#seriously these boys had everyone tripping over themselves

[wherethemothsgrow]

Gansey 🤝 Kevin Day

Having hella chemistry with everyone in the series

[arjwrites]

Back On the Beach- Dean Winchester x Reader

Summary: Reader and the Winchesters find themselves at the beach for a rare day off after a long string of difficult hunts. Something about the special day changes things forever. Warnings: Some language and angst but nothing crazy. A/N: Nothing heals my heart more than a happy Dean Winchester. Hope you enjoy <3 Another hunt was in the books. That was the third one this week- you'd lost track beyond that. You and the Winchesters had definitely been “cranking and ganking,” as Dean had been calling it, but you all were exhausted to say the least. No rest for the wicked, though. When you arrived back at the motel after taking out the vamp nest, it seemed like Sam had already found another hunt, and all of you prepped to ship out in the morning.  

You woke after a near restless night, your entire body weighed down by a lack of sleep. Getting up and into the shower felt like moving through Jell-O, so you couldn’t even imagine how Sam and Dean felt. Even more so Dean, who had blamed himself for one of the casualties of last night’s hunt. Before climbing into your bed the night before, you had given him a tight hug. “We can’t save everyone,” you reminded him with a gentle whisper. But you still heard him pacing the whole night- he didn’t so much as sit, let alone lay down and close his eyes. So you were up all night, partially from worry and partially because of the noise he was making. And if you had been kept up, you knew Sam had been too. That’s why you were surprised to hear some particularly chipper laughter and discussion between the two boys as you emerged from the shower. 

“Y/N! Bobby took over that case I found last night. He was in the area, so I guess we have a day off. I was thinking we could just take the time to get some rest, but Jimmy Buffet over here wants to hit the beach,” laughed Sam, hucking a packed bag into Dean’s chest. Dean caught it with a huff before holding it out to one side in order to show off his ensemble. 

“Hey, when in Margaritaville, right? How often do we get a case somewhere like this, huh? Let’s live a little.” 

Dean was decked out in Hawaiian patterned swim trunks clearly purchased from the tourist shop down the street, complete with a towel around his neck and a pair of gas station sunglasses. He was right, how often were you taking cases in Florida (seriously, enough freaky shit goes on there, yet somehow none of it is supernatural)? Your first instinct was to laugh, because he looked ridiculous, but simultaneously, your heart soared. To see Dean getting excited about something so mundane as a little beach trip was a small miracle. Things hadn’t been easy on the road recently, and it seemed like Dean had taken the brunt of it- the guilt, the sleepless nights, the long, long hours. It always hurt you to see the way he took it all, never giving himself any kindness or time to relax. So for you, it was an easy choice to humor him a little. And after a bit of convincing Sam (okay, maybe you and Dean begging and annoying the crap out of him), you got him on board too. 

 After remedial stops at the tourist shop for swimsuits for you and Sam, and the gas station for beer, sunglasses, and the sunscreen you insisted on (“Dean Winchester I have seen you take on some scary shit, so help me God, skin cancer will not be the thing that takes you out”), your crew finally found their way down to the water. And from the moment you stepped foot in the sand, the gentle crash of the waves washed the worries from your minds. It was rare day when you three could be normal. Normal people at the beach, with no monsters to kill, no world to save, no burdens weighing you down. 

It had been a picture perfect beach day. Seriously, Dean made sure you all got the full experience. He had picked up beach chairs and towels and a football for him and Sam to toss back and forth. You sat reclined in one of the chairs, reading a book (a non-lore book, you couldn’t remember the last time you read for pleasure) and watching over the boys, laughing at their interactions. After zoning into your story for a while, you lost track of the boys. Figuring they had gone exploring down the beach, you let yourself fall entirely engrossed in the cheesy romance you were reading. They didn’t call them beach reads for nothing! The protagonist was finally alone with the love interest, who was about to lean in for a kiss, until- the book went flying out of your hand, and you went flying over Dean’s shoulder. 

“HEY! Put me down!” Your words seemed frustrated, but your tone was anything but.

Dean raced down to the ocean as you bounced rhythmically off of his strong back. You playfully whacked at him in protest, but it was no use. Finally deep enough into the water, Dean gracefully slid you into his arms and tossed you under. After catching your bearings and emerging from the surf, you surveyed the scene. There was Sam, laughing his ass off. Dean held a smug look, arms crossed and a teasing smile. And you, now soaking wet, caught completely by surprise.

“I will KILL you Dean Winchester!” You ran after him, laughing and splashing. While you had chased down plenty of adversaries recently, there was something about this enemy that was compelling- pretty cute, even. 

That was the rest of your afternoon. Playing in the surf, munching on soggy gas station sandwiches, sharing a few beers, and your constant nagging at the boys to reapply sunscreen. Though none of you ever spoke it aloud, there was a shared agreeance that this was so nice. That it was a luxury to feel normal and that in that moment, you three were the luckiest in the world. And it was so fulfilling to sneak a glance at Dean and see him smiling, really smiling. You let your gaze linger, snapping a mental image and filing it away to remember for when things got tough again. You wished you could give him this peace more often.

The sun was setting on your perfect day, but the three of you remained on the beach, stalling the oncoming nightfall and thus, the return to your reality. After a serene while, Sam rose from his chair, wrapping a towel around himself and throwing you and Dean a knowing look.

“Alright, I’m going to head back to the motel and start packing our stuff. You guys stay down here a little longer.”

So there the two of you sat, side by side, leaned back in the chairs, toes dipping into the still-warm sand. You weren’t sure if the subtle pink of Dean’s cheeks was the beginnings of a sunburn or the effects of the day’s alcohol drawing the blood to his face. Warm, tipsy, sunkissed, happy. This was a Dean you wish you could get used to. 

“Thanks for taking us here today, Dean. It was a really great idea.” A soft smile graced your face as you reached your hand out, resting it on top of his own. 

Your voice drew Dean’s gaze over to you, and the look on his face triggered a pang of hurt in your chest. Though his lips were drawn in a tight smile, his eyes slightly watered and held in them all of the angst of the last few years. It was as if you could see each harrowing memory in their glassy reflection.

“What if we just stayed?” Dean asked, already knowing the answer. His question hung in the air for a moment without a repsonse. You couldn’t stay, you both knew that. There were always going to be people to save and things to hunt. Still, you deserved some peace every now and then. And that was all you wanted to give Dean in this moment- some peace. You wove your fingers into his and pulled him to his feet, meeting him with an embrace. He wrapped his arms around you and continued.

“Obviously we can’t. But, what if we did. You, me, Sammy. We could do this every day. I mean, we’d have to get jobs, but even that would feel like a day at the beach compared to… everything else. We’d be so happy,” he sighed.

“We’re hunters, Dean. We’ve gotta make our own happy.” 

“You make me happy.”

That was all you ever asked for. Dean Winchester, in your arms, happy- and because of you, no less. In that moment, you decided that this would be your own personal slice of heaven. A moment you could return to as often as you wanted- something that could never be taken from you. A perfect instance that could remain untouched by the horrors of your world. Everything in this difficult life had lead up to this moment, and every day from here on out you would exist in a world in which you made Dean happy. 

With the kind of sweetness that brought tears to your eyes, Dean brought his hand to your cheek, cupped it gently as if it were the most precious thing in the world, and joined his lips with yours. They fit in the way you always knew they would, and the touch sparked the feeling you had always imagined it would. It wasn’t nerves or butterflies. It was so incredibly tranquil. Kissing Dean, finally kissing Dean, felt like bathing your troubles away in the ocean. The hurt, blood, sweat, and tears pooled off of you, and you felt clean, new, at peace. You knew that this wouldn’t fix everything, for either of you. Both of you had your demons, and you’d both be facing plenty more. But from this point on, you could return to this moment- return to each other, and feel your worries wash away. You could come back to the beach for a short while, and things would be okay. You could make your own happy, together.

[bouncybongfairy]

Simon Says

Ghost!Keegan!Soap x Fem Reader Smut

Summary: After coming back from the bar and continuing the last mission's success at the safe house. Price comes out, complaining about the noise, so you guys move it to your room. A foul game of Simon Says takes place.

Word Count: 1.0k+

Ref Account: @kaionyx

TW: Group Smut & Facial, Male Receiving Head, Rough Smut.

Not Proof Read

<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

It was late and Ghost, Soap, Keegan and yourself were hanging out in the living room of the safe house. The current mission you were working on just wrapped up and everyone was celebrating with drinks and laughter; a rare sight within task force 141. Everyone else had gone to bed after coming home from the bar. They had their fill of fun but you guys were just getting started. Pouring shots of cheap vodka and smoking while listening to music. Price came out, complaining about the smell and noise, moving to your room to avoid any more confrontations. You were nervous to have all three of them in your room. They were looking around at all your stuff, posters, stuffed animals, and of course the stereo. You connected your phone and started playing BabyMetal, Keegan picked up a picture from your desk.

“Is this you?” he asked, holding a picture of you in freshman year of college. It was you and a good friend, you grew up in Jersey which meant Snooki pretty much was your fashion icon all of college. 

“Is that a joint?” Ghost asked, laughing at your duck lips and hair extensions.

“Yeah it was quite the era. Look, I was crying because my sister and I got into a huge fight over who’s turn it was for the Juicy Couture bag. You can see where my spray tan ran down my neck” you laugh reminiscing on simpler times.  

Ghost was sitting on your office chair, legs spread and leaning over to reach the cigarette you were sharing. Keegan and Soap were lounge on your bed; you were curled up on a beanie bag. You couldn’t remember who suggested it but you guys started playing drinking games. Things like fuck the dealer and flip cup. You were getting pretty tipsy, giggling randomly and your body warming up. The boys were having a conversation among themselves while you lined up the shot glasses and grabbed the bottle. 

“Are you sure you can handle another drink?” Soap asked.

“Are you asking me or yourself?” you asked, handing the liquor out. 

After some more small talk, you excused yourself to change. Normally your pajamas are pretty revealing so you wear a sweatshirt and cotton shorts. Long socks because it was always freezing in your room. Once you started getting dressed you noticed how drunk you actually were. Tripping slightly while trying to get your shorts on Coming out and watching as all their eyes fall onto you. Clearly looking you up and down, at first you wanted to be like ‘oh my god don’t look at me like that’ but also you did so… why lie? You sat back on the bean bag as Keegan began to speak. 

“We should play another game,” he said. 

“What about Simon Says?” Ghost says. 

“Isn’t that your name?” you drunkenly giggle. 

“Yeah, so just know when I say something you have to take it seriously,” he said.

After that comment that vibe in the room felt different after that. All of them went from sitting back and lounging to sitting forwards. Soap and Ghost were sitting on the bed, Keegan was on the office chair. You beanbag was on the floor so they were all looking down on you.

“Simon says: sit on my lap,” he says, leaning back slightly like he was making room. All their breathing became harder, you rolled your eyes at the reaction. 

“What is this middle school? Out of all the things you could have asked?” you laugh, walking over and sitting on his thighs without hesitation. Making the point that it wasn’t a very daunting task. 

“Okay hot shot, Simon says: to read smut out loud,” Soap said, crossing his arms. 

“I don’t read-'' you started but was interrupted. 

“Yes you do,”  they all said in unison, “you need to invest in a privacy screen,” Keegan said, you could tell all three of them were smirking under their masks. 

“Fine.” you grab your phone and look through your tumblr. 

If they wanted to show, you were going to go full out. Finding a Captain America smut about hooking up in the barracks. It was obvious that they were wanting you to be flustered and flushed but it was doing the opposite. They were blushing and squirming around like there was no way to get comfortable. As you continued to read, Simon was getting hard. This was throwing you off your game a bit, now beginning to stumble over your words. Ghost noticed this and leaned back in his chair more, allowing him to press his member against your ass. 

You started rocking your hips every now and then. Enjoying hearing his almost silent groans and growls. His hands were starting to wander, running up and down your thighs. You looked over at the other guys and they were practically drooling. Looking at you like a can of beer they waited all day to crack open. Soap got up first and Keegan followed, your heart began to race. He slowly approached you and cupped your face in his hands. Rubbing your cheeks with his calloused thumbs. Keegan was on the side of him, brushing the hair out of your face. 

“Such a pretty little thing right?” Soap asked Keegan. This made you shiver, goosebumps prickled along your skin. Your phone dropping to the floor, Ghost kicked it away. 

“Fuck yeah, just begging to be ruined,” he said, grabbing your shirt and pulling it off your body. Leaving your chest completely exposed. Keegan reached down and pinched one of your nipples, pulling and twisting. You gasp and try leaning back but Ghost isn't letting you go anywhere. 

“Where do you think you’re running off to?” Ghost asked, grabbing your elbows. 

Soap grabbed the other and Ghost held you in place as they groped and played with your chest. The more you squirmed the harder Ghost became, pre-cum starting to bleed through his pants. Your face was flushed and sweat was beading on your forehead. Keegan used his other hand and parted your lips with his thumb. Eventually pushing it into your mouth; pressing your tongue down and feeling around your mouth. You wrapped your lips around his thumb looking up and shifting your eyes between the two of them. Pulling his thumb out and spreading your saliva all over your lips. Ghost stood you up slightly so he could free his dick that was straining against his pants. Pulling your shorts to the side and lining you up with his tip; grabbing your hips guiding you down on his member. He groaned and let his chin fall on top of your head. Your eyes rolled back and a loud gasp fell from your lips. Moaning and panting while you got used to how big he was. 

“Why do you get her?” Keegan asked. 

“Use her mouth i’m fucking busy,” he growled, trying his best not to buck into you. 

The fact that he was talking about you like an objection shouldn’t have made your stomach flip the way it did. Soap and Keegan pulled their dicks out and began stroking themselves. Looking down, admiring your body, you started bouncing. The wet squelching sounds every time you sink down on his length. Your eyebrows furrowed and mouth hanging open, not caring about the droll falling from your bottom lip. Keegan grabbed two fistfuls of your hair and brought your lips to his cock. Taking his tip into your mouth and flicking your tongue on his head. He moaned and started pushing himself further into your mouth. Soap rested his length on your cheek, insinuating he wanted in on the fun. You grabbed his shaft and started jerking him off. Ghost was getting less gentle with you, starting to pound into you with more aggression. His nails were digging into the skin on your hip, tightening around him when his head kissed your cervix. Whimpering around Keegan cock, spit and pre-cum running down your torso. In so much pleasure, you were neglecting Soap. Especially as you began cumming around his cock, your walls pulsating around his member as you nearly screamed in pleasure. 

“Fuck dude, my turn,” Soap said, pushing Keegan to where he was just standing.  

After being touched-starved for so long, he showed no mercy on your throat. Fucking into your mouth at an animalistic pace. Causing you to gag around his length, mascara stained tears running down your face. Keegan was enjoying the sight, watching your bounce on Ghost while having your throat obliterated. Like a personal porn star made just for them. Ghost was getting close to his orgasm, trying hard to hold himself back. Biting onto your shoulder, to muffle the sounds and delay his climax. Soap came early, cum was spilling out the sides of your mouth, only adding to the wet fucking noise that already filled the room. Ghost began cumming, shooting thick ropes deep into your stomach. Holding you down as hard as he could, rocking your hips as you milked him. Keegan came on your face, cumming on one of your lashes. Forcing you to keep it closed, which hummored the two of them. You lean back against Ghost’s chest, practically dead from how fucked out you were. You don't remember much the next morning, but thought it was nice of them to clean you up and tuck you into bed. The walk of shame to the bathroom while having a hangover and cum dripping down your thigh wasn’t how you wanted to start your morning but oh well.             

[bijouxcarys]

𝑻𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝑻𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑩𝒊𝒏𝒅 (𝑹𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒆𝒊𝒈𝒏𝒔 𝒙 𝑶𝑪) - 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑻𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒚

Masterlist

Character Profiles/Face Claims

Playlist

A/N: this has been sitting waiting to be posted for a minute, but I've been in mama mode looking after my dog after being spayed, and I also don't know when you'll get the next chapter. it may not be before the new year, so if that's the case, I hope everyone enjoys their holiday month and I wish nothing but the best for everyone's 2025 <3 thank you for allowing me to express myself on here and giving me one hell of a 2024 xx

CW/TW: mentions of violence, discrimination, human trafficking, child abuse -- none are graphic or described in real time, but they are mentioned -- character death, medical episode, implication of ptsd

Tags: @empressdede @thetribalqueen @heauxvibez @bigsimperika

@cyberdejos2 @keyaho @headoftheetable @jstarr86 @southerngirl41

@tshepisho @cry1nwhileimcumm1n @maeb99 @thedesireds @dzdndcnfsd

@expert-texpert @niknakbucks92 @sillyteecup @trentybenty @pittieprincess22

@electronicwitchsandwich @thefairywithboots

(If you want to be tagged in any future Roman fics, just let me know!)

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

March 15th, 2014.

The salon buzzed with a low hum of hair dryers, quiet laughter, and the faint clicking of coffee cups and saucers. Warm afternoon sunlight filtered through the large windows, casting golden glows across the room, while the occasional breeze from the open door stirred the faint scent of lavender and eucalyptus. Time slowed down here, as a haven away from the chaos of everyday life.

Which was why Irina Volkov loved it so much.

She sat in one of the cushioned chairs near the back, her dark hair wrapped in foils as she laughed lightly at something the stylist said. Looking impossibly elegant, even in this unassuming setting, her presence remained so utterly magnetic it turned heads without effort. 

Beside her, Nate sat, leaned back with an almost bored expression, her long legs crossed at the ankle and arms loosely folded. A magazine sat abandoned in her lap, its glossy pages ignored.

“Why don’t you pick something out?” Irina suggested, her soft accent curling around each word. “You could at least pretend to care about your hair.”

Nate gave a sidelong glance, one brow arching. “What’s wrong with my hair?”

Irina smiled knowingly, a touch of jest in her visage. “Nothing. But we’re here, Nate, make the most of it.”

With a sigh, Nate flipped the magazine open, though she didn’t bother to read it. Irina turned her attention back to the stylist but only for a moment before shifting her focus back to her daughter.

“So,” she began, playfully yet probing. “Do you know what kind of man you’d like to be with one day?”

Nate nearly choked on air. She stared at her mother, eyes narrowing in disbelief. “What? What kind of question is that?”

Irina laughed, tilting her head as though she’d been expecting the reaction. “It’s a simple question,” she said. “You’re nearly nineteen. Surely you’ve thought about it.”

“No,” Nate replied flatly, with a dry sarcasm. “I’ve been way too busy plotting world domination like Daddy.”

Irina clicked her tongue. “Don’t dodge the question, malyshka. You must have some idea. Strong? Handsome? Smart? All three, perhaps? Beard? Tattoos? Or clean and baby-faced?”

Nate groaned, slumping further in her seat. “Mum, I don’t care. Seriously. I’ve got bigger things to worry about than boys.”

Her mother’s lips curled into a small, mischievous smile. “Oh, I see… I should, perhaps, be asking about the opposite sex instead?”

Nate froze. The casual way Irina had asked the question caught her off guard, and for a minute, she didn’t know how to respond. Her cheeks flushed faintly, and she whipped her head toward her mother, horrified.

“What—why—what would even make you ask that?” she stammered, her words tripping over themselves in an uncharacteristic display of flustered panic.

Irina’s laughter was soft but genuine, her eyes sparkling with amusement. “Oh, darling, don’t look at me like that. I’m your mother. I know you better than anyone.”

