#so cubicles and the lovers are sharing one

[fisheito]

finally listening to the h-scene audio after 1.5 years on mute

yakumo: gasps and whimpers in the whiniest brokenest way me:

[purintarts]

Doctors aren't always smart | ZAYNE | LnD

"...So many doctors here. This should be the most safest place if somebody gets injured or something," I muttered.

"It is even better if nobody gets hurt - especially the lady accompanying me," Zayne whispered into my ear as he takes my hand to lead me inside.

Zayne invited me to the Annual Linkon Doctor's Banquet. Doctors all across Linkon's hospitals are here.

It's a good place for medical personnels to connect with each other and they are allowed to bring a guest. Some were bringing their spouses, others brought their apprentice, or just another doctor friend from other cities.

It's a great place to learn from each other and - ehem - job oppourtunities.

"Dr Zayne! I finally get to meet you after a whole year!" a man around Zayne's age greets him.

"Dr Hale, it's been a while," Zayne greets him with a handshake.

They share a curt pleasant greetings before Dr Hale turned to me.

"And who might this beautiful lady be?"

Zayne places his hand on my waist as he introduces me.

"This is MC, my lover"

"It's nice to meet you Dr Hale," I smiled.

"Nice to meet you too, what do you do MC?" Dr Hale smiles at me.

"I am a Hunter"

What is just me? It seems like Dr Hale's smile dropped slightly. I saw his eyes narrowed and eyebrows furrowed for a moment.

To those who do not have a keen eye, they would not notice that momentarily switch as he expertly changed his facial expression back.

"...I see. Physical job"

Dr Hale took his eyes off me and went back to talk to Zayne about medical topics.

"????? interventricular septum ???? precision ????? veins were too compact ????"

Yeah... I was lost.

Seeing how they excitedly talk to one another, I busied myself by admiring the well decorated banquet hall.

"It's nice talking to you Dr Hale, I'll excuse myself," Zayne's voice pulled me out from my daze.

Zayne walked away with me.

"Bored?" He asked

"I know what I signed up for when I agreed to your invitation," I shrugged.

"We'll leave after my speech," he squeezed my hand as he led me to a group made of two doctors, an elder medical researcher with his wife, and their apprentices.

A round of greetings were shared and curt introduction.

"My wife used to research on your topic Dr Zayne," the elder professor proudly mentiones.

"I am aware, I used a few of your papers as my reference," Zayne stated making the elder lady chuckled.

"I hope my papers can be of help to you," she beams.

I smiled and nodded at their conversation but I can't help ignoring the two doctors glances at me.

It was becoming quite annoying how they glance at me up and down. Although they did it discreetly, it is still obvious in a hunter's eye.

For some odd reason, the doctors here either inspect me thoroughly or ignored me but cutting me off from their conversation.

I never experienced this before with Akso's doctors but it made me anxious.

Was there something wrong with my dress? Is there something on my face? Did I do something wrong?

"Excuse me, I'll be right back," I smiled giving Zayne a glance.

Zayne looked at me with a question-mark and I leaned in.

"Ladies," I whispered and he nodded.

"Hurry back"

I walked as fast as I could to the ladies and locked myself in the cubicle. Putting the cover down, I sat down and fumbled with my purse.

I feel so suffocated and restless. I turned on my front camera to check my appearance.

There was nothing wrong except my lipstick fading from the drinks. I topped up my lipstick when I heard a couple of footsteps walking in.

"I can't believe Dr Zayne is dating a hunter," a voice chimes.

My hand froze.

"I know. It is so mismatched. For a genius like Dr Zayne, I thought he would go for someone like Dr Yvonne. She's the smartest and beautiful doctor in Linkon city,"

"Dr Yvonne will match Dr Zayne better. I saw how they work together, they complement each other well,"

Yvonne... I know that name. I saw her liked Zayne's posts a couple of times.

Out of my curiousity, I did checked her profile before and she was quite pretty.

"I guess you can't always be perfect. His peculiar taste in women must be his flaw"

I felt a stung on my heart.

The hurt grew more intense as I hear their footsteps walking out.

"No... don't cry," I looked up as I felt tear brimming my eyes.

I blinked the tears away and let out a deep sigh.

I promised Zayne to watch his speech, I'll leave right after.

I mustered the courage and walked out from the ladies room. Just as I was about to walk into a hall, I heard my name in a conversation.

"I heard her name was MC, a hunter," a masculine voice sounded.

Dr Hale?

"I tried to match Dr Zayne a couple of times with another doctor and he always refused. When I heard he has a lover, I wonder what kind of genius managed to swoon him. I am dissappointed," he spoke.

I felt the tears brimming in my eyes again.

"They won't last long. People outside our field will never understand our jobs. She looks so lost in our conversation just now. It's a pity,"

"She'll leave sooner or later. She won't be able to handle his job,"

"I remember Dr Vincent got dumped by his former lover. She threw a fit and cheated on him. Poor lad did not date anyone since,"

"Pretty sure this MC girl will do the same soon,"

"She's a hunter, aside from wanderers, I am pretty sure she will hunt other lowly men-"

A pair of hands cupped my ears. I glanced behind me to see Zayne's furious face.

"Don't listen to them,"

He turned me around to face him and wiped the tears that I didn't realised had fallen with his fingers.

"aa..." I pulled away and covered my face with my hands, "I made a mistake Zayne, I should leave,"

Zayne pulled me into his arms as he rubbed my back with his hands.

"I apologize. My selfish desire of wanting you here has hurt you," he sighed.

Listening to his words made the tears fell more.

"Zayne... I-"

I heard the sound of the microphone.

"We would like to invite Dr Zayne on his recent research!"

I heard people clapping and cheering.

"Go, hurry," I gently pushed him away, giving him the biggest smile I can managed.

Zayne had guilt all over his face.

"Dr Zayne?" the person on stage called out.

I nudged him and he sighed.

"Wait for me," he stated before making his way to the stage with a professional emotionless face.

Taking his place in front of the microphone, he greeted the hall and began his speech.

Not wanting to go into the banquet hall. I stayed near the entrance, excluding myself from the crowd.

I admiringly gaze at Zayne. His confidence and words were put together beautifully till he has everyone's attention on him.

I heard his speech a few times and even read the books he used as reference. It is the only topic I am well-versed in tonight.

"Thank you for your time. Most importantly, I would like to thank my lover, MC for being my strongest supporter. She plays a big part in my research by helping me think outside of the box, outside of the papers," Zayne looked at my direction.

"With her presence, I discovered that making a break-through isn't just about researching and conduct tests. A different perspective is required outside of the medical field that helps to close the gap. I couldn't ask for a better partner," he let out a small smile.

The people around me gasped.

"Did Dr Zayne just smiled?!!" "This is the first time I saw him smile!!"

I feel my cheeks flushed red and look down on my feet.

Well, that definitely made me wonder what I was crying about.

Zayne closed his speech and got off the stage. The people congratulated him as he walked pass them.

It took a while for him to reach me. Zayne took a hold of my hand, and nodded at the exit.

"Shall we take our leave now?" he smiled.

I nodded and followed him out.

That night, as MC was snoozing away in Zayne's bed.

Zayne played with her hair as he admiringly gaze at her sleeping face.

He knew this was going to happened some day, he was sorry that he couldn't protect her from it.

Doctors are not smart every time.

The amount of medical personnel who broke up due their colleagues' influence.

We cannot date someone outside the medical field, they don't understand our job

Pretty girls wouldn't want nerdy people like us, they will just fool around

Don't fall in love, you'll just end up heartbroken

Zayne re-called when he mentioned MC was a hunter and there was a big fuss when they accidentally saw MC's picture on his phone.

That was the first time Zayne was annoyed with his colleague over a personal matter.

"I do not recall asking for relationship advice"

They stopped talking about relationships to Zayne after that.

He had went on a date with a researcher and even a doctor but they could not give him the excitement that MC had given him.

It was always science and work when he is with them. Although he likes research, sometimes, he wishes to take a break from work and everything related to work.

That is when MC comes in.

She invokes different emotions in him, her thought process is truly different that sometimes, he wishes to check what is going on in her head.

"Zayne, I am craving for toast and eggs. You made good toast and eggs," she blinked her puppy eyes at him.

"Well if you study right before the test, your memories is much stronger compared to learning weeks before you know~" she shrugs.

When she does talks about science... the more he doesn't understand.

"Zayne, I want to learn anatomy today," MC unbuckled his belt.

...

Zayne pulled himself out from his thought process as he looked down at the sleeping MC next to him.

Doctors are not always smart indeed. There is more to science than just books.

"...darling, I feel like learning anatomy again tonight," Zayne whispered.

MC tossed and turned in her sleep.

"study tomorrow... sleep now..." she mumbles before snoring.

Zayne chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her.

There are many things doctors needs to learn outside from books.

[shakirawastaken]

dsmp if... you were a romance trope

i got inspiration (sapnap, dream, george, karl, quackiy, wilbur) 

sapnap (hockey x figure skater): - im in the middle of heartbreaker rn and SHUT UP - i LOVE THIS TROPE - IM NOT EVEN A FIGURE SKATER I DO TAEKWONDO BUT I STILL FROTH OVER THIS SHIT - and then in addition to that one tommyinnit is a figure skater and everyone else is on a hockey team “ice these hurts” or smt h like that - i love this trope. - anyway i think that this trope comes hand in hand with enemies to lovers - his hockey team and ur figure skating group are at the same winter sports competiton - and you have to share a rink - booooo - so everyday you end practice with the sight of a bunch of hockey buffs roughhousing in the stands, waiting for you to finish - and everyday a certain brunette one sneers and smirks at you as you walk off the ice - “had a nice practice ice queen/king?” he asks you teasingly - “shut up, yeti” you mutter back gratingly as you bump your shoulder into his build as you pass him - and he comes up with a new one everyday - and you quip right back at him, unphased - one day, he comes into practice early just to spite you - what he wasn’t expecting is to see how good you actually were on the ice - he sat there like “ :O” and just watche dyou glide across the ice with what seemed like barely any effort - and he watched how passionate you were in your craft and the dance - and bro was whipped right then and there - so that day as you were leaving he said “you were amazing out there” and it took u jumpscared - you were like “no insult today?” - and he was like “dang, didnt know u liked them that much ;) but not today, not for something as beautiful as that” - and i think you can guess where it went from there... :)

 dream (ceo and employee romance):  - AKAIAKAKAHAKH TELL ME YOU SEE THE VISION - i mean hes a ceo alr so its like one step in the door you know - anyway hes a ceo - bro wears those fancy ass suits everyday and has like a wine cellar mini fridge shit thing in his office  - any way you pull up to his headquarters one day for like an interview and you were so fucking nervous  - you ran into him in the elevator (and no clue who he was) - and you basically vented to him for the 30 second elevator ride before scurrying off to your interview - bro didnt even get dreams name or anything - he kinda just smiled and wished you well as you ran away  - he thought you were so cute  - and you thought dude was hot as fuck  - anyway you got the JOB!! LETS GOO - the next day, your supervisor is like taking u around showing u the works - ....and you meet the ceo - its dream - and youre like :0 and he’s like  *smirk wink* ;) “hey” - and youre like “well fuck hes the ceo i cant be in love with him” - and you avoid him - but he makes it his life’s mission to get on ur radar - in the break room, in ur cubicle, in the cafeteria, in the parking lot man is ON YOU LIKE A MOTH TO A LIGHT - eventually he convinces you to go to fancy dinner - and WOW hes paying?? so that shit was FIREEEE - fancy wagyu steak and 102379182 year old wine i mean cmon - it was good ok - he asks you out after dinner and assures u ur job wont be at risk and everything - ba da bing ba da boom  - now youre dating happily and he spoils the FUCK outta you  - lmk if you want this one as a big fic with dialogue

george (neighbors): - tell me why whenever i have my delulu daydreams with george he’s always a neighbor - very much boy next door vibes - omg HES YOUR COLLEGE ROOMMATE NEXT DOOR - stoppppp - on move in day he pulls up with his family and u with urs and youre like - “hi ! nice to meet you im so exicted to move in!” and bros like “same!” - sometimes hes loud bc hes talking to his friends but you dont mind - hes a cs major and ur  whatever u want major - one day you decided to start singing  rlly loud while cleaning - ur singing taylor swift - and then george could hear you from the room next door to yours - so he writes up a little post it note that was like “loved the concert! when’s the next one?” and stuck in on your door - you found it and started mad blushign - you had a crush on him since day one awwww - anyways you two started communicating via post it notes and songs played loudly through the walls <3 - till one day you hear boyfriend by big time rush - and then you play girlfriend by avril lavigne back - and then he slips you a post it note under the door and you open the door before you could read it  - and its an unspoken like thing that you start dating - its so romantic how you can saw you guys starting dating because of taylor swift !!

quackity (academic rivals): - DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON THIS TROPE IT BRINGS ME LIFE ALRIGHT - alright - two law school students FIGHTING IT OUT ACADEMICALLY - you guys met in ur freshman year english class or some shit - clashed together in a discussion group - and its been game on since then - your texts with each other are flaunting texts - “hey alex, guess who got a 97 on the last midterm?” - “guess who got a 99 ;)” - over time, the texts started getting more and more hostile - people started to thing you two actually hated one another’s guts  - but in reality it was more for the thrill - but this continued throughout your law school careers - and you both become successful lawyers in the end!! - and when the headmaster calls you both into his office and says - “youre both valedictorian! congrats! you have to give a speech together” - well its like all the hatred faded away - you grinned and cheezed at each other before giving each other the biggest hug ever - so you both wrote a speech together - and soon the day of graduation came - and q goes at the end “i wouldn’t be here without the person who motivated me through it all, so thank you (y/n)” and youre like “hey man *sob* wtf *sob” - and you kiss him on the cheek and cheer to all the graduates  - after the ceremony he catches up to you in the parking lot, grabbing your wrist before you could go off with ur family - and blurts out word soup - and ur like what - and hes like “i really like you, and law school wouldn’t have been the same without you. can we be more than friends?” - and youre like “duhhh” and kiss him right there karl (best friends to lovers): - YOU ARE IN LOVE BY TAYLOR SWIFT  - that is the song for this SCENARIO - you two met when you were little kids in like first grade - your friends werent there on that day so you hung out with each other - hooked to the other since then and there - it was always “karl and you” and “you and karl” - you came as a packaged deal - through ups and downs you were there together - you graduated high school together and were going to the same college together now - while karl barely got into any romantic relationships, you seemed to be going through a few of them  - you were desperate for a love connection and honestly i aint blaming u - one day after a horrible date he came over to your dorm and u had an impromptu sleepover - you were in karls old shirt and some pajama pants and he was in his pajamas - and you two were just watching a movie together - before he turns to you abruptly, and you turn to look at him - and he’s like “you’re my best friend”  - and you saw a switch flip in him - since then, the dynamic between you two changed (for the better) - you became more flirty more touchy  - you started to act like you were a couple more and more - one day you saw him open his wallet to pull out his card  - and u saw that he has a picture of the two of you in his wallet - and then you knew that he was it for you - you ask him out that night - and hes so happy hes picking you up and spinning you around - <3 wilbur (musician x fan trope): - okay this is inspired by those tik toks that are like “did you see the way he looked at me” and its harry styles staring and eyeing down a fan in the audience like YES - and he’s a musician so it fits! - imagine lovejoy is like a HUGE HUGE Band so maybe this is in the future - anyways you and ur friend go to a lovejoy concert - for the sake of the story, youre not that big a fan of lovejoy just familiar with hits like sex sells and one day - the whole time ur friend is like “theyre so good hes so good its all so good” - you two end up a few rows from barricade  - and you and ur friend start screaming it up as you should - youre not oblivious to the way the lead singer keeps looking over in your direction, winking and smiling - imagine a sweaty, singing wilbur glancing over at you during sex sells and giving you a smile as he rasps out “you know sex sells i know that” - brb ascending to heaven - anyway a time comes when he stops to speak to the audience - he wastes no time - he struts over to your side of the stage and points at you  - “what’s your name?” - and you scream it at him - “what a lovely name!” - the crowd cheers - “ahre you single?” he asks with a grin on his face - the grin grows when u nod at him - “give me ur number!?” he asks and you nod at him as ur friend is dying next to you - he gestures u and ur friend to the front of the stage by the barricade  - and he passes you a marker and make syou WRITE YOUR NUMBER ON HIS GUITAR OR HIS SHIRT OR SOMETHING - oh yeahh go you go you thank yoU! let me know if you want any of these to become a bigger story/imagine and LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT A PART 2 WITH OTHER PEOPLE :D reblogs appreciated

[joshsindigostreak]

Blue Christmas 💙🎄

Authors notes: Hi y’all!! This spawned from a dream I had the other morning and I couldn’t get it out of my head. My first official Rom-Com, and friends to lovers! Shout out to @gretasmokerising and @sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine to hearing me out with this idea and yelling at me to write it! Enjoy!

Word Count: 6813

Warnings: tooth rotting fluff, and SMUT at the end! MINORS DNI, unprotected sex (don’t be silly wrap y’all’s willies), alcohol use, agonizing mutual pining? I think that’s it.

It had been 4 weeks, 2 days, and 7 hours since Josh Kiszka had last spoken to you. The most he had ignored you since the day you met over 2 years ago. His cubicle was stationed next to yours, and you could always look to your right to see him typing away at his computer, eyes trained at the screen and never once glancing over at you. He would arrive in the mornings silently, and clock out at 5 without a word. But it was the lunch hours that hurt the most. Ever since you had started this job, he was always your lunch buddy. He showed you where all the good vending machines were, and how to get down to the courtyard on the bottom floor where most of the office population ate their lunches. You hadn’t seen him down in that courtyard since…the incident…and you sat at your usual table most days hoping you’d see him come through the double doors, lunch in hand and a smile on his face. But in the weeks since, he had either eaten elsewhere or stayed in his cubicle working. A few times you tried to stay behind as well, hoping the silence from being the ones in your general vicinity on your floor would coax him into conversation, but it didn’t work. 

But what was this “incident”? What was the catalyst to make him so cold to you all of a sudden? As you twirled your mouse over your screen pretending to be busy, your thoughts drifted back to the day everything changed. 

Josh had a usual lunch table. It was in the courtyard, but in the back corner where he could have the best privacy. This back section used to be the smoking section before smoking was banned per company policy, but they left all of the plants and hedges in place that separated it from the rest of the courtyard. His lunch hour was sacred. It was the part of his day that he could be by himself and not have to talk to anyone if he didn’t want to. Not a lot of people sat back there, which was another blessing. But he didn’t mind sharing it with you. He jumped at the chance to show it to you on your first day. You made a comment about how it was very “Rainforest Cafe” that endeared you to him even more. Ever since, it has been the two of you back there, hidden amongst the hedges. 

That day wasn’t much different from any other, a run-of-the-mill Tuesday in the middle of November. For that time of the year, it was unusually warm, so you felt that it was imperative to take advantage of it and sit outside when you still could. You made your way down to your table, walking past various coworkers chattering away. You could smell the Caesar salad through the container in your hand and you couldn’t wait to dive into it. Finally you made it to your table in the back corner, with your lunch buddy sitting with his back to you as he typed away at his laptop. He was a true workaholic, but his efforts never went unnoticed. Your immediate boss, Ted, always gave shout outs to Josh in meetings, and you would be lying if you said the way Josh’s face would tinge pink every time didn’t melt your heart. He was absolutely terrible at taking compliments. He was deserving of all the praise, hell he deserved a promotion at this point with how much he led the team, but he would get so bashful whenever someone would tell him so.  Sometimes…you would compliment him on purpose just to see the color rise in his cheeks, and if you were lucky, a glimpse of the dimple on his left side.

You slid onto the bench that was bolted to the table, a fixture that hadn’t been updated since the nineties, you were sure. Normally you sat across from him, but today you just had the itch to be in his personal space. 

“Whatcha working on?” You asked as you popped open the container for your salad.

“I am working on…a PowerPoint…,” he quipped, giving you a playful sideways glance. 

You nodded, letting him type and fill up the current slide as you dumped your salad dressing into the container and mixed it with the greens and grilled chicken. After a few minutes of silence, you leaned over to him, brushing your shoulder against his, “you need a cool transition. No PowerPoint is complete without a cool transition.” 

At this he stopped typing and turned his face towards yours, seemingly unbothered with how close you were to him, “I can just see the look on Ted’s face when he hears the ‘whoosh’ between slides about projected first quarter profit margins.”

 

“That man needs a good laugh. Or to get laid. Maybe both,” you nudged his shoulder before going back to your lunch. 

“Don’t we all…,” Josh mumbled to himself. You almost asked him what he meant but he was quickly back at it, filling out bullet points and inserting graphs on the side. It wasn’t unusual to see him this engrossed in his work, but frankly, you were bored. This was the one hour you could truly hang out with him and not have to talk shop. Your friend needed to relax, and not let his work become his life. He always told you that the more he got done during the day meant the less he had to do when he got home, but you knew that was a lie. He always came in the next day with more work than when he left, and sometimes you wondered if that laptop bag of his was surgically attached to his shoulder. 

Your salad was long gone and Josh was still typing away, clicking back and forth from his data and his project. Knowing what would get his attention, you innocently poked at his side, and held back a laugh when he flinched and smiled. This spurred you on, and you poked his arm now, forcing him to make a typo. He was trying so hard to not give in, to not give you the satisfaction that he was amused, but he was failing. 

You upped your ante by reaching for his ear. Gently, you ran your fingertip down the shell of his ear, feeling every curve and contour before brushing the skin next to his earlobe. This caused Josh to visibly shudder, and he tried to cover it up by suddenly jerking his head to the side to pretend to bite your finger. You erupted in giggles before you were aware of how close his face was to your hand. Before you could stop yourself, you extended your fingers to lightly cup his jaw. Instead of backing away, he leaned into your touch, a move that neither of you were expecting. His fingers stilled on the keyboard, and slowly backed away and into his lap he turned his body to face yours. 

The logical side of you wanted to just laugh and lean back onto your end of the bench as if nothing happened, but the other side of you, the side that needed him, was telling that first side to shut the fuck up. Letting the intrusive thoughts win, you leaned closer to him, and you hitched a breath when you saw him do the same. There was no space between the two of you, your right thigh was firmly against his left, heat radiating through both of your respective slacks. 

Before either of you could think about it too much, Josh closed the gap between you and slotted his lips onto yours, lazily taking your bottom lip into his mouth. The action caused you to moan against him, and you seized the opportunity to deepen the kiss. The professional side of you was screeching in your head that you were literally at work and in a courtyard full of people, but the rest of you argued back that no one could see you given how tall the hedges were. 

One of Josh’s hands slid up to your face, mirroring what you were doing to him, and his other hand snaked around your waist, desperate to have you closer. Your tongue slipped into his mouth, and he opened up for you instantly. For several moments, you made out like teenagers on that bench. 

You weren’t close enough to him, and before you could protest he lifted you up and over his lap, allowing you to straddle him. He was thanking God that the greenery was so overgrown that you couldn’t be seen in the position you were in. 

As you settled down onto his lap, the rigid outline of his cock pressed up against you, and you instinctively grinded down on him. He bit your bottom lip to keep himself from moaning too loud, but it was futile as that only caused you to let out a breathy moan of your own.

He was kissing you like he was starving, and you couldn’t get over just how good he felt. You always stole glances at his lips, noting how perfect his cupid's bow was and they were the most enviable shade of pink. 

But just as you lowered yourself back down to grind on him even more, a very loud and obnoxious cackle was let out across the courtyard. Of course it was Vera’s obnoxious ass laughing at whatever the fuck. This caused Josh to break away from you, sobering him up to the situation. He was suddenly very aware of you straddling him, with bruised lips and tousled hair. He couldn’t…he couldn’t be here much longer or else he wouldn’t be able to stop. Without any preamble he guided you off his lap and slid out the other side of the bench and adjusted his belt buckle and smoothed down his shirt. He didn’t even glance at you when he shut his laptop and turned to leave, quickly mumbling about needing to run to the bank before his lunch hour was up. It was a clear lie, but he didn’t give you a chance to call him out on it before nearly running out of that courtyard, leaving you dazed and…very wet…on that bench. 

You leaned back in your office chair and rolled your eyes at the memory, not because you didn’t love it, or that it didn’t replay in your head every time you saw the man, but because you were afraid it completely fucked up your friendship with Josh. Before you on your screen was a reminder email about the company Christmas Party that was being held this weekend. You wanted to go, but the thought of mingling with coworkers while Josh continued to ignore you made you want to crawl under your desk and never come out. Because of his outstanding job performance, he was put on the planning committee and thus would have to be there. There was no avoiding him. 

With a resigned sigh you glanced over at his desk, hoping to see him, but finding it Josh-less. Instead you heard his voice chattering away at another desk, leaning against the entrance to a nearby cubicle. To everyone else, he was his normal talkative self, but for you, he was silent and cold. What the actual fuck was his problem? The more you thought about it, the more it pissed you off. Just who does he think he is by kissing you like that, touching you like that, fulfilling the fantasies you’ve had in your head for months, only to throw you away essentially and leave you high but not very dry? Fuck him, but not in the literal sense. He didn’t deserve that. A plan was forming in your head. You were going to show up to that party pushing every button you knew how to push with him. After working for him for nearly two years, you knew what made that man tick. You had picked up on several preferences of his via passing comments, jokes, or flat out remarks. 

And you were going to exploit every single one of them. 

When the day of the party arrived, you looked over at your outfit laid out on your bed. A beautiful long sleeved navy blue velvet dress. Why blue? Well that color had become an inside joke between the two of you, stemming from an exchange on your very first day in the office. 

You were settling into your new cubicle, arranging your things and figuring out just where you wanted everything to go. The size of your desk surprised you, as you were expecting a smaller space given you were a new hire, but the expanse of the desk gave you so much more room to work with. It was a blessing as you tended to spread out your paperwork around you throughout your day, a habit that your old boss noted every time she walked by your desk. 

As you reached into your box full of things you brought from home, your hand settled on the third Funko Pop you had picked out of your collection. Your Funko of Daphne from Scooby Doo had been one of the first you had bought when you started your collection, and she meant a lot to you. 

“You take them out of the box?” An unfamiliar yet pleasant voice interrupted your thoughts and you nearly dropped the box you were holding from being startled. 

Snapping your head up at the source, you were greeted by a rather…gorgeous man with curious big brown eyes. You had briefly seen him when your new boss was giving you a tour of the area you would be working in, and he had been getting something out of the supply closet. 

“Sorry?”

“Your Funkos…you take them out of the box?” 

Realizing what he was referring to, you chuckled slightly in embarrassment, “oh don’t start, my brother already gives me enough shit about ‘ruining their value’ whenever he comes over and sees my collection. They just look so sad sitting in them. They need to be free!”

This caused the stranger to smile as he extended his hand for you to shake, “I’m Josh, your new neighbor across the way.” He dramatically threw a glance over his shoulder at his own cubicle across from yours. You gladly shook his hand and told him your own name, which he repeated softly. 

You continued to pull more items out of your box as he stood there, not minding you had company. In the panic to get what you needed for your new job, you had inadvertently brought mostly blue office supplies. Blue post-its, blue binders, blue pens; it was as if your brain found one color it liked in the store and made you match everything to calm your nerves. 

“Your sweater matches your binders…,” Josh observed. 

This was your second time you looked up at him in embarrassment, “Oh! Yeah…purely unintentional. It’s my nicest one and I wanted to make a good-”

“It looks nice on you, that shade of blue,” he interrupted. 

Before you could stop yourself, you started rattling off a quote from one of your favorite films, “Oh this sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's-"

"...actually cerulean?" 

The smile that spread across your face could light up the entire room, it wasn’t a niche reference, but you were so glad he picked up on it and you didn’t embarrass yourself a third time. After that, your friendship with Josh quickly blossomed, and the ‘blue’ joke got to a point where Josh was calling you Blue to your face, a nickname that stuck no matter how many times you told him to stop. 

Six months into your stay at your current job, you walked into work thinking nothing of the date, but when you got to your desk you saw a familiar small white box with a blue bow taped to the top. You dropped your bag onto your desk and picked it up. Turning it over in your hands you saw that it was a Miranda Priestly Funko, and while you instantly understood who gave it to you, you were confused at the occasion. 

“Happy Six Months, Blue,” Josh said warmly behind you, startling you. 

“Six months?”

“Since you started here! I saw it online and you’ve worked really hard these last six months so I just thought…you needed a token of appreciation.” He leaned towards you and whispered, “since you and I both know corporate doesn’t keep up with such things.” 

You smiled up at him, warmed by the gesture, “thanks Josh…” 

After a few seconds of awkwardly standing there, Josh piped up, “go on…free her from her plastic prison. She’s running out of air and it's getting dark! I’m frightened for her.” Giggles escaped your mouth as you ripped open the box and freed your new Funko. She was put next to your Daphne, as they both held strong sentimental value now. 

You shook your head from the memories, needing to focus on the task at hand. Slipping on the dress and securing your heels, you gave yourself one last look in the mirror before you left for the party. Your hair was perfect, your eyelids dusted with a champagne-colored shimmer, and your lips were adorned with a neutral matte red. There was no way he could ignore you with the way you looked. 

Or so you thought. 

After nearly an hour of mingling, your “friend” had yet to even walk passed you. In fact it was pretty obvious he was avoiding you. He was only on the stupid decorating committee but you’d think he was the host of the entire party with the way he was flitting about the employees, giving them warm greetings and thanking them for coming. You didn’t want to follow him around like a lost puppy, but you kept deliberately putting yourself in his line of vision and he acted like you weren’t there. What the fuck? 

At this point, you were standing with a bunch of your coworkers on your floor, trying to not make it obvious you were glaring at Josh while slowly sipping your cocktail. By the grace of God, one of the men from your floor walked over with Josh in tow, firmly planting him in the little group that had gathered. He still avoided your gaze, keeping his eyes on Brad who clapped him on the shoulder and praised him for a project he had recently finished and was going to present next week. 

Your friend Stacy waved her hand at them, “oh come on no work talk tonight, we get enough of that during the day.” 

“I know, I know but Josh ran his ideas by me the other week and was telling me how it all came together at the end, I’m happy for him,” Brad defended. 

