#should be more action in the next chapter and now i kinda know how i want things to go from here on out so it should be a bit better lmfao

[analogwriting]

Star-Crossed

Chapter 17: Sydän

Donquixote Rosinante x gn!reader word count: 2.7k a/n: i tried my best to make it kind of actiony ;a; there should be a lil bit more in the next one lmao first|next

The plan was straightforward and simple enough to remember. Sneak in to the underside through your secret entrance, slowly take them all out one by one and replace them with your own, and then take the front side of the hospital.

You knew you couldn't make a detailed plan. There were too many unknown factors. One thing that made everything easier was the fact that your underground staff were willing to come back. You had been worried that they hated you for disappearing on them, but each one of them had been more than overjoyed to hear from you. 

Each one of them had shared the same vision as you; to help people regardless of where they came from. You had expressed that things would change from here on out, that you wouldn't be helping anymore members from any families unless they were looking to get out of there or if children were involved. None of them had an issue with this change, in fact, a lot of them agreed. Seems the events had changed a lot of people’s views, not just yours.

It probably helped that most of these staff had been the same as you - former members of families that renounced all that long ago. You hadn’t realized until now just how well you had chosen for your elite staff.

Now that all that had been settled, you were still dealing with an overly worried Corazon - not that his feelings were invalid, this was a dangerous heist you were carrying out. At any point you could die, not that you would. If you were sure of anything, it was at least that.

You had persuaded him to temporarily move into Pops and Marco’s place. He had let it slip that Doflamingo had his other place on surveillance, so he had taken the boys and moved to his hideout that he had way back when. He mentioned that it was near the spot where you had first met him.

You talked him into bringing the boys and staying at Pops’ house until things blew over. Pops’ place was one of the safest places in the city. He had fantastic defenses, even if he couldn't fight much anymore, people would have quite the struggle breaking into the place. Marco said that it was awful trying to sneak out when he was a teenager because of it too. He was fully convinced on the few times he actually succeeded, Pops had just let him pass.

Pops had said he knew every time he snuck out. He let Marco get away with a few, but most of the time he would catch him and then let him go anyway. As long as he wasn’t getting involved with any of the families, Pops didn’t really care what he did.

“Are you ready?”

You were leaning on the railing of the back porch, looking out to the garden. You looked up, seeing Corazon stepping out and lighting a cigarette. You walked over as you noticed his shoulder started to catch on fire. You patted it away without even flinching. He hadn’t even noticed it until you had put it out and there was soot on his shoulder. “You really should stop smoking.” You frowned, almost pouting. 

Corazon sighed. “I know, I know. It's unhealthy.” He was grumbling, having heard from just about everyone in the house at least once. You were honestly surprised he hadn’t stopped smoking yet. He was surrounded by doctors and nurses now, you’d think he’d quit. Though, plenty of people in the medical field smoked fully knowing the risks.

“No, so it's easier for me to do this.” You snatched the cigarette out of his mouth, took him by the collar, and kissed him hard. You crushed the cigarette in your hand. You didn’t really care whether or not the man smoked, it wasn’t your job to baby him. You were his partner, not his parent.

Corazon only chuckled, wrapping his arms around you. “I think that's the most compelling case I've ever been faced with.” You smiled up at him, tossing the broken cigarette in the trash not far from the two of you before idly dusting the soot off his shoulder from the fire.

“To answer your question, yes. I'm ready for this to be over.” You sighed, wrapping your arms around the man before you. “I'm ready for all this to be over. For things to go back to normal.” You paused, a sly smile crossing your face. 

“And I'm ready to absolutely make that ass mine,” you teased, one hand moving to squeeze his ass. He yelped a little, his face turning a bright shade of red and you cackled. He buried his face in your shoulder, grumbling something you couldn't hear. 

“Hm?” You moved him, cupping his face so he'd look at you. “What was that?”

His face was still red and he pouted slightly. “I said, I'm more than ready. You keep riling me up but all these people are making it impossible for us to remedy anything.” 

You looked at him before laughing and kissing him again. “You're too cute. Don’t worry - you’ll get your reward soon enough.” 

After that, you headed inside with him. It was about time to go. 

--

You met up with your staff members at your secret entrance in the tunnel. After a small mini reunion of exchanging sentiments of how much you all missed one another, you went over the plan one more time. 

Man, you owe them so much right now. You were going to treat them to a fancy meal and plenty of vacation days - gift baskets for everyone. You couldn’t even begin to express how much you appreciated them at this moment. 

Infiltrating was easy for the most part. When there was only one secret entrance that broke off into several exits across the underground part of your hospital, it made things easier - made being stealthy easier.

Since your office had all the cameras, you decided to start there. You peeked inside, noticing two guards watching the screens. You pulled your gun out of your waistband, only it wasn't exactly a gun but a tranquilizer. You had also made sure to put the silencer on it. Couldn't have any unnecessary attention drawn to you. You also didn’t want to actually kill anyone. You switched professions for a reason and you were going to make a point to not kill anyone during this heist.

Within moments, you knocked the two of them out. One shot to the neck for each was enough to make them pass out on the ground. You sent in two of your own, your staff quickly swapping clothes with the guards and standing in position while you dragged the two unconscious bodies back into the tunnels to another staff member who was to tie them up and keep an eye on them. 

When you were working with your staff, it was like a well oiled machine. You started by sneaking in through every exit and taking out the closest people, replacing them with your own, and tying them up. The plan was to start on the outskirts of this side of the hospital, work your way in, then take over the other side. 

It was tedious, but necessary. 

Eventually, you had replaced every guard that was near the entrances, now you were going to have to do a bit more sneaking around. They didn't have a ton of people on this side of the hospital, just as you didn't. Which, you assumed they would considering this was the side they were the most excited to have. That was the selling point of your hospital and why so many people had wanted it.

Someone was approaching you from the back. You could tell by the path they were taking, they were probably going to grab you by the shoulder and try to spin you around to punch you.

As you predicted, you felt a hand on your shoulder as you advanced down the hallway, grabbing the person behind you and pulling them forward and slamming them on the ground before shooting them with your tranquilizer. 

One of your staff moved quickly, dragging her off to one of the many exits to the tunnel. You took a deep breath, closing your eyes. Damn, this was irritating. You just wanted all this to be over and be asleep in Corazon’s arms right now.

“Sneaking around, are we?” You froze, your entire body tensing.  However, since he hesitated and you weren’t one to, you spun around, taking out your silenced gun and firing off two shots.

Doflamingo was on his knees, holding his arm, his gun scattered across the floor. “You bastard,” he ground out. You kept your gun trained on him. You had shot his hand again and his arm, rendering it pretty useless right now.

“If you wouldn't have said anything, you would've been able to get me.” You shook your head, clicking your tongue. “Your ego must've gotten in the way.” Though, you were somewhat surprised to see him here right now. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Well, this is our hospital now, so why wouldn’t I be here?”

You stared at him with a deadpan expression. Riveting stuff. “Crazy considering the hospital is still technically mine.”

“The hell you mean by that?”

“Eh, unimportant - doesn’t pertain to you. Anyway.” You trained your gun on him again.

“I could make a call right now and have people filing in here and take care of you. I’d be careful with your next movements.” Was he really trying to intimidate you right now? If he made a single noise, you could shoot him with no problem.

“Except that your staff is currently tied up and have been replaced with my own.” You watched in amusement as his face fell, realizing the situation he was in. It didn’t last long, the man’s pride too great to show weakness.

He glared at you over his glasses. “Well, do it already. Kill me.” 

You began to walk over to him, going around him so you were behind him. “I think that's the easy way out.” As much as you would love nothing more than to take him out right here and now, he needed to pay for shooting Corazon point blank. He had been fully ready to kill his own brother. You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.

So, you were going to make him wish for death. 

You knelt down, gripping the back of his neck with your free hand while pressing the gun into his lower spine. “I could snap your neck to a degree where you'd be a complete vegetable for the rest of your life.” You heard his breathing stop for a moment, was he experiencing true fear? Good.

“Or if you promise that you will never come near my hospital or Corazon ever again, I will only take your legs.”

“How is that fair at all?” He turned to look at you and you squeezed his neck slightly, making him stop in his movements.

“Well, it's either live with no movement or live with some movement. Take your pick.”

He just stared at you in horror. He could tell you weren't playing around. In this moment, he could see exactly why people had been so terrified of you. You showed no mercy, you didn’t play games. You could be cold, calculated, and heartless. You weren’t proud of this fact. You hated it, actually. You were just lucky it came in handy in moments like this.

“Make the choice before I make it for you.” Your eyes narrowed. You were aching to strangle him to death and watch the life slowly leave his eyes, but you also couldn't let yourself go that far. As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t. You wanted him to suffer, not for him to have a cop out.

Doflamingo watched you for a long moment as if testing to see if you'd actually do it. When you tightened your grip on his neck, his eyes widened. “Fine, fine! My legs. Take the legs,” he grumbled. You had already known the choice he made, it was clear which he should, after all. 

A slow, sinister smile spread across your face. “Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Donquixote. Don't worry, you're in excellent care.” You used the best customer service voice you could muster up before placing your gun towards the lumbar region of his spine. 

“Pleasure doing business with you.” You lowered down to his ear. “This is for shooting my boyfriend.” Then you fired your gun, covering his mouth with your other hand in the process to keep him quiet.

--

After your little encounter with Doflamingo, you turned him over to the care of your staff. He had passed out from the pain, having three bullet wounds by the end of your encounter. You made sure to have your staff keep an eye on him and keep him sedated. You didn’t need him making a ruckus. 

You’d let him go once things were over, but for now you’d keep him under surveillance. Though, not like he could do much. What’s he gonna do? Crawl outta here?

The rest of the first half of the heist went off without a hitch. The entire underside of the hospital was now back under your control. All of Doflamingo’s men were currently knocked out and tied up in the tunnels, your staff slowly working on taking care of them - not killing them, but definitely making sure that they’d never mess with your hospital again. You somewhat left devices in the hands of your staff, after all, some of them had their own personal vendettas against them. You weren’t the only life they’d fucked with.

You walked into your office, trying to debate on how to handle the next half. You looked at the cameras, taking note of all the people who didn't belong. You knew your staff on both sides of the hospital. You knew who didn't belong. 

It also seemed like most of your father's people on the front side of the hospital. Did Crocodile pull out of the alliance? What was up with that? You weren’t entirely sure, but you didn’t have time to dwell on it. 

As you looked at the cameras, your heart slowly sank. You knew most of the people that you were going to have to deal with. They had been your own family at one point too. It’d taken a village to raise you and most of them had a part in it. You still couldn’t believe they had all been in on it.

Was nothing real? Was anything genuine? At least in some families, connections were there, but there seemed to be nothing in yours. Loyalty was supposed to be important to families, but it seemed that it wasn’t in your father’s.

You closed your eyes, taking a deep breath. Now wasn’t the time to spiral.

“What's the plan, doc?” You looked over to one of your staff. “We wait until shift change tonight. There won't be as many staff members or patients, so we'll be able to operate more stealthily.” You looked back at the screens, thinking. 

“Considering this took up most of the day, we should only have to wait a couple hours max.” It was evening time by now. You had already told Corazon and everyone that you probably wouldn't be back until tomorrow. This was going to take up a lot of time - and it has thus far. You knew they would all be worrying about you, but with how things were going, you'd make it back in time for breakfast. 

At the same time, it all felt too easy. Sure, you ran into Doflamingo, but that didn't even hold you up hardly at all. 

You decided to not think about it for now. “We should keep our guards up. It felt a little too easy.” Your staff nodded. “By the way, Stacy brought lasagna and we’re all eating in the conference room if you want some.”

You blinked, processing his words. You couldn’t help but laugh, only your staff. You stood up, deciding that you should probably eat to keep your strength up. You also had two hours to kill, so might as well spend time doing something. next

[gguk-n]

Chapter 5- The Finish Line

Arranged For Love (Carlos Sainz Jr x Reader)

Series Masterlist

Summary- And they lived Happily Ever After

No face claim. All the pictures are from Pinterest

Warning- Mention of death

Carlos and his family flew in for the funeral. He saw his wife, a shell of a person she was. She couldn't stop crying and barely ate anything. "Y/N, you have to eat. Grandma wouldn't be happy if you do this" Carlos reasoned. "If she's that unhappy, tell her to come and feed me herself" Y/N stated. Carlos hugged her, rubbing her back. "Everything will be okay. She's in a better place" Carlos whispered. "I just wish that better place was still with us" Y/N cried. The families stayed for a couple days, wishing their final good byes to Anika.

Once the burial was done and everyone had settled back home, "You should move in with me" Carlos said as he was getting ready to leave. "A change of scenery would do you well." Carlos explained. "I'll probably be going back to college. The restrictions are easing up and classes for the next semester will be on campus" Y/N said. "Until then you can come to the races with me" Carlos smiled. Y/N nodded. "I'll see you at your home race then" she said.

2021

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55, avathetraveller and 268 others

y/n.y/l/n Home Race!!!🍾🎉

carlossainz55 you should come to all the races now❤️ landonorris it was so nice meeting the woman he wouldn't stop talking about🤔 charles_leclerc landonorris I agree🤌 avathetraveller the date vibes are emmaculate👌👌 user3 who is this and why is she posting Carlos?🙄🙄

2022

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55, charles_leclerc and 1,890 others

y/n.y/l/n Finally done with college until I decide to get another degree😏

carlossainz55 so proud of you, hermosa😘😘 landonorris congratulations❤️ scuderiaferrari we might have an opening if you're looking for a job🫣 y/n.y/l/n scuderiaferrari yes please🥹 charles_leclerc congratulations❤️ user4 the last picture...I have many questions😅😅

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55, 6,347 others

y/n.y/l/n Life for the past few months🤭🤭

carlossainz55 best birthday yet❤️😏 Liked by Author maxverstappen1 you're worse than I am at golf and that's saying something🫣 y/n.y/l/n maxverstappen1 Shut up! I will not take this slander. I started like a few weeks ago, unlike somebody😤😤 user5 I think she's dating Carlos, what a life?!🥺🥺 user6 I wish I was her, dating Carlos and travelling the world😭😭 user7 Carlos cooking will be the death of me🤤🤤

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55, avathetraveller and 10,378 others

y/n.y/l/n From only being able to FaceTime you to being able to kiss you whenever I want, we've come a long way😭😭

carlossainz55 yes we have. Also the last picture is a lie, I'll have everyone know😤 y/n.y/l/n carlossainz55 please, you parents follow me😭 carlossainz55 to my parents, you might be grandparents soon😏 y/n.y/l/n carlossainz55 OMG!! I hate you😣😣 carlossainz55 y/n.y/l/n no you don't😉😏 user8 OK, TMI GUYS TMI🙄🙄 user9 we might have Carlos jr jr, IDK how I feel about that🫣🫣 user10 she's so cute, kinda hard to hate on her😤😪 user11 LDR to moving in, I'm so happy for them😭 user12 Carlos is a menace😂😂

2023

After moving in together, the two of them were enjoying spending more time together. They were cuddling in bed when Carlos realised that he really loved her and he couldn't imagine his life without her. He did like her when they got married but he felt like she deserved everything since she made him so happy and content.

That's when Carlos put his plan into action. He never got the chance to propose to her so he decided to plan a trip and flew them out to the French country side. He had everything planned. They drove up to the location which he had disappeared off to decorate a few hours back. Y/N had no clue that Carlos was planning something like this. Her jaw was on the floor when she saw the set up; she had tears in her eyes. "For me?" she asked. "Only for you" Carlos said. As the two sat together watching the beautiful scenery, "Y/N, I've known you only for a few years but you've made my life so much better. I can't imagine my life without you. Every day I thank your grandmother for bringing us together." Carlos said. "I love you Carlos, you make me so happy" Y/N smiled back, holding in tears. "I love you so much that's why, even though we are married" Carlos laughed pulling out a ring, Y/N's eyes widened, she saw Carlos get on one knee, "Will you marry me? Again" Carlos asked. "yes, yes, a thousand times yes. I'd marry you a thousand no a million times" she shouted hugging him.

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by avathetraveller, carlossainz55, carlosainzoficial and 198,270 others

y/n.y/l/n He proposed🥹🥹

carlossainz55 I want to spend the rest of eternity with you❤️ carlossainzoficial the cutest couple landonorris about time😌 charles_leclerc congratulations!!🎉 scuderiaferrari we are so happy for the couple❤️ fernandoalonso congratulations you both! user13 OMG!! Carlos is engaged!!!🥲🥲 user14 The proposal is straight out of Pinterest😭😭 user15 I'm kinda excited to see their wedding pictures now😭 user16 did Carlos plan the proposal out on his own?? he's so romantic🥲

2024

Carlos and Y/N decided to renew their vows on their 4th anniversary. The other's had no clue that this was a vow renewal and thought that the pair were finally getting married after dating for 4 years.

Ava planned a crazy bachelorette for Y/N with all their friends from school and university.

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by avathetraveller, carlossainz55 and 345,287 others

y/n.y/l/n I think I drank my weight in alcohol last night👌👌

avatraveller best bachelorette ever🤤🤤 jessiejames Can't believe you're getting married🤧🤧 alexandrasaintmleux prettiest bride to be ever!!🥵🥵 user17 I'm laughing🤣🤣🤣 user18 I want to be friends with her, they look like a lot of fun🥹🥹 user19 the theme of the party is killing me😂😂 user20 she has the best friends🥹🥹

Everyone had gathered for the wedding. All the drivers, both their families and friends were invited. Everyone who wasn't at their first wedding didn't know that this was a second one. Y/N still wore the necklace her grandmother gave her on her wedding day.

As Carlos waited for Y/N to walk down the aisle with her dad, Ivan had tears in his eyes as he walked his daughter down the aisle for the second time but this time without his mother. Y/N reassured her dad. He placed Y/N's hand in Carlos's.

The pair faced each other and the officiant began. It was Carlos's turn to say his vows; "I've known you for 4 years. I'm the luckiest man alive to have met someone who understands me so well and supports me. I'm so happy that your grandma played cupid. I promise to keep you happy forever. I knew I would be getting married but I didn't think I'd be lucky enough to marry the love of my life twice" Carlos finished. An audible gasp was heard from the crowd. "I would marry you a billion times. Carlos Sainz, you make me so happy and I'm also happy my grandma was a nosy woman. Being with you makes even the gloomy days sunny. You are the only man I want to spend the rest of eternity with" Y/N said. The officiant began, "We are gathered here today to celebrate the union of two beautiful souls. Do you, Carlos Sainz Junior, take Y/N Y/L/N to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?" Carlos responded, "I do." "Do you, Y/N Y/L/N , take Carlos Sainz Junior to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?" he asked Y/N. She responded, "I do." "By the power vested in me by the state and the Church, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." the officiant said. Carlos leaned in and captured Y/N's lips in a kiss.

The wedding was buzzing with the new information Carlos had just released. Everyone was busy asking them when they got married, they had power point presentation from their previous wedding playing. Everyone was very annoyed at them for hiding it. "In our defence you guys never asked" Carlos said. "What do you mean never asked? You announce stuff like this" Lando whined. "Sorry Lan, at least you got to be in this one" Y/N cooed. "I'm not a child. I hate you both" Lando groaned. "Maybe he's tired." Y/N told Carlos while looking at him. "Get some rest" Y/N told Lando, patting his back.

