#random thoughts sorry the brain is overworking today

[jellynotbees]

Everytime I draw narinder he changes a little I really need to make him a ref sheet

[wonwoosthetic]

when will we get a new chapter for minnie 🫶🏼

a/n: now! ˙ᵕ˙ this was a request sent to me through my Google form, so thank you to whoever wrote it🤗 I hope you guys like the quick little chapter!

series masterlist

warnings – pregnancy scare, short mention and implications of infertility, jokes and mentions about sex

word count – 4.6k

summary – minnie gets a little scare and there’s only one member she can think of to call

pairing – minnie & vernon (mentions of wonwoo x minnie x mingyu)

Better Safe Than Sorry 🌷 Minnie

Minne was in a panic. For the past two hours, the girl hadn't found a second of rest, pacing around the apartment, trying to keep herself busy before the thoughts running through her brain could catch up with her. Vernon was supposed to be here 10 minutes ago, only adding to her anxious state. Wonwoo and Mingyu were at the gym, thank God, she thought to herself.

The past few days, or more so even two weeks, had been... interesting. It started with a headache spanning over multiple days, only for it to turn into a migraine. Or so she thought. Throwing up, going to bed as early as possible, and sleeping in for as long as she could. Something was not right. Add the random heat flashes she had experienced the week before and Minnie started speculating. The moment she realised that her period had been a few days late made her shut down.

It was so secret that women in the industry encountered irregularities with their cycles as stress and diets dominated their lives. But Minnie and the entirety of Seventeen were in a good place. None of them was totally overworked at that point, thanks to their new contract. Diets were, thanks to the need to fit into the impossible beauty standards, still a topic of discussion but they were doing fine. Right?

It was one night out that made her mind spiral. Rapidly.

-

Minnie was enjoying a dinner with her closest friends from school, having made a reservation in one of their favourite restaurants a week ahead to make sure they'd get a private room. Food and drinks were passed around the table, discussions and conversations were flowing and laughter filled the room. Everyone was having a good time. When it hit that point of the night where people were slowly starting to leave, say their goodbyes and make promises to meet up again soon, the female singer was left with her two closest friends from that group. 

Léon, once a boy too afraid to show his true colours, is now a proud man with a husband waiting for him back in their new hometown in Spain. And Hana, the legend of a best friend who had gifted Minnie her first vibrator, and now the owner of one of the most-visited clubs in the nightlife of Hongdae.

The two were well tipsy while Minnie had held herself back a bit. They were still giggling at one of their friends who had stumbled through the door as he exited, the multiple shots of liquor clearly taking over his body.

"You look a little paler than usual," Léon suddenly commented, glancing at the idol with a slight frown, "Are you okay?"

"She probably just got a new IV infusion for extra light skin," the other girl joked, getting a chuckle out of the singer. Hana had never been a fan of the idol life.

Minnie shrugged, her finger circling the rim of her glass, "I've been feeling kinda off."

Her friend downed the last shot on the table before turning to her in confusion, "How off?"

Minnie sighed, "I've had a headache for like... a week now. And two days ago I was throwing up all day. Even yesterday and today when I woke up I felt like I had to puke..." The two friends were eyeing her carefully, letting her speak freely. "And then I had some random, like... heat flashes?" She glanced up to meet their eyes, "I don't know what the hell that was, but... yeah... something's going on, I don't know. But I don't want to provoke it with alcohol."

"That," the guy of the group leaned back, eyes now wide, "does not sound good."

"Yeah, but it must be something with my immune system. My period's also God knows where."

"You missed your period?!" Hana gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Girl-" Léon eyed her with a surprised expression, but Minnie was quick to stop them.

"No, no, no," she waved her hands, "It's not like that. I've missed it before, but it... it's a weird coincidence."

"What do you mean 'not like that'? That sounds a lot like being pregnant to me!" The tattooed girl hissed at her.

That was the first time she had heard the word out loud. Of course, it had crossed her mind. Just like every other woman. The moment her period was late, the first thought to come to her was 'shit, what if I'm pregnant', only to dismiss it a second later at how ridiculous it sounded.

"No, I-... we have the tour and we're preparing for a new album, and it's just... stress or something."

"But you've been stressed before. Way more stressed," the guy in front of her commented. "I don't want to scare you, but... you know..."

"If there's anyone that could be pregnant, it's you, Min," Hana casually told her, leaning back against the cushioned seats.

Minnie frowned as she glanced at her. "What the fuck do you mean?"

"No one's getting laid like you," she laughed, making the other two at the table chuckle and Léon threw his head back in glee.

"Oh, shut up!" The idol exclaimed, "You've got a line of men waiting for you to call them back after leaving their apartment in the middle of the night. And that's just from last week."

"That's not true!" Hana pointed her finger at the girl. "You get two dicks on a regular! Every day, I bet!"

"It's not every day!"

"Every other day then," the only guy quickly commented before their discussion could get any louder.

Minnie shrugged, "Yeah... so what?"

"My God," he chuckled with a shake of his head, "I'm jealous. Honestly." Making the girl laugh out loud.

"No, but seriously," Hana stopped the two, letting silence wash over the table once again. "Have you thought of it?"

"No! Because..." Minnie went quiet.

"They're not using condoms. Don't lie to us," Léon glared at her, his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Hana faked a gasp, "You slut."

"You're not even using them on strangers!" Minnie pointed out, only for her friend to slap her hand away.

"This isn't about me!"

"Whatever..." the singer mumbled, her eyes back on the glass. It was still half filled with the mix of Soju and beer she decided not to finish.

"Okay, but seriously," Léon started again, "Could there... be a possibility?"

"For one, I'm on the pill," she explained, noticing her friends opening their mouths to argue, so she continued, "I know! I know that's not 100% safe, but it's... very safe-"

"I don't know about very safe, to be honest," Hana went back to nursing a glass of water. "My mom was on the pill and look at me now," pointed at herself with a proud grin.

"Don't make me scared," Minnie mumbled as she fell back onto her chair with a sigh.

"We don't want to scare you," her guyfriend explained, letting the other girl continue,

"But take a test, just in case," Hana shrugged. "You know how many pregnancy scares I've had? Still, better safe than sorry." She ended her speech by finishing her water.

Minnie's gaze had landed on her lap, where her thumbs had already started fidgeting with each other. "I...," she started with a sigh but stopped herself again right away.

"What?" Léon wondered, keeping a close eye on the singer, but she just shook her head and brought the glass of alcohol up to her lips.

"Nothing." And downed the last bit.

-

Four days later Minnie was still fighting her stomach each day, going out of her way to try and get as little food and water into her system as possible, knowing it would only trigger her and make her run to the toilet. On the other hand, the lack of nutrition was most definitely also adding to the nausea. There seemed to be no way out for the female singer.

On the verge of tears, overwhelmed with emotions, she had texted Hana in the morning, begging her to go to the store to buy her a pregnancy test. She was still very much in denial of the possibility of her being knocked up, but there were too many signs... But then again, she remembered the conversation she had with her gynaecologist two years ago. The doctor had only let a few words fall from her mouth before Minnie realised what she was trying to tell her.

At the sound of the front door's bell, the idol's head perked up, a second before she was rushing to the door. Once she pressed the camera button, she came to face with the young rapper she had called and pressed to open the door downstairs.

"Thanks!" Came through the speakers as Vernon disappeared into the building.

For the next minutes it would take him to come up, Minnie tried to pretend to have to do something, just praying the time would pass by quicker. The tests, yes multiple, were already placed on the counter of the main bathroom's sink. Hana had arrived with two in her bag, along with chocolate and prosecco to celebrate in case they'd be negative. The alcohol was chilling in the fridge while the sweet treat was waiting for her in the cabinet, with her definitely enjoying it either way of how the tests would come out.

Another doorbell sound rang through the apartment, notifying the female member of his arrival. With a few big steps, she stopped in front of the door, pulling it open in a swift motion. A wide-eyed Vernon standing right in front of her.

"Are you okay?"

"I don't know," she mumbled, catching him off-guard as she pulled him in.

With a frown, the younger member stood right in front of her, shuffling his feet out of his shoes before he followed her down the hall.

"What's going on?"

She continued to walk in silence, only coming to a halt in the middle of the living room. Vernon stopped at the corner into the hallway, leaning against the wall.

"Alright," Minnie sighed, bringing her hands up in front of her, "Look..."

"Oh," the '98 Liner nodded, understanding this was going to be even more serious than he had expected. As if her call, asking him 'Can you come over? Like now? Just for a bit?' with zero explanation didn't alert him enough already, her stance certainly brought his heartbeat up.

"Are you okay?" He repeated his question, taking a seat on the edge of the couch, not daring to lean back in comfort.

The girl pressed her lips together, nodding as she avoided his gaze. "I-... I think so, yeah."

"That's not a yes, so that's alarming."

"No, wait-" she stopped him, "Just-... listen, okay?" Making him nod, so she could continue. "I called you because I know- or, at least I hope, you... won't judge me," his frown made her rush her words out even quicker. "And you won't overreact, because I- I don't even know if I really should be concerned, and honestly, I don't think I should be and if you ask me, I think it's impossible, and I'm overreacting, but some other people have made me think otherwise."

"Oh...kay?" Pure confusion was still written across his face. A beat of silence washed over the two as Minnie thought about what to say next. She was looking around the room, knowing there was no way out and she had brought herself into this situation.

She took one deep breath before blurting out, "I need to take a pregnancy test," pressing her lips tightly together again as she waited for a reaction.

Vernon's eyebrows shot up the moment the words tumbled from her lips. He closed his eyes for a split second, trying to take in what she had just said to him.

"Ehm... for... what?"

Minnie looked at him perplexed, "What do you think people take pregnancy tests for?" She knew sex ED in South Korea wasn't good, but she had hoped it wasn't that horrible.

"Well, I hope you're not gonna take it for the reason I think you might be taking it," he glanced up at her. 

He called himself lucky to get to have her as an older sister despite only being born two months apart. Vernon and Minnie had been close ever since he became a trainee under Pledis, the older girl taking him in as a little brother in an instant. Over the years, she had realised that the lack of an age gap was starting to show as she found herself looking up at him more and more, mentally and literally physically as he had shot up in height. She had found herself looking for comfort in him, asking him for advice or even just listening to him. While some members were more physical when it came to showing their appreciation and love, Vernon kept himself in the background, choosing quiet acts of kindness as his love language, which she sometimes appreciated even more than anything else. But even with all the love the two had for each other, their sibling-like relationship was no secret and not kept behind closed doors.

"And what is the reason you're not hoping for?" She had crossed her arms in front of her chest, her eyes still unsure of whether or not to lock with his.

Vernon sighed and shook his head before glancing back up at her, now finding her gaze. "Do you seriously think you're pregnant?"

"No," she was quick to answer.

The '98 Liner rose from his seat. "Then why take the test?"

"Because!" Minnie started pacing around the room again, fixing her hair along the way.

"Because?" He nagged her.

The girl to a stop. "Better safe than sorry."

Vernon couldn't help but sigh again, "Minnie..."

"There's a 0.01 per cent chance-"

"Don't say 0.01 because if it really was 0.01 you wouldn't even think of taking one!" He pointed a finger at her, quickly realising the rude gesture and putting his hand down again. "Sorry," he mumbled.

"Okay, then maybe a slightly bigger chance... I don't know..." the female member bit down on her lip as her voice quieted down. Her gaze was back on the floor. "I'm scared."

Her confession made the rapper look back at her. He understood the seriousness of the situation, yet he had never seen the girl that way before. On a night out with the group, they had found out about the first pregnancy scare she had had years before, but she acted differently about it then. Took it with a lot more humour. But now, the woman in front of him just confessed to being scared. And he was the one she had trusted to confront about it.

Vernon glanced around the room. He couldn't freak out. He was supposed to help her here.

"Don't be scared," he tried to assure her, getting up from the sofa to take a step closer to her. "Are you serious though?"

Fallen silent, the girl just nodded. After not getting a verbal response back, she spoke up to explain, "I just... I've been feeling kinda... off. It's weird," she brushed it off, "and I really- I don't think I am, but... what if I am?"

Vernon accepted her answer, taking a second to himself. "Okay," he took a deep breath in and out. "It's okay. You have a test?" He asked her.

Minnie nodded.

"You went out and bought one?" Not even trying to conceal the concern in his voice.

"No," she told him, passing him as she made her way to the bathroom. "Hana got two for me."

"Where's she?" The younger member was hot on her feet.

"At work," Minnie explained. "She bought them on her lunch break." She stopped in front of the door, turning around to come to face with the rapper.

Vernon lowered his voice. "Why did you call me?"

The female idol shrugged.

He was desperate at this point. It felt like the wrong situation to be in for him. "Why not... Minghao... or... Shua, or Coups-"

"Coups would have me on a leash and drag me to get me castrated the moment he heard the words 'pregnancy test'!" She defended herself, getting a slight chuckle from him in return.

"Don't know how that would work but you're probably right. He'd do it at the word 'pregnancy' already," he mumbled.

"And... Shua would be way too emotional and... I don't know... Hao too. They'd be so... careful around me and try to comfort me-"

"You don't want to be comforted?"

"Not right now," she shook her head and gulped as he met his eyes. "I called you because you're the only person I know who can just sit there and be there for someone. Without overreacting... or... freaking out. And I'm kinda freaking out, so I need someone with a cool head right now."

"Not gonna lie," Vernon confessed, "I'm freaking out a little though."

"But you're hiding it well."

"Ditto," he nodded at the female member.

Another moment of silence washed over the apartment. Minnie took a quick look into the bathroom, her eyes immediately on the two pink packages by the sink.

"It's basically impossible that I'm pregnant," she admitted. The wheels in Vernon's head started turning, thinking that it was never truly impossible, unless... but he decided not to question her further.

"But I had weird... signs, I guess. And Hana and Léon made me scared. I just wanna make sure."

The '98 Liner nodded along to her words, shaking his head even harder the moment she looked back at him. "Do that. Take the test. Or tests," he dramatically pronounced the plural form.

Minnie nudged her head after a second to take a breath. "Can you come with me?"

Vernon immediately frowned. "Wh- Into the bathroom?"

The girl nodded.

"Ew, no! I'm not gonna watch you piss, bro."

She rolled her eyes, "Don't watch me pee. Just sit next to me," pointing to a stool they had in the bathroom for whatever reason. "Hold my hand?" She batted her eyes at him, mostly to lighten up the situation, while holding a bit of seriousness behind her ask.

"Absolutely fucking not," he shook his head. "Go. I'll be right here."

She eyed him up and down, scrunching up her face. "You're not a real one."

Vernon's eyebrows shot up. "If that's the requirement, I'm good," brushing her off and pushing her to finally get into the bathroom. "Weirdo," he mumbled, getting a last glare. At least she hasn't completely lost her spark, he thought to himself.

The moment she disappeared into the room, Vernon was met with the silence of being by himself. It was only then he realised that he hadn't even asked her about Wonwoo and/or Mingyu. Thinking, if anyone should be there, it would be the two men in question. He passed the thought after a moment of debating, coming to the conclusion that she'd have her reasons. Even after her explanation, he was still slightly confused as to why she'd rather have him than them here with her. He decided he'd rather stay in the unknown rather than pester her with more questions. Right now, she needed a friend, not an interrogator, by her side.

