m able to beat my precious time by almost double each time we test. But my situation was complicated, and things were happening, and it was a mess.”

“Like what?” Superman asked.

“World war three. I think?” He rubbed the back of his neck, a gesture that he had picked up from Green Lantern, “Things got complicated. That’s why I was going to wait for…” his eyebrows scrunched together as the last piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “It was you!” He turned to Flash. “You!” He jabbed a finger at the speedster. “You set this up! You set ME up!”

The heroes took fighting stances, but Superman took a step forward, blocking them from Danny. “What are you talking about?”

“Okay okay.” He was trying to calm down his anger, but he had been told by Green Lantern in the past that he had inherited the man’s anger issues. “Let me start at the beginning. This is going to be a long story, you might want to take a seat.”

Nobody moved, but everyone was tense.

“Or not. Okay. So my creation starts with Lex Luthor.” He noticed Superman stiffen. “He used me as his trial, if you will. Once he got a successful attempt at cloning—me—he moved onto his real target. Cloning Superman.” Danny’s green eyes hovered onto Superman’s blue ones. “He was successful.”

“What happened?” Superman’s voice was unnaturally quiet.

“Well, at first, Conner wasn’t showing that he had all the powers of Superman. So Lex tossed him aside and tried again. The second attempt was more successful than the first. But cloning Kryptonian dna was hard, I guess.” He shrugged. “The second clone lacked basic emotions. Empathy, remorse… it made him the perfect little weapon for Lex. But eventually, the clone’s anger and Lex’s greed got to a point of no return. Lex was elected President of the United States and uh…you can probably see where this is going, right? While the fighting hadn’t like…’officially’ started,” He used his fingers to create air quotes around the word ‘officially’, “Things were getting tense. See, we couldn’t take the clone down because Lex had wrote out the Kryptonite deficiency out of his weakness. And the clone had all the strength of Superman and none of his remorse…”

Superman looked pale. “I see.”

“So Flash and I came up with a plan.” He turned back to his father, “We were going to travel into the next dimension for help. From what we could tell, that dimension was full of god-like beings, and one of them actually helped me out earlier! But for a lot of them, they ask for a price for their help. But anyway, Flash and I were going to take our case to the King and plead for help. I was waiting for Flash when the timeline reset and I found out that not only did I not exist, but I was nine years too early.”

“What are you going to do now?” Green Lantern asked.

“Dunno,” His voice dropped as the reality hit him. He wasn’t going home—his home didn’t exist anymore.

[its-monster-mash]

4 and 33!

AHHH THANK YOU FOR ASKING.

4: Which Cryptids do you believe in?

Generally speaking I don’t actually DIS-believe in anything unless I find out that it was either proven a Hoax or literally just some kind of weird racism thing(like the whole Roanoke “Mystery”). So much about this world is so strange that I wouldn’t feel comfortable assuming there’s nothing out there that eludes concrete study. I am also from Rural Appalachia(Too North for Mothman), so that could contribute to my views(I was also raised to respect indigenous spirits, since my Grandfather did his best to keep certain family traditions and stories alive before our family fell apart—and a lot of “Cryptids” fall into the category of misinterpreting Legends out of Native Culture or Figures from Indigenous Religions, so since I’m not an expert on what local legends are based off of what spirits, I generally choose to behave with respect toward local legends). I have also personally seen quite a bit that’s very difficult to explain(though it’s usually more along the “Ghost Stories and Shadow People” classification more than “Cryptid” perhaps—where is the line drawn?). Most people from the Valley I grew up in(and currently live in) have a lot of odd stories to tell—of course, maybe there’s another explanation for the things we’ve seen—but I never immediately disbelieve local legends. There’s usually a reason a story came to be, and when we don’t know the truth, it’s best to err on the side of caution.

Sorry if that was odd and rambly; I have a lot of thoughts about that sort of thing, and this answer would get very very long if I didn’t try to limit myself somewhere lol

33: What was the last adventure you went on?

It depends very much on the meaning of Adventure in this case; but the last time something FELT like an adventure to me, my cousin, son, and I were on a drive a couple of weeks ago. It was less about the Physical adventure(though, as usual, we did see some strange things. That said, we passed through the state park local to us, and that place in and of itself sees a lot of strange activity at night) and more about the nature of the discussion we had. It was about a deeply unpleasant and personal topic, and wound into the territory of family secrets and connecting old traumas with relatively newly revealed information.

Less Esoterically, Bonus Story, before I was a parent, that same Cousin and I used to go into non-posted woods at night to paint eyes and teeth on trees. It wasn’t deemed vandalism(we did it often in the woods around the campus of a college we’d both studied at on separate occasions. We weren’t the first one to paint the eyes, but we added the teeth and added more eyes). I still wonder what people thought about it, since neither of us were actively students at the time(it was a popular spot that students would go to to get stoned. It was about a ten minute walk away from the campus proper).

[redflagshipwriter]

Red Hot Ghouls chapter 11 2/2

Masterpost

He leaned back a little.

There was a very strange silence. Jack’s face initially turned to fury, then a shocked contemplation. Jason waited it out and wondered if he was going to get in trouble for shooting a civilian in genuine self defense.

“Son.” Jack’s voice was grave. “You’re not Jeremy Waters, are you?”

It took a moment to parse through the immediate offense that this guy had busted his cover and to actually register the full name.

Oh, fuck. That Jeremy? The cult guy? Jason made a face involuntarily. “I am not,” he admitted. Oof. Fuck. Here it goes. “I lied because I wanted to be sure you would meet with me.”

“...Honey!” Jack shouted. He shot up in an alarmingly fast motion for such a big man. “Uh, change of plans! Why don’t you get what we all drink on movie nights?”

Something broke in the other room. “Oh, dear,” said Dr. Fenton. “Just a moment.” A vacuum started up. What the actual fuck was going on in there?

“You thought I was that creep?” Jason said blankly. “What were you going to do?” What sounded like a high pressure hose started up in the other room. He had to deliberately decide not to hunch his shoulders defensively. Jesus fucking christ. They were definitely mad scientists.

Jack Fenton looked shifty. “...Talk,” he tried.

Jason looked at the older man. He didn’t say anything. Jack gradually began to look sheepish but he didn’t break.

“Don't worry about it, honey,” Madeleine Fenton said. She set down three alarmingly green glasses and gave him a close-lipped smile.

Jason was very much going to worry about it. He looked between the two of them.

“Melon soda!” Jack Fenton cheered, obviously overreacting to get out of the conversation. He put both his hands up in the air and then grabbed at his glass. “Yummy! So good for growing young men, drink up.” He laughed awkwardly and then buried his face in his own drink.

Meanwhile, Dr. Madeline Fenton looked at him with catlike consideration. She clearly wanted to see him drink the soda.

He was pretty sure they'd been planning to get rid of Jeremy Waters, permanently. Mixed feelings on that, since Waters clearly sucked. He’d human trafficked Jason to the afterlife, after all. On the other hand, you can’t assume someone is chill when you know they want to kill someone. “No thank you,” he said to the melon soda, stomach a little queasy. Even if Jack was drinking it. And the glasses were identical.

“That’s fair,” Dr. Fenton said and sank into the couch cushion next to her husband. “So, you were interested in learning about the Ghost Zone and the afterlife?” She exchanged a meaningful look with her husband. “Any… particular reason?”

These people were intense when they goggled at a guy.

“Nothing I’m ready to talk about yet,” he evaded. It had the advantage of being true. He didn’t know how Jack made him yet.

They proceeded to have a somewhat tense conversation where the Fentons happily elaborated on all their current research and repeated, “I’m sorry, but we’ve withdrawn that work and won’t discuss it,” whenever he mentioned a publication from before 5 years ago. They’d even gone and gotten a lot of their stuff redacted. They talked and talked until Jason’s throat was hoarse. The Drs. Fenton were a brick wall on those topics that he couldn’t bust or wheedle past.

‘What does a person who posts about ghosts on their family blog think to redact?’ Jason wondered.

Eventually, Jack held up both hands. “It’s bothering me that you won’t drink anything,” he admitted. “Let’s go the Nasty!”

“Good idea, honey,” Dr. Fenton agreed. She stood and swung keys around her finger. “I’ll drive!”

Jack Fenton let out a dramatic “Awww, honey bunches,” and followed her around wheedling for a chance to get behind the wheel.

“No, we don’t want to scare our guest.” Dr. Fenton was immovable. A bit ominous as well.

Jason thought about pointing out that he hadn’t agreed to come with them, but he stood up anyways. It wasn’t like he could just sit on their couch and watch them leave their own house.

He had his first inkling of how badly he’d initially fucked up on that phone call when they got outside. Jack pulled the canvas off the family van with a flourish to reveal an absolutely horrific mural of Danny the ghost king giving gifts to humanity. There was text explaining his generosity, scrolling across the bottom of the van.

Jason stood stock still in horror.

The van gave off the same general impression as psychedelic howling wolf print art.

Jason put a hand over his mouth and tried to process it.

Danny’s white hair floated nobly across a few more feet than Jason was pretty sure it should. He was also kinda built in this painting compared to reality and he looked more… kingly. Not that Danny wasn’t in shape, but he was built more like Dr. Fenton than Jack Fenton, if that made sense.

Wait. Why’d he made that comparison? That should have been a frame of reference for Danny Fenton, not Danny the ghost king. …Was the ghost king basing his form off the Fenton’s kid?

“Come on, son!” Jack slapped him on the back. The force was enough to jar Jason forward and out of his dissociative state.

He moved numbly. ‘Alright, they like Danny king,’ Jason managed to think through the wound to his artistic soul. ‘I can be honest with them about the problem. They’ll want to help him get a spiritual separation from some sketchy guy who lied to them.’

They took him to a mid-tier burger restaurant with weird pretensions. The burge had both garlic aioli and shitty neon nacho cheese sauce on it. Jason picked at it for a while, disturbed and pleased by the unexpected combination.

They got back into their discussion. The next time a Fenton asked him a question, he cleared his throat and put down what was left of his burger. “I asked about Phantom because I’m in a little bit of trouble with him.”

It was weird to call him Phantom when he’d introduced himself as Danny. On the other hand, the Fentons also had a kid named Danny, so it was probably for the best.

Jack’s smile faltered. “What kind of trouble, sport?”

Jason shifted in his chair. “I uh. I may have gotten in Waters’ way. I didn’t know who he was,” he admitted. “Next thing I knew, I was in this green place?” He made a confused hand gesture. “Few minutes later, Phantom shows up, kinda pissy, asked if I did it on purpose, and then says that Waters basically.” He stopped to clear his throat. “Spiritually married us to each other.” His voice got a bit smaller than he meant it to.

That meant there was no audio competition for the loud crack when Madeline Fenton broke the table.

“Jesus fuck,” Jason said, looking at her with wide eyes. “Is your hand-”

She put her elbows on top of the tabletop that still existed and cupped her chin on her palms. “Tell me more.”

“You’re a handsome boy, aren’t you,” said Jack consideringly. “Maddie, honeybunches, d’you know, I was thinking about tracking down the Wishiewish ghostie again today. D’you think-”

“Oh, he should absolutely come with you,” Dr. Fenton agreed. She was beaming. It… did not feel villainous.

‘Why did telling them that make her less scary all of a sudden?’

“What do you like about Phantom? Do you think he’s cute? Was he nice to you?”

Maybe she was just a romantic.

[going-to-ikea-for-the-fries]

It's a Match! || poly!141 x Reader

[Chapter 20] || [Chapter 22]

Pairing: Gaz x Reader x Ghost x Soap || 141 x gn!Reader Words: 1.2K~ cw: - Summary: While overcoming recent heartbreak, you decide to join Tinder in search of a rebound. Your friends advise to just Swipe Right indiscriminately... What happens when 4 soldiers from the same squad match with you? a/n: yikes.

Chapter 21: I BEG YOUR PARDON?

It was a familiar sight.

Gaz across the desk, Soap next to him behind the spare chair, Ghost in the back of the room a foot against the wall and arms crossed.

Except this time, Price was standing up, pacing the narrow space behind his desk, from the window to the wall.

“Explain it to me slow.” He demanded. “Like I’m five years old.” He had his arms crossed over his chest as he paced.

“Well, when Ma and Da love each other very much-” Soap began.

“Soap, I will put your head through the bloody wall.” Price threatened.

The shit-eating grin that had been on the Scot’s mouth was suppressed by a pressing of lips together, rapid blinking, and a nod. He had tried and failed at having a laugh at the Captain’s expense.

“Sorry, sir.” He replied.

“Explain.” Price demanded again, hands folded behind his back.

“I started it.” Ghost said from his corner of the room. “Kept talkin’ with ‘em after you had your little one-night stand.”

The younger sergeants didn’t look over. It’s become a strange thing to see Ghost at work, when they’ve gotten a bit more familiarized with Simon instead, back in your flat.

“Why?” Price asked in earnest as he looked at Ghost, stopping in his tracks to properly face him.

“‘Cause they make me feel good.” Ghost replied and crossed his arms.

Price stared at Ghost and, for a moment, his glare softened and his brow relaxed. “I see.”

With a deep breath, the older man tossed himself down onto his desk chair, legs spread and hands resting on his thighs.

“That doesn’t explain the two of you lot.” He pointed at Gaz and Soap.

“I found out about Ghost dating ‘em after they reached out to me to check on him because he went MIA.” Gaz replied.

“And how does that in you bein’ a bloody… polycule?” Price asked.

“I sort of took ‘em on a date on accident and realized how they made me feel and that I wanted to date ‘em.” Gaz said simply.

“And I thought Gaz and Ghost were dating and then found out they’re in fact also dating the same person and not just each other and-” Soap began to explain.

“Pump the breaks.” Price demanded. “Dating each other?” He repeated, sounding like he was this close to blowing a gasket.

“Nicely done, mate.” Gaz said sarcastically and hid his face in his palm, accidentally dislodging his baseball hat from his head.

“I BEG YOUR PARDON? YOU BLOODY FUCKIN’ IDIOTS ARE DATIN’ EACH OTHER?” Price raised his voice and stood up swiftly, sending the chair rolling back against the cabinets behind him.

When no one replied, he glared specifically at Ghost in the back of the room who, himself, was looking off to the side and looked at Price with an incriminating gaze..

“SIMON’S IN YOUR DIRECT CHAIN OF COMMAND!” Price scolds… Soap and Gaz only. “DO YOU KNOW THE TROUBLE THAT CAN BRING?!”

The three men remain silent, eyes forced open out of worry that blinking again will just set the captain off some more.

“IT’S ALREADY BAD ENOUGH THAT YOU’RE ALL DIPPIN’ YOUR DAMN COCKS IN THE SAME HOLE LIKE THEY’RE SOME SORT OF BARRACKS BUNNY BUT-” Price continued his tirade.

“Calm down.” Ghost commanded as he pushed away from the wall and approached the desk.

“Simon, don’t you tell me to calm down.” John ordered, though his voice sounded a lot more calm indeed.

“I’ll tell you to calm down if I reckon I should.” Ghost quipped and set his hand on the edge oof the desk, using his height to go toe-to-toe with their boss.

“You had fun with ‘em too, didn’t you?” Ghost asked with a cocked brow.

“That’s neither here nor there-”

“Cut the bullshit. Answer the bloody question.” Ghost commanded.

“I did.” Price admitted with a grumble and looked away.

“We’re just enjoyin’ ourselves too.” Ghost replied. “They’re considerate, funny, good company…” He trailed off.

“And they have a bloody flat that we can spend time in, with a proper kitchen for good meals, and a proper bedroom with a comfortable bed, and a proper shower that doesn’t have 20 other blokes bum ass naked-” Gaz joked.

“Right, it’s only 2 other blokes instead.” Soap added and him and Gaz nudged each other, earning a stern glare from the two officers in the room.

“Point is-” Ghost replied as he looked at Price. “You saw they’re nice.” He said directly. “Can’t fault us for likin’ ‘em.” He said directly.

“No, but I can fault you idiots for bein’ involved with each other on TOP of ‘em.” Price argued.

“Okay, so it’s not our proudest moment-” Ghost acknowledged. “But it’s happenin’. And you need to keep your mouth shut.” He demanded.

“OF BLOODY COURSE I’M KEEPIN’ MY MOUTH SHUT, SIMON! Fuckin’ hell!” Price complained and threw his hands up before turning to grab a cigar from his case.

“The brass will have all our bollocks f’r breakin’ nonfraternization rules. You f’r doin’ it, me f’r knowin’ it.” He grumbled as he cut the tip of his cigar with a huff.

“Not to mention I’ve been involved in this mess to begin with ‘cause I let you lot talk me into havin’ a one-night stand with ‘em.” Price continued, murmuring under his breath and scolding them without really scolding them.

“I can never get a ’old of you lot noawadays.” Price explained. “You’re meant to be on call.” He reiterated. “Always reachable. Always ready to fly out.”

“Yet I had to call Soap over 40 times two weeks ago ‘cause he was ‘asleep’-” He continued his rant.

“Aye, I was.” Soap replied, earning a shush from Gaz and a smack on the arm.

“And the moment we dismiss you lot from debriefs or meetings, you’re all running off to go be with ‘em, ‘xcept I didn’t know that was the reason until now, and it’s so much bloody worse than I ‘xpected.” Price complained.

The man was halfway through lighting his cigar and taking a puff when Ghost spoke again.

“If they didn’t find out about Cardiff, London, Cairo, Cabo, or Tel Aviv, they won’t find out now.” Ghost retorted.

Price whipped around so fast the younger lads could swear he’d give himself whiplash. “Don’t you bring that up.” He said to Ghost as he used his cigar to point at Ghost.

“I’m just sayin’.” Ghost replied, completely calm and unbothered. “If the brass hasn’t found out about the shite we’ve done while on the field, they won’t find out about us during leave.” He replied.

“Simon-” Price tried starting before he huffed through his nose and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. Ghost simply shrugged and crossed his arms over his broad chest.

“Bloody fuckin’ ‘ell.” Price complained and sat back down on his chair, setting down his cigar on the lip of the ashtray and rubbing his face.

“Just get out.” He grumbled and waved them off with a dismissive gesture of his hand.

He didn’t peek from the spot where his face was hidden in his hands as he heard the men shuffling around and leaving the office.

Just as the door slipped to a close behind them, he heard Soap asking Ghost: ‘What happened in Cardiff?’

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taglist (CLOSED! not adding anyone else, sorry!):

@daisychainsinknots , @bunnysdaydreams , @iite-cool , @lahniu , @pagesfalling , @tapioca-milktea1978 , @live-love-be-unique , @thelaisydazy , @littleghosthunter , @bossva , @emotion-no-hot-yes-hotel-trivago , @chamomiletealeaf , @ghosts-hoe , @kariiiel , @ltbarnes , @irregulardongyoung , @spacelia , @hayleybarnesx , @infpt-zylith , @xxshadowbabexx , @frescoisnotinthemilitary , @leeeenistop , @lucienbarkbark

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[silentglassbreak]

hi bestie is it too late to request? you said you liked writing angst, well, i love reading it 💔💔painfully unrequited love!!!!! gimme gimme

friends with benefits with (overly affectionate!!!!) Noah and reader who falls sick to her stomach head over heels in love with him. blurring the lines between sex and love.

going to a bad omens concert however long after and it’s like they’re strangers oOF rip my heart out and stomp on it idc. been listening to Novocaine on a loop all day. i’m not okay

feel to totally disregard if you’re not feeling it angel <33 thank you bby I love your writing 🥺🥺

Angst............. UGH I've been WAITING babes. My goal is to rip your heart out...fair fucking warning. MMMLOVEYOUUUUU. After Writing Notes: I'm the actual worst. I hope you don't hate it!