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55, avathetraveller and 2,367,049 others

y/n.y/l/n Did we get married or renew our vows? The world will never know👀👀

landonorris still can't believe I was lied too🤧🤧 lewishamilton Congratulations!!❤️ charles_leclerc I'm still shocked😔 alexandrasaintmleux It's okay you lied, at least you're pretty🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ Liked by Author danielriccardo top 10 f1 betrayals🙃 fernandoalonso congratulations to the couple😊 user21 OMG!! WHAT??!!😳😳 user22 Carlos was always married? For how long?😮😮 user23 IDK if I should laugh or cry😧😧 user24 My whole world turned upside down🫨🫨

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55 and 567,390 others

y/n.y/l/n Happy to announce carlossainz55 put a baby in me😏👌

carlossainz55 I take full responsibility🤤😏 carlossainzoficial Congratulations!! Can't wait to be a grandpa landonorris already making a McLaren jumpsuit for the baby😌 charles_leclerc so happy the jumpsuit made it into the announcement☺️ alexandrasaintmleux the prettiest pregnant lady I know😍😍 avathetraveller I'm ugly crying!!😭😭 y/n.y/l/n avathetraveller don't. I'll cry too😭 scuderiaferrari new driver🤔 y/n.y/l/n scuderiaferrari he would be if his dad was still driving for the team🤯 user25 okay Y/N popped off on Ferrari, also boy dad Carlos🤔 maxverstappen1 redbull jumpsuit on the way y/n.y/l/n maxverstappen1 I mean 🙂‍↕️😏 fernandoalonso I feel so happy y/n.y/l/n fernandoalonso I believe you'll be on the grid by the time our child gets there☺️☺️ user26 we're getting a mini Carlos or Y/N. Can't wait!!🥹 user27 This is such a happy news after the train wreck in the past few weeks😭 user28 I'm happy Carlos has something happy to look forward too😭😭 user29 did Y/N just reveal the gender? (Its a boy, I think) Don't tell her🤫🤫

y/n.y/l/n

Liked by carlossainz55, avathetraveller and 1,268,290 others

y/n.y/l/n Stress is bad for the baby but this man made me go throw a hurricane of emotions in the last 2 weeks. Still so proud of you baby

carlossainz55 couldn't have done it without you😍❤️ y/n.y/l/n carlossainz55 you gave me the motivation and our baby❤️❤️ avathetraveller congratulations Carlos user30 he's gonna be the best dad!!😭 user31 Congratulations Carlos, only man to break RedBull's streak😭🥹 user32 If I was Y/N I would've gone mad by now🤧 user33 He looks so happy in the second picture🥹🥹

2025

carlossainz55

Liked by y/n.y/l/n, williamsracing and 1,280,290 others

carlossainz55 To the best few years of my life!! Can't wait for many more🥂

y/n.y/l/n Can't wait to have more of your babies if they look this cute😏😏 carlossainz55 y/n.y/l/n I hope you're ready😏 landonorris I was gonna say something nice but no, you guys are nasty🤢🤮 y/n.y/l/n landonorris shut up🤬 alex_albon Lily might kidnap your kid the next time he comes😔😣 y/n.y/l/n alex_albon can she kidnap me too??😖😖 carlossainz55 y/n.y/l/n what do you mean by that??😤 user34 they are so chaotic, I love it🤣🤣 user35 Congratulations dad Carlos❤️❤️ user36 Can't believe they didn't name him Carlos the third🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ user37 user36 I think I would kill my baby daddy if he did something like that🤦‍♀️😟 user38 cutest family on the grid❤️ user39 I already know the kid probably has his own kart😳 user40 a couple more years and he'll be a karting champion😭😭

Taglist- @herexpertcollector @redrevvedup @chaostudee @larastark3107 @jovialpainterunknown @vip-access @sugarvibez @champomiel @inarabee @virazeeee @seonghwaexile @champ15ns @ajthefujoshi @musicheaux @npcmia @marvel-ous-miss-maisie @mochipatch @gleeblegnarp @formula1-motogpfan @taliya8346282844eliviahdgdajs @dying-inside-but-its-classy @iamfreeeeeeeeeeeesblog @boiolay @pausmoon @ts1mp0ne

Thank you to everyone who read this!!

[stariiesz]

୨⎯𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙷𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚖𝚢 𝚄𝚗𝚍𝚒𝚟𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙰𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 ⎯୧

Chapter 2

Tw: physical violence, cursing

Authors note: It only gets better from here, kinda. also this isn’t proof read, enjoy!:)

September 1st 2015

“Satoru, why do you not like y/n?”

Satoru looked up from the book he was reading and met eyes with his friend who was gulping down a whole strawberry soda. Satoru sighed and placed a bookmark in his book so he could pick it up later.

“I don’t know, she’s just… irks me,” Satoru responded as he ran his hand through snowy strands of his hair. “She doesn’t stand up for herself and lets people take advantage of her. I mean you see it yourself, she always lets people cheat off her and stuff.” Satoru expressed as he picked around at his school lunch with his plastic fork.

“So that’s why you don’t like her? I thought there was something more to it.”

“There are other reasons too,” Satoru says quietly as he takes a spoonful of the pudding on his tray.

Satoru wasn’t mean. He was a fair man. He wouldn’t dislike someone for no reason, there was always something to back it up. In your case, it was something you didn’t even know about. Something that if he had just talked to you for a second he would know none of it was true. That it was all a lie, but that never happened, so he was left with a bad impression of you from the start.

August 16th 2013

It was the first day of high school for Satoru Gojo, a spoiled kid who had never heard the word ‘no’ in his life. But unlike others, he remained humble, and kind, and treated everybody fairly. Satoru was the type of guy who wouldn’t harm a fly. Because of his personality, he was naturally a people magnet. People just seemed to like him and wanted to be around him. One of these people was his good friend, Alina. A friend he’s had since childhood. Their mothers were friends with one another so they would often see each other as kids. They went to elementary, middle, and now high school together.

Unknown to Satoru but clear to everyone else, Alina had a huge crush on Satoru and had one for a while now. It was obvious in her actions and the way she looked at him. She would make sure he only looked at her and no other girl. But Satoru was a teenage boy, it wouldn’t be ideal for him to be so in love at such a young age. And that was reflected on the first day of high school when he first laid eyes on you.

You were quiet, pretty, and seemed kind and well-intentioned. He knew you were his type the moment he saw you. Satoru was staring at you from the moment you walked in class until you sat down right across from him. You looked over at him and he quickly looked away, but not before you could give him a warm smile. His cheeks had a small tint of pink to them when he saw you smile at him. Alina, who was sitting next to him, glared at you which you had taken note of. You thought that maybe this girl and this cute boy were dating, so probably you should back off.

“Satoru!” Alina whined in a somewhat obnoxious voice. “You know that girl that you’re looking at? She’s like super mean.” Satoru turned to face Alina with a curious look. You didn’t seem mean though, you were so reserved and didn’t talk to anyone. You seemed the exact opposite of mean to Satoru at least.

“How, what’d she do?” Satoru asked as he played with the rim of his notebook. Alina hesitated for a second as she had no real proof to back up her lie about you. “Uh, I heard she bullied some poor girl in her old school. She made the girl change schools because of it, it was bad.” Alina lied as she looked at Satoru with remorse. “I wouldn’t even get involved with her, Satoru.”

Satoru raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you hear this? It’s like the first time we met her.” Satoru asked somewhat suspicious of his friend, but rightfully so. This was everyone's first day at high school, so how would Alina know such rumors about you when you didn’t even attend the same middle school?

“Well actually Satoru, I didn’t want to say this but… before class I saw her in the bathroom and I liked her outfit so I complimented her.” Alina took a dramatic sigh as she ushered him to come closer. “She scoffed at me and told me I was ugly. It really hurt my feelings, Satoru. So as my friend, I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t entertain her.” Alina said as she pretended to look sad, a little hurt even.

“Are you sure it was her? I don’t know her but she just doesn’t look like the type to say stuff like that, ya know?” Satoru said, brushing a strand of her hair out of her face. Alina frowned at him. He seemed to be taking the side of a stranger over his friend, best friend even.

“It was her, I looked her directly in the eye when she said it. She’s no good Satoru, just don’t get involved with her, kay’?” Alina said as she played with the bracelet on Satoru’s wrist that she had given him. It was one that she had made for the both of them with little connecting hearts. It was one of the many times she would try to confess her love for him through small actions, but Satoru was oblivious.

“If you say so, Alina,” Satoru said as he gave Alina a small smile and connected their bracelets together. Alina was happy that Satoru had believed her lie. Now that he agreed to not get involved in any way with you, it was one less girl to worry about for Alina. Alina felt very possessive over him, she acted like he was her boyfriend and would often try to embarrass any girl who wanted Satoru’s attention. But this time was different. It wasn’t a girl seeking out Satoru’s attention, it was the other way around. This could be a problem for Alina, even if she told him not to get involved she wasn’t confident he would listen to her. So making up a little lie with little to no evidence wasn’t going to be the only thing she had to do.

That day, Alina found people who used to go to your old school and asked what you were like. All the responses were positive. You were pretty quiet but nonetheless you were still kind and considerate of others. That wasn’t going to work for Alina. Satoru wasn’t stupid. Even though Alina was his good friend, and he wanted to believe her, she was just one person. Satoru wanted confirmation of this story about you being a bully. So he would also ask people from your old school. Now, this is where things went downhill for your public image.

Alina not only found the kids who went to your school, but went as far as to bribe them. She said if they would lie and make rumors about you, she’d pay them, and even give the girls Satoru’s number. A lie of course. Alina was simply using them, making them play into her cards. She would do whatever it took to make Satoru hers, even if it meant tearing down someone else.

Luckily for Alina, the bribery worked. All sorts of rumors spread about you, which quite frankly you didn’t care about. All you focused on was your studies and your own personal hobbies. You could care less if a few lies spread about you, you knew they weren’t true and that’s all that mattered. Unbenounced to you, there was one rumor started by Alina herself that she told Satoru and had people back her up. You had never heard of this rumor, perhaps if you did, it would explain why Satoru was so cold the last 4 years of high school.

“Hey Satoru, did you hear? Y/N was talking bad about you and your family. And even your.. you know.” One of his many newfound friends said.

“Yeah, that was really messed up. I can’t believe she’d make jokes about your… dad and stuff.” Another voice chimed in. Alina sat there with a smirk on her face. It was working. Her plan was working. Sure she could’ve left it with the small rumor she made about you being mean to another kid, but this was Alina. She wanted to start drama and had fun doing it all.

“Oh my god yeah, she's so messed up in the head.” Alina joined in holding Satoru’s arm. There had been a rumor that stood out from the rest about you. It was a rumor that you had made fun of Satour’s passed father. A very sensitive topic for Satoru.

His death happened a few summers prior. It affected him and his family greatly, especially Satoru. Satoru was always very fond of his father. They would play soccer together, go to arcades, etc. His father was his biggest role model, so it struck as a shock to him and his family when his dad got into a horrible car accident on the way to pick up Satoru from soccer practice.

Satoru felt like it was all his fault that it happened. If Satoru hadn’t been so instant in going to soccer practice, it never would have happened. His dad would still be there and Satoru would still be happy. But of course, life is not always perfect, and things don’t go the way you want them to go. Satoru learned that early on.

While he was grieving, there were many people there for him, but the one he was most comforted by was Alina. Alina had lost her mother at a very early age. She didn’t remember her mother but it still hurt to see other kids with their moms doing stuff with their kids and then there was Alina. Because of this, the two of them formed a bond and were best friends from there on out.

Satoru took a few weeks off school when it happened but he returned soon after. People were worried about him, but he was able to keep up a smile even throughout the tragedy. Alina was always there for him even at their young age. So it made sense that he would believe her.

“She what?” Satoru asks, snapping out of his flashback and joining his friends in the conversation.

“Yeah man, a few girls overheard her talking about your dad and making fun of him, she’s horrible.” One of his friends said. Satoru was mad. It wasn’t just Alina saying that you had said horrible things about his deceased dad, it was the whole grade playing along with her. From here on out Satoru started to dislike you, a lot. He didn’t want to confront you about it because it would just be a waste of time, but it would have been better if he did. He simply started to ignore you and roll his eyes when he saw you. You were confused because just a few days ago he was smiling at you in class, but now he just gave you cold glares and scoffed when he saw you.

You were in your own little world. You don’t know why he changed but he did and you couldn’t do much about it. You usually didn’t mind when other people ignored you but when he started to as well, it seemed to bother you. At the time, you didn’t know but you had started to develop feelings for Satoru. But now he seemed to hate you for what you thought was no reason so you just dealt with it. Those feelings stayed for all four years of high school. If only you had known of the rumor. You would have immediately cleared it up with Satoru. You would have made it known that you would never say something like that much less about him. But what’s done is done, and there is no way to change that now.

July 24th 2017

It’s been about a month into your summer break. You haven’t kept in contact with anyone from your old high school, but you didn’t need to. Your summer is going fine so far. You now have time to dedicate to your hobbies and doing other fun stuff. You were a little nervous about one thing though, and that was college coming around the corner. Even though you were nervous it was kind of like a fresh start for you.

You could meet people who didn’t make or know fake rumors about you. You could meet people with similar interests and hobbies. What mostly interested you about the college was the writing class course they offered. It’s a very popular course and it was one you wanted to take. The teacher was told to be great at their job and taught interesting topics. Ever since you heard your older cousin took it and liked it a bunch, you also wanted to take it. Another reason you wanted to take it was because it was one of the courses Satoru wanted to take. But he’s not going to the University of Kyoto so that failed.

Besides the occasional worry about starting college in August, summer was treating you well. Today was one of the annual Japanese festivals. You were going to go with your parents and little sister to eat some good food, play games, and watch the famous fireworks. It was something you did mostly every year. It was going to be an all-around good time. Your parents were busy with work so it was one of the times the whole family could spend time together.

You started to get ready for the festival. You put on your prettiest Yukata, tied your hair in a bun, and put on a little makeup. It was one of the times you gotta dress up and it made you feel good about yourself. On the car ride there you laid your head on the window and pondered to yourself. ‘I wonder where Satoru is right now.’ You thought to yourself as you listened to some lovey-dovey song through your headphones. ‘I bet he’s gonna get a girlfriend in college too.’ You rolled your eyes at your thoughts. So what if he did, he’s going on about his life. You thought confessing would make you stop having these sappy thoughts but you found that to not be true at all.

Ever since you confessed you thought of Satoru a lot more. Probably more than you did before you confessed. The thoughts wouldn’t go away but you had to remind yourself that he’s going his own path and you need to focus on yours. What kept eating at you though was now that he had changed colleges he would be going to Alina’s college and they’d only continue to get closer to one another. You sighed and closed your eyes as you listened to your music. Now a sad song was playing, ironic huh?

As you and your family entered the festival your nose was filled with a handful of smells. Fried foods, sweet pastries, and the smell of the beautiful blue ocean. The same shade of blue as Satoru’s eyes. Sigh, you have to stop thinking about these sappy things.

You moseyed around with your family for a while playing games and trying different foods. You ran into a few people from your old high school but they didn’t acknowledge you so you didn't either. You could have sworn you saw Alina but you were being rushed by your mom to help her carry something. It would have ruined your whole night if you did see her though. But for now, you just ignored it. It probably wasn't her anyway. You overheard her saying she was going to Europe for the summer anyway.

The fireworks were going to start soon. As you and your family sat down on a good spot on the crowded beach, you felt the reminiscence of the huge drink you had earlier and had to use the bathroom. You excused yourself and headed to the lady's room. After you finished your business you touched up your makeup and made sure your hair was good. As you applied a slick layer of lipgloss you noticed someone come up behind you.

“Excuse me, I gotta…oh it’s you.” The voice said, suddenly changing the tone when they caught a glimpse of your face. It was none other than Alina all dolled up for the festival. You briefly moved out the way as she asked and she stared you up and down as she touched up her lipstick.

“You know, Y/N, Satoru’s here,” Alina said with a smirk as she went back to putting on her lipstick. Your heart dropped when you heard his name. Satoru was here after all. Of course, you were happy, but there was a catch if Alina was mentioning it.

“Yeah, we're actually dating now. Took a while but we finally confused our love for each other, cute, right?” She said with a laugh. “He doesn’t want you, he never has, so just get over him, kay’? We're happy together.” She said brushing some strands of her brunette hair out of her face. Your heart dropped again but not because you were happy this time. No, because you were crushed.

You knew that you and Satoru getting together would probably never happen and that he would find someone he truly loved. But you didn’t think so soon, and with her of all people. You couldn’t lie, it stung a little, but you couldn’t let Alina know that so you kept your emotions concealed.

“Congrats to you two, I guess.” You said in the most unbothered way you could. You were just about finished touching up so you were about to leave when she grabbed your shoulder.

“Wait up a minute,” Alina said, halting your movements. “I just want you to know… that he would have never wanted you anyway. I mean look at you and then look at me. I’m pretty, skinny, and brunette while you... Well, you're you. You shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up in the first place, I mean-” SLAP.

You were fed up with Alina. She was annoying and just straight-up rude. You didn’t bother anyone and yet she seemed so envious of you. You’ve taken enough of her crap. Now that school is over you weren’t gonna get in trouble so you went for it. You slapped her, and it felt good. She deserved it.

Her jaw dropped and she held the side of her face which you slapped.

“You're a real bitch you know that!” She said grabbing her purse and running off probably to tell Satoru and her minions. You didn’t care though. After years of her little snarky comments, this pushed you over the edge. It was so unlike you. You were never really one to escalate to physical violence, but if it was Alina anyone rightfully would.

You finished your slight touch-ups and walked out of the bathroom to join your family on the beach for the fireworks. On the way there you bumped into someone and some stuff in your bag fell. Both of you bent down to pick it up before you could see who it was.

“Oh sorry about that.” You said as you put the stuff in your bag. As you looked up to see who it was you bumped into foreheads with them, but when this happened you saw those cerulean eyes. Those eyes were unmistakable. You had to be sure it was him. You looked up at him as he offered you a hand to get up. There was no mistaking those snowy white strands and those beautiful blue eyes. It was Gojo Satoru.

‘Why is he being nice to me?’ You thought to yourself. It seems you thought too soon because as soon as he made eye contact and realized it was you his warm smile disappeared and he replaced it with a frown as he put down his extended hand.

“Oh, nevermind.” He said as he walked off with his hands in his pockets. Great. You had actually thought for a second that maybe, just maybe he would start to like you, but no. As soon as he realized it was you he walked off probably to go and join his new girlfriend and talk about how much of a hopeless romantic you were. You sighed as you got up yourself and continued your walk back to your family on the beach.

The fireworks were beautiful as always but you couldn't fully enjoy them since all you were thinking about was your previous encounter with Satoru. What had gone so wrong to make him hate you? That you’ll never know.

After the festival was over, you walked back to the car with your family. In the parking lot you had caught a glimpse of Alina who was standing with Satoru. She looked back at you with a cold glare. You could care less at the moment. Suddenly she got a devious smirk on her face as she took Satoru’s arm and kissed him. Now that you care about it. You looked away blinking back some tears and turned to face your family. You tried to ignore what you just saw and paid attention to finding the car and getting the hell out of there.

What was once supposed to be a fun, traditional family event you looked forward to was ruined this year by Alina and Satoru.

Authors note: yes I did reference jjk chapter 261 :p

3.6k words

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[chvoswxtch]

just started the punisher & absolutely in love with how you write frank castle. i’m already a huge simp and NEED a bodyguard!frank x reader fic where the reader gets a lil tipsy & likes to run away from him? ofc she runs into trouble with other guys at the bar and immediately regrets losing frank but he comes in at the right time?

if not i totally understand and will continue to binge all of your fics!!

-thor ✨🥰

thor!!! my sweet sparkly angel baby god of thunder!!! ✨

you're so PRECIOUS. thank you so much, and thank you so much for the request. I can't believe I hadn't thought of bodyguard!frank before like...you're a genius. I left this one kinda open ended bc I wasn't sure exactly what kind of relationship we were going for between frankie & reader, so I kept it subtle BUT as always, if you want more just let me know. 😏 ❤️

warning: contains violence and mentions of blood (frankie is the punisher after all), swearing, mentions of alcohol, & mentions of harassment (if this makes you uncomfortable, please feel free to skip!) word count: 3k

it's my job.

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You should’ve listened. He told you to stay close. He told you not to have that sixth drink. He told you to stay where he could see you. But you didn’t listen.

Why hadn’t you fucking listened?

Because he frustrated you. Because he was all stone cold gazes and silence. Because he ignored you like he was paid to do that instead of protecting you. Because his eyes were always over you or around you, but never on you.

Because you had a school girl crush on your body guard and you couldn’t figure out why. 

