#she would almost certainly be making her own clothing or wearing the same three or four things constantly

[abonnymouse]

It is essential that I simply take liberties with historical fashion and dressing for Horology, or else I will spend the next twenty thousand years combing through every beautiful detail of 1880's fashion in France, but I'm also having such a lovely time looking at the beautiful clothes??

[throneofsapphics]

throne pet

poly!Manorian x f!Reader

summary: exhibitionsim with poly!manorian

warnings: reader is a sex worker, smut, light d/s dynamics, exhibitionism

word count: 1746

a/n: I hope you all enjoy! I loved writing this one

kinktober masterlist

​​Dorian Havilliard hired you for the night. 

You’d signed what felt like countless contracts, making sure to read each fine line and detail. Most of them involved not speaking of what happened throughout the ‘event.’ 

You could be trusted for your discretion, but the same couldn’t be said for the others and, you hated to say it, but your king hadn’t always made the best choices when it came to hiring. 

If you were being cocky, you’d say he could’ve consulted you, but it was uncomely to assume the King of Adarlan knew who you were. Knew who most of his subjects were. Although he certainly tried, parading through the city speaking with different business owners. 

However, nobody stopped by the business you worked at for a casual chat. Brothels generally weren’t made for talking. Word had it, his witch would be there as well, and if what you read in those papers a few weeks ago was true, you were to be playing with both of them. There was no reason to doubt the agreement you’d signed.

Either way, your name was on the list when you made your way to the castle gates, clothed in the garments he’d sent the night before, your own cloak covering them. You could hardly wear them out on the streets, not without causing some sort of massive scene. 

A chill snaked up your spine as you crossed the threshold to the castle, exhaling slowly and trying not to look too out of place. The instructions for your arrival, tucked inside the garment you currently wore, were rather vague. 

Meet inside the gates at quarter past seven, the guards will have your name. Someone will meet you there. 

-D.H. 

Thankfully, a servant found you immediately, greeted you with a smile before ushering you off towards a side entrance. 

You were given a room to ‘ready’ yourself however needed. The woman looked rather uncomfortable saying that, and told you’d be expected at eight o’clock sharp. 

As you spun slowly, you decided it was a rather beautiful room. Better than you expected, honestly. 

The three quarters of an hour passed quickly, and the same servant came to fetch you. You passed through unfamiliar halls, trying your best not to gawk at everything, but it was all so damn beautiful. It was hardly fair how quickly the woman was walking, barely giving you a chance to glance at some of the decorations hanging from the walls. 

-

Dorian caught a glimpse of you once, passing by your place of business. He knew, then, that not only did he want you, but Manon would as well as soon as she caught a glimpse. Well, to his best judgment he figured she would. 

Tonight, he was fulfilling a fantasy of hers, with your help. 

Some old habits died hard, or not at all, and he couldn’t resist throwing a party every once in a while – after the country had time to rebuild and settle, of course. He knew rumors spread around the city of them, but not a soul dared to confront him. He almost wished they would, just so he could see the reactions on their face when he told them it was the truth. 

He leaned back in his throne, fingers tapping on the arm, where Manon perched. She’d refused one of her own, preferring to share his. He understood it, they had limited time together. Part of the reason he wanted to give her this gift. 

The doors to the throne room opened, the servant ushered you inside before closing the doors gently behind you. Gracefully, although he saw the slight tremor in your fingers, you strode up the pathway, dropping into a low curtsey before both of them. 

A throne pet, just for the night. 

His bloodthirsty ironteeth witch leaned back and assessed you with a gaze too cool for golden eyes. He could feel her forming a judgment and he’d be lying if he said a bit of nerves didn’t spike through him with it. But Dorian knew her, he knew he’d chosen right with you. 

Manon’s shallow nod gave him an unexpected sense of relief. The show could go on. 

“If nobody has explained yet,” he knew they hadn’t, but part of him wanted to throw you off balance, “you’ll be playing the role of our throne pet for the night.” 

You frowned slightly. Maybe mentally running through the papers he’d had you read and sign? 

“We don't expect you to bark, meow, or wear a tail. I thought ‘pet’ would be a more pleasant word that ‘whore’ or ‘slut,’” Dorian clarified.

The vulgarity turned your cheeks beet red, but you nodded in understanding, a familiar hunger gleaming in your eyes. Maybe those were words you didn’t quite mind. 

-

Unable to resist, you ground back against Dorian as Manon approached. Even your human nose could scent her arousal. The witch didn’t notice, her eyes fixed firmly on you. Rather, on your pussy currently on display. 

Both legs thrown up over the side of the throne, you made quite the sight. 

The party and debauchery raged on around you, but you were well aware everyone in the room had at least one eye on you. Or on the scene playing out in front of them. You couldn’t blame them, you’d probably be watching as well. 

Right now, however, you were a prettily presented package for the Witch Queen, and gods you were in some kind of heaven. 

Manon ran an iron nail down the inside of your thigh. You shivered as she drifted over sensitive areas that, with one sharp flick of her wrist, could cut you open and spill your life out. It thrilled you. She didn't draw blood, instead built sensations along your inner thighs, supplementing each light scratch - that disappeared after a few seconds - with a press of her lips. They were surprisingly soft against your skin. Delicate, even, although you’d never have the courage to say that to her face. 

By the time she crouched, not knelt, before you, you were a squirming mess atop of her lover, his hands firmly gripping your thighs to keep them spread. 

Clothing had been lost nearly an hour ago, as soon as Dorian had decided he wanted to see all of their pet on display for them.

“How do you feel, pet?” Manon purred, voice bedroom ready with a slight rasp.

You whimpered. 

Dorian tutted behind you, “I think she asked you a question.” 

“Good, good, good,” you managed to chant, the only word that made sense. “Please,” you added. 

“If I want you to beg,” she lightly thwacked your inner thigh. “I’ll let you know.” 

You bit down on your bottom lip to keep more pleas from spilling. This wasn’t even like you, you’d never begged before but right now this female and male had you willing to fall to your knees for it. They’d teased you with gentle touches all night, the barest brushes of their skins against yours, as if they were waiting for this. For you, as a desperate and wiggling mess, ready to agree to any terms for release. 

Iron nails retracted, you held your breath. 

“Breathe,” Dorian chuckled in your ear, but you heard the hint of command. Slight embarrassment flushed through you, but Manon had either noticed and ignored, or not noticed at all. You’d bet money on the first option. 

At the first contact you gasped, inhaling deeply. Her fingers spread you open as she lowered her head closer. And stopped. 

Teeth ripped into your bottom lip to keep yourself from whining pathetically. 

She licked one long stripe up the center of your core, hands still spreading you widely. It was a good thing your King had a grip on you from behind, because your body writhed outside of your control, like you’d been possessed by pleasure. 

She repeated the action, twice, thrice, before pausing again. 

“She tastes delicious,” she told the king, and rose over you. Shifting to the side and twisting your head, you watched their tongues swirl together. As he tasted you on her. 

She lowered herself again, this time sucking your clit between her lips, flicking it lightly with her tongue. Talented. Manon Blackbeak was talented. 

Fingers pushed in, curling upward, your eyes rolled back, fingers gripping the King’s forearms with a death grip, nails probably biting in and committing some kind of crime. She sucked on your clit again, harder, pushing her fingers up against your front walls, and you fell over the edge. 

It hadn’t taken long, not with how they’d built you up the entire night, probably without knowing what they were doing. 

“My turn,” Dorian murmured into your ear. “If you’re ready,” 

Were you? For him, absolutely. 

“Yes,” you breathed, and were lifted on your feet. It took him seconds to maneuver you, bending you right over the side of the throne with an urgency you hadn’t seen from the man. Hands scrabbling for purchase, you gripped the opposite arm to keep yourself steady. You had a feeling that the attempt was useless. 

Dorian gripped one hip, you twisted over you shoulder to see his other hand wrapped around a beautiful cock, felt it notch at your entrance as he guided himself inside. 

Fuck. It felt incredible, having him inside of you, filling you up. 

His hips began moving and someone else, in front of you, caught your attention, tapping a finger on your lips. 

The Witch Queen. Momentary panic flooded you. Was she not alright with this? Were you about to lose your head? 

“I want to watch your face,” she murmured, “he feels good, doesn’t he?” 

You managed a nod. He moved faster, any words you might have said left you along with the ability to speak them. 

“You look like a dream,” she said in a matter-of-fact way that made you think she didn’t really believe it, but perhaps that’s just how she spoke. 

For several minutes, the King pounded into you, his hand eventually pressed against your lower back, and you dropped your hands to rest against the seat of the throne, arching your back for him, enjoying the moan that left his lips. 

As he pulled out, spilling himself all over your back, magic quickly cleaning it up, your body went limp against the throne, incapable of movement. 

“You’ll have to hire her again,” you heard the Queen tell the King as he scooped you into his arms.

kinktober taglist: @fourthwing4ever @rowaelinsdaughter @bookishbroadwaybish @lilah-asteria @nestaismommy @erencvlt @daycourtofficial @emidpsandia @thelov3lybookworm @hannzoaks @callsigns-haze @throneofsmut

general taglist: @rowaelinsdaughter @bookishbroadwaybish @nestaismommy @erencvlt @book-obsessed124 @callsigns-haze @littlest-w01f

[clarissaweasley-10]

Dancing In The Rain

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ───

Pairings:Lyra Kane x Grayson Hawthorne

Taglist:non-existent(idk if l will post more fics,but in case l do,comment or dm me if you wanna be in the taglist<33)

Genre-romance/fluff.Nothing 18+.

A/N-This is my first ever fanfic so pls don't cancel me if it is shite.Also english is not my first language so pls pardon any mistakes..

˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.　　　　　 . ✦　　　 　˚　　　　 . ★⋆. ࿐࿔ 　　　.   　　˚　　 　　*　　 　　✦　　　.　　.　　　✦　˚ 　　　　 ˚　.˚　　　　✦　　　.　　. 　 ˚　.

Lyra looked up at the sky,raindrops falling on her skin,her clothes soaked tight to her body outlining her figure.She twirled around with her arms outstretched,her mind going back to her younger days when she would dance her heart out in the rains,all alone.Water always helped her calm down,it relaxed her mind and soothed her soul.And since the last two-three days her mind was in need of desperate relaxation thanks to annoying men in suits and-

"you are going to get sick Miss.Kane"the voice of Grayson Hawthrone rang out almost as if he was possessed by some dark magic,appearing straight from her thoughts.For some reason it annoyed Lyra to no end,why the hell does she keep thinking about this guy all the freaking time?Swallowing her irritation with herself and with him Lyra turned towards the man of the hour with her classic over-sweet smile."And since when have you been so concerned about my health,Mr.Hawthorne.And why are you without an umbrella yourself?"she asked regarding him briefly,he was wearing his usual suit but without the coat,the first button of his shirt unbuttoned,his hair looked a little tousled and not sleek like always."Well you can't play as well as you should if you are unwell and you yourself should know that.And as for the second question l am not afraid to get wet"Grayson replied,looking at her with his head cocked to one side,the rain was rapidly soaking his shirt,giving Lyra a clear view of his physique and-oh,gods.Lyra quickly,slapped herself internally she didn't have to think about Grayson Hawthorne or his stupid muscles so damn much,so instead Lyra being the absolute genius she is blurted out "so why don't you dance with me?."For a second Grayson looked like he was going to fall head first into the mud and while Lyra would have payed to see that,the horror of the situation hit her like a fast-moving train on the same instant."W-well l.. certainly don't have a background in dance as comparable to yours.But if you insist"Grayson stammered being the first to recover.He moved towards Lyra in a daze putting one hand on her waist and taking her hand in his other.He was out of his mind for sure,and neither did he have the smallest clue why he was doing this.But Grayson Hawthorne had been raised to make use of opportunities,so he should have realised that this would have come as second nature to him.Lyra blinked up at the man who was standing right in front of her.Deep brown eyes collided with sharp gray ones and without thinking she put her other hand on his shoulder.Together they moved to the beat of the rain,to the music of water hitting the ground.And while their bodies moved,their eyes remained transfixed on each others,millions of thoughts were going through both of their minds,but they were barely aware of the direction of their thoughts.Nothing mattered.Just this.Them.

Suddenly Grayson smiled,"you better hope that Gigi doesn't come or look this way." "l have my means to keep her quiet."Lyra murmured.Grayson frowned "and you are not going to tell me what your "means" are.Are you?."Lyra smiled a soft mischievous smile"nope.""Hmmm well l will find out on my own then"Grayson murmured his eyes suddenly moving to her lips,he stepped the smallest inch forward.Lyra noticed the position of his eyes and felt the sudden change in the atmosphere in every cell of her body.She stepped forward,her body brushing with his and an electric spark seemed to go off between them.Grayson brought his head low,low enough that she could feel his breath on her face.If Grayson Davenport Hawthorne looked like a sculpture of a Greek God from far then he looked like he was a Greek God from up close.Lyra parted her lips slightly and turned her face up at him,her eyes spoke all that he needed to hear and slowly Grayson took her face in his hands and lowered his lips to hers.After that everything was a blur of just pure bliss.Lyra brought her hands to his hair kissing him back,softly at first and later as if her life depended on it.It was perfect.Her hands entangled in his wet hair,their bodies completely soaked.Lyra was the first to step back,"you really are as good as you claim uh Davenport?"Grayson smirked(Xander would have had a heart attack if he saw this)"you bet"he murmured.They both were wet and dripping now.But Lyra didn't mind and surprisingly neither did Grayson.For the first time Grayson Hawthorne didn't let the Emily or the Tobias in his head stop him from doing what he wanted.And right now he just wanted to stay in the moment with the beautiful girl in his arms.And they did.

A/N:SOOOO HOW IS ITT??IK THE ENDING COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER BUT I DON'T HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS..COMMENT YOUR FEEDBACKS PLEASE

[four2andnew]

June Prompt #1: Blue for @hinnymicrofic (post-war, canon compliant. Roughly three years after the war) Read on AO3

He damn near has an existential crisis when he overhears Ron and Hermione arguing over his favorite color some weeks before his birthday - red Ron said, no, green Hermione had said. And all Harry could think is - fuck, neither.

But then, why can't he answer which is his favorite color? And that's when the almost existential crisis begins.

He supposes he understands why Ron and Hermione are confused. His entire wardrobe is outfitted in jumpers of scarlet and emerald, all lovingly knitted by Mrs. - Molly. She certainly has a penchant for dressing him in Gryffindor colors if she isn't trying to match his eyes, she claims she can never get the color just right. He hasn't bought himself clothes since he burned everything that summer after the war was over, and what he bought back then was all basic black, white, and shades of those in between. All the color he wears comes solely from Molly's knitting basket.

How does one determine their favorite color anyway? Is he supposed to just know? Maybe Ginny would know. She's intuitive like that.

He leaves Ron's cubicle, not having even interrupted their argument to review the case file in his hand. It can wait til the morning. Ginny was likely prepping dinner as it is. He practically runs out of the floo, stumbling through the lobby of their wizarding complex to the lifts, impatient as the ancient piece of machinery rumbles up to their fifth floor flat. He should have taken the stairs.

"Gin!" he calls, shucking his cloak and heavy boots at the door. "Ginny, what's my favorite color?"

Her laughter tinkles out from the kitchen, "What is this, our new security question?"

Damn, that's probably a good idea. Seeing as he can't even answer the damn question himself, it'd confuse the fuck out of imposters.

"Ron says it's red and Hermione says it's green, but…" he cuts himself off and wrinkles his nose, Ginny mirroring him as she rounds the doorframe.

"Don't be silly, it's clearly blue."

And fuck, if the floor doesn't come out from under him. Another color to consider? Although…

He realizes Ginny's prattling on about colors and he's missed about half of what she's said. He jerks back to focus on her words.

"...Mum's obsession with your eyes. And she's not wrong, of course, your eyes do look drool worthy when you wear green, but that hardly means green's your favorite. Honestly, Hermione thinks she's so observant but she doesn't see how cocky you are on days you wear your blue boxers or how giddy you get when you discover I'm wearing one of my blue knicker sets. Nor should she, mind. Knowledge of our under things is for you and me alone. And neither of them were with us when you tried to fill the buggy with every blue towel at Tesco. You always pick blue ink when you aren't filling out your department forms…What? Why are you smiling at me like that?"

He can't help the goofy grin plastered on his face listening to Ginny ramble about all the little ways she's determined his favorite color. He likes knowing she's paid such close attention to his habits, his preferences, that she knows him so well.

"Yours is yellow," he blurts, determined to show he notices all the little things about Ginny just as much as she does him. Merlin help him if he's wrong.

"You always pick the yellow wildflowers when you make those little flower crowns. Always pink and white for the one you make Victoire, but just yellow for your own. And when you're sick, you always pick the yellow blanket to curl up under, even if you have to dig out of the wash. Yellow dresses make you twirl instead of just swish the skirt."

Her grin matches his now and he knows he's nailed it. She reaches for his collar the same moment he reaches for her hip and they pull each other in for a sloppy kiss, giggly and carefree, and so in love.

[roseofithaca]

A Slip Through Worlds (Part 15)

Amy ( @idiotwithanipad 's oc) and the Silvers are faced with a new challenge.

-

Her clothes aren't right.

Or rather, she knows they're hers, they fit perfectly, but they don't make sense with what's around her. She runs her finger along the purple denim of her knee high dress. Bare knees, stripey monochrome jumper, Monster High socks tucked into second hand Mary Jane shoes, one of the buckles hanging on by a couple of threads.

All well and good until she looked at her companions. The twins. Two young girls, around her age, both wearing medieval style dresses that match the cosy but simple home around them. Not costumes, not that cheap crushed velvet tat, actually hand stitched dresses of pink and ebony, both with pink flowers in their matching short, dark hair. Except the girl on the left also had leaves in hers, like she'd been rolling in the forest outside.

"You okay, Ames?" The twin on the right asked her. "You look a bit dizzy."

She blinked. Dizzy was certainly one word to describe it.

The three of them sat on their knees around a low table, close to a roaring fireplace. Other candles and soft lamps lit the room, filling it with a warm and comfy glow, every light blurring a little against her weary vision.

"I...I don't remember where I am..." she confessed, "Or who you are..."

The twins were more familiar than the room, which she's almost certain she's never been in before.

"Hehehe, maybe your brain is bleeding!" The girl with leaves in her hair giggled.

"Sis! Shh." The other girl scalded, gently.

Amy rubbed at her head. It didn't feel sore...Just muzzy. There was something soft beside her and she looked down to see something that instantly brought her comfort. A dear old friend. She picked up the tiger teddy and hugged it close.

That was a bit better. Not much.

"I'm sure you're just tired. We've been playing for so long. I'm Silver, remember? And that's my sister...Silver."

"Hello! Hehehe."

They were the same age. Nearly identical, except for a few small differences. The one on the right seemed 'older', more down to Earth and serious, compared to her grinning sister.

Amy frowned; "You're both called Silver?"

"I'm happy to be Silvy, if it helps, hehe." Said the one on the left.

Silver smiled at her sister; "We were about to play with our dragons, weren't we, sis?"

"Uh huh. Mummy got them for us."

"Dragons?!" Amy's eyes widened. She loved dragons. Other girls her age were usually scared of the concept of them.

Silver winked and picked up a small wooden box. She tipped the contents onto the table and a collection of beautiful, variously designed and colored dragon figurines tumbled out onto the surface.

As Amy went to pick up the nearest one to her, a little electric blue beast with open wings cradling a crystal in its claws, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit...disappointed.

They were gorgeous. Probably nicer than the sort of toys you would let kids play with. But hadn't she been expecting something a little more impressive? She couldn't work out why.

"Hehehe, I'm gonna pick this one, coz she's asleep on a book." Silvy gushed as she picked up her dragon; "What color is she, sis?"

"Green and black." Silver told her while stroking the head of her own bronze wyvern.

It was then that Amy noticed Silvy's grey eyes that didn't quite focus on what she held. Blind. Not that it seemed to affect her all that much.

"M'gonna take her flying! Hehehe." Silvy stood up and began to spin around the room, holding the dragon up over her head.

"Sis, be careful. We mustn't break these, they're very special." Silver was soft in trying to guide her twin to avoid tripping over one of the toys left on the floor.

She threw Amy a look like most exasperated older siblings, not that Amy could relate. But she smiled back, feeling a stronger connection to 'Silver' than to 'Silvy'.

"Are you girls playing nice?" A sweet voice entered the room.

"Yes, Mummy." Chorused the twins.

Amy looked around to the woman who entered, a kindly round face, black hair and strong arms formed from years of farm work but now meant for wrangling children.

Something about the woman, as pretty and kind as she seemed, made Amy shudder and hug her tiger even tighter.

"Oooh, playing with the dragons are we? You are brave little wenches! Why, you'll be going off to become sheildmaidens on the 'morrow." The woman teased, making Silver chuckle.

Silvy ran up to her mother and presented her green one.

"Mine is called Annie, Mummy!" She chimed.

A blush appeared on the woman's cheeks; "T'is a lovely name, darling girl." She kissed Silvy's forehead and then fussed at some of the leaves; "Why do I bother groomin' ye, hmm. Amy, sweetheart, are you having a fun time? Are my girls treating you nice?"

She gulped. Why was she suddenly so shy? When was she ever shy?

Was it because the woman was so...Big? She seemed to tower over Amy and the twins. But then again, all the furniture in the cottage seemed too big. Glancing at the sofa, covered with blankets and pillows, she could imagine all three of them and the girl's mother curled up together and room for their doubles.

Doubles...Silly idea. She tried looking at the underside of her shoe to check the size.

"Oh, they look like they've had it, little'en. How's about you take them off and leave 'em to me to fix? Or I can make you some new ones." The woman sweetly offered, not waiting for Amy's consent before removing them; "You girls will be needing your afternoon nap soon, can't be getting all snuggly with ya shoesies on."

Silver frowned; "Mummy, we're too big for naps." She then playfully swatted her sister who was letting out a big yawn.

"Hmm, you never gets too old for naps, my love. Take it from your old mum. Besides, little Amy here looks ever so sleepy. Aren't you, Poppet?"

Poppet. Amy blinked and rubbed at her eyes, which made the glow in the room even more smudged.

"You girls can all have lovely little sleeps and when you wake up, it'll be time for dinner. I do hopes you'll join us, young Amy. We is havin' lasagna."

She grinned; "My favorite!"

"Ugh, not mine." Silvy cringed and her sister nudged her again, furrowing her brow.

"Amy is our guest, little'en, you can survive trying pasta for one night." Their mum said. "And how is your tiger there? I let him have a ride in the tumble dryer so he be all warm and cuddly for ya."

Amy nodded, hugging her plushie close again. Her first reaction to the woman seemed silly now. She was...lovely. A real mum. Not like...

There was a rumble of wheels against gravel outside.

A black car pulled up to the window.

"Who's that, Mummy?" Asked Silvy.

But Amy knew before any of them. Before even tottering over to peek out the window, she heared the slurred mumbles, the uneven footsteps exiting the car.

No. Not here. Not when she's so...small, again. Weak. Hasn't yet honed the power of the voice.

A hand slipped its way into hers.

"Is that your mummy, Ames?" Asked Silver, cautiously.

Embarrassment flooded her, especially as various swear words were uttered by the woman outside. She held her tiger tight in one arm and squeezed Silver's hand in the other.

The twins' Mum clicked her tongue.

"Daft women. We agreed you woulds stay the night." She softened her eyes as she knelt before Amy; "Want me to make her go away, Poppet? You can stay here with my girls as long as you want."

Was...was that possible? Could she? That was her mum. Loud and drunk and angry, yes, but...she had no one else. Did she? No better option except dumped into a care home.

But this? Warm cosy living room, two friends, an adult who seemed happy to take care of her...

"I...I want to stay a bit longer. Please." She told the woman.