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: smut, heartbreak, lots and lots of angst

Can You Feel My Heart

Love languages are such a strange concept, aren't they? That seems to be a fairly new idea that someone came up with in the last decade or so?

If you like to buy love...your love language is gifting.

If you can't communicate well...your love language is affection.

If the only way you know how to show feelings is with sex...your love language is intimacy.

At what point are we allowed to call someone out for being a dick? At what point are we allowed to confront the fact that someone is skipping around the idea of commitment, and ask them to just admit what they really want?

This wasn't the first time these thoughts had danced around my head, in the wee hours of the morning, while Noah's arm laid heavy across my waist, him snoozing behind me.

Noah and I had been friends since we were seven years old. We met on the playground at the park in the center of the neighborhood of our small town in West Virginia. He told me he liked my butterfly hair clips, and I let him have the blue one. He wore it in his hair every day for three weeks.

He grew up in a broken home, only his Mom around most of his years, and even then - that relationship was...strained. So many nights he had snuck into my bedroom window, curling up next to me, tears free falling down his cheeks. We never talked about why, but it didn't take a psychic to figure it out.

He moved in with his Grandmother when he was fourteen, and even though he lived in the next town over, he still made it a point to take the city bus to me every day after school, even when he dropped out.

We were never more than twin flames, incapable of existing without each other, moral support for the other during any type of hardship. Looking back, I guess that was what built our serious dependence issues.

"I can't live without you, Y/N. I'll die if I ever lose you."

"No you won't Noah, don't be stupid."

He was stupid. As stupid as they come, because when I turned eighteen, and started college, he had paid one of his friends to drive him all the way up to Columbus to see me. He showed up at the door of my dorm, drunk and broken, blathering on about how only having been away from me for a week had killed him, and he needed to see me.

That was the first night he kissed me, and I let him.

As most people do when having grown up with someone so closely, I had developed an attachment to Noah very early on. I first recognized it when he turned twelve, and started skateboarding. He would insist on trying to teach me how, despite my undeniable clumsiness. His hands would grip my hips, his face so close to my ear, and his chest pressed to my back. He would talk in this deep voice, his puberty hitting early. I was awe-struck.

He was my best friend, sure. But he belonged to me, that's what he always said.

Even when he had girlfriends, I always came first. Dates would get cancelled for me; plans changed. Hell, he even blew off one girl whose birthday fell on the same day as mine. I was his priority. I was his person.

So when he leaned in to me, sitting on the edge of my mattress in the dorm, liquor stained-breath against my face, I just closed my eyes and let it happen.

He spent the night with me, and had to leave early. Vowing to come back, he never broke his word.

There he was the following weekend, sober this time, with snacks, DVDs, and a week’s worth of clothes. I managed to hide him in my room for four days before the dorm advisor caught him.

The second day he was there was the first time we had sex. I was a virgin, and he was not. That hurt me, sure. Not enough to deny him what was rightfully his. I belonged to Noah, body and soul. He took his time, walked me through it, and gave me the best possible experience I could expect. It hurt, and it was weird, but a sense of relief washed over me.

We had finally crossed that threshold. We had sex three times that week, until he was forced to leave.

That's when the words left his mouth.

"We need to talk."

That conversation broke something inside of me. He loved me, but he didn't love me. He was honored to have been allowed to give me something so meaningful, but he could never see me as more than his best friend. Our friendship was too important, and he wouldn't even allow himself to entertain the idea of jeopardizing that. He had made up his mind, and he couldn't have feelings for me.

It was with the heaviest heart imaginable, I sucked back my tears, painted an easy smile on my face, and held his hands in mine.

"I totally understand, Noah. No worries! We can just have fun, you know?"

And that was it. We were stuck in this sick, frozen place for the last two years. I was about to finish my Associates in Columbus, and hoped to become pre-med at Boston U, but Noah didn't know that yet. I could never figure out how to tell him.

Noah Davis was this heavy, bright flame that I was desperately afraid to extinguish. He had formed a band right after our arrangement began, and he was twenty-four hours away from leaving on their first major tour that would take him around the entire country, and then across the Atlantic to Europe.

How could I tell him that while he was gone, I was likely moving even further, and starting my life without him?

I didn't want to live without him, but he was leaving, and I couldn't sit and wait forever...

I breathed out a sigh, the light beginning to stream in the window of my one-bedroom apartment. He needed to wake up, drive home, and make sure he was ready to leave tomorrow. It was only 6AM, so I knew he'd be cranky, but I couldn't put this off any longer.

“Noah?” I breathed out his name. He groaned in response. “You’ve got to get up. You have to get ready to head home.”

"Mm, ten more minutes." I rolled my eyes, and began sliding out from underneath him.

His arm locked, and held me in place. I giggled, and saw as he turned his face, one eye cracking open. "Don't get up. It's too early."

I narrowed my eyes. "I have class at 8AM."

Noah used his strength against me, pulling my body to him and holding me tight so I couldn't get up. This only made me laugh louder.

"You don't need to get up for another hour."

"Not if I want to shower."

He sighed into the pillow. "So crazy, cause I don't think you do."

I rolled my eyes. "Dude, you've got to get home. Nick will kill us both if you're not ready in time."

"I'm not scared of her." He smirked, and I smacked his arm.

"Shut up. And get off me!"

He stuck his bottom lip out, pouting heavily.

"Not going to work. C'mon." I wriggled hard enough to break his grip, and sat up, stretching my arms over my head. He sat up as well, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

I pulled a robe over myself, turning to look at him as he scrolled through his phone, checking messages.

"Coffee?" I asked, and he threw a thumbs up at me.

I left the room, headed for the kitchen, trying to keep my breathing even. I had very little time left.

Filling the pot with water, I felt his arms wrap around me from behind, his face burying in my neck.

"I don't want to go. I'm going to miss you so much."

I leaned into the touch, taking anything I could at this point. "I know. I'll miss you more."

He scoffed. "Not a chance."

Holding me for a few more moments, he let go to head to the fridge, pulling out the bagels and cream cheese, and plopping down at the dining table. I continued my work of preparing our coffee.

"Hey, uh," I started, keeping my voice as calm as I could. "there's something I wanted to chat with you about."

I turned around, two hot mugs in my hand. He was spreading the cream on a bagel, already having prepared one for me. I sat next to him at the table.

"What's up?" He didn't look up at me.

"I told you I had been trying to decide where to start medical school?" He just nodded in response. "Well, I find out today if I got into Boston."

He halted, his eyes snapping up to me. "Boston?"

I took a sip of coffee. "They've got the best med program on the East coast-"

He cut me off. "Since when were you looking on the East coast?"

His tone was darkening. This was going to go about as well as I expected.

"Since I realized I had a chance. Noah, my GPA and scholar program gives me a real shot."

He grit his teeth, setting his bagel down. "Boston is far, Y/N."

I kept calm, setting my mug down as well. "I know."

"So, why would you want to be so far away?"

"Well, you're going far too, Noah. Your first show is in San Diego."

He sat back in his chair. "Yeah, but the last one puts me right back here in Columbus for a month before I go overseas."

I nodded. "I know. I'll still be here, then. You get back six weeks before the end of the semester."

He closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose. "You can't go to Boston."

There was a finality to his tone, and something about it made my insides flinch with irritation.

"Oh no? And if I do?"

"You can't."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Can't? And since when do you tell me what I can and can't do?"

He rolled his eyes, standing from the table and walking over to the trash, binning the half of his bagel he didn't eat. "We can't be that far away from each other."

Lifting my eyebrows, I stood as well, crossing my arms. "And why is that, Noah?"

He leaned back against the counter. "Y/N, you know why."

"What? So you have someone to fuck whenever you want? Whenever one of your little groupies isn't around?"

His eyes popped open, then. "What?"

"You heard me." My tone was deadly, matching my stare at him.

"You really think the only reason I want you close is because of the sex?" He seemed truly stunned.

"Well, why else would you want me around?" I threw my hands up, walking back down the hallway toward my bedroom. I could hear his footfall behind me. I just continued, stepping into the closet to get dressed.

"What is that supposed to mean? I always want you around."

Rolling my eyes, I clasped my bra on and popped my head out to look at him. "Noah, I'm convenient for you. Unless you have any other valid reasons to keep coming over, I don't know why else it matters."

His jaw dropped open. "That is not true."

Pulling my shirt on, I scoffed. "Please, dude. Spare me the act, okay?"

"What act?"

I pulled my jeans on, buttoning them before stepping out to face him again. "The 'you're my person, and I can't lose you' act." I quoted myself. Something about that pissed him off, because he crossed his own arms and stared me down.

"The fuck are you getting at, Y/N?"

I shook my head, brushing past him, and walked toward the bathroom.

"Noah," I turned to look directly at him. "we've been at this for years. It's kind of old, don't you think?"

His face softened slightly. "We had an agreement."

I nodded. "You're right, we did. Just sex, for the sake of our friendship. That's what you wanted."

"I thought that's what we wanted."

Waving a hand between us, I took a step toward him. "Oh no, Noah. That's what you wanted. Not me."

He was silent, then.

"I wanted more. I always have. I thought that had become clear over the years, but I fucking guess not." I could hear my voice raising a few octaves. "You didn't give me a choice. You came in, broke that boundary, and then put it right back up again. And I stayed, just so I wouldn't lose you."

I could feel the tears beginning to well in my eyes.

His voice came out small, then, his hands now buried in his pockets.

"What do you want from me, Y/N?"

I sighed, letting one tear escape. "I want you to love me."

He pulled his hands out, stepping toward me and taking one of mine. I let him.

"I do love you!"

I stared at him, my teeth ground together. "Do you? The way I love you?"

Noah was a lot of things. He was brilliant, funny, generous, dedicated. He had the most redeeming qualities of anyone I knew.

And sure, he could be stupid. But not that stupid.

He had known how I felt about him. Of course he did. That was why I kissed him every chance I got. Why I always let him in. Why I never dated anyone else. Why I stayed all this time.

But here? In this moment? He was the biggest idiot I knew, because he dropped my hand, his eyes falling with it, and took a step backward.

"I..." He huffed out a breath, looking back up at my tear-stained face. "I can't. I'm sorry."

I averted my eyes, then. I could feel myself breaking, crumbling right before him.

"You need to leave, Noah."

I could feel he wanted to pull back to me, like a moon in orbit of a planet. Gravity. But he didn't. He just stepped back toward the doorway.

"What does this mean?" I heard his voice, but wouldn't meet his eyes.

I sniffed hard, trying like hell to keep myself upright.

"It means you go on tour. Be who you are, Noah. And I'll be who I am. Without each other."

His body shifted, but I was stone, unmoving.

"I can't lose you." I heard him let out a light, sarcastic laugh. "I'll die."

I let myself laugh at that.

"No you won't, Noah. Don't be stupid."

7 Years Later

Residency is going to kill me. I may actually die in pursuit of this God awful career I've chosen. I was three years in to a five year program, intending to finish in General Practice, but until that time, I was just an idiotic twenty-seven year-old with no life, no sleep, and no clean fucking clothes to wear.

Every resident gets exactly forty-eight hours of paid time off every three months, and I had not taken mine in over a year. I finally had taken all of my hours - six days total - off of work, and after spending the entire first day sleeping, I was due to meet with Raylene in an hour.

Ray and I met at the beginning of residency, and quickly gotten close. We managed to find an affordable apartment together within walking distance of the hospital, and spent any rare free time we had together. She was currently at her boyfriend's place, spending some much needed time with him, before we went out for the evening.

I was digging through my unfolded laundry, trying to find something not too wrinkled or stained to wear tonight. Ray had told me we were going to a concert for a band she had recently discovered, but she didn't tell me who it was. I didn't care, to be honest. Existing somewhere other than the Emergency Room or my own bed sounded heavenly.

Finally settling on a deep red cropped t-shirt, black skinny jeans, and the Vans I rarely got to wear, I straightened my hair and applied what little makeup I could. I set out of the building to the waiting vehicle downstairs, Ray practically hanging from the passenger window.

"You look so fine!"

I chuckled, shaking my head. "Sure. Like I might've slept in the last two weeks?"

She chortled back at me, leaning in her seat once I was in the car. I waved hello to her boyfriend Sean, and gazed at Ray.

"So, Tyler isn't coming."

She frowned at me. "Why not?"

I shrugged. "Said he had a case he was working on, and he really couldn't spare the time."

She rolled her eyes. "Typical lawyer. Too busy for anyone but his clients."

Tyler and I had been dating for about six months now. Maintaining a relationship while having jobs as busy as ours was difficult, but he somehow managed to work it out. He would pop in when he knew I had breaks to bring me food, or have me spend nights off at his place, massaging my neck and helping me get caught up on my favorite series. He was an honest man. A good man.

I liked him.

Right?

It's so hard to tell what's like and what's convenient when you live your life exhausted and overworked, so I didn't have a lot of time to question it.

"Bummer for him. I'm so excited to see this show!" Ray was beaming in the front seat.

"Yeah, who are we seeing, anyway?"

"A band called ERRA. They're opening for a bigger headliner, who I've heard are pretty good too."

I nodded. "I've never heard them."

"It's rock. Metal, really." Sean chimed in, and I acknowledged him silently, looking out of the window.

My mind zoned out while we drove to the House of Blues. Ray and Sean chatted idly up front, but I was just enjoying the fact that I was finally out of the house for once.

That is, until we walked into the venue. The banner poster stared at me, the photographs of the band mocking me...

Bad Omens...they were the headliner.

Memories flooded back to my brain, my insides clenching at the visions.

I hadn't spoken to him since that day...that last day in my apartment. When he left, and never looked back. I didn't even keep in touch with the rest of the guys, for fear that I would be sucked back into the maelstrom that was Noah Davis...

“Y/N?” I turned to see Ray stood behind me, noticing my reaction. “You okay?”

My mind wasn’t comprehending what I was seeing. There’s no way that was them? The last time I had heard of the band, they were one-of-four supporting bands on much larger headliners. Now, they were selling out tickets at their own tour? Seven years was a long time…but how had they gotten this popular?

I wondered this, as if I didn’t know how wildly talented those boys were. Aside from Noah, Nicky, Jolly, and Nick Folio were some of the most intelligent and creative minds I had known. They all brought something special to that band, but I would have never expected this.

Huh. Guess he could live without me after all?

Something bitter crept into the back of my throat, but I swallowed it down, staring at his photograph on the poster.

“Yeah,” I tore my eyes away for a second to look at Raylene. “sorry, I’m fine. Just didn’t realize Bad Omens was the headliner.”

She raised an eyebrow. “You’ve heard of them?”

I pulled my lips to the side. Did I want to tell her?

“Long time ago.”

I couldn’t get past how different he looked in the picture. Last time I saw Noah, his hair was halfway down his back, he was skinny, and he had the thinnest little mustache growing on his upper lip.

In these promo pictures, however, his hair was short, not even reaching his ears, he looked much more muscular, and he had no facial hair. He also had many more tattoos than I remembered. That wasn’t surprising. Noah was a tattoo addict from a very young age.

Jolly had let his hair grow and had the cutest goatee on his chin. Nicky looked almost exactly the same. And Nick, bless his heart, had grown into such a handsome guy. They all looked so grown, so serious and broody. It almost made me giggle, knowing how goofy these guys were in real life.

Noah looked the most stunningly different from the rest. Not only did his entire appearance change, but his eyes…something in them was just so much darker. That harsh flame I had once known was so dim. It almost hurt to see. Almost.

We were making our way out to the pit of the GA floor. I had decided to get myself a cocktail to take the edge off. I didn't plan to come face-to-face with him, and likely wouldn't even get the opportunity to get a good look at him period, but still...just knowing we were in the same room made my throat tighten. I washed it down with Vodka and cranberry juice, hoping the warmth of the liquor would unfreeze my nerves.

The first band, Invent Animate, was entertaining enough. Very interactive with the crowd and high-energy. I found it pleasant, but couldn't get myself to focus long enough to notice what they were singing about. I struggled to breathe, the set ending, and knowing I was one hour closer to seeing his face.

During the intermission, Ray excused herself to the restroom, and I stood with Sean, feeling dizzier as the moments passed.

"Hey, I think I'm going to step out for a second. Get some air."

He quirked an eyebrow at me. "You okay? Want me to come with?"

I shook my head. "Nah, don't want you to miss the band you guys came to see. I'll be back."

He nodded, patting me on the shoulder before I weaved in and out of the crowd. I discarded my plastic cup in a trash can before exiting out into the main lobby. I found a spot on the wall near the doors that was unoccupied, and leaned against it, letting my eyes close and my breathing even out.

When I opened my eyes, I searched the room, looking for nothing specific. I landed on the merch tables, and saw someone oddly familiar talking to the lead singer of the last band we had watched...

The liquid courage is what carried me in that direction, smiling to myself.

He stood with his hair pulled back, as usual, and was talking with his hands. Same as he always did.

"Nicky Ruffilo..." I said loud enough to hopefully catch his attention, my hands now grasping the edge of the table.

His head snapped over to look at me, his brows knit together curiously. I could tell he was putting it together.

"No fucking way..." His voice sounded the same as it always had. "Y/N?!"

My teeth flashed at him, and he circled the table to approach me, his arms pulling me into a tight hug.

"Jesus Christ, I didn't recognize you!" That was fair.

Since the last time I had seen any of the guys, I had bleached my hair a pale blonde, lost twenty-five pounds, and had grown two cup sizes. I was, for all intents and purposes, an entirely different person.

"Yeah, well I absolutely recognized you." I said as I gripped his shirt, squeezing him tight.

"How long has it been?" He asked, pulling back to look at me.

"Uh," I thought for a moment. "seven-ish years?"

Nick's eyes were in disbelief, an amazed leer on his face. "God damn, girl. I can't believe it."

I pointed to the banner above his head. "Headlining now, huh? That's amazing!"

He smiled, proudly. "Yeah, we've worked really hard. A lot's changed."

My eyes fell on Noah's face on the poster. "I can see that."

I could tell he was pondering, a question hanging on the edge of his tongue. It was the most obvious question, so I answered for him.

"He doesn't know I'm here."

He nodded, leaning an arm on the table comfortably. "Ah, okay. You didn't want him to?"

I snorted. "I didn't even know I'd be here. My friends came to see ERRA, and that's when I realized you guys were here."

"Makes sense." He had crossed his arms. "Do you want him to know?"

Contemplating this, I let my face fall to get away from his gaze. I wasn't certain how to answer that, but it seemed like the answer was clear regardless.