Well, you knew part of that why. He was incredibly handsome in a rugged way. He was big and broad and looked like he could snap you in half with his bare hands if he wanted. You’d seen him crack a smile once, not at you of course, but another one of the guys that was assigned to you, and God was it beautiful. It softened his face in a way that made you stupid, and that was probably why you had made the dumbass decision that you had.

You weren’t a damsel in distress by any means, but you’d certainly play the part if it meant Frank Castle was coming to your rescue. 

The plan was simple. Slip away from Frank at the bar, find a random guy to flirt with, wait for Frank to find you, and finally be his center of attention. Simple, right?

Wrong. Very wrong.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly. Frank had turned his head for one second, and you were gone, giggling to yourself as you pictured the pissed off look on his face. Were you being a brat? Absolutely. But as pretty as Frank was, he was also a huge dick most of the time. It was only fair to return the favor considering he had been driving you crazy for months now. Tipsy you had completely justified your actions, and you agreed with her. 

It didn’t take long to find an unsuspecting player in your little game. He had a godawful smirk on his face that definitely wasn’t as attractive as he thought it was, and clearly screamed ‘no one’s ever told me no in my entire life’. That should’ve been red flag number one. His overconfidence was as nauseating as the sound of his voice, but you reminded yourself you had a game to win. You subtly kept glancing around for Frank, wondering what the hell was taking so long. All of a sudden, Jason…Jake…whatever the hell his name was-decided to invite his entire frat house apparently to crash your little party. 

That was when the chaos started.

They all crowded around you in a corner in the back, completely blocking your view from the rest of the bar. You started to feel a little nervous, realizing that if you couldn’t see Frank, he couldn’t see you. That thought, along with the ravenous gaze in each of the men’s eyes, completely sobered you up. You didn’t like their lingering stares. You didn’t like how close they all were. This wasn’t fun anymore. It wasn’t a game. It was a mistake. 

“I-I think I should go find my friend. Excuse me.”

“Whoa, where you going, princess? I thought we were your friends?”

The ringleader didn’t hide the path of his eyes as they traveled down your body, and it made you feel sick. His friends snickered as they moved in closer towards you, not bothering to hide their shameless gazes either.

“What, you don’t like us anymore?”

Think. Think. Think.

Don’t piss them off. 

Play along.

Be smart.

You attempted your best polite smile, shaking your head slowly as you tried to find a gap between their bodies.

“Just wanna make sure no one sends a search party and ruins the fun. I’ll be right back.”

You tried not to move too quickly as you went to step between two of them, but a tight grip on your wrist yanked you backwards against an uncomfortable chest.

“Why don’t you just text them later. C’mon, don’t be difficult.”

There was a fear bubbling up in your chest and your throat felt tight. God why hadn’t you just fucking listened to Frank? Where the hell was he? You just wanted to go home. You sent a silent prayer up to whoever was listening that you’d never do anything stupid like this again if you could just go home.

“You’re hurting me.”

You winced, not from the weakness in your own voice, but from the harsh orchestra of laughter at your words. You felt like a lamb trapped in a circle of wolves. The horrid feeling of the man’s hand caressing your face caused your fingers to tremble, whimpering slightly as his hand gripped your jaw tightly when you tried to turn away from his touch.

“What’s the matter, princess? Don’t like it rough?”

“Frank?!”

If he couldn’t see you, maybe he could at least hear you.

“That’s not my name, baby. Don’t worry, we can practice you screaming it later. I promise, it’ll be the only one you remember after I-”

A high pitched yelp rang loudly in your ears and it took a couple of seconds to realize that it came from the man that was grabbing you. Blinking a few times, you stared dumbfounded as you realized Frank had pinned his arm behind his back in a very painful looking position and had slammed his face into the closest wall.

“You put this fuckin’ hand where it don’t belong again, and I’m gonna break it. You got that?”

Frank must have done something to prove his point, because the man cried out as he furiously tried to nod his head that was trapped against the wall.

“Fuck…y-yeah, yeah I got it! Just fucking let go!”

As Frank released him and took a step backwards, the man fervently turned around, ready to strike until he took in the look on Frank’s face. There was pure fear in that man’s eyes, and you could’ve sworn you saw him gulp as he quickly took a step backwards. He looked comically small compared to Frank. It fueled something within you to see him look so small and fragile. Frank turned his head slightly to shoot a warning look to the others, one they quickly responded to by taking a step back and holding their hands up in surrender.

Shooting one last glare to the ring leader, Frank finally turned around to face you. A shiver tumbled down your spine at the fury burning in his eyes. He was pissed. 

“You alright?”

The tone of his voice was so harsh and gruff it almost hurt your ears, having the complete opposite effect it normally did. You brought your trembling hand up and held your wrist against your chest, trying to ignore the sting of pain you felt as you cast your eyes downward and nodded.

You jumped slightly when you felt the warm weight of Frank’s palm on your arm, noticing the way his face fell ever so slightly as he recognized the terror in your eyes. He gave your arm a gentle squeeze, nodding his head towards your wrist.

“Lemme see.”

If Frank was pissed before, he was fucking enraged now. Allowing him to hold out your wrist to inspect it, his jaw immediately hardened when he saw the faint outline of fingerprints blooming on your skin in light shades of maroon. 

“Fuckin’ piece of shit.”

Before you had a chance to stop him, Frank’s fist was colliding with the man’s jaw, causing you to wince as you heard it crack like thunder across the sky in a violent storm. You could hear one of his ribs shattering like glass as Frank landed a powerful blow to his chest, grunting as he dragged him back up by his collar.

“Thought you liked it rough, huh? You pussyin’ out on me now?”

The man feebly tried to push at Frank’s chest to create some distance. He would’ve had better luck trying to knock down a brick wall with his bare hands. His friends stood stunned in place by Frank’s wrath, paralyzed with horror as their fearless leader sobbed and pleaded for mercy. 

“You like putin’ your hands on women, yeah? That make you feel big? Make you feel like a man?”

Frank’s voice boomed in your ears the louder he got. There was a frenzied look in his eyes, and you’d lost count of how many times his fist had collided with various parts of the man’s body. 

“Frank, please.”

Frank’s unrelenting fist paused midair at the sound of your voice, head snapping in your direction. He wasn’t going to stop unless you begged him to. You could see it in his eyes.

“I wanna go home. Please, Frank. Please take me home.”

A muscle feathered in his jaw as he glanced between you and the man whose bloodied face was now unrecognizable. Grabbing onto his jaw roughly, the man whimpered as a fresh stream of blood leaked from his mouth. Frank leaned in close, staring directly into the eye that wasn’t swollen shut as he growled lowly.

“You ever come near her again, or I hear anythin' ‘bout you putin’ your hands on another woman, I’ll fuckin’ make you scream. And it’ll be the last goddamn thing you do. You got that?”

Frank didn’t wait for an answer. He swiftly guided you out with his hand on your lower back, ignoring the horrified looks from everyone as they parted for him like the red sea. The slam of the passenger door caused you to jump, buckling yourself in with trembling hands as Frank sped out of the parking lot like a madman. 

You couldn’t look at him. You couldn’t face the rage on his face and the disappointment in his eyes. One glance in his direction had you immediately turning away. His fist was coated in the man’s blood as it gripped onto the steering wheel, crimson almost gleaming under the moonlight as it dripped down his wrist. You pushed it too far. You pushed him too far.

The entire drive home was silent. You desperately wanted to get out and get away from him. How were you ever supposed to look at him again? He was probably going to quit after what you did. How could you have been so reckless? So stupid? You stared at your reflection in the side mirror.

Well, you got what you wanted.

As soon as his truck pulled into the driveway you were unbuckling yourself and dashing out towards the front door. Your fingers trembled as you struggled with the lock, heart thrashing in your ribcage hearing Frank’s heavy boots pounding angrily against the concrete. He silently reached around you to grab the keys, turning the lock and shoving the door open angrily as you rushed through the threshold. 

His large hand caught your arm before you could disappear into your bedroom, spinning you around quickly as he stared down at you furiously.

“Why do you gotta always be so goddamn difficult? Why can’t you just do what the fuck I ask, when I ask it?”

“Frank-”

“You are a fuckin’ relentless pain in my ass, you know that? You got any idea what coulda happened to you? What they woulda done? Is that what you want?”

“No, I-”

“Because that woulda been on me. Somethin’ happens to you, it’s on me. It don’t matter that you’re a goddamn spoiled brat that can’t fuckin’ listen to save her fuckin’ life, it’s my ass. You get that? Or are you so goddamn selfish, you can’t see past yourself?”

He was right. You knew he was right. You had been selfish. You could’ve gotten yourself seriously hurt, or worse. You could’ve gotten Frank hurt or worse. And for what? Because he did his job too well? Because he wouldn’t entertain your bullshit? A lump of regret caught in your throat and you could feel guilt brimming along your waterline. You were a selfish, spoiled brat to him. That’s all he saw you as, and would ever see you as, because that was all you had proven to him. He probably hated you, and that thought alone is what finally broke you.

“I’m sorry, Frank. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to-I wasn’t thinking. I was being stupid. I…I was being selfish. If you hadn’t been there…I don’t…I can’t…”

You shuddered as you thought about how that sentence would end. You didn’t even wanna think about it. You realized in that moment how complacent you had gotten because of Frank. He was always there. The thought of someone getting past him never even occurred to you. There was never a chance for anyone to get too close to you until you created one.

Frank paused his irritated pacing, his face softening as he heard the remorse that cracked through your voice. Your hands were trembling as you choked words out through your heavy tears, and for the first time that night he thought about how scared you must have been. He glanced at the bruises that marked your wrist and let out a deep exhale through his nose. You were a pain in the ass, but he knew you hadn’t intended for tonight to happen. You could be careless sometimes, but not enough to put yourself in that situation.

Frank took a few cautious steps forward, placing his hands delicately on your shoulders.

“Hey, breathe. Everythin’s alright, yeah? You’re home. You’re alright. Just…breathe for me, sweetheart.”

“I’m so sorry, Frank-”

Frank let out another deep sigh as he pulled you in close, hugging your head against his chest as he gently rubbed your back.

“Hey…hey, I know. I know you didn’t mean for it to happen. Look, it’s over, yeah? Don’t matter anymore. Just focus on breathin’ for me.”

“You could’ve gotten hurt, and I-”

Frank pulled back slightly as he cupped your jaw delicately, searching your eyes with confusion knit between his dark brows. It felt drastically different than when that man had grabbed your face earlier. Frank’s fingers were rough, but they were soft as they touched you. Frank would never hurt you. His full lips were pursed in almost a pout as he searched your eyes, and it was the first time you were able to look at them so closely. They were a breathtaking shade of chocolate brown, and looked so different when he wasn’t angry. His entire face was different when he let that brooding mask slip. 

After a beat of silence, the edge of his mouth curved in the tiniest of smirks as his eyes lit up with mischief.

“The hell you worryin’ ‘bout me for? I’m the one protectin’ you, ya’know.”

“I don’t make that easy.”

“No, you don’t.”

There was a somewhat playful tone to the normal edge of his voice. He was trying to make you feel better, but you didn’t feel like you deserved it.

“And I could’ve gotten us both hurt because of it.”

Frank had expected you to banter back with him. You always had some smartass comeback ready to fire, and he secretly enjoyed it. But the dejection in your voice made him worry he’d been too hard on you earlier. A bigger part of him was nervous that he’d scared you in the bar, and that gnawed at the pit of his stomach.

“Have I ever let a single thing happen to you?”

“No, but-”

“Do you think I ever would?”

“No, but Frank-”

“Good. My job is to protect you. I don’t need you worryin’ ‘bout me, sweetheart. I can take a lot more than you give me credit for. What I do need is you to worry ‘bout yourself, and listen. I don’t tell you shit to be a hardass or try to control you. It’s to keep you safe. You got that?”

“Yes, Frank.”

“So, we understand each other now? You gonna start listenin’?”

“I will, I promise.”

“Attagirl.”

Frank granted you a miniscule smile as he wiped a stray tear away from your cheek, and a tiny surge of pride flowed through you at his praise. You wanted more of that. You gently wrapped your hand around his wrist, finding yourself unable to break his mesmerizing gaze.

“I don’t ever want anything like tonight to happen again.”

“That makes two of us.”

“I was really scared, Frank.”

“Did I scare you?”

Frank’s voice was quieter as he voiced his inquisition, and you could hear the vulnerability laced in it. You quickly shook your head, holding onto his wrist a little tighter.

“I wasn’t scared of you, Frank. I never have been. I was scared I wouldn’t be able to find you. That you wouldn’t be able to find me. That I…might never see you again.”

“I’ll always find you, sweetheart. I promise.”

You thought you liked how your name sounded coming from Frank’s mouth, and God you did, but sweetheart…yeah you liked that much better.

“Frank-”

“Go get some sleep. We’ll talk in the mornin’.”

“Are you leaving?”

Frank quirked one of his brows as he looked at you, a smile ghosting over his mouth so fast you had to convince yourself you hadn’t imagined it.

“Kinda defeats the purpose of body guardin’ if I ain’t here to guard your body, yeah? And since someone can’t manage to keep herself outta trouble, can’t really take any chances.”

Something about that sentence had heat violently spreading across your cheeks, and traveled very far downwards. You nodded your head quickly, trying to will your brain to remember how to speak as you cleared your throat.

“Right…um…guest room is-”

“Across from yours, I remember.”

“Um…goodnight, Frank.”

“Night, sweetheart.”

You flashed him a tight lipped smile, trying to gather yourself as you turned around and headed towards your bedroom. What a fucking night. As you opened your bedroom door, you paused for a second and turned around, only to find Frank still in the same spot you had left him, watching you closely. He turned his body to face you expectantly, cocking his head slightly to the side in question.

“Thank you.”

Frank’s hand twitched slightly as his side, giving you a slight nod.

“It’s my job, sweetheart.”

[emotsper]

Hi!!!!!!!!

You’re like the szai person on tumblr, and even tho I’ve been playing proseka for like two years, I still don’t read a lot of the stories………

So as the certified szai tumblr person, since you kinda own the tag, would you like to explain to me why szai is such a popular ship? I really didn’t read much of anything…

Have fun!!

let me be brief (1/350) (no bc its actually gonna be a long ramble. apolocheese.) (also sorry if formatting is awful im a mobile user and I literally just type whatever)

FOR REAL THOUGH. PLEASE JUST DO ME A FAVOR AND READ MMJ MAINSTORY...... not only its a good source of szai cocaina you get to experience the entire mmj mainstory. i was normal before mmj mainstory and i was less normaler after mmj mainstory.

it simply went even more downhill when i read tenshi no clover. genuinely the one event story that first made me cry (second one was ice drop event but thats a bit biased)

okay now lets get to the main meat of it. szai.

admittedly i was kind of normaler early on but one of my tipping point was Chasing the radiance event especially chapter 7. please read/watch it. please. this specific chapter sent me into my trip of insanity when it comes to szai. it also opened my eye to specific scenes in their side stories/mmj mainsto that i skimmed early on especially bc im a jp only player so fan tls may not be super accurate back then 💔

to start off, airi was a girl that was often made fun of for being tomboyish, and seeing idols for the first time made her feel a glimmer of hope that maybe she can also bring hope to other people. she finally manages to reach her goal and became an idol after several of failed auditions (very deserved especially after her hard work) while shizuku became an idol purely out of luck from the idol grand prix context her friends convinced her to join 😭😭 From the start their relationship feels a little bit doomed with how jealousy is kind of unavoidable from airis side. but against all odds, you get to see airi go to shizuku and cheering her up by giving shizuku her towel and telling her to wipe those tears especially with such a pretty face like hers (MACHINE CLANG CLANG RACK SFX) they are so crazy for this. especially when you realize that shizuku kept the towel until now. (the towel is her area upgrade item)

from this point, airi thought nothing much of shizuku yet other than her being her new rival (and that shes rly pretty) but shizuku sees airi as her main reason to keep going in this idol stuff at that time, and that was enough.

(okay purely for this next part im forgetting a bit so do remember it may not be fully accurate 🙏)

after training minori for awhile, szai went thru a mini divorce arc where airi was telling minori that being an idol isnt all fun and games and that minori should consider quitting, continuing on with how she flopped in the industry bc she was more popular as a reality show figure. but shizuku disagreed and kept saying how airi was an idol through and through and that she shouldn't have quit, but that just tipped airi off and she shouted at shizuku, unloading all her pent up jealousy that she had for awhile now. iconic as hell scene in the most angsty way possible.

u can easily tell this wasn't received well by shizuku. at all. airi you done fucked up. shizuku left her idol group the next day.

(addendum i forgot to add. shizuku truly believed that airi was the first and if not, the only person who sees shizuku as shizuku hinomori herself, without all the idol filter that people plastered on her. so when airi admitted that she was jealous w shizuku getting everything good in the industry, that basically broke shizuku. (color of myself is a nice one to read when it comes to this 🙏 also the i am we are event is a crazy good conclusion to shizukus current arc))

at this point airi realizes just how much shizuku was influenced by her past actions without her fully knowing about it. girl you done fucked up.

this scene is still one of the biggest and strongest kryptonite for szai fans. especially with what happens after.

after confronting shizuku about her choice knowing full well its airis fault, airi, angry at herself, goes immediately to cheerful*days training place (she knows the place since theyve kinda shared the spot iirc) while the rest of mmj follows. she started threatening arisa and almost threw punches but she held back and told the rest of cheerful*days that shizuku is more of an idol than everyone in the room (i may be hallucinating this one. do lmk)

they finally leave the place, and both apologies to each other. at the same time, they both admitted that they were each others idol

and then shizuku goes to tackle hug airi. what the queer

that only concludes the mainstory section btw. upon realizing it may be too much of a recap instead of actual explanation ill be brief w the rest of it (keep in mind i dont read EVERY szai story, just ones i was made aware of bc im playing on jp and story content is a bit harder to see/consume)

Main szai crazies for szai fans

1. chasing the radiance ch7. airi yet talks again about how shizukus hands are slender and elegant while hers are short and chubby (she compared her hands to a manju) and shizuku was mad at her about this and went on a long tangent about how airis gentle hands were the ones who pushes minori and shizuku forward when they think they couldn't.

this is probably the fifth time ive read this story and it still gets me. i hate these fruitsssss. please read the full chapter ive linked it near the start this chapter is so special to me.

2. my ideal idol (airi 5, jp only event for now)

Bro i Dont Even Know What Else To Say. Just Look At This Card

but if we're being serious . lets talk about this one specific card and the story shall we.

this card was a blast to the past; pre-mmj szai again.

we start off with present mmj getting ready for their turn in the joint performance with a new junior idol group that they were paired with. airi was a bit nervous and shizuku noticed it. so she offered to do something that would hopefully lessen the nervousness for both of them. shizuku softly puts her head on airis back and whispered several word of encouragements. shizuku reminisces to the past.

pre-mmj szai. shizuku was very nervous as she was waiting for her first performance ever as an idol. airi was also there, and it was going to be her first too. airi shows up to say hi to shizuku but she noticed that shizuku was really nervous and at the verge of crying. airi knew she had to do something and told shizuku to turn around, shizuku did. shizuku lets out a little surprised yelp as she feels airis hands and head pressing against her back. she could hear airi muttering some encouragement but we never get to hear what the words were, only that shizuku thought about how warm airis hands were. (i need to be euthanized)

back to the present, shizuku says that she hopes that this gesture can somehow "repay" for what airi did to her back then. i think im losing it. sorry

OKAY IM DONE IM DONE ITS ALMOST 1 AM MY BRAIN IS NOT GOING TO WORK ANYMORE IF I KEEP TYPING..... my brain can handle so little. anyways i hope this wall of text ramble can convince u to read mmj mainsto and consume more mmj stories........ i admit its not perfect or whatsoever bc i haven't read the mmj mainstory for awhile and i have a wee memory issue thats paired with my deafness so. yeah. enjoy. haha.

[romanshomeonwattpad]

Girl in New York | 6

pairings - art donaldson/reader | challengers au!