-

Vernon cleared his throat awkwardly.

The duo had found their way onto the couch with the two tests placed neatly on the coffee table ahead of them, facing down so neither one of them could even dare to get a glimpse of the results before the timer went off.

"And... ehm...," he tried to pass the time, hoping to somehow soothe the nerves rushing between both of them. "So... if you were though, like... pregnant," he carefully wondered, seeing her almost flinch at his words. He turned to look fully at her, finding her already staring at him. "Would you... w-would you... you know...," Vernon let out a chunk of air, "know whose it is?"

The time he had to himself let his mind wander to places he didn't even want it to go, but he couldn't help it.

Minnie stayed quiet for a few seconds, the words hitting her clearly hard as her eyes drifted off him.

"Ehm...," she took a deep breath. "I... I- eh... I... no?" Lowering her head, her gaze was back on her hands intertwined in her lap. She gulped, "I don't- I don't think so, n-no..." The confession appeared in the form of a big lump in her throat. 

While she was able to have her fun with the two men in her life, it was only now that she came across an obstacle like this. Of course, they had had conversations about protection, being careful instead of mindless, and consent. Yet, the topic of a possible pregnancy while still taking precautions seemed to have passed them.

Vernon nodded, his lips tightly pressed together. "Alright... damn...," he raised his eyebrows. "That- that's... wow, impressive... I mean- g-good for you. That's... good for you. And I- I mean not good good for you if you're pregnant, but, you know... good as in good for-"

"Vernon?"

"Yeah, I'm shutting up."

Not the time or place for a conversation like that, nor did she want to go into more detail about the couple's constellation in the bedroom with one of her closest friends, whom she considered her little brother. Neither did Vernon. But the silence had become dreadful.

Any other day, the duo would have no issue sitting next to each other in complete silence, yet, at that very moment, both wanted anything but to stay quiet. And finding a topic of conversation seemed more challenging than ever before.

The '98 Liner could see her shaking leg in the corner of his eye, unsure of how to comfort her well enough since it was the first time in a situation like that for him too. In an attempt to help her, he reached out and placed his hand on her knee, hoping it would calm her.

"It's okay," he quietly told her, turning his head to meet her clearly frightened gaze.

"Is it though?" She kept the conversation going.

He retrieved his hand again to turn the rest of his body to face her more clearly.

"You said it's... very unlikely." He continued to choose his words carefully, not trying to overstep and drag her into a hole she might not get out of.

Minnie nodded. "Yeah...," she whispered, hugging herself as if she was freezing. "Very unlikely, but... never impossible, right?"

Vernon shrugged his shoulder, "I think only you'd know that. If it's possible or not."

Whether they were talking about the act of conception or possibly rather the chances of her fertility would stay between the two.

The girl gulped. "It's unlikely. Very, very unlikely." 

A quiet pat on her back gave her the validation and comfort she craved and asked for.

"That's why I called you," Minnie confessed after a short few seconds of quietness.

"Hm?" Vernon glanced back at her after his eyes had been fixed on his phone.

"You can just sit here. Accept it, without a big reaction. And I still feel comforted. You... your presence is very comforting."

The question as to why him and not the men that lived with her was still burning his tongue, yet he didn't even dare to let it fall from his lips. Maybe another time.

"I still don't think I'm the right person for something like this-"

"You are," she quickly reassured him. "I didn't even think of anyone else."

The truth was, were the first people to pop into her head her lovers? Yes, of course. But in a moment of panic, in a situation that could affect either one of their lives immensely, she didn't want to confront them. Not with 100% certainty of a result. She wanted to avoid the unnecessary anxiety and hysteria spreading to other people involved in this. Not if there's nothing to be worried about in the first place, she kept on convincing herself.

In addition, as they had talked about before, knowing the rest of her members, there was a group of them that would try to be as emotionally available as they possibly could, their arms around her during the entire process, trying to console her while she just needed someone next to her. The other part of them would turn it into the headline of their tabloid, running around frantically, trying to make sense of the situation, while freaking out, scaring her even more.

And then there was Cheol, the oldest of them all, she shook her head as she didn't even want to think of a possible reaction of his. Yes, he'd support her no matter what, but the image of disappointment on his face was something she couldn't stomach.

Silently, Vernon leaned back, a tight smile on his lips. He appreciated her honesty.

Their sweet moment of companionship was interrupted by the sound of the teeth-shattering, chill-sending sound of his alarm. Vernon didn't even think of changing the ringtone, just opting to go with the standard iPhone one, making the girl shudder as he turned it off.

"Alright," he sighed. "You ready?"

Minnie nodded, pushing herself up to sit further on the edge, her knees close to hitting the coffee table.

"I do one, you do one?"

"Dude, you peed on that, I'm not touching it!" His exclaim made her look at him dumbfounded.

"I peed on that part," she pointed at the end covered by a plastic cap. "You won't even touch it."

But Vernon just shook his head. "You do it."

"Real supportive," she mumbled at him with an amused glare and nudge of her head.

Rushing down the number from three to one in her head, with a deep breath, she turned one test around, wanting to rip the bandaid off quickly and get it over with. Carefully, she looked at the small electronic display, ready for the worst to hit her.

"Not pregnant," she read out loud with a big breath of air. With a quick move, she turned around the second one, a content smile on her lips as she found the same result.

"Not pregnant," Vernon nodded, looking at the coffee table ahead of him before turning towards the female member. "You okay?"

Minnie pressed her lips together tightly, looking at him with a somewhat smile on her face as she nodded. "Yeah..."

Her gaze fell back on the white and blue plastic, her hands still cramped up in her lap as the younger rapper let himself fall further back into the blue couch. He let a moment pass, giving her the silence to herself.

"You know," he patted her back, gaining her attention, "If you were though...," she met his eye. "I'd drive you. Check-up... or...," with a motion of his hand, he pretended to cut his neck, getting a chuckle from her in return.

"I know," she whispered, not trusting her voice to become any louder. Too many emotions were rushing through the short moment, too many for at that time after coming close to what she'd describe as a heart attack.

In the blink of an eye, she had her arms wrapped around his torso, making the younger member smile softly as he returned the embrace. A comforting hand ran up and down her arm. It wasn't often he reciprocated the show of affection from her, but he'd let her for now, knowing she most definitely needed it.

With her cheek against his shoulder, he felt her tightening her arms in a pulse as she spoke up again.

"That's why I called you."

Taglist: @waosobii @chaebb @lunarxsun @hoe4wonwoo @kimhyejin3108 @soobzao @billboard-singer @cosmicwintr @zwiehe @alixnsuperstxr @angie-x3 @smooore @allthings-fandoms @lllucere

[b0mblover]

Bubble Bath? WHERE??

By: J

Oh god lopt what have you dONE-

[disclaimer; do NOT put bubble bath in the toilet, it can clog pipes!]

(no tws)

i uh, haven’t actually wrote like this in a while huh? sorry this actually kinda sucks ass but it was haunting my brain.

(this is ur reminder that im not a writer btw)

uh lopt adopts a stray cat (no animal abuse i cant write that shit /srs) and puts bubble bath in the toilet bc he wants attention idk im not good at summeries

im sorry to all who reads this

—————

lopt could be, for lack of a better term, needy. 

mason, since he had met lopt, had always referred to lopt as a cat, considerring how he could want all the attention in the world one moment, then want to be alone for 100 years the next.

today was the former.

mason had been working on more pages for “conspiracy theory” for hours now, this dissatisfied lopt.

he didnt know everything about humans, but he knew that he often got tired of paperwork, so he knew (or at least assumed) that mason was overworking himself.

logically, according to lopt at least, he walked into the ‘office’ mason was working in, and started to bother him with random questions.

“hmmm would you say that being a journalist is comic or tragic?” he spoke 

“a pain in the ass is what it is” mason said before erasing another line

“no but really, what do you think it isssss”

mason stayed quiet for several minutes, sighing several times as he kept trying to rework his sentences.

lopt sighed, “fine, fine, i get your busy and all, but couldnt you at least take a liiiiittle break?” lopt said with a semi pleading voice

mason erased the same line again, staring at the page, before turning his head up to lopt, he sighed aswell,

“no, i cant. im sorry. you know i love you and all, but this is important. you *know* this.”

lopt looked at his eyes, seeing the exhaustion

“cmon not even 10 minutes? please???” lopt pleaded with his lover

“i will once i get to a place i can stop, and if youre going to stay and here, please try to be a little quieter”

mason hated scolding lopt, but sometimes he had to be treated as a child to make him understand.

and sometimes it backfired.

lopt sighed and walked out of the door behind mason, giving one glance at him before shutting the door behind him.

he went back up to his room to think of anything to do since his partner was busy, he knew that his work was important to him sure, but he couldnt understand just why he pushed himself to do it so much.

after an hour of laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling, he decided to bring mason some fruit, it was partly an attempt to bring his boyfriend out of the room, but also just because it had been hours and he knew for a fact mason wasnt eating in there.

(UNRELATED BUT MY CAT IS SCREAMING RN AS I WRITE THIS AND HE FUCKINF WAS SCRATCHING ST THE DOOR NOB IM SOBBING HIW IS HE THAT LONG, HE JUST STRETCHED UP THERE ANYWAYS BRB TO GIVE HIM ATTENTION)

(alr back)

lopt cut up strawberries and peeled an orange for his partner, knocking in the door before opening it.

he sat the plate down on masons desk in front of him, hoping to draw his attention.

mason looked up 

“oh god what did you do.” 

“wha- i? nothing??? i didnt do anything? is it wrong to want to give you something to eat?” lopt fake pouted 

mason sighed “well thank you, but seriously. what did you do.”

“i didnt do anything! promise! not yet at least…” lopts voice trailed off

“uh huh…if you say so..” mason sounded like he didn’t believe him

lopt being and idiot that thought on the spot started to speak again;

“im gonna go onna walk okay? wanna come with?”

mason stared at lopts face, 

“its pissing cats and dogs outside, lopt. youre gonna get a cold”

(HELLO GAY PERSON SHO REFRENCE HOW ARE YO-) (srry not srry 🥰)

lopt sighed “ill be fine i swear! its not like..ill get hit by some truck..or.something….?” 

(i feel deja vu writing this line wtf)

lopt cut mason off “so im assuming that means you dont wanna come with?”

mason rubbed the bridge of his nose

“i love you, but no. i already will have to deal with one sick dumbass, better

not make it two”

lopt pouted before kissing mason on the cheek saying he’d be back soon enough.

he walked up the stairs to his room, he didnt really know why he said he was going to take a walk, it was raining like hell, and (catlike) lopt didnt prefer to get wet.

he sighed grabbing his house keys and phone just in case, before he walked out of his door he grabbed his wallet aswell, just out if habit.

lopt grabbed ‘his’ (more like masons community jacket) jacket, pulling the hood up and walking out the door, quietly shutting it behind him.

he walked down the side walk at a normal pace and past the park, 1/4 of a km down, he seen a cat, it looked to be 1-2 years old, missing half its right (front) leg and its left eye, it looked like a grey tabby, it seemed…familiar, to lopt.

it was stuck between two very narrow buildings, why would anyone even leave such a narrow gap? lopt helped free the cat, petting it (and just looking at it) he could see that the poor thing was soaked, gods know how long it was stuck there.

the cat purred and rubbed around lopts now wet pant legs, it was quite friendly, but he also knew that this cat was indeedly a ‘stray’, he had seen the cat one day, he looked around for its owner before a nice old lady informed him that she was a stray cat since her owner had died.

he picked up the cat, now deciding to go over to the pet store 3 blocks down (idk blocks i dont live in a place that has them sorry!)

now holding her, the cat snuggled into lopts semi wet t shirt that was now exposed from the zipper of his jacket accidentally being pulled down.

now walking, he tried to remember what the lady said, “something something her owner died of an overdose” he couldnt recall if it was said if it was on accident or not.

he also remembered the lady saying how no one would take the cat in, even after begging, it was mostly apartment complexes that didnt allow animals sure, but did no one really try?

he walked into the pet store, cat in hand/arms, he picked out a small bag of food, and some small toys, he would have to come back to get litter and such after he leaves the cat at home.

he payed for the items and started walking back, in another store window, something caught his eye.

(dont ask this is illogical but fuck it why not! for some context lopt is carrying the bags with one hand and cat in the other, chill ass cat)

it was bubble bath, typically meat for kids sure, but what was lopt if not a kid turned into a god (what)

(just assume they allow animals in there idk at this point 😭😭)

with on hand/arm lopt picked up around 5 bottles of bubble bath, he didnt have a plan in mind sure but he’d figure out some use for it.

lopt payed (again somehow only doing this with one hand) and left to go back home.

struggling to open the door, he set the bags down, twisting the knob, picking up the bags, and walked in.

he sat down the bags on the dining table, and decided to go show mason the cat.

.

.

“lopt you do know i’m allergic right?”

lopt was shocked, 6 months of dating and he never knew that?!

“i- what- n-no. i” lopt fumbled over his words, he knew the cat had lived im the streets for a while now, he couldnt just put it back out there!

“calm down-“ mason said before sneezing “its pretty mild anyways, its not like ill die or something”

lopt had some tears in his eyes, scared of having to pick between his boyfriend or a cat, he was never a great decision maker

“s-so we /wont/ have to let the cat go…?” he asked with some hope in his voice

“no we wont have to let the cat go” mason said slightly laughing “im shocked youre so attached to it anyways honestly” he seemed to find some amusement in lopt, a god, who had been alive for hundreds of thousands of years, was worried about having to let a cat go.

“i- well!” lopt said playfully frustrated, 

sighing “how about you help me go set up some food and water

for it okay?”

“sure sure, you gotta litter

pan?”

“no im gonna go back out to get that”

mason stood up “alright alright” mason said putting his hand out for the cat to sniff, before petting her.

they used normal bowls for the cats food and water since it wasnt like they had food bowls yet, lopt pet the cat and went back out to get some litter for her.

on the walk there, he contemplated just what to do with all the bubble bath he bough, and a plan came to his mind, he knew mason still only came out of his room to watch the cat and help set up the food and water, he went back to working on his book thingy right after.

if mason wasnt going to give him attention, then he’ll have his own fun.

he bought litter, a litter pan, and a few extra things such as a few more toys, extra food, a harness and leash, etc.

he knew exactly what he was going to do.

he walked back, he decided to put the litter pan in the half bath down stairs so the cat wouldnt have to go up and down stairs to eat and shit all the time (kill me now 😭😭)

the cat seemed nowehere to be found, he walked into masons now open room, finding the cat sleeping on the left side of masons desk.

this was the best chance to put his plan into action, he tried on more time to get mason out of his room, failing again.

sighing, he grabbed the bag on the table and walked up to the full bathroom upstairs.

he went over to the toilet, and squeezed 2 1/2 bottles of bubble bath into it. 

nothing seemed to happen.

