#so he hops into wash since he's already been there once. and they eventually stop hating each other. and realize they're very similar.

[vs-blue]

The urge to completely redo Wired Wrong.....

[planetpedri]

English love affair — Pedri González.

Pairing: Pedri González x Bellingham!Reader

Summary: You and Pedri had spent one, long, night together. That changed when it became a regular event. For months the two of you had continued to meet up, but out of nowhere it ended. After the El Clásico, Pedri finally gets the nerve to tell you why.

Word count: 1.6k+

Disclaimer/s: mention of a hook up, reader is judes sister. Mentions of drinking & thats basically it! no actual smut or anything bc i do nawtt write that!

A/N: listened to this song and immediately had an idea.. and then i gave up at the end if you couldn’t already tell LFMAOO

It started during a hot weekend in May. You’d visited Barcelona to see some of your old college roommates. They suggested club hopping, and who were you to decline some fun?

You were sitting on a bar stool, waiting for your drink when you first noticed him. He was easily recognizable, despite the dark clothes he wore to blend in with the crowd. He looked undeniably handsome under the dark strobe lights.

When his eyes found yours, a mixture of curiosity and confusion washed over his face. Pedri was only slightly tipsy, a few drinks in, but he felt sober. So, seeing the slight grin on your face he made his way over, abandoning his friends to get to you.

“You’re Bellinghams sister, right?”

You had nodded, sticking out your hand to introduce yourself. “Fancy meeting you here.” You quip, “drink with me?”

It was no secret that you loved attention. You were a model and your brother was famous, you were practically born for the spotlight. Having Pedri’s attention though, it was a different kind of euphoria.

The rest of the night was a blur. Sneaking out of Pedri’s house with a hangover, was a blur. What wasn’t a blur was when it happened the second time. It seemed that you had given him your number, and he wasn’t shy to use it.

Every trip you made to Barcelona, you stopped by. A little affair nobody knew about, your own secret that seemed to add more fuel to the fire.

When you moved to Madrid, Pedri’s desire to be near you had only increased. All he’d been thinking about since may was you. Every night before he went to bed—it was you on his mind.

During an international break, one that for once; Pedri hadn’t been called up for, you invited him to Madrid. It had been a while since you saw him and you would have been lying if you said you didn’t miss him.

He showed up at your place with a cautious smile. “Your brother isn’t going to make any stops by is he?”

You shook your head with a laugh, “he’s in England.” That’s all Pedri needed to know before he was cupping your face in a long awaited kiss.

Pedri was the first to break it off. He hated the sneaking around, the distance, and the fact that you were unintentionally distracting. He couldn’t get you off his mind during practice, sometimes even during games. He couldn’t have you on his mind during the El Clásico—but he didn’t tell you that.

Instead he opted for the slow ghosting. Less texts, calls, meetups, then, eventually, nothing.

You tried not to show it, but it hurt. You weren’t supposed to be upset about it, but you were anyways. Jude had noticed the change in your usually bright mood, but you couldn’t tell him.

How would you even begin to explain? ‘Hey bro, i’ve been sneaking around with your rival. Oh! And I might have accidentally fallen for him!’ Absolutely not.

The day of the El Clásico, you’d joined your family to support Jude. Up in the stands, you couldn’t help but look for him. You hadn’t seen Pedri in well over two months. He looked handsome, his face stern and focused as he walked onto the pitch.

He wouldn’t be able to see you from the pitch, but a part of you wished he could. Maybe then you’d get some answers as to why exactly he’d broken things off. A look in his face to give you the answers you do desperately wanted.

Barcelona won. The rival team. Madrid lost, and badly. You should’ve felt more disappointed, that was your families team, your brother’s team. But when you saw Pedri, his face wide and smiley, you couldn’t help but feel elated for the man.

Shit. You were so screwed.

“Why are you smiling?” Jobe grimaces.

Your smile falls, “just thought about something funny. My bad.”

That night, at the hotel while you wallowed in your own pity, a notification on your phone has you going through a dozen mood swings.

Pedro: Come over ?

First came anger. You had typed out a message calling him many, many rude names.

The second was guilt. You deleted the text, your fingers hovering over the send button as you typed out a quick apology.

The third was relief when he replied by saying;

Pedro: It’s okay, I deserved that.

Then you finally allowed yourself to smile, sending a quick, ‘omw’ before climbing out of your bed.

Pedri’s house was only fifteen minutes from the hotel, so you hadn’t bothered to come up with an excuse as to why you were gone. You texted Jobe to ask if he wanted anything from the store though, just in case.

You knew the front door was unlocked when you arrived, but you couldn’t simply walk in. Too much time had passed and you figured it was too awkward now.

Knocking lightly, you were surprised when the door swung open almost instantly. Slightly taken aback, you take two steps away from the door. “Hey!” You cover up with a quick greeting.

Pedri was flustered, his cheeks holding a twinge of red to them, which after months of seeing it, you never had enough of. “Hey.” He smiles, “come in.”

Walking past Pedri into the foyer, you slip off your shoes before trailing further into the house. It hadn’t changed in the last few months, except—oh! There was a puppy jumping at your legs.

“Nilo!” Pedri groans, “down!”

Laughing, you bend down to pick the pup up, holding him in your arms as he panted. “He’s so cute, when did you get him?”

“Uh, a while ago.” He shrugs. “Do you want anything? A drink?”

Shaking your head, you scratch Nilo’s head, your adoration growing when his eyes closed and his tail wagged. “No, but I would love to take this little guy home.”

Pedri rolls his eyes, laughing through a breath. “Funny. Go wait in the living room, I need to put his food up for the night.”

Doing just that, you find yourself getting comfortable on the couch, letting Nilo curl up in your lap. By the time Pedri returns, the dog is fast asleep. He grins at that before sitting down a few feet away.

“I’m sorry.” He finally admits, not beating around the bush or explaining, just apologizing. When you don’t say anything, Pedri leans his head onto the cushion and watches you.

You were clearly deep in thought, staring at Nilo with furrowed brows and pursed lips. “You ghosted me, Pedri. Out of fucking no where. Why?”

“Because you are a distraction!” He snaps, rubbing his jaw. “For months, all I could think about was you! It was messing me up and I needed to focus on the games not you.”

Oh! Okay, well. Right.

Now you just felt stupid. A blush spreads across your cheeks, although a sense of pride washes over you. He couldn’t stop thinking about you?

“You’re smiling.” Pedri interrupts your thoughts, “why are you smiling?”

Your gaze flickers to him, “you think about me often?” There is a twinge on teasing mixed with genuine curiosity in your voice that has Pedri’s eyes rolling and his lip twitching.

“Unfortunately.” He admits, which only had you elated.

You nod, looking back to Nilo. “I suppose I could forgive you for that.” You scratch the black dog’s ear, smiling when he yawns and stretches across your lap. “That is, if you don’t ghost me again.”

Pedri sighs, “I won’t.”

“Then you’re forgiven.”

“Hear me out,” Pedri starts, sitting up straight in his spot on the couch. “I take you out. On a real date.”

Your head snaps in his direction, “but—I though you—“

“I take it back. I don’t care who sees. I want to take you out.” He scoots closer to you on the couch, arm wrapping around your shoulders. “So?”

Tilting your head up, you force your wide smile to be suppressed into a closed lipped grin. “I would love that.”

“Good. When are you in Barcelona next?”

“Whenever you want me to be here, i’ll come.” You say simply, attention turning back to Nilo, who was waking up.

Pedri watches his dog as well, “i’ll let you know when i’m free again.” He tips his head, pressing a kiss to your jaw. Your head dodges him, “Ay—“

“You ghosted me, you still have to make up for that.” You giggle, “and I have snacks to acquire for my brothers who are going to kill me when they see us in the tabloids in the near future!”

Groaning, Pedri leans away. “Fine, fine. Text me before you leave to go back home, yeah?”

“As I used to do.” You press a kiss to his lips and gently set Nilo aside on the couch. “I’ll see you tomorrow!”

And with that, you were gone, making a pit stop at the store for snacks before getting back to the hotel. Jobe opens his door after you knock twice, to which you find Jude sprawled across the couch watching TV. “About time.” He quirks an eyebrow when you drop a bag on his lap.

“Is that dog fur on you?” Jobe questions, taking a peak at your shirt.

Your happy smile drops, “oh! A stray.”

“You could’ve gotten rabies.” Jude comments, to which you ignore.

“What are you watching anyways?” You ask, plopping down beside your brother, examining the TV. You were so not prepared for hell to break loose when they find out what really happened tonight.

likes , comments , and reblog’s are all appreciated. lmk if you’d like to be tagged in future pedri posts.

DTS , @halfwayhearted @sakashq @hrts4havertz @joaoflms @spidybaby @gadriezmannsgirl @unx100to !

[madaqueue]

Dripping in Gold | Chapter 2

synopsis: finding a job was never easy, and why even bother trying after you meet satoru gojo, a man with mysterious and exorbitant wealth, who wants nothing more than to spoil you with it? the only caveat to your little arrangement is that it can never, ever, become personal.

pairing: satoru gojo x f!reader

themes/content: non-curse modern au, sugar daddy gojo. language, smut. fingering (f receiving). 18+, MDNI

word count: 2.3k

a/n: my gojo brainrot is hitting this man is all i've been able to write about the past two weeks hELP somEBODY HELP MEE

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A week after your first date with Gojo, he randomly calls you while you’re in the middle of making lunch.

“Hey, sweetheart,” he purrs through the phone.

“Hi Gojo,” you respond flatly.

“Wow, I was hoping for a bit more excitement,” he chuckles, “especially since I have good news - your car is fixed!”

“Oh my god, thank you!” your tone softens as you remember you are actually grateful; he really did come through for you on this.

“Don’t thank me just yet - remember how you offered to repay me?” he asks slyly.

Of course. You knew he was too good to be true - he fixed your car, now you have to sleep with him. For a moment you nearly forgot the transactional nature of your relationship, and even though you had already decided you want to hook up with him, it still stings a bit.

“Well,” he continues in your silence, “in exchange for my generosity, how about you let me take you out for lunch today?”

You chortle in surprise. “Seriously, that’s all you want from me?” you ask incredulously.

“C’mon now, you’ve got to stop thinking so lowly of me, I’m actually quite the gentleman once you get to know me,” he laughs. “Anyways, I’ll meet you at your place in 15 minutes. Wear something cute for me, m’kay?”

He hangs up as you pull your phone away from your face. The smell of something burning hits your nose as you realize the grilled cheese you had been making was slowly frying to a crisp on the stove.

Well, good thing I’m going out for lunch.

Riffling through your closet, you search for something that would meet Gojo’s idea of “cute,” hurling jeans and leggings across your room. The closest thing you find is a plain white dress you got a few years ago that’s slightly stained, but you hope he won’t be able to tell. Again, it’s not like you’re made of cash, especially after you had to use what he sent you from your last date to cover rent and groceries.

Exactly 15 minutes later he pulls up outside in a different car than the one he let you borrow over the past week, this one a flashy red sports car with a logo you don’t recognize. He hops out to open the door for you and you take a seat on the cool leather, the tantalizing scent of his cologne hitting you as he returns to the driver’s side.

He looks over at you through round sunglasses, taking in your outfit. “With all due respect, what the hell are you wearing?” he teases.

“You told me to dress cute, this is the best I’ve got,” you explain, hands moving over your lap to try and cover your dress as embarrassment washes over you.

“No, no, this won’t work,” he tilts his head away from you. “Okay, we’re postponing lunch to go get you some actual clothes.” Before you can protest, he puts the car into drive and speeds out from the parking lot.

While he drives his hand idly finds its way back onto your thigh, a feeling you didn’t realize you had missed so much until you notice pressure building between your legs and nervousness in your stomach. Every so often you steal glances at him, his white hair somehow perfectly ruffled and blue eyes slightly shaded by his sunglasses. The white button-up shirt covering his torso looks freshly ironed yet hastily rolled up above his elbows, his plain black pants perfectly hugging his waist. He really is gorgeous, you think to yourself.

He eventually stops the car outside of a store you’ve never seen before, likely because it’s in a part of the city you could never afford to go to, until now. The exterior is unassuming, a simple brick facade and plainly lettered sign. Gojo gets out of the car first before opening your door, taking your hand in his as he leads you up the stairs and inside. The store itself is well-lit, with a faint scent of rosemary hanging in the air.

An attendant greets you without looking up until she finally glances over at the two of you. “M-Mr. Gojo!” she exclaims, surprise evident on her face. “I’m so sorry, we didn’t know you’d be in today, your tailor isn’t here-”

“No worries,” he cuts her off with a calm smile, “I’m actually not here for me.” He pulls you up next to him, a hand going around your waist as though it was second nature, and you feel the warmth of his body against yours. “She needs something cute.”

The still-flustered attendant nods. “Of course, I’ll take you back to your dressing room and grab a few things for her to try.” She gestures you both to follow as you walk to the back of the store, past racks of clothes that look straight out of a catalogue.

Who the hell is this guy? you think as you walk next to him. You are led to a curtained-off area with a deep purple rug and matching couches that surround a central mirror, additional racks of suits lining the remaining walls.

Glancing around you notice a small nameplate hanging by the entrance. ‘Satoru Gojo’ is embossed against the gold, light reflecting off it slightly.

“Satoru?” you question, reading it aloud.

“Mhm,” he hums as he sits down onto one of the couches, legs sprawling in front of him. “That’s my first name, but nobody really uses it. I mostly just go by Gojo.”

You plop down next to him, enjoying the feel of the velvet texture beneath you. “Well, do you prefer ‘Satoru’ or ‘Gojo’?”

“It depends,” he starts, putting his arm around you and pulling you closer to him. “If it’s a pretty girl like you saying it, I don’t really have a preference.” You blush as his face slowly gets closer to yours. “Although, I think ‘Satoru’ is probably a little easier to scream when I’m-”

His words suddenly cut off as the attendant walks back in, arms full of dresses. You’re grateful for the distraction that allows you to turn away, hoping he didn’t notice how red your face was getting or how fast you started breathing. Something about him makes you so nervous, like a kid with their first crush. You’re better than this, aren’t you?

With a huff, the attendant sets the dresses down in the middle of the room before hanging them up one by one on a nearby empty clothing rack. “I think I got your size right, but do let me know if you need anything tailored and I’d be happy to help. I’ll leave you two to it, let me know if there’s anything else I can get for you!” she waves, stepping out of the room.

Now alone with Gojo, you find yourself tense, heart fluttering in your chest as he traces his fingers along your jawline, landing on your chin to turn you back to face him. His eyes stare into yours as a smirk draws at the corners of his lips.

“So, you wanna give me a little show?” he whispers, so close you can feel his breath against your face. His eyes travel over your shoulder to the clothes rack behind you as he tilts his head, releasing his hold from you and leaning back. “After all, these aren’t going to try themselves on.”

Trying to steady your breathing, you stand up and attempt to ignore how shaky your hands are as they move to feel the clothes hanging up. The textures are almost impossibly soft, with colors from yellows to blues and reds, a rainbow of beauty in front of you. Glancing down at the price tag on one dress, your eyes widen.

“Gojo, these are like $2,000 each, I can’t-” you start, slightly panicked.

“Hush, this is my treat,” he says nonchalantly with a wave of his hand, closing his eyes and leaning his head back against the couch. “Besides, getting to see you in these is worth all the money in the world.”

You blush again, a soft, “Okay,” leaving your lips as you pick out a dress from the rack.

Each one you pick up is more beautiful than the last as you work your way through the clothes. Gojo insists on helping you zip every single one up and has you twirl around, a smile permanently plastered on his face. He murmurs some version of “gorgeous,” “beautiful,” or “perfect” when he sees you in each dress, and truthfully, he makes you feel it. You find yourself giggling and practically skipping around the room as you dance around the man who’s making it all possible as he just watches you with joy in his eyes.

Finally, you near the end of the rack as you put on a flowy, off-the-shoulder dress that looks like the color of the sun. It hugs your body perfectly and you can’t help but stand in front of the mirror, spinning back and forth as it flares out around your waist.

All of a sudden, you feel the warmth of Gojo behind you as his hands wrap around your waist, his head settling in on top of your shoulder. He looks at you in the mirror, slowly taking in your beauty.

“This is the one,” he whispers into your ear. “Get all the others, I don’t care, but this is the one you’re leaving here in.” All you can do is grin and nod, your cheeks flushing at his words.

The two of you stand there for a moment, Gojo’s hair softly tickling the side of your face as his hands trace along your hips, moving down to run the hem of the dress through his fingers. He tilts his head down slightly to place his lips against your neck, softly kissing the space above your collarbone.

Instinctively, you lean your head back as your eyes close, taking in the feeling of his body against yours. Your hips press against his, the hands that rest against your thighs pulling you into him further. He bites softly against your skin, eliciting a moan from you as you raise one of your hands up to the back of his head, gently rubbing an undercut you didn’t know he had before you bring your fingers higher into his hair, loosely twirling the white locks through your palm.

One of his hands trails under your dress between your legs. He pauses momentarily, lifting his head away from your neck so his mouth hovers next to your ear. “Tell me what you want, princess,” he hums.

Eyes still closed, warmth begins to build in your stomach at his touch. The only thing you know in this moment is that you want him.

“You,” you whisper, “I want you, Satoru.”

Hearing you voice his name, a soft moan leaves his throat as his lips reattach to your neck, gently sucking your skin just enough to leave a small bruise. His fingers continue their path until they reach your clothed cunt, a breathy chuckle from Satoru telling you that you’ve soaked through your panties. His fingertips ghost over your folds, the gentle sensation making your hips slide forward, desperate for more.

“P-please,” you whine, moving back against his body as you suddenly feel his cock start pressing against your ass through his pants.

He slides your panties to the side and brushes his fingers over your clit, the roughness of his fingertips making you squirm from pleasure. His hips start grinding against yours, craving the friction your body provides.

Moving down slightly, he presses against your entrance before slowly sliding two fingers inside you. Fuck, it’s even better than what you imagined. You tilt your head back further and feel a moan start to leave your throat, when suddenly his lips are on yours. His tongue slides into your open mouth as the pace of his fingers picks up, curling inside you as he finds the spot that makes you shudder against him. You both forego air as you sloppily kiss one another, releasing a need within you that you didn’t know you held.

Satoru continues kneading his fingers inside you until the familiar tension begins to build in your stomach. Pulling away from his lips for a moment, you moan his name. “I-I’m close,” the words catching in your throat, eyes shut tightly from pleasure.

You hear him chuckle behind you. “Open your eyes, sweetheart,” he purs as his lips return to your neck. You do as he says, focusing your gaze in front of you, and your eyes meet his through the mirror. “I want you to see how pretty you’re about to look when you cum for me.”

At that he thrusts his slender fingers further into you, thumb hastily drawing circles over your clit as you watch yourself get closer to the edge. With one hand in his hair and the other grasping onto his wrist, you try to stabilize yourself as your knees begin to give out. His free arm wraps around your waist to hold you up as you begin to lose yourself, eyes threatening to close as you try to maintain your gaze ahead.

“That’s my girl,” he hums. His words are barely audible over your moans as you feel waves of pleasure crashing over you, the only sound leaving your mouth a broken cry of his name.

His movements finally slow as he pulls his fingers out of your sensitive cunt, never breaking eye contact with you through the mirror as he lifts them to his lips, opening his mouth to lick your sweet essence off them. Pausing for a moment, he admires you - your taste, your delicate hands clutching onto him, your flushed cheeks. He places a kiss on the side of your mouth as you try to ground yourself, knees still shaky underneath you and only able to remain standing thanks to his hold on you.

“So,” he smirks, his eyes lighting up as he looks at your pretty face in the mirror, “where should we get lunch?”

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[radioactivepeasant]

Fic Prompts: Free Day Thursday

Meddling Mar part 10!

1, 2-3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Things were quiet, and even a bit tense between the boys for the rest of the afternoon. Mar was sulking, and Jak was brooding again. Daxter wished his arms were long enough to smack them both upside the head at the same time. If he'd ever had doubts that Mar was Jak’s childhood self, he certainly didn't now. Hopping between beds to keep Mar entertained and check on Jak’s mental state was exhausting when your legs were the approximate length of a four year old's.

As afternoon passed into evening, Daxter noticed that Jak grew more restless. He didn't leave their alcove -- none of them felt like interacting with the two or three men recovering from broken limbs and gunshot wounds in the rest of the ward -- but he paced between the beds often, stopping only to stand on the mattress and peer out the window at the sea. Daxter knew why: someone was supposed to bring them to the Spike King for "evaluation" sometime after sunset. And they'd already had more than their fair share of older folk scrutinizing them to determine their worth.

Daxter bounced up onto Jak’s bed and launched to his shoulder from there. For a moment he said nothing, simply watching the ocean with his best friend. Memories of chasing seagulls and digging for clams washed over him, and Daxter found himself longing to run through the waves.

"Do we have a plan, Jak?" he asked eventually, "What do we think about this place?"

Jak shrugged moodily. "We'll see if they can back up their talk with action. If we don't like it...I dunno. I don't know where we can go, Dax. What options do we really have?"

He leaned on the sill and pushed one hand through the small gap between a sliding screen and the frame. Fingers grasped at open air, feeling the sunlight beating down. Jak inhaled salty air and let it out slowly.

"It's quiet here," he whispered.

Daxter knew what he meant. They hadn’t heard shouting, or megaphones, or gunfire even once since waking in the ward. That had been a daily -- almost hourly -- occurrence in Haven for the last two years. Daxter wanted to interpret that as a good thing. A nice, quiet, place on the coast where maybe they could relax for once. He wouldn't even be afraid of the heat next to this much ocean. Maybe it could even be like home, if he squinted.

Daxter slipped down from Jak's shoulder and dropped to the flattened pillow.

"Okay, so, say we stick around. What's our plan for survival? Look for work like in Haven?"

Jak sighed and pulled his hand back inside the window. "I guess we should figure out whether they use the same currency as Haven. Then again, I don't think a crumpled ration card will get us far even if they did."

He ran a hand through his hair and grimaced at the uneven length. Honestly, that was Petros's fault for leaving him unsupervised with a knife and matted hair. It was lighter, and cooler, certainly. But the random longer parts were driving him crazy. They brushed against his neck just so when he turned his head, and the skin there was beginning to get hypersensitive to it.

"So...maybe if the weather is good I can dive for artifacts to trade," Jak suggested, "Like we did when we were kids."

"Pal. We're still kids," Daxter retorted.

Jak scoffed. "Only according to these people."

He slid down the wall to collapse onto the pillow beside Daxter, and dropped a hand around the ottsel's shoulders.

"I'm...glad you're here, Dax."

Daxter dug an elbow into his side. "Told you I'd never ditch you again."

It was another hour before a stern looking old woman came to take them upstairs. She looked ancient, sunworn skin hardened practically to leather and bone-white hair hanging down her back in an iron-studded braid. The plait alone looked like a weapon.

With a disapproving squint, she beckoned them to follow her.

"Alright infants, evaluation time," she barked. Then she twisted her lips to one side, as if the words tasted funny. "Evaluation! Pah! Straight to a nursery, that's where you should be going. Look at you: not even old enough to earn a battle amulet!"

The old woman bore down on them like an omen of death. "Who left you out there, eh? Ought to be trussed up and left in Turquoise Canyon for the metalpedes, they should."

"Eep!"

Mar made a sound of alarm and ducked behind Jak, hiding from the wizened woman's piercing stare.

Jak shrugged. "They've got metalheads of their own to deal with," he scoffed.

"Yeah! Only they can't send us to do all their fighting for them anymore!" Daxter added.

He could admit to a little spiteful satisfaction at that.

Jak’s grimace didn't suggest that he felt the same way. While Daxter had learned at an early age to push back against every insult, every unfair blame laid on his young shoulders, Jak had just internalized it. He probably thought it would be his fault if people died in Haven while he wasn't there.

I oughta teach Jak the concept of sleeping in the bed you made...

The scary lady -- Ranger Priya, she told them to call her -- marched them up a winding spiral staircase with the energy of the hummerbird in the patch sewed onto the back of her vest. Daxter gave up walking and let Jak carry him after only twelve steps. Mar would have complained about the pace, but in order to keep from falling behind, he'd had to latch onto Jak’s hand.

"Lady," Jak groaned, "My brother has short legs. Can you slow it down before he yanks my arm out of its socket?"

"You call me Ranger, squirt. Not lady," Priya corrected him, "You think I wear the hummer for decoration?"

Jak blinked. "I...don't know?"

Priya turned around and stared at him as though she couldn't tell whether or not he was being serious. Then she raised her thick eyebrows.

"You really have been gone too long," she muttered enigmatically.

"Uh...what?" Daxter blinked slowly. "You wanna run that by us again?"

"Keep up!"

Groaning, the boys stumbled and scrambled their way up what felt like a mile of stairs behind the ranger. Her pace was relentless, and Jak could grudgingly admit that he was impressed. She reminded him of Uncle Erasmus with that energy.

I wonder how far he's gotten by now? Jak found himself wondering as Priya stopped at a deceptively simple door cut into a metal wall. Poor guy absolutely sucked as a guardian, but at least he never ordered us around.

"Huh. Can't tell if he's in there yet or not." Priya squinted through the door and shrugged.

"Shouldn't matter one way or the other. Alright, toddlers, this is your stop."

She stood back and jerked a thumb towards the open door. "Go play. Just don't break anything you can't fix or blame on somebody else. Damas will be along sooner or later."

Jak bristled at the condescension. Go play? Did he look like he played?

Mar let go of his hand and abandoned him in an instant. He darted into the room with a gasp of delight, and Jak came to the belated realization that Ranger Priya hadn't been condescending, she'd been speaking literally.

The entire room had been constructed to look like an indoor oasis, lined with small date palms and tomango plants leading down to three or four tiered streams that seemed to feed into each other in an endless current.

Jak had barely made it two steps in before Mar had discarded his shoes and jumped into the nearest pool of water. Daxter launched from his shoulder seconds later, scrambling to join their little brother.

"Last one in's a rotten egg!" Daxter hollered. He pinched his nose and made an impressive splash.

With a huff, Jak rolled his eyes and pulled off the flat, cloth shoes the monks made them wear in the ward. He sat down on one of the many boulders surrounding the water and dipped his feet into the gentle current. It was cool, but not cold -- a bit surprising, considering the heat.

"If you guys want to sleep in wet clothes, on a wet bed, with wet sheets, be my guest," Jak drawled. He leaned back on his hands. "I'll stay up here, thanks."

"Boo!" Mar jeered.

"Spoilsport!" Daxter added.

"Just for that, you can walk back down all those stairs yourself," Jak retorted.

Dramatically, Daxter flopped backwards, barely giving Mar enough time to catch him in an impromptu trust fall.

"Oh, such cruelty!" Daxter gasped, pressing the back of his hand to his forehead. "You abandon us? You abandon your poor little brothers to suffer the cruel cruel stairs alone?!"

Unimpressed, Jak pointed out, "Dax, you're older than me."

"But my legs are shorter! O have pity!" Daxter slid from Mar's arms to land in the pool with a wet plop.

"You killed him!" Mar feigned outrage. "Jail for big brother! Jail for a hundred years!"

"A hundred years?" A new voice interrupted, "That seems a little excessive."

Damas strolled casually across the stepping stones leading from the right half of the chamber, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Surely ninety would suffice?"

Jak groaned. "Don't encourage them, they just get worse!"

Then he blinked.

"Wait, how did you know what he said?"

The Wastelander king came to a stop close to where Jak sat and raised a brow. "You expected me not to understand him?"

All three boys glanced at each other briefly, the same confusion evident on all three faces. Mar tossed a whisper to Jak-

"I thought Uncle E said you made our language up?"

"That's what he and Samos always said-?"

Damas snorted and raised his own hands.

"You are using the national language of Spargus. Whoever "Uncle E" and "S Leaf" are, they clearly are not Spargan."

He was using their language.

It wasn't the signing Onin used, the one the Havenites seemed to think was the only sign language. It wasn’t some variation of theirs. The man was using their signs.

Shaken, Jak drew his feet up out of the water and stood. Damas was still taller by a good several inches, but it made him feel at least a little more in control of his situation to be looking the man in the eye.

"What do you mean national language?" he demanded, folding his arms across his chest, "Why would we know a language from a city we've never been to?"

Damas studied him before answering with an uncomfortable, considering gaze.

"Well that's the question, isn't it?" he said quietly.

There was a weight to the king’s words that settled heavily on the boys, stilling even Mar's fidgeting.

When Damas lowered himself to sit cross-legged on one of the stepping stones, they found themselves following suit -- with a bit more effort on Mar's part to hoist himself and Daxter onto another stepping stone.

"I understand you've been through some...trying...circumstances," Damas said, "but nonetheless I expect you to answer me as honestly as you are able. Maintaining privacy is one thing, but understand that I do not tolerate lies."

Jak’s fingers tightened, stiffened into claws against his upper arms. The linen strips they'd wrapped around his old needle scars wrinkled and twisted, and his stomach seemed to twist in answer. It was bad enough that someone had seen the scars. If Damas asked about them-

Shame prickled in Jak’s chest.

No. Nobody needed to know. Especially not Mar.

"Fine," Jak bit out, "But what I say depends on the question. He doesn't need to hear everything."

He jerked his head in Mar’s direction meaningfully.

He couldn't tell if it irritated him or relieved him that Damas accepted this with no more than a nod.

"Very well. Then we will begin with questions of a less personal nature."

Damas steepled his fingers in front of him.

"So. We have Jak, "It's A Secret", and Daxter, ages roughly sixteen, eight-ish, and...unknown. No papers, no guardians, no known reason to be out in the Strider Range alone."

"Sixteen?" Jak interrupted, scowling, "I'm older than sixteen!"

By how much, he wasn't certain, but he wasn't going to say that he'd lost track of time in prison. That would give Mar too many questions to ask.

"Not by much, according to your bone scans," Damas replied calmly. "Seventeen at the oldest."

Well. That was a bit unfortunate. Maybe that explained why he had such a hard time growing facial hair, though? Or maybe he was doomed to just never have a full beard, like Mal the Sculptor back in Sandover.

Jak made a face.

"Only seventeen at the oldest?" he groaned.

"Could've been worse, I guess."

Then he pointed to Daxter.

"He's nineteen. Dax is human. He just looks like an animal."

There was a small but significant flicker of mischief in Jak that enjoyed the absolutely dumbfounded expression on Damas’s face.

"All...right...that's..." Damas blinked, shook his head, and blinked again. "I'm going to...move past that for now."

He cleared his throat.

"Where are your parents?"

Daxter's eyes widened, and he made a slashing motion across his throat, trying to indicate to the king that this was not a welcome topic of discussion. Too late.

Jak’s eyes darkened, and Mar scowled and looked away.

"Don't know," Jak said shortly, "Never met them."

Narrowing his eyes, Damas glanced from Jak to Mar and back again. "You never met your own parents. But you would have been old enough to remember when Seek was born?"

Mar shrugged angrily. "Loghead said he wasn't s'posed to remember I existed."

It was all Damas could do to refrain from pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off an impending headache.

These kids were going to make a lot of paperwork for the monks, he could already tell.

[imthebadguyyy]

God, I Love You

Lewis Hamilton X Reader

Summary - Its been a tiring couple of race weeks, and you just want to love on your man

Stretching, you slowly opened your eyes as the first bright rays of sunshine peeked through a gap in the curtains, that you had drawn shut the previous night. As you slowly regained complete consciousness, you became aware of the slight weight around your waist, and the feel of warm breath on the back of your neck.

Suddenly remembering the events of the previous day, a smile etched itself onto your lips, as you rolled over to see a sight you had sorely missed for the past three weeks. Lewis was still fast asleep, head buried in your neck, and arm slung around your waist. Smiling as you took in the sight, you became faintly aware of the sound of paw steps down the hall, as Roscoe's face peeked in through the open door. Sitting up very slowly so you didn't wake your sleeping boyfriend, you extended your arms towards the dog, who came trotting forward for a morning cuddle.

After some morning loving for the dog, you decided to get up and start your day, and let Lewis sleep off the exhaustion, exhilaration, stress and jet lag from the races he had won. He had only come home yesterday, and it had been so late in the evening that you had just eaten dinner together, and talked for a bit, but sensing how hard it was for him to even keep his eyes open, you had simply gone to bed. But today, you had planned to simply spend time together, to make up for the time he had not been there.

Stepping into the bathroom, you did your morning routine, of brushing, using the toilet, and tying your hair up into a ponytail. Then you made your way into the kitchen, the bulldog following right by your side. When you had begun dating Lewis, Roscoe had simply started treating you like his mom, and once, when Lewis had referred to you as 'Mumma' while talking to him, you cried. That was the moment you knew that this was always going to be your family. Ever since then the dog had become your fur baby as well, and Lewis often joked that Roscoe loved you more than he loved his own dad.

Deciding that waffles and fruit was the way to go, you quickly whipped up the batter, and poured it into the Mickey Mouse shaped waffle iron that you had bought at a Disney themed store. Picking out some strawberries, mango, orange segments and blueberries to put in a bowl on the side, you also decided to prepare Roscoe's bowl, so the doggo could eat with you guys. Soon, the smell of waffles wafted through the air, and you took out two perfectly shaped waffles to put onto the plate. Quickly pouring more batter into the pan, you began to set up the breakfast tray, and then make your way back to the bedroom.

With breakfast eventually ready, you picked up the tray laden with waffles, cut fruit, tea, maple syrup and a bowl of dog food and walked up quietly to the bedroom. The curtains were still drawn, although the gentle breeze kept moving them to the side, causing little rays of sunshine to peek through and shine on Lewis's face. To combat the light, he had simply pulled the fluffy white blanket over his head to keep the light away from his face, and you mentally "awed" at the sight. Setting the tray down on the bedside table, you climbed into the bed, and wrapped you arms around his torso, peppering kisses onto his neck, and moving onto his face, kissing his chin, nose, cheeks, forehead, eyes, and then finally, just above his lips.

Stirring as you kissed his face, Lewis's eyes slowly fluttered open, taking in his surroundings. After momentary confusion about where he was, he remembered that he was back home. Back with Y/N and Roscoe. A feeling of happiness and pure joy began to spread through his body, as he turned to see Y/N's e/c eyes looking at him with pure love and adoration. "Good morning bubs! Did you sleep well?" she asked, fingers tracing shapes over his bare skin. "Morning baby. I did" he replied, snuggling into her warmth, burying his face in her chest, as she began to softly play with his hair. "I made breakfast"

"You didn't have to" "I wanted too" 'MmmHmm"

As you basked in each others warmth and cuddled up to each other, Roscoe, deciding that he wanted some loving too, jumped onto the bed, right between the two of you. "Hello Roscoe" Lewis said, reaching out to pet the doggo. Wagging his tail, he trotted up to your body, and sat down near your tummy, resting his head on Lewis's shoulder. Feeling loved up and comfortable between both your boys, you let out a sigh of content, and rested your head on your boyfriend's shoulder. Humming something under his breath, Lewis began running his fingers along your bare arms, causing goosebumps to erupt over your skin.

"The foods getting cold" you suddenly said out loud, hopping out of bed to go and get the tray from the bedside table. Getting out of bed, Lewis made his way to the bathroom, and eventually came back to the room in a couple of minutes, to find Roscoe munching away at some treats, while you had picked up a little folding table and placed it on the bed to rest the tray on. Feeling extremely happy once again, he climbed back onto the bed, and grabbed his share of the food on the table.

His phone began to vibrate, Toto's caller ID flashing across the screen. Groaning, he put the phone face down on the table, and ignored the call. "Why aren't you picking up ? It could be important you know" Sighing, he turned to you, "I spoke to him yesterday, and if its that important he can simply text me after I don't pick up. Plus I've seen him for three weeks straight, and now I want to spend time with YOU" pouting, he looked back at you, making you let out a snort of laughter at the look on his face. "Ok drama queen. Now eat your breakfast and then we can take a shower"

Smirking, he looked at you from the corner of his eye, "we?"

"Yes, now shut up and eat" you said, nudging him with a glint in your eyes.

"Yes ma'am"

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After taking a shower together, and washing the dishes and the general monotonous household work, the both of you decided to take a walk along the beach, and take a frisbee along with you.

Dressing in the appropriate attire for the beach, you put Roscoe in his "ROSCOE 44" harness and walked out of the house. The beach was only five minutes away from your house, and you enjoyed the salty smell of the ocean air. It was a bright and sunny day, accompanied by a pleasant, cool ocean breeze as well. As you neared the golden sand, the bulldog bolted towards the sand, and ran right up to the water, and turned back to look inquiringly at the two of you. Laughing, you caught up with him, setting down the beach bag Lewis had packed for your beach day on a towel. Deciding to just relish in the Sun rays, you laid down a second towel, and removed your wrap around dress to lie in your bikini.

Lewis on the the other hand, decided to go for a swim in the water, and stripped off his t-shirt, so he remained in just his swim trunks. Looking over the top of your sunglasses, you couldn't help your gaze wandering all over his toned and muscled body, letting your eyes drink in the sculpted muscle and the tattoos that adorned his body, eyes lingering over each and every one, teeth unconsciously sinking onto your lower lip. "Enjoying the view?" his cocky voice made you look up at his face, still feeling slightly dazed.

"Yeah, because its mine to enjoy" you replied, throwing him a smirk. Rolling his eyes, he ran to the water to join Roscoe for a swim, while you watched with a smile on your face, as you watched your two boys chase the waves together. Whipping out your phone, you opened Instagram, to film the pair, and uploaded it onto your story with the caption : beach days with these two make everything better 🤍🤍

When the rays became too hot, you guys packed up your bags and made your way back home, stopping to buy some ice cream to beat the heat. Deciding to simply order some Chinese takeout food for dinner, with a bottle of wine, you settled down in front of your TV to have a movie night together. Lewis was in the kitchen, making some popcorn, and bringing you guys some wine as well.

Settling for 'Lion King' for your first movie, you let Lewis sit down, and prop his feet up on the pouffe in front of the sofa, while you tucked your feet up in the sofa, and laid your head down on his chest, his arm coming round your shoulder to hold you tightly. Roscoe sat by Lewis's feet, already asleep from the tiring day he had had at the beach. As Simba met Timon and Pumba, Lewis turned to look down at your face, "God, I Love You" smiling back at him, you leaned up to press your lips to his jaw. " I love you too"

Leaning his head down, he pressed his lips to yours, setting down the bowl of popcorn, to wrap his hands around your back, to keep you in place, as you pushed yourself up, wrapping your arms around his neck, as his hands began sliding up your back to finally rest in your loose hair, while yours slid down to his toned shoulders, and straddled his lap. The kiss grew more and more desperate, until you two finally broke apart, for the need of oxygen, resting your foreheads against each other, breathing heavily. " I love you. You're so good to me"

"I love you more"

"Not possible"

The moment was broken by a loud "wuff" as you both turned to look at the dog, who had stood up and was now looking up at the two of you with a look that said 'get a room parents!' "Roscoe!' Lewis whined, "We were having a moment" Laughing, you got off his lap, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I love you. Now, we have to feed to dog"

'Mmhmm' he mumbled, leaning into your touch.