“You don’t know that,” Nate muttered, her face heating further as she tried to bury herself deeper in the magazine. “God, you’re embarrassing.”

“Relax,” Irina said gently, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from Nate’s face. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about. And you didn’t deny it, by the way.”

The younger Volkov let out a groan of pure frustration, dragging a hand down her face. “Oh my God, shut up.”

Irina’s smile softened, and just looked at her daughter—really looked at her, the way only a mother could. There was no judgement in her gaze, only quiet understanding and a hint of pride. She said nothing more on the subject, letting it fall away like it had never been brought up in the first place.

“You’re impossible, Mother,” Nate mumbled under her breath, but there was no real heat behind it.

“And don’t I know it,” Irina replied with an almost soft smugness.

They fell into an easy silence after that, the kind that came naturally between them. Irina shifted back in her seat, closing her eyes as the stylist continued working, while Nate returned to absently flipping through the magazine.

“What do you want for your birthday next month?” Irina asked after a while. “And don’t say ‘nothing.’”

Nate hesitated, her fingers pausing mid-page turn. Her lips pressed into a thin line as though debating whether to say what was on her mind.

“Well,” she began slowly, almost cautiously, “There is… one thing.”

Irina opened one eye, arching a perfectly sculpted brow. “Oh?”

Nate shifted in her seat, her earlier embarrassment melting into something closer to quiet longing. “I want to go back to the UK. To Cornwall. Surrey, too. Just… back home, you know? I miss it.”

Her mother’s expression softened, her gaze growing wistful. She reached out, resting a hand on Nate’s arm. “I know you do, malyshka. I miss it too.”

They both knew it wasn’t that simple. The move to Florida had been Dimitri’s decision, a strategic relocation to further cement his operations on US soil. Cornwall had been a lifetime ago—a quieter, simpler time before the weight of their family’s name had truly settled on Nate’s shoulders.

Nate shuffled again, fingers toying with the edge of the magazine. “You said you’d take me for my twenty-first,” she reminded her mother, her tone almost pleading.

“I did,” Irina nodded. “And I will. But twenty-one isn’t for another two years, Nate.”

“I know,” Nate said quickly, her words tumbling out in a rush. “But maybe… I don’t know. Maybe we could go for Christmas? Just for a little bit… Please?”

Irina sighed, caught between understanding her daughter’s needs and the resignation of returning where her husband had left off. “You know how your father is.”

“Yeah,” Nate muttered darkly. “That’s why I’m asking you and not him.”

Irina couldn’t help but smile at that. She squeezed Nate’s arm gently, her own reluctance giving way to the determination that always rose when it came to her children. “Okay,” she said finally.

Nate’s head shot up, her eyes widening. “Wait—really?”

Irina held up a finger. “On one condition.”

“I bloody knew it,” Nate grumbled. “What’s that, then?”

Leaning in slightly, Irina’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. “If you go to that sparring session with Becky and her dad next week. You know how much it means to your father that you go, Nate.”

Nate rolled her eyes, but for something as ideal as visiting the UK again, it was a little price to pay. “Fine,” she relented. “But only because I really want to go.”

Irina grinned, a genuine warmth lighting up her face. “Deal.”

The stylist finished up, removing the last of the foils from Irina’s hair. As they prepared to leave, Irina rested a hand on Nate’s shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze. “I’ll start making plans,” she said quietly. 

Nate looked at her, a faint smile on her lips. For a fleeting moment, the world outside didn’t exist at all—there was no Dimitri, no looming expectations, no weight of the Volkov name. Just a mother and daughter, sharing a rare moment of connection in a world that rarely allowed it. 

“Thanks, Mum,” she said just above a whisper. Irina didn’t reply, but the look in her eyes said everything she couldn’t put into words.

Outside was a striking contrast to the warm, perfumed cocoon of the salon; the sun hung low, spraying the crowded Manhattan streets with jagged shadows. Dewy light gliding the mundane chaos of taxis honking, bicycles weaving through foot traffic, and street vendors shouting about their wares. Nate and Irina stood for a moment just beyond the threshold, the latter’s freshly polished appearance shimmering like a porcelain figure against the gritty urban tableau.

Irina smoothed her hair with a languid hand, a soft laugh still lingering on her lips from their final exchange with the stylists. “Should we?” she gestured in the direction of their favourite bookstore, Rizzoli on Broadway, a haven for both their literary indulgences and occasional splurges on coffee-table books they’d never actually read.

Nate tilted her head, pretending to deliberate. “Do we really need more books? My nightstand already looks like a collapsing Jenga tower.”

Irina raised an eyebrow, her expression half-playful, half-mocking. “As if that’s ever stopped us.”

They started walking, their steps in easy rhythm. Irina adjusted her purse, its leather strap cutting diagonally across her trim figure, while Nate shoved her hands into her jacket packers, adopting her usual careless touch. The city buzzed around them, a living, breathing entity—tumultuous and indifferent yet strangely comforting in its constancy.

“Your father is going to have a fit when he sees the credit card bill,” Irina remarked with a knowing smirk.

“Please,” Nate drawled. “He doesn’t even notice unless it’s a yacht or a Fabergé egg.”

Irina chuckled, but the laughter soon softened into silence, as though some unspoken entity had settled between them. Nate felt it first, her gaze flicking sideways to her mother, who stared ahead with a small, unreadable smile.

“What?” Nate asked.

Smile widening, Irina’s arm brushed against Nate’s as they walked. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“You,” Irina replied indefinitely. “You’ve been a little… withdrawn lately.”

Nate snorted, her breath misting faintly in the crisp air. “When am I not withdrawn?”

“Fair point,” Irina conceded with a breathy laugh. “But this feels… different. You know you can tell me anything, right?”

The sincerity in her mother’s tone caught her for a whirlwind. She glanced down at the sidewalk, her pace faltering for a moment. “I know,” she muttered.

Irina didn’t push it; she rarely did. And that was one of the things Nate loved most about her mother—her patience, her ability to wait out Nate’s silences without filling them with unnecessary noise. They crossed the street, narrowly avoiding a young man on a skateboard who nearly collided with them. Irina clutched Nate’s arm, almost giggling as they reached the curb.

“Do you think Dad likes me?” Nate asked abruptly, impulsively.

Irina blinked, startled, but quickly composed herself. “What kind of question is that? Of course he does.”

Nate shook her head, her lips twisting into a bitter smile. “Not really. He tolerates me because he has to. Let’s be honest—he wanted a son, and instead, he got… me.”

Sighing, Irina draped an arm around Nate’s shoulders, pulling her close as they walked. “Your father’s not the easiest man to understand. He’s complicated, stubborn—”

“Emotionally constipated,” Nate interjected dryly.

Despite herself, the older Volkov managed a laugh, the sound rippling through the sad overtone of the topic at hand. “Yes, that too. But he loves you, in his own way. He just… doesn’t know how to show it.”

They both knew this was only half true. Dimitri’s preference for a son wasn’t just a rumour or an unspoken suspicion—it was fact, revealed during a drunken argument years ago that had left both Nate and Irina reeling. But neither of them needed to revisit that wound today. Some truths were better left unspoken, their edges dulled by time and careful avoidance.

“I’m fine with it,” Nate shrugged off her mother’s arm. “Really. I don’t need his approval.”

Irina watched her daughter for a moment, her face softening. “You’re stronger than you think, you do realise that, right?”

Nate rolled her eyes, but the faintest hint of a smile betrayed her. “Don’t get sappy on me, Mum.”

They turned a corner, the street narrowing as brownstones replaced glass facades. The air felt cooler here, quieter, but still alive with the faint hum of the city. Nate glanced around, her attention drawn to a commotion further down the block—a cacophony of car horns blaring, angry shouts blending into the urban symphony. She dismissed it as background noise, her focus returning to Irina, who was rummaging through her purse.

“What are you looking for?” she asked.

“My phone,” Irina replied absentmindedly. “I think I left it on silent at the salon.”

Before Nate could respond, the roar of an engine cut through the air, its aggressive growl out of place in the relatively calm street. A sleek black car with tinted windows appeared, weaving through traffic with an urgency. She glanced at it briefly but thought nothing of it.

She was a Volkov—aggression was the default setting.

The car drew closer, slowing as it neared them, its purring engine an ominous undercurrent. Nate felt it then—a strange prickle at the base of her neck, a subtle yet unmistakable warning. Her steps faltered, her instincts telling her to pull Irina closer.

“Let’s cross here,” she suggested, her voice tight.

But before Irina could respond, the car came to a sudden stop just a few feet from them. Nate’s gaze snapped to the vehicle, her pulse quickening as the back window began to lower. Just a crack. Just enough.

She saw it—a glint of metal, a shadowy hand—and in that split second, her body moved before her mind could catch up.

“Mum, get down!” she shouted, reaching for Irina’s arm.

And then the world shattered.

The first crack was sharp, metallic, like glass breaking under pressure. Nate flinched, her brain struggling to process the sound. A second and third followed, their echoes ricocheting off the brownstone, turning the narrow street into a tunnel of chaos. 

Each shot slammed into Irina, her body snapping back as though struck by invisible fists. Her purse fell first, skittering to the ground with a hollow thud, followed by her legs giving way as if the strings holding her upright had been cut.

“Mum!” Nate screamed, the name erupting from her like a primal wail, raw and uncontainable. She lunged forward as Irina crumpled to the pavement, her once-elegant figure folding into a graceless heap. Blood bloomed across her white blouse, a grotesque and vivid flower spreading outward, soaking into the fabric. The iron tang hit Nate’s nose instantly, sharp and nauseating.

The car didn’t linger. Its tires screeched against the asphalt, the tinted windows rolling up like a stage curtain closing on the violence it had unleashed. Within seconds, it vanished into the river of traffic, leaving nothing but the stench of burnt rubber and the hollow, ringing silence that followed destruction.

For a moment, Nate couldn’t move. The world blurred around her, colours bleeding together as her mind refused to process what her eyes saw; Irina lying motionless, blood pooling beneath her, spreading outward like a dark halo.

“M-Mum…” Nate’s voice cracked, disbelief and terror tangled in her throat. She fell to her knees, uncaring of the blood that soaked through her jeans and slicked her hands as she cradled Irina’s weighted form. “No… No, no, no—wake up, please!”

Irina’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused and glassy. Her lips moved faintly, forming half-words that Nate couldn’t hear over the sound of her own ragged breathing. Deep crimson bubbled at the corner of her mouth, a cruel mockery of life.

“Stay with me,” Nate begged, clutching her mother’s hand, the warmth she was so used to already beginning to fade. “Someone please help!” she cried out desperately.

Around them, the street had erupted into a frenzy. People screamed, some ducking into doorways, others frozen in shock. Cars honked furiously, their drivers oblivious to the tragedy unfolding just feet away. A few pedestrians gathered at a cautious distance, their faces pale and horrified, but no one dared step closer. This was New York; people knew better than to get involved in business like this.

Except one.

A man broke through the small crowd, his boots slamming against the pavement as he ran toward them. He was scruffy, with wild blue eyes and a jacket that looked like it had survived a war. He dropped to his knees beside Nate, his movements urgent but not panicked.

“Hey, hey,” he said steadily. “I’ve got her, I’ve got you. What’s your name?”

Nate didn’t answer, couldn’t answer. All she could do was sob messily as she clutched her mother’s limp body, her blood-slick hands trembling as she rocked back and forth.

“What’s her name?” the stranger asked.

“I-Irina…” Nate managed to choke out.

“Irina…” he nodded before looking down at the slain woman. “Irina. Can you hear me? I’m Dean, I’m gonna he—” he paused, already noting the gurgling in her throat and the purple forming around her lips. “Jesus,” he muttered under his breath, yanking a phone from his pocket. “911, we’ve got a shooting on—” He rattled off the address, but Nate wasn’t listening.

Irina’s fingers twitched weakly in her grip, and Nate’s breath caught. “Mum?” she whispered, leaning in close. “I’m here. You’re going to be fine, okay? Just–just stay awake. Please…”

Irina’s lips moved again, faint and fragile, like the flutter of a moth’s wings. “C-Christmas…” she murmured, the word slurring. “Promise…”

The words hit Nate like a knife to the chest. She nodded frantically, tears spilling down her face. “Okay, Mum. Christmas. I’ll hold you to it, just… stay with me, alright? Don’t go anywhere…”

Her mother’s lips twitched into the barest hint of a smile. Then her eyes slipped shut, her body going limp in Nate’s arms.

“No.” Nate’s voice broke, the single word a desperate plea. She shook Irina gently, gripping onto her body like it was her only lifeline. “No, no, no—you can’t leave, please don’t leave me. Oh, God…”

The man beside her, who she overheard as Dean, reached out, his hand firm on her shoulder. “The ambulance is on its way,” he let her know calmly. “You need to let go.”

But Nate couldn’t let go. Irina’s blood was everywhere—on her hands, her clothes, pooling in the cracks of the pavement—and yet it felt like her mother was slipping through her fingers, disappearing into the ether. The world around her swirled in a dizzying haze of sirens and shouting and the faint, acrid smell of gunpowder.

And Nate, kneeling in the middle of it all, could do nothing but scream.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

Nate woke with a start, her body jerking forward as if she’d been yanked from the depths of a cold, violent ocean. The room was dark, but the shadows shifted and clawed at the edges of her vision, remnants of a nightmare she couldn’t shake. Her chest heaved, the sharp gasp for air cutting through the stillness. Sweat drenched her, a cold film plastering her shirt to her skin and chilling her to the bone despite the faint warmth of the room.

Her heart was racing, not just the steady thrum of adrenaline but an erratic, panicked flutter. It felt wrong, uneven, as though something fragile inside her was being wrung out like wet fabric. She pressed a trembling hand to her chest, the movement jerky and unsteady, trying to steady the unruly rhythm.

The dream lingered.

The sound of gunfire. The weight of her mother in her arms. Blood… so much blood…

Her throat closed, panic gripping her like a vice. She swallowed hard, trying to remind herself where she was. She wasn’t in the middle of Manhattan in 2014. There was no sidewalk slick with crimson, no scent of gunpowder and rubber in the air. It was December 2022. 

December 2022… You’re at home… Katya’s right down the hall… You’re okay…

But her heart wouldn’t stop.

It was too fast, too heavy, like it was trying to batter its way out of her chest. Each beat sent a sharp, pulsing ache radiating down her arms and into her jaw. The familiar tightness seized her ribs, squeezing like a cruel hand, and she let out a strangled gasp, clutching at the sheets.

Not now. God, not now.

Nate swung her legs over the edge of the bed, her bare feet hitting the cold hardwood floor with a muted thud. The room swayed, the shadows seeming to tilt and roll. She clenched her fists, digging her nails into her palms in an effort to anchor herself. The sharp sting brought her back, just enough to remember what she needed to do.

The bathroom. The pills are in the bathroom, Nate.

She forced herself upright, her legs trembling under her weight. Her breath came in shallow, rapid bursts, and each step felt like wading through thick, unforgiving mud. Her vision blurred at the edges, black spots creeping in like ink on water.

One step. Another.

The hallway stretched out before her, impossibly long and dark. She braced herself against the wall, her hand skimming over the cold plaster for balance. The floor beneath her seemed to ripple, an unsteady wave that made her stomach churn.

Her mind raced alongside her heart, a chaotic storm of memories and fear. Dimitri’s threats, Katya’s fragile voice, her mother’s warmth… Roman’s hard and unreadable face. Crashing down on her like a tidal wave.

Another step. Her knees buckled, and she slammed into the wall, her palm slipping against the smooth surface. A small, choked cry escaped her lips as the pain in her chest flared, sharp and searing, stealing her breath.

“Almost there,” she whispered to herself, the words trembling on her tongue.

She reached the bathroom door and fumbled for the handle, her shaking fingers struggling to grasp it. Finally, it gave way, and she stumbled inside, the light flickering on overhead with a harsh, fluorescent hum.

The mirror caught her reflection—a ghost staring back. Her face was pale, almost gray, her skin glistening with sweat. Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her lips were tinged with a faint blue. She looked like she was dying.

And in that moment, she felt like it.

The cabinet. She forced her focus to the mirrored cabinet above the sink, yanking it open with a wary hand. Bottles clinked together as she shifted through them, her fingers clumsy and desperate. Finally, she found it—the small orange bottle with her name printed on the label.

Nate twisted the cap off and shook two pills into her palm, nearly dropping them as her fingers spasmed. She fumbled for the glass on the counter, filled it with unsteady hands, and swallowed the pills down, the water cool and biting against her dry throat.

She gripped the edge of the sink, her knuckles white as she leaned over, waiting for the storm inside her to subside. Each second stretched unbearably long, her heart still hammering against her ribs like it was punishing her for existing.

Breathe. Just breathe.

She closed her eyes, focusing on the sound of her breath, ragged and uneven as it was. In through her nose, out through her mouth. Over and over, forcing the rhythm to slow, to calm, to remind her that she wasn’t going to die.

Minutes passed before the tightness in her chest began to ease, the erratic fluttering of her heart settling into something that resembled normal. Her hands were still trembling, but the immediate panic had passed, leaving behind a bone-deep exhaustion that made her feel like she’d been hollowed out.

She opened her eyes and looked back at her reflection. The colour was starting to return to her face, but the haunted look in her eyes remained. It always did.

This wasn’t the first time. It wouldn’t be the last.

Nate reached for the hand towel and wiped her face, the cool fabric soothing against her clammy skin. She stared at herself for a moment longer, then turned off the light and stepped back into the hallway.

It was no longer empty.

Nate froze in her tracks, her pulse still irregular but now laced with irritation. Standing just outside the bathroom door, leaning casually against the wall, was her Uncle Ivan. Sharp features thrown into stark relief by dim lighting, pale blue eyes cutting through the gloom like ice.

He straightened when he saw her, sweeping over her dishevelled state with a mix of judgement and faint disdain.

“What the hell are you doing skulking outside the bathroom?” she asked raggedly.

Tilting his head, he studied her like she was a particularly uninteresting puzzle piece that didn’t quite fit. Finally, he spoke, flatly and far from kind. “I heard noise. Thought maybe you’d had too much to drink again.”

The accusation hung like cigarette smoke, cloying and dismissive.

Nate huffed a breath, pressing her back against the doorframe for support. “Wow, you’re really earning your reputation as the quiet genius of the family tonight, Ivan. Because, yes, clearly I’m getting drunk at—” she glanced at the clock on the hallway wall, “Three in the morning. Alone. In the bathroom. You got me.”

Ivan raised an eyebrow, his face unreadable but somehow managing to convey exactly how little he cared for her theatrics. “You reek of desperation,” he said coolly, “And that’s usually when people in this family reach for a bottle. But you’re right—it’s none of my business.”

“Glad we agree,” Nate shot back with a sour smile, pushing herself off the doorframe. She was about to walk past him when the faint sound of muffled voices reached her ears. She paused, glancing toward the direction of the staircase. “What’s that?”

“Nothing for you to concern yourself with.”

Her patience, already thin, was evaporating fast. She met his gaze head-on, her own as sharp as broken glass. “You know, I’m getting really tired of not knowing what’s going on in this house…”

She barely saw him move. One moment, she was standing her ground; the next, his hand was wrapping around her arm, his grip iron and unyielding. Before she could pull away, he had backed her up against the wall, his face close enough that she could smell the faint trace of his last cigarette—bitter, like him.

