#pathetic and silly and highly suspicious. My god

[nonpoppie]

played the space train anime game . guess who i fixated on

[jarienn972]

La Sirena - Chapter Four

Captain Swan Supernatural Summer

After a slight delay caused by yesterday’s storm knocking out our power (and throwing the router offline for the rest of the day), Chapter 4 of this @cssns​ story ​ is finally ready!  In the last chapter, Killian was finally back on his feet (and slightly embarrassed) as he ventured out for the first time. Emma even invited him into the cavern for the first time where he found some new clothing amidst her collection of old maritime chests.  Things couldn’t be more perfect...

So now does anyone think that Killian might be getting a little bit suspicious that something weird is going on?  When we left off from Chapter 3, he thought he was imagining torches and lanterns lighting without being touched and then found himself puzzled when Emma warned him of a storm he saw no signs of. He’s treading a fine line between believing he’s just questioning and thinking he’s hallucinating - but those scales are about to be tipped and there will be no turning back.

Thanks again to my wonderful beta, @kmomof4​ for all of your assistance and also to @courtorderedcake​ for the beautiful watercolor art she made for this fic!  

Catch up from the beginning here: One  Two  Three  or on AO3 & FF.net

Magic Has a Price

Trusting in her instruction, Killian rushed back through the narrow passageways of the cavern, making his way to the springs where he could view the changes in the skies above through the void in the cave ceiling. Here, he could remain protected from nature's furies as he huddled beneath an overhang while keeping a watchful eye on the heavens. He expected to witness the sky darken as clouds rolled in and rain filtered through the natural skylight yet he saw nothing of the sort.

There was no thunder. No lightning. No gathering of dismal grey clouds to mar the brilliant blue above. Not a single drop of precipitation fell between the cracks in the rock, leaving him a tad bewildered. Why had Emma been so adamant that a storm was imminent? She hadn't joined him in the cave either, muttering something about the storm being here for her. What in blazes did that mean?

He'd intended to remain obediently inside the cavern, but his curiosity grew too great and won out. He needed to learn what the meaning of her cryptic statement was and what she may have been seeking to conceal from him. There clearly was no pending meteorological event as it had been unnervingly quiet. Something was amiss and despite Emma's warnings, he was determined to learn what was troubling her. He owed her that much.

**********

After delivering her stern order for Killian to return to the relative safety of the cavern, Emma mentally scolded herself for the sad excuse she'd given. She had wanted an explanation for not joining him, but instead, she'd likely implanted a seed of doubt. How foolish of her to state that the storm was coming for her, even if it was the truth. Nonetheless, she paused near the mouth of the cave until he was out of her sight then set her jaw, scowling as she marched to the beach. She hated that she hadn't been entirely truthful about the origin of the impending storm, but this was far too personal.

She should have known better. She'd become careless in her desire to shelter Killian as she'd grown rather fond of her human companion over the course of the past few days. As much as he'd soothed the bitter ache in her soul, her fondness had placed them both at risk. How would she explain herself? She had to think of something in a hurry, knowing who would be awaiting her in the shallows of the bay.

"Erimetha…," she heard the deep, familiar feminine voice call to her as the crown of perfectly coiffed dark hair broke the surface of the water. Emma already knew who the voice belonged to and it wasn't anyone she had a desire to see. "Or are you still calling yourself Emma these days?"

"As much as you prefer to call yourself Regina, sister," Emma replied as the olive-skinned torso of her sibling raised from the sea with a swish of her lithe, regal purple and gold hued tentacles. "Whatever brings you here to the dregs of our realm?"

"You appear to be doing well for yourself since your banishment, sister. I'm not certain what would possess you to wear that silly frock though. Are you trying to look like some pitiful human up there on the sand? Have you forgotten what it's like to thrive in the sea?"

"I was never banished. Need I remind you that it was my choice to leave?" Emma huffed, not willing to give in to her sister's taunts. "I had no desire to live that life anymore. This is my home now and I live how I please. If I choose to wear a silly frock like a human, then I shall. I've no one to answer to."

"Oh, that's right - the siren with a conscience bit," Regina said snidely. "The gods created you to sing and lure those horrible, unworthy creatures to their demise. That is who you are and you can't deny that."

"You're right, Regina, I cannot deny what I was created to be. However, I can choose not to be that demon any longer. I am sorry if that bothers you but I am no threat to you in your desire to please Triton."

"You sound so self-righteous," Regina scoffed, flicking a splash of water into the air with the tip of a tentacle. "You can't fight what you were born to be."

"We shall see. All I know is that you didn't swim all this way to berate me and call me self-righteous. Why are you here?"

"So impatient, little sister… Always so impatient… I'm here because we members of the council sensed a little magic ripple that originated from this pathetic little corner of the realm. You've not used your powers in eons so some were a little worried… These little things do travel, you know?"

"It was hardly anything for the council of sirens to worry themselves over. I merely had a desire to grow some new fruits and vegetables here and conjured up a few plants to expand my diet. I could have waited for seeds to blow in with the trade winds, but as you said, I'm impatient."

"Food? Of course…," Regina sneered. "Growing food like a lowly human when you could be feasting like a queen…"

"My choice," Emma reminded her.

"So be it," the brunette siren shrugged. "Just be warned that the council will be keeping watch on you."

"Whatever for? What does the council care about what I do? I have no interest in anything of that life!"

"Considering your sad development of a conscience, the council - myself included - expressed concern that you might show pity upon an unexpected survivor."

"Survivor?" Emma gulped, trying hard to conceal her surprise at Regina's statement. "What are you talking about?"

"A few sunrises ago, an unfortunate ship sailed into our waters. None were deemed worthy to pass and they succumbed to our song before the ship ran aground and sank not far from this cove. Since then, there has been scuttle amongst the sea creatures that one of those vile humans survived. It's highly unlikely, but you know how the council gets… Your weaknesses made you a concern - that you might attempt to rescue such an unfortunate being."

"Why is this such a bother to the council? The rule has always been that any human immune to our song would be allowed safe passage. No man can resist the song so there hasn't been a survivor in centuries."

"And that rule still stands but no human is worthy to pass through our realm. In all the ages, only one has ever been able to resist. They're simply inferior beings."

"But you know that the one human who was able to resist the song gained favor with Poseidon and united his kingdom with ours - even if only for a brief moment in time."

"Because the new leaders of the human's kingdom angered the gods again and their realm was reclaimed by the sea. They're all evil. Poseidon should allow us to reclaim all of the human realms!"

"He doesn't because he knows that there are good ones among them and I believe that as well. The siren's council controls only one realm and it should stay that way! I refused to send any more of those humans to their deaths."

"Well," Regina began with an indignant huff, "unlike you, I shall continue to defend our waters from those humans! I won't allow myself to grow weak with worry about morality or humanity!"

"Did you ever once consider that resisting our urge to tempt sailors is the strength, not the weakness?" Emma countered, ire increasing at her sister's callousness and disregard for her choice to exit the council of sirens.

"Whatever you want to believe, Emma," Regina dismissed her with disdain. "You are still a siren, no matter what you're trying to make yourself believe. It's who you are. The siren song is a part of you and perhaps one day you'll realize that. For now, remember this - if you are found to be harboring a human, the decision of what will become of you will no longer be up to the council. You'll be answering to the gods themselves."

"I have nothing to answer for," Emma stated, although she secretly hoped that she'd never be called upon to back up that statement. "Take care, sister."

Regina huffed and whipped her tentacles around before diving beneath the gentle waves and leaving Emma standing silently on the shore, staring blankly at the horizon. She trembled while repeatedly chastising herself for daring to use her powers. She had only wanted to provide for Killian, not endanger him. She hadn't envisioned that after so many years, her single use of magic would reverberate back to the council. Regina would undoubtedly return and she wouldn't be alone next time.

What could she do? Had she already done too much?

Killian couldn't immediately locate Emma when he emerged from the cavern but as his intuition had been correct and there was no storm, he was left mildly perturbed and greatly confounded by her deception. He ventured out to the ridge of ancient volcanic rock that separated the cave from the shoreline and stopped himself before crossing it.

Instead of the rumble of thunderstorms, he heard the sound of two distinct, aggravated voices. He recognized Emma's but there was a second, sultrier female voice present. Emma had insisted that the two of them were alone on this distant cove but unless he was hallucinating, he held no doubt that he was hearing another woman's voice - and by their tone, there were no pleasantries being exchanged.

He held back out of sight, fearful of being noticed and tried to discern what was transpiring. Did Emma get visitors regularly? Her often awkward interaction with him would certainly lead one to believe that she had little contact with others. Despite that, the tone of the exchange he was overhearing seemed to be decidedly personal. Emma knew the person on the other end of the conversation, but that wasn't going to help him.

Unfortunately for his prying ears, the two women were speaking in the same Ancient Greek dialect that he couldn't quite translate. He could pick out a few words here and there but nowhere near enough to get the context of the conversation. He surmised that the other woman's name was Regina and thought he understood Emma calling her sister.

He so desperately wanted to poke his head over the ridge line to see what was going on but he didn't dare risk angering Emma. Whomever she was speaking with, she hadn't wanted him to see - or perhaps be seen by. Why else would she have ordered him to dart back into the cavern under the false pretense of an impending storm? Was there a reason she wouldn't want her sister to know he was there, assuming this woman was actually her sister?

He shrank back to the opening of the cave as he sensed their conversation was waning. Although the stretch of beach where Emma and the mysterious Regina weren't in his purview, he could see out to another section of the cove where the turquoise sea met the azure sky, expecting to see the crown of a ship's mast out on the horizon. There was none. Where had this other woman come from? If she didn't arrive by ship, had Emma not been truthful about a village being nearby? He had so many questions but all were shook from his mind when he felt an unseen hand tighten around his forearm, yanking him forcefully into the darkness of the cavern depths.

"I thought I told you to go back to the spring?" Emma scolded him while he silently sighed in relief that it was her and not some angry, unknown stranger. Not that she wasn't angry…

"My apologies. My curiosity garnered the better of me when I sensed no sign of weather anomalies," he responded, unable to meet her gaze.

"The storm I spoke of was a tempest of a different sort," she sighed loudly as her voice softened. She maintained her clench on his arm until they reached the spring. "How much did you hear?"

Killian lowered his head in shame, found guilty of spying on this woman who had shown him nothing but kindness. Whatever fibs she may have told, she'd had her reasons and the exchange he had overheard hadn't been intended for his ears. "I couldn't make out much of what you were saying. I just heard you conversing with the other woman - Regina, was it? I thought I heard you call her sister, but no matter the relation, there seemed to be a great deal of tension between you. I am quite sorry. I should never have intruded…"

"Oh, Killian…," she began as she released her grip on his forearm, raising her hand to his chin and giving it a gentle push upward, forcing him to look directly at her. The glistening tears welling in her eyes only intensified the confusion present in his stare. She knew she couldn't harbor her secrets any longer…

"There is so much you don't know about me… Oh, where to start…? The other voice you heard did indeed belong to one of my sisters and the disagreement you overheard was due to her lack of understanding my choice to leave the life I was born into." She squeezed her eyes closed and allowed a single tear to roll over her cheekbone before continuing. "There's something that you need to know about me…"

"It has often been my experience that when a woman makes such a statement, the remainder of the conversation tends not to be pleasant…"

"If I am to protect you, you need to hear me out. What you're about to hear puts you in grave danger, but I can't hide it from you any longer."

"How does learning that you have sisters and that we aren't entirely alone here on this isle put me in such peril?"

"I do live alone here," she assured him, "at least I did until you arrived. I have not seen or heard from Regina in eons but she traveled a long way to confront me because I broke one of my own rules…" She lowered her chin, her blonde locks tumbling over her face to hide her own shame. "I used magic. I shouldn't have used my powers, but I did and somehow, the effect of that action reached all the way back to my homeland. Now Regina and the rest of the council are suspicious of me and they're watching. She will be back and she won't be alone so we have to be ready…"

Dumbfounded, Killian shook his head in disbelief, raking his fingers through his tousled hair as he struggled to make sense of this. He leaned back against one of the larger chests as a myriad of thoughts bombarded his overloaded brain.

"Be ready for what?" he queried, although it wasn't really the most pressing question he was thinking of. He found himself staring absentmindedly at the cavern floor, kicking up a bit of volcanic sand as he flexed his bare toes. He was almost afraid to ask the other questions but he had to. "And what do you mean you used magic?" He raised up his head to face her again, mesmerized by the way the flickering light of the torch illuminated her ivory skin. It almost made it appear to be glowing on its own as she stood there before him.

He wasn't prepared for her answer.

"Like all of my people, I was born with certain magical gifts… or curses, depending on how you view them," she explained as she shifted her sight away from him.

"Are you some sort of witch?" he asked, voice wavering.

"No, I'm not a witch, but your kind would likely consider me a similar monster…"

His brow furrowed at her words. How could Emma ever refer to herself as such? "You're hardly a monster."

"Killian, you've not yet scratched the surface of what I am." Without looking at him, she extended a hand in his direction. "Come with me over to the spring…" He may have been wary of the gesture, but he placed his hand into her open palm and allowed her to lead him to the edge of the hot spring. She could hear his breath hitch in his throat as she let go of his fingers and descended the carved steps into the pool, raising her flowing gown over her head and tossing it aside.

Ever the gentleman, Killian's cheeks instantly flushed bright red as he averted his gaze from her nudity. "Emma, love… this isn't exactly proper…"

"Don't be ashamed of my nakedness. You needn't look away - I want you to see my true form." He heard a faint splash over the thundering of his own heartbeat as she lowered herself into the spring. "Killian - look at me," she insisted, but he was still unsure.

"Is this why you're purported to be a monster?" he wondered. "Some sort of wanton nymph here to tempt me into lascivious behavior?" He heard Emma chuckle before he dared glance over to the pool, finding her lounging against the steps with her arms extended at her sides (although she was submerged from her bosom down).

"You're not far off with your mention of a nymph, but you have the wrong creature," she stated as she playfully kicked a bare foot into the air, showering him with a pattering of warm water.

"I'm afraid I don't quite understand…," he blushed, resisting the carnal urge to jump into the steamy spring with her. Part of his psyche was holding him back, unconsciously telling him that despite her friendly teasing, he wasn't going to like what she was about to say. And now, he was frozen in trepidation.

"I'm not human," she said bluntly, drawing her leg beneath the water's surface once more. Before he could even attempt to process that confession, a shimmering tail fin raised up out of the spring. "I am a shape-shifting sea being that you know as a siren."

His jaw fell slack, mouth gaping as his gaze fell upon the sparkling green, gold and turquoise hues reflecting from the minute scales adorning her tail. Her tail. It was an awe-inspiring wonder as he took in the sight of the head and torso of the woman he'd come to admire over the past few days paired with the shiny, scaly tail of a fish.