"If you get up now and set the table, I promise I'll lock the door so Roscoe doesn't come in tonight" you said, looking over your shoulder, to wink at him. Eyes darkening slightly, he turned to look at you, and walked right up to you, pressing his palm onto your waist. "You better lock that door tonight. No doggy trauma in this house"

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OK OK OK OK FIRST F1 FIC. let me know what you thought !

NO I HAD TO ADD THIS BECAUSE IT SUITS THIS STORY SO WELL. im soft 🥺❤

Thank you thank you thank you to @grandestrategia for the idea ❤

[rinstars]

pool party

pairing: suna x reader

genre: smut

word count: 2k+

tags: fingering, penetration, public sex, dacryphilia, size kink, a tiny bit of praise, degradation/humiliation, mention of toys, strangers/neighbors sex, overstimulation, multiple use of different names, kind of dubcon

description: when you decided to go for a swim in the middle of the night on the private pool of your apartment complex to relax and things took a different turn.

after getting through a whole week filled with nothing but paperworks, meetings, and deadlines – you need a good swim. that's what you tell yourself as you shuffle around your room to search for your phone and towel, setting it on the bed as you pick out a good bathing suit to wear for your little relaxing swim on the pool of your building.

it's close to midnight. surely, you would be the only one in the space, giving you the alone time you've been praying for the whole week. speeding along the hallways and into the elevator with your robe wrapped around your body, you feel excitement bubble through your stomach at the thought of finally getting rest.

you wait patiently, tapping your foot on the marble until the elevator opened, presenting you with a sight you did not expect to see. standing shirtless in the pool, with half of his body submerged into the water, is your neighbor suna rintaro.

the gasp that escaped your lips was unavoidable as you looked at the hard muscle of his abdomen littered with water droplets, his wet long hair pushed back from his face with a bored, nonchalant look. wetness started pooling on the bikini you're wearing, making you curse yourself in the head. truthfully, you haven't been able to release your frustrations for a whole week, so one could only guess how much you're aching to be touched.

refusing to look like a fool in front of suna, you decided against hopping back in the elevator and dismissing the idea of a swim. your nimble fingers reach the knot of your robe, undoing it before shrugging it off your shoulders and onto the floor. you didn't miss the way he watches you shamelessly, following your every move with a sharp gaze.

when you eventually dipped in the pool, you stayed as far from him as possible, scared if you were within close proximity, you would do something regrettable.

barely any light illuminates the pool, your bodies below the water almost invisible to the eye. an idea pops into your head, admittedly a stupid idea, but you couldn't ignore the throb between your legs. turning your back against suna, you let your fingers run from your stomach to the band of your bikini, slipping your fingers in and parting your folds open. you let out an inaudible gasp at the cold water enveloping your twitching bud.

you didn't move for a while, just letting yourself feel the cold water wash away the heat of your warm cunt. lost in the mild feeling of euphoria, you didn't hear the movement of someone getting close to you, the ripples he created in the water unnoticed. it wasn't until you felt someone grip your wrist from behind did you jump at the realization that suna must have noticed what you were trying to do.

wordlessly, he pulled your fingers away from inside your panties, tugging on the wrist he caught earlier. you let him, face flushed from combined embarrassment and arousal. his hard chest is pressed on your back, making you almost want to throw your head back and lean to him. he shifted a little, causing a hard muscle to bump in the middle of your thighs, making you to let out a disgruntled groan.

in your head, you thought fuck it and started to slowly push your behind to him, so your ass is resting on his hardening cock. however, cold and wrinkled fingers suddenly pressed on your clit, making you scream out. he slapped a hand on your mouth, pulling you closer to him as his fingers circle your clit with such ferocity.

"even the water can't wash away how fucking wet you are." he growls in your ear, nibbling on the lobe as he continues his torture on your twitching clit. you spread your legs father, allowing him to slip his fingers further in you. the pads of his calloused fingers reached your slit, pushing two fingers in it with warning.

"s-suna." you throw your head back, clenching your walls around him as he assaults your pussy with the repeated, harsh pumps of his digits. his tongue is latched on your neck, sucking bruises on the skin with his teeth.

"if you wanted me that bad, you should've just said so from the beginning, baby." he whispered with a teasing smile before inserting a third finger in you and stretching you out with his scissoring. you feel your legs tremble, losing the strength to stay still and standing, but the way he's ramming his fingers upwards keep you upright.

"you didn't know the walls separating us our thin?" he spoke with a teasing tone but you weren't able to catch on, until he continued. "you think i don't hear you moaning my name out as you pump toys in and out of your cunt, you fucking slut?"

you gasp, both at shock from the statement and the way he's fingering you knuckles deep now, with the addition of his thumb rubbing digits on your sensitive clit. you didn't know what to say at the statement. there's no point in denying something that's real.

instead, you rock on his finger, almost as if you're riding his fingers to orgasm. his other hand gripped your jaw, turning your face to him. you were going to close the distance for a kiss when he denied you and instead pushed your mouth open before spitting on it.

"swallow it, bunny." he instructs, watching you with animalistic eyes. arousal spreads through you even more as you swallow, eyes rolling to the back of your head in pleasure. he turns you on so much. you've been imagining his fingers in you since the moment he moved next door, the feeling of his beautiful athlete fingers splitting you apart.

you were about to release a large moan when he shushed you again, turning the both of you around. shock replaced the confusion written on your face as you heard approaching voices, eyes widening at the possibility of being caught.

"oh, you like that?" he laughed in your ear as his fingers started moving even faster than before (if that was even possible). "clenching at the thought of being caught, huh? what a dumb little slut you are."

it was all just too much – his dirty talk and long fingers fuelling your desire. your hips bucked for the last time as you cum around his fingers, coating his hand with your slick.

he retracted his hands away from your pussy but remained his hold around your body, facing the two other boys now swimming in the very same pool you're both in. you felt him nod in greeting as the others smiled back at both of you, noticing the way one of them stares at your breast a little longer than necessary.

they both swim a little closer to you and suna, starting a small talk you couldn't care to join in. not when all of your strength has been reduced to nothing just a few minutes ago.

you were nodding along to the conversation when you felt your panties being pushed aside, making you gasp when you realize that it is, in fact, suna's throbbing cock.

the guys snapped their attention to you when they heard you make the noise, asking you if you're fine. with a hard nod and a tight smile, you assure them it's nothing. with much effort, you feel the tip of his cock slip inside your tightening cunt, making you bite your lip to prevent a sound from escaping. in your head, you curse at the boys in front of you for making it way too difficult to act, but then you knew that this is exactly what suna wanted.

your harsh glare on the duo never faltered, not once, until one of them noticed and hurriedly tried to pull the other way, whispering something about how they're taking up too much of your time. a flood of relief washes over you, and the moment they're a good distance away, suna once again turns your back to where the audience are.

"what a good girl." his fingers brush the damp hair falling on your face. he angled his hips better before slowly continuing to ease in your little cunny.

you have always imagined suna was a big guy, from the way he's built and how ridiculously tall he looks. but what you didn't expect is that he was this huge. you have never failed to accommodate something when you're being penetrated, but half way in with suna and you're already overstimulated. by the time he's all the way in, you gasp as your fingers fly to your lower abdomen, feeling his tip all the way there.

"fuck, you're so – ahh, s-so big." you grip his forearms as he began slowly pushing his length balls deep. the coil in your stomach tightening by the minute as he continuously tortures you with the lazy buckles of his hips.

"please move faster, suna, p-please please." you beg him, tears lining the edge of your eyes and a broken sob makes its way out of your throat.

suna felt his cock twitching and hardening at the sight of your face, tears moistening your eyes with a pout etched on your lips. "when you imagine me fucking you do i go slow like this or do i split you apart with my cock, hmm?"

humiliation fills you at the thought of him hearing you get off to his name every night but you certainly can't stop now, not with his cock wrapped in your tightness at a public pool where people are also swimming. with a choke, "y-you split me apart your cock."

he didn't even need to reply after that as he pulls his cock all the way back before slamming all of him into you again. his tip repeatedly kissing the opening of your cervix, making you let out a rather loud moan. he pinched your clit at that, the other hand wrapped around your throat.

"do you want a show? make a sound again, baby, and i'll show them what kind of slut you are." he threatens, kissing your cheeks and temples as tears keep falling – from the pain of having to keep your voice down to escape humiliation.

the water below you is moving so rapidly that it's creating ripples and bubbles to the surface, paired with the squelching sounds from where your bodies meet each other. he fucks your cunt deep and hard, making you feel every protruding vein along with every inch of his skin.

"does this compare? to the toys you stuff your cunt with?" he taunts you, groaning as he feels you clamp down on him even tighter. when you refuse to open your mouth in fear of making a sound, suna pulls your bra down from your breast, exposing your nipples to the harsh cold air. you immediately trembled at the feeling, head falling down as your face contorts in bliss. you were sure if suna wasn't holding you by the neck, you would have submerged into the water already.

with a strained sound, you managed to say. "nothing c-compares. your cock is so fat, so g-good — a-ahh suna.. 'm so stuffed."

when his fingers swirl your nipples, pinching both sides as he pumps himself into you along with his whispered degradation in your ear, it was all just too much. you feel your vision turning white as orgasm bubbles through your body.

suna curses a string of fuck as he feels you squeeze the seed out of him, almost as if you're telling him to cum with you but refusing to let him go at the same time. "want to be my little cumdump, bunny? want me painting your insides white?"

you nod at him with eagerness, chin touching the knuckles of the hand on your throat as you cream around him one last time, releasing your sticky juice into his cock. soon after, he fills you up too. you feel the sticky liquid gushing and dancing inside you, trailing down your thighs as it overflows.

"no no no no, clench, my angel. don't let a single drop out." he hums in your ear before pulling away from you and placing your panties back in place after your bra.

you nod, clenching your walls before eventually collapsing in his arms from exhaustion. he wraps his arms around you and kisses the top of your head, "are we taking this to your house or mine?"

[feliix]

Perfect Score ↠ Han Jisung

↠ Jisung x Reader (feat. Felix)

↠ Genre: Fluff, Angst, Smut, Fake Dating!AU, Childhood Friends to Lovers

↠ Rating: M (18+)

↠ Word Count: 14.9k

↠ Summary: As you return home to work at your local coffee shop, you’re swarmed with couples coming in on lovey-dovey on dates. You’ve always hated the idea of love, but it’s Jisung’s mission to make you change your mind in just two weeks time.

↠ Warnings: idiots 2 lovers, mutual pining, unprotected sex, fingering, soft sex, language, light mentions of marking, mentions of bad past relationships

“That's disgusting.”

You grimace in the most subtle way as you watch the man across the shop press a gentle kiss on the cheek of the woman next to him. For some reason your shop is packed with couples this evening. Not that you’ve been counting, but they’re probably the 50th overly lovey-dovey pair that you’ve seen this just this shift alone. 

To say ‘love’ isn’t really your thing isn’t too far from the truth. Every time you’ve been burned by someone in the past has only made your hope about love deteriorate. Relationships suck. Already been there, done that, and you don’t plan on doing it again.

You’ve always stuck by the same theory; relationships either lead to heartbreak or marriage. And even still, marriage may still end in heartbreak, so what’s the point?

“Stop being so dramatic,” Jisung laughs, pulling you out of your thoughts as he rounds the corner. He’s just in time to catch your snide remark, surely it won’t be the last one you’ll make tonight though. He had just run to the back to get you a fresh package of cups after using up all the stock in the front.

Tonight is busy to say the least. The sun has already set, and it’s the afternoon rush when everyone comes in for their second daily dose of caffeine. And it’s definitely necessary – especially on a day as hot and exhausting as this one. It’s the third day that its been over 100º in a row and the humidity is doing a real number to your hair.

“It’s not dramatic,” you sigh, leaning on the counter behind you as Jisung maneuvers around you, placing the cups on the shelf underneath. In your mind it absolutely isnt. Its a mystery why all these people need to publicly display their affection in a coffee shop anyway...

It’s just the two of you on the schedule tonight. Your boss has always been kind of an asshole, just leaving 2 kids in their early twenties to run the shop by themselves while he went off to do god knows what. There's always been an aching suspicion that he just goes to the bar across the street, since his car is still parked behind the shop but he’s always nowhere to be found. That’s okay though, it's better than him looming over your shoulder and criticizing your technique the whole shift.

“Yeah, whatever you say,” Jisung shakes his head.

In stark contrast to yourself, Han Jisung is quite the hopeless romantic. So much so that he tends to search for love in all the wrong places. Maybe a better way to describe it is that Jisung has a series of flings. He’s not shy to test the waters of any girl he comes across – and there are many, many waters that he’s tested. Lucky you gets to hear all about each one, being his friend and all.

But to your good friend’s demise, his ‘relationships’ never end up working out for very long. Theres always some kind of fatal flaw that’s a means to an end. Whether it was Jisung’s fault or the girls,  it’s always confused you why he could never hold onto something longer than a couple months. Jisung is a great guy, it didn’t make sense.

So great that you have been best friends with him for as long as you could remember. It all started that time in pre-k, where you poured a shovel of sand on his head in the sandbox. Initially, it did make him cry, but he got over it eventually. Ever since, he’s been right by your side, sandy hair and all.

“How much longer,” your eyes roll back in your head, neglecting to look at the watch on your wrist in fear that your shift has a significant amount of time left. The night has been dragging on since you stepped foot in the door and heard the little jingle as it opened. You wouldn’t be surprised if you’d only made it through half your shift thus far.

“Just under an hour. Want to start the closing checklist so we can get outta here?” Jisung offers, reaching for the rag and sanitation bucket at the end of the counter.

Nodding your head, you follow his plan – beginning your mission to clean like a speed demon so you can leave no later than at 8 o’clock on the dot. 

Luckily, closing tonight goes as smoothly as it possibly can. You and Jisung are ready to get out of there at 8 on the dot, thanks to your determination to mop like a mad woman and stock the front as fast as humanly possible. 

The air outside feels crisper than usual. Maybe its because you’ve been locked up in a small room that smells like coffee beans for 10 hours, but you’ll never get enough of the night air. 

“So what are we doing tonight?”Jisung asks, his fingers adjusting the headband that sits just above his forehead.

“I was planning on going home and getting some rest…” you trail off, avoiding eye contact with him. Jisung always goes out after your weekend shifts and never lets up on convincing you to tag along. So you can’t look at him, his eyes are much too convincing make contact with, and you are beyond exhausted from working a double today.

“Gah you’re so boring,” he teases, stopping in his tracks in the center of the parking lot to ruffle the hair on top of your head, “it was an early night we should do something.”

With a deep sigh, you stop as well, smoothing down your hair as a pout forms on your lips. The suggestive smirk settling across Jisung’s face is telling; he knows he’s about to get his way before you have the chance to turn him down or fish for another excuse. So you tilt your head, subtly rolling your eyes as you wait for him to explain what his big plans for tonight are.

“I’ll be at your house by 9.”

Accepting defeat, you shoot him a thumbs up before turning to get into your car. Asking any more questions would take away any time you had to wash up – and smelling like coffee beans any longer is going to drive you up a wall since it hasn't already.

It doesn’t take much time for you to rush home and get ready, and before you know it Jisung is there to pick you up. Only a few minutes late, but that’s just par for the course and right on time in Jisung terms. 

The car ride to your destination feels like a blur with how exhausted you are. So when you end up at your favorite boba spot, you immediately perk up. Those tapioca pearls always manage to give you a second wind.

But when Jisung decides to take a seat at one of the round tables just outside the shop instead of getting back in the car you know somethings up. You were expecting to hop back in the passenger seat of his car, maybe listen to some music for a while and drive around to kill time. 

Initially he doesn’t say much. His legs just bounce hyperactively while he fidgits with the straw of his drink. It’s almost like he’s waiting for you to speak up; his eyes staring down at the cup in front of him instead of sipping from it, lip caught between his teeth.

The energy is off. Not only did you expect to hang out and do something adventurous like Jisung normally would, but now you’re watching his cheeks grow red while avoiding conversation.

Awkward silence becoming too much to bear, you take matters into your own hands. “So how are things going with that girl?”

“Oh yeah,” he sighs, his fingertips drumming along the surface of the table, “she didn’t really work out.”

Unsurprised by his response, you just nod along. Its always to expect since he’s the pickiest person you’ve ever met. His last relationship ended because he thought the girl breathed too loudly. The girl before that had an annoying laugh, and then the one before that didn’t like cheesecake. There always seems to be a laundry list of deal-breakers tied along to each one of Jisung’s relationships, and that is something you’ll always expect.

“You’re probably better off.”

You don’t think much of the words before they leave your lips. Relationships are a ton of work, and you’ve never understood the point of to putting all your effort into something like that. There is a way to just be happy on your own, you know.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” his eyebrows furrowing in response, hands gripping his thighs in anticipation

“You know what I think,” you tilt your heat matter-of-factly, “relationships are kind of just a waste of time.”

“What is with you and all this ‘anti-love’ stuff anyway, Y/N?”

Now thats a response that you are not prepared for. The question catches you off guard, a boba bubble almost catching in your throat leaving you a coughing mess. Jisung chuckles at your discomfort, waiting patiently for you to get it all out and just answer his question, as uncomfortable as it is. 

“I’ve wasted too much time with too many dead-beat guys to even think about love,” you sigh again, your coughing fit subsiding as you reach for your cup once again.

“Not every guy is a dead-beat.”

His words carry a harsh bite to them, almost as if he finds you’ve said offensive. It burns his ego a bit, assuming that you’re grouping him in with all the guys you’ve been with in the past. Which is strange, Jisung should know that he’s different. For one, you’ve never dated him before and two, if he was such a dead-beat you wouldn’t have kept him around for so long.

You aren’t able to talk to guys, or most people for that matter, in the same way that you talk to Jisung. He’s the one you rant about all the assholes to. He knows all the shit that you don’t tell anyone else, he’s like your own personal human diary. Secrets are always safe with him, it's not like he has anyone who would listen to the gossip even if he wanted to tell.

After a minute of silence his expression changes, Jisung’s eyes squinting at you in that ‘I have a crazy idea’ type of way. It’s a look that you haven’t seen very often, and you can’t say that you’ll ever get used to it. 

“Okay then I’ll make you a deal,” he proposes, a glimmering look in his eye that made you somewhat nervous. You never know what you are getting with Jisung, but most of the time his ‘deals’ are on the crazier side.

“What is it?” You still ask although you’re a bit nervous to hear his answer. If his plan is to set you up with one of his delinquent friends or something–

“Be my girlfriend.”

Your eyes widen as the words fall from his tongue, confusion taking over your expression as a small chuckle slips past his lips. Instinctively your stomach tightens, the air around you now feeling a bit heaver each second time ticks on. He can't be serious…

“Your what?”

“Two weeks is all I’m asking for. Be my girlfriend for just two weeks, and I’ll show you that love isn’t as shitty as you think it is.”

“You’ve gotta be kidding me” you shake your head, a disbelieving smile stretching wide across your face.

“C’mon Y/N,” he challenges, “it’s two weeks of your life, what else do you have to do? I think it could be fun.”

The quirk of his eyebrow and quick squint of his eyes grabs your attention. He’s serious about this, scarily serious, and you aren’t quite sure how to react to that.

“What’s in it for you?” Your chin falls into your palm as you stare at him, waiting for his response.

“Well for one,” he starts, a sigh leaving his lips, “if it works then I won’t have to listen to you complain about how much relationships suck anymore.”

Just when you don't think you can roll your eyes any further into the back of your head, your own actions surprise you. If looks could kill, the one you’re giving him right now would surely take him out. He doesn’t pay much mind to it though, he’s used to your sass and just shrugs it off.

“This is an awful idea,” you glare at him as if it will change his mind. You’re certain this experiment of his would not change your own. Love sucked, and that was that.

“Two weeks,” his voice carries a taunting tone, his eyebrows wiggling to entice you into his plan. He isn’t going to give up on this easily, you know Jisung. And Jisung always gets his way.

“Fine,” you huff, “two weeks and that’s it. And if my mind isn’t changed you owe me 3 more of these,” you say, picking up your boba from the table and shaking it at eye-level for emphasis.

His bottom lip catches between his teeth, satisfied with your response. He isn’t exactly sure how he’ll manage to pull this off, but he’s definitely up for the challenge.

“We start tomorrow at 8, I’ll pick you up after work.”

Crossing your arms over the table, you bury your head in your arms. This is going to be the most interesting two weeks of your entire life.

“Wait, you're like dating dating the Han Jisung?” Felix’s jaw drops, excitement prevalent on his face as you spill about your night with Jisung.

Felix is the only person in your life that understood your hatred for relationships, other than Jisung of course. Not that he shares the hatred himself, he’s just heard enough about how much you despise being in one to know just how you felt. He’s only heard about it every day for the past several summers.

Felix is your best friend, other than Jisung of course. He’s also the only person in this world that you could bear to work with on a Saturday morning. 

“That's the plan,” you sigh fiddling with the containers on the counter. It’s pretty slow for a Saturday morning, only a handful of customers have come in so far and it's already 11 am.

That’s the thing about working at a coffee shop – and it sucks when it's busy, and it sucks even more when it's slow. At least it isn't a terrible job, you at least have Jisung and Felix to keep you company and that's always worthwhile.

“And for the record,” you turn to look at Felix, a grin still evident on his face, “I don’t think this is gonna change my mind about the love stuff.”

“You know how Jisung is,” his eyebrow lifts, “so you never know. Maybe something could happen.” 

If anyone was surprised that you were dating someone, fake relationship or not, it would be Felix. On top of that, you’re dating Han Jisung. As in, the same Jisung that ended a 3-month relationship last year because the girl ‘smelled too much like peaches’ and it was ‘too good to be true.’ And now that you’re the one stuck with him for the next 14 days, it is only a matter of time until he finds the deal-breaking trait that turns him away from you.

“Okay no, that's exactly why this is only two weeks. If I know Jisung, he’ll be over it before the 2 weeks even ends.”

“Whatever you say,” the pitch of his voice is raised teasingly. You can tell he doesn’t believe this will be just a ‘two-week thing’ by the funny little look on his face. You hate that look, and you hate how Felix always seems to be right.

Subsequently Felix sees a lot of things that you aren’t able to see for yourself. You’ve grown up with Jisung, grown accustomed to his unique mannerisms and behaviors without even noticing. Felix, on the other hand, has a different point of view. 

He’s not in it like you are, so gets to see the way Jisung looks at you; the way he hangs on each and every word that leaves your mouth with a sparkle in his eye. He notices that Jisung longs to make you laugh. And he watches the toothy grin each that grows on your face each time a chuckle breaks through your lips. Felix notices every behavior that you see as nothing more than ‘friendly.’ But who is he to say? So, for now, the information remains tucked away and stored in his mind for a later date.

Your fingers drum on the clean marble countertop beside you, leaning against it as you wait for a customer to come in. All this time with nothing to do is really doing wonders for your imagination; thinking about what Jisung has planned for the two of you to do tonight. Nothing special, you hope, he really doesn’t need to go all out for this. 

The lack of customers and silence that's fallen among the shop is just making it easier for your mind to wander off. It was beginning to make you sick how much you were thinking about Jisung and nothing has even happened yet. It's not like you have any reason to be nervous, but keeping all these thoughts trapped in your thick skull is starting to give you a headache

“He’s picking me up after work.” You blurt it out without thinking much about it. No one is here, you might as well lay it all out there for Felix to know since there's nothing better to do.

“He’s picking you up? Like you’re going on a date?”

“Shut upppp,” your eyes roll at his teasing nature, growing slightly embarrassed by how giddy the thought of this ‘date’ is making him, and you for that matter. It’s just Jisung. And you are just hanging out like you do every other night. There's nothing different about tonight and you’ll be able to prove that to yourself and Felix by the next time you see him.

The rest of you shift flies by – it always does when you work with Felix. Before you know it, the closing checklist is coming to an end, only a few steps left before you can finally get out of here. The clock had just turned to 7:55 pm, but Jisung still isn’t here. Not that you’re expecting him to be on time or anything, this is still the same Jisung you have always known.

What you aren’t familiar with is the nervous butterflies fluttering around in your tummy as the clock approaches 8 pm.  What are you even nervous about? It isn’t a blind date, other than the fact that you have no idea what you’re doing. And it isn’t even a date. It’s Jisung for crying out loud.

Speaking of the devil, the chimes in the front of the shop ring as Jisung passes through the doorway. You don’t see who it is at first, your back turns to the door as you sweep behind the counter. The chimes ringing at this time of night do trigger your fight or flight instincts though, ready to turn to whoever is approaching and give them a dirty look for coming in this close to closing time.

But once you turn around and see Jisung standing in the doorway with a bouquet of sunflowers, your tension quickly subsides. You swear that you can feel your heart skip a beat, heat rising to your cheeks as you try your hardest to form a coherent sentence. It's okay that you aren’t able to, though, the surprised look on your face is enough for his smile to light up the room.

“I’m here to pick up the pretty girl with the espresso stain on her shirt,” he chuckles, his bottom lip catching between his teeth nervously.

Tonight he’s dressed a lot nicer than usual comfy attire; a nice shirt with a pair of dark jeans that hug his slim figure. His hair is a lot lighter too – a vast change from the midnight black strands that normally frame his face. He’s really going all out for this thing – and right now all that you’re wearing a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt with coffee stains down the front.

When you look to your right, Felix is just as stunned as you are. Frozen in his spot as his jaw practically sweeps the floor, he looks at you with wide eyes, his eyebrows raised as a smug expression crosses his face. For a second you contemplate asking him if he’s all set to finish the closing checklist on his own, but before you’re able to speak up he’s already shooing the two of you out the door.

With a goofy grin displayed across his face, Jisung hands you the bundle of flowers, tied together with a delicate white ribbon. You mumble a thank you, still stunned that he showed up here looking like that to take you out tonight. So he is the romantic type, note taken.

“You like nice,” you gulp nervously. It already feels like a date and you haven’t even left the parking lot yet. If this is how things are going to start you had an exciting 13 more days ahead of you...

“So do you,” he smirks, his eyes wandering down to the small brown stains littering your shirt. Eyes narrowing, you read the expression crossing his face – of course, he’s joking. “I brought you some fresh clothes to change into don’t worry.”

Relief rushes through your body as the words leave his lips, followed by a slight pull on your heart strings. Knowing he took the time to think about bringing you something else to wear so you didn’t have to sit in your coffee scented clothes all night made you feel warm in the strangest way. He’s thoughtful, and it's weirding you out – but in a good way.

“So, where are we even going?”

“You’ll see.”

A vague yet interesting, and very on-brand response from Jisung. He’s always been a fan of surprises – as long as he’s not on the receiving end.

The drive to your destination drags on forever. You aren’t quite sure how long you’ve been on your way; between your agile back seat changing of clothes, which you are surprisingly skilled at, and the anticipation coursing through your veins, you’ve lost track of time. All you know is that you’ve been driving along the backroads of your area for at least 15 minutes, and there is nothing around you to indicate that your destination is near.

“This is it.” The car pulls into a small dirt parking lot, dimly lit by some dingy street lights that aren’t doing a very good job at their primary function. It's pretty hard to see what’s around you, no matter how hard you squint and press your forehead to the window to get a better look.

“Where are we?” The question leaves your lips in a worried fashion. Trees surround the parking lot on all three-sides, while the road you've pulled in from occupies the fourth-side. You’re hesitant to get out of the car, but as Jisung rounds the front and opens the door for you, you’re on your way out. He motions for you to hold on as he pops the trunk – returning with a blanket and a reusable shopping bag filled with god knows what.

He still hasn’t given an answer to your question though, and you still aren’t quite sure where you are. If It was lighter out you assume it would be beautiful here, all the greenery dark and shadows hovering over you from the trees.

The bright light from his cell phone flashlight lights up the way, a path on your right

“Hell no,” your arms cross over your chest as you stand still in your place. He’s out of his mind if he thinks you’re going into the woods this late at night. You’ve seen enough horror films, stuff like this never ends well.

“C’mon, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Jisung laughs at your pouting manner, amusement filling his system as you glue your feet to the ground of the parking lot. His puppy dog eyes plead for you to follow him, a hand outreaching in your direction for the taking. You contemplate it for a moment, your eyes narrowing as you ponder the possible outcomes of the situation before you.

“Fine,” you huff as you take his hand in yours.

His hand feels different in yours this time. His long fingers lacing between your smaller ones in the perfect fit that you’ve neglected to notice before. You’ve held his hand before, platonically though. This time it’s platonic too though, right? It’s just a date. A platonic date between two friends. Two friends who are dating on a two week trial period. So yes, it is strictly platonic. Right?

The dirt path doesn’t drag on for too long, but the sounds of bugs ticking and twigs breaking beneath your feet is enough to startle you. Every scared and breathy gasp that  leaves your mouth is followed by a small fit of laughter from Jisung. At least one of you is amused.

But the dirt path soon turns rocky, a clearing becoming more and more noticeable as Jisung’s flashlight brightens the way ahead of you. The rows of trees come to an end as the ground flattens, a giant slab of rock lying beneath your feet. Out ahead of you is completely dark, and until you approach the darkness you don’t notice that you’re just a few yards away from the edge of a cliff. A river lies below the edge, the sound of water rushing fills your ears and calms your nerves. It is quiet out here, peaceful and without distraction.

Jisung stands back as you admire the scenery around you – your own phone flashlight now out and panning around to look at the view. It’s beautiful out here, nothing to worry about but the sounds of the water and whatever Jisung is doing behind you…

You couldn’t have zoned out for more than 2 minutes, but once you turn back around to face him a picnic blanket lies on the ground before you. Snacks scatter the extent of the fabric, a few candles placed in the center

“You really went all out for this, huh?” A nervous laugh leaves your lips before you swallow harshly. Never in your life has a guy ever gone all out like this for you. A late-night picnic at a secret location, fixed with all of your favorite snacks and some candles for ambiance.

“Had to,” he smiles, “it’s our first date.”

You join him on the blanket, grabbing for a bag of popcorn as you sit down. Maybe relationships wouldn’t suck so much if all men treated you like this…

But it’s just Jisung. Jisung who already knows all your favorite things to eat. He’s just trying to be convincing – to prove to you that men take you on dates, do nice things. But stuff like this never lasts. Two weeks from now you’ll be going back to the same old Jisung and Y/N friendship that you’ve always had.

The conversation goes on as normal tonight, he doesn’t make any moves (as expected, it’s Jisung) and you enjoy the view and calm atmosphere with your fake but not so fake boyfriend. You stay out on the cliff for a few more hours before he takes you home. Jisung put a lot of effort into making tonight special, and you appreciate him for that. But even after all his effort, you know that real relationships aren’t like this.

Every guy you’ve dated would try to woo you over in the beginning too. They call it the honeymoon stage for a reason. Things are always great in the beginning, lavish gifts and dates, loving gestures. That kind of thing never lasts. Soon the effort runs out, the guy gets bored of putting the work in, and they end up sleeping with your freshman year roommate. Well, at least that's how it is for you.

The bundle of sunflowers Jisung gave to you earlier on in the night sits on the end table next to your bed. Each time you look at them all you can picture is the goofy grin he sported as he stood at the entrance of the coffee shop. It replays in your mind like a movie. How he dressed up all spiffy just to take you out. How he took you to a spot only he knew about, somewhere so off-site and serene that he knew you’d remain uninterrupted. You can’t help but wonder if he’s using the same old tricks on you that he does to other girls though. If he only knew about that place because he’s taken someone there before.

Not that it matters though, you aren’t his real girlfriend. You’re just on a trial period. But for some reason the thought that he might have brought another girl to the same spot before doesn’t sit well with you.

“Sooooo,” Felix teases, letting his chin fall into his palm as he leans on the counter before him, “how was your date with Y/N?”

Jisung chuckles at his nosiness, he’s sure you’ve already told Felix all about it. There are no secrets left between you two. Even sometimes Jisung felt like the odd man out when you’re all together.

“It was good.”

Jisung keeps his answer short, leaving the rest up to his imagination. He isn’t one to kiss and tell – or to not kiss and tell. Keeping his private life all to himself is something he takes pride in, things are just better that way.

“Just good?” Felix challenges, knowing there is much more that he’s leaving out. His eyes narrow as he waits for his response. You haven’t told him anything about last night, not even where you went after he picked you up. Things are radio silent on your end, which left Felix dying to know what actually happened on your ‘date that wasn't a real date.’

Jisung glances back at him, contemplating whether or not he should spill the beans. It would be kind of nice to have someone else to confide in. Especially since it's always you on the receiving end of his secrets; however, this may be the one secret that you don’t know of.

He chews on his bottom lip pensively, if anyone knows what’s on your mind, it would be Felix. Not that Jisung would ever want to pry, there's just no indication of how you feel about last night, or about him. Before Jisung can even open his mouth to speak, a knowing smirk is spread wide across Felix’s face. It’s that kind of look that makes him nervous – he knows something.

“You like her don’t you,” he muses, rubbing his hands together smooths as the words catch in the air. It’s out there now – and it’s obvious. Well, maybe not obvious, but it's clear as day to Felix – and that is more than enough to make Jisung worry.

“I don’t,” Jisung denies the other boy’s claim, his willpower too strong to give in.

“Oh yeah? So why do you self sabotage every one of your relationships then?”

The words catch Jisung off guard; his jaw clenching harshly as an annoyed breath is forced out of his nostrils. He wants to deny the claim once again, but he can’t bring himself to keep brushing off these feelings that have had a grip on him ever since he was young.

Felix is right too. He does sabotage each relationship that comes his way. Jisung goes out of his way to find something wrong with each girl he dates. He can never admit it to himself, but in the back of his mind, he knows that it's the fact that none of those girls are you. None of the girls he’s ever met could ever match up to all that you are. In his mind, you held the perfect score, and no one else had ever come close.

“It’s written all over your face every time you look at her you know.”

There's no way he’s that obvious... Did his feelings show that much whenever he was around you?

“What do you mean?” Jisung clarifies, the small once of hope bearing weight in his chest that Felix will follow up with a ‘just kidding’ or change the subject. Only the silence that falls on the room is enough of a response for Jisung to get the clue. 

“Just please don’t tell her,” he avoids eye contact with the other boy, hand gripping harshly on the countertop as he stares down at the black and white checkered tile. “I just wanted to see if I could change her mind – about the love stuff, you know?”

The second you find out about Jisung’s feelings all bets would be off. There’s no way you’d let your little arrangement continue, not if either of you could end up hurt. And he knows you only agreed to this because there is nothing between you romantically, it was a deal between two friends. The second feelings get involved, everything gets all mushy and confusing, and Jisung can’t lose you.

Felix bears his weight on the counter behind him, leaning comfortably on the cool glass. “Believe me, I want her to be done with that ‘I hate love thing’ just as much as you do,” he sighs, looking around momentarily before he clears his throat. “Want me to be honest?”

“Please.”

“I think you might be the only one who can change her mind.”

Jisung’s heart skips a beat once the words leave Felix’s mouth. Blood rushes to his ears, pumping like a snare drum as he considers his thoughts. His stomach begins to twist as he considers it, almost confused about what Felix means, but not willing to accept it. You only agreed to fake-date him, you still hate love.

A comfortable silence fills the air, Felix watching him as his lips roll between his teeth, deep in thought. Change your mind. The words repeat in Jisungs head like a broken record. That’s what he’s trying to do, all for the right reasons of course. So that you don’t  have to be so miserable about it anymore. 

But behind those selfless reasons are several smaller, selfish ones. He gets to be with you as more than a friend now, and although it’s nothing more than some kind of test run, he can’t help but feel like this can be something more too. It’d be crazy to ignore the feeling he has deep in his chest, and maybe it's a sign not to.

“Like you think…” Jisung gulps, clearing his throat as the words stutter out of his mouth, “I could get her to fall for me?”

The lack of response that Felix gives is ominous, but the raise of his eyebrows and toothy grin forming on his face needs no words to tell. 

If anyone is to change your mind, it’ll be Jisung.

That night Jisung took you to the drive-in movies. To be quite honest, you couldn’t really recall what was playing, some Pixar film with bugs as the main character if you could remember it correctly. You were far too distracted laughing with Jisung, watching as young kids played around on a grassy patch near his car. The giggles that left his lips each time the little girl waved to him were music to your ears. You never noticed how much he loved kids, how good he was with them.

The image of his hands clasped together as he fawned over the little girl, picking dandelions in the grass and racing to place them by your feet was burned into your memory. The boxy grin that graced his face all night long. The way his eyes squinted from his cheeks, pushing up as he smiled so big. The whispers of the word ‘cute’ each time her pigtails bounced while she toddled away.

Missing the movie doesn't disappoint you. If anything, the memories you've saved from tonight are more than enough.

The next night you were unable to go out, the shop was so busy that you were not able to leave until an hour and a half after your shift was supposed to end. Some punk kid dropped a cup of iced coffee on the floor on his way out and decided it would be best to leave it there without cleaning anything up or letting you know. Maybe if it hadn’t been so busy then you would have noticed the spill before it dried up and there were coffee stains stuck to the tile floors.

Naturally, you spent a good 15 minutes trying to mop up all the stickiness on the floor. But to your luck, Jisung is working with you that night. Once all the customers left the shop he hooked his phone up to the speakers, grabbed your hands, and danced you around the shop. Well, it was supposed to be dancing but it probably looked more like Jisung swinging your arms as you attempted to not trip over your own feet.

It makes up for not getting to go out though, and you’d take a night like that over a fancy dinner any chance you got. 

It’s been 12 days since you became Jisung‘s girlfriend, and as the remaining days decreased, so did your hatred for love. Each night he planned something special. The real kicker was the texts that you get once he makes it home from dropping you off every night. A simple ‘I had a great time tonight’ was enough to make your heart swell and heat rise to your cheeks.

And as you notice your hatred for love and relationships leaving you, you notice another feeling enter your system. Or several feelings…

Things are getting just as sticky as the night when two frappuccinos splattered all over the shop floor, whipped cream and all. Spending time with Jisung like this is bringing some things to the surface you didn’t know were buried in the first place.

Every night that you spent with Jisung over the past 12 days allowed you to see him in a new light. You got to see him on a different level than just friends. You got to see what every girl that fawns over Jisung experiences.

Something about your friendship never let you jump past that barrier. You only see him as a dear friend of yours. Nothing more and nothing less. And now the issue is that...you aren’t sure how you’ll ever go back to see him as such.

You like Jisung as more than a friend, that's for sure. And you know because of that things will never be able to go back to the way they once were.

Maybe you're reading too much into it, but your gut is telling you that you aren't the only one feeling this way.

The feeling of butterflies that pound in your stomach each time you meet eyes with him has to be reciprocated. There is just no way you can be feeling this way and he isn’t.