"Thought so. You carry on playing, little'en. I'll take care of your poor excuse for a mother." She smiled and patted Amy's hair. "You girls keep playin' nice, Mummy will be back soon to tucks you in for your nap."

The woman in the blue dress turned back into the foyer of the little cottage and trudged outside. Amy was tempted to climb up to the window ledge and watch the girl's mother send her own away.

Barely, she could make out their conversation. Ruth demanding "her own fuckin' brat" and the other woman giving her a verbal lashing for not being the mum "a sweet little'en like that" deserves, before ordering her to disappear and clean herself up.

Silver tugged on her hand; "It's okay. Mummy's handling it. You're safe with us."

"Mummy always keeps us safe, hehe." Chirped Silvy, sat beside the fireplace with two dragons in her hands.

"Let's put these toys back, Silvy, and we can get all comfy under the blanket for our nap. I bet Mummy will tell us a story. Maybe one about the witch and the caveman again."

Witch and the caveman...Why did that sound familiar?

Something was wrong. Not just with her clothes but with her head. There was knowledge there that shouldn't be, stuff she shouldn't have access to. Lots of things that didn't make sense.

A crash of thunder made her jump and hug her tiger tight. Rain began to pelt the window. The storm seemed to come out of nowhere.

Their mum quickly bustled back into the house, retrieving three glasses from the sideboard and bringing them over to the little table they were playing at.

"Little'ens, Mummy just needs to do a little more work out here. You girls drink your milk to get you all nice and sleepy." She placed two glasses of white liquid before her own daughters and a yellow one before Amy; "Mango juice for you, sweetheart. None of that caffeine energy stuff while you're still little, hmm." She teased, poking her nose.

Her throat felt parched. When she took a sip, it tasted as close as she could hope to her favorite drink...without the adrenaline boost. Instead the stillness of it added to her sleepiness, as the milk also seemed to do to the other girls.

"Fresh from the cow, Mummy?" Silvy giggled.

"Always, precious." Mary wiped her blind child's mouth and winked at Silver knowingly; "Now Mummy will be back in a jiff. Be good."

She then exited back out the cottage, as another chap of thunder rang above.

"What work does your mum have to do in a storm?" Asked Amy.

Silvy shrugged, collecting the dragons off the table; "Dunno. Grown up stuff. She has to work really hard. Sometimes I wish she spent more time with us."

"Mummy works hard to keep us safe, sis." Silver reminded her, leading her twin to where the box was for the dragons. "It's dangerous outside. 'Specially now."

Amy wanted to ask what she meant. What was so dangerous? True, she can't remember ever seeing a storm in England as bad as this one. The cottage seemed secure, however. Not the slightest draught of air or drop of rainwater entered through the wooden walls.

Everything was so warm...So sleepy...Would they even need to bother with the blankets, soft as they looked? Amy rubbed at her eyes again.

Silver was back at her side, leading her to climb up on the sofa with her.

"I'm really happy you're staying with us, Ames. I missed you so much."

Did she? Amy thinks she missed this girl too, despite nothing about her making sense right now.

"Is Amy gonna be our new sister?" Asked Silvy, also scrambling up onto the cushions. Silver reached to help pull her up.

"Maybe for a little while. But she's probably gonna want to stay with her own sister and daddy, won't you Ames?"

Sister? She doesn't have a sister.

And she especially doesn't have a...Wait.

Amy's chest tightened for a moment. The tiger slipped from her hand and fell down to the floor, from what seemed like a monumental height given her current size.

Poppet. Dad.

Humphrey...

She turned to look at the two Silvers. The blind one was already tugging her blanket close to get comfy. The other was still looking at her for her answer.

Silver. Her Silver. Her best friend.

"It's the witch." She said, aloud.

Both girls blinked; "What? What witch?"

"The witch, she....Fuck!" She slapped her own forehead so hard that her hairband was knocked to the side.

Silvy gasped and giggled at the 'rude word'.

"She's in our heads. Silver...Silvers." She clarified, suddenly hating the childish pitch of her voice; "This isn't real. She's trying to trap us...Weaken us. We mustn't fall asleep."

"What are you talking about? Who's trapped us?" Silver frowned.

"Your fucking 'Mummy'! She's the witch, remember? C'mon, please try to remember!" She gripped Silver's hand in her own, both of them much smaller than they should be; "Your name is Silver Guppy and you're nineteen years old, you're not a little girl, you're a badass Wiccan who died in 2004, now snap out of it!"

"Right....Because that doesn't sound silly." She said with more sarcasm than a six year old should know how to weild.

"I know, it's nuts, but you have to believe me!" Amy stressed; "That woman is not your mum. And that's not your sister, not really."

Silvy looked up in doe-like shock.

"You come from the same universe as me but you stumbled into another one and that Silver's mum wants to keep you as her own. But you have a mum already, remember? Mary. Your Mary." Said Amy, persistent; "She's not some psycho fire poltergeist, she's just your mum. And I told her that I would do whatever it took to bring you home to her."

Bewilderment flickered in every muscle of the child beside her. And perhaps a touch of...recognition?

"I...Why would you do that?"

"Because you called for me, bitch. I wasn't gonna leave you here to rot, was I?" She laughed.

Tears sprung to her friend's eyes and she looked down at their hands clasped together.

"...Ames...Is this even real? Sh-she messed with my head so much...I can't even tell anymore..."

"No, it ain't fucking real, that's what I'm saying. I mean, the cottage isn't and we're not six, but..." She pinched the underside of Silver's wrist a little; "Feel that? That's real. I'm real! And so is Robin."

"Robin? He...He's here too." She glanced about the room. Where was he?

"Don't think boys were invited to the slumber party. That other wannabe Tarzan is probably still bothering him."

Silver's lip wobbled; "Ames...I didn't think I'd see you again."

Just this once, Amy indulged her friend in a super tight hug. Her younger body seemed to have less of an aversion to physical affection, weirdly enough.

Or maybe she was just as happy to see her mate.

A giggle behind Silver reminded them that they weren't alone.

"This is so silly! Why would Mummy trap Amy in a dream with us?" Silvy asked, having made something of a pillow fort around herself; "Why not- Bonk! - knock her out and just take both Silvers home with her?"

That...was a good point.

"Yeah....Why did she want me to come too?" Amy suddenly asked.

Memories of the moments before her blackout began to flood back. The witch, in her proper wraith form of fire and rage, had looked at Amy with pure hatred for coming between her and her daughter.

Silver slid off the sofa at the sound of the thunder increasing outside. Lightning flashing much more frequent. Rain near torrential.

And the clouds. The clouds looked more like tears in the fabric of the sky.

"She can't control it..." the small Pagan said; "The universes are crumbling. We just ripped a massive hole in them and the longer we've stayed has made it bigger. It can't repair itself like last time..."

"And Mummy's trying to fix it on her own?" Silvy gasped, as if afraid for the witch.

Amy gulped. A true mad cow.

She was prepared to risk destroying two worlds for the sake of keeping a girl who wasn't her daughter?

"How do we get to her if she's trapped us in our own heads?" Asked Amy.

Silver looked back at the door which seemed gigantic compared to her now.

"We gotta go outside." Could it be that easy?

"But it's dangerous out there! Mummy said so!" Silvy cried; "And what if Amy's mummy is still there? And Mummy took her shoes!"

That's right, she did. But that was easier to get past than the mother thing.

Amy shuddered, suddenly terrified at the thought of a half-cut Ruth Richards staggering towards her and grabbing her twig of an arm, dragging her back to their filthy, beer stinking flat.

"Did you see your mum, Ames?" Asked Silver.

Amy looked up. No...No she hadn't. She'd been too little to look through the window.

"I heard her...." Hadn't she?

Silver pursed her lips; "I think that was another trick. Something to scare us off from leaving. Same as the storm. It's partly real but...why include it in our dreams like this?"

Fucking sneaky bitch. Amy gritted her teeth and jumped off the sofa.

"Silvy. We're going outside. You don't have to come-." Silver said to her 'twin'.

The other Silver jumped off and ran to grab her fake sister's hand.

"Don't leave me out, hehehe."

Silver smiled and then turned, having to push herself up onto her tip toes to reach the handle. She grabbed it and then turned to Amy.

"Dunno about you...but I'm ready to grow the fuck up." She smirked, despite the fear glinting in her eyes about what awaited them beyond that door.

Amy gave her friend a smile.

"Let's get you home, Silv."

[idemida]

The Commander’s Darling | Chapter 5

Reposted from AO3

~ Summary:  

You are a poor young woman working in a tavern around some sketchy people and Erwin gets you out of a bad situation. He is immediately drawn to you and has to have you around, so he comes up with an excuse that he needs a secretary. Of course you say yes! After all, you need the job and shelter, and he is the only man you have felt you can trust in a long time.

You fall in love and lust for each other, but who knows who will give in first.

This is going to be more of a slow-burn, with little connection to the actual plot of the series, although it does take place in-universe. Some characters will be used for plot-points very different from the actual series.

~ Word Count: 4,948

~ Pairing: Erwin Smith x Reader 

~ Tags: slowburn; loveatfirstsight; lustatfirstsight; jealousy; pining

Erwin left you to work on your own on the new pile of documents he brought you for three days. It certainly was not the type of work that would take more than a day and you found yourself continuing to read the books that Hange gave you to keep yourself occupied. The only contact you had with him was at lunch and dinner, which made your connection with him feel a lot more casual than it should. You did notice, however, that even if he was warmer than you expected a commander to be, he definitely did not smile or laugh as much as Hange and Miche. Levi was not exactly a reference point. You wondered if he had to be that way, even with his close people, because there had to be some semblance of order and respect he could not breach. They all called him his first name rather affectionately, and they allowed themselves to make jokes, even about him, but you did not see the same joking behaviour from him. Hange and Miche would spend the lunchtimes giggling together, Levi would judge them from the sidelines with a slight huff, but you could see he had an affection for them. Meanwhile, Erwin only allowed himself to smile here and there. However, when he did smile, it was a full smile that reached his eyes, and his face flushed pink. It brought out the blue colour of his eyes, you noticed.

‘Oh, Levi, I wish you would eat with your squad more often.’ Hange said one day, at dinner, almost through tears as she laughed at something Miche had said ‘It gets tiring feeling guilty for laughing and enjoying life as I am eating my meal.’

Your mouth gaped open as you heard her and since you were sat diagonally from Erwin, he noticed and smiled.

‘Erwin,’ Levi ignored her ‘When are you going to give Y/n her clothes allowance? I’m fed up of looking at her in these ugly outfits.’ Of course, you were wearing Hange’s clothes still.

‘Levi…’ Erwin almost scolded him

‘What?’

You turned to Levi, who was next to you: ‘I like these clothes, Levi.’

‘I’m just trying to help you out.’ Levi shrugged and there was a slight smirk as his eyes darted towards Hange, who was still smiling. Sometimes with all the bickering between them you were worried they might really offend each other ‘There’s no need to pretend. Also, keep in mind you’ve been in the cafeteria quite a few times now. At this rate, people might think this is your actual style.’

‘Levi, I-’ You wondered why you were getting so worked up. After all, it was just a joke anyway. You just felt guilty he was pressuring Erwin to give you money

‘We’ll arrange something later.’ Erwin looked at you ‘I promise.’

As you were going to put your trays away, Erwin pulled you aside to talk.

‘I was wondering if from now on, as you go on your walk you could also bring me my post to the office.’ He said and you noticed his voice was taking on a more professional tone ‘I don’t think it will be heavy. It’s mostly just letters. If there are any heavy parcels, do not bring them. Actually, don’t bring me parcels at all, unless they’re so light you can carry them with one hand.’ You kept on nodding as you were taking the instructions in ‘The post is usually left with the porter and they keep the stack delivered to me in a special section. I’ve told them who you are, they should give it to you with no problem. Also, it might be useful to show you the office.’

‘Alright.’

On that day, you went to retrieve his post and you were able to carry the stack of letters just fine.

You went to his office and knocked on the door. He answered in an exhausted tone, calling you in. As you opened the door, you noticed he was surprised to see you, straightening up.

‘What is it?’

‘I brought you your post.’ You entered the room, smiling. He was surprised to see you smile. It was as if the awkwardness that invaded every conversation prior had evaporated from you. You actually seemed happy to be there.

‘Oh, yes!’ He smiled back, despite his exhausted eyes and stood up

You approached him and readied the stack in both hands. The room was quite dark, so you could not see everything very well.

‘I know I told you I’ll show you around, but this is not the best time.’ He said ‘The daytime is preferable for this.’ You nodded ‘Are there any parcels you left behind?’

‘No, sir.’ You said and immediately got flustered as you saw the negative reaction on his face ‘No, Erwin.’ You smiled in embarrassment. This was the first time you called him that. You never used his name at lunch or dinner and you tried your best to not even use it with others when he was not around. It just felt foreign in your mouth, like you would be reprimanded if you dared to, even if he allowed it.

‘Is it that difficult to stick to first names? You do it with everyone else.’ He raised his eyebrows and there was palpable disappointment in his voice. He took the stack from your hands and placed it on the desk.

‘No, Erwin, there is no instruction I cannot follow, so I’ll call you whatever you want. Promise.’

You saw the way his eyes lifted up towards you. There was shock. A pause. His hands were still frozen on the stack he placed on the desk. In reality, you hadn’t said anything shocking, but when you saw the way he inhaled, you realised what you said really affected him. Your face was hot all over. Seeing him embarrassed in your presence did something to you.

‘Should I go now?’

‘Yes, I’ll bring you new work tomorrow.’

For the next five days you did more or less the same thing. You did the easiest work possible in your room, brought Erwin his post and went on walks with Hange, with Miche joining from time to time. You and Hange had started hanging out pretty much every day, even in the mornings. You would go to each other’s rooms or her department and chat about the books she gave you. You also started walking outside on the square in front of the Scouts’ headquarters. The square was often crowded with people, so you had to be careful not to bump into somebody and worsen your injury. Erwin still hadn’t shown you around the office, but he did show you your own. He did not require you to stay there yet, since you might still feel discomfort in your chest.

On the sixth day, you had finally managed to wash your own skirt and top to wear, so this was the first time since you moved here that you wore your own outfit. You could not lie, you looked much better in this than in Hange’s clothes. You actually felt attractive, while wearing it and it showed in the way you met people’s gazes, the way you smiled and your gait.

You delivered the post Erwin received for the day, this time holding the letters in one hand and a small parcel in the other. No heavier than you could carry in one hand, as agreed. As you walked into his office, the way you held the parcel and the swivel of your hips caused him to reminisce about the night you first met at the tavern.

‘Thank you.’ He said ‘Please go and ask Hange to give you the report she promised for today. She’ll know what I mean.’

He watched you walk away, feeling guilty for having his gaze linger.

Then he decided to turn his attention to the pile of letters you left. As he was going through it, he found one that was not addressed to anyone. It was a folded piece of paper, wrapped in all four directions by a tied black thread that formed a cross. It was strange, so it made him open it first.

He assumed it was for him, but as he opened it, he saw it was addressed to you. Then his eyes darted to the bottom and he saw it was from Jan.

He could not deny that it was wrong, but he was too curious, so he started reading, his sense of guilt getting stronger as he was reading each line.

‘Dear Y/n,

I am deeply hurt by the way you abandoned me and threw everything we had away as if it was nothing. I did not know I was so easily replaceable. 

I saved you from hunger, homelessness and your grief when your parents died, but you left me without saying a word.

I’m sure you’re lying to Smith the same way now. I cannot believe how easily you can fake your feelings to get what you want. I was such a fool. I thought the love in your eyes was genuine. I thought your gratitude was genuine, but now you must look at him the same way. I loved you and you lied to me. 

All of those words, all of those nights meant nothing to you.

I certainly hope you will never need me, because I will not be a fool again.

Jan’

Erwin realised the hand that held the letter was shaking. He knew he had no right to read it. He had no time to think, so he focused on getting it back the way it was - folded and tied by the thread. He put it back in the pile and tried to control himself. It was not clear to him why he was shaking, he wasn’t even sure what he felt. Of course, it irritated him to know there was something between you two, but then he really started to think. For the letter to reach him, Jan must have said it was for him, and it was not addressed for a reason. Jan wanted him to read it. It was all an intentional attempt to sully you in his eyes. Now most things in the letter sounded suspicious. If he was so great, you would not have left him, if he was so great, he would have protected you against Ritch. Well, didn’t he? He tried to fight him off. But he didn’t want to help you get treated. He didn’t care about the way Ritch treated you.

Erwin was really doubting himself now. Should he address the letter to you to avoid you thinking he read it? No, because his handwriting would be different. Should he untie the string? He would have to have opened it to realise it was for you, so he might as well. A few minutes after he untied it, he heard your footsteps approaching.

‘Y/n, there is a letter left for you here. I’m sorry, it wasn’t addressed to anyone and I assumed it was for me. I opened it, but I did not read it.’

You were incredibly confused, but also did not exactly believe him.

‘Who’s it from?’ You asked, trying to not seem irritated by the situation

He simply passed it to you. You tucked the report Hange gave you under your armpit and started reading. As your eyes moved down the page, reading the tone of indignation you decided to check who it was from at the bottom. Embarrassment hit your face, your cheeks felt so warm and your hands felt weak.

‘You really did not read it?’ You said quietly and he shook his head

‘I swear, I did not.‘

You continued reading down the page to yourself, and you could not believe Jan had decided to embarrass you like this. Of course, most of the letter was a lie. You did not tell him you love him, kiss him or spend any nights with him. You most certainly did not look at Erwin the way you looked at Jan.

‘It’s all a lie, just so you know. If you did read it, I want you to know it’s a lie.’

‘I believe you.’

‘Jan sent this. He must have stalked me and seen me walking around. I assume he is jealous and wanted to sabotage me. But I swear, there isn’t anything true here.’

‘Well, you did abandon him without saying a word.’

‘And you think I am a bad person?’

‘No, not at all.’ His face appeared warm, but he was avoiding smiling ‘I am just saying, perhaps he was really in love with you and his feelings were hurt. Now he’s lashing out. Don’t worry, it won’t affect your position here. But we should be more careful about you going out on your own because he might be violent.’

You did not want this situation to lead to anyone exercising more control over you. You did not know Erwin perfectly well, so you did not feel comfortable with him making decisions about your life. For example, if he wanted you to be accompanied everywhere with the pretext of keeping you safe, you would run away immediately.

‘He is not violent.’ You said folding the letter angrily ‘But he is petty. He also likes to gossip. He might tell the others where I am.’

‘Well, I would recommend you don’t go out much on your own in the next few weeks. Especially because the expedition is coming up, and if I am not here to protect you…’

‘Right…’ You said, almost cynically

‘Y/n. I really do think this is serious. I mean he is serious enough to show you he knows where you live.’

You ignored what he was saying and put the report down on his desk.

‘Can I go?’

‘Yes.’

Once again, he watched you walk away and noticed, the anger added something to your walk that made it even more attractive.

A few days passed with more of the same. Hange had come for your regular morning meet-up, just as you were getting ready to go to Erwin. He had told you to arrive at a specific hour for the first time that day and you were in a rush. Your eyes lit up when you realised she had brought you tea. You couldn’t even remember the last time you had tea, especially with a friend.

‘I love you so much for this, but it seems like this morning Erwin actually wants me to show up at eight o’clock and I cannot afford to be late on the first day when I have an hour set.’ You said as you went back to getting ready.

‘Y/n, as much as I wish this was a completely selfless gesture,’ she put the teacup on the cupboard next to the door ‘I am doing this because I want something from you.’

You turned back, surprised.

‘I need one of the books I gave you. That copy is very special to me and I hadn’t realised I gave it to you.’

‘Oh, of course!’ You looked down at your skirt, dusting it off. You wore your own skirt, but one of her shirts ‘Which book is it?’ You looked at the clock and you had five minutes to go ‘You know what, you go through them since you would know. I have put one of the books in the outside pocket of my coat back here.’ You showed her the back of the door ‘I am heading out.’

Meanwhile, Erwin could tell there was a change within you. You kept your demeanour polite, but he could tell your eyes did not show the same warmth towards him.

He was starting to feel stuck. He wanted to spend time with you, away from everybody else. Something more special, but also not special enough to confirm any potential suspicions he was attracted to you. He wanted to win your trust again, maybe even your attraction towards him. As you were in his office way before lunch, he thought it was the perfect opportunity.

‘There’s a bakery nearby, that sells nice breakfast and lunch options. If you want to join me and see what they have, you can come. I might ask you to pick something up from there at some point, so it would be good for you to know where it is.’ That is the reason why he called you in so early. He assumed you would be hungry.

You smiled and nodded.

‘But I need to get my coat.’ You didn’t need it only to shield against the cold. You decided that since Jan might be lurking around, it would be useful to have the gun as some semblance of protection, or something to threaten him with.

The walk out of the building was slightly awkward, because it was difficult sticking to small talk topics when both of you wanted to delve deeper. It was also difficult for you to understand what was appropriate to ask. What you didn’t know was that he was struggling with the same thoughts about you.

You walked with him through the square, on the way to the bakery. The weather was colder than you expected, so you unfolded the collar of your coat and raised it up to keep your chest and neck warm. He thought he should probably offer you something of his to warm you up, but he knew people would talk and even that might be inappropriate. He turned to look at you, as you were snuggling in your coat, not realising how adorable you looked.

‘Y/n!’ You heard a familiar voice shout your name from Erwin’s direction. You turned towards it and saw that Erwin was already looking at you. His head then also turned in the voice’s direction.

It was Jan. He was walking towards you with a briskness that could only point to anger. He stopped a few steps away and you noticed Erwin stepped closer to him, as if to get in between.

‘What are you doing here?’ Jan asked you, his eyebrows furrowed

‘What are you doing here?’ You asked back

‘No, you don’t get to ask me that. I thought he had kidnapped you, or killed you.’

Erwin turned towards you when he heard that, but you could not read his face.

‘No, I’m fine.’

‘And why did you not come back?’ Jan asked and as you were about to answer he interrupted you ‘I’m hurt. I thought we had something special.’

‘I was also hurt. When I was underpaid, overworked and unprotected.’ You crossed your arms ‘And what was it that was special between us?’

‘We were practically engaged. What are you talking about? You wore my mother’s ring!’ He stepped forward and you stepped back ‘Everybody in the neighbourhood knew that you were wearing it.’

You stood there silent for a moment, arms still crossed. Erwin was looking at Jan, and you could not see his face.

‘Jan, are you-’ You were going to ask him if he was mad, but because you actually feared that he was, you decided against it ‘Are you being serious? You never proposed! I was using the ring to pretend I am married to a made-up man. How could anyone think we were engaged?’

‘What about our kiss, though?’ Jan asked, full of indignation

Erwin did not turn to look at you.

‘You kissed me. I rejected you and then you pretended you thought I was someone else. You were drunk out of your mind and I was sober. I think I remember better than you do.’

Erwin turned slowly to you and once again you could not read his face.

‘What are you doing here?’ He asked again and you were getting more confused. He could see the confusion, so he added ‘Do you live with him? Do you work with him? What are you doing here?’

You held the collar of your coat closer to your chest, as if to protect yourself from your own anxiety. You didn’t want to admit you worked for Erwin because that would also reveal where you live and even if you just worked here, he would know where you spend the majority of your days.

‘I came here to give back some money I asked him to borrow. On the night I was shot I needed money, and he obliged. I promised I would give it back and I did.’

‘Why is he out with you now?’

‘To walk her out.’ Erwin interjected

‘Why not just let her find her way out?’

Erwin suddenly walked closer to you and you noticed he wanted to say something to you more quietly. You moved closer to him as well.

‘Did you have a contract with Jan?’ Erwin asked and you shook your head ‘Everything was informal?’

‘Yes.’ You said and he saw the desperation in your eyes

‘Listen,’ Erwin turned to Jan ‘Neither of us owe you an explanation. She decided she doesn’t want to work for you anymore. That’s it. Just get over it.’