What? Josh never ran ideas with anyone else but you. You were always his first choice whenever he had something cooking in his head. Hell, you didn’t even know he had a big project lined up. But there he was, cheeks flushing at the praise. Under any other circumstances, your heart would stutter at the sight, adoring how bashful he could be, but right now? Right now it pissed you off, and you were on your second cocktail of the night. Your filter was nonexistent. 

“You told Brad about your new project?” You blurted out, slightly slurring your speech. 

At last, Josh finally addressed you, “yes? I wanted to run some numbers by him just to double che-”

“But you always run your ideas by me?” Unfortunately, the alcohol also made it impossible for you to hide the hurt in your voice. “You always ask to pick my brain on things.”

You took a step forward, “yes you do, and I always run my ideas by you in return. They always note how well we work together in meetings.” The rest of your coworkers stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do as you verbally sparred. You didn’t care, you stared at Josh barely blinking. His jaw was clenched, lips set in a line. But you couldn’t stop the words tumbling from your mouth, “you don’t even like Brad! You told me his projections were always off and he talks too much during meetings which is rich coming from-”

At this, Josh handed his drink off to the closest person and quickly grabbed your hand to pull you away from the group. He guided you through the crowd, and you dropped off your empty glass on a random table, not caring where it was. The only thing you could focus on was the warmth from his hand, and how he effortlessly laced your fingers together as he walked. This was the first time he had even touched you since that lunchtime makeout session. 

He swung the outside door open, leading you out onto the side deck of the venue. No one else was out here due to the cold, and the cold wind sobered you up a little. You stood next to the deck rail, glaring at him. 

“What the fuck, Josh?!” 

“What the fuck Josh? How about what the fuck, Blue?!” He’s giving you the hardest look he’s ever given you, his eyes a darker shade of brown you weren’t used to seeing, and no cheek dimple in sight. He continued, “I am preventing you from getting fired for running your mouth in front of everyone.” 

You sneer, “since when do you care what my mouth does?” 

He clenches his jaw again, and he swallows hard enough to see his Adam's apple bob beneath the gorgeous white turtleneck he was wearing. “You know what, I think you need to just stay out here for the rest of the night, and lay off the eggnog.” 

He started to walk off but you grabbed his arm before he could leave, “no, you don’t get to do this again. You have ignored me for nearly a month now.” You lowered your voice even though it was only the two of you outside, “we never even talked…about it…was I that bad?”

He spins to face you, and backs you up against the deck rail, placing both hands on either side of you, bracketing yourself between his arms. He stares at you for a few more seconds, before declaring in a gruff voice, “you were absolutely incredible, and that's the problem.” Your brows furrowed in confusion, and he continued, “I have done nothing but think of you since that day, hell I thought about you every single day before that. Ever since you walked into that office, in that fucking blue sweater, your perfectly coordinated desk supplies, your intelligence, the way you always have a comeback for everything…Blue, I could not get you out of my head even if I tried. But that day? When I finally got to taste you? Have you in my arms? It ruined me. Ruined me for everyone else. The mere thought of even talking to you afterwards sent all my blood south and I can’t walk around the office with a fucking boner, can I?”  You opened your mouth to speak, but he cut you off again, “and you show up here tonight, looking like this, knowing how much I love you in blue…you wicked little thing.” 

Just then, the door to the outside was swung open by someone that worked on a different floor, and you guessed they got the hint because they quickly went back inside. But as the door closed behind them, the two of you could hear Blue Christmas by Elvis being played loudly through the speakers inside. How appropriate. 

All of your worst case scenarios that had haunted your mind the last few weeks weren’t even true at all. Josh’s words had your heart hammering in your chest, and having him this close to you after a month-long cut off had you aching. His breath was hot as it fanned over your face, the rich chocolate of his irises that matched his brown suit were smoldering before you. Reaching up, you gently cupped his jaw the same way you did weeks ago on that bench, and just like before he leaned into your hand his eyes fluttered shut.��

“Blue…,” he whispered against your palm. 

“I missed you so fucking much. I don’t think you understand how empty I felt without you talking to me every day. Not hearing your daily complaints, not making me laugh, no eye contact during meetings when they got boring? I sat downstairs every single day, at our usual table, hoping to see you, but you never showed. I felt like I did something horribly wrong and you didn’t even have the decency to tell me otherwise,” he shook his head against your hand,  “You just shut me out with no explanation.”

“No..no I’m sorry for that…it was stupid, and cruel of me. I just didn’t know what to do. Every time I tried to talk myself into talking to you, it resulted in me thinking of scenarios that would’ve had us end up with multiple HR violations, and I just couldn’t do it.” He rested his forehead against yours, keeping his eyes closed. 

“Well, Kiszka, what are you going to do about it now?”

A low growl rumbled in his chest and he finally opened his eyes to look over your shoulder at the sprawling grounds of the country club. 

“What if I told you, that when we were looking for venues, I noticed that this particular one has an entire property just for a garden, that's currently out of season, and that there’s a greenhouse off to the side that they keep some of the plants indoors over the winter?” 

You were tempted to look over your shoulder to see what he was looking at, but you didn’t want your eyes to leave his face.

“Are you suggesting…?”

“I’m saying that I need to finish what I started four weeks ago.” 

Before you could respond he took your hand and led you down the steps of the deck and out onto the frost-covered lawn. The entrance to the garden wasn’t very far, but it was nestled in a brick fence. Once inside and out of sight, you got a glimpse at your surroundings. The garden was definitely winterized and dormant, but the hedges were evergreen and tall, successfully blocking anyone who might peer over to that side of the property from the main building. His fingers were still laced with yours as he took a sharp left and down a narrow path. As you traveled deeper into the garden, the party noise slowly fizzled out, and by the time you got to the greenhouse in question, you could barely hear anything other than the wind rustling branches. 

“It’s probably locked…,” you suggested, trying not to sound disappointed.

Josh briefly panicked, not quite thinking about that when he came up with this plan, but he quickly reached up to feel the top of the door frame. When his fingertips landed on cold metal, he nearly said a prayer out loud in gratitude. He held the key up to you, before spinning back around and trying it in the lock. As fate would have it, the lock clicked and the handle turned easily, granting you access. 

Inside, there were a few space heaters already running to keep the chilly night air outside. The temperature difference as you stepped inside was stark, and you shut the door behind you to keep any more winter air from coming in. One of the tables in the middle of the room had been cleaned off recently, with no pots or excess dirt littering the surface. When he was satisfied in his choice for this tryst, he turned around to face you again and backed you up into the door, colliding his lips to yours in a searing kiss. Your arms snaked around his neck, pulling him even closer. His hands flexed and kneaded your hips through the velvet fabric of your dress; his fingertips slowly bunching the material higher and higher until they met the skin underneath. He ran his hands along your skin, stopping abruptly when he felt the lacy material of your thong. He mapped out the lace blindly, tracing the woven pattern while pulling away from your lips to pant harshly against your face. 

“You were really walking around that party wearing these?”

“...you should see my bra…”

The only light in the greenhouse was from the waxing gibbous moon in the sky, streaming its moonbeams through the glass windows. But even with the limited light, you could see Josh’s eyes darken even more at your words. He couldn’t take it anymore, and reached down to firmly grip the back of your thighs and lifted you off the ground, wrapping your legs around his waist and he backed up and carefully set you back down on the cleared off table. His lips moved to your neck now, sucking bruises onto your skin, not giving a shit about the marks he left behind. You were his, goddamnit. Now that you were on the surface of the table, he reached back under your dress to tug your thong down your legs. He backed up just enough to slip it off your ankles and past your heels, but he didn’t let it fall to the floor, he looped it around his fingers to hold in front of his face to get a better look at it in the moonlight. It was fucking…blue. You wore dark blue lingerie tonight? Your mission to torture him was succeeding, and another growl grumbled in his chest. Your words from earlier echoed in his head, and after shoving your thong in his pocket, he quickly started tugging your dress off of you. Lifting your dress over your head, his eyes raked down your body. The height of the table gave him a perfect, eye level view of your breasts. The lace that perfectly cupped your flesh matched the thong in his pocket, and he had to lean against his hands on the edge of the table to compose himself. The wood dug into his skin a thought occurred to him, and he immediately ripped his jacket off and swung it around, laying it down behind you, so you wouldn’t have to feel the cold table against your skin. He looked up at you, silently asking permission and when you nodded his hands landed on your breasts, squeezing them through the lace. 

Josh stood before you, wearing absolutely too much in his white turtleneck and slacks. It was incredibly unfair, and you needed to fix that. In your tangle of limbs you clawed at the back of his shirt to pull it off of him. He got the hint and flung it over his head, letting it land on top of your dress beside you. Now it was your turn to gawk at him. This was the most you had ever seen of Josh at this point, and the sight of his perfectly unmarred skin in the moonlight had you drooling. Your hands itched to squeeze his shoulders and dig your nails into his skin. In a flurry, your bra quickly came off, nipples hardening in the chilly air. His mouth immediately closed around one of them, causing you to throw your head back and a reedy sigh escaped your lips. 

As much as you loved the attention he was giving you, you needed more. You needed him. Now. 

“Josh…please…,” you whined. 

He nodded and moaned against your chest, before popping off and returning to your mouth. As his lips devoured yours he reached down to undo his belt and slacks, the metal clanking against the side of the table. He pushed his pants down to his knees and brought one hand to his cock, squeezing it and giving himself a few pumps. You pulled away from his mouth just enough to look down at it, and a shiver of anticipation ran through you. Reaching down, you pushed his hand away and wrapped your fingers around him. 

“Fuck, baby…” rattled out of his mouth. Spurred on, you started to pump him yourself, let your thumb catch the drop of precum resting at the tip, smearing it around the head. His hand shook as he closed it around yours, stopping your movements. “Keep doing that and this will be over embarrassingly fast.” You giggled and moved your arms to rest on his shoulders, giving him a minute to compose himself. 

Finally, he stepped forward, closing the gap between you. He took his cock in his hand once again, dragging it up and down through your slit. You were so fucking wet. He looked at you again, silently asking-

“Josh you don’t do something I’m going to be the one leaving this time and never forgiving you.” 

With that he surged forward, filling you in one fluid motion, causing the both of you to moan into each other's mouths. Your hearts hammering in your chests. He didn’t waste no time before he reared back and filled you again, his teeth sinking into your shoulder as he bottomed out. As much as he wanted to, there wasn’t time to take this slow, and frankly after the last month there was too much tension built up between you to even fathom another pace. He leaned you back down onto his jacket, the satin lining felt cool and soft against your skin, and he hovered over you as best he could given the height of the table. 

Your legs instantly wrapped around his waist, locking your ankles right above his ass. As you promised yourself earlier, your nails dug into the soft flesh of his shoulders, and he hissed in your ear in response. Slowly you dragged your fingertips down his back as he pumped into you, the angle making his pelvis grind against your clit exactly the way you needed it. 

It was becoming apparent that the table wasn’t built for strenuous activities, and it started to creek and shift underneath you. Josh didn’t pay it any mind, he was too focused on peppering kisses all along your face and neck, not wanting to leave your skin for a second. He couldn’t get enough of you, and the fact that he was finally having you, was sinking in. He didn’t believe in love at first sight, but that first time he saw you while you took your tour around the office while he was at the supply closet? It had to be as close as one could get. He nearly dropped an entire stack of printer paper when you walked by and your perfume invaded his senses, causing him to look up to see where it was coming from. The sheer luck that you got assigned to the cubicle next to his, and how he pretended to be busy while you started sorting your things. He observed you for several minutes before making his presence known, in the least creepy way possible. You were just…adorable…in how you were organizing your desk, and how you muttered to yourself as you picked things out of the box.

 The crush he developed that day was strong from the beginning, and now? Now he had you completely. His skin was slapping against yours. Your fingers were tangled in his hair, tugging at the roots. Your thighs were squeezing his hips as he hiked one of them higher on his side, allowing him to bury himself deeper inside you. 

“You’re so fucking perfect…god, Blue…fuck…,” he rambled against your mouth, unable to hold back his words. 

You whimpered up at him, “you feel so good.”

“Yeah? Who's making you feel this good?” He lifted his head just enough to look you in the eyes. 

“...you…”

Not satisfied with your answer, he reared back and slammed back into you, harder than before, “no, who is making you feel this good?”

Oh, you knew what he wanted, but you weren’t going to give it to him this easily. Instead you just stroked his cheeks with your thumbs, smiling up at him. 

You wanted to be a brat, he thought, two could play at that game. He instantly pulled out of you, fighting every instinct in his body to stay inside. You whimpered at the sudden loss, your brows furrowing. 

“I’m going to ask you again…” 

For a split second you hated him. You had been so fucking close, and he literally ripped it away from you. Too desperate to keep playing you nearly shouted, “JOSH, you, Josh…you’re making me feel this good…” 

A smirk appeared on his face before he slammed back into you, “mmm…good girl.” 

This side of Josh was surprising you, but you loved it. You had never really taken him for a dominating type, but you couldn’t wait to see more of it in the future. But before you could think about that, your high came hurtling back to you. He reached between you, going straight for your clit and started swirling his fingers around it. You were so wet that his fingertips glided easily in figure-8 motions against the hard nub, causing you to writhe beneath him. His name tumbled from your lips repeatedly as you felt yourself climbing higher and higher. The combination of his fingers and the ridges of his cock dragging against your walls was too much, and you couldn’t hold back anymore. With a shout, you shook underneath him as you came. He continued to pump into you, chasing his own high and prolonging yours with his nimble fingers. You were squeezing him so hard as you rode out your high, and he only had about three thrusts left in him before he emptied himself inside you. His vision nearly went white as he came, and your actual first name shuddered from his mouth. 

Neither of you moved for several moments, but the feeling of his release slowly leaking out and around his cock was undeniable. You started to panic at how you were going to clean up, until Josh reached next to your shoulder where the inside pocket of his jacket was. Silently he fished out a white handkerchief. You caught a glimpse of the initials, JMK, stitched in gold thread in the corner before it disappeared between you two and he pulled out, making quick work to clean you up. When he was satisfied, he stood up fully to pull his slacks back up around his waist, and reached over for your bra, handing it back to you. You slowly sat up, your muscles still feeling like jelly. The two of you were quiet as you redressed yourselves, and you remembered he had your thong in his pocket. 

Holding your hand out, you asked, “can I have them back now?” 

Josh smirked again as he put his jacket back on, “no…I’m keeping those.” 

Your eyes widened as you stared at him, “Josh!” 

He took your hand and started to lead you to the door, “you can have them back when we get to my place…” 

Stopping dead in your tracks you say, “a little presumptuous don’t you think?” Josh’s eyes widened and he realized how that sounded, and he opened his mouth to apologize before you continued, “who said we were going to your place instead of mine?” You laughed at how his shoulders visibly relaxed at your words, and caught up with him at the door. 

“You really are a wicked little thing…,” he mumbled as you ventured back out into the cold. 

As you made it to Josh’s car, you thought you had done a good job at not being seen by anyone, but unbeknownst to the two of you, Stacy and Brad were standing on that same deck from earlier. They watched your very freshly-fucked selves climb into the Jeep before taking off.

A week or so later, on Christmas Eve-Eve, you were greeted to a present sitting on your desk. It was a decent sized box covered in blue wrapping paper, matching blue bow on top. 

“Merry Christmas, Blue,” your boyfriends voice sounded behind you. You looked over your shoulder at him, dropping your bag on your chair. “Go on…it’ll fit on your desk.” 

Skeptically you turned and ripped the wrapping paper off the box, the first thing you saw was the red LEGO square in the corner. Confused, you peeled off the rest of the paper to reveal your present. It was the greenhouse LEGO set. 

“You little shit.” 

FIN

Tag List:  @dannyandthekiszkas , @gretasmokerising , @sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine , @wideminded-dreamer , @runwayblues , @wildbluesorbit , @llightmyllovee , @rhythm-of-space , @sacredthefran , @writingcold , @alwaysonthemend , @wetkleenex-gvf , @josh-iamyour-mama , @lightsofthe-living-gvf , @gvfcinema , @sacredthethreadgvf , @losfacedevil , @jakekiszkasbuttsweat , @shutupdevvie , @hearts-hunger , @gretavanfleetposts , @ascendingtostardust , @mackalah , @andromeda-raine-gvf , @jake-kiszkas-smirk , @gracev0609 , @sacredjake , @earthlysorrows , @gvfpal , @myownparadise96 , @itsafullmoon , @gvfmelbourne , @twistedmelodies , @stardustvanfleet ,

[r4vn]

–LATE BLOSSOM

farleıgh x reader 【1/2?..3?】

w.c: 2,183

disclaimers: sensual tension, dilf!farleigh, secretary!reader, beginning of the good stuff be patient please!, oliver is a good person (*gasp*), companyAU!, cutesy, intro, pls dont bored im cooking guys *_*

—synopsis: you went to work expecting a normal day, when suddenly your boss tells you that you have been moved under new management in a new building. you now work right under the man who owns the company, and nearly a year in, he is still full of surprises.

a/n: hello! i was inspired by @girlboybug to write a fic on dilf!farleigh. this is the beginning but i hope you stay with me till the end! please be patient with me my summer has been (fortunately) real busy! ty so much for the support!

—part 2: coming soon.

「divider by @/ cafekitsune」

you sort of always considered that you got a late start in life. never in academics and such, but in adulthood. you had your first kiss way later than everyone else, at 18. you got your driver license late at 20, due to your fear of driving, and you got your first flat around 22 years of age. you were now 26 and living a very, well, uneventful life. you worked at a real estate corporation for the last 3 years of your life. you worked, sometimes went to the gym afterwards, and went home.

everyone you knew were beginning their lives, getting married, having kids, or simply just moving in with their significant others. you lived in a shared apartment, with no kids, and certainly no lover. your last known boyfriend was back when you were 20. the guy was a major narcissist, who nearly liked to kiss himself in the mirror and never really treated you well. it lasted for about 6 months before you were done with him.

you would occasionally go out with your roommate, oliver. whenever the two of you had the evening off. oliver is relatively a nice guy, who had a small wild side. whenever the two of you would go out he would always outdrink you and you never could catch up with his tolerance. you loved challenging him even if you could never beat him. other than hanging out with oliver, work was practically your life.

who you worked for, was a little more interesting. about six months ago, you switched buildings under different management. it was rather very abrupt in the day. you walked into your job and sat down at your desk outside your boss's room before your then boss asked you why you were here. you were confused, before she explained that you were moved under a different building and why. that morning you quickly drove to your new workplace and practically ran through the cubicles. you finally made it to the elevator and press floor 60, the top floor, and ran down the hall in your black mary janes and short pencil skirt.

you cursed to yourself for wearing such a skirt on this day. why did this have to happen to you of all people? a sudden job switch was not on the list this morning. you finally arrived at office room 636 quickly checked the time. you were exactly 5 minutes early.

oh thank god. i can breathe..

you began to slow your breathing. suddenly, you noticed how this particular office door was auburn brown instead of black like all the other doors. your brows narrowed before finding the nameplate on the door.

" farleigh start

saltburn estates, CEO "

you gulped, darting your head to each end of the ironically empty hallway. you've only worked under general managers and supervisors, never a CEO. why were you even hired for this job? your hand grabbed the door and you pushed it open, knocking simultaneously. you wore a mostly confident smile as you finally faced your new boss.

"good morning, sir." you greeted. the male brunette looked up from his laptop and his brows immediately furrowed.

"who're you?" he asked, clearly perplexed.

"i'm– [y/n, l/n] ..your new secretary. i uh ..i was moved from a different building to fill your last one's spot after she left." you explained. farleigh subtly looked you up and down that morning before smiling gently at you.

"well hello [y/n], wonderful to meet you." your cheeks warmed, nodding at him. he seemed charming for sure.

"same to you." you looked down at your shoes, smiling to yourself. you thought he was pretty, gorgeous even. his curls were tight and defined. he had shiniest brown eyes with the longest lashes and god, his cheekbones fit him so well. the lined-up scruffiness that occupied his jaw and chin made him more intimidating. not in a bad way, but more of a mysterious and intriguing one. he wore his black on black suit very well. you dont think you've seen a more handsome man in your life.

"you like croissants?" he suddenly asked. you were taken back at the sudden random question but immediately nodded. he snapped, and pointed a finger gun at you, smiling.

"fantastic, can you grab us some croissants from the cafe block down? doesn't matter what kind you get. use the company card." you nodded and shuffled your way to the door to exit his office. you couldn't help but smile, getting a feeling that this job may be more eventful than your last.

fast forward 9 months, life ironically got just a little brighter after switching job positions. working for farleigh was the same work, essentially but somehow it felt different. you were looking forward to working nearly every shift now. farleigh's various food requests left you on the craziest goose chases around the city. from getting thai food on the west side of london to vietnamese or very specific macarons on the east.

what made these adventures more fun was due to farleigh texting you throughout your walks or drives through the city. he wanted your number to make sure you updated him on your way there, and for your safety. you never texted him outside of work, you were too afraid he would turn you down in a way, and that would be super embarrassing.

"and so you saw two pigeons break dancing on the sidewalk?" farleigh asked with a grin. you laughed, nodding in response to his question. you placed the 16-count box of assorted macarons on mr.start's desk, smiling.

"well, they sure were not playing rock-paper-scissors. so i went with the realistic decision that they were break-dancing." you grinned. a chuckle slipped past farleighs lips, causing your chest to feel warmer.

"right, [y/n]. because pigeons fighting wasn't another good answer." the brunette playfully deadpanned before laughing one last time. he eagerly opened the box of fresh macarons, grabbing a coffee flavored one. he took a bite and immediately closed his eyes in contentment. you made a mental note he always saved most of the coffee macarons for last. whether it be 2 or 6 in the 16-count, he made sure he ate one first and another last.

"talk to me about today, [y/n]." farleigh mentions. you snap out of your mental folder on your boss and open your laptop up for today's schedule.

"you have a 10:30am call with finance, a 12:00pm call with crisis management, a 2:00pm meeting with advertisement, and a 4:00pm team meeting with floor supervisors." farleigh grabs another macaron, raspberry flavored while listening.

"hmm ..let's reschedule my 2:00pm with the advertisement team tomorrow, that way i won't be completely bored with my one meeting tomorrow with janet." he suggested. janet was the chief operating officer, the COO.

"yes sir." you nod and began rescheduling the preferred meeting. he thanked you, eating the rest of the macaron in his hand. your eyes then glanced over, watching as his thumb wiped the corner of his mouth. he licked his lips, causing you to immediately look away. you felt a little flustered in the face, because anything that man did was attractive to you.

"i think for the brunch meeting on friday i move it to monday ..and ...so i can.." you vaguely listened to farleigh ramble. your boss always rambled out of anxiousness yet he did everything so calmly and smoothly. how he did it was so attractive to you. he wasn't a boy with a high position, but a man with a well-deserving job. the way he carried himself simply lured you in. you blinked away your thoughts of your boss and cleared your throat.

"siiir," you start with a singy-songy tone. "you have 10 minutes to speak to finance. floor 59." you add, chuckling as farleigh caught himself rambling. he pursed his lips together trying to both shut up and not smile. he held up his index finger to signal you to give him a a moment and then rigorously typed away at his computer. a moment passed, and the tall male slowly began standing up out of his chair as he typed.

"sir.." you press on, giggling. he playfully hushed you, finally stopped typing and closed the laptop. farleigh grabbed his blazer off the back of his chair to exit.

being mr.start's secretary has allowed you to learn to relax at work. maybe it's because you never knew the word around your last job, but farleigh would catch you stressing out before telling you to take a breather. he wasn't the most extroverted person you knew but the minimal talking you two did, you cherished. you recapped your day in your mind every evening before bed. if you didn't know any better, you'd say he was your work crush. but of course, you'd never admit that even to yourself. the two of you walk out the office together, side by side.

°°°

it was early evening and many employees were wrapping up their shift. it was a rather smooth day of talking business and building contracts.

"its getting late in the day, you sure you want to stay until i leave?" farleigh questioned, groaning as he sat back down in his own personal office chair. he was drained from speaking to several people today, but glad he could enjoy another few macarons now.

"why not? i don't have anything better to do." you shrugged and laughed sheepishly. farleigh had raised a brow, eating a vanilla macaron.

"you don't go out?" you open your mouth to answer farleighs question and close it, thinking of a way to explain your social status. there was nothing to fully elaborate on really but you really didn't want to look like a loner to mr.start.

"well," you began. "i go out with my roommate occasionally, but other than that my schedule consists of work, the gym, and home." farleigh hums in response. he grabbed another coffee macaron and held it up towards you, offering it. you got up and happily accepted the sweet pastry from the mams slender digits.

"i understand, i'd like to say i'm the same way. but this weekend i am going to a business event. it's not the greece or new zealand but atleast im out of this damned building." the two of you share a laugh at his words. his phone digs, and his brown eyes divert to the notification appearing on his phone.

"oh nonono.." you hear your boss mumble, making you perk up.

"whats wrong, sir?" you ask. he sighed loudly and flipped his phone over, rubbing his scruffy jaw with his hand.

"i uh– my babysitter just canceled on me the day of the business event." babysitter? you tilt your head, trying to keep your shock suppressed but slowly fail.

"you have a child?" you ask, clearly bewildered while farleigh looked up at you chuckling. his pearly whites nearly mesmerized you.

"yes, [y/n] i have a child. a son." you swallow thickly at his words. your mind couldn't help but wander. how have you worked for the ceo of one of england's biggest real estate companies for nearly a year now and never knew he had a son?

"i didn't know that. what's his name if i may ask?" you continued. you didn't want to pry, but this was the type of news that needed questions to be asked. it made you wonder if farleigh was married now.

"his name benjamin. i didn't expect you to know that i have a son. i keep my personal life very separate from work. behind the scenes as such." farleigh explains, picking up his phone to respond to the text.

"and your babysitter just canceled?" you repeat, trying to quickly piece together an image of farleigh with a miniature version of him.

"yes, unfortunately. it's so last minute considering it is thursday and the event is saturday." farleigh sets his phone back down and opens just computer again, sighing. a mildly comfortable silence laid over the room, yet you were still tense. your mind gears kept generating the same idea and you kept silently denying it until–

"i could babysit for you." you blurted out. farleighs fingers stopped typing at the keys and he looked your way. he raised a brow with inquisitiveness, scanning your face to see if you were serious. you were.

"you, would babysit my son?" he asks. you cleared your throat awkwardly, nodding.

"w-why not? i mean– i am your secretary, the closest person to you in his building." farleigh tried his damndest to keep his smile to a minimum as he gazed at you and you watched at the corners of his lips twitched. "be at my place at 1:30pm. i'll send my address the morning of."

you finally smiled, nodding before going back to your work on your laptop till the end of your shift. admittedly, you were excited to meet benjamin, and a little more excited to see mr.start's home.

© r4vn ²⁰²⁴, do not repost my work

stay tuned! ♡

[romanoffsbish]

I Can’t Lose You

Natasha Romanoff x F!R

Request | Prompts

Warnings: Suspected/Mentions of Cheating

Smut: Daddy (N), Fingering/Oral (R), Thigh Riding (N)

A discontented groan fell from your lips as soon as you passed over the threshold of your house. Every muscle in your body currently ached after that lengthy plane ride home from your work trip to California. The golden state was beautiful, but you couldn't exactly enjoy the views while stuck in a temporary cubicle.

On the last day the company orchestrated a barbecue at the beach, but you couldn't find joy in the scenery without your girlfriend there. Instead you traipsed around in her hoodie, and sporadically picked fruit from the tables. The team played games, but you just mindlessly watched waves cascading against the shore.

——

While watching the sun set behind the horizon that night you saw a vision of Natasha laid out on a blanket in her cherry red bikini. She lazily smirked up at you when she caught you staring, and for the first time since you left her back in New York you genuinely smiled.

Your duffle naturally slipped from your body, you instinctively rolled your shoulders, and cringed at the crackling. When it finally hit the ground it was as if a metaphorical weight was lifted off your shoulders with the physical.

The only things on your mind currently were how you desperately needed a hot shower, and how being in your lovers strong arms could heal the rest of your jilted soul. Proof found as with every step you took you felt your mood lighten, catching whiffs of Natasha's cologne making you hopeful that she was home too.

Hope is often futile though, and that happiness you felt moments ago melded into despair as the closer you got to your room suggestive noises could be heard through the walls. You took a deep breath, heart hopeful that she was having some alone time, but as you pushed the door open you were met with a damning scene.

Natasha, the absolute love of your life, was straddling a mystery man, and her soft pants only gave way to her being guilty in your mind. Your entire world was crumbling fast, your labored breathing alerted your lover to your presence, and she turned to you in horror.

It was clear to her you couldn't see him, which was unfortunate because had you been able to you might've saved yourself a bit of heartbreak. Because just beyond Natasha's back that was turned to you laid an unconscious bearded man with a knife pressed against his jugular.

Natasha hadn't been the most forthcoming when the two of you'd started dating, and you were seemingly oblivious to her status as a former KGB assassin turned superhero. It's not that she never planned to tell you all about her sorted past, because of course she did, it was just for a short time she enjoyed being just Natasha Romanoff, cuddle extraordinaire, the big spoon to your little; your Tasha boo bear.

You completely melted her beyond recognition.

With you around it was as if the crippling weight on her shoulders merely vanished. Neither of you had found that in another before, so this cataclysmic moment would be ultra devastating if it was leading to ruin.

Everything with you was picture perfect, you were a kind, beautiful, down to earth young soul, and she loved the balance you brought to her otherwise chaotic life. Two years in and she'd still yet to tell you her public identity, and in this exact moment she was regretting that.

"Y/N! Wait!" Natasha was desperate, and quite frankly she hadn't the time for a fight right now, not with the Hydra man she's knocked unconscious still out cold in your shared bed. The same one that you unfortunately found her straddling. "It's not what it looks like detka."

"Yeah, I know," you scoffed bitterly while shoving whatever you could into your duffel bag, "It never fucking is with you cheaters."

"I'm not cheating," her tone was one of clear devastation, as if she had a right to that when you had just walked in on her in bed with another. "Please, just give me a chance to explain," she pleaded while following you around the room, she tried to grab you but you quickly shook her off with a violent body jerk.