(idk how bubble bath works sorry if this is wrong 😭😭)

he sighed, flushing the toilet, since nothing seemed to happen, he just had to wait until mason came back out, as he was going to leave he turned around, looking into the toilet, he seen an asston of bubbles starting to form.

he waited as it grew and grew, he decided to go get mason “to help” by time they both got back into the bathroom it had completely over flowed with bubbles.

mason and lopt both started to panic, lopt didnt mean for it to go this far, but the bubbles just kept going.

mason thinking fast, went down stairs and grabbed a mop.

he essentially attacked the bubbles (mopping them like normal.)

but they just kept coming.

and his arm was getting very tired.

he decided to set a timer for 10 minutes to wait until it got bad again then to mop them up.

mason repeated this several times, around 2 hours worth (12 times) before it looked mostly gone.

lopt decided to try and flush the remaining bubbles.

and it worked! no more bubbles in the toilet!

why hadnt they just thought of flushing it a second time.

mason high fived lopt and sighed.

“welp, back to work”

mason walked back to his office, lopt groaned, knowing that it would take mason even longer to finish his work now.

at least now they both have a cute cat to keep them company.

[linawritestwst]

hi hi lina! are requests still open? if so, can i request ruggie and silver as husbands? if you're not comfy with this type of request, it's ok! your blog is still very wonderful to me, keep doing what you do! you're very awesome and sweet 💞💕

ruggie bucchi and silver as husbands (gn!reader)

꘎♡━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━♡꘎

don't worry about it, your request is totally fine! and thank you sm for your kind words <3

i might get a little slower with updates because i have to prepare for my entrance exams, sorry about that! (and sorry for making this so short, i'm so used to writing things about dating that when i have to write about married couples, my brain goes: "uhh... UHHHHH..  they.. they kiss.. but they also live together now.. which is nice")

ruggie bucchi.

♡ honestly, that's some top tier househusband material right there. ruggie definitely will help you out with chores, he still has experience since nrc days, but now he's doing it for you and not leona, so that's better!! :D oh, but of course, you both try to do your part, so that no one gets overworked. for example, you cook today and ruggie washes the dishes! he will say things like "hey, where's my reward for everything i've done?" but he's just joking around, ruggie is only glad to help!

♡ ruggie still loves to tease you from time to time, you can't just take the mischievous parts of his personality away only because he's your husband now! so sometimes you will have conversations like this: "hey, can you *insert a random chore* today?" "huh?? but last week it was also me who done it!" "i know, but i have some other things to do today.." "oh, i see.. so you just see me as your servant, don't you? you just want me to do everything for you while you get to chill and have fun?" "ruggie, i never said that-" "I THOUGHT WE HAD SOMETHING, Y/N." "RUGGIE, YOU LITERALLY JUST COULD'VE SAID NO" (he will still do what you asked though)

♡ if you're the one that's working most of the day and comes home late, ruggie will try very hard to hide how happy he is when you come home. he's just a little shy, that's all! but of course, he will still run to you and hug you as tight as he can. he will ask about your day, but if he notices that you're too tired, he understands and gives you as much time as you need to rest. sometimes he likes to pull pranks on you and he won't answer you when you come home. you will have to find him yourself, he can be in the closet, under the bed, anywhere! and when you find him, he won't scare you or anything like that, he'll just be like "you found me!! :D" if you don't find him, he will come out of the place where he was hiding and hug you from behind while you're still looking around and trying to find him.

♡ you rarely fight, because no matter how often ruggie can joke and play around, he's a pretty chill person. even if you do, you two usually solve the conflict very quickly. if it's something serious though.. yeah, ruggie will need some time. he won't hate you or leave you, he's just.. he has feelings too, you know? :( so he might give you a silent treatment for some time. he won't look at you, he won't greet you when he or you come home and he will try to avoid you which is hard because you literally live together. but in the end, if you're the one who was guilty and you sincerely apologize, he will forgive you. "oh well, i can't stay mad at you forever, not when i love you so much!" if he's the one that was guilty, he'll usually act like that and avoid you because he's too ashamed of himself. add some self-doubt and thoughts like "i knew it, i don't deserve someone like them" and.. yeah. if you treat him the same way, one day he might actually end up crying and apologizing to you. so you better tell him that it's okay and that you forgive him >:( okay that was sad BACK TO FLUFF

♡ if something's bothering you, you can always trust ruggie, he will gladly listen to you. he will make jokes while you talk so that you'd laugh and not worry about these things too much, but if you want him to simply listen, he will stay quiet the entire time, just nodding and saying things like "i see" or "so that's what happened". he's very supportive!! he may not always show it and it may not look obvious, but he loves you and cares about you and he doesn't want you to be sad!! also expect him to do as many nice things as he can when you're sad or anxious. oh, you were supposed to cook today? well, he's the one who's doing it now! you want to go and get a glass of water? no, you stay where you are and he will get you water himself! that's just how ruggie shows that he cares!

♡ your relationship is just very sweet and loving and it's so much fun! even though you have your own problems (what couple doesn't?), you still fix it because you love each other that much. sometimes ruggie looks at you and he thinks about how much his life has changed and how lucky he is to have someone like you around.

silver.

♡ silver is definitely a responsible type who helps you out with anything you ask him to. even if you don't ask him, if he sees you having trouble with something, he will still help you. he may not understand how to do certain things, but if you explain it to him, he will get it and do his best! he just thinks that that's what a good husband is supposed to do, so he intends to do exactly that.

♡ he may not by your side all the time because of his duty as a knight but silver is always trying to support you and when he has free time, he spends it all with you. being a knight is important to him, but you're important to him too and he won't let you forget that. expect a cute little bird or a squirrel bringing you a letter from silver when he's away! he wants you to know that he's always thinking about you even if you're not with him at the moment.

♡ his sleepiness might get in the way when he's doing chores or helping you with something. so yeah, it's preferable that you still keep a close eye on him ^^'' he won't get mad at you and he won't get offended if you do, he's actually thankful for it. silver doesn't want to do anything wrong, so if you're watching, he'll be more calm and he'll remember every advice you give him. he's trying so hard not to fall asleep when he's doing something, but he still can't promise anything so your help is greatly appreciated!

♡ it's not like silver is not a reliable person. he just has his own problems, that's all! even if you do catch him falling asleep, you're not angry or anything, you either gently wake him up or you cover him with a blanket and softly kiss his forehead. he's doing everything he can to make your life easier and better, he deserves some rest.

♡ like ruggie, silver is a pretty chill and laid-back person. he just might get anxious if he doesn't understand something, like you ask him to get a certain thing for you and he forgot where it is or when you're sad and he doesn't know the reason why (i imagine he'd ask lilia for help in this kind of situation, haha) . he's always there to listen to you though, you can depend on him! if you tell him that you're worried about something and explain what happened, after you're done, he will give you a hug and say that he may not understand what you're going through but he will help you out in any way he can and he cares a lot about you and he will protect you from any harm that comes your way.

♡ overall, you two are very close and sometimes people think that you and silver look like a perfect couple. you two support each other and you're always there for each other. silver is so happy to have you in his life and he will do anything to protect you and support you. (also lilia is so proud of you two, he knew that you and silver are made for each other, HE KNEW)

[mieohmy]

𝖢𝗈𝗆𝖿𝗈𝗋𝗍 𝟣𝟢𝟣 | 𝖫𝖾𝖾 𝖩𝖾𝗇𝗈

PAIRING: lee jeno x reader

GENRE: angst, fluff, humor, comfort, established relationship au, college au,  this rly is just a self indulgent fic kjasdfk

WC: 2.1k

NOTES: slight argument/fighting ?? , cursing

SUMMARY: jeno wants your attention, your comforting presence, your love- he simply wants you.

for the bday boy that i treasure sm! happy birthday to puppy jeno <333

ღ

The phone next to you lies untouched, and practically has been for days- or has it been a week already? I mean, it wasn’t your fault that upcoming finals had been taking you to the depths of hell, and you had no choice but to lock yourself at home to study for a week on end. 

Which brings you to day 7? 8? of being holed up in your room all day, memorizing a bazillion tiny printed words and trying to cram as much information as possible in that overworked brain of yours. Getting about 4-5 hours of sleep a day, you couldn’t remember anymore- or even care to remember. Not to mention the added stress that came along with being any normal college student. Wasn’t life just wonderful?

You feel bad for everyone that has tried to contact you over this stressful period in your life (since you completely turned your phone off to eliminate all distractions), but the urge to stop studying completely and just check up on the real world and all its happenings grows stronger. You breathe in -out, constantly chanting ‘self-control’ over and over again in your head. Then your eyes slowly open, and you slap yourself one last time as if to say ‘get it together' before diving back into the books.

Just two more days. Two more days and you can finish and not have to stress about finals until results come out. 

At this point, you were surviving off of coffee, tea, random stolen snacks that your boyfriend would bring over from his dorm. 

Damn, when’s the last time you had a proper meal? Monday?

And then you frown. What day even is it today? You glance at your calendar and- 

Goodness grief, it’s Sunday already. 

You almost have a midlife crisis over wasting basically a week doing nothing but sitting at your desk and looking at words, but then again at this point- you’re just over it and want to be done as soon as possible. 

But soon, a weird feeling arises after you recall today’s date- like you were forgetting something. You place a hand over your forehead. Was there something important today? 

And as if the universe read your mind, the doorbell rings.

A giant wave of confusion washes over you. Was someone supposed to come over today?

-and you just completely wiped it from your mind?

You’re still running through your memories as you walk to the door. No, it's not Chae since she has finals too...

Opening it, you’re not at all expecting who was behind it. 

“Jeno-?”

He blinks back at your wide eyes, expression turning concerned, and you rub your temples in exasperation and defeat. 

“Oh, did we have a date today or something? I’m so sorry- I totally forgot.”

His eyebrows furrow. “No, I was just supposed to come over to hang out with you....”

“It’s been so long since we last talked, baby. You haven’t responded to any of my texts. What’s going on?” He promptly adds, staring intently at you. 

You let out a sigh, and jeno notices your tense shoulders and dark under-eye circles. “I thought you knew. Finals are coming up so I’ve been stuck at home cramming for about a week now actually.” 

His frown deepens. “I did know. And still, y/n..” he says in a warning tone. 

You know what his voice implies, you’ve heard it plenty of times at this point, but right now you don’t have to energy to listen to his nagging. “ I know, I know. Just- come in, I guess.....”

To be completely honest, you wanted to send jeno back home- there was still a lot more information left to cover and you obviously weren’t in your best condition, but he was the one who actually remembered your ‘date’ and drove to your place, so you would feel even worse making him go all the way back to his dorm. 

Jeno easily follows you in, biting the inside of his cheek to hold back any comments while examining your place even though barely anything has changed since he last visited- mostly because there was nothing to change when you were in your room all day. 

You walk to the kitchen, getting your boyfriend some water while yawning. Meanwhile, your mind is drifting away, thinking about what topics are left that you have to go over later. “What are we even doing today?” 

Jeno plops on your couch, arms behind his head. “I don’t know. A movie?”

You hide your grimace, immediately thinking of how much time would be wasted watching one, or possibly even more if jeno was feeling it. In the one to two hours of a movie, you could be done with chapter two and three-

“Y/n??”

Your head snaps up. “Yes?”

“Are you gonna come over here or just stand there in the kitchen all day?” he teases.

You shake your head to clear the fog and join jeno on the couch. Scrolling through the options, you automatically snuggle up next to him, eyes blearily watching the moving tv screen. 

He decides on this one animated film, and you’re too drained to pay attention so you simply nod and let the movie begin. But even though you try your best to focus on the storyline and what’s currently going on, your mind keeps wandering off to other, more boring things- your studies, obviously. 

The number of chapters you covered, the slight of chapters you have left, how long you would have to stay up to finish going through your planned amount of information  -all the stressful thoughts swirling in your head, and it only exhausts you more. 

You let out a sigh, and jeno turns to you. “Are you okay? You’ve been sighing nonstop since we started the movie.” 

You clear your throat, biting back a yawn. “Oh- yeah, sorry. I won’t do it anymore.”

Your boyfriend stiffens but doesn’t say anything, attention returning to the flashing screen in front of him. 

You did try. You really did. But your eyelids keep drifting shut and your head keeps slowly lolling forward and snapping back up -it’s not until your forehead accidentally knocks against jeno’s chest that he finally speaks up again. 

“Y/n. You need to take a break and get some sleep. Now.” His tone is sharp and commanding. 

You snap your eyes back open, vision blurry. “No- it’s fine. I’m good, let’s keep watching.” 

The immediate switch in the air is scary, jeno swiftly reaching for the remote and pausing the movie to look at you dead straight in the eyes before setting it back down with a loud, clattering noise. “You need to rest. I can tell from how tired you look, and I know you’ve been studying for so long, so why is it that hard to just relax for a little?” 

You groan, distress breaking through. “I can’t, okay? You already understand how stressful school is and how important my upcoming tests are. I know you’re just trying to be kind and thoughtful but-“ 

“But what?” He cuts you off, the frustration he’s been hiding for a while finally revealing itself. “Taking a rest from burning your brain out isn’t going to kill you, y/n.”

Your hands at your side clench and unclench, a wave of emotions overcoming you. “I know that. But I can’t afford to have a break now.” Everything suddenly feels overwhelming, and your voice comes out strained and uncontrolled. 

“I’m almost there, jeno. It’s so close, and if I stop now, I’ll feel like a failure.”

He laughs a short and echoing bark. “How do you think I feel? I was trying to brush everything aside and act like it was all fine, but it’s certainly not when you’re like this.”

You falter. 

Jeno gets up, making direct eye contact with you even though his body is trembling and his voice is shaky. 

“I spent the past week just lying in bed and worrying about you- if you were eating okay and getting enough sleep. I was constantly texting you reminders to take care of yourself, only to find out from your friend that you turned your phone completely off.  Do you know how shitty of a person I was feeling? I didn’t want to be a distraction to you because I know how much you care about your grades, but it’s killing me, y/n. I want to be there for you, but instead, I end up feeling like the worst boyfriend in the world.” 

He shudders before continuing,

“And then I come here, brushing off all my worries since I was super excited to finally be with you after so long, and then I have to see you in such a bad condition. Barely taking care of yourself, barely even surviving on your own just so you can pass your exams that I know you’ll already do well on no matter what. As your boyfriend who wants to help and be here for you, do you know how much my heart hurts?”  

He finishes, but not before wiping away the frustrated tears that appeared in his angry rant.

It takes one beat -two beats, before you immediately spring up, rushing towards jeno and throwing your arms around him. 

He accepts it, burying his face into your shoulder and wrapping his arms tightly around your waist. 

The guilt courses through your body, and you understand. The consequences of your actions hit you, hard, and you know you deserve it all. Jeno just wants to know that you’re here. You’re here with him.

“I’m really sorry,” you murmur into his hair, “I’m really, really sorry, jeno.” 

You hate the fact that you can still feel the slight wetness of his tears soaking through your-technically his- shirt. You pull back, looking straight into his eyes to make sure he knows you’re being genuine.

“I promise to pay more attention to myself, and I promise I won’t ever let it happen again. I won’t shut you out anymore... and you can come over to take care of me whenever you want, okay?”

Jeno slowly nods, and you softly wipe away the corners of his red eyes of any wetness.

He pulls you closer to him again, inhaling your scent one more time, and you finally let yourself go. 