“You should know by now,” he said quietly, “That your father executes plans with precision and secrecy. And you,” his grip tightened slightly, enough to make her audibly wince, “Have proven yourself unreliable.”

Now, Ivan never scared her. Even as the little brother of Dimitri and Sergei Volkov, two of the most menacing people she’d ever come across, that’s all he ever was. Never surpassed that title, always worked to earn that extra bit of notoriety, just to fall back into the same role as messenger or errand boy.

But that word. Unreliable. It hit her.

And the thing was… She knew it. She knew that she’d lost the trust, complete trust, of her father for a while now. Just by being herself, something he scarcely permitted and tried relentlessly to prevent for years. But… why now?

Ivan must have sensed the confusion, and he smirked at his niece with a smugness that matched the disposition of a man who had finally found an ounce of power and clung to it with a vice-like grip.

“Naive Natalka… Who do you think told Mitya about your moment with Roman Reigns at Madame X?”

What. The. Fuck.

“Oh,” she swallowed, “So it was you then… You’re the one who told him about that.” She gritted her teeth and smiled pitifully at her uncle, though her face still twisted with irritation, and perhaps, the slightest trace of betrayal. Wondering if he understood what he’d caused. A further turbulence between father and daughter. An unintentional push in the direction of the enemy.

Maybe Nate should have been thanking him… In some twisted, deflective way.

Maybe if it weren’t for the strain brought on by Dimitri’s knowledge that her daughter was seen drunkenly talking to Roman Reigns in their own club… maybe Nate wouldn’t have considered working with Roman. And then maybe… 

No. Don’t go there.

“You’re not my father,” Nate whispered evenly.

“Nyet,” he agreed, releasing her abruptly and stepping back. “But I know him better than you ever will. Sergei, Borislav… even Alexei… We all know him better than you or Katerina ever will.”

The unease that had grown in her chest gnawed at her. Burrowed under her skin. There was something wrong, something she couldn’t place her finger on exactly, couldn’t grasp, but it was there. And she didn’t like it.

Ivan gestured dismissively down the hall. “Go to bed, Natalka. That’s where you belong.”

This time, she didn’t relent; her energy was gone, drained completely, and she had no desire to keep up the facade of defiance any longer. She turned and walked away without a word, her footsteps heavy on the hardwood floor.

But as she reached her door, she couldn’t shake the sense that her uncle’s eyes were still on her, watching her intently, evenly, carefully… like a predator surveying its prey.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

Roman sat back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, his face framed by the glow of the laptop in front of him. The familiar hum of tension vibrated just beneath the surface of his composed exterior, though you wouldn’t know it from his subdued expression—impassive, if you may. His eyes flicked to the small grid of silent, blacked-out squares that represented the other participants in the call. Maria’s lawyer, his lawyer, two social workers… All watching without truly being there. Silent observers. Judging eyes.

He hated this.

It should have been simple. A call with his daughter. Just him, Ava, and whatever silly stories she wanted to share about her day. But nothing about this situation was simple anymore. Maria had seen to that.

“You ready for this, Sir?” Paul’s voice cut through the quiet, low and measured. He sat just off–camera, hands clasped in front of him like some kind of watchful guardian angel—or devil, depending on who you asked.

Roman nodded once. “Not like I have a choice, Wiseman.”

Heyman’s gaze softened, just a little. “Remember, they’re waiting for a slip up. Stay calm. Keep it light.”

“Yeah,” he muttered, rubbing a hand over his beard. “Light.”

With a final click, the call connected, and suddenly, the screen shifted. Ava’s face filled the centre square, her smile so wide it threatened to split her face in two. Her curls were pulled up into a lopsided ponytail, and she waved frantically at the camera.

“Daddy!”

Roman’s features softened instantly, the weight in his chest easing just a fraction. “Hey, baby.” His voice calmed too, warming like sunlight through storm clouds.

“I missed you so much!” Ava chirped, bouncing a little in her seat.

“I missed you more.” He leaned in a little closer, as if it would somehow bridge the distance between them. “What’s goin’ on? How’s school?”

Ava’s eyes lit up. “Guess what? We did this thing today about animals, and I picked wolves because they’re cool and they’re kinda like you. Like, you’re a leader and stuff!”

Roman chuckled, dropping his eyes briefly. “Yeah? Wolves, huh? I like that. What else did you learn?”

She launched into an animated description of her project, her hands moving wildly as she described wolf packs and how they worked together. Roman listened intently, nodding at all the right moments, never averting his gaze from hers. For a few minutes, it was easy to forget about the silent audience lurking just beyond the screen.

“Did you draw a picture of your wolf pack?”

“Uh-huh!” Ava disappeared from the frame for a second, then reappeared holding up a piece of paper covered in crayon drawings. “That’s me in the middle,” she explained, pointing to a smaller wolf with a bright pink bow. “And that’s you next to me ‘cause you’re the alpha!”

“You made me the alpha, huh?” Roman grinned. “I like it. You did a good job, baby, really good.”

Ava beamed, her pride shining through the screen. “Thank you, Daddy!”

But then, out of the corner of his eye, Roman caught the faint flicker of movement in one of the dark squares. Just a subtle shift, like someone adjusting in their seat. The reminder hit him like an icy slap.

The lawyers. The social workers. The goddamn spectators.

His jaw tightened, but he forced himself to stay focused on Ava. It wasn’t her fault. None of this was her fault.

“You still doin’ your gymnastics?” he asked, steering the conversation back to safer ground.

Ava nodded enthusiastically. “Yep! I’m practicing my cartwheels. Mommy says I need to work on keeping my legs straight, though.”

“Yeah, that’s important,” Roman chuckled. “You’ll get it. Just keep practicing. You’re already better than me, and I never even tried.”

She giggled, like pure music to his ears. “Maybe you should try, Daddy! Then we can do cartwheels together!”

“Oh, I dunno about that, baby, I’m a little old for cartwheels.” He gave her a mock-serious look, which made her laugh even harder.

“Daddy, you’re not old!”

“I’m not?” He raised an eyebrow, playing along. “I feel pretty old.”

“Nope. You’re strong… like a wolf!”

Roman smiled, a rush of genuine warmth shooting straight for his heart. “I’ll take that.”

They kept talking, the conversation bouncing from school to her favourite cartoons to what she wanted for Christmas. Roman soaked up every word, storing them away like precious treasures.

But even as he laughed with her, a darker thought lingered at the edges of his mind. The last conversation he’d had with Nate.

The bruise on her cheek, the casual way in which she’d admitted that her father had hit her. The rage he’d felt then simmered beneath the surface now, feeding into the frustration of this whole situation.

The idea that he had to prove to these strangers that he wasn’t like that, that he wasn’t the kind of man who would ever hurt his daughter—it made his blood boil.

He took a deep breath, pushing it down. Focus. Stay calm.

Ava was talking about a classmate now, something about a boy named Tyler who always stole the blue crayons. Roman listened, nodding along.

“Next time, you tell Tyler that if he wants the blue crayon, he’s gotta ask nicely,” he said.

“Okay, Daddy.” She paused, her eyes twinkling with mischief. “Or I could just take it back.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, or that… But remember—be nice first, okay?”

“Okay.”

They talked for a little while longer, until eventually, Maria’s voice cut in from somewhere off-screen, telling Ava it was time to say goodbye.

“I don’t wanna go yet!” Ava protested, her face falling.

“I know, baby, but we’ll talk again soon, okay? Real soon.” Roman’s voice softened. “Ti amo, bambina.”

“Ti amo anch’io papá.”

The screen went dark, and the call ended.

Roman pushed back from his desk, shutting the laptop with a little more force than necessary. He let out a slow, measured exhale, his shoulders still tight from the silent tension in the call.

“Not bad, my Tribal Chief,” Heyman offered, standing up from his spot in the corner. Whilst Roman didn’t directly acknowledge the compliment, the Wiseman knew what they meant. What he meant. To Roman.

Paul followed closely behind as Roman strode toward the door with his brain already one step ahead, already moving to what was next. But when he opened the door, he found Solo standing there like a stone sentinel. Arms crossed, stoically unreadable, a sheer presence that filled the hallway.

Roman blinked, momentarily caught off guard by his cousin’s appearance. “What are you doin’?” he asked.

Solo remained calm, still looking ahead of him. “Just makin’ sure no one’s sneakin’ around. Don’t need pryin’ eyes or ears up here.”

For a beat, Roman’s brow furrowed in confusion. Then it clicked, and he rolled his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Man, you serious right now? You’re gonna give yourself an aneurysm, doin’ all this paranoid shit.” His tone carried a blend of humour and irritation, the kind of blunt honesty that only family could get away with.

“Just lookin’ out.” Solo shrugged.

Roman shook his head, muttering under his breath, “Ain’t got time for that.” He brushed past Solo, leading the way down the hall and toward the stairs.

The living room stretched out before them as they descended, the wide open-plan space bustling with quiet activity. The hum of muted conversations mixed with an occasional burst of laughter, creating a strange yet comforting harmony.

At the coffee table, Tamina and Nate sat side by side on the couch, a laptop open between them. Nate’s posture was relaxed, slightly hunched forward as her eyes narrowed at the screen, scrolling through with her delicate fingers stroking over the touchpad. Tamina leaned back, one arm draped over the couch, but her attention was clearly on Nate.

Across the room, Jimmy and Sami were huddled at the dining table, surrounded by a chaotic mess of papers—the same ones from the folder Seth had handed over. Sami was gesturing animatedly, his voice low but intense, while Jimmy nodded along, occasionally jotting something down.

In the background, the sound of Naomi and Jey playing table tennis at the counter could be heard, with a level of competitiveness that was somehow both serious and ridiculous. Naomi was clearly winning, and Jey’s loud groan of frustration served as temporary punctuation marks.

Stopping at the bottom of the stairs, Roman’s arms rested at his sides as he took it all in. As usual, his eyes landed on Nate again, almost feeling a small jolt in his chest that left as quickly as it came.

She looked… at home.

There she was, smack in the middle of everything, like she’d always been there. Like she belonged there. Her leather jacket was draped casually over the back of the couch, leaving her in a red lace bralette, the deep crimson standing out against her light olive skin—a contrast that made her dark hair and sharp features even more vivid. Her black jeans and studded boots completed the look entirely. Effortless. Lethal. All at once.

But it wasn’t just what she was wearing. It rarely ever was. It was the way she carried herself, the way her brow furrowed ever so slightly in concentration as she worked. That subtle scowl of hers—the one that hinted at some quiet anger or irritation—was there and damn if it didn’t stir something in him.

Roman let himself linger a second longer than he should’ve, tracing the curve of her jaw, the slight downturn of her lips. She was gorgeous. No, she was more than that. She was magnetic. Pulling him in when he knew better.

She fit it in too well, and that was dangerous.

He blinked, forcing himself to look away, sweeping over the room again, yet still… he always circled back to her. 

She’s just workin’ with Tamia, he reminded himself. That’s it.

But the thought didn’t settle the way it should’ve. It idled, heavily.

For a man who prided himself on control, Roman hated how easily she could make him forget himself.

“Y’all look busy,” he said finally, breaking the easy tone of the room. He stepped forward, commanding everybody’s attention without asking for it. Heads turned toward him, but Nate didn’t immediately look up. She stayed focused on whatever was on the screen, only glancing his way after so long. And when she did, that scowl softened slightly, her lips twitching like she was fighting a smile.

Roman felt the corner of his own mouth tug upward, almost involuntarily. Damn, she’s trouble.

He decided to walk over to Jimmy and Sami, glancing at the table cluttered with papers and the glowing laptop screen in front of them. Sami’s fingers moved rapidly across the keyboard, muttering to himself in a low, focused voice. Jimmy leaned back in his chair, clicking a pen with one hand and rubbing the other over his face like he’d been staring at the same document for too long.

“What we got?” Roman asked, folding his arms and looking between them.

“Shattered Dreams Armory,” Sami started, his eyes glued to the laptop. “Formed in Florida in the ‘90s. Seemed to have shifted their base to Queens around ‘07… They keep their heads low. A few permits here, some sketchy tax records there, but no solid names. It’s like chasing ghosts.”

Roman exhaled slowly. “Ghosts don’t steal shipments.”

“Right,” Sami agreed. “But if we’re looking at their trade volume, they’re moving serious weight. Weapons, ammo, maybe even more. They need a warehouse—a big one. And they’ve been doing this for years without getting caught.”

Jimmy finally stopped his pen-clicking, which had started to drive Roman crazy. “You think they the ones who lifted the shipment?”

“Their bullet was at the scene, of course it had to have been them. Or affiliated…”

Sami shrugged. “It’s frustrating as hell, but they seem to be good at covering their tracks.”

Jimmy, for a moment—just a split second—exchanged a glance with Solo, who was standing over by the stairs, listening in. His face scrunched up as he shifted in his seat, something clearly springing to mind. He hoped Roman missed it, but he didn’t. Roman rarely missed a thing.

“What was that?”

The older Uso hesitated, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Uh, nothin’, Uce. Just… remembering stuff.”

“Remember it out loud, Jim.” Roman’s patience was hanging by a thread.

Before Jimmy could respond, Nate’s sharp intake of breath sliced through the conversation.

“Oh my God…” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried across the room like a gunshot. 

Everyone turned to her. She was on her feet, paling in the face, eyes locked on the laptop screen in front of her. Tamina was beside her, a hand on her arm with a face equally grim.

“Nate?” Roman called over to her, instantly alert.

She didn’t respond right away. Her hand ran over her hair, gripping onto it as if it were the only thing keeping her upright. It was Tamina who spoke first, keeping her voice low. 

“She found somethin’, Ro. And it ain’t good.”

Roman was already moving, leaving Sami and Jimmy behind as he crossed the room to crouch down beside Nate once she’d slowly sat back down to get a better look at the screen.

“Nate,” he said again, a little quieter this time. “What is it?”

Blinking, her focus finally shifted from the laptop to his face, her teeth gnawing together in fury in horror. “Alexei,” she hissed.

Roman furrowed his eyebrows. “What about him?”

She sighed heavily, moving her hair from her face as she picked up the laptop to place it on her lap. “I needed Tamina because… I wanted to pull some records. Needed to know who my dad is forcing my sister to marry, right?” She paused and swallowed hard. “And now I wish I hadn’t.”

Roman glanced over at Tamina, who gave a subdued nod. “Worse than we thought.”

“Worse how?” Roman demanded.

Nate’s voice dropped as she turned the laptop in Roman’s direction, heavy with disgust. “Alexei Lebedev. Born in Moscow. Came to the US in the 90s. Started small—drugs, weapons. By the mid 2000s, he’d expanded into uh—” Her breath caught in her throat as she felt the bile crawling its way up inside her. “Expanded into… human trafficking. Girls as young as fifteen, Roman. Fifteen. He’s a monster.”

The room went dead silent. Even Sami, who had been quietly working in the background, froze, his face a mask of shock and disgust.

Roman’s expression darkened, his jaw tightened so intensely that it looked like it might shatter. His nose twitched, and his tongue ran over his teeth as he took a moment to compose himself, looking down and rolling his neck. When he looked back up, the brown in his eyes had darkened to pools of tar. “You sure?”

Nate nodded slowly. “It’s all here,” she confirmed with more resolve. “He’s been running this for years. And it gets worse… He’s tied to these hate organisations, neo-Nazi groups. Racist, homophobic, misogynistic—you name it, he embodies it.”

Tamina added, “There’s also evidence out there of him being involved in hate crimes in the city. Assaults, even murder. The guy’s a tickin’ time bomb, Ro.”

“And my father wants Katya to fucking marry him,” Nate spat. “Selling her off to this… this… evil bastard.”

Roman and Nate locked onto each other, the former taking in the latter’s rage and pain that radiated from her. It wasn’t often that he saw her this rattled, not even when she opened up about her dad. But it stirred something deep down in his gut.

“You’re not gonna let that happen,” he said finally, full of conviction.

Nate’s eyebrow arched up, nostrils flaring a little as her chest started heaving. “Fucking right I’m not,” she declared through gritted teeth.

“I’ve already started gathering more,” Tamina added, “We’ll get everything we need to bury him.”

Roman stood, looking down at Nate with narrowed eyes. “Good,” he responded to Tamina, despite the fact he was looking at Nate. “Keep digging.” He finally looked at his older cousin. “I want every dirty little secret this bastard has ever tried to hide.”

Nate leaned back on the couch, almost obsessively scrolling through the pages they’d found on the laptop, muttering a small “thank you.” 

Tamina gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. “We’ve got this.”

“Take a breather,” Roman told Nate after lingering on her a moment further, noting the tough exterior cracking enough for him to see the depth of her fury. But she shook her head defiantly.

“I’m not stopping until I know everything.”

And for once, Roman didn’t argue. Instead, he turned and gave a small nod toward Jimmy and Sami. “Go get Naomi and Jey.” He looked over at Solo. “You get over here too. We need everyone on this.” He then looked over at Paul, who had been sitting silently observing and analysing the scene with a muted look of horror behind his eyes.

Tamina shifted on the couch and stood up. “I’ll make a few calls. See if I can pull anything else. Back in a minute.”

Nate stayed seated, staring at the coffee table. The others began filing out, conversations low and tense. Tamina patted her shoulder as she passed.

“You okay?” she asked quietly.

Nate nodded tightly, but the answer was a blatant lie.

Once the door shut behind Tamina, and Paul and Solo had both disappeared for a retrieval of coffee, the silence pained Nate, the pressure intensifying in her ears. She tried to shake off the lingering dread, but she could feel Roman watching her, waiting.

She stood abruptly, pacing across the room like a caged animal. “This is my mess,” she muttered, shaking her head, more to herself than to him. “I can handle it. I don’t need everyone dropping everything for me.”

Roman leaned back against the edge of the dining table, crossing his arms as he just watched her every move. Back and forth.

She kept talking, rambling. “You need to focus on the shipment. Seth’s intel, everything with whoever took out Priest—this is too important. I’ll deal with the Alexei thing, I know what I’m doing. You don’t need to—”

“Nate.”

She ignored him, still pacing. “Change your plans because of me. It’s not worth it. I’m not w–”

“Nate.”

This time, Roman’s voice cut through her like a machete, low and firm. Before she could take another step, he was in front of her, large, gargantuan hands on her shoulders, stopping her in her tracks.

“Look at me.”

Her eyes flickered up, reluctant but ultimately obedient. She was met with the full force of his gaze, dark and intense, burning with what she couldn’t decipher. Anger, maybe. Something deeper, possibly.

“You don’t get to decide what’s worth it,” Roman said with a low and controlled tone, albeit dangerous in its quiet fury. “You should’ve told me. If I knew this was about Alexei, findin’ shit on this guy, I’d have done this myself.”

Nate opened her mouth to protest, but he shook his head, silencing her. His grip tightened just enough to ground her, not hurt her. “Half a shipment goin’ missing is nothing. Some guns? That’s replaceable. But a trafficker? A man who’s been runnin’ girls like fuckin’ livestock? That’s a whole different level. You think I’m gon’ let a monster like that exist in my world?”

She blinked, caught off guard by the venom in his words.

“I don’t want that sack of shit in my yard,” Roman continued, lowering his voice further, each word as deliberate as they could get. “You think this is about you? This is bigger than you. Bigger than me. This is about family.”

Nate’s breath hitched, the word hanging from his lips like a challenge. Family.