This couldn't be. He must be delirious…

"No…, no…" he stammered. "This cannot be…" He staggered backwards, away from the spring, senses and sensibility overwhelmed.

"Killian, I promise - I can explain!" She pleaded with him, dejected by the panic in his eyes as he stumbled away from her. "Please, let me explain…"

He couldn't form a response, but he couldn't look away from her either. He continued his hasty retreat with eyes still locked on her unbelievable form, but he'd momentarily forgotten that he was still inside a cave. As he neared the four chests, he lost his footing in the uneven, loose sand. With nothing near him to reach for, he fell, arms pinwheeling awkwardly in a desperate attempt to stop himself. His head collided with a protruding slab of rock as he struck the wall and he dropped motionless beside the still-open chest where he'd found his new clothing.

"Killian!" she cried, rapidly transforming back to her human legs as she splashed her way out of the pool and hurried to his side. She knelt beside his unresponsive body, drawing her fingertips over the prickly stubble along his jaw. "Oh no… What have I done?"

[chuffyfan87]

Don't Marry Her. Part 2a.

"Duffy! Duffy! Wake up, your phone's ringing."

"Huh?" She opened her eyes, blinking and yawning as she slowly awoke. She sat up, stretched and took her handbag from Charlie. Rummaging around inside she located her phone just as it stopped ringing. She peered at the screen. Two missed calls. She clicked the button to see who they were from and suddenly felt very awake. Shit! Throwing the phone back in the bag she pulled back the sheets and got up.

"Where are you going?" Charlie asked.

"I'm supposed to be at the station in an hour. Shit! I'm going to be late!" She replied as she hurried to redress.

"Come back to bed, just tell them you got stuck in traffic."

"She'll see right through that. Argh!" Duffy replied, almost losing her balance as she tried to put her boots on.

"Please stay. I can't go through with it." He pleaded.

Grabbing her jacket she walked back over to the bed and sat down next to him. "I'll treasure last night forever but it can never happen again. You know what you have to do." She replied sadly. She kissed him tenderly before dashing from the room.

After getting a taxi back to her hotel she quickly showered and dressed for the wedding. She fixed her hair and applied most of her make up. Checking her reflection in the mirror she sighed. The rest would have to be done on the way. Grabbing her car keys from the table she ran downstairs.

As she approached the town centre she glanced down at the speedometer. Oops! She lifted her foot off the accelerator slightly, the last thing she needed today was to get caught speeding! She flicked the radio station over as she pulled up to the traffic lights. She let the music flow over her as she applied her lipstick using the mirror on the sun visor. She was just finishing when she heard the horn of the car behind her, the lights having turned green in front of her. "Alright, alright!" She muttered as she drove off. As she turned towards the station she finally noticed the lyrics of the song on the radio - Don't marry her, have me - Duffy snorted at the irony of the song choice before turning the radio off. She spotted a parking space and pulled into it.

She jumped out the car and ran over to where she spied Megan stood waiting for her. She saw the older woman's face light up as she turned and called her name.

"I'm so sorry I'm late, traffic was a nightmare." Duffy apologised.

"Likely story! Some things never change, you've never been very good at getting up in the mornings." Megan laughed as Duffy rolled her eyes. As they hugged Megan commented. "Skin and bone! Working too hard again!"

Duffy sighed. "You're the second person that's commented on that." Seeing Megan's confused look she quickly continued. "I'm fine. Shall we head down to the marina?"

They spent the drive across town catching up on the latest developments in both their lives. As they walked from the car to the boat Megan spotted a hot food van. She hadn't yet had time for breakfast so suggested they get something to eat.

Megan took the bacon sandwich and sat down on a bench regarding Duffy with a look of disappointment but not surprise at the coffee she held in her hands. "You really should eat something Duffy. It could be hours before the food is served, the wine will go straight to your head!"

"I'm fine, Megan, I ate earlier." She lied.

Megan tutted. "I highly doubt that's true. In fact I dread to think when the last meal of any substance passed those lips!"

Duffy rolled her eyes and was about to reply when she was interrupted by the sound of her phone ringing. She took it from her bag and saw Charlie's name flashing on the screen. She glanced nervously at Megan before rejecting the call.

"Everything OK?" Megan queried.

"Er, um, yeh. Fine. It was nothing, a wrong number." Duffy stammered, placing the phone back in her bag. She sipped her coffee. "We should probably head over to the boat, don't want to be late."

She began to walk away, Megan had to hurry to catch her up. As they approached the boat Megan quietly observed Duffy. The younger woman was clearly agitated about something. They entered the main room of the boat and saw many people milling around, some familiar faces, many not. Duffy's attention was drawn to the corner of the room. She spotted Josh heading away from that area, looking stressed.

"Josh, is everything OK?" Duffy reached out a hand to catch Josh's attention as he passed near them.

Josh looked up, relief washing over him to see a friendly face. "Oh am I glad to see you! It's all..." He paused, looking anxiously at Megan.

"Its OK, Megan's an old friend. What's going on?" Duffy reassured him.

Josh motioned them over to a quiet corner, away from the others gathered in the room. "Charlie's not turned up."

"What?!" Megan exclaimed.

"He's not at the hotel, he's not answering his phone. No-one has a clue where he is." Josh continued to explain.

Duffy's lack of reaction to the news immediately made Megan suspicious. "Do you know where he is Duffy?"

"No!" Realising she'd reacted too quickly she attempted to backpeddle. "I mean, why would I have any idea where he is? I've been with you all morning Megan."

Josh looked from Duffy to Megan and back again. He had an uncomfortable feeling about the entire exchange. Surely Charlie wouldn't be so stupid... Charlie had sworn to him that things were over. His thoughts were interrupted by Megan's voice.

"This isn't the place to be having this kind of conversation..." She began.

"He's probably just got an attack of the nerves. He'll be here soon, I'm sure of it." Duffy commented.

"You seem mighty sure of that for someone who claims to have no idea what's going on!" Megan remarked as she took hold of Duffy's arm. "I think you and I need to have a little chat outside, don't you?"

Josh trailed behind them both as Megan marched Duffy off the boat. As they reached the dockside Duffy pulled her arm free, cross at being manhandled.

"What the hell was that all about? You didn't need to drag me outside like a misbehaving toddler!" Duffy remarked angrily.

"So where is he then? When did you last speak to him?" Megan questioned.

Duffy stood scowling with her arms folded across her chest, refusing to answer.

"And you wonder why I treat you like a child!" A thought occurred to Megan. "That phone call you refused to take earlier, that was Charlie wasn't it?" Megan huffed at Duffy's continued silence. "Why are you covering for him Duffy? What do you know?"

"I don't know anything!" Duffy shouted back.

"OK, let's calm things down and focus on finding Charlie. What's happened in the past may have no baring whatsoever on why he's gone missing now."

Duffy spun round to stare open mouthed at Josh. "How the hell do you know about that? We both swore to keep things a secret!"

Before Josh had a chance to respond Megan grabbed hold of Duffy's left hand and held it up in front of her face. "Does that mean nothing to you? You silly little girl!"

"Not when it means so little to my husband, no." She muttered bitterly.

"Oh I see, so all this is some pathetic tit for tat fight with Andrew? He cheats on you so you run off and sleep with Charlie, is that it?" Megan remarked angrily.

"No! It's so much more than that. We tried to put a stop to it... But... Urgh, it's complicated!"

"Well let me make it simple for you. Take out your phone, call him and tell to get himself over here right now and go through with this wedding."

"I already told him all of that this morning, he clearly didn't listen did he?" Duffy spat back.

"This morning? You were with him this morning?" She watched as Duffy looked down at the floor and nodded mutely. "Were you with him all of last night too?" Another nod. She rocked back on her heels slightly. "Sweet mother of God! The night before his wedding? Do you have no conscience? You utter..."

"You mean, you and Charlie? Last night? Bloody hell!" Josh exclaimed.

Duffy sighed. "We both knew it was wrong. We've tried so hard to end things several times but then we find ourselves alone together and, well, we just can't control it. We hate ourselves for it afterwards but in the moment..." She sighed once more and looked down at the ground.

Megan shook her head and sighed. "If it was anyone else telling me all of this I would have dragged them inside and demanded they explain themselves to the bride whose wedding they were destroying." She paused and rubbed her temple. "Give me your phone. He'll answer if he thinks it's you."

Duffy looked over at Megan and squared her shoulders. "No. I'll call him. I need to do this. I need to put things right." She took the phone out from her bag and opened the contacts list. Out the corner of her eye she saw Megan move closer towards her. She rolled her eyes and held the phone out so that Megan could see Charlie's number displayed before hitting the call button. Bringing it to her ear she listened to it ring for several seconds before he picked up.

"Duffy! I was beginning to worry you wouldn't call back."

"I'm sorry about that, I couldn't answer right then. Why aren't you at the wedding?"

"I told you, I can't go through with it. It would be a huge mistake!"

"You have to go through with it though. Everyone is here waiting."

"I don't love her!"

"She's the mother of your child Charlie. Please, just do the right thing. I'm begging you!"

"I'm sick of living a lie. I love you. I want us to be together."

"You know that's impossible Charlie. You have to accept that it's over between us. It's the only way."

"Its not the only way. Leave Andrew. We can be together properly. Like we always wanted to be."

"You're insane. I can't!"

"Yes you can. I'll be there waiting for you. We can leave together."

"Charlie..."

"Can we talk properly? I need to see you."

"Charlie!"

"I didn't mean it like that! I'm at the Red Lion. Join me for a drink?"

"I... Um..."

"Please Duffy. Its just a drink. We need to talk."

"OK. I'll be there soon."

She ended the call and looked over at Megan and Josh. "He's at the Red Lion. I've agreed to meet him there for a drink." She turned to head towards her car.

"We're coming with you." Megan insisted.

Duffy sighed and rolled her eyes but didn't object. They got into the car and drove across town to the pub. As they got out the car Josh's phone began to ring. He excused himself to take the call. After a few minutes he rejoined the women.

"That was Penny. There's been an emergency at the hospital and everyone has been called back to help. I guess that buys us some time to talk Charlie around." He shrugged.

Duffy sighed and looked over at the door. She didn't want to do this, didn't want to break both their hearts yet again but she knew she had to. She could feel Megan's stare burning into the side of her head as she took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

Once inside the pub she quickly located Charlie sat in a booth over in the far corner. As he saw her approach the table he slid a drink towards her.

"I presume you drove here so..." He shrugged as she picked up the glass of juice and sat beside him.

Duffy smiled in gratitude before growing serious. "There's been an emergency at the hospital so the ceremony has been delayed. If we leave in a few minutes we should have enough time to swing by your hotel so you can change into your suit and get to the venue before everyone gets back."

"I've told you, I'm not going through with it." He replied, taking hold of her hand on the table.

"You have to!" She shot back, pulling her hand away.

"Its you I want, not her."

"Well you can't have me, not anymore."

Charlie laughed harshly. "I've heard that before Duffy."

"Well I mean it this time." She replied, attempting to sound convincing but the wobble in her voice undermined her attempts.

Charlie snorted and shook his head as he took a sip of his drink.

Duffy stood up and went to leave but then turned and lent over towards him. "Mess up your family if you want but you're not messing up mine." She whispered harshly, her eyes filling with tears before she stormed out the pub.

Charlie sat stunned for several moments before scrambling out of the booth to chase after her. He burst through the doors onto the street but couldn't see her anywhere. He rubbed his hand across the back of his neck and took his phone from his pocket. He was about to dial her number when a voice spoke behind him.

"If you're looking for Duffy she's sat in her car in tears." Josh said.

Charlie spun around. "Josh? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you really were as stupid as I feared you were." Josh replied.

Charlie glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I know what happened last night Charlie. Duffy told us everything."

"Us?"

"Nevermind that right now. What the hell did you think you were doing? And don't say you were drunk coz that's no excuse!"

"The plan was to just have a couple of drinks together..." Charlie began.

"Its the night before your wedding and you just casually invite your mistress over for a few drinks. Are you totally insane?"

"She's not my mistress!"

Josh rolled his eyes. "That whole 'we're just friends Josh' line isn't gonna wash with me. Not now! Whatever you want to call her, your secret girlfriend, or drunken fuck buddy, she is a married woman Charlie. You're supposed to be getting married right now, so you shouldn't have been anywhere near her last night!"

"I know I shouldn't have but I love her Josh." Charlie replied.

"I know you do. That's what makes this whole thing such a mess. What happened to your promise to stay away from her?"

Charlie sighed. "I did. For two whole years I only spoke to her on the phone. But, well, I couldn't just not invite her. I thought it would be OK, Andrew was supposed to be with her. I thought enough time had passed. That I could resist."

"You've never been able to before so why think this time would be different? This can't continue Charlie. It's one thing the two of us sitting in a pub getting drunk while you ramble on about how much you love her and other stuff I really don't want to think about when I'm sober but this is something else. This could destroy a lot of lives."

"You think I don't know that? I don't want to hurt the boys but at the same time I can't give her up. I don't want to either."

"You've got to make a choice otherwise you risk losing everything."

"I had done but it blew up my face." He replied sadly. He sighed. "So who else knows about last night?"

"Oh, Duffy had an old friend with her. She did tell me the woman's name but I was too busy trying to work out where you were to pay too much attention."

A panicked thought popped into Charlie's mind. "This old friend, she didn't by any chance happen to be Irish and in her late 50s did she?"

"Yeh, that's right." Josh confirmed.

"Shit! Is she with Duffy right now?" He watched as Josh nodded. "Bollocks!" He swore.

"Don't worry about that right now. You have a wedding to get to." Josh reminded him.

"That is the least of my problems right now Josh. I'm about to be crucified!"

Confusion filled Josh's face. "That's a bit dramatic Charlie. Though Baz is ready to lynch you for doing a disappearing act."

"You don't know Megan, Josh, especially when Duffy's involved. Baz's temper is nothing on Megan when she's angry." He began pacing, rubbing the back of his neck as he contemplated his options. "Josh, can you please go and tell Duffy I really need to talk to her?"

"It'll look better coming directly from you Charlie." He countered.

"Its probably best that Megan doesn't see me right now."

Josh sighed and mulled things over for a few moments before finally nodding. "Coward." He muttered as he turned to walk away.

Charlie wasn't sure how long he was pacing for when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hello Charlie."

He turned to face Megan and sighed. "So are you going to shout at me in the middle of the street or would you like to go somewhere more private?"

"Don't you take that tone with me Charlie Fairhead!" Seeing Charlie simply roll his eyes at her she continued. "So you're going to play silly buggers too are you? I've had enough of that off her already." She shrugged. "It doesn't matter if you talk or not, I eventually managed to get all the details out the other member of this self destructive lunacy pact the pair of you seem hell bent on carrying out."