This isn’t like the feelings you’ve caught for any guy before, this is something else. Every night when you go home you lay in bed, staring at your ceiling with a dumb grin on your face as you think about your time together, about him. About the way his black curly hair falls in front of his eyes each time he looks down and how his smile lights up every room he was in.

These things that you were so blind to before can’t escape your thoughts, and it makes you wonder how many times or things you’ve looked over that make you melt, just like you are right now.

But in just 2 days, this trial-boyfriend period will be over, and you’ll have to go back to being just friends. Each day, each hour, each minute that approaches feels heavier and heavier. Anxiety floods your system each time you think about things being over, or that this arrangement you have isn’t even real.

When you think about the growing feelings you have for him, you honestly can't imagine what your life will be like any other way. What it would be like going back to just hanging out here and there. And what it would be like

You can’t even fathom thinking about what it would be like hearing him talk about another girl again. It makes you sick thinking that there's going to be someone after you, because in just 5 days this will be all over, and you’ll go back to being the girl best friend, nothing more.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking that Jisung has more feelings for you too. But the glimmer in his eyes as his bangs brush out of his eyes and they land on you tells a different story. When he looks at you it feels like you are the only two people on earth. He sees nothing else but you, and the way your eyes sparkle back at him.

Each day you spend with Jisung after that feels like a wrench tightening the screws of your heart. 14 days is just not enough.

“Earth to Y/N,” Felix says waving a hand in your face.

You must have zoned out, for god knows how long.

“Thinking about Jisung?”

“What?” you immediately straighten your posture and brush yourself off before responding, “N-no…I’m just thinking.”

“Right,” the sarcasm drips from his lips, not sparing you any time to save yourself as he turns away, beginning to wipe off the tables in the front.

For personal reasons, you’ve kept Felix out of the loop during this whole “fake-boyfriend Jisung” thing. It’s better if you keep your feelings to yourself until you figure them out. And although it feels really really strange not giving Felix the intel on what’s going on in your life, you know it’s for your own good.

Once you put what is in your head out into the world, you can’t take it back. And what if all these things that you’re feeling is just a part of the honeymoon-phase. If that even existed anyway… But if all these feelings for Jisung are due to him trying to woo you and change your mind, everything will just fade away as things return back to normal. And then you’ll be left loving him in silence while you watch him blow through relationships like a leaf blows through the wind.

Something in you tells you that this isn't the case, but the small shadow of doubt in the back of your mind keeps you from talking to your best friend about it anyway.

The thing is, you don't have to tell Felix for him to know. Every time Jisung picks you up from work to take you out you shine. Your smile spreads so wide he’s afraid your cheeks will tear. The nervous shake of your fingers as you grab for your belongings as you head out the door doesn’t go unnoticed in Felix’s eyes. He knows you too well to look over things like this, he just wanted to wait for you to say something first.

But now that you aren’t, Felix has decided to take matters into his own hands, asking you about it himself.

“Felix,” you start, waiting for his attention before you pull out a stool, sitting down and motioning for him to follow suit. Quickly he does, a questioning but knowing look evident on his face as the stool squeaks under him. “You know how this thing between Jisung and I is just an experiment or whatever?”

He nods in response, his hand quickly falling into his palm as he listens intently to your words.

“I think I messed up.” Your head is buried in your arms, laid over the tabletop in embarrassment.

“What do you mean?”

His question is more for clarification, he wants to hear you say it yourself. Felix knows that you’re gonna tell him that you’ve already caught feelings. He sees it coming from a mile away, you confirming it is just the icing on the cake.

“Don’t make me say it,” you whine, neglecting to pick your head up and look at him. You can feel the grin on his face. You know he's smirking at you right now, doing his best to hold back a laugh. Finally, you over the ‘I hate love and relationships suck’ thing.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” he sings, quite obviously teasing you while another deep sigh echoes from your chest. You manage to pick your head up, leaning onto your elbows with your chin caught between your palms as you face him.

“I like him.”

It comes out as a whisper, but Felix hears it loud and clear. If you didn’t know better, you’d assume that the smile on his face can't grow any larger, but it does. He jumps up from his chair in victory, doing a funny dance with his arms whooping in the air to celebrate. You’re confused as to why, but you’re too far in your own thoughts to pay it any mind; your head just sinks back into your arms as your forehead presses against the cold metal table beneath you.

“I knew it,” Felix smiles, his happy dance subsiding as he positions himself back down across from you. “I knew this fake dating thing was gonna work.

“Yeah well it really worked, because now I have feelings for a guy that’s never gonna reciprocate them for me.” Your tone is laced with sarcasm, a disappointing ring sounding off on each of your words. You’re too embarrassed to look at the boy sitting before you, worried that if you do all the emotions you’ve been holding onto for so long will spill over and stain your stone-cold image; one you’ve maintained for far too long.

But Felix is your best friend. The only one that you should be comfortable being vulnerable about your feelings for Jisung with; for some reason all you can’t bring yourself to be. Before you can get a grip on your emotions tears are streaming down your face and falling onto the cold metal surface under you in small puddles. 

A sympathetic sigh leaves Felix’s lips as he tries to gain your attention, “Hey.”

Inhaling deeply, you face him – mascara strewn across your face in black streaks and eyes nearly bloodshot. You’ve held this in for far too long. Only a double would tire you out and exhaust you enough to cry on the clock. Thank god it’s a rainy day, no customers ever come in on rainy days.

Or at least, no customers usually come in on rainy days. It's not until you hear the bells on the front door ring that you’re wiping your eyes, whipping around to greet whoever was entering.

And then you see him, standing there as he shakes out his umbrella, a bouquet of sunflowers in his hand.

And he sees you; mascara running down your face and tears staining your cheeks. He’s early. Your stomach turns at the sight of him, emotions not stable enough to handle carry a normal conversation like  

“Y/N,” his voice is quiet, worry dripping in his tone as your name leaves his lips. But you can’t face him right now, not like this.

Your feet move faster than you mind, standing up and rushing to the back to avoid him. Jisung doesn’t follow you, just stands there and watches you walk away, solemn and worried that he’s done something. 

It’s not until Felix is rising from his seat and pacing over to him that he’s brought back to reality.

“Jisung...” he starts, hands coming up slowly to console him, “I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to be here right now.”

“Wh-what’s wrong?” His lip worries between his teeth, eyes glossy as he stares at the door you just closed behind you. He’s looking at it intently, mind flooding with worry, wishing so badly that the door will just fly open, and you’ll tell him what was going on. In the back of his mind, he knows that you won’t, at least not for now. Talking about emotions has never been your strong suit, and chances of that changing at this moment are at an all-time low.

Felix is unsure how to answer him, caught in between not wanting to lie and keeping your feelings private. He can’t speak for you; but he’s scared that saying nothing could just make this whole situation worse.

His mouth gapes as he searches for a response to his question, lips opening and closing while he hums to himself.

The umbrella hanging from Jisung’s hand drops with a crash, starling Felix as he jumps at the sudden sound. But before he is even able to speak, the bell to the front door is ringing again, and Jisung is walking away into the pouring rain.

The next day you wake up feeling numb. You’ve received several texts from Jisung the night before, none of which you have the energy to reply to or even look at for that matter.

The guilt riddling your body has become too much for you to handle. You left work last night without even saying goodbye to Felix. He’s a good enough friend and coworker to know that what you’re going through is more important than working the counter at an coffee shop. 

After Jisung left, Felix came back and let you know; he almost had to break down the door to the backroom in order for you to let him in. He told you to go home, get some rest and that you’d talk tomorrow.

But after waking up the last thing you want to do is talk about Jisung, it hurts enough just thinking about him.

Every time you thought about how your arrangement was supposed to end in just a few days you felt sick. You have worked so hard to open up just to build your walls back up again. And now you’re back at square one.

When you agreed to be Jisung’s girlfriend you did not expect to fall for him like this. He’s Jisung for god’s sake. He’s your personal diary, he’s the one who knows all the shit that nobody else does. And he’s the only one that listens to all the dumb shit you have to say that no one else cares about.

Feelings ruin everything. Love sucks, and you knew this before you agreed. You agreed under the circumstances that Jisung could show you that relationships could be fun; not under the circumstances that he would make you fall in love with him,

And the more that you think about it, maybe you were always in love with him. Maybe you always had these feelings for him, but they were trapped in the tight bonds of friendship that your subconscious never let you out.

But none of that even mattered now. The deal had to be off, and you need to distance yourself from Jisung before you are hurt any worse. The longer this goes on the worse that you are going to feel when it's all over.

How are you supposed to go back to normal after this? Like is Jisung thinking that showing you how amazing relationships are, you won't fall for him or something? Or does his true plan consist of making you fall in love with him, just to string you along like every other girl he's dated?

You’re trapped in the never-ending spiraling thoughts, soiling your image of Jisung with each new theory that crosses your mind. None of them are good. All of them paint him as a player, as someone who just used you.

But the little thump in your heart when you notice the sunflowers placed on your bedside table wants your mind to change. Your heart wants you to believe that Jisung feels something too, that throughout this arrangement he has seen a different side to you too – that he’s fallen for you just like you have for him.

It's a knock at your door that guides you out of your thoughts. The repetitive tapping at your front door that drags you out of bed. And when you check your peephole and it's no one else, but your small blonde best friend standing on your doorstep that has relief rushing through your system.

The door cracks open, Felix standing there with an umbrella in his hand – even though it was nearly 100º with clear skies.

“Why are you still in your pajamas? It's noon.”

Suddenly, he pushes past you and invites himself into to your living room. Plopping down on your couch, Felix makes himself comfortable as he waits for you to join. You spin on your heels, an exhausted breath leaving your mouth as you pace over to him, plopping down on the next cushion over.

“Why the umbrella?” Your brow furrows as he hands it over. You take it though, still confused behind the meaning of the object that you're holding and where it came from.

“It’s Jisung’s.”

You nearly drop it as his name leaves his lips. The name causes your stomach to tighten, mouth-drying instantly as emotions well behind your eyes.

“Why?” Is all you can mutter out. Why was he giving it to you, why is he here, and why did he have it?

“You need to bring it back to him.” He says sternly, his eyes locked on you as he waits for you to look back at him. But you’re too focused on the umbrella placed gently in your hands, tracing your finger over every wire and the soft rubber handle.

“I can’t.” Your words come out in a whisper, breath light and airy as you sigh, sinking your body back into the couch cushions. Giving the umbrella back to Jisung will mean that you have to go see him. And if you see him, he’s going to want to talk to you about last night, then question you about why you haven’t been returning his texts. No. You will not be giving Jisung his umbrella back.

“Y/N,” your name leaves his mouth gently, a sigh following it before he reaches for you, rubbing your arm comfortingly before continuing, “I think you need to talk to him.”

“Felix you know I can’t do that.”

You’re serious in your words. Not that you don’t want to talk to Jisung. You most definitely want to – and if you could, you would. But you can’t. There are too many emotions involved. The wound is fresh and seeing him would be rubbing salt right into it.

“Y/N,” he sighs, this time more forceful, like he’s trying to get something across to you but it's going right over your head. “Talk to him. Please.”

“You know I’m going to end up hurt if I do.” Tears well in your eyes as the words croak from your throat. It's dry and scratchy, full of fear and anxiety.

“I think you’d be surprised,” he mumbles, his eyes instantly widening on realizing the words that just escaped. Eyes wide with confusion, you’re begging him to go on, but if he does then Jisung won’t be the only one in deep shit right now. It's not up to Felix to tell you what he knows this time. 

“What do you mean I’ll be surprised?”

“I have to go,” he stands instantly, motioning to the umbrella, “and you need to bring this back.”

With a slight ruffle to your hair, Felix is giving you a supporting smile and waving goodbye. And you’re left alone once again – just you and Jisung’s blue umbrella.

It takes a lot of courage to get ready today. You make sure to take your sweet time rummaging through your closet, flipping through articles of clothing for the better half of an hour. At the end, you opt to go with a pair of sweatpants and an old t-shirt. There isn't enough energy in your body to put on anything else, and you know you’ll just want to curl back up in bed once you get home. Sweatpants are safe, and safe is just what you need.

No makeup today either. If things are anything like you’re expecting, your makeup will just end up ruined anyway. It's your better judgment to shower though, you’ve neglected to take one after work last night; opting to just bury yourself under your covers as soon as you got back. But today is a new day. And with a fresh shower and your comfiest pair of sweatpants, you are about as ready as you’ll ever be to get your heart broken into a billion pieces. 

Umbrella in hand, you step out onto your front steps, relishing in your last few moments of ignorant bliss before making your way to Jisung’s. You immediately regret your wardrobe decision as the sun beats down on your frame, the humidity making you feel sticky and gross – your favorite pants are  no match for this heat.

But you’re on your way to your destination anyway, the drive feeling longer and more drawn out than normal. Jisung didn’t live that far away from you, but the ride there still felt like an eternity with each theoretical scenario passing your mind. 

Dragging your feet, you make your way to the front steps of his house. You’ve been here a million times, but today is different. From now on, every time you drive past this place all you’ll know is heartache.

You brush yourself off, taking a deep breath before bringing your hand up and pushing the doorbell. The sudden ringing sound startles you, even though you have every indication that it’s coming – you’re just too nervous and jumpy for your own good.

Footsteps approach the door, your stomach tightening more and more with the muffled pitter-patter of footsteps. You’re praying to God that it’s his mom, hoping that Jisung just so happens to be out – even though his car is in plain sight parked just a few meters away from you. Wishful thinking, you suppose.

When the door to his house opens, you struggle to maintain your composure. He’s dressed similarly to you; a pair of sweats and an old sports t-shirt that has definitely seen better days.

“Hi.”

“Hi.”

His eyes are sunken in, dark circles dragging underneath his eyes and his lips pulled downwards. He looks like a sad puppy, his dark hair all scruffy and sticking up in each direction – probably from him running his hands through it so many times. 

“I came to give you this,” you extend the umbrella out before you. He nods before taking hold of it, his hand far at the opposite end making sure not to keep his distance. The more you look at him, the more sorry you feel for dodging his texts. He looks like he hasn’t slept a wink, and you’re afraid it’s all because of you.

“Oh...uh, thanks,” he struggles to make eye contact with you, looking down at the object in his hand. 

It’s awkward, uncomfortable, and you can’t seem to find the words to say to break this strange tension between the two of you. He’s acting weird, shifting his weight back and forth but not moving away to close the door. His mind is racing once again – contemplating whether or not to just invite you in or leave it at that.

But with every aching bone in his body, he musters up the courage to lift his head, looking you directly in the eyes. Their dark like his, definitely from the lack of sleep you had the night before. Your mouth is turned downward too; hands fiddling together to try and distract yourself.

“D-Do you wanna come in?” He stutters, stepping aside slowly as he gestures towards his house. He suddenly worries when you don’t respond right away, taking a second to contemplate if this is a good idea or not. Ripping off the band-aid is never easy, but it needs to be done.

“Sure,” is the word that you decide on – hoping that it doesn’t make you seem disinterested or too desperate to talk. Maybe he’s just being kind though. Maybe it’s an empty offer, something that you say when you’re trying to be nice, but subconsciously hope that they won’t take you up on it. Like when you offer to share your food with someone, but you’re really hungry. You do it to be nice, not because you actually want to split the delicious looking burger and fries on your plate.

He leads you inside and to his bedroom. It looks the same as always, but it feels different. It still smells like him though, the comforting woodsy scent of pine and mahogany that he always reaches for. But that comforting scent is anything but comfortable. You’re frozen in place, unsure if you should sit on his bed and make yourself at home, much like every other time in the past. For now you just stand in the doorframe, waiting for him to tell you to take a seat, just like any polite guest would. A guest. You have never felt like a guest in his home before, or around Jisung in general. But that imaginary wall between the two of you is standing tall and sturdy, and suddenly the two of you are reverted back to being strangers.

You watch as he toys with something on his desk, his fingers dancing from object to object and sifting through papers to look busy. The point of it – unknown to you but to him, he’s buying time. Trying to think of the first thing to say, what to ask, or if you even wanted to talk. Maybe you only agreed to come inside to be nice. Maybe you were too worried about hurting his feelings if you said no. But alas, here you are, standing awkwardly in his doorway as he shuffles around his room, his brain flooding with thoughts – but his mouth can not form them into audible words.

“I’m sorry for ignoring your texts.”

Your voice catches his attention, dropping whatever paper he’s looking at now and turning his gaze to you. You’re sunken into yourself, your chest thumping with anxiety as his eyes begin to wander your frame. Not in a ‘I’m checking you out’ manner though; more of a ‘you look so sad and I don’t know what to say to you right now’ kind of way. 

It’s true though, he doesn’t know what to say – which is why he’s staring at you, hoping the right words would just pop up and he didn’t have to use any brain-power at all. He doesn’t want to say ‘it's okay,’ because it's not. You never ignore his texts, and that alone tells him enough about what's going on. You are upset at him.

“What did I do wrong, Y/N?”

His words sound accusatory but his tone is soft, gentle and full of worry. Eyes swollen and looking like they are about to fill to the brim with tears, his sight is focused on you; now not able to look away.

“I-I don’t know…”

Your answer is honest. You don’t know if his intentions are dirty. Yeah, that’s what you thought initially, but looking at him with such hurt written all over his face tells a different story. 

Jisung is silent, unsure of what more he can do or say to make you talk to him. He can’t force you to open up, he never has and he never will – that’s always been his rule. Everything you’ve shared with him has been on your own terms and conditions. Jisung has always been here to be your listening ear, but he never prys.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

His voice is soft, eyes full of sympathy as he holds himself together. Those were the words he has been looking for. Now the ball is in your court and you’ll have to be the one leading the conversation. It’s just what he needed to figure this shit out.

“I-I don’t know.”

“Y/N,” he sighs as he drops himself down onto the mattress, “I shouldn’t have to say this for you to know it, but you know you can talk to me about anything, right?”

You do know that. You really, really do. But this time things are different. Is he expecting you to just come out and speak your truth like there won’t be consequences? No, he won’t push you to tell him anything you don’t want to. But the worry in his eyes and clammy hands are begging for you to just let it out so he can stop being in the dark.

You sigh out an ‘okay’ before sitting down beside him. 

Rip the band-aid off Y/N. Quick and painless.

His eyes narrow, almost to a squint, staring right through you in hopes of reading your thoughts. Your expression is nothing but blank as you try your best to gain some sort of composure. Do you just speak up and spill your guts? The words replay in your mind over and over until your thoughts are beat down and misshapen. 

You can picture his face when you say it; disgusted with a trace of disappointment and some confusion spread into the mix. Or maybe he’ll laugh at how pathetic you were, catching feelings for your fake boyfriend.

That’s it. There’s no way you can tell him. It would be much easier to just get up and leave. Tell him to pretend like none of this ever happened and that you needed some time to cool off. A few months maybe, or maybe you could just ghost him entirely. 

“Y/N?”

The sound of his voice breaks you out of your toxic thoughts, and his chocolate brown eyes bring you back down to earth. You can’t just leave him in the dust. He’s looking at you like you’re the only thing that exists. Things will be okay, right?

“Sorry, sorry,” you exhale deeply as you calm your thoughts; shifting the nasty scenarios out and accepting that whatever happens after this conversation is your fate. 

“Jisung, I-I guess I wasn’t expecting this boyfriend-girlfriend thing we’re doing to go like this.”

His brow quirks at your words, confusion riddling his expression as his eyes narrow. With a tilt of his head, he’s pushing you to continue, visibly riddled with your choice of words.

“Swear you’ll be honest when I ask you this?” You question him, your hand moving closer to his as you lean in slightly. He’s like a magnet, you can’t help yourself from moving closer; even though the proximity of the two of you is clouding your thoughts and you can feel your heart beginning to swell.

He nods in response to your question, his eyes full of concern as he waits for you to continue, “Why did you ask me to do this thing?”

He knows that a question like this was coming, only if he could have prepared for it. But he didn’t, so his throat is left dry and scratchy as his mouth opens, only to stutter a bit before closing it back up. No coherent thoughts or words are able to escape his lips, just nonsense mumbling that caught himself off guard.

With a deep breath, he closes his eyes, regaining his composure before he can face you again. He agreed to be honest, and if honesty is what you want, honesty is that you’ll get.

“I’m sorry.” That’s all that he can say. 

Oh no. This is exactly what you were expecting before you came here. He’s gonna tell you that he didn’t mean to mess with your emotions, that he felt you catching feelings and got carried away. That he’s sorry that he ruined your friendship and played you like a violin all at once.

“Me too.”

You don’t know why you’re apologizing, but you are. It feels wrong. Absolutely utterly, and undoubtedly wrong. Apologizing for your own feelings is not something that you are okay with. Especially when he made you fall for him like this. Okay so maybe thinking that is giving him too much power, but who the hell takes you out on dates for nearly 2 weeks straight just to laugh about it later. How can he expect you to not catch feelings for him? With his deep voice and fluffy hair that always hangs in front of his eyes, that little giggle he has when he finds something amusing. Everything about him was attractive. And you’ve fallen for it all. Hard.

“Wait, why are you sorry?”

A scoff escapes your mouth unintentionally, but it’s well deserved. “For being the idiot to fall for a guy that was playing her, I guess.”

You can’t look at him any longer, so your eyes fall to your lap, staring at your chipped nail polish and dirty fingernails instead of reading whatever dumb expression he has now. But if you just took a second to look up, you’d notice the widening of his eyes, how his fingers are beginning to shake and his mouth gape. 

“Wh-What?”

“Don’t make me say it again Jisung, I don’t feel like sounding stupid one more time.”

“No no I heard you, it's just,” his eyes slam shut, angry at himself that he let things get this far without keeping you in the loop. 

You’ve been telling him that you hate love for years now. After hearing it so many times, he’d just given up on the thought of you. Maybe if he said something before you went through all those shitty guys things could have been different. But he’s let this go on for far too long, and now you’re the one that was paying the price. 

“Y/N I have feelings for you.”

Your neck nearly breaks with how fast your head snaps up. He’s the one looking away now, his cheeks a bit rosy as he tries to hide himself. He isn’t doing a very good job though, his hair is only shadowing his eyes and you can clearly see the way he’s nervously chewing on his lip; a cute habit you have grown fond of these past couple of weeks.

If he didn’t look like he does right now, you’d assume he was messing around. But you know Jisung. You know his small little gestures and what they mean by now. You know when he’s being serious and when he’s telling a lie. He can look someone dead in the eye and lie to them, but when he tells the truth, he becomes shy and worried that he’s said the wrong thing. 

“Why didn’t you tell me?” You ask softly, gently reaching for his hand. The subtle contact makes him flinch, reacting by pulling your hand away. But his eyes meet your sympathetic ones, sparkling just like they always do, and he knows what he wants.

Jisung’s hand reaches back for yours, lacing his fingers through yours before giving your hand a light squeeze. “You hate relationships,” he chuckles lightly, the mood of the room instantly shifting as the laughter leaves his lips. 

“I hated the ones that weren’t with you,” you correct him, but your voice comes across as just a whisper. He’s close enough to hear though, a blushing grin forming on his face as you shyly look away. His heart flutters when he hears it, a million butterflies erupting in his tummy all at once.

“I hated the ones that weren’t with you too,” he coos, his eyes wide and sparkling as he looks at you with such adoration. 

Time moves in slow motion as his hand meets your cheek, your eyes look deeply into his chocolate ones as he moves in closer. As your eyelids flutter shut his tongue runs across his bottom lip, wetting the surface before closing the distance between you. Finally.

And in that moment you’re at peace. Everything you thought you’ve ever hated, love, relationships, and maybe Jisung for a hot second, are the only things that you long for. The 14 days don’t have to be over, and your days no longer have to be counted. When you’re with Jisung you’re happy, you’re comfortable, and you're confident that he can give you what you have always deserved – but have never gotten. 

His lips move against yours in slow, languid motions, his large hands holding you close like he’s holding on for dear life. But you won’t leave even if you want to, not now, not after all this. 

Slowly, Jisung shifts his weight and you move in succession. He’s laying you down on his bed, gently climbing over you without breaking the kiss. Things are becoming more heated now, you can feel it as his hungry lips devour your own. Your chest heaves up to meet his, your back arching off the mattress as his hands begin to scour your body. The heat pooling in between your legs is growing, an aching sensation overwhelming your core as your own hands reach up to rake through his long, fluffy hair. And you can tell he wants you too, the thin fabric of his sweatpants doing little to conceal the growing erection pressing against your thigh. 

You can’t help but let out a steep moan as his hips begin to grind into yours. Needy groans fall past his lips and onto yours as you roll your hips upwards to meet his small ruts. 

In a leisurely motion, Jisung’s body is moving upwards, his knee finding a place between your legs as he brings himself up to a kneeling position. You chase his lips the entire way there, sitting up straight to be sure the contact doesn’t vanish, too consumed by your need for him to leave his lips.

And then his needy hands are running along the waistband of your sweats, fiddling with the tie before breaking your heated kiss. “Is this okay?” His words come out in a whisper, his eyes searching yours for any signs of doubt, but all he sees is lust.

“Yes,” you confirm, out of breath from making-out for so long without coming up for air. The lightheaded feeling taking over you goes unnoticed though, and quite frankly you’re too caught up in Jisung to care.

Quickly, he rids you of your pants, looking back up at you for confirmation about your underwear. With an affirmative nod he’s removing those too, leaving you completely bare from the waist down as he stands over you fully clothed.

But soon he’s ridding himself of his own clothing, his shirt being pulled at the nape of his neck as he discards it across the room. He’s leaning back down to you, hungry for the feeling of your lips. He misses it, even though it's been less than a minute since he’s last felt your smooth lips on his. 

You won’t open your eyes to see, but with the shuffling movements and shaky connection between your mouths you can tell Jisung is stripping himself of any remaining clothing he has on. He’s needy, unable to wait any longer to get down to business, he’s already waited long enough.

You’re the one who breaks the kiss this time, too curious to see what he’s sporting down below for your own good. But you are not disappointed once you see it – he’s long and girthy; the pigment a shade or two darker from his skin tone than the rest of his body.  Your thoughts are wandering, wondering what it's like to have him inside of you; dreaming about what he feels like. Arousal pools at your core, mouth salivating as your daydreams linger.

“Like what you see?” Jisung chuckles. You barely notice that you’ve been staring, eyes wide and focused on the hardened dick before you, which is probably a bit uncomfortable for him. 

“Sorry!” You cringe at yourself lightly, covering your eyes in embarrassment in fear that you just ruined the mood you’ve worked too hard to create.

“Don’t apologise,” he smiles as he grabs your wrists, moving them away from your round eyes. Scrunching your nose in displeasure, you catch your lip in between your teeth, mentally face palming at how weird you’re being.

He couldn’t blame you though, it was taking everything in him not to gawk at you. It was the first time you’ve seen eachother naked. Bathing suits did little for your imagination, not that you had even thought about Jisung this way before.

But he eases your nerves by coming down face level with you, reaching for your shirt and pulling it up over your head. You look at him with wide eyes, taking in each part of him as he caresses your body gently. He’s in awe of you like this. So relieved that you’re finally his, that he has you like this.

Nimble fingers dance down your body, landing at your core as he runs one up your slit, collecting your arousal on his fingertip. An impressed smirk grows slowly on his face, “I can’t believe you’re this wet already,” he hums. “All for me.” 

His eyes remain focused on your center, devouring it with his eyes as his hands hold steady on your thighs. You can’t help but grow slightly embarrassed, dripping with arousal so early on though he’s barely touched you. A lump forms in your throat causing you to swallow thickly – this doesn’t go unnoticed by Jisung.

A concerned expression crosses his face, brow furrowing as he moves his hands upward to settle on your waist. “Hey,” his voice is soft, gentle and full of worry, “everything okay?” 

“Just nervous,” you answer, a fake smile showing on your face to try and combat your own emotions.

It is no secret that Jisung is a bit more experienced than you are in bed. He knows that, you know that, and that is enough to turn you into a nervous wreck. Leave it to your own thoughts to ruin the moment.

“We don’t have to…”

“No!” Your voice comes out a little too eager, a bit loud, shocking Jisung. His eyes widen in response, body jolting from the impact of your tone. “No,” you say more gently this time, “I want to.”

You did want to – you just have to get over your own nerves first. Lucily, Jisung didn’t mind and was willing to guide you through it.

With a reassuring smile plastered across his face, he laces his fingers through yours. As you lock eyes, you nod him onward, giving him the go-ahead to continue. He moves languidly, his fingers moving back down to trace your slit once more. The sensation makes you tense, the nerves tingling through your body making it difficult for you to calm down. 

But with a reassuring squeeze of his hand to yours, you’re taking a deep breath. Closing your eyes as you lie your head backwards onto his pillowcase. The smell of him consumes you, relaxing you effectively as his fingers meet the entrance of your core.

Shivers run through your body as he dips one finger inside. Your arousal acts as a natural lube, letting his finger glide gracefully into you. You gasp at the sensation, eyes rolling back into your head as he begins caressing your walls. His finger moves swiftly in and out of your core, his other hand still locked with yours to guide you through.

With your body finally relaxing, Jisung is able to add another finger into the mix. The extra pressure makes you shudder for a moment, taking a little to adjust to the greater size inside of you. Thankfully the mild discomfort subsides, and he’s able to pump his fingers in and out once more. 

He’s making sure to watch each of your expressions, growing harder and harder just from watching your face contort in bliss. With each of his movements you bite down harder onto your lip, focusing on him and him only. 

“You’re doing so well,” he praises as his thumb rubs circles over your hand soothing you. You can feel your heart swell at his words, heat beginning to rise to your cheeks. 

In one swift motion, Jisung begins to separate his fingers, stretching your walls as his digits move in scissor-like motions inside you. “Fuck,” you mumble, hips jutting forward in reaction. 

A steep moan leaving your lips as he brings his fingers back together, just to extend them once more. Your body is quickly getting used to the pressure, begging for more as you roll your hips.

He can sense that you’re eager from your movements alone. With one final squeeze, his hand is leaving yours. The empty feeling in your palm is unpleasant. But once you open your eyes and notice he’s using it to palm himself, his fingers groping around his length and beginning to pump slowly, that empty feeling is replaced with something else. 

Your mouth salivates with desire, hungry for the feeling of him inside of you. He’s aroused you enough, and you’re too eager to feel him for your own good.

“Jisung,” you moan, “fuck me please.”

His cock jumps in reaction to your words, his chest heaving as his breath catches in his throat. Never in his life did he expect to hear those words come out of your mouth – but he wouldn't mind hearing it again.

“Hmm?” He hums, knowing damn well what you said but being greedy enough to pretend that he didn’t. You whine in response, your legs shaking on the bed in a mini temper-tantrum.

“Please,” you drag out, “please fuck me.”

Your words are music to his ears. He removes his fingers from your dripping cunt, grabbing the backs of your knees to pull you closer to him and hike your legs up over his hips.

“Anything for you.”

Complying to your wish, he lines the tip of his cock up with your entrance. The feeling of his smooth head against your core is enough to make you moan, your head thrown back to expose the soft skin of your neck.

Jisung takes this as an opportunity to leave his own mark behind, leaning down to attach his lips to your skin. You gasp as his teeth graze your skin, his plump lips sucking harshly before his tongue is swiping over the area to soothe it. 

But your eyes open once he’s beginning to pull away to look at you. His eyes are dark, full of lust mixed with adoration, a sigh of relief leaving his chest as he gazes down at you under him. There’s a lot going on in his head right now. Of all the emotions swirling around, the thing he’s most focused on is how lucky he is to have you.

And before you know it, he’s leaning down. Pressing a chaste kiss to your lips, making you smile. One more kiss is left on your forehead before he's pulling back, securing the position of your legs on his hips. 

And then he’s realigning himself with your core, pushing past your entrance and slowly descending into the depths of your pussy. He’s moving slowly, taking his time as he thrusts into you. The delicious stretch is unfamiliar, but it's not uncomfortable – like you were made just for him. A simultaneous groan leaves your lips as he bottoms out, the tip of his cock pressing deep into you on a spot that’s gone untouched. 

He hums a sigh of contempt before pulling back, only to rock his hips into you once again. Your velvety walls welcome him delightedly, soft whimpers leaving your lips once he bottoms out again.

“Y/N,” your name leaves his lips in a low grunt, the bones of his pelvis driving into your skin as he begins to pick up his pace. In reaction you clench down on him, orgasm beginning to loom overhead with each movement of his hips.

Desire fills your senses as you roll your hips over to meet his thrusts. His movements are slow and intentional, making sure to bottom out each time to watch you squirm over his dick. He loves how your jaw drops each time his tip presses against your g-spot, knowing just when he hits it each time.

Jisung’s teeth are barred, sweat gathering at his brow as his dark fluffy hair sticks to his face. He’s trying to hold himself back, the overwhelming urge to finish just in reach, but he doesn’t want to stop. So his hands roam your body to try and distract him, his palms caressing up the sides of your torso as your back bridges into him. The feeling of hot breath fans over your face with each sigh he lets out. 

But the tightening knot in your stomach is threatening to snap with every movement of his hips. It's getting harder and harder to hold on with the power of his thrusts growing stronger.

“Jisung,” you whine, “so close” your hands find his back, fingernails dragging down his spine in attempts to ground yourself. Jisung’s face contorts as your nails pierce his skin, leaving lines of red scratches down the length of his posterior.

The stretch from his length and his rhythmic motions sends your senses into overdrive. Squeezing your eyes shut and grasping onto the sheets underneath you, you can taste the brink of your orgasm. Jisung is focused; his grip on your thighs strong and his face contorted with bliss. But all you can think about is how stupid you could have been if you had decided to just cut him out. What matters is that you’re here with him now, and the thought of that is enough to push you over the edge. 

Your breath hitches in your throat, stomach twisting and turning as your pussy throbs repeatedly around his member. Emotions running high, three words almost slip past your lips, but with the small amount of strength you can muster up, you hold them back. Another time, some time that isn't so lust filled like this one.

Jisung’s thrusts are growing sloppy. His grip on your legs tightening as his lip is caught between his teeth. And with just a few quick thrusts, he’s coming undone inside of you. White, hot spurts of cum paint your walls, filling you up and making you feel so unbelievably full. 

You’ve always felt close to Jisung – he knew everything about you and vice versa; but this time was different. The way his hands settled on your legs, bringing them down gently after finishing. How his eyes are becoming so soft as he looks at you, a lazy grin pulling at his lips. You’ve never felt closer to Jisung as you do in the moment. As his body collapses next to yours, pulling you in and holding you close as you recover from your highs, you’re completely at peace.

“Sorry I got carried away, I guess I should have asked if you’re on birth control still,” he laughs, burying his face into the crook of your neck. 

“Don’t worry, I am,” you chuckle alongside him.

Your naked bodies tangle together, his leg weaving its way through yours to be as close to you as possible. He’s intoxicated by you, closing his eyes as he rests against your body in complete bliss. Now that he has you this close he never wants to let go; and neither do you.

“Can I tell you something?” His voice is soft, whisper like but still holding confidence; his tone never falters.

“Anything.”

“I love you, Y/N.”

Butterflies erupt in your tummy, your heart thudding in your chest as heat rises to your cheeks. He loves you. It's not that friendship kind of love anymore; it's the relationship kind. The same kind that makes your heart skip a beat and body riddle with every emotion in the book. The kind that keeps you up all night thinking about – but also helps you fall asleep, knowing he’ll be there in the morning.

And all of a sudden it seems so stupid that you were fighting those words back in the heat of the moment just a few minutes ago. He felt it too, you always knew that.

“I love you, Jisung.”

Being in love is a dumb concept. All guys suck, relationships are stupid and love is a social construct that you didn’t feel like conforming to. There was absolutely no one that you would waste your time on, until Jisung came around. What you had been looking for your entire life has always been right infront of your eyes – you were just too dumb to see it.

Maybe love is alright, after all.

‘Perfect Score’ is copyright 2020-2021 @chaangbin, all rights reserved. Please do not repost on any platform or translate without permission.

↠ A/N this fic has been rewritten/reconcepted from my previous BTS fic Crush Culture.

[ry0chann]

First of all, congratulations on 500 followers!!!!! You definitely deserve it!

Second, can I ask for Atsushi + 🎁?

thank you!! <3 and yes you can :)

🎁 Christmas shopping

event // 500 follower event

pairing // Atsushi x gn!reader

genre // fluff

wc. // 595

warnings // none

notes // i don't describe it but this is what i imagined Atsushi to be wearing

event m.list

The two of you had been out for a few hours now, hopping between stores for gifts. Atsushi said he wanted to buy presents for everyone at the agency and asked you to come along, to which you kindly accepted of course. It was surprisingly fun, despite how tiring it eventually became.

The faint the sound of Christmas music could be heard, and white lights dress the rooftops of every building. Your hand was nicely wrapped in Atsushi's, your other holding the hot chocolate you bought the earlier. A few bags were hanging in the bend of his arm from your recent stops.

You had already gotten gifts for nearly everyone, but Atsushi insisted on going into one more store. He said there was still something he needed to pick up, and to avoid killing his spirit, you go in with him. When you both walk in, he stops, letting go of your hand and giving you a bashful smile.

"I know you're probably tired, but... I wanted to maybe, get you something..."

His cheeks flush red, though they were already a bit rosy from the cold.

"I-I wanted it to be a surprise, but since you're with me, I figured you could pick out something." he beams brightly.

You giggle, finding it cute how shy he suddenly became. A kiss is placed on his cheek and you return the grin he gives you.

"Sure Atsu, that sounds lovely. You pick out something too, okay?"

He shakes his head, chuckling a bit nervously.

"No no, y-you don't have to get me anything. I promise, it's okay."

Ah he's so humble. Atsushi was the one person you wanted to buy a gift for the most. He was so deserving of it. Not that everyone else wasn't, but Atsushi was special to you. You haven't been dating all that long, which is probably why he said not to get him anything. However, you wanted to express your appreciation for him, and a Christmas present was definitely an endearing way to do so.

"Well, I want to. So we'll each pick out something for ourselves, and have the other buy it. Okay?"

You offer a kind smile, taking his hand in yours again. He simply sighs with a nod, complying knowing you were most likely going to buy him something regardless. Shockingly, it didn't take very long for him to find the gift he wanted. Atsushi was very simple, so that didn't come to a surprise to you. You eventually find something as well, the two of you exchanging the items to pay.

You step out into the cold once more, with one extra bag on your arm. Atsushi quickly kisses your cheek, face darkening in color at his sudden gesture.

"Th-thank you y/n. For coming out with me today... A-and for the present. I really don't deserve it."

His words get you to stop walking, letting whatever pedestrians walk around you as you both stand on the busy sidewalk. You turn to face him, a soft, yet serious look on your face.

"You do deserve it Atsu, I promise. And not because it's Christmas, either. You're worthy of all the good that comes your way, please remember that."

His lips curl into a slight grin, joy washing over him from your sweet statement. With his icy hand, he cups your cheek, kissing you tenderly from not being able to put into words how happy you've made him. He whispers another "thank you," before entwining your fingers with his again, and continuing your stroll.