Then you turned around with an accusing glare that terrified her, "This was never real, was it?" Natasha stumbled slightly at your words, you had every right in this moment to say such a thing but it hurt her nonetheless to see you believe that. "No! It was—it is real!"

You tried to maintain a steely composure, not wanting her to know just how hurt you were, but you could hardly keep it all in the longer you stood before her, you felt exposed, and her heart completely shattered when she heard your harsh, misconstrued conclusion come through a shaky voice. "I was just a warm body for those cold winter nights..."

"No, it wasn't like that, I would never do..." Natasha heard a grunt from your room, she looked back in annoyance before her gaze returned to you as the door abruptly opened, all of her windows were closing in on her here. "Just wait at Lena's, please detka, I'll explain."

You were about to negate her request as you turned to face her, but you could see a clear desperation in her eyes that didn't exactly fit the cheaters narrative. There was obvious guilt, but you could tell it somehow went deeper, so you offered her a nod before promptly leaving.

As soon as you disappeared the reformed assassins genuinely broken expression faded into one of purely terrifying stoicism, she warned her sister of your arrival, then she returned to your room with a devilish smirk. This man was going to wish he was never born for ever trying to come after you, she'd see to it.

—

Once you arrived to the blonde's it didn't shock you much to see her waiting on the stairs of her farmhouse with a bottle of vodka, and a smirk.

"I heard my sister is an idiot," Yelena took a massive swig just before tipping it in your direction. You threw it back and grimaced, body trembling slightly at the bitter taste, "Yeah, she's an even bigger one than you."

"Ha-ha, so funny Y/N Y/L/N," Yelena mocked, her finger joining her as she flipped you off.

"Point me to the guest room or I'll leave and you can face your sisters wrath instead."

Yelena rolled her eyes exaggeratedly, but did exactly as you said as she escorted you there. Then as soon as the door shut your steeled façade crumbled and you fell asleep in tears.

—

Natasha raced to her sister's house within an hour of when you'd left in a rush. She handled the Hydra agent with ease, then ensured you'd never be on their roster again by putting a bullet straight through their leaders forehead.

Nothing had ever meant more to the redhead than you, so to think using you as a bartering chip would result in anything less than their blood shed left the redhead truly confused. They had to know she was just the perfect amount of unhinged to ensure your safety.

So once Natasha got to her sisters land she burst through her doors appearing frantic. "Sestra, chill down." Yelena gestured down the hall with her gun before putting it down. "She's beauty resting, trust me, she really needs it."

Natasha frowned as she realized just how tired you probably are, you'd only just returned from a week long business trip when you stumbled into your house to find her in that horribly compromising position. With a quiet step she made her way to you, stopping by the side of the bed so she could just admire you sleeping in case this would be her final time doing so.

"I love you Y/N," Natasha whispered the words that were tattooed on her fragile heart, and for a blissful moment she pretended like it was all alright as you remained motionless in the bed, but then you were glaring up at her, and she was reminded of the situation.

"Why do people only say that to me when they've wronged me?" You blinked away the grogginess as you moved to sit up and face the woman, putting a heartbreaking bit of distance neither of you were familiar with between your bodies as you shuffled into the headboard, and she remained on the edge.

"Am I not deserving of the guiltless love?" You smiled with a bitter sense of longing, hands flailing about as if that somehow strengthened your sentiments. "Like the ones I see in fairytales, where they get swept away smiling," you frowned now as a tear suddenly cascaded down your cheek, "and not where I curl up to weep in my bed for another damn night."

A beat of tense silence fell over you two as the redhead tried not to cry. Saying I love you (aloud) to you for the first time was meant to be a joyous thing, but she somehow mussed it all up and was left to say it in the hopes that it would be enough to stop you from leaving her. This whole situation was all her fault, so to make it all about her heartache now would only be selfish, and so with all her might she kept her composure as she candidly admitted her truth, "I'm not exactly who I said I was Y/N."

You scoffed humorlessly, "That's for sure."

"No, please, I know you're mad," she began to trip over her words, and for some reason this truly concerned you, because for as long as you'd known her Natasha had always been an eloquent speaker, even in the most stressful of times she got the job done. "Just please, let me explain, it'll make sense if you only listen."

"Okay," you breathed, "Make it make sense."

Natasha nodded and swallowed thickly, then she set her shaking hands under her thighs to lessen their distracting movements, normally you'd hold them, but she couldn't ask you to, not yet at least. With much struggle she lifted her gaze up from her lap to look into your eyes. It momentarily took her breath away, seeing that you were already trying to forgive her, she felt undeserving of your never ending love.

She decided to start slow. "I'm an Avenger."

You chuckled humorlessly, "Yeah, I know that."

Natasha looked to you rather dumbfounded, "You know?" You nodded, "How could I not?"

"Th-then you know about my past?" Your nod was more hesitant this time, telling her you didn't know much beyond her current title, so, in a moment of bravery she divulged to you what she fears would be enough to send you running, "I have many vindictive enemies..."

Your lips pursed, you thought her words over for the briefest of seconds before the lightbulb went off and you chuckled, "Thank God! That guy was so ugly I worried I might be as well."

"Detka what?" Natasha shook her head, she was experiencing emotional whiplash here.

"You're saying that guy in our bed was some sort of rogue agent right?" Natasha nodded frantically, then took the initiative to scoot closer to you when your defensive stance fell.

"I-I need to tell you about my past Y/N, it's unfair to have left you in the dark for this long. If you got home before me, I might've lost you, and I can't imagine who I'd become if I did."

Natasha's anxiety halved as soon as you intertwined your hand with hers, "You would have been the person to avenge my death, and then with the help of family you'd move on."

"No!" Natasha's teary eyes held a sternness that her saddened voice currently couldn't, "I'd never move on, you're my everything detka."

"Natty, death comes for us all, you have to promise me you'll at least try." She shook her head, and sighed, "I barely let you into my heart detka, you were a once in a lifetime find, and when that horrid day comes my heart will die with you—there's no after you my love."

You smiled sadly, tightening your hold on her hand, "I feel the same way Nat, when I thought you were cheating my whole heart shattered."

"I'd never cheat Y/N," she fiercely reassured, "It serves no purpose when all I want is you."

"I know that now Natty, I jumped the gun instead of remaining rational. I should've realized it was an enemy of sorts."

"No," she shook her head, "You were tired, and in the end I should've told you far sooner about who I was; I'm not exactly a picturesque hero."

"Hey, don't say that." You frowned as you saw the guilt swimming behind her eyes, you knew it ran far deeper than today's instance, but you didn't like her feeling forced to come forward with her darkest secrets. Everyone had a past, and you couldn't begin to imagine hers. "You're an inspiration to millions baby, me included."

"The people who came after you today..."

"Hey, you don't have to do that Nat, I already refused to read the articles when they released them." You softly kissed the skin of her palm, "I knew what I signed up for with you, I always did, and I understood you weren't ready to share back then, and I still understand now that your past is yours alone to hold onto."

"But what if?"

You shocked her into silence when you kissed her, "We can't live in what if's, only the now."

Natasha smiled insecurely. "For today, okay." She kissed your cheek, then her face softened. "I still need to keep you safe," she reaffirmed, "I want to move you closer to Yelena or Clint."

For a moment you froze as she spoke her thoughts aloud, you wanted to fight her on this, to tell her you'd been fine thus far, but you also knew this was likely the safest bet. "Okay."

"Really?"

You snorted, "I'd rather be your pretty princess in a castle than your ugly unwanted girlfriend."

"Don't ever think such things again detka," she cradled your face in her hands, eyes shining with unshed tears, "Your beauty's abundant, truly you're the most spectacular person I've ever had the fortune of knowing." Natasha genuinely smiled at you while marveling at your aforementioned beauty, "There's nobody else I'd ever love like this."

You moved to straddle her lap in an instant. "Kiss me, please," your words were beyond breathless, eyes growing darker by the second. Natasha slowly leaned forward, leading you to believe she'd give you what you wanted but she brushed passed your lips to rasp into your ear, "Is that all you want baby, is for me to kiss you?" You shook your head, "N-no, I also want you to fuck me senseless, but a kiss sounded far more romantic."

Natasha chuckled, "You're adorable detka, but more importantly, your wish is my command."

The redhead disposed of both of your clothing in record time, articles of all sorts were now strewn all over the room without much care. Her lips fleetingly pressed to yours before they traveled all over your body, leaving your nerves to almost overcompensate and for your skin to feel as if it was permanently set on fire.

"I need you daddy, please..."

"Shh, daddy's going to take care of you detka," Natasha's fingers slid through your sensitive folds, she pinched your clit and marveled in the way your body convulsed due to the sensation.

"So responsive," she mused as you gasped at the intrusion of her finger, your hips began to buck out of time with her lackadaisical thrusts. "Stay still, or I'll have you warming daddy's cock all night long." Your mind was decently fuzzy, but you still weren't dumb enough to fall for such scams so you stilled.

"That's a good girl." Natasha beamed, her lips kissed yours again as her pace picked up, it was a heady sort of make out as you were no sooner reduced to a panting mess the longer her fingers worked your dripping cunt over.

Normally she’d tease you, keep you teetering on the edge for hours until you just couldn’t handle it anymore, but you were clearly tired, and she was eager to see you come undone, and beyond grateful for your forgiveness so she didn’t tease. With every few thrusts she curled her fingers, dragging her calloused tips down your velvet walls as she slowly pulled out, to then have you cry out as she slammed back in.

“Daddy please,” your back arched and you clung to her biceps with a bruising grip. Natasha leaned down to peck your lips, “It’s gonna be okay detka, you’re being so good.”

Her teeth nibbled at your jaw and you mewled, your pornographic noises spurred her on and she began to kiss down your body in quick succession, a bite left here and there to make your throat sore as your moans kept going.

“Let go for me kotenok,” Natasha rasped against the sensitive skin over your pelvis, a shiver ran down your spine as anticipation seeped into your every bone. “Make a mess of my face,” she commanded, soft lips wrapping around your clit as she sucked rather harshly.

“Oh fuck!” Your body jerked off the bed as the coil in your abdomen suddenly unraveled. Natasha swirled her tongue around your bundle as she unlatched her lips, then she slid down your slit on a mission before replacing her nimble fingers with her hot tongue.

Natasha continued to fuck you into another mind numbing high, her slicked fingers slid into your mouth to soothe you with your essence as she greedily drank it from the source, you were pleasantly addicting.

When your quivering legs came to an abrupt stop, and your mewling died off she pulled away with a harsh inhale and drooping eyes. If you were awake you’d probably cum again just at the sight of her, with her reddened cheeks from the voluntary oxygen deprivation and with your slick dripping from her chin onto the swell of her breasts. Natasha did, she rutted into your thigh a few times desperately while staring at your peaceful face, and in less than a minute she relieved the last of her tension.

The redhead made her way back up your body once she came down, she kissed your lips tenderly, "Everything I do is for you—my beloved." She smiled in pure adoration at your fucked out state as she pulled away from you, your swollen lips prettily parted, with your spent body slumped into the firm mattress.

Your soft snores slowly filled the space, and Natasha relished hearing them, she never thought such a fear could exist, but it did. Your lover couldn't help but to finally let hot tears run down her cheeks as everything sunk in.

You just looked so beautiful, you always did, but this time you were somehow more so.

You were still hers, and her heart couldn’t be more fulfilled knowing that. That you weren’t afraid of her demons, no, you were only here to love her in spite of them, and with you by her side the future for once looked bright for her.

Natasha slid out of the room in a robe she found in the bathroom, she planned to collect snacks for when you inevitably awaken hungry, and as she entered the unfamiliar kitchen her eyes fell to the note on the fridge, and she finally remembered exactly where she was.

"I WENT TO KATE'S—Burn the entire room!"

——

3,296 Words

🩵 Kaitlyn 😏

[dilf-din]

Hand Under my Sweatshirt, Baby Kiss it Better

Poe Dameron x f!reader | part two to Emergency Contact (college friends/modern au)

WC: 4650

Warnings: friends to lovers, brief negative self image talk, alcohol mention

A/N: this is honestly one of my favorite mini series I’ve ever written. Poe is so fun to write, and I hope you love him as much as I do 🫶🏼

It had been weeks since you woke up beside Poe with blurry vision and a quickening heartbeat. Nothing happened outside of the tender gaze you caught him casting your way in the gloomy winter light.

“You still snore.”

“Shut up,” you retorted, slinging a small pillow across your chest at him.

The two of you shared a late breakfast of cold pizza followed by an awkward long goodbye before he walked out of your apartment, leaving you feeling like you were once again caught in the tailspin of him. You sat on your couch feeling stunned by the events of the last twelve hours while August hopped on the arm next to you. Your fingers absentmindedly ran through the fur between his ears while you tried to remember if you said anything embarrassing the night before.

It was Poe, you reminded yourself, there is no embarrassment with him. He’s the warmest person you’ve ever known. No one can bring a room together like him. Poe was the guy in the group who always made eye contact to make sure you knew someone was listening. He opened the door at every gathering, even if he wasn’t the host, and led people to beer, the bathroom, the coat rack, their friends. You had always been proud to call yourself his friend. He had helped you fake reference calls for jobs, sweet talk professors, and get out of at least a dozen bad first dates. He would show up with the a story so improbable, you would roll your eyes if it was falling from anyone else’s lips, but he sold it every time, dragging you back to the pavement and cackling as you called him on his bullshit.

“Hey, did I deliver or did I deliver, Ace?” he would grin.

“You’re an idiot. I owe you one,” you would shake your head in disbelief.

“It’s on the house,” he would beam, leaning off the curb to hail a nearby cab.

The sound of your coworker calling your name brought you back to reality.

“Sorry, what?” you asked, pulling your glasses from your face and pinching the bridge of your nose to relieve the slight headache that had accumulated from staring at a screen all morning.

“I said, your lunch date is here,” she said in a sing songy voice.

“Lunch date? What lunch date?” you asked, scanning over the tops of the rows of cubicles to see Poe’s mess of curls standing near the neon sign at the entrance.

“Kate!” you hissed, dropping your head down, “That’s’ him,” you mouthed.

Her eyes went wide.

“The guy from the other night? The guy from college?” she whispered.

“Yes,” you hissed out as you frantically checked your reflection in your phone’s front facing mirror. You were not dressed for an outing today, wearing a years old sweater over a shirt with a stain that you had tucked into a pencil skirt. The only saving grace was the new boots you had worn that made your legs look amazing.

“Tell him I’m grabbing my stuff,” you said to her as you bent down to fish your purse out from under your desk, promptly hitting your head in the process.

“Mother fu-“

“Is today a bad day, Ace?” Poe’s voice called from much closer than you expected him.

Heat flushed into your face as you tried to delicately pull yourself out from under your desk without snagging your hair or a loose thread on anything.

“No, sorry, I just. I just wasn’t expecting this,” you stammered.

“No, I should’ve called first,” he said, suddenly feeling awkward himself. “I was just literally in the neighborhood. I had a meeting four floors up this morning. Do you have time for lunch?”

“Yeah! Yeah I was just about to stop. What did you have in mind?” you smiled.

“Let’s get sandwiches and go for a walk,” he smiled, offering his arm for you to pull yourself up. He held open your jacket for you to slip into, and handed you your purse once you had secured your buttons.

Poe looked dapper as always, dressed in a sleek pair of slacks with an orange button down tucked in under a black peacoat and houndstooth scarf. The late winter wind was doing God’s work to muss his thick curls and kiss his cheeks a lovely shade of red. You walked arm in arm with him, waiting for him to spark up a conversation, but he was oddly quiet, his brow furrowed as if he was preoccupied.

“Did things blow over with your roommate?” you asked casually. Your question seemed to draw him back to the present.

His eyes widened and brightened as he responded, “Oh yeah, we’re fine. Our lease is up next month anyway and I’ve got a place lined up pretty close to yours, actually,” he shared nonchalantly.

Hearing that he would be closer made your heartbeat quicken in an achingly embarrassing way. Suddenly, you felt like a teenager with a crush again.

“Oh. With roommates or alone?”

“It’ll be my first big boy apartment,” he smiled cheekily.

“We’ll have to throw you a housewarming,” you nudged his ribs with the elbow that was linked with his, “Get everyone together, some beer and take out, we’ll get you set up in no time.”

“That would be nice, Ace,” he smiled thoughtfully, cocking his head to one side, admiring your caring heart and the way the sun brought out the brightest flecks in your eyes.

The conversation flowed easily after that as you followed him into his favorite sandwich shop and then into the park across the street. It was mostly filled with people running alone on their lunch breaks, with headphones in and sweat glistening even in the chilly air, but there were a few pairs chatting on one of the walking trails.

By now, you had unlinked elbows so you could tear into the parchment paper wrapping the sandwiches you had picked out. Poe of course had paid for yours, sending you a wink as you rummaged through your bag for your wallet.

The first bite was heaven in your mouth. The sandwich gods shined down on you as you took in all the fresh baked bread and hand sliced meat and cheeses. A groan slipped out involuntarily, but you were too shocked to care.

“Right?” Poe asked through a mouthful, swallowing before continuing, “I can’t believe you’ve never been here before.”

“This might be my new go-to lunch spot,” you said, eagerly taking another bite.

Conversation was light as you both ate your lunches, taking care to move out of the way for joggers and bikers as you walked slowly around the track. Dappled sunlight kissed the ground where it could find it through the cover of the trees. A wind stirred the waters of the small pond while a family of ducks floated in the very center, like a painting in real life.

The two of you had just rounded the last corner of the track when Poe’s watch buzzed on his wrist. He checked it with a furrowed brow and sighed.

“I’ve gotta start making my way back, Ace.”

“Me too,” you agreed, checking the time on your phone.

“Teeth check,” he announced and you both flashed a wide grin at each other to make sure there was nothing stuck, a practice you had started in college after a cilantro incident.

“All clear,” you nodded.

“Perfect,” he said, warm brown eyes lingering on your features fondly.

You suddenly felt uncomfortable and cast your eyes to the ground, toeing at a pebble stuck in a crack.

You both spoke at the same time, chuckling, while you gestured for him to go first.

“Ace I can’t stop thinking about you,” he blurted out, “Please let me take you out sometime?”

A date with Poe Dameron? A cocktail of joy and insecurity brewed in the pit of your belly. You’ve always wished to be one of the girls on his arm, but that was just it. Poe had experience, he was charismatic and fun and spontaneous. Sure, you had dated here and there, but nothing ever stuck. In the back of your mind, you knew you had never really been able to fully give yourself to someone because they weren’t him.

“I don’t know,” you said hesitantly, “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

“I think it’s a great idea, maybe the best I’ve ever had. I’m just sorry it took me so long,” he said, stepping further into your space.

Poe drew in a deep breath before continuing, “Ace, call me crazy, say the word and I’ll drop it forever, but there’s something here. There always has been, and I think there always will be.”

You swallowed hard before casting your gaze up into his eyes, rich with sincerity and longing. The anxiety that this was all an elaborate joke dissipated when you saw the way he looked at you. Poe always saw you, even when you were gawky kids. He loved you steadfastly through flings and summers abroad and finals and midterms. And here, now, you could feel just how much he meant the things he was saying.

A lump in your throat formed and tears pricked at your eyes. You tried to hide it, but he saw the change in your demeanor, causing his own face to fall.

“Hey, talk to me,” he pulled you to the side of the path to give another runner space to pass and to allow you a little more privacy. His hands stayed cupping your elbows, a thumb rubbing the sharp edge sweetly through the thick fabric of your coat.

“What if we’re wrong? What if we can’t go back to the way things were?” you whispered bittersweetly, a single tear slipping down your cheek. You had lost him so many times before, watched him date and charm so many others. You weren’t sure your heart could handle it again if this ended poorly.

Poe shook his head adamantly, “Ace, I’ve never been so sure. Please give me a chance. Friday night. I’ll pick you up. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”

You nodded and he drew you into a hug, gentle hands rubbing right between your shoulder blades. The scent of him on the collar of his jacket smelled like home, and you nuzzled into his neck for a single, indulgent second.

His own eyes closed as he relished the familiar scent of your shampoo, pressing a kiss to the side of your head.

Poe hesitantly let you out of his embrace, giving you one more smile before you parted ways back to your separate offices.

Your head and heart pounded with each step as you tried to convince yourself that this was reality. You were going on a date with the boy you loved, and you were starting to think that he might love you too.

——

When Friday rolled around, things could not have gone worse from the moment you woke up late. It was like an avalanche of bad luck had been waiting to crash down on you. August threw up in the shoes you were going to wear, resulting in an unplanned outfit change and missing your train. A late train meant no breakfast, and your entire department got reamed by your boss for something that wasn’t even your fault. So when you finally trudged through the door with the clock nearing six, you tried to rally any pleasantness that still lied within you, faked a smile in the small flower mirror hanging by the door as you shed your coat and the shoes that had rubbed blisters into your heels.

August mewled quietly, staring up at you with apologetic blue eyes as he rounded the corner of the kitchen island.

“Don’t eat my leftovers off the counter next time,” you chided lightly, giving his head a rub. A sigh escaped your lips as you headed to your room in search of an outfit for tonight. Poe had specified somewhere between cocktail and black tie for the dress code, snd you hoped you could scrape something together that fit the bill. There were a few dresses hanging at the very end of your closet that you typically saved for weddings. None of them were spectacular. Most of them came off the clearance rack, just picking whatever they had in your size. None of them were a real representation of your style or things that made you feel confident.

As you were perusing your options, your phone buzzed on the end of the bed, showing an incoming call from Kate.

You put her on speaker and explained to her your dilemma.

“The green one is nice!” she enthused.

“Yeah but it has that ruching that’s so,” you couldn’t even find the words to finish the sentence.

The two of you bounced ideas back and forth as you became increasingly upset at your lack of options. Your hair still needed some love and there was the burden of makeup to face as well.

Your phone buzzed again, and you checked to see Poe calling.

“Shoot, I’ve got to answer.”

“Good luck, babe,” Kate said, trying to sound cheerful as you switched to the other line.

“Hey, Ace! How goes it?”

“Um, I’m a little behind schedule,” you admitted sheepishly.

“That’s okay. I’m actually done early so I don’t mind waiting. I’m headed out the door now,” Poe explained as he propped the phone up on his shoulder and fished his keys from the hook by the door.

The tears were back and you tried your best to mask the heavy emotion in your voice.

“Okay, I’ll do my best to be ready,” but it came out shaky.

“Ace? Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing, I just had a hard day. I’m really looking forward to this,” you said, which was actually true. But the words came out with a sniffle, and he was fully unconvinced.

“Hang tight, I’ll be there soon,” he responded with a determination you knew all too well.

“Drive safe,” you called out as the phone went silent.

You squeezed into a dress and did your best to fix your leftover hair from the work day, still more displeased than pleased with the results. You had just pulled on another pair of shoes that rubbed your fresh blisters and winced as you made your way to the knock at the door.

Poe was standing there in sweats with two large paper grocery bags and a bottle of wine.

“What’s this?” you asked, taking a step back and allowing him space to enter your apartment.

“I’m not gonna make you go out when you’re crying, Ace. I know that’s not even close to your first choice on a good day,” he explained as he set the bags and bottle on the counter. He shucked a backpack from his shoulders and handed you a pair of his sweatpants and a grey tee shirt that he fished from the biggest compartment.

“Go put this on, and I’ll get started on dinner.”

For the third time, tears welled in your eyes and you were speechless as he pulled you into a strong embrace.

“I got you, sweet girl,” he murmured in your ear, nuzzling his nose against it.

It was the first time you felt so fully known, and it terrified and comforted you, as love often did.

“Go,” he urged, “Go shower. You can help me when you’re done,” he smiled sincerely.

“Thank you,” you said quietly, as any other words failed to come.

——

The warmth of your shower was like absolution from your day. You dried off feeling ten pounds lighter, and stared fondly at the clothes he brought for you to wear. They fit like a hug from an old friend, the embrace of a lover. Steam escaped into your room as you exited and rejoined Poe.

You two had hung out together countless times, but this time felt different, because it was. Anticipation threaded your veins as you rounded the corner back into the kitchen.

The sound of your favorite Chicago album carried over the noise of the kitchen, and you smiled at the thought of him thumbing through your records to find something you would enjoy. Poe hummed softly along as he diced a shallot and scraped it next to a neatly chopped pile of herbs. He was wearing black joggers with a white stripe down the side and a tight fitting black tee that hugged his lean frame.

Overcome with a shot of boldness, you crossed the space separating you and wound your arms around his waist, pressing your cheek into the chiseled space between his shoulders. His hips were swaying lightly to the music playing, and you joined him in the subtle motion.

“Hey beautiful,” he said softly, lifting an arm to pull you against his chest, “Feeling better?”

You nodded and peered into the pans of sizzling food.

“Shrimp scampi,” he explained, giving you two squeezes on your waist to signify he needed to move his arm and continue cooking.

Your favorite meal. A smile crossed your lips as you stepped back to see what needed to be done.

“Can you get the bread in the oven?” he asked over his shoulder.

With a nod, you got to work.

As much as he wanted to press about the state you were in when he arrived, he gifted you with even more time to unwind your thoughts as the two of you only traded comments about the meal you were preparing.

It didn’t take long for the last elements to come together and for the two of you take a seat at your small dining set. Poe lit a few candles he had packed, and dimmed the kitchen lights to wash everything in a warm, orange glow matching his aura.

He uncorked the wine, and poured it with a flourish. It was a white Zinfandel, but a few labels above what you would normally indulge in for yourself.

He sat across from you, taking in the sight of your features in the candlelight, your still wet hair and fresh face. Poe swallowed down a lump as he willed himself not to mess this up like he had so many other things in the past. He waited a few bites before striking up conversation.

“How is it?” he asked, twirling some pasta onto his fork.

“Perfect. This is perfect,” you smiled warmly, allowing yourself a moment of happiness before guilt started biting at your ankles again, and your face fell. “I’m sorry about your reservations. I feel like I spoiled the whole evening you had planned.”

“Hey, don’t do that. Spending time with you was the plan. Now, unless you secretly think this scampi is horrible, nothing has been ruined,” he teased.

“No! It’s really great. This was all so thoughtful.”

“Tell me what happened today? What got you all bent out of shape?” his hand closed the small gap between you and rested on top of yours.

Heat spread up your arm to your neck and cheeks, seeming to radiate from the small point of contact he was offering you. So many nights spent wondering what his hands would feel like on your skin. It was enough to make you short circuit almost, but you collected yourself, and began to recount the details of your day from hell.

His brow set heavy as he hung on every word, eyes rising and falling with sympathy as it kept seeming to get worse. The grip of his hand tightening around yours when your voice faltered on the portion of getting yelled at by your supervisor.

“That guy’s an ass,” he said bitterly.

“He’s just a nepo baby,” you rolled your eyes, “His uncle is one of our chief partners.”

“Take me to your next Christmas party and I’ll spill a drink on him,” he promised, picking up the wine glass with his free hand and taking a long sip.

Christmas was almost a year away. You couldn’t help but wonder if he really saw a future with you.

The two of you continued your meal as he shared about his own day and upcoming moving plans. When your plates and glasses were empty, Poe stood up and offered you a hand which you took without hesitation.

“I brought a few of your favorites,” he gestured at the coffee table. The hand he had used to help you out of your chair was still intertwined with yours, causing your heartbeat to drum all the way to the top of your head, and you were worried he would see you shaking with each thump.

“Hmmm. The Princess Diaries,” you smiled.

“Perfect,” he squeezed your hand, “You pop it in, and I’ll get one last surprise.

Poe headed into the kitchen while you cracked open the old dvd case and slipped it into your beat up player from college.

The familiar title music had just started playing when he sat down on the couch presenting a plate with the biggest cannoli you had ever seen.

“I was gonna grab forks, but that seemed like a lost cause,” he chuckled.

“I don’t mind sharing with you,” your hand slid to his lower thigh, rubbing a thumb over his knee before retracting.

It felt like playing with electricity, toying with a live wire to finally touch him beyond a friendly hug. He felt it too.

The pink in his cheeks gave you a smug feeling, to know you weren’t imagining the effect you had on him.

He cleared his throat a little and leaned farther back into the sofa, creating space for you to join him. You pulled your legs up and shook out your faded blanket over them before settling into his side.

“You still have this old thing?”

“It could say the same about you,” you teased, wiggling your shoulder against his ribs and drawing out a chuckle.

“That’s fair, that’s fair,” he conceded.

Several minutes later, when the cannoli was as long gone, you were fully stretched across his lap while his hand traced lines up and down your back. Featherlight touches and rougher scratches made you melt into him. He reveled in the feel of you against him, almost coming undone at the sight of you in his shirt, hair messily fanned over his lap and torso.

When his hand rested at the small of your back, you took a deep breath.

“Poe, what are we doing?”

You felt him tense beneath you, and righted yourself so you could look him in the eye.

“Did I do something wrong? Did I make you uncomfortable?” he instantly questioned, filled with worry at souring his chance with you.

“No, no it’s not that. Can I just be honest for a minute?”

“‘Course, Ace,” he brushed a stray lock of hair behind your ear, fingers lightly brushing your cheek.

One moment of bravery was all you needed to finally know peace.

You looked down at his feet and drew a deep breath before looking him in the eye again.

“I have loved you since I was eighteen years old,” your voice wavered, coming out as barely a whisper. “I have watched you try with girl after girl, heard about date after date, all the time just wanting so desperately to be one of them. But now that I’m older, I don’t just want to be one of the girls in your life, Poe, I want to be the girl.”

His soft eyes locked with yours as you felt emboldened to continue spilling your guts.

“I know my worth, and if this is just another fling to you, I want out. I owe myself that much.”

He waited another beat to make sure you were finished before responding.

“Ace,” he breathed out your name so tenderly, “Do you know why it never worked with those other girls?” he ducked his head down to meet your gaze again.

“They weren’t you. They could never be you. I’ve been such a mess since I was a kid, and I didn’t want to get you tangled up in that, in me. I know what you deserve, which is why I feel out of my mind for even asking that you would give me a chance,” he swallowed hard, “No one knows me like you, they never could.”

The air was thick with things left unsaid for nearly a decade, heavy words that left a decision to be made by the both of you.