"No." I sighed hard. "It's probably for the best that he doesn't, right?"

I couldn't read Nick's face, if he was disappointed or relieved. He seemed to be pretty satisfied with my answer, but I could tell he had more he wished he could say.

"Fair enough." Was all he gave me, before letting out a breath. "So, you still live up here?"

I let my muscles relax for a second. "Yeah, doing a residency at Brigham right now."

"Residency? Does that mean you're a doctor?" He asked, clearly confused.

I cackled at this. "Yeah, full blown doctor. Got the little 'MD' after my name and everything."

He beamed at me. "That's so great! Congratulations!"

"Thank you, Nicky." It fell quiet between us once again, and I could hear ERRA's set beginning. "Well, I should probably-"

He spoke over me. "Yeah! Those guys put on a great show. Don't miss it!"

I gave him another hug, reveling in how warm he still felt.

Turning to walk away, I stopped, needing one last thing...

"Nick?"

His face turned back to me.

"How is he?"

I could see the sadness fall over his tan features, and I instantly regretted asking.

"He's..." He trailed off, taking in a large breath. "He's different, Y/N. I doubt you'd recognize him."

"How so?"

Something about my question almost seemed to annoy him. Odd?

"Like I said, a lot has changed. He's changed. He had to." He gestured to me. "Same way you did."

I accepted this, not wanting to press any further. "Thanks, Nick."

He pointed a finger at me. "Hey, we're going to be back here in the fall for a couple days. Don't be a stranger, okay?" I grinned at this. "I know Jolly and Folio would kill to see you."

I just nodded, turning and walking away. My eyes met with Ray's, who was standing, watching my interaction. How much had she seen? Did she hear anything?

"Hey, what are you doing? You're missing ERRA!"

Her brows were pulled up suspiciously. "Who was that?" She pointed after Nick, who had now disappeared from the merch table.

I shook my head. "Oh, that guy? He's the bassist in the headliner band."

This wasn't good enough for her, I could tell by the way she pursed her lips. "Uh-huh. And...you just decided to chat him up like old friends?"

I groaned. "Ugh, how long were you standing there?"

She put all her weight on one hip. "Long enough to see you two talking like you've known each other before. Care to explain?"

Raylene was so nosey. She came by it honestly, her father being a police detective. But still, why did this matter?

"It's not a big deal, Ray. I'll tell you later."

I pulled on her arm, trying to lead her back to the concert hall, but she stood firm, eyeing me. I sucked my teeth in frustration.

"Damn it, alright, come here."

She followed me to the doors leading outside, and we stepped into the cool air.

"Alright, look, I've known Nick since I was ten."

Her eyes jumped. "Oh? Back in West Virginia?"

I nodded. "Exactly. I had no idea their band was going to be here."

"Do you know anyone else in the band?"

I glanced around, feeling wildly uncomfortable by the conversation.

"I may know the entire band."

Her eyes exploded, nearly shooting out of her face cartoonistically.

"What?! The whole band?" I just nodded. "Jesus, Y/N. That's insane!"

I giggled. "I guess. It's just a coincidence."

She smiled at me. "Well that's awesome! Do you want to see the rest of them after? They're doing a free merch signing."

Panic filled my chest, and I put a hand out to grab her shoulder. "No, no. I don't, uh..." I tried to keep my voice solid. "I don't keep in touch with them anymore."

Her eyes narrowed. "Oh? Okay, if you're sure." Something in my voice must have made her feel my anxiety.

We turned, ready to make our way back inside.

"It is too bad. The lead singer's a real looker. I heard one of the girls in the crowd say his name was Noah Sebastian? He's pretty cute."

I almost walked straight into the door, my foot banging off of the pillar. Ray turned around to see me, and something about the look on my face made realization flash over her.

"Oh my God, are you ok-" She stopped dead, eyes widening again. "Wait..."

"Ray, don't." I knew what she had figured out.

"Noah..." I put my hands up, glancing around to ensure no one was looking at us. "As in...Noah? Your old best friend?!"

I shushed her harshly. "Please, Ray. I don't want to think about this."

"That's the guy?! Noah Sebastian is the guy that broke your heart?!"

I was going to actually vomit at that.

"Fuck! Can we not?!" I raised my voice, which made her snap her mouth closed. "Besides, I don't know a Noah Sebastian."

She looked confused. "Is that not his real name?"

I rolled my eyes, turning to walk back in. "It's his middle name."

I spaced out most of what was left of ERRA's set, just trying to put the pieces back together in my brain. This night had not turned into what I had hoped.

I just wanted one night, an easy night, to take a deep breath away from my hectic life. Instead, I was reliving some of my most painful memories, and had a headache to go right along with it from the alcohol. My chest vibrated, the bass just making it so much more difficult to focus.

I stood off of the GA floor, near the bar area, not even realizing the band had finished, and people were swarming to grab drinks and use the restrooms before the men of the evening appeared. Ray approached me, another Vodka cran in her hand, and pushed it into mine.

"Here my love, drink this." I took a long gulp of it. "Do you want us to go? We don't have to stay..."

My eyes were fixed on the stage, where I could see people setting up the equipment. "No." I huffed out a breath, and squeezed my cup. "No, I want to see them play, I think."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're sure? This can't be easy for you."

My eyes burned into her face, which almost made her flinch. "I may never get to see him again, Ray. I have to."

She just nodded, arm linking with mine. "You want to watch from up here?"

I nodded, crunching on a piece of ice from my drink. "No chance of him spotting me back here."

She affirmed my request, and leaned back against the wall with me.

I felt my phone vibrate, and I pulled it from my pocket to see Tyler's name on the screen.

Tyler: Hey beautiful! How's the show?

I held my breath. What kind of a question was that?

Me: Fine. Almost over, just one band left.

He didn't take but a minute to respond.

Tyler: Having fun?

Ha, what a joke.

Me: Yeah. I've had some drinks, so it's helping.

Tyler: Well, enjoy it baby! You deserve it.

That wasn't fair. None of it was. Having to see Noah? The fact that I had an amazing guy, who genuinely liked me, who waited for me. But I still couldn't get my mind off of that irritatingly beautiful face about to take the stage.

The lights went down, and I felt myself tense, throwing back the rest of my drink. My teeth were numb, if that made any sense at all. Ray's hand gripped mine tight, holding me up.

A cinematic scene played on the screens, but I wasn't watching, eyes hastily searching the stage.

A tall man, who I instantly recognized as Jolly, stepped center-stage, a guitar in his hand playing the opening riff to the song. It was heavy, deep and soul shaking.

Folio came out next, his face, like Jolly's, covered in a black ski mask.

Nick took his spot, playing his bass tones.

And then, as the opening crescendoed, a voice rang through the speakers.

A voice I'd never forget.

"Can you hear me through the white noise?"

He blasted onto the stage, glory and all, face covered and thick black jacket on his shoulders.

He sounded different. Angry. Raw, Aggressive. The feeling that sank in my stomach pulled me back further against the wall.

The song played through, his words pulsing through my veins.

As quick as it had started, it was over, and we were on to the next.

The next track was calmer, red lights glowing all throughout the stage.

They had all removed their masks, and I saw his face for the first time. He looked so much older, making it difficult for me to believe he was the same person.

The words of the song resonated deep in my thoughts.

"I don't want to know all your secrets, cause I'll tell. It's hard enough being alone with myself. I don't know how long I'll be holding on..."

Breathing deeply, I watched as the crowd moved with the music, electrifying the energy in the room. It was intoxicating.

Noah had changed...

The set played on without hitch, the entire time I caught myself holding in breaths until I felt my lungs nearly bursting. I couldn't take my eyes off of him, feeling the familiar ache beginning to creep back in.

The music stopped, and a bunch of lights came up. By this time, Noah had discarded his jacket, button-up, and only stood in a black tank top, hands wrapped in what looked like boxing wraps?

"Alright, Boston, how we feeling?" His speaking voice even sounded different...

The crowd erupted.

"We are Bad Omens, and we sincerely appreciate you all being here tonight. The next song we are going to play for you all has been the biggest turning point this band has ever seen." I heard the screams, and did my best to tune them out so I could hear his words. "Is anyone familiar with a song called Just Pretend?"

The room rocked with the cheers and chants of the crowd.

"That volume that I just heard? That's the volume I want to hear you sing this with me, okay? Don't worry about trying to hit the perfect note or get all of the words right. It's about us all, being here together tonight."

The music played softly behind him when his lips reached the microphone.

"I can wait for you at the bottom. I can stay away if you want me to. I can wait for years if I gotta. Heaven knows I ain't getting over you..."

My heart twisted in my chest.

"I'm not afraid, of the war you've come to wage against my sins. I'm not okay, but I can try my best to just pretend. So will you wait me out? Or will you drown me out?"

The tears pooled in my eyes. No fucking way. The song played on, mocking me with the lyrics.

"I know the pain that you hide behind the smile on your face. And not a day goes by where I don't think I feel the same."

"We'll try again, when we're not so different. We will make amends, till then I'll just pretend."

My hands came up to cover my face, my lip trembling hard.

"Weigh down on me. Stay till morning. Way down. Would you say I'm worthy?"

I choked on a sob, my legs pushing me forward, and I ran out of the room. I felt my stomach lurching, my mouth clamping closed as I ran toward the bathroom.

I heard Ray chasing behind me. "Y/N! Wait!"

Flying into the bathroom and finding the first open stall, I fell to my knees, emptying the contents of my stomach into the toilet. My hands gripped my hair, tears falling hard down my face.

"Oh God, babe." Ray reached to grab my hair from me as I wretched all of the Vodka out of my stomach, my heart and soul pouring out with it.

When I finished, I let my chest heave with sobs, my hand covering my eyes in ebarrassment.

"Fuck, Ray." I said as I wiped my face with the tissue she handed me. "I've got to get the hell out of here."

She nodded. "Okay, my love. Let's do that."

After a solid twenty minutes of cleaning myself up in the bathroom, we stepped out, noticing the crowd now formed outside, waiting at the table for the band to come out for the signing. Ray was frantically dialing Sean, trying to find him among the sea of people. I just plopped myself down on the floor near the restroom, trying to relax as best as I could.

"Y/N?" I looked up at her. "I have to go find Sean. He isn't answering. Can you wait here for me?"

I just nodded, defeated. She was gone, lost within the abyss of people, and I sat, waiting, head in my hands.

I was pulled out of my stupor by the sound of cheering. The band had come out, all waving and smiling. I didn't even bother chancing a glance at him, for fear I may vomit again.

Ray had not come back yet, despite the four or five texts I had now sent her. I had been waiting for a solid thirty minutes, people watching the line and avoiding seeing his face. The ropes of the line were blocking my view of the faces sitting at the table.

After another fifteen, Ray finally bounded up to me, out of breath, Sean in tow.

"Fuck, I'm so sorry! That crowd is vicious!"

I stood slowly, the room only slightly spinning. I swallowed the dry, disgusting feeling in my throat, and began moving toward the exits that were now mostly clear.

"Let's go." She nodded at me, and took my arm. We had to wait behind several people trying to all get through the same revolving door. My skin felt spiky and cold.

"Hang on! Wait!"

A voice behind me made ice run through my veins, and I closed my eyes, begging whatever God existed to spare me in this moment.

A hand gripped my shoulder, and I tensed, turning my face, and my eyes looked straight at him.

He had spotted me, running from his table to catch me. He had to have been pretty damn sure it was me to chase after me like that. Fans began to crowd us, camera phones coming out, pictures snapping.

The look on his face was much less certain than I expected, as if he possibly made a mistake.

"I'm sorry..." His voice was unsteady. "Do I," He cleared his throat, eyes bouncing back and forth between my own. "know you?"

My eyebrows shot up. He really didn't recognize me?

He thought he did, but now...

"No. I don't think so." I spit out my words, teeth grinding together. It felt exactly the same as the last time I had seen him.

He dropped his hand, eyes still transfixed on mine. "I swore..."

I just turned my body, pressing my way past the gathered crowd, not giving him the chance to think it through.

In the car, I stared out the back window, arms wrapped around myself.

"What did he say, honey?" Ray's voice was so gentle.

"He didn't recognize me. He thought he did, but once he got up close, I guess I look too different." My words were only a peg above a whisper.

"You going to be okay? I don't have to stay at Sean's."

I just wiped the stray tear off of my cheek. "It's fine. I'd rather be alone."

-

A long, scalding shower, two handfuls of shredded cheese, and a solid half-hour crying session later, I was laid catatonically on my bed, eyes staring at the screen as Grey's Anatomy flashed across my screen.

I had blanked my mind out, forcing myself to let the thoughts go for the night. I was too tired and broken to let my heart hurt like this again. It took a solid year to get over Noah enough that I was able to function again. My first year of med school was disappointing, and I didn't make any friends until I made it into the second year. It took me nearly three to start dating.

I couldn't do that again.

I had been ignoring the texts going off on my phone, assuming it was Ray just checking on me for the thousandth time. I did, however, decide to take a look when I heard my ringtone going off.

Who would be calling me at 2AM?

I didn't even bother checking the screen before I put the phone up to my ear, my voice hoarse from crying.

"Hello?"

"What are the odds that you haven't changed your number after all this time?"

I sat bolt upright, my voice catching in my throat. The voice on the other end sounded nearly as wrecked as mine.

"Noah?" It barely came out.

"It's been a long time."

I cleared the newly formed phlegm out of my throat. "It has."

"I knew that was you." It sounded deadly quiet in the background of his end of the line. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming tonight?"

I sighed. "Nick told you?"

"He might've."

I groaned. "Well, I asked him not to."

"Why?"

I scoffed. "What do you mean, why?" I rubbed my eyes. "We're not exactly speaking anymore, Noah."

He hummed. "That's true."

I chewed on my lip, not having any kind of clue of what to say.

"What did you think?"

"Of the show?"

"Mhm."

I sighed. "It was good. Different than what I would have expected."

A soft laugh came through the line. "How so?"

I smiled at that. "It's just a lot different than what I expected your music to sound like."

"In a bad way?"

"No. Not at all."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." His voice was so serious. So monotone. Nothing at all like what I remembered.

The line fell silent again, and I found this irritating. What was he playing at?

"Why did you call, Noah?"

I heard a breath on the other end, and some rustling. "I don't know."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have."

"Maybe. I wanted to hear your voice."

My stomach tightened. "Now you have. I should go."

"Wait..." I held the phone firm, waiting. "I want to see you."

My heart pounded. "What?"

"I need to see you." His words were so matter-of-fact.

"I don't think so, Noah. That's not a great idea."

"It's not, but I'm asking..." He sounded so small. "Can I please see you?"

I perused the idea. "When?"

"Now?"

I scrunched up my face, sitting up again. "Now? It's after two in the morning."

"I don't care. I'll come to wherever you are."

This struck me. Maybe he hadn't changed?

"I, uh," I struggled to speak. "Noah, I don't know. I'm at home, it's late. I should be sleeping."

"Y/N?" I stopped, listening. "Please?"

I am a weak woman, and that is just plain fact. I was frantically running throughout the apartment, attempting to tidy any kind of mess I could get my hands on. Ray and I hadn't taken the time to really clean in months, so it was stressing me out. My pajama pants were hanging low on my hips, and I swam in my large sweatshirt.

My hair was falling loose around my face, and I was sure my eyes were puffy from the crying I had done. How insane was I? Had I completely lost it?

It was almost 3AM when a knock came at my apartment door, and I froze in place. What was I doing? Why was I allowing this to happen? I didn't need to do this to myself.

I was fine, living in my normal, tired bubble. I was headed towards a successful career that would take me further than I ever imagined. Why was I allowing this trainwreck of a friendship back into my life? What was I thinking?!

I wasn't. That was the answer to that question.

I opened the door, not sure what to expect on the other side. He stood, still as tall as I remembered, looming in the doorway. He wore a black hoodie, hands tucked neatly in the pocket. Dark blue jeans and black Converse. A white beanie covering his hair.

Like this, he looked almost recognizable. Except for his eyes...

Just like in the photograph I had seen earlier, his eyes were so dark. There was very little life behind them. Deep blue circles hung under the rims, making a pull in my chest show itself.

I just stood, blocking the doorway, hand white-knuckling the frame.

"Hi." Was all he managed. He was staring at me, eyes moving up and down my face as if he was seeing an apparition.

"Hi." I echoed, trying to not feel out of place under his stare.

"I'm glad you agreed to see me." He didn't move an inch, his jaw ticking closed with his last work.

I just nodded, letting out all of my air. "Yeah, well, you were insistent."

He nodded, finally looking away from me and down at the ground.

"I had to."

I pursed my lips, narrowing my eyes. "Did you?" He raised a brow at me. "Did you just have to see me? Because I think we probably would've been alright without it."

I could see his face fall, hurt by what I said, but I didn't care. He never did.

"I'm sorry. I know it's selfish."

"Mm," I pinched my lips together, and opened my door wider. "come in."

I stalked back into the house, not daring to look back at him. I heard the door shut behind me, and I steadied myself, expecting to turn around and see him vanished.

To my chagrin, he was still there.

Deciding not to stagnate, I walked into the kitchen, pulling a bottle of tea from the fridge, and walking back out to the living area. He hadn't moved, and was still staring at me.

"So." I motioned to him. "What can I do for you?"

Noah was so statuesque, as if carved right out of stone. "I don't really know."

My face lifted, a smirk on my lips. "You don't know? Noah," I placed a hand on my hip. "you show up here at 3AM, and you have no idea why?"

He shrugged, eyes begging me for mercy. "I'm sorry. I don't."

"Can you stop apologizing and just tell me why you're here?!" My patience snapped, startling even me.

This took him back, but instead of tucking tail and backing away, he stood straighter, face hardening.

"I can't tell you why I'm here if I don't know, alright?" His words were stern.

"Well you must have some kind of reason? Because this feels wildly unnecessary."

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "It is? So you didn't want to see me?"

I set my tea on the coffee table and stood nonchalantly. "Not really."

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't buy it." He took a step toward me, but I stood firm. "If you didn't you wouldn't have stayed, tonight. You would've left after you saw the band your friends went to see."

He was closer now, and it felt like a string had tethered between us, the tension slowly slacking.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to see your set. See how the band was doing."

He snickered at me. "Oh, sure. Of course." His hands finally appeared from his pockets, one running over his chin. "Which song was your favorite?"

Oop. I wasn't expecting that.

"The second one. Villain, or something?"

He nodded. "Like A Villain." Noah's eyes weren't buying it. "Which one did you like least?"

I scoffed. "I don't know, Noah? The first one?"

"Mm, and which one was that?"

I was swallowing the lump in my throat. I couldn't remember, the night blurring together.

"Uh, I don't know the name."

He took a step back, triumphant. "You weren't there for the set. You wanted to see me."

Rolling my eyes, I crossed my arms. "Still as self-absorbed as ever, I see?"

"Am I wrong?"

He had me backed into a corner, and he fucking knew it.

I threw my arms up. "Fine! Maybe I did. But you wanted to see me too."

He sneered at me, venom on his lips. "Obviously, or else I wouldn't be here."