[procrastinatorimagines]

Evidence

Fandom: Chicago PD / One Chicago

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Reader

Warning/s: shooting

Word Count: 1,615

Request:  Hi ! Can you do a jay halstead × reader where jay and y/n are dating secretly but one night jay left a hickey on y/n necks and on the next day y/n try to cover it up before work but can't and the rest of the intelligence team spot it and jay blush but she makes up a story but the intelligence team know and y/n and jay come clean and tell the rest of the team they are together ❤ thank you

All in all, you thought you’d done pretty well, giving your neck one last look in your rearview mirror before turning on the ignition and heading to the 21st. 

Jay had left your place early, neither of you arriving at work at the same time so as to not raise suspicions, so he’d been heading out the door when you’d finally gotten out of bed, already driving away by the time you spotted the hickey on your neck in your bedroom mirror. 

You were not impressed to say the least, what part of a secret relationship had escaped his mind? With an annoyed groan you got to work covering it up the best you could, applying foundation more skillfully than you’d expected as you got ready for work.

There would be time for words later. 

You were still driving in when the call came over the radio, shooting nearby your location with officers in need of backup, one down. Quickly throwing on your lights you expertly did a u-turn and headed back up the street you’d just passed, noticing people running for covering in the opposite direction to where you were going, frightened with their heads down.

It didn’t take long to stop the suspect, mask over his head and gun waving about in his hands as he shot behind him with reckless abandon at the uniformed officer in pursuit. 

Slamming on your brakes you dove out of your vehicle, gun out and ready to engage. “Hey!” You called, diverting his attention from the other officers as his gun swung in your direction, diving behind a nearby car just as the bullets began to fly. 

You poked your head up after a moment, getting off a shot before he realised the odds weren’t in his favour and took off into the garden of the car behind him. Cursing you slid over the bonnet of the car you were behind. 

“I’ll get him, you get your partner!” You told the officer, who nodded gratefully and ran back to his fallen colleague, his led badly bleeding.

“This is 50 21 Foxtrot responding to the 10 1 on West 47th, I’m on the tail of an armed offender fleeing the scene of the shooting making his way South-” you paused, a little breathless as you hopped a fence and quickly dived to the side, narrowly avoiding another bullet as the offender kept running. You gave your most apologetic look to the women screaming in the garden you’d just entered but kept going, you couldn’t stop now - “through the neighbouring gardens, we should be coming out onto West 48th soon.” 

The sound of cars was getting louder as you ran, a tall fence looking like it separated the two of you and the main road as the offender opened for a narrow side path out onto the street. 

You were gaining on him fast as he tried to climb over it, grabbing his coat and pulling him down. His gun fell from his hand and you kicked it away as he scrambled after it, punching him hard in the jaw as he turned back to lash out at you.

“Stay down,” you ordered breathlessly, gun out and aimed square in his direction as the gate opened behind you, back up coming through. “You have the right to remain silent...” you relayed, getting out a pair of cuffs as you read him his rights and passed him off to the unis to bring back to the 21st in their squad car.

And then you were off to work.

-

“Hell of a morning,” Trudy commented as soon as you eventually stepped into the district, pushing her glasses up onto her head as you approached, an eyebrow going up as you reached the desk, “in more than one way I see.”

Your brow creased, “pardon?” You asked, unsure of what she was suggesting with her tone.

“My mistake, you must have got that bruise during the chase,” Trudy said sarcastically, gesturing to her own neck. Your eyes went a little wide, your hand going to where you’d spent way too much of your morning covering up the hickey Jay had given you. 

“Of course,” you hummed unconvincingly, rushing to the bathroom as Trudy laughed. All that effort to cover it up and your sweat had washed it away, hopefully you could cover it up again before anyone wondered why you weren’t upstairs yet.

Barging into the bathroom you riffled through your bag for the foundation you’d brought, just in case you’d needed to touch it up throughout the day, but in all the excitement of the morning you’d forgotten all about it. Oops.

You were putting the finishing touches on covering it up when the door swung open again, too late to hide what you were doing as you found yourself face to face with Burgess. 

“Voight’s looking for you upstairs,” she relayed, clearly amused as you hurriedly shoved your things back into your bag, embarrassed at being caught red-handed. 

You were going to kill Jay.

She didn’t say anything on the walk up the stairs, but you avoid her eye guiltily as she buzzed you both up and you made your way to the bull pen.

“Took you long enough,” Adam commented when you both emerged, a coffee in his hand as he leaned against the breakroom door. 

“Yeah, sorry, Y/N was busy covering up a hickey in the bathroom,” Burgess replied non-chalantly, much to your emence embarrassment. Kev snorted out a laugh and Jay choked on his drink as you tried not to meet his eye. 

“Was she now?” Hailey laughed, the others clearly enjoying how flustered you were getting. 

“I er- no- it was during the call this morning-” you tried and failed to sound believable as the others laughed more, Adam being the first to notice how red Jay had gotten since the converation began.

“No one’s buying that Y/N,” Kim informed you as Adam clapped Jay on the shoulder. 

“Well that’s interesting,” he commented, watching the way Jay awkwardly cleared his throat, not daring to look at you. The others picked up on it too, the both of you looking very guilty in a room full of trained detectives. 

“Got something to share there Halstead?” Kev asked, Jay finally looking at you with apology in his eyes as he finally saw the pourly applied foundation covering the very visible hickey he’d left.

You both hesitated before answering - was there really any use hiding it anymore? A room full of your closest friends who also happened to be detectives weren’t exactly going to drop the subject, or believe whateve bs you gave them in the moment.

Sharing a mutual resigned nod Jay rubbed the back of his neck, sitting up straighter in his chair. “Okay, well, we’ve kind of...”

“...being seeing each other,” you finished for him, realising he was unsure how to put into words exactly what you’d both been doing. If you were honest, you didn’t know exactly what this was either, you hadn’t discussed labels, but you both had feelings for each other, that much you knew for sure. 

“For how long?” Hailey asked, looking at her partner with slightly narrowed eyes, wondering how long he’d been keeping this from her more than anything.

“A couple months,” Jay said, glancing back up at you with a little smile.

“Months?” Adam was shocked you’d both managed to keep this a secret from them for so long, “and this is the first we’re hearing about it?”

“Well, we didn’t want to get our wires crossed,” you shrugged, gesturing to try and get your point across, “we work together.” That had been one of the first things you’d talked about the first time you’d spent the night together, keeping your personal and professional lives as separate as you could. 

“Yes, you do,” you heard your Sergeant say, jumping as Voight emerged from his office, leaning against the door frame with his arms folded. Uh-oh. “Is this going to get in the way of doing your job?”

You swallowed and shook your head, “no, sir.”

“We’re good Sarge,” Jay said at the same time.

All the teasing and joking smiles from the unit had vanished, waiting for Voight’s reaction with bated breath as he mulled it over in his head. 

“Good,” he nodded, much to your relief, though you knew the conversation was far from over, “because we’ve got a case to get back to.”

He was right, this was work, there’d be time to think and talk about this more later - right now you had a dead city official and a cop in the hospital.

Burgess winked at you as you made your way to your desk, picking up a scrunched up piece of paper you had lying around and throwing at her once Voight’s back is turned. He paused, shaking his head, but didn’t turn back around as he went back to his desk. 

You rolled your eyes at her and settled into your chair, knowing you had a report to write up about this morning’s incident, your perp down in holding at that very moment. 

Still, you couldn’t help but look over at Jay, who was looking right back at you, offering you a small smile which you returned in kind. Voight wasn’t the only one who’d want to finish this conversation later, you and Jay had a lot to talk about now too, given that everything was out in the open. 

Still, as you turned back to your desk and tried to focus on the task at hand, you couldn’t help but feel like everything was going to turn out okay.

[httpjeon]

FISH ARE FRIENDS — KTH (M.)

synopsis. after moving to the seaside, there is a dreadful storm. when all is clear, a man washes up on shore...only he isn’t quite human.

pairing. taehyung/reader genre. angst, smut, fluff au. hybrid!au wordcount. 10,605 contents. seahorse hybrid!taehyung, possessiveness, mating kink, lots of kissing, fingering, size kink, taes big dick as usual, cunnilingus, slight pain kink, multiple orgasms, squirting, overstimulation, blow job, UNEDITED note. this is the result of the fic title game i’ve been playing! thank you to whoever sent in the title ‘fish are friends’

blog masterlist.

© httpjeon 2020. do not repost, modify or translate.

You sighed as you dropped the last cardboard box onto the floor with a muffled thud. Placing your hands on your hips, you let out a few deep breaths to allow yourself to relax after moving everything on your own. Looking around, you felt a sense of dread flow through you at the reminder of having to unpack everything as well.

You left your door open, letting the sound of seagulls and ocean waves waft in along with the tangible scent of seasalt. Inhaling, you allowed a smile to drift over your face.

You couldn’t believe that you had actually left the city, after living in it all your life. You felt so light and free, unable to keep the giddy feeling down as you began to unpack the essential things -- your bedding, bathroom sundries, and kitchen utensils so you could eat. Although, as you stood in your sparsely decorated kitchen, you realized you didn’t actually have any food to eat at all. Tossing your head back, you let out a low groan. The sun was already beginning to set so you quickly grabbed your purse and keys, intending to rush to the grocery store before it closed for something to get you through the night and morning.

The town was pretty small, a main grocery store and a few other shops located on a strip. It was the kind of place where everybody knew everyone and when you stepped out of the car, you could feel the eyes on you as people assessed the newcomer. Throwing a few polite smiles, you ducked into the grocery store.

“Welcome!” the nearest cashier waved, a smile on his delicate face.

“Hi,” you greeted softly with a nod as you glanced up at the aisle signs above your head.

Grabbing a basket, you first went to the cereal aisle -- breakfast foods were always your main source of snacking. Going over a mental list in your head, you decided cereal, milk, ramen, break and some lunch meats would suffice until you could do some genuine food shopping.

“Did you find everything okay?” the young man asked as you approached the counter.

“I did, thank you,” you smiled, glancing at his nametag. Jungkook.

“Hey!” someone called from behind you, making you look over your shoulder, “You just moved here right?”

“Um...yeah,” you smiled, holding your hand out, “I’m _____.”

“Jimin!” he beamed, “And that’s Jungkook, a buddy of mine. Everyone here is kind of...friends, you know?”

You nodded, “Yeah, small towns.”

“Your total is $32.50,” Jungkook said, “Hey Jimin.”

You pulled out your wallet to fish your card from the slot before placing it into the chip reader. The two of them chatted a bit about something you weren’t interested in listening to as you put your pin in. The machine dinged with your card approval and Jungkook handed your receipt to you.

“Hey, hang on a minute!” Jimin called before you could walk off.

Turning, you watched him urge Jungkook to scan his item quickly -- a gallon of milk. He paid in cash and quickly rushed after you, taking one of the extra bags from your hands.

“Thanks,” you smiled, leading him towards your car.

“So, where did you move to?” he asked, “I live around the corner from here.”

“Oh, I live over on Pearl Ave,” you said, opening your trunk to place your items in.

“Cool, right on the shore, huh?” he smiled, “Where are you from?”

“I lived in Sunhua,” you replied, “Born and raised.”

“What the hell’d you leave a city for?” he chuckled, slamming your trunk shut for you.

You shrugged, “I finished college so...I just figured a change in scenery would do me good.”

“Really? What’s your major?” he asked, leaning back against your car.

“Hybrid Studies,” you smiled.

He opened his mouth to reply but there was a low rumble from the sky.

The both of you looked up, simultaneously realizing it had gotten much darker with the arrival of storm clouds.

“Shit, I better get home,” he sighed, “Hoseok absolutely hates thunder and if I don’t get home I won’t hear the end of it for 3 months.”

You laughed, waving him goodbye, “It was nice meeting you, Jimin!”

“Ditto!” he grinned, tossing a smile over his shoulder as he began to jog down the sidewalk, milk jug in hand.

By the time you pulled into your driveway, it was beginning to sprinkle. You hurried inside with your belongings -- putting the milk and meat in the refrigerator. Outside, the thunder rumbled a bit louder, signaling the storm getting closer.

Unfortunately, no one had gotten around to hooking up your TV cable or internet so all you had was to sit on your phone until it was a reasonable time to get ready for bed. When you got out of the shower, you could hear the roof being pelted by the downpour of rain. After putting your bedding on, you stopped by the double doors of your bedroom that led to a small balcony. Pulling one open with a small creak, you were greeted with a view of the ocean in the midst of the storm.

The waves crashed angrily against the shore, the sound of the water amplified due to the force of the impact. The sky was pitch blank, the moon and stars obscured by the storm clouds. The only outside light you got with the flashes of lightning that came from within the clouds.

After a particularly loud crack of thunder startled you, you decided to slip back inside, making sure to lock the door in case the wind could throw it open in the night.

When you woke up, it wasn’t to beautiful sunshine. Gray clouds still hung over the sky, pelting the Earth in a light rain drizzle. You sighed and sat up, stretching your muscles.

When you got downstairs, you suddenly realized you never pulled your coffee maker from its box. So, you had to sit there and search through your boxes until you found the one labeled as containing your appliance.

You grumbled listlessly to yourself as you hooked it up and filled the reservoir with water. As you listened to the coffee drip into the carafe, you fixed yourself a bowl of cereal. It was quiet except for the rain and coffee drip.

In the city, the silence would have been filled with the honking of horns and shouts of people on the street which would eventually drive you mad. But here, now, it was peaceful and serene.

By the time you finished your cereal, the coffee was ready and you xoed yourself a cup before making your way to the door, pushing it open before closing it with just the screen door to allow the air to drift through your house.

Taking a seat on the little chair you’d placed in the corner with a small glass table, you relaxed. You took a couple sips of coffee before looking out across the beach, squinting against the rain.

However, you paused when you saw a dark form across the shore. The angry waves crashed against it, pushing it across the sand.

Standing up, you hopped down the stairs and into the rain, uncaring of how cold it was against your skin. Looking around, you didn’t see anyone else standing outside.

The waves crashed forward again and the thing on the shore rolled, making you gasp. It was definitely human.

Running forward, you winced at how sharp the rain felt against your skin. The sand was coarse beneath your feet but you didn’t take notice of it.

Coming to a stop, you knelt beside the person; a man.

Well, sort of.

“What the…” you whispered, taking a good look at him.

He was completely naked, thankfully face down in the sand. He had a small fin on the center of his back, lying limply as it stuck to his skin. On the exterior length of his arms and legs he had little spines that protruded from his skin. Rolling him over, you avoided looking down as you assessed him for any injury.

Cupping his face, you hissed at how cold his skin was. Moving his bangs aside revealed a small cut across his forehead that was still steadily seeping blood. Leaning down, you pressed your ear to his chest, quickly detecting a heartbeat.

Sighing in relief, you desperately looked around in hopes of finding something to help you. The rain was beginning to come down harder and thunder rumbled above, making you curse. You were already thoroughly soaked from the waves crashing against you. They only began to get more violent, however, easily knocking you down and jostling his limp body.

“Sorry about this,” you whispered to the unconscious hybrid as you slid your hands under his armpits to haul him up the beach towards your house.

By the time you reached the shelter of your patio, it was a full on downpour once again. The hybrid was still limp, deadweight.

You didn’t care about your carpet getting wet as you laid him down, rushing to your bathroom closet to fetch a couple towels. When you returned, you set to drying him off, frowning as you watched goosebumps rise over his skin from the chill he no doubt felt.

You pulled a throw blanket you had on the back of the couch down to toss over him.

The next thing you needed to do was tend to that wound on his head. You knew you had a first aid kit around, it took some rifling through boxes to locate it.

The poor hybrid was still out cold and you were beginning to worry about how much damage had really been done beyond a cut. You’d have to see if the town had a hybrid doctor located somewhere.

You set to cleaning the wound, getting the sand and debri out of it before applying ointment to promote healing. Since it was across his head, a bandaid wouldn’t work so you settled for some gauze and a bandage wrapped around his head to keep it in place.

Sighing, you sat back, resting against the wall as you stared down at him.

A marine hybrid. You couldn’t believe you had a marine hybrid in your house.

They were the rarest species of hybrid -- virtually impossible to find although they were being seen as pets as time passed. Illegal hunting and capturing as people grew increasingly interested in owning an ‘exotic’, ‘rare’ hybrid.

Just having him in your home was a crime and you prayed that none of your neighbors were nosy and watched you drag a body into your house.

The best you could guess was that he was a seahorse hybrid judging by the little horns in his hair and the little fins on his temples that were otherwise obscured by his hair.

You stood up, wincing as your knees cracked from sitting on the floor for too long. Walking quietly, you grabbed your phone and looked up a hybrid doctor nearby.

Much to your dismay, the town did not have one and the nearest was over an hour away. Sighing, you stepped back out onto the porch to grab your coffee cup.

You kept peeking around the wall to check if the hybrid was still there as you fixed yourself another cup.

It was just a little past noon by now and you were already exhausted. Taking a seat on the couch, you began to google information about seahorse hybrid. Your major was Hybrid Studies but unfortunately you’d focused on ecological side of domesticated hybrids. You knew virtually nothing about marine hybrids beyond being able to identify them.

As expected, there was very little resources available on seahorse hybrids. All you could find was that they were fragile species and exceptionally terrible swimmers but still preferred to be near water although they survived just fine outside it. There were 45 subspecies of seahorse, though you had no idea what one the stranger would be.

It continued to rain as the hours passed and eventually you succumbed to boredom and fell asleep.

You were awoken by soft groans, however, shortly after you dozed off. Glancing over, you gasped as you watched the hybrid squirm where he laid, slowly waking up. You dove to the floor, sitting on your knees as you watched his eyes flutter open.

Deep brown irises locked with yours. He inhaled sharply and sat up so fast you fell backwards onto your butt to avoid being hit by him.

“Whoa, hey,” you whispered as he groaned and clutched his head, no doubt hurting himself from moving like that, “You got hurt, washed up on shore.”

He looked at you with a frown on his face, his brows furrowed together as he looked around. He eyed the boxes and the couch, leaning to the side to peer into the doorway of the kitchen before his eyes drifted to the window where rain tapped against the pane.

“This is my house,” you muttered, drawing his attention back to you, “My name is _____,” he didn’t reply but he slowly laid back down and relaxed, “I know the floor isn’t too comfortable, you can move to the couch if you’d like. You were too heavy for me to lift up there on my own.”

He just stared at you, those deep brown eyes fixated on every inch of you. He scanned your face and the length of your body down to your feet, making you feel a bit self-conscious being analyzed. For a moment, you were sure he couldn’t even understand you -- it wasn’t unheard of for hybrids without human contact being unable to understand languages.

But after a second, he stood up, making you avert your eyes as you were reminded of how naked he was. You grabbed the blanket and waited for him to lay down on the couch before placing it over him.

He picked at the material for a second, feeling the texture between his fingers before looking at you, “You were getting a chill so I thought it’d be best you were warm while you were out. I’ll get you a pillow, hang on.”

You could feel his eyes on you as you hurried down the hall to your bedroom. You grabbed a pillow from your bed before running back. He was sitting up when you walked in, gazing out the window but looked at you when he realized you’d returned.

Placing the pillow behind him, you urged him to lie back. He did, a look of utter confusion before quickly smiling when he felt the softness of the pillow behind him. You chuckled and took a seat on the recliner across the coffee table from him.

After a few minutes, he fell back asleep, his bare chest rising and falling rhythmically. He understood you at least, but he didn’t speak. You weren’t sure if he was mute or just didn’t know how to. Standing up, you went to the kitchen to make yourself something to eat.

Humming to yourself, you filled a pot with water intending to make ramen. Spinning on your heel to go to one of the boxes tucked into the kitchen’s corner, you stumbled and gasped. He was standing in the doorway, the blanket wrapped around his shoulders thankfully shielding his nakedness.

“You scared me,” you groaned, continuing to the box.

You knelt down, tugging at the tape to open it but quickly realizing how well wrapped it was. Standing up, you scanned the kitchen to look for your scissors before remembering they were packed away somewhere too.

“Oh man!” you complained, knowing you didn’t have any sharp knives out either.

Wandering into the living room, you zeroed in on the first aid kit you’d left out. Popping it open, you grabbed the little scissors which were inside that you used to cut the bandage. When you entered the kitchen, however, you were surprised to see the hybrid crouched down with the box you were fighting with already open.

“Did you open that for me?” you asked him, watching as he stood up and nodded, “Thank you.”

He gave you a crooked smile and stepped back to let you fish through the box until you pulled out the container you’d put your spices in. Giggling happily to yourself, you returned to your ramen.

The hybrid stayed in the kitchen the entire time, watching you flit about as you cooked until you finally went back to the living room. He followed you, taking a seat on the couch again, simply watching you.

“So…” you mumbled to break up the silence, “Can you not speak or…?” he didn’t reply, making you hum before bringing you bowl closer to take a bite of the ramen you’d cooked. His burning gaze made you pause though, a thought occurring to you, “Are you hungry?”

Immediately he nodded, making you sigh. You had no idea what he ate or what he could eat. He seemed to sense your dilemma and smiled, standing up. Immediately, you averted your eyes, unsure how you’d get used to his nudity.

That made you pause. He was a wild hybrid, the only reason he was there was because he was injured in the storm. Once it cleared up and his head healed, he’d be gone so you didn’t really need to get used to it.

Lost in your thoughts, you missed him moving towards you until his hand wrapped around your wrist.

Surprised, your eyes snapped to his hand -- how big it was and how long and pretty his fingers were. You allowed him to control your movements as he moved your fork to his mouth to take a bite of the ramen you’d made.

He hummed, his eyes closing as he chewed. It was the first sound he’d made -- so he was capable of making sounds at the very least.

“You can just eat human food?” you asked, watching as he nodded, “Do you want me to make you some?”

He nodded and you paused. By the time you cooked his, your would be cold. Standing up, you placed your bowl in his hands, making him frown. He attempted to hand it back to you, apparently not wanting you to give up your food for him. But you shook your head and moved to the kitchen with him hot on your heels.

He whined, making you pause, looking over your shoulder. To your surprise he looked genuinely distressed.

“It’ll get cold while I’m cooking,” you shrugged, “So you eat it while it’s hot and then I’ll eat this one. Get it?”

He was still for a second, gazing down at the ramen before slowly nodding. You chuckled and turn your back to him again to fill the pot with water.

Behind you, the hybrid slowly ate standing in the kitchen with you. By the time you finished cooking, he was finished and standing with his empty bowl.

“Just put it in the sink,” you said, breezing by him to sit on the chair again.

You could hear him clinking around for a second, the water in the sink turning on for a second before shutting off. He walked into the living room, holding his hands in front of him as he walked up to you.

Taking a bite, you watched him hold his hands out to you. Raising a brow, you stared at him. You realized his hands were wet and he moved them closer to you. When you still didn’t understand, he sighed, shaking his head. As you went to take another bite of your ramen, he flicked his fingers and splashed the water all over your face, making you flinch.

“Hey!” you whined, “What’s the big idea? It’s just water I don’t under…” you blinked a few times as your mouth opened in a small ‘O’, “Ohhhhh…” he perked up slightly, “Are you wanting...water then? To drink? Or…?”

He bit his lip and shook his head. You were already tired of trying to communicate with him -- at least he understood you though, you suppose.

“A shower maybe?” you asked, making him cock his head, “Let me finish eating and I’ll show you, okay?”

He nodded and took a seat, waiting ever patiently for you as you ate. When you went to put your bowl in the sink as he had, he followed you. You quickly realized you were now used to seeing him naked -- thank god.

When you turned the water on to rinse out your bowl, he immediately stuck his hand under the water. You laughed, and shook your head. He was actually really cute.

“Alright, c’mon,” you led him down the hall and into the bathroom, flicking the light on quickly. When you sat down on the edge of the tub to drop the bath drain, the bathroom went dark. Turning to look towards the door, you watched as he flicked it back on, watching the light bulb in wonder.

His attention was brought back to you, however, when you turned the water on. Excitedly, he took a seat beside you, watching the water begin to feel. You weren’t quite sure what temperature to make it so you chose lukewarm. Before it was even halfway filled, he was sliding into the tub with a smile on his face.

“I’ll let you be alone,” you said, making him look at you, “Just turn the handle this way to turn it off,” you showed him, “Stop the water before it overfills the tub, though, okay? Do you understand?”

He nodded and you stood there for a second before nodding and turning away from him. You decided to leave the door open, figuring he would prefer to not be closed up in a small room. It wasn’t like he cared of privacy or decency anyway.

While he soaked, you decided to wash the dishes you’d used to cook. It was beginning to get dark now and the rain had stopped for the meantime, the storm no doubt finally moving out. After putting the dishes away, you moved to unpack the box Taehyung had opened for you, placing everything neatly where it needed to be.

Realizing, when you were done, that he still wasn’t out of the bathroom led you to peeking in to check on him. You couldn’t help but smile when you saw him in there sleeping. For a second you were concerned that he could drown before reminding yourself that he was literally a fish hybrid who came from the ocean.

Deciding not to disturb him, you went back to the couch.

You didn’t realize you’d dozed off until you felt someone gently shaking you shoulder. Opening your eyes, you jumped at the sight of the naked hybrid.

“Oh, you’re out,” you hummed, standing up to allow him to sit, “I should probably change your bandage.”

He hummed, sitting back as he watched you pull the materials from the first aid kit before taking a seat on the edge of the table.

Reaching forward, you carefully unraveled the bandage until it fell away before peeling the gauze off. The cut was red, no doubt probably stung with a bruise growing around it. But it wasn’t bleeding at least, so you cleaned it once more before doing exactly what you had before.

While he was awake, he moved a bit more to avoid the little fins on his temples from being jostled. You whispered a soft apology when he winced at the bandage catching the corner of his fin. He shrugged his shoulders and smiled to let you know it was okay.

“Okay, all done,” you smiled, standing back up, “It’s pretty late so I’m going to head bed,” he didn’t say anything but you could feel his eyes burning into you so you tossed a soft, “Goodnight,” over your shoulder.

As you entered the hall, you heard a soft voice mutter something. You froze and turned, looking at the hybrid with wide eyes.

“What? Did you say something?” you asked.

He nodded, smiling, “Taehyung.”

His voice was deep, soft with no edge to it at all. It was like listening to the most gentle voice in the world.

“That’s your name?” you asked, making sure you understood. He nodded and you smiled, “Goodnight Taehyung.”

“Goodnight _______.”

You didn’t know why your heart skipped a beat as he uttered your name.

“Taehyung!” you called through the house as you kicked the door closed behind you. After a second, you heard the back door open and Taehyung’s tall form entered the living room. You smiled in greeting, “This package is for you.”

He looked surprise, walking forward with his arms extended. You deposited to package in his hands and stepped back to watch him examine it.

He’d been there for almost a week now and in that time you’d learned he was very curious. He examined anything and everything, you’d had to stop him several times to keep him from licking something questionable.

After a moment, he moved to place the box on the kitchen counter, pulling the scissors from where they hung on the wall to cut the tape open. You leaned against the wall, arms crossed over your chest as you watched him pull out the contents.

Holding the t-shirt in front of him, he looked curiously at you.

“I know this…” you motioned towards his naked body, “Is something obviously normal for you since you’re a wild hybrid but...it’s getting increasingly weird on my part over having a naked person in my house.”

He stared at you for a second, a frown on his lips and for a second you were afraid you’d offended him. You held in a sigh as he grabbed the box and breezed past you, down the hall.

“Well, so much for that,” you whispered to yourself, grabbing the discarded scissors he’d left on the counter and put them back where they belonged.

“I like it,” Taehyung’s voice made you jump.

You spun around and were pleased to see him fully clothed. Part of you felt bad for forcing something human on him like that but the way he happily touched the fabric made you smile.

“I chose the softest materials I could find,” you explained. After the first day, you quickly took notice of the way he enjoyed textures -- specifically anything soft.

“I like it,” he repeated.

“I’m glad,” you breathed, “Come on, let me look at your wound.”

He nodded and took a seat on the couch as you took yours on the coffee table. It was practically a routine now. He didn’t even flinch as you pulled the bandage and gauze away.

The cut was practically healed and you sighed. It definitely wasn’t a concern anymore and both of you knew it. Still, neither of you questioned your situation. He didn’t seem to want to leave and you, truthfully, didn’t want him to leave. You enjoyed his company; he was sweet and endearing. He took up your time in the best way and gave you something to look forward to coming home to.

“I think we can leave the bandage off now,” you said, “Just don’t scratch it, even if it itches, okay? If you pull the scab off you’ll have a big old scar across your forehead for the rest of your life.”

He pouted a bit but nodded, taking the discarded bandages to throw away. He returned from the kitchen a second later, a pack of ramen in hand. He handed it over to you, head cocked to the side.

You smiled, “I’m hungry too,” he followed you, as usual, to the kitchen and hovered over you as you began the cooking process, “Oh! By the way, the cable guy is coming by at 3 to hook up internet and stuff.”

He looked confused and you laughed, pointing over to the TV. He’d hovered around it a bit over the last few days, turning it on the watch the static on the screen. As he realized you were doing something with the TV, he lit up and smiled.

As you both sat down to eat, you glanced at the clock. It was 2:40, causing you to hurry up eating so you could move some boxes out of the living room.

The hybrid had been helping a bit set things up for you; lifting heavy objects and boxes. But you still had quite a bit to unpack -- you had to fill a whole house, after all.

By the time you moved the boxes to the spare room, the doorbell went off. Rushing into the living room, you caught sight of Taehyung’s wide eyes.

“Hi, come on in,” you smiled, waving the cable man inside.

“Hello,” he greeted with a polite smile that quickly faded as he looked behind you.

When you turned around, you caught sight of Taehyung booking it out the back door in the kitchen. Shrugging, you closed the front door and led the man to your television.

“It’ll take me about an hour to set everything up securely,” he explained.

You nodded, “Let me know if you need anything.”

As he went to work, you made a beeline for your back porch. Taehyung was sitting on the stairs, resting his elbows on his knees. He looked up when you opened the door and despite the way he’d run away, he appeared calm nonetheless.

“Did you get spooked?” you asked, sitting beside him. He nodded and you hummed, “I take it you haven’t interacted with humans much?”

He shook his head, “I like to watch them.”

“Oh? People watch?” you asked, “Humans like to do that too. When I lived in the city I would go to the park and just watch people go about their business.”

Taehyung could speak and understand very well but his own vocabulary was quite limited. He didn’t say much regardless, mostly spoke to share his opinions. You’d adapted easily, speaking primarily in yes or no format and it was mostly you doing the talking.

He didn’t seem to mind, however. He gave you his full attention regardless, interest gleaming brightly in his eyes.

A question lingered on your lips, one you dreaded asking but as you looked at the smile on his lips, it dissolved on your tongue and you sighed.

The two of you fell silent, sitting together listening to the ocean as you waited for the cable man to finish.

You stood in the kitchen, making dinner as you listened to the laughing on the TV in the living room. Taehyung had immediately been intrigued by the colors and noises from the device and promptly sat on the couch, becoming glued to it. You briefly wondered what the effect of TV would have on a wild hybrid but when you heard him laugh, all worry was wiped free.

When you’d heard him laugh for the first time, at some cartoon that came on, you felt your heart skip a beat. It was melodic and delicate, almost a giggle, really.

Not wanting to disturb him, you brought the food to him.

“Thank you,” he beamed, waiting for you to sit beside him before beginning to eat.

You smiled, sitting there watching him for a second before picking up your own plate. The way he enjoyed things so organically was charming, it made you see things as if they were new as well.

As the days passed, you noticed a change in the hybrid. He began to talk more, question things and seek out a conversation with you -- which he’d never done before. Sometimes at night, you could hear the TV on at night, the sound carrying through the walls.

One such night, you awoke in the middle of the night with a dry mouth and desire for water. Climbing out of bed, you grabbed your bathrobe and put it on, messily tying the belt to hold it closed. Your door creaked quietly as you opened it, allowing the TV’s low volume to be heard much easier from the stairwell.

Wandering into the living room, you paused to look at Taehyung.

He was sitting on his knees on the floor, close to the TV. You opened your mouth to tell him he shouldn’t sit so close when you realized he was muttering to himself.

Moving closer, you glanced at the screen to see an infomercial was playing. And he was repeating the things they were saying.

“Taehyung, what are you doing?” you asked, fighting back a smile when his head whipped around to look at you.

His eyes were wide and he looked almost guilty as he moved back from the TV, “W-Watching the…” he motioned to the television with a shrug.

“You were talking along,” you pointed out, a brow raised curiously.

He bit his lip and folded his legs in front of him, “When they talk...I learn new words.”

His words bounced around your head for a second before you chuckled, “Is that how you’ve gotten so good at speaking? You’re learning from watching infomercials at night?”

“Cartoons during the day,” he added with a sheepish grin, “Why are you up?”

You knew he was changing the subject to avoid the conversation but you went along with it, “I’m thirsty is all.”

He hummed and it fell quiet, his eyes flicking back to the TV for a second before going to you once more. You sensed he was wanting to get back to what he was doing so you bid him a soft goodnight before moving to the kitchen.

When you were passing through to the hallway, you saw that he was sitting in front of the TV muttering again.

The morning came and you were surprised to find yourself awake before Taehyung. He was usually an early riser, up before the sun was even fully out.

You frowned at the sight of him curled up, knees tucked to his chest as he snuggled into the blanket. He looked cold but it wasn’t like the temperature dipped very low -- you’d slept with your balcony door cracked.

Seeing him lay there, you noticed how he was almost falling off the couch. Sighing you reached over and shook his shoulder until his eyes fluttered open.

“Hey sleepyhead,” you smiled, heart melting at the tired smile he gave you as he sat up and stretched, “How late were up last night?”

He shrugged and sighed, swinging his feet onto the floor before padding to the bathroom. You hummed and decided to start a pot of coffee for the day.

Pulling out your phone, you pulled up google and decided to search for a bed. You had a spare bedroom you were currently using to store the boxed you hadn’t bothered to unpack yet. It wouldn’t hurt to get a bed put in so you could have guests over.

At least, that’s what you told yourself.

“Hey, Taehyung?” you called when you heard him flick the TV on.

“Yeah?” he immediately responded, poking his head into the kitchen.

“I’ve been thinking,” he frowned and fully stepped into the kitchen, “Instead of sleeping on the couch, how about you take the spare bedroom?”

“Really?” he gasped.

“Yeah,” you hummed, “There’s a mattress shop in town, I can pick you up some stuff.”

“I can’t go with you?” he deflated slightly, making your heart ache.

You sighed, looking at your feet, “N-No...I think it’s best you stay here,” he opened his mouth to say something else but you cut him off, “You can help me assemble everything, though! And I’ll need your help to carry the mattress.”

He grinned once again and nodded, “Okay!”

While you were in town, you stopped by the grocery store to get more food and ingredients to cook with. With Taehyung there, you ran out of food a bit quicker than if it were just you.

Jungkook was there and greeted you with a bright smile as he rang you up, commenting how he hadn’t seen you around much. You blew it off with a quick shrug and explanation that you got internet and cable set up now so you had no reason to leave the house.

Pulling up to your house, you got out and popped the trunk. As you began to pull groceries from the back, the front door opened. Taehyung came bouncing down the stairs with a little grin on his face.

“So, where is it?” he asked excitedly.

“Oh, the guy was right behind me,” you said, “He’ll drop everything off.”

“Here, I’ll take these,” he said, grabbing the three bags you were holding before you could argue, “You got more ramen!”

“Of course,” you laughed, following him inside with the last two bags in your hands, “It’s your favorite right?”

“Yep!” he chirped happily from the kitchen.

The two of you go inside where you ask Taehyung to boil a pot of water and cook some ramen. He wasn’t quite good enough to be able to cook it correctly but you would be back inside before it was ready, anyway. Just as he began to fill the pot, you heard a horn beep from outside.

Taehyung gave you an excited grin and you chuckled before going to the porch.

“You sure you don’t need any help assembling this?” the man asked, a brow raised.

“No, I have a h…” you paused and cleared your throat, “A friend willing to help!”

“Alright,” he smiled kindly and tipped the brim of his hat before moving back to his truck, “Have a nice day!”

“You too!” you waved and sighed, eyes falling to the large box and plastic-wrapped mattress that now sat against your porch railing.

You pushed the door open and poked your head in, calling the hybrid's name. His feet thump against the floor as he runs toward the sound of your voice.

"Yes?" he asked, eyes wide.

"The bed is here," a smile blooms across his face and he excitedly nods his head.

"Come help me finish cooking so we can do it!" he turns his back to you and scampers back to the kitchen.

You chuckle and step inside, deciding to leave the door open. Taehyung was incredibly eager to get things started so the second his ramen was done, he was scarfing it down like a man starved.

"You're going to burn your tongue!" you chastised.

"Too late!" he whined, sticking his tongue out with furrowed brows. It didn't stop him though because a second later he was shoveling another bite into his mouth.

"Are you ready?" you ask, watching with an amused smile as he dumped his bowl into the sink and raced to the open door. You followed behind him only to stop when you caught him staring at the open door, "What is it?"

"You shouldn't leave the door open like this," he said, voice level to show how serious he was. He looked over his shoulder with a frown, your own face a mask of confusion, "It's dangerous."

You opened your mouth to respond but before you could, he was running down the porch steps to the mattress.

It took almost an hour for the two of you to get everything up the stairs into the spare bedroom. With the mattress leaning against the wall, the two of you sat on the floor reading the instructions of assembly for the bed frame.

"God I am beat," you complained, watching Taehyung twist the screw in like you had showed him.

His hair hung in his face, a little damp from sweating. His bottom lip was trapped between his teeth and his brows were furrowed in concentration.

"Yep," he hummed, sitting back with a sigh. He dropped the screwdriver on the floor and fell silent.

"Now we have to put the mattress on the frame," you chuckled at the tired groan he let out.

He stood up and held his hand out, helping you stand up as well. Then, with exhausted determination the two of you finally dropped the mattress down into its rightful place.

"What's next?" he asked with a sigh as he finally took a relaxed seat on the couch.

"Well, we need to get sheets and stuff for the bed," you said, pulling out your phone.

As you typed into the search engine, you felt a hand on your hip. You look down, finding Taehyung was urging you towards him.

You were suddenly pulled into his lap, making you gasp in surprise. Your cheeks immediately heated up, feeling his strong chest against your back with his arms around your body, holding you.

Doing your best to ignore the position, despite your racing heart, you allowed him to look over your shoulder to locate bedding he liked.

"I saw this on TV," he spoke suddenly, voice deep and oh-so close to your ear.

"Wh-What's that?" you whispered, hoping he didn't notice the tremble in your voice.

"Sitting like this," he replied, reaching forward to click a link on your screen, "The guy held her like this."

"You shouldn't be watching things like that, Tae," you joked.

"What things?" he asked, making you chuckle, shaking your head as you dismissed him. Before he could question more, you brought his attention back to the sheets he was looking at.

That night, after bidding the hybrid goodnight, you sat in bed gazing out the window at the beach below.