“I’m not your family, Roman,” she muttered.

Roman’s lips twitched, a flicker of amusement breaking through his otherwise serious expression. “Gettin’ there, Princess,” he hummed, and it stumped her so much that she almost laughed.

But she didn’t. She couldn’t.

His hands dropped from her shoulders, but he didn’t step back. They were still standing so close, too close.

A moment passed of them just staring at each other until Roman’s face softened, just a fraction, as if letting his guard down like he had in the dark, early in the morning, weeks ago. “You feel this for Katya,” he said. “The way I feel for Ava. I get it”

Her throat tightened. She hadn’t expected him to make such an introspective assessment of her thoughts.

“And God be damned if I let him outstay his welcome on this earth.”

With a harsh swallow, Nate nodded slowly. The fire in her belly reignited, tempered now by a sense of purpose. The door creaked open, and the spell broke. Jimmy, Jey, Naomi, Solo, Paul, and Tamina filtered back in, the tension thickening again as the group reassembled. Roman stepped back, but his gaze never left Nate’s.

Tamina walked over to Nate, resuming their conversation like nothing had happened. “We’ll gather everything we can find… and then we’ll get him.”

Roman, standing off to the side, watched them for a beat longer. His eyes flicked to Nate, and when she glanced back, he gave her a small wink.

It was subtle, almost imperceptible. But she saw it. It was there.

And she liked it.

But what she liked more was the idea of taking down Alexei. And like Roman said… his presence on Earth had been long overstood. Simply burying the man would never be enough.

She’d have to make sure he’d only wish for his own demise once she was done with him. And whether Roman helped her or not…

Alexei Lebedev had to die.

⋆༺𓆩☠︎︎𓆪༻⋆

[simslegacy5083]

Today's (11/25/2024) Episode: Retail Reinvention

Skye’s parents seemed happy with Elyse’s plan to take him shopping: “Have fun you two… and don’t spend all our simoleons in one place!”

However, as soon as the kids were out of sight Luigi dopped his smile and turned to Noemi. “I was really looking forward to helping Skye pick out some new outfits, and maybe even one for myself. I didn’t feel right shooting down their little master plan though. He would have been devastated.”

Noemi nodded. “I know what you mean. I worry about them out there where we can’t guide and help them, but encouraging his initiative is key to helping him grow up. After all, this is just a trip to the local retail shop, not Selvadorada.”

Luigi wandered around moodily until Noemi gave him a kiss and suggested: “Letting them go by themselves was the right choice, but there’s no reason we can’t go shopping ourselves. A little retail therapy for that outfit you wanted, and maybe a quick visit to the gym, will make you feel better.”

“That sounds marvelous” Luigi told her “I knew I married you for a reason!” Noemi punched him lightly on the shoulder at that, laughing before taking his hand and following the path the younger generation had just recently gone down, arriving in no time at their own shopping destination.

At a much less upscale shop than his parents were visiting Skye stared critically at his reflection in the mirror “Do you really think I can pull this off?”

“You look great!” Elyse assured him “I love that top on you, its perfect and it pairs really well with your new glasses. Now get changed while I grab the other things we picked out and we’ll head over to the makeup counter. Some dark eyeshadow and lipstick is essential to complete the look.”

“There… all finished” the salesclerk told him a few minutes later “what do you think?”

Skye had felt unsure about his new fashion choices, but he surprised himself by loving the makeup “Its perfect… thank you so much” he gushed as the smiling clerk tossed all the eyeshadow and lipstick she had used into his shopping basket for him to bring home.

“Elyse, come smell this!” Skye called out as they trailed behind the sales sim “Maybe I can get some of this too?”

“Skye, that’s perfume silly!” Elyse laughed at his confused expression. “Girls wear perfume, boys wear cologne… everyone knows that!” she sighed “What AM I going to do with you!? Come on, let’s pay for your makeup and then we’ll find something to make you smell nice and manly”.

Returning as promised to the table full of scents Skye let Elyse guide him towards some cologne that he thought smelled OK. He still didn’t see why he couldn’t just buy the awesome perfume, but he trusted his friend and certainly didn’t want to be laughed at for “doing it wrong”.

“You’ll love this – trust me!” Elyse declared as they ended their trip at a nail salon. “One pedicure and one foot massage please” she asked the clerk.

“Pick your color” the sales associate said, pointing towards the nail samples “Oh, look at that sparkly blue!” Skye exclaimed, “I want that one!”

“Skye” Elyse shook her head, “I’M getting the pedicure, you’re getting a foot massage. They don’t paint your nails with that.”

“Well then, I want a pedicure too.” he told her, but she only shook her head again. “Boys don’t paint their nails, Skye. Seriously.”

Skye really wanted to wear the pretty polish, but he couldn’t recall seeing any of his guy friends with painted nails, so he didn’t argue. That didn’t stop him from glancing at the array of sparkly colors the whole time he was getting his massage. It seemed unfair that he wasn’t allowed to sparkle.

View The Full Story of My Not So Berry Challenge Here

[chaotic-zora]

9) How does your OC handle their physical health? Do they take care of themselves?

Silvyr! I know we've talked a little about this, and you've written about it on their character description sheet-- but how well does Silvyr take care of themself? Especially after they've drained themself using their powers?

This was a FUN one to type up, it got so long ahahah.

Silvyr's self care management is....lacking, in some ways. They are more conscious about it when outside of their Domain (one cannot afford to look weak while negotiating), but when they are within the safety of their Domain oh boi, do they like to test their limits.

Silvyr has a bad migraine? Well that sucks, but there is still paperwork that needs to get done so their ignoring it. Dizzy spell? Ack, they'll sit down later they need to go talk to a few others first. Muscles aching? Ignore it, keep walking, it never goes away anyway.

Sometimes they can even be found passed out at their desk from pulling an all nighter, much to the chargin of everyone in the domain. But that's the thing, Silvyr takes care of the domain, and in turn, is beloved and taken care of by EVERYONE within it.

If Silvyr is stumbling around shivering and looking exhausted you BET a few zora have are already approached them with the intent to lure them into a communal sleeping pool. Passed out at their desk? There's already a few blankets draped over their shoulders. Silvyr forgets about one of their medical appointments? Nyvor will track them down and do an on the go medical check in as Silvyr works. Silvyr having a really bad day of chills? Thresh has noticed and brought them their favorite fish stuffed with spicy peppers to warm them up.

It is this help, and the insistence of others (their mates, friends, and the Domain as a whole) that has gotten them better at taking care of themselves.

Some of the things they routinely do to manage pains/aches/post magic effects include:

Routine healing sessions with Nyvor (to manage muscle aches & pains). Frequent trips to the underwater Volcano (extremely warm! Where others have to wear sapphires to stay cool Silvyr does not. The intense heat is great for them especially when they are experiencing chills.) Eating spicy food, it helps elevate their internal temperature! Visiting dark places (preferably underwater), whenever they have a headache.

When they are completely drained from their powers is when these side effects are at their worst. I think you did an AMAZING job depicting this in Denouncement. Seriously, all the kudos to how you showed the strain Silvyr's ice magic puts on their body, without making them seem incapable.

After they've been drained from excessive use of ice magic they need like a two day sleep marathon, preferably in a heated pool or surrounded by others for body warmth. They will also check in with a healer for potential frostbite/hypothermia damage. Not so fun fact! Their chipped fins are from overuse of magic, where frostbite had settled in and the fin shattered as a result. Very painful experience.

The WORST side effect they can experience due to a serious magic drain are low sanity episodes. This is delirium caused by the onset of hypothermia. It's very rare for this to occur, but when it does Silvyr will require the complete assistance of others, as they'll have difficulty comprehending where they are, and may say some pretty inane things.

Don't let the above fool you though! In terms of battle Silvyr can still hold their own, it takes a prolonged fight and powerful spells to reach a total drain.

[toreii]

Lost in the Book with Stitch part 2

Disclaimer: This is a fan translation. I apologize for any mistakes. I’m by no means fluent in Japanese, but I try my best. Please, support the official translation when it comes out.

Library

Floyd: “Why is everyone gathered together like sardines?”

Ace: “Well. For summer vacation, I was assigned a troublesome book report.”

Ace: “I was talking with Yuu and the others about which book to write the essay on.”

Ace: “I met the housewarden by chance, and he’s picking out a good book for me.”

Grim: “First of all, I don’t want to write a book report.”

Riddle: “Not to worry. I will pick books suitable for each level.”

Lilia: “Azul and Floyd are also looking for books.”

Lilia: “Has anyone seen the book ‘Accurate Account! Twisted Wonderland Stroll’?”

Riddle: “Well……I don’t recall seeing it.”

Ace: “Why are you looking for that book? Do the seniors also have a book report assignment?”

Floyd: “Nuh-uh. It’s a guide to help decide where to go for summer vacation.”

Ace: “Eh, the upperclassmen are traveling?”

Ace: “Actually, I plan to go to the Shaftlands with my family.”

Floyd: “Oh. Crabby-chan, you have a nice family.”

Ace: “Nah, it’s been a long time since we’ve been on a family trip, right? It just so happens that my brother was able to take time off.”

Azul: “Shaftlands… Jack-san. For reference, are there any recommended areas in the Shaftlands?”

Jack: “Recommend? Of course…the Shaftlands is huge, and there’s a plateau that’s cool even in the summer, so it’s popular as a summer resort.”

Jack: “I went last year with my siblings, and the scenery was beautiful and spacious.”

Jack: “Every day I’m asked to go again. Summer vacations keep bringing me back.”

Lilia: “The famous summer resort is a mountain in the north side? It certainly looks like a pleasant summer to spend there!”

Lilia: “Hm……if I use magic over there, I may be able to make a day trip. I think I’ll secretly take Malleus with me.”

Floyd: “What about you, goldfishie? Are you seriously going home to study?”

Riddle: “No. I have plans for summer camp.”

Azul: “Camp!? That doesn’t fit Riddle-san’s image…”

Riddle: “Is that so? It was recommended by my mother. I’m personally looking forward to it.”

Riddle: “We’ll be staying by a lake in the Queendom of Roses, and all the participants will have a study session from morning ‘til night.”

Ace: “Does that have to be done out by the lake…?”

*The boys talk among themselves*

Yuu:

“It sounds fun.”

“It’s always exciting before the break.”

Grim: “Everyone all have plans to go play, I’m jealous.”

Grim: “I only have plans to hang out in Ramshackle Dorm! It’s boring!”

Grim: “Aah, I wanna go somewhere too~”

*sparkle*

Grim: “…Hm? One book is sticking out from the shelf. Have we ever had a book like this?”

Floyd: “What’s wrong, baby seal-chan? Did you find the book already?”

Azul: “No, this seems to be another book. The cover is different from what I saw online.”

Riddle: “…Hm? The book Grim has doesn’t have a title written on it.”

Riddle: “The library label is also not affixed to it. This doesn’t seem to be a school book. Has someone’s personal property gotten misplaced?”

Lilia: “There’s a mirror embedded in it. It’s a strange binding.”

Lilia: “Also……something……”

Floyd: “…This book is amazing!”

Lilia: “Hmm. Is this…magical power? I’m not sure…but I have a strange feeling I’ve never felt before…”

Floyd: “Aha, I have a funny premonition. I wonder what’s written inside.”

Grim: “Someone’s amazing secrets, treasure locations……Nyahaha, I’m excited!”

Grim: “Okay. Let’s look inside!”

*Book lights up*

Grim: “Funaah! What’s this!? It’s blinding…!”

Everyone: “UWAAAAAH~~~~!”

To be continued…

[sitepathos]

A Trip to Hogsmeade

After a particularly long and grueling mission, Laswell manages to secure a month long leave for the 141, as well as Alejandro, and König. Of course, they were happy to hear that they’d have a long time to unwind, but they didn’t know how to occupy that much time! They’re soldiers, they’re not used to having that much free time. As for you, you kept on top of your studies, so you had a few days free to offer a great way to start their leave: a trip to Hogmeade, the only all-wizarding village in Scotland! Naturally, they were excited to not only see more of the Wizarding World, but also to spend more time with you! What could be better?

Price

He was blown away at the sight of everything. Seriously, it’s like going back in the past with all these stone buildings! This man would seriously nerd out over the history of the village.

“This place served as the wizards’ headquarters during the Goblin Rebellion. Wait, you guys have goblins?”

He loves the Three Broomsticks. He loves a good pint and he’s been to A LOT of sketchy bars and powered through them for the sake of good beer, but the smell of goats that’s synonymous with the Hog’s Head is where he draws the line. “No beer in the world is good enough to stand that smell.” Plus, the butterbeer is absolutely delicious.

Also, he loves the Three Broomsticks because it’s very welcoming. He sees his boys enjoying themselves, laughing, and cutting up, it warms his weary heart. They get dirty so the rest of the world can stay clean, but it’s hard to keep fighting when it seems like all there is to life is the mission and the only thing to look forward to is death. Here, they’re not soldiers, they’re just men having a good time.

When it’s time to leave, he brings back half a dozen barrels of butterbeer for him to take home. He can get a good pint anywhere back home, but the best butterbeer is only found at the Three Broomsticks. You also bought him a quick-quotes quill from Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop so he can write reports and paperwork without having to do any writing. The face he made when you told him made your heart skip a beat. But, his most important souvenir is a group picture taken back at the Three Broomsticks; it’s enchanted, so it’s like a moment of time captured within a frame. He keeps it on his desk at all times.

Gaz

He looks like a kid in a candy store when you arrived at Hogsmeade. “Everyone here is a wizard?” He looks at every store you pass by with fascination.

Also, speaking of being in a candy store, he absolutely loses his mind when you show him Honeydukes. Like, the minute you walk through the door, his jaw literally drops to the floor. The sight of candy packed into every corner of the store nearly sends him into a coma.

He sees the dozens of boxes of chocolate frogs for sale and he gives you the most irresistible puppy dog eyes you’ve ever seen. You buy as many boxes he can carry so he try to complete his collection.

He also loves the Sprintwitches Sporting Needs store. He fell in love with a Thunderbolt VII that was on display and exchanged all the money he had for the galleons needed for you to buy it. Despite him saying it was yours, you told him that your money bought it, so it was his to keep and whenever he wanted to go for a ride, you would drop everything so he could fly on it. He keeps it proudly displayed in his room back on base, above his bed. Soap is totally jealous.

When you leave, he has dozens of chocolate frogs, sugar quills, a gallon of rocky road no-melt ice cream, and the Thunderbolt VII, which is the best souvenir.

Ghost

“So, an all-wizarding village? Impressive.” On the outside, he keeps his usual indifferent attitude, but on the inside, he’s excited. An entire village full of magic.

While Price avoids the Hog’s Head, he heads straight into it and orders a firewhisky, loving the unique burning sensation that comes as it hits the back of his throat. You try to convince him to leave since the smell is strong enough to be smelled from the outside, but he just shrugs and keeps drinking.

He later asks if there’s anything you can do to get the smell out of his clothes and cast several spells that make the smell disappear and he thanks you.

He later gets kicked out when he breaks a witch’s hand after she called you a Mudblood. Aberforth kicks him out to appease his other customers, but gives him an approving nod and a few bottles. He later joins the rest of you at the Three Broomsticks, deflecting all Soap’s questions for leaving. “Price needs help babysitting you idiots. And Merlin’s too young to be a chaperone.”

He honestly couldn’t care less about souvenirs. Sure, the free bottles of firewhisky are great, but he wasn’t looking for useless trinkets to have to drag back home. Of course, you couldn’t let him walk away with nothing and bought him a custom made balaclava that can not be torn by non-magically means. “That’ll save me a fortune on masks. Thanks, kid.” Under his mask, he’s blushing.

Soap

Come on, you know this guy lost his ever-loving mind when you arrived. Like, it took Price AND Ghost to restrain him. “Johnny, for fuck’s sake, people are staring!” “But that place is an owl post office, LT! Owl post office!”

Finally, after five minutes, he finally calmed down enough to be let go, but he was still so excited that he grabbed and dragged you to each shop and had you explained what it sold. “You have a wand shop here, too?! Can we go in?!”

When you showed him Madam Snelling’s Tress Emporium, he had his mohawk touched up. Of course, he couldn’t resist to have something magical done to it. He walked out with his hair charmed with a variation of Colovaria, allowing it to change colors on its own. Price and Ghost their heads while Gaz goes in to do the same thing.

You already know his favorite store is going to be Zonko’s Joke Shop. As soon as you tell him that there’s a store that sells magical prank and joke items, he has you show him the way, leaving the rest of your friends behind. If you thought he was bad when you first showed up, he somehow gets worse at Zonko’s. He spends a good hour in their, going over everything for sale before walking out with armfuls of dungbombs, frog spawn soap, and a nose-biting teacup he was going to give Laswell (you later bought two sneakoscopes to give to Price and Ghost to help avoid Soap’s tricks going too far. You also promise to take Soap to Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes for even more joke items.

Soap later finds out that his joke items are just as valuable in the field as they are off it. Enemies are easy pickings when they’re hacking away from the smell of a dungbomb, or it’s easy to sneak past guards when a bunch of frogs appear from out of nowhere.

He leaves Hogsmeade with so many joke items, it’s not even funny. He also helped himself to some candy from Honeydukes. Him and Gaz trade cards on the way home.

Alejandro

He’s awestruck when you arrive and Rudy has to bring him back to reality. “Dios mio. This village is amazing…”

He’s ecstatic like Soap, but he’s refined like Ghost; he keeps his excitement under control. He follows you down each street and listens to what you say, and if he asks questions if he has them. “And here we are at the Hogsmeade Post Office. Here, people can send and receive mail and packages via owls.” “Can you send mail anywhere using owls?” “Yes, magical owls are able to send mail to anywhere in the world.”

Him and Rudy go crazy at Honeydukes. Growing up, they didn’t have the chance to get candy whenever they wanted like their friends, so now they have the opportunity to get as much candy as they want. Alejandro’s favorite candy is the Fizzing Whizzbees, he loves to feel lighter than air for a few minutes while Rudy is crazy about no-melt ice cream; seriously, he gets triple scoops of different flavors.

They would pop into the Hog’s Head, but just long enough to buy a bottle of firewhisky to take home. After they have the bottle, they leave. “That smell… it’s not of this world…” After that, they’ll spend the rest of the trip at the Three Brromsticks

They would take home the bottle of firewhisky, several types of candy from Honeydukes, a few hiccouch sweets from Zonko’s, and a barrel of butterbeer, but that was Rudy’s decision. “Rudy, hermano, we don’t have the room for it…” “We’re make the room, damn it! Just, help me roll it…” You help by casting Reducio to make the barrel small enough to be put in a pocket.

König

This man was a bit overwhelmed when you first arrived, and understandably so. You talk him down from his mini panic attack, give him a calming drought you packed just in case, and gently led him down the streets. “Thank you, maus. This village is quite nice.”

If you decide to use this trip to stock up on your potion ingredients, he’ll 1000% carry the basket you fill up. He also loves it when you explain what each ingredient is and what it’s used for. Also asks if he can brew a potion by himself. Please let him, he’ll do a good job, he swears.

I can see him choosing Madam Puddifoot’s Tea Shop as his favorite shop in Hogsmeade. It’s away from the noisiest part of the village, it has a very calming atmosphere inside, and the tea is absolutely delicious. His favorite is a tea that’s enchanted to show the drinker’s happiest memory after a single sip. His is when he first joined KorTag and met Horangi, his best friend and the only one who believed he could become a sniper.