"And yet you still think we are just being stupid?" Charlie replied, aghast. He shook his head laughing bitterly. "You think this is just about sex don't you? You don't know how wrong you are Megan, it's about so much more than that!"

"Really? You become involved with a pretty young girl who idolises you and you want me to believe its not all about sex? I wasn't born yesterday Charlie."

"She's not a child anymore Megan!" He shot back. "She's not been that young girl you think she is for a very long time." He added darkly.

"Well, you'd know all about that!" She replied with disgust. "She's not the first nice young girl you've corrupted afterall."

[floralseokjin]

— aquiver 06 | (m)

aquiver (adj.) [uh-kwiv-er] in a state of trepidation or vibrant agitation; trembling; quivering

Yoongi can’t remember the last time he was able to successfully bring himself to the point of orgasm, then Namjoon gives him a business card advertising ‘Healing Hands’, and that’s where he meets you; pretty and innocent looking, who gets paid to provide hand jobs for a living…

pairing | min yoongi x reader genre/warnings | angst, romance, smut and then more angst… words | 12,865

» 01 :: 02 :: 03 :: 04 :: 05 :: 06 :: 07 :: 08  ✓

You could faintly recall where Yoongi lived. You’d waited outside the building in his car when he’d gone to pick something up a couple of weeks ago and you used your little knowledge of the city to make your way across town, following road signs and using some sort of inner navigational skills, probably spurred on by your anger and annoyance at being left high and dry, to finally stand in front of the correct place. Now that you were here it began to look more familiar and you stormed over to the building, stopping dead when you had exactly no idea what floor he lived on, nor did you know the code to let yourself inside if all else failed.

Fuck.

If you called reception the concierge would come and begin asking all kinds of questions. You weren’t stupid. Yoongi was famous, right? A girl stood outside his place of residence would look highly suspicious. Maybe you could just wait out here until he came out to leave? But then you weren’t sure when he would be leaving, what if it was hours from now? Or what if he’d already left? Or what if it would be really awkward for him to have you stood out here ready to ambush him in front of his friends? Co-workers? You may have been angry at him but you didn’t want to look like an idiot, or god forbid, embarrass him…

Cell phone!

Why wasn’t your brain working?! Duh! You quickly fumbled for the device that was lodged inside your pants pocket, swiping for his name straight away, ready to call—

“Can I help you?”

You looked up to see a guy beside you, maybe around your age. He was handsome, tall, head bent a little to be level with you, brown hair falling in his eyes. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes looked a little wary.

“Y-yes,” you stuttered, shoving your phone back in your pocket. “I’m looking for Yoongi.”

He frowned for a moment, looking cautiously into the building, smile faltering before you spoke again. “You don’t know him?” He looked a little confused. “I’m sure he lives here. Don’t worry, I’ll just call him,” and you made motions to get your phone again but he stopped you, surprising you a little by grabbing your wrist. You looked up with a raised eyebrow just to see him now grinning at you.

“Y/N?” He asked, surprising you even further.

“How do you know my name?”

“You’re Yoongi’s…girlfriend?” He said, although almost questioningly, as if he didn’t know what to call you. Your cheeks immediately began to burn…how much did he know? But most importantly, who was he?

“You’re the one he’s always with, right? I saw your name flash up on his cell a couple of times, even though he hasn’t said anything…although I’m sure Namjoon knows something, he’s been acting weird—what’s wrong with Yoongi having a girlfriend? I don’t get why they’re all acting so secretive about i…”

The stranger trailed off when he realised you were more than confused, whatever he was rambling on about halting on his tongue, and he suddenly put his hand out, introducing himself, “I’m Taehyung by the way—did he tell you about me?”

You slowly took his hand, letting him take the lead as he shook it little too erratically and you shook your head. You had never heard that name before.

“Of course he didn’t,” he chuckled, biting the inside of his cheek as he feigned offence. “I’m the embarrassing one—it’s a bitter reality, but I’m forced to live it.”

You couldn’t help but giggle, amused by his humour. Whoever he was, he was funny, you’d give him that. You watched him begin to bash the code into the intercom, the door clicking open and he pushed it open, holding it for you to follow him. You paused, suddenly remembering why you were here, the nerves now getting the better of you. You were mad still, but you didn’t want to embarrass Yoongi. This Taehyung…he was in that group with him? Yoongi lived with six other guys, you knew that much and it seemed they were all there right now, ready to leave.

“C’mon,” Taehyung urged, “you want to say goodbye to him, right? It’s cute!”

You found yourself nodding and against your better judgement following him right on inside, shoes clicking against the tiles and echoing off the walls. You moved in silence until you reached the apartment and as Taehyung opened up your heart thudded in your chest—you felt like you were breaking the law or something. Now that you’d had time to process everything, maybe this was hasty? However, you couldn’t turn back now. Taehyung knew you were here, he’d just tell Yoongi if you ran off, acting all weird.

“Up the stairs, first door on the left,” he told you as if on cue, watching you with amusement as you stood awkwardly in the door way. “Last time I saw Jin he was in Jimin’s room so you should be good—alone…” he added, wriggling his eyebrows and you nodded coyly, scurrying in the direction of the stairs. You had no clue who he was on about but at least it gave you something to ponder while you crept up the stairs, nerves itching to get the better of you.

His door was closed when you got to the top and you gingerly hovered behind it, fist in the air trying to pluck up the courage to knock. You soon realised you didn’t have all day and let the anger you were feeling this morning resurface. You were here for an explanation. Nothing more, nothing less, and quickly your fist met the wood. There was a pause of silence and then Yoongi’s voice called for whoever it was to come in. You could tell by his face when he saw who it was, he most definitely wasn’t expecting it to be you.  

“Y-Y/N......?”

He looked surprised, hand that was holding a backpack loosening before he dropped it to the bed. His bed. It was at that point you realised you’d never seen inside his room and you couldn’t help but look around briefly, noting the colours of the walls and the type of ornaments he had lying about. It was cosy. His own little place…and in that moment, you just grew angrier.

You didn’t know Yoongi. Not really. There was so much of his life you had no idea about. Of course, you knew the bare minimum; where he came from, family members, his occupation, but…you didn’t really know. That had just been proven when you met Taehyung. You didn’t know who he was, you’d had to play a guessing game. Just like all those other names you’d heard from him. Come to think of it, everything you knew about Yoongi’s line of work came from you googling it—like some type of stalker. Yoongi had never let you in, not really. You thought he had, and you guessed he did so up until a point. You remembered a time when he had been very patient with you as you told him about your life, but come to think about, maybe he didn’t care at all… Your insecurities were getting the better of you, ones you didn’t know you had. Like a fool you had done the complete opposite. You had told you more about your life than you’d told anyone before and now you looked like an idiot because to Yoongi you were a secret. His dirty little secret. He had stopped letting you in and now he couldn’t even tell you he was leaving properly.

That had once again been proven by the way he’d run off this morning and why he was looking so sheepish right now. Did you really mean so little to him? You didn’t know who Yoongi was at all and you’d further made a fool of yourself by coming here now, uninvited. Well, you weren’t going to let it go to waste. This was it. You needed to stop whatever the hell was going on. You’d been so stupid.

“I got your note,” you began, opening your mouth to continue but Yoongi interrupted, hand raised to you cautiously as he walked towards you.

“Look, I’m so sorry about that. I wanted to tell you but time kept running away with me—I couldn’t find a good enough time—

“What about last night?” You cut in, disbelief colouring your voice. “Or was fucking me more important than letting me know you were going away for a month? Did you want something to remember me by, huh? Something to make your nights a little less lonely?”

“Wow,” he shook his head, wincing a little at your crudeness. “That’s not what last night was—at all! I got a little carried away and before I knew it there was no perfect way of telling you I was leaving—

“It’s because you didn’t even try!” You practically yelled. “I’m not an idiot, Yoongi. You’ve probably known about it for months! You had plenty of chances to tell me. The truth is, you don’t care enough to do so, do you,” you chuckled bitterly. “Silly, stupid me!”

“I care so much about you, you’ve got it wrong!” He insisted, but it didn’t matter, they were just words.

“You’ve never told me anything,” you accused. “I’m just some kind of object to you. Always have been, always will be.”

“You’re talking crazy.”

“I was fucking stupid to think things were different once you left that place. I’m just some kind of coping mechanism for you,” you said, pathetically realising the reality you’d been living for weeks, if not months.

“That’s not true,” he implored, his mannerisms turning desperate as he moved closer to you, but you dismissed him, hands pushing him away.

“Just to let you know, I had a wonderful night. I’m still thinking about it. Thank you,” you mimicked his note bitterly and his eyes widened. “Thank you?! Like I did you some kind of service! Where was the money, huh Yoongi? Where’s my money for giving you such a good time?”

“Y/N!” He whispered furiously, eyes glancing at the door, probably worried someone may hear and you scoffed loudly.

“You’re not even denying it—

“You’re not giving me a chance!” He half-shouted, exasperated. “You’re hurling all these fucking stupid accusations at me. It’s laughable.”

“No.” You shook your head, feeling heat rise to your cheeks. He wasn’t making you look paranoid. “No. Don’t say that. You know what is laughable? Me being so mad at you right now but knowing I’m going to miss you like crazy once you go.”

He froze, face softening as he processed your words and he went to hold you but you pushed him away. “Y/N…” he tried again, but it wasn’t going to work.

“Why didn’t you tell me sooner, Yoongi?” You asked quietly, voice breaking and he went to open his mouth but you stopped him. “You think you can just drop this on me like you did and I’m supposed to accept it?”

“I know, okay,” he agreed, sighing softly and this time you let him take your face in his hands, looking into his eyes, wanting nothing more than to know what the hell was going on inside that brain of his. “I’m sorry. I just didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.

He was being genuine. You could tell. However, sadly, it wasn’t enough and you pushed him away slowly, slinking back towards the door. He watched you, a lost look on his face but he didn’t try to pull you back.

“It’s too late for that,” you told him sadly. “Yoongi, we’ve been really dumb. This was never going to work out—” he went to interrupt you “—no, just listen. This isn’t possible. Whatever this is—” you pointed between the both of you “—it shouldn’t have gone this far.”

He watched you for a long moment, silence capturing you both and you couldn’t work out if you felt relieved or disappointed that he didn’t try to disagree. It just proved that you were correct. You didn’t want to be, but you were.

“Enjoy your trip and stay healthy, okay?” You told him, hand on the door handle. “We shouldn’t see each other once you come back—

“Y/N—

“We shouldn’t,” you insisted, “whatever you do, don’t come to my work when you’re home. I don’t want to see you.”

“But—please,” he begged, reaching for you but you were already half way out the door, greedily taking one last look at his face—he looked dejected, lost, and you felt guilty…but you couldn’t do this anymore. It needed to stop.

You flew down the stairs two at a time, desperate to leave the apartment and you gasped silently when you knocked into someone, their strong arms reaching for your shoulders and holding you upright, stopping you from tumbling.

“Hey, watch out,” they exclaimed—a man’s voice, although he didn’t sound annoyed. He was trying to make eye contact but you refused, your mind a mess and you pushed past him, making it back into the hallway and out the front door before you could take another breath.

Only when you were outside did you let the fresh morning air into your lungs, gasping for it helplessly, trying to clear the heaviness settling in your chest.

❀❀❀❀ 

“Who was that?” Jin asked, entering their room through the open door.

Yoongi ignored him, although he wasn’t really sure if he was paying attention anyway. Jin’s voice sounded muffled, like Yoongi was underwater and he could’ve been imagining it for all he knew. He slumped onto the edge of his bed, head in his hands as his fingers pulled at his hair roots, racking his brains for answers he didn’t have. This couldn’t be happening.

“Tae said he let some girl in—he said not to come up here but god, he wasn’t to know if it was truly someone you knew! It could have been a crazed stalker or something,” Jin rambled on, coming towards him and Yoongi could hear him absentmindedly begin to fold things into his backpack for him.

He inwardly groaned, he didn’t know if he had it in him to leave right now. There was so many things he wanted to tell you but at this point he didn’t even know if you’d listen. You didn’t want to see him? At all? Were you trying to tell him it was over? It couldn’t be. He refused to believe it. He’d messed up, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about, didn’t want you. He was not using you at all, whatsoever. You were thinking bullshit.

“—glad it wasn’t though. Although, she was acting strange when I bumped into her on the stairs…hm? Yoongi?” Jin nudged him with his hand but Yoongi was too far into his pity party to look up, nor to speak.

“Jesus fucking christ, you’re going away for a month, not a year. You’ll be back soon, then you can see what’s-her-name all you want… Hm, kinda cute, I guess…” He trailed off, and Yoongi could feel his eyes on him, watching his pathetic form—what did he look like? He dread to think.

“Just don’t cry, okay? Because I’m not good with tears—especially coming from you…”

Yoongi heard Jin’s footsteps around the room until it was joined by the wheels of a luggage case, and by the large zipping sound and shuffling going on, he guessed Jin was starting to pack. Silence filled the room and Jin made no moves to try and talk to him again, or even to try and coax an explanation from him. It was unsettling almost and Yoongi began to feel anxious. He couldn’t keep all this in. Not talking is what got him into this mess, and to be quite honest, he needed a second opinion. One that wasn’t Namjoon’s. No offence to the guy but he tended to have a pessimistic outlook on life—realistic, but cynical. Seokjin was also a realist, but at least he showed more enthusiasm towards things, albeit not so serious at times.

Yoongi sighed loudly and then opened his mouth. “I messed up.”

There was a pause as Jin processed his words and then he spoke. “What do you mean?”

Yoongi sighed again, he was really doing this…talking…and he lifted his head out of his hands, blinking a little in the bright unfamiliar lighting. “I, er…” he tried again, hissing through his teeth, “I messed up with Y/N.”

“Y/N? Who’s that? That girl I just saw?” Jin frowned at him from his bed and Yoongi inwardly groaned. He didn’t want to have to explain everything from the beginning but it seemed like he had no choice.

He nodded slowly, wetting his mouth with his tongue to try and make it move naturally, racking his brains on where to start. The beginning was probably best and he braced himself for the reaction of his friend.

“You know you told me to go to that place…?”

“What place?” Jin wondered, eyebrows now furrowed together and Yoongi sighed, biting back mild annoyance. He didn’t want to spell it out for him, somewhere deep down he knew that was a problem.

He coughed. “That place,” he emphasised, just to see the older boy still looking blank. “When I had my…problem…” he practically groaned.

“Oh.” Jin intoned, his face brightening up. “That psychic massage parlour down town? Did your girl—hm, what’s her name again? Y/N? Did she find out?” He laughed loudly and Yoongi closed his eyes, asking god for patience and some balls…by hell did he need to grow some new balls.

“No,” he shook his head quickly, knowing there wasn’t a better way to reveal such a thing. “She is the girl.”