You truly couldn't believe there was a wild seahorse hybrid sleeping just down the hall. If someone had told you that there would be one living with you not too long ago, you would have laughed in their face.

You never thought you'd be a person who illegally kept a wild hybrid. But it wasn't like he didn't want to be there.

Right?

You shook all thoughts of him from your head and closed your curtains, basking the room in darkness.

One morning, you're woken up by a loud thump. You sigh, staring up at the ceiling as you listen to the hybrid bumble around downstairs.

He'd been there for over a month and had grown increasingly comfortable living in the house. Sitting up, you stretched and threw on a robe before descending down the stairs.

He was in the kitchen, as you expected. His back was to you but there was something off about him.

His body was stiff and his jaw was clenched tight. With a frown marring his face, you grew concerned. It was clear he wasn't in a good mood.

"Taehyung?" you called, watching him freeze for a second before resuming what he was doing, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes," he mumbled, voice flat.

You crossed your arms over your chest, leaning against the wall as you watched him crack an egg into the pan. It sizzled, filling the tense silence.

Neither of you said anything, although you had a lot on the tip of your tongue. You simply watched as he prepared his breakfast on a plate which he promptly deposited on the kitchen table.

He avoided your gaze, grumpily glaring at his plate as he silently ate. You sighed and he tensed again but didn't say anything.

"Taehyung," you breathe, taking a seat across from him, "You can't ignore me forever," he remains silent, "Talk to me...what happened?"

In the silence of the kitchen, he slams his fist down. You jump and look at him with wide eyes. His gaze is fiery, and he bares his teeth in anger before squinting a glare towards you. You can't help but cower away when he suddenly stands up.

"What happened?" he tosses his head and lets out a humorless laugh, "Seriously, what? Did you think I wouldn't find out, hm?"

"Find out what?" you gasp, realizing his anger was directed at you.

"Everything!" he snaps, shaking his head as he makes his way to the back door. You get up and follow after him quickly, "I learned everything about you! I-I can't believe I was almost tricked into--" he cuts himself off and runs down the stairs.

You chase after him, your feet meeting the cold sand as you follow him, calling his name, "What are you talking about?! I don't understand, Taehyung!"

He doesn't offer anything more and you let out a frustrated groan. You stumble, however, you watch him begin to shed his clothes the closer he gets to the shore.

"Taehyung?!" you cry in horror as he steps foot into the ocean. He looks at you over his shoulder and the look of disgust in his eyes makes you falter. In that second of hesitation, he disappeared beneath the surface.

You gasped and stopped at the waters edge, desperately looking over the dark surface.

"Tae..." you whispered, realizing he was gone.

You stand there, waiting, for what feels like forever. The temperature drops and you begin to shiver. Backing away from the shore, you begin to collect the articles of clothing he'd discarded which have long since lost the heat of his body.

Stepping inside, you let out a soft sigh and place the items on top of the driver.

The sun vanished beneath the horizon and the house was dark and silent. You were filled with empty lonliness as you went to bed, passing by his room to take a small peek even though you knew it was going to be empty.

You don't sleep well that night, your mind plagued with thoughts of the hybrid. Every time you shut your eyes, you would wake up with the hope that he would be back by morning.

When you got up, nice and early like he usually does, it was to an empty house. There was no Taehyung sitting on the couch or in the kitchen. It was just you.

He isn't back the next day either...or the next...or the next.

Eventually, you gave up on hoping to see him when the sun rose. You grew accustomed to the habitual silence -- though you didn't like it.

His bedroom was left untouched, the bed sloppily made with the blanket uneven as Taehyung didn't bother getting it quite right before going about his day. The house seemed so big without another party occupying it.

Eventually, you couldn't stand being in the house all the time by yourself. So, you started exploring the town -- which you hadn't bothered doing before.

On one afternoon, you ventured into a little comic book shop where you stumbled upon the familiar faces of Jungkook and Jimin. They were more than excited to see you; gushing about how it had been so long. They were a funny, charming pair who eagerly took it upon themselves to subject you to a day of touring the town.

You discover there was a little bar near the edge of town that most of the young adults frequented. A friend of Jimin and Jungkook's, Namjoon, owned it and allowed friends free drinks.

It was one such night that began with drinking among your new friends that ended with a drunk Jimin crashing on Taehyung's bed. He hadn't bothered getting under the blankets, passing out face down on the mattress with his feet dangling off the end of the bed.

You shut the door, leaving him to sober up overnight on his own.

While the outside company was lovely, kept you occupied and happy outside of the house, when you came home to the empty house you felt the liveliness dissipate.

It was an offhand comment from Yoongi where he expressed living in such a big house must be lonely -- advising you should get a pet or something. The idea bloomed into you begging Jungkook to take you to the pet store in town on his day off.

He was a bit hungover but still agreed after listening to you pester him about how lonely you were.

That led you to getting the sweet little black cat you promptly named Tux.

It felt wonderful to walk into your house after spending a day with your friends to greet someone -- even if he couldn't greet you back beyond a meow and rubbing up against your legs. He began to sleep in your bed, letting you curl around him as he purred himself to sleep.

Never in your life would you expect to be awoken in the middle of the night by your bedroom door slamming open. You bolted straight up in bed, eyes wide as you could vaguely make out the figure of a person standing there.

Your heart began to race in your chest, the sound of your blood pumping as adrenaline flowed through your body. Two seconds felt like hours before you finally scrambled out of bed. With him blocking the doorway, you could only run to the balcony.

As you threw the door open, you screamed when a strong arm wrapped around your waist and lifted you up.

"Calm down!" a familiar voice snapped, immediately halting your thrashing.

"T-Taehyung?" you panted, your feet meeting the floor as he finally put you back down.

"Who else?" he asked, voice flat.

You could barely make him out in the dark but you relaxed significantly as the relief caught up to you, "You can't do that! You nearly gave me a heart attack! I thought you were a burglar or something--"

"Why do I smell another man in my bed?" he cut you off, not caring for the panic he had caused you.

"Huh?" you responded, running a hand through your hair as you skirted past him to flick the lamp on beside your bed.

"I went to my bed," he began, stepping closer to you, "And it smells like another man. Why?"

You huffed a laugh, shrugging your shoulders, "A friend crashed there like a week ago, why?"

"Why?" he scoffed, stopping when he was right in front of you. Your heart skipped a beat when he leaned down, his nose almost brushing yours, "Because there shouldn't be another man in my bed."

His voice was dark, sending shivers down your spine, "W-Well, I thought you were gone so I had a friend over! You left a-and what the hell do you think you're doing here anyway?! You can't just show back up like this!"

"Why not?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"B-Because it's not okay!" he snapped, reaching up to shove at his shoulders so he would back off. He did, straightening up so you could stand up. You breezed past him in a huff, crossing your arms over your chest, "You just left, yelling at me! For weeks, Taehyung! You can't just come back like nothing happened!"

"I'm sorry," he sighed, "I shouldn't have done that."

"You were blaming me for something you didn't even bother explaining!" you cried, "Tell me what the hell happened."

"I..." he looked sheepish, clearing his throat, "I watched something on TV that talked about human’s treatment of wild marine hybrids. I...I got upset for...well, no good reason. I know you didn't do anything at all. I was the one who wanted to stay -- you helped me and let me stay. I'm sorry, _____."

You sighed, relaxing your shoulders, "That's so stupid, Tae," he nodded his head but didn't say anything, keeping his dark gaze on you, "Alright...go to bed, we'll...figure this out in the morning."

You moved towards your door, motioning for him to get out. As much as you wanted to jump for joy that he was back, you were too tired and, quite frankly, still pissed off. When he didn't make any attempt to leave, you cleared your throat.

He sighed and made his way towards you. Instead of walking out the door however, he wrapped his arm around your waist and kicked the door shut, pinning you against it.

"Tae--" before you could get out the rest of his name, his lips were on yours.

Your words were knocked from you as you found yourself kissing him back, wrapping your arms around his shoulders as he gripped your hips. You could feel the heat of his body through the thin, silk fabric of your nightgown.

He growled against your lips, reaching down to grip your thighs to pull you up. You gasped as you were hoisted up against his body and the door, your knees locked around his waist. His nails pinched the sensitive skin of your thighs but you paid it no mind.

"You're mine," he growled, voice barely above a whisper, "No one else can have you."

You didn't get to reply as you were yanked from the door and tossed onto the bed. You squeaked out his name when his weight was suddenly thrust on top of you. He caged you in, resting his weight on his forearms beside your head, keeping you locked in a heated kiss. Your legs were forced to spread around his waist, letting the cool breeze from your cracked window reach the damp material of your panties.

Simply kissing him, feeling his hands on you was enough to make you wet.

"I'm going to mate you, baby," he growled, nipping your bottom lip before suddenly pulling away, "Prove that you're mine."

You nodded, breathless from his kissing. Your heart was racing in your chest and your stomach fluttered with butterflies. He reached down to find the hem of your nightgown where it had bunched against your hips. He pushed it up until you were forced to sit up to allow him to pull it off. He groaned at the sight of your half-naked body.

"You're so pretty," he whispered, leaning down to press a kiss against your breast, "You're never going to look at another man when I'm done with you. I want to be all you think about, all you need...all you want."

You whimpered when his lips wrapped around a perked nipple, lashing the bud with his tongue. You gripped his hair, mindful of the horns hidden within the mess of black hair. He reached between your thighs to find the material of your panties, cupping your heat with a sigh. You were wet, he could feel it soaking through your panties.

"Please, Tae," you whispered, letting your head fall back to expose your neck as he trailed kisses upwards from your breast.

He hummed but didn't supply a response, too preoccupied with your scent. He brushed his nose against the column of your neck, over your artery where he could feel pounding in time with your racing pulse. He nipped at the skin, a promise of leaving a mark before he slipped his hand into your panties.

You cried out as his fingers immediately delved between your folds. He bypassed your clit to find your entrance, a fleeting graze over the sensitive bud making you whine. One long, lithe digit slid into your entrance, drawing mutual sighs from the two of you.

"A-Another," you gasped.

He chuckled and easily added his index finger, giving you that sweet stretch you craved, "You'll have to take more if you want to fit me," he breathed, making your walls clench around his fingers, "I have to stretch you real nice..."

"Fuck," you cursed, eyes rolling back as he curved his fingers to find your g-spot. Your thighs trembled around him at the fleeting stimulation before he suddenly withdrew, sliding off the bed.

You watched his shed his shirt, a long sleeved t-shirt you'd tossed on his bed shortly after he left when you found it mixed in with your laundry. His body was lean and built from swimming and you could see his biceps flex as he pushed his sweatpants down.

Left in just his underwear, you could see his cock through the thin material -- just as big as you'd hoped. It would definitely give you that painful burn you needed.

Stepping forward once again, he hooked his fingers into the hem of your panties and pulled them down. You raised your hips to allow him to pull them completely free. Once they were off your ankles, he tossed them to the side.

You felt yourself grow even wetter at being exposed completely beneath him. He gripped your knees and pinned your legs open. You whined, clenching around nothing as he gazed at your wet folds.

Moving his gaze back to your face, he lowered himself to the floor until he was level with your pussy. He tightening his grip on your legs so you couldn't close them and leaned forward, sliding his tongue through your folds, making you gasp.

He grazed over your clit, your hips jumping in response to the sudden stimulation. You let your head fall back against the bed, letting him eat your cunt as he pleased. Opening his mouth as wide as he could, he wrapped his lips around your cunt. Your eyes rolled back as he sucked, the wet sounds of your juices only serving to turn you on more.

His tongue found your entrance, licking at your slit before pushing his tongue inside. You gasped, grappling at his hair for purchase.

He doubled back to your clit again, suckling on the bud as he introduced his fingers. He slid three in at once, drawing a moan from you.

The stimulation to your sweet spot and your clit had you hurdling towards release quickly. He fucked you with his fingers, feeling you clench around them as he worked your clit with his tongue. Your bud was swollen and sensitive, eager for release that he was more than willing to provide. He could taste how much sweeter your juices got the closer you grew until suddenly your body froze.

A long, high pitched moan left your lips as you came -- spasming around his long fingers as he diligently worked you through your high. You gushed around his fingers but he didn't case, continuing to fuck you with those digits until your juices were dripping down to his wrist.

It wasn't long before you were pushing him off, needing a breather from the stimulation. He pulled away, watching you close your thighs as you trembled through the last remnants of overstimulation.

You were so wet, the insides of your thighs coated with your cum and his saliva from where his mouth watered from your enchanting taste.

As you recovered, he stood up and shed himself of his final layer -- his boxers. He was finally completely bare to you and you couldn't help but sit up. He wrapped his hand around the base of his cock, giving himself a few good strokes to ease the arousal that had painfully built.

You shifted to sit on your knees, licking your lips as you reached out to wrap your own hand around him. His lashes fluttered as he released his own hold to wrap his fingers around your wrist. He was hard and hot, throbbing in your hand as his tip drooled precum. Your mouth suddenly felt dry and you had the urge to taste him.

Glancing up, you saw he had let his head fall back, losing himself in your touch. Leaning forward, you wrapped your lips around the tip of him. He hissed, eyes flying open as he snapped his head down to look at you. His teeth were clenched and you felt more precum drip onto your tongue and you whined.

He suddenly wrapped his hand in your hair and pulled your back, making you gasp.

"Lay back," he ordered and you hurriedly, scooted back until you laid comfortable in the pillows.

He crawled onto the bed and gripped beneath your knees, forcing your legs open . You bit your lip as your cheeks burned when he spread you obscenely open with your knees up to your ears.

Your cunt was spread open, vulnerable as his cock prodded your entrance. He met your gaze for a split second, waiting for you to stop him. When you didn't he buried himself into your tight heat in one swift stroke.

It burned and ached just as you thought it would; it was amazing.

"Go, please, fuck me," you begging when he paused, intending to let you adjust.

You wrapped your own arms around your legs, keeping yourself spread as he wanted. The sounds that emitted as he began to fuck you were lewd; the wet sound of your juices around his intruding cock and the sound your skin meeting every time he sunk into you.

You were still sensitive from your first orgasm that when he hit your sweet spot, it caused a tingle to run down your spine to your toes. Your mouth fell open in a silent moan; he was forcing you higher and higher onto your peak but you couldn't fall over. Without stimulation to your clit, you felt you would never cum.

However, when he dropped his body over you, meeting your lips in a heated kiss, you finally found release. He groaned as you tightened suddenly around him, trembling and latching onto him as you came around his cock.

He didn't slow, however, reaching down to find your clit. You cried out, your nails digging into his back as your orgasm was pushed higher and higher. You weren't able to come down, being forced to new heights until you were suddenly soaked in your juices.

Taehyung gasped, sitting back on his heels, keeping your thighs pinned open as you squirted around him -- soaking the bed beneath you, his thighs and your own. You whined, pushing him back so his cock finally popped free and you were left you stuttered, trembling mess.

He gave you a second until your body relaxed a bit before he pushed his cock back into you. You whimpered, eyes rolling back as he gave several more thrusts, sinking balls deep into you before he came.

His cum was hot as it filled you up and he let out soft whimpers of pleasure before finally pulling away.

Neither of you said or did anything beside shuffle to lay close together. He wrapped his arms around you and tucked you close against his chest, kissing the top of your head.

"There's something...you should probably know," he suddenly said, voice a little hoarse. You hummed, glancing up to look at him as he continued, "My kind...seahorses...we kind of...mate for life."

"Do you?" you raised a brow, feeling the inklings of exhaustion begin to prick at you.

"Mhm," he cleared his throat, "And I really am...sorry for leaving the way I did. I hope that you'll keep me around because now...you're it for me, _____."

You sat up and smiled, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips.

There was a soft scuffling noise from outside your door, making Taehyung jump. You sighed and pulled away from him, despite how he tried to keep you from going.

"What is it?" he asked, frowning.

"It's Tux," you mumbled, opening the door.

The cat ran in, taking a running leap onto the bed. As you closed the door, you heard a loud thump. Turning around, you found Taehyung on the floor, the sheet tangled around his legs.

"It's a cat!" he cried, pointing an accusatory finger at the cat who sat on your pillow licking his paw.

"Yes..." you mumbled, bending down to pick up your nightgown.

"Cats eat fish!" Taehyung whined.

You rolled your eyes, sliding your nightgown on, ignoring the slickness of his cum seeping down your thighs.

"Taehyung," you sighed, grabbing his arm to pull him up, "I promise Tux will not be able to eat you."

[rafael-silva]

under the sky and stars: a tarlos fic

When Carlos and TK take a weekend off to go camping, the last thing they were prepared for was their mini vacation getting cut short by the untimely activation of what’s said to be TK’s danger magnet.

*

What starts as a peaceful day is turned on its head when TK is hurt during their hike. Cut off from help and with no cell service, Carlos and TK work together to keep the younger man awake and getting the injury under control. They lean on one another, sharing memories, voicing confessions and finding comfort within each other along the way.

for bad things happen bingo: tarlos + cauterizing a wound

hurt tk strand, worried carlos reyes, major character injury, whump, angst, hurt/comfort, emotional/hurt comfort, injury description, softness, kisses, comfort

11.1k | rated T | on ao3

*****

When Carlos and TK take a weekend off to go camping, the last thing they were prepared for was their mini vacation getting cut short by the untimely activation of what’s said to be TK’s danger magnet.

Because, well, camping in the middle of nature, miles away from the city and with fluctuating cell service…what could possibly go wrong?

This particular camping spot was near and dear to Carlos, one of his all-time favorite locations. He’s frequently visited this very spot countless times with his family growing up, setting up their tents together, Carlos and his sisters looking for firewood while hiking and then building the bonfire, laughing and creating many memories along the way.

It had been a while since Carlos went camping there, mostly due to his busy schedule, juggling hectic shifts and long days, along with some days off, so he can spend as much time with TK as possible.

And once he was reminded of that spot by the memories feature from his photos app, popping up a selfie of the Reyes family from a few years prior on a hike, a thought crossed his mind. A very good thought. And he suddenly couldn’t contain his excitement at the possibility lingering in his mind.

He and TK were cuddling on the couch after a mutual exhausting never-ending day, both of them stumbling into their home within ten minutes of each other, weary to theirs bones. After a quick shared shower, they settled on the couch and into each other’s arms, drawing comfort from one another and watched a movie in comfortable silence.

“Have you gone camping before?” Carlos’s voice sliced through the quiet, his tone soft.

TK takes a moment to think, revisiting his own memories before nodding. “Yeah, a couple of times. When I was younger though, went camping in Upstate New York, once with mom and dad and the other time with just dad,” he replied, slightly intrigued by Carlos’s somewhat random question.

“So, there’s this camping spot,” Carlos had started explaining, running a hand up and down TK’s arm. “I used to go there all the time with my parents and sisters, especially growing up. It was kind of our safe haven, it had quickly became our spot and I was thinking that we could go camping there one weekend. I’d love to show it to you and share it with you,” he expressed.

TK moved so he’d face Carlos instead of having his back against the offer’s chest, and there was much emotion written in his features, his green eyes glued to Carlos’s brown ones.

“That place means a lot to me, and you mean so much to me, TK,” Carlos added. “It’s part of who I am, and I want to share everything that I am with you.”

TK’s eyes remained on Carlos, his expression soft.

“Of course, if you’d want to go camping, that is.”

TK lightly chuckled, nodding and moved closer to Carlos. “I’d love to. I mean, I’m not really big on camping, just because it wasn’t super easy to do while living in the city, but I’d do anything with you. Even if we were going to a random spot, I know I’ll love it. And the fact that that spot means so much to you, of course I’d go with you. I look forward to getting to know that side of you, Carlos Reyes.”

Carlos’s face had broken into a big, bright smile, his eyes twinkling. He returned the tender kiss TK brushes to his lips and leans into the paramedic’s touch when TK cupped Carlos’s cheek.

“Besides,” TK began with they separated, “one of us should know what they’re doing when it comes to camping.”

Carlos had nodded, agreeing. “Plus, we’ve both been working so much and so hard lately, I feel like we’re running on fumes and a break could really help us. And nature is a great healer.”

“Nature and love,” TK added before giving Carlos another kiss.

After managing to take the same weekend off, and Carlos calling his father asking to borrow his truck for the trip, Carlos and TK make a list of everything they need for the three days. They split it between them and each get what they’re responsible for by the agreed time.

The weekend approaches quickly to both their delight and that’s when Carlos and TK find themselves on the road, TK’s road trip playlist blasting through the speakers as Austin disappears in the rearview mirror.

And Carlos, Carlos smiles, stealing a quick glance at TK when they stop at a red light. The younger man is so at ease, leaning back against the headrest and Carlos’s heart swells with even more love for him. TK turns to look at Carlos, an identical smile on his face.

Excitement sizzles in Carlos’s stomach at the thought of creating even more memories with TK during this trip, and at one of his favorite places, too. He already starts to feel better, feeling the tension leave his body. Both he and TK had been looking forward to getting some peace, to recharge their energies and to spend more quality time together.

But TK’s said danger magnet was waiting in the corner, getting ready to strike and to throw them both a painful and unexpected curveball.

They arrive at the camping spot a couple of hours later. Carlos parks the truck at the end of the trail and switches off the ignition, excited to be back to this spot. It’s so beautiful that TK pauses his movement to get out of the car, looking through the window and taking it all in.

Carlos hops out, closing the door behind him and stretches his muscles. Their early start had been in their favor, the sun still hanging high in the sky above them, which tells Carlos they’ll have time to set everything up and walk around for a while before it gets dark, too.

TK follows Carlos, gazing around and the amount of green merging with the blue of the sky and the birds twittering around them takes his breath away.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Carlos says, standing by TK’s side.

TK nods. “Absolutely breathtaking.”

“Come on,” Carlos takes TK’s hand and begins walking further into the tree line. “It’s on foot from here, but it’s not too far in. But be careful,” he warns. “Some of the ground is really slippery and there are a lot of hills. Took a tumble once and sprained my ankle, I do not recommend the experience.”

TK tightens his hold on Carlos’s hand as he leads them through bushes, branches and tree barks, closely following Carlos’s trail.

After about an eight minute walk, they reach a clearing with even, dry ground and large open space.

“Here we are,” Carlos announces.

“Wow,” TK says, tilting his head upwards to look at the tall trees above them. They cast a shadow down at the campsite, but don’t completely obscure the sun, its golden light shining through the branches.

TK can feel the history here, the years it took for these tree to grow and flourish like this, and for the first time, he feels one with nature and he welcomes it. He closes his eyes, the soft wind colliding with his face and he draws in a deep breath, relishing in the fresh, clear air.

“It’s like all your worries wash away when you’re here,” Carlos’s voice brings TK back from his thoughts.

“I feel lighter already,” TK agrees.

But the spell is broken when TK groans and shoos away a mosquito. And Carlos mirrors him when he hears buzzing near his ear.

“Bug spray is in the bag, let’s get everything set up and we can walk around for a bit,” Carlos says.

After sending off texts to their parents that they’ve safely arrived (which had taken some time while they searched for a spot with sufficient cell service), it takes Carlos and TK two trips to bring everything they need from the truck to the campsite. They start with setting up the tent in the middle, and TK being completely out of his zone here, helps when Carlos asks, doing exactly what the officer tells him. Carlos is an expert as he works, his muscles and mind working together, knowing exactly what to do and what goes where, not missing a beat. The tent is set up in record time (based on TK’s knowledge and how often people say it takes forever to set up a tent) and TK wears an impressed expression.

Carlos chuckles at the look on TK’s face. “Learned to set it up during the summer I was fourteen. My father had told me and my sisters that we were setting up our own tents that time. It wasn’t easy, it took a lot of time and more than a few collapses, but eventually, the tent held.”

“Well, practice makes perfect,” TK smiles, planting a kiss to Carlos’s cheek.

“And sweat, a lot of sweat,” Carlos adds.

TK chuckles, opening their cooler and takes hold of Carlos’s reusable water bottle, handing it to him.

“Thank you,” Carlos gratefully accepts the bottle and takes a long swing of the cold water.

They move around in unison, TK retrieving the sleeping bag and undoing the zipper so it’s flat and lays it on the ground inside the tent then covers it with their duvet and places their pillows at the head of the tent.

Outside, Carlos arranges their sitting area, gathering the blankets that have been designated for camping. His mother had left them at his place a couple of years back, for whenever he’d take solo trips. He spreads the blankets around where the fire would be built then grabs the foldable chairs, arranging them behind the blankets.

“We have enough time for a walk before it gets dark,” Carlos says when TK emerges from the tent. “Everything else can be set up when we’re back, and we’ll get wood for the fire, too.”

TK nods. “Sounds wonderful, babe.”

Carlos grabs his compass and map, pocketing both for when he’ll need them and takes TK’s hand, and together, they stride into the endless greenery.

*****

The sun is setting when they return to the campsite, each of them carrying an armful of wood.

“These should last until tomorrow,” Carlos says, dropping the logs near the place for the fire.

TK does the same and awaits Carlos’s instructions.

Carlos kneels down and starts arranging the logs then looks up at TK. “Can you grab me the lighter fluid and matches?”

TK nods and goes to retrieve the items. A chill is starting to set in the air around them at the loss of the sun’s warmth and TK can’t wait to get cozy by the fire. He also grabs his hoodie while he’s at it.

He hands Carlos the medium sized bottle of lighter fluid and watches as his boyfriend pours some over the wood. Once he’s closing the bottle, TK lights a match and drops it over the fluid, the fire immediately igniting.

He slips on his hoodie and settles on one of the blankets, looking over his shoulder at Carlos when he hears rummaging from behind.

He smiles when Carlos shows him the bag of marshmallows and wiggles his eyebrows.

“Camping just isn’t proper camping with marshmallows,” Carlos declares as he sits next to TK, the bag in one hand and slim wooden sticks in the other.

He hands TK the bag, who promptly opens it and accepts a stick from Carlos. They both sear a marshmallow through their sticks and hold it over the open fire.

“Now, there’s an art to roasting marshmallows,” Carlos starts. “To get it crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. You can’t hold it too close to the flame and you have to keep rotating it so its evenly roasted.”

TK nods and does his best, but he pouts when the marshmallow completely burns.

“It’s okay, baby, it takes a few tries to get it right,” Carlos reassures him.

TK eats the burnt marshmallow and shrugs. “Soft on the inside though. Well, more like melty. And hot!”

TK tries again and again, and when his fifth marshmallow is still burnt (not as badly as the first one, but still burnt nonetheless), he shakes his head and laughs.

“And I thought I’d be good at this because I used to roast them over the stove growing up,” TK sighs.

Carlos’s eyebrows travel up his forehead and he’s shaking his head. “Not the same as roasting them over a campfire, definitely not the same,” he chuckles.

“Yeah, I’m learning that the hard way,” TK dramatically sighs again.

“Here,” Carlos hands TK his own stick with a perfectly roasted marshmallow. “You should have at least one that’s properly roasted.”

TK lightly elbows Carlos in the stomach and playfully rolls his eyes. “Okay, this is amazing,” he admits after eating the marshmallow.

Carlos smirks. “Besides, like you said earlier, practice makes perfect. So I guess we have no other option than going camping a lot so you can perfect your marshmallow roasting technique.”

“Hmm,” TK hums as he moves his face closer to Carlos’s. “Yeah, I guess that’s our only option,” he whispers.

Carlos smiles as he closes the small distance between them by capturing TK’s lips in a deep, passionate kiss. Carlos tastes a mix of TK and burnt marshmallows, and the combination makes his heart jump in his chest with joy; further proof that Carlos isn’t dreaming, they’re here, together in one of Carlos’s favorite places on the planet. TK easily opens to him and they pour into each other. TK’s free hand goes to the back of Carlos’s head as Carlos’s goes to hold TK’s face.

The kiss slows down, turning into a simple press of lips and they start exchanging small, chaste kisses before separating to catch their breath. They don’t pull back completely though as Carlos rests his forehead against TK’s.

They’re lying on the blanket a little while later, TK cuddled to Carlos’s side, after it was agreed that they’d had enough marshmallows for the time being. Otherwise, they’d get a sugar rush and neither wanted to experience the crash from that. Besides, they still hadn’t eaten the dinner they packed for the night.

Carlos had grabbed his zip up hoodie and slipped it on before lying down, the wind picking up a little and a shiver ran through his body. Once they’re both warm, both by clothes and each other’s presence, silence falls onto them, the leaves rustling around them the only sound as they watch the stars glitter above, vivid against the endless black sky.

“You can never see the stars this clearly in the city,” TK says in a quiet voice.

Carlos nods, not entirely sure if TK means New York or Austin, but he supposes both, because it’s true either way. He had heard about the light pollution in New York and how it obscures the night sky and its beauty, and from his experience living in Austin, the same can be said for the Texan city.

“There’s beauty in every direction you look here, it’s all encompassing. Left, right, up, down…you’re surrounded by it, you’re a part of it. There’s a lake this way,” Carlos points to their left, turning to face TK. “Me and my sisters used to go swimming there, the water is so blue and so clear and it’s the perfect temperature. We can take a dip before leaving, if you want.”

“Oh, but I don’t have my swimming suit,” TK points out.

Carlos doesn’t reply, instead he lifts a suggestive eyebrow as a smirk tugs on his lips.

“Ohhhh,” TK catches on to where Carlos’s head is at, and a blush paints his cheeks.

The nearby fire dances, the flames coloring TK’s skin golden and bringing out the green in his eyes. Carlos winks and the light pink rises up his boyfriend’s face and TK’s lips spread into a soft smile.

“Well, then, I couldn’t refuse that now, could I?” TK wiggles his eyebrows and moves closer to Carlos.

The beauty of the stars is momentarily forgotten as Carlos watches TK, getting lost in his features, taking it all in even though he can draw every detail in his sleep. He feels his heart grow in his chest with the amount of love he feels for the other man, gazing through green gates and into his soul, he’d willingly get lost in those irises for days.

Without a word, Carlos leans in and captures TK’s lips in a soaring kiss, giving TK his all and gladly receiving TK’s as the paramedic wastes no time in reciprocating.

“I’d come here alone, sometimes,” Carlos voices a few minutes after they return to their previous position. “When I was older. Sometimes my family would be busy and wouldn’t be able to make the trip, other times it was unplanned. I’d need to get away for a few days, and I’d find myself here. When things would get hard or overwhelming, this place was always there for me. This place offered me a lot of clarity over the years, opened my eyes to many things. Helped me dig deep into myself and really know who I am. Because here, in the middle of all this beautiful nature, that wasn’t so scary. It was almost like nature was telling me that it’s okay, that whatever happens, it’s all going to be okay, that it’s all just that, natural and organic. And eventually, whenever I needed to make a decision or when I just needed to think, I’d come here.”

TK waits a beat, fingers fidgeting with the zipper of Carlos’s hoodie and then asks a question. “Did you ever come here to find clarity about…me? Or us?”

Carlos is silent for a few moments before nodding. “Yeah, after you got shot,” he swallows, his mind taking him back to that horrific week.

He tightens his hold on TK, unconsciously needing to know that TK is okay, that he’s with him, right here, right now.

Then something clicks in TK’s mind. “When you texted me that you were leaving town for a couple of days, you came here.”

Carlos nods. He had sent that text a week after TK was out of the hospital and recovering at home. He had seen him a couple of times since his discharge, each time his emotions and feelings towards TK growing and bubbling more in his chest. And after making sure TK was really okay and was taken care of by his team, he had decided a trip was needed.

Falling for TK was unexpected, it had taken him by surprise and so did the amount of feelings he’d quickly developed for the other man. He needed to gather his thoughts and to process it all. He thinks back to those couple of days, pacing the ground for what seemed like hours, his mind going in a million different directions. It’s only when he sat down and looked up at this very sky, that he really started seeing everything, truly seeing.

Carlos draws in a deep breath before continuing, looking up at the sky now. “Like I told you that day at the juice bar, seeing you in that hospital bed was very hard, and all these strong feelings I had for you, they really took me over. I’d been out of the dating game for so long when I met you, and I never expected to fall for you as quickly as I did. And although I had felt it blossoming in the days and weeks before you got hurt, I truly realized just how much I felt for you when I found out you got shot. And then when I saw you lying in that hospital bed, that feeling of my heart dropping into my stomach and that pang in my chest,” he pauses, “…it scared me, the strength of the feelings scared me, the thought of losing you and losing everything we could be before we even truly began terrified me,” his voice breaks a little with the last few words.

TK finds Carlos’s hand and gives it a light squeeze.

Carlos recovers and continues. “And then you woke up and got sent home and every time I saw you, the feelings just grew and grew and there was no stopping it, not that I wanted to stop it. But I still didn’t know what we were, and I didn’t want to push you, knowing what you had gone through. I guess I just needed to process it all, it had all jumbled together and I needed to untangle it. So I came here, because this place always helps with that.”

“And what did you realize?” TK carefully asks.

Carlos turns his head once more so he’s looking at TK. “What I knew was true all along, that what I felt for you, all those feelings, all that love, was natural and organic. Cosmic, even. I realized it came from the deepest of places, the brightest and purest of places, it came from the soul, from the bottom of the heart. And that realization felt right, it felt good. I remember smiling then because I felt lighter, I felt like that realization breathed fresh air into my lungs. And I wasn’t scared anymore. I was hopeful. I knew this love was worth fighting for.”

TK is quiet for a while, letting everything Carlos said sink in, and the flickering flames reveal the unshed tears swimming in his eyes. Carlos’s words had been so honest, so vulnerable and it moves TK, fills him with even more love for Carlos.

“So, in a way, this place had brought us together,” TK expresses.

Carlos nods. “Which is one of the reasons I wanted to bring you here.”

“It really means everything, you sharing this place with me,” TK runs his thumb over Carlos’s knuckles. “I also realized what I had known all along that day of the solar storm, after the bus rescue and on the way to the hospital. I was scared, too. Getting into something and starting a relationship was the last thing on my mind when I got to Austin, but that connection to you, that pull between us, it felt right from the very start. I resisted it, though, I did, because I was still dealing with everything that happened in New York. But that day, I realized I wanted to deal with everything with you, with you by my side. I was learning to stand again, I knew that was something I had to do on my own but I wanted you to be there for me to lean on when I needed it. You gave me strength, Carlos, every day, and you continue to. You brought color back into my life and I knew then I wasn’t scared anymore. And you’re right, our love is cosmic and worth fighting for. It’s always under the sky and stars.”

Thinking back to that night, lying on the hood of the Camaro under the Northern Lights, the moment they really gave them a chance and started the journey of everything they would become together, TK smiles.

Carlos makes the connection, as well, mirroring the soft smile. “The sky and stars really do have a way of bringing us closer. Our love being cosmic sounds particularly appropriate.”

A gentle kiss is shared as they move even closer together, gravitating towards each other, always in each other’s orbit.

The tent goes forgotten as they fall asleep under the stars, wrapped in each other’s embrace, blanketed by the comfort of their love.

*****

If TK is distracted by watching Carlos, who’s wearing a tank top and sweat shorts, stride around the campsite while he gets their breakfast ready, well, who can blame him? TK’s eyes find themselves glued to Carlos’s biceps and the way his muscles contract and move under his skin, making TK miss the words Carlos is directing at him.

Carlos pauses, lifting an eyebrow. “TK? Earth to TK?”

“Hm?” TK snaps out of his trance and eyes go to Carlos’s face, which is just as captivating.

Carlos chuckles lightly. “Welcome back.” Then he’s smirking. “Like what you see?”

He gets it, though, knows the power of the tank top. Because he, too, loves it when TK wears his own tank tops, and Carlos finds himself in the same position TK was just in.

A blush crawls up TK’s neck and face as he bites down on his low lip, his eyes roaming over Carlos’s majestic form. He nods after a few moments.

“You’ll do,” TK playfully teases.

“Oh, is that it? I’ll do?” Carlos whispers, his tone a little heavy and low as he takes tentative steps towards his boyfriend, the smirk still drawn on his face.

“Yeah,” TK nods again, his eyes not leaving Carlos’s.

TK smiles against Carlos’s lips when the officer leans in for a kiss and returns it, his body filling up with warmth at their contact.

“Come on,” Carlos says when they pull apart. “We gotta have a good breakfast because we have some exploration ahead of us today. And other activities, too,” Carlos lifts an eyebrow and winks at TK.

They keep up their flirting and playful banter throughout breakfast, and once they’re finished and Carlos had gathered the stuff they’ll need and packed it into his backpack, they start their journey into the woods, Carlos leading with TK close behind.

The first couple of hours go by smoothly. Carlos shows TK a few of the spots he would frequent when he’d visit here, telling him stories along the way and sharing the memories he’s built with his family. He snaps pictures of TK here and there, some while he wasn’t looking, others with TK posing along with a bunch of selfies of them wearing big smiles.

They come to rest at a clearing, deciding to take a break before continuing their hike. Carlos finds a large rock to sit on, taking a few sips of water before his eyes find TK. The other man is roaming around, looking up at the trees and taking it all in. He comes to a halt on an elevation, looking into the distance and doesn’t realize he’s right on the edge of a hill.

Carlos’s face falls a little when he notices where TK’s standing, and he’s about to tell him to take a few steps back when TK himself turns around and starts to move towards him.

Carlos’s newfound relief lasts for only a brief second as he watches TK stumble. He quickly gets to his feet, moving to help steady TK while a little voice at the back of his head supplies slippery mud, but it’s too late.

For a moment it feels like an out of body experience and in an instant, he’s running to TK. It takes a second, but before he reaches him, TK looses his balance and falls, Carlos’s eyes going wide and his heart drops into his knees as it happens.

Carlos freezes, arms stretched out, heart hammering and eyes glued to the space TK occupied a second ago. He was right there, within his reach and then he wasn’t.

The image of the panicked look on TK’s face and his green eyes blown wide with fear will forever be etched in Carlos’s mind.

He swallows and finds himself at the edge a moment later as he looks down. It’s a nasty fall, even though it’s not a drop but a slope, the steep angle surely would have increased TK’s speed as he rolled downhill. The area it’s littered with rocks of all sizes, and TK’s body would most definitely be bruised and battered by the impact against them.

Carlos yells out when he finds his voice. “TK! TK! Hang on! I’m coming for you!”

The panic in his gut starts brewing even more at the lack of a response from TK.

Carlos weighs his options, and a quick survey tells him there’s no other way to get to TK except down this slope. He takes a deep breath and very carefully starts making his way towards where he’ll find TK.

He almost slips a few times during his descend, tree leaves crunching under his hiking boots and his feet sinking into piles of leaves and small bushes. He keeps calling out for TK on his way down, still getting no reply from the other man. Carlos tells himself he has to get a hold on the panic rising in his body, he feels his hands begin to shake and wills them to steady. He needs to be composed to help TK, to get him out of this. TK is relying on him.

That knowledge gives Carlos the strength he needs and he gathers himself, letting out a small sigh of relief when the ground appears to even out before him.

Then his eyes land on TK, who’s sprawled out on his side, his back to Carlos. And he isn’t moving. And Carlos can’t tell if he’s breathing from this angle.