"You still haven't said why."

"Why did you want to see me?"

My voice was raising, frustration growing. "I don't know!"

"I don't know either!" He yelled back at me, and my mouth snapped closed. Noah never raised his voice at me. Not ever.

He took three long strides over to me until he was only stood a foot away.

"I didn't expect to ever see you again, Y/N! I thought you were gone forever! So imagine my surprise when I see you walking out of the House of Blues, and you deny even knowing me!"

I felt like shrinking into a ball right there on the floor, ceasing to exist.

"I wanted to see you because how could I not?! Seven fucking years, Y/N!" He backed down for a second, his breathing becoming ragged. "I've been waiting seven years."

I furrowed my brow. "Waiting?"

"For you to reach out. To tell me you missed me. To give me some kind of indication we could reconcile and be us again."

There was a fire, deep down in my gut, that I had never been able to truly extinguish. A fire Noah had lit years ago. A mine shaft burning like the depths of hell in my belly that I had buried under concrete and therapy, keeping it at bay.

In my apartment, tonight, that fire broke loose. And there was no stopping it.

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" I took a step forward, pressing into his space, index finger jabbing into his chest. "I was supposed to reach out?!"

He took a step back, eyes now full of fear.

"I professed my love to you, Noah! I told you I wanted you, and you fucking left!"

He puffed at me, pointing a finger back at me. "You told me to leave!'

"Yes! Because you told me you didn't love me! You told me you couldn't love me the way I loved you!"

He squeezed his lids shut tight, growling and turning away from me, taking several steps away. His hands came up, gripping the beanie on his head.

"God damn it Y/N!" He turned to look at me, a fiery rage matching my own behind his eyes. "Of course I fucking loved you!"

My heart stopped, completely motionless.

"What?"

"I've always loved you! From the moment I laid fucking eyes on you! I've never loved anyone, no one, the way I loved you!" He charged me, backing me toward the couch. "But I couldn't love you, Y/N! I wasn't good enough. I was a piss-poor high school dropout musician trying to make a name for himself, and, until recently, failing miserably."

I couldn't speak, thoughts racing so fast, I struggled to keep up.

"And you?" He pointed a finger back into my chest. "You were smart, and motivated, and you were going to make something of yourself. I couldn't drag you down with me. I couldn't force you to follow this journey with me. It would've ruined your life!"

My lungs weren't working right, and my hands were shaking. He wasn't actually saying this. I was hallucinating.

"So I left. I left to give you a chance at a real life. Which, evidently, you've managed to build without me." He took a step back, then, dropping his hands. "And I, somehow, without you."

This hurt me, hearing he had managed to become so successful, despite my involvement.

"Noah, I had no idea-"

"No," He cut me off. "you didn't."

I hadn't even caught the tears falling from my eyes, blurring my vision until he was just a watery mess in front of me.

"You didn't need me." I choked out, and he looked directly at me, inquisitively. "You've made it so far. You're a rockstar now, Noah."

He scoffed. "Y/N, you don't get it." He looked away from me, focused on the wall behind me. "I died without you. Something inside of me was lost the day I left, and I never got it back."

"Well, you're successful now, so it can't be so bad, right?"

He snorted, shaking his head. "Success always comes with a price."

My lips were wet with the tears I couldn't hold in, and I couldn't keep my breathing even. I knew he saw it, but hesitated to engage, wanting to keep a wide berth between us. I couldn't take it. It was too much.

Hearing he loved me. Hearing I had been wrong all this time. Hearing that the heartbreak I felt for so long wasn't his fault. He was protecting me, even after all these years.

"Noah?" He chanced a glance at me, and I saw his own eyes sparkling with moisture.

I couldn't take it.

I rushed him, grabbing hold of his shoulder and clinging on, desperate to find relief against him. My lips smashed into his, tearing apart the barrier I had worked so hard to build.

His hands grabbed me, holding me into place against him, his lips melted into mine, returning the kiss fervently. We were hopeless. We were hungry.

My tears didn't stop flowing, emotion pouring out of every pore. My fingers clawed at him, needing to get closer. My hand grabbed the beanie, and pulled it off of his head, his dark hair falling over his eyes. I gripped it at the scalp, trying to pull myself closer.

Feeling what I was attempting to do, his hands lifted me by the back of my legs, so I could wrap them around his midsection. I refused to disconnect the kiss, breathing in his soul. It was so real and so familiar. How I missed it like hell.

His legs carried us to the couch, where he sat us down. My legs straddled him, and I finally pulled away to tug at the sweatshirt he wore. He made quick work of pulling it up over his head while I did the same with my own. Reconnecting our lips, my hands wandered over his neck and chest, scratching at the fabric of his shirt.

His teeth caught my bottom lip, and I moaned into his mouth. His fingers pulled at the waistband of my pajama pants, and I lifted myself enough to slip them off, replacing myself on his lap. His jeans were already getting tighter as his hands smoothed up and down my thighs.

"Fucking hell." He looked down, staring at my bare breasts in front of him. "These got bigger, huh?"

I laughed, taking a deep breath. "Yeah, well, things change."

His fingers gripped around my left breast, lips falling to circle around the hardened nipple. I let my head fall back, relishing in the warm feeling spreading throughout my body.

"Still so fucking beautiful, just like I remember." I pulled at the hair on the back of his neck. "Did you miss me, baby girl?"

I ground my hips down against him in response. His hand began playing with the button of his jeans, and I moved it away to open them myself.

I stood up to pull his jeans down to his knees, his boxers bulging in the crotch.

"Oh, fuck." I sighed out. "Yeah, I missed you."

His smile then was devious, some of that regular spark shining back in his eyes. "Then show me, huh?"

Reaching into the opening of his underwear, I pulled his cock free, taking a moment to remember just how large it was. It had been a very long time since I had seen anything quite that impressive. Dipping my head down, I licked a long stripe up the shaft, lingering on the head to gather the precome leaking out.

"Holy shit." His head fell back on the couch, his eyes rolling back with it. "Mm, do that again, please?"

I smirked, looking up at him. "Only since you asked so nicely."

My tongue repeated the movement, drawing out a hard groan out of him, his legs twitching. "Fuck yeah, baby."

Without warning, I wrapped my lips around him and swallowed him as far down as my throat would allow, gagging on the tip as it struck my tonsils. His hips jolted upward, effectively fucking my throat.

"Please, Y/N, I won't last that way." He begged, his words only coming out as breaths. "I need to feel you, please."

He was begging, and I couldn't resist it. I needed him too.

I stood back up, and kneeled on either side of him, carefully lining him up with my entrance. When I sunk down, that delicious burn pierced through me, and my body collapsed onto him at the intensity of it.

"Noah, oh my God." He ran a hand up my back, allowing me a moment to adjust.

"I know, baby. I know." He soothed me, rubbing small circles into my skin.

My hips stuttered forward, needing to feel the friction. His hand reached down to grab my ass, and lifted me upward. Without warning, his hips snapped forward and fucked into me, making a sharp scream leave my lips.

My face rested on his chest, whimpers falling from my throat with each hard thrust.

"Fuck, you missed me, pretty girl?" He was panting between his words, his rhythm picking up speed. "Missed the way I fuck you?"

My eyes were rolling back, the tears from before now replaced with tears of raw pleasure.

"I'll bet you've never been fucked like this, huh?" His words were just tones of desire playing in my ears, his cock absolutely destroying me. "No one can fuck you like I can, baby. No one."

My nails dug hard into his shirt, begging for release.

"Let me know when you come, baby. Not finishing until you do."

Luckily for him, I was riding the edge so hard it was making the room spin. Biting my lip to keep from screaming, I lifted myself to look at his face.

"Noah," I searched his eyes, his hips not faltering. "I love you."

He grit his teeth, trying to focus on me and his hips at the same time. "I love you, too. So fucking much."

My face fell back down, landing on the side of his neck. "I'm going to come. Please, Noah, I'm so close..."

He, somehow, managed to pump into me harder, sending my body over the cliff and into the warm waves of my orgasm. My body went slack against him as my walls pulsed around his length.

I heard him curse, and his hips stilled. I felt him spasming inside me, and silently thanked myself for my IUD.

We laid that way, sweaty and heaving, for a solid ten minutes before either of us could find the strength to move. I slipped him out of me, and sat up to look at him. He looked absolutely wrecked, in the best possible way.

I smiled, feeling a warmth spread over me.

"Hi." Was all I could manage.

He chuckled tiredly. "Hi."

-

After our excursion, Noah and I had taken a few minutes to clean up, and, being as exhausted as you'd expect, decided to lay together for a while.

He told me he had to leave within a few hours to get back to his hotel, heading to the next city bright and early, so I told him I'd stay up until he had to leave.

However, in my bed, his arms wrapped tightly around me, his voice whispering sweet words in my ears, I struggled to remain conscious.

"Do you remember when I bought you that Oasis album for your fourteenth birthday? That was basically me professing my love to you."

"I was such an idiot. I should've just told you."

"You have no idea how much I've missed you. I don't think you'll ever understand."

"I'm so sorry. I wish things were different..."

And that's how I woke up, light in my bedroom far too bright, and my bed empty.

I don't know what I expected? For him to stay? Fuck off his tour to make up for lost time with me?

But still, my chest stung when I saw he had left, but I wasn't surprised.

Something had changed last night, and the darkness that lingered in the depths of my being had lifted, leaving me with a sense of hope I hadn't felt before.

When I had woken for the day, clearing the cobwebs from my eyes, I contemplated my next move. He had surely left town already, but that didn't mean I couldn't keep in touch, right?

Pulling out my phone, I found his contact, and opened a text thread.

Me: Hey, call me when you can. I think we have a lot to talk about. :)

I set my phone down on the bathroom counter, preparing to brush my teeth when my phone dinged, and the notification told me the text had failed.

Odd?

I resent it, getting the same response.

Why would my messages fail? I paid my bill, right?

Quickly dialing Ray's number, I held the phone to my ear and heard the ringing, so I knew my service was fine. Giving her a quick apology for waking her, I hung up, and went back to my texts.

His number was the same, right?

I went back to my call logs, seeing it was his number that called me last night, so it was the same as it had always been.

So...what the hell?

My finger hovered over the number for a moment, and I weighed the options before finally resolving to just call him. Make sure I wasn't losing my mind.

I held the phone to my face as I started brushing my teeth, waiting for the call to connect.

"The number you have reached is not in service. If you feel you have reached this message in error, please hang up and try your call again."

[tiredfox64]

Part three of Go for the Kill? But its based ok the ending where reason is with all three of the brothers? She soon gets knocked up and the threee fight over whose it is? >:3

The Soil was Tilled Enough

Prior notes: I knew somebody would ask for this. Had a That’s so Raven moment when I was writing that last part.

Pairings: Lin Kuei Bros x Afab reader

Warnings ‼️: You’re gonna have a stroke with my reasoning.

You are faced with a light pink stick in your hands. You were growing tired and sick just days before which worried the brothers a lot. The last thing they want is for their vicious woman to grow horribly ill. Oh but this is no illness. This is the miracle of life.

Yeah this is a strange situation. Truly a spectacle that has some people, or more like someone, disappointed. Liu Kang ain’t too happy that his paid assassin would be out of commission for at least a year. What he also doesn’t like is hearing that the brothers are fighting over who is the father. The yelling is really getting annoying.

“It can’t possibly be your child! I slept with her first!” Bi-Han yelled directly in Tomas’ face.

“We all slept with her first! You are just jealous that the baby is possibly mine!” Tomas yelled right back.

The only one staying calm was Kuai Liang. He stayed right next to you, rubbing your belly as you contemplated the same thing. Who is the father?

Alright, so you put too much faith into Plan B. Guess it wasn’t made to handle loads upon loads of baby-making liquid from men who probably never allowed themselves to feel relief in quite a while. Plus the fact that they love you a lot made the chances of you getting pregnant much higher. I think they were aiming for that goal but I’m not a mind reader.

“What are we gonna do? Are we ready enough to handle having a baby and raising it?” You questioned, concerned about way too many things.

“Of course can handle it. The baby will be in safe hands. Even if the baby is not mine I promise to take care of them as if they were my own.” Kuai Liang made that promise to you.

Kuai Liang really loves you and just wants the best for you. He doesn’t want you to worry too much especially now that’s you are pregnant. His commitment to you made you feel a little better, knowing he won’t be mad about whose baby it is. The other two…yeah that’s gonna take some time.

At this point Bi-Han had Tomas in a headlock which made Tomas start punching Bi-Han’s arms in defense. Kuai Liang ran in to split the two apart.

“Enough of this! This fighting won’t solve anything.” He yelled at them both.

“I do not understand why you are not threatened by the fact that Tomas might have impregnated her. What good will that baby do coming from a man like him?” Bi-Han was being harsh again which made Tomas punch him.

“It does not matter. She is pregnant and she wants to keep it. We must support her no matter what.”

Kuai Liang was right and all the brothers had to agree with his statement. Though Bi-Han was still being as stubborn as ever. If he just keeps the mindset that it’s his baby in there he will be fine.

“Well, do you know how far along you are?” Tomas asked.

“Considering the last time we did it was a couple of weeks ago and I’m getting sick, it might be four to six weeks.”

Oof, if it’s six it can only get worse when it comes to the symptoms. Get ready to start taking bathroom breaks and getting sick from smells.

“It will still be a few weeks before we can get a paternity test done.” You added on.

“We should do that. Settle this debate early on whose child this is.” Bi-Han was on board with doing a paternity test even though he didn’t know you can test that while still pregnant. It’s that old mindset don’t worry.

“I want to the know the gender first. I wanna see if we are having a baby boy or a baby girl.” Tomas gushed at the idea.

“No you don’t, Tomas! We will not wait to find out the gender first.”

“Yes we will, brother. It will teach you to have some patience. It will also test if you still love her enough to take care of her while she is going through this.”

Kuai Liang was shutting Bi-Han down at every opportunity. How dare his little brother accuse him of not loving you. Fine, he’ll wait. They’ll all wait. And as that goes on they will start preparing things for you like a nursery. They gonna spoil the hell out of you.

A woman who is pregnant is a strong woman indeed. They will make sure to take good care of you. They will do their parts as the possible fathers.

══💤══╡°˖✧🦊✧˖°╞══💤══

Finally! Week thirteen! You can expect your results to be one hundred percent accurate when it comes to the gender. Now here’s the interesting part—

“WHAT!” You, Tomas, Bi-Han, and Kuai Liang all yelled at the doctor in shock.

…I didn’t get to finish. Let me speak up. Damn…

As I was saying the interesting part was that as time went on you noticed your belly was getting quite big. It was a little too early but you didn’t think it was anything much. This was your first time being pregnant so you thought it was normal.

Not necessarily.

“T-twins? We are having twins? And they are all ours?” Tomas was questioning the doctor on how accurate it was.

The ultrasounds did show two little babies. Two little nuggets growing inside you. And they are both boys, congratudolences!

“It’s called Heteropaternal superfecundation. It’s incredibly rare but it can happen. Especially to someone with three partners.” That doctor was throwing shade at you. She was just jealous.

“So one of those boys is definitely mine,” Tomas was all smiles, “But what about the other one?”

Yeah, what about the other one? Still got the other two. They are blood related so this might be harder.

If it’s Kuai Liang’s this might not end well for him since Bi-Han was staring him down with a death glare. Luckily the doctor had something to say about that.

“That’s the thing, we can’t tell. Because they are related there is some difficulties. So as far as any of you know, they are both the father of that other little boy.”

Kuai Liang is content with that. He is just happy to start a family and have a child with you. Bi-Han…ah he gives up. There is no point in being upset about this. There is nothing anyone can do. He’ll be happy to have a son of his own that he can train and possibly be the next grandmaster to the Lin Kuei.

All the brothers are happy to be fathers to a wonderful set of twins, dizygotic twins to be exact. Tomas is already imagining having the twins play together and teaching them to take care of one another. Kuai Liang is imagining caring for them both and teaching them to be good brother. Bi-Han already preparing in his mind a plan to train his son. That’s his responsibility.

The tension between the brothers dissipated. There was no reason to fight and stress you out even more. Looks like they better get more things ready for the babies. The nursery has to be big enough to accommodate two of them.

You have a good support system going on here. I hope you are happy with your multiple lovers and your set of twins.

…

Oh don’t tell me, you want to know who the father actually is. Alright so the clinic didn’t actually have the advanced technology to figure out who the father was when it came to Kuai Liang and Bi-Han. They were only certain on Tomas.

The true father is…I don’t know. What? Did you think I knew all? No! Even I don’t know. And do you even wanna know? Just let be happy that they are happy. Now get some rest, mama. You have a long journey ahead of you and it’s called motherhood.

After notes: Why do I keep doing twins? I’m scaring myself. Here’s a fact about me I have a high chance of having twins if I were to get pregnant. Yeah, I know, crazy. Please tell me I haven’t manifested this for myself my period still hasn’t come oh gosh 😭. I would have done triplets for this fic but nature doesn’t work like that. Well since I’m done I get to eat. Adiós! (Pls make my period show up y’all)

[factual-fantasy]

28 asks! Thank you very much!! :}} ✉️

(Referencing this post)

I was thinking that the world of welcome home and the human world both exist, but they aren't connected by a TV show. :0 The puppet world is very real to them and they are real living people. The thing is is that there's no TV show of welcome home, that's just their lives-

Eddie is from our world/the human world. Which is where his hallucinations of having 5 fingers and human skin comes from-

@candyglumboy (Referencing this post)

Midori is my Meowscarada! :0 He's friends with Grim and Sylvester :))

(Referencing this post)

XDD Just a playful NOM

@fawncr33k

Yes yes! I screenshot them :00 I then paste them into FireAlpaca and add the watermark :) 👍👍

@bellanova137 (Referencing this post)

Oh!- In my AU Eddie was one of the most recent neighbors :00 this was his first time at the yearly Christmas party because it was the first one he was around for! <XDD

Thinking he moved in sometime right after Christmas last year. Which gave him and Frank a good year to get to know each other and be on first name basis :0 Which is why Frank doesn't call him Mr. Dear in my comic! :)

(Of course present day is a few years after this comic--)

Oof, yeahhh that was a comic script that I went to edit but accidentally posted- 💀

Thank you for the name suggestions though! I still haven't decided on what it'll be <XDD

XDDDD Hurray!! (Sorry!!--) I hope you enjoy your stay in the fandom! :DD

Also thank you so much!!! :)) I'm so glad you've liked my artwork!! :DDD

It would be watching anyone that repaired it :00

There was actually an idea that back when Barnaby was going to be the second ever neighbor in the neighborhood.. he almost bought home and restored it himself. The reason why he didn't though is because Home was just too small for him. The front door was too short, he'd have to duck though every doorway and the ceilings were too low..

Why would he wanna spend all this time and money on fixing up an old house that's too small.. when he can just spend that money on buying whatever lot he wants and building a house that actually fits him? So that's what he went with..

But if Barnaby had bought home and fixed it up. it's be the same thing as Wally... weird insomnia, anxiety attacks.. feeling like you're being watched while you sleep... etc..