”__"= Y/N

masterslist | next chapter | last chapter

sypnosis - you overhear Art’s friends talking shit about you.

warnings - angst, none

author s note - hope you guys enjoy, i have two more chapters planned after this. let me know how ya’ll feel about this story so far!

word count - 2k

© elliotsblunt 2024. do not repost, modify, or translate.

You snatched Art’s sucker from his mouth. It was warm on your tongue, earning a look of pure irritation. “It tastes sweeter when it’s yours.”

Apparently he was a super genius at math, so Art offered to help you tutor for your upcoming math final. Although you denied his assistance, he initiated, and you couldn’t turn down spending more time with him. It was peculiar. Around him, you were able to act like your true self. A tiny part of you hoped he felt the same.

Birds chirped above as the wind gently blew his hair away from his blue hues. The cherry flavor slowly dissolved into your tongue, Art snatching the lollipop back from you and popping it back into his mouth. A giggle left your lips, the corner of his eyes crinkling as he chuckled.

He was sat on the bench, whilst your bum was placed on the table. Art looked up at you before taking the sucker out and sipping his coffee. “You should put your hair up more often.”

Your cheeks grew hot, “I look like an egg with my hair up.”

“I kinda see it, actually.”

“Stop,” you snatch his pop, sticking it back into your mouth. His smile twitched at your action, but then grew.

“Your parents are sweet.”

“My dad thinks you’re a good looking dude—and my mom won’t stop talking about how cute your girlfriend is,” Art studied you as you continued to speak, sitting up from the table and standing onto your feet.

“She even said ‘you should be more like her __’. Less revealing and more polite.”

“It’s an act. As soon as we’re alone, she gets high on coke and complains about every single person she meets. She said you were a lousy slut that count through a straight shot—and something else..”

Strikes of irritation hit you. “Art….what the fuck?”

“You flirt with me right in front of her, _ _. I can’t blame her for not exactly liking you.”

You scoff, “So what? I’m a lousy slut? I thought you said I was yours?”

You made sure to emphasize the last few words in a mocking tone, causing Art to grind his jaw. He stood up as well. “Chill, _ _. You know people say shit when they’re…”

Right. It was meaningless sex talk.

It never mattered to you. What anyone said or thought about you. But when it came to Art—maybe it did. You both had an understanding. He wasn’t supposed to judge you. You weren’t a saint, but agreeing with her calling you a lousy slut ticked you off. He acted as if it didn’t take two to tango. Perhaps this whole infatuation you had for him was one sided. Now you weren’t saying you liked him, but maybe…..

……maybe you were interested.

“So you wouldn’t care if I slept with other guys?”

Something shifted in the air. Art was far away. Physically, he was standing right in front of you. A foot away from one another. But emotionally, he was miles out. You stared at him, still holding the sucker in your hand. For some reason you were clutching it.

He wasn’t looking at you, keeping his eyes on the ground. The leaves were brittle and broken due to the season—pavement cracked from constantly being walked on for years. Kids giggled in the background, contrasting to the dim atmosphere that was created between the both of you.

“Art?”

“I heard you. And no, I wouldn’t.”

You didn’t know why, but you couldn’t stop your lips from moving. Usually when you grew angry, you brain vomitted. “Cool. I’m actually thinking about hooking up with this one dude.” 

Art pressed his lips together, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Wear protection. Wouldn’t want you to catch anything.”

“You think so highly of me, Art. Who’s to say I haven’t been fucking some dude already?”

His eyes darkened. He then shrugged his shoulders.

“In that case, how about we tag team you? Show you how we treat real bitches.” His tone was frustrated and rough. He had never used it before.

You tossed the sucker onto the ground, stepping on it before sending him a nasty look. Art clenched his jaw as he watched you turn around and storm off.

hey. its _ _.

i can’t make it to practice this week.

Art responded almost immediately.

That’s fine.

After that, a couple days passed without anything eventful happening. You focused on your final exams, and ended up doing pretty well on the math one. Art helping you out seemed to make a major impact on your grade. As for the rest of your classes, you managed to pass. Your parents were pleased so that’s what mattered.

On a random Tuesday, one of your classmates—Gen, asked to grab boba with you. Your favorite shop was down the street, so you offered to meet her. You decided to walk, strolling through the busy streets of your neighborhood. Ice began to freeze over the poles, snow beginning to fall during the night and reach up to being a foot tall. But you absolutely adored it. In any situation, you’d rather be too cold than hot.

Hands stuffed into the pockets of your black leather jacket, you texted Gen that you arrived. She said that she was going to be a half hour late because of traffic. You replied that it was no worries and you’ll order your drinks beforehand since it was pretty packed.

As you stepped into line, you earned a few stares so you decided to go onto your phone. But then you heard a familiar voice a few spaces ahead of you. “She practically throws herself at Art. I think it would be the best choice if he just canceled their lessons and booted her trashy ass to the curb.”

You froze in place. Tiffany….was talking about you…to who?

At your favorite fucking boba shop.

And the things she was saying….

Who the fuck did she think she is?

An unfamiliar male voice sounded. “Sounds like fatherless behavior. He’s probably an immigrant running a hotel or something.”

Your blood ran cold. Fists balling at your sides, you tried your best to keep calm. Whenever someone had thrown a nasty curse or two at you, it was whatever. You didn’t really care about yourself, nor what others thought about you. But when it came to your family, war was always an option. And seeing as Tiffany seemed to ‘ love ‘ your parents, showed how right Art had been.

She was fake.

“Could explain the way she acts. I mean—you should’ve seen what her mother wear wearing. It looked like she shopped at the McDonald’s down the stre—“

Your patience had snapped.

Stepping out of line, your heart beat thudded in your ears as your chest raced with anger. It all happened so fast. You heard laughter before interrupting their dick fest. “What did you just say?”

You had it in the bag. Confrontation was never a problem for you. Whenever you had something on your mind, nothing could’ve gotten in your way to make sure that person learned not to fuck with you. Whether it was a three hundred pound man built from pure muscle, or a 6 foot 3 famous basketball player. If they pissed you off, they were in for it.

So you opened your mouth, ready to curse Tiffany Barbie Bitch out. Some dude with ginger hair and beady little green eyes looked at you with a surprised look, but you didn’t pay him any mind. The blonde haired girl widened her eyes, a crimson blush covering her cheeks. “_ _. Um, hey.”

Even though that cunt had been the one to initially piss you off, that wasn’t the icing on the cake.

No.

What rubbed salt into the would was the fact that Art was also standing right there, looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

It was as if time had frozen. His eyes bored into yours, fists shaking at his sides as the flesh turned white from the brutal grip. Art’s face flushed.

You froze.

It was as if the lump in your throat grew with every second. Your palms were soaked with sweat. Everything began to hit you all at once. You’re family were laughing stock to his friends. You knew Art was incredibly talented and maintained a better lifestyle than you…and was more fortunate—but you told him your family situation that in confidence.

He wasn’t your friend. He was your fuck buddy. Well, was. The only thing he was after this was dead to you.

Art didn’t give a flying fuck about you.

“Your parents are sweet.”

Fucking dick that can’t last ten seconds.

“Least you got to hear the truth,” Tiffany shrugged her shoulders, earning a snicker from the random ginger beside Art.

You narrowed your eyes. The nerve she had on her. If you hadn’t been fucking her boyfriend—you would’ve broke her crooked nose.

You looked at Art. His eyes were trained on the ground, body stiff as a statue.

He didn’t say anything.

So you left.

Fuck Art Donaldson.

He was fucking dead to you.

You ended up re-scheduling with your classmate. A week had passed without a call or text from Art. You had already smoked five packs of cigarettes in that time frame. This sudden funk you got into wasn’t because of anyone, including the golden haired boy that suddenly infiltrated your mind. Your conquests didn’t affect your personal life. It was probably because you had nothing to do now since it was Spring Break.

An old friend that you used to take tennis classes with had reached out to you. She was playing for a highly exclusive tournament that apparently costs like two-hundred per ticket—but offered two free tickets. In case you wanted to bring a plus one. And only one person seemed to pop into your mind.

When the date came, which was two days later, anxiety pooled within your belly as you you drove into the parking lot. Your plus one had told you beforehand that they were going to meet you in there. Teeth chewing on your lower lip, you hopped out the car and made your way towards the large stadium. It was a large grey building with an open surface, check in lines fully stacked back to back.

A certain sign said V. I. P in bold letters. Usually, if you came with a free ticket—it classified as a special pass. So instead of having to wait in this long ass line,you decided to go up to the door. A security guard with shades on and a brown polo shirt steps before you. “Players only.”

Your brows raise. “It says V.I.P.”

“Exactly.”

“Look, I’m not playing, but I know—“

His voice cuts you off again, with a dismissing tone to it. “Players only.”

Your eyes widen at his lack of empathy or common manners. “Listen here, buddy. Why don’t I play your gigantic as—“

“She’s with me.”

You froze in your tracks, heart knocking against your ribs like a caged bird. Dread washes over you as you refuse to turn around.

The guard lowers his sunglasses, stepping towards the source of the voice behind you. Gulping, your eyes flee to Art, who faced the security card with a calm expression. He had looked as handsome as he ever did, black hoodie thrown over his head and a pair of grey sweaters hanging loosely off his sculpted figure.

“You playing tonight?”

“Yeah.”

Your eyes widen. Art was playing tonight? You didn’t know that.

Big dude stepped aside, but not before lowering his shades once again and sending Art a rugged thin eyed look. The blonde walked past him without sparing a glance, unlike you, who flipped off the security guy. “Yeah—you better let me in. Who wears shades inside—?”

Art grabbed you by the arm, dragging you inside the hall the door lead to. It was vacant, most likely everyone in their own rooms. Your eyes narrowed at him as he shushed you with brows facing downwards.

“Don’t shush me fuckface,” you spat out, feeling a wave of pure irritation roll through you. Art pressed his lips together as you brain vomited all over him. “You’re fucking fake. The worst idea I ever made was letting you put that Gingivitis dick inside me.”

His eyes blinked in anger, yet disbelief at your words. You tore your arm from his grip, ignoring the way his baby blue eyes drew you in.

“You gonna say anything?”

His fists were balled again. The sound of his raspy breathing was the only noise in the otherwise death-silent room. A gnawing feeling radiated from your guts as Art cast his eyes to the ground.

For the first time, as you looked at him, something in your heart twitched. He had looked better than ever, skin glowing and not a wrinkle in sight on his perfectly sculpted face. It confused you, since you had lost sleep these past few days. Perhaps your insights were correct.

Perhaps Art hadn’t thought about you at all. Except for when he needs a good laugh. His lack of words made your skin crawl before he releases a small breath.

A monotone I’m sorry leaves those lips that you’ve kissed only a few times.

That’s all.

And then silence filled the space between the both of you. It was the true answer you needed. You weren’t sure why he had even helped you get in. You wish you never saw him again, but that would be unlikely for today. The disrespect he exhibited had thrown you into a messy loop of making excuses. But today it had been ended.

When you turned around, his eyes lifted off the floor.

You darted a menacing glance over your shoulder, locking eyes with him once last time. Those orbs were cloudy. His chest heavily rose and fell as you threw him a sad smile. “Me too.”

And then you turned around, never looking back.

[violettaskies]

To Share A Kiss The Devil Has Known

(ch. 1)

Pairing: Eddie Munson x you // Eddie Munson x f!reader // perv!Eddie Munson x innocent!reader

Genre: romance, mild smut, Catholic trauma, religious trauma, friends to lovers, slow burn

Notes: this will have a three installments // this chapter is just the intro honestly lol so sorry if it’s boring build up // Eddie is kinda pervy lol // he’s kinda dark but also not // i tried to write him to be as much of a consent king as possible

Warnings: MINORS DNI, 18+ ONLY, NSFW // talks of religion, reader goes to confession and her priest is a little mean with his words (at the beginning), slight manipulation, pillow humping, humping, first times, dacryphilia, corruption kink, praise kink // masturbation //please let me know if there should be more added, thank you!

ao3 // chapter two // chapter three // masterlist // series masterlist

-:-:-:-:-

Every other Sunday was for confession. While other members of the family went on Wednesdays or Saturdays, you always chose Sundays since it would start the week off on a clean slate.

Not that there was much to confess about. Oftentimes, you would walk from your house to the church a few hours after mass ended, maybe feeling a bit guilty about your thoughts, rarely was it ever your actions. One day, you came in to tell the priest about how angry you got at your parents when they grounded you for accidentally falling asleep in church. You didn’t lash out at them, of course; but, you did curse them in your head — not honouring thy father and mother very well.

Then there was an instance three years ago at the homecoming dance. One girl had on the most beautiful baby blue dress you had ever seen, while you were stuck with a hand-me-down gown of the same colour. You prayed aloud that night in front of your bed, that you would one day have the opportunity to wear a dress as nice as hers. But the prayer backfired when your mother overheard, then told you to march to the church the following morning to confess how you broke the tenth commandment of coveting thy neighbour’s goods.

As a whole, you thought there were never any major moments in your life where you sinned gravely. That was until you went to your friend’s house for Bible study on Saturday night. She hosted it weekly, and invited all the kids from school. Needless to say, only a handful of people appeared. Not that it wasn’t fun, the six of you would always spend a few hours going over passages, and then eat a nice dinner afterwards. Truly, you looked forward to it since there weren’t other things you were invited to in town.

So when this past Saturday rolled around where the first epistle to the Corinthians was read, specifically the sixth chapter and eighteenth verse — your group started to analyze it as normal. But, little did you know that this was the day your heart would drop the hardest it ever has.

‘The sexually immoral person sins against their own body,’ the people in the room repeated the verse over and over, like a chant taunting you and your actions.

It was the first time you walked into the confessional on a Sunday afternoon with shaky legs and an intensely beating heart. You told the priest what you told your friend, trying to rid yourself of the sins you unknowingly committed. But he stopped you, his voice only getting louder as he gave you guidance on your next steps. ‘Stop doing that,’ he said, ‘God may not be so quick to forgive you if you give into the Devil’s temptations so often.’ Then after he assigned you a penance of five Hail Marys and going through the rosary twice, you were gone.

All you could think as you took your first steps outside, were words that should never cross your mind. Not now, not ever.

If sinning is so bad, then why does it feel so good?

-:-:-:-:-

As the day ended, and a new week of school began — your guilt never went away. Teasing you from the back of your subconscious as you walked home, ate dinner, and failed at doing some homework that was due a few days later.

It had been three days since the last time you unknowingly sinned, two days since you found out what it was, and one day since the priest’s voice scared you to the point of no return. Everything affected you gravely, that even once you walked into school Monday morning, the noises from the other students became a muffled and chaotic mess in your ears. So much so, that as you were shakily getting things out of your locker, you didn’t even notice movement from the one next to yours.

“You look stressed, sweetheart.” The voice startled you, only amplifying your inner-guilt, since you spent the past few moments focusing on shutting the voices up in your head, rather than greeting your favourite locker neighbour.

But what made you feel guiltiest of all, was that he is the one who inspired these sins of yours.

The throbbing ache between your legs felt good, and the way your pillow helped relieve that ache felt even better. If you were able to feel this level of delight every night, then why not think of someone who made you feel the same way? — the question plagued your mind nightly, during the moments you were oblivious to committing a sin.

Little did you know that it was truly sexual in meaning.

There was only one person who made you feel equally as amazing with their words and actions. Your locker neighbour to the right, Eddie Munson.

Several moments replayed in your head. Like the time he kept calling you ‘pretty girl’ because you decided to wear a skirt on the first day of Spring. Then, you remember how his calloused fingers felt when they were so close to your face after he brushed your hair from your neck; making sure to linger on your sensitive skin before mentioning how beautiful the silver crucifix looked on you. There were so many times after that too. From his deep voice whispering in your ear to ask if you needed a ride home while you both were in study hall; to his arms wrapping a sweater around your shoulders during lunch when the school’s heater broke. The Hawkins townspeople claimed him as a spawn of the Devil, but you named him as the only true friend you had. The only person to make the butterflies in your stomach tingle every time he spoke to you.

“I-I’m not, it’s just I can see now why Mondays aren’t people’s favourite,” you responded, still staring into the vastness of your locker. Thinking about how your start to the week wasn't so great as it usually is.

Eddie had opened the metal door completely, removing the barrier between the two of you. “But, Mondays are always your favourite because you get to see me after a painstakingly long forty-eight hours,” he pouted while trying to get you to giggle at his dramatics.

It worked.

“Well, I normally see you around the fourth period. This is the earliest you’ve been at school for a while.”

“Mondays are the worst because my homeroom teacher loves putting tests at the buttcrack of dawn,” Eddie groaned, while holding up the notes you loaned him at the beginning of the year since you already took the biology course before.

“Well, good luck, I’m gonna go—” no matter how much you loved talking to him, and how warm he made you feel, Eddie was part of your current predicament. So seeing him now made your heart ache in the worst way.

As you went to grab the locker door to close it, Eddie lightly grabbed your wrist. “I saw you leaving the church yesterday. You looked so,” he paused, moving his head downwards to meet you at eye-level, before continuing. “Sad, you looked so sad. I even called out your name a few times so I could give you a ride home, but you kept walking, so I assumed you didn’t hear me.”

So it was the Devil’s spawn shouting your name as you made your way home; not the Devil himself making you feel guilty for your actions. It was just your friend who wanted to look out for you.

Eddie continued: “or maybe you’re ignoring me,” he pouted with feign-sadness.

“Oh, uh-uhm it was just a really tiring day and I guess the voices in my head were too loud,” it was only partially a lie.

“If something’s bothering you—”

“Nothing’s bothering me, honestly,” this one was a lie, and it came out a bit too easily. But all you could focus on now was the feeling of Eddie’s thumb stroking small circles on the soft skin of your wrist.

He looked you up and down suspiciously before saying, “you know you can tell me anything, right?”

“I do.”

“So whatever is going through your mind, let me know. Who am I to judge anyways?” He winked before letting go of your wrist.

You nodded, seriously contemplating if you wanted to have a confessional with your little Devil. Just as you stared at him with eyes full of conflict, the bell rang. Instead of responding, you softly said your farewell. “Anyways, see you later during fourth period, if you decide to come again.”

It was the only class Eddie had a perfect attendance score in, but he would never let you know that you’re the reason why.

-:-:-:-:-

By the time English class rolled along, you didn’t realize just how much your body was moving itself robotically. Going through the movements you’ve been so used to doing for the years you’ve been in high school. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, thankfully. First period was a calculus lesson, history happened afterwards with a lecture on the French Revolution, then a substitute showed up for geography during third period so that was a boring class. All throughout those hours, you kept quiet; because the wrath of the Angel on your shoulder, condemning you for your sins, was becoming far too much. To even think about answering questions the teachers asked was mentally exhausting.

It all came to a peak once you sat on your chair for fourth period English — the only class you had with Eddie this semester, and of course, the only class everyone sat at long desks that held two people. As you looked out the window to the dark blue skies of Autumn, your conscience kept telling you to be careful. You were about to sit next to the boy who amplified your senses as you sinned. Goodness knows how he’ll react to the news if you told him.

What would he think if he found out you think about his hands helping guide your hips nightly, or his voice telling you ‘you’re so beautiful’ when you finally find the climax of your relief, or his lips kissing your —

“You’re still so tense,” the voice brought you out of your haze for the second time today. But this time, Eddie’s warm hand was on the top of your left thigh; the set of thighs you unknowingly went from bouncing one second to squeezing together the next.

“Just tired, maybe I’ll nap when I get home,” you sighed. Truly, it has been three days since the bane of your guilt was committed. You could barely sleep now that you’ve stopped doing your nightly routine.

“Take a nap in my van, I have cute pillows in there,” he scrunched his nose as he teased you, then released your thigh to stretch his arms in the air.

Thinking of how your class went to the zoo for a field trip once, and Eddie found the scariest-looking bats cute, you replied sweetly: “your definition of cute is not really the same as mine.”

“But, I think you’re cute, don’t you?” Eddie loved to make you blush with his not-so-suave comments. Said it was practice for whenever he goes to the bars and flirts with girls there. But he never was able to make them flustered in the way you always were.