Carlos’s legs move on their own accord and he’s sprinting towards TK, dropping to his knees next to him. His eyes run over TK’s face and head, where he finds a cut under his hairline that’s oozing blood down his face, and his usually neat hair is filled with torn leaves and covered in dust. He watches TK’s chest closely next, and lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding when he spots the rise and fall there, although shallower and shorter than he’d like, but TK is breathing.  

“TK? TK, babe, can you hear me?” Carlos speaks, his voice coated with worry.

With TK still unconscious, Carlos starts doing what he could: check TK over for any visible injuries on the rest of his body.

And he most definitely was not prepared for what he found. He couldn’t stop the sharp gasp that tears from his throat when his eyes land on a large, jagged open wound on TK’s right thigh. There’s blood gushing down his leg and dripping into a puddle beneath the paramedic, a stark crimson staining the rock below.

“Shit, shit,” Carlos mumbles and breaks himself out of his haze.

He knows he shouldn’t move TK until he’s sure there’s no spinal damage, but he also needs to apply pressure in hopes of slowing down the bleeding and the only way to effectively do that is to have TK lying on his back.

Knowing it’s his only option and the best chance TK has in this moment, Carlos very gently and carefully, while supporting TK’s body and carrying his weight, repositions TK and then clamps both hands over the wound and pushes down as hard as he can, putting all his weight into it as he prays that it isn’t the day he loses the love of his life.

He knows deep down it won’t do much good because he can already feel the blood seeping through his fingers. TK’s blood. Carlos’s stomach churns in an unnatural way and he has to squeeze his eyes shut and attempts to get his irregular breathing under control.

It seems, however, that the pressure does achieve something because Carlos is quickly opening his eyes when he hears a sharp painful gasp. The adrenaline, that same small voice at the back of his head supplies once more.

TK is haphazardly moving his head from side to side, eyebrows knitted together with confusion. Carlos easily finds TK’s wide eyes, filled to the brim with panic and fear and does his best in comforting and calming his boyfriend.

“TK, TK, hey, hey, look at me, look at me,” Carlos guides, trying to get TK’s attention.

The erratic movements eventually slow and TK focuses on Carlos through his blurry vision, tears springing into his eyes. He blinks a few times, trying to clear his line of sight sending a couple of tears down the sides of his face.

“Carlos…” TK whimpers through clenched teeth, reaching out for his boyfriend and closing his fist around the material of Carlos’s tank top, holding on with all the strength he could muster.

“I’m right here, baby, right here,” Carlos is quick to reassure him. “Stay with me, TK, hang on.”

“What…what happened?” TK asks when he gathers his breath.

“You fell down a hill, probably slipped on some mud and lost your balance. You were unconscious when I found you and you have a cut on your head and I think you could have a concussion. Can you wiggle your toes?”

After a moment, TK nods, knowing why Carlos is asking.

“Okay, good. But…”

“But?” TK questions and manages to lift himself to look at where Carlos’s eyes had landed.

TK gulps, seeing the wound and the alarming among of blood he had already lost and tries to keep the sizzling panic at bay. He knows panicking won’t help, that he needs to remain calm.

TK groans, pain flaring through his leg and making him a little dizzy.

“I think a piece of wood punctured your thigh and then broke away. I’ve been trying to slow the bleeding but it’s not working very well,” he explains, his voice filled with the panic he’s trying to suppress.

TK is silent for a few moments and Carlos fears he fell back into unconsciousness. But then TK is speaking, clearly having slipped into paramedic mode in those few seconds.

“Okay, we need to make a tourniquet, hopefully that will help slow the bleeding until we get help,” TK says.

Carlos nods, thinking back to what they have in their backpack. His heart drops some more when he realizes they don’t have anything for a tourniquet. Besides, the backpack is up that hill and there’s no way Carlos is leaving TK alone.

Making up his mind, Carlos takes off his tank top and looks to TK for instructions on what to do next.

TK frowns. “What…”

“This is everything we’ve got.”

TK nods, no time or energy for arguing. He already feels weaker and his head is starting to spin. But he evens his labored breathing, not only trying to access his own body for internal injuries but also to be able to properly tell Carlos what to do. He’s not alone, Carlos is here, and they can do this, together.

“Okay, you need to find a strong stick, it needs to be thick so it doesn’t break when it’s twisted to tighten the tourniquet,” TK tells Carlos.

Finding a stick in the woods, should be simple enough, Carlos thinks as he looks around, still in his position and applying pressure to TK’s thigh. Once he spots a stick that could work, he takes hold of TK’s hands and guides them to the wound, pushing them down there.

“I need you to hold pressure while I do this, TK. Can you do that for me?” Carlos asks and once he’s sure TK has complied, he moves to retrieve the stick.

TK gives it his all. He’s scared, and he doesn’t want to die, he doesn’t want to bleed out on this hill in the middle of the woods. He doesn’t want Carlos to have to watch it happen. He doesn’t want to ruin what this place means to Carlos. He doesn’t want to miss out on spending the rest of his life with Carlos. So he fights against the darkness creeping at him from the corners of his eyes and gives it everything he’s got.

But he’s tired, he’s so tired, and his hands momentarily stop working. But a voice reminds him to stay awake, stay awake…

Carlos can tell, that as expected, TK’s strength is faltering by the way more blood is running free down the paramedic’s injured leg. So he does his best to keep TK awake and talking until the tourniquet can take over in controlling the bleeding.

“Hey, TK, stay with me,” Carlos pleads. “Tell me, what’s next?”

TK nods. “Loop…loop the shirt above the wound and then place the stick over the loop and tie a knot,” his voice trails off.

Carlos follows TK’s instructions, his hands working quickly to do as TK says.

“Then…rotate it and the knot is going to tighten,” TK continues using a shaky breath. “It should help control the bleeding.”

“Okay, you ready?” Carlos asks, his worry filled eyes moving to TK’s face, knowing how much tourniquets hurt when they’re applied.

TK draws in a breath and nods.

“Okay, here we go,” Carlos starts twisting the stick and his heart clenches and shatters some more at hearing the throaty and pained moans that TK lets out.

The younger man’s eyes are squeezed shut, face crunching up in agony as the groans keep spilling from his mouth.

It works, and Carlos can see the bleeding is substantially slowing down.

“It’s working, it’s working,” Carlos sighs, closing his eyes for a few moments and taking in a deep breath, his shoulders slumping forward.  

And now it’s time to figure out where they ended up and how to get back to the campsite, into the truck and to the hospital as fast as they can. Carlos knows the tourniquet isn’t a permanent solution and he’s worried about infection setting in.

He fishes his phone from his pocket and prays for even one bar of service, but disappointment settles in his stomach at the words no service glaring at him from the top of his screen.  

He sighs, turning back to TK.

“Hey, TK, still with me, baby?”

TK gives him a weak nod.

“Listen, I have to go back up to get the backpack, you need to hydrate and the map and compass will help us get back to camp,” Carlos explains, hating that he has to leave TK. “I need you to keep holding the tourniquet in place, to make sure it doesn’t get undone. I’ll be quick, I promise.”

“Be…careful,” TK replies, closing his hand over the stick when Carlos places it there.

“I will be,” Carlos responds and leans down to brush a kiss to TK’s forehead.

It takes every inch of strength Carlos has to pull away.

“I’ll be right back, baby.”

Carlos rushes back up the hill, trying to be as quick but as efficient and safe as he possibly can, not wanting to leave TK alone for long. He faces some difficulty climbing up but manages to avoid slips and falls.

He’s panting when he finally makes it to the top, grabbing a hold of the backpack and then stops for a second. He pulls his phone out again, praying for service and rejoices at the one bar of service he finds.

He puts the phone to his ear and his heart thumps in his chest as he waits for it to connect. After what feels like an eternity, it starts ringing, and another lifetime after that, Owen picks up.

“Owen?” Carlos speaks, his voice tight. “Owen, can you hear me?”

“Carlos?” Owen replies but his voice is so far away.

“Owen, we need help,” Carlos continues, praying that Owen can hear him over the line scratching between the words.

“Carlos—you’re breaking—can’t—”

Then the lines goes dead.

A glance at his phone tells Carlos the one much-needed bar of service is gone.

“Damn it,” Carlos growls with frustration, shoving the phone back into his pocket.

He’s back at TK’s side a few minutes later, and finds his boyfriend barely holding onto consciousness.

“Hey, TK, I’m back,” Carlos announces, kneeling next to TK once more.

He notices that TK’s hold on the tourniquet has loosened a bit so he tightens the knot to control the bleeding again and his heart sinks at the almost lack of response from TK.

Shock, that voice in his head speaks again. He needs to get TK out of here right this moment.

“TK, you with me?” Carlos says as he digs out the compass and map.

TK mumbles something in return.

“Good, stay with me, baby. Didn’t I tell you that I don’t recommend tumbling down a hill? You had to go and try it yourself, huh,” he attempts to lighten the mood with their familiar playful banter but doesn’t quite succeed, his voice coated with fear and worry.

“Take it up with that hill,” TK murmurs back.

A short wet chuckle escapes Carlos, at least TK is doing his best to reciprocate. It’s a small victory in the battle to keep TK awake.

Carlos swallows before continuing, “I almost managed to get through to your dad on the phone,” he says, hoping to keep TK engaged until he figures out how to get back to the campsite. “It was only one bar, though, and it cut off before he could properly hear me.”

He feels his own disappointment mirrored back at him from TK when the younger man frowns.

“Okay,” Carlos nods, getting their bearings and finding the direction they need to move in. “We need to head west, and if we stay on this trail, it should lead us back to camp.”

Carlos moves so he’s behind TK to help him sit up. He places his hands below TK’s shoulders and very slowly and gently starts pushing him up. TK tries his best to help with his weight, but it’s no use, all his energy has been drained. With a hand still steading TK, Carlos reaches his other into the backpack and pulls out a water bottle.

“Here, you need to drink,” he hands it to TK.

TK accepts it with shaky hands and lifts the bottle to his mouth after popping the cap open, taking a few short sips.

“Ready to get up?”

“I’ll try,” TK replies, his voice hoarse.

“I got you,” Carlos promises.

Looping TK’s arm around his shoulder for a better hold on him, Carlos pushes himself up, taking TK with him. TK groans as soon as he’s standing still, closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness takes over and pain starts pulsing up and down his injured leg.

“No, no,” TK shakes his head. “It hurts.”

Carlos glances down and curses. Just the mere movement of TK standing up has caused more blood to pour out of his wound, and he knows more movement will dislodge the tourniquet even more.

Carlos shoulders the bag and then wraps an arm around TK’s waist, pulling him towards him.

“TK, I’m gonna need you to put all your weight on me, and absolutely no weight on that leg, okay? I’m going to get you out of here.”

TK distributes his weight on his good leg and on Carlos, dragging his injured leg as he pretty much hops along the way Carlos leads them.

“We’re not that far from camp,” Carlos pants. “I’ll carry you there if I have to.”

And he does. As soon as TK grows even weaker in Carlos’s grip around the halfway mark, the younger man’s muscles deflating, he does exactly that and carries TK the rest of the way.

Once they finally arrive at the site, Carlos carefully lowers TK down on a blanket near the extinguished campfire. He’s about to move to collect their important things when TK’s hand wraps around his wrist and stops him.

“Carlos,” TK heaves. “Carlos, we…we have to stop the bleeding.”

“The tourniquet is in place, I’ll make sure it stays that way…”

But TK is shaking his head. “It didn’t completely stop the blood, even when it was first applied,” he swallows. “Movement will cause more bleeding…and already lost too much blood…nearest hospital is a few hours away, can’t wait.”

“Then what are we supposed to do?” Carlos asks, the panic in his voice breaking through.

TK takes a deep breath before answering. “Cauterize it.”

It takes a moment for that to sink in and then Carlos’s eyes are going wide. “What? You mean, you want…”

“Need. I need you to do it, babe.”

“What? No, no, TK, I can’t—I can’t do that,” Carlos vigorously shakes his head, eyebrows drawn together. “There has to be something else, another way—”

“There isn’t,” TK matter of factly responds. “That is the only way.”

“No, TK, I…” Carlos’s voice breaks.

“Hey, hey,” TK reaches his arm out to Carlos. “It’s gonna be okay, I’ll talk you through it.”

Carlos moves so he’s in TK’s reach and takes his hand. He knows there’s no time to argue—that there’s no need to argue. He has to do this to save TK. TK trusts him and needs him to do this. And even though Carlos is scared out of his skin, he knows what needs to be done. Knows TK needs him now more than ever. He pushes his fear down and wills his heart to calm, ready to do whatever it takes to save the man who has saved him.

Carlos takes a deep breath and nods, sniffing. “What do you need me to do?”

“Need to get the fire going and grab one of the kitchen knives we packed…”

*****

TK slumps backwards, working on catching his breath as his hands go to wipe the tears that had streaked down his face during the agonizing procedure. Carlos is almost done wrapping TK’s thigh with a sterile bandage from the first aid kit after cauterizing it. TK feels Carlos’s lips against his forehead a few moments later.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Carlos whispers against TK’s skin, heart in pieces at the pain TK had just gone through.

“You did everything right, babe,” TK reassures Carlos with a quivering breath. “I knew it was going to hurt.”

“Here,” Carlos hands TK his water bottle. “Drink some more water while I gather our important things and we’ll be on the road soon.”

“There’s time to pack everything,” TK says. “I’m okay.”

Carlos studies TK for a moment. “Are you sure?”

TK nods.

Carlos throws on the first t-shirt he finds and makes quick work of taking down the tent and gathering their stuff. He haphazardly piles everything into the back of the truck, not bothering to pack anything properly. As long as everything is secure, that will do.

Less than ten minutes later sees Carlos helping TK into the passenger seat then getting into the driver’s seat and starting the engine. He sighs when he sees there’s still no service and TK can read the tension sitting in Carlos’s shoulders and in his squared jaw.

“Carlos, babe, I’m okay, the worst is over,” TK holds Carlos’s hand and gives it a squeeze.

Carlos turns to look at TK, taking in his pale complexion and clammy skin. His expression morphs into one of heartbreak and worry. “You can still get an infection, you could still have a concussion,” his eyes travel to the cut on TK’s head. “And there’s no telling what kind of damage that fall did to you internally.”

“All things we’ll deal with one at a time,” TK says calmly, although he wouldn’t be able to speak any louder even if he wanted to. “Take a breath, baby, it’s okay.”

Carlos takes a few moments to gather himself, preparing himself to drive and getting his nerves under control. Once he’s ready, he shifts the gear into drive and they start moving.

“Just don’t fall asleep on me, okay?” Carlos tells TK, his focus on the road.

“Okay,” TK replies.

“Play music if you want, and can you keep an eye on the service bars? We’ll call your dad first chance we get.”

TK opts to play a calmer playlist than the one they listened to on their way to the campsite. This playlist helps to relax him, which in this situation may not be the best of things, but TK also knows that Carlos needs to relax too, and upbeat and loud music will most definitely have the opposite effect on him. So TK settles for it, and pushes past the wave of sleepiness it cloaks over him.

The world passes by in a blur as TK stares out the window and replies to Carlos when the officer makes sure he’s still awake.

“There’s two bars,” TK says when he checks for service again, immediately calling his dad, his phone connected to the car’s bluetooth.

Owen picks up after a few rings. “TK! It’s good to hear from you, Carlos tried calling a bit ago but we got disconnected.”

It’s Carlos who replies to him. “Owen.”

The fire captain immediately picks up on Carlos’s shaky voice. “Carlos, what’s going on?”

“We’re on the way back, TK got hurt on a hike. He’s doing okay now but we’re going straight to the hospital,” Carlos explains.

Owen draws in a deep breath and needing to hear TK’s voice, he calls for him. “TK, son?”

“Hey, dad,” TK replies weakly. “I’m okay.”

“Everything is going to be fine. Which hospital are you going to and how long until you arrive?”

“West Park Memorial is going to be the closest and we’re about an hour away,” Carlos responds.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there. Be careful on the road, please.”

“Will do,” Carlos promises.

“I’m so tried,” TK mumbles after they hang up with Owen, shifting in his seat.

“I know, baby,” Carlos replies without taking his eyes off the road. “But I need you to stay awake for me, we’re almost there.”

TK manages to stay awake until they’re ten minutes away from their destination. Carlos calls for him but he doesn’t answer, giving into the impending darkness that’s been threatening to take over for hours now.

Carlos feels the panic stirring in his gut when TK doesn’t respond, doesn’t move.

“TK, baby, you gotta stay awake,” Carlos tries with no success. “TK, please,” he then uses a hand to take hold of TK’s and realizes with a pang in his chest that TK’s skin has lost some of its warmth.

“Shit,” Carlos curses, his own body and face heating up. “TK, you have to wake up, babe.”

The following ten minutes were some of the longest of Carlos’s life. The further he drives, the farther the hospital got, or so it seemed. After what felt like three eternities, the hospital finally comes into view and he honks a few times as he drives up the ramp leading to the ER entrance.

A doctor and a couple of nurses emerge with a gurney and Carlos jumps out and moves around the truck to open the passenger door.

“We were camping and he fell down a hill and cut open his thigh, he was losing a lot of blood and the tourniquet wasn’t stopping the bleeding completely. He’s a paramedic with the 126 and said we had to cauterize it so I did,” he explains. “He also might have a concussion from the fall. And he can’t be given opioid-based medication.”

The doctor nods while the nurses lift TK from the car and onto the gurney. “How long ago?”

“A few hours,” Carlos replies. “He lost consciousness about ten minutes ago.”

“Okay, we got him now,” the doctor reassures Carlos while performing initial tests on TK. “I need you to park the truck and then fill out some forms while we run a few tests. I’ll leave word at the ER front desk. What’s his name?”

“TK Strand.”

“He’s in good hands,” she nods before retreating through the sliding doors.

Carlos watches as they wheel TK into the hospital, the doctor giving orders as they moved. He starts to feel his own knees growing weaker as TK disappears down the hall and the doors slide shut. It feels like a part of his heart has just been torn from him.

He repeats he’s going to be okay over and over in his head as he climbs back into the truck and until he’s striding into the ER, a mantra to keep him calm.

“Hi, I was told I need to fill some forms for TK Strand. I just brought him in,” he says to the charge nurse at the front desk.

She nods and hands him a clipboard with a pen attached. “What’s your relation to the patient?”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Carlos replies. “And I’m his emergency contact.”

She gives him a soft smile. “They took him into an exam room to check him over and to run some standard tests. I’ll have someone take you to him once you fill out the forms.”

Carlos nods and begins filling out the empty spaces.

He’s lead to TK ten minutes later, following the nurse to where TK is being examined. She stops in front of a closed door and turns to Carlos.

“He’s right through there, his results should be in soon,” she informs him. “Just press the call button if you need anything.”

“Thank you,” Carlos nods and slowly opens the door as she walks away.

And he could cry tears of joy when he’s met with hazy green eyes once he steps into the room.

“Hey, Ty,” Carlos softly breathes, relaxing a little at seeing TK awake.

“Hi, baby,” TK replies, a small smile forming on his face.

Carlos is by TK’s bedside in three strides, taking his boyfriend’s hand and giving it a comforting squeeze.

“I’m glad to see you awake,” Carlos says. “You gave me quite the scare.”

TK winces. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“I know. It’s okay, baby, I’m just worried about you,” Carlos runs his thumb over TK’s skin that thankfully now feels a little warmer than earlier, courtesy of the IV fluids TK’s been given. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, a little out of it and tired, but the fluids are helping,” TK replies.

Carlos’s response to that is interrupted by his phone ringing in his pocket.

“Hey, Owen,” Carlos answers.

“Carlos, I tried calling TK but it went to voicemail,” Owen responds.

Carlos can tell that he’s power walking by the way his voice wavers a little. “We forgot it in the car. We’re in the ER.”

“I’m walking in now. Which room are you boys in?”

“Oh,” Carlos pauses, realizing he’s not exactly sure which way he was lead. He must have zoned out then, he thinks. “Um, ask for TK at the front desk, a nurse will show you the way.”

“Okay,” Owen replies. “I’ll be right there.”

The door is pushed open a few minutes later, revealing a worried Owen, his face crunched up in concern. He breaths a sigh of relief when he sees TK awake but his eyes still radiate the fear bubbling in his chest at his son, once again, landing in the hospital.

His eyes move from TK to Carlos as he steps into the room, placing a hand on Carlos’s shoulder and squeezing there before moving to TK’s side.

“Hey, son,” Owen gives him a small smile. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay, a little better now,” TK replies after clearing is throat.

Owen’s eyes survey TK, noticing the butterfly bandage on his forehead and then his eyes widen when he spots the bandage on TK’s thigh.

Turning to Carlos, he asks, “what happened?”

“He took a tumble down a hill, he lost his balance, most likely on wet mud. He rolled down and his thigh probably got cut by a wooden stick or log. We tried a tourniquet but it didn’t hold well, so we…” Carlos pauses, his eyes moving to TK then back to Owen. “We had to cauterize it.”

Owen’s eyes go impossibly wide at that, digesting everything Carlos had said. “It was that bad?”

Before Carlos can reply, the door is opened and the doctor walks in.

“Doctor, this is Owen, TK’s father,” Carlos introduces. “I was just telling him what happened.”

Owen extends his arm to shake her hand. “How’s TK doing?”

“As well as expected,” she replies. “Any headache, nausea or double vision, TK?”

“No, just a little hazy and feeling a bit out of it.”

“That’s to be expected, I don’t think you have a concussion but I’m going to take you to get scans on your head and stomach to make sure everything is clear.”

TK is being wheeled out by a couple of nurses a few minutes later, but not before Carlos brushes a kiss to his forehead.

Owen and Carlos are sitting in silence when the officer’s voice cuts through it.

“I’m sorry, this is all my fault,” Carlos sighs, hands fidgeting with each other.

“What are you talking about?” Owen frowns.

“TK’s fall. I know the place, I know how an area can appear stable but it isn’t, I learned that the hard way but I never had a fall this bad. And the blood, he was bleeding so much when I found him and…” Carlos trails off, drawing in a shaky breath. “For a moment, I thought we weren’t getting out of there. For a moment, I thought I was going to lose him.”

“Hey, Carlos, look at me,” Owen says.

Carlos slowly lifts his gaze from the floor to meet Owen’s.

“This wasn’t your fault, this was an accident. Don’t blame yourself for what happened. And you didn’t lose him. You got him out of there.”

“I just keep thinking if I had maybe said something a moment earlier…I wouldn’t have had to…it was so hard to do that. I was terrified,” Carlos admits, remembering how his heart hammered against his ribcage during the procedure. “And seeing the amount of pain TK was in…”

Owen places his hand on the back of Carlos’s neck and gives him a supportive squeeze there.

“Listen to me,” Owen says after a moment. “You did everything you could for TK, you took care of him, you pushed through your fear for him, you got him here…you did everything right,” Owen echos TK’s words. “You saved his life, Carlos.”

Carlos swallows and sniffs. “I’d do anything to make sure he’s okay.”

“I know,” Owen nods. “And I’m so incredibly grateful for that. He’s going to be fine, you both will be.”

Carlos knows there’s more than a few nightmares lingering ahead in the wake of TK’s injury, but as long as they’ve got each other, they will be okay. He just needs to know that the worst is truly over.

TK is brought back into the room twenty minutes later, Carlos and Owen getting to their feet as he’s settled in again by the nurses.

Owen sits on the chair while Carlos sits on the edge of the bed, taking TK’s hand.

“I’m okay,” TK gives his boyfriend and father a smile.

Carlos nods, returning the smile through unshed tears, the weight of his conversation with Owen still heavy on his bones.

The doctor appears half an hour later, holding a few files.

“The good news is that all the scans are clear, no head or internal injuries. But I’d like to admit TK for observation, so we can keep a close look on the wound for a couple of days and watch out for an infection,” she explains.

“Whatever you think is best, doctor,” Owen nods.

“Alright then,” the doctor nods. “I’ll get the paperwork started and have TK moved to a room upstairs shortly.”

TK knows it’s for the best, because he honestly feels like crap and doesn’t want him and Carlos to deal with an infection at home, but he can’t help the groan he pushes out.

“It’s okay, babe,” Carlos reassures him, cupping his cheek. “Just to make sure everything is alright, only for a few days.”

TK nods, leaning into Carlos’s touch, the officer grounding him.

*****

They’re thrown another curveball when TK develops a fever overnight.

A cot was set for Carlos in TK’s room while Owen had gone home, making Carlos promise to call or text if anything changes. The officer was awake when TK’s fever was discovered by a nurse. He had to inform Owen with a hastily sent text while keeping up with what the nurse was saying, writing it out in the message. He watched as the nurse administers antibiotics into TK’s IV line and starts him on some medications to reduce the fever and clear out the infection.

TK stirs in bed, the fever taking a toll on his body and making him uncomfortable. He groans and peels his eyelids open to the sunlight gently streaming in through the blinds.

Turning his head to the side, his momentarily blurry vision clears to reveal Judd in the chair by his bedside.

“Judd,” TK whispers, his voice hoarse.

“Hey, brother,” Judd smiles. “Do you want some water?”

TK nods and takes a few sips out of the straw when Judd holds the cup for him.

“He’s getting coffee,” Judd says without TK needing to ask, knowing what’s on the younger man’s mind by the way his eyes darted around the room. “Looked like he needed it, too.”

TK nods. “When did you get here?”

“A while ago, sat with Carlos for a bit. Your dad called this morning and told me what happened and I wanted to see how you’re doing,” Judd gently pats TK’s shoulder. “You’ve been in and out for a while.”

“Yeah,” TK clears his throat. “This fever is really kicking my ass.”

“I, uh, you had me worried there for a second when I heard,” Judd sighs.

“I’m sorry, it was a freak accident. I was scared, too but I’m okay, Carlos took great care of me.”

Judd nods. “You’ll be better in no time, brother,” he reassures him. “Get some more rest,” he adds, seeing the way TK’s eyes drift close. “Your man will be back when you wake up.”

True to Judd’s word, Carlos is by TK’s side the next time he opens his eyes.

“Hi, baby,” Carlos smiles when he sees TK awake. “How are you feeling?”

“A little better,” TK replies, his body feeling more at ease. “You look better, too,” he points out, taking in Carlos’s appearance.

Carlos nods. “Knowing you’re getting better helped. Your fever decreased and the doctor thinks it will break soon. And they’ve been monitoring your wound and changing the dressing and it looks better, too. They think the infection will clear out by tomorrow.”

“And I’ll go home?”

“And you’ll come home,” Carlos confirms with a smile, carding his fingers through TK’s hair.

TK feels lighter at Carlos’s words, feeling that the worst is truly over now.

“Thank you, ‘Los. You literally carried me and put me back together.”

“I’d do anything for you.”

TK stays silent, knowing there’s more on Carlos’s tongue.

“It just…it felt like you were slipping away from me and…I was so scared,” Carlos closes his eyes and unshed tears shimmer when he opens them a moment later.

“You helped me hold on, Carlos, you gave me strength. And I knew it was going to be okay because you were by my side. I know what I asked wasn’t easy and I know it will take its toll but you did it. You saved me. And I’ll always fight to come back to you,” TK vows.

“I’ll always be right here,” Carlos vows back, brushing a kiss to TK’s temple. “Oh, and mom and dad send their love and well wishes. They were really worried but I told them everything is looking up now. Mom made me promise that we’ll go over for lunch as soon as you’re well enough. She’s probably setting the menu now.”

TK chuckles. “I’d love that. It shouldn’t be too long, though, I’ll be taking some antibiotics for a while and my thigh will be sore but only for a couple of weeks. It will scar, but…”

“Hey,” Carlos squeezes TK’s hands. “Scars show what you overcame, what you survived.”

“What we overcame and survived,” TK corrects. “I wouldn’t be here without you.”

Carlos leans in, resting his forehead against TK’s and takes in everything that is TK. Carlos easily lets himself get lost in TK’s scent, a reminder that TK is here and that he’s okay.

And seeing TK sitting up and talking, having regained most of his color now, Carlos can finally properly breathe again since watching TK fall.

*****

When TK suggested they go camping again, Carlos was hesitant at first, his once beloved spot now tainted with the memories of TK getting hurt. But TK reminds him of what that place means to him, not wanting the memory of the accident to be Carlos’s most recent association with the spot. He tells him that going back can help them both, reminds him of the strength of his connection to that campsite and Carlos eventually agrees.

And when they return to the campsite a couple of months later, TK is proven right, in more ways than one.

They go back after TK has fully recovered and Carlos no longer jolts up awake in the middle of the night, covered in a layer of sweat, heaving with TK’s yelled name on his lips.

Carlos is standing by the water, enjoying the cool breeze and the warmth of the sun on his skin when a pair of arms wrap around him from behind and hold him close. He smiles, leaning back into TK’s chest and rests his head against the younger man’s shoulder.

“Still as beautiful as ever,” TK whispers against Carlos’s ear.

Carlos nods. Still, however, a part of him can’t fully enjoy it anymore, the memories of TK’s accident too evident in his mind.

With a kiss planted to Carlos’s temple, TK pulls back and the officer turns to follow a few moments after.

And when his eyes land on TK, who’s down on one knee in front of him, Carlos draws in a deep breath while his eyes go wide.

Tears spring to Carlos’s brown eyes as TK opens the red velvet box in his hands, revealing a stunning silver ring sitting inside.

And the identical bright specks glittering in their eyes when TK asks and Carlos answers with, yes, a million times yes and the lighting surging through their bodies at the kiss that follows…

Well, their love is cosmic, after all.

And now, standing by the lake Carlos had painted for TK before, wrapped in each other’s embrace, they both start to fully heal, souls uplifting, their hearts lightening and beating as one.

With that, this place no longer carries the scars of almost losing TK and everything they are and could be, but now serves as a reminder of the strength of their love, mending the scars and holding the promise of a brighter future ahead.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

Nightmare paradise; Doctor Strange x daughter reader

*Author’s note*

Now I know this may not be my best work but I have been DYING to make a Doctor Strange daughter fic since like FOREVER!! A lone solo without any real relationship patterns in tact (mostly Peter Parker WHICH I DON’T DISAGREE WITH AT ALL. I’m just saying I hardly see any other fics that just revolve SOLELY on Stephen strange and a daughter reader. THAT’S IT.) So in the end THIS is what ended up being born.

Also I LEAVE FACVE CASTING OF NIGHTMARE UP TO YOU GUYS!! I personally imagined Troy Baker’s voice for Nightmare but you guys can picture WHOMEVER you wish to be the character for Nightmare. Also this fic is LOOSELY based off of WandaVision but DON’T WORRY NO SPOILERS OF THE SERIES IS GIVEN. I just took a plot point from the series and had it work for the Doctor Strange universe. Enjoy my first Maevel fic in FOREVER dearies :)

Warnings: Swearing, the BLIP mentioned and described, Thanos mentioned (yeah he’s a warning), some battle sequences, blood (if you’re squeamish).

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things​

@waddles03​

@psychosupernatural​

@ixchel-9275​

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels​

@queen-paladin​

@soy-guey​

____________________________________________________________

I woke up to the sound of my alarm clock blaring off.  I groaned and reached out to try and shut it off but no matter how many times I was slamming my hand on my desk, my alarm was still blaring.  Finally I got out from under my covers and unplugged my clock and saw just how bright it was outside.  I let out a groan and collapsed back to my pillows.

“Why do I have to be woken up so early?” I groaned tiredly before heaving myself upward and out of my bed.  I walked towards my jointed bathroom and took my morning shower. After that I got changed and went downstairs to eat my breakfast.

I lifted my hand and soon a pop-tart came into my hand and I unwrapped the tinfoil and took out one of the two pop-tarts.

“It somehow amuses me to see you use your mystic arts to bring you your breakfast when you could just get it yourself.” That deep familiar baritone voice spoke out to me.

“Coming from the guy who just last month used his powers to wash his car when he was teaching me the form of astral projection.” I sassed back at him.

“That was for the purpose of multitasking.”

“That’s not a real thing.”

“What are you talking about of course it is.”

“Is not.”

“Is too.”

“Is not.”

“Is too times infinity times infinity there I win!” I chuckled and teasingly poked my tongue out at him.

“When did you get sassier than me, dad?”

“More like you inherited your sass from me. But no one can out sass me.” He said as he playfully booped my nose.

“Yeah but never forget dad,” I then took his arm and kicked his leg in before tossing him over my shoulder to finally pin him down. “I’m the more clever fighter out of the two of us.” He hummed questioningly.

“You sure about that?” suddenly I was levitated in the air and constricted in a familiar red velvet cloth.  I looked down to see the cloak of levitation had my arms pinned to my sides and was levitating me just a few inches off the ground.

“You cheat!”

“The Sorcerer Supreme never cheats.”

“But my father does.”

“You know you better choose your next sentence very carefully.” My dad threatened with that growl-like tone to his voice, but the twinkle of mischief and playful smirk on his face told me that this wasn’t a real threat.

“Or what? Parlor magician.” Next thing I knew the cloak of levitation had lifted part of it’s material up and it started messing up my hair. Not only getting it tangled up but making sure it gave my hair a static charge to it.

I exclaimed as I pleaded it to stop before it was too late, but soon enough my hair resembled a porcupine with it’s quills standing up. My dad laughed as the cloak finally released me and I fixed my hair.

“Very funny dad.”

“Oh I think it’s very funny.” He said through his deep baritone chuckle.  I tried to adjust my hair but some strands still remained on end.  “Here, let me help.” He then licked his fingers and I exclaimed.

“Eww gross you know I hate that!”

“Well it’s either this or we wet your hair again and you don’t have time to argue because you’re already 10 minutes late for class.”

“WHAT!?” I looked at the grandfather clock and saw that it was already 7:50am. “Shit!”

“Ah-ah-ah-ah language!” my dad scolded me.  I growled lowly and said.

“Okay fine just fix it hurry!” he soon made my hairbrush appear and he gently re-brushed my hair to it’s normal way.  Any crazy strand that was out of place, my dad would lick his fingers and tame it down by stroking it down to the rest of my hair.

“There you go, back to your normal gorgeous hair.” I then quickly opened up a portal to my school but before I left the cloak once again grabbed my arm preventing me from leaving.

“What now?”

“You know the rules, come on. No matter how old you get you never leave the house without giving your old man a kiss.” I looked up at him then stood up on my tip toes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

“I’m going to be late.”

“You’re always late.” The cloak finally freed me and I hopped through the portal and gave one last wave to my dad before closing the portal back up.  As the last warning bell rang, I quickly raced through the back entrance of the school and raced to my first class.

The day went on as normal.  First block Advance Science, second block, PE, followed by half of third block being English and then lunch at 12:15pm and that’s where I was right now. We had about a half hour for lunch before continuing the second half of 3rd block since that’s how second lunches go.

See my school has this strange set up based on whatever class you have for your 3rd block depends on your lunch schedule.  If you had an elective class (choir, drama, band, orchestra, art), a foreign language, or science class you had 1st lunch at around 10:30am (so that means you eat lunch before you would go to your 3rd block class).  

Second lunches (like me) follow under English and Math have the first half dedicated to class, then lunch then we continue our class. And then 3rd lunches are for the people who eat lunch after their 3rd block classes, they’d eat then go straight to their last class of the day (history, PE/driver’s ED, health, home economics).

I was sitting with some of my friends when I heard a voice call out to me.

“Hey (Y/n)!” I turned and saw my group of friends.  I walked over to our table and that’s when one of my friends Courtney said.

“Yo (n/n) what be up?”

“Nothing much, just trying to get by in Mr. Gordon’s class.”

“I still can’t believe you somehow managed to pass his class when a friend of mine is struggling so bad. And he’s never done bad in the advance classes.” Said another friend of mine, Bobi said.

“I think it comes from having a neurosurgeon as a father. Well former neurosurgeon.” I said recalling the accident.  Of course I never told my friends that my dad eventually became a superhero that could bend time and reality to his will all thanks to his training he did with the former Sorceress Supreme.

“Well no worries (n/n), I’m sure your dad will get back on his feet soon.” My friend Jay said.

“Yeah, he is a strong man.”

“Then how come he got bleeped away like the rest of the world did?” said Kira.  I looked up at my ginger haired friend in shock.

“What did you just say?”

“I said then how come when my dad gets the shit knocked out of him, he just bitches about it?” I looked at her confused for a second and that’s when Kelsey answered.

“Just be thankful your dad at least tries to work. All my dad does is drinks and sleep.” I patted her shoulder comfortingly as I continued eating my pizza.

When school was over, my friends and I went down to the bowling alley since it was Friday.  We reserved our usual lanes and got into our teams.  I was up next to bowl for my team, I took hold of my red bowl, lined myself up and took a deep breath in then exhaled out.

‘(Y/n)! (Y/n)!’ my dad’s voice soon screamed in my head.  His tone sounded urgent and—worried? What was going on?

“Yo (Y/n) you alright?” Mikaela came up to me placing her hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah. Yeah sorry.” She gave me a comforting squeeze on my shoulder.

“It’s okay, just make the shot otherwise we’ll lose and you are our best striker.” She went back to her seat and took a sip of her diet coke. My team was cheering me on, I took another deep breath but just as I took my run and let the ball go, my head suddenly felt like it was splitting open.

The ball went straight down the gutter and I was soon met with all these flashes.  I saw my dad, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, and these—other people including myself on what looked like a deserted wasteland of rubble.

There was this giant purple being that we were all fighting, a flash of green and then I saw my dad turn to dust.  When my vision came back I could hear my team groaning and my other friends who had their team cheering.

“WHAT THE FUCK (Y/N)!!!” Danielle exclaimed.

“Gurl you never. Miss. A. shot!” Mikaela snapped at me.

“What the fuck was that (Y/n)?!” Jay yelled.

“Ehhh thanks (y/n). Now you guys have to pay for the meal.” Courtney said as she snapped her fingers in victory.

And I don’t know how or why it happened but suddenly I was back holding the ball in my hands, staring down the pins and my team was cheering for me.  How did I get back here? Why was I back here? I felt myself step forward a few times and release the ball and soon I got a perfect strike.

My team cheered as the pins were cleared and a new set was placed down in front of me.

“Alright (n/n)! One more strike and we win!” my ball soon came back onto the ramp and I picked it up, stepped forward and released the ball and low and behold another strike! My team cheered while the other team groaned in defeat.

“Oh yasss Queen!” Chris exclaimed.

“Alright Courtney, pay up you’re buying the pizza now!”

“Damn you (y/n).” Courtney sneered at me as she took out her wallet and left the payment for all our pizzas and a tip for our waiter.

After that it was already getting dark outside and when I looked at my watch I had seen that it was now 10:30pm.

“Well guys I gotta get going.” I told them.

“Yeah I promised my mom that we’d go shopping for my sister’s wedding next month.” Mikaela said.

“Yeah and I gotta get up and ready for work by 8am. See yah guys.” Courtney said and soon all my friends and I went our separate ways.  I went into an alleyway to open up a portal to get me back home when I heard a sudden crash behind me.