As for their world, I only really had the forest surrounding the neighborhood in mind. Its a HUGE forest that goes on for miles and miles. I haven't decided how far away Julies sisters/brother live but I should really work on them 💀

As for Home, so far Home is the only creature of its kind :0 none of the other houses are alive and it stands as the only strange entity around the neighborhood.

And when it comes to neighborly mysteries and secrets, so far Eddie being human and Julie's secret past is all i got <:///

Oh yeah for sure! My Barnaby is much more mellow than in canon it seems- in my AU he doesn't butt heads with Julie at all! :0 In fact she's a really good friend of his. She has some pretty flat jokes but Barnaby appreciates her attempts and they usually get a genuine laugh out of him XDD

As for Frank, its like a SpongeBob and Squidward situation. They just have different personalities and different senses of humor.. and that's okay! Barnaby likes to crack some stupid jokes to kind'a poke at Frank for the fun of it, but he never goes too far. And the jokes are never personal or insult his interests. They're just really dumb jokes that make Frank roll his eyes XDD

At the end of the day, Barnaby considers Frank to be his friend. And Frank would never admit it, but he sees Barnaby as his friend too :)

I had a very small brain moment and only realized just now that I cut out the askers name by accident 💀 my bad!

Also hey these names aren't too bad! <XDDD Abaolson sounds kind'a cool in my opinion! :00

Oh- well actually I'm only doing Pokémon from the Unova region with a handful of exceptions. So I don't have to worry about Gyarados, Milotic or Onix. At least for now :00 I might make an exception for Gyarados.. so when it comes to long snakey Pokémon I have Serperior and Eelektross to worry about..

As for Ninjask, I imagine I'll do something similar to what I did with Chandelure :00

@glitchhayden418

WHOMPST??

(In response to this post)

AAA YES YES! :DD A "I thought I lost you/I could have lost you" hug!! AAAA I'm so glad that translated well! :))

And actually- I began sketching out the comic 👀👀👀 although I got hung up on the battle scene and need to go back for some resketching 😅

(In response to this post)

Well of course! :D Angst isn't fun if there's no comfort 😌

@littlemisspostit

ESKJFOSIJFIOSJ HYUCKS??? THATS THE BEST THING EVER XDDD

Upon googling him, maybe I could! :0 Maybe he could be a friend of one of the neighbors that lives a few neighborhoods over?

@viennaarttt (The post in question)

Ohhh I see! :0 That was a joke post mostly <XD But if it did happen I can see Barnaby hanging up and calling back to try to wake up Wally 💀

Awwe <:)) This was very sweet, thank you.. I'm getting a lot of comments saying that people liked my old Gravity Falls stuff. Its helping me feel a bit better about all of it <:)

I will probably keep those posts privated for my own comfort,, but now with no worry of people finding my old artwork,, it clears the way for potential NEW Gravity Falls artwork! :0 This time with better written angst <XDDD

@danman22ful

I've watched all of Markpliers videos on it! :D And I gotta say its.. well its something that's for sure! <:D Its refreshing to see a character with both parents living and in a loving relationship ngl- I feel like I never see that nowadays <XD

I searched around for a bit and couldn't find much info on this actually <:0 I saw a Wally with red hair and a blond Frank..? Is this like an opposite personality's AU..?

@famouslysleepy

In my AU Frank and Eddie are just friends :0 mostly because I don't like writing romantic stuff for characters that aren't my own.. plus exploring platonic bonds is much more interesting to me :)

As for Eddie and Home, this comic shows a bit of Eddies problem with it- just like Wally he has the blood chilling feeling of being watched by something..

And even after the party, going near Wally's house makes Eddie feel uncomfortable and anxious.. its just all a matter of feeling you're being watched by something or someone..

XDD If I had a had a nickel for every time someone told me they were shocked to find out I'm in a fandom they love,, I'd be rich!

Also thank you!! :DD I'm glad you liked it! :DDD

aw <XD well this is bitter sweet to read since I've privated most of my Gravity Falls stuff.. but its nice to hear that you enjoyed it all <:) Thank you!

I use FireAlpaca, its in my FAQ in my pinned post! :0

I'm actually hearing bad things about it believe it or not- talks about Ford acting super out of character and what not.. My curiosity is peaked 👀

[holdupjack]

Just Put On The Fleece

——————

Pairing: Hermione Granger x Fem!Reader

Warning: sexual suggestions

——————

Third Person P.O.V:

7th Year

Y/n strolled towards Hogsmeade with a smile as snow fell all around her. The lake was completely iced, she could see a few students skating atop its surface.

Snowflakes fell onto her bare arms as some students gave her strange looks at her choice of clothing. She wore just her white button-up and pants, which wasn’t up to most people’s standards when it came to this type of weather.

She didn’t pay them any kind though, instead continuing her peaceful walk to Pippins Potions to stalk up on some ingredients for her next class.

As much as Y/n didn’t feel all the nervous about catching a cold, she did however look over her shoulder every once in a while.

Before she had left to start her walk towards the Village, she had run into Ginny. Now this wasn’t unusual, since they were good friends, but she was even better friends with Y/n’s girlfriend.

Hermione Granger.

The two have been dating for a little over two years now, and to say the least, Hermione was not a huge fan of Y/n’s disregard for winter wear.

They have gotten into fights about it, but they were never huge or harmful. They were just little spits the couple had from time to time around the holidays.

Now Ginny was a little instigator, she loved to get Y/n in trouble with Hermione, and Y/n knew it. Granted, she would never say something to harm their relationship, but Y/n with no coat? Going out into freezing temperatures?

Fair game.

So now Y/n had eyes in the back of her head, almost like she was waiting for her girlfriend to appear out of thin air like a horror movie.

Y/n couldn't help but smile fondly as Hermione's concerns echoed in her mind. Always the protective one, her bushy-haired bookworm. Not that Y/n minded - it was just one more way she knew she was loved.

Reaching Hogsmeade at last, she hurried inside Pippin's Potions to escape the icy kisses peppering her skin. The familiar jingle of bells greeted her, along with friendly shopkeeper Irma Pippin herself.

"Afternoon dear! Back for more fluxweed I see. Winter rolling in already?" The old witch chuckled, taking note of Y/n's sparse attire as she gathered the ingredients into a small pouch.

"You know me Irma, a little chill never bothered me much." Y/n chuckled, exchanging a few knuts for her purchases, placing the pouch into her pocket.

"Though my darling Hermione might avow otherwise..."

Just then, the bells jangled loudly once more. Speak of the devil and so she shall appear, it seemed! Y/n turned with a smile to greet her favorite furious witch.

"Hello, love! Fancy running into you here..." Y/n chuckled nervously as she backed up slightly, almost bumping into Irma as Hermione stepped closer with a stern glare.

“Don’t you ‘hello love’ me! What are you doing out in the snow with no protective clothing!” She says with gritted teeth as the older witch just chuckled as she walked to the back of her shop, muttering ‘if you break it, you buy it’.

“Uh…” Y/n said nervously as Hermione stepped even closer.

Y/n flashes her best disarming smile, hoping to soothe her darling's ruffled feathers. "Now now love, you know a little chill doesn't bother m- oof!"

She's cut off as Hermione shoves a giant fleece throw into her arms. It's garishly orange and covered in little purple cauldrons.

"Here, now you have no excuse. Put this on at once before you catch hypothermia," Hermione huffs, fussing over Y/n until the monstrosity is wrapped snugly around her frame. Only her scowling face remains uncovered.

"There! Don't you look cozy?" Hermione states with a smirk, obviously loving the form of punishment she had procured for their way back to the school.

“I’m not wearing this.” Y/n declared as she playfully glared back at Hermione, who was not happy to hear the defiance.

“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” Hermione says as she grasps Y/n’s face and squishes her cheeks together.

“You’re going to make me swallow my tongue” Y/n muttered as Hermione gave her lips a quick peck and let the girl's face go.

“Now, will you be a listener today, or will I have to ‘accio’ you all the way back to my dorm?” Hermione asks as Y/n crosses her arms and grumbles to herself.

“But I don’t wanna wear this atrocious thing” Y/n whined, which made her girlfriend roll her eyes and sigh, placing her hands on her hips.

“Seriously, Y/n-“

That was all she could get out before the garment was tossed back at her, and the jingling of bells was her only indicator that Y/n had just made a break for it,

“What the- Y/N!” Hermione yelled angrily as she pulled the clothing away from her face and dashed back out into the village. Her eyes darted from left to right, soon landing on Y/n, who was standing at the end of the block with a shit-eating grin.

Y/n's mischievous antics would be the death of her, Hermione swears it. With a steely gaze, she marches purposefully down the street, fleece trailing menacingly behind like a wrathful cape.

"You think you're so clever, don't you?" she calls as she closes the distance. But Y/n only grins wider, dancing nimbly out of reach.

"Now now love, can't we discuss this civilly over butterbeers? I'm parched from all this invigorating exercise!" Y/n teases as she continues to back away.

"The only thing you'll be drinking is that foul lake water if you don't surrender yourself this instant!" She stays with a scowl as she watches the snow fall onto her lover's hair and bare skin.

But when has a threat ever stalled this rogue?

With a cheeky blow of a kiss, Y/n pivots on her heel and bolts down a side alley.

“Y/n Y/l/n!”

Hermione gives pursuit, weaving deftly through the village streets. She tries her best not to bump into anyone as she chases Y/n down alleyways and stairways to different streets. At last, she corners her favorite miscreant in a dead end.

"Gotcha!" she crows, triumphantly diving forward to wrap Y/n in her fleecy fate. But the rogue is too swift, spinning nimbly aside with a peal of laughter.

"Is that the best you've got, bookworm?" Y/n taunts, dancing just out of reach again. Her playful grin mocks Hermione's frustration to new heights.

"Why you impertinent—" Lunging again, Hermione feints one way then tackles the other, taking her willful partner by surprise. They tumble headlong into a snowbank, wrestling fiercely as the flakes fall upon their flushed faces.

"Yield, you beautiful scoundrel!" Hermione growls between giggles, wrestling the fleece around Y/n's struggling form at long last.

"Now take your medicine like a good girl." She smirks, pinning her captive beneath triumphant hips, Hermione then leans down to deliver a punishing kiss.

Well, as punishing as a kiss between two love birds can be.

"Let that be a lesson to cross me again, my darling rogue." She whispers when she pulls away, affection softens her stern eyes, and melting away Y/n's resistance completely.

"Oh very well, you've bested me, Granger. Have your victory - this time." Y/n sighs dramatically as she grins up at her girlfriend, and finally accepts her fleecy prison.

"I believe you have an apology to make, you hoodlum." Hermione chuckles, securing Y/n firmly in place as they stand up from the snowbank.

“How about another kiss instead?” Y/n asks with a smirk as she wraps the fleece around their heads and gives another peck to her girlfriend's lips. Hermione just chuckled and happily accepted this form of apology.

So deciding to be a little daring as well, and since they were hidden in a small alleyway, Hermione jumped into her girlfriend's arms. Y/n fell back into the snow, holding onto Hermione tightly as she pressed kisses onto Y/n’s face and lips repeatedly.

Hermione wasn’t this affectionate usually, at least not in public, but that didn’t mean she didn’t love these moments. Where Y/n would do something idiotic, like refusing to wear proper winter clothing, and then make Hermione chase her around Hogsmeade like they’re thirteen again.

A tender smile curves Y/n's lips as her darling bookworm showers her with affection. Moments like this make all their spirited misadventures worthwhile, reminding her anew why she fell for this fiery soul.

"I love you, you know," she murmurs between caresses, gazing up at Hermione with open adoration. It still amazes her sometimes - that such a brilliant witch could love a roguelike her in return.

But love Hermione does, with a passion to match even Y/n's flame. And so their game of chase leads ever onward, whatever obstacles life sends their way.

For now, lost in each other's arms amidst the falling snow, the world beyond fades away. No cares nor duties intrude on this perfect moment, shared alone between two hearts entwined as one.

“Do you mean it?” Hermione whispered as she stared at Y/n with a curious expression, but the tugging smile at the corner of her lips told Y/n that she just wanted to hear her say it again.

“Awe my lovely Gryffindor, I love you more than the ocean loves the shore” Y/n chuckled as she kissed her once more, earning a happy hum from Hermione.

“Aren’t you poetic today?” Hermione whispers as she kisses down Y/n’s jaw, earning a soft purr as the snow melts against her back. Y/n blushes under Hermione's teasing, always rendered bashful by her beloved's quiet charms.

"Only for you, my love. You inspire the poet in me unlike any."

Her touch sends thrills cascading through Y/n's form, setting her aflame despite the chill. How fortunate she was to have found not only a partner to match wits with, but one so generous with passion as well.

"I fear if we linger longer entwined, my good intentions may go out the window," Y/n chuckles, making Hermione snicker and throw the fleece off of their faces. She sits up, straddling Y/n’s hips as she shakes out the snowflakes from her hair.

“You are always so eager to rip my clothes off” Hermione snickers as Y/n shamelessly nods her head in quick succession.

“What do you say we retire to the Three Broomsticks for warmth and nourishment, before reckless passions overtake your mind?" Hermione teases as she stands up and hoists Y/n up to her feet. Pressing one last ardent kiss to perfect lips, Hermione dusts the clinging snow from supple curves. Offering an arm with a rakish smile, she leads them from the alley and back to the bustling thoroughfare.

“So…how about later?” Y/n asked with a smirk as they walked towards the small pub.

“Promise to start wearing your coat?” Hermione asks, looking at her with a grin of her own.

“Fine…” Y/n mumbles in defeat as her girlfriend proudly pulls her quickly into the building.

“Then maybe…you can see what’s under mine tonight”

[otrtbs]

ART HEIST, BABY OUTTAKES (From The Vault)

SUMMARY: Two scrapped scenes from Art Heist, Baby! that didn't make the cut. Done in celebration of the one year anniversary of Art Heist, Baby! being complete! (Where did all the time go?)

WORD COUNT: 2k

(okay, for clarity, the first scene takes place sometime between chapter 15 and chapter 16 of Art Heist, Baby! and the second scene takes place during chapter 37 of Art Heist, Baby! One Regulus and one James POV <3)

“Oof.” 

Regulus can’t help the smile that flashes across his face, there and then gone, at James’ little noise of surprise. James doesn’t have time to say anything else before Regulus’ mouth is on his, kissing him in fervent, electric delight that only secrecy could inspire. 

Regulus always loves this best, pulling James into some room on the third floor after he dismisses the rest of the class. His hands running over the soft fabric of James’ shirt or the smooth expanse of his torso underneath as he hears Mary and Lily tear through the halls just beyond the closed door laughing, or Peter humming to himself softly as he makes his way down the stairs. All of them completely unaware that just behind the door they unknowingly walked past, Regulus was snogging James Potter's face off and attempting to shove his hands down his trousers. It’s times like these when Regulus curses himself for making all his stupid rules about the heist. He’d much rather be able to drag James through the hallways of this house and into his bedroom without a care in the world of who they happened to pass by.

“If you could be anything in the world, what would you want to be?” James gasps, his head falling back against the wall Regulus has him pressed up against. “But you can’t say what you are now, you have to pick something different.”

His cheeks are flushed and he’s halfway to looking debauched already. Just how Regulus likes him. 

“Because, personally, I think I would want to be a dragon or something,” James continues once it’s clear Regulus has no intention of answering. “A red dragon that could breathe fire and fly. That would be cool. Oh, or I would be a Renaissance jouster. I could ride up on my horse and ask you for your favour in front of the whole kingdom. That would be fun.” A beat of silence. “What about you?”

Regulus lets out a derisive noise as he detaches his lips from James’ neck. “Seriously?” 

“You could be anything. Not just career-wise. But you could be a rock in a stream or a cloud or a microwave.” 

“James,” Regulus isn’t proud of the way he almost whines at this. They have very few minutes before lunch will be ready and then they’ll be called downstairs. 

“Just humour me for a minute, Regulus,” James grins as Regulus pulls away, shushing him slightly in case someone walks by and hears them. “Please,” he whispers, still smiling radiantly. 

This wasn’t a new thing for James. He was always asking Regulus all sorts of questions. When he said he wanted to know any and everything about Regulus, he meant it. And of course, because James was James, Regulus would always indulge him.

“Okay, give me a moment to think about it,” Regulus sighed, furrowing his brows. “And I can’t just pick to be who I am now and move on with it?” 

“Nope,” James shook his head, placing his hands behind his back as leaned against the door. “That’s against the rules.” 

It was a silly question, but Regulus still found himself thinking about it thoughtfully. If he could be anything, what would he want to be? 

Strangely, his mind wandered to Sirius. 

Sirius, who was so close but still seemed so far away. Sirius, who would throw himself in front of Walburga and Orion’s rage to protect Regulus every time, even when Regulus didn���t deserve it. Sirius who would knock on Regulus’ door in the middle of the night just to make sure that he was okay, who asked him what he was learning in school when his parents couldn’t be bothered, who made sure Regulus kept warm in the winter, who always remembered his birthday even when nobody else did. And how did Regulus repay him? He chose to stay with his parents instead of leaving with Sirius, even after all of that, and now Sirius hates him, and probably always would. 

If he could be anything in the world, he supposes he’d want to be a good brother, or, at least a better one than he was in this life. Or maybe he’d want to be brave. Brave like Sirius. Brave like James. And maybe that bravery would help him to be a better brother. 

He frowned at the sinking feeling in his chest. He wasn’t sure he liked this game anymore. 

Quickly, he looked at James who was eagerly awaiting his answer with a smile on his face. 

James who wanted to be a fucking dragon or a jousting knight wanted this game to be fun. Something light. 

“Well, I guess I’d be the Prince of the kingdom giving you my favour in front of everyone before your big joust,” he says after a moment, giving a small smile as something in James’ face softens. 

“You’d want that?” He asks, looking at Regulus through his glasses that were still lopsided from Regulus’ previous fierce snogging. 

Regulus bit his bottom lip and shrugged. Going where James went didn’t seem like such a bad idea. If James would let him, if James would want him to. Maybe some of his bravery would rub off on him somehow. “Sure, why not?”

James’ hand shakes as he reaches for the pink sticky note. He can’t bring himself to feel embarrassed by it, even though Evan and Barty are standing right behind him, ready with the painting and a ruler and a tape measurer and everything else you could possibly need to ensure that a painting is perfectly centred and straight on a wall. 

For a minute he just stares at it, hand outstretched and trembling, taking in Regulus’ curly handwriting. James wonders if Regulus put a lot of thought into this sticky note. If he hovered the pen over the sheet of paper and thought long and hard about what painting he wanted. If Regulus went through every room in their house envisioning the perfect place to hang this painting, trying to place the pink sticky note above the spot where he wanted their bed to be, or in the hallway across from the kitchen, or upstairs. Taking it down and re-sticking it to different places until he found the perfect one. He wonders if Regulus had gone over every painstaking detail in his mind just as James had done over these last two years, or if he had just known. 