Jan then reached for something inside his coat pocket and you already knew what it was. Of course, he pulled out his other gun, only enough for you three to see it, but not enough to stir panic on the square. Erwin took a step back pushing you behind him.

‘You do owe me my other gun with the bullets, though. You took it, with no intention to return it. That’s called stealing. And you know how expensive those things are.’ He pulled the safety back ‘You will have to show me your new place because I assume that’s where it is.’ Jan almost looked satisfied with himself

Erwin did not know what to say now. All of this was new to him and he was starting to think of ways he could help you if it was really true. He would surely have to find you another place to live now that you were discovered

‘You owe it to me. It’s mine.’ Jan insisted sternly

‘How will you get it?’ You asked ‘Kill me? Kill him? How will you get away? Can you imagine killing the Commander of the Survey Corps and having Levi Ackermann come after you? I would love to see that.’

‘What did you use the money for? The one you had to pay back?’ Jan asked, and you could not believe his mind was still thinking about that

‘For accommodation.’

‘If you’re not working for him, where did you get the money to pay him the money back? It’s only been like two weeks.’

‘Where do you think?’

‘Did you sell yourself? Jan asked and Erwin turned towards him as if in shock

‘I sold the gun, idiot.’ You said and Erwin turned to you, eyes so wide it would have made you laugh if you did not think you were going to die any moment

Everybody stood still, with Erwin turning towards Jan again, so he could keep an eye on his actions. He stood firmly in front of you. Jan pulled the gun all the way out at that point, but let his arm relax, with the gun pointing towards the ground. He seemed to be debating something in his mind and you saw his mouth quiver.

‘I don’t believe you.’ He said, looking up, a madness in his eyes ‘I don’t believe you know the places where these things can be bought or sold. I don’t think you have the bravery to go into one of these places and walk out unarmed. I did everything for you and look at how you lie to me, straight to my face, with no guilt in your eyes.’

You looked down at his feet and saw them inching anxiously towards you. You took another step back, pulling Erwin with you by the waist.

‘And for what?’ His voice began shaking ‘For a guy like that? You’re planning to rely on him now? Everybody knows the Scouts drop like flies. You will eventually have to crawl back to me and beg me-’ He was gesturing with the gun in his anger ‘You think you know what’s best for you, but you don’t.’

‘If you love me so much, why are you getting ready to shoot me?’ You asked and you were not expecting to sound so emotional. The fear was really getting to you and it seemed like nobody on the square had realised what was happening. There was no panic, no scurrying away from the people around you. ‘I’ll give you back the money. I swear. I can’t give you anything else.’

As you were looking into his eyes, pleading, awaiting his decision, a hand came from behind him and grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the gun. He swiftly turned around to pull his wrist away, and a member of the military police revealed himself. Jan was then tackled from the side by another, and a third joined in to get him incapacitated. They almost wrestled him to the ground, careful not to set the weapon off, and eventually one of them managed to pluck it out of his hand. They all seemed quite young and well-built, certainly an improvement from the ones you were used to seeing in your area.

‘Not only is this plain assault,’ The one with the gun began speaking ‘But I want to see your certificate for the weapon. I assume you have none.’

As the adrenaline in your body alleviated, you almost collapsed to the ground. Your grip on Erwin tightened and he finally felt it was safe to turn back towards you. He saw the tears in your eyes and how you weak you looked, so he held you by your waist and shoulder. Jan was on his knees now, looking up at the officers in angered defeat.

‘I don’t have it on me.’

‘Tell us your address and we’ll search for it while you’re in jail.’ The officer with the gun laughed

‘Fine. I don’t have one, but she doesn’t either and I know my other gun is with her. She admitted it plainly in front of us both.’ He nodded towards Erwin who did not react, still looking at you ‘She was my employee and she ran away with the gun to spite me.’

The officer turned towards you and you could feel your knees buckle under the weight of the new wave of anxiety. He was definitely going to search you and find the weapon now. You will have to suffer the consequences for what you did.

‘Keep him in place.’ The armed officer turned to his colleagues who were keeping Jan low on the ground. He put the gun somewhere in his own inner pocket ‘Miss, I hope you won’t resist the search. We just have to make sure.’

You nodded in defeat. You wanted to attack Jan for managing to be such a successful nuisance that he completely ruined your life. You weren’t sure what the consequences of such an offence were, but you knew your life will immediately be turning around for the worse. He asked Erwin to step aside and he complied.

As the officer came next to you, he seemed almost apologetic about it. He patted you down, then he went through your coat pockets where the gun was. You looked down in shame, not ready to face Erwin’s judgment. The officer took a step back.

‘Must be a tiny gun, I can’t find it.’ He chuckled at Jan

You looked up at the officer. You kept your face as neutral as you could, but to Erwin and Jan the shock in your eyes was visible. The way your eyes darted from left to right. Your eyebrows twitched ever so slightly in surprise. It was obvious something was bubbling up inside you. You had to resist the urge to smile. Either you truly were the luckiest woman on earth, or the military police were the most incompetent people in existence.

‘You realise it’s probably in her house, right?’ Jan spat back

‘Miss, would you co-operate by leading us to your address, so we can search it?’

You began nodding as if by command, but you certainly did not want to co-operate. If it was not in your pocket, then you must have forgotten it in your room and you were not as lucky as you thought.

‘No.’ Erwin interjected ‘You can’t. You can’t search her house without a warrant.’

‘Commander,’ The officer turned his whole body to face him ‘We might not have a warrant, but we do have reasonable cause to believe she might have it.’

‘That’s the thing. You don’t.’ Erwin continued, his voice steady ‘She has shown no signs that she could have anything on her or that she is dangerous. I know the rules. I appreciate you want to be thorough, but you can’t disregard procedure. If you do, I will speak to Nile Dok personally to report this issue.’

The young officer stood silent, then he looked back at Jan and back at you. He asked the others to handcuff him and take him away and then he agreed to end this by taking your information. You co-operated with that, admitting where you lived and worked. You also asked him to keep this a secret from Jan and he agreed. As he walked away, you looked at the ground, not having the bravery to look Erwin in the eye.

‘Let’s go inside.’ He said 'I want to understand what is going on.'

[bearzisvibin]

Summary: Grian, an 17 year old boy, had a secret: he preferred men over women. Except.. it wasn't really a secret anymore and he was now homeless.

Luckily, his best friend and slightly sketchy person Mumbo Jumbo was there to give him a job with one of his many connections.

-

Born from a rich family, soon to be 18 Etho Labs was being prepared to take over his family's business and fortune from his long dead parents when he got struck with a disease.

He had gotten too tired to even get out of bed, but when his friend and business ally Mumbo asked to help a friend in need he really started to look out for the company.

(probably will post this on AO3 later, this is a Gritho/Grian x Etho fic too btw sooo....)

TW: Slurs, internalized homophobia, sick person ig, sexual discrimination.

old timey setting i think? But not historically accurate.

Chapter 1

•Grian had nowhere to go, his parents threw him out of their house and honestly? He deserved it. He deserved it because he was a faggy bitch, because sometimes he liked to wear skirts and look pretty in makeup when that was a girl's thing, because he chose to love men and because he was weak.

But now it wasn't time to cry, if he wanted to survive out here he had to make a decision, and he had to make it quickly.

He walked through the streets in shame, pretty sure he would get a cold best case scenario, and frostbite in the worst case because of the winter slowly but surely approaching.

He wished he was wearing more than the thin jumper and simple black pants at the moment.

---

It was already night when he got to his friend's porch. Mumbo might judge him, maybe even hate him, but he also knew every type of people and places and certainly would find a place for him.

He knocked once, after a few seconds twice and then once again. Mumbo taught him this since day one, so he would know it wasn't some authority begging for information on his more sketchy friends.

The man slowly opened the door. I took a few seconds for him to realize 'oh, it's just Grian', but he hurried to open the door fully as soon as he noticed, akwardly inviting him to enter his house.

"... I'll always wonder how someone like you could be a sketchy person, you're just so awkward and gentle."

Mumbo giggled slightly at that, then they talked and talked about everything and nothing. It was nice.

It was after more than an hour when the situation he was in got brought up by the other.

"....And it was amazing!! She danced soo well you should've seen it!! I recommended her to a party for a friend's child, such a adorable kid too!! So respectful! Well, but enough of me."

His face fell at those words, putting what Grian called his 'business face' on. The thing is: he never used it at him.

"What are you doing here Grian? I could help you, but it depends on the job."

It took all in Grian's body to not flinch, instead he put on his best smile of amusement.

"What do you mean Mumbo?"

Mumbo leaned back on his chair, crossing his arms.

"You've been... Jumpy since you got here, the first thing you said was about me being sketchy, you're not wearing weather appropriate clothing and i know how sensitive you are to the cold."

He eyed the younger man up and down, and Grian realized he was reading his body language.

"You look stiff too, your face is ever so slightly faltering and you've been undeniably quieter."

Grian couldn't hold it anymore, he gave up on maintaining his stoic face and almost immediately tears fell down his face.

"I- I'm not sure if you'll be okay with what i've been doing but... I got thrown out of my house because i'm... Because i sinned and loved the wrong way. I wanted men the same way i should want women and i sinned by doing so!"

Instead of anger, disgust or even just apathy, he saw worry in the other's eyes. Mumbo was three years older than Grian and lived on his own, but Grian was younger and inexperienced in anything life related.

"Oh Grian, i- why would i resent you for that? You can stay here for now if you want? I can buy you a house and pay for it until you get a proper jo-"

Grian turned his offer down immediately.

"No!! Gosh no, i can't take advantage of you like that! I just want a job, one who pays enough for me to live, i don't care what... Type."

Mumbo frowned.

"I'm not gonna get you a job as a prostitute, you're too young. And i'm also not going to put you in any dangerous or extra sketchy situation. And I definitely won't make you work for someone who doesn't accept who you are."

He seemed deep in thought.

"This seems to shorten the list quite a bit... But i probably can get a job for you."

Grian waited and waited, he seemed to be thinking for quite a bit, before getting to a conclusion.

"There's this boy who's really sick, he's from a rich family who pays people very well and he's also quite not convencional, you know, like you Grian."

Grian froze, before panicking.

"Wha? What?? So he's like, a fag or something? I'm trying to get away from these bad thoughts please don't push me to do the wrong thing i-"

Mumbo shushed him, looking sorry, with pity even.

"Oh Grian, don't be like that. Etho is trans, was born a girl and now is a boy. He isn't wrong for that, because those are his feelings and his truth and he can't change that, nnd neither can you. You haven't sinned, you've discovered yourself, go along with it."

Grian heard Mumbo's advice, his friend aways knew what to say and Grian felt a bit better.

---

Grian was getting tired, Mumbo talked a lot at once and as much as he loved to listen he did have a very rough day.

He tried to fight back a yawn, ultimately losing.

"Oh you must be tired! I'll get a room ready for you, you'll stay here at my house while i try to get you that job."

---

Grian was fine, he could pretend it was just a sleepover at his old friend's house! He could pretend he just chose to get a job and live a new life! He could!!

But he didn't really want to.

His first day at Mumbo's house was filled with soft, silent crying.

----

Grian had beem to his house for almost a week when Mumbo announced that he got the job.

"Etho's very quiet and a lot of people left the job because he wasn't a friendly person, but he does like the company even if he doesn't show it."

The taller took a sip from his tea, telling him the basics of the job. It was clear that he and 'Etho' were friends for a long time.

"He's really sick, but he'll survive, probably. He doesn't have the energy to do certain activities and you should do them for him if he asks you to."

Mumbo got up, getting ready to leave for "work", what work? Grian chose not to know.

"I'll be out for a while bud, ask the maid if you need anything! She's very good at whatever job she does, you'll go like with the labs family tomorrow."

Grian simply nodded as Stress walked in the kitchen, she was nice company and he helped her with house chores sometimes, when being alone felt too bad to hold in.

---

Stress was guiding him to a train station, her and Mumbo having small talk together.

He spent enough time with the girl to know a lot of things: she was married to a inventor named Iskall, she loved flowers and pink, and she was absolutely the strongest person he knew.

She was nice and preferred to be heard than to be seen, she talked a lot just like Mumbo and they got along really well.

And now he wouldn't see her as much, which was a pity, but he would stop bothering Mumbo and get a job.

He knew less about 'Etho' than he knew about stress.

He was 17 just like Grian, he was rich and he was quiet, he was extremely sick and he was a tranny. Grian couldn't work with that much information! What if he fucked up? If he did something the other might not like? He would be damned for sure!

Well now it didn't matter because he was at the train station, the train arriving in less than twenty minutes and a Mumbo getting emotional.

"Aagh, you! I can't believe you're leaving! You're like my little brother and look at you now! All grown up and on your own! Will you be alright? I can aways go get you and you can come back to living in my house, we could spend our time playing board games together if you-"

Stress giggled a bit while agressively elbowing the taller.

"Oh don't worry your little head Mumbo! The sunflower will be fine. Sunflowers are known to aways find the sun anyways."

Grian felt his cheeks warm up, everything about this was so nice, bittersweet, but oh so nice.

Then, his train arrived.

"Oh!! This is the one. I'll- I'll miss you guys, ok? I'll try to keep in touch!!"

He then ran off, the train was relatively empty and quiet.

It was fine, he was going to be fine, this was his life and he was going to play by his own rules.

---

It took almost three hours for him to get to his destination, a small city with simple people, the only house that wasn't 'humble' was a mansion at the top of a hill, isolated from the rest.

Probably his workplace.

He stepped out of the train, shielding his eyes from the soft sun and enjoying the cool air of the end of fall.

Soon this will all be covered in snow.

He hummed happily at the thought, he liked winter when he wasn't freezing to death on his way to his friend's house.

In his joyful appreciation, he barely heard steps coming at him, and only opened his eyes when they stopped right by his side.

A well built ginger with a resting bitch face and pale skin, a long haired man wearing bright greens and blues and other colors around in his jewelry, a soft smile and a beard, a tall man with a apron and an even bigger beard right behind the two.

In front of the group was a small(but still taller than Grian, he noticed bitterly) boy, his skin was pale and his hair was white, he looked like he hadn't rested in a long time and he was wearing a mask.

He was cute.

"Oh! You must be Etho labs right? It's a pleasure to meet you. The name's Grian."

Etho seemed to be taken by surprise by this and Grian couldn't stop thinking he messed up.

"Oh, you seem quite surprised. I didn't say something wrong did I? I'm sorry if i did."

He bowed slightly at the other in apology.

"Oh no! Etho just isn't used to people talking directly to him. People tend to assume, because he's sick and young, he can't talk for himself."

Grian frowned slightly at the long haired man.

"Well, that sounds like bullshit."

The white haired boy laughed, but quickly got back to his blank face, this time with what he could see of his face red of embarrassment.

Grian smiled amused.

"Well, i suppose we should go. Lead the way please"

---

The walk was nice, they walked until they got into a park.

There was a carriage right next to a white rose bush, without thinking he plucked one of the flowers out and carefully took it's thorns out before getting in the carriage.

Then, with almost no thought, he put the rose behind the other's ear.

"This one matches you, take care of it."

The rest of the ride was uneventful, except for the small answers to the small questions he asked and one conversation they had together.

"Oh, i've never seen a lake this big."

"It's the ocean."

"It is?"

"Yes."

"Well, i've never seen the ocean too! I think it is pretty."

"Really? It's just so normal.... Just water, you know."

"It isn't 'just so normal", it's poetic!"

The talk ended with a little hum from the other.

Sometimes, the older ones would talk between themselves. The ginger was called 'Cleo', the long haired was called 'Joe' and the one with the apron seemed to be nicknamed 'Beef'.

Cleo seemed to be happy to get Etho a friend, the tall man Beef didn't want Grian to be here and Joe seemed to be the peace between the two, telling them that Grian will stay if Etho wants him to stay.

"He's Mumbo's ally! You know how dangerous that man can be."

Beef argued, Cleo shook her head.

"Etho is Mumbo's ally, and he's not dangerous is he? Plus that's a kid and we should offer help to a kid!"

"Oh great so now i'm a charity case. Just great!"

He said, making sure to look at the group. The three of them looked at the dirty blonde at the same time, Etho snickered and looked at him.

He smiled at the other,

---

It was clear he wasn't winning this Beef guy's trust, but he didn't need to.

Because Etho liked to spend time with him and he was honestly quite cool! He had books upon books on martial arts ("when i get better i will be the best fighter! Everyone will fear me and adore me, you'll see."), he loved gardening("nothing exists without those plants, caring for them is respecting my own existence.") And had knowledge in almost every field("i grew up an only child in a rich family, i didn't have a substitute, of course i know a lot.")

He wouldn't consider himself talkative, but around Etho even normal conversation seemed like too much talking.

The other didn't mind, answering questions when he was asked and even leaning on touch when Grian accidentally touched his shoulder or dragged him by his hand to explore the absolutely gigantic house.

How could anyone not want to spend time with him? Sure, he was almost aways silent and had a sassy personality but he was such a cool dude!

---

They were in the room reading when Cleo came in with two people he did not recognise.

Both seemed barely older then them, 4 years max, and they were dressed in fancy clothing.

One of them had brown hair and Scars all over his body and the other had black hair and glasses.

Grian didn't know what to think of this.

"Etho, mr Scar and Mr fan decided they needed to speak with you immediately."

The other took his eyes away from his book, he didn't know what Etho thought about those two either.

"Scar and Cub, founders of Concorp. Fancy seeing you, i'm glad for your visit. What may you need?"

He got up from his bed and bowed respectfully, Grian noticed admiration on his words.

The dirty blonde decided that he liked those two.

"Oh! That's a great question! Me and Cub are getting married, and i wanted to invite you to our wedding! Your family has been a sponsor since the start too so maybe you could do a speech about it."

Grian paused at this. Those two men are getting married.

He didn't think this was even possible! But then again, those people were probably loaded and could pay for everyone to shut up.

He imagined himself marrying another man. He was sure to wear a pretty dress to it, sue him if that makes him less of a man. He was already thinking about marrying a man, he wasn't going to stop himself by thinking about dresses.

He tried to imagine someone perfect for him, someone rich because he probably wouldn't be allowed to marry anyone otherwise, a person with strong ideals and personality, who is open to touch and is willing to hear and understand him, he also wanted the person to not be afraid to tell him what he thinks.

It certainly felt quite perfect for Grian.

He was taken away from his thoughts by a touch on his shoulder.

"Oh- uh... You weren't paying attention."

Etho was right in front of him, hunched over his armchair. Grian nodded once, Etho hurried to give him space and Grian bowed apologetic.

"I'm sorry, i got lost in thought. What were you saying again?"

Etho smiled (still with that damn mask, tho he could see he was smiling by his eyes) and explained the conversation.

Apparently, Etho was going to a very important wedding from those two loaded men who he was a childhood friend of. They created their own business and now had even more status than before so it was a very important meeting to make his family more popular or something like that.

But Etho was sick and it was kind of obvious that he couldn't go on his own, and since Grian "was getting paid to help him through his sickness", he "was assigned to take care of Etho during the wedding."

Cleo's words.

He nodded, and the brown haired man, Scar, clapped his hands together.

"Great! See you at the Wedding then!!"

...

Did he forget to say that he absolutely despised social gatherings?

[morethanaloveinterest]

A Delighted Look at the Costumes in Mulan (1998)

Let's talk about all of Mulan's costumes in the 1998 Disney movie and how they reflect the story.

This is what Mulan is wearing the first time we see her - presumably, they are her pajamas. The light color is youthful and makes for a good introduction to a character who is going to grow up through the events of the film.

Female Representation: 10/10 Nightwear is often an excuse to sexualize women, but fortunately that doesn't happen here (it is Disney, after all).

Practicality: 10/10 It looks very comfortable for sleeping! Basically what I wear, to be honest.

Here we see her in her full bride outfit. Since her getting dressed is part of a montage, I really like seeing the effort that went into designing all of the layers. I also like that her sleeves are too long, a problem the other ladies do not seem to have (indicating how she does not fit in here).

Female Representation: 10/10 I'm mainly comparing this to Jasmine or Pocahontas, honestly, and this is much better. This makes for a great costume for little girls and is not sexualized at all (despite Asian women often being sexualized in western filmmaking).

Practicality: 8/10 Obviously the intention is to look ornamental more than do anything practical. And, as I mentioned, her sleeves are a problem even as the scene progresses. So it's gorgeous but not the most practical overall.

This is her armor - well, her father's armor, presumably. I can't speak to the historical accuracy or whatever, but I think it's nice that she and the three main soldiers we meet have different colors to their outfits so we can keep track of them easily. I like that it has a similar design to her bride outfit without the same silhouette.

Female Representation: 10/10 To quote an iconic tweet, "it's armor. it's on a woman. It doesn't have to look feminine." So yeah it's great, definitely not an excuse to gaze at her, you know?

Practicality: 10/10 It looks like great armor, certainly of equal quality to everyone else's.

Here is what Mulan is wearing during training - it seems to be what she wears under her armor, but it's not clear. The color also changes a bit when we see her, with it sometimes looking almost white or even dark gray (she could have more than one, of course). Again the style is similar to her more feminine attire, but with more masculine touches.

Female Representation: 10/10 As with above, it could certainly be that a lady wearing man's clothes is male-gaze-y. It's not here, which is great.

Practicality: 10/10 This seems to be very practical for training and she wears it during a lot of the climax, which makes sense. It's lightweight compared to her armor but also allows for horseback riding and things.

Finally, she wears this costume when impersonating a concubine to infiltrate the palace. It looks a great deal like her bride outfit, but with some obvious changes to make it fancier (such as the belt or the shoulders). More importantly, it reads as a bit more masculine than her bride costume, which matches how she's found balance between the two in her own life.

Female Representation: 10/10 Given that this is something a concubine is apparently wearing, it's really fantastic. Not sexualized at all!

Practicality: 9/10 The sleeves are less of a problem and she does all kinds of running around in it. I assume the previous outfit she wore while training would be better, but only barely.

Mulan video out now!

For more of my thoughts about female characters, find me on Youtube 

[lurkerwithcomputer]

Inevitable

Even in an AU, some things don’t change.

Her shoes scuff on the damp, sandy concrete, and she almost slips. Eto half-wakes in her baby carrier, giving a disgruntled sniffle. She takes a deep breath, steadying her stride. Dust motes drift, luminous, in the dim light of cheap bare bulbs.

Kuzen keeps himself closer to her as they turn a blind corner. She can see the tension in his shoulders, the way his eyes sweep over dark doorways and mark out the maintenance hatches occasionally bolted into the wall. A damp smell builds, one that isn't just water dripping from the corroded, wheezing pipes overhead.

They turn again and she stifles a gasp.

The wooden beams holding up the shantytown are bolted to the steel girders of one of Tokyo's flood cisterns, the lowest floor barely above a faded paint line reading "maximum water level". The grating rattles as they walk, and when they reach the plank floor, her steps echo in the cavernous space. Pumps or ventilation fans drone in the distance, creating a white noise background that leaves her hearing strangely fuzzy.

Kuzen knocks at a door made of the same planks as the floor and walls, once, then three times, once again, and twice.

Footsteps tap from the other side. After a moment, the door is pulled open by a man in a long, dark coat. He takes them in, looking her in the eyes. His own are dark, set in a lean, bony face, pale from lack of sunlight. Those eyes are very like Kuzen's - long-suffering, wary eyes, with fine lines that make him look older than he probably is.

He shuts the door, firmly, and turns to them.

She moistens her suddenly dry mouth with her tongue, tasting damp and dust on the air, but Kuzen speaks first.

"Noroi, old friend."

Eto wakes again, at his voice. Her baby gives a hissing gurgle, grabbing at the front of her clothes, right over her chest. At least she knows where food comes from, she muses.

"Good to see you, Kuzen." He certainly sounds closer to Kuzen's age than he looks.