“Hello?” I cried out.  Nothing but silence replied back to me. “Who-who’s there?” another crash was heard just head of me but I didn’t see anything.

The quick fluttering sounds of a cape or cloak whisked past behind me and when I quickly turned around I thought I could see the cloak of levitation, but it was so dark and so fast I couldn’t tell for sure.

I quickly made my portal and jumped through it and immediately closed it before finally starting to hyperventilate.  My knees turned to jelly as I collapsed to the ground trying to control my breathing.

“(Y/n)? What’s wrong sweetheart are you okay?” I looked up and saw my dad kneeling down beside me.

“I—I’m fine.”

“No. You’re not. Come on let’s get you up to your room and settled in your bed.” He picked me up, holding me like how he always used to hold me when I was little and carried me back to my room.

I was now in my sleep pants and an old nightshirt.  My dad made a tall glass of milk appear by my bedside and he said as he brushed a strand of hair out of my face.

“Now, you wanna talk about why I found you hyperventilating at the bottom of the stairs?” I took a sip of my milk and said.

“It’s just…..I don’t know. Something weird happened today.”

“Like what?”

“Well there was something that Kira said to me. She—” but for some reason what I was about to say slipped my mind.

“She was going to say what?”

“She……she said……I-I can’t remember. I had it but now it’s….it’s gone.”

“Okay, what else happened? I know it couldn’t be just because of what she said.”

“Yeah, yeah then there was this sense of……déjà vu. Like when I was bowling I……” but again like before, when I was about to speak about—the thing it slipped my mind once again.  At this point my dad was looking at me like I was mad. “I…..I can’t remember the déjà vu thing either. Daddy, am……am I going mad?” he pressed his hand against my forehead.

“I’m afraid so. You’re entirely bonkers.” He said gravely. “But I’ll tell you a little secret. All the best people are.” He said with a grin. I looked at him with my bitch face which made him chuckle.

“Must you always quote Alice in Wonderland to me?”

“It’s your favorite movie and book of all time. You remember how you’d always beg me to read it to you as a little girl?”

“One look with my puppy dog eyes and you succumbed every time.” He pressed his forehead against mine as his nose gently rubbed against mine as he chuckled that deep baritone chuckle of his.  The type that always made me feel safe.

“How about this, tomorrow we just take a day for ourselves. Just the two of us. We don’t even need to leave the house.”

“Sounds like a good idea.”

“Great, love you sweetheart.” He leaned in and kissed my temple before leaving my room and shutting the door behind him.  I downed the rest of the milk and suddenly felt sleepy. I collapsed onto my pillow and like a lightbulb I fell right asleep.

But throughout the night I kept tossing and turning as I was hearing not only my dad’s voice but Wong’s voice too.  They were both frantic with worry as they kept calling out to me.

When I opened my eyes I found myself back at that wasteland and I saw myself fighting against the giant purple alien.  I was holding the sacred sword of Vishanti.  I saw myself leap into the air and swing the sword downward but the alien caught it with his bare hands.  The two of us struggled with our strengths until he grabbed me by my white tunic and threw me like a ragdoll.

My dad soon came in with the bolts of balthakk which broke apart the ground around the purple giant but his gauntlet glowed a bright purple and shit a blast towards my dad.  But my dad summoned a portion of the mirror dimension and used it as a shield to protect himself before sending it towards the giant.

While the giant was distracted I then suddenly came flying over my dad and sent the Crimson bands of Cyttorak to bind him while my dad multiplied himself using the images of Ikkon.  He surrounded himself around the purple giant and each image created their own binding bands which shot down towards the giant purple creep.

But he used the gauntlet again and soon my dad’s image went back to just himself and my hold on him was also severed.  He used the gauntlet to bring my dad closer to him but I couldn’t hear what he was telling my dad.

What I did see was him taking the eye of Agamotto and crush it into his palm before throwing my dad aside knocking him out.  I then heard myself scream out towards me dad and saw the rage in my own eyes.

I saw myself let out a battle cry as I leapt into action. This time using hand to hand combat using the sword as well as creating my own shields to block his attacks.  Wow I was a rageful monster with whoever this guy was.  But—why is this so familiar to me? I know this couldn’t be just a dream, it’s like—a memory? A vision maybe?

All I know was that I saw myself getting weaker with each kick and punch I tried to throw.  That was until I saw myself getting stabbed in my side.  The purple giant then said.

“I respect you young witch. But now you’re starting to become a nuisance.” I then watched as he took out the sword from my side and I saw myself collapse onto the ground bleeding heavily.

I found myself gasping as I woke up and looked around to see myself still in my bedroom.  I turned to the clock and saw that it was 1:45am.  I quickly raced downstairs, in the total pitch black of my house not knowing what I was doing.

“And just where do you think you’re going little miss?” my dad’s voice soon said.  He turned around in a chair as he turned on the light beside him.

“I-I was only…….”

“You weren’t planning on sneaking out were you? You know my rule. No venturing out after midnight.”

“No dad I-I-I wasn’t.” he stood up and placed a hand on my shoulder.  However I felt his nail sink onto my skin piercing through my shirt painfully.  I bit my bottom lip trying to keep in a scream or even a sound of pain.

“You know how it makes me feel whenever you disobey your father. You wouldn’t want to make father angry, do you?”

“N-no.” I whimpered out.

“That’s my girl.” Suddenly my dad was shot with a bolt of balthakk.  I ducked down holding my shoulder and saw a small amount of blood actually on my fingertips.

“She’s not your girl, she’s mine!” I turned around and saw Wong and my dad?! Wait what was going on here? Why were there two of them? My dad was in his full Sorcerer Supreme outfit as the cloak of levitation had him hovering over a few inches off the ground.

My dad who had been shot across the room growled out as he stood back up.

“Impossible. You were gone! I’d seen it for myself!” he hissed. My other dad smirked and said.

“14,000,605 possibilities I had seen and only one victory. That possibility has already come to pass. Now I’ll only tell you this once,” he clapped his fists together and soon his shields came over his hands and he warned my dad. “Let. My daughter go less you face the wrath of the Master of the Mystic Arts.”

“(Y/n) you need to come with us now before it’s too late.” Wong told me.

“I—I don’t understand……how?”

“Sweetheart listen to me, I’m your real father. Just come stand behind Wong and I and we’ll get you out of here.”

“Don’t listen to him (Y/n). I’m your real father. Who would know what your favorite lullaby was?”

“(Y/n) I know he may seem like me but he’s not. It’s Nightmare. He’s kept you trapped in the Dream Dimension for 3 years.”

What? Then suddenly behind me a giant green and black blast of magic shot up in the air.  As my dad’s body soon began to morph into another male’s body, wearing a familiar green and black attire, his hair growing wild and madded like a lion’s mane, his nails growing sharper and blacker like claws, his teeth turning to fangs and his eyes.  Those once warm blueish-green eyes that once held warmth now turned a frightening and haunting yellow with a black pupil at its center.

Suddenly it all came back to me.  When Thanos had snapped half of the population away, it gave Nightmare the advantage and power boast he needed to try and escape the Dream dimension and enter our own.

So three years ago I along with some other Sorcerers (those that were left) went to the Dream Dimension to stop him from invading Earth.  But due to everyone’s fear and guilt of losing their loved ones and what the world had come to, Nightmare was almost too powerful to stop.  He had killed one sorcerer who was still in her training and another one he had driven mad with fear.

In order to spare the others as well as the rest of the Earth, I volunteered myself as penance.  I told Nightmare that he could have me if he spared everyone on Earth. He agreed and sent the rest of the sorcerers I had brought with me back to Earth leaving me under his control.  I guess he had me relive a normal life with my dad where it was mainly us, no Thanos, no other Avengers, just me and him.

A haunting laughter was heard as Nightmare spoke with his true voice.

“Right you are Doctor. However you’re only partially correct this time around.” He walked right up to me and placed his hands on my shoulders gripping them once again. “Your daughter came to me by her own freewill.”

“That’s a lie! My daughter would never surrender herself to the likes of you!” Nightmare turned to me and disappeared into black smoke before reappearing behind me.

“Do you want to tell him? Or shall I?” he said as I felt one of his claw-like nails nick across my neck.  I hissed in pain and felt a small amount of blood dripping down.  His finger brushed across the cut and I could see him lick the blood off his finger from my peripheral vision.

“I’m sorry dad.”

“(Y/n)…….why?” before I could say anything Nightmare simply shushed me which in turn silenced me.  I tried to speak but not even a peep came out of me.  Nightmare had taken my voice.

“Seems she had more common sense than you did. The daughter of the Sorcerer Supreme is a precious treasure to uphold.” I felt him stroke down my hair, the very same way my dad would always do it to me.

“This is your last warning Nightmare, let her go or else.”

“Or else what? In case you hadn’t noticed I’m the one in control here. I’m stronger than I’ve ever been before. And you’re in my dimension which gives me the homefield advantage!”

“Yeah, but there’s one thing you still haven’t let go of. Your constant need to brag.” My dad said with a grin.  Nightmare looked at my father confused which gave me the chance to free myself from his grip and I binded him with the Crimson bands of Cyttorak. Wong soon joined in and pushed a wall from the mirror dimension right towards Nightmare sending him out of the room.

My dad raced up towards me and the two of us embraced each other.  I felt his left hand press against my temple while his right touched the base of my throat. I felt this warmth come over me and I said to him.

“I’m sorry dad.”

“Apologize later. Right now let’s get you out of here. You’ve been in here long enough.” He took my hand and we quickly made a run for it.

The normal streets of New York melted away and I finally saw the Dream dimension for what it really was.  A dark black shadow surrounded the sky with haunting eyes staring at you and fanged mouths snarling or taunting you with your worst fears and guilt.  Doors were also scattered everywhere, each one leading to somewhere you didn’t want to be or even get lost in.

And at the bottom of the trail we ran along at, an endless, empty abyss.  One trip or a slip, then it’s a never ending fall throughout the Dream dimension.   Wong let out a few shield platforms for us to hop across.

“Come on! The door we came through won’t be in the same spot for long.” He was the first to hop onto the first platform but then just before dad and I could even take the first leap, a python suddenly shot out from the floor and took hold of my calf.

“(Y/n)!” my dad exclaimed.  I was being dragged towards the edge of the trail.  I tried my best to scratch myself back towards my dad but the python continued to drag me towards the edge till I was finally dangling over the abyss.

My dad summoned the sword of Vishanti and threw it straight into the python’s eye which forced it to let me go as it recoiled back in pain before disappearing into a puff of black smoke.  Dad quickly brought me back onto solid ground and we both saw my leg was heavily bleeding.

“Never did I think I could hate snakes even more than I usually do.” I groaned out a joke.

“Just be thankful he didn’t conjure up a venomous one. Try to stop the bleeding.” The cloak of levitation came off my dad’s shoulders and wrapped itself around my leg, tightening itself up to stop the bleeding.

“You and Wong need to get out of here. You guys can come back with help.”

“I’m not gonna leave you here again that’s not happening!”

“Dad I can’t walk! And without the cloak you can’t fly.”

“We’ll think of something.”

‘I’m afraid there won’t be any time for you three, or should I say you two.’ That’s when we noticed that Wong had suddenly gone missing.

“Wong? Wong!” my dad called out.

‘Face it Strange, you’re in my dimension now. And thanks to your daughter’s powers I’ve grown more powerful than ever before!’ My dad picked me up bridal style and proceeded to run.

Somehow we managed to find somewhere to hide.  One of many doors that simply looked like a dark cave. My dad sat me down and that’s when the cloak unwrapped itself from my leg and my dad began to heal my leg as quickly as he could.

“Dad…..if—if we don’t make it out of here…..”

“We’re gonna make it out.”

“Dad please I—I need to say this, after five long years please just let me speak my mind.” He looked at me worriedly but gave me a nod. “If we don’t make it out of here alive, I—just want you to know that…..I’m proud to call you my father. I know we had a—rocky start especially when I became a teenager but—after the accident I thought I had lost you forever. And then when—Thanos blipped you away. I’d come so close to losing you again without telling you how I’ve felt about you. I love you daddy. I really, really do love you.” He pressed his hand against my cheek and said.

“I love you too (Y/n). I love you so, so much. I know I haven’t been Dad of the year to you, but……I thought it was because I wasn’t ready to be a dad. I thought I would screw up and have you end up broken. But I am proud to call you my daughter, my little white witch.” I smiled at him sadly.

‘How sentimental.’ Nightmare’s voice echoed through the darkness.  My dad pulled me close to his chest, his arms wrapped around me protectively, same thing with the cloak as it felt the red velvet material wrap it’s two edges around me.

“So what now Nightmare? Now that I’ve broken free of your spell you going to kill me?” I heard his haunting chuckle as he said.

“No of course not. He is.” Suddenly my dad was struck with one of Nightmare’s controlling spells.  It hit him right in his eyes and I saw the black and green magic aura surround my dad, trying to manipulate him.

“No! Dad! Dad no please fight it!” I pleaded as my dad was groaning and writhing on the floor.  He held his hands to his head as he exclaimed in pain. “Daddy no please, you’re stronger than him. You’re clever than him, you’re Doctor Stephen Strange!”

“Hate to break it to you sweetheart, but daddy’s no longer home.” Nightmare soon appeared as the cave light up by a single firepit just a few feet away from us.  Nightmare stood on top of a ledge of sorts and that’s when I heard the snarl of an animal next to me.

When I looked down that’s when I saw my dad had now shifted into a Nightmare.  Teeth like a wolf’s bared at me, gleaming like the full moon, his eyes now a haunting gold like a tiger’s eye but his pupils were slitted like a snake’s, claws like meat hooks, a whip-like tail that almost looked like a dragon’s tail and bat wings soon sprouted from his back as he stared me down snarling.

I backed up before hobbling away from him but my dad charged after me.  That’s when the cloak of levitation came to protect me as it wrapped itself around my father’s face trying to smother him.

“You know maybe I should’ve made you deal with this the past three years. Your biggest fear is your beloved father turned against you.” I fell to the ground due to my injury and backed away up against the rocky wall.  All the while I watched in horror as my dad actually began ripping the cloak apart before staring directly as me once again.

“Release him at once Nightmare! This wasn’t a part of our deal!” I snapped as I looked up to where he was standing above me.

“Contracts can be edited sweetheart. So long as I bind you to my will it doesn’t matter what you see. Unless by my word that I release you from your contract, you are stuck here for eternity.” I heard a snarl and when I looked forward, my dad was just inches away from my face.

His canine teeth gleaming right at me as he kept licking his fangs.  He truly was a monster now, there was not a single trace of my dad anymore in this beast.

“No daddy.” He stalked closer and closer inch by inch till I could feel his hot breath panting right in my face.

“Sweet dreams love.” Nightmare gave me one last taunt using my dad’s real voice.

Then quicker than lightning the beast that was once my father actually lunged for my neck and I felt his canines pierce my skin and I let out a blood curdling scream.

“Blech! Blood, blood, blood! And—death!” I said as my dad released my neck grinning at my over dramatic death scene.  I then collapsed to the ground and played dead with my tongue out and everything.

“Alright now you’re just milking it.” My dad spoke with a slightly more gravel to his normal voice (kinda reminded me of Smaug from the Hobbit films). “Besides, I think we’ve got him. Thank you Nightmare you’ve been a great costar.” Dad said as he helped me stand up.

“What?” oh the confusion on Nightmare’s face was priceless.

“Oh did you think you actually affected me with your Nightmare magic? Well spells can be contained by other spells, and your attack is trapped in the mirror dimension.”

“And I’ve been working on some other forms of magic like shapeshifting thanks to some Norse spell books.” I explained to him gesturing to my dad.

“My girl is a clever one. Cheeky at times too.” Dad said as he ruffled my hair.  Nightmare growled and said to me.

“But you forget one thing, you’re still under my control (Y/n) Strange. So says my law.”

“Yeah about that.” I then pulled out a small tape recorder from my pocket, rewind it and played the part that I needed and soon Nightmare’s voice said.

‘I release you from your contract.’

“Now by your own law, I am no longer tied to the Dream Dimension, or your control.” Nightmare’s face dropped from pride to utter defeat.

“No. No, no, no, no, no, no, no!”

“Oh yes. It’s called a hustle bitch. Mic drop!” Soon a portal came behind dad and I and we both jumped through it sending us back to the New York Sanctum.  The last thing we heard was Nightmare’s defeated tantrums.

Wong immediately closed the portal behind us and I dropped the spell from my dad turning him back to his normal self.

“You know he’ll try to return.” Wong told us.

“Yeah and now it seems I’m a bigger threat to him than you are dad.” I said.

“Well no matter what happens, we’ll be there to make sure he doesn’t try to return to Earth. Whatever it takes.”

Later that night as I was browsing through my phone, a knock was heard at my door.

“It’s open.” My dad soon came in and he said.

“How are you feeling?”

“After finally getting some real food in my system, and finally getting to use the Internet again. I’d say I’m doing better.”

“You know you didn’t have to be the one to do it. Wong was willing to hold Nightmare off.”

“I know, but the Time stone did show you that I needed to be the one to do it. Plus a poor, helpless, defenseless little girl willing to sacrifice herself for her friends. Nightmare could never resist such a scenario.”

“But to be tortured by him for three years? I’m surprised your psyche hasn’t been damaged.” He said as he sat down beside me.

“Well truthfully it wasn’t any different than what we’re doing right now. I was basically living a normal life with you, still using our powers but it was all before Thanos ever came into the picture. It almost felt like a sitcom at times.”

“Interesting.” Dad pondered.

“In all seriousness though dad, I’m fine. Mentally and physically. Well most of me anyways.” I said raising my newly bandaged leg. “But that’ll heal in the next few days thanks to Wong’s herbal remedies.”

“Well it’s getting late, so your head goes right there.” He said pointing to my pillow.

“Nah think I’ll just stay up all night. I mean I have been asleep technically for 3 years.”

“Fine, but don’t come whining to me when I come in here at first light for your morning training.”

“Please dad. You hate mornings even more than I do. Even when you were a neurosurgeon you hated your morning shifts.” He chuckled and gave me a kiss on top of my head.

“You really are my daughter.”

“And damn proud of it.”

“Goodnight (Y/n).”

“Night dad. Glad to have you back.” He winked at me before leaving my room.  I laid back against my pillow and sighed heavily continuing to go through the web and looking at my old social media accounts that I hadn’t used in awhile and seeing just what some of my old friends were up to. “You may have created the perfect paradise for me Nightmare, but I wouldn’t trade my reality for anything else.” I spoke out loud knowing that Nightmare could be potentially listening in.

[celestialrry]

more than a melody

7k (longest I’ve done so far!)

summary: You and Harry are roommates, and he finds himself crushing on you, even though he really shouldn't be. (college!harry au)

warnings: nothing, just incredibly cute 

When Harry had put out a listing for a roommate for his apartment, he remembered putting how he didn't prefer the gender of his roommate, and well, because he was a boy and he lived in a heterosexual-normative world, he had assumed another boy would contact him. 

That is where it went a little off-course. You had approached him where you both worked, the record store (Harry had just gotten the job a few weeks ago), and you had asked about it. The two of you talked about it for a while, and after you toured the flat, you both decided you would be his new roommate and move in that week. Of course, you were cautious about moving into a flat with a man you barely knew, however charming he may be. You had watched enough Criminal Minds to be rightfully nervous, and it seemed Harry read your mind when he gave you his friends numbers, Sarah and Mitch, to talk about it. You had met up with them, and your worries had soon faded away, and well, you had a lock on your bedroom door. 

Once you had moved in, over the next few weeks the two of you had made a little routine. You both had morning shifts at the shop, Wednesday through Saturday, and morning classes almost every other day of the week but Sunday. It started when the two of you had a shift you needed to get to and found yourselves standing in front of the only bathroom in the apartment.

“G’morning.” Harry mumbled blearily, and you responded the same, trying not to look anywhere but his face, as he was clad in only a pair of black briefs and a black t-shirt. You checked the time on your phone and cursed in your head, only 15 minutes until you needed to leave to get to work. “Let’s just brush our teeth together really fast and then we can do everything else after, yeah?” You had suggested, to which Harry agreed and opened the bathroom door for you to walk in first. As he walked in, he grabbed his pink toothbrush out of the plastic holder and after putting toothpaste on it and wetting it, he began to brush his teeth. You found it ironic that the man who solely wore black skinny jeans and band t-shirts had a pink toothbrush, but found it slightly adorable. 

You grabbed your green one and did the same, and soon deciding to multi-task. You reached around Harry’s torso for your hair brush, and brushed through with one hand, the other still brushing your teeth. Suddenly Harry felt as if he should be doing something else too, and decided to simply run a hand through his curls, that were beginning to reach his shoulder, as brushing them out would make it far worse.

He then began to run the water and spit out his toothpaste, cupping a hand and filling it with water, bringing it back up to his mouth and swishing it around before spitting it out again. As he reached for the little folded hand towel on the counter he used for this and patted his mouth, you did the same as him. 

It happened nearly every morning, you would both say a quiet good morning, then brush your teeth together in silence, and of course, Harry ended up putting on pants before the restroom, but his shirt had been lost along the way. It was never awkward or anything, and you oddly got a lot of joy by seeing him almost every morning. On this particular day you had stayed up until 4 a.m. studying for a test you had in the morning, and Harry had picked up an extra shift at the record store because a co-worker had called in sick. As you both walked into the restroom, Harry watched as you began to brush your teeth and close your eyes for a minute while doing do, swaying a bit so you won’t fall down. 

It was painstakingly obvious you were tired, but Harry found your actions endearing. He was able to freely look at you because you couldn’t see him, obviously. You looked adorable, mouthful of toothpaste, and your arm wrapped around your waist. He just wanted to kiss you all over your face to wake you up and- he shook his head, eyes darting back to himself in the mirror. He couldn't think like that. He barely knew you, and you lived together.

It wasn't like the two of you never talked, when you had work together you would usually switch off drivers and carpool.  But not once had you had a conversation truly getting to know one another and its already been 2 months. Harry had yet to see you as friend, not because he didn’t want that of course, hell, he wanted to get to know you more than anything, but neither of you had yet to suggest bonding time. 

When you both were done brushing your teeth, you had splashed water on your face in an attempt to wake up a bit more. It didn’t work as you pat your face dry and sighed, looking into the mirror at your puffy eyes, rubbing them a bit with a pout.

Harry was positive it took everything out of him not to wrap you in a massive hug and and kiss the pout off of your lips. This would be the death of him.  He immediately turned away, walking back out and into his room to calm down. This was just a harmful crush that would go away in weeks time, he was sure of it.

                                                        ✧˖*°࿐

Harry was wrong.

About a week later, the two of you had yet to connect, but every time he laid eyes on you, he wanted you more than anything he could possibly think of. It was terrifying, but it had been a while since he felt this way for anyone. It was like he was in the honeymoon stage of a crush, but instead of it being bliss, it was embarrassment every time he opened his mouth.

Harry was utterly tongue-tied every time he spoke around you and his cheeks flushed a pink tint. Luckily for him, it seemed you were absolutely oblivious to it.  You were so oblivious, in fact, that you thought he didn't even like you as an acquaintance or roommate, considering he rarely ever spoke to you.

Things would soon change for the better, you both hoped, and eventually you got tired of waiting. “Harry?” You asked one morning, after you spit out your toothpaste and wiped your mouth. 

He stoped running his hands through his hair and his head almost snapped towards you. “Yeah?” He asked, pretending like his heart wasn't beating out of his chest.  He was actually quite afraid you would see it, as he wasn't wearing a shirt this morning, or any other morning after he has started wearing pants and well, it took a while for you to not drool after you saw his bare front, littered with tattoos, on his chest, tummy, shoulders and arms. It really didn't help that his abs were prominent, and every time he leaned down to wash his face, you could see his back muscles ripple under his skin-

“Um,” You shook yourself out of the trance you had gotten into and continued. “We should like, hangout and actually get to know each other-you don’t have to at all-but I mean, I wanna get to know you, we’re living together, you know?” You suggested, trying to calm yourself down and accept the response of “I don't want to.”

Instead, Harry had bit his bottom lip to stop his smile from reaching his ears and he nodded. “I-I think we should too, when, um, I mean, uh, what do y’wanna do?” He mentally cursed himself for stumbling over his words, he was such a fool.

You hesitated for a second, looking down his body involuntarily as your gazed reached the floor. “We could just make food together and then have dinner here one night? When are you free?” You said, looking back up at him. 

He flushed as your eyes ran up and down his body. He didn't feel insecure, just a little more exposed than he should. He was shirtless in front of you all the time, it truly made no difference and you didn't seem to mind. “Um, yeah, that sounds really good, I-I can do tomorrow night actually,” He spoke slowly, his arms wrapping around himself. “What would y’like to eat? I can go to the store this afternoon.”

“Oh! Perfect, Saturday night is free for me too,” You grinned. “I really don’t care, as long as its decently easy to make, you choose.”

He confirmed a meal with you before nodding and stepping out to change before walking into the kitchen to grab his car keys and waiting for you. It was his turn to drive the two of you to work. You popped out in some jeans and a t-shirt, grinning at Harry as he opened the front door for you. 

Today was already off to a great start, he thought as he watched you hop in his car and ramble about some new artist you had found called Edward Rags. What a stupid name, Harry Styles thought. 

Soon enough it was Saturday night, and you had both agreed there was no need to dress nice, you’ve already seen each other in pajamas so there was no point, and you showed up in pajama shorts and a t-shirt, whereas Harry went for sweatpants and a t-shirt as well. He had turned on his playlist, with an awful lot of older music and you both started cooking dinner, singing along to some parts and moving around to others. 

The two of you had talked about family, what you were both studying in uni, friends, what you did in your free-time, and got into a particularly long conversation about how you believed the Notebook, the book, was astronomically better than the movie. Harry disagreed, and tried to keep himself civil without popping a vein in his neck. “It’s a cinematic masterpiece!” He had exclaimed, resulting in you rolling your eyes, and going back to stir the food in the pot. “The best movie in the world would be nowhere near as good as the best book in the world, Harry.” God, he loved the way his name sounded coming from your mouth, imagine what it would sound like if you moa- another head shake. Harry’s imagination was getting out of control. 

Before he had the chance to respond, Jealous Guy by Donny Hathaway started playing and you looked over at Harry with a large smile on your face. “I love this song.” You simply said, turning back to the pot. Harry mustered up the courage and tapped you on your shoulder, his hand out, and body partially bowed. “Would y’care for a dance?” He asked, his dimples showing. 

You grinned and took his hand as he brought the two of you into a slow dance. 

I was dreaming of the past,

And my heart was beating fast.

I began to lose control, 

I began to lose control.

The two of you swayed to the song, looking at each other resulting in the two of you bursting out laughing. His hand held yours up, with his hand lightly placed on your waist. “I’m just a jealous guy.” You both softly sang, grinning wide. After more laughs and singing along, the song was over, and harry let go of your hand, his own slowly moving from your waist. He would give anything to kiss you he was sure, but instead opted to comment on your dancing skills and received a swat to the bicep.

Soon, dinner was made, and the two of you sat at the dining table for four, talking about everything you both could possibly think of. It was never awkward, which you were extremely grateful for, and after a few hours, it seemed as though the two of you had known each other for years. You had found yourselves sitting on the couch, facing each other, your legs on top of his, and his arm resting on your knees. 

“So once I’m more stable I’m gonna ask to have Evie, she loves me way more too, how would you feel about living with a cat?” Harry asked, his eyes boring into your own. If he could paint, he was positive you would be the only thing he ever painted. 

“I’d love that, I can’t wait to meet her.” You smiled, yawning. Harry took notice of your yawn and looked at the clock. Almost 12 a.m.. “We should probably get to bed.” he suggested, moving his arm off of your legs, allowing you to swing your legs off of his own. You nodded, yawning once again, Harry catching it and yawning after you. You laughed a bit, and stood up, stretching before facing Harry, who now stood in front of you. 

“Okay,” You said, looking up at him, “Goodnight Harry, I had a lot of fun.” You said, about to turn around. “Me too,” He said, hesitating a bit before wrapping his arms around you in a hug. Your eyes widened, you weren't expecting a hug, but after feeling it, you wouldn’t want anything else. “Goodnight, sweet dreams.” He mumbled, pulling away slightly and then gently pressing a kiss to your forehead. You smiled and the two of you parted ways, walking to your respective rooms. Little did the other know, the two of you were both feeling the same way.

                                                       ✧˖*°࿐ 

It had been a couple months since that dinner, and it was safe to say the two of you had grown incredibly close. Harry seemed to always find a way to touch you, whether it be grabbing onto your hand to drag you somewhere, putting his hand at the small of your back to guide you through a crowd, making sure his thigh touched your own whenever the two of you sat next to each other, or wrapping an arm around your shoulders as you walked somewhere. He just wanted to be near you, and you felt the same. You could call him one of your best friends and he could do the same. Now that he knew you though? It just made his little crush a thousand times worse, and he found himself thinking of you more than anything else throughout the day.

In addition to wanting to feel you all the time, after he kissed you on the forehead, he quite literally got addicted to kissing you. All over your face, he had kissed your cheeks, nose, but never your lips. He found himself thinking about that a lot, what it would be like to actually kiss you. If he enjoyed kissing your cheeks this much, he knew that if he kissed you on your lips, he would never stop. But his consciousness stopped him from making a move, because the two of you were roommates. What happened if you started dating, then broke up? The two of you would have to move out, and make what would just be a breakup, so much worse. 

It never stopped him from daydreaming though. He had picked up another extra shift at the record shop on Sunday, the day the two of you were both free, and was driving back to the flat, where he knew you would be studying. He passed all the familiar buildings, until one shop caught his eye. A flower shop, and in front of it there were bouquets of all sorts, but the sunflowers entranced him. He quickly got into the other lane and turned into the parking lot, getting out and making his way to the shop. He looked at the sunflowers, and thought of you. You were probably frustrated because of your class and scrunching your nose at the questions you didn't know the answer to. But you were like his sunflower, bright and beautiful, and the flowers might help your frustration. He grabbed the bouquet and paid for it, driving back to the flat with the flowers in his passenger seat. 

He opened the door, bouquet behind his back, where he saw you on your laptop on the couch, running your hands through your hair. “Hey lovie, what’s goin’ on?” He asked, walking up to you. You sighed, looking up at him from your uncomfortable position on the couch. “Studying for this stupid test that really doesn't matter, but apparently to Professor Eden it matters a lot.” Harry pouted at your distress and brought the flowers into view. “M’sorry, let’s take a break. Also, thought this would cheer y’up a bit, they reminded me of you.” He mumbled, looking anywhere but you. 

Your eyes widened as you saw the sunflowers and tears of overwhelming emotions threatened to spill out of your eyes. You scrambled up and took them out of his large hand, gently placing them down on the coffee table before practically jumping on Harry to give him a hug. “Oh my god H, thank you. You’re too sweet.” You said, pulling away from the hug to kiss him on the cheek. He flushed and just smiled, telling you it was no big deal.

You had put the flowers in a vase and set them on the kitchen counter, and during the next few days, you couldn’t stop the smile on your face when you saw them. On Tuesday you got back from your morning class around lunch time, and walked in the flat to see Harry in a t-shirt and plaid pajama pants, baking what looked like cupcakes, and humming to some song that was playing that he had showed you about a week ago.

“Harry? Whatcha doing?” You asked, and he jumped, turning around to see you setting your bag on the counter. “Jesus,” He said your name. “Scared the living’ shit outta me. M’just baking cupcakes, felt kinda cupcakey today.” He shrugged, going back to frosting them with yellow icing. “Cupcakey?” You raised a brow at the term.

“Cupcakey.” he confirmed, giving you a dimpled grin.

You just nodded and walked up to sit on the stools the two of you had placed at the counter, facing Harry and watching him look down at the dozen cupcakes, his tounge sticking out a bit in concentration as he carefully made swirls of icing. 

“Can I try some?” You asked, sticking your finger out so he could put a dollop of icing on your finger. He looked up and nodded, doing as you expected him to before getting back to work. You looked at the untouched icing on your finger before looking back at Harry, your brain encouraging you to put it on the tip of his nose. You grinned to yourself and called his name, and as soon as he looked up you reached your finger out and wiped the icing on his nose. His eyes widened and crossed a bit as he looked down to his nose then to you. You laughed, and he thought it sounded like the most gorgeous melody in the world.

“You’re gonna regret that, love.” He said, wiping a bit of the icing off his nose but not all of it. You just laughed again, your eyes closing for a split second, and in that split second, Harry had gently pulled you off the stool and taken you back into the kitchen. “No! Please, please, I’m sorry.” You laughed, begging as he held you tight by the waist and used his other hand to hold the piping bag, slowly starting to squeeze it and holding it above your face. “Are you really? Doesn’t seem like it, pet.” He teased, the icing coming out of the cut plastic. 

You shook your head and looked up at him, spotting the icing on his nose. “Let me make it up to you.” You said, holding onto his arm that was holding the weapon of sunshine-colored icing. 

“How?” He asked, raising a brow. You leaned up and pecked his nose getting most of the icing off, before licking it off your lips quickly. He froze, and your eyes widened. He didn’t want that, you thought. As you opened your mouth to apologize he dropped the piping cone onto the counter and held your jaw with his free hand, leaning in and finally kissing you. Your lips slotted perfectly with his and he never wanted to stop. When the two of you pulled away his cheeks flushed, “I’m so sorry, I should’ve asked-”

You cut him off by kissing him once more. “It’s okay. Better than okay, actually.”

He smiled wide and kissed you once more, “M’never gonna get tired of this, Sunflower.”

[edie-baby]

Les Fleurs du Mal Chapter 1| Pierre Gasly

Summary: Sava Dvorakova had big dreams for Formula One. An opportunity of a lifetime comes around, so she takes it and runs. She proved just about everyone wrong, and is awarded a very controversial seat on the F1 grid. There’s smiles and grins, hugs and kisses, love and laughter. There’s tears and sobs, fights and break ups. There’s evil where you least expect it, hidden in the garden of eden. The Flowers of Evil.

Warnings: a lot of swearing, shitty parents (they’re a recurring theme), sexism, i ignored a lot of actual f1 rules because i couldn’t be bothered writing it into the story tbh, yuki is fcking adorable, a lot of smut eventually, like a lot.

There were hundreds, thousands, maybe even a million girls who have dreamed of making it into Formula One. It is the pinnacle of motorsport, the highest calibre and the most competitive of its many engine-based counterparts. Many women over the years have tried to make their way into the sport, but as each season becomes more competitive, it seems as though the women of motorsport keep slipping through the cracks. Perhaps it’s a timing thing - they weren’t in the right place at the right time - or perhaps it’s a sexism thing, or maybe the female drivers just simply are not at the same level that a lot of the men are at.

Sava Dvorakova feared being one of those women. One that would try their hardest, but were still unable to make their mark on a sport they had very clear passion for. The seventeen year old had been karting since her fifth birthday, progressing through the levels the Czech Republic had to offer before she moved onto European championships. Nearly every weekend of the year, Sava was in her kart, racing against boys three years her senior and thrashing them each time. However, she didn’t get the opportunity to progress into single-seaters for many years.

It was September 2020, just like any other race weekend when it happened, Sava piled into her kart as the marshalling for her heat was called. Her uncle patted the top of her helmet for good luck, a tradition the two had kept for about twelve years at this point, and she made it out onto her starting place - pole position as usual. Sava pulled clean moves the entire race, defended her position without being reckless or desperate, and had perfect pace. As she pulled back into the pits under her team’s marquee, she spotted her uncle speaking with an older man in a button up and slacks, something quite odd for a normal karting weekend. Sava hopped out, practically ripping her helmet and balaclava off as her footsteps increased in pace to get to her uncle. He scooped her up into a hug, spinning the girl a few times and congratulating her on another victory for the season.

“Bunny, this is Doctor Helmut Marko, he’s the director of Red Bull Racing. He’d like to speak with you about a driving opportunity.” Sebastian, her uncle, stated clearly, his excitement spilling into his eyes as he stared at his seventeen year old niece. Her dyed-pink hair sat matted to her forehead, the majority of it spun into Dutch braids down her back that would be tucked into the back of her race suit before the next race, her cheeks were flushed red, and her bottom lip was cracked in places from how much the Czech nibbled on it on and off track. Sebastian almost laughed at the situation she had ended up in.

“Dr Marko, it’s lovely to meet you. I have an hour until my next heat, so if you would like to speak urgently, there is a small cafe about a hundred metres from the track. If you’d like less of a time constraint, I will be completely free after 4pm today.” Sava told the man in front of her, Czech accent so thick the Austrian could barely understand her.

“It should only take about 10 minutes, so if you’d like, I can buy you and your uncle a coffee at the cafe while we speak.” Dr Marko offered. Sava nodded calmly, her uncle much more vocal about his excitement. Sava excused herself to change into less sweaty clothes, returning in a halter-neck singlet and a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Her trusty combat boots stepped over all of the tools, debris, and shit that was scattered around the pits as she made it back to the two men.

“So, Sava, what is your goal in karting?” Dr Marko began almost immediately after the trio had sat down in the cafe.

“To make it into formula one and win multiple world championships.” Sava responded confidently, barely a second between the question and her reply as it was something she had thought about for a very long time.

“So why aren’t you already driving in single seaters?” Dr Marko questioned further, and from the corner of her eye, Sava could see her uncle tense up.

“Because no one’s willing to give me a chance in the big leagues because they know I’ll do a lot better than half the boys on the grid.” The seventeen year old replied. Helmut seemed impressed with the rapid fire, confidence laden responses he was receiving.

“Well, I’m willing to. Jehan Daruvala, a Red Bull junior currently driving for Carlin in formula two is unable to attend the last three races of the season because of health issues. I want you to take his seat for those races, and if you’re as good in a single seater as you are in that kart, I’ll make sure you have a seat for next year.” Helmut laid out, and Sebastian audibly choked. Sava smirked at her uncle’s reaction, and stared into the eyes of the man offering her a fast track to her dreams.

“I’d love to. When and where is the next race?” Sava chuckled, her uncle’s recovery from his choking fit was slow, and Helmut looked on in amusement. He had seen many similar reactions from the drivers he was propositioning, but it seemed as though this duo had reversed the normal roles.

“The weekend begins on Thursday in Italy. You’ll be racing in Mugello.” Helmut told the pair dryly. Sebastian began coughing once again, Sava simply rubbing his back soothingly while she nodded.

“I’ll need to make arrangements with my school, but I presume you’ll make travel and accommodation arrangements from Prague to Mugello?” Sava continued her calm conversation, though she could feel her natural bubbliness and excitement ready to burst through.

“Yes. There will be a Carlin race suit and boots in Mugello when you arrive, as well as a helmet and teamwear. You’ll have a personal assistant for the time you’re in Jehan’s seat, to keep up with the media and to navigate the paddock. I’ll have all of the relevant information forwarded to you tonight, and there will be a contract for you to sign upon your arrival in Italy.”