After about a minute of just enjoying each other’s warm embrace - one that you feel like you haven’t felt in so long- you allow yourself to smile and pull back just enough to place a kiss on his cheek. 

“Was my baby just lonely and missed me too much?” you sing in a soft voice. He lets out a disgruntled noise in response, shaking his head against your body. 

But you both know what the answer is.

“C’mon, let’s go to bed.” You tug his arm easily to your room, putting off your studies, at least for today.

“You’re really gonna take a break this time?” Jeno asks, eyeing you carefully. 

You grin. “Yes? Besides, I know you’re always down for cuddles.” 

You drag him to the bed, taking his arms and wrapping them around your body as exhaustion quickly fills you. 

You fight yourself to stay awake as long as you can to enjoy jeno’s presence, but he notices and hugs you even closer if possible, whispering softly, “Go to sleep, baby. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

And before you finally drift off, you sleepily murmur, “I love you, jeno. Like, a lot.” 

Even after you fall asleep in his embrace, he stares down at you, softly kissing your forehead.

I love you too. 

bonus bc i adore jeno too much :

“Jeno- for the last time, you’re not a bad boyfriend.”

“I know.... but-“

You shut him up with a quick kiss.

“You’re the sweetest.”

Another kiss.

“Funniest.”

Peck.

“Handsomest.” 

His ever so growing smile freezes. Jeno looks at you, a surprisingly solemn look on his face. 

You raise an eyebrow, confused. 

“......even more than Nam joo hyuk?”

Ah. He had to go for the favorite actor. 

You swallow, battling an intense internal war before begrudgingly nodding. “Okayyy...fine. You are.”  

He crosses his arms. “I’m what?”

You roll your eyes, whining. “I already said it!”

Jeno shakes his head firmly. “Say the whole thing.”

You take a deep breath in, internally apologizing to your beloved actor. “......you, lee -verymuchanannoyingbaby- jeno, are more handsome than Nam joo hyuk.” Your sentence is finished swiftly in one breath, words slurring together. It actually pains you to say that. But it’s good enough for your boyfriend. 

Jeno delights in the squeal you let out when he picks you up in his arms to spin you around. 

“Fuck yeah- take that, nam joo hyuk!”

ღ

a/n: anyways im going to go hide away and cry over jeno now ^^

[mystic-sky]

|✨Part 1✨| |✨Part 2 ✨| of the Friends with Benefits Series.

Your relationship with Suguru started off somewhat unexpectedly. A new semester romance, however it was unwanted after dealing with Satoru Gojo just last year. You tried not to blame yourself for the situation unraveling the way it did. You did your best to make Satoru comfortable with you- at least you thought you did.

He cut you off as soon as you made your feelings apparent. You wondered if he somehow did it for your own good, or maybe there was something deeper that went along with it. No matter, you remained optimistic. You were young, and bound to make mistakes. This was just a story to tell your children about in the future if you ever felt it was necessary.

But back to Suguru, who had wiggled his way into your life somehow. He wasn’t a random guy actually. More like a familiar face you’d seen in a few of your classes because you both were in the same major. Just so recently, he decided to talk to you.

You weren’t expecting to hit it off with him so easily. He was sort of scary looking, which led you not to engage with him in the first place. He never tried talking to you before 5 months ago. And neither did you, considering you thought he was so handsome he’d break your heart too somehow.

His arms were sleeved with tattoos that would bridge at his chest. The tattoos would sometimes peak out of his wide collared shirts if he chose to wear one that day. He had a thing for wearing these huge ear gauges that had his favorite anime on them. Though, you never noticed until you sat close enough to him to see the designs. It was a rainy day, and both of you ended up sitting beside each other in your sociology course in the back of the classroom. You were both late, having come in just after the other.

It was weird seeing him this close. He never did come late to any class you’d ever been in with him. Even if you wanted to sit with him, like Satoru, he never had any available seats beside him. He didn’t disturb you until the lecture ended, commenting on one of your anime themed mechanical pencils. That sparked your first conversation with him, and he wasn’t shy to ask you out for coffee right after.

He’s been keen on you since, and you just barely give him the time of day in the beginning. You were just cautious, after the whole Satoru situation. Suguru was fine with whatever you wanted the situation between you both to be. But you will admit, the conversations he’d keep you up with at night made it hard to not fall in love with him.

He’d take you out to dinner, study with you, and sleep with you from time to time since the sexual attraction between you was hard to deny. You think your favorite thing about messing around with Suguru was how he’d always pick your brain after sex with manga theories and better endings than the canonically debuted ones. He was a really good cook, and you often challenged him to make your favorite dishes. They were excuses to invite you over to his place, so he gladly took each one with merit. It was friends with benefits but with far much more substance to hold onto.

He never poked you about getting serious. Whatever you both had was still young at barely 5 months. He could tell you’d been going through something mostly because of how you sexed him. Sometimes you were the dominant one- you’d throw him on the bed and bounce yourself on his length until your knees were far too tired to go on. Other times, he’d steal the show from you, showing you just exactly what he was capable of.

He spread you onto the desk in his bedroom, face deep into your folds. He also loved to spoil you, like Satoru, but you did your best not to think of him when you both were together. Suguru had so much more hair to grab, considering his tongue work was so good it scared you.

“Be a good kitten and cum for me.” He said between sucks on your clit. You often couldn’t think, and that was a good thing. He numbed you in plenty of ways, he knew he had been helping you get over something. He had been doing the same thing but you could care less.

“Actually, I changed my mind.” He tore his mouth from your steaming sex, wiping his chin. You gasp as he lifts you up off the desk, holding your body without leaning against anything for support. You felt weightless, feeling his length prod at your entrance. You tried to hold back a giggle as he smiled smugly at you.

“You ready?” His eyes were sincere, asking for your consent again as he was aching to sink you onto himself.

You nod, feeling a bit nervous. “Stuff like this is about balance. Start flailing around again and I’ll drop you.” He teased. Your hands found some of his hair again, tugging on it a bit.

“Just fuck me.” You roll your eyes as he slams his length into you, making you cry out and clutch your arms around him. His large hands firmly grasp underneath your thighs, using the way your ass recoiled against his thighs to keep a steady rhythm. He’s immersed in the way your broken moans pour into his ear, fueling his stamina. He’s a stickler for teasing you the entire time, praising you for taking his length so well.

“Such a good kitten, you’re taking it so well.”

It was the third time he’d ever held you up to fuck you. After letting go of the fear of him dropping you it became incredibly easy to focus on the pleasure.

“You’re gonna cum aren’t you? Don’t worry about the carpet baby, make a mess for me.”

He knew how to mix things up the way you needed. On your rough days he’d sex you slowly, more passionately and generously. If you were happy and feeling frisky he’d fuck you accordingly. He was pretty good at reading your body just after the first few fucks you had. You hated comparing the two men, but it did happen from time to time when you were in solitude, plagued by your own self-deprecating thoughts every now and then.

It was weird how they emanated each other’s personalities in certain ways. And then you found out that they used to be good friends in high school until something happened. You never poked Suguru about it, since he’d seem to get irritated when you were around groups of friends and Satoru’s name was mentioned. You did your best to be satisfied with what you had. He was handsome, smart, and possibly wanted to be your boyfriend in due time.

But you couldn’t help but think about Satoru. Not only was your experience with him a wild one, but he was fucking everywhere. It’s always like this for you. It’s not until you’re trying to avoid someone do you begin seeing them absolutely everywhere.

You stared at Satoru over Suguru’s shoulder, poking your cheek with your tongue. The audacity he had, showing up in the cafe where you both first met while you and Suguru were on a routine study date. Well, it was a hotspot for a lot of students, so who are you to say he can’t come in here.

“I think I’m overworking myself today, we can go eat now.” Your mood change was evident to Suguru, but he couldn’t put his finger on why at first. He watched you get up and pack your things before shortly following.

As you tossed your bag over your shoulders, he took hold of one of your hands, squeezing firmly. He pressed a sweet kiss to your forehead, tilting your chin up to meet his gaze.

“Is it something I can cheer you up from when we get back to my place?” Suguru was a bit smug about it, and also painfully intuitive about your emotions even though you’d been close for such a short time. Your cheeks went red, eyes burning holes through the floor.

“It’s nothing, really. Let’s just get out of here.” You manage to look back at him, just barely glancing at Satoru who probably had been looking in this direction. Suguru pressed another kiss to your forehead, wrapping his arm around you and leading you out the cafe. He nearly touched shoulders with Satoru and his own dame, smirking just loudly enough for him to hear.

Suguru wasn’t dumb, finally having noticed your energy change just a few moments after Satoru Gojo entered the cafe. This was your favorite place, and he hated how someone could ever ruin that for you. He felt urged to do something about it- with or without your consent. He doesn’t poke you about it until you’re in the car.

“Random question, but do you know Satoru Gojo?”

The question like a pin in your spine, making you visibly un-slouch in the drivers seat. He doesn’t look at you, feeling that would make it easier for you to talk. You take this the wrong way, and feel even more tense.

“I do, we were a thing at one point.” You manage not to stutter. You had no idea why you felt scared or touchy about the subject- you shouldn’t be. His entire vibe had changed, and he didn’t have his usual grin peaking at the corners of his lips.

“Oh,” he says simply. The longest ten seconds of silence reign throughout the vehicle. You’re anxious to turn on the radio, anything to rid the first bit of awkwardness the two of you had ever shared.

“He’s an asshole, isn’t he?” He randomly chuckles heartily, somewhat calming you.

“Yeah,” you’re exhaling properly now, “he really is.”

“We were best friends for about four years. I know him like the back of my hand. Granted, he’s probably changed a lot since high school.”

“But you’re both so-

“Different?” He chuckled. “Yeah, I know.”

“If he was an asshole then, he’s multiplied tenfold.” You roll your eyes. “You both don’t talk anymore?”

You knew they didn’t, but you took the opportunity to ask anyway.

“Nah, he’s a slimy bastard. I hope karma turns him rotten.” You’d never seen Suguru scowl before. He must really hate him, you thought. Still, what a small world; first Satoru and now his ex best friend.

“You still talk to him?” He pokes again. His tone is just barely playful. God, you changed your mind. You didn’t want to talk about this anymore.

“No, we don’t talk anymore. It ended pretty badly.” You say simply. You also decided not tell Suguru that the both of you messed around just before you started messing with him.

“Sorry about that. If we were friends sooner I’d have told you about him.” Suguru is apologizing for something you weren’t entirely ignorant about in the first place. You knew what you were getting into.

Satoru never tried to convince you the situation was anything other than what it was— until the end. The sweet things he started saying to you during those final months often echoed in your head- like he meant all of it.

The sex developed into something that it shouldn’t have. Sex that passionate should be forbidden if you aren’t already in love. And the things he said to you the last time he dropped you off didn’t make it any better. You wanted to slap his stupid, pretty face.

“I’m over it now.”

Suguru pans his gaze to watch you nonchalantly staring out the window. He knew better than to ask anymore. He was more elated that you didn’t interact with him at all. He didn’t need Satoru painting a picture about him in your head before he could first.

What sucks the most about dating people you go to school with is how often you’d see them. Satoru was fucking everywhere. The local restaurants, the library, the cafe, and he’d registered for two of your classes this semester. He didn’t speak to you at all, but he was always just there. Perhaps he’d always been around but since you’d been involved with him you were more aware of his presence.

You were standing in line in the library, attempting to return some books. He entered the space, and walked up behind you, standing on the line and giving your space. You turn your body slightly, peering up at him. You thought to leave, but just because you resented him didn’t mean you were going to cower every time you had to be around him for a while. You let out a sigh as you tip toed to peer in front of yourself; at least the line was moving.

Both of you had made it to the front, talking to separate librarians beside one another. When they both got up from their seats to head towards the back, he spoke directly to you, without actually looking at you.

“(Name), word of advice— I’d steer clear of Getou Suguru if I were you.”

Anger poured over you; you did your best to keep your voice low and eyes forward when saying this.

“That’s the first thing you say to me after almost a year? Go fuck yourself.”

He bites back a witty response, poking his cheek with his tongue. “Whatever. Find out the hard way.”

“You’ve got a lot of nerve. Why the fuck are you telling me this?” You’re whisper-shouting, considering it’s a library.

“Because,” he turns to look at you, “I care about you.”

“What a load of shit.”

Satoru Gojo doesn’t care about anyone, you learned that the hard way.

He let out a sigh. He knew he had no right, but even if he couldn’t get you back, he wanted you to know what kind of guy you were seeing. He couldn’t say anything, he knew you wouldn’t listen. Not like this anyway. Both librarians returned, and gave you back your borrowing passes. You quickly departed, refusing to give Satoru another opportunity to speak to you. His words stuck with you on the way home. You didn’t have any reason to be afraid of Suguru, right?

Two months had passed since Satoru had “warned” you about Suguru. And nothing has happened to lead you to be cautious of him. Satoru hasn’t spoken to you either.

You’re sitting in the guidance counselor’s office as it’s the end of the semester once again. You typed away on your phone, telling Suguru you’d see him for dinner in a bit before throwing your head back and shutting your eyes. The heaviest sigh left your lungs, you were thankful the semester was nearing its end. You had quite enough of studying and needed to unwind.

You feel a presence on the end of your bench, making you open one eye. You see white tresses, and you catch the scent of familiar cologne.

Satoru doesn’t look at you, but he’s quite aware that he’s sitting beside you as well. You almost scoff, only crossing your arms and legs. Noticing the undone laces of your boots, you lean forward to tie it. Your loose bag on your shoulder which unfortunately wasn’t zipped, spilled small notebooks and pencils all over the floor. Spare change rolled across the walk way along with other items.

“Fuck...” you muttered. His head snapped towards you as you let out a sigh and bent down to pick up your things. Your phone that was your on your lap hit the ground as well. You saw his hand in the corner of your eye reaching down to help.

“I got it.” You say sternly, and shamelessly picking up your things. He retracts his hand, and instead gets up to pick up the items that were further away from you, ignoring your request not to help.

He sits back beside you, handful of change and pens. He holds it up towards you quietly while you attempt to fix your bag back to the way it was. You turn to look at him for what feels like the first time in forever, blue eyes pouring into your own (eye color) ones.

“I didn’t need you to do that.” You say, taking your things. You initially thought to take your things from him without a word. He went back to staring in front of himself, waiting to be called. You shifted uncomfortably, and fidgeted with your fingernails. You forced yourself into to pay attention to the soft music playing from the back of the office until he spoke.

“How have you been?”

For some odd reason though, you wanted him to say something to you. You had a lot of things to let off your chest considering the way things ended. You thought of giving him a piece of your mind right there in front of all the staff members, but you restrained yourself.

Instead, you found yourself saying “I’m doing great.”

“That’s good.” He says nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. He didn’t even sound sure of his own response. A few minutes of silence resumes after. You’re a bit startled when speaks again.

“I’m definitely out of line right now, but I’ve been wanting to talk to you about some things.”

“What could we possibly have to talk about?” A lot. You were bubbling over.

“There’s a lot of things, at least for me, that I’ve never really told you.” He’s looking at you now. “Can we talk somewhere quieter? Whenever you’ve got the free time, and only if you want to.”