It’s silly, hesitating over a sticky note like this. It had fallen down from its spot on the wall numerous times over the weeks and months that it had been there. So why was it so hard to take it down now? It’s what Regulus wanted, and James never had any issue with the other sticky notes. He buzzed around the house, taking each sticky note down with him as he went about unpacking Regulus' books and planting a garden and filling up the closet. He didn’t throw any of the notes out either, though. Instead, he kept them in a small box at the back of his closet for safekeeping. That’s exactly where this sticky note would go if he could just bring himself to take it down. 

Barty lets out a little sigh from behind him and James turns around just in time to see Evan elbow him harshly in the ribs and the spell is broken. 

With trembling fingers James pluckes the sticky note off the wall, a little bit of paint coming up with the reinforcement tape he had added to ensure the paper stopped falling down, and held it to his chest tightly. Quietly, without looking away from the spot where the sticky note had been he whispered to Barty and Evan, “Alright, let’s put it up.”

That night James dreams constantly. 

He dreams of the waves crashing against the shore of his favourite beach with reckless abandon and he dreams of car chases and gilded frames and the smell of turpentine, but most importantly, he dreams of Regulus. 

“It’ll be sunny and warm there. I love the sunlight you know,” Regulus murmurs sleepily.

They’re in the house in New Hampshire together and Regulus is starting his favourite activity of only opening up in the dark, when he doesn’t have to see or be seen, but James doesn’t mind. 

“Hmm?” he hums, pulling him closer. It’s late, and James guesses that he only has a couple of hours before he has to be up learning about the heist from one of Regulus' many classes. 

“In Brazil. The warmth, the light. I don’t know, I feel like the rays will hit my chest and dislodge all the dark sludge from my heart, and for a moment I can just sit there and be golden and bright. It’s foolish,” Regulus sighs and James can hear his frown, even in the dark. Always like the tides, pushing in and pulling back.  

“I don’t think so,” he responds quickly. “I think it’s nice.” He attempts to hold Regulus tighter, to warm him up somehow because he sounds a little too sad tonight for James’ liking and he’s starting to feel strangely cold in his arms. “But for the record, I’ve always thought you were pretty fucking bright and brilliant, Regulus.”

Regulus has a habit of seeing himself as something dark and stormy. Something turbulent and destructive, but James knows better. James knows the truth. 

Regulus hums lightly, something soft and sweet. “I know, James. It’s a nice thought.” 

James wants to say something else, he wants to run his fingers through Regulus’ hair and kiss his forehead and convince him of his warmth, but before he gets the chance to, he wakes up. 

For a long while, James just lays there, flat on his back, unmoving in the aftermath. He listens to the beat of his heart and his shallow breathing. It had been several weeks since James had dreamed of Regulus like this. 

He used to hate it. He used to find the reminder of Regulus’ absence unbearable when he opened his eyes, but these days he doesn’t mind it. 

When he dreams of Regulus now, it makes it missing him a little bit better. He always misses Regulus, but this way it feels like James just got to see him. It makes it seem as if the last time James got to see Regulus was just the day before instead of two years ago. 

“Oh, Regulus? Yeah, I just saw him last night.”

“I held him in my arms only yesterday.”

Sometimes it’s a comforting thought to have. 

“You would love Brazil, Reg,” James whispers in the dark to his ceiling. Alone in his empty bedroom. “I hope it’s sunny and bright wherever you are. I hope you're not cold.” 

Barty and Evan stick around for a little while after the painting is put up. They field several calls of anger and astonishment from Sirius both from their phones and from James’ phone. They attempt to convince James to come back to Vegas with them for the thousandth time, but he declines. It’ll be good for him to sit in the house for a while, now that it’s finally finished. 

It feels like an end in so many ways, but not in the mournful way James expected it to. It felt as complete as it possibly could be without Regulus. Always there, like a chip in his favourite mug. Not shattered, still usable, but always with a quick sting of pain if you nicked your lip on the chipped rim. Still, it was the only mug James would ever want to drink out of.

He looks forward to discovering what new beginning this end will bring about for him. He can only hope that it's a nice one.

While he doesn't take Barty and Evan up on their offer to come back to Vegas with them, he does take them to the airport. He walks them as far as they will let him go and waves goodbye until they are out of sight and begins the journey back to his little house. 

He thinks about the simple things. Things he needs to buy from the store– more lemons, some cleaner, cinnamon. He makes a note to call Marlene to fill her in on his recent adventures, and reminds himself that it’s about time to check the financial accounts to ensure everything was still running smoothly. 

He lets these thoughts fill his mind all the way until he gets home, and when he opens the door to his house, to their house, he sees the painting. A ship sailing bravely through the blue ocean, cutting through the waves into the unknown expanses beyond. He smiles to himself as he sees it lit up in a brilliant warm glow. The rays of the sun kiss it gently and fill it with radiance. Then, ever so softly, James closes the door behind him.

[xoxoavenger]

Head Over Heels

pairing: Steve Harrington x SingleMom!Reader

summary: As Y/N watches Steve with her baby, she realizes she may be head over heels for him, and she can't help wondering if he feels the same way.

word count: 5017

warnings: so much fluff i got a toothache writing this

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Y/N woke up slowly, feeling the sun shine down on her. She doesn't remember the last time she was able to sleep in this late; it was probably the early days of her pregnancy. 

Why was she still sleeping?

She shoots up in bed and looks to her right, but there's no crib. In fact there's none of her things here. Because this isn't her room. It all comes flooding back, and she remembers handing James off to Steve and falling asleep. So where is James?

In her haste to get up, she trips over something - someone - Eddie. He groans as she falls to the ground, letting out an 'oof' as the wind gets knocked out of her. He tuns and goes straight back to sleep - did he even wake up? - and she scrambles to get up and open the door, going through the short hallway to see Steve on the couch. She's about to shake him to wake him up, ask him where the fuck her child is, when she sees how he's laying. 

He's sprawled on the couch, one arm above his head. His mouth is open, and he is lightly snoring. One leg is off the couch and the other is laying off the end. And on his chest is James, one hand clutching Steve's shirt and the other stuffed in his mouth. Steve has one hand on James' back, and both boys look like they could stay asleep for 12 years. 

Y/N sees a camera on the counter and she grabs it, not willing to let this moment go. She lifts it and takes a picture, smiling as it pops out of the top. She watches as it develops, longing bursting through her even though the exact moment is still playing out in front of her. 

James stirs on Steve's chest, but before she can grab him Steve's eyes shoot open and his other hand goes to James. She quickly sets the camera to the side and pockets the photo, watching as Steve blinks slowly and smacks his lips together as he wakes up. James puts his hands on Steve's chest to sit up, looking at his mom and letting out a cry. 

"Oh," Y/N laughs, going to pick her baby up as Steve stretches, neck popping. "Thank you for taking him. I haven't had that much sleep in awhile." She watches as Steve smiles at her tiredly. James lets out another cry and Y/N sighs.

"I had to break into your trailer in the middle of the night to grab a bottle and diapers." He tells her. 

"Shoot, I didn't even think about that. I usually don't sleep for that long, I thought I would wake up before he needed anything." She feels embarrassed that Steve went into her messy living space and had to change her baby. She'd had a couple close friends babysit for an hour or two, but she'd never have someone take care of her baby like that. 

It felt nice. 

"Don't worry about it. We had a fun time. He only cried once, and it was at your place." Steve leans over and grabs Clover, the small tan bear that James could hardly bear to be separated from that justice fallen from his grasp while he slept. 

"Thats why I didn't wake up." She looks at James, who is babbling as if he's gonna tell her all about his and Steve's night. "I'm sure you had fun with Stevie." Y/N tells him, blinking when he screams. 

"I take that as a yes." Steve hopes the blush rushing to his cheeks isn't that obvious. 

"Thank you so much, Steve. You're a life saver." She reaches in for a hug, letting James squeal in between them. 

"Anytime."

~

"Hey, where does Steve live?" Y/N had called Eddie, which was strange because she lived a literal 3 second walk to his trailer. 

"Uh," Eddie blinks, not sure what to answer. "Is there a reason you want to stalk my friend?" 

"I'm not stalking!" She laughs, but Eddie is still confused. "I made him a cake." She says it quietly, and his eyes widen. 

"Y/N," He starts, trying to think of what to say. "Why did you bake Steve Harrington a cake?" How is Steve Harrington pulling Eddie's hot neighbor? 

"He took care of James all night last week. I need to do something nice to thank him." She says it as if its so obvious, and Eddie just nods. 

"Uh, I can give you his street. You know what his car looks like, and he doesn't have work today so he's probably there with the kids or something." At his words Y/N's heart races a little bit, because Steve is just so good at taking care of children and she finds it so, so hot. 

"Okay, that's fine." Y/N tells him. She almost drops the phone when he answers.

Steve lives on the rich side of town. He lives on the opposite side of her.

"You there?" Eddie asks when she goes silent. 

"Yeah, sorry. When is he coming to yours, Ed?" She asks. She doesn't want to know just how rich Steve is.

She's weird about money. She works at the diner, where James plays in the playpen that she spent way to much money on and the owners graciously let her keep James there. She barely makes enough to live at the trailer park and pay for James' things. What was she thinking, making Steve a cake? 

"Tonight." Eddie smirks. He'd like to give himself the credit for getting Y/N and Steve together. He knew they would be perfect together, because Y/N's hot and nice and has a child, which is basically Steve's type, and Steve is nice and great with kids, which is basically all Y/N's ever wanted.

So yeah, he's gonna take the credit for this one. 

"You should come over." Eddie smirks. "And before you say anything you can bring James." He knows her main excuse is James, and that for some reason she's backing away from him. 

"He's just going to be loud and probably ruin everyone's time." She tells Eddie, and sighs when James yells. 

"Well Steve clearly doesn't care." Eddie knows he's pushing it. 

"I'll think about it." She whispers before hanging up. 

People should just call him the matchmaker.

~

"Where the hell is Steve?" Eddie asks after Robin shows up and Steve isn't immediately following. Robin furrows her brows as Nancy walks through the door, holding a bag of snacks and booze. Jonathan follows, a small bag of weed in hand.

"He called and told me he was already here." Robin says, confused because when she looks into the small trailer Steve is nowhere to be found. 

"He hasn't showed up." Eddie turns to let Robin in, who goes to check the bathroom and Eddie's room as if he was lying. 

"What the hell," Robin mutters. Eddie looks around, concerned. He hadn't heard from Steve, and he didn't know why he told Robin that he would be here when he hadn't even talked to Eddie about that. He was starting to worry when he looked out the window and spotted Y/N's trailer, and right behind it a beamer stuck out. 

"I know where he is." Eddie announced, smirk on his face as he turned to the rest of the group. They all stared at him expectantly as he paused for dramatic effect. "Isn't it obvious? He's at Y/N's." 

~

Y/N was covered in everything from flour from the cake to spit-up from James when she opened the door and saw Steve, standing there in his probably expensive clothing and even more expensive cologne. 

It was all she could think about. She knew it was wrong, and she tried to think about how Steve had taken care of James all night, how he had even thought to grab Clover. She thought of the polaroid on her end table next to her couch. 

"Steve," She sounded breathy and Steve was already head over heels for her. 

"Hey," Oh God, he forget how to flirt. The most gorgeous woman he'd ever seen and he was going to blow it. "I was on my way to Eddie's and I thought I'd stop by." He told her with a small smile. 

"So you're not exhausted from the other night?" She turned to open the door wider. He looked tired, and she knew that he was probably still trying to catch up after sleeping on the couch and waking up in the middle of the night for James. 

"I just don't sleep well." He said as he walked into the trailer. "I came by to see if you needed any help before tonight. Eddie told me you were coming." Of course he did. 

"I actually really need to take a shower? James is sleeping, so it shouldn't be too bad. Thank you so much." She practically rushes to the bathroom, so excited to be able to take a long shower. Well, not long, but long,  but much longer than the two minute showers she'd had to take while James played on the bathroom floor. 

Once she felt like a new woman, she walked out to see Steve sitting on the couch, staring at the picture she had taken at Eddie's. 

"This is adorable." Steve told her, smirking. She felt herself flush at the fact that Steve found the picture. 

"I thought so too." She said, sitting on the couch next to him. She yawned, which caused Steve to yawn in turn. They smiled at each other. 

"Maybe we could watch some TV before going to Eddie's." Steve suggested, knowing that all he wanted was sleep. This would do though. At least they would be resting. 

"Good idea." She reached for the remote. "We just have to be quiet, because I might kill you if James wakes up." She's only half joking, so Steve smiles. 

"Fine by me." He says, shrugging. 

Five minutes later, they're both passed out on each other. 

And that's how Eddie and Robin find them when they walk in after their knocks go unanswered. Steve looks uncomfortable, his back against the couch and his legs still in sitting position, but his mouth is open and he's snoring. He's got an arm around Y/N and the other under his head. Y/N is laying practically on top of him, legs curled up with a peaceful smile resting on her face. 

"You've gotta be joking." Robin says softly, blinking at them. Of course they were taking a nap. 

"Are we surprised?" Eddie asks, and the two simply shake their heads and leave Y/N and Steve to their nap.

~

"Why didn't you tell me his birthday was tomorrow?" Steve looks hurt as he follows Y/N across the lawn to Eddie's, holding James so Y/N can hold the bottles of margaritas and the diaper bag. James squeals as if he agrees, which makes Y/N roll her eyes.

"I'm telling you now, aren't I?" She had only told Steve because he saw the presents hiding in the shower, small boxes nicely wrapped. When he asked, Y/N nonchalantly told him that James' party was tomorrow because that's when his birthday was and Steve was welcome to come, she was making a cake-

"You should have told me sooner!" He argues as they walk up the steps.

"I thought Eddie would've told you." She shrugs, kicking the door so someone will open it.

"Well, don't you look like the perfect family." Robin is already intoxicated as she leans against the door, smirking at Steve.

"Did you know James' birthday is tomorrow?" Steve asks as he follows Y/N into the house. Robin snorted.

"Yes, Eddie told us last week." Nancy raises her eyebrows, because they all remember why Steve hadn't heard about it - the two had fallen asleep in Y/N's trailer instead of going to Eddie's. They had woken up sore, Steve moving Y/N to the bed before driving home, smiling like an idiot the whole time.

"Well no one told me!" Steve slaps his free hand against his thigh, causing James to slap his hand against Steve's chest.

"Oh my God, it is not that big of a deal!" Y/N has already poured herself a marg and put the diaper bag down in the corner. "If you have to work it's fine! It's his first birthday, he is not going to remember it." She takes a large gulp of her margarita - more like multiple gulps - and Steve puts a hand to the middle of his eyebrows.

He looks like such a dad.

"How am I supposed to get him presents?" Steve asks finally. Everyone stares for a second until Eddie louts out a loud laugh. It startles James, who lets out a cry and reaches for his mom. She frowns and lets out a small sigh, taking her baby and shushing him as he cries against her chest. 

"Steve, he's one!" Eddie yells, making James let out another cry. 

"Maybe don't yell." Y/N takes another big drink of her margarita while bouncing her baby. 

"What does he want? What do you need?" Steve ignores everyone and looks straight at Y/N, who lets out a sigh. 

"You can bring a fruit salad." She tells him with an eye roll, putting James down on the ground as he starts to wiggle. 

"I need to bring something else." Steve kneels down and grabs Clover out of the diaper bag, making a face at James as he gave the baby the stuffie. 

"You don't. I'm telling you right now that you can just bring yourself and that is fine." Steve shakes his head at Y/N's words, grabbing the beer that Eddie handed him.

"You think I'm gonna come to a party and not bring a gift?" Steve stands and crosses an arm while taking a sip of the beer. 

"Oh my God." Y/N's margarita must be done because she refills it. "Steve, if you don't come here tomorrow I will go to your house and force you to come here. And James is not going to give a shit if you have a present, as long as you're here." 

"Shit!" When James screams it, everyone turns to him. Y/N takes a deep breath. 

"This is your fault."  She looks at Steve, who is covering his mouth to hid his smile. 

"How is it my fault!" He asks, eyes wide.  

"Stop asking stupid questions." She is drinking her margarita like it's water while everyone else is still on their first drink.

"Maybe you should smoke some?" Jonathan suggests, earning the dirtiest look from Y/N. 

"Around the baby?" Nancy smacks Jonathan's arm and rolls her eyes, taking a drink out of her red solo. 

"Oh my God," Eddie rolls his eyes and downs his whole beer. 

"Can I bring alcohol to James' party?" Robin asks. Steve scoffs. 

"Robin, Jesus," He rolls his eyes and leans against the counter, next to Y/N. She leans against him, and his hand goes to her waist. Robin and Eddie shared a look, but neither of them were drunk enough to comment. 

"It's a valid question!" Robin defends. 

"Yes, it is alcohol friendly." Y/N tells them with a smile. She leans further into Steve as she takes another drink. James gets tired of playing with Clover and tries to make a break for it to Eddie's room, Steve shifts his weight to put a foot out, stopping James from going any further. He sits back and looks up at Steve, wide eyes looking betrayed. 

"What do you want for your birthday, hm?" Steve leans down and picks James up again, who screams and puts his hand in his mouth, chewing. "Maybe some teething toys." He pulls James' hand out of his mouth and lifts his eyebrows as James scrunches his face and lets out a cry, legs kicking. Steve struggles to keep his beer from toppling where it's pressed against the baby.

"That was so mean." Y/N frowns dramatically, grabbing a piece of ice from Eddie's fridge. She placed it on James' gums, and the baby immediately began sucking on it. 

"I cannot right now," Robin took Eddie's beer and chugged it, leaving Eddie to stare frozen.

"I need another margarita." Y/N turns and lets Steve hold the ice for James as she pours another large cup. 

"Oh, it's gonna be a fun night." Eddie grabs another beer and pops it on the counter. James grabs the ice from Steve in a swift move and lets out a scream as he throws it on the floor. Steve just stares before switching his beer to his free hand and downing it. He accepts fresh one from Jonathan, who had gotten up to refill his own drink, as James cries. 

"I think he's just tired." Y/N sighs, putting her drink down and grabbing James from Eddie's arms. "We shouldn't have brought him here." The way she says we makes Steve go a little dumb for a second. All he can thinking about is the fact that she thinks of him and her and James together - like a family. He would never say it out loud, because he's sure she doesn't mean it like that, but he's already run with the idea. All he's wanted since he realized his parents were never getting any better was to have a family of his own, his people that he could take care of. 

"Just put him to bed in my room." Eddie flicks his hand toward the back of the trailer, and Y/N blinks. 

"Your sheets would give my child twenty-seven different diseases." Y/N talks over James' cries, which are just empty cries from his tiredness. Jonathan starts coughing when a spurt of beer goes up his nose from laughing. Eddie rolls his eyes. 

"I just washed them!" Even James became quiet at that. No one believed these lies. "Okay, I know how it sounds, but I promise I did! Go check!" Y/N shares a look with Steve, and they both walk to the back room to see what they're dealing with. 

"I was not expecting this." Y/N says when she finds Eddie's bed unmade but clean. 

"He's probably having someone over soon." Steve chuckles as she lays James down. She sighs as she begins moving the pillows to create a barrier so James doesn't roll off the bed. 