You saw the teacher walk into class in your peripheral vision, and prayed that would mean you didn’t need to talk to your locker and desk neighbour for the next three quarters of an hour. “I’m not,” you shyly say while looking away from The Dealer completely.

“You’re such a good girl too,” his voice was deeper than normal.

He was wrong. So wrong. The guilt in your heart only deepens as his words echo in your ear, along with the voices of your priest telling you need to repent for your sins. If this day couldn’t have gotten any worse, of course the muse of your sinful thoughts believes you’re a good girl when you aren’t.

“I-I’m—” your words are saved by the bell and your teacher’s voice which booms through the classroom. You thought you were safe, thought that until lunch you could get away with not looking at the boy who makes you unknowingly rub your legs together. But no, the day that was going downhill, just hit rock bottom.

“This class is a bit different, it will be a work period since I’m assigning you a small project due Wednesday. That’s not a lot of time, so today will be a work period then tomorrow we will have a lesson. I hope that you all can get the project finished after school over the next couple days.”

Doing a small project wouldn't be so bad, would it? The curiousity sat in your brain momentarily before your thoughts went haywire. The teacher paired you off, specifically with the people you were sitting next to, where each duo would need to analyze and present a different chapter of The Picture of Dorian Gray. So after a beat of silence once the teacher’s explanation was over, the class erupted in murmured voices and squeaky chairs. But you couldn’t get yourself to move to face your project partner.

“Don’t kill me but, we may need to finish this tonight because tomorrow—”

“You have your g-gig, I remember,” spreading out your time with Eddie would have helped your intensifying sinful thoughts subside. At least until you got over your bad habit. But now, you both had to do this for your grades — mainly his — so there was no time to lose. Maybe this could be a positive distraction.

“How about we work on it today right after school so we can get it over with?” he suggests.

“Alright, I guess skipping band practice one time wouldn’t be so bad,” you start shaking your left leg again. If you were a sinner, why not fall down the path of delinquency — your tendency to accept defeat a little too quickly, and then spiral, was catching up to you now.

Eddie notices, and touches your thigh again to calm you down like he has so many times before, even a few minutes ago. Although now, you move your leg away from his grip. “No, no, no, you go be a good girl and head to band practice, then I’ll pick you up afterwards and we'll run to the library,” he says trying not to sound disappointed that you backed away from his touch.

“I’ll finish probably a little after half-past three today since there’s only one song to practice,” you state while opening the book to the assigned chapter. “What will you do while you wait?”

“Oh, you know, maybe do some buying and selling,” The Dealer says nonchalantly.

“Shopping?” you ask innocently.

“Of sorts,” he mimes the act of smoking a joint in your direction, and you look at him curiously before understanding what he meant. You remember your father telling you it’s not a good idea to be friends with your locker neighbour because he’s a sinner who does the Devil’s drugs.

Guess he rubbed off on you, while you rubbed off on something else.

The pang of guilt hit you again. Like a stab to the heart from God himself. Tonight, you’ll do penance until you sleep, before the Devil on your shoulder tells you to commit your sinfully bad habit again. “R-right,” you say quietly. “Let’s get started then, you have to stay focused, Eddie, do you promise?”

“Pinky promise, my dear,” he grabs your fingers that are so much smaller than his, and hooks his pinky onto yours. “Only if you promise to focus too. You’ve been zoning out all day long. When you walk from class to class it looks like you’re constantly about to puke.”

“I do not,” you say in a defiant whisper.

“So do,” he teases. “Listen, if I promise to stay focused the entire time while we try and finish this project, you’re gonna tell me why you’re acting this way. It’s worrying me.”

You pause, looking at Eddie’s weirdly mischievous eyes as he starts to rub the bottom of your back. “There’s nothing really bothering me, though.”

“You’re lying, aren’t you, pretty girl?” his fingers started circling in a pattern that brought pleasurable shivers up your spine. After years of giving you featherlight touches — because that’s what friends do, he said one day — he knew exactly where to grasp your body to make you relax.

“Let me think about it,” you slightly give in. However, you can’t get yourself to admit, again, how badly you want to confess your sins to the one who inspired them.

He notices how you started to squeeze your thighs together again during this class. “That’s all I ask,” Eddie chuckles before moving his hands to your waist to move your body closer to himself. “Now, don’t kill me again, but I didn’t read the chapter. Or the book, so,” he elongated the last word while looking at you with feign-innocence with his doe eyes and pursed lips.

One thing you unknowingly did admit, was just how easily you were able to fall for his manipulative ways.

-:-:-:-:-

As Eddie waited in his van for you to come out of band practice, all he could think about was how strange you’ve been acting throughout the day. You were always one to talk to him in shy tones as he would talk your ear off in any given conversation. Today was different though, and he wasn’t able to place a finger on it. What hurt him most was when you reacted to his touch by moving your leg away — a move you haven’t done in the years you had gotten used to his touch. Then, you didn’t join him for lunch like you did every Monday and Friday, since the other days you would be asked to join the band or church group tables.

Something was off, and Eddie feels like it has something to with the downcast image of you walking through Hawkins on Sunday afternoon. Today, he was going to figure it out.

Ever since the man found out his locker was next to yours on the first day of Freshman year, The Dealer became obsessed with you. Not that you noticed him often — Eddie was notorious for skipping class so much that even though you went to your locker between every class, you would only see him once a day during that year of high school. However, he definitely noticed you: your shyness, the way you kept your head down as you roamed the hallways to the next period, and how you had a tendency of jumping a little every time you closed your locker and saw him standing there at his.

The small silver crucifix that was dangling on your neck was the icing on the cake for Eddie. Realizing then, that you were an innocent Angel who went to Bible study and mass every week. While he could only ask God why He put him in such a shitty place with even shittier parents.

Your innocence astounded him — like when people would joke around about how you didn’t know what sex was, all you would do is blush; or how one time a Senior basketball player walked up to your locker and invited you on a date. He was infamous for keeping a list of all the girls he took the virginities of, and you were his next target. The only thing you did though, was thank him and tell him that Bible study was scheduled to be a long one this week so you would rather go to that.

Something possessive leaped out of Eddie that day as he overheard the conversation from behind the metal door. He had to have you, had to know what it was like to roam your mind. He would do anything to make sure you were his.

So he did. Slowly, as the days passed, he would start talking to you more, trying to get you out of your little shell. You were so quiet that sometimes he would need to get close to your figure as you spoke — not that he minded of course. Eddie genuinely did love your innocence and how you didn’t even realize that he was being a flirtatious pervert when he complimented you. That every time he mentioned you were wearing something nice that day, he would go home and picture fucking you in only that piece of clothing or jewelry. His favourite, being the image of you wearing only that tiny silver crucifix you both loved so much.

Then there were the touches you had grown accustomed to. Eddie would invite you to sit with him during lunch — where he would lightly touch your fingers as he went to steal a fry off your tray. Afterwards, he would take his perverted compliments further, by straightening out the fabric of your skirt or shirt collar for you even if it just came from the dry cleaners. The Dealer would do anything to have an excuse to caress your skin for one moment.

You had asked him one day when you had visited his home to watch a movie: “you touch me a lot, why?”

“Do you not like it? Sorry, I just really enjoy—” if he wasn’t already worried about the fact that you were in his trailer for the first time, his heart dropped at the thought that you might hate him for his touch.

“No,” you would never want to make Eddie feel guilty for his actions. Youth group lessons taught you better than that, since it was only right to be accepting of everyone. “What I mean is, I don’t see many other friends do that with each other and I feel bad for them.”

It was his turn to be curious now. “What do you mean?”

“Your touches are nice, Eddie, so soft and sweet. I wish that all people would feel as nice as this with their friends too.” Look at you being charitable with your experiences — when these touches were only meant for you.

“That’s what friends do, they find ways to make their friends feel good.”

“Do you want me to do it for you too?” you reach out to touch his shoulder awkwardly, but you weren’t one to enjoy touching other people yourself.

“Not if you don’t want to. You make me feel good by being there for me when I need it. While I do the same for you, when you need someone to support you,” it’s true; even through all his indecent intentions, Eddie truly found an innocent and friendly warmth within himself for you, besides his love of wanting to be more than friends.

You look at him with sweet eyes to innocently ask the next question. “Then may you please rub my back like you do sometimes? It makes my heartbeat calm down and this movie is scary.”

“Of course, Angel,” it was right then, Eddie realized how much he loved it when you were needy.

“I wish I could have you do this whenever my cousins want to watch horror movies with me. Honestly, my parents don’t even know I’m here. But I just like your tou–”

“Tsk tsk, so naughty. Where do they think you are?”

“Am not,” you exclaimed and Eddie could tell your heart was beating a lot faster than before so he started to rub sweet circles on your back. “Plus, they think I’m watching a movie at a friend’s house, just don’t know who. It’s not a lie. I’m still a good girl.”

“Yes, you are,” he proclaimed deeply, realizing his rebel tendencies have inspired you. While you nearly moaned as your heartbeat stabilized, his touch and his voice made you feel so much better.

When Eddie was home alone that night, he couldn’t stop replaying the small whimpers of yours he memorized. If it was the hormones, or your innocent eagerness to be alone with him and let him touch you — he would never know which one he loved more.

Eddie was a sinner, he knew that, and was able to empower himself with the label. No matter how many times people around Hawkins would rebuke him as the Devil, or how often he would get stares from kids at school as he started to talk to you more: none of it phased him. What he loved most about you was how easily your innocence became obliviousness when it came to his sins – that you would hear about them and refuse to believe he was such a bad person because he was always so nice to you. Eddie couldn’t seem to understand why.

What he did understand though, was that his biggest sin was that every damn day of his life he was on the path of no return when it came to wanting to corrupt your virtue. To make all of his fantasies become a reality as he wanted to slowly make you addicted to him.

Did you figure it out? Is that why you were so awkward with him throughout the day? Why did you beg for his familiar touch in his memories, but pull away today?

Eddie’s mind moved at a million miles a minute, unsure of what was going on. But one thing was for sure: he was going to find out exactly what was hurting you, and he was going to do everything in his power to relieve that pain.

A small tap on the driver door window brought him out of his overstimulated thoughts. “Are you ready to go?” Your voice was muffled by the barrier, but Eddie was able to hear you before nodding.

He chuckled at your tendency to knock everywhere before you entered. Even with the van, you never approached it first unless he was already in it, or opened the door for you — that was mainly because The Dealer wanted to have some semblance of being a gentleman to you, even if he took that opportunity to touch your back to guide you into your seat.

“So the library?” Eddie asked as he watched you put your bag on the floor and straighten your skirt in the seat, not looking him in the eye as you respond.

“Y-yeah, it probably won’t be crowded since it’s a Monday.”

You were wrong, so wrong. It looks like all of the English teachers assigned similar group projects to their classes, since the library was filled to the brim with students from all grades cooped up at tables. You started to get nervous, the library was going to be your saving grace as you worked on this project.

“Should we go to my place?” He asked while tugging on the strap of your backpack lightly to get your attention.

“No,” you exclaimed a little too loudly, shocking Eddie a bit. “We can j-just go to mine instead.”

If you two finished the tasks at his trailer, then you felt as if it was walking into the Devil’s lair — a place where Eddie sinned like your parents said he did. The memories of the times your friend made you feel warm were enough to commit your treacherous acts; goodness knows how you’ll be when you’re in a room where everything is him.

While bringing the Devil reincarnate into your home wasn’t the best idea, your house had your Bible and other religious paraphernalia to protect you from giving into temptation. But, that’s also the place where you committed your unknowing sin, night after night — you thought.

These conflicting thoughts were about to be the death of you, as long as the annoying throbbing between your legs and Eddie’s teasingly sinister voice didn’t get you first.

-:-:-:-:-

[callsign-magnolia]

Love In The Dark // Ch. 4

Mature Content 18+

Summary: Iris never realized how much she truly depended on her eyesight until it was gone. But it never really stopped her, just another hurdle to jump over in life. Depending on people was never something she got used to, she still attempts to do things herself. Eventually, her roommate and best friend let's her down, but a tall, sandy brown haired aviator catches her.

Rooster x Blind!OC

Warnings: angst, alcohol, deception? I think that's it, if I missed any let me know!

Word Count: 3.5k

Chapter 3 | Masterlist

As the night wore on Iris grew more comfortable with everyone. She just felt bad because Jake was inside away from his own party when he should be enjoying himself. “Hey Bradley?” She asked. He leaned over from his conversation with Bob and smiled at her. “Yeah?” He almost said it in her ear, his breath brushing her neck. Her mind went fuzzy for a second before she remembered she said his name. “I feel bad that Jake’s inside. It is his party.” Bradley smiled, her kindness striking him in a way he’s never felt before. “He’s just upset.” He noticed Iris’ face fall and he quickly spoke up. “Not with you. Jake feels kinda foolish for not seeing through Mandi’s words.” He said and Iris nodded. “I just hate that he’s not having fun with the rest of us.” She said. “Do you want me to go talk to him?” He asked and Iris sat still for a moment. He could tell the gears were turning in her head. “Would it help if I talked to him?” She didn’t seem too keen on the idea. “No, I can do it.” With that he stood, sliding his chair back under the table. “I’ll be right back. Need anything while I’m up?” He asked, leaning down next to her. “No, I’m good. Thank you, though.” She said, turning her head up to look at him. Bradley was startled by her actions, her nose so close to his and she never even knew it. “Then I’ll be back.” With that he walked into the house. Bradley looked around, not seeing Jake so he made his way up the stairs. He crept down the hallway till he got to Jake’s room. 

He peeked his head inside and saw Jake sitting on the edge with his head hung low. “You okay?” He asked and Jake lifted his head. Dismay was written all over his face and it shocked Bradley a little. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine.” He said. “I didn’t ask if you will be. I asked if you are now.” Jake took a deep breath, surprised by how abrupt Bradley was being. “I feel stupid.” Bradley nodded. “I can see why.” Jake glared at him. “She was so convincing, and then I made myself out to be a total ass to Iris.” Bradley chuckled. “Truth be told, I don’t think Iris actually blames you for that.” He said. “Don’t let it eat you up, Hangman.” Bradley said, getting ready to walk back downstairs. “Truth be told, and I can’t believe I’m saying this. You were too good for her anyway.” They both laughed as Bradley headed back downstairs. He made his way out the back door and chuckled to himself. "Coyote." Rooster said, staring at his friend and fighting the urge to chuckle. Iris was having an intense conversation with Phoenix and Bob, and poor Coyote was trying his best to offer her a drink. "Coyote, man. She can't see you. You're gonna have to tap her shoulder." Rooster said, and Coyote looked at him, brows furrowed. "Why?" Iris heard the entire conversation and chuckled to herself before turning around to face them. "Because I'm blind." Rooster laughed at the look of panic on Coyote's face. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't - " Iris just laughed at him, easing the panic in Coyote's chest. “It’s okay Coyote. I haven’t told you yet.” Iris said as she took the drink from him. “So am I the last to know?” He asked and Iris shook her head. “No, I think there’s one more person I haven’t told.” She said, trying to place who it was. “Mav. I don’t think we’ve mentioned it to him. Or Penny.” 

Iris realized that she hadn't actually told Penny, even though she may have figured it out. “I’ll tell them before it’s time to leave.” Iris said. The night went on and they she managed to tell Mav and Penny. “That explains a lot of things from today. But if you’re totally blind, why the sunglasses?” Mav asked. “The sun can still damage my eyes in ways I can’t notice, so I always make sure to wear them. Plus they can keep the skin around my eyes from wrinkling.” They nodded. Iris tried to hold back her yawn but it was no use, no one can really keep a yawn discreet. Rooster couldn’t help but smile at her as she took her sunglasses off and wiped the corner of her eyes. “Do you want to go?” He whispered to her and she couldn’t hold back her smile. “Are you ready to go?” She asked, not wanting to end his night early if he wasn’t ready. “I’m ready if you are.” He said, smiling at her as she turned to him. “Yeah.” He stood, gently taking her outstretched hand and helping her up. “Well we’re gonna go guys.” Bradley announced and everyone turned to face them. “I really enjoyed meeting you all.” Iris said, offering a wave. Phoenix stood and came over, slowly pulling Iris into a hug and she returned it. “We definitely have to get together sometime.” Iris smiled widely and nodded. “I’d love that.” She responded. “You can get my number from Rooster.” She nodded and everyone else came up to say goodbye before they walked into the house, passing Jake in the kitchen on their way out. “Leaving?” He asked, drying a glass. “Yeah.” Rooster said. “Thank you for the invite, Jake. even though the night kinda blew up.” He just gave Iris a tight smile and nodded. “You’re welcome, Iris.” 

Rooster led Iris outside and to his Bronco. “Careful.” He opened the door and helped her hop in. He stood and leaned over her, buckling her seatbelt for her. “I could’ve done that myself.” Iris said, a small smile on her face. “What kind of gentleman would I be if I let you do it yourself though?” She gave a small laugh as he closed her door gently, walking around and getting in on the driver’s side. Bradley backed out of Jake’s driveway, easing down the road. Iris had a wide smile on her face as he went down the road, the wind blowing through the Bronco had her hair whipping around. Maybe it was a good idea he took the roof off. Bradley turned up the radio, a station that plays mostly seventies and eighties and he was caught off guard as Iris started loudly singing. He couldn’t help but admire her for a moment before laughing and joining her. It wasn’t long before the sun went down and Bradley pulled into the driveway. He cut the Bronco off and sighed. “Mandi’s here.” He said and Iris just shrugged. “I don’t care. Everything is irreconcilable at this point. Our friendship has been going down the drain for a while and this was just the icing on the cake.” Bradley pursed his lips and nodded. “Want me to walk you in?” He asked and she flashed him a large tipsy smile. “Would you please?” He just chuckled and nodded. “Yes, I will.” He got out, coming around and helping her out. “Why don’t you come in for a minute? I’ll get you a water.” She smiled at him and he watched as she walked up onto the porch. He wasn’t thirsty in the slightest but he couldn’t say no. “Okay.” 

Iris punched in the code to the front door and stepped in. “Why don’t you have a seat on the couch and I’ll be back in a minute.” She turned and smiled at him and he agreed before closing the front door. As he turned back he saw Iris take a step and suddenly she was gone, a loud thud and a yelp replacing her physical presence. “Iris?!” He rushed over, finding her face down, attempting to push herself off the floor. “Iris.” He bent down next to her and watched as she lifted her hand to her face, blood covering it as she pulled it away. Immediately her body shook as she cried and Bradley could swear his heart split down the middle. “Oh, Iris.” He took her arm in his and attempted to help her off the floor. Thunderous footsteps shook the house as Mandi came down the stairs and started to laugh as she saw Iris. Bradley’s vision went red as he looked from Mandi out to the living room. “I know you know how to navigate the house but I never thought you’d run through here!” She laughed harder. “You rearranged all the furniture, Mandi! That’s a real shitty move.” Iris had calmed and shook herself free of bradley. “I want you OUT OF MY HOUSE!” Mandi jumped as Iris raised her voice. Mandi knew Iris could get angry but she had never been on the receiving end. “I’ll leave when I pack everything.” Bradley watched as Iris seethed. Even in the dark he could see her hands shaking and a vein in her neck standing out. What Bradley never expected was for Iris to lurch forward, reaching up the staircase and grabbing the back of Mandi’s hair. Bradley reached for her but before he could Iris had already pulled Mandi’s head back and punched her in the temple before letting go. Mandi stumbled back into the wall as Rooster gently laid his hands on Iris’ shoulders, her own hand reaching for his. “What the fuck?!” Mandi yelled, leaning against the wall to keep her balance.