The room went deathly silent as Jin took the time to process, mouth dropping open in an almost comical fashion. It was very rare that people saw this guy speechless but Yoongi had done it tonight.

“Wait—she—that girl—” he spluttered, thumb pointing to the door as he spun around a little, as if he was expecting you to still be there, “—she works there? That’s how you met? Wait—” he shook his head in disbelief, “—please start from the beginning because I’m fucking confused—They do home visits now?” and Yoongi judged him silently when he saw the older boy looked vaguely interested. “I thought that was the girl you’ve been seeing!”

“She is the girl I’ve been seeing,” Yoongi hissed.

How stupid could someone get? He was losing his patience, although he knew it was because he’d never felt more like an idiot. Maybe this was a bad idea? He should have just chased after you, tried to make you believe him when he said he wanted you for real, that he wasn’t using you and that he never would.

“I’m still confused.”

“Yeah, ok. I get that you’re confused. So am I. Join the damn club!” Yoongi huffed in annoyance. “Look. I don’t know how it happened but somehow we both fell for each other. I can’t explain it, but there was a connection there. I really like her.”

“So… this whole time you’ve been disappearing you were at that place?” Jin asked slowly, trying to work things out.

“No,” Yoongi shook his head. “Well, at first yes, but I haven’t been back there in weeks. We decided we wanted to hang out, just the two of us, alone…dating, I guess,” he explained, shifting uncomfortably. He wasn’t good at this and he desperately tried to ignore the burning of his face.

“Well shit,” Jin breathed. “I had no clue. Does anyone else know?”

“Namjoon does.”

“And that fucker didn’t tell me,” he affronted, highly offended.

“I asked him not too,” Yoongi replied dryly. “It’s a difficult situation to be in and now I messed it up anyway.”

“How come? Because you don’t like the idea of her being with all those other guys?” Jin asked pitifully, voice lowering.

“No,” He shook his head indignantly. That most definitely wasn’t it. Yoongi never let the thought of you working at that place into his head. He didn’t need to think about it, that was just another headache he didn’t need, but he wasn’t going to admit that yes, the thought sometimes crept inside his brain at night when he was trying to sleep and wouldn’t leave for hours. However that was nothing compared to the thought of losing you now. He would live with those nightmares if it meant keeping you in his life.

“She’s not with other guys, not really,” he dismissed quickly, which was true. It was just a job, one you didn’t enjoy, not really. “It has nothing to do with that anyway.”

He waited for Jin to have his opinion out, but surprisingly he didn’t speak, instead listened on patiently, actually waiting for Yoongi to carry on.

“I never told her I was leaving today,” he finally said, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“You what?!” Jin half-shouted. “So that was her finding out just now? No wonder she was storming out. You idiot.”

Yoongi let the waves of embarrassment wash over him for a moment before he swallowed and tried again. For it to be further confirmed that he was an idiot was not what he wanted right now.

“No, I did tell her…this morning…,” and he coughed uncomfortably, feeling scrutinised by Jin’s intense gaze. “I was supposed to tell her last night but I didn’t have a chance and then, well—

“So you dropped the bombshell and then just upped and left? Nice one,” Jin interrupted, sarcasm dripping off his tongue.

“I didn’t want to hurt her feelings but I think I ended up making it worse,” Yoongi muttered, looking up to see Jin giving him a pointed look, as if to say you think and he braced himself, knowing if he wanted some advice he was going to have to be completely honest.

“…Thing is…we kind of spent the night together, y���know, properly—for the first time and then I didn’t know how to tell her I was leaving because she was so happy—and I was too,” he added, not wanting to be misconstrued.

“This is just getting better and better,” Jin gleed, rubbing his hands together.

“Will you just let me finish, please,” Yoongi stressed, rubbing his forehead with his palm aggressively.

“Sorry, go ahead.”

“Right, well…I panicked—” he ignored Jin’s scoff and carried on “—so I just woke up this morning and left a note—I didn’t think properly and said some stupid shit and now I can’t take it back. I wasn’t expecting her to come here, and now she’s mad and upset, and—fuck, I’m an asshole,” he babbled on quickly, sighing quickly when he’d truly realised what he’d done. “She thinks I used her…”

“Well I would too,” Jin quipped, shrugging as Yoongi looked back at him. “You’re saying you had sex with her and then ran before she had time to wake up?”

Yoongi winced but had to nod because that’s exactly what he’d done.

“You really have no clue how women work, do you? Wait! Let me rephrase that—you don’t know how love works at all,” Jin exclaimed.

“I didn’t say this was about love,” Yoongi mumbled, the word igniting some kind of fear inside his chest, but Jin did have a point. Love. Was what he felt for you love? Or as near as it could be? Or what it was running too…? He didn’t know anymore, but what he did know was that realising he’d hurt you today was a horrible feeling. It got him right in the chest, between the ribs and it weighted his whole body down, making it hard to breathe properly.

“Whatever it is—love, sex, relationships,” the older boy exclaimed again. “You’re a novice. You have no idea what to do.”

Yoongi had to agree to that. He did have no clue whatsoever. He hadn’t been this interested in someone else in well, forever. He couldn’t even remember ever feeling like this before.  Everything was a mess and now he didn’t know how to make it better. He looked over at Jin almost pleadingly.

“Do you want to make it up to her?” He asked and Yoongi nodded. “Are you sure? Because if I was you, I would have chased after her, tried to show her how sorry I was.”

Yoongi groaned loudly. “What was I supposed to do? She basically told me it was over just now. She doesn’t want me.”

“Oh for god’s sake!” Jin practically burst, hands in the air in a dramatic motion. “That’s what she says but it’s not what she means,” and Yoongi blinked in confusion. “She wanted you to chase after her and tell her how much you like her, love her—or whatever it is you feel for her. Of course she wants you, she wouldn’t have come all this way otherwise. She’s mad because she cares.”

Yoongi’s brows furrowed. What Seokjin was explaining to him right now seemed bewildering, but he guessed it made sense. Yoongi had a habit of giving up straight away when told something. He didn’t want to look a fool, but more than that, he wanted to respect your wishes. If you said it was over, that was your decision. Not his to disregard.

“You’re too passive,” Jin went to carry on but Yoongi shook his head, “I’m just unsure—

“Unsure of what? She likes you, you like her, right?”

“I do, but that’s not what I’m unsure of. Of course I like her, I wouldn’t have spent all my time with her if not, I just…” he trailed off, stumped.

“You just...?” Jin pressed.

Yoongi sighed. “Maybe this is a sign. A blessing in disguise. I mean, this situation isn’t highly ideal, with her…y’know, occupation and I…I should really just be concentrating on my music right now, so really—

“Bullshit.”

“What?” Yoongi blinked, shocked by Jin’s defiant attitude.

“Okay, yeah, her job is questionable to say the least—I’m just being honest—” he added when he saw Yoongi’s eyes flash a little, “—I’m not judging at all, hell—I’ve been there, right? Just like you, Namjoon…”

Yoongi agreed, they couldn’t really judge, although Namjoon had regardless, even without realising, just like he didn’t realise his hypocrisy.

“It’s just questionable because I don’t think I’d be able to deal knowing my girlfriend was touching up other men multiple times a night, even if there were no emotions involved,” he carried on, and Yoongi had to try really hard for his words not to get to him. That’s the last thing he needed, images like that floating around in his mind while he was away.

“But you seem fine with it, so there’s that… Who cares, right? It’s the 21st century. People do really weird things for work now—look at us!” He exclaimed. “And to be perfectly honest, you deserve happiness, Yoongi. You shouldn’t be expected to work every single hour of your life on music. I get you love it, but the world is a big place. There’s other things to love out there… like…Y/N…”

Yoongi was silent for a moment as he contemplated Jin’s words. His chest even began to feel a little lighter. He was right actually. You give him happiness, a kind he’d never felt before, not even with his music. In fact, if anything, you just motivated and inspired him further. You were pretty magic when he thought about it.

“I’ve never seen you happier since you began disappearing off in the nights,” Jin said, and Yoongi was touched by his sincerity, until… “—should have known it was more than a measly hand job you were getting all this time.”

“Seokjin!” He exasperated, cheeks blazing red instantly.

“I’m just saying,” he insisted, hands up in surrender. “Don’t throw a good thing away because of obscurity.”

“Yeah but…” Yoongi groaned a little, “We still have to go away for so long. How will I make it up to her?”

Jin shrugged. “Maybe space is what you both need for a little bit. Emotions are running a little high right now. You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

Yoongi nodded, even though the thought of being without you for so long made his heart hurt, but Jin was right… Clearing his head while away seemed like a good idea, and after that he’d come to find you, and he’d make it up to you. He knew it. He’d become a better person. The new and improved Min Yoongi and he’d show you how sorry he was.

“You’re right.”

“Always am,” Jin shrugged smugly and usually Yoongi would roll his eyes, but for once, Jin had actually given some solid advice, in his own little way of course, and he could tell by the way the older boy was looking at him right now that he cared for him, maybe even worried too.

Yoongi smiled, standing up and walking over to him to tap his shoulder in appreciation, albeit awkwardly, “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Jin replied, his voice a little tight, equally awkward, as if he wasn’t trying to make a big deal out of all this. “Now pack, because our flight is in a few hours and all you’ve packed is your underwear.”

The next month passed by painfully slow for you. It was weird that summer had still been a thing when Yoongi left—or only just, but now that he was due back, autumn had taken over the city, leaves turning orange and brown before eventually dying and falling from their home, left to crunch under people’s feet as they rushed to and from work.

You had no idea why you were counting down the days until Yoongi’s return, for one, you didn’t know when he was due back specifically and secondly, what did it matter? You’d ended things. You weren’t going to see him in a month and you weren’t going to see him at all, period. You needed to get used to it. However, even though this month should have made things easier, gotten you used to his permanent absence, it just made it worse.

You’d messed up. Looking back, you’d acted irrationally. Of course you had every right to be annoyed, hurt, mad, but you’d bit without thinking. You’d really thought that Yoongi never let you in? That was a joke. Yes, maybe when it came to expressing himself he wasn’t the best. But he had said so himself, he found it easy to talk to you. That’s why he had been so taken.

I didn’t want to hurt you. Those words played on your mind more often than you’d like to admit. You knew they were the truth. Yoongi didn’t like to hurt people’s feelings, and although he had hurt yours, you shouldn’t have acted so flippantly. You should have heard him out and not closed him off. Because that’s what you did. You always did it. Maybe you were the one with the issues… You had definitely hurt him that day. When you told him it was over and that you didn’t want to see him. You’d been angry and you’d said things you didn’t mean. Nothing seemed to be falling into place and having no control over something so important to you was killing you. Why couldn’t Yoongi just tell you things? It would be much easier. But maybe it was too late for that now…

He didn’t message you at all, not that you expected it—he was probably busy, but that still didn’t stop you from checking your phone religiously. Maybe he had actually listened to you? He wasn’t ever going to contact you again? Or worse, maybe he thought you’d been right all this time. It was never going to work out between you… However, you didn’t want that to be true. You wanted it to work out, so bad. Without him there seemed to be a gaping hole in your chest and as time stretched on it just got bigger…

When your door knocked one night you really weren’t expecting it to be him. You mean, somewhere in the back of your mind you knew the depressingly slow and painful month was now over, but you had trained your mind to not think about it. If you did, it just made it worse, another painful reminder that there were just many more months to come.

You were so in shock when you opened the door to see Yoongi standing there, the first thing you did was say, “I told you not come,” your voice sounding small and quiet as you took in his appearance. He looked no different to when you’d last seen him, you don’t know what you’d been expecting. Maybe his face looked a little tired, cheeks drawn and dark bags under his eyes but his eyes burned with such a ferocity that you didn’t notice. He looked determined, fix unwavering as he spoke.

“You said not to that place,” and you had no reply back.

You couldn’t believe he was stood right in front of you, one foot on the threshold as he patiently waited for you to invite him in. The thought didn’t even cross your mind to refuse him and tell him to go away. He was here. He hadn’t listened to you, to which you were thankful and now he was real and he was at your place, and you could look at him, smell him, touch him if you wanted to—oh, you so wanted to touch him, just to make sure he wasn’t a mirage.

You pulled the door open further, stepping back to let him in and he took the chance without hesitation, turning on the spot to face you, mouth open ready to speak but you interrupted him, leaping into him practically as you gripped onto the top of his arms and pressed your mouth against his. His lips felt unusually chapped as you pushed all your force into them, but still the same. You’d missed the feeling and for a moment you forgot everything, you just needed to touch him, to feel him, your eyes clenched shut as time stood still.

“H-huh—w-wait,” he spluttered, pulling back and you went to kiss him again but he gripped your waist, tugging at your shirt to still you.

Looking up at him his eyes were wide and surprised. Whatever he was expecting when he knocked on your door wasn’t that, but you were so overcome with emotion it was all you could think of doing. You’d really thought that was it, that it was over but now here he was.

“I’m so sorry Yoongi,” you apologised, wrapping your arms around his neck this time, needing to feel the warmth of his body against yours and take in his scent.

“W-wait,” he puzzled, eyebrows furrowed together. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I’m the one who messed up.”

You shook your head persistently, not having it, “But I said some awful things. Things I didn’t mean, I was just mad—

“Yeah, mad for a reason—because of me,” he half chuckled, reaching for your arms and placing them back to your sides, but he did link his fingers with yours making your whole being tingle with something you couldn’t place. He looked more relaxed than when you’d opened the door to him.

There was a beat of silence as you looked at each other, your lips parted in awe. Now that he was here you didn’t know what to do. You wanted to hug him, touch him some more, but his hands held yours gently down and all you could do was stare into his eyes, observing every little feature of his face, just like he was doing to you.

“I missed you,” he murmured after what felt like minutes, eyes dark and serious, and your heart swelled, warmth spreading through every vein in your body.

“I missed you too,” you smiled slightly, squeezing his fingers in yours, and you had. It had physically hurt at times and you had wondered what life was like before you met Yoongi because now you couldn’t remember.

This time he let himself smile too, slowly letting go of your hands to grip your forearms and move them around his middle. You clutched on easily, pressing him flush against you and quietly sighing in relief when you felt him wrap his arms around you too. You breathed him in, his scent instantly bringing you comfort. It was horrible how you couldn’t remember it when he’d been gone, so soon, as if you’d never known it at all, but now he was here again, it was like you had never forgotten. He buried his face into your hair, inhaling loudly too and you squeezed him tighter, eyes closed too.

“You know, I had a full-blown plan coming here tonight,” he chuckled lowly, trying to pull away to look at you again but you hugged him tighter causing him to laugh a little louder. He twisted a little to pull his arms out and wrap them around your shoulders, his fingers weaving into your hair to tilt your face towards his.