Poe reached out to cup your cheek, and you couldn’t help but lean into it, always chasing his warmth.

“I’m in if you are,” you smiled, your voice low, only for the two of you.

His pupils widened, a physical embodiment of hope sparking, and another laugh spilled from his plush lips.

“I’m in. I’m so in. You’re crazy if you think I’m ever letting you go,” he laughed, pressing his forehead to yours and wrinkling his nose.

“Poe?” you whispered, so close he could feel your breath on his lips.

“Yeah, Ace?”

“Please kiss me,” your lips brushed his as the words fell, and he took the invitation with open hands, an open mouth, and an open heart.

He swallowed your question until you were sharing one breath, his lips moving against yours fervently. His hand never left the firm hold he had on your cheek reaching around to the back of your neck, using it as leverage to angle you closer.

You sighed into his mouth as his other hand found your waist, and he finally knew what heaven felt like.

Taut, sinewy arms enveloped you in a way you had only know in your dreams. His curls invited you to tangle your hands in them, drawing a groan from him as you tugged.

“You’re killing me”, he laughed against your lips.

“Let me live my fantasy for just another minute,” you nipped at his neck and he threw his head back to further expose his throat to you.

You could’ve sank a pair of fangs into him, drained him of all life, and he would’ve let you, thanked you, even. Poe was completely under your spell.

“I didn’t know you had this side to you, Ace,” he teased, breathing heavily. Lips parted, hair mussed, breath coming in shallow draws, the set of his jaw above his thick neck. He looked like an Adonis.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” you retorted with a grin.

“Hmm, I doubt it. After knowing you had a fat crush on me, I think I’ve got all your secrets,” he pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of your mouth, barely grazing your lips.

“Ooh, that’ll cost you,” you said in an accusatory tone.

“I’ll pay whatever you’re asking,” he murmured, completely wrapped around your finger.

——

“We’ll wash dishes tomorrow,” you commented on the state of the kitchen, pausing before asking, “You’re staying, right?”

“You’d have to chase me out with a broom,” he wrapped his arms around your waist, peppering your neck with kisses.

The two of you got ready for bed with an abundance of playful hip bumps and nudges as you fought for space in your small bathroom.

You pulled back the covers and crawled under them together like you had done it a hundred times before, every movement coming naturally.

You snuggled up into his bare chest, resting against one of his biceps, and it felt like new beginnings. When you woke tomorrow, everything would be different.

His heartbeat was calmer now, drumming against your fingertips as your breaths synced to his.

“Hey, Ace?”

“Yeah?”

“I forgot to mention one thing.”

You angled your head to see the faint outline of his profile in the moonlight.

“I love you too.”

[restlessmaknae]

hotel shenanigans // choi yeonjun

best friends to lovers!yeonjun + "if you asked me to marry you tomorrow, i’d say yes.“ “what about today?"

➳ Characters: best friend!Yeonjun x female reader/you

➳ Genre: slice of life, best friends to lovers, fluff, uni au

➳ Words: 1.4k

➳ Warning: one mention of alcohol

➳ A/N: This story was requested by the lovely @stories-inbetween-the-stars for my request event. I hope you enjoy it! ❤️ Also, this was partly inspired by real-life events haha @dat-town you know why

Happy Valentine's Day! ❤️

➳ Masterlist for the request event

➳ TXT taglist: @dat-town, @s00buwu, @soobin-chois, @laaylaazyy, @kuleo26, @hyu-won, @hyunjinswife, @stories-inbetween-the-stars, @wccycc, @littlestartonightsposts, @koishua, @squiishymeow, @forevrglow

It was the first time you and Yeonjun would share a hotel room together, but not the first time you would sleep in the same bed. You had been best friends since elementary school which meant multiple sleepovers when you had been younger and multiple "laying on the bed to stare at the ceiling while pondering over life" when you had grown older. He was as welcome in your house as you were in his since you were practically family to the other.

However, this time, you had to book a hotel room together because you went to a postgraduate open day that day, and there was no way you would spend 3 hours getting there via train and 3 hours back after the scheduled programmes were over by 8pm. Since it was on a Wednesday, your parents couldn't accompany you, but there was no need since you were a 1) responsible grown-up, so you could spend two days away from them 2) Yeonjun would be there and he was someone they trusted with all their heart.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly at the open day, so there was really no need to worry. On the other hand, when you got back to your budget hotel, and Yeonjun went in to take a shower inside your en-suite bathroom, you realised that the bathroom's wall was a bit transparent. It was made entirely of glass, and the pattern over it was similar to the blurred lines in your vision when you were just trying to blink the sleep out of your eyes. Which meant that it wasn't entirely transparent, but when Yeonjun stepped into the shower cubicle, you could clearly see the outlines of his body which made you snap your head back so fast, it made a sound.

"Oh my god," you mumbled, awfully embarrassed, before you sat down on the only chair in the room, and positioned it, so you would sit with your back to the shower cubicle with Yeonjun inside it.

You wished you could say that by the time he made it out of the bathroom, you felt less flustered, but it would be a big fat lie. You were sure that your cheeks were still flushed, and not because he was wearing loose shorts and a sleeveless tee because you had seen him like that a million times before.

"Yeonjun..." You started tentatively, not knowing how to bring it up, and he could sense that you were uncomfortable, his eyebrows immediately furrowed at your tone of voice.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"It's not anything super... uhmm... bad, but..." You faltered, feeling your cheeks burn up even more.

Yeonjun was incredibly good at detecting people's moods, and he turned from sunshine to sunshine protector really quickly when it came to those close to him. No wonder he immediately reached out to squeeze your hands as if it was about something earth-shuttering.

"You know you can tell me anything," he reassured you gently before his lips curled upwards and he jokingly mentioned: "Even if you asked me to marry you tomorrow, I would say yes."

Your shoulders dropped in ease, his joking side was always able to cheer you up. So you played along a bit.

"What about today?"

"Today, tomorrow, next month... anytime," he offered with wild hand gestures, and the lighter atmosphere helped you to pull yourself together. So you took in a deep breath before you brought it up.

"It is just that... the glass door of the shower cubicle is partly transparent. You can see the outlines of the one inside."

"Oh," Yeonjun hummed, and you saw the exact moment the indication dawned on him. His eyes lit up with a mischievous fire, his lips curling into a boyish smile. "Ooooh... so you saw me?"

"I didn't mean to!"

"I wouldn't have blamed you," he threw his hands in the air, shrugging casually. You shook your head, knowing fully well how confident he could be about his handsome face and fit body, so you didn't hold a grudge against him in the slightest. He didn't do so either. "I guess you want me to not look while you're inside, right?"

"Yes, please."

"Don't worry. I won't look," he promised with a big grin, reaching out to ruffle your hair. You faked semi-annoyance at this gesture, trying to bat his arm away as you took a step back. Which meant that you horribly miscalculated your steps, and managed to fall onto the bed. Yeonjun tried to catch your arms, but he wasn't fast enough, and fell right onto you.

It wasn't like in the movies, how the boy could react in time and put his hands on the two sides of the other's face, and then, they just kept staring at each other. No, it was proper falling onto each other, bodies squished together, heads knocking. You both let out a yelp of surprise when you collided, and both of you immediately tried to find a way out, so you rolled to your left while he rolled to his right.

Still laying in bed, still in shock over the incident, Yeonjun started laughing beside you. You rolled onto your side to look at him, and he did the same, his eyes laughing alongside his lips.

"This is so us," he pointed out, and you couldn't help but agree. You were both on the clumsier side, so something like this wasn't unheard of, even as you got older.

When you both laughed your heart out, the boy broke the momentary silence.

"Actually... I did have a dream once. It was on the night of your aunt’s wedding, and I dreamed that we also got married. Maybe it’s because of the booze that night or the fact that you were a bridesmaid, but I had it all pictured in my head,” he recounted with a nostalgic smile playing on his lips, one that made your heart race. He was so painfully beautiful and somewhat fragile in that moment, and you wished that you could freeze the time.

Your heart picked up its pace the more he talked, and you were sure that you were flushed like hell. You remembered that day as if it had been yesterday. You did so because the same thought had crossed your mind back then: you had wondered if there could be anyone you would love to tie your life to, and when you had realised it was and had always been Yeonjun, you had known that you had fallen for him for good.

However, it felt like a dangerous limbo with one foot on the side of friendship while the other was on the side of a romantic relationship, and you feared that if you crossed the line, you could easily lose him altogether. So you kept your feelings to yourself, and it was almost easy because Yeonjun was naturally flirty, his love language was physical affection, and sometimes you forgot that you were merely friends because of the way he acted. Yet, sometimes, it was painstakingly obvious that you were only friends.

“Yeah? And did you… did you like that dream?” You blurted out, your voice coming out raspy. Yeonjun didn’t appear struck by your question, instead, his lips bloomed into one of the most beautiful smiles you had ever seen on him.

“How could I not when I like you like crazy?” He semi-answered, semi-asked before he reached to tuck a loose strand of hair behind your ear. You shivered under his touch, but it was only the good kind of shiver. “The question is, do you feel the same? Do you like me like that?”

When he emphasised the expression ‘like that’, you knew what he meant by it, you just didn’t quite want to believe it. Before his smile could freeze on his lips though, you answered with all your heart:

“I do.”

Maybe it was not quite your wedding vows, but you sure felt like it was something special with the way he reached out to embrace you, and being in his warm, safe arms while listening to the sound of his heartbeat, you knew that you were in the right place with the right person.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this story of mine! Let me know what you think.

If you want to read more stories of mine, let it be for TXT or for other artists, consider signing up for my taglist here.

Hope you have a lovely day/night! Take care! ❤️

[slutforsilverfoxes]

Smutty enemies to lovers jethro gibbs mini-series? Maybe the reader is a bit hot-headed herself? :)

Hi hello YES I love this! The fire in this man’s eyes when he gets pissed off gives me chills 🤤 I'm sorry this took me so long to respond to, but I hope you like it!!

I really like the idea of a mini-series, so please let me know what you want to see next 🤩

“We don’t need your interference- sorry, assistance on this case, Tobias.” Gibbs snaps the case file on the desk before him closed and tosses his reading glasses on top before fixing his friend with a sharp look.

“That’s quite the Freudian slip, Jethro,” Fornell grins, approaching Gibbs’ desk with a freshly brewed peace offering. “You know as well as I do that it’s not our decision. Agent Y/L/N will be joining you until this case is closed. Play nice.”

“Y/N? Hell, Tobias, marrying and then divorcing my ex-wife wasn’t cruel enough?”

“Hilarious,” the FBI agent deadpans. “Never gets old, truly.”

“We’ll take literally anyone else from your team.”

“What’s the matter, Gibbs?” Oh, that voice. “Scared you’ll fall head over heels for me? I know you have a thing for redheads.”

He notes your voice growing louder as you near his desk and buries his head back into the case file before retorting, “Weren’t you blonde last time?”

“It’s called hair dye,” you fire back. “Your observational skills are lacking. Getting old will do that to you, huh?”

“No, I just try to avoid looking at you. Can’t do my job if I turn to stone.”

Leaning close to him, you whisper, “So looking at me gets you-”

“Don’t you dare finish that thought,” he snaps, and you grin at having won this round. “Here.” Without looking up, he thrusts the case file into your waiting hands. “Get up to speed on the case and make yourself useful.”

“Like I said,” Fornell groans, “play nice. We don't need extra paperwork because you two can't share a sandbox.”

You dutifully mutter a, “Yes, Boss,” as Gibbs grumbles, “Get the hell outta my building, Tobias.”

“So, old man,” you start with a sigh, perching on the end of his desk. “Where can I sit?”

Gibbs looks up at you, incredulous, and snarks, “Not on my desk.” He nods his head over to the corner spot by McGee and returns to his case file, the conversation seemingly over. You make your way over to the bare bones work station and drop your bag on the seat. Standing on your tiptoes, you lean your chin against your crossed arms on top of the divider and smile at the brunette on the other side of the cubicle. “Hiya, Tim.”

“Hi, Y/N,” he answers as he looks up at you, the faintest hint of pink tinging his cheeks. “It’s nice to have you working a case with us again.”

“You guys just like that Gibbs focuses all of his anger on me, admit it.”

“No, no, we genuinely like- I mean, yes, it’s nice to-”

“Y/L/N!”

Turning your head, you replace your chin with your cheek against your arm and raise an eyebrow. “Gibbs?”

“Stop harassing my agents and do your damn job.”

“Sir, yes, sir,” you respond coyly with a grin, moving your bag aside and dropping into the chair to get to work.

The morning passes in a blur, spent reading through the case file and analyzing the several boxes of itemized evidence from the victim’s apartment. After collecting your third cup of coffee in as many hours, you settle down with the dozens of crime scene photos spread out on the desk before you. “Something isn’t right here,” you mumble to yourself, shuffling through the lengthy report to find the sole witness’s statement. You reread the escort's recounting of events, then pick up the photograph mapping out the shooter’s position in relation to the victim. “Son of a bitch,” you breathe out, a smile spreading across your face.

You make your way over to Gibbs’ desk and triumphantly drop the report and picture in front of him. He looks up at you with one eyebrow raised in question, clearly unamused. Planting your hands on your hips, you demand, “How many people did your witness say were in the room?”

“Three. Herself, Lance Corporal Collins, and our perp.”

“And did she have blood on her?”

Gibbs sighs and steeples his fingers together. “What is this, Y/L/N, twenty questions? You read the report.”

“Humor me, old man.”

He glares at you for the moniker, then answers, “No, she didn’t. Claims she was in the bathroom when the shooting occurred, which you already know.”

“So,” you direct his attention to the photograph, tapping on the far wall speckled with blood spatter with one red nail, “who was standing here?”

“Son of a bitch,” Jethro echoes your previous excitement, standing to grab his badge and gun from the top drawer of his desk. Tossing a set of keys to DiNozzo, he calls, “Pull the car around.” The NCIS agent is halfway to the elevator before you catch on to his intentions, and you run after him, slipping your hand between the closing elevator doors at the last second. “And just what the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“You’re going to question the witness again, right? Well, I made the connection,” you point out confidently, “so I’m going with you.”

“Let me explain something to you, Y/L/N,” he says softly, flipping the emergency stop switch to enter his personal conference room. He takes measured steps toward you in the eerie lighting, crowding into your space as he rests his hands on either side of the railing effectively caging you in. “When you set foot in this building, you’re in my house. You report to me. You follow my rules. You do what I say, when I say it. Am I making myself clear?”

Using the railing as leverage, you push yourself closer to reach his ear and murmur, “Crystal,” reveling in his sharp intake of breath. Raising your leg, you toe the switch back into operational mode before leaning back with a smirk. Fire crackles to life in his gorgeous icy blue eyes at your blatant show of defiance, and you meet his gaze with equal ferocity. “So what would you have me do, sir?”

The elevator reaches the ground floor, and the doors open and then close once more. Gibbs has yet to pull away from you, and his gaze keeps darting down to your crimson-stained lips. “Go back upstairs and help Ziva contact the Lance Corporal’s fellow servicemen on shore leave.”

You feel almost delirious from his sheer proximity, and the way he’s invading your space has your knees nearly buckling beneath you. Rather than admitting to the power he holds over you, you whisper, “What will you do if I don’t listen?”

One hand curls around the back of your neck, the callouses on the pads of his fingers gently pressing into your skin, and you gasp reflexively. “Why do you insist on defying me?”

“Because I like-”

The elevator dings and the two of you hurriedly jump apart, the trance effectively broken. Tony’s smiling face appears on the other side of the doors, car keys in hand. “Is Y/L/N going with us, Boss?”

“No,” Gibbs answers gruffly, jabbing the button for their floor before stepping out of the elevator. You make the journey back upstairs alone with more questions than answers, and more determined than ever to break the resolve of one Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

—————

Part II

[bit-dodgy-innit]

Cuff(ed) It

Part of my 500 Follower Celebration set in The Shape of Youniverse

The Prompt: You and Steven attend his department holiday party 

Requested by: a lovely nonnie!!

Pairing: Steven x afab!reader, background Jake x afab!reader, and Marc x afab!reader, Reader is married to the system

Spice-O-Meter: 🌶🌶🌶 (Rated Explicit, Minors DNI!)

Word Count: 3.8k 

CW/TW: Tonight we’re pleased to offer Steven’s students being thirsty for him, talk of meddling in one’s marriage (nothing serious though), tipsy (but still very consensual) sex, exhibitionism, f!receiving fingering, mirror!sex, doggy!style, mentions of pregnancy and conceiving, breeding kink, lactation kink and breastplay, dirty talk, tooth-rotting sappiness over little bebes at the end 

A/N: THE FINAL PROMPT FILL! WOOOOO ONLY TOOK ME A SHORT QUICK THREE-ODD MONTHS TO GET THROUGH THEM ALL 😝 This fic? Gonna be honest, she’s a bit chaotic, but in the best way I hope. I started writing it, felt stuck, opened a new document and this poured out. Translations at the bottom of the post! 

“You know, I never noticed it until tonight, but you know who’s actually quite fit?”

“Who?”

“Doctor Grant.”

“Oh girl I knowwwwwww. At school he slouches and wears those dorky shirts, but at stuff like this, when he’s in a suit and his wife’s with him, I always remember how sneaky-hot he is.”

“Oh my god, exactly!”

“It’s like a department rite-of-passage to fancy Doctor Grant a bit, if I’m honest, especially after the holiday party or a fundraiser for the school or something when we all remember how bloody handsome he is.”

“I thought it was just me!” the first girl (a graduate student was your educated guess) giggled.

“No, it’s definitely a thing,” her friend confirmed.

You stood paralyzed in the restroom stall as the conversation unfolded on the other side. You’d already peed, should you leave the little cubicle and inevitably interrupt them?

Would they recognize you? You didn’t want to embarrass them. They were right after all, Doctor Grant was really quite fit, though you were admittedly biased.

Plus a craven, vain, possessive part of you wanted to hear more. With a six-month-old at home, your husband in the midst of three careers, and just the sheer amount of time you’d been together, sometimes the melee of life could make you forget just how well you’d done in the spouse department. It was nice to be reminded.

“What’s the tea on his wife, hm? How did Mrs. Grant cuff that?” The first girl prodded.

Her question was a sentence to stay in the stall. They definitely would recognize you if you emerged now.

“No idea honestly,” her companion answered, “I mean, she’s definitely pretty. They told Dean they met through a friend, and on their first date he took her to an exhibit of her favorite artist and like did all this research to impress her.”

“He had to impress her?” she echoed, her tone tinged with disbelief. Your brow furrowed. Yes, your husband was a fox, but you weren’t totally out of his league, were you? You were certainly worthy of being courted a bit, even if you did jump into bed with Marc on the first date. “I’d be on my knees every night for a guy who looked like Doctor G and was so romantic.”

They both burst more giggles. To be fair, you did spend a fair amount of time on your knees. Especially since you’d started dating Marc first, who unlike Steven, had his fair share of bedmates and exuded more inherent confidence. It intimidated you. So when you started sleeping together, you’d concocted a self-imposed need to prove to Marc that you were up to par, if not capable of exceeding, his former lovers. It was why when you learned his ex-wife was The (stupidly stunning) Scarlet Scarab, you wholly lost your shit. How does one compete with a gorgeous superhero?

“I bet she’s on them a fair bit,” Miss Know-It-All divulged, “Doctor Burke did her doctorate along with him and they didn’t start seeing each other until his last year of the course. And now they’re married and just had a baby. Bitch worked quick.”

“Honestly, can’t knock it,” the first girl conceded.

Thank you, you thought. A part of you wanted to interject that Nyla had been unexpectedly conceived on your honeymoon and you’d dated Marc for a year, then him and his alters for another year after that before getting engaged. The pair of you also weren’t literal babies like these girls currently gossiping a meter away from you. You were both adults, your husband was in his forties for heaven's sake.

“I bet the baby’s cute,” she mused further.

“Oh my goodness, he hasn’t showed you? All Doctor G does is bang on about Nyla. It’s literally either coursework or his kid if you talk to him.”

Your heart swelled. This wasn’t the first time you’d heard from Steven’s colleagues what a proud papa he was to your little girl. Hearing it from strangers, and completely unprompted, was extra special though.

“I’ve never really had a reason to talk to him, and now I don’t know if I can actually without looking like a total idiot.”

“No, he’s really sweet, he’s the type of fit guy who doesn’t know he’s fit. And he’s like scary clever. You can ask him literally anything about ancient Egypt and he knows it. But he’s also not an arsehole about it you know? I’m applying to be his TA next semester.”

“Are you?” she gasped. “Really?”

“Ummm yeah, why wouldn’t I want a dishy, brilliant thesis advisor?” Miss Know-It-All countered. “He should be at Oxford or Cambridge really. You know Sam Miller babysits for them?”

“They do?!” Her friend exclaimed. “Don’t know if I’d want that gig for the inside scoop or if it’d be too much pressure. Their kid is still a baby right?”

“Yeah, I’d say it’s worth it to suss out if Doctor G and her are open to…let’s say, ‘featured players’ in the bedroom.”

“Stop Emma, you’re terrible!”

“She came to one of his lectures once with the baby and Dean thought he heard them fucking in his office.”

Fuck, you swore internally. Steven had sworn the offices would be empty! You’d kept quiet!

“Noooo! Doctor G is hot I’ll give you that, but he dresses like my grandpa. There’s no way he’s that kinky.”

“Maybe he’s not, but she could be,” Emma pointed out. “Only one way to find out.”

“You are such a slag,” Emma’s friend accused her playfully. “Come on, we need to get back, I want another drink.”

You heard two pairs of heels shuffle to the door, then it open and close behind them, and at last the coast was clear. Finally exiting the stall, you robotically washed your hands and touched up your lipstick, moving to check that your hair still looked decent afterwards.

Your gaze lingered in the mirror to give yourself a once-over. You’d chosen a flattering, but pretty conservative dress for Steven’s UCL holiday party. Sure, there wasn’t much you could do about the size your tits had swollen up to while you were breastfeeding, but they weren’t necessarily on display tonight either. Your currently huge boobs were for your husband’s eyes (plus hands, mouth, and sometimes cock) only.

Despite your attempts to leave the eavesdropped chat between Emma and her friend in the loo where it belonged, it became obvious fairly quickly that you failed spectacularly at doing so.

“You alright?” Steven inquired, his features creased with concern. “You were in the toilets for ten minutes and have barely said a word since. Something wrong?”

“I’m fine, sorry honey,” you dispelled the worry from his face. “Just overheard an interesting conversation in there that I haven’t been able to shake.”

You grabbed a fresh glass of wine from a passing server while Steven asked “What about?”

“You.”

“Me?”

“Mmmhmm,” you confirmed, taking a swig of cabernet. “It’s apparently a UCL Ancient Civ rite-of-passage to have a crush on you.”

Your husband looked at you like you’d sprouted another head. His incredulity made you burst into laughter.

“What? I’m not surprised! You’re a very good-looking, intelligent, kind man! I’ve been telling you this since we first met, after all this time—“ you leaned in and lowered your voice to add “—and all the ways I’ve let you fuck me, do you really believe that us getting married and having Nyla was just some cosmic fluke?”

“Honestly? Yeah.”

“Baby—“

Steven averted his gaze and shrugged, offering “Marc was always the handsome one…” as his explanation.

That line. It made you want to whip your wine glass across the room. You restrained yourself and instead growled through gritted teeth, “It feels silly for me to have to remind you as much as I do that you two share the exact same face and body.”

“But still—“

“No more buts anymore Steven! You have co-eds hot for you, you’re officially sexy independent of Marc,” you teased. “And you ought to feel lucky that we’re secure enough in our marriage that I’m not bothered by it. Especially since one of them wants to be your TA and replace Sam as our sitter to see if we’re into threesomes. Which I guess is better than trying to steal you from me outright, to be fair.”

Another gaping incredulous stare from Steven. “Who?”

“I didn’t get her name,” you lied. Truth was, Emma didn’t have a popsicle’s chance in hell at interfering in your marriage. Never mind that you and Steven were deeply in love and had a child together, she hadn’t a clue about the D.I.D, Marc’s past life as a mercenary, his ex-wife, not to mention the service to the Egyptian god of the moon which led to a stint as a superhero. You two had shared and been through too much for a horny twenty-something to impact what you had. “But apparently Dean heard us when we…um, had ‘parental time’ in your office a couple months ago.”

“Bollocks.”

“We knew we were being naughty,” you shrugged.

“Because it was your idea,” he muttered.

“Oh don’t start with me, Doctor Grant. You’re the one who told me not to use the nursing apron,” you fired back. “Didn’t you want to say hi to the department’s Director of Education? There he is.”

***

The rest of the evening unfolded uneventfully, though Emma and her friend, who you learned was named Marnie, did stop by for a quick chat. You were content to clam up and just watch the interaction unfold. They were perfectly polite, unlike their prattling in the bathroom, though they very much fit the trope of a pair of giggling schoolgirls. Steven, of course, was oblivious.

Blame it on the wine, the rare baby-less outing, and being emboldened by strangers raving about how hot your husband was, but when Dean insisted that you and Steven come to the after-party at a pub nearby, you insisted on going. Steven was only one of the professors in attendance, because he was one of the younger, cooler ones, therefore the vibe was much more relaxed and festive than the one at the official university get-together.

You’d had Dean over for dinner (a takeaway dinner that you had to constantly get up from the table because Nyla had started teething that week, but dinner still) so spending time with him was easy and delightful while Steven mingled with his other colleagues.

You also liked to privately touch base with him about Steven’s professional wellbeing. Your husband was tight-lipped about any office woes, and while Dean wasn’t privy to your husband’s D.I.D., you knew that sometimes aspects of it could manifest in your husband’s workplace. The last thing you wanted to do was interfere, but Steven truly loved what he did, and as his wife with a tendency to fret, you liked to keep a tab or two to ensure nothing jeopardized his passion.

“I’m impressed,” Dean remarked as you two huddled outside the pub while he had smoke. “You haven’t batted an eye at all the little first-year masters students throwing themselves at him.”

You laughed. Steven’s hot professor status was really department-wide thing it seemed. “I can’t blame them. He’s very dreamy, but I baby-trapped him so…”

Dean cackled when you punctuated your response with a shrug. “No flies on you, darling. Cheers.”

You and your husband gracefully bowed out when mentions of moving to a club began to take hold. Too tipsy and tired for the Tube, Steven flagged a cab for the both of you, even though it meant that he’d have Jake backseat-driving in his head the whole ride back to Brixton.

Once inside, you rested your head on your husband’s shoulder, hoping to maybe doze off for a few minutes in case Nyla was up when you got home. Steven automatically pressed a kiss to your temple. He was so solid and warm, so safe, you couldn’t help but snuggle closer to him and place a hand over his knee.

“In case I haven’t told you yet, you look pretty as a present tonight,” he murmured into your ear.

You don't know what it was about his compliment, perhaps it was the way he said it, or the way you’d had four glasses of wine, but Steven's soft words of adoration set your body alight.

“Hmm, thank you darling,” The hand that was on his knee traveled towards his inseam to squeeze the meat of his thigh. “Wanna unwrap me? Or maybe just take off the bow? I’d let you slip my knickers aside and play with your present right now if you wanted.”

“Bloody hell,” he groaned, both at your filthy offer and the fact that you’d dragged your hand to cup him through his trousers. “Babe, he’ll see.”

The cabbie had airbuds in (a personal pet peeve of Jake’s) and eyes trained on the road. You shook your head imperceptibly. “Not if we’re careful about it.”

To prove your point, you subtly shifted to drape your thigh over Steven’s leg so he could do just as you suggested. It seemed that your fondling of your husband’s package, steadily but insistently coaxing him to hardness, was able to convince him to follow suit. He tucked his hand under your skirt, mimicking your approach, dragging his palm slowly up your leg. Next, his nimble fingers nudged the dampened crotch of your knickers aside and delved between your folds.

You could feel Steven’s length jump and swell when he made contact with your pussy. It prompted you to rub at him a little harder, biting your lip when one of his digits penetrated you.

“My saucy exhibitionist minx,” he purred into your ear.

“Says the man who screws me in cafe loos,” you shot back without any real heat. How could you be snarky when Steven was slowly, torturously finger-fucking you and his hot, hard manhood was pulsing under your palm?

“Mmmm, I always get a stiffy when we eat there now,” Steven confessed in a whisper about your neighborhood cafe. “That was insane, sucking at your titties and riding my cock like that in the middle of the day.”

“I know daddy,” you sighed, clenching around his digit at the thought. “So naughty, but so good.”

The remainder of the ride home passed in a labored silence between you two, both trying to enjoy each other’s ministrations, but not so much that you clued in the driver. There was one close call when Steven had the gall to sneak another finger inside of you. You nearly drew blood biting your lip to stifle moaning at the intrusion, since it meant you could get straight to fucking once you arrived home.

Tonight wasn’t the first date night you’d come chomping at the bit to make love, so thankfully you two had a pre-established routine. Steven used his coat to cover his groin and went straight to the nursery to check on Nyla while you paid and said goodnight to Sam (your desire was easier to conceal after all). Once Nyla was confirmed to be asleep and Sam had left, you met in your bedroom and tore each other’s clothes off.

The wine warped the edges of your perception, making the clash of teeth and tongues between you and Steven blur into a buzz of arousal, until next thing you knew you were naked, on your hands and knees and your husband was pushing his thick erection inside of you in one determined, smooth shove. You almost moaned the wrong name, nearly keening “Jake” when he entered you, because the position wasn’t one in Steven’s usual rotation. He much preferred for you to ride him, or for you to be on your back - any position where he could sink into your cunt and suckle at your nipples simultaneously.

You weren’t complaining however, and happily pushed back into his thrusts. It wasn’t until Steven angled his hips just right to hit your g-spot, and you threw your head back that you realized it. “We’re in front of the mirror.”

“Mmmhmm,” Steven confirmed, “like to see your tits swing and…ungh, they’ve been watching since you started groping me in the taxi.”

The revelation that Marc and Jake were privy to your coupling had a fresh wave of heat racing down your spine and pooling in your core as Steven continued to rail you.