Eto reaches up and tugs at the edges of her hood, making grumpy whimpers than haven't quite become crying. Noroi glances back to her.

"I'm not the type to be shocked by bare breasts. Feed your child," he says, his tone softer than his words.

"Ah, I haven't introduced myself," she says, glancing up from unzipping the hoodie she's wearing as a top, "Ukina."

"Pleased to finally meet you," Noroi muses, hard-bitten face lightening a little, "and who is this little one?"

"Eto."

"A beautiful name," he says, softly, gently, almost a whisper.

His voice is tuned for ghoul hearing, she realizes. She winces as Eto latches on to her breast with definitely more strength than a human baby would have. She almost misses the smile Noroi and Kuzen share.

Their faces fall again as they lock eyes for a moment.

"To talk shop, Noroi, they are almost at our heels. If something happens to us and you have to raise Eto, then ransack our apartment. There's plenty of hidden valuables, and you know as well as I do that you'll need it to support a child."

"Consider it done, if it becomes necessary," Noroi says, grimly, and a cold certainty settles in her chest.

There's no "if" with V. Just "when". Noroi looks to share her thought, for the lines under his eyes are pulled tighter now.

"And," she adds in, a sudden fierce heat filling her chest, "if you find V there to do the same thing, roll some heads, for us. Just make sure you come home to Eto."

Kuzen turns to her, surprise stretched over his face.

"I'll make sure your keepsakes stay out of their hands."

Kuzen takes a deep, firm breath. She just knows he's lowering his heart rate after what she said, but she can't bring herself to feel bad. Her husband is starting to sweat, and he shifts his wait.

"I apologize, Noroi,but--"

"No, it's probably wise you get on your way. Wouldn't do to be followed," he pauses, reaching into his coat, "Here, For the road," he says.

He presses a brown paper bag into Kuzen's hand, and a battered box of strawberry pocky into hers. He holds out a pair of water bottles.

They're surrounded. She's glad she doesn't have Eto with her anymore, even as hot rage rises like bile in her chest and throat. A man lunges, drawing a fucking sword, who carries an uchigatana in this day and age? Even for a Yakuza that would be pretentious.

She almost throws herself sideways, body feeling like it moves without the input of her thoughts - she doesn't think she's ever moved this fast in her life. He stumbles past her, and behind her she hears Kuzen snarl and a wet thwack and crack of bone, and a scream that cuts off.

Cold sweat contrasts the burning feeling pounding in her temples.

Someone else reaches out to grab her - she has nothing but a packet of runny, discount wasabi sauce from the last fast food place they went - but maybe...

She twists away and tears the plastic with her teeth, the burn on her lips only adding to the heat in her chest. He makes another grab at her. She squeezes it into his face, and he screeches, backing up a step and clutching his eyes. She whips one legs upward, slamming the toe of her studded, sturdy boots between his legs.

He makes gasping, gagging noises as he crumples. She kicks him again, in the knee, and he crumples. She plants the low heel of her boot on his throat, her weight crushing down until she feels something give out.

Ten months ago, she thinks she would've been sick over crunching a man's voicebox and probably killing him. A full-term pregnancy while eating raw human flesh has given her a stronger stomach.

She suppresses a flinch at the bump against her back.

It's Kuzen.

He presses a rough, leathery handle into her grasp. She's put on muscle while he taught her to dodge and hold a knife, sure, but the tanto blade is still heavy compared to her - useless against people who might be ghouls - pocketknife.

But. It's quinque alloy.

A man with a balaclava under his fedora - she'll laugh at him if she survives this - lunges at her, also holding a sword. Kuzen hisses and one kagune wing flicks away from whoever he's fighting, parrying. She ducks under balaclava guy's arms and jams the dagger against his inner thigh as hard as she can.

She scrambles away from his last-ditch attempt to grab her by the neck, pulling the blade free as she does. Blood gushes out, turning his pants an even darker shade of black. He staggers, staring, goggle-eyed, even as his knees wobble.

She looks around, back to back with Kuzen, time momentarily frozen for her. The moment is broken by the sound of even more shoes, and the arrival of more sword-carrying men in black, behind the ones surrounding them.

She grits her teeth and Kuzen rolls his shoulders, kagune puffing up with fresh spikes.

She's panting, blood trickling down her shoulder, her leg and the side of her face. Kuzen is likewise bleeding, although his wounds are already healing. A dozen men in black suits, black trenchcoats and equally black fedoras lie dead in this alley.

More advance, seemingly without end. Someone slides around Kuzen's spitting fury, and there's a gasp that is not entirely pain.

"Enough."

There's a certain air of grim authority in this voice. Someone who stands unquestioned and unquestionable, becuase none who do otherwise live to tell.

"Kaiko," Kuzen hisses.

The guy who steps up to fight her slips away from her stab like black-clad smoke. Her vison whirls, dizzying, and a grip more solid than any handcuffs closes on her wrists. She can now see Kuzen and the sunken-cheeked, pale man holding a sword to Kuzen's neck. Apparently these new guys aren't chumps, she realizes, considering how she's been expertly spun around, disarmed, her arms behind her back, two other guys keeping one foot each on the toes of her boots so she can't kick.

"Kuzen. Ukina. You have two choices," comes Kaiko's deep, hollow voice, "we can torture you until you tell us where it is, and then make sure nobody will ever find your bodies."

"It"? I want to spit in this Kaiko guy's eyes, but he's not close enough.

Their captor's gaze fixes on Kuzen.

"Or," he says, smiling now, "You can kill your spy girlfriend, swear to never raise a hand against us again, and never have the support of the power that upholds this world again."

Her and Kuzen lock eyes, across that alley. A strange calm washes over her. We both know one of us has to survive. Guess we know who, now.

"One last chance to just tell us where it is," Kaiko adds, smile now pulling the corners of his mouth as though his face is made of melted wax.

"No," comes from both of them at once, and then she breaks the look she and Kuzen were sharing. She takes a deep breath.

"Make it quick," she says, words she's dreaded - yet always expected to say, and because she can't resist absurdity in the face of death, "Oh and if you let my body go to waste, I'll haunt you to your dying day," she adds.

She tilts her head back, exposing her throat. She hears the shift of boots on asphalt, the wet rustle and click of Kuzen's kagune shifting from feather shards to hardened blade. A whip-like snap and a red-hot sting against her nec

[zealouscanonindeer]

6. Window of...opportunity

Series Masterlist

Sherlock Holmes:

While Emily busied herself with unpacking (I was amazed at the volume of clothing that that woman unfurled from her luggage, like a stage magician producing yards of cloth from the hat of an unsuspecting bystander), I took it upon myself to explore the study. I had seen almost immediately the impracticality of both of us sharing that single bedroom, as it was indeed cozy – perfect for a married couple but quite unsuited for my purposes in this case.

The study was half again the size of the adjoining bedroom, with three of its walls lined with shelves bearing dusty tomes of varying degrees of interest, most of them literature or philosophy. Against the wall beneath the window was a writing-desk and chair. The one wall bare of books was instead dominated by another fireplace; the ashes and half-cremated logs still within and the presence of the connecting door between the study and the bedroom suggested that the original owner of the bedroom was a great lover of reading and frequently spent many long hours ensconced within.

In the middle of the room and directly in front of the fireplace was a well-used sofa, its cushions beginning to sag from many years' worth of sitting. Nearer to the fireplace was a wing-backed chair, with its accompanying footrest, both newer than the sofa but beginning to show signs of wear. The chair and footrest were positioned so that the devoted reader could warm his feet before the fire on cold evenings, such as this one was likely going to be.

As I was not unaccustomed to spending long nights sitting in my own study, I decided that this study would suffice as a post from which I could keep watch over the bedroom and my volunteer tonight. To make sure I had covered every detail in my initial examination, I checked the window and its thumb-latch. Both were in good condition, and neither the latch nor the sash showed any signs of tool-marks or tampering or any kind, nor were there scuff-marks on the sill where anyone might have stepped on it to gain entry. Adding to the puzzle was a row of prickly hedges immediately below the window, which would certainly have presented some difficult to any cat-burglar who did not have great ingenuity

I made sure the window was locked and returned to the bedroom, where Emily was halfway through hanging up a number of dresses in the wardrobe. I conceded silently that perhaps my earlier judgment of her luggage was a bit premature, as I saw only the expected number of full outfits that society decreed that a well-dressed woman required for the day – the morning dress, the day dress, and the dinner dress – multiplied by two days. The difficulty, of course, had been in the sheer volume of fabric, plus whatever arcane devices were required to accompany or augment the feminine wardrobe.

The details were, so I believed, none of my concern.

I opened the curtains (which I remembered being closed before) and examined the bedroom window, which was guarded by the continuation of the same prickly hedges. It, too, showed no signs of forced entry.

Presently Emily joined me, peering outside, almost as if she were looking for someone.

"Do you see him outside?" Emily asked making her way back to the wardrobe.

I turned to face her. "Do I see whom outside?" I asked, and then started looking for anyone amiss out the window.

"I guess it's the gardener, Mr Fairfax. I saw him earlier when we visited the backyard, and he seemed to show an inordinate interest in me."

I paused in my search and glanced over my shoulder at her. "Inordinate how?"

She looked more than a bit disgusted. "He was staring at me, but it was like… well, it wasn't the sort of look a gentleman offers to a lady, married or not. It made my skin crawl. I don't know how the Hammonds haven't seen anything like it before."

"Was he outside just now, while I was in the study?" I asked.

"I saw him going out to the hothouse a few minutes ago, but he was looking around like he didn't want anyone to see him. I shut the curtains in case he tried to peek in."

"Well, keep your wits about you," I advised her, "He may bear watching, but just remember that people can be ill-mannered without meaning any harm."

"All right, but I'm keeping the curtains shut from now on, if it's all the same to you." She sighed and returned to her unpacking (of which she appeared to have only her unmentionables remaining), while I obliged her wishes and shut the curtains. "Did you find anything interesting in the study?"

"The bad news is that I've found no signs of past forced entry – no tool-marks or suspicious scratches or scuff-marks – by either this window or the one in the study, so we can safely eliminate those routes of entry if we make certain to lock both of them tonight."

"Do you have any good news, then?"

"I did find a place from which to keep watch tonight. The chair before the fireplace seems well-suited for a comfortable vigil."

She managed a faint smile. "Just don't go falling asleep while you're on watch."

"I won't," I reassured her, "You have my word upon that."

[cordeliaeavan]

@rosalinedavis

Cordelia was gratified by Rosaline conceding her point. It was no small victory, even if they hadn’t been properly arguing. Still, she didn’t like the way her sister was talking about herself. The youngest Davis almost seemed to be lacking in some of the fire that Cordelia had always so admired in her, although that wasn’t necessarily surprising, given the circumstances. “I can’t say I’ve ever known you to be a victim, my dear. It just wasn’t a situation you’d had any experience with. That’s not a bad thing.” Cordelia’s face clouded, and for a moment she was back on the cobblestones outside Morribunds, her hands slick with Ines’ blood. She shook her head and surreptitiously wiped her hands on her healer’s robes.

Cordelia rolled her eyes and sighed. “You are not wrong. I think most men get these sort of foolish mistakes out of their system while they’re still boys, but Ajax was always a bit distractible.” Of course, most people were distractible compared to Cordelia and the single-minded focus she applied to everything, but she was confident the point still stood. “And Aurelia Rookwood is certainly distracting.” Cordelia didn’t mean it as a compliment, and she didn’t say it as one. It was nice for her to be able to speak her mind about the woman, if only to Rosaline. It helped Cordelia keep her true thoughts to herself in front of Ajax, and keep her family together.

The change in Rosaline’s demeanor and voice didn’t escape Cordelia’s notice. She’d been distracted for the past three years and maybe even longer. Ines’ death had broken something in her, but only because cracks were already there; it had taken a while for her to put the pieces back together. Now it felt like she’d woken from a bad dream to a world she didn’t recognize. Ajax with his horrible girlfriend had been her biggest concern but Rosaline’s face made Cordelia wonder if her attention had been misplaced. “I do know what that world is like.” Cordelia ran her fingers through her hair, then fixed her gaze back on her sister. “But I also know you, and you’re the strongest of all of us.” Even if it was something she’d never said out loud before, it was something Cordelia believed and her words rang true, at least to her own ears.

With Rosaline’s agreement, Cordelia sprang from her chair with the same businesslike purpose that brought to most tasks. A simple spell set the hangers that Mrs. Davis had brought to hovering above the spare bed in Rosaline’s otherwise empty room and Cordelia eyed them critically, gauging which would be the most comfortable and afford the best access to the healers. Her mother had clearly been more concerned with which pieces would look the best both on Rosaline and in a hospital bed. As she considered, Cordelia continued her conversation with her sister. “Of course I do. You know I don’t do empty flattery.” Of course Cordelia had, in the past, been quite adept at empty flattery, but it was one of the many things she’d gladly left behind in her old life.

Finally, Cordelia settled on a sleeveless top, a sweater with sleeves that could easily be rolled up and was loose enough to quickly take off, and the only pair of pants their mother had seen fit to pack. “That should do. And you have plenty left over to pick out something appropriate to wear when they release you.” Cordelia hung the remaining clothes off the rod for the curtain that could be pulled around the bed for privacy, taking care to make sure that they wouldn’t interfere with the purpose it was actually intended for. “Do you want help with all of it, or just the sweater? Remember, I helped wrangle you for bath time when you were little so there’s no need for false modesty.”

Trust Cordelia to take her self-deprecating nature so seriously. She knew that she was a bright witch, she always had been, even when it wasn't necessarily the 'cool' thing to be at school. Rosaline wasn't brilliant by any means, but when she put her mind to it, her professors always noticed. But being friends with Narcissa Black and fitting into that group meant not being too bright. The whole thing had been rather exhausting. She had hated it at school, and it was a cruel irony that she was in that position again, dating Harrison. He liked her to be bright when it was convenient to him, but then there were times when she had to...be less bright, otherwise, she might outshine someone. "No, I guess I'm not," she agreed, looking at her sister. "Just when it comes to danger I guess. You could say that I'm a bit of a cliche, the damsel in distress and all of that."

Was it mean, their ongoing jokes at Aurelia's expense? Sure. But Rosaline had never pretended to be nice. She had learned the art of being two-faced among some of the best, and she was very good at it. She had to be in order to survive the Hogwarts years. She had made a promise to herself at the time that when she was out of school she would let it go. She had never thought that she would be in this position, but here she was. Rosaline laughed. "True. I love our brother dearly but he truly has the worst taste in women. It's a shame, really. If I thought that I could fix it I would, but what's the point?"

Somehow Cordelia managed to cut into her without even realizing what she had said. She didn't care about her chart, or what the doctors thought about the state of her wound. What she cared about, had to care about was the damned scarring that was going to come with it. Cordelia could say that she was a strong woman but Rosaline knew the truth. No strong woman would put up with what she did. She was merely Harrison's pretty face, there to play a very specific role in his life, and she allowed it. She could have walked away from him, but she couldn't dream of it. As much as she hated it, she needed him. "You don't know that, Cordie," Rosaline finally murmured, her voice small, and she hated it. "You know how things are for women like us in our position. Ha--" she stopped herself. Somehow opening up about her relationship with Harrison to Cordelia seemed impossible. She cleared her throat. "Mother is rather displeased about the scar already. I'm certain she is going to look into French healers to see if there's something that can be done."

Perhaps for other sisters, it would be normal to have a vulnerable, messy, conversation. But not for the Davis sisters. Rosaline loved her sister as complicated as things were, but to talk to her about Harrison? She nearly shuddered. "You really think that I'm the prettiest one here?" Rosaline teased, feeling more comfortable returning to that kind of conversation. "If you think that I can change out of this horrid hospital gown, you don't need to tell me twice. Mother left the things she brought me over there. I...would appreciate the help."

[dunefeather]

Here is your fic, enjoy !

Unexpected Union

Paul Atreides x F!Reader

Content : enemy to lover, mutual pining, mention of sexual content, hurt/comfort, angst, fluff.

~4000 words

"You sound exceptionally happy to welcome this family again." Jessica comments.

Confused, the young Atreides looks up at his mother standing next to him. He doesn't understand this edge in her voice as he adjusts his sleeves.

"I thought you would appreciate my involvement in this incoming ceremony Mother."

"I wasn't scolding you Paul." She precises as she straightens his collar. "I only noticed that you seem almost impatient. You should take more care of your appearance. Their daughter will be magnificent and as you have certainly observed, she is going to judge you on every detail."

His heart skips a beat as he maintains the eye contact with her, trying to act like the future Duke he is. Dignity and honor.

"Mother, she is nothing close to intimidating to me." He says with a calm voice. "I know she is going to be magnificent as always but who wouldn't be for such an event ?"

"Be careful around her." She warns him with a serious gaze. "She won't be present to compliment you and to be nice. She is there to find a future husband amongst our guests, and we are not the ones they want to see. Do not - do not under any excuse - reply to them with disrespect of any kind. Your father counts on you."

"I won't, I promise you Mother and you know it perfectly." He replies with a nod.

Lady Jessica sighs at his words, uncertainty clouding her gaze heavily. The way you always end up confronting her son in one way or another is not a good political sign for the next few decades.

A few hours later, Paul takes a deep breath as the ship lands on the Caladan ground. The heavy black metallic structure sharply shaped like a warship keeps its threatening presence known for everybody knowing who is in there. The first people coming off of it are your soldiers following your parents. For a few seconds Paul frowns, trying to find you. You were what he was expecting impatiently today, where is your silhouette wearing the characteristic orange and black dress with the white and thin ribbon tying your hair ? That is the traditional outfit for a future Duchess on your planet, and it always suited you perfectly, and here you are nowhere to be seen and...

He can only blink as you emerge from the ship's belly. A different dress, same colors yet longer, the tail similar to the one of a princess or of a future wife at her own wedding with its fabrics carried by three servants. Your sleeves thinner but hanging gracefully under your clasped hands. One of your legs is revealed by every two steps thanks to a large cut up to your thigh. Since when are your parents willing to make you steal the show ? They made it clear numerous times : you are above everyone else but not above them. And isn't it considered as too revealing by your father ? He commented several times about how depraved the other future Duchesses, Countesses and Baronesses look like to his eyes. Your confident yet slow pace, your elegant face and this both noble and bored expression...

"Close your mouth." Jessica mutters by his right. "Don't get distracted."

Paul does as requested without looking at his father that turns around to watch him. No distraction allowed here. He has to remain perfect under any circumstances. At least he doesn't feel inferior due to his clothing. The Atreides uniform may be more humble but is still worn with pride. Your family loves to parade with its wealth obvious to any eyes of any culture.

"My Lord, My Lady, House Atreides is honored to welcome you on Caladan once again." Leto's voice booms.

Paul tries to follow the usual words exchanged on those fake enthusiastic voices. He does try as hard as he can but sometimes his eyes slide to the back of this procession to that other pair of pupils looking away just before he does the same. He didn't notice that you had two ribbons instead of one. Another glance at you and he sees a bit of your thigh as the coastal wind dances with the fabrics. This glance becomes a stare as you move your leg, revealing slightly more. Then he notices your raised eyebrow and disdainful side glance directed to him. He looks away once more, swallowing hard and misses the melancholy on your face.

"Paul." His mother warns him through her gritted teeth.

He understands the message and manages to keep a low profile most of the time. After bracing himself the whole day about your provocations against him and his family, he feels almost disappointed that you haven't came to him yet with your passive agressive comments. Today you look and sound quite polite and reserved around his House. Sadly you changed your dress and he can only hope he is going to remember the sensuality of your bare leg. He's never seen so much skin of a woman before despite being a grown up. You are certainly going to find a husband soon amongst the guests, you got all the attention on you, either bad or good. And during the supper when everyone is busy with generic conversations and alcohol...

"Good evening my Lord."

"Good evening my Lady."

Those simple words sets him on high alert despite the polite gaze you send him as well as your humble demeanor. His mother's words ring in his head. He puts his glass back onto the table in front of him, standing up to half bow courteously.

"I am sorry for not talking to you sooner today, I am sure you understand how it feels to have to follow parents' advices."

"I do." He nods with a smile. "May I help you with something ?"

"Not really, I only wanted to talk a little. Please do not take it personally but most of the guests are what I would qualify as boring." You say in all honesty. "At least I know we are going to end up in some minor argument to spice my night up."

Your genuine smile and words twist something in him, enough to allow this slight boost of his ego. You never acted this way and receiving such kind words from the most beautiful woman in here isn't a bad surprise.

"I am already amazed to see how humble you are tonight." He taunts you. "I thought this was a quality only found in House Atreides, not in yours."

"Do I need how much all those cristal glasses, all those bottles and journeys cost ? Your father does not seem keen to receive his guests in more moderate settings."

"Indeed or you wouldn't come here."

"I still would." You admit. "It wouldn't be as pleasant but it would still be my duty. However would my parents come ? I can only be skeptical."

To hide his confusion Paul gestures you to sit at an empty chair before getting back onto his own. Before he can stop himself his defensive mode makes its return. There is this traditional hatred and jealousy boiling in his belly, it's stronger than him. All those times your family tried to manipulate his, and the ones since your childhood where you would mistreat him.

"Now this is the biggest surprise. I guess you deserve your House's reputation of being a lair of liars. You wouldn't come."

"It's about politics, not about my parents." You protest with a hint of displeasure on your face. "Can we talk about your parents' comments on the way we treat water on my planet ?"

"This was fully justified. It's not with a sewage system old by three centuries that you are going to erase health problems." He says.

"Oh yes of course." You start as you tense up on your chair. "Because you are an expert in..."

"My Lady ?" Jessica asks politely as she walks up next to you. "Is everything alright or is my son already getting on your nerves ?"

Paul looks away not to cross his mother's disapproving glare more than necessary, only to see his father observing the scene from across the room, eyes narrowed and a glass in his hand. They are able to watch everything happening despite all the noise around them. And him just fell into that senseless ego conflict with a girl he finds attractive both intellectually and physically.

He blinks as he looks closer to his glass. Did he drink too much already ? What kind of wine is that ?

"Paul, I'm talking to you." His mother's voice wakes hip up from his distraction. "What is wrong with you tonight ?"

With a quick glance around him he notices that you walked away, discussing with some middle-aged diplomat sending you heavy winks and laughing loudly for obviously no valid reason.

"Uh... I don't know. I'm sorry Mother." He mumbles ashamed. "It's stronger than me."

"Be careful." She warns him as she gets closer. "Your actions can have severe consequences. She is going to be a Duchess or Baroness. You are going to see her for a big part of your life. And not as an ally."

"I know." He says firmly. "I know that, you spend your time repeating it."

Jessica frowns as his father joins them, his stern gaze set on his son who looks down.

"Father, Mother, I'm sorry." He says in sheer displeasure at his forced submission.

"We'll talk about this later." The Duke replies with a pat on his shoulder. "Please control yourself. You know everyone in those events keep an eye on everything. Including her parents and their friends."

"Yes Father."

They nod before walking away. They barely reach a group of ambassadors that Paul's gaze falls on yours and this shy and maybe sorry smile you are sending him. Heat spreads in his core as he notices the subtle gesture you make, moving your hips just the right way for him to see your curves. He looks up, feeling all too lost for his liking. It wouldn't have done the same effect to him if you had been acting as insufferably and artificially as all the previous times he would see you, but seeing you as natural and upfront does things to him. And as the idiot he is, he walks up to you once you got rid off the annoying ambassador.

"Why are you flirting in such a dishonoring way ?" Paul asks with his heart beating strongly.

"I beg your pardon my Lord ?" You ask in pure displeasure. "You are the one that started to watch me in an inappropriate way. You did the same when I arrived."

"You moved your dress so everyone could watch your leg." He argues as he controls his voice. "Stop accusing le of such inappropriate behavior. Tonight my eyes might have slided where they shouldn't have but I haven't done anything wrong."

"Never talk about dishonor when you are the one following me like a deer during rutting season."