“I was going to try and win you back, camp outside until you gave in, not give up until you heard me out,” he teased with a smile, but something told you he was probably being somewhat serious. Knowing that he had at least been thinking of you since he was gone made you feel even better. You’d been scared he would have come back and not cared anymore.

“I had a month to cool down,” you grinned coyly, feeling a little guilty for how rash you had acted. Time was a great healer, but sometimes it could show you how much you had overreacted or how much you had spoken without consideration for the other person’s feelings.

“Let’s forget about that now—you’re here, that’s all that matters,” you told him, rubbing his back.

He hummed, playing with the ends of your hair, “that’s true…I also had a month to think about things…you know I’m not good at expressing my feelings and shit, especially with people I care about—like you…” he got out, keeping eye contact to show his determination.

“What I did before I left was super cowardly and I’m embarrassed by it—” you went to interrupt him and tell him it was ok, forgotten about even but he wouldn’t let you, as if he knew what you were about to say “—I probably should have told you there and then but I spoke with Jin—

“You spoke about me with other people?”

You didn’t question it in a rude way, more like you were pleasantly surprised you’d come up in conversation. Before Yoongi had left you were so sure you were his dirty little secret, something to be embarrassed about, but hearing that he’d actually told someone about you was sort of heart warming.

Jin? That was one of the guys Taehyung had named, right? You’d kept a mental note of their names since you’d heard them and now that you and Yoongi seemed to be okay, you reminded yourself that one day you’d ask about them. You wanted to know about his life and that included the people he worked with, the people he classed as his friends, maybe even family.

“I didn’t shut up about you this whole time,” he confessed, looking down as an embarrassed smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “I’m sure they know more about you then you do yourself,” he added, chuckling and your heart swelled for what felt like the millionth time in the past few minutes. When you didn’t say anything back because all you could do was grin, he carried on.

“…Jin suggested I wait a little, use the month to truly think about what I want…”

“And what do you want?” You wondered out loud, unable to stop yourself, your heart beginning to drum against your rib cage.

He coughed once, shifting uncomfortably in your arms and your grip loosened on instinct, only to tighten even harder when he finally answered.

“You.”

You let out a breath you didn’t even realise you’d been holding, his answer leaving you lost for words. Of course you knew that you meant something to him in the past, like that time he’d confessed to liking you after he got you ice cream and you kissed. That had been something beyond belief and you’d thought nothing could top that, until now, when he was stood in front of you telling you something so simple, yet so meaningful.

“I want you, always,” he repeated with more vigour, his tongue coming out to wet his lips before he carried on. “You mean so much to me, Y/N, and I know I’m awkward at this stuff but with you I really couldn’t care if I embarrassed myself—not anymore anyway,” he shook his head. “I want to be with you properly. You’ve changed my life for the better and I don’t care how cheesy that sounds.”

There was another pause as you took in his words and his face turned from determined to a little unsure, gaze wavering over your face as he tried to read your expression.

“Are you going to say anything…?”

You shook your head, trying to knock some sense back into your brain and tried again. “I’m sorry, I’m just a little speechless.”

“Good speechless or bad speechless?” He asked with a wince, face scrunched up.

As if it would be bad.

“Great,” you whispered, and his mouth popped into an ‘o’ shape. You carried on. “Great speechless, ecstatic speechless.” Grinning, you reached for his hands, still entwined in your hair to clasp them and pull them to the middle of your bodies, looking him in the eyes.

“Meeting you is the best thing that’s ever happened to me, if that isn’t obvious by now.”

“You mean it?” He murmured, eyes filled with hope, and you nodded eagerly. “Fuck ok, I’ve never asked anyone this before, not this formally before anyway…but…” he began to babble, shuffling on his feet as his cheeks dusted red. “I want this to be as serious as it gets,” and with a deep breath “—will you be my girlfriend?”

You knew what was coming. Of course you did. But hearing it out loud had more of an affect on you than you imagined, the world girlfriend ringing in your ears. It was official? This whole month of torture was over and now this?

You nodded crazily, stuttering a “y-yes,” before you let his hands drop to wrap your arms around his neck, watching his eyes widen in shock and a grin form in amazement.

“Of course I will,” you affirmed before kissing him like you’d wanted to since he arrived on your doorstep.

His mouth was gentle, lips moulding against yours perfectly as you weaved your fingers in his hair and he wound his arms around your middle, clutching you to his body as his warmth spread through yours, mouths parting naturally in need of the others tongue, wanting to taste each other; it had been soon long. Soft sighs of satisfaction left you as you clung to him, his large hands rubbing your back as he hummed too, the vibrations running through your body and clouding your brain. You didn’t want to let go of him. It had been so long since you’d kissed him like this you had almost forgot what it felt like, becoming breathless and uncontrollable.

“I’m sorry,” you apologised, pulling away as you both stood panting. “Are you tired? Do you want to nap?”

You were unsure how long he’d be travelling for or if he hadn’t managed to get some sleep on the way before he arrived at yours. You didn’t want him to think you were jumping his bones as soon as you made up. If he needed to rest, he needed to rest.

“I was tired but I’m wide awake now,” he smiled, still pretty breathless as he snaked his arms around your waist again, crotch circling against yours. His eyes twinkled mischievously and you couldn’t help but look down and smile shyly, trying to distract yourself.

“Do you want to tell me about your trip? I can make you something to eat, we can watch—

He stopped you with a chaste kiss, cupping your chin to angle your face to his and when he pulled away with a smile he replied “—I can tell you about all that in the morning.”

“Morning?” You asked quietly, your belly doing little somersaults when he nodded.

This time you kissed him; one, twice, a third time as he tried to make you stay longer, puckering his lips out but you giggled and kissed across to his cheek, his chin, until you were at his neck, pecks turning into wet kisses as you tasted the skin you’d missed so much.

He groaned out a “I’ve missed you,” as he thread his hands in your hair, anchoring you to him and you murmured “I’ve missed you too” against his wet throat, breath causing goosebumps to ripple across the flesh as he shuddered, staggering back a little. Before you knew it, you had pulled him into your room, giggling and kissing the whole way.

This time felt different to before. Maybe you weren’t so nervous, or maybe it was because you’d had time to really think about what you wanted. This time around everything was out in the open and there were no doubts. You wanted each other. You craved each other.

You sat on the side of your bed, Yoongi stood over you, both your lips kiss bitten and swollen, panting loudly. You want to unclasp his pants but he stopped you, warm hand wrapping around yours.

“Wait,” he murmured, placing your hand down as he leaned over and you shuffled up the bed allowing him to crawl over you. His hands went to the the hem of your shirt and he caught your eyes, seeking permission. You nodded eagerly, helping him swiftly tear the fabric over your head. His eyes fell to your chest immediately, absorbing the sight bestowed   before him and went back to kissing you, breath uneven and shaky as his hands moved to hold your waist. His hands were cold and they made you shiver in his hold. He chuckled and kissed down your neck as you moaned quietly, just silently concentrating on the pleasure he was giving you.

When his mouth slid to to your chest, hot breath and wet tongue against your sensitive flesh, you let your head fall back, elbows letting you lean upright as you watched him, simmering heat settling inside the pit of your stomach when his hands reached behind you to unclasp your bra and free you. The cold air hit your nipples but one was immediately engulfed in wet warmth as he wrapped his lips around it, tongue flicking against the nub, the sensation mouthwatering, and you watched him in awe, hand on the back of his head.

One of his hands came out to massage the other breast and you moaned, overcome with pleasure but still wanting more. You were greedy and you pushed your hips into his, desperate for some kind of friction, the heat in your belly beginning to manifest into some kind of inferno. The slightest of brushes against his pants shot pleasure through your body and you moaned a little louder, feet fumbling on the bed as you desperately tried to chase it.

He moaned against you, the vibrations rumbling through your chest and he broke away with a pop, sticky sounds turning you on even more as he kissed down your stomach, hands reaching for your leggings this time, fingers hooking into the waistband, eyes dark as he looked up your body and watched you. You fidgeted in anticipation, breath caught in your chest before he was dragging the garment off, underwear and all.

As he pulled, he slid off the bed, knees hitting the floor, peeling the fabric off yours legs. He proceeded to kiss up your calves and behind your knee, the sensation toe-curlingly good, before he pulled a little, your butt sliding down the bed as he yanked your legs over his shoulders. He kissed against the inside of your thighs, nose pressing against the supple flesh as he inhaled.

“Just want to pleasure you,” he mumbled, kissing you harder and you moaned, opening your legs wider until one of them fell from his shoulder, lounging on the bed as your foot dangled to the floor. Your body was burning for him, even more so when he used his hands to massage and rub against your thighs, causing goosebumps to form.

He kissed closer and closer to where you wanted him, breath hot and sticky as each press of his mouth grew wetter and wetter. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d been this turned on. It was taking over your body. It was never you receiving this pleasure and stupidly you’d thought you weren’t missing it at all. That was until Min Yoongi came on the scene.

“I want to taste you,” he rasped, his wet kisses increasing in speed and height.

You were wet, you could hear it as Yoongi pried your thighs apart even more, head buried between them, face seconds away too, and you held your breath, a whimper leaving you as you desperately bit down on your bottom lip, whole body shaking, whole body craving him.

“Can I?” He asked, looking up at you, hunger in his black eyes and all you could do was nod, afraid that no sound would come out if you tried to function like a normal human anyway.

You were sure he whimpered too once you give him permission and he pecked once at the inside of your left thigh, shuffling on his knees as he dragged himself closer to you. You had to admit the sight of him on his knees for you had some sort of profound effect on you, reminding you of that time when you’d pleasured him on your own knees back at work. That seemed like lifetime ago now and you would’ve never imagined that you’d be here right now. You didn’t only want him sexually, you wanted him full stop.

The first motion between your legs was more like a kiss. He opened his mouth and swirled his tongue against your core, eyes closed, a long, hungry groan of relief leaving him as he paused for a second, what sounded like fucking finally leaving him and you were too scared to make a sound or move, thighs twitching the only thing brave enough in this world to do so and that was only because you’d didn’t have any control over them. Not anymore anyway.

His tongue brushed against you again, and then again, pleasure flooding your veins and you relaxed a little, letting the palms of your hands press against the mattress as you watched Yoongi between your legs. It wasn’t until he began sucking at your clit that you let yourself go, moaning as you wound your fingers in his dark locks, tugging at the roots.

“You taste so good,” he groaned, tongue flicking against the bundle of nerves now and you sighed breathlessly in immense pleasure, a giggle leaving you when he blew against your heat, tickling you and making you squirm, but he latched onto your hips, holding you down, pulling away with a smirk.

You tried to kick your hips into him, desperate for more but he wouldn’t give it to you—not with his tongue anyway. Instead, palm up, he used his index and middle finger to rub at your entrance, coating the pads of his digits with your arousal, experimenting by wiggling his forefinger inside you first. You watched him with a whimper, eyes fixated to your core as he pushed his middle finger inside too, until he hit the knuckle. He flicked his digits inside of you, brushing against your sensitive walls, gently but with intent and it wasn’t until you could feel the palm of his hand rub against your clit that you moaned, able to jut your hips against his hand now that only one of his was holding your hip.

He let you, surprisingly, rubbing that hand down your thigh as he continued to pleasure you with his long fingers, curling them slowly until they brushed against your g-spot. You watched every move on his face, eyes falling to the wet spots that graced his mouth and chin—you. The sight had your belly flipping again and you wanted him back to where he’d been. It had felt so good and you couldn’t remember feeling that kind of euphoria in a while, if ever…

“Yoongi,” you purred, trying to coax him back and he shot you a lopsided grin, realising instantly what you wanted.

“What do you want, baby?” He asked, voice low and silky, causing you to groan. He was so close to your core you could feel his breath against you and the need for him grew.

“Y-your mouth,” you moaned, “don’t be a tease.”

“Me, a tease?” He questioned, cocking an eyebrow. “I will gladly give you what you want,” he told you, gaze intense, dropping his chin towards your dripping heat, before a slurred always left him and then his mouth was on you again.

This time with his added fingers the pleasure was almost unbearable and you moaned shamelessly now, sighs of his name leaving you too, and by each groan he made against you when you did so, it told you he liked it. You let yourself lay back against the mattress, too overcome to hold yourself up anymore. Each flick of his tongue and brush of his fingers sent you further over the edge, your legs tensing up as your tried to halt the release. It wasn’t because you didn’t want to come, it was just you never wanted this pleasure to end. It was addictive. When you pressed your foot against his shoulder and curled your toes, Yoongi guessed what you were up to.

“Wanna make you cum,” he rasped, his free hand reaching for your stomach as he fluttered his fingers over the skin, catching the underside of you breast and your body shuddered under his touch, watching his dark gaze looking up at you from between your legs.

He sped up, fingers curling up into you quicker and more precise, each movement more determined than the last. You let the feeling take you, tongue now flicking intently against your clit and you closed your eyes, hands wrapping in his hair once again as your whole body tensed up and with a cry a burst of pleasure exploded through you, white dots appearing under your eyelids the feeling was so intense.

His fingers were the first to leave you as you panted above him, sliding out gently before he rubbed at the insides of your thighs with his thumbs, placing small kisses against your mound as you came down from your high. His movements were so gentle you hardly felt them but it was enough, each one filled with love and adoration. When he finally pulled away, he crawled back up your body, although he didn’t need to go far because you were practically hanging off the edge by now. He kissed you with a smile. You’d never seen him look this happy before and knowing it was down to you was kind of breathtaking.

You giggled as he kissed your neck, loud and sloppily as he chuckled with you and it wasn’t long before you were gaining your energy back. As he rolled over you, you could feel his erection straining at his pants, and your hand instantly went to grip it. His laugher caught in his throat and he looked down to regard you, eyes cautious.

“Get naked,” you pouted. “I want you.”

“You sure?” He asked, although you saw the excitement flash in his pupils, and you nodded, a small I missed you leaving you as if that was the only answer he needed.

It was. Of course it was, because he had missed you too.

He stripped quickly and you dragged yourself further up the bed, too lazy and too horny once again to lie vertical at this point—horizontal would do. Feeling him stretch you out this time was definitely more pleasurable than the first. You didn’t really know why, maybe it was because this time there was nothing holding him back. You guessed the first time you’d had sex his brain had been elsewhere, wracked with worry about the impending trip he had to take and still hadn’t told you about. This time Yoongi was at ease and relaxed, eager to pleasure you, just like you had been eager to pleasure him all those times in the past.