He was offering closure to you a bit too late. Or maybe all this time you’d convinced yourself you’d moved on. You often found yourself replaying the morning he brought you home and all the things you should’ve said in that moment.

That’s not exactly moving on. Unfortunately, you also found yourself comparing him to Suguru more often then not. That’s not moving on either.

“Okay,” you said. “Later on today. Round 8pm.”

He looks thankful. Just as he spoke, your counselor called out to you to come into their office. You stand up, looking down at him.

“Cafe then?” He suggests.

“That’s fine. See you.” You shrugged. You didn’t care that much for the place. You heard him say goodbye as the door shut behind you.

You had half a mind to never speak to him ever again. Though both of you were using each other, he knowingly crossed a line, making you feel things for him in a situation where feelings weren’t supposed to be involved. And he never gave you a chance to truly address the situation. Now, almost a year later, he’s ready to speak to you on his own terms. You’d be sure to tell him you had no intentions of making amends with him. If you personally didn’t have interest in what he had to say, you wouldn’t bother gracing him with the ability to explain anything to you.

You would’ve made him suffer. He’s lucky you’re still a bit distraught about the situation. Any longer into your situation-ship with Suguru and Satoru wouldn’t even have the slightest chance at something like this.

Dinner with Suguru was transparent. He could tell something was on your mind but he didn’t pry much after his first attempt. The last time you both talked about Satoru he turned into a different person, and it didn’t sit right with you. You did your best to brush it off, assuming he was just protective over you. But Satoru’s warning in the library echoed in your subconscious more and more. Just what happened between them, and would it be okay for you to ask Suguru about it?

He wasn’t your boyfriend either, but you suppose he wanted to be? You hadn’t brought up the dating conversation in while and you probably wouldn’t until you situated the Satoru thing.

“You know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Suguru’s holding your face, brushing your hair out of your eyes. His smile is incredibly gentle and you feel guilty for keeping this from him.

Perhaps you should hold Suguru accountable too, for being so sweet to you like this. He informed you he wouldn’t up and leave unless you wanted him to and that he’d never say anything he didn’t mean. But after dealing with trauma from past relationships, affection like this was always perceived cautiously.

“I know,” you say, feeling his lips press against your forehead again. “It’s just not easy to talk about right now.”

“That’s alright,” he assures you. “I’m here whenever you’re ready.”

His lips connect with yours while his hands slide down your back. He feels you relax a bit, and that makes him smile. How could he possibly be a bad person?

“I’ll call you when I get home, okay?”

You nod, watching him part from you and get into his car. You never did come to understand how he could afford it; a black Mercedes Benz-Coupe. You assumed that and his nice apartment were inherited wealth from his parents.

You wave at him before going into the station. Luckily he had things to attend to, and you didn’t have to bother making up anything about tonight. It was just barely any of his business, right?

You had an idea of what to expect from Satoru when you got there. You were rehearsing things you wanted to say in your head, some of them incredibly mean. You wanted to hurt his feelings too, if you had it in you. It didn’t take you long to get to the cafe, and you’d arrived early, already finding Satoru in the very back, furthest away from people. You gripped your bag strap, before sitting across from him.

“Hey, you’re early.” He says surprised, looking up at you from his phone.

“You’re the early one.” You say, not even cracking a smile.

“How are you?”

“Same as earlier. What did you want to talk about?”

He’s visibly gulping, and you’ve never seen him this nervous. He places his phone face down on the table, turning the sound off. You cross your arms.

“Right,” he lets out a heavy sigh. “Where should I start?” He attempts to gather his thoughts, rubbing his sweaty palms on his jeans.

“I’m not the kind of guy who really addresses his feelings, if you couldn’t already tell at the time we, you know... I’ve been fucked over a lot. I don’t have a lot of actual friends, and I’m constantly aware that people cling to me for my money or looks.”

He never acted like his entourages bothered him per se, but you did notice that he never bothered being around people anymore when the two of you were a thing. You prompt him to continue with your eyes.

“The only best friend I’ve ever had used me until I realized what was going on and cut him off. The first girl I ever really loved chose him instead of me shortly afterwards. Obviously, it’s not a legitimate excuse to have treated you the way that I did, but I guess what I’m saying is that I’m cautious of people and have been for a long time now.”

“But I never tried to use you,” you interjected. You felt a bit insensitive for spitting it out like that, but he really did hurt you.

“I know, and I realized that a bit too late.” He sighs. “But more importantly, I realized that I didn’t talk about or convey my feelings correctly. I know I confused you a lot, and you didn’t deserve that at all.” He tried to keep eye contact with you when he spoke, but your lion like force was pretty strong.

“And when I dropped you off— I shouldn’t have said those things to you. You were so much more than a warm body to me. You were the first real friend I’ve had in a long time. Things got so cloudy for me since we were sleeping together. I didn’t know how to address it, and it freaked me out when you told me you wanted more. I should’ve been elated, but I suppose I didn’t want my heart broken again either.”

“So basically...” He breathed out, “I’m really sorry. I’ve got some messy emotions, things I’m gradually learning to deal with. I’m not making excuses for myself. It’s just I never did talk about myself much when we were a thing, so I wanted to tell you something at least, and apologize. I hated the way I left things. I know it’s long overdue for an apology but...”

“But?”

“I still have feelings for you. I never stopped. The more time passed, the harder it made it for me to apologize and tell you how I feel. And then I noticed you were going out with... him, so I thought it was too late. But I still wanted to try, I guess.”

He looked so awkward, you almost laughed. Apologies were definitely foreign to him. You could tell he meant it, but even so, he wouldn’t be getting a relationship out of you, if that’s want he wanted.

You let out a large sigh. For some weird reason all the angry things you wanted to say wouldn’t come out. You wanted to be angry at him but you just couldn’t. And your heart was swelling at the idea of him still having feelings for you. Did he really mean that?

“We’re not together. Not yet anyway— it’s complicated.” You crossed your legs and leant back in your seat. Suguru probably would’ve been your boyfriend already if you weren’t so stuck on Satoru.

“Oh,” he said quietly. You’d never seen him look so small, it was definitely out of character for him.

“I forgive you,” you lean forward, holding your head in your hands. All this time and you still had soft spot for him.

“Really?” He’s surprised. Your friends will be too after you tell them this story.

“You want me to take it back?” You’re pinching the bridge of your nose.

He chuckles nervously. “No ma’am.”

“Are you... doing okay though?” He probes after noticing the stress in your brows.

“I can’t stay mad at you. And I want to so bad. It’d make my life simpler. Now I’m conflicted.” You drag your fingers under your eyes, before smooshing your own face, stressfully so. He thought you were cute, but he felt bad being the source of your distraught-ness.

“So I take it you still have feelings for me?” His voice is regular now, and just barely his normal cocky tone.

You won’t even look at him. “I mean...”

How do you explain to him that the only reason you’re messing with someone right now, who just so happens to be his ex-best friend, is because you were trying to forget about him in the first place?

“I get it if you don’t.” He says. “It’s been a while.”

“I do.” It’s almost instinct for you to correct him. “That’s the problem.”

“Ah, I see.” He’s rubbing the back of his neck again. You wished you could start over with a clean slate. School and dating shouldn’t be this difficult.

Satoru thought to warn you again about Suguru in that moment, but he held his tongue. He didn’t want to make it seem as if he was badmouthing him so you could favor him more, he wanted you to lean towards him naturally, if possible.

Silence reigned throughout your little booth in the cafe. The sound of rain hitting the window screen made it easy not to talk so much. It also made it hard to see a certain black, long-haired male in his Mercedes Benz, parked just across the street.

Suguru threw his cigarette out the driver’s window, continuing to watch the both of you inside. He shook his head disappointedly before starting his car.

“And that reminds me,” you say, making Satoru swallow hard and shift in his seat.

“What was that nonsense two months prior, about Geto Suguru?”

[oikawaplssteponme]

PART 6 | previously: part 5 | masterlist

pairing: Katsuki Bakugou x fem! reader

ratings/warnings: swearing, unconsciousness, violence (?)

synopsis: When UA’s hot heads, Katsuki Bakugou and you, are forced to put your hatred for each other aside and plan the third year Prom, things end up getting a little heated...

a/n: hi hi! i hope you all are doing well❤️ all i have to say is: it’s about time Y/N ;)) enjoy XX

•

Six: butterflies

For probably the first time in your life, you weren’t looking forward to Hero Training today. You didn’t feel the greatest. Today was peer evaluations but it wasn’t with Aizawa. Midnight was in charge today.

“Alright everyone! So I’m feeling generous and you can pick your partner today! One partner will demonstrate what they have been working on while the other will be providing helpful, constructive feedback. Then when I tell you, you can switch!” explained Midnight. You looked around at your classmates, unsure who you’d partner up with.

“Hey Y/N!” waved Deku, “did you maybe want to be-”

“Sorry Deku, Y/N’s with me.” You felt a hand grab your wrist.

“Kacchan? I thought you and Y/N were banned from fighting with each other?” huffed Deku. You looked up at Bakugou, who was already leading you away.

“This isn’t fighting, it’s constructive feedback. And shut up Deku.” Bakugou led you to the corner of the room, away from the other groups.

“Well damn maybe I wanted to be partners with Deku,” you said, crossing your arms. Bakugou laughed.

“And miss the opportunity for me to show you up? I don’t think so princess,” smiled Bakugou. You groaned.

“Whatever. Alright, who’s going first?”

“You obviously. You need the help,” said Bakugou.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah so what have you been working on?” he asked. You rolled your eyes.

“I’ve been practicing close combat without using my quirk. I can't rely on my quirk to get me out of every tough situation because if my body temperature is really low or my creation time is super delayed, that could cost me the fight,” you explained. Bakugou nodded.

“Alright then, so come at me Y/N. Show me what you’ve got!” yelled Bakugou. He adjusted himself into a defensive stance. You took a deep breath and got ready to strike.

“Don’t waste my time now Y/N, I haven’t got all day!” he teased.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for too long,” you smiled. You went in for a direct punch with one hand while using your other as a fake. Bakugou saw it coming though.

“Amateur work,” he mumbled. Bakugou continued to dodge you and your attacks. You began to get desperate, unable to land a solid hit on him.

“You’ve got me yawning over here princess.”

“OH FUCK OFF!” You were getting worked up at this point. You went for an uppercut shot and then whipped your leg around to kick Bakugou in the side. He fell to the ground.

“Shit-”

“Hmm guess you should’ve paid more attention,” you smirked. You helped Bakugou back to his feet.

“That kick was good but I know you’ve got way more power than that,” he said. You raised a brow.

“What do you mean?”

“Here, when you go for a side kick like that, you want to engage more than just your leg. Use your core and hips to create more momentum. Like this.” Bakugou changed his stance and whipped his leg around for a clean swing. You nodded.

“Okay…” You attempted to do the same.

“That was better but rotate your hips more, like this.” Bakugou went over to you and placed his large hands tightly on your hips. Your eyes widened.

“You want to force them to move, not just have them go with your leg. That way you generate more power,” he explained. Bakugou moved your hips as he pleased, keeping his hands firmly on you. You looked over your shoulder at Bakugou. His red eyes moved to look into yours. You never really noticed his eyes until now. They were beautiful.

“I-I…” you became instantly flustered. Bakugou’s face turned pink. His face was so close to yours, your noses almost touched.

“Uh, is this okay?” he whispered. You nodded.

“Y-Yes…”

“OKAY TIME TO SWITCH PARTNERS!” Announced Midnight. Bakugou instantly snapped out of whatever trance he was in and took his hands off of you. You turned the other way, slapping your hands over your cheeks.

“Uh so yeah just try it like that next time,” he said.

“Yup okay yeah sounds good,” you stuttered out. You tried to cool off but your face felt like a million degrees. You couldn’t understand why.

“Okay, what did you want to work on?” You asked. Bakugou looked over at you and smirked.

“I hope you brought your gloves.”

~

“This is a bad idea,” you insisted as you put your gloves on. Bakugou shook his head.

“No it’s a good idea. If anything it helps both of us. Now start throwing them princess,” said Bakugou. He had been focusing on quicker reflexes and his air speed while dodging. His plan was for you to throw as many of if bonds as possible, to test how he reacts.

“Bakugou if I blow you up it’s not my fault,” you huffed. Bakugou laughed.

“Your confidence amazes me. I doubt you’ll be able to even get a bond near me.”

“Oh really? Wells how’s this!” You generated a quick carbon bond and aimed it right for his head. By the time you threw it, he was already blasted up with his own explosions.

“Nice try but you’ve gotta be quicker than that. Come on you’re supposed to be challenging me!” He called. You clenched your fists.

“FINE!” You began to throw your bonds at him. One after the other after the other. Bakugou shifted from flying, dodging on the ground, and using his own explosions to cancel yours out. As much as he hated to admit it, you were giving him a run for his money.

“WOW KATSUKI, TIRED ALREADY?” You teased. Bakugou continued to counter your attacks.

“NOT EVEN CLOSE!”

You kept on throwing your bonds at him, despite the pain radiating from your entire body. You weren’t used to such speed when creating your bonds. Your cells weren’t regenerating fast enough to keep you stable. You began to feel lightheaded.

“Don’t go and get shy on me Y/N!” He yelled. Your hands ached and you felt sick. You threw one last bond before crashing to your knees.

“Hey that last one was pretty weak Y/N...Y/N?” Bakugou landed from his explosions. Your eyelids felt heavy. The last thing you saw before you collapsed was Bakugou rushing towards you.

~

By the time you woke up, the school day had already ended. You laid in Recovery Girl’s office, a cold towel across your head. The room was dark. You felt better so you decided to get up.

“Now where do you think you’re going?” said Recovery Girl. You jumped.

“Oh hi, sorry. Am I okay to go?” You asked. Recovery Girl smiled and patted your hand.

“You’ve gotta be more careful sweetheart. I’ve never seen you get like that before,” she said. You sighed.

“Yeah I guess I overworked myself a little,” you explained. Recovery Girl shook her head.

“More than a little dear. You’ve gotta remember that you’re only human after all, and you’ve gotta heal. It’s a good thing that blond boy brought you over here immediately,” she said. You jumped.

“Wait do you mean Bakugou?”

“Oh yes, I think that was his name. He came bursting into my office while you were still unconscious. Very heroic I dare say,” she smiled. You couldn’t believe it.

“You’re good to go sweetheart. I recommend you grab a good dinner and rest up,” Recovery Girl removed the towel from your head. You nodded.

“Right. Thank you very much.”

You stepped outside of Recovery Girl’s office and there sitting on the floor was Katsuki Bakugou.

“Bakugou?” He looked at you and got up.

“Oh you’re awake. A-are you okay?” he asked. Bakugou was twiddling his thumbs as he spoke to you. He looked a little nervous.

“Oh yeah I’m fine. Just pushed myself too far that's all,” you explained. He nodded.

“Did you wait for me this whole time?” You asked. Bakugou’s eyes widened.

“NO-well uh maybe...I just felt bad that it was kinda my fault that you ended up like this…” he mumbled. You felt your face grow hot.

“It wasn’t your fault, I was the one who pushed myself too far. I knew that it was a bad idea,” you said.

“Still...uh, the cafeteria already closed so I uh grabbed you this.” Bakugou handed you a box with rice, vegetables, and meat. You gasped.