“Get your shit and get the hell out! I don’t want to fucking hear you, and if I do you’re gonna wish all I did was hit you!” Bradley was startled by her reaction, even if it was valid. Mandi rushed upstairs and Bradley spoke up. “Iris.” She turned her head towards him. “Come on, I’ll help you get cleaned up.” Iris stood there for a second, thinking about how she didn’t need his help. But her eyes softened when she realized it wasn’t because he felt obligated, he simply wanted to. “Okay.” He took her arm, leading her to the kitchen. Iris immediately stuck her arm out, feeling around to make sure nothing else was moved in her way. “Is it okay if I help you up on the counter?” Bradley asked and Iris nodded. “Yeah.” Iris turned her back to the counter and Bradley lifted her to sit on it. “Stay there.” Bradley walked away and got a paper towel, soaking it under the faucet before coming back. “Sit still.” Bradley brought his hand up, resting it on the side of her neck before bringing the paper towel up and gently wiping under her nose. They sat in silence as Bradley cleaned her up, making sure there was no blood to be found on her face. When Bradley was done he looked up seeing the tears streaming out of her eyes. Her hands clenched the counter, knuckles white from her grip. “Iris-” “Sorry.” She said, wiping her eyes. “It’s ridiculous I know.” Bradley furrowed his brows. “It’s not ridiculous. It’s completely understandable.” His words made her cry again. Bradley grabbed her arms, slowly pulling her into a hug before she latched onto him. The contact immediately sent her into sobs. Bradley held her for a while, rubbing her back and rocking side to side till she calmed down. 

Mandi grabbed everything she could, setting it all on the couch and coffee table before moving it to her car. Bradley held on to Iris and listened to Mandi’s every move, making sure she only took what was hers and nothing else. Once she was done she walked into the kitchen, slamming her key on the counter. “Here’s your fucking key.” She started out the door and Bradley wanted to yell at her, tell her how big of a bitch she was, but it wouldn’t change anything and he couldn’t let go of Iris in her state. Bradley listened to Mandi’s footsteps listening to her leave and once she did, he turned all his attention to Iris. She continued to cry and Bradley felt for her, not knowing how this situation would truly impact her. After a few moments her crying calmed and she pulled away, wiping her eyes. “I’m sorry, Bradley. I shouldn’t have clung to you like that.” He shook his head, gently grabbing her arms. “Don’t apologize, Iris. This is stressful, I get it.” She sighed, hanging her head low. “Is she actually gone?” Bradley raised a brow and looked towards the dining room. “Sit here and I’ll go look.” She nodded and Bradley walked out, making sure all of Mandi’s stuff was gone and when he peeked out the front window, he saw her car was gone. 

“Yeah, she’s gone.” He said as he walked back into the kitchen. Iris nodded, slowly sliding off the counter. “Thank you for your help Bradley. It means a lot to me.” He nodded. “Do you need my help with anything before I leave?” She shook her head. “Uh no, I think I’m good. Thank you though.” She walked with Bradley towards the front door, hands out in front of her to feel for the furniture. “Do you want my help moving the furniture back?” She shook her head. “No, I’ll get used to it soon.” Bradley furrowed his brows. “Are you sure? I’d hate to leave you with this mess.” She nodded as Bradley opened the front door and she grabbed it. “I’m sure, Bradley. Thank you.” He stepped out onto the front porch as he smiled at her. “Goodnight, Iris.” She gave him a small smile back. “Goodnight, Bradley.” With that she closed the door gently and locked it, and once again Bradley waited till he heard the door lock before walking back to his Bronco. Iris sighed and leaned her head against the door.

 After the drinks she’s had she was sleepy and her nose was still throbbing. She wouldn’t be surprised if it was broken, but Bradley probably would’ve noticed if it was. Iris turned out of the foyer and immediately put her hands out in front of her, slowly walking around the furniture. She bumped into the love seat and a table before she made it to the stairs. Walking upstairs she walked to her bedroom and entered slowly, worried Mandi moved some stuff around in there too. Thankfully it was all the same so she gathered some pajamas for after her shower. The warm water eased her muscles and relaxed her body. Once she got out she changed and crawled into bed. “Alexa, what’s my alarm?” She asked. “You have one alarm at five a.m. and another at six a.m.” She nodded, sliding down into her bed. Everything played through her mind and tears flowed from her eyes. Iris had never been alone for more than a few days before. Now she was alone permanently and the thought was terrifying. A million things could go wrong and she’d be alone and vulnerable. Someone could break in, a fire could start in her kitchen. The thought alone scared her so she got up, making her way downstairs and to the kitchen. She hovered her hand over the stove eyes, making sure she felt no heat and touched the dials, making sure they were all pointed to off before taking a deep breath and going back upstairs. She laid down again, facing the window, moonlight showing on her face. “I’m gonna be okay. Mama always says I’ll figure it out, so I’ll figure it out.” With that she drifted off. 

Iris spent the next few days navigating and learning her living room all over again. Emily would pick her up for work, she’d come home and slowly walk around, figuring everything out. “Are you okay here alone?” Em asked as she helped Iris carry her groceries inside. “Yeah, I’m still adjusting to being alone, but I’ll get used to it.” They set the bags on the counter as Iris started unloading it all. “I’ll go get the rest.” Em said, walking out. Iris left out a bag of ramen for dinner before finishing up. “I can hang around for a while if you want.” Emily said once everything was put away. Iris gave her a small smile. “Thanks, Em. But I’m about to shower and then eat dinner.” Truth be told Iris just wanted to be alone. “Are you sure?” She nodded. “I’m sure. I’m really tired so after I eat I’m just gonna go to bed. I haven’t been sleeping well.” Emily nodded but eyed Iris anyway. “Well, call if you need me. I’ll be over in a heartbeat.” Iris nodded, pulling Emily into a tight hug. “I will, Em. Thank you.” Emily left and Iris did as she said, shower, eat then bed. When she woke up the next morning, the motivation to get up was not there, so she called Emily.

It's been weeks since Mandi moved out, and Iris felt an emptiness in the house she never knew could exist. It was quiet, the kind of quiet that could drive you mad. Iris was still so angry with Mandi, but she also mourned the loss of the friendship they had. Iris hadn’t properly been to work in a while, working the sporadic day here and there before not going for a while. “Good morning!” Emily was always so chirpy in the morning, Iris thought as she laid in her bed. “Hey, Em. Listen, I'm not going in for the next few days. I’m not feeling the best.” Emily furrowed her brows as she pulled her son from his high chair. “Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the doctor?” Iris shook her head and rolled onto her back. “No, I’m just not feeling myself. I think I just need a little time. We don’t have any meetings till next week, but if you need me feel free to call.” Emily nodded but worry settled. “You call me too if you need me.” Iris nodded at her words. “I will.” With that they said goodbye and hung up.  Iris sat on the couch, blanket wrapped around her as she just thought about everything. 

Her doorbell went off, and it tore her from her thoughts. She grabbed her phone, found her ring app, and pulled it up. "Who is it?" She asked. "It's Bradley. I just wanted to check on you." She cracked a small smile at the sound of his voice. She used the app to unlock the door. "It's open." He immediately stepped inside, locking the door behind him before stepping into the living room from the foyer. Iris just sat on the couch, and he just observed her for a minute. Her hair was up in a bun, and her bare legs stuck out from under the blanket she had wrapped around her. The room was dark. No blinds open, no lights on, no sound going. The room was an open expression of how Iris felt. "Hi." She said, and Bradley gave a small smile. "Hi." He responded, walking closer. "So what brings you to this side of town?" She asked, and he shrugged, sitting on the coffee table in front of her. The scent of his cologne and jet fuel invaded her senses, and it was a heavenly smell to her. "I just wanted to check on you. I've hardly heard from you, but I also haven't reached out much, and I'm sorry for that." She shook her head. "It's not your responsibility to check in on me, Bradley." He chuckled. "It's not. But I want to." She gave a half smile, nodding and keeping her head down. "How long have you been sitting like this?” Iris shrugged. “What day is it?” She asked. “Friday.” Her face fell. “Four days.” Bradley’s eyebrows shot up, concern lacing his features. “When was the last time you ate?” He asked. “This morning.” He was relieved to know she hadn’t just stopped eating. 

“Well, are you hungry now?” Iris blushed as her stomach rumbled. “A little.” Rooster smiled. “So am I. Would you wanna join me for dinner?” Iris furrowed her brows. “I appreciate the offer Rooster but I’m sure you can tell, I’m a train wreck.” A very cute train wreck. He thought. “I’m still in my flight suit, my hair is messed up from my helmet and I'm sure you’ve noticed but I reek of jet fuel. We can look like train wrecks together.” Iris fought back tears at his words. “Where would we even go?” She asked him and he smiled. “You like burgers?” He asked and Iris smiled. “Love them.” Rooster couldn’t help but do a little dance in his spot on the coffee table. “I know this great burger place on the beach, you up for it?” Iris thought to herself. She knew it wouldn’t hurt, it would probably do her some good but the thought of actually leaving the house in this state sucked. But her stomach ratted her out, growling again but twice as loud this time. “Okay, I’ll take you up on that offer.” Rooster grinned, gently taking her hand in his. “Then let’s go. I don’t want your stomach eating itself.” Iris laughed loudly as he helped her up. “You’re hilarious.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Taglist: @roosterforme @mygyn @kmc1989 @briseisgone @lyn-js @shanimallina87 @dizzybee03 @lilylilyyyyyy @a-court-of-roscoe-and-baby @jessicab1991 @hu-dk

[kai-anderson-whore]

Baby talk (smut) (Evan peters x fem reader)

A/n: this was so short but kinda cute should I make a part 2? 🤔

Warnings: smut, talking about starting a family, p in v sex, cock warming slightly

•¤❅¤•.•°˚˚°•..•°˚˚°•.•¤❅¤•.•¤❅¤•.•°˚˚°•. .•°˚˚°

The thought had been eating you up for months, constantly imaging the thoughts coming true one day, it made you smile a lot during the day but you didn't know if your husband evan felt the same way yet.

You were in your shared bed waiting on evan coming back from the kitchen getting you a glass of water after recent activities you participated in, and again the thoughts came back you tried to shake them out your head for now but no use.

Evan coming back with your glass of water with a smile, "What's up with you" he asked noticing you were in a world of your own placing the glass in your hand you took a sip of the water before speaking, "nothing just thinking that's all" you sighed placing the glass on your nightstand.

"About?" He questioned futher slipping into the bed next to you pulling your body closer to him till your head laid on his chest, "it's silly evan honestly" you tried to shrug it off scared incase your husband didn't feel the same, pulling the covers futher up to cover your naked body, "you know you can tell me y/n I'm your husband" evan chuckled placing a kiss on the top of your head.

"I've been thinking alot about if we you know started a family" you whispered you felt evan tense you when you spoke those words evan never thought about having kids yet but he knew if the day would come it would be you he would want to have kids to.

"I haven't really thought about it before" evan sighed his hand running up and down your arm his mind drifting as he thought about what it would be like if you had a family of your own, "I'm not saying that we have to right now but you know maybe in a few years" you said turning your body so your chin rested on his chest taking in his features from the way his eyes showed you he was deep in thought, to the freckle on his nose.

"It would be nice having a kid around and I wouldn't want to have a baby with anyone else" evan smiled a smile invading his face as you kissed his lips, moaning softly into the kiss moving so your body straddled his, your hands on his chest, lips never leaving each others.

"Let's get started then shall we" evan smirked against your lips, flipping you over so he was now on top of you, a laugh erupted your lips at the sudden action your legs wrapping around his waist pulling him in Evan's lips moved from your lips to your neck finding your sweet spot effortlessly.

A soft moan left your lips your hands tugging on his hair earning a groan from Evan, his hand travelled from the valley of your breasts, your abdomen then back up before sliding out of his boxers both of you now completely bare, Evan's lips back on your own, a gasp leaving your lips as evan slowly pushed himself into you.

His thrust were slow and passionate unlike what they were half an hour ago, his hand on the back of your thigh guiding your leg to wrap more securely around his waist, evan pulled away from your lips taking in your every feature, the way your eyes would roll back with every thrust, how you mouth let out one of his favourite sounds to hear, your fingernails digging into his skin, he could stay like this forever.

The room was filled by only the sounds of your moans and Evan's grunts, his hips still going a slow pace love making but this time it felt different than any other time, like on your wedding night it was somewhat romantic, beginning a new chapter of your life finally growing a little family of your own.

"I love you so much" evan stated in tune with the rhythm of his hips, you couldn't help but smile up at him, his brown eyes filled with love and adoration for you his wife, "I love you too evan" you panted out running your hands through his brown locks again, evan dipped his head back down capturing your lips in his once again.

"I'm close" you whimperd that knot in the pit of your stomach building to snap, evan kept his thrust hitting your spot perfectly, till your orgasm washed over you triggering Evan's own orgasm spilling his seed into you with a low groan.

Riding out your orgasms you began to feel a little overstimulated your legs a tad shaky, your hair was tousled around, both of your skin sweaty, evan clasping on top of you panting, your hands running through his hair with a smile, "you think maybe we might be lucky?" Evan asked collecting himself, still planted inside you, your fingers still playing with his hair.

"Maybe but it might take some time evan" you giggled, evan pulled out of you making you whimper at the loss only to pull you closer to him resting his head on your chest, "We'll be great parents soon" evan mumbled sleepily his body relaxing as you traced your finger along his arm, "Yeah we will" you smiled thinking about being a family again.

[undertalebabbleblog]

UTDR 9th Anniversary Newsletter Musings

(Here's a link to the newsletter if you haven't already read it: Autumn 2024.) (It's spring right now where I am...) (Eh, oh well.)

First of all, Tori blowing fire to light the candles, very cool, might have to draw that.

Hmm, that's a lot of a certain number... You know what, I don't even have to go into this, we all know what it's referencing.

An interview with Sans, heck yeah!

As I expected, it's a joke, but... uh... just me, or does it seem like it might be talking about something else? Not entirely sure what, but I'm sure there's already plenty of theories despite it literally only coming out today. In any case, it was very amusing and some classic Undertale humour. Also

Jeez, Tori, it's been years, you've already made your feelings about Asgore's actions clear. Give the poor guy a break. (Link to the full interview if you wanna read it: Sans: What do you think about the number nine?)

...Toby? Toby, what does this mean? TOBY WHY DO YOU MAKE THE MOST INNOCUOUS STATEMENTS THAT HAVE SO MUCH POTENTIAL MEANING BEHIND THEM ...This is... ominous, to say the least, given the Snowgrave route and the fact that Toriel might join us in the Dark World in Chapter 3... ...I'm just overthinking this, right? ..........right???

Toby, this is the Undertale fandom you're talking to. Since when have we ever been responsible with Sans or his AUs? You should know better than to trust us with this skeleton by now. *Proceeds to use cup for strawberry milkshake* ....Dammit, now I want to draw him with a bunch of different-coloured eyes... just because...

Never misses a chance to do this sort of thing, does he? (It has my real name in it, which I don't really want to show, so have some badly edited screenshots instead.) I have made butterscotch cinnamon pie before and it was genuinely delicious. Would love to bake one in that Toriel pie tray. ...I wonder how a fish and chips pie would actually taste, though...?

PERFECTION

I would buy every single item of this kitchen merch if I had the money.

*vibrating intensely with excitement*

Very nice, always cool to see unused stuff and concepts.

. . .

*Well, there is a man here. *He might be happy to see you. *What do you think?

...I overthink these things too much.

And finally, we get a letter.

My best friend's favorite number is nine. It's because there isn't a number that's higher. 9. 99. 999. 9999. If everything gets high enough, You become invincible. Nothing can hurt you anymore. Nothing can hurt anyone anymore. But isn't it scary, to think there's a highest number? That, if you made 99 good memories, you couldn't hold anymore. So I don't like to keep count of the flowers we pick, or the times that they laugh, or how many scary faces they make. I just hope we'll be friends for 999 more years.

(Couldn't screenshot the whole thing because it was too big, so I just copied the text. Here's a link to the original: Letter) On one hand, the spacing is kind of reminiscent of what we assume is Gaster. But on the other hand, it's not in all caps, and the language is different, and from what we know of the mysterious scientist (which is quite frankly very little), it wouldn't make sense. There is, however, someone else that would make a lot more sense.

*I'll go get the flowers. *I should have laughed it off, like you did... *Okay, [Name], are you ready? *Do your creepy face!

And most telling of all, "My best friend"...

It's. It's Asriel. IT'S GOTTA BE AZZY OKAY COME ON, THERE'S THE MENTION OF THE SCARY FACES AND EVERYTHING

...Ahem.

My hypothesis is that it's Asriel Dreemurr.

Aaaaannnddd... that's it for this newsletter! I needed somewhere to dump my thoughts on it, and that's kinda what this blog is for, so yeah.

A very happy birthday to my favourite game of all time.

If you have any theories or observations about the newsletter, I'd love to see them!

See ya next time, Pup

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Best and Worst of Both Worlds (Part 29)

Tw: mental breakdown and thoughts that made you go a little "wtf", mentions of non con touching, a bit of smut, chapters kinda short

okay here u go Evangeline enjoyers

Part 30

You decided to confront her. The suspense as to why she did what she did is killing you.

So you have to work, on composing a long-winded paragraph with a beginning, middle, and end. Your hands were shaky from the adrenaline coursing through your veins, you were never really assertive. So this is very new to you, yet exciting, yet frightening.

You tried not to be too accusatory and not too dismissive. It was hard because you either tend to paint her as a horrible person or paint yourself as an overreactive dramatic. However, you managed to find the right balance with the ultimate goal of extracting her reasoning behind her latest behavior towards everyone.

You held your breath as you tapped send.

You waited and waited while chewing on your nails. Imagining all the ways she would respond. Anger? Remorse? Revenge? Nonchalance? It could be anything, even no response at all.

Which you thought you might be getting. She hasn't replied to you yet and it's been 30 minutes since you sent it. You sighed, she's probably just busy and will take her time to read too, you should be patient and find a way to calm your nerves.

You were about to put your phone down and prepare yourself dinner; which is just following the instructions Yves plastered on its container- usually only involving the microwave or the saucepan. You jolted when your phone buzzed to life, your mouth was gaping wide when you saw the contact to be your dreaded friend: Evangeline.

You whimpered, pacing around the room as you let it vibrate. You feel unprepared, inexperienced, and upset. You regret doing this in the first place. You wish you could just disappear into a hole somewhere, or disappear into Yves's warm embrace.

It stopped ringing. A text message took its place after that.

"Pick up"

She didn't give you more than ten seconds to read before attempting to call you again.

So you decided to take a leap of faith and answer her call.

"(name)? I read your text, what are you talking about?" She sounded concerned and worried, and there were hints of something darker that you picked up in her voice.

She did not read your text. At least, she refused to understand it. You were clear in what you wanted from her; which was to stop doing what she was doing and reflect upon her actions, giving you her rationale behind her offenses at the same time.

You summarized it, telling her that she was confusing and weird. You didn't like how she tried to touch you without your consent. You cannot figure out for the life of you if she was on Montgomery's side, Yves's, or yours.

"I'm on your side, of course. I'm your friend! What? So I can't touch you now? I think you need to get out of your shell more, (name). That didn't mean anything, you can touch me the same way too if you want to get even--"

You cut her off and told her no. You don't think whatever she's doing is merely a friendly gesture. You felt dirty and violated even having Evangeline suggest that you do the same to her.

There was a beat of silence, followed by a sigh.

"...I'm sorry you felt that way, (name). I didn't mean to hurt you. I was just trying to be a good friend."

You didn't know what to say next. Soon after, you heard sniffling and soft weeping.

"I'm so sorry. You're such a good friend to me, I don't want to lose you. Please don't be mad at me." Her voice cracked and wavers. You

You don't know how you feel about her reaction. But you do know that, unlike Yves, you have the power to walk away from her. He's coming back tomorrow anyway, so you won't be the 'friendless' on campus anymore. So you can afford to cut her off because she's acting strange and you think that being with her, will lead to more trouble.

You told her that you're not mad at her. But you don't feel comfortable hanging out with her anymore.

"What?! W-why? I apologized, what more do you want me to do?" She raised her voice and strained it painfully. You hear that she began to sob and wail.

You told her that there was nothing she could do except to move on. You wished her the best and said goodbye.

You hung up before she could get another word in. You immediately blocked her and flopped onto your bed. The breath you exhale felt like smoke evacuating your lungs, you felt you could breathe properly again without feeling too worked up. At least that chapter of your life is done, you most likely would either need to take the bus or Yves would drive you around. Fine by you, no Evangeline or Mr. Jones in sight.