He groaned when he bottomed out, burying his head into your chest and you giggled as his hairs tickled your collarbones, gripping onto his shoulders to anchor him down. You never wanted him to leave you. You never wanted this happiness to go. Your heart seemed twice it’s size. How did it fit inside your chest when it was filled with all this love for one man? It was beating like crazy, you could hear it against your rib cage and you were sure Yoongi could hear it too, his sweat slicked body stuck to yours as your limbs tangled together with each thrust inside of you, each moan and sigh against your flesh, each kiss upon your parted lips swelled the muscle more. You were warm; your face, your body, your heart. Everything was filled with such heat you thought you may implode.

When he finally came inside you, you knew that was it. Completeness. That divine state of feeling so full that if you died right here and now you wouldn’t care at all. You’d go happy. You’d go absolute.

“You better be here when I wake up in the morning,” you joked afterwards as he held you in his arms, head on his chest.

“You won’t be able to make me leave,” he told you right back, squeezing you against him with a kiss to your forehead.

You laughed loudly, the noise the most genuine it had sounded in years.

That was the beginning of a very happy few weeks. Being in a relationship seemed to change everything. You still spent the same amount of time together, anything you could take, but just knowing that it was something more now, that it had hit the point you had slowly been working to, made it all that much better. And Yoongi stayed true to his word. This time when he let you in, it wasn’t to his past so much but it was the present, even his future. There had been an awful lot of sharing over the months, first from him and then from you, but now you you were just a constant in each other’s lives. When things happened the other was the first to find out—you shared things, like a real couple should. No secrets, no awkwardness, no worries about hurting the other’s feelings. It was perfect.

That should’ve probably been the bad omen.

As soon as you thought that word, things began to go wrong…

The last place you expected any problems was at a restaurant. Yoongi had taken you out for a meal to a place you’d never heard of—it wasn’t by any means fancy, but it was a place you probably wouldn’t have gone to in casualness. That’s why you didn’t expect to see anyone you knew there. Come to think of it, when did you ever? It wasn’t like you went out a lot and it wasn’t like you knew many people—But of the times and places, why now?

“Aurora?” The voice called, almost uncertain from behind you.

A frozen panic set in when you heard that name because of course that wasn’t your real name, which only meant one thing… Yoongi knew that too, his ears pricking up as he stilled his movements and let his cutlery rest on his plate as he looked towards the person he was facing. His eyes darkened a little and you inwardly cursed. You knew that voice.

“Mr. Lee?” You greeted, turning in your seat slightly to see the older man beside you now, standing over your table. “W-what are you doing here?”

The question may have seemed rude, but you didn’t know what else to see to him. You were in a panic, painfully aware that Yoongi was watching the exchange knowing damn well how this guy knew you…

“I actually have a date,” Mr. Lee smiled sheepishly and you opened your mouth in surprise.

“Oh, that’s great news. I haven’t see you in a while.”

You knew you shouldn’t have said that as soon as it came out of your mouth, regret heavy in your stomach but all you could do was carry on, even when you could feel Yoongi’s vision burning a hole your way.

“I’ve just been busy, finally have access to see my kids now,” the older man carried on, looking happy and for a moment you smiled, genuinely, because you were glad for him. Maybe this was the turning point in his life. “It’s just one day every fortnight, but it’s a start, right?”

“That’s amazing,” you joyed, although it sounded a little forced once you heard Yoongi sigh loudly half way in, and your eyes glazed over his, feeling awkward once again. His face looked annoyed and he scraped his fork around his plate, catching Mr. Lee’s attention like you knew he wanted to.

“Oh,” he said, gaze finally falling on Yoongi as if he’d only just realised there was another person here. “Did I interrupt?”

“Yeah, you did actually,” Yoongi replied straight away, voice curt and lips pursed as he fell back against his chair leisurely. “We’re on a date too.”

“Yoongi,” you couldn’t help but hiss, his name falling off your tongue in warning.

There was no need to be rude to the man. Why was he making this more awkward than it should be? Yes, it was a shock but there was no need to act so abrupt. Mr. Lee wasn’t a threat nor a bad man, and if he was so intent on upsetting him, it could really mess things up for you. Mr. Lee was one of your regulars, the main source of your income on a weekend and in all honesty, you needed him.

“Oh, no,” the older man shook his head at you. “It’s my fault—I best get to my table, ‘date’ll be here soon,” he grinned, doing his best to hide his discomfort. It was obvious there was tension in the room.

“I’ll probably see you soon, bye.”

You closed your eyes at that, wishing with everything that the man had just left and shut up. Your eyes fleeted over Yoongi to see his face like stone. He knew the connotations behind Mr. Lee’s words and no matter how innocently he had said them, it still meant the same thing.

You rushed your goodbyes to the older man and picked up your fork again, your food suddenly the most interesting thing in your life right now as you stared at it. Yoongi didn’t move at first and you could feel his gaze on you, still burning that hole. You wanted to apologise, although you didn’t know why or what to say. It was an awkward situation. On one hand, technically you didn’t owe him anything. He knew what being in a relationship with you involved and he’d accepted it, although not much had been spoken about it in a while, not since you’d become serious anyway…

But on the other hand, you felt guilty. You appreciated everything Yoongi did for you, everything he put up with, because if it was the other way around, you didn’t think you’d be able to do it. It was easy for you to do because working in that place didn’t affect you like that. You didn’t care about those men, only Yoongi, but you had never told him that. He knew he meant a lot to you, he should know that and besides, telling him so may just be vulgar… and maybe, and most likely the case, no no matter how many times you could have or did tell him, it wouldn’t matter. There would always be those insecurities. It was obvious. The realisation made you feel a little sick, even more so when it was obvious Yoongi was agitated, now loudly cutting up his meat on the plate. Otherwise there was painful silence, and you felt really dumb.

“Doesn’t it ever get old?” He spoke finally and you built up the courage to look at him. His eyes were now trained on his plate and your eyebrows knitted together, a little confused by what he meant. There could be a number of things he was on about and you hoped it it wasn’t what you thought it was…

“What?”

“People calling you by the wrong name,” he shrugged.

Relief flooded you for a moment. Even though he was still tense, you could take that question, as long as he didn’t mean anything else. But still, you felt defensive. “Um, no…I kind of like the name Aurora.”

Yoongi tutted quietly under his breath but you chose to ignore it, eating your food in peace even though it now tasted like cardboard. Anything for a distraction. Minutes passed by painfully and you wondered how long this was going to carry on for before he went again.  

“Fuck, I can’t believe that guy,” he chuckled in disbelief, his cutlery clanking on the plate as he slammed them down.

“Yoongi,” you scolded in shock. You’d never seen him act like this before and it was strange, but also you felt a little embarrassed…because it was all on you… The situation was because of you…

“No, really,” he huffed, jaw clenched, “coming up to you like that? We’re on a date? Why would he do that?”

You didn’t really have an answer for that because if that was you, you wouldn’t have done the same. Yoongi was correct about that one.

“I’ll probably see you soon,” he mimicked under his breath and a louder “disgusting pervert” left him soon after.

Your eyes widened in shock, leaning across the table to whisper furiously a “hush” as your cheeks flushed with embarrassment. He stared you down until silence fell across you both again and you sunk back into your chair, painfully aware that Mr. Lee was still in this restaurant somewhere. You were almost relieved when Yoongi pushed his plate away and suggested—well, more like told you that you should leave.

“I’m full. We should go. I have to get up early for work.”

You’d found that strange because he hadn’t mentioned anything about needing to wake up for work the next day, you were under the impression he was staying the night, but one look at him told you he was pouting and you didn’t know whether to carry on feeling guilty or start to grow annoyed.

The car journey back was awkward, to no surprise and you kept your head leant up against the window the whole way home, desperately wanting to be alone. You didn’t think staying in Yoongi’s company was any good right now. You both needed time to cool off. It had been a while since your last disagreement and you felt nervous and anxious, your gut twisting around, especially when he parked outside your apartment and turned to look at you. You were staring straight ahead but you could feel his eyes as if you were staring straight back.

“You know him well?”

Your heart dropped to your belly when you realised who he meant, it was obvious, but your pause in reaction only aggravated Yoongi more and he bit the strangers name loudly. “Mr. Lee.”

“I-I—

“You told him you hadn’t seen him in a while,” he interrupted, and you had to physically bite your tongue in fear of exploding, annoyance taking hold of you. Maybe deep down you were annoyed at yourself, because you couldn’t blame Yoongi for his reaction, but at the same time, he had no right to act like this towards you. He’d wanted you regardless and now he was throwing it back in your face.

“He’s a regular, yes,” and then you paused when you heard him scoff rudely, finally snapping. He wasn’t going to make you feel like an idiot. “Yoongi, do you have a problem right now?”

“Yes.” He quipped straight away, surprising you by his honesty. You would have blamed it on alcohol, but neither of you had drunk tonight. This was all him. “Yes, I do. My problem is, I can’t stop picturing you with that creep.”

“He’s not a creep,” was your first instinct as you replied back. In hindsight, you should’ve probably consoled Yoongi, told him there was nothing to be worried about, or hell, just listened to his concerns, but you were mad and you disregarded his feelings in place of yours.

You’d seen your fair share of creeps, but Mr. Lee wasn’t one. He was a loser maybe, but not a creep. However, that shouldn’t have mattered. Mr. Lee was a nobody, Yoongi was the man you cared for, but your retorts just made him angrier and in turn you couldn’t think straight, his aggravation clouding your rationality.

“Bullshit,” he fumed, expression maddened, eyes wide and cheeks red.

“No.” You refused to listen to him. He couldn’t act like this, superior to every man that walked in that place.

“You don’t get to say that. Not when you’ve been in his shoes. Maybe not the situation he’s in right now, but you’ve been just like him visiting that place.”

Yoongi was silent for a moment before he shook his head, chuckling quietly, as if he couldn’t believe you’d gone there. “That was different,” he muttered quietly, sounding hurt. “I came for you.”

He regarded you silently as he watched your eyes flicker and then he sighed loudly, disappointment loud in his tone. “Are you going to say he comes for you too?—excuse my accidental pun,” he bit sarcastically.

You ignored the burning of your cheeks to repeat, “he’s one of my regulars, yes.”

“One of,” he scoffed quietly and instead of feeling sorry for him, like maybe you should have, you only grew more annoyed.

This was hard on you too. Being with Yoongi was the only distraction, just knowing he didn’t mind what you did got you through the days because that meant in the end it didn’t matter. He cared about you enough to eradicate all that, or so you’d thought. Knowing he wasn’t as okay with all this as he’d first made out made you feel sick and you didn’t know how to cope with it.

“I don’t know why this is such a shock for you, like you suddenly can’t cope with it.” You told him instead, choosing to turn defensive, like you usually did when you felt attacked. “It’s been happening this whole time. News flash—it’s my job! It’s how I make money, to live,” you exasperated loudly.

He dropped his head into his hands, nearly hitting the wheel. “I wish you didn’t have to do it,” he whispered, almost pitifully but instead of wanting to comfort him you grew even madder. Maybe it was ingrained in you after your father; you didn’t like men telling you what to do, controlling you and stunting you. It was your life and you made the decisions.

“You don’t get to wish for me.”

“I’m your boyfriend, of course I do,” he retorted, anger now colouring his voice once again as he sat back up, “and that fucker—" he ranted “—he thinks he can just waltz up to you in the middle of our date and talk to you like he’s some kind of friend.”

“He is—

“Oh, grow up, Y/N!” He yelled, your name tearing through his throat. “You really think he’s your friend? You must be really fucking crazy then—or lonely!” He shot and humiliation washed over you, feeling small as he continued to shout. You hated feeling like an idiot and he was making you feel just that right now.  “All that perv thinks of you as is a sex doll, something to fantasise over as you wrap your hand around his ugly, crusty—

“Shut up!” You cut in, shouting now too. “You don’t get to speak to me like this,” you told him. “You can’t act like this about something that doesn’t concern you.”

“Something that doesn’t concern me?!” He repeated, laughing loudly, belittling you. “Is that what you think? You’re my girlfriend—

“I’m not your property,” you interrupted, hearing enough as your hand latched around the door handle and you pulled, cold air hitting you, clearing your head.

“Where are you going?” He protested, although he seemed to have calmed down instantly now that you were bolting.

“Inside,” you grit out, stepping out the car before he could stop you and spinning around to tell him one last thing, trying to keep your tone as calm as possible, but there was an edge to it and he watched you seriously, regret flashing through his irises as he let your words sink in.

“Talk to me once you’ve calmed down and realised this—I was doing all this before you, it’s how I met you. Don’t be a hypocrite, Yoongi.”

And off you went with a tense goodbye, slamming his car door shut and leaving him all alone as you let yourself inside your apartment.

Yoongi took the silence to try and make sense of what just happened. He was mad, yes, but he was also upset and confused. Somehow it was like all these emotions had been kept hidden inside of him, chained and locked and desperate to stay that way. Seeing that man in the restaurant had been the final straw he didn’t realise existed. He’d recognised the man—Mr. Lee—he’d seen him a couple of times when he’d visited, which seemed like such a lifetime ago now, but he’d forgotten one thing—it was still very much a reality for you.

He may have left that place but you hadn’t. You were still working there on the weekends and no kind of repression could make him forget, not when the reminders hit him that hard in the face. He’d been idiotic to think he could just blank it out. It was never going away… Maybe he’d also been stupid to think it wasn’t a big deal either…

A punch to the gut. That’s what it felt like now. Or maybe like he was drowning, trying to keep his head above surface but failing miserably. He couldn’t stop imagining you with that man, no matter how little it meant to you, no matter how desensitised you were to it all, it still happened. And it still tore Yoongi apart. Seeing him in person, hearing him talk to you like a long-acquainted friend was too much. That creep didn’t know you like him, but he continued to think he did. It was laughable, but it made Yoongi bitter.

However, even more hurtful was how you had disregarded his feelings. He got that you may have been mad because of his reaction but you could have still consoled him a little, told him there was no need to be worried or hurt. Instead you had fobbed him off and stormed away. He understood that he was being hypocritical, just like Namjoon had been all those weeks ago when he’d found out, but for Yoongi it was different. He was with you. He cared about you, had feelings for you. He was allowed to get jealous and act so madly. He was only human.

He hadn’t expected it to happen, but here he was… Maybe he wasn’t as relaxed and at ease with this situation like he’d first thought… It seemed the deeper he fell for you the harder it got and he knew deep down, it was probably only going to get worse, because he loved you… he was sure of it…

He was in love with you.

And that give him more grief than it gave him happiness.

[unfortunatephantasm]

I’ve decided to try and use this blog, just to practice doing things like this. Who knows, maybe I’ll actually garner a following. For now, I’ll leave you all with a short silly thing I wrote some time ago, that I hope none of real life friends will ever find and associate with me.