“Then I’ll see you there, sir. I best be on my way, I’ll need time to change back into my race suit before my heat is called in about half an hour. It was lovely to meet you, and I look forward to meeting and exceeding your expectations.” Sava concluded, standing up to give her new boss a handshake before she turned on her heels and practically sprinted out of the cafe. She speed walked back to the track and into the changing rooms before letting out the ear splitting squeal she had been holding in since she won her race forty five minutes ago.

It was easy enough to sort out her absence with her school, as there were no assessments due and Sava was already miles ahead of the rest of her peers, so her teachers had no qualms with letting their champion out to represent the country.

The issue however, was with her parents. Her father, a man she had been emancipated from for over a year, decided he would give her grief for throwing away her education to take someone’s spot for a few weeks before they would inevitably drop her once they realised how bad she was. Her mother wasn’t much better. As her legal guardian, she technically did have the right to stop her daughter from going into the F2 seat, but after a gruelling discussion and many threats from Sava to emancipate from her mother as well, she conceded.

So, on a very sunny, very early Thursday morning in September, Sava hopped onto a plane with an overnight bag to begin catching her dreams. Unfortunately, Sebastian had work during the week, but would be flying out to Italy on Friday night to watch his niece’s races on Saturday and Sunday. But, Sava arrived in Italy as bubbly and excitable as ever. Her pink hair was split into her iconic high pigtails, a white crop top, and pastel pink pleated skirt and trusted combat boots covered her form, black duffel bag thrown over her shoulder with some clothes for the weekend, and all of her travel documents. The PA standing with her name printed on a sign was very confused when a very small, very pink teenage girl bumbled over to her and said ‘Hi, I’m Sava. But everyone calls me Bunny’.

“I’m sorry, I expected someone a little more gritty.” The twenty-something woman spoke, her blonde hair in a high ponytail with a Carlin shirt and dark wash jeans. Sava guessed the PA expected someone who looked more like herself.

“It’s okay, I get that a lot. Most people don’t recognise me out of my race suit, so I definitely don’t expect someone who’s never seen me to anticipate my looks. What’s your name?” Sava’s Czech accent, combined with her hyperactivity meant she talked extremely fast, and often it was all nonsense, and she simply spoke for the sake of speaking. The PA took a few seconds to process the words Sava had spoken before finally replying with a simple ‘Amelia’. The two made it to the car that was waiting and travelled to the track in silence, Sava taking in the sights, and Amelia tapping away at her phone. When they got out, Amelia handed Sava a paddock pass, explaining the importance of it and demonstrating how to use it at the gates. They walked through to the Carlin garage, one half working away excitedly, while the other side seemed rather dead.

“Everyone, can I have your attention please? This is Sava Dvorakova, she’s our reserve driver for the rest of the season. Make her comfortable, and make sure she feels welcome!” Amelia yelled, very quickly causing silence to spread over the entire garage.

“Hi! I’m Sava, but most people call me Bunny, so feel free to do either! Or if you’d like, Dvorakova works just as well, but it’s a bit of a mouthful so I understand if you mispronounce it. I’ll also probably respond to ‘hey you’ so anything works. I’m really looking forward to working with you all and giving you some good results this weekend!” Sava giggled at the end, her fists clenched in front of her chest as she gave a small cheer with her hands and the entire garage remained silent for a few moments before breaking out into whispers, their eyes trailing over the teenager’s body. The anxiety in Sava’s belly bubbled, and she began playing with her hands until she was approached by a boy who was a little taller than her with a friendly smile on his face.

“Hi, I’m Yuki. I drive the other Carlin. It’s nice to meet you Bunny.” Yuki introduced with a smile and fist bump. He was unbelievably pleased to meet a driver who was smaller than him, though he supposed that her being a girl wouldn’t ease all of the teasing he got from other drivers on the grid. The two chatted about their background in racing, and Yuki gave Sava a few pointers on handling the car she was about to drive for the first time ever.

“Sava, I have all of your race gear to try on, and later on you’ll need to do a seat fitting as the mechanics are just going to modify one of Yuki’s seats since you two are similar height.” Amelia stated, breaking up the conversation between the two youngsters. Sava apologised to her new friend before practically skipping behind Amelia. She received a few weird looks from others in the paddock, including a few F1 drivers she recognised from TV and her Instagram feed. She wasn’t sure why they were in this paddock, but supposed a few of the younger guys had only recently come out of F2.

When she got into a Carlin motorhome, race overalls and her flame-retardant undersuit were thrust into her hands by Amelia, and then pointed toward a tiny bathroom within the motorhome while the PA continued scrolling through emails, updating social media, and answering calls. Sava pulled the suits on excitedly, and though it was a bit tight in the hips, thighs and chest, she thought it looked pretty damn good.

“So, I think this was definitely made for a guy with less boobs and smaller hips, but the fit is still really good.” Sava joked to Amelia when she stepped out, only to see Helmut Marko standing alongside her new assistant. She went red instantly, her shoulders tensing and sliding up toward her head.

“Yes, well, we can certainly fix that before the next race, but right now, I believe you’re needed for fittings in the garage, so throw on your helmet and get down there.” Helmut ordered. Sava quickly snatched up her balaclava and helmet, threading the two onto her arm as she began undoing the pigtails to braid them on her way back to the Carlin garage while Amelia and Helmut stayed behind to talk.

If Sava thought she was getting weird looks on her way to the motorhome, she was getting even weirder ones on the way back from it. From what she could tell, it seemed more like mechanics, engineers and other personnel from other teams and she couldn’t see any drivers she recognised before she slipped into the Carlin garage, one braid half finished, and her helmet banging against her head every time she moved her arm. Yuki laughed at her struggles, ambling over to thread the helmet and balaclava off her arm while she held the half finished braid precariously. Sava thanked him with a quick smile and continued braiding, her tongue occasionally poking out the side of her mouth in concentration. One she was finished, and the long braids were tucked into the back of her suit, she pulled on the balaclava and helmet in record speed, and then was ushered into the F2 car to begin the tedious process of trying and changing one of Yuki’s seats to suit her height and posture. 

After about an hour of fiddling, she was allowed to take the helmet off, and was beginning to doze off in the cockpit while a few of the employees debated different ways of measuring and fixing the seat nearby. Amelia came into the garage to find the new driver fully asleep in her car with everyone still talking around her. She took a photo and uploaded it to Carlin’s Instagram story, tagging the driver and writing a quick word about the reserve driver they hadn’t officially announced yet. She giggled slightly, and when two of the mechanics came back over to lift the seat out of the car, they accidentally lifted the driver out with it. Amelia took more photos of the seventeen year old comfortably in her race suit, curled in her seat while two mechanics held the entire ensemble up above the car.

Suffice to say, Carlin’s Instragram was flooded with adoring new fans, angered stans, and a few cheeky formula one drivers on private accounts. 

[memeadonna]

Mind Over Monster

I wrote this for a friend, so if you're reading this: Hi RJ!

You and the Bakusquad (plus Shinsou and Jirou, because it is a crime to exclude them) survived the zombie apocalypse, and now roam around hunting down the remaining monsters and rescuing survivors. But you feel like everyone except you has a place in your little group. When someone in your group makes a potentially fatal mistake, you set out to prove yourself. But the question remains: did you ever even need to in the first place?

You kept your eyes closed as you listened, searching in the murmurs around you for something unquiet and unorganized. That was how you would know if there was danger. The mist had long since retreated, but the wind carried it to places where it would rest and collect and re-emerge, using the dead to do its bidding. “Anything?” you jumped and opened your eyes to see one of your companions balancing precariously on the roof of your car.

Kaminari Denki never stopped smiling, no matter what. And considering he was the only reason that you were able to drive this electric car anywhere at all, he was one of your team’s most valuable members. You… also didn’t need to know that he was eye-fucking you right now, but it wasn’t like he could help it. There’s only so much you can turn off in the human mind, and despite your best efforts you usually ended up reading too much into things. It was nice to know that all of your companions thought you were attractive, at least.

This had all started with an accident. An unknown person had been born with some sort of zombification quirk that turned people into mindless zombies forced to do the user’s bidding if they inhaled a mist the user secreted. That person had been killed in a violent car accident that had sent them over the edge of a bridge and plummeting to the dark, angry waters below. As they bled out, their quirk had somehow activated. Maybe it was their way of saying that they did not want to die. Mist had billowed up around them, and within a few hours everybody in that prefecture had been infected by the quirk. The infection had spread across the country and then the world within a few weeks, and now, a year later, this was all that remained. The creatures had never been meant to exist this long, so eventually they began to mutate as well. They gained the ability to infect other creatures through bites, or even absorb body parts and (in the cases of the rare bigger monsters) whole people.

You and your companions had been training to become heroes, but when society had collapsed your goals had changed to survival. Now you travelled around acting like vigilantes, tracking down reported cases of those creatures and protecting civilians. Your class had split off into three groups (as had your grade’s class B), and everybody in your squadron had a purpose.

Bakugou Katsuki was obviously your firepower. He was also your self-appointed leader, and was great at barking orders. Kirishima Eijirou was your muscle – the creatures couldn’t infect him with whatever virus they had (or absorb him, though many had tried), and usually he and Bakugou did most of the heavy lifting when it came to the fighting. Ashido Mina and Sero Hanta were both masters at setting traps or helping with evacuation efforts, and they were also both charismatic and cheerful and kept your group in high spirits. Shinsou Hitoshi could almost always control the monsters to some degree, and even if he couldn’t, he was also adept with his capture weapon and could easily change gears mid-battle. Kiyoka Jirou could detect the monsters moving from miles away, and the speakers on her hero costume were both useful in battle and in evacuation efforts.

Jirou and Shinsou both basically rendered you redundant. Your quirk was a mind reading/telepathy quirk that allowed you to locate monsters (they couldn’t suppress their subconscious thoughts, so it was easier to read their minds), but the more of them there were the more useless you became. You already tended to get lost in your thoughts, but with all of these thoughts swirling around you…

“Hey!” Denki snapped his fingers in front of your face. “Are you okay? Any monsters nearby?”

“Sorry,” you smiled up at him. “No, I don’t hear anything. Should be safe to stop here and recharge.” You hopped off the roof and went to go help pitch your tents.

While you loved the electric vehicle you had looted, it could only go so far with one charge, and it took a lot out of Denki to keep it working, especially considering he couldn’t just charge out of outlets anymore. That meant the group had to stop and make camp in the middle of the day and let him charge up the car. Despite being electric, it wasn’t exactly the most efficient car in the world.

At least it had lots of storage space. That meant you had lots of useful weapons and supplies for killing the zombies. That was no easy task.

The largest beast you had encountered so far had been around eight feet tall and had taken over the corpses of about six people and several dozen animals. These beasts weren’t usually able to use the quirks of the people they had absorbed, but some creatures were anomalies. The one you were hunting now was supposed to be one of those anomalies, and had apparently retained a teleportation quirk, making it tricky to catch. You supposed you could be a little more useful in this case.

“Hey! Stop standing there being useless and start a fire!” Bakugou dumped some of the wood Kirishima had just chopped into your arms, and you struggled to hold all of its weight. He laughed at you as you dropped a piece of the firewood and caught it with your foot. Mina came to your rescue and told Bakugou off with a laugh as you hopped off towards the fire pit. Even he thought you were useless. Especially he. Him. Whatever.

Shinsou used his capture weapon to lift the wood back into your arms, and you smiled at him. He understood you in a way nobody else did, and maybe it was because you both had mind-related quirks, but you found camaraderie in the fact that people tended to be driven away from you or mistrust you. Who would want to be friends with someone that could tell exactly what they were thinking, or with one verbal response could make them do literally anything?

“You okay?” he asked.

You nodded as you knelt by the makeshift fire pit and started to stack the wood. “I’m fine, Shinsou,” you replied. “Just a bit of teasing.”

He walked over to the trunk and returned with a box of kindling. He balled up some of the paper and lit it when you were done. You couldn’t even do this small task without help. How useless did they really think you were?

You stood and looked around for somewhere else to help. Mina, Sero, and Kirishima had already set up the tent, Denki was charging the car, and Bakugou was digging around for something in the trunk. Shinsou walked over to go help him, and as you were about to check if Jirou needed anything you were grabbed from behind and lifted off the ground.

“Gotcha!” Kirishima purred into your ear, pretending to bite into your shoulder as he tickled you. You cried out in involuntary laughter, and kicked and flailed in his arms.

“Hey, put me down!” you tugged at the hands around your waist, and he finally listened to you, only for him to turn you around and pull you into a bone-crushing hug.

He pulled away and tilted your face up by the chin. “No more sad face, okay?” he asked softly. “Cheer up.”

Before you could respond, Bakugou started yelling again. “What useless fucker packed up the supplies?” He shouted, and if you weren’t used to that shout you would have probably flinched at the rough tone in his voice.

“Me and Mina!” Denki looked up from his charging duties. “Why?”

“You forgot our fucking food,” Bakugou growled. “Both crates full of food are missing! Seriously? Even people as inept as Y/n and Sero remember to bring the fucking food when it’s their turn to pack up!”

“Calm down Bakugou!” Sero stepped forward. “Is there any way you just missed it?”

Bakugou’s words washed over you like glass in your heart. You had heard them before – he was always calling you a dumbass, or a burden, and while he was that way with everybody, and they just shrugged it off, you just… never could. Bakugou had one of the most guarded minds you had ever seen, and regularly called you a Voyeur if he caught you staring at him for too long. You hadn’t purposefully read his thoughts very much, but his brain seemed to be full of those harsh words and nicknames. It would have been easier if you knew he didn’t mean them.

While your group argued (Jirou, Mina, and Denki were all screaming at Bakugou while Kirishima and Sero tried to break it up, and Shinsou watched with a tired expression), you snuck around to the back of the truck to retrieve a few weapons. You grabbed a small handgun (Yaomomo made you lots of supplies every time she saw you), and a few rounds of ammo. You also grabbed a metal baseball bat for good measure (better safe than sorry), and one of Bakugou’s mini grenades just out of spite. When you returned to camp with dinner in hand, you were planning on detonating it just to scare the bejesus out of him. You wondered if they would still be arguing when you got back.

Maybe they wouldn’t even notice you leaving?

Nobody stopped you as you set off across the field towards the woods. Nobody even spared you a second thought as their restless minds grew more and more distant. You relaxed as you realized you were alone, and hummed quietly to yourself as you crept through the woods looking for dinner.

The birds were singing, and the trees rustled softly in the wind as you wandered farther and farther away from camp. The small stream you crossed was probably where Jirou had collected water earlier, and just for the hell of it you decided to climb up the waterfall. It probably wasn’t the smartest move, but it was about a thirty-foot climb and it looked like fun. Once you were at the top, you followed the river upstream and searched for any thirsty wildlife.

Being the useless party member was boring. No matter what your companions did, you never seemed to be able to see the value in your own contributions. You were able to broadcast messages across large groups of people all at once, which made you invaluable both in evacuation efforts, and when planning strategies. Your range was somewhat limited unless you really pushed your quirk (if you were scared enough the words and pictures could travel up to five kilometers), but the ability to detect thoughts had less limits. Some people (like Bakugou) naturally suppressed thoughts, while others (like Kaminari) did not. It was easy to tell when the monsters were nearby because they could not repress their thoughts whatsoever. Even less than Kaminari. Everything blurred together in one big, overwhelming jumbled mess, and if there were a lot of them you were easily overwhelmed.

People you could deal with. You had grown up in a big city and gone to school in large classes, you knew what people were like. You could be in crowds with hundreds of voices and be unbothered, purely because it was all background noise. It wasn’t meant to be heard.

Sometimes, the monsters knew you could hear them. Sometimes they wanted you to hear.

You were dragged out of your train of thought as you caught sight of dinner. Drinking at the river was a boar, a yearling probably weighing about 45lbs. It hadn’t noticed you yet, and as you aimed your gun for it, careful not to make a noise, it didn’t stir.

A shot through the eye was all it took, and the animal dropped dead. You grinned to yourself as you approached it, and carefully picked it up and slung it over your shoulder. You couldn’t wait to see the look on Bakugou’s face when he realized just how useful you really were. You carried the boar back downstream, humming one of Jirou’s punk songs to yourself.

“Blood,” was the first thought that filled your head, and it made you halt in your tracks. It was so sudden, and so strong that it had startled you. You looked back the way you came and noticed that about two hundred yards away a figure crouched over where you had killed the boar, and as it uncurled its body vertebrae by vertebrae you felt terror grip your heart.

You were alone. Nobody was going to come save you. You were out of range.

The creature had a massive rack of antlers on its head – it had clearly been feeding off of the local wildlife to make it big and strong. Big and strong it was – towering at probably twelve feet tall with a lanky and deceptively fast body. Its mind was full of violent thoughts, and you heard each and every one. As you noticed it, it also noticed you. You heard its thoughts as they ricocheted around a brain that should not have had the capability to think, and as the word “Need!” filled your mind, it lunged for you.

You screamed in terror, and your quirk activated without your permission, sending the horrifying image of this thing leaping and bounding through the air towards you out in all directions. The image of itself halted it in its tracks, but it quickly shook the feeling off. You dropped your boar and aimed your handgun. The rounds did nothing, and the creature picked up speed again, unhinging its jaw and letting out a shriek so loud your ears rang. You fired into its open mouth, once more discharging an image of its maw. That also gave the creature pause, and as your handgun clicked out of ammunition, you reached for your bat and your grenade. Its eyes were so cold as it watched you change your stance, and you swallowed hard as you noticed tiny hands protruding from its chest. Those hands had once belonged to a child, and that made you angry.

Noticing the pattern, you started to send it random pictures and see what it reacted to. It seemed to recognize itself, so you started sending it pictures of its parts – deer, boar, birds, and eventually people. It kept coming at you, but it seemed almost dazed as it avoided your bat. You grinned to yourself as you assaulted it with more images and increasingly complex thoughts, not caring how you swung your bat. You landed a blow and it shrieked in pain. You then assaulted it again, sending it emotions and increasingly complex feelings. You recited math equations, explained how to start a fire, and told it about yourself in the blink of an eye, still swinging your bat. It connected with the skull-like head and broke the bone apart.

It felt anger now, you could sense it, and it wanted you dead. You kept bashing, overwhelming it psychologically. Then, all at once, you backed off. It shrieked at you as it retreated too, which gave you just enough time to chuck your grenade into its open mouth. You hit the deck as the grenade detonated, and the creature’s throat exploded outwards. As it fell to its knees, folding its long legs under itself, you stood once more. You then raised your bat high and dealt the killing blow to its head, scattering brains everywhere. You kept bashing for another thirty seconds for good measure, until all of the thoughts were gone, and the forest was once again quiet. You panted hard in the silence, and as you once more heard thoughts you gave the creature’s head another few bashes, even though you knew it couldn’t possibly have been the source.

By the time you registered the explosions behind you Bakugou was already sprinting towards you, yelling incoherently. Before you could get a word in, he was blasting the creature’s dead body with all he had. He then turned to you and pulled you into a bone-crushing hug, one so tight that your back popped.

“Bakugou?” you asked in alarm, and he just held you tighter.

“Don’t fucking wander away, dumbass!” he pulled away to growl into your face, eyebrows knit. “We thought we’d lost you.”

The thoughts dancing around his head made you almost shiver. “Thank god they’re safe,” and a thousand variations of that hit you all at once, along with feelings of guilt and fear and pride as he took the time to appreciate the beast you had killed.

Sero was next to arrive, having scaled the waterfall in record time. He swung through the trees towards you, clumsy and graceless. His head was also filled with panic and then joy and then wonder as Bakugou let you go and Sero had his hug.

Jirou and Kirishima clamoured over the waterfall, Mina and Kaminari (who for once, wasn’t smiling) hot on their heels. You were pulled into several more group hugs, and as Shinsou approached even he wrapped you in his arms.

“Why the fuck did you go off on your own?” Bakugou yelled.

“We needed food,” you replied. “So, I hunted a boar, which we can’t eat anymore because this thing showed up.” you gave its carcass a kick. You then walked over to the boar cadaver, which was covered in goo and chunks of brain, and based its head in. You did not want this thing coming back in a new form. Either thing.

“Don’t wander off like that!” Kirishima stressed. “You could have gotten killed! If Bakugou hadn’t been here to kill that thing for you-”

“I killed it,” you cut him off, resting the bat over your shoulder and trying not to sound smug. “Apparently it’s not invulnerable to my quirk. I figured out how to use it. Guess I’m not so useless after all, even if I did ruin dinner. Sorry guys.”

Bakugou’s eyebrows twitched. “Who the fuck said you were useless?” he demanded.

“You did,” you replied. “Earlier today.”

“I told you to stop being useless. There’s a difference,” he grabbed you by the shoulders. “Listen to me. You are not useless. You don’t have to run off on your own and nearly fucking get killed to prove that, and I’m sorry if I ever made you think that’s what we wanted from you.”

Holy shit. Did Bakugou just apologize? To you? Were you dreaming?

He pulled you into another hug. “Don’t run off again, okay, dumbass?” he asked softly.

“Okay,” you smiled softly. “I can promise that.”

“Good,” he growled. “And we found the food crates. Turns out that Shitty Hair over here-” Bakugou punched Kirishima in the shoulder, “-put them away in the tent.”

Kaminari sobbed loudly, interrupting the moment. “Denki, don’t cry!” you were hugging him in an instant, and he clung tightly to you like you would just disappear if he didn’t anchor you. “I’m here, and I’m safe. I promise.”

“It’s not that!” he wailed. “We could have had bacon!”

[magicforjournals]

The Green Dress (A Story About Loki)  Chapter 4 : A God’s Lips

RE-UPLOAD - Last upload was missing some parts, my bad!!

Warnings : Explicit (18+)

It’s early in the morning, way earlier than you usually wake up. You barely slept last night; nerves, anticipation, fear even, just twisting your insides and preventing you from getting any kind of rest. You know you’ll eventually have to get up and get ready for work but, you’re just lying in bed, still shell-shocked at the conversation you had with Loki last night.

After receiving his email, you had sat in the shower, letting the hot water hit your skin, for what seemed like hours. Had Loki just asked you on a date? That… That meant he wanted to see you again, he thought of you just as much as you thought of him. He craved your presence just as much as you craved his. You had revelled in the thought of being important to someone like him, a literal god. Finally, you had gathered all of your strength to get out of the shower, grab your phone and sit on your bed to reply to his email. You felt it impersonal to accept an invitation to a date over email and had decided to give him your phone number instead, offering him the option to call you. Within minutes, your phone rang. Heart pounding and hands shaking, you had answered his call. The sound of his soft, deep voice through the phone made you shiver and instantly soak. You wanted him, you needed him. Your conversation, although brief, had been wonderful. You both had agreed that you would be making dinner, and he was to meet you at your apartment at 6 o’clock. You could barely utter a word when he wished you goodnight and sweet dreams before hanging up. You had laid back on your bed, trying to catch your breath. You had just invited a god to have dinner in your home. It wasn’t just any god, it was Loki. Loki who had kissed you with such passion, it had left you weak in the knees for days. Loki who, by only speaking, could make you so incredibly wet. You had slid a hand down your body, imagining it was his hand instead of yours, grabbing your breast, rubbing tight circles on your clit. It didn’t take long for the orgasm to rip, burning hot, through your entire body, making you spasm in pleasure as his sultry voice still rang in your ears, and you had to bite down on your pillow to muffle the loud moan that escaped your lips as you came.

As you lie there thinking about last night, you tell yourself it’s only a couple of hours before you get to see him again. Jumping out of bed, newfound energy bursting through your veins, you get ready in a flash, speeding through breakfast and cleaning up. You call yourself a taxi and get to school way too early, eager to start your day. As promised, your car is waiting for you in the parking lot, however, you see Nat getting out of it as you start walking to the school entrance.

“You’re here early”, she says as she catches up to you, following you inside. There were usually no visitors allowed unless the principal approves it, but since the school is funded by Tony and that Natasha is an Avenger, they never had a problem with her coming in before or after classes. Regardless, she never came during school hours, knowing her presence would be a distraction for the kids.

“Yeah, I could really sleep last night,” you say with a smirk.

“Oh…” She says, intrigued. “Oh, I know that face! What happened?!” She then presses you.

“Well….”, you tease, walking into your classroom. “Loki emailed me last night to ask if we could have dinner tonight.” Nat’s mouth falls open as she hops on your desk, her usual spot to sit.

“Did you say yes?” She asks.

“Yeah, he’s coming over tonight. I’m making him dinner.”

“Holy fuck, you’re joking!” Natasha screams so loud, you have to shush her. “You’re having dinner with Loki Laufeyson TONIGHT.”

“I know, I know. Be careful, he’s the god of mischief,” you say, mimicking her.

“Oh, well yeah obviously! I’ll have my phone with me if there’s any problem, just use the emergency button.” She reminds me. “But I meant you’re having dinner with the man who pinned you against a wall four days ago and kissed you like you’ve never been kissed before. The same man you told me you could not stop thinking about.”

“Yeah,” you whisper, your face turning red.

“Are you excited?”

“I’m nervous! I haven’t been on a first date in almost a year Nat! What if he doesn’t like me anymore in the end? There’s something different about him and it terrifies me. If you think about it, I’m just a simple mortal.” You tell her.

“Please, you’ll be just fine. Loki seems very interested in you.” She reassures you. “And you know, I was thinking last night… Loki has been good for a while now… maybe being with you would really change him. I know I have some preconceived notions about him, but everyone is allowed a second chance. I was, so was Bucky and Bruce too…” She trails off. Talking about him was still a sore subject. Bruce had been missing since Sokovia and it had left a gaping hole in our hearts, especially Nats. Over the years, you had watched their relationship slowly flourish, they were quietly flirting and often seeing each other in secret. He was the first man she ever let get herself get close to, and he cared so deeply about her and was terrified of ever losing her. And when he never came back, and when no one could find the Quinjet, Natasha could barely leave her bed. Getting her back on her feet was one of the hardest things you had ever done.

“Hey,” you whisper, wrapping your arms around her, rubbing her back.

“He’ll come back when he’s ready, just give him time.”

“I know,” she says, hugging you back. “I just miss him.” We all did.

You stay like that, holding each other in silence for a while.

“I should go,” Nat says, hopping off your desk. “You call me tonight if there’s anything, right?” She adds, looking you in the eyes.

“Yeah, of course! How are you getting back?” You ask.

“Sam is picking me up, he’s on his way now,” she replies, checking her phone.

“Say hi for me! I’ll call you later ok?”

“Will do! Keep me posted. Love you, bye!” Nat yells as she walks out. You giggle to yourself, unpacking your stuff and getting ready for the day, Tuesdays are your favorites.

The day flew by so fast, it left you a little dizzy. Your students left a while ago and you were finally done cleaning up the mess of the day. You look down at your jeans and there are some mud stains all over them, the WWII reenactment of the day having left its mark. Nonetheless, your students enjoyed it, and you tell yourself to add the activity to the memory board you have in class. As you glance in its direction, you see that the clock above is showing 3:45, and you panic. You didn’t realize how long you had spent cleaning.

You pack up your things as fast as you can, almost running to your car. You need to get home quickly, Loki is coming over in two hours, and you have to make dinner and get ready. You desperately need a shower after running around outside in the mix of snow and mud all day.

Getting home in record time, you drop your bags by your desk. Running to your bathroom as you throw your hair in a bun, you take the fastest shower you’ve ever taken, scrubbing down as quick as you can. Thank heavens you had washed your hair the night prior. Once you get out, you check your makeup for any touch-ups and add a small line of liner and lip gloss. Shaking your hair out of its bun, you like the way it looks and decide to leave it as is. Still wrapped up in your towel, you make your way to the kitchen to start prepping the food that needs to begin cooking immediately. You get everything else out and organize your kitchen. Again, you thank your lucky star that you’re a neat person and you don’t need to clean your apartment before Loki gets here. With most of the dinner cooking, you head to your bedroom to get dressed. Opting for black lace underwear, you open your closet and sigh loudly. What are you going to wear? Why hadn’t you picked out an outfit this morning? You had all the time in the world to get ready? Grabbing your favorite pair of light jeans, skin-tight and which do wonders for your ass, you start browsing through your shirts to find something… anything. You suddenly hear something bubbling and grab an old band shirt you usually sleep in, slipping that on before running to the kitchen to make sure nothing is burnt to a crisp. You’re not the best cook in the world but you can manage to whip up a couple of great meals. Thankfully, nothing was burning, but there were a lot of dishes to take care of.

You were washing the last bowl when you heard the building’s buzzer ringing. Your head whipped around towards the digital clock on your microwave to see it showing 6 pm on the dot. SHIT! You didn’t see the time fly by, and Loki was already here AND you were not even dressed. Shit, shit, shit, shit… Ok, it’s ok. You walk over to the intercom and buzz him in. A little time goes by and you hear a shy knock against your door, making your heart almost jump out of its cavity with how fast and hard it’s beating. Hand on the door handle, you take a deep breath before opening the door.

There he was, standing in front of you, handsome, beautiful as ever. His dark hair combed back, as it was last time you saw him, his green eyes sparkling with joy, his devastatingly stunning smile. He was there. Right in front of you.

“Hi,” Loki says, his smile widening. “These are for you”, he adds, handing you a bouquet of white and pink lilies.

You gasp. “Oh thank you. How did you know lilies are one of my favorite flowers?”

“I guessed, a very fortunate guess as it turns out to be.” You think you might as well die, combust on-site, from how warm he makes you feel.

“They’re beautiful, thank you so much.” You repeat. “Please come in! I’m so sorry I’m not dressed yet, I just finished the dishes.” You apologize, cheeks burning red as he steps to stand in front of you in the entrance.

“I think you look perfect,” he whispers, stroking your cheek slowly. You sigh in content, eyes closing, as soon as you feel his skin against yours, unknowingly leaning into his hand. You both stand there, taking in each other’s presence, for what seems like hours.

“Let me take your coat,” you whisper softly, looking up at him.

“It’s ok darling, get those flowers in some water,” Loki whispers back, your knees buckling under the weight of the nickname.

You slowly nod against his hand still on your face and regretfully make your way to the kitchen, Loki following closely behind. He takes off his coat and hangs it on the back of one of the barstools, as you’re putting the flowers in a vase. Pretending to be focused on the flowers, you let your eyes wander his body, starting from his thighs - the rest being cut off by the counter -, up his waist, stomach, broad shoulders, arms, and back up to his gorgeous lips you crave to kiss, his nose you want to feel nuzzled in the crook of your neck, and his eyes… your own forest you’d run through forever. How could one being be so beautiful? Loki was breathtakingly beautiful, tearing your eyes away from his face was a strenuous feat. Turning your attention to your dinner, you opened the oven to check on the food. You jump and gasp when you feel Loki moving closer behind you, his hand snaking up your hips.

“Do you need help with anything?” He asks, his sultry voice making you dizzy and immediately wet.

“N-no, I have it a-all under control,” you stutter, shooting up from your bent-over position. Loki’s hands are still on your hips when you turn around to face him, resting your hands on his firm chest. You’re standing so close to each other you could tilt your head up and kiss him if you wanted to… and you desperately want to.

“I… umm… should go get dressed.” You choke out. “Can you… keep an eye on the... uh… oven?”

“Of course.” He replies, one hand moving to your hair, tucking a strand of it behind your ear.

You give him a smile and head towards your bedroom, where you collapse on your bed as soon as you reach it. Holy shit, this man is going to be the death of you, with his voice, his touch, and his eyes. Every time he spoke, the heat in your belly sparked up to a hellish blaze, making you weak in the knees. He’s waiting for you out there, don’t be a coward, get up, you finally tell yourself. Taking your shirt off, you walk to your closet to figure out something to wear, yet again.

“Oh! I am so sorry, I should have announced myself,” Loki says from your bedroom door, and you jump, grabbing the closest piece of fabric to cover yourself up.

“Oh God!” You scream, your hand flying up to your chest, heart pounding. With a single step, Loki crosses the distance between the two of you, his palms up as to hold you, but he stops himself.

“Hey - hey there, it’s just me. I am so sorry I scared you darling.” He whispers softly, trying to calm you down.

“I- uh, it’s ok. I just didn’t hear you coming.” You say, trying to slow down the cascading beat of your heart. And then it hits you. The piece of fabric you had grabbed to cover yourself with was the cream coloured blouse you had bought months ago but never wore for the simple reason it was way too sheer. So sheer in fact, it meant that Loki could clearly see through it, he could see your naked stomach and black lace bra. You could feel his gaze on you as you turned bright red, scrambling to find something else to cover up with.

“I-I’m sorry, I-I didn’t realize you could see everything.” You apologize profusely.

“You’re beautiful,” he whispers, his tone of voice stopping you in your tracks. You turn to look at him and you see his eyes exploring your body, admiration pouring out of them. He steps closer to you, grabbing the hand you were using to search with, and running his up from your wrist to your shoulder, slowly tracing your collar bone, before making it way up your neck, gently across your cheek and getting lost in your hair. You moan softly under his touch, the blouse falling quietly on the floor as you reach for him with both hands.

Before you know it, your lips meet, sending jolts of electricity through your body. You reach your arms up and wrap them around Loki’s neck, pulling him closer to you. Your sudden burst of passion makes him groan under your touch and he deepens your kiss, teasing the tip of his tongue in between your lips as he pins you against the wall, igniting a burning desire in you. You feel his hands slide from your hair slowly down to the small of your back, resting there for a moment before cupping your ass and he lifts you up in his arms. You gasp against his mouth as you wrap your legs around his waist, surprised at his strength. He keeps kissing you as he walks you over to the bed, laying you down gently. For a moment, you’re both just staring at each other, eyes full of desire and catching your breath.

“Are you sure?” Loki asks, brushing hair out of your face and then carefully brushing his thumb against your swollen lips. You part them, taking his thumb in your mouth and slowly sucking on it as you nod. The soft moan that comes out of his lips as you suck on his digit sets off an even hotter fire through your belly. Loki crashes his lips against yours, his hands roaming your body. He moves his mouth to your neck, kissing and biting love marks all over it, as you fumble around with the buttons on his shirt, the task being a lot more difficult with this man’s lips all over you. As soon as the shirt falls open, you’re frozen, your eyes roaming his strong, sublime body, hands running over the contours of his stomach, absolutely mesmerized.

“You’re so beautiful,” you echo Loki’s words.

Capturing your lips again, he starts kissing down your neck again, making his way to your chest. Slowly running his right hand up your body, he cups your breast as he licks the other one through the lace of your bra and you’re moaning, your back arching under his touch.

“That’s where you’re wrong, you are beautiful,” he whispers against your skin, making you shiver. “So beautiful, how could I ever live without you anymore.”

Loki begins kissing his way down your stomach, undoing your pants slowly and brushing his lips across your lower stomach. You whimper as he pulls your jeans off and comes back up, hooking his fingers around the waistband of your panties, kissing your thigh as he slides them down too. His hands are back on your inner thighs before the rest of him is, and you’re throbbing, clenching, soaking even more, just knowing that his fingers are inches away from where you need him most.

“Is this ok?” he asks you softly, feeling his hot breath between your thighs.

“Yes.” And his tongue is on you, parting you so incredibly slow, you think you might pass out. You’re wet, you know that, and he knows that too as he moans against you, licking small little circles around your clit. You’re trying so hard to stay quiet, every bone in your body fighting against the urge to scream out his name. You feel his nose pressed up against you as he’s devouring you like you’re the last meal he’ll ever have, his hands gripping and squeezing your thighs, your hips, your waist. He slowly retreats, letting his fingers tease you for a little as he flashes you a quick smile, eyes burning with desire, and you feel a thick single finger slide excruciatingly slow inside of you.

“Fuck!” is all you can manage, every other word and sound stuck in your throat.

Loki starts pumping his finger, in and out, out and in, getting faster and faster, adding a second one and sucking on your clit so hard, you’re about to cum. You grab fistfuls of his hair as you arch your back into him, begging him to keep going, to lick you more. You scream as you cum all over his fingers, the orgasm sending violent spasms throughout your entire body. As you’re trying to catch your breath, his mouth leaves you, making it harder for you to breathe, and he kisses you. He tastes like you, and all you can think about is wanting to make him feel as good as he just made you feel. Sitting up on your elbows, still kissing him, you bring him closer to you, sliding your lips from his mouth to his ear, catching his ear lobe in between your teeth and whispering softly, voice still rough from your orgasm.

“Please… let me touch you.” He groans against your neck and flips you, so he’s lying on the bed. Loki grabs your face and kisses you passionately as you unbuckle his belt and take his pants and briefs off. You’re astonished at how big he is, thick and long, already hard for you. You kiss his stomach as you slide a hand down, wrapping your fingers around him as he throbs, and slowly start pumping your fist. The sound that makes his way from his chest and out his lips is almost enough to make you cum again, and you slide your mouth down, licking that small bead of precum from the tip and wrapping your mouth around him, sucking softly. Loki moans your name, grabbing a handful of your hair, as you start bopping your head, accentuating your movement with your hand. Before long he’s pleading for you to stop, his hips spasming, making him thrust into your mouth. Retreating with an audible pop, you giggle as you take your bra off before climbing on top of him, his dick throbbing against you. As Loki wraps his arms around you, pulling you closer, he flips you again, running his hands along your curves while a happy moan escapes you. Slowly, he slides the tip of him between your lips and you gasp at how thick he is, but you’re still wrapping your legs around his waist, pulling him closer to you. You hold there for a moment, gazing in each other's eyes and in one swift movement, he buries himself deep inside of you, a growl slipping through his lips.

“F-fuck darling, you feel so good.” He moans as he starts to thrust in you, shattering your entire world. You can’t formulate words, all you know and all you’ve ever known is that nobody has taken care of you like Loki is doing right now. You want this moment to last forever, him inside of you, your bodies interlaced, lips pressed against each other’s, your choked out breaths matching the beating of your hearts to the rhythm of your desire for one another. Everything you’ve ever known ceases to exist, but the two of you, in that moment, as Loki makes love to you passionately. He’s rolling his hips, hitting a spot in you you didn’t know could get you so close to the edge of insanity so fast.

“Loki, fuck! I-I’m gonna…” you start.

“Wait for me,” he moans out after you, pumping his hips harder into you, one hand gripping your hip, the other lost in your hair. “Fuck”. And you do, until his last powerful thrust and you cry out as you feel him explode inside of you, your orgasm ripping your body to shreds from the sheer intensity of it.

You stay lying there for a while, him still inside of you, your arms wrapped around him, as his head rests against yours. Gently, he rolls off to the side, pulling you into his and kissing you deeply. You sigh in pure bliss as he kisses you, resting your hand up his sweaty torso, following the movement of his breaths.

“I think we might’ve overcooked, possibly even burnt, the food,” he whispers in your hair, and you feel him smile.

“Worth it to me, was it not to you?” You tease, kissing him again.

“I’m hurt you would even question it, my beautiful girl,” his reply sending butterflies through your stomach as he kisses you back with infinite softness.

You are lost in the moment, wishing you could forever just kiss this God’s lips.

Taglist : @kingtwhiddleston