Of course, you had to tell him that the tea shop was known for being a popular place for dates. Fortunately, he wore his hood and it hid the nuclear red blush that covered his face. “A date! I mean, I would love to go on a date with you, maus! If we were dating! And I would be honored if you wanted to date me!”

After the incident, he starts to have daydreams about going on a date with you…

When it’s time to go home, he has a fancy teacup and several bags of that “memory tea” from the tea shop, a few pumpkin pasties from Honeydukes, and a collapsible cauldron from Ceridwen’s Cauldron so you can teach him how to brew his own calming drought.

[duchessofostergotlands]

It's funny how yesterday I was listening you stressing out British people don't emphatize with the riches' misery while strolling news about five millioners stuck in a submarine.

Lol, I speak only the truth!

In all seriousness, whether it’s right or wrong, it is hard to sympathise when people voluntarily chose to go in an obvious death trap, without doing any due diligence, to explore what is an actual gravesite because they’re so rich they have no understanding of personal risk and want to be able to boast about accessing things most humans can’t access. If our species was supposed to be at the bottom of the ocean we would be lol. This wasn’t about discovery or science but purely about profit and ego, and it’s killed five people. And the fact one of them chose to take his 19 year old son with him - there is no way that boy could have gone on the trip without his dad’s money and approval, and since I first drafted this it’s come out he may have been pressured to go - and now a family have lost two people in terrible circumstances makes it even worse. It’s just wasteful, frankly. I sympathise with their families, I wish things had gone differently, but it really is such a perfect encapsulation of how insane wealthy inequality has become!

I was thinking about this topic after we did our episode and I think it’s about balance. I’m comfortable, financially, because I have parents who were comfortable financially, I studied in a place where higher education is free, I have no kids and no social life, and I’ve been hoarding money like Smaug since I was a child. But even I worry about keeping a roof over my head, I worry about what happens if I lose my job. I’ve been made redundant before and had that feeling of panic and fear that I’ll never find another job. I couldn’t find a place to live on my own on my salary in the city I worked in which negatively impacted my mental health and I’m already struggling with a severe mental illness. And I’m lucky, millions in the U.K. have it way worse than me. I’m not one of those people who thinks the rich can’t suffer or that their emotions don’t matter - that’s a slippery slope as that would dnd up with everyone except the one human who is worst off in the whole world being told they can’t suffer and they don’t matter - but at the same time normal humans all have this struggle. So when you see multi millionaires and billionaires - especially those who inherited wealth - they automatically have less on their plate to worry about in terms of financial security, they don’t have those daily worries we all have. And so when they do experience hardship it kind of feels to the public - or to me at least - like the hardship has to be more intense in order to balance the scale because they already start off so much higher. Does that make sense?

I do think actively celebrating deaths is a bit much. It’s cruel but more importantly it’s completely pointless and damages the cause, and I think is more often than not done so people on the Internet can feel better about themselves and show off to their friends. But I completely get why people don’t feel pity or sympathy either. There’s a massive cavern in the middle where most of us sit. I just think it’s knowing the time and place and manner when it comes to vocalising that view. Nobody can make you empathise but you don’t have to declare it, unprompted, in the most callous way you can think of

[dirtyvulture]

😎 Happy Christmas Eve ( December 24th) or happy holidays!!!!!! Vulture what if one of the girls that were jealous of R STOLE Kit’s first kiss ? Because as you said that you don’t believe he would fully play with somebody like that as he wanted R to be his first…… ALL OF HIS FIRSTS ( back in the day women were EXPECTED to be virgins before they married but men …. They were “ expected” to be “ virgins” * cough in reality they could have done WHATEVER they wanted, even being spotted going in and out of business that had prostitutes / sex workers that was fine cough* ) and that included his first kiss.

He was being flirty and playful with other people , acting in a way that he didn’t with R . He didn’t want to act in that way towards R because she was so young and didn’t want to do anything that could affect her negatively. Kit never took the player attitude or flirting seriously because to him he wanted to practice his game , his romantic prowess for when R was older and it was closer to or was for the season that R was being presented and was eligible for marriage. It was all for the sake of courting and wooing R but without Kit being a flustered mess tripping all over himself so he had a better chance of getting R . Because while they were both told their whole lives it was greatly HOPED and EXPECTED it wasn’t set in stone as it’s not a arranged marriage so Kit was practicing everything out, because for him it was always R . Kit always promised that R and He would be family and be there for her no matter the choice she made ( it was very much the deal Jacob had with his imprinting in The Twilight Series except it wasn’t in the creepy ass way of it being a literal baby and a nearly grown or is a grown ass man but a person who is only three years older to a girl and their families had always been close. They themselves have always been close . It is everything shifted to R and Kit is to be anything and everything that R needs or needed ) . What if one day Kit was being that playful and flirty person but wasn’t planning on following through and at the sound of R’s laugh he IMMEDIATELY turns his head to that . R was sat in a shade of a tree resting on the tree reading the book that she and Kit so dearly loved ( the ones that R had gotten the name YN from and the name Laster that Kit takes up to play with R ) , Kit’s eyes and face softened a great deal that is a quite obvious to EVERYONE WITH EYES to see that he cares for her ….. that he is IN LOVE with her ( the only person who doesn’t know is R herself and that’s because she’s a kid) . The girl whom was talking to Kit sees this and she gets extremely jealous ( she is planning all the shit that she is going to talk about with all those other Bicthes , that was the shit will send R in a tailspin that the girls didn’t know that R was overhearing) because HOW DARE this scrawny sickly immature little girl capture the attention of Quincy and she ( R) WASN’T EVEN TRYING so the jealous girl grabs Kits shirt and then his face kissing him.

So since it’s Christmas Eve let’s do some thoughts. I think the last Christmas gift that Kit gave R the latest book of the series of books that they both love . The last gift that R gave Kit was a pocket watch ( it would be his first and it was his last one because after R disappeared Kit never parted with the watch) as she told him “ As papa and pa always say , very gentleman needs a watch . You are starting your adult responsibilities, you are becoming a gentleman so you need a watch . Kitten”. Teddy bears weren’t invented or weren’t really around until 1902 or around that time so R didn’t have any when she little but they would still have dolls and interesting fact is that in the 19th century they used human hair for the dolls ( typically the hair of the girl that the doll is made for) . They also used to have boys and girls rised and dressed the same as babies and little kids … like toddler ages ( long hair and being dresses) up until ( I am not entirely sure but until the age of 7 ) then they had this thing called  breeching (that is were they learned to put on pants or breeches ) and then have their long hair cut . I think that when Kit had his long hair cut he wanted to gave his hair to make a doll for R . R loved that doll and slept with it up until that night that Thomas Logan broke in …… the doll was found on the floor with a pool of blood around it from when R dropped it ( R dropped the doll when she saw the body of her papa ) . But let’s not dwell on that because it’s CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!

R of Both the DK and SB AU LOVE the old Christmas movie specials ( Frosty the Snowman,  Rudolph the Red Nose Renideer , The Year without a Santa Clause , It’s a Wonderful Life, etc) , a lot of the other movies that are classics like the Home Alones ( Scarlett Johansson is actually in one of the Home Alone movies, the four one ….. little Scarlett Johansson plays the older sister of Alex the boy of that movie whom was left alone for that movie) . As much as they are romantics I don’t know if they ( both Rs of the DK and SB ) could deal with the hallmarks Christmas movies, but they love and can’t convince them that Die Hard isn’t a Christmas movie ( SB’s Nat agrees with SB and is delighted that Sb loves that movie and happily watches it . I don’t know if DK’s Nat has ever seen it) . The last few thoughts I have for the night. The Night Before Christmas came out in 1823 , *so R probably grew up with her father John reading it in front of the fireplace with all of the socklings hanging in front of it every Christmas Eve . Her family always having a HUGE BREAKFAST that R couldn’t open any presents beforehand. *

I don’t know if SB’s Nat and Yelena would have any family traditions regarding Christmas or the holidays and as seen in BW Nat didn’t really have Christmas or holidays so I don’t think DK Nat would have any , but Wolverine R would want to give her a good holiday and make good memories for Nat , for Rogue and everyone else. I think that the last Christmas she really celebrated was before she disappeared so it the Christmas of 1844…. That was until she celebrated it with Esther Hudson in the Christmas Truce of 1914 . After Esther made R celebrate with her and the Hudson’s also made celebrate with them afterwards. After weapon x , the death of her old friend and forgetting the Hudsons R hasn’t celebrated Christmas since ( She left the school / Rogue roughly a year ago so maybe that was before/ after the holiday season of that year and wasn’t there to celebrate it with the X- Men / the school)

* Those two thoughts of the father reading The Night Before Christmas and the whole huge breakfast before opening presents are thoughts that are based upon actual traditions of my own family. Dad would read that book every Christmas Eve ( does a humongous reading and a actual reading of the book) and makes a huge breakfast that we have to eat before we go open gifts ( it was torture when I was younger but it really does make the day last longer) . We open gifts one at a time and we have a garbage bag that we put in the wrapping paper IMMEDIATELY after opening a gift ( makes clean up easier) .

Well good night , merry Christmas and happy holidays!!!!!!!! Love to all !!!!!!!!

I am answering this very late, but Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you too anon!

Not you bringing the Jacob and Renesmee thing into this, as much as I do enjoy Twilight let's leave their mess out of this AU lol. I don't know why it makes me laugh every time you remind us that Wolvie!R was a scrawny and sickly little twig because she turned into such a lovely but grumpy beefcake lmao. I'm sure little R was bullied by those girls a lot too (not physically though, because she probably would've snapped in half).

Do you think R would have ever returned somehow and found the doll again?

I think Sergeant Beef is secretly a big fan of the Hallmark channel. Wolvie!R...not so much. I also don't think Wolvie!R is much into holidays, probably because it reminds her of how lonely her life is/was. But now that she has Nat, maybe her mind will change on that...

Those sound like fun Christmas traditions! I hope you had a good holiday this year as well!

[krissiebucks]

Thoughts~

For the first time ever my tl on Twitter is nearly void of any SHINee content. It’s like the entire fandom took a break. Instead I’m seeing shawols rt memes and random stuff. It’s a difficult time rn. It looks like the members aren’t going to speak out over this issue. So it’s really awkward and questionable. I know lots of babywols are going to leave, I’ve seen a couple turn into other fandom accounts but this is going to have to be a ‘time will only tell’ type of situation for me personally.

I know KR is behind the times when it comes to some social justice issues such as women’s rights and racism/prejudice so the colorists remarks might not even seem like a big deal other there. But the members are big public figures who have become role models in the industry and have fans all over the world. I seriously wish the editors would have left this part out. I know in the past MINHO has talked and reassured shawols on bbl over his frequent golf trips about making sure to wear sunblock which is pretty sad that he has to reassure everyone he’ll do his best to not get any darker. The issue with colorism runs deep in EAST ASIA many SOUTH ASIANS have spoken out against this type of behavior for years. Being an older kpop fan growing up in the beginnings of 2nd gen idols I’ve seen this joke played out numerous times. It’s absolutely disappointing that this type of behavior continues to go on. Even if it was played off as a “joke” it’s no excuse. Out of all the things to say, they had to bring this up. I wish it was easier to just move on and forget but this is going to sit with me for awhile. I never held a idol to high regards like I did in the past so my image of the boys hasn’t changed much. I know they are not perfect human beings with a heart of gold. No such person exists, so as I said before I was just have to wait and see. Being an older shawol I’ve been through other scandals the boys have faced. Some were accountable with immediate reflection and others completely ignored as outage was only really seen among international fans. This might just be another one of those times where the outrage is too far from home.

We need to do better as a fandom. KR shawols should have also spoken out against this behavior to bring awareness to the boys that this is inappropriate and unacceptable in this day and age. International shawols spoke up and helped bring awareness for the awful venue selection, why is this any different. Holding the boys accountable should be a priority for the fandom we should want them to do better. I don’t believe people have to demand anything from them I just want the message of disappointment and concern to reach them so that they can unlearn and want to better themselves in the future. Dragging them over a moment that to them might have seemed absolutely harmless will just make things worse. It might put the members off from ever wanting to change said behaviors or even interact with international fans in the future (take Taemin’s live and how awkward it was) The entire situation is absolutely disheartening. I hope they see fan’s disappointment and realize they unintentionally hurt many people. Shawols are doing their best they can right now. This is not an easy topic, but the boys schedules will still move forward whether they acknowledge it or not. I completely understand the frustration and exodus the fandom may go through. Only time will tell.

[tsu-kitty]

𝓉𝓈𝓊𝓀𝒾𝓈𝒽𝒾𝓂𝒶 𝒾𝓂𝒶𝓰𝒾𝓃𝓮

♡ wc › 1.0k

♡ contains › tsukishima x reader, fem!reader, volleyball player!reader, reader get hit on by a random guy, tsuki rescues reader. reader and tsuki are in their second year.

♡ summary › it's the interhigh tournament and you're a member of a girl's volleyball team at karasuno. tsukishima saves you from getting hit on by another player.

♡ a/n › my first fic on this blog! i hope everyone likes it. not proof read.

Don't get involved… Don't get involved… It's none of your business…

Having chosen to use the furthest bathrooms from the main courts of the Interhigh Tournament in order to avoid lining up, Tsukishima expected the halls to be deserted. And they were initially, but on his way back to the team, Tsukishima heard an obnoxious male voice and a quieter female voice echoing from a nearby turn off.

“I'm flattered, but I'm not interested, sorry,” said the quiet female voice.

“Oh, come on, sweetness,” replied the male. “I'm hot, you're hot, we'd make a great couple.”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes as he passed the hall the voice came from. He hated guys that were full of themselves. He pitied the poor girl this arrogant guy was hitting on. She should just tell him to piss off.

“I'm serious.” Her voice shook ever so slightly. “I'm not interested.”

“I can make you interested,” said the guy.

Tsukishima paused just before the left turn where the two voices originated. Don't get involved, Tsukishima.

Curiosity got the better of him though, his eyes flicking down the hall as he walked past. Despite intending not to stop, the sight of the girl made him freeze. Her uniform was black and orange with a bright white number 6 on the back under the words “Karasuno High School”.

It was you.

Whilst most of the Karasuno girls team barely crazed the tip of his consciousness, you were somewhere floating in the middle. Not someone he thought about all day everyday, but someone that made semi-regular appearances in his life.

This was mostly due to the fact you were in his class both this year and the last. There were other moments that made you memorable, though. Like the first time you met, when you quite literally walked into him on the first day of school. Or the time you tripped down the stairs and fell onto him midway through the year. Then there were the times you and your team cheered on his.

Tsukishima and you had interacted enough for him to know that you were somewhat shy and awkward, but nonetheless kind and joyful. You weren't the type to like obnoxious guys like the one currently hitting on you.

You also smelt like strawberries—real ones, not the artificial flavouring—which Tsukishima really liked. Not that he'd ever admit that.

Watching you now, the way you tugged your shorts down and crossed your arms over your torso, the way your weight shifted from foot to foot, Tsukishima could easily tell you were not enjoying the interaction. That was enough for him to decide to intervene.

“You're so cute when you're nervous,” the unknown boy snickered. “It makes me want you more.”

Your stomach churned with anxiety. “Please go away. I'm seriously not interested.”

“Don't say that, sweetness.” He reached his hand towards your waist.

You flinched away before he could touch you, but to your shock and dismay, you hit a hard body. Eyes wide with panic, you spun, ready to make a quick apology then run for your life.

“Is this guy bothering you, Y/N?” It was Tsukishima Kei, the blonde boy that sat behind you in class.

This boy… you seemed to always be—quite literally—running into him. Not that you minded too much. He was undeniably handsome: fair skin, sharp jaw and nose, short and slightly wavy blonde hair, gorgeous amber eyes behind a pair of black rimmed glasses. You had to admit, you'd had a small crush on him since first year.

A wave of relief washed over you. His timing couldn't be more perfect.

As well as his intelligence and height, Tsukishima was known for his sour attitude. He was witty and sharp-tongued, borderline rude at times, but that was exactly what you needed right now.

“Yes,” you breathed. You met Tsukishima's gaze and hoped your expression conveyed your desperate situation to him. “Yes, he is bothering me.”

Behind his glasses, Tsukishima's eyes flicked between yours, reading the silent panic in them. He broke the eye contact to cast a disdainful look over the unknown boy.

“You hear that, pipsqueak?” Tsukishima said, tilting his head to the right. “You're bothering her. So, piss off.”

You couldn't help but smile at the insult Tsukishima threw at the other boy. He wasn't really that short, about average height maybe, but Tsukishima was easily a head taller than him.

“Pipsqueak?” spat the boy. “Who the hell are you calling pipsqueak?”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes. “You, obviously.” Then he smirked and your heart skipped a beat. “You're not very bright, are you?”

The other boy's face turned tomato red. “You little shit.”

“How intelligent,” Tsukishima deadpanned, turning away. “Come on, Y/N. Let's get out of here.”

He started walking and you tried to follow, but a hand on your wrist stopped you.

“Wait up, sweetness—”

In one long step, Tsukishima was back at your side, ripping the stranger's hand off you. “How thick is your skull? You're bothering her, so we're leaving.”

The glare on Tsukishima's face sent a shiver down your spine. Placing a gentle hand at the small of your back, he made sure you were a step in front of him as he guided you away. The warmth from his touch radiated throughout your body. For such a boy with such a cold personality, he was surprisingly warm.

“Thank you, Tsukishima,” you said quietly as the two of you walked.

“You need to work on rejecting people,” was his curt reply.

You almost snorted. “That sounds awful.”

Tsukishima scoffed. “Not as awful as watching you get hit on.”

For the second time today, your heart skipped a beat. What did that mean? Awful as in pitiful? Awful as in gross? Why would it be awful? What about seeing you get hit on was awful?

“Y/N! Tsukishima!”

You had reached the place where your teams had set down their bags, both your captain and his waving you over. Tsukishima retracted his hand, quickly tucking it into his pocket. You turned your head to him, but he was gone, mumbling to Yamaguchi and throwing his headphones on.

Why are you so elusive, Tsukishima?

[victorluvsalice]

-->And then heard a weird musical sting, and looked over at Smiler to realize they were absolutely Hysterical from all this fun. AKA, one good giggle fit away from death. D: I quickly got them away from the games to chat with Victor, who laid a Heat Of The Moment kiss on them as a distraction. XD Once they’d gotten their flirt on a bit, I had Smiler go calm themselves down in the bathroom mirrors (never mind they have no reflection to do so) -- once they were safely just Very Inspired, I then let them hop on the DDR machine while Victor shot some hoops at the basketball machine. As my game threw out ANOTHER barista-related error. *grumbles* I don’t know if that’s the game, one of my mods, or what, but seems I’m gonna have to be careful playing for a while...

-->And then I looked at the date timer, saw that they only had thirty minutes left, and was like “crap, forget the games, finish socializing, do more cute things together!” XD Fortunately they were more than amenable to kissing and flirting some more, and the date ended with them having reached Gold level as well, yay! Not like I need those VIP buckets, but fuck it, we can recycle them or something. I just wanted my boy and my enby to have a good time.