“Was just so horny for you baby,” you explained, “everyone was eyeing you, but you’re mine and you know you’re mine and I know you’re mine, but I just wanted to feel it. I…I couldn't wait. ”

“You have us now,” he assured you. “Can’t count how many times we’ve seen people checking you out and you’re none the wiser. They can look, but you belong to us, don't you?”

“Yesssss daddy,” you mewled, now equally drunk off the alcohol and your arousal. “Keep giving me your big prick, feels so good.”

“Vamos, Steven, let’s give her more of this big prick she wants so badly,” Jake’s voice growled from behind you. His broad arms moved from your hips to encase your waist and pulled you upright, “Te gusta nena? Like being impaled on our cock like this?”

Your answer was non-verbal, but unmistakably emphatic.

“I think she likes it,” Marc’s American accent chuckled darkly from behind you.  

You whined the increase in fullness the change in position brought about, paired with the image you all made in the mirror together. You were first drawn to your husband’s determined expression, so set on his objective to make you see stars that his face was twisted into a snarl. Next, you glimpsed your large breasts heaving with every snap of his hips, and your cunt speared open on his massive erection. The sheer depravity of your reflection made you tilt your head back onto your husband’s broad shoulder and screw your eyes shut.

You knew Steven had wrestled back control of the body when his two large hands found your tits and began to pluck at your nipples. “Love you so much darling, want more kids together. Want Nyla to be just the first.”

His words made your channel flutter around his length at the thought.

“Would you let me? Maybe not tonight, but I want to fill you up with every last drop of my cum, keep these titties big and leaking for me, watch your belly grow again with another gorgeous child.”

“Ohhh fuck Steven,” you gasped, “I want that too.”

“Yeah? You want me to pump you full again?” He urged you, one hand leaving your nipple to suck his soaked fingertip into his mouth for a taste of your milk.

“Please, please, please,” you chanted. You didn’t want another kid right away, but seeing what excellent fathers your husband made definitely meant you wanted more babies eventually. “For now though, will you just make me cum?”

“‘Course darling,” he rumbled, his hand dropping to your clit to push you over the edge. You’d been simmering with yearning all night, so it didn’t take much more than Steven’s hand on your clit, his other on your breast, and his length hammering into you from behind to drown you in ecstasy.

You crumpled back against Steven’s chest while your orgasm coursed through you, too overwhelmed with pleasure to support yourself. Your husband buried his nose in your hair, inhaling your scent deeply and reveling in the beauty of your release that was unfolding in his arms.

You’d barely floated back down to earth before Steven manhandled you back onto your elbows while he chased his respective climax. The relentless pistoning of his cock into your spent hole emptied every thought from your head that wasn’t “yes”, “good” , or “full”. It wasn’t long before you felt your husband’s seed painting your inner walls and collapsing on top of you.

The late hour and the alcohol made you both slower in extracting yourselves from one another, and after exchanging some sated, passionate kisses, you made a beeline to relieve yourself and wash off your makeup. Steven joined you a moment later in the en-suite to begin his respective nighttime regimen. You two readied for bed in companionable silence. Then:

“It was Emma and Marnie, wasn’t it?”

“Yup,” you replied, popping the p as you dotted on moisturizer, “Don’t hold it against them though, I think Emma’s going to apply to be your TA. It was all harmless in the loo, I promise.”

“Alright,” he surrendered. Despite still feeling buzzed, you clocked a momentary conversation between Steven and an alter in the mirror above the sink. Whatever they said to one another, it prompted Steven to add, “You’re very confident about having us all wrapped around your little finger, aren't you?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” you parried, meeting your husband’s gaze in the mirror. “Especially when I still probably have some of your cum inside me.”

“Esposita está tan descarada esta noche,” Jake pushed forward to remark.

“Soy--no...estoy un poco borracha todavía,” you confessed. As if your husband needed more proof the wine continued to affect you, you announced out of seemingly nowhere, “I need to say night-night to Ny-Ny.”

Steven intervened, catching you when you tried to bolt from the bathroom. “Darling, you can see her on the monitor. Don't wake her up.”

“Don’t tell me when I can see my baby,” you countered with sudden defensiveness that only surfaces when one’s a bit blitzed. You wriggled out of his grasp, “I’ll be quiet.”

You tipsily tip-toed down the hall to Nyla’s nursery, making good on your promise and not causing your daughter to stir at all as you crept to watch her slumber.

It wasn’t as if you wanted to pick her up or play with her, you just couldn’t fathom going to bed without bidding Nyla goodnight. Your eyes studied the little miracle before you. Her plump little feet that you could never pepper with enough kisses, the curve of her lips that must have been painted on her face by a Renaissance master, those insanely long, dark eyelashes she inherited from her father. There were no words, and never would be, to accurately describe the love you had for your daughter.

You silently blew a kiss in her direction, and found Steven in the doorway when you turned to retreat. While you were kind of peeved that he felt the need to supervise you, you weren't that drunk (you were), you pressed yourself into his warm, sturdy side as you both returned to your bedroom.

“She’s just more beautiful than I ever dreamed she’d be,” you whispered reverently.

“I know,” Steven agreed in a murmur as he guided you back to bed. “We’re the two luckiest people alive. Now let’s go to sleep, love.”

A/N: Yayyy we made it! True life: I’m Emma and Marnie IRL. Also are long, sappy afterglows my thing now? Can’t thank everyone enough for getting me to 500, playing with me and requesting these fics, waiting the approximately 98 years it took for me to fill them!! 

ESPECIALLY since in the meantime, I now have over 900 followers which is just bonkers!!!!! BONKERS I TELL YOU! I don’t think I’ll do another prompt celebration like I did for 500 if I reach 1k, but something special will come down the pipeline for sure! Love you all so much and again, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU! 

Translations: 

Vamos - Let’s go/Come on  

Te gusta nena? - You like it babe? 

Esposita está tan descarada esta noche - Wifey is so cheeky tonight 

Estoy un poco borracha todavía - I’m still a little drunk 

Taglist: @twwcs​, @rmoonstoner​, @hot-mess-express1​, @murdickdocked, @toracainz​, @saahmi​, @unspokenmoon​, @winterbiipp​, @avatarofseshat​ @ilikeoldermenhelp, @losers-club6​, @harrys-tittie​, @ninebluehearts​, @lucianadraven32​, @dawnsutopia​, @strawberry1042-blog @nikitawolfxo​, @weirdo125 @damnzelsoul​ @missmarmaladeth @welcometostayingawake​

[pascalslvt]

Tangled Alliances

Summary: When faced with sickness in your community in an already post-apocalyptic world, it is up to the strained professional partnership of you and Joel Miller to embark in a perilous and difficult journey in order to retrieve life-saving medicine. With your destinies intertwined, shrouded in tension, you confront the unforgiving challenges of your environment together, gradually forming an unexpected bond. Will that be enough?

Pairing: Joel Miller x fem!Reader, f/m

rating: 18+, minors dni

series warnings:, pre!ellie, during outbreak, set in TLOU 2022, age gap (28 & 52), swearing, mentions of violence, also actual violence, mentions of sickness, heavy angst...., fluff, trial & tribulations, severe weather, a lot of fucking animosity and hostility, enemies to lovers ???, infected people, tension...TENSION!!!, bickering, copious amounts of alcohol, inebriation, y'all don't get along...but y'all also have to, smut!!!!...a semi-slow burn, anxiety, exhaustion, NO USE OF Y/N.

chapter warnings: Mentions of backstory (involving the death of readers parents), bickering, bad langauge, tess is mother, mentions of sickness and death, aclohol, sharing a tent (wink wink), cheeky morning wood, just a sprinkle of smut if you squint its not really smutty but not completley clean, bad luck ??, tension. lots of it, intrusive improper thoughts.

word count ≈ 8,3k Estimated reading time: 37 minutes, 4 seconds (225 wpm)

a/n: This is the first part of a series i am writing!! I haven't actually written fanfiction since i was like...15, so be very very kind and gentle and patient with me because i am literally just a girl.....i have dusted off the cobwebs & busted my writing out of its retirement to create a story to quench my current joel miller obession. This storyline is actually inspired by a dream i recently had and i am very excited to reeeeally get into the series as i have a lot of plans that i cannot share with you right now.... also sorry if the tags are wierd i gennuinely have no idea what the fuck to write. Part two will come pretty shortly (don't get used to it) because after i awoke from the dream i literally wrote almost 20k words in one sitting so im splitting it up and giving this one some time to see if people are even interested in reading more...please enjoy!!!!!!

Part One: Hostile Beginnings

You were nearly seven years old when the outbreak started. To you, the world crumbled before your feet in what seemed like an instant - shattering the very ground on which you stood. One day after school, you saw your own mother's jugular be ripped straight out of her neck from the mouth of your neighbor, an old and fragile woman who used to babysit you from time to time. Before running away in fear, you saw your mother bleed out, right there on the lawn you used to play in. You never saw your father that day, and neither did you ever again. You always accepted that your father's fate was that he most likely died in that little cubicle he worked in. Or that he now spends the rest of his life infected. Whichever the case, it doesn’t really matter to you, you don’t think about him anymore. 

You got away with your life by the skin of your teeth that day. That little girl ran until her tiny legs could carry her no more. Your English teacher, Theresa, had found you in a ditch, sobbing. You had been wearing the same outfit you did that day in class, a purple shirt with a flower on it, along with some blue pants. Theresa didn't have the heart to leave the little girl behind, so she took you under her wing.

Throughout the years, Therese - or ‘Tess’ as you liked to call her - taught you how to survive this very unfortunate world disaster. While you were still young, she taught you to crawl into small holes to retrieve food or water, and to hide whenever you felt something was wrong. She taught you to trust your instincts. She taught you to be resilient. Resourceful. In later years, you were taught to use a gun, to mend knifes, to defend yourself - how to navigate this apocalypse safely. 

When you got older, Tess made use of you in her line of work. Smuggling. And you were good  

This is how you got to know the man named Joel Miller. A cynical, gruff man of very few words. But, he always got the job done. You and Joel didn’t interact much. Now that you think about it, you hadn’t met him more than.. what? 5 times before today? even less so had you spoken with him. Tess didn’t want you to work alongside Joel as she believed his methods could sometimes be…taking unnecessary risks. He could sometimes be reckless. And you were not a risk she was willing to take. Not yet.

Ever since finding that shattered little girl all those years ago, Tess always felt an unwavering, deep sense of responsibility to keep you safe. She owed it to you, and she owed it to your parents. You were now a full-grown woman, 28 years old - and Tess knew you had a strong head on her shoulders. With the years, the fierce overprotective nature gradually softened. She gradually unfolded her wings of trust, and sent you out on more and more jobs. But, it wasn’t until recently that she felt comfortable enough to let you work with Joel. Nothing big, none spanning more than a day or three. To her dismay (but yet also relief), the two of you ended up ultimately proving to be an incredibly efficient team. However, the two of you could not get along even if your very life depended on it. 

It was a silent alliance. It had to be. Otherwise, you’d end up getting on each other's nerves and damn near kill one another. Joel always made it incredibly clear that you weren’t friends - he wasn’t there for pleasantries, he was there to finish a job. Not that you objected. The less condescending shit you had to hear him say, the better. You didn’t care much, either way. You were a professional - after all, you had done this since you were a child. This was your reality. You never had much choice.

Lately, a lot of people in your community have fallen very, very sick. It is some sort of pulmonary bacterial infection that starts off with a fever, and will leave you coughing up blood a couple of months later. A slow killer, but a killer nonetheless. Some of the older folk have already started dying.

“No, absolutely not, Valerie” you heard Tess’s voice come from downstairs. You just happened to walk past to hear it. “It’s way too risky”. These words piqued your interest. “She is our best option, and you damn well know that” Valerie, a woman you live and work with says, a stern undertone in her voice. You slowly walks towards them, walking down the stairs without making a creak, eavesdropping.

“This would take months to complete..” Tess sighs, adding in, “We don’t even know if we have that kind of time, folk’ are already dyin’. We don't even have no idea how heavily surveilled it is”

“Do we have a choice? We’ll run out of our own supply within a month if we’re lucky. They will all die” 

Tess is quiet, you could almost hear her thinking if you listened hard enough. You enter the room, “What’s going on?” you ask 

Tess stands still and shares a look with Valerie before looking at you, sighing and crossing her arms. “We have received intel that there is a massive supply of vital medical equipment as well as medication, medication that we need. It’s In a settlement controlled by some sort of… faction. They call themselves the ‘reclaimers’. Nasty bunch. We need the medication, and well.. If our sources are correct, which they haven't failed us before, it’d be enough to not only cure the folk round here; but we could also sell for an enormous profit. We could make a lot of money. Maybe buy a new truck. Supplies. Guns….”

“I’m in.” you say, without hesitation, cutting her off. Tess shakes her head, she opens her mouth to speak, but you interrupt her before she can “I can manage myself, you made sure of that.”

Valerie looks at Tess with a ‘I told you so’ look. “You’d have to walk for, probably, months on end just to get there and back. They’re west, somewhere in Montana, located deep into the forest. You have never been on a mission that lengthy, and it's fucking cold as shit - and it's only going to get worse” 

“What’s our other option here? Let people die?” you ask, and pause. They stay silent. “I wouldn’t accept if I didn’t know I was capable of handling something like this, Tess….”

You look at each other for a long time. She knits her eyebrows together, somberly, and shakes her head. She doesn't know if she can let you do anything like this. Not because she doubts your ability - rather, she cannot get herself to put you in that type of danger.

“You heard the woman…” Valerie says smugly. 

“Fine”. Tess says, slightly annoyed and probably feeling very protective. “I need to stay here and take care of some things, keep track of the radio and such.. Valerie needs to tend to the people here. It…It would be you and Joel.” 

This takes you slightly aback. On one hand, even though Tess might think his methods are unconventional - she trusts him, and you trust her. Besides, you have worked professionally very well before and always get the job done. But on the other hand…it’s Joel fucking Miller. 

“Months on a job with Joel Miller? Fuck me…” You scoff. Tess’s lips curl into a slight smile evidently trying to hold back her laughter. She knows the kind of disdain you feel for him. 

“There’s no one else I’d trust to send you away with on a mission like this. Except for me, of course” Tess says, leaning against a wall. “Are you still in, even if it’s him?” “Well.. i don’t really have a choice now, do i?” you say, and they chuckle. “When would we leave?”

Tess pauses. “You’d have to leave tomorrow” she studies your demeanor, waiting for you to opt out. Hoping in a sick, twisted way that you would - since that would mean that you’d be safe. You don’t hesitate. “He doesn’t know…yet. But, I know him. He would not turn this job down. Besides, he owes us too much, he can’t” 

You nod. “Well…he’ll probably be as pleased with working with me as I am with him” you say, rolling your eyes. 

“It’s about time the two of you get over that little feud of yours” Valerie interjects, you send her a warning look 

“Ain’t my fault he’s fucking unbearable” You point at her, gesticulating your annoyance already brewing by the mere thought of him. She shrugs. 

“I’ll call him on the radio - let him know.” Tess says. 

--

“With her?!” You hear Joel’s voice boom down from the hallway, annoyance evident on his voice. ‘yup. i was right’ You think to yourself, chuckling as you’re eavesdropping from the other room. They start start walking towards the kitchen, where you are stood. When he sees you, he nearly rolls his eyes, stopping in his tracks. “Well. Looks like we’ll be partners.”

You smile tight-lipped, nodding and holding back an eye roll of your own - trying your best to be civil. “Seems that way”

“We leave at 8. ‘Expect you to be ready by 7 forty-five” He commands. You nod at his instructions. ‘One minute of a partnership, and he has already taken the leading role. Fucking jackass.’ you think to yourself. “Better get some rest”

“Yeah, no kidding…” You mumble to yourself, sneering. He gives you a warning look. One that says ‘don’t start’.

Knowing there’s no point in furthering this conversation as tensions are already high, and you have months to argue with him, you turn to walk “I’ll go pack then” You announce, turning around.

“And try not to piss me off” Joel says loudly as you walk away. You just hold up your middle finger and leave the room. “Real mature!” He scoffs as he looks at Tess with a look that says ‘can you believe her?’, she just shrugs. 

That night you packed all that you would need - supplies, food, weapons, a tent…the everyday outing must haves in the midst of an active apocalypse, also…for the cold. Of course, you are not a total stranger to it, living here in Boston, but you also know that the cold here won't compare to the temperatures you are about to face - as you know walking through the north of the US in late autumn, early winter will not be an easy feat - and in a little tent, at that. It was estimated you would be gone for about a couple of months, at least - which is by far the longest job you’d ever been on. But, it was essential. 

That morning you wake up particularly early, to make it a point not to be late. Wouldn’t want to give Joel the satisfaction of berating you. You can already feel yourself wanting to spite him. Tess helped you carry your things down, not that you needed help, rather she felt bad for sending you to do something like this. Capable or not, she had a …. Somewhat motherly instinct for you. She also gave you the map with the places you’re headed, where you’re meeting the informants, where the safehouses are located and so on - and gave you the same rundown as she did for Joel, keeping the both of you informed. You are now stood in the kitchen, with your things in your arms. She paused and looked at you, having trouble finding the words, feeling herself getting choked up by the reality of the situation. Before you can diffuse the fears you see swirling in her head, she holds you tight. “You be real careful of yourself, got it?” 

“Yes m’am.” You say, voice slightly strained by the suffocating tight hold she has around you. She lets go of you, and cups one side of your face with her hand, and smiles with glassy eyes. She shakes her head as she takes a step back, as if to snap out of the sentimentality. 

“Now go and get that medicine.” she nods, trying to sound emotionless and strong. You nod and turn to walk out the building. “Oh, and… give him a tough time. Joel, I mean” She laughs

“You know I will” You wink, as you finally leave the house. Tess stands there with an awful feeling inside the deepest parts of her. She was meant to be the one to protect you, and here she is; sending you off to a mission where she doesn’t even know the magnitude of the threat it poses to your life. But, it’s too late now. Way too many people are depending on you. 

You continue walking out, as you lean against the truck parked outside. You’re not going to drive far with it, only 10-12 hours or so. They wanted to transport it somewhere else to sell (since the ongoing surge of illness has eaten away at your community fund), and since it was on the way Tess figured it would not hurt to cut down the length of the trip just a little bit. You stand there for a while, until you check your clock: ‘7:46am’. You snigger by yourself. Without noticing, Joel was walking towards you, gear in hand

“Right in time, for once” He mumbles. 

“You’re the one who is late, Joel” You correctly point out. 

“It’s one minute, stop yappin’” He says, walking over to the truck, throwing his stuff into it and getting into the driver's seat, slamming the door. What a cheerful man. 

You throw your bag into the car “I don’t understand why you’re the one driving” you mutter, getting into the passenger seat

“You know exactly why. Now shut it before I rip off ‘ya jaw and shove it up ‘ya ass.” He says, matter-of-factly, putting the keys in the ignition, turning it and starting the engine, looking forward. 

“Ooh, very kinky, Joel” You say sarcastically, taunting him.

He puts his foot on the clutch, as he shifts the gear. “Keep talkin', and I'll leave ya here.” he says and starts driving. 

“If only I’d be so lucky…” You mutter silently, watching out of the window as he pulls out on the narrow road through the tall buildings, keeping away from the major roads as they are heavily used by FEDRA.

“I heard that” He said, pointing at his ear, eyes on the road. 

“I’m glad your hearing is working, old man. Gives us a bigger chance of survival” you chuckle

“Old man?” He asks, insulted by what you said. “I'll show ya old man if you don't shut the hell up.” 

You roll your eyes, and decide to sit this one out. You know it’s not worth bickering, as you have a long, long road ahead of the two of you. “That’s better” He said after a little while of silence. You roll your eyes once again, deciding with all your will and might not to respond with a snippy comment, as you didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of giving him the reaction he so obviously is searching for.

You two drive for hours and hours without saying a word, sitting in the thick tension that is between the two of you. It wasn’t necessarily a comfortable silence, rather a silence that comfortably didn’t mean you had to talk to him. After 7 hours, you can start seeing the shift in the sky, the colors indicating the impending sunset that's occurring. 

“Maybe we should find somewhere to find shelter? Suns going down. “ You point out.

“I could work that out myself, thanks” He mutters. “We've still got a few hours left of daylight. Push on.”

“So I’m guessing your plan is that we sleep in the car?” You question, looking at him. He doesn’t leave his eyes from the road. 

“Yup.” he says. Well, you couldn’t think of any better plan, to be fair. A truck is not a bad place to sleep given the alternative. 

After about an hour or so, the car starts suddenly sputtering. “What the fuck?” Joel mumbles, as he quickly checks around the dashboard to see if there’s any indication as to what’s going on. You look over at him, quizzically. “Fuck!!” He shouts, hitting the steering wheel so hard that it honks, as the car comes to a halt. “That’s just…that’s just fucking great” He says, trying to restart the engine - to no avail. 

“So much for your plan on ‘pushing on’” you said, looking out at the quickly darkening sky, mocking him. He looks annoyed at you, as he gets out of the car, to check the hood. When he does, a light amount of smoke seeps out. 

Well, that sucks. But, you try to remind yourself that this truck was always going to be a temporary luxury, and you got 8 hours into the 12-hour trip. Oh well, more time with… Joel.. Sigh..

“Engines out” He grumbles, waving the smoke away from his face as he closes the hood again, standing and watching hopelessly at the car with one hand on his hip. “We’re not too far from the trucks drop off spot, guess we’ll have to walk the rest of the way.”

“So we just leave it here?” You ask

“Got a better idea? We’re in the middle of nowhere, nobody gonna steal it.” He answers. 

“It’s your head, miller…” You mutter. He chooses not to answer to your snark.   

“I say we still sleep in the car. It’s better than a tent.” 

You nod in agreement “In the middle of the road?” You ask, looking at an already annoyed Joel. He grimaces, whilst he mocks what you just said

“No, you idiot, we’ll have to push it” he stated, looking around the road to see a good spot, and ended up pointing at a spot by some trees a couple meters from the road. “And it ain't an easy feat. Let’s see if you got the strength to push a two tonne vehicle, little miss” 

You shrug. How bad can it be? Joel gets in the car and makes sure its gear is in neutral, as the both of you stand at the back of the car, starting to push. It takes some time, and Joel was right that it was, indeed, not an easy task. By the time you got the car by the trees you’re both catching your breath, Joel sweating profusely

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?” You say between breaths, holding your hands on your hips. He’s bent over in exhaustion. 

“Oh bite me” He hisses. You try not to laugh. “We’ll have to leave it here, try to radio Tess somewhere along the way, so they can pick it up - at least before someone steals it” 

You nod. It’s gotten dark, it’s time to sleep. So, you climb into the truck and start leaning back your seat to get as comfortable as you can. Joel does the same.

“So…” You say, breaking out the map. “We’ll have to recalibrate… it’ll be…what I'm guessing… 2 to 3 weeks to walk to our first meetup spot with the informants.” I sigh, already tired. 

Joel nods. “I'll carry ya if ya get tired” He teases, looking over at you as he lays back in his seat.

“Right back at you princess” You answer without a beat, changing the pins in the map, folding it back and lying on your side, away from Joel. He smirks at your answer. 

“Y’sure got a mouth on you” He says.

You roll your eyes as you close your eyes “night”, you mumble, ready to sleep. 

“G'night” he lies back on the seat and put his hat over his face before falling asleep.

--

The morning after, you wake up in a stir. The car was very cold, and the sun was just rising. You look around, and find that Joel is not in the car. You blink the sleep out of your eyes, and realize he’s popped the hood to check if there's any way to salvage this car. He sees you move around your head and peaks on the side of the hood

“g’morning, darlin’” he smirks. Is he more annoying than usual or is it because you just woke up? You can't decide. You furrow your eyebrows. He chuckles to himself at how displeased you seem to be awake. You were, after all, never a morning person. “We gotta get movin’”

“Yeah, yeah..” You mumble, getting out of the car to stretch and go to the backseat to collect all your things. Sleep still in your system, the two of you start walking along the road. After a while, you opt to walking through some hills, as Joel got more and more paranoid of meeting someone on the road. You walked for what must have been…14 hours, only taking a small break to eat something small that Tess had packed, sitting on two different places and not exchanging any words. The sun started setting, the sky turning an orange tinge.

“We better find shelter..come on” He said, looking around and seemingly found a spot not too far away - yet secluded enough to sleep for tonight. He increased his walking pace in a determined manner. You follow along not too far behind. Suddenly he stops dead in his steps. 

“Jesus fucking Christ” He whispered to himself, anger and frustration very, very evident in his voice

“What?” You ask, eyeing him a bit worried about his reaction.

“God fucking damn it” He whispers to himself “Dammit - I forgot my tent. We'll have ta sleep in the open. Hope you ain't afraid of the dark…” 

“Speak for yourself. I brought mine. I ain’t sharing.” You say, resuming your steps. 

“You're a real treat to travel with you know that.” He says, looking at you stood still, frozen by his own frustration as he is kicking himself for forgetting that damn bag.  

“I bet I am!” you yell, as you have managed to walk a bit further along than he has. He sulks as he continues walking. 

You both decide on a safe spot to make a shelter. Joel and you start instinctively preparing to make a fire and collecting anything that will burn. To his dismay, a light downpour of snowflakes suddenly fall from the sky. You look up and laugh at the sheer irony of the situation, the frustration of the day just piling onto Joel. And it’s only the first day at that. “Ain’t that a bitch, huh, Miller?” 

“Gotta be fucking kidding me” He groans. “That’s just great” 

The two of you start a fire, and put two cans of soup on it for dinner. He is sitting against a rock, drinking whiskey, looking as happy as you could in his situation (spoiler alert, he is sulking). You are putting up your tent, which you dutifully brought (unlike Joel) and you pause as you catch a glimpse of the sad man who seems to be very stressed with the current predicament he has found himself in. He is visibly freezing his ass off. You feel strangely bad. He can't sleep in this cold…

“Look, miller” you pause, he looks at you. “You’re going to die in this cold. Let’s just share tents. Ain’t nun weird.”

He scoffs, and looks back at the fire, taking a sip of the whiskey “I'm good”  

You sigh. “Stop being such a fucking Stoic and get over yourself. If you share your whiskey, I’ll share my tent” you say. Maybe by making a deal out of it, it’ll be easier for him to accept your help, you thought. 

He thinks for a while. He weighs out his options, as if there is not only one he can realistically go with - which is to accept your help. “Fine. Half-and-half?”

You nod, somewhat happy that he accepted, yet less happy of the reality - which was that you have to share a tent tonight. “Half and half” You repeat, nodding. You walk towards him and sit next to him. 

He gets another cup from his bag and fills it with his cheap, illegally brewed scotch, and passes it to you. “That’ll warm us up nicely” He said. It tastes like piss and firewood.

“Aye” You say. “How did you manage to remember bringing your whiskey, and not your tent?” You ask, with a slight hint of laughter to your voice. 

He huffed. “Priorities” He smirked, turning to you. 

“Well. I hope you have brought enough to maintain your end of the deal” you say, taking a sip. He silently lifts his bag, emitting a number of clinking noises, entailing he has probably got enough to last him weeks. Maybe a week now that you are involved. 

“Seems like an unnecessarily heavy weight to carry” you remark, taking a sip of the strong liquid. 

He stays silent for a while. “You’ll understand it soon enough” is all he says. Not knowing what he meant, neither caring all too much, you shrug and kept drinking aside each other in the dark silence. You eat the soup when it’s done, too. You pulled your legs to your chest to maintain more warmth, as it feels as though its getting colder by the minute, a few stray snowflakes falling onto the ground and quickly melting away. 

“Didn’t think you were so damn sensitive to the cold” he suddenly said.

“M’not, it’s fucking freezing” you say, breathing out. 

“Don't think I don’t see you shivering, princess” he says, with a sly smirk on his mouth

“Right back at you, princess” You say, mocking the way he said it to you. “Don’t fucking call me that ever fucking again, by the way”

“Someone’s a tad touchy, ain’t they?” He laughs, taking a swig from his whiskey

“Shut up, Miller” 

“Why? M’igetting on your nerves?” he asks, sarcasm swelling in his voice.

“Always have been” You quickly retort. 

“I’d say it’s mutual” 

You nod, as you kept drinking. The whiskey has become a lubrication for the regular anguish you’ve felt in the presence of Joel. Now you felt no more than subtly irritated. The drunker you got, the happier you were of the deal you did with him. You kept drinking in silence, until you’ve drained about a quarter of the bottle - which might seem like a little, unless you calculate the amount of food you’ve ingested compared to the whiskey you’ve drank. Your cup is, once again, empty - and you guide the cup towards Joel, who dutifully fills it with more. 

“Here ya go, princess” he says sheepishly, and you turn to give him a warning look

“I’m serious Joel, I’ll knock the teeth right out of your mouth if you keep calling me that.” You say, rather aggressively. 

“I’d like to see you try” He snorts out. 

You decide not to answer, as he is clearly getting a rise out of antagonizing you. You roll your eyes and chug the rest of your cup. So did, Joel.

He, again, filled your cup. “You seem happy I brought the whiskey. Like you could use some of it” He comments

“No shit. I’ve got two to three months on a mission with you. And it’s only the second night” you  shrug. “Not to mention that we have to share tents…”

“I ain't that bad” He chuckles. 

“You’re drunk” you add. 

“So are you” he quickly responds.

You nod, and sit in silence for a while - both, quite drunk. “I’m fucking tired. You tired?” 

You feel a bit loopy from all the alcohol, but stand up and agree, walking over to your tent. The closer you get to the tent, the more you realize just how small it really is. I mean, it’s small for just one person, imagine how cramped it is for two? Surely, the both of you cannot fit in there - what the hell have you gotten yourself into? You think to yourself. 

Joel walks slowly towards the tent as he watches you look into the tent, worriedly. He looks himself, and the same thought passing your mind right now has suddenly dawned upon his, “Oh, boy….” he mumbled

“Yeah, I know.”. You are both stood there, looking, for a while - until you initiate and climb into the tent, and lie down on the right side - making as much space for Joel’s body as you can. 

“This ain't gonna be comfortable, not one bit...” he says, as he lies down next to you in the tent, in a clumsy and stale motion. 