Just like that you walk away with your chin up. Fortunately no one seems to have heard the nature of this humiliating discussion, but he feels his parents' disapproving gazes on him. Is he acting like that ?

His new goal is to avoid you so he wanders on the balcony for a while, discussing with a few important people whose he barely remembers the existence. It's his father that can memorize everything, not him. Once alone at night time, he looks at the landscape as melancholy grips his heart. He feels lonely in life, more than ever.

"I beg your pardon my Lord, may I join you ?"

"You may." He says as his features harden in anticipation without leaving the coastal view. "I hope you are going to argue with as much finesse as during your previous visits. You sound different tonight."

"Please listen to me."

The young Atreides turns to you, taken aback by your own sadness. He never saw you like this. You're not crying but tearing up, your hands rubbing anxiously against each other. One of your two ribbons is getting folded and unfolded between your fingers.

"My Lady ?" He inquires with a knot in his stomach. "What happened ? Did this man annoy you ?"

"Uh ? No... No no this has nothing to do with him." You answer as you rest your hands on the stoned fence. "I needed some fresh air. That is all. And I saw you there so... I wanted to excuse myself. I shouldn't accuse you of anything. You didn't act inappropriately. I was even glad you were paying attention to me this way. So yes I was sorry my Lord. I hope you can accept my excuses."

Not being quite sure of how to react, he remains silent and stares at your profile for a while. For him you are the embodiment of the opposition to his bloodline for the sake of it. You got raised in this spirit so you act in such a way, always blaming society and other Houses if something doesn't go your way. But he is forced to admit that today you have nothing to do with the you from the past. It's a bit uncanny.

"Is this one of your plans ?" He asks with narrowed eyes.

"My Lord." You sigh before facing him. "There is no plan. I'm dropping my mask with you because I'm tired of all this nonsense. I'm sick of playing the arrogant bitch deserving much more than a bunch of stray dogs hungry for power." You look away towards Caladan for a few seconds. "As fun as it is to provoke you and your family I realized that your comments all have a part of truth in them. My parents should take care more of their people, the same way your father Duke Leto does."

It would be lacking of consideration from him to ask you to pinch him. You. You, admitting your mistakes to him, Paul Atreides.

"I accept your excuse." He replies awkwardly. "I am glad we are having this discussion. It has been much needed."

"I want to make that stupid animosity a part of the past. It should be engraved on our walls as a testimony of how ego leads to such mutual abuse from different people, people that don't even blend together other than their leaders during meetings." You start with your eyes locked on his. "Your father tried once and waited for our answer and we responded with disrespect as we let the weakest ones dying on our streets."

"I... I heard echoes about it yes." He mutters with goosebumps. "I'm sorry for this catastrophic winter. But we could have done more to help you."

"No. The Spice price was exploding at that time of the year, you couldn't have sent enough spaceships even if my father authorized you to do so." You say sourly.

Paul does his best not to feel enthusiastic. He refuses to make it misinterpreted as a joy of you admitting your family's failures. No, it's about his own denial of this affection rooting in him as his chest starts to rise and fall deeper and deeper.

"Are you the only one of your family accepting the eventuality of a... a period of peace between our Houses ?"

"Not exactly. My parents won't admit it but they are tired of it as well, it would be much more beneficial to trade with Caladan rather than avoiding it at all costs. I desire to go even further."

He swallows hard at the hand resting gently on top of his, shielding it from the breeze.

"My Lady ?" He asks as his heart starts to bump too hard for him to make a full sentence.

"This may be too much and as a matter of fact impossible for anyone to believe it, but I do think that we could achieve it with such an alliance." You say in a soft voice he loves. "We could do great things together. I am fascinated by the way House Atreides found such balance and I know how powerful our own is. You are about my age, you are more cultured than I want to admit and I find you extremely attractive. To me you are the man I should marry, and even if it wasn't a matter of heart it would be a matter of reason."

"Are you... are you actually thinking of it ?" He asks as he stares at your linked fingers, your thumb starting to massage his palm sweaty despite the coldness in the air. "Would you leave your..." He stops as you get closer, the most wonderful gaze he could dream hypnotizing him. "...your family behind for this... you should ask them permission it's..."

"I know what my wish is my Lord." You say as he lowers his head a little. "My wish is to listen to myself for once. It's not the first time I want to do such a thing, and today is the day I feel ready for this leap of faith."

He stresses all too much before feeling your lips on his. It's a strange sensation between the way his heart hammers his chest, the wonderful heat he feels at his first kiss and his embarrassment as he doesn't know what to do. Awkwardly, he responds to it with shy movements of his lips, his eyes opening in shock as he discovers how much it feels to get his lower lip bitten so gently. Same for your hands on his cheeks and throat.

"You can take me in your arms my Lord." You whisper in the middle of a chuckle. "Don't be afraid of being passionate. I know you are a passionate man and I love this side of you."

"I never... I never did this." He admits.

He feels ashamed as surprise appears on your face. A raw one almost slipping into a confused laugh.

"What ? You never kissed anyone ? You ?"

"Never. No."

"I'm sorry if you... If you wanted to make it... special. You know, for a marriage, a fiancee, if you have someone else in your life unofficially..." you stutter as you rub your forehead nervously as if some sweat was there.

"I'm single. And it felt special."

This time he takes the reigns, trying his best to improve his kiss as he feels how awkward he must make me be. Soon you take the lead again as he dares to grab your hips. You impose a slow rhythm, letting him the occasion to mirror you. He grins as you lower his hand to touch you inappropriately behind, his mind completely drunk with happiness, adrenaline and pride. Especially when you increase the pace of your exchange your hands grabbing his chest. You want more, he wants more... finally, finally he can feel more like anyone else, feel more experienced in something he couldn't control and with a woman he loves.

"If you want..." He whispers as you look around for any potential intruder, "follow me I know a place... a quiet one."

You follow him and thirty minutes later the two of you are back right before the room where the party is situated. He feels like a different man with a new kind of self confidence. More distracted than ever as he looks for you all the time but other than that he feels great. Knowing how experienced you were and willing to share it with him without making fun of his performance, and even showing him how to do things appropriately ? It was priceless. He wants to hold you close, make you his officially right now by resting his arm around your skilled hips as unprofessional it may appear for a future Duke and a future Duchess. If this is how being in love feels like, no wonder how his parents have remained together for so many years and have formed the most admirable couple of this galaxy to his eyes.

"My son ?" His mother whispers with a storm emerging in her eyes as she comes out.

"Yes ? What is it ?" He asks as normally as he can.

"I have been looking for you and the other Lady for ages, you are needed with the..." she stops as she examines something on his throat, her hand uncovering it as her eyes widen. "Paul what..."

He closes his eyes and represses some huge urge to laugh nervously as you appear behind him and greets his mother politely, unaware of what she just discovered on his throat.

"My Lady." She snarls as you freeze between two steps. "Please come here."

"I can explain everything Lady Jessica." You say abruptly as you come closer, half bowing to her in the process. "We just talked and I want to marry him."

"I beg your pardon ?" She asks flabbergasted. "Is... Is that your parents' decision ? They haven't talked about it at all tonight."

"This is my... well... our decision. At least the choice we would make spontaneously." You say as you regain confidence. "We talked about our problems and how we could end what I consider to be one of the most absurd predicament in our galaxy. Our Houses should collaborate, not remain at the verge of war for a question of personal ego."

"Paul ?" Jessica blurts out as she turns to him. "Paul is that true ?"

"It is true, Mother." He confirms with a nod. "We are willing to end this endless quarrel. And if this has to take effect with a marriage - a sincere one - then it will be done."

The doors open and the Duke of Caladan appears, stiffening at the sight of his concubine too shocked to say anything, of you and his son on a defensive stance.

"What is going on here and..." He starts only to get interrupted by his son.

"I decided to marry her."

This time his father is the one left silent by confusion, his eyes traveling between the three of you.

"Have you talked about this to your parents my Lady ?" He asks to you.

"No. No I haven't." You admit uncomfortable. "But they are willing to improve their relationship with your House. So I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to seal this major change."

"Do you even love our son ?" He questions you cautiously. "Or is it for you just some kind of political agreement."

"I love him." You reply confidently.

"I love her." Paul mirrors.

Jessica sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose then rests rubs her hands.

"Leto, they already consumed their union."

Annoyance is an understatement to describe what emotion appears on his face so you step back and keep your head low. Paul steps closer to you, hiding you partially from his father"s eyesight. He knows that vein popping on his forehead and isn't willing to make you see what an angry Leto Atreides looks like.

"My Lady." He sighs with his eyes closed and a stiffened stance. "Is there by any chance a possibility for you to have gotten pregnant with my son ?"

Your sweaty palm presses Paul's hand, building that courage you are cruelly missing.

"I can't tell you before a few days from now on sir."

"I am going to talk with your parents. But you are going to have to come with me. I am going to protect you in case they go too far with you."

You bow completely, mute as Paul watches your dress unceremoniously touching the floor as you kneel then bow, your forehead touching the cold ground in sign of thankfulness. The young Atreides kneels before you to rub your back, suspecting tears to run down your face as he notices the small jolts of your back. Soon you find your shelter in his arms, your relieved sobs making him tear up.

"My Lady," Jessica starts absentmindedly, "I swear to the Gods that if this comes out as some tricks to spy on us or to hurt our son, you will regret this choice deeply. Do you hear me and do you understand me ?"

"Mother..." Paul starts as you freeze in his arms.

"Paul. Never forget that reality is never as beautiful as you wish it to be."

"I do love him and I will protect him and I will govern fairly." You promise as you stand up. "There is no trick. Only my own will and his."

As Jessica maintains her frightening eye contact with you, Leto sighs and rests one of his hands on her shoulder, faltering her attention.

"Follow me my Lady." He tells you. "Let's talk about all this with your parents.

- - - -

Thank you for reading, please comment and reblog if you liked it ! 😊

@salome-c @stevenngrant @lavenderluna10 @one-hell-of-a-disappointment @dailyreverie @thecursivej @lady-targaryen @general-latino @harrys-tittie @laura-naruto-fan1998

[paradisetemporarilymisplaced]

So I was being a basic bitch the other day and listening to my true crime podcasts when it occurred to me just how suspicious Nile’s “death” would look to everyone not in the Guard, leading me to a train of thought that, 2200 words later, absolutely got away from me but I can’t let go so I’m inflicting it on all of you!

To set the stage, we know the movie takes place over approximately a week. Here’s what happens to Nile from the military’s point of view:

She dies is very seriously injured

She heals without a scratch

Just before she’s supposed to be shipped out to Germany, she vanishes, leaving two men concussed (and presumably reporting being knocked out by a woman with short hair wearing civilian clothes)

She goes AWOL for several days

They get word from the CIA that she is to be reported killed in action (details unclear)

So, at the beginning of this very weird week, the USMC has to tell Nile’s family of her death critical injury. What her family was told depends on how long she was dead – a Google search tells me that family will be notified in person within 8 hours of a soldier’s death, but we don’t know how long her first death lasted. For an injury, however, they’d get a phone call to notify them and the unit would arrange for them to visit as soon as the soldier is transferred out of a combat zone. Like I remember when I was in high school, a guy from my church who was a Marine was really seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Iraq and from what I could tell, his parents were told immediately and were flown out to Germany to see him, so it stands to reason that Nile’s family would have been informed relatively quickly after her throat was slashed, one way or another.

And then, she goes AWOL. Her family would be notified while the USMC tried to figure out where she went, not least because the military would want to know if she’s contacted them. (And it’s possible that her family may have been on the way to Germany to see her since we know that’s where she was supposed to go!) So for several days:

Nile’s mom and brother have no idea where she is

They know she was seriously injured and most certainly should not have been moving around on her own

They can’t get a hold of her

The military can’t tell them anything

And the next thing they know for sure is that she was “killed in action.” After being injured and vanishing into thin air. And they presumably cannot produce her body or any concrete evidence of her death. In any case, something sketchy is going on, so they’re like. SMELLS LIKE A MILITARY COVERUP.

In a surprise to probably no one, there is a well-documented legacy of mysterious US military deaths, particularly of women of color (TW for sexual assault in these links). The cases of LaVena Johnson and Vanessa Guillenin particular have made national news because of their families’ persistence in seeking justice. Likewise, Nile is a Black woman, and her mom and brother are most certainly hypercognizant of (a) state violence against Black people and (b) these high-profile cases of suspicious military deaths. So her family are seriously side-eyeing the situation, knowing that (a) the military has a serious incentive (and a documented history) of covering up things that make them look bad and (b) nothing about Nile’s disappearance and supposed death are adding up.

And Andy’s right. Nile does come from warriors. And you know who else does? Her brother.

Don’t get me wrong. Nile’s mom would absolutely not back down. She’d know something was up and want to get to the bottom of it. But based on what I know about Gen X parents (mine), they’re not the most technologically savvy. Like they can use the internet, but they didn’t grow up with it the way we young millennials and Gen Z did. So Nile’s brother takes the lead. And what do zillennials do best?

Social media.

Nile’s brother starts going hard on any site he can, trying to get the word out to see if anyone knows what happened to his sister. He starts a Reddit thread. He starts a Facebook group. He reaches out to the media and true crime bloggers and podcasters à la Sarah Turney, getting loud and being a general nuisance in hopes of getting some answers. He gets his friends and Nile’s friends involved. Maybe eventually Dizzy, Jay, and others from Nile’s unit hear about it and reach out, telling him what they saw and how weird it all was. He’s drumming up interest, and soon “Nile Freeman” becomes a household name (at least among the true crime fans).

Copley is, of course, trying his best, but at this point there is just so much that it’s impossible for him to scrub everything. Sure, he can erase new footage of Nile and the Guard, but what can he do about Reddit threads and podcast episodes that are speculating something weird has happened? Maybe he could hack the sites and shut those things down, but honestly, that’s the last thing he’d want to do, because that only adds weight to the theory that Nile’s disappearance is a military coverup. So eventually he has to tell Andy what’s going on.

Andy, obviously, does not take the news well. However, she is also completely computer illiterate, because that’s Booker’s job and he’s the only one who ever bothered to learn what the internet is in any meaningful way. (She probably calls Booker for advice, and for the record, I think Booker would have no qualms about shutting down conspiracy threads, tinhats be damned, but Copley is too concerned about the consequences. He’s ex-CIA for crying out loud, he knows how it’ll look if they scrub every mention of Nile’s name from the internet.) Maybe she confers with Joe and Nicky but, let’s be honest, they’d be equally unhelpful. So at this point, she knows they have to bring in Nile.

But the thing about Nile is that she, too, knows how to use the internet (duh). Aside from her being a young millennial/digital native, we know from the cave scene where she’s giving Booker suggestions on how to track Copley that she clearly is even more computer savvy than the average person. And for that reason she almost definitely took over the day-to-day tech stuff after Booker’s exile. So I think it would be foolish to expect her to be unaware of what’s happening. She’s not contacting her family or posting on the message boards or anything, but she knows what’s up. So Copley and the team probably sit her down to “break the news,” but we know the girl does not have a poker face (see: literally shooting herself in the foot and not being able to play it cool whatsoever) and cracks immediately, telling them she’s seen everything about her case – she’s not interacting with any of it, she certainly didn’t instigate anything, but she knows. (And she is so goddamn proud of her brother.)

At this point, I’d like to pause and consider Nile’s role in the overall narrative of this movie. She’s set up as a foil to Andy, obviously, but she’s also a foil to Booker. Booker, who, like Andy, is a serious pessimist, but who, unlike Andy, still has very fresh memories and trauma associated with being the new kid, which have destroyed him. In his mind (and Andy’s), if Nile communicates with her family, she’ll become just like him in a century or two – bitter, alone, and stuck with her grief and memories of watching her family die and knowing they died resenting her. It’s a small sample size, but this is the only experience they have to go off of.

But it doesn’t have to be like that.

There’s been a lot of discussion of TOG being a fundamentally queer movie – a group of people brought together because of something inherent about themselves that is different, that must be hidden, that causes others to hate, fear, and reject them. Booker’s backstory is the archetypal traumatic “coming out” story – his family learns who he is, hate him for it, and attempt to cast him out of their lives. He’s stuck with his trauma, his pain, his loss, and it consumes him.

But what if Nile’s family would be the opposite? What if her “coming out” to them as immortal is met with acceptance, love, celebration? What if her family is just overjoyed to have her back, and they don’t care what the circumstances are? I'm reminded of this incredible post from @shitty-old-guard-deaths a while back, where Nile’s mother hits Booker with a frying pan because “my baby let me believe she was dead for FIVE YEARS based on your bad advice???” (which may or may not have inspired this whole tangent). Nile takes the advice of someone who did the same thing she wants to do because she doesn’t want to risk her family’s rejection. She wants the good memories with her family and is afraid that showing them her true self will bring her unbearable pain, forever replacing those memories. But, with high risk comes high reward.

Anyway. Nile and the team are trying to come up with a plan for how to handle this whole thing, but she’s not really participating because she’s too afraid to hope. Until finally, quickly, so she doesn’t lose her nerve, she suggests she reach out to them, knowing that, realistically, that’s the only solution before things snowball even further out of control. The team is shocked, but realize that she has a point. They decide that Copley should actually be the first point of contact, posing as a US government official to talk with them and test the waters.

So Copley goes to Nile’s family’s house to talk with her mom and brother. They’re probably distrustful and apprehensive, but nonetheless secretly ecstatic that their work has paid off. They talk and review all of the information that they’ve collected, including testimonials from the people on Nile’s base and recent sightings (along with photos) of Nile (with the same three people) over the last few years that people have sent them but they haven’t posted publicly. At this point, Copley’s like, yeah this is about to blow up, we gotta put our cards on the table. He convinces them to come with him to some safe house/black site/whatever he can get that is technologically impenetrable (I’m picturing them in like, an interrogation room at a police station kind of deal), takes their phones, locks the doors, and brings in Nile.

What follows is the most delightful reunion scene of all time, bringing Joe, Nicky, and even Andy to tears as they watch and listen from outside the room. With Copley’s help, Nile tells her mom and brother about her immortality and what’s been going on since she died (within reason, of course), and they are thrilled. They don’t understand why (because no one does) but they don’t question it and they see it as a gift from God – she’s been resurrected, she will live, and she has a purpose. Her mother and brother are so happy to see her again and are willing to agree with pretty much anything to stay in her life as long as they can.

So. They set up some complicated agreement (they bring in the other three for support/intimidation as needed) setting the terms of their relationship. They swear Nile’s family to secrecy, maybe bringing up the lab to show how high the stakes are, and they readily agree. They come up with some cover story for Nile’s brother to share on the message boards (maybe that the government has opened an investigation but because it’s an open case he has to shut it all down? Tells people to direct their tips somewhere else? Something to that effect). There’s still speculation, of course, but without Nile’s brother at the helm providing the energy, the hype dies down as news stories are wont to do without any movement. And Nile’s family goes to work for the team. The experience has taught them that Copley can’t possibly do everything himself, especially when it comes to social media, so Nile’s brother takes the lead on the day-to-day tracking/social media while Copley and her mom focus on finding jobs and scrubbing their traces afterward.

So there you have it: Nile gets to integrate her biological family into her found family and spend the rest of their lives with them as it should be, Copley gets some badly needed help managing the reality of social media, the team finally has a positive narrative surrounding outsiders Knowing About Them AND about interacting with people from their previous life, and the audience gets the happy ending to this very lovely and very queer story to counteract the pain associated with Booker’s family.

Plus, you know, I’m a sucker for both a good government conspiracy theory and for Nile getting every good thing she deserves.

[harrypotterandthefandomaccount]

Headcanons For Dating George Weasley

request: hey!!!! i love ur work sm, i reread ur headcanons more times than i’d like to admit!! any concerning remus, ron or george would be bloody brilliant!! like how any of the three would be jealous, or dating them would include or basically anything i will immediately combust into flames!!!

note: hi everyone!! long time no posting! i feel like i’ve been cheating on you all for my mcu account @avengers-age-of-fanfics lmao, but i promise im back and i have a few things in my drafts so keep a lookout! thank u for staying patient :)

-

george has had his eyes on you for a long time, always trying to be in the same classes as you and trying to be your partner in every class.

will literally owl you and ask what classes you’re taking just so he can be in the same ones with you.

before you even get together, fred has had to deal with george talking about you. all. the. time.

it’s not like fred doesn’t like you - he does! but hearing george talk about you 24/7 is a bit suffocating.

his words may mix up and he may stumble, but his feelings are the same and fred can’t help but facepalm.

“isn’t she/he/they just gorgeous, fred?” “i get it, georgie. you’re obsessed and won’t do anything about it.”

george definitely stares at you in class and if you catch him, he’ll either whistle and play it off or wink at you, wishing he was confident to just ask you out already.

gets hit a couple times by fred for being a creep and staring at you for too long. george definitely has a bruise forming at the back of his head.

fred would tell george to “grow a pair and get on with it, you git!”

you’d be so confused and look at george with a slight smile on your face, asking what his twin means.

george would sigh and come clean, telling you how he’s had feelings for you for a few months now and he can’t help but admire how beautiful/handsome you are.

you’d giggle, looking up at george and wrapping your arms around his neck, saying you like him too.

george then proceeds to kiss you all over your face, making you laugh even more.

“finally!” fred would yell from behind the door.

NEVER confusing him with fred. both twins would be surprised as to how you could tell them apart, and he’d love that about you - not comparing them or ‘guessing’ on who is who.

george takes you on many dates into hogsmeade and loves spoiling you over little items and trinkets

keeping a little box of the items he buys you and if he ever finds it, he will definitely tear up.

has many nicknames for you, mostly including “love” “sweetheart” and “darling”

if george is feeling extra love-y, will probably slide a “sweet girl/boy” in there.

always saves you a seat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, right next to him.

will steal food off your plate when you’re not looking or when you’re having a conversation.

george loves the height difference between you two, always craning his head to look down at you, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you close.

even if you are taller than him, he just enjoys looking at you

loves smelling your hair and kissing your head.

small moments of pda, like holding hands and kissing your cheek. not a huge pda guy but will sometimes do it just to show that you’re taken

has a really cute habit of kissing your knuckles or just your hand in general

george honestly just loves holding onto you, whether it be your hand, waist, thigh under the table, anything. he loves the feeling of security he gets when he feels your warmth.

he almost melts when you squeeze your hand back, rubbing your thumb against his hand.

gives you piggyback rides :’)

while he isnt into pda, when you two are alone, george certainly is the exact opposite!!!!!

he loves cuddling you and kissing you almost every minute

holds you on his lap whenever you both are alone, mindlessly rubbing his hand over your legs/thighs. will tell you how beautiful/handsome you are.

if you are chest-to-back, he loves just simply holding your hands in his, comparing the sizes and whispering in your ear.

lays on top of you just for fun and will give you kisses all over your face.

big spoon whenever you two cuddle. obsessed with the feeling of holding onto you and having his nose either in your hair or neck.

however he does have his days when he needs to be the little spoon and be cuddled by you

loves making you laugh if his nose or stubble tickles you.

crawling into bed with him when you can’t sleep and he automatically wraps his arms around you, pulling you close, legs tangled.

george will squeeze you, just to make sure that you’re real and with him.

is lowkey very jealous and protective of you.

he’s always been fred’s shadow, so whenever he sees someone flirting with what’s his, george gets very protective and is sure to make known that you’re his.

can sometimes shut down and think he isn’t good enough for you, that you like fred better.

you will not tolerate your boyfriend, your little bby, feeling like this, “georgie, i love YOU. sure, i love fred as a brother, but i love you as my partner. you’re the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

he’d smile at you, worry still gracing his face, but he’d still be thankful, “thank you, my love. . . cuddle time?”