-->With that date done, it was time to send the pair home, where I found Alice, still in werewolf form, sitting on the couch watching some classic Sims TV. Which gave me an idea – VICTOR had already fulfilled the “watch Romantic TV” tradition I slapped on the holiday a while back, but Alice and Smiler hadn’t. And despite the fact it was past midnight, the holiday wasn’t quite over yet (they don’t end until 2 AM the next morning). So I had Alice turn off the classics, let out a somber howl to keep her Fury down, change back into her human form, then put on the Romance channel before sending Victor and Smiler over to join her on the couch. Holiday ended with the three of them hanging out for a while, watching goofy medical dramas and doing a little bit of flirting, before Smiler got up and left Alice and Victor to it while they made a drink over at their bar in the party barn. XD At least they all had an extremely successful Love Day!

*whew* Yeah, that was a bit more chaotic than I wanted – at least for Victor and Alice, at any rate! Seriously – I can get that the problems with them getting their food was because the cafe’s probably a little too small and was built with form over function in mind, but the FUCK was with townies just randomly flirting with Alice?! Like I said, that didn’t happen on Victor and Smiler’s date – everyone just left them alone! Does Alice have some sort of setting on her that makes townies think it’s okay to get up close and personal on her, because I have GOT to turn that off if so. Talk about the most unAlice thing ever... But at least I got my two good dates in the end. Next time, we wrap up in-game spring with another trip to Van Liddelton Groceries! The gang filled the shelves, and now we have to empty them. See you then!

[luminnara]

Bikini Body | Billy Hargrove x Reader PT 1

Warnings: body image stuff and some vague bullying

Part 2! (Nsfw👀)

I’m open for requests! Just send an ask!

Tags: @smenny @infinitelyforgotten @littlewinter1917

The community pool in Hawkins was a usual summer hangout spot. Everyone from middle aged parents to their bratty kids to teens and young adults tended to flock there on especially hot Indiana summer days, and today, you had begrudgingly agreed to join your friends for an afternoon in the sun.

It really wasn’t your idea of a good time. It wasn’t that you hated swimming or tanning or even just enjoying the heat, it was more that…well, the public pool was pretty public, and you…kind of weren’t.

“Are you really wearing that?” One of your friends asked, sounding exasperated as she stretched out on a chair.

“…yes. Why?” You asked, knowing exactly why.

She glanced at you before rolling her eyes and putting her shades on. “You’re seriously going to pass out if you wear that much clothing.”

“I think I’ll be okay,” you mumbled, looking down at your shorts. They were baggy and reached your mid thigh, loose enough to leave absolutely everything to the imagination.

“I don’t get why you want to cover up so much,” another one of your friends said as she flipped onto her stomach to tan her back. “I mean, the cutest lifeguard in the state works here, and I know damn well I want him to look…”

Everyone sighed in agreement and all at once, their heads swiveled to look at the lifeguard in question. You looked, too, and what you saw was Billy Hargrove, the local bad boy heartthrob, standing in the sun like he knew what a golden glow it gave him. He was always full of himself, preening like a bird, working all of his best angles while he flirted with the hot girls (and moms) at the pool.

Too bad you didn’t really count as either of those.

“Seriously, do you ever wear anything besides that big baggy shirt?” One of your friends scoffed as she laid back against her chair. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in anything else.”

“Didn’t we agree that you were going to wear a bikini for once?” Another asked.

You shrugged and looked away. “Didn’t really feel like it. That’s all.”

“Right,” she rolled her eyes and then looked towards the others. “So, Cindy, you catch Steve Harrington at Starcourt? He’s selling ice cream now…”

And that was your cue to zone out. You liked your friends, you really did, but ever since graduation and the start of summer, they’d started putting a lot more emphasis on the pool and bikinis. You actually did put yours on, and had almost convinced yourself to take the plunge and wear it out in public…but then, at the last minute before Cindy swung by to pick you up, you had grabbed your shirt and trunks like always.

You knew that walking around in a swimsuit wouldn’t kill you. Logically, you knew it wouldn’t even be that big a deal…but you didn’t really want to, because you didn’t really want the attention that would come with baring so much skin. Was it a confidence thing? Was it something else? You didn’t really know, because you never really thought about it that much, but it was something.

You kind of wished you wanted to sit around in bikinis, especially as you looked over at the row of middle aged moms all wearing their newest suits and ogling Billy Hargrove. You could see the appeal; you had gone to school with him for your senior year, and you thought he was absolutely gorgeous. Of course, you had never really talked to him, because why would you? How would you? He had girls like Carol and Tina tripping over themselves for him, and you were busy…not doing that. It wasn’t that you didn’t want to. It was just…why would he want you around? You probably weren’t his type anyways.

You glanced over at him as he sat in his lifeguard chair. Yeah, he was handsome. He looked downright amazing, actually, with a mane of golden hair and a torso that was covered in either sweat or oil or maybe both. He was just as nice a sight as he always was, as he sat there chewing on his gum and blowing his whistle and yelling at kids.

You had to look away before your face got hot enough for anyone else to notice.

“I’m getting a drink,” you mumbled, climbing out of your chair and heading towards the vending machine over by the locker rooms.

Stupid pool.

Stupid sexy Billy Hargrove.

You walked up to the machine, intent on buying a cold Coke to help distract yourself. When you dug through your pockets for change, however, you found that you were coming up short, and you groaned in defeat.

Great.

Now you couldn’t even get a drink.

This. This was why you didn’t like coming to the public pool. Why couldn’t you have friends with pools in their backyards? That would be way better than this. You’d be free of vending machines and lifeguards and maybe you’d even show off a bikini.

“Hey, you good?” One of your friends called as you walked back towards them.

“Yeah, yeah,” you waved your hand dismissively. “I’m fi—“

You were cut off by a sharp shove and a yelp, and the yelp was coming from your own mouth. A moment later, you hit the water, and as welcome as it felt on your sweaty skin, you were not a fan of the fact that you were soaked.

“Hey!” You sputtered as you broke the surface again, blinking water out of your eyes as you glared up at the side of the pool. “What the hell was that?”

You saw two boys standing there, probably in junior high, wearing shit eating grins as they snickered at your misfortune. Your expression immediately darkened, and the look you gave them as you started hauling yourself out of the water was dangerous enough that they ran.

“Get the fuck back here!” You snarled after them. “You little—hey! I’m talking to you!”

Your voice was drowned out by the sound of a whistle, and you didn’t need to turn around to know that it belonged to Billy. As you pulled yourself out of the pool, you could hear him yelling at them, threatening to ban them for life if they did it again. You figured he just liked the power rush.

You didn’t realize he was pissed off for your sake.

Billy Hargrove had been watching you for a while, ever since you got up to hunt for a drink. He didn’t really know you, but he knew of you, and honestly, when he saw you walk in with your friends, he had been more than a little curious about your body. One of his favorite parts of the lifeguard gig was getting to check girls out, even if he didn’t like half of them. When he saw you in that big shirt and shorts, though, he was disappointed, and a little part of him thought that it was absolutely hilarious that those kids had just pushed you in.

Even if he did think it was shitty, and he was pissed that they did it to you, and he was pissed that they didn’t seem to understand that this was his pool.

“Are you okay?” Your friend, Cindy, asked as you stood before everyone, soaked to the bone. They were all sitting up in alarm now, glaring daggers at the stupid kids who had seen fit to fuck with you.

“I’m fine,” you grumbled, trying to wring out your shirt. “This blows…”

“Hun, you’ve gotta take it off,” one of them clicked her tongue. “You’ll be miserable wearing all that.”

You looked down at the amount of water dripping from your clothing and sighed. She was right.

It was time to admit defeat.

“Fine,” you peeled the wet fabric away, tossing your shorts and shirt in a pile near the rest of your stuff.

It felt weird to be so exposed, even though your friends were exclaiming and oohing and ahhing over you. Your bikini wasn’t the most fashionable, but it was fairly small…and now, absolutely nothing was left to the imagination, and Billy Hargrove couldn’t stop staring.

Holy shit.

What a fuckin’ body.

Now that was something he could literally get behind.

His whistle fell from his lips as he watched you awkwardly trying to pick at your tiny bikini as if it could somehow give you more coverage. It was plain, sure, not as bright as Mrs. Wheeler’s new suit, but you had definitely caught his eye, and he wasn’t looking away anytime soon.

And…hang on a second, was that a tattoo on your hip?

Shit.

He had no idea you looked so fucking good. This entire time he could have been hitting on you, working on getting to know you, maybe making you his girl…and he had almost let all that potential slip away.

Your friends were staring at you, eyes nearly popping out of their heads.

“What?” You snapped, sitting down in your chair.

“You look…” Cindy trailed off.

“Amazing!” Abby finished.

“When the hell did you get a tattoo?” Maria asked.

You just felt your cheeks flush and slid down in your chair, crossing your arms over your chest in an attempt to figure out how to simply sink into the ground and not have to deal with anyone. This was exactly what you had thought you could avoid.

“Oh my god,” you heard Cindy whisper. “He’s looking.”

“Who?” You asked tiredly, daring to glance up.

You didn’t expect to suddenly lock eyes with Billy Hargrove. He was watching you like a hawk, very obviously checking you out, even as you drew your knees up and tried not to exist.

“Fuck,” he groaned, already knowing he was hooked. “Fuck me.”

[ihaechans]

Seven Days || Park Jisung

PAIRING ▸ Jisung x fem!reader

GENRES ▸ established relationship, smut, fluff

WARNINGS/CONTENT ▸ profanity, way too much dialogue, Chenle & Haechan like bullying Jisung, Everyone likes bullying Aisha, mentions of alcohol consumption, sexting, sub!Jisung (basically a service top), degrading/ dirty talk, fingering, dom!reader,  phone sex (kinda), *mutual* masturbation, face sitting (oral), accidental & intentional edging, they are both really horny, virginity loss, riding, choking, unprotected sex (reader is on the pill but be safe ya'll), #saveTaeil

SUMMARY ▸ Jisung goes away on a boys trip for spring break leaving you alone with your girl best friends for the week. Seven days was a long time without seeing your boyfriend, especially in a new relationship...

Let’s just say things get a little spicy when you finally see each other due to the dirty messages you have been secretly sending.

WORD COUNT▸ 6.5k

Day One

It was unfortunate that things got mixed up at the last second.

All was well until your best friend Aisha dragged you and your girlfriends onto the wrong plane. The only sort of good thing out of it was that you were still in contact with your boyfriend... just thousands of miles and hours away from each other. 

You were pacing around your hotel room in distress, phone clutched in your hand tightly, as if it would crack any second from your firm grip. “Goddamn Y/n. We know you love your boyfriend but I’m sure he’s fine without you for now with his best friends,”

“No! He needs me Joy. You really have no idea how much he relies on me do you?” Joy rolled her eyes playfully, flopping down on one of the queen-sized hotel beds.

Your best friends had decided it would be a good idea to visit Paris for spring break and of course, they had to beg you until you agreed. Jisung and his friends thought it would be a splendid idea if you all went there together over spring break. A week of memories, joy, and drinking.

But no.

Aisha just HAD to fuck it up somehow. 

You checked your weather app with hesitance. It read Paris... Paris, Texas. It took everything in you not to scream and storm into Aisha's hotel room and slap the shit out of her. You loved her but sometimes she had no sense.

“I can’t believe she mistook Paris Texas for Paris France! It’s taking everything in me not to beat her ass right now Joy,” and you weren’t lying either. Doyeon and Ningning literally had to hold you back from charging at her when you first found out where exactly you were.

You couldn’t help how your mind wandered back to your boyfriend every once in a while, wondering how he was doing with the boys in Paris. You were praying that they knew how to take care of themselves while you were away. After all, you were always the one to cook their meals.

“You and Jisung don’t live with each other so it’s basically the same thing right? Every time you want to see him you got to get your lazy ass up and drive, so just pretend he’s driving to you but taking a long ass time and it’ll go by faster. Trust.”

You couldn’t decide if you wanted to trust Joy or not, a debate going on in your mind. Though she has been in a relationship for the past five years, you knew her better than anyone... which was why you couldn’t tell if she was joking with you or not. Joy had a habit of lying; not enough to cause damage but enough that you couldn’t tell when she was really playing around or telling the truth.

Sighing in defeat, Joy looked you in your eyes seriously, “You think I’m lying don’t you,” You could see the disappointment in her eyes but didn’t speak from the embarrassment. You cursed yourself for forgetting she had an incredible ability to read people. “You’re right. I was lying” Hollering out a laugh, she threw herself onto her own bed, shielding herself with one of the pillows as she knew your next move.

Attacking her with a series of hard thrown pillows, she finally surrendered after taking a shot to the face. “Oh my fucking god I hate you so much Joy!”

Day Two

“So… who’s gonna cook our meals for the week?” All of the boys stared at each other in silence, none of them wanting to be the one to cook for the others.

Yuta spoke again, “If no one is going to speak up I guess Taeil will pick one of you since he’s the oldest.” The group of boys' eyes practically bulged out of their skulls, Jungwoo coming up with the quick excuse of “We can just order out,” to save himself from getting picked.

Jisung sat silently on the sofa, staring at the ceiling with the thought of you running through his head. “Damn Jisung, was the pussy really that good?” Joked Chenle, a surprised gasp falling from the younger boy's lips at the comment.

The other men cracked up in laughter, Jisung’s cheeks going red in embarrassment. “I mean, it must have been if she has you thinking about her every second of the day.

“Chenle… you’re embarrassing me…” Jisung whines shyly, his hands coming up from his sides to cover his red-tinted face. Jisung had to admit Chenle wasn’t entirely wrong, your cunt was absolutely delicious and your boyfriend couldn’t wait until your next scandalous escapade.

You were the only thing he was thinking about for the past day and a half you haven’t seen each other, his mind often lingering back to the first time you played with him. Last night he found himself getting off to the vivid memory, moaning your name huskily as he came in his hand, wishing it was your pretty little pussy.

“I think I hate Aisha now,” he sighed, looking up at Donghyuck from his comfy position.

“Hey! That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about Jisung. Don’t make me knock some sense into you,” Piping up from his seat at the small kitchen table, Jungwoo added, “I do too Jisung. I was so looking forward to seeing Joy this week and now it’s ruined because of Hyuck's brain dead girlfriend,”

Slapping the back of Jungwoo's head, Donghyuck huffed under his breath in annoyance at the boys talking shit about his girlfriend right to his face. Of course, Jungwoo was joking though. Aisha and the tall boy have been best friends since they were kids, and if it wasn’t for him, Haechan and Aisha would’ve never met at all.

“Boys, settle down now, it’s too late to be bickering about silly things.” Taeil states, plopping down on the recliner chair across the room “Hyung… it’s only five though,” A confused look crossed Xiaojuns face at the eldest's statement, “Wow, you’re getting old.”

Taeil glares at the boy before getting comfortable in his seat, shutting his eyes, and falling asleep rather quickly.

Haechan, Jungwoo, Chenle, Yuta, and Xiaojun all went back to their respectively selected rooms, Leaving Taeil and Jisung alone in their shared hotel room. A notification alerts him, his eyes quickly darting to the name on the screen “Y/n..” he mumbles, quickly opening the messaging app to see that you’ve sent him a picture.

Not just any picture…

The boy's breath hitched in surprise, the picture of your practically bare breasts making him hard instantly. You were wearing a cute, white bra with see-through sections running through. It took everything in him to not rush straight to his room and grab his cock with urgency.

Seconds later you sent another message, a simple text this time reading “I miss you so much baby” To Jisung, this felt like a dream. Never did he think he would be getting sent something like this by any girl ever.

Quickly thinking of a response, the boy typed back his reply, “Y/n I miss you too,” His reply made it seem like he was nonchalant about the whole thing, but his heart was beating fast against his rib cage, breath ragged and shallow.

He really had no idea how he was going to survive a week without you if you continued to send sexy pictures. “You’re not gonna give me anything back baby?” Blinking twice at your next text, Jisung looked around as if he was committing a crime. He stood up quickly, rushing off to his decently sized room, locking the door, and flopping down in the bed.

Immediately, his sweatpants were discarded somewhere on the floor, his phone still in his hand. Jisung angled the camera down to his evident erection in his boxers, bringing his hand right past the elastic band and gripping his hard cock, not moving his hand an inch.

Snapping a quick picture and sending it, he waited patiently for your reply. You took ages, and your boyfriend started wondering what you were doing over there. He sighed in disappointment. Ten minutes, fifteen minutes, twenty minutes, and bingo, you finally texted back.

This time it was a video, and it had Jisung moving his hand up and down around his cock in an instant. You were fingering yourself, moaning your boyfriend's name seductively as your back arched in pleasure, “Fuck baby, I wish your fingers were inside me,” And he wished that too.

Jisung threw his head back against the hard wooden headboard, stroking his cock with newfound urgency. He didn’t know how you could turn him on so easily, and he didn’t care. All he could think about was how sexy you sounded moaning his name and pleading for him to help you out when you both knew he couldn’t.

“Are you enjoying it, baby?” Jisung was enjoying it so much that he didn’t even see your text, or hear Taeil knocking on his door urgently. He was so close he could practically taste his orgasm.

“Jisung! Open the door! Yuta and Xiaojun got you some takeout.” Jisung ripped his hand off of his dick immediately at his eldest friend's voice, closing out of your video and practically jumping off of the bed to find his sweatpants.

“Uhh- fuck,” he swore under his breath, struggling to get his sweatpants back on, “I’m coming just wait for a second,”

Curse Taeil.

Day Four

It had been two days since you and your boyfriend sent risky texts to each other, simply having no time with the constant company of your friends around. Jisung, on the other hand, watched the video you sent him countless times, almost overstimulating himself from jerking off to it so much. He simply found it unbelievably sexy, and he would never get tired of you moaning his name.

Haechan walked over to the younger where he was situated on the sofa, staring idly at the large television screen, “Day four with no pussy. This is a prime example of what it does to you,” Jisung tried to act cool about it, keeping a straight face at his friend's comment. “His ears are turning red, Jisung is so cute,” Taeil coos, ruffling his youngest friend's hair. Jisung swats his hands away, jerking away from his touch. “I’m going to my room now,” He excused himself, heading off to his room for some peace and quiet. 

Jisung decided a little rest would do no harm and tucked himself under the covers, closing his eyes soon after. 

Bing.

Jisung’s head whipped around to the nightstand impossibly fast, seeing a notification from you. “I miss hearing your voice, can I call you?” And who was he to refuse? Fuck a nap he could take those anytime he wanted. (he could also call you anytime he wanted but that wasn’t the point) 

He FaceTimed you immediately, not even bothering to answer your text. Your sweet voice filled the air, putting Jisung in a love-struck trance. Your boyfriend took in your features, admiring how pretty you looked on camera. “What have you and the boys been doing out there? It’s so fucking boring here I think I’m gonna die,” 

Your boyfriend chuckled, the deep tone erupting butterflies in your stomach, “Oh really? Yesterday was pretty boring for me too. We were planning on going to the Eiffel Tower but it was too cold so we just took pictures from afar and went back to the hotel,”

You smiled, feeling happy that your boyfriend was actually having a good time on his vacation, unlike you. “Are you doing anything tomorrow?” you questioned, wanting to hear more of Jisung’s sweet voice. “I don’t know. I have to ask Yuta or Jungwoo, they’re the ones who planned this whole trip anyway,” 

While Jisung rambled on, you couldn’t help but think about how good he ate you out or how good he fingered you, making you wet at the thought of him using his newly discovered skills on you. “That’s nice, but did you enjoy the video I sent you?” Jisung’s blood went cold at the mention of the video. After almost getting caught by Taeil, he never answered your text about if he enjoyed your video or not, simply texting you about other important things.