“Bakugou...”

“It’s not a big deal I just didn’t want you to starve to death that’s all,” he huffed. You took the box from his hands.

“Thank you Katsuki,” you smiled.

“Yeah well you’ve gotta get stronger if you even think about beating me for the number one Hero spot. I want it to be a fair fight,” he said. You laughed.

“Sounds good.”

“Well, I’ll see you later Y/N.” Bakugou started to walk back to the dorms. You looked down at the box of food. You had this warm feeling all over your body. Your stomach felt tingly.

What the hell…

Then it hit you.

Do I have butterflies in my stomach?

You rushed over to the bathroom and splashed cold water on your face.

No no no this can’t be happening.

You looked at yourself in the mirror. You couldn’t get his image out of your brain. The way he looked at you. The way he held you. The way he teased you. They way you always wanted to be around him. The way you couldn’t go a day without thinking about him.

After that night with Bakugou, something woke up in you. It was as if you had been suppressing it for years and you just now felt it. The only problem was, you had no idea what ‘it’ was.

Now, you did.

Fuck. I’m in love with Katsuki Bakugou, aren’t I?

•

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[velvetyh]

Hey lovely!

Sorry I haven't been active for a bit 😅

How are you doing/ how was your day?

Random questions cause I like talking to you~

° Do you collect anything?

° Song of the day (or top 3)

° Favorite drink right now ( or what do you wish you had right now)

° Which pairing has you 🥵🥵 right now from the boyz, and then if you have any from another group lmao

☆ I collect Keychains from any state I visit. And I like rocks hehe 😄

☆ Not even kidding I had Frost-TXT on repeat for like 12 hours yesterday and today I've just had a the boyz Spotify mix going. (Right now I'm listening to Don't need your love - Nct dream and Hrvy)

☆I've been drinking cran-apple and cran-grape juice for like 3 weeks now but I high key want a mocha Frappuccino from Starbucks. I haven't had one in like 2 years 😭

☆ OK so Hyunjae has got me BY THE NECK right now. Same with Sangyeon lmao 🥵🥵 and uh I've literally not been able to get Yeonjun from TXT out of my head. Not even kidding, I had a dream about him. 🥴🤧

Anywhooo hope you're well and not overworking yourself 💜

🌺

hi dear!

my day was pretty boring and dull, i just want to fall asleep and wake up in april 🥲

i collect disappointments, worries, bad friends, bad thoughts, deceptions... nah jkjk im not collecting anything, i wish i was tho!! your collections sound so cute tho 🥺

songs of the day:

1- Ito - TXT 2- Home Call - The Toxic Avenger 3- Mosaïque solitaire - Damso (this is belgian french rap im sorry !! this is what i listen in the morning to walk to work :D)

There's a herbal tea that my mom bought at our local grocery shop and it's just SO GOOD i could drink litres of it 🙃 omg yeah starbucks is mad expensive, i wish i didn't have to sell my kidney for a caramel macchiato...

JUJAE omg, they have me wrapped around their finger 🤧 they make my brain short-circuit </3

skz chan has me mad whipped for his cute sexy ass :///

you dream of idols??? boi i cannot relate. . . I WISH OMG

hope you're taking care of yourself <33

[quickspinner]

Second Chance - Ch 4 Pay the Piper

Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8

Luka groaned into his pillow as his alarm rang shrilly. He’d rather sleep for a few more hours, but he knew he had to get up. He hadn’t meant to stay up half the night working on a new song, just like he hadn’t meant to ditch his dream girl for it practically mid-makeout, but he had and now he had to get his ass out of bed and deal with the consequences.  

He managed to lever himself up enough to look at his phone and found that not only had he overslept, Lucille had texted and she was on her way over to talk to him. Which meant he really needed to get out of bed, like, now. He buried his face back into the pillow. 

There was a knock on his bedroom door. “Luka?” Marinette called uncertainly. “I know you didn’t want me to wake you, but that’s the third time your alarm has gone off. Are you okay?”

He smiled, and rolled over. “‘M fine,” he called roughly, and cleared his throat. “Just lazy. I’m getting up now. Lucille’s coming over, by the way.”

“Oh, sorry, I’ll move my things.”

“No, it’s good, we’ll use the studio for whatever she wants to talk about. Just let her in if she gets here before I’m out, please.”

“Okay, sure.” He heard her footsteps recede, and reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and into the bathroom.

Luka showered and dressed as quickly as he could, though his brain was still moving at half speed at best. He really needed coffee. He frowned as he opened the door of his bedroom. He recognized Lucille’s voice and brisk tone, but something bothered him about it. He walked out towards the living room, catching the tail end of his assistant’s cold, calculated speech.

“Mr. Couffaine is very busy, and I’m sure you both had a delightful time, but it’s time to go. I can call a cab to take you anywhere you need to be.” 

Luka suddenly realized exactly what conclusion she’d jumped to and what she’d thought she needed to do about it. As much as the words Juleka was right pained him, he maybe should have told Lucille about Marinette before now.  

“But I—” Marinette began in a small voice, and Luka snapped out of his morning stupor as if he’d been doused in cold water.

“Lucille.” Luka’s voice was steel and both women cringed. Any other time he would have winced at the echoes in the small space from his too-loud reprimand, but at the moment he was pissed.  Controlling his temper as best he could, he crossed the living room and took his assistant by the arm.   

“Please excuse us for a moment, Marinette,” he said, propelling Lucille back to the entryway. Marinette might still hear them, but at least he wouldn’t be tearing into his assistant in front of her.

He kept his voice low but hard as he spoke to her. “Lucille, you’re a fantastic assistant and I appreciate everything you do. I don’t want to lose you but if you ever speak to a guest in my house like that again I will fire you on the spot, are we clear?”  

“Y-y-yes sir,” she said breathlessly, eyes widening. “I’m sorry, I thought she was just—“

Luka cut her off. “Even if she was ‘just’ I wouldn’t tolerate it. Understand? I know other clients expected you to handle things for them but as my representative I expect you to treat everyone you meet with a minimum level of respect, especially when you are in my house.”  

“Of course, sir, you’re absolutely right,” Lucille whispered, looking at the floor. Luka put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. 

“Okay. Now stop calling me sir, it gives me hives. I’m sorry I didn’t think to tell you about Marinette, I’m not exactly at my best this morning. She’s been my friend for years and she needed a quiet place to work on a project, so I offered to let her work here this week whenever she needed to. Now go on in my studio, Lu, I’ll be with you in a few minutes and we can go over whatever you needed to talk about.”

Lucille nodded and fled back across the living room and through the double doors, closing them behind her. Luka sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, turning back to where Marinette still sat rigid on his couch. He went to her and took her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. “I’m really sorry about that. Lucille’s worked with a couple other artists before me and she’s—“ He cleared his throat. “Well, let’s just say some of her previous clients bought in a little too hard to the rock star stereotype, and getting rid of one night stands was part of her job. I’m not what she’s used to, I don’t really have people over, and I guess when she found you here so early she jumped to conclusions. I’ve had all our dates blocked off my calendar as private so she didn’t realize I was seeing somebody. You, I mean, I’m just seeing you.”

Marinette relaxed slightly, and Luka tilted his head at her. “You didn’t—did you really think I would—“

“No!” Marinette flapped her hands wildly. “I mean—yes? Sort of? I mean I didn’t figure you were bringing random people home every night but you’re talented and famous and hot, and well, I thought...things happen?”

Luka took a deep breath and let it out slowly, not sure how he felt about that. “I mean, I’ve had a few relationships, but honestly, sex is too much work to bother with if it’s not with someone I care about. I just don’t care for one-night stands, and if I did I certainly wouldn’t delegate my assistant to kick them out afterwards.” His brow creased. “Honestly, I think I’m kind of offended that you think I would. It’s just not my style and I guess I assumed you would know that.” 

Marinette winced. “Of course I do. I’m sorry, I just—she caught me off guard and I—I’m really sorry, I’m stupid, of course you wouldn’t.” 

Luka sighed through his nose. “Lucille should be composed by now, I better go see what she wanted to talk about. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Marinette smiled at him. “I just wasn’t expecting that and she didn’t give me a chance to explain.”

“It’s my fault, I’ve kind of been keeping you to myself. Juleka told me I needed to tell her but I just...I don’t know, I wasn’t ready to share it with anyone yet. I’ll introduce you once she’s had a chance to calm down, she’s really got a good heart. I’m sure she’ll warm up to you when she’s done being embarrassed about the mistake.” He kissed her forehead. “I’ll check in with you again before I leave for the day, okay?” 

Marinette nodded, and smiled at him, brushing his hair out of his eyes. “I made coffee if you want some. You look like you were up late.”

“You’re a goddess,” he sighed, leaning forward to rest his head on her shoulder for a moment. “Thanks for understanding, Marinette. About this morning, and last night.” He kissed her lightly and went to find the coffee.

He handed a cup to Lucille as he kicked the study doors shut behind him. “Sorry it’s a mess, I know we usually talk in the living room but Marinette has all her stuff in there and I don’t want to make her move. Have a seat.” He cleared off a stool in the small room for Lucille, but she didn’t sit down.

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions,” she said softly, looking into her coffee cup. “I should’ve known better, but...” She took a deep breath, and then continued quickly, “I wanted to talk to you today because you just seem awfully distracted lately. It’s not like you to be so spacey, and you’ve been cancelling things a lot, and now you’re suddenly bringing girls home and that’s not like you at all—“

“A girl. One.” Luka corrected, looking at her over the rim of his coffee cup.   

“It doesn’t matter,” Lucille waved him off. “I’m just saying, I’ve been worried. If you’re feeling overworked I can start spacing things out more. It won’t do any good to anyone if you burn out, and I’ve seen artists do some pretty crazy things when the strain starts to get to them. I don’t want that to be you.”

Luka smiled. “Thanks for worrying about me. I’m fine, Lu, really. Never been better, really, creatively or personally, but I would like to make some changes so I can have a little more time for a personal life if you catch my drift.” The look she gave him clearly said that she didn’t. “I’m—” He coughed and set his coffee down, suddenly inexplicably embarrassed. “Marinette and I, like I said, we’ve been friends for years, and since we’ve reconnected—well, we’re seeing each other and it’s only been a few weeks, but it could get serious pretty quickly. I’d like to have a little more time to spend with her before we go back on tour,” he finished, hating that he blushed like a schoolboy as he said it. He was a grown man, he ought to be able to admit he liked a girl without looking like a tomato.

“Oh.” Lucille frowned, and her stance shifted from the stiff posture she’d held since he came into something more like her normal air of slightly exasperated competence. “I wish you’d told me, Luka, it may be the off season but the press will catch on sooner rather than later and I need to be prepared. You should have told me you had a girlfriend right away. We need to agree on a response to any press questions, and we probably should get a security detail set up for her too.”

Luka frowned. “Do you think that’s necessary?”

“In my experience it is. One night stands and groupies are one thing but a steady girlfriend is a threat to the more extreme fans. And you’ve seen how little respect the press has for personal boundaries.”

Luka groaned and put his face in his hands. “I didn’t even think about that,” he muttered.

“Which is why you need to tell me these things,” Lucille said briskly, and despite her annoyance Luka’s shoulders relaxed, because just like that, they were back to normal. “It’s my job to think about it for you.”

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Sorry, Lu. Sorry for blowing up at you too. You’re right, I should have told you about Marinette earlier. I guess I was just…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Lucille rolled her eyes. “Artists. You’re disgusting when you fall in love. I can’t believe you’ve been blowing off your responsibilities to chase a girl.” Luka winced, but Lucille just grinned wickedly. “Thank God, I thought something was really wrong. You’re sensitive and the lifestyle will eat you alive if you let it.” Her expression softened slightly. “So please keep me informed. It’s my job to help you.”  

Luka smiled, then sighed and hung his head. “Okay, I get it. Thanks for worrying about me, Lu. I’ll introduce you properly, and we can talk about some of these things if Marinette has time. But first, tell me what you think about this.” He reached out for the notebook he’d left on top of the amp and handed it to her. He picked up his guitar, playing the melody he’d worked out last night.

“This is new?” Lucille said, adjusting her glasses as she examined his scribbled notes.

“Been working on it all night.” He played it again, this time singing the chorus from his notes along with it. Luka peeked up at Lucille and smiled. He’d worked with her long enough to recognize the repressed excitement in her face. “It’s not finished, obviously,” he added, “I’ve only got lyrics for the chorus and I haven’t even had time to run it by Rose yet. What do you think?”

“I think this isn’t quite enough to earn you forgiveness for ditching work to cozy up with your secret girlfriend,” Lucille said crisply, and then smiled. “But if you keep working on it, it could be.”

Luka chuckled. “I hope Marinette thinks so too,” he murmured, playing the melody again. 

***

“It was nice to meet you, Marinette, I’m sorry again for jumping to conclusions.” Lucille shook Marinette’s hand and then turned towards Luka. “We’ll discuss your schedule after your recording time today,” she told him firmly. “I’ll go get the car. If you’re not in the lobby in five minutes, I’ll make you regret it.”  

“Thanks Lucille, I’ll see you in a few,” Luka chuckled. He closed the door behind her and turned to Marinette. 

“Which one of you is the boss again?” Marinette giggled.

“Oh I’m the boss,” he grinned. “But Lucille’s the one in charge. Well, I guess I have to go. I hope I didn’t interrupt too much of your work time this morning.”

“I made enough progress yesterday that it’s okay, but I do need to get back to work myself,” Marinette said, tugging on the lapel of his jacket. “So you better make good use of those five minutes.”

Luka leaned in and kissed her, caressing her cheek with his thumb. “Will you stay for dinner tonight too? We can order in so you don’t have to spend time cooking.” 

“I’m spending dinner groveling for your sisters’ forgiveness,” Marinette wrinkled her nose at him playfully. “You’ll be all alone with your music tonight. I wouldn’t want to distract you.”

“You’re not a distraction, you’re an inspiration.” He kissed her again, and this time she returned it, leaning in and slipping her arms around his neck. “I won’t see you until tomorrow, then? You can always come by after dinner, you know I’ll be up.”

“Maybe, but I’m neither a rock star nor a vampire, so I’ll need to be getting back and getting some sleep.” Marinette sighed. “So kiss me like you mean it, and I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

“Like I mean it, huh?” Luka checked his phone. “Three minutes left,” he observed, winding his arms around her waist as he leaned in. “I can work with that.”

Two and a half minutes later he pulled back, smiling at the dazed expression she turned up at him. He kissed her cheek, made sure she was steady on her weak knees, and hightailed it to the elevator, grinning like a loon. 

He smiled again when he got home that night, even though Marinette wasn’t there. Her things were all over the place in the living room and kitchen. 

 ***

The first thing he did in the morning was brush his teeth. The second thing he did was to find Marinette, already working, chattering on the phone as she tapped a pencil on one of her sketchbooks. Luka leaned over the back of the couch and nuzzled her cheek, chuckling when she jumped and tried to shoo him away. He waited there until Marinette was off the phone, let her turn around and scold him, and then leaned in to kiss her over the back of the sofa. 

“Jerk,” she muttered, before getting up on her knees to face him and slide her arms around his neck. 