“just gotta remind my boyfriend of how wonderful he is, georgie. c’mon, let’s go cuddle. i’ll be the big spoon tonight :)”

you love stealing his jumpers, especially the one molly made him

spending lots of time at the burrow and wearing many of his clothes just because they smell like george

“why don’t you just wear your own, love?” he’d never admit that he loves seeing you in his clothes

“they dont smell like you, georgie.”

molly adoring you and george being proud for having you as a girlfriend/boyfriend/partner

being very close to ginny and having girl nights with her and hermione, which sometimes makes george jealous.

OR having boys nights with ron, harry, fred, percy, bill and charlie - whenever they were home.

learning from both the twins how to pull off great pranks - which is a mistake.

telling him you love him every chance you get, making him blush and kiss your cheek.

being each other’s first time and he is so sweet about it, making sure everything is perfect and that you’re okay.

george loves whispering in your ear and telling you how good you are for him.

while you aren’t happy about him and fred dropping out to start a joke shop, you are still there to support them both.

becoming their financial advisor and overall advisor for everything they do.

george telling you how much he appreciates you whenever you both leave the shop together to go home, holding hands.

fighting by his side during the wizarding war and being scared for fred when he is injured, but thank merlin, fred makes a full recovery.

moving in together after the war, realizing you could never leave his side. he then surprises you by proposing, saying that if you died, he’d never be able to live with himself.

george loves you for who you are, and vise versa. you’d never change anything about him because he is his own person, and you fell in love with george weasley.

[slasherhaven]

Slashers with a cute reader who dresses in pink and is really adorable and delicate, but is secretly kind of a psycho, and the slashers find out when they see her murdering someone and giggling, please?

The Slashers with a cute but murderous S/O:

Thomas Hewitt

Loves your cute appearance and how delicate you are with him. He really does think that you’re the most precious thing he’s ever seen and that makes him super protective over you. Even more than your cuteness, he loves how delicate you are. The way you touch him so gently, speak so softly, and give him light kisses that make his heart flutter. He nearly cried when you first touched his face without the mask, you had been so delicate, like he would break, your touches so light and loving.

A little concerned about your murderous side. It had come to a surprise to both him and the rest of the family. Luda May was certainly surprised and wasn’t too fond of it. Thomas was more concerned about how...giddy you seemed as well as about how you had been in a dangerous situation. Hoyt was just glad that there was somebody doing some of the hard work. Thomas won’t hold this against you, especially when you go right back to your soft, delicate self when you’re with him.

Michael Myers

Likes your adorable, delicate nature more than he lets on. Of course, he seems mostly indifferent to nearly everything, including the way you present yourself but he must like something about it. You’re completely different to the rest of his life, cute and sweet. You’re delicate with everything you do and he simply isn’t used to sure tender touches. Everything about you is so foreign to him, but it is welcomed.

Is silently surprised by your uncharacteristic behaviour. It definitely wasn’t expected. You had been so gentle and delicate with everything but now you were the exact opposite and giggling about it. Not much can surprise him after his stay in Smith’s Grove, but you just managed to do it. The murdering doesn’t bother him, it’s more the enthusiasm you do it with, that’s something he’s less familiar with. He’s likely to just calm you down before escorting you away, slightly impressed with this new side of you. He underestimated you, he won’t make that mistake again.

Jason Voorhees

Loves your cuteness. He thinks you’re so sweet, absolutely adorable. He loves you and knows that his mother would too. A s/o with a delicate touch is exactly what Jason needs, he needs those gentle loving touches. The way you place a hand on is arm, kiss his mask playfully but sweetly, the way you caress his face and whisper sweet compliments to him.

You’re going to give him a heart attack. Seriously, when he sees you dealing with a loose camper, he could have died right there. The thought of you being in danger and having to resort to this, it pains him. But you didn’t seem to mind so much, you were giggling as you stood up, a smile on your face as you straightened out your clothes. Jason is more focused on getting you back to the warmth and safety of the cabin, getting you cleaned up and into clean clothes, than anything else.

Bo Sinclair 

You’re just the sweetest little thing...God, you are the only thing that could make Bo’s rough edges soften. He thinks you’re the most precious thing he’s even laid eyes upon, and you’re all his. He loves the cute pink outfits/dresses, you always look like the prettiest little thing when you make your way through town.

It’s weirdly nice to know that even you have a dark side. Seeing you kill one of their newest victims while you giggled to yourself was...surprising to say the least and he’s definitely taken back by it. But if you can have a dark side, anyone can. It makes him feel a little better about himself and his own darker side. Maybe this was why you stuck around, why you seemed to understand him more than anyone. He tells you to leave the body to Vincent while the two of you go back to the house to clean up.

Vincent Sinclair

Loves your delicateness more than anything. You make him feel so good about himself with all your loving touches. You have something about you that is just exactly what Vincent needs when living in a town so filled with death and living with a brother who can be so volatile at times. You are exactly what he needs and he absolutely cherishes you.

He’s concerned but tries not to judge too quickly. When he found you killing that person and giggling to yourself, you made him think that maybe you weren’t all of those things I just mentioned. But as soon as you’re with him again, you go right back to your adorable, delicate self, proving that he hadn’t been wrong at all. You just had another side to yourself, just like him and Bo and Ambrose. And he still loved you all the same, nothing could change that.

Lester Sinclair

Absolutely adores you. Oh God, he loves you so much. You’re so sweet and cute. Sometimes he feels like he shouldn’t even be touching you because you’re so damn precious. You’re so careful and delicate with everything you do, whether it be cooking or showing him affection. He could watch you pick flowers all day, it makes his heart warm.

Accepts that darker side of you. Of course he is taken back when he first discovers you killing somebody while giggling to yourself, but you were still you when you skipped over to him, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek. You accept him for exactly who he is so he will accept you for who you are. You have a darker side just like this town does, that could be why you fit so well here despite seeming far too sweet to be a part of any of this.

Bubba Sawyer

Loves the cute look! He adores your style, always babbling a compliment or two about what you’re wearing. He thinks you’re adorable. The two of you are just so cute together that it makes the others a little sick but neither of you would have it any other way. 

Honestly, he’s glad you’re having a good time. Killing and gore has become such a normal thing in his life that it doesn’t bother him too much, he’s more concerned about you being in dangerous situations. He wouldn’t ever want you to hurt somebody if you didn’t want too but if you do want too...then he’s okay with it. As long as you’re still the sweetheart you usually are, and that doesn’t seem to be changing anytime soon so it’s all good!

Asa Emory (The Collector)

Appreciates the cute look. Asa thinks it’s precious, thinks you’re precious. Your adorableness mixed with your submission to him just makes him adore you. But it’s not just the look, it’s everything about you. He likes how delicate you are with everything, he appreciates that, and secretly likes all of your gentle touches. He likes the gentleness, it’s something he’s no used too and probably won’t confess to liking.

Tries to reign you in. The murderous tendencies in you is surprising it but, being who he is, he can overlook it. He’s more curious about the...giggling. You’re like the opposite of him. He’s cold and harsh, you’re sweet and gentle. He’s stoic and calculating, you’re giggly and enthusiastic. If you want in on this part of his life, he can do that for you, but you’re going to have to follow orders like you usually do. He’s curious about this but that doesn’t mean he can have you running around doing whatever you want, he has to reign you in a little.

Jesse Cromeans (Chromeskull) 

Will buy you all the cute outfits/dresses you want. He loves making you happy and he loves seeing them on you. He will buy you whatever you want as long as you’ll wear it for him. You’re so adorable and pretty as you dance around the house, dropping yourself down onto his lap. He just adores you, you’re like his prized possession...

Takes you on ‘business’ trips more often. When he found out about the murderous side of you, it was when he took you on one of his trips. A victim escaped him...you dealt with it. As soon as he saw you giggling over the bloody body, he was fascinated. Coming up behind you and wrapping his arms around his waist. What else had you been hiding from him?

Loves the aesthetic of your cute pink dress splattered with blood. His usual aesthetic is a tidy black suit but this is a much better look for you. Don’t worry about it being ruined, he’ll get you three more.

Otis Driftwood 

Is a little too into it. As soon as he sees you’re cute little self killing somebody, he’s almost as giddy as you. You knew he wouldn’t mind catching you like this, considering what he does, so you just smiled and skipped over to him when you noticed him. He grinned, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you flush against his chest. Why didn’t you tell him about all of this sooner? 

Seeing your cute pink outfit/dress stained with dirt and blood...it just does something to him. Everything about you is just so adorable and delicate and yet you can do and enjoy something so fucked up. He loves it. And you’re about to find out just how much he loves it.

Baby Firefly

You are oddly similar. Baby has a childlike excitability about her and you have a certain adorableness about you, this causes people to underestimate you both in the same way. But Baby loves it about you. She loves all the pink attire and how you present yourself. We all know she loves a good look!

A perfect team. Because people tend to underestimate you both, you work incredibly well together. After she discovers the murderous side of you, of course. When she discovered this about you, she couldn’t but smile as you watched you back away from the body while giggling to yourself. She instantly knows that the two of you are going to have a lot of fun together.

Yautja (Predator)

Hasn’t got much of an opinion on your attire but thinks how delicate you are is adorable. Your alien mate doesn’t have much opinion on fashion, other than whether it seems practical or not. It’s more your personality and demeanour that he thinks is adorable. You’re just so sweet, so delicate with everything you do. You’re even delicate and gentle when you touch him, like you could hurt him, he thinks you’re cute...it’s as simple as that.

He likes your enthusiasm...okay, it all depends on the situation. If you’ve killed a worthy opponent, he is filled with pride! If it wasn’t a worthy kill...he’ll teach you better, teach you the honour code. He does like your enthusiasm though, he might just take you on a hunt or two with him and see how you do.

[ddaengtae]

see you around || jjk

pairing: jeon jungkook x reader

genre: college, strangers (idiots) to lovers, fitness instructor! jungkook, fluff, smut

word count: 13.9k

summary: you know those beautiful strangers that you admire from afar and obsess over with your friends, but know there’s about a one percent chance they’ll ever talk to you or even know who you are?  that’s precisely what jeon jungkook was to you; a piece of delicious eye candy that you could daydream about all you wanted, but had to accept that it was too unrealistic to ever happen.  or so you thought.  after an embarrassing accident at the gym that makes your worlds collide, maybe you had been wrong about your chances all along.

a/n: when i came up with this idea in my head, i guessed it would be around 5k words.  guess my hands slipped.  this is only my second bts fic, but after getting good feedback for my first one, i decided to give it another try and this is what happened.  i tried to edit closely, but there may be a few types so i’m sorry!  thanks for reading & pls lmk what you think. :)

Another week, another million reasons to be stressed.  It really seemed like that was the never-ending pattern of the college lifestyle.  The weekend was never long enough to truly allow yourself to unwind.  Sure, those two days were great, but how was two days enough to destress from the agony of multiple all-nighters to keep up with the shitload of work that all of your professors always deemed it acceptable to assign?  There was no way for you to prove it, but you believed in a conspiracy theory that all of the professors would meet up at the beginning of each semester and choose to make all of their huge assignments due on the same days just to fuck all of their students over.  There could be no other explanation for the hell that was midterms season.

While during your first two years of college you would barely be hanging on by a thread during the busiest weeks of the semester, you were now a junior and had at last adopted a regime that helped you burn off some steam when the tension became all too much.  Somewhere along the way, you started to realize that inhaling mozzarella sticks and Red Bull at two in the morning the night before an exam did very little to make you feel better and that it would probably be a better idea to take up a healthy lifestyle and better time management skills sooner rather than later.  In the process of getting your life together, one Tuesday evening in the spring of your sophomore year, one of your roommates had convinced you to accompany her to a group fitness class at the gym on campus.  To your surprise, you fell in love with it and the feeling of adrenaline and accomplishment that came along with making it through the hour.  From that day on, you vowed to yourself to make it to the gym most days of the week.

There was something about group fitness classes that made you feel much more comfortable than going to the gym and working out on your own.  Perhaps most glaringly, the classes were dominated with like-minded girls who just wanted some peace of mind for an hour.  Most of the instructors were girls too, except for a few guys who seemed to understand why a lot of women chose to avoid the rest of the gym.  It was quite unsettling to work out by yourself on the main floor and be surrounded by conceited guys who always seemed to either be undressing you with their eyes or judging you because, god forbid, you couldn’t squat three-hundred pounds like they could.  The whole place just always reeked of toxic masculinity, or so that was what you had thought until you found out about the group fitness classes that the facility also held.  They seemed to be a sort of heavenly escape from the rest of the place that resembled a fraternity initiation ceremony.

That was precisely where you found yourself this Monday evening.  In dire need of a break from studying, you found yourself sitting on the floor of the group classroom surrounded by your equipment and waiting for your favorite instructor to arrive.  The concept of a high-intensity circuit training class had initially terrified you when you first decided to try it out last semester, but it had quickly become your favorite class and one that you attended every week without fail.  It was incredibly satisfying to track your progress and watch your body evolve as you adapted to be able to lift heavier weights and make it through the cardio outbreaks without feeling like you were going to drop dead every second.

Taking a long sip of your water, your eyes remained down on your phone as you heard the door of the room open and close again.  As it was still ten minutes before class, you didn’t think much of it and assumed it was probably just more people piling into the room and rushing to get their equipment ready.

“Uh, hi guys!  The usual instructor for the class is unfortunately sick so I’m filling in for her tonight,” an unfamiliar-- but yet also eerily recognizable-- male voice echoed through the room.  “I was just recently certified so this is actually the first class I’ll be teaching here.  I promise I’ll try to live up to her hype.”  The unknown source let out an awkward laugh, which was met with relative silence from the rest of the room.

The moment your eyes moved up to fall upon the new instructor, your breath hitched in your throat, causing the water you had been attempting to drink to flow down the wrong pipe.  This wasn’t just any unmemorable college boy filling in to instruct the class.  There at the front of the room stood none other than Jeon Jungkook.  The breathtaking Jeon Jungkook was going to be leading the class and you were supposed to be able perform-- let alone breathe-- properly?  Oh no.

You and Jungkook were not friends by any means.  Hell, it was highly likely that the boy didn’t even know who you were.  You know those beautiful strangers that you admire from afar, yet know there’s about a one percent chance that they will ever know who you are or ever speak to you?  The ones you tell all of your friends about and you go out of your way to use your FBI-level stalking skills to find their social media in hopes of finding out more about them so you can daydream about your nonexistent, fantasy future together?  The ones you’re always hoping you’ll cross paths with while walking to class because even a glance of them will make your day a little more exciting and give you something to talk about with your friends?  That was what Jungkook was to you.

Jungkook had become known as ‘hot coffee shop boy’ amongst your friend group after you had noticed him studying in the same coffee shop as you one day in the fall of your sophomore year.  As you always chose to study at the least favorite and therefore least populated coffee shop on campus, it was shocking the first time someone as beautiful as Jungkook sat down at one of the tables across from yours and settled in to do his homework as well.  His presence offered you a paradox; while seeing him looking like a model wearing his oversized clothes and sighing at his laptop screen was certainly a distraction at times, it also served as a form of motivation to force you to focus because you didn’t want him thinking you were slacking off.  He seemed to enjoy the quiet ambience of the specific shop because after that first day, he began to frequent it almost as often as you, always sitting at the same table by the third window.  On some occasions, one of his friends who always seemed to be changing hair colors would accompany him.  After some research completed by your enamored friend Jennie who sometimes accompanied you, she discovered his name was Park Jimin.  He quickly became known as ‘iced chai’ after that seemed to be his regular coffee order.

It was an exciting day amongst your friends on the first day of classes in the spring of your sophomore year when Jungkook happened to enroll in the same Earth Science lecture as you to satisfy the science gen-ed requirement at your university.  Rocks and rivers weren’t exactly interesting, but the back of Jungkook’s head from the row in front of you certainly was.  The group chat really blew up the day he spun around in his chair and asked you if he could borrow a pen.  They were right that it would’ve been easier for him to just ask one of the people next to him, but you were smart enough to not think into it too much.  Maybe you just seemed like the type of person to carry around an abundance of stationery materials (you weren’t, and you ended up not taking any notes that day after giving him the only pen you had).

So here you were, practically choking on your water as Jungkook started to set up his own equipment at the front of the room.  How dare he invade your safe space?  You suddenly felt as if you barely remembered how to do a jumping jack, let alone have the facilities to pick up a weight.  

After organizing his weights at the front of the room, Jungkook’s eyes began to scan the participants in the room, likely counting how many people had shown up.  The moment his eyes met yours, your whole body froze in place.  Oddly enough, his seemed to do the same.  His doe eyes became wide and his mouth fell into an ‘o’ as he looked at you for a few seconds too long, and you swore there was an expression of recognition on his face.  Before you could convince yourself that anything of the sort had truly happened, Jungkook was blinking rapidly and shaking his head at himself before his eyes darted away to scan and count the rest of the room.

“Alright everyone, we’re going to get started in a minute here,” Jungkook announced a minute later, looking down at his phone as he connected his music and began blasting it through the speakers.  “Just remember to follow my lead and please don’t hesitate to wave me over if you have any questions or are struggling with form.  I’ll try to keep an eye on all of you and come over to help you out anyway.”  His eyes crinkled into crescent moons as he offered the class a big bunny smile.  Oh god, you were going to pass out.  “We’re going to be starting with a pretty intense cardio circuit here to bring those heart rates right up and set the tone for the rest of class.”  Great.  Your heart rate was already accelerating through the roof just at the sight of him.  “Try to keep up, but if you need to grab some water or take a break at any point, please don’t hesitate to do so.  We’re going to get started in 3… 2… 1… Go!”

To your surprise, you were able to make it through the first couple of circuits without too much trouble.  You made it your mission to zone in on each of the exercises you were doing, and that every time you were forced to face forward you would fixate your gaze on the back of the girl in front of you.  It was shockingly easy to forget about the beautiful man in front of the room while you were gasping for breath after numerous rounds of burpees and mountain climbers.  The goal was to look calm and fit without calling attention to yourself.  Outside of your heavy breathing that was likely being drowned out by Jungkook’s loud music, you could say you were succeeding.

About twenty minutes into the class, Jungkook signaled a transition into an upper body circuit.  While you were delighted to get a break from cardio and to allow your heart rate to calm down for a bit, following the exercises now required you to face forward and watch for his cues.  This would be fine as long as you didn’t focus on his gorgeous face that was currently glistening with sweat in the most pleasing way possible, right?

“Alright, we’re going to start off here with some overhead shoulder presses for the first minute.  I’d recommend something on the lighter side, but make sure you’re challenging yourself.”  With a slight nod of his head, Jungkook picked up his own weights and counted down the class to begin the first exercise of the circuit.

Shoulder presses weren’t bad.  You could do this.  Inhaling a deep breath, you made an attempt to wipe your sweaty palms off on your leggings before picking up your dumbbells and getting in position to begin your shoulder presses.  After the first few reps, you quickly fell into a rhythm that was both comfortable yet challenging, feeling that delicious burn in your shoulder muscles.  At the halfway mark through the minute, your eyes had remained glued to the same girl in front of you.  You finally felt a sense of peace.  One look at Jungkook couldn’t hurt, right?

Wrong.  

Against your better judgement, you decided to shift your eyes to the front of the room and take a good luck at a combination of both Jungkook’s back and the reflection of the front of his body through the mirror before him.  

The string of events that occurred immediately after that moment was a blur.  As Jungkook pressed his set of dumbbells above his head, his baggy shirt slid up his body, exposing his sweaty, toned abs that looked as though they were sculpted by the gods themselves.  What was likely an audible gasp escaped from your lips as your eyes remained frozen on the sight in front of you.  It was unclear if it was your mesmerized state, your sweaty hands, or a combination of both, but seconds later, the dumbbell in your right hand slipped out of your grasp and quickly went crashing downward.

“Oh my... Fuck!” 

There was a moment of dissociation before you realized that the loud cry had, in fact, come out of your mouth, and that the dumbbell that had glided out of your hand had, in fact, come crashing down onto the big toe of your right foot.  Your head was spinning as you began to process the throbbing feeling radiating throughout your entire foot, as well as the weight of what had just occurred.  Within moments, the eyes of all of the participants were on you, as well as the eyes of the one person whose attention you really did not want in such an embarrassing moment.  No, no, no.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Jungkook’s panicked voice echoed throughout the room as he spoke into his headset and he quickly dropped his weights on the ground.  “Um, okay, the rest of you can keep going!  I’m going to get someone else to come in within a few minutes so I can help her.”  Within moments, he was shoving his way through the room until he was right in front of you and pulling the microphone away from his mouth so the rest of the class wouldn’t hear your interaction.  “Are you alright?  Oh my god, you shouldn’t be putting pressure on it.  Let’s get you out of here and get some ice.”

You genuinely thought you were going to pass out.  It had little to do with your toe, and a whole lot to do with Jungkook’s sudden closeness.  His concerned face was just inches away from yours as his eyes scanned yours for any sort of explanation for what had just unfolded.  His presence was intoxicating.  You could smell the combination of his cologne and sweat, and you had yet to tear the image of his gleaming six-pack out of your mind.  Oh my god.  That had really just happened.  The first impression you made on Jungkook, AKA hot coffee shop boy, was you making an absolute fool out of yourself and possibly breaking your toe while doing a simple exercise.  You were never going to live this one down.  You were going to throw up.

When you hadn’t responded to Jungkook within a few seconds, he took it upon himself to drape an arm over your shoulders and pull your body against his side.  “Here, lean against me so you’re not putting weight on it.  I’m going to bring you to the first-aid room and get you some ice…  At the very least.”

It was quite possible that your brain had chosen it was better to black out the memory as Jungkook began to pull you out of the room, yelling to one of the workers at the front desk to quickly find someone else to take over the class.  Your legs felt like jelly as they moved beside his, only functioning out of muscle memory rather than true volition.  Here you were, body pressed against that of the guy you had admired from afar for over a year.  In any other circumstance, this would have been like a dream come true.  Instead, you wished the ground would swallow you up and put you out of your misery.

It wasn’t long until you were pulled into what was likely the first-aid room and instructed to sit on top of the counter by a very stressed Jungkook.  The more you thought about it, the more horrible you felt.  Not only was this the Jeon Jungkook of your fantasies, but it was also the Jeon Jungkook who had informed the class before it had started that this was the first class he had ever led.  You had quite literally ruined his first class, and had set an appalling example of what he would expect going forward.  If your toe hadn’t been throbbing, you would have seriously considered running right out the door.

“Okay, if you don’t mind, just take off your shoe and sock while I try to find an ice pack,” Jungkook commanded as he nervously raked a hand through his already-messy hair, frantically rifling through the cabinets.  Your eyes watched his back as you followed his instructions, guilt filling your entire body.  He seemed stressed.  Nervous, even.  It made sense, if you thought about it.  Your foolish accident had just become his responsibility, and he was a new employee.  You would be nervous too.

“Found one,” he breathed out, hitting it against the counter a couple of times to activate the coldness.  As he turned around to face you, his eyes wandered down to your exposed toe.  “Oh no, that looks pretty swollen.  Does it hurt really badly?  Are you okay?”

“It doesn’t feel great, but I’m okay.”  No, no you were not okay, but you needed this to be over.  Meeting his eyes, you realized those were the first words you had spoken to him since this whole debacle had unraveled.  He probably thought you were crazy.  Taking the ice pack from him, you chewed on your lower lip.  “I’m… I’m really sorry.”

Jungkook furrowed his brow as he looked up from your foot to meet your gaze, tilting his head to the side.  “Huh?  You have no reason to be sorry.  Accidents happen.  I get it… I’m pretty clumsy too sometimes and have hurt myself much worse than this for much stupider reasons.  Really, don’t worry.”  He was rambling, and if you hadn’t been so distraught, you would have perhaps realized just how nervous he really seemed.  Offering you a shy smile, his eyes averted away from yours as his cheeks flushed a shade of bright red.  Redder than they should have been from just working out.