He awoke again. Dark dirty cobblestones were all he could see. Somewhere, he could hear the dripping of water. A slow drip. "Drip... Drip... Drip.." Endless. Whatever. He knew this place. He knew what he had to do. He had been doing it for months now. Again and again and again. Living, dying and resurrection, to do it all again. He had died once, before all this, and that was what had taken him here. It had been an ordinary life, without pain, without conflict. It had been easy, and truly a blessing, even if he hadn't realised at the time. He had been walking to school. A short walk, fifteen minutes by foot at a slow pace, ten at a fast one, and five at a run. He had been walking. Unlike other days, his hearing and sixth sense had failed him, and so, as he had crossed the road, some loony in a 4x4 had run him over. Instant death. And then he woke up. With the same view as the one, he had right now. Except, the first time, there had been someone to greet him. A young lady, in a tight business top, and miniskirt with stockings. She also had glasses, although her hair was not in a bun. She told him what had happened, then proceeded to tell him why he was here. He was a dungeon crawler. One of the many who had died, and was tasked with the job of reaching the top. They were deep underground, and if they ever wanted to see the civilisation of sorts again, they had to make their way through the hordes of monsters, forgotten magic and other unsavoury crawlers. She had offered him three objects to choose from. "Relics", she had called them. The first, a fire ruby. It would greatly increase his regenerative powers, as long as he put his mind and body through highly stimulating experiences. Like combat. The second, a jade snake bracelet. It would silence his footsteps, and muddle the senses of others around him. The perfect assassins tool. The third, a sapphire orb. It would grant him the ability to read the emotions and intentions of those around him, living or dead, visible or invisible.  It would also greatly increase his mental fortitude and aptitude for magic. He had agonised over it for a long time. But he was still new then, and naive. He did not realise the hardships he would face. But it was too late for regrets. He had made his choice, back then, and he could never take it back. He had reached out and taken the ruby. He barely remembered his reasoning for doing so. But he remembered what it had felt like when he chose it. Burning flames had ignited all over his body, and the ruby had been lit with a brilliant scarlet light. It had floated up then forced its way into his chest, like a dagger plunging into him, setting him ablaze from the inside. And that had been his introduction to this world.

He made his first climb that day, with no protection other than the clothes on his back, and no means of attack other than his hands. Needless to say, it had not gone well; he had been killed and eaten by some creature almost as soon as he went up to the stairs.

The pain had been almost unbearable, and he had dreaded to think it would happen again. But every time, he got up and continued his march upwards. Slowly, ever so slowly, he had grown stronger, learned what lay between him and his goal. He found armour, and weapons, which stayed with him, even when he had died.

But now... He was sick of it. The endless march. No rest. No relaxing. He had to climb. If he died? He was sent back to do it all again.

Why did he have to do this? "Why do I have to do this?"

What? That wasn't him surely? His time in this place had done many things to him, but it had not changed his voice to that of a teenage girl, had it?

"First I'm told I'm dead, and the only way to escape this place is to fight my way out, and now a dead guy suddenly appears..."

Nope, that wasn't him. Looking around, he quickly saw the source of the voice. Surprise surprise, a teenage girl.

Her cheeks were stained with tears, and she was huddled in a corner in what seemed to be... fright? Why? It's not as if there we- Ah. She had thought he was dead, hadn't she? A bit shocking to see the body move suddenly then, wouldn't it?

Well, he didn't want to scare off a potential ally, but the way this girl was acting, it appears he was very scary indeed.

What should he do? When you meet someone for the first time, what is it you're supposed to do? Oh. That was it. --- All of a sudden, the masked figure leapt up. What had been a small and sad corpse had suddenly sprung to life. Tall and menacing, a soft glow emanates from behind the golden mask. And then the man began walking towards me. Long, fast strides. The room was by no means small, it was in fact amazingly large, for such a pointless room. But he crossed it easily and quickly as if he had somewhere to be.

One gloved hand rested on his sword, the other swung in time with his steps.

He was wearing a metal mask it seemed, made from gold it seemed, and his body was clad in a mismatched mix of leather, cloth and metal. Stains and scratches decorated him wherever possible, almost like ceremonial carvings. But perhaps what was most striking about him was the stench of sulphur that clung to him.

He's stopped right in front of me, staring silently. Then, suddenly he's moving. Even though I had promised myself I wouldn't show this stranger how scared I was, I flinched.

But all he had done was put out his hand. Why? What did he want me to do? Did he want me to take his hand? Does he want to help me? What if he doesn't, he's just trying to gain my trust so that he trick me easily later on?

Well, really... What choice did I have? He was offering me a way out, or at least a helping hand in all this mess.

I reached out and took his hand. --- What do I do? I realised my mistake as I stood in front of her. What sort of person would accept the help of a random stranger? Especially one as suspicious-looking as him? Plus, if this girl's introduction was as traumatic as mine was, then she probably wasn't in any state to do anything for the moment.

Woah. I didn't mean to pull her up. Didn't think she'd take my hand in the first place. So that was that then. She's looking at me like she expects something, I have no idea what to do now.

I suppose we should start her first run? There isn't anything in this room. I spent a lot of time searching for this place, in an earlier run.

Well, before that, I suppose we should get her some gear. Jeans and a sweater aren't going to cut it for armour, not against monsters the size of tigers with mouths large enough to swallow beach balls.

***

After pulling me up, the stranger looks at me weirdly. As if he's judging me. What? Don't you like my clothes?

He starts walking away suddenly and I go to follow him. We walk through the only exit visible; A large archway, made from the same dirty orange bricks that the rest of this place is made from. there are torches lining the walls, but they are not lit. The hall we walk down is dark, and the only light comes from the man's burning eyes.

We walk in silence, the only sound is our footsteps and the soft sound of dripping water.

"What did you choose?"

A terrible sound fills my ears, like a tiger's growl mixed with a smoker's cough. A rough, dry snarl, that if you heard it, you would almost say it wasn't human speech. Almost.

"Pardon?" Is that all I can manage? A little squeak? God, I'm so pathetic. What can I do? He's probably regretting even letting me follow him.

"Your relic. What did you pick?"

My relic? I don't remember any relic... Unless he means the... --- I hear a thump behind me, and leaping into a battle stance, I am instead met with the girl lying on the floor again, muttering darkly. What do I do?

and that’s where it ends. It was partly inspired by a game I played a lot for a while.

[scribblles]

Mutual Pining

IchiHime Week 2017

Word count: 1605

Rating: T

Ichigo was staring at her hair. Orihime’s back was to him as she animatedly told Tatsuki and Chad about a customer that had come in to the bakery asking for a large order of her newest creation: mint and lamb filled steam buns. Her boss had told her she was crazy, but lamb was served with mint all time so why not put it in a pastry? She was sure this was the beginning of her great bakery empire, and she would be sure and remember her friends from her lofty position Queen Baker of the Land of the Rising Sun. Her hair was swishing and trembling as excitedly as the rest of her body. She swept back some her hair over her shoulder, and Ichigo seemed to lean in closer and close his eyes a little. Suddenly, she whipped around to say something to him, and with his battle-honed reflexes, Ichigo straightened and listened to her with calm and cool collection, answering her with only the tiniest of stutters and the slightest blush that could be mistaken for the heat of the day. Renji snorted and rolled his eyes. And as if sensing his disdain, Ichigo turned and glared suspiciously. Renji crossed his arms and glared right back. The human was an idiot. Didn’t he see how much bullshit he and Rukia had to go through because he didn’t have the guts to be honest with her? Waiting for the right timing and accomplishments and her brother’s approval and blah blah blah. What did any of that matter? Renji uncrossed his arms, and reached for his fiance’s hand under the table. She didn’t even blink as she continued to calmly sip her tea, but he grinned at the red creeping up the back of her neck and the way her fingers curled around his as his thumb gently stroked the back of her hand . Yep, Ichigo was an idiot. Of course, he was one to be talking, but he didn’t have an example of almost unrealized love right in front of his face like Ichigo did. There was no excuse for this – “Oh for pity’s sake,” Renji grumbled, as Orihime turned back and Ichigo went back to mooning over the back of her head like a sick puppy. “Hm?” said Rukia. “Your protégé is an idiot.” “Hm, only an idiot if it takes him decades and decades and decades to be honest,” she said. Renji cleared his throat and shifted at the steel hiding behind her velvet tone. “Right, well, I – he – he’s got me as a bad example, right? Right in front of him! But he’s been swooning for years now! He’s the savior of the world and legal and still hasn’t had a girlfriend.” “Kurosaki-kun has a girlfriend?” Orihime asked cheerily. Rukia squeezed Renji’s hand so hard he whimpered, and Tatsuki and Chad looked at each other in mutual exasperation. Only Ichigo, whose face dropped with disappointment, didn’t notice that her happy tone was a little too high and like she’d forced her very generous happiness for him through a very tiny needle eye. “N-No! I don’t…have a girlfriend, I…No, definitely don’t have one.” Ichigo was blushing hard and staring daggers at Renji. “What the hell are you two talking about over there?” Renji rolled his eyes as he shook out his hand. “I said, you can save the world, but your pathetic ass has the reached the legal human and age and you still haven’t had a girlfriend.” He looped his arm around Rukia’s stiff shoulders. “What’s the good of all that if you ain’t got a girl?” Orihime glanced between the two of them as Ichigo stewed and tried to think up an appropriate response. “Kurosaki-kun, he’s kind of right, you know.” Ichigo gaped at her, betrayed. “I mean!” she remedied, waving her hands. “You’re so busy and stressed with school, you should have…someone to relax with and have fun!” All the hearts around her cracked a little at her earnestness, except Ichigo’s heart that was cracking for himself. “Well, I…I don’t really – Hey!” he nearly shouted, startling her. “What about you? When’s the last time you had a boyfriend?” “Boyfriend?” she asked, pointing to her own chest. “Um…well, I’ve been busy with the bakery and…stuff…no time for boys, eh heh heh heh.” Rukia narrowed her eyes at the two. “Orihime, didn’t you go on that date a couple of weeks ago with a boy?” Orihime blinked at her, the blush at the apples of her cheeks beginning to spread. “Um, well…yes.” Ichigo’s face paled as his adam’s apple bobbed. Tatsuki nodded. “You guys are meeting again right?” Orihime dug her thumbnail into the edge of the table. “Well…yes.” Ichigo continued to stare at her, strain showing around his eyes. “What’s he like?” Rukia prodded. Renji turned to stare at her, but she elbowed him. “Well…nice” she said. The pale, carrot-topped statue next to her crossed its arms. “Well, why don’t you introduce us?” “What?!” she stared up at him with huge eyes. “Introduce you?” He grunted. “We’re your friends. We should check this guy out.” “I already ‘checked him out,’ Ichigo,” Tatuski said with air quotes. “He’s really nice.” “So, we’ve established he’s nice,” he glowered. “Any other qualities, or is he just a blob of nice?” Orihime frowned a little. “Kurosaki-kun, I appreciate you looking out for me, but–” “He’s hot,” Tatsuki stated. “Tatsuki-chan!” Orihime hissed. Her best friend shrugged and mouthed “what?” Rukia chuckled into her tea as Ichigo looked as if he was torn between throwing this guy into the river or curling into a ball of misery. “So,” he said when he found his voice. “He’s a…hot blob of nice.” Orihime choked. “Doesn’t mean he’s good enough for her.” Orihime stopped fidgeting and straightened her spine a little, her voice soft and calm as she said, “Thank you for concern, Kurosaki-kun, but I consider myself an excellent judge of character through my highly developed female intuition. If we…get more serious, I’ll introduce you.” With that, she stood, calm and smiling, but with a little something off kilter about her expression and stance. “I’m sorry, I have to get up early in the morning. See you soon.” She smiled broadly at the Renji and Rukia, the subject of their little gathering. “Congratulations again, Rukia, Abarai-kun.” They both nodded as Ichigo stared unseeingly at his beer. When she left amongst the chorus of goodbyes, Ichigo grabbed his glass and chugged until only bits of foam clung to the sides. “More serious,” Ichigo grumped. “What the hell does that mean, more serious? More serious than what?” He paused, his glassy eyes growing a bit large under his scowl. “Does that mean they already are serious? You can’t be more serious unless you’re already some serious, right?” He cursed into his empty glass. Renji and Rukia looked at each other and then simultaneously raised their fingers for more beer. “Aren’t you two just too adorable,” Ichigo said acidly. Renji and Rukia looked at each other and then simultaneously whirled their fingers in circles to keep them coming, ignoring the exaggerated gagging noises across the table.

.

. After several minutes of watching Ichigo and his team practice for their next tournament, Orihime broke the blessed silence. “Tatsuki-chan,” she sighed. “Hm?” “Have you ever noticed?” “Noticed what?” “The way Kurosaki-kun’s hair changes to the same colors as the sky as the sun sets.” With a long, low grown, Tatsuki lowered her head to the soccer ball in her lap and stayed there. “Something wrong, Tatsuki-chan?” Her forehead still touching the ball, Tatsuki turned to look up Orihime’s concerned face. “How it’s going with the hot blob of nice?” Orihime started. “Huh? Oh, well, he…we decided not to see each other anymore.” “Oh?” asked Tatsuki, completely unsurprised. “What happened?” “Nothing, nothing. Just…the usual – oh! Did you see the pass Kurosaki-kun made? He’s getting much better about passing and not trying to win the whole game himself, don’t you think?” “Orihime,” she said, lifting her head finally. “What?” “What happened?” “Well he started to go for the goal himself, but then saw one of his teammates wide open and–“ “For the love of – no! I mean with the nice blob.” “Oh…you shouldn’t call him that,” Orihime said, managing to frown at her disapprovingly with her eyes still on the sweaty players. “Well, I can’t remember his name. What was it?” “It’s, um…aren’t name’s funny though? We should all refer to each other as poignant descriptions rather than names. Like Ishida-kun could be he-who-glints-his-eyeglasses-for-dramatic-effect and – “ “Oh my god, you can’t remember his name?” Orihime sputtered and glanced at her sideways. “What? That’s silly. We dated for…well for a bit. Why would I forget his name? I just think hot blob of nice is…a nicer name?” “So, what happened?” Tatsuki tried again. “You talk to nameless one too much about he-whose-hair-reflects-sunsets?” Orihime sniffed and twisted the fabric of her skirt around her fingers. “Oh my god.” “Well, I don’t think I talked about him that much. Honestly…male egos, you know? ” “Uh-huh.” “Anyway,” Orihime said, her attention back on the practice field as the college boys strode back to the side, shaking hands and clapping backs. “It was fun while it last – oh.” Orihime’s mouth remained stuck as a perfect ‘o’ as the stripping Ichigo pulled his shirt off the rest of the way. Sweat glistened off his naked torso that looked quite fetching in the low evening light, even to Tatsuki. She turned to her friend, who had leaned forward, her mouth still open. “Hey Orihime? You should probably breathe.”

.

.

[morethanithoughtofficialblog]

Chapter 21: You like jazz?

In which you guys see a beeutiful movie.