You will let Yves handle Montgomery, he has a bigger, legal hammer to beat him with.

__

"Sweetie...?" Mr. Jones creaked the door to her room open, letting the lights from the hallway spill into her pitch-dark room.

She was crying, her breathing was choppy and her whimpers bounced off the walls. Evangeline was sobbing into her pillows, her blond hair was a mess around her, unlike her usual combed style. Her beautiful dress was wrinkled and her blue eyes were red and puffed.

Her father stared at her with heartbreak and pity. You must have told her already. However, he knows that this behavior of hers needs to be addressed. Evangeline's mother is cooking downstairs, she was never the type to be compassionate in her discipline methods. So Mr. Jones decided to be the one to break the news to her.

"Oh, Evangeline..." He switched the lights on and sat right next to her sniveling form.

She didn't acknowledge his presence, nor did she wish to talk to him. But he has to discuss with his daughter that some things aren't acceptable.

"Sir Yves... he called me earlier." Mr. Jones felt her entire body tense up to the mention of his client. "Mx. (Name) told him you were touching them inappropriately, is that true?" He was gentle with his words, careful not to provoke his already emotionally unstable daughter.

She neither confirms nor denies. Evangeline just stayed very still.

"...Please, Evangeline. You have to talk to me." He pleaded, rubbing a soothing hand on her shoulder. "What's going on?"

No response.

He shuffled himself on the bed uncomfortably. Mr. Jones cleared his throat.

"You can tell us anything. You know Mommy and Daddy love you no matter what." Evangeline moved a bit, but it was only to adjust her positioning. Her face remains buried in her pillow.

"I-I don't get it, I know you're a good girl but... these things that happened to you, these things you did... Why?" He asked, gently shaking her as Mr. Jones looked at her in desperation.

"Hitting your baby cousins suffering from illnesses, pushing your pregnant aunt Myrtle down the stairs, accusing your uncle Ben of infidelity, the rumors about some... ridiculous cheating scandals, and now this? Why?" Tears threatened to fall from his eyes as well, he bit back his lip to try and avoid it from rolling down his cheek.

He retracted his hand when he felt Evangeline trembling. It was soon made known to him that she was shaking in hysterics.

"You are all so ungrateful! I was trying to help everyone!" She snapped, her heart holding an ugly contempt for the world around her, which included her doting father.

"They weren't going to live long anyways, their mothers constantly complain of needing to take care of their children. I wanted to save Aunt Myrtle from that horrible, horrible fate, but I'm the villain? Uncle Ben hated his wife and kids, he wanted to escape. I gave him that escape, didn't I? He went ahead and married a woman much prettier and younger than his ex, didn't he? Why am I the villain?" She screamed as she hyperventilated, her father taking a step backward to avoid her erratic movements.

"Evangeline-"

"I didn't- I didn't steal her boyfriend! I was trying to get along with him, I wanted us to be a big happy group but they were fighting. I didn't want them to fight..." She sobbed loudly into her hands. Her nails dig into the delicate flesh on her face as she tries to quell her rage. "They were my friends! (Name) was my friend, I tried to help them, I tried..."

She crumbled to her knees and bawled. "I tried helping them get along with Sir Yves, but I was punished for it. I tried helping them get along with Monty, but I was... told I was 'weird'. I just wanted something back, I just wanted to touch them, they were so good to me... I wanted to touch them. Was that so wrong?"

"Yes, Evangeline! You can't just... touch them like that! You don't touch your friends in that manner, you don't touch anyone in that manner! What are you..." He was at a loss for words. Her father tried looking back at what was being taught to her, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but why couldn't she think normally? Her logic is distorted and her sense of entitlement is demented, it's much more serious considering that she began her unhinged quests for justice just a year ago.

She looked away and wept some more. Evangeline is alone again, a feeling so familiar to her. It's ironic, that her parents tried to expose her to as many people as they could to improve her loneliness as an only child. But in a room full of children and adults who she knew on a first-name basis, she was alone. So, so alone.

There is nobody in the world she could tell her thoughts to. She tried telling her mother, her so-called 'friends', her extended family... they all deemed her crazy. She was forbidden to have her truest opinion on life and Evangeline never understood why, it felt unfair, it felt like the world was against her. Not even the vastness of the internet allowed her to find like-minded companions, she was shunned out of communities she desperately yearned to be in for being true to herself.

"You're just like the rest..." She mumbled inaudibly under her breath. "It's useless..." She muttered, a bit more coherently now. Enough for her father to pick up on.

"What's useless, sweetie?" He wiped away his own tears of anguish, it was horrible to see his child suffer like this, but he did not have the skills or understanding to help her.

"Crying about it... it's useless." She sniffled and wiped away her tears. Mr. Jones watched her blink multiple times with a neutral expression.

Evangeline stared into the distance for a few minutes. She didn't blink nor did she speak, not a single twitch of her muscle could be seen or felt. Her father was worried that she wasn't even breathing because her sniffles stopped and the girl let her nose drip freely. Her blue eyes are dilated and blank.

"Evangeline...?" Her father hesitantly shook her by the shoulder. She blinked one last time, allowing a tear from each eye to roll down her already damp cheeks.

When she opened her eyes once more, her usual girlish sparkle was back. Evangeline blew her nose on a piece of napkin she pulled from her tissue box nearby. She crumpled the soiled sheet in her hands, a long strip of muscle on the inner side of her wrist was raised when she squeezed it in her fist. She let go and threw it into her trash can.

"All better." She smiled, patting the area under her eyes with her fingertips.

Baffled by her sudden, impossible change, Mr. Jones tried asking her all the questions in his head, but it came out as a pathetic stutter.

"I'm sorry for costing you a customer, Daddy." Her eyes were downcast. "I promise I won't do it again."

Mr. Jones's eyes darted around her. Confused and terrified at this strange switch of hers. "Sweetie, I-"

"If you'll excuse me, Daddy, I need to freshen up." She stood up and smoothed her hair. "Please leave my room, I will join you and Mommy downstairs for dinner, later. Okay?"

He has no words to give. So he nodded and as usual, became a pushover for his daughter.

She guided him out, waved goodbye with the sweetest smile, and closed the door. Her hand went to the knob to lock it shut.

She took a moment to stare into space as she listened for her father's footsteps. Once she's positive that he has gone downstairs, she lets out a sigh.

Evangeline switched her lights off and headed to her bed. She laid on it and picked her phone up.

The screen illuminates her face. She made a few taps on it and soon found herself scrolling through her picture gallery.

"Maybe it isn't so bad to be the Villain..." She mumbled to no one in particular, grinning to herself.

Her pupils dilated tremendously when her optics landed on a picture of you on the beach. You were bending over and collecting seashells, so focused on your activity that you didn't notice a pair of lenses capturing this moment.

Evangeline's breathing became more ragged as her eyes glimmered at the sight of your mildly saltwater-dampened rear. You're such a prude, how she wished you wore something a bit more accessible. That would have made her very happy. Maybe if it was a little warmer, you would have worn something a lot more revealing and easier to worm her depraved digits around.

Her soft hands slowly slid down to her panties, torturously tucking one finger at a time under the fabric.

The more the blonde stared at different pictures of you, the further her perverted hands and thoughts went.

She stifled a moan as she touched herself, she imagined doing all kinds of unspeakable things to you. She wanted to see you under her, she wanted to see you squirm and beg for her forgiveness. Evangeline wanted to ravage you like the beast she was under that heroine-like persona.

She quivered as she pumped her fingers into herself. But her eyes never strayed away from that photo of you. Evangeline wanted to take you so badly, she wanted to overpower you and have you pinned against the wall, the bed, the floor... She drooled at the thought of you so helpless and despaired.

Her baby blues shifted towards your clueless face. You looked like you never experienced the high of an orgasm before. She could fix that, she could make you cum over and over again until you fell unconscious in her fluffy pink handcuffs, eyes rolled back into your head, and all your orifices dripping with sexual fluids. What a sight, she thinks.

She had to push her face into her pillow as she let out a powerful moan.

Even then, she still went on. Furiously rubbing herself and imagining herself as this antihero in your story. But ultimately, you saw her as your savior in her mind.

[coolingrosa]

Honestly about nightmare....it upset me quite a bit how he just didn't at all understand why Killer was acting out like this. It felt so obvious? Like with Dust showing up and Killer acting out in response to it....Unless this is a common occurrence? I am really wondering what nightmare thought about this, if he even tried to read Killer and his behaviour or perhaps ask Dust about the relationship between the two. Did he just not think anything about it? Just assume "oh its a kid throwing a tantrum, it'll pass"? Man i'd rly like to know it from his perspective. Maybe he is used to ppl throwing tantrums, considering I am pretty sure error flips out a lot too. I guess the problem hereby lies with the fact error is an immortal and an adult and killer,.,,is not. and nightmare just simple doesn't distinguish the two properly.

But honestly I think nightmare should have known better than to snap at Killer ToT..... I believe that him snapping did ultimately the most damage, error just kinda added a bit more salt to it to be put it simple. After all Killer favoured Nightmare obviously a lot more than Error, he was like a parent figure for him basically. So Nightmare snapping would mean a lot more than what Error says. I don't like how error told Killer that advice though, he basically just told him to "suck it up", in the pretense of "caring" for nightmare and not wanting to see him upset. It feels wrong to say that error cares though, because of how he is STILL stuck in the past. It almost feels like he is talking and giving advice to Killer more for himself than for nightmares sake.

Both error and nightmare are so inexperienced with mortals and so fucking mentally fucked up themselves, I doubt they will act any different unless someone who is a mortal corrects them...And I honestly thought Dust would do it? At one point it felt like he knew why Killer did it, but then it felt like he did not?

ultimate question however: how will nightmare react to Killers change? I wonder if alarm bells will ring or if he will just think that Killers "phase" finally passed. And I fear it'll be the latter.... So sorry for the long ass essay, I have SO many questions AND IT IS SO HARD TO TELL WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND HOW THIS MESS OF A MAKE-SHIFT FAMILY IS GOING TO DEVELOPE.....

You’re analysis is so wonderful and definitely the mixed emotions I wanted to give. Especially since good and evil doesn’t exist in Roseverse, just people and their actions. A lot of my YouTube and tiktok dragged on Dream solely for a while due to the limited knowledge, so chapter four was a big drop as it showed just how out of depth and horrible Nightmare and Error could be as well. I’m gonna try to answer each part of this the best I can without revealing too much!

1. Nightmare is used to Killer acting out, which happened a lot in the pilot, so he doesn’t put two and two together that these moments are connected- especially since Killer has never been put in a situation around him to show that he ALSO has jealousy issues as well as self esteem issues. For a while it was just them and sometimes Error in the castle, which Killer never showed an act of jealously towards- only distrust.

2. Nightmare’s perspective won’t be shown a lot in the next Bad Sanses chapter unfortunately, so I’ll try my best to explain his reasoning here. Don’t take it as a defense. I may explain characters and their actions, but at the end of the day, Nightmare is a adult and has a responsibility.

Nightmare’s main flaw (and I can now finally state this) is that he doesn’t care for people who are not under his radar. Saying he doesn’t know much about negative emotions is redundant, but his abilities to help with them have long since faded ever since the loss of Ink. Killer clearly is the product of a teenager with intense mental health issues, and Nightmare never got to see Ink as a bratty teenager. Killer is the only example around him and so he quite frankly sucks at it and sees his outbursts as…well…tantrums. He can’t fully see Killer for what he is and constantly sees him as a child due to his own age, and that belittling makes Killer’s emotions and rightful feelings come across as childish to Nightmare.

The mention of Error is also correct. Nightmare is used to emotional and violent outbursts since he was thirteen- especially from those close to him. Error and Nightmare as children weren’t healthy and Error was an abusive friend. I will always state that. However, though Error improved his ways, Nightmare never fully blamed him for such things and therefore never saw anything wrong with the people he loved lashing out and being hurtful. It’s normal for him- and also not smth to be addressed in his eyes. However, Killer is a child and as the adult, Nightmare has a responsibility to step in and correct his behavior with disciplinary action rather than passiveness. But, of course, he doesn’t until he finally snaps

3. Yeahhh I will say what Error told Killer didn’t bother him too much until he made the comment about Dust. Killer is far too use to the verbal abuse Error shoots at him that it rolled off of him and he was more annoyed Error was still in the room. Error and Killer just aren’t and will never be close enough for their fights to leave any impact. Nightmare, though? After finding out truly what Nightmare is capable of and then being told that? Oh, yeah, Killer is crushed.

4. This was one of the few times Error tried to actually help in his own way. Error doesn’t word himself well, even when being vulnerable. He hoped Killer would understand it as “there’s no need to lash out as ur already here and cared for. So just stop hating urself and others and finally feel secure. “ Was it not so great advice and easy to be misunderstood from what he actually meant? Yea. Did he just COMPLETELY miss the mark on mental health and the struggles of slowly getting over the fear of abandonment and the steps it takes to FEEL that security? YEAH LMAO. But Killer definitely misunderstood him as well. And Error also misunderstood something about Dust as well. I’ll expand more on that in my last point.

5. Dust may be smart, but he can’t put together a case without solid evidence and explanation and due to him not being there from the start, he doesn’t truly understand why Killer is acting like he is. He knows it has something to do with Nightmare, but what that actually is? He can’t know. I believe this won’t be a shock, but Dust does think Killer was being abused by Nightmare and therefore becomes like a guard dog. When Killer jumps him, that ideas gets thrown out the window and Dust is left utterly confused on the motives. He doesn’t hate him, though. He’s just confused, and hurt.

6. And unfortunately, Dust isn’t empathetic enough to be the one to truly understand things. Wonder who will be, though…

7. I cant say too much as that’s a chapter seven thing, but I will say it’s where Gus the immortal frog comes in (Killer’s pet) and given by Nightmare. I’m sure you can put two and two together as to why Nightmare, who is clueless about everything teenager related, is stooping to giving the apathetic Killer a pet 😭

8. Almost forgot this part but Killer is an unreliable narrator. He will always be, and the next bad Sanses chapter will see that, as it won’t be in his perspective solely. Everything he sees and thinks is unreliable. For example, when they reach the au and Dust is slowly blinking at him while Killer demands to know why he came too, Killer takes it as a threat. What if Dust actually doing? Blinking at him like he’s a angry cat bc Dust doesn’t understand emotions and defeats to animal behaviors to help soothe this teenager LMAO

[barcalover86]

End of beginning

A never-ending friendship

Book

Chapter three

"Y/n, it's not good. It's not good at all."

"What happened??"

When you saw the picture from Bia's phone, your heart shattered. It can't be.

"I hate these gossips. They don't even know the truth, and now they are assuming things"

What was truly happening, it was that some stupid people took pictures and videos of you and Gavi while you were giving each other's instas. It also captured a moment when he hugged you, seeing how big his smile was, even after Barca lost badly that night.

People were assuming that you were his crush, and that didn't make you happy.

You saw exactly the same day that he was texting a girl saying those 3 words (I love you) and if he would see the new gossip about him, which he will sooner or later, will make him angry. Really angry.

Like, let's be real. You would also feel the same way if you had a boyfriend and people were thinking that you are into some other boy.

"Bia, I feel so bad. I'm sure the girl hates me and maybe they'll break up because of me!"

"Don't overreact, maybe they won't see it."

"It's all over the Internet. It's kinda impossible not to see."

You sighed, thinking what could you do now to repair things.

"And to be honest with you, here it's not your fault at all. You didn't do anything to him."

"No, just randomly gave him my insta. How could I do this to some boy that has a girl at home!?"

You were utterly shocked by your action.

"But just give it a thought, y/n. He asked for your insta, and he seemed pretty.. in love when he was around-"

"Bia, stop! He isn't in love with me! How many times do I have to tell you that-"

"He wrote a girl that he loves her, I got it. But maybe you saw wrong??"

"How could I? He was literally right in front of me."

"Maybe you got all shy and-"

"I'm not stupid, ok? I know what I saw yesterday."

After a moment of silence, Bia speaks up.

"He still has your insta. Maybe he'll text you??"

You rolled your eyes.

"I'm sure that after today, he won't do it ever again. And I'm sure he won't look after me at Camp Nou."

"Y/n.. I still think you are overreacting everything. Let's see how things go. Slowly and natural. You are already lucky that you had the chance to stay this much with him. And people are just jealous of you. My girl is really pretty. "

"Thank you, Bia."

..................................................................................

Days have passed, and all you did was walk around new places from Barcelona. Every dinner you spend at your new friends' restaurant, and they also told you that you are overthinking too much.

Their encouraging helped you a lot, but you were still waiting for his text.

And it wasn't showing up.

Maybe you are right and he is mad at you.

Now, the El Clasico game had come, and you were all ready in your hotel room to start wach the game.

You were wearing Gavi's jersey. You thought that maybe it'll bring him good luck. Which after a loss, Barcelona needed.

And it really helped them.

Barca was winning already since the first half with 2-0. The game ended with another goal from Lewandowski and one from Vinicius.

So 3-1, was a great win.

You all celebrated, drinking champagne like it was new year's eve, but you couldn't care less more.

This night, you'll have fun.

At least it'll help go away the shame that was created at the game against Getafe.

But you drank way more than you should, and without being aware, you sent Gavi a photo of you in his jersey with a cup of champagne in your hands.

And then you fell asleep, waking up the next morning with the biggest headache ever.

And also with 2 missed messages from Pablo Gavi.

A photo and a text.

Fucking hell..

[thewiddershinsme]

Finished Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson! Full spoilers below:

-I knew I was going to like this book by the end of the first chapter. It’s basically as though the author knew my favorite part of Lirael (in fact my favorite part of the Abhorsen series) was the Library, and decided to write a book just on that. Perfect, it’s just what I wanted.

-Nathaniel is hilarious, I was kinda rolling my eyes that Elisabeth was not picking up that he was teasing her, and had to chalk it up to her growing up as a feral librarian.

-Elisabeth being tall and super strong due to spending her formative years with magic books and dust was such a fun reveal. I had started to notice that she seemed to be a good deal more physically durable than everyone else, but it was so subtle I was thinking it was an author oversite.

-as soon as Ashcroft was introduced, he just screamed “Here is the villain! Right here!”

-Ashcroft’s great-great-grandfather must’ve been inspired by Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood to design the country around the BIG END OF THE WORLD PLAN

-Elisabeth was a great character. Logical steps in her problem solving (if sometimes a bit more idealistic than should be which again fits her solitary circumstances growing up); eager to swing a crowbar or sword at any foe; suspicious of magic (at first) but still practical enough to use the tools she has available; direct in her interactions; and not whiny at all. That’s pretty big actually, there could’ve been so much drama and angst with her falling in love with Nathaniel and having torn loyalties between her place with the Library and her potentially being forever banned for becoming involved with a sorcerer. Instead, their relationship was refreshingly easy: she spent time with him, fell in love, and simply accepted that fact without bemoaning the possible costs. As she said, “they suit each other” (which is one of my favorite romantic tropes, two people who just quietly became accustomed to the other and now are inseparable). Once Nathaniel became dear to her, that was that, and there was no internal monologue doubting her choice or wishing she had fallen in love with someone else or any relationship drama which was refreshing. And of course, it was obvious Nathaniel had fallen for her from almost the get-go.

-Silas was the best character. Loved every interaction he had with Elisabeth and Nathaniel. And I adored the Epilogue (that is how books should end, not suddenly after the action stops but with breathing room to show how everyone ends up). And the final summoning? I was just grinning realizing that it worked

-I enjoyed this book more than Enchantment of Ravens, mostly cause magical Libraries are right up my alley, and I felt more satisfied with this ending than with Enchantment of Ravens’ ending. It’s a great standalone that doesn’t need another book, but am still slightly disappointed that there isn’t a whole series about Elisabeth and Nathaniel and Silas and this entire very cool world.