Looking down at your foot, you placed the ice pack on top of it and shook your head.  It was difficult to form words with him so close, but you knew you had to if you wanted to redeem yourself at all.  You already had created a mental plan to avoid him at all costs and hide from him whenever that wasn’t possible, but this was the least you could do.  “No, I’m really sorry.  You said at the beginning that this was your first class and I… I kind of ruined it for you.  I’m sure you were really excited about it.”

Jungkook remained occupied with your toe as he moved the ice pack to the side, feeling around the bones and moving it gently in various directions to see how bad the pain was.  “I don’t think it’s broken.  Definitely pretty swollen, but not broken.  However, I’m clearly not a doctor so you might want to get a second opinion.”  Standing up straight, he offered you a warm smile.  “But seriously, don’t worry about it.  There’s always going to be more classes for me to teach and I wasn’t just going to let you suffer there.  I’m happy to help.”

God, not only was he gorgeous, but he was also this friendly?  It was possible that he was just being nice to keep you calm and keep his job, but regardless, he just seemed so perfect.  So perfect that you feared being so close to him, for your endless flaws felt as if though they were being magnified.  Clearing your throat, you forced yourself to return the smile.  “Thanks.  I really appreciate it, but I’ll be fine.”  You needed to escape.  You needed to get out of there so you could cry to your friends about just how mortified you were and how you now really never stood a chance with hot coffee shop boy.  “I should probably get going.  Don’t want to hold you up any longer.”

“You’re not holding me up at all, I promise,” Jungkook responded a bit too quickly, but yet again, you were too focused on your own embarrassment to notice.  Crossing his arms over his chest, the tall man tilted his head to the side.  “How are you going to get back to your dorm?  Do you have a ride?  You definitely shouldn’t be walking on your toe.”

Fuck.  He had a good point.  Regardless of the pain flowing through your foot, you were willing to walk on it just to escape this situation.  However, you knew you couldn’t tell him that.  “I, uh, one of my roommates has a car and I was going to call her to pick me up.”

“I have my car here.  I could drive you.”

Wait, what?  Had he really just offered you a ride?  If you had met his gaze, you would’ve seen that he looked just as surprised that such an offer had slipped out of his lips so casually.  Instead, you stared down at your lap as you attempted to process his suggestion.  If the situation had been even slightly less humiliating, a car ride with the Jeon Jungkook would have sounded like one of your fantasies come to life.  However, at the current moment all you could imagine was the intense awkward silence that would likely fill the car as you contemplated how to successfully fling yourself out of the window.  That would not do right now.  You were not in the right headspace to muster up any coherent form of small talk.  The offer was likely just extended out of pity anyway.  He was a good guy and deemed that that would be the righteous thing to do.  No need to burden him and actually make him follow through with it.

“No, no.  I wouldn’t make you do that.  I’m going to text my friend right now,” you assured him, weakly smiling as you moved the ice pack to the side to retrieve your removed sock and shoe.  “You have a workout to finish anyway.

“It wouldn’t be any trouble,” Jungkook insisted, watching intently as you carefully put your sneaker back on and tied it up at lightning speed.  When he realized you had no plans of speaking again, a defeated sigh pressed through his lips.  Why was he so set on helping you?  “Okay, okay.  As long as your friend is coming soon, that’ll work.  I can walk you to the lobby though.”

Realizing he wasn’t going to let you just run out of the room alone, you forced yourself to nod your head in agreement.  You were being dramatic.  You could handle one more minute in his presence before you imploded.  “Sure, thanks.”  The response came off a bit snappier than you had intended, but did that really matter at this point?  You weren’t going to be able to show your face around him ever again to begin with.

Once you pushed yourself off of the counter, Jungkook encouraged you to lean most of your weight against him as he led you out the door.  As you were already on the first floor of the facility, the walk to the lobby luckily didn’t take too long.  Upon arrival, you plopped down in one of the plush chairs by the door, fishing your phone out of the pocket of your hoodie and pretending to draft a text.  In all honesty, the moment Jungkook disappeared, you intended to wobble your way back to your dorm by twisting your foot to the side to avoid putting pressure on the big toe.  You were well aware that you were going to look ridiculous, but nothing could be more mortifying than what you had already experienced.

Jungkook stood over your chair, rubbing the back of his neck as he rocked from side to side on his feet.  Something about him just exuded nervous energy, and it was making you feel even more on edge.  “You’re sure your friend is able to come soon, right?”

Nodding your head in response, you lifted your hand into a thumbs-up that you regretted the second your hand formed it.  God, you might as well have hit him with some finger guns.  Could you be any cringier?  “Yes, don’t worry.  She’s on her way.  Really, thank you though.”

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his athletic shorts, Jungkook’s eyes scanned your face one last time.  It was almost as if he was searching for any hint of a lie, but if he had been, he wasn’t able to find it.  “Okay, okay… If you insist.  I’m sorry this had to happen to you.  I hope it heals quickly.”  His lips stretched into that signature bunny smile you had witnessed so many times while seeing him with his friends in public, but it almost looked a little more… Bashful.  “I’ll see you around, okay?”

No, no he would not.  You weren’t even sure that he had recognized you from being at the same coffee shop so often, but regardless, you had already planned to avoid the location at all costs.  You couldn’t stand the thought of him possibly approaching you out of pity to check and see if you were okay.

Instead of expressing any of these concerns, you twisted your lips into a small smile and nodded your head at him.  “Mhmm.  See you around.”

After lifting his hand in a wave, Jungkook smiled at you once more before turning on his heel and slowly starting to make his way back toward the main area of the gym.  You watched as he began to disappear, as you planned on rushing out the door the moment he was out of sight.  Right before he rounded the corner, his body twisted to face you once more.  If you hadn’t been so fixated on your own embarrassment, maybe you would’ve noticed the way his cheeks flushed a deep shade of red before he nervously laughed to himself and rounded the corner quickly so he was out of your line of vision.

The moment he disappeared, you gathered your belongings and rose to your feet a bit too quickly, immediately noticing how you forgot to avoid putting pressure on your toe.  Fighting through the pain and fighting to maintain any sense of pride you had left, you began your walk-- or rather, wobble-- home.

God, you needed some wine.

The rest of the week passed by without much trouble, but maybe that was due to your advanced avoiding skills.  Due to having three midterms throughout the week, most of your time was spent holed up alone studying.  While you usually would do most of your studying in your favorite quiet coffee shop, you made it a point to steer clear of it at all costs.  You were well aware that Jungkook also spent a lot of his time in that specific location, and you weren’t ready to show your face to him if it could be prevented.  He had been right; your toe wasn’t broken, but instead just badly bruised.  While your toe may have been fine, your ego certainly wasn’t.  After stumbling home after the incident on that Monday evening, your roommates had a laughing fest at your expense over a few too many bottles of wine.  They attempted to convince you that what had happened really wasn’t that embarrassing, that Jungkook seemed to be really sweet about it, and that such a chaotic event would be ‘the most epic story to tell people about the start of your relationship at your wedding.’  Although you indulged in their pipe dreams for the time being, you were going to stick to your plan: avoid Jungkook at all times possible until enough time had passed that he likely forgot about your humiliating catastrophe.

After a week of cramming for exams and perfecting your evading abilities, you were beyond ready to take a night to unwind and destress. That was precisely why you found yourself out at one of popular college bars by your campus with your friend Jennie on Friday night.  The pair of you weren’t exactly the type to go out and let loose very often as you tried your best to prioritize your studies, but once you allowed yourself to get dressed up and had a few vodka-crans running through your veins, you understood why a lot of college students went out so often and remembered why you used to so much during your freshman year.  The sensation of being tipsy and laughing with your friends was truly therapeutic and a much-needed antidote to counteract the toxic environment of never-ending stress.

Having been at the bar for over an hour, it started to get quite crowded.  As you twirled your straw around in your half-empty drink, you watched as Jennie began to look around at all of the new faces in the bar before freezing and pursing her lips. “Okay, not to make you freak out or anything… But hot coffee shop boy AKA sexy fitness instructor boy AKA Jeon Jungkook is here,” she whisper-yelled at you as she leaned toward your ear.  “He seems drunk… Like really drunk.”

Blinking rapidly as you tried to process this new information, you pulled back from her and began to shake your head.  This certainly was not what you needed to hear right now, but the alcohol in your system calmed you down at least a little bit so you didn’t immediately book it out of the place.  “So what you’re telling me is that I need to hide in the bathroom for the rest of the night?”  Despite your fears, you really wanted to get a glance of him.  Although the bar was quite large, you told yourself it would be too risky.  If experience had taught you anything, it was that even one glance at him could be fatal for you.

“Stop being ridiculous,” Jennie scoffed, shoving your shoulder before taking a long sip of her drink.  Her gaze remained set on the area of the crowded bar that you refused to look toward.  “He’s…” She paused for a moment before her eyes widened.  “Okay, I might be a little drunk, but I’m almost positive he keeps looking over here.”

“Maybe because you’re staring at him and drawing attention to us,” you scolded, narrowing your eyes at her.  “Please stop before I jump over the actual bar and hide behind it.”

Jennie laughed at your dramatic suggestion, eyeing your nervous persona up and down.  “Relax, relax.”  She looked over your shoulder yet again.  “Oh, wait.  He’s on the move now so I don’t think you have to worry.”

Letting out a sigh of relief, you took an extra long sip of your drink.  “Thank god.  I don’t need to relive my earlier trauma on a night out.”

“Wait, fuck.  I think--”

“Ah, is that toe girl?!”

Your whole body froze as you heard the close proximity of a very familiar male voice behind you.  You wanted to believe that your initial guess of what was occurring wasn’t true, but the mixture of shock and amusement on Jennie’s face as she looked over your shoulder at the sight behind you confirmed that your worst nightmare was, in fact, true.

Sucking in a deep breath and downing the rest of your drink before placing it down on the bar, you gave yourself a mental pep talk before slowly turning on your heel to face the source of the voice.  If there hadn’t been a decent amount of alcohol in your system, you were quite certain that you would’ve passed out right then and there.

There before you stood Jungkook with a cheeky grin spread across his lips and arms crossed over his chest as he stared down at, unfortunately, you.  He was sporting a pair of tight, ripped black jeans and a matching black t-shirt.  The clasping of a beer bottle in one hand and the way his arms were folded made his bicep muscles protrude in a manner that had you ready to start drooling.  Jennie had been right; his face was glowing a bright shade of red, likely due to a great deal of alcohol consumption.

Clearing your throat, you forced your lips into a shy smile as you folded your hands together in front of you.  You wished you hadn’t finished your drink so you had something more natural to do with your hands.  It felt as if though your heart was going to explode through your chest, but he was here now and there was no escaping.  “God, is that really what I’m known as now?”

“I mean, kind of.”  Jungkook let out a loud laugh, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so.  How was he so fucking gorgeous?  And why the fuck was this beautiful man going out of his way to talk to you on a night out?  “But I won’t call you that anymore.  It’s Y/N, right?”

Your brow furrowed as your mouth opened in surprise.  Wait, what?  Jungkook knew your name?  It felt like your mind was moving at a million miles a minute trying to process just how that could be possible.

A hand reached out from behind you to squeeze your shoulder, Jennie stepping forward and revealing herself after you had forgotten about her existence for a minute.  Her lips were twisted upward into a mischievous smile.  “I see a couple of my friends from one of my classes.  Gonna go say hi to them.  I’ll meet up with you later.”  After not-so-discreetly wiggling her eyebrows at you, she mouthed what appeared to be “good luck” before sauntering off.

“Looks like you’re stuck with me now.”  Jungkook chuckled quietly as he watched Jennie walk away before setting his eyes back on you and smiling warmly.  You were convinced that his smile was going to be the death of you.  “Hopefully you won’t try to run off as quickly as you did the other day.”

“I did not run off!” you scoffed immediately, crossing your own arms over your chest as you feigned offense.  Once again, thank god for alcohol, for you were well aware that this conversation would not be happening without it.  He was right, but you hadn’t realized he had noticed your urgency in escaping that day.  ‘I… I wasn’t even aware that you knew my name.”

“Suuure you didn’t.  You couldn’t get away from me fast enough,” Jungkook teased, leaning forward a bit to nudge his shoulder against yours.  The area of skin he touched immediately felt like it was on fire, as did your cheeks.  “But of course I know your name.  We had Earth Science together last year and you’re always studying at the same coffee shop by North campus that I do.  You’re kind of hard to miss.”

You?  Hard to miss?  Not to mention, the Earth Science class was a lecture with over one hundred students in it, and the professor hardly ever took any form of attendance.  Sure you could say the same thing about you knowing his name, but that was only because you had gone out of your way to find out who he was after becoming captivated by him upon seeing him at the coffee shop.  This didn’t make any sense.  Were you dreaming?  Hallucinating?

Raising an eyebrow at him, you decided to keep your response simple.  “You’ve never talked to me, though…”

“I know, I know.”  Jungkook unfolded his arms and clasped both of his hands around his beer bottle, staring down at his fingers as he tapped them against the glass.  Maybe it was the dim lighting in the bar, but you could’ve sworn his cheeks darkened as he avoided your eyes.  The aroma of cologne and beer coming off of him at the close proximity had you feeling light-headed.  “I’ve always wanted to.  Planned to talk to you at the coffee shop this week, but you were nowhere to be seen.  You just… I… You’re really pretty and you’re always smiling and I kind of freaked out when I saw you taking that class on Monday.  I’m pretty shy and not exactly the most confident person so I have no idea why I’m saying this right now… Definitely all of the beer I’ve drank… But I probably shouldn’t be overstepping or saying any of this anyway since I’m starting to realize that you’ve probably been avoiding me or think I’m weird or something.  Sorry for offering to drive you home the other day… I realized after that that probably seemed creepy coming from a total stranger.”  He looked to the side as he began to nervously tap his foot against the floor.  Something that sounded like a nervous laugh pressed through his lips.  “Fuck.  This is why I barely ever drink.”

Your body remained frozen as you stared at the side of his face, fully aware of the fact that your jaw had dropped and you were visibly gaping at him.  No.  There was absolutely no way that those words came out of his mouth and he meant them.  It had to be the excessive amount of alcohol in his system, right?  Or maybe he was just sweet talking you to try to get laid.  That had to be it, right?  You weren’t sure if you were going to throw up, pass out, or do both at the same time.  The vodka taking over your own system was preventing you from being able to form any sort of coherent thought.  Still, he deserved a response.

“What?  I don’t think you’re weird at all,” you reassured, chewing on your lower lip as you tried to read the expression on his face.  God, you really could have come up with something better than that.

Jungkook’s doe eyes at last met yours again, a disbelieving look in his eyes.  “Then why’d you lie and say your friend was picking you up and end up walking home on a possibly broken toe instead of letting me drive you home?”

Oh my god, he had seen you do that?  You were certain he was completely out of sight when you had dragged yourself out of the building.  To be fair, you hadn’t taken into account the fact that the place was covered with windows that would have given anyone access to see outside the front of the building, but why would he have been looking anyway?  Just as you thought that day couldn’t have gotten any more embarrassing, it did.  

The mix of alcohol in your system and your heart pounding in your chest was quickly becoming too much to handle and making you lose control over your faculties.  Maybe that was why you blurted out, “I-I don't know… You make me nervous.”

“You make me nervous too!”

Before you could even begin to comprehend the weight of his words, another male figure popped up beside Jungkook and draped an arm over his shoulders.  His bright pink hair made him easily identifiable.  It was iced chai, also known as Park Jimin.  If Jennie had noticed he was there, she certainly would have been freaking out.

“There you are!  I’ve been looking for you.  You just disappeared on me,” Jimin informed Jungkook, his gaze quickly moving to set on your distraught form.  If you hadn’t been so out of sorts, perhaps you would’ve noticed the look of recognition in his eyes as they set on you.  “I’m sorry, is he bothering you?  He never usually goes out with us and gets drunk like this, so I’m sorry if he’s a little chaotic.”

Shaking your head at Jimin, you offered him a comforting smiling.  You could feel Jungkook’s concerned eyes burning a hole into the side of your face.  “No, no.  He’s not bothering me at all, don’t worry.”

“Oh, thank god.  I was worried he might do something stupid.”  Jimin let out a sigh of relief, looking between the pair of you.  Could that ‘something stupid’ be what had just occurred?  At last, he gave Jungkook a firm pat on the shoulder.  “We have to get going right now.  Hoseok thought it’d be a good idea to down five tequila shots in a row after all of the beer we drank back at the dorm.  He has his head down on the bar with his eyes closed and I want to get him out of here before he starts puking everywhere.  Afraid you might end up in the same state if you keep drinking at this pace too, dude.”

“I’m fiiine,” Jungkook snapped back at him, rolling his eyes as he shrugged Jimin’s arm off of his shoulder.  He peered at you for a quick second before his eyes averted downward, the nerves that had been there before refusing to go away.  After taking a few moments to ponder what his friend had just told him, he let out a defeated sigh.  “Fine.  We can go.  Only because it’s Hoseok though.”

“I’ve already requested the Uber so we should head outside now,” Jimin urged, glancing over toward where Hoseok likely was sitting at the bar.

“Um.” Jungkook at last forced himself to look at you, his lips curving upward into the slightest smile.  It seemed forced though, and you knew it was because you didn’t have the opportunity to elaborate on and finish the conversation you were having before Jimin butted in.  You also felt as if though you were about to self-implode and needed some time to comprehend what had just unfolded.  “Sorry.  I have to get going, I guess.  I’ll see you around though, okay?”

Nodding your head in agreement, you allowed yourself to return a reassuring smile.  “Okay.  I’ll see you around.”  This time, it was possible that you meant it.

After he gave you one last anxious look, he turned on his heel and followed Jimin’s lead, disappearing out of your sight.

Where the fuck was Jennie?

After scoping out Jennie in the corner of the bar, you had convinced her that it was absolutely necessary to immediately take an Uber home to debrief on what had occurred.  Within half an hour, you had managed to arrive back safely to your dorm and had replaced your uncomfortable clothes with pajamas and your vodka crans with a bottle of wine.  Although your mind felt quite foggy from trying to piece together everything that Jungkook had said, you were able to provide Jennie with at least the majority of the details.

“Wait, hold on.  Let me think about this.”  Jennie threw herself back against your bed, staring up at the ceiling after her head hit the pillows.  “So basically what you’re telling me is that you are to Jungkook what Jungkook is to you?  Like he pretty much admitted to admiring you from afar and being too afraid to talk to you all of this time?” she questioned, eyes wide in amazement.  “God damn, why can’t shit like this happen to me?  This is like some fairytale shit.  You’re so fucking lucky.”

Taking a big swig directly out of the bottle of cheap rosé, you let out an exasperated sigh.  “I don’t know.  It seems too good to be true.  Like, what if he was just really drunk and didn’t know what he was saying?  You even said he seemed really drunk.  Or like, what if he was just being nice because he was trying to get laid?”

“Y/N, don’t be ridiculous.  I know this all seems so unreal because we never thought something like this was possible, but the things he said to you were way too specific to just be a fluke.” Jennie sat up straight again and pulled the bottle of wine out of your hands, taking a sip herself.  “Besides, I was watching you guys from across the bar.  He looked absolutely smitten with you and ridiculously nervous, drunk or not.”

“Fuck, I’m so much better at just daydreaming about guys than actually knowing how to talk to them and attempting to form actual relationships,” you groaned out, closing your eyes and resting your head on Jennie’s shoulder.  “What am I supposed to do?”

“I hate to break it to you since I know this is very out of character for you, but you’re going to have to make the next move.  He laid his cards on the table, and now the ball is in your court.”  Jennie allowed her head to fall on top of yours and passed the bottle of wine back to you.  “Based on what you explained to me, you didn’t really provide him with a whole lot of reassurance that the feeling was mutual and he’s probably feeling super embarrassed right now… Like, definitely more embarrassed than you felt after the whole gym incident.  You have to let him know that you’re interested in him too.”

Letting out a huff, you tapped your fingers against the glass of the bottle of wine.  Jennie did have a valid point, as much as you hated to admit it.  Regardless of Jungkook’s intentions and just how drunk he may have been, he had seemed incredibly flustered after rambling on and exposing what he had to you.  As much as there was still a part of you that was convinced that he hadn’t meant what he said, there was a bigger part of you that was excited about what this could possibly lead to if you followed through with it.  You would have to throw away your nerves and muster up the tiny bit of confidence you had if this was ever going to happen.

“Okay, so what’s the game plan?”

The plan you and Jennie had concocted ended up being a lot more difficult to follow through with than you had initially imagined.  The original scheme involved you approaching him at the coffee shop you both always studied at, but despite the numerous occasions you dropped by and spent hours studying there over the next week, he was nowhere to be found.  It was almost as if he had adopted the same avoiding technique you had the week prior after being embarrassed at what unfolded at the gym.  You weren’t exactly surprised, but it was making this whole thing a lot more complicated for you.  Furthermore, the longer it dragged out, the more anxious you got that maybe this was all a bad idea and that you had misunderstood what he said at the bar.

After a week with no luck, Jennie had convinced you that maybe it would be a better idea to try to track him down at the gym.  Despite going almost every day and keeping your eyes peeled for him, he was nowhere to be seen.  It wasn’t until a few days later that it dawned on you that the group fitness class schedule was posted online, and that it was possible that he now had some classes that were officially assigned to him.  Sure enough, upon checking the recreation website, you quickly discovered that he did have a couple classes that he was set to teach.  While this information certainly was helpful, it was quite unfortunate that every class he led happened to be at the ass-crack of dawn.  God, were you really interested in the type of guy who gets up extra early to work out?  Apparently so.

So that was precisely how you found yourself rolling up to the gym at 6:45am on a Tuesday morning, eyes heavy with exhaustion as you searched for the room the class was being held in.  Your heart was pounding and your palm was sweaty against your water bottle, but you were too dedicated to turn around at this point.  You had spent over a week trying to track him down, and you at last had.

When you entered the room, Jungkook had not arrived yet.  There were already quite a few girls in the room setting up their equipment, so you followed suit.  As most participants were often too intimidated to take the spots up front and center in front of where the instructor stood, you took it upon yourself to do the honors.  Of course you knew this would make Jungkook want to run the other way, but the thrill of making him as nervous as you were that last time was too exciting to turn down.

The door of the room opened and closed once more, and you didn’t even have to look up to feel his presence.  Here we go.  “Hi, everyone!  Welcome to class.  My name is Jungkook and I’ll be your instructor toda--” His voice cut off at the end of his statement, and when you finally allowed your eyes to set on him, he was already looking at you with wide eyes and tinted cheeks.  Within a millisecond, his eyes found the ground and he apprehensively took his spot directly in front of you.  The poor guy didn’t have a choice.  “U-Um, if you guys have any questions before we get started, please don’t hesitate to wave me over!”  You had a very strong feeling he was praying you wouldn’t wave him over.

The plan you had created before arriving was to wait until after class was over to ask him if he could talk for a few minutes.  You knew it wouldn’t be fair to put him on the spot before class, and you didn’t exactly feel comfortable confessing your feelings for him in front of twenty other girls who were probably drooling over him as well either.  

You managed to follow through with the plan, not communicating with Jungkook at all before and throughout the class except for a few soft smiles and some attempted eye contact.  The eye contact thing didn’t go over so well though, for whenever you did manage to get Jungkook to lock eyes with you, he’d immediately turn bright red and force himself to look everywhere but at you.  His nervous stammering through the microphone when giving instructions was almost too cute to handle.

When the class finally did come to an end and you were a sweaty mess, you sucked in a deep breath as you watched the rest of the participants start to put away their equipment.  Setting your eyes on Jungkook, you smiled slightly.  “Hey, can we talk?”

Jungkook looked up from his phone, eyes wide and clearly panicked.  He scanned your face carefully, almost as if he was trying to guess what your intentions were.  At last, he swallowed the lump in his throat and shoved his phone into his pocket.  “U-Um, sure, I guess.  Let’s just wait until everyone clears out.”