*Sans's POV*

The universe was against me. "Sweet Child O' Mine" is a hard song that, no matter how many times I have sung it, it puts me extremely nervous. I love the song, so... I never would want to ruin it.

Now, years had passed since I quit singing in public, and the fact that their opinion matters to me... let's just say I wasn't confident at all.

It was so strange, though. The music started, the looks were on me... but I felt that I had to do it. I had this discussion with Paps earlier, and he's having a rough time with my situation... I wanted to make it up for him. I love my bro, I know he's trying to help. I don't know what I was expecting when he saw me passed out on a table. It was quite obvious that he would scold me.

And so I sang.

I never thought I would feel that... "funny" feeling if I ever got myself to sing again. Somehow, it happened. I felt great at singing the song by heart and mimicking the guitar solo in my head. And as great as the music felt, the applauses made me feel even better. It felt so... surreal.

So oddly surreal.

But I couldn't care less.

"YAY! MY BROTHER'S MUSICAL CAREER HAS RETURNED!" Papy exclaimed with a goofy grin.

"Dude, we don't even need to do votation!" Undyne surprisingly commented.

The positive comments were starting to get me. I felt like floating, like if I was in a dream. I know this must mean nothing to a lot of people... but for me? Oh, of course, it does. I was so scared to sing because their opinions matter... but I noticed that some may always provide me support. Like Papyrus.

Maybe I should try this more often.

The night continued after that, everyone deciding I was the winner. I felt like a champion, but tried not to get too attached to that title. Instead, I shrugged it off and continued to get onto everyone's nerves with my fantastic puns.

Is quite... interesting how a simple recognition can make me happy. Maybe it's because I don't get complimented often. Maybe it's because I've been seeing myself as a fucking and talentless idiot these days. Maybe, and just maybe, I was feeling more anxious than ever, and then I realized it was no use.

Eh, it could have been whatever. Not that I should really get into it.

"Now let's play... 7 minutes in heaven!" The stupid robot said, and I swear I wasn't the only one who cringed. 7 minutes in heaven is... horrible. And I would never let my brother play that horrid game. What if they had to go with Frisk? Oh, I would not be able to take it.

"Pardon my ignorance, but... what is 7 minutes in heaven?" (Y/N) asked nervously. Oh girl, you really don't want to know.

Wait, but how does she don't know? I thought this was a human-made game...

"But punk! This is a traditional sleepover game!" Undyne, having the same doubt as I, asked her. She played with her fingers and muttered that she never tend to go to sleepovers, which made my brother gasp.

"HUMAN! I SHOULD INVITE YOU MORE OFTEN, THEN! YOU JUST CAN'T WASTE THE WONDERFUL YEARS OF YOUR YOUNGHOOD WITHOUT HAVING A SUPER FUN SLEEPOVER! LESS IF IT'S WITH THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" She chuckled lightly, a sound that definitely I would love to hear more often. She's really quiet, I just hope she was more open and confident in our friend group...

And for that, you need to stop being an asshole, Sans.

I shook my head, reminding myself how horrible my thoughts can get if I don't stop them in time. Now I had the head (or skull?) more clear, and I couldn't waste the opportunity. It's being a while- I need to focus seriously on the future while I still can.

And on the present as well.

"O-ok, so... what about if we... play another thing?" Alphys muttered, and I immediately nodded. If you can't already tell, I hate that game. It's pathetic and for flustered teenagers with a silly crush. I've never been a huge fan of that.

"Ok, ok!" Mettaton groaned, obviously angered by no choosing his horrible idea "Let's watch a movie, then!"

"THAT'S A WONDERFUL IDEA, METTATON. I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL MAKE SURE TO CHOOSE THE PERFECT FEATURE-LENGTH FILM FOR THIS EVENING!" Then he rushed to Tori's living room and put on that Netflix thingy. I like that site, but Youtube is better. It has more variety and more stupid things. Also, no bad jokes restrainment. Perfect for someone like me.

I lost myself into thinking in what I would possibly choose to do if Frisk doesn't reset. The timeline problem is quite a huge one, but if the world decides to be on my side, then what would be next? Getting a career? Spend the rest of my days on a bar?

Yeah, the last one doesn't seem like the best option...

One of my childhood dreams was to get on the Surface and become either a great scientist or a talented writer. Now I have the possibility to stop calling it a dream. As much as I love quantum physics, though, writing is something that still has my heart. I'm much more of a reserved guy than what everyone thinks. I may joke, I may laugh, I may strike up conversations instantly, but the real me is an introvert. And a nerd.

Maybe I can become a freaking science teacher, a formal scientist, a crazy man who invents stupid things, a bonely skeleton living with twelve dogs (because I love dogs. Fite me), or even a hotdog seller. I can be anything I want to be! ...

Dude, I sounded like a Barbie commercial.

But what I mean is that I have endless opportunities on the tip of my fingers, and I won't let them go that easily. I think that the first step would be applying to a university...

Which I already did.

I mentally facepalmed when I remembered that day. I was saying stupid puns in my head to call me down, but that wasn't working. I wasn't in my right mind and, still, I went and do a freaking three-hour exam. What a smart decision.

Well, if I'm somehow accepted, I'll throw a huge party. That involves sleeping. In my room...

Wait-no.

Ah, forget it.

I will somehow celebrate it, then. Maybe spoiling myself with a bottle of ketchup or make my sock collection bigger. Yeah, little things like that. I should not congratulate myself so much.

If I don't make it, though... then I guess there won't be any differences. Pretty much everything normal, except I won't be able to give Papyrus what I've always wanted to give him...

I need to work hard.

"EVERYONE! I THINK THAT I HAVE CHOSEN AN APPROPRIATE MOVIE FOR TODAY!" Papyrus shouted, and everyone rushed into the living room "IT'S CALLED 'BEE MOVIE'!"

Bee Movie? What kind of name is that?

We all had confused looks. Everyone except the humans, that is. Both Frisk and (Y/N) were "trying" to hold back laughter.

"is it a good movie?" I asked them, not wanting to waste my time on a shitty movie.

"Pfft-Familiar comedy" (Y/N) simply replied, smiling brightly "It's more directed to... kids. But, hey! Anyone can enjoy it!"

Something about her statement made me suspicious, but Papy believed her instantly. And so he put on the movie, and we all sat down whether on the couch or the floor.

"According to all known laws of aviation," The movie started "there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway..."

"Because bees don't care what humans think is impossible"

Oh boy.

(Y/N) stopped smirking but had this goofy and stupid grin written all over her face. If it ends up with some scary shit, I swear to God I'll kill her. We went on and watched how this guy, Barry B. Benson, graduated and had to choose a job. Everything was, well, normal, I guess... until he met that human girl. What was her name? Melissa? No... Oh! Vanessa!

When Barry daydreamed about Vanessa and him flying it was... weird, to say the least. Both human girls, though, laughed loudly. It was so stupid, I need to admit it.

The movie had puns, which I highly appreciated, but the rest of it... was stupid. That's it. Simply stupid.

I liked the "You like jazz?" part though. I should hit on someone like that. And that joke about- wait, I'll get it.

"He's making the tie in the cab as they're flying up Madison. He finally gets there. He runs up the steps into the church. The wedding is on. And he says, <<Watermelon? I thought you said Guatemalan. Why would I marry a watermelon?>>"

I think that's the most hilarious and stupid joke I've heard in a while. Or well, probably in a movie. It was so stupid and so bad that I laughed. (Y/N) did as well. And Papy stared at us like we were crazy. The others were still trying to find the joke. It was amazing.

All those puns were driving everyone crazy. Well, except me. And those two weird girls. I actually didn't want to judge the adult so quickly, but if she does enjoy things like these... I may not be sure to change her nickname any sooner. I may also start to like her more, though. Serious but a dork- that's a nice personality I bet she has.

"-This is your queen? That's a man in women's clothes!"

"-That's a drag queen!"

That scene, that fucking scene... it was perfect. I would be lying if I said I didn't love the movie. According to all known laws of film-making, no movie should be like this one. It was bizarre. That's why I loved it.

"How good?" That lawyer asked "Do you live together? Wait a minute... are you her little... bedbug?"

Unfortunately for me, I was drinking soda at that moment. I spit it out. At the floor, thankfully, but I still embarrassed myself. This dork, (Y/N) laughed way too loud about the incident. But hey, I can't blame her. I would have done just the same if I wasn't the victim.

"What about a suicide pact?" Barry asked Vanessa (am I seriously talking about this movie?)

"How do we do it?" She asked.

"I sting you, you step on me."

"That just kills you twice"

"Right, right"

Can't you see how stupid and amazing it is?! And after a minute I've just realized the name of that woman was Vanessa Bloome! And she was a freaking florist! There were puns everywhere! That silly and quite morbid sense of humor...

If the Bee Movie was a girl, I should have married her by now.

"So... did you enjoy the movie, guys?" Frisk asked, wearing a stupid grin.

"IT WAS WEIRD" Papyrus bluntly replied, which made all of us laugh.

"You sure do have a sense of humor, punk!" Undyne looked to (Y/N), and she just shrugged with a smile.

"the movie was beeutiful. all-time favorite" I added, and laughter filled the room again.

"it was... something" Napstablook shyly smiled, but in his face was all written: "I will never see it again". As much as we all would like to talk about it, though, Toriel came just in time to tell us that it was sleeping time. I looked over my cellphone and saw that it was, indeed, pretty late. I can't believe we were up 'till 2 am to watch something like that. Oh well. It was worth it.

We all gave each other some goodbyes and headed to any room we would want. Papyrus had somehow made his way to reclaim the second biggest room (since Tori's is the biggest) all for his own. Since the Dreemurr family cleared up one room that was messy and made it quite nicely, now everyone had a room. I was still rooting for my dad to sleep on the couch, though...

I lied down on the bed with a happy smile... that faded after minutes passed by.

I couldn't sleep.

I groaned at the thought of not sleeping again and get all grumpy in the morning. That's definitely something I've been trying to avoid (unsuccessfully...). I wanted to be there for the people I care about, but the nightmares aren't helping. So it was almost 4 am, and I wanted to waste time...

You: hey

You: u awake?

C' mon, please answer!

24/7 Depressed Dork: Yep

24/7 Depressed Dork: What's up?

Shit, I forgot I gave her that nickname...

Oh well.

You: i'm bored

You: wanna talk?

24/7 Depressed Dork: Sure

24/7 Depressed Dork: ...hmm

24/7 Depressed Dork: So how's the weather in there?

I'm starting to like this girl more.

You: eh, nothing impressive

You: just a bit chilly but, y' know

You: it doesn't affect me at all

You: after all, nothing gets under my skin

24/7 Depressed Dork: I knew you would say something like that

24/7 Depressed Dork: I could feel it in my bones

Perfect audience.

You: Knock knock

24/7 Depressed Dork: Who's there?

You: cash

24/7 Depressed Dork: cash who?

You: nah, i'll have some peanuts, thanks.

24/7 Depressed Dork: Sans, that was horrible

And before I could answer her back and tell her the opposite, she surprisingly wrote:

24/7 Depressed Dork: Knock Knock

You: wow, really?

You: ok

You: who's there?

24/7 Depressed Dork: Annie

You: annie who?

24/7 Depressed Dork: Annie thing you can do I can do better!

Oh, so you are challenging me? Interesting...

You: you think so?

You: oh, you'll see

You: knock knock

24/7 Depressed Dork: Who's there?

You: dewey

24/7 Depressed Dork: Dewey who?

You: dewey have to use a condom?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Your POV*

I stared amazed at the message Sans just send me and laughed quietly. Either it's a way to flirt or just a corny joke, I enjoy those things. They are... interesting, and make you think twice. And not everyone is accessible to hear this type of jokes, less making them. He has quite the sense of humor, huh?

You: Oh, I see how it is, then

You: Knock Knock

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: who's there?

Ah, his nickname...

It's amazing, I won't change it any time sooner.

You: Ivana

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: ivana who?

You: Ivana jump your bones ;)

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: ohmygod

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: that's just way too dirty

You: You started this fight, buddy

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: i guess so

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: but two can play this game!

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: knock knock

You: Who's there?

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: hop on

You: ...

Oh my God, no.

What I have done?

You: Hop on who?

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: hop on dis dick

OHMYGODIREGRETEVERYTHINGNOW!

...

do skeletons even have a-

Calm down, don't let him see right through you.

So for some reason, I was taking this very seriously. Like if this was going to define who was the leader or some survival shit like that.

You: Okay, you asked for it

You: Knock Knock

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: who's there?

You: Pussy!

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: dude, what?

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: i don't get it

You: And you never will

You: Sucker

It was 6 am at this point, the sun was starting to get out. What do you think it's the best way to start the day? Smiling and laughing, of course. However, I don't think it was the right time for anyone to hear Sans loud laughter in ALL THE FREAKING HOUSE.

You: Sans, stfu

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: never

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: that was good

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: really good...

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: i have a joke for you

You: Bring it on

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: what is 6 inches long, 2 inches wide, and drives women wild?

We're still at the dirty jokes?

You: Sans, I swear to God...

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: a $100 bill

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: what were you thinking bud? ;)

...ok, he caught me red-handed.

You: Yeah... let's not talk about it

You: It's my turn now

You: But this time, it's a poem

You: Be ready

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: wow, you are a poet now?

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: i'm curious

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: spit it out

You: Ok, good

You: Let me start:

You: As I lay here with my legs spread

Like hot butter bleeding on stale bread. The warm insides of my cantaloupe thighs cry out in extasy as you eat my cherry pie. Visions of cucumbers often enter my mind and sometimes hot dogs, they plump when you cook 'em kind Whipped cream all covered with gooslurping green jello in the tub with you You are my world my little cupcake, I want to lick your cream filling until you ache. Your Juicy Avacadoes so plump, and so ripe.

Let's just do it in the kitchen tonight!!

I...

Got too carried away, okay?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not that dirty-minded.

Well, kinda.

I memorized a dirty poem by heart...

That it made Sans laugh really hard (wait, I think that rhymed... shit).

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: (y/n), you are my new favorite person

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: you are amazing

You: So I won?

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: definitely

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: let me just end this contest with one question

You: Go ahead

Short and Moody is my Skelebuddy: you like jazz

And I laughed like there was no tomorrow, just at how random it was and remembering Barry's face. God, I think I'm becoming more stupid than I originally thought.

I would have made a joke or two, but the consequences of laughing so hard already arrived:

"SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! WHY YOU AND THE HUMAN ARE LAUGHING?!" Oh shit.

"ah, s-sorry bro..."

"SANS! WHY WERE YOU TEXTING THE HUMAN WHEN WERE IN THE SAME HOUSE?! THAT'S RIDICULOUS!"

I chuckled, realizing how idiotic someone can become.

Bee Movie takes all the blame.