-there is the sequel novella I’m reading next (Mysteries of Thorn Manor) which I know I’m gonna enjoy

[oigimi]

. rapunzel - act one .

nokto x reader . 1.4k words . rapunzel au . fluff . this takes elements from disney's tangled and some from the original story! this is chapter one out of several!

She’d found herself in quite the predicament. The sorceress she was indebted to, Madame, was out, and there was a mysterious man knocked out and tied to a chair in her main room. Armed with nothing but a frying pan, Y/N was frantically pacing around wondering what to do next. Somehow he had managed to scale the walls of her tower and sneak inside, and Y/N had no choice but to take action. When he wasn’t looking, she’d knocked him out and stored him on a chair, tied up with her extraordinarily long hair that stretched leagues and leagues behind her.

There was a lot she was going to have to resolve in a short amount of time, time that was quickly slipping through her fingers. The only thing Y/N had managed to come up with was what to say when he woke up, and so she whispered it to herself, trying to divulge her train of thought along two paths at once.

“Nngh…”

Shit, he was waking up!

Y/N grabbed her frying pan and got into position, just in case somehow the man untangled himself and lept into action. She furrowed her brows as his eyelids began to lift, revealing a pair of beautiful crimson irises.

“Hey, what’s going on here-?” he demanded, struggling for a moment. His gaze shifted to Y/N, and the long, luxurious head of hair that bound him to his chair. “What the…?”

“M-my name,” she began to recite, “is Y/N L/N. Y-you have intruded upon my place of residence, and I have taken it upon myself to-”

“Is this your hair?”

She froze. “Yes, it is. I have taken it upon myself to-”

“It’s your real hair and not a wig? That’d be an impressive wig,” he laughed, shaking his head. “Sorry, sorry. This situation is so-”

“I have taken it upon myself to bind you and let you know who’s in charge around here!”

He laughed again, nodding. “Good speech. Very compelling. You can let me out now, I have no notes.”

“Why would I do that? You’re the one in my tower! I don’t know what you have planned!” Y/N held up her frying pan and scowled.

“A frying pan too? You’re full of surprises, lady,” he laughed. “I’m Nokto. Good to meet you. I’d shake your hand but you’ve kinda got me jailed up here. Can’t tell from here but I bet you give a good handshake.”

She rolled her eyes again and sat down at another chair close by. Nokto was already getting under her skin, but there was something about the name that just seemed familiar to her. She couldn’t shake it. Maybe she’d read about it in one of her fantasy novels.

“Let me guess,” he mused, “You’ve tied me up and gotten this far and now you have no idea what to do next. You don’t want to let me out but you don’t really have a plan from here. Did I get that right?”

“Hey! Not true!” Y/N smirked. “Maybe I’ll have Madame cast a spell on you when you get back for intruding. That’ll teach you not to randomly go into people’s homes.”

Nokto raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Madame. She’s the sorceress that raised me,” she bragged, crossing her arms. “We’re gonna have to wait until she gets back and then we’ll decide what to do with you, Nokto! How do you like that?” Hah. She got him.

But instead of cowering in fear, begging for her mercy, Nokto just laughed again. “Oh? I’m guessing you have no idea who I am then.”

“How on earth am I supposed to know who you are?” Y/N stood up and went to the kitchen. “I want some tea.”

“You… seriously don’t know?” The shift in Nokto’s tone made her spin her head around. “You have genuinely no idea who I am? The face or name didn’t set off any alarm bells?”

She could have admitted that something about it made her ears perk, but since she couldn’t place the source, she decided that it was something simply not worth her time. Maybe she could pry more information from him if she kept quiet, so Y/N just shook her head. “Nope. Why, should I?”

“Just how long have you been up here? Do you… leave?”

“Leave? Why would I?”

Nokto’s face twisted again, as if she’d asked something ridiculous. It was true. Why did Y/N need to leave? The tower had safety, food, water, books, games, and of course, Madame to provide for her once in a while. The outside, while visually appealing, was full of things and people that just wanted to harm you. Diseases, famine, malice. None of those things existed within the tower.

He just looked around, and his gaze locked on the bookshelf. “You like books? Lemme tell you, the real world is more exciting than anything a bunch of paper can offer.”

“You take that back!” she hissed. “My books aren’t just ‘bunches of paper!’ They’re… They’re… I’ve learned and experienced so much more through them than the real world could offer!”

“You seriously believe that?”

“Y-” She stopped herself, but knew she couldn’t back down now. She’d said what she’d said, and she wasn’t taking it back. “Yes. Besides, you don’t get hurt in books…”

Nokto nodded slowly. “Wanna bet on it? Untie me and I’ll take you out. If you think the real world’s fun and exciting and all that, you let me go free. And if you aren’t convinced, your witch lady can cast a spell on me or whatever. Sound good?”

“You’d… You’d just risk your life on something like that?” Was he stupid or something? Maybe Nokto was all beauty and no brains. But for proposing something so ridiculous, he sure had a cocky smile on his face. He was sure of himself. “Fine. You have three days.”

“Great. Now can you untie me?”

Y/N obliged and undid her hair around Nokto’s body. He watched her work with an unbroken stare. “I can’t believe your hair’s this long. Doesn’t it bother you?” he asked, picking some of it up off the floor and pressing it above his lip like a mustache. She immediately swatted it out of his hands.

“No, actually, it doesn’t. You’ll find it has a lot of practicality, believe it or not.”

“What could be practical about having about ten tons of hair to lug around at all times? Even if it’s silky and soft~”

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Don’t try to flatter me, boy. And I’d say this is pretty practical!” She walked to the window and hung it on a hook, allowing some to fall. The ground seemed so far away, she realized. It was going to be quite the plunge to the ground, physically and emotionally. There was no reason to leave the tower, but here she was. About to practically dive out of it because some random man was pushing her to. Her gaze shifted back to Nokto, who was standing with an eyebrow raised. It was now or never, she thought.

With a deep breath, Y/N lept from the windowsill and glided down the walls, her hair providing a perfect elevator for her. She stopped herself just as she was about to hit the ground, and placed her feet. The ground was soft underneath her shoes, the grass looked nice poking around it. She was so mesmerized by the sound of the water rushing so close to her, she almost didn’t notice Nokto from way up above.

“Way to go! Alright, that’s pretty practical!” he laughed, giving a slow clap. “You’re gonna have to wait for me down there. I’m not that fast. You got a staircase or something?”

“You’re going to have to scale the walls. Sorry,” she replied, sitting down in the grass and ravishing its texture.

“Bleh. Alright, be right down.”

Nokto was able to eventually get down the tower the same way he presumably came up, scaling with a few tools in his pack. When he saw her picking flowers, a smile spread across his face. This was going to be easier than he thought.

[simpxxstan]

perfect complements (ch. 5)

pairing: professor!seungcheol x professor!f.reader

genre: fluff, enemies to lovers, angst, smut

series summary: four and a half years of working together breeds familiarity, resentment, and everything in between. it's almost like living together.

chapter word count: 2.7k

warnings: nothing really except a few curse words and one suggestive joke.

a/n: exams are finally over! going to try and update this as regularly as possible before i get busy again. also: congratulations to bss for the daesang! their aaa performance was GOLD like no one does it like them honestly. hope you like this update! do let me know your feedback, it motivates me so much! this is a filler chapter, largely. kinda important to understand the gaps i guess. sorry again if the slow burn is hurting, next chapter promises action. also, about the poll: i promise mingyu fic coming up real soon! last thing i wanna say: thank you for 200 followers omggg lost my mind over it for a day yk <3 i hope i keep entertaining you for a long time on my blog!

taglist for the fic: @minhui896 @yunoyeol

series masterlist

It is well past midnight, but you cannot sleep at all. Perhaps it is the caffeine and sugar from the coffee and the crepe cake you had indulged in after dinner. Perhaps it is the stress of packing for the upcoming trip. Perhaps it is the chill in the wind that lingered in your bones for too long. 

Or perhaps it is the weight of Minhee’s words weighing down on you. 

You keep thinking of the conversation you had with her in the afternoon. 

_

Eight hours ago, Minhee had appeared at your front door, carrying bottles of soju and convenience store food, an apologetic expression on her face as you had opened the door in confusion. “I can explain, Unnie. I’m really sorry.” One look at her usually bubbly face now scrunched up and clearly distressed, and you didn’t have the heart to be mad at her anymore. Soon you were sitting on the couch, slurping ramen from the big cups, already two cups down, biting into cheese kimbaps, and drinking soju. It was an utterly unhealthy combination, but it was oh, so healthy for your hearts. After gobbling down the food and getting over with casual small talk, she had finally nearly lying on your lap, as you huddled into one blanket. 

“My sister’s getting married this weekend.”

“What?!” 

She looked up, smiling but it was not quite reaching her eyes. 

“Isn’t your sister already married…?”

“My youngest. You forget we are four sisters. My eldest got married three years go, the one right after me got married six months ago, at whose wedding you ate half the cake,” she teased, and you pushed your face into your chest in embarrassment. “This time it’s my youngest.”

“But you’re not happy?” You asked, even more confused. 

“No, no, I am! You know I’ve rooted for Miso and her partner forever!” You nodded, having heard about this couple quite a bit. 

“Then?”

“Nothing, it’s just… I’m the only sister who’s not married now. My sister who is five years younger than me are getting married but…. I can’t even last a stable relationship. And my parents-”

You huged her, noticing her eyes getting teary. “Minhee-ah! Don’t mind what your parents say, please. You know how parents can be…”

“But Unnie… I’m thirty now! I’m turning thirty-one in, like, three months, but I haven’t even been able to last a relationship for more than a year in my life, and it’s quite fair honestly for my parents to be bothered about this-”

“But this is your life! You should decide the pace, darling. It’s not important if your parents want you to get married early. They may have done it early at their time, but you should definitely wait till you’re ready! It’s not that late honestly-”

“Unnie, I think it is late though. I should think about freezing my eggs-”

“Oh baby, why are you thinking so hard!” 

“I’m not Unnie! Trust me, you’re lucky your parents haven’t pressurised you with this. It gets so claustrophobic whenever I sit with my parents these days. It’s all they can talk about. My mom keeps sending me photos of sons of her friends, forcing me to go on these blind dates with random guys, like honestly does she even look at the guys she sends me with? It’s so stressful, Unnie!”

You rubbed her back gently, feeling her heat up in agitation. “Minhee, tell me honestly. Do you want to get married soon?”

She stopped shaking in your arms and said softly. “I do. But I want to wait for love.”

“Then wait. This is the 21st century. This isn't the 18th century that people will scorn you for marrying late. Plus, your mom probably just wants to see you settled down and rid herself of her last responsibilities towards you. She doesn’t mean any harm. Have you spoken to her about this?”

“I’ve tried to-”

“Well then, you gotta be a big girl and speak up, huh? Unless you talk to her, she’ll never understand that she’s forcing you. There must be some middle ground for you to reach.”

She moved away slowly, nodding in gradual understanding. Her face looked infinitely more calm now, and she stretched her legs onto the carpet. “This is why I was so worked up that day… I’d just gotten over with a phone call from my mom interrogating me as to why I hadn’t liked the last blind date she had sent me on.” She then turned to you, facing you. You could see the clouds in her eyes, urgent and earnest. “This is why I’m worried about you, Unnie… you should speak to Hyunsik Oppa about settling down. You’re not getting any younger… and four years together isn’t a joke.”

You sighed, looking away. It was your turn to be worried, and you decided not to meet Minhee’s eyes for that while, knowing too well she’d catch on to the doubts that had been lingering in your mind for months now. You said softly, “I know you meant well, Minhee…. It’s just that, this is something for Unnie and Oppa to talk about, hmm?” She nodded again, speaking up with enthusiasm, “Yes yes, I’m sorry for that day! I just want to be your friend! I won’t be nosy from now on, I promise!”

And that had been that. You both had switched on to lighter topics after that, casually flicking through fancams of idol groups you both liked, or funny episodes from reality shows you had grown up watching since teenage years. Suddenly, it struck you that the next weekend was supposed to be your trip with Minhee and the undergrads to Singapore, and you panicked. She had calmed you down, calling Wonwoo for both of you, and speaking to him for advice, knowing he’d give the best option available.

He had not.

He had actually insisted you go with Seungcheol, mad man Wonwoo, and even agreed to calling off the therapy sessions if you called Seungcheol to ask him. After that, you had no option but to call Suengcheol, who had absurdly agreed. Like, you were seconds away from cutting the call off, calling up Wonwoo and blaming it all on Seungcheol denying the trip request, thereby getting the easy way out- Wonwoo would have no option but to cancel the therapy programme and also let you go alone on the trip, but the damn bastard just had to agree now. For the first time in four and a half years, he had willingly agreed to spend time with you and you didn’t know what to do now. 

“Fuck him!” 

Minhee giggled, slyly saying, “No shit Unnie!”

You were fuming with annoyance and this was not the time for Minhee’s jokes. “What?!”

“Isn’t that what you both want, ultimately? Getting into each other’s pants?” She kept giggling like it was the funniest thing ever, while you made disgusted faces at her mere words. “Minhee-ah, you’re so drunk.” “Am not!” She picked the fourth bottle of soju and uncorked it easily. “Unnie, can you not overreact so much? It’s just three days!” “Three days of torture! Oh god, he’s going to be so smug now. I just know he’ll behave like he’s doing me this huge favour and be all arrogant about it.”

“Unnie, I see why Dr. Lee asks y’all to do colouring and stuff. You really are kids, you know?”

“Minhee, I’m not in the mood now!”

“I’m not kidding, please. Everyone has co-workers they may not like. I remember hating my boss at the research institute I interned at. He was so slimy and always wanted to show me down because I was young. But I tolerated him, right? We just have to get along and live with it because that’s what the world is about.”

You tsked at her sudden philosophy lesson, bobbing on the heels of your feet, not quite calming down. 

“Unless you… don’t just dislike him as a co-worker? Minghao and I are just waiting for you both to tell us that you’ve been secretly crushing on each other for years now. The tension is real, ya know?” she smirked, and you threw a pillow at her face, causing her to duck, laughing at your flustered face. “Minhee, how many times do I have to tell you and Minghao?” “Right, right, sorry! I’ll drop it. You call Wonwoo Oppa now, or I’ll do the honours.”

_

At the end of the day, when the lights are off and you finally lie down in the softness of your bedsheets, however, worries about Seungcheol and the trip aren’t running laps in your brain. It’s thoughts about you and Hyunsik. 

You’d met him for the first time in the third year of your college. He had been everything you’d dreamt of in a boyfriend, coming into adulthood. You’d been too much of a nerd as a teen to ever think of dating, but now that you were in college, you were so ready to date an oppa like the heroines of k-dramas. Or perhaps you’d read too many fanfictions and you had fallen in love with the idea of falling in love rather than the act in itself. Hence, when you saw Hyunsik walk into your undergraduate statistics class as the RA, you’d toppled over your feet and fallen headfirst for him. From daydreaming over how his pretty fingers traced the words on your answer scripts when he corrected them for you, to journaling every day about how many times he made eye contact with you, you had become completely smitten by him. But he was an RA, a Postgraduate student, two years older than you. He hung out with many pretty unnies, one of whom definitely had to be his girlfriend. So before you could gather up the courage to actually confess your feelings, he had passed out of college, and you’d been forced to move on. 

It wasn’t like you hadn’t dated since then. After the initial crush on Hyunsik and the heartbreak of unrequited feelings, you had become bolder and started moving into the market more decisively. You had dated a total of eight people in the five years after that, most of which relationships had ended without any hard feelings and you had remained distant acquaintances with them. It wasn’t that none of them had captured your heart- they had each loved you in their own special ways, but it never felt enough. 

So you framed a pretty excuse for yourself: it was because none of them were Hyunsik. It was because he was perfect and nobody else compared to him. 

In hindsight, you were so wrong.

In hindsight, you probably should not have ended things so quickly after comparing them with what you imagined Hyunsik would be like. Imagined being the key word, because you had filled in the gaps that you didn’t know about him (which were a lot, considering you had only known him from a superficial level), using romance novels you had grown up reading. 

And you’d lived with that perfect image of him, until you’d met him at the college reunion. Apparently it had been organised for the two batches before you, and the two batches after you. And Hyunsik was there. So when he came walking up to the corner where you and your friends were chatting up on the old times, you had been stunned and had fallen back into the rabbit hole you’d been trying to get out of for years. He was still as gorgeous as before, and as he soon slipped, single. He had bought you drinks, made you laugh too many times, and then taken you home that night. 

Life had not been the same since then. It had been a whirlwind for the first two years, and you had gladly found out that he was exactly what you had imagined him like. But then-

Then he had got a new professorship opening in Canada, and he had moved away, on your insistence that this was a wonderful opportunity for him. You were so sure long distance would not affect your relationship, in fact, you’d been confident you’d even be stronger now. 

In hindsight, you were so wrong. 

_

You let the phone fall onto the pillow next to you, gently fading your attention away. You’re confident he will not pick up the call, like the last few days. 

“Jagi?”

You hear a faint voice squeaking out from your phone, and turn to the screen in shock, seeing the phone screen alight with his call receipt. You quickly click the speaker button, and reply, “Oppa! You picked up!”

You can hear his soft chuckles on the other end. Quickly checking the time, you realise it’s 9.30 am in Toronto. “I’m sorry, I’ve been so busy. I’ve really had no time to even eat properly,” he explains softly, making you worried. “You’ve not been eating properly? Yah, do you need me to come over and take care of you now?” You’re half teasing, half anxious. Somewhere you hope that he’ll bend and say that he does need you to come there for him. You know you’ll cave in if he says it, you’re that desperate for the least bit of his attention. Anything that’ll convince you that Hyunsik from two springs ago will be back.

“Y/N-ie, please stop overreacting. I need to lose weight anyway, a few meals skipped here and there don’t matter.”

You sigh, biting your lip. 

“Oppa has to go now, okay Jagi? I’ll drive to university now.”

Your eyes prick with the hints of long-dried tears. 

“Okay, good night Oppa… call me when you get time, hmm?”

“Hmm!” The line disconnects, and you’re left staring into the darkness of your bedroom. Once again, the pain of the past and a dark fear of the future grips your heart and refuses to let go.

_

“Hello Dr. Lee!” You call out loudly as you step into their office, thinking you’re early for your appointment, only to see a very smiley Seungcheol already standing with an even more smiley Dr. Lee near the window of their cabin. You had successfully avoided spending more than five minutes with Seungcheol whenever you encountered each other in the staffroom, hoping he’ll not raise questions about the trip. 

They both turn around to see you walk in through the door. 

“Oh you’re here, Prof. Y/L/N! I just heard from Wonwoo that you’re no longer in need of my services from next week onwards,” they smile knowingly. 

You blush in embarrassment of getting caught. “It’s not like tha-”

“I heard about your bargain, and don’t worry, I’ve not taken offence.” They smile again, walking away from the window and towards the coffee machine sitting in one corner of the room. 

Seungcheol pipes in, “Take note, Dr. Lee, this bargain was framed by our resident darling, Prof. Y/L/N. I have no contribution. I assure you, I quite enjoyed our sessions and I shall miss them.” You roll your eyes, resident darling, really! and slap his arm lightly, laughing sarcastically. He chuckles back in an equally sarcastic tone, both of you throwing daggers at each other using your eyes. It doesn’t help that he’s slicked back his hair today, giving a more prominent show of his strong forehead with eyebrows more bushy than you could ever dream of having, even after makeup. Dr. Lee laughs out loud at your antics and give you both two cups of the vending machine coffee. 

“Well, I know exactly well how you both will be feeling, so no need to convince me. But before I let you go, I have one last task for you both, to conclude my notes.”

“Notes?” you ask, crossing your left leg over your right, ignoring the way Seungcheol squirms away from you as your left leg extends forward slightly.

“My analysis notes. I’ve been studying you two, of course.”

“But you have notes about us?”

“Force of habit, you forget that I am a psychologist and my primary interest is observing behaviours of people.”

You smile at their words, and quietly sip on your coffee. 

“So, what is the final task?” Seungcheol asks. You notice that his coffee is nearly finished. 

“I have a harmony-building task for you two.”