“Oh… um- yeah… I enjoyed it a lot actually,” scratching his head out of nervousness, Jisung was too distracted to notice how you were slipping off your shirt in the camera, your lacy black bra and your breasts now being the only visible thing on the screen. “Baby, look at me when I’m talking to you,” Jisung obeyed your orders, eyes now glued to the screen. He was practically drooling at the sight of your boobs in front of him.

“Like what you see?” You taunted, watching your boyfriend's face to see his reaction. Jisung was having the time of his life just by looking at your chest, and if you were really there with him right now he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

He imagined playing with your tits so many times the first night you two got intimate but he never got the chance. “You’re so pretty…” he trailed off, getting lost in his own thoughts. He was honestly surprised at himself how he wasn’t touching his dick to the sight.

“Are you gonna be a good boy and listen?” He did nothing but whimper in response, his voice getting caught in his throat. “I asked a question baby,” you pushed, wanting to hear him agree with you verbally.

He nodded, “Yes, I- I’ll listen,” His stutter wasn’t caused by nervousness this time but by distraction. Your bare chest on full display in the middle of his screen was turning him on more than he would ever admit.

You played with your tits, massaging them with your soft palms before focusing back on the screen, “Play with that pretty cock of yours baby and let me see,” At your command, your boyfriend lowers his screen, giving you a perfect view of his long fingers wrapped around his erection.

Your boyfriend pumped his cock painfully slow, getting himself worked up, “My baby boy likes being played with huh?” you taunt, picking up on the way his hand suddenly moves faster at your words. “Such a slut baby. You love getting teased don’t you,”

He hadn’t even realized how much all of your teasing turned him on until now. He felt a surge of heat in his stomach when you called him a slut, and he just loved it when you denied him of his orgasm over and over again until he was a  crying, incoherent mess.

“Shit baby, I want to fuck your cunt so badly,” he whimpered, catching you by surprise. You hadn’t heard Jisung talk like this to you, and it was way hotter than it should’ve been. You didn’t miss the way he called you baby either.

You fingered yourself shallowly off-screen, simply leaving your breasts out in the camera to help Jisung get off. You hadn’t planned on having an orgasm anytime soon, saving the real fun for when you had your boyfriend back in your arms.

Jisung, on the other hand, had his lip caught between his teeth in pleasure, hips rolling up into his closed fist repeatedly. It was incredibly hot how he had to keep his moans muffled by stuffing his fingers into his own mouth, gagging around them every once in a while.

You quickly removed your fingers from yourself before you got too carried away, studying Jisung as his whimpers and whines got louder and louder with every stroke. 

“Stop.” 

Jisung doesn’t stop, bucking his hips up into his fist again, “Be a good boy for me and stop,” you repeat, more stern this time. Your boyfriend's once rapidly moving hand now comes to a complete stop. He lets out a mix between a whine and a moan, cursing under his breath at the loss of an orgasm so close.

He stares into the camera, pleading eyes, “Please let me cum, I’ve been so good for you Y/n please,” he honestly thinks he has won, waiting for you to agree with him but it never happens. “I don’t think you’ve earned it yet. You didn’t stop when I told you to baby, remember?” 

Jisung throws his head back against the headboard, an impatient groan slipping past his soft pink lips. “Get on with it, I don’t have all day,” and he does. Pumping himself once again with urgency. 

His mind slipped back to when you two first got together, the night you ruined him so bad he started daydreaming about eating your pussy at every given moment. He wanted you back in his mouth so badly again that he moans out, his eyes closing in bliss at the sensation of his own hand on his hard cock.

“You wanna cum don’t you?” and he nods, his whines once again getting more frequent as he jerks himself off. “Jisung. Stop,” you felt evil for doing this to him, but the way he was acting right now turned you on endlessly. You needed to see him absolutely fall apart at your mercy.

This time at your command, he stops immediately, moaning huskily at the loss of his own fingers wrapped around his dick, “Can I please, please cum? I can’t hold it in anymore- I can’t,” his eyes were starting to gather tears at the corners, so overwhelmed by the sensation of his oncoming orgasm just for it to be ripped away from him again.

“Cum for me baby, show me how much you want it,” you pur, stirring your whiny boyfriend on. For the third and final time, he grabs his dick, jerking it quick and rough. You both knew he wouldn’t last long, his moans already beginning to pick up.

One last stroke of his cock and he was done for, a guttural moan forcing its way out of his throat as he came all over his abdomen. He sat there, eyes closed in bliss. “Did it feel good baby?” you question, knowing the obvious answer. Jisung breathed out heavily, faintly nodding his head at your question. 

When your boyfriend finally found the power to get up and clean himself off, you said your goodbyes, wishing him a safe and happy vacation. 

Jisung sat there in a trance.

The longer the days went on, the more he realized how badly he needed to be inside of you.

Day Six

The only thing you remembered from earlier that night was that you were partying with your best friends, drinking, dancing, the usual. But the way your head was pounding right now as you awake made it seem like you would die any second.

You were sprawled on the couch, just a few meters away from the small kitchen area. You needed some water to help sooth the pounding headache that had somehow appeared.

You go to reach for your phone on the armrest of the couch, checking your notifications to see three missed calls, and forty eight messages, all from your eager boyfriend Park Jisung.

Smiling, you scrolled through the thread of messages, stopping when you see a picture, dimly lit lighting in the background. 

Oh Fuck...

Jisungs messages were innocent until this picture. The sight in front of you took your breath away. Jisung was sitting on his hotel bed, naked body on display. His legs were spread open, just enough so that you could see his hard erection, piles of cum laying still on his abdomen. The best part was at the top of the frame, you could see your boyfriend sucking on his own cum coated fingers, his tongue darting out to slick it up.

Jisung was getting a little too bold over the past few days. When you got back home you would definitely have to remind him who’s in charge again.

You continued to scroll through the messages after the picture, most of them beginning to get progressively hornier the longer they went on. The messages were a range from “I miss touching you,” to “Every time I think of you I cum so fucking hard,”

It took everything in you to not touch yourself right then and there. You really thought your sweet innocent boyfriend was losing his mind at your absence, and the if he was being honest, he was.

Quickly shutting off your phone, you finally got up to get a nice cold glass of water, chugging it down as if it was the last think you would ever drink. It sure felt like it was with the major headache you had.

“One more day,” you kept telling yourself. One more day and you can hold him again, kiss him again, touch him again. Just one more day.

“Rough night, huh?” Joy asks, standing in the dimly lit doorway of her bedroom. She came to check on you after realizing you were not in your bedroom.

Joy was the only one who decided to stay sober out of all your friends, figuring that it would be better off if you and your friends had someone to watch over you in case things got too carried away. She always put others first, and that’s what you loved about her.

You nodded, “I just don’t feel so good,” you finish, tilting your head in your best friends direction. You technically weren’t lying, you got so drunk last night that you almost passed out.

Joy nods in understanding, coming over to your side and finding a place next to you on the couch and cuddling up against you. “So, what’s on your mind Y/n? Jisung?” she teases, wiggling her eyebrows tauntingly.

“Yeah actually. I just miss him a lot,” you sigh, looking Joy in the eye seriously as you spoke, “I mean... relationships aren’t easy, especially new ones. I guess I’m just a little worried about being away from him for so long. When we were just friends we could go weeks without seeing each other, but now it just feels like I can’t go a day without seeing him.”

Joy smiles and squeals like a teenaged girl, “Oh my god is Y/n in love? I can’t believe this!” she finishes, jumping up from her seat and running back and forth excitingly.

“W-what?! No!” You protest, your face suddenly feeling hot. “It’s too early for me to love him.” You finish, waiting for joy to sit back down next to you.

“You guys have literally been friends for years. Maybe you’ve always loved him but never realized it until I brought it up.”

You sigh and digest her words, looking back at the memory of when you two first met. You smiled to yourself at the remembrance of Jisung’s lanky, awkward, shy figure.

“Maybe I do love him.”

Day Seven

You wake up with a jolt, feeling the weight of Joys body squished up against your own.

“Joy…” you yawn, wiping your eyes with the back of your hands, “We have to get to the airport before twelve.” Shaking her lightly, she groans in protest, simply pushing herself harder onto you in an attempt to sleep longer.

Sighing, you push her off of you, almost causing your friend to fall off of the couch. “WAKE UP!” You yell, walking off to go get ready, almost tripping in the process.

You were absolutely elated at the realization you would get to see your boyfriend after the flight, finishing your bathroom routine in record speed. Bursting out of your own hotel room, you knock on you friends rooms, hoping that they were ready to go.

“Y/n? You’re the first one ready? You must really be excited to see Jisung.” Ningning teases, wiggling her eyebrows and elbowing you playfully in your side.

“Oh shut up. Aren’t you and Chenle-“ Ningning shushes you before looking around to see if anyone else heard your slick comment. “Alright that’s enough.” She states, quickly grabbing her luggage and making her way down to the lobby.

You make your own way into Ningning’s shared hotel room, shouting at Aisha to hurry up and get ready before frantically making your way to Doyeon’s room and doing the same.

By 11:30, the five of you were ready to go, hopping into a taxi and waiting out the twenty five minute drive to the airport. You could practically feel your heart beating against your rib cage, the excitement almost becoming unbearable.

The five of you made your way through the crowded airport, soon finding your gate and waiting for your plane to arrive.

“The flight starts boarding in an hour, and the flight back to Korea is like 13 hours so if you guys need to eat I suggest you go stock up now and buy food and water for the plane while you’re at it.” Doyeon reminds you.

“Why did we have to book the late night flight? I’d rather be awake and aware on the plane.” Joy complains, her motherly tendencies to watch over her loved ones kicking in momentarily.

Aisha stuffs her face full of fruit snacks, “Do you have the money for a mid-day flight Joy? She questions, chewing aggressively at the gummy candy.

“Anyways, I’m going to the Dunkin’ Donuts down the hall, if you guys want something you better come and get it.” Ningning stands up from her seat, following Doyeon down and around the corner to the small and crowded Dunkin’ Donuts.

“So Jisung, are you excited to see Y/n?” 

Jisung smiles to himself at the mention of your name, “Of course I am Chenle. I’m barely surviving these last two hours of the flight. I wanted to text her but she’s probably asleep right now and there’s no Wi-Fi up here.”

Chenle hums in agreement, “You’re right. I should sleep too, I don’t even think I’ve slept longer than an hour this whole ride.” he states, grabbing a small blanket from his carry-on bag and draping it over himself.

Jisung whips out his phone and scrolls through your old texts. He really has been missing you for the past week and he doubted that he would be able to stay away from you once you were back in his arms safely.

---------

As soon as you land safely back in Korea, you search for your boyfriend throughout the airport, nearly leaving your best friends in the dust. You genuinely had no idea if he had landed or not since the Wi-Fi at the airport was terrible and took hours to send a single message through.

Giving the Wi-Fi a chance, you call your boyfriend, hoping for some sort of answer. After what seems like forever Jisung answers, not the best quality but you would take anything you could get.

“Y/n!” He smiles, “Where are you guys? Me and the boys are already outside waiting for a van.” he finishes, looking at the screen to see if you would respond. “We’re on our way right now. Stay put! I missed you so, so much,” you exclaim, practically skipping towards your destination in excitement.

“Wait up Y/n! Jisung isn’t going anywhere!” yells Doyeon, but you ignore her, frantically searching for a way out of the crowded airport. 

Your eyes practically bulged out of your skull when you finally found the exit, seeing your boyfriend and your best friends through the clear glass doors. They were facing away from your direction, not yet aware that you had finally found them.

Running through the crowd, you race towards your boyfriend, nearly tackling him to the ground in a bear hug when the automatic doors open. “Y/n! You nearly cracked my skull open.” Jisung laughs, hugging you back with just as much enthusiasm as you wrap your legs around his waist, not letting go of his form.

From behind you, you hear a fake gagging sounds coming from Chenle and Xiaojun, teasing you and your boyfriend. “I missed you so much,” you swoon, caressing the sides of Jisung’s face as he held you in his arms.

“Ewwww, you guys are so in love it hurts to witness.” Haechan forces himself to look away at the act of affection, almost joining Xiaojun and Chenle with their gagging noises.

Jisung’s cheeks go red when you kiss him in front of his friends, causing them to scream in disgust. “Get a room you guys!” yells Aisha, finally arriving with the rest of your girl friends.

“We will later, right Jisung?” You wink, causing your boyfriend to blush even harder and stutter over his words. “I can’t stand watching this anymore. Please... just get me home as soon as possible,” Taeil tells the van driver with a sigh, beckoning you and your friends to finally hop in.

“Home sweet home,” you yawn, flopping onto your bed with a relaxing sigh.

After the boys and the rest of your friends had been dropped off, you and Jisung decided to come back to your apartment for some alone time. “so, how was Paris?” your question was genuine.

“Well,” Jisung pauses, flopping down next to you, “It was nice. The Eiffel tower was really bigger than I expected! Oh yeah, also we went on those little boat things and our hotel view was seriously so nice Y/n. Like, seriously... it was super nice.” he rambles, causing a smile of admiration to form on your face.

“I’m guessing the hotel view was really nice then,” you joke, giggling at your boyfriend's innocent and passionate statement.

His cheeks go red at your teasing and he covers his face behind his hands in embarrassment. “Ah, sorry. I’m just so excited to see you. I know it hasn’t been that long but it really felt like forever since I’ve seen you in person.”

Removing his hands from his face, you move your body closer to Jisung’s, practically straddling him at this point. “If only you knew how much I’ve missed you, baby,” you whisper, subtly grinding down onto his cock.

His eyes shoot open and his hands grip your hips immediately causing you to smirk. “Can we- uh... try something new?” He asks shyly, avoiding eye contact. “Of course, we can Jisung, but only if you look at me in the eye while you ask.”

Your boyfriend gulps under you, and at this point, you could feel his dick starting to grow against your thigh. “I... I wanna fuck you this time.” he stutters, shutting his eyes in embarrassment as soon as he finishes his sentence.

You laugh mockingly, grabbing his chin and forcing him to look at you as you spoke. “You wanna fuck me?” you copy, pretending to think about the idea with a finger on your chin. “Whatever Jisung wants, Jisung gets.” you shrug, tilting your head down to capture Jisungs lips with your own.

As the more experienced partner, you took control of the kiss, your hands tangling in Jisung’s hair messily as you licked your way into his mouth with desperation. Jisung moans as you grip his hair tightly while grinding your hips onto his erection, chasing after your lips with a pout when you pull away. 

“Do you want this baby?” you ask, sternly connecting your eyes with the man under you as you waited for an answer. “Yes, Y/n. I want it so fucking bad.” you could hear the desperateness behind his words, so eager and impatient for your touch.

You begin to pull your boyfriend’s shirt above his head as he loosens the string on his sweatpants in an attempt to get them off as fast as he could, grunting in frustration when they didn’t come off as easily as he hoped. “Slow down big boy, we have all the time in the world,” you whisper, quickly pressing a kiss to his lips as you aid him with peeling his pants off.

“Babe... can you sit on my face?” you’re taken off guard at the sudden request, surprised at the boldness of his words, “I love eating your pussy baby,” he mutters, already working your shirt above your head and your pants off of your legs in a hurry.

You didn’t even need to say anything, your boyfriend already knowing the answer when you slid your panties off, hovering your dripping wet core above his face. “If you need a break just push me off of you, ok?” he nods at your words, hooking his arms around your thighs and dragging your cunt to his awaiting mouth as he quickly attacked your sensitive clit.

You moan as your boyfriend swirls his tongue around your most sensitive parts, languidly moving his tongue around your entrance in a teasing manner before smirking against you.

Grinding onto his tongue, you yank his hair harder against your cunt, a loud groan ripping from his throat at the action. “Fuckin’ love when you do that,” he mumbles, diving into your pussy with much more desperation this time.

“So good baby,” you whine, “My little slut aren’t you?” with a whimper, Jisung nods his head frantically at your words, his tongue paying special attention to your clit. Unexpectedly, your boyfriend adds a finger to you, his long digit reaching your g-spot in no time.

Jisung adds another finger into your pussy and you lose it, “I’m gonna cum,” your moans pick up in frequency and volume as you neared your high, grinding hard onto his fingers as you came with a loud whine, your back arching in pleasure.

Your boyfriend licks at your core lazily as you catch your breath on top of him. “You’re amazing baby,” you smile weakly, absolutely breathless at the power of the orgasm Jisung had just given you.

You pull away from Jisung’s wandering mouth, making your way back down his power to place yourself on his thighs. “Doesn’t this hurt baby?” Jisung looks at where your eyes are concentrated on his dick which strained against his abdomen, beads of precum dribbling onto his stomach.

“I can help you relieve the pain,” you glide your fingers along the head of his cock softly, a look of need written in Jisung’s eyes. “Please touch me,” he begs, caressing your hips and bucking his own into them with desperation. “I need you to fuck me now,”

His cheeks go red when he finishes the sentence, “You’re so cute baby.” you smile, lifting your hips above his own as you grasped his cock and lined it up with your entrance. You could hear his breath hitch in anticipation, “If you want me to stop, just tell me, ok?”

He nods at your words, his eyes glued onto the current position you had him in. “Please do something,” he gulps, pleading eyes gazing into yours. In a swift movement, you lowered yourself onto him, both groaning at the sensation. “Feels so good,” he murmurs, biting his lip and closing his eyes in ecstasy.

Jisung nearly shrieks when you lift yourself off and lower yourself down again, his body almost going limp when you repeat the action again. This was the most you had ever heard him moan, you could only imagine how good this felt to him.

Your boyfriend’s mouth opened in a silent scream as his grip on your hips tightened, sure to leave a bruise the next morning. By now you were fully riding him, your body moving up and down on his cock while grinding down onto him every once in a while. 

“I can’t....” he whines, “I can’t-” Jisung sobs as you speed up, a violent shudder racking its way through his body. “Tell me to stop and I will,” you taunt, keeping a steady pace. His eyes roll to the back of his head as his hips stutter, a deep groan making its way out of his mouth.

“You’re cumming already? Such a dumb little slut baby,” your hand snakes its way to Jisung’s throat, wrapping around it and squeezing tightly. His eyes pop open in alert, his orgasm ripping through his body with violence. Deep moans sound throughout the room, Jisung’s hips bucking into you with fervor. Your walls clamp down onto his dick tightly, sucking a second orgasm out of him in no time.

With a quivering voice Jisung speaks, “I need you to cum Y/n, please... please cum. I need it.” he hisses, gripping your sides even harder as he slams you down onto his cock roughly. “Oh fuck,” you pant, feeling your orgasm approaching as he finds your g-spot, “I'm close,”

Jisung sits up, hiding his face in the crevice of your neck and sucking marks there. “Come on, cum for me,” he whines, massaging your breasts while moving his head to take one into his mouth. His tongue swirls around your sensitive bud, your hips stuttering as you felt your orgasm approaching.

You tug on his hair as you reach your high, your hearing going static at the sheer pleasure you were receiving. Jisung groans at the feeling of his hair being harshly pulled, forcing another orgasm out of him. He hides his face in your neck once again and nips your collarbones when he cums, a guttural moan ripping from his vocal cords.