Your bodies are uncomfortably pressing together, without there being enough room to move away, nor was there to shuffle to a more spacious yet also non compromising position. You tried lying back to back, as it seemed the natural and least intimate way to lie next to one another, thus facing away from one another. Still then, there wasn’t enough space to spare personal space - not in this tent. 

“God this sucks.” you mutter from one side. 

“You got that right.” He answers from the other. 

You groan, as you try to get comfortable, nudging your elbow into his back in the process. He huffs out of pain. “You're making it worse.”

“Shut up. I’m just trying to get comfortable” You say, feeling an unrest in your body - one that the whiskey was not strong enough to numb. 

“So am I” He gets more irritated as you keep nudging into him. 

Finally, you settled to lie on your side, facing away from Joel. He takes the newly found empty space and lies with his arms against your back. You groan. “Your arms are hurting my back”  he does not seem to care, and stays silent. You finally give into defeat, as the mixture of the sleepiness and alcohol slowly seems to overtake your body and you both fall asleep.

Somewhere at night, you had rolled over. Joel was very warm, so naturally, subconsciously, you drifted closer to the source. With your face against his chest, he was softly awoken by the warm breaths coming out of your mouth, in small snores. He looked down, and saw you sleeping peacefully, right against him. He lied completely still, not sure if he should wake you up. The snores were not loud enough to keep him up, so he presumed that is the price he’ll have to pay to sleep somewhere warm tonight, so he tried closing his eyes and fall back asleep, repeating in his head not to look anymore at you - and just go to sleep. 

Suddenly you wake up, the morning after, head plastered against Joel’s chest, with his arm slung around your body, and your arm slung over his shoulder. It felt comfortable and warm….strangely.. Good lying like that, but you didn’t know how to react. It was utterly intimate and had crossed the border to cuddling very long ago.  And oh god…is that your saliva on his shirt? Did you drool on his chest?! You were so close to him that you could smell the stench of whiskey on his breath, no less your own bouncing from his chest and back to your nostrils. You were basically on second base with the man, without ever remembering if you fell asleep that way or if you had done it in your sleep. I mean hell, you barely remember getting into the damned tent…’we must’ve gotten very drunk’ you thought to yourself. You must’ve rolled over and not thought about it.

You lie frozen, unsure what to do in this situation. If you jerk too much, you’ll wake him - but if you don’t move… he’ll see what you are seeing as of right now - which is you two in an extremely compromising situation. Maybe you could turn around? But then it would border spooning…curse this god-damn tent! 

As if awoken by your thoughts, Joel’s body moves as if he’s waking up - and in a hasty and rushed move, he jerks his arm away from you - as if he just went through the same train of thoughts you did when you woke up. “What the fuck” He groaned, looking at you in an.. Almost disturbed manner. 

“Fuck.. Uh, mornin’..” You peep out, embarrassed. Kicking yourself for not acting faster before he woke.

“Morning” he says in a rushed voice as he looks around, slightly panicked. None of you know what to say, an awkward silence hanging over you. He is quick to peel away from you to climb out of the tent. “We gotta get going” he announced.

“Y-yeah” You say, sitting still in the tent, processing the situation. When you have mustered enough strength, you crawl out of the tent too - stretching as you stand up. You pack up and walk alongside each other in silence, might as well have been miles apart. The weight of your unspoken closeness from the previous night's ‘cuddling’ lingers in the air, you were both a bit thrown off, sharing the occasional glances at each other, unsure of how to address what had happened, or whether it was better left unspoken. There wasn’t much to say, to be honest. I mean, what was there to say? 

You got quite accustomed to the silence, to hearing nothing but the sound of your footsteps, wet against the humid grass. You’d think that walking for hours on end without the distraction of conversation would be something that would bother you, it proved to do the opposite. Without it, It was as if the world around you had muted its colors and sounds, leaving only the barest minimum of sensory input - which made time somewhat fly by. The aching in your feet and legs slipped to the back of your mind. You wondered if Joel was quiet because he was doing the same. 

You also wondered what his thoughts were regarding this morning, and how you woke up. You didn’t talk about it, that’s obvious enough…but, what was he thinking about? Maybe he didn’t think about it at all - it was, after all, innocent, you rationalized. Was he also trying to decipher the mixed emotions you were feeling without giving them too much weight - since that might make them real, after all? You can’t deny just how safe and comfortable you felt, regardless of who it was. 

Joel spotted you glancing at him here and there, he was equally aware of the tension. He, too, couldn't shake off the memory; He couldn’t help but to replay the events of last night in his mind, wondering if it was merely a product of shared body heat or something deeper. I mean, he could have just pushed you away…yet the unexpected warmth of your body against his, the rhythmic rise and fall of your chest as you slept, your breath hot against his chest.. It had been an intimate moment, and he couldn’t help but…enjoy it. However, he was as stubborn as ever, unwilling to broach the topic nor delve into the act itself. Instead, he focused on the mission at hand, pushing the awkwardness aside, shaking his head, not wanting to think too much of it either.  

As you continued on the journey, the trees began to thin out, and you found yourself standing at the edge of a clearing, the sun going down behind a mountain up ahead. You looked at Joel, who seemingly had the same thought you did - it was time to find shelter. He took the map out of his bag and looked around. “We aren’t too far away from a safe house” he grumbled.

You nodded, taking out a map of your own, trying to help him in the search of said safe house. As you slowly approach the road leading to the building the weather began to change. Dark clouds gather in the sky, and the first few raindrops fall, pelting against your clothes. The urgency of getting under a roof became more apparent, so you quickened your pace. 

Your breaths are visible in the cold, damp air, and the water has seemingly seeped into your clothes - leaving you feel colder and heavier. The cold made your thoughts kept circling back to the tent. The unexpected warmth of Joel's body against yours.. ‘God damn it. Get a grip. it's not even day four, and you're losing your mind.’ You thought to yourself. 

Finally, you reached the safe house, which wasn’t what either of you had hoped for. It was an abandoned decrepit building, a relic of the world before the outbreak, with a roof that had seen better days. It was a stone building, partially hidden away by the tall unkept grass surrounding it, as well as tall trees huddling around it, vines growing on the walls. It was probably old 20 years ago, let alone now… The building was leaking from the roof and had gaping holes in the walls - making the shelter far from ideal. It offered some protection from the rain, but not much else. It was, however, better than getting drenched in the pouring rain and being exposed to the elements. You closed the door behind you and took a moment to catch your breath, looking around. 

“Well.. This is the best we've got for now” He finally muttered as the wind howled through the gaping holes in the walls. 

You look around and find it was pretty empty. There wasn’t any furniture, just a chair. Floor filled with scattered garbage and miscellaneous, dusty items from people who have been here before. The water is dripping from your clothes onto the stone floor beneath you, creating a puddle. "We need to get out of these wet clothes," he finally stated, his voice practical and no-nonsense. 

You knew he was right, but the timing of it made it slightly uncomfortable. He knew he was straining on the already strange atmosphere that has been looming over the two of you since you found each other in the brace of one other. However, you also knew the reality of the situation. Your pride was warring with the necessity of the situation. The chill in the air and the knowledge of the dangers of hypothermia prevailed, and rational thought found its way back to you. You have months left to travel with Joel - and undressing in front of him to ward off sickness should not be an embarrassing thing, it ensures your survival and should be nothing more - is nothing more.

He could see the hesitation in your eyes, as you shivered, teeth chattering. He looked around for any dry fabric he could find within the safehouse—tattered old blankets and worn-out jackets. It wasn't the most comfortable solution, but it would have to do for now. He picked up a jacket. “Here.” 

You nodded in agreement and began peeling off your drenched attire. Joel did the same, his back turned to maintain some semblance of privacy. Finally free from the soaked garments, you are quick to put on the jacket, zipping it, covering your body enough to feel more comfortable. You start wringing out the excess water from the clothes you wore, leaving a puddle of water there. You avoided even looking in the direction of Joel, who you know is (most likely) currently butt naked. Instead, you find a moth-eaten blanket in a corner of the room that the rain hadn’t reached. Shivering uncontrollably, you wrap it around your waist, covering your exposed legs. You could see a not so naked Joel who had found some pieces of clothing to cover himself, thankfully. He was now hanging his wet clothes against the singular chair that he moved to one of the few dry spots in the house, so you opt to do the same. The room was still far from warm, and the leaky roof didn't help matters, but, at least you were in dry clothes, if you can call them that.

You spot the ever so tiny wood burning stove in the corner of an empty adjoining room. You check if there’s any wood in there, and to your surprise there is - however, not much of it. Enough for tonight, and that’s all that mattered. You started a small fire and quickly huddled up against it for warmth. Joel walked into the room, as he’d seen the light from the fire from the corner of his eye. He nodded in approval as he silently walked towards you, sitting down next to you to also keep warm. You both sit there in silence, waiting for the clothes to dry. 

Joel broke the silence, his voice softer this time "We'll have to wait out the storm here, and then we can continue our journey." You nod, agreeing.

As the night wore on, the humidity in the room strangled the feeble fire you had managed to kindle earlier, ultimately snuffing it out. The temperature inside the safehouse plummeted, and it became apparent that you couldn't rely on the fire for warmth any longer “Damn it” You mutter, shivering once again, trying to revive the fire - to no avail. 

What was also apparent was that the two of you were so obviously treading around the one thing you knew would help warm you up, very much proven by last night. Unsure, feeling awkward, you didn’t know if you should bring it up. Proudly, you both sat there in silence. The memory of the previous night and the warmth that entailed lingered in the back of both of your minds. It had been an unspoken but undeniable source of comfort in the midst of the harsh world you inhabited, and now, with the cold seeping into your bones, and the urgency to get warm overtaking the awkward tension looming over you, the thought of that shared warmth became impossible to ignore.

Without saying a word, you shifted closer to Joel, seeking his body heat. Joel, initially surprised, looking over at you, understood the unspoken request and shifted to accommodate you. It was an unspoken agreement, a silent acknowledgment that you needed each other's warmth to survive the harsh, cold night. 

With a shared understanding of practicality and mutual vulnerability, you created a makeshift sleeping area consisting of zipped up sleeping bags, dry blankets and whatever else fabric you could spare that would dampen the solidity of the cold, damp floor. This was where you settled as you finally lay side by side. You tried to find a comfortable position, mirroring the way you had slept in the tent the night before, with him against your back. Your bodies pressed together, and your breaths synchronized in the cold darkness, neither of you speaking about it, rather you let your bodies instinctively gravitate closer, seeking the heat that the other provided. 

In the quiet of the night, as you shared body heat to stave off the biting cold, the tension that had lingered between the two of you began to seemingly fade. Despite the uncomfortable surroundings and your strained relationship, you both found a strange comfort in your shared warmth and the familiarity of each other's presence. There was no need for snark, nor sly remarks; pissing each other off. Neither did you have to discuss the somewhat uncomfortable, albeit innocent yet necessary, situation you’ve found yourself in. The cold was unforgiving, and your priority was to avoid hypothermia. You were, after all, nothing but two survivors making the best of the harsh and unforgiving circumstances given to you, finding solace and comfort in each other's company, even if it was unconventional.

He hesitantly kept his arms to his side. Joel broke the silence, clearing his throat, his voice barely a whisper, "I never thought I'd miss that damn tent." trying to diffuse more of the tension. 

You slightly laugh, feeling a slight cramp in your body from the duress of the situation. The laugh eased up some internal tension you didn’t even know you were holding onto. “It was for sure warmer than this” You chuckle. 

He smiled. And that was that. You were both admittedly exhausted, and drifted off into a very well-earned sleep, lulled by the heat radiating between the two of you. Secretly, you couldn’t help but to wish for the extra warmth that came from his arms around you, as it did yesterday, holding you impossibly close, keeping you safe in his big strong arms. Little did you know that he was thinking the same, but it was simply a line that Joel couldn't bring himself to cross. You had already navigated enough awkwardness and unspoken emotions that night. That didn’t stop him, however, from subconsciously doing so in his sleep - just as he did the night before. 

Morning came, and you were awakened by the sun shining through the window, and onto your face. To your surprise, you felt your body be wrapped in the warmth of Joel's embrace. He must have instinctively put his arm around you whilst he slept. At first, you felt a sense of contentment. It was strange, but also undeniable. It was a reassuring feeling, knowing that he was there, holding you tightly - just as you had secretly hoped. But, as your senses fully woke up, you became acutely aware of something else - a firm pressure against your back that couldn't be ignored. You froze, your eyes widening in shock, and your heart raced as you registered the presence of Joel's erection pressed against your back. Joel was still asleep, as far as you were concerned. His breath heavy and warm on your shoulder, light snores leaving his mouth. Your mind raced as you tried to process the situation. You two had already crossed so many boundaries during the night to stay warm, but this felt like an entirely different kind of boundary altogether. Was this intentional? Or just a physiological response to their proximity? 

Was there a sick, twisted part of you that engulfed your mind with fantasies of alleviating the pressure burning in the pit of your stomach with the (from what your back could feel was a very appropriately sized) dick prodding at your back? Yes. You were only human, after all. Were you going to do anything about it? No. You knew this was not intentional, not realistically. You’re a grown woman and know that he couldn’t control it just as much as you couldn’t control your deep guttural reaction to such an… event.

You debated over your next moves, unsure of how to navigate this uncharted territory. If you move away, he will wake up, realize he has a boner and think it scared you off. But if you lie there, hoping it goes away, and he wakes up with a raging boner still in full swing rubbing against you - he’d be mortified. Him, being a proud man would never live that down, and would probably not talk to you again, or at least not know what to say, in the midst of his own embarrassment. After yesterday, and the progress you made in your ‘partnership’, you couldn’t help but to dread the deafening silence that came with the impending awkwardness. You’ve been through so much already, and have yet to even get close to finishing this mission. So much left yet to go through. You have crossed so many bridges, this is just one of them. This was just a fleeting moment and not as significant as it might feel in the heat of the moment. It’s not a big deal, not really, just bodies doing body stuff. Or at least that is what you are telling yourself.

Carefully, you adjusted your position ever so slightly, shifting your body away from his rock solid member to relieve the pressure between your bodies, all the while ensuring that you didn't wake him from his peaceful slumber. It was a delicate maneuver to maintain the pretense of sleep, but you hoped it would be enough for you to potentially feign ignorance, just in case he was awake. You, flustered by the situation and the thoughts lingering in your (albeit perverse) mind, could not fall back asleep. Rather, you lied there letting your thoughts run wild. Couldn't hurt to indulge into harmless fantasy?

A couple of moments later, you could feel shifting next to you. Joel slowly woke up, feeling the oh so familiar throbbing that welcomes him in the mornings from time to time. Joel comes to his senses as he gently wakes up, quickly remembering the way he fell asleep against you and how much of a compromising position that would be for him right now. He quickly snapped his eyes open to see, to his relief, that you had moved away in your sleep, or at least so he thought. ‘Phew’ he thought to himself. He quickly sprung to his feet, leaving the room - hoping it goes away before you wake. He was not entertaining the idea of taking care of it, it could be too risky. 

Him waking up reminded you of his existence, which filled your lust driven mind with an enormous guilt and shame regarding your thoughts. He didn’t have control over that, and your insatiable mind went and ran with it. You quickly shook the thoughts off and tried to think of something else as you laid there, unsure how to proceed.. 

You laid still until you heard Joel packing his bag. You took it as an indication that you were out of the woods, and had dodged a bullet - even though the both of you are flustered by it, without the knowing that the other one knew. You get up, and start folding the cloth and blankets that made up your ‘bed’, and walked out to the room with the bags and packed. Joel didn’t say anything. 

“G’mornin’” You announce your presence. He, already hyper aware of it, hums as a response. You don't look much into it, relieved he isn’t treating you differently considering last night's sleeping arrangements. When you packed up, you put your backpack around your shoulders, your rifle around your neck and the rest of your gear clinging to the bag. You look at Joel, who is watching you as you pull the straps of the bag. You look up and nod. “Let’s go?” 

He nods. You’re off.

[fxshigurosbae]

ılı.lıllılı.ıllı.

now playing ► KINKTOBER 22, second week.

OVERVIEW. he is much worse better than you thought.

♫ SONG DURATION.

0:00 ——◦———— -2.5kwords

parental advisory ! explicit content

LYRICS. boss!employer, office, clothed sex, semi-public setting, enemies to lovers, orgasm denial, multiple orgasms, rough, manhandling, size kink, fingering, stockings, creampie, pet names, sound restraint, unprotected, strong language.

ᴠᴏʟᴜᴍᴇ : ▮▮▮▮▮▮▯▯▯

— the playlist

fear of men, more like a desire to avoid them, there were comprehensible reasons. that included, more specifically, directly and shamelessly honesty in wishing to stay away from that man, the one in charge of you, kento nanami. what a complete cold, rude and snobby attitude he has, you thought. he gives me so much work, it’s impossible to finish on my shift!, you complain. fuck him, such a jerk. you insulted on your head all over again, in a very constant and, perhaps daily, trail of thought. that blond-hair that whenever you saw, sent horrific shivers down your spine, followed by a not very discrete sigh from your lips, a snort or even maybe, clicking your tongue. nanami, your boss, surely was a man of few words, choosing ambiguously wisely, well, in a very direct way — maybe a little too straightforward — and so, coming off as an asshole sometimes, which infuriated your nerves. definitely, your efforts were higher than most of the workers there, yet, he did not recognize it, ever, no one’s efforts — it is your duty, if you’re unsatisfied, resign. yeah, harsh, his word. with a pile of never-ending papers of data, skimming through the numbers, letters and symbols with a dizzy head, stiff fingers from the repetitive typing, working overtime, again. throughout the day, with the same rhythm, no accumulated tasks and even so, you had to work until late at night, watching your workmates leave, with dark circles under their eyes but still, sharing how much they were going to eat after that, ramen, beer, rice, something as small as an oniguiri made your mouth salivate — curse him, making you go through that suffering, that torture. now, the lights were off, only the city outside, the hallway and your bright, blinding screen were a part of the scene, making the space a bit more visible, barely. worse was, being so focused on the priorities, thinking the other person across the cubicles of the office wasn’t anyone important…

“y/n, please, come here.” jolting at the sudden break of the silence — exempting the sirens and horns from outside, keyboard, air conditioner and the machines — a voice, a familiar one called. your curious eyes peeking over the white low walls, standing up fully, taking steps at the direction of the speaker, high heels tapping, echoing lowly. i thought he hated working overt—

“you do know i hate working overtime.” effortfully, attempting to contain yourself from rolling your eyes back.

“yes, i am well aware of that matter.” if someone could see your face, they’d say you must have woken up on the wrong side of bed. he took off his glasses, cleaning them with a cloth, then staring back at you with that same old quite angered expression, like yours, a very tense atmosphere, as usual.

“then, tell me why haven’t you been able to finish your work? you do know i am your supervisor, if the important tasks, given to you, are not done, those become my responsibility.” rude. even standing a bit farther from him, from a higher angle, that made yourself feel so much smaller, intimidated.

“well, if you hadn’t given me so much to d—

“it’s your work, i have mine, if you do yours, we will avoid this situation.” putting his glasses back on, he focused on the screen in front of him, typing for a few seconds. “don’t get your personal feelings involved on this matter, be a professional.”

“i’m sorry?” you question, confusedly mad, making the man pause, glance at you with his head titled slightly towards your direction.

“i acknowledge your dislike for me.” good, at least he’s self-aware. “i am simply doing my job, i see you take my sincerity as an offense.” you restrain yourself, doing the upmost to keep quiet, to be mature.

“well, nanami, if you weren’t such a— beep beep

the fax machine starts, gosh, that thing saved your job. watching the blond stand up, walk towards the big equipment with slow movements, seeming tired, perhaps. doing whatever was needed, heading to where you stood, without a care in the world and, setting the paper on his desk, yet, not sitting back down.

“what were you saying?” his almost adenoidal voice asked, as if teasingly, he knew where you were getting at. supporting himself with a hand on the surface, staring at you, expressionless.

“nothing.” stares, the eye contact was intense. a few seconds later, his head looked down, hearing a sigh come from him, his fingertips removed his glasses for real, now, laying them on the table. Your breath hitched as you noticed the distance between you both had been way closer than you’d thought.

“you surely are a piece of trouble, it even feels like i am your enemy,” crossing his arms and legs. “mrs. y/n.” because you are.

“are you done lecturing me, again?” there was a twitch in his lips, almost like a curve forming, your heart skipped a beat.

“no.” simple like that. it wasn’t fair, how he approached you, even if you felt rage inside, that could not be enough to make you push him away. closing in, inch by inch, putting you on a narrow spot, where you have your lower back against the desk, holding onto the borders, his body so proximal, yet not touching at all.

“what are you doing?” you nervously question, feeling your cheeks warm up.

“i have no sentiment of hatred against you, even if it seems like it,” such a calm voice. “in fact, what i dislike are your methods, more so, who you are at work.”

“that didn’t change anything.” the air felt heavier.

“it did, i never said i hated who you really are, since i don’t know her,” his breath was fresh, burning against your skin, a very noticeable difference in heights. “but you,” he paused. “you can’t say the same.”

“that’s right,” oh, a chuckle from him. your heart skipped a beat, again, dammit. the blond leaned down, a tiny bit, getting closer, so close his eyes felt like devouring you, until you noticed his hands beside your waist, but on the desk, enclosing your body even more. “i, hate….” lips so very close. “you…” touching barely. “nanami.” softly kissing, yet harsh at first, the contact was a perfect fit. the kiss had endured a few seconds, those seconds felt like nothing, until you were the one pulling away.

“doesn’t seem like it.” if you could, you’d punch him in the face, never even wanting to think about how red your cheeks must have been, because you know they were burning. his mouth leisurely moving close to your ear, both his hands latched onto your waist delicately, shivering as those same palms brought your hips against his crotch. “will you let me fuck this hatred out of you, darling?” whispering so very softly, it damaged your poor heart — which beat sped up even more.

“want to see you try.” words slipped out, slightly feeling his smirk against your skin, suddenly being put to seat on the desk, where there was an empty space and, nanami swiped off whatever could be in the way. another kiss, a fierce one, the man fondled your ass, with a gasp you left, then, he could easily slip his tongue inside your mouth and start leading. his fingers snook under your skirt, having your legs wrap around him, it was easy to lift you off the table and, unexpectedly, rip off your stockings, having you choke. “those were my favorite!” you complained breathless, in between pecks.

“i’ll buy you a new one, sweetheart.” feeling a breeze against your skin, you sinked back down the surface. those long fingers of his right hand, now instead, made their way to your shirt, still supporting yourself on the border of the wood below you and, all while he almost devoured your lips. unbuttoning so skillfully the small dots of your white collared shirt — the one that fit perfectly, made your body look absolutely even more gorgeous — until your lacy black bra was on sight, having him pull away for a second and, shamelessly stare at your chest, smiling truthfully, not taking off your shirt entirely, but was open enough to expose your torso. “that’s sweet.” you couldn’t decipher what he truly meant and, even if you could, he did not let you, after joining your lips once more, passionately. those digits now finding their way under the fabric, pushing it down, letting your breasts free over the bra, playing with a nipple surprisingly and, spontaneously letting out an unwanted moan. you were the one pulling away now, too ashamed to stare back at him, head to the side, covering your eyes with your forearm, noticing how the bulge on his pants was in contact with your inner thighs. he decided to stop, spreading your legs further apart, loosening his tie with a heavy breathing that made his features soften, unzipping his pants with the other hand. nanami reached now to your thighs, running his hands until the hem of your panties, since your skirt had been lifted to your hips quite some time ago, finishing to rip off the pantyhose you wore, as well as, pushing aside the cotton fabric of the lacy underwear matching your top and, your own hand flew to his wrist as soon as he played with your folds. “are you embarrassed for being this wet?” the blond questioned, noticing how you tried to stop him.

“shut up.” he smirked softly, again. lubricating his fingers enough and, so quickly, that it was easy to slid two of them inside your pussy, without warning, clenching your walls and attempting to squeeze your legs shut, however, he kept them open. your mouth morphed into an o shape, throwing your head back in ecstasy. “don’t tell me you’ve came already.”

“i-i didn’t.” liar, what a silly lie, you haven’t had sex in years. pushing them deeper in, you tried hard to keep quiet, it worked, for now. still tightly gripping onto his arm and wrist, so ashamed of the situation, your toes curled and heels were about to fall off from your feet, while nanami’s chest was heavily and seductively going up and down. thrusting those in and out painfully slow, curling them when he was all the way through, calloused wide and long fingers, he acted as if prioritizing your own pleasure first — he would never do that, would he? he’s just a selfish prick that… fuck — hitting that one spot led you to the edge, lips parted again, a low, very very low whine escaped and your grip tightened, yet, he knew he had found it.

“you’re very sensitive, mrs. y/n.” don’t say my name or i’ll… his tired eyes had an unexpected warmth to them, differently than usual, there was even this strange feeling that he was so needy and caring, his cheeks were faintly red, even if the lights were low, you could see that. with a more than perfect thrust of his fingers, such a pretty whine left your lips, so lewd, meanwhile, so innocent, not a hint of fakeness, nor dislike. and, with your back arched a little more, biting onto your lower lip, discrete trembling legs, you had came once more, a bit harder than before, squelching noises becoming louder, but before that, nanami’s head fell onto the crook of your neck, his nose against your skin. “i can’t take it anymore,” pulling out of you, he grabbed onto the sides of your hips, slowly leaning back, inches away from your face. “i need to fuck you.” with that, kissing again, like it was familiar already, like he was famine, with insatiable hunger for you. nanami, once more, like before, spread your legs apart, getting in between them, your arms wrapping around his wide shoulders. so very suddenly thrusting inside, with a cock you’d never imagine could be that big, immediately failing to keep silent, yet you kept on trying. pausing to take each breath, he faltered, with chopped short breaths, recomposing and pounding for the first time deep enough to maintain your legs shaking. one of his hands rested against your lower back, the other, held one of your thighs, bringing it closer to him. those were harsh, long pounds, ones that could easily break you in half if you were a porcelain doll. the pace was rough, but even, with a slight hint of gentleness. his groans were audible, your ego was flushed down the sink, which meant your whining was all over the place now, you gave up — he was treating you nice, there was no reason to stay quiet — and those sounds were soft, so sweet, so pretty, his cock seemed even bigger inside, your gummy walls clamping him tighter, hardly letting him breath.

“you fucking b-bastard,” dizzy, breathless, aroused and with tits jolting along your entire body at each of his forceful and precise thrusts. “it feels s-so good.” praising rudely, in between the pecks of his lips against yours, finding his way into also kissing your cervix.

“i know, sweetheart, i know.” his voice soothed your anger, which made you even more irritated, which contrasted with the puppy expression in your pretty face. pulling your body closer, with a more concentrated, methodical pace, the one that led you to moan even louder, to hear this man whine so desperately, to have you repeat a number of no!no!ngh-n-no!s, trying to convince yourself this was not the best fuck in your entire life — who would have thought, your boss, the one you hated, that treated people so badly, could do this to you. your nails digging over his social shirt, the one unbuttoned to the top of his chest, seeing a droop of swear rolling down, making his fragrance stronger. instinctively, arching your back, while being both penetrated by his cock, balls deep, jolting body, embraced by his arms pulling your hips at each slapping contact. a familiar feeling on your lower belly, clenching down even more, moaning so loudly it echoed, being kissed all over your neck, with his soft lips.

“‘m gonna cum!” effortfully advising, trembling.

“go on, please, do it for me, darling.” gripping the back of his hair, pulling him into a last kiss before his sloppy pounds made you cum another time, so good that it sent electric sparks all over your body, beginning to get so dumb for his cock that if he kept it that way, you’d even tell blurt out you loved him. followed by you, repeated fucks left nanami’s mouth, very serenely and lowly until there was just this sudden warmth filling you up, thrusting one last time, and a white ring on the base of his cock, staying in position for as long as he could last. in an instant, it flew by, only noticing his missing comfort as he slid out of your cunny. but, well, the man was not hesitant to push two of his fingers inside you, keeping his cum stored safely inside. “consider it your salary advance.”

🔖: @ryumiii @shi-thats-kiera @witheldclouds @jeanswife101 @doumalover @drpepperlov3r @bontensbabygirl @cozydeku @simp-lauren @fatenpara @cookieempress2 @call-me-pretty-and-nasty

[opticfile]

𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝, 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐡𝐢𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡

—✦ 𝐬𝐲𝐧𝐨𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐬 // you hate him, he thinks you're the best of friends. what happens when one interaction dissolves the irritation and you're left hopelessly falling for him?

✧ inspired by @lonelyrosegold's post

—✦ 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 //Alfred F. Jones (APH America)

—✦ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 // cubicle office work, halfway enemies to lovers, swearing, slight angst if you squint, fluff

4.5k words

Alfred F. Jones.

The F stands for Freedom.

The poster boy for American charm, the devout former boy scout with a wide, toothy grin that screams Hollywood, the man with a voice that sounds the way butter melting on hot pancakes feels (and God when it dips into the slightest southern drawl when he’s talking to someone from the south).

The man of your dreams, the man of your nightmares.

Your coworker.

Him and his overzealous joy, the oblivious airhead attitude that he sports with pride as he obnoxiously babbles on about this or that while you're trying to get paperwork done. Alfred seemed to have a knack for getting on your nerves, making the corners of your lips twitch downwards and your heart speed up as your anger and irritation build. He’s the only man you’ve ever known that could get you so worked up and ready to explode in annoyance within 5 minutes of a conversation. 

And his cubicle was right in front of yours. You shared that thin little barrier wall that did nothing to muffle his sickening giggling, not to mention the fact that when he stood up he could lean right over the top and look down at you. If you had a nickel for every time he’s tossed some paper over the top, you’d be retired and vacationing in the Bahamas, reveling in your life being free from the infection that Alfred proved to be. He was like a computer virus that you accidentally downloaded while trying to pirate a movie, the one that you just can’t get rid of no matter what you tried, you just can’t shake it and it always comes back to haunt you. Alfred F. Jones was your personal virus.

When you were trying to scan documents, Alfred always seemed to be peeking his head around the corner before breaking into that grin that made your skin crawl every time you saw it. He always just wandered over to you, one of those little paper cups that you get from the water coolers in hand, probably empty but still held tight as if it was glued there. He’d languidly stride into the room and greet you, too oblivious to see—or just outright ignoring—the way you exhaled sharply the moment he opened his mouth. Your brows furrowed together and your fingers tapped the machine in front of you waiting and waiting until the moment you could excuse yourself.