“I waited until you were off the phone,” he protested, sliding his hands up her back. “How’d it go with Jules last night?”

“It was tense at first,” she admitted. “We talked it out, aired a lot of really, really old feelings. We both made some apologies and...I think we’re good now.” 

“Good,” Luka sighed, slumping a little in relief. “Is she okay with us now?” 

“Mmm...I wouldn’t go so far as to say we have her blessing, exactly,” Marinette sighed. “Honestly I think she thinks I still don’t deserve a second chance with you. But I think she’s willing to wait and see what happens as long as you’re happy.” 

“I can live with that,” Luka smiled, squeezing her. “Thanks for talking to her, Marinette.” He tried to kiss her, but she put her hand over his mouth. 

“Oh no,” she told him. “Shave first. I have a strict no-stubble policy. I don’t enjoy kissing sandpaper.”

“Fair,” he chuckled against her hand. “It’s my day to go get yelled at by my trainer, so I’ll deal with all that when I get back. Then I can kiss you?”

“Luka,” she groaned, burying her face in his neck, “I’m working.”   

“You can still work after I kiss you.”

“Do you know how long it took me to get back to work after you left yesterday?” Marinette demanded, and there was nothing remotely like regret or apology in Luka’s grin. Marinette narrowed her eyes and got nose to nose with him. “Don’t get smug with me, Couffaine, we both know I can make things very hard for you and that might make your gym trip a little awkward.”

Luka laughed and dropped his face into her shoulder. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you making jokes like that.” 

“Who’s joking?”

“Do you just want me for my body, Marinette?”

All the teasing went out of her expression and he had to swallow hard at the look in her eyes. “No,” she said softly, “I don’t just want you for your body, Luka.”

There was that feeling again, like a suddenly missing stair in the middle of a staircase he’d walked down a hundred times. Luka leaned his forehead against hers, bringing his hand up to cup her cheek. For a moment they just stood silent, breathing each other’s air. He kept expecting reality to set in, for something to tip him off that this fantasy world he was living in had to give way at some point. He kept expecting to feel the shock of the ground and instead he just kept falling.

The phone in his pocket shrilled, and Luka sighed, pulling away. “That’s my ‘quit staring into your coffee and move’ alarm, so I really need to go. I’ll be home afterward, Lucille blocked out my afternoon to work on new music, so I’ll see you when I get back.” He smiled, rubbing his thumb along her cheek. “I promise I’ll let you work, though.”

Marinette smiled and leaned precariously over the back of the couch to kiss his nose. “Bye Luka.” Then she turned around and flopped back down on the couch with a sigh. 

It was a great week. Marinette brought color and clutter and brightness back into his life, and it felt like home. At the same time, she was organized and considerate, careful not to let her chaos overflow into his working space. He felt her presence down to his bones; Marinette brought a creative energy he hadn’t felt since he and Juleka had moved off of their mother’s boat. Anarka wasn’t always the easiest person to live with, but she was an artist in her own way, and always had a frenetic creative drive that Luka hadn’t realized he’d been missing. Even away from home, he found himself jotting down song notes in the margins of his meeting agendas, and he took to carrying his guitar wherever he went, and every little gap in his schedule saw him sitting in some quiet corner, trying different chord progressions and muttering to himself. 

Seeing that he was caught up in a creative surge, Lucille worked some of her special kind of magic, swapping out some of his less urgent business meetings to work more composition time into his schedule. For him, that meant more time when he could just be at home and work while Marinette worked, testing out his melodies and watching through the open door of his studio as Marinette rehearsed her presentation or spun around the room with fabric samples to see how they moved, sometimes humming along with the melodies he kept playing over and over.

To his utter relief, Juleka stopped needling him, other than occasionally teasing him for his distraction. Neither Marinette nor Juleka would give him the details of what they had talked about, and Rose had just shrugged and shaken her head when he asked her. Marinette told him not to worry his pretty head about it, and Juleka was a lot less polite than either. Luka pouted a bit, just for appearances, but as long as his girls were getting along again, he didn’t much care about the details. He did buy Rose’s favorite chocolates as an apology for having to put up with Juleka’s grouchiness the past few weeks. 

When he showed Juleka what he’d been working on, she just smiled and gave him a few words of encouragement. “Your last passion project went platinum,” she told him, when he complained at the lack of feedback. “You don’t need me, just let it flow.”

It was true; for the first few years, he hadn’t had a lot of input on the songs he performed. The label brought him demos to pick and choose from, but it wasn’t until he had been producing hits on the regular that he was finally able to go to his producers with an album proposal and say, “This is what I want to do.” After that album, Regret Nothing, had been so successful (it had been voted best breakup album of the year by Teen Rock, which he’d found endlessly amusing since there was no actual breakup involved), he’d had a lot more creative control over the music he played. Anarka had, surprisingly enough, been his biggest collaborator on that album, and he’d spent several nights on the Liberty when it was in town, passing a guitar back and forth and talking through old feelings, both his and hers.  

It was a bit of a cold shock to come home one night to find Marinette’s things cleaned up, and Marinette herself sitting on the couch with a small carton of ice cream, looking triumphant. Luka hung his keys on the rack and his coat in the closet and came to sit beside her. 

“So, do I take it from the absence of paper all over my living room that some milestone has been reached?” 

“Yes,” Marinette declared, offering him a spoonful of ice cream, which he accepted. “I’ve gotten the hard part done over the last few days, all the writing and outlining and instructions, so starting on Monday I’ll be working with the team at Gabriel to actually start producing the looks for the presentation show. I hereby return your apartment to you.” She held up his key. “No more tiptoeing around your own home.”

Luka took the key and set it on the end table a little reluctantly. “I really didn’t mind it.” He stole the spoon and took another bite of her ice cream.

“Mmm, I know, because you’re awesome that way,” she said comfortably, leaning her head on his shoulder before snatching the spoon back. “You’ve been a lifesaver this week, I can’t thank you enough.”

“No thanks needed. I was happy to help. It actually felt really good, having someone else around. You know, growing up on the boat, not even having my own room really, you’d think I’d be glad for the space, but most of the time it feels empty. I liked having you here.” He liked it a lot, actually. He kind of hated the idea of her being gone. He put his arm around her and tugged her closer against him.

“I did too,” she admitted. “And I’ll probably drive Alya crazy humming all these half-finished songs you’ve been playing all week. Did you decide what to call that piece from this morning? That riff was killer.”

“Lightning on the water,” he told her. “Rose and I did some brainstorming earlier, I think I can work with it.” 

Marinette nodded thoughtfully. “That works, I can see it.” She giggled. “Was that a pun? Lightning? Brainstorming?”

Luka chuckled. “Unintentional, I promise.” He accepted another spoonful of ice cream, and asked, “So what happens now?”

“Now, I go to Gabriel on Monday and they’ll assign me a team and a workspace, and we make these happen.” She indicated her stack of sketches.   

“So you’ll be busy for a while, huh?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, setting the ice cream on the coffee table and turning to face him. “Yeah, I will be. I’m sorry.” 

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me.”

“Please don’t say that,” Marinette sighed, sitting back away from him and picking up the ice cream again.  

“I’m sorry,” Luka frowned. He reached for her, catching her hand and tugging lightly. “Is this something we need to talk about?”

“Probably,” Marinette said morosely. 

“I’m listening.”

Marinette took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “It’s...hard to explain. It’s not just one thing, but...I’m busy, Luka. I’m always going to be busy, it’s who I am.”

“Okay.”

“And the people that I dated before, they were busy too. And always there were sacrifices we had to make, things we had to cancel, just—other things we had to deal with. And one of us would always say ‘I’ll make it up to you’ and sometimes it happened and sometimes it didn’t, but...I just started to really hate it.” She looked up at Luka, face earnest. “Why do we have to keep this giant running ledger about who owes who? Things happen, things will always be happening, can’t we just...I don’t know, roll with it? I don’t want the stress of constantly figuring out just how big I screwed up and what would be an equivalent apology gesture, when really it wasn’t that I screwed up at all, life just happened like it always does.” 

She dug viciously into the ice cream, glancing up at him as he thought through what she was saying.

"Okay,” he said finally. “I...think I get it, sort of.”

Marinette sighed. “I can give you an example, but it’s going to involve Adrien, because it was the most obvious with him.” 

“That’s okay,” Luka shrugged. “Don’t feel like you’re not allowed to talk about that, Marinette.” 

She nodded. “Adrien’s dad booked him for a fashion show on my birthday,” Marinette began. “And I know Adrien tried to get out of it, but it just wasn’t optional in his father’s eyes. And it was fine, I was a little sad, but it really wasn’t any big deal. I told him we could celebrate my birthday some other day, just the two of us.” She sighed. “He swore up and down he would make it up to me and he would give me the best late birthday dinner anybody every had. And then he went completely overboard. Everything his romantic little heart could think of. He must have spent a fortune.” 

“And you hated it?”

“I didn’t hate it,” Marinette shrugged. “But I didn’t love it either. I didn’t enjoy it so much that I forgot that he wasn’t there on my actual birthday. So it...kind of seemed like a waste? And I felt horrible that he went to so much trouble and spent so much money and really all I could think was that I would much rather have had him singing happy birthday off key with my parents while they brought out a cake big enough for fifteen people in a room that only held six or seven. I mean, that’s the thing, right, we can’t ever get back those moments, and trying to make another moment twice as good to make up for it, it’s…”  

“Exhausting?” Luka suggested.

“Yes!” Marinette cried. “I mean, if he had done all that stuff for any other reason than because he felt guilty for missing my birthday, I would have enjoyed it way more.” 

“I get it,” Luka took the forgotten ice cream from her hand and set it back on the coffee table. “Come here.” Marinette looked at him, and then, a little reluctantly, slid over into his arms. “So if I’m hearing you right, what you really want me to say is, I accept that you’re going to be busy next week, and I can’t wait until we can be together again.” 

She smiled at him. “And I accept that sometimes you have to work when the inspiration comes, and I’m okay with waiting until you can devote your full attention to me, even though I might be disappointed in the moment.”

“Got it,” Luka smiled, flipping a strand of her hair. “Glad we’re clear.”

Marinette giggled. “So if I kiss you now, are you going to jump up and run off on me again?” she teased.

“No promises,” he grinned. “You’re awfully inspiring.”

“I try.” She nuzzled his neck and kissed it with her cold mouth, making him shiver. “Wasn’t exactly the kind of inspiration I was going for though.”

He sighed. “You’re going to kill me, you know that right?”

Marinette frowned and sat back on the couch. “Too much? I’m just teasing, I don’t mean to pressure you.” 

“I know. I can take it, as long as we’re clear that’s not where this is going tonight.” Luka smiled. “But that absolutely doesn’t mean I want you to leave. Come back over here and kiss me, Marinette.” 

She slid back into his arms and Luka gathered her to him, and despite her teasing, when she kissed him it was soft and tender and unhurried. There was passion in it, the press of her soft body did things to his, the trail of her fingers over his skin and the feel of her silken steel muscles under his hands made his heart pound and his breath catch, but the feelings that threatened to overwhelm him weren’t coming from his body.  Luka tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled her closer, deeper, and let her push him down onto the cushions. 

Marinette pulled back suddenly, and Luka blinked hazily up at her. “Are you okay?” she asked. 

“Yeah.” 

“You’re only using one hand.” 

Luka bit his lip, feeling heat creep up his neck. “I’ve been playing a lot this week and my left hand is pretty roughed up from the guitar,” he admitted, flexing the fingers that rested on her jeans over her hip. “I mean, the calluses are always there, but—anyway, some girls don’t like it.” 

“Well I do,” she whispered huskily, plucking his hand off her hip and placing it against her face. “Touch me, Luka.” 

He did, stroking her cheek and down her jaw, and then down her neck to her collarbone. She arched into his touch and he pulled her back down into another kiss, both hands roaming over her face and neck and shoulders this time. She nearly purred when he ran his callused fingers along the back of her neck, surging against his mouth before breaking away. “Those girls are stupid,” she muttered, giving him no time reply before her mouth was against his again. “You make music with those hands. Idiots.”

Luka laughed into their kiss, and she giggled back at him. He cupped her face in both hands, and for a moment they just looked at each other.

In the back of his mind, he knew he had to hit the ground sometime. He couldn’t fall forever. 

He could feel himself bracing for impact even as he kissed her again.

[tenderlyrenjun]

The Rich Truth

part nine | part ten | part eleven

2,2k words

What was that thing about alcohol and sleep people keep saying - it helps you fall asleep better? Faster?

You cannot recall, not that you were trying hard to. Well, your body needs that information as it struggles to fall into deep sleep while the alcohol from last night, or really this morning, leaves your system. Your muscles tense into the bed, trying to keep you in a comfortable, semi-paralyzed position while your heartbeat and breathing regulate. Even your brain turned off the dreaming factor, shutting down to shove all your energy into achieving rem sleep.

But alcohol is not the only thing keeping your body agitated so late in the morning.

Renjun’s phone goes off, and you can vaguely recognize the ringtone while unconscious, but it sounds a lot like the alarm you use to wake up for class. After the fourth blaring ring, you wave a hand over the nightstand with all the charging electronics, dreamily thanking a deity for the hands free option that is going to let you sleep in more, at 11:15 A.M.

Or at least, would let you sleep in more if it was an alarm you had turned off.

“Renjun? Hello? Renjun? If you don’t -”

You bolt upright, eyes wide open and panicked. The blue blanket falls into your lap when you dive halfway across your bed to claw for Renjun’s phone, a woman’s voice becoming increasingly more exasperated.

“Hello, hello, good morning,” you greet in the most proper form you can, simultaneously patting down your messy hair as if she could see you unkempt. This has the same energy as your first phone call with Renjun, you think, as the woman continues in Chinese. You only know a few words and maybe a few beginner characters that pre-kindergartners know, but her fast speech spins your head in circles, taking you back to your native language screaming I don’t know what the hell you are saying in your head until she recognizes your silence as confusion.

“Where is my son?” she asks you, the edge in her voice displaced from him onto you, changing from Chinese to Korean. “Why the hell is he not answering his phone? Who are you?”

Oh, fuck, you think, you are actually meeting his mom right now. This is no longer a joke the two of you can pass around. Well, maybe it will be a joke in the future, but, God, it is terrifying right now. What are you supposed to even say?

Wait.

She asked you three questions and is probably tapping her foot impatiently, something you assume Renjun would do on your earliest phone calls or texts.

You put the phone on speaker and tap through Renjun’s calendar until you find the color-coded system: flamingo pink for Renjun, lavender purple for Jeno, and banana yellow for Jaemin. You vaguely recognized the names on the other schedules, but the thought of investigating them more flies out the window, Renjun’s mom at the forefront of your mind. 

“Renjun, he is in class,” you say shakily, trying to slow down your voice so it appears calm and collected, completely opposite your disheveled appearance. “I ... am his assistant, so I have his phone for the time being while he is in class on a full schedule right now, but I can call him after and give him your message.”

“Okay ... assistant,” she responds hesitantly, somewhat satisfied with your answers and lighting up on the receptive voice outgoing. “Answer me this: why is my son not coming home for Chuseok? I tried confirming with his pilot today that he is leaving Wednesday at 10 after his drawing residency, but no! He apparently cancelled last night and has yet to tell me why.”