Nodding in agreement, you sat back and watched as the rest of the participants put their materials back in the closet and slowly began to file out of the room.  With each person that left, you could sense Jungkook getting more and more anxious.  He seemed to be mindlessly checking things around the room, his eyes darting back and forth between the door and any part of you that wasn’t your eyes.  By the time the last girl exited, your heart was pounding in your chest as well.

Clearing your throat, you watched as Jungkook walked to the front of the room to shut the door, seeming to take as long as humanly possible to pull it closed.  Just as you were about to speak the pitch you had practiced in your head and to Jennie numerous times over the past week, he opened his mouth.

“Look, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here and I know that I might have been a bit overbearing when I was drunk last week, but if you’re just here to make me nervous and make fun of me and my awkward self for having a crush on you, you can just leave.”  He at last whipped around to face you, a sad expression taking over his features as he began to pace back and forth, running a hand through his sweaty hair.  He resembled something like a wounded puppy, and the longer you stared at him, the more you noticed just how exhausted and agitated he looked.

That definitely was not what you had expected and you felt awful that he had spent over a week thinking that you were probably teasing him with your friends for what he had said to you at the bar.  Furrowing your brow, you pushed yourself up to your feet and crossed your arms over your chest.  The planned speech was not going to do in these circumstances.  You would have to cut straight to point.

“I dropped that weight on my foot because I’ve been ridiculously attracted to you for over a year and got embarrassingly flustered at the sight of your shirt riding up during class.”

Jungkook stopped dead in his tracks, clasping both of his hands behind his head as he at last allowed himself to look at you.  His eyes were wide in shock, his head tilted just slightly to the left.  “Wait, what?”

“I didn’t want you to drive me home because I was already so embarrassed and was so nervous that I would’ve only embarrassed myself more trying to talk to you without making a complete fool out of myself.”

As you spoke again, Jungkook hesitantly took a couple of steps in your direction.  It seemed as if though his expression was slowly softening, and what almost appeared to be a small smile was fighting to form on the corners of his lips.  “I asked you to borrow a pen that one time in Earth Science with plans to work up the nerve to talk to you at the end of class when I had to give it back, but instead I just kept it and ran out of the room because I got too nervous.”

Unable to hide your own smile now, you allowed yourself to take a step toward him.  The closer you got to each other, the more the tension in the room built.  “I lied and said that I had an extra pen that day, but really I gave you my only one and just didn’t take notes that whole class.”

At last, that familiar bunny smile stretched across Jungkook’s whole face, his chest bubbling in laughter as he threw his head back.  “I once tried to ‘accidentally’ drop a book near you at the coffee shop in hopes that you’d pick it up and talk to me, but instead I just dropped it and tripped over it.”  Another step forward.

Giggling quietly, you chewed on your lower lip as you advanced forward.  “My friends and I have collectively referred to you by the code name ‘hot coffee shop boy’ ever since the first time I saw you there.  Also, ‘sexy gym instructor boy’ since last week.”

Jungkook’s eyes were boring into yours at this point, his body inching forward just slightly as his toes finally bumped against yours.  The tension-- not just from what was happening at the moment, but also from a year of pining after each other-- was so close to bubbling over.  “My friends and I know you as ‘hot coffee shop girl.’  Also, ‘toe girl’ since last week.”  The warm smile on his lips had twisted into a sort of mischievous smirk.

Leaning your head forward the slightest bit, your breath hitched in your throat as you could feel the warmth of his breath against your lips.  “If I haven’t made it clear yet, I’m extremely into you.”

Jungkook’s eyes-- which had darkened quite a bit over the last minute-- flickered down to your lips, his own head leaning forward an inch.  With this movement, the tip of his nose brushed against yours.  “And if I haven’t made it obvious yet, I’m extremely into you too.”

Before you could utter another word, Jungkook closed the minimal space remaining between the two of you by crashing his plump lips into yours.  His hands moved up to cup your cheeks, one moving along the back of your head to tangle into your hair.  Your own hands gripped to the front of his shirt as you stumbled back a bit due to the impact, your back bumping against the mirror in the front of the room.  The tension that had previously been building had popped the moment his lips met yours, but as his fingers tugged on your hair and his tongue found its way between your lips, you felt it resurfacing, this time between your legs.  You felt a bit flustered getting turned on this quickly by him, but when you put it into perspective, you had been waiting for this moment to unravel for over a year.  As your hands slid up the front of his shirt to rest on his defined core, you were certain you could feel his length getting hard against your thigh.

Pulling away after a minute, Jungkook rested his forehead against yours and stared deeply into your eyes as he breathed heavily.  There was a playful smirk on his lips as he dropped the hand from your face and rested it on your hip.  It was nice to see that he had finally let his guard down.  “So, I have to ask.  Are you more for sex first or a fancy date first?  I’m happily offering both, but we’re both kind of coming off a bit impatient here.”

Biting your tongue to hold in your laughter, you couldn’t ignore the way that the heat in the pit of your stomach was quickly sinking down lower between your legs.  “You know, if you hadn’t been so difficult to track down this past week, I may have taken you up on that fancy date first.”  You ghosted your fingers over his stomach, eliciting a surprised jolt out of him.  “But after you made me wait so long, I think you just might have to fuck me first.”

Jungkook’s eyes widened in surprise at your lewd words before he smirked and pressed his body against yours a bit harder, leaning forward to kiss a trail of wet kisses down your jawline.  “I’m happy to be at your service, but we’re kind of out in the open here.  I could drive us back to my room, that is if you’ll actually get in the car with me this time.”

Rolling your eyes at his teasing comment, you shoved at his chest.  Regardless, you couldn’t deny the fact that you were feeling incredibly impatient and weren’t sure you would be able to handle the wait while he transported you across campus.  Chewing on your lower lip, your eyes scanned the room.  “Equipment closet.  It’s spacious enough, it locks, and there’s no windows.”

“Jesus Christ,” Jungkook muttered under his breath, eyes searching your face for any hint of a lie.  When he didn’t find any, he smirked and pulled back, grabbing your hand in his.  “You know, I had planned on doing a lot of things today, but fucking in an equipment closet at the ripe hour of eight in the morning certainly wasn’t one of them.”

“Get used to it, hot coffee shop boy.”  Smirking to yourself, you allowed him to drag you towards the closet, pressing your back against the door after he closed and locked it behind you.  “Are you complaining?”

Rapidly shaking his head, Jungkook leaned forward and peppered kisses along your neck and collarbone, only pulling back to tug your shirt and sports bra over your head.  “No, no.  Just concerned you’re going to be the death of me before I even get started with you.”  Taking a step back, he pulled his own shirt over his head before allowing his eyes to rake up and down your body.  A combination of lust and admiration filled his eyes as he stepped toward you again.  “God, you really are so beautiful.”

Despite the fact that you had both been completely open with each other and the current situation being far from romantic, you felt your cheeks heating up at his compliment.  Shaking your head, you poked him in the stomach.  “Speak for yourself.  That’s the reason why I almost broke my toe.”

Throwing back his head in laughter, Jungkook stepped forward and wrapped his arms around your waist, lifting your body up and placing you down on top of a few stacked crates full of equipment.  “Mmm, I can make it up to you right now.”

Leaning forward, you pressed a few kisses along the corners of his lips and his jaw.  “And how are you going to do that?”

“Shhh, patience.”  Jungkook grinned as he bent down, slowly kissing a trail down your neck and collarbones.  When he reached your breasts, he slowed down his pace, carefully taking one of your nipples between his lips and softly sucking at the skin.  Once he established a rhythm that he was satisfied with, he lifted a hand and latched it around your other breast, kneading the skin between his fingers.

Letting out a soft moan, you threw your head back in pleasure and closed your eyes.  Your hands fastened around his neck, gently tugging at the hair on the back of his head.  The longer his lips and hands worked at your breasts, the more the heat between your legs throbbed.  “How am I supposed to be patient when I’ve waited so long for this?”

Jungkook’s eyes flickered up to meet yours, his lips making a popping noise as he removed them from your breast.  “You make a fair point.”  Kissing down your stomach, he urged you to lift your hips as he tugged your leggings and panties down your legs and allowed them to fall into a pile on the floor.  Kneeling down on the floor, his lips trailed their way up the inside of your thigh.  “Mmm, so wet already and I’ve barely even touched you.”

Whimpering softly at the feeling of his lips so close to where you needed them, you bucked your hips upward in an attempt to feel any sort of friction.  “P-Please.”

Chuckling quietly, Jungkook’s dark eyes remained on yours as he ghosted his lips over your dripping pussy.  The shy, insecure boy that he claimed to be earlier was nowhere to be found.  Instead, he was now indulging in the power he held over you.  “Who made you this wet?  Tell me.”

“You, J-Jungkook.  You did,” you whined out, attempting to push down on the back of his head.

Jungkook flashed you a satisfied smirk, nodding his head.  “That’s all I needed to hear, babe.”  Without another word, he gripped his hands around your thighs roughly and lifted your legs to drape over his shoulders.  Leaning forward, he closed the remaining space and attached his lips to your pussy.  Rather than making you wait any longer to have the tension relieved, he immediately went to work on your throbbing clit, gently sucking at the sensitive bundle of nerves.  Once he was pleased by the moans leaving your lips and the clenching of your thighs, he pulled his lips off and replaced it with his tongue.  Expertly circling his tongue on your clit, he reached one hand down and, without warning, began to pump one of his fingers in and out of your pussy.

“F-Fuck, oh my god, Jungkook,” you moaned out loudly, pulling harshly at his hair with one hand and reaching the other up to pinch at one of your nipples.  “R-Right there.”

“Mmm, need to get you stretched out and ready for my cock,” he murmured against your heat, quickly inserting another finger and curving them at the perfect angle to hit your g-spot with every pulse.  After circling your clit with his tongue a few more times, he encircled the bud with his lips yet again, this time humming against it to add an extra feeling of friction.

The sensation of his tongue and fingers working on your pussy and the sight of his glistening face was quickly becoming too much to handle.  With every movement, the bundle of nerves in your core was getting closer and closer to snapping and sending you into that blissful state you so longed for.  Biting down on your lower lip roughly, you closed your eyes tightly.  “I-I’m close.”

“Open your eyes.  I want you looking at me while you cum all over my tongue,” he rasped out after pulling back slightly, only leaning back down once you obeyed his command.  After a moment, he wet two of his fingers on his tongue before quickly beginning to circle them on your clit, moving his tongue in and out of your cunt at the same speed.

“F-Fuck, Jungkook!” you yelled out, forcing your eyes to remain open and fixed on his as you were quickly sent over the edge and into a state of ecstasy.  Your walls spasmed around his tongue as your vision became blurry and filled with stars.  The feeling was only prolonged as Jungkook kept moving his tongue until you couldn’t take it anymore and reached forward to push his head back slightly, left completely breathless as you stared at him.

Getting off his knees and onto his feet, Jungkook stared down at you in awe, leaning forward to press his forehead against yours.  The sight of your release on his lips that he refused to wipe off had your core already begging for more.  “God, that was so fucking hot.  You’re so fucking beautiful.”  Letting out a deep breath, he pecked your lips a couple times.

“How are you so fucking good at that?” you muttered against his lips, blindly reaching forward in search of the tie on his sweatpants.  Once you found it, you tugged roughly at it, sitting up straighter to urge both his pants and boxers down his thighs.

Chuckling to himself, Jungkook assisted you and pulled the articles of clothing down the length of his legs, stepping out of them once they reached the floor.  “I’d like to think that I’m a gentleman in the streets and a freak in the sheets…” His eyes wandered around the room for a moment.  “Or in the gym equipment room, apparently.”  

Rolling your eyes and giggling at his joke, you pulled him forward again to peck his lips.  “You know, if you moved to the side and let me get up, I’d happily return the favor.”  Your eyes wandered down the front of his body until they set on his hardened cock resting against his stomach, the sight of it causing you to clench your thighs together.

Shaking his head in response, Jungkook flashed you a shy smile.  God, how could he be so sexual yet so cute at the same time?  “As enticing as that sounds and as much as I would never turn that down on any other occasion, I’m afraid I’m not going to last if I don’t fuck you right now.”  Stepping forward, he looked down before cursing under his breath.  “Fuck, I don’t have a condom on me.  We don’t have fuck to if you’re not comfortable.”

“Wow, you didn’t bring a condom with you to your 7am fitness class?  How irresponsible of you,” you joked, shoving his shoulder before pulling him closer to you.  “I’m on the pill and I’m clean, so as long as you’re clean it’s fine with me.”

“You know, you’re going to regret teasing me,” he warned, laughing softly as he nudged his nose against yours.  “But yes, I’m clean too.”

Wrapping your arms around his neck, you raised a mocking eyebrow at him.  “Oh yeah?  And why am I going to regret it?”

Without another word, Jungkook reached down and grabbed his cock with one of his hands.  Rather than pushing it right inside of you, he instead slowly started to rub its angry red tip up and down your folds.  His eyes remained on yours, a teasing smirk tugging at the edges of his lips.

Biting on your tongue to suppress your whimpers, your eyes wandered down to the area between your thighs.  “W-What are you doing?”

Pressing his lips against your jawline, he let out an amused chuckle.  “Nothing until you tell me what you need.  Use your words, sweetheart.”

Reaching around him, you dug your nails into the skin on his upper back.  It wasn’t in your character to beg during sex, but the sight of the tip of his cock glistening in your juices from your first orgasm was enough to make you give in.  “P-Please fuck me, Jungkook.”  You forced yourself to lock eyes with him, hoping that the desperation you were exuding would be enough to make him cave.

Grinning in amusement against the skin of your neck, he nodded his head.  “Good girl.”  Sliding his cock down your folds one last time, he slowly slid it inside of your entrance once he reached it, a loud groan escaping his lips as he pushed all the way inside of you.  “F-Fuck, you’re so tight.”

Moaning out in pleasure at the feeling of fullness, you whimpered as you watched the sight of his cock disappearing inside of you.  The spectacle alone was enough to make the heat in your core reemerge, and your body was pleading for him to do more.  “M-Move.  F-Faster, please.”

Grabbing one of your legs, he extended it upward and propped it over his shoulder.  After getting a good grip on it, he quickly began to thrust in and out of you.  “Yeah?  You like that, babe?” he breathed out, his eyes screwing shut in pleasure before he buried his face into your neck again.

Dragging your nails down his sweaty back, you were sure you were going to leave some marks behind.  It only took a few moments for the feeling of overstimulation to wash away, and a new, deeper pleasure to replace it.  With your leg hanging over his shoulder, his cock managed to hit you at just the right angle with every thrust.  Using your grip on his back to press your body closer to his, you took the opportunity to wrap your free leg tightly around his waist.  The new position made it so his cock brushed against your clit every time he pulled it out of you, the feeling nearly having your eyes rolling to the back of your head.  “O-Oh my god, right there.”

Jungkook’s half-lidded eyes remained fixed on yours as he lifted one hand off of your thigh, pressing his index and middle finger together and moving them toward your mouth.  “Open.”  Once you complied, he inserted his fingers into your mouth.  His teeth dug into his lower lip as he watched the way you closed your lips, swirling your tongue around his digits a couple of times before sliding your lips back up and releasing them with a loud ‘pop.’  There was a mesmerized look in Jungkook’s eyes as his thrusts slowed for a moment.  “J-Jesus fuck, that was hot.”

A cocky smirk initially tried to spread across your lips, but it was washed away the moment he began to circle his lubricated fingers over your clit, his cock pounding in and out of your pussy at a pace that had you ready to unravel at any second.  “I-I’m close.”

Letting out what sounded like a combination of a groan and a whimper, Jungkook leaned forward and brushed his lips over yours.  “Cum all over my cock for me, babe.”

“J-Jungkook, f-fuck!” The sound of his raspy command and the feeling of his cock inside of you was all it took to push you over the edge again.  Your second orgasm hit you even harder than the first, a sensation of rapturous bliss overtaking your senses as your toes curled and your thighs were left convulsing around his body.  While your mind went foggy for a few seconds, the strain that was left in the back of your throat suggested that you had yelled out in pleasure quite loudly.  The euphoria was dragged out even longer as Jungkook had yet to reach his own high, his thrusts becoming sloppier as you stared up at him with hazy vision, gasping for breath.

“I-I’m close too,” Jungkook whimpered out, eyes screwing shut as your walls continued to twitch around his cock in the aftershock of your orgasm.  “W-Where do you want me to cum, babe?”

Coming back to your senses, you blinked a few times until your vision returned back to normal.  Finally processing his request, you used quite a bit of your strength to push him back a bit, ignoring the confused look on his face.  Using the space in front of you, you pushed yourself off of the elevated surface before getting down on your knees.  “My mouth.”  Reaching forward, you grasped his shaft in one hand, pumping his length a few times before leaning down and capturing his tip between your lips.  After circling your tongue around it a few times, you hollowed out your cheeks and began to bob your head up and down.

“O-Oh my… F-Fuck, Y/N.” Jungkook quickly adapted to the new sensation, his hands reaching around your head to tangle into your hair and urge your head down his cock further.  He locked eyes with you from above, his legs trembling around your head.  Taking notice of just how close he was, you forced your mouth down further to accommodate the rest of his cock in your mouth, swallowing around his length at the bottom.  The motion and the feeling of the tip of his length hitting the back of your throat was enough to make you gag, and that was all it took to push Jungkook to his climax.

Jungkook was a groaning mess above you as he released his load down your throat, unconsciously thrusting into your mouth further a couple of times to ride out of high.  After a few more spurts of his hot cum filled your mouth, you worked your mouth back up his length.  Once your lips popped off of the tip of his cock, you pulled back and swallowed thickly, the salty taste of his release lingering in your throat.

After taking a few moments to catch his breath, Jungkook reached down and grabbed your hand, pulling you up onto your feet in front of him.  Despite the crude nature of what had just occurred, the smile stretched across his lips seemed so… Innocent.  “Well… That happened.”  He reached up and pushed the sweaty hair that was sticking to his forehead out of his face.

Laughing softly at his words, you bit your lip and crossed your arms over your chest.  “I mean, that’s certainly one way to work out at the gym.”

Jungkook’s whole body shook as he erupted into laughter, leaning down and beginning to grab all of your discarded clothing articles off of the ground.  He sorted through them and handed you back yours, beginning to redress himself after.  Once he was dressed, he grabbed a towel out of one of the crates and made sure the area was clean.  “Don’t forget we worked out before too.  That’s two whole workouts.  We’re going to need to fuel up with some electrolytes or coffee or something.”

Forcing your damp leggings back onto your sweaty body wasn’t exactly the easiest or most enjoyable thing to do, but you managed.  Once your shirt was back on, you looked back over at him and feigned an exaggerated amount of excitement.  “Oh my god, am I going to be able to get coffee with hot coffee shop boy?”

“Only if hot coffee shop girl would be so willing to accompany him,” Jungkook jived, nudging your shoulder with his before unlocking and pulling open the door of the closet.  To your relief, the room was still empty and there seemed to be no one lurking outside of it.  Grabbing his backpack at the front of the room, he slung it over his shoulder.  “It might be a good idea for us to shower first, though.  I have a strong suspicion that we probably smell prettttty bad.”

Grabbing your own bag and water bottle, you laughed in amusement as you followed him out the door of the classroom and into the main area of the gym.  “I have a feeling you’re right.  Should we shower and plan to meet up after?”

Walking through the lobby, Jungkook held open the main door for you before following you outside.  It was much brighter out now than when you had arrived at the facility almost two hours prior.  Time really does fly by when you’re having fun.  “I feel like we can’t really be trusted with the whole ‘see you around’ thing and going our separate ways just yet after the shit we both pulled avoiding each other the past couple weeks.  Plus, I’m not quite done with you just yet.”

Snickering at the reminder of your past dramatic behavior, you nodded your head in agreement.  “So what did you have in mind?”

Stopping in his tracks, Jungkook turned to face you.  “So first, I was thinking you could come back to my place and we could both shower there.  I could provide you with some clothes for the time being, but if you need to change later, I can bring you back to your place.”  The corners of his lips began to twitch upward.  “However, that would require you getting into my car with me, and history suggests that doing so ‘makes you nervous,’ or something like that.”

“Hmm, I’m pretty sure I remember something about me making you nervous too.  I think some weird drunk guy told me that.”  Scoffing at his flirtatious teasing, you playfully shoved his chest.  “Anything else planned?”

“Hey, that ‘weird drunk guy’ is the reason we’re here today,” he scoffed, grabbing one of your hands off of his chest and lacing his fingers with yours.  “Then I was thinking we could go to our favorite coffee shop.  But… And I know this is kind of a wild idea... I’m thinking we sit at the same table for the first time instead of dropping pens and books to try to get each other’s attention from across the room.”

Squeezing his hand, you began to follow him as he led the way to what you assumed was going to be his car.  “A bold suggestion, but I’m into it.  Might have you drop a book at my feet and I’ll stare at you across the room longingly just for old time’s sake.”  When you reached a shiny black SUV, Jungkook unlocked it and walked around the passenger side, opening the door for you.  “So I’m guessing these plans involve us skipping classes today?”

“Well, obviously.”  Jungkook flashed you a bright grin as you climbed into the car, shutting the door gently once you were in the seat.  He ran around the front of it and quickly hopped into the driver’s seat, leaning over to look at you once inside.  “And then once the evening comes, as I suggested earlier, I would still love to take you out to dinner, if you’d let me.”  Despite everything that had just unfolded and all of the confessions you both had shared, there still appeared to be a glimmer of nervousness and hesitation in his eyes.

Leaning to the side, you reached over and placed your hand on top of his.  Your lips formed into a reassuring smile.  “I would love to.”

Jungkook lifted your hand that was over his to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss against your fingers.  “Good.”  Turning to face forward, he started the car and began to back out of the space.  As he looked at the pathway in front of the gym, he directed a mischievous smirk at you.  “Remember that time you walked back to your room on a swollen toe to avoid getting into my car with me?  Good times.”

Letting out a groan, you covered your flushed face with both of your hands.  “If you don’t shut up, I’m about to hit you with a ‘see you around’ and roll right out of the side of your car while it’s moving.”

“Okay, okay.  I’m sorrrry,” Jungkook laughed to himself, grabbing the wrist closest to him to pull your hand off of your face.  “As compensation for your shame, I will make another embarrassing confession.”  He knitted his brow together as he thought for a few moments before chuckling to himself as a memory came to mind.  “I once accidentally liked one of your Instagram pictures that was like… 72 weeks old and almost considered moving to another country and changing my identity.  I unliked it right away and you probably didn’t even notice, but I was stressed.  There.  Does that make you feel better?”

Gnawing on the inside of your cheek to hide your smile, you glanced at the side of his face.  “Mmm, a little bit.  I think I’m going to need you to keep going.”

Jungkook scoffed as he placed your hand that he was holding down on his thigh, shaking his head in disbelief.  “How is that fair?  I think I deserve some form of payment if I’m going to keep exposing myself too.”

“Fine, fine.”  You gently squeezed his thigh, your mind sifting through all of the embarrassing things you had done in the past due to your embarrassing infatuation of the boy who was now sitting beside you.  “I tried to order you, like, a sort of secret admirer coffee on Valentine’s Day, but the barista ended up giving it to the wrong guy and I ended up leaving the shop because I was so mortified.”

“Aw, I’ve always wanted to have a secret admirer,” Jungkook teased, parking the car in front of his building.  “God, we really could go on forever with these embarrassing stories, huh?”

Nodding your head, you reached your hand up and playfully poked at his dimple.  “It sure seems that way.  We’re kind of the worst.”

Unbuckling his seatbelt and hopping out of the car, he met you at the front of it and draped an arm over your shoulders.  “Good.  Just gives me another reason to keep you around longer.”

And while ‘see you around’ hadn’t been a promise that either of you kept before, keeping you around from then on certainly was one that he fulfilled.