The two of you sit there unmoving as you pant with heavy breaths, Jisung’s now soft dick still inside of you. “You ok?” Looking at your boyfriend with concern, he nods, a faint smile making its way onto his lips.

“Y/n, I love you.” He says confidently, a smile plastered onto his face. “You don’t have to say it back but I just wanted you to know that I love you.” You pout at his cuteness, taking his face between both of your hands and bringing it closer to your own. “I love you too Jisung, more than you’ll ever know.” you sigh, pressing your lips against his in a lazy kiss.

The next morning you and Jisung were fast asleep in your bed, his face nestled comfortably in your breasts while your hand was still in his hair from when you softly brushed your fingers through it to help him sleep last night.

The front door jingled as it opened, Taeil stepping inside with the extra key you had gave him. “Y/n? Are you awake?” he yells curiously, not getting any response. The plan was to quickly come inside and take his hoodie he had left in your room last month from movie night and quickly leave before he woke you up.

Tiptoeing up the stairs, he reaches your room, knocking on the door to make sure nothing that he didn’t want to see was going on behind it. “I’m coming in,” he states, slowly opening the door.

Taeil practically screams when he sees the two of you wrapped up with each other under the blankets, causing the two of you to jolt awake in alert. “Taeil! Oh my god!” shrieks Jisung, hiding himself deeper in the blankets.

Taeil quickly faces the other way and crab walks around your room until he finds his hoodie. “Just pretend this never happened please.” he says nervously, bolting out of the room frantically. You and Jisung look at each other and smile, bursting into laughter at what had just happened.

“Why is it always me?” sighs the eldest. “Kids these days...”

[in-my-feels-probably]

hi!! i really love your writing!

i had an idea for maybe a steve harrington x reader where reader takes eddie's place to distract the demo-bats (it could be a great angst with a happy ending)

Reassurance 

Request: i had an idea for maybe a steve harrington x reader where reader takes eddie's place to distract the demo-bats (it could be a great angst with a happy ending)

and: hurt reader x steve would be great!! maybe the reader has powers just like el and it's right after or during season 4 and she's injured pretty badly and steve is just angry because she didn't listen to him and also scared and hurt and whatnot but he takes care of her and it ends in fluff!!!

and: Can I request a Steve imagine where he has to give the reader cpr?

Hi! I'm sorry it took me so long to get these requests filled, I’ve been busy and didn’t have much motivation to write in my freetime. Also, I hope you don’t mind that I combined these requests, they were all similar and I thought I could get the best content out if I used all of your ideas. If this isn’t what you were looking for and you want more than what I included, feel free to comment or leave me another request. Thank you for the requests, I hope you enjoy it!

Also, this is long, and not my best work, but I hope it’s ok, I just needed to get something posted, sorry.

(Warnings: violence, near death experience, cursing, angst, let me know if i missed anything)

—

You were running out of time. 

All of you were. 

With El on the other side of the country and uncontactable, you were the only line of defense beyond the minimal weapons you and the team had managed to scrounge up. You had the same powers as El, resulting from similar government experiments they had done on expectant mothers, but unlike El, you didn’t grow up in a lab. 

You didn’t even know you had powers until she showed up the night Will went missing, and you slowly learned how to use them over the years. She was far better at controlling them than you were, but you still were strong enough to handle your own. 

And you were all that you and your friends had as you entered the Upside Down. 

“Alright, here’s the plan. I’m going with Nancy and Robin to make sure they’re ok, because frankly, I don’t trust Robin enough to leave her on her own. I say that with love, “ Steve instructed, glancing around at everyone. 

“Hey!”

“I said with love!” Steve shielded himself from Robin’s attack on his arm, looking to you for help while Eddie chuckled in amusement. 

“Don’t look at me, pretty boy. I wasn’t invited to go with you.”

He sighed, stepping closer to you. “Because I don’t want you anywhere near Vecna if this goes to shit, you know he’ll target you. Plus, you’ve gotta look after Dustin and Munson, yeah? We’ve all got a job to do, we can’t be in one big group.”

“I know,” you mumbled, taking your place next to Eddie. “We’ve got this. We’ll distract the bats, you three find Vecna. Please be careful.”

“We will,” Steve said, leaning in to press a kiss to your forehead, before turning and jogging to catch up with Robin and Nancy. “Be careful, Rob! I’m not kidding!”

You watched as Robin tripped over a tree root and nearly fell, Nancy reaching out to grab onto her hood to keep her from hitting the ground. 

You winced, groaning, turning to Eddie and Dustin. “Let’s hurry up and get these bats out of their way, before one of them kills themselves.”

“On it,” Eddie replied, following Dustin back towards his trailer. 

—

“If we live, I’m fucking killing both of you,” you shouted, doing your best to smash the bats coming into the trailer while Dustin climbed up the sheet. “Seriously, Munson, could that have taken any longer? Why didn’t we just play a tape?”

“It was so metal, though!” You could hear Dustin hit the mattress, calling for you both to hurry up. 

You rolled your eyes. “Dying isn’t very metal, now is it?”

Eddie chuckled, doing his best to secure the vents and windows, before signaling for you to climb up the sheet. He helped steady you as you climbed, and you felt your stomach lurch as you fell onto the mattress below you, accepting Dustin’s hand to help pull you up. 

“Ok, Eddie. Your turn,” Dustin motioned, waving his hand. 

Eddie began the climb just as you could hear the bats getting louder, getting closer to getting inside. You gave Dustin a look of distress, your breaths quickening. Suddenly, Eddie stopped halfway up, and your stomach dropped. 

“Eddie?” You faintly heard Dustin calling to him, but you could hear your heartbeat pounding in your ears, much louder than any other noises around you, and the fear was deafening. You grabbed onto the sheet, beginning to climb again. You intended to meet Eddie halfway.

“Eddie, I swear to god. Start climbing or I’m coming back in there and kicking your ass.”

You were joking, your usual sarcasm and wit coming through, but even you could tell it wasn’t enough to mask your fear, and by the look you saw in Eddie’s eyes, he knew it too. He was quiet, looking you dead in the eye. You could hear Dustin’s protests as Eddie slipped back down the sheet. 

“I’ll be ok,” he murmured, and then you were falling. 

He had cut the sheet, sending you sprawling to the floor. 

“No. No! Eddie! Please, please! Eddie,” you and Dustin screamed, and you scrambled to find a way back up into the Upside Down, just as you heard the door to the trailer open, and the screech of the bats move further and further away.

—

“Go.”

Dustin was on the floor, writing in pain. You were trying to roll his pants leg up so you could see the damage, but he was fighting you.

“Go!”

You furiously shook your head. “I’m not leaving you–”

“Go! Please…Eddie needs you! I’ll be fine, I swear. I’ll be careful.”

You gave him a look of reluctance, eyes brimming with tears at the thought of leaving Dustin alone, hurt, and unable to defend himself. You opened your mouth to protest, but he was unwavering, and you knew he was right. 

Eddie was going to die without you out there. 

“Fine. Stay here, and I mean it! I’ll kick your ass, Henderson. I’m serious,” you called as you raced out the trailer door, following the swarm of bats down the street. 

You ran for what seemed like miles, but it was impossible that it was that far. Still, your lungs were burning, your heart racing, and you knew catching up to Eddie might mean finding something you didn’t want to see. 

You finally made it to an opening in a field, and a swarm of bats were flying in a frenzy. Eddie was in the middle of it all, shield up and spear ready. 

But it wasn’t enough.

They were going to kill him if you didn’t help, and you raced into action. Just as one of the bats was about to land on his shoulder and stick a barb deep into his skin, you raised a hand, focusing your energy on stopping the bat. You could feel it squish through the energy as it screamed in pain, before falling limp to the ground. 

Eddie turned in shock as you brought your sleeve up to your nose, wiping away the blood. 

“What are you doing here?” Eddie asked confused, watching you use your powers in awe as he speared a bat as it flew over his head.

“Making sure you don’t die. Although, I’ll admit, it would be a metal way to go.” You brought down more bats as they swooped lower, and they too fell to the floor. “But you’re not dying on my watch. Go, Dustin needs you.”

Eddie shook his head in confusion, raising his shield to block the bats. “What? No, I’m not leaving you here to do this alone, Harrington would kill me.”

You took down dozens more bats, feeling your energy drained. You huffed and took in a deep breath of air as you made your way closer to Eddie, trying not to look tired. 

“I’m fine, I’ve got this. Please, Eddie. Dustin’s hurt, and I don’t want him alone. I can do this. Go.”

He shook his head. “Hold on–”

You raised your hand in his direction, gripping him with your powers, sending him stumbling backwards on his feet. He steadied himself, and you gave him an apologetic look, sighing. 

“I’m sorry, Eddie. Please, just go. I can do this. You’ve done enough, we just have to get everyone out of here safely now.”

He was reluctant, but he eventually nodded, spearing a few more bats, before scooping up his bike and racing off back to his trailer. You took down the bats that tried following him, but you stumbled, feeling your energy draining. 

You were growing tired as the remaining bats swarmed around you, and you could feel the blood streaming from your nose. 

You shook your head in determination, facing the bats head on. You raised both hands, gripping the bats in your hold as tight as you could, hearing them wail and scream in pain, writhing in the air. You could feel yourself draining, your vision beginning to blur. Your legs began to shake, and you struggled to hold yourself up as you tightened your hold, not letting the bats go. 

With one last burst of energy, you let out a scream, pushing all your strength into the bats, and they let out one final chorus of screeches, before falling as you watched. 

You brought your hand to your nose, wiping the blood. You gave a faint smile, before making your unsteady walk back to the trailer. You barely made it up the first step, before your vision went black, and you dropped to the ground.

—

The team had done what they could. Steve, Robin, and Nancy had managed to make it back to the trailer in time before the Upside Down had fallen apart. Eddie had helped Dustin back through, and everyone made it out alive, and relatively unharmed.

Except you. 

Eddie had heard you collapse, and lugged you into the trailer and out of the Upside Down. He got you and Dustin somewhere safe, and was praying that you were ok, and that Steve would catch up to you guys, and that he wouldn’t kill him for getting his girlfriend hurt. 

Eddie was crouched down next to you, desperately shaking you and trying to wake you up, when he felt Dustin tap him on the shoulder, and a voice called out. 

“Henderson!” Steve yelled, running to the three of you, a smile on his face, with Robin and Nancy not far behind. “Is everyone alright?”

His smile fell, and he felt the color drain from his face, and the air leave his lungs, as he stepped around Dustin to find you, unconscious and not moving, blood dried around your nose and lips. 

“No,” he murmured, falling to his knees beside you. “Shit, shit shit! What happened?”

Eddie scrambled out of the way, standing up and looking desperately between you and the rest of the group. “I don’t know, man, I just found her like that.”

Steve cupped your face in his hands, gently tapping at your cheeks. “What? What the fuck are you talking about, you were supposed to stay together, keep each other safe! Where were you?”

Eddie ran a hand through his hair, frantically shaking his head, and Dustin broke the silence. 

“Eddie took the bats on by himself. He cut the sheet, and by the time we managed to get back in, I hurt my leg, and I told them to just leave me and go. I thought Eddie was gonna get really hurt–”

“And I would have,” Eddie finished. “I was pretty much a goner until she showed up. She took them all on, made me leave. I tried to stay, but she literally held me back, she wouldn’t let me help. I came back for Dustin to see if he was alright, and by the time I thought she would be back, I heard a noise outside. She passed out. I carried her in and got her out, and then I couldn’t wake her up.”

Steve leaned his head down over your chest, before laying a hand over your sternum. “Fuck! I don’t think they’re breathing, I don’t feel or hear anything! What do we do?”

Everyone was frantic, Nancy trying to help calm Eddie, and bandage Dustin, and Robin was trying to think. 

“Wait!” Robin said, stepping closer to you. “Steve, I know you know CPR. You were captain of the swim team, and I had you in a health class junior year. I know they taught us CPR and that you’ve practiced it before.”

“Fuck,” Steve panicked, wracking his brain to remember the rhythm and counts. “Ok, ok. I’ve got it.”

His hands were trembling as he clasped them together, pressing them down hard on your chest as he counted the beats in his head. Every couple of seconds, he pinched your nose and blew breaths into your mouth, before continuing compressions. Nancy had knelt down, tilting your head back, trying to remember the important steps to use. 

Steve was crying silently now, grumbling under his breath as he erratically continued, desperately trying to wake you. “Fuck! Please!”

Your friends watched in horror as you lay still on the ground, fresh blood spilling from your nose. There was no noise but the sound of Steve’s labored breaths and pleas, choking on tears as he worked. 

“Steve…” Robin mumbled, laying a hand on his shoulder. She was crying too, now.

“No,” he said, pushing her hand away, before leaning down to breathe air into your mouth.

Robin let out a quiet sob, crouching down next to him. “Steve,” she tried once more.

“No!” He shouted, furiously wiping at his eyes. He took a deep breath, glancing over his shoulder to see all of your friends, cheeks wet and shoulders slumped, giving him a solemn look. Steve felt like he was going to be sick, looking back to your still body. He swiped a thumb under your nose, wiping away the stray blood. 

“Fuck,” he mumbled, leaning his head down to rest on your chest. He was quiet now, so quiet that his words were just meant for you now. “Please, baby. Please don’t leave me.”

Your friends watched in silence as he cried into your chest, feeling so sick that he thought he might pass out next to you, hoping that he wouldn’t wake up. The air around you was cold, a chill surrounding you all. It was eerily quiet as everyone stared in shock. 

Suddenly, breath filled you, and you choked up a cough, sucking in air. You managed your way up to rest on your elbows, turning over to your side and coughing up everything that was making your throat feel tight. You were gasping for breath, looking around wildly as you felt your vision begin to clear. You sat all the way up, feeling your chest ache and your ribs constrict. 

In your stupor, you missed your friends' shocked reactions and faces full of relief, as they let out tears of joy. They huddled together, giving you space, as Steve cautiously inched forward, trying not to scare you. 

You finally turned to face him as your eyes adjusted, and you took him in, his glistening eyes and red cheeks, and his chest rapidly rising and falling as he breathed heavily. 

“Steve?”

He couldn’t muster words, only reaching for your hand to grip it tight, pressing a kiss to your palm. You could feel his tears fall onto your hand. 

“I’m so sorry,” you muttered, reaching to touch him. It seemed like it would never be enough of him, that you could never be as close to him as you wanted, as you balled your fist in his shirt, grasping him tight. 

“Shh, baby,” he said, shaking his head. “Don’t hurt yourself. You’re ok. I promise. Just rest.”

He couldn’t find the words to comfort you, not when he only seconds ago was fearing for your life, fearing that he may have to continue on living his without you. He could barely breathe, let alone find the right things to say to you. 

You were so tired, but you registered him gathering you up and gently lifting you, with the help of Eddie. You glanced to make sure Dustin was ok, and he was being helped by Robin and Nancy. You let yourself relax and calm in the new safety you felt with Steve near again, and drifted off as he carried you. 

—

You woke up to harsh fluorescent lights overhead, in an unfamiliar room. You glanced around to see some of your friends, and Steve, all huddled in a corner in uncomfortable hospital chairs, eyes on the floor. 

You cleared your throat, getting their attention, and the girls rushed to your side. They bombarded you with questions, making sure you were ok, asking if there was anything they could do to make you comfortable. You were a little fuzzy on the whole night, and had them clarify the events.

To your disappointment, Steve didn’t get up from his chair by your bed, didn’t talk to you. He barely even looked at you, besides the occasional glances. 

You made small talk with the girls, asking about everyone else, seeing if they were ok. They wouldn’t tell you much of the specifics, not wanting to further worry you, instead distracting you with what the reporters were saying on TV.

They finally left, leaving you alone in the room with Steve. 

You slowly opened your hand, laying it down in front of him on the bed. His jaw was clenched, but he accepted it, interlacing your fingers with his, running his thumb along the back of your hand.

He looked angry.

You didn’t know what to say, or how to comfort him. What you didn’t know was that he had a million things to say to you, a million things he wanted to scream, and shout, and get into your head that you are way too important to him to be as reckless as you were the night before.

But he didn’t think he could get a word out without bursting into tears, so he remained passive, opting to hold your hand instead. It was quiet a moment longer, before you broke the silence. Your voice was scratchy. Small.

“I’m sorry.”

You watched his face flicker for a moment, his eyes full of pain. He was furious, that much was clear. But he didn’t yell. He just nodded, squeezing your hand. 

“I know.”

You reached a hand out to cup a finger under his chin, turning him to face you. He softened at your touch, eyes glistening. You gave him a look of sorrow, 

“I had to, Steve. I’m sorry I scared you, and I’m sorry I went off alone, but I’m not sorry for getting hurt. I had to, or otherwise Eddie would have died, and that would have been on me. I couldn’t sit there when I knew I could help.”

Steve scoffed, giving you an incredulous look. “You could have gotten yourself killed. Shit, you almost did. Do you have any idea what it was like?”

You looked away from him, choosing to focus on your joined hands instead. 

“That was the most scared I’ve ever been in my life. To think that the last time I saw you, I told you to leave me, and to look after someone else. I was so busy bitching over Robin being clumsy, that I didn’t even get one last look at you.” 

You clenched your jaw, your eyes brimming with tears. He was getting louder now, voice thick with emotion.

“I mean, God! Seriously, do you think I’d be able to live with myself knowing I didn’t tell you that I loved you one last time? That the last memory I’d have of your face would be cold and still, blood dripping from your fucking nose? It made me so fucking sick, and I don’t think I’ll ever survive a feeling like that again–”

He stopped, taking a shaky breath. You finally met his eyes, and fresh tears had spilled down his cheeks. Your heart shattered at the sight, you gripped his hand impossibly tighter.

“And that feeling…it’s because you put yourself in danger. You put your life on the line. I don’t think you’re getting how massively fucking ruined my life would be if I lost you last night. I don’t want to feel like that ever again. I don’t want to see you in a hospital bed, strapped to all these machines, ever again. Do you hear me?”

You fervently nodded, cradling his face in your hands. He leaned into your hand, pressing his cheek to the warmth. You wiped away the tears that had fallen, leaning your forehead against his.

“I’m so fucking sorry, Steve,” you murmured agaisnt him. “I didn’t mean to worry you. I just had to make sure everyone was ok. I couldn’t live with myself if someone else got hurt in there.”

He shook his head, and you held him still, continuing. “But I hear you. I won’t do something stupid like that again, I promise. I’ll stay as safe as I can, and as close to you as I can.”

He just tiredly nodded, relishing in your touch, finally taking free and untouched breaths. You swiped your thumb across his cheekbone. 

“I’m ok, Steve. I promise.”

He let out a pained sound, almost a whimper. The sound was like glass shards entering your heart, but you continued to reassure him. 

There was so much more you both needed to say, so much on your minds. But neither of you were up to it, and you wanted to comfort your boy, after he had spent the night taking care of you. So you just spoke softly, cooing the words, trying to ingrain them in his head.

“I’m ok. I’ll be fine. I’m sorry, baby. I love you.”

He finally caved, cautiously crawling up into the bed with you, molding himself to your frame. 

“I love you, too. You’re ok,” he nodded, trying to reassure himself more than you.

There was so much unsaid, but you left it at that, holding Steve close to you. 

—

A/N - Hi! I hope you enjoyed this, sorry it’s taken so long to get out. I have a few more Stranger Things requests, plus some Marauders requests to fill. My requests for both are still open.