Fuck, shit, fuck, fuck, fuck, your brain loops. You do not have an answer for that, and trying to come up for one on the spot has your mind racing through possibilities, but you realize that you do not really know him well enough to give even a half-heart excuse. You actually did not know he was leaving to go to China for Chuseok, just assuming “going out with friends” meant heading out to a club in Gangnam, maybe all the way out to Jeju island at the farthest. Who the hell goes to another country for the fucking weekend?

“Is something wrong?” she asks softer, suddenly worried for her son’s health over anything else.

“No!” you blurt out, almost aggressively, suddenly protective over a boy you just discovered that you barely know. “He just ...” A light blub goes off in your head, remembering all your talks about his work and busy schedule. “His internship is slightly overworking him, and he has a few things to figure out before he heads out for the weekend - he will still see you - and-and he will be in touch with you later on.”

“Oh? Maybe I should have set up a meeting with his department head.”

You mute the phone to scream into a pillow, then breathe a little bit to regain composure. What the hell are you saying? Why the hell are you saying more things, assuming more things? You turn your audio back on, then speak calmly again.

“He says it is not a big de- problem,” you continue using professional tone, catching your slip before she says anything. “Do you have anymore questions? i can talk to him at -” You quickly return to his schedule, scanning all the way to the end of his busy day - fuck, how does he do all this in just one day? - “in 30 minutes during his lunch break before his mixed media class and get more answers.”

“No, just tell him to call me before the weekend. I haven’t heard from him in nearly a month, save for a few texts here and there off his iPad, which is weird because he does not like connecting that thing to WiFi unless he absolutely has to. Anyways, I would like to speak to my son as soon as possible, or else I am going to fly to his school, thanks.”

“No pr-” The phone line goes dead before you can finish the sentence; must run in the family, you think. “-oblem. Okay.” You take a deep inhale, relaxing after that impromptu conversation, and put a palm over your rapid heartbeat.

Then the panic creeps up and you are diving through Renjun’s phone again, punching in your phone number that you have listed under his name just to remember that you are texting another human being, not yourself. His phone rings, obnoxiously long, then it shuts off, so you call him again ... and again ... and again. They say seventh time is the charm, right? That is how the phrase goes, right? Well it must be since it worked; he answered on the seventh try.

“Okay, something either has to be wrong for you to call me seven times while I’m in class,”’ Renjun finally answers before his voice takes on a deeper, mischievous tone, “or you’re just needy which I don’t mind. After all, you looked really h-”

“I talked to your mom,” you blurt out, interrupting him. You are doing that a lot - maybe the Huang family just ... does something to you, makes you want to blurt out every random, tangential thought you had.

“Oh?”

“She said you’re supposed to go to China this weekend?” you ventured into that unknown part of his life, leaving a questioning inflection at the end for him to tell you that you are wrong but he says nothing, his silence acting as confirmation.

“I’m still going,” he informs you slowly, like he is making sure precious glass will not break. He really does not know what else to say, especially since his brain is trying to expel thoughts of linear programming and your little black dress, in favor of talking with you. He also does not want to accidentally reveal how he feels about you, but it looks like the situation is catching up with him, almost giving him the perfect opportunity to say hey, I like you! Please, I hope you like me too.

“Oh,” you say, dejected, not knowing how to respond either. You do not feel close enough (?), maybe, to ask him to stay, but you want him to and you want to officially meet him. The holiday would be the perfect time ... but ... he is leaving ... even though ... “She said that you cancelled your flight.”

“Yeah.” There is rustling on the other side of the phone as he rubs his neck, unsure what to disclose. “It was pretty last minute - the cancellation, but I was going to talk with my pilot to get an early flight on Thursday morning, after class today, which I guess has ended prematurely due to your phone call.”

Your face heats up and you hide in a pillow you pulled onto your lap midway through Renjun’s explanation. “Sorry.” Then you get a little braver, not really wanting him to leave just yet; you feel like you neglected him a little bit last night, and even though he is busy right now, you want to hear his voice - it is nice to semi-wake up to, just as it is nice to semi-fall asleep to after your nightly FaceTime chats. “Can I ask why you wanted a later flight?”

Renjun nods his head, then realizes you cannot see him. “Right, yeah. I wanted to ask if we could meet, like tomorrow or Wednesday, but I was waiting until tonight to ask.”

“Oh,” you drawl out, surprised by him again. You kind of expected to meet him after the holiday or to, you didn’t know, push off meeting him for awhile before your feelings for him grow too strongly and he says something like how he does not return them.

“Look,” he catches your attention with the serious edge in his voice, almost as if he read your thoughts, “I’m - I - I just have to ask, because you are driving me absolutely insane - first with this whole situation, then with that dress last night -” you look down at your outfit, the black material having rode up and bunching up at your waist; you decided to take it off and put on some pyjamas, not that those were anymore modest, but you do not have anything until two this afternoon. “Hello?”

“Yeah, no, still here,” you call out to the speaker, dragging the dress off your head. “Just putting on different clothes; you reminded me that I was still wearing that dress.” You laugh, hearing him inhale and muttering something about exhausting it is to talk to you sometimes. “I just changed into pyjamas.”

“Are you going to snap me those too?” he asks, a mix between hopeful and playful. “But no, I just have to ask: do you like me?”

“What?” you snap to the phone, finished tugging on a warm sweater with a Keith Haring design on the sleeve. “Why - why are you asking?”

“Just tell me, please,” he begs softly with that powerful voice of his, “because I am really starting to fall for you, to like you, I mean,” he backtracks, not entirely sure how strong his feelings are for you just yet. “And I don’t really want to waste any more of my time, especially if you don’t feel the same way.” He pauses, trying to gauge your silence, but it is hard since he cannot see you, despite how desperate he is right now for even just a real life glimpse of your face. You say nothing though, prompting him to continue this monologue with awkward rambling until you say something, anything. “You’re not obligated to like me back. I know that you think people have a hard time rejecting me and that I easily get what I want, but this relationship involves two people, you and me, oh fuck, not a relationship-relationship, or yet at least, if that’s what you want. Fuck, does this make any sense or am I scaring you off ag-”

“Yeah,” you answer, eventually processing all his words.

“What?”

“Yeah, I like you, too,” you smile wildly, kicking your legs forward like an excited child sitting in the car on her way to get ice cream after school. You want to say that you are falling for him too, but is that too soon? Is that too serious, especially at your age? There are still so many questions you do not even know how to answer yourself, but you wonder if Renjun can help you answer those questions. After all, they are about him.

“Really?” he asks you, wishing that you are being truthful with him.

“Yeah, really,” you smile at the wall, wanting him to be there with you in this moment so you could at least kiss him to show him that you are serious.

“Okay, okay,” he repeats, then his voice gets more enthusiastic, “Awesome! I still have class and stuff today, but I’ll text you later about when we can meet, okay? I’ll talk to you later, babe.”

Renjun hangs up the phone, letting you sit in silence for a minute. Your head reels in so many thoughts, mostly positive because you cannot believe that a cute boy likes you back! You let out a girly love struck screech, then fall back into bed with smile plastered on your face. Then the phone goes off, alerting you of a text:

[potionruneroarsfelton]

Rhink Fanfiction

This is the first writing that I’m posting. Based on a prompt.

12-01-17 Closed eyes enveloped him in a crimson void. It was early February, the remnants of the winter chill surrendering to the oncoming season and vanishing slowly. But the mountaintop was covered in snow and the temperature in the cabin was less than comfortable. He could hear the ambiguous sounds of nature, pushed to the background by his overworked brain. Located deep within the forest, their cabin gave the illusion of living in the middle of nowhere, which was precisely what he had asked for. This project had a lot riding on it. He had assumed it would bloom productivity. Productivity. He gave an internal scoff. 2 days in the cabin had yielded nothing. Not a single arc in the story line, not a single supporting character, not even part of a song. Absolute squat. His creativity seemed to have hit a wall while his “partner” was constantly distracted by his disrupted routines and irregularities in the workplace. I was at least trying. All Link has done is arrange, rearrange, complain, rest, yell and complain some more.  He was lying on his bed, dressed in nothing but his underwear, ignoring the goose bumps rising on his skin whenever a breeze blew too close, too cold. It was one of those days. There was nothing playful about the arguments they had been having, no hint of humour when insults were thrown. It was one of those days when the frustration wasn’t on his skin; it was deep within his bones. Anger and dissatisfaction weren’t pricking at his nerves, they had lit a fire in his gut, making his vision bright red. How many times do I have to go through this shit? In the 39 years that he had put up with life, he had felt like this a few times. When he and link were on the verge of breaking bones, when his family had almost become broke, when Jessie had considered breaking up, his mind had painted itself red. It had gotten worse every time and always left him with a nagging knowledge that someday, it might be unbearable. In his younger days, he had tried different ways to cope. The alcohol buzz was a downer and would pull his spirits even lower, not to mention the hangover. He couldn’t talk to link- he had already spat a lot of venom he would regret later. By isolating himself in the mountains, he had effectively cut off anyone else who could have helped. He recalled his college strategies- hooking up, getting violent, all that weed- which had made his life, and the throbbing in his head, a lot worse. Why am I still here? He opened his eyes, hoping to escape the scarlet haze of slowly boiling bitterness. He stared at the wooden beams on the ceiling, lying motionless under the weight of all his responsibilities. He felt paralysed under the people relying on him. He felt helpless against the barrage of thoughts flooding every crevice of his mind. He felt like he had perfect recall- he could almost hear the stinging, spiteful words from every fight he’d had with Link over the past 33 years. When he tried to shift his focus, he could see the cake splattered on the floor, shattered glasses of wine. He could feel the heat on his face from having screamed unthinkable things at Jessie, who looked at him with tear stained cheeks as she ripped her dress, if only to release some of her anger. That dress was red. Her lips were red. His eyes were red later that night, knowing that neither his wife nor he was going to forgive him for ruining her 30th birthday. Do I even know what I’m doing? What I’m living for? Was this all a mistake? The love of his life was taking care of his family for him while he voluntarily dragged himself away. A friendship that began with innocence, grew with care, toughened with brutal honesty was beginning to feel manufactured. The rawness with which he used to interact with Link had now become a carefully fashioned, partly scripted entertainment program. All of this to pander to an audience who were more interested in unearthing their insecurities and commenting on their looks than the content they created. The content he poured his heart into. The content that birthed most of the fights, awkwardness and accusations. The content that might cost him his best friend. Everything is nasty. He was becoming acutely aware of his body. It startled him how much he was repulsed by it. He is not an exhibitionist. The thought of millions of people staring at their screen, eyes unblinking, following his muscles when he was shirtless on the internet, made him feel nasty. A random comment echoed in his brain. “You aren’t entertainers. You target depressed teens with painted smiles and fake intimacy. You’re pimping yourself out to pander to lusty girls who are half your age. You may not be traditional sell outs but you’re a lot more dangerous”. Nasty.

Rhett closed his eyes. The troubles of the day had taken a deeper turn, becoming a darker, burgundy hue. Or maybe it was maroon. He always had trouble with those two shades.

The bedroom windows rattled as the wind picked up. He could hear the howling, from outside and within. He noticed the long shadows, barely discernible in the descending darkness. This negativity was flowing through his bloodstream, poisoning him as he just laid there, a passive onlooker. The passion in him to do something about this, to change what ate away at him had fizzled out. Just as he was about to succumb to the darkness and maybe catch some troubled sleep, the door creaked open. He didn’t bother to look- he could sense the scene unfolding in front of him with his eyes shut tight. He knew the man walking in. He had unwittingly memorized Link’s features because they had dominated his thoughts all his life. He had unabashedly grasped Link’s soul through his countless observations and all their conversations. He had irrevocably trusted Link, sometimes on instinct alone. He knew the man; he didn’t need to look. Is he gonna talk? Maybe the turmoil was dying down- he heard every soft footfall echo on the wooden floor with impressive clarity. Thud thud thud… In rhythm with his heartbeat. But he wasn’t in the mood to acknowledge it. Link walked right up to the bed and for a moment, everything was quiet. His thoughts vanished as his whole being tensed, waiting for the next blow to fall. “Turn over”. What? Annoyance flared in him. Why was he being ordered, and a peculiar one at that? When was this man-child going to learn to communicate, to behave the way that Rhett would prefer? He had half a mind to ignore him completely, but he didn’t have the grit to have another fight today. Wordlessly, he flipped onto his stomach, heartbeat slightly erratic, thoughts a relentless blur. I feel exposed. The first touch was a mild surprise. Soft, wide palms pressed into his shoulder. They moved an inch or so apart and pressed again. And again. He was self conscious about the knots, the tightened muscles and the very obvious stress in his upper body that was giving away his exact state of mind. The hands were warm, confident and familiar as they moved downwards, working on his upper back. The heels of Link’s palm dug into the spots which were predominantly affected by his frequent back pains, which Link had witnessed firsthand since they had begun. The balls of his thumb traced soothing patterns on his flesh. I don’t need you to take care of me. A part of his mind remained indignant, though his body was quickly surrendering to the serenity of the massage. It felt like his hands were physically removing the negativity from within him. It felt like Link was casting a spell to repair the wear and tear of simply existing. Most of all, it felt like love. This man had had a long day, maybe longer than Rhett’s. Yet here he was, battling through his exhaustion, knees on either side of Rhett’s waist, trying to make Rhett feel better. It was Link’s way of saying “I love you”, and “I’m sorry”. He turned around, abruptly stopping the massage, overcome with the urge to see Link’s face. Sad blue eyes were filled to the brim with everything he was feeling, easily understood by Rhett. He could see the same weight, frustration, anxiety and guilt that had plagued him just a few minutes before. Something he had said before flitted by, “things in our lives that are not just parallel but we experience them together”. Emotions surged through him as he realized exactly what that meant. What it means to have someone who not only understands but also lives through everything he feels. What it really means to not be alone. But in those naked, vulnerable eyes, he saw something far more disturbing. He saw fear. I wish I could take care of you. There was a lump in his throat. Suddenly, none of his doubts mattered. His past mistakes, their changing dynamic, constraints and disappointments and confusion just didn’t matter, because he knew why he was doing it. He had known when he had first decided to write a comic with Link in grade school. He had known when they had taken the blood oath. He had known when he had decided to quit his decent paying job to attempt a career in an industry that couldn’t even support itself at the time. He had known when they had put their earnings into this new project. He was following his heart and Link was the best man to do it with. Nothing else mattered. He looked calmly at the face that looked so troubled, the face of the man who always knew how to give Rhett a breath of air when he was threatening to drown in his personal red sea. His expression was gentle and his voice sweet when he said with full conviction, “We’ll be okay, bo”. And maybe he knew how to save Link too because he could have sworn, his eyes got a little bluer. We will be okay. I won’t have it any other way. Link plopped down on his stomach beside him, head turned to look at his face. “I know”, he said, in a tired but steady voice, and Rhett knew he meant it. He looked back, nothing but kindness on his face. His brain was moving on to Buddy System, making a mental note to start working on the script when he said, “I think I might be maroon-burgundy colour blind.” All he got in return was an exasperated smile and a “Goodnight Rhett.”