"I didn't bring a bottle." She whispers, soothing the space between her baby's eyes. James goes from being wide awake to being slightly sleepy, but it doesn't work as quickly as Steve has seen his bottle work. 

"I packed one before I left. I think Eddie has some milk." Steve gets up and leaves quickly, and Y/N isn't sure if it's the alcohol or Steve that makes her heart warm. 

"Do you wanna know a secret, James?" She whispers, leaning in close. James kicks his legs and babbles some gibberish, smiling at his mother. "I think I like Steve Harrington." She smiles as he giggles. 

"Eef!" He repeats, and it doesn't sound anything like Steve but she laughs anyway. 

"What're we laughing at?" Steve comes back in with a bottle, and as Y/N sits up James gets excited, kicking his legs and waving his arms, excited for the bottle Steve was holding. Steve shakes it a little bit as he sits on the bed, handing the bottle to James. The baby drinks it quickly, his eyes closing. Y/N and Steve stay quiet as they wait for James to fall asleep. 

"You can go out there. I'll wait for him to fall asleep." Y/N whispers as she cards her fingers through James' short hair. 

"We're in this together." Steve puts a hand on her knee, and she melts into the touch. She looks up at him, and in that moment she wants to push Steve on the bed and kiss him senseless. Before she can do anything, James lets out a hiccup and they both look at him. He's asleep, the bottle laying discarded on the side. 

"Thank you." She says when they both exit the room, carefully shutting the door. She thanks God they don't have the money to buy one of those fancy ass noise machines, so James will likely fall asleep fine with the party going on. He's fallen asleep to worse in the trailer park.

"Anytime. I meant it." He tells her, and she knows her cheeks are heating. They were already warm from the alcohol, but this is worse. She needs another drink. 

"At least now we can hang out without a kid interrupting everything." She grabs his hand in a bold moment, and she watches his face blush as he squeezes it and smirks at her. 

"For the record," Steve says as he picks up her red solo cup to give to her, his beer in his other hand. "I'm okay with your kid interrupting us." There's music playing as he takes her free hand to pull her into him, ignoring the laughs and jokes from the others who are sprawled in the small living room. 

"You don't mind it?" She asks as she lets him place her hand on his chest, his own going to her waist, just a little bit lower than modest. 

"Not one bit." He shrugs as he says the next part. "But I am glad to have you all to myself at last." She leans closer and tucks her head into his chest, because otherwise he would see the stupid look on her face. 

Oh yeah, she's head over heels for him. 

~

When Steve shows up, Y/N's heart races, and not just because of the tight ass jeans Steve is wearing. He's carrying about five presents, ranging from huge to a small gift bag, and a bowl of fruit salad. 

"Steve Harrington," She starts, James on one hip and a probably alcoholic drink in a pineapple cup in the other. Her trailer is decorated in beach themes, a table with drinks and food and different color pineapple cups on the table. James has a small pineapple cup that's blue, matching his white shirt and blue overalls, the outfit being topped off by a blue hat with blue sunglasses. 

He looks adorable. 

The only thing better than James' outfit its Y/N's. She's matching him, blue sunglasses and all, her own blue hat a baseball cap with a Hawaiian flower on it. Her pineapple cup matches the colors of a normal pineapple, the only one to have done so. 

"Robin and Nancy got me all the decorations." Y/N smiles, distracting Steve from the sunglasses and hat Robin puts on him. Nancy throws a lei over his shoulders before he even knows what's going on. 

"Why didn't we just throw this at my pool?" Steve asks, setting his gifts down on the apparent gift table and puts the fruit salad on the food table. 

"Seef!" James calls. Y/N lets out a laugh as he reaches his short arms over to Steve. 

"That's better than 'eef.'" She tells Steve, his face all smiles as he takes James. Steve tickles the infants stomach, who giggles and squeals. 

"I didn't know you had a pool." Y/N goes to make Steve a drink, picking the large blue pineapple. This is not technically a lie, as she didn't know for sure. She had a pretty good idea, however. 

"You never asked." He smirked as he took the drink from Y/N's hand. He took a sip and almost coughed. "A bit strong, don't ya think?" 

"Well, you're three drinks behind!" Eddie yells from his trailer, carrying two six packs of beers and a present. "And the kids are coming soon." 

"What kids?" Steve asks, taking a larger gulp. 

"I invited your kids." The way she says it makes Steve's heart light, his kids. 

"I made Jon take them so I could start on the drinks." Nancy raises her pink pineapple, and Robin clinks her purple one against it. 

"We told them the start time was half an hour later so we can make a dent in the alcohol!" By Robin's laugh, it seems they have made a dent in the alcohol pretty well. Steve drinks more of his drink. 

"Steve could you come help me get the pack-n-play from inside? That way James can sit in it and we can play some games." She smiles as Steve hands James off to Robin, who is making grabby hands with the one not clutching the drink. The two walk up the steps and into the trailer, their sunglasses pushed to their forehead.

"What're you doin'?" Steve asks as Y/N rifles around her kitchen drawers. 

"What you think I invited you in just for that stupid old thing? I tug that shit with me to work and back everyday." She smiles as she pulls out the cigarette and a lighter. Steve smirks. 

"They're gonna realize even if we only smoke one each." He says, but he's moving toward her. 

"That's why we're sharing one." She smiles as she pops it in her mouth and lights it, taking a drag before handing it to Steve. He takes a hit, thinking shortly about shotgunning with her, however Y/N turns toward the open window and sticks her head out, blowing the smoke. Steve smiles as he presses up against her to let the smoke out. They take a few more hits, almost reaching the end of the cigarette before someone catches them. 

"You idiots." Eddie pokes his head around the trailer, and Steve has to lean uncomfortably to turn around. 

"Go back and babysit for five more minutes!" Y/N giggles, and Steve turns toward her and smiles. 

"I hate you guys." Eddie leaves, which means he doesn't see the moment Y/N's eyes venture to Steve's lips, the moment they both lean in slightly, foreheads bumping. 

"Steve!" Of course Dustin interrupts, and Steve hits his shoulder against the windowsill as Y/N accidentally hits her forehead against him. 

"Fuck," She mutters as her sunglasses fall to her nose.

"That little shit." Steve slides back into the trailer as Y/N follows, him going to grab the pack-n-play and her putting the cigarette out while pushing her sunglasses back up. 

Oh God, she almost kissed Steve Harrington.

She takes a deep breath, fanning at her face with Steve's back turned, before she grabs both of their drinks and follows him out. 

"He is so tiny." Y/N sees El smiling at James, who is blinking at her with wide eyes. He's never been around this many people, and Y/N knows that soon he's gonna scream. She makes herself and Steve another drink - spiked punch, her favorite - and hands it to him before grabbing James from Max's arms. She nods her head hard to make the sunglasses fall and deposits James into his pack-n-play, smiling as Steve comes out of the trailer with Clover and a couple other toys. 

"Hey, what're you drinking?" Dustin asks Steve as he looks over the drinks on the table. 

"If I catch you with even a drop of this, your ass is grass." Steve grabs a coke from the ice chest and shoes it at the kid. "That goes for all of you little," Steve trails off as he hears James squeal, remembering last night when James repeated the one word he shouldn't. 

"You're no fun." Max frowns as she grabs a coke. 

"We're not kids anymore." Mike crosses his arms like a child, crossing his point. 

"You're always gonna be kids." Jonathan smirks, finishing off his beer. 

"Henderson, you're going to be a kid until you're married and have kids, alright." Steve cuts him off, rolling his eyes but still catching Y/N's quick flinch. "Poor choice of wording, I'm sorry." Steve tries, taking a long swig of his drink from the straw. 

"It's alright, I get it." She smiled. She did get it. Times may have changed slightly, however they hadn't changed enough for her to be accepted by everyone. 

"I didn't mean it like that." Steve tries again, but Y/N just shakes her head. 

"It's fine." She knows he didn't mean it. She knows it's just the way Steve views the life cycle. 

God, she was a fool. Steve probably wanted to start fresh, wanted to have his own kids after being married. 

"It's not," Steve moves closer to make it a more private conversation. Everyone begins to start talking in groups, and Eddie begins trying to set up a way to play music outside and not blast it from his trailer. "I swear I didn't mean it like that." He feels like shit for chosing his words so poorly. Before Y/N can respond, James is screaming and she's rushing to him. It seems he's just hungry, so she decides it's time for presents so they can get right on to cake. 

"Can you grab a chair from around back?" She asks Steve, who nods and grabs one. He sets it down next to the presents, and everyone gathers around. 

"Thank you guys for coming." Y/N smiles at her friends, heart beating with love. "I'm so lucky that I live next to someone with such great friends." She jokes, looking at Eddie. He raises his bottle to her as everyone laughs and insists they're all friends. 

James isn't helpful with opening the presents, trying to chew the wrapping paper at every chance he gets. Steve is luckily quick enough to get it out of his mouth, but this makes James angry. Everyone got the cutest gifts, like the clothes Nancy and Jonathan brought to the baby guitar Eddie proudly gave. The kids got cute figurines and bath toys, and she'd opened a couple of Steve's gifts - teething toys. She almost cried when she opened them, asking Steve to put them in the freezer right away. When he got out, she was opening the largest present - a cute little kitchen that she can put in her living room so James can pretend to cook. Y/N was glad the sunglasses hid her teary eyes. 

"You didn't have to do this." She tells Steve as everyone begins helping with the cleanup. 

"Of course I did." He turns to James and smiles, tickling his stomach. "Anything for my family."

Oh yeah. She's head over heels alright.

//

tags: @avada-kedavra-bitch-1877 @roxaya @sadbitchfangirl @gloryekaterinaa @oblivion-void @alexshaff2002 @m-rae23 @mcueveryday @mads-weasley @alicetweven @damon-loves-pie @gaysludge @l0v3e1i 

[wannaeatramyeon]

Haii haii! the last one you wrote was soo goooodddd, Imma have request a seongtaehoon x reader but them being kid (elemetary kids) and taehoon having a crush on her lolololol (⁠~⁠‾⁠▿⁠‾⁠)⁠~

Oof, thanks for the ask anon and reading! My Taehoon inspo (and general inspo tbh) was seeeeriously dwindling, so thanks for kickstarting it.

Seong Taehoon x Reader: Through the years

Elementary School to High School - your relationship through the years

It starts with you in pigtails, and a harsh yank. Taehoon, at a tender young age, already exhibiting interest in others through aggressive behaviour.

The teacher intervenes.

Taehoon apologises, face a picture of innocence, as if butter wouldn't melt. The next day, he pushes you over. He's a quick learner, knowing to avoid other's watchful eyes to stay out of trouble.

So it continues.

Little balled up pieces of paper hit you in the back of your head during class, small shoves during break, rough shoulder bumps in the corridors.

It escalates to another boy joining in.

The first time he makes you cry, the contents of your backpack spilling across the floor, knees scraped and bleeding, big fat tears rolling down your face - Taehoon kicks him square in the stomach.

They're both suspended.

On their return, the other boy leaves you alone. Taehoon doesn't.

The words have as much bite as before, the pushes just as aggressive, yet now there's an odd comfort.

.

.

Things don't change much through Middle School. You do though, and so does Taehoon.

You both start to grow into your bodies, the early effects of puberty taking hold.

Hormones run wild and other classmates start to take notice of both your appearances.

Anyone interested in you results in them inevitably getting kicked. Anyone interested in Taehoon is ignored. Rumours swirl, but neither of you take notice.

Taehoon is still as physical as ever, though now there is an awkwardness that wasn't there before. He isn't as carefree. He averts his gaze when you turn around to glare at him, and the jostling leaves Taehoon as red-faced as you.

.

.

Then Dowoon happens, and Taehoon isn't seen for weeks on end.

You're not sure what compels you to visit his Taekwondo studio, maybe you've become accustomed to his presence through bullying and harassment.

Seong Hansu greets you. You exchange pleasantries and start to attend his lesson regularly in the hopes of seeing Taehoon again.

Another few weeks pass before you hear "What the fuck are you doing here?"

You would recognise that voice anywhere. To your surprise, it makes you smile.

In the early days, he treats your attendance with narrowed eyes and suspicion. He ignores your concerned glances and attempts at conversation.

Eventually, it gets better.

.

.

Taehoon's MMA loss leads to you both sitting quietly on a park bench.

He doesn't say a word for hours, and neither do you.

Instead, you pull a can of beer from your bag. Taehoon raises his eyebrows in surprise, not thinking you had it in you for any underaged drinking.

It pops open with a refreshing hiss and you take the first sip. You pass it to Taehoon and he follows your lead.

The sunset could be beautiful, the birds chirping could be melodic, this could almost be romantic. But you feel Taehoon's despondency like it's an extension of your own self.

You continue to sit with him long after the beer is drained.

.

.

Your relationship morphs and blossoms.

The shoulder bumps are friendlier, the hair tugs are with affection. It evolves to an occasional arm slung around your shoulder, hand grabbing you by the wrist and dragging you to the arcade, headlocks when you're irritating him, careful touches when he patches you up after sparring.

His eyes are gentle and tender when he looks at you, even if he wears a scowl.

You're the first person he thinks to call or message if anything happens.

He spends almost every spare moment with you.

You're his best friend.

.

.

High School begins, and Taehoon gets ever cockier and confident.

But there are strange developments afoot.

The casual touches continue and you are left flustered. He still likes to throw things at you in class, but when you now give him a dirty look, his returning smirk leaves your heart pounding.

You're too worried about messing up what you have, not even sure if Taehoon returns your affection. You daydream about taking the next step, but you don't know how to proceed.

.

.

Taehoon finds himself pinned beneath you.

It's not often anymore you manage to gain the upperhand when sparring together. He's a prodigy afterall, and not to mention 6ft 2 of pure muscle.

Of course you take this rare opportunity to gloat, who wouldn't? All the while, Taehoon just stares at you with an odd glint in his eye.

"Go out with me."

Huh? You think you mishear but he repeats himself. The words ring as clear as day.

"Go out with me."

"W-what?"

"I like you, and I know you like me too," Taehoon smiles smugly at you. Even in his compromising position, under his piercing gaze, it feels like you're the one immobilised.

You've already played out this scenario a million times in your head but you never thought it would happen. The seconds drag as you look on in shock.

"Is this a no?" Taehoon's words pulls you back to him. He doesn't look annoyed at the idea of rejection. In fact, he looks just as arrogant as ever. As if he knew that there isn't a chance in hell you would turn him down.

"It's not a no," you hesitate, "but what if this ruins our friendship?"

Taehoon's smile widens, "I never liked you anyway."

This time he doesn't pull your hair. He gently cups the back of your head and brings your lips to his.

[lil-elle]

Locked Out - Pt.2

group: xikers

pair: neighbour!minjae x fem!reader

genre: college au, fluff, pining(?), boy next door(?)

word count: 3.2k

content: no content warnings teehee ♡ (unless the existence of food is a content warning?)

a/n: read part 1 HERE

After finishing your food, you found yourself sitting down with Minjae on his couch, just chatting about this and that. The conversation just seemed to flow so naturally.

“So why exactly were you locked out of your own dorm?” He smirked, stretching an arm across the back of the small couch. You chuckled embarrassedly and dropped your head.

“Well…obviously I forgot my key when I was leaving for class this morning. That wouldn't have been a problem if it didn't just so happen to be the day my roommate was going to visit her sister. Overnight.”

“Oof.” He said, smiling.

“BIG oof. So anyway, she locked the door when she left while I was at class. Then I went to work, and when I finally got home- no key.”

He chuckled lightly into his hand, making you gasp and giggle back.

“Hey, don't laugh!” You smacked his arm playfully.

“I'm sorry!....It's kinda funny, though.”

You scoffed dramatically, not in a space at all to act upset with a massive smile stretched across your face.

“...That's when you showed up…” You smiled softly at him and his laughter dried up as a slightly flustered expression came across his face. “So, thank you.”

He suddenly cleared his throat and turned his head away, the red tips of his ears peeking out from behind his hair.

“Y-Yeah, o-of course…” He stuttered and you couldn't help but find his shy persona endearing.

“So…Minjae.”

“Hmm?” His head snapped back up to look over at you, his voice cracking slightly as he hummed.

“What's your major? I've never seen you around on campus before.”

The pink slowly faded from his cheeks as he responded.

“Music production! So, like composing and lyric writing, and I even do some performance based classes.”

You felt a strange tickle in your stomach as he said that and thought: “Wow. Okay, that's kind of attractive.”

“Woah, so can you like play the guitar and stuff?”

He let out a soft giggle.

“Yup. And the piano. And I can sing too.”

You couldn't help but chuckle at his sudden cockiness.

“Wow, and you're so humble too~” You said sarcastically, earning a bellowing laugh from him and a smile in a way that pushed up his cheeks and bottom eyelids, almost completely hiding his pretty brown eyes from sight. God, it was charming.

After a few seconds, he sighed and looked back at you.

“What about you, y/n?”

You thought for a moment before sighing with a wry smile growing on your face.

“Just…business, I guess, but it’s not really what I want to do.”

He leaned forward slightly, eyes showing complete, genuine interest in what you were saying.

“I actually don't know what I want to do…at all…”

His eyes turned empathetic as you continued.

“I-It's silly-”

“It's not. Not at all.”

You stared back into his deep, round eyes as he spoke with a firm yet gentle tone.

“Believe me, you have no idea how many different things I tried before I decided on music production. I think I switched majors like at least 4 times before landing where I am now.”

Your heart suddenly jumped as he said those words and your eyes went wide.

“4 TIMES?? What year are you in!?”

He looked taken aback for a moment before stuttering out his response.

“Um…well I'm in my first year as a music production major…but my third year in college in general.”

Your mouth fell open slightly.

“You're…21..?”

He nodded softly.

“You're not?” He asked in almost a whispered tone.

“NO?? I'm 19!”

“Oh! Wow. I didn't know they mixed up the ages when assigning us to dorm buildings.”

“Me neither!??!”

The two of you just stared at each other for a moment before bursting into laughter. You were the first one to speak up through your giggles.

“You've been going here for 3 years and you didn't know either??”

He chuckled for a few seconds longer before taking in a breath and responding.

“I don't know! My roommates have always been in the same year as me and I'm not really the type to socialise with the neighbours.”

You giggled softly and he smiled widely at you, his eyes holding emotions you couldn't quite place, and you couldn't deny how much you wanted to just dive into them and find out every little detail about him.

“...Well I'm glad you decided to socialise with me, at least…” You mumbled before you even thought about it, shifting your arm to lay on the back of the couch as well, your fingers dangerously close to brushing against his.

He looked down at the floor with a shy smile before bringing his soft gaze back to you.

“...Me too…You're really cool, y/n…” Your heart skipping when he said your name was already more than you expected, but when the tip of his index finger brushed against your knuckle oh so lightly, it was as if a lightning bolt just ran through your body. Before you knew it, you'd yanked your hand away and were standing upright, fighting a blush quickly overtaking your face. Silence passed between you two for a few seconds, although it felt much much longer as you stood facing away and rubbing at the spot on your knuckle that he had touched.