You wondered if he was dumb on purpose or just genuinely that 0blivious to every sign and every signal you’ve sent him to indicate “Hey, leave me alone!”. You wondered if he even noticed the way you frowned or fiddled your fingers in impatience, the way your voice snapped back at him when he said something you didn’t like. You wondered if he even cared, he took everything you did in stride, he tilted his head and smiled a little wider, and laughed at your snarky remarks.

You wondered why you cared. Or why you hated him so much in the first place. Everyone loved Alfred. He was the office’s good boy, he was the mascot, the star player, and the coach. He had friends worldwide, and his charisma and humor captivated everyone who he interacted with.

Everyone but you, it seemed.

Alfred was intrigued by you, in a “I wonder what they’re all about” kind of way. The day you plopped your beat-up cardboard box down on your desk and he popped his head over the wall to see his new office neighbor was the day he vowed to get to know you as more than just that. At the very least, he wanted to be on good terms.

That's why Alfred took every glare and snarl and jab like a champ, that’s why he stood there like a stone wall, refusing to crumble under your pressure as he kept that dreamy airheaded grin right on his face. That’s why he asked you all those stupid questions that annoyed you like “What’s your favorite insect?”—for the record, he remembers you said it was bumblebees—until you’d give in and answer so he’d leave you alone (he never did). The two of you were friends in his heart, in his mind, and in his ideal little world that he dreamt about when he went to sleep.

He made little doodles of your favorite things, the things he saw you smile at and collect and look at the most, he balled up the paper and tossed it over between tasks. He wondered if you collected them and unraveled them and looked over them fondly, he wondered if his artistic skill was chipping a crack into the stone walls you’ve challenged him with. He hoped that you took them home and put them up on your fridge like moms do with their 1’st grader's art—because let's be real here, Alfred is not drawing a hyperrealistic rose, he’s drawing a circle in the corner of the paper with sun rays and glasses because it's silly and makes him smile. 

He hopes it makes you smile too. 

He wishes he saw your smile more often. 

Maybe he should become funnier to get you to smile more.

So when he’s on call with Gilbert and Matthias playing Call of Duty and he makes them laugh he thinks back to you and wonders if the same joke would make you laugh. And so the next day at work he busted out with a joke that felt just slightly out of context and made you scrunch your nose in confusion because what does that even mean? That’s when Alfred cackles because he really butchered that and the way you stopped in your tracks to process what he said made his heart smile.

He thinks you’re cute when you're mad, and you think he’s irritating when he’s happy. Your coworkers wonder what cruel plans fate had when it set up this office drama like it's a Sims 4 playthrough and its “Flirt” interaction just got waved off. Seeing Alfred standing up with a knee on his desk and his arms folded over the barrier, looking down at you fondly and you returning him with a cold shoulder and a roll of your eyes was almost comical. 

“Are you excited?” Alfred chirped.

“For what?” You muttered, clicking and clacking at your keyboard as you made a spelling error every 5 words—why are you having a hard time typing, Alfred is just so distracting it hurts.

“The party!” His smile grew, pearly whites on display.

“You mean the banquet,” You glanced up at him with a judgemental look, “the work event that is mandatory. It’s basically just another work project.”

“Awww, c’mon, I know you’re excited.” He winked at you, “Have some fun with it, sure it’s for work but there’s free food and people and we get to dress fancy!”

“We dress formally for work too. You’ll probably just wear the same outfit, tie and all.”

He looked down at his pizza print tie, “What’s wrong with my tie?”

“Back to work, Jones.” A voice echoed from the other side of the room.

“I’ll see you there.” Alfred whispered, slowly sliding down the wall for dramatic effect.

The clacking of your keyboard became more aggressive as you finished out your email, hitting send and unclenching your jaw as you took a deep breath. You rested your chin in your palm and idly scrolled through your inbox full of already read emails, mind flooded with thoughts about that damn banquet that you just had to go to, the one that Alfred would undoubtedly be tailing you at all night.

A ball of paper landed right on your keyboard.

You’d be damned if you let Alfred F. Jones ruin your night and get in the way of your career. You worked so hard for this, to be able to have this opportunity at the banquet and to be able to hopefully impress a certain someone with your practical skills, maybe then you could get a different job and be free of your office nightmare.

You tossed it in the small bin beside your feet.

You brought the rim of your glass to your lips, sipping slowly as your eyes scanned the crowd. Where is he? Wandering from place to place, conversating with group after group, your social battery was draining and wow these shoes are not as comfortable as you thought they were. You rocked onto the balls of your feet as you downed another glass of water—drinking anything else would put you out of your conscious misery and probably create a problem bigger than you were equipped to fix.

Alfred’s loud, imposing voice could be heard through the noise of the crowd. He was making those stupid business jokes with old people from other branches again, the ones that were so bad that the 60-year-old man dressed in all black thought were the funniest jokes he’s heard since his 30s. You snorted to yourself and rolled your eyes before feeling guilty for being so judgemental and bitter. 

His baby blue eyes—the ones that seemed to hold all 50 of the stars in the American flag—made their way to you, you who was standing there holding an empty cup as you itched your shoulder and looked around in anticipation. What were you anticipating? Who were you anticipating? Was it him? What if it's him? Ok, time for him to make his way over.

“Hey! Fancy seeing you here~.” He nudged your shoulder.

“Alfred.”

“The one and only!”

“I’m um,” Your eyes flittered from Alfred’s form to the black hair on the back of his head, “I’m kind of waiting for someone, it’s important so I can’t really-”

“Dude, have you tried those cookies Elizabeta brought?” Alfred interrupted giddily, “They’re crazy good, let me grab you some, yeah?”

“Sure, whatever.” You muttered. Anything to get him out of your hair, “Excuse me.” 

Your shoes tapped against the smooth floor as you made your way to catch up to the black-haired man. You slid your glass onto one of the server’s trays like a scene in a movie, that felt cool, did that look cool?

“Sir?” You called, “Sir, it’s Y/n L/n!”

The man stopped in his tracks and turned on his heel, eyebrow raised as he scanned you up and down.

“Ah, yes, hello.” He hummed, “I’m in a bit of a rush so if you could make this quick.”

“I just was wondering how you liked my report.” You smiled eagerly, “I emailed it to you last week, I was wondering if you were able to look over-”

“Let me be straight with you. You’re a bright employee, but that report was just… messy.” He glanced at you with disgust, “It wasn’t what I’m looking for, it was amateurish, I don’t see a future for someone like you in this field.”

“What?” 

“I don't see a future for you in this field. Maybe you should stick to your… whatever it is you do.” He grimaced, “I think it’s best we leave it at that. Please contact me through my assistant from now on, my personal business email is for my real business inquiries.”

Meanwhile, Alfred was wondering where you had gone. You followed that guy pretty eagerly, who was he? Alfred caught a glimpse of your form slithering out of a door sneakily, your hand brought up to your face, and this look in your eyes that made him frown deeply in his place. He clenched the napkin full of cookies in his hands just a bit harder and- Geez, he always was a bit stronger than he realized. That’s fine, he’d eat the broken one and give you the whole one. Crumbled or not, a cookie is a cookie.

He hummed to himself as he made his way to the same doorway, an unsettling worry pricking at his heart. Alfred doesn’t recall ever seeing you look so defeated. Generally, you kept a straight face throughout the entire day he saw you. Sure, sometimes you’d scowl but that’s just how you were, you must just be having a bad day or maybe you’re irritated with some work stuff. Maybe he was bothering you a little, it’s in his nature to be excited. He wondered if you preferred chocolate chip or oatmeal—don’t worry, he got both—as he turned the corner and followed the tap, tap, tap, of your shoes.

You weren’t oblivious to the person walking behind you, you heard their heavy steps and cheerful pace and you rolled your tear-filled eyes because wow you hated the idea of people being happy right now when you were feeling so miserable. Your dream, your way out, your life’s work, destroyed by a man who wouldn't even spare you more than a glare and a huff. You continued until you found yourself in a quiet, secluded hallway with no one around but a janitor far off in the distance too busy mopping to notice your slight sniffs and sobs.

The quiet was interrupted by footsteps getting louder, were they following you or something? You scowled as you slid down the wall and plopped your ass on the cool tiled floor, knees to your chest, arms holding them there securely. Secure was the last thing you felt right now, but that’s beside the point.

“Y/n! Finally caught up to ya, I got the cookies you wanted and-” Alfred stopped his sentence the moment that he rounded the corner and saw you glancing up at him looking so hurt and sad and just the slightest bit confused. “...Oh, geez, I didn’t mean to uh…”

“...” You looked away from him, wiping your eyes, “I’m not in the mood, Alfred.”

Ignoring that, he plopped beside you.

“What’s wrong?” He looked at you through his crystal clear glasses, the ones he treated with such care because the last time he cracked them he had to wait a month before getting a new pair and his vision was constantly spiderwebbed or blurry. 

You remember him walking into the office that day, that wide child-like smile plastered on his face even though the entire left lens of his lifeline to sight was practically shattered. How did he always stay so positive?

“Alfred, I’m not gonna vent to you about this.”

“Why not? I’m a great listener,” He nudged you, “C’mon, tell me.”

“It’s- I just,” Your browline creased, “I worked really hard on something and it got rejected, like, painfully rejected.”

“What was it?”

“I wrote up this whole report to impress Mr. Wilson and he probably barely even look at it and trashed it.” 

“What? That sucks, why’d he do that?”

“He said it was amateurish.”

“But you worked so hard… I remember you stayed late a few times working on something, I read it over your shoulder, and,” He smiled sheepishly, “I thought it was good. Mr. Wilson should just buzz off!”

“Yeah, well, Mr. Wilson doesn’t share the sentiment. He just brushed me off and glared at me and spat his words at me like he’d rather be doing anything else than even look at me…” You sniffled, a fat, pathetic tear sliding down your cheek.

“I’m sorry, I know what that’s like.” He sighed.

He knows what that’s like.

You snapped your head to him, he looked down at the cookies in his hands with this distant, bittersweet look in his eyes and oh you were a piece of shit. 

“Alfred…” The tears welled up like the water in a dam, threatening to break through and flood. “I’m so sorry.”

“Huh?” He looked over at you, eyebrows furrowed, “For what?”

“For everything. I’m such a jerk.” You sobbed.

“Hey, hey hey hey, don't cry!” He leaned over to wipe the tears from your cheeks, his hands gentle and fingers calloused and rough, “I didn’t mean it like that, really, I’m sorry for making you feel bad.”

“No, I’m sorry for making you feel bad! You’ve been nothing but nice and I just… I can’t believe how much of a dick I am!” You dropped your head into your hands, waves of grief flowing through your veins, you were utterly distraught. It felt like you just gained consciousness and realized how you were treating him.

“It’s not your fault, c’mon, don’t beat yourself up.” Alfred frowned, pulling your hair behind your ear in a cliche manner and resting his hand on your knee. “I think you need some fresh air and a cookie.”

After everything you did and every jab you threw, Alfred was still right next to you, comforting you and rubbing your knee, and caring for you in such a genuine way that it made your heart ache.

You sobbed even louder.

“Can I get two pork tacos and a beef burrito?” Alfred rocked from heel to toe as he stood at the food truck window, his breath visible in the cold air. You rubbed your hands together to generate heat, a futile attempt not to freeze to death while waiting.

You smiled at Alfred as he walked over with the receipt, his own smile growing at the sight. 

“I come here all the time after work,” Alfred said as you both slid into the bench seats, “The food is crazy good.”

“Cool.” You hummed, “Is this the place you were telling Arthur about last week?”

“Yeah! You heard that?” He grinned, “Honestly, I doubt Arthur could handle the heat. I don't think he eats anything but beans on toast.” 

You giggled, “He is pretty bland, huh?”

“Are you kidding me? I’ve known that guy practically my whole life and the only time he gets any ‘flavor’ is when he’s drunk, and even then his ‘flavor’ is still vanilla.”

“That’s crazy!” You snorted, “Drunk Arthur sounds like a nightmare.” 

“Oh yeah, but the stories I get to hold over his head make it a dream come true.”

You took a bite of your taco, face scrunching at the sheer intensity of the heat from the spice. You didn’t exactly expect it to set your entire mouth on fire, and you sucked out the water from your straw like you were a dehydrated man who’s spent weeks crawling through the desert. Alfred stifled a chuckle as he took a bite of his own, his face not changing from that dopey smile.

“This is way more spicy than I was expecting- How are you just eating this like it's a cupcake?” You sounded horrified.

“My spice tolerance is peak, what can I say.” Alfred downed the taco in two more bites. “Trust me, the more we come here the more you’ll get used to it.”

We.

You kicked a rock along as you and Alfred walked down the street, basically just walking around the block of the office building where that stupid banquet was probably still going on. You snuggled a little deeper into Alfred’s coat. The bomber jacket he loved and cared for and probably would still be wearing in 40 years, the one he lent you because you looked a little cold and he swore he had a good temperature tolerance so he’d happily freeze his nips off if it meant you kept cozy.

“This was nice, thank you, Alfred.” You stopped by your car door, fiddling to find your keys and unlock it.

“Of course! It was really nice to actually spend some time together,” He laughed, “I’ll see you at work on Monday, yeah?”

“Of course.” You opened the door, standing behind it and smiling one last time at him. “Call me.”

Alfred’s grin couldn’t get any wider. 

You were curled up on your couch, Alfred’s coat still hanging over the back of it from your little outing Friday night.

You were consumed with conflict.

The sitcom on your T.V. did little to distract you from your thoughts. What was happening to you? How did one night make you go from hating him with your entire soul to suddenly looking forwards to seeing him? You used to dread seeing his name in your notifications, but now even just his last name being mentioned in any emails brought this fluttering feeling in your heart. You looked forwards to seeing what tie—the ones you used to hate for being so childish—he would wear on Monday, would it be that one alien print one or the hot dog print one? You looked forwards to seeing his blonde hair pop over the barrier and his blue eyes beaming down at you. “Hey, neighbor!” He’d say, it used to make you groan, but now you were smiling goofily just thinking of him saying anything to you and what is happening?

You ground your teeth together as you stared blankly at the T.V. screen.

Your Sunday morning conflict grew into a Monday morning crisis. As soon as you sat down at your desk and you heard Alfred shuffling you immediately thought “He’s here!” like you were a housewife hearing your husband’s keys jingling at the door. You needed help, you needed therapy, and you needed to be sedated because this is not normal.

The way you smiled up at Alfred when he popped his head over the wall was not normal. The way you laughed at his dumb jokes that you’d usually roll your eyes at made your coworkers stop in their tracks because Y/n L/n is laughing at Alfred F. Jones’s jokes and this is real. The way you caught the paper ball in your hands and saw a little bit of sharpie marks on it and unrolled the paper to reveal a doodle of a bumblebee and you smiled down at it made you think you needed to check for brainwashing. The worst part? You folded it neatly and put it in your pocket and took it home. 

Elizabeta glanced at you as you both were getting a cup of coffee. You yawned as you stirred your cup with one of those wooden stir sticks and swayed back and forth. She was dumbfounded, you’d never looked so at peace at work and especially not after talking to Alfred.

“What’s with you?” She giggled.

“What’d’ya mean?” You hummed, looking up at her, eyes practically sparkling.

“You’ve been acting so weird. Where is the Y/n I know?” She gaped at you in amusement.

“I don't know what you mean,” You giggled, “I feel fine, great even.”

“That’s the thing! You of all people never feel great when Alfred is within a 12-mile radius.” 

“I um, I guess I’ve had a change of heart.” You smiled.

“More like you grew a heart,” She rolled her eyes, you swatting her shoulder in offense. “I swear it has to be opposite week.”

“Oh come on Liz! Like I can’t be nice to someone, hm?”

“But Alfred? The guy you hated the moment you saw him? The guy who makes your skin crawl.” Her tone was teasing as she looked at you accusingly.

“He still makes my skin crawl, ok, just… Differently.”

“Gross! You’re in love with him!” She gasped.

“Keep it down!” You scolded.

“Y/n, it’s obvious.” Elizabeta smiled, that warm motherly smile that she flashed at you when you were down, that knowing smile because Elizabeta just seemed to know you better than you know yourself.

“I guess, I’m still just figuring it out, ya know?” You sighed, “I don’t really get why I feel like this after hating his guts.”

“Well, how did he make you feel back then?”

“Like… Every time he spoke to me my heart sped up because I was just so irritated with him, and I hated hearing his voice because it just made my skin crawl, and his stupid face was so distracting, I just wanted to punch it so badly.”

“Right… and how do you feel now?”

“...Every time he talks to me my heart…” You mumbled, “speeds up. And his voice…and his face and-”

“Are you sure you ever hated him in the first place?”

You clicked away at your keyboard, staying late at the office to do this or that—definitely not to avoid going home to your fridge full of Alfred’s doodles. You rubbed your face and groaned, your life turned upside down because two weeks ago he really cared for you and made you swoon and now you get heart eyes when you think about him. 

A knock on your desk snapped you out of your trance and you were met with- Speak of the devil, Alfred F. Jones. Mr. Jones. How does Mrs. Jones sound… no, stop that. Don’t be like that now.

“Hey, I can give you a ride home since your car is broken down.”

“Alfred, you’re a lifesaver.” You smiled dreamily, “I hate that stupid bus. I just can’t believe my car really just gave out on me like that.”

“I can take a look for you! I have a knack for that kind of stuff.” He smiled. You remembered the callouses adorning his palms and realized that yeah, this guy definitely works with his hands. What was he doing in an office cubicle? 

“You don't have to! I appreciate it though.”

“Nonsense, anything for a friend.”

A friend.

You bopped your head to the music in Alfred’s car, said man loudly singing California Girls like he is a California girl himself. You giggled with him as he pulled into the McDonald’s drive-through, another place he frequents after work. He placed the bags on your lap and grabbed both drinks, setting them in the cupholders. The smile that was plastered on his face perpetually made you melt a little every time it was directed at you, and the way that he subtly rested his hand over yours while you drove home made your stomach do backflips.

The jingle of your keys was all that was heard besides Alfred’s light humming as he held the food and drinks and followed you into your home. You told him to just set them on the counter, and after Alfred took one look at your fridge—or rather, what was on your fridge—he was filled with this sense of pride and happiness. Few thoughts bounced around his head, but right now he felt like he was jittering up and down from the sheer force of the rapid-fire thoughts going through his mind. 

Alfred liked this, he liked you, maybe a bit more than he should. The way your knees brushed as you ate your burgers side by side on your couch and the way that you smiled over at him after a funny moment on the T.V. and the way that it felt so right to be there next to you. All of it was so much, so fulfilling for Alfred.

“We’re pretty great together, huh?” He grinned over at you.

“I guess so, yeah.” You leaned your head onto his shoulder, arms wrapped securely around his. This is not just coworkers being coworkers anymore.

“Maybe we should be together more often then.” He blurted, your head snapping up to look at him, “Uh- Sorry, I meant-”

“Maybe you’re right.”

✧ navigation.

[lazystar]

The Office: Romance Day | Or The Office SKZ version

Word count: ~7.2K

Tropes/AU: Friends to Lovers, Fake Dating, Office AU

Age restrictions: 18+ MDNI pls! same w Ageless blogs TY :)

CW/ Content notes: Fem!Reader, ANGST, Himbo Changbin aka LOML, Author not knowing anything about corporate work, Cursing (it’s me y’all be fr), mentions of aliens (don’t ask), mentions of s*x with aliens like 2-3 times (again don’t ask but if you must ask it’s for comedy purposes no alien s*x happening here besties). Alcohol consumption and drunken behavior. Jeongin is a lil toxic when angy, sudden kissing but all parties are okay w/ it.

Y/N = your name, Y/E/C = your eye color, Y/H/C = your hair color

Tumblr operates on a system of re blogs! Support your writers by reblogging, sharing to your friends or commenting to spread your favorite pieces to other readers! Tysm 🫶🏻

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

You had never expected to become an employee at JYP Corp, let alone fresh out of university. You at an office job, in a cubicle? You would have laughed at the notion a couple years ago. But here you were, living in the big city of Seoul, at the top of the sales team at JYP. Before graduating university you had always imagined yourself as a star, or somewhere in the big leagues, but adulthood had changed you, you were happy living that basic life. That is, you were living a basic life until a certain man bumped into you one day three years ago on your way to the copier. That man was Yang Jeongin, a new member to your team who quickly became your best friend both in and out of the office. After the incident of him nearly knocking you over that day he had apologized via coffees and lunches for days and those meals had brought you two close. Conversations began with small talk, then office gossip, to now where you two could debate about if aliens would ever hypothetically be good in bed. He said no but you said yes. Resulting in the random airdrop of pictures of very disturbing fan art of alien characters and a text of “You mean to tell me you would let THAT hit? Side eye Y/N, side EYE.” It was safe to assume work had brought you together with your platonic other half.

But then even this dynamic was changed when you had caught the eye of one of the marketing team members, Changbin. He was attractive in a way that you couldn’t deny. He was sweet, charming, charismatic, funny, and honestly a great catch. But, he just wasn’t someone you saw yourself dating. However, where Changbin lacked was in his ability to accept a no when it came to dating. His ego was severely inflated, being the office crush for almost every other staff member, he just could not fathom that you didn’t see him that way. You had to take your lunches with Jeongin from the break room to cafès down the street to avoid the ever so charming male. Ranting to Jeongin about your misfortune of catching the eye of the office’s resident Gaston became a daily occurrence. At first Jeongin found it hilarious, but recently he’s begun to tell you to stop worrying about Changbin’s feelings and to focus on yourself. Jeongin had always said you were too nice for your own good and Gaston from Marketing as you two had once drunkenly dubbed Changbin truly started to make you realize this.

Everything changed though one mild December day, you had been able to spend some extra time on your work outfit and makeup before you arrived at the office. Your lips painted a festive red, which stood out against your black office dress and blazer. To put it simply you looked like a dream come true and just so alluring, like a Hollywood starlet, a vixen, the comparisons could go on for days as you seemed to collect admirers with every step. Even Jeongin couldn’t help but stare as you strolled over to your desk and let out a low whistle as you walked by. You let out a laugh setting your bag down and shook your head as he pretended to flex mimicking JYP’s resident macho man. Your laughter quickly fizzled out upon accidentally making eye contact with the marketing department’s resident heartthrob, who smiled at you and began strolling your way with a swagger and confidence that only told you he believed that upon the 83rd attempt to woo you he would finally see success.

As soon as your brain registered that Changbin was walking your way you quickly moved into Jeongin’s cubicle like a scurrying mouse. You didn’t even know why you went to his space other than to hide, even though Changbin had seen you, you two had made eye contact for heaven’s sake! Y/N what are you doing?! You weren’t even sure. What you knew was at this point you had exhausted every excuse, every gentle let down, basically every option you could think of to explain to the sweet muscular male that you were not interested in him being your office fling, rendezvous, anything more than a friend. Every option beside looking him in the eyes and explaining you were not the Belle to his Gaston, nor the Beauty to his Beast had been utilized and those last two were a bit harsh by your standards. So now you had to pull at straws for the one option you had left and it was the one you had come up with in the seconds you had before another riveting wink, smirk, “Meet me for dinner and drinks after work gorgeous?” combo came your way.

In Jeongin’s cubicle you met his raised brow and opening lips with a move that may just change your friendship as you know it, but like many great heroes in history you knew desperate times call for desperate measures.

“Don’t ask me any questions just please kiss me right now!” The panic in your whispered voice, your hand on his necktie, the pleading look in your eye’s conveyed to Jeongin your desperation in the moment. As Changbin’s footsteps approached closer and closer you pulled on Jeongin’s tie to bring his face closer to yours, he couldn’t help but smirk at your panic, his smirk was also was in response to the fact that you chose him to play your office lover, even if it was to get the office Adonis off your case.

“I have several questions, comments, and concerns but…okay.” He teasingly whispered back and cupped your cheeks, the warmth of his hands eased your rapidly firing brain synapses and his lips met yours. Your eyes naturally closed and you couldn’t fight the smile that made its way to your lips as you two shared the kiss. Your hands had almost settled on his arms when an awkward cough behind you cut off the moment between you and your best friend of two years.

“You know you really could have just said you and Jeongin were a thing, instead of giving me the run around Y/N.” Changbin grumbled. “I’m happy for the two of you though, genuinely, you make a cute couple.” His Hollywood smile shone at the two of you. His voice was bright and cheerful, but it also was loud, thus it carried across the whole sales department floor.

Soon enough the ruckus of “Wait Jeongin and Y/N are together?!” and similar statements rang over the clatter of keyboards and other office equipment. Your “relationship” became the coffee pot, water cooler, lunch room, basically entire office gossip. Floor by floor it became the hottest ticket at JYP Corp. The “Jim and Pam” of JYP, Y/N and Jeongin.

Two nights later over some wine and shitty reality T.V. you broached the subject with Jeongin. Pausing the latest episode of whatever toxic show you two had chosen to roast that month you looked at him, “Might as well play into it so why don’t we just be one another’s fake office date until it blows over?” your shrug and blunt tone baffled Jeongin ever so slightly. You didn’t seem to care one way or the other but it seemed like the logical solution to being the subjects of office drama.

“You’re fucking crazy Y/N, you know that? But fuck it, let’s do this.” He somehow had conjured up some legal pads and pens like a wizard, he scooted over so he sat closer to you as he drew up the “Jim and Pam Rules” which he had dubbed the guidelines to your forays into acting. The rules of fake dating in the corporate rule.

Rule Number 1. No stupid ass pet names

“Waitttttt. This means I can’t call you my pookie bear?” you pouted playfully.

“Y/N call me that and I’m exposing your alien fetish.” He deadpanned.

“IT’S NOT A FETISH I JUST THINK ALIENS WOULD HYPOTHETICALLY FUCK LIKE GODS!” A swift and perfectly aimed pillow to the head shut you up from your impending one-woman-debate regarding alien prowess in bed.

Rule Number 2. No catching feelings.

“Jeongin this isn’t some slow burn fanfiction or teen romance novel. You’ve seen me puke and cry simultaneously because that one ex boyfriend I had said I had weird eyebrows two years ago.”

“So this should be easy for me to follow.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?! Nevermind I don’t wanna know…I should have asked Felix from the Social Media team to pretend to date me instead. At least he would have been nice to me.”

“YOU TAKE THAT BACK RIGHT NOW! WORST FAKE GIRLFRIEND EVER ALREADY”

“RIGHT BACK AT YOU MEANIE”

Rule Number 3. We “break up” before the company New Year’s Party.

This way you two don’t risk getting into any cheating rumors if you somehow get drunk and find someone else attractive.

The two of you didn’t need to debate or bicker over this rule, it was logical, you wanted to subdue drama, not create more. So putting an end date on a fake relationship made sense.

Rule 4. Nobody can know it’s fake.

Self explanatory.

You didn’t create rules about cuddling, holding hands, kissing, or other forms of physical affection, because those had become staples in your friendship. Plus couples are affectionate, you need this to look real.

With rules in place everything seemed like it would go perfectly, nothing to lose, peace at work to gain. Like you had said this wasn’t a drama or like that. So you both set off on Operation Jim and Pam not knowing how truly drama-esque things would become.

A few days had passed and to your relief Changbin had been leaving you alone, as were any of the other office flirts and nosy colleagues you seemed to attract. This was more than likely due to how the office gossip began to report on your relationship with Jeongin. The talk of the office was now always about his morning routine that as your romance became public, revolved around you. Every morning you would find Jeongin waiting for you with your favorite coffee and pastry in his hands. He would escort you to your cubicle, pull out your chair, hang your coat up, and make sure you had what you needed. Before he would begin his work he would leave a sweet note on your desk stating how you were amazing at your job and to have a great day. At the end of the day he would wait for you to carry your purse, give you a sweet kiss on the cheek, and walk you home. He was the boyfriend drama script writers dreamed of. But you knew it was an act, but forgetting sometimes didn’t hurt, you were allowed to delude yourself that everything was real for a few moments a day. It was only fair that you permitted yourself that speck of happiness.

Outside of work he would be your best friend who would laugh with you about your odd obsession with aliens, who would rewatch Twilight, the Office, and other early 2010s media with you. This brought you to right now, the next meeting of the Jim and Pam Operation. You two had been invited to drinks with your coworkers the following weekend to celebrate surpassing your quotas last month and seeing a rise in profit margins over the past few weeks. The two of you had easily been able to use the quotas as an excuse to avoid answering relationship questions but now you would be unable to make excuses whilst surrounded by everyone who was a part of making these victories happen.

“How we met will be easy, everyone knows we met at the office. Hyunjin saw us bump into one another. He told me the other week if he had known you and I would have ended up dating he would have tried to play cupid so he could brag about it.” He noted sipping his glass of wine as the television flashed the iconic blue hues of the first installment of the Twilight series. “Pfft who really thought this movie was going to be so iconic? The plot though is atrocious. Think about it, Bella should’ve picked them both. Polyamory exists and it would have saved us so much bad writing. I stand by my idea that they honestly should have just dated each other. Bella gets two hot boyfriends, Jacob wouldn’t have been attracted to Refrigerator or whatever the hellspawn’s name was. So no creepy subplot to worry about. All would have been right in the world. ” You snorted at his monologue of how he would have made the Twilight universe sane with the introduction of polyamorous relationships and pelted him with a piece of popcorn. It hit him square in the cheek and you couldn’t help but laugh harder at his whiny pout as he rubbed where the kernel hit him.

“Focus Innie we need a solid story so we don’t get the office detective squad on our cases about how we aren’t actually dating. So we met at work, who confessed first, when did they confess, how, you know the details every grandma asks?” You count on your hands as he nods along. Neither of you had thought this part out before now.

“Okay let’s say I confess while we were having one of our lunches,you looked so beautiful in the sun at the café. Your eyes sparkled [Y/E/C] your hair looked so gorgeous and like a [Y/H/C] halp in the light. I was mesmerized and I just couldn’t stop myself and I confessed how I always found you beautiful and adored your personality as we got closer as friends. You returned my feelings, we hugged and kissed and the world stopped for a moment. Bam! Now here we are madly in love making everyone jealous of how perfect we are.” He smiled and you couldn’t help but blush and look away for a moment. You had this strange feeling in your chest and you couldn’t understand why his explanation made your heart beat just that much faster. You covertly pinched yourself and brought yourself back into the moment and looked back at him.