“...Um…S-Sorry, I thought-”

“I-It's okay! I just…remembered I have class again in the morning, y’know?” You chuckled shyly, turning to face him despite the insanely obvious redness in your cheeks, which he definitely noticed as his cheeks slowly began taking on the same red colour.

“O-oh! R-Right!” He quickly stood, looking around and thinking for a moment.

“Uh…You can sleep in my bed if you want.”

Your blush only deepened as you stared at him, his words replaying in your head endlessly.

“...Huh?”

He just stared at you for a moment slightly confused before it hit him what you were thinking, his face growing so red that you could almost see the steam coming out of his ears.

“OH! NO! THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT, GOD NO!” He slapped his hands over his face and you could've sworn you heard him mutter “idiot!” before sighing and dropping his hands again. “I meant…you sleep in my bed, and I sleep on the couch.”

“O-oh! That makes more sense…” You giggled shyly, looking down at the ground. “But…I'm fine sleeping on the couch y'know? I don't wanna like steal your bed…”

“It's fine!” He hurriedly responded. “Really! I don't mind.”

You looked at the small couch guiltily.

“...It doesn't look very comfortable…”

He followed you gaze to the couch before looking across the room and then back to you.

“Then…I can sleep in Hunter's bed! Would that make you feel better? And before you say anything, he won’t mind, so don't worry.”

You couldn't help but giggle about how he seemingly knew the next way in which you'd protest. He'd successfully removed every reason for you to deny his offer and all you could do was smile up at him.

“Well…how can I say no to that?” You giggled and he smiled widely, looking back at you with that adoring look once again and you couldn't help but feel your heart flutter.

“...A-Anyways…” you mumbled, cheeks almost hurting from how much you'd smiled already tonight, “I'll um…go to sleep, if that's okay?”

He nodded, smiling.

“Y-Yeah! Yeah, of course.”

“Is there anything you need from your room before I go in?”

He thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“You're all good.” He said softly. “It's just that door on the left, there.”

“Thanks…” You muttered softly, picking your bag up and carrying it over to the door. You heard him sigh and mumble something to himself as you entered his room, but you couldn't make it out, and honestly you were too distracted to care. It was like a million different emotions were running through you at once. You felt weird but also giddy, excited, wired, flustered, happy, anxious, nervous, shy, etc etc. Pretty much any feeling you could imagine.

You softly shut the door to his bedroom and looked around, feeling strange to be in a boy's- well…man’s bedroom, especially without the man himself present. But it also felt strangely comfortable; not all that messy but also not insanely spotless so at least you could rule out psychopath, just a few shirts here and there and a used cup sitting on one of the side tables by the bed.

You set your bag down in the corner and rummaged through to find the shirt you wore to class stuffed into the bottom, thanking your past self for feeling lazy and just throwing on a pair of jeans and a kind of oversized shirt earlier that morning. You hastily changed out of your work clothes and into the shirt, before realising you'd either have to sleep in jeans, which honestly sounded like a nightmare, or sleep in Minjae's bed in just your shirt with no pants on, the thought making your stomach flip as you stared over at the soft grey duvet blanketing his bed. You sighed, ignoring the heat re-entering your cheeks, and decided on the latter option, placing your phone on the end table before climbing into the bed. You sunk into the mattress, the bed being surprisingly comfier than your one back in your room. “I thought we all got the same bed??” You thought, pondering how his felt so much softer. You turned over onto your side and pressed your face into the pillow. “Even this pillow is softer…” You took a deep breath in, the fabric of his sheets smelling exactly how you thought they would: like a man. Y'know, sandalwood, musk, maybe a hint of lavender and fabric softener. It was nice. It had really been a while since you'd been in a man’s bed. You thought back to your exes and shuddered before flipping over onto your other side and reaching to turn the lamp off, the room being consumed with darkness as you sighed and let your eyes close softly.

The harsh sound of a phone alarm pierced your dreams and your eyes fluttered open, hand already reaching for your phone on the side tables to silence what had disturbed your slumber. You tapped the screen and rolled over, groaning as you buried your face into the pillow. It took breathing in the unfamiliar scented sheets for you to finally remember where you were, quickly shooting up and looking around the dim room, lit only by a weak streak of light coming from under the door. “Minjae's room. Minjae.”

“...It's way too early to feel this flustered…” You mumbled as you lightly slapped your slowly reddening cheeks, before swinging your legs over the edge of the bed and unsteadily picking yourself up. Yawning softly, you grabbed your phone and turned it on to see the time, squinting as the bright, white light filled your vision. “7am…I wonder if she's home yet…”

You quickly slipped your jeans from yesterday back on before creeping out of the room, your eyes meeting Minjae's back as he rummaged through the fridge. You stepped forward shyly.

“Um…Morning…”

“Oh!” He turned around, another container of food in his hands that he then placed on the counter. “H-Hey…um…sleep okay?”

You nodded softly, stepping up to the counter to see what he had.

“When is your class?” He pried open the container of what seemed to be scrambled eggs bacon before popping it into the microwave.

“O-Oh..9am. But my roommate should be home by then, if she isn't already.”

He smiled softly, eyes dropping to the ground.

“I see…”

A slightly awkward silence passed between the two of you, only being broken by the sound of the microwave beeping and him taking out his breakfast.

“Hungry?” He asked as he placed the warmed up breakfast on the counter and retrieved a fork from a drawer.

“Oh, no no. It's okay, you have it. I already ate your curry yesterday…”

He chuckled softly.

“I don't mind, y’know? Plus I'd already eaten dinner by the time you showed up.” He pushed the container towards you a small amount and you quickly pushed it back.

“N-No, really, you eat. I'll have something quick before class.”

He smiled and nodded before finally digging into the eggs. You took a good look at his face, more or less the same as yesterday; soft hair falling effortlessly over his forehead, thick black glasses sat low on his nose, with the addition of his skin seeming glossier than yesterday and you suddenly wondered if he had a morning skin care routine or something. “That would explain why he's so…beautiful…”

You thought, turning away and looking down as you fidgeted with the hem of your shirt. He was the same as yesterday, but with a certain ‘morning’ charm to him, not to mention the extra roughness his already deep voice had taken on that you were trying so desperately to ignore since the moment he'd opened his mouth to greet you a few minutes ago.

“So,” He suddenly snapped you out of your trance and you looked back over to him just in time to see his eyes trail down to your legs and back up to your face in a way that made your heart stutter, “was it comfortable sleeping in jeans?” He said with a slight chuckle. You felt a slight warmth enter your face as you remembered your whole inner conflict from last night.

“O-Oh, I didn't…sleep in these…”

He looked slightly confused for a moment before smirking.

“Did you really sleep in that business-y pencil skirt that I'm assuming was your work uniform?” He shovelled another bite of egg into his mouth, keeping his eyes on you as your face only grew redder.

“N-No…”

He chewed slowly and you could practically see the thoughts in his head trying to put things together.

“...Do you…carry spare clothes with you…?”

You shook your head before burying your face in your hands. You couldn't see his face but you could easily hear the fluster in his voice as it clicked in his head.

“...Oh…f-forget I asked…”

You felt so embarrassed. You were sure he thought you were a weirdo for treating his bed like it was yours. Either that or incredibly naive and innocent. “...Totally just ruined my chances-…”

You blushed even harder, something you didn't even think was possible.

“...Why did I think that…? I just met this guy!”

Your brain felt like a battlezone as you took a deep breath in and out before sliding your hands off of your face, only to turn and see his face also littered with a splotchy redness that you couldn't deny was so cute.

Luckily your phone that you had placed in your jean pocket vibrated, breaking the awkward silence that felt like a crushing weight that you couldn't hold for much longer. You quickly fished it out, seeing a text from your roommate reading:

“I’m home and I brought breakfast if you want.”

You sighed and quickly typed a response before slipping your phone back in your pocket.

“I should go. My roommate just got home.”

You smiled shyly as he finished up his food and pushed the container to the side before clearing his throat.

“O-Oh, y-yeah yeah…of course…”

The air still felt awkward and tense, like there were words between the two of you going unsaid, either one of you too afraid to speak them aloud.

“I'll...just grab my stuff.”

He nodded and you walked back to his room to grab your bag, feeling a weird pressure in your chest that you couldn’t quite place.

You hauled the bag back to where he was now standing by the door, ready to see you out. You slowed to a stop in front of him, looking down at the floor and fidgeting with the strap of your bag.

“So…um…thanks. For everything.”

You looked up at him with a soft shy smile and he turned away as soon as you made eye contact, his ears quickly beginning to burn up.

“O-Of course! I-I couldn't just leave you out there…”

You giggled softly and he turned back, chuckling along and scratching the back of his neck shyly.

“Hey…if you ever need a place to stay again for…whatever reason…I'll always welcome you here.”

Your smile grew at his words.

“Thank you, Minjae…” You said quietly, your eyes taking in his pretty features as you felt your hand almost unconsciously grab your phone from your pocket.

“If it's okay…can I get your number?” You felt the blush return to your cheeks again as his eyes slowly widened. “J-Just in case…” You quickly stuttered out as if trying to soften the flirty tension your own words created.

He nodded and carefully took your phone into his hands, you having opened up your contacts so he could add his in.

“...Just in case…” He repeated in almost a whisper, fighting a smile pulling at his lips.

After a few quiet seconds of him tapping at your phone screen, he handed it back, and you just stared for a moment at the contact screen reading 'Minjae', the sight making you smile for some reason.

“Well…” you put your phone back in your pocket and smiled at him, “I should get going…”

You slowly turned and opened the door, stepping into the much colder hallway compared to the warmth of standing next to him.

“S-See you lat-”

“W-Wait!” His hand suddenly came around and grasped the edge of the door just as you began closing it, pulling it back open enough for him to look you in the eyes. You just gazed up at him, wide eyed from being so caught off guard.

“...Are you…d-do you…” he stuttered and you blinked nervously, waiting for him to continue.

“D-Do you have a boyfriend?” When he finally got the words out, you felt your breath catch and your heart almost stop. You couldn't fight the immense heat immediately taking over your face, but you felt comfortable in knowing that his looked just about as red as yours.

The light that entered his eyes as you shook your head made you melt with how endearing he seemed, a wide smile he couldn't hide quickly overtaking his features.

“O-oh! W-Well…g-good to know!” He exclaimed almost a little too loudly, forcing you to stifle a giggle. “I-I'll see you later then, y/n…”

You nodded with a smile and he pushed the door closed, leaving you in a sort of daze in the hallway, staring a hole into his door.

“Uh…earth to y/n?” You were startled by a sudden voice behind you and turned to see your roommate poking her head out of your dorm room. “Woah, dude, are you okay? Your face is super red.”

You felt embarrassed and shy, but all of that was overtaken by the unfiltered joy and excitement overtaking your heart and mind.

“Mhmm…I'm awesome…”

-

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

TAGLIST:

@chocoeon @hyunukitty @ihyeokzu @cake1box @chiiyuuvv @shortnstupid @dogyunslover

[picnokinesis]

plottier / character focused thirteenth doctor fic recs

Ipseity by WalkerLister (43k, 10 chapters, gen) summary: Eight months since the Doctor sacrificed herself on Gallifrey, and Yasmin Khan is still struggling to move on. However, when she comes across a familiar face who is not acting like herself, Yaz may finally get the answers she has been looking for surrounding the Doctor. However, those answers will be revealed in a way a bit more dangerous than she had been anticipating. //Okay, so no one is surprised that I like the amnesiac!divisioned!13 fic, but in my defence, it's absolutely fabulous. This one was written waaaaay back in mid-2020, so we all knew that 13 was in prison and everyone was pretty sure that Jack was coming back due to some bts detective work, but that was about it - so, for obvious reasons, it doesn't align with ROTD, but it's such a fun one, guys, I love it a lot. Also, y'know, thirteen in a leather jacket and snarling at people? What more could you want?

don't have to make it to the moon by Ymae (28k, 7 chapters, gen/thoschei) summary: After New Year's, Ryan decides to stay traveling in the TARDIS for another little while. Only, the Doctor's rarely alright, and between experiencing the wonders of the universe, Ryan wants to figure out what's happening to his friend, too. //I love Ryan so much. He's such a wonderful character and I always love it when fics focus on him, or have him as the pov character. Unfortunately, fics like that are a bit few and far between, but this is one of them, and it's absolutely fantastic. It really delves into his character, but also his dynamic with the Doctor (especially after he talks to her in ROTD and she admits that she's scared and angry), and it's just auuuuuuugh so good!! And, it's also go some great whump and psychic content, with the Master showing up to cause trouble, alongside some gorgeous world-building, so I enjoy it very very much.

Ghost War by riptheh (25k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: All the Doctor wants to do is pass the time, and help a friendly face. So when a young man with a strange tattoo and a psychic wound shows up, she dives right into the mystery - and finds herself flung far into the future, mindwiped and alone, fighting a war that by all rights, shouldn't exist at all. A war she could help end, if only she could figure out who she is. //Oof, this one. It's absolutely stunning. This author really has a way of taking some absolutely fascinating and mind-bending concepts and just running with it, and just nails it each time. I feel like the less I say about the plot of this one, the better, because it sort of unfolds as you go, but please just trust me when I say that it's absolutely fantastic.

Lifelines by Sue_Denham (40k, 11 chapters, gen, wip) summary: Lifeline: a thing on which someone or something depends, or which provides a means of escape from a difficult situation. Set just after the events of Spyfall, the Doctor has a few things to work through. //Okay this fic is one of my favourites that's been posting over the last year or so - it's a brilliant exploration of Graham and Thirteen, and how different races deal with loss, guilt and death. I honestly think the best kind of sci fi takes concepts that we sort of take for granted, and then shows them in a completely new light. That's what this fic does. Also, Graham is just wonderful for the entire thing - though, as a note, Yaz and Ryan do end up somewhat side-lined, so bear that in mind if you're particularly looking for fics about those two, but I forgive it because it's such a great look at Graham and the Doctor. It feels like a character focused tie-in novel, y'know? Also it's pretty angsty in places, naturally, but that's what I'm here for haha.

Disordered by Echo (44k, 7 chapters, jack/13) summary: Messing with memories is always a risky business. Messing with your own memories, now that's just asking for trouble. The Doctor is very good at asking for trouble. And Jack is very good at finding it. //Ohhhhh okay so. This has been one of my absolute favourite Doctor Who fics for a long while. Definitely the shippiest of this list, but it's so lovely and such an excellent look at the Doctor facing the consequences of trying to get back her Division memories in the aftermath of s12, as well as the relationship between the Doctor and Jack across multiple regenerations. It's just so so good, flowing smoothly from very angsty to very soft, and the Doctor and Jack's voices are just spot on (especially considering that we see different versions of the Doctor, this is a particularly impressive note). Highly recommend!

The Trial of the Doctor by wreckageofstars (20k, 5 chapters, gen/thasmin, wip) summary: Haven is a planet at the edge of time, on the brink of destruction. Ravaged by the Time Lords and a war that time forgot, its people are desperate for justice before it’s too late, and the Doctor might be the only being left in the universe who can provide it — because she was the one who started it. So why can't she remember doing it? //Okay okay so, this one has only recently started posting but I've known about it since about 2020 and ohhhhhhhhhhh my goodness, GUYS. If you're not following this one, you need to be. It's a mix between Doctor Who at it's finest, Kafka at it's most unsettling, and Douglas Adams at it's most absurd, and it's delightful. There's so much in this one, and as always this author is just spot on with all the characterisation - especially Thirteen, who suddenly finds herself being prosecuted for a crime that she can't remember, and is forced into a situation where she's physically incapable of telling a lie. It. Is. Marvellous. Also there's a cockroach lawyer, whom I adore HAHA

lighthouse keeper by BlueLillyBlue (57k, 12 chapters, gen) summary: The Doctor is missing, and the fam is concerned. Featuring Yaz being a badass, Ryan being a cutie, Graham being a granddad, Jack being Jack, and the Doctor's complicated moral code. Also: space prisons, galactic war, the Doctor's time war trauma, the Doctor caring about people in her own weird and repressive way, and, most importantly, Thirteen wearing Jack's coat. //Oh, this one is such a favourite of mine. It's very angsty, so if that's not your schtick then - well, then you're kinda scuppered for all of my recs, to be honest, but this one is a bit on the dark side. Oh, but it's fantastic. Again, this one feels like a tie-in novel, and this author (as I think I've said before) is just incredible at crafting these very vivid worlds and really hard-hitting stories. The situation is pretty dire and desperate, and the Doctor is often faced with the fact that not every plan works out, and sometimes the only choices are bad ones. It's just really excellent guys (also! Thirteen in Jack's coat!!)

angel ellipsis by SleepyMaddy (36k, 8 chapters, gen/thoschei) summary: When the Doctor and Yaz find a planet in ruins, they’re only half surprised to discover the Master is responsible. But when his plan backfires, suddenly they have no choice but to work with him to stop his former allies from tearing the universe apart. It goes about as well as one might expect. //OKAY SO. This one is SO much fun and SO great - in particular, if you like the Master being a tricky bastard, but also getting screwed over by his own plans? You'll love this one. Everything about it is so vibrant and brilliant, and aaaaaahh man it all comes together in such a satisfying way. As with many of the authors on this list, this author just really gets these characters and how they tick, with some absolutely beautiful prose, and it's just such a joy to read.

nothing in the dark that isn't there in the light by river_of_words (6k, 1 chapter, thasmin) summary: Two weeks since Yaz got the most confusing rejection she ever hopes to get and the Doctor seems to have decided to blame Yaz for every single one of her furiously conflicting emotions. At this point she’s sort of asking to get hit. And at this point Yaz is sort of curious to find out what the Doctor is going to say that’s going to make her meet that request. //These next two fics are a lot shorter compared to the others, but I really wanted to include both of them because they're great and SO interesting to me. With this one, it digs into the Doctor and Yaz's relationship in the aftermath of LOTSD, and the ways that the Doctor does not actually talk about anything but does also tell Yaz more than anyone else. It's about the frustration that builds between them and the way that they're still finding more comfort in each other than anyone else. It's also a little feral, which as a thoschei shipper, definitely had a lot to do with why I liked this one haha. Anyway, it's really fantastic - really quick paced and emotional, and packing a LOT of punches with mostly dialogue in a very effective way. Go read it!

we'll do it right by daring_elm (3k, 1 chapter, gen) summary: She's never really noticed Yaz's perfume before. Shoulders relaxing, nausea subsiding, the Doctor inhales again, filling her lungs with jasmine and sandalwood, steel and glowing crystals and her box out of time. She can be back with Yaz within minutes of her leaving. She can save the child, change the foundation of Gallifrey and still return to have a picnic on Soria T4.  //Okay so I loooove love love this one because I just adore it any time someone explores the Doctor's reaction to the Timeless Child stuff after the fact, and this one is just so wonderful. The characterisation is just fantastic, and then just the progressive spiral of the plot as we follow the Doctor on a mission that is doomed to fail by the nature of her own timeline. It's about how by trying to change the past, all you do is mess up your present and your future, and I love that a lot. Augh, it's a gut punch and a half - highly recommended!