“U-hum yeah that-that’s perfect. When should we say you confessed, like how long had we been dating?” You stuttered through the question internally cursing yourself for being so affected by his words.This was all an act, this wasn’t real, don’t act like it’s real. You kept mentally repeating those phases like a prayer to the universe above. Until a snap, snap in front of our face brought you back to the present.

“Y/N are you okay? You spaced out for a moment”.” You nodded, not trusting your voice for fear it would crack and so would your ability to hold back on your newfound crush. He smiled and continued. “I said we should say 2 months ago, we loved the café during the fall so that makes sense and the time frame would be logical for keeping things low key until now.” You agreed, the conversation was over as was the film. The two of you cleaned up your mess and he left hugging you good night. You felt this odd weight in your chest. You didn’t know why, everything you and Jeongin are doing is pretend, so why does it feel so real sometimes?

Drinks were flowing as the celebration at Bar Levanter began to get rowdier. You had been glued to Jeongin’s side the entire night, his hand resting on your lower back, your arms wrapped around his bicep. You reminded yourself several times to begin asking him when he took up weightlifting as his muscles felt firm under your grip. You two easily bounced your story of your whirlwind romance from coworker to coworker. Until Changin swaggered up to the two of you. Bang Chan was trailing behind him shaking his head and pinching his nose bridge in frustration. Changbin and Bang Chan were best friends and the whole office knew it, however unlike Gaston’s sidekick LeFou in the movies, Chan didn’t go along happily with all of the antics Changbin would get into.

“Well well well if it isn’t the happy couple everyone’s been talking about! I didn’t get to ask you two how this,” he gestured towards your embrace with Jeongin, “happened. So tell me everything. I love romance stories and to be honest your relationship is adorable.” You and Jeongin went the extra mile cutting off one another’s sentences and giggling when you said the same things at the same time. To an outsider it truly did look like you both were infatuated with one another. It seemed to solidify yo Changbin that you were not interested in him nor would you be for a long time. You sipped a couple more cocktails, growing tired from the alcohol and socialization you found yourself curled up closer to Jeongin on the long bench of the booth you were sitting in. The two of you looked quite intimate, your chest was pressed against his left arm. Your right hand was playing with his hair at the base of his neck, the other playing with his fingers lazily. A soft yawn escaped your lips which you had taken your right hand from his hair to cover. He looked down at you, an endearing look on his face as your eyes met his, a grin spread across both your faces and giggles erupted between the two of you. The night was winding down and coworkers were pouring out the doors saying their goodbyes.

Jeongin kissed your forehead and tried to get you on your feet. He stood next to the booth encouraging you to get up so he could walk you home, he grew a tad frustrated as he spent minute after minute tugging on your hand. His frustrations faded fast as he began chuckling at how your tipsy state reduced the put together woman he knew as his best friend to a woman with the same level of pouty as a toddler. He’s seen you drunk on more than one occasion and he knew alcohol took your walls down and made you lose your sense of maturity, and your sense of reason when it came to doing a non preferred task. Jeongin sighed shaking his head, then tilting it he silently beckoned you to leave. He went so far as to raise a brow giving his “Y/N this is your last warning face.”. But you ignored it and wanting to stay in your comfy spot on the bench.

“Innieee I don’t wanna leaveee!” You stomped your heel clad foot on the hardwood, sticky floor of the bar, your arms were crossed with an exaggerated pout on your lips. You repeated the motions a few more times, shaking your head in protest.. Before you could escalate to a drunk toddler tantrum, Jeongin tsked at your behavior and cut you off.

“Darling it’s late, it’s almost midnight, I need to get your drunk cute little butt home before you do anything stupid, and so I know you make it home safe baby.” He chastised you. A giggle rang from your lips at his words, his choice to mention your ass of all things was incredibly surprising.

“Wait YOU just said my BUTT is cute?! You never say stuff like that to me, Innie!” You bowled over cackling like it was the funniest thing you ever heard. Jeongin sighed, rubbed his temples, and proceeded to scoop you up bridal style in his arms. He tightened his grip on your legs and torso as you briefly thrashed about. He hated playing babysitter but for you he would do it all, plus he got to make fun of your antics whilst you complained about your hangover.

“PUT ME DOWN! HEY!” Jeongin shook his head and carried you out of the bar. Your exclamations of protest and questions of what Jeongin meant by you having a “cute butt” fading away as you two left the bar.

Changbin had watched the scene and your response to Jeongin made him question the whole relationship you apparently had with Jeongin. He looked over to Chan.

“If you had been dating someone for say two almost three months you’d probably accept that they’d compliment your body right?” He asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“Yeah? Why?” The Aussie member of marketing responded.

“Y/N seemed almost shocked Jeongin ‘said she had a cute butt’. Now don’t get me wrong she’s adorable, you know how big my crush was on her for months.” Changbin sighed thinking briefly about if he had made a better move before Jeongin, he would have been the one you looked at with stars in your eyes and he would have been the one to carry you home tonight.

“I mean it’s their relationship but that is a little weird if you ask me. It did seem kind of sudden that they amped up the romance factor after you saw them kissing, and the kiss kind of came around when you tried to rev up your terrible ways of asking her out.” Chan pointed out.

“That’s the last time I take dating advice from Seungmin and Han. Yikes. But you’re right something seems a little fishy. I don’t want to start picking it apart though. It’s not our place to do that.” As Changbin said, the little devil on his shoulder began to speak right in his ear. Well whose place is it but yours, this could be your chance to get in between them.

Nothing between you and Jeongin had changed after that night. You two still had your movie nights, karaoke, lunches, and your other activities. While smiling with him on the outside, on the inside your heart was slowly breaking, time was flying and the party was now only two weeks away. The past few weeks had made you notice more of the features in your best friend that you overlooked previously. How his dimples grew deeper as he grinned, the way his eyes would smile with him, the way his hair fell in soft waves, the smell of his musky yet floral cologne, the way he’ll subtly smell the perfume you wear by nuzzling into the crook of your neck during hugs. Most of all you noticed how he made you feel like home. You had broken the most sacred rule among the ones you and Jeongin drafted. Rule number 2, you had caught feelings. You knew you had to end things fast, you couldn’t risk dragging your heart through this any longer. The next day you had told Jeongin to meet you outside for lunch instead of walking with you from your desk like usual. He didn’t say anything but the quirk of his brow before the thumbs up he gave in response told you he knew something wasn’t right.

You urged him over to the side instead of heading to your usual café right away, this made his suspicions grow even more and the classic eyebrow quirk and questioning gaze you had grown infatuated with almost made you decide to go back on your plan but you stood firm. You knew for the sake of the ruse you had to end things publicly with some coworkers in earshot so you chose the front of the building on the benches.

“Jeongin, we should break up. This needs to end.” You said as soon as both reached the cold gray concrete benches that resided just outside the behemoth office building. His eyes widened in horror, his hands slightly shook, he gaped at you, he had several questions milling around his mind. He had forgotten the inevitable break up, having fallen into a happy routine by your side. You knew you had to rip the bandaid off no time like the present to do so. He sat down, body shaking with emotion and he looked to you, your calm expression making him wonder what you felt to lead to this choice. Was this the end of your friendship?

“What do you mean? We’ve been so good together, this has been working so well? Why?! Give me a reason, something! You can’t just drop this on me like it’s okay!” His voice was quiet and cracking from the turmoil that fueled him with every syllable. He looked everywhere but at your face as he spoke, you were grateful he didn’t look at you. If he did you would have probably taken your words back and apologized whilst covering his face with lipstick coated kisses. You had to remain firm, you were hurting yourself with this plan, you had gotten so caught up in the act of lying you had forgotten to be true to yourself and now two people were hurt. You were breaking your own heart, you didn’t know however, how badly you had destroyed his.

“It’s time Jeongin, you and I both know what I mean. I adore you but it’s time to call it quits, you’re my best friend and I think we should go back to being friends.” You practically whispered. “Thank you for everything you have done for me, you will always be my best friend, never forget that.I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you beforehand. I couldn’t think of how to approach this, please understand this is for the best.” You placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft squeeze before bundling your coat up tighter and walking through the cold late December snow. The white surrounding you glistened as the tears fell down your face. With every step the cracks in your heart deepened, every sniffle burned from the harsh winter air. It was like Mother Nature was punishing you for breaking your own heart. Your tears froze to your cheeks like icicles of heartache. The air in your lungs burned with every breath. Your walk home took much longer than usual, you had to stop and sit on snow coated benches to avoid running into others from how blurry the tears had made your vision. You were a wreck, shaking and sobbing, gathering looks from strangers. You couldn’t tell any of your friends the real reason you were so torn apart about this “breakup” without breaking a rule. You were in limbo grieving your romance that never was on your couch, alone. Absolutely heartbroken and alone.

Meanwhile on the bench Jeongin was still sitting, he shivered with every breath and his head was clutched in his hands. His teeth chattered from the cold wind whipping around him as his own tears froze to his skin. His chest felt empty, his heart cracked with each shaky breath he took in. His friend Hyunjin found him outside in his office coat shivering from the tears combined with the cold December air. Hyunjin consoled him for what felt like hours, holding Jeongin to his chest and rocking him like a child as the younger male sobbed.

After calming down Hyunjin escorted Jeongin to the sales team manager to discuss transferring teams. After discussing the matter the sales team manager Lee Minho knew for team morale and for two of the best employees at JYP it’d be best to keep you two apart in the office while you both healed. Minho emailed you too telling you he had some extra PTO in the budget and due to your diligence you had earned a few days off. You knew he likely saw everything as your breaks overlapped but accepted his show of sympathy as it granted you time to cry in peace.

Your long weekend ended the following Wednesday. You now had only seven days until the party and your heart was still smashed like a piece of pottery on the floor. Your ticket had long since been paid for as was the show stopping dress you had bought for the black tie affair. Every time you looked at that dress hanging in your closet encased in its garment bag you broke down. Jeongin went with you to find your party dress, the dress code had just gone out that day.

•Just after you two began fake dating•

“Black Tie? What does that mean, like we are all expected to be dressing like we are Will Smith in ‘Men in Black’?” Jeongin asks you as you both look at your phones reading the email. You point out the bottom where dress code guidelines are given and he gives a dramatic exclaim of, “Oooooohhh I get it now!” That same day you both go around Gangnam looking for gala appropriate clothing, thankfully your bosses had given company wide raises which allowed even menial employees like the two of you the luxury to afford clothing in the most expensive shopping district in Seoul. Jeongin had chosen his suit already and was waiting on you to try your final dress before you would resort to begging a friend for a gala gown of theirs. When you had stepped out in the dress you had chosen as your final pick Jeongin immediately faked a dramatic swoon and began to act as if he was worshiping you. You laughed slightly at his exaggerated reaction to the dress, he ended his little performance and sat back down in his seat to watch your own reaction to the dress.

You stood on the small podium in the shop and turned in a small circle showing off the dress’ ability to accentuate your curves and the right aspects of your body. The dress was a long slightly fitted gown with bishop sleeves, buttons down the bodice that perfectly matched the shade of the fabric, giving the gown a subtle classic touch. The deep v neckline accented your chest in a classy way that didn’t draw too much attention. The crimson color of the fabric enhanced every ounce of your beauty, looking in the mirror you didn’t see yourself the way you usually did. In that mirror wasn’t “Y/N the young woman working in a corporate job who was content with living a mundane life.” No, before you in your reflection was “Y/N, the young woman who had made early adult life her bitch” You felt like a queen, an ethereal goddess, a gorgeous, and powerful woman. You felt like every woman you had looked up to as you stared at your reflection.

You bought that red dress, but you didn’t buy the confidence it gave you. You couldn’t transfer the way you felt on that podium to your mental bank account to use as needed.

You didn’t know it at the time, but that confidence came from your hype man Jeongin’s support, and you couldn’t buy that either. you went home with a gorgeous gown and an air of elation around you.

•End Flashback•

The office felt lonely. You missed your friend, you missed your notes and coffees, you missed Jeongin being Jeongin. When you had come in you were quickly informed that Jeongin had transferred over to the international sales team and was the talk of their section of the buildingHe was a valuable new asset but he was apparently very quiet and avoidant of conversation. With his absence and the rumors already circulating about the breakup, Changbin had already swung back into action. He walked over to you as you were at the coffee machine preparing a cup to get you through the work you missed. Upon seeing him you began to abandon your Holy Grail of caffeine and walk toward your desk. He caught your wrist and gave you a pleading look.

“Hey Y/N, sorry about what I heard about you and Jeongin. Wait! Don’t leave just yet! Please! I have a little more I NEED to say. I’m sorry for not initially respecting you and your boundaries, I got some stupid advice and I uh have learned now not to take advice from others when one suggestion from them doesn’t work the first time around. Oh and uh not to keep asking someone out when they said no the first time.” His hand awkwardly rubbed against the back of his neck and he looked down. THE Changbin was nervous, looking like the human embodiment of the sweat drop emoji? Letting his guard down around you? You placed a gentle hand on his bicep and gave him the best smile you could. you knew that he needed some comfort. You could tell that this was eating at him a lot.

“Thank you Changbin, really. You’re actually the first person to just briefly talk to me about the breakup, everyone keeps asking questions instead of just saying

‘I heard about the breakup, that sucks. I hope you both are doing okay. let me know what I can do to help.’’ So thank you for just talking about something else even if it’s still dating related.” You mirthfully laugh and give his arm a soft squeeze and smiled kindly at him again. “You know I think we got off on the wrong foot Seo Changbin, friends?”

“Friends.” With grins on both of your faces you interlocked hands and shook like it was a business deal.

Your new friendship with Changbin was nothing like your friendship with Jeongin. Changbin would drag you to his workouts to teach you new techniques to add to your own very mild workout routine. He would be your cooking guinea pig. He would be the more wild person to get you out of your shell. But he wasn’t Jeongin, he wasn’t someone who knew you like the back of his hand, wasn’t as in sync with you, he was different. But leading up to the party, different was good, different was what you needed. Different wasn’t what caused your pain.

Jeongin heard about your friendship with Changbin and was seething. His mind raced with so many emotions and questions. Had you replaced him? Had he been so naive? Did he mean nothing to you? Was this all just a game? Had you ended both the ‘relationship’ and your friendship without really explaining to him? Was any of it real to you? The relationship with you was real from the moment he was able to kiss you better than the panicked one the day this fiasco began. To Jeongin it was real each time he would play with your hands and envelop your fingers in his. It was real the first moment he smelled the way your scented shampoo and perfume lived in harmony whilst you hugged. He was infatuated with everything about you, he wrote that rule whilst breaking it, he had loved you from the moment he agreed to kissing you. Now here you were playfully elbowing the man you wanted Jeongin to help you push away. Was this all a joke? Did you use him to get Changbin to change his strategy? He had no clue what to think or feel. All he knew was he was upset and he needed the truth.

The night of the party came and you and Changbin walked into the beautiful venue arm in arm. The company booked a glorious ballroom in a high rise building in Gangnam, with beautiful chandeliers and a balcony overlooking the city. The windows have a perfect view of what would be the midnight fireworks. The setting was glorious, the food was spread through the room so guests could mingle, and of course the alcohol was bottomless. A recipe for either a magical night, or a tragic night, you as the chef had to decide.

You and Changbin made your way to the balcony and he wrapped his suit jacket around you and you leaned your head on his shoulder. For a while you sat in silence watching the bustling city below you. The sounds of honking cars, drunken cheers, and music lulled you into a sense of melancholic peace.

“Y/N, so never told you but I figured out you and Jeongin weren’t actually dating.” He muttered quietly so no one else would hear him, unfortunately you were not so tactful. The gulp of champagne you had just taken was still in your mouth, however it quickly flew out of your mouth and onto the immaculate marble floor. No one thankfully saw your spit take. Trying to regain composure, you dabbed your mouth clean with a napkin and gave your friend a shocked glare.

“Wait, what, how, what, again huh?!” You harshly sputtered in confusion and slight panic. You were careful to keep your voice hushed even though you wanted to squawk like a panicked bird at this revelation.

“It was the bar night, you drunkenly questioned a compliment from Jeongin and acted like he never complimented you or your physical features and Chan and I found it weird and basically we ended up kinda analyzing how you two interacted. It almost seemed like you were faking a relationship, but I can see now your feelings for him were so real. You really loved him didn’t you?” Changbin opened his arms and you quickly found purchase gripping his shirt and nodding, you focused on holding the tears in as to preserve your makeup and his shirt. Changbin softly rubbed your back and whispered soft affirmations to you to help ease the pain. After seeing how hurt your breakup, if you could realistically call it that made you feel he knew he couldn’t have you, and he was more than okay with just seeing you happy, even if you had found that happiness in another man’s arms. He had mentally moved on from you being the object of his affection and already saw you as a good friend. His affections for you, now platonic felt much better. You gave Changbin a small smile, it didn’t quite reach your eyes. He gave you a knowing one back and brushed off your whispered words of gratitude.

The heartfelt interaction between you two was cut short by an angry Jeongin storming over. “Changbin, if you could excuse us for a few moments I need to steal Y/N for a few minutes to talk.”

“I- Y/N are you okay with this?” Changbin’s apprehension seemed to make the tension among the three of you grow like a bamboo stalk, sharply and quickly. You knew Jeongin and you needed to talk, you just wish it wasn’t right here and right now.

“Binnie I can do this, go have fun. We can talk later. I promise I’ll be okay.” You whisper and hand him back his coat. You quickly followed Jeongin down a corridor far enough from the gala to have a private talk.

“So I see you found a new best friend, or is Binnie your new boyfriend?” Jeongin’s voice was sharp as a blade, cutting you down with each word. Hurt and shock must’ve flashed in your eyes because before you knew it he had stepped back to add more distance between you two. He backed up against a wall trying to not make eye contact with you. “I’m hurt Y/N, fucking broken, you didn’t just fake breakup with me you ditched me for the next best thing, you fucking replaced me. For all I know I was a pawn to make him realize how you wanted to be treated, I could have been a tool to show him how desirable you were, or a tool to make yourself look better to others?! YOU GAVE ME NO REASON! Nothing! No communication either. You never once took a moment to check in on me, not a single time were you asking about my department change, it was like the next shiny thing came and I was forgotten in the mud like a toy, Y/N. Were you too absorbed in yourself to notice I was dying out there?” Your knees gave out as you slumped to the floor and sobs wracked your body. you had selfishly tried to guard your heart, and in the process you broke his and your own if you had been honest and told him your feelings, this wouldn’t have happened and you knew that.

“I don’t even know what to say to explain to you how undeniably sorry I am for what I did. I didn’t want our fake relationship to ruin our very real friendship and I guess it kind of did.” Your words cut Jeongin as did your tone of hurt and reluctant acceptance. You reminded him of how he never had gotten to really call you his, and him raising his voice in hurt may have made things worse. With nothing to lose he continued laying it all out to you.

“I guess you’re right. Well at least you’re happier now with him huh?” He sneered looking down at your shaking form. Your red dress was pitched up as you clutched your knees to your chest. All he could compare you to in his mind was the saddest gumdrop he had ever seen, and he just wanted to take it all back and hold you and say everything was fine. But it wasn’t fine and he was too far gone to stop.

“Why are you so upset I worked it out with Changbin and we’re friends now? Why is that such an issue to you? Communication is a two way street Jeongin and you never once reached out to me either. But that I guess is whatever, what isn’t is you being so mad I made a friend when I was also hurting. So again… Why. Do. You. Care?” By the end of your rant your finger was poking his chest on each of those four words. Your eyes boring into his and your glare matching his. The next thing you knew two hands were clutching your face and your back was pressed against the wall where he was previously standing. You both exchanged a heated kiss, teeth clashing together in an uncoordinated embrace, the kiss went from messy to passionate as you both found rhythm. Hands wandered briefly, panting breaths were exchanged. Saliva transferred from one mouth to the other as his tongue began to find its home in your mouth. It was a crescendo of emotions and need, the days of pining, embarrassment, and turmoil being left behind in exchange for desire, adoration, and pure magic. Your fingers quickly found his hair and his stayed on your cheeks gripping onto your skin like if he wasn’t holding you down you would slip through his fingers. He put every emotion he had into the kiss. Both of you felt hot salty tears run from your eyes as you parted to take deep breaths. Before Jeongin let his desire to kiss you again take hold of him, he knew he had to explain himself, he wish he could throw all of his mistakes into an abyss, but he knew he had to tell you the truth.

“Because I am so undeniably in love with you. I realized right after our plan was underway. I didn’t know how to tell you. I was instantly drawn to you, I truly didn’t know it was possible to meet a piece of heaven until I met you. That’s why I’m mad, because I could lose you, and losing you to him would break me beyond repair.” His voice cracked and cut in and out due to how hard he was fighting more tears.

“Jeongin look at me. Baby, look. at. me.” You tilted his chin with your fingers and looked directly into his watery eyes. “I ran away because I was scared, falling in love with your best friend is terrifying, the day I ended the fake dating was just after I realized how much I loved you. The day we got this dress, I realized I only wanted your opinion on my event wear because you made me feel beautiful. I fucking love you Yang Jeongin and that is terrifying to me.” At your confession, he pulled you into a warm embrace and nuzzled his head to your neck and inhaled the comforting scent of your perfume while you listened to his heartbeat as it settled. As you both hugged and whispered sweet words affirming your feelings for one another you heard a some exclamations coming from behind Jeongin. You had an instinct to look over his shoulder and there were Chan and Changbin exchanging cash with some other coworkers who had all bet on your relationship actually coming into fruition. As you smiled at the sight, you made eye contact with a beaming Changbin who held a big double thumbs up your way, you giggled and shook your head and looked up at your boyfriend, who was now very real. He smiled down at you and shared in your giggles of pure joy. The party began to grow into a full roar as midnight grew closer.

“5….4….3….2….1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

As one chapter of life closed and another opened, you shared your first very real kiss, of your now very real relationship. No rules, no faking, no bad pickup lines, and to Jeongin’s chagrin; a beefy new friend to help you get strong enough to carry Jeongin out of the bar when he’s too drunk. Who would have thought a less than stellar acting performance, coupled with some jealousy and a himbo sidekick was what was needed for JYP’s resident versions of Pam and Jim to get together after all.

The End

Tag List:

@veryjeongintxtkid @thisisnotjacinta @shycreationdreamland

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©️ LazyStar

Disclaimer.

If you made it this far make sure to like the fic and show it love with a lil reblog ;*

Please do not share my work on any other platform without my express written permission. Please do not translate my work and repost it to another website. Do not place ANY of my work into Chat GPT or similar AI programs.

This is a work of fiction any real people mentioned (Stray Kids) are characters in this piece. This is not to be used for any real comparisons or depictions of the real people mentioned:)

No one sue me pls i am poor.

[gunilslaugh]

hi^ this is my first time asking and don't know how to do this exactly 😅 but what do you think are the romantic troupes that fit xdinary heroes the best? (fated soulmates, friends-to-lovers, coworkers-to-lovers, etc) danke!

Thank you so much for requesting. I had a lot of fun writing this 😊

All Members &lt;;3 Summary: Xdinary Heroes and what romantic tropes they would be.

WC:1.5k

Warnings:grammar

photo not mine credits to owner

Gunil

• Co-workers to Lovers/ Office Romance

Gunil’s cubicle is directly in front of yours, meaning that you share the front wall. Gunil fully uses this to his advantage. One of his favorite things to do is write you sticky notes. Reaching his hand over the short wall dividing the two of you and placing it somewhere on your side of  the wall. Some are work related, with information about deadlines, resources, materials or just other information relevant to current projects. Others are encouraging messages. Saying things like You’re doing great! :) or  You did really well on this project :]. Finally there are the pickup lines. Some are super cringey, others are so stupid they’re funny, but all of them make you smile. Whenever you would leave your own sticky notes on his side of the wall, Gunil’s heart just melts. 

He also enjoys popping his head over the wall to talk to you. This most often occurs when it’s time for your lunch breaks. Gunil also always insists on walking you to your car at the end of working hours. He must ensure that his favorite coworker is safe. 

Today was going like any other day. It was almost time to pack up and go home when you saw an all too familiar hand reach over and stick a sticky note. However this time it wasn’t about work or an encouraging message or a pickup line. Instead it read Can I take you out on a date?. You pick up a pen and write down your answer before reaching your hand over the wall and sticking the note. 

Jungsu

• Marriage Pact 

You were 19 and going through a hard break up when you and Jungsu made your marriage pact. Your ex at the time broke up with you because they said they didn’t see your relationship going anywhere serious. That you weren’t a person they could settle down with. It was the last part that messed you up. What was wrong with you that made them not want to settle down with you? Were you really that bad? Why couldn’t that relationship go anywhere serious? These questions haunted your mind.

“Y/n there is nothing wrong with you,” Jungsu tried to reassure you.

“But what if there is? What if no one ever wants something serious with me? What if no one wants to marry me?” You began to ramble.

“I’ll marry you,” Jungsu states easily.

“What?” you questioned his unexpected remark.

“If we're both not married by the time we’re 30 I’ll marry you ok?” He suggested.

“Promise?” you asked, sticking out your pinky finger.

“Promise,” he answered, linking your finger together with his.

Jungsu did end up being the one you married, but at the age of 27. Having realized there was no one else you would rather spend your life with. You also found out that when Jungsu initially said he would marry back when you were 19 he meant then and there. 

Jiseok/Gaon

• Matchmaker Gone Wrong

Jiseok was one of your acquaintances. You had met him at a cafe the both of you are frequent visitors at. Whenever you happen to run into each other you guys always exchange small talk. One day he visited the cafe with one of his friends. He saw you sitting at a table and naturally went over to talk to you, telling his friend to order for him. His friend later came over with their drinks in his hands. He thanked his friend before grabbing his drink from him.

“Y/n, this is my friend,” he introduced you guys to one another 

“No wonder you like coming to this cafe,” his friend told him as they exited.

“Should I get their number for you?” Jiseok teased his friend. Not really thinking much of it.

“Are you serious? You’re not into them?” his friend quizzes him.

“We’re just acquaintances. Allow me to play cupid for you,” Jiseok says excitedly at the thought of playing cupid for his friend.

The next time he sees you at the cafe he informs you about his friend's interest in you and asks if he can give your number to him. You agreed, remembering that his friend did seem to be pretty close to your type.

It wasn’t until Jiseok saw you and his friend on a date that an uneasy almost nauseous feeling set into his stomach. The feeling of realization hit him like a punch in the face. He liked you too.

O.de/Seungmin

• Roommates to Lovers

After three years of living with your friend they decided that they wanted to move out and  move in with their current boyfriend. This meant that you had to find a new roommate. That’s how Seungmin entered your life. He was an amazing roommate. The two of you got along great and everything was well. That was until you started to fall for him, that is. You want to blame it on your massive workload that was stressing you out to your core,but realistically you probably would have fallen for him at one point or another anyway. You really couldn’t help it though, just as you were on the verge of a mental breakdown. There was a gentle knock on your door frame. There Seungmin stood with very concerned eyes and a cup of tea in his hands. 

“How about you take a break for a bit?  We can watch a movie,” he suggested carefully. How that turned into you crying in his arms you’re not quite sure. You do know though that as he soothingly rubbed your back and stroked your hair that you wanted to be in his arms more often. Little did you know that this is also the same night he fell for you. Realizing he wanted to be the one to comfort you. He also wanted you to be in his arms more too, which is why he decided that after you get done with your workload and distress he’ll ask you out on a date.

Hyeongjun/Junhan

• Healing one another/ Emotional Scars

Burnt out  and just wanting everything to stop. The noise in your brian was too loud, it felt like you couldn’t even think. That’s how you felt when you first met Hyeongjun. You went on a trip to clear your head (run away from your problems). You thought time away would help you regroup yourself, but you can’t exactly get away from your own head. Hyeongjun seemingly had the same idea as you. He too left on a trip in effort to pull himself back together. Maybe it was your broken souls that gravitated you towards one another.

All you know is one night you found yourself seated on the same bench as him.

“So much for getting away being a reset,” you had said out loud, but it was more for yourself.

“You’re having a hard time too,” the voice of the guy next to you spoke.

“I don’t know what to do anymore, well I mean I have to work I know that, but work makes me want to smash my into a wall,” you pause before realizing your rambling to a stranger. “Sorry that was a bit much,”

“It’s ok I know exactly how you feel. Everything feels like a chore and the noise in my brain,”

“Is too loud,” you say with him. Although you found that when you’re with each other your brains are quieter.

Jooyeon

• Oblivious to Love/ Belated Love Realization 

“I got the email!” you exclaimed, rushing into Jooyeon’s apartment. The email was about your future. It held the result of if you got your dream job. 

“What did it say?” he asked just excitedly.

“I don’t know. I came here first. I’m too scared to open it too,” you explained to him.

“Ok let me open it,” he said, taking your phone from your hand, tapping on the email.

“Wait! I’m scared.” you say, causing Jooyeon to laugh before it comfortingly tells you.

“Hey whatever the results are you’ll be ok,” It all falls silent as he reads the email. You think you can almost hear your heart pounding in your chest. 

“Well!” You yell at him impatiently. He looks at you for a moment and just as you think your heart’s going to sink.

“You got it!” he exclaims crushing you with a hug. You felt exhilarated and began to jump up and down chanting. 

“I got it!” Jooyeon was just as excitedly jumping with you when it hit him. That means you're leaving.  Leaving home, leaving him. Suddenly his heart was the one that was sinking, but he didn’t exactly know why. He couldn’t ruin your day though, so instead he put his happy face back on and celebrated with you.

“I love you,” Jooyeon spoke. It was two days before your flight. Jooyeon insisted on helping you pack everything up. That’s how you found yourself where you're at now, laying on the floor of your packed up apartment staring at the ceiling eyes wide at his confession. “I’m not asking you to stay. In fact I’ll be mad if you don’t go, but I wanted to tell you before you leave that I’m in love with you and I’ll wait for you,”